The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-07-09
MYSTERIOUS rIMsuoroo.
It Has Besn visited by white Men Only
Five Times.

It 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-
csted 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 Imbcrt, u
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 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
1926, 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 adj
vcnturous Frenchman, in 1925, started
&c
of the mysterious city. He learned
Arabic and the customs of the Arabs,
and, in the guise of II 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 DIR.
Oscar LEM, another German explorer,
entered its confines in 1880, and it is
from his recently published work that
these facts are drawn. DR.. LEM re-
manned in Timbuctoo only three weeks,
and part of that time he was i'll, 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 healthy city There are
neither public gardens nor squares, and
DR.. LEM declares that the only verdure
is four or five sicllly trees. The only
public buildings are the mosques, to
each of which is connected a school, and
here also are collections of manuscripts
many of them doubtless of much his
torical Importance
Moroccan Arabs form the bulk of the
population although there is great
mixture of people from all over the
Western Soudan and the negro coun-
tries south of it, the Western Sahara
and the Mediterranean states.
Timbuctoo is big market, meeting
place of traders, where the products of
the south are exchanged for those of the
north, but it is not likely to develop in
to a large city, unless under European
influences.
DR.. Lenz found abundance of an
imal life. There were large herds of
hump-backed cattle grazing between
the town and the river; thousands of
goats and woclless sheep were scattered
over the plain, and there were large
troops of camels, asses and horses be-
sides tame ostriches, robbed of their
plumage, and any thing but attractive
objects in their despoiled condition.
Cattle as well as camels are used in To-
cal transport service.
The ruler of the city is known as the
Kahia, but his power seems to be limited
to civic cases, and he has little influence
in external politics-as, for instance, in
the never-ending feuds between the
Tuaregs, of the Sahara, the formidable
people who have killed quite number
Of European travellers and are the chief
obstacle in the way of exploring the
great central region of the desert, and
the Fubbes, another tribe of fanatics
who inhabit the Soudan. Timbuctoo
has more than once been captured by
one or the other of these warning tribes.
AS one time Morocco welded enor-
nous influence and carried on large
trade with Timbuctoo, but that day is
long past. The sultan of Morocco is
known as the Great Scherif, but he has
absolutely no power. In fact, DR..
Lenz 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 in
gunboat, have twice reached the en-
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 pos.
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.
A MISTAKEN CRITIC.
II