On the 27th of July, at six in the morning we took leave of our host, after having paid him for our entertainment. We gave him four strings of beads, with which he appeared to be satisfied. In crossing the village I perceived that it was as dirty as its inhabitants; we were up to the ancles in mud. We directed our course to the S.S.E., and I saw nothing on my way but some poor fields of foigné, yams, and pistachios, in very bad order; I did not perceive any maize, which would be very useful to the inhabitants. The greater part of the land is a black mould intermingled with gravel; cultivation is almost entirely neglected. Twelve miles to the left of our road, we saw a chain of hills of inconsiderable height extending towards the N.E. A little way from Sambatikila, we met my guide who was coming to meet us; our host, who the evening before had given him a duck, had sent his little daughter with us to Sambatikila, and Arafanba, recollecting I suppose that this Bambara was by no means rich, sent him back his duck; I was rather surprised at this conduct in a Mahometan towards an infidel. My guide told me that the almamy was anxious to see me, and sorry that I had remained behind the evening before; I told him jokingly, that the prince would soon have the pleasure of gratifying his curiosity.
It was nearly nine o’clock in the morning, when we made our appearance at Sambatikila, which is surrounded by a double wall, ten or eleven feet high, and ten inches thick. We proceeded immediately to the almamy’s, and were ushered into an ante-room, where we waited till some one went to announce us. The chief admitted us immediately to his presence, and we found him reclining under a little shed in his court; he raised himself and extended his hand to me with the customary salutations, salam alécoum; alécoum salam; enékindé; a kindé; after having touched me, he rubbed his hand upon his face and chest, to communicate the salutary effect; for he is very religious, and has much faith in the sanctity of the Arabs. He was extremely polite, and told me that he was happy to receive a man whose country was so near Mecca. I told him that I meant to go thither; and he put many questions to Arafanba, who was eager to tell him all he had heard about me at Kankan. This old chief was dressed in the Arabian fashion; his clothes were exceedingly clean; he wore a turban of a red and white striped stuff manufactured in the country. Our visit was very short; he lodged me in one of his son’s houses, together with the two saracolets and the Foulah; the son appeared to me very poor, but he gave us a neat habitation, and took great care that we should have warm water wherewith to perform our ablutions before prayer. I expected that the king would provide for our support, but he left us the whole day without food, presuming that my guide would take care of us; the guide sent us a breakfast of boiled yams, and sauce without salt. After this frugal repast, which we ate with considerable appetite, as it was then late in the day, I sent to my guide for the goods of mine which he had brought the night before; to reward him for the attention which he had paid me on the journey, I made him a small present of cloth, a pair of scissors, and some paper, with which he was delighted and thanked me heartily. He had been kind enough to pay all my expenses on the way, and never asked for any compensation. In the course of the day I was visited by many Mandingoes, who live at Sambatikila; one of them gave me some milk, which is not quite so plentiful here as in Wassoulo. It rained all the afternoon; I went, nevertheless, to the mosque to show the inhabitants that I was a zealous Musulman. At nightfall my guide sent us a small supper of rice, with which we contented ourselves, because we could get nothing else.
On the 28th of July, the almamy, recollecting, I suppose, that it was his duty to feed the strangers, sent us a dish of rice without salt, with a sauce of zambala,[54] and a supper of yams with a similar sauce.
On the 29th of July, we had nothing to eat the whole of the day; I bethought myself of calling upon the almamy, who seemed to have forgotten that he had strangers at his dwelling, or thought that they were accustomed to fasting. He did not hurry himself however, for it was six o’clock in the evening when he sent us some yams, boiled and pounded, with a little bad sauce; and we were unluckily obliged to share this light repast with a Mandingo, who happened at that moment to be prowling about our hut; he came and sat down by us, and needed no pressing, for he had probably tasted nothing since the evening before. I have often been obliged in the same way to share the little food I could get with these hungry and idle parasites, who would rather starve than work for themselves. As our host neglected us so completely, we went out to procure some rice and yams for ourselves; but we could find nothing in the village, for the devout almamy had forbidden the customary market twice a week, under pretence that it interfered with prayers. We sent to a neighbouring village, but were equally unsuccessful; so we were forced to be content with the small portion which our host allowed us. We were informed that provisions were scarce, that there was not enough to last till next harvest, and that the scarcity extended to the neighbouring country.
On the 30th of July, a caravan of saracolet merchants arrived at Sambatikila, on their way to Foulou to purchase slaves, whom they sell again in Foulou or Kankan. All the goods which are sold at the European settlements on the coast are destined for this infamous traffic; the slaves are not exported, it is true, but they are no better off than if they were. Slavery may perhaps be abolished in civilized Europe, but the wild and covetous African will long continue the barbarous custom of selling his fellow-creatures. It is so pleasant to live in idleness, and to enjoy the fruit of the labours of others, that every negro does all in his power to become a slave owner; their ambition is limited to the possession of twelve or fifteen slaves, whom they employ entirely in agricultural labour. These poor creatures are ill-clothed, and work very hard; but I never saw them ill-treated. They are commonly obliged to provide for their own support, and have a field to themselves, which they cultivate for this purpose; they grow maize and cassava round their huts, and find them a great resource. In the evening the almamy of Sambatikila sent us nothing, and we had made up our minds to fast, when we were agreeably surprised, about seven o’clock, by the sight of a dish of boiled rice without salt, which was sent by my guide, Arafanba, who knew that I was suffering from scanty diet. In truth, I could not be too grateful to this generous negro, who deprived himself for my sake of part of his supper, at a time when he found it very difficult to provide for his family. Provisions were so scarce and so dear in the village, that nobody thought of eating more than one meal a day, and the night was chosen for the purpose, because the negroes would rather go without food all day than retire to rest without supper.
On the 31st of July, at six in the morning, the almamy, recollecting probably that he had given us nothing the day before, sent us some rice for breakfast. A good saracolet, belonging to the caravan which had just arrived, and who had travelled often to Jenné, brought me some rice and milk, which he begged me to accept: I gave him some glass ware in return for his present. He was acquainted with many Moorish merchants at Jenné, and assured me I should be well received by them. This negro spoke a little Arabic; he told me, that on my road to Jenné I should find provisions very scarce, salt in particular. The son of the almamy came every now and then to see us, and to inquire whether we wanted warm water for our ablutions; he took care that we should never be short of water, but as to provisions, he did not inquire very particularly, and I suspect that the poor devil was little better off than ourselves; I noticed that he passed the whole day without food, as if it had been the Ramadan, and at night, after prayer, he ate a little tau with four other negroes. In spite of these compulsory fasts, they all seemed very merry, and never failed to go every morning to chant the Koran; the almamy himself also chanted from time to time. His son came sometimes to offer me his scanty supper, which I always refused, knowing that he had nothing else for himself.
On the 1st of August, I went with one of my companions to pay a visit to the almamy. We entered an apartment, which served the double purpose of stable and bedchamber, with the royal bed at the further end; this bed was a platform, six inches high, six or seven feet long, and five or six wide, upon which was spread an ox-hide, with a dirty musquito-curtain to keep off the insects. The room might be thirty or thirty-five feet long, and ten or twelve wide; it is constructed of earth, which they have not taken the trouble to make into bricks; the walls are seven, or seven feet and a half high, and a foot thick; the roof is supported upon wooden posts, planted within the side walls, and covered with straw; there are three entrances, the doors of which are also formed of straw. No furniture is visible in this royal apartment; but there were two saddles hanging up against the wall from the posts, a great straw hat, a drum, which is only used in time of war, some lances, a bow, quiver, and arrows; these were all its ornaments, excepting a lamp, formed of a piece of iron, supported upon another piece of the same metal, stuck into the ground: vegetable butter, which has not consistency enough to be made into candles, is burnt in this lamp. Two other apartments, of the same dimensions, serve as magazines for the produce of the fields and other valuables. The large inner enclosure contains several common huts, in which I saw some looms like those employed on the coast. The old prince was lying down on his bed, and he made us sit by him. He was saying his prayers, and held in his hand a rosary two feet and a half long, the beads of which were as large as bullets; he appeared very attentive. He addressed his conversation to me, and begged me to make his compliments to the elders of Mecca and Medina when I arrived there; after which he asked me to wait a moment. He went out into the court and returned immediately followed by a slave carrying on her head a calabash of rice, with some disagreeable herb sauce, which he gave me; he then dismissed me, promising that he would soon find me an opportunity for me to go to Jenné. The absence of salt rendered this rice unpleasant; but I had now ceased to be dainty, for hunger is sauce to all sorts of food, as I have often experienced in the course of my travels. Shortly after a Mandingo sent me an excellent dish of rice cooked with milk.
Since the 27th of July the rain had been incessant; the weather was still cold and damp. In the evening of the 1st of August, the almamy sent a man to tell me, that there was an opportunity for going to Jenné, and that if I liked to take advantage of it, he would furnish me with a guide to Timé, whence the caravan would start. I had a wound on my left foot which I was doctoring with lint, and could not heal; but I preferred suffering on the road, painful as my wound was, to remaining any longer in a place where there would soon be a horrible scarcity. I sent word to the chief that I wished to set off as early as possible.
On the 2d of August, at six in the morning, the almamy sent me some rice and a piece of a sheep which had been killed the day before, which I shared with my companions. About eight o’clock Arafanba came to me, and we went together to take leave of the chief. He called me to his store-house, and opened a little door, so low that a man must stoop double to enter; one of his women then drew out a bracelet wrapped in rag, of which he made me a present; it was silver and worth about three francs; I had brought him a pretty present of coloured muslin, paper, and strings of beads. Arafanba, my former guide, told him that I had very little merchandise with me and was sorry I could not offer him a more suitable present; he smiled and accepted it with pleasure. The old man again desired me not to forget him when I should be among the venerable sheiks of Mecca; I promised that I would not and took my leave. A minute or two afterwards he came to the hut where I lodged to return my visit; he was on horseback, and had on his head a straw hat large enough to serve for an umbrella. He was going to his ourondé to look after his slaves; he told me he was sorry he had not thought in time of having a grigri made by the hand of an Arab; he wished me a good journey and left me. About ten o’clock, my new guide came to tell me it was time to set off; it had been raining all the morning and the rain was not yet over, but we did not stop for it. Before I proceed, however, I must give some account of the fine country which I am leaving.
Sambatikila is a large village surrounded by a double wall; it is independent and inhabited by Mandingo Musulmans. It is much larger than Kankan, but not so well peopled; there are many large vacant places in the interior of the village; the streets are narrow, crooked, and, at this season of the year, full of mud. The soil, composed in some places of black mould, and in others of grey sand mixed with earth, is very fertile, but very little cultivated; the country is covered with cés and nédés. The inhabitants are engaged entirely in commerce; they go a few days’ journey to the south of their village to buy colat-nuts, and these they carry to Jenné and barter for salt; this traffic is not very lucrative, because the journeys are long and troublesome, and they have to purchase food on the road, and to pay for lodgings and transit-duty in all the villages.