A voyage to Senegal

by Jean Baptiste Léonard Durand

With respect to their women, they are less rigorous than Mahomet; as they think, that if the prophet could place in paradise his camel, cat, and many other animals, they may also expect their women to enter it. To give them hopes of this event, they cause them to undergo circumcision; and in order that their natural modesty may not be hurt, the operation is performed by women. They teach the females to expect beatitude, but only on condition that they are chaste, faithful, and obedient to their husbands.

In this plain, which is covered with trees, Rubault observed several of the wild fig kind, which had grown to the vast girth of upwards of thirty feet. The trunk, after reaching the height of thirty-five or forty feet, divides itself into several large branches, which produce an infinity of smaller ones, that are loaded with fruit and leaves: the latter resemble those of the walnut-tree are of a light green, and grow so thick that they form an impenetrable obstacle to the sun. The fruit of this tree is of the shape and size of pigeons’ eggs; it has a faint taste, and is filled with maggots. Animals feed on it; but the Negroes do not use it. The timber is not fit to burn, is difficult to saw in planks, and is used by the Negroes for bowls, platters, &c. The Negroes repose and receive visits under its shade.

There are found in this part of the country all the animals peculiar to Africa, as well as an abundance of elephants, lions, tigers, wild hogs, gazelles, civets, tiger-cats, and ounces. The gazelles partake of the camel, the goat, the deer, and the hare; their hair is like that of the camel; and, as well as that animal, they have a black circle above the eyes; their body is like that of the hind; their bleat imitates that of the goats; and their legs, like those of the hare, are shorter before than behind. They ascend with rapidity, but they lose much in coming down a hill, and when the declivity is steep they often roll down instead of running. In a flat country they are at their ease, and go well, extending themselves to such a degree that their bellies almost touch the ground; they prick their ears at the least noise. Their horns grow straight till within an inch of the extremity, when they curve inwards, as if nature wished to prevent them from doing any harm. They are extremely gentle, and easy to tame. They pass over Africa alternately, from the northern to the southern part.

The Negroes salt or pickle the flesh of the gazelles; but when thus prepared, it is not very good; though it is extremely delicate when eaten fresh. They have a singular manner of hunting these animals. When the grass is dry, they set it on fire, and place themselves at the passage which the gazelles must take to escape, where they watch for them, and when they appear attack them with arrows, sagayes, and clubs, making prodigious slaughter.

The civet is an animal as large and thick as a tolerably great dog; it has a pointed muzzle; the eyes and ears are small; the whiskers like those of a cat; the skip spotted with white, black, and yellow; while its tail is as thick and long as that of a fox. It is a wild, cruel, and carnivorous animal, whose bite is dangerous. The Negroes take them by snares; and those who buy them keep them in iron cages, and feed them on raw flesh.

This animal is merely an object of curiosity with the Africans, as they do not eat it. The Europeans derive from it an unctuous liquid, similar to an ointment, which collects in the males in a bag placed between the testicles and the penis; and in the females between the pubes and the anus. This bag is about three inches deep, by two and a half wide: it contains a number of little glands filled with odorous matter, which is obtained by compression. The operation is thus performed:—They seize the tail of the animal while confined in the cage, and draw it between the bars; they then bring the hind legs in the same manner, and hold them tight; they then pass a plank before the animal to prevent him from going forwards; and in this position they introduce into the sac a small iron spoon, with which they lightly scrape the internal emissaries. This motion compresses the glands, and obliges them to evacuate the matter they contain, which is then removed with a spoon.

This process cannot, however, be performed daily; as the animal does not produce a sufficient supply of matter; it therefore takes place every third day, and in certain seasons, once in two days. Each time affords about a drachm and half, or at the utmost two drachms. When the substance is first taken it is white, rather bordering upon grey, but changes imperceptibly to a brown. Its smell at a distance is sweet and agreeable; but when near, is too strong, and affects the head. The perfumers prepare it by mixing with it other drugs, which interrupt the violent volatility of its particles, and thus render the smell not merely supportable, but to many people delightful.

The Dutch breed a number of civets, and send to Paris all the musk which they obtain. They feed the animals on nothing but milk and the yolks of eggs; and it is asserted that this food renders the Dutch musk whiter than which comes from Africa, or the East and West Indies, where they feed them promiscuously and abundantly on different kinds of raw flesh: in other respects, the colour excepted, all musk has the same qualities. It is, however, almost impossible to procure pure musk, as the Jews of Holland and Cairo, and indeed all those who trade in this article, almost always adulterate it. They gain much by this practice, and we lose nothing: in the way we receive it, it is equal to our wants, and even to our luxuries.

A great number of civets might be raised in the European factories in Africa; but it is evident that the rage for musk is past, as our nerves are become so delicate that we can scarcely think of it; it is therefore only used in medicine, in which it is administered for the cholic in children, by applying it to the navel, as well as in certain female complaints; and, however small may be the quantity that we receive, we find it sufficient for our consumption.

The ounces are a species of the leopard, and their skin is extremely beautiful. This animal is very active, runs in a leaping or cantering manner, and darts like lightning upon its prey. It is said, that the Persians used them for hunting gazelles, and the following is the manner in which their chase has been described: they carried the ounces on horseback, either before or behind them; and when they perceived a gazelle, they shewed it to one, and let him loose. The ounce made after it, seized it by the neck, and strangled it; but if he missed his leap, and the gazelle escaped, he remained in the greatest apparent confusion. The huntsman then caressed him, took him again on horseback, and continued the sport, when the ounce became so eager to retrieve his credit, that the next animal that appeared was sure to be taken.