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Harald Ginzky
Irene L. Heuser
Tianbao Qin
Oliver C. Ruppel
Patrick Wegerdt Editors

International
Yearbook of
Soil Law and
Policy 2016
International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy

Series editor
Harald Ginzky
German Environment Agency
Dessau, Germany

Advisory editors
Jerry Anderson
Ben Boer
Maylis Desrousseaux
Elizabeth Dooley
Ian Hannam
Robert Kibugi
Till Markus
José Morato Leite
Jesse Richardson
Bernard Vanheusden
Qun Du
The International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy is a book series that discusses
the central questions of law andpolicy with regard to the protection and sustainable
management of soil andland. The Yearbook series analyzes developments in
international law and newapproaches at the regional level as well as in a wide
range of nationaljurisdictions. In addition, it addresses cross-disciplinary issues
concerningthe protection and sustainable management of soil, including tenure
rights,compliance, food security, human rights, poverty eradication and migra-
tion.Each volume contains articles and studies based on specific overarching
topicsand combines perspectives from both lawyers and natural scientists to ensure
aninterdisciplinary discourse.
The International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy offers a valuable resource for
lawyers, legislators, scholars andpolicymakers dealing with soil and land issues
from a regulatory perspective.Further, it provides an essential platform for the
discussion of new conceptualapproaches at the international, national and regional
level.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15378

Harald Ginzky • Irene L. Heuser • Tianbao Qin •
Oliver C. Ruppel • Patrick Wegerdt
Editors

International Yearbook
of Soil Law and Policy 2016
Editors
Harald Ginzky Irene L. Heuser
German Environment Agency IUCN World Commission on
Dessau, Germany Environmental Law
Deputy Chair of Specialist Group on
Sustainable Soils and Desertification
Kleinmachnow, Germany

Tianbao Qin Oliver C. Ruppel

Research Institute of Environmental Law Faculty of Law
Wuhan University University of Stellenbosch
Wuhan, China Stellenbosch, South Africa

Patrick Wegerdt
DG Environment
European Commission
Brussels, Belgium

International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy

ISBN 978-3-319-42507-8 ISBN 978-3-319-42508-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42508-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017932897

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt
from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained
herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with
regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Printed on acid-free paper

This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Foreword

Soils have been the neglected environmental media for a long time. However,
several food crises at the beginning of this century have brought a change in
perspective of late. Since then, the indispensable value of soils for humans and
for the conservation of the environment as a whole has been increasingly under-
stood and gained much momentum too. Also the language around “soils” has
changed: Whereas in previous times, soils were predominantly perceived as “dust
and dirt”, we have more recently experienced a shift in the public perception where
emphatic formulations, like the “earth’s fragile skin” or “soils for life”, started to
reflect the increasingly accepted importance of soils for all life on earth and as
keystone element for sustainable development.
It is no wonder that soils have been much more prominently featured in the
outcome document of the Rio + 20 Conference “The Future We Want” in 2012 and
ultimately in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in 2015. In addition, the UN
General Assembly declared the year 2015 as the first “International Year of Soils”
and has decided that December 5 every year shall be known as “World Soil Day”.
An effective conservation of soils particularly by sustainably managing them
requires reliable data, scientific knowledge, appropriate management concepts,
public engagement, sufficient financial resources, effective legal instruments and
good governance.
In this regard, it has been our intention to establish a platform for discussion
among legislators, lawyers and policymakers regarding regulatory concepts and
approaches on the international, regional and national level. The new International
Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy aims to bring together the global legal fraternity,
academics, judges and local legal practitioners to continue the discourse on soils in
the attempt to improve the legal promotion and protection of soils by inter alia
enhancing existing governance solutions.
This first volume of the International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy focuses
on contents and implementation of the objective of a “land degradation neutral
world”, which is also prominently addressed in SDG Target 15.3. The Yearbook is
divided into four parts. We are particularly pleased that this first volume was

v
vi Foreword

prominently blessed with words of welcome by internationally renowned aca-

demics and visionary politicians from every continent. This introductory part
with specific regional perspectives is followed by one of the recent international
(law) developments. This part includes an analysis of the content and structure of
the SDGs with regard to soil and land, a discussion of scientific methods relevant
for their implementation and reports relevant international (legal) regimes. Latest
developments include the decisions made at the 12th Conference of the Parties to
the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP21
Paris Agreement. The next part deals with cross-disciplinary issues relevant to the
implementation of the SDG like the right to food, land tenure, migration and the
“Economics of Land Degradation Initiative”. The final part reports on develop-
ments in national legislation from various domestic jurisdictions and supranational
entities, including Brazil, China, the European Union, Mongolia, Namibia and the
United States.
It is our intention that the book series International Yearbook of Soil Law and
Policy will be perceived as a useful tool for academics, legislators and policy-
makers working in this field. To this end, also the subsequent volumes shall address
emerging questions of law and politics with regard to the protection and sustainable
management of soil and land—at the international, national and regional level
such as urban sprawl, sustainable agriculture, effectiveness of regional agreements or
land as a privately owned good.
We would like to emphasize our sincere gratitude to Springer Publishing House
for publishing the new International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy as part of its
“legal portfolio”, making it thus globally accessible.

Dessau, Germany Harald Ginzky

Kleinmachnow, Germany Irene L. Heuser
Wuhan, China Tianbao Qin
Stellenbosch, South Africa Oliver C. Ruppel
Brussels, Belgium Patrick Wegerdt
Contents

Part I Words of Welcome from All Continents

Greeting to the Launch of the Yearbook from an African Perspective . . . . 3
Sem T. Shikongo
Audit of Soil Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Aroldo Cedraz de Oliveira
Soils Need International Governance: A European Perspective for the
First Volume of the International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy . . . . 15
Jochen Flasbarth
North American Soils and World Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
William E. Rees
Soils Governance, an Australian Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Paul Martin
Striving for Land-Soil Sustainability: Some Legal Reflections . . . . . . . . 37
Bharat H. Desai and Balraj K. Sidhu

Part II Recent Developments of Soil Regulation at International Level

International Soil Protection Law: History, Concepts and Latest
Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Ben W. Boer, Harald Ginzky, and Irene L. Heuser
Chances and Challenges in Using the Sustainable Development Goals
as a New Instrument for Global Action Against Soil Degradation . . . . . 73
Knut Ehlers
Land Degradation Neutrality and the UNCCD: From Political Vision
to Measurable Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Sara Minelli, Alexander Erlewein, and Victor Castillo

vii
viii Contents

The Role of Soils in International Climate Change Policy . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Charlotte Streck and Agustina Gay
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity and Soils: Status
and Future Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Franziska Wolff and Timo Kaphengst
The Alpine Convention’s Soil Conservation Protocol: A Model
Regime? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Till Markus
Are Soils Taken into Consideration by the IPBES Assessment on Land
Degradation and Restoration? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Maylis Desrousseaux, Janne S. Kotiaho, and Florent Kohler

Part III Cross-Cutting Topics

Soil Degradation and Migrations in the Age of the Global
Environmental Crisis: A Policy-Making Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Grammenos Mastrojeni
FAO: Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of
Land, Forests and Fisheries—Relevance, Reception and First
Experiences in Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Michael Windfuhr
Evaluating the Role of Private Land Tenure Rights in Sustainable
Land Management for Agriculture in Kenya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Robert Kibugi
The Human Right to Food and Sustainable Soil Management: Linking
Voluntary Agricultural Sustainability Standards with Food Security . . . . 237
Tina Beuchelt, Anna Mohr, and Rafaël Schneider
Economics of Land Degradation: Achievements and Next Steps . . . . . . 263
Hannes Etter, Tobias Gerhartsreiter, and Naomi Stewart

Part IV National and Regional Soil Legislation

National Developments in Soil Protection in Mongolia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Ian Hannam
The Protection of Soil Under Namibian Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Oliver C. Ruppel and Anielle von Finckenstein
Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), Department of Agriculture
and Environmental Audit: Soil Governance Audit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Vinı́cius Neves dos Santos, Tiago Modesto Carneiro da Costa,
and Junnius Marques Arifa
Contents ix

Legislative Progress on Soil Contamination Prevention and Control in

China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Tianbao Qin and Fang Dong
The Protection of Soil: Does the European Union Live Up to Its Own
Ambitions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Markus Raffelsiefen and Thomas Strassburger
United States Soil Degradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Jesse J. Richardson Jr. and Elizabeth Dooley
 Part I
Words of Welcome from All Continents
Greeting to the Launch of the Yearbook from
an African Perspective

Sem T. Shikongo

Upon this handful of soil our survival depends. Husband it

and it will grow our food, our fuel, and our shelter and
surround us with beauty. Abuse it and the soil will collapse
and die, taking humanity with it
From Vedas Sanskrit Scripture—1500 BC

1 Introduction

Africa is a continent blessed with a unique blend of culturally rich people with a
myriad of traditional knowledge innovations and practices that has contributed
significantly to natural resource management, more specifically sustainable land
management and biodiversity conservation. The pressures of modern change dic-
tated and driven by the northern hemisphere, have however been too fast for Africa
to keep up with due to many urgent priorities that African governments contend
with, relative to challenges facing developed countries. At the same time global
climate change is making its presence felt ever increasingly all over the planet,
including Africa, which may perhaps be the least prepared for the significant
challenges climate change will pose. African governments must handle the chal-
lenge of adapting and coping with the consequences of climate change on our soils,
biodiversity and ability to sustainably manage our land and natural resources.
Africa does not have the technical, technological, financial and human resources
to face this challenge head on in a coordinated, synergistic manner involving all
stakeholders, or do we?

S.T. Shikongo (*)

Directorate of Tourism and Gambling, Ministry of Environment and Tourism – Namibia,
Windhoek, Namibia
e-mail: s_shikongo@hotmail.com

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 3

H. Ginzky et al. (eds.), International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy 2016,
International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42508-5_1
4 S.T. Shikongo

This paper serves as a greeting message for the launch of the International
Yearbook of Soil Law and policy which has the overarching context of sustainable
development goals focusing in particular on the goal of a “land degradation neutral
world”. The focus is on the importance of soils, the interaction of soils with Homo
sapiens, the challenges we face from an African perspective and some of the
measures we can undertake to address these challenges.

2 The Planet: A Stifled Cry from Mother Earth

Today the world is in great need of healing. The land and the people are one. We are
from the soil and we return to the soil. This the sages have known for a long long
time as captured in the sayings from the ancient ones.
The species Homo sapiens developed the ability to communicate through lan-
guage, developed culture and the ability to cultivate and tamed fire. These three
elements gave this species an advantage over other species and so started the
conquest of ecosystems, species and genes by Homo sapiens that saw the emer-
gence of change at a grand scale of planet earth. Homo sapiens have pushed the
planet to its limits and today we are experiencing the silent cry of the planet and the
rest of the living world as it battles to fight back against the relentless onslaught to
nature by this species which has forgotten inconveniently its integral linkage to
nature.
When we look at soil we see only the dirt but if you look deeper you will see a
whole cosmos emerge. There is a rich vibrant society of organisms, elements and
atoms working together to create a substance that forms the basic ingredients
needed by life. . .a grain of soil can constitute an entire ecosystem.
The 7.1 billion people on this planet, which we call earth and home, depend on
the biological products derived from the soil for their food, which are provided by
the 2.6 billion farmers whose livelihoods depend on generating food from soil
(FAO 2013 cited by Chasek et al. 2014). This biological productivity of economic
value (mainly food but also other biological products from the land, e.g. fiber,
forage, firewood, medicinal, soil organic carbon and soil biodiversity) and ecosys-
tem services, such as water regulation and soil conservation, provided by the
vegetation cover of the soil, as well as by the socio-economic and policy drivers
that can change these factors (Chasek et al. 2014). These preceding paragraphs
encapsulate the reality that we depend on soils and the interactions around soils for
our existence for our well-being both physically, mentally, emotionally and spiri-
tually. Not only us but all biological beings on this planet.
Central to soils and their health and survival is Homo sapiens, who holds the key
to the future—is he/she really the wise one as we have decided to name him/her? If
we look around us we see acts of soil destruction and over exploitation of the land
and resources. Meanwhile, the land has to continue taking care of ever increasing
demands of man despite the fact that there is a diminishing ability of the land to
continue producing. Today the international instrument we have that one can say is
Greeting to the Launch of the Yearbook from an African Perspective 5

closely associated with the soil is the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification. It has also become known as the one Convention that is primarily
important for Africa. Yet according to Chasek et al. (2014) on the ground, imple-
mentation of the Convention was and is still fraught with difficulties: the Parties’
obligations and the Convention’s expectations from parties are not quite clear, the
robust financial and political capital necessary for its implementation is still not in
place, the major tool for its implementation is still not in place, the National Action
Plans (NAPs) are irrelevant to mainstream policy making and development coop-
eration and in many cases donors address land degradation issues bilaterally rather
than under the framework of the Convention (Basett and Talafre 2003 cited in
Chasek et al. 2014).
Some critical players in this policy arena of land degradation have been conve-
niently kept out due to the archaic rules of the United Nations systems. The
meaningful involvement of the custodians of soils—the local communities—in
defining, identifying, monitoring and responding to desertification/land degrada-
tion, namely by participation, continues to be missing for various internal and
external reasons (Chasek et al. 2014). This is, nevertheless, one of the UNCCD
centerpieces of combating desertification/land degradation. A similar situation
occurs in sister conventions. The synergies between sister conventions are not
addressed meaningfully and are lost in processes which consume limited financial
resources and result in more decisions on paper which many times have nothing to
do with on the ground real implementation. The challenge continues and a large
percentage of humanity continues to suffer whilst a small percentage runs around
the planet in search of pipe dreams to solve the plight of the majority.

3 What Can We Do to Address the Cry of Mother Earth

and Her Soils?

3.1 Redefine Desertification to Land Degradation Globally

The time has come for us to completely awaken and move away from the concept of
desertification and address the real challenge. The problem we face is land degra-
dation or soil degradation the loss of productivity of the land due to mostly
anthropogenic causes notwithstanding the fact that, of course, there are natural
causes but even these are remotely linked to activities of Homo sapiens in one way
or another.
We need a synergistic, pragmatic and adaptive approach if we are to halt, reverse
and address the issue of soil degradation. If a grain of soil can constitute a whole
ecosystem then surely it follows that there are a myriad of relations that one will
have to factor in and consider as one deals with the issues of soils.
6 S.T. Shikongo

Humanity has to re-think the road it is on. One of an inexhaustible drive to

control, subdue and subvert all natural things to the will of men in his hunger for
power, money and perceived control.
We must however remember the words of those who came before us. “Upon this
handful of soil our survival depends. Husband it and it will grow our food, our fuel,
and our shelter and surround us with beauty. Abuse it and the soil will collapse and
die, taking humanity with it”.

3.2 Africa Needs to Engage in a Truthful Reality Check

It is important that this launch of this important and much needed Yearbook is being
greeted from an African perspective, one of the continents which is perceived as not
able to feed itself and the humans that inhabit it. One of Africa’s most urgent
challenges today is food security, this is amidst all the other urgent developmental
challenges that are just as pressing and urgent. To make the matter worse a hungry
people are an angry people and this worsen governance and Africa’s ability to
remain focused and deal with the real issues without following the dreams and
topics of others that do not serve our interest. Despite many efforts to assist Africa
on her road towards sustainable development with a focus on the international
sustainable development agenda, the battle has not been won. The problems and
challenges continue on the continent driven by, amongst others, loss of culture, loss
of language, loss of traditional knowledge, globalization, conflict and war, unclear
land and resource tenure, livelihood and poverty, population growth and use of
foreign legal systems that fail to take into account our customary laws and culture.
All of these challenges have an impact on Africa’s ability to deal with her soils.
Is it perhaps because of the fact that Africa is on a road for which the script she is
using is not African—thereby addressing issues from a position of inherent disad-
vantage given the fact that Africa has given up its competitive and comparative
advantage? How can African indigenous knowledge system and true culture come
to our aid in this struggle against the onslaught of soil degradation given its
deleterious effect on Africans and the rest of the world? Is there a way out? The
picture looks bleak but what is the road ahead and what can we conclude?

3.3 Africa Can Lead the Way

Despite African being described as the Dark Continent, the continent of disease,
hunger, poverty and war it must be recognized that this is the perception and the
story presented by another who is not African. The reality is that Africa is still the
least ‘messed-up’ continent in the world with regards to soils, ecosystems and
biodiversity. Africa can be developed to become the “green lung of the World”
and serve as a global carbon sink. Africans and those who are friends of Africa will
Greeting to the Launch of the Yearbook from an African Perspective 7

however have to ask themselves some tough questions to establish a true reality
check. If we embark upon this road we will need to establish some critical
assumptions that must be met in order for such an approach to succeed: These
critical conditions amongst others are:
• Africa needs to develop a strategy to capitalize on the competitive and compar-
ative advantages inherent in African culture, traditions indigenous knowledge
systems, innovations and practices that are relevant to the conservation and
sustainable utilization of soils and biodiversity and combine that with western
and other knowledge systems as tools to enable us to make a shift in the right
direction
• Africa must invest in building lasting social capital (trust) within Africa and in
African institutions and her own people
• Africa must assure that the gains received from initiatives aimed to achieve
“neutrality” go directly to the people unlike what has happened to the gains from
other African treasures such as minerals, oil and gems.
• The need for the establishment of an Africa wide protocol or convention on soils
ensuring buy-in and ownership of all critical players in Africa must be met
• Africans must recognize and encourage the full and effective involvement of
major groups essential to the success of soils especially the local communities
and the private sector
• Africa must assure that any foreign investment into Africa must add to the
African agenda and not priorities determined by other continents.
• The African agenda towards economic and financial independence must make
room for cultural independence as well as true recognition of African culture and
its contribution to sustainable development.
If these conditions are met and African grown initiatives with assistance from
those who have the interest of Africa and her people at heart—are developed and
implemented truthfully—then this could become the “neutrality” link for Africa’s
soil, climate and biodiversity with spin-offs for the global community and the
planet.

4 Conclusion: More Tough Questions

In conclusion, perhaps therefore the time has come that Africa starts to take bold
steps and takes the future of humanity into its own hands? Perhaps if the interna-
tional conventions to which Africa is a member but in which the agenda is dictated
by others, not in the true interest of Africa, can be forced to change their course by
Africa’s withdrawal from membership? We need a new direction, we need to learn
adaptively and face the reality of the various processes that we have engaged on as
Africans. Are we today better off? Are our soils better off? Are we truly enjoying
the diversity of the products of our soil or is someone else enjoying at the expense of
the African and his/her continent? Which continent today is enjoying the best fruits
8 S.T. Shikongo

of the planet in terms of the most diverse organic diet derived from the planet’s
soils? Why?
We may not have all the answers to the above questions, perhaps through
initiatives such as these Yearbook Africa can embark upon a road that can assure
that the answers may result in the survival of our soils and all that which is linked to
them in the interest of our physical, mental and emotional, and spiritual well-being.

References

Basett C, Talafre J (2003) Implementing the UNCDD: towards a recipe for success. Rev Eur
Commun Int Environ Law 12:133–139
Chasek P, Safriel U, Shikongo S, Futran Fuhrman V (2014) Operationalizing zero net land
degradation: the next stage in international efforts to combat desertification? J Arid Environ.
doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2014.05.020
FAO (2013) FAOSTAT: Population: Agricultural population 2013. http://faostat3.fao.org/faostat-
gateway/go/to/download/O/OA/E. Accessed 20 Mar 2016
Audit of Soil Governance

Aroldo Cedraz de Oliveira

The world is awakening to the need to take better care of its natural and finite
resources, such as soil, which is fundamental to the life of every living being and
deserves special treatment.
After all, soil underpins everything we have and is at the center of the main
challenges of the planet: food, fiber and energy production, as well as environmen-
tal services. It is essential to ecosystem functions as it plays a key role in mitigating
climate change effects, maintaining water sources and sustaining biodiversity.
Therefore, its misuse can even make life on our planet impossible.
This matter has always been very attractive and challenging for me, which is
why I took every opportunity to provoke discussion on the subject during my work
on different activities.
Thus, stemming from our experience at the first Global Soil Week in late 2012
in Berlin, Germany, a small group of Brazilian scholars and I concluded it would be
extremely appropriate to bring this debate to Brazil. After all, in a country with
continental characteristics like ours, being a power concurrently agricultural, min-
eral and environmental, the sustainable use of this important natural resource has
special relevance.
At that time, it was understood that the Brazilian Court of Audit (TCU)1 should
lead the debate due to its position in the Brazilian state structure. I, as president of
TCU, accepted the challenge of convincing my peers that we should hold an event
in Brazil to discuss the issue of land, with emphasis on the issue of governance, in
line with our institutional mission of contributing to the improvement of public
administration for the benefit of society.

1
http://portal.tcu.gov.br/cidadao/.
A.C. de Oliveira (*)
Brazilian Court of Accounts, Brasila, Brazil
e-mail: gabpres@tcu.gov.br

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 9

H. Ginzky et al. (eds.), International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy 2016,
International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42508-5_2
10 A.C. de Oliveira

It is worth noting that, from the moment the idea was launched, we received
immediate support and engagement from several Brazilian institutions working in
areas directly connected to the subject as well as international organizations, such
as the Institute for Advanced Studies in Sustainability of Germany and the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). All these institutions worked
with us on the design and construction of the “Soil Governance Conference”, which
took place in Brasilia on 25–27 March 2015.
It was a timely choice to hold the event during the International Year of Soils,
decreed by the United Nations (UN), as there was more motivation to deepen the
thematic discussion and awareness of society, governors and legislators about the
importance of this important natural resource. The forum provided a stage for
debates regarding highly complex issues related to degradation, governance and
soil management.
At the end of the meeting, the “Letter of Brasilia”2 was launched. In line with the
conference’s aim to foster fruitful results for our country, this outcome document
aimed to influence the adoption of global measures for the conservation and
sustainable use of soil. It includes reflections, considerations and conclusions
along the theme of soil, while also sharing with society a number of suggestions
for materialized improvement in a number of structural measures to be prioritized
by the responsible agents.
The Soil Governance Conference, in conclusion, shares the opportunities for
improvement a construction of a permanent forum for discussion about soil,
emphasis on soil in the policies that promote development, preparation of new
surveys and mapping in more detailed scales, for the planning and use of the
territory, ongoing information to society about the threats and costs involved in
the current form of soil use and exploitation, revision and consolidation of the
several scattered norms and laws about soil and investment in proper education,
preparation and qualification of different segments of society that deal directly with
this resource.
This important issue was again highlight in other forums I attended, such as the
39th FAO Conference held in Rome on the 10th and 11th of June 2015, which
brought together 16 Heads of State and Government, 116 Ministers, and around
1700 participants representing 191 delegations, an unprecedented number in the
Organization’s history. The relationship between soil, food security and climate
change set the tone of the debate, focusing on sustainable management.
On that occasion, the FAO released technical data on the global status of soil
resources. According to the Organization, soils are responsible for 95 % of world
food production and its sustainable management could increase food production by
as much as 58 %.
In addition, it was reported that soils make up 1/4 of the planet’s biodiversity and
account for the second largest global carbon stock—second only to the oceans.
However, approximately 1/3 of this natural resource is degraded worldwide due to

2
http://www.governancadosolo.gov.br.
Audit of Soil Governance 11

erosion, compaction, sealing, salinization, acidification, pollution and depletion of

nutrients caused by unsustainable management practices.
Moreover, the extent of areas considered “lost” due to intense degradation
increases by about 500,000 km2 per year—equivalent to the size of Costa Rica.
According to the FAO, nature can take up to 400 years to produce 1 cm of soil, so
soils’ recovery far exceeds the span of multiple generations. Therefore, though
often perceived as a given resource, soil is a nonrenewable natural resource and is
increasingly threatened.
The Post-2015 Development Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
adopted by the UN, which replace the Millennium Development Goals, should
guide national policies and international cooperation activities over the next
15 years. Goal 15 recognized the dilemma facing soils worldwide, stating: “protect,
restore and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably
manage the forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation,
halt biodiversity loss.”
Few areas of the world contain a territorial reach and amount of land used for
agricultural production as Brazil. However, data from the Ministry of the Environ-
ment indicate that 140 million hectares of Brazilian land are degraded, which
corresponds to 16.5 % of the national territory. Among these lands, about 30 million
hectares of pastures are in some stage of degradation, with very low productivity for
animal feed. In recent years, the country has faced the phenomenon of desertifica-
tion, which is affecting various regions such as the Northeast semi-arid region, the
Cerrado of Tocantins, Northern Mato Grosso and Minas Gerais. In addition, the
process of increasing arenization has reached the Pampas Gauchos. With the
formation of arid areas, the temperature rises and the humidity level of the air
decreases, making the soil infertile, thereby threatening decreases in food produc-
tion and increases in hunger and poverty.
Aware of this, the performance audit by the Brazilian TCU of non-urban soil and
land governance actions taken by the Federal Government highlighted matters that
were on the agenda in all the forums I have mentioned. The audit also resulted in the
diagnosis of the risk to the country’s natural heritage and identification of the
damage suffered.
Incidentally, it is good to clarify that the TCU’s operations in this area are
supported by its constitutional competence and its strategic objectives, including
to “Improve governance in public organizations and policies.”
Additionally, in the institutional framework of the Brazilian state, the TCU is an
autonomous body that offers society and the National Congress an independent and
technical perspective founded on sound methods and international auditing stan-
dards. Like other Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI), it has been offering its expertise
to the Brazilian Government regarding the implementation of public policies,
including those aimed at the sustainable use of soil.
In this context, the main objectives of the Department of Agriculture and
Environment (the TCU unit which coordinated this work) are to perform oversight
functions that contribute to the production of food quantity and quality to ensure
food security for the people of Brazil and generate exports; to the organization of
12 A.C. de Oliveira

rural areas and the development of family, economic and social agriculture; and to
the maintenance of a healthy environment. All these objectives are strongly linked
to soil protection.
In this regard, the audit was extremely timely. In the wake of world events, there
is much to learn and put into practice. In general, countries have striven to improve
soil protection, be it within their governments or within the scope of action of the
SAIs, such as the Brazilian TCU, in pursuit of the SDGs.
The audit touched on five of the SDGs and specifically addressed two of them—
goal 2 (Eradicating hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition and
promoting sustainable agriculture) and goal 15 (Protect, restore and promote the
sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage the forests, combating
desertification, arrest and reverse land degradation and halt the loss of biodiversity).
Hence, the importance of doing our part becomes apparent, including seeking to
integrate with international organizations, such as International Organization of
Supreme Audit Institutions (Intosai), which provided an institutionalized frame-
work for supreme audit institutions to foster development and share knowledge and
best practices to improve government auditing worldwide and enhance professional
capacities.
On this track, Resolution A/RES/69/228 adopted by the UN General Assembly
on 19 December 2014, titled Promoting and fostering the transparency of public
administration by strengthening supreme audit Institutions, recognizes the role
that SAIs can play is conducive to achieving the SDGs and soil-related priorities.
Despite the fact that the majority of international agreements conducted by the
UN are not compulsory in nature, it is clear the important role that SAIs can play in
monitoring the implementation of SDG. SAIs have different mechanisms to induce
the implementation of agreed actions as well as promote transparency and account-
ability in the sphere of global agreements.
Moreover, such regulation encourages countries and UN institutions to intensify
cooperation with Intosai, especially with regards to capacity building of the various
actors in order to promote good governance at all levels, ensuring efficiency,
accountability, effectiveness and transparency from the strengthening of SAIs.
At the national level, we still have a great responsibility: to contribute to a
forward-looking vision, of strategic character, that will be a part of the guidance for
government plans, policies and programs. We know that if we are looking 15 years
ahead, now we need to think, decide and act in a timely manner because in order for
positive effects of state social and economic actions to be transformative, years or
even decades of learning, maturing and consolidation are required.
As stated in the “Letter of Brasilia”, Brazil does not have a specific soil policy,
which was proven in the audit and demonstrates the need for the determinations and
recommendations provided in the resulting judgment 1,942/2015-TCU-Plenary.3

3
http://portal.tcu.gov.br/fiscalizacao/agricultura-desenvolvimento-agrario-e-meio-ambiente/
destaques/fiscalizacoes-concluidas.htm.
Audit of Soil Governance 13

Thus, there are several reasons to continue discussions in order to seek elements
that may support state actions in the context of a future National Soils Policy, which
is quite necessary for the Brazilian nation.
The question to discuss then is how to tread the virtuous path since the Court’s
audit provided a view of the effects of the complexity and dispersion of rules. There
is clearly an instability of objectives and strategies; unpredictability of resources;
lack of definition of competencies; absence of formal coordination instruments;
lack of coherence between public programs and actors; lack of adequate systems of
monitoring and validation; and difficulty in the implementation of public policies.
These deficiencies are not unique to the Brazilian nation, which is why the
United Nations has requested the SAIs to assist in reversing this situation so that
countries may better pursue the ideal of eradicating hunger, achieving food secu-
rity, improving nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture. Thus, the aim is to
ensure access of all people, particularly the poor and vulnerable persons, e.g.,
children, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food throughout the year.
In fact, the goals are ambitious, but we must bear in mind that all these ideals are
part of a fundamental condition for us to achieve full democracy. A democracy in
which economic growth proves lasting, preserving the rights of future generations,
and showing itself to be inclusive by improving the quality of life of our citizens in
the present in a fair and harmonious way.
Therefore, aware of the gravity of the soil situation, the audit by the Brazilian
TCU, is another tool for sharing information with the global society on a monitoring
methodology and diagnosis of the soil situation. It will certainly serve as input for
the national adoption of practical actions to preserve the natural and finite soil
resources of Brazil, which are essential to achieving the SDGs.
Soils Need International Governance: A
European Perspective for the First Volume
of the International Yearbook of Soil Law
and Policy

Jochen Flasbarth

It all started in December 2014 in Berlin at an international workshop organized by

the German Environment Agency. A small group of about 25 legal experts from all
parts of the world recognized that a platform for discussions on soil governance
issues was urgently needed. After further deliberations amongst experts and a lot of
preparatory and editorial work we now see the final product: The first volume of the
new International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy, published by Springer, is
accessible from a large number of libraries across the world. The German Envi-
ronment Agency, where I had the honor of being President from 2009 to 2013, has
put a great deal of effort into this project. Reason enough to send this message of
greeting. Furthermore all the time and personnel required to make this Yearbook
happen deserve this to be framed in a wider political context, taking a specific
European perspective into account.
2015 was a good year for soils, for several reasons. First of all, 2015 was the first
International Year of Soils as declared by the UN General Assembly in December
2013. In addition, the UN General Assembly declared 5 December to be World Soil
Day.1 Throughout 2015 soil events took place in all corners of the world.2 In
Germany the launch and the end of the first International Year of Soils were marked
by two international conferences in Berlin. All these events significantly contrib-
uted to increased awareness of the necessity of soil protection among policymakers
as well as the general public—which is of course good news.

1
68th UN General Assembly, December 2013: more information at: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/
user_upload/GSP/docs/iys/World_Soil_Day_and_International_Year_of_Soils__UNGA_Resolu
tion_Dec._2013.pdf.
2
See http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID¼49520#.VswrLbdMv8M.
J. Flasbarth (*)
German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety,
Berlin, Germany
e-mail: jochen.flasbarth@bmub.bund.de

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 15

H. Ginzky et al. (eds.), International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy 2016,
International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42508-5_3
16 J. Flasbarth

Second, the UN General Assembly approved the universal plan for action
“Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” in
September 2015, consisting of 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets
which concretize these goals.3 This program will be the benchmark for international
and national policies up to 2030, setting obligations for all countries—developed
and developing countries alike—with regard to sustainable development. For soils,
the agenda demands that states will strive for a land degradation-neutral world,
meaning there has to be an equal balance between land degradation and restoration/
rehabilitation. This is in fact very ambitious. The agenda, including its goals and
targets, will have to be implemented at national and international level.
Third, Parties to the Convention to Combat Desertification took several very
important decisions at the 12th Conference of the Parties in October 2015 in
Ankara, Turkey. They agreed that the UNCCD should de facto include the objective
of land degradation neutrality in its mandate and that it should act as the interna-
tional lead organization in this regard. Furthermore, first requirements for the
implementation of this objective were also agreed upon by establishing a universal
definition and by defining the necessary steps, measures and indicators. However,
these decisions are not legally binding. Ultimately, the commitment of the Parties at
national level will determine whether these decisions will have a real impact on the
sustainable management of land and soil.
Fourth, the Paris Agreement, which was approved by the Parties to the UNFCCC
in December 2015, is an essential step forward with regard to sustainable soil
management. The international community agreed in a legally binding way on
the 2  C objective and further ambitious goals (1.5  C and a neutral greenhouse gas
balance for the second half of the century). All states are called on to submit their
national contributions taking into account all types of sources, sinks and reservoirs.
Details will have to be negotiated and determined. In the long run, however, land
use and land use changes will have to be accounted for in these calculations.
Fifth, the Economics of Land Degradation Initiative provided detailed evidence
that sustainable management of land and soil is economically a better alternative—
as compared to degrade first and repair later.
How was so much progress achieved? What were the driving forces? About
5 years ago the perception of soils started to change. This was in part due to the
visionary commitment of the former UNCCD Executive Secretary, Luc Gnacadja,
who pushed the ambition of “zero net land degradation”. He received support from
many institutions, such as the Potsdam Institute for Advanced Sustainability Stud-
ies (IASS) and its former director Klaus T€opfer. The IASS established Global Soil
Week, which has been conducted three times since then, each involving participa-
tion of about 400 experts. In 2011 the German Environment Agency—under my
presidency—brought together experts and policy makers in order to promote the
idea of sustainable soil management, which ultimately led to the “Call for Action”.4

3
See A/RES/70/1, at: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol¼A/RES/70/1&Lang¼E.
4
See https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/377/dokumente/statement_
protecting_soils_for_our_common_future_september_2011_0.pdf.
Soils Need International Governance: A European Perspective for the First. . . 17

The World Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) strongly supported this
endeavor, for example by initiating the Global Soil Partnership. This started the
ball rolling. . ..
In conclusion, one could state that soil and land management are now generally
perceived as a global concern. However, does that mean that everything is alright
now? The answer, obviously, is no. There is still enormous pressure on soils
worldwide. On the international level, ongoing land degradation is still causing
hunger and malnutrition, migration and even war. Refugees from all over the world
trying to reach Europe illustrate this human suffering. Also, global issues like
climate change and the conservation of biodiversity are adversely affected by the
devastation of land and soil. However, land degradation is not the only reason for
these phenomena. The causes are multiple and often difficult to understand, like the
current catastrophe in Syria. The last four summers prior to the outbreak of civil war
were the driest in Syria’s history. A lot of the rural population left their homes and
their communities, thereby destabilizing Syrian society. This is not to say that land
degradation was the cause of the war, but intensified social conflicts paved the way
for civil war. To put it another way, we need to understand the interaction between
the several causes in order to be able to effectively address them.
Due to the state of its economic development, Europe faces different kinds of
major soil-related challenges. In view of two centuries of industrial development
and dense population, the major internal concerns in Europe are the ongoing land
take, soil contamination and unsustainable agriculture.
Despite the economic, social and political status quo, with the current regulatory
system in Europe and in Germany it would probably not be possible to achieve the
ambitious objective of a “land degradation-neutral world”. The attempt to put in
place an overarching regulation at European level—the so-called European Soil
Framework Directive of 2006—failed due to a blocking minority of some European
member states that considered soils to be a domestic issue. The directive was
withdrawn by the European Commission in 2014. In contrast, there is European
legislation regarding the protection of water, air and nature. The current 7th
Environment Action Programme5 addresses soil and land issues in several pas-
sages, for example stating that binding European regulations for soil quality issues
should be considered by the Commission together with the member states.
The situation is similar regarding German soil legislation. The existing Soil
Protection Act focuses primarily on the restoration of existing brownfields. Pro-
visions concerning other drivers of land and soil degradation like sealing, urbani-
zation, land take and agriculture are covered in various acts and ordinances. A
comprehensive regulatory approach on how to achieve the neutrality objective still
needs to be developed. The German Environment Agency has commissioned
several studies to support a more sustainable use of soil resources.

5
See http://ec.europa.eu/environment/action-programme/.
18 J. Flasbarth

However, it should be stated that both European and German legislation pre-
scribe regulatory approaches that seem promising and that might also serve as
models for other states. Two examples:
According to the Industrial Emissions Directive, operators of industrial instal-
lations are obliged to ensure that groundwater and soil are not detrimentally
affected by the operation of the installation. If this does not hold true after operation
at the installation ends, groundwater and soil have to be restored to their original
status. Since this is very costly the provision has the effect that operators try to
avoid negative impacts on groundwater and soil.
Second, according to the German Nature Conservation Act every negative
impact on nature, including soil, has to be offset by the restoration of nature in
other places. The act essentially demands the neutrality of human intervention in
the environment. Although the implementation of this fundamental regulatory
concept is weakened in practice for several reasons (for example, soil is
underestimated in relation to living nature), the general approach could serve as a
model.
As well as the internal challenges, Europe will have to deal with the
transboundary impacts caused by the behavior of its societies with regard to
sustainable soil management. It is important to differentiate between two aspects:
Due to its consumption patterns Europe has a significant virtual land and soil
import. In other words, we need to use soils from abroad to maintain our standard of
living and would not be able to produce the goods consumed internally on our own
soils. Europe will therefore have to find answers to how to deal with this
transboundary responsibility.
In addition, soil- and land-related activities by European citizens or enterprises
abroad, like foreign investments in land, will have to be regulated in order to
prevent negative impacts on the environment and local communities.
As we have seen, a lot has been achieved during the last 5 years: increased
awareness, the inclusion of the objective of land degradation neutrality in the
Sustainable Development Goals, the decisions by the UNCCD Parties and so
on. However, whether we will get to see real improvements will depend on
implementation. Implementation builds on governance, governance builds on
good concepts and ideas. In this regard, the new International Yearbook of Soil
Law and Policy could fill a gap by serving as a platform for discussion among
regulators, lawyers and policy makers regarding regulatory concepts and
approaches on the international, regional and national level. In this regard it is a
very valuable tool and a major step forward. Widespread availability will further
enhance the valuable impact of the Yearbook.
Different levels of soil governance will have to be addressed. On the interna-
tional level the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals as well as of
the UNCCD decisions will have to be first on the agenda. Other topics like effective
cooperation between existing international regimes (UNFCCC, UNCCD, CBD) are
also important. In the longer run it might be necessary to elaborate in more detail on
the need for an integrated international regime of sustainable land and soil man-
agement. In addition, a better understanding of how the different governance
Soils Need International Governance: A European Perspective for the First. . . 19

levels—international, regional, national and local—could be coordinated effec-

tively will be needed. Finally, a comparative analysis of the various regulatory
approaches at national level could not only deepen the mutual understanding of
different challenges in the various regions, but could also serve as a tool to identify
innovative and effective approaches with regard to sustainable soil and land
management.
The first volume of the International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy compre-
hensively fulfils these expectations. It provides information about the latest devel-
opments in international law, includes several reports on national legislation which
facilitate the above-mentioned comparison, and it is of special importance that
crucial cross-cutting topics like land degradation and migration or social and
environmental impacts of tenure rights are also tackled. To conclude I would like
to offer my wholehearted congratulations on this first volume of the International
Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy. I very much look forward to the second one.
North American Soils and World Food

William E. Rees

It has often been said that the ‘discovery’ and opening up of the New World rescued
Europe from early decline. The most obvious basis for this claim is the renewed
abundance of resources ranging from gold, silver and other minerals, to timber and
guano (natural fertilizer) essential for the growth and maintenance of civilization.

1 Contributions of North American Soils and Agriculture

Perhaps of most importance, however (and increasingly so?), was the prodigious
area of newly available agricultural lands and the natural productivity of the soils.
North America is particularly noteworthy in this respect. Consider that Canada’s
relatively small population of 36 million occupies the second largest contiguous
national territory on earth, and while much of the nation’s land-base is sub-Arctic
and boreal forest, the country boasts 67.5
106 hectares of agricultural land,
including 45.7
106 hectares of arable land. The country ranks seventh among
countries in terms of total arable land area, and third in terms of arable land per
person (1.26 ha). The United States with almost ten times the Canadian population
also has six times the area of agricultural land, and 3.8 times as much arable land—
indeed, the US ranks first in the world for total area of arable land and fourteenth in
arable land per capita (0.54 ha) (Tables 1A and 2). The 360 million people (4.9 % of
the world’s population) who live in Canada and the US occupy fully 14 % of the
world’s landmass, an area that includes 10 % of the agricultural land and 15 % of
the arable land on Earth (Table 1B).

W.E. Rees (*)

School of Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia, 6333 Memorial
Road, Vancouver V6T 1Z2, British Columbia, Canada
e-mail: wrees@mail.ubc.ca

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 21

H. Ginzky et al. (eds.), International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy 2016,
International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42508-5_4
22 W.E. Rees

Table 1 North American agricultural land/soil resources in global context

Percent of Percent of
Territory Total land Agricultural Arable land in agricultural land
(population) area land land area agriculture that is arable
A. Thousands of hectares Percent
World 13,013,475 4,967,580 1,421,169 38 29
(7,400,000,000)
Canada 909,351 67,500 45,660 7 68
(36,300,000) (rank ¼ 7)
United States 916,192 414,778 174,448 45 42
(323,200,000) (rank ¼ 1)
B. Canada + US as percent of world
Population Land area Agri-land Arable land
area area
4.9 14 10 15
Arable land generally means ‘cropland’. Specifically it refers to land under temporary crops
(double-cropped areas are counted only once), temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land
under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow (less than 5 years)
Source(s): FAO (2008), StatsCan (2009), WPC (2016)

Table 2 Per capita ‘supply’ of agricultural land, world and North America
2016 population Agricultural land per
Territory (millions) capita (ha) Arable land/capita (ha)
World 7400.0 0.67 0.19
Canada 36.3 1.86 1.26 (6.6
global supply/cap;
rank ¼ 3)
US 323.2 1.28 0.54 (2.8
global supply/cap;
rank ¼ 14)
Source(s): FAO (2008), WPC (2016)

The global comparison is worth pursuing further. The Earth contains only about
0.19 ha/capita of arable land. Thus, Canada’s 1.26 ha/capita and the US’s 0.54 ha/
capita are 6.6 and 2.8 times greater respectively than global per capita supply
(Table 2). Note that Western European agricultural powerhouses, France and
Spain, have only 0.27 ha cropland/capita. This average is slightly more that the
EU as whole (0.26 ha/capita) and twice the Western European average (0.13 ha/
cap) but is still less than half the per capita availability of arable land in North
America (European data from Nationmaster 2011).1
Given the vast areas of land/soils suitable for agriculture of all kinds, North
America unsurprisingly makes disproportionate contributions to global food pro-
duction and international trade in major food commodities. Canada typically ranks

1
To add perspective, note that it takes about .45 ha (1.1 ac) of US grazing lands and cropland to
feel the average American at prevailing US levels of productivity and consumption (2700 cal/day
including wastage). Europeans have lower intake, but with much less agricultural land/capita
many European countries are net importers of core foodstuffs and livestock fodder.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
reputation of being great drunkards. The Houssa caravans pass
close to the north side of the town, but seldom halt here. It was
deserted last year, when Edrisi was driven here with his army; the
inhabitants flying to Ingastrie in Youri, and to the province of Wawa;
but are now mostly returned.
Sunday, 16th.—I was visited by the sirtain fada this morning, who
had just returned from seeing the Fellatas safe out of Koolfu: he told
me that the Benin people, before the civil war began, came here to
trade; that the Quorra ran into the sea, behind Benin, at Fundah; that
the Nyffe people and those of Benin were the same people; that
Benin paid tribute to Nyffe—(this is common with all negroes, to exalt
their native country above all others, in their accounts to strangers).
He said they got their salt from a town called Affaga, near the sea:
this is the Laro or Alaro of Yourriba, and in possession of the
Fellatas. In the evening an eunuch, a messenger, arrived from the
king, to take me to the Sanson, or gathering-place, where he was;
and to stop the taya.
Monday, 17th.—This morning a messenger of the king of Youri
arrived, bringing me a present of a camel, to assist in carrying my
baggage to Kano. He said the king, before he left Youri, had shown
him two books, very large, and printed, that had belonged to the
white men, that were lost in the boat at Boussa; that he had been
offered a hundred and seventy mitgalls of gold for them, by a
merchant from Bornou, who had been sent by a Christian on
purpose for them. I advised him to tell the king, that he ought to have
sold them; that I would not give five mitgalls for them; but that if he
would send them, I would give him an additional present; and that he
would be doing an acceptable thing to the king of England by
sending them, and that he would not act like a king if he did not. I
gave him for his master one of the mock-gold chains, a common
sword, and ten yards of silk, and said I would give him a handsome
gun and some more silk, if he would send the books. On asking him
if there were any books like my journal, which I showed him, he said
there was one, but that his master had given it to an Arab merchant
ten years ago; but the merchant was killed by the Fellatas on his way
to Kano, and what had become of that book afterwards he did not
know. He also told me, that the fifteen men whom I had seen at
Wawa belonging to Dahomey were slave-merchants; that they had
bought a hundred slaves at Youri; that they also bought small red
beads that came from Tripoli; that at Wawa they were to get a
hundred more slaves, when they would return to Dahomey; that
these people bring cloths, earthen ware, brass and pewter dishes,
and sell them in Houssa, Nyffe, and Youri, for slaves and beads.
Wednesday, 19th.—Dull and cloudy this morning. The eunuch
came with his horse ready saddled, but without one for me. I told him
I was all ready, but would not go until he brought me a horse. He
then pretended that he was going, and asked if I had no present to
send to the king. I said I had, but should give it myself when I saw
him; not until then. He then departed; when a Fellata, calling himself
a messenger from Bello, residing with the king, came and said he
would make the eunuch stop, and removed my baggage and myself
to a good and quiet house, as the one I was in was much disturbed
by women and children; and it is settled that I am to go with him to
the king to-morrow. I have offered two hundred thousand cowries to
have my baggage carried, but I cannot even get a letter conveyed to
Kano; either so jealous are they of me, or they have an eye to my
baggage, about which they have formed anxious conjectures. I had a
present from the king’s sister of a sheep, for which she modestly
requested a dollar and some beads. My new house is very snug and
comfortable. I have three rooms for myself and servants, with
houses for my horse and mare, an old man and his wife to look after
it, and I can keep out all idle persons.
Thursday, 20th.—Morning clear and warm. I had to remain to-day
also, as my guide and messenger, the black eunuch, is gone to the
Koolfu market again. At sunset he and Omar Zurmie (or Omar the
Brave), the messenger of Bello, waited on me, and told me that they
would leave this for the Sanson, or camp, in the course of the night,
if I was ready, and that Zurmie had a horse ready for me. I said I was
ready at a moment’s notice, and had been the last four days. In the
night we had a tornado, with thunder, lightning, and rain.
Friday, 21st.—This morning I left Tabra in company of Omar the
Brave, a black eunuch, and Mohamed Ben Ahmet, the Morzukie, as
my interpreter and servant; and having travelled twenty-seven miles,
came to a village called Kitako, where we passed the night.
Saturday, 22d.—At 1.30 A.M. left Kitako. The moon through the
thick clouds just enabling us, by the assistance of two Amars
(spearmen) who went a-head, to thread our way through the thick
woods, and over some of the most ticklish wooden bridges that ever
man and horse passed over. The morning was raw and cold, and the
path slippery and wet. At 4.30 I got so unwell and unable to bear the
motion of the horse, that I dismounted, and lay down on the wet
ground without covering, or any thing underneath me; for there are
times when a man, to get rid of his present sickness, will try any
remedy, whatever may be the after consequences: this was my
case, and I lay until six, when I rose much better of my sickness, but
with severe pains in the bones. A short while after starting, I crossed
over the wall of a ruined town called Jinne, or Janne, through
plantations of indigo and cotton, choked up with weeds. The morning
was raw and cloudy. A few of the ragged inhabitants were up; two or
three of the most miserable starved horses I ever saw were tied to
stakes close to the few huts that were rebuilt, their backs dreadfully
lacerated, the skin being nearly off from the shoulder to the rump,
and their eyes running with matter. Only for the verdure of the trees
at this season, and a beautiful stream of clear water, whose banks
were planted with plantain and palm-oil trees, this would have been
one of the most miserable scenes I ever saw in my life. After passing
the stream twice, without bridges, whose banks were very steep and
slippery, with several deep round holes, as man traps, on each side
the road, I ascended the plain above, from whence I saw the ruins of
several other towns and villages along the banks of the ravine. At
eight passed the ruins of another town; and at nine I met, attended
by a great rabble, armed with pickaxes, hoes, and hatchets,
Mohamed El Magia, or the would-be king, mounted on horseback,
and halted under a tree. When they told me there was the Magia
waiting to receive me, I rode up and shook hands with him. He asked
me after my health, and how I had fared on the road, and then told
the eunuch who was with me to take me to his house; he then rode
past, as I was informed, to complete the ruin of the last, as I thought
already ruined, town I had passed through. He was mounted on a
good bay horse, whose saddle was ornamented with pieces of silver
and brass; the breastpiece with large silver plates hanging down
from it, like what is represented in the prints of Roman and eastern
emperors’ horses. He is a tall man, with a sort of stupid expression
of countenance, having a large mouth and snagged teeth, with which
he makes himself look worse when he attempts to smile, and looks
indeed like any thing but a king or a soldier. He wore a black velvet
cap, with two flaps over the ears, and trimmed with red silk, a blue
and white striped tobe, red boots, part of leather and part red cloth,
in rags; in his hand he had a black staff, with a silver head; his
slaves were carrying a coast-made umbrella and his sword. I paid
him every decent respect, and put on as many smiles as I was able,
as I know that those ragged and dirty rogues, when they have power,
have more pride than a real king, and expect a great deal more
respect, and cannot bear a man to look serious. At ten I arrived at
the Sanson, or camp, where I was lodged in the eunuchs’ part,
having a small unoccupied hut separated from the rest allotted for
me to live in. Here I was left to myself until 3 P.M., when the eunuch
came and told me the king had arrived, and wished to see me. I went
directly, taking a present, which I displayed before him. When the
articles were taken away by an eunuch, I told him who and what I
was, where I was going, and that I wanted his assistance and
protection to the governors of Guari or Zegzeg, in Houssa; that I had
been well treated by every king and governor between Badagry on
the sea-coast, to Tabra in his dominions, and I hoped for the same
favourable reception from him. He said it was easy to do all that I
had asked, and he would do it.
Sunday, 23d.—This morning I was much better, having shut my
little straw hut up as close as possible, so that I was as if in a steam
bath all night. I have ever found this and fasting a good cure for most
disorders.
The king went through the camp, attended by a great rabble, a
slave carrying the umbrella I had given him over his head. He paid
me a visit, and began, as soon as he had seated himself, to show
me his staff of authority, a black stick, about four feet long, with a
silver head. He said I had got some of the same kind, and he wanted
one. I said I could not indulge him with one, unless I gave him that
intended for Bello. He then begged my travelling knife and fork. I
said, “What, then, I am to go without, and eat with my fingers! he had
better go to Tabra, and take all I had.” He observed he would
certainly not do that; that he would send me to Kano, and that I
should go in five or six days after this. He then went home, and sent
me, as a present, a small country horse, which will do well enough
for Pascoe to ride. I have now two horses and a mare.
The Sanson, or camp, is like a large square village, built of small
bee-hive-like huts, thatched with straw, having four large broad
streets, and with a square or clear place near the huts of the king.
Only for the number of horses feeding, and some picketed near the
huts, and the men all going armed, and numbers of drums beating, it
would pass for a well-inhabited village. Here are to be seen weavers,
taylors, women spinning cotton, others reeling off, some selling foo-
foo and accassons, others crying yams and paste, little markets at
every green tree, holy men counting their beads, and dissolute
slaves drinking roa bum.
Monday, 24th.—Morning cool and cloudy. In the early part of the
morning I went to take leave of the king, whom I found in his hut,
surrounded by Fellatas, one of whom was reading the Koran aloud
for the benefit of the whole; the meaning of which not one of them
understood, not even the reader. This may seem odd to an
Englishman; but it is very common for a man, both in Bornou and
Houssa, to be able to read the Koran fluently, and not understand a
word in it but “Allah,” or able to read any other book. They left off
reading when I came in; and as soon as the compliments of the
morning were over, the king begged me to give him my sword, which
I flatly refused, but promised to give him the five dollars, the staff,
and the pistol, whenever I was permitted to leave this for Kano,
which he promised I should do, and pointed out a person whom he
said he would send with me as a messenger; and that a merchant
from Koolfu would come and agree about the price he was to have
for carrying my baggage. I thanked him, and took my leave. He is
one of the most beggarly rogues I have yet met with; every thing he
saw or heard that I was possessed of he begged, not like a person
that wished to have them because they were scarce or rare, but with
a mean greediness that was disgusting. Though I had given him a
better present than he had ever got in his life before, he told me that
I said “No, no,” to every thing he asked for. He has been the ruin of
his country by his unnatural ambition, and by calling in the Fellatas,
who will remove him out of the way the moment he is of no more use
to them; even now he dares not move without their permission. It is
said that he has put to death his brother and two of his sons.
Through him the greater part of the industrious population of Nyffé
have either been killed, sold as slaves, or fled from their native
country. To remove him now would be charity; and the sooner the
better for his country.
At 8.30 in the morning I left the Sanson, and riding on ahead of
old Malam Fama, the Morzukie, I halted under a tree at eleven to let
the horses feed, and the Malam to come up with the sheep. At noon,
Mahomed having joined, I started with a plundering party who were
going the same road. They told me they were going to seize some
villagers who had returned to build up their ruined huts and sow a
little millet without first praying for leave to the Magia. On crossing
one of the small rivers and ascending the steep and slippery bank,
the chief of this band checked his horse, and both horse and rider
fell souse into the water. He was close behind me, but I left his
companions to pick him up. On the 25th we once more reached
Tabra.
I have observed more people with bad teeth and the loss of the
front teeth in Nyffé than any other country in Africa, or indeed any
other country. The males mostly are those who lose their teeth.
Whether it may arise from the universal custom of chewing snuff
mixed with natron or not, I do not pretend to say. The white of the
eye in the black population is in general bilious-looking and
bloodshot. There is scarcely one exception, unless it be in those
below eighteen or twenty years of age.
Tuesday, May 2.—This morning I left Tabra, and travelling along
the banks of the May-yarrow, passed the walled village of Gonda.
Having crossed a stream coming from the north, and running into the
May-yarrow, I entered the walled town of Koolfu, the greatest market
town in this portion of Nyffé, and resorted to by trading people from
all parts of the interior. I was provided with a good house; and the
head man of the town, a plausible fellow, was very officious, but at
the same time giving broad hints for a present. Mohamed Kalu, the
madagoo or head man of the goffle from Bornou, has to remain here
until after the Rhamadan. I was visited by all the principal people in
the place, as a matter of curiosity, though many of them had seen
me at Tabra.
Monday, 8th.—Clear and cool. The house in which I live is one of
the best in Koolfu. I have three separate coozies parted off from the
rest of the house, and a place for my stud, which now amounts to
two horses and a mare. My landlady is a widow, large, fat, and deaf,
with an only child, a daughter, about five years old; a spoiled child.
The widow Laddie, as she is called, is considered to be very rich.
She is a merchant; sells salt, natron, and various other articles: but
what she is most famed for is her booza and roa bum, as the palm
wine is called; and every night the large outer hut is filled with the
topers of Koolfu, who are provided with music as well as drink, and
keep it up generally until the dawn of morning separates them. Their
music consists of the drum, erbab, or guitar of the Arabs, the Nyffé
harp, and the voice. Their songs are mostly extempore, and allude to
the company present. The booza is made from a mixture of doura, or
Guinea corn, honey, Chili pepper, the root of a coarse grass on
which the cattle feed, and a proportion of water: these are thrown in
equal proportions into large earthen jars, open at top, and are
allowed to ferment near a slow fire for four or five days, when the
booza is fit to drink, and is put into earthen jars. It is a very fiery and
intoxicating beverage; but, whether Mohamedan or pagan, they all
drink, and agree very well together when in their cups. At first neither
I nor my servants could sleep for their noise, but now I have got used
to it. This night the new moon was seen, and Mohamedan and
pagan joined in the cry of joy. My landlady had thirteen pieces of
wood, on each of which was written by the Bornou malem the word
“Bismillah,” the only word he could write. These boards she then
washed and drank the water, and gave to her family to drink. She
offered some of it to me; but I said I never drank dirty water: and I
thought that if she and her servants had taken a comfortable cup of
booza or bum it would have done them more good than drinking the
washings of a board written over with ink; for the man was a rogue
who had made her pay for such stuff. “What!” says she, “do you call
the name of God dirty water? it was good to take it.” These rogues,
who call themselves malems, impose on the poor ignorant people
very much; and the pagans are as fond of having these charms as
the Mohamedans. These dirty draughts are a cure for all evils,
present and to come, and are called by the people dua. Some of
their fighting men will confine themselves to their houses for thirty or
forty days, fasting during the day, and only drinking and washing with
this dirty stuff. If a man is fortunate, or does any feat above the
common, it is attributed to the dua, or medicine: neither his wit nor
the grace of God gains a man any thing.
Tuesday, 9th.—Clear and warm. The new moon having been
seen last night put an end to the fast of the Rhamadan; and this day
is kept throughout the northern interior by Mohamedan and Kafir.
Every one was dressed in his best, paying and receiving visits,
giving and receiving presents, parading the streets with horns,
guitars, and flutes; groups of men and women seated under the
shade at their doors, or under shady trees, drinking roa bum or
booza. I also had my share of visitors: the head man of the town
came to drink hot water, as they call my tea. The chief of Ingaskie,
the second town in Youri, only a day’s journey distant, sent me a
present of a sheep, some rice, and a thousand gora nuts, for which
he expects double the amount in return. The women were dressed
and painted to the height of Nyffé perfection; and the young and
modest on this day would come up and salute the men as if old
acquaintances, and bid them joy on the day; with the wool on their
heads dressed, plaited, and dyed with indigo; their eyebrows painted
with indigo, the eyelashes with khol, the lips stained yellow, the teeth
red, and their feet and hands stained with henna; their finest and
gayest clothes on; all their finest beads on their necks; their arms
and legs adorned with bracelets of glass, brass, and silver, their
fingers with rings of brass, pewter, silver, and copper; some had
Spanish dollars soldered on the back of the rings. They, too, drank of
the booza and roa bum as freely as the men, joining in their songs,
whether good or bad. In the afternoon, parties of men were seen
dancing: free men and slaves all were alike; not a clouded brow was
to be seen in Koolfu; but at nine in the evening the scene was
changed from joy and gladness to terror and dismay; a tornado had
just began, and the hum of voices and the din of people putting their
things under cover from the approaching storm had ceased at once.
All was silent as death, except the thunder and the wind. The
clouded sky appeared as if on fire; each cloud rolling towards us as
a sea of flame, and only surpassed in grandeur and brightness by
the forked lightning, which constantly seemed to ascend and
descend from what was now evidently the town of Bali on fire, only a
short distance outside the walls of Koolfu. When this was
extinguished a new scene began, if possible worse than the first.
The wind had increased to a hurricane; houses were blown down;
roofs of houses going along with the wind like chaff, the shady trees
in the town bending and breaking; and, in the intervals between the
roaring of the thunder, nothing heard but the war-cry of the men and
the screams of women and children, as no one knew but that an
enemy was at hand, and that we should every instant share in the
fate of Bali. I had the fire-arms loaded when I learned this, and
stationed Richard and Pascoe at the door of each hut, and took the
command of my landlady’s house, securing the outer door, and
putting all the fires out. One old woman roasting ground nuts, quite
unconcerned, made as much noise as if she had been going to be
put to death when the water was thrown over her fire. At last the rain
fell: the fire in Bali had ceased by its being wholly burnt down. In our
house we escaped with the roof blown off one coozie, and a shed
blown down. All was now quiet; and I went to rest with that
satisfaction every man feels when his neighbour’s house is burnt
down and his own, thank God! has escaped.
Sunday, 14th.—Mohamed, the Fezzanie, whom I had hired at
Tabra, and whom I had sent to the chief of Youri for the books and
papers of the late Mungo Park, returned, bringing me a letter from
that person, which contained the following account of the death of
that unfortunate traveller: that not the least injury was done to him at
Youri, or by the people of that country; that the people of Boussa had
killed them, and taken all their riches; that the books in his
possession were given him by the Imam of Boussa; that they were
lying on the top of the goods in the boat when she was taken; that
not a soul was left alive belonging to the boat; that the bodies of two
black men were found in the boat chained together; that the white
men jumped overboard; that the boat was made of two canoes
joined fast together, with an awning or roof behind; that he, the
sultan, had a gun, double-barrelled, and a sword, and two books that
had belonged to those in the boat; that he would give me the books
whenever I went to Youri myself for them, not until then.
Monday, 15th.—I am still very weak; Richard worse. I had a letter
from the learned Abdurahman, of Kora, a noted chief of banditti, and
who once, with his followers, overran Nyffé, and held possession of
the capital six months. He now keeps the town of Kora, a day’s
journey to the north-east, and is much feared by Mohamedan and
Kafir. He is a native of Nyffé. He is particularly anxious that I should
visit him, as he wants my acquaintance, and begs I will give him the
Psalms of David in Arabic, which he hears I have got. His letter was
written on part of the picture of the frontispiece of an European book,
apparently Spanish or Portuguese. He says he has something to
communicate to me, which cannot be done but by a personal
interview; but unless he come to Koolfu I told his messenger, I could
not see him.
Tuesday, 23d.—Cool and cloudy. A large caravan arrived from
Yourriba. They had come through Borgoo, where they sold what
natron they had remaining after they left Yourriba. They were in
Katunga when I was there; but were forbidden to hold any
communication with us, on pain of having their throats cut. They told
me that my friend the fat eunuch had endeavoured to hire a man to
assassinate me, but that they were all afraid. There are strong
reports of a war between the Sheik El Kanami and the Fellatas. They
say the sheik has taken the city of Hadija, and that the governor of
Kano is gone out to meet him, as he is advancing upon Kano.
Whether it is a report to please the Nyffé people, who cannot bear
the Fellatas, or not, I do not know. We had a number of such reports
when in Bornou last journey. In the evening a messenger from the
sultan of Boussa arrived, bringing me a present of a beautiful little
mare. The messenger of the sultan was accompanied by another
person from the midaki, a female slave, bringing me rice, yams, and
butter. He brought a message from the sultan desiring me to kill a
she-goat, and distribute the flesh amongst the inhabitants of Koolfu
the day before I left it; that he had distributed gora nuts and salt for
me at Boussa, which would do for Koolfu. I was also desired not to
eat any meat that came cooked from the west, and which would be
sent by the Magia’s female relations from Tabra, as they intended to
take away my life by poison. Through the night continual rain,
thunder, and lightning.
Thursday, 25th.—Sent Sheeref Mohamed to Raba, a town
possessed by the Fellatas, three days south of this, on the banks of
the Quorra, with a message to the late Imam of Boussa, who, he
says, has got some of the books belonging to the late Mungo Park:
one, he tells me, was carried to Yourriba by a Fellata, as a charm
and preservative against musket balls. He is either to buy them, or I
will give him Arabic books for them in exchange.
Friday, June 17th.—This evening I was talking with a man that is
married to one of my landlady’s female slaves, called her daughter,
about the manners of the Cumbrie and about England; when he
gave the following account of the death of Park and his companions,
of which he was an eye-witness: He said that when the boat came
down the river, it happened unfortunately just at the time that the
Fellatas first rose in arms, and were ravaging Goober and Zamfra;
that the sultan of Boussa, on hearing that the persons in the boat
were white men, and that the boat was different from any that had
ever been seen before, as she had a house at one end, called his
people together from the neighbouring towns, attacked and killed
them, not doubting that they were the advance guard of the Fellata
army then ravaging Soudan, under the command of Malem
Danfodio, the father of the present Bello; that one of the white men
was a tall man with long hair; that they fought for three days before
they were all killed; that the people in the neighbourhood were very
much alarmed, and great numbers fled to Nyffé and other countries,
thinking that the Fellatas were certainly coming among them. The
number of persons in the boat was only four, two white men and two
blacks: that they found great treasure in the boat; but that the people
had all died who eat of the meat that was found in her. This account I
believe to be the most correct of all that I have yet got; and was told
without my putting any questions, or showing any eagerness for him
to go on with his story. I was often puzzled to think, after the
kindness I had received at Boussa, what could have caused such a
change in the minds of these people in the course of twenty years,
and of their different treatment of two European travellers. I was
even disposed at times to flatter myself that there was something in
me that belonged to nobody else, to make them treat me and my
people with so much kindness; for the friendship of the king of
Boussa I consider as my only protection in this country.
Koolfu, or, as it is called by many, Koolfie, is the principal town for
trade in Nyffé at present; and at all times a central point for trade in
this part of the interior. It is situated on the north bank of the river
May-yarrow; and it is surrounded by a clay wall about twenty feet
high, and has four gates. It is built in the form of an oblong square,
having its longest diameter from east to west; there is a long
irregular street runs through it, from which lead a number of smaller
streets. There are two large open spaces near the east and west
ends of the town, in which are booths, and large shady trees, to
protect the people from the heat of the sun, when attending the
markets, which are daily held in those places: there are, besides the
daily markets, two weekly markets on Mondays and Saturdays,
which are resorted to by traders and people inhabiting the sea coast.
Ajoolly and the other towns in Yourriba, Cubbi, Youri, Borgoo,
Sockatoo, and Zamfra on the north, Bornou and Houssa on the east,
and, before the civil war, people from Benin, Jabbo, and the southern
parts of Nyffé, used to resort to this town as a central point of trade,
where the natives of the different countries were sure to get a ready
sale for their goods; either selling them for cowries, or exchanging
them for others by way of barter. Those who sold their goods for
cowries attend the market daily, and when they have completed their
sale, buy at once the goods or wares they want, and return home.
Such is the way of the small traders, who are nine out of ten women,
and are principally from the west part of the Quorra, even as far off
as Niki: they carry their goods on their heads in packages, from sixty
to eighty and a hundred pounds weight. The goods these people
bring from the west are principally salt, and cloths worn by the
women round their loins, of about six yards in length and two in
breadth, made of the narrow striped cloth, in which red silk is
generally woven, and a great deal of blue cotton; this is called
Azane, and the best are worth about three thousand to five thousand
cowries, or two dollars:—Jabbo cloths, which are about the same
length as the others, and about the breadth of our sail-cloth, are
worn by slaves, and have a stripe or two of blue in them; the poor
classes also wear them, men and women:—Peppers, called
monsoura, shitta, and kimba; monsoura is like our East India pepper;
shitta is the malagetta pepper of the coast; kimba is a small thin
pepper, growing on a bush, near the sea coast, in Yourriba, of a red
colour, like Chili pepper:—Red wood from Benin, which is pounded
to a powder and made into a paste; women and children are rubbed
with this, mixed with a little grease, every morning; and very
frequently a woman is to be seen with a large score of it on her face,
arms, or some part of her body, as a cure for some imaginary pain or
other:—A small quantity of calico or red cloth is sometimes brought,
which is of European manufacture. They take back principally
natron, beads made at Venice of various kinds, and come by the way
of Tripoli and Ghadamis, and unwrought silk of various colours,
principally red, of about one ounce in weight, and is sold here at
three thousand cowries; it and natron are as good as cowries.
The caravans from Bornou and Houssa, which always halt here a
considerable time, bring horses, natron, unwrought silk, beads, silk
cords, swords that once belonged to Malta, exchanged for bullocks
at Bengazie, in the regency of Tripoli, sent to Kano and remounted,
and then sold all over the desert and the interior; these swords will
sell for ten or twenty dollars a piece or that value, and sometimes
more; cloths made up in the Moorish fashion; looking-glasses of
Italian manufacture from about a penny a piece to a shilling in Malta;
tobes or large shirts undyed, made in Bornou; khol or lead used as
blacking for the eye-lids; a small quantity of ottar of roses, much
adulterated; sweet smelling gum from Mecca; a scented wood also
from the East; silks the manufacture of Egypt; turbans; red Moorish
caps with blue silk tassels; and sometimes a few tunics of checked
silk and linen made in Egypt: the last are generally brought by Arabs.
A number of slaves are also brought from Houssa and Bornou, who
are either sold here or go further on. The Bornou caravans never go
further than this place, though generally some of their number
accompany the Houssa merchants to Agolly in Yourriba, Gonja, and
Borgoo, from which they bring Kolla or Gora nuts, cloth of woollen,
printed cottons, brass and pewter dishes, earthenware, a few
muskets, a little gold, and the wares mentioned before as brought
from Yourriba. They carry their goods on bullocks, asses, and mules;
and a great number of fine women hire themselves to carry loads on
their heads; their slaves, male and female, are also loaded. The
Bornou merchants, during their stay, stop in the town in the houses
of their friends or acquaintances, and give them a small present on
their arrival and departure, for the use of the house. The Houssa
merchants stop outside the walls in little straw huts or leathern tents,
which they erect themselves. They sell their goods and wares in their
houses or tents; the small wares they send to the market and round
to the different houses by their slaves to sell; there are also a
number of male and female brokers in the town, whom they also
intrust. The pedlers or western merchants always live in the houses
of the town, and attend the markets daily, employing their spare time
in spinning cotton, which they provide themselves with on their
arrival, and support themselves by this kind of labour. There have
been no fewer than twenty-one of these mercantile women living in
my landlady’s house at one time, all of them from Yourriba and
Borgoo: these women attend the markets at the different towns
between this and their homes, buying and selling as they go along.
The caravans from Cubbi, Youri, and Zamfra, bring principally slaves
and salt, which they exchange for natron, Gora nuts, beads, horses,
tobes dyed of a dark blue, having a glossy and coppery tinge. The
slaves intended for sale are confined in the house, mostly in irons,
and are seldom allowed to go out of it, except to the well or river
every morning to wash; they are strictly guarded on a journey, and
chained neck to neck; or else tied neck to neck in a long rope of raw
hide, and carry loads on their heads consisting of their master’s
goods, or his household stuff; these loads generally from fifty to sixty
pounds weight. A stranger may remain a long time in a town without
seeing any of the slaves, except by accident, or making particular
inquiry. The duties which traders pay here are collected by the
people of Tabra, who take twenty cowries from every loaded person,
forty for an ass, and fifty for a loaded bullock.
The inhabitants may amount to from twelve to fifteen thousand,
including all classes, the slave and the free; they are mostly
employed in buying and selling, though there are a great number of
dyers, tailors, blacksmiths, and weavers, yet all these are engaged in
buying and selling; few of these descriptions ever go on distant
journeys to trade, and still fewer attend the wars, except it be to buy
slaves from the conquerors. I have seen slaves exposed for sale
here, the aged, infirm, and the idiot, also children at the breast,
whose mothers had either fled, died, or been put to death. The
domestic slaves are looked upon almost as the children of the family,
and if they behave well, humanely treated: the males are often freed,
and the females given in marriage to freemen, at other times to the
male domestic slaves of the family; when such is the case a house is
given to them, and if he be a mechanic, he lives in the town, and
works at his trade; if not, in the country, giving his owner part of the
produce, if not made free; in both cases they always look upon the
head of such owner’s family as their lord, and call him or her father
or mother.
The food of the free and the slave is nearly the same; perhaps the
master or mistress may have a little fat flesh, fish, or fowl, more than
their slaves, and his meat is served in a separate place and dish; but
the greatest man or woman in the country is not ashamed at times to
let their slaves eat out of the same dish, but a woman is never
allowed to eat with a man. Their food consists of ground maize,
made into puddings or loaves, and about half a pound each, sold at
five cowries each in the market; of flummery, or, as they call it in
Scotland, sowens, made from the ground millet, which is allowed to
stand covered with water, until it gets a little sour; it is then well
stirred and strained through a strainer of basketwork into another
vessel, when it is left to settle, and the water being strained off, it is
dried in the sun; when perfectly dry, it is broken into lumps and kept
in a sack or basket; when used it is put into boiling water, and well
stirred, until of a sufficient thickness; this makes a very pleasant and
healthy breakfast with a little honey or salt, and is sold in the market
at two cowries a pint every morning, and is called Koko. They have a
pudding made of ground millet, boiled in the ley of wood ashes,
which gives a red colour; this is always eaten with fat or stewed
meat, fish, or fowl. They always stew or grill their meat: when we
have it in any quantity it is half grilled and smoked, to preserve until it
is wanted to be used. Boiled beans made up in papers of a pound or
a half pound each, and wrapped in leaves, sold for two cowries
each, and called waki. Beans dried in the sun sold at one cowrie a
handful. Small balls of boiled rice, mixed with rice flower, called
Dundakaria, a cowrie a piece, mixed with water, and serves as meat
and drink. Small balls of rice, mixed with honey and pepper, called
Bakaroo, sold at five cowries each. Small balls made from bean
flowers, fried in fat, like a bunch of grapes. Their intoxicating
draughts are the palm wine called roa bum, bouza, and aquadent,
very much adulterated and mixed with pepper.
At daylight the whole household arise: the women begin to clean
the house, the men to wash from head to foot; the women and
children are then washed in water, in which the leaf of a bush has
been boiled called Bambarnia: when this is done, breakfast of cocoa
is served out, every one having their separate dish, the women and
children eating together. After breakfast the women and children rub
themselves over with the pounded red wood and a little grease,
which lightens the darkness of the black skin. A score or patch of the
red powder is put on some place where it will show to the best
advantage. The eyes are blacked with khol. The mistress and the
better looking females stain their teeth and the inside of the lips of a
yellow colour with gora, the flower of the tobacco plant, and the bark
of a root: the outer part of the lips, hair, and eye-brows, are stained
with shuni, or prepared indigo. Then the women who attend the
market prepare their wares for sale, and when ready go. The elderly
women prepare, clean, and spin cotton at home and cook the
victuals; the younger females are generally sent round the town
selling the small rice balls, fried beans, &c. and bringing a supply of
water for the day. The master of the house generally takes a walk to
the market, or sits in the shade at the door of his house, hearing the
news, or speaking of the price of natron or other goods. The weavers
are daily employed at their trade; some are sent to cut wood, and
bring it to market; others to bring grass for the horses that may
belong to the house, or to take to the market to sell; numbers, at the
beginning of the rainy season, are employed in clearing the ground
for sowing the maize and millet; some are sent on distant journeys to
buy and sell for their master or mistress, and very rarely betray their
trust. About noon they return home, when all have a mess of the
pudding called waki, or boiled beans, and about two or three in the
afternoon they return to their different employments, on which they
remain until near sunset, when they count their gains to their master
or mistress, who receives it, and puts it carefully away in their strong
room. They then have a meal of pudding and a little fat or stew. The
mistress of the house, when she goes to rest, has her feet put into a
cold poultice of the pounded henna leaves. The young then go to
dance and play, if it is moonlight, and the old to lounge and converse
in the open square of the house, or in the outer coozie, where they
remain until the cool of the night, or till the approach of morning
drives them into shelter.
Their marriages are the same amongst the Mohamedans as they
are in other countries, where they profess that faith. The pagan part
first agree to go together, giving the father and mother a present,
and, if rich, the present is sent with music, each separate article
being borne on the head of a female slave. The Mohamedans bury
in the same manner as they do in other parts of the world. The
pagans dig a round hole like a well, about six feet deep, sometimes
in the house, sometimes in the threshold of the door, and sometimes
in the woods: the corpse is placed in a sitting posture, with the wrists
tied round the neck, the hams and legs close to the body: a hole is
left at the mouth of the grave, and the relations and acquaintances
leave tobes, cloth, and other articles at the small round hole, and
telling the dead persons to give this to so and so: these things are
always removed before the morning by the priest. The majority of the
inhabitants of Koolfu profess to be Mahometans, the rest Pagans,
whose mode of worship I never could learn, except that they, like the
inhabitants of the other towns in Nyffé, attended once a year in one
of the southern provinces, where there was a high hill, on which they
sacrificed a black bull, a black sheep, and a black dog. The figures
on their houses of worship are much the same as in Yourriba: the
lizard, crocodile, the tortoise, and the boa-serpent, with sometimes
men and women. Their language is a dialect of the Yourriba, but the
Houssa tongue is the language of the market. Their houses and
court are kept very clean, as also the court-yard, which is sprinkled
every morning with water, having the shell of the bean of the mitta
tree boiled in it, which stains it of a dark brown colour; and each side
of the doors of the coozies or huts are stained with indigo and
ornamented with figures. The women have the stone for grinding the
corn, pepper, &c. raised on a clay bench inside the house, so that
they can stand upright while they grind the corn; an improvement to
be seen in no other part of the interior, or in Fezzan, the women
having to sit on their knees when grinding corn. Their gourd dishes
are also of the first order for cleanliness, neatness, and good carving
and staining, as also their mats, straw bags, and baskets.
They are civil, but the truth is not in them, and to be detected in a
lie is not the smallest disgrace, it only causes a laugh. They are also
great cheats. The men drink very hard, even the Mahometans; and
the women are generally of easy virtue. Notwithstanding all this
against them, they are a people of a natural good disposition; for
when it is considered that they have been twice burnt out of the town
by the enemy within the last six years, and that they have had a civil
war desolating the country for the last seven years, and been subject
to the inroads of the Fellatas during twenty years, and having neither
established law nor government but what a present sense of right
and wrong dictates, I am surprised that they are as good as they are.
I witnessed while here several acts of real kindness and goodness
of heart to one another. When the town of Bali was burnt down,
every person sent next day what they could spare of their goods, to
assist the unfortunate inhabitants. My landlady, who has given away
a number of her female slaves to freemen for wives, looks upon
them as her own children, attending them when sick; and one who
had a child while I was here, at the giving it a name, she sent
seventy different dishes of meat, corn, and drink, to assist at the
feast on that occasion. In all my dealings with them they tried and
succeeded in cheating me, but they had an idea that I was
possessed of inexhaustible riches; and besides, I differed with them
in colour, in dress, in religion, and in my manner of living. I was
considered therefore as a pigeon for them to pluck. Had they been
rogues, indeed, they might have taken all I had; but, on the contrary,
I never had an article stolen, and was even treated with the most
perfect respect and civility they were masters of.
I believe it is generally considered in England, that when a negro
slave is attached to his master, he will part with his life for him.
Instances of this kind are not so common as they ought to be, when
it is considered that all of these slaves are brought up from their
childhood, and know no other parent or protector; and if they were to
run away, or behave so ill as to cause him to sell them, they would
never be so well off as they were before. Those who are taken when
grown-up men or women, and even boys and girls, run whenever an
opportunity offers, and, whenever they can, take their owner’s goods
or cattle to assist them on their journey. Instances of this kind
happened every night.
They have very few bullocks, sheep, or goats, in the country; but
that is owing to the desolating war. Corn they have in abundance, as
that cannot be driven away by plundering parties. The surrounding
country is a level plain, well cultivated, and studded with little walled
towns and villages, along the banks of the May-yarrow, and another
little river running into it from the north. It is subject to the Majia, but
never visited by him or his people, except to attend the market, or
collect the duties from the traders. The town of Kufu, at a short
distance (not a mile), has a quarrel with another little town about half
a mile from it, called Lajo, the latter having taken the wife of a man,
whom they thought they had killed and left for dead, and selling her;
hence arose a regular system of retaliation; and they take and sell
one another whenever they have an opportunity. Every other night
almost the war-cry was raised about stealing asses, oxen, or murder;
and sometimes the inhabitants of Koolfu would join in the fray,
always siding with Kufu.
Monday, 19th.—Having been detained thus long at Koolfu, by my
own and my servant Richard’s illness, we left it this morning,
accompanied by the head man and the principal inhabitants of
Koolfu, who went with me as far as the walled and warlike village of
Kufu, where I stopped for the night. Here the head man of Koolfu
introduced me to the head man of Kufu, who provided me with a
good house, and made me a present of a sheep and some cooked
meat. I had also presents of meat sent me by the principal
inhabitants. The people of Kufu, not satisfied with having frequently
seen me and my servants at Koolfu, are in the habit of mounting
some trees growing on a small hill close to and overlooking my
house and court-yard, to get another and a last look: party came
after party until sunset, when they went away.
My landlady, the widow Laddie, also accompanied me to Kufu,
where she remained all night. I thought it had been out of a great
regard for me; but I was soon let into the secret, by five of her slaves
arriving with booza and bum, which she began selling in my court-
yard to the different merchants, bullock-drivers, and slaves
assembled here, who are going to the eastward.
The village of Kufu is walled, and only about two musket shots
from the other walled village, which is to the south, and with whom
they are at heavy war. The space between is generally occupied by
the caravans bound to the eastward, who usually halt here for a
week to complete their purchases at the market of Koolfu before they
start. The country around has a rich and clay soil, planted with
indigo, cotton, Indian corn, and yams.
Tuesday, 20th.—Having given the head man of Kufu thirty Gora
nuts, with which he was well pleased, and loaded the bullocks,
horse, ass, and camel, at 6 A.M. left Kufu. The path, or road, through
a woody country: the trees consisting mostly of the micadania, or
butter tree, which does not grow to a large size; the largest only
about the size of our apple trees in Europe, and this only seldom:
their girth is not above two or three feet. The path was winding; the
soil a deep red clay, covered with a thin layer of sand.
Wednesday, 21st.—After passing a great number of towns and
villages, we arrived at a walled town called Bullabulla, where we
encamped outside. As soon as my tent was pitched, I was
surrounded by the inhabitants. They were quite amused with my hat;