Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/356

 298 WEST AFEICA. in Bele-dugu and conterminous lands, have completely isolated the Toucouleurs of Segu from their own country. They are now prisoners in their conquest, and like the Manchus in China, are gradually merging in the surrounding Bambara population. Sansandig also occupies a vitally important position on the left bank 33 miles below Segu Sikoro. Hence although lately destroyed by the Toucou- leurs, it cannot fail to revive either on the same site or in the immediate neigh- bourhood. The abrupt bend of the Niger at this place makes it the converging point of the routes from the Sahara, and the natural markets for the inhabitants of Sudan and the northern steppe are situated in the neighbouring zone inter- mediate between the hills and the plain. Within 60 miles to the north-west lies the great mart of Segala, and farther west Bamfari, that is, the district of Damfa or Dampa, another Sarakole town lying at the point of intersection of several highways, and during the dry season much frequented by the Ulad-Mahmuds and other nomad tribes. Damfari, which raises large crops of millet, was a very flourishing country in 1883, when it was visited by M. Bayol and placed under French protection by agreement with the local chiefs. A still more populous and commercial place is Murdla, which lies north of Damfa in the steppe region, where the sands of the desert first begin to encroach on the cultivated lands. The town, containing two thousand five hundred Sarakoles, is encircled by seven Moorish encampments containing at least twelve hundred souls, and the winding streets form a continuous bazaar, where may be purchased carpets, jewellery, embroidered leather- work, and other Mauritanian wares. North-westwards, in the direction of Kaarta, stretches the Bakhunu territory, which forms part of El-Hodh, a zone of transition between Sudan and the Sahara, and for ages a common battle-ground for the surrounding Arab, Bambara, Fulah, and Toucouleur peoples. Bakuinit, capital of Bakhunu, lies towards the west about 60 miles east of Nioro, and between it and Murdia the Sultan of Segu has founded the new market of Ghine^ which being free from all custom-house dues, has rapidly acquired great importance. The sedentary population of four thousand is sometimes swollen during market days to fifteen or twenty thousand. One of the routes leading from Sansandig to the Walata oasis passes through the great city of Gtimbu, Barth's Kiimba, inhabited by about twenty thousand Bambaras, speaking Arabic and cultivating vast fields of sorgho. Farther east the direct route between Sansandig and Timbuktu traverses the commercial city of Sokolo, the Kala of the Arabs, in media3val times one of the capitals of the Mandirigan' empire, and still containing a population of six thousand. Fara-bugu, lying a little to the north, is the most advanced settlement of the Bambara nation towards the domain of the Moors, In the section of the Niger below Sansandig, flowing for 60 miles eastward -», the chief riverain town is Sihili, capital of a petty Bambara state. Farther down, where the river resumes its north-easterly course, lies Biafarahe, the farthest