They have another game which they seldom play because it requires more exertion. They set up several small flat bones in a row, and a number of men with four stones each throw at the bones from a distance; he who knocks down the greatest number fillips the noses of his companions. The princes sometimes play at this game. The boys, who are not so lethargic as the men, and love running about, have a game which really gives them some exercise. They form a large circle; one of them places himself in the middle, and all the others annoy him as they run round; one strikes him, another pushes, or pulls him by his coussabe. The one in the middle endeavours to catch his assailants, and when he succeeds they change places. This is a very noisy game, for they all shout and scream as they run round. The girls also play at this game amongst themselves.
It is during the Ramadan that the boys are circumcised, between the ages of four and twelve; a marabout always performs the operation. The child is not to shew any sign of pain, but is required to hold a bit of wood in his mouth, and pick his teeth with it during the operation. Nothing is applied to the wound but some ass dung mixed with water, and this plaster is allowed to drop off of itself. The boys who have been circumcised run off into the woods, armed with bows and arrows, and amuse themselves with shooting at birds; they do not return to the camp till two o’clock, when they eat sangleh; at night they have nothing but milk for supper. To prevent them from hurting themselves at night while asleep, stakes are driven into the ground about the place where they lie, so that they have not room to turn. The interval between the operation and their entire cure is a privileged time, when they play all sorts of roguish tricks on their parents; but I have been assured that they do not steal, as I have seen the children do amongst the negroes. The girls are circumcised at a year old; the hassanes, like the zenagues, always employ a marabout to perform the operation.
At the end of the fast, they celebrate a feast (the Tabasky) which is considered as a great solemnity. All put on their best apparel; a ram is killed, and plenty of sangleh is made: every one has abundance to satisfy his hunger, and it is perhaps the only day in the year when their appetite is completely satisfied. They present one another with millet; but it is rather an exchange than a gift, for they always give to those who have the ability to give to them and not to the poor.
This is purely a religious festival amongst the marabouts, and the greater part of the day is passed in prayer; it is a sort of Easter, when custom permits them to eat more than usual. The hassanes make it a day of rejoicing; the men fire off their guns, and perform evolutions on horseback, and the women, assembling round the guéhués, sing to their music, and accompany it by clapping their hands. The feasts of the hassanes are usually gayer than those of the marabouts, because the guéhués, who are present at the former, enliven them by their songs, their music, and their tricks.
On the 18th of April, my marabout’s sons returned from the port, whither they had been carrying gum, and told us that Hamet-Dou was going to St. Louis. Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar advised me to go thither too and look after my goods. “They would not dare,” said he, “to detain you while the king is there, and if they should refuse to deliver your goods, the king will take you under his protection.” This proposal suited me exactly; for I could no longer remain among them in the state in which I was, and I wanted to solicit from the governor the means of finishing my education and completing my journey. I did not betray my eagerness however, but, pretending to be guided by his advice, set off for the port with his second son Abdallah; we arrived on the 20th. On our way we passed the night in a camp of zenagues, and I heard a Moor who was talking of me say, “I should like him to die in my tent when he comes back with his merchandise.” “Do not say so,” replied a woman. “Why not,” rejoined the Moor, “would not he be very well off? He would go to paradise, and I should have his goods.” I heard all this distinctly, but I did not take the trouble to thank him for his good intentions towards me.
The king had set off from St. Louis two days before we arrived at the port, and we had to wait for an opportunity of following him. In the mean time I visited all the supercargoes on board their vessels; my guide followed me every where and made inquiries about me, my shipwreck, and my goods. He seemed very uneasy, but as I had cautioned all these gentlemen, they took care not to contradict my story. His curiosity nevertheless annoyed me a good deal, because I knew that he would find people at St. Louis who might undeceive him, even without intending to injure me; and, as I foresaw that I should have difficulty in obtaining what I meant to solicit from the governor, I did not wish that any thing Abdallah might hear should destroy the good opinion which his countrymen had formed of me, and induce them to thwart my schemes hereafter. I should for this reason have been very glad to get rid of my companion, and I had some hopes of being able to do so, for a short time, after a conversation which passed between us.
Every time that we left a vessel he reproved me for not begging of the christians, and when I told him that I was not in want of any thing he replied: “That is nothing to the purpose; you should always ask for something. If they give, so much the better; if they refuse, so much the worse. They are infidels, and you should always get as much as you can from them. Do you think that the Musulmans who are here come to see the whites? No such thing; they come to get their Guinea cloth whenever they can. Perhaps you imagine that I am going to St. Louis to see the town, and the christians?” I replied that I concluded he was, as he had expressed a wish to that effect, before we quitted the camp; “Besides,” said I, “what else should you go for?” “What should I go for?” said he, “do not suppose that I go to see the infidels and their country. I go to try if I cannot get some goods out of them, and that you may pay me three or four pieces of Guinea cloth and a gun for my company.” Though I was no stranger to the rapacity of his countrymen, yet this confession really surprised as much as it incensed me. I durst not give vent to my indignation, so I contented myself with saying, that if he had reckoned upon my generosity, he would find himself mistaken, because he had no claim upon it; that I thought myself indebted to his brother, and that he alone should receive the presents which I intended as a return for his kindness. He was disconcerted, and told me that if that was the case he should return to the camp and I might go to St. Louis by myself. I should have been heartily glad to do so; but when he saw me about to embark, he joined me. Before I leave the port, I must give a short sketch of the mode in which the gum trade is carried on.
At the appointed time, the government of St. Louis sends a king’s ship to the port under the command of an officer, who is charged with the police of the port, in all that concerns navigation, and the stationing of the different vessels; he is also empowered to decide all disputes with the marabouts and the Moors. The Moorish king on his side sends his plenipotentiaries, who remain at the port to settle the customs[33] and which are to be paid by the merchants. Any difficulties which arise are settled between them and the commander of the vessel on the station.
When a merchant ship arrives at the port, she remains at anchor in the middle of the river till the duty is fixed; a point which is seldom settled without a long discussion, for the Moors always persist in the hope of gaining some advantage, though the tax is governed by the tonnage of the vessel; it is often necessary to have recourse to the king to terminate the dispute. It is not till the agreement has been signed that business can be transacted, and the aloums (or Moorish agents) watch on the shore, to see that no gum is taken on board. These same agents watch the vessels when their right to trade is suspended.
The duties which the merchants pay are considerable. A vessel capable of carrying from twenty-five to thirty thousand pounds of gum pays in general one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty pieces of Guinea cloth[34] in fixed customs; to this may be added three or four pieces more in the shape of presents to the princes, which they call their supper, and two or three for the aloums, who, if they were not feed, would give the preference to other vessels.