Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 2: Under the Orders and at the Expense of Her Majesty's GovernmentRichardson, James
History
Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 2: Under the Orders and at the Expense of Her Majesty's Government
Richardson, James
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Africa, North -- Description and travel; Richardson, James, 1806-1851
_30th._--The Gatronee of the Germans confirms the report of the
circumstance, that, when the Kailouees go to the Tibboos to trade for
salt, all the male Tibboos run away, leaving all the business in the
hands of the females; which latter, besides trading in salt with the
Kailouees, make a good mercantile speculation with their charms. Each
woman, in fact, has her Kailouee husband or lover, during the carrying
on of this singular commerce. If the traders catch a single Tibboo man
staying behind, they at once murder him, with the most marked
approbation of the Tibboo women. Such is the state of connubial fidelity
in this part of the Sahara.
The Tibboos have been very greatly neglected by persons writing on
Africa, chiefly on account of the slighting, summary way in which they
are spoken of by the members of the former English expedition to Bornou.
They are, however, divided into a great number of tribes, are spread
over a considerable extent of country, and are partly the guardians of
the Bornou route. We must pay them some attention when they come under
our observation.
There is a man come from Dr. Barth and his party. They are expected in
the course of forty-eight hours. En-Noor is very angry that they do not
mend their pace. We are all ready to start. An immense caravan is
waiting for their arrival.
_31st._--The people begin to pester me to marry another wife in
Soudan,--one very young and with large breasts is the kind of article
they recommend.
The mysteries of Tintalous are celebrated at the well in the evening,
under the bright, glowing light of Venus, which star is now seen a
couple of hours above the horizon after sunset. On the margin of the
well, which is on the other side of the wady, at the distance of a
quarter of a mile, the damsels of Tintalous regularly meet their lovers,
and spend with them half an hour of sweet communion. Some even retire to
the shade of a large-spreading tholukh near, or behind blocks of rock
rising on the edge of the valley, and indulge in lawful or unlawful
embraces. The strangers who come here, the Moors of Tripoli and Fezzan,
are freely initiated into these mysteries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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