These people are rigid observers of all the laws of Mahomet; and one of their duties, which they exercise to the utmost extent, is to rob and cheat the Christians as often as possible. They say prayers five times a day, and on Friday, which is their sabbath, seven times. The Mahometans of Senegal only pray three times daily, viz. at the dawn, at noon, and at sun-set: for want of mosques, they meet in the place appropriated for public business, and join in prayer with much devotion and gravity. The ceremony lasts about half an hour each time, and no excuse is admitted for non-attendance. On praying they always turn their faces towards the east; but on the contrary, when they wish to satisfy the wants of nature, they turn towards the west, and crouch down like women.
All Mahometans are obliged to fast once a year for an entire moon, and this fast is called the ramadan. The period at which it takes place, changes annually, in consequence of their year being a lunar one, which makes it ten days shorter than the solar calculations; but the less informed Negroes, fix their fast on the appearance of the September moon, or the autumnal equinox. As soon as it appears, they salute it by offering it their right hand, which they previously spit in; they then bow their heads towards it, and walk two or three times in a circular direction.
Negroes Swarming Trees.
All the Mahometans have a great veneration for the moon, insomuch that they never fail to salute it as soon as it rises. They present it their open purses, and pray that it will cause their money to increase, as it grows. They call their months by the name of moons.
Sidi-Carachi stopped at Gasama, a large village situated in a valley, which contains a prodigious number of palm-trees of every kind, and with the wine from which the inhabitants carry on a considerable trade. It is a liquor which runs from the top of the tree by means of an incision, and is of the consistence and colour of skimmed milk; it ferments like champaign: it is sweet when it issues from the tree, but becomes sour in a few days, and speedily changes to vinegar; notwithstanding which the Negroes frequently make it their common drink. This wine is very spirituous, and the intoxication which it produces often gives rise to fatal effects. One branch of these trees will frequently yield, from a single incision, two quarts of wine in twenty-four hours, and continue running for thirty or forty days; after which the Negroes, who interest themselves to preserve the trees, stop up the hole with clay, in order to give the sap another direction. Each branch will bear an incision, with the same result.
One manner of drawing off the wine is, to make a hole at the top of the tree, in which they fix a cane, to conduct the liquor down into their pots. The Negroes do not know why this method is preferable, but they say, that they pursue the means adopted by their forefathers: the reason, however, is obvious; for if the tree were perforated towards the bottom, the sap would run off before it had imparted any nourishment to the tree; and it is likewise ascertained, that the higher the tree, the more sweet and rich is the wine.
The Negroes do not use ladders to ascend these trees, but climb by means of a strong rope of cotton, or of palm leaves twisted together: this rope is long enough to embrace the trunk of the tree and the body of a man, leaving about two feet between them. The Negro encloses the rope by means of a button and loop, and then, by a circular motion, ascends the tree with the greatest confidence, having his arms at liberty to perform any operation.
Besides the wine, the Negroes derive from a certain species of the palm-tree, a kind of oil, which they eat, and use for anointing their bodies; it renders their skin glossy, and their joints supple. This oil has the taste and consistence of butter. The Europeans employ it in their cookery, and find it very good when fresh; but if kept for a time, it becomes rank, and loses its colour, taste, and smell. It is said to possess some medicinal virtues, particularly in the gout, the pain of which it relieves.
There are several species of palm-trees, all of which are produced in Africa in great abundance. Those which are found on the banks of the Senegal, afford no fruit; nor did I ever find any dates amongst them, though I made a particular search. Why these trees are barren in the positions just mentioned, I cannot perceive, as they bear fruit in the interior and on the coast of Barbary.