Travels in Western Africa, in the years 1818, 19, 20, and 21, from the river Gambia, through Woolli, Bondoo, Galam, Kasson, Kaarta, and Foolidoo, to the river Niger

by Major William Gray; Staff Surgeon Dochard

He derives also considerable emolument from a tenth of the salt imported from the coast by the natives of the country, and from an annual custom, or tribute, paid him by the Senegal Company’s vessels trading in the river, and the French Government establishment at Baquelle, where, as will appear in a subsequent article on Galam, he has of late years acquired considerable influence and authority.

The peace offerings and presents from all those who have any business to transact with the king, or favour to ask from him, although not limited to any particular amount, do not compose the least valuable part of his income: slaves, horses, cattle, poultry, rice, corn, cotton cloths, gold, and indeed all the productions of the country, are incessantly presented as douceurs.

The religion is Mahomedan, but its precepts are not so strictly attended to in Bondoo as in some of the other states of Western Africa. There are mosques of one kind or other in every town; some of them, however, are nothing more than small square spaces enclosed with stakes, and kept cleanly swept. Here, as in all the others, prayers are publicly said five times every day; the usual Mahomedan ceremonies of ablution, &c., are attended to. When praying, they strip off all implements of war, or receptacles of money, tobacco, or snuff, and make use of a string of beads or rosary, which they count frequently after each act of devotion. This consists in facing the east, and bowing the body several times, so as to allow the forehead to touch the ground, at the same time repeating some short prayers from the Koran, and frequently ejaculating the name of the Prophet in the most apparently devout manner.

Had Almamy Amady, in embracing this religion, bad and unsound as it is, been actuated by any other principle than that of self-interest, and the desire of attaching to his cause the people of Foota Toro and Jallon, he might have (at least by personal example) inspired his subjects with a reverence for the divine character, and an inclination to please him, by a just and upright line of conduct, to both which they are entire strangers; evincing, in all their concerns, both among themselves and with their neighbours, a low deceitful cunning, which they endeavour to cloak by religious cant. In fact, I have never seen a people who have more of the outward show of religion with less of its inward influence.

There are schools in almost every town, for the instruction of those youths who intend making the Mahomedan religion their profession, and in the principles and practice of which, and reading and writing Arabic from their sacred book, the Koran, they are solely instructed. Numbers and their uses are unknown; they can scarcely add two simple numbers together without having recourse to the usual African methods, namely, counting the fingers, or making strokes in the sand. The student or scholar is, in all cases, the servant of his teacher, who may employ him in any menial capacity whatever. They go about, when not at their lessons, begging, and sewing the country cloths together, for any who may want to employ them: the produce of those callings are brought to the master, who is always a priest, and appropriated to his use.

The people of Bondoo are a mixture of Foolahs, Mandingoes, Serrawollies, and Joloffs, retaining, however, more of the manners and customs of the first, and speaking their language exclusively. They are of the middle size, well made, and very active, their skin of a light copper colour, and their faces of a form approaching nearer to those of Europe than any of the other tribes of Western Africa, the Moors excepted. Their hair, too, is not so short or woolly as that of the black, and their eyes are, with the advantage of being larger and rounder, of a better colour, and more expressive. The women in particular, who, without the assistance of art, might vie, in point of figure, with those of the most exquisitely fine form in Europe, are of a more lively disposition, and more delicate form of face than either the Serrawollies, Mandingoes, or Joloffs. They are extremely neat in their persons and dress, and are very fond of amber, coral, and glass beads, of different colours, with which they adorn or bedeck their heads, necks, wrists, and ancles profusely; gold and silver, too, are often formed into small buttons, which are intermixed with the former on the head, and into rings and chains worn on the wrists and ancles. They always wear a veil thrown loosely over the head: this is manufactured by themselves from cotton, and is intended to imitate thin muslin, at which they have not by any means made a bad attempt. The other parts of their dress are precisely the same as that already described to be worn by the inhabitants of Kayaye, and, with few exceptions of silk and printed cotton which they obtain from the coast, are entirely of their own manufacture. They are exceedingly fond of perfumes of every kind, particularly musk, attar of roses, or lavender, but they can seldom procure these, and therefore substitute cloves, which they pound into powder, and mix up with a kernel, having something the flavour of a Tonquin bean, which they likewise reduce to powder, and, with a little gum-water, form it into beads about the size of a common garden pea. These they string and hang round the neck; they sometimes string the cloves themselves, and wear them in the same manner; but the way in which they prefer wearing them is sewed up in small bags made of rich coloured silk, a number of which are hung round the neck. The hair, which is neatly braided into a profusion of small plaits, hangs down nearly to the shoulders, and is confined (together with the strings of amber, coral, and beads, which decorate it) round the forehead with a few strings of small beads by the young girls, and, by the married, with a narrow strip of silk, or fine cotton cloth, twisted into a string about as thick as a finger. To complete their dress, a pair of large gold ear-rings dangle almost to touch the shoulders, and, in consequence of their great weight, would tear their ears were they not supported by a little strap of thin red leather, which is fastened to one ear-ring by a button, and passes over the top of the head to the other. The walk of these ladies is peculiarly majestic and graceful, and their whole appearance, although strange to a European observer, is far from being inelegant.

The dress of the men, with the exception of being smaller and more convenient, is precisely the same as that of the people at Kayaye. Blue and white are the favourite colours. With the rich, the manufacture of the country is replaced by India bafts and muslins, both which are embroidered neatly with different coloured silks or worsteds round the neck, and down the back and chest. The cap, which is always white, is of a very graceful form, and is also embroidered, but with white only. The Maroboos, and men advanced in years, wear white turbans, with red or blue crowns, occasionally a hat made of a sort of rush or grass, having a low conical crown, with a broad rim. When on horseback, or going to war, the large sleeves of their gowns are tied together behind the neck, being brought over the shoulders; and the bodies, which would be otherwise extremely inconvenient from being very loose, are secured round the middle with a girdle, which, at the same time, confines their powder horn and ball bag on the right side, and their grigri, or amulet case, on the left. These are all suspended by strong cords of red, yellow, or green silk or worsted, and are crossed in the same manner as the belts of our soldiers. A dirk, about nine inches or a foot long, hangs at the right side from the running string or strap, which, at the same time, serves to tighten the trowsers above the hips. A single, or double-barrelled gun, completes their equipment in general; some of the princes and chiefs, however, add a sword, confined at the right side by their girdle, and one or two pistols which hang dangling in thin leather holsters, variously coloured, at the pummel or front horn of their saddle. One leather bag, to contain water, and another, a small store of dried cous cous, for their own provision, together with a nose bag, and a fetter of the same material, for their horse, make up the catalogue of their marching baggage, and are all fastened, by leather straps, to the back part of the saddle, which is at best but a bad one, being chiefly composed of pieces of wood, tied together by thongs of raw cow hide, and which, when wet, stretches so as to allow the wood to come in contact with the horse’s back, and wound it in a shocking manner.

The disposable force of Bondoo from all the information I could collect, does not exceed from 500 to 600 horse, and from 2000 to 3000 foot. When Almamy finds it necessary to call this army to the field for the protection of the country, or with the intention of invading the territories of some of his neighbours, he repairs with his own immediate followers to some village at a short distance from the capital, and there beats the war drum[15], which is repeated by each village, and in this manner the call to arms is circulated over the country.

The chief of each town or village with as little delay as possible assembles his followers (or division, if it may be so called), and proceeds to head-quarters, where those chiefs consult with the king on the plan of attack or defence. No regular division of the army takes place, nor is there any provision made for its support or equipment; each man provides for himself such means of support, arms, and ammunition, as he can afford, and so badly are they furnished with the two latter, that when I saw the army assembled, a great many indeed had no other weapons than a knife and a bludgeon of hard wood. On some occasions, a favoured few receive two or three charges of powder and ball with a couple of flints: and in some very solitary instances indeed, his majesty confers marks of his royal favour on one, by a present of a horse, and on another a gun. Provisions they find as they can, and woe to the stores and cattle of that town where they are assembled for any time.

Whenever the object of the campaign is not decided on within a few days, the least effective persons disappear, and may be said to reduce the whole force one-third, and even then many might be found, who remain with no other object in view, than that of begging from Almamy; amongst those are generally the priests and griots, or goulas.