The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-07-08
MYSTERIOUS TIMBUCTOO.
1t Has Been Visited by White Men Only
Five Times.

1t Has Been Visited by White Men Only
Five Times.
An air of mystery is always an addi
tional attraction to place or people
That is why people are always inter.
ested in exploring caves or mountain
businesses, penetrating deserts or de-
scending wells, and why they wish to
make the acquaintance of hermits and
recluses. When it is city or an entire
community thus surrounded by mys.
terry, the interest, of course, increases
ten-fold.
Africa and Asia have each famous
city embraced in this category. The
chief town of Thibet is Lhasa. in which
a white man has never penetrated, and
Timbuctoo, in the western Soudan, has
been visited by Europeans but five times
in two hundred and fifty years.
The first visitor was Paul Imbert, a
French sailor, who, in 1880. was ship
wrecked on the African coast, fell into
the hands of the Arabs and was carried
| to TimbuctOo as a slave. Eventually he
was taken to Morocco, where he died in
bondage, but he left no record of his ex-
periences.
| Nearly two hundred years elapsed be-
fore the visit of the next white man. In
1925, Maj. Laing, an Englishman, COM
missioned to explore the Niger river,
crossed the desert from Tripoli, reached
Timbuctoo in 1926 and was there muir
dered, leaving no record of his visit.
| Nothing daunted, Rene Caille, an ad-
venturous Frenchman, in 1928, started
from Senegambia to explore the secrets
OF the mysterious city. He learned
Arabic and the customs of the Arabs
and, in the guise of pilgrim, travelled
by slow stages and made his way in
land through various Mohammedan
tribes. In the train of caravan, he
reached the forbidden city, where he
spent some time. and when he returned
| to Morocco and thence to Paris he told
the story of his travels.
OF course, it was received with in
credulity, as is the fate of all first ex-
plorers; but twenty-five years later
DIR. Heinrich Barth, a German savant
and an enterprising traveller, entered
Timbuctoo, and confirmed everything
Caille had written. Then the city re-
manned isolated, as before. until Dr.
Oscar LEM, another German explorer,
entered its confines in 1880, and it is
from his recently published work that
| these facts are drawn. DIR. LEM re-
manned in Timbuctoo only three weeks,
and a part of that time he was ill, but
| he was trained observer and very
little escaped his eyes.
Timbuctoo lies nine miles north of
| the Niger River and eight hundred feet
| above the sea, and it is neither beau
tiful nor a healthy city. There are
neither public gardens nor squares. and
| DIR. LEM declares that the only verdure
f! is four or five sickly trees. The only
public buildings are the mosques, to
| each of which is connected a school. and
also are collections of manuscripts,
~ of them doubtless of much his
cal Importance.
oroccan Arabs form the bulk of the
ulation, although there is great
ture of people from all over the
stern Soudan and the negro coun-
IS south of it, the Western Sahara
the Mediterranean states.
imbuctoo is big market, a meeting
sc of traders, where the products of
south are exchanged for those of the
tn. but it is not likely to develop in
large city, unless under European
uences.
Dr.. LEM found abundance of an
Il life. There were large herds of
np-backed cattle gra ling between
town and the river; thousands of
ITS and woclless sheep were scattered
" the plain. and there were large
ops of calnels asses and horses. be-
rs tame ostriches. robbed of .heir
image. and any thing but attractive
ects in their despoiled condition.
tile as well as camels are used in To-
transport service.
The ruler of the city is known as Abe
.hia, but his power seems to be limited
civic cases, and he has little influence
external politics-as. for instance. in
never-ending feuds between the
arcgs, of the Sahara, the formidable
pple who have killed quite number
European travellers and are the chief
Stacle in the way of exploring the
,at central region of the desert. and
Fubbes, another tribe of fanatics
10 inhabit the Soudan. Timbuctoo
s more than once been captured by
G or the other of these warning tribes
At one time Morocc co welded enor-
,us influence and carried on "a large
.de with Timbuctoo, but that day is
10 past. The sultan of Morocco is
own as the Great Scherif, but he has
solutely no power. In fact, Dr.
, -anz did not succeed in discovering who
ruled Timbuctoo, and came away with
the impression that Timbuctoo governed
itself pretty much as it pleased.
There are indications that Timbuctoo
will soon cease to be a mysterious city.
as the French, descending the Niger la
a gunboat. have twice reached the ell
virons of the town in the past three
years.
Lying on the boundary between the
Soudan and the Sahara Timbuctoo is a
most favorable situation, and when
France achieves her ambition. and DOS
sesses the place, she will be on the
highroad to complete ascendancy in
that part of Africa, and Timbuctoo will
become as we'll known as Cairo
Charles W. Hardy, in Golden Days