Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa : $b Including accounts of Tripoli, the Sahara, the remarkable kingdom of Bornu, and the countries around Lake ChadBarth, Heinrich
History
Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa : $b Including accounts of Tripoli, the Sahara, the remarkable kingdom of Bornu, and the countries around Lake Chad
Barth, Heinrich
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Africa, North -- Description and travel
They were tall men, with broad, coarse features, very different from any
I had seen before, and with long hair hanging down upon their shoulders
and over their face, in a way which is an abomination to the Tuarek; but
upon inquiry I learnt that they belonged to the tribe of the Ighdalén,
or Éghedel, a very curious mixed tribe of Berber and Sónghay blood, and
speaking the Sónghay language. The mode of buying and selling, also,
was very peculiar; for the price was neither fixed in dollars, nor in
shells, but either in merchandise of various descriptions, such as
calico, shawls, tobes, or in Negro millet, which is the real standard
of the market of Ágades at the present time, while, during the period
of its prime, it was apparently the gold of Gágho. This way of buying
or selling is called “kárba.” There was a very animated scene between
two persons, and to settle the dispute it was necessary to apply to the
“serki-n-káswa,” who for every camel sold in the market receives three
“réjel.”
[Illustration]
From this place we went to the vegetable-market, or
“káswa-n-delélti,”[12] which was but poorly supplied, only cucumbers and
molukhia (or _Corchorus olitorius_) being procurable in considerable
plenty. Passing thence to the butchers’ market, we found it very well
supplied, and giving proof that the town was not yet quite deserted,
although some strangers were just gathering for the installation of
the Sultan, as well as for the celebration of the great holiday, the
ʿAid el kebír, or Salla-léja. I will only observe that this market
(from its name, “káswa-n-rákoma,” or “yóbu yoëwoëni”) seems evidently
to have been formerly the market where full-grown camels were sold. We
then went to the third market, called katánga, where, in a sort of hall
supported by the stems of the dúm-tree, about six or seven women were
exhibiting, on a sort of frame, a variety of small things, such as beads
and necklaces, sandals, small oblong tin boxes such as the Kél-owí wear
for carrying charms, small leather boxes of the shape here represented,
but of all possible sizes, from the diameter of an inch to as much as
six inches. They are very neatly made, in different colours, and are
used for tobacco, perfumes, and other purposes, and are called “botta.”
I saw here also a very nice plate of copper, which I wanted to buy the
next day, but found that it was sold. A donkey-saddle, “ákomar,” and
a camel-saddle, or “kíri,” were exposed for sale. The name “katánga”
serves, I think, to explain the name by which the former (now deserted)
capital of Yóruba is generally known; I mean Katúnga, which name is given
to it only by the Háusa and other neighbouring tribes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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