After I was somewhat recovered, I went to see the village, and found all the people working upon cotton; some cleaning it, some winding it into balls, and others weaving the gubaga, or narrow strips of cotton cloth, with which the greater number of the population are clothed. A small portion of the cotton-twist is dyed with indigo, and with this and the undyed a species of check-cotton cloth is woven; but all very rude. The Sheikh of the place supplied the caravan with bazeen. For myself I purchased a couple of fowls, which cost just twopence farthing in English money: they were, however, small; and I may remark that all fowls are small in this country, and most of the domestic animals, like horses, sheep, dogs, cats, &c. are diminutive when compared to those of Europe. The bullocks, however, are of a good size, with branching horns. The sheep have no wool, or rather, the wool takes the appearance and substance of hair, like that of a dog; and their tails, too, are like those of dogs; but, indeed, the Soudan sheep are well known. No fruit or vegetables are found in these villages: not even onions, common in most places. The birds have all a strange appearance. I am no naturalist, and wonder when I should examine. That filthy species of vulture, the scavenger of Zinder, is seen in twos and threes. The woods abound in turtle-doves. I gave the Kashalla a ring for himself and his female slave, or wife, as it may be. Very few men of this sort have wives: all their women are slaves. He was greatly pleased with the present.
10th.—My thermometer remains behind with the baggage at Zinder, expected to-day. Here we wait for it, and the rest of the caravan. I oiled myself well last night with olive oil, and feel much better this morning. During a walk through the villages, I observed that two-thirds of the male population, as in Zinder, are quite idle, lounging about, or stretched at their full length upon the dust of the ground. A third find something to do, either in working on cotton, or making matting, or in the gardens, where tobacco, pepper, cotton, and indigo are grown. These are the staple products of the gardens in this part of Africa. The women have always something to occupy their time, suckling their children, fetching water, cooking, or else picking cotton. All the males, I imagine, at some seasons of the year, find occupation, when the ghaseb is sown and when reaped. But, nevertheless, what powerfully solicits the observation of the European in looking into these villages is the downright livelong idleness of the male population.
We begin, at length, to regard this region merely as the nursery-ground of slavery—of the system which takes away the idlers to perform their share of the curse pronounced on Adam, that in the sweat of his brow he should eat and earn his bread. Again it is to be observed, that the wants of these people are very few: they live on ghaseb and milk, eating little meat; these come to them almost without labour. The ground is tilled by burning the stubble of the previous year, or by burning the trees on new land. The seed is thrown in when the rain begins, and nothing more is done till the grain is ripe for the sickle, when it is gathered in. It is collected under small sheds made of matting, and eaten as it is wanted. The cattle are mostly driven to graze and to water, and this is all the attention they require. The cotton furnishes a scanty clothing, deemed sufficient; all the children go naked till they are ten years old, or only wear a piece of cotton, leather, or a skin round their loins. The men of some consequence buy a tobe brought from Kanou or Niffee; the women purchase a few beads and other ornaments with their fowls or ghaseb. The bowls or household utensils are made from gourds, in shape like a cucumber, but straight, with a knob at the end; they are slit in two, and thus form two spoons, the concave head of the gourd serving as the bowl, the other part as the handle. These calabashes, some of which are pretty, are hung up within the huts as ornaments. On peeping into these huts, nothing is seen but these said calabashes, except the strings or nets by which they are suspended on the sides of the huts. As you enter there is always a partition-wall on your right hand, and a round entrance at the further end of the hut to this part, partitioned off. This space, so divided off, is the sleeping-place, where there is a raised bench of mud, or a bedstead made of cane or wickers. A few utensils for culture, an axe and a hoe, may be mentioned, all made by native blacksmiths, of the rudest description. Iron is found in the native rocks of Soudan, and is not imported. The greatest skill of the African blacksmith is, alas! shown in forging the manacles for slaves. I must mention that many of the huts have walls of clay, and roofs only of thatch or matting. The grain-stacks are also raised a foot or two from the ground, on stakes, to prevent the ghaseb getting wet during the rainy season. Thus it is that these children of Africa live a life of simplicity little above pure savages, and I may add, a life of comparative idleness, and perhaps happiness, in their point of view.
Yesterday our Kashalla made a move to say his prayers. He was surrounded by the people who came with him from Zinder and Bornou, and the inhabitants of Dairmu. He prayed, but prayed alone, none following his example! It is quite clear that all the black population hereabouts are only nominal Muslims, and remain in heart pure Hazna, or pagans. Those who do pray, pray very little indeed; there is no sensual charin or allurement in Mahommedanism for the African mind, whilst its fasts and commands of abstinence from strong drinks deter thousands from embracing the religion of the false Prophet. It cannot allure the African by polygamy, because the African has as many women as he pleases by the permission of his native superstition. Islamism, therefore, takes no hold of the native African mind. There are a few Tuaricks scattered amongst all this population, but living generally out of the villages by themselves; they are all subjects of the Sheikh, and have escaped the desert to lead an easier life in Soudan. It is strange that some of the Tuarick women are enormously corpulent, whilst a corpulent woman is not found amongst the blacks. I must add, that the morality of these black villages seems of a much higher and purer kind than that of the Tuarick villages of Asben. Here they do not look upon woman, as in Asben, simply in the light of an instrument of pleasure: but I fear this will soon change. What morality, indeed, can there be without higher and more binding motives?
I was much pleased with the condescension of the Kashalla in furnishing me with information on routes, and gave him a head of sugar. He is a man of great generosity, and immediately divided it amongst his people. He says he never leaves the Sheikh's presence, and it was solely on account of me that the Sheikh sent him to fetch me from Zinder. If this be true, their sovereign has paid a high compliment to the Mission.
The only character whom I could discover in Dairmu was the constable, or general police-officer. This was an ill-looking fellow, with one eye damaged,—a most unamiable Dogberry. He approached the Kashalla twice, keeping, however, at a timid distance, kneeling down and throwing the dust in handfulls over his head, in the most abject manner. Yet this man was the dread of the whole neighbourhood! The exercise of all disagreeable employments seems to debase man. Before his superiors he crouches and grovels in dust; with the people he commands, he is a very tyrant!
10th.—I was joined yesterday evening by the rest of the caravan, Saïd, and Moknee, and my new interpreter. Saïd brings goods for Haj Beshir. We started early, and made seven hours; our route varying between east and south-east, through a fine wavy country, rising at times into high hills, with few trees in comparison to what we have hitherto had, and a good deal of cultivation, all ghaseb. The sandy soil is well adapted for this kind of grain. A ridge of quartz rocks strikes up through the sand. The rocky hills are mostly granite. The atmosphere was cooled by an easterly wind. We pitched tent, or rather halted, at a cluster of villages of considerable size, the principal of which is Guddemuni. They are all placed on hills. In the deep valley near is a large lake, towards the east, about two hours long and half-an-hour wide. In the dry season the people cultivate, by irrigation from the lake, a quantity of wheat, which they export to Kanou. Besides wheat, they raise ghaseb on the hill tops; and in the gardens, cotton, indigo, tobacco, onions, pepper, dates (bearing twice a-year), henna, potatoes (dankali), the palm (geginya),—bearing a large fruit (gonda), like the mealy melon,—gourds, rogo, and gwaza; which last are two species of potatoes. Some large trees are planted like the kuka, the fruit of which is used for sauce.
To-day the Kashalla rode up to several men wandering in the fields, hunting, and attempted to impose some labour on them. This was a signal for a general stoppage of all foot-passengers, who were met by his people, for one purpose or another, either to take from them any little articles, or to vex them. They did not, however, stop two people we met, but gave them full leave to pass. Who were these? One was a man who, by disease, had become all over of a light flesh-colour, his black skin peeling off. It was a perfect phenomenon—a man with strong negro features, entirely white, or of a light dull-red colour. The other man was a miserable, filthy, blind fellow, whom the first invalid was leading. They were, in fact, a couple of mendicants going to Zinder on speculation, having come from Kuka, begging through all the towns and villages. The trade of begging is coextensive with man, civilised or uncivilised, in towns or country. Africa has a good number of this industrious class of people.
The language of this cluster of villages is Haussa, like that of Zinder, the "Haussa of the North," as it is called: it varies a little from the pure Haussa of Kashna and Kanou. The people of this place were all excessively civil. I walked out in the evening, and saw about thirty of the maidens of Guddemuni (one of the villages) encircling a female dancer, who kept pacing to the sound of a rude guitar. At the sight of me they all made off. The poor blacks in these villages always expect that the white man comes to bring them into slavery. Afterwards I went to salute the Sultan. We saw him during two minutes; he kept rubbing his hands, as if he were cold. He was a sinister-looking man, dressed in a white tobe; he had not the least suspicion of what a Christian might be. I made the acquaintance of the taste of the doom-palm, in a dish of pastry seasoned by it. The taste is something like rhubarb, only a little sharper.