A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II - Robert Kerr
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This cross accident prevented all the succeeding emperors of Melli from
making any farther attempt of the kind; because, from that time, these
negroes forbore, for three years, from coming to buy salt as usual. It is
believed that their lips began to putrify, through the excessive heat of
the climate; and being no longer able to endure a distemper, of which
some must have died for want of the effectual remedy which they had
experienced from the use of salt, they returned of their own accord to
traffic for that commodity in the old way. All this has established an
opinion that they cannot live without salt; the negroes of Melli judging
of the case of others by their own. As for the emperor of Melli, he cares
not whether these blacks will speak, and be seen or not, so that that he
has the profit of their gold[3]. This is all I could learn on this
subject, which I think may be credited, as so many persons have vouched
for its truth, of which I, who have both seen and heard of many wonderful
things in this world, am perfectly satisfied.
The gold brought to Melli is divided into three parts. One part is sent
by the caravan which goes annually from Melli to _Kokhia_[4], which lies
on the road to Syria and Cairo. The other two parts go first to Tombuctu,
whence one of them goes by _Toet_[5] to Tunis and other ports of the
Barbary coast, and the other portion is carried to Hoden, and from thence
to _Oran_ and _One_[6], towns in Barbary, which are within the Straits of
Gibraltar, and to Fez, Morocco, Arzila, Azafi, and Messa, towns on the
African coast of the Atlantic, where the Italians and other Christians
procure it from the Moors, in return for various commodities. Gold is the
best and principal commodity which comes through the country of the
Azanhaji, and a part of it is brought every year from Hoden to Arguin,
where it is bartered with the Portuguese[7].
No money is coined in the land of the _Tawny Moors_, or Azenhaji; nor is
any money used by them, or in any of the neighbouring countries; but all
their trade is carried on by bartering one commodity against another. In
some of their inland towns, the Arabs and Azanbaji use small white
porcelain shells, or cowries; which are brought from the Levant to Venice,
and sent from thence into Africa. These are used for small purchases. The
gold is sold by a weight named _mitigal_, which is nearly equal in value
to a ducat. The inhabitants of the desert have neither religion nor
sovereign; but those who are richest, and have the greatest number of
retainers and dependents, are considered as chiefs or lords. The women
are tawny, and wear cotton garments, which are manufactured in the
country of the Negroes; but some of them wear a kind of cloaks, or upper
garments, called Alkhezeli, and they have no smocks. She who has the
largest and longest breasts, is reputed the greatest beauty; on which
account, when they have attained to the age of seventeen or eighteen, and
their breasts are somewhat grown, they tie a cord very tight around the
middle of each breast, which presses very hard and breaks them, so that
they hang down; and by pulling at these cords frequently, they grow
longer and longer, till at length in some women they reach as low as the
navel. The men of the desert ride on horseback after the fashion of the
Moors; and the desert being everywhere very hot, and having very little
water, and extremely barren, they can keep very few horses, and those
they have are short lived. It only rains in the months of August,
September and October. I was informed that vast swarms of locusts appear
in this country some years, in such infinite numbers as to darken the air,
and even to hide the sun from view, covering the horizon as far as the
eye can reach, which is from twelve to sixteen miles in compass; and,
wherever they settle they strip the ground entirely bare. These locusts
are like grasshoppers, as long as ones finger, and of a red and yellow
colour. They come every third or fourth year, and if they were to pay
their visits every year, there would be no living in the country. While I
was on the coast, I saw them in prodigious and incredible numbers.
[1] The distance between Tisheet and Tombuctu, according to our best maps,
is about 560 miles E. and by S. In the same proportion, supposing
Tisheet to be Teggazza, the distance between Tombuctu and Melli ought
to be about 420 miles. Of Melli we have no traces in our modern maps,
but it may possibly be referred to _Malel_, the apparent capital of
Lamlem; see Pinkert. Geogr. II. 917, as laid down from the Arabian
geographers, nearly 1200 miles E.S.E. from Tombuctu.--E.
[2] This story is probably a fiction, proceeding upon a trade of barter
between parties who did not understand the languages of each other.
The succeeding part of the story seems a mere fable, without the
smallest foundation whatever.--E.
[3] Few persons, perhaps, will be disposed to think the credit of the
Africans, however positive, or the belief of the author, however
strong, sufficient evidence of the truth of this story. Yet it
certainly is a common report of the country, and not the invention of
Cada Mosto. Jobson, who was at the Gambra or Gambia in 1620, repeats
the whole substance of this story; and Movette relates the
circumstances of the blacks trafficking for salt without being seen,
which he had from the Moors of Morocco. He leaves out, however, the
story of the frightful lips. Every fiction has its day; and that part
is now out of date.--Astl.
[4] Melli being itself unknown, we can hardly look to discover the
situation of Kokhia or Cochia; but it may possibly be Kuku, a town and
district to the N.E. of Bornou, which lies in the direction of the
text; or it may be Dar Kulla, greatly more to the S.W. but still in
the same track.--E.
[5] In Grynaeus this place is called Ato. As in the direction of the
caravan from Tombuto towards Tunis, it may possibly be Taudeny, an
ouasis or island of the great desert, in lat. 21 deg. 30' N.--E.
[6] Called Hona in Grynaeus. What part of Barbary this name may refer to
does not appear. But the passage ought perhaps to run thus, "_to Oran
by the Mountain of Wan_," as there is a range mountains of that name
to the S. E. of Oran, which joins the chain of Atlas, or the Ammer
Mountains.--E.
[7] This is the earliest account of the places from whence gold is brought,
and of the course of its trade through Africa, and thence into Europe;
and is even more particular and exact than any that has been given by
later authors.--Astl.
SECTION IV.
_Of the River Senegal and the Jalofs, with some Account of the Manners,
Customs, Government, Religion, and Dress of that Nation_.
Leaving Cape Branco, and the Gulf of Arguin, we continued our course
along the coast to the river Senegal, which divides the desert and the
tawny Azanhaji from the fruitful lands of the Negroes. Five years before
I went on this voyage, this river was discovered by three caravels
belonging to Don Henry, which entered it, and their commanders settled
peace and trade with the Moors; since which time ships have been sent to
this place every year to trade with the natives[1]. The river Senegal is
of considerable size, being a mile wide at the mouth, and of sufficient
depth. A little farther on it has another entrance, and between the two,
there is an island which forms a cape, running into the sea, having sand-
banks at each mouth that extend a mile from the shore[2]. All ships that
frequent the Senegal ought carefully to observe the course of the tides,
the flux and reflux of which extend for seventy miles up the river, as I
was informed by certain Portuguese, who had been a great way up this
river with their caravels. From Cape Branco, which is 280 miles distant,
the whole coast is sandy till within twenty miles of the river. This is
called the coast of _Anterota_, and belongs entirely to the Azanhaji or
Tawny Moors. I was quite astonished to find so prodigious a difference in
so narrow a space, as appeared at the Senegal: For, on the south side of
the river, the inhabitants are all exceedingly black, tall, corpulent and
well proportioned, and the country all clothed in fine verdure, and full
of fruit trees; whereas, on the north side of the river, the men are
tawny, meagre, and of small stature, and the country all dry and barren.
This river, in the opinion of the learned, is a branch of the _Gihon_,
which flows from the Terrestrial Paradise, and was named the Niger by the
ancients, which flows through the whole of Ethiopia, and which, on
approaching the ocean to the west, divides into many other branches. The
_Nile_, which is another branch of the Gihon, falls into the
Mediterranean, after flowing through Egypt[3].
The first kingdom of the Negroes is on the banks of the Senegal, and its
inhabitants are called _Gilofi_ or Jalofs. All the country is low, not
only from the north to that river, but also beyond it, as far south as
Cape Verd, which is the highest land on all this coast, and is 400 miles
from Cape Branco. This kingdom of the Jalofs, on the Senegal, is bounded
on the east by the country called _Tukhusor_; on the south by the kingdom
of _Gambra_ or Gambia; on the west by the Atlantic Ocean; and on the
north by the river Senegal and the Azanhaji[4]. The king who reigned in
Senegal in my time was named Zukholin, and was twenty-two years old. This
kingdom is not hereditary; but for the most part, three or four of the
principal lords, of whom there are many in the country, choose a king, in
the event of a vacancy, but always fix their choice on a person of noble
lineage, who reigns only as long as he gives satisfaction to these great
lords. They often dethrone their kings by force; who, on the other hand,
often render; themselves so powerful as to stand on their defence. This
renders the government unsettled, and is productive of civil wars;
similar to Egypt, where the Soldan of Cairo is always in fear of being
killed or banished.
The people are savages, and extremely poor, having no walled towns, and
their villages are entirely composed of thatched cottages. They use
neither lime nor stone in building, not knowing how to make the one, or
to form the other. The kingdom of the Jalofs is small, and, as I was
informed, extends only 300 miles along the coast, and about the same
distance inland. The king has no settled revenue; but the lords of the
country court his favour, by making him yearly presents of horses, which
being scarce, are in high estimation, together with horse furniture, cows,
and goats, pulse, millet, and other things. He likewise increases his
wealth by means of robbery, and by reducing his own subjects, and those
of neighbouring provinces to slavery, employing a part of these slaves to
cultivate the lands which are assigned to him, and selling the rest to
the Arabs and Azanhaji traders, who bring horses and other things for
sale; as likewise to the Christians, since they have established a trade
in these parts.
Every man may keep as many wives as he pleases. The king has always
upwards of thirty, and distinguishes them according to their descent, and
the rank of the lords whose daughters they are. He keeps them in certain
villages of his own, eight or ten in one place, each having a separate
house to dwell in, with a certain number of young women to attend her,
and slaves to cultivate the land which is assigned for her maintenance,
which they sow and reap, and to tend her cows and goats. When the king
comes to any of these villages, he brings no provisions along with him,
as his women are obliged to support him and his retinue whenever he
visits them. Every, morning at sunrise, each of his wives in the village
where he happens to reside, prepares three or four dishes of various
viands, such as flesh, fish, or other dainties, cooked in their fashion;
which are carried by the slaves to the kings pantry; so that in less than
an hour, thirty or forty dishes are provided, and when the king has a
mind to eat, he finds every thing ready at his command. When he has eaten
of such things as he likes best, the remainder is given to his retinue;
but as this, diet is never very plentiful, they are but poorly fed. He
travels about in this manner, from place to place, visiting his several
wives, by which means he has a very numerous issue and whenever one of
his wives happens to fall with child, he visits her no more. The lords or
chiefs of the country live in a similar manner.
These negroes profess me Mahometan religion, but are not even so well
instructed in it as the tawny Moors, more especially the common people.
The lords have always about them some Arabs or Azanhaji for this purpose,
who inculcate on their minds that it would be disgraceful for men of
their quality to live in ignorance of the laws of God, like the common
people who have no religion. They have become Mahometans merely by means
of their intercourse with the Azanhaji and Arabs; for since they became
acquainted with the Christians, they are by no means so fond of the
Mahometan faith. The generality of the negroes go quite naked, except a
piece of goat skin before; but the lords who are able to procure such,
wear cotton shirts, which are spun and manufactured by their women. Their
webs are only a span in width, as they have not sufficient art to
construct and use wider looms; so that they are obliged to sew five, six,
or more of these webs together, when it is required to make any large
piece of work. The shirts reach half way down the thighs, and have wide
sleeves which; cover only half of their arms. They wear also cotton
drawers, reaching to the small of their legs; and these drawers are made
preposterously wide, being often thirty-five or forty palms in
circumference; so that, when tied on, they are full of plaits, and though
like A sack before the hinder part trails on the ground like the train of
a large petticoat. Thus, though making a most ridiculous appearance, they
think nothing comes up to their dress for elegance, and they often ask
the Europeans if they ever saw a finer dress. Their women, both married
and unmarried, go naked from the waist upwards, and wear a piece of
cotton which covers them from the waist to the middle of the legs. Both
sexes go barefooted, and have no coverings to their heads; and weave and
tie their hair, though short, into neat tresses. The men often employ
themselves in womens work, such as spinning, washing clothes, and such
like employments.
This country is extremely hot, the month of January being not so cold as
it is with us in Italy in the month of April; and the farther we went to
the south, the weather became so much the hotter. Both men and women wash
themselves four or five times a-day, and are very cleanly in their
persons; but are by no means so in regard of eating, in which they
observe no rule. Although very ignorant, and extremely awkward in any
thing, to which they have not been accustomed, they are as expert as any
European can be in their own business, and in all things with which they
are acquainted. They are full of words, and extremely talkative, and are
for the most part liars and cheats. Yet they are exceedingly hospitable,
and charitably disposed, as they will most readily give a dinner, or a
supper, or a nights lodging, to any stranger who comes to their houses,
without expecting any remuneration or reward. The chiefs of these negroes
are often at war against each other, or against the neighbouring tribes
or nations; but they have no cavalry, for want of horses. In war, their
only defensive armour is a large target, made of the skin of an animal
called _Danta_, which is very difficultly pierced; and their principal
weapons are _azagays_ or light darts, which they throw with great
dexterity. These darts are pointed with iron, the length of a span, and
barbed in different directions, so that they make dangerous wounds, and
tear the flesh extremely when pulled out. They have also a Moorish weapon,
much-bent like a Turkish sword or cimeter, and made of iron, without any
steel, which they procure from the negroes on the river Gambia, as they
either have no iron in their own country, or want knowledge or industry
in working it. Having but few weapons, or rather no missiles, their wars
are very bloody, as they soon come to close quarters, and their strokes
seldom fall in vain; and, being extremely fierce and courageous, they
will rather allow themselves to be slain as save themselves by flight;
neither are they disheartened by seeing their companions slain. They have
no ships, nor had they ever seen any before the Portuguese came upon
their coast; but those who dwell upon the river Senegal, and some who are
settled on the sea coast, have _zoppolies_ or canoes, called _almadias_
by the Portuguese, which are hollowed out of a single piece of wood, the
largest of which will carry three or four men. They use these almadias
for catching fish, and for transporting themselves up or down the river.
The negroes of this country are the most expert swimmers in the world, as
I can vouch from frequent experience of their dexterity.
[1] Cada Mosto is incorrect in the chronology of this discovery, and even
de Barros is not quite decided as to the first discovery of the
Senegal. He says that Denis Fernandez _passed_ it in 1446, and that
Lancerot _discovered_ it in 1447; the latter of which is eight years
before the visit of Cada Mosto.--Clarke.
[2] The northern mouth of the Senegal is in lat. 16 deg. 40'. The southern in
15 deg. 45', both N. so that the distance between them, or the length of
the island mentioned in the text, is about sixty-two miles.--E.
[3] This fancy of all the great rivers in Africa being branches from one
principal stream, is now known to be entirely erroneous.--Astl.
[4] Although the first kingdom, or kingdoms of the Negroes lies on the
Senegal, Senega, or Sanaghas, and others along the Gambia, yet there
were not properly any kingdoms of these names. On the north, indeed,
of the Sanagha, lay the country of the Sanhaga, Azanaghi, or Azanhaji,
from whence the river seems to have taken its name; but was divided
among various tribes of people, and not under any one sovereign.
Geographers, however, have since continued to propagate this first
error.--Astl.
The Jalofs and Foulahs inhabit the country between the Senegal and
Gambia, on which latter river the Feloops reside. What is meant by
_Tukhusor_ in the text does not appear, unless it may obscurely
indicate Karta.--E.
SECTION V.
_Continuation of the Voyage to the country of a King named Budomel, with
some account of his Territory, and the Manners of his People_.
Having passed the river Senegal, we sailed about 800 miles farther south
along the coast, which was all low land without mountains, till we came
to the territory or kingdom of Budomel[1]. As some Portuguese, who had
dealt with Budomel, represented him as a very just person, who paid for
any goods he might receive, and might therefore be confided in, I stopped
at his country, that I might endeavour to dispose of some Spanish horses
I had on board, which are in great request among the Negroes; besides
which, I had some cloth, Moorish wrought silks, and other commodities for
sale. We came, therefore to anchor, at a place on the coast, called Palma
di Budomel, which is only an open roadstead, and not a port. I immediately
dispatched my negro interpreter on shore to inform this lord of my arrival,
and of the goods I had on board for sale. Not long afterwards Budomel came
himself to the beach, attended by about fifteen horsemen and an hundred
and fifty foot, and sent a message desiring me to land, with professions
of a friendly disposition, and promising to render me every attention and
service in his power. I went accordingly on shore immediately, and was
received with great civility. After some discourse, I delivered to him
seven horses, with their furniture; and every other article for which he
expressed an inclination, all of which had cost me 300 ducats, trusting to
his honour for payment, which was to be in slaves, and which he promised
to deliver at his own residence, which was twenty-five miles distant from
the shore, whither he invited me to accompany him. To this invitation I
readily agreed, induced as much by a desire of seeing the country, as on
account of receiving payment. Before setting out however, Budomel made me
a present of a beautiful negress, about twelve years of age, who, he said,
was meant to serve me in the cabin; and I received the gift, and sent her
on board the caravel.
I was furnished by Budomel with horses and every thing necessary for the
journey; and when we arrived within four miles of his residence, he gave
me in charge to his nephew Bisboror, who was lord of a small town or
village at which we stopped. Bisboror took me to his own house, where I
was treated with much civility and attention, during twenty-eight days
which I tarried in that place. This was in November 1455. In that time I
went often to visit Budomel, accompanied by his nephew, and had many
opportunities to observe the produce of the country, and the manners of
the inhabitants, more especially as, on account of the tempestuous
weather, I was under the necessity of travelling back by land to the
river Senegal. For, finding it impossible to get on board at the coast by
reason of the surf, I had to order the ship to return to that river, and
went there by land to re-embark. On this occasion, being very desirous to
transmit instructions to those on board the ship to meet me at the river
Senegal, I inquired among the negroes if any one would undertake to carry
a letter from the shore. Several of them readily offered their services,
though the ship lay three miles from the shore, and, owing to a strong
wind, the sea broke on the shore with a tremendous surf, insomuch that I
thought it impossible for any one to succeed in the attempt. Besides the
surf, there were several sand banks near the shore, and other banks about
half way to the ship, between which there ran a strong current, sometimes
one way and sometimes the other, along shore, so that it was extremely
difficult for any one to swim through without infinite danger of being
carried away by the stream; and the sea broke with such violence on the
banks, that it seemed quite impossible to surmount such complicated
obstacles. Yet two of the negroes offered to go, and only demanded two
_mavulgies_ of tin for each of them, one mavulgi being worth no more than
a _grosso_[2], at which price they engaged to carry my letter in safety
to the ship. I cannot express the difficulties which they encountered in
passing the sand bank. They were sometimes out of sight for a considerable
space, so that I often thought they were both drowned. At last, one of
them, finding himself unable to resist the violence with which the waves
broke over him, turned back; but the other, being stronger, got over the
bank after struggling a whole hour, and, having carried the letter to the
caravel, returned with an answer. This seemed to me very wonderful, and
made me conclude that the negroes of this coast must be the most expert
swimmers in the world.
It has been already observed, that those who are called lords in this
country have neither castles nor cities, the king even having nothing but
villages with thatched houses. Budomel is lord of one part of this kingdom,
yet his place of residence was not a palace, nor even a walled house.
These great men are not lords on account of their riches or treasure, as
they possess neither, nor have they any coin in use among them; but they
are considered as such out of courtesy, and on account of the great
retinues by which they are always attended, being more feared and
respected by their subjects than any of the lords in Italy. Budomel has
several villages appointed for his own habitation and that of his wives,
as he never fixes in one place. The village in which I resided with
Bisboror was one of his habitations, containing between forty and fifty
thatched cottages, built near one another, and surrounded with ditches and
strong pallisades, having only one or two passages left for entering; and
every house had a court-yard, inclosed by a hedge. According to report,
Budomel had nine wives in this place, and more or less in several other
villages. Each of these wives had five or six young negresses to attend
upon her, with all of whom he might sleep when he pleased, without giving
offence to the wives, for such is the custom of the country. Both sexes
are extremely amorous; and Budomel strongly importuned me for philacteries,
in which he had been informed the Europeans were very expert, and offered
any reward within his power for my compliance. They are very jealous, and
suffer no man to enter the houses which are inhabited by the women, not
even their own sons.