When a negro enters the house of a chief or a man of quality, he leaves his sandals at the door, and announces himself, by repeating three times Salam alékoum. This formality is not observed towards their equals until after the door is closed.
Earthen pots are not manufactured at Timé, but are procured from the Bambaras, who barter them for salt and colat-nuts: all these pots are of an oval shape, and I have seen some of them from eighteen to twenty inches deep: they are of a grey colour and not so well made as in the Kankan and the Wassoulo. The women employ their leisure moments in spinning cotton, from which is manufactured a kind of coloured cloth; this cloth is exchanged on the road to Jenné for cowries, the money with which they purchase salt. The Mandingoes of Timé do not live as well as those of Kankan and the Fouta. Like the Bambaras they eat all kinds of quadrupeds, except cats and dogs. My host Baba had three slaves, only one of whom, was able to work. The other two, and especially a little boy, were treated with harshness, because they were unable to make themselves useful. He was therefore obliged to employ day-labourers. The people of Timé are not so neat in their dress as the inhabitants of the Fouta and the Kankan, but they are better clothed than the Bambaras. Two days after the birth of a child, the event is celebrated by dancing and feasting.
They are accustomed, summer and winter, to bathe in warm water, every evening on returning from the fields where they work; the women take care to have the water ready. They have fires every night in their huts, for they are naturally chilly.
I have seen among the Mandingoes at Timé large nets made of cotton and the bark of trees twisted together; with these nets they go out to hunt the gazelle and wild-boar. Having discovered the traces of the animals in the woods, they spread their nets, and scour the surrounding country in order to drive the game into them. As soon as the animal is caught it is killed with the poniard. They generally assemble in great numbers for these hunting expeditions, which however, often prove unsuccessful. When they kill an animal they always turn its head to the east. The women never kill poultry; that business is always performed by the men. The inhabitants of Timé do not however kill much poultry, though they breed a great deal; they prefer selling it to travellers; they keep some goats and sheep, but neither oxen nor cows, although the soil produces excellent pasturage. There are some cows in the neighbouring villages but they are never milked.
Caravans of saracolets often pass through Timé on their way to the south to purchase slaves. The saracolets are not a nation but, as I have before mentioned, a class of merchants, who travel in every part of Africa. There are saracolets in all the negro countries, Mandingoes and Bambaras, Fouta-Dialonkés, in Kayaya, Bondou, &c. They are all Mahometans, and use in conversation among themselves a particular dialect, which the other negroes, even those of their own nation, do not understand. They scarcely ever remain in their native country, and have every where the reputation of being rich and very much inclined to theft.
When a stranger arrives at Timé, who happens to find any relations or friends there, if he does not immediately go to them, as soon as they hear of his arrival they prepare a great dinner for him. This repast, of which a fowl seasoned with salt forms part, they send by their wives to the new comer. They do not touch it themselves, but prepare a dinner for themselves as usual. Soon afterwards they call on their friend and receive his thanks; and, should they even find him at his meal, they would not partake of any portion of it. After his repast the stranger goes to pay his visit, which he would not have done, if the fowl had not been sent to him. This custom is very general throughout the country.
The huts of Timé are neither so large nor so neat as those of the Fouta and Kankan, though they are built in the same form, and surrounded by a similar wall of earth, six feet high and five inches thick; it is the women’s business to cover this wall with cow-dung, which is purchased at the market for a few colats. The huts are roofed with straw, and contain no furniture except some mats spread upon the ground, which serve for seats in the day-time and beds at night, a few earthen pots for culinary purposes, wooden plates, calabashes, spatules for stirring the tau, and an earthen jar to hold water. The women keep their wood in a corner of their huts, lest their indolent neighbours might make free with it to save the trouble of procuring some for themselves. When they collect their wood, they make little presents of portions of it to the aged women in their vicinity. The inhabitants of this village do not use large earthen jars for holding grain, like the people of Fouta and Kankan, which shows that they neither grow so much, nor are so rich as the latter. Half a mile from the village there is a beautiful clear spring, where the inhabitants fetch water for their consumption. This spring is shaded by large trees, the name of which I do not know, but which would I believe, be very fit for building. The few productions of the soil cultivated by the people of Timé are left in the fields, with small pieces of written paper affixed to them, to keep off thieves; and no one ever touches them. During my stay at Timé, I only saw one man whose yams had been stolen out of the ground; but, said the negroes, they were not protected by grigris.
The butter-tree, or cé, is very abundant in the neighbourhood of Timé. It grows spontaneously, and in height and appearance resembles the pear-tree. The leaves grow in tufts, supported by a very short foot-stalk. They are round at top, and when the tree is young, they are six inches long. When the tree grows old the leaves become smaller, and resemble those of the Saint-Jean pear-tree. It blossoms at the extremity of its branches, and the flowers, which are small, grow in clusters, and are supported by a very strong pedicle. The petals are white, and the stamina are numerous and scarcely perceptible to the naked eye. The fruit, when mature, is as large as a Guinea-hen’s egg, of oval shape, and equal at both ends. It is covered with a pale-green pellicle, beneath which is a green farinaceous pulp, three lines thick, of an extremely agreeable flavour. The negroes are very fond of it, and I liked it myself. Under this pulp there is a second pellicle, very thin, and resembling the white skin which lines the inside of an egg-shell. This covers the kernel, which is of a pale coffee colour. The fruit being disengaged from the two pellicles and the pulp, is enclosed in a shell as thin as that of an egg, and the kernel is of the size of a pigeon’s egg. The fruit is exposed several days to the sun, in order to dry it, then pounded in a mortar, and reduced to flour which is of the colour of wheat bran. After being pounded, it is placed in a large calabash; luke-warm water is thrown over it, and it is kneaded with the hands until it attains the consistence of dough. To ascertain whether it is sufficiently manipulated, warm water is thrown over it, and if greasy particles are detached from the dough and float, the warm water is repeated several times, until the butter is completely separated, and rises to the surface. The butter is collected with a wooden spoon, and placed in a calabash. It is then boiled on a strong fire, being well skimmed to remove any pulp that might remain with it. When sufficiently boiled, it is poured into a calabash with a little water at the bottom to make it turn out easily. Thus prepared it is wrapped in the leaves of the tree, and will keep two years without spoiling. The butter is of an ash-grey colour and as hard as tallow. It is an article of trade with the negroes, who use it both for food and for anointing their bodies. They also employ it to burn for light; and they told me that it was an excellent ointment for pains and sores. The fruit of the cé is much larger in Baléya and Amana than in Timé. The seed of this tree, which is so valuable to the people of these countries, could not be transported to Europe for sowing, unless packed in small earthen vessels, otherwise it loses its germinative power, which does not last long. I have already mentioned that there is at Timé a fruit called taman, which also produces an unctuous substance very good for eating and more firm than the cé. It might be advantageously employed in Europe for burning. The grease or fat, called by the natives taman-toulou, is extracted by the same process as that employed with the cé. The tree, which produces the taman grows on the banks of rivulets, and is very common in the south. These two trees are so abundant at Cani and Teuté, that the inhabitants of those places, I was told, though possessing plenty of cows, never eat any butter except that produced by the trees. Palm-oil is also met with here, though not in great quantity. The kernel of the taman is of the size of a horse-chesnut, somewhat elongated, of a beautiful pink colour, deepening a little towards the outside. It is exceedingly hard; and the women, after setting it on the fire in earthen pots, crush it between two flints, previously to pounding it in the mortar. The butter of the taman is of a light yellow colour. It is firmer than that of the cé, and has no smell. I preferred this to the other.
Indigo grows spontaneously in the environs of Timé. The women use it for dyeing their cotton thread; which the men weave into cloths. The process employed to extract the dye is very simple. They do not take the trouble to cut the plant, but gather the leaves, which they bruise; and then making them up into small cakes they lay them in the sun to dry.
This process has been followed for a very long period. When the dye is wanted, the cakes are bruised, and put into a large earthen pot, made for this purpose; cold water is then poured over them and time is allowed for the leaves to soak. After leaving them twenty hours to ferment, ley is made with the ashes of the straw of foigné, and cold water is added. This has the effect of dissolving the indigo. The dye being thus prepared, the articles to be dyed are put into the pot. Cotton requires to be thus soaked for a whole night, or even longer; and when taken out, I have seen it of a beautiful blue colour. In proportion as the water diminishes, more is added, and the same leaves serve to dye for a whole week; but the first tint is always the finest.