About two o’clock in the afternoon, we left the village of Mouriosso, and proceeded in the direction of E.N.E. over a hard soil, composed of grey earth mixed with sand, and studded with ferruginous stones and gravel. It was barren in the extreme. About six in the evening we halted at Oulasso, a village, the huts of which are enclosed and built like those of Mouriosso, and containing three or four hundred inhabitants. In this village we found a caravan of Mandingo traders coming from the south, where they had been buying colat-nuts, which they intended to sell at Jenné. A large hut was assigned to us; but we could not stay in it on account of the heat and smoke. The fire was lighted at the further end of the hut, which might be about twenty feet long by eight broad, and the smoke had no outlet but the door. The fire consequently produced the same effect as a furnace. I passed the night under a mimosa, which grew before our hut, having covered myself with my wrapper, for the air was cool.
As the village was too small to afford lodging for two caravans several of the merchants slept, like myself, in the open air; however, they took the precaution of lighting fires. These fires, glimmering through the village, had a very curious effect. They served for the women to cook by; at our last halting station we had procured millet enough for the supper of the whole party; it was well we had taken this precaution, for we could get nothing at Oulasso. The soil in the vicinity of the village consists of very productive sand, in part cultivated. The Bambara inhabitants did not understand the Mandingo language; but we had the good fortune to meet with a woman who acted as our interpreter.
On the 3rd of February, at six in the morning, we proceeded in the direction of N.E. Our caravan was now very strong, being augmented by that which we had joined the preceding evening. We pursued our course over a soil composed of sand and very hard earth, covered with stones and gravel, which rendered the road very fatiguing. The country was, however, well wooded with cés and nédés. We crossed three large streams, by which we were detained a long time on account of our asses. The banks of these streams were thickly wooded, and in the shady parts grew many palm-trees. The natives are not aware that this tree furnishes an intoxicating liquor; they extract the oil, which they are very fond of, and with which they anoint their bodies. The palm-tree does not grow so abundantly here as on the coast. About ten o’clock in the morning we arrived at Facibrisso, where there is a great market for colat-nuts, allspice, long pepper, which is brought from the south, cloth manufactured in the country, and salt brought from the banks of the Dhioliba, besides a considerable quantity of millet, cotton, pistachios, and other native produce. The huts, which have flat roofs and only a ground-floor, are built of bricks baked in the sun. They are extremely inconvenient and so slight that they frequently fall down. All the villages, as far as Jenné, are built in the same way, and in general shaded by numerous bombaces and baobabs. The inhabitants gather the fruit of the baobab and sell it to the caravans. They even carry it to Jenné, where it is scarce, and from Jenné it is exported to Timbuctoo. The cé and the nédé are astonishingly abundant in all this part of the country. Proceeding towards the north, the baobabs become less common and the bombaces surpass them in size. The ronnier is abundant in some places.
On the 4th of February, at six in the morning, we set off in the direction of E.S.E. over a very good fertile soil. We crossed a river, after which we proceeded along a road covered with gravel. After travelling four miles we reached Toumané, where we found a numerous caravan on its way from Jenné. These traders brought us the unwelcome information that colats were very plentiful and very cheap at Jenné. This news was very disheartening to the poor merchants from Timé.
I went to see the market, which I found better than those of the villages through which I had previously passed. It was held under a sort of penthouse, which kept off the rain in bad weather. It was very well supplied with all the productions of the country. I even saw butcher’s meat and European commodities, such as cloth, muskets, powder and glass trinkets. The female traders managed their business cleverly. I bought some maumies, which were better made and superior to those in other villages. I saw some wild Guinea fowl, which are very common in this country: they are sold at the same price as common fowls. There were in this village many strangers from Ségo, Yamina, and other places. The inhabitants paid no particular attention to me, all taking me for a Moor. I found them mild and civil towards strangers; they were very neatly dressed, in comparison with the inhabitants of the villages which I had visited. My guide, Karamo-osila, discouraged by the news brought by the merchants from Jenné, resolved a second time to proceed by the way of Kayaye and Sansanding. This decision would have annoyed me extremely if the rest of the party had concurred in it; but he and his associates were the only persons who approved the plan. I made a bargain with an old man from Timé who was going to Jenné, and promised that on reaching this town I would give him a beautiful piece of cloth if he would allow his ass to carry my luggage. This arrangement seemed to please him. On the evening of our separation, I wished to make a third present to my guide, consisting of a piece of coloured cloth; but he declined accepting it, telling me, that in serving me he had not been influenced by motives of interest, but by the wish to perform an action which would be agreeable to God and the prophet. He added that I had a long journey before I should reach Mecca, and that, as my resources were not great, they would if I made frequent presents soon be exhausted. I was not to be duped by this; I perceived that he wanted something else: in fact he asked me to sell him a pair of scissors and some paper. Being convinced that I should be thought greedy if I sold him these articles, I promised to give him them at our parting, which was to be the next day. During the journey I had lent seven hundred cowries, partly to my guide and partly to other persons of the caravan. They all faithfully repaid me.
On the morning of the 5th of February, I went, accompanied by Karamo-osila, to call on the man from Timé, with whom I was henceforth to travel. At parting from my old guide, I presented him with the pair of scissors and the paper which I had promised him. He asked me for some cowries to enable him to pursue his journey, under the pretence that his colat-nuts would not sell, and that he should be unable to purchase provisions: I paid little attention to his request. Although I had every reason to praise his conduct, yet I parted from him without regret, for I was continually annoyed by his people, and principally by his wives, who took pleasure in tormenting me. I was their butt, and a constant subject of amusement to them. Indeed, during the halts, from the annoyance which I experienced, I might have fancied myself still at Timé; the men never took the trouble to make them hold their tongues.
At seven o’clock on the morning of the 5th of February, we separated, Karamo-osila going to the N.N.E. and we to the east. At a little distance from the village we crossed a stream by a very substantial bridge. There were between six and seven hundred persons and thirty or forty asses to pass. Many travellers with their women forded the stream, being up to their waists in water. It was a terrible scene of uproar and confusion. Every one was loudly disputing about the amount of the passage-duty, which was paid in cowries. Our caravan had been augmented by a number of merchants who traded in cloth, allspice, and long pepper. Having reached the opposite bank of the stream, we proceeded towards the N.E. along a fine level road. The country was open and interspersed with cés and nédés. The soil, composed of grey sand, was broken here and there by little hills. We crossed a dry marsh, covered with rich pasture, into which the natives turn their cattle. The inhabitants of the neighbouring villages are so industrious as to make dikes. They are raised to the height of three and a half, or four feet, so as to confine the waters of the marsh, which would otherwise inundate the country in the months of August and September.
About nine o’clock in the morning we halted at Oulasso, a village composed of three or four small enclosures of equal size, and containing about three hundred inhabitants.
At six in the morning of the 6th of February, we again set out and proceeded six miles N.E. over the same kind of soil as on the preceding day. The country was covered with bombaces and baobabs. We halted about nine in the morning at Chesso. This village is formed like Oulasso, of several little enclosures, very near to each other. The surrounding country is very bare. There is a marsh, on the borders of which the natives cultivate onions, beans, giraumons, &c. There are also within the village many bombaces and baobabs. On arriving at the hut allotted to us, I saw at the door a very dirty woman baking cakes in an earthen frying-pan made in the country. I bought some of them, not being able to procure any others; as there was no market in this village. Our hut, which was very narrow and low, scarcely afforded room for us and our luggage. However, I was obliged to pass the night in it.
My new companions clubbed to buy a goat. I gave seventy cowries for my share, and unfortunately I could not eat it, the meat being hard and badly cooked. An hour or two after supper, the negroes fell to eating the head half roasted on the ashes; and after they had gnawed the bones they gave them to the slaves.