About nine in the morning we halted at Syenso, where some of the inhabitants were engaged in storing the fruit of the baobab. For this purpose they break the shell with a large piece of wood, and then take out the pulp, which, after being thoroughly dried in the sun, they slightly pound to extract the fecula, which is much esteemed in this country. The people put it into their sauces and use it as a substitute for honey in preparing their dokhnou. At Syenso ropes are made of the hibiscus cannibinus, or hemp, discovered at Gambia by a Frenchman named Baudery, and which is also used on the Senegal. No machinery is employed in making these ropes; they are merely twisted by hand, consequently they are not very strong, especially as the hemp, which is not wetted before it is used, is gathered when very dry. I bought two of these ropes, which were about six yards long and an inch thick: I paid for each fifteen cowries, (equivalent to a sou and a half.) I met with a man from Jenné, who was very kind and civil to me. On my complaining of fatigue, he advised me to be patient, as we had not far to go before we should reach Jenné.
At six in the morning of the 2nd of March, we left Syenso, and advanced between north and east the distance of seven miles. A little beyond the village we crossed a marsh, in which the water was knee-deep. The surrounding country is covered with rich pasturage. About eleven we stopped at Somou, a village situated in an open and well cultivated plain. I was astonished at the great quantity of fish which I saw in the market; I bought some for supper and found it very good. I also purchased some lotus bread, which had a very pleasant taste: it was rather acid and in colour resembled gingerbread. It was made of the fruit of the rhamnus lotus, mentioned by Mungo Park. There were in the market some women selling millet stubble, which is used for fuel on account of the scarcity of wood. I also saw a small quantity of sulphur in sticks; it is brought from the markets of Jenné, Ségo, Sansanding, and Yamina, but I know not what use is made of it here. All the villages on this road, from Oulasso to Jenné, are built of bricks baked in the sun. These bricks, which are a foot long, eight inches broad and a foot thick, are made without the aid of a mould. The earth, being mixed to a proper consistence, is spread upon the ground, and when half dry it is shaped into the form of bricks, which are laid in the sun, and turned from side to side until sufficiently baked. The houses, or rather huts, are eight or nine feet high, twelve or fourteen long, and eight wide. The walls are eighteen inches thick and rudely built, the bricks being not even cemented together. They have all flat roofs, which are supported by thick posts, placed within at suitable distances from each other, and similar posts are erected for the same purpose in the middle of the room. The whole is so badly constructed that the wall cannot for any length of time support the roof, which is very heavy, and consists of untrimmed branches of trees covered with earth. The huts have in general but one door and no chimney, and when fires are kindled in them, which is the case every evening, the smoke is unbearable. For my part I always preferred sleeping in the open air. These huts are entered by door-ways about five feet high and of the usual width, and they are closed by very weak and ill joined straw doors. Each inhabitant has several of these houses, and in his court-yard a little round store-house, made of earth and thatched with straw, in which provisions are kept. The villages in this part of the country are very dull and far from being so cheerful as those further southward. I was no longer amused by witnessing the dancing and merrimaking of the people.
On the 3rd of March, at sun-rise, we set out and proceeded five miles north-east. When we had advanced a mile and a half from Somou, we crossed a great marsh, where the water was knee-deep. In this marsh there are many fish and aquatic birds. In the direction of N.W. it forms a great lake and in the S.E. it is filled with high grass and weeds. We went seven miles further N.N.E. The soil, consisting of hard sand, was level and open. About noon, we arrived, much fatigued, at Kinana, a village containing about two hundred inhabitants, and surrounded by an infinite multitude of ronniers.
On the 4th of March, at ten in the morning, after proceeding two miles N.N.E. we turned to E.N.E., then again to N.N.E. having travelled altogether about ten miles. The aspect of the country was barren, being covered with volcanic stones and red gravel. About eleven o’clock we reached Kirina, a village surrounded by bombaces and baobabs, containing a population of about five or six hundred. The inhabitants are, for the most part, rope-makers. They sell their ropes to the caravans which pass through the country, and also take them to Jenné. They are used in making the canoes employed in the passage to Timbuctoo. Some of these ropes are made of hemp; but most of them of the bark of trees and of the leaves of the ronnier. Some clasp-knives were offered us for sale. They were tolerably well made, and it was the first time that I had seen any such articles in the interior. They were not of European manufacture; I presume therefore that they had been brought from Tafilet.
There were in the village some wells, twelve or thirteen feet deep: the soil in which they were dug was full of gravel and small pebbles. They contained good clear water.
On the fifth of March, at six in the morning, we left the village of Kirina, and advanced four miles N.E. over the same sort of soil as on the preceding day. We halted at Foudouca, another village, shaded by nédés and baobabs. Here we found provisions very dear. Foudouca contains about five or six hundred inhabitants, which is the average amount of the population of all the villages as far as Jenné. They are, as I have already mentioned, walled, though sometimes only partially; a village being occasionally composed of four or five little enclosures, in each of which reside several families. The wells are usually seven or eight feet deep.
At sun-rise on the 6th of March, we again set out and advanced six miles, first to N.E. and then to N.W. The soil still continued the same; but the country was more open than it had previously been. I saw many millet fields, which had been cultivated in the rainy season. Some of the stubble yet remained on the ground. About eleven in the forenoon we halted at Medina, the environs of which are well cultivated. The market is small, but well supplied. I saw in it some very fine fish both fresh and dry. The fresh fish, I was told, had been caught in the Dhioliba. It was about two feet and a half long and one in circumference. It had no scales, and the head was rather long. This fish had only one large bone and no small ones. I bought a piece for my supper and found it excellent. There is no better fish in Europe. I also saw in the market a great deal of lotus bread. It had a somewhat saccharine and acid taste, owing to the fruit being gathered before it is ripe. It is very common in this part of the Soudan. The inhabitants sell it at Jenné, whence it is conveyed to Timbuctoo.
At six in the morning of the 7th of March, we pursued a N.E. direction. The soil continued the same as it had been for several preceding days; I saw however some naucleas. At ten in the morning we halted at Counignan, a village situated in a plain covered with gravel, which, nevertheless, is cultivated in the rainy season. As far as the eye can reach, nothing is to be seen but bushes at considerable distances from each other. Near the village there are some ronniers and bombaces. In the market, which is well supplied with necessaries, I saw some butchers. They skewer together bits of beef and suet, which, after being broiled or merely smoke-dried, they sell to their customers.
On the 8th of March, about seven in the morning, we prepared for departure. At the entrance of the village we were met by the butchers, who on the preceding evening had boiled the heads and feet of the animals which they had killed, and now offered them for sale to the people of the caravan. This detained us a little while, as we all bought something to eat before dinner, which we should not have till late. After advancing eight miles to the N.E. over a soil composed of hard, red sand, strewed with gravel, we crossed a marsh, choosing a narrow part which was dry, though it was flooded elsewhere. Rice is cultivated on the higher parts of this marsh, on which the negroes have constructed dikes to check the inundation. After crossing the marsh, we came to a large village called Touma-dioman. We did not stop here, but proceeded five miles to the N.N.E. over a soil composed of hard sand, but less gravelly than it had been on the preceding days, and covered with mimosas, cés, nédés, and the rhamnus lotus. The road was thronged with people, travelling from village to village with various commodities, such as millet, cotton, dried fish, &c., and caravans of dealers in salt.
At the village of Touma-dioman there are two large ponds of muddy water, to which both men and beasts went to slake their thirst.