152 Mbaye Gueyewould be launched. They would set fire to the huts. Any man trying to resist would
be put to death. The women and children were taken and put up for auction.
The spoils would be shared out evenly between the chief and his warriors.^7
The recurrent wars and the devastation they brought with them made
the hideous spectre of famine a familiar sight. To obtain food, the heads of
some families would sell some of their household slaves. If they had none, they
would sell their children or pawn them to wealthy people in the hope of redeem-
ing them when times were better.^8
During periods of famine, chiefs would intensify their raiding forays to
procure slaves who would then be sold in exchange for food supplies. The
poorer inhabitants of the famine-stricken areas would try to flee to avoid
being captured. But usually the chiefs of the territories in which they sought
asylum would promptly seize them and sell them without any further ado.
This is what happened to some of the inhabitants of Kajor and Jolof who went
to Waalo to escape the terrible famine which had swept through their land. The
king of Waalo seized them and sold them to the Compagnie des Indes.^9
The chiefs' desire to acquire European goods at a low price induced them
to sharpen the penalties for offences and crimes; the apparently most trivial
offences were now severely punished.
Insolvency now became liable to the penalty of slavery. The creditor
would take the offender and put him up for auction.^10 Theft, murder and canni-
balism were likewise punishable by enslavement. Thieves whose guilt was
proved became their victims' slaves. Those guilty of certain offences liable to
a fine which they were unable to pay also forfeited their freedom. But although
thieves, criminals, insolvent debtors and cannibals were all mercilessly reduced
to servitude and sold as slaves, war and slave raids nevertheless remained the
main source of slaves.
Caught up in the mesh of the slave trade, which was much more lucrative
than trading in kola, ivory or cattle, the African traders progressively went
over to trading in slaves, organizing it in such a way as to minimize the risks
inherent in such a large-scale business. A category of local traders emerged
known as merchants (French : courtiers) by the Europeans and as Juula by the
Africans. They were mostly to be found among the Sarakole, the Mandingo
and the Hausa.
These slave-merchants would go to the various markets where the slaves
were bought and sold. Each territory had its market-day, on which all the
different dealers would meet. The largest slave markets were Segu, Bambarena,
Khasso and Bambuhu.^11
Every year the African merchants would set off for the regions of Upper
Senegal/Niger and Hausaland in search of slaves whom they would then take
off to the places where they would be most likely to secure the highest prices
for them. As the slave trade developed, particularly in the eighteenth century,