I saw some slaves employed in weeding millet; they used an instrument like a chimney-sweeper’s scraper, having a handle a foot long; they knelt to their work.
The motion of the camel fatigued me to such a degree that I was obliged to dismount. The country was open, and intersected by ravines: the soil was composed of a very hard red sand, on which I saw a great number of blocks of white marble; several of these I examined to ascertain their nature. We halted at a small camp consisting of seven tents; the marabout ordered some milk and water to be given to me to quench my thirst. We remained there during the heat of the day; my marabout then desired me to perform the salam[17], and we pursued our journey still in the same direction. Before we reached the king’s camp, we passed near a pond, in which my guide caused me to be again washed by a zenague Moor, to purify me, as he said.
It was three o’clock when we reached the camp of the king: we had travelled twenty-four miles, and that in a very short time, for our camel went at a great rate. The camp was situated at a place called Guiguis, near a pond which served for watering the cattle.
Every body was apprized of my coming; in consequence I was presently surrounded by a numerous concourse. There were in the camp many marabouts who expected presents from this prince; they received me kindly: one of them, the Sherif Sidy-Mohammed, belonging to the Koont nation, proposed to me to take up my abode in his camp, promising to treat me as his son. I thanked him, and told him in answer to his politeness, that if I had not promised Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar, I should have given him the preference. I desired to be presented afterwards to Hamet-Dou; but I was told that this prince was lying down and that I could not see him till he awoke: in a quarter of an hour he sent for me, and I found him with a negro who spoke a little French and served as interpreter. When I entered the king’s tent, he stretched out his hand with a smile, and addressed me with the customary salutation. Salam aleïkoom, adding these words of French which he had picked up at the Moorish market—“Comment vous portez-vous, Monsieur? Bien, merci, Monsieur.” He asked the question, and answered it himself, not understanding the meaning of the words, which he repeated several times; he then asked me many questions, inquiring about the merchants of St. Louis with whom he was acquainted, and lastly about my own profession. I told him the same tale which I had got up the evening before for Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar; he was perfectly satisfied with it, and I perceived (as I had on the former occasion) that what pleased them most was the account of my wealth. He reiterated his questions, to try whether I should repeat the same answers, and concluded by assuring me of his protection while I should remain in his dominions, and particularly against his great marabout. He told me not to be afraid of any of his subjects; to which I replied that I feared no one but God. This answer pleased him; he took my hand with an air of satisfaction, exclaiming at the same time: Maloum, Abd-Allahi (that is right Abd-Allahi[18]) and then dismissed me, admonishing me to rejoin my mentor, and not to leave him again. As it was now dark however, and I did not know where to find Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar, I was lodged in a tent belonging to the king’s suite, many of whom crowded around me.
I was not yet accustomed to the Moorish diet, and the small quantity of milk I had drunk in the morning was very little support; it was now late at night and I was ravenously hungry. I ventured at last, to ask those who were about me for something to eat. One of them repeated the request to the king, who sent for me again, made me say a prayer, and then ordered a slave to milk a cow for me. I had hoped for something a little more substantial, and I told Hamet-Dou, when they brought me the milk, that I should like to eat something before I drank, and that I was more hungry than thirsty. These words excited “laughter unextinguishable” in all those who were in the tent; the king himself laughed as if he would have split his sides, and then told me he had nothing better to offer me, for that he never took any other nourishment than milk. I drank a little, and then returned to the tent which was allotted to me. About ten o’clock at night a Moor brought me some scraps of mutton, which he carried in his hand; they were sent, as I found out, by my marabout, and the bearer sitting down on a mat very unceremoniously partook of the feast. The mutton was boiled and full of sand, but hunger gave it a relish, and I thought it good fare.
In the night between the 8th and 9th, Boubou-Fanfale arrived; they had only been waiting for him to break up the camp.
On the 9th, early in the morning, preparation was made for departure. The queen sent for me, and gave me some milk for breakfast. At sunrise the slaves took down the tents, and loaded them upon camels, together with the stakes, each camel carrying a tent; the rest of the goods were borne by oxen, and the women were conveyed, on camels appropriated to that office. The saddles for this purpose are furnished with a sort of oval pannier, large enough for two persons to sit in, and lined with a handsome carpet; that the journey may be more agreeable to the Moorish ladies, their seat is shaded by an awning of their finest manufactures.
The queen’s saddle was adorned with scarlet and yellow cloth, and her cloth housing embroidered with many colours in silk. Her bridle was enriched with three pieces of copper, which rose like pyramids from the nose of the animal. The camels of the princesses were also much ornamented; and they sit in their saddles cross-legged like so many tailors. This position is so habitual to them, that they never change it, even on the couches, where they sit all the day. On the journey, their camels were led by slaves, and that on which Hamet-Dou rode was led also. The saddles for the men are of a different construction from those used by the women; they are high, narrow seats, on which a single man sits with his legs stretched out and crossed on the neck of the beast. If several men ride on the same camel, only one sits on the saddle, the others are behind; and it was thus that I rode with my marabout.
Our party when on march resembled a routed army, all confusion. The cattle went first, driven by a few men mounted on oxen; the mournful lowing of the animals, the shouts of the men, and the shrill voices of the women, resounded on all sides. Here a camel had disburdened himself of a woman, there a refractory bullock refused to proceed, a little farther a restive horse threatened to throw his rider, and was rearing and plunging amongst oxen and camels; women losing their balance in consequence, were rolling on the ground screaming; the hurly-burly was such, that there was no hearing one’s self speak. At last, after having proceeded three miles towards the north, we halted to pitch our tents, and the confusion subsided. The slaves unloaded the beasts and set up the tents, and as there was no water at this place, they went back for it to the lake of Guiguis which we had just left. Such of the slaves as took charge of the cattle employed themselves in cutting briars to make fences for the calves, and others went to seek fire-wood to light fires before the tents. This article is so rare in this country, that when the camp remains long in a place, the poor fellows are obliged to go a couple of miles in search of it.
The Moors always burn fires before their tents; a custom which is inconvenient on many accounts: in the day time the heat of these fires is unpleasant, and a multitude of grasshoppers and other insects, with which the country abounds in this season, take refuge in the tents and prove a great nuisance.