October the 7th, I requested the king to send me to the marabout’s camp as he had promised. He gave me a bullock to ride upon, and a slave to guide me. At nine in the morning we set off, but had scarcely proceeded a quarter of a mile before the bullock stopped, and would not go further, upon which we were forced to return to the camp.
On the 8th, Hamet-Dou having provided me with another bullock, I set off at six o’clock in the morning, travelling to the S.W. ¼ W. over a sandy soil covered with khakham. Our journey was very painful, on account of the thirst we endured; for there was not a drop of water to be found on the road. At two o’clock we found traces of a camp, which we followed. Climbing some hillocks of loose sand, we perceived to the south a streamlet running from W. to S.W.; its banks were bordered with mimosa, zizyphus lotus, and nauclea, which appeared in full verdure. My guide told me that the rivulet was called el-Hadjar, and that it overflows the plain in the rainy season. I thought that it was probably the same which I had passed with Boubou-Fanfale. I saw some smoke rising from the banks of the river, which seemed to indicate the vicinity of a camp, and I rejoiced at it, hoping that I should have an opportunity of quenching my thirst; but, on advancing a few paces towards it, I perceived that the whole plain was on fire. Some person had set fire to the dry herbage, and the birds of prey were hovering around to catch the insects and reptiles as they were escaping from the flames.
When we reached the bank of the streamlet, we found a number of slaves employed in collecting haze, and some of the Moors superintending. I went up to them, and obtained a little water to drink; one of the Moors took me by the hand, and told me he was delighted to see me; he made me repeat a short prayer, and then, having called for a little pot, containing sangleh, he took me to the side of a pool, a few paces off, in the bed of a rivulet, which is dry at this season, and shaded by the green foliage of a beautiful tufted tree, which keeps the water cool. While I was sharing the sangleh with the Moor, I learned that when the grass is too short to be cut they burn it, that they may afterwards gather the haze.
We had travelled twenty-three miles since morning, and we had still three miles to go to the camp of Mohammed Sidy, lakariche, or prince. Having rested, and quenched our thirst, we proceeded to the N.W. The road that we pursued was crossed by banks of moving sand. At four o’clock in the afternoon we arrived at the camp.
As soon as I made my appearance, I was here, as in the other camps, the object of universal curiosity; all its inmates collected about me, and I was compelled to repeat prayers for great part of the evening. Some of the women inquired if I would accept a share of their bed; and on my replying in the affirmative, they ran off with bursts of laughter. One of them wished to examine whether I had undergone the rite prescribed by the law of their prophet, but I did not think proper to satisfy her. The site of this camp was called Lam Khaté. I had nothing but milk given me for my supper, and I was not allowed to add sangleh to it, as in the camp of the king. In the night, there was a hurricane from the east, which overthrew the tents, and prevented us from sleeping.
On the 9th of October, the guide who had been sent with me by Hamet-Dou, refused to go any further; I employed all the means in my power to induce him, but in vain; he chose to return to his master. I must stop at Lam Khaté to give a description of the royal camp.
This camp comprises the tribe of Oulad-Sidy, otherwise called the lakariches, or princes; and from this tribe spring all the kings of the Braknas. In some circumstances, the camp is divided into two or three parts, all retaining the original name, but distinguished also by the name of the chief who commands them. The camp of Hamet-Dou probably contained at the time of my visit about one hundred tents, and four or five hundred inhabitants. When the king receives his customary tribute, his camp is filled with strangers, who come to ask for presents. I have seen some of these gentry who had staid for three months in the hope of at last obtaining ten ells of Guinea cloth, worth, perhaps, about eight shillings. These parasites establish themselves in the first tent where they can procure lodging, and twice a day, morning and night, they sally forth, with their beads in one hand, and a tin can in the other, to beg milk from door to door. In the day time they walk about the camp, two and two, or assemble in tents to converse; and here they commonly fall asleep, while they are ridding each other of the vermin with which they are infested. I was a great source of amusement to them, and when they came about me, they were sure to pass a part of the day in questioning and tormenting me. I suffered most from the hassanes,[20] or warriors; fanatical, idle, and ignorant they were never contented but when they annoyed me, and they added to all their other insults an insupportable ironical laugh. They were continually asking me whether I meant to be circumcised. I replied, that I had referred the affair to my marabout, who, to my great satisfaction, declared that the operation was unnecessary, that it was dangerous at my age, and that I could go to heaven without it.
The marabouts[21] do not usually inhabit the same camp with the hassanes; four of them only were to be found in that of Hamet-Dou. One of these was very poor; he was a schoolmaster, taught girls and boys, and when their education was completed the parents presented him with a coussabe or a bullock. Evening and morning the children are engaged in picking up fire-wood; it is always after dark at night, and before it is light in the morning that they take their lesson. By the light of a great fire, they recite some verses of the Koran, chanting them in a loud tone; these verses the master writes upon their boards and they have to learn them by heart. At night they meet again at the master’s tent to repeat their lesson. Whilst he is hearing his class, the master walks round the fire, singing himself to give the note to his scholars, and holding in his hand a long stick, with which he lays about him, when he sees any one inattentive. When a pupil is perfect in his lesson, he goes all round the camp repeating it, and obtains great applause.
The Moors have a profound reverence for the Koran; they never lay it on the ground, not even on a mat, without putting a pagne under it. Before they venture to touch it they perform an ablution, raising their hands above their heads first, and then rubbing them over their faces and arms; any one who should do otherwise, would be despised and considered as an infidel.
The boys are not admitted into the schools till they have been circumcised, and before this epoch they are forbidden to touch the holy book. The slaves are never allowed to handle it, being regarded as impure. When the boards, on which the Koran has been written, are removed, they must be taken by the cord which serves to hang them up by, and neither be turned wrong end upwards nor trailed on the ground. When school is over, these boards are laid upon the thorn fence, and a slave who should presume to meddle with them would be beaten without mercy.