Chap. LXX. GOLD AND SALT. 
23 
in the trade in gold ; but it is a very general term, 
which may signify very different quantities, and thus 
we find various kinds of mithkals used in Negroland, 
especially those of A'gades, Timbuktu, and Mango, 
the Mandingo place between Yendi and the Niger, the 
former of which is the smallest, and equal, as I have 
stated in the proper place, to 1000 shells of Hausa 
standard, although in the present decayed state of the 
town of A'gades, where all the gold trade has ceased, 
it possesses rather an imaginary value. The mithkal 
of Timbuktu contains the weight of 24 grains of the 
khariib tree, or 96 of wheat, and is worth from 3000 
to 4000 shells.* The mithkal of Mango is equal to 
1^ of that of Timbuktu. Besides rings, very hand- 
some ornaments are worked of gold ; but, as far as I 
could learn, most of this workmanship comes from 
Walata, which is still celebrated on this account. f 
The next article that forms one of the chief staples 
in Timbuktu, and in some respects even more so than 
gold, is salt, which, together with gold, formed ar- 
ticles of exchange all along the Niger from the most 
mithkal is a corruption of " medical," a term used to denote the 
small weight used for medical purposes, I am not able to decide. 
I always thought that it was derived from jj^; 
* M. Prax, p. 12. of the little pamphlet just mentioned in the 
preceding note, is totally wrong in supposing the mithkal of Tim- 
buktu equal to half a duro, or Spanish dollar, or two fr. sixty cents. 
The very lowest price is just double. 
f There are some interesting articles of gold represented by 
Lord Fitzclarence in the work above mentioned. 
c 4 
