Chapter XXXIX: Section VI

_Account of the Country of Budomel continued_.

On account of the great heats in the kingdom of Senegal, and all the other countries of the Negroes on the coast, no wheat, rye, barley, or spelt, can grow, neither are vines cultivated, as we knew experimentally from a trial made with seeds from our ship: For wheat, and these other articles of culture, require a temperate climate and frequent showers, both of which are wanting here, where they have no rains during nine months of the year, from October to June both included. But they have large and small millet, beans, and the largest and finest kidney beans in the world, as large as hazle nuts, longer than those of the Venetian territory, and beautifully speckled with various colours as if painted. Their beans are large, flat, and of a lively red colour, and they have likewise white beans. They sow in July, at the beginning of the rains, and reap in September, when they cease; thus they prepare the soil, sow the seed, and get in the harvest, all in three months; but they are bad husbandmen, and so exceedingly averse to labour, that they sow no more than is barely sufficient to last them throughout the year, and never lay up any store for sale. In cultivating the ground, four or five of them go into a field with spades, with which they turn up the soil about four inches deep; yet such is the fertility of the soil, that it makes ample returns for this slight culture, without any farther trouble.

The liquors of the Negroes are water, milk, and palm wine, which they call mighol, or migwol, which is taken from a tree of the palm tribe, very numerous in this country, somewhat like the date tree, but not the same, and which furnishes this liquor the whole year round. The trees are tapped in two or three places near the root, and from these wounds a brown juice runs out, as thin as skimmed milk, into calabasses that are placed to receive the liquor, which drops but slowly, as one tree will only fill two calabasses from morning till night. This migwol, or palm- wine, is an exceedingly pleasant drink, which intoxicates like wine unless mixed with water. Immediately after it is drawn from the tree it is as sweet as any wine whatever; but the luscious taste goes off more and more as it is kept, and at length it becomes sour. It drinks better than at first after three or four days, as it depurates by keeping, and is not so sweet. I have often drank of it, indeed every day that I remained in the country, and liked it better than the wines of Italy. This liquor is not so abundant as that every one may have it at discretion; yet all may have some, especially the chiefs, as the trees are not planted in gardens, like vines and fruit trees in Europe, but are found wild in the forests, and are consequently accessible to all.

In this country there are several sorts of fruit which resemble those of Europe, though not exactly the same, and which are very good, though they grow wild; and, were they to be cultivated as ours are, would prove much better than such as are produced in the northern climates, the quality of the soil and air in this part of Africa being more nutritive. The whole country is plain and fertile, abounding in good pasture, and is covered by an infinite number of large and beautiful trees, that are not known in Europe. It contains several lakes of fresh water, none of them large, but very deep, and full of excellent fish, which differ much from those that are caught in Italy, and many water serpents, which the natives call _Kalkatrici_. They use a kind of oil with their victuals, which tastes like oil of olives, has a pleasant flavour of violets, and tinges the food even better than saffron, but I could not learn what it was produced from[1]. There is likewise a plant which produces large quantities of small kidney-beans.

In this country there are many kinds of animals, but serpents are particularly numerous, both large and small, some of which are venomous. The large ones are more than two paces long[2], but have neither legs nor wings, as has been reported by some persons, but some of them are so very thick as to have swallowed a goat at one morsel. These serpents retire in troops, as the natives report, to certain parts of the country where white ants are found in prodigious swarms, and which, by a kind of instinct, are said to build houses for these serpents, of earth which they carry in their months for that purpose, resembling ovens, and often to the number of 150 in one place[3]. The Negroes are great enchanters, and use charms upon almost all occasions, particularly in regard to serpents, over which they have great power. A Genoese, worthy of credit, who was in this country the year before my arrival, and who likewise lodged with Bisboror, the nephew of Budomel, told me he once heard a load noise of whistling about the house in the middle of the night. Being awakened by the noise, he saw Bisboror get out of bed and order two negroes to bring his camel. Being asked where he meant to go at that time of night, he said he had business which must be executed, but would soon return. On coming back after some time, and the Genoese expressing curiosity to learn the object in which he had been engaged, Bisboror asked if he had heard the hissing noise about the house during the night, and said that it had been made by the serpents, which would have killed a great many of his cattle, if he had not sent them back to their quarters by the employment of certain enchantments. The Genoese was astonished at this story, but Bisboror said he had no need to wonder at this small matter, as Budomed could do a great deal more extraordinary things with the serpents than he could. In particular, when he had a mind to envenom his weapons, he used to draw a large circle, into which, by means of his enchantments, he brought all the serpents of the neighbourhood, from which he selected those he thought most poisonous, and allowed all the others to go away. With the blood of these serpents, mixed up with the seeds of a certain tree, he infected his weapons with so deadly a poison, that, if they drew but the least drop of blood, the person or animal wounded by them was sure to die in a quarter of an hour. Bisboror farther offered to shew him an example of the efficacy of this art, but the Genoese declined witnessing the experiment. This story of the serpents is the more probable, that I have heard of persons in Italy who could charm them in a similar manner; but I am apt to believe that the Negroes are the most expert sorcerers in the world.

The only tame animals in the kingdom of Senegal are oxen, cows, and goats; having no sheep, which love a temperate or cold air, and could not live in this hot climate. Nature, however, has provided mankind with necessaries fitted for their various occasions; having furnished the Europeans with wool, as they have need of warm clothing, while the Negroes, who live in such intense heat, have been supplied with cotton by the Almighty. Owing to the heat, in my opinion, the cattle of this country are much smaller than those of Italy. It is a great rarity to see a red cow in this country, as they are all black or white, or mottled with black and white spots. Beasts of prey, such as lions, leopards, and wolves, are numerous, and there are plenty of hares. Wild elephants go about in troops, like the wild swine in Italy, but can never be tamed, as they are in other parts of the world. As the elephant is a well-known animal, I shall only observe in general, that those of Africa are of a very large size, as may be easily conceived by the size of their teeth, which are imported into Europe. Of these large teeth, or tusks rather, each elephant has two in the lower jaw, the points of which turn down, whereas those of the wild boar are turned up. Before my voyage to Africa I had been told that the elephant could not bend its knee, and slept standing; but this is an egregious falsehood for the bending of their knees can be plainly perceived when they walk, and they, certainly lie down and rise again like other animals. They never shed their large teeth before death; neither do they do any harm to man unless provoked. In that case the elephant makes his attack with his trunk, which is a kind of nose, protruded to a great length. He can contract and extend this proboscis at pleasure, and is able to toss a man with it as far as a sling can throw a stone. It is in vain to think of escape by running, let the person be ever so swift, in case the elephant pursues in earnest, as his strides are of prodigious length. They are more dangerous when they have young ones in their company than at any other time; of which the females have only, three or four at a birth. They feed on the leaves and fruit of trees, pulling down the large boughs with their trunks, and bringing them to their mouths. This trunk is composed of a very thick cartilage, and is pliable in every direction.

There are many kinds of birds in this country, and parrots are particularly numerous, which are much hated by the negroes, because they do much damage to their crops of pulse and millet. There are said to be several kinds of parrots, but I never saw more than two. One of these is like the kind which is brought into Italy from Alexandria in Egypt, but rather smaller. The other kind is much larger, having a brown head, neck, bill, and legs, with a yellow and green body. I procured a considerable number of both sorts, particularly of the smaller kind, many of which died; but I brought 150 back to Portugal, where I sold them for half a ducat each. These birds are very industrious in constructing their nests, which they build with bulrushes and the small leaves of the palm, and other trees, in a very curious and ingenious manner. Choosing the slenderest branch of a tree, the parrot fastens a bulrush of about two spans long to its outer extremity, at the depending end of which rush it weaves its nest in a most beautiful manner, suspended like a ball, and having only one passage for entering. By this means they contrive to preserve their young from being devoured by the serpents, as the small twigs from which the nests are suspended are unable to bear the weight of the serpents. There are likewise abundance of those birds called Pharaoh's hens[4] in Europe, which come to us out of the Levant. They have likewise other birds, both large and small, which are quite different from any that are known in Italy.

As I was long on shore, I went several times to see their markets or fairs, which were held every Monday and Friday in a meadow, not far from where I resided. The men and women, from four or five miles around, came to this place with their various commodities, and those who lived at a greater distance, went to other markets nearer their habitations. The great poverty of the natives appeared manifest in the goods they brought to these fairs; consisting of small quantities of cotton cloth, and cotton yarn, pulse, oil, millet, wooden tubs, palm matts, and every thing else useful to life, according to their manners, likewise arms, and some small quantities of gold. Having no money or coin of any kind, all their trade was carried on by way of barter, or exchange of one thing for another, sometimes two or three things for one, according to their different values. All these blacks used to gaze on me, as if I had been a prodigy, having never seen a white man before. Some took hold of my hands, which they rubbed with spittle, to see if the whiteness was natural or artificial, and expressed their wonder to find that my skin was not painted. They were as much astonished at my dress, being clothed in the Spanish fashion, with a black damask waistcoat, and a cloak over it: They seemed much surprised at the waistcoat, and greatly admired the woollen cloth, which they had never seen any of before. My chief purpose in going to these fairs, was to see what quantity of gold was brought thither.

Horses are very scarce, and of great value in the country of the Negroes, being brought all the way from that part of Barbary which lies nearest to Europe, by the Arabs and Azanhaji. Owing to the great heat, horses do not live long here; for they grow so fat that they cannot stale, and so burst. They are fed with bean leaves, which are gathered after the beans are brought from the fields; and, being dried like hay, are cut small, and given to the horses instead of oats. They give millet also, which contributes greatly to make them fat. A horse and his furniture sells for from nine to fourteen negroes, according to his goodness and beauty; and when a negro lord buys a horse, he sends for his horse sorcerers, who cause a fire to be kindled of the stalks of certain herbs, and hold the horses head by the bridle over the smoke, while they repeat over some few words by way of incantation. They afterwards have him anointed all over with fine oil, and having kept him eighteen or twenty days, without allowing any one to see him, they affix some Moorish charms to his neck, which have the appearance of small square billets of writing, folded up and covered with red leather; and affirm, that, they will go into battle with greater safety by means of these scrolls or annulets.

The women of this country are very pleasant and merry, especially the young ones, and delight in singing and dancing, taking this diversion only at night by moonlight; and their manner of dancing is very different from that of the Italians. Many things in our ships seemed wonderful to the Negroes, particularly our cross-bows; but much more our artillery. When some of them were on board my ship, I caused one of the guns to be fired off, which threw them into a dreadful panic; and their terror was much increased on being told that one cannon-shot could kill an hundred men. On which account, they alleged that it must be something belonging to the devil. They were likewise greatly astonished at a bag-pipe, which, one of our sailors played upon to divert them; and, on examining the several parts and ornaments of the instrument, they conceived that it was a living animal, which sung in different voices. Observing their simplicity, I told them it was a musical instrument, and put it into their hand unblown to examine. They then perceived that it was a work of art, but believed that it was something supernatural, and could only have been devised by a superior being, it sounded so sweetly, and in so many different tones, having never heard any thing which could be compared to it in their estimation. The ship, also, and its various contrivances, as its anchors, masts, sails, and shrouds, afforded them great subjects for admiration and wonder. They looked upon the port-holes in the stern as real eyes, by which the vessel was able to find her way in the sea; and observed, that travellers on land found difficulty to find the road from one place to another, while we were able to travel along the trackless ocean; and that the whites must therefore be the greatest of sorcerers, not inferior to the devil himself. They shewed great admiration on seeing a lighted candle in a candlestick, having themselves no other artificial light but that proceeding from a fire. They have honey-combs, but when they find these, they suck out the honey, and throw away the empty comb as useless. At one time, I bought some honey-combs from a negro, and shewed him how to extract the honey; after which, on asking him if he knew what remained, he said it was good for nothing: But he was greatly astonished on seeing it made into candles, and lighted in his presence; saying, that the Europeans knew every thing. Their only musical instruments are two, one of which they have from the Moors, which is like a large drum[5]; the other is somewhat like a fiddle, having only two strings, which they play on with their fingers, but gives no sounds that can be called harmonious.

[1] This is almost certainly palm oil, the origin of which will appear in
another division of this work.--E.

[2] The text must be here erroneous, as two paces, or ten feet, will
scarcely suffice in describing the boa constrictor, sometimes near
thirty feet long.--E.

[3] An account of the termites, or white ants of Africa, will appear
hereafter. The circumstance of serpents taking up their abode in the
large anthills, must be entirely accidental.--E.

[4] Probably the Pintado, or Guinea fowl.--E.

[5] This in Ramusio is called Tabacche, and Sambuka in Grynaeus.--Astl.