Other Moors, whom I questioned respecting Laing, merely told me that the major ate little, and that he lived entirely on bread, eggs, and poultry. I moreover learned that he was tormented to say that there is but one God and that Mahomet is his prophet; but he always stopped at the words: “There is but one God” They then called him cafir, and infidel, but, without ill treating him, left him free to think and pray in his own way. Sidi-Abdallahi, whom I often questioned as to whether the major had been insulted during his stay at Timbuctoo, always replied in the negative; shaking his head, to give me to understand, that they would have been sorry to annoy him.
This toleration may be accounted for by the fact, that the Moors who reside at Timbuctoo come from Tripoli, Algiers, and Morocco, and that, being in the habit of seeing christians in their own countries, they are less liable to be offended at their worship and their manners. For instance, Sidi-Abdallahi, who came from Tatta, a town near Cape Mogador, was not inimical to the christians. Thus it may easily be conceived that the major was free to inspect every part of the town and even to enter the mosques.
It would appear that, after he had made himself completely acquainted with Timbuctoo, he wished to see Cabra and the Dhioliba. But had he left the city in the day time he would have incurred the greatest danger from the Tooariks, who are continually roaming about the environs of Timbuctoo, and whose attack he had too much reason to remember. He determined to set off during the night. This was wise, for though the Tooariks dared not touch him while he staid in the town, they would have wrecked their vengeance on him had they caught him beyond its limits, and murdered as well as robbed him.
Taking advantage of a dark night, Major Laing mounted his horse, and, unaccompanied by a single native, reached Cabra, and even, it is said, the banks of the Dhioliba, without accident. On his return to Timbuctoo, he ardently wished, instead of proceeding to Europe by the desert, to travel by Jenné and Sego, ascending the Dhioliba, whence he might have reached the French factories on the Senegal. But, no sooner had he communicated his plan to the Foulahs established on the borders of the Dhioliba; (a great number of whom had resorted to Timbuctoo, on hearing of the arrival of a christian) than they all declared they would never suffer a nasarah to set foot in their territory, and if he made the attempt, they warned him that he would have cause to repent it.
The major, perceiving that he could do nothing with these fanatics, chose the rout of el-Arawan, where he hoped to join a caravan of Moorish merchants, conveying salt to Sansanding; but alas! after journeying five days to the north of Timbuctoo, the caravan with which he had come up was stopped by Sheikh Hamet-oul’d-Habib, an old fanatic, chief of the tribe of Zawât, who wander in the desert of that name. Sheikh Hamet seized the major, under pretence of his having entered his territory without permission. He then wished to compel him to acknowledge Mahomet to be prophet of God, and required him even to make the salam. Laing relying too confidently on the protection of the pacha of Tripoli, who had recommended him to all the sheikhs of the desert, refused to obey Hamet, who more and more urgently insisted on his acknowledging himself a Musulman. Laing continued firm, and chose to die rather than yield; a resolution which made one of the most intelligent of travellers a martyr to the cause of science. A Moor, belonging to the train of the chief of the Zawâts, who was directed by his master to kill the christian, refused to execute his order. “What!” said he, “do you wish me to slay the first christian who has come among us, and one who has done us no injury? give the commission to another; I will not be the instrument of his death; kill him yourself.” This address suspended for a moment the fatal sentence, and the question of Laing’s life or death was warmly debated for some time. At length the latter was decided on. Some black slaves were summoned, and they were ordered to perform the horrid deed, with which the Moor had refused to stain his hands. One of the murderers immediately tied his turban round the neck of the victim, and strangled him on the spot, he pulling one end while his comrade held the other. The corpse of the unfortunate Laing was cast upon the desert, to become the prey of the raven and the vulture, the only birds which inhabit those desolate regions.
When the major had once been discovered to be a christian and a European, death was a thousand times preferable to even a temporary change of religion, since he must have renounced all hope of again visiting Europe. The fate of Laing, had he become a Musulman perforce, would have been irremediably wretched. He would have been the slave of merciless barbarians, and exposed to all the miseries and dangers peculiar to that country; in vain would the pacha of Tripoli have demanded his liberation. At that immense distance, the chief of the Zawâts would have scorned his menaces and detained his prisoner. The resolution of Major Laing was perhaps at once a proof of intrepidity and of foresight.
On his departure for El-Arawan the major took with him some astronomical instruments and his papers, but very little merchandise, for the Tooariks had relieved him of nearly all he possessed. The Sheikh Hamet therefore gained little by the murder of the English traveller, and he was even obliged to divide that little with the wretches whom he had made the instruments of his crime. A Moor of Tafilet, who belonged to the caravan, had for his share of the spoil a sextant, which I was informed might be found in the country. As for the major’s papers and journals, they were scattered among the inhabitants of the desert. During my stay at Gourland, a village of Tafilet, I saw a copper pocket compass, of English manufacture. Nobody could tell me whence this instrument had come, and I concluded that it had belonged to Laing. Had it not been for the precautions I was compelled to observe in my Arabic disguise, I would have given a good price for it; but I could not, without betraying myself, show that I attached the least value to an instrument, of the use of which I was supposed to be ignorant.
I have left a wide field of discovery for those who come after me, especially in the geography and natural history of this country. What I have suffered should not discourage future enquirers. Their attempts will doubtless be attended with hardships and danger; but an enterprise conducted with prudence would triumph over obstacles. To ensure success, the traveller should, I think, make no sort of display; he should externally adopt the worship of Mahomet, and pass himself off for an Arab. A pretended convert would not enjoy so much liberty, and would be an object of suspicion to such distrustful people. Besides, I am of opinion that a converted christian would not be tolerated among the negro tribes. The best plan would be, I think to cross the great desert of Sahara in the character of an Arab, provided with adequate but concealed resources. After remaining for some time in the Musulman town selected by the traveller as his starting point, where he might give himself out as a merchant, to avoid suspicion, he might purchase some merchandise in that town, under the pretence of going to trade further on, carefully abstaining from all mention of the city of Timbuctoo.
Let us suppose Tangiers or Arbate to be the place chosen as the point of departure; mercantile business at Fez might be alleged as an excuse for setting off. Still adopting the same pretence, the traveller might proceed from Fez to Tafilet, and thence to Timbuctoo. At Tafilet there would be no danger of speaking of Timbuctoo, for there a journey to the Soudan is an affair of frequent occurrence and it excites no attention. It would be advisable to purchase merchandise at Tafilet for the purpose of exportation. On reaching Timbuctoo, the traveller should settle there, establish a mercantile house; but he should above all things avoid appearing rich, and must make himself familiar with the customs of the country, and be very circumspect in every thing connected with religion.
After remaining at Timbuctoo seventeen or eighteen months, and purchasing some Mandingo or Bambara slaves speaking the Kissour and Tooarik languages, he might procure a middle-sized well built canoe, for the conveyance of merchandise and provisions. It would be necessary to take a supply of the latter, on account of the uncertainty of being able to procure them from the people who dwell on the banks of the river. By promising the slaves their liberty, they might be easily prevailed upon to undertake the voyage, the pretended object of which would be to trade in the lower part of the river, and to purchase gum, ivory, &c. It would not be necessary to adopt all these precautions for the passage of the river above Cabra.