caravans, with great trains of camels, carrying brass, silver, and other articles, to Tombucto and the country of the Negroes, whence they bring back gold and melhegette , or cardamom seeds[3]. These people are all of a tawny colour, and both sexes wear a single white garment with a red border, without any linen next their skins. The men wear turbans, in the Moorish fashion, and go always barefooted. In the desert there are many lions, leopards, and ostriches, the eggs of which I have often eaten, and found them very good.
[2] Called Tombuto in the original, and Ataubat in Grynaeus.--Astl. Hoden stands in an ouasis , or watered island, in the sea of sand, or great desert, about lat. 19°20'N. and W. long. 11°40'.--E.
[3] Under the general name of Azanhaji , which probably signifies the pilgrims or wanderers of the desert, the Nomadic Arabs or Moors are distinguished into various tribes; as Beni-amir, Beni-sabi, Hilil Arabs, Ludajas, and Hagi; sometimes called Monselmines, Mongearts, Wadelims, Labdessebas, and Trasarts; all named in their order from north to south, as occupying the desert towards the Atlantic.--E.
Don Henry has farmed out the trade of the island of Arguin, under the following regulations. No person must enter this gulf to trade with the Arabs, except those who are licensed according to the ordinance, and have habitations and factors on the island, and have been accustomed to transact business with the Arabs on that coast. The articles of merchandize chiefly provided for this trade are, woollen cloth and linen, silver trinkets, aldtizeli or frocks, and cloaks, and other things, and above all, wheat; and the Arabs give in return negro slaves and gold. A castle has been built on the isle of Arguin, by order of the prince, to protect this trade, on account of which caravels or ships arrive there every year from Portugal.
The Arabs of this coast have many Barbary horses, which they carry to the country of the Negroes, which they barter with the great men for slaves, receiving from ten to eighteen men for each horse, according to their goodness. They also carry thither silken staffs of Granada and Tunis, with silver, and many other things, in return for which they receive great numbers of slaves and some gold. These slaves are brought first to Hoden in the desert, and thence by the mountains of Barka into Barbary, whence they are transported across the Mediterranean into Sicily. Part of them are sold in Tunis, and in other places along the coast of Barbary; and the rest are brought to Arguin, where they are sold to the licensed Portuguese traders, who purchase between seven and eight hundred every year, and send them for sale into Portugal. Before the establishment of this trade at Arguin, the Portuguese used to send every year four or more caravels to the bay of Arguin, the crews of which, landing well armed in the night, were in use to surprise some of the fishing villages, and carry off the inhabitants into slavery. They even penetrated sometimes a considerable way into the interior, and carried off the Arabs of both sexes, whom they sold as slaves in Portugal.
Leaving Arguin we sailed along the coast to the river Senegal[4], which is very large, and divides the people called Azanaghi, or Azanhaji, from the first kingdom of the Negroes. The Azanhaji are of a tawny colour, or rather of a deep brown complexion, and inhabit some parts of the coast beyond Cape Branco, ranging through the deserts, and their district reaches to the confines of the Arabs of Hoden. They live on dates, barley, and the milk of camels; but as they border likewise on the country of the Negroes, they carry on trade with these people, from whom they procure millet and pulse, particularly beans. Owing to the scarcity of provisions in the desert, the Azanhaji are but spare eaters, and are able to endure hunger with wonderful patience, as a poringer of barley-meal made into hasty-pudding will serve them a whole day. The Portuguese used to carry away many of these people for slaves, as they were preferred to the negroes; but for some time past this has been prohibited by Don Henry, and peace and trade has been established with them, as he is in hopes they may be easily brought over to the catholic faith by intercourse with the Christians, more especially as they are not hitherto thoroughly established in the superstitions of Mahomet, of which they know nothing but by hearsay. These Azenhaji have an odd custom of wearing a handkerchief round their heads, a part of which is brought down so as to cover their eyes, and even their nose and mouth; for they reckon the mouth an unclean part, because it is constantly belching and has a bad smell, and ought therefore to be kept out of sight; even comparing it to the posteriors, and thinking that both ought alike to be concealed. On this account they never let their mouths be seen except when eating, as I have often had occasion to observe. They have no lords among them, but the rich men are respected somewhat more than the rest. They are of ordinary stature, and very lean, wearing their black hair frizzled over their shoulders like the Germans, and grease it daily with fish oil, which gives them a nasty smell; yet they consider this as modish. They are extremely poor, egregious liars, the greatest thieves in the world, and very treacherous. They have never heard of any Christians except the Portuguese, with whom they had war for thirteen or fourteen years, in which many of them were carried off as slaves, as has been already mentioned. Many of these people informed me, that, when they first saw ships under sail, which had never been beheld by any of their ancestors, they took them for large birds with white wings, that had come from foreign parts; and when the sails were furled, they conjectured, from their length, and swimming on the water, that they must be great fish. Others again believed that they were spirits, who wandered about by night; because they were seen at anchor in the evening at one place, and would be seen next morning 100 miles off, either proceeding along the coast to the southwards, or put back, according as the wind changed, or the caravels might happen to steer. They could not conceive how human beings could travel more in one night than they were able to perform themselves in three days; by which they were confirmed in the notion of the ships being spirits. All this was certified to me by many of the Azanhaji who were slaves in Portugal, as well as by the Portuguese mariners who had frequented the coast in their caravels.
[4] In the text this river is named Senega, and its name probably signifies the river of the Azanhaji. It Is called in Ramusio Oro Tiber .--F.
About six days journey by land from Hoden, there is a place called Teggazza[5], which in our language signifies a chest or bag of gold. In this place large quantities of salt are dug up every year, and carried by caravans on camels to Tombucto and thence to the empire of Melli , which belongs to the Negroes. Oh arriving there, they dispose of their salt in the course of eight days, at the rate of between two and three hundred mitigals , or ducats, for each load, according to the quantity, and then return with their gold.
[5] The name of this place is explained as signifying a chest or bag of gold. There is a place marked in the Saharra, or great sandy desert; under the name of Tisheet , where there are salt mines, in lat. 17° 40' N. and long. 6° 40' W. which may possibly be Teggazza. The distance of Tisheet from Hoden in our maps is about 375 miles E. S. E. But there are other salt mines in the desert still farther to the east. --E.
SECTION III.
Of the Empire of Melli, and some curious particulars of the Salt Trade: Of the Trade in Gold: Of the, Azanhaji; and concerning swarms of Locusts .
The empire of Melli, of which some mention has been made in the preceding Section, is situated in an extremely hot climate, and affords very bad nourishment for beasts; insomuch, that out of an hundred camels which go from the desert into that country, scarcely twenty-five return; several even of the Arabs and Azanhaji, belonging to the caravans, sicken and die likewise every year. There are no quadrupeds kept by the natives of the country, as indeed none can live there for any time. It is reckoned to be forty days journey on horseback from Tegazza to Tombuctu, and thirty from thence to Melli[1]. Having inquired what use the merchants of Melli made of this salt, the traders of the desert informed me, that a part of it was consumed in that country, which lying near the line, where the days and nights are of equal length, certain seasons of the year are so excessively hot that the blood of the inhabitants would putrify, if it were not for the salt, and they would all die. They have no art or mystery in its use; but every one dissolves a small piece every day in a porringer of water, and drinks it off, which in their opinion preserves their health.
[1] The distance between Tisheet and Tombuctu,
