A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II - Robert Kerr
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We sailed from Madeira, following a southerly course, and arrived at the
Canary islands, which are at the distance of about 320 miles from Madeira.
There are seven of these islands in all, four of which have been settled
by the Christians, Lancerotta, Fuerteventura, Gomera, and Ferro; over
which Herrera[10], a Spanish gentleman, is lord. Large quantities of an
herb called _Oricello_ or Orchel[11], are annually sent from these
islands to Cadiz and Seville, which is used in dying, and is sent from
these places to all parts of Europe. Great quantities of excellent goat
skins are exported from these islands, which likewise produce abundance
of tallow, and good cheese. The original inhabitants of the four islands
that are subject to the Christians, are _Canarians_[12], who speak
various languages or dialects, not well understood between the different
tribes. These people have only open villages, without any fortifications;
except on the mountains, which are exceedingly high, and there they have
a kind of rude walls or redoubts, to flee to in case of need. The passes
of these mountains are so difficult of access, that a few resolute men
might defend them against an army. The other three islands of this group,
Grand Canaria, Teneriffe, and Palma, which are larger and better peopled
than the other four, are still unsubdued and possessed by the aboriginal
idolaters. Grand Canaria has between eight and nine thousand souls, and
Teneriffe, which is the largest of all these islands, is said to contain
fourteen or fifteen thousand, and is divided into nine separate lordships.
Palma, however, has very few inhabitants, yet it appears to be a very
beautiful island. Every lordship seems to have its own mode of religious
worship; as in Teneriffe, there were no less than nine different kinds of
idolatry; some worshipping the sun, others the moon, and so forth. They
practise polygamy, and the lords have the jus primae noctis, which is
considered as conferring great honour. On the accession of any new lord,
it is customary for some persons to offer themselves to die as a
sacrifice to his honour. On this occasion, the lord holds a great
festival on his accession day; when all who are willing to give this
cruel proof of their attachment, are attended to the summit of a high
cliff in a certain valley, where, after some peculiar ceremonies, and
certain words muttered over them, the victims precipitate themselves from
the cliff, and are dashed to pieces. In reward of this sanguinary homage,
the lords consider themselves bound to heap extraordinary honours and
rewards on the parents of the victims.
Teneriffe, which is the largest of these islands, and the best inhabited,
is one of highest islands in the world, and is seen in clear weather from
a great distance; insomuch, that I was informed by some mariners, that it
had been descried at the distance of between sixty and seventy Spanish
leagues, which make about 250 Italian miles. In the middle of the island,
there is a prodigiously high peaked mountain, shaped like a diamond,
which is always burning. I received this account from some Christians,
who had been prisoners in the island, who affirmed that it was fifteen
Portuguese leagues, or sixty Italian miles, from the bottom of the
mountain to the top of the peak.
They have nine lords on this island, who are called dukes, and who do not
succeed by inheritance or descent, but by force; on which account they
have perpetual civil wars among themselves, in which they commit great
slaughter. Their only weapons are stones, maces or clubs, and darts or
lances, some of which are pointed with horn, and others have their points
hardened in the fire. They all go naked, except a few who wear goat skins
before and behind. They anoint their skins with goats tallow, mixed up
with the juice of certain herbs, which thickens the skin, and defends
them against the cold, of which they complain much, although their
country is so far to the south. They have neither walled, nor thatched
houses, but dwell in grottos and caverns of the mountains. They feed on
barley, flesh, and goats milk, of which they have abundance, and some
fruits, particularly figs. As the country is very hot, they reap their
corn in April and May.
We learnt all these things from the Christians of the four settled
islands, who sometimes go over by night to the three other islands, and
make prisoners of the natives, whom they send into Spain to be sold as
slaves. Sometimes the Spaniards are themselves made prisoners on these
expeditions, on which occasions the natives do not put them to death, but
employ them to kill and flea their goats, and to cure the flesh, which
they look upon as a vile employment, and therefore condemn their
Christian prisoners to that labour in contempt. The native Canarians are
very active and nimble, and are exceedingly agile in running and leaping,
being accustomed to traverse the cliffs of their rugged mountains. They
skip barefooted from rock to rock like goats, and sometimes take leaps of
most surprising extent and danger, which are scarcely to be believed.
They throw stones with great strength and wonderful exactness, so as to
hit whatever they aim at with almost perfect certainty, and almost with
the force of a bullet from a musket; insomuch that a few stones thrown by
them will break a buckler to pieces. I once saw a native Canarian, who
had become a Christian, who offered to give three persons twelve oranges
a-piece, and taking twelve to himself, engaged, at eight or ten paces
distance, to strike his antagonists with every one of his oranges, and at
the same time to parry all theirs, so that they should hit no part of him
but his hands. But no one would take up the wager, as they all knew he
could perform even better than he mentioned. I was on land in Gomera and
Ferro, and touched also at the island of Palma, but did not land there.
[1] In Grynaeus, this person is called a patrician or nobleman of Venice,
and his surname is omitted.--Astley.
[2] _Con Veuto da greco et tramantana in poppe_; literally, having a Greek,
and _beyond the mountain_ wind in the poop. The points of the compass,
in Italian maps, are thus named, N. _Tramontana_. N. E. _Greco_. E.
_Levante_ S. E. _Sirocco_. S. _Mezzoni_. S. W. _Libeccio_. W.
_Ponente_. N. W. _Maestro_.--Clarke.
[3] This date ought to have been 1413.--Astl.
[4] Barbot says eight leagues; other authors say more, and some less. It
is about twelve leagues to the north-east of Madeira.--Astl.
[5] When Sir Amias Preston took this island in 1595, it abounded in corn,
wine, and oil, and had good store of sheep, asses, goats, and kine.
There was also plenty of fowl, fish, and fruits.--Astl.
[6] From this account it seems to be an inspissated juice.--Astley. This
tree has probably received its name from the bark being like the
scales of a serpent. About the full of the moon it exudes a vermilion
coloured gum. That which grows on the islands and coasts of Africa is
more astringent than what comes from Goa. It is found on high rocky
land. Bartholomew Stibbs met with it on the banks of the Gambia river,
and describes it under the name of _Par de Sangoe_, or blood-wood tree.
The gum is a red, inodorous, and insipid resin, soluble in alcohol and
oils; and when dissolved by the former, is used for staining marble.
--Clarke.
[7] The woods of Madeira are cedar, vigniatico, laurus Indicus, which has
a considerable resemblance to mahogany, barbuzano, chesnut, and the
beautiful mirmulano, and paobranco.--Clark.
[8] This measure is said to weigh about thirty-three English pounds, so
that the quantity mentioned in the text amounts to 1850 quarters
English measure.--Astl.
[9] I suppose he means at one crop. The quantity in the text, reduced to
avoirdupois weight, amounts to twenty-eight hogsheads, at sixteen
hundred weight each.--Astl.
[10] In Clarke, this person is named Ferrero; perhaps the right name of
this person was Fernando Pereira, who subdued Gomera and Ferro.--E.
[11] A species of moss, or lichen rather, that grows on the rocks, and is
used by dyers.--Clarke.
[12] Other authors call the natives of the Canaries _Guanchos_.--E.
SECTION II.
_Continuation of the Voyage by Cape Branco, the Coast of Barbary, and the
Fortia of Arguin; with some account of the Arabs, the Azanaghi, and the
Country of Tegazza._
Leaving the Canaries, we pursued our course towards Ethiopia, and arrived
in a few days at Cape Branco, which is about 870 miles from these islands.
In this passage, steering south, we kept at a great distance from the
African shore on our left, as the Canaries are, far-advanced into the sea
towards the west. We stood almost directly south for two-thirds of the
way between the islands and the Cape, after which we changed our course
somewhat more towards the east, or left-hand, that we might fall in with
the land, lest we should have overpassed the Cape without seeing it
because no land appears afterwards so far to the west for a considerable
space. The coast of Africa, to the southwards of Cape Bronco, falls in
considerably to the eastwards, forming a great bay or gulf, called the
_Forna of Arguin_, from a small island of that name. This gulf extends
about fifty miles into the land, and has three other islands, one of
which is named _Branco_ by the Portuguese, or the White Island, on
account of its white sands; the second is called _Garze_, or the Isle of
Herons, where they found so many eggs of certain seabirds as to load two
boats; the third is called _Curoi_, or Cori. These islands are all small,
sandy, and uninhabited. In that of Arguin there is plenty of fresh water,
but there is none in any of the others. It is proper to observe, that on
keeping to the southwards, from the Straits of Gibraltar, the coast of
exterior Barbary is inhabited no farther than Cape Cantin[1], from whence
to Cape Branco is the sandy country or desert, called _Saara_ or
_Saharra_ by the natives, which is divided from Barbary or Morocco on the
north by the mountains of Atlas, and borders on the south with the
country of the Negroes, and would require a journey of fifty days to
cross,--in some places more, in others less. This desert reaches to the
ocean, and is all a white dry sand, quite low and level, so that no part
of it seems higher than any other. Cape _Branco_, or the White Cape, so
named by the Portuguese from its white colour, without trees or verdure,
is a noble promontory of a triangular shape, having three separate points
about a mile from each other.
Innumerable quantities of large and excellent fish of various kinds are
caught on this coast, similar in taste to those we have at Venice, but
quite different in shape and appearance. The gulf of Arguin is shallow
all over, and is full of shoals both of rocks and sand; and, as the
currents are here very strong, there is no sailing except by day, and
even then with the lead constantly heaving. Two ships have been already
lost on these shoals. Cape _Branco_ lies S.W. of Cape Cantin, or rather S.
and by W. Behind Cape Branco there is a place called Hoden, six days
journey inland on camels, which is not walled, but is much frequented by
the Arabs and caravans, which trade between Tombucto,[2] and other places
belonging to the Negroes, and the western parts of Barbary. The
provisions at Hoden are dates and barley, which they have in plenty, and
the inhabitants drink the milk of camels and other animals, as they have
no wine. They have some cows and goats, the former being greatly smaller
than those of Italy; but the number of these is not great, as the country
is very dry. The inhabitants are all Mahometans, and great enemies to the
Christians, and have no settled habitations, but wander continually over
the deserts. They frequent the country of the Negroes, and visit that
side of Barbary which is next the Mediterranean. On these expeditions
they travel in numerous caravans, with great trains of camels, carrying
brass, silver, and other articles, to Tombucto and the country of the
Negroes, whence they bring back gold and _melhegette_, or cardamom
seeds[3]. These people are all of a tawny colour, and both sexes wear a
single white garment with a red border, without any linen next their skins.
The men wear turbans, in the Moorish fashion, and go always barefooted. In
the desert there are many lions, leopards, and ostriches, the eggs of
which I have often eaten, and found them very good.
Don Henry has farmed out the trade of the island of Arguin, under the
following regulations. No person must enter this gulf to trade with the
Arabs, except those who are licensed according to the ordinance, and have
habitations and factors on the island, and have been accustomed to
transact business with the Arabs on that coast. The articles of
merchandize chiefly provided for this trade are, woollen cloth and linen,
silver trinkets, _aldtizeli_ or frocks, and cloaks, and other things, and
above all, wheat; and the Arabs give in return negro slaves and gold. A
castle has been built on the isle of Arguin, by order of the prince, to
protect this trade, on account of which caravels or ships arrive there
every year from Portugal.
The Arabs of this coast have many Barbary horses, which they carry to the
country of the Negroes, which they barter with the great men for slaves,
receiving from ten to eighteen men for each horse, according to their
goodness. They also carry thither silken staffs of Granada and Tunis,
with silver, and many other things, in return for which they receive
great numbers of slaves and some gold. These slaves are brought first to
Hoden in the desert, and thence by the mountains of Barka into Barbary,
whence they are transported across the Mediterranean into Sicily. Part of
them are sold in Tunis, and in other places along the coast of Barbary;
and the rest are brought to Arguin, where they are sold to the licensed
Portuguese traders, who purchase between seven and eight hundred every
year, and send them for sale into Portugal. Before the establishment of
this trade at Arguin, the Portuguese used to send every year four or more
caravels to the bay of Arguin, the crews of which, landing well armed in
the night, were in use to surprise some of the fishing villages, and
carry off the inhabitants into slavery. They even penetrated sometimes a
considerable way into the interior, and carried off the Arabs of both
sexes, whom they sold as slaves in Portugal.
Leaving Arguin we sailed along the coast to the river Senegal[4], which
is very large, and divides the people called Azanaghi, or Azanhaji, from
the first kingdom of the Negroes. The Azanhaji are of a tawny colour, or
rather of a deep brown complexion, and inhabit some parts of the coast
beyond Cape Branco, ranging through the deserts, and their district
reaches to the confines of the Arabs of Hoden. They live on dates, barley,
and the milk of camels; but as they border likewise on the country of the
Negroes, they carry on trade with these people, from whom they procure
millet and pulse, particularly beans. Owing to the scarcity of provisions
in the desert, the Azanhaji are but spare eaters, and are able to endure
hunger with wonderful patience, as a poringer of barley-meal made into
hasty-pudding will serve them a whole day. The Portuguese used to carry
away many of these people for slaves, as they were preferred to the
negroes; but for some time past this has been prohibited by Don Henry,
and peace and trade has been established with them, as he is in hopes
they may be easily brought over to the catholic faith by intercourse with
the Christians, more especially as they are not hitherto thoroughly
established in the superstitions of Mahomet, of which they know nothing
but by hearsay. These Azenhaji have an odd custom of wearing a
handkerchief round their heads, a part of which is brought down so as to
cover their eyes, and even their nose and mouth; for they reckon the
mouth an unclean part, because it is constantly belching and has a bad
smell, and ought therefore to be kept out of sight; even comparing it to
the posteriors, and thinking that both ought alike to be concealed. On
this account they never let their mouths be seen except when eating, as I
have often had occasion to observe. They have no lords among them, but
the rich men are respected somewhat more than the rest. They are of
ordinary stature, and very lean, wearing their black hair frizzled over
their shoulders like the Germans, and grease it daily with fish oil,
which gives them a nasty smell; yet they consider this as modish. They
are extremely poor, egregious liars, the greatest thieves in the world,
and very treacherous. They have never heard of any Christians except the
Portuguese, with whom they had war for thirteen or fourteen years, in
which many of them were carried off as slaves, as has been already
mentioned. Many of these people informed me, that, when they first saw
ships under sail, which had never been beheld by any of their ancestors,
they took them for large birds with white wings, that had come from
foreign parts; and when the sails were furled, they conjectured, from
their length, and swimming on the water, that they must be great fish.
Others again believed that they were spirits, who wandered about by night;
because they were seen at anchor in the evening at one place, and would
be seen next morning 100 miles off, either proceeding along the coast to
the southwards, or put back, according as the wind changed, or the
caravels might happen to steer. They could not conceive how human beings
could travel more in one night than they were able to perform themselves
in three days; by which they were confirmed in the notion of the ships
being spirits. All this was certified to me by many of the Azanhaji who
were slaves in Portugal, as well as by the Portuguese mariners who had
frequented the coast in their caravels.
About six days journey by land from Hoden, there is a place called
Teggazza[5], which in our language signifies a chest or bag of gold. In
this place large quantities of salt are dug up every year, and carried by
caravans on camels to _Tombucto_ and thence to the empire of _Melli_,
which belongs to the Negroes. Oh arriving there, they dispose of their
salt in the course of eight days, at the rate of between two and three
hundred _mitigals_, or ducats, for each load, according to the quantity,
and then return with their gold.
[1] This is erroneous, as there are several towns on the coast of Morocco
beyond this Cape, as Saffia, Mogadore, Santa Cruz, and others.
Cape Cantin is in lat. 32 deg.30'N. and the river _Sus_ in 30 deg.25', which
is 140 miles to the south. There are no towns on the coast beyond that
river; but the northern limit of the _Sahara_, or great desert, is in
lat. 27 deg.40', 186 miles to the south of the river _Sus_, and is surely
inhabited by wandering Arabs. Even the great desert, which extends 750
miles from north to south, almost to the river Senegal, is thinly
interspersed by several wandering tribes of the _Azanhaji_.--E.
[2] Called Tombuto in the original, and Ataubat in Grynaeus.--Astl. Hoden
stands in an _ouasis_, or watered island, in the sea of sand, or great
desert, about lat. 19 deg.20'N. and W. long. 11 deg.40'.--E.
[3] Under the general name of _Azanhaji_, which probably signifies the
pilgrims or wanderers of the desert, the Nomadic Arabs or Moors are
distinguished into various tribes; as Beni-amir, Beni-sabi, Hilil
Arabs, Ludajas, and Hagi; sometimes called Monselmines, Mongearts,
Wadelims, Labdessebas, and Trasarts; all named in their order from
north to south, as occupying the desert towards the Atlantic.--E.
[4] In the text this river is named Senega, and its name probably
signifies the river of the Azanhaji. It Is called in Ramusio _Oro
Tiber_.--F.
[5] The name of this place is explained as signifying a chest or bag of
gold. There is a place marked in the Saharra, or great sandy desert;
under the name of _Tisheet_, where there are salt mines, in lat. 17 deg.
40' N. and long. 6 deg. 40' W. which may possibly be Teggazza. The
distance of Tisheet from Hoden in our maps is about 375 miles E. S. E.
But there are other salt mines in the desert still farther to the east.
--E.
SECTION III.
_Of the Empire of Melli, and some curious particulars of the Salt Trade:
Of the Trade in Gold: Of the, Azanhaji; and concerning swarms of Locusts_.
The empire of Melli, of which some mention has been made in the preceding
Section, is situated in an extremely hot climate, and affords very bad
nourishment for beasts; insomuch, that out of an hundred camels which go
from the desert into that country, scarcely twenty-five return; several
even of the Arabs and Azanhaji, belonging to the caravans, sicken and die
likewise every year. There are no quadrupeds kept by the natives of the
country, as indeed none can live there for any time. It is reckoned to be
forty days journey on horseback from Tegazza to Tombuctu, and thirty from
thence to Melli[1]. Having inquired what use the merchants of Melli made
of this salt, the traders of the desert informed me, that a part of it
was consumed in that country, which lying near the line, where the days
and nights are of equal length, certain seasons of the year are so
excessively hot that the blood of the inhabitants would putrify, if it
were not for the salt, and they would all die. They have no art or
mystery in its use; but every one dissolves a small piece every day in a
porringer of water, and drinks it off, which in their opinion preserves
their health.
The remainder of the salt is carried a long way in pieces on mens heads,
every piece being as large as a man can well bear. As brought from
Teggazza, the salt is in large pieces as taken out of the mine, each
camel being loaded with two pieces, and the negroes break these down into
smaller pieces, for the convenience of carrying them on their heads, and
muster a large number of footmen for this yearly traffic. These porters
have each a long forked stick in their hands; and, when tired, they rest
their loads on these sticks. They proceed in this manner till they arrive
on the banks of a certain water, but whether fresh or salt my informer
could not say, yet I am of opinion that it must be a river, because, if
it were the sea, the inhabitants could not be in want of salt in so hot a
climate. The negroes are hired to carry it in this manner for want of
camels or other beasts of burden, as already mentioned; and, from what
has been said, it may easily be concluded that the number, both of the
carriers and consumers must be very great. When arrived at the water side,
the proprietors of the salt place their shares in heaps in a row, at
small distances, setting each a particular mark on his own heap; and when
this is done, the whole company retires half a days journey from the
place. Then the other negroes, who are the purchasers of the salt, who
seem to be the inhabitants of certain islands, but who will on no account
be seen or spoken to, come in boats to the place where the heaps of salt
are placed, and after laying a sum in gold on each heap as its price,
retire in their turns. After they are gone, the owners of the salt return,
and if the quantity of gold on their heaps is satisfactory to them, they
take it away and leave the salt; if not, they leave both and withdraw
again. In this manner they carry on their traffick, without seeing or
speaking to each other, and this custom is very ancient among them, as
has been affirmed to me for truth by several merchants of the desert,
both Arabs and Azanhaji, and other creditable persons[2].
On inquiring how it came to pass that the emperor of Melli, whom they
represented as a powerful sovereign, did not find means, by friendship or
force, to discover who these people were who would not suffer themselves
to be seen or talked to, I was informed that this emperor, not many years
ago, resolved to procure some of these invisible people, and held a
council on the occasion, in which the following plan was devised and
carried into execution. Before the salt caravan returned the half days
journey from their salt heaps, some of the emperors people made certain
pits by the water side, and near the place where the salt was left, and
when the negroes came to deposit their gold on the salt, those who were
concealed in the pits attacked them suddenly and took four of them
prisoners, all the rest making their escape. Three of those who were thus
taken were immediately set free by the captors, who judged that one would
be quite sufficient to satisfy the curiosity of their emperor, and that
the negroes would be the less offended. But after all, the design proved
abortive; for though spoken to in various languages, the prisoner would
neither speak or take any victuals, and died at the end of four days. On
this account, the Melli negroes concluded that these other negroes were
dumb; but others were of opinion, that being endowed with the human form,
they must necessarily have the power of speech; but, that finding himself
treated in this manner, so contrary to ancient custom, he refused to
speak from indignation. This untoward result was much regretted by the
negroes of Melli, because it prevented them from gratifying the curiosity
of their emperor; who, on being informed of this persons death, was much
dissatisfied, yet asked what manner of men the prisoners were. He was
accordingly informed that they were of a deep black colour, well shaped,
and a span taller than the natives of Melli. That their under lip was
thicker than a mans fist, of a very red colour, and hung down on their
breasts, with something like blood dropping from it; but that their upper
lips were small, like those of other men. That the form of the under lip
exposed their gums and teeth, which were larger than their own, having
great teeth in each corner of their mouth, with large black eyes, and
altogether a terrible appearance, as the gums dropped blood continually,
as well as the great hanging under lip.