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Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 3. The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth Century
A first interview with Yareddi, leader of the Soolimana troops accompanying the almamy, proved that the negroes of the districts under notice had only the vaguest ideas on European civilization, and that they had had but little intercourse with the whites.
"Every article of our dress," says Laing, "was a subject of admiration; observing me pull off my gloves, Yareddi stared, covered his widely-opened mouth with his hands, and at length exclaimed, 'Alla Akbar!' 'he has pulled the skin off his hands!' By degrees, and as he became more familiar, he alternately rubbed down Dr. Mackie's hair and mine, then indulging himself in a loud laugh, he would exclaim, 'They are not men, they are not men!' He repeatedly asked my interpreter if we had bones?"
These preliminary excursions, during which Laing ascertained that many Soolimanas owned a good deal of gold and ivory, led to his asking the governor's sanction to explore the districts to the east of the colony, with a view to increasing the trade of Sierra Leone by admitting their productions.
Maccarthy liked Laing's proposal and submitted it to the council. It was decided that Laing should be authorized to penetrate into Soolimana by the most convenient route for future communications.
Laing left Sierra Leone on the 16th April, 1824, and rowed up the Rokelle river to Rokon, the chief town of Timmannee. His interview with the King of Rokon was extremely amusing. To do him honour Laing had a salvo of ten charges fired as he came into the court in which the reception was to be held. At the noise the king stopped, drew back, darted a furious look at his visitor, and ran away. It was with great difficulty that the cowardly monarch was induced to return. At last he came back, and seating himself with great dignity in his chair of state he questioned the major:
"He wished to know," says Laing, "why he had been fired at, and was, with some difficulty, persuaded that it had been done out of honour to him. 'Why did you point your guns to the ground?' 'That you might see our intention was to show you respect.' 'But the pebbles flew in my face; why did you not point in the air?' 'Because we feared to burn the thatch on your houses.' 'Well, then, give me some rum.'"
Needless to add that the interview became more cordial after the major had complied with this request!
The portrait of the Timmannee monarch deserves a place in our volume for more than one reason. It is a case of ab uno disce omnes."
"Ba-Simera," to quote Laing again, "the principal chief or king of this part of the Timmannee country, is about ninety years of age, with a mottled, shrivelled-up skin, resembling in colour that of an alligator more than that of a human being, with dim, greenish eyes, far sunk in his head, and a bleached, twisted beard, hanging down about two feet from his chin; like the king of the opposite district he wore a necklace of coral and leopard's teeth, but his mantle was brown and dirty as his skin. His swollen legs, like those of an elephant, were to be observed from under his trousers of baft, which might have been originally white, but, from the wear of several years, had assumed a greenish appearance."
Like his predecessors in Africa, Laing had to go through many discussions about the right of passage through the country and bearers' wages, but thanks to his firmness he managed to escape the extortions of the negro kings. The chief halting-places on the route taken by the major were: Toma, where a white man had never before been seen; Balandeko, Roketchnick, which he ascertained to be situated in N. lat. 8° 30', and W. long. 12° 11'; Mabimg, beyond a very broad stream flowing north of the Rokelle; and Ma-Yosso, the chief frontier town of Timmannee. In Timmannee Laing made acquaintance with a singular institution, a kind of free-masonry, known as "Purrah," the existence of which on the borders of the Rio Nuñez had been already ascertained by Caillié.
"Their power" [that of the "Purrah"], says Laing, "supersedes even that of the headmen of the districts, and their deeds of secrecy and darkness are as little called in question, or inquired into, as those of the Inquisition were in Europe, in former years. I have endeavoured in vain to trace the origin, or cause of formation of this extraordinary association, and have reason to suppose, that it is now unknown to the generality of the Timmannees, and may possibly be even so to the Purrah themselves, in a country where no traditionary records are extant, either in writing or in song."
So far as Laing could ascertain Timmannee is divided into three districts. The chief of each arrogates to himself the title of king. The soil is fairly productive, and rice, yams, guavas, earth-nuts, and bananas might be grown in plenty, but for the lazy, vicious, and avaricious character of the inhabitants who vie with each other in roguery.
"I think," says Laing, "that a few hoes, flails, rakes, shovels, &c., would be very acceptable to them, when their respective uses were practically explained; and that they would prove more beneficial both to their interest and ours, than the guns, cocked hats, and mountebank coats, with which they are at present supplied." In spite of our traveller's philanthropic wish, things have not changed since his time. The negroes are just as fond of intoxicating drinks, and their petty kings still go about wearing on grand occasions hats the shape of an accordion, and blue coats with copper buttons, with no shirts underneath. The maternal sentiment did not seem to Laing to be very fully developed amongst the people of Timmannee, for he was twice roundly abused by women for refusing to buy their children of them. A few days later there was a great tumult raised against Laing, the white man who had inflicted a fatal blow on the prosperity of the country by checking its trade. The first town entered in Kouranko was Maboum, and it is interesting to note en passant what Laing says of the activity of the inhabitants.
"I entered the town about sunset, and received a first impression highly favourable to its inhabitants, who were returning from their respective labours of the day, every individual bearing about him proofs of his industrious occupation. Some had been engaged in preparing the fields for the crops, which the approaching rains were to mature; others were penning up cattle, whose sleek sides and good condition denoted the richness of their pasturages; the last clink of the blacksmith's hammer was sounding, the weaver was measuring the quantity of cloth he had woven during the day, and the gaurange, or worker in leather, was tying up his neatly-stained pouches, shoes, knife-scabbards, &c. (the work of his handicraft) in a large kotakoo or bag; while the crier at the mosque, with the melancholy call of 'Alla Akbar,' uttered at measured intervals, summoned the dévôts Moslems to their evening devotions."
Had a Marilhat or a Henri Regnault transferred to canvas a scene like this, when the dazzling light of the sun is beginning to die away in green and rose tints, might he not aptly name his painting the Retour des Champs, a title so often given to landscapes in our misty climate.
"This scene," adds Laing, "both by its nature and the sentiment which it inspired, formed an agreeable contrast with the noise, confusion, and the dissipation which pervaded a Timmannee town at the same hour; but one must not trust too much to appearances, and I regret to add, that the subsequent conduct of the Kouranko natives did not confirm the good opinion which I had formed of them."
The traveller now passed through Koufoula, where he was very kindly received, crossed a pleasant undulating district shut in by the Kouranko hills and halted at Simera, where the chief ordered his "guiriot" to celebrate in song the arrival of his guest, a welcome neutralized by the fact that the house assigned to Laing let in the rain through its leaky roof and would not let out the smoke, so that, to use his own words, he was more "like a chimney-sweeper" than the white guest of the King of Simera.
Laing afterwards visited the source of the Tongolelle, a tributary of the Rokelle, and then left Kooranko to enter Soolimana. Kooranko, into which our traveller did not penetrate beyond the frontier, is of vast extent and divided into a great number of small states. The inhabitants resemble the Mandingoes in language and costume, but they are neither so well looking nor so intelligent. They do not profess Mohammedanism and have implicit confidence in their "grigris." They are fairly industrious, they know how to sew and weave. Their chief object of commerce is rosewood or "cam," which they send to the coast. The products of the country are much the same as those of Timmannee.
Komia, N. lat. 9° 22', is the first town in Soolimana. Laing then visited Semba, a wealthy and populous city, where he was received by a band of musicians, who welcomed him with a deafening if not harmonious flourish of trumpets, and he finally reached Falaba, the capital of the country.
The king received Laing with special marks of esteem. He had assembled a large body of troops whom he passed in review, making them execute various manoeuvres accompanied by the blowing of trumpets, beating of tambourines, and the playing of violins and other native instruments. This "fantasia" almost deafened the visitor. Then came a number of guiriots, who sang of the greatness of the king, the happy arrival of the major, with the fortunate results which were to ensue from his visit for the prosperity of the country and the development of commerce.
Laing profited by the king's friendliness to ask his permission to visit the sources of the Niger, but was answered by all manner of objections on the score of the danger of the expedition. At last, however, his majesty yielded to the persuasions of his visitor, telling him that "as his heart panted after the water, he might go to it."
The major had not, however, left Falaba two hours before the permission was rescinded, and he had to give up an enterprise which had justly appeared to him of great importance.
A few days later he obtained leave to visit the source of the Rokelle or Sale Kongo, a river of which nothing was known before his time beyond Rokon. From the summit of a lofty rock, Laing saw Mount Loma, the highest of the chain of which it forms part. "The point," says the traveller, "from which the Niger issues, was now shown to me, and appeared to be at the same level on which I stood, viz., 1600 feet above the level of the Atlantic; the source of the Rokelle, which I had already measured, being 1470 feet. The view from this hill amply compensated for my lacerated feet… Having ascertained correctly the situation of Konkodoogore, and that of the hill upon which I was at this time, the first by observation, and the second by account, and having taken the bearings of Loma from both, I cannot err much in laying down its position in 9° 25' N. and 9° 45' W."
Laing had now spent three months in Soolimana, and had made many excursions. It is a very picturesque country, in which alternate hills, valleys, and fertile plains, bordered by woods and adorned with thickets of luxuriant trees.
The soil is fertile and requires very little cultivation; the harvests are abundant and rice grows well. Oxen, sheep, goats, and a small species of poultry, with a few horses, are the chief domestic animals of the people of Soolimana. The wild beasts, of which there are a good many, are elephants, buffaloes, a kind of antelope, monkeys, and leopards.
Falaba, which takes its name from the Fala-ba river, on which it is situated, is about a mile and a half long by one broad. The houses are closer together than in most African towns, and it contains some six thousand inhabitants. Its position as a fortified town is well-chosen. Built on an eminence in the centre of a plain which is under water in the rainy season, it is surrounded by a very strong wooden palisade, proof against every engine of war except artillery.
Strange to say in Soolimana the occupations of men and women seem to be reversed; the latter work in the fields except at seed time and harvest, build the houses, act as masons, barbers, and surgeons, whilst the men attend to the dairy, milk the cows, sew, and wash the linen.
On the 17th September, Laing started on his return journey to Sierra Leone bearing presents from the king, and escorted for several miles by a vast crowd. He finally reached the English colony in safety.
Laing's trip through Timmannee, Kooranko, and Soolimana was not without importance. It opened up districts hitherto unknown to Europeans, and introduced us to the manners, occupations, and trade of the people, as well as to the products of the country. At the same time the course was traced and the source discovered of the Rokelle, whilst for the first time definite information was obtained as to the sources of the Niger, for although our traveller had not actually visited them, he had gone near enough to determine their position approximately.
The results obtained by Laing on this journey, only fired his ambition for further discoveries. He, therefore, determined to make his way to Timbuctoo.
On the 17th June, 1825, he embarked at Malta for Tripoli, where he joined a caravan with which Hateeta, the Tuarick chief, who had made such friends with Lyon, was also travelling as far as Ghât. After two months' halt at Ghadames, Laing again started in October and reached Insalah, which he places a good deal further west than his predecessors had done. Here he remained from November, 1825, to January 1826, and then made his way to the Wâdy Ghât, intending to go from thence at once to Timbuctoo, making a tour of Lake Jenneh or Debbie, visiting the Melli country, and tracing the Niger to its mouth. He would then have retraced his steps as far as Sackatoo, visited Lake Tchad and attempted to reach the hill.
Outside Ghât the caravan with which Laing was travelling was attacked, some say by Tuaricks, others by Berber Arabs, a tribe living near the Niger.
"Laing," says Caillié, who got his information at Timbuctoo, "was recognized as a Christian and horribly ill-treated. He was beaten with a stick until he was left for dead. I suppose that the other Christian whom they told me was beaten to death, was one of the major's servants. The Moors of Laing's caravan picked him up, and succeeded by dint of great care in recalling him to life. So soon as he regained consciousness he was placed on his camel, to which he had to be tied, he was too weak to be able to sit up. The robbers had left him nothing, the greater part of his baggage had been rifled."
Laing arrived at Timbuctoo on the 18th August, 1826, and recovered from his wounds. His convalescence was slow, but he was fortunately spared the extortions of the natives, owing to the letters of introduction he had brought with him from Tripoli and to the sedulous care of his host, a native of that city.
According to Caillié, who quotes this remarkable fact from an old native, Laing retained his European costume, and gave out that he had been sent by his master, the king of England, to visit Timbuctoo and describe the wonders it contained.
"It appears," adds the French traveller, "that Laing drew the plan of the city in public, for the same Moor told me in his naive and expressive language, that he had 'written the town and everything in it.'"
After a careful examination of Timbuctoo, Laing, who had good reason to fear the Tuaricks, paid a visit by night to Cabra, and looked down on the waters of the Niger. Instead of returning to Europe by way of the Great Desert, he was very anxious to go past Jenneh and Sego to the French settlements in Senegal, but at the first hint of his purpose to the Foulahs who crowded to stare at him, he was told that a Nazarene could not possibly be allowed to set foot in their country, and that if he dared attempt it they would make him repent it.
Laing was, therefore, driven to go by way of El Arawan, where he hoped to join a caravan of Moorish merchants taking salt to Sansanding. But five days after he left Timbuctoo, his caravan was joined by a fanatic sheikh, named Hamed-ould-Habib, chief of the Zawat tribe, and Laing was at once arrested under pretence of his having entered their country without authorization. The major being urged to profess Mohammedanism refused, preferring death to apostasy. A discussion then took place between the sheikh and his hired assassins as to how the victim should be put to death, and finally Laing was strangled by two slaves. His body was left unburied in the desert.
This was all Caillié was able to find out when he visited Timbuctoo but one year after Major Laing's death. We have supplemented his accounts by a few details gathered from the reports of the Royal Geographical Society, for the traveller's journal and the notes he took are alike lost to us.
We have already told how Laing managed to fix pretty accurately the position of the sources of the Niger. We have also described the efforts made by Mungo Park and Clapperton to trace the middle portion of the course of that river. We have now to narrate the journeys made in order to examine its mouth and the lower part of its course. The earliest and most successful was that of Richard Lander, formerly Clapperton's servant.
Richard Lander and his brother John proposed to the English Government, that they should be sent to explore the Niger to its mouth. Their offer was accepted, and they embarked on a government vessel for Badagry, where they arrived on the 19th March, 1830.
The king of the country, Adooley, of whom Richard Lander retained a friendly remembrance, was in low spirits. His town had just been burnt, his generals and his best soldiers had perished in a battle with the people of Lagos, and he himself had had a narrow escape when his house and all his treasures were destroyed by fire.
He determined to retrieve his losses, and to do so at the expense of the travellers, who could not get permission to penetrate into the interior of the country until they had been robbed of their most valuable merchandise, and compelled to sign drafts in payment for a gun-boat with a hundred men, for two puncheons of rum, twenty barrels of powder, and a large quantity of merchandise, which they knew perfectly well would never be delivered by this monarch, who was as greedy of gain as he was drunken. As a matter of course the natives followed the example of their chief, vied with him in selfishness, greed, and meanness, regarded the English as fair spoil, and fleeced them on every opportunity.
At last, on the 31st March, Richard and John Lander succeeded in getting away from Badagry; and preceded by an escort sent in advance by the king, arrived at Katunga on the 13th May, having halted by the way at Wow-wow, a good-sized town, Bidjie, where Pearce and Morrison had been taken ill, Jenneh, Chow, Egga, all towns visited by Clapperton, Engua, where Pearce died, Asinara, the first walled city they saw, Bohou, formerly capital of Yariba, Jaguta, Leoguadda, and Itcho, where there is a famous market.
At Katunga, according to custom, the travellers halted under a tree before they were received by the king. But being tired of waiting, they presently went to the residence of Ebo, the chief eunuch, and the most influential man about the person of the sovereign. A diabolical noise of cymbals, trumpets, and drums, all played together, announced the approach of the white men, and Mansolah, the king, gave them a most hearty welcome, ordering Ebo to behead every one who should molest them.
The Landers, fearful of being detained by Mansolah until the rainy season, acted on Ebo's advice, and said nothing about the Niger, but merely spoke of the death of their fellow-countryman at Boussa twenty years before, adding that the King of England had sent them to the sultan of Yaourie to recover his papers.
Although Mansolah did not treat the brothers Lander quite as graciously as he had treated Clapperton, he allowed them to go eight days after their arrival.
Of the many details given in the original account of the Landers' journey, of Katunga and the province of Yariba, we will only quote the following: —
"Katunga has by no means answered the expectations we had been led to form of it, either as regards its prosperity, or the number of its inhabitants. The vast plain on which it stands, although exceedingly fine, yields in verdure and fertility, and simple beauty of appearance, to the delightful country surrounding the less celebrated city of Bohoo. Its market is tolerably well supplied with provisions, which are, however, exceedingly dear; insomuch that, with the exception of disgusting insects, reptiles, and vermin, the lower classes of the people are almost unacquainted with the taste of animal food."
Mansolah's carelessness and the imbecile cowardice of his subjects had enabled the Fellatahs to establish themselves in Yarriba, to entrench themselves in its fortified towns, and to obtain the recognition of their independence, until they became sufficiently strong to assume an absolute sovereignty over the whole country.
From Katunga the Landers travelled to Borghoo, by way of Atoupa, Bumbum – a town much frequented by the merchants of Houssa, Borghoo, and other provinces trading with Gonja – Kishi, on the frontiers of Yarriba, and Moussa, on the river of the same name, beyond which they were met by an escort sent to join them by the Sultan of Borghoo. Sultan Yarro received them with many expressions of pleasure and kindness, showing special delight at seeing Richard Lander again. Although he was a convert to Mohammedanism, Yarro evidently put more faith in the superstitions of his forefathers than in his new creed. Fetiches and gri-gris were hung over his door, and in one of his huts there was a square stool, supported on two sides by four little wooden effigies of men. The character, manners, and costumes of the people of Borghoo differ essentially from those of the natives of Yarriba.
"Perhaps no two people in the universe residing so near each other," says the narrative, "differ more widely … than the natives of Yarriba and Borghoo. The former are perpetually engaged in trading with each other from town to town, the latter never quit their towns except in case of war, or when engaged in predatory excursions; the former are pusillanimous and cowardly, the latter are bold and courageous, full of spirit and energy, and never seem happier than when engaged in martial exercises; the former are generally mild, unassuming, humble and honest, but cold and passionless. The latter are proud and haughty, too vain to be civil, and too shrewd to be honest; yet they appear to understand somewhat of the nature of love and the social affections, are warm in their attachments, and keen in their resentments."
On the 17th June our travellers at last came in sight of the city of Boussa. Great was their surprise at finding that town on the mainland, and not, as Clapperton had said, on an island in the Niger. They entered Boussa by the western gate, and were almost immediately introduced to the presence of the king and of the midiki or queen, who told them that they had both that very morning shed tears over the fate of Clapperton.
The Niger or Quorra, which flows below the city, was the first object of interest visited by the brothers.
"This morning," writes the traveller, "we visited the far-famed Niger or Quorra, which flows by the city about a mile from our residence, and were greatly disappointed at the appearance of this celebrated river. Bleak, rugged rocks rose abruptly from the centre of the stream, causing strong ripples and eddies on its surface. It is said that, a few miles above Boussa, the river is divided into three branches by two small, fertile islands, and that it flows from hence in one continued stream to Funda. The Niger here, in its widest part, is not more than a stone's-throw across at present. The rock on which we sat overlooks the spot where Mr. Park and his associates met their unhappy fate."
Richard Lander made his preliminary inquiries respecting the books and papers belonging to Mungo Park's expedition with great caution. But presently, reassured by the sultan's kindness, he determined to question him as to the fate of the explorer. Yarro was, however, too young at the time of the catastrophe to be able to remember what had occurred. It had taken place two reigns back; but he promised to have a search instituted for relics of the illustrious traveller.
"In the afternoon," says Richard Lander, "the king came to see us, followed by a man with a book under his arm, which was said to have been picked up in the Niger after the loss of our countryman. It was enveloped in a large cotton cloth, and our hearts beat high with expectation as the man was slowly unfolding it, for, by its size, we guessed it to be Mr. Park's Journal; but our disappointment and chagrin were great when, on opening the book, we discovered it to be an old nautical publication of the last century."
There was then no further hope of recovering Park's journal.
On the 23rd June the Landers left Boussa, filled with gratitude to the king, who had given them valuable presents, and warned them to accept no food, lest it should be poisoned, from any but the governors of the places they should pass through. They travelled alongside of the Niger as far as Kagogie, where they embarked in a wretched native canoe, whilst their horses were sent on by land to Yaoorie.
"We had proceeded only a few hundred yards," says Richard Lander, "when the river gradually widened to two miles, and continued as far as the eye could reach. It looked very much like an artificial canal, the steep banks confining the water like low walls, with vegetation beyond. In most places the water was extremely shallow, but in others it was deep enough to float a frigate. During the first two hours of the day the scenery was as interesting and picturesque as can be imagined. The banks were literally covered with hamlets and villages; fine trees, bending under the weight of their dark and impenetrable foliage, everywhere relieved the eye from the glare of the sun's rays, and, contrasted with the lively verdure of the little hills and plains, produced the most pleasing effect. All of a sudden came a total change of scene. To the banks of dark earth, clay, or sand, succeeded black, rugged rocks; and that wide mirror which reflected the skies, was divided into a thousand little channels by great sand-banks."
A little further on the stream was barred by a wall of black rocks, with a single narrow opening, through which its waters rushed furiously down. At this place there is a portage, above which the Niger flows on, restored to its former breadth, repose, and grandeur.
After three days' navigation, the Landers reached a village, where they found horses and men waiting for them, and whence they quickly made their way, through a continuously hilly country, to the town of Yaoorie, where they were welcomed by the sultan, a stout, dirty, slovenly man, who received them in a kind of farm-yard cleanly kept. The sultan, who was disappointed that Clapperton had not visited him, and that Richard Lander had omitted to pay his respects on his return journey, was very exacting to his present guests. He would give them none of the provisions they wanted, and did all he could to detain them as long as possible.
We may add that food was very dear at Yaoorie, and that Richard Lander had no merchandise for barter except a quantity of "Whitechapel sharps, warranted not to cut in the eye," for the very good reason, he tells us, that most of them had no eyes at all, so that they were all but worthless.
They were able, however, to turn to account some empty tins which had contained soups; the labels, although dirty and tarnished, were much admired by the natives, one of whom strutted proudly about for some days wearing an empty tin on his head, bearing four labels of "concentrated essence of meat."
The Sultan would not permit the Englishmen to enter Nyffé or Bornou, and told them there was nothing for them but to go back to Boussa. Richard Lander at once wrote to the king of that town, asking permission to buy a canoe in which to go to Funda, as the road by land was infested by plundering Fellatahs.
At last, on the 26th July, a messenger arrived from the King of Boussa to inquire into the strange conduct of the Sultan of Yaoorie, and the cause of his detention of the white men. After an imprisonment of five weeks the Landers were at last allowed to leave Yaoorie, which was now almost entirely inundated.
The explorers now ascended the Niger to the confluence of the Cubbie, and then went down it again to Boussa, where the king, who was glad to see them again, received them with the utmost cordiality. They were, however, detained longer than they liked by the necessity of paying a visit to the King of Wow-wow, as well as by the difficulty of getting a boat. Moreover, there was some delay in the return of the messengers who had been sent by the King of Boussa to the different chiefs on the banks of the river, and lastly, Beken Rouah (the Dark Water) had to be consulted in order to ensure the safety of the travellers in their journey to the sea.
On taking leave of the king, the brothers were at a loss to express their gratitude for his kindness and hospitality, his zeal in their cause, and the protection he was ever ready to extend during their stay of nearly two months in his capital. The natives showed great regret at losing their visitors, and knelt in the path of the brothers, praying with uplifted hands to their gods on their behalf.
Now began the descent of the Niger. A halt had to be made at the island of Melalie, whose chief begged the white men to accept a very fine kid. We may be sure they were too polite to refuse it. The Landers next passed the large town of Congi, the Songa of Clapperton, and then Inguazilligie, the rendezvous of merchants travelling between Nouffe and the districts north-east of Borghoo. Below Inguazilligie they halted at Patashie, a large fertile island of great beauty, planted with palm groves and magnificent trees.
