A voyage to Senegal

by Jean Baptiste Léonard Durand

This attempt met with the most complete success. I shall proceed to give an account of it, in which it will be seen that the Negroes, though avaricious and needy, received my traveller with affection of the most hospitable and generous kind; that they appeared with all their natural good qualities, and the simplicity of the early ages; and that they every where professed a desire to gain information with all the efforts of a rude people approaching towards civilization; while they eagerly expressed their wish, that we would establish ourselves amongst them.

I must first make known what means were in my power for executing my project, and what measures I thought would insure it success. I had no compass in my possession, and was therefore obliged to regulate the journey by the course of the stars, and the indications of the natives.

I could not hope for any great accuracy in the observations which might be made during the journey; but I imposed an obligation on the person, whom I employed to perform it, to mark the number of days’ march by the rising and setting of the sun, so as to point out, as nearly as possible, the hour of his arrival at, and departure from, each station. I also pressed him to note in his journal, the changes he might experience in the soil, the hills, mountains, forests, trees, lakes, rivulets, animals, and kinds of cultivation. He was likewise to observe the different tribes which he might meet with in his route, and to give an account of their manners, customs, religion, language, and the reception which he met with amongst them. My ulterior object was, that, after making all these remarks on the country, he should prepare the people for a general intercourse with the French, discover the exact situation of their gold mines, and continue his route as far as the isthmus of Suez, after which he might return to France from some of the ports in the Mediterranean.

I have to regret, that the noble enterprize which I had planned, though equal to my expectations, was far from affording the results which might have been expected; as, since my departure, it has never been followed up, and because the principal agent in it became the victim of an unpardonable negligence.

M. Rubault, the person employed under my orders in this expedition, left Isle St. Louis on the 11th January, 1786, in company with a Marabou Moor, named Sidy Carachi: this Moor, from his quality as priest and doctor of laws, enjoyed, like all his cast, the greatest veneration from all the hordes in Africa. I gave Rubault two domestic Negroes, three camels to carry the baggage and convey the travellers, and ordered him such a supply of provisions, merchandize, and arms, as I conceived adequate to the undertaking. The party set off from Gandiolle, whither I accompanied them, on the 13th, at break of day. After a march of seven hours, over a flat soil covered with palm-trees, they arrived at a village called Camessou, the master of whom received them with great kindness, and gave them a preparation of flour and milk.

Each village, in this part of Africa, has a chief known by the title of master. In some parts of the country the name does not correspond with that of master; but the prerogatives and attributes of the chief are the same. He receives a tribute from all the inhabitants for his expenses, and is charged with executing the orders of the king in whatever relates to the police or general justice, except that recourse is had to the sovereign in cases of condemnation to death or slavery. This establishment is nearly the same as the feudality which is said to have prevailed in the earliest times of the creation. The master is the lord of the village.

On setting out after his repast, at three in the afternoon, Rubault arrived by seven at another village, named Bety, where he passed the night; this he left at ten next morning, and at seven in the evening came to a third village, called Meriné-Giob.

The inhabitants of this village were celebrating the Gammon, which is an annual festival in honour of the birth of Mahomet; it lasts three days. Here Rubault was well treated, and proceeded onwards the next morning at six o’clock. The country over which he travelled this day was covered with little hamlets. Amongst the trees he observed a white tamarind, or ape’s bread-tree, of so extraordinary a size that he stopped to measure it, and found it to be eighty-four feet in circumference. He next reached Gure, a village governed by a prince of the royal family; and afterwards that of Hyam-Hyren, where he arrived at noon, and stopped for three hours till the intense heat had subsided. The chief here refreshed him, and had him taken to a couch, where he ordered one of his women to stand and fan him.

On the 16th, after passing through several small Negro villages, he arrived at that of Meriné, where the inhabitants received him with acclamations, which testified their great pleasure. The master and the principal inhabitants came in bodies to salute him, and kept off their people, who pressed on him through curiosity. At the same time a prince named Yousoufat, the governor of a neighbouring village, having heard of the arrival of a white man, came with a numerous suite of cavalry, and offered his services. This prince urged him to stop a few days in his village, which he declined, but was obliged to promise that he would accept the offer on his return. On the 17th, when he was about to leave the village of Meriné, the master came with great ceremony to wish him a good journey: he prostrated himself at his feet, kissed his hands, and refused to accept of any present whatever.

He next reached the village of Beteldiabi, where the people came out and danced before him to the sounds of the instruments of their country, which are the rude kind of drum already described, and one which resembles our mandolines. It is remarkable, that the Negroes of the Senegal can never accustom themselves to European drums, with which they have been acquainted for a length of time.