FROBENIUS - The Voice of Africa 2
Transcript of FROBENIUS - The Voice of Africa 2
THE VOICE OF AFRICAVOL.II.
Woman
of
Ife.
Nupe-Woman.
Tuareg of Asben.
Gober Man.
SOUDANESE TYPES(fromoil
and water colour sketches by Carl Arriens.)
The Voice of AfricaBEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE TRAVELS OF THE GERMAN INNER AFRICAN EXPLORATION EXPEDITION IN THE YEARS I9I0 1912
BY
LEO FROBENIUS
IN
TWO
VOLS.
WITH SEVENTY PLATES, INCLUDING
TWO COLOURED FRONTISPIECES TWO HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND DRAWINGS FOUR MAPS AND TABLES
TRANSLATED BY RUDOLF BLINDJt
VOL.
II.
London: HUTCHINSON & CO.Paternoster1913
Row
CONTENTSVOL. IlT^)CHAP.
PAGE
XVI.XVII.
The Spectacles of Islam
353
MOKWA, SEENThe
IN
THE LiGHT OF AnCIENT StORY AND FROM364
THE Caravan RoadXVIII.
Nupe-Fulbes:
Olympic
Games
and
Religious383
Holidays in Mokwa
XIX.
Our Entry
into the Capital of Bida
....
400421
XX.XXII.XXIII.
The Splendour of BidaHistorical Poem
XXLAn
449 467 495521
The Fight with the Dragon
A
Race of Emperors and Kings
XXIV.
The Giants of the Past
XXV.XXVI.
The Demons of Love
537
The Religion ofHoussA Tribes
Possession, especially
among the560
XXVILTheXXVIII.
Decay of a Dynasty
The African Imperial Palatinate,
......
573 597
XXIX.Byzantium XXX. The Journey
615 650
into the Country of Problems
ILLUSTRATIONSVOL.Soudanese Types.Coloured Plate.II.
[From paintings hy Carl Arriens)Frontispiece
The
old
Lilli in
Wrestlers in
Mokwa. [Drawn hy Carl Arriens) Mokwa. [Photo hy Leo Frohenius)duellists
The seconds plucking the lockedFrohenius)Frohenius) Frohenius) Frohenius)
Dako-Boea dances on the market-place
The Nup6 and Fulbe.
Large Katamba (passage house or door
The Emperor comes.
.......... .......... ......... .......... .....asunder.in
.... .....[Photo
Facing page366
384
[Photo hy l,eo
384392401
Mokwa.
by Leo
princes say good-bye in
Mokwa.Bida.
[Photo hy Leo
edifice) in
[Photo hy Leo
[Photo by Leo Frohenius)
Scenes in the great night market in Bida.Glass- workers (Massaga) in Bida.
[Oil sketch hy Carl Arriens)oils
.
410 418 426
[Study in [Study in
by Carl Arriens)oils
.
.
Workshop
of bronze-chasers in Bida.
[Study inoils
hy Carl Arriens).
.
Bead-cutters' workshop in Bida.
Bronze-chasing Work.
Plate
I.
Bronze-chasing Work. Plate II. Iron foundry in Nupeland. [By Carl Arriens).
Bronze-chasing Work. Plate III. Old Nupe chased bronze vessels of the 15th century, aboutsize
Busu on their way to the coast lands. [Drawn by Carl Arriens) Horse games before the Galadina's compound in Tshamba. ( Water-colour..
hy Carl Arriens)
View of the great prayer on Friday in Bida. [Photo hy Leo Frohenius) The Bori Magadja and Adjingi in Ilorin. [Photo hy Alhrecht Martins) Zar or Alsar dance in Omdurman. [Drawn hy Fritz Nansen from photos..
hy Edith Frohenius)
........... ......... .........J
....... ..... ......by Carl Arriens)
.
434 442 452 459 465 476 484492 518 526
of natural
534 542546 598
Cavalryman
in
padded armour.
[After a water-colour hy Carl Arriens)vii
.
viii
ILLUSTRATIONS
Facing page Cavalryman with shirt and cap of chain-mail in Chamba. [Photo by 608 Leo Frobenius) Antique bowl with the cross called Sarra or Starra. (Collection of
...........
theG. I. A. E. E.) Saddles with crosses on the pommel, from Bussa and Gober... . .
616[After
.621 water-colours by Carl Arriens) tray with " Mesi-period " string and dove decoration, from a grave Ifanear Offa.the G. I.
[Collection of the G, I.
Ifa tray with string ornament,
A. E. E., 1912) from a holy tomb near Ojo.
.
.
.
624634
[Collection of
A. E. E., 1912)
Carved planks and beams from Yoruban temples. [Collection of the G. I. A. E. E., 1910) The founder of empire or holy horseman in Yoruban sculpture of morerecent date.[Collection of the G. I.
636646652
A. E. E., 1912)
.
.
.
Our camp on Stirling Hill above Lokoja, overlooking the confluence [Drawn by Carl Arriens) of the Benue and Niger. [From an English steel StirHng Hill about the middle of last century.engraving)
..........in the.
.
.
.
652
The Expedition marching through North Cameroon.,
autumn, 191 1..
[By Carl Arriens) Crossing a " brook " in the rainy season, 191 1, in North Cameroon... .
.
.
.
660664 668672
(By Carl Arriens)
DweUing
of the
Komai
Carl Arriens)
Komai women
grinding
Atlantica mountains. Return of the ExpeditionCarl Arriens)Carl Arriens)
Night camp of the Expedition on the sand banks of the Benue.
.......... ..... .......... ..........in
'Ndera, overlooking the Faro plain.
[Bythe
the corn forin native
the evening
porridge in
[By Carl Arriens) boats on the Tarabba-Benue.
[By676 680
[By
MAPSThe most importantolder States of the Soudan.the direction of Dr.
M.
Groll)
...........
[Drawn underPage 353[Con-
Chart of opposing streams of civilization in the Soudan. structed under the direction of Dr. M. Groll)
March
of civilization in
West Soudan
in the
Middle Ages
Page 449 Facing page 496
!
The most important(Drawn under
older States of the Soudan.
the direction of Dr. Jd. Groll.)
CHAPTER XVITHE SPECTACLES OF ISLAMDifferent Soudanese races;
State-building races and " disruptive " tribes
and influence on the Soudanfollowing chapters.
The meaning
of the " spectacles " of Islam
Islam origin Division of the;
its
^T^HEoccupied
investigation of ancient
civilizations
and the existence of
an ancient cultured nation on the West Coast of Africathefirst
portion
ofit
this
work.
We
will
now proceedstate
to the actual
Interior
and
will
be
my
endeavour to supply
material for properly judging the so-calledofits
Soudan and theof
culture.
The ArabsIt
gave
this
country
the
name
" the Soudan.'*
means and is the land of the blacks, and thus these first words demonstrate the influence of the people who brought thereligion of the
Prophet
into
the
Continent,higher
a
religion which, as
many
believe,
introduced
the
civilization
to
" poor
negroes " and gave
The
Arab,
black's
them the opportunity of higher development first pronounced the word " Soudan," i,e,^ the country, must have come from the North. It stretches
who
from the Southern edge of the mighty Great Desert, which is inhabited by fairer-complexioned races, from the Nile away to Senegambia. Geographically considered, it represents the equationVOL. n..
353
I
354of the tropical
THE VOICE OF AFRICASouth with the burning waste lands of the North and is not, therefore, uniform in character, butoftransitionaldistricts
in this Continent,
containssimilar
evidencesto
qualities
in
the
north
very
which " Sahel " is the most the South has the characteristic landfitting name, and towards scapes and other attributes peculiar to the tropical Western or Southern regions. The Soudan can scarcely be said to be beauthe desertfortiful in
the proper sense of the word.
Its
general
aspect
is
flat,
and
its
uniform
plains
of
clay
soil
are
signalized
by annually
and sparsely distributed and streams are shallow and sandy, dry up acclivities. almost entirely when the rainy season is over, and give the population far less water than the millions of wells which have been hacked out and driven into the earth.recurrent bushfires,
debilitated vegetation
Its rivers
Two
completely different types of nation dwell in the Soudan.I
By "type"peculiarities,
do not here mean to indicate generalizedsigns
racial
butareI
of
civilization.as
Thebetribes
extremes
of
bothin
these
types
socall
pronouncedthese
to or
without
parallel
Europe,builders "
and
peoples
respectively
" state-
and " disrupters." For the Soudan, going from east to west, is composed of a great series of '' powerful " kingdoms (in the African sense of the word), namely: Nubia or Napata, Darfour, Wadai, Bornu-Kanem, the Houssa states, Kororofa,state
Nupe, Borgu, Gurma, Mossi, Songai, the MandeTheir distinctive qualitydwellsincapitalsis
and
Joloff.
that a State-building, dominant raceinsize,
varyingless
which command the tradewhile
routes of
more or
length and the commercial centres,kindsof
more or less to do withdifferent
differentpolitics
pettyactually
tribes,
having
nothingquite
and
beingtheir;
peasants
whose
languages
prevent
completely
understanding
the
ruling races, live
on the
plains
who
scarcely ever profess
Mahomtribes
medanism, but very primitive religions and tion by the governing nation drains dry.I
whom
their exploita-
Thesesecond
smalltype.
call
" disruptive."itis
They
represent
thea
Asclose
already stated,actuallyexists
impossible to imagine
greater contrast thanlivingin
between
them whileoffices,
frequentlyofall
contiguity.
The
" state-builders "
dispose
the adjuncts toembassies
power, such as government
troops
of
cavalry,
THE SPECTACLES OF ISLAMand bazaars;
355live
the
" disrupters "
are
without towns,
together
only in small settlements and chiefly in places as difficult of access as possible, such as mountain declivities, forests and swamps.
The "
state-builders " are always rich
in their clothing, while the
" disrupters "
cover
their
nakedness
to
the best of their
ability.
Everywhere the former are the effectiveforce
momentum, the
driving
and thegotoin
possessors of
commercial monopoly, while the latter
are mostly the hoers of the soil
and employed
in domestic industry,
only
marketthefear
to
sell
their
agricultural
produce
and
are
universally
most
wretchedof
dependence, even when theywarlike
are held
in
on account
theiris
prowess, whichtypical
is
not
infrequent.of
Theis
difference
especially
when theby
material
speech
compared.
All
the constructors of stateslittle*'
speakdialect.
a
widely
distributed
tongueto
butof the
differentiated
Theso
resources of language
disrupters," however,
none but a few women can understand their neighbours. While it is possible Mande, Houssa, Fulbe with a command of four languages, viz. and Arabic, to hold easy converse with all city-dwellers from the mouth of the Senegal up to Abyssinia, one is compelled, for example, in the Niger-bend, the South Houssa country, or in Adamawa to use a different and fresh mode of speech daily inchangegreatly
from
place
place
that
:
travellingIt
through the settlements of the " disrupters,"however,
has,
been customary in Europe to judge of the
historical
development of the cultural importance of the Soudan by the character of these state-forming nations. It is a common practice to assume the existence of a higher form of civilization
among
these alone, to consider
them alone worthyas
of notice
andto
to observe the population of those countries from the
standpointfails
adopted by themselves.stop shortat this
But,
a
rule,
one not only
intrinsically unjustifiable
mode
of investigation,
but
aggravates the
wrong thus done byasall
listening to these ruling
and state-forming races paying no attention atalthough there still the " policy-creating "telligible
the a friori mouthpieces of Islam, and
to the unorthodox builders of states, " heathens " even among the nations of are
type
!
This
critical
attitude
is
quite in-
centuries Islam itself wasVOL.II.'
and explained by the fact that within the last eight adopted by a great number of theseI*
356
THE VOICE OF AFRICAinfluenced their
aggregations and thisof affairs.
own judgment
of the state
As,
now, explorers in general are inclined to get intostrataI
touch with the upperthe
and adherents of Islam, and,primeoriginatorsof
since
Mahommedans,
as
shall directly
show, are ambitious toculture,
bethe
everywhere
considered
the
explanation of this presents
no
difficulty.
NowI shall
it
is,
among theseparateedition.
Soudanese
however, easy to establish considerable distinctions " state-constructors," with whom alone
be principally concerned in the following pages, because a volume treats of the " disruptive tribes " in the scientific
Speaking
ethnologically,
we may
at
once
assume
although, naturally, the soundness of the assumption needs proof that these " disrupters " represent an older form of civilization. But even among the " state-formers " themselves we may at
once
easily
recognize
historical
development
two and
different types
find
their
expression in
which conform to the two clearly
There is a little map in the text show these movements pictorially. On the one side we see the northerly and westerly streams advancing, carried along by the Mandes, Fulbes, Moroccans, Songai and Djerma pushing southwards. On the other side there is plainly a movement undertaken by the Mossi, the Nupe, the So and the Napata people. The first, according to its historical growth, wevisible streams of(v,
tendency.
p. 449)
intended to
differentiateItis
as
the
Western, the
secondIslamof
as
the Eastern group.
the
former
which{v.
brought
into
the
Soudan,
the
other which represents an older strain
civilization
among the
formers of states
sketch
mapraces,
facing p. 496).
Popular judgment has hitherto been based on the knowledgeacquiredinof
the
Southernus
the
Mahommedan
grouptois
of
which was the material offered the West. It is, then, mostclear
highly important forlight of Islam,
be
about the quality of thisgeneralofa
and whatwithoutlife
the meaning inpreliminary
Islam
in
Africa.
For,
this
elucidation,
proper
account of Soudanese
Expedition in the greatimpossible.
cities of
on the whole and the experiences of an the Mahommedan Soudan will be
!
THE SPECTACLES OF ISLAMTheofits
357
question
before
us?
is,
what did
Islam'sits
regard to the Soudan implyinfluence?
What were
migration with form and the direction
Islamaftera
appearedgreat
withof
its
panoply of war in the Soudaninhabitants
only-
partfaith.
its
MahommedanCrescentAfricaaloft
The Arabianthe
migration,
after
Hedjira
(a.d.
had already joined the which bore the 622) through Northern
and Egypt towards the lands of the Cross, never reached
Islam recruited adherents there only after that the Soudan. tremendous upheaval of nations in which the growing might of the Fatimid dynasty shattered the North. And then Islam camein,
not with alarms and excursions, but crept
its
way
in
through
the back doors ofof
Soudanese palaces in the comfortable slipperslife,
Inner African commercial
which was already thousands
of years old.
must be borne in mind that Islam arose in a nation whose culture was meagre and that its founder was a man so poorly educated as to be unable to distinguish between Judaism and Christianity. It was only after conflict and contact with superior peoples like the Persians, and especially the later Hellenes, Islam acquired a most remarkably higher development that Then, too, its continued growth was and intellectual depth. hindered in Asia, because, on the one hand, lacking its adoption by some great and magnetic personality which could bring to it evaporated in far more civilized Persia, and, on converts, it fell into the hands of the Turkish tribes who were the other,it
Now,
now
for
the
first
time appearing upon the
scenes
in
a
very
primitive way.
Soudan gained nothing whatever from the high state of development of Islam which was specially influenced by later Hellenism and not a little furthered by the Zoroasterism emanating from Persia. It is not at all improbable that in former days, and even in quite modern times, it always produced a fewAfrican
The
eminentlater
intellects
in
the
Soudan,
nay,
it
evenbut
survived
theits
institution
of
universities
and highthereal
schools,
neverAfrica.
in
growth
penetratedit
heart
of
NegroBut
Theso
Soudanese acceptedtively
in its original form, namely, as a
comparaonly
primitive
religion
poor
in
culture.
not
THE VOICE OF AFRICAin
3S8Islam, particularly
the
form
in
whichit
it
reached the Soudan,across thesoil
lacked the vigorous strength which boreof
onward
North
Africa,
based
onof
the state-buildingthis
idea
of
a
race
migration.
The impetusofits
race-dislocation,
whichtheor even
madetre-
the Mediterranean countries
tremble
and
gave
Islamas,
mendous power
infancy, never got as far
near,aits
the Soudan. And for this reason Islam tendency to gain in power where it found growth. Wherever Islamism exists in the
could
only
show
a soil congenial to
pinned by olderundervalued.
civilizations,
the
height!
of
Soudan it is underwhich must not bequestionsenseofsoas
Let
us
whethersolution.
Islam
represents
remember this a growth inof
Thethe
to
spreadeasyof
ing culture
and depth
thought
is
not, however,
an
Yet the general underestimation of established fact, and its existencethe
thisis
older
civilizationIis
is
that
whichIt
havetrue
undertaken to establish in this portion ofthat
my
book.
had to some degree outgrown anew, itself before the appearance of Islam which fertilized it and true also that it was stimulated to a resistance which brought about renewed expression of its reassembled forces. This is of quite special importance for the verdict to be passed on the power of self-development of the so-called " negro " nations. For not only among laymen, but in expert circles as well, it was hitherto believed that it was Islam which had not only given
more
ancient
culture
the negro the greater part of his higher culture, but also that
it
was
the
best
lever
for
raising
the negro race to a higher level
to-day.
This view has even induced various great nations not toin
oppose Islam in the Soudanese coloniesagainst
the African Interior
which nothing canits
at
present
be effectivethus
butof
even toColonial
further
spread
in
every
way.this
And
several
powers have decided to go so faring large
as to
defray the cost of buildis
new mosques.
But
enterprise
full
danger,
not only because the ever increasing number of believers in the Prophet may some day rise up against the Christian Europeanrule a la
Mahdi on the Nile a danger which I consider less but rather because the Islamite morale and ethics must in the long run harm the blacks of Africa, at least in the form in which
THE SPECTACLES OF ISLAMit
359
For Islam carries with it two distinct ideas Soudan: in the first place, it says that all Mahommedans are higher beings than the " infidels " and thus repels the unbelieving, more industrious peoples. Secondly, it also brings in its train the fatalistic creed, or the view that it is right to square the serious problems of life with the practice of a littlethereappears.
throughout
the
ritual
observance,
to
natives
of
already
sufficiently
phlegmatic
disposition.
do not wish to dispute the fact that Islam gave the dusky Africans a few things, although some of these are ofI
certainly
doubtful origin.
We
will
take an illustration orarising
two:
There
is,
for example, a certain
dignity
out of the richer clothing
common, which is inherent in the Oriental But the Soudanese dress is pre-Islamitic they had the prayers in another form before and their gestures cannot be other than inherited from an immemorial past, since the heathen tribes in the remotest districts have them too. Nay, I would even go so far as to maintain that the garb which preceded the advent of pre-Mahommedan civiHzation was more becoming, and assert that the Islamite got his clothing from no higherand outof praying inpoise.;
inspirationintelligible
thanlove
theof
negro.
He
also
brought aorder
simple,
easily
law
and
love
of
with
him.teaches
Butone
famiharitythat theadroitit
with
the
heathen tribes of Africa soon
negro has such a genius for knotty points of law andto
management of things involving legal questions as difficult to see what advantage a Mahommedan Cadi'sbeto
make
decision
canof
him.
It
is
stated
that
Islam
Soudanese empires and thereby furthered
social
founded the great ideas and meansthe records written
communication.
If
in Arabic,
we
always find Arabians setrulers
we go piecemeal through down
at the
head of the
older
dynasticthese
of
that
hadat
already
mighty kingdoms, but we also discover their attained the full growth ofofis
ascendancyCrescent.
the
momentassertion
their
rulers'
conversion
to
the
Another
that
the
Moslem developed theoftrade.If,
commerce and improved the highways
however,
we go through the chronicles we discover that when the Mahommedan merchants came to the Soudan about a.d. iocx3, theyalready
found
a
well-arranged
system
of
commerce
established
THE VOICE OF AFRICAand enteredItis,
360everywhere,built for
the
great
cities
on
roads
splendidly-
traffic.
therefore, easily
proved
fromin
chroniclesfactas
writtenfertihzer
in
Arabic
that
Islam was
only
effective
a
and stimulant. The essential point is the resuscitative and invigorative concentration of negro power in the service of a new era and a Moslem propaganda, as well as the reactionthereby produced.
This
is
all
the
summary
I failed to find showed to be good in any evidence that fostering the Mahommedan spirit in our modern colonial endeavours to speed up the strength of the Soudanese nations and to make them more useful in the work of
what long the Islamic movement.in brief of
years
of
study
the world, can possibly
be
favourable
toall
day.
On
the contrary,
the Islamite influence seems to make
and
capitalists,
but also to enslave
all
adherents into traders " heathen " to an ever theits
increasing
degree
which
is
as
and degrade them to lower classes of labour, dangerous a thing as can be. For the true interests offinallyall
commerce can
be further developed by our negro
own
intelligent;
merchants, since
negro nations are dealers by naturetribes,
but the
fact that the small infidel
who
are the real tillers of
the soil and forces of production, should be fretted, oppressed and extruded, chased from their workshops, and penned in territorially in their habitations (as II
saw in
Adamawa
in particular)a
say
that
to
suffer
this
to
go on, would simply be
policy
fraught with danger to ourselves.
But byitis
this
I
do not wish to cut into the question whether
the Crescent with the feehng of duty imphed in the thought of the Cross, or whether this is not our own civilization's appointed task.
not our business to oppose the fatalism of
Andas
I
am
not evenit.
thinking of baptism, but
only of educationconclusionin
we understandOf great andthis point,is
serious
import
also forI
arriving
at
a
on
the question whether
am
not
right
saying
that the
Moslem movement
has done nothing but revivify forces
also right in maintaining that, even before the advent of Mahommedanism, forms of civilization of equal value and significance must have been operative in the
which are slumbering only, and
Soudan.
THE SPECTACLES OF ISLAMTothesettle this
361
fact thatless
query, I must again place in the foreground up to the present the Soudan has been looked at
more or
through the grey spectacles of Islam.
When,
in the beginning
and middle of
last
century, the
first
celebrated European explorers were travelling through the Soudan,
Mahommedanism wasto-day.
regarded in quite astill
different
lightit
fromof
At
that time the view
taken was that
stood for
an independent, great upward movement in themankind.ture which
civilization
Thein
factits
that
the
mostuse
significant
thing
in
Islam
was by no meansreligious impulse,
religion,
but the mighty migration of culof
Islam
only
made
the
had not been recognized.
power of There was no clearunifyinga
perception
then of Islam's originally being comparatively
very
primitive religion and, at bottom, no
more than an Orientalizalate
tion of the great beliefs of antiquity, of Judaism and Christianity,slightly
tinted
with
the
colours
of
Hellenic
andstill
Persianarticle
culture. of faith;
The
productive power of the Crescent was
an
the African-Moslem historical descriptions were thought
to be truthful.
The
explorers of that period
spoke Arabic, lived
delighted
under one tent on equal terms with their Arabian hosts and were to meet with men of considerable education among
themall
;
and,
as
they constantly travelled
more orheathen
less
in
the
cavalcade of these followers of the Prophet, they perpetually sawthings andall
men,Islam
all
history and
all
tribes,
through
the glasses of an
diluted
with Africanism.
In those days
who would have taken the trouble to whether the wicked heathen, who were very disinclined to pay tribute and hand over slaves to their ostentatious Mahommedan potentates, might not in their hearts retain athere were no travellersraise
the
question
memory
of an older civilization
which wascountries
all
theirstill
ownless
in
spiteit
of the primitive fashion of their garments.
AndIslam
could
enter their heads that in
these
was actually noconditionof
other than a re-christened but more ancient and equally developedculture.Itis
extraordinarily
typical
of
the thenlike
things
that
travellers
coming from the West,
Mungo
Park
362
THE VOICE OF AFRICAlivedin
and Binger,not in theheathenish
thethe
dwellingsprinces
of of
the
Mahommedans andEverythingculturallyas
courts
of
heathendom.being
was
at
that
period
regarded
poverty-stricken and of no account. What these travellers saw and noted was seen and
set
downthat
coloured by the tinted spectacles
of
Islam.
If
I
nowat
askfirst
they bethat
finally laid aside, it
is
certain that our eyes willof
have
to be accustomed to theatfirst
new methodwill
looking
they will perceive only a
flickering,
and unsteady andthingsofoutline.ofI
dim
light inshallis
which forms
be lacking in
firmnessto
We
have to learnoff
howthe
to see.
The
part
come
this
workthis
an attempt to teach others the way in which trammels ofalso to help
slowly
managed to shakeought
historical prejudice,
andlife
the reader to do likewise.is
The
subject to be treated in this half of the bookcivilization.
theof
under pre-Mahommedanmaterial must be
The arrangementI
the
made
clear
at
the outset, and
will therefore
confide
its
entire
scheme to the reader.of theseof livingI
The
first
part of four chapters contains an account:
countries'
method
shallcities;
guide him on the pilgrimage
along the high roads betweenthe courttoof a king;
he
shall
come with meof
into
observe
the
activities
the martin
;
listenlife
popular talk onremarkably
business
and the occurrenceswithofvitality.
the
of
each day, and will gain the impression that existence in the Soudanis
full
andpart
instinct
Thetakenagainst
seconda
has
threeepic
chapters,
thefight
first
of
up withthe
historical
the
foughtthe
which is by Islamthe
Infidel
in
the
central
lands
of
Mande;
second one shows the influence
exercised
by the Libyans upon
by juxtaposed variations of a particularly significant legend and the third tells the story of the revolt of the mighty heathen Powers of the West against the reaction of the stream from the East against the Islamitic advance. Then, in the third part, we shall be occupied with theculture;
Soudanese
philosophies of the nations flowing eastwards, as they appeared in
pre-Mahommedan heathendom;glorious gods of ages primeval at
that
is
to
say,first
we;
shall see
the
work
in the
the legendary
love of an ancient and most remarkable cult in the
second;
and
THE SPECTACLES OF ISLAMthen find the meaning and origin ofchapter.this
363in
religion
the third
And,nation of
finally,
the fourth
partof
willa
describe the downfall of a
heathens, the decay
great
national heathen forceitself
before the onset of Islam, but
which, when victorious, can
achieve
no more than to carry on the whole system of civilized politics possessed by the heathen it conquered. We shall go on to show that even before the advent of Islam along the path of the stream from the East, the Soudanese had already owned a civilization which of its kind had grown into a noble and magnificent power in the formation of states.
Thethese
reader
may
find
some
of the
matter in the course of
narratives
unentertaining,
andis
if
he does, perchance
the
beginnings and ends of each chapter will interestI
him the more.
am
fullyitis
aware thatto a
this
book
not exactly light literature, but
so far
in general the best hitherto offered to help the public
in
judgment about the Soudan based on accounts of I believe that this work will possess some permanent value of its own by its inclusion of documentary evidence which bears on the development ofits
coming
culture as
recorded in history, and
SoudaneseI
civilization.
venture, then, to ask
the
reader to
follow the
marvellous
machinery ofpartly
Soudanese
life
fantastic, partly
racy
and the singular, partly mystical, and also partly unassuming stories ofI
my pre-Mahommedan,if
heathenish blacks.
can assure him that
he will but
stick
to
the
road
in this pilgrimage, his
guerdon
will
not be withheld.
Masked dancer
before our
compound(Drawn
in
Mokwa.
The dancer
is
the Ello-Gara.
by Carl Arriens.)
CHAPTER XVIITHE CARAVAN ROADTreats ofall
which can be heard and seen
in
an ancient Soudanese provincial town lying on an
antique caravan route.
TNhere
describing contretempsset
myatis
travelsIfe.
I
had gotthatis
as far as
the results of the
All
nowtakea
over.
What
I
mustjolly,
down
happy, peaceful
life
town
Mokwa in Mokwa Whoof!
Let us which runs its course Nupeland.idyllic.
peep into the
in the small provincial
ever
heard
of
it
?
This
place
is
neverits
mentionedbe
in universal history.
And
I
greatly doubt whether
name can be found in any geographical index. Who then can expected to know this Mokwa, situate north of the Niger, away from the railway being built between Yebba and Zungeru ?you what and where it way back right away back to thattellis,
To
I
shall
have to gothat
a
long
old, eleventh century
Arabian
traveller,
Senor
El
Bekri,
who
informs
us
there
was
a
mighty kingdom called Ed-Denden, on the Lower Niger, which excluded all Arabians, because its people and its culture were self-contained. Ed-Denden was a complexus of civilizations of364
MOKWAwhich theold
36spart,
Nupein
Empire was
to
whose exploration
we devotedof
ourselves1,
June,
191
from the middle of January to the middle Mokwa, Bida and Lokoja, and with whose
and significance I desire to acquaint the reader in much the same way as I myself entered this peculiar world fromnature
mid-January,
191 1, in the littlelife
country town of Mokwa.in
TheNupe,travela
activeis
of
Nupeland!
general,
andthe
MokwahistoryI
in
particular,
full
of
marvels
Before
mefullI
lies
of
history
wide and
deep and
of
meaning.
can
have gathered such a mass of records, writings and traditions that I can also trace backbackinto
the thirteenth century;
the love of humanity
for
historical
research
in this other corner
of the world no less than other travellers in the neighbouring And all that the old kingdoms of Central Africa before me. Arabian said, with a few words about the ancient empire in thestatutes of the tenth century, corresponds with
my own
notes of
the history of
1275
^^*
ui^^il
the
Fulbe dynasty was victorious
in the previous century.
The
people which created this
Nupean
in
Empire and gave it strength and constitution, were a nation rich culture and in power. Those who, long before the tenth century, fashioned and inspired it with vitality must have beendeepnaturethatI
thinkers
with wellnobler
developedIt
brains,
bearersat
of
a
higher
and
a
culture.
need notthis
once be objectedso.
cannot
probably proveI
that
was
For
in
the
following pages
will say
something to the point.
There is before me, as I write, quite a block of this Nupe Kingdom's history, a row of documents, legends, and ritual And the town of Mokwa is not mentioned in a single songs. one. I shall be asked why, since I must have known this from my previous explorations, I, notwithstanding, went to this tiny Nupe town to begin my studies and lay the foundations of my
Nupeansite?
ethnography there.but
Why,natural!
precisely,
to
this
unhistoric
The question moment whethersystem
is
I
am
uncertain
at
this
I
am
well
advised to refer onceI
more
to the
found so well adapted for getting into closer touch with the native mind. Let me accentuatewhich,as
the
years ran on,
this
principle
again
:
Never
set
foot
upon
a
central
point
in
:
366Africa
THE VOICE OF AFRICAwithout
due
preparation.
And
this
must
be
explained
as follows
Whenexploration
gatheringof
information
necessaryas
and
essential
for
myI
Timbuktu, both
to
its
localities
and people,
got
most important and lucid statements in Bamako from persons who had come from Timbuktu and were prevented by They then spoke of all social reasons from going back again.the
It was they knew without the least fear of their fellow-citizens. in Timbuktu where I obtained a full description of Ife and its
temples as
well
as
of
its
inhabitants,
and
in other
Soudanese
townsthe
from
slaves
native homes.exiles,
who never again could hope to see their They knew full well that none could bring them,social
the
outcasts
and the
lost,
to
book for having
given away some ancient and secret tradition.I
could bring
many examples
to prove that only those
who have
been expelled, are far from home, have run away, become slaves and been purchased and have no real home in Africa, are those
who,tofears
at
a
distance, will
give
any informationtrack.
sufficiently usefulitself
put
one on the properother
In
a
placeof
every
manZoon
every
man.
There;
thethere
terror
public
opinion
squats
besideleers
every
saucepan
the
spectre
of the
Politikon
round the corner at every ethnologist. This is why I made most of my inquiries about Nupeland in general among the homeless Nupeans in Wagadugu and Ibadan and aboutthe bestcityfor
exploration
purposes in the countriesas
betweenI
Timbuktu
and
Sansanne
Mangu
early
as
1908.
chose
Mokwaits
as
the starting point of the Research Expedition because
ancient
independence had beenbecauseprince;
least
affected
by the modern
under the rule of the last it is and because I might there hope to gain the best information about the older, the old, and the new kingdom, and thus of Gbarra, Rabba and Bida. In a word, Mokwa had remained a spectator for centuries of the history Nupeland wherever its despots may have set up their ofnative-borndynastic throne.
Nupe-Fulbe State;
So
I
went
into
a
corner in
a
quarter where
the
riot
of
the modern African while hunting.
metropolitan townI
could
not
disturbI
me
And
fished
with assiduity.
Ought
not to
Mokwa.'
PI.
I.
^^n^w*
'
!-^
.ii
(iii
,.i,j
i
n
i.
i->w-
mI.1
itf\
X
_;.-=&
The
i)ld
Lilli
in
Mokwa.
(Drawn by Curl Arriens.)
iFadngp.
366.
:
MOKWAendeavour to give the readera
367of
sketch
the old, full-colouredeyes in the twilight
andof
magnificent pictures v^^hich herelegendsof old?
met
my
Indeed, one's hearing has got to be strainedof
to
catch
the
melodyin
these marvellous stories, for;
it
was
first
played very, very longto be caught
ago
it
is
but a
slight, slight
echo only
the
whispering trees,
primevally
old,
which
All
bygone day and the markets of old. in the clash and the din of the hundreds and thousands of throats which make up the Here alone, in the orchestra of a modern Soudanese city. emptiest corner, in the most cloistered solitude, the last dying fall comes whispering over the grass of the plains.stand round
the
wells of a
such delicate tones are whelmed
Tobe
expect to hear such things as these in a metropolis would
same thing as to listen for a Robin Hood echo in London, a Parsifal chanson in Paris, or a Kyffhauser ballad in Berlin. Old recorded things and new happenings, learning and wealth and the dazzling palaces of kings may be found in these great hives; but folk-song, folk-feeling, and folkwisdom are swept away from the space round the throne in the There is no folkcommercial turmoil of the modern world. left in London, Paris, Berlin Bida. wisdom or This is what took
much about
the
me
to
Mokwa,
and, settlingall
down
there in front ofall
thetrees
ancient
market-hall, I listenedrustled above me.
day and
night to
the
which
TheNothinglist
oldis
fairy
song of the
Nupe
sounds something
like this
knownyears
of the ancient Arabian, El Bekri, in
Mokwa andtheis
Bokani, and
cannot be added up in these places, butare dead
of the kings;
who
and now of the second dynastyin
rememberedIslam "theat
this
list
was chanted;
song " in the days beforesingers
upon each mighty protectors and extendors of the realm by name, told him the number of years and of months his reign had endured, and blood fell in drops upon his tomb and title. All one has to do is, add up the years of their reigns together, andtheir funeral festivals
the
called
of
arrive at the foundation of the penultimateA.D.
dynasty in the year
1275.
-^^^ what preceded this
?
368
THE VOICE OF AFRICAThereal
was before that year of 1275. ^^ one thousand two hundred and seventythis particular year, viz. five, the Yorubans came into the land from the South, annihilated the ancient Empire stock, and the only good thing they did fostered the new dynasty, which, at first, blossomed modestly inworld offaerie:
the
south-westit
until
it
attained
its?
victorious
growth.
What,placeis
then, was
the Yorubans destroyedof a
No namementioned.all
country or Empiretroubles of the
is
preserved.
No:
The Fulbe
last
hundred years drove
All they know is this Once this out of people's memories. upon a time there was a vast, vast Empire its ruler did not live But that was a in Nupe, for Nupe was only a province of it. very, ve^-y great" while ago, and it was broken up long before the Yoruban incursion. The Emperor lived at a very great distance, so far away that no Nupe, except those who took him the tribute,;
had
ever
seenof
him.
This
took
suchif
a
long
time
that
the
messengers
two
successive years,
they travelled with
speed,
would meet exactly half way on their journey, one company on the way thither and the other on its way home. Then they were able to exchange the writings (the Nupe says " books," and able to say that these " books " were bound in hard ivory is cases). For, on each such occasion the Great King sent his viceroys letters containing his exact commands. They said how much tin, silver, bronze, cut stones and other treasure, was to besent to the Great King.
The old story says that the Great King at that time also commanded that rings of glass from Nupe should be sent to him. But history may perhaps be wrong. For it does not seemimpossible that the art of producing glasswork of this special kind
may have reached
the South from the
East
just
at
that
time
and have been acquired by the people coming from the Great King's country who had immigrated into the South. At least,soI?
suggest.
Why
should
we
expect a fairy tale to be always
true
Whenmany
the envoys sent to the Great King took their departure,take advantage of
people joined them, for they wished to
the opportunity to cross the wilderness with some protection, do
some trading on the way and gather
riches for themselves.
And
MOKWAmanyof
369
monarch if even only once in for this sufficed to make them particularly noted all their lives When the vast and enviable persons for everyone at home. Empire fell to pieces, the Mahommedans came, and many pious Nupe folk afterwards made the pilgrimage to Mecca. But the stream of people was never so full as that which flowed towards the Great King of old. His city and castle and wealth must have been wonderful The city lay by a great water in which there was indeed neither crocodile, nor serpent, nor river-horse, which so easily and On the water so often overturns fishing boats on the Niger. there were only great ships with wings. With wings ? Yes, with like a crane, or a pelican, or some other bird. The town wings rose up at the edge of the water, and its houses and walls were
them yearned;
to see
the
!
!
built of Sui-Lantana (red jasper) stone.
And
the roofs of these
made of straw and of leaves, but of Chinkall (a sort of home-made bronze). They were chased in the same way the Nupes to-day hammer their water jars and food dishes, their various basins and ewers. But the Nupes werestone
houses
were
not
said to be filled
with pride that the people of the Great King'stheart
from themselves, who, in their from Ata-Igara (z>., the Atagara of Here I think the tale makes a blunder it wants to mislead Ida). us; for, even if the supply of bronze may perhaps have come from the South, the greater part of the shapes and the patterns chased on them came from the East or from that very kingdom. But again I ask Why shouldn't a mistake find its way into acity should have learnt this craft
turn, had
acquired
:
:
fairy tale
?
Especially
whencity,
it
is
so very, very
old
and nought?
but the gentlest of whispers in the leaves of the treesIn this marvellousbuilt of red stone
and brown bronze on the water with no beasts of prey, but with boats which had wings, lived the King the Great King! This King had no dogs like other princes. When he went forth, lions went by his side. He went neither on foot, it is certain, nor did he ride, but was carried in a great, long basket, covered with cloth and coloured leather. Round about him gambolled his horsemen, all in padded armour, each of them with a mighty spear; many, many great princes went in procession behind him.
VOL.
II.
2
370
THE VOICE OF AFRICAthere wasina
When
truly greatlikehis.
festival
the
women were
carried
behind himcarried;
baskets
Only,
his first wife
was not so
was young and strong; she rode like a man on a which was white. strong steed A great red cloth canopy, with a handle of gold, was carriedshe
above the King and each of his wives. At his Court none but himself and his spouses were allowed to have such precious thingsas these
above their heads.as
But, because
the
viceroys
in
Nupelearnt
could do the sameto
the King, the
Nupefor
folk in this
way
know the King's canopy. This great. Great King reignedlonger thanas
many, many years andruledfor
muchandto
Edegi (Edegi, however,lived,
68
years
!),
long
as
he
Nupes
of
distinction
longed to
be able
make one pilgrimage to this city grandfather, father, son, grandson, from generation to generation, and this for many hundreds of years. The Nupes grew wealthy. They sent muchvast
treasure
to
the
great Royal City and,
in
return,it
receivedto a
many
things which were strange and new.
But
all
came
sudden end.of
The Great King, after wielding the sceptre for many hundreds years, grew old. Then he quarrelled with his younger brethren.wage war until the died. Now he was one of Issa's sons, and therefore who afterwards came from Mecca hated him and hisa
There was Great Kingthosefollowers.
war.
All
nations
began to
It
was the children ofancient
Mahommed whoLantanacity.
destroyed
the
remaining portion of thethe
The
road was
interrupted; nobody could get there any more.
Nupe have
not
Since that time wandered on the broad ways that lead to
the ancient town.
The man whonotfirst
told
me
this
legend in
Mokwafeeble
was old and
exactlyI
very
intelligent.
Heto
was
a
dotard and at
gave
not
much heed
his little story.
And whowhich
canare
swiftly find his
way through the hundreds
of?
legends
written out fairly in the course of his travels
andonly
all
tooit
easily,
one learns to value whatofthis
is
Very frequently, most importantI
when
has slipped
grasp the
meaning
away unnoticed. legend, whichcivilization,
AndI
only gotas
to
regardedfirst
a
merethe
attempt to reconstruct
a
when the
MS.
of
!
I ;
MOKWAEdegi stoiy had been translated for me.to the effect that thisall
371It
contained a statement
some five-hundred-year-old ruler had spared those who prayed to him for mercy " for Issa's sake." And at the end of my fairy story of the For Issa's sake!
He was a son of and therefore those who came from Mecca hated him and the memory in which he was held.'' Now, in Northern Africa, Issa is the name of Jesus Christ The Cross looms up before us. Athwart the myth of Nupe, the glorious pomp of old Byzantium sends its rays across to us. Whither do you, who read this, think the road will lead ? say no more. We must get accustomed to the thought and ponder it. I follow here the single path of duty. He who is led by a guide is entitled to know the road and its end in thehoary-headed kingIssa,
there are
these
words
:
"
mindfirst,
of this guide at
theof
start.
But the guide should not,to be
at
paint
the
part
the
journey
next undertaken indisillusioned
colours too bright, or the neophyteroad.
may be
on the
Such is the guide's obligation. And by this I want it to be understoodhaving laina
right at the beginning
that, after
at
the
market-place of
Mokwa
with
my
I had an impulse towards a great new came away out of the Yoruba lands of the Atlantic and pushed on with my explorations to the North and the East, but I also wished to declare why it is always, and
comrades for
few weeks,I
goal of
my
wandering.
here in especial, desirable to try to catch the voicesas
of the
Past
they
fleet
by
in whispers in
into the deafening whirlpool of
dreamy seclusion before plunging the more strenuous, more vitaliz-
ing and flourishing Hfe of the Present.
Mokwa!
Arrived
there:
14th
January,
191
1.
Departedtrouser-
thence: i6th March, 1911. At last, the rattle of
the
railway,
the
swarms oflie
wearing
" niggers "us, atlast,
of
alcohol-soddenhateful
Ibadan
at
our
backsof
behind
the
December.VOL.II.
When onnoon,I
entering
made by the end Mokwa with our complementimpressionssociable
of
carriers about^
saw
its
market-place in the shade 2*
372ofof
THE VOICE OF AFRICAgigantic,
old
Lilli,
magnificent trees, and arrived at the the " mayor of the village," formerlyvassal
compoundagnateof
immeasurably at ease and good fellowship and comfort in this sleepy little country town that I gave myself up to it. Old Lilli is one of the best known and most popular chiefOne scarcely knows why, when one sees tains of Northern Nigeria. this quiet, retiring, almost pitiable, tallish man, of no superiority as to mind, but whose amiable smile seems always to show an " Do, for the love of God, let me sit here inclination to say I in peace and quiet with my drop of beer in a corner apart. assure you, I don't want to meddle with history or the fate ofprinces,
now
to
Fulbe,
I
felt
breathed an
air of
such
irresistible
:
Government." A harmless, friendly kind of person, whose popularity is due to the hard knocks Destiny dealt him. And now, in presenting my first friend in Nupeland, I have As late as to think of that awful scourge, the Fulbe invasion. the middle of last century, the scions of the Fulbe priest, Dando, had so set the Nupean princes against each other by fomenting dissension that they began to mangle and rend themselves just like wild beasts. The offspring of Dando looked on and enjoyed the natives' stupidity. Then came the times when they, in fact, were the rulers, but in which the oppressed Nupeans revolted, now here, now there, and once in Mokwa as well. Then all the old people were removed from there and sent to Bida. The Emir of Bida butchered four of the most eminent men, made a sort of table and set up their heads on its four corners. The Lilli stood before it, bound with thongs to a tree. The degradation of the Mokwa rebels was meant to be seen by all the market folk, and everybody saw the violation of this old man's dignity. When the four heads had rotted, old Lilli was set free and all the Mokwa people were hunted forth into Houssaland. Then, a few years later, came the English and brought the Fulbesthetojustice
for
their
atrocious
cruelty
and,
after
that,
the
old
Mokwans wereOldthatLilli'sis
recalled
andso
reinstated.
popularity dates from that time.gentle,
Everybody knowsnot
he
very
gentle,
indeed,off
that
even
the
brutal Fulbe
despots
dared
to
cut
his
whitening head.partof
So
he became
beloved,
but
lost
the
greatest
his revenue.
MOKWABefore then he had
373
wives.
peasants, slaves and and well-filled barns. Much cloth was woven for him and he went abroad robed in the finest dresses. Not only had he goats and sheep and cattle, but fertile farmIt lands and cleanly compounds were his principal possessions. He can scarcely call a single thing his own somehas all gone. times he is even anxious about his beer and so is always a little embarrassed, a little worried and a little depressed when he comes into contact with " big people."
owned many dependent
He had
farms
;
Dear oldonce:
Lilli
came towards
us
across the market-place.!
I
at
man is frightened by our foreign looks " Old felt had made his first acquaintance with the Fulbes as his foes. They had robbed him of his native country and his all. Then came the English, who must have been his friends, for they had restored old Lilli to his native place and his paternal roof; but, as he often told me when we had made fast friends, he had also had to accept the missionaries, those missionaries who had taken away from him and his people their greatest pleasure, namely, the ceremonial of the mask and burned the masks, saying that they were evil and of the Devil. And now, quite suddenly and unannounced, there came a German expedition, and as nobody had been concerned " to make a good reputation for us " in advance, the population, and old Lilli too, were terrorstricken, perplexed, and somewhat subdued, all which things were, more Africano, concealed as far as might be, but could not beLilli
" This
kept entirely secret.
To mywanderings!
rescue,
thengive
!
ye best of companionsbecksof
of
my
African
Come, ye " nods andwill
and wreathed smiles,"offence,
comeLilli?
!
Who
thee
cause
O
venerable
man, will do thee a hurt ? And so he Fear and embarrassment fled from the faces of himself and suite. One Daima, a singular person of ancient princely descent, cunning and sly, reticent and calculating, and, in the Northern sense, not quite sincere, but with the sincerest affection for LilH, had come to my help on the very first day. This Daima's friendship for Lilli was so strong and affectionate that he had given up a very high Court position he once held at Bida to gratify it, and when I left Mokwa he at first came
Which of soon came round.
us, old
374
THE VOICE OF AFRICAwith
on
me
to
Bida,
then
to
Lokoja
up the River Benue.
Directly he saw us he had at once
formed an opinion which didand talked to himskirmishings,in flatter-
equal credit to his
understanding and grasp of the situation.
Daima tookingspeeches,
Bida,
my man,
aside
instructive
conversational
playing;
the
game in the true African roundabout fashion he made mind, retired with Lilli for a very few minutes, and then up his the perplexed old gentleman asked us whether we would like toHstening
no longer had large compounds and houses like others, but that the space of which he still was master might, perhaps, do for us all, with a Httle good-will onshare his African house, saying he
the part of us both.
This was the way in which we took possession of our Httlecorner of dreamland in
Mokwa.
on which Mokwa is built lies about the sources of a stream which runs through a gorge and empties into the Niger near the old capital of Rabba, about two hours' march Mokwa lies on a plateau at the head of this valley to the south.
The
red
earth
onland
red, brilHantly
red
earth.
This and
the
big,
lofty,
dome-
shaped
ant-hills, its situation atits
the river-head
on
a fertile table-
are
distinctiveits
characteristics.
The
parching Harmattanover
wind
blew
greasy
dust
and
ash
clouds
the
barren,
burnt up, horribly desolate tableland, whistled androared around
buffeted
and
which grace the marketand the southern then it roared along its accustomed path from parts of the town East to West and tore across the Mokwa vale and forest without affecting them. It can paint the trees and roofs of the town, the plain and the plateau brown and cover them with stickytheoftall
old
giant trees
place, the site
the
ancient
" castle
ruins,"
;
sand, but
it
sweeps across the unharmed vale unharming.this
It can-
not
injure
luxuriance,
this
plenitude
of
Nature's
power.
leaflet which it colours yellow to-day, to-morrow finds a hundred verdant substitutes, and every evening a sultry, moistureladen steam arises, which, Hke the breath of Gods, in spite of the
Every
harsh and drying Burner
of
the
Plains,
revives
the
ears
of corn
MOKWAand farmlands andgivesall
375
the wards of
Mokwa
town, laves them and
them strength to fight against the might of the suffocating wind which blows with every dawn. How often we went down in this valley towards the evening, when most of the day's work was over, bathed in its dewy moisture, and went back so refreshed that many a further hour could be spent in studying Nupeland. I have still some more tosay about this vale.
ditch
The plan of Mokwa is peculiar. now in ruins includes notwithworks,allits
A
vast rectangular walllittle
and
only the
country townindigo
itself,
" garden suburbs," carefully whitewashedclay pits, forges;
dye
deep
houses
and granaries
no, these
and spinning sheds, slaughter crumbling ramparts of defence;
surround the camping ground of caravans
the valley head both
broad and deepvalley basin;
;
the wells andais
andIt
a goodly portion of the springs few square miles of farmlands to the west and;
otherwards.
erroneousa
to
suppose
that
the enclosing wall
compact and uniform mass of civic dwellings. Mokwa once was no doubt larger than it is; it never, however, took up all the space within its defensive Hnes, but was always the central point of farms and vale and well-sites. The market occupies the middle of the town, and is the tradesman who supplied me with the food wherewith I satisfiedwas everfilled
with
my
ethnological
appetite
in
Mokwa.
We
live,
then,
reasonably
enough near this market in a queer, tumble-down compound of some five-and-twenty huts, one half of which the Expedition occupies, while Lilli and his family dwell in the other. All day long I live in the twenty-feet-wide hut which runs across the compound. When the great exit-door is open to the front, I can see everything that happens on the market square beneath the ancient trees, and at its back can always gaze upon thelittle courtyard where " katamba," as this hut
weis
takecalled,
ouris
afternoon
siesta.
My
with
con'fetantly
changing
broad and spacious, filled ethnological " stuff," such as coffers,apparatus, and
mask-dresses,
photographic
boxesis
which servebeautiful.
as
manuscriptis
and book cases. even ugly and smeary, for,
My
daily, the
its
greasy soot in from the plains,
katamba wicked Harmattan blows no matter whether the gate benotIt
376shutforce
THE VOICE OF AFRICAorits
open, for
it
will
gnaw
at
the
uneven old
clay walls,
the mouse-dirt and vermin, alwaysfiguring
way, disgustingly importunate, through some cracks in ceiling, and then pour down a shower of dust, cobwebs,evilly
intent, of
course,
upon
dis-
myitis
nice, clean, white manuscript.
an old and dreamy nest in which I sit, a hidden whence to spy out the track which ancient history fairy-corner Small wonder if the house whose secrets are being so took. craftily unlocked is shaken and sheds its filth in wrath upon the But be it said that this is only its passive curiosity-monger For if I go suddenly at night into the katamba with resistance.
Yet
!
a
light,
hundreds of cockroaches scuttleoff,
rustlingly
asunder,
rats
scamperstand
and once I persuaded an abominable scorpion to come out from under my manuscript chest. I never could under-
how Martins
could
sleep
soundly in
this hole afterwards,
and took precious good care to hunt up all such bedfellows in my own sleeping-room, from which that wicked fellow, Akelle,tried to stealas bugs, etc.,
myis
cash^box.
The
proper place for such creatures
And, moreover, was not myself a sort of spider, hidden away at one end of my I web, on the eager lookout for some specially longed-for dainty to come into my net, to be wrapped round afterwards and then sucked dry ? Was not this katamba my spider's corner from which I looked from dawn to dusk upon the market square ? And was it not in Mokwa that the most luscious titbitsfell
an old and dreamy corner.
into
the
trap,
whenof
they,
the
pilgrim-wanderers
in
the
Soudan andplaceI?
leaders
the "!
caravans,
who knewlittle
the
ways and
countries, thought they
Yeaas
" harmlessnow
were crossing some
harmless market-
rub
capture
my hands and smirk when I remember many a noble my eye is caught by well-filled books of manuscript.to paint the ethnologicalfly-trapI
Let
me
try
set
up on
Mokwa's market-place.
Anyone wishingand wideas
to
get
to
Atlanticall
Yorubaland, famed
far
being rich
beyond
measure,
from
the
northern
!
MOKWAdistricts
377
Mid-Soudan, which breed enormous flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, or from that singular country, Asben, in the Sahara, or from the desert-cities, Gadames, Moursonk, Ghat, or, finally, from the Osmanli coastlands, say from Tarabulus (Tripoli),of
can
take
many
roads
to;
Ilorin-town,
via
Sokoto,
via
Katsena-
Kano, and Bornu-Bautshi but he will always have to cross the Rabba or at Yebba, and then through Mokwa go he must, because all the other younger or older baiting stations with " good accommodation for man and beast," have beenNiger either atdestroyed for far around.
Now,
every
one of these caravans, which,
day in day out,
camp here from day to day and daily hence depart, takes its way across the market square of Mokwa. Each such caravan pitches its camp on one of the two Songos stretching east and west of the valley head with many wells. Every single member of them comes every morning and evening, and mostly about noonday too, once at least to this square of commerce under the ancient trees in front of myduring the dry season, arrive here," spider's corner."space of time?
What was
it
not that passed before
it
in that
Here there were wealthy Houssa merchants on gorgeous trappings, women from Kano, with neatly knotted loads upon their heads and robed in the ample tobes worn by men. Here were the lean, black Busu-Songai from Adrar, with leathern aprons round their loins, and heavyladen asses, water skins and iron bells, black-skinned men with features of Northern cut, sun-dried, haggard Sons of the Wilderness Here were the Tuaregs with the " litham," or scarf, and an indescribable dignity of manner. Here were the Ringi, mostly a cavalcade of men, with a few women whose nakedness was only clothed with leaves, a primitive people from the Houssa lands,splendidsteedsin!
always
ready
to
have
the
early their
simplicity
of of
their
dress,
the
curves of their buttocks and
mannerfolks
dancingin
at
home,haunts.
shown,
inspected, paidto
for
and
laughed
at
businessof
Here were pilgrims
And what
was
my
joy at once
Mecca and more
from out
Egypt.I
seeing a
and who had come from Ulled-djellal, a with whom I had struck up acquaintance a twelve-month since in the town where he was born. Picture our mutual surprise
knew South Algerian oasis, and
man whom
378
THE VOICE OF AFRICAOfa
truth,
North Africa
is
not
so
impenetrably vast, and
even to day the stream flows backwards and forwards between Byzantium and Atlantis, although the over-population of the Coast has drained some of it away. Most assuredly Mokwa was a good catch, not to say trick, and my katamba peep-hole gave me an opportunity for watching out of which I made very good use. And full preparation had been made. My satellites stood outside and heard my every call and whistle. Many a stranger was stopped by a good-natured word or for a snap-shot. But more especially we had our laboratories working, working on a system. From my own part of the compound, a zigzag road led first to the camp of those stalwart soldiers of science, Arriens and Martins, and then to the interpreters' quarters under Bida's!
inspectorship.
If
there
was
a
moreI
thancould
usually
interesting
individual
worth
knowing,pencil
whomor
notof
catchskill,
hold
of
throughsubmitted
my ownto
impatience
my
wantCarl
he
was
the
and
brush ofas
Arriens, the artist.in colour
Manyas
a typical fellow
was madea
immortal
and form
the hurry of sketching allowed.
WeAttheir
were
living, indeed, atall
milestone on the high road of
antiquity,
and
our doing and being was measured accordingly.in
five
o'clock
the
morning the market women shoutedthejourney,best.
invitation
to
the wayfarers to take a sup of their splendid
porridge
before
theyher
continued
screamedalso
outin
that
own was
the
This
cities,
same tone and cadence in the same in sound and production as the offers to sell of the women of Italy. In France and in Belgium the call is thinner and seems more petulant. When I heard this clamour ringing in the square, I jumped out of bed. I often went and looked at the picture outside. There was a mighty tree which had fallen down in front of our compound, whose great limbs stretched out in all directions. The bark of its trunk had long since gone, and it was smooth and black how long a time it may have lain there How many travellers, coming up from the Songo below, had set their loads down on it in the grey light of dawn to take a last cup of the excellent, famous dishheardthe
one which I other Nupelandeachcall,
and
was
exactly
!
; ;
MOKWA(meal soup) of the
379theira
Mokwa women,colourfor,
before they wentis
ways.
Thisthe
smooth, blackladies
of the " tree of rest "
tribute toso
of
Mokwa,
were
their
sup
of
meal broth not
good, this colour would not here be seen.
From six to eleven in the morning is Then Martius sallies out with his satellites
given
up
to
work.
to survey and
make
plans of the compounds, houses, stables, barns, corn-bins and mosques; then the painter Arriens sits unruffled at his easel; then I assemble my old people, distribute kola (Guru-nuts)
among them, and wethegreatroads,of
talk of the river of
humanity running overthe
the
peacefulseeshis
life
of
Mokwathe
burghers
whom
the
stranger
only
upon the
streets,
mart,
the
Songo, but never, never in
own;
four walls.
The marketgreat
tide
increases
towards
noon.
Now come
the
herds of long-horned beeves riders on over-driven horses round them up and guide them in. Flocks of long-legged sheep and goats, shepherded by women carrying well-packed loads upontheir
heads.
then
the
Then ring the iron Ringi women rattle
bells of
Busus astride on
asses
their
gourds.
And
many
a
wandering musician with lute or flute will quickly try his luck at our " castle gate " in hopes that the " noble lords " within
may
gratify
him witha
a
trifle.
I
never
to
my
knowledge
let
one of these depart in disappointment.broughtInsacks
me manythe
bit
of
For these living journals news of more importance than allleaflet.
the columns of a European local
Songosto
things
begin
to
hum.
From manylittle
sides
the
travellers
begin
congregate.
Curious
caves are built of
and shocks of straw, with a backbone of a donkey's saddle and a carrying pole or two the flocks are watered and driven out to graze the horses tethered and fires set alight. Then men and women saunter back up to the market and gloat upon;;
the dishes which the
Mokwa women,alittle.
red with rouge, are selling
they
haggle
a
lot
and buythetoto
But into the compoundsfolk
and
the
houses
of
old
Mokwasomeis
they
never
set
a
foot
unless
there
happenswill
be
particularly wise
and educated
traveller,
who
go
the
Great
Mallemfrom
of
Mokwa, whoseto
reputation as a learnedlikes
man
known abroad andsalutationa
whom
one
to
do honour and bring
a
friend or piece
38oof
THE VOICE OF AFRICAnews,or
perhaps,
to
get
a
letterits
written
by onethis
of
his
and many a pouch of some venerable pillar of the Church. Yet still more enchanting are the pictures offered by this The caravan-life when night comes on and darkness reigns. flames of many camp and cooking fires shoot up on every hand between the little shelters; many Rebeccas, brown, yellow and red of skin, bring water from the wells below; the cattle are smouldering fires are set driven together by all the people a-going between them, so that the hobbled beasts may be kept as free as may be from the stinging scourge of swarming little asses bray and oxen flies the men and women lie all around low; the fumes of oil and burning wood float up into the starlit winter Above, the clear and shining vault of sky. splendour fantastic silhouettes and shadow-play below. How many a time I let the charm of all these pictures sink into my soul The order of their sequence never varied. At four o'clock, when all the store of sounds I heard became oppressive, I took my gun or rifle on my shoulder and went down with my comrades into the river glades. Wild pigeons, a '^ monkey, guinea-fowl, and many another such small deer " of the woods as well, found their v^ay into the stew-pot. (Yes, indeed, monkey, too!) primeval growth We liked to go into this through swamps and tangled lianas. The air was heavy with the glorious scent of water, woods and moss. It was always a refreshing bath which Nature made. Then we went up anddisciples,
penny
finds
way
like
into
the
;
;
;
;
!
crossed the Songo,flux
andto
this
was just the time whenfro
this constantstriking,
of
folks
boththe
and
appeared
so
verysky,
here
beneath
the
star-strewn,
splendid
dome
of
shadows
and
silhouettes
were
strangely
where mingled in
the the
camp-fire's glare.
When wegotin front of
home and supped
were able to tear ourselves away from this scene, had in haste, there were still two hours of work
selected
us. My interpreters would bring me some stranger on the caravan route, or some ancient settler in the land of Nupe, who might have something worth relating about old times and customs, or, maybe, a legend. And it was in an hour such as this that my old Bokani friend, a none too
MOKWAbrilliant
381senile,
fellow,
but
feeble
andverya
somewhatancient;
who
had
come over
to the funeral of a
memberpart
of the Lilli's family, told
me
the story of
the old,also
nay,
kingdom, of whichstoryof
this distant province
wasthe
the
the
far-off
water, the roofs ofthatIssa
bronze, the
extinction ofpilgrimsof;
Issa's posterity,
of
so
hated
by
Meccacity
the
story
of
the
pilgrimages to the red stonetions
and
the
streaming popula-
Whencethis
which then went back and forth. Was it not probable that did he get this tale ? treasure had been handed down along the road on which
from days of old the black Busus, the leaf-decked Ringi women, the Kano traders and the princes and professors of Tarabulus had thought so, and put no great value on I gone a-travelling ?the song.
But I jibbed when the name of Issa reappeared in the Edegi myth, when everywhere, on articles antique and modern,thecross
of
Issa,
the;
cross of
Jesus the Christ,
the
Byzantine
crucifix,
met
my
on
box-lids,
on saddles
ancechest
withall
my
on the ferry-boats of the Nile, on gourds, but, more especially, when my acquaintNupe friend had ripened, and from his hiddeneyes;
sorts of
marvellous vanities came forthbeads.
:
old book-covers,this
chased
bronze
work, cut
Then
I
saw that
people
had not got it on the highway, not from the fashionable caravans from No all these things were Tarabulus, Adrar, Air and Houssa.were wealthy, rich in their inheritance.yet they
And
here, as the ancient heirlooms of this land itself, the
heritage
of
an age which had really and actually been.holdway.it
Andtheirof
they not onlyart,
as a
dead estate
;
they havepeaceful
it
in
ancient
but
not in
Mokwa, not in As we shall see.all
this
corner
the
great
high-
Like
the thedoors
wanderersagainst
of
this
region,
I
too, naturally,;
saw
nothingstranger.souls.
but
high road, the
caravan routeasI
for
the
Nupestheir
closed theirIt
me, too,legacy course
they dothe the
to
every other
was onlythein
afterwards
saw
treasure of
Bothfoes
inwardthethe
andof of
caravan
road
were
widelythe
separatedofIssa,
children
country
by
this
route after
time, because none but Mecca, travelled into this the Great Empire had had its day.
!
382
THE VOICE OF AFRICAheritageof
whereas the Nupes had never entirely fallen away fromthetheflesh of their flesh
Great King's ancient and bone of their bone.
and empire had becomeIssa,
Theythe great
barred
their gates;
when
a son
of
Mecca passed alongantique
highroad
theyit
put
everything
and precious
out of sight.
And
so
came
to pass that the stream of caravans
flowed on without, however, having any further connection withthe things which lay concealed within thestorehouse ofancient
Nupeantatters,
culture through whichI
it
ran.
Ah, how
loathe
those sons
of
suppressed,
choked
and
annihilated
Mecca, who have torn to much between so
Byzantium and Atlantis
Sham
duel in
Mokwa
market-square.
The secondsArriens.)
to the right
and
left.
(Drawn bf Carl
CHAPTERTHE NUPE-FULBES:
XVIII
OLYMPIC GAMES AND RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYSIN
MOKWA
Arrival and reception of the Fulbe Princesports
and mask-ceremonial
Joy of the Nup6 Elders at the revival of the ancient Our sorrow at leaving Mokwa.notables,
T^VERY morning the old Lilli, with Daima and other ^^ came quietly and in a friendly way to ask howto listen to
we were,
and to have a chat. The Elders threw the ground with their foreheads, murmured all sorts of greetings and, as is their custom, bobbed a curtsey whenever possible. In this country ceremony is hereditary correct behaviour is held in high esteem. and We shared the monarchy during the fortnight with the old LiUi, and, apart fromwishes
my
themselves down, touched
the caravanvery
traffic,
it
wasable
a
very peaceful time indeed.live
It
was
pleasant
to
be
to
alone, for
this
enabled us to
overcome the shyness and timidity of the Nupeans easily, which would not have been practicable with all the " right honourables " on the spot. For the old Lilli was no longer really the
Lord
of the place.fine
One
morning, aboutis
eleven, the
admiring cheers
heard from far away.383
A
sound of drums and crowd arrives with a
384lot of baggage,
THE VOICE OF AFRICAnot abitlike
the goods of travelling merchants
or
like
caravanners.
Then
the
women
clear
a
space
in
the
market square, which they never do when a caravan arrives, and messengers run to and fro. The great Fulbe Prince, the Ruler of the The Benno!
Province, the
Lordterrific.
of
Mokwa Town
is
about to arrivealso
!
The
excitement
is
A
brace
of
messengers
comevisit.
to me,
are formally presented
and announce the forthcominglittle
O Mokwagiveits
!
quiet?
provincialfled
corner,
how!
canst
thouthe
up thy repose
Whither hashuddleThisit
thy peace
Mokwa andasit
people does
not
in a frightened
cluster
does
poultry yard
when the shadow!
of the kite falls
uponis
suddenly.
Oh, indeed, noabout;
is
not
terror
!
Ititself
the
other
wayits
it
wakes
up,
struts, it
preensalike,
and
puts
on
Sunday
suit.
Theyin
all
behavethe
the
ancient
head of theprincely stock
town, the
brokenhere
Lilli,
scions
of
an
ancient
and those who live upon the fame of ancient clanship and not upon what they These Fulbes broke the own or earn. It is very, very strange power of the olden princely houses in all the countryside they they ruined much which Lilli hounded on the folk to civil war and his family possessed and robbed them of the rest all these people enjoy only what these thieves of state and land and men yet, for all left them through whim or accident or ignorance that, they all put on their robes of state in a certain spirit of elation with evident pleasure the moment the representative of this race graciously deigns to enter the gates of the town, welcome him joyfully and meet him without any grudge. It is just " Behold, such a splendid fellow as this as if they would say stands for the nation which destroyed all we possessed and stole See, is it not delightful to sacrifice everything to such It away as this ? a master Ought I not to be proud that such a magni" ficent people robbed my own family of its all ? It seems incredible Yet the negro thinks in this way, this
who
live
exile,
the
comfortable
farmers
!
;
;
;
;
:
!
!
breed ofhistory.
slaves,
these
multiplying beasts
for sacrifice
in
human
want
of
and painful always to experience this pride and proper self-consciousness, this abasement andItis
repugnantplace
this readiness
to
one's
neck
beneath another's heel.
And
Mokwa.
PI. II.
Wrestlers in
Mokwa.
(Photo by Leo Frohe.nius.)
The seconds plucking
the locked duellists asunder.{Facing p. 384.
THE NUPE-FULBESonthis
385Elders
painful
Mokwa, the old Lilli and his They had told me only impressiondayin!
made
a very
the day before
howthem
the Fulbes had hunted them, exterminated them, butchered
with
infinite cruelties in the market-places, driven off their fathers
and brothers into slavery; and to-day a member of this band of murderers and robbers comes along whose fingers are still clammy with the blood of innumerable atrocities, and they feel honoured, Thus the so much as approaches them. if you please, when he " niggerized " Nupes In other ways