The following are excerpts from;
AN ACCOUNT OF A JOURNEY FROM FAS TO TIMBUCTOO, PERFORMED IN OR ABOUT THE YEAR 1787, A.C. BY EL HAGE ABD SALAM SHABEENY.
_WITH NOTES, CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY._By; JAMES GREY JACKSON,Printed by A. and R. Spottiswoode,Printers Street, London. 1820.
DIVERSIONS.
The king has 500 or 600 horses; his stables are in the inclosure; the saddles have a peak before, but none behind. He frequentlyhunts the antelope, wild ass, ostrich, and an animal, which, from Shabeeny’s description, appears to be the wild cow[65] of Africa.The wild ass is very fleet, and when closely pursued kicks back the earth and sand in the eyes of his pursuers. They have the finest greyhounds in the world, with which they hunt only the antelope[66]; for the dogs are not able to overtake the ostrich. Shabeeny has often hunted with the king any person may accompany him. Sometimes he does not return for three or four days: he sets out always after sunrise. Whatever is killed in the chace is divided among the strangers and other company present; but those animals which are taken alive are sent to the king’s palace. He goes to hunt towards the desert, and does not begin till distant ten miles from the town. The antelopes are found in herds of from thirty to sixty. He never saw an antelope, wild ass, or ostrich alone, but generally in large droves. The ostriches, like the storks, place centinels upon the watch: thirty yards are reckoned a distance for a secure shot with the bow. The king always shoots on horseback, as do many of his courtiers, sometimes with muskets, but oftener with bows. The king takes a great many tents with him.There are no lions, tigers, or wild boars near Timbuctoo. They play at chess and draughts, and are very expert at those games: they have no cards; but they have tumblers, jugglers, and ventriloquists, whose voice appears to come from under the armpits. He was much pleased with their music, of which they have twenty-four different sorts. They have dances of different kinds, some of which are very indecent. [Footnote 65- The _Aoudad_; for a particular description ofwhich, see Jackson's Marocco, Chapter V., Zoology, p. 84.][Footnote 66- The Gazel, or Antelope, outruns at first thegreyhound; but after running about an hour the greyhound gains on him.]
TIME.
They measure time [67] by days, weeks, lunar months, and lunar years; yet few can ascertain their age.[Footnote 67: The hour is an indefinite term, and assimilates to our expression of a good while; it is from half an hour by the dial to six hours, and the difference is expressed by the word _wahadsaa kabeer_, a long hour; and _wahad saa sereer_, a little hour; also by the elongation of the last syllable of the last word.]
RELIGION.
They have no temples, churches, or mosques, no regular worship or sabbath; but once in three months they have a great festival, which lasts two or three days, sometimes a week, and is spent in eating and drinking. He does not know the cause; but thinks it, perhaps, acommemoration of the king’s birth-day; no work is done. They believe in a Supreme Being and another state of existence, and have saints and men whom they revere as holy. Some of them are sorcerers, and some ideots, as in Barbary and Turkey; and though physicians are numerous, they expect more effectual aid in sickness from the prayers of the saints, especially in the rheumatism. Musicis employed to excite ecstasy in the saint, who, when in a state ofinspiration, tells (on the authority of some departed saint,generally of Seedy Muhamed Seef,) what animal must be sacrificed for the recovery of the patient: a white cock, a red cock, a hen,an ostrich, an antelope, or a goat. The animal is then killed inthe presence of the sick, and dressed; the blood, feathers, andbones are preserved in a shell and carried to some retired spot, where they are covered and marked as a sacrifice. No salt or seasoning is used in the meat, but incense is used previous to its preparation. The sick man eats as much as he can of the meat, and all present partake; the rice, or what else is dressed with it,must be the produce of charitable contributions from others, not of the house or family; and every contributor prays for the patient.
DISEASES.
The winds of the desert produce complaints in the stomach, cured by medicine. They have professed surgeons and physicians. The bite of a snake is cured by sucking the wound. They have the jlob [68] violently, for which sulphur from Terodant in Suse is taken internally and externally. This disorder is sometimes fatal. They are afflicted also with fevers and agues. Bleeding is often successful; the physicians prescribe also purgatives and emetics. Ruptures are frequent and dangerous; seldom cured, and often fatal. They tap for the dropsy. He never heard of the venereal disease there. Head-aches and consumptions also prevail. The physicians [69]collect herbs and use them in medicine. [Footnote 68- Probably the itch, called El Hack in Barbary.][Footnote 69- The physicians have a very superior and general knowledge of the virtues of herbs and plants.]
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
The nails and palms of the hands are stained red with henna[70],cultivated there: the Arabs tatoo their hands and arms, but not thepeople of Timbuctoo. These people are real negroes; they have aslight mark on the face, sloping from the eye; the Foulans have ahorizontal mark; the Bambarrahees a wide gash from the forehead tothe chin. Tombs are raised over the dead; they are buried in awinding-sheet and a coffin: the relations mourn over their graves,and pronounce a panegyric on the dead. The men and women mix insociety, and visit together with the same freedom as in Europe.They sleep on mattresses, with cotton sheets and a counterpane; themarried, in separate beds in the same room. They frequently bathethe whole body, their smell would otherwise be offensive; they usetowels brought from India. At dinner they spread their mats and sitas in Barbary. They smoke a great deal, but tobacco is dear; it isthe best article of trade. Poisoning is common; they get the poisonfrom the fangs of snakes, but, he says, most commonly from a partof the body near the tail, by a kind of distillation. Physic, takenimmediately after the poison, may cure, but not always; if deferredtwo or three days, the man must die: the poison is slow, wastes theflesh, and produces a sallow, morbid appearance. It causes greatpain in the stomach, destroys the appetite, produces a consumption,and kills in a longer or shorter time, according to the strength ofconstitution. Some who have taken remedies, soon after the poison,live 8 or 10 years; otherwise the poison kills in 4 or 5 days.Physicians prescribe an emetic, the composition of which he doesnot know.[Footnote 70- A decoction of the herb henna produces a deeporange die. It is used generally by the females on their handsand feet: it allays the violence of perspiration in the part towhich it is applied, and imparts a coolness.]
NEIGHBOURING NATIONS.
There are no Arabs between Timbuctoo and the Nile; they live on theother side[71], and would not with impunity invade the lands ofthese people, who are very populous, and could easily destroy anyarmy that should attempt to molest them. The lands are chieflyprivate property. The Foulans are very beautiful. The Bambarrahshave thick lips and wide nostrils. The king of Foulan is muchrespected at Timbuctoo; his subjects are Muhamedans, but notcircumcised. [72] They cannot be made slaves at Timbuctoo; but theArabs steal their girls and sell them; not for slavery, but formarriage.Girls are marriageable very young; sometimes they have children atten years old.[Footnote 71- North of the town.][Footnote 72- All true Muhamedans are circumcised, so that theymust partake of Paganism if uncircumcised.]
Filed under: Africa, Black History, History
