Journey From Timbuctoo to Housa
Shabeeny, after staying three years at Timbuctoo, departed for Housa: and crossing the small river close to the walls, reached the Nile in three days, travelling through a fine, populous, cultivated country, abounding in trees, some of which are a kind of oak, bearing a large acorn 73, much finer than those of Barbary, which are sent as presents to Spain. Travelling is perfectly safe. They embarked on the Nile in a large boat with one mast, a sail, and oars; the current was not rapid: having a favourable wind, on his return, he came back in as short a time as he went. The water was very red and sweet. 74 The place where they embarked is called Mushgreelia; here is a ferry, and opposite is a village. As the current is slow, and they moored every night, they were eight or ten days sailing down the stream to Housa. They had ten or twelve men on board, and when it was calm, or the wind contrary, they rowed; they steered with an oar, the boat having no rudder. He saw a great many boats passing up and down the river; there are more boats 75 on this river between Mushgreelia and Housa than between Rosetta and Cairo on the Nile of Egypt. A great many villages are on the banks. There are boats of the same form as those of Tetuan and Tangiers, but much larger, built of planks, and have ribs like those of Barbary; instead of pitch or tar, they are caulked with a sort of red clay, or bole. The sail is of canvas of flax (not cotton) brought from Barbary, originally from Holland; it is square. They row like the Moors, going down the stream.
There is a road by land from Timbuctoo to Housa, but on account of the expense it is not used by merchants: Shabeeny believes it is about 5 days’ journey. If you go this way, you must cross the river before you reach Housa. They landed at the port of Housa, distant a day and a half from the town; their merchandise was carried from this port on horses, asses, and horned cattle; the blacks dislike camels; they say, “These are the beasts that carry us into slavery.”
The country was rich and well cultivated; they have a plant bearing a pod called mellochia, from which they make a thick vegetable jelly. 76 There is no artificial road from Timbuctoo to the Nile; near the river the soil is miry. Shabeeny travelled from Timbuctoo to Housa in the hot weather when the Nile was nearly full; it seldom falls much below the level of its banks; he travelled on horseback from Timbuctoo to the river, and slept two nights upon the road in the huts of the natives. One of the principal men in the village leaves his hut to the travellers and gives them a supper; in the mean time he goes to the hut of some friend, and in the morning receives a small present for his hospitality. 77
THE RIVER NEEL OR NILE.
The Neel El Kebeer 78, (that is, the Great Nile,) like the Neel Masser or Nile of Egypt, is fullest in the month of August, when it overflows in some places where the banks are low; the water which overflows is seldom above midleg; the banks are covered with reeds, with which they make mats. Camels, sheep, goats, and horses, feed upon the banks, but during the inundation are removed to the uplands. The walls of the huts both within and without are cased with wood to the height of about three feet, to preserve them from the water; the wells have the best water after the swelling of the river. The flood continues about ten days; the abundance of rice depends on the quantity of land flooded. He always understood that the Nile empties itself in the sea, the salt sea or the great ocean. There is a village at the port of Housa where he landed, the river here is much wider than where he embarked, and still wider at Jinnie. He saw no river enter the Nile in the course of his voyage. It much resembles the Nile of Egypt, gardens and lands are irrigated from it. Its breadth is various; in some places he thinks it narrower than the Thames at London, in others much wider; at the landing place they slept in the hut of a native, and next morning at sunrise set off for Housa, where they arrived in twelve hours through a fine plain without hills; the country is much more populous than between Timbuctoo and the Nile. Ferry boats are to be had at several villages.
They did not see the town till they came within an hour from it, or an hour and a half; it stands in a plain. Housa is south-east 79 of Timbuctoo, a much larger city and nearly as large as London. He lived there two years, but never saw the whole of it. It has no walls; the houses are like those of Timbuctoo, and form irregular lanes or streets like those of Fas or Marocco, wide enough for camels to pass with their loads. The palace is much larger than that of Timbuctoo; it is seven or eight miles in circumference and surrounded by a wall; he remembers but four gates, but there may be more; he thinks the number of guards at each gate is about 50; it is in that part of the town most distant from the Nile. The houses are dark coloured and flat roofed. He thinks Cairo is about one-third larger than Housa; the streets are much wider than those of Timbuctoo; the houses are covered with a kind of clay of different colours but never white. They have no chalk or lime in the country.
GOVERNMENT.
If the king has children, the eldest, if a man of sense and good character, succeeds; otherwise, one of the others is elected. The grandees of the court are the electors. If the eldest son be not approved, they are not bound to elect him; he has, however, the preference, and after him the other sons; but the choice of the council must be unanimous, and if no person of the royal line be the object of their choice, they may elect one of their own body. The members of the council are appointed by the king; he chooses them for their wisdom and integrity, without being limited to rank: the person appointed cannot refuse obedience to the royal mandate. The council consists of many hundreds. The governor who controls the police lives in the centre of the town.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
Is very similar to that of Timbuctoo, except that the king is perfectly despotic; and though he consults his council, he decides as he thinks proper. The governor administers justice in small affairs; but, in important cases, he refers the parties to the king and council, of which he is himself a member. No torture, is ever inflicted. The governor employs a great number of officers of police at a distance from the town. If robberies are committed, the person robbed must apply to the chief of the district, who must find or take into custody the offender, or becomes himself liable to make compensation for the injury sustained. 80
Notes
73 Called El Belûte. These acorns are much prized by the Muhamedans, and are considered a very wholesome fruit.
74 The word hellue, in Arabic, which signifies literally, sweet, here implies that the water was pure and good.
75 See Jackson’s Marocco, page 314, 2d or 3d edition.
76 The pod of the mellochia, which grows near Sallee and Rabat, is of an elongated conical form, about two inches long.
77 This is a common custom in West and South Barbary; they always clear a tent for the travellers.
78 Properly Enneel. El is the article; but when it precedes a word beginning with a letter called a labial, it takes the sound of that letter. This error is committed throughout a book, lately published, entitled Specimens of Arabic Poetry, by J.D. Carlyle, Professor of Arabic in the University of Cambridge, 2d edition p. 53, Abdalsalam, instead of Abdassalum; p. 59, Ebn Alrumi, instead of Ebn Arrumi; and p. 65, Alnarhurwany, for Annarhurwany, &c. &c.
79 Rather south-east by east.
80 This is also the law in West Barbary. When a robbery is committed, the district where it has been committed is made liable for double the amount; the half goes to the person robbed, and the other half to the treasury. The good effects of this law is admirable, insomuch that it has almost annihilated robbery: but when one has actually been committed, the energy and exertion of every individual is directed to discover the depredator, and they seldom fail to discover him. The fear of the penalty also makes them very cautious who they admit among them; and very inquisitive respecting the character and vocation of all, strangers in particular, who sojourn in their country!!