At six o’clock in the morning of the 27th of January, we left Fara, and took the direction of N.N.E. over a road covered with grey sand. We next reached the banks of the Bagoé, the White River of the negroes. Its course is from E.S.E. to W.S.W., its banks, which are thickly wooded, rise to the height of thirty or forty feet, and are composed of a yellow kind of sand, mixed with clay, together with some veins of grey argillaceous earth, about eighteen inches or two feet thick. The Bagoé swells in the rainy season, and inundates the neighbouring country, rendering it very marshy. Indeed, to some distance over land, the flood is so great that canoes pass through it. The river is nearly as wide as the Milo at Kankan. It is deep, and navigable for large canoes. It has many windings, and after flowing for the space of five or six miles W.S.W. it turns northward and falls into the Dhioliba. According to the information I collected from the natives and Mandingo travellers, the Bagoé comes from the south, passes Teuté (whither they go to buy colat-nuts), and then falls into the Dhioliba a little below Ségo. We were a long time crossing it, great delay being occasioned by the quantity of our baggage, as well as by the discussion about the fare, which we had to pay in cowries. The negroes, who are naturally chilly, kindled a fire, and seated themselves round it, to settle the price to be paid for the passage. The Bambara who owned the canoe gave to each individual a piece of wood, which was returned to him as they stepped ashore; thus he secured himself against any mistake which might have arisen from the confusion and the number of persons. The canoe in which we crossed was tolerably large. It was near noon when we reached the right bank. The current was slow, flowing, perhaps, at the rate of a knot and a half an hour.
We continued our course to the N.E., and, about two o’clock, arrived at a neat village, called Courounina, where we halted to dine. After eating a little boiled rice, with some bad herb sauce, and paying the chief the passage-duty, we again started, taking a N.E. direction. After crossing a little stream, we arrived, shortly before night-fall, at Missabougou. The country through which I passed during the day resembled all that I had seen for several days preceding, and was well cropped with millet, pistachios, &c. The inhabitants thronged to see me; they looked at me with earnest curiosity, saying, that they had never seen a Moor so white as I was.
A little after sun-set, as I was standing by the fire, boiling some pieces of bark to wash my mouth, which was still very painful, a young negro of our caravan, who had shewn me marks of attention during the whole of the journey, informed me that I must not stay out too late, because, if the Lous should see me, they would beat me unmercifully. I did not know what he meant, and asked him to explain himself. He told me that throughout the whole of Bambara, there are men who live all day in the woods, in huts made of the branches of trees. They have with them boys, to whom they teach the mysteries of their ceremonies. Every night they issue from the woods, accompanied by the boys, running about the village, uttering frightful cries, and making a thousand hideous contortions. On their approach, the terrified inhabitants shut themselves up in their huts; but there are some men, added the negro, who are not afraid of the Lous. I immediately conjectured, that these Lous must be an association similar to that of the Simos, which I have already described as existing among the people who inhabit the banks of the Rio Nuñez, and also among the Timannees. I was confirmed in this supposition, when the young negro informed me that, on rejoicing days, they give notice of their intention to shew themselves openly. They come and join in the festivities of the day, and then return to their habitations, laden with presents of every kind, which all, and particularly the women, are eager to bestow upon them. The young negro, from whom I learned these particulars, had made several journeys through this country, and had acquired an acquaintance with the manners of the people, which a stranger can obtain but slowly and imperfectly. He, moreover, informed me that the Lous drink the beer of the country, with which they frequently become intoxicated.
In the evening, I heard some strange howlings in the vicinity of the village. I made no doubt that the Lous had commenced their nightly incursions, and felt great curiosity to see them. I cautiously crept out of my hut, and took my station behind a little palisade, whence I could see without being seen. I soon saw a man advance. His head was covered with a piece of rag, and from various parts of his body were suspended bells and little bits of iron, which made a horrid jingling noise. Before he entered the village, he announced his approach by running round it, uttering frightful howlings, and rattling his noisy appendages. He was followed by a number of boys, dressed like himself. I heard some old men, who were sitting conversing together at their doors, call out to the Lou, not to go that way, as there were people there; and he and his retinue immediately turned another way. During a great part of the night I could get no sleep, on account of the howling of these savages.
At six next morning, we left Missabougou, and travelled six miles N.E. Our road was covered with ferruginous stones. About nine in the morning, we halted at Badiarana, a village containing about eight or nine hundred inhabitants. The market was abundantly supplied with all the necessaries of life. The inhabitants maintain a considerable trade; merchants from Ségo and Yamina bring salt to Badiarana, which they exchange for cloth of native manufacture, and cowries. Mandingoes coming from the market of Jenné also traffic at Badiarana, to procure a supply of cowries for the remainder of their journey. I inquired of several merchants the distance of this place from Ségo. They all concurred in telling me that Kayaye, a large commercial town, was nine days’ journey north of Badiarana, and that Ségo was nine days’ journey from Kayaye in the same direction.
As we approached the village, the chief stopped the caravan in a field to count the loads. To guard against any mistake in the payment of the passage-duties, he gave to each merchant as many pieces of wood as he had loads. Each load was charged at the rate of twenty colat-nuts, the price of the latter being from fifteen to eighteen cowries a-piece in the village. The chief lodged us in some large huts. On our arrival, I immediately visited the market, where I bought some maumies and sour milk. The market is kept in very good order. The dealers, who were ranged in two rows, were neatly dressed, and behaved with great civility to those who bought their commodities, which consisted of the produce of the country. Their shops were filled with cotton, raw and manufactured, salt, millet, allspice, long pepper, pistachios, zambalas, the fruit of the baobab, and the dried leaves of that tree, which are used in cookery. I also exhibited my ware, and sold some glass ornaments and pieces of coloured calico, which strongly excited the admiration of the negroes. I afterwards went, accompanied by my guide, to visit the chief. I found him seated in a large hut, surrounded by some Mandingo merchants, who were engaged in discussing their affairs. The wife of the chief had seen my glass trinkets, and she begged her husband to buy some for her. I sold him about twenty beads, at thirty cowries each. Several women purchased from me little bits of coloured stuff, measuring about eighteen or twenty inches long, and four broad, for each of which they paid me three hundred cowries, worth twenty four French sous. One of the confidants of the chief, who received the colats in payment of the passage-duties, presented me with ten very fine ones, which he begged me to accept. This man’s hands and feet were covered with leprosy. My companions found a sale for some of their colats. At supper time, as I was taking the air in the court, I saw the chief of the village stretched upon a mat, with his head supported on a log of wood, and beside him stood a young negress, who was attending upon him. Shortly afterwards, six or seven of his wives brought him by turns a calabash of tau for his supper. He tasted a little of the contents of each calabash, distributed a portion to some Bambaras, who were lying beside him, and the cooks successively carried away the remainder. It is the custom of this country for the wives of a rich man, each to prepare her own supper separately, and then to carry it to the head of the family before she touches it herself. The wives of the poorer class cook the supper of the whole family, and perform this office by turns. I was pretty near the chief, and was much astonished that he did not invite me to partake of the repast, a custom which is so generally prevalent in these countries. The wells at Badiarana are dug seven or eight feet deep, in a soil consisting of mixed sand and gravel. There is grey argillaceous earth at the bottom of these wells, and the water, though rather white, is pleasant to drink.
On the 29th of January, at six o’clock in the morning, we set off, proceeding northward, over a road covered with ferruginous stones and red gravel. After crossing a large stream, we reached Timbala, where we passed the remainder of the day, being all greatly fatigued.
On the 30th of January, at six o’clock in the morning, we left Timbala. After travelling some distance N.N.W. I was shewn the road leading to Ségo and Yamina. We turned N.N.E., taking the road to Jenné, and, after proceeding eight miles in that direction, we halted. At a short distance from Timbala, we saw several women cooking maumies, which they sold to the people of the caravan. They had some difficulty in supplying us, for we all wanted some, under the expectation that we should have to travel a considerable distance without halting. However, this plan was changed, and about ten o’clock we stopped at Touriat, a little unwalled village. Our road, during the morning, was over very hard grey sand, and shaded by bombaces, baobabs, and cés; the latter were very abundant. A man belonging to our caravan being ill, his companions subscribed together for the purchase of a kid, for, since our departure, they had scarcely eaten any thing but tau, and herb sauce without salt. My guide gave me a bit of the kid, about the size of an egg; for it was divided among so many, that even my allowance was more than fell to the lot of some of the rest.
The country round the village is very open, and the soil level. The cé and the nédé are more numerous than any other trees. Touriat contains between three and four hundred inhabitants.
On the 31st of January, at six in the morning, after proceeding some distance N.N.E., over a soil composed of hard sand, and covered with ferruginous stones and gravel, we arrived at Magna-Gnounan, where we stopped to dine. In the neighbourhood of the village there are some pretty little gardens, planted with onions and beans, which the inhabitants cultivate carefully: they use the leaves for making their sauces. I also saw some fields of tobacco, which, in this place, is cultivated no better than at Timé; but it is of a finer kind: the leaves are broad and very long, and, if it were well attended to, it would thrive as well as that cultivated in Europe. The village of Magna-Gnounan is walled, and contains about two hundred and fifty inhabitants; the environs are well wooded with mimosas and large baobabs. I saw some cotton plantations; but they appeared to be neglected. I sat down beyond the boundaries of the village, in the shade of a baobab, and roasted some pistachios for my dinner, which I shared with some of my companions.