On returning to my hut, I saw three men masked, like those I have already described. They were running after the children, who were endeavouring to escape from them.
In the evening, I went to see Karamo-osila, and asked him to pay me for the gunpowder which I had sold at Timé, for the celebration of the dégué-sousou. It was he who had undertaken to pay me. He informed me that he could not pay me in cowries, as had been agreed, because the colats did not sell very well; but that he would give me merchandise for the value. After a moment’s reflection, he added, that I had sold my powder too dear, and that I ought to be satisfied with eighty colat-nuts, which were at that time equivalent to half a gourde. This did not astonish me, for it was what I expected. The Mandingoes are invariably dishonest in their dealings with strangers, especially when they know that they are not running any risk by so doing. I complained not of this injustice: I knew that my complaints would be useless. He directed his slaves to select eighty small colats, and he gave them to me in exchange for my powder, which might fairly have been estimated at double that value. He assured me, that he was sorry to leave me at Tangrera, where I knew nobody, and that he should feel pleasure in conducting me to Sansanding, if I would go with him. He said he no longer regarded me as a stranger, since I had lived five months with his brother, who had recommended me to him.
I went to the dwelling of my host, where I spent the remainder of the evening. He came and sat by me to bear me company. He praised the honesty of his wife, and requested me to give her the care of my baggage, as the door of my own hut had no fastening. I was frequently obliged to go out, and, consequently, might easily have been robbed in my absence, and I thought I was less liable to incur any loss if I entrusted it to the care of the woman. My bag closed with a padlock, and, consequently, it could not be opened without my knowledge. My host provided for me a good supper of rice, with a sauce of dried fish; and, in return for his attention, I gave the cook some salt to season the supper of the whole family. This present more than paid for my repast. My host, seeing that I had colats, very frequently asked me for some. I observed that he drank a good deal of beer, and saw him, with several Bambaras, seated in his hut round a large vessel of hydromel. They had a little calabash, which they filled, and passed round one to another. They were all very merry, and my host was so intoxicated that he could scarcely speak. This habit of drinking rendered my residence with him unpleasant. His hut was large, built of earth, with a terraced roof. It had two doors, and a window in the roof, to admit the air. The cooking was performed at one end, not in the middle, as is usual in other places in this part of Africa.
CHAPTER XV.
Cultivation of tobacco. — Tangrera. — Fara. — Bangaro. — Itinerant musicians. — Débéna. — Tiara. — Part of the caravan proceeds to Sansanding. — Bee-hives. — Siracana. — The Bagoé, a navigable river. — The Lous. — Bandiarana. — Bridge over the Koua.
On the morning of the 20th of January, Karamo-osila came to take leave of me. He made me a present of ten large colats, and again assured me of his sorrow at parting from me. I was also vexed at the separation, for I had every reason to be satisfied with his conduct. He always defrayed the expenses of my living, with the exception of some fowls which I purchased myself, and I had only given him, as a compensation for his attention, a cap of coloured cloth, and the silver bracelet which I received from the almamy of Sambatikila. He left me, after wishing me a speedy departure and a pleasant journey. In the morning my host, who was then somewhat recovered from the carousal of the preceding evening, accompanied me on a visit to the chief of the village. Unfortunately I did not find the chief at home, and my host and I called on one of the sherif’s relations, whom we found sitting on a bullock’s hide, in a large hut, superintending the manipulation of tobacco. Six stout slaves were employed in this hard labour. Each was provided with a huge pestle, and the tobacco was pounded in a large mortar. It had an excellent odour, and was much paler in colour than ours. The slaves were quite naked, and the perspiration was running down their bodies. This merchant carried on a thriving trade; his house was always full of customers, and he had lying beside him a large heap of cowries, the produce of the day’s sale. The tobacco cultivated in the country is of a very small species, like that at Timé, and the leaves are short and narrow. The people pay little attention to its cultivation, and are not accustomed to cut off the head of the plant, as we do. At Tangrera, the leaves are dried in the shade, and afterwards made up into rolls: they thus acquire a pale chesnut colour.
It was about nine in the morning, when we returned home. My host told me in a very phlegmatic tone that he was tired, and asked me for colat-nuts. Soon afterwards I went back by myself to visit the chief, whom I found at home, lying on an ox-hide, in a miserable straw hut. After the usual salutations, he sent for two women, who had been to Jenné, to be my interpreters, for he supposed that I spoke the language of that country, and was exceedingly astonished when I told him that I did not understand it. I asked him in the Mandingo tongue, when the caravans for Jenné would start, and he told me that the merchants who made that journey were gone to Boyoko, to purchase colats; but that they would soon return, and then if I pleased I might travel with them. The soon of a negro, however, often means fifteen or twenty days. I learned that Boyoko is a village inhabited by Pagans, and that a market for the sale of colats is held there. It is twenty days’ journey S.S.E. of Tangrera.
Uncertain whether to wait a speedy opportunity for departing, and fearful of passing a second bad season in the interior, I finally resolved to rejoin the travellers who had set out in the morning. I hoped that by going to Sansanding and thence to Kayaye, I should meet with some opportunity to start for Jenné, and if not, I could leave Sansanding for El-Arawan, situated in the desert; and on reaching that town, I could form some definitive plan. I went immediately to seek the Moor Mohammed, to whom I communicated my project, of which he entirely approved. He accompanied me home, where I showed him several beautiful glass trinkets. However he was not tempted by them, and he even declined accepting a few sheets of paper, telling me I should have occasion for them on the road. After some persuasion, he at length consented to take one. He talked for a moment with my host, and they both went together to the chief’s house, to ask him to send a man to conduct me to the village, where the merchants going to Sansanding, were stopping. I was assured that the place was not very far distant.
Tangrera is a large walled village, shaded by great bombaces and baobabs. A well-stocked market is held there every day. The greater part of the huts are thatched with straw, but all those belonging to the heads of families are built of earth and have terraced roofs. The place is inhabited by Bambaras and Mandingoes, who live together in a very friendly footing; the Bambaras are the more numerous. They often meet in the course of the day under trees, to drink their beer, of which they are very fond. I saw in the village several wild fig-trees. The inhabitants are traders and cultivators. They manufacture a considerable quantity of cotton cloth, and hold frequent communications with the towns on the banks of the Dhioliba. They rear horned cattle, sheep, and some goats, and I also saw several fine horses; a rare sight in this part of the country. Cowries are the only current coin at Tangrera. This village is of the same size as Sambatikila, and contains nearly the same population. I went with my host to see the mosque; it is built of earth, and surmounted by several small massive towers. It is a shapeless edifice, the interior is dirty, and suffocatingly hot. The Musulmans, whose indolence is an antidote to their religious zeal, have not even taken the trouble to clear away the rubbish which was scattered on the floor during its construction. To be sure, they do not go very often to the mosque; for they repeat their prayers at home. Several Bambaras invited me jokingly to drink beer with them, but I affected a great aversion to that liquor.