Though there is abundance of poultry at Cacoron, yet the negroes eat it only on holidays. I wanted to buy some, but could find nobody inclined to sell any. An old Bambara made me a present of some pistachios and a yam. I found the people here more hospitable than they had been represented to me. I am convinced that a European, travelling in a plain, unostentatious style, would experience no annoyance, that is, if he were not imprudent enough to display any valuable goods; in this case, he would run the risk of being robbed: but I am far from believing that these kind-hearted and simple people would be guilty of any cruelty towards a traveller.
The neighbourhood of Cacoron is covered with cés and nédés. The inhabitants make a great quantity of butter, which they sell to strangers. I scarcely ever saw so gay a people as the Bambaras. At sunset they assemble under the great bombaces, at the entrance of the village, and dance all night to music which is not unpleasant. Attracted by this music, I stopped to observe their gambols, and was highly entertained. I was with a young Mandingo belonging to our caravan, who was particularly attentive to me. Men and women mingled together formed a large circle round a fire, jumping and keeping time to a band of music, consisting of three great drums and several hautboys. The musicians were dressed like those of Timé, having white cotton mantles, and ostrich-feathers on their heads. The dancers kept time with the music by a careless kind of motion of their arms and heads. The women had pieces of cotton cloth, which they held at both ends and waved in the air. The only figure of the dance consisted in going round the fire. The musicians kept themselves a little aloof, while the dancers, following each other in a file, went round the fire, leaping and shaking their legs about. I was much amused with this dance, in which there was nothing indecent, but I could not stay to look at it as long as I could have wished, for the capering of two or three hundred negroes raised an insufferable dust.
Throughout the whole of Bambara, and, according to the account of some negroes, even to a considerable distance south of Cacoron, the same music prevails. It is certainly one of the best and most agreeable I heard during my travels among the negroes. These people spend the greater part of the night in dancing; their dispositions are gentle and humane, and they are content with the present, without troubling themselves about the future. They have scarcely any clothing, generally wearing a sort of girdle, ornamented with cowries, which, after going round the waist and between the legs, is brought up in front to tie. To these girdles are attached fringes of cotton, which descend to the knee. The old men wear the usual pagne, and generally in the most filthy state. The women likewise wear pagnes, which are tied round their loins, and descend to their knees; they plat their hair in tresses, and rub their bodies all over with butter. The men shave their heads, like the Mahometans; but some tufts of hair are left, varying in size, according to the fancy of the wearer. Their skin is of the same colour as that of the Foulahs of the Wassoulo, and like them they have aquiline noses, thin lips, woolly hair, and sharp-pointed teeth; they make incisions on their faces and bodies.
In this country they make a sort of beer, or hydromel, of fermented millet and honey. They are very fond of this liquor which they drink till they intoxicate themselves.
On the 14th January, at five in the morning, we left the cheerful inhabitants of Cacaron, and proceeded three miles to the east over a level country, the soil of which was composed of very hard grey sand. We came to a mountain of black granite entirely barren. It extends north and south, and is about two hundred and fifty paces high. We advanced five miles further in the same direction. On the way we passed some large blocks of black granite.
About nine in the morning we halted at Tisso-Soman, a pretty village, lying between two small hills of very pale granite. In the centre of this village I saw a number of wells seven or eight feet in depth. The ground in which they are dug consists of sand mixed with coarse grey gravel, and at the bottom of the wells is some grey clayey earth, with pieces of rock, the nature of which I was unable to determine. The clay is of a whitish grey, and very slippery. I was unable to judge of its quantity by what was thrown up and left round the edge of the wells. The water was very good; but rather white in colour.
The women of the caravan seated themselves round these wells to wash their millet.
After a light breakfast, consisting of tau and a bad sauce made of herbs, we left the village. About two o’clock we took an easterly direction, and proceeded about six miles, over a soil similar to that which I last described. Our progress was somewhat impeded by large blocks of granite, which we encountered at every step, and on either side of us were small hills of the same material. At sunset we halted at Sananso, a large walled village, containing seven or eight hundred inhabitants. I seated myself near a hut, to rest after my fatigue; but the chief of the village invited me to sit by him, on some large clumps of wood, raised a little above the ground and placed near the door of his hut. Above these seats there was a sort of canopy, made of branches of trees. The chief had a little fire beside his seat, and the smoke was so disagreeable that I could not stay longer than a few minutes. He asked me some questions concerning the whites and their mode of living, and seemed satisfied with my answers.
The village is situated in a large, well cultivated, and fertile plain. At a little distance from it there is a mountain of granite entirely barren. In this village we met a caravan of Mandingoes, some of whom were going to Jenné and others to Sansanding. Some were laden with cloth, and some with colat-nuts. The chief of the village assigned to me a hut built of earth, the only one in the place, the others being all of straw. He had a fire kindled, and requested me to go in and lie down: but, on entering, I was nearly suffocated. The hut had a flat roof covered with earth, and the smoke, being unable to obtain a vent above, had no outlet but the door. Straw huts are not subject to this inconvenience. I speedily retired from this oven in which I could not breathe, and prepared to pass the night in the open air; but my guide, being informed of the reason which prevented me from remaining in the hut, explained the circumstance to the chief, who immediately selected another lodging for me, where I passed the night with a Mandingo belonging to our caravan. Some strangers sent us a little supper very well cooked.
On the 15th of January, at six in the morning, we proceeded northward about seven miles, among rocks of granite on a fertile soil composed of sand. I observed the cé and the nédé in great abundance and the land well cultivated. About eleven o’clock we arrived at Dhio, a large walled village, containing about eight or nine hundred inhabitants. On entering the place, I observed a number of women assembled in a spot which seemed to be set aside for their recreation. Some were nursing their children who were quite naked, and others were asleep. The old men have also a place where they assemble to smoke their pipes, and where they spend a great part of the day. It is called the banancoro, as among the Mandingoes. I also saw some tobacco plantations in the little gardens adjoining the huts. The village is disgustingly dirty.