The haddads (or blacksmiths) belong to the class of tributaries, and are, perhaps, still worse off than those who are employed in agriculture and the care of flocks. They cannot inhabit a separate camp, if they did, the hassanes would plunder them; they are obliged, in order to avoid their rapacity, to dwell in the same camps as the marabouts, and make them the guardians of all they possess.
Notwithstanding the pains I took, I never could learn the origin of this race, nor how it had been reduced to pay tribute to the other Moors; when I made inquiries on the subject, I was always told that it pleased God it should be so, and that they were infidels who seldom performed the salam. Can they be remains of conquered tribes? And, if so, why is there no tradition left about them? This can hardly be; for the Moors, proud of their ancestors, never forget the names of those who have been a credit to their race; and the zenagues, forming the majority of the population, and being, moreover, accustomed to war, would have revolted under the conduct of some descendant of their former chiefs, and recovered their liberty, by exterminating their oppressors. It is in their power to do so, for they are very numerous.
The fourth class of the Moorish population is composed of the offspring of a Moor and a black slave; they are called laratines. Though slaves by birth, they are never sold, but have land of their own, and are treated almost like the zenagues. The laratines, whose fathers are hassanes, are warriors; those, whose fathers are marabouts, receive instruction and embrace the profession of their fathers. Proud of their birth, they are not very obedient to their masters, and it is only by force that the latter can compel them to pay the tribute which is due to them. They possess few cattle, for they are not allowed to increase their herds, lest they should enfranchise themselves if they were to become wealthy. The laratines and the zenagues have the care of the herds which the hassanes possess out of their camps.
The slaves form the fifth class, and are all negroes. They are charged with all the labours of the camp—the care of flocks, the providing of water and wood, and the culture of the land. The women pound millet, prepare food, wait upon their mistresses, water the calves, fetch water, and if they belong to marabouts, collect haze and gum. On a journey, the slaves carry on their heads whatever cannot be laid upon oxen. They are, as I have already mentioned, ill treated, ill fed, and beaten at the caprice of their masters, whether they have committed any fault or not. They are seldom addressed by any name but that of slave. In short, there is no species of vexation, which they are not obliged to endure.
The Moors leave the banks of the river, when the rainy season commences, that is at the beginning of August; for not only would they be greatly incommoded by the inundations, but they would also be exposed to many diseases which they occasion, and their cattle would be devoured by the mosquitoes. They remove to the N.E., to the confines of the great desert, where they find plentiful pasturage, and a salubrious climate, and are free from the inconveniences which they would suffer in the vicinity of marshes. They return towards the river when the waters retire, and reside there from March till August.
The dress of the wealthy Moors consists, in a drah, or tunic of Guinea cloth, which reaches nearly to the knees; the sleeves are as wide as the body and hang down to the ground. Loose drawers containing six or eight yards of Guinea cloth come down to their knees; a pagne completes the dress; this is put on over the tunic, and sometimes on their heads also, like a turban. Those who cannot afford a tunic, wear only a coussabe[30] made of two or three yards of Guinea cloth.
The Moors shave all the hairy parts of the body except the beard, which they suffer to grow and hold in great veneration. A fine beard is the greatest ornament of a Musulman.
The dress of the woman is half a piece (about seven yards) of Guinea cloth, which they wrap three times round them. With one end, consisting of about one third of the stuff, they make a kind of coussabe, doubling the stuff down and sewing it so as to leave three holes, one for the head, and two for the arms. The openings are not at the side, as they are in the men’s dresses, and the stuff falls in drapery so as not to obstruct the motion of the body; where it is sewed together at each shoulder, there is a silver clasp, which serves to support the second round of the stuff; the third passes over the head, and forms a head-dress.
In mourning, or in the presence of strangers, of christians especially, they put it on so as to show nothing but their eyes. This dress is called malafé; they have no change of apparel, but wear it for two or three months without washing, and are often two years without being able to procure a new one.
They have fine hair which they lay in tresses round the head in an oval form, two smaller tresses which unite under the ear, are ornamented with pieces of glass, and hang down on each side of the head. Some of them have, on the sides, two other longer tresses, from which they suspend strings of amber, coral, and glass beads, hanging down upon the breast; others again have an immense number of tresses, but always loaded with ornaments. Those who do not suspend their string of beads from the hair, attach it to the clasps of their dress; they are not in the habit of wearing it round the neck. A strip of Guinea cloth, five feet in length, and five or six inches wide, completes their head-dress; they wrap it several times round the head. They grease their hair daily with butter; this custom preserves the hair extremely well, but communicates an insupportably rank smell. The young girls have a large gold ear-ring in the lower part of each ear, and four others in the upper part, which is bent down by their weight. Women of twenty-four wear only one small ring in the upper part of the ear.