Caillié, RENÉ

Caillié, RENÉ or AUGUSTE, a French traveller, noted for his journey to Timbuctoo, was born 19th September 1799 at Mauzé, in Poitou. Having gone to Senegal, and engaged in trading with the natives, he learned about 1826 that the Geographical Society of Paris had offered a premium of 10,000 francs to the first traveller who should reach Timbuctoo. Provided with a stock of goods for barter, and dressed in Moorish garb, Caillié, who had learned Arabic, started from Kakondy in Sierra Leone, April 18, 1827, and after some delay caused by illness, reached the mysterious city, April 20, 1828. Here he remained fourteen days, then accompanied a caravan across the Sahara Desert, reaching the coast at Tangier, August 7. After hearing and examining his statements, the society awarded him the offered prize, with a pension of 1000 francs. His notes of travel, arranged by M. Jomard, were published under the title Journal d'un Voyage à Tembouctou, &c. (3 vols. 1830). Caillié died near Paris, May 7, 1839.