TOMBUCTOO. 



TOMBI, a town of Africa, in Quoja. N. lat. (P 50'. 

 TOMBIGHE, a river wliich rifes in the north part of 

 Georgia, enters Wel^ Florida, and join"; the Alabama to form 



the Mobile, N. lat. 31° 32'. W. long. 87' 50' Alfo, a 



town of Weft Florida, on a river of the fame name. N. 

 lat. 32° 30'. W. long. 87^ 50'. 



TOM'BUCTOO, or TiMBUCTOo, a city of Africa, the 

 capital of a rich and populous kingdom, faid to have been 

 built in tlie 13th century by SoHman, pretended to be of the 

 royal race of Morocco. The extent of its territory is very 

 imperfectly afcertained ; but it is faid to extend northward 

 to the confines of Sahara or the Defert, comprehending a 

 traft of country about 90 miles in breadth ; its weitcrn 

 boundary being 130 miles W. of the city, and the eaftern 

 extending to the Bahar Soudan, pr feaof Soudan, which is 

 a lake formed by the Nil-El Abeede or Niger, whofe oppo- 

 fitc (hore is not difcernible. The city is fituatcd on a plain, 

 furroundedby fandy eminences about twelve miles N. of the 

 Niger, and three days' journey from the confines of Sahara. 

 It is faid to be twelve miles in circumference, but with- 

 out walls. The town of Kalra, fituated on the banks of 

 the river, is its commercial depot, or port. By means of 

 a water-camage E. and W. of Kabra, the trade of Tom- 

 budloo acquires great facility ; and hence the various arti- 

 cles of European as well as Barbary mannfaftures brought 

 by the akkabaahs, or caravans, from the N. of Africa, are 

 diftributed to the different empires and ftates of the Soudan 

 and the South. This great mart isreforted to by all nations, 

 whither they bring the various products of their refpe&ive 

 coimtries, to barter for the European and Barbary manu- 

 faftures. The houfes at Tombuftoo have, in general, no 

 upper apartments : they are fpacious, and of a fquare form, 

 with an opening in the centre, towards which the doors 

 open. Contiguous to the door of entrance is a buildirig, 

 confifting of two rooms, called a duaria, in which vifitors 

 are received and entertained, fo that they do not fee the 

 women, who are very handfome. The men are fo excef- 

 fively jealous of their wives, that when the latter vifit a re- 

 lative, they are much muffled up, in order to difguife their 

 perfons ; their fare is alfo covered with their garment, 

 through which they peep in order to explore their way. 

 The king, whofe authority has been acknowledged at Tom- 

 buftoo ever fince the death of Muley Iflimael, emperor of 

 Morocco, is the fovereign of Bambarra : his name in 1800 

 was Woolo ; he is a black, and a native of the country 

 which he governs ; his ufual place of refidence is Jinnie, 

 though he has three palaces at TombuAoo, which are faid 

 to contain an immenfe quantity of gold. Many of the 

 civil appointments at Tombuftoo, fince the deceafe of 

 Muley Ifhmael, and the confequent decline of the authority 

 pf the emperor of Morocco, have been occupied by Moors 

 of Maroquin origin ; but the military appointments, fince 

 the forementioned period, have been diftributed among 

 Negroes of Bambarra, afligned to them by the king Woolo. 

 The inhabitants are chiefly Negroes, who referable the 

 Arabs in hofpitality, and value themfelves on their attention 

 to ftrangers. The various coftumcs exhibited in the market- 

 places and ftreets indicate the variety and extent of the 

 commercial intercourfe with the different nations of Central 

 Africa ; the individuals being each habited in the drefs of 

 his refpeftive country. The toleration prevalent at Tom- 

 buftoo is worthy of notice. The divan, or I'alemma, never 

 interfere with the rehgious tenets profeffed by the different 

 people who refort hither for commercial or other purpofes. 

 The police of this place is extolled : robberies and houfe- 

 breaking are fcarcely known : the inhabitants of the town 

 are peaceable and orderly. The government of the city is 



intrufted to a divan of twelve aleinma, or men learned in the 

 Koran, and an umpire, who retain their appointments, re- 

 ceived from the king of Bambarra, for three years. Their 

 power is great. The civil jurifprudence is direfted by a 

 cadi, who decides all judicial proceedings according to the 

 fpirit of the Koran : he has twelve attornies, called talhs, 

 who attend him, and to each of thefe belongs a feparate de- 

 partment of juftice. It is aflerted that till of late no Jews 

 were permitted to enter the town ; and it is faid, moreover, 

 that thofe Jews vsho now refort thither, are obliged to be- 

 come'Mahometans. The probable reafon of the exclufion of 

 the Jews is deduced from the extreme jealoufy of the indi- 

 viduals of the Moorifh fadlory, whofe avarice induces them 

 to prevent any perfon from (haring their emoluments, when- 

 ever a plaufible pretext can be found. 



The chmate of Tcmbuftoo is much extolled as falubrious 

 and invigorating ; infomuch that there is no man of the age 

 of eighteen, who has not liis wives or concubines ; and it 

 is a difgrace for a man to attain the age of puberty without 

 being married. The natives poflefs an elegance and fuavity 

 of manners, a great flow of animal fpirits, and an invincible 

 attachment to their country. The accommodation for tra- 

 vellers is very fimple ; camels, horfes, drivers and merchants, 

 rendezvous at a large houfe, with an open fpace in the 

 middle, round which are rooms fufScient for containing a 

 bed and a table. The merchants are accommodated with 

 houfes during the period of their ftay, for bartering and 

 exchanging their commodities, which they inveft in the pro- 

 duce of Soudan as fpeedily as poffible, fo that they may be 

 ready about September for the akkabaah, and proceed to 

 Morocco, Cairo, Jidda, or fome other place. The manu- 

 fadlures of different kinds of apparel are prepared chiefly by 

 the women in their own houfes, whenever they cannot pro- 

 cure European cloths and linens, or when there is a great 

 fcarcity of Fez and Tafilet manufaftures of filk, cotton, 

 and woollen. The foil about Tombudloo is generally fer- 

 tile, and near the river produces rice, millet, Indian corn, 

 and other grain ; wheat and barley grow in the plains, and 

 are cultivated principally by the Arabs of the tribe of Bra- 

 bcefha, who receive a tribute from the town for forbearing to 

 plunder the caravans from the north which pafs through 

 their territory. Coffee grows wild here, as does alfo indigo, 

 which latter is occafionally cultivated, and produces a very 

 fine blue dye ufed in their various cotton manufaftures. 

 The hufbandmen are very expert in the management of 

 bees : honey and wax are abundant, the former being ufed 

 at Tombuftoo as an article of food, and the latter for can- 

 dles. The river about Kabra affords a fupply of fifh. The 

 mines of gold which he S. of the bed of the river belong 

 to the fultan Woolo, who refides at Jinnie ; but his gold is 

 depofited in his palaces at Tombuftoo. The exaft bearing 

 and diftances of places from Tombuiftoo are not fatisfafto- 

 rily afcertained. The city appears, fays Mr. Jackfon, to be 

 fituatcd 1500 miles S.S.E. of Fez, 1 150 miles about S.S.E. 

 of Akka, Tatta, and Wedinoon ; 1300 miles in nearly the 

 fame direftion from Morocco; 1320 miles from Tafilet; 

 about 230 miles E. of Jinnie; and 1000 miles E. of 

 HoufTa. Major Rennell, in his Geographical Elucidations 

 annexed to the Proceedings of the AfTociation for difcover- 

 ing the Interior of Africa, fays that Tombutloo is fifty 

 days' caravan travelling from Tatta, a place fituated on 

 the frontiers of Morocco, Drah, and Zenhaga, and on the 

 route from Morocco and Suz to Tombufloo. Tatta is 

 found to be nine and a half days' journey from Morocco : and 

 one day fhort of a ftation on the Wad-drah or Drah river, 

 which ftation is four days, or fixty-fix miles lower down than 

 Tinguleen, a place in D'AnvjJlc's and De Lille's map of 



Africai 



