Each house forms a square,[13] containing two inner courts, round which are ranged the chambers, each of which is of a narrow oblong form and serves at once for a magazine and bed-room. These rooms receive light only from the door of entrance, and another very small door opening into the inner court. They have neither windows nor chimneys.
The people of Timbuctoo have not adopted the practice, which is general in the Soudan, of lighting fires in their houses. Some of them build in the court a small hut of mats, in which during summer they live day and night; the chambers being too warm.
A chamber similar to those I have above described was allotted to me; but I had well nigh been suffocated in it. I found it impossible to endure the heat, especially in the night. But what could I do in a country where there is not a tree to cast the least shade? My only refuge was a mosque which was the coolest and most airy place I could find. The east wind too, by raising clouds of dust, darkens the atmosphere and augments the heat. The inhabitants stay within doors during the heat of the day, and only go out in the mornings and evenings. The nights bring with them an oppressive calmness of the atmosphere, and if by chance there is a breath of air, it is felt like a burning vapour, and seems almost to scorch the lungs. I was continually ill at Timbuctoo.
The caravan destined for Tafilet was not to leave Timbuctoo for some days, and I was informed that the next did not start for three months; I therefore determined to take advantage of the earliest conveyance; for I dreaded so long a stay at Timbuctoo, notwithstanding the reiterated invitations of Sidi-Abdallahi, who recommended to me to take the route of Tripoli by Ardamas rather than that of Morocco. He told me that he had intended to make a collection for me, but that my speedy departure afforded him no time to do so. He assured me that, if I would remain with him some months, my subsistence should cost me nothing. I scarcely knew how to decline such kindness, but I had formed my determination; I excused myself to Sidi, by telling him that I was afraid to travel in the rainy season, and finding me obstinate he looked out for a good guide to conduct me to Tafilet.
The Moors in whose company I was about to travel were far from being so kind and civilized as those who reside in the city. I had had an opportunity of observing their manners before I started; for, they often came and begged of me, and made no scruple of rousing me out of my sleep. They are a class of men whom the Moors of a superior order call zenagues, (tributaries). They are very ignorant. Many of them do not know the first prayers of the Koran. They however observe religious ceremonies. A poor stranger like myself, unacquainted with their language, was in their eyes an object of contempt. I expected therefore to suffer much in crossing the desert.
Sidi-Abdallahi informed me that he had hired a camel to carry me to Tafilet. The thirty thousand cowries’ worth of cloth, the proceeds of the sale of my merchandise at Jenné, sufficed to pay for the camel. Sidi told me that he would keep my cloth and give my guide ten mitkhals of gold, or thirty piastres.
I employed the remainder of the time I stayed in Timbuctoo in collecting information respecting the unfortunate death of Major Laing, which I had heard mentioned at Jenné, and which was confirmed by the inhabitants of Timbuctoo whom I questioned respecting the melancholy event. I learned, that when within a few days’ journey of the city, the caravan to which the major belonged was stopped, on the road to Tripoli, by the Tooariks, or as others alleged, by the Berbiches, a wandering tribe, near the Dhioliba. Laing, being discovered to be a christian, was cruelly attacked, and his assailants continued beating him with a club until they thought him dead. I conclude that the other christian, who was said to have been actually murdered, was a servant of the major’s.
The Moors belonging to the caravan raised Laing up, and succeeded in restoring him to animation. When he became sensible, they placed him upon a camel, but he was so weak that they were obliged to tie him on. The robbers left him almost destitute, having robbed him of the greater part of his merchandise.
On his arrival at Timbuctoo, Major Laing healed his wounds by the aid of an ointment which he brought with him from England. His recovery was slow; but he was made very comfortable, owing to the letters of recommendation which he had brought from Tripoli, and especially to the attention of his landlord, a Tripolitan, to whom he had been directed. The house of this Moor was near that in which I lodged at Timbuctoo. I had frequent opportunities of seeing him. He appeared to me a man full of kindly feelings. Many a time he has given me dates, from mere charity, and the day before I left he made me a present of a pair of blue cotton trowsers, to wear on my journey.
He told me that the major had been recommended by a Tripolitan house to an old Moor, who, not having convenience to lodge him, transferred him to his hospitality. Laing, he added, never laid aside his European dress, and used to give out that he had been sent by his master the King of England, for the purpose of making himself acquainted with Timbuctoo and the wonders it contains.[14] It would appear that the traveller had openly taken a plan of Timbuctoo, for the same Moor told me in his simple way that he had written down every thing in it.