The herds of the hassanes are less numerous than those of the marabouts; they have hardly ever any thing in their camp but a few cows and oxen; the rest of their cattle, the camels excepted, are entrusted to zenagues, or tributaries, who are responsible for them, and bring them back when they are wanted. Each tribe has a distinct mark for its herds, to which the proprietor adds his own counter-mark. The wooden vessels which they use for milking are made by their workmen; they take a piece of the trunk of a tree of suitable size, cover it with cow-dung except where they mean to hollow it out; then putting fire under it, they blow up the fire with bellows, driving the flame towards the wood; and thus, the dampness of the cow-dung on the outside preventing it from burning too far, the vessel is hollowed. They make wooden funnels also by this process, which is very tedious, but the only one with which they are acquainted.
I have already mentioned that I was on the point of continuing my journey, and that my guide had left me at Lam-Khaté. On the 10th of October, one of the sons of Mohammed-Sidy, lakariche, gave me a slave for a guide; we set off at seven o’clock in the morning, and advanced a mile to the west along the bank of a large lake, where I saw plenty of ducks, teal, and coots. The soil in the neighbourhood of the lake is argillaceous and rich; I observed there some stems of millet of the preceding year. After having passed this lake, we directed our course to the S.W. and proceeded fifteen miles on stony ground covered with dog-grass. I had nothing to hold water, and suffered from thirst. On the road we met a marabout riding on an ox; I begged him to give me a little water, and accompanied my request by a short prayer in Arabic; he gave me some rather grudgingly, and told me that I should have had none if it had not been for the prayer. At noon we arrived at the camp of Boubou-Fanfale, situated on the bank of the Hadjar; he seemed pleased to see me, and gave me a bit of mutton for dinner. My guide returned and Boubou sent one of his sons to conduct me to the camp of my marabout. At two o’clock we set off again, directing our course over a stony soil. At six in the evening, having travelled about ten miles, we arrived at Ténèque, the camp of the zenagues belonging to the king; we passed the night there. My host gave me for supper a bowl of sangleh, which I enjoyed very much. In the evening, I was visited by all the women of the camp.
On the 11th, at five in the morning, we continued our journey still in the same direction. One of the marabouts was going the same way, and we travelled in company. The soil, consisting of yellow sand, was covered with khakhames. We passed near eight or ten tombs, and as soon as my fellow-travellers descried them at a distance, they exclaimed: Salam aleycoom; la allah ila allahou! (Peace be with you; there is only one God.) We stopped to pray, which gave me time to examine the tombs. Mounds are raised upon the bodies, and at the head of each is a flat stone, on which is written the name of the deceased. After a short prayer, we each threw a small branch of a tree on the tombs; my companions then went to the grave of a celebrated marabout which had a hole a foot deep at the head; they took earth from this hole, and rubbed their foreheads, breasts, and backs with it, and then invited me to follow their example; from which I inferred that all passers-by were expected to perform this ceremony.
At eleven o’clock, we arrived at the camp of the Dheiolebere tribe, of which my marabout was the chief; we had then travelled ten miles. We rested here during the heat of the day, and they gave us water to refresh ourselves. At two, we continued our journey towards the west, over a rich black argillaceous soil. We came again to the rivulet, and at six o’clock we halted at el-Khara Hett-Louhed-lahi. A little before we reached the place, we were espied by a troop of women, who were gathered around a drum; two youths, with each a stick, were beating this drum; and the women kept time, clapping their hands, singing, and making a thousand contortions without changing their places. As soon as they perceived me, they left their amusement and came to torment me; gathering around the bullock on which I was seated, they pulled me by the legs, pinched me, and screamed frightfully whenever I moved. In vain the marabout who was with me attempted to drive them away, and assured them I was a Musulman; they pursued me, shouting el-nasrani! el-nasrani! (the christian! the christian!) while the children threw stones at me. A girl struck me with a stick, and fairly exhausted my patience; I snatched the stick from her, and gave her a such a stroke on the face, that all the rest were frightened and ran off. We visited a friend of my guide’s, where I was well received, and had some couscous given me for supper which I thought delicious; for it was the first time I had eaten any since I had been amongst the Moors. I was afraid that I should have been tormented again in the evening, but the stick had frightened the curious, and I was left in perfect quiet.
On the 12th of October, at six in the morning, we resumed our route to the south. The soil, though stony in some places, is good. I remarked on the road some indigo plants of great beauty; the Moors are not aware of its properties. We travelled for six miles, and towards nine in the evening arrived at the camp of my marabout, where I was received with great joy by the inhabitants.
On the 13th, the youngest son of Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar cut off my hair, and made me a pair of breeches out of my coussabe, and a coussabe out of a pagne which I had with me.
On the 14th, we went to visit his aunt, whose camp was not far from ours. All the marabouts welcomed me politely, and I was happy to find that I should be less tormented than I had been by the hassanes. One of the marabouts brought me a slave who had a cancer in her breast, and begged me to tell him of some herb which would cure her, offering me six oxen as a reward; I bade him observe that vegetation was all dried up at this season, and that it was impossible to procure any herbs. After him, came a multitude of invalids, all entreating that I would cure them; some I remarked were suffering acutely, and it grieved me extremely that I could afford them no assistance. In vain I told them that I was not a physician, and that I had no medicines with me; they renewed their entreaties, and I could only escape from this scene of woe by leaving the camp. It was one o’clock when I returned to my marabout.
I have observed that the Moors in general are not subject to severe illnesses, an exemption which they probably owe to their temperance; but they are very susceptible of pain, and the least suffering unmans them. I have seen a Moor with a slight head-ache cry like a child. The remedies most in vogue amongst them, are the following: when ill, they diet themselves and take nothing but milk, and as soon as they are convalescent, they feed upon flesh only, that they may recover their strength the sooner. When they have a head-ache they bind a cloth round the forehead, as tight as they can. For a cold, they introduce melted butter into their noses, by means of a pipe fitted into a vessel, and they pretend that they derive much benefit from this, especially for a cold in the head. When troubled with pain in the stomach, they make a drink of half a glass of camel’s urine mixed with two bottles of water; the bark of mimosa burnt and reduced to powder serves for all sorts of cuts, burns, contusions, &c. They make an ointment of it, by mixing it with butter, and rub it on the part twice a day. The leaf of the bauhinia pounded, and mixed with powdered gum and water, is a recipe for aches; they lay it like a poultice on the part affected, and the gum when dry forms a crust, which they leave to fall off of itself; they sometimes burn the gum before they make use of it. For pain in the face occasioned by cold, they have a special remedy in a certain very hard red stone, which they find on the mountains; they reduce it to powder by grating it against a flint, and rub the powder in a dry state upon the part. It is common to see people with half the face red—sometimes an eye, or part of the cheek: this stone is called lahmiri; I consider it to be a sort of red lead, and the Moors make ink of it by mixing it with gum water. I wished to have brought home a specimen of this stone, but I looked for it in vain, and could never persuade any one to give me a bit. The Moors are subject to fever, for which they have no remedy, but they drink gum and milk when they are attacked with it. I saw a woman, who had had a fever for a month, rub her head with very hot butter, in which pounded cloves had been steeped.
Aperients are seldom employed, although they are acquainted with the use of them. They collect senna, and call it falagé; when they mean to make use of it, they bruise it in a mortar with the fruit of the ziziphus lotus, and dilute the powder in a considerable quantity of water, which they give to the patient to drink. They have another plant which they use as an aperient, which is less potent in its effects.
The itch, so common among the negroes, is rare with the Moors. Whoever is attacked with it is shut out from society; he is forbidden to enter the mosque; a mat is spread in one corner of a tent for his bed, and nobody drinks out of the same vessel with him till he is cured. Gunpowder steeped in water is the remedy, and with this the patient rubs his body all over. Such is the medical practice I have seen in this country, from which the Moors appear to benefit very little. I saw during my stay, one case of elephantiasis, one blind man, but not a single leper; with the last disease they seem not to be acquainted; I never once met with a cripple.