Chap. LXX. 
PROVISIONS. 
31 
the same name which it still bears at the present day, 
namely, " shigge." 
The price of the articles brought to this market 
from the region of the Upper Niger, especially from 
Sansandi, varies greatly, depending as it does upon 
the supply of the moment. Provisions, during my stay, 
were, generally speaking, very cheap, while Caillie 
complains of the high prices which prevailed in his 
time.* But it must also be taken into account that 
the French traveller proceeded from those very coun- 
tries on the Upper Niger from which Timbuktu 
is supplied, and where, in consequence, provisions are 
infinitely cheaper, while I came from countries which, 
owing to the state of insecurity and warfare into 
which they have been plunged for a long series of 
years, were suffering from dearth and famine. 
The chief produce brought to the market of Tim- 
buktu consists of rice and negro corn ; but I am 
quite unable to state the quantities imported. Be- 
sides these articles, one of the chief products is 
vegetable butter, or mai-kadena, which, besides being 
employed for lighting the dwellings, is used most 
extensively in cookery as a substitute for animal but- 
ter, at least by the poorer class of the inhabitants. 
Smaller articles, such as pepper, ginger, which is 
consumed in very great quantities, and sundry other 
articles, are imported. A small quantity of cotton is 
also brought into the market, not from Sansandi, I 
think, but rather from Jimballa and some of the 
* Caillie, Journey to Timbuctoo, ii. p. 33. 
