Timbuctoo.

Manawatu Herald, 10 January 1895, Page 3

Timbuctoo.

The Temcs prints a most interesting letter received from an officer stationed at Timbuctoo, which gives a most vivid picture of the African city and its inhabitants. Timbuctoo itself appears from this account to ( be by no means an interesting place ; a small tumbledown town in the , midst of a sandy waste. No traces of the immense libraries spoken of for so long have been discovered. Provisions are very cheap, especially meat, large pieces of which can be purchased for twenty cowries (2,500 . cowries are worth four shilllings.) The women are married at about the age of thirteen, and are at once put . through a course of treatment some- - what resembling that which the 1 Strasburg geese have to undergo. l They are forced to lie down all day, and several times in the course of ' the twenty-four hours have to swallow a large calabash full of sour j milk, -having been previously stuffed _ with meat. They are then thrashed j with ropes, until their flesh is well ] swollen, when they are left in peace j for a time. After this, we are nofc ( surprised to be told that tbey are ] extraordinarily apathetic in disposi- ; tion, and so stout that they cannot walk.