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tory fertile and profusely irrigated, yielding abundantly various fruits and vegetables, which are scarce or unknown on the coast. Among these were the shea or butter-tree, and the kolla or goora nuts, which are esteemed a great luxury, and conveyed in large quantities into the interior. The victuals, however, were found insipid, owing to the almost total absence of salt, which can only be procured by the wealthy; nor could the Frenchman at all relish the plan of seasoning food by a sauce extracted from the flesh of mice.

He was detained at Timé upwards of five months by a severe illness. On the 9th January 1828, he joined a caravan for Jenne, and proceeded through a district generally well cultivated, and containing a number of considerable villages, till, on the 10th March, he came in view, near the village of Cougalia, of the Niger, which appeared to him only about 500 feet broad, but very deep, flowing gently through a flat and open country. The caravan sailed across it, and, after travelling six miles, and passing, by rather deep fords, two smaller branches, they entered the city of Jenne, one of the most celebrated in the interior of Africa, and which had never before been visited by a European.

It is described by Caillié as situated at the eastern extremity of a branch of the Niger separating below Sego from the main current, with which, after passing the former town, it again unites. This delineation seems doubtful; for such a branch, had it existed, would probably have been observed by Park, who, on the contrary, describes the river which passes Jenne as a separate stream, tributary to the Niger. The Arabic term, translated by us island, is of very vague import, being familiarly applied to a peninsula, and even to a space wholly or partially enclosed by river-branches. The country around, as far as the eye could reach, formed only a naked marshy plain, interspersed with a few clumps of trees and bushes. The city was two miles and a half in circuit, surrounded by a wall of earth; the houses, rather well built, are composed of sun-dried bricks, two stories high, without

windows in front, but lighted from inner courts. The streets are too narrow for carriages, being only of such breadth that seven or eight persons may walk abreast. The population is reckoned by M. Caillié at 8000 or 10,000; but upon this subject we suspect he has formed his estimate rather too low. The inhabitants consist of various African tribes, attracted by the extensive commerce of which it is the centre. The four principal classes are the Foulahs, Mandingoes, Bambarras, and Moors, of whom the first are the most numerous, and are bigoted Mohammedans, compelling the pagan Bambarras who resort thither to conform to the rules of the Koran during their temporary residence. The trade is chiefly in the hands of thirty or forty Moorish merchants, who often unite in partnership, and maintain a communication with Timbuctoo in barks of considerable size. The negroes also carry on business, but on a much smaller scale, and chiefly in native articles. The markets are filled with the productions of the surrounding country, either for consumption or exportation,-cloth, grain, fruits, kolla-nuts, meat, fish, gold from Bouré, and, unhappily, with numerous slaves, who are paraded through the streets, and offered at a rate varying from 35,000 to 40,000 cowries each. These commodities draw in return from Timbuctoo, salt, Indian cloths, fire-arms, beads, toys, and all the variety of European articles. The traffickers of Jenne were found more polished in their manners than any African nation with whom the stranger had yet held intercourse: they were extremely hospitable, entertaining him at free quarters during his whole stay; but he considers them as having driven an exceedingly hard bargain for his goods. The mode of living, even of the most wealthy, was extremely simple. Their houses contained scarcely any furniture; and their clothes were deposited in a large leathern bag, generally suspended from the roof. The chief entertainment to which he was invited consisted merely of a huge fragment of a sheep stewed in onions, and, as usual, eaten with the fingers,-four cups of tea concluding the repast.

On the 23d March, the traveller left Jenne, near which he embarked on the Joliba, which was there half a mile broad, in a vessel of sixty tons burden, but of very slight construction, and bound together with cords. Such barks, impelled without sails, and deeply laden, cannot proceed with safety when the waters are agitated by a brisk gale; therefore much time is consumed in the voyage. Upon landing he passed first through the country of Banan, which presented a surface flat and monotonous, but abounding in flocks and herds. On the 2d April, the river opened into the great Lake Dibbie, here called Debo, in sailing across which, notwithstanding its magnitude, land was lost sight of in no direction except the west, where the water appeared to extend indefinitely like an ocean. Three islands, observed at different points, were, not very happily, named St Charles, Maria Theresa, and Henri, after three individuals who the author little suspected would so soon be exiled from France.

After quitting this lake, the Niger flowed through a country thinly occupied by Foulah shepherds, and by some tents of the rude Tuaricks. On the 19th April, he arrived at Cabra, the port of Timbuctoo, consisting of a row of houses composed of earth and straw, extending about half a mile on the bank of the river. The inhabitants, estimated at about 1200, are entirely employed in lading and unlading the numerous barks which touch at the quay.

In the evening of the 20th April, attended by some companions, he rode from Cabra, and entered Timbuctoo, which he calls Temboctou. He describes himself as struck with an extraordinary and joyful emotion at the view of this mysterious city, so long the object of curiosity to the civilized nations of Europe. The scene, however, presented little of that grandeur and wealth with which the name has been associated. It comprised only a heap of ill-built earthen houses, all around which were spread immense plains of moving sand of a yellowish white colour, and parched in the extreme. "The horizon is of a pale red,-all is gloomy in nature,-the deepest silence reigns,-not the song of a single bird is heard ;”

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