Timbuktu

“ The second hovercraft joined them, driven by Elmer Allen, and they made their way through the staring, but motionless, crowds of Chaambra.
IV
Once the city of Timbuktu was more important in population, in commerce, in learning than the London, the Paris or the Rome of the time. It was the crossroads where African traffic, east and west, met African traffic, north and south; Timbuktu dominated all. In its commercial houses accumulated the wealth of Africa ”

“ Timbuktu has been described as “the meeting point of the camel and the canoe,” “the port of the Sahara in the Sudan,” and (more correctly) “the port of the Sudan in the Sahara.” It is a great “exchange” for the produce of North Africa and that of the rich countries south and west of the Niger. It was formerly a much larger place than it was found to be at the time of its occupation by the French in 1893-1894. Extensive ruins exist north and west of the present town. ”

“ Timbuktu lies 9 miles north of the Niger on a terrace or escarpment of the desert about 800 feet above the sea. Formerly a navigable lateral branch reached the foot of this escarpment, and in 1640 a low-lying quarter of the city was even inundated. But the channel has gradually silted up, and even during the floods boats can now reach no farther than the basin of Kabra (Kabara) , the port of Timbuktu on the Mger. Both port and city have greatly diminished in size, and travellers arriving from the north and west now traverse extensive spaces covered with refuse. ”

“ Timbuktu, which possesses some valuable Arabic manuscripts — notably the Tarik es-Sudan, a 17th-century history of the Sudan written by Abderrahman Sadi of Timbuktu — and is a centre of Moslem teaching, is a converging point of the chief west Sudanese and Saharan races — Arabs or Arabized Berbers to the west; Songhoi in the immediate vicinity, and thence south-eastwards along the Niger; Ireghenaten or “mixed” Tuareg southwards across the Niger as far as the Hombori Hills and in the fertile Libbako plains beyond them ”

“ It is a struggle between life and death. The life-giving water washes the choking sand, and just where the strife is fiercest lies Timbuktu. From the north goods come on dromedaries to be transported farther in canoes or long, narrow boats with arched awnings of matting, or, where the river is not navigable, on oxen and asses or the backs of men. Dromedaries cannot endure the damp climate near the Niger, which especially in winter overflows its banks for a long distance. Therefore they are led back through the Sahara. They thrive on the dry deserts. ”

“ The engineer had no notion of allowing the president and secretary of the Weldon Institute to be ignorant that they had the honor of contemplating the Queen of the Sudan, now in the power of the Tuaregs of Taganet.
“Gentlemen, Timbuktu!” he said, in the same tone as twelve days before he had said, “Gentlemen, India!” Then he continued, “Timbuktu is an important city of from twelve to thirteen thousand inhabitants, formerly illustrious in science and art. ”

“ But the Tuaregs of Timbuktu had nothing in common with the Awellimiden, they were indeed their enemies. Between Madidu and us there had never been war.
“Now that we were neighbours, the Sultan of the French thought it would be wrong for us to remain any longer unknown to each other.
“If we succeeded in making friends, nothing but good would result to both parties. They would come to Timbuktu to sell their oxen, their sheep, and their gum, receiving in exchange stuffs, beads, and all the goods the white men know how to make. ”

“ On the 6th, still much bothered by the contrary wind, we reached Rhergo, a very large village, more ancient even, it is said, than Timbuktu, which rose in importance at the expense of its older rival. Recently, however, through the culpable policy which left the districts surrounding the French settlement unprotected, Rhergo has regained some of the trade of Timbuktu. A razzi or raid of Hoggars, the Tuaregs from the south who murdered Flatters, cut short the growing prosperity of the capital by almost completely ruining it. ”

“ Ill with fever he was obliged to go back to France, but in 1824 was again in Senegal with the fixed idea of penetrating to Timbuktu. He spent eight months with the Brakna “Moors” living north of Senegal river, learning Arabic and being taught, as a convert, the laws and customs of Islam. He laid his project of reaching Timbuktu before the governor of Senegal, but receiving no encouragement went to Sierra Leone where the British authorities made him superintendent of an indigo plantation. Having saved £80 he joined a Mandingo caravan going inland. ”

“ So near to Timbuktu, with people all virtually under French protection, I should not venture to engage in any diplomatic or military enterprise on my own account, for of course to do so would be to encroach on the province of the supreme authority in the French Sudan. Is it too much to hope that our gentleness and our patience will make it easier later to establish really satisfactory relations with the Tuaregs? We shall have shown by our conduct that we are not the ferocious beasts our enemies chose to represent us to be. ”

“ The force which “garrisoned” Timbuktu consisted of but seven Europeans and twelve Senegalese, a somewhat larger body being left with the gunboats at Kabara. On the 28th of December the Tuareg attacked the boat party, killing Naval Ensign Aube, another officer, and eighteen black sailors. Colonel T. P. E. Bonnier, who was at Mopti, 200 m. to the south-west, marched to the relief of Boiteux and entered Timbuktu without opposition on the 10th of January 1894. Leaving part of his force in the town the colonel set out with about 100 men to chastize the nomads. ”

“ When the French reached Timbuktu in December 1893 they found that the town had again fallen beneath the rule of the Tuareg. The townsfolk, indeed, from the time of the decay of the Ruma power being at the mercy of all comers, were content to pay tribute to each in turn and sometimes to more than one simultaneously, for which they indemnified themselves by peaceful intervals of trade whenever the land routes were open and the upper and lower reaches of the Niger clear of pirates. ”

“ Thus in order to reach Timbuktu, the caravans from Rhat have to make an enormous detour by the Twat oasis. Direct intercourse with the French Algerian possessions is also interdicted by the Turks and the fanatic Seniisiya brotherhood, which has been very powerful in the oasis since the middle of the century. For its support the town is thus reduced to the profits of its trade with the distant Sudanese markets between the Niger and Lake Tsad. The produce of the local industries and agriculture is even less important than that of Ghadames. ”

“ He pulled into Wargla, white as a leper with the dust of the road, traded his stallion for a racing-dromedary, and was off again, alone, riding down the clearly defined caravan trail which leads toward Timbuktu. He reached the heart ot the desert on the seventh day out of Tunis, and he stopped for a long time on a little hillock, watching the spawning eternities of the sands. ”

“ Northwest of Timbuktu in the district or “Kingdom” of Biru is the oasis and town of Walata, a Tuareg settlement. Other mountainous districts in which a certain amount of rain falls regularly, and which contain a population above the average for the Sahara, are Tibesti and Borku, in the east centre, and Adrar in the west. Tibesti and Borku are peopled by Tibbus; the western Adrar by Moors (Berbers) . The northern portions of the Sahara are inhabited by nomad Arabs. ”

“ Arawan, lying near the southern margin of the desert, is the outpost of Timbuktu. It forms a converging point for caravans, corresponding to Tenduf at the other side of the Sahara. Although lying at a short distance to the north of the grassy steppes and mimosa forests, and abounding in water, which flows in an under- ground channel under the very houses, Arawan is one of the most wretched-looking places in the whole of the Sahara. Nothing is anywhere to be seen except dunes, unrelieved by a single tree, or a patch of verdure for the camels. ”

“ The ancient town, the Kaaba of the Tuaregs, which was still standing in the time of Barth, has since been destroyed, but its site is marked by piles of rubbish such as are still characteristic of the environs of Timbuktu, and from their vast extent prove that it was a city of considerable importance.
The country round about is extremely picturesque. The descendants of those who dwelt in the old city have moved a little further down stream to a dune which is so completely surrounded with water during inundations as to form an island. ”

“ We should very soon relieve those under our protection from all fear of molestation by the Tuaregs, we should promote the creation of centres of commerce and outlets for trade, and moreover, we should greatly reduce our expenses at Timbuktu, for our gains would help us to pay and support the troops quartered in that town.
“It is evident,” answered Abiddin, “that if you could come to terms with Madidu, and be really friends with him, it would be a very good thing for us all. We shall, however, [107] want somebody to act as go-between, but the question is, whom could we choose.” ”

“ But, taking everything into consideration, I am inclined to believe that it was really in this neighborhood that these adventurous explorers met the pygmies, and that the latter at that time had a town on the banks of the river Niger. The incursions of stronger and more warlike peoples probably drove these little men southward, out of the immediate neighborhood of the present site of Timbuktu. ”

“ The Sultan of the French greets you, the chief of the Sudan greets you, etc. We come from Timbuktu. We passed peacefully everywhere. We are now tired, the river is low, and in conformity with the conventions you have made with the French we have come to demand your hospitality that we may rest and repair the damage done to our boats by the rocks. We also want a courier to go and tell our relations at Bandiagara that we have arrived here safely. All we need to support us during our stay will be paid for at prices agreed on beforehand between us. ”

“ He published an account of the journey in 1799, after which he married and settled in Scotland as a doctor. But his heart was in Africa, and a few years later he started off again to reach Timbuktu. He arrived at the Gambia early in April 1805. "If all goes well," he wrote gaily, "this day six weeks I expect to drink all your healths in the water of the Niger." He started this time with forty-four Europeans, each with donkeys to carry baggage and food, but it was a deplorable little party that reached the great river on 19th August. ”

“ A few years later, according to Tarik è Sudan, Koti edited a history of the Kingdoms of Ganata, Songhoi, and Timbuktu, the only history written of those once all-powerful centres of civilisation, and in addition he dealt with the concerns of many peoples and many men. Families, since grown rich and powerful, and the chiefs of various countries, were shown to be with very humble origins, sometimes being the offspring of slaves. ”

“ We were in need of provisions, our reserve stores were beginning to give out, and I wanted to lay in a stock of grain, for who could tell what we might expect further down the river?
I also wanted guides. Ever since we had left Timbuktu the narrowness and difficulties of the Tosaye defile had been dinned into our ears. Even Dr. Barth is not very reassuring in what he says about it, for he asserts that a stone could be flung by a vigorous hand from one bank to the other, and speaks of the probable existence of very strong currents, perhaps even of rapids. ”

“ This bread is made of a wheat grown at Gundam, near Timbuctu, and is black. The wheat is, I believe, the same as is grown in many parts of North Africa, making a very [229] wholesome and nourishing food, which is the staple diet of the inhabitants.
The history of the mosques brings me to discuss the origin of the greatness of Timbuctu.
Timbuctu was originally the capital of a great black empire. The inhabitants were Sonrhais, whose territory extended practically all over the Middle Niger. The Sonrhay kings were men of great influence, and the town was the centre of a large trade. ”

“ The various costumes exhibited in the market-places and streets, indicate the variety and extent of the commercial intercourse with the different nations of central Africa; the individuals being each habited in the dress of his respective country, exhibit a variety both pleasing and interesting to every stranger who goes there.
The toleration in a country like this is particularly deserving of notice. The Diwan, or L’Alemma, never interfere with the tenets of the various religions professed by the different people, who resort to Timbuctoo for commercial or other purposes ”

“ A considerable trade is carried on from this place to Timbuctoo, Houssa, and Jinnie, south of Sahara, and to Marocco, Fas, Suse, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. Indigo abounds here, but from the indolence of the cultivators it is of an inferior quality. There are mines of antimony and lead ore: the Elkahol Filelly, [38] so much used by the Arabs and African women to give a softness to the eyes, and to blacken the eye-brows, is the produce of this country. The common dress of the inhabitants consists of a loose shirt of blue cotton, with a shawl or belt round the waist. ”