The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-11-07

to be gathered. Though the gum has
dull appearance on the outside it
presents beautifully clear and brilliant
surface wherever it is broken, and if
put into the mouth for few moments
becomes transparent as crystal. About
a month is allowed for natural causes
to accomplish the exuding process,
when the trees are supposed to have
completed their yield for the year. The
Moors now prepare for the harvest
They quit their camps in the desert,
leaving only the aged, infrm and
little children, with a few persons to
take charge of the cattle which remain
behind. A tumultuous assemblage of
horse and foot, men and cattle, women
and children proceed in promiscuous
crowd to the forest belonging to the
tribe. Here they form an encamp-
ment, in which they remain about six
weeks while gathering the gum. Old
and young engage in the work, stimu-
lated by the chiefs and princes. who
overlook their labor. The gum is piled
up in heaps until the whole is collected,
when it is loaded on cattle brought for
this purpose. The beasts of burden
are the camel and OK. The gum is
stored in large leathern sacks made Of
tanned OK hides, two of which are fas-
tened together and slung over the
backs of the cattle so as to balance.
The work proceeds slowly as there
is no fear of rain to interrupt it, and
Africans seldom hurry in the perform
ance of their tasks. Their field ope-
rations occupy but short period of
the year and time is of little value in
their eyes. At length the harvest is
completed and the day for moving an
rives. When he signal for departure
has been given the tents are struck,
the cattle are laden with baggage and
merchandise and the whole multitude
set off in the same tumultuous manner
as that in which they arrived. The
princes and rich men are mounted on
beautiful horses or fleet dromedaries,
gaily caparisoned. Their wives are
seated on the best camels in kind of
basket covered with an awning, decked
out with gorgeous colors. Cattle and
goats necessary for provision by the
way are mixed up with the beasts OF
burden and crowds of foot passengers,
filling the air with variety of discord-
ant sounds A choice band of armed
men act as cavalry and mounted po-
lice to defend the caravan and pre-
serve some kind of order among them.
In this manner the caravan proceeds
to the annual gum fair, held on the
banks of the Senegal, considerable
distance above Fort Louis, which is the
principal settlement of the French on
this river This people commenced
trading operations with Western Africa
in about the beginning of the last cen
fury and established themselves on the
Senegal. st. Louis is small island
about four leagues above the bar at the
mouth of the river This bar or ridge
of sand is formidable obstruction to
navigation, : as it allows only
small vessels to pass with safe
ty Once across this danger
Gus reef small craft can easily sail to
Podor, about one hundred and eighty
miles up the stream, and in the rainy
season to Golam. which is five or six
hundred miles higher. Here the French
merchants await the arrival of the
Moorish tribe. The din of their APP.
proach can be heard at great distance
over the dreary solitude. The noise
grows louder and louder till at inn
mense cloud of dust betokens theil
near arrival. And soon the barren
plain is covered with men and beasts
in teeming crowds, which it requires {
long time to settle in anything like nj
orderly manner. At length, when al
things are ready, cannon is fired al
! the signal for commencing business
and Franks ard Moors try every arti
| 1or IA.
Moorish Princes fabricate all kinds o
excuses for raising the price of thu
gum, and invent a hundred reasons fol
J delaying the negotiations. The pro
} crastination and apparent apathy mad
den their more lively customers, VIII
, are sometimes obliged to yield under
, threat of the gum being carried to Por
7 tende Ca small settlement on the coast
3 little above the SenegaD and sold t.
e the English. The French, in thei
. turn, try to oyerreach the Moors
Y which they often do by enlarging tn
: size of the kantar or measure by whiel
: the gum is sold The Africans do no
e understand the principles of mensura
a ton, and their customers have gradu
Y ally increased the kantar from fiv
1 hundred to two thousand pounds. Th
/ price of the gum is paid in pieces c
S Indian cotton cloth, or blue bait, whic
n meets with a ready sale to the tribes
the interior. The merchants have trie
G to substitute articles of French mani
: facture for this Eastern cloth but til
= Moors can not be tricked in this n
n spect, as they instantly detect spur
= Gus from genuine article by the smell
d The mode of barter is always disadvar
8 tageous to the Africans, who ma
!, understand the value of their own me
:. chandise and the price which it wi
o bring in the European market, but d
b not know the cost price of the gooC
n which they receive in exchange. FL
If instance. when they barter gold ft
IS iron, they may insist upon having I'll
Is mint price for the precious metal, b.
d they are duped by the European, WI
d estimates his iron at four times
1t value, and thus obtains the gold at
(. fourth of its real worth. In this way gu
d has been purchased in Africa as low
l. four cents pound, while it has so
f in Europe for thirty and thirty-fi
re cents. --Brooblya Eagle.
Is --@-s-e-----
m The population of the United Stat