[114] Speaking of the sight of the river, which he obtained from the heights of Toniba, at four leagues distance, Park exclaims: “I once more saw the Niger rolling its immense stream along the plain.” (The Journal of a Mission, &c. London, 1815, page 143).
[115] See Section III below.
[116] Journal of a Mission, &c., 144, and following pages.
[117] I have already called the reader’s attention to the fact that M. Walckenaer had carried this position at least two degrees farther west than the old maps. Subsequent observations, which I have employed myself in collecting, have proved that a change in this direction was necessary. To judge of its extent it was essential to have good observations taken at Galam, (or at Bakel), as well as a new itinerary between Senegambia and the Dhioliba. It is on these more accurate data that I have endeavoured to work.
[118] On occasion of the rains, the useful assistance he derived from his English umbrella may be remarked, not only for the shelter it afforded him, but for the importance which the natives attached to it, the admiration it produced, and the advantage he derived from that admiration. This narrative shews that this is one of the portable articles which Europeans would be most certain of exporting with success to Africa.
[119] The Marabouts write this word عَراَوَان
[120] See the description of this city in Mr. Jackson’s work, quoted above, and that of Timbuctoo, in the Travels of Robert Adams and of Riley, in Leo Africanus, and in the Recherches of M. Walckenaer, &c.
[121] The king of Tombuto, according to Leo, had three thousand horsemen under his command, and an almost innumerable multitude of archers. One very remarkable circumstance is that fire destroyed, according to this author, (if we read oppidi pars) almost half the city in the space of five hours. Leo’s recital is the most important, and perhaps the most authentic, of any we have hitherto possessed. These motives induce me to place it entire before the reader, in order that he may compare it with the new narrative. I shall quote the Latin version made from the Italian of Leo (2nd edition), though it is not quite so accurate as might be wished: it is well known that Leo wrote it originally in Arabic. See Joannis Leonis Africani de totius Africæ Descriptione lib, Tiguri, 1559. 431 and following pages.
TUMBUTUM REGNUM.
Hujus regni nomen nostris ferè temporibus ab ejusdem nominis oppido desumptum volunt, cujus conditorem fuisse dicunt quemdam Mensè-Suleiman, hegiræ anno sexcentesimo decimo: in duodecimo milliario à quodam fluviolo situm fuit, quod è Nigro flumine effluebat; cujus domus omnes in tuguriola cretacea[A] stramineis tectis sunt mutatæ. Visitur tamen elegantissimum quoddam templum, cujus murus ex lapidibus atque calce vivo est fabricatus: deindè et palatium quoddam regium à quodam Granatæ viro artificiosissimo conditum. Frequentissimæ hìc sunt artificum, mercatorum, præcipuè autem telæ atque gossypii textorum, officinæ. Hùc mercatores barbari pannum ex Europâ afferunt. Hujus quoque regionis mulieres faciem tegunt, ancillis tamen exceptis, iisque quæ omnia ad victum necessaria vendunt. Incolæ, ac inter hos exteri præsertim, sunt ditissimi, adeò ut qui jam regem agit, utramque filiam duobus mercatoribus ditissimis in uxores dederit. Frequentissimi hìc putei, qui aquam præbent dulcissimam; ac quoties Niger flumen excrescit, ejus aquam ductibus quibusdam in urbem trahunt. Regio est frumentis, pecudibus, lacte atque butyro copiosissima: salis verò summa est penuria; hùc enim à Tegasa, quod oppidum in quingentesimo abest milliario, adferri solet. Ego cùm hìc essem, vidi salis sarcinam unam, quantùm camelus ferre potuit, octoginta emi aureis. Tumbuti rex opulentissimus bracteas aliquot atque sceptra habet, quorum nonnulla mille et trecentarum sunt librarum. Magnificam optimèque instructam alit aulam: quoties aliquò proficiscitur, camelo insidet, qui à nobilibus duci solet; idem evenit quoties ad bellum proficiscitur; milites verò omnes equites sunt. Hunc si quis regem alloqui velit, ad pedes primùm procidit, deindè terram sumens in caput atque humeros sternit: soletque hic fère mos ab illis servari, qui nunquam anteà regi sunt locuti, aut qui ab alio principe hùc legati sunt missi. Equitum semper tria millia habet, pedites propemodùm innumeros, qui arcubus sagittas emittunt veneno infectas. Frequentissimè cum his belligerantur, qui tributum persolvere recusant, et quotquot prælio capere possunt, Tumbuti mercatoribus vendunt. Magna hìc est equorum paucitas; mercatores atque aulici pusillos quosdam alunt, quibus in itinere peragendo uti solent; præstantissimi autem equi à Barbaria adducuntur; Rex verò simul atque audit mercatores cum equis appulisse, mox numerum sibi adferri jubet, deindè omnium præstantissimum sibi deligit, pretiumque liberalissime persolvit. Judæis omnibus adeò se hostem atrocem præbet, ut nullos omninò in ea civitate admittat: si quos Barbaros aliquid cum Judæis commercii habere intelligit, statim illorum bona proscribere jubet. Magna hìc est judicum, doctorum, sacerdotum, atque virorum doctissimorum, copia, qui liberalissimis regiis aluntur stipendiis. Infiniti hìc libri manuscripti ex Barbaria adferuntur; è quibus multò plures pecuniæ quàm ex reliquiis omnibus mercibus colliguntur. Horum moneta aurea est, nullis figuris insignita: in rebus autem minutioribus cochleis quibusdam utuntur quæ hùc ex Persarum regione convehi solent, harum quadringentæ aureo æquivalent: aureorum autem sex, cum duabus unius aurei tertiis, unciam unam pendent. Homines naturâ sunt mites atque placidi; à vigesimâ quartâ in primam usque noctis horam cantando atque saltando omnes ferè civitatis partes ambiunt. Mancipia utriusque sexûs quàm plurima alunt: estque oppidum ignis injuriæ maximè obnoxium; ubi jàm secundùm ad hos venissem dimidia ferè oppida pars quinque horarum spatio igne deleta fuit. Nullum in suburbio hortum aut fructibus consitum locum reperies.