The limits of the city have become much restricted. There are suburbs, apparently once peopled, now covered by sand. Barth thought Timbuktu in his time had 13,000 settled inhabitants and claims to have counted the clay houses and found them to be about 980. But the resident population today cannot exceed 4,000 or 5,000, and a large portion of it is being drawn away for labor in the cotton enterprise further up the Niger at Diré, of which some mention will be made further on. The real importance of the locality is strategic. If not firmly held as it is by the French, it would speedily again become a rendezvous of the predatory Tuareg and Moors. Held as it is, it is the military key to the routes across the Sahara and to the domination of the boucle of the Niger. The only surprise is that it can be securely held by so small a force of armed men. The Tuareg, however, I was assured by Commandant Fauché, are thoroughly subdued. The only menace is in the combative and raiding instinct of the South Atlas Berbers. Ο CHAPTER X THE BUSH N reaching Mopti on my return from Timbuktu, I at once made preparations to set out on the travel across the Sudan as far as Ouagadougou. It was a very simple matter. The administrateur, a sunburned, robust French official, energetic in every word and movement, promptly gave orders to a native orderly to supply me with two horses, two horse boys and ten porters. Later, I received a document from the "bureau" giving the names of these men and the conditions of their service and employment. They were to accompany me as far as Bandiagara. The next morning, at a satisfactorily early hour, horses and men were on hand. The horse of the Sudan is a small, well shaped animal, white, bay, sorrel, black, doubtless derived from the Arab, but lacking the fine muzzle and small pointed ears of his forebear. He has a good disposition, and is usually well broken, the best of them to a rack or to a pace. The saddle equipment is serviceable, highly ornamented, and strikingly similar to that which the Spaniard generalized in Mexico, whence it was carried to the Western United States. There is the same large pommel and high cantle, the decorated leather, the heavy bit, with the high, cruel "port" of the "Spanish", or "Breed" bit, the same useful and ornamental trappings for keeping the horse's head and flanks free from flies. The best horse I saw in the Sudan was a fine white stallion, the property of a Hausa cattle trader from Kano in British northern Nigeria, whose name was Amul Assa. This horse, while no more than 149 centimeters in height (57 inches), was powerful, spirited and beautifully gaited. I had expected to buy my horses, but it takes time to negotiate a good horse trade, and I found it so easy to rent passable animals that I decided not to embarrass myself with the cares of possession. The horse-boys were Fulas and were considered indispensable for the proper care of the animals. The porters on the several stages to Ouagadougou were the most remarkable burden bearers I have ever encountered. Their necks and shoulders were extraordinarily developed, and their physiques, generally, robust and vigorous. The average weight of their loads was about 30 kilos. With such burdens balanced on their heads, they moved off at a long swinging walk that quite uniformly covered five kilometers an hour. One forenoon, starting two hours before daylight, with a brief halt, during which they consumed a quantity of sour milk mixed with kouskous, they marched 25 miles. On another day, in two stages, the last running well into the evening, they actually went 55 kilometers or approximately 35 miles. These are very long marches for loaded men, and only possible to men of special vigor, cheerfulness, and courage. The marching was not always easy. The route fre |