On the 25th of November, an hassane stole some oxen belonging to a marabout of our camp, which caused a great bustle; every body was on foot all the evening, and two friends of the injured man went to the hassane’s camp to demand the oxen. I was told that if the king had been there the thief would have been severely punished. The same evening Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar arrived; I expected to see his family very joyful upon the occasion, and was surprised that nobody went out to meet him. He entered his tent, and saluted them all; his greeting was very coldly returned; his daughter alone rose, and laid her hands respectfully upon his head, without any demonstration of affection. I have never seen the Moors embrace each other; even a lover does not kiss his mistress; he lays his hand on her lips, and then puts it to his own, no doubt to convey to it the kiss which she has impressed on it. The next day the marabouts who went to demand the oxen returned; but without success.
On the 28th, the grand marabout went himself to claim them, and they were given up; he had much difficulty in prevailing, and did not return till the 6th of December; the oxen arrived shortly after him.
The Moorish laws are very severe against theft, but they are hardly ever enforced. If the thief is taken in the king’s presence, the king may order him fifty or sixty stripes on the back, or have his ears cut off, without any form of trial. Capital punishment is sometimes inflicted upon the tributaries, but never upon hassanes or marabouts. By the law of Mahomet, a thief is to have his hand cut off; but every body has an interest in mitigating this clause, for the Moors would all be one-handed if it were rigorously enforced. The law does not apply to those who pillage christians; on the contrary, that is considered a meritorious action, and they lose no opportunity of plundering them.
On the 10th of December, the camp moved twelve miles W. ¼ N.W. to a spot three miles east of lake Aleg, whither a party went to fetch water for the use of the camp. The women are charged with this labour; they fill the skins and load them upon asses; at nine they left the camp, and they were back again in an hour.
It was now beginning to be cold; the north wind blew violently, and rendered the nights very unpleasant. At this season the Moors set up the varroi, a large covering made of tanned sheep-skins sewed firmly together; they stretch it over stakes in their tents, with the sides hanging down, so as to keep off the wind during the night. They have also woollen counterpanes, or cloaks, which they buy from the Koont traders, who bring them from Wâlet, or other great towns in the interior. They wrap themselves up in these counterpanes at night, and also in the day, when the cold is severe. The slaves sleep also under the varroi, upon the ground, with no other covering than the sheep-skin which serves for their clothing.
On the 11th, I saw an ox killed: the four feet were first tied by slaves, who knocked the beast down, and thrust a stake through the skin of his throat to prevent him from moving his head; a marabout stuck him, and the slaves took off the skin. The flesh was cut into thin slices and hung upon cross-bars, fastened to poles, to dry. A fence of briars was formed round it to keep off the dogs, and it was covered with mats to preserve it from being spoiled by the sun. A slave slept by it till it was dry, and kept up a small fire at night to counteract the effect of damp. The meat thus dried was put in leather sacks to preserve it. When it is well dried, it will keep a long time, and has no disagreeable taste. The Moors generally eat it without further preparation or cooking. The slaves who flay the ox receive the neck and some bones; the head is given to the haddads, and the other bones are distributed as presents.
The Moors never invite their friends, not even their relations, to eat meat; what they have they keep for themselves. Sometimes a number of them join together, each furnishing his ox, which they kill in turn, and eat the flesh in common, as I have before said respecting the young men and the sheep. This is a sort of carnival amongst them, and they give it a name which signifies “a party to eat flesh.”
On the 12th of December I went to lake Aleg, it was surrounded by camps of marabouts, for it is the rendezvous of all those who travel on the banks of the river. The environs are broken by little hillocks covered with iron-stone. The voscia integrifolia grows abundantly in the plain; the Moors collect the fruit, which they call iré, and eat it cooked with meat. The banks of the lake are covered with mimosa, zizyphus lotus, and nauclea africana. Its breadth does not exceed three miles; it stretches from south to north, and terminates in a north-westerly direction; the circumference may be about twelve leagues. It overflows periodically, like the river, and inundates the contiguous lands for a mile round. These lands are particularly productive, and are cultivated by the Moors when the waters have subsided. The lake is fed by the el-Hadjar, and by an immense number of ravines, which collect water during the rainy season.
The season for collecting gum had now arrived, and every body was employed in making preparations; I intimated a wish to accompany those who were going out for that purpose, but I could not get leave. I attribute this refusal to distrust; for the Moors conceive that the Europeans wish to take possession of their country as being the finest in the world. Not being allowed to gratify my wish of observing these operations, I tried at all events to obtain accurate information on the subject.
On the 13th the slaves destined to this labour set off under the direction of several marabouts; it was not till some days afterwards that I learnt from my host’s wife the particulars which I am now about to relate. It has been believed, but without foundation, that there were forests of gum-bearing trees in the desert; travellers have fallen into this error from the inaccurate accounts of the Moors, who, to do honour to their country, always profess that every thing is to be found there in the greatest abundance. The acacia which furnishes gum grows singly in all the elevated parts of the desert, never on argillaceous or alluvial soil, but on dry sandy ground; it is very rare on the banks of the Senegal. The tree is not the same with the mimosa gummifera of the botanists, which I had seen in our settlements; its leaves are regularly pinnated; the folioles are broader, thicker, and of a darker green; in its shape and appearance it more nearly resembles the acacia cultivated in France.