The French traveler Auguste Rene Caye (1800-1838) had neither a proper education nor powerful patrons. Nevertheless, it was he who was the first of the Europeans to cross the Western Sahara, explore the eastern edge of the sandy desert El Juf, the El Eglab plateau, Erg Igidi, the Arivan, Taudenni, Tafilalet oases. He was the first of the Europeans to obtain reliable information about Timbuktu - an ancient trading city on the Niger River, which in Europe was called "the queen of the desert."
Queen of the Desert
The Malian city of Timbuktu sits on a bend in the Niger River on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. Even at the beginning of the 20th century, the city remained difficult to reach - along the Niger River, it was possible to reach Timbuktu only when the water level became high enough, and the caravan path was constantly covered with sand. The Tuaregs founded the "queen of the desert" around 1100 as a parking place for Saharan caravans.
Traditionally it is believed that the name of the city comes from the words "tin" and "Buktu". The first word translates to "place", and the second is the name of an old Malian woman who stayed with Arab traders leading the caravans north. According to another version put forward by the French orientalist Rene Bassett, in the Tamashek language, "tinbukt" means "a place at the end of the earth."
The city was first described by Arab geographers Ibn Battuta (1353) and Leo Africanus. By the 15th century, Timbuktu had become one of the main centers of the trans-Saharan trade, where they traded in salt and gold. Following the Berber, Arab and Jewish merchants, Arab scholars poured into the thriving city, who taught in the ancient Sankor madrasah, built by order of the Malian emperor Mansa Musa after his return from the Hajj around 1327. Greek manuscripts are still kept in Timbuktu. The golden age of the "queen of the desert" ended in 1591, when the city was captured by the army of the Moroccan sultan.
In Europe, since the Middle Ages, Timbuktu has been known as a fabulously wealthy city. At the end of the 17th century, European explorers began to look for a way to it. In 1795 and 1805, the Scottish explorer Mungo Park, part of the African Association, tried to discover the mysterious city and simultaneously explore the mouth of the Niger River. He may have become the first European to visit Timbuktu, but died in Nigeria before he could write down what he saw.
In 1824, the French Geographical Society offered ten thousand francs to a non-Muslim who could visit the city, return and write about what he saw. Two years later, another Scotsman, Alexander Gordon Leng, reached Timbuktu, but was killed on the way back by order of Sheikh Hamed-Uld-Habib, the leader of the Zawat tribe.
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First time in Africa
Auguste Rene Caye, the son of a baker sentenced to life in prison, decided to find Timbuktu as a teenager. This mysterious city of Africa, steeped in legends, became his cherished dream. At the age of sixteen, he got a job as a sailor on the cargo ship "Loire" and visited Senegal (Senegambia). There, he unsuccessfully tried to join Major Gray's expedition, which was searching for the missing Mungo Park.
After working for about six months on the island of Guadalupe. Kaye returned to Bordeaux and then went back to Senegal. There he joined a large caravan of Officer Partarijo sent by Major Gray to the coast. Having visited Bondu and Futa Toro with him, Auguste experienced many adventures, and in addition, he fell ill with a fever. The young traveler had to return to Saint-Louis, and then to France.
The young man was able to come to Senegal again only in 1824. The colony at that time was ruled by Baron Roger, who sought not only to expand trade relations of France, but also to multiply his geographical knowledge. Roger provided Kaye with the means for him to live for some time among the Brakna people, where he studied the Arabic language and the Muslim religion. Life among the distrustful Moorish nomads was not easy, but Kaye was able to collect interesting information about the life of the brac and their social structure. In May 1825, the traveler returned to Saint-Louis. He finally managed to find service in Senegambia and then in Sierra Leone.
By the spring of 1827, Auguste had a considerable amount of money at his disposal and was able to begin the implementation of his daring plan. By purchasing the goods, Kaye established ties with the Mandingos and the Seracoletes (peoples of West Africa), who were engaged in trade and traveled throughout the continent. He cleverly avoided all kinds of misunderstandings, posing as an Egyptian, captured and taken to France, and now, through Timbuktu, allegedly returning home. Such a trick reliably protected him from the hostility of the local population.
Touching the dream
On March 22, 1827, Kaye left Freetown for Kakondi, a village located on the banks of the Rhys Nunish River. The path began in the jungle, several times had to cross rivers, including the tributaries of the Niger and Senegal. In January 1828, Kaye reached the city of Jen-ne, which was once called the "land of gold." The traveler noted that Jenne is surrounded by an adobe wall two and a half miles (4.6 km) long and ten feet (about three meters) high, and the houses in it are built of bricks dried in the sun, and are not inferior in size to peasant dwellings in Europe … Then Kaye traveled to Timbuktu across Niger on a large boat, which he was allowed to plunge into by the local sheriff, who received an umbrella as a gift.
On April 20, the explorer went ashore in the town of Kabra, which serves as a port for Timbuktu. And finally, he achieved his cherished goal. Kaye wrote: “I had a completely different idea of this magnificent and rich city. At first glance, Timbuktu is just a cluster of poorly built adobe houses … But still there is something impressive in this city that has arisen among the sands, and you involuntarily admire the work of those who founded it."
The houses in the city were large, but low and built of round bricks. The streets are wide and clean. In Timbuktu, there were seven mosques with high brick minarets, from where the muezzins (ministers at the mosques) called the faithful to prayer. But there was uncertainty and desolation in everything. In the city, about which Leo the African wrote that many artists and scientists worked in it, that his royal palace was filled with gold bars, plates and blocks, and some of them weighed 1,300 pounds (590 kg), now only a fifth of it lived the former population.
Way back home
Kaye had been in Timbuktu for only four days when he heard about a merchant caravan leaving for Tafilalet. Since the next one was expected only after three months, the French, fearing exposure, joined the merchants, who were carrying at least 600 camels with them.
They set off on May 4, 1828. Through the trading city of Aravan and a number of oases on the endless sands of the Sahara, the caravan moved to Morocco. The sweltering heat, the pangs of thirst, deprivation, fatigue and the wound received when falling from a camel - all this was not as painful for Kaye as the ridicule that he had to endure from the Moors and even slaves. They all endlessly found new excuses to mock Kaye's habits and awkwardness. It got to the point that stones were thrown at him as soon as he turned his back.
In early August, the caravan reached Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Kaye was exhausted by the long journey, during which he ate only dates and begged alms from the Muslims; most often they didn’t give anything and chased him away. Finally, he managed to leave Rabat for Tangier. In September 1828, exhausted and sick, he appeared before the French vice-consul Delaport, who treated him like a son. The vice-consul immediately wrote to the commander of the French squadron in Cadiz and, disguised as a sailor, ordered him to be taken to a corvette sent for him.
The learned world was amazed to learn that a young Frenchman who had returned from Timbuktu landed in Toulon. Numerous honors awaited the traveler in France. Kaye became a knight of the Legion of Honor; his native magistrate elected him burgomaster. With the support of the President of the Paris Geographical Society, his travel notes "Travel Diary to Timbuktu and Jenna in Central Africa" were published in three volumes. The Geographical Society awarded him a prize of ten thousand francs.
Fame and glory surrounded Kaye. However, the lack of education limited his scientific capabilities and partly reduced the value of the wonderful journey, and over time, indignant voices began to be heard about the incompetence of Auguste. As a result, Kaye's honorary pension was cut. Exactly ten years later, almost a day after he left Timbuktu, Auguste Rene Caye died.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №50. Author: Valdis Peipins