Chapter XVIII: Letter II

LETTER FROM THE ENGLISH CONSUL AT TRIPOLI TO EL BACKAY.

Praise be to the one God! May God grant His blessing to him
after whom there was no longer a Prophet (otherwise Mahomet)!

To our friend the noble Lord, the very high, very learned, very
complete Sidi Ahmed Backay.

May our greeting reach him with the expression of our
consideration.

You will find in this letter an epistle from the minister
Clarendon, with a translation in Arabic. It is written in reply
to the letter received by you.

When you have read this letter _you will know that the English
Government has sent a steamer up the river that flows out of
your country, and has recommended those on board to make every
effort to reach you_. Watch for them. _We desire to unite
ourselves in friendship with the people of your country, and
make ourselves known to you, above all at Timbuctoo where you
live._ We ask God to assist us in this task because _it will
result in great good to your country and to us also_.

The son of your sister, Sidi Mohamed, and the people of his
retinue are well. He is with me at this moment, awaiting the
presents the Government is sending him, and the writings which
seal the friendship existing between you and us.

Our Government has already given Sidi Mohamed the choice
between several things. They would send a boat to take him to
them, or they would reward him here and return him to you,
or he could stay with me till the end of the winter and the
beginning of the spring, when a boat could take him to England.
Sidi Mohamed decides to return from here, and this is also
preferred by my Government, for we fear the effect of the cold
of our climate upon his health. This cold is very great, _etc._

(_Signature illegible._)

The boat mentioned never did reach Timbuctoo, nor did El Backay visit England and see its manufactures. Lord Clarendon’s ‘great joy’ was of short duration, and his hopes resulted in nothing.

After the departure of Barth, his protector had no leisure to give to the plans which had been sketched between them; he was entirely occupied in taking care of himself. The generous attitude which had popularised him with Europe had greatly complicated his position in Timbuctoo. His very strained relations with the Foulbe authorities, and the suspicion with which the inhabitants regarded a _protégé_ of the Touaregs obliged him to maintain a good deal of reserve.

The most critical period of the Sudan was now approaching, and the Toucouleur invasion was spreading from south to north. El Hadj Omar had marched from victory to victory, and was now menacing the Foulbe empire (1860). Ahmadou Ahmadou naïvely sought to avert the peril by opposing a man of religion to one who, to justify his massacres, posed as a reformer, and Sheik El Backay reappeared on the scenes. He was exhorted to intervene as mediator between the kingdom and the new Prophet, but, remembering the former harshness of the Foulbe monarch, he at first refused. Afterwards, however, he addressed a message of peace to El Hadj, which he accompanied with several presents. For all reply the conquering Toucouleur ironically invited the sheik to hasten with his homage, to which El Backay responded by a satire in verse on the false Prophet. Ahmadou Ahmadou had perished meanwhile, and the Toucouleurs were installed in his capital of Hamdallai. One of their columns, entering Timbuctoo under the command of Alpha Omar, pillaged the town and sacked the house of El Backay.

After a while the sheik decided to return from the desert, in which he had sought shelter, and at his instigation Touaregs and Kountas joined the fray. Alpha Omar’s column was surprised by night and totally destroyed, and the conquerors, reinforced by Foulbes, besieged El Hadj Omar in Hamdallai. The Toucouleur peril was averted, but dissension now spread among the troops, and El Backay quitted Timbuctoo to establish peace. Before reaching Hamdallai, however, he fell ill at a little village, on the right bank of the Niger, called Saradina, and died there eight days afterwards (1864).

Abbidin, who was his favourite son, according to Barth, attempted to assume his father’s position at Timbuctoo, but in vain, for neither Touaregs nor inhabitants would have anything to do with him. He then attempted a political _rôle_ in the countries of the Deltas, and finally relapsed into brigandage; pillaging and terrorising the shores of the Black and White Niger, under the pretext of fighting the Touaregs. He was killed by the latter as he was making a pilgrimage to his father’s tomb in 1890.

Such was the history of the Backays up to the moment of our arrival in Timbuctoo. It is the story of the decline of a great and noble family of the desert. I will mention one more somewhat remarkable episode. Barth awoke at Berlin one morning under the impression that he must write to General Faidherbe, the governor of Senegal, and recommend the Backays to him in case one or other of them should require assistance. He sent the letter, and at the precise moment of its arrival in St. Louis, Oulad Backay had been arrested as a spy, and was on the point of being condemned to death by a court-martial. Faidherbe naturally acquitted the prisoner, and thus Barth’s and England’s debt was repaid.

Two of the sheik’s sons, namely, Baba Ahmed and Bai, were still living when we entered Timbuctoo. They had returned to the Saharian Adrar, the cradle of their family, and settled at Tached-Ait (the mountain of stone), a ten days’ journey from Timbuctoo. All traces of the influence their forefathers exercised over the Touaregs had disappeared, and they were living on exceedingly bad terms with their neighbours, the Touaregs of Air.

Ahmed, grandson of the sheik, lives at Gourbo on the Niger, and seems to wish to restore the prestige of the family. He addressed a letter to the French authorities, asking if they were disposed to ratify the good relations established by Barth. He was answered in the affirmative, but his situation is so precarious that he will scarcely be of much use to us. A solitary Backay, Ahmadi-Alouata, occupies a modest position in Timbuctoo, and is on the best of terms with the authorities.