An Account of Timbuctoo and Housa Territories in the Interior of Africa

An Account of Timbuctoo and
Housa
by Abd Salam Shabeeny

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Title: An Account of Timbuctoo and Housa Territories in the Interior
of Africa
Author: Abd Salam Shabeeny
Commentator: James Grey Jackson
Release Date: September 16, 2007 [EBook #22631]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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AN ACCOUNT OF TIMBUCTOO AND HOUSA, TERRITORIES IN
THE INTERIOR OF Africa,
By: EL HAGE ABD SALAM SHABEENY;
WITH NOTES, CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY. TO WHICH IS
ADDED, LETTERS DESCRIPTIVE OF TRAVELS THROUGH
WEST AND SOUTH BARBARY, AND ACROSS THE
MOUNTAIN'S OF ATLAS; ALSO, FRAGMENTS, NOTES, AND
ANECDOTES; SPECIMENS OF THE ARABIC EPISTOLARY
STYLE, &c. &c.
"L'Univers est une espèce de livre, dont on n'a lu que la première page,
quand on n'a vu que son pays." LE COSMOPOLITE.
By; JAMES GREY JACKSON,
RESIDENT UPWARDS OF SIXTEEN YEARS IN SOUTH AND
WEST BARBARY, IN A DIPLOMATIC AND IN A COMMERCIAL
CAPACITY.

LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME,
AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1820.
Printed by A. and R. Spottiswoode, Printers Street, London.

TO HIS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY GEORGE THE FOURTH,
&c. &c. &c. THIS WORK IS WITH PERMISSION,
RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,
BY

HIS MAJESTY'S MOST DUTIFUL SUBJECT AND SERVANT,
JAMES GREY JACKSON.

INTRODUCTION.
The person who communicated the following intelligence respecting
Timbuctoo and Housa, is a Muselman, and a native of Tetuan, whose
father and mother are personally known to Mr. Lucas, the British
Consul. His name is Asseed El Hage Abd Salam Shabeeny. His
account of himself is, that at the age of fourteen years he accompanied
his father to Timbuctoo, from which town, after a residence of three
years, he proceeded to Housa; and after residing at the latter two years,
he returned to Timbuctoo, where he continued seven years, and then
came back to Tetuan.
Being now in the twenty-seventh year of his age, he proceeded from
Tetuan as a pilgrim and merchant, with the caravan for Egypt to Mecca
and Medina, and on his return, established himself as a merchant at
Tetuan, his native place, from whence he embarked on board a vessel
bound for Hamburgh, in order to purchase linens and other
merchandize that were requisite for his commerce.
On his return from Hamburgh in an English vessel, he was captured,
and carried prisoner to Ostend, by a ship manned by Englishmen, but
under Russian colours, the captain of which pretended that his Imperial
mistress was at war with all Muselmen. There he was released by the
good offices of the British consul, Sir John Peters[a], and embarked
once more in the same vessel, which, by the same mediation, was also
released; but as the captain either was or pretended to be afraid of a
second capture, El Hage Abd Salam was sent ashore at Dover, and is
now[b], by the orders of government, to take his passage on board a
king's ship that will sail in a few days.
In the following communications, Mr. Beaufoy proposed the questions,
and Mr. Lucas was the interpreter.

Shabeeny was two years on his journey from Tetuan to Mekka, before
he returned to Fas. He made some profit on his merchandise, which
consisted of haiks[c], red caps, and slippers, cochineal and saffron; the
returns were, fine Indian muslins[d] for turbans, raw silk, musk, and
gebalia[e], a fine perfume that resembles black paste.
He made a great profit by his traffic at Timbuctoo and Housa; but, he
says, money gained among the Negroes[f] has not the blessing of God
on it, but vanishes away without benefit to the owner; but, acquired in a
journey to Mecca, proves fortunate, and becomes a permanent
acquisition.
On his return with his father from Mecca, they settled at Tetuan, and
often carried cattle, poultry, &c. to Gibraltar; his father passed the last
fifteen years of his life at Gibraltar, and died there about the year 1793.
He was born at Mequinas; his family is descended from the tribe of
Shabban[g], which possesses the country between Santa Cruz and
Wedinoon. They were entitled to the office of pitching the Emperor's
tent, and attending his person. They can raise 40,000 men, and they
were the first who accompanied Muley Hamed Dehebby[h] in his
march to Timbuctoo.