458 
COMMERCE OF JENNE. 
their store-houses, whence they forward them to Timbuctoo, 
where they have correspondents, who send them in ex- 
change salt, tobacco, and European merchandise. 
There are also marabouts among the negroes of Jenne, 
but the trade they carry on is not so considerable. The arti- 
cles they deal in are seldom of great value, but consist chiefly 
of the zambalas, tamarinds, pimento, long pepper, leaves and 
fruit of the boabab, gombos, leaves and fruit of Guinea sorrel, 
pistachios, beans, and a number of small articles which are 
brought at Jenne by the people of the caravans. They also 
send to Timbuctoo calabashes and earthen pots for culinary 
purposes. The wax purchased at Jenn^ is used for can- 
dles, which are made without moulds and generally consumed 
through the country. Quantities are sent to Timbuctoo, 
where there is a great demand for them. 
The Moorish merchants resident in Jenn^, about thirty 
or forty in number, occupy the best houses, which have 
besides the advantage of being situated near the market. 
The principal trade of the place is in their hands. They 
form companies of several partners, and are owners of large 
barges, which carry cargoes of native produce to Timbuctoo. 
Jenn^ was called by the early travellers the Land of 
Gold, However, that metal is not produced in the en- 
virons, but it is frequently brought to Jenne by the Man- 
dingoes of the Kong country and the merchants of Bour^, 
It forms a principal branch of commerce for these rich 
traders. They also deal in slaves, whom they send to Ta- 
filet, and to other quarters, as Mogador, Tunis, and Tripoli, 
1 have seen men leading these unfortunate beings about 
the streets, and crying them for sale at the rate of twenty- 
five, thirty, or forty thousand cowries, according to their 
age. 1 was grieved to see such an insult offered to human 
nature. Such of these poor creatures as I observed at 
Jenn^ in the families of Moors, who all keep a considerable 
number of them, are not the most to be pitied they are 
