Timbuctoo the mysterious

The steamer lands you at the entrance to the Senegal, in a country which has belonged to France for centuries, and yet is only known to the general public by its thermometrical...

The Niger, with its vast and misty horizons, is more like an inland ocean than a river. Borne along upon it, scarcely seeing land, the traveller is carried away by those endless...

The ancient renown of Timbuctoo, its boasted commerce, and its prestige as a rich and powerful metropolis, warrant the assertion _à priori_ that the regions surrounding this cit...

‘Prepare to receive cavalry!... Mar-r-r-ch!’ This command uttered in a ringing voice, a clang of arms and a great clatter of feet, were the first sounds I heard on awakening in...

About twelve hours after we had left the main stream, to my sudden astonishment, the Bosos in the bow abruptly ceased plying their long bamboo poles. Sheltered as I was under my...

In travelling from the coast the European passes through successive native tribes of Western Africa: Cérères, Ouolofs, Khassonkas, Soussons and Bambaras, etc., all more or less...

The prosperity of the Sudan, and its wealth and commerce, were known far and wide in the sixteenth century. Caravans returning along the coasts proclaimed its splendours in thei...

During the miseries of the three centuries following upon the Moorish conquest Gao disappeared. The Touaregs swept through it, and left behind them a mere fraction of the grande...

Re-installed in my yacht-canoe, I followed the accustomed path of the Niger in order to reach Timbuctoo. I hastened towards the mysterious city, hoping to find the sequel to tha...

An immense and brilliant sky, and an immense and brilliant stretch of land, with the grand outlines of a town uniting the two. A dark silhouette, large and long, an image of gra...

In order to understand Jenne, we referred to the history of the countries east of the Niger, and found there a vein of Egyptian civilisation; the origin of Timbuctoo, however, m...

This simple dictum of an old Sudanese chronicle excellently expresses the commercial greatness of the city; the ‘canoe’ representing the south of Timbuctoo (the Sudan), and the...

Insuperable objections prevented her possession of monuments. Neither wood nor stone existed in her neighbourhood, not even plaster was at her disposal, and the priceless clay o...

We have shown great and small hastening to the dwellings of these learned men to seek counsel and consolation from their holiness and wisdom, and in this manner the marabuts acc...

All who have studied the remarkable genius of Colbert proclaim his ideas to have been greatly in advance of his century. It will not surprise us, therefore, to find his name amo...

On the part of Clarendon, Minister to the Queen and Government of England, to the greatly honoured and very noble Sheik, the learned among scholars who shines by his intelligenc...

When you have read this letter _you will know that the English Government has sent a steamer up the river that flows out of your country, and has recommended those on board to m...

Up to the last moment England endeavoured to put her hand upon the commerce of Timbuctoo. Failing in her efforts from Tripoli and the Niger’s mouth, she attempted to secure a fo...