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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in
+the Years of 1845 and 1846, by James Richardson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846
+
+Author: James Richardson
+
+Release Date: July 17, 2007 [EBook #22094]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRAVELS IN THE GREAT DESERT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Carlo Traverso and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: JAMES RICHARDSON ESQ^R.
+             _In the Ghadamsee Costume._
+ENGRAVED BY GEORGE COOK FROM THE ORIGINAL DRAWING.
+            London: Richard Bentley, 1848.]
+
+
+
+TRAVELS
+
+IN
+
+THE GREAT DESERT
+OF SAHARA,
+
+IN THE YEARS OF 1845 AND 1846.
+
+CONTAINING
+
+A NARRATIVE OF PERSONAL ADVENTURES, DURING A TOUR OF NINE
+MONTHS THROUGH THE DESERT, AMONGST THE TOUARICKS
+AND OTHER TRIBES OF SAHARAN PEOPLE;
+
+INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF
+
+THE OASES AND CITIES OF GHAT, GHADAMES,
+AND MOURZUK.
+
+BY JAMES RICHARDSON.
+
+Φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ.
+
+IN TWO VOLUMES.
+
+VOL. I.
+
+LONDON:
+RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
+Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
+M.D.CCC.XLVIII.
+
+LONDON
+HARRISON AND CO., PRINTERS,
+ST. MARTIN'S LANE.
+
+[Illustration: MAP _ILLUSTRATING_ THE TRAVELS AND RESEARCHES _OF
+JAMES RICHARDSON IN_ THE GREAT DESERT OF SAHARA _BY_ JAMES WYLD
+_GEOGRAPHER TO THE QUEEN London, Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street,
+1848._ ENGRAVED BY J. WYLD, CHARING CROSS EAST]
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+THE sentiment of Antiquity--that "The life of no man is pleasing to the
+gods which is not useful to his fellows,"--has been my guiding principle
+of action during the last twelve years of my life. To live for my own
+simple and sole gratification, to have no other object in view but my own
+personal profit and renown, would be to me an intolerable existence. To
+be useful, or to attempt to be useful, in my day and generation, was the
+predominant motive which led me into The Desert, and sustained me there,
+alone and unprotected, during a long and perilous journey.
+
+But, in presenting this work to the British public, I have to state, that
+it is only _supplementary_ and _fragmentary_. If, therefore, any one were
+to judge of the results of my Saharan Tour merely by what is here given,
+he would do me a great injustice. I had expected, by this time, that
+certain Reports on the Commerce and Geography of The Great Desert, as
+well as a large Map of the Routes of this part of Africa, would have been
+given to the public. It is not my fault that their publication is still
+delayed. I can only regret it, because what I am now publishing comes
+_first_, instead of _last_, and consequently deranges my plan, the
+following pages being, indeed, _supplementary_ to the Reports and Map. I
+come, therefore, before the public with no small disadvantage.
+
+With regard to these supplementary and fragmentary extracts from my
+journal, I have also to state, they consist only of about two-thirds of
+the journal. For the present, I deemed it prudent to suppress the rest.
+But this likewise may disturb the harmony and mar the completeness of the
+work. However, if these portions of the journal are favourably received,
+other extracts may yet be published.
+
+On entering The Desert, my principal object was to ascertain how and to
+what extent the Saharan Slave-Trade was carried on; although but a
+comparatively small portion of the following pages is devoted to this
+subject. I have already reported fully on this traffic, and it was
+unnecessary to go over the ground again, which might defeat, by
+disagreeable repetitions and endless details, the object which I have in
+view,--that of exciting an abhorrence of the Slave-Trade in the hearts of
+my fellow countrymen and countrywomen.
+
+In these published extracts from my journal, I have endeavoured to give a
+truthful and faithful picture of the Saharan Tribes; their ideas,
+thoughts, words, and actions; and, where convenient, I have allowed them
+to speak and act for themselves. This is the main object which I have
+undertaken to accomplish in this Narrative of my Personal Adventures in
+The Sahara. The public must, and will, I doubt not, judge how far I have
+succeeded, and award me praise or blame, as may be my desert. If I have
+failed, I shall not abandon myself to despair, but shall console myself
+with the thought that I have done the best I was able to do under actual
+circumstances, and in my then state of health. It would, indeed, ill
+become me to shrink from public criticism, after having braved the
+terrors and hardships of The Desert. However, the publication of this
+journal may induce others to penetrate The Desert,--persons better
+qualified, and more ably and perfectly equipped than myself, and who may
+so accomplish something more permanently advantageous than what I have
+been able to compass. Acting, then, as pioneer to others, my Saharan
+labours will not be fruitless.
+
+But, if any persons obstinately object to the style and matters of my
+Narrative of Desert Travel, I shall likewise as obstinately endeavour to
+hold my ground. To all such I say,--"Go to now, ye objectors and
+gainsayers, and do better." My mission was _motu proprio_, and I plunged
+in The Desert without your permission. But I am but one of the two
+hundred millions of Europe. You can surely get volunteers. You have the
+money, the rank, the patronage, and the learned and philanthropic
+Societies of Europe at your back. Send others; inspire them yourselves,
+and they may produce something which you like better than what I have
+given you. If I am not orthodox enough,--if I have not reviled the Deism
+of The Desert sufficiently to your taste,--send those who will. A little
+less zeal in Exeter Hall, and a little more in The Desert, would do
+neither you nor the world any harm. A little less clamour about Church
+orthodoxy, or any other doxy[1], and a little more anxiety for the
+welfare of all mankind, would infinitely more become you, as Englishmen
+and Christians, and be more in harmony with that divine injunction, which
+sent out the first teachers of Christianity amongst the Greeks and
+Barbarians, in The City and The Desert, to preach the Gospel to every
+creature under heaven. If I be too much of an abolitionist, send one who
+admires slavery, and who will write up the Slave-Trade of The Desert. I
+have written in my way: you write in your way. If my pages disclose no
+discoveries in science, this I can only lament. When a man has no science
+in him, or no education in science, he can give you none. But what are
+your European Societies of Science for? Are they play-things, or are they
+serious affairs? Have you neither money nor zeal to equip a scientific
+expedition to The Desert? If not, I cannot help you. By the way, I was
+astonished to receive, since my return, a note from one of your eminent
+geologists, repudiating and protesting against all knowledge of the
+subject of "The Geology of The Desert." And The Desert is a fifth part of
+the African Continent! Yet this gentleman dogmatizes and theorizes on
+all geological formations, and can tell the whole history of the geology
+of our planet, from the first moment when it was bowled by the hand of
+The Omnipotent in the immensity of space, of suns and systems! If such
+presumption and self-willed ignorance discover themselves in great men,
+what are we to expect of little men?
+
+In the following pages, I have encroached upon my Reports, to describe
+several of the Oases of The Desert, besides giving as much of the routes
+as was necessary to render the Narrative of my journey intelligible. But
+this is all I could conscientiously do. For the rest of the geographical
+information, the public must wait.
+
+I return for a moment to the traffic in slaves. Born with an innate
+hatred of oppression, whatever form, or shape, or name it may take, and
+under what modes soever it may be developed, mentally or bodily, in
+chaining men down under a political despotism, or in forging for them a
+creed and forcing it on their consciences,--I have, since I could
+exercise the power of reflection, always looked upon the traffic in human
+flesh and blood as the most gigantic system of wickedness the world ever
+saw; and which I most deplore, in this our late, more humane and
+enlightened age, stands forth and raises its horrid head, impiously
+defying Heaven! In very truth, it is a system of crime, which dares
+
+    "Defy the Omnipotent to arms!"
+
+The reader must, therefore, excuse the language with which I have
+execrated this traffic in the pages of my Journal. There may be some men
+who think it no crime to buy and sell their fellow-men; I have seen many
+such amongst the Moslems. But he who thinks the traffic in slaves to be a
+crime against the human race, has a right to denounce it accordingly. I
+must therefore make a few preliminary observations, though painful to my
+feelings.
+
+It is notorious that the agitations of the Anti-Corn-Law League have
+given very lately a powerful impulse to the Slave-Trade, and slaves have
+risen in Cuba to 30 and 50 per cent. above their previous average value,
+since _slave_ sugar has been admitted upon the same terms, or nearly so,
+as _free-labour_ sugar, into England. This is entirely the work of The
+League. Some of these gentlemen think we must have cheap sugar at any
+risk, at any cost, even if wetted with the blood of the slaves. A
+ridiculous incident occurs to me. I once saw a child frightened into a
+dislike for white loaf sugar, by holding up a piece to the candle, and
+pretending it dropped blood. But there is no delusion or metaphor here,
+for the sugars of slave-plantations are really obtained by the
+blood-whippings and scourgings of the victimized slaves!
+
+As to Cobden, his Cobdenites, and Satellites, they would sell their own
+souls, and the whole human race into bondage, to have a free trade in
+slaves and sugar. This new generation of impostors--who teach that all
+virtue and happiness consist in buying in the cheapest, and selling in
+the dearest markets--are now dogging at the heels of Government, in
+combination with the West India agents, to get them to re-establish a
+species of mitigated Slave-Trade, because, forsooth, there should be
+right and liberty to buy and sell a man, as there is right and liberty to
+buy and sell a beast.
+
+I am not an enemy to Free Trade. I have duly noticed and praised the
+free-trade mart of Ghat, and shown how it prospers in comparison with the
+restricted system of the Turks, prevalent at Mourzuk. But this I do say,
+the case of Slavery was an exceptional case, as the Ten Hours' Factory
+Bill was an exceptional case in the regulation and restriction of labour.
+I fear, however, there are some of the Leaguers so outrageous in their
+advocacy of abstract principles, that they would have a free-trade in
+vice--a free-trade in consigning people to perdition! They are of the
+calibre of the men who wielded that dread engine of the "Reign of
+Terror," the "Committee of Public Safety," and made it death to speak a
+word against the "One Indivisible Republic[2]." These Leaguers are bent
+upon establishing an equal, although differently-formed, tyranny amongst
+us, and we cannot too soon and too energetically resist their odious and
+intolerable pretensions.
+
+But I know not, whether these civil tyrants be so bad as the spiritual
+tyrants who have just set up for themselves what they call a "Free Kirk."
+These reverend gentlemen have received the fruits of the blood of the
+slaves, employed on the laborious fields of the Southern States of
+America, to build up their new Free Church, pretending they have a
+Divine right to receive the value of the forced-labour of slaves, and
+quoting Scripture like the Devil himself. When called upon to refund they
+refuse, and make the contributions of the Presbyterian slave-dealers of
+the United States a sort of corner-stone of their Free Kirk. Why these
+priests of religion out-O'Connell-O'Connell, who point-blank refused, for
+the support of his sham Repeal, and sent back contemptuously, the dollars
+spotted and tainted with the blood of the slaves! . . . . . . . . It is
+the old story, the old trick of our good friends, the Scottish divines,
+and their old leaven of Scottish fanaticism. We know them of ancient
+date. We have read a line of Milton, who in his time so admirably
+resisted their bigotry. It is immortal like all that our divine bard
+wrote. Here is the line--
+
+    "New Presbyter is but old Priest writ large."
+
+The Free Kirk has cut its connexion with the State, because it says the
+State wishes to enslave its ministers. Yet it has no objection to receive
+monies from the slave-holders in America. The Free Kirk will build up its
+boasted freedom on the wasting blood and bones of the unhappy children of
+Africa! Why, indeed, should these Scottish divines, headed by the
+Presbyters Candlish and Cunningham, seek or advocate the freedom of the
+slaves held by their fellow Presbyters of the United States? Is it not
+enough that they seek and maintain their own freedom, and at whatsoever
+cost? Have they not received the pro-slavery mantle of the late
+venerated Dr. Chalmers, and can they, poor pigmies, possibly shake it
+off? Would it not be impious to do so? No, they cannot,--dare not do
+this. For, as it was said by Lord George Bentinck, of a quondam champion
+of the people, in the last Session of Parliament, "Liberty is on their
+tongues, but despotism is in their hearts."
+
+What can be more humiliating to a generous and tolerant mind, than to see
+a body of Christian ministers struggling to obtain by a Parliamentary
+enactment, the cession of plots of land for building of churches for the
+worship of God in liberty and truth, from the tyrannical holders of the
+soil; and, at the same time, this very body of priests does not scruple
+to receive the money of American slave-holders, to build and endow these
+self-same churches? Such incredible inconsistency makes one sick at
+heart, and inclined to question the existence of Christian feelings in
+the professors and teachers of Christianity!
+
+It is deeply to be deplored that our Anti-Slavery Society confines itself
+so much to protests, and what it calls "the moral principle." No people
+of the world has done more for the liberties of Africa than the Society
+of Friends in England, and no people more admirably exemplify in their
+conduct the humane and pacific morals of Christianity. But when the
+Founder of our religion resisted his enemies by the remonstrance, "Why
+strikest thou me?" something more was meant than a protest. We have had
+lately a _triste_ example of the end of protests in a neighbouring
+country. The annual protest of the French Chamber of Deputies against
+the extinction of the nationality of Poland, not only ended in barren
+results, and excited public ridicule, but actually terminated in the
+triumph of the nefarious scheme against which it was made. Never was a
+country so humiliated as France in this case!--Its Chief, the Sovereign
+of its choice, consenting at the time, to the damning act of the
+extinction of Polish nationality, for the sake of accomplishing a low and
+scandalous family intrigue in Spain! This was something more than
+ridiculous, and is one of the many infamies of our age, perpetrated on so
+large a scale. Now, I do not assert, that the protests of the
+Anti-Slavery Society will end in the re-enactment of the Slave-Trade by
+the British Parliament. But the last and present Sessions of Imperial
+Parliament, show symptoms of our country abandoning Africa, after the
+labours of half a century, to all the horrors of the Slave-Trade. Mr. P.
+Borthwick and Mr. Hume, more especially the latter, pleaded, in
+conjunction with others, during last Session, for the withdrawal of the
+British cruisers from off the Western Coast of Africa, and free trade in
+emigration, if not in slaves. In this good work, of course, they have the
+sympathies of the Anti-Slavery Free Trading League. Some of our journals
+opine, in their late articles, that a change has come over the spirit of
+our abolition dream, and suggest that the clerk, in charge of the
+Anti-Slavery Papers at the Foreign Office, is an old antiquated,
+superannuated being. In a word, these journals and Mr. Hume's pro-slavery
+clique, see no reason why Great Britain should not exhibit to this and
+succeeding ages, the most dreadful bad faith in the case of British
+abolition. They would have us say to the world:--"All our Anti-Slavery
+efforts, our Parliamentary enactments against Slavery, our huge blue
+books of published Anti-Slavery papers, our protocols and treaties with
+Foreign Powers, all, each, and singular, are one grand organized system
+of selfishness and hypocrisy." I know very well that, in general,
+foreigners give us no credit whatever for our anti-slavery feelings and
+public acts for the suppression of the Slave-Trade. This they have
+reiterated in my ears. And, how can they give us credit for sincerity in
+abolition, when our public men and public writers call for something like
+the re-enactment of the British Slave-Trade?--and, whilst our quondam
+champions of Free Churches receive the blood-stained money of
+slave-labour to build up their new ecclesiastical establishments? Mankind
+reason from actions, and not from verbal or written declarations. Our Act
+of Abolition, and the famous twenty millions, are not such wonderful
+things after all, when we owed a hundred millions to the descendants of
+our slaves. We were also nearly half a century in abolishing the traffic,
+after it had been denounced as robbery and murder by our highest and
+greatest statesmen, Pitt and Fox[3]. This slowness of our work has given
+the cue to the suspicions of our national enemies; and, certainly, to
+use a gross vulgarism, has "taken out the shine," or very much dimmed the
+lustre of this great act of justice to the African race.
+
+Here I cannot restrain myself from giving a word of caution to the
+working-classes of our country, to those more especially who head the new
+"National Society," and form other and similar leagues. You say the
+politicians of the Anti-Corn Law League are your men; you adore your
+Humes, and Duncombes, and Wakleys. You, English democrats, or reformers,
+as you may call yourselves, admire the self-government and cheap
+government of the Transatlantic Model Republic. You do well. But now read
+some of their latest handiworks, without note or comment on my part. The
+violent impulse given to the Slave-Trade in Cuba and the Brazils--the
+advocacy of a free trade in Slaves by the Leaguers in and out the British
+Parliament--the invasion and subjugation of Mexico, on the joint
+principles of lust of conquest and the extension of Slavery. Deny these
+facts if you can. Learn, then, to think, there may be democracy and
+republicanism without liberty or freedom.
+
+I pray God, that the protests and public appeals and remonstrances to
+Government of the Anti-Slavery Society may not end in barren results. But
+if the Leaguers and Democrats have their own way, its voice, though just
+and righteous, will be at length reduced to a faint cry, a last shriek of
+despair--overwhelmed by the loud laughs and jeers of the fiends, which
+possess the dealers in human flesh and blood, and surround unhappy and
+doomed Africa with a cordon of rapine and murder, of blood and flames!
+
+    "Where the vultures and vampires of Mammon resort,
+        Where Columbia exulting drains
+        Her life-blood from Africa's veins,
+    Where the image of God is accounted as base,
+    And the image of Cæsar set up in its place."
+
+If I were asked, "What can be done for Africa?" I should reply with no
+new thing, no nostrums of my own concocting, but what has been reiterated
+again and again. Teach her children to till the soil--to cultivate
+available exports by which they may obtain in exchange, through the
+medium of a legitimate commerce, the European products and manufactures
+necessary for their use and enjoyment. Until this be done, nothing
+effectual will be done. In vain you send missionaries of religion, or
+agents of abolition; in vain you contract treaties with the Princes of
+Africa. It is humiliating to think, equally a disgrace to our religion as
+to our civilization, that our connexion with Africa has only served to
+plunge her into deeper misery and profounder degradation. With truth we
+here may apply the strong censure of a Chinese Emperor, "That the march
+of Christians is whitened with human bones." Wherever we have touched her
+western shores there our footsteps have been marked with blood and
+devastation. We have fostered and encouraged within the heart of Africa
+the most odious and unnatural passions. We have stimulated the prince to
+sell his subjects, the father to sell his child, the brother to sell the
+sister, the husband the wife, into thrice-accursed and again accursed
+slavery! We have done all and more than this, whilst we have convulsed
+every state and kingdom of Africa with war, for the supply of cargoes of
+human beings. And for what? To cultivate our miserable cotton and sugar
+plantations! These are the doctrines of mercy and charity which we have
+taught the poor untutored children of Africa. Happy for poor forlorn,
+dusky, naked Africa, had she never seen the pale visage or met the
+Satanic brow of the European Christian! Does any man in his senses, who
+believes in God and Providence, think that the wrongs of Africa will go
+on for ever unavenged? Already, has not Providence avenged the wrongs of
+Africa upon Spain and Portugal, by reducing their national character and
+consideration to the lowest in the European family of nations? And as to
+the United States of America, has not the boasted liberty of our
+Republican countrymen, who colonized America, become a by-word, a
+hissing, and a scorn, amongst the nations of the earth? Have not these
+slave-holding Americans committed acts, nationally, within the last few
+years, which the most absolute Governments of Europe would blush to be
+guilty of? And what is one of their last acts, on a smaller scale, but
+not less decisively indicative of their national morality? The New York
+Bible Society has declared that it will not give the Bible to slaves,
+even when they are able to read the Bible! Would the Czar of Russia
+permit such an impious rule as this to be made by his nobles for their
+slaves or serfs? Such an action would render the liberties of a thousand
+republics a mockery, a snare, and a delusion, and their names infamous
+throughout the world.
+
+And the time of us Englishmen will come next--our day of infamy! unless
+we show ourselves worthy that transcendant position in which Providence
+has placed us, at the pinnacle of the empires of Earth, as the leaders
+and champions of universal freedom.
+
+In noticing the efforts made for raising Africa from her immemorial
+degradation, we are bound to confess our obligations to the Mahometans
+for what they have done. If they have extirpated Christianity from the
+soil of North Africa, and planted, instead of this tree of fair and pure
+fruit, the more glaring and showy plant of Islamism, they have, at the
+same time, endeavoured to raise Africa to their own level of
+demi-civilization. Whilst we condemn their slave-traffic as we condemn
+our own, we must do justice to the efforts which they have made, by the
+spread of their creed and the diffusion of their commerce, during a
+series of ten or twelve centuries, for promoting the civilization of
+Africa. They have succeeded, they have done infinitely more for Africa
+than we ourselves. They have organized and established regular
+governments through all Central Africa, and inculcated a taste for the
+occupation and the principles of commerce. A great portion of this
+internal trade is untainted by slavery. Bornou, Soudan, Timbuctoo, and
+Jinnee, exhibit to us groups of immense and populous cities, all
+regularly governed and trading with one another. They have abolished
+human sacrifice, which lingers in our East India possessions to this day.
+They have regulated marriage and restrained polygamy. They have made
+honour and reverence to be paid to grey hairs, superseding the diabolical
+custom of exposing or destroying the aged. They have introduced a
+knowledge of reading and writing. The oases of Ghat and Ghadames furnish
+more children, in proportion, who can read and write, than any of our
+English towns. The Koran is transcribed in beautiful characters by Negro
+Talebs on the banks of the Niger. The Moors have likewise introduced many
+common useful trades into Central Africa. But above all, the Mohammedans
+have introduced the knowledge of the one true God! and destroyed the
+fetisch idols. Let us then take care how we arrogate to ourselves the
+right and fact of civilizing the world. Nay, there cannot be a question,
+if we would abandon Africa to the Mohammedans, and leave off our
+man-stealing trade and practices on the Western Coast, the dusky children
+of the torrid zones would gradually advance in civilization. But is not
+the bare idea of such an alternative an indelible disgrace to
+Christendom?
+
+Mr. Cooley, in his learned work, entitled "The Negroland of the
+Arabs[4]," seems to doubt if the Slave-Trade can be abolished or
+civilization advanced, in Central Africa, because of the neighbourhood of
+The Desert. This, however, is transferring the guilt of slavery and of
+voluntary barbarism, if barbarism can be crime, from the volition of
+responsible man to a great natural fact, or circumstance of creation--The
+Desert; and is a style of observation perfectly indefensible, as well as
+contrary to philosophy and facts. First, we cannot limit the stretch or
+progress of the Negro mind any more than that of the European intellect.
+Mr. Cooley himself admits that the Nigritian people have advanced in
+civilization. And if they have advanced, why not continue to advance? But
+so far contrary are facts to Mr. Cooley's theory, that The Desert,
+instead of being an obstacle to civilization, is favourable to it, whilst
+the Nigritian countries beyond the influence of The Desert are plunged
+into deeper barbarism. The reader will only have to compare my account of
+the Touaricks, with the recently published account of the social state of
+the kingdom of Dahomy, to convince himself how completely fallacious in
+application is Mr. Cooley's theory[5]. Slaves, too, abound in thickly
+populated countries as well as desert countries: witness China and India.
+The Sahara, also, has its paradisical spots, or oases of enjoyment, as
+well as its wastes and hardships. It is likewise, not true, that the
+Saharan tribes depend for their happiness on the possession of slaves, or
+that life in The Desert is galling and insupportable. Many a happy oasis
+is without a slave. However this may be, it is always an extremely
+dangerous line of argument, to represent moral depravity as springing
+necessarily from certain physical and unalterable circumstances of
+creation. Finally, to represent The Great Desert as the buttress of the
+Slave-Trade, is contrary to all our experience. In deserts and mountains
+we find always the free-men: in soft and luxurious countries we find the
+slaves. It is not the free-born Touarick who is the slave-dealer, or the
+stimulator of the slave-traffic, but the Moorish merchant, and the
+voluptuary on the coast who sends him. All that the Saharan tribes do, is
+to escort the merchants over The Desert; and they would still escort them
+over The Desert did they not deal in slaves, carrying on only legitimate
+commerce.
+
+I may conclude by a word on Discoveries in The Sahara. It is now twenty
+years or more since The Sahara was explored, or before my present
+hap-hazard tour. From what I have seen since my return, and the little
+encouragement given to this sort of enterprise,--the public of Great
+Britain being so much occupied with railways, free-trade, and currency
+questions, educational schemes, and State endowed, or voluntary
+ecclesiastical establishments,--it is difficult to foresee how and when
+another tour may be undertaken, or how a tourist will have the heart to
+make another experiment. Unhappily, the spirit of discovery, like
+Virtue's self, is difficult to be satisfied with its own reward.
+Something, however, may in time be expected from the French, who will get
+restless in their Algerian limits, and make a bold effort to disenthral
+themselves, by leaping the bounds of the mysterious Sahara. Evidently the
+French Government have prohibited all isolated attempts. But should their
+colony succeed, and they must make it succeed, then a grand stroke of
+policy and action will be struck upon the lines of the Saharan routes,
+for diverting The Desert trade, if possible, into Algerian channels. We
+must wait patiently this time for further researches. Necessity propels
+nations in the march of discovery. England has some considerable stake
+likewise in the commerce of The Great Desert. But our governmental
+affairs are so vast, and ramify over so large a space of the world, that
+it is extremely difficult to get a Minister to strike out a new path,
+unless he has the sympathies and hearty support of the public with him.
+And certainly the last thing in the imagination of the British public is
+the undertaking Discoveries in The Great Desert.
+
+A remark may be made respecting the English spelling of Arabic words and
+names. I have not adopted the new system, as very few people understand
+it. I have endeavoured to represent the sounds of the original words in
+the ordinary way, giving sometimes the Arabic letters for those who
+prefer greater correctness. The spelling of Oriental and African names is
+also occasionally varied for the sake of variety, and sometimes I have
+written the words in various ways, according to the style of
+pronunciation amongst different Saharan tribes. I have also omitted
+accents and italics as much as possible, to avoid confusion and trouble
+to the printer. With respect to the contents at the head of the chapters,
+numberless little things and circumstances are besides unavoidably
+omitted in the enumeration.
+
+I have few acknowledgments to make to those who rendered me assistance in
+the prosecution of my Saharan tour and researches. I have rather
+complaints to prefer against professed friends. I was unable to get up in
+The Desert a single thing, the most trifling, to aid me in my
+observations, when I had determined to penetrate farther into the
+interior; whilst, somehow or other, a Memorandum was obtained from the
+Porte to recal me instead of a Firman to help me on my way. Fortunately I
+was beyond its power when it arrived at Tripoli, from Constantinople. But
+if I feel the bitterness of this want of sympathy, and these acts of
+hostility, I have the pleasure of being triumphant over all the obstacles
+thrown in my way. I felt freer in The Desert, unloaded by obligations.
+Indeed, the fewer of these a traveller has, the better. He always
+supports his trials and privations with lighter spirits and a more
+cheerful heart. His success is his own, if his failure is his own also.
+Nevertheless I have not forgotten, nor can I ever forget, to the latest
+day of my life, the acts of kindness shown to me by the rude and
+simple-minded people of The Desert, and I have duly and most scrupulously
+chronicled them all.
+
+                                           JAMES RICHARDSON.
+
+        LONDON,
+    _December, 1847._
+
+POSTSCRIPT.--It is hoped, for the honour and humanity of our Government,
+that they will resist the clamour to withdraw the Cruisers from the
+Western Coast of Africa, and that they will NOT WITHDRAW the British
+Cruisers. If a blow is to be struck, let it be struck at Cuba, or the
+Brazils, and not on the defenceless Africans, because they are
+defenceless. If a burglar prowls about, a whole neighbourhood is on the
+alert to protect itself against his depredations. If a band of pirates
+swarm in a sea or infest our coasts, a fleet is fitted out to capture
+them. But it is attempted to let loose upon weak, defenceless Africa a
+legion of pirates and murderers--for such will be the result if the
+British Cruisers are withdrawn from the Western Coast.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] See the newspapers for the correspondence between some of the
+    Bishops of our Church and the Premier. As the question is, Whether
+    Dr. Hampden be a Heretic or a Christian? I may here observe that
+    the term "Christian" is used in the following pages for
+    "European." To the epithet "Christian," in the strict sense of the
+    term, I have no other pretensions than that of being a
+    conscientious reader of the New Testament.
+
+[2] "Une et indivisible."
+
+[3] Lord Brougham, in his Life of Pitt, very properly takes off
+    some discount from the Anti-Slavery zeal of this great Statesman,
+    for being so tardy in the work of Abolition, and allowing his
+    Under Secretaries and subordinate Ministers to support the
+    Slave-Trade against himself, and whilst he was advocating its
+    extinction.
+
+[4] "It is impossible to deny the advancement of civilization in
+    that zone of the African continent which has formed the field of
+    our inquiry. Yet barbarism is there supported by natural
+    circumstances with which it is vain to think of coping. It may be
+    doubted whether, if mankind had inhabited the earth only in
+    populous and adjoining communities, slavery would have ever
+    existed. The Desert, if it be not absolutely the root of the evil,
+    has, at least, been from the earliest times the great nursery of
+    slave hunters. The demoralization of the towns on the Southern
+    borders of The Desert has been pointed out; and if the vast extent
+    be considered of the region in which man has no riches but slaves,
+    no enjoyment but slaves, no article of trade but slaves, and where
+    the hearts of wandering thousands are closed against pity by the
+    galling misery of life, it will be difficult to resist the
+    conviction that the solid buttress on which slavery rests in
+    Africa, is--The Desert." (p. 139.)
+
+[5] See MR. DUNCAN'S _Travels in Western Africa_.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+VOLUME I.
+
+PLATES.
+Portrait of the Author
+Map of the Desert
+Slave Caravan
+
+WOOD-CUTS.
+Arab Tents
+Facsimile Specimen of the Writing of a Young Taleb
+Manner of drawing Water from Wells
+Great Spring of Ghadames
+Bas-Relief
+Square of Fountains
+City of Ghadames
+Cistern of an Ancient Tower
+Negro's Head
+Ancient Ruins of Ghadames
+Region of Sands
+Rocking Rock
+
+[Illustration: A SLAVE CARAVAN. _J. E. S. del. J. W. Cook. sc._]
+
+
+
+
+TRAVELS
+
+IN
+
+THE GREAT DESERT.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FROM TUNIS TO TRIPOLI.
+
+     Project of Journey.--Opinions of People upon its
+     practicability.--Moral character of Europeans in Barbary.--Leave
+     the Isle of Jerbah for Tripoli in the coaster _Mesâoud_.--Return
+     back.--Wind in Jerbah.--Start again for
+     Tripoli.--Sâkeeah.--Zarzees.--Biban.--The _Salinæ_, or
+     Salt-pits.--Rais-el-Makhbes.--Zouwarah.--Foul Wind, and put into
+     the port of Tripoli Vecchia.--Quarrel of Captain with
+     Passengers.--Description of this Port.--My fellow-travellers, and
+     Said the runaway Slave.--Arrival at Tripoli, and
+     Health-Office.--Colonel Warrington, British Consul-General.--The
+     British Garden.--Interview with Mehemet Pasha.--Barbary
+     Politics.--Aspect of Tripoli.--Old Castle of the Karamanly
+     Bashaws.--Manœuvring of the Pasha's Troops.--The Pasha's opinion
+     of my projected Tour.--Resistance of the Pasha to my Voyage, and
+     overcome by the Consul.--Departure from Tripoli to Ghadames.
+
+
+ACCIDENT often determines the course of a man's life. The greater part of
+human actions, however humiliating to our moral and intellectual dignity,
+is the result of sheer accident. That the accidents of life should
+harmonize with the immutable decrees of Providence, is the great mystery
+of an honest and thinking mind. The reading accidentally of a fugitive
+_brochure_, thrown upon the table of the public library of Algiers, gave
+me the germ of the idea, which, fructifying and expanding, ultimately led
+me to the design of visiting and exploring the celebrated Oasis of
+Ghadames, planted far-away amidst the most appalling desolations of the
+Great Saharan Wilderness. This should teach us to lower our pretensions,
+and take a large discount from our merits in originating our various
+enterprises; but, alas! our over-weening self-love always manages to get
+the better of us. The _brochure_ alluded to was a number of the _Revue de
+L'Orient_, published at Paris, containing a notice of Ghadames by M.
+Subtil, the notorious sulphur[6]-explorer and adventurer of Tripoli.
+
+On leaving Algiers, in January, 1845, I carried the idea of Ghadames with
+me to Tunis; and thence, after agitating an exploration to The Desert
+amongst my friends, some of whom plainly told me, if I went I should
+never return, I should be consumed with the sun and fever, or murdered by
+the natives, and to attempt such a thing was altogether madness, I
+journeyed on to Tripoli, where I entered with all my soul and might into
+the undertaking. But as in Tunis so in Tripoli, I heard the birds of
+evil-omen uttering the same mournful notes of discouragement:--"I should
+never reach Ghadames, no one else had done so, or no one else had gone
+and returned. I should perish by the hand of banditti, or sink under the
+burning heat. I was not the man; it required a frame of iron. Enthusiasm
+was very well in its way, but it required a man who was expert in arms,
+and who could fight his way through The Desert." And such is the absurd
+character of men, and some people pretending to be friends of African
+discovery, that, on hearing of my safe return after nine months' absence,
+they felt chagrined their sagacious vaticinations were not verified. Like
+a man who writes a book, and ever so bad a book, he cannot afterwards
+adopt a right sentiment, or course of action, because he has written his
+book. It is true, the fate of Davidson, in Western Barbary, and the late
+disastrous mishap of the young Tuscan on his return from Mourzuk,
+favoured the pretensions of these Barbary-coast prophets, who cannot
+comprehend a deviation from what had happened before, but it is equally
+true that the violent deaths of these individuals, so far as we can
+gather from the details, were brought about by the greatest possible
+imprudence on their part. However, I may say without hesitation, no
+people dread The Desert so much, and have in them so little of the spirit
+of enterprise and African discovery, as the naturalized Europeans of
+Tunis and Tripoli, and other parts of Barbary. To purchase the
+co-operation of a volunteer in these countries would require more money
+than defraying the expense of an expedition, and after all, from the love
+of intrigue and double-dealing which Europeans long resident in Barbary
+acquire, as well as other drawbacks, you would be very badly served.
+
+I shall begin the narrative of my personal adventures in The Sahara with
+my departure from the island of Jerbah to Tripoli.
+
+_May 7th, 1845._--Left Jerbah in the evening for Tripoli in the coaster
+_Mesâoud_ ("happy"). The captain and owner was a Maltese, but the colours
+under which we sailed were Tunisian. Generally, a Moorish captain _di
+bandeira_ commands these coasters, because it saves them dues at the
+various ports. Indeed, most of the small coasting craft of Tunis and
+Tripoli, though the property of Europeans, sail under the Turkish, rather
+Mahometan (_red_) flag. Although May, our captain told me, it was the
+worst month in the year for coasting in Barbary. The wind comes in sudden
+puffs and gales, blowing with extreme violence everything before it,
+prostrating and rooting up the stoutest and strongest palm-trees. So, in
+fact, as soon as we got out, a _gregale_ ("north-easter") came on
+terrifically, and occasioned us to return early next morning to Jerbah.
+During the night, we were nearly swamped a few miles from the shore. The
+_gregale_ continued the next two days, striking down several of the
+date-trees with great fury. When these trees are so struck down, the
+people do not make use of the wood for months, nay years, because it is
+ill-luck. Jerbah is a grand focus of wind, and it sometimes blows from
+every point of the compass in twelve hours. Æolus seems to patronize this
+isle; and, as at Mogador on the Atlantic, wind here supplies the place of
+rain. The inhabitants of Mogador have wind nine months out of twelve; but
+seasons pass without a shower of rain.
+
+_10th._--Evening. Left again for Tripoli. We passed the night about ten
+miles off the island, amongst the fishing apparatus, which looks at a
+distance like so many little islets. They consist of mere palm-tree
+boughs, struck deep into the mud as piles are driven; and large spaces
+are thus enclosed. When the tide[7] falls, the fish get entangled or
+enclosed in these enclosures, and are caught. Very fine fish are taken,
+and a fifth of the ordinary sustenance of the islanders is derived from
+this fishing. Unhappily the poor fishermen are obliged to pay from
+twenty-five to fifty per cent. of the fish caught to Government; so the
+poor in all countries are the worse treated because they are poor.
+
+_11th._--The wind becoming again foul, we put into a little place called
+Sâkeeah, a port of the island in the S.E. Here is nothing in the shape of
+a port town, only a small square ruinous hovel of mud and plaster, and a
+rude hut put up temporarily by a Maltese, who is building a boat. I often
+think the Maltese are the _Irish_ of the South. Maltese enterprise is
+prevalent in all parts of the Mediterranean but in their own country. The
+port, such as it is, is defended by a little round battery, four feet
+high, with three rusty pieces of cannon. If these could be fired off, the
+masonry would tumble to pieces. This is the _present_ state of all the
+fortifications of Mahometan Barbary. It frequently happens that when a
+vessel of war visits the smaller Barbary ports, and wishes to fire a
+salute in honour of the governors, it is kindly requested this may not be
+done, because it is necessary etiquette to return the salute, and, if
+returned, the masonry of the fortifications may tumble down. The scene
+was wild and bare; the colours of the landscape light and bright. There
+were some Moors winnowing barley. An ox was treading out the corn, in
+Scripture fashion. Crops of barley and other grain are grown all over
+this fertile isle, under the date-palm and olive trees. Small boats were
+waiting to carry off the grain to Tunis. As in Ireland, little remains to
+feed the people. They must feed on dates, or fish, or vegetables and
+roots.
+
+_12th._--Left Sâkeeah with a strong breeze. On looking back on the island
+it had the appearance of thousands of date-palms, boldly standing out of
+the sea, the land being so low as not to be discernible a few miles'
+distance. Jerbah, from this appearance, as from reality, deserves the
+name of the "Isle of Palms." After crossing the channel, which runs
+between the island and the continent, whose waters were deep and rough,
+we got aground in the Shallows, off Zarzees. This place is a round tower
+(_burge_) on the continent, with a few houses and plantations of olives
+and dates. Here commences the shoal-water, or _bassa-fondo_, as our
+semi-Italian boatmen called it, which continues east along the coast for
+eighty miles, as far as Rais-el-Makhbes. When we got off again, at the
+flow of the tide, we passed Biban ("two doors"), the frontier place of
+the Tunisian dominions. Biban is a castle, with some fifty Arab houses,
+built of palm-wood and leaves in the shape of hay-stacks, and is situate
+on an islet, on each side of which the sea passes inland and forms a
+large lagoon. There is at Biban a single European resident, an Italian,
+who acts as a French agent and spy on the frontiers of Tunis and Tripoli.
+He is paid about eighteen-pence a day, cheap enough for his high
+political mission. The French are mighty fond of planting spies all over
+Barbary; but espionage is their forte. In the evening we arrived at the
+_Salinæ_[8], "salt pits," on the coast, where we found several small
+coasters loading with salt for Tripoli. Salt is also exported from this
+place to Europe. Here we brought up for the night, creeping and feeling
+our way as in the days of ancient navigation. Our bringing up, however,
+was fortunate, for the wind suddenly blew a gale from the N.W.,
+continuing all night, and until next day, when it fell a dead calm again.
+Strange weather for the fine month of May. But the Mediterranean, which
+is called the "_home_ station," is one of the nastiest chafing seas in
+the world, and in this fair season of the year is exposed to the most
+tremendous squalls, nay, continuous gales of wind.
+
+_13th._--We weighed again our little anchor, and in the afternoon cast it
+before Rais-el-Makhbes, the last anchoring ground of the _bassa-fondo_.
+The shore from Zarzees to Rais-el-Makhbes is extremely low. The
+_bassa-fondo_ stretches off the coast in some places at least thirty or
+forty miles, and is so shallow, that boats of the smallest burden often
+ground. Here our Maltese captain observed to me, with great mystery,
+"See, _Signore_, we must now be very cautious how we act, and watch the
+wind, so as to take it on the very first breath of its being favourable,
+for from here it is all deep water to Tripoli." In general, however, the
+Maltese captains display more courage than the Italians in these
+coasters.
+
+_14th._--In the morning we cleared Cape Makhbes. The captain was to have
+rounded it and entered the little port of Zouwarah, where there is a
+quarantine agent, and landed me there according to agreement. I had
+letters for this place, and was to have gone thence to Tripoli by land,
+two or three days' journey. On remonstrating, he gravely asked, "Whether
+I wished to do him an injury, compelling him to go to Zouwarah, from
+which port he couldn't get out for the wind?" Perceiving the captain had
+fully made up his mind to break a written agreement, signed before the
+Consul, for the temporary advantage now offering, I left off
+remonstrating, though extremely dissatisfied. We continued our course. It
+soon fell calm, and, as usual, the calm was again succeeded with a
+violent _gregale_, against which we could not make head. I now told our
+Palinurus it was necessary to look out for the port of Tripoli Vecchia,
+otherwise we should be obliged to go back or keep the open sea all night,
+for we could not reach Tripoli to-day. Half an hour elapsed, and the wind
+continuing to freshen, the captain took my advice. We turned direct
+south, and sought the port. After experiencing some difficulty, during
+which the captain, to my surprise, discovered the most serious alarm, we
+found and entered the wished-for haven. It was a real miracle of good
+luck, for the wind came on dreadfully, the angry spray was covering us
+with water, and our sufferings would have been beyond description if we
+had been obliged to keep the sea. Our bark was a mere cockle-shell, into
+which were rammed and jammed and crammed twenty-two mortal and immortal
+beings: _C'est à dire_, four sailors, fourteen Moorish passengers,
+including a woman and a child, two Jews, myself, and a runaway slave. So
+that our heartfelt thankfulness to a good Providence, pitying our folly
+and imprudence, may be easily imagined. In the midst of our confusion
+while searching for the port--having only three or four hours' daylight
+before us--the most ludicrous scene was enacted, which might have ended
+in the tragic. Some of the Moors professed to know the port of Tripoli
+Vecchia. Hereupon each fellow gave a different description, a thing
+perfectly natural, as each would have seen the port under different
+circumstances of time and place. "It was surrounded with white
+cliffs,--it was black,--rocky,--it was a sandy shore." All bawled and
+clamoured together. The captain put his fingers in his ears with rage. He
+had never been in before, or his men. At last, losing all patience, the
+Maltese fire got up, blown to fury, and, seizing a knife, the captain
+swore he would cut their throats if they didn't hold their tongues, or
+give a more distinct account of the port. This menace cowed them down
+like so many bullies, and they fell into a moody but vindictive silence,
+their looks discovering the internal oaths of revenge. It was really
+droll, if the words used allow the expression, to hear how the captain
+blended Italian, Maltese, and Arabic oaths and abuse in his rage. Now
+"_Santo Dio!_" now "_Scomunicat!_" _Sacrament!_ now "_Allah!_" "_Imshe_,"
+"_Kelb_," "_Andat_," "_per Bacco!_" &c. At length, when a sailor from the
+mast-head descried the port, and a tremendous surf was seen or said to be
+seen rolling near the entrance, the Moors, who although mostly sulky
+under the influence of their fatalism, and show very little courage in
+the dangers of the sea, cried out with fear, "Allah, Allah!" "Ya,
+Mohammed!" (O God! O God! O Mahomet!) The captain even felt disposed to
+blubber at the sight of the furious surf, so nothing less could be
+expected from the passengers. A bad example is this to the sailors and
+people, but one which often occurs aboard Italian and Maltese vessels.
+
+_15th._--The wind continued all night and the following day. It dropped
+down on the afternoon of the 16th; on the 17th a pleasant breeze sprung
+up, and continued until we got within a couple of miles off Tripoli. We
+were followed for three hours by a shoal of porpoises, some nearly as big
+as our bark, which enjoyed highly the run with us, "_perceiving_," as the
+captain said, "_our motion_." The first night of our anchorage in the
+Tripoli Vecchia, we had several alarms that the tiny bark had dragged its
+anchor, and was about to take us out into the open sea: no one could
+sleep. After the wind subsided, our _Christian_ sailors were alarmed that
+we might have our throats cut by the _Ishmaelite_ Arabs from the shore
+the next night. When it was quite calm we went on shore to search for
+water; we found a well of good water on the N.E. landing of the port. A
+palm beckoned us to the spring, but a single palm is often found where
+there is no well or water; and it is not true, as vulgarly supposed, that
+where there are date-palms there must be water. The country in this
+vicinity is a perfect desert, yet on this arid waste shepherds drive
+their flocks in the spring, and up to May and June. The captain
+considered Tripoli Vecchia, which is a very ancient port, and the site of
+a once famous city, more secure than that of Tripoli itself, though
+certainly much smaller. Whilst we were here no bark visited it.
+Good-sized ships occasionally anchor in it. Like Tripoli, it is defended
+with a sunken reef of rocks, some peaks of which rise several feet out of
+the water. Along this line is a strong surf always chafing and roaring.
+There are two mouths of entrance; the deepest water within is about
+twelve or fourteen feet. There is another but much smaller port, two
+miles further east; the coast from this to Tripoli offers nothing to the
+tourist. Twelve miles this way begin those forests of fine broad-waving
+palms, which form so noble a feature in the suburban landscape of
+Tripoli. When we got off Tripoli we had a dead calm, and myself looking
+about for the wind, the Moors got angry, and said, "Be still; if you
+restlessly stare about, and wish the wind to come, it will never come:
+you cast the '_eye malign_' upon it." These superstitious ideas are not
+peculiar to the Moors. An English captain once told me, if I continued to
+stay below, the wind would never be fair. Tripoli looked here very bold,
+massive, and imposing from the sea; its broad lime-washed towers, and the
+graceful minarets beyond, all dazzling white in the sun, contrasting with
+the dark blue waters of the Mediterranean. Such is the delusion of all
+these sea-coast Barbary towns; at a distance and without, beauty and
+brilliancy, but near and within, filth and wretchedness.
+
+A word of my fellow passengers and crew. Our Maltese _Rais_, although he
+broke his agreement with me, behaved well; I therefore paid him,
+requesting the Chancellor of our Consulate only to scold him, and warn
+him for the future. He is a good Maltese Christian; and when I told him
+Malta had fifty years' possession of Tripoli, he replied, "Ah, how the
+world changes! what a pity God has given this fine country into the hands
+of rascally Turks." Sometimes he would kick the Moors about and through
+the ship like cattle: at other times he would say, "Aye, come,
+_bismillah_[9]," and help them to a part of his supper. The Moors
+provided for only _four_ days' provisions, a day over the average time,
+and they were all out of bread before arriving at Tripoli. The captain
+consulted me as to what was to be done; we arranged to supply them with a
+few biscuits every day, I taking the responsibility of payment, pitying
+the poor devils. If a Moor has a good passage at sea, he says, "Thank
+God!" if not, _Maktoub_, ("It is written,") and quietly submits to the
+evils which he has brought on himself by sheer imprudence. Their
+provisions, in this case, consisted of barley-meal, olive-oil, a few
+loaves of wheaten bread, and a little dried paste for making soup. The
+soup was made of a few onions, dried peppers, salt, oil, and the paste.
+On first starting, some of the more respectable had a few hard-boiled
+eggs, with which the Jews most frequently travel; and others had a little
+pickled fish. When the paste was finished, the barley-meal was attacked,
+and when this was gone, the greater part lived on biscuits sopped in
+water. We tried to buy a sheep from a flock driven by the shore, for
+which I furnished a dollar; but the current was so strong, that the man
+could not reach the land. One poor old Moor lived actually on bread and
+water all the time he was on board, and would have nothing else, telling
+me, "What God gives is enough." Yet he was cheerful and talkative. One of
+the two Jews was also a very old blind man, clothed in rags. He, too,
+mostly fared on biscuits sopped in water; nevertheless, he also was quite
+happy! "Where are you going, Abraham?" I said to him. "Where God wills I
+go," he replied; "but I wish to lay my poor bones in the land of our
+fathers. Many long years God has afflicted us for our sins, but it will
+not be for ever." The old gentleman was going to get a passage from
+Tripoli to the Holy Land. How little suffices some! How much does faith!
+So mysterious are the ways of the Creator in distributing contentment.
+For myself, I fared extremely well in the midst of this _happy_ melée of
+misery and starvation, Mr. Pariente, of Jerbah, having filled for me a
+large box of provisions, consisting of a leg of lamb, a fowl, pigeons,
+fish and bread, besides wine and spirits. But this was as liberally
+distributed amongst all as given to me, and not a crumb was left on
+arriving at Tripoli. When we were getting safe into port, I gave the grog
+to the crew; they had often cast wistful eyes at the _acquavite_, but
+none was poured out whilst at sea. Two or three drunken sailors would
+have sent our cockle-shell to the bottom; still, in spite of the
+coffee-drinking vessels, a little spirits may occasionally be very
+usefully distributed to men, fighting and wrestling with the wild waves
+and the tempest. Our bark was from six to eight tons' burden, and the
+cabin was just big enough for me and the captain to move in; the woman
+and child slept in the forecastle, and all the rest on deck. Each Moorish
+passenger paid half a dollar for the voyage. I have been thus particular
+in describing our coaster and its _live_ freight, to show what misery is
+endured in these coasting voyages. It was, however, a fit introduction to
+my painful journeyings through the still more inhospitable _ocean_
+desert.
+
+I have now to mention my runaway servant, Said. This negro was the slave
+of Sidi Mustapha, Consular Agent of France in Jerbah. Mustapha was
+formerly Consular Agent of England, and being found to possess slaves, he
+was dismissed. He got up however false documents, to show that he had
+disposed of his slaves; but this being discovered, the cheat did not
+avail, and he was not allowed to be any longer England's Consul. Then,
+seeing his imposture had failed, he again resumed power over his slaves,
+and Said was still his slave on my arrival at Jerbah. Hearing of this, I
+told Said to go on board, and wait till the boat left. He did so. The
+captain winked at it, and apparently every one else, for Said was
+securely numbered on the vessel's _papers_ as a passenger. This, of
+course, happened before the Bey of Tunis finally abolished slavery, which
+important event took place in the beginning of the year 1846, to the
+eternal honour of the reigning Mussulman prince. But, even if slavery had
+continued in Tunis, Mustapha, the French Consular Agent in Jerbah, could
+have had no legal right over Said, after having given a document to the
+British Consul-General, certifying that he had liberated all his slaves.
+The runaway Said was in reality a freed man. The reader, however, will be
+pleased to understand that I am not justifying my conduct for enticing a
+slave to run away. I despise such an attempted justification. On the
+contrary, I consider that every man, who has the means of striking off
+the chains from a slave, and does not embrace the opportunity of doing
+so, is the rather the man who commits an offence against natural right.
+As to the French Consular Agent, I asked some people why the French
+Government did not dismiss him also for his premeditated forgery of
+public documents? I was told that, on the contrary, this was a reason for
+keeping him French Consul--that he could not be _disavowed_ in connexion
+with _British_ affairs, or, if disavowed, he must be pensioned off. A
+French Consul, whose acquaintance I made in North Africa, replied to me,
+on rallying him on the various disavowals of French functionaries in
+different parts of the world: "I assure you, the only way to get
+distinction in our consular service is to get disavowed. When disavowed
+about English differences, we must be decorated, or the mob of Paris and
+its journals would not be satisfied."
+
+Our captain gave me a hint that, on arriving at Tripoli, there would be
+exhibited a good deal of _fantazia_, ("humbug[10]") by the health-office
+department. Accordingly, after we had been an hour in port, the health
+officer came alongside, and affected great surprise at our not having
+_passports_, and asked me, with great pomposity, what was my "_reverito
+nome?_" The Turks always adopt and caricature the worst parts of European
+civilization, leaving its better forms wholly unimitated. This is,
+perhaps, in the nature of the struggles which a semi-barbarous power may
+make to attain the standard of its civilized neighbour.
+
+On landing, I went off with Said to the British Consulate. Although I had
+seen Colonel Warrington at Malta, I was now so sea-worn and browned with
+sun and wind, with an _incipient_ desert beard, that he did not
+immediately recollect me. I therefore presented my letter of
+introduction, mentioning my name, when at once the Colonel recognized me.
+"Ah!" observed the Colonel, "I don't believe our Government cares one
+straw about the suppression of the slave-trade, but, Richardson, I
+believe in you, so let's be off to my garden." I rode one of the
+Colonel's horses, which had been so long in the stable without exercise,
+that I found the Barbary barb no joke. A most violent _gregale_ swept the
+bare beach of the harbour as we proceeded to the gardens and plantations
+of the Masheeah, and the restive prancing of the horse was not unlike the
+dancing about of the cockle-shell bark to which I had been condemned for
+the last ten days. The _British Garden_ I found to be a splendid
+horticultural developement, containing the choicest fruit-trees of North
+Africa, with ornamental trees of every shape, and hue, and foliage--all
+the growth of thirty years, and the greater part of them planted by the
+hands of Colonel Warrington himself. The villa is on the site of an
+ancient haunted house--for what country does not boast of its haunted
+house? The spot which once was visited nightly by some Saracen's-head
+ghost, in the midst of a waste, is now the fairest, loveliest garden of
+Tripoli! Amongst its rich fruit-trees is an immense peach-tree--the
+largest in all this part of Africa. It is a round, squatting,
+wide-spreading tree, not nailed up to the walls, but the size of its
+girth of boughs is enormous.
+
+I must take the liberty of leaving off daily dates here. I detest daily
+note-writing, although the reader may find for his peculiar infliction so
+long a journal as these pages.
+
+_19th._--A _ghiblee_ day. The wind from The Desert is coming with a
+vengeance. Its breath is the pure flame of the furnace. I am obliged to
+tie a handkerchief over my face in passing through the verandahs of the
+garden. I had not the least idea it could be so hot here in the middle of
+May. At 2 P.M. the thermometer in the sun was at 142° Fahrenheit.
+
+Neither Tunis nor Tripoli has been sufficiently appreciated by the
+politicians of Europe. Indian and American affairs are the two ideas
+which occupy our merchants. And yet the best informed of the consuls in
+Tripoli say, "The future battles of Europe will be fought in North
+Africa." At this time there is considerable agitation and political
+intrigue afoot here. Algerian politics, also, envenom these squabbles.
+
+The aspect of the city of Tripoli is the most miserable of all the towns
+I have seen in North Africa. And they say, "It grows worse and worse."
+Yet the present Pasha, Mehemet, is esteemed as a good and sensible man.
+Unfortunately, a Turkish Governor can have very little or no interest in
+the permanent prosperity of this country. His tenure of office is very
+insecure, and rarely extends beyond four or five years; so that whilst
+here he only thinks of providing for himself. The country is therefore in
+a continual state of impoverishment as governed by successive pashas.
+Each successive high functionary works and fleeces the people to the
+uttermost. Even in our own colonies the exception is, that the Governor
+cares more for the welfare of the colony than for his own immediate
+benefit. In Turkish colonies we must therefore expect the rule to be,
+that the Pasha should govern only for his private benefit and personal
+aggrandizement.
+
+_21st._--This afternoon His Highness Mehemet Pasha had arranged to grant
+me an interview. I was introduced, of course, by our Consul-General,
+Colonel Warrington. Mr. Casolaina, the Chancellor of the Consulate, and
+his son, were in attendance as interpreters. His Highness receives all
+strangers and transacts all business in an apartment of the celebrated
+old castle of the Karamanly Bashaws, whose legends of blood and intrigue
+have been so vividly and terrifically transcribed in _Tully's Tripoline
+Letters_. On entering this place I was astonished at its ruinous and
+repulsive appearance. Nothing could better resemble a prison, and yet a
+prison in the most dilapidated condition. Walking through the dark,
+winding, damp, mildewy passages, shedding down upon us a pestiferous
+dungeon influence, Colonel Warrington suddenly stopped, as if to breathe
+and repel the deadly miasma, and turning to me, said: "Well, Richardson,
+what do you think of this? Capital place this for young ladies to dance
+in, so light and airy. Many a poor wretch has entered here, with promises
+of fortune and royal favour, and has met his doom at the hand of the
+assassin! In my long course of service, how many Kaëds and Sheikhs I have
+known, who have come in here and have never gone out. I'm a great reader
+of Shakspeare. It's the next book after the Bible. But a thousand
+Shakspeares, with all their tragic genius, could never describe the
+passions which have worked, and the horrors which have been perpetrated,
+in this place." The Colonel's tragic harangue was not without its effect
+in these dungeon passages, and the old gentleman seemed to enjoy the
+shiver which he saw involuntarily agitate me. Indeed, the darksome
+noisome atmosphere, without this tragic appeal, could not fail to make
+itself felt, as Egyptian darkness was felt, after leaving the fiery heat
+and bright dazzling sun-light without. Winding about from one ruinous
+room to another, and ascending various flights of tumbling-down steps and
+stairs, we got up at length to the eastern end, where there are two or
+three new apartments constructed in the modern style. In one of them, not
+unlike a city merchant's receiving-parlour, we found the Pasha and his
+court. We were immediately introduced, and somewhat to my surprise, I
+found His Highness an extremely plain _unmilitary_-looking Turkish
+gentleman, of about fifty years of age, and dressed without the least
+pretensions of any kind. How unlike the ancient gemmed and jewelled
+Bashaws! flaming in "Barbaric pearl and gold." The present Ottoman
+costume is most simple. His Highness had only the _Nisham_, or Turkish
+decoration of brilliants upon his breast, to distinguish him from his own
+domestics, coffee-bearers, or others. As soon as he saw us, he hurriedly
+came up to us and seized hold of our hands and shook them cordially. The
+troops were at the moment being reviewed, and we had a good sight of them
+from our elevated position. They were manœuvring on the sea-beach between
+the city and the Masheeah. "Tell the Bashaw," cried out the Colonel to
+Casolaina, "I never saw such splendid manœuvring in all the course of my
+life. They do His Highness and Ahmed Bashaw, the Commander-in-Chief,
+infinite credit." This compliment was interpreted and graciously
+received though its value was no doubt properly appreciated by the
+politic Turk. The Colonel continued:--"Tell the Bashaw, that as long as
+the Sultan has such troops as these, he will be invincible." This was
+answered by, "_Enshallah_, _enshallah_, (If God pleases, if God
+pleases)". The Colonel still laid it on:--"Casolaina, tell the Bashaw, I
+myself should not like to command even English troops against these fine
+fellows." To which the Bashaw and his Court replied, "_Ajeeb_,
+(Wonderful!)" Ahmed Bashaw, the Commander-in-Chief, a most
+ferocious-looking Turk, seized hold of my shoulders and pushed me to the
+window to admire his brilliant men. I could just see that their
+manœuvrings were in the style of the "awkward squad;" but their arms and
+white pantaloons dazzled beautifully in the sun upon the margin of the
+deep-blue sea.
+
+After we had satisfied our curiosity or admiration in looking at the
+troops, the windows were shut down, and all sat down to business. His
+Highness began by asking my name, when I came, and what I was going to be
+about? The Consul replied to these first and usual questions of Turkish
+functionaries, and more particularly explained my projected visit to
+Ghadames. The Pasha immediately consented, as a matter of course, with
+Turkish politeness; but before the interview was concluded, various
+objections were started and insisted upon, showing the _not_ suddenly
+excited jealousy of these functionaries, who, previous to my interview,
+knew all about my anti-slavery and literary projects. His Highness
+observed:--"The heat is killing now, the distance is great, the road is
+infested with robbers; I shall have to send an escort of five hundred
+troops with your friend, (addressing the Consul); not long ago two
+hundred banditti attacked a caravan. All Tunisian Arabs are robbers; the
+Bey of that country cannot maintain order in his country; besides, an
+Arab will kill ten men to get one pair of pistols; but I'll make further
+inquiries." His Highness also related a feat of his own troops, who
+captured seven camels from the banditti, which he said he distributed
+amongst the captors. He also gave his own people, the Tripolines, a very
+bad character. But, of course, the Tripolines and the Turks must mutually
+hate one another. We were served with pipes, coffee, and sherbet. I
+pretended to sip the pipe two or three times, as a matter of politeness,
+for though I have been in Barbary some time, where smoking is universal,
+I have not adopted the dirty vice. Near the Pasha sat the second in
+command, or Commander-in-Chief of the forces, the Pasha himself devoting
+his attention almost exclusively to civil affairs. As I have said, this
+functionary was a most savage-looking fellow, and his acts in Tripoli and
+his reputation accord with the character broadly stamped on his
+countenance. He has risen from the lowest ranks--one of the _canaille_ of
+the Levant--and is blood-thirsty and vindictive whenever he has the means
+of showing these dreadful passions. How many tyrants have risen from the
+ranks of those who are the victims and objects of tyranny!
+
+The Consul hinted to me afterwards, that this military tyrant would
+oppose my journey to the interior, and throw all sorts of obstacles in
+the way, but thought the Pasha would not listen to his insinuations. On
+asking the Consul what he thought of the objections of the Pasha? he
+said: "Oh, they are only to increase the merit of his facilitating your
+trip." Mehemet Pasha has the rank of three tails, and the Pasha of the
+Troops two tails. There was present also Mohammed Aly, a Moor, who
+interprets between the Moors and Arabs, and the Turks. He is said to be
+entirely in the interest of the English. He frequently visits the
+Vice-Consul, Mr. Herbert Warrington, who treats the interpreter with a
+bottle of champaigne, and in this way things are greatly smoothed down
+before His Highness. A glass of wine is often more potent than an
+elaborate speech in these and other diplomatic transactions. It is but
+justice to these functionaries to say, whatever money they may take away
+from Tripoli, that they are very moderate in their style of living and
+dress in this place. The apartment in which we were received was
+exceedingly plain. All the furniture was of the most ordinary European
+stuff; there was nothing oriental in it but a large square ottoman. A few
+flowers were placed gracefully on the table, and there was a pretty
+bronzed lamp. We visitors sat on cane-bottomed chairs. The costume of
+these high functionaries was the usual large Turkish frock-coat, tightly
+buttoned up, and white or other light-coloured pantaloons, for summer
+wear, and these strapped over thick heavy black leather shoes, the straps
+often inside the shoes as an Ottoman improvement on the European fashion.
+The head was covered with the _shasheeah_, or fez, with a large blue silk
+tassel hanging prettily from the crown. On the breast hung the _Nisham_
+decoration, distinguishing the various grades and rank.
+
+We left His Highness under the impression that he would do every thing in
+his power to forward our views, and never dreamt of a future memorandum
+of recall after having reached Ghadames with His Highness's permission.
+
+It is not now my intention to give an account of Tripoli, so I pass on to
+a second interview I had with the Bashaw. This was on the 7th of July. In
+this long interval, I had been waiting for letters from England, and in
+every way was learning lessons of most imperturbable patience.
+
+I was visiting some sick officers in the castle with a Maltese doctor of
+the name of _Gameo_, whose acquaintance I had made, and whom I found
+useful in collecting information on Tripoli and the interior, when one of
+the functionaries of the Castle came to tell me the Bashaw would like to
+see me. I felt some delicacy in going, but thought it better to comply
+with the wish of His Highness. There was immediately presented to me, as
+usual to all visitors, a pipe, coffee, and sherbet. Our interview lasted
+about half an hour, and the conversation was _to the point_, referring
+solely to my journey to the interior. But, although I exerted all my
+skill and tact, I could not remove the jealousies of His Highness, and I
+believe for one, and only one reason. It had been given out in Tripoli
+that I was to be appointed Consul at Ghadames. The Bashaw fearing that
+such an appointment would interfere with his system of extorting money
+from the inhabitants of that country (the treasury being empty in
+Tripoli), set his face against my journey, and endeavoured to delay it
+until he could get a _counter_ order from Constantinople. His Highness
+was however very polite, and promised to furnish me with tents, if I had
+need, and a large escort. The Turks are getting sensitive of the press.
+The Bashaw said he had heard I was a great newspaper writer, and asked me
+if I had any objection to writing an article in his praise.
+
+At the end of the month of July (30th), Colonel Warrington suggested to
+me the propriety of writing to him a letter, stating my wish and objects
+in visiting the interior. I did so, and received an answer from the
+Colonel the same day. Mr. Frederick Warrington, who had great influence
+with several people about His Highness, and myself, went again to the
+Bashaw, in order to conciliate His Highness and persuade him to give a
+_bonâ fide_ protection to me through the interior of Tripoli, as also to
+obtain a passport. It unfortunately happened, that about a week ago, a
+Ghadames caravan had been captured by some hostile Arabs on the frontiers
+of Tunis. His Highness immediately produced this case, and said it was
+impossible for me to go whilst the routes were so insecure. He also
+alleged, and with more reason:--"The season was now too late, the heat
+was intolerable, and an European of my delicate constitution must
+succumb." We therefore returned much depressed. Colonel Warrington then,
+annoyed at the Bashaw's resistance, wrote the next day a letter to his
+Chancellor, requesting him to wait upon the Bashaw, and demand formally a
+passport for me, my servant, and camel-driver. I went with Mr. Casolaina,
+but did not see His Highness, waiting only at the door of the hall of
+audience, in case I should be wanted. His Highness apologized for his
+opposition, stating his objections of the season and the insecurity of
+the routes, but gave the order for the passports. I find the following
+note in my journal:--"Left Tripoli for Ghadames on the 2nd August, 1845;
+I had grown completely tired of Tripoli, and left it without a single
+regret, having suffered much from several sources of annoyance, including
+both the Consulate and the Bashaw."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[6] Many newspaper articles have been written, and companies
+    formed, for the promotion of exploring for sulphur in Tripoli (the
+    Syrtis); but somehow or other, all these schemes have failed. I
+    have been told there is sulphur in the Syrtis, and the failure of
+    obtaining it in remunerative quantity is to be attributed alone to
+    the chicanery or want of skill in the agent.
+
+[7] There is a far greater ebb and flow of tide here than at any
+    other coast of the Mediterranean, the sea rising and falling no
+    less than ten feet. This tidal phenomenon extends to the Lesser
+    Syrtis and to Sfax.
+
+[8] Like the fish-lakes of Biserta in Tunis, these salt-pits were
+    worked by the ancients, and have been inexhaustible and
+    unchangeable through two thousand years. Whatever may be the
+    geological changes in other regions of the globe, those of North
+    Africa are not very rapid, beyond filling up a few of the
+    artificial harbours, or _cothons_, with mud. Barbary contains
+    several Roman bridges which have spanned a stream remaining the
+    same size, and running in the same bed, through a course of
+    centuries. The salt of the _Salinæ_ is of good quality.
+
+[9] _Bismillah_, "In the name of God," the formula used by Moslems
+    when they partake of food. In the _Lingua Franca_ we have
+    sometimes "_Avete_ bismillah?" or "bismillah_ato_?" that is,
+    "taken your meal?"
+
+[10] In the present application, for this _Lingua Franca_ word
+    generally means "vain silly shewing off." The "playing at powder,"
+    or "firing off matchlocks for amusement," is also called a
+    _fantazia_ in Algeria and Morocco.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+FROM TRIPOLI TO THE MOUNTAINS.
+
+     Leave Tripoli for the Interior.--Feelings on
+     Starting.--Ghargash.--Gameo, the great quack of
+     Tripoli.--Janzour.--Account of my Equipment.--Camels fond of the
+     Cactus.--Arab Tents.--Jedaeen.--Zouweeah.--The
+     Sahara.--Beer-el-Hamra.--Squabbling at the Wells.--The strength
+     of Caravan, and character of Escort.--Shouwabeeah.--Difficulty of
+     keeping the Caravan together.--Camels cropping herbage _en
+     route_.--The _Kailah_ or _Siesta_.--Arab Troops seize the Water
+     of the Merchants.--Wady Lethel.--Irregular March of the
+     Caravan.--Aâeeat.--Descent into Wells.--Learn the value of
+     Water.--The Atlas and its Tripoline divisions and
+     subdivisions.--The ascent of Yefran, and its Castle.
+
+
+NOTHING is more common than that, after long delay and various
+negotiations, in waiting and preparing for a journey, everything at last
+is hurried with a most reckless dispatch; this, at least, was the case
+with me. I was to have been escorted out of Tripoli by the Consular
+corps, with the British Consul at their head, in the wonted style of
+Europeans setting out for the interior. But on the morning of the 2nd
+August, before I could finish my letters for England, or get my luggage
+together, came my camel-driver Mohammed, who, at the sight of my papers
+all spread out, began whining and blubbering, protesting, "The
+_ghafalah_[11] is gone; we can't overtake it--we shall be murdered, if we
+delay behind." Without saying a word in reply, I amassed and bundled up
+everything together, and gave him the baggage; then went off to the
+_Souk_, or market-place, to buy some fresh bread,--and found myself on
+the way to Ghadames, before I was conscious of having left Tripoli. Such
+is the excitement and vagaries of human feeling! Not being accustomed to
+mount the camel, I determined to hire some donkeys to ride to the first
+station; Gameo and one of his brothers accompanied me. When I could
+breathe freely, as I rode on my unknown way, with a boundless prospect
+before me, I felt my heart rebound with joy, and commended myself humbly
+to the care of a good God, not knowing what was to happen to me. I had
+consumed three months of most suffering patience in Tripoli before I
+could start on this journey, and was otherwise schooled for what was
+about to take place. But I must not begin too early the record of my
+complaints.
+
+Our first day's ride was mostly through desert lands, for The Desert
+reaches to the walls of the city of Tripoli. The little village of
+Gargash was seen at our right, near the margin of the sea. Gameo
+exclaimed, "There's the little mosque--there's the little cemetery--there
+are the little gardens, little palms!"--and little this, and little the
+other: indeed, it was a perfect miniature of congregated human existence.
+Arrived at Janzour, Gameo and his brother prepared to return. But
+previous to his leaving, Gameo, who was a tabeeb of great notoriety,
+determined to display his healing art. He took out his lancet, and
+forthwith bled everybody in the Kaëd's caravanseria. When his brother
+begged of him not to bleed any more people unless they paid him
+something--not to be such a _sciocco_ ("ninny,") he turned round upon
+him, and indignantly exclaimed "Ancora voglio lasciare il mio nome qui"
+(Here I will leave my name also!) It was the delight of Gameo to be the
+grand tabeeb of Tripoli, and even to prescribe for the officers and
+subordinate bashaws; and yet Gameo and his family many days were without
+bread to eat, to my certain knowledge. I relieved them as much as I
+could. The Moors and Arabs are very funny about bleeding, and the matters
+of the tabeeb; they will ask you to bleed them when in perfect health.
+All these persons who were bled at Janzour had no ailments; they will
+also swallow physic, whether well or ill. One of them consulted Gameo
+privately how he was to obtain children from his wife, who was barren.
+Another wished to obtain the affections of a girl by administering to her
+a dose of medicine. They consider a doctor in the light, in which our
+fathers of the time of Friar Bacon did, of a magician, and a person who
+holds some sort of illicit intercourse with the devil, or, at any rate,
+with the genii. They never give the doctor credit for his skill, but
+attribute his wit and success to the blessing or interposition of God.
+
+After taking leave of Gameo, I waited for Mohammed and Said; we had gone
+on quickly with the donkeys. They came up with the camels, but instead of
+encamping within the village, the ghafalah had brought up outside. This
+annoyed Mohammed, who kept exclaiming, as we went to the rendezvous of
+the merchants, "Ah! Gameo, that's him, Gameo, Gameo! What trouble he has
+brought upon us, Gameo! Gameo! he a tabeeb? Not fit to give physic to a
+dog. Gameo! Gameo! always talking--always talking; the devil take him,
+for he's his son." We reached the encampment as the shadows of night
+fell fast; we did not take supper, or pitch tent. My spirits gave way,
+and I felt fearful and saddened at the prospect of going into the
+interior absolutely alone. I had not a single letter of recommendation to
+any one, after waiting so long at Tripoli, and so much talk with all
+sorts of people about the necessity of having letters for the chiefs of
+The Desert. This was, indeed, bad management; yet I could not insist upon
+the Pasha giving me a letter, nor could I importune the British Consul:
+but it often happens, where there is less help from man, there is more
+from God. Many of the Ghadamsee merchants, whose acquaintance I had made
+in Tripoli, came now to me and welcomed me as a fellow-traveller. Janzour
+is a small village, with gardens of olives and date plantations.
+
+_August 3rd._--Before starting to-day, it is necessary to give some
+account of my equipment. I had two camels on hire, for which I paid
+twelve dollars. I was to ride one continually. We had panniers on it, in
+which I stowed away about two months' provisions. A little fresh
+provision we were to purchase _en route_. Upon these panniers a mattress
+was placed, forming with them a comfortable platform. As a luxury, I had
+a Moorish pillow for leaning on, given me by Mr. Frederick Warrington.
+The camel was neither led nor reined, but followed the group. I myself
+was dressed in light European clothes, and furnished with an umbrella for
+keeping off the sun. This latter was all my arms of offence and defence.
+The other camel carried a trunk and some small boxes, cooking utensils,
+and matting, and a very light tent for keeping off sun and heat. We had
+two gurbahs, or "skin-bags for water," and another we were to buy in the
+mountains, so each having a skin of water to himself. Said was to ride
+this camel, and now and then give a ride to Mohammed the camel-driver, to
+whom the camels belonged. We were roused before daylight. I made coffee
+with my spirit apparatus (_spiriterio_). In half an hour after the dawn,
+we were all on the move, and soon started. The ghafalah presented an
+interminable line of camels, as it wound its slow way through narrow
+sandy lanes, hedged on each side with the cactus or prickly-pear. We
+progressed very irregularly, and the camels kept throwing off their
+burdens. The Moors and Arabs, who manage almost everything badly, even
+hardly know how to manage their camels, after ages of experience. It is,
+however, very difficult to drive the camels past a prickly-pear hedge,
+they being voraciously fond of the huge succulent leaves of this plant,
+and crop them with the most savage greediness, regardless of the
+continual blows, accompanied with loud shouts, which they receive from
+the vociferous drivers to get them forward. I wore my cloak for two hours
+after dawn, and felt chilly, and yet at noonday the thermometer was at
+least 130° Fah., in the sun. We emerged from the prickly-pear hedges upon
+an open desert land. Here was an encampment of Arabs, with tents as
+"black" and "comely" in this glare and fire of the full morning sun, as
+"the tents of Kedar!" (See Solomon's Songs i. 5.) Nothing indeed is more
+refreshing than the sight of these black camel's-hair tents, when
+travelling over these arid thirsty plains. The whole households of the
+tents were alive, but their various occupations will be seen better in
+the following sketch than pictured to the mind by any elaborate
+description.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Encamped at Jedaeem about 10 o'clock, A.M. Remained here only two hours
+and proceeded to Zouweeah, a large village, situate in the midst of most
+pleasant gardens, or rather cultivated lands, overshadowed with date
+groves. These gardens are considered superior to those of the Masheeah
+around Tripoli. Passed through the whole district by 3 P.M., and then
+entered what is usually called the Sahara, this side the Mountains. This
+desert presents sand hills, loose stones scattered about, dwarf shrubs,
+long coarse grass, and sometimes small undulations of rocky ground. It
+is, however, overrun by a few nomade tribes, who feed their flocks on the
+ungrateful and scant herbage which it affords. Tripoli, in general offers
+a remarkable contrast to Tunis and other parts of Barbary, in having its
+Arab tribes located in stone and mud houses or fixed douwars, whilst
+nomade Arabs are found thickly scattered all over the West, as far as the
+Atlantic. Zouweeah is the last _belad_, or _paesi_, (_i. e._,
+"cultivated country,") before we reach The Mountains, which are two
+days' journey distant. I therefore sent Mohammed to buy a small sheep,
+but he could not succeed although there were many flocks about, the
+people absurdly refusing to sell them, even when the full price was
+offered. The Arabs themselves never eat meat as the rule, but the
+exception, supporting themselves on the milk of their flocks and
+farinaceous matter. Olive-oil and fat and fruit they devour. Of
+vegetables they eat, but with little _gusto_. Their flocks are kept as a
+sort of reserve wealth, and to pay their contributions. Our course to-day
+and yesterday was west and south-west. At sunset we encamped at
+Beer-el-Hamra ("red-well"), which is a well-spring of very good water,
+ten feet deep, the water issuing from the sides of the rocky soil. Here
+we found artificial pits or troughs for the sheep and cattle to drink
+from, and trunks of the date-palms hollowed out for the camels. When a
+ghafalah passes a well there is the greatest confusion to get all the
+camels to drink, and the people quarrel and fight about this, as well as
+for their turn to fill their water-skins. This quarrelling at the wells
+forcibly reminds the Biblical reader of the contest of Moses in favour of
+the daughters of Jethro against the ungallant shepherds. (Exodus i. 17.)
+We take in no more water till we get to The Mountains.
+
+Here mention must be made of the strength of our caravan, as all are to
+rendezvous at this well for safety, to start together over The Desert to
+The Mountains. It was half a day's advance of this where the Ghadamsee
+ghafalah had been lately plundered of all its goods and camels. As soon
+as the Sebâah banditti appeared, the merchants, who were without escort,
+all ran away like frightened gazelles. One man alone had his arm
+scratched. Our ghafalah, besides casual travellers going to The
+Mountains, consisted of some two hundred camels, laden chiefly with
+merchandize for the interior, Soudan, and Timbuctoo. Thirty or forty
+merchants, nearly all of Ghadames, to whom the goods belong, accompany
+these camels. To ascertain its value would be hopeless, for the
+merchants, with the real jealousy of mercantile rivalry, conceal their
+affairs from one another. Two of the principal Ghadamsee merchants are
+with us, the Sheikh Makouran and Haj Mansour, besides a son of the great
+house of Ettence. These merchants belong to the rival factions of the
+city, and accordingly have separate encampments. The greater number of
+the merchants of our ghafalah are only petty traders, some with only a
+camel-load of merchandize. We are escorted by sixty Arab troops on foot,
+with a commandant and some subordinate sheikhs on horseback. They are to
+protect us to The Mountains, where it is said all danger ends. They are
+poor, miserable devils to look at, hungry, lank, lean, and browned to
+blackness, armed with matchlocks, which continually miss fire, and
+covered with rags, or mostly having only a single blanket to cover their
+dirty and emaciated bodies. Some are without shoes, and others have a
+piece of camel's skin cut in the shape of a sole of the foot, and tied up
+round the ankles: some have a scull-cap, white or red, and others are
+bare-headed. I laughed when I surveyed with my inexperienced eye these
+grisly, skeleton, phantom troops, and thought of the splendid invincible
+guard which the Pasha promised me. And yet amongst these wretched beings
+was riding sublime an Arab Falstaff.
+
+_4th._--Morning. Find the greater part of the ghafalah has not yet come
+up. We are to wait for them, being the advanced body. Expect them in the
+afternoon. It is exceedingly difficult to keep these various groups of
+merchants together; each group is its own sovereign master and will have
+its own way. The commandant is constantly swearing at each party to get
+all to march together; now and then he draws his sword and shakes it over
+their heads. "You are dogs," he says to one; "you are worse than this
+Christian Kafer amongst us," (myself,) he bawls to another.
+
+Have, thank God, suffered little up to now, although intensely hot in the
+day-time, and my eyes so bad that I cannot look at the sun, and scarcely
+on daylight without a shade. They were bad on leaving Tripoli, having
+caught a severe ophthalmia from the refraction of the hot rocks when
+bathing. My left arm is also still very weak, from the accident of
+falling into a dry well a little before I started. I can't mount the
+camel without assistance, but begin to ride without that sickly
+sensation, not unlike sea-sickness, which I felt the first day's riding.
+Drink brandy frequently, but in small quantities and greatly diluted, and
+find great benefit from it; drink also coffee and tea. Eat but little,
+and scarcely any meat. The Arabs of the country brought a few sheep to
+sell this morning, but asked double the Tripoli price; so nobody
+purchased. Bought myself a fowl for eighty Turkish paras. The people of
+the ghafalah civil, but all the lower classes will beg continually if you
+are willing to give. Each one offers his advice and consolation on my
+tour; but Mohammed keeps all the hungry Arabs at a respectable distance,
+lest I should give to them what belongs to his share, like servants who
+don't wish their masters to be generous to others if it interferes with
+their own prerogatives.
+
+We left in the afternoon and encamped in The Desert at Shouwabeeah. The
+Desert here presents nothing but long coarse grass and undulating ground.
+I observed a patch which had been cultivated, the stubble of barley
+remaining, which the camels devoured most voraciously. Chopped
+barley-straw is the favourite food of all animals of burden in North
+Africa; horses will feed on it for six months together, and get fat. _En
+route_ the chief of the escort had great trouble to keep the caravan
+together; he made the advanced parties wait till the others came up, so
+as all to be ready in case of attack. One would think the merchants, for
+their own sakes, would keep together; but no, it's all _maktoub_ with
+them; "If they are to be robbed and murdered they must be robbed and
+murdered, and the Bashaw and all his troops can't prevent it." This they
+reiterated to me whilst the commandant bullied them; and yet these same
+men had each of them a matchlock and pistols besides. The Sheikh Makouran
+had no less than four guns on his camel. I asked him what they were for.
+He coolly replied, "I don't know. God knows." The camels browse or crop
+herbage all the way along, daintily picking and choosing the herbage and
+shrubs which they like best. My chief occupation in riding is watching
+them browse, and observing the epicurean fancies of these reflective,
+sober-thinking brutes of The Desert. I observe also as a happy trait in
+the Arab, that nothing delights him more than watching his own faithful
+camel graze. The ordinary drivers sometimes allow them to graze, and
+wait till they have cropped their favourite herbage and shrubs, and at
+other times push them forward according to their caprice. The camel, with
+an intuitive perception, knows all the edible and delicate herbs and
+shrubs of The Desert, and when he finds one of his choicest it is
+difficult to get him on until he has cropped a good mouthful. But I shall
+have much to write of this sentient "ship of The Desert." It is hard to
+forget the ship which carries one safely over the ocean, whose plank
+intervenes between our life and a bottomless grave of waters: so we
+tourists of The Desert acquire a peculiar affection for the melancholy
+animal, whose slow but faithful step carries us through the hideous
+wastes of sand and stone, where all life is extinct, and where, if left a
+moment behind the camel's track, certain death follows.
+
+_5th._--Rose at daybreak, and pursued our way through the Desert. Saw the
+mountains early, stretching far away east and west in undefined and shadowy
+but glorious magnificence,--some of deep black hue, and others reddened
+over with the morning sunbeams. It is a gladdening, elevating sight. The
+presence of a vast range of mountains always raises the mind and
+imagination of man. Encamped during the _Kailah_ ‮قايلة‬, or from
+10 o'clock A.M., to 3 P.M. This is the siesta of the Spaniards, and it is
+probable the Moors introduced it into Spain. It is also the mezzogiorno
+of the Italians and the Frank population of Barbary. But the Italians
+usually dine before they take their midday nap. Our object here is to
+shelter ourselves from the greatest force of the heat of the day. None of
+us dine. In the afternoon the Arab soldiers, being without water, began
+to seize that of the merchants, after having demanded it from them in
+vain. In one case they robbed a merchant under the pretext of getting
+water. They also attempted to take water from my camels, but I resisted,
+threatening to report them to the Bashaw. After a scuffle with my negro
+servant and camel-driver, in which affair Said drew out manfully from the
+scabbard the old rusty sword which I presented to him on leaving
+Tripoli--to gird round him as a warrior badge--they desisted and
+retreated. The sub-officer of the escort came up to me afterwards, and
+begged that I would say nothing about the business. I gave him a suck of
+brandy-and-water, and we were mighty good friends all the way. Our course
+was south to-day, striking directly at The Mountains. We encamped about
+midnight at the Wady Lethel, the name of which is derived from the tree
+_Lethel_ ‮لذل‬, frequent in the Sahara.
+
+With regard to the conduct of the poor Arab soldiers, justice requires it
+to be said, that they are allowed nothing for the service of the escort,
+whilst if they do not serve when they are called upon, they are fined.
+The consequence is, they generally have nothing to eat, and no skins to
+put their water in. Perhaps a camel with a couple of skins is allowed to
+twenty men. As there was water for scarcely two days of our slow
+marching, (we only march about twelve hours per day,) these miserable
+victims of Turkish rule had no water left. It is hunger and misery in
+this, as in most cases amongst the poor, and not the native unwillingness
+of the heart to perform good actions, which excite them to deeds of
+violence and plunder. This night the heavens presented an appearance of
+unexampled serenity and soft splendour; all the constellations glowed
+with a steady beauteous light; there were the "sweet influences of
+Pleiades," the bright "bands of Orion," "Arcturus with his sons," and the
+infinitude of sparkling jewels in "chambers of the South." All the stars
+might be seen and counted, so distinctly visible were they to the naked
+unassisted eye. In encamping our ghafalah carried on its delightful
+system of confusion, and the night fires of the various groups glared
+wildly in every direction. I had not yet become familiar with these
+nocturnal lights of Saharan travelling, and my senses were confounded. I
+felt tormented as with an enchanter's delusive fire-works in some
+half-waking dream.
+
+_6th._--Rose at day-break. Our route was now over a vast level plain, and
+we were within four hours of The Mountains. They now discovered the true
+Atlas features, a part of which chain they were. We marched in the most
+glorious disorder. Some were before, some behind, straggling along,
+others far to the right, and others as far to the left, a mile or two
+apart. We had the appearance of an immense line moving on to invest The
+Mountains _en masse_, for there seemed to be no common point to which we
+were advancing in such tumultuous array. The Arabs pay little attention
+to marching in order, and in a straight line, so that the camels traverse
+double the quantity of ground that there would be any occasion for did
+they attend to plain common sense. The Desert now showed more signs of
+cultivation, and, indeed, a great portion of this so-called Desert is
+only land uncultivated, but capable of the highest degree of
+cultivation;--all which might be effected by supplying any scarcity of
+rain by irrigation.
+
+We passed the kailah, or in Scripture phrase, "the heat of the day," at a
+place called Aâeeat, below The Mountains, where we found two wells
+without water, or with very little bad, dirty, nay, black water.
+Nevertheless, many descended these wells, about thirty feet deep, to
+bring up the muddy filthy water, and swallowed it immediately. I myself
+was so thirsty, that I drank it greedily. Said had very severe thirst,
+and I believe he drank in one of the last two days nearly a bucket and a
+half of water. I finished two bottles of brandy, having diluted it with
+large quantities of water. I believe this was the only thing which kept
+me alive, the heat was so intense and prostrating in the day-time. I am
+astonished to see these people descend into the wells with such facility.
+I expected, on the contrary, to see them break their necks. They descend
+by the sides, only assisted by their hands and feet, clinging to naked
+stones, the interstices of which in some places not even allowing space
+on which to rest the foot. Here again is hubbub and vociferation of the
+wildest form, all sorts of quarrelling over this sewer-like water. I now,
+for the first time in my life, experienced the real value of water, and
+in these climates more clearly understood the vivid and frequent
+allusions in the Holy Scriptures to this essential element of existence.
+Mohammed went several miles in The Mountains, and returned with a skin of
+fresh water. In his absence the torment of thirst prostrated me, and I
+lay senseless on the ground:
+
+    "The water! the water!
+      My heart yet burns to think,
+    How cool thy fountain sparkled forth,
+      For parched lips to drink."
+
+After the Kailah, we ascended that portion of the Tripoline chain of the
+Atlas called Yefran. This chain has various names, according to its
+different links, or groups, more properly, for the usual phenomena of the
+Atlas are groups, pile upon pile. The following are some of the principal
+names of this part of the Atlas, beginning east and proceeding west:
+Gharian, Kiklah, Yefran or _Jibel_, ("Mountain," par excellence,)
+Nouwaheeha, Khalaeefah, Reeaneen, Zantan, Rujban, Douweerat. All these
+larger districts are divided into smaller ones, descending to very minute
+subdivisions. Every dell, and copse, and glade, and brook, and stream,
+and drain, (to use English nomenclature,) of these mountains, is defined,
+and owned, and cultivated, as the most cultivated, divided, and
+subdivided estate in England. It is quite ridiculous to look upon the
+Atlas chains as so many vast uninhabited wastes. The French, whose forte
+in colonization is blundering, rushed into the plateaus and groups of the
+Atlas as into lands unowned and undefined, and were quite astonished to
+hear of claimants for their newly acquired lands and farms. They imagined
+that the plains of the Metidjah and the adjacent Atlas chain had lain
+desolate since the Creation, or were only wandered over by savage hordes
+of barbarians.
+
+We found the ascent of Yefran difficult. The Arabs call all places
+difficult of traverse, Wâr--‮وعر‬--whether applied to stony rocky
+ground, sandy regions, or mountains. The camels in the ascent are timid,
+and besides the evident fatigue which they experience, show great caution,
+picking slowly their way with the greatest circumspection. Only a portion
+of the ghafalah got up to-day. Some camels were labouring up the mountain
+sides, others threw off their burdens and stood still. As our party was
+always the advanced, we managed to get up soon. Beneath a huge old black
+olive-tree, which seemed to have begun with Creation, but still as
+vigorous as ever, we found a comfortable shade in a snug retired place.
+It was cooler on the top of The Mountains, and I took a walk in the
+evening to the Castle (Kesar) of Yefran, a most formidable thing to look
+at from a distance, but a wretched mud-built place in reality. To the
+Arabs, however, it is a terrible bulwark of strength, and for them
+impregnable. Everything in the shape of a fort or a blockhouse, be it
+ever so untenable or miserable, terrifies the Arabs. It is repeatedly
+asserted that the Arabs of Algeria never took a blockhouse. An authentic
+anecdote was recently related to me of a French civilian keeping a whole
+tribe in check for two days, by fortifying his house and firing from
+loop-holes which he made in its walls. Not so the Kabyles. Their genius
+is defending their little forts, often constructed of loose stones, in
+their mountain homes. Behind these and other forts of nature they
+maintain for days an obstinate resistance, and pour deadly mitraille. The
+Turkish soldiers were here lounging about; they gaped and stared at me. I
+am, perhaps, the first European who has been to Yefran in the memory of
+the present generation, nay, the first European Christian who has visited
+this spot. The sun now set fiery red, and night was fast veiling The
+Mountains with her sable curtain. I retired to my olive-tree, and under
+its shade slept most profoundly. This was repose--this, sleep! I shall
+never sleep in more profound slumbers until I sleep my last.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] Ghafalah, ‮قفله‬, is the ordinary term for a caravan in North
+     Africa.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+FROM THE MOUNTAINS TO GHADAMES.
+
+     Interview with the Commandant of The Mountains.--Military
+     Position occupied by the Turks.--Subjugation of the Arabs.--My
+     different Appellations.--Departure for, and arrival at, Rujban,
+     native place of my Camel-driver.--Aspect of The
+     Mountains.--Miserable condition of the Inhabitants.--Cruelty of
+     the Tribute Collectors.--Marabouts exempt.--Curiosity of the
+     Women to see The Christian.--Social Habits of the
+     People.--Politics in The Mountains.--Visit from The
+     Sheikh.--Various Conversations and Visitors.--Heat of the
+     Weather.--The Sheikh offers to sell me his Authority.--Want of
+     Rain.--Population.--The playing with the Head.--Pervading
+     principle of Religion.--The Sheikh in a bad humour, and misery of
+     Life in The Mountains.--Departure from The
+     Mountains.--Description of the four days' journey from The
+     Mountains to the Oasis of Senawan.--Dreadful sufferings from Heat
+     and want of Sleep.--Provisions of the Caravan.--Stratagem to
+     preserve Water.--Second Christening in The Desert.--Senawan and
+     its group of Oases.--Resume our Journey.--Emjessem.--Met by a
+     party of Friends from Ghadames.--Quarrel about Said.--First sight
+     of Ghadames.
+
+
+_7th._--WAS awaked by a young man, who said he had brought for "the
+Consul of Ghadames" (myself) a brace of partridges, some milk, and
+grapes, from the secretary of the Commandant. Drank a large basin of milk
+and coffee, and went to pay a visit to the Commandant. Found all the
+principal Ghadamsee merchants at the Castle, closeted in a small
+apartment with the Commandant, Ahmed Effendi, talking over the affairs of
+the ghafalah. At first I imagined this officer had brought them up from
+Yefran to make them pay black-mail in various presents. But it was only
+his vanity which dragged up the poor camels this fatiguing route, an
+ascent of four hours. Our direct route to Ghadames would have been half a
+day farther west. He said he had merely sent for the merchants to ask
+them how they were, and give them his blessing. When I entered, a stool
+was brought me to sit upon. The Rais[12] was seated on a raised bench
+covered with an ottoman, and the merchants were squatted on their hams
+upon the matting and carpets of the floor. Coffee was brought me, as to
+most visitors. The Rais asked me where I was going? and what I was doing?
+as if he knew nothing about me. I then had my palaver, and represented to
+the Rais the case of taking by force water from the merchants, which took
+him quite aback, and astonished all present, the merchants secretly
+admiring the boldness of the remonstrance. But it was one of those
+unpleasant duties which are absolutely necessary to be performed. In our
+case it was necessary for our own health and the order and security of
+the caravan. The Rais surprised and displeased, nevertheless gave strict
+orders that it should not happen again. The merchants afterwards
+expressed their thanks to me; seeing plainly also the advantage of having
+one amongst them who was not immediately subject to the Pasha and his
+soldiers. Besides, I hinted to the Rais it would be better if the
+ghafalah marched more in order, and had a chief. This the Rais discussed
+with the merchants, and it was considered advisable to adopt these common
+sense measures, they, however, laughing heartily at my European ideas of
+order. I then begged the Rais to persuade the people to travel by night,
+as this was the hottest season in the year, and being a new traveller in
+The Desert, I could scarcely support the heat. He replied it would be
+better for all as we were not now likely to be molested with hostile
+Arabs. Before separating, a marabout made a short prayer (the _fatah_)
+for the safety of the caravan. This prayer, the first chapter of the
+Koran, is never omitted on these occasions. Ahmed Effendi is a very smart
+Turk, in the vigour of age and health, and has the character of being
+very stringent in his administration. People call him "_kus_," or hard
+and determined in disposition; but he is not ferocious, like the
+Commander-in-Chief. His countenance betrayed a very active intelligence.
+He said to me aside: "Now these people you are travelling with are
+barbarians; you must humour their whims and respect their religion. If
+they were not now present, we would have a bottle of wine together."
+
+The garrison of Yefran contains some two or three hundred Turkish
+soldiers, as also that of Gharian, besides Arab troops. The Arabs of
+these districts are entirely subdued, their native courage apparently
+dried up and extinct. This has been done chiefly by forced emigration or
+extermination. The French acquired their _razzia_ system from the Turks
+whom they found in possession of the government of Algiers, on the
+conquest of that country; but they have improved on it, for a superior
+intelligence imitating a bad system, will always increase its cruelty and
+wickedness. We passed many villages depopulated, their humble dwellings
+razed to the ground--the work of the ferocious Ahmed Bashaw, who came in
+person to these mountains. A great deal of fighting had taken place near
+the Castle, and there were the ruins of a very large village on one of
+the neighbouring peaks. Yefran is a very strong position, and was hotly
+contested by both parties. In all these mountain districts very few
+inhabitants are seen, and the present cultivation is therefore
+insignificant. The people are without money or stock, and have scarcely
+anything to eat. The single advantage of Turkish rule here is, a large
+military road cut from the plain to the summit, on which the fort stands,
+but, of course, as a military road, it was not made specifically for the
+improvement of the people. Certainly the Turks must show more civilized
+and polite manners to the mountaineers, but the Arabs will not imitate
+them, or, if anything they do imitate, as in the case of all subjected
+nations in relation to their conquerors, it is the vices of their
+masters. It is unfortunately much the same when the Turks imitate us
+Christians.
+
+Bought some meat cheap at Yefran, but my camel-driver afterwards stole
+the greater part. The secretary of the Rais, Bou Asher, who knew the
+Vice-consul of Fezzan, showed me some kindness, and sent me again milk,
+which he said was the right of "The Consul." I had also received a nice
+delicious little present of a melon from the Sheikh Makouran _en route_.
+These were the first proofs of a friendly disposition of the natives
+towards me, and were most thankfully appreciated. The people called me
+_Taleb_ ("learned man"), or _Tabeeb_ ("doctor"), or Consul, or the
+Christian, just as their caprice or information led them[13]. Here all
+the merchants determined to stop a week, some going to one part of The
+Mountains, and some to the other, to purchase oil, barley and _gurbahs_
+("water-skins"). Many travellers, who had availed themselves of our
+escort to The Mountains, here left us.
+
+I left in the afternoon for the native country of my camel-driver, and
+encamped for the night in The Mountains. Our party consisted only of the
+camel-driver, Said, and myself, with three camels. I must say I felt
+rather queer knocking about in The Mountains, almost alone.
+
+_8th._--Rose early, and pursued our way. The air of this elevated region
+invigorated my mind and body; and so by a mishap I took no coffee before
+starting. Passed the kailah under a group of olive trees, called "The
+Sisters[14]," where also flocks of sheep and shepherds were dosing and
+reposing under the shade. We exchanged biscuits for milk. The shepherds
+were giving their dogs to drink, and made me wait until they had drunk
+their fill, thinking no doubt that their dogs were as good as "a
+Christian dog," (the ordinary epithet of abuse applied by Mussulmans to
+Christians). I had my revenge, for when I had drank my milk, I took good
+care to give them only a fair and exact return of biscuits, which made
+them ask for more, but which I refused. Started again, and did not arrive
+at Mohammed's village, in the district of Rujban, till after midnight. It
+was a most wearisome ride. I kept asking Mohammed, "how far the village
+was off?" He would say, "Now three hours;" in two hours after, it was
+still "three hours;" in two hours after that, it was still "two hours and
+a half;" it was "near" when it was six hours before we arrived; it was
+"close by us," three hours before we arrived, &c. &c. But an Arab will
+often tell you a place is just under your nose when it is at a day's
+journey distant, pointing to it as if he saw it within a musket-shot. I
+was highly exasperated at Mohammed, because we had delayed to eat
+anything all day long, upon his representing to me that we should arrive
+an hour after sunset. But the milk acted like a purgative, and was
+perhaps advantageous. No people were seen in The Mountains, and very
+little cultivation. There were a few modern antiquities, chiefly the
+stones of Moorish forts and castles. Many villages in ruins, destroyed in
+the late wars. And Mohammed, like a thoughtless idiot, ridiculed the rude
+desolations of his brethren, exulting and calling out to me to see "the
+cooking places." Many parts had the geological features of the Sahel, or
+hilly country in the neighbourhood of the city of Algiers. The air was
+pure and cool. But though it was calm this day and the evening, a sudden
+tempest got up after midnight. I was lying on the bare ground rolled in a
+blanket, when the wind tore it from off me, and I was obliged to retreat
+to a hovel. I am told these tempests are frequent in The Mountains, no
+doubt arising from the intense heat rarefying the air.
+
+_9th._--Slept the greater part of this day to recover from the fatigue of
+the preceding days. Do not suffer much, and am surprised I do not suffer
+more. Asked Mohammed for the quarter of sheep purchased at Yefran, and
+taxed him with stealing it: told him I would give him no backsheesh on
+arriving at Ghadames. He had stolen the meat to make a feast for his
+friends on his arrival, and afterwards brought me a piece of my own meat
+cooked as his own, but which I refused. This is a fine illustration of
+being generous at another person's expense. In the evening went to see
+Rujban. There are seven villages forming the district of Rujban. These
+consist of so many mud and stone buildings, but some of the houses are
+excavations out of the solid rock, the principal object being protection
+from the fiery summer heat, and the intense winter cold. Many of the
+houses have a yard before them, which is walled round, and three or four
+are mostly clustered together. Sometimes excavations are made in a pit or
+hollow found on high ground, and then a subterraneous passage leading to
+them is excavated from the mountain sides: these are reckoned very
+secure. From the heights where I write, there is a boundless view of the
+plain and undulating ground which lie between the Mediterranean and this
+Atlas chain. The Arabs call it their sea, and it certainly looks like a
+sea from these heights. A marabout sanctuary and garden at the base of
+the mountains, is called their port. There is frequently a freshness
+rising from the subjected plain like that of the sea. The camels, they
+say, are their ships. There are besides some pretty views in and over the
+Atlas valleys, where you overlook the small scattered oasisian spots of
+cultivation, with here and there a palm and little groups of inclosed
+fig-trees. Then again, there are heights crowned with olive-woods, as if
+The Mountains had put on a black scull-cap. Some of the precipices are
+so profound, as to deserve the epithet of "horrid." In different parts of
+these heights are flights of natural steps, by which they are ascended,
+and which seem to have received some finish from Arabian ingenuity.
+
+In spite of the freshness and coolness of mountain air, it has been very
+hot these last two days. On the plains, the people say the heat is now
+overpowering.
+
+There is scarcely any natural produce about. A few sheep and goats, a
+camel or two, and a few asses, are all the animals I have seen. The
+fig-trees produce something, but I have seen no prickly-pears, which
+support many poor families on The Coast, during several months every
+year. The olive plantations are the principal resource of these poor
+mountaineers, which are also a sensible relief for the eye on these bare
+heights. In the houses there is hardly anything to be got. No pepper, no
+onions, no meat killed or sold. No bread can be obtained for love or
+money. I laid in a stock of fresh bread in Tripoli for a fortnight, but
+my gluttonous camel driver devoured all in three or four days! There were
+no less than fifty twopenny loaves. He was accustomed to eat in the
+night, when I was asleep, and used to threaten to beat Said if he
+blabbed. I mentioned the circumstance after, to the Rais of Ghadames, who
+observed: "If you had brought a thousand loaves, all would have been
+devoured."
+
+Notwithstanding this abject poverty, a bullying tax-gatherer, with half a
+dozen louting soldiers, have been up here prowling about, and wresting
+with violence the means of supporting life from these miserable beings.
+The scenes which I witness are heart-rending, beyond all I have heard of
+Irish misery and rent-distraining bullies. One man had his camel seized,
+the only support of his family; another his bullock; another a few
+bushels of barley: the houses were entered, searched, and ransacked;
+people were dragged by the throat through the villages, and beaten with
+sticks; and all because the poor wretches had no money to meet the
+demands of these voracious bailiffs. Poverty is, indeed, here a crime.
+One poor old woman had a few bad unripe figs seized, and came to me, and
+a group of wretched villagers, crying out bitterly. One or two men, who
+were imagined to have something, though they had nothing, were held by
+the throat until they were nearly suffocated. I cursed over and over
+again in my heart the Turks. I was not prepared for such scenes of
+cruelty in these remote mountains. We shall find, that amongst the
+so-called barbarians of The Desert there was nothing equal in atrocity to
+this. What wonder that the Arab prefers, if he can, to pasture his flocks
+on savage and remote wastes to being subjected to these regular
+Governments--of extortion! And yet we, in our ignorance of what is here
+going on, are surprised at their preference. If the people are not ready
+with their money, the little barley, their winter's store, is seized, and
+they must pay afterwards their usual quotas of money. Several bags of
+barley are illegally gotten in this way. The amount of tax or tribute for
+the whole district of Rujban is five or six hundred mahboubs, which is
+paid in three instalments, three times a year; but, which though nothing
+in amount, is more than all the people are worth together, for riches and
+poverty are relative possessions, if the latter can be possessed. If they
+can't pay in money they pay in kind. The Sheikh of the district, with
+the elders, determine how much each man and family shall pay. This, of
+course, gives rise to ten thousand disputes, heart-burnings, and eternal
+wranglings amongst themselves. The Arabs, on these occasions, however
+silent and sulky they may be on others, show that they have the gift of
+speech, as well as Frenchmen and Italians. Then, indeed, God's thunder
+can't be heard. Marabouts do not pay these taxes. This is a privilege of
+religion, which successfully exerts itself against the oppressive arm of
+the civil power. Such privilege has been enjoyed in all ages and
+countries. My camel-driver is a Marabout, and is consequently exempt. I
+rallied him upon his privilege, and he replied: "The villains are afraid
+to come here; see my flag-staff and green flag, they dare not come over
+my threshold--God would strike them down!" It is impossible to tell how
+much of the five hundred mahboubs gets into the treasury of Government,
+but, I am told, a good portion gets into the pockets of the officials.
+The whole administration of The Mountains, and the Saharan oases of
+Tripoli, is conducted on the same principles of finance and extortion.
+
+I am lodged in the house of my camel-driver. The women show the greatest
+curiosity to see me, and declare that I am more beautiful (_bahea_) than
+they. They wonderingly admire everything I have. The greater part of
+these women never left their mountain-homes--never saw a Christian or
+European before--and this is the reason of their surprise at my
+appearance. The children, of course, are equally astonished, but are too
+frightened to reflect steadily on an European. Both the women and men say
+it is _maktoub_, ("predestination") which has brought me amongst them,
+and they are right. These poor people are very civil to me. In my quality
+of tabeeb they consult me. The prevailing disease is sore eyes. Two
+children were brought to me, a girl with a dropsy of a year's standing,
+and a boy with only one testiculum, for neither of which did I prescribe.
+The employment of the men is camel-driving between Tripoli and Ghadames.
+Agriculture, there is scarcely any. The women weave barracans or holees
+for their husbands, themselves, and children, and for sale. They are
+mostly dirty, and ill-clothed. The men have but a single barracan to
+cover them, one or two may have a shirt; the children are nearly naked;
+and the women wear a woollen frock, charms round their necks, armlets,
+and anclets, sometimes throwing a slight barracan or sefsar round their
+heads and shoulders. I observed, however, that often women wear great
+leather boots, made of red leather or camel's skin. None of them were
+pretty, but some were fine-looking, with aquiline noses, and rolling
+about their large, black, gazelle-like eyes.
+
+_10th._--Spent the day in writing notes. Expect to remain three more
+days. I am, however, comfortably sheltered from the heat, which has been
+to-day excessive. Mohammed, my camel-driver, is useful to me as a writer
+of Arabic, giving me the names of places in Arabic. But he knows nothing
+of Arabic grammar, and writes very poorly, like most of these Marabouts,
+although he passes for being a very learned man. He purchased some old
+dirty leaves of an Arabic book, and exhibited them to the people as
+sacred works. The Sheikhs of Rujban and all the great people of the
+villages came to stare at them. They were shocked at my presumption in
+wishing to handle these sacred leaves, which were a portion of a
+commentary on the Koran. My Marabout is the Katab, or writer of the
+village, there being only another who can write here besides himself, and
+who writes very badly. Mohammed, though a saint and a writer, is an
+enormous hog, and dishonest, when he can be so with safety. He has begun
+badly, but may turn out better. Said is not of much use yet; he is very
+stupid, but not malicious. I must make the best of both, and of every
+body and everything in my present circumstances, conciliating always
+wherever I can, and passing by all offences. If I can't do this, I may go
+back. I cannot finish these trifling memoranda to-day, without expressing
+my thankfulness to a good Providence, that I enjoy good health and
+spirits up to this time, and there is every appearance of my arriving
+safely in Ghadames. "All is from God!" (_Men ând Allah El-koul_, as the
+people say.)
+
+_11th._--Yesterday evening conversed with the Arab villagers, and asked
+them if the soldiers of the Government were gone, _i. e._, the collectors
+of the tribute. They replied, "Yes, thank God, and may they never return!
+The curse of God upon them!" They then asked me, if the people were
+treated so by our Government. I observed to them, "Not always. But that
+sometimes the British Government sorely oppressed the people, as all the
+Governments of Europe; and I was often tempted to think that there were
+only two classes of people in the world, the oppressing and the
+oppressed, (_i. e._, the eaters and the eaten)." To which latter remark
+they all answered with a loud "Amen," and swore it was the truth. They
+then asked me, "If the English were coming to Tripoli?" I told them,
+"No," for the English had now more countries than they knew what to do
+with. Surprised at this remark, they continued, "What are the French
+vessels doing at Tripoli?" (There were then a French steamer and a brig
+at this time.) I told them to keep away the Turks from attacking Tunis.
+They were anxious to know if the French would come to Tripoli. I
+answered, I thought not, as they had enough of Algeria. "We hope (_en
+shallah_,)" said they, "the English are our friends." I replied they
+were, but, being friends of the Sultan of Constantinople, they would not
+take possession of Tripoli. The fact was, these poor people were just
+smarting under the oppressive acts of the Turkish tax-gatherers, and they
+would then have sold their country to the first comer for an old song,
+were the buyer Christian, Jew, or Pagan. But I have always found the
+Arabs fond of talking of politics; it seems instinctive in their
+character; and it is astonishing how much policy is always going on
+amongst their tribes, and how intricate are the various negotiations of
+the Sheikhs. I asked them "If they had any arms?" To which they replied,
+"No, none whatever; the Turks have taken them all away." And so these
+once formidable mountaineers have not only lost all spirit and courage,
+but have not even arms to defend themselves against the most petty
+annoyances. Robberies of the small kind are frequent about the
+neighbourhood, and the people are often obliged to gather their figs
+before they are ripe, lest they should be stolen. At other times they
+display great impatience of the seasons, and gather the fruit before
+ripe. Those who steal provisions are poor famished devils, having
+nothing to eat. There is no poor-law here. It is simply a question of
+theft or starvation to death. This is the alternative of Arab life in
+many parts of these mountains.
+
+This morning received a visit from the Sheikh of Rujban, Bel Kasem by
+name[15], and his head-servant, or factotum. I made them the best coffee
+I could, putting into it plenty of sugar. The Arabs are curious people;
+they like things either very bitter or very sweet. Their eyes sparkled
+with satisfaction; they had never tasted coffee before like it, and were
+rejoiced--"Tripoli always belongs to the English!" Speaking of the
+Marabouts, and alluding to my Mohammed, the Sheikh said, "These fellows
+pray God and rob men." "Mohammed," he added, "is a rogue, he pays
+nothing, and I am obliged to eat up all the people to make up the amount
+for the Bashaw." It is curious to observe everywhere this eternal contest
+between the civil and spiritual power. To pacify him, I told him
+Christian priests were many of them as bad as Marabouts (and which is
+quite within the mark). The Sheikh and his men had very white teeth. I
+observe nearly all the Arab men and women, as well as the negroes, to
+have extremely white teeth. This has never been medically accounted for;
+I believe it arises from the simplicity of the food they eat. Some
+Tunisian Arabs have reported that large bodies of troops are being
+concentrated at the Isle of Jerbah, in expectation of the Turks. The
+trading Arabs are the gazettes of North Africa.
+
+Said's feet are very sore, arising from Mohammed refusing to allow him to
+ride. I was obliged to tell him, at last, that, unless he permitted him
+to ride, Said should not help him to load the camels. This had some
+effect, and he allowed Said to ride an hour or two before reaching here.
+This Marabout is, indeed, a cruel, selfish fellow. He also pretends to be
+very jealous, and will not allow any person, much less a Christian, to
+see his wife. He won't allow me to present her a cup of coffee. But I
+found out the reason; the rascal wished to carry it himself, and drink
+half of it on the way. Afterwards his wife told me herself the reason. An
+indiscreet conjugal disclosure this: but such is the character of the
+man.
+
+An old blind man is calling on me. He tells me his country is my country,
+and his people my brothers and sisters. He prays God to bless me and
+preserve me. How soft and gentle--how full of good-will and patience--are
+the manners of the blind in all countries! Full fed flesh and the
+prosperous are proud and cruel, those stricken with infirmity and misery
+show the milk of human kindness. This poor old gentleman prays all the
+day long. Prayer is his daily bread. The Arabs ask me if Said is my
+slave. I tell them the English have no slaves, and that it is against
+their religion, but that some other Christian nations have slaves. They
+are greatly astonished that slavery is not permitted amongst us. The
+women of the village continue to visit me as an object of curiosity. They
+never saw a Christian before. They are always declaring me "bahea,"
+handsome, of which compliment I am, indeed, very sensible.
+
+This evening, however, the women of our two or three huts, and their
+neighbours, played me an indecent trick, with, of course, a mercenary
+object. Although the Barbary dance is rare amongst the Arab women, they
+can have recourse to it at times to suit their objects. The men were gone
+to bring the camels, and the women sent Said after them on some frivolous
+message. Four of the women now came into my apartment, and taking hold of
+hands, formed a circle round me. They then began dancing, or rather
+making certain indecent motions of the body, known to travellers in North
+Africa. At once nearly smothered and overpowered, I could scarcely get
+out of the circle, and pushed them back with great difficulty. At this
+they were astonished, and wondered all men, Christians and Mussulmans,
+did not like such delicate condescension on their part. "Don't you like
+it, infidel?" they cried, and retreated from my room. I now saw their
+object. They began begging for money vehemently, saying, "Pay, pay, every
+body pays for this." Nothing they got from me; and the wife of the
+Marabout came afterwards, imploring me to say nothing to her husband. It
+is thus these rude women will act for money, as many who are better
+taught, in the streets of London. But acts of indelicacy are nevertheless
+very rare amongst the mountain tribes. I have seen Arab women at other
+occasions, on a cold day, standing athwart a smoking fire, with all the
+smoke ascending under their clothes. This may be expected, and is
+characteristic of the filthy habits of these wretched mountaineers. But
+cases of adultery are unknown amongst these simple people.
+
+_12th._--A beautiful Arab girl, a perfect mountain gazelle, came with her
+mother to consult me about her eyes, being near-sighted. Recommended her
+to apply to Dr. Dickson, if she ever went to Tripoli; and wrote her a
+note to him. Many other people came for medicines. Went to see an old man
+whose eyes were bad with ophthalmia. I gave him some solution to wash his
+eyes, and he gave me in turn a jar of new milk. Something was said about
+olive-oil, and I asked where we could get some. They said there was none
+in Rujban. The lady of my host thinking me incredulous, pulled her gray
+grisly hair, and exhibited its crispness and dryness, observing, "See,
+where's the oil?" Of course such an argument was conclusive that they had
+no oil in the house.
+
+The villagers, in this season, do absolutely nothing, unless it be sleep
+all day long. The fact is, it is awfully hot, from early morn to evening
+late, and they have little to do. All that they have to do, many of them
+do with apparent dispatch. At the dawn of day the wind is so strong, one
+cannot enjoy an hour of the morning's freshness; and, in the evening, the
+sultry ghiblee is equally disagreeable. I scarcely go out of my room the
+whole day. Begin to recover my Arabic. Many times I have begun and
+re-begun this difficult language. But there is no remedy. I must work,
+and work brings some pleasure, at least destroys ennui and kills time.
+However little time we have, we wish it less.
+
+The Arabs ask me, "Why the Christian priests have no wives?" The
+Mohammedans and Catholics go to extremes in their ideas of separating or
+connecting women with religion and sanctity. The Mohammedans think a
+saint or marabout cannot have too many women or wives, which, they say,
+assist their devotion--a sentiment which they pretend to have received
+from Mahomet himself by tradition. The fact is, the prophet was very fond
+of women. The Catholics would seem to think a priest better with
+absolutely no wife. This is a mere struggle between sensuality and
+asceticism. There is no love or affection in it. I showed Mohammed an
+empty bottle. He took a piece of paper and wrote: "The bottle is empty of
+wine, God fill it again." Such is Arab marabout literature.
+
+_13th._--Elhamdullah! The wind has changed, the furnace breath of the
+ghiblee is gone out! We have now a pleasant breeze from N.W., the bahree,
+as the Arabs call it. We can now go out any time; before we were
+prisoners the live-long day. Mohammed, who pretends to all sciences,
+says: "There are three modes of cure--"1st, Blood-letting; "2nd, Fire and
+burning; "3rd, The word of God."
+
+He made this observation in applying verses of the Koran to the eyes of
+his wife's sister, which he said were more efficacious than all my
+physic. Some of these bits of paper, with the name of God written on
+them, were steeped in water and swallowed by the patient. This
+superstition of swallowing bits of paper, with the name of God and verses
+of the Koran written on them, as well as the water in which the paper is
+steeped, is prevalent as an infallible remedy in all Mahometan Africa.
+Marabouts are all powerful in The Mountains; and a woman, pointing to her
+child, said to me:--"That boy is the child of a Marabout. I never allow
+another man to sleep with me." Nevertheless, the women still display
+intense curiosity in seeing "The Christian," and will declare, "By G--d,
+you are beautiful, more handsome than our men." They admire the most
+trifling thing I have, and add, "God alone brought you amongst us." Their
+language, though indelicate to us, is not so to them. It is the
+undisguised speech of a rude people.
+
+Went this morning to see El-Beer, or "the well," the real fountain of
+life in these countries. Was much pleased with the visit; and found it at
+the bottom of a deep ravine, bubbling out from beneath the shade of palms
+and olives, amidst wild scenery of rugged steeps and hanging rocks. There
+are indeed, four springs, but all apparently from the same source. They
+are not deep, and have near them troughs for watering sheep, goats,
+cattle, and camels. These wells furnish water for two mountain districts.
+The water is of the purest quality, clear as crystal, aye, clear as--
+
+          "Siloa's brook that flow'd
+    Fast by the oracle of God."
+
+The road to them is very difficult, over rattling, rumbling stones, and
+rocks, and precipices, and it is hard work for the poor women who fetch
+the water, for the wells are distant nearly three miles from our village.
+
+The Sheikh came to my Mohammed, asking him to write to Tripoli, to
+collect the money due to the Bashaw from certain people of this country,
+who are now working in that city. They look sharp after these poor
+wretches. Amuse myself with washing my handkerchiefs and towels, and
+mending my clothes. I also always cook and do as much for myself as I
+possibly can. Besides doing things as I like, it amuses me. Bought
+another skin-bag for water, and shall now distribute the three amongst
+us, and each shall drink his own water during the four days of our route,
+where no water is to be found. This will prevent wrangling on the way,
+and make each person more careful of this grand element of life in The
+Desert. Mohammed put a little oil in the skin before filling it, to
+prevent it from cracking. This gives the water an oily taste for weeks
+afterwards, but we get used to it, and are glad of water with any taste.
+
+His Excellency the Sheikh got very facetious to-day. He offered to sell
+me his authority, his Sheikhdom, and retire from affairs. I bid one
+thousand dollars for the concern. "No, no," said he, "I'll take ten
+thousand dollars, nothing less." Then, getting very familiar, he added,
+"Now, you and I are equal, you're Consul and I'm Sheikh--you're the son
+of your Sultan, and I'm a commander under the Sultan of Stamboul." The
+report of my being a Consul of a remote oasis of The Sahara was just as
+good to me on the present occasion as if I had Her Majesty's commission
+for the Consular Affairs of all North Africa. Who will say, then, there
+is nothing in a name? A tourist in Africa should always take advantage of
+these little rumours, provided they are innocent. But the traveller more
+frequently has to encounter rumours to his disadvantage. Many visitors,
+men, women, and children--some brought milk, others figs and soap. Soap
+is considered a luxury in all the interior cities, and people will beg
+soap though never use it, but keep it as a sort of treasure. Fig and
+olive trees abound in the mountains, but for want of rain have produced
+nothing this year. So of most other vegetables products. Goats only are
+in abundance, of animals. The ordinary food of the people is bazeen, a
+sort of boiled flour pudding, with a little high-seasoned herbal sauce,
+and sometimes a little oil or mutton fat poured on. It is generally made
+of barley-meal, but sometimes flour. This is the supper and principal
+meal of the day. As a breakfast, a little milk is drank, or a few dates
+with a bit of bread is eaten. The rule of these mountaineers is, indeed,
+not to eat meat, though some of them have flocks of sheep.
+
+_14th._--His Excellency the Sheikh roused me from my bed this morning. He
+said he could not sleep, and therefore I ought not to sleep. According to
+his Excellency, Rujban contains 500 souls, all in misery and starvation.
+"The country is _batel_ (good for nothing)," he says. It is certain the
+greater part of the people have not enough to eat, or half the quantity
+of what is considered ordinarily sufficient. In the neighbouring
+districts, S.W., there are 1,500 souls. Ahmed Bashaw destroyed the
+greater part of the inhabitants of these mountains, and disarmed the
+rest, leaving not a single matchlock amongst them. Such are the Turkish
+ideas of mountain rule--absolute submission or extermination!
+
+This morning is cool and temperate. Every day continue to administer
+solution for ophthalmia, and even those whose eyes are quite well, will
+have a drop of it put on their eyes. They say it will prevent them, after
+I am gone, from having the malady. Everybody begs a bit of sugar, a
+little bread, a scrap of paper, a something from the Christian. Content
+all as well as I can.
+
+This evening saw, for the first time "the playing with the head," which
+is performed by females. This was done by a young girl. After baring her
+head and unbinding her hair, throwing her long dark tresses in
+dishevelled confusion, she knelt down and began moving her chest and head
+in various attitudes, her whole soul being apparently in the motion. Part
+of her hair she held fast in her teeth, as if modestly to cover her face,
+the rest flew wildly about with the agitation of her head and chest, and
+all to the tune or time of two pieces of stick, one beating on the other,
+by the woman upon whose knees she leaned with her hands. The motion was
+really graceful, though wild and dervish-like, but there was nothing
+lascivious in it, like the dancing of the Moors, nor could it well be,
+the upper part of the body only was in agitation, being literally "the
+playing with the head." I never saw this before or again in North Africa.
+I gave the young lady twenty paras, the first time she had so large a sum
+in her life. Received a present of leghma from the Sheikh, very acrid and
+intoxicating. The women admire much my straw hat, made of fine Leghorn
+plat, and wonder how it is done. None of the inhabitants but our Marabout
+read and write. Portions of the Koran, however, are committed to memory;
+and one day an old blind man repeated several chapters of the Koran for
+my especial edification. He did it as a protest of zeal against my
+infidelity before the people, but I took care not to show that I was
+aware of the object. The men pray now and then, the women never, that I
+could see, and never think of religion beyond ascribing all things, good
+and bad, to God. Indeed, all classes in these mountains think the sum of
+religion consists simply in ascribing all matters, how great or how
+small, how evil how good soever, to the Divine Being. When they have done
+this, they think they have performed an act of piety and mercy. At my
+request, Mohammed made Said a pair of camel-driver's shoes, or sandals,
+to save his best. The plan is primitive enough. They get a piece of dried
+camel's hide, and cut it into the shape of the sole of the foot. Then
+they cut two thongs from the same hide. Holes are now bored through the
+soles, a knot is made at the end of the thongs, and they are pulled
+through the holes. The whole is then rubbed over with oil; the hairy side
+of the hide is fitted next to the foot, and the thongs are bound round
+the ancles. These sandals serve admirably well their purpose; some are
+made of double soles. But for the especial benefit of our cordwainers, I
+may mention, the African shoe has no heel to the sole.
+
+_15th._--His Excellency the Sheikh, and his factotum, or shadow, took
+coffee again with me this morning. A cup of coffee is a rare treat in
+Rujban. The Shadow of his Excellency brought me a few bad Fezzan dates,
+from which oases The Mountains are mostly supplied. Dates are not
+cultivated in The Mountains. The palm requires a low and flat sandy soil.
+The climate is not of so much consequence as the soil. Jerbah, and the
+Karkenahs, islands in the Mediterranean, produce as fine dates as the
+most favoured oasis of The Sahara. The Sheikh tells me there are thirty
+negro slaves in his district. One would wonder how the people could keep
+slaves when they can scarcely keep themselves. His Excellency is very
+sulky. He threatens to resign his Sheikhdom. The poor Sheikh is the
+dirtiest, unhappiest mortal of all his people. He is without wife, family
+or friend; he is without a rag to cover himself, except a filthy
+blanket. He houses in a little dirty cabin. In looks he is a hard
+strong-featured man, and large of limb. I asked his Excellency what he
+got by his Sheikhdom, to plague him. He growled, "_Shayen_ (nothing)."
+"Why don't you resign?" I continued. "I can't; all my ancestors, from the
+time of Sidi Ibraim, and our lord Mahomet, were Sheikhs. We're one blood.
+I shall dishonour them:" he returned. The principle of aristocracy is
+irradicably bound up in the Arabian social economy. The levelling and
+co-operative system has no place here. The Sheikh's factotum is a noisy,
+roguish-looking Arab, with several bullet-marks about him received in the
+late wars. As he does all his master's dirty work, he is universally
+detested. Master and man swear the country is ruined. There certainly is
+nothing in these villages to render life tolerable. No rustic plays; no
+moon-lit dance to the sound of the rude calabash drum and squeaking pipe;
+no cheerful family circle--all is poverty and loneliness! Such a life is
+really not worth living. To make wretchedness still more wretched, for
+three years there has been no rain in these mountains. God's power and
+man's cruelty press sorely upon these miserable people.
+
+The curiosity of the villagers begins to abate, or my Mohammed refuses
+them admission into his house to see me. He pretends to be honest in his
+opinion of his countrymen. He says: "The Arabs are all dogs (_kelab_)."
+They certainly have most begging propensities. And Mohammed adds, that
+when they have sufficient they will still beg, being born beggars. But,
+alas! these poor people, I am sure, never know now what it is to have
+enough. Yesterday some audacious thief stole the Sheikh's leghma. His
+factotum is foaming with rage, but the Sheikh laughed heartily at the
+impudence of the thief. His Excellency is accustomed to send me some
+every morning. I shall here relate a case or trait of selfishness amongst
+Arab women. I gave to the wife of the Marabout half a bottle of solution
+for washing her eyes should she be attacked with ophthalmia. Her
+sister-in-law, living next door, was laid up in a dark room with a
+dreadful ophthalmia. She sent her husband to beg a little of the
+solution. The Marabout's wife first denied that she had any, and then
+that she could find it. When I came from my walk, I scolded her soundly
+and gave the poor sufferer some solution.
+
+The Marabout seeing my little stock of oil, burst forth with a violent
+panegyric on olive oil, as he dipped his fingers into it and licked them,
+not much to my satisfaction:--"Oil is my life! Without oil I droop, and
+am out of life; with oil, I raise my head and am a man, and my family
+(wife) feels I am a man. Oil is my rum--oil is better than meat." So
+continued Mohammed, tossing up his head and smacking his lips. I have no
+doubt there is great strength in olive oil. An Arab will live three
+months on barley-meal paste dipped in olive oil. Arabs will drink oil as
+we drink wine.
+
+_16th._--This morning we leave for Ghadames. What is remarkable, nearly
+all the Mountaineers offered me their services, and were willing to leave
+their native homes, and go with me any where or everywhere. I hardly
+observed a spark of fanaticism in them, so far as accompanying me was
+concerned. They were all actuated with the common and universal feeling,
+to obtain something to live withal in this poor world.
+
+I have endeavoured to give some minutiæ of Arab mountain life. It will be
+seen to be not very stirring or agreeable, and there is certainly no
+romance in it, but, such as it is, I offer it to the reader, and he must
+make the best of the information. Life is life under any and all forms.
+
+From Tripoli to The Mountains our route was southwest, so that we were
+not so far from the coast as at first might be imagined, from the number
+of days' journey, and we were still within the influence of some cool sea
+breezes, for any point almost between west and northeast, brought
+reviving life to The Mountains, in this terrible season of heat.
+
+My journey seemed now to begin again, I felt a sickening regret, even in
+leaving my new Arab acquaintances. But the oppression which ground down
+to the dust these poor people filled my mind with the horror of despotic
+government. I was glad to get away from its victims, and from under the
+sphere of its influence, and plunge into the wild wastes of The Sahara,
+where I could breathe more freely. I must relate one other anecdote
+illustrating this oppression. A poor man sold me a peck of barley. The
+myrmidons of power, hearing of the sale, immediately went to him, and he
+refusing to give them the money, they got hold of his throat and nearly
+strangled him. To make them desist, I paid them also the value of the
+barley. Several of the poor people ran out after me when I mounted the
+camel, and amongst them many women and children, all crying out
+"_Bes-slamah, bes-slamah_," (Good-bye, good-bye). We now entered upon the
+most difficult, and the most critical part of our route in this season,
+and I commended myself and the people again to Eternal Providence.
+
+_20th._--Seenawan. I find it impossible to write daily in this part of
+the route.
+
+I have seen lately in the newspapers and geographical journals, that a
+Frenchman is going to traverse Africa from west to east, and that he is
+to make hourly observations with scientific instruments. I think the
+parties who write such paragraphs must be either madmen, or grossly and
+unpardonably ignorant of the nature of African travelling. If a traveller
+is in his sober senses, half the time he is _en route_, he is a happy
+man. But to proceed.
+
+Our first object was to find the rendezvous of the ghafalah. I said to
+Mohammed: "Are you sure the ghafalah is on the march to-day?" "The
+ghafalah is like the sun," he replied, "every body knows it will move
+to-day." About four hours after looking over the undulating ground, I
+thought I saw at about six miles distant some black spots moving, and
+turning to Mohammed, I said, "What's that?" He exclaimed, "The camels!
+the camels! I told you I was right, and don't you see I have struck into
+the right path?" I was glad to hear this, for I was not yet sufficiently
+broken in to desert travelling to be wandering about as we were in search
+of moving parties of the ghafalah. An hour after I took off the shade
+from my eyes, for I had still a slight ophthalmia, and looking round, I
+found we were in the midst of detached parties of the ghafalah, widely
+apart, but all hurrying in one direction. We were not near enough (indeed
+some miles off) to have any conversation with them. By noon we had all
+rendezvoused upon a pleasant plateau of The Mountains. The merchants
+welcomed my return, and asked me what I had been doing. I said, "We have
+delayed too long." They smiled:--"Oh, you don't understand; you see we
+have one day for buying oil, another day for barley, another for skins,
+another for doing nothing," &c. It appeared to me a bungling way of doing
+business. But some of them had been obliged to go a day's journey to
+purchase a few things. The ghafalah had, in fact, been scattered all over
+The Mountains. A few never left Yefran. This was my first taste of delay
+in Saharan travel.
+
+We began our four days' journey in the evening, and continued all night
+up to two hours before sunrise. The camels then rested but were not
+unpacked. All the people now got a few winks of sleep. At dawn we started
+again, and halted for the day after two hours and a half of marching. In
+the afternoon, about half-past four, we then resumed our march, and in
+this manner we continued for the four days. Our pace was upon an average
+three miles per hour, sometimes two and a half, and sometimes three and a
+half. On looking at the camel you think it goes slow, but when you look
+at the driver, you observe that he is often kept up to a very good
+walking pace. Our camels were five days without drinking, for they drank
+the morning before we left.
+
+I was once going to write, "the Arabs pack their camels as badly as
+possible; make their journeys as long as possible; travel as much in the
+sun as possible[16];" but these last four days have convinced me that,
+under the guidance of a good Arab chief, they know what they are about,
+and can do things with order and dispatch.
+
+I don't know how it was, but it came into my head that, on leaving The
+Mountains, and proceeding south, we should soon descend again, as if we
+were to cross some mighty ridge or series of ridges of the Atlas. Every
+moment I expected to descend into valleys or plains, corresponding to the
+country which lies between Tripoli and The Mountains. Getting impatient,
+after nearly a day's march, I asked for the plains. The people turned
+upon me with surprise, and said:--"_Lel Ghadames, koul hathe souwa,
+souwa_, All like this to Gadmes." I found, indeed, that, after getting
+fairly into The Mountains, and proceeding south, you first entered upon a
+deep undulating country, with here and there a profound ravine, then a
+pretty verdant inclosed plateau, and then a bare towering height, all
+which _accidented_ country dissolved at last into an immeasurable plain.
+Proceeding south, however, we found a new species of mountains began to
+raise their long, lone, dull, dreary naked forms; and, asking Mohammed
+what they were, he replied correctly enough:--"These are _Gibel Sahara_,
+(Saharan Mountains)." The plateaus and undulating ground were in places
+covered with loose stones, with sand and sand-hills scattered or heaped
+about. Then these stones and sand were partly covered at this season with
+sun-dried and sun-burnt herbage, mostly very coarse, with here and there
+a few bushes and shrubs. Many also were the dried beds of rivers, and
+there were still wider and profounder depressions of land than these
+waterless wadys. But all is now burnt, scorched, dried up, and the
+nakedness of the Saharan ridges is responded to with a hideous barrenness
+from the intervening plains and valleys. Not a single living creature was
+visible or moving; not a wild or tame animal, not a bird nor an insect,
+if we except a tiny lizard, which seems to live as a salamander in heat
+and flames, now and then crossing our path at the camel's foot, and a few
+flies, which follow the ghafalah, but have no home or habitation in The
+Dried-up Waste. Nor was there a sound, nor a voice, or a cry, or the
+faintest murmur in The Desert, save the heavy dull tramp of our caravan:
+all else was the silence of death! However, my Marabout tells me, in the
+winter the whole scene is changed. "There is then," he says, "herbage,
+rain, birds, gazelles, and all things." It is certain that within nine
+hours' ride from Rujban we passed the stubble of two or three patches of
+barley, which had been rescued from the dominion of The Desert.
+
+As to myself, personally, in this part of the route, I have suffered most
+from want of sleep. In the day-time it was too hot to sleep, and in the
+night I was on the back of the camel, where, of course, for the present,
+I could not be expected to sleep, though many of the Arabs, nay,
+merchants slept. I should say all slept on the camel as soundly as in a
+bed. So that what I saved of suffering from the heat of day-travelling, I
+lost in want of sleep by night-travelling. Poor human brute! I thought of
+the fable of the ass and his winter and summer advantages and
+disadvantages. The hottest day was yesterday, last of the four, when we
+encamped in a dry bed of a river. I shall never forget that day, forget
+what I may else! I was first on the point of being suffocated, and seemed
+at my last gasp. I began to think that the predictions of my _friends_ in
+Tripoli were about to be verified. I was to succumb to make them
+prophets! In addition to this my deep distress, I felt the wound of
+pride. I got some tea made, I can't tell how, and poured some brandy
+into it. This I drank, and from a fever of delirium found myself
+conscious again, and swimming in a bath of perspiration. The crisis was
+now passed, and I was to see Ghadames and Ghat, and return to my
+fatherland. So fate--rather Providence--would have it. Every day, until I
+reached Ghadames, there was a sort of point of halting between life and
+suffocation or death in my poor frame, when the European nature struggled
+boldly and successfully with the African sun, and all his accumulated
+force darting down fires and flames upon my devoted head. After this
+point or crisis was past, I always found myself much better. It is
+strange that my head never ached, nor was in any way affected during the
+whole route, except in the one day mentioned. Some and all have vainly
+invoked sleep upon a bed, in the time of darkness and cold, but those who
+call for the god in the African Desert, in midday of the hottest season
+of the year--and to the last moment of starting with a long, long night
+of travel before them--as they lay rolling on the burning sand, and he
+disdains to shed his dull influence over the eyelid, know, indeed,
+something of this kind of human suffering, and how dreadfully long and
+dreary were those nights! What signified the sight of the ten thousand
+orbs moving in silent mystic dance, and dressed out in soft bright fires,
+over the poor traveller's head! Alas! it was a mockery of his woes. . . .
+Four days and four nights were thus passed, without four hours of sleep.
+I often wonder if I could go through this again. I had an additional
+suffering of the eyes. I never took the veil from my face from sunrise to
+sunset, for had I done so, I should have had the hot sand immediately
+into them. We had ghiblee or simoon every day. But, thanks to Heaven, now
+ends the greatest of my sufferings from heat.
+
+We were escorted by sixty Arab troops on foot, like those who
+escorted us from Tripoli to The Mountains. The Pasha mostly chooses
+them from districts through which we pass, and in this way secures a
+guard well acquainted with the route. But how odd, before the Turks,
+in the good old days of The Bashaws, these very Arabs were the
+banditti of the route. A Ghadames merchant said to me one day,
+"Yâkob[17], see these fellows; formerly all were villanous
+_Sbandout_ (banditti)." The captain of this escort, Sheikh Omer, who
+will conduct us to Ghadames, was charged by the Commandant of The
+Mountains, that his men should not be allowed to take water, or
+anything else by force, "bel kouwee," as the merchants said. The
+Sheikh was a civil fellow, and found it his interest to cultivate my
+acquaintance. Every morning I invited him to take coffee and tea in
+my tent, and he never forgot to come. In acknowledgment, he sent me
+some liquid butter, which was not excessively bad. The food of the
+Arabs, and the poorer sort of the merchants, for this journey was,
+as written by my Mohammed, ‮‮سُوِيقَ زُمِيته‬‬
+("Souweekah-Zameetah," that is, two names); but commonly called
+Zameetah, which is nothing more than barley or wheat burnt or
+malted, then ground, and afterwards made into paste. On this is
+sometimes poured a little oil or fat; but many cannot afford this
+luxury, and must content themselves with a little water to make up
+the meal into paste. I may safely affirm, there was not a bit of
+meat eaten, or a drop of tea or coffee drunk, in the whole caravan
+of merchants, with 200 camels, including, with the Arabs, some 150
+persons, during the last four days, except what was eaten and drunk
+in my tent. I myself had only a little bit of fowl. The Sheikh
+_Shabanee_ (Makouran) as the Arabs call him, was the most civil to
+me. His portion of the camels is about forty, and he seems a most
+respectable old gentleman. He has two sons with him. He gave me last
+night a guzzle of cool water, a large brass pan full, of the size of
+a warming-pan, which I drank off in an instant, and found it more
+like nectar, than our earthy animalculæ water; it was so deliciously
+cool and sweet. Valuable, indeed, becomes a thing of commonest use,
+from its scarcity. The old Sheikh has a donkey with him to carry his
+drinking-water. The skins keep the water cool even in the hottest
+part of the day, whilst some which I had in bottles became quite
+hot. I shall here relate an ingenious stratagem, which I recommend
+to all African travellers. On leaving The Mountains we had three
+skins of water, one for each. But first, one of the skins cracked,
+and we lost a good deal of water, before it could be mended. Then
+Mohammed, the chief thief, was accustomed to drink large draughts
+when neither myself nor Said was present. This we learnt from the
+rest of the caravan. Said, himself, poor fellow, as soon as Mohammed
+had turned his back, was either to beg me to give him extra water,
+or help himself. Sometimes I chided him, at others I gave him water,
+or was too much exhausted to see what he was about. Then Said would
+help his friends amongst the Arabs now and then, and sometimes the
+Arabs helped themselves, by going behind me, and sucking from the
+neck of the skin whilst I was riding. To avoid this, Mr. Gagliuffi
+told me he always put the neck of the skin-bag before and not
+behind, so that it was impossible for a person to drink, and at the
+same time to walk backwards with the camel going forwards, or at any
+rate to do so without being seen. Then, finally, there was the
+terrible action of the sun on the water, often reducing it by a
+fifth, and sometimes a third, of our supply. But the consequence of
+all this was, our three bags were empty before we arrived at
+Seenawan, and the little water which had remained, the third day,
+was so shaken in the skins, all being oiled, that for me it was not
+drinkable. Now for the stratagem. Apprehending this waste of water,
+I got twelve pint bottles filled with water at Tripoli, which were
+packed away as wine and spirits, neither Mohammed or Said suspecting
+the contrary. Accordingly I quietly despatched my couple of bottles
+of _acqua pura_ per day, as the London lady drinkers are said to
+take their sly drops from the far corner of the cupboard, without
+the least suspicion of my fellow travellers. I overheard once,
+Mohammed speaking of me to Said: "By G--d! these Christians, what
+lots of rum they drink: that's the reason, Said, the sun does not
+kill him--he'll never die. These Christians, Said, are the same as
+the dæmons; they know everything, but God will punish them at
+last--if not, there's no God, or Prophet of God." I took no notice,
+but when we got to Ghadames, I took the remaining bottle, and asked
+him to drink. He jumped up with alarm. I then called him a fool, and
+proved to him I had been drinking water at the time he thought I
+had been drinking rum. He laughed, and said, "Ajeeb, ente Yâkob
+âkel: (Wonderful, you James are wise.)" I then took upon myself to
+lecture Mohammed, abusing him for his carelessness in not preserving
+the water, and asking him if he thought that I, on the first time of
+traversing The Desert, could put up with dirty water like them, and
+go without for days, or with a very small quantity?
+
+The Sheikh Makouran continues very civil: to-day he gave me a supply of
+onions for making soup, and promises to give me a house to live in, when
+I get to Ghadames. I have, in turn, to give him some medicine, on my
+arrival, for one of his two wives. I rode a little the Sheikh's donkey
+last night, at his request. It is nothing like the camel, it stumbled a
+great deal over the loose stones, and I am told the horses stumble as
+much. I felt the immense superiority of the camel, with its slow regular
+pace and sure foot, in these stony wastes. The Sheikh's ass is the only
+animal of the beast-of-burden sort in the whole caravan, besides the
+camels. I noticed, however, a few extra unladen camels, which take turn
+with others for carrying, as also several foals following lightly and
+friskily their dams. _En route_, during the nights, the Arab soldiers
+amused themselves by firing off their matchlocks, the most advanced party
+answering the farthest behind, and _vice versâ_. The noise of the gun
+broke through the painful silence of The Desert, and came finely back
+reverberating from the Saharan hills with double and treble discharges of
+sound. When their powder began to be exhausted, and they have never more
+than half-a-dozen charges, they sang their plaintive love ditties, or
+chatted to the merchants. On the whole, they showed great good temper,
+and, pennyless and naked, were happier than well-clothed and wealthy
+merchants.
+
+In the afternoon of yesterday a letter was brought to me, written by
+Gameo, which had been in the ghafalah nearly all the length of the route,
+but had been forgotten. This stated that Mr. Macauley, the American
+Consul, had kindly prepared a small package of American rum for my
+journey, and had forgotten to send it till too late--in fact, like
+several persons in Tripoli, he really thought, what from the intrigues of
+the Pasha, and the obstacles of the season, I should never get off. I may
+observe, the nearer a person is to an object, it often happens he sees it
+less:--
+
+    "'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view."
+
+There is infinitely less enthusiasm for African discovery,--nay, more
+horror of African travelling in Tripoli than in London: in truth, the
+greater part of the Europeans of Tripoli, and in all Barbary towns, are a
+degraded unenthusiastic race, wholly occupied with their petty quarrels
+and intrigues. Of course, a man of my stamp was considered by them either
+"_un sciocco_" or "_un matto_."
+
+It is the misfortune of Africa to be surrounded by a cordon of vitiated
+races, half-caste and mongrel breeds, propagated from adventurers and
+convicts from the other continents of the world. So that Africa learns
+nothing but the vices of civilization from its contact with the rest of
+the world. It is also certain, that the native tribes of Africa itself
+are more immoral and barbarous on the coasts than in the interior.
+
+We have had the full moon during our last four days. Our route is always
+more or less south-west.
+
+As I expected, Said is knocked up and lamed. The Marabout has cheated
+Said all along out of his rides, under pretence of his having made him a
+pair of shoes. This Marabout is the cunningest, cruellest rogue I ever
+met with. But I must here relate a service which he rendered me of
+considerable importance. Nobody could pronounce, at any rate _recollect_,
+my name. Mohammed said to me one day, "_Ingleez_, we have many names,
+have you no more than one? The ghafalah can't learn your name, it's too
+difficult. Make a name like ours, if you haven't one." I then told him I
+had another, _James_, and that it was in Arabic, _Yâkob_. Hereupon, his
+eyes moved round wildly with joy, and he cried out,--"That's it! that's
+it!" He immediately started off amongst all the people, calling out my
+name was "_Yâkob_." This _second_ christening in The Sahara was an
+immense advantage to me. There is now not an oasis in the wildest and
+farthest region of the Great Desert but what has heard of _Yâkob_. When I
+arrived at Ghat I was astonished to find even the Touaricks calling me
+_Yâkob, as if I had been brought up with them_. Clapperton and the rest
+of his party adopted Mahometan names, and were wise in doing so. When I
+was in Fezzan, Clapperton's Arabic name of _Abdallah_ was mentioned more
+than twenty years after his death in Soudan. Denham was called The
+_Rais_, being an officer.
+
+The road from The Mountains to Seenawan is very good. The greater part,
+indeed, is beautiful broad carriage-road. It is generally well marked
+with camel-paths, about a foot wide. These well-beaten, well-trodden
+paths, are very sinuous, running one into another, and often are in great
+numbers, running parallel in serpentine style, and containing a united
+breadth of a hundred yards. There are a few places where no road-traces
+are apparent to the European eye, but the well-practised eye of the
+Bedouin camel-driver, like the eye of the Indian in the American
+Wilderness, can see things, and shapes, and signs in The Desert which
+entirely escape us. Along the line of route small heaps of stone are
+placed, said by my Marabout "to point out the way." We did not meet a
+single traveller all the four days, no small parties--no couriers--no
+one. I shall not soon forget our reaching Seenawan. It was a few hours
+after midnight. I looked forward to it as the haven of rest from all my
+sufferings. A fellow-traveller came up to me, (for I had been asking all
+night long to see it,) and said, "See, Yâkob, there is the _Nukhlah_
+(palms) of Seenawan." Looking through the shadowy moon-light, I thought I
+saw something very small and black, and made a start at it from my camel
+as if I was going to leap into a downy bed of rest under the eternal
+shade of grateful palms. When the object is grasped, how its value
+vanishes! We threw down the mattress under the shade of a little ruined
+round tower, and I fell asleep. But such a tempest got up that the people
+waked me, covered with sand, and made me crawl into a hole, called the
+door of the _burge_. Here, amongst heaps of stones and dirt, I fell
+asleep again, and did not wake till called next day near noon.
+
+Seenawan is but a handful of date-trees, thrown upon the wide waste of
+The Sahara, with one or two pools of sluggish running water, sheltering
+beneath its palms thirty or forty inhabitants. There are four or five
+spots of vegetation, gems of emerald on the rugged brow of The Desert.
+The houses, if such they are, consist of half a dozen or more of mud
+hovels huddled together, here and there a little stone stuck in the
+walls, and some dark passages running beneath them. One or two had a
+couple of stories and a stone wall round them. Yet, within, they are
+cool, and have dark rooms to protect the inhabitants from both heat and
+cold. There are also two or three mud and stone _burges_, or round
+towers, to protect the few dates and spots of green. Nevertheless, in
+this pretence of existence, surrounded by the frightful sterility of The
+Desert, glowed the warmth of true hospitality. The Arab merchant, Zaleeâ,
+who lives here, and had been one of our caravan, made me come to dine
+with him in his house, and introduced me to his family. He gave me for
+dinner boiled mutton and sopped bread. When I started next day, he
+presented me a supply of eggs and two fowls, a sumptuous feast in The
+Desert! I found his wife and daughter suffering with ophthalmia, and made
+them up a pint-bottle of solution for washing the eye. I had had to wash
+the eyes of many poor Arabs during the last few days. I gave Zaleeâ's
+aged father half a dozen ship's biscuits, a part of one of which he
+sopped and ate. The old gentleman offered up a prayer for my safety, and
+said he would save one to eat on my safe return.
+
+The morning of the 20th was horribly hot, but I was housed and sheltered
+in the old _burge_. I received a present of some fresh dates. This was
+the small black date of Ghadames, which is peculiar to two or three
+oases about here. They were delicious as fruits of the garden of the
+Houris, and certainly now more esteemed by me. The Commandant, seeing me
+write to-day, wished to have the honour of his name being written in my
+journal. It is Omer Ben Aly Ben Kareem Bez-Zeen Laseeâ. The people showed
+no jealousy at my writing notes. Indeed, they were quite aware this was
+part of my business, and often assisted in telling me the names of
+persons and places. Never went an European into the interior with less
+suspicions flying about him amongst his fellow-travellers. I attribute
+this, in a great measure, to the frankness with which I spoke about
+Government and the Turkish authorities, as well as the Consular people of
+Tripoli. Besides, I never affected to conceal my objects. Here a man
+wrote in my journal the names of abuse applied to the lazy, lagging
+camels, for his own especial amusement; viz., "_Ya kafer, Ya kelb, Ya
+Yehoud_, 'Oh thou infidel!' 'Oh thou dog!' 'Oh thou Jew!'" In a quarrel,
+the Arabs transfer them complacently to one another, with sundry
+additions and oaths, too broad for ears polite. _Kafer_, ("infidel,") and
+_Deen El-kelb_, ("religion of a dog,") are the most odious terms of abuse
+which they can throw at one another.
+
+_21st._--We left early this first sprinkle of Seenawan vegetation, and
+passed the 22nd at the larger spot of the oases. This second spot is
+called Shâour; but both oases are included in the first name, as Ghat and
+Berkat are included in _Ghat_. It is necessary to make these distinctions
+in order to guard against error in laying down the routes. Shâour
+consists of a few stunted date-trees, a little _gusub_, a grain esteemed
+almost as much as wheat, and one or two fig or other fruit-trees. The
+united oasis, though but containing a population of sixty souls, and all
+very poor people, pay 600 mahboubs per annum to the Pasha of Tripoli. The
+oldest man of the place told me, that, from the first hour of his
+observation and recollection, to the present time, the water had always
+been the same in quantity. There is always a little more in the winter.
+It is running water, and as it runs and bubbles up to the surface it is
+distributed over the little garden plots and patches. I asked him why he
+did not make the gardens larger? "God bless you," he replied, "we would
+if we had more water." It is surprising to notice the regularity of even
+this scanty supply of water through the years of an old man's life,
+upwards of eighty, in the heart of The Desert, for such is the site of
+the oasis of Seenawan. I looked about for birds, but saw none. My aged
+informant said, "In the winter there are some doves." No wild beast haunt
+the environs; they cannot get at the water. The people keep a few sheep,
+goats, and fowls. There are also a dozen or so of camels. It is
+remarkable that the soil of this speck of vegetable existence is entirely
+sandy, and all the water comes out of the sand. But in places, indeed, on
+the coast of Barbary, the finest and most vigorous vegetation often
+bursts forth out of a purely sandy soil. By the time all the ghafalah had
+taken their supply of water, and the camels had drunk, the pools were
+dried up or exhausted, and the people of the village had to wait for the
+running of the water. I put a last question to my aged Saharan
+_Cicerone_,--"How do you live here, do you work?" "I am always sleeping,"
+(or _kāéd_, "reposing.") "But, how do you get anything to eat?" "Oh, I
+eat every other day, when I can get it, and sleep the rest of the time:
+what can I do?" Such is vegetable and animal existence here!
+Nevertheless, this show and sham of life looks fair, fresh, nay,
+enchanting, after the five days' desert; and all, as well as myself,
+welcomed Seenawan as a little Hesperides.
+
+We were a tolerably harmonious caravan, but had now and then a good
+quarrel. To-day a serious misunderstanding broke out between the
+Commandant Omer and one of the merchants. I could not learn what it was
+about, but Omer drew his sword twice to strike the merchant, and was only
+prevented doing so by the bystanders rushing on him. The Sheikh Makouran
+came to me apart and said: "Now, if they ask you who's to blame, say
+both." We then advanced to the parties, and the Sheikh turned to me, and
+said: "_Yâkob_, who's to blame?" I immediately said, though I knew
+nothing of the business: "Everybody, all of you." This was the signal for
+a burst of laughter, and the group separated. The quarrel, however, did
+not finish, it was carried to Ghadames and settled there. The Arabs enjoy
+a good quarrel, and, like good ale, they prefer it, not being too new,
+but caulked up a bit. The greater part of their occupation and amusement
+is supplied by quarrels.
+
+Before leaving Seenawan the merchants dispatched a courier to Ghadames,
+and Mohammed wrote a letter to the Governor, telling him very pompously:
+"The English Consul of Ghadames was approaching the city under his
+protection." Mohammed said he had submitted the letter to the Sheikh
+Makouran, and it was approved. I approved of anything that had not my
+name attached to it.
+
+_22nd, 23rd._--Left in the afternoon, and continued all night, till two
+hours before day-break. Rose at sun-rise and continued till nearly noon.
+Halted for the Kailah, and afterwards resumed our journey, continuing all
+night. The people of the ghafalah amused themselves in the night, by
+"playing at powder." As they fired the matchlocks, they shouted the name
+of the person whom they intended to honour, mostly firing off the gun
+just under his nose. Mohammed was very active in the business, and kept
+firing off my praises, and those of the Sheikh Makouran. This mode of
+compliment is universal in North Sahara. The Marabout is a good
+politician, and knows what he is about. He knew that Makouran and myself
+could serve him. The style of firing off these praises was this: "Who's
+this for?" cries the person that has the musket ready loaded. A number of
+persons, the flatterers of the great man, answer, "The Sheikh Makouran!"
+The majority has it if other names are mentioned. The man with his gun
+then runs before the Sheikh, and fires it off in his face, or a very
+short distance from him.
+
+The camel-drivers showed a perverse disposition for continuing all night
+the 22nd and 23rd, and would not halt, without difficulty, for the two or
+three hours' rest before day-break. The Commandant called for more than an
+hour: "_Ya oulād oŭăl kāéd_, (You first fellows stop!)" I never felt
+so angry with any people, as I did with these oulad in advance, I myself
+was calling out, "You first fellows stop!" But they were full a mile in
+advance. The Arabs are very fond of this sort of disorder and annoyance
+to others. Another party took it into their heads to halt at noon, the
+23rd, several miles from the rest. The Commandant went after them, broke
+up their encampment with violence, using his sword to hide them, and
+brought them up to the main body. Very windy these two days, and got the
+sand in everything, cooking utensils, cups, glasses, bowls. We found the
+sand, however, occasionally useful, and used it instead of water for
+cleaning our platters and cooking pots. Some of the people say, it is
+better than water for cleaning pots and platters.
+
+I have already said how my camel was harnessed, if harnessing it can be
+called. First, two panniers were placed (nicely balanced), which formed a
+sort of platform upon a level with the camel's back-ridge and hump; a
+mattress and skins next were placed on this, which were tied down with
+Arab herb-cords, and carried under the belly of the camel, securing the
+panniers as well as the coverlets. A small ottoman was then put at the
+top, on which I sat as on a chair-cushion, with my legs hanging down on
+each side of the camel's neck. Sometimes I lay at my full length across
+the mattress. But this the people disapproved of for fear I should fall
+off. They, however, frequently slept this way whilst riding. I was
+dressed as slightly as possible, and had on a gingham frock coat, with a
+leghorn hat. During the time the sun was above the horizon, I held up an
+umbrella and tied a dark-green silk handkerchief over my eyes and face. I
+could have borne more clothing, but I think the Moors and Arabs had too
+much. They don't change the quantity with the season, and wear as much in
+summer as in winter. The consequence is, they are very cold in winter,
+and very much oppressed in summer; but it is mostly the want of means
+which does not allow them to change their clothing with the season. I
+carried a little bottle of spirits and water to drink. In the night I was
+to eat a little biscuit. None of the camels had bridles, unless used
+solely to ride upon. The camel which I rode was a very good one, and very
+knowing, and, like many knowing animals, very vicious. He was in the
+habit of biting all the other camels which did not please him on their
+hind quarters, but took care not to get bitten himself. He seldom
+stumbled, and I was rarely in fear of falling. A camel will never plunge
+down a deep descent, but always turn round when it comes to the edge of a
+precipice. I often rode for several hours with comparative comfort. The
+camel-drivers never ride when their camels are laden, sometimes suffering
+as much as the camels themselves. I somewhat offended the self-love of
+the people of Ghadames. I asked them whether Ghadames was bigger than
+Seenawan. They said pettishly, "Ghadames _blad medina_, (Ghadames is a
+city)."
+
+_24th._--Emjessen. Arrived at these wells about 10 A.M. Earlier we had
+passed a place where they were trying to get water. Emjessen is a vast
+salt plain, which is covered over in different parts with a coating of
+salt, hard enough and thick enough to furnish materials for building. And
+here they were building a _burge_, "tower," or _kasbah_, "castle," or
+_fonduk_, "caravanserai," (all which names people called it,) with a
+large wall round the principal wells, the materials of which were red
+earth and lumps of salt, some of which appeared as hard as the soft Malta
+stone. The water is, of course, brackish, but nevertheless the camels
+drank it with eagerness. I was staring at the eagerness with which the
+camels were drinking, when the Commandant said, "_Enhār săkoun, Yâkob_,"
+(a hot day, James,) "do the camels in your country drink water in that
+way?" Hereat a merchant interposed, and instructed the Rais that the
+English had no camels, but lived on boats in the water. This is a very
+commonly spread opinion respecting the English in The Desert. But Caillié
+says of the Foulahs near Kankan, and other tribes: "The prevailing idea
+of the people in the interior of Soudan is, that we inhabit little
+islands in the middle of the ocean, and that the Europeans wish to get
+possession of their country, which is the most beautiful in the world."
+Mohammed would not allow his camels to drink here, and said the water was
+bad. Emjessen is situate about ten hours from Ghadames, say, a short
+day's journey.
+
+The Sahara all around now showed still more marked features of sterility,
+of unconquerable barrenness. Here too, for the first time, I saw
+boundless ridges and groups of sand stretching far away to the
+south-west, but they were low squatting heaps. Some sand-hills we had
+crossed for an hour or two. Mohammed called them _wâr_, and asked me to
+descend to save his camel's legs, I thought my legs less practised in The
+Desert than the camel's, and kept my place. Here were spread about,
+between the sand-hills and low black stony ridges, plains of salt and
+chalk. My first impression was, that the sea had once covered these
+regions.
+
+Our route was still south-west, and south, and the prevailing wind
+_ghiblee_, or from about the same quarter.
+
+On leaving _Emjessem_, we were met in the afternoon by several friends
+and relatives of the merchants, who had come from Ghadames in answer or
+invitation to our letters written at _Seenawan_. These strangers (to me)
+were finely mounted upon camels of the Maharee species, both themselves
+and their camels dressed out superbly, the camels being tightly reined
+up like coursers. They had a novel and noble appearance, and I thought I
+saw in them something of the genuine features of The Desert. They had
+come eight or ten miles an hour, a long _galloping_ trot, for such is the
+motion of the camel. As soon as the two parties met, there was a
+simultaneous scamper off of our camels, and some of theirs got very
+unmanageable. I was nearly thrown off, and it required Mohammed and Said
+to hold my camel until the alarm had subsided. The Sheikh Makouran was
+obliged to dismount and ride his donkey. I asked Mohammed what was the
+matter, for I could not understand this strange confusion all at once
+amongst the camels. He cried very angrily, "The camels are drunk, are
+mad--God made them so." When things got more settled, the merchants
+explained to me that it was the antipathies of the two races, the
+_coast_-camel, and the Maharee or _desert_-camel. That each was alarmed,
+but the most fierce and dominant was the Maharee, which always assumed
+the mastery over the coast-camel, "like," added one, "the Touarick
+assumes to be lord over the Arab."
+
+To-night I was obliged to quarrel seriously with Mohammed. Said was now
+quite lame and could not walk more. I told Mohammed plainly he should
+have no present as first promised, since he had broken his agreement
+about Said's riding. He then put Said on a camel. The merchants were much
+amused at the quarrel, and thought me an ass to quarrel about _a slave_,
+(for such they esteemed Said) having a ride[18]. Some few observed I was
+right, and bullied Mohammed, who now made another lying excuse, that his
+two camels were knocked up, which was the reason Said didn't ride. The
+early part of the night he had been riding one of them himself, and
+taxing him with this, he said, "Yes, but was I not ill, didn't you give
+me some water and acid, and sugar?" I replied, "Yes, I recollect it too
+well, I'm sorry I had so good an opinion of you." The Commandant now came
+up, and some bawled, "Here's a _shamatah_[19] with Said," and explained
+the business. The Commandant, without any more to do, takes the back of
+his sword and belabours Mohammed till he cries for mercy. Then the people
+beg the Rais to desist, and say, "Mohammed is a _marabout_ and must not
+be beaten." Mohammed was very cunning, and always took care to repeat
+aloud a prayer when we started afresh from any station, and so gained the
+esteem of the more pious. Said rode the rest of the way to Ghadames.
+
+During the greater part of the night of the 24th we reposed. At dawn of
+day, on the 25th, we started fresh on the last march. Just when day had
+broken over half the heavens, _I saw Ghadames_! which appeared like _a
+thick streak of black_ on the pale circle of the horizon. This was its
+date-woods. I now fancied I had discovered a new world, or had seen
+Timbuctoo, or followed the whole course of the Niger, or had done
+something very extraordinary. But the illusion soon vanished, as vanish
+all the vain hopes and foolish aspirations of man. I found afterwards
+that I had only made one step, or laid one stone, in raising for myself a
+monument of fame in the annals of African discovery!
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[12] The term Rais is applied by these people both to a naval and
+    military commander, the literal meaning being "head."
+
+[13] When an European arrives first in a remote Barbary town,
+    although there may be many Europeans in the place, he is mostly
+    called and mentioned in Moorish society as "The Christian," which
+    happened to myself in Mogador.
+
+[14] How strangely the genius of nations of such different habits
+    have given the name of "sisters" to separate groups of trees. I
+    have also passed twin peaks of mountains in Africa, called
+    "brothers" by the Arabs. But _Bou_ or _Abou_, "father," is the
+    ordinary appellation of things in North Africa. _Omm_, "mother,"
+    is also very common. The two last are found in combination.
+
+[15] Long names are not confined to European rank and royalty. The
+    Sheikh's name in full is, "The Sheikh Bel Kasem Ben Ali
+    Abd-el-Hafeeth, the Rujbanee." And this is only the quarter of the
+    length of some of these names.
+
+[16] So I found it written in the first portions of the journal.
+
+[17] _Yâkob_, Arabic for James.
+
+[18] There were certainly several slaves walking; but they were
+    all long accustomed to it, whilst Said had only just come out of a
+    weaver's establishment, where he had been many years.
+
+[19] Turkish, "a row;" but mostly "war," "battles."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+RESIDENCE IN GHADAMES TO BEGINNING OF THE RAMADAN.
+
+     Arrival at Ghadames.--Welcome of the People.--Interview with the
+     Governor, Rais Mustapha.--Distances of the route from Tripoli to
+     Ghadames.--Geographical position of the Oasis.--First sight of
+     the Touaricks.--Commence practising as Quack-Doctor.--Devotion of
+     the Arabs.--Prejudices of the People, and overcome by the
+     Rais.--Many Patients.--My House full of Touaricks.--The Sheikh of
+     the Slaves.--Character of my Camel-Driver.--I make the tour of
+     the Oasis.--Visit to the Souk.--Prejudices against me
+     diminish.--First sight of Birds.--A young Taleb's specimen of
+     Writing.--My Turjeman's House.--The Negro Dervish.--Touarick
+     Camel Races.--A few Drops of Rain.--Various Visits,
+     Conversations, &c., about Timbuctoo.--Prevalent Diseases, and my
+     Medicine Chest.--Evening previous to the Ramadan.--Houses, Public
+     Buildings, and Streets.
+
+
+GRADUALLY we neared the city as the day got up. It was dusty and hot, and
+disagreeable. My feelings were down at zero; and I certainly did not
+proceed to enter the city in style of conqueror, one who had vanquished
+the galling hardships of The Desert, in the most unfavourable season of
+the year. We were now met with a great number of the people of the city,
+come to welcome the safe arrival of their friends, for travelling in The
+Desert is always considered insecure even by its very inhabitants.
+Amongst the rest was the merchant Essnousee, whose acquaintance I had
+made in Tripoli, who welcomed me much to my satisfaction when thus
+entering into a strange place. Another person came up to me, who, to my
+surprise, spoke a few words in Italian, which I could not expect to hear
+in The Desert. He followed me into the town, and the Governor afterwards
+ordered him to be my turjeman, ("interpreter"). Now, the curiosity of the
+people became much excited, all ran to see _The Christian_! Every body in
+the city knew I was coming two months before my arrival. As soon as I
+arrived in Tripoli, the first caravan took the wonderful intelligence of
+the appointment of an English Consul at Ghadames. A couple of score of
+boys followed hard at the heels of my camel, and some running before, to
+look at my face; the men gaped with wide open mouths; and the women
+started up eagerly to the tops of the houses of the Arab suburb, clapping
+their hands and _loolooing_. It is perhaps characteristic of the more
+gentle and unsophisticated nature of womankind, that women of The Desert
+give you a more lively reception than men. The men are gloomy and silent,
+or merely curious without any demonstrations. I entered the city by the
+southern gate. The entrance was by no means imposing. There was a
+rough-hewn, worn, dilapidated gate-way, lined with stone-benches, on
+which The Ancients were once accustomed to sit and dispense justice as in
+old Israelitish times. Having passed this ancient gate, which wore the
+age of a thousand years, we wound round and round in the suburbs within
+the walls, through narrow and intricate lanes, with mud walls on each
+side, which inclosed the gardens. The palms shot their branches over from
+above, and relieved this otherwise repulsive sight to the stranger. But I
+was too much fatigued and exhausted to notice any thing, and almost ready
+to drop from off my camel. In fact, the distance which I had come since I
+first saw the dark palms of the city at the dawn, seemed to exceed
+(mostly the case when exhausted in completing the last mile of the
+journey,) all the rest of the route. I now proceeded forthwith to the
+Governor, the Rais Mustapha, being led by the people _en masse_, who, on
+seeing me, said, "_Es-slamah! Es-slamah! Es-slamah!_" ordered me coffee,
+and gave me a cordial welcome. It was about 10 A.M. His Excellency was
+sitting out in the street on a stone-bench, under the shade. Some
+visitors were sitting at a distance, and servants were lounging about.
+The Governor's house is without the city, in the gardens. It was cleanly
+white-washed, but small, only two stories high. Before the door it was
+well watered, and there was a freshness springing up from the water just
+sprinkled about. Several palms cast gracefully their dark shadows on the
+street. The Governor was very sick, his face was tied up, and his eyes
+covered. But he smoked incessantly. He said only a few words through his
+interpreter. I was equally out of order, and begged him to allow me to go
+to the house which was being prepared for me. He consented; and two hours
+after his Excellency sent me a dinner of mutton, fowls, and rice.
+
+If I were asked my opinion as to this journey, and its being undertaken
+by an European, I would answer for myself, that I would risk it again,
+because I know my constitution, and how to treat myself. But I could not
+conscientiously recommend it to others in this season of the year. Were I
+to perform it again, I would manage much better. I would be better
+mounted, have a better tent, and a better assortment of provisions. Most
+assuredly I have great reason to thank Providence that I am arrived in
+perfect health.
+
+The whole time from Tripoli to Ghadames had occupied twenty-three days,
+but seven or eight had been consumed by delay in The Mountains. The
+absolute distances of travelling given me by Mohammed, are:--
+
+From  Tripoli to Janzour           3 hours.
+ "    Janzour to Zouweeah          9   "
+ "    Zouweeah to Beer-el-Hamra    2   "
+ "    Beer-el-Hamra to Shouwabeeah 5   "
+ "    Shouwabeeah to Wady Lethel  14   "
+ "    Wady Lethel to Aâyat         3   "
+ "    Aâyat to Yefran              3   "
+ "    Yefran to Rujban            18   "
+ "    Rujban to Seenawan           4 days.
+                        (sometimes 5.) "
+ "    Seenawan to Emjessen         2   "
+ "    Emjessen to Ghadames         1   "
+
+The quickest time, in more general terms, in which the journey can be
+performed, excluding of course all stoppages, is:--
+
+From  Tripoli to The Mountains     3 days.
+ "    The Mountains to Seenawan    3  "
+ "    Seenawan to Ghadames         3  "
+
+The French geographers, for some reason, have made Ghadames situate upon
+a salt plain, confounding its site with the salt plain of _Emjessen_.
+There is no salt plain in the suburbs of Ghadames, or the country near.
+According to the _official_ letter of the Porte, written by Ali Effendi,
+Minister of Foreign Affairs, the oasis is situate in the _Caimakat de
+Jibel Garbigi_. As I did not receive the Porte's memorandum of my recall
+from Ghadames until my return, I made no inquiries of this mountain
+_Garbigi_, but I imagine it exists, though I never heard its name.
+Ghadames is situate in 30° 9′ north latitude, and in 9° 18′ east
+longitude.
+
+_25th._--I find my house, which had been prepared for me by the kindness
+of the Sheikh Haj Mohammed Makouran, very commodious and tolerably clean,
+and I make myself at home. It is situate in the suburbs, close by the
+Governor's house. I now tried to get a nap, but could not. Then I went to
+bathe in the Mysterious Spring, whence springs up this city as an emerald
+amidst a waste of stone and sand! Intend bathing every day if I can. Saw
+Essnousee again, and many of the merchants whom I had seen at Tripoli.
+Found them all civil. But the people who most excited my attention were
+the Touaricks, whom I now saw for the first time. Many of them were here
+at this time for trading purposes. They expressed as much astonishment at
+seeing me as I them, some exclaiming, "God! God! how could the Infidel
+come here?" Late in the afternoon, after napping, went again into the
+city: was much pleased with its appearance. Thought it better than
+Tripoli, considering the position of the respective places, Tripoli on
+the edge of the sea, and open to all the world, and Ghadames in the midst
+of The Desert, far from the shores of the Mediterranean. No poor are seen
+begging about the streets, and all the people look well dressed today.
+They had put on their holiday clothes, which is usual on the arrival of a
+large caravan. What a contrast was this to the squalor and filth of
+Tripoli, with its miserable beggars choking up all the thoroughfares! No
+women were seen about but the half-castes, mostly slaves, but plenty of
+children playing here and there. I heard amongst them the whisper of
+"The Kafer, the Kafer!" as I passed by.
+
+Began to practise my quackery very early, and administered solution for
+the eye in various parts of the streets _pro bono publico_. The Rais sent
+for me likewise, and I poured a few drops of caustic into his eyes. In
+fact, I was full of business, although but a few hours in the town, and
+hardly had time to look about me. This business after such a journey! My
+turjeman, Bel-Kasem, also took me into his garden, and gave me a supply
+of onions, peppers, and dates. The gardens appeared quite equal to those
+of Tripoli. The turjeman was soon useful, though he only spoke a few
+words of Italian, but chiefly because he had less prejudices against the
+Christians than his fellow-townsmen. He had worked in the house of a
+French merchant in Tunis many years, and always retained a sort of
+sneaking kindness for Frenchmen, which indeed was much to his credit. In
+walking about the town, I was followed by groups of children and black
+women, all running one over another to see me. My turjeman was obliged to
+beat them to keep them off. I am the _second_ Christian who has visited
+Ghadames; the first being the unfortunate Major Laing, who never returned
+to record what he saw in this city! But his residence of a few days here
+is forgotten by nearly all the present generation. The Rais is the only
+Turk. All the troops are Arabs. The Ghadamsee people are never soldiers.
+This evening the Rais sent me supper, much the same as the dinner.
+
+The people of the ghafalah (the Arab strangers), went to pray this
+evening in the mosque set apart for strangers. I must not omit the
+mention of the strict and scrupulous exactitude with which all the
+ghafalah prayed _en route_. Five times a day is prescribed by the Koran.
+Most of them prayed the five times, but not altogether, some choosing
+their own time, a liberty allowed to travellers. It was a refreshing,
+though at the same time a saddening sight, to see the poor Arab
+camel-drivers pray so devoutly, laying their naked foreheads upon the
+sharp stones and sand of The Desert--people who had literally so few of
+the bounties of Providence, many of them scarcely any thing to eat--and
+yet these travel-worn, famished men supplicated the Eternal God with
+great and earnest devotion! What a lesson for the fat, overfed Christian!
+And shall we say, that because these men are Mohammedans, _therefore_ the
+portals of heaven are hermetically sealed against the rising incense of
+their Desert prayers? . . . It is hard to think so . . . though some
+think so.
+
+_26th._--Employed as yesterday in administering the medicines. My
+turjeman did not come to-day, and I suspected, intuitively almost, the
+people of Ghadames had persuaded him not to come. It turned out
+afterwards that my suspicions were well-founded; nevertheless, I received
+several small presents from the people. The merchants are civil, but some
+little jealousy discovers itself on religious grounds. All Mohammedans
+have got an idea that the Christians will one day take their countries
+from them, but that, in the end, with the aid of God, they will revenge
+themselves, and repossess all their cities and countries: "This," said my
+Marabout, "is a prophecy contained in our sacred books." My presence is
+therefore by some considered the preliminary for the overthrow of the
+Mussulman power of Ghadames, I am the scout, the spy into "the nakedness
+of the land;" others think I pollute the sacred city of Ghadames with my
+infidel carcass. Yesterday I got also entangled in the labyrinth of dark
+streets, some of which are often turned into mosques at certain hours of
+the day. Of this the people complained to the Rais, who sent me word to
+be careful. I replied, I was an utter stranger, and did not know what I
+was about; in fact, the Rais excused me to the people saying, "A little
+by little, The Christian will know to do all which is right. We must
+teach him." Indeed, I found the conduct of Mustapha from the first very
+kind, and he was determined no improper prejudices should get into the
+heads of the people against me. The Rais continued to send me breakfast,
+dinner, and supper. "This," said the servant, "would continue _three_
+days, according to custom;" in fact, I found the same custom adopted by
+the Governor of Ghat. Caillié mentions the custom as prevailing amongst
+the Braknas. But it will soon be seen that the Rais did not stint his
+hospitality to this conventional usage. His Excellency found his eyes
+better to-day, and I gave him a dose of pills.
+
+My camel-driver came up to me in his usual soft sneaking way, and began
+his pious jargon:--"God be praised for Yâkob, because he has arrived safe
+in Ghadames--now God is one, and above all things powerful. Besslamah."
+This he was wont to repeat _en route_. He then said gravely, "Now, Yâkob,
+you are my friend--you wish to go to Soudan, I will go with you, if you
+like, but I will sell you my camel, on which you rode here. You know it's
+good and very wise. It doesn't stumble. Buy it, I'll sell it because you
+are my friend, you shall have it cheap, for twenty-five dollars." The
+fact is, the camel had got a small hole in its back, and being afraid he
+should not cure the camel, he wanted me to buy it. Twenty-five dollars is
+the average price of a camel.
+
+_27th._--Paid a visit this morning to the Rais; told him the turjeman was
+afraid to come with me to show me the city and interpret, because the
+people said to him, "Bel-Kasem, thou must not show The Christian the
+sacred things of our holy city: never were they polluted by an infidel."
+The Rais smiled and ridiculed the thing, and said he would send for the
+man. I observed I would pay him so much per day. "No," he replied, "I am
+his master, you are a stranger, I must pay." Whilst we were talking, a
+letter came informing the Rais that some robbers had carried off six
+camels from the village of Seenawan. The Rais was displeased and said to
+me, "All this country is _batel_ (good-for-nothing)." I asked the Rais if
+there were a prison in Ghadames.
+
+_H. E._ "Yes."
+
+_I._ "Is there any body in it?"
+
+_H. E._ "No."
+
+_I._ "How?"
+
+_H. E._ "This is a city of dervishes and marabouts--people don't
+steal--if they've nothing to eat they beg."
+
+People are calling at my house all day long for medicines. Every morning
+I send tea (made, of course,) to the Rais and the Sheikh Makouran.
+Presented the Rais with my Moorish portfolio, all worked over with
+various devices in leather and silk. He was quite delighted with it,
+observing, "The Christians are good people, but the people here don't
+know them. Yâkob, take courage, little by little," (a favourite
+expression of the Rais). Next to my house is a garden whose date-trees
+bear no fruit, and its beds are covered with dry dust, a sad picture of
+neglect. On asking how this was, I was told the owner was in Soudan, and
+in consequence no one looked after and watered his garden. The merchants
+of this city often remain in Soudan five, ten, even fifteen and twenty
+years, leaving their families here whilst they accumulate a fortune in
+commercial speculations. Sometimes they marry other wives in Soudan, and
+form another establishment.
+
+Bathed again in the Spring, but found it surrounded with women, fetching
+water. Contented myself with washing in one of the private washing
+apartments attached to the Spring. The water was warm, but I felt
+afterwards cool and refreshed. There are no public baths here as on the
+coast towns. I observed the place formed of a high raised stone-bench,
+just as you enter the city, (on our side) where all strangers pray. It
+seems built on, the principle of some Romanist churches, which are
+dedicated, like those of the ancient classic temples, to particular uses
+and services. My Marabout prayed in it with devout fervour as we passed,
+I being obliged to wait for him.
+
+This evening dined with the Rais at his house for the first time. His
+Excellency was extremely kind and spoke freely of the Ghadamsee people.
+"These," said he, "are a people given up to prayer, and many of them
+spend their time in nothing else."
+
+I said, "Are there ten thousand people in Ghadames? So I have heard."
+
+Astonished, he replied, "There are not five hundred men."
+
+"Are there not several of the people travelling?"
+
+"Only a few."
+
+Then, talking of thieves and banditti, the Rais told me to bring my money
+to his house in order that he might take care of it. On depositing it
+with him he asked how much it was. There were only two hundred piastres
+of Tunis, all the money I had. The Rais seemed surprised it was so little
+(about _seven pounds sterling_!) I made the best of it by telling him if
+I remained I must send for some more. He also recommended me not to sleep
+on the top of the house, but in my room, and shut the door. However, it
+is so hot that I should be suffocated if I were not to leave the door
+open. In explanation, he said, "The Touaricks and other strangers are
+thieves." The Rais is very sick, with bad eyes. Sent him some more
+physic.
+
+Whilst writing my journal, the house is filled with Touaricks, and I
+cannot get rid of them. I am obliged therefore to enter into conversation
+to amuse them.
+
+"How large is Ghat? as large as Ghadames?"
+
+"Bigger than Tripoli."
+
+"Have you plenty of meat in Ghat?"
+
+"Plenty of everything."
+
+"I am afraid of you--you killed one of my countrymen near Timbuctoo?"
+
+"No, no, (crying out lustily,) not the Touaricks of our country."
+
+"Will you take me safe to Ghat?"
+
+"Upon our lives!" (_Drawing their swords across their foreheads._)
+
+"Have you a written language?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What's your name?" (The Touaricks to me.)
+
+"Here, I will write it."
+
+"Have you any medicine for the eye?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+I then applied some solution to the eyes of one of them. Another said:
+
+"My son is always coughing. What shall I do for him?"
+
+"Bring him here," I said, "in the morning, and I will give him
+something."
+
+_The Touarick._--"You won't poison him?"
+
+_I._--"No, no."
+
+They then entered upon a religious conversation.
+
+"What do you think of _religion_? Do you pray?"
+
+"Well, there is one God."
+
+"And, Mohammed?"
+
+"He is the prophet of the _Arabs_."
+
+"Who is your prophet?"
+
+"Jesus; he is Prophet of all the Christians, as Moses is the prophet of
+the Jews."
+
+(With impatience.) "But Mohammed?"
+
+"We Christians have but one Prophet, who is Jesus."
+
+Here an interruption took place, of which I was very glad. Afterwards
+they resumed:
+
+"Have you any powder?"
+
+"No; I am an English Marabout, and carry no arms, and have nothing to
+give away but medicines."
+
+"Aye, an English Marabout, and not a merchant?"
+
+"No; only a Marabout."
+
+One of them. "We shall take your name as you have written it on this
+paper, and show it to our people. It will be esteemed precious by them;
+and if you ever wander that way through The Desert, they will ask you
+your name, and, if you reply to it, they will not kill you, but give you
+plenty of camel's milk. If they have not your name they may kill you, and
+not their fault."
+
+Had a visit from the Sheikh of the slaves. In most countries of North
+Africa there is a chief appointed by Government for any particular race,
+not the same as the ruling dynasty, domestic as well as foreign, which
+may be resident in the towns and cities. So the Jews of Barbary have
+their chiefs, and the slaves theirs. In Tunis a number of free coloured
+people, called _Waraghleeah_, emigrants from the Algerian oasis of
+Warklah, have also their chief or headsman. This chief has rather large
+and even discretionary powers, and can order his subjects to be
+imprisoned by the officers of the sovereign Government of the country.
+But, of course, this imperium in imperio is subject to the supervision of
+the supreme Government. The object is apparently to relieve the
+Government, but whilst it relieves the higher authorities, it inflicts
+irreparable injuries upon poor people, and is full of the most gigantic
+abuses. It is often complained of by the Levant correspondents of
+newspapers, under the character of the various spiritual tribunals of
+Eastern Christians inflicting fines, torture, and imprisonment on
+refractory or heretic members of those churches. The Jewish synods of
+Africa and the East exercise the same arbitrary powers, under the
+sanction of the supreme Mahometan authorities. Lately, however, the
+European ambassadors have done something to check these abuses in the
+dominions of the Porte.
+
+After some conversation, I asked the Sheikh of the Ghadames slaves what
+were his duties. Drawing himself up into a posture of authority, he
+replied:--"Be it known, Oh Christian! I am the Sheikh of the slaves, my
+name is Ahmed. I am from Timbuctoo. The people of Bambara are the finest
+in the world. They are brave--they fear none. Now, hear me: I know all
+the names of the slaves in Ghadames: I watch over all their conduct, to
+punish them when they behave badly, to praise them when they do well.
+They all fear me. For my trouble I receive nothing. I am a slave myself.
+I rarely punish the slaves. We have always here more than two hundred. If
+you wait, plenty of slaves will soon come from Soudan!"
+
+Late to-night, Mohammed the Marabout of Rujban, left for his country and
+Tripoli. I gave him some Ghadames dates to take to Tripoli as presents,
+the small black dates, as a rarity, and to let the people know I had not
+so much forgotten them as they had forgotten me. This clever, cunning,
+selfish fellow, I completely overreached. He never believed that I had
+the courage to punish his bad conduct. I had promised him, besides the
+ten mahboubs (about forty shillings), the hire of the two camels from
+Tripoli to Ghadames, a present, or backsheesh of two mahboubs, on his
+behaving well. On paying him his ten mahboubs I told him there was no
+backsheesh. At first he was astonished and looked pale, shaking in every
+limb, for he expected to reap a great harvest by my affair--even a double
+present to what was promised. But on reflecting that he had lamed Said,
+who was still laid up, had pilfered our provisions all the way, and lived
+on us by force, although the agreement was that he should keep himself,
+he confessed I was right, or thought it better to make the confession.
+However, he beat about the merchants, and got two or three of them to
+come down to speak to me, who said, "If he has done bad, treat him bad,
+that is, give him a little backsheesh." I then gave him half a dollar.
+His ingenuity was never exhausted. He pretended I ought to feed the
+camels two or three days after their arrival, which he said was the rule.
+There is no herbage for miles in the neighbourhood of Ghadames. The
+people are sometimes obliged to drive their camels to Seenawan, or Derge,
+two or three days' distance, to feed. I gave way, and added a trifle. He
+then begged something for his wife; he had bought her a pair of Ghadames
+shoes, worked with silk, which shows an Arab can have an affectionate
+remembrance for his wife, but which has been denied by some. I again
+added something. He now had his supper. I gave him a feed of mutton, and
+broth and bread. This was his feast before parting, for I did not like to
+send him away as a blackguard, notwithstanding he had extremely annoyed
+me. I never saw a person eat with such voracity. After his allowance, or
+the supper I had cooked him, a large supper was sent in by the Rais for
+three. He set to and ate his own and Said's share in the bargain. I have
+often seen Arabs gorge in this way, but, what is most singular, when
+obliged to be abstemious they scarcely eat the amount of two penny loaves
+per day. Mohammed was a good type of this Arab abstemiousness and
+voracity. When he kept himself, he only took a small and most frugal meal
+once a day. Of his gluttony I may add, that I was obliged to separate his
+mess from that of Said when he dined with me. If not, he would eat Said's
+mess and his own before I could see what they were about. At last
+Mohammed began to soften and to confess adroitly, for he was one of the
+acutest Arabs I ever met with. He observed to me, in a whining tone, "Now
+I am going, I wish to tell you something. You think me very bad, and a
+great rogue, and so I am; but, I tell you, if you had had any other Arab
+you would have found him a thousand times a bigger rogue than myself,
+_for all the Arabs are dogs_. This is the truth: (_El-khok_.)" After this
+confession, I gave him a certificate of my having arrived safe in
+Ghadames under his guidance. This I could not object to do, in order that
+he might show it to the Pasha and the English Consul. Some of his remarks
+were full of _sel_, but mostly touched with selfishness. One evening,
+looking at his camels feeding, he said, "Ah, Yâkob, see those camels eat.
+It does my heart good to see them, for what am I without my camels, what
+are the Arabs without the camels--are not the camels the pillars which
+support the Arab's house?" At other times he would abuse his fellow
+camel-drivers for coming into my tent, upbraiding them,--"What, do you
+want to rob The Christian? Am not I encharged with his affairs?" Mohammed
+was rather tall, and of lean habit of body, like all Arabs. His hearing
+and sight were very quick, and he always seemed to sleep like a
+watch-dog. His bravery I never tested. He was mostly lively and
+facetious. He was good-looking, and about thirty years of age.
+
+I saw him after my return to Tripoli. He wanted to go with me again. He
+said to me, "Now you have seen all, The Mountains, The Sahara, and the
+Touaricks. You know all our affairs, and everything we do." As a
+literary curiosity, I shall here translate my camel-driver's account of
+the route from Tripoli to Ghadames, written at my request, in which will
+be seen the camel-driver's minute acquaintance with the route, and how
+every wady, and well, and mountain, is particularized. This is the style
+of the Saharan travellers and chroniclers.
+
+"First Tripoli, and not far from it are palms of El-Hamabaj, and a mosque
+El-Kajeej. You then proceed to Gargash, in which are palms, and along the
+road the Kesar Jahaly. And you go on to Janzour, in which are palms and
+two castles, one of them is called Kesar Areek, and the Kesar of the
+Turkish soldiers (God curse them!) Upon the sea-shore is the mosque of
+Sidi Abd-el-Jeleel. And you proceed to Seid, where are palms and the
+Indian fig. And you go on to Ghafeeah, and here is cool refreshing water,
+(oh! how delicious in the great heat!) and you pass the water to
+El-Toubeem, where are palms, and mosques, and houses. You go on to
+Zaweeah, where are palms, houses, and a Kesar for troops, and a Zaweeah
+for the reading of The Sublime Koran, and mosques. You proceed thence to
+Houshel, in which are palms and houses. You move on to Aabareeah, where
+are palms. You now reach The Sahara, where there is a little sand; you
+find in it the well of El-Hamra. Pursuing your way upon The Sahara, you
+find the well of Esh-Shaibeeah. And travelling on The Sahara you find
+another well called Lakhreej. You travel further on The Sahara, and find
+Afoub Aaly, where there is sand, called El-Hal. And after it, you find
+Wady Lethel, in which are lote-trees and the lethel, a large tree like an
+olive-tree. And you travel to El-Jibel, where are houses and a Kesar for
+troops. In the country called Yefran, are olive-trees and fig-trees; and
+below the country (or in the plains), you find palms. And near El-Gibel,
+in all the countries you find olive-trees and fig-trees, as far as the
+other mountains westward. Now Rujban (my happy country, the blessing of
+God on it!) has seven countries, viz.:--El-Barahem, and Tarkat, and
+Sharn, and Zâferan, and Ghalat, and Zantan, and Tarbeeah.
+
+"We mounted from Rujban and from El-Gibel, and went to Eth-Tha, where is
+Koteet, between Ez-Zantan and Rujban. Thence we travelled to Wady
+Souk-ej-Jeen. Thence to Haram and Et-Teen. And we travelled to
+Wady-Azgheer, and afterwards Wady Walas. Thence we arrived again on The
+Sahara, called El-Hamrad, which is _fertile_[20] land, and on it are
+lote-trees, bearing berries (_nebek_). Now, oh Yâkob! this is not the
+lote-tree in the seventh heaven, near the presence of Rubbee (God), and
+which Gabriel, nor our lord Mahomet, dare not pass beyond. Alas! O Yâkob,
+if you believe not in Mahomet, you cannot be near this lote-tree. It says
+in the Koran, 'It covers the concealed[21].' And we ascended a hill,--a
+high hill, that is to say, a little mountain. And we ascended
+(descended?) to a wady, called Ahween, in which is a well on the west of
+the route. And after this is Eshâab, small wadys, called Eshâab
+Eth-Thoueeb, and after them is Wady Seelas, where there is a well of
+water. You pass by it on the road, and come to Seenawan, in which is a
+spring of water, called Spring Aly. In Seenawan are palms, and its
+_ghotbah_ is like a tower (burge), built with small stones, and so of
+the country (village) near it. And after this is the country Esh-Shâour,
+where there is water from springs which run upon the face of the earth,
+and palms and houses built with small stones. From The Mountains to
+Seenawan are four days with heavily laden camels.
+
+"Afterwards you travel and find Wady Babous Eth-Theeb. Thence there is
+land, on which is sand, and in this the well of water El-Wateeah. After
+there is Wady Ej-Jeefah. Then Saheer El-Maharee, and then a long stream,
+in which are reeds. Afterwards you find Hinsheer El-Basasah. And after
+El-Bab-Rumel ("gate of sand"), a difficult place. Thence you come to
+Emjessem. All this route is Sahara; and the road from Seenawan to
+Emjessen is two days' journey. After this you find the small mountains
+Baârbeeah Aghour. Then you find Ghadames. There is a day's journey from
+Emjessen to Ghadames."
+
+_28th._--Early this morning made the tour of the city's walls and
+gardens. Went with Said, and myself, alone. I am fond of being alone, and
+would sometimes walk miles over The Desert--the caravans being not even
+in sight. This _was_ solitude!
+
+                  "I love all waste
+    And solitary places; where we taste
+    The pleasure of believing what we see
+    Is boundless, as we wish our souls to be."
+
+It occupied us, at a moderate rate of walking, about an hour and a half,
+so that the oasis may be about five miles in circumference. What a scene
+of hideous desolation did the environs present--nor tree, nor herb, nor
+living creature! Talk of the Poles, there is less life here! On the
+west, the groups of sand-hills, which stretch ten days' journey, were all
+bright as the light, and sometimes not visible from brilliancy. Some
+Touaricks saw us going, and called after us; we took no notice of them.
+The Rais, on my return, asked many questions, about what I thought of the
+city, and observed, "These poor fools think there's no city like theirs,
+but what would they think if they saw Stamboul? Those who have not seen
+Stamboul have not seen the world!" The walls of the city of Ghadames,
+like the houses, are built mostly of sun-dried bricks, but parts of small
+stones and earth. They are in a ruinous condition, and in many places
+open to The Desert. But within these outer walls are garden-walls and
+winding paths, so that the approaches to the city are difficult, except
+by the southern gate. Formerly, four or five gates were open, but the
+Rais has shut them all but this one for security, as well as facility in
+collecting the octroi, or gate-dues.
+
+The greater part of the camels of our ghafalah left today, but unladen,
+there being no Soudan goods now in Ghadames. These camels belong to The
+Mountains, and are hired by the merchants to convey their goods between
+this and Tripoli. The ordinary price paid is two dollars per camel. The
+weight the camel carries is from two to three cantars.
+
+This afternoon had a visit from the Touarick women, and was astonished to
+find some of them _almost fair_. They were pretty and plump, coquettish
+and saucy, asking a thousand questions. It is evident the men are dark
+simply from exposure to the sun. I regaled them with _medicine_ and tea.
+This party belongs nearly all to Touat. They want to prevail upon me to
+go with them. I am almost inclined. Two men, who came with the women,
+assured me I should go safe and sound. I believe I could, provided I go
+as poor as a beggar, distributing only medicines. This evening dined
+again with the Rais. He is now a little better, and puts his charms over
+his eyes, as if the charms cured them, and not the caustic of nitrate of
+silver. His Excellency talked of the affairs of the city; he pretends the
+antiquity of Ghadames goes back four thousand years, to the times of
+Nimrod and Abraham. The people of the town, I suppose, have told him so;
+but where is their authority? He says of _present_ matters,--"The people
+pay 6,000 mahboubs per annum; it is too small a sum for a city of
+merchants; there is little money in the country, it being mostly
+deposited in the hands of merchants in Tripoli; he wishes Christians
+established here, and a regular souk, or market, opened; the number of
+Arab troops which he has here is 120; he is building barracks and a
+fondouk at Emjessen, in order to station troops there to guard the wells,
+for the banditti come there and drink water, and then lie in ambush to
+plunder caravans." This building of forts at wells is a wise and
+efficient measure; the same thing has been done at the oasis of Derge.
+The Rais receives his pay _direct_ from the Sultan of Constantinople; his
+appointment is quite uncertain; he is a native of Erzeroum; he took part
+in the Turco-English campaign in Syria, served under General Jochmus, and
+was acquainted with many English officers. He has been at Constantinople,
+Smyrna, Malta, and many other parts of the Upper Mediterranean.
+
+People complain that the gardens languish for want of money to cultivate
+them; not more than half of the date-trees bear fruit this year, owing
+entirely to the want of labour and irrigation. People have to purchase
+water. I have seen no birds in the oasis up to this time.
+
+The greater part of yesterday and to-day occupied in distributing
+medicines. Afraid I shall soon finish my stock. The medicines were
+furnished by the British Consul-General of Tripoli, at the expense of
+Government; there were only five pounds-sterling worth. Ramadan begins in
+a few days; then I shall not have so many customers. Then the Moors cast
+physic to the dogs.
+
+_29th._--Went this morning to see the Souk. At the time of my visit there
+were only a few tomatas, peppers, a little olive-oil, and some grain,
+wheat and barley, exposed for sale. Passed a butcher's, where a whole
+camel was killed and cut up. Told in this way it fetches about thirty
+shillings. Paid a visit to my runaway Turjeman, who said he would call
+upon me this evening.
+
+Observe the Rais employs, in his administration, all strangers, either
+Arabs or Tripolines, or people from Derge and Seenawan. How true are the
+principles of despotism! This is upon the same principle as the
+employment of the Swiss at Naples; in both cases the despotic government
+cannot trust the people. The Rais is very busy in collecting the
+half-yearly tax: he works with surprising zeal from morning to night--a
+zeal worthy of a better cause.
+
+I am told the nearest route from here to Tunis is _viâ_ Douwarat (or
+Duerat), a portion of the Atlas where is situate Shninnee. This village,
+scattered over all the hills, is three days from Ghabs and seven from
+Ghadames. The Souf Arabs tell me there is no water for seven days in
+summer and twelve in winter, on the road they came from their country to
+Ghadames, the difference being the length of days. The well is called
+Beer-es-Saf, and sometimes Beer-ej-Jadeed. The route lies entirely
+through sand, N.W. This region of sand is the celebrated hunting-place of
+the Souf Arabs.
+
+Dined again with the Rais this evening. His Excellency complained that
+the Ghadamsee people show him scarcely any attention. He never receives
+the smallest present, neither a few dates, nor a melon, nor a vegetable;
+he buys and is obliged to buy everything[22]. I thought myself more
+fortunate than the Rais, for I have received several little presents from
+various individuals. His Excellency says he never punishes the people
+except for _abusive language_ to one another, and than he only gives them
+twenty or fifty strokes of the bastinado. In this respect he says,
+"Ghadames may be compared to Paradise, there being no crime in it." His
+Excellency repeated that the greater number of the resident inhabitants,
+who do not travel abroad, spend their time in reading, writing, and
+prayer--that, emphatically, this is _a Marabout city_.
+
+_30th._--Occupied two or three hours this morning in administering
+medicine and visiting the sick. My turjeman came back and apologized; he
+said the people were fanatic. Received a visit from Haj-el-Beshir, eldest
+son of the Sheikh Makouran. He said his father had been twice to
+Timbuctoo, and resident there many years, and would give me some
+information. The Rais says there's no Sheikh of the slaves, and adds,
+"I'm the Sheikh of the slaves." This again is not correct, as the people
+all told me, there must be a headman or Sheikh of the slaves in all
+countries. Had a visit from two young men who were quite free from the
+prejudices of their countrymen. They told me to take courage, "that God
+was the Maker of Christians as well as Mohammedans, that in this city no
+one could do me harm, but I was not to expose myself to the ignorant." I
+seem, indeed, to get on better with the people, their prejudices
+apparently are beginning to give way; I shall be able to open the way for
+some other person. The father of one of my young friends has been now
+twelve years in Kanou; when he returns he brings a fortune.
+
+Speaking to the Rais of the Ghadamsee people, I asked him what they did
+for soldiers before the Turks came? He replied, "These people are not
+soldiers and never had soldiers; they are like women and children; if any
+body came from The Desert to plunder, he stole what he pleased and was
+allowed to go away unmolested. They depended upon God and prayer for
+their protection. You see I told you these people were dervishes." Still
+there is reason to believe that if they did not fight themselves, as, at
+the present time, they got their quondam but powerful friends, the
+Touaricks, to fight for them.
+
+This afternoon saw some doves in the gardens; and also a small flight of
+birds hovering over the city, perhaps there were twenty. These birds were
+called _arnout_, and have very long bills and necks. When the men leave
+off working at the wells, they dart down to drink. The palm-groves are
+the favourite resort of the doves, as poetical as natural. Animals, and
+especially birds, are so rare in those regions that every sight of them
+is worthy of mention; indeed, these are the first birds I have seen since
+I left Tripoli. No meat to be had to-day in Souk. People usually club
+together and buy a whole sheep: they then kill it, and divide it into so
+many portions according to the number of purchasers; so that meat is
+rarely exposed publicly for sale, and it is necessary to join these
+private purchasers. Purchase-money is always paid down at once and not on
+delivery. The meat is never weighed but divided at guess. When any
+disagreement takes place lots are drawn for the division.
+
+During the four or five days of my residence here, the weather has been
+comparatively temperate; at least, I have not felt the heat excessive.
+To-day has been close and cloudy: no sun in the afternoon: wind hot,
+_ghiblee_. I continue to be an object of curiosity amongst the people,
+and am followed by troops of boys. A black from Timbuctoo was astonished
+at the whiteness of my skin, and swore I was bewitched. The Ghadamsee
+Moors eat sugar like children, and are as much pleased with a suck of it.
+The young men carry it about in little bags to suck. The Rais is
+sometimes called _Bey_ by the people and sometimes _Sultan_, but by the
+low people, not the better classes. Here, as elsewhere, the lower classes
+are the more servile.
+
+_31st._--Went this morning to buy meat, but got some with great
+difficulty. Passed some Touaricks, who showed an excessive arrogance in
+their manners. They look upon the Ghadamsee people with great disdain,
+considering them as so many sheep which they are to protect from the
+wolves of The Sahara. Met several of the merchants I knew at Tripoli.
+They asked me how I liked their city, and if better than Tripoli. I
+always replied, _Haier_ (better). It is singular that though these
+merchants are so enterprising themselves in the interior of Africa, they
+cannot conceive of the possibility of a Christian coming so far from home
+into The Desert, and when I tell them I wish to go to Soudan, or Bornou,
+or Timbuctoo, they look at me with incredulity and say, "No, no, you
+cannot go so far, you will die, or the people will kill you." They have
+not the least idea of the courage and enterprise of European tourists,
+nor can they understand their objects. But these their objections may be
+founded in jealousy of us Christians.
+
+The following is a nice neat facsimile specimen of the writing of a young
+taleb and Ghadamsee Marabout, one of the best I have seen in The Desert.
+It is a bill of sale, consisting of gold--slaves, male and
+female--bullocks' skins--pillow-cases--elephant's teeth--senna--bekhour
+(perfume)--camels--sacks--and (I think) household slaves.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The young taleb showed great consequence and presented me with the
+original. He observed that a metegal of gold is of the value of 33½
+Tunisian piastres. I said, "Will you come to my house and I will show you
+an Arabic book (the Bible) containing the religion of the Jews and
+Christians?"
+
+_The Taleb_: "I, I enter the house of an infidel! God preserve me!"
+
+"Oh!" I observed, "you are afraid of me and my books--my books _will bite
+you_." Hereupon all the people present burst into a loud laugh, and the
+taleb looked quite crest-fallen.
+
+Many people blind with one eye, and some with two eyes, come to me to be
+cured, but I can do nothing for them. One poor old man comes every
+morning. I wash his eyes with a solution of the Goulard powders. He,
+though nearly seventy years of age, still lives in the hopes of
+recovering his sight. How faithful a companion of the unfortunate is
+hope! The Touaricks use mustard for bad fingers and hands. They also cut
+and carve their backs for blood-letting, and the marks remain for years
+upon years. I saw one of them whose back was scarred and scarified all
+over.
+
+This morning visited my turjeman at his house. The house is a
+_mezzonina_, having no ground-floor apartments; the parlour, or grand
+room, or hall, was surrounded, to my surprise, with small apartments, in
+which three or four sheep were fattening, as people fatten pigs. The
+sheep is with the Ghadamsee people what the pig is with the Irish, their
+_dii penates_. There was also another story above this, the
+sleeping-room; and then on the terrace, or flat roof, are other little
+rooms. All the apartments were exceedingly small, but their situation
+high. Stone stairs lead from one room to another. The turjeman told me
+all the houses were built in the same manner, but some larger. Indeed
+some houses are four stories high, besides the terrace. The lower rooms
+are mostly used as magazines. As soon as I ascended the staircase, the
+wife of the turjeman pretended to take fright, and hid herself in a
+private apartment. At another time when I called, and her husband was
+absent, she came out to see me, and collected all the women in two or
+three neighbours' houses to see The Christian. It is the husband the
+woman of Africa is frightened at, and not the stranger. The tyranny of
+men over the sex of feebler bodily frame is co-extensive with the
+population of the world. It is the same in Paris, in London, Calcutta,
+and The Desert. But the principle of women-seeing in Ghadames and all
+North Africa is simply this: "If the woman is poor, or the husband poor,
+she may be seen; if rich, she cannot be seen." A pretty woman will,
+however, always try to let you see her face if she can.
+
+There is a very good-natured black dervish always about the streets, but
+clean and well-dressed. Ordinarily amongst these saints filth and piety
+go hand in hand. They abhor the proverb of cleanliness being next to
+godliness. The poor fellow is very fond of me, is running in and out of
+my house all day long. I always shake hands with him when I meet him. The
+Moors approve my conduct and say: "Ah, Yâkob, he's a saint." Once the
+cunning fellow, when he noticed a lot of half-caste women anxious to see
+me, took hold of my head and turned me completely round to show my face
+to them. He has some sense, good simpleton, and is without malice;
+consequently a great favourite with the people. A pity all madmen were
+not like this poor dervish. Yet how many would be as harmless and beloved
+as he if they were not confined, and caged, and chained, in civilized and
+Christian madhouses! The dog knows I'm a _kafer_, and said to my
+camel-driver, the day of my arrival, "Why did you bring the Christian to
+our holy city?" chiding him.
+
+This afternoon we went to see the Touaricks "play with
+camels"--‮يلعبوا مع الجمل‬--that is,
+perform a sort of camel-race. Strange coincidence of civilized and
+barbarian life! This was the Epsom and Ascot of The Desert. But I
+was never more disappointed. All that the Touaricks did with their
+camels was, they dressed them out most fantastically with various
+coloured leather harness, that is to say, the withers, neck, and
+head; they reined them up tightly like blood-horses; and then rode
+them a full trot in couples. This was the whole of the grand play
+with camels. Some, however, would not fall into this trot of
+couples, and grumbled terrifically. The Touaricks who rode these
+restive camels were saluted by the spectators with loud laughter,
+the effect of which was painted sullenly in their faces. I never saw
+men look so _couldn't help it_ like. One of them was a young
+Touarick who had been saucy to me. I was not displeased to see him
+in this _triste_ position. The camels were the genuine Maharee, of
+course; the Touaricks have no other camels. The men were dressed out
+also in their gayest barbaric finery. A tent was dressed up, around
+which squatted a group of Desert jockies, with their fierce spears
+bristling above in the sun before them, like the lords of creation.
+Even a banner floated gaily in the bright sun from the tent top. A
+great concourse of Ghadamsee spectators were present, one of whom
+swore to me that a Maharee once passed from Ghadames to Tripoli IN
+ONE DAY, but that the rider died instantly from exhaustion, on his
+arrival. Another Maharee outstripped the wind, but as it was a
+strong cold wind, the animal died when it got into hot atmosphere,
+to which the tempest was driving.
+
+Had a long conversation with a Touarick about a journey to Timbuctoo. I
+offered him five hundred dollars to escort me; but, to deposit the money
+in the hands of the Governor of Ghadames, or a respectable merchant, till
+my and his safe return. Said I would take nothing with me but medicines,
+and a little provision, and go in _formâ pauperis_, as a dervish or
+doctor. All the Ghadamsee people present approved this way of going, and
+admired its wisdom, as removing all temptation to attack me, or to steal
+anything from me when I had nothing to steal. But the Touarick could not
+come up to the scratch, and was frightened to take upon himself the
+responsibility, observing, "You are a Christian; the people of Timbuctoo
+will kill you unless you confess Mahomet to be the prophet of God."
+
+Dined this evening with the Rais. His Excellency said: "Formerly, when
+Ghadames was governed by the Moorish Bashaws, the people paid little or
+nothing. There are but three or four rich persons now here, the rest are
+poor, or have only a few mahboubs to carry on a petty trade." At night,
+the streets are enveloped in pitch darkness, whether the moon be up or
+not. I endeavoured to persuade the Rais to make the people light up the
+town with a few lamps, having oil enough in them to last till midnight.
+"Good," he observed, "but the people say it was always so, and it must be
+so still. What can I do?" There are no coffee-houses in Ghadames; people
+drink coffee inside their houses. I threatened the merchants to set up
+Said as a _kahwagee_, (coffee-house keeper). They laughed, and said,
+"None will buy." For conversation people collect in groups round shops,
+in the _Souk_, or in little squares near the mosques, where there are
+many stone benches for reclining on, or in some quiet dark nook and
+corner, where, when you expect to find no one, you fall foul of a retired
+circle of gossips, squatting down in utter darkness. These Saharan
+streets are veritable catacombs.
+
+_1st September._--This morning, wonderful! It broke with a few drops of
+rain; to me most pleasant, and welcomed as falling pearls of nectar. At
+noon the sky became as dry and inflamed as ever. Went to the Spring early
+to bathe. Found it surrounded with women, nearly all half-castes and
+female slaves. They pretended to be in a great fright, as all were
+washing and dabbling in the water. I came away. A man said, "The
+Christian must not go to the well in the morning, but only in the
+evening." There seems to be a tacit understanding, that from day-break to
+a couple of hours afterwards, the women shall have possession of the
+well, for purification purposes, according to the rites of religion.
+
+This morning took coffee with the Rais; as no one was present, he began
+talking politics. "By a little and a little," he said, "we shall take
+possession of Ghat. We can't do it by force, it would require some
+thousand men to take it by arms. The Touaricks are all robbers and
+devils." I asked him if he would not like to occupy Touat. He replied,
+"No, there's another Sultan there, and another people. There are two
+Sultans in the world, one in the East and one in the West
+(_Muley-Abd-Errahman_). Ghat we might take. At Touat we are too near the
+French, and might quarrel with them. All the freebooters come from Tunis.
+The Bey has no power or authority over the Arabs there. His government is
+bad; he's a madman. Our Pasha has often written to him about these
+freebooters, but it's no use. The English and the Sultan are one, and
+always friends, whatever may be the condition of the rest of the world."
+Speaking of me:--"You are mad to think of going to Timbuctoo; you are
+sure to have your throat cut."
+
+I allow all persons, rich and poor, young and old, men and women, to come
+and see me. At the same time I make a distinction between those who are
+likely to be useful to me and mere idle intruders. All the Arab soldiers
+come, and, in general, though poor and thievish, they have less of
+prejudices, and like the English better than the Ghadamsee people. This
+city has not yet felt the benefit of English influence, and interference
+in Tripoli, and therefore the merchants have not the same reasons for
+being friendly to the English as the Arabs of The Mountains and the
+townspeople of Tripoli. All the Ghadamseeah agree with me, that the
+camel-playing of the Touaricks was a failure. Five slaves are leaving for
+Tripoli. The poor things complained of having nothing to eat; I sent Said
+with some victuals for them. The people continue to be friendly, and the
+merchants, whose acquaintance I made in Tripoli, very much so. The
+steward of the Rais has arrived from Tripoli in fourteen days. His whole
+party consisted of six camels and five persons. So much for the pretended
+insecurity of the route! He is dressed in the Turco-European costume,
+like indeed the Rais himself. To-day the mother of Essnousee, my friend,
+was bitten by a scorpion. I administered Goulard solution to the part,
+and gave her fever-powder, as she was very hot and her belly swollen. She
+died the next day.
+
+Dined again with the Rais. He says, scorpions are in great numbers in
+this city, because it is ancient, and particularly they abound in the old
+mosques where the people do not live or perform domestic matters. "No
+person," he added, "is secure from them, and it is all destined whether
+we are bitten, and die or not." The Touarick again assured me that he
+spoke the truth, he did not flatter me, by telling me he could take me to
+Timbuctoo, when he could not; but yet, if I could make friends with some
+respectable merchant of Touat, they might succeed. A son of the Sheikh
+Makouran is now in Timbuctoo. The Sheikh himself gave me a detailed
+account of the city; he has been there twice. The old gentleman, when he
+had finished his narrative, thought the time was come for me to assist
+him. He begged me to intercede with the British Consul at Tripoli for
+him, that he might not be taxed by the Bashaw so much. He now pays two
+hundred dollars per annum, assessed taxes. He assured me that all the
+money is leaving the country, and Ghadames will soon be without a para,
+like the rest of Tripoli. He told me frankly that he had the idea of
+making me a partner in his firm, to get my protection, but on hearing I
+was opposed to slave-dealing, it could not be done, as he and all the
+merchants were obliged to deal in slaves. Indeed, the obstacle of
+English merchants joining the Tripoline is at present insuperable, on
+account of the slave traffic; if they could unite in one firm, it would
+be equally advantageous for both parties.
+
+_2nd._--Not so many patients this morning. A respectable Ghadamsee came
+to me to beg medicine to assist in conjugal pleasures. I told him to eat,
+drink, and take a journey from home for two months.
+
+Although, according to the Italian almanack, the new moon is on the 1st,
+yet as the people have not seen it, there is no Ramadan, (properly
+_Ramtham_.) The Rais says, after the first ten days' keeping the fast it
+is not difficult, but, during this period, the adult Mussulmans suffer
+exceedingly. Afraid I shall find them all ill-natured during the fast.
+Besides, they can't stomach seeing Infidels eat, whilst they the Faithful
+fast.
+
+Supped with the Rais. His fowl flew away, and left him without meat for
+supper. "_Maktoub_," he said, laughing. The Mussulmans are extravagantly
+fond of rice, but they never prepare it in that nice delicious way in
+which we do, with milk, or in rice pudding. It is always covered with
+fat, and soon surfeits one. His Excellency and his servants played
+practical jokes on the black dervish. First, they bastinadoed the
+dervish, and then he bastinadoed the Rais's servants. But the dervish did
+it in reality, and so effectually, that after two or three strokes, they
+jumped up, for he laid it on under all the force of his witless revenge.
+When in a passion, or excited, he speaks his native lingo of Soudan, but
+when cool he speaks Arabic and Ghadamsee. He became mad, _en route_, by
+grief in being ravished from his country. These practical jokes were
+played off under the sanction of his Excellency, before all the people in
+the streets.
+
+The prevalent diseases at this season, are diarrhœa and ophthalmia, with
+occasional cases of fever. The diarrhœa arises from the people's eating
+unripe or bad fruit, particularly melons, the ophthalmia from frequent
+exposure to the sun during the past hot months. The camel-drivers also
+bring it into the city, and it is so propagated by infection. One of my
+patients is dead, a little boy, afflicted with diarrhœa for three months.
+His father, in relating his death to me, spoke with a resignation which
+might be imitated, but could not be surpassed by a Christian. It is
+amazing how the thought of all-powerful and resistless destiny calms the
+mind, and tones it down to a speechless patience! My stock of drugs is
+fast going. It consisted originally of worm-powders, emetics (of which
+the Arabs and Moors are very fond), fever powders, purgative pills, Epsom
+salts, compound opium pills, Goulard powders, eye powders, sulphate of
+quinine pills, and solution of nitrate of silver. They were made up by
+Dr. Dickson, of Tripoli. I was surprised to find nothing for pectoral
+complaints. Many persons here are troubled with chronic diseases of this
+sort. Although administering medicines these eight days to some fifty
+persons or more, not one of them has offered me anything in turn. There
+are no guinea or five-guinea fees here. On the contrary, some have asked
+me for sugar and money before they could be persuaded to take the
+medicine. Such is the consolation of doing good. Verily the philosopher
+had it when he said, "Virtue must be loved for its own sake." Here I may
+mention that the Commandant Omer of our caravan got into a great passion
+because I would not buy him a pair of shoes, and left for The Mountains,
+without coming to bid me good bye. He had had coffee and tea, and
+provisions always with me, _en route_, and I thought this enough. Unless
+the last favour or request is granted, all former favours are counted
+nothing.
+
+_3rd._--The morning opens cool and pleasant, and the heat begins
+gradually to leave us. People expect rain in ten days.
+
+Another Touarick has come forward to offer to conduct me to Timbuctoo. He
+says now is the time to go, when it is hot the banditti do not infest the
+routes, for they find no water to drink. He offers to take me for five
+hundred dollars, which is to be deposited in the hands of the Sheikh
+Makouran, and is not to be paid until our safe return. He will allow me
+to stop a month or six weeks in the city of Timbuctoo. The distances of
+routes which he gives me, are the same as those on M. Carette's map,
+attached to his brochure on the commerce of The Desert. Of all the French
+writers who have recently written on Africa, M. Carette is most correct.
+Wrote down a vocabulary of Ghadamsee words from my turjeman's dictation.
+Whilst I was lamenting the little gratitude, or rather none, which the
+people showed for my medicines, an old man, to whose mother-in-law (he
+having married a woman forty years younger than himself, frequently the
+case here,) I gave some pills, brought me a melon, and said he should
+bring also some dates. I was conversing with a group at the time, and I
+took the opportunity of observing that doctors were paid amongst us. An
+upstart man angrily replied:--"Yes, but we are the chosen people of God!
+you Infidels are bound to serve us in every way, and ought to be thankful
+that you are so honoured as to be the servants and slaves of The
+Moumeneen. You think you are clever, but your talents are not your own;
+your knowledge comes from God." These affronting words contain a common
+fanatic sentiment of Barbary. I made no reply.
+
+Went at noon to visit the Arab suburb, and was a great curiosity amongst
+the women and children. Some of the little girls were frightened out of
+their wits, but the boys took up stones to pelt me. The suburb contains
+about five hundred souls; the houses are all miserable, and the people
+poor. A genuine Ghadamsee would not live here without being degraded: it
+is the St. Giles of the city. Went into a house, the walls of which were
+completely concealed beneath the covers for dishes and meats, bowls and
+calabashes, the greater part brought from Soudan. The people were dealers
+in them. Talking with the Rais about Soudan, he displayed the usual
+ignorance of Mussulmans, even in The Desert, of this country. It would
+take a person five years to travel through that vast country, many parts
+of which were populated by cannibals. We read of the Lemlems, Lamlams,
+and the Yemyems, as cannibals, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Zegzeg
+and Yakobah; but after conversing with several of the merchants who have
+scoured Soudan and Bornou, I have not found one who has seen these
+terrible cannibals. They have all _heard_ of them. It appears to me to be
+an ancient tale of wonder to adorn the narratives of travellers.
+
+This evening being that previous to the Ramadan, a great outcry was made
+to see the moon. According to my Italian almanack it should be three
+days' old, the geographical position of the two countries may make a
+difference as to a sight of it. There is a little display of firing off
+pistols, chiefly by boys. A vast number of persons question me, as to
+whether I shall fast (_soum_) to-morrow; and a Touarick goes bolt up to
+the Governor, and says, to his Excellency, pointing to where I am
+sitting,--"Does this (man) fast?" His Excellency shakes his head and
+laughs gravely. To questions put direct to me, I answer, "a little." A
+boy says to me, "Why, how now, every body fasts, and you don't fast!" It
+is, however, prudent to avoid all these questions. I told some more
+liberal:--"The English eat and drink at all seasons that which is good;
+but some Christian nations occasionally fast." According to the Moslemite
+rite here observed, all under _thirteen_ may eat during the Ramadan; but,
+other authorities tell me, all under _eight_. Those who travel are
+excused for the time being. The fast endures thirty days. Another patient
+brought me a few dates. In time I may alter my opinion of Ghadamsee
+gratitude. Some new patients, nearly all ophthalmia and diarrhœa.
+
+Visited to-day the two wells, which serve a portion of the population, in
+addition to the great spring. It is surprising what an interest I take in
+water. It is to me like precious gold, and the most fine gold. One of
+these wells has better water than the central running spring. They are
+large wells, but do not run like the great spring: they are also only a
+little warm. In the winter they rise higher, showing some connexion with
+the rainy season in the _rainy_ region. Two men were employed in drawing
+water in a curious manner. The other buckets were not being worked. One
+end of the shaft is made very heavy, so as to assist in bringing up the
+water by over-balancing on a swivel; the other end, to which the cord and
+bucket is attached, is correspondingly light.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The houses of Ghadamsee are one, two, three, four, and even five stories
+high; the greater part three or four stories. The architecture is
+ordinarily Moorish, with some Saharan fantastic peculiarities. The public
+buildings offer nothing remarkable; even the mosques, in a place so
+devoted to religion, have no pretty minarets. There are four large
+mosques, viz.: Jemâ Kebir,--Tinghaseen,--Yerasen,--Eloweenah; and many
+smaller mosques and sanctuaries. The streets are all covered in and dark,
+(a peculiarity prevailing in many Saharan cities,) with here and there
+open spaces or little squares, of which there are several to let in the
+light of heaven. They are small and narrow, and winding, not more than a
+couple of camels can pass abreast, the ceiling however being high enough
+to admit the entrance of the tall Maharee camel. A camel of this species
+entered to-day: it amazed me by its stupendous height; a person of
+average size might have walked under its belly. The principal streets and
+squares are lined with stone-benches, on which the people loungingly
+recline or stretch themselves. Both houses and streets are admirably
+adapted for the climate, protecting the inhabitants alike from the fiery
+glare of the summer's sun, and the keen blasts of the winter's cold.
+Before the Rais Mustapha's appointment, the city had, besides smaller and
+inner gates, four principal ones, viz., Bab-el-Manderah, Bab-esh-Shydah,
+Bab-el-Mishrah, and Bab-el-Bur ("gate of the country"), all of which,
+except the last on the south-west, are now closed, with respect to the
+entrance of goods and camels. The city is situate on the south-east side
+of the plantations of palms and gardens, not in the central part of the
+oasis. I asked the talebs the meaning of some of the names of the gates,
+but they could not tell. Many proper names of places and persons, amongst
+them as with us, have now no assignable meaning or derivation.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[20] Here we find The Sahara called _fertile_ land; and, in fact,
+    many parts of The Desert could be cultivated.
+
+[21] See Surat Liii., entitled "The Star."
+
+[22] This complaint is not well founded, for afterwards I saw the
+    Rais often receive presents of fruit, tobacco, sugar, and even
+    wearing apparel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE FAST OF THE RAMADAN.
+
+     Deathly stillness of the City on first morning of the
+     Ramadan.--Rais weighing Gold.--The Gold Country.--Use of
+     different Arabic terms in different Countries.--Insecurity of
+     Merchants in The Desert.--Jews on the borders of The Sahara.--Sin
+     not to Marry.--Wood in The Sahara.--Rais, a Marabout.--Sheikh of
+     Slaves.--Complaints of the People to me.--Mr. Frederick
+     Warrington.--M. Carette's _brochure_ on Saharan Commerce.--Trait
+     of Tolerance.--Growing reputation of Said.--Preach anti-Slavery
+     Doctrines in the Street of Slaves.--Ignorance of the People on
+     Geography.--Talismans in Africa.--The Queen of England's
+     Physic.--Rais's Desert Politics.--Increase of Patients.--Gradual
+     method of obtaining Information.--Visit from a
+     Touarick.--Tripoline Merchants have the Money of those in
+     Ghadames.--Indifference of Mussulmans in reading The Bible.
+
+
+_4th._--WALKED out this morning and found no one in the streets; every
+body was still in bed, or shut up in their houses, being the first day of
+the Ramadan. A paralysis of death seemed to have stricken the city. Had
+no morning patients for the same reason. Afterwards, the servants of the
+Rais came to visit me and found me taking coffee; they gaped with full
+(empty?) open mouths, as if wondering I was not choked. I asked them if
+the Rais would take his tea. "It's unlawful," they screamed, and ran away
+as if Old Nick were after them. Usually make tea for the Governor every
+morning, which I send him in a glass, and sometimes also for the Sheikh
+Makouran. I could not help thanking God that I was born a Protestant, and
+professed a religion not in violence to the physical requirements of
+human nature, nor in contradiction to the plain sense of mankind. Man
+has evils enough to contend with, and to war against, without inflicting
+new and additional evils upon himself, like this most health-trying and
+health-destroying Ramadan. My turjeman confessed every body was mad in
+Ramadan. Whatever becomes of me in the deserts of Africa, I hope I shall
+have force of mind enough to maintain my religion intact.
+
+I amused myself with thinking how the Desert-travelling might be
+considerably shortened. This could be effected by joining camels with
+horses through the routes. Horses could come easily from Tripoli to The
+Mountains in two days. The camels could undertake the journey from The
+Mountains to Seenawan in three or four days. Horses then could again
+accomplish the rest in two days. In all, _seven_ days. Were Europeans in
+possession of this country, horses and mules would soon take the place of
+camels, for all quick travelling. Putting aside horses, by the use of the
+_maharee_, or fleet-camel, the journey for post could be reduced nearly
+half. All the Moors and Arabs dissuade me against going to Timbuctoo,
+assuring me that the Touaricks will cut my throat; but I begin to feel my
+opinion changing as to the Touaricks. I am sure, if a friend can be made
+of a brave man of this nation, there is no danger. Am glad, however,
+people manifest some sympathy with my travelling projects; what I want to
+do is, to effect some real discovery, or do something great in Africa.
+Ghadames is not enough, nor even Bornou; it is, must be, Timbuctoo. Yet a
+man must not put his head into the fire and then call upon God to quench
+the flames. Met Sheikh Makouran in the street, and brought him home to my
+house in order that he might give me a more detailed account of the
+finances of Ghadames. Notwithstanding that the Turks overturn and ruin
+commerce by restrictions, they poorly protect the merchants. The Sheikh
+complained to me of several losses. During the last two years four
+ghafalahs had been plundered on different routes, by which he lost
+considerable sums. Other merchants lost property in proportion. He
+considered Ghadames, from various causes, fast approaching its ruin. Our
+conversation then turned to the New World, America. He was quite
+astonished at my description of it, and asked if any Mohammedans were
+there. We then came to the traffic in slaves. He did not see why men
+should not be sold like camels and asses, if such was the law of God.
+"All," he observed, "depended upon the will of the Creator of all
+beings."
+
+The Rais is a very religious man, and I'm cautious what I say. At noon,
+paid him a visit, and said, "Why, all the people are dead to day." He
+replied, "It's only for one day." I never saw a poor devil look so
+comfortless. He is an inveterate, eternal smoker, like all who boast to
+be of the same nation as the Imperial Osmanlis, the pipe is never out of
+his mouth; he therefore suffers more than any person in Ghadames. He was
+still busy, or affected to be, to kill time, weighing gold with his
+servants. I said, "Is there much gold in the country?" "Less and less
+every year," was the reply. Many caravans go by way of Mourzuk, not
+coming this way. The servant held up the little bags, showing that the
+gold, not more than two or three ounces, belonged to _four_ persons. When
+gold is brought over The Desert, it is tied up in little dirty filthy
+bits of rags, first twisted round where it opens, and then tied. These
+are carried on the person, in the bosom or the turban.
+
+When a caravan is attacked and the people rifled, all these little bags
+of rags, whether containing gold, or salt, pepper, essences, or what not,
+are scrupulously cut open by the brigands. The gold brought to Ghadames
+consists chiefly of women's ear-rings, hoop and drop ear-rings. Some of
+the drops are hollow and contain little matters which rattle, and
+perfumed with small quantities of atar, or of zebed, (civet). The
+workmanship is rude and clumsy, but the gold is of the finest quality,
+though small and unpolished, something as the Malta gold is worked. The
+Rais collects the gold from those who cannot pay in the current coin. The
+gold country of the merchants is not very distinctly understood by them.
+Some say it is _fouk_, "above," Timbuctoo, others beyond Jinnee and
+Bambara, about three months from Timbuctoo, in a south-west direction.
+The country is called Mellee, which includes many large districts and
+provinces, but the particular district is _Furra_. This is a flat and
+sandy place, "not a stone," say the merchants, "is to be seen." The mines
+of Furra, if such they may be called, are sold by auction, and the lot of
+land is a lot of fortune, some plots producing nothing, others gold in
+abundance. When the gold arrives at Timbuctoo, it is converted into
+women's ornaments, mostly ear-rings. I have seen very few bags of
+gold-dust or bars. There are no camel-caravans from Timbuctoo to Mellee
+and Furra; people go in small parties on horses and asses; some go alone
+on foot. Foot-travelling is very common in Central Africa; and these
+pedestrian merchants or pedlars will make journeys of three and four
+months. A merchant is obliged to remain some time before he can buy up
+any quantity of gold; it is brought in such small quantities, and the
+trade in gold is declining, and has been so for twenty years past. It is
+probable the merchants take more of it now to the western coast and its
+European factories. Certainly that route is safer than bringing it north,
+over several months' journey of Desert.
+
+The Rais is a most diligent servant of Government. One cannot help
+observing, however, that the whole scope and end of governing with the
+Osmanlis is--_money_. Of the people, their protection and improvement,
+they rarely ever think. As the Rais is now busy in making every body book
+up, some people asked me if there was much money in Tripoli? I told them
+I did not think there was any money left. "The Pasha has plenty," cried
+one. I took the trouble of explaining the new system, that each
+functionary had a salary, granted by the Sultan, from the highest to the
+lowest, and the Deftadar, after paying each his salary, sent the rest of
+the money to Constantinople, where (as the Rais himself said) it was
+"poured away as water." Perhaps this was speaking too freely, but the
+Moslemites at times speak uncommonly free and bold for despotic
+governments. The Bey of Tunis has often been menaced with hell-fire by
+the Arabs, when they pleaded before him in the hall of judgment,
+swearing, that if he did not deal to them justice, God would deal to him
+vengeance.
+
+The use of different terms is very curious in travelling through
+North Africa, and each country has its peculiar Arabic word, the
+words being all more or less classical. Perhaps no word is
+so much used in Ghadames and The Mountains as the epithet
+_batel_--‮باطل‬--"vain, useless," &c., and really answers in its
+use to something like our tremendous "Humbug." It especially denotes
+everything bad, false, and wrong, in any matter and in any body. On
+the contrary, for the opposite epithet, various terms are used,
+"_maleah_," "tayeb," and "_zain_," which latter term always means
+pretty, as well as good. The polite Ghadamseeah are very fond of _zain_;
+but it should properly apply to pretty women. The people use the term
+‮شهر‬ "month," for moon, instead of ‮قمر‬. The ‮ق‬ is
+not distinguished in pronunciation from ‮غ‬, and I have not attempted
+it in writing. Indeed, I shall avoid as much as possible distinctions
+which the generality of readers cannot understand.
+
+Only one of my patients came to-day, the little blind boy. The Rais sent
+me in the evening a fine dish and soup, on occasion of the night of the
+first day's fasting. The people kept to-night as an _âyed_ or feast. A
+Touarick took Said, my servant, aside, and whispered mysteriously in his
+ear,--"Has the Christian fasted to-day?" Speaking to a liberal Moor, I
+told him the fast was _bătāl_, inasmuch as the Mussulmans ate all night
+and slept the greater portion of the day, making things equal; that to
+fast really, as some Christians did, was to eat nothing, night or day. At
+the time I added, "I am not such a fool as to increase the miseries of
+this life by fasting when I can get anything to eat." The fellow,
+laughing, observed, "You English are right." I see the fast is nearly
+universal, old and young, rich and poor, high and low, all fast. They mix
+with it strong religious feelings, and I dare say fanaticism, a quality
+rarely apart from the purest religious sentiment. Still continue our
+conversations on Timbuctoo. Most of the old respectable merchants have
+been to Timbuctoo. One of them, Haj Mansour, resided there fourteen
+years, carrying on a prosperous trade. But so perverse and unstable are
+human affairs, that, on returning home after so long an exile, with
+thirty camels laden with the riches of the interior, and with much fine
+gold, and whilst within a few days of Touat, the banditti of The Desert
+fell upon him and carried off everything, not leaving a water-skin to
+quench his thirst! Had he not been near Touat, he would have perished in
+The Desert. The Haj is quite black, though his features are not Negro. He
+is now an old gentleman of upwards of seventy, and yet very active. His
+family is immense; what with women, and girls, and sons, and grandsons,
+it musters some thirty souls. He told me with bitterness, as if it had
+been the case with himself, the merchants were often their own enemies,
+they were so parsimonious that they would not hire a sufficient escort of
+Touaricks, and so left defenceless in The Desert many were plundered and
+ruined irretrievably. The greatest misfortune in travelling through the
+country of the Touaricks is, their chiefs have not sufficient power to
+control the people, and for whose actions they will not always be
+responsible. One day you may meet with the best of men amongst the
+Touaricks, the next day with a band of robbers; such is the uncertainty
+and insecurity of The Desert.
+
+_5th._--It would be a good project at least, and might be attended with
+incalculable benefit, in promoting Christianity and civilization in
+Africa, were portions of The Scriptures translated into Touarick, with
+the native Touarick characters. Their vanity would be so exceedingly
+excited that it would be almost impossible for them to refuse reading a
+book written in their own dear characters. All can read their own
+characters, but very few the Arabic. It is not a little surprising, if I
+am to believe what I hear, that the Touaricks, with all their savage
+boldness--whose home is The Desert--will not venture on a journey to
+Tripoli. Many, many times have they been persuaded and pressed by the
+coast merchants, but they have always set their faces against the
+journey. Perhaps they think (as some, indeed, hinted to me) the Pasha
+would keep them prisoners, and not let them return until they had
+delivered up some of their districts to his authority. Whatever the
+motive, it is strange that men, who wander through all parts of Central
+Africa, cannot be prevailed upon to visit Tripoli. I have heard but of
+one exception.
+
+It is pleasant to witness the least sign of improvement in a people who
+are commonly condemned by their own habits, their religion, and the
+opinions of Europeans, to a retrograde or eternally stationary existence.
+I was much pleased to observe in one of the small squares of the city a
+tree recently planted, (the _tout_[23], a species of small white
+mulberry,) which promises to afford not only a grateful shade to repose
+under in summer's burning heat, but is in itself a pretty ornament. The
+great fault of the Africans is want of forethought, or impatience of the
+future. Their maxim is, to enjoy the present, to take no thought for the
+morrow, but let the morrow provide for itself. Like all rude and
+unlettered people, the precepts of religion are interpreted in their
+strictest literality. To-day, I find more people in the streets, and the
+Ramadan is not so visible in their faces as I expected it would be. The
+fact is, the generality of the Saharan inhabitants, and especially the
+poor Arabs eat but once, or make but one meal a day, and this in the
+evening; so, in reality, as far as eating is concerned, the Ramadan is no
+Ramadan with them. Saw the Rais, he is better than yesterday. His
+Excellency called me a simpleton for talking with the Touaricks about
+going to Timbuctoo; nevertheless, I feel as if I should like to go the
+whole-hog--Timbuctoo, or nothing. The future will tell! His Excellency,
+however, observed, that the Touaricks of Touat had nearly destroyed all
+the banditti on the route of Timbuctoo. It is the interest of the
+Touaricks to keep the routes free that they may have the advantage of the
+visits and escorting of caravans.
+
+One of the peculiarities of Ghadames is that there is no Jew resident in
+the city. It is strange that a people of such a commercial genius as the
+Israelites should never have had courage to undertake an enterprize over
+The Great Desert, whilst they have crept all around it. In Tunis they are
+scattered throughout the Jereed; in Algeria they are established at the
+oases of Souf and Mezab; in Morocco we find them at Sous and Wadnoun; and
+in Tripoli they are located in nearly every town of the coast, whilst a
+few visit The Mountains. But, to the credit of the Jews and their
+mercantile genius, it is not their fault. The fanaticism of the Ghadamsee
+people would be strongly opposed to their residence here, more so than
+against Christians; it is enough to support the overbearing Christian
+_kafer_, without the pollution of the weak miserable Jew in their holy
+city, for the _force_ principle makes the Mohammedans respect the
+Christians. The weak are despised, the strong respected. I might,
+however, have made the experiment of bringing a Jewish servant here: one
+sadly wanted to come with me. Still a traveller should not unnecessarily
+increase his difficulties, and excite the prejudices of the people
+amongst whom he resides, mostly by sufferance. It is probable also the
+mercantile jealousy of the people would be excited against the Jews.
+Afterwards I learnt that two _Barbary_ Jews went either to Bornou or
+Soudan, in the year 1844, and returned safe. Unfortunately this species
+of Jew can add nothing to our stock of geographical knowledge beyond what
+we may get from the Arabs and Moors themselves; his ideas of nature and
+science are all the same, with the exception of a few religious dogmas,
+and a strong national bias. The visit of these two Jews to Bornou excited
+no attention in Tripoli. Along the line of The Desert the Jews help
+commerce. They are great ostrich-feather merchants in Southern Morocco.
+Some have said they go to Timbuctoo, but this report is not
+authenticated. In Souf they greatly assist the Arabs in the exchange of
+their products. About twenty families are established amongst the
+Souāfah, in the greatest security of life and property. The Jews here
+dress like the Arabs, and are not easily distinguishable from them. In
+most of the interior districts they have the privilege of dressing like
+the rest of the people.
+
+The Rais is an old bachelor, like myself. He seems to live very
+wretchedly without a wife. The good Mussulmans, who think it a sin to
+live unmarried, excuse him because his residence in different parts of
+the regency is uncertain, and he tells them he cannot lead about a wife.
+The only object of affection of this bachelor is a parrot, which speaks
+pure Housa lingo, and is very angry at the gruff tones of the Touraghee
+language, always scolding the Touaricks when they speak.
+
+My Marabout camel-driver once had an interesting conversation with me
+about a plurality of wives:--
+
+"It is not right to have more wives than one, because men and women are
+nearly equally in numbers, and if one man has two wives another man must
+go without even one."
+
+_The Marabout._--"Oh, if a man has money, he may have two, or three, or
+four?"
+
+"That is not a good religion which gives four wives to one man because he
+has money, and leaves another man without any because he has no money, or
+not so much money as his neighbour."
+
+_The Marabout._--"So it is," (as if convinced of the reasonableness of
+the thing).
+
+"Why has such an old man as Sheikh Makouran two young wives? This is
+against nature."
+
+_The Marabout._--"He plays; his time of work is past."
+
+I believe this unequal distribution of the women is a great check on
+population. It prevails to a greater extent amongst the Negro tribes. I
+am not of opinion that Central Africa is populous. I saw nowhere any
+populous districts myself.
+
+The wood used in the construction of buildings is that of the date-tree,
+which, apparently, grows stronger and tougher with age. Of this all the
+doors of the houses and the lighter works are made. Wood for fireing is
+brought in from The Sahara, but from a great distance. It is sold for
+three Tunisian piastres the camel-load. It is the common brush-wood,
+underwood, or scrub of The Desert, and is excessively dry, for withered
+and dead trees or shrubs are gathered. In seasons of rain The Sahara
+creates this wood quickly, it then perishes for want of rain. Sometimes
+wood for building is brought from Tripoli, _i. e._, deal-boards. Our
+caravan brought some doors for a mosque, made of deal.
+
+This evening was a grand celebration of divine worship in the house of
+the Rais, and a Marabout chanted verses from the Koran. His Excellency
+certainly gains the respect, if not the affections, of the pious. He is
+often said by the people to be a man who "fears God." I sat near the door
+listening. A fellow said to me, "You must sit farther off whilst the
+people are praying, it is unlawful to sit where you are." I took no
+notice of his impertinence. The Rais sent me yesterday, as the evening
+before, a very good supper. Being Ramadan, I stopped up till midnight
+talking politics with him. He is a native of a province, near Circassia,
+fallen under the iron rule of Muskou (the Russians). Having been in the
+Syrian campaign he was enabled to see the _feeding_ of the English
+soldiers and sailors, which quite astonished him. He observed, "The
+Emperor of Russia will never have good troops, he scarcely gives them
+anything to eat. It is not surprising they desert to the Circassians."
+The Rais has a great dread of the Russians absorbing the Ottoman empire:
+it is not an unreasonable dread.
+
+_6th._--My turjeman complains that neither he nor the people can pay
+their excessive taxes; they must all be soon ruined. Yet a couple of
+thousand pounds per annum is nothing for a commercial city like this. He
+says, "If we were to cultivate our gardens, we should have more; but then
+the Turks would demand more, so our spirits are broken, and we are eaten
+up. We have no heart to work for our oppressors." Continue to read the
+Arabic New Testament, which aids me in colloquial disquisitions with the
+people. The Ghadamsee people persist in not taking medicines during the
+fast. One told me, "Even if a man dies, and medicine could save him, he
+must not take it." I have therefore fewer patients during the inexorable
+Ramadan. But I _save_ my tea and coffee--"An ill wind blows, &c." The
+Rais, however, gets his tea in the evening. It is remarkable with what
+willingness, and without any sort of prejudice, several of the people
+offer me information. Even when refused, I always find it arises from
+indolence to narrate it. They are not afraid that I am collecting
+information to supply the English Government with the means of invading
+their country, like some Moors in Barbary. They look upon the thing just
+as it is,--that I am writing a book about their country to amuse
+Christians.
+
+The Sheikh of the slaves came in, with several Ghadamsee youths:--
+
+"The Governor says, you are not the Sheikh; _he_ is the Sheikh."
+
+"So, does he say?"
+
+(_The Youths._--"But the Sheikh _is_ the Sheikh.")
+
+"I am," says the Sheikh, "from Timbuctoo; all the people are Mohammedans,
+and fast. Do you fast?"
+
+_I._--"I eat and drink what is good at all times, even wild-boar."
+
+_The Sheikh and Youths._--"Oh, wonderful!"
+
+_They._--"You write Arabic?"
+
+I wrote that God was _one_.
+
+_They._--"And write Mahomet was the Prophet of God?"
+
+I wrote Mahomet was the Prophet of the Arabs and the Touaricks?
+
+_The Sheikh._--"Ah, ah, I see, I see, you're very cunning."
+
+_The Youths._--"Who is your Prophet?"
+
+_I._--"Aysa (Jesus)."
+
+_The Youths._--"Have you any books of your Prophet?"
+
+_I._--"Yes, here is one:" (Giving them the New Testament.)
+
+_They._--"Oh, see, let us read it, let us take it home."
+
+_I._--"No; if you were men, yes. But if I allow you to read it, or read
+it to you, your Bey and the people will be offended with me, and send me
+out of the city. When you go to Tripoli, you can see and read the
+Christian books."
+
+I was surprised that a well-informed man like the Sheikh Makouran should
+ask me whether the Emperor of Morocco was also Emperor of Fez, and
+whether Morocco was a large country. "Ghat," says the Rais, "like all the
+Touarick countries, is a republic. All the people govern." Walked out
+this evening for the first time to-day. The people are vehement in their
+complaints against the oppressions of the Turks: "All the wealth of the
+country is dried up, and the merchants are all running away. We are
+ruined unless the English save us."
+
+It has been very hot and sultry to-day. Not a breath of air. The sky
+overcast--a profound, deathlike tranquillity sleeping over the environs!
+The Rais sent supper as usual. After visiting him, he had a fit of
+writing, and wrote for the courier all night. Thank God, there are no
+gnats in Ghadames. I have not seen nor felt any. It is probably owing to
+the absence of no water, stagnating here, all being absorbed in the dry
+earth of the gardens.
+
+_7th._--Read eight chapters of the Arabic Testament. Some of the phrases
+very strangely rendered into Arabic. The Moors cannot understand them. My
+Testament wants some verses: it is the ordinary Arabic Bible circulated
+by The Bible Society. There is no good translation of The Scriptures into
+Arabic, from what I have been able to learn. Continue to think all day
+long and dream of Timbuctoo. Had a conversation with the Touaricks about
+a journey there. The difficulty is, the strongest Touarick escort
+practicable cannot always pass through the Touarick districts, there
+being such a great variety of tribes. It is the quarrels of the Touaricks
+themselves, and not our not being able to trust them individually, which
+renders the route so dangerous.
+
+Slave-dealing is so completely engendered in the minds of the Ghadamsee
+merchants, that they cannot conceive how it can be wrong. A young man
+wrote me down the objects (very few) of exportation from Soudan, and in
+the following order, viz., "Cottons, elephants' teeth, _bekhour_
+(perfume), wax, slaves, bullocks' skins, red skins, feathers, (of the
+ostrich)." Human beings are just summed up with the rest as an article of
+commerce, as a matter of course, in the most mercantile style.
+
+It will be next to impossible to propagate anti-slavery notions in
+Central Africa, supported as slavery is by commerce and religion. We can
+only say, "With God nothing is impossible."
+
+All the people bring their griefs and malcontentments to me. It's not so
+pleasant to be bored by them, let alone the policy of my listening to all
+they have to say. But the ill humour of these poor fleeced people must
+have a vent, or _sfogo_, as the Italians term it, and what can I do? An
+intelligent merchant came to me. "Yâkob, _bisslamah_, (how do you fare?)
+The Rais is always collecting money, don't you see? That's the business
+of the Turks. This city is 4000 years of age. It flourished before
+Pharaoh, in the time of Nimrod. Now the Turks come to destroy it; their
+business is to destroy; such is the will of God." I might elaborate the
+idea. The genius of the Turks is to destroy. The hand of the Turk blasts
+as mildew everything it touches; it has destroyed the fairest portions of
+the earth. Happily, however, it so destroys itself, for it is not
+desirable for truth and civilization that the sway of the Osmanlis should
+be restored to its pristine strength.
+
+Among the most friendly people to me in Ghadames are the Arab soldiers.
+Now, whilst I write, not less than twenty of these poor fellows are lying
+around my door, and in the _skeefah_ (entrance-passage or room) of my
+house. They tell me always, my house is their house, and their mountains
+my mountains. They all speak in the highest terms of Mr. Frederick
+Warrington, son of Colonel Warrington, whom they call _Fredreek_. They
+consider him as one of themselves, and so he is as to habits, manners,
+and language, and frequently dress. When they quarrel in Tripoli, the
+ultima ratio, or dernier ressort, is not to go to the Pasha, but _Nimshee
+lel Fredreek_, "Let us go to Frederick!" This is "the settler." It has
+often been said amongst the Consular corps of Tripoli, that, in case
+Great Britain thought it expedient to assume the Protectorate of Tripoli,
+Frederick Warrington would be their man, the instrument of revolution.
+There is not a single Arab in the Regency but what would flock to his
+standard. He has been all his lifetime in Tripoli.
+
+M. Carette, in his brochure of the _Commerce of Central Africa_, says,
+"Timbaktou, Kânou, et Noufi sont les trois marchés principaux du pays des
+Noirs. Les voyageurs du Nord ne parlent pas du Niger; c'est une limite
+qu'ils ne franchissent pas; ils paraissent n'avoir aucunes relations avec
+les populations Mandingues de la rive droite:" (p. 26). This is inexact.
+The merchants do speak of the Niger frequently to me, calling it the
+_Wady Neel_, thinking, and which is a very ancient opinion, that it is a
+continuation of the Nile of Egypt. They also visit the opposite shores or
+banks of the Mandingoes. Some of them go to Noufi, as M. Carette admits;
+on my leaving for Ghat, a merchant going to Noufi was my fellow
+traveller, and promised to accompany me there. Here Mr. Becroft has
+recently, from the south-east, ascending the Niger, shaken hands with the
+merchants of the north. An old slave, a native of _Sansandee_ (or
+_Sinsindee_ ‮سنسندي‬) says of the Niger, "The river is like
+the sea of Tripoli and all sweet" (water.)
+
+The Sheikh Makouran does not approve of my Timbuctoo ideas. Says the city
+is always in an uproar with the Touaricks, who are robbers and not like
+the Touaricks of Touat. Walked through the town at noon, and met
+Essnousee, had not seen him for some time, and wondered what had become
+of him. He was very friendly, and wanted to bring me lemonade in the
+street. But as there was a large concourse of people present, all
+fasting, poor devils, at this time of the day; I thought common decency
+required me to go with him to his house. I waited in a dark corner close
+by his door, and here I quaffed the forbidden draught in the high-noon of
+the Fast. He smiled at me when I finished, and said, "Well done, Yâkob."
+He gave me also a fine melon to bring home with me. I considered this
+feat of drinking lemonade, under the circumstance related, a remarkable
+trait of tolerance. People usually put into their lemonade pieces of rag
+steeped in lemon-juice and dried; in this way the juice is preserved from
+evaporation. Essnousee had just lost his wife. "Have you any other
+wives?" I said. "Oh yes," he replied, "one here and one in Ghat." Many of
+the merchants, like the roving tar who has a sweetheart at every port,
+have a wife at every city of The Desert and Soudan where they trade.
+Several of the children now in Ghadames were born either in Timbuctoo or
+Soudan.
+
+_8th._--Few patients on account of the Ramadan. Weather extremely sultry.
+People bear the fast remarkably well, and with good humour enough. The
+Rais persists in sending me supper though I would rather he did not.
+After mass and chanting prayers in the evening, his Excellency holds a
+court. He abused the Sultan of Constantinople and called him an ass for
+spending his money like a fool, and this license before all the people!
+Smoking, drinking coffee, talking, and writing for the courier, all
+together, so his Excellency passes his Ramadan evenings. Said, my negro
+servant, is becoming as great a man as his master in Ghadames. He
+receives visits from all the slaves of the city, as well as the free
+negroes. Being slaves, I am very indulgent, and sometimes they stop all
+day with him. The slaves of the Touaricks also come. Said manages to talk
+with them all in all languages. I see there is a sort of free-masonry
+amongst negroes, and they all (which is greatly to their credit) stick
+close to one another, and take one another's part. Said is impatient
+about his _âtka_, or freedom ticket. He said to me to-day--
+
+"Oh, Sidi, where's my âtka? The people will steal me and sell me again."
+
+"No, Said," I replied, "have patience, if they steal you, they must steal
+me also."
+
+Visited with Said to-day "the Street of Slaves." This is a little dark
+street appropriated for the rendezvous of the slaves in my part of the
+city, where they enjoy the cool of the evening and chat together. I
+squatted down to chat amongst them, which awakened their curiosity.
+
+"Who's that naked boy there?"
+
+_They._--"The Touaricks brought him from Bornou."
+
+"What are they going to do with him?"
+
+_They._--"The Touaricks will send him to Tripoli, and sell him; will you
+buy him?"
+
+"No, no; if I buy him, my sultan will put me in prison."
+
+(_They_, one to the other.--"Do you believe him?")
+
+"The English had many slaves, but gave them all the _âtka_; and soon,
+please God, they will destroy slavery in all the world."
+
+_They._--"Ah, ah," (laughing), "that's right; we wish to have the
+_âtka_."
+
+I found some were from Soudan, others from Timbuctoo, the greater part
+from Bornou. About a score of them were present; their greatest delight
+was in exchanging their various lingos. When they heard I was going to
+Kanou, one jumped up like a fury, saying, "Oh, I must send something to
+my mother." This was a poor grey-headed wrinkled-faced old man! His poor
+mother, alas! may have been long ago whipped to death upon the cotton
+plantations of South Carolina, where the blood of the slave is poured out
+to fertilize the fields of pampered republicans, and give tongue to the
+braggadocio of the free sons of the Model-Republic!
+
+To-day, saw three swallows in a garden for the first time at Ghadames.
+They darted over the heads and through the foliage of the graceful palms,
+performing sweet eccentric circles. To me, they were winged messengers
+from the fair bowers and silvery brooks of Paradise.
+
+To give an idea of the general ignorance of the Ghadamsee people on
+European geography, I have only to record a part of a conversation with
+them.
+
+_They._--"Where's your country; is it near Rome?"
+
+"No; further to the west and north."
+
+_They._--"Did not the English spring from the Arabs?"
+
+"No; the English are from the north, a colder country; the Arabs are from
+a hot country."
+
+_They._--"Are the Greeks like the English? and is their country near
+yours?"
+
+"No; they are farther from us than Rome itself."
+
+_They._--"Do the English fast?"
+
+"Sometimes; but when they fast they don't eat in the night time, like
+you; they fast day and night."
+
+_They._--"That's not good; that's not right. Do you fast?"
+
+"Never, thank God."
+
+The people bother my life out about fasting. Two young Touarick women
+came to me--
+
+"Thou Christian! dost thou fast?" (they having never seen a person before
+who did not fast).
+
+"No; the Christians don't fast."
+
+_The girls._--"Don't the Christians know God?"
+
+"Yes, they know God."
+
+_The girls._--"No, they don't, for they don't say Mahomet is the prophet
+of God."
+
+The sum of religion amongst many of the wild tribes, is the formula of
+Mahomet being the prophet of God--fasting and circumcision. Many of the
+Touaricks, however, will not fast, or fast with difficulty, it involving
+the cessation of smoking, of which they are passionately fond. A
+Touarick, who was accustomed to visit Mr. Gagliuffi at Mourzuk, ridiculed
+the Ramadan, and called those who fasted, fools. He would squat down in
+Mr. Gagliuffi's house, and take out his pipe at midday, and say, "Come,
+Consul, let's have a _drink_ of the pipe. These people who fast all day
+are asses." Other Touaricks, more scrupulous, always set out on a journey
+during Ramadan, in order to have the relaxation permitted by the law.
+
+The Rais is deeply engaged in petty finance, some quite mites, to make up
+the accounts for Tripoli. Whilst seated near his Excellency, a big lout
+of a fellow was brought up, charged with beating a little urchin, who
+was present to substantiate the charge. The Rais, after gravely hearing
+the case, had the big clown turned round with his hands tied behind him,
+and then told the little rogue aggrieved to lay it into him as hard as he
+could with his fists clenched. The little imp, who looked as wicked as
+imp could be, instantly gave the broad back of the great fellow half a
+dozen strokes. Hereupon all the bystanders, and the officers of his
+Excellency, burst into a fit of tremendous laughter, and the big coward
+was allowed to escape, sneaking off like a dog with his tail between his
+legs. The Rais came up to me smiling with great self-complacency, and
+said--"Well, isn't that the way to administer justice?" I then astonished
+the hangers-on of his Excellency's Court, by relating to them some
+account of the expeditions to the North Pole. They asked me whether any
+Mussulmans were there, and how they could fast when the sun did not set?
+Several said I merely invented the account to amuse them. In this case,
+and also in that of the precepts of the Mosaic Institute, we see the
+inconvenience of making the precepts of religion depend on local and
+physical circumstances.
+
+I have seen little urchins in Italy, before the flaming wax-light altars,
+drink in with their mother's milk the virus of Popery, but I never
+witnessed a stronger case of infantile prejudice than to-day. A child of
+less than three years old came running out of a by-street (apparently no
+person being near it), and called after me, _Kafer, kafer_, "Infidel,
+infidel"! and spat at me in the bargain like a little toad.
+
+Noon.--I met with a fellow, a sort of swaggering cheap-jack
+penny-a-liner, who swore that there was no man so learned as himself in
+all Ghadames, and that he would teach me the history of Ghadames, and all
+the world, _for money_. He then followed me home, asked me for my
+journal, and wrote in it five lines of Arabic poetry. Meanwhile I poured
+him out a cup of tea, putting a large lump of sugar in it. When he had
+finished his five lines, which he did without being asked, he impudently
+demanded a dollar for his trouble. I told some Arabs who were present to
+turn him out of the house. He decamped, but not before giving us his
+blessing--"The curse of God be upon you Arab dogs, and the Christian
+dog."
+
+Awfully hot to-day. The hottest day since my residence in Ghadames. Yet,
+strange to say, when shut up in my room, I feel very little of it. My
+house is only one story high; there is only a single roof between me and
+this sun of fire--a strong proof of how little is necessary to protect
+you from the heats of The Sahara. Late at night, when sitting with the
+Rais, he amused me with pulling off his greegrees or talismans. As he
+pulled off each he kissed it devoutly, and laid it by gently on his
+papers. He wears one round his arm in the shape of an armlet, and three
+round his neck, two suspended with separate ribbons, and one with a
+silver chain. As he kissed each, he put it to his eyes, rubbing it over
+the eyelid. I am sadly afraid his charms obtain all the credit of my
+solution of nitrate of silver. Be it so; it is hard to cure men of this
+sort of folly, at best a most unwished, unrequited labour[24]. I always
+tell the Ghadamsee people the medicine I distribute neither belongs to
+me, nor to the English Consul at Tripoli, but to the Queen of England,
+and which, I have observed, heightens its value in their eyes. _Douwa
+min, ând Sultana Ingleeza_, ("physic from the English Sultana",) is a
+sort of royal talisman which helps the medicine down as a bit of sugar
+taken with a child's draught.
+
+_10th._--The women brought several little children, all ailing, but could
+do very little for them. Occupied writing most of the day. Spent the
+evening with the Rais. His Excellency is very fond of politics: "The
+Touaricks number more than two hundred thousand souls. They are dispersed
+over all The Desert. The Sahara is not so difficult to occupy as some
+think; it can be more easily conquered than the mountainous districts.
+The country is more open. The only difficulty is the wells. But in
+winter, the time when military expeditions are undertaken, there is water
+on the line of most of the grand routes, and camels can supply a large
+body of compact troops, where there are no wells. At the different wells
+small forts could be built, like that I am building at _Emjezzem_, which
+forts the Touaricks would never dare approach. The wells once in
+possession of the invading force, it would be impossible for any
+considerable body of Arabs or Touaricks to follow up or after their
+steps. Twenty thousand men could occupy, in detachments, the greater part
+of The Sahara. The French will go to Touat one day, not yet!" But the
+Rais never spoke much against the French. He often said, "I wish the
+French would exterminate the _Shânbah_ banditti, the Sultan would applaud
+them for it. I pray God the French will destroy these robbers."
+
+Continue to agitate the question of a tour farther into the interior.
+Have almost determined to pursue the route of Ghat, and accompany the
+ghafalah of the Ghadamsee merchants. This route has two advantages for
+me--I shall be safe with my old friends the merchants, and the route has
+never before been trodden by an European traveller. The routes of Bornou
+and Timbuctoo have been travelled by Europeans, though some of the
+parties have never returned. One thing is certain--unless I go to the
+first-hand traffickers in human flesh--to the heart of Africa itself, I
+can never get the information which I require. Am told I can defray the
+expense of the whole journey from here to Kanou and back, (exclusive of
+presents), for about fifty pounds sterling, but it must be with economy.
+Afterwards saw several merchants again on the question, felt discouraged,
+and my faith shook in the Ghat route. They think the best route for me
+Bornou, thence I may proceed to Kanou, and perhaps even to Timbuctoo. It
+is astonishing how everybody's opinion varies; the majority,
+nevertheless, are in favour of the Bornou route for me. Probably they are
+afraid of the responsibility of escorting me through the Touarick
+districts. Determined a day or two after to go to Kanou _viâ_ Ghat and
+Aheer. Cannot see any danger if I stick close to the Ghadamsee merchants.
+A young merchant said to me, "Yâcob, we are not jealous of you, for you
+are not a merchant. You can draw your money, and get it ready. The
+ghafalah will be cheap for you, for no escort will be required. You can
+go without your Consul, or the Pasha, or the Rais."
+
+The wind continues hot to-day; the _ghiblee_ is getting more suffocating
+and intense. Everything is drooping and the poor emaciated fasters are
+dying with thirst. The air is as the small still breath of the furnace
+when its heat is at the greatest intensity, without flame or smoke.
+
+_11th._--Every day, in spite of the Ramadan, brings an increase of
+patients. In time there will not be a single inhabitant of Ghadames who
+has not been physicked by my quackery. I notice my negro servant Said is
+gradually expanding into a full-blown reputation, of which he is very
+proud. The Mussulmans pay him almost more deference than myself, and I
+ought to be jealous. It is the plan in these countries to influence the
+masters through the servants; so whenever anything is to be obtained, the
+masters are not spoken to, but the servants, which latter are feed and
+bribed until the object is obtained. Preached anti-slavery and
+anti-Ramadan doctrines to Berka, the liberated slave of Sheikh Makouran.
+The poor fellow confessed it was better to eat and drink in the Ramadan,
+and not steal men and sell them as slaves, than to fast in the Ramadan,
+and steal men and sell them. The old lad has great influence amongst the
+slaves of Ghadames, being their senior, and the liberated slave of one of
+the most respectable men of the country. He went and preached in turn to
+the slaves my anti-slavery and anti-fast principles.
+
+It may be observed here, that information can only be obtained bit by
+bit, here a little and there a little; and it is absolutely necessary to
+note everything down immediately if you would not forget it, at least if
+you would be correct. The Moors and Arabs have no patience, beyond a few
+minutes, in giving information, unless it be something where their own
+interests are deeply concerned. My scattered notes must then be compared
+one with another to arrive at a proper idea of the objects respecting
+which they treat. Some notes will necessarily correct others.
+
+A Touarick came in whilst I was eating my dinner this evening, about half
+an hour before sun-set. I was sitting in the patio, or open court of my
+house. The Touarick, standing erect before me, with a long spear in his
+right hand, and extending his left towards the sky, looked up, and then,
+with an air of imposing solemnity, uttered these words in a measured,
+solemn tone: "And--thou--Christian--thou fastest--thus! Thy
+father--knoweth--not--God! Thou art a _Kafer_--he is a Kafer--and the
+fire[25] at last will eat you both up!" Turning round, and looking up to
+this prophet-like denunciator, I said, smiling: "Why, how now? you
+Mussulmans fast, and think you are righteous; but whether is it better to
+eat and drink on the Ramadan, for which God cares nothing, or fast in the
+Ramadan, and go afterwards and steal or buy men and women and little
+children, like your little son there, and take them to Tripoli, and sell
+them like donkeys and camels? This is forbidden to us English--this is
+our religion, not to steal and sell men, but to eat and drink in the
+Ramadan is not forbidden to us." After this answer, which I had some
+difficulty in making him comprehend, the fellow stood speechless,
+completely staggered. I continued to eat my dinner with a good appetite,
+notwithstanding his threatening position and silence. God knows what was
+passing through his mind. After a long pause he receded back a few steps,
+and then quietly squatted down. He then got up again, and said, "Have you
+any medicines for my mother in Ghat?" I told him to come to-morrow, and I
+would give him some.
+
+Rais occupied as usual this morning with collecting money. He avows with
+exasperation that the people have deposited all their money in the hands
+of a few merchants of Tripoli, who are under the protection of the
+Consuls. He was writing teskeras to obtain money from those Tripoli
+merchants. "The Pasha," he added, "gets no benefit from these deposits,
+nor the people. The Tripoli merchants are lying, bloodsucking Jews." Did
+not go out again till the evening; occupied in copying a long letter for
+_The Times_. My sugar and tea go very fast. Do not know what I should
+have done unless the Ramadan had interposed to save these luxuries of The
+Desert. It is surprising how rigid the fast is kept. Not a soul in the
+city of the proper age who does not fast.
+
+_12th._--Weather continues very sultry. The wind has scarcely changed for
+a month, always south. To-day I ate camel's flesh for the first time, but
+did not like it much; it depends, however, upon the part you eat, as also
+upon the camel itself, whether young or old, or in a good condition. The
+camel is usually killed when past work, and very lean and poor. The
+people call camels' flesh their beef; it does serve as a substitute for
+bullocks' flesh, no bullocks being killed here. The whole carcase was
+immediately sold as soon as exposed in the Souk.
+
+_13th._--Wrote this evening to the Governor of Ghat, to tell him I wished
+to come to Ghat, and begged for his protection; and that I should be
+obliged if he could send some trusty person to fetch me, whose expenses I
+would pay. Wrote also letters to go by courier to Tripoli.
+
+_14th._--Weather continues hot. My taleb calls the season _khareef_,
+"autumn;" and says the fruits of heaven which are always ripe have
+nevertheless a peculiar ripeness at this period. Staring at him, he
+continued, "Yes, there is a greater correspondence between earth and
+heaven than people think." I was recommended this taleb by the Rais. He
+writes my Arabic letters for The Desert; he calls himself Mohammed Ben
+Mousa Bel Kasem. The reader will hear now a great deal about him, and his
+learning and character. He takes up my Arabic Bible now and then, and
+reads a verse or two; but it is astonishing how little effect, even in
+the way of curiosity, it produces on the mind of these Mussulmans. One
+would think at least they would like to know something of its contents.
+Notwithstanding, The Book, which contains the religion of the civilized
+world, hardly excites curiosity enough in them to take it up and read a
+single verse! I have often offered it to them to read, but they have
+refused to open the book. A great disadvantage is the crabbed, miserable
+language into which it is translated. After the bold, impudent, and
+sublime language of the Koran, they cannot relish the tame and stunted
+language of the Arabic New Testament. As for the simple and grand truths
+of the New Testament, these they cannot or will not comprehend. Force,
+or the Sword--as the Might of the Almighty--is the thing alone which
+strikes the minds of Mussulmans, in spite of all their moral maxims and
+philosophy. But I must confess I never expected that a religion like that
+of the Koran, which contains so few fundamental truths, and so few
+mysteries, would have produced such a race of superstitious pharisees.
+To-day a fellow, whose eyes are dreadfully inflamed with ophthalmia,
+refuses to have them _doctored_, because the solution administered to the
+eye may enter the stomach, by which he would violate the sanctity of the
+Ramadan. I can only beg him to come at night. Another jackanapes, who
+suffers equally, refuses to have my solution at all applied. He said to
+me, "I suffer, and I may be blind, but it will be the will of God." I
+wonder the whole population is not blind. Another sufferer craved a
+talisman to drink with water at night[26].
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[23] _Tut_, "Morus alba," L. It is pleasant and sweet, but a
+    little insipid eating.
+
+[24] Whether the Rais brought his superstitious reverence for
+    amulets from Turkey or not I cannot tell, or acquired the notion
+    here. But the superstition seems merely to have changed place with
+    the Fetisch amongst the Negro Mohammedan converts. Haj Ibrahim, a
+    merchant of Tripoli, was the only Mussulman I found who despised
+    the use of charms. He observed:--"The _grigri_ is only fit for
+    slaves, or ignorant Mussulmans."
+
+[25] Hell is ordinarily denominated _fire_ by people in The
+    Desert.
+
+[26] Caillié gives an affecting account of this superstition
+    amongst the Mandingoes:--
+
+    "On the 8th, I found myself very ill in consequence of the food,
+    and I had an attack of fever. I took a few doses of sulphate of
+    quinine, which had the effect of abating the fever for a few days.
+    My host seemed much concerned at my indisposition. He searched
+    through some old books which contained verses of the Koran, and
+    brought me a scrap of paper well fumigated on which was written a
+    charm in Arabic characters, assuring me that it was an excellent
+    remedy for the disorder under which I was suffering. He directed
+    me to copy it on a little piece of wood which he brought me; then,
+    to wash off the writing with some water which I was to drink: he
+    observed that this would to a certainty relieve me. To please him
+    I copied the writing as he directed, and when he was gone washed
+    the bit of board; but instead of drinking the water I threw it
+    away, which had quite as good an effect, for next day I found
+    myself tolerably well. My host, of course, attributed my amendment
+    to the efficacy of his remedy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE FAST OF THE RAMADAN.
+
+     The Sahara, and derivation of the Name.--Astonishment of the
+     People at the Sovereign of England being a Woman.--Decision of
+     the Kady on a diseased Camel.--The old Mendicant
+     Bandit.--Phrenological examination of the Servants of the
+     Rais.--The Scorpion and the Chamelion.--Starving state of the
+     Arab Troops.--Contradictions in the Moorish
+     Character.--Difficulty of acquiring notions of Quantities and
+     Distances from the People.--The Princes to whom Presents are made
+     in the Soudan Route.--How Butchers cut up their Meat.--Connexion
+     between North Africa, The Sahara, and the East.--The Prophecy of
+     The Dajal and Gog and Magog.--Origin of the Turks, Touaricks, and
+     Russians.--How the Fast is broken in the Evening.--Phenomenon of
+     Desert Sound.--The Great Spring of Ghadames.--The Malta
+     Times.--The People their own Enslavers.--Quotation from
+     Scripture.
+
+
+A TALEB tells me that _The Sahara_ is so called from its consisting
+mostly of rocky stony ground, and its name is a cognate term with
+_Sakharah_, ‮صخرة‬, _i. e._ "rock." This derivation we can scarcely
+admit, although as we advance into The Sahara we shall find at least
+a third of its entire surface to consist of rocks and stones, and
+mountains. _The Sahara_--‮الصحرا‬--being the theatre of my
+adventures and researches, deserves a little consideration as to the
+derivation of this appellation, for so vast a proportion of the
+African Continent. A late French writer, M. Le Lieutenant-Colonel
+Daumas, defines The Sahara as "une contrée plate et très-vaste, où
+il n'y a que peu d'habitants, et dont la plus grande partie est
+improductive et sablonneuse." This definition presents no proper
+idea of The Sahara. We have already seen it intersected with long
+low ridges of mountains, but we shall soon meet with groups of high
+mountains, as well as find it bristled over and bounded by
+interminable chains. We shall find also that but a certain portion
+of its actual mass consists of sand. Unproductive the greater part
+undoubtedly is, or rather uncultivated; and its population, compared
+with its vast sterile surface, is extremely small, perhaps not one
+inhabitant to many thousand square miles. The Mahometan talebs give
+the following curious etymology of the term Sahara. "We call
+_Sehaur_," they say, "that point scarcely distinguishable which
+precedes the point of day, (_fidger_), and during which, in the time
+of Ramadan, we can eat, drink, and smoke. The most rigorous
+abstinence ought to commence from the time of morning, or when we
+can distinguish a white thread from a black thread. The _Sehaur_ is
+then a shade between night and the point of day, which is important
+for us to seize upon and to determine, and which ought to occupy the
+attention of our Marabouts. One of them, Ben-ej-Jiramy, starting on
+the principle, that the _Sehaur_ is more easily and sooner
+distinguished by the inhabitants of the plains, where nothing bounds
+the horizon, than by the mountaineers, who are enveloped in masses
+of earth, concludes that, from the name of the phenomenon there
+formed, viz., on the plains, where it is more particularly
+distinguished or observed, we have named the country _Sahara_, or
+the country of the _Sehaur_." In this whimsical and ingenious
+derivation there is a change of the ‮س‬ into ‮ص‬, but which is
+sufficiently frequent in the Shemitic languages. The grand fallacy
+of the above etymology is, that it assumes the Sahara to be a
+perfectly flat country, or country of plains, which is not the fact.
+The talebs also give various names to different portions of The
+Sahara, according to the geological character of the country.
+_Feeafee_ is The Oasis, where life is retired, and one spends one's
+happy days amidst eternal springs of living water, reclining under
+palms and fruit trees, securely sheltered from the burning simoon
+(_shoub_). _Keefar_, is the sandy arid plain, which, occasionally
+watered by the winter's revivifying refreshing and fructifying
+rains, produces spring herbage, where the Nomade tribes pasture
+their flocks in the neighbourhood of the oases. _Falat_, is the
+region of sands in the immensity of steril wastes. But all these
+distinctions are arbitrary, and can be predicated of tracts of
+country lying on the North Coast of Africa, as well as the boundless
+Sahara. On the coast of Tripoli we have the oasis, the arid plain,
+and the groups of sand-hills of eternal sterility. Captain Lyon
+enumerates in the same way as the talebs, the various names which
+the Arabs apply to different regions of The Desert. _Sahara_ is sand
+alone, forming a plane surface, which agrees with the hypothesis of
+Ben-ej-Jiramy. _Ghoud_ is groups of sand-hills of indefinite height,
+situate on the borders of stony plains, where the wind has formed
+and collected them. _Sereer_, is generally plains, whence the
+sand-hills have been swept, and where alone sand-hills are found.
+_Wâr_, is a rough plain, covered with large detached stones, lying
+in confusion, and very _difficult_ to pass over, which is the
+meaning of the appellation. It is applied to all difficult traverse.
+_Hateea_, is a spot possessing the power of fertility; indeed, those
+patches of land which are the germs of the oases, now producing
+small stinted shrubs scattered at intervals, from which camels
+browse a scanty meal, or travellers make their Desert fire.
+_Wishek_, is productive sand-hills and plains, where the wild palm
+and lethel-tree grow. _Ghabah_, distinguishes cultivated Sahara,
+sometimes a portion of the oases, but mostly where there are no
+inhabitants. So near Touat, there is a cultivated place called
+Ghabah, and without inhabitants. But the people of Ghadames call
+also their gardens Ghabah. Sibhah, is the usual name for all salt
+plains, sometimes called _Shot_ in Algeria, being mostly sandy salt
+marshes. Like the Sibhah of Emjessen, and "The Lake of Marks," in
+Tunis, the saline particles are often combined with earths or sand
+so closely as to form a substance resembling stone, and equally hard
+to break or cut through. With this _salt_ stone houses are built.
+_Wady_, is the designation of all long deep depressions of the
+surface, and is used indifferently for a valley, a bed of a river,
+or torrent, or ravine. These wadys are almost always dry, except one
+or two months in the winter. _Gibel_, is applied to all hills and
+mountains. It is quite evident, from the above enumeration, that
+these various terms can be equally applied to the coast and other
+regions of land, not comprehended within the assigned limits of The
+Sahara, and are therefore not peculiar to The Great Desert of
+Sahara.
+
+All the people are astonished when I tell them the British Sovereign is a
+lady. They have enough to believe it; indeed, some of them do not, and
+think I am trifling with their credulity. It goes against the grain, and
+their grain especially, to be ruled over by a woman, (though many of
+them, from my own personal knowledge, are entirely under the influence of
+their wives _in private_, as all or most men are,) and is contrary to
+all their notions of government and womankind. I was surrounded with a
+group when the information was given, and I shall just mention the
+questions which were put to me in rapid succession. "Does that woman
+_govern well_?" "Has she a husband? What does her husband?" "Has she any
+children?" "Is she a big woman?" "Is she beautiful?" "How much does she
+pay you for coming to our country?" "Who has more power, she or the
+Sultan (of Constantinople)?" "What's her name?" "Have the Christians any
+other women who govern?" And so forth. I explained to them that Spain and
+Portugal were ruled by two other Queens, but that, in France, a Queen
+never reigns. At the mention of this latter fact, there was general
+murmur of approbation, "El-Francees ândhom _âkel_ (the French have
+wisdom)." To soften the matter down a little, and abate their prejudices,
+I told them the father of the Queen of England had no sons, and in all
+such cases, if there were daughters, these were allowed to govern the
+people. "Batel (stupid)," said one fellow, and the conversation dropped.
+
+Begin to like the place, as I find I can pick up information respecting
+the interior. The merchants seem now more disposed to assume the
+responsibility of taking me with them. Went through the market-place, and
+witnessed a sitting of judgment upon a sick camel. This was an affair of
+the Kady, a little, fat, chubby, cherub-looking fellow, but proud and
+silent. The people said he was _sagheer_, "young," and excused his
+uncanonical conduct. He sat, high placed on a stone-bench, amidst a
+semicircle of people, squatting on the ground. He looked very grave, now
+exchanging a word or half syllable with one, now with another, but
+continually moving his lips as if in prayer. I met him afterwards in the
+street, and always found him moving the lips, with his rosary of black
+Mecca beads in his hands. He holds a separate and independent
+jurisdiction from the Rais, and is the Archbishop or Pope of Ghadames.
+His decision cannot be annulled by the authorities in Tripoli, but must
+be referred to the Ulemas at Constantinople. He therefore thinks not a
+little of himself, and with reason. Four questions were now before the
+Kady, embracing physic, law, and divinity.
+
+1st. To whom did the camel belong (for the Arabs disputed this)?
+
+2nd. Could it recover from its sickness, or was it incurable?
+
+3rd. Whether it should be killed, if it could not be cured?
+
+4th. Whether it should be eaten after it was killed?
+
+The diseased, emaciated camel lay groaning just without the semicircle.
+There was a large abscess over the shoulders, produced by the loads it
+had carried, besides other sores. A million of flies was then settled on
+the abscess, which was a running sore. It was a most disgusting sight.
+But not to the people who eyed the poor animal as connoisseurs. I learnt
+afterwards the Kady's decision was: "The camel is incurable, but may be
+killed and eaten." I asked the people whether they were not afraid to eat
+an animal which was so much diseased. They replied, "No, it is the
+judgment of the Kady. To-morrow we shall kill and eat it. To-day there's
+camels' flesh enough." I was astonished at the Kady's decision, and told
+the people diseased animals were not allowed to be killed for eating in
+our country, for there was danger in their making people ill. Some
+approved of this; but the population is much poorer than I, at first,
+thought, and the indigent are glad to catch anything. The few rich bury
+their money in foreign speculations, or hoard it up in their houses.
+After the decision, the miserable camel was left alone in the Souk, a
+prey to the flies, which were voraciously feeding on its running sores,
+till the next day. Semi-civilized people cannot comprehend the mercy or
+duty of alleviating the sufferings of the inferior creation.
+
+To-day a new case of severe ophthalmia. This was that of a woman, who
+also had a fever. To my agreeable surprise, a number of her friends
+decided that she should take a fever-powder, in spite of the Ramadan. I
+administered it myself, and she drank it greedily. I was glad of such a
+marked exception to the rigid fasting. Her relatives said she was
+permitted to drink it, first, because she was _a woman_, and, secondly,
+because she was sick. This was the law of the Kady. Met a remarkable
+Touarick in the streets. This is an old worn-out man, with one eye, and
+that much damaged. In his day he has been a famous bandit, has plundered
+many a caravan and murdered the hapless merchants. He is now, in his
+dreadful old age, sheltered in the very city whose wayfaring merchants he
+so often plundered and murdered. The judgment of heaven seems pressing
+hard upon him; for he is poor and miserable, a beggar in the streets--all
+his ill-gotten wealth is gone! He leads about a little lad, whom he calls
+his son, and who seems to afford the wretched old villain his only repose
+of mind, if repose he can have from so horrible a conscience. I gave the
+child a small coin. The inhabitants feed the bandit, and tolerate him
+with an admirable spirit of merciful forgiveness. And if _they_ do, who
+cries for vengeance?
+
+Wrote to-day a letter to the Pasha of Tripoli, thanking His Highness for
+the kind attentions I had received from the Governor of Ghadames. I never
+did anything with such good will. It was, besides, an absolute duty.
+
+This afternoon examined phrenologically, _bump_ologically, the heads of
+many children. There was a considerable variety in the _bumps_, as well
+as the configuration, of the cranium. Some of the heads were well
+flattened on either side, others rounded, and mostly low, depressed
+foreheads, with "self-esteem" and "love of approbation" ascending
+appallingly far up at the back of the head. Very few men or children have
+the frontal regions well developed. Examined a man esteemed a great
+dervish, who is always reading and writing the Koran. It's strange that
+the saint had the organ of veneration well developed. The Rais hearing of
+my cunning in this occult science, which some of the people called a new
+_deen_, ("religion,") wished to see me perform; so, on visiting him in
+the evening, he ordered forth all his understrappers and hangers-on, and
+made them submit to the fearful ordeal of head _pummelling_, first
+begging me to speak out everything, and then calling for fire to light
+his pipe, that he might muse over the exhibition _à la Turque_. The first
+officer examined was collector of the revenue, a native of Derge, a
+regular task-master in his way, and very malicious; I was frightened
+what to say. All was attention, the Rais particularly wishing to know if
+he was a thief, and had secreted Government money in his house. This his
+Excellency told me afterwards, when we were alone. The collector
+happened, by good luck, to have a large "acquisitiveness," and
+"benevolence" at the same time. This I explained to the Rais, and said
+the one balanced or neutralized the other. Tayeb, ("good"), said his
+Excellency, much chagrined, his Excellency evidently wishing to have had
+the fellow made out a thief. I must not continue through all the
+examinations. Suffice it to say, by this display of my new craft, I was
+raised very much in the estimation of everybody. But the most surprising
+thing was, a Touarick affirmed to the Rais, with great vehemence, that
+one of his neighbours was a phrenologist, and acquired his knowledge from
+the _jenoun_ ("demons"). The major-domo of his Excellency, (who had had a
+good character given to him in the examination,) was very angry at this
+attempt to lower my credit of being the first to teach phrenology in the
+The Desert, and pushed the Touarick out of the Rais's house, and we only
+just escaped a disturbance, or losing all our fun, the Touarick drawing
+his sword to defend himself. In general I was disappointed, and did not
+observe the African and Moorish forms of cranium so much marked as I
+expected. They were all, thank goodness, pretty cleanly shaved. It is
+well known Mussulmans generally shave their heads, and leave their beards
+unshaven. This is, then, a splendid field for accurate phrenological
+observation. I observed that the negroes have all of them "self-esteem"
+most surprisingly developed. From this, (if the science were true, which
+I very much question[27],) we could easily deduce their habitual gaiety,
+for a man who has always a good opinion of himself is rarely miserable.
+
+Just after the examination finished, whilst we were all very gay,
+smoking, drinking coffee, talking, and laughing, one of the Moors started
+up suddenly, and in an instant, taking his shoe, lying beside him, struck
+something down with a great smack on the floor; it turned out to be an
+immense scorpion! I felt a chill start through all my blood. The smashed
+reptile looked hideous in the dim light of the Ramadan lamp. This is the
+third scorpion within a fortnight the Rais has killed in his own house;
+one of enormous size he killed a few days ago. The Rais called for more
+coffee, and said coolly and laconically, "It's all _maktoub_ between you
+and the scorpions; if they are to bite you, they will." His Excellency
+thought the sting often deadly. My taleb joins the rest in their notions
+of fatality. In coming home with me afterwards, I said to him, "I am
+alarmed at these scorpions, as there's no security from them; for you say
+they get upon the beds, on the tops of the houses, and in every hole and
+corner." The taleb--"I am not afraid; I am always killing them in my
+house, and yet I fear them not, for it's all from God. If they are
+destined by _Rubbee_ to sting me to death, they will, so I do not disturb
+myself. You Christians are foolish." It does not appear that this reptile
+strikes a person unless it be attacked, or trodden upon. The people say
+they feed on _trāb_, "dust" or "dirt." Yesterday the chameleon was seen
+in the gardens: there is a few in Ghadames, and in most parts of North
+Africa. The one I saw was a most unsightly creature. The construction of
+the eyes is remarkable; they turn on a swivel, or seem to do so, and are
+directed every way in a moment of time. It is a trite observation, that
+the lower brute animal has many advantages over the more perfect and
+rational animal. I often, _en route_, admired the beautiful facility with
+which the camel turned its head and neck completely round, and looked
+upon objects in every direction, without even moving its body, or if in
+motion, without stopping. I watched the chameleon a long time, to see it
+"change its colour;" it did so continually, but scarcely any of the
+colours were agreeable or beautiful; they were mostly dunnish red and
+yellow, and sometimes black brown; often-times it was covered with spots,
+now with stripes, now with neither one nor the other. Once it was an ugly
+black, and then of a light pale-green yellow. The fewness of animals in
+this oasis occasions me to record its appearance. The people mention two
+or three varieties of the species. They are fond of the chameleons, at
+least, give them the full liberty of the gardens, without attempting to
+destroy them.
+
+The Sebâah, a freebooting tribe of Tunisian Arabs on the frontier, who
+some two months ago plundered a Ghadames caravan near Gharian, have been
+made to render up an account of the spoil. The Pasha of Tripoli wrote to
+the Bey of Tunis, and the Bey has undertaken to make them surrender their
+booty. The value is only about 1000 dollars, and forty camels. People are
+very inquisitive about my personal affairs. They ask me repeatedly, why I
+don't marry, or where are my wife and children? and add, "for you are
+getting old, and have plenty of money." I usually reply, "I can't carry a
+wife about with me all over the world." In the Desert and all over North
+Africa, it is looked upon as a species of disgrace for a man not to be
+married. It perhaps ought to be so everywhere; but our social system of
+Europe is become now so bad, that nearly half of the people cannot afford
+to marry. And so degraded in their feelings have become the lower classes
+of the British Isles, that many of those who do marry, marry with the
+clear understood determination of throwing their offspring upon the
+public bounty. The Puseyite and Church alms-giving clergy, to their
+shame, encourage our miserable population in these most despicable
+sentiments, and tell the people it is their right as granted to them by
+the founder and apostles of the Christian Church. Tyrants must have
+slaves, and priestly tyrants as well as other sorts of tyrants; it is
+therefore necessary there should be propagated a race of slaves.
+
+This morning the poor old blind man demands the strong medicine for his
+eye. He says, "I feel less pain in my eyes though I see no better." O
+Dio! what a precious gift is sight--how persevering is this old man to
+see again those sights of desert, palm, and oasis, which he saw in his
+youthful days! Perhaps there is a tenth of the population of Ghadames
+nearly blind, or quite blind. The Sheikh Makouran has calculated the
+expense from Ghadames to Kanou, and back, for me, at two hundred dollars.
+The Moors are essentially children in some things. Young men, full grown,
+carry about with them in their pockets a little bit of white sugar to
+suck, stowed away in needlecases. To-day, a ghafalah of Touaricks,
+twenty persons, left for Ghat. They took my letter for the Governor. The
+Touaricks are getting used to the sight of a Christian. My opinion is
+also undergoing a favourable change towards them. Certainly, the best
+informed of the Ghadamsee people give them a good character.
+
+_15th._--The Rais killed two more scorpions after I left him last night.
+A child was bitten a few days ago by a scorpion, and died to-day. His
+Excellency hopes they will disappear after the Ramadan. The scorpion,
+like many other venemous and deadly animals, is a creature of _heat_, and
+in the winter is never seen. The scorpion usually comes out of his
+hiding-places, or the crevices of the walls, during night time, and is
+rarely seen in the day. Various remedies for its bite or sting, or
+stroke, are in vogue here. People usually employ garlic: they both eat it
+and rub it into the bitten or stricken part. Others cut round the stung
+part, and then rub over the whole with snuff. People persist that the
+scorpion eats dust, but that he is very fond of _striking Ben-Adam_ ("the
+human race.") Two nights after the scorpion affair with the Rais, to our
+dread and horror, Said killed a large one close by our beds. We always
+sleep upon the ground-floor on matting. He was dozing in the night, after
+his Ramadan midnight meal, when the monster scrambled past by his head
+like an enormous crab. In the morning he showed me his sting as a trophy
+of victory. We then examined all the walls in our sleeping apartment, and
+stopped up cracks and crevices. After a short time the scorpions were
+forgotten, or we got used to them; and the next one that Said had a chase
+after, excited in me little attention. So I found, like the Moors,
+myself a fatalist, or at least became reconciled to the presence of these
+death-stinging reptiles. I found eventually, in fact, the people killed
+them with as much unconcern as we do spiders. The scorpion is the only
+creature armed with the fatal power of destroying life, which, for the
+present I hear of in the oases of The Sahara. The Arabs, in their hatred
+of the Touaricks, say, "The scorpion and the Touarick are the only
+enemies you meet with in The Sahara."
+
+_16th._--The old worn-out bandit met me, and asked me to cure his
+rheumatic pains. "Show me your tongue," I said. He flatly refused, as
+several persons were present. Then when I went away he came running after
+me, and tried to put out his tongue, but did not succeed. I told him to
+drink plenty of hot broth, and go to bed. He seemed satisfied. An Arab
+soldier afflicted with diarrhœa, came for medicine. He waited till the
+last rays of the sun were seen to depart from the minaret's top, before
+he would take his pills. Meanwhile, he gave me a catalogue of grievances,
+the sum and substance of which was, "he had nothing to eat." I questioned
+him over and over again, and then, coming to the same stern conclusion, I
+gave him some supper. Some weeks ago the Rais gave each soldier 3
+Tunisian piastres, about 1_s._ 10_d._ Since then they had had nothing.
+Substantially, I believe, he spoke the truth, for these poor fellows are
+kept just above the starvation-to-death point. It is not surprising they
+wish to return to their homes, or Tripoli, and that they pilfer about the
+town. Asking him why the Rais did not give them a few karoobs, he replied
+naively, "The Rais has none for us, but plenty to buy gold for his
+horse's saddle." To-day, nor yesterday, could I buy any eatable meat. I
+mean mutton, for this is the ordinary meat of the place, and upon which I
+live, with now and then a fowl. But in the Souk another camel was killed,
+and a great display was made of its meat. The camel was ill before
+killed, but not so bad as the one already mentioned. Some fifty persons
+were enjoying the sight of the camel being cut up, for the Moorish
+butchers always cut up their meat into very small portions, sometimes not
+bigger than a couple of mouthsful. Before killed, the camel sold for one
+hundred and eight Tunisian piastres; the one on which the Kady gave
+judgment, only produced thirty-three. (Tunisian piastres vary from 7_d._
+to 9_d._)
+
+Yesterday the weather sultry, and a few drops of rain fell on the parched
+oasis--drops of ambrosia from the gods. To-day it is cloudy and cool, for
+the first time since my residence here; a cool elastic sensation braces
+up my poor drooping frame.
+
+The Moor picks up every bit, or little dirty scrap of paper he finds in
+the streets, and places it in a hole of the wall, or upon a ledge, lest
+there should be written on it, "the name of God," and the sacred name be
+trodden upon and profaned. It is probable they derived the superstition
+from the Jews, who have many mysterious notions about certain letters which
+form the name of The Almighty. I have often seen ‮שדי‬ affixed on
+the door-posts of Jewish houses in Barbary. But no people in the world
+use the name of God more vainly than Mussulmans, nor swear more than
+they, the greater part of the words used being different epithets of the
+Divine Nature. This inconsistency runs through all the actions of these
+semi-civilized people. No people pretend to more delicacy in the mode of
+dress, more respect for women, not even mentioning the names or existence
+of their wives. My late Marabout camel-driver, when speaking of his wife
+and family, merely said _saghar_ ("little children"). And,
+notwithstanding all this, no people are more sensual and impure, and
+esteem women less, than the Moors of towns. In swearing and oaths, the
+epithets "With God!" "By God!" "God!" "The Lord!" or "My Lord
+(_Rubbee_)!" "God, the Most High!" and, "The Most Sacred Majesty of God
+(_Subkhanah Allah_)!" are the common forms of using the Divine Name. A
+Tibboo stranger went into a house to buy a pair of pistols, and the
+seller was not at home. My taleb, who was a neighbour, and was anxious
+his friend should sell his pistols, run about exclaiming, _Subkhanah
+Allah!_ I confess I was greatly shocked on hearing these most awful words
+used in such a way. I taxed the taleb afterwards with it, and compared
+his conduct with what I had seen in his picking up bits of paper in my
+house, for fear the names of The Deity should be upon them. He merely
+answered pettishly, "What do you wish? all people say so." A less serious
+note may be added here, that of the loose and curious way in which the
+Arabs express their ideas of quantities and distances. "Great" and
+"small" means with them any quantities, as "near" and "afar," any
+distances. I asked an Arab of Tunis when he expected his caravan? He
+replied, _Ghareeb_ ("near"). "What do you mean, a week, a fortnight, or
+how long?" "_Twenty days!_" was the reply. In endeavouring to obtain
+information from these people on distances and quantities, the only way
+is to make them compare the thing unknown with what you know. They will
+tell you at such a place is an exceedingly high mountain. If there is a
+hill or a mountain near you at the time, you must ask them if it as large
+or larger than that? In this way you will frequently find their great
+mountain to be no bigger than a hillock.
+
+The merchants say it is necessary to give presents to the following
+princes of authority, in the route of Soudan:--
+
+TOUARICKS.
+
+    Governor of the town of Ghat;
+    The Sultan of the Touaricks of Ghat, and the surrounding districts;
+    The Sultan of Aheer; and
+    The Sultan of Aghadez:
+
+and these princes demand presents as a matter of right.
+
+FULLANNEE AND NEGROES.
+
+    The Governor of Damerghou;
+    The Sultan of Tesouwah;
+    The Deputy-Sultan of Kashna; and
+    The Deputy-Sultan of Kanou:
+
+but these latter princes do not demand presents as a matter of right,
+leaving it to the good pleasure of the stranger. There are also a few
+other smaller places where a trifling present will help a merchant on his
+way. The presents are collected according to the means and wealth of each
+individual merchant, each subscribing his share, one giving a burnouse,
+others a piece of cloth, or silk, or beads, and what not. The whole is
+then collected together, and a deputation of two or three merchants is
+formed out of the caravan, who convey their presents to the prince, and
+the prince, when he finds the merchants have treated him liberally,
+sometimes returns a present of a slave or two, but generally a quantity
+of fresh provisions.
+
+A small ghafalah of Touaricks having left to-day for Touat, Sheik
+Makouran, whose merchandise they were escorting on its way to Timbuctoo,
+begged me to write a letter to the Sheikh of Ain-Salah, one of the oases,
+which is in direct commercial relations with Ghadames. The plain English
+of the letter was, that Sheikh Haj Mohammed Welled Abajoudah, of
+Ain-Salah, would receive me friendly if I came to him, would protect all
+Englishmen travelling through his country, and would not let them be
+attacked and murdered as Major Laing was. When I gave my friend Makouran
+the letter, he asked me what I had written. I related the substance.
+"Allah, Allah!" exclaimed old Makouran; "Why, the Sheikh of Ain-Salah is
+my friend, he'll treat you as kindly as I do; he's one of us." Then he
+added, "Never mind, the letter may go." This evening the Rais was very
+unwell. Gave his Excellency some purgative pills. Afraid he will be
+obliged to return to Tripoli for his health; poor fellow, he suffers
+greatly.
+
+_17th._--The weather has opened this morning, dull, cloudy, and cool,
+threatening rain. A dingy veil is drawn over the face of things.
+
+Have not yet seen any pretty plays amongst the children. All is dullest
+monotony. The youth, however, ultimately recover their wits by
+travelling. My turjeman says, "The natives of Ghadames are the greatest
+travellers in the world, and are to be found in every country." The
+_Souk_ offers nothing for sale but olive-oil, liquid butter, a little
+bread, camels' flesh, and now and then a few vegetables. All the
+Touarick traders have now left, some for Ghat and others for Touat. My
+Ghadamsee friends cease talking of the dangers of my Soudan trip, and it
+is a settled thing that I go. Some of them wish me to try a fasting day;
+"one day, to see how I like it," they tell me.
+
+It is very amusing to see butchers in this place cut up their meat. Four,
+eight, or twelve persons, join to buy a sheep. The sheep is killed, and
+the butcher has to divide it into as many equal parts as
+joint-purchasers. He begins by dividing it into four equal parts, but not
+in the way we should imagine, by cutting the carcase into four. No, quite
+different. He first divides the intestines into four portions, cutting
+the heart, liver, and lights into four equal portions, and so of the
+rest. Sometimes the heart is made a present to some favoured individual.
+Of two sheep cut up to-day, the heart of one was given to a young friend
+of mine, and that of the other to the Governor. The intestines divided,
+the butcher proceeds to divide the legs and shoulders into four equal
+portions, dividing one leg and one shoulder into two, and so of the
+other. The ribs and rest of the meat is then also equally divided. When
+the carcase is thus far divided, a few persons only take one whole
+quarter, the rest the butcher proceeds leisurely and scientifically to
+divide, several persons taking a whole quarter divided and subdivided
+amongst them, not being able to purchase a large quantity. The quarter is
+divided into half-quarters, the half-quarters into quarter-quarters, and
+the quarter-quarter is often again divided and subdivided before it gets
+into the pot. In this division, you would imagine the Desert dissector
+would cut the meat all away;--no such thing; and so great is the
+precision with which he divides and subdivides, that he has no need of
+scales and weights, equally dividing every bit of muscle, cartilage, fat,
+and bone; indeed, every person goes away perfectly satisfied with the
+justice of the division. I never saw scales and weights used on these
+occasions. Should, perchance, a difficulty or dispute arise as to the
+comparative size of the portions or equal divisions, a child is then sent
+for, and each party having chosen his token--a piece of wood, a straw, or
+what not, the whole are put into the hands of the child, who is requested
+to place the sticks or straws upon the portions of meat it chooses, or to
+which its caprice may guide. This decision of the umpire Chance is
+without or beyond all appeal. Mussulmans of The Sahara have no idea of
+_separate joints_ or choice parts, the heart, perhaps, excepted, which is
+highly prized; or, if you will, they like a bit of every part of the
+carcase, and cut it up into these infinitesimal divisions in order that
+they may obtain this aggregate of delicate minutiæ. But as this is all
+cooked together, there can never be that separate taste of separate parts
+which distinguishes the meat as killed and cooked by Europeans. All
+Mussulmans are instinctively butchers, and are familiar with the knife,
+and expert at killing animals; it is a sort of religious rite with them.
+What I have observed particularly is, there is none of that shrinking
+back and chilled-blood shudder at seeing a poor animal killed, which
+characterizes Europeans, and especially the children of Europeans. Here
+children may be seen holding the animal whilst its throat is most
+barbarously cut! and not flinching a step, or blinking the eye. Apropos
+of killing and eating meat, I had a long polemical discussion with my
+taleb upon the respective rites and ceremonies of Christians and
+Mussulmans. I told him what distinguished the religion of the New
+Testament was, that it prescribed no rules for eating and drinking, or
+dress; that the whole Christian religion was based upon two great
+commandments: "Thou shalt love God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour
+as thyself." This, however, only drew from him the observation, "Before
+the time of Sidi Mahomet, this was the religion of the world." I
+rejoined, "This was the religion--still is the religion--of all the
+English, who eat and drink everything that is good, and dress any way
+they please; and such is the will of God." The taleb observed, "You wear
+braces, which is unlawful." I could not find out the why and the
+wherefore, unless it were that it tightened men-folks up too much for
+modesty. I told him the Rais and all Turks had braces to their
+pantaloons. He simply replied, "Braces are not permitted by our
+marabouts."
+
+North Africa, or this region of The Sahara, more particularly, is
+essentially the East, (the Syrian, Arabian East,) and the religion
+of Mahomet has indissolubly bound in ideas, manners, and customs,
+the inhabitants of these countries with those of the East. It is,
+therefore, very satisfactory to read the _Arabic_ New Testament in
+these countries; for, besides presenting all the ideas and
+metaphorical adornments, such reading often gives you the very words
+and idiomatical expressions of the people. This correspondence is
+certainly a strong proof, both that the latter Biblical writers were
+natives of the East, and that the inhabitants of North Africa and
+The Sahara were originally emigrants, or colonies from Syria and
+Arabia. This is the opinion of my taleb, and all the literati of the
+oasis. My taleb also treated me to-day with writing the famous
+Mohammedan prophecy, respecting the destinies of the East, and the
+world in general, and everybody in particular. It runneth according to
+this mighty import: "_The Dajal_, (‮الدجال‬,) whose name is the
+Messiah, and who is the son of Said, and who is a monstrous fellow,
+with one eye, shall come upon the earth, or rather, go abroad upon
+the earth, and all the Jews shall flock around him, and enrol
+themselves under his standard, for he is their expected Messiah; and
+then, armed with their prowess and gold, he shall slay all
+Christians and Mohammedans, and shall reign upon the earth, after
+their destruction, forty years. This time outran, there shall then
+appear Jesus, the son of Mary, (the Messiah of the New Testament,)
+in the clouds, who shall descend upon the earth with flaming
+vengeance, and destroy _The Dajal_. This done, then shall come the
+end of the world." My taleb assures me, upon his _parole d'honneur_,
+that _The Dajal_ will come in forty years from the present time, or
+in the year 1885! Khoristan, the country where he is now bound in chains,
+is, besides, the country of Gog and Magog (‮جوج و مجوج‬).
+One of these gentlemen is very small, indeed a dwarf, about the size
+of General Tom Thumb, perhaps one and a half inches shorter; and the
+other is tall enough to reach the moon when it is high over your
+head. It is strange the Mussulmans of Ghadames make also the Turks
+(_Truk_, as they call them,) to come from the country of Gog and
+Magog. See the following table of the genealogy of all the people of
+the earth, especially the Turks, the Touaricks, and the Russians:--
+
+                                 Noah.
+                                   |
+            +----------------------+----------------+
+            |                                       |
+          Shem.                   Ham.           Japheth.
+            |                      |                |
++------------------------+     +--------+     +------------+
+|                        |     |        |     |            |
+Christians.  Arabs.  Jews.      Negroes.      Gog and Magog.
+                                               |         |
+                                             +----+  +---------+
+                                             |    |  |         |
+                                             Turks.   Touaricks.
+                                               |
+                                           +--------+
+                                           |        |
+                                            Russians.
+
+Such is the leaf of holy tradition in The Desert. It is astonishing
+how all nations love to indulge their gloomy musings with monsters.
+The extraction of the Russians from Gog and Magog is a curiosity; but
+the Russians, (_Moskou_, such is their name here,) are looked upon as
+a species of monster, whose jaw is capacious enough to swallow up all
+the Turks, and the Sultan of the East. The Rais has the greatest dread
+of them, whose native soil they have already gorged, "These Russians,"
+he said to me one day, "are always, always, always advancing,
+advancing, advancing upon the Sultan." Who will say the patriotic
+Turk's apprehensions are groundless? With regard to the extraction of
+the Touaricks, I asked one of these people where his countrymen sprang
+from. He answered me, that formerly they were demons, (‮جنون‬) and
+came from a country near Kanou, on the banks of The Great River.
+Another told me, in true Hellenic style, "The Touaricks sprang out
+from the ground." An opinion has been advanced by some acquainted with
+ancient Eastern and African geography, that the Touaricks are from
+Palestine, and are a portion of the tribes of the Philistines expelled
+by Joshua; that the first rendezvous of the wanderers was the oasis of
+_Oujlah_, which is a few days' journey from _Siwah_, the site of the
+celebrated _Ammonium_; and thence they proceeded, wandering at will,
+to the west and south, peopling all the arid regions of the Sahara.
+The Sheikh of the slaves visiting me to-day, and describing Timbuctoo,
+said, "It is several times larger than Tunis; it is as large as
+_Moskou_ (or Russia)."
+
+_I._--"Who told you _Moskou_ was large?"
+
+_He._--"The people."
+
+So the Emperor of all the Russians may rejoice in the consciousness, that
+he and his people constitute as large a kingdom as Timbuctoo, and are
+celebrated in the gossip of Saharan cities.
+
+The first thing with which people break their fast in the evening is
+_dates_. My taleb, when visiting me, takes a few dates in his hands, and
+goes to a corner of the court-yard, or upon the house-top, about the
+softening, musing time, when the last solar rays are lingering
+playfully--and to the emaciated faster, teasingly, on this Saharan world,
+and there he listens in silence for the first accents of the shrill voice
+of the _Muethan_, calling to prayers, from the minaret of a neighbouring
+mosque. This heard, he commences putting the dates, one by one, slowly
+into his parched mouth, repeating a short prayer with each as he swallows
+it with a sort of choking difficulty. After he has eaten a dozen or so,
+he drinks, and then goes off to mosque prayers. Sometimes he prays in my
+house, and then comes down to dine with me. Many people, of course, in
+Ghadames, never saw a Christian before me; but they are quite as much
+astonished to see a Christian eat and drink in the Ramadan, as to see the
+Christian himself. This afternoon I was very thirsty, and went to drink a
+little water from one of the water-skins suspended in a square. A woman,
+of half-caste, going by at the time, cried out, "Why, why?" I went up to
+her and said, "Because you are a Mussulman and I'm a Christian." Her
+astonishment was no way abated; she kept exclaiming, "Why, why?" as if
+she would raise the whole city. One of my merchant friends seeing there
+was some prospect of a disturbance, came up to me and said, "Yâkob, that
+woman is mad; make haste, go home." However, I rarely ever eat and drink
+before the people, avoiding as much as I can shocking their prejudices;
+and if asked about fasting, usually evade the question, or say I fast or
+wait for my dinner till Said can eat his dinner also.
+
+_18th._--Weather has now set in cool. This morning a little cold and raw.
+Now's the time for catching coughs and cold;--people are coughing
+already. Just before day-break, a thunderbolt was said to be discharged
+over the city, accompanied with a long, low growling muttering sound,
+which reverberated from the Saharan hills. The circumstance remarkable,
+in the falling of this dread bolt of heaven's artillery, at the time the
+sky was perfectly clear and bright, and there was nothing in the shape of
+storm. These discharges of sound are rare in the Saharan regions. People
+asked me to explain to them what it was, and what it prognosticated? I
+told them, thunderbolts were frequent in Christian countries during
+storms, and nothing of consequence follow from them. I have reason to
+believe since, after conversing with several French officers in Algeria
+on the subject, that this phenomenon of a tremendous discharge of sound
+was a discharge of electricity _from the earth_, which sometimes occurs
+in North Africa.
+
+Went to examine the Great Spring of Ghadames this morning, which is
+situate on the west side of the city, but conveniently between the two
+grand divisions of the population, the Ben Wezeet and the Ben Weleed. It
+was to me a _delicium_. What a revolution has my opinions undergone
+respecting water since I have travelled in The Thirsty Desert! Never was
+such an enthusiastic conversion! But were all conversions so harmless,
+how happy for mankind! Some thirty swallows are skimming its
+gaseous-bubble surface, playing off their wing-darting delights. The
+Spring or Well is perennial, as old as the foundation of the city, and
+may have ran for ages before the palms were planted around it by the hand
+of man, or sprung up from a few date-stones left by some chance fugitives
+who had stopped to taste its waters, and then held their way on in The
+Desert. Without the Spring the city could have no existence. It runs into
+a basin made and banked up for it, an oblong square of some twenty yards
+by fifteen. In its deepest part it is not more than six feet. The water
+is hot, averaging a temperature of 120 degrees, and upwards, it being too
+hot to bathe in near the orifices, whence the water gushes with gaseous
+globules, which continually rise from the bottom. But the orifices are
+not visible, and hence an air of mystery is thrown over this spring of
+"Living Water." The people say it was created by God on the same day when
+the sea near Tripoli was made. The gaseous particles are larger and more
+numerous in the centre, where is the great force of the Spring. The water
+is tolerably good, but a little purgative. It is usually allowed twelve,
+but some give it twenty-four hours to cool before drunk. The form of the
+basin may be thus rudely represented:--
+
+[Illustration]
+
+A. Small bathing-places.
+
+B. Steps where the women descend to fill their jugs with water.
+
+C. Corners where the water runs away to the fountains in the squares and
+streets, and to the gardens, in and without the city. Around are the
+ruins and backs of houses, walls, and gardens, the palms alone being
+visible, looking very fresh and gracefully picturesque, near this source
+of life. After this went to see the _Water-Watch_[28], which is placed in
+one corner of the Souk. This is constructed upon the same principle as
+the hour-glass, but it is small, and requires to be emptied twenty-four
+times to complete the hour. In fact, it is only a small earthen pot or
+jar with a hole in the bottom of certain dimensions, and when filled with
+water, and the water has emptied itself, running out twenty-four times,
+the hour is completed. Some gardens require the stream, which the
+_Water-Watch_ measures the time of the running of, an hour, others only
+half an hour, and others two or more hours, according to their size and
+distance from the source. The inhabitants pay Government so much per hour
+for the running of the stream into their gardens; but some have an
+hereditary possession in a certain quantity of the time of the stream's
+running. Of this they are naturally very proud. For ordinary household
+purposes the water is given without cost. There are two or three places
+in the town where a small water-watch is kept, but that in the Souk is
+the principal one. I have thus entered into particulars, for the obvious
+reason that, "water is the liquid gold in these thirsty regions." In
+Southern Algeria, the oasis of El-Agouat, each landed proprietor has the
+prescriptive right of an hour or two hours of the running of the water,
+according to the title deeds of the estate. The time is measured with an
+hour-glass (of sand) held by the officer who distributes the water, and
+who opens and shuts the conduit of irrigation at the time fixed. Many
+other oases have the same system.
+
+Some Touaricks remained, who called on me to-day. One, who had shown
+himself very friendly, began to enlarge on the dangers of the Soudan
+route. I immediately observed, "God is greater than all the Touaricks."
+This stopped his gab, and was applauded by the rest. A Ghadamsee bawled
+out, "Oh! it requires a great deal--much, much, much money to go to
+Soudan." "How much?" I asked,--"Oh! much, much, much!" was rejoined.
+"What is _much_?" "Five hundred dollars!" was shouted out by half a
+dozen. I coolly observed, "It is not much for an Englishman." Another of
+the Touaricks said, about twenty years ago he saw some Englishmen come to
+his country from Fezzan. What struck the Touarick was, the English
+tourists gave a dollar for a fowl, for a drink of milk, and even, he
+added with an oath, for an _Es-Slamah âleikom_? ("How do you do?") This
+story was told to impress me with the necessity of taking plenty of money
+with me, and I was to keep up the liberal character of my predecessors
+in Saharan travel. So we see these English tourists, who undoubtedly were
+Messrs. Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, have spoiled the roads of
+travelling between Ghat and Fezzan, as Englishmen have spoiled the routes
+of the Continent of Europe. This is the propensity of John Bull, to buy
+up everything and everybody abroad[29]. The Touarick added, "A deal of
+money is required, because there are many banditti." He meant not exactly
+robbers, but beggars, who, whilst begging, give you to understand that
+their appeal to your eleemosynary feelings must not be in vain. All who
+beg _impudently_ on the routes, or who levy black-mail, are called
+_Sbandout_ ("banditti.") But I'm more convinced than ever, that the
+greatest shield of safety for the Desert traveller is his poverty.
+
+Saw an aged Moorish lady, who greatly interested me. She told me she was
+an hundred years old, fasted all day long, and expected soon to go to
+Paradise. It is undoubtedly a vulgar error to say the Mahometan doctrine
+teaches that women have no souls. During her hundred years, she had never
+seen a Christian before. Her faculties were too weak for sectarian spite,
+and she looked upon me as if I had been a simple Mussulman stranger.
+
+Sunset, this evening, a man proclaimed from the housetops the arrival of
+the ghafalah, long expected from Tripoli: only a courier arrived. By him
+I received the first letter from Tripoli, and the first newspaper, the
+_Malta Times_! That mark of admiration means, gentle reader, my poor old
+paper, the paper I established at so much cost and waste of time, money,
+health, and labour, for the good pleasure and caprice of The Island of
+Malta and its dependencies. It's yet pleasing to see the old paper
+following me; it will, perhaps, follow at my heels to Central Africa.
+Ramadan began a day earlier in Tripoli. The courier, also, brings the
+news, banditti are prowling about the The Mountains attacking isolated
+travellers and small caravans. I am sorry to see, by my papers, the
+people advocates of their own slavery, and that the Texans have carried
+through their Congress "the Annexation with the United States," the
+republican patrons and upholders of slavery and the slave-trade! In this
+case, at any rate, 'it is not kings and despots enslaving mankind,' but
+the people wilfully forging their own chains. There is also a humble case
+before my eyes. Here sits by my side, the slave of Haj Abd-Errahman, who
+is sent every year by his master to buy and sell goods, as if a regular
+free merchant. It is wonderful fidelity on the part of this slave that he
+does not run away. Unquestionably the negro has some fine qualities. This
+slave, however, in palliation of the wrong, tells me he brings few
+slaves, and mostly goods. I don't fail to tell him, slaves are _haram_,
+("prohibited,") to the English. My taleb comes in, and after asking me
+the news, takes up the Arabic Bible, and reads the following beautiful
+prophetic sentiment:
+
+    ‮ولكثرة الاثم تبرد المحبة من كثير‬
+
+and then asks what it means? "_And because iniquity shall abound, the
+love of many shall wax cold_," I reply, "may be illustrated in this way:
+Suppose the Rais buys up or bribes the people, so that nearly all the
+people applaud whatever he does, whether right or wrong, then the love of
+your country, amongst you few faithful remaining, will wax cold?"
+
+_Ben Mousa._--"Yes, I understand, _Seedna Aysa_, ('our Lord Jesus,') was
+a prophet."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[27] I always thought phrenology too good to be true. Such a
+    study, however, may be of some service in classifying mental
+    phenomena, and induce a taste for metaphysical research.
+
+[28] _Mungalah_ or _Saah-el-ma_. Watches are very uncommon: only
+    the Governor, and a few of the richest people, have a watch.
+
+[29] Once passing through Lyons, I heard of an English tourist who
+    hired a steam-boat to himself to pass down the Rhone in, hired an
+    hotel to himself, and one evening took the upper part of a theatre
+    to himself, including the boxes, and all to enjoy himself
+    _tranquillement_, said my French informant.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+FAST OF THE RAMADAN.
+
+     The Women in possession of the Streets.--The Grand Factions of
+     Ghadames, the _Ben Weleed_ and the _Ben Wezeet_.--Interest of the
+     People in Algerian Affairs.--Names, from Bodily
+     Deformities.--Starving Slaves makes them Thieves.--Disease of the
+     _Arak-el-Abeed_.--Finances of Ghadames.--The Prophet Jonah, still
+     living.--Bad system of collecting Taxes by common
+     Soldiers.--Essnousee leaves for Ghat, alone.--The _Thob_.--Stroke
+     of the Moon.--Mission of Impostors always that of pretended Mercy
+     to Men.--How the Turk governs the Arabs.--Saharan
+     _Lady_-Gentlemen.--Classic and Vulgar Names of Things.--The
+     _Wadan_, or _Oudad_.--Nimrod, the Hercules of the Saharan
+     Moors.--Enoch, a Tailor.--Noah, a Carpenter.--Serpents and
+     Monsters in The Desert.--Teach Geography to the
+     People.--Indolence of the Inhabitants of Africa.
+
+
+_19th._--MORNING spent in spelling the Malta Times. Saw a Ben-Wezeetee,
+who protested that all the money of the country was in the hands of the
+Ben-Weleed. I asked if he ever went to the Ben-Weleed. "For what," he
+replied angrily, "should I go to see those devils?" In the afternoon
+found all the streets deserted by the men-folks, and in possession of the
+women, girls, and little children, who were playing all sorts of pranks,
+and dancing and singing like so many people let loose from Bedlam. As
+soon as they saw me there was a simultaneous rush at me, all crying out,
+"Oh, Christian! Christian! where's your mother? where's your sister?
+where's your wife?--don't you want a wife?" Then they began to pelt me
+with date-stones. I got out of the way as quickly as possible. Wondered
+what in the world had become of the men. At last found them and the boys
+all congregated round a mosque, this being some important ceremony of
+religion.
+
+I had to-day some talk about the two great political factions, the
+_Ben-Wezeet_ and the _Ben-Weleed_, the Whigs and Tories of Ghadames, but
+pushed to such extremities of party spirit, as almost to be without the
+limits of humanity. Notwithstanding the assumed sanctity of this holy and
+_Marabout_ City of Ghadames, and its actually leaving its walls to
+crumble away, and its gates open to every robber of the highways of The
+Desert--trusting to its prayers for its defence and to its God for
+vengeance--it has nourished for centuries upon centuries the most
+unnatural and fratricidal feuds within its own bosom, dividing itself
+into two powerful rival factions, and which factions, to this day, have
+not any _bonâ fide_ social intercourse with one another. Occasionally one
+or two of the rival factions privately visit each other, but these are
+exceptions, and the Rais has the chiefs of the two parties together in
+Divan on important business being brought before him. In the market-place
+there is likewise ground of a common and neutral rendezvous. Abroad they
+also travel together, and unite against the common enemy and the
+foreigner. The native Governor, or _Nāther_, and the _Kady_, are besides
+chosen from one or other party, and have authority over all the
+inhabitants of Ghadames. But here closes their mutual transactions. It is
+a long settled time-out-of-mind, nay, sacred rule, with them, as a whole,
+"Not to intermarry, and not to visit each other's quarters, if it can
+possibly be avoided." The Rais and myself, reside without the boundaries
+of their respective quarters, so that we can be visited by both parties,
+who often meet together accidentally in our houses. The Arab suburb is
+also neutral ground. Most of the poor strangers take up their residence
+here. The _Ben-Wezeet_ have four streets and the _Ben-Weleed_ three.
+These streets have likewise their subdivisions and chiefs, but live
+amicably with one another, so far as I could judge. The people generally
+are very shy of conversing with strangers about their ancient immemorial
+feuds. I could only learn from the young men that in times past the two
+factions fought together with arms, and "some dreadful deeds were done."
+My taleb only wrote the following when I asked him to give some
+historical information respecting these factions:--"The Ben Weleed and
+the Ben Wezeet are people of Ghadames, who have quarrelled from time
+immemorial: it was the will of God they should be divided, and who shall
+resist his will? Yâkob, be content to know this!"
+
+But the Rais boasts of having done something to mitigate the mutual
+antipathies of the factions. "The _Shamātah_, between them," he says,
+"has had its neck broken." And really, if it be the case, there is in
+this some compensation for the wrongs and miseries which the Turks are
+inflicting upon an impoverished and over burthened people. In other parts
+of Northern Sahara similar factions exist, often arising from chance
+divisions of towns. There is a similar division of the town of Ghabs in
+Tunis, but not carried to such extreme lengths as these factions of
+Ghadames. It would seem that society could not exist without party and
+divisions no more than a British Parliament. Even Scripture intimates
+there must be strifes and divisions.
+
+Many came to me to hear the news from Tripoli and Algeria. I found them
+all interested in the fate and fortunes of the latter country. Some vague
+rumours had reached them of serious and bloody skirmishes. I calmed them,
+telling them "all people were on an equal footing in Algeria, Christians
+as Mussulmans, even as Mussulmans were in our British India." Some
+doubted my information. Late in the evening, when the visitors of the
+Rais had retired, I had a tête-à-tête with his Excellency. Speaking of
+the Ghadamseeah, his Excellency said, "They are ignorant and know not the
+_tareek_ (_i. e._, system) of the Sultan; they magnify every trifle of
+news they hear, and are now alive to every change, and in feverish
+expectation of some new event." This is always the case with the
+oppressed; they must love change, if but for the worse. His Excellency
+then continued: "Since the forced contribution of fifty thousand dollars,
+no money is to be found. The money due for the past four months is still
+uncollected." Speaking of the bandits, his Excellency said, "The Pasha
+has written to me that he cannot allow me, or the Commandant of The
+Mountains, to march out against the _Sebâah_ or _Shânbah_, without an
+order from the Sultan, but with such an order we could soon exterminate
+them." Our Rais does not entirely neglect the intellectual edification of
+his Desert subjects. This evening, early, he amused them with talking
+about steamboats, or "boats of fire." I put in a word about railroads,
+telling them with a railway we could come from Tripoli to Ghadames in two
+days. "The Christians know all things but God," said a Marabout.
+
+_20th._--Weather is now cool, and I can walk about the gardens at
+mid-day without inconvenience. I enjoy this much, amusing myself
+with throwing stones at the ripe dates, which fall in luscious
+clusters into one's mouth. Eating fruit in the gardens or from the
+trees is also a peculiar delight enjoyed by people of all countries
+and climates. Several of the people are so ignorant of printing that
+they call my newspapers letters, and this is natural enough, as
+there are no other but manuscript books amongst them.--‮سمعان
+الابرص‬, "Simon _the Leper_" (Matt. xxvi.). It is usual here to
+distinguish people in this way: as "Mohammed, _the one-eyed_,"
+"Ahmed, _the lame-with-one-leg_," and "Mustapha, _the red-beard_."
+So the famous pirate of the Mediterranean was called "_Barbarossa_."
+The people are not at all ashamed of being called by their natural
+deformities, as we are in Europe. ‮قمقم‬ is one of the numerous
+words in Arabic where the sound corresponds with the sense.
+_Ghemghem_ is, "to murmur," and the English word itself is not a bad
+example of the kind. The Mussulmans have very grotesque notions of
+the Christian doctrine of Trinity. A person said: "Do not the
+Christians say God has a Son?" "Yes," I replied. The rejoinder was,
+"That is making God like a bullock (‮بقر‬)!" My friend the Touatee,
+a native of Touat, tells me the Touaricks were originally from
+Timbuctoo, and so say all Touat Touaricks. The ghafalah just arrived
+from Tripoli has brought eighty camel-loads of barley. Observed the
+head of the little son of the Touarick bandit. Fancied it was really
+the infantile cast of such a parent's head. This is the danger of
+the science, prejudicing you in such matters.
+
+Apparently, what little thieving there is going on here is committed by
+the Arabs and slaves. There are three or four of these latter most
+determined date stealers. One of these slaves was brought up yesterday
+and received two hundred bastinadoes; but it had not much effect upon
+him. When these offenders become incurable, the Rais packs them off to
+Tripoli. A very good plan, which keeps the country free of offences of
+petty larceny. However, many of these slaves steal because they have not
+enough to eat: thus we come to the old circle again, that poverty is the
+mother of crime. So is it with the Arabs and slaves of Ghadames. The
+slaves are mostly devout, if not fanatic Mussulmans. They have a right to
+be fanatical, for their religion is a great protection to them. Their
+masters, not like the _Christian_ slave-masters of the Southern States of
+America, who close the Bible against the slave, are also proud of the
+fanaticism of their slaves, and teach them verses of the Koran. The
+slave's conception of the dogmas of his religion is slow and confused. My
+Negro Said is a good Mussulman, and keeps his fast well, but I never yet
+caught him at his prayers, nor does he go much to the mosque. Yesterday I
+came suddenly upon two youngsters, the Rais's slaves, who at mid-day were
+devouring roasted locusts and drinking water, in the style of sumptuous
+feasting. I called out, "Holloa! how now? are you feasting or fasting?"
+They began laughing and then handed me some roast locusts, to bribe me
+not to blab. My taleb caught a slave in my house eating also roasted
+locusts, and asked him if he should like to be roasted in hell-fire?
+
+_21st._--The old blind man is the most regular patient. The novelty of
+being doctored or quacked by a Christian is wearing away. Wrote to-day to
+Mr. Gagliuffi, British Vice-Consul of Mourzuk. Said, in visiting his
+friends, for he has now _his circle_, brought me a present of
+_Danzagou_, in Arabic _Kashkash_. This is a seed of the size of a large
+hip, and of a beautiful scarlet colour; it is used sometimes as medicine,
+mostly for necklace beads, and is native of Soudan, where it abounds. He
+also brought some _Morrashee_, in Arabic _Jidglan_. This is a species of
+millet, a product of Soudan. The Blacks, Moors, and Arabs all eat it with
+_gusto_. There are several varieties of edible seed brought over The
+Desert from Soudan, chiefly as Saharan luxuries. Had a long conversation
+with the people of the _Ben-Weleed_, and found them extremely sociable.
+One of them had been to Leghorn, and described the houses as seven
+stories high, and the port _free_. These were his strongest impressions.
+It is worth observing here the universal freemasonry of the mercantile
+spirit. As a merchant, he could understand and recollect a free-port in
+any part of the world. The honour of this anecdote have the Leaguers.
+
+A man showed me a sore place on his arm, which he called
+_Arak_[30]_-El-Abeed_ (‮عرك العبيد‬). This was a large raised
+pimple, in the centre of which was an opening, and from which
+aperture there issued from time to time a very fine worm, like the
+finest silk-thread, and sometimes not much thicker than a spider's
+web, in small detached lengths. This worm is often of the enormous
+length of twenty yards, gradually oozing out piecemeal. It is a
+common disease of Soudan where the merchants catch the infection,
+and bring it over The Desert. It is said to be acquired principally
+by drinking the waters of that country.
+
+By the wars before the occupation of the Turks, Tripoli had become
+exhausted of its wealth, and its trade and agriculture were at the lowest
+ebb. The country was divided into two armed factions of the ancient
+family, money was borrowed at the most extravagant, and sometimes 500 per
+cent. interest, and the jewels of the ancient family were bartered away
+for arms and provisions, to carry on the war. A large collection of
+splendid diamonds were sold for something like an old song. Most of these
+got into the hands of Europeans. I saw some in the hands of an European
+gentleman, who assured me that he had been fortunate enough to get them
+for a fourth, and some of them for a seventh, of their value. When the
+Turks usurped the Government, such was the condition of the country. But
+they had also to put down a formidable rebellion of the Arabs, which
+occupied several years of exterminating war. This gave the _coup de
+grâce_ to the unfortunate Regency of Tripoli, and plunged it into
+complete ruin. There was, however, one city, far in The Desert, which
+appeared unaffected by these sanguinary and wasting revolutions--the
+holy-merchant-marabout city of Ghadames! the pacific character of whose
+inhabitants seemed to place it without the pale of such dire turmoils.
+But the Turks (the war with the Arabs ended, and at leisure) began to
+look about, and thought they saw an Eldorado looming beautifully in the
+_mirage_ of The Desert, which would speedily replenish their exhausted
+treasures, and put the Government of Tripoli in easy pecuniary
+circumstances. A pretext was soon found to excavate in this newly
+discovered Desert mine. "The people of Ghadames," said the Pashas of
+Tripoli, "are rebels--they sympathized with the Arabs--they did not come
+forward to help us to exterminate the Arabs--they must now pay for their
+disaffection." A forced contribution was therefore immediately levied
+upon them of 50,000 mahboubs and upwards, and the women and children were
+stripped of their gold and silver ornaments, and houses ransacked, to
+make up the amount at once. Ten thousand mahboubs were also demanded
+annually. This new demand threw the city into consternation, and the men
+brought out the women and the children into the streets, who fell upon
+their faces before the officers of the Pasha, and implored them not to
+deprive their wives and children of bread. It was at last settled they
+should pay 6,250 mahboubs, as an annual contribution. Under the Caramanly
+dynasty they paid only some 850 mahboubs per annum, besides being left to
+the uncontrolled management of their own affairs. Now, whilst the people
+are complaining of the large amount of taxation imposed upon them, and
+pleading their impossibility to pay up arrears--in this irritable state
+of things--an order comes from Ahmed Effendi in The Mountains, to collect
+an additional contribution of 3,225 mahboubs, under the pretext of its
+being wanted to maintain troops in Fezzan, and keep open the
+communications of commerce. This intelligence has so completely astounded
+the few remaining merchants who have any money, that they nearly lost
+their senses, yesterday and to-day, being very ill, and unable to attend
+to their ordinary business. The money for the last four months is not
+yet collected, and the people say they cannot pay up. Our Rais has three
+times represented to the Pasha the inability of the people, but the
+answer always is, "_money must be had_." I expect to witness some cruel
+scenes of extortion practised before I leave this place, like what I saw
+in The Mountains. I observe now the Rais can't keep a respectable
+collector. _No native of Ghadames will collect for him._ Sometimes he
+sends the Arab soldiers, who abuse the defaulters. Once an Arab soldier
+got hold of a poor man in the street, an acquaintance of mine, to drag
+him off before the Rais. I told him to stop a moment, and then having
+ascertained how much it was--about one shilling and eight-pence--paid the
+money and got the poor fellow clear this time. Sheikh Makouran is a true
+patriot. Whenever he sees anybody dragged off in this way through the
+streets, in spite of the Governor, and his being a member of the Divan,
+he takes upon himself to impede the course of justice (_extortion?_),
+abuses with all his might the officer, and if he can't rescue the
+defaulter, pays the money himself: so strives for public liberty this
+Hampden of The Desert!
+
+To-day, had a proof of the rancorous enmity of the ancient factions. A
+merchant of the Ben Welleed, who wished to visit me, said, "I must come
+round the city, for _I don't know_ the streets of the Ben Wezeet. Thank
+God! I never went through them in my life." This he said with vehemence,
+intimating that he never would enter the streets of the Ben Wezeet as
+long as he lived. A ghafalah has arrived from the oases of Fezzan,
+bringing corn and dates, productions abundant in those countries.
+
+_22nd._--Weather continues cool. Few more patients. Present of dates from
+one of them. Very little meat now killed in Ghadames, less and less every
+day. What will become of this once flourishing city it is hard to tell.
+The prejudices of the people against the residence of an European in this
+city have apparently disappeared; people are increasingly civil; many
+would willingly look upon me as their protector, were I made Consul, but
+unfortunately for them, I am not ambitious of, nor have any inclination
+for, the honour.
+
+This morning heard a curious opinion about Younas, or Jonas (Jonah), for
+the Arabs, like the Greeks[31], sometimes change the last letter of the
+Hebrew ה into a Σ. Probably they got their traditions through the Greeks
+or the Greek language. I was talking with a taleb about longevity, when
+he observed, "There is but one person who is always alive." "Who is
+that?" I inquired very anxiously. "It is our lord Jonas, who is living in
+_distant_ and _unknown_ parts of the world," he said. "Is he alone?" I
+further inquired. "No," he added, "he has with him a hundred thousand
+people, who live to a great age, but who at last die, whilst he is always
+living. Then as to Jesus, the son of Mary, he also never died, and went
+up to heaven alive. The Jews (the curse of God upon them!) only killed
+his _likeness_." I have always observed these mysterious events to
+transpire in some _unknown_ and _distant_ part of the world, and took the
+liberty of telling this taleb that the "smoke-ships" (steamers) could
+soon make every place in the world near and known, and then we might find
+out the residence of Jonah as well as the captivity of the ten tribes.
+The story of the ten tribes is pretty well known. A Maroquine rabbi told
+me they are somewhere about the regions of Gog and Magog, in Central
+Asia, situate in a country where there is a river running perpetually six
+days out of seven, very rapid and full of stones, so that they cannot
+pass it and return to the Holy Land. On the seventh it stops, when it
+might be passed, but on the Sabbath day the law does not permit them to
+travel. This is the Barbary version. Central Asia is still the land of
+mysteries for both Jews and Mohammedans. The Russians have done little to
+dispel these mysteries, if they have not tried to envelop these lands in
+profounder obscurity, for political purposes; but had we been established
+in Affghanistan, we might have discovered _Jibel Kaf_, the retreat of Gog
+and Magog, the strange stony river, the ten tribes, and all the other
+objects of Jewish and Mohammedan superstition. But as with the famous
+gardens of the Hesperides, the abode of perfectly happy mortals, which
+were shifted farther and farther from actual observation by the progress
+of ancient discovery, so the mysterious retreat of the ten tribes and the
+ever-living Jonas will be transferred to other unknown lands when modern
+discovery shall have exhausted Central Asia.
+
+Met Sheikh Makouran: asked him what was to be done to meet the
+extraordinary contribution. He said he couldn't tell, people had no
+money: Rais had so written to Tripoli, but was reprimanded by the Pasha.
+Advised him to send a deputation to the Pasha, or the British
+Consul-General. Had another example of the bad system of collecting
+monies, as often in Mahometan States, by means of common soldiers. These
+fellows do all the dirty jobs, everything necessary in the way of
+extortion; the more respectable officials shun these disagreeable
+transactions, especially if they be natives of the place where the taxes
+are collected. A great disturbance was in the streets, the people almost
+fighting with these extortioner ruffians. Going farther on, something
+absolutely ludicrous happened. The soldiers could not read, no person
+would read their papers for them, and they could not find out the person
+on whom they were to make their demands, although the parties were
+actually present. They then came to me to read their papers. I asked
+them, "Whether they thought it showed any of the friendship which they
+professed towards me to embroil me with the people of the country, whose
+hospitality I was receiving?" They were so convinced of the justice of my
+appeal, that they went off without replying. A Ghadamsee peasant called
+to me, "Yâcob, you must be our Consul!"
+
+Afternoon, Essnousee left for Ghat. Being extremely attached to this
+merchant, I went to see him off. About thirty of the Ben Weleed (for he
+is of this faction) accompanied him, the most respectable of this
+division of the the city; I was glad to see a person, in whom hereafter I
+might have to place implicit confidence, so much esteemed. His friends
+set to and loaded his camel before starting, as many as could find any
+thing, each taking an article of harness or equipment. This I observed
+often afterwards. It is reckoned friendly. By such conduct they show they
+are willing to render all the assistance in their power to their friend.
+I continued on the route of Ghat with Essnousee half an hour or more,
+bade him farewell and returned. His brothers and a slave left him with
+me. The merchant then proceeded on his desert journey of some fifteen or
+twenty days _absolutely alone_, for he had only a Touarick camel-driver.
+This demonstrates the security of the route. I said to the people
+afterwards, "Is he not afraid to go alone?" "No," was the answer, "they
+will only meet Touaricks, and these are our friends. You have only to pay
+a small trifle of toll in different parts of the route and you are quite
+safe. Sometimes you don't pay this." Essnousee will reach Ghat in twelve,
+whilst a quick caravan requires from eighteen to twenty days. With
+first-rate camels the journey could be performed in _eight_ or ten days.
+Strange infatuation! I felt an almost irrepressible desire to accompany
+Essnousee _as I was_, and to plunge anew into all the hardships and
+dangers of The Desert. But such is man, a creature of daring or absurd
+impulses! and the more he moves, and roams, and rambles, the more (in
+modern phrase) _locomotive_ he is--the less he likes repose, and seeks
+unceasingly such perilous stimulants. Observed, on returning, amongst the
+loose stones scattered upon the surface of The Desert, a great quantity
+of rubbish, like brick-bats thrown out from a brick-kiln, giving the face
+of the ground a burnt and volcanic appearance. Picked some up and could
+hardly believe but what they were burnt bricks. The Ben Weleed, who
+accompanied Essnousee, instead of the short and direct road through the
+streets of the Ben Wezeet, took a circuitous route round the inner walls
+of the city to arrive at the gate of departure, showing me how great was
+still the force of these factions. Essnousee himself told me he never
+went through the streets of the Ben Wezeet, nor did he expect he ever
+should in this world.
+
+_24th._--Yesterday and to-day employed in writing for the _Shantah_
+(Turkish, for mail). Rais in a good humour this evening. Two camels came
+in from The Sahara, one day's journey, laden with wood for the Rais. His
+Excellency offered some to me. The fact is, I purchased a camel-load a
+few days ago, and his Excellency's servants had nearly begged it all
+away. People generally burn dried and dead branches of the palm, which,
+in this season, is abundant. It is not good fire-wood; there is plenty of
+flame and smoke, but little heat. Said, on my return from the Rais,
+assures me he has heard from his visitors, the Touarick slaves, that now
+the Touaricks do not beat their slaves, but esteem all men _souwa,
+souwa_, ("equal"); it was not so in former times. Free and enlightened
+America may have yet to learn lessons of freedom and humanity from the
+savages of The Sahara!
+
+Purchased a _Thob_[32], a species of large lizard. It is common in The
+Sahara. The Touaricks eat them, and say they are _medicine_ for a pain or
+weakness in the back. This may have been surmised from the ideal
+resemblance between the strength of their backs, which is scaly and bony,
+and strongly bound together, and the strength it is likely to communicate
+unto persons having a weak or crippled spine. They are pretty good
+eating, and taste something like the kid of the goat; the tail is
+esteemed the greatest delicacy. I tasted of this which I bought, and
+liked it. There is no lizard of this species in Soudan. A Touarick told
+me that, having found one in The Desert, he carried it to Soudan, where
+a Negro prince fell in love with it, and gave him for it the present of a
+young female slave. The Arabs tame the Thob, and he grows very fond. Some
+of them are very large. This I purchased is only twenty inches in length,
+and about ten round the thickest part of the body. The head is large and
+tortoise-shaped, with a small mouth. It is covered with scales, or "scaly
+mail," and its tail is about four inches long, composed of a series of
+broad thick and sharp bones. It has four feet, or rather _hands_, for, as
+the Arabs say, "It has hands like _Ben-Adam_ (mankind)." All the body,
+back and flanks, are covered by shining scales, of the colour of a
+darked-spotted grey, with spots white and light under the belly. It runs
+very awkwardly on account of its bulky tail, and to look at is a
+miniature aligator or crocodile. It is almost harmless, fighting a little
+now and then; its appearance, however, is rather forbidding. It hides in
+the dry sandy holes of The Sahara. A drop of water, say the Arabs, would
+hurt it. The traditions of the Mohammedans mention that Mahomet did not
+himself eat the Thob, at the same time he did not prohibit it to his
+followers. The Saharan merchants, in traversing The Desert, frequently
+make a good meal of the Thob. Whilst talking of the Thob, the people said
+the flesh of parrots was _poison_ for Ben-Adam.
+
+_25th._--Another of my patients dead, of a raging fever caught, it is
+said, "by sleeping on the top of the house in the open air." The moon
+struck him, they say. According to the Psalms, "The sun shall not smite
+thee by day, nor _the moon by night_."
+
+They let him remain seven days without sending for me, when it was too
+late to administer my fever powders. I fetched an old gentleman who could
+bleed to have him bled, but they refused, saying it was now late. The old
+blood-letter vexed at their refusal, said, "Well, if I mustn't bleed him,
+let me pray for him;" and, immediately offered up a short prayer, in
+which they all joined willingly. On telling a Ghadamsee I ate some Thob,
+he said, "Ah, that's forbidden; the Thob was formerly a human being,
+before it had its present shape. Don't you see its hands are still
+_human_?" The notion of the transmigration of souls lingers in these
+parts, but it is a doctrine not generally received. I observed this man
+afterwards fattening his sheep with date-stones, broken into small
+pieces. Almost every family, however small, have their sheep to fatten.
+Pounded date-stones are also given to camels for fattening. Writing for
+amusement with my taleb, I recollected a verse in the Koran, which I
+wrote:--
+
+    ‮ارسلناك الّا رحمة للعلمين‬
+
+This filled him with surprise and horror, and he immediately scratched it
+out, as too pure and holy a thing to be in the possession of an Infidel.
+The translation is:--"We (God) have sent thee (Mahomet) only for mercy to
+mankind;" or, "Thy mission to man, O Mahomet! is only mercy." Such credit
+all impostors and pretenders to revelation claim for themselves, and such
+an object they declare to be the end of their mission, although at the
+same time, and in the same breath, they don't forget to doom all those
+who reject their authority to perdition. This, it would seem, is a
+necessary evil in propagating new religions and new sects. But enough of
+this--may the world grow more kindly--let us hope it will. This morning
+arrived a single Arab from Fezzan. It would appear extreme hardihood when
+we reflect, that for nine days, there is not a house, and scarcely a
+resting-place. The Arab was mounted on a camel. This arrival, as
+Essnousee's departure, shows the security of the routes in some
+directions. The Arab told me he made his journey in nine days, and
+stopped occasionally on the road to sleep and refresh himself. In the
+night he tied his camel's leg to his own leg, so that if it attempted to
+stray, it would awake him.
+
+Nothing new with Rais. Speaking of the Arabs, he says, "You know Arabs to
+be very devils. There are two ways to consider Arabs, but whichever way
+they are robbers and assassins. When they are famished, they plunder in
+order to eat; when their bellies are full, they plunder because they kick
+and are insolent. Now, we (Turks) keep them upon low diet in The
+Mountains; they have little, and always a little food. This is the
+Sultan's _tareek_ (government) to manage them. Their spirits are kept
+down and broken, and they are submissive." He then told me he had held a
+Divan to obtain the extra contribution of 3,200 mahboubs, for the Pasha;
+but the people protested they could not pay such an amount. I wrote a
+letter to Colonel Warrington, stating this circumstance, and asked him if
+he could assist the people in any way. I thought it a bare possibility
+that the hand of foreign diplomacy might be stretched out to save this
+city, which had flourished in the pursuits of its own peaceful commerce
+for more than a thousand years. . . . To mitigate the apparent harshness
+of his demand, the Rais observed, that before the Sultan occupied
+Ghadames, the country between this and Tripoli was full of banditti. "The
+Arabs of The Mountains," he added, "were all banditti, those amongst whom
+you resided eight days. The Touaricks were not so bad, they generally
+protected Ghadamsee merchants. Now since the Sultan, there are only the
+Shânbah and the Sebâah, therefore the Ghadamseeah must pay." So, _Audi
+alteram partem_.
+
+_26th._--To-day, resident thirty days in Ghadames which time I have
+certainly not lost. Written a good deal of MS., such as it is, and
+several letters; besides, applied myself to reading and writing Arabic.
+Likewise distributed medicines to a considerable number of invalids. Wish
+to pass the next month as profitably as the month gone. My expenses of
+living, including a guard to sleep in the house at night, and Said, are
+only at the rate of eighteen-pence per day; this, however, excludes tea,
+coffee, and sugar. Besides, Sheikh Makouran refuses to take anything for
+house-rent, saying, "It would be against the will of God to receive money
+from you, who are our sure friend, and our guest of hospitality." Few
+patients, in comparison with the past. As the winter approaches, the
+cases of ophthalmia are less. In the precipitation of leaving Tripoli,
+brought little ink with me, and most of that I gave away; so am obliged
+to go about the town to beg a little. The custom is, when one person
+wants ink, he begs it of another. Went to Ben Weleed, who procured me a
+supply.
+
+My intercourse has been mostly with Ben Wezeet, but to day I visited _Ben
+Weleed_ at the _Bab-Es-Sagheer_, ("the little gate,") or the
+_Bab-Es-Saneeah_, ("the gate of the garden,") where there were about
+forty of the most respectable of this faction assembled in a sort of
+gossiping divan amongst themselves. They told me they met here every
+morning, and chatted over the news of the previous day. Usually they meet
+just after sunrise, and certainly in this way they pass a cool and
+fragrant hour, full of the odoriferous breathings of the gardens as the
+day is awakening. I asked one, who were the richer, the Weleed or the
+Wezeet? He replied, with an honourable frankness, "The _Wezeet_."
+Observed many of the men had their eyelids blackened, like the women,
+with _Kohel_[33], and also their finger-nails and toe-nails dyed dark-red
+with henna[34]. I confessed I was surprised at this monstrous effeminacy.
+One of these _lady_-gentlemen was the son of the powerful Ettanee family;
+he was brought up to the Church, and of great promise, bidding fair to be
+future Kady or Archbishop. He put a curious question to me, "How much is
+the expense of a journey from Malta to Constantinople?" When I satisfied
+him, he said, "I shall go and buy some slaves at Ghat, and then convey
+them to Constantinople. Don't you think I shall make money by it?" I told
+him he would not find anybody at Malta to convey slaves to
+Constantinople; and if he took them there, they would be set at liberty,
+for a slave once touching British territory became free. To this he
+replied only, "I know--I knew before." I was extremely glad he did know
+it. It is strange to see a young man of this description so avariciously
+turn himself into a slave-dealer, but Mohammedan priests frequently
+trade.
+
+Marabouts in The Mountains are mostly camel-drivers; and the greater part
+of priests, marabouts, and kadys perform sacred duties gratis. An order of
+priesthood exists, though it is not kept up very distinctly from laymen,
+but it is an honour to them, "to work in the service of God for nothing,"
+and is worthy of the imitation of Christians. My new clerical friend gave
+me a dissertation upon things having two names, a classical one and a
+vulgar one. The Kohel is also called _Athmed_, ‮اثمد‬, which is
+its classical name. Senna is called _hasheeshah_, ‮حشيشه‬,
+literally "herbs," its vulgar name, and ‮سنا حرم‬,
+"senna of _Mecca_," (literally, of the inviolable,) which is its
+classical name. A little senna is found casually in the gardens of
+Ghadames; but the country of Senna, in The Sahara, is Aheer, where
+it is cultivated by the Touaricks. He pointed out to me the _Tout_,
+(‮توت‬,) the small white mulberry, which is planted in little
+squares of the city. Speaking of the Touaricks, he said: "These
+people are getting dissatisfied with us. Formerly we paid them
+better; but being robbed of our money by the Turks, we can't give
+them much. They smell also a disagreeable odour now. Formerly they
+came in and went out our city as a garden." "What odour is that?" I
+asked. "_It's that Rais_," he whispered in my ear. The fact is, the
+Touaricks felt themselves more at home before the Turks came here,
+which everybody can imagine.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This afternoon, whilst talking with the people about their antiquities,
+one of them said, "There are some figures remaining." I immediately asked
+him to show them to me. The youngster volunteered; and, to my great joy,
+I was taken off to a garden, where I saw the _bas-relief_ drawn above. I
+then thought about getting it in a quiet way to my house; so I went up to
+the owner of the garden in which it lay, and said to him in a very
+careless, indifferent manner, "What's the good of the stone to you--you
+may give it me; perhaps it will be of some use." The man replied at once,
+"Aye, Christian, take it." The youngster, who was a stout fellow, brought
+it off forthwith upon his head. I followed him in secret triumph,
+thinking myself very fortunate; for if any noise had been made, I should
+have had to pay several dollars for it, whatever might have been its real
+value, and, perhaps, not have got it at all. Indeed, some of the people
+were very jealous; and when I returned, they called out _flous! flous!_
+("money! money!") They thought I had got a rich prize, and I hope I have.
+I told them, if anybody had any _flous_, it would be the owner of the
+garden, who gave me the slab. The sketch represents, apparently, a
+soldier holding or feeding a horse, but of what age and country I shall
+not pretend to say, leaving that to antiquarians. It is broken off half,
+and otherwise pecked and mutilated by the people. It is a pious act of
+religion to deface stones representing figures of any sort, to decapitate
+heads of statues, and destroy every shape and symbol of the human
+likeness, not excepting likenesses of animals. An old Ghadamsee doctor,
+very fond of me, was, however, extremely glad when he saw me in
+possession of the slab. He kept saying, "Ah, Yâkob, that's your
+grandfathers (ancestors). See! isn't it wonderful? Ah, that's your
+grandfathers of the time of _Sidi Nimrod_. Take it home with you. Ah,
+that's your grandfathers!"
+
+This evening, heard that the heads of the people of Ghadames had adopted
+my suggestion of sending a deputation to Tripoli, to state their
+inability to meet the new and extraordinary demand of 3,200 mahboubs, the
+Governor consenting to their determination.
+
+_27th._--Weather still cool and pleasant, but the flies are in great
+numbers, and very disagreeable. Am obliged always to have my room
+darkened when I write, to keep them from tormenting me. They
+increase as the dates ripen, and soon after the dates are gathered
+in, they disappear, and not one is to be found during the winter. Haj
+Mansour gave me to-day a _meneshsha_ (‮منشّا‬) or fly-flap, made
+of the long flowing beard of the Wadan. It is a most effective
+whipper-away of the flies. It instantly disperses them, the fine
+strong hair of the Wadan's beard hitting them like pins and needles.
+This species of fly-flap is greatly valued in Soudan, where it sells
+at a high price. The hairs which are of a dull grey or red brown,
+are usually dyed with henna when made up into fly-flaps. I expressed
+myself extremely obliged to the Haj. _Wadan_ (Ar. ‮ودان‬), _Oudad_
+(Berber ‮اوداد‬), and English _Mouflon_, is the name of a species
+of animals between the goat and the bullock[35]. It is common in the
+Southern Atlas of Morocco, and is hunted in the neighbouring sands
+of Ghadames during winter by the Souf Arabs, and brought in and sold
+for butcher's meat. Wadan is said to be _medicine_ by the people,
+and tastes like high flavoured coarse venison. Three or four only
+have been sent to England[36]. Dr. Russell, in his _Barbary States_,
+makes it to resemble a calf, but it rather resembles a large goat or
+a horned sheep. Besides the _Wadan_ and the _Thob_, Saharan people
+eat many animals which hungry Europeans might eat, amongst the rest
+rats and mice, when in good condition. But the mouse is the large
+mouse of The Sahara. The Rais had a live Wadan which died just
+before my arrival. He regretted much as he would have given it to
+me. His Excellency promises to get me one.
+
+_Nimrod_ is always in the mouths of the Ghadamseeah as the founder of
+their city. They are especially fond of calling him a _Christian_. He is
+often called my grandfather, although I have not yet been able to trace
+my descent in a direct line from so august a progenitor. The European
+reader recollects where he is mentioned in the Jewish early records,--
+
+ ‮הוּא הָיָה נִבּר֗־צַיִד לִפְנֵי־יְהוָה‬
+
+"He was a mighty hunter before the Lord." Gen. x. 9. In the Arabic
+translation the word employed for "mighty" is the same as that of the
+Hebrew, _i. e._ ‮جبّار‬ the ‮ج‬ representing the ‮ג‬,
+omitting any word to correspond with ‮ציד‬; but the Moors
+understand generally by the term ‮جبّار‬, "a tyrant" and "a
+conqueror." So Hammoudah Bashaw, the great Bey of Tunis, is called
+by a faithful Tunisian historian of that country, a ‮جبّار‬.
+But, perhaps, in those remote times, the hunter and the tyrant, as in the
+Roman Commodus, were joined in one and the same person. Certainly this
+is the natural sense of the combination of the terms ‮גבר־ציד‬.
+To this might easily be added man-hunter and slave-maker, a worthy
+attribute of Nimrod. The gentlemen of the turf, of the Bentinck
+school, ought, however to protest against this supposition. Properly
+Nimrod is the Hercules of the Moors of North Africa. According to
+them he emerged from the East, overran and founded several cities in
+The Sahara, conquered all before him, put his feet upon the neck of
+all nations, and then passed the Straits of the Roman and Grecian
+Hercules, and built the far-famed Andalous (Spain), as also Paris
+and London, and no doubt planted the germ of the future courses of
+Epsom and Ascot, of which he is in our day made the mighty patron
+and the ruling god[37].
+
+After Nimrod the people are very fond of talking about _Enoch_, who is
+called in the Koran _Edrees_ (‮ادريس‬). My taleb says that he did
+not undergo the penalty of nature, but was translated, as, indeed,
+it is recorded of him in our sacred books. My taleb adds, "Enoch was
+a tailor, and one day the devil came to him and offered to sell him
+some eggs, declaring that in the eggs the whole world was included.
+Enoch rejoined, '_Also in the eye of my needle is the whole world
+comprehended_.' Immediately the eggs began to expand, and although
+really empty, swelled out as wide as the arms when outstretched.
+Enoch seeing this was all imposition, to punish the impostor, sewed
+up one of the devil's eyes, who went off in a great rage. The needle
+of Enoch was nevertheless all powerful, and the devil has gone about
+with _one eye_ ever since." My taleb asked me whether I ever heard
+of Noah. I opened the Arabic Bible and read some passages about the
+Flood. "Yes," he said, "Seedna (_our lord_) Noah was a carpenter
+(‮نجّار‬) because he built the ship (‮الفلك‬). I am also
+a carpenter. I will show you my collection of tools. But I don't work
+now at this trade, except for my amusement." The people know many of
+the common trades which they exercise occasionally as amateurs.
+
+Nothing puzzles the Touaricks and Negroes so much as my _gloves_. Am
+obliged to put them on and off frequently a dozen times a day, for their
+especial gratification. My Leghorn hat, on the contrary, here, as in The
+Mountains, is an object of admiration, on account of the fineness of the
+platting. It astonishes them how it could be done. The large straw hats,
+with huge broad brims, worn in The Desert, are all of the coarsest
+texture.
+
+This morning made inquiries of the Touaricks respecting serpents in
+The Desert. Could obtain but little information, the notions of the
+Saharan tribes in general being very confused about serpents. All
+serpents go under the name of _lefâah_ (‮لفعة‬). But other names
+are in use here, as ‮حنش‬, ‮حية‬ &c., which apparently are
+the generic names. The _boah_ mentioned by Dr. Russell I have not
+heard of. One of the Touaricks, however, described to me a serpent
+as being nearly as thick round as a man's body, but not more than
+three feet in its greatest length. This serpent has also large
+horns. It is not at all dangerous. There is a much longer serpent or
+snake, but not more than four inches round in thickness, which is
+dangerous. If we are to believe Mr. Jackson, the southern part of
+Morocco abounds with monstrous serpents, but in all my route through
+The Sahara, I met with none, nor heard of any. It is a very old
+trick of the poets and retailers of the marvellous to people The
+Desert with dragons, and serpents, and monsters of every kind. We
+know that on the banks of the _Majerdah_ an enormous serpent stopped
+the progress of the army of Regulus. Batouta, also, who flourished
+in the fourteenth century, pretends that "The Desert is full of
+serpents." Even Caillié, who saw neither lions nor elephants, or
+very few animals of any sort, says, when at the wells of
+_Amoul-Gragim_, "My rest was disturbed by the appearance of a
+serpent, five feet and a-half long and as thick as the thigh of a
+boy twelve years old. My travelling companions also experienced
+similar visits." If this report be correct, it evidently refers to
+the harmless _lefâah_ mentioned by the Touarick. At the ruins of
+Lebida, on the coast of Tripoli, an unusual number of large snakes
+were seen this year (1845), mounting upon and twining round the
+broken shafts of pillars still standing, as if at the command of
+some invisible _jinn_; but they were all perfectly harmless. The
+jugglers were catching them, to exhibit their forky tongues and
+snaky folds, as venomous and deadly, to the marvel-loving crowd. The
+lion of The Desert is a myth. The king of beasts never leaves his
+rich domain, the thick forest and pouring cascade, where water and
+animals of prey abound, for the naked, arid, sandy, and rocky wastes
+of The Sahara. The ancients and moderns, however, have persisted in
+representing Africa, not only as a country full of monsters, but
+"_always producing some new monster_,--"
+
+    Semper aliquid novi Africam afferre[38],
+
+all which is either entirely incorrect or a monstrous exaggeration. It
+would have been very _nice_ to fight one's way through The Desert in the
+midst of every kind of beast and monster which the gloomy imagination of
+men may have conjured up from the beginning of the annals of adventure
+and travel; this would have made these pages undoubtedly very "stirring
+and exciting." Happily Providence has not filled up those vast spaces
+which separate Northern and Central Africa with such hideous tenants!
+Sufficient are the evils of The Desert to the wayfarer who sojourns
+therein.
+
+In the evening, had a long conversation with a group of people. The
+subjects, in which they all felt more than ordinary curiosity, were, the
+new world of America, Australia, the Pacific, and the whales in it, and
+the gold and silver mines of South America, &c. The number of sheep,
+also, in Australia, amazed them, in comparison with the few wandering
+scattered flocks in The Desert. I am become a walking gazette amongst
+the people, and ought to be dubbed "Geographer of The Desert." They also
+question me on the relative forces of the Christian Powers, and have a
+great idea of the military strength of France. The capture of Algiers has
+produced a vivid and lasting impression of the French power throughout
+all North Africa. They consider England the great power on the sea, and
+France on the land. I have, besides, to tell them of the population of
+all the world, and to answer a thousand other questions. Sometimes their
+conversation, after being exceedingly animated, falls into unbroken and
+moody silence, and they recline for hours, without moving a muscle of the
+face or uttering a syllable. Indolence is the besetting sin of the
+Saharan tribes. It is also the same in Tripoli. Col. Warrington, in
+reporting upon the Tripolines, says:--"Whether the extraordinary
+indolence of the people proceeds from the climate, or want of occupation,
+I know not, but they are in an horizontal position twenty hours out of
+the twenty-four, sleeping in the open air." In this temperate season of
+the year, the Ghadamsees might find useful and healthful occupation in
+the gardens, but they are so confoundedly lazy that they won't stir, and
+what work really is done is performed by slaves. Such people deserve to
+starve. Caillié says:--"The Mandingoes would rather go without food part
+of the day than work in the fields; they pretend that labour would take
+off their attention to the Koran, which is a very specious excuse for
+laziness." Like most people in Central Africa, all their hard work is
+done by the poor slaves. The Ghadamsee people have, however, the excuse
+that, being a city of merchants, their object is repose when they return
+from long journeys.
+
+Paid a visit to Rais; presented to his Excellency one of my best razors,
+with which he was highly delighted. Saw plenty of my acquaintances, all
+pleased with the Ramadan being about to terminate. Few patients.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[30] The Arabic ‮عرك‬ seems to be used for a pustule or small
+    tumour. The term is applied to the tumour of a camel. There is
+    also the term ‮عرق‬, "decayed flesh or bone."
+
+[31] ‮يونس‬, Ἰωνας. _Esaias_ is changed in the same way.
+
+[32] ‮الضب‬, _Thob_--monitor: probably, _monitor pulchra_.
+
+[33] ‮كحل‬, _Kohel_, "powder of lead," name derived from the
+    epithet "_black_."
+
+[34] ‮حنّا‬, _Henna_, "Lawsonia alba," Law. The Henna shrub is
+    cultivated in irrigated fields at Ghabs (Tunis), and is a source
+    of wealth.
+
+[35] It is the _Ovis Tragelaphus_ of Zoologists.
+
+[36] I was fellow-passenger from Mogador with the male oudad, now
+    at the Royal Zoological Gardens. He is a very fine animal, but has
+    but one eye.
+
+[37] The foundation of Nimrod's reputation was laid in the East,
+    many curious facts of which have been preserved in Armenian
+    tradition. The Armenian Bishop, Dr. Nerses Lazar, says, for the
+    benefit of all England, (See his _Scriptural and Analogical
+    Conversations on the Physical and Moral World with reference to an
+    Universal Commercial Harmony_, published by Bentley, London,
+    1846):--"In the second age of the world, just on entering the
+    second century, _Nimrod began to be a mighty one in the earth_; he
+    was the first great warrior, conqueror, or most severe governor.
+    _He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said,
+    Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord_, by which means
+    he became a mighty monarch. For he inured himself to labour by
+    this toilsome exercise, and got together a great company of young
+    robust men to attend him in this sport; _who were hereby also
+    fitted to pursue men as they had done wild beasts_. (Here the Free
+    Kirk will find the beginning of the system which they are
+    patronizing in Yankee Land.) Besides, in the age of Nimrod, the
+    exercise of hunting might win him the hearts of men, whom he thus
+    delivered from wild beasts, to which they were much exposed in
+    their rude and unprotected way of living; so that many at last
+    joined him in the great designs he formed of subduing men, and
+    making himself master of the neighbouring people in Babylon,
+    Susiana, and Assyria. The memory of this hunting of his was
+    preserved by the Assyrians, who made Nimrod the same as Orion, for
+    they joined the dog and the hare, the first creature perhaps that
+    he hunted, with his constellation. He first erected Babylon, and
+    Assyria is called the land of Nimrod, &c., &c. He began to exalt
+    himself, and he is called _Bel_ from his dominions, and _Nimrod_
+    from his rebellion (against God)." The worthy prelate goes on
+    giving a very long affair about the father of huntsmen and
+    jockies. Nimrod has come up again in this our year of 1847. The
+    French and English antiquarians and excavators have dug him up,
+    and all his splendid posterity from the banks of the Euphrates at
+    the _Bir-el-Nimroud_. The _Royal Asiatic Society_ no doubt will
+    soon find his mark, or cross, His Turfy Highness not being
+    expected to be a _letterato_, in Cuneiform, wedge-shaped or
+    arrow-headed characters upon the unbaked or sun-dried bricks
+    thrown out of the famous Nineveh mound, so that at last Nimroud
+    will have full justice done him by a grateful posterity.
+
+[38] Pliny. This vulgar error of antiquity is cited
+     from the Greek of Aristotle.
+     Λεγεται δε τις παροιμα ὁτι αει τι Λιβυη καινον.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+FAST OF THE RAMADAN.
+
+     The Shâanbah and Banditti of The Desert.--Native Plays and Dances
+     of Ghadamsee Slaves.--Aâween, or Square of Springs.--The Women of
+     Ghadames, their Habits and Education.--The Ghadamsee and Berber,
+     or Numidian Languages.--Varieties of People and Population of
+     Ghadames.--Charge of corrupting the Scriptures.--Ben Mousa
+     Ettanee.--The Bishop of Gibraltar.--Continue teaching
+     Geography.--Ruin of the Country.--Approaching end of the
+     World.--Seeing the New Moon.--My Taleb disputes about
+     Religion.--Movements of Banditti.--The small Force by which the
+     Turks hold Tripoli.
+
+
+_28th._--HEARD the _Shâanbah_--‮شعانبة‬--and Touaricks are about
+to have a set-to. Last year they had a skirmish, and the Touaricks
+killed about eighty of the Shâanbah. These latter are going to
+avenge their defeat; they will attack the open districts, and then
+proceed to Ghat. The Shâanbah inhabit a desert of sand in the
+neighbourhood of Warklah--‮وارقلة‬--about fifteen days from
+Ghadames, and four from Souf. They are independent tribes, but small
+in number, not more than from five to six hundred. Nominally,
+however, they are located in French Algerian territory. They have
+been celebrated from time immemorial as the robbers and assassins of
+The Desert--_to be a brigand_ is, with them, an hereditary
+honour--and they are equally the dread of the people of Warklah,
+whose neighbours they are, as of stranger merchants and caravans.
+They have a well of water scooped out in the sandy regions where
+their tents are pitched, and here they live in a horrid security,
+defying all law and authority, human and divine, and all the
+neighbouring Powers. Around them is an immensity of sandy wastes,
+and none dare pursue them to their abhorred dens. Horses, indeed,
+would be useless; and camels might wander for months without water,
+and perish before coming upon their hiding places in these dreadful
+regions. "Two hundred men would require four hundred camels, eight
+hundred water-skins, and provisions for two months," says the Rais,
+"and therefore we must leave them to be exterminated by time."
+Unfortunately, they are recruited from the bad characters of the
+Souafah, a kindred tribe of Arabs, and other outlaws. The Shâanbah
+are the great professional bandits of the North, but there are some
+other fragmentary tribes, located on the confines of The Sahara, and
+the valleys of the Atlas. Particularly I may mention the horde of
+brigands of Wady-es-Sour, which infest the routes between Touat and
+Tafilelt. But this horde is more placable, and mostly, after levying
+black-mail, will allow a caravan to pass uninterruptedly on its way.
+The expedition of the Shâanbah will take place after Ramadan, for,
+like the story of the Spanish assassins, who, being too early to
+enter the house of an unfortunate victim, went in the meanwhile to
+the matins which were being celebrated in a neighbouring church, so
+these pious assassins of The Desert highways will not proceed to
+their work of blood and slaughter until the fast of Ramadan is
+concluded. The Shâanbah and Touaricks are, besides, national enemies
+as to blood, the former being pure Arab, and the latter of the
+Berber, or aboriginal stock of North Africa. The Shâanbah have for
+arms common matchlocks, and a few horses in addition to their
+camels. The Touaricks have the spear, dagger, the straight broad
+sword, and a few matchlocks and pistols, it is said, and all are
+mounted on camels, so the contest is somewhat differently balanced
+with regard to the mode of equipment. People speculate as to the
+success of the parties, but their sympathies are entirely with the
+Touaricks.
+
+Said comes in blubbering, sympathizing with his countrymen, saying,
+Rais has been bastinadoing his household slaves, natives of Bornou
+like himself. Rais certainly ought not to do this, for he does not
+bastinade his Moors or Arab servants. In the evening I went with
+Said to see the slaves of Ghadames indulge in their native dances and
+other plays. These are called ‮لعب العبيل‬ "_playing of the
+slaves_." The festival of the evening was "_the night of power_"
+(‮ليلة القدر‬), on which the Koran[39] descended from heaven,
+and the slaves were allowed a holiday in consideration of this
+solemnity. The slaves danced in a circle around a leader of the
+dance in the centre. At first, it is a simple walking round, face to
+back, the legs raised, and a little swinging, and the steps keeping
+time to the iron castanets fastened on the hands of each. Meanwhile,
+they sing, and the chorus comes at intervals between the noise of
+castanets, or finger-clappers. They now turn round and face their
+leader, some prostrating before him, and others twirling themselves
+round, but always moving in their circular motion and singing. The
+tones of their voice are melodious and deep, not the plaintive
+wearying monotony of the Arabs. Now the sounds increase, the chorus
+rises higher and higher, the steps fall heavy, like the tread of
+military, on the ground; and now, sounds, steps, and every noise and
+movement quickens, until it becomes a frantic rush around their
+terrified leader, who is at last, as the finish of the dance,
+overthrown in the wild tumult. . . . . . . Besides the castanets,
+they have a rude drum, consisting of a piece of skin stretched over
+the mouth of a large calabash, brought from Soudan, which makes a
+low hollow sound: to these is added occasionally a rude squeaking
+hautboy. This circular dance was performed by about thirty male
+slaves, gaily dressed in their best clothes, and evidently all very
+happy, in truth, the free blood of their native homes danced through
+their veins. Aye, the poor slave danced and sung! happier far than
+his proud and wealthy master, who looked on in moody silence. So God
+has ordained it to alleviate and balance human miseries. This dance
+of freedom lasted a full hour, and was very laborious. There were
+several Negresses near, who answered in shrill voices to the deep
+choruses of the Negroes, but did not themselves dance. After the
+circular dance, came off reels of couples. These were danced with
+great spirit, nay, violence: there was no dancing of a person
+singly. None of the dancing was indecent, like the Moorish; the
+lower part of the body and legs now and then assumed steps and
+positions like the well known Spanish _fandango_ with castanets.
+
+_29th._--Weather is now tolerably cool all day long in the city, but
+not cool enough for agreeable travelling. Sketched to-day the
+_Aâween_, ‮اعوين‬, or square of "fountains," which belongs to the
+faction of the Ben Weleed. A group of fifty persons surrounded me,
+all clamoring to see what I was doing, and making the funniest
+observations. They call drawing, _writing_ a thing. One said, "Ah,
+it is well written, the Christians know everything but God."
+Another, "Yâkob, shall you give that writing to your Sultan?" From
+the fountains in this square, which merely run into stone troughs,
+the camels drink.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The white women, or the respectable women of Ghadames, white or coloured,
+never descend to the streets, nor even go into the gardens around their
+houses. Their flat-roofed house is their eternal promenade, and their
+whole world is comprehended within two or three miserable rooms. The
+date-palms they see, and a few glimpses of The Desert beyond--and this is
+all. Truly it is necessary to establish an Anti-Slavery Society for the
+women of this oasis. I have visited a few of them in their private
+apartments with their husbands, in my capacity of quack-doctor. None of
+them were fair or beautiful, but some pleasing in their manners, and of
+elegant shape; they are brunettes, one and all, with occasionally large
+rolling, if not fiery, black eyes. They are gentle in their manners, and
+were very friendly to The Christian. Many of them, in spite of their
+seclusion, shewed extreme intelligence; they are also very industrious.
+My taleb assured me the little money he got from keeping the register of
+the distribution of water, and other minor matters, could not keep his
+family, and his chief support was from the industry of his wife in
+weaving, whom he highly praised, adding, "God has given me the best wife
+in Ghadames." Most of the women weave woollens enough for the consumption
+of their family, and some for sale abroad. The education of women
+consists in learning by heart certain prayers, portions of the Koran, and
+legendary traditions of the famous _Sunnat_. The women are proud of their
+learning, and the men pride themselves in saying, "Only in this country
+are women so well instructed!" Besides this, they have the privilege of
+going to the mosques very early in the morning, and late in the evening,
+where they say their prayers like men, at least, so I understood from my
+taleb; but a Christian must not ask questions about women in these
+countries. The same authority assured me, the women, mostly negresses and
+half-castes, seen in the streets in the day-time, are slaves, or esteemed
+as such, the Touarick women excepted. I have no doubt the manners of the
+women of this city are generally very correct, and as chaste as any women
+in North Africa. But the Touarick women, especially of the elder sort,
+are not always exceedingly refined. One morning, going out from my
+house, I found some seven or eight Touarick women sitting on the
+stone-bench at the door. They began to laugh and joke with me; at last
+one of the elder present said, "Now, Christian, give me some money, and
+then I'll come into your house." At this delicate sally, all expressed
+their approbation in loud laughter: the half-caste women are much the
+same. A Moor said something to me, which I did not understand, and then
+laughed and said, "It is a Negro word," and, lest I should want an
+interpreter, an half-caste lady present, putting her hand deliberately to
+something, said, "That's the meaning," repeating the action two or three
+times. On the whole, however, I have not seen so many cases of indelicacy
+in this part of the world, as are to be seen almost every day in Paris
+and London. No, the morals of The Desert are mostly pure and continent as
+compared to those of our great European cities.
+
+My taleb to-day made a vocabulary of the Touarghee, Ghadamsee, and Arabic
+languages. He finished also the translation of the third chapter of
+Matthew into the Ghadamsee language, which I sent afterwards to the
+British and Foreign Bible Society. I did not expect that he would have
+done it so easily, thinking his religious scruples would have interfered.
+He would have done all the Gospels had I paid him. According to Ben
+Mousa, the Ghadamsee language contains a few Arabic words, and is a most
+ancient dialect. It is spoken only at Siwah and Ougelah, two Tripoline
+oases near the coast, ten days apart, on the route to Egypt, and there is
+a dialect something like it in one of the Tunisian mountains. Many of the
+Touarghee words, he says also, are very much like, if not the same, as
+those of Ghadamsee. I showed him the Gospel of St. Luke, translated into
+the Berber language of Algeria, through Mr. Hodgson, and published by the
+Bible Society. He was only able to recognize a few Ghadamsee words in
+this translation. The Berber dialects, which comprehend the Ghadamsee,
+the Touarghee, the Kabylee, the Shouweeah (of Dr. Shaw), and the Shelouk
+of Morocco, although more or less intimately related, are very dissimilar
+in many words and expressions. But they are sister branches of one
+original mother, which require to be reduced to consistency and harmony
+by some mastermind, and then a very copious and powerful language might
+be formed. Such is said to have been the state of the German language
+when Luther made his translation of the Scriptures, by which he laid the
+foundation of the present mighty language of the Germans. Their common
+enemy is the Arabic, which is daily making inroads upon them; and the
+probability is, instead of being moulded into one mighty whole, they will
+in the course of a few centuries be destroyed by the language of their
+religion, for which the Berber tribes have a superstitious reverence.
+There is a singularity about the language of Ghadames: it has differences
+as spoken by the two factions of the Weleed and the Wezeet, the
+provincialisms of the country. It is highly probable that the various
+Berber dialects are the fragments of the language of those formidable,
+but doubtful, auxiliaries, which so often balanced and changed the
+fortune of Roman and Carthaginian arms. Of all these Numidian dialects,
+only one people has amongst them a native alphabet, the rest using Arabic
+characters: this people are the Touaricks. It is besides worthy of
+remark, that amongst all the African tribes of Central Africa, nay, every
+part of Africa, excepting the Coptic and Abyssinian Christians, only one
+alphabet has been found, none of the other tribes having any characters
+wherewith to write. Specimens of the Touarghee and Ghadamsee language, as
+well as this alphabet, have been recently published, under the auspices
+of the Foreign Office.
+
+The language of Ghadames is spoken by an extremely mixed and various
+population. Some are from Arabs of the plains, others from Arabs of the
+mountains, others from Berber tribes, others from Moors of the Coast, and
+not a few from Negress mothers, of every description of Negro race found
+in the interior. Sometimes the men make a boast of being descended from
+ancestors of pure Arab blood, from immigrants of the princes of Mecca and
+countries thereabouts in Arabia, but in practice they contemn the
+principle of uncontaminated blood, cohabiting with their favourite female
+slaves, and from these rearing up a large family of mixed blood and
+colour. In the Arab suburb a considerable number of free Negroes, the
+offspring of liberated slaves, are settled. This class of population has
+been mistaken for emigration from the interior, by some writers; but
+Negroes never emigrate from the south to the north over The Desert,
+however, some may wander, like the Mandingoes, in the countries of
+Western Africa, as itinerant traders, tinkers, and pedlars. The city of
+Ghadames presents therefore a most mixed and coloured population, there
+being but very few of pure Arab blood, and fewer still of fair
+complexions. I have seen, nevertheless, some families of sandy hair and
+fair skins; but, certainly, the _barbarossa_ ("red beard,") or flaxen
+locks, are not esteemed. These children of the sun prefer the raven-black
+beard, the tanned skin, and the gazelle eye. The united population
+amounts to about 3,000, but there are many Ghadamsee families established
+in Soudan and Timbuctoo. I may add, six languages are spoken daily in
+Ghadames, viz., Ghadamsee, Arabic, Touarghee, Housa, Bornouse, and
+Timbuctoo. The Rais has not a Turkish soldier or servant with him, or
+Turkish would make seven. Mourzuk being a garrison town, there Turkish,
+Greek, Italian, and Tibbo may be added to these six languages. The Negro
+languages are spoken by the slaves and free Negroes, and the merchants in
+conversing with them.
+
+As a specimen of flying reports, I heard yesterday Bona was not in the
+hands of the French, but the Mussulmans. With respect to _shamatah_
+("fighting"), the reports added, the French had lost 100,000 men in
+battle! The eyes of all genuine Moslems are turned anxiously westwards,
+and force and conquest, is everything with them.
+
+_30th._--The mornings are now very cool and delicious. Walked on my
+terrace, and enjoyed the fresh air of this autumnal spring. The palms are
+beautiful to look upon, and the Desert city has the aspect of an
+Hesperides. Are these the "fortunate isles" of the ancients? A few birds
+twittering and chirping about, pecking the ripe dates.
+
+My taleb, backed with two or three Mussulman doctors, charged me in
+the public streets with corrupting and falsifying the text of the
+word of God. "This," he said, "I have found by looking over your
+‮الانجيل‬ Elengeel (Gospel)." It is precisely the charge which
+we make against the Mohammedans. But our charge is not so much
+corrupting one particular revelation as falsifying the entire books
+of the Jews and the Christians, of giving them new forms, and adding
+to them a great number of old Arabian fables. A taleb opened the
+Testament at the Gospel of St. Mark, and read, _that Jesus was the
+Son of God_. Confounded and vexed at this, he said, "_God neither
+begets nor is begotten_," (a verse of the Koran). An Arab from the
+Tripoline mountains turned upon me and said, "What! do you know
+God?" I answered sharply, "Yes; do you think the knowledge of God is
+confined to you alone?" The bystanders applauded the answer.
+
+In general, the ignorant of the population of this part of North Africa,
+as well as Southern Morocco and Wadnoun, think the Christians are not
+acquainted with God, something in the same way as I heard when at Madrid,
+that Spaniards occasionally asked, if there were Christians and churches
+in England: "Hay los Cristianios, hay las iglesias in Inglaterra?" But in
+other parts of Barbary, I have found, on the contrary, an opinion very
+prevalent, that the religion of the English is very much like the
+religion of the Moors, arising, I have no doubt, from the absence of
+images and pictures in Protestant churches.
+
+This evening, when visiting the Ben Weleed, conversation turned upon the
+Bas-Relief. The people showed some jealousy at my possessing it, and
+would have prefered that it remained in the oasis, and were not sent to
+Tripoli. They added:--"Because it proves that God has given us the land
+of the Christians." This is the grand argument in proof of the
+Mussulman's religion, that God has given him the countries of the
+Infidels. Indeed, the sooner the Bas-Relief is off the better. On my
+observing that the slab belonged to a date prior to the Christians, they
+were astonished, and asked, "_Who were before the Christians?_" They have
+no idea of people before the Christians. The conversation was suddenly
+stopped by the appearance of a remarkable personage, the _quasi_-Sultan
+of the Ben Weleed. This was the famous rich and powerful Haj Ben Mousa
+Ettanee. He is a man of a great age, and nearly blind, and the chief of
+the most numerous and influential family of Ghadames. He always exhibits
+a most difficult and obstinate temper in public affairs, and, I
+understand, from the first, has shown an hostility to my residence in
+Ghadames, unlike the Sheikh Makouran, who is the recognized Chief of the
+Ben Wezeet, and who has shown himself as favourable as the other Chief
+hostile. There may be a little of the spirit of faction in this; for we
+see often a person unsupported by the one party, because he is supported
+by the other party. But the whole family of Ettanee is considered _wâr_
+("difficult"). The Rais speaking to me of this family, said: "Wâr, wâr--I
+can do nothing with the Ettanee." Ettanee was attended by two or three
+servants, one carrying a skin, and another a cushion to recline on
+(_mokhaddah_). These arranged, the old gentleman mounted upon the
+stone-bench and took his seat, everybody making way for him with the
+greatest alacrity. Having heard I was present, after a short silence, he
+addressed me: "Christian, do you know Scinde[40]?" I replied, "I know
+it." "Are not the English there?" he continued. "Yes," I said. He then
+turned and said something to the people in the Ghadamsee language[41]. My
+conversation with them was always in Arabic. He abruptly turned to me,
+"Why do the English go there, and eat up all the Mussulmans? Afterwards
+you will come here." I replied, "The Ameers were foolish, and engaged in
+a conspiracy against the English of India; but the Mussulmans in Scinde
+enjoyed the same rights and privileges as the English themselves."
+"That's what you say," he rejoined, and then continued: "Why do you go so
+far from home, to take other people's countries from them?" I replied,
+"The Turks do the same; they came here in The Desert." "Ah! you wish to
+be such oppressors as the Turks," he continued very bitterly, and then
+told me not to talk any more. No one present dared to put in a word. This
+painful silence continued for some time. I was anxious to get off,
+feeling very disagreeable; and beginning to move, he said to somebody,
+"_Who's_ that?" for he couldn't see much, being nearly blind. They told
+him it was the Christian going. He cried out, "Stop!" and then added,
+"You have books with you, but you English are not Christians. You deceive
+us. Nor are the Danish, or the Swedes, or the Russians Christians. _They
+have no books._" He meant _religious_ books. The same opinion, I found
+afterwards, was entertained by Haj Ibrahim, a very respectable and
+intelligent Moorish merchant of Tripoli. Haj Ibrahim said to me, "How is
+it that you have books on religion, when the English have none?"
+Formerly Ettanee resided at Tripoli; and I have not the least doubt both
+these Moors derived this false information from the intolerant and
+Protestant-hating Romanist priests resident in Tripoli, backed as the
+falsehoods were by the absence of any English church or worship, although
+the English Consul very regularly celebrated worship in his family every
+Sunday,--a circumstance which ought to have been known amongst the town
+population of all religions. I am sorry the intentions of the British
+Government have been so feebly carried out by the Bishop of Gibraltar.
+Her Majesty's Government was anxious that Dr. Tomlinson should visit all
+the coasts of the Mediterranean, both to strengthen the few Protestants
+scattered on these inhospitable shores, and to show the various
+authorities and people of this famed inland sea, that the English had a
+religion, and cared for its prosperity. Up to the time I left the Barbary
+coast, Dr. Tomlinson had neither visited Tunis nor Tripoli, though he had
+been resident at Malta some three years. This is too bad; and it is quite
+clear the Bishop does not understand the object of his mission in the
+Mediterranean. He ought to have shown himself at once in all Barbary; he
+then might have annihilated this monstrous error, propagated by Romish
+priests, that the English had no religious books, and were not
+Christians. It is but justice to add, the Bishop went to Tangiers. Mr.
+Hay expected a very unctuous episcopal visit, and was shocked to hear the
+good Bishop talk so much about fortifications and "horrid war." There is
+consistency in everything; and common sense dictated that the Bishop
+should have, on such a visit, assumed his character of "Overseer of the
+scattered Protestant flock." Unfortunately, when he went first to Malta,
+Dr. Tomlinson acted more like an episcopalian tight-rope dancer, always
+balancing himself between Puseyism and Evangelicalism, and so distracted
+the few Protestants at Malta. He is eminently a man of no decision of
+character; and whenever he does manage to get up his reluctant will to a
+decision, it is invariably on the wrong side of the question. Here in The
+Desert I found myself pestered with both political and religious
+questions; and to have shirked either, would have been to offend the
+people. There was no alternative but to preach to them that all the
+English and all Protestants had the same Bible as the Romanists, and were
+equally Christians with them. I may add, of the Bishop of Gibraltar:
+Since my return, I have heard that his Lordship found all his efforts
+useless to conciliate the Malta papistical authorities; that he was much
+shocked at their treachery; and that he was determined, on his return
+again to Malta, _to become once more a good Protestant_. The truth is, he
+had nothing to do with the Roman Catholics. He was to mind and care for
+the Protestants in Malta, and on the shores of the Mediterranean. I
+believe, however, he did do something in the way of unpleasant
+interference with Colonel Warrington. It is well known the Colonel was
+high-priest of Protestantism through his long Consular service of
+thirty-three years, as well as Her Britannic Majesty's Consul. The
+Colonel baptized, married, and buried, whenever applied to. He baptized,
+married, and buried the members of his own family, and was surprised Sir
+Thomas Reade had not the courage to do the same. Of this the Colonel was
+very proud, citing the authority of some peer in the British Parliament,
+who said, "If the King's subjects wished to _procreate_ in a foreign
+land, where there was no parson, why should not the British Consul help
+them?" This the Bishop demurred at; but the Colonel supported himself on
+the authority of Dr. Lushington. The Colonel was undoubtedly right.
+Still, politically and ecclesiastically, it would be much better if
+English clergymen of some denomination or other were established along
+the line of the whole coast of North Africa, which would show the native
+Mussulmans we had a religion, and that we could afford to support and
+protect our co-religionists. The French reap a good harvest by _their
+protection of Christians_, which, characteristically enough, they use as
+a political engine of aggrandizement.
+
+On returning home, my Moorish friends pestered me still with more
+questions, as to what people were _before_ the Christians. I endeavoured
+to impress upon them, that the Christian era was comparatively _new_, and
+that _before_ Christ, there were many nations, and great events occurred.
+I found them grossly ignorant. But I had the good fortune to procure an
+Arabic map in the possession of one of the merchants, who had laid it up
+for many years amongst dusty papers. This had been published by the
+printers and agents of the Church Missionary Society of Malta, very much
+to their credit. By the aid of this, I made more progress in teaching
+geography to the people. Seeing several dots on the map where _Sahara_ is
+written, the people asked me what it meant. I told them sand. However, I
+must protest against this device. We shall see that the greater part of
+The Desert is stone and hard earth. The term "_sandy border_" of The
+Desert is equally incorrect. Such a distinction does not exist in the
+Tripoline provinces. The Desert comes up to the gates of Tripoli, it then
+gives way to cultivation and The Mountains; it beyond them appears again
+here and there and everywhere, within and without the regions of rain.
+There is nothing like a border of The Desert. The "Grand Desert" and
+"Petite Desert" of the French, are equally incorrect and absurd. All is
+Sahara, or waste, uncultivated lands, and oases scattered thick within
+them, as spots on the back of the leopard[42].
+
+Saw the Rais late, who had heard all about my conversation with Ettanee,
+and jokingly said, "_Wâr, wâr_, that old fellow, aye?" His Excellency
+turned, to other matters: "The Shânbah are not going to attack the
+Touaricks, they are coming hereabouts to plunder our caravans." Asked
+him, if the city was secure enough to prevent them entering and pillaging
+it? His Excellency replied, "Yes," but adding, "_koul sheyan maktoub_
+(all is predestinated)." This doctrine is not only a comfort in every
+misfortune, but also an apology for every fault, crime, or mismanagement
+a person may be guilty of. Nay, if a man be starved to death, because he
+will not work, which is sometimes the case in this part of the world, as
+well as Ireland, it is destiny and the will of God! . . . . . . So of all
+other things. If Ghadames should be stormed and plundered by the Shânbah
+in its present defenceless condition, it will be, as a matter of course,
+the will of God. But I must add, which unhappily cannot be said of
+Ireland, the security of human life is very great in Ghadames and the
+neighbouring desert. I have heard of no murder since I have been here,
+and a murder is the last thing thought of. This does not arise from any
+preventitive police, but from the simple dispositions of the
+people--their horror and unwillingness to shed human blood! If a
+messenger from a distant planet were to come to prove the divinity of a
+religion, from the absence of the crime of murder, and were to take these
+Saharan oases, and our Ireland, and put them in the balances of Eternal
+Justice, we should soon see Ireland and its popular religion kick the the
+beam, as--
+
+         "The fiend look'd up, and knew
+    His mounted scale aloft."
+
+The "signs of the times" in this country are, when I first came here
+bread was found in the Souk occasionally, as a luxury for the poor who
+could not buy wheat and make bread; now, and it is only a little more
+than a month, no bread is to be found. To-day not a single sheep was
+killed anywhere, and I am obliged to go without meat. So the country
+progresses in poverty and misery, so rapidly is its money being filched
+from the people! Or, is it because every body has conspired together
+against the Rais, and determined to wear an air of abject poverty? And
+thus to evade the new contributions? This cannot be. To-morrow is the
+last day of Ramadan; provided the new moon can be seen. I hope they'll
+see it, for I am heartily sick of the Ramadan: the most amiable and
+kind-hearted get out of humour in Ramadan; as to the Rais, I never go to
+see him, except in the evening, unless to get a little money from him,
+his Excellency being my banker. A Turk, who smokes all day long for
+eleven months out of twelve, must suffer greatly in these thirty days.
+Should like to have tried a day's fasting, as I have been so strongly
+recommended by the people, but I expect to have enough of fasting in The
+Desert, and it is of no use adding to our miseries for the sake of
+curiosity or vanity. From recent conversations, it appears there is no
+great danger in attempting Timbuctoo, but I have resolved on the route of
+Kanou, because my object is not so much a journey of discovery, as to
+collect a statistical account of the slave-trade, and see whether there
+are any practicable legitimate means for extinguishing the odious
+traffic. For this latter object, the Kanou route is decidedly more
+advantageous. A wild adventure to Timbuctoo, ever so successful, can
+never serve me in such stead in the end, when I have to read my own heart
+and its motives, as a humane mission on the behalf of unhappy weak
+Africans, doomed, by men calling themselves Christians, to the curse of
+slavery.
+
+_1st October._--Sheikh Makouran paid me a visit this morning. Our
+conversation turned chiefly on the discoveries of lands and countries
+since the times of Christ and Mahomet. The Sheikh was a little surprised
+when I told him: "We ought to consider the world as just beginning, for
+the ancients knew but little, and the greater part of the now inhabited
+world was unknown to them." Moors, like some Christians, think the time
+is near when Deity shall appear to destroy all unbelievers in their
+respective religions. For myself, I cannot but believe that the world has
+only _yet_ begun. It is impossible that the Creator should destroy the
+world in its present imperfect state. No--the world will go on yet
+thousands of years on years in the path of improvement unto (_shall I
+say?_) perfection. At any rate, I belong to those whose aspirations are
+for the future and not for the past. I am not enamoured with Hebrew
+patriarchal innocence, or Grecian classic polish and freedom, or
+Christian mediæval chivalry of the past. I am of the _New_ Englanders,
+but not for the resurrection of the past. Rather than subscribe to
+divinely-anointed kings and pious monks, church charities and May-day
+holidays and May-poles for the people, I would sooner affix my signature
+to railways, electric telegraphs, and the wild, bold, and raving
+aspirations of a Shelley--in fact, to plunge anywhere head _foremost_,
+than back again into the past.
+
+A Moor to-day, in wishing to give a grand idea of the Touaricks (some of
+whom were present), said, "Muley Abd Errahman (Emperor of Morocco) and
+the Sultan of Stamboul, pay tribute to the Touaricks; but they pay
+tribute to no one." This is ingeniously made out by the merchants of
+Tripoli and Morocco, the subjects of the two Sultans, being obliged to
+pay black-mail in passing through the Saharan districts of the Touaricks.
+Some of the ill-natured are continually magnifying the dangers of the
+route of Kanou, and one present said, "You can't go, there are thousands
+of Touaricks to block up your way." Annoyed with this man and others, I
+replied, "Do Touaricks eat the flesh of Christians after they have killed
+them?" This made him very angry, and he began to apologize for the
+Touaricks, one class of Mohammedans being always anxious to defend
+another from unwonted or odious suspicions. They have, nevertheless, not
+the least difficulty in confessing that the Touaricks will kill
+Christians, as such, thus tacitly acknowledging it to be right to kill
+Christians. The more respectable Ghadamseeah argue that in no case, if I
+pay the Touaricks a certain sum as tribute, or what not, have the
+Touaricks a right by the law of the Prophet to do me the least harm.
+Heard all the Arab soldiers have run away from Emjessen, being without
+anything to eat. These wise Turkish commanders gave the poor fellows a
+bag of barley and a little oil, and left it, like the widow's cruse in
+Holy Writ, to replenish itself. The Shânbah may now go and drink the
+water of the well, and plunder the caravans as they please. The wonder is
+that more open-desert robberies are not committed.
+
+The Rais told me this evening that _one_ person saw the moon, but it is
+necessary _two_ should have seen the dim, pale, half-invisible crescent
+streak. Then the _âyed_ after the fast would have been to-morrow. At
+sun-set, all the people were on the _qui-vive_, the Marabouts mounting
+the minaret tops, but none saw it but this solitary moongazer, who, said
+the Rais, "might have _imagined_ he saw the moon." The telescope was not
+lawful, he added, "The people must see it with the naked, unassisted
+eye."
+
+_2nd._--No patients; only a little girl with severe ophthalmia, and the
+old blind man, who fancies his eyes are better with the application of
+the caustic. Generally the Moors think there is a different sort of
+medicine for women. Yesterday I was asked for a medicine for women. I
+gave a man a fever powder for his wife. This morning being the last
+before the Ramadan, the Rais sent me a _backsheesh_ of meat (not cooked)
+and a quantity of rice, enough to make a sumptuous festa. Certainly the
+Rais is very gracious, and continues, if not increases, in his friendly
+feelings towards me. People are killing and preparing for the festival.
+There's a report, the merchants in Tripoli are afraid to leave for this
+city on account of rumoured depredations of the Sebâah and Shânbah.
+To-morrow, my taleb says he marries his two daughters. He prepares the
+wedding-feast, and gives his daughters a stock of _semen_ (liquid
+butter), and barley and wheat, to begin the world with. The sons-in-law
+make presents to their brides of clothes, besides a little money; and
+this is all the matter. My taleb seems very glad to get rid of his
+daughters so easily; they are extremely young--thirteen and fifteen.
+Besides these daughters he has a pet son. People usually choose a
+religious festival, for the day of the celebration of their nuptials, as
+in some parts of England. The taleb then, who is excessively fond of
+religious discussion, began, "The essence of all religion is,--
+
+     ‮وهو لا يولد ولا مولد‬
+    _He_ (God) _neither begets nor is begotten_: and
+
+     ‮وما عند الله شركاً‬
+    _God has no associate_":--
+
+both referring to the unity of God. Speaking of the duration of the
+world, I said:--"The world must now begin, for, up to this time, men have
+been generally very ignorant; and until lately the whole of the earth has
+not been discovered." Very angry at this, he replied:--"Now the world
+will finish; God is coming to destroy all you Christians, and all the
+black _kafers_ (infidels), as well as the white." He then gave me an
+account of the creation. "The world," he said, "was created seven times,"
+&c., &c., adding many curious things.
+
+_I._--"What is to become of the world; are nearly all its inhabitants,
+from its beginning until now, to be d----d?"
+
+_He._--"Yes."
+
+_I._--"Is this the decree of God?"
+
+_He._--"Yes, all is _maktoub_."
+
+_I._--"But you say, God, is ‮الرحمان الرحيم‬,
+      (_Most merciful_.)"
+
+_He._--"Yes; but men won't obey his religion and Mahomet."
+
+_I._--"What is to become of those who never saw, nor never could see or
+read the Koran?"
+
+_The Taleb._--"I don't know; God is great; God must have mercy upon
+them."
+
+_I._--"Undoubtedly God created the world; but according to you, the world
+is now all corrupt (_fesad_), and nearly all men must soon be destroyed.
+Is this honourable to God?"
+
+_The Taleb._--"All is decreed."
+
+_I._--"But many of the unbelieving Infidels are better than the Touaricks
+and Arabs. Is not the British Consul in Tripoli better than a Shânbah
+bandit?--better than an assassin who cuts the throats of the Faithful? Do
+not all the people speak well of our Consul?"
+
+_The Taleb._--"I know it; he's very good."
+
+_I._--"But you can't change the religion of some people though you kill
+them. When the Mohammedans conquered India, they got tired of putting
+Hindoos to death for not changing their religion, and becoming
+Mussulmans."
+
+_The Taleb._--"God knows all, but you don't know," (a frequent phrase in
+the Koran).
+
+_I._--"Now, I don't think it's of much use to talk about religion, for
+you won't change yours nor I mine. Here's the end of the matter. We must
+all die, that's a thing no one disputes; but as to who is saved, or who
+perishes, we cannot tell."
+
+_The Taleb._--"The truth, by G--d! If God please, we shall see all soon."
+
+A small caravan of Arabs, bringing sheep for the _Ayed_, arrived this
+morning from Tunis. The route is _viâ_ Jibel Douerat, and only seven
+days. If the roads were safe, travelling indeed about North Africa could
+soon be rendered expeditious. The Arabs report:--"That great military
+preparations are making at Jerbah, where the Bey of Tunis is expected
+after the _Ayed_, and whence he will invade Tripoli, all his Arabs being
+ready to march with him." After this, a caravan of forty slaves arrived
+from the south, under the conduct of Touaricks. The _ghafalah_ is
+originally from Bornou, but half left for Fezzan on arriving at Ghat. Was
+much surprised when Rais told me this evening, after five or six days, he
+would send a soldier to sleep as a guard in my house. He explained he had
+received authentic intelligence from Souf, of the Shânbah banditti being
+on the march, five hundred strong, proceeding in the direction of Ghat
+and Ghadames, and he expected them near this in the course of ten days.
+Their intention is to avenge themselves on the Touaricks for the defeat
+last year. They are the immemorial enemies of the Touaricks, who have a
+stake in the commerce of the Desert, but they as professional robbers
+have none. Besides this, we hear the Sebâah continue their depredations,
+and have carried off 2,000 sheep from The Mountains: they also threaten
+an attack on Derge. The whole country, indeed, will soon be full of
+banditti, unless some energetic measures are adopted, and we shall have
+no communication between this and Tripoli. All the routes are now
+considered unsafe. Rais assured me, he has applied to the Pasha for a few
+Turkish troops, but His Highness refused, on the plea of expense. The
+whole force of the Rais is not a hundred Arabs, and poor miserable
+fellows they are, with two or three horses placed at their disposal. With
+such inconsiderable means the Pacha presumes to hold in the heart of The
+Desert this important commercial city, and its dependencies of Seenawan
+and Derge! The French manage matters very differently in Algeira. Indeed,
+the united force occupying all Tripoli, with its wide-spread provinces of
+many hundred miles apart, does not exceed _five_ thousand men of all
+arms! Compare this to the hundred and thirty thousand men (including
+native troops) in Algeira, and be astonished at the different effects of
+the French and Turkish systems. . . . . To add to the Rais's
+embarrassments, the people are in ill-humour, whilst some hear the news
+with pleasure, and fancy they see in our present troubles the beginning
+of the end of Turkish rule in Ghadames.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[39] This book is said to be eternal as God himself, even
+    UNCREATED. This is argued metaphysically from all the thoughts and
+    volitions of Deity being eternal and immutable, and therefore the
+    laws of the Koran have no relation to time or creation.
+
+[40] Most of the people here have heard of Scinde; but their
+    knowledge of it is very imperfect.
+
+[41] I afterwards learnt it was--"You see these Christians are
+    eating up all the Mussulman countries."
+
+[42] Strabo mentions the oasis:--"To the south of Atlas lies a
+    vast desert of sand and stones, which, like the spotted skin of a
+    panther, is here and there diversified by oases, or fertile
+    grounds, like isles in the midst of the ocean."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+CONTINUED RESIDENCE IN GHADAMES.
+
+     The Ayed (little Festival of Moslems).--Ghadames a City of
+     Marabouts.--Every Accident of Life ascribed to Deity.--Second
+     Day's Feast, Swinging and Amusements of the People.--Death of the
+     Sultan of Timbuctoo.--Various Terms employed for denoting
+     Garden.--French Woman in The Desert.--Price of Slaves.--Time
+     required to go round the World.--Stature of the Touaricks.--Oases
+     of Derge.--Reconquest of the World by the Mahometans.--Tibboo
+     Slave-dealer.--Touatee Silversmith and Blacksmith.--Assassination
+     of Major Laing.--Tibboos compared to Bornouese.--The Touarick
+     Bandit again.--First Encounter with the Giant Touarick.--Water of
+     Ghadames unhealthy.--Manacles for Slaves.--Second Meeting with
+     the Giant.--The Souafah, and Tuggurt.--Visit from the
+     Giant.--Chapter in the Domestic History of Ghadames.--Serpents
+     and Scorpions, the Banditti of The Desert.--Toys Prohibited.--The
+     Wahabites.--How Moslems despise Jews.
+
+
+_3rd._--THE Ayed ‮عيد‬, succeeding Ramadan, is ushered in with a
+cold morning, the first cold morning I have felt in The Desert.
+Might venture to put on my cloth pantaloons. Happy to feel this
+invigorating cold. This is the little âyed; the âyed kebir, or âyed
+Seedna Ibrahim, takes place two months hence, when every family, in
+imitation of Abraham offering up his son Isaac, kills or sacrifices
+a lamb. The caravan from Bornou reports the road to be good. It is
+added, rain has fallen in Ghat as well as in The Sahara, near Tunis
+and Tripoli, so that the oasis of Ghadames is the only dry spot, for
+no rain has yet fallen.
+
+Had several visits from persons all dressed out in festival finery,
+amongst the rest the black dervish. He looked like a dusky Nigritian
+Sultan. Twenty paras he condescended to take from me, which added to his
+holiday happiness; sometimes he won't accept of money. Now comes Ben
+Mousa, my taleb, to pay his respects. Not, as amongst the great unwashed
+of London, do they shave for a penny and give a glass of ---- (I shall
+not say what), in the bargain, here in Ghadames they shave for nothing.
+"How is this," I said to my turjeman who had now come in. "This is the
+custom of the country," he replied, "we always shave one another for
+friendship." There are several other little things done _gratuitously_ in
+Ghadames, but shaving the head is the principal one[43]. He who has the
+sharpest razor is expected to do the most work. They cut and hack one
+another about most barbarously, some using no soap, only rubbing a little
+water over their heads. I have seen a score in a row, all sitting on the
+ground, waiting patiently their turn. Some shave the head every month,
+others allow several months to elapse. By way of diverting conversation,
+my taleb had the extreme kindness to tell me that the Touaricks of Aheer
+and Aghadez (not those of Ghat) killed Christians and Jews on the
+principle of religion, and would refuse to compound matters, even if I
+gave them a thousand dollars. He, however, condescended to add, "They are
+_mahboul_ (foolish)." He then went on to boast of the sanctity of this
+city, and said, "Our people are not afraid of the Sebâah and Shânbah,
+because they are a city of marabouts." The taleb had just come from a
+full divan of the people, where the Rais, on this festival morning, had
+been haranguing them and flattering their prejudices. "Be assured," said
+the Governor, "if the Bashaw knew that you were a holy city, _a city of
+dervishes_, a zaweea (or sanctuary), he would write to the Sultan at
+Constantinople, and the Sultan, hearing of this, would immediately give
+orders that no 6,000 mahboubs were to be exacted from you, but that, on
+the contrary, money from the Sultan would be sent to you, holy people." I
+wondered that a man of the Rais's sense could so commit himself. What
+would he have done if after the âyed, the people had brought a petition
+to him, addressed to the Sultan, setting forth that they were "_a city of
+marabouts_," and praying to have their tribute remitted? But the poor
+people are incapable of taking such an advantage. They were excited by
+their religious feelings, and believed all the Rais told them. It was
+certainly a fine compliment for the feast, to men in the situation of the
+people of Ghadames. And my informant added: "Ahmed Effendi in The
+Mountains is the rascal and the infidel, and does not tell the Pasha we
+are a nation of dervishes." Said told me a slave was brought up to day to
+be bastinadoed, but reprieved till to-morrow on account of the feast.
+Said's sympathy is always excited on these occasions, he remembers
+ancient days. On asking what he had done, he said, "The slave stole some
+dates because he had nothing to eat." My taleb, occasionally rather free
+in tongue, took upon himself to call all Negroes _thieves_. I admonished
+him: "The poor slaves got little from this city of dervishes, now and
+then a little barley-meal, or lived almost altogether on a few dates. It
+was not surprising they stole to satisfy the cravings of hunger." Berka
+the liberated slave of Makouran, and Said's intimate friend, now came in,
+dressed up in his holiday clothes. He asked for Said. "He is gone to The
+Desert, run away, for he has broken our cooking-pot; see here are the
+pieces, here's the meat spoilt; what am I to do for dinner?" I added, "He
+ought to have a good beating." The poor old negro stared and looked
+really grieved. At last he muttered, "Why, Christian, that _breaking_
+comes from God, and not Said." "The truth," said the taleb laughing. Said
+now came in, having borrowed another pot, and Berka was comforted at the
+return of his friend. In The Desert, every accident of life is ascribed
+to an ever-present and all-superintending Divinity!
+
+All people enjoy their festival or carnival, to-day. They follow the
+reckoning of Tripoli, but as the people saw the moon a day sooner there,
+a day of fasting is here saved. It is so fortunate not to see the moon
+too soon. The appointed Ramadan is twenty-nine or thirty days; ours is
+twenty-nine. However, rigid Moslems did not begin to eat to-day till
+noon, after the morning prayers, so delicately scrupulous are they. My
+taleb agrees with me, that the Arabs, who usually only eat in the
+evening, and don't smoke, experience but little inconvenience from the
+fast. Nothing particular took place to-day's âyed, except every one being
+dressed in his best clothes, and most of the youth having on something
+_new_. It is the same with the Jews of Mogador on the feast of Passover.
+The Sanctuaries hoist the holy colours of their religion, beautiful
+vermilion, and yellow, and green; these are their holiest and most-loved
+colours. The slaves danced and sang all day long. I was present during
+the closing scene at night, which was curious. After their continuous and
+laborious dancing, they all suddenly stopped as if struck with paralysis,
+offered a prayer to Allah, and dispersed. Did not go out till evening,
+for if I had gone out at all in the day-time I must have dressed up, and
+I did not wish to appear a Guy Fawkes amongst the people, or excite their
+curiosity or prejudices on the day of a solemn festival. The Rais asked
+why I did not come in the morning, for this was a grand receiving-day,
+when all his particular friends and the heads of the people paid him
+visits. On telling him, he approved my reason, and said, "You, Yâcob,
+have _compass yaiser_ (plenty of wit)."
+
+_4th._--To-day is half a feast, and full-grown men and aged men are
+amusing themselves with swinging, like so many boys. A dead aoudad was
+brought in from The Sahara, which the Touaricks had killed. These
+Touaricks are also bearers of a letter, written at Timbuctoo, which has
+come the round-about way of Soudan, announcing that the Sultan of
+Timbuctoo is dead. Sidi Mokhtar, a marabout, is appointed Governor of
+Timbuctoo by the new Sultan. The Sultan himself, after visiting Timbuctoo
+and making this appointment, retired to Jinnee, his royal residence.
+Sheikh El-Mokhtar has a good reputation; he is now occupied reorganizing
+his government. No other news. Met in the streets one of the Touaricks
+who came yesterday with fifteen camel-loads of senna. Asked him if
+Touaricks killed Christians. Surprised at this abrupt question, he asked,
+"_Why?_" I added, "If you are a good fellow I will go with you to Ghat."
+Pleased at this confidence, he came home with me and took some coffee. A
+camel-load of senna now sells for seventeen mahboubs. He asked me what
+the Christians did with the senna, and would not believe it was all used
+for physic. Said Christians were not numerous enough to drink all they
+bought. There is a wady near Ghat covered with senna, during rain, but
+the greater portion of senna is brought from Aheer.
+
+An instance of the way in which the Arabic language is used, and
+which makes some people think there are different dialects in this
+language, may be given in the terms denoting _Garden_. For garden,
+the Touaricks and people of Touat use ‮جنّة‬, a word which
+frequently occurs in the Koran, conveying the highest and purest
+idea of garden, and which we usually translate "_paradise_." In
+Ghadamsee and Touarghee a corruption of this pure Arabic word is used for
+heaven, ‮اجّن‬. The Tripoline and Tunisian Moors use the term
+‮سانية‬, and the people here ‮قابة‬, for garden, but
+which is, rather, kitchen-garden. Now, all these words are good Arabic, and
+may be used indifferently, at least the two latter. In the New
+Testament translation, the Persian ‮بستان‬ is used, which I
+imagine is the Eastern term for garden generally, in opposition to the
+western ‮سانية‬. _The Garden_ in North Africa is very different
+from our ideas of a garden. Corn-fields, overshadowed with the palm, the
+olive, and a few other fruit-trees, is the species of plantation to
+which the term is usually applied. Certainly a few flowers are
+sometimes cultivated in these gardens of Africa, but this is the
+exception to the usage.
+
+The Rais, who is a grave Turk, nevertheless unbended himself to-day,
+amusing himself in seeing the boys swing. The Moors sadly wanted me to
+join their swinging, but I politely declined. They said, it was
+"_medicine_," meaning good for the health, everything conducive to health
+being called "_medicine_" by people in The Desert. Was gratified to see
+some sports amongst the people, for the men are always gloomy and
+reclining about the streets, brooding over their ruinous affairs, and the
+boys are little encouraged to healthful and innocent games. Up to this
+time, the only persons I have seen happy are the slaves, who dance and
+sing, and forget everything but the present moment. The swings are tied
+high up to the tallest date-palms, two or three persons swing together,
+and the sport is a little dangerous. Saw no other amusements during the
+âyed, except here and there drafts, played in the primitive way of making
+small holes in the sand for the squares.
+
+During the expedition of the Duke d'Aumale to the south of Algeria, the
+Bey of Biskera, Mohammed-es-Sagheer ("little") murdered the small
+garrison of soldiers left behind, emptied the chest of what francs were
+in it, and went off to The Desert. He is now living tranquilly in the
+Jereed. The French made a demand to the Bey of Tunis to have him given
+up, but it seems His Highness had courage enough to resist it, alleging
+that he was a political refugee. Mohammed-es-Sagheer had married a French
+woman, and she ran away, or was taken by force, with him. She had borne
+him two children. The most extraordinary stories are current of this
+French woman. Though a low woman of one of the towns, she gives herself
+out as "the daughter of the Sultan of France!" She rides like a man,
+dresses like a man, smokes, and follows the Arabs in all their
+expeditions _against_ the French. She has adopted the Mahometan religion,
+and is become a sort of priestess, or Maraboutah. She promises the
+credulous Arabs that she will not only put her husband on the throne of
+Algeria, but even of France itself, and then all the world will become
+Mussulmans! The Moors say she can never leave The Desert because she has
+brought her husband two children.
+
+Saw Rais in the evening, and had a sort of confidential conversation with
+him, and told him for the _first_ time of my intention to proceed further
+in the interior. Of course, he had heard of it before from his servants.
+Nevertheless, he affected great surprise and sorrow. But, when I told him
+I might return in six months hence, he became more calm. He then
+persuaded me by all means to avoid the routes of the Touaricks, and
+proceed to Fezzan, thence to Bornou. Speaking of the Ghadamsee merchants
+and their friends and correspondents, Messrs. Silva, Labe, Shaloum, and
+Francovich, in Tripoli, he said, "Your merchants exchange products with
+the Ghadamseeah in the way of barter, and make a great deal of money,
+whilst the Ghadamseeah have no money left, none at all." He wondered,
+like the Touaricks, what the Christians do with all the senna. He
+expected the Shânbah, on the route of Ghat, in a few days' time. I
+observed, "People are all superbly dressed, and there was not much
+appearance of poverty." He smiled, and said, "The people are _sheytan_
+(very cunning), they lay up their new clothes, and only wear them on
+festivals." Speaking of slaves, his Excellency said, "There is now no
+profit on slaves. Government takes ten mahboubs duty on each. A good
+slave fetches 40,000 wadâ (cowries) in Soudan, usual price 30,000, and
+some as low as 15,000. A good slave sells in Ghadames for forty
+mahboubs." The Rais told me to take care of the vermin, and abused the
+filthiness of the people. If I escape the Touaricks and the fevers as
+well as I escape the vermin, which abound on the clothes of all the
+people without exception, I shall consider myself fortunate. The
+inhabitants of Ghadames make no scruple in attacking the enemy in the
+public streets, which stick to them closer than their dearest friends. I
+attribute my escape to my being an infidel, for their orthodox l-i-c-e
+won't have anything to do with Kafers.
+
+People look worse than during the Ramadan. Poor creatures, they have
+little to eat; they say they have nothing but barley-meal and dates to
+eat, for the Turks have taken away all their money. Some, however, as a
+luxury, which their relations and friends send them from Soudan,
+masticate _ghour_[44]-nuts, and which I believe is the _kolat_, or
+colat-nut of Caillié. The Arabs called these nuts the "_Coffee of
+Soudan_." Konja is a great place for the growth of the ghour, two or
+three months west of Kanou.
+
+_5th._--Weather gets colder every day. I was reflecting on the best
+situation for a Consul in Northern Sahara. The point would be Touat, the
+nucleus of many routes, the great highways of commerce in The Desert.
+From this point a British Consul could keep a sharp look-out on the
+French, moving southward.
+
+A Mussulman doctor told me with great solemnity this morning, that five
+hundred years were necessary to go round the world. Two hundred years
+desert (‮ك٘لع‬), or nothing, or containing--
+
+    "(God's) _dark materials to create more worlds_."
+
+Two hundred years of seas. Eighty years of Gog and Magog. Eighteen years
+of Soudan. And two years of white people, including Christians and
+Mohammedans. There were countries full of Mussulmans which had not been
+visited by the Mussulmans of Turkey or Africa. They had been visited by
+one man only, Alexander the Great. Certainly the Moors read history
+_backwards_. On asking where this information was to be obtained, he
+said, "From the _Tăfseer_ (Commentaries) of the Koran."
+
+The Touaricks who have just arrived are men of very large stature, and as
+"straight as a dart." Several of them are full six feet high. Such men
+are alone produced in the Sahara! All the weak and the diseased soon die
+off, leaving behind only the robust. They walk about the streets with an
+air of consummate pride, with their huge broad swords swung at the back,
+and their lances in their hands, like "a tall pine."
+
+An Arab, just arrived from Derge, brings intelligence that the Ghadamsee
+people who were in Tunis are returning home _viâ_ Tripoli. These are
+mostly poor labourers, who go a few months to Tunis to amass a little
+capital, with which to trade afterwards. The Ghadamsee is constantly
+going on these journeys of profit and enterprize, either as merchant or
+labourer. His Desert home is the pulse of all his distant enterprises,
+whither he retires to end his days, dedicating the last hours of his
+existence to God. The Arab came from Derge, mounted on a good horse, in
+the short time of _thirteen hours_,--by camels it occupies two and
+two-and-a-half days! The Arab told me he killed, a few days ago, six
+ostriches near Derge. The oases of _Derge_ consist of four little oases,
+or districts, viz., Derge (proper), Terghuddah, Madress, and Fiffelt,
+containing an Arab population of 400 souls, a hardy and brave people.
+Water is plentiful, but there are no hot springs. A native told me, that
+invariably any stranger drinking this water, was attacked with fever.
+Generally these little oases are very unhealthy. Some assert that all who
+visit the oases are taken ill. Probably, like Mourzuk, they lay low, in a
+wady or hollowed plain. Date-trees are numerous, and bear good fruit. A
+fair quantity of wheat and ghusub is grown. Besides sheep, and goats, and
+fowls, there is a few camels. The people are occupied in the gardens, but
+too numerous for the oases; they are very poor, and obliged to emigrate.
+Derge is in the more eastern route of Zantan and Rujban; and when that of
+Seenawan, the western, is not safe, this, the longer route, is taken.
+
+_6th._--Slept badly during the night; restless about my journey.
+Determined now to take the Fezzan route. Weather very soft, with murky
+clouds.
+
+Relating to my taleb, that, formerly, Mussulmans conquered Christians, but
+now, all the countries of the Mediterranean were fast falling back again
+into the hands of the Christians--such being the will of God, he consoled
+himself by replying: "That, in less than forty years will rise up one
+Abou Abdullah Mohammed El-Arbee El-Korashee El-Fatamee,
+(‮ابو عبد الله محمّد القرشي الفاطمي‬,) who
+will kill all the Christians, both of the new[45] and the old
+world; that this will be the golden age; all people will be
+Mussulmans, and all will be rich and powerful, enjoying the
+abundance of this world's good things; and the very dust of the
+earth, and the sand of the Sahara, will be turned into gold and
+silver: But, (the awful but!) that this will only last one
+generation, or _forty_ years; for then will arise The Dajal! who,
+mounting upon an ass, will scour the earth in three days, and kill
+and destroy all the Mussulmans, this Dajal being the Messiah of the
+Jews, who will all flock to his standard; and that then will appear
+Jesus, _the Son of Mary_[46], from the top of the mountains of the
+moon, after Dajal has reigned forty years, and slay this monster
+Messiah of the Jews. Now there will appear Gog and Magog, let loose
+from Jibel Kaf, in Khoristan, and the country of the Turks and
+Russians. And last of all will come the end, when the Wahabites will
+carry all the Jews into hell-fire on their backs." Such are the
+secret consolations of a good and orthodox Mussulman of The Sahara.
+A part of this monstrous fable has been related before, with some
+variations. The gist of the prophecy is, _the destruction of the
+Christians by another Arab Conqueror_. Here the now humbled follower
+of the Prophet finds his sweet revenge. The same revenge the more
+ignorant and fanatic of the Jews seek and cherish in the advent of
+their long-expected Messiah, who is to enable them to put their feet
+upon the necks of all people--all the nations of the earth. But the
+better class of Israelites are willing to believe that the Gentile
+nations may enjoy a portion of the blessings of Messiah's reign, and
+will not be effaced from the earth. Some pious Christians, who,
+failing to convert men to their peculiar views of revelation,
+anticipate the appearance quickly of a sort of _Buonaparte_ Messiah,
+armed with similar attributes, who is to involve all infidel nations
+in seas of blood, and make the world a heap of Saharan desolation.
+Such views of Christianity have always been abhorrent to my
+feelings; and I have kept close to the fair and pacific pictures of
+Messiah's reign, so beautifully set forth by Pope:--
+
+    All crimes shall cease, and ancient frauds shall fail;
+    Returning Justice lift aloft her scale;
+    Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
+    And white rob'd Innocence from Heaven descend.
+
+    The dumb shall sing--the lame his crutch forego,
+    And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
+    No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear,
+    From every face He wipes off every tear.
+
+    No more shall nation against nation rise,
+    _Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes_,
+    But useless lances into scythes shall bend,
+    And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end.
+
+    The swain in barren deserts with surprise,
+    Sees lilies spring and sudden verdure rise;
+    And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds, to hear,
+    New falls of water murmuring in his ear.
+
+    The steer and lion at one crib shall meet,
+    And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet.
+    The smiling infant in his hand shall take,
+    The crested basilisk and speckled snake.
+
+Afternoon, went to see the slaves lately brought from Bornou. They were
+as much like merchandize as they could be, or human beings could be made
+to resemble it. They were entirely naked, with the exception of a strip
+of tanned skin tied round the loins. All were nearly alike, as so many
+goods packed up of the same quality. They were very thin, and almost
+skeletons, about the age of from ten to fifteen years, with the round
+Bornouse features strongly marked upon their countenances. These slaves
+are the property of a Tibboo. I invited the Tibboo home to my house, to
+glean some information from him. The Tibboo bought the slaves on
+speculation in Bornou; he could now sell them at from forty to fifty
+dollars each. He had only six; the Touaricks had thirty-four. He came
+from Bornou to Ghat, thence to Ghadames. He had also some elephants'
+teeth. The Tibboo pressed me to buy his slaves; he had not yet found
+purchasers, though he had been here some days. The merchants have no
+money, or none to buy slaves. The Tibboo drank some tea with me, which he
+observed was better than _bouzah_, fermented grain liquor. The Tibboo was
+a young black, tall and slender, and of mild and not disagreeable
+features. There was nothing in him to denote that he was a common
+trafficker in human flesh and blood. He was not so much stamped with the
+negro features as his slaves; he was, indeed, as much of a gentleman as a
+Presbyterian slave-holder of the United States, patronized by Doctors
+Cunningham and Candlish, and admitted to the fellowship of Free Kirk
+Saints. The Tibboo was excessively curious about me, the Christian. He
+handled and turned over everything I had. Seeing my naked (white) arm, he
+exclaimed, "Whiter than the moon!" Said did not approve of my new
+acquaintance, and declared all the Tibboos rascals; and thinks he
+recollects that he was made a slave by the Tibboos. Said was very angry
+with me for giving the Tibboo tea--wouldn't make any more for him--I
+might make it myself. The Tibboo showed his sense of my attention, by
+giving me some trona, which he says abounds in Bornou, and is called
+_konwa_. He champs it in its hard crystalline state, like children
+champing sugar-candy. He mixes it with his tobacco, and says it is
+pulverized and drank in solution for medicine at Bornou, like Epsom
+salts, producing the same effects.
+
+Two people left to-day for Ghat, and two for Timbuctoo. The latter were
+the headmen of the large mercantile firm of Ettanee. It is the custom of
+Saharan merchants to send their headmen, and even slaves, to these
+distant countries, when circumstances prevent them going themselves.
+
+My friend the Touatee, who unites in himself a blacksmith and a
+silversmith, was this evening employed in making ladies' ornaments for
+arms and legs. He was in the course of finishing a pair of anclets,
+weighing together about thirty-eight ounces. Each anclet would cost 20
+dollars. They are for an Arab lady; but, of course, the husband invests
+his money in this way until he can find profitable employment for it, or
+becomes distressed. "Meanwhile," says the Touatee, "he has the kisses of
+his wife for the investment, and is happier than if he obtained a hundred
+per cent. for his outlay of silver." The old Touatee distinctly
+recollects Major Laing passing through Ghadames to Timbuctoo. The account
+he gives of him is:--"When in Ghadames the Rais (or Major) purchased
+something of every thing he could find in our city, as well as specimens
+of Soudan manufacture. He had with him _thirty-six bottles of wine_!
+which I counted. He was attacked by the Touaricks near Touat, and wounded
+in twenty places; but he cured his wounds, and then proceeded on and
+arrived safe at Timbuctoo, where he stopped some time. Afterwards he went
+to Sansandy, where he was murdered." The unfortunate Major had no money
+in his possession when murdered, which greatly surprised the assassins,
+who murdered him merely for his money. People add, he wrote every thing
+in Timbuctoo, but did not stop long there. He was enticed to go away with
+a stranger, against the advice of the parties who conducted him to
+Timbuctoo. The stranger was a Saharan Arab. One of them is still living,
+Haj Kader, and left lately for Touat, who has the reputation of being a
+quiet and upright man. I did not hear of him until he was gone, otherwise
+I should have had some conversation with him about the Major. The other
+party died at Timbuctoo; he was called the _Marabout_, and seems to have
+been another Mohammed (my marabout.) In a letter of the Major, read to me
+by Colonel Warrington, his father-in-law, the Major charges his Marabout
+with having stolen his double-barrelled gun, and sent it on to Timbuctoo
+for sale before they arrived there. For this theft, and other bad
+conduct, old Yousef Bashaw made a formal complaint against the people of
+Ghadames, and mulcted them several thousand mahboubs. Mr. Gagliuffi heard
+a strange story about the Major; according to which, he was murdered near
+Touat, on his return, by the same Touarick who stopped him, and wounded
+him in twenty-six places, on his way thither, the Touarick alleging, that
+the Major was not a man but a devil, so he (the Touarick) was obliged to
+kill him. No authentic account now will ever be collected of Major
+Laing's death. That he was stopped a couple of days beyond Aghobly, in
+the oases of Touat, and there wounded, is certain; we have the Major's
+own account for it. He seems also to have remained a month at Timbuctoo,
+and wrote a full account of that mysterious city. He then, not being able
+to ascend or trace the Niger _viâ_ Jinnee, on account of the objections
+of the people, made a _détour_ through The Desert, wishing to go to
+Senegambia, when, after four days' journey, he was stopped by a party of
+Arabs, and murdered. Some persist in saying, that Caillié found Major
+Laing's papers, and gave them as his _own_ account of Timbuctoo. I should
+be sorry to attempt either to prove or contradict the charge. All the
+documents are in possession of the family of the late Colonel Warrington.
+We must suspend our opinion until they are published, which I trust will
+not be long.
+
+Afterwards visited the Rais, who is, like myself, very fond of the
+Touatee. His Excellency had a bad headache, and his _major-domo_ was hard
+at work rubbing his head with his hands. I laughed, but said nothing. The
+people are fond of manipulation, and shampooning (_Temras_). Whenever any
+one hurts himself by bruises or falls, the limb affected is rubbed and
+stretched, and stretched and rubbed, until the poor sufferer's limb is
+nearly severed from his body. Manipulation ought to have made the fourth
+mode of cure laid down by my marabout, after burning, blood-letting, and
+talismanic writing. However, I believe manipulation, aided by the bath,
+frequently effects important cures. Some Moors indeed, consider this the
+sovereign remedy for every hurt and disease. Found the Touatee again with
+the Rais. He amused us both by giving his opinion about the
+_inexhaustible_ supply of slaves furnished by Nigritia. "All other
+countries," said he, "die and become depopulated. It is now ten thousand
+years we go to buy slaves in Soudan. The oftener we go there the more we
+find. In that country the men are all night long begetting children, and
+the women all the morning bringing them forth. This is the reason the
+supply of slaves never becomes exhausted."
+
+_7th._--Said has just come in and told me I must not eat many of the
+dates of this country, for they have killed some of the soldiers, and
+will kill me. Dates may, indeed, injure the poor soldiers, who have
+nothing else to eat. One died yesterday. I asked his comrades what he
+died of, who replied, "_Hunger_." It is a disgrace to the Government of
+Tripoli to keep these wretched Arabs without any thing to eat. Why not
+let them go to their native mountain homes; for there, though they may
+pine away and die in the caverns of the Atlas, they will nevertheless
+give up the ghost in the arms of friends and relations--joining misery to
+misery, where the miserable may comfort the miserable. But, here, amidst
+the rude buffs of strangers, it is cruel to let them die like dogs.
+
+The Tibboo called this morning. Merchants have offered him only 35
+mahboubs each for his slaves; he asks from 40 to 50. He says, the
+Americans, or people nearly as white as I am, ascend the Niger as far as
+Noufee, for the purchase of slaves. Bornou and the surrounding countries
+are now in peace, and make no slaves by war. The Tibboo bought his
+slaves of persons who kidnapped them during the night. To observe, that
+although the Tibboos, if this merchant be a fair representation of them,
+have not such extended nostrils as the Bornouse, and such thick
+projecting lips, yet they are much darker than the Bornouse. Indeed, the
+Bornouse are of a lighter, _fairer_ complexion than any of the Negroes I
+have yet seen, those of Soudan and Timbuctoo being of a much darker
+shade, and some quite black. The Bornouse has a round, chubby, smiling
+face; the Tibboo, a long, grave, intellectual face. The old Touarick
+bandit called to-day, with other Touaricks, and asked how much I would
+give for a _live aoudad_. Told him from 6 to 8 mahboubs. He said they're
+going to hunt them next month. This retired cut-throat gave himself a
+good character, and the Touaricks generally. "Trust us, don't be afraid
+of the Touaricks, upon our heads (_raising his sword to his head_,) we'll
+protect you!" Then stepped in an old friend and lover of the mysteries of
+geography. These are some of his questions:--"Where is the sea by which
+the Christians go to Soudan? Where is Mount Kaf, that girdles the earth
+with brass and iron? Where are Gog and Magog, which is Muskou (_Russia_),
+the monster which eats up the _Moumeneen_ (_faithful Mohammedans_)?" &c.
+Went out and saw for the first time the Giant Touarick. The huge fellow
+must be 6 feet 9 inches. His limbs were like the trunks of the palm, and
+he walked with a step as firm as a rock; whilst his voice was a gruff
+growl like distant thunder. Compare this noble, though monstrous,
+specimen of a man, the product of the wild uncongenial Sahara, to the
+little ricketty, squeaking, vivacious wretch of the kindly clime of
+Italy, "the garden of Europe," and be amazed at the ways in which works
+Providence! As soon as the giant saw me, he bellowed out, "Salam
+aleikom!" which far resounded through the dark winding streets. He now
+strode by without stopping to speak or to look at me, his head and turban
+nearly reaching the roof of the streets, and his big sword, swinging from
+his back, extended crosswise, scraping the mortar from both sides of the
+walls. His iron spear, as large as an ordinary iron gas-light post, was
+carried in his firm fist horizontally, to prevent its catching the roof
+of the covered streets. The giant is one of the chiefs of a powerful
+tribe of Ghat Touaricks, of whom the aged Berka is the reigning Sheikh.
+The giant is quite at home here and possesses some forty or fifty camels,
+with which he conveys the goods of the merchants between this city and
+that of Ghat.
+
+After several trials of changing food, find I am greatly relaxed, and am
+convinced it must be the water. This, however, is the opinion of every
+stranger who visits Ghadames. Last evening the Rais said, "The water here
+is bad. Look at the people of Ghadames, they have no colour in their
+cheeks. What a miserable wretch am I! When I first came, I had the colour
+of the rose; now I am become like these yellow men: as for my poor horse,
+he eats quantities of barley every day, and is still very thin. It's the
+bad water. We have a proverb in Turkey, 'Good water makes good horses,
+and bad water bad horses.'" I observed, the dates and water together made
+the soldiers ill. He replied, "I have written several times to the Pasha
+to return, it is impossible for me to enjoy good health here. His
+Highness still refuses to allow me, saying, he can get no one to fill my
+post so well, but I hope to return in a few months." I am inclined to
+think now that Ghadames is not salubrious, although, thank God, I enjoy
+pretty good health. Strangers, however, require to be acclimated. A great
+controversy is now being carried on amongst the medical men of Algeria,
+respecting _acclimating_; some alleging that a man can bear the climate
+of a country when he is quite new or fresh in it, much better than after
+a long residence. According to the anti-acclimaters, the longer residence
+in a country only weakens the force necessary to support a person against
+the fever and bad influences of a foreign climate.
+
+Accosted one of my merchant acquaintances, playing with some iron
+manacles and fetters for the legs. It did not strike me at first
+what they were: at last, he says to me, "These are for slaves, each
+has a pair of them, to prevent them from escaping when travelling
+through The Desert." A painful shuddering came over me to see a man
+playing with these dreadful instruments of the slavery and torture
+of his fellow men. Yet he played with them as his rosary of beads,
+or some simple toy! . . . . . Another merchant came up to him, and
+observed, "The irons for the neck are better, as these may break."
+After a pause, I asked my acquaintance where these irons for the
+legs were made? He replied, "In Soudan; the people there have iron
+mountains, and they make these irons for slaves in that country." I
+asked him then how much they cost, and whether he would sell them.
+They were not for sale. So Africa enslaves herself! forges the very
+chains of her own slavery. Cruel, heartless Europe! Thou that
+knowest better, encouragest the wretched African to create his own
+misery; to dig from his dark purple mountains the very iron fetters
+of his own slavery! Take care that slavery does not surprise thee in
+an hour when thou thinkest not, though thou art never so wise, never
+so free! Another Corsican tyrant may come and bind thee down anew in
+the chains of slavery. . . . . . . Making inquiries of the Moors
+about these fetters, they said, (wishing to smooth down the matter,
+seeing it was disagreeable to me), "Only those who seek to escape
+are chained." This, indeed, afterwards I found was the case. "Some,"
+they added, "have irons on their necks, and others irons on their
+legs." Alas! poor people, what have they done to be thus ironed? or
+what right have others to iron them? Has God said "_Thou shalt iron
+thy brother and make him a slave_?" "Yes!" say the free republicans
+of America, who, for being taxed for half an ounce of tea,
+proclaimed their _freedom_ and independence of the _tyranny_ of the
+parent country, in words which, continuing as they are,
+slave-holders, must condemn them to everlasting infamy[47]. But, as
+God lives, he will have a day of reckoning; he will avenge the
+wrongs of Africa! . . . . . Be sure, beware America! . . . . .
+Whilst walking through the streets to-day, in a bad humour on this
+subject, there were three Bornou youths, nearly naked, offered for
+sale, I think they belonged to the Tibboo. Some Arabs sitting near,
+asked me to buy. I replied, indignantly, "If I buy, my Sultan will
+hang me up, and you too." They stared at one another, and muttered
+something like a curse upon me.
+
+I here find several reasons in the journal for my not proceeding by the
+route of Fezzan and Bornou, but it is unnecessary to give them. It is
+easy to write out a long list of _pro_ and _con_ reasons. Whilst writing
+these, the Tibboo comes in and brings a sick slave. He complains the
+merchants will not buy his slaves. Give the dropsical slave medicine. Ask
+him whether he ironed his slaves _en route_ over The Desert. He answers,
+"No." I am bound to believe him, for though a slave-dealer, he appears an
+honest man.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_8th._--O God of the morning! what a fine sight are these lofty
+umbrageous palms, with the soft serene morning sky, and the sun just
+rising above the clear illumined horizon, colouring and setting off the
+heavens around. How still, how voiceless is The Desert! The early morn
+now begins to be pleasant as the autumnal morn of old England. It is
+indeed, the--
+
+    "Sweet hour of prime."
+
+After breakfast visited the quarter of Ben Weleed. Saw the giant Touarick
+stretching his unwieldy length upon a stone-bench. At sight of me, he
+aroused himself, and raising his head upon his huge arm, growled out to
+the people near him, to show them his zeal for their common religion,
+"Tell the Christian to say, '_There is only one God, and Mahomet is the
+Prophet of God_.'" No one took any notice of the stern command. After a
+moment, the conversation was continued on other subjects, and the giant
+fell back again to sleep. I asked an acquaintance of mine, how long he
+would sleep? He told me that whenever the Sheikh comes here, he usually
+sleeps three days before he goes round to see his friends, or begins to
+transact business, during which time he occasionally opens his eyes,--and
+his mouth, for his slaves to feed him.
+
+Heard some Souafah, Arabs of Souf, had purchased the slaves lately come
+from Bornou, to sell them in Algeria, there being no market in Tunis on
+account of the abolition of slavery. Rais sent for me and asked me if I
+had any money left. I thought his Excellency wanted to lend me some, by
+putting the question. His Excellency then said he was in want of money. I
+lent him a hundred Tunisian piastres--all the money I had in the world,
+with the exception of seventeen in my pocket. Afterwards I dined with the
+Rais, and he persuaded me to return to The Mountains, _en route_ for
+Fezzan. It is reported, the Touaricks have gone out to meet the Shânbah.
+I tell the Governor, as well as the people, whenever they begin to
+exaggerate or declaim upon the dangers of travelling in The Desert
+"_Rubbee, mout wahad_ (God! death is but once)." This has usually the
+effect of stopping their mouths. Were I not to adopt this Moslemite style
+of address and reply, I should be worried out of my life with the
+exaggerations of the dangers of The Desert.
+
+A small caravan has arrived from Souf, bringing the news of the departure
+of the Shânbah from Warklah for Ghat. The Souafah also bring news of
+interest from their own country. They are threatened with an invasion of
+the people of Tugurt. Twelve hundred men of Souf have returned from Tunis
+to their own country, in expectation of a combined attack of the Tugurt
+people and the French, for the Tugurt people have given out that the
+French, their new allies, will help them. They boast that they must now
+go and destroy all the Souafah. The object is to revenge an old grudge,
+for formerly the people of Souf and Tugurt fought a pitch battle, and the
+latter were worsted. There is no French governor in Tugurt, but the
+tribute is regularly paid to the authorities of Constantina. One of the
+Souafah came to me much excited. I told him that it was not likely the
+French would encourage this war of revenge, and I understood the
+principle of the French to be, "to occupy only the countries which before
+paid tribute to the Dey of Algiers." He observed he understood that to be
+the rule. But if the Souafah attack Tugurt, the French will probably
+defend it as a part of their territory.
+
+_9th._--The morning is cool and cloudy; a few drops of rain fell
+soon after sunrise, still it holds up. Amused in finding the
+Ghadamsee word for _father_ was the same as _dad_ or _dady_, which
+is written ‮دادا‬ _dada_. This morning the giant Touarick honoured
+me with a visit; he had enough to do to get through the doors of my
+house with his pine-tree spear. He behaved extremely well. I gave
+him sixty paras to buy tobacco. He begged for a whole piastre, but
+thinking he would be a customer of this sort again, I thought it
+prudent to begin with a little. His giantship swore by all the
+powers terrestrial and celestial, that he would escort me from
+Ghadames to Kanou in perfect safety. I evaded the question by
+observing, (what the Rais had often told me) "The Rais says the
+Touaricks will cut my throat." The giant roared, "_Kitheb_, kitheb,
+kitheb, (a lie! a lie! a lie!)"--and went off furiously threatening
+wrath against the Turks. Afterwards I heard of a complaint which the
+giant made against me, saying I had given him this morning a karoob
+short of the half piastre. I was greatly amused at the giant's keen
+observance of this defalcation of my generosity.
+
+The Ghadamseeah literally carry out the injunction, "Take no thought for
+the morrow," which will be illustrated in the following conversation.
+
+"What do you do for the poor in your country?"
+
+"In England, the poor are not allowed to beg in the streets, but are
+provided with food and clothing in a house built on purpose for them when
+they can no longer work."
+
+"We have no houses for the poor in Ghadames."
+
+"How then do the poor live?"
+
+"By begging."
+
+"And if the people give them nothing?"
+
+"It is destined _they must die_."
+
+However, in one part of the oasis there are some large gardens which
+belong to the poor, who are allowed to eat the dates and cultivate
+patches of the gardens. I think also the Sanctuaries sometimes give alms
+in the way of the ancient monasteries. These are miserable and precarious
+resources. Nevertheless, before the Turks so fleeced the inhabitants, I
+question if there were any poor person ever likely to die of starvation,
+for the rich members of families provide for the poor, and rich friends
+for poor friends, and each faction for the poor of the faction, although
+no poor-rates are levied. Indeed, like the Society of Friends, all took
+care of their own poor relations and connections.
+
+I shall now give the reader a chapter of the domestic history of
+Ghadames, referring to one of the principal families. Most of the rich
+merchants of this city have two and some of them three wives. My
+venerable friend, the Sheikh Makouran, came in possession of one of his
+present young wives in the following romantic way. (His wives by whom he
+had his children are long ago dead.) A friend of the Sheikh's died and
+left a young and beautiful widow, whose wit and grace was the theme of
+all the city, for such things are esteemed also here. The eldest son of
+the Sheikh immediately set his heart upon the possession of this beauty,
+but unfortunately he did not communicate his intentions to the
+disconsolate lady, who remained in ignorance of his attachment.
+Meanwhile, El-Besheer, as a party in the firm of his father, purchased
+the house over the widow's head and made everything ready for the future
+wedding, and then took a journey of business to Touat, intending on his
+return to send some old lady, which is mostly the practice, with his
+message of love and marriage to the widowed solitary. Perhaps he thought
+the widow could not fail to discover his intentions in what he had
+already done, mostly preliminary to marriage. But we often imagine others
+are thinking about us when we are never in their thoughts. So he left for
+twenty days' journey through The Desert, with all these hopes and fears
+crowding about him. On his return, to his consternation, he found his old
+father, of some seventy years of age, had got possession of the young
+blooming widow, the object he had so fondly cherished on his weary way
+over the solitudes of The Sahara! But like the doomed Pasha, who receives
+the imperial order of his decapitation from the hand of the executioner,
+and kisses it and then bows his head to the stroke, so the young
+merchant, full of filial veneration for his aged sire, submitted silently
+and without a murmur to this cruel decree of heaven. It is said of the
+lady that she pines and mourns out her life for the son. She was kept in
+profound ignorance of his love until she found herself in the withered,
+cold, and shrunken arms of the father. She accepted the father to keep a
+house over her head. Alas! poor woman, whether sold at Paris or London in
+a marriage of _convenance_, or in The Desert, she is always the victim of
+man's galling tyranny.
+
+The Ghadamseeah are a strictly religious people. One of my best friends
+would not allow me to touch a religious book of his, concerning the
+future world, alleging it was _haram_ ("prohibited"). A young rogue of a
+Touarick now came in and asked me impudently, whether I knew God and
+prayed? He added, "Say Mahomet is the prophet of God." As several aged
+men were present I made no answer. These people believe that there can be
+no more question of believing in Mahomet than in the sun when shining in
+its full strength, and are astonished that I who read and write Arabic
+don't know better. One said, "You are afraid of scorpions, believe in
+Mahomet and they will do you no harm." I could not help thinking of the
+parallel, for all Oriental phraseology is so much alike:--
+
+  ‮هاهوذا اعطيتكم سلطا نا لتدوسا الحيات والعقارب‬
+    Luke x. 21.
+
+"Serpents and scorpions" have a peculiar application to The Desert. There
+are still more dangerous animals in The Desert, and I have heard the
+epithet of "a race of vipers," applied to the Shânbah banditti. This
+morning the people showed me a wooden figure of a fiddler, placed on a
+box, in which was inserted a handle, turning round and making a squeaking
+noise. None of them could understand what it was. A boy was playing with
+it as a toy. They told me, as news, "This came from the country of the
+Christians; it ought not to have been made, it is _haram_." All toys of
+men and animals are considered by these rigid Moslems as so many
+violations of the commandment "Thou shalt not make unto thyself any
+graven image."
+
+According to my turjeman there are many _Wahabites_ in this
+neighbourhood. Besides Jerbah and its mountains, many Wahabites are found
+in the Tripoline districts of Nalout, Kabou, Fessatou, Temzeen and
+Keklah. The Ghadamsee people detest them and say; "The Wahabites will be
+the carriers of the Jews to hell-fire in the next world." The Wahabites
+assert, there are five orthodox sects, of which they form the fifth, and
+hate cordially the other four. Wahabites have great difficulty in eating
+with other Mussulmans, and some refuse absolutely to eat with other than
+their own sect. Wahabites are very numerous in the oasis of Mezab,
+belonging to Algeria, which is confirmed by the Morocco marabout _El
+Aïachi_, who made his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1661. The Wahabites of
+Jerbah are subdivided in the _Abadeeah_, or _The Whites_, who wear a
+_white_ scull-cap, in contradistinction from those who wear _red_ caps,
+like most Mussulmans of the coast. Generally the Wahabites differ from
+other Mohammedans as to the observance of the _five_ daily prayers. They
+also require that, in the observance of the Ramadan, a person should
+purify and wash himself at the hour of the day in which the fast may
+begin. The sub-sect of Abadites will neither eat nor drink from the same
+vessel with any other sects. Wahabites in general will not weigh or touch
+weights, for fear of doing wrong. Other persons do weighing for them,
+they looking on, like the Jews who will not touch the candle on their
+Sabbath, and get Mussulman or Christian servants to snuff a candle or
+trim a lamp for them. It seems what is a sin in them, may or may not be a
+sin in others.
+
+My turjeman is surprised we Christians receive the books of the Jews as
+sacred and inspired, and so are many other people. They are quite
+astonished when I tell them that Christians esteem the Scriptures of the
+Jews equally divine with their own. They have a confused notion that the
+whole of the Jewish Scriptures consist of the five books of Moses, which
+they call the _Torat_, and the Psalms of David. Some of them say Abraham
+was not a Jew. I explain to them, that the Christians give a different
+interpretation to the Jewish Scriptures from the Jews themselves, and
+believe "the Son of Mary" to be the Messiah of the Jews and all the
+world. They hardly believe me; and say, "The Jews are corrupt and their
+books corrupt." When I told them one day before the Rais that we had had
+Jews in India, they flatly replied it was a lie, for said they, "It is
+impossible for such a miserable being as a Jew to be a soldier."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[43] Shaving off the hair from different parts of the body is a
+    species of religious rite. The barber in North Africa is highly
+    esteemed. One of the antiquities in Kairwan (Tunis) is the tomb of
+    Mahomet's barber. This city is also the _third_ holy city of the
+    Moslemite world, on account of this important personage being
+    buried there.
+
+[44] Ghour, ‮قور‬, _Sterculia acuminata_, Pal. de Beauv.
+
+[45] He did not know there was a _new_ world before I told him.
+
+[46] The Moors always add to ‮عيسي‬, (Jesus,) _the son of Mary_,
+    to distinguish The Saviour from others of the same name, one of
+    whom is Jesus, a marabout, the founder of the Brotherhood of
+    Snakecharmers.
+
+[47] In their "Declaration of Independence," the Anglo-Americans
+    say--"_All men are created equal_," and "_endowed by their Creator
+    with certain unalienable rights_;" and "_amongst these, life,
+    liberty, and the pursuit of happiness_." I once met a Naval
+    Officer of the United States of America at Gibraltar, who
+    graciously told me, "_Slavery is the support of the country_,"
+    (_his_ country).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+CONTINUED RESIDENCE IN GHADAMES.
+
+     Celebration of Marriage.--Native Feast of the Slaves.--Study of
+     the Negro Languages.--Visit to the Ancient Watch-Tower.--Arrival
+     of an Algerian Spy.--Visit to Sidi Mâbed.--Continued Oppression
+     of the Ghadamsee People by the Turks.--The Ancient Sheikh
+     Ali.--Finances of Algeria.--Bastinading a truant
+     School-Boy.--Ceuta sold by the Mahommedans to the Spaniards for a
+     Loaf of Bread.--The _Parakleit_ of the New Testament the promised
+     Prophet Mahomet.--Tricks of the Algerian Dervish-Spy.--Learn to
+     crack Jokes in Arabic.--The sustaining force of Camels' Milk as
+     Food.--Depreciation of Women by the Moors.
+
+
+_10th._--A BEAUTIFUL morning, and cool. I saw with some surprise a very
+fine red butterfly, also a small flight of good-sized birds passing over
+the gardens.
+
+This morning there was a grand gormandizing of bazeen[48], in celebration
+of the nuptials of the two daughters of my taleb. The feast was given by
+the fathers of the young men. Nearly the whole of the male population of
+the _Ben Wezeet_, besides strangers and the Arab soldiers, went to dig,
+and dip, and dive into the huge bowl of bazeen, some three or four
+hundred adults, besides boys. The house was small, and parties entering
+together were limited to twenty. However, as the object is merely to
+compliment the new married people and their parents, after they had
+swallowed half a dozen mouthsful, they immediately retired and left the
+coast clear for the rest, and thus the ceremony was soon got through.
+There was an exception in the case of the soldiers, whose hungry stomachs
+found the bazeen so good that they stuck fast to the bowl, and were
+obliged to receive the Irish hint of being pulled away by main force
+before they would relinquish their tenacious grasp. My taleb, as a matter
+of course, called upon me to go to the festa. I found the festive hall to
+be a smallish oblong room, the walls of which were garnished with a
+number of little looking-glasses, polished brass basons, and various
+other small matters, including little baskets made of palm-branches. The
+floor was covered with matting and a few showy carpets, and one or two
+ottomans were arranged for seats. In the centre of the room was placed an
+enormous wooden dish, full of bazeen, or thick boiled pudding, made of
+barley-meal, with olive-oil, and sauce of pounded dates poured upon it.
+Every person ate with his hands, rolling the pudding into balls, and
+dipping the balls into oil and date-sauce. A great piece of carpetting
+was laid round the bowl, to be used as a napkin to wipe the hands and
+mouth. The wooden dish or bowl might have been three feet in diameter,
+and was replenished as fast as emptied with masses of boiled dough, oil,
+and date-sauce. There was suspended over it, two or three feet above, a
+wicker roof, to prevent the dirt from falling into it when the people
+stood up all around and wiped their hands. The visitors squatted down
+together, encircling the bowl, in numbers of about eight or ten. An Arab,
+who had a lump given him in a corner, like a dog, found fault with it and
+returned it, saying, "It is not enough." This, of course, was delicate,
+but another lump was given him, for which also he growled
+dissatisfaction. This _feeding_ of bazeen was the fullest extent of the
+good things of the feast. Some of the more respectable merchants went in
+and out without tasting the bazeen, merely paying the compliment to their
+friends. I asked an acquaintance how much he thought a feast of this sort
+cost. He replied, "About twenty dollars, but it is not the value of the
+materials of the feast, but the custom, which is esteemed." Not one of
+the Ben Weleed were present, but all the Wezeet deemed it their duty to
+attend the feast. The marriage feast is some eight days after the
+marriage. Last night there was a little firing of matchlocks. After
+marriage, the bridegroom cannot mix with his acquaintances for two or
+three weeks. It is a sort of decamping after marriage, as if the parties
+had done something of which they were ashamed, like in travelling
+honey-moons amongst ourselves. But at certain hours of the day the
+bridegroom may be seen gliding about like a spectre in the dark streets,
+alone and with noiseless tread. He usually is dressed in gayest colours
+of blue and scarlet, with a fine long stave of brass, or a bright iron
+spear in his hand. When he is met by any one he instantly vanishes: he
+does not utter a syllable, and no person attempts to speak to him.
+
+This afternoon and evening was also a _native_ feast of the slaves. They
+first danced and sung in the market-place. Afterwards they visited the
+_tombs_, and prayed to their dead relatives, propitiating their manes,
+and "to be restored to them and liberty at their death." The women
+carried chafing-dishes in their hands, on which burnt fragrantly the
+incense of _bekhour_. The pride of men perpetuate their distinctions
+beyond life to the land of the dead, where one would think the ashes of
+the human body should be allowed freely to return to the essential
+elements of our common mother, Earth. So slaves have their place of
+burial, and must not commingle their bones with those of freemen. From
+the grave-yard and its sadness, the slaves proceeded to a garden, alotted
+to them, where they danced, and sung, and forgot their slavery. Besides
+dancing and singing, the slaves occasionally fired off matchlocks, which
+they had borrowed from their masters or friends, and of which they are
+most immoderately fond. The high military chivalry of Europe, and France,
+who calls herself _mère de l'épée_, are well matched by the savage tribes
+and slaves of enslaved Africa, who all delight in the slash and cut of
+the sword, and the banging noise of the gun. The negresses sat apart, as
+usual, occasionally raising their shrill _loo-looings_, which they have
+well learnt from their Moorish mistresses. They were very gaily attired,
+some with their arms covered with bracelets and armlets, six or seven
+pairs of very broad tin or silver hoops being fitted on or encircling one
+single arm; so that the arms of some of these sable beauties were an
+entire mass of metal. The party mustered about a hundred, and the Tibboo
+stranger was here, attracted by the colour of skin and native
+associations. Several people went from the city to see the slaves'
+festival--I amongst the rest. It would be great injustice if I were not
+to add, that the Moorish inhabitants of Ghadames ordinarily treat their
+slaves well; they have a good deal of leisure, if not liberty; and their
+lot, as compared with the slaves of the cotton and sugar plantations of
+Christians, _is liberty itself_,--so differently do religions affect, or
+not affect at all, the morality of the people who profess them. To judge
+from this obvious case of comparison, which is so notorious through all
+The East and North Africa, as contrasted with the Christian States of
+America, the religion of the impostor of Mecca should be the religion of
+the divine morals of the New Testament, and the religion of The Saviour
+be the corrupt morals of the Koran. But if we were to judge of a religion
+and its morals from those who profess it, our ideas would soon get into
+confusion, and we should fall into the most deplorable errors.
+
+Began to-day to acquire a few words of the Nigritian languages. People
+are such geese, that when I learnt half-a-dozen words of what some call
+the "_black_" language, they thought me a prodigy. The Housa is the best
+and most frequently spoken language here of the Nigritian tongues. A New
+Testament, translated into this language, would or could be read by a
+third of the tribes of Central Africa. Asking my negro master what _I_
+was, he replied, "_Kerdee_," which means _kafer_ ("infidel") in Bornou,
+the negro mistaking my individual self for the pronoun _I_, which is
+_oomah_. I laughed heartily at the fellow's impudence.
+
+This afternoon, visited the ancient tower, about half a mile distant,
+westwards, from the walls of Ghadames. My turjeman, who was _cicerone_,
+informed me that the tower was built by the Christians, and was a
+watch-tower to give alarm to the city in case of an attack from banditti
+or other enemies. There is another like it in the mountains to the
+north-west, where are also scattered some old masonry of other buildings.
+We mounted the top of the tower, and found a hollowed space at the top,
+of this shape--
+
+[Illustration]
+
+twenty feet long, eight broad, and about five deep. It was evidently a
+cistern or tank for the troops, for we saw a hole at the broad end, from
+which the water ran out. The tower itself was about forty feet in
+diameter. How high it had been, we could not now tell; but the cistern is
+placed nearly at the top of what remains of the tower. Probably the water
+ran down into the lower rooms. From the tops of the ruins there was a
+commanding view of the oasis, and the surrounding Desert. On our way we
+passed a very deep, dry well, and the wall-remains of several ancient
+gardens. The turjeman says the water of Ghadames diminishes, and was
+formerly much more abundant.
+
+_11th._--This morning cooler than any yet. My eyes are now nearly
+restored from the attack of ophthalmia which I had in Tripoli; they open
+always with a little pain in the morning. It is frightful to observe how
+many people here have their eyes injured. A poor camel-driver said to me,
+"Alas! since I went that road to Ghat, I have been nearly blind. The sand
+and rock were too bright for them."
+
+An Algerine Arab arrived with those of Souf, a species of vagrant
+marabout, bringing with him all the lax liberal ideas of French
+Mussulmans. I thought at first he had been sent as a spy, to see what I
+myself was doing at Ghadames. The pious Ghadamseeah were confounded at
+his discourses, as he held forth in the streets. He was very clever and
+facetious, now and then affecting the saint--now the reformer. When he
+was gone, I asked the people what they thought of him. They replied,
+"He's spoilt--he's a _French_ Mussulman--he'll soon be an infidel."
+Others said, "He's mad." This stranger brings the news that all is peace
+in Algeria. One of the people asked him, "Whether it was really true that
+the French had got so far into the interior as Constantine?" The Algerine
+says also, Abdel-Kader is escaped to The Desert. The Emir had been at war
+with the French during the summer. My taleb, speaking of the French,
+observed, "Buonaparte had no father." I endeavoured in vain to persuade
+him to the contrary; and pressing him to tell me under whose influence he
+was begotten, he at last said, "You think I'm a fool, but his father was
+one of the Jenoun ("demons")." This is rather a good ancestry, for the
+Jenoun are, on the whole, a harmless, pleasant sort of people, a
+disposition which the war-loving tyrant Corsican rarely showed.
+
+_12th._--Rose earlier than usual, before sunrise, in order to go to the
+marabet[49] of Sidi-Mâbed--‮سيدي مَع٘بد‬. My turjeman had
+married his wife from this place, and therefore accompanied me. He
+said, "I married one of the daughters of the Saint, and his blood
+runs in the veins of my children." In all The Desert we find this
+aristocracy of the gentle blood of the Saints. Sidi-Mâbed is two
+miles and a half from Ghadames due west. It is situate upon the
+slope of a small valley, which might formerly have been the bed of a
+river. To look at this speck of an oasis, its appearance is not
+unlike that of Seenawan. Around, and near the little village, which
+may consist of some fifteen very lowly dwellings, is a cluster of
+palms, and further on are two or three single ones, scattered over
+the sloping valley. At the furthest distance are some patches of
+cultivation, the water running gurgling down to them. The gardens
+are of the same character as those of Ghadames. The inhabitants
+consist of some seventy souls, all the descendants of one man, the
+famous saint who has given his name to the village. But according to
+the account of his sons, his offspring has not increased very fast,
+for it is several hundred years,--even 900 say they--since His
+Maraboutship flourished. Some place him as far back as the Flood. It
+is said that Nimroud did not place his iron hoof on this sacred
+spot. The daughters of the Saint marry away, only the sons remain in
+the oasis, and some of these emigrate, which accounts for the
+smallness of the Saint's offspring.
+
+The children of this Saint, like many a saint himself, are very ignorant,
+and only one of them pretends to read and write, and to-day he was
+unfortunately not in the oasis. Those with whom I conversed were simple
+rude peasants, but polite in their manners, with countenances speaking a
+serenity of soul and happiness of disposition, not common to the
+inhabitants of the Saharan regions. They told me their village was
+_Zaweea_ ("a sanctuary"), and was recorded in the sacred archives of
+Constantinople as one of the most renowned places in the countries of the
+Prophet. It is, at any rate, one of the most venerated sanctuaries in the
+Sahara, and receives pious offerings from all. Amidst wars and tumults,
+and the depredations of banditti without and around, it remains secure
+and inviolate and inviolable. This has been its happy destiny through
+ages, and the villagers, poor and ignorant as they are, may be proud of
+their sacred unpolluted home. We have here a remarkable instance of the
+triumph of religious principle over brute force. The people of Ghadames
+make continual pilgrimages to the shrine of the Saint. The villagers
+brought our party dates, and all the women and children came out to look
+at me; the same jealous feelings do not exist amongst these unsuspecting
+untutored people as in Ghadames and other Desert cities. A happy thought
+occurred to me before I came away in the morning, of bringing them some
+wedding-cakes and sweets which had been sent to me: these I brought, with
+several loaves of bread. They received them very gratefully, dividing
+them among the whole population of seventy people, a morsel for each.
+They have no wheaten bread here; they live not on the "fat of the land,"
+as the Christian poverty-vowing monks of our own and past times. These
+Desert saints are content with a scanty supply of barley-meal, a little
+olive-oil, and a few dates. I had been told they did not approve of
+holding _Ben-Adam_ as slaves, and was greatly disappointed to hear a
+reply from one of them, "If we had money we would have slaves; we have no
+slaves, because we have no money." By the way, the poverty of North
+Africa and The Sahara is one of the principal causes of the few domestic
+slaves now kept, in comparison with former times.
+
+When we had been in the village a few minutes, an Arab soldier came
+hastily after us. He was sent by the Rais, who was frightened out of his
+wits, his Excellency giving out, that I should be attacked by banditti.
+His Excellency said, on my return, "_Why, why?_ (apparently displeased,
+many people being with him,) whenever you go out, come to me, and I will
+give you an armed Arab soldier." He added; "You and I will go and see the
+Zaweea on horseback." The fact is, some of the people were jealous of a
+Christian going to their sacred village, and considered it a pollution,
+and the Rais was obliged to make a show of opposition and displeasure.
+The children of the Saint manifested none of these exclusive jealous
+feelings, and were happy to see me. In the course of an hour, though my
+turjeman and myself came off early and secretly, it was known all over
+the city the Christian had gone to the sanctuary, and the more bigoted
+were not a little excited. In the village, although everything has the
+appearance of the most abject poverty, all is bright and clean. The tomb
+of the Saint remains, but is concealed from the world, enveloped in
+profound mystery, suitable to the exciting of superstitious feelings. In
+the gardens were many pretty butterflies. I noticed a single cotton-tree,
+and gathered two or three ripe pods; the tree looked unhealthy and was
+very dwarfish. The Sahara is not the place for cotton growing; formerly,
+however, cotton was grown at Carthage, the Jereed, and other parts of
+North Africa. Sir Thomas Reade has lately tried cotton-growing on the
+lands of Carthage, but not succeeded very well. We went to see the
+date-trees, and seeing one a mere bush, without a trunk, I said; "How
+long has that been so, will it ever bear dates?" A son of the Saint said;
+"That tree has been there as long as I can remember. It was always so.
+Date-trees are like mankind, some are tall, some are dwarfish, some fat,
+some lean, some bear fruit and others are barren. The root descends into
+the earth as low as the length of a man. God created this place and gave
+us this garden. We and our children shall keep it until the Judgment-day!
+From this garden we shall ascend to that of paradise, where we shall have
+dates always ripe and ready for eating, for every tree is large and
+fruitful there. And no man dare touch these trees without our permission,
+not even the Rais or the Bashaw. We pay nothing to any man; all cast
+before us their offerings. But we have little because we want little.
+Such is the will of God." Here then is the abode of inviolate sanctity!
+here sits the protecting genius of Ghadames, like a pelican in the
+wilderness! I observed again to-day the burnt volcanic stones scattered
+over The Desert. They were of all colours, yellow, black, brown, and red,
+like so many brick-bats. These stones scattered for miles around,
+together with the hot-spring of the city, and many of the low dull
+Saharan hills, like so many heaps of scoriæ and lava, give apparently a
+volcanic origin to all these regions, or render such a supposition
+probable.
+
+In full Divan it was decided this morning to clear out a little the
+hot-spring and its ducts running to the gardens, in order to give the
+flow of water more room. Some old people say their fathers cleaned it
+out, and the water ran more abundantly; the deeper their fathers dug the
+well, the more the water gushed out. Others are opposed to the
+innovation, opposed to all change, being the good old Tories of the
+Saharan city. All the people are to go in a few days and set to work at
+this cleaning, that means their slaves. Went to see this evening a sick
+Touarick, out of town in his tent, and gave him some medicine; but shall
+be obliged to leave off distributing soon, for the most useful medicines
+are nearly all finished.
+
+_13th._--Weather becomes daily cooler. Get tired of writing, and wish to
+be off in The Desert. A courier from The Mountains has arrived, bringing
+a note from Ahmed Effendi, who says, "The people of Ghadames have no
+occasion to send a deputation to Tripoli. They must pay the extraordinary
+demand of 3,000 mahboubs at once, without farther dispute or delay."
+People are in consternation; they all say they've no more money. My taleb
+assures me he was obliged to sell two of his shirts to make up the last
+amount of the regular tax. What is to be done for extraordinary demands?
+The fortifications of _Emjessem_ are to be immediately rebuilt. The mud
+and salt walls are to be destroyed, and new ones of stone and lime are to
+replace them. Rais showed me the plan of the fonduk, which was nearly
+executed. This looks like perseverance on the part of the Turks, and
+shows their determination to keep open the communication between this and
+Tripoli. The fonduk, or caravanseria, will be eighty feet long and thirty
+wide. It is to be built by the people of Ghadames, who, whilst working,
+will be protected by sixty Arab troops. The expense to be also paid by
+Ghadames. Rais is going to see the works begin. Besides the new fonduk,
+Rais has taken the precaution of stopping up a well, a day's journey
+north-east from the city, by rolling into it a huge stone. This is for
+the same object, to prevent brigands coming near the city and lying in
+wait for small caravans and isolated travellers. Fifty sheep were brought
+into Souk to-day; they were immediately sold. People fatten them for the
+_Ayd-Kebir_, each family endeavouring to procure one as a religious
+obligation.
+
+_14th._--Went early this morning to _Ben Weleed_ to find my aged friend,
+Sheikh Ali. He has the largest species of dates, and invited me to go to
+his garden to see the palms.
+
+Sheikh Ali is a man of ancient days, and ancient honour and resources,
+and fallen into a very low estate. He has not only outlived his age and
+reputation, but outlived his wealth and riches and has become "poor
+indeed." A long flowing white beard now covers his receding breast, and
+the wrinkles of ninety years furrow his pale brow and sunken cheeks.
+Nevertheless, dignity, though ruined, is stamped on his countenance, and
+an almost youthful activity and hale health keep up the great burden of
+his years. On arriving at the old man's garden, he told me to follow him,
+and coming to a very fine lofty palm, with over-hanging wide-spreading
+boughs, he sat down under its ample shade, and bade me sit by his side.
+"Christian," he said, "I have sat under the shade of this palm all the
+days of my life, and shall recline here till God summons me hence."
+
+"How old are the longest-lived palms?" I returned.
+
+"More than the ages of three old men's lives," observed the Sheikh.
+
+An old slave, as ancient-looking as his master, now brought a basket of
+dates, they were every one of them larger than our largest walnuts. I am
+vexed I have forgotten the name of this splendid variety of the date.
+"Eat," said Sheikh Ali, and reclined back in silence for at least half an
+hour. Now and then he opened his eyes to look on the autumnal beams of
+the rising sun, then breathed a sigh and a prayer, but did not address me
+a word. His ancient slave sat at a distance with his eyes fixed on his
+beloved master, watching the movement of his lips, as he breathed his
+morning prayer. At length, seeing the old man's lips cease to move, I
+said gently:--
+
+"Sheikh Ali, they say you have broken down very much, but I am glad to
+see you confide your sorrows in the bosom of God."
+
+_Sheikh Ali._--(Awakening up suddenly, and looking at me anxiously) "Ah,
+Christian, have they told you so? The detractors, the wretches!"
+
+"I trust I have not offended you."
+
+_Sheikh Ali._--"No, stranger, no. But I hate them. I hate the world. I
+curse the world."
+
+"The unfortunate and disappointed are always bitter upon the world. But
+you, Sheikh Ali, I know are above spite and malignity: you would not
+stoop even to hate the miserable follies of the world."
+
+_Sheikh Ali._--"Christian, thou talkest well, and in my way. I tell thee
+I hate no one, I have lived and I shall soon be done with the world. May
+those who come after me fare better."
+
+"What is this hatred of the Ben Weleed and the Ben Wezeet?"
+
+_Sheikh Ali._--(Smiling faintly.) "Christian, thou wilt know everything.
+My father told me when I came out of the belly of my mother, that I was a
+_Ben Wezeelee_, and I have remained so to this day. But why or wherefore,
+I know not? Dost thou not see that people do this and that, and know not
+why they do it? Well, Christian, we do not hate the Ben Wezeet; but we
+will not associate with them, because we are proud, and because our
+fathers did not associate with them. It is pride, not hatred, which
+divides this our nation into two."
+
+"Why so proud? It says in the Koran the Devil would not admire Adam for
+pride[50], and God cursed him for his pride."
+
+_Sheikh Ali._--"Ah, Christian, how knowest thou the Koran? Canst thou
+read the Great and Mighty Koran?"
+
+"In England we read the Koran in order to obtain a correct knowledge of
+classic Arabic. Others read it to understand the religion of Moslems."
+
+_Sheikh Ali._--"Right, right. The Christians are a wise people. Oh, these
+religions!"
+
+I thought I heard a regret of scepticism, or a kindly view of heretics
+and infidels, in the latter exclamation, "_Oh, these religions!_" So I
+observed to the Sheikh, "A pity it is we are not all of one religion, as
+we are all the children of one Creator."
+
+_Sheikh Ali._--"By G----! Christian, thou art right. I have always prayed
+God to lead me in the right way, and to have mercy upon others. But do
+you know, Christian, I think there were amongst those prophets of ancient
+times many impostors. What do you think?"
+
+"I am sure of it. It is also the opinion of all our wise men in England."
+
+_Sheikh Ali._--"Christian, I hate Marabouts. In the long years of my life
+I have seen all their tricks, lies, and impositions. I am sorry for the
+poor people, on whom they practise their impostures, and also for the
+women. I have one daughter; I never permitted her to consult a marabout.
+I told her what the wretches were. Have you marabouts in England?"
+
+"Yes, of all descriptions. We have also many who get the women to confess
+the secrets of families, and create an odious war in the bosom of
+society."
+
+_Sheikh Ali._--"Ah, ah (chuckling), all the world's alike. God curse
+those marabouts. Do you give them money?"
+
+"Money! In our country, nothing is done without money."
+
+_Sheikh Ali._--(Becoming fresh excited.) "What! are the English like us?
+is a man esteemed for his money?"
+
+"You have heard of London?"
+
+_Sheikh Ali._--"_Londra?_"
+
+"Yes, that's it. Well, in Londra, nor virtue, nor honour, nor wisdom, is
+worth anything without money."
+
+_Sheikh Ali._--"The Devil take the world, it's all alike. So here, so
+there. When I was rich, everybody bowed down to me; now that I am poor,
+they pass me by without saying _bis-slamah_ (saluting). Why did God make
+money? How wretched is the world." So this philosopher of The Desert
+continued. Returning, I bade the ancient Sheikh an affectionate adieu.
+
+In the streets, people appeared to be fasting, as in the most rigid
+Ramadan. I never saw such gloomy, emaciated faces. Really people look as
+if they were all going to give up the ghost. What is to become of these
+poor devils of dervishes! Government is grinding them down to the dust!
+Returned home heart-sick at the sight. I am growing daily more impatient
+of remaining so long in Ghadames. Impatience comes on like attacks of
+fever. Have determined again to pursue the Kanou route.
+
+The forty slaves brought by the Touaricks and the Tibboo have been all
+sold to the Souafah. The Tibboo sold his for twenty dollars per head. The
+ten dollars per head tax on them put the Rais in possession of a little
+ready money, and his Excellency paid me back the hundred Tunisian
+piastres. The Arabs of Souf always bring money here, and, besides
+dollars, a quantity of five-franc pieces, since the French have occupied
+Algeria. The millions spent or wasted by the French in Algeria are
+variously disposed of:--
+
+1st.--The Arabs get a _fifth_, who bury their money, or send it into the
+neighbouring deserts of Tunis and Morocco.
+
+2nd. The Maltese ship off a _ninth_ of the money to Malta. The Spaniards
+and other foreigners also get a share.
+
+3rd. A great quantity, a fifth, perhaps, is embezzled by the _employés_
+of the civil administration, and their creatures, the contractors.
+
+4th. A tenth is spent on the public works.
+
+5th. The rest is paid to the military. A _fraction_ only is spent on the
+culture of the soil, and for the purposes of emigration, or the real
+colonization of the country.
+
+_15th._--This morning is really cold, and the coldest morning we have had
+yet. Rais assures me I shall with difficulty be able to bear the cold, so
+intense is it in Ghadames during the winter, or January and February.
+Greatly agitated about my journey in the past night, and could not sleep.
+There will soon be an end of this uncertainty. I pray God to give me
+patience and wisdom. Observe people are beginning to feel the effects of
+the cold, and cover up their mouths like the Italians and Spaniards. But
+all are living up to the starvation-point.
+
+At noon was held a full Divan, to decide upon the "extraordinary demand."
+The chiefs of the people said:--"We have no money, and cannot pay." The
+Rais replied:--"Such discourse will not do; you have money, and must
+pay." Then the Divan broke up without farther palavering. The alleged
+object of the money to be raised, is for the expenses of the troops who
+went in pursuit of the Arabs of the son of Abd-el-Geleel in the past
+summer.
+
+The old bandit calls and says:--"Your friend, the _long_ man, has
+finished to-day all his tobacco." The long man is the Giant Touarick. I
+took no notice of this polite hint to furnish a new supply. I might
+furnish with tobacco all the Touaricks who came here, if I were to
+attend to these Irish hints. The old bandit, who is cramped up like a
+wizened apple, is said by people still to carry on his nefarious trade.
+The proof of this they give to be, his always _going alone_ when he
+travels. The old villain then catches what he can. Myself, I hardly
+believe he continues his brigandage. He appears wholly worn out. I gave
+his little son 20 paras to buy camel's flesh. The old freebooter grinned
+a ghastly smile. Walking in _Ben Weleed_ quarters, I heard a great to-do,
+and went to see what it was, when I saw the old chief, Haj Ben Mousa
+Ettanee, standing over his young truant son, whilst with a thick stick
+the servant of the schoolmaster was belabouring the feet of the child.
+Never was a more complete bastinadoing. The urchin cried to his father
+for mercy. It was perfectly in character with the old man, and the
+austere manners of his family. I do not wonder that all the people read
+and write in Ghadames, when such severity is practised by the very
+aristocrats of the city. Whilst standing by, another Moor went up to the
+old man, and said, "Stop, stop, here's the Christian looking on." They
+stopped, but it appeared a mere pretence for leaving off, for already
+they had unmercifully belaboured the truant.
+
+No mutton to be had to-day, and was obliged to buy camel's flesh for
+dinner: found it pretty good. My turjeman and taleb both joined me.
+After dinner, the taleb began in his usual controversial spirit. He
+insisted, that "Any person who should make himself well acquainted
+with the Koran must become a Mussulman." "If the French teach their
+children to read the Koran, in order to learn the Arabic," said he,
+"they must conquer the Russians and the English." Not "εν τουτω
+νιχα[51]," but in or with _This Book_, say the Mussulmans, the
+world must be conquered. The Russians and the French, having
+recently made conquests in Mohammedan countries near them, (for the
+wars in Circassia are heard of here,) impress these people with
+fear, and fear is their ruling principle of government. Asking my
+taleb why the Mussulmans who had possession of _This Book_ did not
+conquer the world, he answered sharply, "The Mussulmans conquered
+the world once with the Koran, but now they have lost their faith,
+and are weak, and such is the will of God." The taleb then related a
+curious story about Ceuta. A certain marabout, who had seen the _Elouh
+Elmahfouth_ (‮الوح المحفوظ‬,) or "Book of Fate," which
+was let down to him to look at and read in, from heaven, went into the
+city, and offered Ceuta for sale at the low price of "_a loaf of
+bread_." The people said:--"Oh, the man is mad, let him go." But he
+continued the more to cry out, "Who will give me a loaf of bread for
+Ceuta?" At last he met a Christian, a Spaniard, who gave the
+Marabout a loaf of bread, and took possession of the city. This
+seems really an excuse for the loss of that strong fortress. But it
+is added:--"The Marabout having seen and read the future destiny of
+Ceuta in the _Book of Fate_, was determined to hasten the crisis,
+and placed it at once in the hands of the Christians." My taleb
+assures me that Mahomet was foretold and promised in our gospels,
+under the name of _Parakleit_, (_i. e._ ὁ Παράκλητος,), "The
+Comforter." He cited also the Koran, but would not write the
+passage; I had no Koran with me. But this is an advantage, for if I
+had had a Koran in my possession, I should only have excited the
+prejudices of the people against me, and should not have been able
+to have kept it from them. A traveller might take a translation
+advantageously, one without Arabic notes, or _Arabic_ words
+explained, which would soon excite their curiosity to know what it
+was. Speaking of the "_Ben Welleed_" and "_Wezeet_," my turjeman
+said:--"These are the French and the English; we are always at war
+with one another."
+
+It is the opinion of people here, that the French and English are always
+at war, and they are continually on the _qui-vive_ for a war breaking out
+between France and England, for they think then the English will drive
+out the French from Algeria, unmindful of what miseries such a war would
+entail upon themselves, crushed as they would be between the two great
+hostile Powers.
+
+The Algerine dervish is playing off some fine tricks. This afternoon he
+got together a dozen low fellows of the Ben Weleed, and went to say the
+_fatah_ before the Governor. This saying _fatah_ was chiefly forming a
+circle with his troop, himself in the middle, and then at the top of his
+voice singing out, whilst his troop cried out, "_hhahh_," jumping up, and
+bending forward their heads and bodies towards him. This they continued
+for an hour or more, until they sank upon the floor with exhaustion.
+Afterwards they played off some other genteel tricks. His Excellency the
+Rais is as great a dervish as any mad fellow here, and though suffering
+greatly from headache and bad eyes, he endured this tomfoolery for nearly
+a couple of hours. My taleb, a shrewd man, said to me, "Don't you see, I
+told you this Algerian was an impostor?" I believe really he is a French
+spy on the movements of the Turks, and perhaps myself. The Tibboo calls.
+He is preparing to depart, and presses me to go with him. Speaking to a
+Touarick, he said, "See the money of the Christians (taking hold of my
+black buttons)." Many people have half a mind to believe my black buttons
+are money. The Tibboo says, there are no watches in Soudan. People are
+content to measure time by the sun's rising and setting. Some merchants,
+lately come from Tunis, have heard of the projected aërial machine. They
+have no difficulty in believing that Christians travel in the air. They
+think the Devil, being very clever, teaches Christians all these things.
+The _Touatee_ calls, and says, "You must write something." "What?" I
+answer. "Oh," he replies, "My wife has a head full of fantazia (or
+nonsense); this you must write." It appears the Touatee has got a
+scolding wife. Told the Rais about this funny incident, who said, "Tell
+the _Touatee_ to go home and pretend he's going to take another wife, and
+then she'll soon leave off pouting."
+
+_16th_ and _17th._--Continues cold. People say I improve in Arabic. I
+ought, for I have enough of it. What is odd, I begin to joke with the
+people. It will be seen I have represented the Saharan people as mostly
+gloomy, and suffering from the oppression of their Government. Still
+there are times when they can force a smile, or crack a joke. They carry
+the joke so far that they have sometimes joked me about my fasting in
+Ramadan, a very sacred subject for a Mussulman. Every time I go into the
+streets, I meet with one or other with whom I try to get up a joke, for
+it grieves me to see the people suffer so much from bad government. After
+we come to satire, and with the help of the word _batel_,
+"good-for-nothing," we manage to hit off somebody. An Arab Sheikh came to
+us, one day, when we were joking. I said, "Oh! here's the lion-heart, who
+ran away from Emjessem for fear of the _Shânbah-Bātel_." The Arab,
+astounded, "Ya rajel (Oh man), I had nothing to eat!" "Nor have we here,"
+replied a merchant, "you better go and hunt with the greyhounds of the
+Touaricks. The Rais has taken away all our victuals." The poor Arab went
+his way very queer and crestfallen.
+
+Speaking to a Moor of The Sahara, I said, "The Sahara is always healthy:
+look at these Touaricks, they are the children of The Desert." He
+replied, "The Sahara is the sea _on land_, and, like sea, is always more
+healthy than cultivated spots of the earth. These Touaricks are chiefly
+strong and powerful from drinking camels' milk[52]. They drink it for
+months together, often for four or five months, not eating or drinking
+anything else. After they have drank it some time, they have no
+evacuations for four or five days, and these are as white as my bornouse.
+It is the camels' milk which makes the Touaricks like lions. A boy shoots
+up to manhood in few years; and there's nothing in the world so
+nourishing as camel's milk." Caillié mentions that the chief of the
+Braknas lived for several months on nothing but milk; but it was cow's
+milk. Many of the Saharan tribes are supported for six months out of
+twelve on milk.
+
+The Moors seem to have a secret dislike for women, as well as a most
+obstinate desire to tyrannize over them. There is a lurking desire of
+this sort in the men-sex of all countries. Are we not the Lords of
+Creation? I actually get afraid of avowing to them that the supreme ruler
+of England is _a woman_, they are so confoundedly annoyed at the
+circumstance. The first questions of their surprise are, "How? Why?" &c.
+My taleb is very fond of supporting the doctrine of a woman having only a
+_fifth_ of her father's property. I annoy him by telling him it's a bad
+law, and that the daughter should have an equal share with the son. Lady
+Morgan is sadly wanted here; she would find ample additional materials
+for a second edition of "Woman and her Master."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[48] _Bazeen_, ‮بزين‬, called also _Aseedah_, ‮عصيدة‬.
+
+[49] Some have endeavoured to distinguish in English the mausoleum
+    in which a dead saint is laid by the term Mara_bet_, though in
+    Arabic both the dead and living saint, and the cupola house in
+    which the dead saint is laid, are all called Mara_bout_. When a
+    village or town, is built round the mausoleum of a saint, it is
+    also called after the saint, as in the instance now related.
+
+[50] "We (God) created you, and afterwards formed you (mankind);
+    and then said unto the angels, _Worship_ Adam; and they worshipped
+    him, except Eblis (The Devil), who was not one of those who
+    worshipped. God said unto him, What hindered thee from worshipping
+    Adam, since I had commanded thee? He answered, I am more excellent
+    than he: thou hast created me of fire, and has created him of
+    clay. God said, Get thee down therefore from Paradise; for it is
+    not fit that thou behave thyself _proudly_ therein: get thee
+    hence; thou shalt be one of the contemptible."--_Surat_ vii.
+    _Intitled Al-Araf._
+
+[51] The words in the _Cross_, which Constantine is reported to
+    have seen in the heavens.
+
+[52] When the milk is fresh it is called by the Arabs ‮حليب‬, when
+    sour, ‮لبن‬.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+CONTINUED RESIDENCE IN GHADAMES.
+
+     Gaiety of the Black Dervish.--Walking Dance of the Slaves.--The
+     Fullans or Fellatahs.--_Shoushoua_, or scarifying the face of
+     Negroes.--Terms used in connexion with Slaves.--The _Razzia_.--A
+     Souafee Politician.--Parallel Customs between The East and The
+     Sahara.--The mercenary Blood-letter.--Indifference to the
+     sufferings of the Arab Troops.--Colour of the people in
+     Paradise.--Excellent Government of the Fullanee Nations.--Moors
+     do not fondle their Children.--Administering Physic to
+     Camels.--Simplicity of Touarick manners.--Knocked down by a Pinch
+     of Snuff.--Departure of the Tibboo alone to Ghat.--Blood in White
+     Sugar, and Anecdote of Colonel Warrington and Yousef Bashaw about
+     collecting old Bones.--Colonel Warrington compared to the late
+     Mr. Hay.--Said, a subject of Anti-Slavery discussion.--Specimen
+     of Desert Arab freedom.
+
+
+_18th._--WITH the full moon the cold has regularly set in. Good-bye flies
+and good-bye scorpions. Can now write with my door open, without being
+covered with flies. Can also sleep without waking up at midnight to kill
+scorpions running over the mattresses. The mad black dervish is always in
+motion, and full of gaiety. People are so fond of him that they think he
+is inspired. When all the Moors are in solemn vacant thought, or brooding
+over their griefs, or dreaming in broad day of their being marabouts or
+sultans, the poor witless thing runs in amongst them, shaking hands with
+the first he meets with, and bursts out a-laughing. He usually succeeds
+in infusing a little of his cheerfulness into these equally _mad_ people,
+but more sober in their method of madness. Yesterday the slaves had
+another feast _for the dead_. The Moors allow their slaves the liberty of
+blending the two religions, as Rome has allowed the blending of
+Christianity and paganism. And when questioned about it they say; "Oh,
+the slaves know only a little of Allah, and are not much better than
+donkeys in their understandings." The slaves assembled to the number of
+some fifty in the Souk. Here they performed a species of walking dance,
+in two right lines, very slow and very stiff and measured, having
+attached to it some mysterious meaning. They were gaily dressed, attended
+with a drum and iron castanets, making melodious noises. Each had a
+matchlock slung at his back. The women carried a chafing-dish of incense,
+as if about to raise some spirit or ghost. A crowd was around them; but
+they performed nothing but this slow-marching dance, and then retired to
+the tombs. The dervish, poor fellow, mingled in the gay throng,
+shouldering a stick for a gun.
+
+Received many little presents from people lately. Sheikh Makouran brought
+me himself a small basket of very fine dates. My taleb afterwards brought
+me some _gharghoush_, or small cakes, made of flour, honey, sugar, and
+milk. They are extremely pleasant eating and a little _acid_, which adds
+greatly to their flavour. There are but few things acid in this country;
+of sour things there is an abundance.
+
+Heard a great deal about the Foullans, Foulahs, and Fellatahs, the
+predominant race in Soudan. _Foullan_ (‮فلّان فلّانين
+فلّاني‬) is the Soudanic term, _Fellatah_ the Bornouese, and
+_Foulah_ what is used to denominate them among the Mandingoes. According to
+information here, they were once the most miserable race of _Arab_
+wanderers in The Desert. But at last they settled down as neighbours
+to the Negroes, some 700 years since. They continued to increase in
+numbers and importance, abandoning tents and building villages and
+towns, and intermixing with the Negroes, till about forty-five (and
+others thirty-five) years ago, when they expanded their ideas to
+conquest and renown. About this time they made the conquest of
+Kanou, Succatou, and the other large cities of Housa. Never a people
+rose to greater fame and power. They were assisted, like the
+Saracens before them, by religious fanaticism, and so far
+corresponded with them, in extending the boundaries of Islamism.
+They went on conquering and to conquer till within the present year,
+when their power received some check by the daring exploits of the
+Tibboo prince of Zinder, a vassal of Bornou. This prince has taken
+from them a few towns. The complexion of the ordinary Fullanee is a
+deep olive, with pleasing features, not much Negro, and long hair.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Negroes in Nigritia are known by the _Shoushoua_ (‮شوشوا‬), or
+scarifying. Generally in Negro countries, which profess the Mohammedan
+religion, the _Shoushoua_ is abandoned as _haram_ or prohibited. It is
+mostly the sign of paganism. The operation is performed by a sharp cutting
+instrument, and is never _effaced_ from the face during life. The annexed
+drawing presents the _Shoushoua_ of the Negroes of Tombo, near Jinnee,
+who are pagans. Whenever the slaves see these marks they know the country
+of the other slaves who bear them. Formerly it could be ascertained whether
+a slave was born on the coast, or brought from the interior, by the
+presence or absence of the _Shoushoua_. Now it cannot, because the
+practice is discontinued in countries subject to Moslem rule, whence
+slaves are sometimes brought. In Ghadames a freed slave is called
+_mâtouk_ (‮معتوق‬) or _horr_ (‮حرّ‬). The terms _waseef_
+(‮وسيف‬) and sometimes _mamlouk_ (‮مملوك‬) are employed
+for a single slave, and _âbeed_ (‮عبيد‬) for many. The Arabic
+terms ‮قايد الوصفان‬ "the chief of slaves," are used to
+denote the person who is responsible for the conduct of slaves, or the
+"Sheikh of the slaves." The word RAZZIA, which the French are said
+to have invented, and which has acquired such a _triste_ celebrity
+by their butcheries of the Arabs in Algeria, is derived from the
+same word as designates a Slave-hunt (_ghazah_)[53] amongst our
+Saharan people. The verb is ‮غَزَا‬ _ghaza_, "petivit," which in
+the second conjugation means, "expeditione bellica petivit hostem," and
+the noun in use is ‮غَزَاة‬ _ghazah_, "expeditione bellica." The
+Bornouese word to denote a slave-hunt, as carried on by the
+Touaricks, is DIN, applied to private kidnapping expeditions, and
+means, I think, simply "theft," showing that not by war, as
+captives, but by "theft," "stealing," the "man-stealing" of the
+Apostle Paul, are slaves generally procured in Central Africa. It is
+only just that _razzia_ and _ghazah_, the same words, should be so
+closely allied in application to their different actions. The
+French, to do the thing properly, and in their usual style, should
+erect a monument upon the "Place" of the city of Algiers, to the new
+invention RAZZIA, with its derivations from _ghazah_, "a
+slave-hunt." A prize essay might also be proposed to the Oriental
+Chair of Paris, and its various students, now looking for
+distinction as interpreters in the land of RAZZIAS or "butcheries,"
+for the best derivation and historical progress of the term RAZZIA,
+as used by Christian and civilized nations, in relation to infidel
+and Mohammedan barbarians. At the bottom of the monument erected by
+the French to the DEMON RAZZIA, may be appended the following
+veracious words, copied from the late proclamation of the Duc
+d'Aumale, on his assumption of the high post of Governor-General of
+Algeria (_Moniteur Algérien_, October 20, 1847):--"You have learned
+by experience, O Mussulmans! how just and clement is the Government
+of France." The Duke unpardonably forgets to cite one of the last
+proofs of this just and clement Government, the roasting of a tribe
+of Arabs, men, women and children in the caverns of the Atlas! . . . . Will
+not the Lying Bulletin (native of France) be proclaimed till
+doomsday?
+
+This morning the merchants asked me why the English did not drive
+out the French from Algeria. They had often badgered me with this
+subject. I thought it better to speak plainly at once, and for all.
+I began by asking, why should the English drive out the French? and
+continued, "France and England are now at peace. They don't wish to
+make war at all, and England does not consider Algeria of such
+importance as to go to war about it. England did not derive much
+benefit from Algeria when Mussulmans ruled there; besides the
+Algerines were always sea-robbers. The English were obliged to go
+and chastise them several times before the French captured their
+country. And do not think, that if war did take place between
+England and France, and the English should drive the French out of
+Algeria, the country would therefore be given up to the Sultan and
+the Mussulmans. The English might wish to rule there themselves.
+Upon no account wish for war in Algeria, for the miseries of the war
+would chiefly fall upon you, Mussulmans." This completely settled
+them, and exasperated them, as well it might; they said no more. The
+Mussulmans always have in their memories the conduct of the English
+when they drove out the French from Egypt, and discussing this kind
+of politics, it is quite natural.
+
+Afterwards I heard a Souafee holding forth to another group. His
+theme was, the Shânbah, Warklah, Touaricks, Tugurt, Souf, and
+Ghadames, and it was evident to him that besides the people now
+enumerated there were no others in the world. A respectable Moor
+observed at the time, "That Souafee is a rascal. He's as great a
+robber as a Shânbah bandit. Mussulmans are not like Christians. The
+Christians have but one word, and are brothers. The Mussulmans have
+a thousand and ten thousand words, they don't speak the truth, and
+they are enemies to one another." The ingenuous Moor knew little of
+the history of Europe and America. I did not disabuse him of his
+good opinion of us. He was a Ben Wezeet, and complained that now the
+_Nāther_ (‮ناظر‬), or native overseer of the city, and the Kady or
+judge, and some of the richest merchants belonged to the Ben Weleed,
+and added mournfully, with a sigh, "It was not so in my father's
+time. But the world has changed, and this is the new world."
+
+In reading the Arabic Testament, I have noticed several parallel customs
+or habits between The East and North Africa. Take this:
+
+"But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote upon the ground."
+(John viii. 6.)
+
+People of Ghadames are writing daily with their fingers on the ground.
+They are also wont, with fancy ornamental sticks, which they usually
+carry, to illustrate their ideas on the sand or dust of the streets, by
+drawing figures. In speaking with them on geography, they sketch shapes
+of countries. They cast up all their ordinary accounts by writing figures
+on the sand. They have also certain games which they play by the use of
+sand. Sand is their paper, their ledger, their boards of account, their
+pavement, and their auxiliary in a thousand things. It is said in the
+Gospels, that The Saviour escaped to the mountains[54], either from the
+pressure of the people, or from the persecutions of his enemies. Persons
+are accustomed to escape to the mountains in Barbary, more particularly
+in Morocco and Algeria; but also in this country. Our Saviour, besides,
+gives the same advice to his disciples: "Let them which are in Judea
+_flee to the mountains_." (Luke xxi. 21.) It has always been difficult to
+apprehend fugitives in the mountains, especially in ancient times, when a
+good police did not exist. The conqueror has always had great difficulty,
+and exposed his conquests to imminent risk, by pursuing the conquered in
+mountainous districts. Such are the instincts and habits of men in all
+ages. The Desert has, besides, afforded an asylum to the fugitive and
+unfortunate, as well as the persecuted. Our Saviour was wont to retire to
+desert places. In this country, the discomfited defenders of their
+country's liberties have invariably escaped to The Sahara. How many times
+has Abd-el-Kader escaped to the mountains of Rif, or the solitudes of The
+Sahara? But it is unnecessary to pursue this obvious idea farther,
+otherwise it also will escape to The Mountains or The Desert.
+
+The "five _barley_ loaves," (John vi. 9,) reminds me of the _barley_
+bread of these countries, more frequent than any other sort of bread.
+Wheaten bread is rarely eaten by the lower classes.
+
+It is needless to cite all the passages of Scripture where the people in
+the towns and villages are represented as bringing out their sick of
+every kind and description. (Matt. xiv. 14, 35, 36.) So it is in North
+Africa. Whenever an European visits these countries with any pretensions
+to medical skill, all the sick of the place are brought out to him. When
+I see the sick daily brought to me--as also when I was in The
+Mountains--I cannot help thinking of those affecting pictures of disease
+and misery which were providentially exhibited to demonstrate the divine
+skill of the Great Physician of mind and body.
+
+Salt is procured in a few hours' journey beyond _Sidi Mâbed_, and is
+considered superior to that procured at the _Salinæ_ of the coast. This
+Saharan salt is only obtained after there has been some rain, the earth
+being impregnated with it, and the water washing away the earthy
+particles. It is gathered in the dry season.
+
+_19th._--Amuse myself with Arabic reading and philological studies. The
+mornings continue cool. Administer now little medicine, for I have but
+little left. Ordered an Arab to be bled by the old Moor, who possesses a
+good lancet. The big hulking Arab proved a greater coward than a child.
+How sickness unnerves a man, the hardiest and strongest of men! I once
+took a passage from Algeria to Marseilles in a French transport of
+convalescents. There I saw the brave and brilliant French troops cry and
+whine like children under the influence of fever. When the old Moor had
+bled the soldier, he said to me, "Where's the money?" This shows that,
+though they rarely think of remunerating the services of the Christian
+Tabeeb, they have a perfectly clear conception of what is due to the
+labour and skill of a doctor when the case refers to themselves. Some
+time after, I went to the old Moor again, and asked him to bleed another
+soldier attacked with fever. He refused to bleed him, alleging that he
+must be paid. "He will die," I said. "Let him die," returned the
+unfeeling old blood-letter; "why do they bring soldiers here, we don't
+want them?" This afternoon I visited the barrack, where several Arab
+soldiers were laid up with the fever, which they had caught at Emjessem.
+One was very bad. The Arabs said to me, "You must give him money to buy
+some bread, and a little meat to make some broth." I told them they must
+go the Rais; it was his business to look after his troops. It is
+distressing to witness the condition of these wretched Arabs. At
+different times I have given them a little meat, and bread, and oil; but
+now my stock of provisions is getting down, and the communication between
+Tripoli and Ghadames is very precarious. In the evening I saw the
+_Nāther_, and said to him--expecting he would mention it to the Rais,
+"See that soldier lying on the stone-bench; he is sick, and has nothing
+to eat."
+
+_The Nāther._--"Yes, he is ill."
+
+_I._--"But he has nothing to eat; can't you get him something to eat?"
+
+_The Nāther,_--"Pooh, he must die."
+
+The other Moors present laughed at my simplicity in begging something to
+eat for a fever-worn, emaciated wretch of a soldier. The matter of fact
+is, these poor fellows are detested by the inhabitants, and starved to
+death by the Government. The soldier had caught the fever of Derge,
+whilst sent there on business, which is a bad tertian fever, prevalent in
+some oases of The Sahara.
+
+Lately, as my turjeman and Said, with several negroes, were
+chatting, and saying people would have husbands and wives in the
+next world, I asked, in the manner of the Sadducees, "If a woman had
+three husbands in this world, whose wife would she be in the next?"
+They all answered, "_The wife of the last_." As some of the group of
+these theologians and diviners of the future state were negroes, I
+asked, "What _colour_ will people be in the next world?" They
+replied, "_All white_, and alike; and not only will their skins be
+white, but all their clothing will be _white_." White, indeed, is
+the favourite colour of Mussulmans; and a sooty-black Mohammedan
+negro will set off his face with a white turban, as our Christian
+niggers do their _japan_ with a lily-white neckcloth. But _white_ is
+the colour of purity, of religion in North Africa and The
+East, as in _Biblical_ times.--περιβεβλημένους ἐν
+ἱματίοις λευχοῖς. (Rev. iv. 4.)
+
+_20th._--Weather continues fine and cool. Less meat to be had; nothing
+decided about the new levy of money, except that the people will not or
+cannot pay. The Sheikh Makouran tells me he is greatly in debt to Messrs.
+Silva and Laby, and so are all Ghadamsee merchants. The money now
+employed in commerce is chiefly that of European and other merchants of
+Tripoli and Tunis. "We have no money," says Makouran, "we cannot pay any
+new levies. If Rais persists, he must collect our money at the edge of
+the sword; and this can't last, for we shall all soon die of hunger."
+These continual complaints make me melancholy, and added to my impatience
+"to be up and doing," make me very peevish. O Dio! but such is the lot of
+man, to suffer always, either in mind or body. Much annoyed at my taleb
+for eating Said's dinner, even before my face. These Moors, at least some
+of them, have neither honour nor conscience. I suppose the taleb is
+pinching his belly to pay his portion of the new contribution. To punish
+the taleb, I give Said coffee before him, without asking him to take any.
+I may observe, the Moors don't like to see me treat the poor blacks and
+slaves as their equals. I frequently give the negroes tea and coffee
+before I serve them, to show I despise such distinctions, although,
+perhaps, against propriety.
+
+The taleb began boasting about Soudan, and he has much reason to
+boast of it, if we compare what Mohammedans have there done with
+what Christians have done on the Western Coast of Africa. He said,
+"There's no _gomerick_ (Custom-house), no oppression, for the people
+are Mussulmans." Such were the reasons for their not being
+oppressive. It is a great question how far a country may be
+civilized, and in how short a time, without actual conquest?
+Civilization has progressed in Central Africa with the spread of
+Islamism. When it reaches the point of Mahometan civilization it
+will stop. The question with us is, "Whether we shall civilize the
+Mohammedans, and so work on Central Africa, or reconquer their
+conquests?" There appears very little chance of civilizing Africa
+without arms and conquest. Bornou, Soudan, and its numerous
+cities, Timbuctoo and Jinnee, formerly all governed by the
+_Kohlan_--‮كحلان‬, or "blacks," are now governed by strangers,
+either Arabs (pure) or Touaricks or Fullans. These are the present
+most important kingdoms of the ancient Nigritia, and include a
+population of some millions. I continue to pursue my inquiries
+respecting the Fullans. All agree in representing them as originally
+_Arab_, but now greatly mixed, of very dark colour, some being
+nearly black, others, and most of them, a dark brown and yellow red,
+and some nearly white. The fortunes of the Fullans, emerging
+filthily from the dregs and offscouring of The Sahara, have become
+as great as the old Romans formerly in Europe, but they will always
+have powerful and vindictive rivals in the Touarghee and pure Arab
+and Berber races. The Revd. Mr. Schön has given a too unfavourable
+report of the Fullans, in his Notes and Journal of the Niger
+Expedition, biassed against them in his Missionary zeal, simply
+because they are Mahometans. It is true that the Fullans are great
+slave-dealers, but so are nearly all the princes of Africa. The mild
+and equitable administration of the kingdoms of Kanou, Succatou,
+Kashna, and other immense centres of population, as carried on by
+the Fullans, is notorious throughout The Great Desert. No people of
+Nigritian Africa has so profoundly excited my best sympathies as the
+Fullanee races[55].
+
+The Moors do not fondle and dandle their children on their knees, as
+parents are accustomed in Europe; and when grown up, the children appear
+as distant from their parents as strangers. This arises from the absolute
+authority assumed by parents over children during their minority. I have
+often been angry to see some of the lower people here teaching the
+children to call me _Kafer_ ("infidel") as a sort of religious duty,
+lest, I imagine, the children should see at last that there is no very
+great difference between a _Kafer_ and a Moslemite.
+
+Was much amused this afternoon in seeing physic administered to camels.
+The camel is made to lie down, and its knee joints are tied round so that
+it cannot get up. One person then seizes hold of the skin and cartilage
+of the nose, and that of the under jaw, and wrests with all his force the
+mouth wide open, whilst another seizes hold of the tongue and pulls it
+over one side of the mouth; this done, another pours the medicine down
+the throat of the animal, and, when the mouth is too full, they shut the
+jaws and rub and work the medicine down its throat. The disease was the
+falling off of the hair; and the medicine consisted of the stones of
+dates split into pieces and mixed with dried herbs, simple hay or grass
+herbs, powdered as small as snuff, the mixture being made with water.
+People told me it would fatten the camel as well as restore its hair.
+Camels frequently have the mange, and then they are tarred over. For
+unknown incomprehensible diseases, the Moors burn the camel on the head
+with hot irons, and call this physic. Men are treated in the same way,
+and the Moors are very fond of these analogies between men and brutes.
+What is good for a camel is good for a man, and what is good for man is
+good for a camel. Whilst the camel was being drugged, a Touarick came up
+and said, "_Salām âleikom_" to me. They always use this primitive mode of
+salutation. When they swear oaths they also say, "_Allah Akbar_," (God is
+Greatest!) the famous war-cry of the Saracennic conquerors of olden
+times. They are primitive in all their ideas and words; their manners are
+equally stiff, and slow or courtly, "stately and dignified;" they fully
+understand the doctrine that, "Great bodies move slow."
+
+A man is said sometimes not to be worth "a pinch of snuff;" and yet
+a pinch of snuff will knock a man down, as it knocked me down this
+evening. My value then does not quite reach to a pinch of snuff
+standard. To come to explanation: a merchant offered me a pinch of
+snuff, and to please him, I took a large pinch, pushing a portion of
+it up my nostrils. Immediately I fell dizzy and sick, and in a short
+time, vomited violently. The people stared at me with astonishment,
+and were terrified out of their wits, and thought I was about to
+give up the ghost. They never saw snuff before produce such terrible
+effects. After some time, I got a little better and returned home.
+This snuff was that from Souf, and what people call _wâr_
+("difficult"). I had been warned of it, and therefore richly paid
+for my folly. Moreover, it was a violation of my usual abstinence
+from this not very elegant habit. The Souf snuff is extremely
+powerful; it is constantly imported here, and for the satisfaction
+of snuff-takers and snuff-taking tourists, I am bound to inform them
+that they will find snuff much cheaper in Ghadames than in Tripoli.
+People call snuff hot and cold, according to its stimulating,
+irritating, and tickling power. It is prohibited to drink wine and
+spirits amongst Moslemites, but, nevertheless, many of them do not
+fail to intoxicate themselves with everything besides which comes in
+their way: they snuff most horribly all the live-long day. In the
+season the Arabs drink their _leghma_, and the Mahometan Negroes
+their _bouza_, the Soudanic merchants chew their _ghour_, nuts, and
+_kouda_, as our jolly tars their tobacco, and others munch the
+_trona_. My taleb came to me to see if I were dead. He had heard
+such a horrible report in the town. I embraced the opportunity of
+lecturing him upon the absurdity of the prohibition from drinking
+wine, when he and others intoxicated themselves with snuff. But man
+will have _his_ stimulant, and the tee-totaller, who protests
+against all stimulants, seeks his in his tea and coffee. There is no
+harm in this, and the question only remains to seek as harmless a
+stimulant, as consistent with health as possible. In justice to the
+Marabout city of Ghadames, I must mention that some of the more
+strict Mohammedans consider snuffing, as well as smoking, prohibited by
+their religion, and opium (‮ععيون‬), and _keef_, an intoxicating
+herb, sometimes called _takrounee_, ‮تكروني‬, are not smoked
+in this place. In general, few of the Moors of this place smoke at all.
+
+_21st._--Weather fine, no rain. The merchants begin to bake biscuits for
+their journey to Ghat, which looks like preparation. My friend Abu Beker
+called and gave me two letters written to him from Timbuctoo by his
+brother, who is established there. Since my return, I have given one of
+these letters to the Royal Asiatic Society, and the other to the British
+Museum, considering them a great curiosity, so long as this city shall
+remain separated from us Europeans by such impassable barriers.
+
+The following is the translation of the letter presented to the Royal
+Asiatic Society:--
+
+LETTER FROM A BROTHER IN TIMBUCTOO TO A BROTHER IN GHADAMES.
+
+"From the poor servant of his Lord, Muhammad ben Ali ben Talib, to our
+respected brethren, Abu Bekr and Muhammad, and Abdallah, and Fatimah, and
+Ayshah, and our Aunt Aminah; God prosper their conditions, Amen!
+
+"After a thousand salutations and respects to you, and the mercy of
+God, and his blessings on you, should you indeed inquire concerning
+us, we are well, and you, please God, are so likewise; and we desire
+no further favour from God than the sight of your precious
+countenance; may God unite us with you before long, for He is the
+Hearer (of petitions)! As to this country there is in it neither
+buying nor selling. By G--d, O my brother! this day we are six
+months in Timbuctoo, and truly in the whole time I have received but
+15 mithcals. There is not a single farthing (or kirat) in this town,
+nor commerce at all, except in salt, &c., (_some other commodities,
+whose names I cannot discover_.) And our minds are in continual fear
+here from the scarcity of the times. I am desirous of going to
+Arawan, if we can find something to sell there, when the people of
+Kiblah (_the South_) come; but they are not yet arrived, up to the
+present moment, and we do not think they will come. And thou, O my
+brother, beware of sending us any thing! as in this country there is
+no commerce, (neither buying nor selling); and whatever has been
+sent us, we have received for it neither far nor near. And truly,
+from the day in which we entered Timbuctoo, we have given 600 louats
+(some measure) to the Touaricks and the Fullans. But do you pray
+with us that we may be delivered from this land; and we have no more
+news after the letter which we have written to you. Convey our
+salutation to our aunt and to our brothers, many thousand
+salutations; and to Muhammad ben al Tayil, and his brother and his
+sons, many thousand salutations; and to Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim
+Taraki, many thousand salutations. Salute also the Hajj al Beshir,
+and his brother the Hajj Yusuff, if he is arrived; and salute also
+Hajj Abdallah. The people (caravan) of Touat have not yet come to
+us. Our salutation to Al Mustafa and his brother Abdal Cadir, and
+tell the Hajj al Behir, for God's sake not to send us any thing. Of
+a truth, we sincerely hope to fulfil your commissions, but in this
+land there is neither buying nor selling. By G--d, neither in Arawan
+nor in Timbuctoo, have we seen any one who will buy of you for a
+mithcal, nor for a kirat. Tell the Hajj al Beshir, the Sheikh has
+not yet arrived. And of all the (----?) I brought to Timbuctoo, I
+have not sold a single thing, and I sent them back to Arawan. Know,
+that there is no dealing here except by cowries, and the cowrie is
+3,500 to a mithcal. Convey my salutation to the Hajj Abdal Kerim Ben
+Aun Allah, and his brother Abdarrahman, and to their sons; many
+thousand salutations, and say to them, For God's sake take care how
+you send us any thing, for this land is a vexation to us. May God
+not visit you with vexation, and may he open to us a way of
+deliverance! And our salutation to the Hajj Muhammad Sahh, if he is
+arrived, and tell him not to forget us in the Fátihah (1st. chap. of
+the Koran, used in prayer,) and in the prayer called Salihah (the
+Beneficial.) And also to his son and to his mother, many thousand
+salutations. And our salutation to the Hajj Muhammad ben Ali, and
+his brother, and their father, many thousand salutations. And
+salutation to our cousin (the daughter of our uncle) Miriam, many
+thousand salutations, and to our aunt Sultánah, and to her brothers,
+and to (some other female name) and her sons, many thousand
+salutations. And our salutation to our cousins (the children of our
+uncle) and say to them, For God's sake do not forget us in the
+Fátihah and the prayer Salihah, that God may deliver us from this
+land; and the people ("or caravan") of Touat are not yet come to us.
+O my brethren! we anxiously and most earnestly do desire news of
+you; the Lord give us news of your welfare before long. And do thou,
+O my brother! send us some cinnamon and some black pepper, and some
+grains of ‮جلاو‬. And when thou writest, give us all the news, and
+take care not to leave your letter unclosed, for the people here
+read it, and be sure to seal it. Salute the inhabitants of our
+street, all of them, without exception, each one by name.
+
+"And so farewell: at the date of Rajab the 25th, in the year 1246; and
+again farewell, from this poor (servant of God,) and many thousand
+salutations, as also from Ibrahim and from the Hajj al Mansur and the
+Hajj al Mansur's son, who is still with him. Farewell.
+
+"(Postscript below.)--Convey our salutation to Hajj Hamad, and tell him
+Muhammad ben Canab is doing well, and he is in Arawan; and in like manner
+salute from us his brother Ali.
+
+"(2nd Postscript at the side.)--Salutation also to our uncle, and
+say to him, that among the people of the Sheikh (‮اهل الشيخ‬)
+we obtain nothing, except what the Lord has brought us (a proverbial
+expression of the Moors, signifying nothing at all.) So farewell!
+
+ADDRESS.
+
+"To the hand of our esteemed brethren Abu Bekr, and Muhammad and
+Abdullah ben Ali Ibn Talib; may God amend their condition, amen!
+
+"(With Solomon's seal, and a rude commencement of another; the name
+of Ben Talib, and the mystical words ‮طه‬ and ‮بسم‬ the first
+of which is prefixed to the xxth chapter of the Koran, and the other
+probably intended for ‮طسم‬, heading the xxvith, and xxviiith; or
+for ‮يس‬ xxxvi.)"
+
+Obs.--This letter is written within and without, and on every fold of it.
+The advice to seal the letter to prevent it from being "Grahamized" is
+curious. I have seen a hundred letters in The Desert _un_sealed, and it
+is only in case of suspicion, that the Saharan merchants seal their
+letters. Such is their confidence in each other's honour and good faith,
+that it is an insult to seal a letter when put into the hands of a
+friend. It would appear, from this letter, that some twenty years ago the
+commerce of Timbuctoo was in the most languishing deplorable state; but
+as far as I can judge, from the present operations of the merchants in
+Ghadames, the trade of Timbuctoo has in a measure revived. The letter
+itself is a most admirable specimen of the epistolary style of the
+Saharan Moors, and in this respect alone is of considerable value.
+
+When walking out this morning, an impudent young dog came running after
+me and shouted, "There is no God but God, and Mahomet is the Prophet of
+God;" whilst another cried out, "You Kafer!" Judging it necessary to put
+a stop to this, I gave each little imp for his pains a hard rap of the
+head with my fly-flapper, which greatly surprised them, and sent them off
+yelping. Some of the boys, however, are very friendly, and come running
+after me and take hold of my hand. A day or two afterwards these young
+rascals came running after me again in the same way; but they were chased
+by an adult Moor, who gave them a good thrashing.
+
+_22nd._--Weather fine. Nothing new. Bought Said a new pair of Morocco
+shoes, and made him happy for a day or two. He begins to sulk about going
+amongst the Touaricks. To my great joy, the _Shantah_ from Tripoli has
+arrived, bringing letters from Colonel Warrington, and Mr. Francovich,
+which latter has remitted to me 125 mahboubs. Two Touaricks have also
+arrived from Touat. The road is open. Rain has fallen in many places of
+The Desert in copious showers, which has buoyed up the hopes of the
+camel-graziers. Rumours of fighting between the Shânbah and Touaricks are
+prevalent.
+
+The Tibboo left during the night for Ghat--ALONE! riding on a single
+camel. His conduct has astonished everybody. Some say "he's mad," and
+some say "he's a bandit." He had with him a small quantity of light
+goods, and about 300 dollars in cash. I asked the Rais about him. He
+observed, "That Tibboo has no wit. Many people die on the routes, the
+camels running away whilst they sleep. What can he do alone!" I asked the
+people, all of whom replied, "The Tibboo is a wonderful fellow!" One
+said, "Ah, that's a man, Yâkob. No Christian like the Tibboo." But
+another said, "Without doubt he's a cut-throat, that is the reason he
+goes alone. Even the Touaricks are afraid of him; and when they brought
+him here he quarrelled with them several times. Besides, a few days ago
+he was going to knock down the toll-taker at the gate." After this
+display of personal daring, I shall never have a contemptible idea of a
+Negro. The free, independent, and enlightened gentleman slave-driver of
+Yankee Land, armed with that symbol of order and good government, the
+bowie-knife! would find his match in this his brother Tibboo
+slave-driver. The Tibboo has done what no man of this city would have
+dared to do, in undertaking a journey of some twenty days over The Desert
+alone. What is very extraordinary, he never travelled the route but once
+before, that is, when he came here. They say he will arrive at Ghat in
+twelve days. He took the precaution of purchasing a good pair of
+horse-pistols before he left. I may add, he arrived safe and sound at
+Ghat.
+
+_23rd._--This morning exceedingly cold. In going out, a man said to
+me, "Where are you going this cold morning?" People were all
+shivering, or wrapped up in their burnouses. Said is attacked with
+ophthalmia. Received a visit from an old Arab doctor. He says cattle
+are attacked with the plague, as well as men. He wrote me a receipt
+for the cure of _night_-blindness, which would cure it in one night.
+He says, in the neighbouring desert, towards the west, there is a
+small oasis of Arabs, who are called _El-Hawamad_--‮الحومد‬--who
+are always afflicted by night-blindness, which singular affection is
+called by them _Juhur_ (‮جُهُر‬). Mr. Jackson, in his Morocco,
+calls this strange disease _butelleese_. The Arabs of _El-Hawamad_ see
+perfectly well in the day-time. But I must mention, that I received
+an application for medicine from a person who is affected with the
+same strange kind of malady. The European physicians call this
+disease _Nyctalopia_ (Νυκταλωπια). I recently myself met with a
+case in London. But what is equally extraordinary, Captain Lyon (I
+think) mentions a case which he met with in The Desert, of a person
+who could see in the night-time but not in the day-time--a human
+owl. We conversed about other diseases in Ghadames. The principal,
+as before-mentioned, are ophthalmia and diarrhœa. There are two
+lepers; a few dropsical people; and, occasionally, small-pox and
+syphilitic diseases. There are, besides, various cutaneous
+affections. Dogs are known to go mad amongst the Arabs, but not very
+often. When mad, they are called _makloub_. The remedy is, when they
+bite people, the hair of the mad dog himself, rubbing it over the
+part bitten. Mussulmans are fond of this antagonistic idea, of the
+bane and the antidote being one and the same thing, for they
+preserve the dead scorpions to be applied to the sting of the living
+ones, and they aver it to be a certain cure. Quackery is the native
+growth of the ingenious as well as the whimsical and hypochondriacal
+ideas of men. In dropsy the native doctors cut the body to let out
+the water, as we do.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Wrote letters to Mr. Alsager, Colonel Warrington, and others. People
+grumbling about their letters being too high charged. Formerly letters
+went free to Tripoli. The Turkish post-office and policy never fail to
+make things worse. Treating some Moors with coffee and loaf-sugar, one
+asked me if there were blood in sugar, for so he had heard from some
+Europeans in Tripoli. I told him in loaf sugar. "What, the blood of
+pigs?" one cried. "How do I know?" I rejoined; "if the refiner has no
+bullock's blood, why not use that of pigs?" This frightened them all out
+of their senses. They will not eat loaf-sugar again in a hurry. A most
+ludicrous anecdote of the old Bashaw of Tripoli here occurs to me. Old
+Yousef one day sent for Colonel Warrington, with a message that the
+Consul's presence was very particularly required. The Consul, putting on
+his best Consular uniform, and taking with him his Vice-Consul, his
+Chancellor, and his Dragoman, immediately waited upon His Highness. The
+Consul found His Highness sitting in full Divan, surrounded with all his
+high functionaries. Approaching the Bashaw, the Consul was begged to take
+a seat. His Highness then opened business, and, drawing a very long and
+solemn face, requested to know, "If the Christians were carrying away all
+the bones from the country?" assuring the Consul that such he heard was
+the case from his people, adding, that even the graveyards were ransacked
+for bones. The Consul, nothing blinking, or disquieted, congratulated His
+Highness upon bringing such an important subject before his notice, and
+observed, "It is very improper for the Christians to be ransacking the
+tombs for old bones to ship off for Europe." "Improper!" exclaimed the
+Bashaw, "why the man who does so ought to be beheaded!" "Yes, yes,"
+replied the Consul, coaxingly, "he ought, your Highness; I quite agree
+with you." The Bashaw then got a little more calm, and begged of the
+Consul, as a favour, to tell him what the Christians did with all these
+old bones. The Consul, now assuming a magnificent air, deigned to reply,
+"Now, your Highness, you must be cool. You drink coffee?" "Yes." "You put
+sugar in it?" "Yes" (impatiently). "You use white sugar?" "Yes, yes,"
+said the Bashaw, half amazed, half trembling, wondering what would come
+next. "Then," cried the Consul triumphantly, "I beg most submissively to
+inform your Highness, hoping that your Highness will not be angry, but
+thank me for the information, that the old bones are used to make white
+sugar with." Hereupon was an awful explosion of _Allahs!_--beginning with
+His Highness the Bashaw, and going round the whole assembled Divan, in
+such serious and perplexed conclave now met. Then followed _harams!_--in
+the midst of which Colonel Warrington graciously and elegantly backed
+himself out of the Divan, smiling and bowing, bowing and smiling, to the
+utter horror of all present. Next day His Highness made a proclamation
+forbidding any of his subjects from exporting old bones on pain of death.
+On his part, the Consul issued a notice calling upon all British subjects
+not to be such barbarians as to violate the tombs of pious Mussulmans, at
+the same time threatening them with the full weight of the Consular
+displeasure. I am assured that Yousef Bashaw never ate white sugar
+afterwards.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The liberties which Colonel Warrington was wont to take with old Yousef
+Bashaw, of the Caramanly dynasty, could not now be, in these days of
+Ottoman politeness, at all tolerated. For a long series of years, and
+especially during the French war, the Colonel was the virtual Bashaw of
+Tripoli. I shall only give another of a thousand incidents in which the
+British Consul showed himself the master, and the Bashaw the slave,
+instead of the Sovereign of his own country. One day the Bashaw had done
+something to offend the Consul. Colonel Warrington, hearing of it whilst
+riding out, immediately rides off to the Castle, and rushes, whip in
+hand, into the presence of the Bashaw, producing consternation through
+the whole Court. An Italian, having at the time an audience with His
+Highness, demanded, "_Che cosa vuole Signore Consule?_" seeing the Consul
+frustrated in his rage for want of an interpreter. "_Tell him_ (the
+Bashaw) _he's a rascal!_" roared the Consul, almost shaking his whip over
+the head of His Highness. But the Italian was just as far off, not
+knowing English, and fortunately could not interpret this elegant
+compliment. The very next day, the Consul and the Bashaw dined together
+at the British Garden, the Colonel slapping the old gentleman over his
+shoulder, and drinking wine with him, like two jolly chums. In this way,
+Colonel Warrington managed to be, what he was called in Malta, "_Bashaw
+of Tripoli_." Now that Colonel Warrington, during the time these pages
+have been going through the press, has left us for another and a better
+world, we may for a moment compare his Consular system with that which
+was pursued by the late Mr. Hay, Consul-General of Morocco. The
+difference is striking, if not remarkable. Colonel Warrington boasted of
+being able to do anything and everything in Tripoli; Mr. Hay boasted of
+being able to do nothing in Morocco. The former had the Bashaw under his
+thumb, or hooked by the nose; the latter stood at an awful distance from
+the Shereefian Presence. Colonel Warrington underrated the difficulties
+and dangers of travelling in Tripoli and Central Africa, making the route
+from Tripoli to Bornou as safe as the road from London to Paris; Mr. Hay,
+exaggerating every obstacle, represented it as unsafe to walk in the
+environs of Tangier, under its very walls, and even boasted of himself
+being shot at in the interior of Morocco, on a Government mission, and
+whilst attended by an escort of the Emperor's troops. With Colonel
+Warrington, a mission of science or philanthropy had a real chance of
+success; with Mr. Hay, no mission could possibly succeed--failure was
+certain. And so I might continue the opposite parallels. But in justice
+to these late functionaries and their friends, I must observe, that both
+were zealous servants of Government and their country. They exerted
+themselves diligently and conscientiously to protect and advance the
+interests of their countrymen, who had relations with Tripoli or Morocco,
+according to their peculiar temperaments and circumstances. No doubt they
+gave Government at home an immense deal of unnecessary trouble, and
+sometimes even annoyance; but so long as each public functionary abroad
+thinks the affairs of his own particular post of more importance than
+those of anybody else, this inconvenience will always happen, in a lesser
+or greater degree.
+
+Said furnishes me with a continual anti-slavery text against the
+slave-trade. Everybody asks me if Said is a slave. I reply, "Slavery is a
+great sin amongst the English. We cannot have slaves, or make slaves of
+our fellow-creatures." Then follow discussions, in which I damnify the
+traffick in human beings as much as possible.
+
+Today witnessed a good specimen of Arab Desert freedom. I was conversing
+quietly with the Governor, seated beside him on his ottoman, a privilege
+granted only to me, the Nather (_native_ governor) and the Kady, when
+rushed into the apartment a Souafee Arab, exclaiming to the Rais, "How
+are you?" and seizing hold of his hands, knocked his fly-flap down on the
+floor. His Excellency was shocked at this rudeness, and I myself was a
+little startled. The conversation which followed, if such it may be
+called, is characteristic of the bold Arab, and the haughty Turk.
+
+_The Souafee._--"The Shânbah are coming to Ghadames."
+
+_The Governor._--"I don't know; God knows."
+
+_The Souafee._--"My brothers write to me and tell me so."
+
+_The Governor._--"I don't know."
+
+_The Souafee._--"Give me money, and I'll go and look after them."
+
+_The Governor._--"I have no money."
+
+_The Souafee._--"Make haste, give me money."
+
+_The Governor._--"Have none."
+
+_The Souafee._--"Where's the money?"
+
+_The Governor._--"Go to the Ghadamseeah."
+
+_The Souafee._--"They tell me you have all their money."
+
+_The Governor._--"Go to them."
+
+_The Souafee._--"I'm going, _Bislamah_ (good bye.)"
+
+_The Governor._--"Bislamah."
+
+As the Souafee left the threshold of the apartment, his Excellency turned
+to me, and raising his right hand underneath his chin, drew its back
+jerkingly forwards, making the sign of the well-known expression of
+contempt in North Africa. He then said to me:--"See what a life I lead,
+what insults I am obliged to put up with! what beasts are these Arabs!"
+The Souafah are, indeed, the type of the genuine Desert Arab. They have
+no foreign master, and manage all their affairs by their own Sheikhs and
+Kadys. The immense waste of sand lying between Ghadames and Southern
+Tunis and Algeria, is their absolute domain, in the arid and thirsty
+bosom of which are planted, as marvels of nature, their oases of palms.
+The Shânbah bandits, who plunder every body, and brave heaven and earth,
+nevertheless dare not lay a finger on them. I cannot better represent the
+feelings of the Souf Arab, nor the "wild and burning range" of his
+country, than by quoting the lines of Eliza Cook:
+
+  "Through the desert, through the desert, where the Arab takes his course,
+  With none to bear him company, except his gallant horse;
+  Where none can question will or right, where landmarks ne'er impede,
+  But all is wide and limitless to rider and to steed.
+
+  No purling streamlet murmurs there, no chequer'd shadows fall;
+  'Tis torrid, waste and desolate, but free to each and all.
+  Through the desert, through the desert! Oh, the Arab would no change,
+  For purple robes or olive-trees, his wild and burning range."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[53] It is now the fashion in French writers to represent the
+    Arabic ‮غ‬ by the Roman R, as _R_'dames for _Gh_adames.
+
+[54] ‮هرب الي الجبل‬
+
+[55] _Fullans._--Mungo Park says: "The Foulahs are chiefly of a
+    tawny complexion, with silky hair, and pleasing features."--M.
+    D'Avezac says: "In the midst of the Negro races, there stands out
+    a _métive_ (_mezzo-termino_?) population, of tawny or copper
+    colour, prominent nose, small mouth, and oval face, which ranks
+    itself amongst the white races, and asserts itself to be descended
+    from Arab fathers, and Tawrode(?) mothers. Their crisped hair, and
+    even woolly though long, justifies their classification among the
+    _oulotric_ (woolly-haired) populations; but neither the traits of
+    their features, nor the colour of their skin, allow them to be
+    confounded with Negroes, however great the fusion of the two types
+    may be." Major Rennell calls them the "Leucœthiopes of Ptolemy and
+    Pliny." Mr. D'Eichthal thinks them to be of _Malay_ origin, on
+    account of their language; but Dr. Pritchard considers them to be
+    a genuine African race.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+PREPARATIONS FOR GOING TO SOUDAN.
+
+     His Excellency the Rais questions me on my rumoured Journey to
+     Soudan.--The Devil has in safe keeping all who are not
+     Mahometans.--I am wearing to a Skeleton.--A Caravan of
+     Women.--Predestination.--The Shânbah begin their Foray.--The
+     Gardens and their Products.--Varieties of the
+     Date-Palm.--Locusts.--Brigands spare the Property of the Marabout
+     Merchants of Ghadames.--Agricultural Implements in The
+     Desert.--Violent capture of a Souf Caravan by the Governor.--Uses
+     of the Date-Palm.--The Touarghee Bandit's opinion as to Killing
+     Christians.--Combat between an Ant and a Fly.--Loose Phraseology
+     in The Mediterranean.--Harsh Hospitality of the Souafah, and
+     Usurpation over their Oases by the French.--Money disappearing
+     from Ghadames.--The Affair of Messrs. Silva and Levi, and their
+     connexion with Ghadamsee Slave-Dealers.--Visit, with his
+     Excellency the Governor, the Ruins of _Kesar-el-Ensara_ "the
+     Castle of the Christians."--Antiquity of Ghadames, and Account of
+     it by Leo Africanus.
+
+
+THE 23rd, 24th, and 25th, employed in writing letters. On one of these
+days the Rais called me to him and asked, "Whether I really intended to
+go to Soudan, as the people had reported to him?" I told him Yes, and
+that I was already making preparations. His Excellency affected great
+amazement, and looked exceedingly mysterious, but did not know what to
+reply. At last he observed, "I must write to Ahmed Effendi of The
+Mountains, and if he says you may go, all well, if not, you must not go."
+I then asked the Rais, what I was to do in Ghadames? His Excellency said
+anxiously, "Stay with me to keep me company. I am surrounded with
+barbarians. I am weary of my life here." As the Rais spoke what I knew to
+be the truth, I pitied him and said nothing, although I could not
+understand this asking of permission from Ahmed Effendi, whom I knew to
+be a queer customer to deal with. However, I interpreted the sense of
+Colonel Warrington's letter to Rais, viz., "If I had friends I might
+venture further into the interior, if not, stay where I was until I made
+friends." I believe the sympathy of the Rais _sincere_, which is a great
+deal for a Turk, or even any body else in this insincere and lying world.
+He is a timid man, and is afraid the Touaricks will make an end of me.
+What the Rais says is reasonable enough: "Bring me a Ghadamsee, or a
+respectable Arab merchant whom I know, and who will take you with him,
+and be answerable for your head (safety), and will protect you equally
+with himself, then I have no fears for your safety." I took my friend
+Zaleâ to the Rais, who is a native of Seenawan, and much respected by
+all. The camels of the giant left to-day for Ghat, his giantship himself
+waits to be conducteur of our caravan.
+
+In replying to an observation about another increase of taxes of which
+the people bitterly complained, I said, "The Mahometan princes are now
+the greatest oppressors of the people, whilst the Christian kings are
+more tolerant, and people enjoyed more security under our Governments."
+My taleb replied, "Yes, it is the truth, Yâkob, and this is the reason.
+The Devil knows that all the Christians, and Jews, and black _kafers_,
+belong to him. So he troubles them not, they are his safe property and
+sure possession. But he is always stirring up amongst us Mussulmans evil
+passions, and leading our sovereigns to oppress the people, and one
+Mussulman to oppress another." Such is the reasoning of a bigoted
+Moslemite, and with him and others it has considerable force. Indeed, a
+Christian stands a very poor chance with these subtle orthodox doctors.
+
+_26th._--The mornings grow colder and colder. I feel the change
+sensitively, more so than the natives; am exceedingly chilly. I perceive
+the hot weather has dried up or torn off the flesh from my bones, and my
+feet are very skinny. Attribute this a good deal to the water. Rais is
+almost worn to a skeleton. This morning he called his servants to attest,
+how stout he was when he first came here. But as the heat is gone, I
+shall not now drink so much water. The more malicious, in revenge for
+Turkish oppression here, hope and pray the Rais will die of the climate,
+and every Turk who succeeds him.
+
+To-day the Touarick _women_ leave for Ghat. No men go with them, only
+some of their little sons. About ten women form this caravan. They have
+camels to carry their water, and ride on occasionally when they are
+fatigued. I asked a Ghadamsee whether these women were not afraid to go
+by themselves, particularly now as banditti are reported to be in the
+routes. He replied, "These Touarick women are a host of witches and
+she-devils. No men will dare to touch them." This ghafalah of women is a
+perfectly new idea to me. Some of the women are quite young and pretty,
+and delicate, and don't appear as if they could bear twenty days'
+desert-travelling. One said to me, "If you will go with us women, we will
+take better care of you than the men can do."
+
+_27th._--Occupied in writing. Rais paid me a visit in the afternoon. Gave
+one of the slaves who came with him a pill-box, which highly delighted
+the boy. I found when I visited Rais again, that his Excellency himself
+had become so enamoured with the pill-box, as to purchase it from his
+slave. Said continues bad with ophthalmia. The disease seems to attack
+mostly people of this country, and not strangers. At any rate it would
+seem that we require to be acclimated to catch these diseases, as well as
+acclimated to resist them. Rais took it into his head to preach to me
+about the decrees of Heaven. "You and I," said his Excellency, "were
+great fools to come to this country; I to leave Constantinople, you to
+leave London. But it was the decree of God that we should come to this
+horrible country." The decrees of Heaven, or the acknowledgment of such,
+are the _bonâ fide_ religion of Ghadames. "What do the people eat?" I
+said to a man. He replied, "What is decreed!" Another interposed, "Don't
+be afraid of the Touaricks; you will not die before the time which is
+decreed by Heaven for you to die." Such is consolation in man's misery.
+Are we to believe this? or why not believe it?
+
+_28th_, _29th_, and _30th._--Employed in preparing routes of The Desert.
+This evening the Governor received a letter from his spies in Souf, which
+reports that the Shânbah had left their country four days before they
+wrote, which is now fifteen days. It is not known whether the banditti
+have taken the route to Ghat or Ghadames. His Excellency has taken
+precautionary measures, and sent soldiers to look out in the routes near
+our city. He has also sent to bring back a merchant who started yesterday
+to Touat, and another to Derge. The freebooters are 100 horse, and 400
+camels strong. The Giant Touarick taking the alarm, and mounting his
+strongest and fleetest Maharee, has gone off to protect his family and
+country. He was one of the expedition last year, and slew a dozen Shânbah
+with his own hand. In the meanwhile _caravaning_ to all quarters is to be
+stopped.
+
+_31st._--Purchased an outfit for Said. Afterwards he would put them on,
+and walked all over the town, and left me to cook the dinner myself. I
+said nothing to him, humouring his vanity. No people are so fond of new
+and fine clothes as Negroes.
+
+_1st November._--A strong wind blowing from the south-east, or nearly
+east. Not very cold, clouds thick and dark, and no sun. The music of the
+wind in the date-palms is very agreeable, and tunes my soul to a quiet
+sadness. The Ghadamsee merchant who was overtaken on his road to Tourat,
+refuses to come back, and says he trusts in God against the Shânbah. Some
+Souf Arabs have come in to-day, giving out that the French wish to assume
+the sovereignty over their country. The able-bodied men of the united
+oases are calculated at 2,000.
+
+Visited the gardens with my taleb as _cicerone_. Was much gratified
+with the rural ramble, although there is nothing remarkable to be
+seen. The three principal productions are dates, of which there is a
+great variety, some thirty or forty different sorts[56]; barley and
+_ghusub_[57]. The ghusub is grown in the Autumn and the barley in
+the Spring; in this way two crops of corn are reaped in the year. A
+little wheat is now and then grown, but does not thrive. The native
+date is the _madghou_ (‮مدغو‬) which is also common in Seenawan
+and Derge. It is small and filbert-shaped, of a black colour, very
+pleasant when fresh, but when dry very indifferent. I saw no black
+dates in any other parts of The Sahara. The gardens furnish besides
+a few vegetables and fruits, such as pomegranates, apricots,
+peaches, almonds, olives, melons, pumpkins, tomatas, onions, and
+peppers, a few grape-trees and fig-trees in the choicest gardens,
+but all in small quantities. There is scarcely a flower or fancy
+tree but the _tout_. No person of my acquaintance, except my
+turjeman, showed much fancy for botany. He had brought an aloe from
+Tripoli, and planted it in his garden. It is the only one. He has
+another tree or two besides, which nobody else has. The merchants
+have brought the varieties of the date-palm from the different oases
+of The Sahara. Nearly every householder has a garden, and some
+several. Sometimes a date plantation is divided between two or three
+families, each cultivating and gathering the fruits of his pet
+choice palm. Herbage is grown in the gardens for fattening the
+sheep. Pounded date-stones both fatten sheep and camels. In summer
+the gardens are intolerable, but in winter deliriously pleasant.
+Sheikh Makouran is the largest landed-proprietor. He has seventeen
+gardens; "nearly half the country," as a person observed. So Europe
+is not the only place in the world where there is such an unequal
+division of the land. The gardens are small, and the whole number is
+some two hundred and odd, only the half of which are regularly
+watered from the Great Spring. As the people can never depend upon
+rain, the whole culture is conducted on irrigation. The Ghadamsee
+garden-gate, of all the absurdities of inconvenience is the greatest
+I ever met with. It is scarcely large enough for a small sheep to
+enter. Every person entering a garden must not only stoop but crawl
+through the gate. It is fortunate there are no lusty people here,
+all being bony and wiry like the Arabs. Not being dependant on rain,
+the gardens only suffer from the locusts, and now and then a
+blighting wind. In the Spring of this year these insect marauders
+passed over the oasis and made a pillage of the date blossoms for
+thirty days, besides doing much damage to the barley. I encountered
+a flight of the same horde, which emerged from The Desert and then
+took to sea, and were scattered over to Malta and Sicily by the
+wind, when I was travelling from Tunis to the isle of Jerbah late in
+the Spring. From Ghadames they proceeded _en masse_ to Tripoli and
+Ghabs, inflicting great damage. When they passed near the gardens of
+Ghabs, the people climbed up the fruit-trees and made a great noise,
+screaming and shouting, which kept them from settling in masses on
+the fruit-trees and vegetables. They also kindled a fire and tried
+to smoke them away. Many of those which did settle were gathered,
+cooked, and eaten with great _gusto_ by the people. I met them
+myself on the immense plains of Solyman; they were the first flight
+of locusts I ever saw. I had seen locusts on the hills near Mogador,
+where they are bred in great numbers. Millions of small green things
+were just starting into being. The locust is a somewhat
+disproportioned insect, the wings are too fine for the bulk and
+weight of the body, which explains why they are unable to struggle
+against the wind; as it is said in the Scriptures, "and when it was
+morning the east wind brought the locusts." (Exod. x. 13.) They do
+not fly high, and when they settle on the ground they roll over very
+clumsily. A flight at a distance looks like falling flakes of snow
+in a snow-storm. They are mostly of a reddish colour, with
+lead-coloured bodies, and some of a glaring yellow. The yellow ones
+are said to be the males, and are not so good eating as the others.
+The locust tastes very much like a dry shrimp when roasted. They are
+from an inch and a half to two and a half long. The head is large
+and square, and very formidable. Hence the Scripture allusion: "and
+on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces
+were as the faces of men." (Rev. ix. 7.) But the prophecy gives them
+a superadded power which they do not possess, "and unto them was
+given power as the scorpions of the earth have power;" (v. 3.) for
+when you catch the locust it makes little resistance and does not
+bite. Few of these were eating, and most of them were either flying
+or lay motionless basking in the sun, grouped in hundreds round
+tufts of long coarse grass. My Moorish fellow-travellers didn't like
+their appearance. They said the locusts are bad things, and came
+from the hot country to devour their harvest. It was indeed, an
+unpleasant sight, this horde of insect marauders, and soon lost the
+charm of novelty. But the world is made up of the elements of
+destruction and reproduction. Such is the eternal order of
+Providence, and we must bear the evil and the good. I do not think
+that they come far south or from the inner Desert, for they could
+not be bred in regions of desolation, where there is no green thing.
+Yet these flights were from the south of Ghadames, and at any rate
+they are bred in the Saharan districts, from the banks of the Nile
+to the shores of the Atlantic. The world is full of impostors. One
+of these went once upon a time to Morocco, and endeavoured to
+persuade the people he could destroy all the locusts by some
+chemical process. I believe he was a French adventurer.
+
+_2nd._--Occupied in taking notes of routes. The whole day overcast but no
+rain. Rais alternately laughs and admires the Ghadamsee people. He was
+endeavouring to prove to me what profound respect the bandits of The
+Desert entertain for these Marabout people, and said, "If a camel of the
+Ghadamseeah falls down in The Desert and dies, and no person present has
+a camel to lend them, they leave the goods or the load of the camel on
+the high road until they fetch one. Should a bandit pass by in the
+meanwhile and see the goods, and recognize them to belong to an
+inhabitant of Ghadames, he does not even touch them, but passes by and
+calls for the blessing of Heaven upon the Holy City of The Desert." This,
+one would say, is too good to be true, at the same time, I have no doubt
+the banditti of The Desert have a species of religious respect for these
+pacific-minded, unresisting merchants. I took an opportunity of asking
+Rais about the use and value of his charms. His Excellency replied, "They
+are to protect me when exposed to robbers like the Shânbah, or to other
+evils. These charms will then render me great assistance." I I have
+already said Rais is as big a ninny in these superstitious matters as any
+of his Maraboutish subjects.
+
+_3rd._--Am still in great doubt as to the route I shall take for the
+interior. Every route has its separate advantages, and separate dangers.
+In this perplexity what can I do but wait the turn of events? . . . . .
+Another overcast morning, as dull and foggy as Old England's November. A
+perfect Thames-London fog. I was accustomed to think that in the bright
+sky of an African desert such a mass of cloud and haziness was
+impossible. Still, though gloomy and drear, there is more boldness and
+definiteness of outline than in England. After a person has been living
+long under the bright skies of the Mediterranean, he may mistake a clear
+winter's day on Blackheath, as I have done, for a moonlight, owing to the
+want of those sharp angles by which nature draws her landscapes in
+Southern Europe. To-day the face of the heavens has cast its shadows upon
+the countenance of the population, for all is dull in business. Every one
+is awaiting the result of the skirmishes between the Touaricks and the
+Shânbah.
+
+_4th._--A fine morning, and not very cold. No patients, everybody
+apparently in health. My old friend Berka, the liberated slave, is now
+occupied in turning or digging, or hoeing up a whole garden of good size,
+about two days and a half's labour, for which he will receive one
+Tunisian piastre! (Seven pence English money.) This is free labour. I am
+sure the slave labour, the principal here, cannot be cheaper. The
+implements of agriculture are few and simple in The Desert. Friend Berka
+had but a small hoe, which is well described by Caillié, who saw it used
+near Jinnee, and indeed it seems to be used throughout Central Africa.
+This hoe is about a foot long, and eight inches broad; the handle, which
+is some sixteen inches in length, slants very much. With this hoe they
+turn up the earth instead of the plough, and prepare and open and shut
+the squares of irrigated fields. For reaping they make use of a small
+sickle without teeth. The caravans usually have a supply of these sickles
+for cutting up Desert provender for the camels. The use of the hoe
+requires constant stooping to the ground and is consequently laborious,
+but the Saharan fields are very limited, and are soon hoed up. The
+smallness of space is compensated by a redundant fertility, and double
+and even treble crops in the course of the year. Passing by a group of
+gossipping slaves to-day, one came running up to me and said, "Buy me,
+buy me, and I will go with you to Ghat. I shall only cost you 100
+mahboubs." This is humiliating enough, but those who offer their services
+for sale, like hundreds in the metropolis of London, to write up a bad
+cause and write down a good one, or to--
+
+        "Make the worse appear
+      The better reason--"
+
+    "With words cloth'd in reason's garb--"
+
+certainly perform a greater act of degradation than these poor debased
+bondsmen.
+
+A few evenings ago intelligence arrived that a Souf caravan of eight
+camels and five persons were seen about a day and a half from this city,
+proceeding in the route of Ghat. This gave rise to suspicions that the
+news about the Shânbah and Touaricks was a hoax of the Souafah, in order
+to frighten the people of Ghadames, and allow them (the Souafah) to get
+first to the market of Ghat, and buy slaves cheaper. So reason the
+merchants with the usual jealousy of such people. Rais, on receipt of
+the above, summoned his Divan, and it was debated, "Whether the Souafah
+should not be brought in here by force?" The question was decided in the
+affirmative, and late at night, fourteen Arab soldiers, two Arabs of
+Seenawan, intimately acquainted with the routes, and an official of the
+Rais, went off to seize the caravan. This bold measure may bring us
+unpleasant consequences. First of all, the Governor has no right to seize
+a caravan in a district where the Sultan, his master, has no authority,
+decidedly neutral ground, especially a caravan of strangers. Then the
+Souafah, in revenge, may attack the caravans of Ghadames. Again, it is a
+question whether the caravan will come in without fighting, for the
+Souafah are tough men to deal with. It will be a poor excuse for the
+Governor to plead before the Pasha, that the caravan was guilty of this
+hoax, supposing it so, and giving this as the reason for seizing the
+peaceable caravan of an independent state. Indeed, who shall decide that
+they gave false intelligence of the Shânbah? And if they did, should this
+be the punishment for spreading a false report? Many other disagreeable
+thoughts occur. It is clear there is a violent infraction of
+international law committed on our neighbour's (the Touarick's)
+territory.
+
+Talking with a gossip about the character of Moors, and he saying they
+were "_friends of flous_ (money,)" _i. e._ mercenary, and adding that the
+Touattee was the best fellow amongst them. Said, who was present, said to
+me, "Yes, it is so, and because he is a black man." Said often repeats to
+me, "In Soudan it will cost you nothing to live; being a stranger,
+everybody will feed you in our country." Another free black took upon
+himself to ridicule the constitution of the white man. "Ah," he cried,
+"what is a white man! a poor weak creature; he can't bear Soudan heat; he
+gets the fever, and dies. No, it is the black man that is strong, strong
+always. He never droops or sinks! Look at the strength of my limbs." Such
+are the traits of character of coloured men in this Saharan world. I add
+another anecdote. Speaking to Berka one day, I said, "I shall have that
+Tibboo himself sold as a slave; what right has he to bring people here as
+slaves and sell them?" Berka mistook my meaning, thinking that, because
+the Tibboo was black, I wished to have him sold and punished, and not for
+being a slave-dealer, and the old gentleman got into a great passion,
+sharply reprimanding me in this style: "Yes, Christian! drop that
+language; when you get to Soudan you will find everybody black. Drop that
+language; don't fancy, because the Tibboo is black, you can sell him.
+Drop that language, for all are black there."
+
+_7th._--This morning, after a pursuit of three days, our soldiers brought
+in the Souf Arabs, which has made a great clamour in the town, as it
+always happens in disputed cases, the people arranging themselves on
+different sides as partisans, some for the Rais and others for the
+Souafah. Called upon the Governor and told him I hoped he would not take
+the _gomerick_ ("duties") for the goods of the caravan, as the people
+were brought here against their will. His Excellency said he would not,
+but merely reprimand them for spreading false news. It appears there is
+some slight evidence of a hoax, but nothing to justify such a violent
+measure. The Governor wants to make it out that they might have been
+Shânbah, when it was well known before their capture they were Souafah.
+
+Every part of the date-palm is turned to account. The fibrous net-work,
+which surrounds the ends of the branches where they attach themselves to
+the trunk, is woven into very strong and tough ropes, with which the legs
+of camels are tied, and horses picketed. The very stones are split and
+pounded, to fatten all animals here. The branches make baskets of every
+kind; the dried leaves are burned, and the trunk builds the houses,
+supplying all the beams and rafters. One day, on looking up to some palm
+wood-work, the old men present said, "How old do you think that wood is,
+Yâkob?" "I can't tell," I replied. They observed, "That wood is upwards
+of three hundred years old. Indeed, we can't tell how long it has been
+there. Our grandfathers found it there, and it looked just the same then
+as now." It was large beams of the trunk of the tree, with platted thin
+pieces of the boughs across them, forming a fantastic zig-zag joice of
+wood ceiling. The fruit of the date-palm supports man, in many oases,
+nine months out of twelve. In Fezzan, all the domestic animals, including
+dogs, and horses, and fowls, eat dates. Such are some of the various and
+important uses to which this noble tree is turned. The Saharan tribes,
+likewise, are wont to live for several months of the year upon two other
+products, viz., milk and gum. Milk I have mentioned as supporting the
+Touaricks exclusively six or more months in the year. Gum, also, in the
+Western Sahara, furnishes tribes with an exclusive sustenance for many
+months. Even the prickly-pear, or fruit of the cactus, will support a
+Barbary village for three months. It is, therefore, not surprising the
+Irish peasant may live on potatoes and milk the greater part of the year.
+The bead on the date-stone is the part (vital) whence commences
+germination, and sprouts the new shoots of the palm. New shoots spring up
+all over the oases, but particularly in those places where water is
+abundant, and within and about the ducts of irrigation. These shoots are
+collected for the new plantations, and the female plants carefully
+separated from the males, and these latter destroyed. Only a few male
+plants are kept for impregnation.
+
+_8th._--Warm this morning, the cold weather gone apparently for a short
+time. No patients. The long-expected ghafalah from Tripoli has arrived by
+the way of Derge, avoiding the more dangerous route of Seenawan, by which
+latter I came here. No mail. All the people now in a hurry to be off to
+Ghat, as their goods have arrived. I begin to feel extremely irritable
+and irresolute at the prospect of the new unknown Desert journey. The old
+bandit called, and asked, "Well, are you going?" I answered, "Yes, very
+soon, but I must first have a letter of permission from the Pasha of
+Tripoli, so the Rais says, for the Pasha is greatly afraid you Touaricks
+will cut my throat." "God! God! God!" exclaimed the bandit; "I'll risk my
+head that you'll go on safe to Ghat and Aheer. But, as for those
+villains, the Touaricks of Timbuctoo, those, I'll grant you, are
+cut-throats." As I was about to take leave of the old brigand, I gave him
+a piastre, and said, "Now tell me fairly, and as an honest man, what is
+the reason that the Touaricks kill Christians, and why did they kill the
+English officer who went to Timbuctoo?" "Stop, stop," the brigand
+replied, very pleased with the piastre, "I'll tell you. There are three
+reasons. First (scratching with his spear on the ground), the Christians
+will not say that Mahomet is the prophet of God. Second (again scratching
+with his spear on the ground), the Christians are the brothers of
+Pharaoh, and have plenty of money; we are poor, we kill you for your
+money. Third (again scratching), you wish to take our country. You have
+nearly all the world; you have robbed us of Algeria, and Andalous. Why
+don't you stop in the sea, where you are? We shall not come to you. We
+don't like the sea." Seeing I could make nothing of the old sinner, so
+cunning was he, I gave him a piece of sugar for his little son, and he
+went away. I thought often of the words which I had recently read in the
+Arabic, "The time will come when those who kill you will think that they
+render service to God," (John xvi. 2,) when discussing so repeatedly this
+question of the killing of Christians by the Touaricks with the Rais,
+with the people of Ghadames, and with the Touaricks themselves. But has
+this principle alone reference to the wild tribes of The Sahara? Has it
+not had a pointed application in all the authenticated annals of the
+world? Take our own era. The Jew thought he did service to God by killing
+those who confessed Christ. Then the Imperial Roman, he immolated the
+Christian who worshipped not the image of Cæsar. Then the Roman Christian
+killed the heretic Donatist, lighting up the flames of persecution in
+this Africa. Then the Catholic killed the Protestant, and deluged Europe
+with a sea of blood. Thus in England we enacted our penal laws against
+Catholics and Protestant Dissenters, some of which, to our shame, still
+exist on the statute book. What a horrid heritage of murder for
+conscience' sake has been transmitted to us in this nineteenth century?
+And is the present fratricidal war in Switzerland unconnected with this
+principle of blood and persecution! No; and again, no! How, then, can we
+find fault with the barbarians of the Great Desert? Nay, contrarily,
+those who follow me through The Desert, will find the Saharan Barbarians
+infinitely more tolerant than the mild, and the gentle, and the polished,
+and the educated, and the civilized, and the Christianized professors of
+religion in our own great Europe!
+
+This afternoon the first portion of the Ghadamsee Soudanic caravan left
+for Ghat, consisting of about twenty-five camels, and some ten merchants
+and traders. This is merely a detachment. The larger portion of the
+population went to see them off, and several families were dressed in
+their best clothes, as on festas. It is the usual custom on the departure
+and return of caravans. Two or three mounted on saddled Maharees
+accompanied the caravan a day's journey. I have many offers of the
+people, as in The Mountains, to accompany me to Ghat: a strange
+infatuation for such rigid Moslems as the Ghadamseeah!
+
+To-day I witnessed in my court-yard or _patio_ a tremendous struggle
+between an ant and a fly: both species of insects are very numerous in
+Ghadames, and there is a great number of various coloured ants. The ant
+got hold of the muzzle of the fly, or its neck, and there grasped it with
+as firm a grasp as it is possible to conceive of one animal grasping
+another. In vain the fly struggled and flapped its wings; over and over
+again the combatants rolled as these weak defences beat the air: and yet
+they must have had great force in them, for they flung over the ant, of a
+good size, some hundred times. The struggle continued a full half hour. I
+once or twice took them up on a piece of straw, but the ant never let go
+its hold on the fly, and paid no attention to me. At last, the fly was
+exhausted, and ceased to flap its tiny wings. The sanguinary ant
+strangled the poor silly fly, as some sharper strangles or ruins his poor
+dupe. After death, the ant seemed busy at sucking its blood. Satiated
+with this, the ant attempted to convey the fly away, dead as it was, but
+thinking better of the matter, the carcase was abandoned. I observed that
+the combat went on in the midst of a thousand flies, but alas! these
+rendered their fellow, in this his death-struggle, against a common foe,
+no assistance. Such is the way the tyrants of the earth succeed! They
+strike down the friends of freedom one by one, and the people, as silly
+as the flies, leave their champions to struggle alone against the common
+oppressor of mankind, only thinking of what they shall eat and drink, in
+which fashion adorn themselves, and how they shall fill up sufficiently
+the measure of their idle days of folly.
+
+The whole phraseology of the Mediterranean is very loose in the
+designation of persons and objects. The Italians call every
+Mussulman _un Turco_, "a Turk." The French of Algeria call every
+Mohammedan resident amongst them "_un Arab_." So the Moors and Arabs
+here call all people who are not Mussulmans _Ensara_, ‮الانصرا‬,
+"Christians," whether Pagans, Idolaters, or what not. I was writing
+some information from the mouth of a Moor, and got into a scrape. He
+told me there were plenty of _Ensara_ in Soudan, and I thought
+these might be Abyssinian Christians, until I reflected that it was
+merely the ordinary denomination of those who are not Moslemites.
+
+_9th._--Slept very little during the past night; always dreaming of
+Timbuctoo. The further an object is from you the nearer it is to your
+thoughts. The morning broke with a violent wind from the south-east,
+which is exceedingly disagreeable. Rais continues very gracious, and
+sends me constantly cakes, being a portion of what he receives as
+presents from the people.
+
+I omit a great deal about Souf politics, not being anxious to worry the
+reader with French and Tuniseen Saharan diplomacy. But a Souafee's notion
+of hospitality is rather, I should think, rigid. I said to a Souafee,
+whose acquaintance I have made, "I shall come to your country, and write
+all about it."
+
+"If you dare," he replied, "by G--d, the people will immediately cut your
+throat."
+
+_I._--"I will get an _amer_ ('order') from the Bey of Tunis, which will
+protect me."
+
+"No, no," rejoined the Souafee, "the people will tear the amer to pieces,
+and set the Bey, the French, and all Christians, at defiance."
+
+No doubt the Souafah, the most interesting Arabs of all this region, are
+very fierce of their independence, which explains their jealousy of the
+French, and their determinedly withholding any mark of sovereignty, in
+the way of tribute, from the Bey of Tunis. It appears, however, two or
+three of the small districts have really consented to pay a tribute to
+the French, an act of decided usurpation on the part of France, as the
+Souf oases "formerly did acknowledge" the sovereignty of Tunis. It is,
+nevertheless, a pleasing trait in the character of the Souafah, that they
+have permitted some thirty families of Jews to settle amongst them, a
+concession not yet made by the Marabouts of Ghadames.
+
+Within my couple of months' residence here, how rapid has been the
+impoverishment of the country! Everything gets worse and worse. Now, it
+is almost impossible to get change for a Tunisian piastre. I've been two
+days trying to get change, and have not yet succeeded. The money in
+circulation is principally Tunisian piastres; but since the Turks have
+come, Turkish money also passes. There are, besides, a quantity of
+Spanish dollars and five-franc pieces. Apparently, all the money has left
+the country, or is hidden by the people. A good deal, I have no doubt,
+has been hidden within a few weeks. The Governor himself laments that he
+changed a dollar yesterday for two karoubs (two pence) less than its
+current value in Tripoli. His Excellency is very low-spirited, and very
+sick. His Excellency prays that the Pasha will allow him to return to
+Tripoli a few months. Being a good man, the system of extortion which he
+is obliged to put in practice to meet the demands of the Pasha, makes his
+heart sick. His Excellency assured me, that if the Souf Arabs had not
+lately brought some money, with which they purchased slaves for the
+markets of Algeria, there would have been no money left in the country.
+The merchants say their affairs must now be transacted in the way of
+barter, as in Soudan. I am particular in noticing these things, and the
+cause of the impoverishment of these unhappy people, as showing the curse
+of the Turkish system on the transactions of commerce.
+
+My taleb wrote in my journal this splendid Arabic proverb:
+
+الرجال سناديق مغلقة ومفاتحها التجريب صدور الرجال
+    سنادق الاسرار
+
+"Men are locked-up boxes--experience opens them; the bosom of man is a
+box of secrets."
+
+_10th._--To-day I ran about town to tire myself, in order to sleep at
+nights. This morning, one of the two expected ghafalahs of Tripoli,
+consisting of 117 camels and twenty traders of Ghadames, arrived; the
+other ghafalah will arrive in a few days. The ghafalah has brought goods
+only for the interior. The merchants just come report in town, "That
+Yâkob (myself) has written to the English Consul of Tripoli, informing
+him how _Aaron_ (_Signor Silva_) lends money and goods to the merchants
+of Ghadames, with which goods and money to go into the interior, and
+traffick in slaves." This is substantially correct; but it was written in
+confidence to Colonel Warrington, and to no other person in Tripoli. I
+expressly begged Colonel Warrington not to divulge the fact, or my
+mention of such a matter, until I was out of the lion's mouth of the
+slave-dealing interests of this part of North Africa. The Consul,
+however, deemed it his duty to disregard my request, and to divulge or
+violate this confidence, and posted up a placard on the door of the
+Tripoline Consulate, stating, "That certain merchants, under British
+protection, were accused of slave-dealing with the merchants of Ghadames,
+and calling upon them to clear themselves from such an imputation." Of
+course, as there was nobody else likely to make such an accusation but
+myself, being well known as an anti-slavery man in Tripoli, the public
+attention was at once directed to me as the accuser. The other merchant
+alluded to is Mr. Laby (Levi), a Barbary Jew, and the head of a house in
+Tripoli. Mr. Silva is also a Jew, but from Europe. This report,
+circulating from mouth to mouth, has created a tremendous sensation in
+Ghadames; and the people fancy they see in it not only a blow aimed at
+them and the slave-trade, but the final ruin of their commerce, already
+sufficiently crippled by the oppression of the Turks. I am, therefore,
+obliged to Colonel Warrington, not so much for facilitating my progress
+in the interior, as for increasing my difficulties a hundred-fold. I was
+astonished that a high functionary, of thirty-three years' experience in
+these countries, should have committed such an act of egregious
+indiscretion, exposing the life of a fellow countryman to such increased
+danger, who was already without any kind of guaranteed protection. If I
+had been murdered in The Desert tract from Ghadames to Ghat, it would
+have most justly been attributed to the placard placed on the doors of
+the Consulate at Tripoli. Justice requires from me, however, that I
+should state an indiscretion also on my part. I wrote to the Consul that
+I had communicated the charge against Messrs. Silva and Levi to the
+Secretary of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, and did not
+add, as I ought perhaps to have done, that I had likewise begged of Mr.
+Scoble not to make the charge public for the present. Colonel Warrington
+was afraid the charge would be known in London before he had reported
+upon it, and in this way his Consulate might suffer in the eyes of
+Government. Now I shall not trouble the reader with the proof of the
+charge. It must already have been seen, that as the merchants of Ghadames
+are drained of all their capital by the Turkish Government, they, the
+merchants of Ghadames, are obliged to fall back upon the merchants of
+Tripoli, who will give them credit, some of which latter are under
+British protection. So Sheikh Makouran complained to me he could not now
+trade without the credit of Silva, so the people told me the house of
+Ettanee, the other great mercantile firm of this country, had received
+several thousand dollars' worth of goods on credit from the Messrs. Laby,
+and so the Rais frequently has told me, the money of the merchants of
+Ghadames is in the holding of those of Tripoli, who are mostly under
+European protection. The question is, whether such a state of things can
+be brought under the provision of Lord Brougham's Act, for preventing
+British merchants from trading in slaves, or aiding others to trade in
+slaves, in foreign countries. It is a very delicate subject, because the
+modes of evading the Act, by private and secret contracts, are
+innumerable. British juries are also unwilling to convict parties under
+this Act, and the case of Zulueta failed not so much from the want of
+evidence as from the unwillingness of the jury to come to an impartial
+decision on the evidence.
+
+Whilst reflecting upon my very critical position, my poor Said came in
+from the streets very much cast down, and very sulky.
+
+"What's the matter?" I asked.
+
+"Oh!" blubbered Said, "the people are all talking about your telling the
+Consul that the Jews lend them goods to trade in slaves. They hate you
+now."
+
+"Never mind," I returned, "it will pass away soon."
+
+Said had already become a staunch abolitionist, both from principle and
+circumstances, and often asked me, "When the English would put down the
+slave-trade in Tripoli?" Said is by no means so stupid as I first took
+him to be. I immediately determined not to go out for two or three days
+until the excitement had somewhat abated. In the evening I had many
+visitors, who all spoke of my accusation against Levi and Silva. I met
+the accusations by a deprecatory proposal of this kind: "Would the
+Ghadamsee merchants consent to abandon the traffic in slaves, on the
+conditions that some English merchants would furnish them with goods on
+credit at a lower rate than that which they obtained them from Levi and
+Silva: if so, I would write about it to the Consul? And, likewise, I
+would ask the Consul to get their Soudan goods charged only five per
+cent. importation, which was the sum paid for European goods coming into
+Tripoli; thereby equalizing the per centage of the imports and exports."
+My merchant friends received this proposal very favourably, and swore
+there was no profit in slaves, and declared themselves ready to give up
+the traffic. Some proposed that they should try the gold trade of
+Timbuctoo, and leave the Soudan trade altogether. The traffic to Soudan
+is two-thirds in slaves or more. I knew, however, that to expect such a
+thing from the Turks, was all but hopeless,--their grand maxim of
+Government being to depress and to destroy, not to help and build
+up,--and I made to them the proposition chiefly with the object of
+diverting the odium of the accusation from myself. But yet, who does not
+see that the proposal is well worthy the attention of any Government
+that wishes to establish in Africa a legitimate commerce, a system of
+trade which a good man and a good Government may approve of and support?
+
+Sixty Arab soldiers came yesterday from The Mountains to protect the
+people whilst they are building the caravansary of Emjessem. A merchant
+made a present to-day of some slave neck-irons and leg-irons to the Rais.
+His Excellency said to me, "I had none before, it was necessary to have
+some of these things, in case they should be wanted for the banditti who
+might be captured." A person justly observed, "Before the _Truk_ (Turks)
+we had no need of these things, except for runaway slaves, and we seldom
+used them." The Irishman who discovered himself to be in a civilized
+country from the erection of a gallows, might have equally proved the
+advance of civilization in The Sahara from this fact.
+
+_11th._--Feel greatly discomposed on account of the news which has
+transpired respecting the joint dealings of Silva and Levi with our
+Ghadamsee merchants. One trouble succeeds another, as the angry waves
+beating on the rocky shore. First the pain of delay, then sickness, now
+other matters, then the prospect of a dangerous journey through The
+Desert, with a people who may look upon me with dislike, distrust, and
+every kind of suspicion. . . . . . In the past night, blew a gale from
+the north-west. Slept very little. Also troubled with a large boil.
+Received a visit from some of my old Arab friends of the Rujban
+Mountains, who regaled themselves with bread and dates. Called on the
+Rais, who was as friendly as ever. If his Excellency have heard the
+report, he has the delicacy to say nothing about it. His Excellency told
+me he had dispatched ninety-two _shatahs_, or mails, during the fifteen
+months which he has been in Ghadames. It is reported in town, that Signor
+Silva is in a great fright, and fears being arrested by the British
+Consul at the order of the Queen. A notary visited me to-day, laughed at
+the news of Silva, and was very friendly; he protested the people got
+nothing by slave-dealing. Begin to feel relieved, but I see clearly some
+discouraging circumstances. My taleb comes in as usual, but the turjeman
+is frightened and keeps away. Several of the merchants positively affirm,
+that now, since the market of Tunis is shut, and the Pasha takes ten
+dollars duty on each slave, there is no profit in slave-dealing. However,
+news has arrived from Ghat that a great many slaves are coming with the
+next caravan from Soudan.
+
+This evening was glad to go with the Rais to see the ruins of
+_Kesar-El-Ensara_, ‮قصر الانصرا‬, "The Castle of the
+Christians," although I had seen them often before. It was a great
+relief to me. The Rais put his head down to the vaults under the
+ruins to listen to the conversation of the _Jenoun_, or "Demons."
+His Excellency said he thought he heard the Demons talking. The
+ruins are situate about half a mile from the walls of the city S.SW.
+All the piles have a small vault under them, apparently for water,
+but it might have been an excavated tomb. The people pretend that
+these ruins are four thousand years of age. A son of the late Yousef
+Bashaw, on a visit to Ghadames, about thirty years ago, to amuse
+himself and frighten the demons, blew up a large portion of the
+ruins with gunpowder. Previously the ruins were much more perfect
+and imposing. I have made a sketch of what remains of these ancient
+buildings. The style of the buildings can be easily distinguished
+from the modern by its being composed of a very white cement and
+small stones, half the size of ordinary paving stones, the cement
+being in a large proportion. My turjeman once pointed out to me a
+piece of the ancient walls of the city, still remaining, exactly
+corresponding to these ruins. I have seen frequent ruins of ancient
+Roman walls, representing the same kind of building in North Africa.
+This Kesar-El-Ensara, together with the bas-relief, and the Latin
+inscription, copied by a Moor from a tomb-stone, beginning with the
+words "_Diis Manibus_," are more than sufficient evidence to prove
+that Ghadames was "colonized," as it was called, by the Romans, and
+probably earlier by the Greeks and Carthaginians. The same Moorish
+prince who blew up the ruins, carried away also to Tripoli the
+tomb-stone, from which a Moor copied the inscription, and which
+transcript I brought with me from Ghadames. The copyist of this
+inscription says, he affixed the Arabic letters in order that the
+Mussulman might compare them with the Christian letters and find out
+their sense, but he himself did not know what were their meaning. On
+returning from Kesar-El-Ensara, we looked around and were painfully
+impressed with the appalling barrenness of The Sahara. The Rais
+said, "Ah, these people, little know they what a garden is my
+country compared to this!" The Rais then stumbled over a small
+solitary herb and exclaimed instinctively, _Hamdullah_, "Praise to
+God," picking it up. What attracted our attention was the almost
+infinite number of small serpentine camel-tracks, wriggling
+endlessly through the wastes of The Sahara. The Rais said, "Those
+Touaricks are incarnate Genii! they know all these paths:" pointing
+south towards Ghat.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Ghadames, ‮غدامس‬, is the ancient _Cydamus_, the name being
+precisely the same. In the year 19 before our era, it was subjugated
+by Cornelius Balbus, being at that period in the possession of a
+people called Garamtes. The Romans are said to have embellished it,
+and probably built the fortifications whose ruins have been just
+described. In an ancient itinerary, from Tunis to Ghadames, we find
+the following names of stations, viz., Berezeos, Ausilincli, Agma,
+Augemmi, Tabalata, Thebelami and Tillibari. Leo Africanus, gives the
+subjoined account of Ghadames:
+
+GADEMES, ABITAZIONE.--Gademes è una grande abitazione, dove sono molti
+castelli e popolosi casali, discosti dal mare Mediterraneo, verso
+mezzogiorno, circa a trecento miglia. Gli abitatori sono ricchi di
+possessioni di datteri, e di danari, perciocchè sogliono mercatantare nel
+paese de' Negri: e si reggono da lor medesimi, e pagano tributo agli
+Arabi; ma prima erano sotto il re di Tunis, cioè il luogotenente di
+Tripoli. E vero che quivi il grano e la carne sono molto cari.--(Part
+vi., chap. Lii.)
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[56] In the Tunisian Jereed there are more than two hundred
+    different varieties. Some thrive in one kind of soil, and some in
+    another. At first it is difficult for a stranger to distinguish
+    these varieties, but when his eye becomes practised, he can easily
+    do so at a great distance.
+
+[57] _Ghusub_, ‮قسب‬, a species of millet. _Pennisetum Tyhoideum._
+    Rich. It is called _drâ_ in Tunis and _bishma_ in Tripoli.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+PREPARATIONS FOR GOING TO SOUDAN.
+
+     Weariness and Exhaustion in Preparating and Waiting to
+     Depart.--Cold intensely set in.--Excitement of the Messrs. Silva
+     and Levi affair subsiding.--Suffer from Bad Health.--Pet
+     Ostrich.--Longevity in The Desert.--Mahometan Doctrine of
+     Judicial Blindness.--Custom of Dipping and Sopping in
+     Meats.--Mahometan Propositional Form of Doctrine.--The Wild-Ox,
+     or _Bughar Wahoush_.--Salting and Drying Meat for
+     Preservation.--My Friend, the Arab Doctor.--Ravages of Shânbah
+     Brigandage.--The Immemorial Character of the Arab.--Excess of
+     Transit Duties.--Person and Character of Rais
+     Mustapha.--Character of Sheikh Makouran.--Testimonial of the
+     People of Ghadames in my Favour.--Personal Character of my Taleb
+     and Turjeman.--Quarrel with a Wahabite.--Said gets Saucy and
+     Unruly, and development of his Character.--Purchase my _Nagah_ or
+     she-Camel.--Departure from Ghadames, and False Report of the
+     appearance of the Shânbah.
+
+
+_12th._--SLEPT little during the night. Sorry I can't read during the
+nights on account of my eyes. But somewhat improved in health. Saw
+several merchants who say nothing of the Levi and Silva business. I'm in
+hopes this subject will not be agitated during the few days I have to
+remain in Ghadames. The second ghafalah has arrived but brings me
+nothing, not even the medicines ordered from Tripoli. Patience! What can
+be done? The Governor affected this evening to be very indignant against
+the son of Yousef Bashaw for destroying the ruins of Kesar-El-Ensarah.
+The Turks are becoming antiquaries, and, perhaps, begin to see the
+uselessness and folly of destroying ancient buildings for the sake of
+destroying them, even though they belong to an infidel age. To their
+credit, the Moors themselves are fond of antiquity in churches, and will
+patch up a marabet or mosque as long as they can. The Rais, still
+frightened, suggests that I should return to Tripoli. But I cannot now, I
+will not. I ought not, for I have acted over all the pains and perils of
+the journey to Soudan many days and nights, and exhausted myself with
+expectations, casualties, probabilities and conceivabilities, &c., &c. I
+am now, in truth, suffering all sorts of maladies, mental and bodily.
+Such is the wretched existence we are doomed to sustain! And yet is not
+this our mortal existence a still greater curse to the man, who lives
+without an object and without an aim?
+
+_13th._--Talk of heat and the burning desert, I had last night an attack
+of cold, which I shall not forget to the latest day of my life! My limbs
+all shrunk together, my teeth chattered, and I did not know what pains or
+disease was about to come upon me. This happened whilst undressing. I
+immediately dressed myself in all my thickest heaviest clothes, lay down,
+and in twenty minutes happily recovered from the attack. But scarcely
+slept all night, got a few winks of sleep this morning. I attribute all
+this to the nervous agitation of advancing into The Desert without a
+guide or friend, on whom I can rely, combined with the severity of the
+season fast setting in. Glad to see the sensation of the Silva business
+dying away. People begin to laugh at me about it, and call the Consul
+_Sheytan_ for disclosing the purport of a letter written confidentially
+to him. However, I cannot conceive that Colonel Warrington was influenced
+by any other feelings than those which resulted from a strict sense of
+duty. Apparently zealous in the performance of his public avocations, he
+was determined to discharge them at any cost, even at the sacrifice of
+the life of a fellow-countryman. This is all I can now say about the
+matter. Fortunately I was well known here, and the people could not
+believe that it was from any ill-will to them that I denounced the
+parties, which I hope the reader will give me credit for; nor, indeed,
+could I have any hostile feelings against the Tripoline merchants. What I
+wish, and I imagine every friend of Africa does the same, is to see a
+legitimate commerce established in The Desert. It is curious to hear the
+Touatee. He says he is sure I never wrote the letter at all, although I
+tell him I did, and believes it an invention of people in Tripoli. He
+won't believe his friend Yâkob would breathe a syllable against the
+people of Ghadames.
+
+_14th._--Slept very little during the night and cannot. Am really reduced
+to very low disagreeable feelings. Have an immense boil on my back, and
+another on my arm, which I attribute to the effect of the climate on my
+constitution, or to drinking Ghadames water.
+
+News have come of the Shânbah having left their sandy wilds on a
+free-booting expedition, leaving only the old men, women, and children
+behind, for these banditti propagate through all time a race of Saharan
+robbers, the scourge of The Desert. Five weeks ago they took their
+departure towards Ghat, and it is thought they wish to intercept our
+caravan now leaving. Also a skirmish has taken place between some Souafah
+banditti and Arabs of Algeria. These banditti were routed, leaving
+eighteen dead on the field and many camels.
+
+An ostrich, caught at Seenawan, has been brought in here and presented
+to the Rais. His Excellency promised to give him to me if I will return
+from Soudan _viâ_ Ghadames. He is a young bird and amuses us much,
+running about the streets, picking up things in character of scavenger.
+People are trying to make him lie down at the word of command. "Kaed,
+(lie down)," cries one, "Kaed," another; at length the stunned and
+stupefied bird lies down.
+
+_16th._--Occupied 13th, 14th, and 15th in writing letters. Received a
+letter from Dr. Dickson, of Tripoli, expressing friendly feelings. He has
+prepared some more medicines, packed them up, and charged them to me.
+Received a very friendly letter also from Colli, Sardinian Consul at
+Tripoli. Mr. Colli is a fine classical scholar, and the only consul I
+have met with in North Africa who pays any attention to classical
+literature. The late Mr. Hay of Tangier, had the reputation amongst some
+people of being a classical scholar.
+
+Continue unwell and in low spirits, or as the Negroes say, am possessed
+by the _Boree_ ("blue devils.") Days are short, and nights tedious and
+painful to me, as I cannot use my eyes by lamp-light, on account of a
+slight continued ophthalmia. Nothing remarkable to-day. If you want to
+feel alone in the world, which at times has its advantages, go into The
+Desert.
+
+_17th._--To my great satisfaction the mail arrived this morning, bringing
+letters and newspapers. The Governor is very friendly and is in better
+health. Quarrelled with Ben Mousa, my taleb, for eating Said's dinner
+when I was out of the way; to-day Said got him reconciled to me. Haj
+Mansour's family consists of thirty-two persons, all living in one house.
+This is the great _quasi_ negro-merchant before mentioned. His father
+died a Saharan veteran of the age of one hundred and one. He had been
+more than a hundred times over The Desert trading. Yesterday died a man
+at the age of ninety-six. There are several women now living more than
+eighty. How long these poor creatures survive their feminine charms! A
+woman in The Desert gets old after thirty. I think, from what I have
+heard, people live to a great age in this and other oases--if not to a
+good and happy old age. Some remarkable cases of longevity in The Desert
+have been narrated by Captain Riley. Said says the people rob us
+desperately when they make our bread. We usually buy the wheat and have
+it ground and made into bread at the same time. I tell Said we must
+expect this sort of pilfering where there are so many hungry people.
+
+My taleb began his interminable discussions on religion. He said he had
+hoped that I should have recognized Mahomet as the prophet of God, being
+acquainted as I was with Arabic, the language of truth and unmatched by
+any language in the world[58]. I replied language was not enough, other
+things were necessary; besides, indeed, some of the Mussulman doctors had
+said the Koran could be imitated and even excelled. The taleb replied, "A
+lie! the doctors were heretics and infidels, it is impossible to imitate
+the Koran's beautiful language," citing the well-known words of
+Mahomet:--
+
+"_Answer._--Bring therefore a chapter like unto it; and call whom you
+may to your assistance, besides God, if ye speak the truth."--(Surat ii.,
+entitled "Jonas.")
+
+The taleb then turned to my turjeman, who was present, and cited another
+passage, thinking I did not understand what it was. The passage quoted
+was the famous anathema of judicial blindness denounced against
+infidels:--
+
+"As to the unbelievers, it will be equal to them whether thou admonish
+them, or do not admonish them; they will not believe. God hath sealed up
+their hearts and their hearing; a dimness covereth their sight, and they
+shall suffer a grievous punishment."--(Surat ii., entitled "the Cow.")
+
+This is evidently an imitation[59] of our Scriptural passages, of which
+there are several:
+
+"Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
+saying, Go unto this people and say, Hearing ye shall hear and shall not
+understand, and seeing ye shall see and not perceive. For the heart of
+this people has waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and
+their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and
+hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be
+converted, and I should heal them."--(Acts xxviii. 25, 26, 27.) So we
+have in John x. 26:--"But you believe not because you are not of my
+sheep."
+
+Besides these imitations, Mahomet has made differences for the sake of
+differences. So the Sabbath of the Moslemites is on the Friday, because
+that of the Christians and Jews is on the Saturday and Sunday. I taxed my
+taleb with his quotation. He did not flinch or blink a hair of the
+eyelid, but said, "You Christians cannot believe if you would, because
+God has blinded your eyes and hardened your hearts." "Why do you complain
+of us?" I remonstrated. "I do not complain," he rejoined, "it is all
+destined." I then related a story of predestination which I had heard, of
+one man asking another, "If all things were predestined?" and he
+replying, "Yes;" the questioner immediately threw him out of the window,
+saying, "Well, that is also predestined." An old Moor sitting by, very
+attentively listening, exclaimed immediately, "Well, even that throwing
+out of the window, Yâkob, was also predestined." Said then brought in
+some stewed meat. I gave my theological disputants, reasoning--
+
+    "Of Providence, foreknowledge, will and fate,
+     Fix'd fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,
+     And found no end, in wandering mazes lost,"
+
+some bread, and they began breaking it and dipping it in the gravy of the
+meat, the invariable custom here. Spoons they abominate, it is either
+their fingers, or sopping. The Biblical reader will easily recognize the
+custom. I took the Testament and read to the taleb this passage:--"And,"
+said Jesus, "He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it;
+and he took a sop and gave it to Judas Simon Iscariot."--(John xiii. 26.)
+
+The taleb was greatly delighted, and said, "Yes, so it was in all times
+before the infidels introduced knives and forks and spoons to eat with."
+I observed it was much more cleanly to eat with knives and forks than
+with one's fingers, but it was useless. He only replied, "There's water
+always to wash your hands." The sop mentioned in the passage cited might
+consist of a piece of bread dipped into a dish of fat or broth. So all
+Ghadames people eat, dipping pieces of bread, as they break them from a
+loaf, into fat or broth, or other dishes of this sort. We shall find, for
+what cause I cannot tell, the Touaricks using spoons, and spoons which
+are made in Central Africa, and distributed throughout The Sahara amongst
+the Touarghee tribes. This little circumstance would seem to be an
+argument against the Oriental origin of the Touaricks, for, eternally
+dipping and sopping, and sopping and dipping with the fingers, is
+coextensive with the migrations of the Arabs and other tribes from the
+East. Jews were the first to introduce knives and forks into Mogador,
+because they have not the same religious scruples on this head as
+Mohammedans. Barbary Jews do it in imitation of their European brethren.
+I shall trouble the reader with another display of the sectarian zeal of
+my taleb.
+
+To make a proposition, or a double proposition, of a form of the orthodox
+Christian faith, I had constructed the following, in imitation of the
+double proposition of the Mahometans, (that is--
+
+     ‮لا لله الّا الله ومحمّد رسول الله‬
+    "There is one God, and Mahomet is the prophet of God,")
+
+     ‮لا لله الّا الله ويسوع ابن الله‬
+    "There is one God, and Jesus is the son of God."
+
+The first proposition is seen to be the same; whilst the divine
+nature of the Saviour, which is the distinguishing feature of the
+Christian religion as looked upon by Mussulmans, is added in the words
+‮ابن الله‬. The number of syllables is precisely the same, the
+‮و‬ being merely considered as the connecting link of the two
+propositions. But the term ‮عيسي‬ would be much preferable to
+‮يسوع‬, being the classic Arabic term. In teaching Christian
+doctrine to Mussulmans, and, indeed, to all people, it is necessary
+to adapt our style and language to their style and language and mode
+of conception. The Catholics, however, carried the adaptation too
+far when they turned the statues of Jupiter and the Emperors into
+those of the Apostles and Saints. For the Jews, the proposition
+could be made thus:--
+
+     ‮لا لله الّا الله ويسوع هو المسيح‬
+    "There is one God, and Jesus is the Messiah;"
+
+or as we find the proposition in the first verse of the first chapter of
+St. Mark,
+
+     ‮[لا لله الّا الله]  ويسوع المسيح ابن الله‬
+    "There is one God, and Jesus, the Messiah, is the Son of God."
+
+This, being more full of doctrine, including both the divinity
+and Messiahship of The Saviour, would, perhaps, be the preferable
+form of the latter proposition. I showed the taleb these
+propositions, and he was greatly exasperated, adding it was
+blasphemy to connect Christian and Jewish ideas with "the Word of God"
+(‮كلام الله‬). He added, oddly enough, "Such impious things
+had never been before done in this holy place, this sacred Ghadames."
+
+_18th._--The Rais makes a last effort to persuade me to return to The
+Mountains, and take the route of Fezzan, adding as a reason, which
+tourists would very properly consider an objection, "that I knew now the
+route to The Mountains." I rejoined, "From what I have seen of the people
+of Ghadames, and even the Touaricks, I think I may trust them as well as
+the people of Tripoli." _The Rais_: "Well, you are your own master; the
+Pasha says you may go if you like. The Ghadamseeah and Touaricks are one
+people; make friends with them. But I'm sorry, after you have seen all my
+kindness to you, my advice is nevertheless rejected." The Rais now saw I
+was inexorable, and left off advising.
+
+To-day some wild-ox, _bughar wahoush_[60],--‮بقر وحوش‬ was
+brought in from The Desert. This is the hunting time, which lasts three
+months, and the flesh of this animal supplies a very good substitute
+for beef. Indeed, the animal is a species of buffalo, but very
+small, sometimes not much larger than a good-sized English sheep.
+They are hunted in the sands to the north-west by Souf Arabs, who
+are excellent hunters, and pursue the chase twenty days together
+through the sandy regions. People pretend the bughar wahoush does
+not drink; perhaps they don't drink much. But both the wild ox and
+the aoudad are occasionally caught near the wells, a sufficient
+proof they sometimes drink water. I cooked some, and found it of
+excellent flavour. People call this animal also medicine. I
+purchased half of one to salt for my journey to Ghat, but spoilt it
+by too much salting. The salt ate away all the flesh from the bones.
+I neglected the advice of Said, who assured me people salt meat very
+little in Soudan. Indeed, they frequently cut the meat into strips
+and dry it in the sun without salting. In this way caravans are
+provisioned over The Desert. I ate some, and found it very good. My
+Arab friend, the old doctor, brought me a small prickly shrub, which
+he calls _El-Had_, ‮الحد‬, and says it has powerful purgative
+qualities, purging even the camels. It abounds in The Sahara.
+
+We, The Desert Quack and English Quack, bandy compliments together.
+
+_Desert Quack._--"Whilst you are here, you are the Sublime Doctor
+(Ettabeeb Elâttheem)." [As much as to say, "When you are not here, I am
+The Sublime Doctor."]
+
+_English Quack._--"How? No, you are always The Sublime Doctor. I am at
+your disposal. I am your slave."
+
+_Desert Quack._--"Impossible! Haram, it is prohibited. You are the wise
+doctor, you know all things."
+
+_English Quack._--"How many people have you killed by your physic?"
+
+_Desert Quack_ [surprised at this abrupt and impertinent question].--"God
+forefend that I should kill any one! But sometimes _Rubbee_ (God) takes
+away my patients, and sometimes they get better. But whether they die or
+live, people always say, 'It is written (predestined).'"
+
+I then related the story of Gil Blas, who bled to death the rich lady,
+under the precepts of Dr. San Grado, and was challenged in mortal combat
+by the suitor of the fair dame. On which he observed, "Gil Blas was a
+dog. I trust the other man killed him. Here we bleed, but we always know
+when blood enough is left in a man to keep him alive."
+
+"How do you know that?" I replied.
+
+_The Taleb._--"1st. I see if he sinks down. 2nd. I ask Rubbee. 3rd.
+Sometimes the Jenoun (demons) tell me. 4th. If he dies, what matter? Is
+it not the will of God?"
+
+_19th._--Great preparations are now going on for the departure of the
+ghafalah to Ghat and Soudan. An order has come from the Pasha, that the
+Rais may take 2,500 instead of 3,250, less 750. This the people must pay.
+And I hear the poor wretches have at last consented to swallow the bitter
+pill. Every man, having a small property, or a householder, will pay each
+five mahboubs; the merchants considerably more. A little by little, till
+the vitals of this once flourishing oasis are torn out, and it becomes as
+dead as The Desert around it.
+
+_20th._--This morning a slave ghafalah arrives from Ghat with forty
+slaves. Two escaped _en route_. What could the poor creatures do in
+The Desert? They must have perished very soon. The ghafalah brings
+important news. The Shânbah, 700 strong, had been ravaging the
+country of the Ghat Touaricks, and had murdered thirty-seven people.
+The Touaricks were arming, and in pursuit of the Shânbah assassins.
+Besides this, the Shânbah have captured a Ghadamsee ghafalah,
+escorted by Touaricks, not respecting a jot the Maraboutish
+character of this city. It consisted of thirty camels, laden mostly
+with the property of our merchants. Sheikh Makouran himself lost
+2,000 mahboubs. Total loss for the merchants here is about 15,000
+dollars. It is the caravan which left these two months ago, and took
+a letter for me to the Governor of Ain Salah. Both letters have been
+unlucky; the one sent to Ghat could not be delivered because the
+Governor was changed; and this one, I imagine, has fallen into the
+hands of the Shânbah. Two slaves escaped with a water-skin. They
+then fell in with some Touaricks, who gave them a little bread, and
+in this dreadful plight they got to Ghat. One died after his
+arrival. What became of the Touaricks is not yet known. They are
+probably massacred. I made the acquaintance of these luckless
+Touaricks, and gave them some medicine to take to Touat. In this
+foray the Shânbah killed a little child of three years old. When
+they struck down a man, they ripped open his belly and left him.
+These Shânbah banditti (who, to my surprise, are lauded in the
+French works published by the Minister of War, as the most
+enterprising camel-drivers and merchants in The Sahara,) are,
+without doubt, what the people say here, the vilest and most
+bloodthirsty miscreants in The Desert. How strange it is they are
+Arabs! It is always the Arab, who is the most thorough-going,
+hereditary, eternal robber of The Desert! Is it because we read,
+"And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and
+every man's hand against him?" The disposition for brigandage in
+the soul of the Arab was a proverb of Jewish antiquity. So we have,
+‮כַּעֳרָבִי בַּמִּדְבַּר‬, "As the Arabian in the Wilderness." My
+Arabic translation, which was done by the Missionaries of the Roman
+Church, follows some of the ancient versions, and renders it ‮مثل
+اللّص‬ "like the thief in the Desert" (See Jeremiah iii. 2.) Still,
+Mr. D'Israeli thinks there's nothing like Arab blood, if we read
+aright his "Tancred," and would have us regenerate the old effete
+race of Europe by this fiery and bloodthirsty Oriental barbarian, as
+the Arabian stallion improves our dull race of horses. It is
+reported, in town, "When the Shânbah cut to pieces the thirty-seven
+Touaricks, one man was left untouched amidst the slaughter, owing
+his safety to his _Ajab_, ‮عجب‬ (amulets), which he wore in great
+profusion." This lucky charm-clad fellow saw the whole business from
+first to last, unmoved amidst the commingled cries of the victims
+and their slaughterers, and made a full report to the Touarghee
+chiefs. Talking to Rais about this slaughter, his Excellency
+observed, in the spirit of true Turkish policy, "So much the better.
+Let the Touaricks and Shânbah slaughter one another, as long as we
+are left unharmed. The less of them the better for us." So the Turks
+have always dealt with the quarrels of the Arab tribes in Barbary,
+rather blowing up the flames of their discord than pacifying them.
+The Shânbah drove away a thousand camels, besides sheep and oxen,
+from the Touarick districts. The merchants are all frightened
+enough, and our departure is deferred, notwithstanding that the
+slave caravan met with no accident. The Shânbah have now got their
+booty and revenge, and will probably decamp and leave the route
+clear for us. Common misfortunes often make friends of enemies. I
+saw Sheikh Makouran and Mohammed Ben Mousa Ettanee, the two
+principal merchants representing the factions of Weleed and Wezeet,
+very busy in conversation upon the neutral ground of the
+market-place, talking over their mutual losses. Both have lost
+property to a great amount by this Shânbah irruption.
+
+_21st._--The departure of the ghafalah is deferred to the 24th. Rais is
+busy in comparing the papers of the merchants with the goods arrived from
+Tripoli. These ill-used merchants pay 13 per cent. for exporting their
+goods from Tripoli to the interior. The same goods have already paid 5
+per cent. when imported into Tripoli by the European merchants. There is
+then the profit of our Ghadamsee merchants, and the profit of native
+merchants, and the merchants and the manufacturers in Europe. At what
+price, then, above their intrinsic value, are those goods sold to the
+merchants of Central Africa? A hideous thing is this system of transit
+duties!
+
+_22nd._--Weather is cold, everybody wraps up. People sit two or three
+hours together out of doors in the morning before they'll stir. I ask
+them, "Why don't you move about,--you would be then warm?" They answer,
+"_Măzāl shemtz_" (no sun yet). Rais is excessively gracious: he gave me a
+small loaf of white sugar. I had none left, and the gift came in the nick
+of time when required. I have said so much about Rais Mustapha, that I
+must now give a personal description of his Excellency, before I take
+leave of him and of Ghadames. First of all, Rais is not a military man;
+he is a civil servant of the Porte, and receives his pay direct from the
+Sultan. The Turks often employ a civil servant where we should expect to
+see a military man, as in this distant Saharan post, and find it to their
+advantage. The Governor for military advice usually writes to the
+Commandant of The Mountains. His Excellency rarely reads, but writes
+constantly, and is very expert in accounts, his principal occupation
+being the collecting of small monies. His Excellency is also fond of
+collecting coins of different Mussulman States. The reader has seen that
+he is very attentive to his religious duties, and is quite, if not
+superior "marabout odour." His Excellency scarcely ever punishes anybody,
+beats his slaves seldom, but can be very despotic when he pleases. Like
+most Turks, he has a smack of bad faith in him, and made the Souf Arabs
+pay the duty on the goods in their possession, though he promised people
+he would not. We may suppose he is very badly off for money; perhaps his
+own salary is not very regularly paid. His Excellency always behaved very
+well when I purchased any corn of him. He is generally esteemed by the
+people. In person the Rais is exceeding tall, above a convenient height;
+he is about forty years of age, with strongly-marked Turkish features,
+and a large aquiline nose. His limbs are heavy and large, but since his
+residence here he has lost all his flesh. He dresses in the common dress
+of Ottoman functionaries. I often found him chatty and facetious, but
+sometimes he was sulky and morose, and would not speak for hours
+together. He had a fine horse, but rarely could be prevailed upon to go
+out and ride for his health. Every great man has his shadow, his echo,
+the expression of himself more or less in his fellow men. The Rais's
+shadow is one Abd Errahman, a small merchant. His sons call their father
+_souwa-souwa_ ("like-like") with the Rais. Abd Errahman knew the Rais's
+most secret thoughts, and he was the only Ghadamsee in whom the Rais
+could entirely confide. Abd Errahman swore by the Governor's head, and
+was his most obedient humble servant.
+
+Sheikh Makouran is occupied in purchasing me an outfit of Moorish costume
+for the The Desert. He is very slow, but he gets them cheaper than if I
+bought them myself. He purchases one thing one day, and another thing the
+next day, and all from different persons. This is the way here. Attempted
+myself to purchase two turbans, one for myself and one for Said, but I
+found it no easy matter. The owner asked three dollars each, alleging
+that the turbans had been "blessed at Mecca[61]." I refused to give this
+price, and it was agreed to wait till the Sheikh came. This was decided
+by a council of the people, against the wish of the owner, who objected
+to waiting. At length the Sheikh made his appearance. Nothing was said
+about the price, for every one knew they must abide by the Sheikh's
+decision. The Sheikh after examining the turbans, said to the seller,
+"Let them be sold for one dollar each." The owner began to exclaim
+against this decision, but the Sheikh stopped his mouth!--"This is our
+friend (_habeebna_). Do you wish to rob him? Is this your kindness to a
+stranger, who has lived with us so long, and whom we all love?" These
+words were uttered with the greatest energy, and silenced every
+objection. I paid the money, and a quarter of a dollar more for mine.
+Without exception, the Sheikh was the most just and kindest man I met
+with in Ghadames, and yet he had the reputation of being close-fisted in
+money matters. He refused to receive any rent for his house in which I
+lived, and when I left he ordered a quantity of cakes to be made for me,
+which he brought me himself. They were very nice, made of butter, and
+honey, and dates, and lasted me all the way to Ghat. Makouran pressed the
+Rais to write for me to the Touarick authorities of Ghat; but his
+Excellency could not without an order from Tripoli. I am under very great
+obligations to the Sheikh, who behaved like a father to me in a land of
+strangers. His brother was kindness itself, but had not the spirit of the
+Sheikh. His eldest son, Haj Besheer, was also a very kind and upright
+young man. Haj Besheer has immense influence with the Touaricks, and if
+he had gone with me to Ghat, nothing would have happened. His principal
+connexions are in Touat, and I really think that an European, going with
+letters from him to one of his Touarghee friends, might make the journey
+to Timbuctoo in safety. Sheikh Makouran took me to-day before the Rais
+and Kady, and in their presence a long "Testimonial" of the people of
+Ghadames was drawn out in Arabic, stating that during the time I had
+resided in Ghadames I had conducted myself well, and given no offence to
+any one. This was signed by the Kady, on behalf of all the people, in
+presence of the Rais and the Nather and several other officers. I was
+requested to countersign it, which I did with these words: "I have
+remained three months in Ghadames, and now leave it with great personal
+satisfaction to myself, and in peace with all the inhabitants." A copy of
+this I made for the Kady to keep in Ghadames. The "Testimonial" itself
+was sent to Colonel Warrington, through the Pasha, who either did not
+forward it to the Colonel, or it has been mislaid or lost, for it cannot
+now be found in the Consulate Archives. The people of Ghadames were
+determined to give me this testimonial in order that the Turkish
+authorities should not hereafter bring any accusation against me. It was
+dated the 24th, or the day fixed for departure.
+
+The Rais astonished me to-day, by telling me, he had bastinadoed twice my
+taleb, Ben Mousa, for dishonesty. I absolutely thought the Rais was
+joking, for the Rais and the taleb seemed always pretty good friends. I
+knew Ben Mousa was not extremely delicate, and would sometimes sit down
+with Said and eat his dinner away from him. I inquired of the turjeman
+about it, who assured me it was no joke, and that Ben Mousa had been
+twice bastinadoed for borrowing things and not returning them. I was
+extremely sorry to hear this, for I had been greatly assisted by the
+taleb in obtaining information, and we had passed many long hours
+together. The taleb is a man of about fifty, extremely clever, and a
+pretty good scholar, and had formerly kept a school. Now he did nothing
+but calculate the water distribution or irrigation of the gardens. He
+wished to come with me to England, to work at translations and get a
+little fortune for his family. But whenever I told him that there were
+very learned Arabic scholars in England and France, he always answered,
+"They are concealed Moslems;" that is to say, afraid to confess Mahomet
+before the Christians, or seeking to convert Christians. From time to
+time I gave the taleb a few presents and a little money, as also the
+turjeman. This latter was a very different character. He mended skin bags
+for water, made shoes, white-washed houses, worked in the gardens, and
+made himself generally useful. He had some property, and his garden, the
+heritage of his ancestors, was one of the finest in the country. He was
+honest, but his defect was want of moral courage. The turjeman had lived
+a good while in Tunis, with some French, where he learned his Italian,
+and a few French words. He always said, "When I lived with the
+Christians, I drank wine like them." Some of the people, in a joke, would
+call him a Christian. He was a bad scholar, and very bitter against the
+Wahabites, whom he delighted to picture to himself in the pleasing
+predicament of carrying the Jews to hellfire on their backs. I myself one
+day had a quarrel with a Wahabite. The Wahabite called me a kafer. I
+retorted, "Why, what are you? You are nothing but a Wahabite." He was so
+angry that he was about to draw his knife at me, when the people seized
+hold of him, and one of my friends knocked him down.
+
+Rais heard of the affair, and said as he was a foreign Arab he should
+leave the oasis. He came afterwards to me to beg my pardon, and I gave
+him some coffee to make him merry. He then told me all about the
+Wahabites, not forgetting to abuse all the other sects. He said the Arabs
+of his mountain had no objection to the Turks if they would become
+Wahabites. He was also of the Abadeeah, "white-caps," and declaimed
+against the "red"-capped Wahabites. The controversy is as nearly as
+possible the same as that of our white and black-gowned clergy of the
+Established Church, introduced by the Puseyites.
+
+Begin now to have some trouble with Said. He gets sulky and saucy, and
+sometimes says he will stop in Ghadames and eat dates. I am obliged to
+box his ears. Then he gets very frightened at the Touaricks, and begins
+to blubber, "I shall be made a slave again, and you yourself will be
+killed." Then he would complain that the Rais's servants and slaves had
+better clothes than himself. I always found it was the better way to let
+him have a _sfogo_, or "vent," for his temper, and afterwards he was
+himself again. He never could keep a _para_ in his pocket, but would give
+his money to the first person who would ask him for it. I am obliged to
+buy him snuff every week, and a stock for the journey. With this he is
+accustomed to treat everybody, and is therefore very popular. Even the
+Governor thinks him the best Negro he ever knew. As is natural enough, he
+is a great favourite amongst the Negresses, and even amongst the Touarick
+ladies. I found him crying one day, and asked,--
+
+"Said, what's the matter?"
+
+"I now recollect my wife whom I left in Jerba," he sighed out.
+
+Before this, I didn't know he was married; he was about thirty years of
+age. My turjeman and Said were two great cronies, and they discussed all
+the town's affairs in general, and everybody's affairs in particular. At
+first, I had not the remotest idea Said had so much wit, and was pleased
+to hear his remarks and criticisms. One of these was capital, and had a
+particular reference to his own case. He stared at me, observing, "We
+can't put the slave-trade down whilst the Jews in Tripoli lend the
+merchants here goods to carry it on." He was so fond of the turjeman
+that, on leaving Ghadames, he gave him all the money he had, and said to
+me when I scolded him, "We don't want any money in The Desert," adding,
+"Where are the shops?"
+
+_23rd._--Bought a camel this morning, a _nagah_, ‮ناقه‬, or
+"she-camel," for 25 dollars. Rais would have the honour of choosing
+the camel, but it was scarcely worth the money. I hired another
+camel to carry a portion of the baggage. Rais told me the Pasha had
+offered to the Touaricks to equip an expedition, in conjunction with
+them, against the Shânbah, but the Touaricks would not accept of the
+aid, being determined to fight their own battles in their own way.
+They might have thought that after the Pasha had destroyed the
+Shânbah, he would have turned his arms against them.
+
+_24th._--We are all confusion in getting off. It is late in the
+afternoon. I have loaded the nagah, and disposed of my baggage; I have
+bid a hundred people farewell, shaking them by the hands. We are
+surrounded with the whole male population of the city, and half-caste
+women. Rais is galloping about to see the people off. But a group of
+people is now seen forming rapidly round a man and a boy, and a camel
+just come in from The Desert with a load of wood, "What's the matter?"
+"The Shânbah! the Shânbah!" people shout from detachment to detachment of
+the ghafalah. The confusion of parting is succeeded by the terror and
+rushing back of the people. The advanced party abruptly returns upon the
+party immediately behind it, and all rush back to the gates of the city,
+one running over the other. Rais appears amongst them to calm the
+consternation. "What's the matter?" His Excellency is too much agitated
+to answer the question. I find Sheik Makouran. "What's the matter?" "The
+man and the boy just come in saw twenty-five Shânbah mounted on camels,
+and the ghafalah cannot go. Rais is going to send out a scout, a
+_Senawanee_, to see if it be the Shânbah, and then all the people are to
+arm and go out against the robbers." A pretty kettle of fish, thought I.
+The Governor then sent a man down to me, to come and sleep for the night
+in his house. All the merchants return, but the camels and a few men
+remain outside, close by the gate. A number of soldiers are sent round
+the city, and the _Senawanee_ mounted on a maharee, goes off in the
+direction where the Shânbah had been seen, the Rais accompanying him a
+short distance. On his return, the Rais bitterly complained of the
+merchants not furnishing him immediately with camels. It was some time
+before he could get the scout off. I went up a mound outside of the city
+to see the scout "out of sight." As the white form of the maharee was
+disappearing in the glare of the sand, I admired the bravery of the
+Senawanee, who thus defied single-handed a troop of robbers, bearding
+them in their very ambush.
+
+We waited with intense anxiety the return of the scout. Many people got
+upon the walls to look out. At length, at noon the 25th, a single camel
+was descried on the dull red glare of the Saharan horizon. This was the
+Senawanee. A number of people ran to him. "Where are the Shânbah?"
+"Where?" "Shânbah?" The messenger said nothing--he was dumb. A crowd
+gets round him--he's still dumb. He enters the Rais's hall of conference,
+and squats down in the presence of his Excellency. He speaks now, and
+calls for coffee. The Rais gets furiously agitated at the moment of
+breaking silence. The scout very calmly sips off his coffee, and strokes
+down his beard, and then deigned to satisfy Governor, Kady, officers, and
+the men, women, and children, who were now pressing upon him with
+dreadful agitation. "Oh, Bey! (raising himself from the floor, fixing his
+eyes now on the Bey, and now on the people, and putting his fore-finger
+of the right hand on the thumb of the left)--I went to the sand. I got
+there when the sun was gone down. The camel lay down, and so did I lay
+down on the sand. We watched all night. I fear no one but God!--(Here was
+a general hum of approbation.)--Two hours before the _fidger_, (break of
+day) I looked up and saw pass by me, at a distance of from here to The
+Spring, nine _Bughar_ (wild-bullocks). They came and went, and went and
+came, snuffing up the sand and bellowing. The man and the boy, who cut
+the wood yesterday, saw the _Bughar_. But the wild oxen are not the
+Shânbah!" As soon as he mentioned the _Bughar_, the people rushing out of
+the Bey's apartment, ran away, and before I could get my dinner, a
+portion of the ghafalah was on the move. The Rais said to me, "Get off,
+make haste--make haste." I then went down to load the nagah again, but
+found it very difficult; seeing the other camels passing on, she would
+not stop to be laden. At length my turjeman came and arranged all. Said
+observed that the obstinacy of the nagah was a bad omen. His Excellency
+the Governor came to see me off, and gave me an affectionate shake of the
+hands. I then met his confidential man Abd-Errahman, who said to me,
+"Rais has given you in charge of all the people of the ghafalah, (about
+sixty persons"). This was kind of the Governor, and better, perhaps, than
+being in the charge of one individual. But still I couldn't help
+thinking, that what is many persons' business is nobody's business. The
+turjeman accompanied us some distance, chatting with Said. He carried
+with him a quantity of date-tree fibrous netting, and was twisting bands
+as he followed us. We soon parted. I then passed my old friend the
+good-natured Arab doctor. His parting blessing spoke the native goodness
+of his heart: "Day cool, route wide, route Fezzan, ghafalah large,
+Shânbah there are none--God bless you, farewell!"
+
+I began to breathe at once the free air of the open Desert. As is my
+wont, I now committed my spirit to the care of God Almighty, leaving my
+body to the care of the wild tribes of these inhospitable wastes. And why
+not? Why distrust them? Have not the people hitherto treated me with
+great and unexpected kindness? And is it not the first step to make
+strangers your enemies, to distrust them?
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[58] They call all other languages in the world _Ajem_--‮عجم‬--a
+    distinction like that of Jew and Gentile, only applied to language
+    instead of persons.
+
+[59] Sale says:--"Mahomet here and elsewhere frequently imitates
+    the truly inspired writers, in making God to operate on the minds
+    of reprobates, to prevent their conversion." Impostors in all ages
+    have charged the inefficacy of their novel mysteries upon the will
+    of God. But these passages have had their use and humanity effects
+    in the strife of contending religions. A Mahometan bigot, with
+    sword in one hand and victim in the other, has often spared his
+    life and his conversion by recollecting, "_God had sealed up his
+    heart and his hearing_," so that he could not believe. The pride
+    of the Moslem has also thus been content to leave matters in the
+    hands of a predestinating deity.
+
+[60] "Wild bullock:" The _Bos Brachyceras_, Gray.
+
+[61] Turbans are sent to Mecca to be blest there, and by this
+    blessing of course their value is greatly enhanced amongst the
+    Moumeneen. Shrouds are also blessed at Mecca; and a rich Mahometan
+    endeavours to procure one to wrap up his mortal remains. A
+    considerable trade is carried on in blessed garments.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+FROM GHADAMES TO GHAT.
+
+     Character of the People of Ghadames.--Strength of our
+     Caravan.--First features of the new Route.--Well of Maseen.--Rate
+     of Travelling.--Our Ghafalah divides in two on account of the
+     difficulty of obtaining Water for so large a
+     Caravan.--_Es-Sărāb_, or _The Mirage_.--_Gobemouche_
+     Politicians.--Camels, fond of dry Bones.--Geological Features of
+     Plateau.--Desert Tombs and _Tumuli_ Directors.--Intense cold of
+     The Desert.--Well of Nather.--Savage Disposition of Camels.--Mr.
+     Fletcher's advice to Desert Tourists.--No scientific instruments
+     with me.--False alarm of Banditti, and meet a Caravan of
+     Slaves.--Sight of the first tree after seven days' Desert.--Wells
+     of Mislah in a region of Sand.--Vulgar error of Sand-storms
+     overwhelming Caravans with billows of Sand.
+
+
+MOUNTED on my camel, pressing on through The Desert, my thoughts still
+lag behind, and as I turn often to look back upon The City of Merchants
+and Marabouts, its palms being only now visible in the dingy red of the
+setting sun, I endeavour to form a correct opinion of its singular
+inhabitants. I see in them the mixture of the religious and commercial
+character, blended in a most extraordinary manner and degree, for here
+the possession of wealth scarcely interferes with the highest state of
+ascetic devotion. To a religious scrupulousness, which is alarmed at a
+drop of medicine that is prohibited falling upon their clothes, they add
+the most enterprising and determined spirit of commercial enterprise,
+plunging into The Desert, often in companies of only two or three, when
+infested with bandits and cut-throats, their journies the meanwhile
+extending from the shores of the Mediterranean to the banks of the Niger,
+as low down to the Western Coast as Noufee and Rabbah. But their
+resignation to the will of heaven is without a parallel. No murmur
+escapes them under the severest domestic affliction; whilst prayer is
+their daily bread. Besides five times a day, they never omit the
+extraordinary occasions. The aspirations of the older and retired men
+continue all the live-long day; this incense of the soul, rising before
+the altar of the Eternal, is a fire which is never extinguished in
+Ghadames! Their commercial habits naturally beget caution, if not fear.
+In The Desert, though armed, they have no courage to fight. Their arms
+are their mysterious playthings. Their genius is pacific and to make
+peace--they are the peacemakers of The Desert--and they always travel
+under the intrepid escort of their warlike Touarick friends and
+neighbours. Intelligent, instructed and industrious, they are the
+greatest friends of civilization in North Africa and the Great Desert.
+But upon such a people, falls as a blast of lightning, rending and
+shivering the fairest palm of the oasis, the curse of Turkish rule.
+
+The force of our caravan consists of about eighty people, including
+strangers, and two hundred laden camels. Nearly all the people are armed,
+and some single individuals have two or three matchlocks, besides pistols
+and daggers. The character of the people are petty traders, commission
+agents, camel-drivers, and slaves. There are several Arabs, natives of
+Ghadames, Seenawan, and Derge, and five strangers from Souf. We have with
+us also three Touaricks. There may be half-a-dozen low women and female
+slaves distributed amongst the ghafalah. Respectable females scarcely
+ever travel in The Desert. I have only with me my negro servant Said. My
+large trunk and tent are conveyed by another camel; the nagah carries me,
+the provisions, and the rest of the baggage, going extremely well. Said
+walks with the servants, slaves, and camel-drivers. Two-thirds of the
+people are on foot. Started in tolerably good health and spirits, and
+increase my appetite every mile I ride. Feel no fatigue, of course,
+to-day, and trust I shall soon forget I'm travelling in The Sahara. There
+are many routes from Ghadames to Ghat, no less than four or five
+well-travelled desert tracts. Our present one is the more easterly, being
+skirted by the oasisian districts of Fezzan. None of these routes have
+been travelled before by an European. Our course to-day is directly east.
+We are now encamping at sun-set, and we have just lost sight of the palms
+of Ghadames. Alas! this will, I fear, be an everlasting farewell to the
+beautiful oasis, and the holy city of merchants.
+
+_26th._--Rose before sunrise. Morning cool and refreshing. We are to
+continue ten days in the route of Fezzan, then turn into that of Ghat,
+thus describing a sort of semicircle to get out of the forays of the
+Shânbah.
+
+Course south-east. On the right ranges of low dull hills, with the same
+on the left, but at a greater distance. The road very good, fit for
+carriages, through the broad bed of a valley. Two great blocks of rock
+stand out on the surface which we traverse, one an oblong square, the
+other sugar-loaf, but flattened at the top.
+
+_Camel-drivers._--"Look at these brothers" (the two rocks.)
+
+_Myself._--"How! Are these brothers? They are not much like."
+
+_Camel-drivers._--"Yâkob, don't you know that one brother is born like
+the father, and the other like the mother?"
+
+These huge blocks we had long in view, and approached and passed them
+just as a ship passes rocks on the sea-coast. So steady is our progress,
+so level our route. Ground strewn over with small flints and other sharp
+chips of stone. Saw nothing alive in The Desert but one solitary bird,
+which seemed lost in the illimitable waste. Passed the grave of one who
+had died in open desert, a small tumulus of stones marked the sad spot;
+passed also a few white-bleached camel's bones. Very cold, wind from
+north-east. Feel it more than the keenest winter's blast of Old England.
+Feel glad I took the advice of the Governor of Ghadames, and purchased a
+quantity of warm woollen clothing, heik, bornouse, and jibbah. "That
+route (Ghat) kills people with the cold," his Excellency observed.
+
+_27th._--Arrived at the well of Maseen, at 4 P.M. Much the same scenery
+as yesterday. The road good, not quite so stony as yesterday, and
+scattered over with pieces of very fine quartz and shining felspar. No
+sand in quantity, and a little herbage for camels. Wind as yesterday, but
+more of it. Maseen is a tolerably deep well, but the water is not very
+sweet. About it there are three or four stunted date-palms, and several
+shrubby sprouts, pointing the Saharan wayfarer to the well's site. One
+of the trees bore fruit this year, but the palm rarely bears fruit in
+open desert. No bird or animal of any sort seen to-day. The camels crop
+herbage _en route_ as usual. On the whole, however, we proceed pretty
+quickly. I imagine about three miles the hour, for a man must walk a
+sharp pace to keep up well with the camels. Our people eat nothing in the
+morning; two or three, perhaps, may eat a cake and a few dates. They
+literally fast all day long and take their _one_ meal at about seven in
+the evening. I can't support this, and take tea in the morning, besides
+munching dates at intervals through the day. Nay, I feel ravenous, under
+the influence of the bleak air of The Desert. About an hour before
+sunrise all the people get up and make large fires, warming their feet
+and legs, for these are mostly bare and are very sensible to the cold.
+I'm sorry I've been obliged to scold Said twice, once for running away
+from my camel after other people's, and once for rough and saucy
+language. But I must make the best of him; might easily get a worse
+servant. Glad the eldest son of the Sheikh Makouran has joined the
+caravan; he came riding after us this evening, attended with a Touarick,
+both mounted on maharees, well equipped and capable of scouring The
+Desert.
+
+_28th._--Some time before we got off this morning, on account of the
+difficulty of watering the camels. My nagah started off on the route
+of Fezzan about a mile and a half, and Said went another way in
+search of her. I was, therefore, obliged to fetch her myself, which
+was a considerable run through a hilly region. I found her alone
+wandering about. The she-camel strays more than the male-camel, and
+is more restless. As soon as I called to her she stopped, stood
+stock-still, and looked at me. Before the camels were all watered,
+the well of Mazeen was nearly dry and the water muddy. This is the
+reason large caravans have such difficulty in traversing The Desert,
+it often requiring several days to water a thousand camels. Here I
+recollected the justness of Napoleon's observation cited by French
+writers,--"That if Africa is to be invaded and conquered _viâ_ The
+Great Desert, it must be done by small detached parties." For it is
+not that the wells do not afford a sufficiency of water for large
+caravans, but that they do not yield an immediate supply for
+numerous bodies, so as to enable their people to march in one
+compact whole. Here we were obliged to leave half the caravan,
+waiting for the running of the water, thus miserably dividing our
+strength in case of attack. Noticed one of the camels laden with a
+bale of goods, on which were European writing, viz., I. A. N. 6. The
+great merchants usually write the name of their firm under the
+designation of _Oulad_ (‮اولاد‬) "sons," for example, _Oulad
+Makouran_, "Sons of Makouran."
+
+The advanced party, of which I was, unexpectedly left the route of
+Fezzan to the east, and turned sharp round to the south, through the
+gorge of a low mountain range, which we had had all along to the
+right. In this defile we proceeded an hour, but it had no natural
+opening at the end. We came at last to a very abrupt ascent of some
+hundred feet high, and mounted an elevated plateau. Once on the
+plateau, all was plain as far as the eye could see. The defile was
+tertiary formation, mere dull crumbling limestone; nothing in the
+shape and consistence of granite. We are now on the highway for
+Ghat, and it is said we shall arrive in fifteen days from the
+plateau. Saw on the plateau, for the first time of my life, the
+celebrated mirage, which our people call _Watta_, but the classic
+Arabic is _Es-Sarab_ (‮السّرب‬). At first sight, I thought it was
+salt, for it flamed in the sun white, like a salt-pit, or lagoon.
+There appeared some low hills in the midst of the white lake. As we
+proceeded, I saw what appeared like white foam running from east to
+west, as the sea-surf chafing the shore. It then occurred to me that
+this might be the mirage; and so it turned out, for as we approached
+the phenomenon, it retired and disappeared. The character of the
+mirage was evidently affected by the wind, for the foam appeared to
+run from east to west with the wind. In some of the white flaming
+lakes, shrubs and reeds stood out, as we find in shallow pools. Some
+high hills appeared suspended in the air, veritable "castles in the
+air." The weather was dull, the sun sometimes hidden, and it was
+noon when the phenomena were most observable. At Mazeen a few small
+birds were hopping and chirping, and two large crows followed us
+upon the plateau; also a butterfly and a few flies. These are the
+living creatures noticed to-day.
+
+The plateau, where I now write, is either covered with very small stones,
+some quite black, and others calcined or burnt, like brick-bats thrown
+from a kiln, or is altogether hardened and black earthy soil. The latter
+assists the mirage, for the phenomenon appears mostly on the earthy
+tracts of ground. In some parts is herbage for the camels. On the plateau
+we saw several small mounds of soft brown stone, crumbling to earth,
+which looked like Arab hovels at a distance. I went up to undeceive
+myself. These curious mounds have yet to crumble away before the plateau
+is a perfect plane. Course to-day mostly south, with a leaning to the
+west. Wind cold S.E. and E. The day as dull and dreary as in England. Our
+people occasionally mount the maharees, which look very haughty and
+imposing. A maharee would be a noble present for the Sultan of the
+Touaricks to send to the Queen.
+
+Was surprised this morning at a question, as "To whom Tripoli belonged?"
+to the English or the Sultan (of Constantinople). I find there is a vague
+notion amongst our ghafalah that Tripoli is either really the property of
+the English, or under the immediate protection of England. "Just the
+same," say the people. They prefer the late tyrant Bashaw, Asker Ali, to
+the present Mehemet, because Asker Ali, they say, did not fleece them so
+much or so plunder them of their money. 'Tis natural enough. One of the
+lower fellows had the impudence to say, "The English Consul receives
+bribes from Mehemet Pasha to let him remain in Tripoli." These people are
+great gobemouches; they always report the most incredible things. A
+trader said to me, "When you get to Soudan you must marry two wives; this
+is our custom." I replied, "I never do anything out of my country, and
+apart from my countrymen, which I should be ashamed to do at home in
+their presence." Some of these Desert louts are very familiar and
+insolent, and require sharp answers to keep them at a distance. I must
+not forget to mention, the Rais put my passport _en règle_ for Soudan. A
+more monstrous piece of absurdity could not be attempted against the
+virtue of the free and simple-minded children of The Desert. Such
+documents are only fit for our elevated Christian civilization, for
+countries like Naples, France, and Austria, the hot-beds of spies and
+police. When I showed my passport to the Touaricks, and explained to them
+what it was for, they very indignantly (and properly so) spat on it.
+
+_29th._--Not a living creature was met with to-day. Our camels found the
+"dry bones" of camels perished in The Desert; they munched them with
+gusto, a piece of cannibalism on the part of these melancholy creatures
+which I was not prepared for. Dr. Oudney remarks, "The latter (camels)
+are very fond of chewing dried bones." In some parts of the routes,
+mostly where the water-stations are distant, and where they drop from
+exhaustion before reaching the wells, camels' bones lie in such heaps as
+to suggest, the Vision of the Dry Bones of Ezekiel.
+
+We started with the rising sun and continued till four o'clock P.M.
+A strong S. and S.E. wind blew all day, and very cold, parching my
+lips and mouth. This wind would have a veritable burning simoon in
+the summer! We traversed all day the plateau, now become an
+immeasurable plain. It slightly undulates in parts, but I think we
+continued to ascend. Some of the surface is wholly naked, having
+neither herbage or stones scattered about, being of a softish clayey
+soil, and printed in little diamond squares, like the dry bottom of
+a small lake on the sea-shore. This, I doubt not, is the action of
+the rain, which falls at long intervals. Other parts presented the
+usual black calcined stones, and sometimes pieces of the common
+limestone and pebbles, but not very round. The track was in some
+places well-defined, in others the earth so hard as not to admit of
+the impression of the camel's foot. Passed by several tumuli of
+stones, said by the people to mark the route, and called
+_âlam_--‮علم‬--directors. Passed also a conspicuous tomb of some
+distinguished individual, who had died in the open Desert. There was
+no writing or ornament, only a higher heap of stones, and piled in
+the shape of an oblong square. As soon as a traveller dies he is
+buried, if he have companions; the body is never brought to the
+neighbouring oases. My friend Haj-el-Besheer, to my regret, has
+disappeared with the Touarick.
+
+Nothing possibly could be more horrible and dreary, exhibiting the very
+"palpable obscure," than our course of to-day. As far as the eye can
+stretch on every side is one vast, solitary, lifeless, treeless expanse
+of desert earth! It is a--
+
+        "Dreary [plain] forlorn and wild,
+    The seat of desolation."
+
+A Derge Arab said to me this evening, "The English will never come to
+Derge, wherever else they may go. The climate will kill them; in three
+days you will die of fever." The love of discussion, as well as their
+complaints against the Turkish Government, follow our people through The
+Desert. They are trying to make me turn Mohammedan, as far as disputing
+goes, and I have enough to do to get rid of their importunities.
+Sometimes I get the conversation turned by telling them, if I turn
+Mussulman I shall offend my Sultan. They reply, "Oh! you can confess with
+your lips, that you are a Christian, whilst you remain a Mussulman in
+your heart." One fellow got saucy, and said, turning up the fire with a
+stick, "The Jews and Christians will have this (fire) for ever."
+Threatening to report him to the Rais of Ghadames, he exclaimed, "The dog
+Rais has no rule in The Sahara." The other people made him hold his
+tongue. Felt the cold last night but especially this morning. It nips me
+up severely. Sleep in the clothes I wear during the day, and have
+additional covering of a thick rug and a cloak. We pitch no tents. Very
+little water is now drunk. Our people seem to shun it as mad dogs. As to
+the morning, no one drinks water this time of the day. How different to
+the summer! when a drink of water is sometimes reckoned a great favour,
+an immense boon, a heaven's best gift.
+
+_30th._--A fine morning; the dawn almost cloudless. Not so
+yesterday, volumes of cloud on cloud inflamed with purple stretched
+over all the east, not unlike an English summer's dawn, but the
+colours more vivid. But this was succeeded by the dreariest of days.
+In summer, the Saharan dawn is usually cloudless, and offers no
+beautiful variety of colours. The cloud of yesterday was surcharged
+with wind, which we soon felt to our annoyance. In The Desert the
+wind generally rises in the morning and falls in the evening. We
+continued our course over the vast plain all the morning, but at
+midday it broke into wide shallow valleys, and in the evening it was cut
+across by a large broad valley, or wady, as the Moors called it, stretching
+east and west. In this wady lies the well of _Năthār_ or _Năjār_,
+some spelling the name with the ‮ز‬--‮النزار‬. Here we
+encamp. We had come a very long weary day. Begin to feel very
+sensibly the hardships of Desert travelling. The length of a day's
+journey depends upon whether water is near or far off, and also upon
+there being fodder for camels. Our Arabs are obliged to look out
+lest they encamp upon an arid spot where the poor camel cannot crop
+a single herb. Mostly in the beds--dry beds of these wadys--there is
+some herbage and brushwood. The well of Nathar is very deep, and cut
+through rock as well as earth, but its water is extremely sweet and
+delicious. We usually find the best water running through rocky
+soil. _En route_, I observed no living creature, save a grasshopper,
+which had managed to get into existence amidst these herbless wilds.
+Think I also saw an ant near the foot of the camel. A few flies
+still follow our caravan, which we brought from Ghadames. These
+witless things have wisdom enough not to remain behind and perish in
+The Desert. Passed by two dead camels, fast decomposing into bones.
+Road all small stones sprinkled over an earthy soil, or altogether
+earth. Mirage again seen, with similar phenomena. Small islets in
+the midst of lakes, and white foam running on the ground as on the
+sea-shore. Our course S. and S.E.
+
+_1st December._--A fine mild morning, but intensely cold during the past
+night. Here we took fresh water enough for four days, the time required
+to arrive at the next well. Started about 11 A.M., and continued only
+three hours and a half, when we came to another wady, where we stopped in
+order to let the camels have their fill of the rich fodder with which the
+wady is covered. The plateau is now apparently disappearing, for it is
+broken into deep and broad valleys, from the sides of which rise in
+groups, and at various distances, low ranges of Saharan hills, and on one
+side, is a range very high, having very wild mountainous features. We
+have now travelled nearly six days, and have not yet met with fifty yards
+of sandy route. So much for the sandy Desert! All is either earth,
+sometimes as hard-baked as stone, or large blocks of stone, but chiefly
+very small chips of stone covering the entire surface. Our Arabs ask me,
+"Whether I prefer travelling by land or sea?" They imagine Christians,
+when they travel, necessarily travel by sea. They are also greatly
+astonished when I tell them we have no Sahara in England, and cannot
+credit the idea of a country being full of cultivated fields and gardens.
+The rest of our ghafalah, consisting of more than a third, is not yet
+come up, but Haj-el-Besheer and the Touarick Ali have joined us again and
+report them to be at the well of Nather.
+
+Two or three birds were seen this morning about the wells. They were
+excessively familiar, and knew instinctively how to estimate the sight of
+a caravan for the crumbs and grains it might leave behind. They seemed
+also quite at home at the well. Still one would think they were birds of
+passage, like ourselves, for there are no trees or bushes for them to
+build in, and little to eat. Saw also a single lizard. I believe lizards
+abound in every part of The Sahara, but the cold now keeps them in their
+holes.
+
+Three or four of our party have left us, mounted on maharees, for Ghat.
+They say they shall arrive in six or seven days. They will soon see if
+banditti are before us, and will return to let us know. Thought I should
+escape the orthodox _body_-guard. But it seems not. Where every person is
+obliged to accept of this guard, _bon gré, malgré_, it seems I must
+submit. However, I shall do without their services if possible. I
+offended a Moor by telling him that Christians do not require it, and
+have not this guard: it is only "peculiar to Mussulmans." A necessary
+part of the occupation of a ghafalah when it reaches a well is collecting
+and cracking the vermin. The camels are terrible things for straying. If
+they are surrounded with immense patches of the most choice herbage, even
+which is their delicium, they still keep on straying the more over it
+miles and miles. As to our nagah, we are obliged to tie her fore-feet,
+which prevents the camel from getting at a very great distance from the
+encampment. The camels are sly, unimpassioned, and deliberately savage,
+one to another, more especially the males. At times they go steadily, and
+even slowly, behind one another, and turning the neck and head sideways,
+deliberately bite one another's haunches most ferociously. The drivers
+immediately separate them, for the bite is dangerous to their health, and
+often attended with serious mischief to the animal bitten. But I have
+never yet seen a camel kick or attack a man. They invariably grumble and
+growl, sometimes most piteously, when they are being loaded, as if
+deprecating the heavy burden about to be placed upon them, and appealing
+to the mercy of their masters. The merchants pay 13½ Tunisian piastres
+per cantar for goods now conveyed from Ghadames to Ghat. The Touaricks
+carry goods cheaper, but they are now gone after the Shânbah. The Arabs
+asked 25, but the Rais of Ghadames fixed it at 13½. A camel carries from
+2 to 3½ cantars[62]. I confess I was sorry to see these apparently so
+quiet and melancholy creatures ferocious to one another; but I
+recollected that all animals, even doves, quarrel and fight, and
+particularly males, where females are concerned.
+
+To-day took out of my trunk Mr. Fletcher's note to me, to read over,
+which I had received from Malta during the time of my being in The
+Desert. The advice to travellers which it contains in a very few words,
+is so good, so excellent, that I shall take the liberty of transcribing
+it here, for the benefit of all future tourists in The Desert.
+
+1st. "Keep a sharp look out about you, and pick up information."
+
+2nd. "Keep with Sheiks, Religionists, (he means I suppose, Marabouts,)
+and Chieftains, for these are the only people who can give you
+protection."
+
+3rd. "Expose yourself to no unnecessary risks and dangers."
+
+4th. "Conciliate!"
+
+Mr. Fletcher adds, "The white man is at the mercy of every tenant of The
+Desert, and though we would, one cannot be all things to all men."
+Nevertheless, I do think, _poverty_ is my great protection in travelling
+in these countries. My fellow-travellers, up to the present time, are
+civil and assist me. It is necessary to mention here, I have neither
+compass nor thermometer, nor measure of any kind, nor maps, nor watch, so
+that I'm afraid my journal will sound ill to scientific ears. This was
+very bad management. Still we shall see what a man can do without the
+ordinary and most common scientific instruments of travelling. I have,
+however, an hour-glass, which embraces four hours in the time of
+emptying, and which I found useful in Ghadames, but make no use of it _en
+route_. I consider the objects of my tour _moral_, a random effort to
+maim, or kill, or cripple the Monster Slavery, a small rough stone picked
+up casually from the burnt and arid face of The Desert, but with
+dauntless hand thrown at this Titanian fabric of crime and wickedness.
+However, as my friend Mr. Fletcher advises, it does not prevent me from
+"picking up information," any how and everywhere, which I trust the
+reader will have already perceived. As a person who loses one sense
+acquires more intensity in others, so I, having no artificial means for
+procuring information with me, must do all by the ordinary senses of
+observation, common to the civilized man and the savage.
+
+The mirage was very abundant to-day, producing a variety of splendid
+phenomena, "_Castelli in Spagna_," running streams, and silvery lakes,
+and a thousand things of water, and air, and landscape, just types of
+those pleasures and delights which we seek, and when grasping them, they
+slip from between our fingers.
+
+Whilst we were encamped, two hours before sun-set, we were suddenly
+alarmed by the cries of banditti and Shânbah, and all were called upon to
+arm. At the same time people were sent off to bring up the camels which
+were grazing and straying at a distance. I was amusing myself with
+cooking the supper, and started up, not knowing what to make of it; I
+couldn't however help laughing at the queer predicament in which the
+supper looked, and thought I had been making it for the Shânbah. Running
+forward to see the cause of the alarm, I saw in the south, dimly at a
+distance, a small caravan approaching us. There were three or four
+camels, and several persons on foot. I then thought I must look about
+for a weapon of some sort. A man gave me a huge horse-pistol, and with
+this I sallied forth to take part in the common defence. Seeing an Arab
+far in advance, and alone, I went after him, who turned out to be one of
+the Souafah, whose acquaintance I had already made. This Arab certainly
+showed considerable bravery, and took up a reconnoitring position on a
+rising ground, looking with a steady and determined eye upon the
+approaching caravan. He turned to me and said bluffly, "It must be a
+Touarick ghafalah." Meanwhile, about forty people all armed, assembled
+_pêle-mêle_ on the opposite side of the route, on a hill behind, uttering
+wild cries, and throwing up their matchlocks into the air. The cries now
+ceased, and was succeeded by a most anxious silence, all waiting a closer
+observation. At length, the experienced eye of our people discovered what
+was considered a troop of bandits on foot, to be a caravan of slaves. And
+immediately a number of the people ran off violently to meet the
+slave-caravan, which was escorted by our own Touaricks, the slaves being
+the property of our people. Our surprise was the greater when we found
+Haj-el-Besheer, and his companion the Touarick, returning with the
+caravan, which had brought letters for all the people. So the bandits
+turned out to be our friends and neighbours; and so burst this bubble of
+alarm. I observed two persons with long staffs lagging behind, and
+imagined them old men labouring along the route. What was my astonishment
+to find, as they approached, these old men gradually transformed into
+poor little children--child-slaves--crawling over the ground, scarcely
+able to move. Oh, what a curse is slavery! how full of hard-heartedness
+and cruelty! As soon as the poor slaves arrived, they set to work and
+made a fire. Some of them were laden with wood when they came up. The
+fire was their only protection from the cold, the raw bitter cold of the
+night, for they were nearly naked. I require as much as three ordinary
+great coats, besides the usual clothing of the day, to keep me warm in
+the night; these poor things, the chilly children of the tropics, have
+only a rag to cover them, and a bit of fire to warm them. I shall never
+forget the sparkling eyes of delight of one of the poor little boys, as
+he sat down and looked into the crackling glaring fire of desert scrub.
+In the evening I noticed the amount of the food which was given as the
+one daily meal to these famished creatures, ten in number. Said usually
+eats more than the whole of it for his supper. The food was barley-meal
+mixed with water. The slaves were children and youths, all males. They
+had been already fourteen days _en route_ from Ghat, and would be eight
+more before they could reach Ghadames. By that time, like the last slaves
+which arrived whilst I was there, they would be simply "living
+skeletons." The misery is, these slaves are conducted not by their
+masters, but slave-drivers, at so much per head, and consequently the
+conductors feed the slaves on as little as possible, to make the most of
+their bargain with the owners. The slave-caravan, however, brought us
+good news.
+
+The Shânbah, after ravaging the Touarick districts, had fled their own
+country, and taken refuge in the Algerian territory--so escaping the
+vengeance of the Touaricks. We have, therefore, no enemy _en route_,
+thank God, except ourselves, and our own quarrels, which occur but
+seldom. The annual winter Soudan caravan had not yet arrived in Ghat, but
+was expected every day. It is worth mentioning here, as a remarkable
+trait of good faith amongst the Moors and Arabs, that they do not often
+seal their letters, but fold them up as we do notes of trifling import.
+All the letters brought to-day were unsealed, and did not require
+_Grahamizing_. Haj-el-Besheer told me it was _haram_ ("prohibited,") for
+strangers to read these unsealed letters. My readers will see that we are
+again obliged to go to the barbarians of The Desert to learn the ordinary
+practices of good faith and morality. How exceedingly rejoiced would be
+the "_Haute Police_" of _civilized_ Europe to have all letters sent
+_un_-sealed through the Post Office! What a pity these Mahometan
+barbarians are so trusting and simple-minded! What a pity our boasted
+religion does not teach us Christians the honesty of barbarians! We wrote
+letters to Ghadames and Tripoli over the fire-light. Afterwards my friend
+Haj-el-Besheer commenced a sing-song repetition of a Marabout legend,
+which he continued all the evening, speaking to no one; even whilst he
+was eating he continued his rigmarole story to himself, the people taking
+no notice of him. I was greatly amused at this odd singing to one's self.
+
+_2nd._--A very fine morning, and, as I anticipated, it turned out very
+hot. Yet whilst the sun scorched my face on one side, the cold wind from
+the east blanched my cheek on the other. No living creature seen but a
+few insects. Our people fell in with the skeleton of a Touarick ass, and
+amused themselves with setting it up upon its legs, as if in the pillory.
+I rallied them afterwards as they were in a good humour, on their terror
+of banditti yesterday. They replied, "It was the number of people on
+foot which alarmed us, banditti generally go on foot with a few camels to
+carry provisions and water." We started at sun-rise and encamped an hour
+before sun-set, to have light enough to collect firewood, and forage for
+the camels. The ground of our course to-day was broken into broad and
+long valleys. In the wady where we encamp is herbage for camels. I notice
+as a thing most extraordinary, after seven days from Ghadames, two small
+trees! the common Desert acacia. Another phenomenon, I see two or three
+pretty blue flowers! as I picked one up, I could not help exclaiming,
+_Elhamdullah_, ("Praise to God!") for Arabic was growing second-born to
+my tongue, and I began to think in it. An Arab said to me, "Yâkob, if we
+had a reed and were to make a melodious sound, those flowers, the colour
+of heaven, would open and shut their mouths (petals)." This fiction is
+extremely poetical. Felt unwell this morning from eating or munching too
+many dates; better this evening. All our people well, and no accidents.
+
+_3rd._--Rose at sun-rise and pursued our weary way over broken ground,
+now broad valleys, now low hills. Whilst exclaiming that the sandy desert
+was all "a report," "a talk," "a fabrication of travellers who wished to
+increase and vary the catalogue of Saharan hardships," at noon we came
+upon a range of sand-hills. These increased on every side, and at length
+we cut right across a group of them. Having left the plateau the mirage
+has also disappeared, apparently the only species of desert where it can
+be fairly developed. With the sand has appeared a new kind of stone, of a
+light-blue slate colour, some of it of as firm a consistence as granite.
+Its colour also sometimes varies to a beautiful light green. The Desert
+itself only increases and varies in hideousness. And yet in some places
+where sand is sprinkled over the hardened earth, a little coarse herbage
+springs up. Encamped at night. Cold all day. Felt unwell. To-day and
+yesterday course mostly south.
+
+_4th._--Sand-hills increase in number, and find ourselves in the heart of
+a region of sand. At noon descended the deepest wady we have yet
+encountered. On the big blocks of rock below Arabic and Touarghee letters
+were carved. The barbarians, as their civilized brethren, seek in this
+way also a bastard immortality for their names. Down in the valley we
+passed some human bones; the skull was perfect. Who shall write the
+history of these bones? Are they those of one who was murdered, or who
+dropped from exhaustion in The Desert? These bones scattered at the
+camel's feet made the march of to-day still more melancholy. No herbage
+for camels or wood for fire. Gave our nagah barley and dates. It
+frequently happens, there is no wood _en route_ (I mean underwood or
+scrub), or at the place where we are obliged to stop. This obliges us to
+carry it from places where it abounds, as also a little herbage for the
+camels. Pitched our camp amidst the sandy waste late at night. Our route
+varied between S.W., S., and S.E., but around some huge groups of
+sand-hills we were obliged to make a painful circuit. Warmer to-day, and
+a little wind, always from the east. No living creature met with! No
+sound or voice heard! Felt better to-day.
+
+_5th._--Rose with the sun, as it enflamed the sand-hills, and made them
+like burnished heaps of metal. Marched three hours amidst the
+sand-hills. Very difficult route for the camels, which frequently upset
+their loads in mounting or descending the groups of hills. The Arabs
+smooth the abrupt ascents, forming an inclined plane of sand, and then,
+in the descents, pull back the camels, swinging with all their might on
+the tails of the animals. No herbage--no stone--no earthy ground--all,
+everything one wide waste of sand, shining under the fervid sun as bright
+as the light, dazzling and blinding the eyes. But Milton's poetic eye,
+turning, or in "a fine frenzy rolling" to the ends of the earth,
+subjecting all the images and wonders of nature, of all climates and
+countries, to the supporting of his majestic verse, glanced also at these
+sands of the Lybian Desert--
+
+        "Unnumbered as the sands
+    Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid soil."
+
+El-Aïshi, describing the sandy Sahara, says, "There is neither tree, nor
+bush, nor herb. The eye sees only clouds of sand, raised by continual
+winds, which by their violence efface the marks of the caravan as fast as
+men and animals imprint them with their feet. The aspect of this
+immensity of sand reminds me of the words, 'Bless our Lord Mahomet as
+much as the sand is extended,' and I understood now their full import."
+
+But here in the centre of this wilderness of sand we had an abundant
+proof of the goodness of a good God. Whilst mourning over this horrible
+scene of monotonous desolation, and wondering why such regions were
+created in vain, we came upon _The Wells of Mislah_, where we encamped
+for the day. These are not properly wells, for the sand being removed in
+various places, about four or five feet below the surface, the water
+runs out. Indeed, we were obliged to make our own wells. Each party of
+the ghafalah dug a well for itself. Ghafalahs are divided into so many
+parties, varying in size from five men and twenty camels, to ten men and
+forty camels. Three or four wells were dug out in this way. Some of the
+places had been scooped out before. Water may be found through all the
+valley of Mislah. A few dwarfish palms are in the valley, but which don't
+bear fruit. The camels, finding nothing else to eat, attacked voraciously
+their branches. It is surprising the sand is not more scattered over the
+wells and trees, for on the south-west is a lofty sand-hill, deserving
+the name of a mountain, almost overhanging the pits. Here is a sufficient
+proof, at once, that The Desert has no sandy waves like the Desert Ocean
+of waters, as poets and credulous or exaggerating writers have been
+pleased to inform us. Were this the case, the wells of Mislah would have
+been long ago heaped up and over with pile upon pile of sand-hills, and
+caravans would have abandoned for ever this line of route. For we can
+hardly suppose that one sand-storm would cover the pits of Mislah with a
+mountain pile of sand, and the next sand-storm uncover them and lay them
+bare to the amazed Saharan traveller. On the contrary, the pits of Mislah
+and the stunted palms have every appearance of having remained as they
+now are for centuries. The hills are huge groups, some single ones,
+glaring in sun above the rest, and others pyramidical. The sand at times
+is also very firm to the camel's tread. Shall I say a _terra firma_ in
+loose shifting sands? But for the water of Mislah it is extremely
+brackish, nay salt. I had observed between the sand-hills small valleys,
+or bottoms, covered with, a whitish substance which I now find salt. Both
+men and camels are alike condemned to drink this water. I try it with
+boiling and tea and find it worse, and cannot drink it, so I'm obliged to
+beg of our people the remaining sweet water of Nather, left in the skins.
+Our people confess themselves, in summer when this water gets hot they
+can scarcely drink it, being veritable brine. An European travelling this
+route should always provide himself with water enough at the well of
+Nather to last him from six to eight days. My skin-bags have got out of
+order, and I did not make inquiries of the people about this well. At one
+well a traveller should always make inquiry about the water of the next
+well. This is indispensable if an European tourist would have water fit
+to drink. The Mislah water is full of saline particles, and is purging
+every body. The valley of Mislah, over which we are encamped, is not more
+than twenty minutes' walking in length, and half this in breadth. In many
+parts the sand is encrusted with a beautiful white salt. One of the Arabs
+of Souf said to me, "See, Yâkob, this is our country, all Souf is like
+this." So it appears an oasis may exist in a region of _shifting_ (?)
+sands. Are these the shifting sands which bury whole caravans beneath
+their sandy billows, when lashed up by the Desert tempest[63]?
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This reminds me of what Colonel Warrington told me of some tourist, who
+describes himself as killing a camel to procure the water from its
+stomach, when within a couple days from Tripoli, and on a spot where
+there was a splendid spring of never-failing water. I often asked the
+Arabs, if they ever killed the camel to get the water from its stomach?
+They replied, "They had often heard of such things." A merchant of
+Ghadames made, however, an apposite observation: "This is our sea, here
+we travel as you in your sea, bringing our provisions and water with us."
+
+These pits are considered the half-way house or station to Ghat. I'm told
+the route from Ghat to Aheer is much more easy and agreeable than this.
+Trust I shall find it so if I go. Begin to feel this irksome, and am in
+low spirits. People try to amuse me, and I have received many little
+presents of date-cakes and bazeen from them. Begin to relish this sort of
+food, and The Desert air sharpens the appetite. Yesterday, a slave of the
+ghafalah amused us with playing his rude bagpipe through these weary
+wastes. We are not very merry. There is very little conversation; we move
+on for hours in the most unbroken silence, nothing being said or
+whispered, no sound but the dull slow tread of the camel. Sometimes an
+Arab strikes up one of his plaintive ditties, and thinks of his green
+olive-clad mountain home in the Atlas. Happily there is little or no
+quarrelling. I am sure sixty people of all ages and tempers, were they
+Europeans, travelling in this region of blank monotony, oppressed with
+sombre reflections and without anything to relieve the senses, would not
+manage things so smoothly, or without quarrelling, and at times most
+desperately. For we are a _bonâ fide_ moving city, and at each well every
+body prepares to start afresh. Some mend their torn clothes, others the
+broken gear of the camels, others take out the raw materials from their
+bags and work up a new supply of provisions. Others wash and shave. Our
+Saharan travellers rarely wash themselves except at the wells. Their
+religion requires of them to wash their hands at their meals, but this
+they evade by rubbing their hands with a little sand, a privilege,
+however, Mahomet has only granted them when they can find no water. We
+followed the tracks of the few of our party who had preceded us. Here
+also the footstep is rigidly observed as in the American wilderness, and
+the people pretend to distinguish the foot-print of the bandit on the
+sand from that of an honest man. But one night of strong wind usually
+covers up the track, and though the sand does not move in billows, it
+flies about, first from one side and then the other, and fills up the
+foot-prints of men and animals. There is no doubt but it requires the
+most practised eye of the camel-driver to find his way through these
+regions, and yet, for my life, I could not see that the people
+experienced any difficulty. They seemed as much at home in this intricate
+waste of creation as in their own dark zigzag streets of Ghadames.
+
+As the sun goes down and night comes on, the sand-hills, from shining
+white, look as dark and drear as earth-hills. But how smooth is all! If
+they were hills of blown glass they could not be more smooth. In the
+sketch of Mislah will be seen a date-tree with part of its branches
+depending, forming with the up-rising a curious shape. The under foliage
+is dead and dried up, a fit object in the desolate scene. Not a single
+living creature about the wells. No bird is here. At Maseen and Nather we
+had seen two or three small birds, hopping about the wells, picking up
+the crumbs and scattered grain of the passing caravan. Except the little
+vegetable life, all else here is "a universe of death!"
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[62] A _cantar_ is about an English hundred-weight.
+
+[63] Oudney says:--"The presence of nothing but deep sand-valleys
+    and high sand-hills strikes the mind forcibly. There is something
+    of the sublime mixed with the melancholy. Who cannot contemplate
+    without admiration masses of loose sand fully four hundred feet
+    high, ready to be tossed about by every breeze, and not shudder
+    with horror at the idea of the unfortunate traveller being
+    entombed in a moment by one of these fatal blasts, _which
+    sometimes occur_?" I agree with the Doctor about the sublime and
+    melancholy mixed in contemplating these regions of sand. But they
+    are by no means dangerous. No people that I heard of had been
+    entombed under these fatal blasts. I am almost sorry now that I
+    did not pass through the region of Mislah in a Saharan hurricane,
+    and then I should have known all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+FROM GHADAMES TO GHAT.
+
+     End of the Sandy Region.--No Birds of Prey in The
+     Sahara.--Progress of the French in the Algerian Oases.--Slave
+     Trade of The Desert supported by European Merchants.--Desolations
+     of Sahara.--System of Living of our People.--Various Tours
+     through Central Africa.--The Desert tenanted by harmless and
+     Domesticated Animals.--Horribly dreary Day's March.--A Fall from
+     my Camel.--Well of Nijberten, and its delicious Water.--Moral
+     Character of the People of our Caravan.--Well of
+     Tăbăbothteen.--Camel knocked up and killed.--Mode of Killing
+     Camels.--Pretty Aspect of The Sahara.--Some of the Ghafalah go on
+     before the rest.--The Plain and Well of Tadoghseen.--Encounter
+     and Adventure with the _quasi_ Bandit Sheik, Ouweek.--Enter the
+     region of the _Jenoun_ or Genii.--Mountain Range of Wareerat.
+
+
+_6th._--ROSE at day-break but did not start until after sun-rise.
+Continued through the sand. Scenery as yesterday, hills heaped upon
+heap, group around group, and sometimes a plain of sand, furrowed in
+pretty tesselated squares like the sands of the sea-shore. I walked
+about three hours to ease the nagah. The camels continued to
+flounder in the sand, throwing over their necks their heavy burdens.
+The ascents extremely difficult: people employed in scooping an
+inclined path for the animals. But, in the afternoon, about three,
+we saw through an opening of the shining heaps, a blue and black
+waste of contiguous desert. I could not help crying out for joy,
+like a man at the prow who descries the port, after having been
+buffeted about many a stormy day by contrary winds and currents.
+Much fatigued with the walking over the sands, and sick with
+drinking the brackish water of Mislah. Nothing _en route_ to-day
+except four crows, and a skeleton of a camel. This is the small crow of
+The Sahara (‮غراب الصحرا‬). People pretend it does not drink
+water. It may live on the flesh of the few camels which drop down
+and die from exhaustion, and on lizards. There are, however, no
+vultures and ravenous birds of huge dimensions in this region of
+Sahara. So that,
+
+    ‮حيثما يكون الجسد ايضا تجتمع النسور‬
+
+"Where the body is, there also collect the eagles," is not applicable to
+this part of The Desert, although the vulture, pouncing voraciously upon
+the dead man and dying camel, is an appropriate feature in Saharan
+landscapes. The large birds of prey do not find, as the lion, water to
+drink in these regions. When we got fairly upon the firm ground of Stony
+Sahara, I was refreshed with the sight of seven small acacia trees. This
+seems to be the only tree which will not surrender to the iron sceptre of
+Saharan desolation, for it strikes its roots into the sterility itself. A
+white butterfly also, to my amazement, passed my camel's head! Where does
+the little fluttering thing get its food in this region of desolation?
+
+Another of the Souf Arabs said to me this morning, "This sand is the
+country of the Souafah and the Shânbah." If so, indeed, it would be a
+troublesome country for a military expedition. "However," said a
+merchant, "the maharee can pursue the Shânbah to the last heap of their
+sands." Speaking of the Shânbah last evening when we were in the midst of
+the sands, the Souafah said:--"When the enemy will come, we shall cover
+ourselves in the sand, and fire off our matchlocks. They will feel our
+bullets, and hear our report, and look about and see no person. We shall
+be covered up in the sand." This, the Souf Arab repeated several times,
+and the Ghadamsee traders thought it astonishingly clever and courageous.
+It is reported five hundred Touaricks are soon to pursue the Shânbah into
+the Algerian territory. It is said also, French Arabs will support the
+Shânbah bandits against both Touaricks and Souafah. Such is the silly
+talk of our caravan. Still the French have got far south, and my Souafah
+companions acknowledge that some of their districts pay tribute to the
+Algerian authorities. This is something like _progress_, and we ought not
+to deceive ourselves about their movements southwards. Nothing is worse
+than self-deception. The Romans struggled long before they made any
+sensible progress in Africa, nay, several centuries. In fifteen years the
+French have induced a whole line of Saharan oases, more or less, to
+acknowledge their authority. And the thing is done cleverly enough; they
+do not appoint a local governor, or dispatch a single soldier, and yet
+they manage to get some money from these distant Saharan oases. However,
+this tribute must be very trifling; and were all this line of Algerian
+oases to pay their tribute regularly, it would be as a drop in the bucket
+compared with the thousands of millions of francs which have been spent,
+and will be spent in Algeria. Such a colony as Algeria will not only not
+pay, but will ruin the finances of a score of kingdoms as large as
+France. The politics of our moving Saharan city are mostly confined to
+the Pasha of Tripoli and the French in Algeria. "When will the Pasha go,
+soon or late? Will another come after him? Will he be better? Will he
+fleece us as this despot, of all our money? Have the French many troops
+in Algeria? Have they more than Muley Abd-Errahman? Could they conquer
+Morocco? Why don't the English drive out the French from Algeria? The
+Mussulmans of Algeria are now corrupted by the money of the Christians.
+The Bey of Tunis is the friend of the French. The Sultan of
+Constantinople, Mehemet Ali, and the English are against the Bey of Tunis
+and the French. Now, the Christians have great power in the world, but
+they will soon be cut off, when shall appear the new warrior of the
+faithful. Is the Sultan of Stamboul strong? Has he more soldiers than
+Moskou (Russia)? Have the French more soldiers than the English? Is
+Mehemet Ali to have Tripoli given him, and is he to march on to Tunis and
+against the French?" &c. All these, and a thousand other questions and
+opinions similar, agitate the sage politicians of our ghafalah: so true
+it is, that when we change the heavens above, we do not change our
+thoughts on the things below, which are left behind us.
+
+My friend, Zaleâ, of Seenawan, did not come with us, he having contracted
+for the building of the caravansary of Emjessem, but his brother, a rough
+bold Arab, accompanied us, who assured me to-day,--"That all the goods of
+the ghafalah were the property of Christians and Jews in Tripoli, and the
+Ghadamseeah merchants were only their commission agents. These goods were
+to be exchanged for Soudan merchandise, including slaves, which latter,
+after being sold in Tripoli, the money of their sale would be given up to
+the merchants under European protection." This is a strong confirmation
+of the opinion which I have expressed in my reports, "_That the
+slave-traffic of Tripoli is supported by the money and goods of
+Europeans_." My informant wished to know and put the question:--"If I
+take you (the writer) to Soudan, and bring you back safe, will you get me
+free from paying taxes to the Pasha?" Another observed on this,--"That's
+ridiculous, Yâkob; if you say that Mahomet is the prophet of God, you can
+go safe to Soudan without the protection of any body." I made answer to
+this impertinence, that such language was not proper, and if they
+continued to pester me with their religion, I should report them to Rais
+Mustapha. This at once silenced them.
+
+Felt very sick this evening with drinking the water of Mislah. It is
+purging all the people like genuine Epsom.
+
+_7th._--Started a little before sun-rise, when a clear mist was spread
+like a mantle of gauze over old Sahara, and lost the sight of the
+sand-hills in the course of the morning. I joyfully bid them adieu,
+though it may be very fine and Desert-like to talk and write of regions
+of sand and sandy billows, furrowing the bosom of Sahara. Winding about,
+but always making south. Wind now from the west; the sky mostly overcast,
+but no signs of rain. No living things _en route_, but a solitary crow,
+and another solitary butterfly. The mirage again visible. Very little
+herbage for the camels, and no wood for the fire. On our right long
+ranges of low hills, dull and drear outlines of The Desert. In some
+masses, the stone and earth and chalk are thrown together in confusion,
+as so many materials for creating a new world. Those who traverse these
+Saharan desolations, cannot but receive the impression, that old mother
+earth, slung on her balance, and revolving on her axis, has performed
+eternal cycles of decay and reproduction. Time was, when these heaps of
+desolation were fruitful fields of waving corn and smiling meadows, and
+fair branching woods, meandered about with running rills of silvery
+streams, where cattle pastured lowing, and birds sang on the trees. Now,
+heap upon heap, and pile upon pile of the ruins of nature deform the
+dreadful landscape, one feature being more hideous to look upon than the
+other: and the whole is a mass of blank existence, having no apparent
+object but to daunt and terrify the hapless wayfarer, who with his
+faithful camel, slowly and mournfully winds his weary way through the
+scene of wasteful destruction. . . . . In the sand, the pebbles are as
+bright and smooth as those washed by the sea-spray, or chafed by a
+running brook.
+
+I have observed minutely the system of living amongst our people, and
+really believe they have not enough to eat. When they invite me to
+supper, and give me a share of _bazeen_, I always require another supper
+on my return, before going to bed. Besides, I always make a slight repast
+in the morning, which they do not. Then I eat dates and a piece of cake
+during the day's riding, for we never stop during the day's march. They
+also munch a few dates themselves. But, altogether, though I'm a moderate
+eater, I believe I eat every day twice, and sometimes thrice, as much as
+they eat. With respect to clothing, I wear double the quantity they do,
+and, nevertheless, feel cold at night. I may say with truth, they are
+poorly fed and badly clothed. It is this miserable system of living which
+makes them such lanky bare-boned objects. I observe, also, they feel the
+fatigue very much, as much as I myself, though unwell with drinking the
+water and serving a hard apprenticeship to Desert-travelling.
+
+I believe Europeans, in this season of the year, would travel these
+Saharan wilds with less fatigue, and in far superior style. I now walk
+two hours first thing every morning. Most of the merchants do the same.
+Zaleâ said to me, "Yâkob, we (pointing to three or four of his people)
+are the only true men here, and understand affairs; the rest are all
+good-for-nothing." Indeed, the Seenawanee Arabs are generally very
+excellent camel-drivers, and know the routes perfectly. We have with us a
+young Touarick, who never covers his head winter or summer. His hair
+grows long, unlike other Mohammedans, who shave the head. This Targhee
+tells me he is never unwell. We're encamped in a valley. As the sun sets,
+the sky is encharged with clouds. But usually the wind goes down a little
+after dark, and rises an hour or two after day-break. Fortunately, this
+is not a month of winds, so say the people.
+
+As the camel moves slowly, but surely[64], on to Ghat, I still revolve in
+mind the various routes of the interior. I'm still as much at a loss as
+ever to determine which route I shall take, and have only Providence for
+my guide. There are various routes before me:--
+
+1st.--To go to Soudan, _viâ_ Aheer, and return with the ghafalah of
+Ghadames, with which I proceed. This is easy and simple, but does not
+offer much variety.
+
+2nd.--To proceed to Soudan, _viâ_ Aheer, as in the first, and return
+_viâ_ Bornou and Fezzan. This offers both variety and security.
+
+3rd.--To proceed as before to Soudan, then Bornou, then Darfour,
+Kordofan, Nubia, and Egypt. This is various, new, and attended with
+danger, but I don't know what extent of danger.
+
+4th.--To proceed to Soudan, Kanou, and Noufee, and then descend the Niger
+to the Bight of Benin. This would be a fine journey, and perhaps not
+attended with any very great difficulties.
+
+5th.--To proceed to Soudan, as above, thence along the upper banks of the
+Niger to Timbuctoo, and return _viâ_ Mogador in Morocco. This I believe
+the most perilous of all the routes.
+
+Any of these routes, however, could not fail to be useful to commerce,
+geography, and discovery. Those who take the route of descending the
+Niger to the ocean, will avoid a three or four months' journey over The
+Desert. Noufee, on the Niger, is only fifteen days from Kanou, and seven
+to the Atlantic.
+
+To-day passed several tumuli of stones, more than eight feet high,
+evidently placed to direct the caravans over the trackless portions of
+Sahara. I wonder what the people of Europe will say when I tell them,
+that The Desert--pictured in such frightful colours by the ancients, as
+teeming with monsters and wild beasts, and every unearthly and uncouth
+thing and being, not forgetting the dragons, salamanders, vampyres,
+cockatrices, and fiery-flying serpents, and as such believed in these our
+enlightened days--is a very harmless place, its menagerie being reduced
+to a few small crows, and now and then a stray butterfly, and a few
+common house and cheese-and-bacon and fruit flies! these poor little
+domestic everyday creatures! Nay, there is not found here the wild ox,
+or the oudad, or the antelope, or ostrich, or the wild boar, or any other
+animal which inhabit and mark the Saharan regions near the north coast of
+Africa. It is, indeed, impossible to conceive of a country so devoid of
+living creatures as the route which we have traversed these last twelve
+days. To this must be added, that now is the favourable season for
+animals, and we should certainly see them if there were any to be seen.
+
+Of the four routes to Ghat, the next to us on the west, is the shortest.
+People say the route which we are now travelling is only frequented in
+this season, and mostly by large caravans, or scarcely ever in the
+summer.
+
+_8th._--Rose at day-break and started at sunrise: as usual, the sky
+overcast and in an hour the wind got up and blew a strong gale awhile
+from the south-east. To-day Sahara looked unusually dark and drear; night
+as a dread pall seemed to hang on the day and all visible things--all
+life and animation was extinct but our lone, solitary, melancholy
+caravan! We moved on in deep and weary silence, not a noise, a cry, a
+murmur, the grumbling of the camels was even hushed. Nothing broke the
+horrid silence of The Desert. We wound round long-long winding valleys--
+
+        "Through many a dark and dreary vale
+    [We] pass'd, and many a region dolorous--"
+            "Where all life dies."
+
+Most of the stone scattered _en route_ was black shingle, and all
+the region had a volcanic look. In one wady through which we passed
+were found several stones rounded into (shall I call them?)
+cannon-balls, scattered about, and some were of prodigious size.
+They were as round as if artificially made. There were also a great
+many halves, or half balls. Our people to divert their minds from
+the gloom hanging around them dismounted and amused themselves with
+these cannon-balls of nature. Some would say that nature furnishes a
+type of every thing in art. Our Touaricks assured us, "These balls
+were made by the Jenoun, who on occasion of quarrels, pelted one
+another with them. A traveller was once killed with some of these
+balls during the night, although a friend of the Jenoun." In a
+former period, I imagine the action of water produced these
+specimens of stony rotundity, for they were embedded in a deep wady.
+On leaving this valley, I had also something else to relieve me from
+the gloom of this day's march. On mounting a small ridge of rock,
+abrupt, and full of sharp stones, I was pitched off in a summerset
+style from the back of the camel, and if I had not been caught in my
+fall by a slave of the caravan, I should have fallen once and for
+ever in this world; as it was, I felt stunned and considerably hurt.
+This was my first and last fall from the camel. I learnt caution at
+a great risk. The people all crowded round to assist me, terribly
+frightened. My thick woollen clothes saved my bones. I could not
+help remarking the coincidence of being saved by a slave, for the
+benefit of whom I had chiefly undertaken this perilous journey. In
+general, the camel goes extremely steady, it is only in mounting and
+descending that they become unsteady, unwieldy, and dangerous. At
+other times, you may sleep, eat and drink, read and write, on the
+back of a camel. But as our days are short and nights long, we require
+no sleep, and my eyes are too bad for reading. Our people call camels
+by the Arabic term _bâeer_ (‮بعير‬), the male camel is called
+_jemel_ (‮جمل‬), and the female _nagah_ (‮ناقه‬). As the
+she-camel is most valuable for the sustenance of the tribes, the
+Touaricks sometimes call the whole race of camels nagah. "We," say
+they, "have nothing but the _nagah_ (she-camel)," thereby meaning,
+our property alone consists in camels. But the nagah is a great
+favourite with the Mussulmans of all nations. Mahomet mounted a
+milk-white nagah, when he ascended to paradise. The camels have all
+public and private marks, the former for their country, and the
+latter for their owner, and, strange enough, the public mark of the
+Ghadames camels is the English broad R. So when a camel is stolen, a
+man claims his camel by his mark. The marking is done by branding
+with a hot iron.
+
+I can't help observing the habits of the camels, for our continued
+marching affords us ample leisure. When these melancholy creatures can
+find no other occupation _en route_, or when there is nothing _en route_,
+or after a full belly, they set to work, like men, and bite one another.
+Often one of the camels falls, or throws its load, in a regular
+encounter. The Moors and Arabs are bad loaders of the camels, and there
+is always some camel with its load falling off. In fact, the people do
+nothing neat and well. Even the little gear required for these animals is
+continually breaking and getting out of order. People look to the
+immediate hour before them: not excepting even the necessary articles of
+fodder and water, and food for themselves, of which they often neglect to
+take a sufficient supply. And yet if anything could teach a man to be
+provident it is The Desert. If this Saharan travelling were placed under
+the management of Europeans, it would be infinitely more secure. Our
+camels are nearly all coast-camels, we shall soon have to speak of the
+maharee. The Touarghee uses quite a different style of address when he
+coaxes along the camels; it is bolder and quicker in its intonations,
+suited to the language of the Touaricks. A frequent address of
+encouragement is, "_Bok, bok bok, bokka bokka_." The Arabs usually
+command the movement of the camels by "Tzâ;" and when they are to stop,
+by "Ush;" and, to kneel down, it is a prolonged pronunciation of the
+guttural ‮خ‬ or Kh-h-h. We may well suppose, however, that the camels
+which travel this route are expert linguists in the Touarghee and Arabic.
+
+We continued all day till the last dull departing solar ray of the west
+had left us. A long dark, dismal, dreary day it has been. We encamped
+amidst two long ranges of Saharan mountains as a shelter from the wind.
+Our people detest the wind, they prefer burning heat to wind. The
+mountains only deserve the name from their frightfully gloomy aspect, not
+from their consistence or magnitude, for in reality they are so much
+stony and earthy rubbish shovelled up into long ridges. There is nothing
+in shape or consistence of granite. I picked up several pieces of
+petrified wood, but none of them pretty or remarkable. So far as I can
+judge, there are no minerals or rare stones to repay the researches of
+the geologist in these regions of desolation. Noticed a quantity of soft
+grey stone, as also of slate stone: observed some lime-stone gradually
+acquiring the consistence and colour of fine streaky marble.
+
+_9th._--Rose as the day broke, and started with the first rays of the
+sun. Continued through the same kind of country, with an addition of a
+little sand here and there, for five hours, until we arrived at the well
+of Nijberten, to our great joy, for it is a well of deliciously sweet
+water. Around the well, I was pleased with the sight of several dark
+bushes scattered upon the small sand-hills. Anything in the shape of a
+tree now gladdens the heart. I observe again, that vegetation often
+springs out of the sand in preference to the hard or even softer earth in
+The Sahara. A little sand, scattered over the hard earth, and oftener
+solid rock, enables vegetation to spring up, when the mould of Sahara
+produces nothing. But there is little or no herbage for camels. Give my
+nagah the barley which I provided for my own use. People ridicule the
+choice of Rais Mustapha in the purchase of the camel, and say she will
+never carry me to Soudan.
+
+I'm now writing the journal of yesterday. I can't write every day.
+Sometimes several days elapse. Often wonder how Denham could write his
+journal every day, as he asserts. The wind is high and is scattering sand
+in every direction. Certainly I require no supply of sand when turning
+over my sheet wet with the ink.
+
+Before we get to the water, we are obliged to scoop out the sand as at
+Mislah. Many pits in Sahara are in this predicament. But we are
+infinitely more repaid for our pains, for we find most refreshing
+nectar-like water, as good as the last was bad. I imagine I drank off a
+full gallon at once. I was praying night and day for this water, and was
+obliged to go from tent to tent, begging a drop of the water which was
+left of Nather well, until all the skins were empty of that water. Some
+of the merchants kept a little in a small skin as a luxury. But I must do
+our people justice, for seeing I could not drink the Mislah water, they
+gave me often their sweet water and themselves drank the brackish. I must
+add, I see no striking moral difference between the people of this Desert
+caravan, and the people who fill an English mail-coach or a French
+diligence. Mankind are morally much the same everywhere. The last sixteen
+centuries have added little or nothing to discovery and amendment in
+morals, however orthodox we may all have become. Our Christendom has been
+chiefly occupied in resisting the worst features of the Mosaic economy as
+engrafted by the corruptions of the Church on the Christian system. The
+commission to Moses, "to extirpate the Canaanitish tribes," has been the
+universal war-cry of the dominant party in the Church to burn and empale
+heretics. There are still many divinity professors who think it right to
+kill heretics and infidels. The society of the nineteenth century is
+still eaten up by the most rancorous bigotry, and morality is
+proportionably at a low ebb. Nevertheless, with all our present Desert
+hardships, we are an easy journeying caravan; the patience of no one is
+particularly tried, and there is no event to draw out the real passions
+of the soul. We are now five days from Ghat; to-morrow being the Ayed
+Kebir, we shall make but a short day. Had a little private conversation
+with a Souf Arab. There are some fifty families of Jews in Souf, occupied
+in commerce. Speaking of the eternal quarrel of the Shânbah and Souafah,
+I found him a strong partisan of the Shânbah. "Fine fellows are the
+Shânbah, like us the Souafah; one Shânbah would kill five Touaricks," he
+exclaimed. Souf is a rich country. This Souf Arab has thirty fine dughla
+date-trees, one of finest species. Riches are estimated by the number of
+date-trees. He has two brothers now returning from Soudan, bringing
+slaves and elephants' teeth for the markets of Algeria.
+
+The notorious Mohammed Sagheer, who slaughtered thirty Frenchmen in cold
+blood at Biscara, is now at Tozer, in Tunis. This flight of fugitives
+will continue as long as France is in North Africa. It is inevitable.
+When a political refugee is quiet his person should be held sacred; and
+it was very dastardly on the part of the French to demand to have this
+Arab Sheikh given up. But the French mind is incapable of comprehending
+what is a political asylum, or even what is constitutional freedom. Local
+politics still stick close to our ghafalah, and the people have such
+faith in my power and influence, that they really believe I could, if I
+would, get Ghadames freed from paying tribute to the Porte. An Arab of
+Derge said, "If you return from Soudan, and speak to the English Consul
+and English Sultan, you will then serve us in Derge and Ghadames, but if
+you don't come back we are all lost." The British Consul of Tripoli
+might, indeed, do something for these oppressed people, and save the
+Saharan commerce from impending ruin. I quiet the people by telling them,
+(and which is the fact,) I have repeatedly written to the English Consul
+of Tripoli about their affairs, and to obtain some mitigation of the
+oppression of their Government.
+
+The bushes springing out of the sand are but a couple of feet high, and
+their dark foliage is covered with crystallized salt. They are a stinted
+species of acacia. Nijberten is the first Touarghee name _en route_, and
+now we are fairly in the Ghat territory. On our right, a day's journey
+over some ranges of hills, are tents and flocks and inhabited districts.
+Passed several tumuli of stones raised in the shape of graves. To-day the
+stone had a better appearance, a good deal of grey and red marble, and
+some isolated blocks of granite. No birds, insects, or animals. Course
+south.
+
+_10th._--Strong wind all day, and cold. The Ayed Kebir. But our
+travellers only prayed a little longer in the morning. Travellers are
+exempt from the ordinary religious ceremonies and festivals. This feast
+is usually kept up three days. A camel knocked up to-day, and unloaded
+this morning. After two hours and half, passed on the right the well of
+_Tăbăbothteen_. People say its water is still sweeter than that of
+Nijberten. Indeed, we shall find the Ghat water to be usually sweet and
+delicious. Scenery as usual, broken in valleys, hills, and high ground.
+Some of the hills, covered partly with sand, looked very pretty at a
+distance, shrouded as if in a sheet of snow, and dazzling in the
+sun-beams. Encamped early in the afternoon. The knocked-up camel
+difficult to be got on. A Divan of camel-drivers was held, and the
+question discussed, "Whether the camel should be killed?" It was decided
+that it should be doctored and left to graze until a Targhee was sent
+from Ghat for it. A most piteous sight it was to look upon the poor
+camel, prostrate and moaning, as if pleading the excuse of its malady for
+not moving on. I could not stop to look at the wretched animal.
+Nevertheless, I returned again, and found the camel tied down, with its
+mouth pulled open, and its jaws lashed back with cords, to prevent the
+poor creature from groaning too loud. The hot iron was being applied to
+the shoulder, where there were some festering or dislocation; meanwhile,
+the creature groaned in dreadful but silent agonies. At length, this
+doctoring finished, it was left to graze; but being actually nearly burnt
+to death, it could not get up, and was killed during the night, _to
+prevent it from dying_, in order that our orthodox people might eat the
+flesh like good Mussulmans.
+
+Rais Mustapha amused me by telling how that the Arabs watched the signs
+of immediate death, and just stuck the camel in the last agony of
+dissolution, in order that they might eat the flesh with an orthodox
+conscience. Camels are killed differently from other animals. Sheep and
+bullocks and fowls have their throats cut from side to side, with
+"hideous gash," for they are the most slashing throat-cutters; camels, on
+the contrary, are stuck in the throat at the bottom of the neck, and the
+top of the chest-bones. Next morning (_11th_), was held a Divan of the
+whole ghafalah to decide upon the value of the slaughtered camel, for the
+owner was in Ghadames. Its worth was estimated at four dollars. I
+purchased a quarter of a dollar's worth. The camel was young, but the
+meat not very good. Our people soon devoured the meat.
+
+_11th._--Rose early, but did not start till near noon, to give the camels
+more rest. Old Sahara looks absolutely pretty with the dark shrubs
+bespotting and besprinkling his white shining sand-hills. The heavens are
+strewn with soft flaky light clouds; the blue above is clear and
+profound, and what other colours there are, look fresh and fair. Our
+people catch the lighter and more exhilarating influence, and are more
+talkative to-day. Descending to grosser matters, they are joking about
+how much of the camel's meat they are to swallow for supper. A part of
+the ghafalah left us, as the main body would not start early, thinking
+to arrive a couple of days before us in Ghat. I loaded and wished to go
+on with them, despising my friend Fletcher's advice. They insisted I
+should not accompany them, but come on with the larger body of people. I
+was obliged to return, and it happened for the best. This was a short
+day's march, but wrote no journal. The advanced party excused themselves
+for not letting me go with them, by saying, "We are going amongst the
+Touaricks our friends for a few days, and you will arrive first." I
+mentioned this to our party, who say, "_They're liars._ Are you so
+foolish, Yâkob, as to believe every thing a _Mussulman_ tells you?"
+
+_12th._--Rose and started with the earliest rays of the Saharan sun.
+Scenery as usual; but the ranges of Saharan hills assuming a more
+battlemental shape, and darker, blacker colour. Fast approaching the
+inhabited districts; saw the traces of a route to Fezzan, on which the
+foot-prints of sheep were visible. Saw some inhabited mountains at a
+considerable distance, but no peculiar feelings started in the mind, and
+I grow weary of the journey. A dull drear and long day. Overtook the
+advanced portion of our ghafalah, and had the laugh at them. We asked
+them, whether they had seen their good friends the Touaricks? whether
+they had brought us fresh eggs, milk, and a whole sheep? We, of course,
+begging our portion of the rich spoil. The people now told me to place my
+tent within the circle of the encampment, as we were getting near the
+inhabited districts. I usually encamped at a short distance from the
+centre of confusion in the ghafalah, and found it more quiet. As to
+fear, I had none, and slept more soundly in the open Desert than in any
+part of the world where I had travelled before.
+
+_13th._--Rose at day-break, and, after a few hours' riding, came in full
+view of the Touarick camel-grazing country. We descended into a beautiful
+plain. After such Desert, how lovely it was! the plain of the Paradise of
+Sahara! This plain afforded many a taste of freshest herbage for the
+camels, almost approaching to English grass. They cropped it with
+rapacious greediness. Every person's eyes sparkled with delight at seeing
+the famished camels devour the herbage. We stopped half an hour to let
+them graze. Here were butterflies in quantities fluttering about, in
+dress of silver white, and gorgeous hues of rubies, and labouring beetles
+and industrious ants covering the small turf-hills, all which were to us
+"signs of life," and living in the world. We had already seen, before
+entering the fair plain, a small flight of larks, and now we feasted our
+eyes on a few swallows skimming this "flowery mead," for here and there
+were pretty blue and red and yellow wild flowers. A moment I forgot being
+in The Desert. The abundance of the herbage arises from there having
+recently fallen copious showers of rain--quite unusual in this thirsty
+country. But our route is the worst and most desolate of all the routes
+from Ghadames to Ghat. The other parallel routes always afford more
+herbage, besides having some inhabited tracts, with flocks of sheep and
+herds of camels feeding. Indeed, with the exception of a few people at
+the well of _Tadoghseen_, which we shall soon mention, we found no
+inhabitants in this the most easterly route. Whilst passing through the
+plain I espied a little black something moving about. In getting up to
+it, to my astonishment it was a little child stark naked! Our people were
+as much amazed as myself. I thought within myself, if this be the way in
+which the Touaricks bring up their children, exposed to cold and heat,
+rain and wind, in such terrible plight in open desert! no wonder then
+they can bear all the hardship of The Sahara, as we a spring-day in
+Europe. It is impossible for an European to contend with a nature like
+that of the Touarick; we can never expect to adopt their habits of
+Saharan travelling. The little wretched urchin had been left by some of
+the shepherds, for camels, goats, and donkeys were feeding about. The
+child was very merry, but not old enough to speak much. Our people gave
+the boy a piece of bread, which he put at once to his mouth, and grinned
+"a thank you." From the plain rises a huge block of rock in the shape of
+a sugar-loaf, a frequent form of blocks of rock in this desert. As we
+neared the well, I was greatly rejoiced at the arrival of two slaves, one
+of which had been dispatched by the Sheikh Jabour from Ghat, to tell me,
+"I was to come with all confidence to Ghat, to fear nothing; no Touarghee
+should say an untoward word to me." I augured well of all things on the
+receipt of such news. Our people were as pleased as myself on the arrival
+of Jabour's slave. They called out to me to take the handkerchief from
+off my face, to let the messenger see "the face of a Christian."
+
+After riding further, three or four Touaricks showed themselves. I
+saluted them. They asked our people what I said, and did not seem very
+friendly. I began to have suspicions[65]. The advanced portion of the
+ghafalah had disposed of their camels and baggage before I got up to the
+well. Said and myself went up amongst the people encamping, but, looking
+on my left about fifty yards' distant, I saw a group of people and a
+quarrel going on between our people, four or five Touaricks, and two
+slaves. Our people were violently pulling a slave one way, and Ouweek, a
+Touarghee chief, tearing him as savagely the other way. At length the
+slave, struggling stoutly, got free, and went further off to a horse.
+Ouweek thought the slave intended to mount the horse and ride off to
+Ghat; so the chief followed the slave and again seized hold of him, and
+unsheathing his sword, began beating him with its sides. The Ghadamsee
+people and Arabs again interfered and rescued the slave. In the meanwhile
+Haj Mafoul Zuleâ passed me, and said, "Go up, go up." I replied, "Why? I
+shall stop here, where I am." He answered something; but, being hard of
+hearing, I could not catch what he said. I determined not to move.
+Afterwards, thinking that Zuleâ wished me not to be mixed up with the
+quarrel, I went further on towards Ghat. I imagined the slave had been
+overriding his master's horse, and was being beaten for that. After
+staying some time up the road, I returned to my camel, tired of waiting,
+and sat down, telling Said to unpack. But it seems Said had heard
+something which I had not, and said, "Not yet, not yet." I insisted upon
+his unloading the camel, and took out some dates and biscuits, and lay
+myself down to eat them. The scuffle and uproar was now going on about a
+hundred yards from me, and I saw the sword of Ouweek flourishing and
+flashing about. This was succeeded by a calm, and a whole circle of
+people squatted down around Ouweek. Meanwhile, the three followers of the
+Sheikh went a short distance off, spread their heiks upon the ground with
+great and solemn parade, and performed the afternoon prayer, as if about
+to sanctify some impending act of their Sheikh. I watched them anxiously.
+When I had waited half an hour or so, several of our people, with Zuleâ,
+returned, and not a little surprised me by making to me the following
+announcement:--"Ouweek, the Touarghee Sheikh of this district, wants to
+kill you, because you are a Christian and an infidel. He has just been
+beating one of the slaves for going to meet you, accompanying the
+messenger of Ghat. He wished you to come up to him, that he might
+dispatch you at once." To say the truth, I had such confidence in the
+Touaricks of Ghat, and had been so confirmed in my confidence by the
+arrival of the messenger from Ghat, that I could not believe this speech
+of our people, and was disposed to think it a joke. I was perfectly cool,
+and myself. But as they most seriously reiterated this story, and let out
+a hint, or I gave the hint, I'm sure I now forget in the confusion, that
+perhaps the business could be compromised for money, I said to the
+spokesman, Zuleâ, "Oh! for God's sake, go, go; yes, yes, make a bargain."
+I noticed poor Said at the time, who was staring at me full in the face,
+to see, it would appear, how I was affected by this most unexpected
+incident. After a great deal of squabbling and bargaining, in a true
+mercantile style, it was finally arranged. Ouweek first fiercely
+demanded one thousand dollars! Hereupon all the people cried out that I
+had no money. The _quasi_-bandit, nothing receding, "Why, the Christian's
+mattress is full of money," pointing to it still on the camel, for he was
+very near me, although I could not distinguish his features. The
+Touaricks who had come to see me before I arrived at the well, observed,
+"He has money on his coat, it is covered with money," alluding to the
+buttons. All our people, again, swore solemnly I had no money but paper,
+which I should change on my arrival at Ghat. The bandit, drawing in his
+horns, "Well, the Christian has a nagah." "No," said the people, "the
+camel belongs to us; he hires it." The bandit, giving way, "Well, the
+Christian has a slave, there he is," pointing to Said, "I shall have the
+slave." "No, no," cried the people, "the English have no slaves. Said is
+a free slave." The bandit, now fairly worsted, full of rage, exclaimed,
+"What are you going to do with me, am I not to kill this infidel, who has
+dared to come to my country without my permission[66]?" Hereat, the
+messenger from Ghat, Jabour's slave, of whom the bandit was afraid, and
+dared not lay a hand upon, interposed, and, assuming an air of defiance,
+said, "I am come from my Sultan, Jabour; if you kill the Christian, you
+must kill me first. The order of my Sultan is, No man is to say a word to
+the Christian." Our people now took courage from this noble conduct of
+the slave, declaring, "If Yâkob is beaten, we will all be beat first; if
+Yâkob is to be killed, we will be killed likewise." Ouweek now saw he
+must come down in his pretensions. The bargain was struck, after infinite
+wrangling, for a houlee and a jibbah, of the value of four dollars[67]! I
+did not, therefore, "sell for much," and Christians at four dollars per
+head in The Desert must be considered very cheap. It is said, every man
+has his price; I had not the honour of fixing my price. This was done for
+me, and I ratified the bargain. I made a present of a turban to the brave
+messenger, whom the people assured me acted a most noble part. It is
+strange that this is the second time I have been preserved from something
+like a catastrophe by the interposition of a slave. Did Providence intend
+this as any sign of approbation of my anti-slavery labours? We were all
+uneasy. Everybody had to supply something; and it was hinted, that I
+ought to send them supper. Our people did this, and would not allow me,
+saying, that I lived with them and had no provisions of my own. I was
+indignant at the conduct of the Souf Arabs, who cowered down before the
+Touaricks, and belied all their previous pretensions to courage and
+intrepidity. Even a Seenawan Arab was frightened at my coming near his
+tent, in dread of another quarrel or attack during the night. All our
+people more or less were alarmed and agitated, although we numbered sixty
+in the presence of five Touaricks! I thought in myself, What arrant
+cowards you are! To cover their cowardice they pretended the Sheikh had
+hundreds of people not far off. Zaleâ, and his Arabs, certainly behaved
+the best. Zaleâ, in fact, was now the only man of the caravan. He told me
+afterwards, the Ghadamsee people had proposed to him, that I should run
+away on to Ghat, but he would not sanction such pusillanimity. I confess,
+however, when the people described to me the character of Ouweek, I
+myself felt considerable alarm. During the succeeding night, I slept
+scarcely a wink. I made the messenger of Jabour sleep close by my
+mattress, and unsheathing Said's old rusty sword, laid it beside me,
+determining "to die game," or put a good face upon the matter. At any
+rate, I thought an Englishman could not, however he might trust the good
+faith of these people, die like an unresisting coward. Ouweek, like a
+true politician, feasted the messenger dispatched from Ghat to me nearly
+all night, and told him to report on his return to Ghat:--"The Christian
+wished to give Ouweek a handsome present, but the Ghadamsee people, who
+are sorry dogs, would not let the Christian act from the impulse of his
+heart. So Ouweek quarrelled with the people of the caravan." The Sheikh
+and his followers kept up a roasting fire all night, a stone's throw from
+my encampment. The bandit was merry at the expense of the alarms of me
+and our people, telling my messenger, "These Ghadamseeah are all dogs,
+but the Christian is no dog, for when I threatened to cut his throat, he
+sat down quietly and ate dates and biscuits." The bandit gave me more
+credit than I can take to myself, for, at the time of munching the
+biscuits, I was not aware of his violent attempt at levying black mail.
+There can, however, be no question of the bad character of this Sheikh.
+He has murdered several people, and, not long ago, killed a rich
+Marabout, going on a pilgrimage to Mecca, plundering him of a great deal
+of property. He is therefore no pleasant customer for a Christian to meet
+with on the highways of The Sahara, whom he would decapitate with less
+scruple of conscience than a Leadenhall poulterer would cut off a goose's
+head. He has many people, though a second-rate chief, and is allied by
+blood to the reigning family of Shafou. Though a little insignificant
+man, he possesses undaunted courage, and has signalized himself in the
+wars against the Shânbah. He walks lame with a wound he has received in
+battle. He is generally dreaded in the open country, except by the
+merchants, who are personally acquainted with him, to whom he behaves as
+a very jolly fellow.
+
+_14th._--All our people rose early, and got off as quickly as possible.
+We could not breathe freely until we were out of the clutches of Ouweek.
+Some of them, however, paid a farewell visit to the Sheikh, who received
+them very graciously, as politely as any Spanish bandit, and sent this
+message to me:--"Yâkob, go in _amen_ (peace or security) to Ghat, fear
+nothing from any one, for you are under my protection." Our people
+encouraged me along. The Souf Arab, who was so cowardly, said:--"Why
+didn't you say, 'Mahomet is the prophet of God,' then you would have had
+to pay no money." I called him a fool, and asked him, if all the people
+didn't pay something as well as myself? This stopped his mouth. Zaleâ
+fully agreed with me, as did all our people, that if Ouweek had simply
+asked for a present, he would have got more from me. I certainly should
+have given him at once half a dozen dollars if he had shown himself
+friendly, and welcomed me to his district as a friendly stranger. It
+appears he refused money, and even the camel, which the people in the
+_imbroglio_ said he might, if he choose, take; he took the woollens,
+because he knew they would not be made a question of restitution by the
+Sheikhs and Sultan. He was clearly entitled to receive something from me,
+by the usage of ages, commonly called "safety-money," but not to demand
+it at the point of his broad-sword. This was his great offence in the
+eyes of all his friends and the authorities of Ghat.
+
+I did not see the well, but the water of Tadoghseen is extremely sweet
+and palatable. I should have paid my homage to this well, as I had done
+to all the sources of water in The Desert, had not Ouweek taken up his
+quarters near it, and I was not anxious to disturb or excite the
+curiosity of the bandit by a personal interview. One of his followers
+came to see me off in the morning, a tall attenuated black shape of a
+man.
+
+We are now fairly in "the region of the Genii," the land of mystery and
+disembodied spirits; and the whole country is intersected and bounded on
+every side with the battlemental ranges of black, gloomy, and
+fantastically-shaped mountains, distinguishing the country of the Ghat
+Touaricks, where their friends and confederates, the Jenoun or Genii,
+dwell with them in the most harmonious friendship. Here our people say,
+
+    "Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
+     Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+There exists a compact between the Genii and Touaricks to this
+effect, a species of _Magna Charta_, and not selling themselves to
+the Saharan devils:--"The Touarick fathers solemnly vowed, alone of
+mortals, eternal friendship to the Genii, they would never molest
+them in the various palaces which they (the Genii) had built in
+their (the Touarick) country, nor use any means either through
+Mahomet, or the Holy Koran, to injure them or dislodge them from the
+black turret-shaped hills: and for this devotion on their part, the
+Genii promised to afford them (the Touaricks) protection at all
+times against their enemies, more particularly during the night,
+giving them vision and tact to surprise their enemy during the dread
+hour of darkness." So the Touaricks are reckoned very devils at
+night, and usually attack their enemy at this time, and hack him to
+pieces with their broadswords. Poor Major Laing was surprised by a
+Touarghee chief in this way, two of his servants were killed, and
+himself wounded, or cut and hacked in some thirty places. The air of
+the region of Genii and Touaricks we now breathed, but found it as
+free as that of any part of The Sahara. Our people did not think so,
+and they pointed out to me with a shuddering awe all the mysterious
+objects. First and foremost, standing out from the lower and more
+modest abodes of the Genii, like a huge castle, such as the Titans
+might have built when they scaled the walls of heaven, was the _Kesar
+Genoun_, (‮قصر جنون‬) "Palace of demons," _par excellence_.
+This was the hall of council where the Genii meet from thousands of
+miles round, and debate upon their affairs of State. It is also the
+Jemâ or Mosque, where they meet on a Friday to pray to Allah, for
+they also worship Allah, though not properly. These lower and less
+destructive grades of Demonii "believe and tremble." This is also
+the mint where the Genii keep their bullion. The entire caverns of
+this monstrous block of rock are full of gold and silver, and
+diamonds, and all precious jewels[68]. A more _mortal_ and sublunary
+mystery was now pointed out to me. This was a small block of rock
+about fifty feet high, of the shape of the accompanying drawing; the
+lower or under part where it comes in contact with the ground, being
+so exceedingly small as not to be visible. Here was the dreadful
+spot on which several people were murdered, and amongst the rest a
+wealthy Marabout, but a saint of great sanctity. The murderer (of
+what country it is not said), was so ashamed and horrified at his
+own deed of blood, that when he had committed it he begged the Genii
+to cover up their bodies from his sight, for he had not courage to
+bury them. The Genii listened to his request, detached this piece of
+rock from their great palace, where it has rested, occasionally
+_rocking_[69], say the people, to this day--a memento against murder
+and crime! For this service the murderer begged the Genii to accept
+of some of the spoil, but they refused to accept of gold tainted
+with blood; and, on the contrary, the avenging spirits of justice
+pelted him with pieces of rock till he died. He was fairly stoned to
+death, and his bruised and broken carcase was left unburied, a
+horror to all passers-by! We see the Genii are a moral people, and
+in general the Mussulmans of The Sahara speak of them as a good sort
+of folks, not unlike Puck and his merry crew, only playing
+occasionally mischievous pranks upon silly inconsiderate mortals.
+
+Beyond the Kesar Jenoun stretches away north and south the long range of
+black basaltic mountains, called by our people Wareerat, but I am not
+sure if this be the Touarick name. This ridge forms the boundaries of the
+Tibboo and Touarick country, for it stretches as far or farther south
+than the Tibboos, some fifteen or twenty days' journey. From the town of
+Ghat to the base of this range is half a day, eastward, although the
+range looks, by the ordinary delusion of Desert optics, to be close upon
+the town.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[64] "Slow and sure," has in no case whatever so good an
+    application as to the progress of the camel's march.
+
+[65] These were evidently Ouweek's spies. They certainly did not
+    accost me in that frank manner as the Touaricks had been wont in
+    Ghadames.
+
+[66] "Without my permission," or literally "tearing the _Litham_ from my
+    face." _El-Lithām_--‮اللثام‬--is the bandage which all
+    the Touaricks wear around the face, covering every part of it
+    except the top of the cheek-bones and the eyes.
+
+[67] The houlee, ‮حولي‬, is the same as the heik, and the
+    _jibbah_, ‮جبّه‬, is a huge frock or tobe, with short sleeves,
+    and coming up close round the neck.
+
+[68] On these words of Shakespear, "_Kept by a Devil_," (King
+    Henry VI., Part II., Act 4, and Scene 3,) Steevens makes the
+    following annotation:--"It was anciently supposed, and is still a
+    vulgar superstition of the East, that mines, containing precious
+    metals, were guarded by evil spirits." So in _Certaine Secrete
+    Wonders of Nature_, by Edward Fenton, 1569, "There appeare at this
+    day many strange visions and wicked spirites in the metal mines of
+    the Greate Turke. In the mine at Anneburg was a metal sprite which
+    killed twelve workmen; the same causing the rest to forsake the
+    myne, albeit it was very riche."
+
+[69] There is an extraordinary co-resemblance between this Saharan
+    _rocking_, or _logging_, stone, and that of our own in Cornwall,
+    much noted and visited by all classes of travellers. Among the
+    truly romantic coast-scenery of Cornwall, at the south-west angle
+    of the county, are the celebrated Logan, or _rocking-stone_, and
+    the lofty granite rocks called _Tiergh Castle_. Here is a reef of
+    rocks jutting into the sea, on the summit of one of which is a
+    large single mass of stone, weighing about sixty tons, resting on
+    a sort of pivot, so near the centre that the whole block may be
+    easily made to oscillate or _log_, to and fro. This _logging_
+    stone has created astonishment amongst the illiterate, and given
+    rise to many fabulous stories: whilst others have imagined it was
+    placed here by the Druids, to overawe and terrify the vulgar.
+
+    Geologists, however, says Dr. Paris, readily discover, that the
+    only chisel ever employed has been the tooth of time--the only
+    artists engaged, the elements. Some years ago, the upper, or
+    logging-stone, was thrown from its equilibrium by the bodily
+    exertions of some sailors; but a general cry of indignation having
+    been raised against this wanton act, it was shortly afterwards
+    reinstated in nearly its original position by the perpetrators of
+    the mischief, who, while thus making honourable amends for their
+    former folly, evinced great ingenuity and skilfulness.--_Fisher's
+    Views in Devonshire and Cornwall._
+
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+LONDON: HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS, 45, ST. MARTIN'S LANE.
+
+[Illustration: A SAND STORM. _J.E.S. del. J. W. Cook. sc._]
+
+
+
+
+TRAVELS
+
+IN
+
+THE GREAT DESERT
+OF SAHARA,
+
+THE YEARS OF 1845 AND 1846.
+
+CONTAINING
+
+A NARRATIVE OF PERSONAL ADVENTURES, DURING A TOUR OF NINE
+MONTHS THROUGH THE DESERT, AMONGST THE TOUARICKS
+AND OTHER TRIBES OF SAHARAN PEOPLE;
+
+INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF
+
+THE OASES AND CITIES OF GHAT, GHADAMES,
+AND MOURZUK.
+
+
+BY JAMES RICHARDSON
+
+Φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ.
+
+IN TWO VOLUMES.
+
+VOL. II.
+
+LONDON:
+RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
+Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
+
+M.D.CCC.XLVIII.
+
+
+
+
+LONDON:
+HARRISON AND CO., PRINTERS,
+45, ST. MARTIN'S LANE.
+
+
+
+
+TRAVELS
+IN
+THE GREAT DESERT.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+RESIDENCE IN GHAT.
+
+     Arrival at Ghat, and reception by its Inhabitants.--The Cold of
+     The Sahara.--Haj Ahmed, the Governor, and Sheikh
+     Jabour.--Distribute Presents to the Governor and Jabour.--Visit
+     the Sheikh Hateetah, styled the British Consul of Ghat.--Make the
+     acquaintance of the Tripoline Merchant Haj Ibrahim.--The Ghat
+     Rabble.--Ouweek arrives in Ghat.--A Visit from Touarick
+     Women.--Arabs begging from me by force.--Arrival of Kandarka from
+     Aheer.--Bel Kasem's account of the Slave Trade.--Visit to Haj
+     Ahmed, the Governor; his Character and Establishment
+     described.--Bel Kasem's Sick Slave.--All classes of People
+     attempt to convert me to Mohammedanism.--Bad effect of an
+     European Tourist assuming the Character of a
+     Mahometan.--Touarghee mode of Saluting.--Miserable condition of
+     Slaves on arriving from Soudan.--Soudanese Merchants friendly to
+     me.--Visit from the Governor.--Report in The Desert of Christians
+     Worshipping Idols.--Make the Acquaintance of a young
+     Touarghee.--Slave Trading and Kidnapping Slaves up The
+     Niger.--Economical Bill of Expenses of Journey from Ghat to
+     Soudan.
+
+
+_15th._--ROSE two hours before daybreak in order to arrive early at Ghat
+in the morning. About ten A.M., the palms of Ghat were visible through
+the scattered blocks of rock in the valley, for the plain became now
+contracted and assumed the shape of a deep broad valley, on the one side
+a low range of sand-hills, and on the other the high rocky chain of
+Wareerat. But the first sight of the oasis, after nineteen weary days of
+Desert, affected me with only disagreeable sensations. The affair of
+Ouweek, though pretty well got over, had shaken my confidence in the
+Touaricks. Indeed, the painful forebodings of the last forty hours had
+seriously deranged my plans, and made me think of returning, availing
+myself the most of my unsuccessful tour. This suffering of thought day
+after day is intense and worries me, and will soon make me an old man, if
+not in years. It was the sudden shock of the affair just after receiving
+the messenger of peace from Ghat. I saw at once that there was a great
+deal of insubordination in the lesser chieftains, which made travelling
+in this country very insecure. I remembered the remark of my taleb, "All
+the Touaricks are the Divan, and each has his own opinion, and carries it
+out in spite of the Sultan."
+
+We were now met by the friends of the Ghadamsee merchants, but with the
+exception of Essnousee and two or three others, I received few salutes of
+welcome; and when we got up to the gates of the city (at noon), not a
+single person of our caravan offered me the least assistance, either in
+interpreting or otherwise. I felt myself in a most deplorable
+predicament, but I reflected that all men must each one look after his
+own business, so our people were now each one occupied with his own
+affairs. I felt much the want of a good Moorish or Arab servant. Said was
+of no use whatever in this case. Strangers and loungers crowded and
+clamoured round me, anxious to look at the face of "The Christian." It
+was covered with my travelling handkerchief, and when I untied my face to
+gratify their curiosity, they burst out with the rude and wild expression
+of surprise, "_Whooh! Whooh! Whey!_" Amongst this mob I at once
+distinguished a number of the Aheer and Soudan merchants. These showed
+the greatest curiosity, but my outer dress being entirely Moorish, there
+was little novelty in my appearance, nay, scarcely any to point me out
+from the rest of the caravan. Several of the Ghat people then asked me
+what I wanted. I told them, the Governor of Ghat. I was not understood.
+At last came up to me a young Tripoline Moor of the name of Mustapha, who
+volunteered his services as Touarghee and Arabic interpreter, but, of
+course, our conversation was always in Arabic. Amidst a cluster of
+Touaricks and Ghat townsmen, the Governor was pointed out. Several
+Sheikhs were present, but it appears they gave precedence to the
+Governor's son from a feeling of shamefacedness. Haj Ahmed's son is a
+very nice polite young gentleman, as smart as a Parisian dandy. After a
+little delay he conducted us to a house, in which some of his father's
+slaves were living. It was a dark dreadful dilapidated hovel. The young
+gentleman most earnestly apologized, protesting, "The town is full of
+people, merchants, and strangers. We have nothing better left in the
+town. Perhaps you will come and live in our house out of the town." We
+looked out our baggage, which had been conveyed for us by Arabs of our
+caravan, and were astonished to find it scattered about outside the city
+gates, the caravan people having thrown it down there. However, nothing
+was lost, and this at once impressed me with the remarkable honesty of
+the Ghatee people. I took up my quarters in a small room built on the
+terrace, without window or door, but very airy. A roof of mud and straw
+was now a luxurious and splendid mansion to me. At least a dozen slaves
+were occupied in carrying my baggage from outside the gates to my
+domicile, each carrying some trifle. No camels or beast of burden are
+allowed to enter the city gates, all goods and merchandize are carried by
+slaves in and out. Like the porters at the different traveller-stations
+in Europe, each of these slaves seized hold of the merest trifle of
+baggage, a stick or a bit of cord, in order to make an exorbitant demand
+of the value of a shilling. The Desert furnishes a parallel for every
+circumstance of civilized life.
+
+The last night or two I had found it very cold, and the wind too high for
+tents. I may observe here, conveniently, the cold was so great in this
+portion of Sahara, that I never could undress myself for dread of the
+cold. After loosening my neckcloth and shoes, I lay down in the dress
+which I wore during the day. My bed was a simple mattress laid over a
+piece of matting, which latter was spread on the hard earth or sands of
+The Desert, as it might be, with a small sofa cushion for a pillow. After
+I had laid down the mattress, I then covered myself up with a large
+woollen barracan or blanket, very thick and heavy, and over this was also
+drawn a dark-blue European cloak. The cloth distinguished my bed from
+those of the merchants, and the nagah always knew the encampment by the
+sight of this Christian garment. When I wore it in the day she was
+immediately sensible of the presence of her master. I did not pitch a
+tent, for we could not, but formed a sort of head-place of the two
+panniers of the camel, over which we arranged camel's gear, forming a
+small top. Under this I placed or poked my head, so that, at night, if
+turning over my face, I found a little shelter from the naked cold
+heavens. In this way I lay enveloped in a mass of clothing. I usually
+waked a couple of hours before daybreak with the intensity of the cold.
+Said slept closely by me on a lion's skin, and rolled himself up in the
+slight canvass of the tent. Like myself he never undressed himself at
+night. When he wished to confer a favour upon any of his negro
+countrymen, or the poor slaves, he would take them and roll them up with
+him in this canvass. He would have sometimes half a dozen at once with
+him, the confined air of their united breathings keeping them mutually
+warm. The poor Arab camel-drivers had nothing but their barracans which
+they wore in the day to cover themselves up at night, whilst the bare
+earth was their couch of down, and a heap of stones their luxurious
+pillow. All these Arabs were wandering wayfaring Jacobs of The Desert.
+El-Aïshi says, speaking of the bleak wind of The Desert, "The north wind
+blows in these places with an intensity equalling the cold of hell;
+language fails me to express this rigorous temperature." The Mohammedans
+believe that the extremes of heat and cold meet in hell. Some have
+thought there is an allusion to this in the words, "Weeping and wailing
+and gnashing of teeth," (the teeth chattering from cold.) Milton has also
+enumerated cold as one of the torments of the lost. The tormented spirits
+passed--
+
+    "O'er many a frozen, many a fiery, Alp."
+
+I had not been many minutes in my new apartment before the Governor
+himself came in. I had been addressing the young Ghatee as the Governor
+himself, like Goldsmith harangued a duke's footman for the duke himself.
+Haj Ahmed, his father, welcomed me with every demonstration of
+hospitality. He sat chatting with me until the arrival of the Sheikh
+Jabour, who also welcomed me in the most friendly manner. This was the
+Sheikh who had dispatched his slave to the well of Tadoghseen to meet me.
+Two or three other Touaricks of distinction came in with my friend
+Essnousee. They then questioned me upon the conduct of Ouweek, the news
+of which had now spread over all the town, and thanking Jabour for
+sending his slave, he replied, smiling, "Ouweek was joking with you." And
+then all joined in a laugh about Ouweek's affair. Jabour, ashamed of the
+business, took this method of easing my mind. The Governor now began to
+ask me about news and politics, and how Muley Abd Errahman was getting on
+with the French. The burning of the French steamer on the coast of
+Morocco after she grounded, had been transformed by The Desert reports
+into a victory over the French, in which the French had lost 70,000 men
+and several ships. The Governor had also heard the Maroquine war had
+recommenced. I excused my ignorance by saying, I had been a long time in
+Ghadames, and had heard nothing. Odd enough, the Governor asked me,
+"Which was the oldest dynasty in Europe?" I told him the Bourbons of
+France. The Sheikh Jabour here interposed that his family was more than
+three thousand years old! The pride of an hereditary _noblesse_ is
+deeply rooted in these Touarghee chiefs. The lore of ancestral
+distinction is co-extensive with the human race. I have given but the
+substance of our conversations. I give some of it in detail:--
+
+
+Interrogation, _by the Governor_.
+
+_His Excellency._--"What did Ouweek to you?"
+
+"He was saucy to me."
+
+_His Excellency._--"Have you seen lately Muley Abd Errahman (Emperor of
+Morocco)?"
+
+"No."
+
+_His Excellency._--"He has conquered the French, destroyed their ships.
+They have lost 70,000 men. If you had told Muley Abd Errahman you had
+been coming here, he would have sent me a letter by you."
+
+"I have no doubt of it."
+
+_His Excellency._--"How is your Sultan?"
+
+"Very well, thank you?"
+
+_His Excellency._--"When did you last see Sidi Abd-el-Kader?"
+
+"Not very lately."
+
+_His Excellency._--"He is a prophet." (To which I said, Amen.)
+
+
+Interrogatory, _by Sheikh Jabour_.
+
+_The Sheikh._--"What did Ouweek to you?"
+
+"He was very rude."
+
+_The Sheikh._--"Ouweek was playing with you, trying to frighten you
+because you are a stranger. He's a fool himself."
+
+"Oh, it's no matter now."
+
+_The Sheikh._--"How's your Sultan? Does he doubt we shall utterly destroy
+the Shânbah."
+
+"Oh, not the least."
+
+_The Sheikh_ (in reply to the Governor).--"My fathers were princes before
+all the Christian kings, thousands of years ago."
+
+"I dare say they were."
+
+My visitors now took leave of me, Jabour shaking hands with me, and
+saying, _Mā-tăhāfsh_, "don't fear." Afterwards had a great many curious
+visitors of the lower classes, all raving mad to see the _Roumee_
+("Christian"). And amongst the rest, the son of Ouweek! who is a young
+harmless fellow, and said his father would never hurt a great Christian
+like me. He begged hard for a piece of sugar, which I gave him. He asked
+me if his father was coming to Ghat. For supper I received a splendid
+dish of meat and sopped bread, but very highly seasoned with pepper and
+cloves. It is the Soudan pepper, a small quantity of which possesses the
+most violent, nay virulent strength.
+
+_16th._--After taking a walk in the morning, I returned the visit of
+the Governor. He received me very politely, and presented me with a
+lion's skin, brought from Soudan. His Excellency shewed me his
+certificate of character and rank, certified by a huge seal of the
+Emperor of Morocco. He pointed out with conscious pride the name of
+Marabout, with which sacred title the Emperor had dubbed him. Muley
+Abd Errahman is an immense favourite here amongst the Moorish
+townsmen. They call him their Sultan. The Turks they fear and
+detest. They expect them one day at Ghat. In the afternoon I sent
+the Governor, according to the advice of Mustapha, two loaves of
+sugar (French), a pound of cloves, and a pound of sunbul[70].
+Cloves--_grunfel_, ‮قرنفل‬--are greatly esteemed, especially by
+the women, who season their cakes, cuskasous, and made-dishes with them.
+The sunbul (leaves) is made into a decoction, or wash, and is used
+by fashionable ladies in Sahara as eau de Cologne in Europe.
+
+Afterwards I paid a visit to Sheikh Jabour. The Sheikh has a house within
+the town, which very few of the Sheikhs have. Jabour received me
+friendly. I could not see the features of the Sheikh very well, on
+account of his litham. Jabour, however, is a perfect aristocrat in his
+way, with a very delicate hand. He is tall and well-made, and his simple
+and elegant manners denote at once "The Marabout Sheikh of the
+Touaricks," of the most ancient and renowned of Touarghee families. I
+took the Sheikh a present of a loaf of sugar, three pounds of cloves and
+sunbul, and a shasheeah, or fez. Jabour received them very graciously,
+and repeated his _ma-tahafsh_, "don't fear," several times, promising me,
+at the same time, to use his influence with his friends to get me safely
+escorted to Aheer and Soudan. The Sheikh's followers and other
+distinguished Touaricks repeat the same, but the Governor I find more
+cautious in his speech. On my return home, the Sheikh sent to know if the
+handkerchief, in which the present was wrapped, were also a present, and
+whether the bearer of the present had purloined it, for he had taken it
+away with him. I immediately sent the Sheikh back the handkerchief,
+informing the Sheikh the bearer was not told to leave it. All Saharan
+people are immoderately fond of a handkerchief. I recommend travellers in
+Sahara to supply themselves with a good stock of very cheap coloured
+cotton handkerchiefs. My house is thronged all day long with visitors. I
+am obliged to exhibit myself to the people like the Fat Boy, or the
+American Giant. It is Richardson's Show at Ghat instead of Greenwich. The
+rest of the ghafalah, which we left behind, arrived to-day. My friend,
+El-Besher, to my regret, had turned suddenly back and gone to Touat,
+where his brother had arrived from Timbuctoo. It is reported that a
+quarrel had taken place about his brother amongst the Timbuctoo caravan,
+in which affair ten people had been killed. So all Saharan caravans do
+not travel in such harmony as we did. The Ghadamsee caravans are
+certainly the most pacific. But the Timbuctoo people have everywhere a
+bad character.
+
+_17th._--In the morning went to see the Consul of the Europeans, as the
+Moors call him. This is the Sheikh Hateetah, of whom very honourable
+mention is made by the Denham and Clapperton party. Hateetah himself
+assumes the distinction of "Friend," or Consul of the English. I found
+him stretched on a pallet upon the ground floor, extremely unwell with
+fever, and surrounded by his friends. He has just come from the country
+districts. He asked me, "Is the Consul well? Are his daughters well? Is
+the King of England well?" Hateetah had some years ago visited the Consul
+and his family at Tripoli, under British protection, for Touaricks dare
+not approach Tripoli. He has in his possession, after a dozen years, a
+fine scarlet burnouse and coat, braided with gold lace, and also a gun,
+which were presented to him by Colonel Warrington, on the part of our
+Government, for his services to our Bornou expedition. The Sheikh told me
+he had besides a written certificate from the Consul, but it was in the
+country. I am the first person whom he has had an opportunity of serving
+since his return from Tripoli, where he formally engaged, on the part of
+the Touaricks, to give British subjects all necessary protection in the
+Ghat districts. For this reason he is styled, "The friend of the
+English." All strangers here are placed under the care of one Sheikh or
+another, to whom they make presents, but not to the rest. Hateetah
+resides in the suburbs.
+
+During the past night was taken dreadfully ill, in the stomach, by eating
+the high-seasoned dishes of the Governor. After drinking olive-oil and
+vomiting, found myself much better. People say oil is the best remedy in
+such cases. The Governor was troubled at my illness, and sent to ask
+whether he should send me some senna tea. Wrote to-day to Mr. Alsager and
+Colonel Warrington. The letters were to have been dispatched direct to
+Tripoli, but the Touaricks would neither allow one of their own people
+nor an Arab courier to go, giving as the reason that Shafou, the Sultan,
+was not arrived. Touaricks have a horror of Turks, and cannot bear to
+have communication with them, and do everything in their power to prevent
+others from communicating with Tripoli. Not acquainted with Mediterranean
+politics, they imagine that, because the Turks have retaken possession of
+Ghadames and Fezzan, so long quasi-independent of Tripoli, they must
+necessarily invade the Touarick territory, and seize upon their wee town
+of Ghat, but to them the metropolis of The Sahara. This evening Jabour
+hinted, in Hibernian style, to one of the slaves waiting upon me, that
+his present of sugar was rather small. I forthwith sent him two loaves
+more, which rejoiced him so much that he exclaimed, "Thank the Christian
+by G--d. Tell him he has nothing to fear in Ghat, and he shall go safe to
+Soudan." Felt better to-night. The Governor sent his last dish this
+evening. A stranger of distinction is supplied with food for three days.
+I have had my share of honour and hospitality, and am glad of it. I shall
+now be cautious what I eat. But I find everything is exceedingly dear,
+the number of strangers, foreign merchants, and slaves, is so unusually
+great as quickly to devour all the food brought here.
+
+Yesterday I made the acquaintance of Haj Ibrahim, a Moorish merchant
+resident in Tripoli, but a native of Jerbah. When in Tripoli he acts as
+Consul for the Ghadamsee merchants; his brother is now in charge.
+Mustapha came with him direct from Tripoli, not passing through Mourzuk,
+but _viâ_ the oases of Fezzan to the west. So an European agent
+established at Mourzuk, cannot well collect a statistical account of
+trade, on account of few Ghat caravans travelling the Mourzuk route. Haj
+Ibrahim promises to be useful to me, and has already sent a letter for me
+to Ghadames. This merchant has brought the largest amount of goods to the
+Souk, about forty camels. The whole of the Soudan ghafalah has not yet
+arrived from Aheer. It comes in by small detached parties. As there is
+nothing to fear on the road, people prefer travelling in small
+companies, which facilitates their march, not being detained at the
+wells waiting for the running of the water.
+
+I have _cut_ in a certain way my old friends of the Ghadamsee ghafalah.
+This has done them good, for they now begin to return to me, and are
+polite. Before they were all so frightened at the Touaricks, that I knew
+if I did not cut them, they would cut me. Now, when seeing the Touaricks
+are friendly, they are also friendly;--such is the world of Sahara, as
+well as the world of Paris or London. When a man has few friends he gets
+less, when many he gets more. On the principle, I suppose, that money
+gets money, and friendship friendship. The Moors of the coast, of whom
+there are a few here, exhibit more courage, and a bolder front to the
+Touaricks. The worst of this place is, _The Rabble_. It is the veritable
+Caboul, or Canton _Rabble_. Here's my "great difficulty." They run after
+me, and even hoot me in the streets. Were it not for this rabble, I could
+walk about with the greatest freedom and safety, and alone.
+
+_18th._--Went to see Haj Ibrahim. Sent the letter to Mr. Alsager _viâ_
+Ghadames, the only letter I wrote from Ghat during the fifty days of my
+residence here. In my absence a loaf of sugar was stolen out of my
+apartment. Suspicion falls upon a Fezzanee, whom I have employed, and to
+whom I gave this very morning a quarter of a dollar. These small loaves
+of French beet-root sugar sell for two-thirds of a dollar in Ghat. Ouweek
+arrived to-day from his district, after stopping for the rest of the
+caravan to get what he could in the way of begging by force. This is the
+cunning of the old fox bandit. He knows he can beg more effectually from
+the merchant and trader in the open desert, than at Ghat, where people
+may refuse, and do refuse to satisfy his importunities. I have done so
+with the rest. He now pretends he was only playing with me, and that he
+would have let me pass through his district though I had given him
+nothing. Can we believe him? Jabour says in turn:--"I will make Ouweek
+restore the goods which he has extorted by violence from the Christian."
+There is no doubt Shafou will reprimand the bandit when he arrives. But I
+do not ask or expect the restoration of such a few trifling things. In
+this country, as the Governor says, "full of Sheiks," where authority is
+so divided, and the Sultan's power is so feeble, we must expect this sort
+of freebooting extortion. Such were the good and fine old days of
+chivalry in France and England, so much regretted by certain morbid
+romancers, Sir Walter Scott to boot, when a baron made a foray upon a
+neighbouring baron's people, and shut himself up with the booty in his
+castle, defying equally his plundered neighbour and his sovereign. But if
+in the comparison there is any declination of the balance, it is in
+favour of the Touaricks, for these Sheikhs, governing their respective
+districts with a _quasi_-independent authority, are now living in
+profound peace and harmony with one another.
+
+Had a visit from some score of Touarick women, of all complexions,
+tempers, and ages. After staring at me for some time with amazed
+curiosity and silence, they became restless. Not knowing what to do with
+them, I took out a loaf of white sugar, cut it into pieces, and then
+distributed it amongst them. The scene now suddenly changed, joy beamed
+in every eye, and every one let her tongue run most volubly. They asked
+me, "Whether I was married--whether the Christian women were
+pretty--whether prettier than they--and whether, if not married, I should
+have any objection to marry one of them?" To all which questions I
+answered in due categorical form:--"I was not married--the Christian
+women were pretty, but they, the Touarick women, were prettier than
+Christian women--and, lastly, I should see whether I would marry one of
+them when I came from Soudan." These answers were perfectly satisfactory.
+But then came a puzzler. They asked me, "Which was the prettiest amongst
+them?" I looked at one, and then at another, with great seriousness,
+assuming very ungallant airs, (the women the meanwhile giggling and
+coquetting, and some throwing back their barracans, shawls I may call
+them, farther from their shoulders, baring their bosoms in true ball-room
+style,) and, at last, falling back, and shutting my eyes, placing my left
+hand to my forehead, as if in profound reflection, I exclaimed languidly,
+and with a forced sigh, "Ah, I can't tell, you are all so pretty!" This
+created an explosion of mirth, some of the more knowing ones intimating
+by their looks, "It's lucky for you that you have got out of the scrape."
+But an old lady, close by me, was very angry with me;--"You fool,
+Christian, take one of the young ones; here's my daughter." It is
+necessary to explain, that the woman of the Touaricks is not the woman of
+the Moors and Mussulmans generally. She has here great liberty, walks
+about unveiled, and takes an active part in all affairs and transactions
+of life. Dr. Oudney justly remarks, "The liveliness of the women, their
+freeness with the men, and the marked attention the latter paid them,
+formed a striking contrast with other Mohammedan States." Batouta
+mentions a Berber tribe of Western Sahara, as having similar manners. He
+says:--"This people has very singular manners. So the men are not at all
+jealous of their women. The women are not at all embarrassed in the
+presence of the men; and though they, the women, are very assiduous at
+their prayers, they appear always uncovered." He adds, that certain
+women, of free manners, are shared amongst the people without exciting
+the feelings of jealousy amongst the men. It is the same with the
+Touaricks, but it is the absence of this Mussulman, or _oriental_
+jealousy, of husbands of their wives, which distinguishes the Touaricks
+from other Mahometans of North Africa, and connects the social condition
+of the Touaricks more with European society. On departing, I gave the
+Touarick ladies some pins, and they, not knowing how to use them, (for
+pins are never imported into The Desert, though needles in thousands,) I
+taught them a good practical lesson by pinning two of them together by
+their petticoats, which liberty, on my part, I need not tell the reader,
+increased the mirth of this merry meeting of Touarghee ladies
+prodigiously. I certainly felt glad that we could travel in a country and
+laugh and chat with, and _look at_ the women without exciting the
+intolerable jealousy of the men. I think there is not a more dastardly
+being than a jealous husband. Amongst the Moors a traveller does not know
+whether he can venture to speak to a man's wife or not, or whether he can
+make her the most trifling present in return for the supper which she may
+cook.
+
+Afterwards had a very different visit of four Arabs, who came with the
+evident intention of getting something out of me by main force. I
+resisted to the last, and to their astonishment. I told them, all my
+presents were now for the Touaricks, and if they did not leave the house
+I would get them bastinadoed on their return to The Mountains. The worst
+class of people which I have met with, since I left Tripoli, are _some_
+of these Arabs, who are the most dogged brazen-faced beggars and
+spongers, banditti in the open day. Yesterday arrived the powerful Aheer
+camel-driver and conducteur Kandarka Bou Ahmed, the _Kylouwee_, whose
+arrival produced a sensation. Some call him a Sheikh. He usually conducts
+the Ghadamsee merchants between this and Aheer, and as far as Kanou. It
+is an established custom or law, in The Desert, that the people of each
+district or country shall enjoy the privilege of conducting the caravans.
+The Touaricks of Ghat conduct the merchants from Ghadames to Ghat, and
+the Touaricks of Aheer the merchants from Ghat to Aheer, and so of the
+rest of the route, as far as Kanou, the final destination of the Soudan
+caravan.
+
+My Ghadamsee friend Bel Kasem came up to me today, and whispered in my
+ear the question, "If slaves would be allowed to be sold now in the
+market of Tripoli?" I answered frankly in the affirmative, but added, "I
+did not think it would last much longer." All the merchants now look upon
+me as an anti-slavery agent. The affair of Silva and Levi, if it
+prejudice the people against me on one side, gives me some consequence on
+the other, on account of the steps which the British Consul took against
+those merchants, or caused them to take. I went to see Bel Kasem in the
+evening, who is but a mere trader. He gave me this account of his
+slave-dealing:--"I have purchased five slaves at forty mahboubs each. At
+Tripoli I shall sell them at sixty. The Pasha takes ten duty, and I have
+only ten for profit and the expenses, of conveying the slaves from Ghat
+to Tripoli, feeding them as well here as there. What, where is my
+profit?" I echoed, "Where?" This is a fair specimen of the market. He
+complains of the dearness of the slaves, although an unusual number, more
+than a thousand, have been brought to the Souk or Mart. Haj Ibrahim and
+some other large purchasers have greatly and unexpectedly increased the
+demand. He says Haj Ibrahim purchases large quantities of goods on
+credit, or for bills of six and nine months from European merchants in
+Tripoli. These he exchanges against slaves in Ghat, and then returns and
+sells his slaves, and pays the bills as they come due. In this way, it
+will be seen, the Desert slave-traffic is carried on upon the shoulders
+of European merchants. Haj Ibrahim considers his profits at twenty per
+cent. The people say he gets more. My friend, the Arab of Derge, called
+late, to borrow five dollars of me. He said, "I have purchased a slave
+for twenty-five dollars; at present I have only twenty. You and I, Yâkob,
+have been always friends. Lend me five dollars and I will pay you in a
+few days. The slave is a little old but cheap, he is to work in the
+gardens at Ghadames." I then explained to him the law of England on
+slavery, which greatly surprised him. The next day this Derge Arab
+brought in another fellow to ask me to lend him money to buy a slave,
+just to see whether I should make the same reply to him also.
+
+_19th._--Rose early, and better in health. I begin to feel at home in
+Ghat, amidst the redoubtable Touaricks. I find them neither monsters nor
+men-eaters[71]. Nevertheless, all the swaggering Arabs and Arab
+camel-drivers are here very quiet and civil amongst their masters, the
+Touaricks. I frequently bully them now about their past boasting and
+present cowardice. Two of the Arabs who had attempted to extort a present
+from me I met at Haj Ibrahim's house. I lectured them roundly, telling
+them I would report them to the Pasha, for they were greater banditti
+than the Touaricks. This had a salutary effect. I was not troubled
+afterwards with these brazen-faced begging Arabs.
+
+This morning paid another visit to Haj Ahmed, the Governor. Found him
+very friendly. He talked politics. I explained to him the circumstances
+of the war between France and Morocco, suppressing the most disagreeable
+parts for a Mahometan. In the course of conversation I was surprised to
+hear from Haj Ahmed, "Now, since these twelve years, Tripoli belongs to
+the English." I used vainly all my eloquence in Arabic to convince him of
+this error, which has been propagated since the removal of Asker Ali from
+the Pashalic of Tripoli at the instance of the British Consul. I then
+spoke to his Excellency of the necessity of sending some trifling
+presents to the Queen of England, as a sign of friendship, begging him to
+speak to Shafou. He replied, "The Touaricks have nothing but camels."
+The Governor has a tremendous family. First of all, he has seven wives
+and concubines, then nine sons and six daughters. One of his female
+slaves repeated to me all their names, a complete muster-roll. When I
+visited the Governor again, I congratulated him upon having so large a
+family. He observed smiling, with great self-complacency, "Why, Yâkob, do
+you call this a large family? What is a large family with you?" I told
+him eight and even six children was a large family. At this he affected
+great surprise, for he had heard that generally European females have
+three or four children at a birth. Haj Ahmed is a man of about fifty,
+rather good-looking, stout and hard-working, but inclining to corpulency,
+very unusual in The Desert. He is not very dark, and is of Arab
+extraction, and boasts that his family came from Mecca or Medina. He
+pretends that his ancestors were amongst the warriors who besieged
+Constantinople, previous to its capture by the Turks. He is a native of
+Touat, but has been settled here twenty years, where he has built himself
+a palace and planted large gardens. He is a shrewd and politic man, and
+has, in a certain degree, those jealous feelings of Christians which are
+peculiar to the Moor. He dresses partly in the Moorish and partly in the
+Touarick style, indeed, like all the Moors of Ghat, who are called
+Ghateen. He is, perhaps, not very learned, but is assisted by his nephew,
+a young Shereef of great learning and amiable manners. I asked some of
+the Ghatee people, who was their Sultan? They replied, "Haj Ahmed; Shafou
+is not our Sultan." The Touaricks, however, have absolute control over
+all affairs, and Haj Ahmed stands in the same relation to Shafou, being
+governor of the town, as the Sheikh El-Mokhtar, who is governor of
+Timbuctoo, under the Sultan of Jinnee. But, Haj Ahmed, himself, disclaims
+all temporal authority, he repeatedly says in our conversation, "I am not
+Sheikh, or Kaëd, I'm only Marabout. All the people here are equal. When
+you write to the Consul, tell him I'm only Marabout." The fact is, there
+are so many Sheikhs here that it is no honour to be a Sheikh. The honour
+is too cheap to be valued, and is as much repudiated as a French Cross of
+the Legion of Honour. Haj Ahmed repudiates being a Sheikh most stoutly.
+Notwithstanding this repudiation, the Marabout is obliged to decide upon
+the affairs of the city, even when Shafou is in town. The Marabout
+pretends he does not receive presents like the Sheikhs, but he always
+received what I offered him, and which was more than what I gave to some
+of the Sheikhs. His palace stands west, two-thirds of a mile from the
+city walls. Here he reigns supreme, priest and king, as Melchisedech of
+patriarchal times, surrounded with his numerous family of wives and
+concubines, and about fifty male and female slaves. Some of the slaves
+live in huts near his palace, or in the gardens. The Marabout is the
+largest landed proprietor of Ghat, but he also trades a good deal, and is
+now sending some of his children to Soudan to trade in slaves.
+
+Yesterday evening Mohammed Kāfah sent me a bowl of sopped bread, fat, and
+gravy, garnished with two or three little pieces of meat. This is the
+first act and specimen of hospitality on the part of the townsmen. Kafah
+is a considerable merchant, and one of the three or four grandees of the
+place. Bel Kasem called out to me to-day, for he lives next door, "Yâkob!
+Yâkob! Aye! for God's sake, one of my slaves is ill, bring me some
+medicine to purge him, quick, quick, he'll die." I had nothing to give
+the poor creature but a worm-powder, ordering half the quantity, all my
+medicines being distributed, except those for the eyes. Undoubtedly many
+of the slaves must die before they arrive in Tripoli. They are mostly fed
+on dates, the profit of the commerce is so small as not to allow
+wholesome food being given them. The slaves are brought from countries
+teeming with plenty of meat, grain, and vegetables, whilst they are fed
+with herbage and dates _en route_ from Aheer to Ghat. What wonder then
+they die?
+
+Every body, as was the case at Ghadames, high and low, rich and poor,
+young and old, wishes to convert me into a good Mussulman, being
+mortified that so quiet a Christian should be an infidel. An old Sheikh
+paid me a visit to-day, and began, "Now, Christian, that you have come
+into this country, I hope you will find everything better than in your
+own country, and become a Mussulman, one loved of God. Come to my house,
+leave your infidel father and mother. I have two daughters. I will give
+you both for wives, and seven camels besides. This will make you a Sheikh
+amongst us. You can also be a Marabout, and spend your life in prayer." I
+excused myself, by saying, "I had engagements in my country. My Sultan
+would brand me with disgrace, and I should be fetched out of this country
+by the Turks, who were always the friends of the English." The Sheikh
+sighed, raised up his aged body, and departed, mumbling something, a
+blessing or a curse, upon my head. A younger son of Haj Ahmed came in and
+addressed me, "Why not say, 'There is one God', and 'Mahomet is the
+prophet of God?'" I told him a Christian was prohibited from making such
+a confession. On paying a visit to Mohammed Kafah, who sent me the
+supper, I found his house full of slaves and Soudan goods, and he himself
+very busy in the midst of them. He received me very friendly, and, after
+a little, said, "It would be better for you if you turned Mussulman. Do
+you not wish to go to Paradise? A slave of ours is better than you, and
+your estate." To turn the conversation, I observed (which I knew would
+excite his mercantile lust, despite his orthodox zeal), "I hear you are
+vastly rich, the richest merchant in Ghat." "Ah!" he replied, distending
+into consequence, "but the Christians have all the money." I rejoined,
+"If there were a better Government in Tripoli, the Mussulmans would have
+more money." Asking about the arrival of Shafou, he observed, "Haj Ahmed
+is our Sultan. I'm not a Touarick. God help if I were a Touarick." He
+then took me by the hands, and led me to the women's apartments to show
+me to his wife and daughters. The good wife, after handling my hands,
+which were a little whiter and cleaner than what are generally seen in
+The Desert, for to have hands with a layer of dirt upon them of several
+months' collecting, is an ordinary circumstance,--exclaimed, "Dear-a-me,
+dear-a-me, how wonderful, and this Christian doesn't know God!" Her
+husband shook his head negatively. The court-yard of his house was soon
+filled and crammed with people, who rushed in from the streets, and the
+friendly Ghatee was obliged to send me home quick, lest I should be
+smothered by a mob of people. The affair of Silva and Levi had reached
+him, and the report will soon get to Soudan and Timbuctoo, for the
+merchants carry everything with them which interests their commerce,
+making additions as they go along. Here, as at Mogador, it was reported
+that I was commissioned by the Sultan of England to buy up and liberate
+all the slaves. On returning home, I had another posse of visitors, and
+some of Haj Ahmed's sons, who came with the fixed determination to
+convert me. One said, on my admiring his Soudan coloured frock, "If you
+will become a Mussulman, I will give you one." I now felt myself obliged
+to rebut some of this impertinence, and answered, "If you would give me
+all the frocks of Soudan I would not change my religion." I then
+addressed them sharply against wishing to alter the decrees of God,
+turning the dogmas of their religion upon themselves, and quoted the
+Koran,--
+
+"Thou wilt not find out any means of enlightening him whom God delivers
+over to error."
+
+Immediately, this unexpected style of argument struck them dumb. After
+recovering their senses they became restless to leave me, and began to
+beg a few things. I gave them some sugar and cake, and we parted apparent
+friends. On going out, they could not forbear asking Said if he was a
+Mussulman. Like many other Moslemites of Sahara, they said, "The Turks
+are not good Mussulmans." I replied, "Mustapha, the Bey of Ghadames, is a
+better Mussulman than any of the Ghadamsee people."
+
+The reader may disapprove of my conduct in these my frequent evasions of
+the question of religion; but when they reflect that it required, during
+my residence in Ghat and other parts of Sahara, the whole strength of my
+mind, and the utmost tact, to maintain a simple and consistent
+confession of myself as a Christian, and that to have said a word, or
+even to have breathed a syllable of disrespect for Mahomet and his
+religion, would have exposed me to be torn to pieces by the rabble, and
+perhaps murdered in my bed, they will probably feel less disposed to
+censure my conduct. If there be any doubt of this critical situation of
+an European who travels openly and avows himself a Christian in The
+Sahara, all I can do is to beg of the doubter to make the experiment
+himself. The reader will also be pleased to recollect, that the Denham
+and Clapperton party, though they travelled the safest routes of Sahara,
+were protected by the Bashaw of Tripoli, and their safety was guaranteed
+solemnly to our Government, as being the immediate agents and
+representatives of the British nation; and, finally, they had a large
+escort of Arab cavalry from Fezzan to Bornou. Yet these tourists,
+surrounded with such protection, were actually circumcised at Tripoli by
+Dr. Dickson[72], and were accustomed to attend the mosques and perform
+prayer as Mussulmans. Colonel Warrington certainly told me the people saw
+through all the mummery, and laughed, or were angry. As to the Frenchman,
+Caillié, his eternal tale of fabrication, repeated every day, and every
+hour of the day, to every Sheikh, and every merchant, camel-driver, and
+slave of The Desert, produces a very painful impression on the mind of
+the reader. Caillié's falsehood, as lie begets lie, begat many others. He
+was obliged to tell the people, that Mahometans were not tolerated in
+Christian countries. He told the Africans, also, that slavery was
+abolished in Europe, at the time even when England had her thousands of
+West Indian slaves. In this way, whatever service Caillié has rendered to
+geography, he has damaged the moral interests of the world. The African
+Mussulmans might say to future tourists, "If Christians tolerate not us,
+why should we Mussulmans tolerate you," and assassinate the luckless
+European tourist. Whatever, then, were my evasions on the question of
+religion (and I sincerely confess I do not approve of them), I never
+stooped to such folly, and so far disgraced my character as an Englishman
+and a Christian, as to adopt the creed and character of a Mahometan. I
+moreover, on reflecting upon the tremendous question, which I often
+revolved in my painful journeying over The Desert--determined at all
+events, at all costs, come what might, I would never profess myself a
+Mussulman, if it were even to save my head. I thought the least I could
+do was to imitate the noble example, which The Desert reports of Major
+Laing--Sooner than forswear my religion, be it good or bad, it was better
+to die! "Mental reservation" may be good for the Jesuits and papists[73],
+who misquote the conduct of Jacob to Esau, but it is neither fit for a
+Christian, or a patriot, or, at any rate, for an honest man, who was, is,
+and ever will be,
+
+    "The noblest work of God."
+
+Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. A Ghadamsee came in who attempted to
+frighten me from going to Soudan. Haj Ibrahim has the same prejudices as
+the rest of the people of Tripoli respecting the supposed wealth of the
+Ghadamsee people. "They have plenty of money but conceal it. Sheikh
+Makouran has abundance of gold, but he cunningly professes himself a poor
+man." I have lately read in a work published by the French Government,
+that once upon a time, a son of old Yousef Bashaw sacked Ghadames and
+carried off "several camel-loads of gold."
+
+The Touarick mode of saluting is very simple and elegant, but cold,
+colder than that of the English. A Touarghee elevates deliberately the
+right hand to a level with his face, turning the outspread palm to the
+individual, and slowly but with a fine intonation says, "_Sălām
+Aleikoum._" This is all. When using his own language, a few words are
+added. How strikingly contrasted are the habits of different people.
+Amongst the Moors and Arabs this mode of saluting is their way of
+cursing. With the outspread hand menacingly raised, a man or woman puts
+their enemy under the ban and curse of God. A vulgar interpretation is,
+that it means "five in your eye;" but this custom of cursing is so remote
+as not now to be explained. The door-posts and rooms of houses are
+imprinted with the outspread hand to prevent or withstand "the
+eye-malign" from glancing on them and the inhabitants its fatal
+influence.
+
+_20th._--Rose early, felt better in health to-day. Am, however, annoyed,
+but from what cause I cannot tell. Entertain many misgivings about the
+climate of Soudan, and having no medicine dispirits me. It is now too
+late to retreat. "Onward" is the only destiny which guides men, to good
+or evil. Had a visit from the eldest son of the Governor. Gave him two
+cups of tea, a little sugar, and two biscuits, which made him my friend
+for ever; a cheap purchase of eternal friendship. Shafou, he says, will
+not come before the whole of the Soudan ghafalahs arrive, of which there
+are still some portions lagging behind. A Soudan caravan, as all Desert
+caravans, is an _omnibus_; it collects parties of merchants all along the
+line of route, and distributes them in the same way, but having a
+starting-post and a goal. Haj Ahmed's son wished to introduce the
+question of religion. "The world is nothing and Paradise is every thing."
+"Amen," I replied. "What do you think of Mahomet?" "The Mahometans have
+Mahomet, the Jews Moses, and the Christians Jesus, each for their
+prophet," I said, after which not very satisfactory answer to him, the
+conversation dropped. He now inquired if I had written to Tripoli to
+bring plenty of sugar and tea, with a latent desire for a portion of the
+spoil. I told him "No," very emphatically.
+
+Called at my neighbour's, Bel Kasem, and found him doctoring a poor
+negress girl. She could neither eat nor drink, she vomited and purged,
+her bones were nearly through her skin, her stomach empty and dried up as
+a sun-dried water-skin. Bel Kasem was rubbing her all over with oil. He
+asked me for medicine. I said, "Give her something good to eat." He
+replied, "I have nothing." "What do you eat yourself?" I asked. "Bread
+and bazeen," he replied. "Give her that," I rejoined. He hesitated to
+reply, did not reply; I saw he considered such food too good for a slave,
+even to save its life. Such is but one dark sad picture of a thousand now
+being exhibited here! One would think God had made one part of the human
+race to torment the other.
+
+Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. A merchant in his house related that
+Noufee was now convulsed with a civil war. This country is now in the
+hands of the Fullans. He had often visited that country, and had seen
+English people there. A large caravan has this winter left Mourzuk for
+Kanou _viâ_ Aheer. Haj Ibrahim pretends that the Touaricks of Aheer are
+better than those of Ghat, but the former are people of the country (or
+peasants), not towns. The Haj has not begun to dispose of his goods, but
+he will exchange them against slaves. He, however, as a subject of Tunis,
+is virtually prohibited by the Bey's ordinances.
+
+My most friendly visitors are the merchants and traders from Soudan,
+Kanou, and Sukatou. I cannot help looking upon these people with profound
+pity. They bring their sable brethren, of the same flesh and blood, and
+barter them away for trumpery beads, coarse paper, and cloth, &c. They
+little think, that for such trifles, what miseries they inflict upon
+their helpless brethren! A Kanou merchant, in a friendly manner,
+recommended me not to go to Soudan, adding, "The Touaricks of Aheer would
+butcher me because I was a Christian." A similar recommendation is being
+given me by the Arabs, Ghadames people, and others. Still there is a
+great variety of opinions, _pros_ and _cons_, on this subject.
+
+_21st._--Rose early, improved in health. A small bird, not much bigger
+than a wren, flits about the houses as our sparrows. This is probably the
+Jereed sparrow of Shaw, _Bou Habeeba_, or _Capsa_-sparrow, but I saw it
+at no other oasis except Ghat. It is of a lark colour, with a light
+reddish breast, flitting about continually, twittering a short and abrupt
+note, but very sweet and gentle. Yesterday Haj Ahmed sent me a few dates
+and a little milk. To-day the Governor paid me a formal visit. He was
+polite and friendly. However, he observed, "If you, Yâkob, had brought a
+few presents for the Touarghee chiefs they would all have known[74] you,
+but you have come without any thing, with empty hands." I replied that I
+did not expect to come to Ghat when I left Tripoli. Nevertheless, if the
+Touarick chiefs were friendly, and would protect Englishmen in The
+Desert, both the people and Government of England would, I was quite
+sure, acknowledge the protection with suitable presents. He was satisfied
+with the explanation. Some of our caravan had told him I had come with
+nothing, and had overrated my poverty as some tourists have their riches
+overrated. But this report of abject poverty was a great advantage to me.
+He was greatly surprised when I told him the Sultan of the English was a
+woman. I explained, as I had done at Ghadames, when the kings of our
+country had no sons, but had daughters, the daughters became sovereigns.
+My vanity was somewhat piqued at the Governor's direct allusion to
+presents, and I determined, that he himself, at any rate, should have as
+large a present from me as he got from any of the foreign merchants. He
+then asked me if I was an English Marabout. I replied, "Yes;" for a
+Marabout, as in the Governor's own case, means sometimes a person who can
+tolerably read and write. In this sense I may claim the sacred title. I
+also dub myself occasionally _tabeeb_ (doctor), but mostly _taleb_, a
+mere literary man or pretender to literature. I believe that coming
+without arms, and as poor as possible, has had a good effect upon the
+Touaricks. They see, if they were so disposed, they cannot maltreat a man
+in my circumstances with a very good grace. I have still left, very
+fortunately, a supply of eye-water, and am making presents of it daily.
+This solution keeps my medical diploma clean and fair in Ghat.
+
+Had another visit from the family of the Governor. All aspire to
+religious discussion. Addressing me, "Which way do you pray, east or
+west?" said another of his sons. "I pray in all directions, for God is
+everywhere." "You ought to pray in the east." "No, for The Koran says,
+'The east and the west belong to God, wherever you turn you find the face
+of God[75].'" He continued, "You are idolaters, why do you pray to
+images?" "The English people do not pray to images," I rejoined. As he
+doubted my word, I was obliged to enter into explanations of the customs
+of Romanists and Protestants. It is amusing or lamentable to think, as we
+may sneer at or regret the matter, that these rude children of The
+Desert should have ground for charging upon the high-bred and
+_transcendantally_-polished nations of Europe, idolatry. But, if any one,
+determined to be an impartial judge, were to visit the Madelaine of
+Paris, and then pass rapidly over to Algeria, (a journey of a few days),
+and there enter the simple mosque, and compare its prostrate worshippers,
+in the plain unadorned temple of Islamism, with the bowing and crossing,
+going on before the pretty saints and images of the Catholic temple of
+the Parisians, he could not fail to be struck with the immeasurable space
+which separates the two _cultes_, whilst the contrast, so far as the
+eternal records of nature, impressed upon and read in the page of
+creation, are involved, would be all in favour of the Moslemite deist,
+and pity and folly would be mingled with his ideas when appreciating the
+papistical _quasi_-idolator.
+
+A young Touarghee came in with the party, whose eyes were very bad. After
+a good deal of persuasion, for he was at first quite frightened at me, he
+consented to allow me to apply the caustic. He is a follower of Sheikh
+Jabour, and employed near the person of the Sheikh. To show how smoothly
+things go after the first difficulty is vanquished, I may mention, that
+he visited me ever after whilst I remained in Ghat, sometimes coming
+every day, and always begging his eyes might be washed with the solution.
+I had another visit from the Soudan traders. They say people just like me
+come up to Noufee to where they are now returning. They speak Arabic very
+imperfectly, and are obliged to converse with signs. They describe
+thousands of slaves being carried away by men with white cheeks and hands
+like myself, putting their hands round their wrists and their necks to
+show how the slaves were ironed. These slaves are carried down the Niger
+to the salt water (Atlantic). I asked them how the slaves were obtained.
+One of them sprung up in an instant, seizing an Arab's gun. He then
+performed a squatting posture, skulking down, and creeping upon the floor
+of my room, and waiting or watching in silence. He then made a sudden
+spring, as a tiger on its prey, with a wild shout. These wily antics
+evidently denoted a private kidnapping expedition. Many slaves are,
+however, captives of war, for the negro princes are as fond of war as the
+military nations of France and Prussia, and can play at soldiers as well
+as the King of Naples. Evening, as usual, paid a visit to Haj Ibrahim.
+Nothing new, except an economical bill of expenses, from Ghat to Soudan,
+chalked out for me by a Ghadamsee, in prospect of my journey, viz:--
+
+Presents, _en route_, to various chiefs   13 dollars.
+Wheat and bread                                 5    "
+Olive-oil and _semen_ (liquid butter)      1    "
+Extras and unforseen expenses                   3    "
+                                              ----
+Total                                          22
+                                              ----
+
+This, I imagine, is about what it would cost him himself, though he
+pretended to allow a little more for me. These 22 dollars are to carry a
+person two months over Sahara and one over Negroland to Kanou. It will be
+seen there is nothing down for meat, or sugar, and tea and coffee, in
+which luxuries Saharan merchants rarely indulge.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[70] _Sunbul_--‮سنبل‬--(literally "stalks"). According to French
+    Oriental botanists, it is "_Nard, spina celtica_." An immense
+    quantity of this fashionable plant is brought into The Desert. No
+    present is made to a man of family without sunbul.
+
+[71] Nor are they _Anthropoklephts_, as a late Yankee Consul, in
+    his "Notes on North Africa," &c., calls them. Before Mr. Hodgson
+    stigmatizes the Touaricks as men-stealers, he should see that his
+    own States are pure. The reader will agree with me, after hearing
+    further of the Touaricks, that these free sons of The Sahara have
+    every right to say to Mr. Hodgson, and all American
+    Consuls--"Physician, heal thyself: do not charge us with
+    men-stealing when you buy and sell and rob human beings of their
+    liberty."
+
+[72] I speak on the authority of Mr. Gagliuffi, our Vice-Consul at
+    Mourzuk.
+
+[73] And even those who take an oath of _et ceteras_ at the
+    National Universities! And others who subscribe to creeds which
+    they do not read, or if read them, do not comprehend them.
+
+[74] That is, being on friendly terms with you.
+
+[75] See Surat ii., intitled "The Cow."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+RESIDENCE IN GHAT.
+
+     Gloves an enigma of Wonder.--Visit Sheikh Hateetah.--All Men
+     equal at Ghat.--Crowds of People surrounding my House to see
+     me.--Violent Act committed on a Man at Prayer in the
+     Mosque.--Extent of European Literature known at Ghat.--Continue
+     unwell.--Ouweek's public Apology.--Dances of the Slaves.--A
+     Saharan _Emeute_.--Arrival of Caravans.--Return the Visit of the
+     Governor.--Europe, a cluster of innumerable Islets.--Who has most
+     Money, Christians or Mahometans?--People more used to my presence
+     in Ghat.--The Prophet of the Touaricks.--Visit from Aheer
+     Touaricks.--The Governor's petty dealing.--The Shereef of
+     Moorzuk.--Visit from Jabour.--Beginning Soudanic Cottons.--Visits
+     from Kandarka and Zoleâ.--Route from Ghat to Alexandria, and its
+     distance.--The Shereef of Medina.--Character and influence of
+     Khanouhen, heir-apparent of the Touarghee Throne of the Azgher
+     Touaricks, and his arrival in Ghat.
+
+
+_22nd._--HAVE considerable pain in my stomach with change of diet. Did
+not go out yesterday and the day before in the day-time, on account of
+the rabble who follow so close at my heels, that my guides and protectors
+can't keep them off. Sent a _shumlah_ ("sash") to Haj Ahmed, the
+Governor, this morning. He expressed himself highly gratified. This makes
+the Governor's present about five dollars more than he gets from any of
+the merchants. The richest and most powerful merchants don't give more,
+and some of them not half this amount. I have already given away 20
+dollars out of my extremely modest resources.
+
+Nothing surprises the natives of Ghat and the Touaricks so much as my
+gloves. I am obliged to put them off and on a hundred times a day to
+please people. They then try them on, look at them inside and outside, in
+every shape and way, expressing their utter astonishment by the most
+sacred names of Deity. Some, also, have not seen stockings before, and
+examine them with much wonderment. But the gloves carry the palm in
+exciting the emotion of the terrible. One said, after he had put the
+glove on his hand, "Ah! ah! Whey! whoo! that's the hand of the Devil
+himself!"
+
+The _Souk_ or mart has now fairly begun. Merchants are desperately busy
+buying and selling, chiefly exchanging goods against slaves. All complain
+of the dearness of slaves.
+
+Afternoon visited Sheikh Hateetah, "Friend" or "Consul" of the English.
+Found him still unwell; he complains of pain in his bowels. This is the
+case with most people in Ghat, myself amongst the rest. It cannot be the
+water, for it is the purest and sweetest of The Desert. Prescribed a
+little medicine for the Sheikh, who promises to introduce me to Sultan
+Shafou when he arrives. Returned by another route, and in this manner
+made the tour of the town. Half an hour is fully enough to walk round the
+mere walls of the city, but then there are considerable suburbs,
+consisting of huts and stone and mud houses. At the Sheikh's I met a
+merchant just returned from Kanou; I put some questions to him, who,
+thinking I wished to have every one answered in the affirmative, gave me
+his terrible "yahs" and "aywahs" to all and everything demanded.
+
+"Are there many people ill in Kanou?"
+
+"Yes, many."
+
+"Is the route to Kanou unsafe?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Are there banditti in route?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Is it hot in Kanou?"
+
+"Very hot, very hot."
+
+"Is there fever in Kanou?"
+
+"Yes, always."
+
+This I thought was good news. I fear we often get incorrect intelligence
+from these people, through their anxiety to answer all our questions in
+the affirmative, they not understanding that we put the questions to them
+simply to gain information.
+
+All men are indeed equal here, as saith the Governor. There seems to be
+no ruling authority, and every one does what is right in his own eyes.
+Yesterday, although the Governor knew that some of his slaves or other
+people had stolen my sugar, he never condescended to mention the
+circumstance, by speaking to his eldest son about the theft; he said
+absurdly enough, "Oh, if we knew the thief, we would put him to death."
+On protesting against such punishment for the offence, he rejoined, "Oh,
+but we would cut off his hand." This is all stuff, and a proof of the
+weakness of the Governor's authority. Happily, however, there's no crime
+worth naming in the oasis.
+
+Am obliged to keep the door shut to prevent people from rushing into the
+house by twenties and fifties at once. The Governor has sent strict
+orders to his slaves to keep the door shut, first, to prevent me from
+being pestered to death all day long, and, secondly, because some of the
+people have got the habit here, as in Europe, of picking up little
+things. A young slave is crying out, "Bago! bago!" every five minutes, in
+answer to knocking at the door to see The Christian, which we interpret
+in European phrase more politely, "Not at home," but which signifieth in
+the original Housa, "No, no." However, a troop of the lower class of
+Touaricks managed to squeeze in as some of our people went out, but I got
+rid of them without angry words.
+
+A Ghadamsee resident here, came in to-day, with a severe gash on his
+hands, and one of his fingers, to ask my advice and beg medicine. The
+gash was inflicted upon him whilst at prayer, by a vagabond Touarghee.
+The assailant alleged as the reason of his violent act, that the
+Ghadamsee had called him a thief amongst the people, adding, that he (the
+Touarghee) had stolen two skin-bags out of a house. For such violence,
+such a daring act perpetrated on a man whilst in the solemn performance
+of prayer, our Marabout Governor was obliged to give satisfaction to the
+injured party. His Excellency stripped the house of the Touraghee of all
+his little property, turned him out into the street, and ordered him
+immediately to leave Ghat. To the honour, and humanity, and morality of
+the inhabitants of this part of The Sahara, such acts of violence are
+extremely rare. The Ghadamsee had poulticed his hand with wet clay and
+camel's dung. I recommended a bread poultice, but he kept to his day and
+camel's dung. The Saharans mostly prefer their own remedies, though they
+may condescend to ask you your advice. Bought some olive oil from the
+Arabs of Gharian. Before pouring it out they wished me to put sugar in
+the measure. I suspected some trick, and refused. As soon as the measure
+was out of my servant's hand, they seized it, some licking it, others
+rubbing their hands in it, and then oiling their bread. They wanted to
+have a lick at the sugar, which would have settled down at the bottom;
+and were very angry with me because I did not take their advice of
+improving the oil with my sugar. These Arabs are really more greedy and
+rapacious than the Touaricks. The difference is, the Arabs are near
+Tripoli, see Europeans, and learn to be more polite to us than the
+Touaricks can well be.
+
+A son of the Governor recited to me the following famous distich, begging
+me to tell him what it meant:--
+
+    "Tummora, tummora, tera,
+    Buon giorno, buona sera."
+
+On inquiring how he learned it, he told me a Moor of Tripoli taught it
+him. This seems to be the extent of European literature acquired by the
+Ghateen.
+
+_23rd._--Continue to have pains in my stomach, and feel very weak. Am
+undecided whether I shall go or not to Soudan. However, Haj Ibrahim has
+kindly offered to let me have twenty-five dollars' worth of goods on
+credit, which, in the case of my going, will relieve me from every
+embarrassment as to money for the present, until I can get a remittance
+from Tripoli, for these twenty-five dollars will furnish the presents and
+expenses of the route, and allow me to retain some twenty or thirty
+dollars in my pocket. The reader will and must smile at this mighty
+statement of my financial affairs, worthy of a Desert Budget!
+
+Essnousee called. Ouweek is a personal friend of his; Essnousee
+says:--"Ouweek has told us, he feared from you (myself), for the English
+had never before been in his district. For the rest, he was only playing
+with you. He wished to see whether an Englishman was a man of courage.
+This you proved to be, for you sat down and ate dates and biscuit whilst
+he was threatening to kill you. It also proved that you knew that he
+(Ouweek) was playing with you, for how could you eat dates if you thought
+he was going to kill you." This is Ouweek's defence about town. I heard
+also a curious version about the slave who ran to the horse. Zaleâ says,
+the slave ran there to get Ouweek farther from me, giving me an
+opportunity, if I chose, of escaping to Ghat. This affair still occupies
+public attention, but Ouweek keeps his present, and evidently will not
+restore it despite the threats of Jabour. Essnousee tells me not to be
+afraid of Ouweek, for he has influence with the Sheikh.
+
+A Souk of _little things_ has just been opened, and provisions, with all
+sorts of small articles, the manufacture of Soudan and Aheer, are exposed
+for sale in the public square. Formerly, these matters were purchased at
+private houses. This is a step in the march of Saharan commerce.
+
+Yesterday evening, the poor slaves danced and sung till midnight in the
+public squares. Ever-pitying Providence, so permits an hour of gaiety to
+suffering humanity, under circumstances the most adverse to happiness!
+The slaves of the caravan are, a few of them, permitted to join those of
+the town, and the exiled slaves sometimes obtain intelligence in this way
+of their country. Generally the slaves imported are from such a variety
+of districts in Negroland, and so widely apart, that the slaves of The
+Sahara can hear little of their native homes. I asked Bel Kasem, if the
+slaves of the Ghafalah were prisoners of war. "No," he replied, "there is
+no war now in Soudan; these are captured with matchlocks at night by
+robbers (sbandout); the negro is frightened out of his wits at the sound
+of fire-arms."
+
+Afternoon there was a tremendous hubbub in the public square or
+market-place, the Negresses flying in all directions from the scene of
+tumult. One of Haj Ahmed's negresses comes running to me: "Shut the door,
+shut the door, the world is upset, the world is upset! Haj Ahmed, my
+master, is no Sheikh, no Sultan. He can't keep the people quiet. I'm
+going, I'm going." "Where are you going?" "I'm going to another and
+quieter country, to Haj Ahmed, my master, to tell him the news." This is
+a very lively negress, her tongue never stops; she retails all the news
+of the country to me, and is a great politician in her way. Some of these
+Ghat negresses are actually witty, and crack jokes with the grave
+Touaricks. The Touaricks are too gallant to be offended with the freedom
+of even female slaves. I felt somewhat alarmed, thinking the discomfitted
+party might come and avenge their defeat upon the unlucky Christian
+stranger. We barricaded the door, and kept quiet, anxiously waiting the
+result, as people do in Paris, when an _emeute_ is being enacted for the
+especial benefit of the Parisians. Afterwards I learnt the particulars of
+this strange tumult. There is an old half-cracked Sheikh, who goes every
+day into the public square, and strikes his spear into the ground, and
+retiring at a distance, exclaims aloud to all present, "Whoever dares to
+touch that spear I'll kill him!" To-day a young Touarick passed by, and
+seeing the spear sticking up very formidably, as if challenging
+all-passers by, went near it, and said, "What's this?" and took hold of
+it. The crazy Sheikh was watching at some distance, and now was his
+opportunity to show the people his determined will and resolution. He
+rushes at the lad with his dagger in hand. In an instant the whole place
+is in wild tumult, cries and shouts rend the air, with a forest of spears
+brandishing over the heads of Touaricks, Arabs, Moors, slaves, men,
+women, and children, mingling together, and running over one another in a
+frightful _melée_. The boy is rescued, the people resume their lounging
+seats, the storm drops to a dead calm, and nobody is hurt, not even
+scratched. Such is a row amongst these untutored children of The Desert.
+How different to the Thuggee rows now being enacted in Ireland!
+
+Afterwards paid a visit to Bel Kasem. He complained bitterly of slaves
+being dear. A slave is sold at from 40 to 100 dollars. The mediate price
+is 60 to 70. Two months ago good slaves were sold at 30 and 40 dollars
+each. The reason given is the great quantity of merchandize arrived
+direct from Tripoli, besides from the lateral routes of Ghadames and
+Mourzuk. The English Vice-Consul of the latter city has sent quantities
+of goods to this mart, but these are exchanged only for senna and ivory.
+This evening arrived another Tripoline merchant with twenty camels of
+merchandize. He came _viâ_ Mizdah and Shaty, and was forty-five days _en
+route_. The Touat caravan (very small) has arrived, bringing Touat
+woollen barracans and Timbuctoo gold. The affair of the Timbuctoo caravan
+is differently reported. It is now said the people killed were the
+inhabitants of Ain Salah. The Desert is a great exaggerator and
+misinterpreter. It is very difficult to get correct news.
+
+_24th._--Better in health this morning, after taking medicine yesterday.
+First thing, returned the visit of the Governor. When I go out early,
+find few persons about the streets. People are up as late in winter as
+they are early in summer. The Touaricks of the suburban huts do not come
+to town till very late in the morning, when the Souk begins. His
+Excellency treated me with three cups of coffee. He said, "You must take
+three, because it is the destined number of hospitality, and as many more
+as you choose." It was wretched stuff--hot water and sugar, blackened or
+diluted with a little badly-ground coffee. But his Excellency thought he
+was conferring upon me a vast favour. Few people drink coffee in this
+country, and it is considered a great luxury. A man from Bengazi, a
+visitor, was also treated with his three cups of coffee. These Saharans
+have strange notions in their heads respecting the geography of England,
+and the capabilities of its inhabitants in travelling. The Governor asked
+me, "If the English could travel by land?" I was astonished at the
+question, but I saw he imagined our country, and European countries
+generally, to be so many little islets in the ocean[76]. It is curious,
+likewise, how old this notion is. The Hebrew prophets, who were bad
+geographers, depicted all western Europe as "the isles of the sea." The
+Governor continued, "But can you travel on land, when water is wanted, as
+in this country?" Before the French occupied Algiers, the Saharans
+thought it impossible for Christians to invade, or even to travel in,
+their country. This gave the French invading army such a vast prestige
+when they once got upon _terrâ firma_. The event was as unexpected and
+marvelled at as the immediate results were decisive and brilliant. I
+answered, "In travelling through Christian countries, water is met with
+every day. If it be necessary to carry water however, water is carried.
+The French carry it in Algeria, and the English in India, when the
+country is dry and desert, on the backs of camels." His Excellency,
+greatly surprised, "What! impossible! Have the Christians camels? God
+gave the camels only to the Faithful." I returned, "We have troops of
+camels." "And where do you get camels?" asked the Governor, with great
+seriousness. "The French buy camels from Mussulmans in Algeria, and the
+English keep camels in India." "Ah!" observed the Governor, "those French
+Mussulmans sell camels to infidels. They themselves are infidels." His
+Excellency now inquired about religion, and whether all Christians had
+books (_i. e._ books of religion). As before noticed, there is a
+prevailing opinion here that Protestants have no Scriptures, whilst,
+indeed, as we know, they are the Christians who only, _bonâ fide_, have
+the free use of the Scriptures. I saw that Haj Ahmed, though a Marabout,
+was sufficiently ignorant on the religion of Christians. His Excellency
+then asked about money.
+
+"Who have the most money, Mussulmans or the English?"
+
+_I._--"The English, The Sultan of Constantinople has no money, or spends
+it faster than he gets it. Mehemet Ali has but little money. However,
+Muley Abd Errahman has some saved up in the vaults of Mekinas."
+
+_The Governor._--"Muley Abd Errahman belongs to us; we are his subjects.
+We have nothing to do with the Turks or the Touaricks. As the English
+have much money, why have not you much?"
+
+This question--this home-thrust--was made in a peculiarly arch way.
+
+"If I had brought much money," I replied, as pointedly, "I'm sure I
+should have been murdered before I got to Ghat. All my friends, and the
+Rais of Ghadames told me not to carry any money with me."
+
+This clear and positive statement made the visitors, who were numerous,
+burst out laughing. His Excellency, taken by surprise, asked abruptly,
+"How? Why?" I added, "Two Englishmen have been murdered in The Desert,
+the one near Wadnoun (Davidson), and the other near Timbuctoo (Major
+Laing), and both upon the supposition of their having possessed much
+money." The Governor at once dropped the subject, thinking I was going to
+bring upon the tapis Ouweek. His Excellency often quizzes me about having
+no money, evidently not believing a word of my alleged poverty. I then
+asked the Governor what he thought of the great camel-driver, Kandarka,
+who conducts the caravans, and nearly all the Ghadamseeah between Ghat
+and Aheer. He answered, to my surprise, _Ma nâraf_, "I don't know," for
+Kandarka has an excellent reputation. This was the jesuitism of the Moor.
+
+I took leave, and was escorted to Hateetah by my young Touarghee friend,
+whose eyes I'm doctoring. On our way we met his master, Sheikh Jabour,
+who stopped to salute us. Afterwards, somebody hailed us from a hut. My
+Touarghee friend turned and said, "They want to see you." We went, and I
+found several of my Ghadamsee acquaintance and some Touarghee people of
+consequence, all squatting down on the sand in a gossiping circle. They
+soon began on the troublesome subject of religion, after they had
+gratified their curiosity in staring at me and through me. One said to
+the Ghadamsee people, "Tell the Christian to repeat, 'There's one God,'"
+&c. I was determined to risk an abrupt answer. I said, "This saying is
+prohibited to Christians." At this stop-mouth answer they burst out into
+a fit of hilarity. But one fellow, who wished to show some zeal, growled
+out, "Be off, be off." My good-natured young Touarghee quickly got up
+from the circle, where he had taken his seat, and smiling, took me by the
+arm, whispering in my ear, "Come along, Yâkob, these are brutish people."
+We found Hateetah better. I asked him seriously if there was danger in my
+going to Aheer. He observed, "Without a letter from Shafou you can't go,
+the merchants can't and won't protect you. Some of them are big rascals,
+worse than us Touaricks, and will sell you as a slave for a dollar." Many
+concur in this opinion. I found the Ghatee people more peaceable in the
+streets, now the novelty of my appearance is diminishing. When I pay a
+visit to a person of consequence I always put on my European clothes,
+which compliment is perfectly understood, for I offended an old Sheikh
+with going to him with my burnouse on instead of my French cloak. He said
+to my uncouth cicerone, "This Christian doesn't pay me respect, why
+doesn't he dress himself in Christian clothes?" Hateetah always makes me
+promise to return by the eastern side of the city, where we meet with
+very few persons. Saw Haj Ibrahim on my return. He complains of the
+market:--"Slaves are very dear. What can we do? We are obliged to buy
+them; there is nothing else in the market. Only a small quantity of
+elephants' teeth and a little senna. Besides these, nothing else sells in
+Tripoli."
+
+Returning from the merchants, "Whey! whey! whoo! whoo! whoo!" saluted my
+ears. This noise came from a group of people surrounding _En-Nibbee
+Targhee_, "The Prophet of the Touaricks." The salute was followed by a
+number of persons who rushed upon me, carried me by force into the
+presence of The Prophet. The Seer, seeing me discomposed, said in a kind
+tone, "_Gheem_," (sit down). Now there was profoundest silence, not a
+murmur was heard amongst a hundred people crowded together. The Seer
+stood up before me, and, assuming an imposing attitude, spoke in
+monosyllabic style, the usual address adopted by North African and
+Saharan prophets,--
+
+"Christian, Ghat, good, you?"
+
+_Myself._--"Yes, the people are good to me."
+
+_The Prophet._--"Three! one!" (putting out one finger of the right hand,
+and three of the left hand.)
+
+_Myself._--"There is one God!" (knowing the prophet meant this, for it is
+the usual way of badgering Christians about the Trinity in North
+Africa.)
+
+_The Prophet._--"Good:" (then making the sign of the cross by putting his
+two forefingers into the shape of a cross.) "But you Christians worship
+this (the cross) of wood, stone, iron, brass. This is not good, not
+good."
+
+_Myself._--"No, we English do not worship wood, stone, iron, or brass."
+
+_The Prophet._--"You lie, you lie." (At this emphatic negative, up
+stepped one of my Ghadamsee friends to the Prophet, and told him that the
+English did not worship the cross or images like some other Christians.)
+
+_The Prophet._--"Good, right, sublime. What's your name?"
+
+_Myself._-"Yâkob."
+
+_The Prophet._--"You, dog, Jew."
+
+_Myself._--"No. This is the Arabic of my English name."
+
+_The Prophet._-"Good, good; Yâkob, do you steal?"
+
+_Myself._--"Please God, I hope not."
+
+_The Prophet._--"Yâkob, do you lie?"
+
+_Myself._--"Please God, I hope not."
+
+_The Prophet._--"Yâkob, do you strike?" (_i. e._ kill.)
+
+_Myself._--"Please God, I hope not."
+
+_The Prophet._--"Good, good, good. Have you seen the Kafers in Algiers?"
+(_i. e._ the French.)
+
+_Myself._--"I have."
+
+_The Prophet._--"Have they houses where women are kept, and twenty men go
+in and sleep with one woman in an hour?" (At this question, the multitude
+showed intense anxiety to hear the result.)
+
+_Myself._--"I don't know."
+
+I had scarcely made answer when two women rushed upon the Prophet and
+dragged him away crying, "_Yamout, Mat:_ he is dying! he is dead!" As the
+Prophet was pulled away he turned to me mildly and said, "_Yâkob, inker_,
+Arise, James." I inquired where he was being dragged to, and was told
+that the husband of the two women was just dead, and the Prophet was
+going to see whether he could raise him from the dead. The Prophet had
+already raised several people from death to life. It is a pity this
+barbarian prophet could not be transported from the sands of The Sahara
+to the marble pavement of the Vatican, where he might harangue Pope Pius
+IX. and his Cardinals in the style of an Iconoclast, and induce the
+Sacred College to abolish their scandal of image-worship. The Prophet
+wears a leathern dress, or dried skins, from head to foot. His repute of
+sanctity fills the surrounding deserts with its holy odours. The number
+of miracles he performs is prodigious. His leathern burnouse, like the
+Holy Tunic of Treves, is frequently carried about to cure the sick and
+work miracles.
+
+Coming home, I had a visit from some Touaricks of Aheer. They were
+uncommonly civil, addressing me: "If you go with us, you have nothing to
+fear. In Aheer, people will not call out to you in the streets as in
+Ghat. We have a Sultan. Here there is no Sultan." They were amazed at my
+little keys. I promised one of them, that, in case of my arriving safe in
+Aheer, I would give him a little lock and key. This delighted him; and
+two pieces of sugar, one each, made these Aheer Touaricks excellent
+friends. Have visits from the Ghateen. Several of these people are going
+to Soudan with the return caravan.
+
+In better spirits to-day. Have been suffering from "The Boree." Such a
+variety of discouraging influences press upon the mind, that it is very
+difficult to keep it buoyant. Poor Said, he gives way in tears. He is
+become terrified at the prospect of Soudan; he repeats, "The Touaricks
+will kill you, and make me a slave again."
+
+Had another visit from the uncle of Sheikh Jabour, a poor old gentleman.
+I got rid of him by a bit of white sugar, which he munched as a little
+child. He says, "One thousand Touarghee warriors are going against the
+Shânbah after the mart is held." Was to-day astonished to hear, that a
+few dates, a little gusub, a few onions, and a few stones of dates, which
+a female slave offers for sale in the streets, belong to Haj Ahmed the
+Governor! His Excellency sends the poor woman every morning to sell this
+miserable merchandize, and she regularly pays into his hands the price
+and profits every evening. This is one of the wrinkles of the Great
+Governor Marabout, who lives in a palace, and reigns as king and priest
+of Ghat and the Ghateen[77]! What shall I hear next? I am not surprised,
+some of the Ghadamsee merchants sneer at the idea of Haj Ahmed being "a
+Marabout of odour." Essnousee sent me a little present of vermicelli and
+cuscasou, or _hamsa_. He certainly behaves better than the other
+Ghadamsee merchants resident here. I'm told, there will not be many
+Touarick visitors this year at Ghat. They have unexpected occupation to
+defend themselves against the sanguinary forays of the Shânbah. And then,
+the late rains having produced abundant herbage, they are also occupied
+in grazing the camels. The merchants congratulate me on these
+circumstances, and say I shall have less presents to distribute.
+
+Met at Haj Ibrahim's a Shereef of Mourzuk, who pretends he is going to
+Soudan. This is a little thin fellow, who glides into people's houses
+through the keyhole, importunately begging on the strength of his being
+of the family of the Prophet, and lives by the same pretensions. He has a
+smiling face, with his head reclined always on one side from his habit of
+incessant importunities; of course, he has not a para in his pocket. But,
+nevertheless, he managed a few months ago to ally himself with the family
+of a rich merchant, marrying the sister of my friend Mohammed Kafah, one
+of the Ghatee millionnaires. Kafah is thoroughly disgusted with his
+sister's marriage, and gives them nothing to eat, or only enough to keep
+his sister from dying of starvation. One of the Shereef's items of
+importunity, is his incessant abuse of his brother-in-law, because he
+won't keep him in idleness. This little sorry shrimpy _quasi_-impostor
+can neither read nor write. He tells me it is quite unnecessary. The
+blood of the Prophet makes him noble, and fit for heaven at any time
+Rubbee may decree his death. He is professionally and continually begging
+from me, and says with a whining pomposity, "Put yourself under my
+protection, I will escort you safe to Soudan. No one dare lift a finger
+against a Christian under the protection of a Shereef!" But it's odd,
+these and such offers of protection come from many quarters. The
+camel-drivers and conducteurs look upon me as a good speculation. The
+Shereef pretends that there are no less than two hundred of his family
+in Soudan, and some nearly black, on account of their intermarriages with
+negroes. One thing I like in the little wretch, he seems devoid of a
+spark of bigotry against Christians. It may be that his mind is too
+impotent for the malicious feeling. "Gagliuffi," he says, "is my friend.
+I'm the protector of the English at Mourzuk." Mustapha of Tripoli has cut
+me because I would not allow him to charge me double for the sugar,
+cloves, and sunbul, which I purchased of him. A pretty rogue is this; but
+I forgive him, for his voluntary and opportune services in interpreting
+for me on my arrival in Ghat.
+
+_25th._--Christmas Day! Not a merry Christmas for me--in truth, a sad, an
+unhappy one. And yet I ought to be content, having food and raiment, and
+enjoying the protection of God amidst strangers, in The Inhospitable
+Desert! It is better for a man to pray for a happy mind than for riches
+and celebrity. Weather has been mostly fine during the ten days I have
+resided here. But this morning broke angrily, followed with a tremendous
+gale, blowing from the east, prostrating all the palms, and filling the
+air with sand, as a thrice condensed London November fog. It is besides
+very cold, and is so far Christmas weather. I may add, the weather
+continued unusually cold this Souk. People had not had such cold for many
+a year. Received a visit from the Sheikh Jabour, who expressed himself
+uncommonly friendly, and said, "If anything unpleasant occurs, call for
+me." I showed him some cuts of a book, in which were drawings of Moors.
+He was wonder-stricken. The sight of a date-palm pleased him exceedingly,
+tickling the fancy of his followers who accompanied him. The Sheikh
+promised me a letter for the Sultan of Aheer, and to send a slave of his
+own with me as far as Aheer. Jabour did not positively assert that
+Tripoli belonged to the English, and contented himself with asking, "If
+Tripoli were English?" I explained fully to the Sheikh, as he is a man of
+a fine ingenuous mind, that Asker Ali was recalled by the Sultan of
+Stamboul on the representations of the British Consul of Tripoli, the
+Pasha being a blood-thirsty tyrant, the enemy of the Christians as well
+as the Mussulmans; and that the Consul has influence in Tripoli, but
+Tripoli belongs to the Sultan. The Ghadamsee interpreter observed, "The
+English and the Mussulmans are the same." "Certainly," I replied,
+"without the English the French would soon eat up the Sultan of the West
+(Morocco), and the Russians the Sultan of the East (Turkey)." "That's
+good," observed Jabour; "Still, we in The Desert, fear neither Christians
+nor Sultan. And if the English require our assistance they can have it.
+Tell this on your return to your Sultan." This amiable prince then took
+leave. If there be a desert aristocrat of gentle blood, it is
+unquestionably Jabour. A shoal of low Touaricks came to me afterwards, in
+the Sheikh's name, to beg. I saw through the _ruse_, and they were savage
+in being obliged to go off empty-handed. Some Touarick ladies now tried
+to squeeze in as the door was opened, and, in spite of the "bago, bago,"
+got up stairs to the terrace. They had all the tips of their noses, the
+round of the chins, and the bones of their cheeks, blackened. At first I
+could not make out how it was. It was explained that the dye of the
+Soudan cottons, which they wore, produced this blacky tipping. These
+cottons begrime their wearers sadly, the colour is not fast, the indigo
+being ill prepared. Some of the blue cottons are highly glazed. Men and
+women wear them, being cheap and light clothing for the summer.
+
+_26th._--Relieved from pain, but getting very thin, although my habits
+are now what are called sedentary. I rarely sit up when at home, mostly
+reclining. So far I am become a _bonâ fide_ Saharan habitant. Kandarka
+called again to-day at my request. He professed to be very uncivil or
+very serious, and asked a large sum for conducting me to Soudan, like a
+real man of business, quite inconsistent with the present state of my
+finances. He asks no less than 150 dollars in goods, including camels for
+riding, and other attentions. This is more than he gets from all the
+merchants put together, in fact, nearly twice as much. But if it be
+necessary to strike the bargain, I'm sure he will come down to fifty. My
+health is breaking down very fast, and I have great hesitation on the
+subject of a farther advance into the interior. I have been thinking of
+continuing my tour to Egypt and Syria, and Constantinople, visiting all
+the slave-marts of the Mediterranean. Had a visit from Zaleâ, and found
+him the same man as _en route_. But he is always a little wild and
+playful. He is against my proceeding farther, and tells me to get off on
+my return before Shafou comes, that the Touaricks may not get all the
+money I have. I am at present, however, so satisfied with the Touaricks,
+that I would give them a camel-load of dollars if I had them. Shafou is
+still occupied in the neighbouring districts, enrolling troops for the
+Shânbah expedition. The Bengazi merchant persuades me to accompany him.
+From Ghat to the first oasis of Fezzan, there are 10 days; from thence
+to Sockna, 10; from Sockna to Augelah, 10; thence to Seewah, 14 days
+more; and thence to Alexandria, 14 more days.
+
+Weather is dull to-day, but not very cold. All the Arabs and people of
+Ghadames abuse Ghat: it is assuredly a sufficiently wretched place.
+However, the scenery around is much more lively and picturesque than that
+of Ghadames. A great quantity of elephants' teeth arrived yesterday (not
+to be sold here), on their way to Ghadames. Also some Soudanic sheep for
+this market, selling as low as three dollars each. Had a visit from the
+eldest son of the Governor, and his nephew the Medina Shereef. This
+Shereef must be carefully distinguished from the little mad-cap impostor
+of Mourzuk mentioned before. I have not found so gentlemanly a person in
+all Ghat and Ghadames. He was born in Medina, but brought up here; he is
+the son of the Governor's sister, who is married a second time to the
+Sheikh Khanouhen, heir-apparent to the throne. The Shereef's mother is
+not a Touarick woman, and the Sheikh has another wife of Touarick
+extraction in the districts. Of course Khanouhen is strongly recommended
+to me by his son-in-law. "Khanouhen," he says, "has all the wisdom and
+eloquence of the country in his head and heart. Shafou is an old man, and
+talks little. Whatever Khanouhen plans, Shafou approves; whatever
+Khanouhen says in words, Shafou orders to be done." Had a visit from a
+Touatee, just arrived. He recommended me to go to Timbuctoo, and fear
+nothing. "What have the Touaricks of Ghat done to you that you are afraid
+to visit the Touaricks of my country and Timbuctoo?" he added. Now came
+in two Soudanese merchants. One of them said, "Say 'There is but one
+God,' &c." I answered "This is prohibited to us," which made them laugh
+out. They have not that fierce bigotry of the north-coast merchants.
+Visited Haj Ibrahim. He says, "Wait for me till next year, and we'll both
+go together to Soudan. I'll protect you." Certainly this Moor has
+hitherto shown himself extremely friendly to me. Khanouhen came in this
+evening from the country.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[76] 1s xLi. 1, 5; xLix, i. Whilst in Jer. ii. 10, Europe entire
+    is presented to the prophetic vision by the designation of "the
+    Isles of Chittim." Sometimes the whole idea of Gentiles and
+    Gentile nations is represented by the isles of the sea. The Hebrew
+    bards, standing on the heights of Lebanon, and looking westwards,
+    saw nothing but innumerable clusters of islets in the dim and
+    undefined distance of the waters of the Mediterranean.
+
+[77] A Moor of Ghat now and then goes to Tripoli. The Italian
+    merchants call them the _Gatti_, "cats."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+RESIDENCE IN GHAT.
+
+     Arrival of the Sultan Shafou.--Visit to his Highness.--Visit to
+     Hateetah; his jealousy of the Sultan and other Sheikhs.--Visit
+     from the People of the Oasis of Berkat.--Said sobbing and
+     sulking.--A Night-School in The Desert.--Use of Sand instead of
+     Paper, Pens, and Ink.--Mode of Touarghee succession to the
+     Throne.--Women hereditary possessors of Household
+     Property.--Negresses are Dramatic Performers.--Description of the
+     Oasis of Ghat; Houses, Architecture, Gardens, and Surrounding
+     Country.--Visit from the Heir-Apparent, Khanouhen.--Genial
+     softness of the Weather.--Specimen of Retail Trade.--Case of
+     administering Justice by the Sultan.--Early habit of Touarghee
+     begging.--The _Bou-Habeeba_, or Saharan Singing Sparrows.--Alarm
+     of Female Hucksters at The Christian.
+
+
+_27th._--A FINE morning. Feel better in health. The Touarghee Sultan,
+Mohammed Shafou Ben Seed, came in this morning from the country
+districts. His Highness is Sultan of all the Ghat Touaricks, or those of
+_Azgher_.
+
+Arrived to-day another portion of the Soudan ghafalah. There was a false
+report this morning of the appearance of the Shânbah. Musket firing was
+heard in various directions, and the people ran together, some mounting
+the tops of the houses to see the fighting which was supposed to be going
+on between the Shânbah and Touaricks. The Arabs, with their matchlocks in
+their hands, ran after their camels to prevent them from being carried
+off. The hubbub was most singular and bewildering. I expected to have to
+report skirmish after skirmish, in the capture of Ghat, for the benefit
+of The Leading London Journal. The true cause at length appeared in the
+arrival of the Sultan, the firing of matchlocks heard at a distance being
+done in honour of His Highness, and his coming to his town residence. So
+it is, in a little place like this a false report may work wonders in a
+few minutes. People are charmed with these rumours: they are their oral
+newspaper excitement. In the streets were now heard "Shafou! Shafou!" "It
+is Shafou! It is Shafou! It is Shafou!" "Shafou has come!"
+
+As soon as the Sultan arrived, without waiting more than three or four
+hours, I determined to visit His Highness, and carry him a small present.
+I could not yet tell how the Sultan would look upon my projected journey
+to Soudan. Fortunately I found Essnousee in the streets, who volunteered
+his services as interpreter. Haj Ibrahim was also so good as to embrace
+the opportunity of going with us. This had a good effect, and served to
+give my visit consequence, Haj Ibrahim being the most respectable
+foreigner now in Ghat. He was also a stranger to His Highness as well as
+myself.
+
+We found His Highness, at about a quarter of a mile's distance out of the
+town, sitting down by himself alone upon the sand, aside of a large
+_hasheesh_ house, or hut of date-palm branches. The attendants of His
+Highness, who were not very numerous, sat at a considerable distance off.
+In this primitive way and Desert style he had been receiving various
+personages ever since his arrival this morning. As soon as His Highness
+saw us approaching him, he bade us welcome by signs and salutations in
+the style of the Touaricks, slowly raising his right arm, as high as his
+shoulders, and turning the palm of the outspread hand to us. Haj Ibrahim
+was first introduced, but the Sultan could not keep off his eyes from me.
+At last the Sultan made a sign to Essnousee to speak on my behalf.
+Essnousee explained very deliberately and minutely everything respecting
+me--where and when he saw me at Tripoli, how I went to Ghadames, came
+here from that place, and what were my intentions in proposing to go to
+Soudan. The Sultan then turned to me, and said, "Go, Christian, wherever
+you please; in my country fear nothing--go where everybody else goes."
+After this I presented my little backsheesh to His Highness, consisting
+of a small carpet-rug to sit or recline upon, a zamailah or turban, and a
+shumlah or sash, large and full, and scarlet, like the Spaniards wear. On
+giving the servant of His Highness the present, (which was covered, and
+not exposed before His Highness, as a matter of delicacy,) I said,
+through Essnousee, "This present is from me, and not from my Sultan, nor
+the Consul at Tripoli, nor any persons in my country; it is extremely
+small, and scarcely worth accepting. But, probably, if your Highness
+should protect Englishmen through your country, and allow English
+merchants to come and traffic in Ghat, a greater and richer present will
+be sent to you hereafter." His Highness replied, "Thank you; I'm an old
+man now, and want but little: we have a little bread, and milk of the
+nagah (she-camel), and for which we praise God. Don't fear our people--no
+one shall hurt you." Indeed, I saw the old gentleman was thankful for any
+trifle. My little backsheesh was, perhaps, of the value of ten dollars,
+and was the largest present I had yet made. I then asked His Highness
+whether he would write a letter for me to the Sultan of Aheer, and one to
+the Queen of England, stating that he would give protection to all
+British subjects passing through The Touarghee Desert? The Sultan
+replied, "All that you want I will do for you, please God." I determined
+to risk a word on Desert politics. I said, "Your Highness must
+exterminate the Shânbah, for they are a band of robbers." The Sultan
+replied, "Please God we will; we are now preparing the camels to go out
+against them." Essnousee and Haj Ibrahim considered the words of the
+Sultan delivered in the most friendly spirit. Shafou was dressed very
+plainly and very dirtily; and yet there sat upon his aged countenance
+(for he was full seventy years of age) a most venerable expression of
+dignity. His Highness wore a dark-blue cotton frock of Soudanic
+manufacture, and black-blue trowsers of the same kind of cotton. On his
+head was a red cap, around which was folded in very large folds a white
+turban. He had, like all Touaricks, a dagger suspended under the left
+arm, but no other weapon near him, or on his person. By his side, on the
+sand, lay a huge stick with which he walks, instead of the lance. His
+mouth and chin were covered with a thin blue cotton wrapper, a portion of
+the _litham_. Around his neck were suspended a few amulets, sewn up in
+red leathern bags. His Highness was without shoes, and his legs were
+quite bare; his feet lay half-buried in the sand. He spoke very slow and
+under tone, scarcely audible, and at times the conversation was
+interrupted by the silence of the dead. All his deportment was like that
+of a Sultan of these wilds; and the ancient Sheikh felt all the
+consciousness of his power. The Desert Genii hedge him in around. The
+Sultan is profoundly respected by all; and Louis-Philippe is a
+gingerbread Sovereign compared with Shafou of The Great Desert.
+
+But the reader would not be prepared to find His Highness smoking his
+pipe during our interview, and striking a light himself, the materials
+for which he carried in a large leathern bag, or pouch, slung on his left
+arm, like all the Touaricks. On taking leave, we called the servant of
+the Sultan after us, and Haj Ibrahim gave into his hands a small present
+for the Sultan of the value of a couple of dollars, so that I maintain my
+position of also giving the best presents, in the case of the Sultan. To
+me it was a most pleasant and refreshing interview, after the serio-comic
+affair of Ouweek. I asked Haj Ibrahim what Shafou said to him. The Sultan
+simply told the merchant, "You may go to every part of the country now in
+safety: to Touat, to Aheer, wherever you will--don't be afraid of the
+Touaricks." I went home with the Haj, and spent the evening with him. The
+merchant determines to send eight camels of goods to Soudan. He has not
+sold a fourth of what he brought to this mart. A great part of the
+slaves, elephants' teeth, and senna which daily arrive here, are not for
+sale in Ghat, but are sent direct from Soudan to Tripoli by the
+correspondents of the Ghadamsee merchants at Kanou. The Ghat Souk is
+nearly closed, all the slaves are sold, and some of the people are
+thinking about returning.
+
+_28th._--Rose early and better in health. Pleased with the prospect of
+still seeing my journey to Soudan completed. Weather this morning very
+dull, sky overcast, a few drops of rain falling. Early Sheikh Hateetah
+sent for me. Went and found the Consul of the English better in health.
+He shewed me his scarlet burnouse and gold-braided coat, given him by our
+Government. But as his object in calling me was only to express his
+jealousy of the other Sheikhs, and of the Sultan himself, and to beg
+another present, I was by no means pleased with my visit. He evidently
+wished me to give him all the presents as the "Friend" of the English.
+But this would have been both unjust and suicidal policy on my part. I
+could not have considered myself safe, at any rate, respected or
+esteemed, unless I had given a present to all the principal personages in
+Ghat and the surrounding districts. Hateetah besides annoyed me by saying
+the route of Aheer was full of bandits, against the concurrent testimony
+of all the merchants. He wishes me to take the route of Bornou, which
+would, entirely defeat the object I have in view, of visiting new
+countries. However, by being firm with him, I got him to promise to
+procure for me a letter and servant from Shafou to go on to Aheer. I am
+to call again in a few days, and he is to show me his seal of office,
+done by the Consul-General of Tripoli. Hateetah is a man of more than
+sixty years, very tall, thin and attenuated, of extremely feeble frame.
+He is still labouring under fever, and does not leave his pallet. To-day,
+however, he got quite energetic on the subject of the presents, having
+heard what a fine present the Sultan had received from me. He begged me
+not to give a present to the _Oulad_ ("people" or "followers") of Shafou,
+meaning thereby Khanouhen.
+
+On my return, I found my door thronged with visitors from Berkat,
+the village three miles distant, _en route_ of Soudan. They had been
+waiting an hour or two for my return. At first I repulsed them, but
+hearing afterwards they had brought a young lad unwell, I let them
+in. The lad was covered with hard lumps, which had grown or festered
+under his skin, about the size of a nut. He had been so for a year.
+I prescribed a bath and opening medicine (senna, which they can get
+easily), but I question if they try either. I recommended them to
+send him to Tripoli, to the English doctor there, but they heard of
+the proposal with horror. None of these Berkat people have ever
+visited Tripoli. The Turks are their bugbear. They were not
+extremely friendly; rude and ignorant villagers as they were, they
+could not understand why I wanted to go to Soudan. I observed they
+were all well clothed and seemed to live in Saharan affluence. The
+term Berkat, ‮بركت‬, signifies "a lake" or "lagoon," and probably
+the site of the oasis is the dry bottom of what was formerly a
+lagoon. The Berkat oasis is larger in gardens, and more fertile than
+Ghat, but possesses the same essential features. It has no Souk, and
+excites no attention from strangers visiting Ghat. The inhabitants
+are Saharan Moors, and some five or six hundred in number. Had a
+very friendly visit from Salah, eldest son of Haj Mansour, of
+Ghadames. He says justly, Kandarka and other camel-drivers
+exaggerate the dangers of the routes for their own private ends, to
+get more money out of me. Of the Touaricks and Ouweek, he says,
+"They have no knowledge, they are bullocks." He also added, "I have
+been reprimanding Ouweek for his bad conduct to you; I told him I
+would not give him my usual backsheesh on account of his
+ill-treating you."
+
+I am much bothered with Said. Like his master he is continually wavering,
+whether he shall return to Ghadames with the return caravan, or proceed
+with me. I leave him to his own choice and reflections, telling him I
+will secure his freedom by writing to Sheikh Makouran. I can't but pity
+him. I find him frequently in tears, or sobbing aloud, afraid the
+Touaricks will again make him a slave.
+
+In the streets, I pass nearly every evening a Night-School, where there
+is a crowd of children all cooped up together in a small room, humming,
+spouting, and screaming simultaneously their lessons of the Koran, in the
+manner of some of our infant schools. This mode of simultaneously
+repeating a lesson has prevailed from time immemorial in the schools of
+North Africa, and I imagine, in The East likewise, and though it may be
+new in England or Europe, it is old in Asia and Africa. But I never saw
+before a Night-School in Barbary, and look upon this Saharan specimen of
+scholastic discipline as a novelty. It is probable, in this way, every
+male child of Ghat, as in Ghadames, is taught to read and write. The
+pride of the Ghadamseeah is, that all their children read and write. The
+whole population can read and write the Koran. This Saharan fact of the
+barbarians of The Desert suggests painful reflections to honest-minded
+Englishmen. We may boast of our liberties, our Magna Charta, our
+independence of character, our commerce, our wealth, the extent of the
+world which Providence (too good to us) has committed to our care. But
+after all we cannot boast of what the barbarians of The Desert boast. We
+cannot, dare not, assert, that every male child of our population can
+read the Book which we call the Revelation of God! This deplorable, but
+undeniable fact, ought to throw suspicion upon our religious motives, as
+well as our pretensions to the love and maintenance of liberty,--unless
+it be argued, that our liberty is founded on our want of education, and
+we are free men because the half of our population cannot sign their own
+name! A Minister of the Crown (Earl Grey), in a late, and the last
+discussion of the House of Lords (of the old Parliament), had the
+hardihood, the intrepidity, to assert, that, "We (Englishmen) were the
+least educated people of Europe, nay, that we were behind the savages of
+New Zealand!" But this astounding declaration of the Minister produced no
+explosion of indignation, not a single expression of regret, not a hum or
+murmur of disapprobation from the Spiritual or Temporal Lords, to whom
+the words of shame and censure were addressed. And, as the Lords, so the
+Commons, so all classes of our society. The enunciation, the reiteration
+of this most extraordinary, most damning stigma, on our national
+character, does not even tinge with the most imperceptible hue of shame
+the national countenance. What is the cause of all this? It is the
+profound, incurable, and inextirpable bigotry of the English people, to
+which they will not hesitate to sacrifice the national honour, the public
+happiness, their own liberties, and their own consciences. . . . . . . If
+measures for education are proposed by Imperial Government, our people
+one and all will neither allow them to be adopted, nor will they
+themselves adopt measures for education. With the diverse sections of our
+society, no education is education unless it be based upon their own
+peculiar views and principles. In this way, the curse and opprobrium of
+ignorance are maintained in our own country.
+
+I observe that the little urchins of this Saharan School use sand in
+their first efforts to write. As sand abounds everywhere in the populated
+oases of Sahara, and the people are poor and cannot afford to buy much
+paper, it is constantly employed instead of paper, pens, and ink, in
+casting up accounts. I see all the Soudanese merchants casting up their
+accounts of barter and bargains in this way. Mostly the fore-finger is
+employed, and in careless conversation a long stick or spear is used to
+scratch the sand. But if the subject is serious, the speaker very
+distinctly marks the stops of his discourse, or illustrates it with
+flourishes, squares, and circles on the sand, or dust of the streets,
+smoothing over the sand when he has finished. There is a little bit of
+superstition attached to this smoothing over the sand. The Moors always
+tell me when I write in this way to smooth all over and never forget it.
+They invariably do so themselves, and never leave a mark, or stroke, or
+dot of the finger on the sand after they have done speaking or writing.
+
+I was surprised to hear of the peculiar mode of the Touarghee
+succession for Sultans or reigning royal Sheikhs. It is the son of
+the _Sister_ of the Sultan who succeeds to the throne amongst all
+the Touaricks. I have learnt since that the same custom prevails
+amongst the Moorish tribes of the banks of the Senegal. Batouta also
+mentions this singular custom as prevailing amongst the Berber
+people of _Twalaten_, ‮ايوالاتن‬, in Western Sahara, in these
+words--"The people call themselves after the name of their
+maternal[78] uncles; it is not the sons of the fathers who inherit,
+but the nephews, sons of the sister of the father." He adds:--"I
+have never met with this usage before, except amongst the infidels
+of Malabar (in India)." It would appear, these rude children of The
+Desert have not sufficient confidence in the succession of father
+and son, and think women should not be put to so severe a test in
+the propagation of a race of pure blood. Speaking to a Touarghee
+about it, he said:--"How do we know, if the son of the Sultan be his
+son? May he not be the son of a slave? Who can tell? But when our
+young Sultan is born from the sister of the Sultan, then we know he
+is of the same blood as the Sultan." There is besides another
+anomaly of the social system in the town of Ghat. Women here are the
+hereditary possessors and not men. The law of primogeniture is on
+the female side. The greater part of the houses of the town of Ghat,
+although the population is chiefly Moorish, belong to women,
+bequeathed to them or given them on the day of their marriage by
+friends or relatives. These two cases of anomaly are more favourable
+to womankind than what we mostly find in Mahometan countries. I may
+not now scruple to tell the Touaricks, that the Sovereign of England
+is a female, for fear of giving them offence. It is a curious fact,
+and may here be added, that the son rarely goes, or travels, with
+the father, but always is pinned to his mother's knee, or trudges
+along at her side; at last, he loses all affection for his father,
+and concentrates his filial love on his mother. This alienation of
+the son from the father, is increased by the custom of the son
+inheriting nothing from his father, but all through his mother.
+
+_29th._--A fine morning; the sun high in the heavens scatters light and
+colour over all the Desert scene. In tolerably good spirits, but utterly
+at a loss which route I shall take. Visited Hateetah; he did not beg or
+annoy me to-day, but told me to resolve upon my route. Prescribed him
+some medicine, as also for another person, who had the ill manners to
+say, "God has made the infidels to be doctors for the Faithful."
+Yesterday evening, the slaves of Haj Ibrahim (about fifty) danced and
+sang and forgot their slavery. One young woman acted various grotesque
+characters, and, amongst the rest, _Boree_, "The Devil." When a Negro
+sulks, or is moody, he is said to be possessed, or to have got in him
+_Boree_, which agrees pretty well with our "_Blue-devils_." In these
+evening pastimes they fancy themselves in the wild woods of their native
+homes, and dance and sing to the rude notes of their ruder instruments of
+music, and feel as if free and like other mortals.
+
+Went out this morning to have a commanding view of the oasis. Was
+accompanied by the uncle of Jabour, who took hold of my hand, and
+pulled me on, when we mounted the neighbouring piece of rock which
+commands the oasis and scenery around. From this block of mountain,
+north of the city, we had a beautiful view of the town, the oasis,
+and adjoining palms, and all the Desert of the Valley of Ghat. To
+the south we saw the date-palms of Berkat. To the east, is the black
+range of mountains, throwing sombre shadows upon the scattered
+sand-hills, which lie like shining heaps of silver at their base.
+This range is higher than the average height of Saharan mountains.
+The Touaricks say the Genii built these mountains, to protect them
+(the Touaricks) and their posterity from the inroads of the Turks,
+and Gog and Magog, from the east. "These are," say they, "our
+eastern doors (barriers)." Scarcely any breaks or gorges are found
+in this chain. Beyond the suburb, begirt with sand groups, stands
+the palace of the Governor, which from hence looks like a line of
+fortifications, with a tower or two rising above its battlements.
+There reigns, king and priest, Haj Ahmed, the lord of all he
+surveys. Sahara around has a varied aspect of trees and plain, sand
+and mountains. The contrasts are striking, and spite the gloom of
+Wareerat range, it is a bright desert scene. The town is small, and
+the gardens are also extremely limited; the oasis is comprehended
+within a circle of not more than three or four miles. The palms are
+dwarfish, and half of them do not bear fruit, and their dates are of
+the most ordinary kind. A sufficient proof that the date-palm is not
+dependent on the quality of its water, otherwise the palm of Ghat
+should be the finest and its fruit the most delicious of The Sahara.
+On the contrary, in some of the oases of Fezzan, where the water is
+literally salt, the palm is a noble towering tree, catching the
+breathings of highest heaven, and casting down most luscious fruit.
+Houses in Ghat have but a wretched appearance, and are as wretched
+within as without. They are not white-washed, or clean and bright
+and shining as Moorish houses of the coast, and though the city is
+surrounded with stones, and lime is procurable, they are nearly all
+constructed of sun-dried bricks and mud. A few days of incessant
+rain would wash many of them down. The wood of construction is, of
+course, that of the palm. The Desert furnishes no other available
+building wood. Only one mosque tower deserves the name of minaret.
+Besides, there is a huge building higher than the rest, but which is
+inhabited as other houses. The town is walled in with walls not more
+than ten feet high, but its six gates are miserably weak, and never
+so closed as to prevent their being opened in the night. The whole
+town is built on a hill, a portion of the blocks of rock from which
+we view it. This little place has one large square, called
+_Esh-Shelly_--‮الشلّي‬--the general rendezvous of business and
+gossip, and where Shafou and all the subordinate Sheikhs administer
+justice. Here is held the Souk, where everything important is done.
+But the town-councils and state-councils of the Sheikhs are
+generally held in the open air. Two or three palms within the town
+cast a grateful shadow, and make an angle of the streets
+picturesque, but no other trees are seen. On the south, without the
+walls, is a suburb of some fifty mud and stone houses. There are
+also scattered over the sand, on the west, a hundred or more of
+hasheesh huts, made of straw and palm-branches. In the gardens,
+besides the palms, a little wheat, barley, and ghusub is
+cultivated. There are some fruit-trees, but no vines. Of water there
+are several large pits, and some warm springs, but nothing
+approaching to the hot boiling spring of Ghadames. There is,
+however, one large reservoir, partly surrounded with palm-trees, and
+the banks covered with rushes, except where the people go to draw.
+The whole of this is enclosed within walls. Water apparently oozes
+from a great extent of surface. The water itself is of the first
+quality, and is said not to produce bile or fever. The irrigation is
+the same in principle as that of Ghadames, but slaves are employed
+to draw up the water, whilst animals are used in Fezzan, and in
+Ghadames the water runs itself into the gardens. The places for
+burying the dead around the Saharan towns occupy more space than the
+abodes of the living. This is not surprising, when we reflect that
+every new grave occupies a new piece of ground, and many years
+elapse before the old grave is opened to place in it a fresh body. I
+saw but one grave whitewashed; it was that of a Marabout, the only
+"whitewashed sepulchre," and, strange enough, it is to denote
+superior priestly sanctity as in New Testament times amongst the
+Jews. The rest were small stones heaped up in the shape of a grave,
+a large piece of stone being placed at the head.
+
+The style of architecture, both here and in Ghadames, is the same, except
+that of Ghadames is neater and more fantastically elaborated. Most of the
+walls are surmounted with a mud-plaster work, and the tops and terraces
+of the houses are surmounted with the same style of material, and
+generally very irregularly done, as seen in the annexed diagram. The
+cupboards cut out or excavated in the walls are of the shape of squares
+or triangles, and the windows sometimes of the same shape, but
+occasionally varying as seen in the diagram. All the doors and beams of
+the houses, as before mentioned, are of the date-palm wood. The doors are
+the usual long squares, but some of them so low that you are obliged to
+stoop to enter through them. This is very troublesome to the Touaricks,
+who always carry their long spears with them, as we our walking-sticks. I
+have noticed here in The Sahara, as well as on the coast of Barbary, very
+ingenious wooden lock-and-keys. The key is a piece of wood six or eight
+inches long, and two broad, covered at one end with little pegs. The lock
+is fitted to these pegs by little holes. On the arrangement and fitting
+of these pegs and holes depend the secrecy and security of the lock. It
+is no easy matter at times to unlock these locks, and requires a very
+practised hand. The floors are covered with a thick layer of sand, even
+many of the sleeping rooms, which sand is clean or dirty according to the
+quality and cleanliness of the occupant.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+According to my friend Mr. Colli, the original meaning of the term
+Ghat is _Sun_ or _God_, in the Lybio-Egyptian language. The Arabic
+is ‮غات‬, _Ghat_, but as people fancy, like the French, they hear in
+the pronunciation of the ‮غ‬ in _Ghat_ the R, so our former tourists
+have sometimes written the name of the town Gh_r_at, and others
+Ghr_aa_t. The oasis of Ghat is situated in 24° 58′ north lat., and
+11° 15′ east longitude.
+
+This afternoon received a visit from Khanouhen and his brother,
+accompanied by Essnousee. This visit was perhaps the most friendly
+of all which I have received from the Touaricks. For evil or for
+good, it was, at the time, the preponderating motive for attempting
+the tour to Soudan. I felt more confidence in the Touaricks.
+Khanouhen is a man advanced in life, full fifty years of age. He has
+hard but intelligent features. Like all the Sheikhs, he is tall and
+of powerful muscular frame. His conversation consisted of a few
+words, but full of pride and courage, and also to the point. He
+said:--"I do not expect presents from a stranger who has come so far
+to claim my hospitality. I can give you assistance without presents.
+Cannot the man, who is to succeed Shafou, be generous without
+bribes? It is not generosity to render you assistance if you load me
+with presents. The heir of the Touarick Sultan receives no presents:
+he asks for none. We wish not to terrify strangers--even those who
+do not believe in Mahomet--by acts of extortion and plunder. I will
+write you a letter to the Sultan of Aheer, so shall Shafou, so shall
+Hateetah. The Sultan of Aheer must respect our letters. When he does
+not, we make reprisals on his people. I am now busy. I am going to
+exterminate the Shânbah. Our maharees will soon overtake the
+robbers; not one of them shall escape. We scorn the assistance of
+the Turks. We are strong enough by ourselves. We want no letters, no
+advice, no arms, no horses, no guns, from the Pasha of Tripoli. All
+The Desert is ours; wherever you go you find traces of our power. Be
+happy here, fear nothing; for if you fear us, you lose our
+confidence, and become our enemy." I have picked out the sense and
+many of the exact expressions of this harangue, and the reader will
+see that the Shereef, his son-in-law, did not exaggerate his sense
+and fierce eloquence. Khanouhen, indeed, is called "The man of speech,"
+‮رجل الكلام‬--by the merchants. The Sheikh was superbly
+dressed in the first style of the Touaricks, unlike his venerable
+uncle the Sultan. He wore a scarlet gold-braided coat, an immense
+red turban, and a huge black litham, covering the upper and lower
+part of his face, and nearly all his features. His arms were a
+dagger, a broadsword, and a ponderous bright iron spear, which on
+entering my apartment the Sheikh was obliged to leave outside.
+
+Weather to-day is as soft and genial as Italy. The sky is overcast this
+evening, and rain threatens. Yesterday I saw it lighten for the first
+time in The Sahara. Flies live throughout winter here, and there is now
+enough of them to give annoyance. An article which I purchased to-day
+will give some idea of the retail trade in Ghat. This was a barracan, of
+light and fine quality, which cost me three Spanish dollars. In Tripoli,
+about forty days' journey from this, it cost two mahboubs, about a dollar
+and three-quarters. But I purchased it for money; had it been exchanged
+for goods or slaves, it would have been charged four dollars. This is
+nearly cent. per cent. profit. Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim.
+Shafou had returned the merchant's visit, and dined with him. The
+venerable Sheikh does not stand upon etiquette. An affair came off
+to-day, which admirably and most characteristically illustrates the mode
+of administering justice in Ghat. Mustapha, the young merchant of
+Tripoli, quarrelled with one of his Arabs, and came to blows. Shafou
+chanced to pass by at the time. His Highness immediately dispatched a
+servant to bring the pugilists before him. Shafou then harangued them and
+the bystanders, in this spirited manner:--"You see these men come here to
+disturb our country. What ungrateful wretches they are! Shall I suffer
+this? Don't I protect them? Don't I allow them to gain money at our Souk?
+They return with goods and innumerable slaves to Tripoli. But they laugh
+at me and insult me to my face, and trample upon our hospitality,
+(_addressing a Sheikh_). Do you think, (_turning to the combatants_,)
+there is no authority or justice in this place? I'll let you know to the
+contrary. What do you think the Christian will say, if he comes and sees
+this? Now, you rascals, pay me each of you ten dollars." This was
+followed by a violent intercession on their behalf by the foreign
+merchants, some blaming one and some the other. His Highness was obliged
+to compromise the matter, accepting of a dollar from each. It is probable
+His Highness was more anxious to inflict the penalty than quell the
+tumult; but I was quite unprepared for such an eloquent address from the
+ancient patriarch of the country. Considering the great number of
+strangers, there are very few quarrels. "Ghat," as was said before I
+came, "is a country of peace." Were a bazaar of this sort held in Europe
+(for example an English fair), there would be a row every day, and every
+hour of the day. Nevertheless, this does not prevent us from calling
+these Saharan people barbarians.
+
+_30th._--Very mild weather this morning, but overcast as if rain would
+soon fall. I have not been long enough in The Desert to read the weather
+signs, or become weather-wise. Keep the door shut, to prevent an influx
+of visitors. Now and then a few people get in. Whilst eating my supper
+this evening, I was surprised at the appearance of two little ragged
+boys. I asked what they wanted, they returned, "Eat, eat, we want to
+eat." I went out to see them, for they stood on the terrace in the dark.
+Here I found one of the audacious urchins flourishing a spear ten times
+as big as himself, menacing me with it. I pushed the little scoundrels
+down stairs into the street. I could not however help remarking upon
+their audacity, and the early infant habits of Touarghee "begging by
+force." The Ghadamsee people have always been the fair game of the
+Touaricks. Asking one day a Ghadamsee, "What occupation the Touaricks
+followed?" he replied indignantly, "Beg, beg, beg, this is their trade!
+When they get money, they bury it, and beg, beg, beg!" This perhaps, is
+overstated, still it is curious to witness this first lesson of "we want
+to eat," repeated by children of very tender age, with a tone of command
+and insolence. Khanouhen does not send for his present, and I hear, he
+will not receive presents. I shall have the more to give away at Aheer.
+
+_31st._--Fine morning. I am surprised at my simplicity; but, apparently,
+the only thing which I enjoy with pure feelings, is the song of the
+little birds, the _boohabeeba_, which frequent my terrace and the
+house-top, as sparrows familiarly in England. With these I feel I can
+hold free converse and interchange an unadulterated sympathy. The
+innocent little creatures remind me of my days of childhood, when I
+revelled in the woods and corn-fields of Lincolnshire, listening to the
+song of birds in early fresh spring morn, or bright summer day. Here was
+the tender chord of childhood associations touched, and no wonder that
+memory should come in to the aid of sympathy in these unsympathizing
+deserts. How little at times contents the heart, and fills the aching
+vacuum of the mind! In this we cannot fail to see an arrangement of
+infinite wisdom. If only great things could satisfy the mind of man, how
+prodigiously our miseries would be increased, for how few are the things
+deserving to be called great! Called this morning on Hateetah. Put him in
+a better humour, by telling him I would give him an extra present. On
+returning, stopped at a stall, where were exposed for sale, onions,
+trona, dates, and other things. The women immediately caught alarm,
+afraid I was going to throw a glance of "the evil eye" on their little
+property. They cried out, "There is one God, and Mahomet is the prophet
+of God!" I made off quick enough from this unseemly uproar. Saw
+afterwards the Governor. Called to ask him to allow his servants to make
+me some cuscasou, which request his Excellency granted immediately. He
+said:--"In travelling to Soudan adopt the dress of the Ghadamsee
+merchants, and let your beard grow." The Governor refuses to say anything
+of Kandarka. Probably they have quarrelled. Our merchants give the
+Tibboos a bad character, and the caravans are afraid of them.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[78] Amongst the Servians the mother's brother was "a very
+    important personage." Ranke says:--"Amongst the early Germans,
+    families were held together by a peculiar preference on the
+    mother's side; the mother's brother being, according to ancient
+    custom, a very important personage. In the Sclavonic-Servian
+    tribe, there prevails, to a greater extent, a strong and lively
+    feeling of brotherly and sisterly affection; the brother is proud
+    of having a sister; the sister swears by the name of her
+    brother."--(_See_ Mrs. Alexander Kerr's admirable translation of
+    Ranke's _Servian History, &c._, chap. iv., p. 56.)
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ABANDON THE TOUR TO SOUDAN.
+
+     Violent Act of a Touarick on Slaves.--Visit to the Princess Lilla
+     Fatima.--Mode of grinding Corn.--Dilatoriness of Commercial
+     Transactions.--Grandees of Ghat Town.--Khanouhen refuses his
+     Present.--Rumours of the Conquest of Algeria spread throughout
+     Africa.--Small Breed of Animals in Sahara.--Queer circumstance of
+     unearthly Voices.--The Cold becomes intense.--Arrival of Sheikh
+     Berka.--Hateetah in good Humour.--My Targhee friend, Sidi
+     Omer.--Visit from Kandarka; his Character.--Visit to the aged
+     Berka, and find the Giant.--Hateetah's Political Gossips.--At a
+     loss which Route to take, and how to proceed.--Superstitions
+     connected with the Butcher.--Zeal of an old Hag against The
+     Christian.--Out of Humour.--Reported departure of
+     Caravans.--Jabour calls with a Patient.--Visit Bel Kasem, and
+     find Khanouhen.--Political Factions of Azgher Touaricks.--Giants
+     in The Desert.--Fanciful analogies of origin of
+     Peoples.--Hierarchy of the Sheikhs.--Population, Arms, and
+     Military Forces of the Ghat Touaricks.--The Mahry or
+     Maharee.--Camels named from their Fleetness.--Touarghee Court of
+     Justice.--Amphitheatrical style of Touaricks lounging.--Amount of
+     Customs-Dues paid by Ghat Traders.--Free Trade in Sahara.
+
+
+_1st January, 1846._--YESTERDAY I saw two slaves, both of whom had gashes
+on their arms and legs, the blood flowing from one poor fellow profusely.
+I asked,
+
+"Who has done this?"
+
+_The Slaves._--"A Touarghee."
+
+"What for?" I continued.
+
+_The Slaves._--"Nothing."
+
+I found afterwards the slaves were doing some work in the gardens which
+the Touarghee thought should have been given to him. Touaricks seldom get
+into passion, but when the blood boils the dagger is immediately had
+recourse to for the arrangement of their quarrels. The Touaricks have
+many slaves, but male slaves, for they rarely mix their blood with the
+negro race. Called upon Hateetah with his extra present of four dollars'
+value. He then began in an excited humour, "To-morrow come to me, Shafou
+will be here. We must arrange to send a maharee to the English Sultan." I
+suggested his brother should take it to Tripoli. He sprung up from his
+bed with joy, "Yes, good, Shafou and I will arrange everything. Nobody
+else must come here but you. It must be all done in secret." Hateetah is
+frightened of Khanouhen, and knows the Sultan has no will of his own
+unless kept apart from that powerful prince. Touaricks, when something is
+to be had, soon gets excited, like the rest of us.
+
+Afterwards, Said and I carried the present for Khanouhen to the prince's
+house. I spoke to the Governor, who recommended me, by all means,
+notwithstanding the Sheikh's protestations, to send him a handsome
+present. I submitted to the Governor's opinion. Khanouhen resides in some
+apartments of the Governor's palace; this is the prince's town residence.
+We were conducted to the apartment of his lady, Lilla Fatima, (the prince
+being out,) by her nephews. Her Royal Highness received us courteously,
+and the interview was extremely amusing. I began by apologizing for the
+top of "the head of sugar[79]" being broken off. This made the lady
+almost faint. "What!" she protestingly exclaimed, "Khanouhen is The Great
+Sultan! Shafou is compared to him like the sand! (taking up a little
+sand from the floor and scattering it about with her hands.) My husband
+is lord and master of all the Touaricks. He has the word ready; from his
+lips, all the Touaricks, all the merchants, all the strangers, all the
+Christians who come here, receive their commands and instantly obey them.
+And you bring him a loaf of sugar with the head knocked off! Oh, this is
+not pretty! This is not right, and I am afraid for your sake." I pleaded
+inability to find another loaf this morning, but promised to bring one
+to-morrow. Her Royal Highness then begged for more things. "You see the
+_grunfel_ (cloves) is not for me; it is for Khanouhen's other wife in the
+country. Khanouhen will take it all away to her, and leave me none. Now
+you must, indeed, bring me some _grunfel_." I then recommended her to get
+it divided, at which she laughed heartily, adding, "Ah, Khanouhen likes
+her in the country better than me." I then put Her Royal Highness in a
+good humour by telling her I would send her some beads, and if I should
+return to Tripoli, and come back to Ghat, I would bring her several
+presents. She added, "My husband Khanouhen related to me all the things
+which you intended to give him, which you showed him in your room. Also,
+you said you would give him a little lock and key, where is it?"
+
+This I had not brought with me, thinking the Sheikh would not accept of
+such a trifling thing, but I was mistaken. The Touaricks will take
+everything you offer them, and not hurt your self-complacency of
+conferring a favour by refusal. I must finish with this lady, whose
+tongue ran along at a tremendous rate, by adding, that to show her regard
+for me, (and for herself likewise, wishing me to return to Tripoli to
+fetch her some nice presents,) her Royal Highness gave me this advice:
+"For God's sake don't go to Soudan. You'll die there soon. How can you, a
+Christian, live there with such a white skin? The people who go there are
+all black, and have large swollen faces, (imitating them by blowing out
+her cheeks,) they are puffed out and nasty, they become as ugly as the
+devil himself." The town wife and lady of the Sheikh, who is
+heir-apparent to the Touarghee throne of Ghat, is herself a comely
+bustling body, rather stout, of middle size, about thirty-five years of
+age; and were she dressed in European style, she might, with her fine
+black eyes, look as well as some of our courtly dames. Her Royal Highness
+had nothing on but a plain Soudan black cotton gown, with short sleeves,
+and a light woollen barracan, as a sort of shawl, wrapped round her
+shoulders, partly covering her head. She had a few charms and some
+coloured beads adorning the neck; two gold bracelets on her wrist, and
+two thick hoops of silver round her ancles. A pair of coloured-leather
+sandals, made in Soudan, were bound on her feet. She had no colour, save
+the usual sallow of Moorish ladies, on her cheek, but she had no
+disfigurement of tattooing or other marks upon her, so common in Saharan
+beauties.
+
+After the delivery of the present I called to see the Governor, the
+lady's brother. Told him of my sudden resolution of abandoning the
+journey to Soudan the present year. He highly approved of my resolution,
+and seemed relieved of a great embarrassment, for, although very cautious
+in what he said, he always considered himself responsible more or less
+for my safety. I found his Excellency, but not to my surprise,
+purchasing half a dozen slaves, young lads. The Marabout merchant does
+not scruple to deal in human beings. The fact is, his Excellency scruples
+at no kind of trade, by which he may "turn a penny," or "save a penny."
+Returned home and wrote to Tripoli; but when the letter was finished the
+courier was gone. As often happens, was glad afterwards the letter did
+not go.
+
+The mode of grinding corn here, if I may use the term grinding, is of the
+most primitive character possible. It is nothing more or less than
+rubbing the corn between two stones, the lower stone being large and
+smoothed off on its surface, with an inclined plane, and the upper stone
+very small compared to the lower. Thus--
+
+[Illustration]
+
+A small basket catches the meal as it falls off, or is pushed off by the
+person, who holds the upper stone in his hands, and works it up and down
+over the surface of the lower stone. Slaves and women so grind wheat,
+barley, ghusub, &c. The meal is scarcely ever winnowed. In Aheer, a large
+wooden pestle and mortar are used for grinding, rather pounding, the
+corn. The slaves living with me have a huge wooden pestle and mortar, and
+we frequently use it. It requires great tact in the pounding, otherwise
+the grain will be continually flying out. I pounded dates with it, which
+with a little olive oil, and roasted grain pounded with them, adding a
+few grains of Soudan pepper and a little dry cheese, make very nice
+cake, or it is esteemed nice cake in Ghat. Corn and ghusub are given to
+day-labourers instead of money. A slave will have about a quarter of a
+peck of barley, or other grain, given him for a day's work; occasionally
+is added to it, a few dates or a little liquid butter: on this he must
+live.
+
+The Souk of Ghat, thank heaven, is nearly closed. The business, which has
+been transacted here during the last month, would have been done in
+England in one or two days at most. But our Saharan merchants are
+determined to do everything, _be-shwaiah, be-shwaiah_, "by little and by
+little." The greatest trial of patience for an European merchant
+frequenting this Souk would be the dilatoriness with which commercial
+transactions are carried on. A month usually passes before the Souk
+opens, and six weeks more are consumed before a merchant can or will get
+off, although, as his merchandize consists chiefly of slaves, his delay
+is all against himself, eating him up and his profits. The details of the
+traffic are really curious. A slave is heard of one day, talked about the
+next, searched out the day after, seen the next, reflections next day,
+price fixed next, goods offered next, squabblings next, bargain upset
+next, new disputes next, goods assorted next, final arrangement next,
+goods delivered and exchanged next, &c., &c., and the whole of this
+melancholy exhibition of a wrangling cupidity over the sale of human
+beings is wound up by the present of a few parched peas, a few Barbary
+almonds, and a little tobacco being given to the Soudanese merchants, the
+parties separating with as much self-complacency, as if they had arranged
+the mercantile affairs of all Africa.
+
+_2nd._--Visited this evening Hateetah. He says, the Sultan and himself
+will call upon me to-morrow, and arrange the present which is to be sent
+to Her Majesty. Afterwards called upon the Governor, to ask him where Haj
+Abdullah of Bengazi resided. He leaves for Fezzan in eight or ten days,
+and has offered to take me with him. Called afterwards on Mohammed Kafah.
+Found him friendly, but he, assisted by his brother, began again to annoy
+me about Mahomet, Paradise, and hell-fire. I told them, "All good people,
+whatever their creed, must be blessed with the favour of God. Such was
+the native sentiment in all our hearts." Kafah said, "Many English have
+turned Mussulmans." I told him very few, and those mostly
+good-for-nothing runaways. He asked why we did not repeat their formula?
+I told him we all did the first part, "There is but one God;" but the
+second was prohibited by Christians. I left them very angry. It is next
+to impossible to induce Saharan Mahometans to think favourably of
+Christianity. If Christianity ever be propagated here, it must be through
+the means of youth and children. The merchants Kafah and Tunkana, the
+Kady Tahar, and Haj Ahmed the Governor, are the knot of personages and
+grandees in this little Saharan town. All the rest are sorry traders,
+camel-drivers, and slaves. The Touaricks are only town visitors, and
+always retire to their country districts at the close of the periodic
+marts.
+
+Weather to-day is excessively cold, the wind blowing from the north-east.
+Everybody is frightened at the wind, and there is no Souk, or market,
+till very late. I myself feel the cold extremely, so I am not surprised
+to see the Soudanese people all shut up in their houses crowding over a
+smoking fire, with the rooms full of smoke, and nearly suffocating the
+inmates.
+
+To my great surprise, and contrary to every expectation, Prince Khanouhen
+has sent his present back in a great rage, not directly, indeed, to me,
+but to my neighbour Bel-Kasem, saying, with a thousand different remarks,
+embellished with oaths, "I will not accept of such a miserable present."
+Bel Kasem calls upon me in a prodigious fright, prostrate under the ire
+of the incensed Chieftain, and thus pleads in his favour: "Khanouhen
+considers himself a greater Sheikh even than Shafou the Sultan. He is
+greatly dissatisfied with so small a present; increase it a little for
+God's sake--if you are going to Soudan, you must add something
+considerable: if not, just a little to pacify him. Khanouhen has got a
+large belly; pray satisfy him, for he can do more for you than any other
+Sheikh in Ghat. Indeed, Khanouhen is very angry with you for sending him
+such a trifle, and for taking it to his wife. Why did you take the
+present to his wife? Now, take my advice: the Sheikh just dropped out, if
+you will give him ten dollars in money, he will send you the present of
+goods back. Send him only the value of the goods in money, and then he
+will be satisfied. Khanouhen has got a stomach bigger than that of all
+the Sheikhs. He rages against you like fire: satisfy him for Heaven's
+sake."
+
+I immediately sent back Bel Kasem to find the Sheikh, and to propose to
+him to take back the goods, and give him money instead, or add a little
+money to the goods. So then this is the great bravado of Khanouhen, that
+he could not soil his fingers by taking presents! I expect I shall soon
+be stripped. There are, unfortunately, so many Sheikhs, that to give
+handsome presents to them all, would amount to a large sum. A burning
+jealousy rankles in their breasts about these Souk presents. Each wishes
+to be the greater man, in order to have more presents, though all
+acknowledge Shafou on the principle of "right divine," or "the right of
+the Genii." There is a controversy going on about Haj Ibrahim, as to
+which of the Sheikhs is his friend, or protector, to whom he is to send
+his little present of tribute. Of course I feel extremely annoyed and
+disheartened to have a quarrel of this sort with the man who has the
+greatest influence in the country. But I must hold out, since my
+situation is not yet desperate. As something agreeable, in counterpoise,
+I may mention that Haj Ibrahim, on visiting the Sultan, found His
+Highness reclining on the carpet-rug which I gave him. His Highness said
+to the merchant, smiling with satisfaction, "See, this is what The
+Christian gave me." It is the present given to the Sultan which has
+excited the jealous indignation of his nephew. But the Sheikhs have
+broken through the rule, or I have myself, for Hateetah only has the
+right of a present from me.
+
+_3rd._--A fine morning, and warmer, but the wind is still high. Over the
+open desert is a sort of a dirty-red mist, which people tell me is the
+sand.
+
+Since Shafou and Hateetah did not come this morning as promised, I called
+on Hateetah to know the reason. Hateetah had a cold in his eyes, and
+could not go out. He added, "Shafou is busy in enrolling troops for the
+Shânbah expedition." Hateetah had many visitors whilst I was there. A
+Ghatee, to my surprise, asked me, "How long slaves would be allowed to be
+sold in Tripoli?" I answered, "Some time yet." He had heard of my being
+connected with abolition. Another, just returned from Soudan, said:--"The
+people of Soudan say the Emperor of Morocco has taken possession of
+Algeria." I was unprepared for such a rumour in the heart of Africa, and
+coming from The South, instead of going to The South. Of this
+irregularity the Saharan newsmongers never think. But the fact is, the
+conquest of Algeria by a powerful Christian nation is felt in every part
+of The Desert, and reaches the farthest peregrinations of the merchants.
+These wars and rumours of wars, however, are turned whenever possible in
+favour of the Mussulmans. It is probable the attempted invasion of Oran
+by the son of the Emperor, was immediately transformed into the conquest
+of that province by desert reports. Another person asked me, "Whether the
+Government of Constantinople was that of the Sultan himself, or the
+Christians?" I observed:--"The Sultan's Government is very much
+influenced by Christian Powers." It has long been the opinion of Barbary
+Moors, that the late Sultan Mahmoud was a Greek in the disguise of a
+Mussulman; and the same stigma sticks to his son. This opinion has
+acquired strength and obtained general currency by the European reforms
+which the Ottomans have lately introduced into their administration. Many
+questions of this kind were asked, and, in the presence of Hateetah when
+no insolence would be tolerated, the people seemed less bigoted. This is
+the advantage of having an English agent, if possible, in these remote
+districts, like Hateetah. Passing through the gardens, I saw some horses
+and bullocks, and was surprised at their dwarfish dimensions. In Central
+Africa, horses are frequently found of a very dwarfish breed. The horses
+were unwhisped and sorry-looking ponies, with their bellies pinched in.
+The bullocks cut an equally queer figure. I have noticed that fowls here
+are very small, but very lively, catching the fire of a long Saharan
+summer. The cocks, which are so many bantams, are indeed all fire,
+attacking you with fierceness. Two of the Governor's sons called at noon.
+One flourished a spear, which he said was "to beat Christians with." I
+pushed him out of my apartment down stairs. With such customers it is the
+only plan. Another son called a short time afterwards, and asked me to
+lend him three dollars, which, of course, I refused. His Excellency knows
+nothing of the tricks of these young gentlemen, or they would soon be put
+to rights. Two Arabs, just returned from Soudan, called and said:--"Go to
+Soudan, there's not much sickness, go _viâ_ Aheer. The road _viâ_ Bornou
+is not safe now." This is what I conjectured, after hearing of the
+skirmishes and the retreat of the son of Abd-el-Geleel before the Turks
+up to Bornou.
+
+Late this evening, on descending to the lower rooms of the house, which
+were nearly dark, very little light indeed penetrating the lower part of
+the house at any time of the day, I found the street-door open, and two
+long huge figures scarcely visible in the gloom, standing up against the
+wall on opposite sides of the large room. I retreated back a few paces in
+alarm. The slaves were all out, as also Said. Presently I heard two gruff
+voices begin from the different parts of the room, in long and measured
+and doleful accents. One repeated, "There is no God but God, and Mahomet
+is the prophet of God." The words were repeated very slowly and
+solemnly, and at considerable intervals, "La - - lillah - -
+ella - - ellaha - - wa - - Mo-ham-med - - ra-soul - - ellaha!" The other
+voice uttered in equally grave and solemn accents, "Bor-nou-se! Bor-nou-se!
+Bor-nou-se!" The first voice appalled me, for I did not know but what I
+was going to receive the stroke of a dagger through the deep gloom, in
+case of my refusing to comply with repeating the Mahometan formula, or
+confession of faith; but the second voice reassured me, I felt the
+parties were begging in the style of Ouweek, "Your money or your life." I
+besides recognized at once the parties to be some low fellows of the
+Touaricks. The street-door was wide open, though no one was passing by.
+As soon as I could distinguish the import of these strange unearthly
+voices, which seemed to rise from the ground like the mutterings of the
+wizard, I saw the only course before me was, as all the servants were
+absent, to rush out into the street. I made a spring right by one of the
+Touaricks, leaving a portion of my slight woollen bornouse caught by the
+hilt of his dagger. I went off to Haj Ibrahim, but said nothing about it,
+not knowing correctly what might have been the intentions of the
+Touaricks. I always found the Touaricks displeased, even the Sheikhs,
+when any complaints were made against them. Shafou, himself, always told
+me, "My people will be as kind to you as I am," and would not hear of
+complaints. I comprehended the course before me, and complained of no
+one. On my return home I heard nothing, and said nothing. I took the
+precaution, however, of not allowing Said to leave the house when the
+Governor's slaves were out. I may mention now, that Ouweek's affair was
+entirely smuggled up, and never even alluded to by the Sultan or
+Khanouhen. The policy of Khanouhen is not to allow a suspicion of this
+sort to be whispered abroad. In his own words:--"We are hospitable, we
+are men of honour, of one word, and we cannot commit a dastardly action."
+The reader will hereafter see the result, so far as my visit amongst the
+Touaricks was concerned.
+
+_4th._--Awfully cold this morning, and can scarcely bear my miserable
+apartment, which affords very little shelter from the wind and cold,
+having neither door nor window-holes closed up. No one to be seen in the
+streets; all "struck upon a heap" with the cold, and shut up in the
+houses. At noon, when the sun began to be felt, went out to see Bel
+Kasem, and was pleased to hear that Khanouhen would compound with me, and
+receive five or six dollars in cash, instead of the present. The sugar
+and cloves, beads and looking-glasses were not to be returned, but to be
+left for the Sheikh's ladies. I felt much relieved; it was not very
+pleasant to be in a contest with the actual Sultan of the country.
+
+Berka, the most aged and venerable Sheikh of the great families, arrived
+yesterday from his district, bringing with him numerous followers.
+
+Called upon Hateetah, and gave him an additional present, the whole now
+amounting to eight dollars. He is, of course, in a very good humour, and
+considers I have treated him like the English Consul. He proposed to me
+that I should get him officially appointed British Consul by the Queen.
+His pretensions are not exorbitant; he would be contented with fifty
+dollars a year. He might be useful. The difficulty would be official
+correspondence. The Touarghee Consul would be obliged to employ an Arabic
+Secretary.
+
+My young and kind Touarghee friend Sidi Omer, called this afternoon. He
+is more like an English acquaintance of years' standing than a Desert
+Touarghee whom I saw but yesterday. I asked him to take cuscasou with me.
+He observed, "No, that must not be; a little sugar I'll take, a little
+perfume for my wife I'll take, but I must not eat your cuscasou, for you
+are a stranger. You ought to eat my cuscasou. The Touaricks must not eat
+the cuscasou of strangers, and so friendly like you." I offered to take
+him with me to Tripoli. He answered, "No, not now, I must first go and
+fight the Shânbah. Then I'll return and come to you in Tripoli, God
+willing; nay, I'll visit you in your country, and you shall show me your
+Sheikh." In fact, this young man is free from those fanatical prejudices
+disfiguring so many of his countrymen. He is most amiable and gentle, too
+gentle for these Saharan wilds. Occasionally he escorts me about the
+town, and always keeps off the rabble. After my friend, Kandarka called
+on me. I did not know the fellow, he having twisted a white turban round
+his head. Strange, this Aheer camel-driver visited me before I called
+upon him and sent for him, and when he came I did not recognize him
+again, on account of his assuming such Protean shapes. To-day I was much
+pleased with his intelligence and the frankness of his conversation. I
+opened my journal, and showed him his name written in it, that he might
+see, if I did not recognize him, yet he occupied my attention, for his
+name was already inscribed with Christian letters in my book. He was so
+delighted, at the sight of his name in the book, that he sprung up, made
+a summerset on the terrace, took up his sword and flourished it in the
+air, and then sat down again, staring and grinning in my face as if he
+had been imbibing laughing gas. There is more negro blood and negro
+antics in him than the ordinary Touaricks of Aheer. He represents Noufee
+as a great country of trade, and inhabited by Pagans and Mohammedans.
+Kandarka introduced religion, but finding the English prayed and
+acknowledged a God, he was satisfied and dropped the subject.
+
+_Kandarka._--"English, pray?" (bending his forehead to the ground.)
+
+"Yes, yes."
+
+_Kandarka._--"Sultan English, cut off plenty heads," (making a stroke
+with a sword).
+
+"Yes, yes."
+
+_Kandarka._--"Sultan English, plenty wives has he," (making an indecent
+sign).
+
+"Yes, yes."
+
+_Kandarka._--"English women, plenty fat--big all round," (describing a
+lady's bustle).
+
+"Yes, yes."
+
+_Kandarka._--"English, slaves, slaves!"
+
+(I shake my head.)
+
+_Kandarka._--"How? How?"
+
+(I shake my head.)
+
+_Kandarka._--"Where are you going?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+_Kandarka._--"Come to Aheer with me, I fear no one. You fear no one when
+you come with me."
+
+"I don't fear any one but God."
+
+_Kandarka._--"G-- it's the truth!" (seizing hold of my hands to embrace
+me.)
+
+I cannot but lament my feeble powers, to depict the character of my
+various visitors, and to represent their ideas in English. I am obliged
+to be content with a bald outline of their characters, and a miserable
+translation of their thoughts into English dress. This Kandarka is in
+himself a complete character, and a study for the tourist.
+
+This evening paid a visit to Berka, the most aged Sheikh. It was dark
+when I arrived at his date-branch hut. I entered; it was a large
+enclosure. I found the aged Sheikh with several of his brothers, and they
+and their children sitting round a flickering fire. One of them was
+dressed in white. I asked the reason. The Sheikh told me he was a
+Marabout. The French Government writers of Algeria have distinguished
+Touaricks into white and black Touaricks, from the white and black
+clothes which they are said to wear. I never heard of this distinction.
+Now and then I have seen a Touarick dressed in white cottons, or
+woollens; it seemed to be a matter of caprice. All dress in black and
+blue-black cottons of Soudan; it is the national colour. And here we have
+a new case of contrarieties in Mussulman nations living near neighbours,
+for the Moors and Arabs detest black as much as the Touaricks admire
+black. The Touaricks seem to have caught the infection from the colour of
+their country, which is intersected with ranges of black mountains. In
+one of the early skirmishes of the French in Algeria, an officer
+describes the appearance of the enemy, as covering the mountain's side,
+whence they sallied, with a white mantle, the Arabs were so thick and
+their burnouses so white. Berka was very gentle and affable, like every
+man of a good old age. "You are welcome in this country," he addressed
+me; "this is a country of peace." Whilst conversing with the old Sheikh,
+I heard a gruff heavy whisper from the farther end of the hut,
+_Hash-Hālik_, "How do you do?" I turned round, and to my no small
+astonishment, I saw the Giant Touarick, stretched along the full length
+of the very large hut, sweltering in the fulness of his might. The reader
+will remember the honourable mention made of The Giant in Ghadames. He
+then raised up his massy head and Atlantean chest, and put out his brawny
+sinewy arm, and clenched my hand: "Yâkob, the Shânbah have murdered my
+little son, _they_ are the enemies of man and God, not _you_ Christians.
+I am going to cut them all to pieces. Last year I killed eight with my
+own good sword. When you come back from Soudan, you will not hear any
+more even the name of the Shânbah." The Giant groaned out this in bad
+Arabic. He was greatly afflicted for the loss of his son. The Shânbah
+brigands fell upon a troop of Touaricks, in whose care he had left his
+little son, a child of very tender age, I presented Berka with a fine
+large white turban, and we parted good friends. The Giant is the nephew
+of Berka.
+
+_5th._--Called upon Hateetah. He had, as usual, many visitors.
+Conversation turned upon politics. They were anxious to know the relative
+amount of the military forces of the nations of Europe, and of the
+Stamboul Sultan. I always tell them France has plenty of money and
+troops. This keeps down their boasting, for the French are near, and they
+are alarmed, and they think, as an Englishman, I must tell the truth when
+I praise the French. If I abused the French they might suspect me, but I
+have no inclination to do so. At the same time, I'll defy any traveller
+to write fairly and justly upon the late history of North Africa, without
+filling his pages with _bonâ fide_ and well-founded abuse of the French
+and their works in this part of the world. They emphatically stink
+throughout Africa. Hateetah vexed me by begging a _backsheesh_ for his
+brothers. I positively refused; there's no end to making presents. All
+the Sheikhs, as Bel Kasem Said of Khanouhen, have "a large belly." On
+returning home, I determined to keep the door shut to prevent people
+coming to annoy me. Now that I have no sugar or dates left, I have
+nothing wherewith to get rid of them. Every visitor who leaves me,
+without a small present, however trifling it may be, considers himself
+insulted by me, or that I don't like him.
+
+Still at a loss to know what to do, whether to proceed to Soudan, or
+return and finish my tour of the Mediterranean. Sometimes I fancy I'll
+toss up, and then, checking my folly, I'll try the _sortes sanctorum_; a
+feather would turn the scale. On such miserable indecision hangs the fate
+of man!
+
+Bought half a sheep for a Spanish dollar. It's not much of a bargain, for
+it is one of the Soudan species, and very thin and bony. Touarick flocks
+are nearly all this kind of sheep. When the Arab, who was "halves with
+me," divided the carcase, he took two pieces of wood, and then sent Said
+down stairs. One of the pieces he gave me, and the other he kept. He now,
+taking back my piece, called Said to return, and told him to put each
+piece of wood on each half of the sheep. My piece determined my half, and
+his piece his half. This is the Arab _sortes sanctorum_. The butcher had
+sprinkled his hayk with the blood, a drop or two were on it, and he was
+distressed to wash them out lest they should prevent him saying his
+prayers. A portion of the entrails, the spleen, he applied to his eyes as
+a talisman for their preservation.
+
+There is an old woman very fond of annoying me; let us suppose she must
+be a witch; she always calls out after me when I pass her stall, "There
+is but one God and Mahomet is the prophet of God." To-day, words would
+not suffice; the old hag ran after me and thumped me over the back, to
+show her zeal for Mahomet, who, begging pardon of his Holiness, has not,
+after all, been so very kind to the ladies in his religion, unless it be
+the compliment which he has paid them, by placing all the imaginable
+felicity of Paradise in their embraces. I took no notice of the virago. I
+find it's no use. I was glad, however, to hear she was not Touarick, and
+only a Billingsgate Mooress of the place. I am also happy to tell my fair
+readers, she was not fair but very ugly. A large party of people followed
+me home, hooting me, to give them something to eat. This rabble fancies
+they have the right to insult a Christian, unless he gives them something
+to eat or to wear. To bear all this, and ten thousand little delicate
+attentions of the rabble of Ghat, requires, as Mr. Fletcher hints,
+"Conciliation," with an occasional dose, I should think, of that most
+necessary of all Saharan equipments, in travelling through The Desert.
+PATIENCE.
+
+_6th._--Sulky with the insolence of the rabble, and determined not to go
+out till the evening. A brother or cousin of Hateetah called to beg, and
+being in a bad humour, I told him I was just going round the town to ask
+for a few presents myself, in return for those I had given to the people.
+He was not abashed, but answered, "Good, good." He waited half an hour in
+silence, for I got to my writing, and went off much pleased, I should
+imagine, with his visit. One of the slaves of the Governor came in, and
+said sharply, "What's that fellow _douwar_ (_i. e._ go about seeking)?"
+"He wants you to give him some of your _gusub_ (grain.)" "_Kelb_" (dog),
+he replied. This slave himself was a brazen-faced beggar, and a bit of a
+thief, but withal a droll fellow. I asked him how he was captured? He
+answered, naïvely, "You know Fezzan, you know Ghat;--well, these two
+countries make the war, and catch me a boy." "How do you like Haj Ahmed,
+your master?" "He has plenty wives, plenty children: we slaves must
+plenty work for all these. Now, I like to eat. Haj Ahmed, he Governor,
+but he gives me nothing to eat. I work for him six hours--I work for
+others six hours. The people give me to eat, not Haj Ahmed."
+
+This is the character of slave-labour in Ghat. The masters have half of
+their labour for nothing, or because they are their slaves: with the rest
+of their labour they support themselves. The _meum et tuum_ is not, and
+indeed cannot be very strictly observed by the poor people who have to
+support such a precarious existence; and when Said went down to bring up
+the meat to cook for supper, he found this young gentleman had carried it
+nearly all off to cook for his own supper, leaving what remained for us
+to make the best of.
+
+It is now reported that every stranger will leave Ghat in five or six
+days, one ghafalah going to the south, another to the north, one to the
+east, and another to the west. To these five or six days ten or twenty
+may be added. This is ordinary calculation of Desert time.
+
+Afternoon, Jabour called with a young man, who had a bullet lodged in his
+arm, which he had received in a skirmish with the Shânbah. I could only
+recommend a surgical operation, and his going to Tripoli. At this Jabour
+was alarmed, and asked "What would the Turks do to the young man?"
+begging of me medicine. I offered to take him under my protection, but it
+was of no avail. The amiable Sheikh was as friendly as ever. I asked him
+to write a letter to England. Jabour replied justly, "You are my letter;
+I have written on you. You can tell your Sultan and people the news of us
+all." "Don't be afraid to return, there are no banditti in that route.
+The Shânbah are in the west," he added. I promised, if ever returning to
+Ghat, I would bring him a sword with his name engraven upon it. He said,
+"I know you will, Yâkob." I am tempted to think Jabour is the only
+gentleman amongst the Touaricks. Another of Hateetah's cousins came to
+beg, but went away empty-handed. This evening visited Bel-Kasem in the
+expectation of seeing Khanouhen. The prince saluted me very friendly, and
+asked, in a sarcastic tone, "How is the English Consul (Hateetah)?" My
+appearance then suggested thoughts about Christians. "What is the name of
+the terrible warrior who has killed so many Christians in Algeira?" he
+demanded.
+
+_I._--"Abd-el-Kader."
+
+"Yâkob," he continued, "come, let you and me fight, for it seems
+Mussulmans and Christians must fight. Here, I'll lend you a spear,--take
+that" (giving me a huge iron lance.) I took it, and turning to
+Bel-Kasem, said, "What's this cost?" so evading the challenge. "The price
+of a camel," shouted Bel-Kasem at the top of his voice. "Ah!" cried
+Khanouhen, "right, now sit down again; men are fools to fight--why cut
+one another's throats?" "Yâkob," he went on, "your Sultan's a woman, does
+she fight?" There was now a tremendous knocking at the door. This was two
+or three cousins of Hateetah. "D----n that Hateetah," cried Khanouhen,
+"Bel-Kasem, turn them away." Hereupon, Bel-Kasem started up in the most
+abject style of obedience, and pushed one of his slaves out of the
+room-door into the open court, crying "Bago, bago" (not at home). There
+are certain foreign words which get currency, and supplant all native
+ones. This "bago" is neither Touarghee, nor Ghadamsee, nor Arabic,
+although used by persons speaking almost exclusively these languages.
+Bago is Housa, as before mentioned. Then the slave called "Bago, bago,
+bago;" then half-a-dozen slaves, close to the street-door, called "Bago,
+bago, bago." The knocking continued; the "bagos" continued, the uproar
+was hideous. Then Bel-Kasem gave his slave a slap, crying, "Bago, you
+_kelb_ (dog)." Now the slave was off again to the other slaves, shouting
+and yelling "Bagos," till the "bagos" drowned the knocking and the
+clamour without, and the disappointed supper-hunters retired growling
+like hungry wolves of the evening. Bel-Kasem now gave me a hint to fetch
+the money for Khanouhen. I was off and back in an instant, very glad to
+give the Sheikh the money according to our new compact. I put it into the
+hands of Bel-Kasem. "Go out," said Bel-Kasem, "and see the fine parrots I
+have bought." I went out, and in the meanwhile the politic merchant
+slipped the money into the hands of the Prince. When I came back, they
+both began to ridicule Hateetah. The Prince said, "Yâkob, place yourself
+under the sword of Hateetah, and go out with him and fight a hundred
+Shânbah." "Oh, he's an ass," replied Bel-Kasem. Such was their style of
+ridicule. Bel-Kasem is a well-meaning little fellow, but a sort of fool
+or jester of the Sheikh's. Khanouhen allows him to say anything and do
+anything, but laughs at him all the time. Bel-Kasem always brings the
+Sheikh some pretty present, and Khanouhen throws around him his powerful
+arm of protection. The slavish merchant and faithful sycophant always
+calls him Sultan, swears by the Sheikh's beard in his quarrels with the
+other merchants, and threatens all his rivals in trade with Khanouhen's
+wrath.
+
+The Sahara has its factions in every group of its society. It would
+appear that without faction neither Saharan nor any other sort of society
+could exist. Ghadames gives us its _Ben Weleed_ and _Ben Wezeet_. Ghat
+gives us three great factions in its Republic of Sheikhs. We may thus
+classify their politics:--
+
+MONARCHICAL FACTION.
+
+Mohammed Shafou Ben Seed, _the Sultan_ of the Ghat, or Azgher Touaricks.
+El-Haj Mohammed Khanouhen Ben Othman, the heir-apparent of the throne.
+Marabout El-Haj Ahmed Ben El-Haj, Es-Sadeek, Governor of the town of Ghat.
+Ouweek (second-rate Sheikh).
+
+ARISTOCRATIC FACTION.
+
+Mohammed Ben Jabour, Marabout Sheikh.
+
+DEMOCRATIC FACTION.
+
+Berka Ben Entăshāf, the most aged of the Sheikhs.
+The Sheikh of gigantic stature[80].
+Hateetah Ben Khouden, the "_friend_" of the English.
+
+I found the strongest demonstrations of rivalry, and the bitterest
+feelings of faction, in the conduct of these several princes of The
+Desert, who are the personages of influence and authority amongst the
+Ghat Touaricks. In the monarchical class the Governor of the town is
+allied to the Sultan by marriage, though Khanouhen has no family by the
+Governor's sister. Shafou, the venerable Sultan, is of such gentle
+unassuming manners that he exercises no political influence over the wild
+sons of The Desert. Khanouhen embodies the Sultan, and is the man of
+eloquence, of action, and intrepidity in the national councils. He is
+feared by all (Jabour, perhaps, excepted), but, nevertheless, is not
+tyrannical in his administration of affairs. Jabour, the Marabout, is a
+wise, upright, and amiable prince. His influence extends beyond the Ghat
+Touaricks. Jabour told me himself, he had several people subject to his
+authority, extending as far as Timbuctoo. To these, the Prince promised
+to commit me in case I determined to make a journey to Timbuctoo. Like
+Khanouhen, Jabour has two wives; one resides in Ghat, where the Sheikh
+has a _town-house_, and the other in the country districts. He has,
+besides, four or five sons. I saw one of them, who was as much of an
+aristocrat as his father. The merchants assured me that Jabour's
+influence, more especially as he is a marabout, although he is no
+demagogue priest of the _Higgins' calibre_, is unbounded. "With a slave
+of Jabour," they declared, "you may go to Timbuctoo, and all parts of
+Sahara." The Sheikh himself does not visit the neighbouring countries.
+This is not the custom of the Touaricks, the people being opposed to the
+Sheikhs leaving their districts; but they send their slaves or relations
+continually about. Berka, the head of the democratic faction, is too old
+to exercise power, he has only strength enough to get about. The aged
+Prince paid me two visits, and was as gentle as gentleness could be. His
+family contains some powerful and intrepid chiefs, amongst the rest the
+Giant, the Goliath of the Ghat Touaricks. But, speaking of giants,
+_Bassa_, Sultan of the _Haghar_ Touaricks, is the real Giant of The
+Desert. Some of the people report this Giant Desert Prince to have six
+fingers on each hand, and to be several heads taller than he of Ghat. His
+spear, they describe, in the true spirit of the marvellous, to be,
+"higher than the tallest palm." I may help their imagination, "And the
+staff of his spear is like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighs
+six hundred shekels of iron," or is like--
+
+          "The mast
+    Of some great admiral."
+
+Were I to adopt our present fanciful theories of accounting for the
+origin and migration of nations, I should here have a fine field before
+me, and the Touarghee giants of The Sahara would become, by the
+transmuting fancy of our antiquarian theologians, the veritable
+Philistines of Gath and Ekron. For many of the Berber tribes, amongst
+whom the Touaricks are classed, especially the _Shelouh_ of Morocco,
+relate traditionally that their fathers came from the land of the
+Philistines, and that they themselves are Philistines. What then is
+easier than to find in the name of _Ghat_ the _Gath_ of the Philistines?
+But unfortunately, _Azgher_ is the Touarick name of themselves and their
+country. Still the name of _Ghat_ must have its origin. As before
+noticed, the original signification of the term _Ghat_ has been traced to
+mean "_Sun_" or "God," in the ancient Libyo-Egyptian language. I am not
+competent to give an opinion on the subject. One of the Latin writers
+makes the aboriginal people of North Africa to have been Medes. The
+probability is they were Syrians of some class. From the coast they would
+naturally pass or migrate to The Sahara.
+
+Hateetah is an extremely pacific man in his conduct, and greatly liked
+for his peace-making disposition; but he is only a second-rate Sheikh,
+and has no political influence over Touarick affairs, beyond what the
+chief of his family enjoys. He has several brothers and cousins, all
+esteemed Sheikhs, but with little or no power.
+
+The government of the Touaricks is an assemblage of Chieftains, the
+people supporting their respective leaders, the heads of their clans in
+the feudal style, and all these controlled by a Sultan or Sheikh-Kebir.
+The number of Sheikhs, when the lesser, or second and third-rate, Sheikhs
+are included, is very considerable, and makes the country, as the
+Governor says, "a country of Sheikhs." In their various districts, each
+greater Sheikh exercises a sovereign, if not independent authority. In
+any national emergency, they all willingly unite for the common defence
+and protection, as now, when they are collecting their forces, in a
+common effort to extirpate the Shanbâh banditti. The people, however,
+enjoy complete liberty. The Touaricks, though a nation of chiefs and
+princes, are in every sense and view a nation of freemen, and have none
+of those odious and effeminate vices which so darkly stain the Mahometans
+of the North Coast, or the Negro countries of Negroland. Every man is a
+tower of strength for himself, and his desert hut or tent, situate in
+vast solitudes, is his own inviolable home of freedom!
+
+According to Haj Ahmed, the Touaricks of Ghat muster fifteen thousand
+warriors. Let them be ten thousand, this would give an entire population,
+including women, old men, and children, and slaves of both sexes, of
+about sixty thousand souls. These Touaricks possess a good number of
+slaves, but of the male sex to look after their camels. Every able-bodied
+Touarick is a warrior, and is equipped with a dagger, suspended under the
+left arm by a broad leather ring attached to the scabbard, and going
+round the wrist, and a Touarick of adult age is never seen without this
+dangerous weapon; a straight broad-sword is slung on his back, and he
+carries a spear or lance in his right hand. Most of the spears have
+wooden shafts, but others are all metal, and mostly iron. Some are of
+fine and elegant workmanship, inlaid with brass, and of the value of a
+good maharee, or thirty dollars. They have staves also, which they use
+as walking-sticks, or weapons of war, as it may be[81]. These are their
+weapons of warfare. The matchlock they despise. "What can the enemy do
+with the gun against the sword?" the Targhee warriors ask contemptuously.
+They, indeed, use the sword, their grand weapon, as the English soldier
+the bayonet. Their superior tactic is to surprise the enemy, especially
+in the night, when the Genii help them, and hack him to pieces. The spear
+is used mostly to wound and disable the camel. Their manner of disposing
+of the booty, is characteristic. "What are we to do with these women and
+children?" they asked me, "when we have exterminated the Shânbah men."
+Without waiting for a reply they said:--"Oh, we'll send them to the Turks
+and sell them." They have the example of the Turks themselves, who, on
+the destruction of the Arab men in the mountains, collected the women and
+children together, and sent the best of them to Constantinople to be
+sold, in defiance of the express law of the Koran.
+
+The maharee cannot be overlooked; this remarkable camel, which is
+like the greyhound amongst dogs for swiftness and agility, and even
+shape, they train for war and riding like the horse. They do not
+rear the ordinary variety of camel found in North Africa and on the Coast.
+‮مَه٘رِي‬ or ‮مَه٘رِ‬, are the two manners in which I
+have seen the Moorish talebs write this word in Arabic. An Arab
+philologist says, the term Maharee is derived from the name of the
+Arabian province of Mahra, on the south-east coast, adjoining Oman,
+whence this fine species of camel is supposed originally to have
+been brought into The Desert. The Touaricks, of course, have very
+curious legends about their peculiar camel. We have, however, the
+Arabic ‮مهر‬, "to be diligent," "acute-minded," and the term
+‮مهاراة‬, "flying away," from which ‮مهري‬ may probably
+be derived. At least there is no apparent objection to such derivation. The
+Hebrew cognate dialect has the word also. ‮מהר‬ signifies "to
+hasten," "to be quick;" but I cannot assert positively it has any
+relation with this derivation. In the books written on Western
+Barbary, we find the terms _heirée_ and _erragnol_ to denote the
+"fleet" or "swift-footed camel," the former of which is apparently a
+corruption of mahry or maharee. It is said that camels are called by names
+derived from the Arabic numerals, as _tesaee_, "ten," (‮تسعي‬),
+and _sebaee_, "seven," (‮سبعي‬) according as they perform
+a journey of _ten_ days, or _seven_ days, in _one_; but I never
+heard of this distinction in any part of The Desert. It is pretended
+that the mahry cannot live on the Coast of Africa on account of the
+cold. This has not been sufficiently tried, for Haj Ibrahim kept one
+at Tripoli, which thrived very well, and was in good condition. It
+is, however, a very chilly animal, and seems to feel the cold as
+much as the Touarghee himself. In its healthy state it is full of
+fire and energy, and always assumes the mastery over the camels of
+the Coast, biting them, and trying to prevent them from eating with
+it in circle like other camels. Mounted on his mahry, dressed out
+fantastically in various and many-coloured harness, (the small
+saddle being fixed on the withers, and the rider's legs on the neck
+of the animal,) with his sword slung on his back, dagger under the
+left arm, and lance in the right hand, the Touarghee warrior sallies
+forth to war, daring everything, and fearing nothing but God and the
+Demons. In the year '44 they made an inroad upon the sandy wastes of
+the Shânbah bandits; days and months they pursued the brigand tribe
+over the trackless regions of sand; and during this expedition they
+neither tasted food, nor drank a drop of water, for seven
+days!--still keeping up a running fight, pursuing and butchering the
+Shânbah, who all disappeared at last, concealed under heaps
+of sand. This statement, which shows the extraordinary power of
+endurance--the moral and physical temperance in the Touaricks, I had
+from the Governor of Ghat himself, and which coming from him
+deserves credit. But the Touaricks do not eat every day though they
+may have food in the house. They eat generally every other day. And
+this amply suffices them when merely reclining in their tents, or
+lounging in the Souk. Habit is everything; we might all live on one
+meal a day if we could accustom ourselves to it. The people pretend
+that, though the Shânbah can count the grains of their desert region
+of sand, and know every form of the sand-mountains as well by night
+as by day, the Touaricks had nevertheless the advantage over them,
+pursuing them better by night than by day, because the Genii were
+their guides; and many Shânbah, who had hid themselves under the
+sand, were unburied by the Genii, and slain by the Touaricks.
+
+I have given a case of Touarghee justice. During the Ghat Souk, all the
+Sheikhs assemble in the great square, the Shelly, for the arrangement of
+disputes; but it is mere form, and is more for gossiping and quizzing one
+another, the Touarick being fond of a good joke. The principal Sheikh
+present mounts a stone-bench, and sits down in a reclining posture,
+striking his spear into the ground, which stands erect before him, as if
+awaiting his orders. The very first thing a Touarghee does when he stops
+and sits down, is to strike his spear into the ground or sand. When my
+_friend_ Ouweek was napping near me at the well of Tadoghseen, his spear
+was struck into the sand close by his head. So it is said, "And, behold,
+Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at
+his bolster." (1 Samuel, chap. xxvi. ver 7.) The Sheikh of highest rank
+now seated, the Sheikhs next in dignity take their seats around him, at a
+short distance off, in the form of a semicircle, these generally
+squatting on the ground. Sometimes the principal Sheikh himself squats on
+the ground. The cases of dispute are then brought forward, if any. The
+infliction of punishment is by fines. There is nothing in the shape of a
+prison,--this delectable institution being the work and discovery of
+civilization. Our Irishman might indeed, without a bull, with his back to
+The Desert, and his face to the civilized communities of the Coast,
+exclaim, on sight of the first prison and gibbet, "Thank God, I am out of
+the land of Barbarians, and have reached the land of Civilization!" Of
+fines, I heard of no other case than that of the Sultan fining two
+strangers a couple of dollars, whilst resident in Ghat.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+In some parts of the Shelly there are ranges of benches of two and three
+flights. It is an imposing sight, to pass through the square late in the
+afternoon, just before they leave, and see all the Touaricks mounted on
+these benches. Row upon row, range upon range, they sit, closely jammed
+together, as thick as Milton's spirits in Pandemonium, and not unlike
+them, with their dark and concealed countenances, so mysteriously muffled
+up with the dread litham, having before them ranges of spears, parallel
+to themselves, a bright forest hedge of pines, awaiting their orders for
+war or warlike pomp. I have frequently passed this forest range of
+lances, and looked up fearfully to the dark enigmatical figures or shapes
+of human beings, reclining in the most profound death-like silence, not
+exchanging a word with one another. A most trivial call of attention, a
+rustling or breath of an accident of novelty, nevertheless, is enough to
+put instant action and fire into these ranged masses of ice-congealed or
+stone statue-like warriors, who will then rush down upon the attractive
+object headlong, one falling over the other, until their childish
+curiosity being satisfied, the wild tumult subsides, and they themselves
+sink into their wonted blank inanity. But it is a fact, they will sit
+motionless thus for hours and hours, and not condescend to speak to their
+best friend amongst the merchants. This is their idea of dignity and
+superior rank over their fellows. It would appear, from the account of
+the Sultan of Bornou, that he, also, never condescends to speak when he
+receives a foreign envoy. "Slowness of motion," in Barbary, and I imagine
+in The East, is also considered a mark of dignity. A full-blown
+fashionable Moor always walks extremely slow. The Touarick usually rises
+up slowly, and deliberately walks out of the house in the same way, but
+otherwise he continues a fair pace. What is curious, a Touarick never
+speaks and salutes when he leaves you; his compliments and inquiries of
+health, are all on his entrance into your house.
+
+It now seems pretty well agreed upon by all parties who converse about my
+affairs, that I should return and make greater preparations, and bring
+with me two or three others, fellow-travellers, so as to render an
+expedition of this sort more useful and respectable. But the disadvantage
+always is, if it get abroad that such a mission is coming, laden with
+presents, money and provisions, the danger is tenfold augmented, whilst
+an indigent person like myself is in comparative security. A single
+person has also his own advantages over a mission of two or three, or
+more. He is his own master he is responsible alone for himself. Who
+knows, but what something disastrous had happened if I had had with me
+some hot-headed companion? A man will lose his life any time in The
+Desert in five minutes if he cannot keep his temper. He may occasionally
+assume airs of being angry for policy's sake, and check the insolence of
+some low fellow, and with other advantages. But the point is, to be cool
+in danger and embarrassments, which, if a man cannot be, let him go into
+The Great Desert at his peril. It was for the same reason I would not
+bring with me an European servant from Tripoli, whose fluency in Arabic
+might have been attended with the greatest danger to us both instead of
+assistance. Said is pestered with questions about me or my affairs; but
+at times Said is stupid enough, and people get tired of asking him
+questions. I must mention, however, one thing to his credit and to his
+cunning sagacity; although a thousand times questioned, whether he
+himself were a slave, and how he came with me, he never let out that he
+was a runaway slave from Tunis, not even to his dearest companions of
+travel. Generally when asked a question of our affairs, he says,
+_Ma-Nârafsh_, "I don't know," and this he does as much from his indolence
+in not wishing to talk as from policy. Here I shall take the liberty of
+stating the several objections to my proceeding this year to Soudan:--
+
+1st. My health is beginning to sink under pressure of the climate, as
+well as under various vexations and annoyances. Amongst the latter, I
+have received nothing which I wrote for to Tripoli, to persons whom I
+considered friends of the mission, one thing excepted, and certainly not
+the least thing, the money. (And I embrace the opportunity of thanking
+gratefully Signor Francovich, Austrian merchant of Tripoli, for letting
+me have money whenever I asked him, promptly and immediately, and to any
+amount which I drew for).
+
+2nd. Amongst the things written for to Tripoli, and which did not arrive,
+were medicine, and some common instruments of observation. The medicine
+was packed up by Dr. Dickson, but neglected to be sent until the caravan
+had left Ghadames. The instruments, which could easily have been procured
+in Tripoli, were of the greatest consequence, in making a more extended
+tour intelligible.
+
+3rd. Kanou, being reported by all the merchants as "a country of fever,"
+it would have been exceedingly imprudent for me to have gone further
+without a good stock of medicines. We have no right to plunge ourselves
+into the flood of the Niger, and then accuse the hand of Providence for
+not saving us from a watery grave. One might have escaped the fever, as
+one might have been picked up by the swimming of a black man; but such a
+"might" belongs to accident, not the planning and arranging of legitimate
+expectation.
+
+I shall not trouble the reader with ten or more reasons, all having more
+or less of weight, which I have recorded in my journal, but which are
+more curious than sensible. I mention, that, on my departure from Ghat, I
+wrote to the Sultan of Aheer, by the advice of my best friends, informing
+him of my intention to visit him at some future period. It is a mistake
+that, the taking of these Saharan princes unawares; they consider it
+infinitely more friendly to be written to beforehand. A stranger, and
+especially a Christian, coming down upon them unexpectedly, excites
+suspicion which may never be afterwards removed. The Touarick Princes of
+Aheer are considered the only difficulty, so far as governments are
+concerned, in the rest of the route. The Fullan Princes of Soudan are
+represented as eminently friendly to every body, every stranger of
+whatever clime or religion. However, I do not pretend to know what effect
+the Niger expedition may have produced on the Fullans, with respect to
+Englishmen.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_7th._--Stayed at home all the day. The _fœx populi_ is a great
+worry to me. They have no encouragement from the Sheikhs, but are
+not less the cause of my shutting myself up at home. Evening, when
+the streets were clear, visited Haj Ibrahim. He has purchased the
+feathers of a splendid Soudan ostrich for five dollars, which in
+Tripoli he will sell for ten. The bird is skinned and the feathers
+remain unplucked. The _quæstio vexata_, as to who is Haj Ibrahim's
+"friend," _sahab_ (‮صاحب‬), to whom he should pay his
+tribute-present, for visiting the Souk, is at length decided in
+favour of Berka. The old gentleman produced witnesses that all
+Jerbini belonged to him, or are under his protection, and as Haj
+Ibrahim is a native of Jerbah, he claimed the rich merchant. The
+several Sheikhs have the several merchants under their protection.
+Shafou has those of Tunis, Jabour those of Tripoli, under their
+respective protection, and so of the rest. The merchants pay for
+their protection from ten to twenty dollars, according to their
+means. Frequently a group of traders do not pay more than a single
+individual; some get off with paying only a dollar. These demands on
+the merchants are certainly very moderate, and the Touaricks
+scarcely deserve the epithets of _exigeant_ and extortionate which
+are so freely applied to them by the merchants. Haj Ibrahim, who
+brings some thousand dollars' worth of goods to this part, pays only
+the paltry sum of some twenty or thirty dollars at the most. In
+fact, here is free-trade with a vengeance, existing long before it
+has been attempted to carry it out, with such tremendous
+consequences, as in Great Britain. France and the Zollverein must
+send agents to the Souk of Ghat, say half a dozen University
+students each, to study free-trade principles from the barbarians of
+The Desert. Indeed Touaricks carry out their system beautifully and
+like gentlemen, and the Aheer merchants pay nothing in Ghat, and the
+Ghat merchants pay nothing in Aheer, for the privileges of commerce,
+in the way of customs' dues. The merchants and Arabs of Derge pay
+nothing whatever, a privilege of ancient date granted to this class
+of Tripoline merchants. But the Souk flourishes with its free-trade
+mart, and excites the jealousies of the merchants of Mourzuk, and
+their masters the Turks, because some of the merchants pass from
+here direct to Algeria and Tunis, not touching the Tripoline
+territory, and in this way the Turks lose their much-coveted
+_gomerick_, or customs' duty. I am happy to record the present
+instance of these extortioners being overreached, or rather,
+vanquished by an honourable system of trade. Certainly, were it not
+for the high duties levied on merchandize at Mourzuk and Ghadames,
+many of the merchants of this Souk would visit those cities, and the
+Turks could not fail to benefit by this extra rendezvous of
+merchants. Haj Ibrahim does not think the whole of what all the
+Sheikhs together collect as presents, at the annual Ghat Souk, to be
+more than 250 or 300 dollars. In case Great Britain should think it
+worth while to bribe or buy the services of the Touaricks of The
+Desert, to intercept the slave-caravans, and so discourage the
+traffic, it certainly could be done for some 500 dollars per annum,
+or for very little more, if it were a question of money only.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[79] The merchants call these loaves of French beet-root sugar,
+    _Ras_, _i. e._, "head."
+
+[80] Having always called him the _Giant_ in my notes, I neglected
+    to get his name.
+
+[81] The spear is called _âlagh_, ‮علق‬, the dagger _tayloukh_,
+    ‮تيلوخ‬, the sword _takoubah_, ‮تيكوبة‬, and the
+    stave, with a spear point, âzallah, ‮عزلّة‬. The old men,
+    like indeed Shafou, frequently make use of a large stick, instead
+    of a spear, when they walk about. Usually the Touaricks carry their
+    lances with them, and all their arms, even in paying the most
+    friendly visits. To strangers they look infinitely more formidable
+    than they are, or they themselves pretend to be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+CONTINUED RESIDENCE IN GHAT.
+
+     Commerce of Winter Mart at Ghat.--Visit to Hateetah, and meet the
+     Sultan.--Means of suppressing Saharan Slave Trade by the
+     Touaricks.--Hateetah refuses my returning with a Bengazi
+     Caravan.--Bad Character of Arabs.--Receive a Visit from His
+     Highness the Sultan; and interesting Conversation with him.--Ghat
+     Townsmen great Bigots.--Unexpected Meeting with the Sultan.--My
+     Targhee Friend's opinion of War.--Mode of Baking Bread.--Country
+     of Touat.--The British Consul is perplexed at his _Master_ being
+     a Lady.--Vulgar error of Christians ill-treating Mussulmans in
+     Europe.--People teach the Slaves to call me Infidel.--Visit to
+     Bel Kasem, and find Khanouhen.--The free-thinking of this
+     Prince.--Said's apprehensions of Touaricks.--Hateetah's opinion
+     of stopping Saharan Slave-Dealing.--Shafou leaves
+     Ghat.--Discussion of Politics with an assemblage of
+     Chiefs.--Description of the Touarick Tribes and Nations of The
+     Great Desert.--Description of Aheer and Aghadez.--Leo's Account
+     of the Targhee Desert.--Daughters of the Governor
+     Educated.--Touaricks refuse aid from the Turks against the
+     Shânbah.--A private Slave-Mart.--Ghat comparatively free from
+     Crime.--Visit from Berka.
+
+
+IT is not my intention to enter into the statistics of trade, but I
+mention a few facts. Caravans from Soudan, including all the large
+cities, but especially from Kanou, from Bornou, from the Tibboo country,
+from Touat, from Fezzan, from Souf, from Ghadames, and from Tripoli,
+Tunis, and the North coast, visited the Ghat Souk of this winter. The
+number of merchants, traders, and camel-drivers was about 500, the slaves
+imported from Soudan to Bornou about 1000, and the camels employed in the
+caravans about 1050. Provision caravans from Fezzan also were constantly
+coming to Ghat during the Souk. The main commerce of these caravans
+consisted of the staple exports, of slaves, elephants' teeth, and senna,
+the united value of which, at the market this year, was estimated at
+about 60,000_l._, which value would be doubled, on arriving at the
+European markets.
+
+Next to these grand objects of commerce were ostrich feathers, skins, and
+hides in considerable quantities. Then followed various articles of minor
+character, but of Soudanic manufacture, which are brought to the Souk,
+viz., wooden spoons, bowls, and other utensils for cooking; also sandals,
+wooden combs, leather pillow-cases, bags, purses, pouches, bottles and
+skin-bags for water, &c.; arms, consisting of spears, lances, staves,
+daggers, straight broad-swords, leather and dried skin shields. Some of
+these weapons are made all of metal; the blades of the swords are
+manufactured in Europe and America. These arms are mostly for the
+equipment of the Ghat and Touat Touaricks, and are nearly all
+manufactured in Aheer. Provisions are also exported from Soudan and Aheer
+to this mart, consisting of semen or liquid butter; ghusub or drâ;
+ghafouly[82], sometimes called Guinea corn; hard cheese from Aheer, which
+is pounded before eaten; beef, cut into shreds, and without salt, dried
+in the sun and wind; peppers of the most pungent character, an extremely
+small quantity sufficing to season a large dish; a species of shell
+fruit, called by the Moors Soudan almonds[83]; bakhour, or frankincense;
+and ghour nuts and koudah, which are masticated as tobacco. There is
+then, finally, the great cotton manufacture, which clothes half the
+people of The Desert. Whole caravans of these cottons arrive together,
+and they are even conveyed from Ghat to Timbuctoo, this extremely
+roundabout way from Soudan. The colour is mostly a blue-black, sometimes
+a lighter blue, and glazed and shining. But the indigo is ill-prepared,
+and the dyeing as badly done, and the consequence is, the cottons are
+very begriming in the wearing. The indigo plant is simply cut, and thrown
+into a pond of water to ferment with the articles to be dyed, and after a
+short time the cottons are taken out, dried, pressed, and glazed with
+gum. It is these dark cottons which the Touaricks are so passionately
+fond of. The only live animals brought over The Desert from Soudan and
+Aheer are sheep and parrots.
+
+The articles of import to the Souk from Europe are sufficiently well
+known; they are chiefly silks and cloth, but of the most ordinary sort,
+and, of showy colours, red, yellow, light green. Raw silk and brocades;
+beads, glass and composition; small, looking-glasses; wooden bracelets,
+fantastically painted; sword-blades; needles[84]; paper[85]; razors; some
+spices, cloves, &c.; attar of roses; carpet-rugs; "Indians," or coarse
+white cottons; bornouses and barracans, &c., &c. But it may be observed,
+all the European articles introduced into Central Africa are of the most
+ordinary description possible. Barracans or blankets are brought from
+various places for sale at Ghat, but mostly from the Souf and Touat
+oases, where the women weave them in great quantities. They are very warm
+and serviceable in the winter months, and are even carried to Soudan,
+where during the rainy and damp season these woollens are highly prized
+for their usefulness, and found greatly conducive to health. No
+fire-arms, which I could observe, are brought for sale here. There is
+scarcely any gold trade; a very small quantity is brought here _viâ_
+Touat from Timbuctoo. The money in circulation at the Souk is nearly all
+Spanish. The exceptions are two small Turkish coins, called karoobs, one
+of the value of about an English penny, and the other double this. A few
+Tunisian piastres pass amongst merchants of the north. It is not the
+large pillared-dollar (mudfah) which is in circulation, but the
+quarter-dollars of Spain. Five of these quarter-dollars make up the value
+of a whole Spanish dollar, and four are the value of the current or ideal
+dollar, called the small dollar. The Soudanese merchants, who are
+accustomed to see this money brought from the western coast, flatly
+refuse all other monies but the Spanish. There is not a great quantity
+of it here; merchants keep up the supply of this currency by exporting it
+from Touat and Morocco. No gold coins are in circulation, nor any copper.
+The Turkish money, excepting the karoobs mentioned, will not pass here;
+people detest it as much as they do the Turks themselves. I once asked an
+orthodox merchant how it was, that Mussulmans preferred the money of
+infidel Christians to that of the Sultan of the Faithful? He naïvely
+replied, "God has taught Christians to make money, because although used
+in this world, it is accursed. Mussulmans touch the abominable thing, but
+don't pollute themselves by making it. In the next world Mussulmans will
+have all good things and enjoyments without money; but Christians will
+have molten money, like hot running lead, continually pouring down their
+throats as their torment for ever."
+
+There is a very ancient story in circulation (in books) respecting the
+peculiar manner of carrying on trade somewhere in the neighbourhood of
+Timbuctoo. It is copied by Shaw from former writers on Africa. "At a
+certain time of the year," the honest Doctor says, "they (Western Moors)
+make this journey in a numerous caravan, carrying along with them coral
+and glass beads, bracelets of horn, knives, scissors, and such like
+trinkets. When they arrive at the places appointed, which is on such a
+day of the moon, they find in the evening several different heaps of gold
+dust lying at a small distance from each other, against which the Moors
+place so many of their trinkets as they judge will be taken in exchange
+for them. If the Nigritians, the next morning, approve of the bargain,
+they take up the trinkets and leave the gold-dust, or else make some
+deductions from the latter. In this manner they transact their exchange
+without seeing one another, or without the least instance of dishonesty
+or perfidiousness on their part." This curious instance of Nigritian
+commerce has certainly been copied from the following passage in
+Herodotus, proving the high antiquity of the ingenious fable:--"It is
+their (the Carthaginian's) custom," says the father of history, "on
+arriving among them (the people beyond the columns of Hercules) to unload
+their vessels, and dispose their goods along the shore; this done, they
+again embark, and make a great smoke from on board. The natives seeing
+this, come down immediately to the shore, and placing a quantity of gold,
+by way of exchange, retire. The Carthaginians then land a second time,
+and if they think the gold equivalent, they take it and depart--if not,
+they again go on board their vessels. The inhabitants return, and add
+more gold till the crews are satisfied. The whole is conducted with the
+strictest integrity, for neither will one touch the gold till they have
+left an adequate value in merchandize, nor will the other remove the
+goods, till the Carthaginians have taken away the gold." This story,
+unhappily for the guileless simplicity of our merchants here, is too good
+to be true, like most artless stories of this sort. I made inquiries of
+merchants who had lived nearly all their lifetimes in Timbuctoo, and not
+far from the gold country, but they had never heard of this pretty
+primitive mode of barter. And yet the story has a real African or Negro
+look in it. One cannot positively assert that something like this might
+not have existed amongst the Nigritians and their foreign exchangers of
+produce and merchandize. Let us hope, for the honesty of mankind, that
+the fable had a genuine origin.
+
+_8th._--Called on Hateetah this morning. Still the Sheikh bothers me
+about presents for his brothers; he had also the conscience to ask for
+another barracan for himself. I stood out, determined to give nothing to
+him or his brothers and cousins. Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. His
+friend, the Ghadamsee merchant, Ahmed Ben Kaka, who makes the journey
+from Tripoli to Noufee, says he saw the English steamers of the late
+Niger expedition, so he must have descended lower than Noufee. He says
+they came up to _Yetferrej_, "amuse themselves," and look about. He had
+not heard of their anti-slavery objects. According to him, "Fever and
+sickness prevail more at Kanou than Noufee."
+
+_9th._--A fine morning, but cold. Slept little; these fits of not
+sleeping come on repeatedly. The Touarghee who has charge of my camel has
+brought her from the grazing districts. On arriving at Ghat, all the
+merchants send their camels to graze in these places. The Touarghee asks
+for barley or straw whilst the nagah is here. The incident reminds me
+of--"Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they
+unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his
+charge." (1st Book of Kings, chap. iii. 28.) This is the food of horses
+and camels to the present day in North Africa; the barley is principally
+for the horses, and the straw, when it is chopped into little pieces, is
+given to both horses and camels. The Touaricks show the greatest
+antipathy to the Arabs, more especially since the late murderous attack
+of the Shânbah on their defenceless countrymen. Some of the Touaricks go
+so far as to say, "Mahomet was not an Arab." My Touarghee friend Omer
+quarrelled violently with two Souf Arabs, who were also visiting me. I
+told them it was indecent to quarrel in the house of a stranger whom they
+were together visiting, and they made it up, shaking hands.
+
+_10th._--Visited a patient, but had some difficulty in persuading him to
+take my nostrums. Afterwards called on Hateetah, and, to my agreeable
+surprise, found there the Sultan. I did not at first recognize His
+Highness, the _litham_ being entirely removed from his face[86]. I was
+vexed at my awkwardness, but the good-natured Sheikhs, several of whom
+were present, readily excused me. His Highness and another Sheikh were
+eating a sort of _bazeen_ or pudding, with curd milk, out of a large
+wooden bowl. Each had a spoon with which they scooped up the pudding one
+after another. I have sometimes seen two persons eating from a dish and
+having but one spoon, which they used alternately, one fellow watching
+anxiously the other with greediness, and measuring with a hungry eye the
+size of his friend's spoonfuls. It is an advance on the Arabs, this use
+of spoons, and I always took care to praise the Touaricks for their use
+of spoons. In the open country, when a Touarghee has finished his meal he
+drives the handle into the sand to keep the lower part dry. These spoons
+are all made in Soudan, and are extremely neat, the shaft of the spoon
+being very much bent, and the bottom very large and deepened in. His
+Highness now told me he should send a present to the Queen, and asked me
+if I would take a maharee. This I declined, on account of the expenses of
+bringing such an animal to England on my own responsibility. Hateetah
+said, "Why how foolish, when you get to Mourzuk the Consul will give you
+plenty of money." I told him I did not know the Consul there, and must
+not trust to any Consuls for such matters. None of the Sheikhs could
+understand this objection. On getting up to take leave of His Highness he
+asked: "How do you like our country? What do you think of our merchants?
+Are the people civil to you? Shall you again return? How old are you? Why
+do you travel so far? Will it not shorten your life? Will not your Sultan
+give you a great deal of money for coming so far?" &c. Hateetah now told
+me to sit down again. All were reclining on mats, and no particular
+attention was paid to the Sultan. A merchant present said, "Why don't you
+buy and sell, the Souk is open? We wish to see the English come here to
+buy senna and elephants' teeth. But the English don't purchase slaves." I
+then, half-doubting the propriety of, and greatly puzzled how to
+introduce the subject, tried to make an effort. "How much," asked I, "do
+the Touaricks get from the merchants who deal in slaves? I don't think
+more than three hundred dollars a year?" (Several of the Sheikhs nodded
+assent.) "Well, now, if the Sultan and the Touaricks would stop the
+traffic in slaves here, perhaps the English would give them three
+thousand dollars per annum." They all laughed at this, and the merchant
+of Ghat took upon himself to say, for the Sultan and the Sheikhs, "Bring
+the money." To this I rejoined, "But see now, I can't interfere, I'm not
+the English Consul; Hateetah (turning to him) is the English Consul, let
+him write for Shafou, to our Queen and arrange everything. I'll take
+Shafou's present and bring back his from our Sultan. This is all I can
+do." Hateetah raised himself up at this sally, and looked very
+consequentially upon all around, even upon Shafou, as much as to say,
+"Don't you hear, The Christian makes me the English Consul, and am I not
+the English Consul?" Was glad to escape from the subject in this way,
+determined not to pursue it further, knowing the bitter hatred it would
+create in the minds of the merchants against me, if the conversation got
+abroad. Still felt happy in having broached the subject, and attacked
+their selfish feelings on the point. Government might spend a few pounds
+out of the million per annum, (the cost of the suppression on the Western
+Coast,) in buying the co-operative influence of these Sheikhs, who hold
+the _keys_ of The Desert. There is no moral reason for leaving one part
+of Africa a prey to this scourge, and concentrating all our efforts in
+another region of this unhappy continent. I left the Sultan and Hateetah
+in a good humour, after promising them some tobacco. Hateetah showed me
+the leather pillow-case which Shafou intended to send Her Majesty.
+Hateetah this morning seemed to have got the Sultan's ear, but as soon as
+the old gentleman returns to Khanouhen, all the English Consul's
+influence will evaporate in smoke.
+
+_11th._--Called upon the Governor and met there Haj Abdullah of Bengazi.
+Persuaded him to wait till to-morrow and take me with him to Mourzuk.
+Then called on Hateetah, who would not consent to this. He says, "I must
+not go this way with a couple of people through The Desert. I must go
+either with him or his brother in the course of a few days, carrying the
+presents of Shafou and a letter for the Queen." Agreed to this, it being
+a matter of indifference whether I stopped a few days longer or not,
+after waiting so long and to such little purpose. Was annoyed at my
+Soudan journey being cut off in the middle, and sometimes thought I would
+still risk it, or "go the whole hog." Perseverance overcomes obstacles
+deemed by men impossibilities. Hateetah evidently feels his importance,
+and besides thinks he shall get a little more by my delay. He is right,
+for Her Majesty's subjects don't ask for his protection every day. The
+Governor pretends the Shânbah muster 10,000! This ignorance must be
+voluntary, or the assertion is made to render the approaching victory of
+the Touaricks more terrible to my conception. An Arab of Tripoli came
+here a few days ago and personified himself as Abdullah, who was going to
+Bengazi, asking me for an advance of money. Met him this morning and
+accused him of his impudent imposture, threatening to get him bastinadoed
+by the Pasha. The Arabs are without question the worst class of people
+who visit this mart of commerce. What they don't do as brigands they
+attempt by fraud. Shaw tells us that, in his time, they lay in ambush in
+the morning to attack the strangers whom they had hospitably entertained
+the previous evening. Some of them still most richly deserve this
+character. The Touaricks are so alarmed at the cold that there is no
+prospect of their marching out against the Shânbah for weeks yet. Several
+Touarghee camel-drivers will wait for the summer caravan before they
+undertake the journey to Aheer, on which route the cold is often severe
+at this season.
+
+_12th._--Occupied in reading Hebrew. Learnt a few Touarghee words.
+Several Touaricks called to beg dates; "_Bago_," or "Not at home." Did
+not go out to-day.
+
+_13th._--Called upon Hateetah, who vexed me exceedingly again by begging.
+Her Majesty's Consul must have a regular salary, or Her Majesty's
+subjects visiting here will have no peace of their lives. Told him to get
+up his camels and prepare for our departure, and then I would give him
+another backsheesh.
+
+Afternoon, a messenger came from His Highness with the Sultan's dagger in
+his hand, as guarantee that he came from His Highness. This is usual in
+Ghat. Mr. Duncan has mentioned in his Travels through Dahomy, how he
+often received the King's stick as guarantee that the messenger came from
+His Majesty. I inquired,
+
+"What is the matter?"
+
+He answered, "Shafou wishes a dollar or a holee (barracan)."
+
+Not understanding this, I said, "To-morrow I will see."
+
+_The Messenger._--"Should I bring Shafou here to your house?"
+
+"Yes, yes," I answered, very glad to have a visit from the Sultan.
+
+"Now?"
+
+"Yes, bring the Sultan at once," I continued.
+
+In a few minutes, before I could guess or imagine what was this strange
+business, I heard His Highness knocking at the door, who, with the
+messenger, immediately ascended the terrace. The old gentleman, on
+entering my room, refused my most pressing invitation to sit down on the
+ottoman, preferring from sheer modesty to sit upon a skin stretched on
+the floor. His Highness sat silent a few minutes, looking very
+good-natured. As we were quite alone, I embraced the opportunity of
+speaking very plainly to the Sultan. "You see," I observed, "our people
+are afraid to come here, not knowing whether the Touaricks will kill them
+or not. Have you not power to prevent the lesser Sheikhs from stopping
+Christians in The Desert, and threatening them with bad language." "No,"
+replied the Sultan, "I cannot be everywhere. Some of my children think
+themselves better than their father. They will talk and have their own
+way[87]. But now, Yâkob, we have all agreed to protect you, why do you
+fear?" "I don't fear," I added, "but cannot something be done for the
+protection of Christians through The Desert." "Here," said His Highness,
+"is the question. You return home, you go to your Sovereign, for I have a
+secret to tell you." "What is that?" I demanded anxiously. "Up to now,"
+said Shafou, mildly and deliberately, "all the world has paid us tribute.
+The merchants who come from the east or west, north or south, all pay us
+tribute. But the English do not pay us tribute. How's this? You must tell
+your Sultana to pay us tribute, and speak to her yourself." I promised I
+would if I had an opportunity, not attempting to dispute a moment such
+pretensions. I simply recollected the Khan of Tartary, who, after dining
+himself, went out and ordered his servant to proclaim to all the monarchs
+of earth his permission for them to dine, now that he had finished his
+own dinner. I told His Highness, I thought I should return next year; on
+which he said, "Well do, I'll conduct you myself to Aheer." I then
+introduced the delicate subject of slavery. I observed, "The Sheikhs of
+the Touaricks get very little from the merchants who deal in slaves. If
+Your Highness should put an end to this traffic, you would get more from
+us English." "Yes, yes, that's what you said before," interposed the
+Sultan. "Try us, then, bring the money; at present, the English give us
+nothing." I mentioned to the Sultan that the Bey of Tunis had abolished
+the traffic in slaves. "Yes," said the messenger to the Sultan, "it's
+true." The conversation now dropped, and I did not understand what was to
+be done further. The messenger made a sign about the dollar. I had
+already folded up mechanically a dollar in a piece of paper before the
+Sultan came in, so I put this into the messenger's hand. I certainly
+should have given the Sultan a dozen dollars if he had asked me, but the
+old gentleman's wishes and wants were few, and his modesty greater than
+these. His Highness now got up, and shaking hands departed as pleased as
+Punch with his dollar. I question whether His Highness ever has any
+money; Khanouhen is treasurer and everything else. So I finished with the
+good-natured gentle creature Shafou, having humbly presented The Sultan
+of all the Touaricks of Ghat with one dollar!
+
+Just after Shafou left, the messenger wished to play me a trick. He came
+running back, and said:--"See this dagger, this belongs to Khanouhen; he
+says you must give him half a dollar." I simply replied to the fellow, "I
+know nothing about it." I was convinced Khanouhen would never send such
+a message. I laughed however at this fashion of sending about daggers. It
+had something in it of the style of presenting a pistol to a man's breast
+with the agreeable demand, "Your money or your life."
+
+Passing through the gardens, I fell accidentally into conversation with a
+gardener. On mentioning, that if God spared my life, I should go to
+Soudan next year, he exclaimed:--
+
+"What! do you know God?"
+
+_I._--"Yes, and all Christians know God."
+
+_The Gardener._--"Why, then, are you an infidel?"
+
+I repeated, "All Christians pray and know God;" and left him puzzled out
+of his wits. Ghat townsmen are beastly ignorant zealots, and confound
+Christians with the Pagan Negroes of Central Africa, whom also they call
+"Ensara." Since Negroes worship the "fetish," they think also we don't
+know God. The Governor asked the other day, if the children of Christians
+learnt to read and write like his children, the noisy hum of their
+reading coming into the room whilst we sat talking. I might have
+answered, "Some do," but used more general phraseology, "Both boys and
+girls with us learn to read and write." "My girls learn also," replied
+the Governor, with an air of triumph. I was glad to see female education
+encouraged in Ghat by the Marabout, as it is also in Ghadames.
+
+Touaricks are afraid, and distrust Arabs; and Arabs are afraid, and
+distrust Touaricks; and both these are afraid of, and distrust Turks.
+There is no mutual confidence in these various Mahometan people.
+Nevertheless, except the Shânbah incursions, everything goes on pretty
+quietly, and I hear of no murders, or acts of violence, in this region of
+The Sahara. There is certainly no Irish or Indian Thuggism amongst
+Saharan barbarians.
+
+_14th._--The weather during these three days has been fine, no wind (the
+horror of our people), and very warm. Our departure is protracted from
+day to day. Time may be money in England, here it is as valueless as the
+sand of these deserts. Got up very early, as I sometimes do, and went to
+see the Governor. I was alone. In the distance (it was scarcely
+daylight), I saw a tall figure looming, embodying forth. I continued, and
+it neared me. This shadowy figure at length became visibly formed, and
+expanded itself into the full stature of Shafou, who was like myself all
+alone. His Highness was as surprised to meet me as I was surprised to
+meet him at this time of morning. Shafou stopped suddenly, and then
+putting his hand to his tobacco pouch, which he carried on his left arm,
+and without speaking, gave me to understand that I had not sent the
+tobacco which I had promised him. Indeed, I could not get it from Haj
+Ibrahim. I addressed this silent admonition of my forgetfulness or
+short-coming, by saying, "Yes, I understand, I'll send the tobacco." His
+Highness then slowly passed on, just raising his hand to salute me at
+parting, but without uttering a word. Afterwards, called on Hateetah, who
+had heard from the messenger about my wonderful liberality in giving a
+dollar to the Sultan, and was very angry. "Who is Shafou?" he
+peremptorily asked. "He is nothing. You have given him a large present,
+and me very little. Now, if any body hurts you, I shall be silent." I
+took no notice whatever of this ungracious speech. A son of the Governor
+paid me a visit on my return, and was very saucy, calling me a Kafer. I
+instantly turned him out of the house. Then came in my young Touarghee
+friend, which was a positive relief to me. I said:--"Are you not afraid
+to go warring with the Shânbah?" He answered me pathetically,
+prospectively submitting himself to the Divine Decrees:--"If it be the
+will of God that I go warring against the Shânbah, and fall and die
+there, what then? for go it is inscribed in the Book of Heaven." As to
+the justice of the war, like our young soldiers, it never occupied his
+thoughts. He merely goes to war because his master and prince goes to
+war. What would the Peace Society say to him?
+
+People in Ghat have a very primitive way of making bread. They place a
+large earthen cylinder, with one of the ends knocked out, upon the
+ground, and make it fast with clay or mud mortar, like "setting a
+copper." This always remains as much a fixture as a copper. When they
+want to make bread, they fill it full of lighted date-palm branches, or
+other fuel. After the flame is extinguished, and the wood ashes have
+fallen to the bottom, the sides of the cylinder are heated red-hot. These
+sides are now rubbed round with a green palm-branch, and made clean. This
+done, the paste or dough is pulled and made into small loaves like
+pancakes, and clapped on the hot sides, until all the surface is covered,
+the little cakes sticking on with great tenacity. The top of the cylinder
+is now covered over to retain the heat. In a few minutes the covering is
+removed, and the new-baked bread is pulled or peeled off the sides of the
+fast-cooling cylinder. But sometimes there is heat for baking two batches
+of bread. Bread is frequently piled up, layer upon layer, like pancakes,
+in a bowl, and a strong highly-seasoned sauce with oil or liquid butter
+is poured upon it; from which bowl it is eaten, and called _âesh_, or
+"the evening meal." Sometimes a number of very small pieces of meat is
+placed on the pile of sopped bread; but this is a delicacy or luxury.
+
+_15th._--Went to call upon Hateetah, and met in the way a son of Abd
+Errahman of Ghadames, who has just returned from the oases of Touat. He
+describes Ain Salah (or Ensalah), to be like the country where the
+Governor of Ghat resides, that is to say, sandy and surrounded with sand
+heaps, but abundantly supplied with water, as well as thickly populated.
+The oases of Touat have unwalled towns, or scattered hamlets, but the
+country is perfectly secure. He gives the inhabitants a good character;
+they are a mixture of Moors, Arabs, Touaricks, Berbers, and Negroes, like
+nearly all the oases in Central Sahara, or that portion of The Great
+Desert, extending from the oases of Fezzan to the Saharan towns of Arwan
+and Mabrouk, on the western-route line of Timbuctoo. He thinks I might
+travel in safety from Touat to Timbuctoo in summer, for during the dry
+season the banditti cannot keep the open Desert. Saw Hateetah, and gave
+him a dollar, which put him into a better humour. Although the
+_soi-disant_ Consul of the English, and all the Christians who per hazard
+visit Ghat, he displayed to-day the greatest ignorance of the maxims and
+polity of Christian nations. I thought it as well, since he assumed to be
+the Representative of Her Majesty here in Ghat, just to remind him, (for
+I thought I had told him before,) there was a Queen in England, and that
+Her Majesty was his master. This greatly shocked Her Majesty's Touarghee
+Consul, and he asked, "Whether the Queen cut off heads?" I told Her
+Majesty's Consul, the servants of Government hanged murderers. The
+Touaricks have acquired these sanguinary notions of cutting off heads,
+from the reports of the Turkish and Moorish administration of justice.
+Such barbarous practices do not exist amongst these barbarians. He then
+demanded, "Should I go to England, would the English seize me and beat
+me?" This question from the English Consul really surprised me, whatever
+I might have expected from others, the vulgar error of Christians
+ill-using Moslems, being spread in Sahara. People think, if they were to
+visit Europe, we should capture them, beat them, and make them slaves.
+This unfavourable opinion of us has descended from the times of the
+Crusaders, when European Christians displayed their zeal for
+Christianity--notwithstanding its holy doctrines teach the forgiveness of
+injuries--by butchering or enslaving Jews, Mahometans, and heretics.
+Thank God, the chivalry of those days is gone, though worse may yet come.
+To-day, a mob of slaves, who idle about in the road to Hateetah, hooted
+after me, and one of the biggest came upon me and pulled hold of my coat.
+I could not let this pass, the hooting I don't care about. So I fetched
+some people to have the biggest fellow taken to Jabour. This we did to
+frighten them, for after one of my friends gave him a crack over the
+head, he was let off, promising to do so no more. The lower Moors and
+Touaricks, both here and at Ghadames, teach the slaves to call Christians
+kafer, "infidel." The blacksmiths, near Hateetah's house, mostly salute
+me as I pass by them, with "There's no God," &c. Sometimes they are
+extremely insolent. Any resistance to this zeal for The Prophet, would be
+putting your head into the fire. It would not be quite so bad if I did
+not go out so much alone. I ought always to have a good strong fellow, an
+Arab or Touarghee, with me, a sort of physical-force argument against
+this moral hooting, which is intelligible everywhere, and more especially
+in The Desert. But as I soon leave, I do not wish to adopt any new
+measure, which would show want of confidence in the people.
+
+Evening visited my little queer friend Bel Kasem. Found with him as usual
+his mighty lord, Khanouhen. The Prince began to ridicule Hateetah and his
+brothers, and scold me on the subject of presents:--"Yâkob, if you give
+those rascally brothers of Hateetah presents, I shall have to spear you,"
+clenching hold of his spear. "_Kelāb_" (dogs), said his jester, "they'll
+strip you of everything, leaving you no bread, nor even a water-skin, to
+return to Tripoli." I assured Khanouhen I had not given Hateetah's
+brothers anything but a bit of sugar for some of their children. "Good,"
+said the Prince. Khanouhen now began in the style of _un esprit fort_:
+"Yâkob, you're a Marabout. Our Marabouts are all rogues, and are always
+exciting the people against us and our authority (as Sultan). Are you
+such a rogue?" Here was a glimpse of another contest between the civil
+and spiritual power in The Desert. I told the Sheikh I was no priest, but
+a taleb. "Ah! good," said the Prince, giving me his hand. "But when you
+die, where are you going to? Are you and I going together on the same
+camel, or do you take one route of The Desert and I another, with
+different camels?" I replied, "What is the use of such conjectures?"
+"Right," said the Prince, "don't you remember (turning to Bel Kasem) that
+Wahabite the people had here, and how they buffeted him, about? Yâkob,
+(turning to me) I saved a poor devil, a Wahabite, from being killed by
+the mob in Ghat, and I'm ready to save you. What's the good of killing a
+man for his religion?" I thanked the Prince for his noble feelings of
+tolerance, and left him and his clown to their _tête-à-tête_. Khanouhen
+is one of the few of those strong-minded and right-thinking men, who see
+the utter folly and direful mischief of forging a creed for the
+consciences of his fellows. Had he been a Christian prince of the times
+of Charles V., he would not, like that celebrated monarch, have passed
+all his life in binding the religious opinions of men in fetters, and
+then at the end of his days, disgusted with his work, repented of his
+folly. No, from the beginning of his career, Khanouhen would have
+proclaimed and defended with his sword the liberty of the human
+conscience in matters of religion.
+
+_16th._--A warm morning and hazy, but the much-dreaded wind got up at
+noon. The departure of all the ghafalahs is now fixed for the 25th, and
+ours for 23rd. The Rais of Ghadames has sent word for all his subjects to
+return together; this I'm sure they will not do. It is extremely
+difficult to make up a large caravan. The Soudan caravan is now departing
+in small detachments of half a dozen people. Found Said crying to-day.
+"What's the matter, Said?" "You are going to Soudan, the Touaricks will
+kill you and cut you into bits, and I shall be again made a slave. I wish
+to return to Ghadames with the Ghadamsee ghafalah." I had often caught
+Said crying, and I imagine his grief came from the same source. I now
+told him positively I was about to return to Fezzan, and never observed
+him crying afterwards. As at Ghadames, Said is here a great man amongst
+the lady negresses, and spends all his money in buying them needles and
+beads. Hateetah called and scolded Said for crying, who had not yet dried
+his tears. The Sheikh told him the Touaricks were better than the Turks
+or Arabs; and I supported Hateetah by reminding Said of what our friend
+Essnousee observed, "_Targhee elkoul zain_, (all the Touaricks are good
+fellows)." I now spoke to Hateetah seriously about devising some means
+for stopping the progress of slave-caravans through the country. He
+pretended that the profit derived from the slave-caravans was infinitely
+greater than it is, making it some one thousand dollars per annum; he did
+not think the Sheikhs would suppress it. "They had carried it on always,
+and would for ever," he observed. "But," he continued, and very justly,
+"stop it at Constantinople, or at Tripoli, and then it will be stopped
+here." Hateetah is right. This is and must be our plan, and I am happy to
+see that Lord Palmerston has made, during the present year, a most
+decisive effort near the Sublime Porte, to get the demand for slaves cut
+off at Tripoli and Constantinople, by the closing up of the
+slave-markets. Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. The Haj was occupied
+in making under-garments for the slaves he has purchased. Moors do
+strange things. It is curious to see the richest and most extensively
+occupied merchant of the Souk sewing up shirts and chemises for his
+slaves.
+
+_17th._--Shafou left this morning for the country districts. The quiet
+old gentleman has had enough of the bustle of the Souk, which still
+continues. His Highness, before his departure, arranged for the Queen's
+letter and the presents. Called early upon the Governor, and found him in
+the house of Khanouhen, where there was a full assembly of Sheikhs. I was
+obliged to talk politics with them, which were translated as the
+conversation proceeded, by the Governor himself, to the Sheikhs. I
+surprised them by telling them of the great number of Mussulman troops
+employed by the French in Algeira, and how the French Government paid all
+the priests of religion, even Mussulmans. They questioned me about, and I
+explained to them the existence of deism in France and Europe. Now and
+then a solitary Mussulman deist may be found in North Africa. But how few
+have courage enough to resist the divine mission of The Prophet! Still
+fewer question the probability of a Revelation. In general conversation,
+I have always despised the system of running down the Algerian French,
+whilst travelling in these wilds. It serves no earthly purpose, but to
+increase the arrogance of the Moors and Arabs against Christians of all
+nations. Whatever the conduct of the Algerian French, the conquest may
+have a salutary influence upon Saharan fanatics, though it increases the
+danger of the European traveller. The Moorish Governments of the coast
+deserve much censure. They often foster and fan the flame of fanaticism
+against European tourists. Besides, the conduct of the Maroquines towards
+the Jews ought not now to be permitted by the Governments of France and
+England. A missionary to the Jews, (himself a converted Jew,) who visited
+Tangier with me, could not help exclaiming, on seeing how badly the
+native Jews were treated, "God give the French success in Algeria!" It
+is difficult for a philanthropic mind to suppress such feelings, whatever
+our national prejudices, and how much soever we may brand the Razzias as
+an indelible stigma on European civilization. It would be better, and
+certainly more just, to civilize North Africa by civilizing the
+established Moorish Governments of The Coast. But if The Coast is to fall
+under European domination, it is to be hoped England will secure the Bay
+of Tunis for shipping, and the Regency of Tripoli, as being the natural
+route of Saharan commerce. The rest may be safely left to France,
+excepting our old military post of Tangier, in order to maintain our
+influence through the Straits of Gibraltar. The conversation of the
+Sheikhs at length turned upon the Turks, and the country of Gog and
+Magog--whence they came, whom we all agreed to abuse as much as possible,
+since our antipathies were pretty equal. The Sheikhs then began very
+naturally to vaunt of their power in The Sahara, and I may embrace this
+opportunity of giving some outline of the Touarick nations of The Great
+Desert.
+
+The Arab and Moorish writers of the middle ages, as well as the latest
+Saharan pilgrims, who have travelled The Desert from the shores of
+the Atlantic to the banks of the Nile, have all given us brief
+notices of the Touarick nations; but they have sometimes confounded
+Touaricks with strictly Berber tribes, and indeed, not without
+reason, for apparently the Touarick and Berber tribes are descended
+from one original family, or stock of people. The fairest conclusion
+is, that they are the descendants of the ancient Numidian tribes.
+The Arabic terms employed here to name the Touaricks are ‮توارق‬
+plural and ‮توارقي‬ singular. Vulgarly a Touarick is called
+_Targhee_ (‮ترقي‬), by the Touaricks themselves, as well as by the
+Moors and Arabs. Indeed, Targhee is the more correct name, and
+Touarghee is an enlarged Arabic form. So Leo Africanus speaks of
+these tribes of The Desert as "Targa Popolo."
+
+The extent of Sahara occupied by the Touaricks is exceedingly great,
+embracing many thousands of miles. The northern line begins at Ghadames,
+an hour's journey south of that city. This line extends along the north,
+south-west as far as Touat, and south-east as far as the oases of Fezzan
+and Ghat. On the western side, proceeding directly south, we find
+Touaricks on the whole line of route as far as Timbuctoo; on the eastern
+side, leaving Ghat, and journeying southward, they abound in the populous
+districts of Aheer and Asbenouwa, as far as Damerghou, the first purely
+Negro kingdom of Negroland. On the south, they are scattered in villages
+and towns, or wandering in tribes, along the north banks of The Niger. I
+have not heard of their being located on the southern banks of the great
+river of Soudan, nor do they descend the Niger to the Atlantic, for we
+hear nothing of them in Noufee or Rabbah. But they are scattered higher
+up through the extensive provinces of Housa, subjected to the Fullans.
+
+In The Sahara, comprehended by these immense lines, they have some large
+cities and agricultural districts. The principal of them are Ghat, Aheer,
+and Aghadez, in the east, Touat and Timbuctoo, in the west. We have the
+three principal cities of Ghat, Aheer, and Aghadez, besides numerous
+villages, in Western Sahara, entirely under the authority of the
+Touaricks. Everywhere they inhabit the agricultural districts of the
+open desert. I have not heard of Touaricks on the western line of the
+Atlantic Ocean. Captain Riley speaks only of wandering Arabs, almost in a
+wild state. On the eastern line of The Desert, they do not extend beyond
+the western limits of the oases of Fezzan, and the southern Tibboo
+countries. The names of the great sections of the Touaricks, as far as I
+have been able to learn, are,--
+
+1st. The _Azghar_--‮ازقار‬--of Ghat.
+2nd. The _Haghar_--‮هقار‬--of Touat.
+3rd. The _Kylouy_[88]--‮كيلوي‬--of Aheer.
+4th. The _Sorghou_--‮سرقو‬--of Timbuctoo.
+
+The Sorghou is the Timbuctoo name which is given to them by Caillié, and
+probably this is not a distinct section from that of the Haghar[89].
+There are some lofty ranges of mountains between Ghat and Touat called
+also Haghar, the nucleus of these tribes, and whose Sultan is the
+Gigantic Bassa. Besides, we have the Touaricks of Fezzan, a very small
+section and distinct from those of Ghat, and who may be considered the
+pastoral people, the veritable Arcadians of the oases. All these sections
+have their respective Sultans, and the Sultans their respective
+subordinate Sheikhs, governing the respective subdivision of territory
+and tribes of people. The subdivisions of Ghat tribes are the
+following:--Tinilleum, Aiaum, Dugarab, Sacana, Dugabakar, Auragan,
+Muasatan, Ghiseban, Elararan, Filelen, Francanan, Botanetum, Skinimen,
+Deradrinan, Mucarahsen, Keltrubran, Keltunii, Chelgenet, Ilemtein[90].
+These various sections of Touaricks, who wander through the vast
+wilderness of Sahara, or are located in its oases, may be distinguished
+by some general characteristics, agreeing with and arising from their
+peculiar location, or habits of trade and life. The Touaricks of
+Timbuctoo are the more faithless and sanguinary in their disposition, and
+less addicted to commerce or a regular mode of life. Those of Ghat
+represent the Touarghee character in its most original type, these tribes
+being a brave and hardy people, reserved and using few words in speech,
+of a noble chivalric disposition, and carrying on some commerce. Those of
+Touat, I imagine, are the same style of people, from what few of them I
+saw at Ghadames; but those of Aheer are more effeminate and milder in
+their manners, and are a good deal mixed with the Negro nations of
+Soudan. The Touaricks of Aheer bear an excellent character as traders,
+and companions of travel, always assisting the stranger first at the
+well, before their own camels are watered. They seem, besides, mostly
+addicted to the peaceful pursuits of commerce, if we except their
+occasionally joining in the Razzias for slaves. A full third of the
+traffic of the South-eastern Sahara is in their hands, or under their
+control. I may add a few words upon their country and chief places, Aheer
+and Aghadez.
+
+_Aheer_, or _Ahir_, ‮اهير‬ and which is often incorrectly spelt on
+the maps Aïr, is the name of a town and very populous district,
+including within its territory or jurisdiction the city of
+Aghadez. Aheer is also called Azben, and its district Azbenouwa
+‮ازبنوة‬--‮ازبن‬ which appear to have been the more
+ancient names. The town of Aheer is also called _Asouty_,
+‮اسوطي‬ on the maps Asouda, the dentals ‮ط‬ and ‮د‬
+being convertible. These districts are bounded on the north by Ghat and
+its tribes; on the east by the Tibboo country and Bornou, on the
+west by the Negro, Touarick and Fullan countries of the north banks
+of the Niger; and on the south, by the Housa districts, vulgarly
+called by merchants, Soudan. Aheer is forty short days from Ghat,
+the Soudanese merchants who visit the Ghat mart always travelling
+much more _doucement_ and in jog-trot style than the Moorish and
+Arab merchants of the north. The line of the Aheer stations measures
+about thirteen days, from Tidik in the north to Toktouft in the
+south[91]. In this portion of the route, and that previous to
+arriving at Tidik, there are twenty days of mountains. The Aheer
+route also abounds with springs and fine streams, which gush out
+from the base of rock-lands of great height, and some of which form
+considerable rivers for several months in the year, on whose banks
+corn and the senna-plant are cultivated. Aheer is the Saharan region
+of senna, where there are large wadys covered with its crops. The
+exportation, especially after a season of rain, is very great and
+profitable. Asouty is the principal town of the Aheer districts, and
+was formerly the capital of all the Kylouy Touaricks. No less than a
+thousand houses are now seen abandoned and in ruins. Here in former
+times all the Soudan trade was carried on and concentrated; its
+population is still considerable. The houses are nearly all
+constructed of hasheesh, or straw huts, and the city is without
+walls. Nevertheless, the people still honour it with the title of
+_Blad es-Sultan_, "City," or "Country of the Sultan," that is, where
+the Sultan occasionally resides, answering to our _Royal_ city.
+
+Aheer is the rendezvous of the salt caravan of Bilma, in the Tibboo
+country, situate, almost in a straight line, about ten days east, the
+route to which is over barren stony ground. A curious story is told of
+the manner in which the camel drivers supply themselves with forage over
+this treeless, herbless, naked waste. On their way to Bilma, they leave
+at certain places or stations a quantity of forage to supply them on
+their return; and it is said, the deposit is sacred, no one daring to
+touch it. It is probable, however, that the forage is concealed in hiding
+places, as wells are often hidden along some desert routes. Even in the
+Tunisian Jereed, the sources of water are frequently concealed, a skin
+being placed over the water with palm branches laid thereupon, and the
+top of the well's mouth covered with sand. So that a hapless traveller
+may perish of thirst with water under his feet! Through the hunting
+districts of South Africa, amongst the Namaquas, the sources of water are
+concealed in a similar manner. However, a short time ago, the people of
+Bornou, who were then at war with the Touaricks of Aheer, discovered the
+hiding places of the Touaricks' forage, carried off or destroyed the
+supplies, and reduced a large salt-caravan to the greatest extremities;
+hundreds of camels perished from hunger. These salt-caravans are
+sometimes a thousand and two thousand strong. The greater part of Housa
+and the neighbouring provinces is supplied with salt from Bilma.
+
+Aghadez, ‮اقدز‬ is the capital of the Aheer districts. This is the
+residence of the Sultan of the Touaricks of South-eastern Sahara.
+The present Sultan is called _Mazouwaja_, ‮مزواجى‬ who is
+represented as a friendly prince. But it was _En-Nour_ ‮النور‬,
+deputy Sultan of Aheer, to whom I wrote before leaving Ghat, begging
+his protection in the event of my return, to complete the tour to
+Soudan. Aghadez is now as large as Tripoli, or containing from eight
+to ten thousand inhabitants. In a past period it was four times as
+large. A great number of the people have emigrated to Soudan, where
+less labour is required to till the soil, and nature is more lavish
+in her productions. Aghadez is a walled city, but without any
+particular strength; the houses are but one story high, built of mud
+and stone and sun-dried bricks. Aghadez abounds in provisions of the
+most substantial kind, that is, sheep, oxen and grain. The
+government is despotic, but the lesser chiefs have great power in
+their respective districts, like those of Ghat. The religion of the
+people is Mahometan; not a Pagan, Jew, or Christian, is found within
+these districts. Trade is carried on to a great extent, and Moorish
+merchants visit Aghadez, proceeding no further towards Soudan. The
+most interesting district near Aghadez is that of _Bagzem_ ‮بقزم‬,
+(or _Magzem_, the labials ‮ب‬ and ‮م‬ being convertible,)
+consisting of an exceedingly lofty mountain, requiring a full day's
+journey for its ascent. This mountain figures on the map under the
+ancient name of Usugala Mons, but for what reason God knows. The
+town is placed a good way towards its loftiest heights, the most of
+which heights are both cultivated and inhabited, and there is
+abundance of trees, grain, and fruits. Bagzem is three days' journey
+from Asouty.
+
+I shall take the liberty of appending the account given of Aheer and
+Aghadez by Leo Africanus:--
+
+
+DISERTO DOVE ABITA TARGA POPOLO.
+
+     Il terzo diserto incomincia da'confini di Air dal lato di
+     ponente, e s'estende fino al diserto d'Ighidi verso Levante; e di
+     verso tramontana confina con li diserti di Tuat e di Tegorarin e
+     di Mezab; da mezzogiorno, con li diserti vicini al regno di
+     Agadez. Questo diserto non è cosi aspro e crudele, como sono i
+     due primieri: e truovavisi acqua buona, e pozzi profondissimi;
+     massimamente vicino ad Air, nel quale è un temperato diserto e di
+     buono aere, dove nascono molte erbe: e più oltre, vicino di
+     Agadez, si truova assai manna, che è cosa mirable; e gli
+     abitatori vanno la mattina pertempto a raccorlo, e ve n'empiono
+     certe zucche; e vendonla cosi fresca nella città di Agadez; e un
+     fiasco che tien un boccale val due bajocchi; beesi mescolata con
+     acqua; ed è cosa perfettissima: la mescolano ancora nelle
+     minestre, e rinfresca molto: penso che per tale cagione li
+     forestieri rade volte s'ammalano in Agadez, come in Tombutto,
+     ancorchè vi sia aere pestifero. Questo diserto s'estende da
+     tramontana verso mezzogiorno trecento miglia.--_Sixth Part_, lvi.
+     _chap._
+
+It will be observed, that under the name of _Targa Popolo_, no mention is
+made of the Touaricks of Ghat. Indeed, all the notices of the Renegade
+Tourist on this part of Africa, are extremely meagre and unsatisfactory.
+As to his divisions of The Sahara into so many deserts, 1st, 2nd, 3rd,
+&c., this is all arbitrary and most unnatural. The story about the
+abundance of manna gathered in the districts of Aheer, seems to have been
+invented to please the Christian doctors of Rome; at any rate, nothing of
+the kind is now seen or known at Aghadez. But with respect to foreigners
+who visit Aheer and Aghadez enjoying good health, I have no doubt the
+Renegade is correct, for I have not heard of either of these places being
+unhealthy, their salubrity arising, we may imagine, from the elevation at
+which they are placed. The Aheer Saharan region is emphatically
+mountainous.
+
+Afternoon, visited Hateetah, who has made up his mind to accompany me to
+Fezzan, of which I'm glad, not wishing to meet with any more Ouweeks in
+this neighbourhood. Was pleased this morning to observe amongst the
+children of Haj Ahmed, who were busy reading passages from the Koran,
+several girls. This circumstance raises my opinion of the Governor. No
+doubt it is because he is a Marabout that he grants this privilege to his
+daughters. The Marabout has no less than a dozen small children, of all
+complexions, features, and hues, from lily white to sooty black. My
+sweetest enjoyment in Ghat is to listen to the song of the tiny singing
+sparrows hopping about my terrace. My days of childhood return with their
+song, when, if I were not innocent, a little matter made me happy. Sing
+on you pretty little things, tune your wild Saharan notes, for you
+gladden my sad heart!
+
+_18th._--A fine warm sunny day. The departure of the ghafalah is now
+fixed for the 27th. According to some accounts, 8000 Touaricks are being
+mustered, to march against the Shânbah. The Touaricks evidently expect
+the robber tribe to be reinforced from Souf and the Warklah districts, or
+the robbers must number 5000 instead of 500. Haj Ibrahim tells me, he has
+just read a letter addressed by the Pasha of Tripoli to the united
+Sheikhs of Ghat, offering them assistance against the robber tribe. The
+Touaricks have politely declined the proffered aid, feeling strong (and
+wise) enough to manage their own battles. Not much troubled with visitors
+lately, one now and then. The Touaricks are leaving Ghat to reinforce the
+new levies of troops. Soon the town will be emptied of Touaricks. The
+Ghadamsee ghafalah is returning, and a small one to Tripoli _viâ_ Shaty
+and Misdah.
+
+Haj Ibrahim continues to repeat his story about the people of Ghadames
+having a great deal of money hoarded up. I visited him this morning, and
+found him surrounded with a group of Soudanese merchants. The large
+court-yard of his house was full of bales of unsold goods, here and there
+scattered about, and some unpacked, all in the most business-like
+disorder. In one quarter was a cluster of a dozen slaves, waiting to be
+bartered for, the poor wretches being huddled up together in this private
+mart of human flesh. The Moor was calm and collected amidst the dirt and
+noise of Kanou and Succatou merchants, who with violent gestures were
+disputing the progress of the bargain inch by inch. Here was a great
+assortment of rubbish, for I can't call very coarse paper, green baize
+cloth, glass and earthen composition beads, bad razors, and a few common
+woollens, and some very inferior raw silk, merchandize. And such rubbish
+was offered in exchange for a group of God's creatures, with his divine
+image stamped upon them! At length the progress of the bargain came to
+what might be called a crisis. The Soudanese merchants jumped up
+suddenly, with shouts and curses, as if they had discovered a perfidious
+fraud, and rushed to the door, pulling their miserable slaves after them.
+I felt shocked at the sight, and my horror must have been depicted in my
+countenance. For Haj Ibrahim, who well knew I disapproved of this
+traffic, said to me angrily, "Why do you come here now?" I got out of his
+way as quick as I could, but did not leave the house. The people of the
+Moor followed hard after the runaway merchants, seizing first hold of
+their slaves, dragging them back by main force into the court-yard. Then
+their owners raised a hideous cry, calling Haj Ibrahim and his people
+"thieves," and "robbers," and "cheats," and "accursed," and many other
+similar compliments in the way of slave-dealing. This would make a nice
+counter-picture to a sketch of one of those Congressional squabbles which
+so frequently take place on the presentation of Anti-Slavery petitions to
+the American Congress, when there is an occasional flourish of the
+bowie-knife, and a good deal of expectoration to damp the ardour of the
+combatants, fighting over the victims of Republican Tyranny. After this
+came a cessation of every kind of noise, for Haj Ibrahim, disgusted with
+the business, (he was a fair-dealing man though a slave-dealer,) said to
+Omer, his Arab servant:--"Tell them to be off, and take their slaves with
+them." Now interposed a merchant of Ghat, and a friend of the Soudanese,
+who thus upbraided them:--"Fools that you are! Do you think Haj Ibrahim
+is a cheat? Haj Ibrahim gets nothing by you; Haj Ibrahim buys your
+slaves, because Haj Ibrahim will not be at the expense of carrying his
+goods back again to Tripoli." The merchants replied, and I dare say with
+truth:--"You told us 300, now there are only 200; 20 of this, and only
+10; 50 of that, and only 20," &c. This Ghatee was a broker, and a species
+of sharper; he had been impudently imposing on the Housa merchants. But,
+to cut a long story short, the bargain was finally arranged. Haj Ibrahim
+made these quondam merchants a present of some almonds and parched peas,
+"to _wet_ the bargain." The poor slaves had been dressed up for the sale,
+and, with other ornaments, large bright iron hoops had been hammered
+round their ancles. It was a tough job to get them off, and a blacksmith
+only could do it. Haj Ibrahim called each new slave to him, and looked at
+their features, in order to know them. This he told me he was obliged to
+do, to be sure of his own slaves, and prevent quarrels with other
+merchants, for the slaves often get mixed together.
+
+During Souk there is going on some petty thieving, mostly done by the
+Negro slaves and Arab camel-drivers. They have stolen many little things
+from me. It is useless to complain. One must take care of one's things.
+But I am informed the Touaricks never steal. At any rate, large bundles
+of senna are left out in the suburbs, night after night, and in the open
+fields amongst the sand, and no one touches a leaf of it. This could
+neither be done in Tunis, nor in Tripoli. The Touaricks are beggars, but
+not thieves; they will also beg hard and with authority. Rarely,
+however, will a Touarghee take anything away from you without your
+knowledge. So, if Touaricks are poor, they are honest, which is so seldom
+the case, poverty exciting as much or more to crime than exuberant
+wealth. On the whole, this country must be considered free from crime.
+Hungry slaves pilfering about, can hardly be designated crime. I saw a
+little slave to-day, who had just been brought from Aheer; he was rolling
+naked on the sand, with some fresh green blades of wheat before him.
+These he was devouring, and this was his food. How can human beings fed
+this way be expected to refrain from stealing food when they have an
+opportunity? The Touaricks of Aheer, though not cruel masters, feed their
+slaves mostly on herbage, which is picked up _en route_. At least, so the
+people tell me.
+
+Afternoon, the aged Berka paid me a visit. I gave him his tobacco, or
+that which I had promised him. Whenever you promise a person anything in
+this country, in reminding you of it, if you forget your promise, he
+calls the article his own, and demands it as a right. Berka can hardly
+move about, he is so very old a man; I should say the Sheikh is upwards
+of a hundred. The Saharan veteran made no observation in particular. He
+replied to my questions about Saharan travelling:--"Don't fear, the
+Touaricks will do you no harm. You can go to Timbuctoo in safety." I was
+making ghusub water, and asked him to drink of it. "No," he said, smiling
+with benignity, "you must drink ghusub water with me, not I with you.
+This is the fashion of us Touaricks." Ghusub water, is water poured on
+ghusub grain after the grain has been par-boiled or otherwise prepared. A
+milky substance oozes from the grain, and makes a very cooling pleasant
+beverage. Saharan merchants prize the ghusub water chiefly for its
+cooling quality in summer. A few dates are pounded with the ghusub to
+give the drink a sweeter and more unctuous taste. The aged Sheikh, on
+taking leave, begged a little bit of white sugar. "I wish to give it to
+my little grandson," he added. I question which was the more childish, he
+or his little grandson, so true it is the intellect decays as it grows,
+spite of our theories of the immortality of mind. I have now had visits
+from all the great chieftains of the Ghat Touaricks, Shafou, Jabour,
+Berka, and Khanouhen. The three former are the heads of the great
+divisions of confederated tribes. These centres of the large tribes and
+families separately constitute an oligarchical nobility, by which the
+destinies of this Saharan world are governed.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[82] _Ghafouly_--‮قفولي‬--_Holcus sorghum_, (Linn). Ghafouly
+    grows higher than a man; the stalk is as thick round as
+    sugar-cane; the grain is of white colour, and half the size of a
+    dry pea, of a round flattened shape. It is much coarser eating
+    than maize.
+
+[83] _Arachis hypogæa_, (Linn). This shell fruit has two names in
+    Housa, _goújĕeă_, and _gaýda_. Many of the shells are double; they
+    are smallish, very soft, and easily broken. The taste of the fruit
+    is not disagreeable, a good deal like the almond, but more viscid,
+    and a little insipid.
+
+[84] Mostly with the mark "_porco_" on the packets.
+
+[85] Mostly with the mark "_tre lune_" on it. I complained to a
+    merchant that the paper was very coarse, and asked him why he did
+    not purchase finer paper. He replied, "_It's all the same in
+    Soudan, fine or coarse._" The same answer would be given to every
+    complaint about the coarseness and bad quality of these imports
+    into Africa. Fine or coarse cloth, and fine or coarse silk, sell
+    much the same in Negroland.
+
+[86] This is frequently the case. When a Touarghee wears his
+    _litham_, and when he pulls it off, he undergoes a complete
+    metamorphosis, so that strangers cannot recognize the parties in
+    their change of dress.
+
+[87] ‮איש בץניו הישר יעשה‬ Judges xxi. 25. The conduct
+    of the Sheikhs and their tribes is much like that of the
+    Israelites under the Judges.
+
+[88] Sometimes called, Killiwah.
+
+[89] Different Negro tribes call Touaricks by different names.
+
+[90] These names are but imperfectly given, and they must be
+    pronounced in Italian style, being written from the dictation of a
+    Targhee chief by Mr. Gagliuffi, according to that language. To
+    these may be added _Haioun_, a tribe of Marabouts.
+
+[91] For the rest of the Stations see the Map.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+CONTINUED RESIDENCE IN GHAT.
+
+     Parallels between The Desert and The East.--The Divine Warranty
+     for carrying on the Slave Trade discussed.--Visit from Aheer and
+     Soudanese Merchants, and present state of Soudan.--Form of the
+     Cross on Touarick Arms.--Boy taught to curse The
+     Christian.--Medina Shereef's opinion on my giving Presents.--A
+     Negress begs in the name of Ouweek.--Visit to the Governor and
+     Hateetah.--Streams of Water and Corn-Fields in the Fabled Region
+     of Saharan Desolation.--Kandarka will recommend me to his
+     Sultan.--Parallel things between Africa and Asia.--Atkee turns
+     out a Scamp.--Visit from Berka.--Arabic is the Language of
+     Heaven.--Khanouhen ridicules Hateetah to his face.--Hospitality
+     of the Governor towards me, and interesting Conversations with
+     him.--Moorish reckoning of Time clashes with mine.--Medina
+     Shereef turns Beggar like the rest.--Meet The Giant begging at
+     Haj Ibrahim's.--Affecting Case of the cruelty of one Slave to
+     another, and compared to the Jews of Morocco.--Chorus Singing of
+     the Slaves.--Mode in which Ostriches are Hunted.--Arrival of
+     Senna and Ivory from Aheer.--Christians are not Liars.--Farewell
+     Visit from Jabour.--Quick Route to Timbuctoo from Ghat.--Kandarka
+     turns Comedian, and satirizes the Touaricks of Ghat.--Mercantile
+     Transactions of the Governor.--Want of a strong Government in The
+     Desert.--Assemblage of the Sheikhs, and preparations for War.
+
+
+_19th._--DID not go out to-day, but amused myself with noting down in the
+journal several parallel things between The Desert and The East, which
+are mentioned in The Scriptures.
+
+"And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an
+handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I
+am gathering two sticks, that I may go and dress it for me and my son,
+that we may eat it, and die." (1 Kings xvii. 12.) We have in Sahara
+parallel ideas to all and every part of this simple and affecting
+discourse. The widow speaks with an oath. When anything particular and
+extraordinary is to be said or done, the people of Sahara must use an
+oath. The meal is the barley-meal of our people; the oil is used to cook
+it as we cook our bazeen. The sticks are gathered from The Desert every
+day to dress our food. The blank and absolute resignation of the woman is
+the same with every one here, not excepting those of immoral lives.
+
+"And lo in her mouth, was an olive-leaf plucked off," (Gen. viii. 11.)
+"And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard," (Gen. ix.
+20.) The olive and the vine are still the choice fruit-trees in North
+Africa, and were the Mussulmans a wine-drinking people, the country would
+be covered with vineyards. In the beautiful parable of Jotham, (Judges
+ix. 8-15,) the third, and the three choicest trees of North Africa are
+separately mentioned, the olive, the fig-tree, and the vine. These are
+the only fruits valued or cultivated by Tripoline Arabs in their
+mountains. The jennah or "paradise" of the Koran is also planted with
+"palm trees and vines."
+
+"And Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe." (2 Sam. ii. 18.) In this
+way Arabs speak of one another. Every person who is conversant with
+Eastern pictures and scenes in Arabic has met with a scrap of poetry of
+some sort or other, in which the Arab woos his mistress, by comparing her
+loved eyes to the fine dark full eye of the gazelle. An Arab also, like
+us Europeans, calls a cunning fellow "an old fox," and stupid fellow "a
+donkey."
+
+"And it came to pass, in an evening tide, that David arose from off his
+bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house; and from the roof he
+saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look
+upon." (2 Sam. xi. 2.) Everybody now knows, or ought to know, that the
+roofs of Barbary and Saharan houses are flat, where the people walk and
+enjoy "the cool of the evening," or "the evening tide" after getting up
+from their naps or siestas. Here the women gossip and the men pray, but
+the latter are often disturbed in their devotions by the intruding
+glimpses of some Desert beauty. Love-matches and intrigues are equally
+concerted here on house-tops. The flat-roofed house-top, as before
+observed, is the Ghadamsee woman's entire world; here she lives, and
+moves, and has her being.
+
+"Woe to thee, O land," &c., "And thy princes eat in the morning."
+(Eccles. xi. 16.) The principal meal is in the evening, and no people of
+these countries think of eating a hearty meal "in the morning" like what
+Europeans are accustomed to eat in the morning. To eat a hearty meal in
+the morning would be an act of downright gluttony. Here, then, is
+strikingly brought out the sense of this passage of the Preacher's
+wisdom.
+
+"We will not drink of the waters of the well." (Numbers xxi. 22.) The
+Israelites being a numerous host, were obliged to make this promise, for
+if all had drank, they would soon have emptied the wells, and left the
+people of the country without water, and their flocks and cattle to die
+of thirst. The caravans now returning to Ghadames are obliged to go in
+very small numbers, that they may not exhaust the wells. Having many
+slaves with them more water is required, which they cannot in any way
+dispense with. The Israelites renewed their promises about the drinking
+of the water to other people, through whose country they had to pass.
+
+"He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha!" (Job xxxix. 25.) It is very odd
+that the horsemen of Morocco, when they gallop to the charge, always cry
+"Ha, ha!" So the Arabian poet of The Book of Job puts the wild cry of the
+rider into the mouth of the horse whom he rides. This I frequently
+witnessed on the parade of Mogador. The wild cavalry of Morocco is the
+boldest idea transmitted to us of the ancient Numidian horse. In Morocco
+the horse is both the sacred animal and the bulwark of the empire; for
+this reason it is the Emperor prohibits the exportation of horses. Even
+the barley, on which the horses are generally fed, is not allowed to be
+exported for the same reasons.
+
+    ‮ויאמר ארור כנען עבד עבדים לאחיו‬
+
+"And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his
+brethren," (Gen. ix. 25.) This portion of Scripture will occur naturally
+enough to the mind of a biblical reader, who takes up his residence for
+some weeks at a slave-mart, and is seeing slaves bought and sold every
+day. It is the famous and much abused text of the slave dealers of the
+last three centuries, and is now continually quoted in the pulpits of the
+United States parsons, who, like the devil himself, quote Scripture to
+support the wickedness of themselves and their slave-holding and
+man-selling countrymen. The most approved commentators properly apply the
+text to the Canaanites, whom Providence afterwards dispossessed of their
+territories in Palestine, and gave them to the children of Shem, and so
+the Canaanites became the slaves of the Shemites for a limited period.
+But to prove that it does not refer to the Negroes of North and Central
+Africa, I may be allowed to produce the following reasons:--
+
+1st. Of all the children of Ham, Canaan only is mentioned.
+
+2nd. The prophecy was fulfilled in the descendants of Canaan, and there
+is no occasion to extend it beyond the early history of the Jews, when
+they took possession of the land of Canaan, and reduced its people to
+servitude.
+
+3rd. The descendants of Canaan were all white people, and the Negroes I
+need not say are black. But if it be a question of colour, there are red
+Indians and black Indians, who have been from unknown ages the sons of
+freedom, and who, when discovered, would not and could not be reduced to
+slavery. I guess the Yankees have not reduced the Indians to slavery,
+(although, after robbing them of their hunting-grounds, they have in the
+most Christian spirit exterminated many,) on the contrary, they are
+equally free men with the Yankees, and have the same privilege of
+reducing free men to slavery with their Republican neighbours. The Black
+Indians, following the precept and example of the White Republicans, have
+now an immense number of slaves; and in this case, it is not the more
+civilized who holds his fellow man in bondage, but the less civilized,
+indeed, savages. So the world is improving and progressing in the
+Western Hemisphere! The Southern Ocean is peopled with many tribes as
+black as Negroes. But to return to the Canaanites, they at length mixed
+with the Israelites and became one people, and the relations of master
+and slave were lost in equality.
+
+4th. Many of the descendants also of Cush were white people, for he was
+the father of Nimrod, who founded Babylon, and became the father of all
+the Babylonians. Were the Babylonians Negroes?
+
+5th. None of the children of Ham, but Canaan, became servants or rather
+slaves to the rest of the human race in any remarkable degree, during the
+early period of the Mosaic world. For,
+
+Cush was the alleged father of the Babylonians and the Ethiopians, (the
+people of Upper Egypt,) but neither of these nations were slaves to
+conquerors more than any other people of that period of the world;
+whilst, on the other hand, the Babylonians were great conquerors in their
+day, and the Ethiopians had princes of their own even down to the days of
+Solomon. If now the Abyssinians are to be considered the descendants of
+the Ethiopians, we all know they are not slaves, but like the Yankee
+States themselves, slave-dealers and slave-holders. The Abyssinians,
+moreover, enjoyed advantages of civilization when a great portion of
+Europe was overwhelmed with barbarism. So much for the Cushites and
+Ethiopians, the lineal descendants of the accursed Ham!
+
+Mizraim was the father of the Egyptians. These ancient and celebrated
+people, whose country was the cradle of civilization, cannot surely be
+branded as the slaves of the human race! This was also the lineal
+descendant of the accursed Ham!
+
+6th. But even the Canaanites, so far from remaining slaves, after the
+alleged curse was fulfilled in them, recovered from their degradation and
+rose into consequence, filling the world with their fame. The children of
+Canaan were undoubtedly the founders of Tyre, whose bold navigators,
+braving the ocean and the tempest, scoured and ploughed up the waters of
+the Mediterranean, planting colonies everywhere, and founded Carthage!
+The Carthaginians, their more renowned sons, passed the Straits of the
+columns of Hercules, doubled Cape Spartel, and, some say, coasted the
+entire continent of Africa, returning by the Red Sea. It is monstrous to
+call such people slaves, branded by the hereditary curse of the
+inebriated patriarch of mankind. In truth, of all the people of
+antiquity, the accursed and enslaved race of Ham were the most free-born,
+enlightened, and enterprising! Never was such a perversion of Scripture
+interpretation to palliate and bolster up the systems of wickedness of
+this and former days! Shall we compare the Model Republic and the
+miserable and degraded nations of Brazils, Spain, and Portugal, the
+present enslavers of the alleged posterity of Ham, with the once mighty
+Egyptians and Carthaginians?
+
+7th. But it may be said that Central Africa was peopled from Cush or
+Ethiopia, and that this Cush, who peopled that portion of the Continent,
+was the son of Ham. To this I have already replied, that the curse was
+pronounced not on Cush, but on Canaan his brother, and it is arguing in a
+circle to extend the subject. After all, we are not sure that Central
+Africa, and the western coast, the theatre of the principal trade, was
+peopled from Ethiopia. Where is the proof? And besides, Central Africa,
+the _bonâ fide_ Negroland, possesses states and powerful confederacies,
+whom no power in Europe or America has yet been able to subjugate to
+slavery.
+
+8th. The Africo-European slave-trade is only of extremely modern date. It
+is too late to look for the fulfilment of this prophecy amongst the
+European transactions of the last three or four centuries, in this and
+any particular reference to Africa. But finally, up to a late period,
+slavery was co-extensive with the human race, in all times, ages, and
+countries. All classes and races of men were made slaves alike, without
+any relation to Africa and Africans. The Greeks and Romans, if they made
+slaves of Africans, did not so enslave them because they were Africans,
+for these ancient people made slaves of all, and even of their own
+countrymen, it being a constituent element of their society.
+
+I have omitted purposely to question the Divine commission of the Yankee
+parsons to uphold slavery as the basis of their Republic. But it is
+difficult not to question the right of an incensed father, awakening from
+a drunken debauch, to condemn an innocent grandson (for what we know) to
+everlasting slavery and degradation.
+
+With regard to the word Δοῦλος, _Doulos_, used in the Greek
+Testament to denote either a slave or a servant, there can be no
+doubt of the application of the term to both these relations of
+ancient society. The word corresponds to ‮עבד‬ in the Hebrew, and
+‮عبد‬ in the Arabic, both being the same consonants, which terms are
+used, according to their application, to denote both slaves and
+servants. Slavery existed amongst the Jews as amongst the Greeks
+and Romans, in the beginning of the Christian era; so we have
+allusions to "the bond and the free," as well as "the Greeks and the
+Barbarians," the former phrase distinguishing slaves and free men,
+the latter, nations of arts and science from those of uncivilized or
+semi-civilized people. The question is not, then, the meaning of the
+term _Doulos_, or its application to slavery at the period of the
+promulgation of the Christian religion; but, whether, because
+slavery was not then reprobated by the teachers of Christianity, it
+was not therefore a very great evil. First of all, there are many
+things of ancient society not reproved or reprobated by the founders
+of Christianity, which are inconvenient to, and inconsistent with,
+our moral sense, and which would violate the laws of modern society.
+Such are the laws and customs of usury and polygamy. No man in his
+senses would attempt to establish polygamy in modern society,
+because it is not prohibited and condemned by the writers of the New
+Testament. To argue, therefore, that slavery is congenial with the
+spirit of the Christian religion because it is not condemned by its
+apostles and evangelists, is an utterly fallacious system of
+reasoning. But even supposing the apostles themselves practised
+slavery, and received into their communion slave-holders,
+men-dealers and men-stealers, it does not therefore follow that we
+should imitate them, and become men-stealers likewise. What, was
+good or right for them and their state of society, may not be good
+or right for us and our society. The liberties of mankind require to
+be guarded in these our days by the most intense hatred, and the
+broadest and clearest denunciations of slavery, in every shape and
+mode of its developement. But let any people imbibe the spirit of
+Christianity, and slavery cannot exist amongst them; let all nations
+imbibe the spirit of Christianity, and slavery would become
+immediately extinguished throughout the world.
+
+_20th._--A fine morning; the Desert around is fair and bright, save where
+the Black Mountains are casting their mysterious shades. Visited by some
+Succatou merchants, amongst whom were several Touaricks of Aheer. The
+Housa people and Aheer Touaricks both speak the Housa language, these
+Touaricks having abandoned their Berber dialect so far as I can learn. It
+is also difficult to distinguish the one people from the other when they
+wear the litham. One is nearly as dark as the other, but the features of
+the Touaricks are much more, and often quite in the style of Europeans. A
+few of the Aheer merchants are also, I have observed, tolerably fair. How
+different are the airs and consequence of these merchants, and some of
+them pure Housa Negroes, from the slaves which they lead into captivity;
+they talk, and laugh, and feel themselves on a level with us, whilst
+their slaves are moody and silent, without confidence, and slink away
+from observation. Such is the impress of slavery on men in whose veins
+runs the same blood as our own. The Soudanese merchants gave me some
+account of the reigning Sultans. Ali is the Sultan of Succatou, and
+succeeded the famous Bello, to whom Clapperton was dispatched in his last
+mission. Daboo is the Sultan of Kanou, and Ghareema, Sultan of Kashna,
+but both subjected to the Succatou Sultan. Besides these cities, the
+districts of Beetschee, Kaferda, Kasada, Sabongharee, Ghouber, Dell,
+Yakoba and Noufee, besides other provinces, including a vast extent of
+territory, are subjected to the Fullan dynasty of Succatou. But it is
+extremely difficult to get correct information from these Soudanese
+merchants, though dealing and travelling through all the Housa and
+neighbouring countries; as to the names of the princes, they could not
+recollect them. There are also frequent dethronements of the petty
+princes.
+
+_21st._--I do not go out much now, except in the evening; I grow weary of
+the place. A young Aheer Touarick called. I never refuse admittance to
+Aheer merchants because they are so well behaved, and apparently not
+fanatical. He offered me a straight broad sword for five small dollars;
+it is quite new, having the handle made in the form of a cross and of
+hard wood, with a leathern scabbard. The blade was made in Europe. The
+Touarick dagger hilts are also made in the shape of a cross. There is
+besides a Malta cross usually cut on the bullocks-hide shields. The cross
+appears to be an usual ornament of Soudan and Aheer arms. It has been
+thought there is in this device of arms some vestige of the now extinct
+Christianity of North Africa. The subject is curious, but we have no
+means to arrive at its solution. My Aheer friend pretended his sword was
+worth two slaves in Soudan; this is an exaggeration. Abdullah, the Souf
+Arab, called. His brothers have brought thirty slaves from Soudan, which
+are destined for the market of Constantina. One of the Governor's sons
+goes to Soudan with the return of the caravan, a lad not more than ten
+years of age; he is to bring back merchandize as a regular trader. A
+little urchin of a Touarick, not more than nine years, came up to-day
+with his mother and asked me, "Why I did not know Mahomet?" but without
+waiting for a reply, set on cursing me. It is amazing how well these
+youngsters have learnt this lesson, and how soon! for they never before
+saw, or perhaps heard of, a Christian. The zealous mother had probably
+put up her son to this pious cursing of The Christian.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_22nd._--Made the tour of the oasis, and sketched a view of the town,
+which is annexed. Weather extremely warm to-day--nay, hot, and in the
+midst of January. What must it be in August! But the weather is far more
+changeable and uncertain in Sahara than it is commonly thought to be.
+Several visits from the Touaricks of Aheer. Gave one a small lock and
+key, which is esteemed a great curiosity in this country. It gladdened
+his heart so much, that I believe he would now go through fire and water
+for me. He wanted to take me to Soudan by main force. He went away, and
+returned with some hard cheese made at Aheer, little squares somewhat
+smaller than Dutch tiles, which he presented in acknowledgment. I have
+had but few returns for the great variety of things I have given away in
+Ghat. The Medina Shereef, Khanouhen's son-in-law, scolded me:--"Ah,
+Yâkob, you have done wrong to give away so much. You'll get nothing back.
+This is a country of extortioners and extortion from strangers. You ought
+to have come here, said a few words, and left us." This is fine talk for
+the Shereef. He knows as well as I know, that this wouldn't do. A courier
+arrived from Ghadames, by which I received two kind letters from Malta.
+It seems a thousand years since I received a letter from a friend.
+
+A Negress had the hardihood to call on me, begging, in the name of
+Ouweek, thinking thereby to intimidate me. The bandit, however, sent a
+person two or three days ago to beg of me a little tobacco. I should
+certainly have sent some, had I had any left. Hateetah called, wondering
+what had become of me, as I had not called on him for a few days. Gave
+him another dollar, but it is the last. The Consul says there is a great
+deal of fever about amongst the merchants and people, but I don't see it.
+I was somewhat surprised, for I thought the town enjoyed good health. I
+have reason to be thankful that it does not attack me. Apparently I'm
+fever proof. In all my life I never recollect to have caught an epidemic
+fever.
+
+_23rd._--Called upon the Governor. His Excellency displayed his
+hospitality by giving me zumeeta made with dates and sour milk. Took the
+opportunity of asking him about the origin of the Touaricks. He pretends
+they are of Arab extraction. On inquiring how they lost their language,
+whilst all the Arabian tribes retained theirs, his Excellency replied,
+"They have learnt Touarghee as you have learnt Arabic." This is extremely
+unsatisfactory, for he could not explain from whom they learnt Touarghee.
+About the history of Ghat his Excellency knows nothing. He says only, "It
+is a more ancient place than Ghadames," which, however, I do not believe.
+His Excellency said the news had arrived from Algeria, that the Emperor
+of Morocco had united with Abdel Kader against the French, and four
+districts had elected the Emir for their chief. Called on Hateetah.
+Whilst there, an old lady of eighty years of age came in and got up to
+dance before me in the indecorous Barbary style, and then begged money.
+Seeing she had outlived her wits and took a great fancy for one of my
+buttons, I cut it off and gave it her to the annoyance of Hateetah, the
+Consul scolding me for my condescension.
+
+The Governor tells me there is a mountain of considerable altitude about
+two days from Ghat, in the route of Touat, from the base of which gush
+out some twelve large streams. The rain this year has fallen plentifully
+on these heights, and wheat and barley have been sown on the banks of the
+streams. This is fact of importance in Saharan geography, more especially
+as the mountain is situate in that central part of the Great Desert which
+is represented on the maps as an ocean of sand, the scene of eternal
+desolation! . . . . . .
+
+Evening, whilst visiting Haj Ibrahim, who continues unusually kind to me,
+came in our funny friend, the famous Aheer camel-driver, Kandarka. This
+Kylouy is a great favourite with all, the Governor excepted. People
+praise his undaunted courage and say, "If a troop of fifty robbers were
+to attack Kandarka alone, he would still resist them." He has shown
+himself very friendly to me, and says, "Write a letter to Aheer, my
+Sultan, and I will take it. When you return bring me one thing--a sword,
+and I will take you safely over all Soudan." He has great influence with
+En-Nour, Sultan of Aheer, and any one travelling under Kandarka's
+protection is sure of a good reception from En-Nour.
+
+_24th._--A fine day, but hot. Our departure is now delayed till next
+month. What a dreadful loss of time is this! I'm weary to death. I wish I
+had arranged to continue to Soudan. Grown disgusted with Ghat, I am
+reading what few books I have with me. Noticed more parallel customs
+between Africa and the East.
+
+"And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the
+days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after
+the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which
+his father had called them." (Gen. xxvi. 18.) The object of stopping up
+the wells was to prevent the children of Abraham making use of them and
+so occupying the country. The same thing is done in Sahara. When an enemy
+is to be exterminated, or robbers repulsed from a particular district,
+the wells are stopped up. Wells are also named by the digger of them. A
+man who goes to the expense of digging out a well, if peradventure he
+finds water, has the privilege of giving to it his own name. There is one
+on the route from Mourzuk to Tripoli called _Mukni_ or _Beer-Mukni_, from
+the great merchant who dug the well. So the name of the city of Timbuctoo
+is said by some to be derived from the Berber Word _teen_, "well", and
+_Buktu_, the name of the person who on its present site dug a well for
+the rendezvous or casual supply of passing caravans. But this derivation
+is merely conjectural.
+
+"Take heed that thou _speak_ not to Jacob, good or bad." (Gen. xxi.
+24.) The verb _speak_ (‮תְּדַבֵּר‬) is used for the verb to
+_do_. The same idiom prevails amongst the Touaricks. The friendly
+Touaricks always address me, "Don't be afraid, no person will _say_
+(or speak) either good or bad to you." So Jabour's slave brought me
+word from the Sheikh; "No person is to say anything (_do_ anything)
+to you."
+
+Dr. Wolff says, in his travels of Central Asia, the people of a strange
+place always apply to his servant for information about himself. So the
+Saharans apply to my Negro servant for news or information about me.
+
+"And David sat between the two gates . . . . . and the king said, If he
+be _alone_ then is tidings in his mouth . . . . . . tidings." (2 Sam.
+xviii. 24, 25, 26.) All couriers in this country are sent _alone_. When
+they travel through Sahara they have a camel to ride, but if there be
+abundant water on the road they go on foot. Merchants pay each so much to
+the courier according to their means. A courier sent from this to
+Tripoli, who also returns and brings answers to the letters, will receive
+altogether fifteen dollars. Touarghee couriers between this and Ghadames
+go for half the sum.--"And the watchman went up to the roof over the gate
+unto the wall and lifted up his eyes," &c. (part of the verses above
+cited). When a spy was sent from Ghadames to watch the Shânbah and their
+approaches round the country, on the eve of my departure from that
+place, people went up a ruined tower, situated on a high ground, and
+apparently built specially for the purpose, _to watch_ the return of the
+spy. I have seen several of these watch towers in the oases of Sahara.
+
+"And they took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and
+laid a very great heap of stones upon him." (2 Sam. xviii. 17.) When one
+dies in open desert, the people lay a heap of stones over the grave, the
+heap being smaller or larger according to the rank and consequence of the
+individual. The mention of "a very great heap," in the words cited,
+evidently denotes the royal rank of the deceased.
+
+_25th._--My young Targhee called today as usual. Asked him abruptly,
+"What he did? What was his occupation? And how the Touaricks employed
+themselves?" With great simplicity, "When the _nagah_ (she-camel) is with
+young and gives no milk, we come to Ghat, and eat dates and ghusub and
+bread, if we can get them. When the nagah gives milk we return and drink
+milk and lie down on the road side. This is all which Touaricks do." The
+Touaricks are determined to feel as little of the primeval curse,--"In
+the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,"--as any people. The Targhee
+then gave me spontaneously a bit of knowledge which I had not before
+heard. He proceeded, "When I return to my house _on the road_ (or by the
+caravan route), and to my wife, I don't uncover my face and go up to her
+and stare boldly at my wife. No, I cover my face all over, and sit down
+gently by her side, waiting till she speaks with all patience. When she
+speaks, I speak, because I know then that she is willing to speak. It is
+very indecent to go to your wife with your face uncovered." In fact,
+generally amongst the Touaricks, the men have their faces covered and the
+women their faces uncovered. The reverse of what we find in other
+Mahometan countries. But also the reverse of what the native modesty of
+the human mind dictates.
+
+Atkee, the Ghadamsee Arab, who was to have been my companion to Soudan,
+went off, returning to Ghadames, without paying the money which I
+committed to his care for the owner of the camel's flesh, which we ate on
+the route of Ghat. Atkee besides neglected to bring the money for the
+half of the skin of the sheep which I purchased with him, according to
+promise. These things are merest trifles, but merest trifles develop the
+character of men. It is such actions of dishonesty which make one afraid
+of travelling in Africa, lest we are sacrificed to the designing villany
+of those who pretend most and exhibit the most officious marks of
+friendship. In such a way poor Laing was entrapped and murdered. This
+very Atkee, I considered the first man of the ghafalah. Zaleâ now tells
+me that Atkee wished to lay on two more dollars for the things given to
+Ouweek. But the Arabs, like the Cretans of old, are "all liars," and I
+don't wish to make Atkee worse than he was. I am sufficiently
+disappointed with him.
+
+The Medina Shereef called, who is the most learned person in Ghat. I
+showed him the Arabic Bible, which amazed and confounded him, as he
+turned over its well-printed pages. He sighed, nay, literally
+groaned, at the profanity of having our infidel religion translated
+into the holy Arabic language. The Shereef told me Arabic would be
+the language of heaven. The Jews tell us it will be _Hebrew_, (or
+‮לשן הקדש‬). The Latin Church has its holy Latin, and a
+_trilingual_ bible of "_Hebrew, Latin, Greek_," was said by pious
+fathers of that Church, to represent "Christ crucified between two
+thieves." The Hindoos have their sacred Sanscrit, and so of the
+rest. The benumbed and frozen mind of the Esquimaux, amidst the fat
+seals, blubber, and seas of oil in which it revels and swims, when
+anticipating the joys of the polar heaven, makes the tongue
+involuntarily speak in genuine Esquimauxan gibberish. It is,
+however, not surprising that the language in which a people first
+receives the rudiments of its religion should be greatly venerated
+and acquire a peculiar sacredness. The Shereef asked me to show him
+the passage where Mahomet was spoken of under the title of
+Parakleit; but he kept off religious discussion, having more
+delicacy than his neighbours of Ghat. Ignorance is bliss to a
+Shereef of these countries. Were the Shereef to see the wonders of
+Christian civilization, he would be stung to death with envy. A
+gentleman once told me as the result of his experience in Barbary,
+that a Mussulman who had not seen Europe was more friendly to
+Christians than one who had, accounting for it on the principle of a
+despicable envy.
+
+_26th._--The weather continues warm and fine; little wind. Objects at
+fifty miles' distance seem close upon you, so clear and rarefied is the
+air. Berka came this morning ostensibly for eye-powders, but really for a
+bit more sugar for his little grandson, the well-beloved son of his old
+age.
+
+_Sheikh Berka._--"Sala-a-a-m!"
+
+_The writer._--"Good morning, Berka."
+
+_Sheikh Berka._--"Medicine for my eyes."
+
+_The writer._--"Here is some powder, you must mix it with a bowl of
+water; but take care, it's poisonous."
+
+_Sheikh Berka._--"Good God, Christian! take it back, my little son will
+eat it for sugar. He gets everything and eats."
+
+_The writer._--"Here's some sugar for him."
+
+_Sheikh Berka._--"God Almighty bless you."
+
+_The writer._--"How old are you, Berka?"
+
+_Sheikh Berka._--"My mother knows, but she's gone. She's gone to God!"
+
+Essnousee came in for eye-powders to make a solution, and fever-powders
+to take with him to Soudan. Have only two or three of the latter which I
+keep for myself. Gave him the last I had. He said, "You don't see the
+fever, you don't visit enough, there's plenty of it in the houses."
+Apparently it is common intermittent fever with some climatic variety; I
+think Tertian ague.
+
+People are more civil in the streets to-day, and the rabble has lost its
+curiosity or fancy for running after us. Negroes and slaves are still
+impudent, not recognizing in the Kafer their secret friend. Saw Khanouhen
+in the Esh-Shelly, who called after me to come to him. Hateetah was with
+him. The Prince began his satires on the Consul:--"Yâkob, who is the best
+man, I or Hateetah? Have you written[92] this fellow Hateetah? All about
+him? Is this the English Consul? Does your Sultan own him?" Khanouhen
+pressed him so hard, that I ran off to save Hateetah's feelings, all the
+people roaring with laughter, and calling me back.
+
+Afternoon saw the Governor. His Excellency lavished his hospitality on
+me. He gave me coffee, dried Soudan beef cut up into shreds, and some of
+the Soudan almonds. These almonds are not fine flavoured like those of
+the north, but are viscid, rancid, and bitter. Nor are they of the same
+beautiful filbert-form, but of clumsy oval and double-oval shapes. The
+shell is soft, and can be broken easily with the fingers. The kernel is
+mostly double, and when slightly rubbed splits into halves or rather two
+kernels. The dried beef is very pleasant eating, but rather too dry, the
+fat and moisture being all consumed. We have heard of beef cooked in the
+sun on the bastions of Malta, but this is really beef cooked in the sun.
+It is an excellent provision for long journeys over The Desert. People
+chew it as tobacco is chewed. Our Governor-Marabout got very familiar
+this morning, and talked about his family. He called a little boy and
+said to me, "Look at my little son, he's as white as you are white." The
+child was indeed very fair for a young Saharan. He asked me as tabeeb, if
+Christian women had more children than one, and if they went longer than
+a year, which he had heard. He pretended his was a small family, and he
+should like to have fifty children, which, he added, "all Sultans ought
+to have;" but, for money he did not care, he wished all his children were
+poor but pious marabouts. His preaching is quite contrary to his
+practice. A more money-getting ambitious fellow I have not found in The
+Desert. The report which I heard of the Governor of Ghat being changed
+whilst at Ghadames, was a sham abdication on his part. From domestic
+matters he proceeded to talk of politics. His Excellency is always
+anxious to give an immense idea of the fighting qualities and numbers of
+the Touaricks. He wishes me to make a favourable report of them, and his
+position at Ghat, and country. He declares the warriors to muster 15,000
+strong, which would give too numerous a population for the Azgher section
+of Touaricks. The Haghar, and especially the Kylouy Touaricks, have an
+infinitely larger population than those of Ghat. The Marabout pretends
+there are some Touaricks who never saw corn or tasted bread, and others
+who dress only in skins. Indeed, I saw a Touarghee from the country, as
+well as The Touarick Prophet, dressed entirely in skins and tanned
+leather.
+
+His Excellency then introduced his favourite subject of the battles
+between Moslems and Nazarenes for the possession of Constantinople, in
+which his ancestors so valiantly fought. He said, the sword of one of his
+grandfathers was laid up in the armoury of Stamboul, and submitted to me
+if I thought the Turks would give it to him if he were to make the
+demand. I told him to apply to the British Ambassador at the Porte,
+making the thing of the consequence suited to the Marabout's taste. "No,"
+he replied, "I shall go myself one day and fetch it." His Excellency then
+began to extol the military forces and powers of the princes of
+Africa:--"The Sultan of Timbuctoo has 100,000 fighting men! Wadai has
+100,000 warriors! The Sultans of Soudan have innumerable hosts, as the
+sand-grains of The Desert are innumerable!" He then asked silly questions
+as to whether the Turks could beat the Christians in fighting. I told him
+plainly, the Turks now learnt the art of war from the Christians, and the
+latter were not only superior to them, but to all Mohammedans whatever,
+Arabs or Touaricks, Kabyles, or what not, recommending his Excellency not
+to credit the absurd reports propagated by foolish dervishes of The
+Desert, as to how the Emperor of Morocco was conquering all the French
+and other Christians. Indeed, I'm obliged to be school-master, and
+geographer, and admonisher, to Sheikhs, marabouts, merchants, to all and
+every body. The subject of religion was now introduced, and I found the
+Governor, though a Marabout, of the first water, did not know that the
+Christians read and studied the sacred books of the Jews. I told his
+Excellency, Christian Marabouts must read and study the sacred books of
+all religions, and Christian talebs frequently read the Koran to acquire
+a knowledge of classic Arabic. This information greatly amazed the
+Governor. I cannot, however, report more of his conversation, which would
+be endless. I sent him on my return the Arabic Bible, which the Shereef
+had told him I had with me.
+
+Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. The Haj surprised me by saying, "All
+my slaves, even the youngest of not more than four or five years' old,
+must walk to Tripoli as they have walked from Kanou to Ghat." I found
+Kandarka with him. The camel-driver is a right-jolly fellow, quite a new
+species of being from the Touaricks of Ghat. A great deal of merry
+laughing and grinning Negro feeling is in his composition. But, with all
+his fun, he is a most determined man. He is about to convey some of the
+Haj's merchandize to Kanou, as being the bravest and most trust-worthy of
+all the Aheer camel-drivers.
+
+_27th._--I'm out of my reckonings with the Moors by some mistake or
+other, of them or me, for I'm Monday, and they're Tuesday. Their month
+and our month, like our respective religions, is also in continual
+collision, their month being lunar, not solar. The weather is very warm.
+Am exceedingly tired of remaining in Ghat; always regretting I did not
+determine to go to Soudan. Merchants are daily leaving in small caravans,
+not large caravans, which is a proof of the security of the routes, and
+the word of the Touarghee Sheikh is "one" word; "The routes are all in
+peace," they say. Walked out with a very large stick, which frightened
+the Ghatee boys, who all thought it was for them, on account of their
+former sauciness. Was surprised at the Medina Shereef asking me to lend
+(give) him fifteen dollars to go to Tripoli. I promised very foolishly to
+give him his provisions to Tripoli, in the event of his proceeding with
+our caravan. What people for begging are these! The Shereef had just been
+scolding me for giving so much to these importunates. Although their
+houses are full of stores and money, they will still beg, and beg, and
+beg . . . . beg . . . beg. . . But this evening, at Haj Ibrahim's, we had
+a transcendant specimen of begging. The beggar was no less a personage
+than The Giant. I may remind the reader, The Giant is the son of Berka's
+sister, and is head of the tribe at Berka's death. The Giant therefore
+came to demand backsheesh, as being the lineal successor of Berka, who
+was Haj Ibrahim's protector. Haj Ibrahim observed:--"I have given Berka
+twenty dollars, and some other presents, and I cannot give any thing to
+his oulad ('sons.')" The Giant would hear none of this, insisted upon a
+present for himself, and swore by all the sacred names of the Deity,
+frequently using his favourite oath, "Allah Akbar!" After an hour's
+debating, it was agreed that, for the future, Berka, if he lived till
+another year, (for the aged chieftain is "tottering o'er the grave,")
+should have a smaller present, and the portion subtracted should be given
+to The Giant. But this is cutting the blanket at one end, to sew the
+piece on the other, for the sons and nephews of Berka now share the
+presents amongst them. His Giantship was very condescending to me, though
+savage enough with the merchant. He laughed and joked, and "grinned a
+ghastly smile," and asked me, why I did not go into the public square and
+see all the people, thinking my not going out more showed a want of
+confidence in the Touaricks. Want of confidence in a Touarick is the most
+serious insult you can offer to him. So Dr. Oudney properly records of
+Hateetah, and says, "he was indignant at the feelings which the people of
+Mourzuk had against the Touaricks--the Touaricks who pride themselves in
+having one word, and performing what they promise." But Hateetah has
+since become an old man, and, with the usual prudence of age, recommends
+me not to go much about amongst the people. "Something unpleasant might
+happen," he says, "for which all the Sheikhs would be sorry." The Giant
+said to me, "Come, you Christian, I shall sell you a wife of the Shânbah
+women. Stop here till I come back."
+
+A most affecting incident was related to me by Mustapha. Two of his
+slaves quarrelled, and last night, whilst one was fast asleep, the other
+went stealthily and fetched a shovelful of burning wood ashes, and poured
+them over the sleeping slave's face, tongue, and neck! He is suffering
+sadly, and Mustapha has called for medicine. So act these poor
+creatures, the victims of a common misfortune. How cruel is man to his
+brother! In all situations, man is his own enemy! This incident reminds
+me of what Colonel Keatinge relates of the unfortunate Jews in Morocco.
+Although the Jews are very badly treated in that empire, and all suffer
+great indignities, yet, to increase their own misfortunes, and by their
+own hands, one Jew has actually been known to purchase from the Sultan
+the right, the privilege of torturing another Jew. The speculation, adds
+the Colonel, was considered "a good one," because, if no pecuniary
+advantage followed, the pleasure of inflicting the torture was certain.
+The privilege of bidding for himself, or buying himself from the torture,
+was the only one allowed the victim on such horrible occasions! Some
+people have pretended that there is a limit to human degradation; but
+there is always a lower depth--and a still lower depth. Not death itself
+limits this sort of degradation--the tomb of the unfortunate Morocco Jew
+is defiled--and his name and faith furnishes, unendingly, the "by-words"
+of the curse of the Moor! On the late massacre of the Jews at Mogador,
+neither the Earl of Aberdeen nor Monsieur Guizot, condescended to
+remonstrate to the Moorish Emperor; nor did their co-religionists of
+France and England attempt (that I have heard of) to excite their
+Governments on behalf of the plundered and houseless Maroquine Jews . . .
+How long are these things to last? . . . Till doomsday? . . . But did not
+Jupiter give Pandora the box with hope at the bottom? . . . To be
+serious, would not a million or two of the Rothschilds be well spent in
+buying the freedom of the Morocco Jews? Could a patriotic Jew do any
+thing which, in the last moment of his life, would produce more and such
+satisfactory reflections? It is to be hoped that the patriotic Jews of
+Europe are not like some foolish Christians who wish to continue the
+oppression of the Jews in order to fulfil the prophecies, as if God could
+not take care of his own veracity! But these sottish Christians had
+better mind what they are about, in contributing to the continued
+oppression of the Jews, and preventing their emancipation, because,
+whatever may be the duration of the prophetic curse upon the Jews, God
+will not, cannot hold the contributors to their oppression guiltless, no
+more than he did the Babylonian princes who first carried away the Jews
+into captivity.
+
+_28th._--Distributed to the Soudanese merchants solution for the eyes.
+This evening Haj Ibrahim's slaves sung and played together in the
+court-yard. They consist of girls and boys, and young women. They sung in
+choruses, one first repeating a line or a verse in the style of the
+ancient Greeks. Their voices are not very melodious, and they remind me
+of the responses of a charity school at church. Still it is grateful to
+one's feelings to witness how pitying is God to these poor things, in
+giving them such happy hearts in the early days of their bondage!
+Kandarka was here, the same merry-hearted fellow as before. Providence
+has compensated Africa for the wrongs inflicted by her enemies, in giving
+her children a happy and contented disposition.
+
+_29th._--A fine morning; weather warm, cold seems to have left us
+altogether. I have discussed the "vexed question," with the Soudanese and
+Saharan merchants, as to how the ostrich is hunted and caught. In Soudan
+the ostrich is snared by small cords, the bird getting its legs into the
+nooses. The trap is a quantity of herbage laid over the cordage. Here the
+Negro waits for his rich feathery booty, and draws the cordage as soon as
+their feet are in the noose. Others throw stones, sticks, and lances, at
+the ostrich; others shoot them. But in Sahara, and in what is called the
+edge of The Desert, the ostrich is simply ridden down by the mounted Arab
+during the great heats of summer. The ostrich, though a tenant of the
+burning Sahara, cannot run well for any length of time during the summer,
+and so becomes the prey of the Arab, whose horse bears heat better. In
+and about Wadnoun, ostriches are hunted with what is called the Desert
+horse, which is a horse living chiefly on milk, and which has a power of
+endurance the most extraordinary. This agrees with Porret, who says, "the
+ostriches can only be taken by tiring them down." But he does not mention
+the summer. Riley says the ostrich is driven before the wind, and Jackson
+against the wind, in being hunted. Captain Lyon says, "it is during the
+breeding season the greatest number of ostriches are caught, the Arabs
+shooting the old ones on their nests." The Sahara is a world of itself,
+peopled with a variety of hunters, who will each hunt in the manner he
+likes best. I may add, as I have often alluded to Biblical matters, the
+story of the ostrich forsaking her eggs, and leaving them to be hatched
+in the sun, is not correct. Merchants often questioned me as to what we
+did with ostrich feathers, people making no particular use of them in
+Sahara. When I told them our ladies adorned their heads with ostrich
+feathers, they laughed heartily, adding, "How ridiculous!" We laugh at
+their sable beauties adorning their necks and bosoms with trumpery
+glass-beads, and they laugh at our red and white beauties adorning their
+heads with ostrich feathers. The Chinese have their peacock's feather as
+a set-off against our button-hole ribbon; "Ainsi va le monde." One of the
+Aheer Touaricks, who, unlike my Ghat friends, return presents, brought me
+to-day a damaged ostrich skin and feathers. Being quite out of pens, and
+not able to persuade the Tripolines to send me up a few quills, I cut out
+several ostrich quills, and had the pleasure, for the first time in my
+life, of writing with an ostrich pen. I cut several, and amused and
+satirized myself by writing in my journal with one quill, "James
+Richardson has much to learn;" with another quill, "Richardson, James,
+must take care of his health," &c., "Yâkob Richardson was an egregious
+ass to come into The Desert," &c., &c. These quills are very firm, if not
+fine and flexible, and it is a good substitute in The Desert for "the
+grey goose quill." I was so delighted with this unexpected supply of
+pens, that I offered the Touarghee of Aheer another present, but he
+resolutely refused it, adding, "I wish to show you that a Touarick of
+Aheer can be grateful, and do a kindness to a stranger, without eating
+him up." This was a tall man, of fair complexion, but pitted with the
+small-pox, of middle age, and called Mohammed. He was one of the best
+specimens of Aheer Touaricks, and always said to me, "Come to our
+country. You will walk about the streets without being molested by any
+one. We never saw a Christian in our country, and we wish to see one."
+
+Evening, a ghafalah from Aheer has arrived, bringing sixty camel-loads of
+senna, and ten of elephants' teeth. A courier is also come from Touat,
+with the intelligence that the Shânbah, instead of fleeing away from the
+threatened attack of the Touaricks, had boldly appeared on the Touarick
+territory, in the route of Touat and Ghadames, having a force of 1200
+mounted men. The Touaricks are at last alarmed, and dispatching
+messengers through all their districts, to give intelligence of the
+arrival of the enemy. I'm afraid the Touaricks have been making too sure
+of their approaching success. A messenger has been sent after the last
+Ghadamsee ghafalah which left here. Great excitement prevails in the
+town, and Jabour and Khanouhen are preparing to leave for their
+districts, where the levies of troops are collecting. A portion of the
+Tripoline ghafalah is stopped a few hours from this, on account of three
+of the camels running away during the night. The camel is by no means so
+stupid as it looks, and knows exactly when it is about to commence a long
+journey over The Desert. The three camels could not withstand the
+temptation of the herbage in the wady, and started off, and will not be
+found for days. Fulness of food as well as hunger makes animals savage.
+One of our camels whilst grazing bit a slave, and has nearly killed him.
+This, however, rarely happens; the camel is generally docile, if not
+harmless.
+
+The Touaricks belonging to Berka have just paid Christians a very high
+compliment, but at my expense. I promised some more sugar to Berka if I
+could get any from Haj Ibrahim. The Sheikh sent twice for the sugar, and
+yesterday, when some of his people visited the merchant, they said to
+him, "Where is the sugar of The Christian? It is not right for Yâkob to
+treat us thus. Christians never lie." A Christian tourist must never
+follow the example of a Mahometan in this country, that is, of always
+promising and never refusing, because it is disagreeable to refuse. In
+the above case, however, my promise was quite conditional, on Haj
+Ibrahim's having sugar. Nevertheless, there is happily an opinion
+prevalent in North Africa, that Christians, and especially English
+Christians, have but "one word." Let all of us British tourists try to
+keep up this high character.
+
+_30th._--A little colder this morning, and foggy. The senna ghafalah
+will detain us three days more. Our camels are come up from the
+grazing districts; my nagah looks much better. Jabour called this
+morning to bid me farewell, before departing to his country house.
+The Sheikh leaves this evening. Ashamed of the small present I made
+him on my arrival, I apologized, and begged him to accept of the
+only razor I had, which being quite new, and very large and
+fine-looking, exceedingly pleased the Sheikh. We had together a good
+deal of the most friendly conversation. Jabour promises, on my
+return, to conduct me _en route_ for Timbuctoo, and confide me to
+the care of some of his trustworthy followers. He will conduct me by
+the south-western route, which is stated to be forty-five days'
+journey on M. Carette's map. But the Sheikh tells me it is only
+thirty days, or less. This route is intersected by many mountains,
+the height of which is so great, that the valleys are, for Sahara,
+perceptibly cold. These heights attract the clouds and condense them
+into rain, and the rocky region is full of beautiful springs and
+foaming cascades, of eternal freshness. There is, however, the
+dreaded plain of _Tenezrouft_ (‮تنزروفت‬) to be traversed, eight
+days without water for man, or herbage for camels. This is the
+grand difficulty in getting to Timbuctoo from the north. The Sheikh
+went so far as to insure my safety to Timbuctoo and back. He then
+observed, "All the people from Tripoli are under my protection, all
+Christians who come that way. Tell your countrymen they have nothing
+to fear in that route; tell them to come in peace." He continued,
+"Why, I observe you writing Arabic, why don't you believe in our
+books?" I answered, "We have our prophet, who is Jesus; but all
+Christians believe that 'God is one,' that 'God is the most
+merciful,' (‮ربّ واحد‬--‮الله الرحمان الرحيم‬)" citing this Arabic.
+He then shook hands most cordially with me, and we parted (for
+ever?). I always looked upon this good and just man as the _bonâ
+fide_ friend, not only of me and Christians, but of all strangers,
+visiting Ghat, whatsoever. A little while after he sent me, by one
+of his people, a small present of a Touarghee travelling bag, made
+of coarse-dressed leather. This is my first present from a Touarghee
+Sheikh, and I shall keep it as long as I can.
+
+As soon as Jabour left, Hateetah came in, but in a very different mood.
+Somebody had told him I had given the razor to Jabour, and he was also
+annoyed at seeing the present from Jabour, of whom he is, as of all the
+other Sheikhs, very jealous. Hateetah now vented his rage against Haj
+Ibrahim, for only giving him a turban-band. He swore solemnly he would
+cut the merchant's throat on the road if he did not give him five or ten
+dollars. I laughed at this petulant sally, and said, "Yes, cut his
+throat; you will do better than Ouweek." This was too much for Hateetah,
+who was trying, but apparently unable, to work himself up into a
+passion, and he couldn't help breaking down; so taking me by the hand, he
+said, "Do you believe me?" He was in hopes I would go and report this
+mock-furious speech to Haj Ibrahim, but I was determined I would not
+interfere. He then abused the route of Fezzan, and said it was full of
+banditti. Of this also I took no notice.
+
+One of my most curious acquaintances is an old Touatee, established in
+Ghat as a trader many years. He comes frequently to barter with me,
+bringing bits of cheese and dried meat. He will never let go his wares
+until he gets the equivalent fast in his hands. But he has no prejudice
+against Christians. He often recommends to me the sable beauties of Ghat,
+but I always reply, "This is prohibited to Christians." He is very much
+puzzled to know what I write about, and says, "Don't write anything
+against me."
+
+Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. The senna, which was formerly only
+four and a half dollars the cantar, is now six, at which price the
+merchant bought twenty camel-loads to-day. Kandarka came in, and this
+funny fellow, on seeing me, immediately cried out, "Saif zain," "wahad,"
+which, being interpreted literally, means, "A fine sword!" "one!" but
+with a more enlarged interpretation and paraphrase, means, "Bring me a
+fine sword when you come back, a sword which will kill a man with one
+stroke." After repeating this twenty times and suiting the action to the
+word, the Aheer camel-driver set to and caricatured the Touaricks of Ghat
+in general, and the Sultan Shafou in particular. His topic was the
+Shânbah war, the everlasting theme now in Ghat. The camel-driver mimicked
+and satirized the aged Sultan by taking up a walking-stick and walking
+in a stooping posture, leaning on the staff, begging from door to door,
+knocking at the door of the room in which we were sitting, slipping down
+the wrapper from his mouth, which the Touaricks do when they attempt to
+speak in earnest, and was to show the importunity of the begging Sultan.
+This drama was performed to denote the general poverty of the Ghat
+Touaricks, as compared with the rich Touaricks of Aheer. The Aheer
+comedian then caricatured all the Touaricks together, by shaking his
+hands and body as if a tremor was passing through his limbs; he then fell
+at full length on the floor, as if dead. In this way the comic
+camel-driver ridiculed the poverty and pusillanimity of Ghat Touaricks.
+He convulsed all the Moors and Arabs with laughter. In fact, he hit off
+the objects of his satire as well as some of our best comedians. And from
+what I can learn in town, it would appear the pride of Khanouhen is
+humbled before the threatening aspect of the war. Made Kandarka a present
+of a razor which I purchased of Haj Ibrahim. He took it up and exclaimed,
+"Saif zain, wahad, I'll unman all the Touaricks with this. Who's
+Khanouhen? (raising himself up in a boasting position.) Who's
+Jabour?--only a Marabout. Who's Hateetah?--a whimpering slave-girl! What
+is Berka?--soon to be coffined? Shafou! Come, I'll give thee, poor
+Sultan, a little bit of bread. As to that tall fellow (the Giant),
+there's no camel big enough to carry him. He'll fall down on the road and
+rot like a dog." This is amply sufficient to show that satire is not an
+European monopoly, but grows indigenous to The Desert. I asked the
+Governor what he should do if the Shânbah should come up against Ghat,
+recommending him to secure his doors well and prepare for defence. He
+replied, "I'm a Marabout." But this character would not screen him from
+the shot of the Shânbah matchlocks. Of course, there's not a bit of
+ordnance in The Sahara. I don't recollect seeing a single piece of cannon
+at the Turkish fortified places of Mourzuk, or Sockna, or Bonjem.
+
+_31st._--Took a walk to see the Governor. He was very civil, and I
+begin to think more of his talent. His Excellency was very busy in
+weighing gold. He divided it into halves, into thirds, into
+quarters, and weighed it all ways, and separately, with much skill.
+This gold was brought yesterday from Touat by some Touateen,
+originally brought from Timbuctoo, there being no gold or precious
+metals in this part of Sahara. People pretend, however, there is
+coal in the route between Ghat and Touat. But were it found there
+ever so plentifully, it would not pay the carriage to the coast. The
+Marabout merchant next unpacked two camels, laden with heiks or
+barracans, with presents of tobacco and shoes (Morocco), for himself
+and his family. These were sent from his relatives in Ain Salah. On
+one of the packages was written in Arabic, "To our brother, the
+Marabout, God bless him." In this unpacking, all his family were
+employed for a couple of hours as busy as bees. The Governor
+afterwards gave us coffee, and asked me to examine the head of one
+of his children. He had heard from the merchants of Ghadames how I
+had examined the heads of the servants of Rais Mustapha. This child
+could not walk, having no strength in his limbs. The brain was
+pushed backwards and forwards, very flat on the sides, and sharp at
+the top of the head, leaving a very miserable portion in the
+central regions. The entire nervous system was evidently deranged.
+The Governor had no difficulty in crediting my power of divination
+through phrenology, believing, like other Moors, that we Christians
+have familiar conversation with the Devil, by which we acquire our
+superiority of knowledge over them, the Faithful. His Excellency, on
+taking leave, gave me some Touat dates, which are hard but extremely
+sweet. This species is called _Tenakor_. The dates of Warklah and
+Souf are also very sweet. One of the Touatee asked me, if I would go
+to Timbuctoo. I replied, "I'm afraid." "You are right," he said,
+"for there's no Sultan there, everybody does as he likes, all men
+are equal." Certainly a powerful Sultan would be of advantage in The
+Sahara, for a traveller would then have but one master to
+conciliate, now he has ten thousand masters to propitiate. People in
+quarrelling say, "You must not do this (or that), for you are in a
+_Blad Sheikh_" (a country where there is a constituted authority).
+Liberty is a good thing, nothing is better; but there must be with
+it morality. Without morality, liberty is only liberty to do
+mischief. On my return home, Hateetah called. The first word he
+uttered was, "I'm at war with Haj Ibrahim." "Ah," I replied, "you
+must cut his throat, he's a great rascal." Hateetah dropped his
+complaint at once, and observed, "Patience; all the Touaricks leave
+here to-morrow to go against the Shânbah, I only shall remain to go
+with you." He informed me the place of rendezvous is Dēdā, or Dēdē,
+three or four days westward from Ghat. Shafou and Khanouhen are
+there, and an immense congregation of all the tribes is sitting in
+council and debate. Shafou has sent a message to allow Hateetah to
+go with me to Fezzan. All the mahrys are in urgent request for the
+war, and Khanouhen has prohibited the Touaricks from engaging their
+camels for the carriage of merchandize. After all it appears there
+is a strong government in The Desert. One of the questions debated
+is, "Whether they shall attack the Haghar tribes, subjected to the
+Sultan Bassa, if they (the Haghar) give an asylum to the Shânbah."
+The Touat people wish the Azgher and Haghar tribes to unite for the
+extermination of the robbers, who injure the commerce of all this
+part of Sahara. In the evening saw Haj Ibrahim. Kandarka came in:
+"Saif zain, wahad," he bawled out as usual. He entered into a minute
+description of the kind of sword he wished, one that would bend and
+was as elastic as a cane.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[92] When you make a drawing, they say "Write" a drawing, or
+    "Write" a man, instead of draw a man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE TO FEZZAN.
+
+     Account of Timbuctoo.--Streets of Ghat deserted by departure of
+     Caravans.--Packing of Senna.--Return of the Soudan Caravan.--The
+     Giant and his Gang sally out in search of a Supper.--System of
+     Irrigation.--The Saharan Hades.--Continued departure of People to
+     Soudan.--Hateetah serves himself from Haj Ibrahim's Goods.--Scold
+     Ghadamsee Merchants for introducing Religious Discussion.--Mode
+     of Fashionable Dressing of the Hair, and Female
+     Adornment.--Saharan Beauties.--Costume of Touaricks.--Gardens of
+     the Governor.--Attempt a Journey to Wareerat Range.--Hateetah and
+     Haj Ibrahim become reconciled.--Departure of Kandarka for
+     Aheer.--Day of my departure from Ghat.--Moral and Social
+     Condition of the Saharan People compared to European
+     Society.--Force of our Slave Caravan.--First Night's Bivouack.
+
+
+I HAVE not obtained any additional information at Ghat respecting the
+still mysterious city of Timbuctoo. In comparing Caillié's description
+with that given by the American sailor, Robert Adams, I find Caillié's
+information agrees the better with what I have collected myself from the
+mouths of those who have been long resident at Timbuctoo. Indeed, Adams's
+description apparently refers to some Negro city in Bambara or
+thereabouts, between Jinnee and Timbuctoo. But I shall not attempt to
+impugn the veracity of the one or the other. Caillié says, "The little
+information which I have obtained of Timbuctoo was furnished me by my
+host Sidi Abdullah-Chebir, and the Kissour Negroes." In another place he
+says that he wished to return _viâ_ Morocco, and not by the Senegal, for
+fear he should not be believed, his countrymen being envious of his
+success. Both of these statements deserve consideration in determining
+the authenticity of his voyage.
+
+A great variety of spelling exists in the writing of the name of
+Timbuctoo. M. Jomard, Member of the French Institute, gives
+‮تِيم٘بُك٘تُ‬ but says he does not think that this word when
+properly written contains the ‮ي‬. He thinks, however, we may be
+satisfied with the orthography of ‮تِم٘بُك٘تُ‬. And he
+adds, "I know that Batouta writes Te_n_boctou, _n_ being used for _m_." I
+have found two ways of spelling Timbuctoo in The Desert, viz.,
+‮تِن٘بُك٘تُوا‬, and ‮تِن٘بُك٘تُا‬, and they both agree with Batouta.
+We may, therefore, consider Batouta's style of spelling the more
+correct orthography. Now, ‮تين‬, _Teen_, in Touarghee, is "well" or
+"pit." The term occurs in combination with many names of stations in
+Targhee Sahara, as will be seen in the map; for example,
+_Teenyeghen_, a well of water, seven days' journey on the route from
+Ghadames to Ghat; and _Nijberteen_, a well in my route from Ghadames
+to Ghat, already mentioned. In the first instance _Teen_ occurs at
+the beginning of the word, and the second at the end; but, in both
+cases, the meaning is "the well of Nijber," and "the well of
+Yeghen." _Teenbuktu_ follows the same rule of Berber or Touarghee
+combination, and means "the Well of Buktu," probably Buktu being the
+digger of the pits of Timbuctoo.
+
+With regard to information collected by myself of this city, I can only
+add a few particulars. Timbuctoo is situated upon the northern flats of
+the Niger, or at about half a day's distance from it during the summer,
+and three hours only in winter, the difference arising from the increase
+of the water of the river during the latter season. But our merchants do
+not mention whether this river be a branch of the Niger (which they call
+Neel or Nile), or the Niger itself. This they are evidently unacquainted
+with. They never mention the port of Cabra, which is so distinctly
+noticed by Caillié. The climate is hot, and always hot, but extremely
+healthy--as healthy as any part of Central Africa. The city is about four
+times larger than Tripoli as to area, but in proportion not so densely
+inhabited, the population being about 23,000 souls. It has no walls now;
+though it formerly had, and is open to the inroads of the tribes of The
+Desert. The population is very mixed, and consists of Fullans, who are
+the dominant caste, Touaricks, Negroes, and Moors and Arabs from
+different oases of Sahara, as also from the Northern Coast of Africa. The
+majority of the Moors are Maroquines. The Government is absolute, and now
+in the delegated possession of a Marabout named Mokhtar, and the national
+religion Mahometan. There do not appear to be any Pagans or idolatrous
+Africans now resident in Timbuctoo, but some half century ago most of the
+Kissour Negroes, the native Negroes of Timbuctoo, were Pagans. The
+present Sultan is called Ahmed Ben Ahmed Lebbu Fullan, whose authority is
+established over the two great cities of Jinnee and Timbuctoo, and all
+the intervening and neighbouring districts, including several cities of
+inferior note. He is the son of the famous warrior Ahmed Lebbu, who
+dethroned the native princes of the Ramee, or those who "bend the bow."
+The usual residence of the Sultan is now at Jinnee. The city is a place
+of great sanctity, and no person has the privilege of smoking in it--that
+is to say, defiling it, but the Touaricks, who are there so overbearing
+and unmanageable, as to be above the local laws. They are the cause of
+continual disturbances at Timbuctoo; nevertheless, so powerful are the
+Fullans, that they manage to keep the Touaricks in subjection, as well as
+the native Negro tribes. There are seven mosques, the minarets of some of
+which are as large as those of Tripoli.
+
+There are several schools and a few learned doctors amongst the priests.
+The houses are only one story high, but some few have a room over a
+magazine; they are built of stones and mortar, and some of wood or straw.
+The streets are narrow, few of them admit of the passage of two camels
+abreast. Several covered bazaars are built for merchandize. There are no
+native manufactures of consequence. Timbuctoo is properly a commercial
+depôt or emporium. The principal medium of exchange is salt, which is
+very inconvenient. The grand desideratum of merchants is the acquisition
+and accumulation of gold, but this is obtained only by a long and
+wearying residence in Timbuctoo, and is very uncertain in supply. The
+gold is brought from a considerable distance south-west. Jinnee is a
+greater place of trade than Timbuctoo. The neighbouring country is flat
+and sandy, stretching in plains over the alluvial deposits of the Niger.
+There are no fruit-trees or gardens, beyond the growing of a few melons
+and vegetables; but trees abound on the vast plains of Timbuctoo, and
+there is a great number of the Tholh, or gum-bearing acacia. The
+communication between Jinnee and Timbuctoo is principally by water, and
+with light boats the journey can be accomplished in seven days, but the
+distance is a month by land. The navigation of the Niger is extremely
+difficult, and in the dry season the boats are continually grounding,
+whilst in the wet season people are in constant dread of being
+precipitated on the rocks. The boats have no sails, and are pushed along
+by poles with great labour. There is no water in the city: it is brought
+from pits east and west, a quarter of a mile distant,--that from the east
+being brackish, and that from the west sweet. Water is sold in the
+streets of Timbuctoo, as in many African cities. The Maroquine merchants
+live in style and luxury at Timbuctoo, and tea, coffee, and sugar may be
+obtained from them at a reasonable price. The residence of an European at
+Timbuctoo may, perhaps, be considered secure for a short time; but the
+grand difficulty is to get there, and when you get there, to get safe
+back again. These details are not very interesting, and I should not have
+mentioned them, but for the general anxiety there still exists to obtain
+correct and recent information of this celebrated Nigritian city.
+
+_1st February._--The streets of Ghat begin to be deserted. Touaricks are
+going, and gone, as well as the various merchants from neighbouring
+countries. So I walk with much freedom in the streets. Have not been
+molested about religion for some time; but a man said to me to day,
+"Unless you believe in Mahomet, you will burn in the fire for ever!"
+Strange anomaly this in the conduct of men! They deliver over their
+fellow-men to everlasting torments, as if it was some slight corporal
+castigation! . . . . Saw Hateetah. The Consul is still at war with Haj
+Ibrahim; but he is cutting his own throat, and not the merchant's, by his
+foolish conduct. A low Ghat fellow came in, and finding me writing,
+begins crying out:--"Oh, you are writing our country! You are coming
+afterwards to destroy it! Never was our country written before, and it
+shall not be now!" I turned him out of doors. He then fetched a mob of
+"lewd fellows of the baser sort," and began wheying, whooing. Hateetah
+luckily came by at the time, and belaboured them with his spear, and off
+they ran, wheying whooing. Went to see them pack up senna, or rather
+change the sacks, those in which it had been packed in Aheer being worn
+out. The sacks are made of palm-leaves. Here were lying some hundred
+large bundles. I am not surprised these simple people wonder what we do
+with senna, and are the more surprised when I tell them it is for
+medicine. Medicine they take little of; and then they have no conception
+of the millions of Christians in Europe, thinking we are so many
+islanders squatting upon the oases of the watery ocean. The senna leaves,
+on account of the late rains, are finer and broader than usual: they are
+very large, and, except the edges, of a dark purple hue. There is a good
+deal of small wood (stalks of the plant), and here and there a few yellow
+flowers, besides a quantity of dust and dirt mixed up with the leaves.
+
+Several detachments of the return Soudan caravan left to-day. Went to see
+them off. It was amusing to be present at the preparations for departing.
+Some just starting, some packing up, others loading, others weighing the
+camels' burdens, others saluting their friends, all in busy and
+distracting confusion. Strings of camels were in advance, with their
+heads towards Berkat. I sighed with regret. I wished to follow . . . .
+The camels are tied one after another, held together by strings in their
+nose, and they are not allowed to graze during the march, like the camels
+of Arabs. This is an advantage to the traveller, for much time is lost by
+the camels cropping herbage on the way. The files of camels are twenty
+and thirty in number, and sometimes these files are double. I imagine in
+mountainous districts they are untied, otherwise one camel slipping or
+falling, would draw another after it, and, so the whole line would be
+thrown in confusion. In the palms noticed two small birds, white bodies,
+head and wings black. With the exception of the diminutive singing
+sparrow, and a few crows, these are all the birds I have seen in the
+oasis. Saw several Aheer Touaricks just arrived, and found them tall,
+well-made, comparatively fair, and fine-featured; nothing of the Negro
+character about them. All extremely civil to me; and I certainly like
+them as well, if not better, than the ordinary run of Ghat Touaricks.
+These Aheer Touaricks must be one of the finest races of men in Central
+Africa.
+
+Went as usual to spend the evening with Haj Ibrahim. Had not sat down
+many minutes before a thundering knocking was heard at the outer door. An
+Arab youth called out, "Who's there?" and "Don't open," to the slave that
+had the charge of the court-yard door. The knocking increased in fury,
+the tumult of voices without being terrific; and Haj Ibrahim, at last,
+recognizing the party, and yielding to their violence, said "Open." As
+soon as the door was thrown back, in poured a host of Touaricks, like
+the opening of a deluging sluice, all belonging to Berka, headed by their
+acting chief, the redoubtable Giant! Their first object was to abuse
+roundly the Arab youth who had called out, "Don't open." The merchants of
+Ghadames and Tripoli try to shut out the Touaricks as much as possible
+all times of the day, and especially just at supper-time, for this is the
+hour when the Touaricks prowl about for their evening meal, like famished
+evening wolves, seeking whom and what they can devour. Prowling for food
+is an absolute necessity with them, for generally they have no food; they
+bring only a very small quantity from their native districts, when they
+leave to spend some weeks at the Souk. This foraging party therefore came
+in for supper. Haj Ibrahim tried to work up his courage into rage; but it
+was useless, for his struggling ire was at once choked and quelled by the
+accents of thunder which The Giant belched out like old Ætna. The Giant
+opened fire upon the trembling merchant, by asserting the safety and
+tranquillity of the country: "There are no robbers or free-booters here;
+you buy and sell, fill your bags with money, and are in peace. Why, then,
+cannot we eat as the price of our protection?" Resistance being very
+madness, the supper which Haj Ibrahim had prepared for himself, was
+brought out to them, the servant crying out, not "Il pranzo è servito!"
+but, "This is all the supper we have for ourselves!" And like a wise
+steward, he kept a little back for his lord and master. After unbroken
+silence, which lasted full ten minutes, when every person seemed to be
+gasping for breath to speak, and struggling with some terrible inward
+commotion of the spirit, the supper-hunting Touaricks made a
+simultaneous move towards the supper-bowl. About nine big brawny fellows
+attacked the savoury cuscusou, for Haj Ibrahim had the best kind of
+provisions brought from Tripoli. The dainty merchant told me he could not
+eat what was made in Ghat. Now, The Giant did not join the onslaught on
+the merchant's supper, that did not beseem his dignity as heir of the
+Sheikhdom of the venerable Berka! The chief of the gang, on the principle
+of delicacy and generosity, left the spoil to his men. The Giant, like
+Neptune rising to quell the fury of the tempest, sat reclining in dignity
+and authority, with a serene brow, calmly looking on, and smoking his
+pipe. Not a word was uttered, not a sound was heard, but the licking up
+the food, and the smacking of the lips of these uncouth, unbidden,
+uninvited guests. As soon as the supper was swallowed up, (only a few
+minutes,) they all arose, The Giant first rising, with unabashed
+effrontery, and led the way out. In another moment they were gone! and
+the door was shut. It was like some broken and distempered slumber, and
+the lamps having nearly burnt out, and all being dim and dark, rendered
+the illusion complete. The quondam _protégé_ of these chiefs was too ill,
+too much upset, to speak. I bade him good night, and returned home,
+half-admiring The Giant and his troop, and abusing the foolish parsimony
+of the merchant, who ought to have thrown a few lumps of flesh to these
+hungry and wolfish sons of The Desert, and satisfied them at once. One of
+the party was Hateetah's brother; and Hateetah told me next day that he
+himself sent them.
+
+_2nd._--Our departure is now finally fixed for to-morrow. The weather is
+cool, but not so cold as on my arrival. Within the last three weeks it
+has gradually become warmer, and the spring enlivening warmth will soon
+be succeeded by summer's burning reign. Took a very pleasant walk round
+the Governor's palace, and made a sketch of it, which is subjoined.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Irrigation is the grand means of agricultural production in Sahara.
+Without irrigation the oases would be mere halting-places for caravans,
+and would afford but a scanty supply for centres of human existence. But
+irrigation has not only sustained and sustains the towns and cities of
+the African Desert, but in Asia it has always been the grand means of
+maintaining vast populations. The Assyrians of ancient days became great
+by irrigation. In the prophets we read, "The waters made him (the
+Assyrian) great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running
+round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees
+of the field. Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of
+the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long
+because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth. All the fowls of
+heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the
+beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt
+all great nations. Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of
+his branches: for his root was by great waters." (Ezek. xxxi. 4-7.) The
+metaphors are extremely explicit and beautiful, making water the source
+of the Assyrian greatness. Nothing can show more the power of water in
+the hot and dry climate of Syria. But the prophet particularly alludes to
+the system of irrigation, as practised on the banks of the Euphrates,
+from which river the waters were conveyed in small streamlets and
+conduits, "running round about the plants" in the gardens, and sent out
+to a considerable distance in little rills to all the trees of the field.
+The immense parterres of Babylon, artificial gardens supported by
+irrigation, have been celebrated by the historians of antiquity. In Ghat,
+Ghadames, and other oases of the Sahara, as well as the greater part of
+the Tripoline coast, this system of irrigation is now practised to its
+full extent, and water here shows a power of production with which we are
+unacquainted in more humid and temperate climes. At this time, the barley
+and wheat are shooting up simply under the power of water, which is
+conveyed to them by small ducts of earth, as drawn up from the wells,
+every four or five days. A bullock, or slave, draws up the water from the
+wells, which are of very rude construction, but answer the purpose. The
+water is then poured into a receiver of earth or stone, from which it
+runs into the small conduits of earth. Sometimes the main conduits are
+made of lime-mortar, as in the island of Jerbah. The field to be
+irrigated is divided into small squares or compartments, sometimes oblong
+of about seven by five feet in size; each is edged up with a small
+embankment of earth; between each line of squares run parallel ducts or
+gutters of earth, communicating with one large and common conduit, which
+is usually placed, to run better, on the highest part of the field, and
+as nearly as possible cutting it into halves. Whilst the water is being
+drawn up, a lad opens each compartment of the field with a hoe or
+shovel-hoe, and lets the water into each square, shutting it up again
+when the surface of the ground is merely covered with water. I have seen
+them tread upon the springing blades of grass when so irrigating them, to
+give their roots more force and tenacity in the ground. In Ghat this
+irrigation is repeated every five days, or less, until the grain is in
+the ear and nearly ripe.
+
+The Medina Shereef, who expresses sincere sympathy for my state of
+"judicial blindness," told me to-day that I should not go down to
+the real _bonâ fide_ pit or abode of perdition, but to a dull
+shadowy place, "the region of nothings," and I might get out again
+and ascend to _Jennah_, (‮جنّة‬) "paradise;" and this, because I
+was near to them (the Mussulmans), and read and wrote Arabic, and was
+not afraid to write or repeat a verse of the Koran. In our prophets
+we have, "Thus saith the Lord, In the day when he went down to the
+grave I caused a mourning." (Ezek. xxxi. 15.) "I made the nations to
+shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with
+them that descend into the pit." (Id. 16.) "They also went down to
+hell with him." (Id. 17.) In the first verse cited ‮שאלה‬ is
+translated "grave," in the two latter verses "hell." But there is no
+reason for the alteration of the term from "grave" to "hell." The
+prophets I imagine, like most of us, had extremely indistinct
+notions of the future world, and the place of disembodied spirits,
+and were accustomed to use the word ‮שאלה‬ (which ought invariably
+to be translated grave, or hades, and not hell,) something in the
+same manner as my friend the Shereef, for a dreary shadowy region of
+imperfect beings or non-entities, a nether limbo of nothings and
+vanities.
+
+Took a walk to see the merchants leaving for Soudan; many of them were
+accompanied a short distance by their friends. It is an affecting thing
+to part with people who are about to enter upon forty days of Desert,
+without a human habitation, (the route from this to Aheer.) Saw Hateetah
+in my walk. He took a shumlah, or girdle, by force from Haj Ibrahim. The
+Consul found the auctioneer going round with it for sale, and inquiring
+to whom it belonged, and hearing it was Haj Ibrahim's, he took the sash
+from the auctioneer and told him to go and acquaint the merchant with
+what he had done, and which sash he had taken instead of the turban,
+offered to Hateetah by Haj Ibrahim, but refused on account of its little
+value. This is a nasty trick to say the least, but as the Moorish
+auctioneer observed, "Such is the way with the Touaricks." However, I am
+persuaded neither Jabour, nor Khanouhen, would have stooped to such a
+shabby dirty manœuvre. It seems besides, Haj Ibrahim is giving great
+provocation to the chiefs who are appointed his protectors at the Souk.
+They complain that, whilst he brings as many goods as twenty ordinary
+merchants, he gives less than any one. So we must hear both sides of the
+question. Saw to-day the Moorish Kady of Ghat for the first time: I had
+not made his acquaintance. His son I knew, who was very impertinent,
+insisting that I should give him some tea because he was the son of the
+Kady. This I refused to do, and Khanouhen praised my conduct and said, I
+behaved "like a Touarghee!" The Kady is an old gentleman, but dresses
+superbly in a fine red turban and long flowing bright-green coat, in full
+sacerdotal character, as the triple-crowned Pope of Ghat. This morning I
+took upon myself to scold severely some Ghadamsee merchants for
+introducing the subject of religion before the ignorant people of Ghat
+and Soudan. I found a group of them in the streets when they wanted to
+speak of religion. I asked them "If they would do so in Tripoli, and if
+not, why here?" They understood the point of censure and immediately left
+off. Some Arabs present, said, "You are right, Yâkob." Vexed at my
+reproof, they attacked me on the subject of slaves, asking me why the
+English disapproved of slaves? I replied sharply, "It is not our religion
+to buy and sell men, though it may be your religion."
+
+At the Governor's I observed the style of cutting and braiding
+fashionable young ladies' hair, in the example of his daughters. The
+forehead is shaved high up, leaving, however, one long curl or _with_ of
+hair depending. This curl is braided and hangs down gracefully over the
+forehead. On each side of the head, over the ears, depend three other
+separate curls or locks of hair, each double-braided. Behind the head
+hang also two other longer curls, and each double-braided. Between these
+curls, as they detach themselves from the head, the cranium is clean
+shaven, and the hair or tuft on the crown of the head, whence the several
+curls depend, covers a very small space. At the end of the braided curls
+is tied a piece of coloured string or narrow ribbon, the same as is done
+amongst our little dressy nymphs. The hair is dressed with olive-oil or
+daubed over with semen, or liquid butter. My old negress landlady is a
+hair-dresser of the first style, and the fashionable negresses come to
+have their woolly crispy locks dressed by her _secundum artem_ nearly
+every day. This hair-dressing takes place on my terrace, and affords me a
+splendid field for observation. I ought to have brought with me into The
+Desert the book, "How to observe," in order to have given a complete and
+satisfactory description of the fashionable Libyo-Saharan hair-dressing.
+The old lady sits down, spreading out her knees, and the young sable
+belle throws herself flat at full length sprawling on the terrace floor,
+putting her head into the lap of the arbitress of The Desert toilette,
+her heels meanwhile kicking up, and sometimes not very decently. The
+operation then commences. The woolly locks, not more than three inches in
+length, are gradually drawn up tight to the crown of the head, and
+plaited in tiers in the shape of a high ridge, whilst they are being
+rubbed over with liquid butter. The lower circle of the cranium is left
+all bare, not a curl depending, and is shaven quite clean. But this is
+done previously, for my old negress does not undertake the profession of
+shaver, with her other important services. The hair, when fully dressed
+in this style, assumes the shape of an oval crown, or the head part of
+the helmet. Some negresses use false tails as well as false locks, as our
+belles do, the long flowing curls being preferred by the sooty Nigritian
+beauties, in spite of such an ornament being unnatural to them. These
+ladies, however, neither paint nor tattoo their faces, and in general,
+painting with red and white is not used by the Libyan and Oriental
+beauties. In Algeria, however, some of the Mooresses have learnt to paint
+from their new mistresses, as an acquirement of French civilization in
+Africa. Dr. Shaw is quite right in his new rendering of the passage
+referring to Jezebel, "And she adjusted (or set off) her eyes with the
+powder of lead-ore," (2 Kings ix. 30,) which in the common version is,
+"And she painted her face," (or, in the margin, "put her eyes in
+painting"). This painting of the eyelids is a custom of great antiquity.
+It has the effect of of giving the eye a peculiar prominency, enlarging
+its apparent size, and adding to it a greater bewitching force. The
+Touarick women, however, disdain the unnatural adornment, and shame the
+unmanly conduct of certain of the Saharan men who actually paint thus
+their eyelids. It is a trite saying, that women are coquettes all the
+world over. But if mothers will educate their daughters so, it must be
+so. Besides cheerful young ladies are frequently confounded with
+coquettes, which is very unfair. Here, of course, there is coquetry as
+elsewhere. Why not? I have two neighbours, Negresses, and sisters, who
+get upon the house-top every morning, wash their faces, and oil them to
+make them shine, as it is said, "Man had given him oil to make his face
+to shine." They then dress one another's hair, which usually occupies
+them all the morning. The toilette here, as with us, is a very serious
+affair. These sable beauties sometimes play the coquette with me, which
+is innocent enough. I asked my old negress about these and other coloured
+residents, and found there were many families of free negroes in Ghat. My
+friendly coquetting neighbours have a brother who is a free Negro and
+trades between Ghat and Soudan. A few of the free Negroes are perhaps
+_bonâ fide_ immigrants, but these are really very limited. The dress of
+the women in this place is extremely simple; it consists solely of a
+chemise and a short-sleeved frock, with a barracan used as a shawl, and
+thrown over the head and shoulders, when there is wind or cold. The
+ladies have sandals, and some of them shoes. Beads are esteemed only by
+Negresses. Those particular beads made of a composition of clay at Venice
+and Trieste, are now the fashion. The Touarick ladies prefer pieces of
+coral and charms strung round their neck in necklaces. The arms, wrists,
+and ancles are hooped with wood-painted, and generally, metal armlets,
+bracelets, and anclets. Some ladies hang a small looking-glass about
+their necks, which is, of course in frequent use. The Touarick women
+industriously weave the woollen tobes, jibbahs, or frocks; they are very
+cheap, warm, and comfortable in the water. But the Soudan cottons are the
+great Saharan consumption. There are also now introduced from Europe
+quantities of, I think, what are called "Indians" in mercantile slang, or
+coarse white cottons. The merchants call them "new". These cottons are
+much liked in Morocco because they are cheap and pleasant clothing in
+summer. Men and women are clothed with them, and they are made up into
+every kind of dress. These European cottons are supplanting those of
+Soudan, which furnish work for thousands in Central Africa. So the
+legitimate commerce, already so limited, is diminishing instead of
+increasing. Poor Africa! thrice-poor, and every way poor, gets nothing at
+present by her intercourse with Europe, saving the enslavement of her
+unhappy children, and the impoverishment of her native manufactures. The
+Niger and other _philanthropic_ and commercial expeditions have only laid
+bare her nakedness--they have not advanced her one step in the scale of
+improvement. Connected with Saharan female dress is naturally that of
+female beauty. The _beau ideal_ of an Arab beauty, according to the
+Arabian poets Havivi and Montannibi, is, that "Her person should be
+slender like the bending rush, or taper lance of Yemen." This is also the
+_beau ideal_ of female beauty amongst Touaricks. I have seen no fat
+fed-up women amongst Touaricks, like those in such esteem and the
+_bon-ton_ of the Moors. The _enbonpoint_ of Mooresses is well known, and
+beauty amongst them is literally by the weight. Recent discoveries in
+Malta have made us acquainted with this _enbonpoint_, as an essential
+feature of female or other beauty in the most early times, say as far
+back as the Carthaginian and other ancient settlers in Malta. The rude
+statues lately dug up in that island are all remarkable for obese
+processes from the waist downwards.
+
+The taste of the Arabs has been greatly vitiated, and the slight, spare,
+"bending rush" is often rejected for the bridal beauty who requires a
+camel to carry her to the house of her husband. The Moors resident in
+Ghat have imported the vicious Moorish ideas, and the Negress slaves are
+fattened for the market, and fetch higher prices.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The dress of Touarick men is more elaborate than that of their
+women. The principal garment is the Soudanic cotton frock,
+smock-frock, or blouse, sometimes called tobe, with short and wide
+open sleeves, and wide body reaching below the knee. Under this is
+at times worn a small shirt. The pantaloons are also of the same
+cotton, not very wide in the leggings, and scarcely reaching to the
+ancles, and something in the Cossack style. The frock is confined
+low round the waist with the "leather girdle," and often by a sash
+in the style of the Spaniards. There is generally attached to it a
+good-sized red leather bag, not unlike an European lady's work-bag,
+and this is made into various compartments, one for tobacco, one for
+snuff, one for trona or ghour nuts, another for striking-light
+matters, another for needles and thread, another containing a little
+looking-glass, &c., &c.; and I have seen a Touarghee fop
+adjust his toilette with as much coquetry as the most brilliant
+flirt,--indeed, the vanity of some of these Targhee dandies
+surpasses all our notions of vanity in European dress. Over the
+frock, on one of the shoulders, is carried the barracan or hayk,
+which is sometimes cotton, and white and blue-striped, or figured in
+checks, of Timbuctoo manufacture, but generally a plain woollen
+wrapper. The hayk is wound several times round the body, and is the
+only real protection the Touarick, or his wife, (for the women
+likewise wear them,) has, from the cutting cold winds of The Sahara.
+A red or white cap sometimes covers the naked shaved head, but many
+do not wear a cap, as besides many do not shave the head. But the
+grand distinguishing object in the dress of Touarick men is the
+_Lithām_ (‮اللثام‬), from which article of dress the Touaricks
+have been called ages ago by historian and tourists of The Desert "The
+people of the Litham" (‮اهل اللثام‬). The litham is nothing
+more than a thin wrapper, which is first wound round the head, and then
+made to cover the whole of the forehead and partially the eyes, and
+the lower part of the face, especially the mouth. The mouth and the
+eyes are the two grand objects to protect in The Desert, and in
+Saharan travelling, equally against heat and cold, and wind. A
+Saharan traveller, having his mouth well covered with the litham,
+will go at least twenty-four hours longer, fasting in abstinence,
+whilst his lips will not be parched with thirst. The litham shelters
+the eyes effectually from the hot sand grains, borne on the deadly
+wing of the Simoom. A turban is mostly folded round the head as a
+mark of orthodox Islamism. The young beaux prefer the great red sash
+wound round the head in shape of the turban.
+
+The Touarick, from his habit of wearing the litham, does not like a
+beard, which, indeed, could rarely be seen. As it grows, they pull it
+out, and so in time it often disappears altogether. In the matter of
+beard, the almost sacred ornament of the Moor and the Arab, the Touarick
+is placed again in strong contrast with his Mahometan neighbour. All wear
+a profusion of talismans suspended round the neck, or sewn or stuck about
+the head, like so many liberty or election cockades. This is the usual
+style of the dress of Touaricks; and, with dagger under the left arm,
+sword swung from the back, and spear in the right hand, it looks
+sufficiently novel and imposing, befitting the wild scenery and wild sons
+of The Desert. Many, however, of the Touaricks go almost naked, whilst
+the younger Sheikhs occasionally indulge in the foreign fashions of the
+Moors of the north, dressing very fantastically and elaborately.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_3rd._--Our departure from Ghat to Mourzuk, capital of Fezzan, is now
+again finally fixed for the 5th of the month, at least three weeks
+delayed beyond the time first spoken of. European travellers in Sahara
+must always reckon upon these wearying delays. A ghafalah is just arrived
+from Fezzan, bringing dates, ghusub, and wheat. This is a most seasonable
+relief, for absolutely there is no food left for the poorer inhabitants
+of Ghat, the provisions being carried away by various caravans which have
+left us within a few days. I was myself obliged to borrow from the
+Governor. Fortunately, Fezzan is near, or the Souk of Ghat, with its
+thousand slaves, would be often reduced to great extremities, there being
+no capital invested in keeping up a supply of provisions. Haj Ibrahim
+complains of Hateetah, and considers him the worst of the Touarghee
+Sheikhs. The merchant "has reason."
+
+Called to see Haj Ahmed. Met the Governor near his gardens, and he
+invited me to go and look at them. Was agreeably surprised to find a
+really splendid plantation of date-palms, underneath and amidst which
+were some of the choicest fruits, the fig, pomegranate, and apricot. He
+has also planted some hedges of Indian fig. The plantation might cover a
+dozen acres. It is the work of eighteen years of the industrious
+Marabout, but the palms are still in their youth, some even in their
+childhood. It is important to mention, this beautiful plantation was a
+waste of sand before the Governor took it in hand, but the whole of it,
+by the assistance of water and irrigation, his persevering industry has
+made to bud and "blossom as the rose." Were the rest of the wealthy
+residents to imitate the Marabout, they would in a few years make Ghat a
+large and most lovely oasis of Desert. Water is complained of as to
+supply, but there is water enough to irrigate an oasis of five times the
+present extent. So in Ghadames, so almost in every Saharan oasis. The
+Governor encourages his sons to industry, by giving each a plot of ground
+to cultivate for himself. I saw a fine field belonging to one of his
+sons, which has been under culture only three years. It is sown with
+barley and wheat, and planted with rows of sprig-palms, in the very
+childhood of growth; but, by the time the sons of the Marabout are
+married, and have young families, these green-shooting palm-sprigs will
+be branching trees high up, bearing mature and delicious fruit. Nature
+furnishes pretty and striking lessons of industry, more affecting to the
+observant mind than the lessons of the most eloquent moralist. There are
+also shoots of the fig-tree and the pomegranate set around a pool of
+crystal water, the embryo paradise of the future. The son, whose garden
+this was, said to me, in reply about the supply of water, "See, the water
+comes from a spring near that hill of sand. I dug the well, and God gave
+me the water. God does not give water to all when they dig." I went
+forward, and saw a refreshing spring bubbling out from beneath the sandy
+bosom of The Desert.
+
+It is quite a pleasure now to walk about Ghat, the noisy rabble is
+hushed, and the Touaricks, excepting some chiefs of Berka, are all gone.
+The remaining Ghadamsee merchants are as pleased as myself that the
+Touaricks are gone. A strange hallucination got possession of my brain
+to-day. "I determined I would stop five years in Africa. I would visit
+all the great kingdoms of Nigritia. I would write the history and
+legends of the ten thousand tribes of Africa from their own mouths. Then
+I would return with these spoils and treasures of Africa to my
+fatherland." Vain phantoms of ambition, only to fever my poor brain! The
+first untoward event would lay me prostrate on the burning plains,
+leaving my bones scattered and bleaching, a monument to deter and dismay
+the succeeding wanderer of The Desert. . . . . . . One of the occupations
+of the poor in this country, by which they get a bit of bread, is
+breaking date-stones, something analogous to our stone-breakers on the
+high roads. The date-stones are taken one by one, and put on a big round
+stone within a circle of a roll of rags, and another stone is used to
+crush or pound them. The pounded stones are sold to fatten sheep and
+camels upon. The poor earn two karoobs (twopence) a day in this manner,
+on which many are obliged to live. Hard is the lot of the poor in every
+clime!
+
+Afternoon late, I went to the range of Wareerat mountains, to collect a
+few geological specimens, accompanied by a slave. All our senses deceive
+us. The world is a world of delusions and deceptions, and we are dupers
+and dupes, as it happens. After continuing a couple of hours, the base of
+the range, which seemed always close upon us, still receded and was
+receding. On the plains of Africa bounded by mountain ranges, one is as
+much at a loss to measure distances as the landsman at sea, when
+measuring the distance from his ship to the rocks bounding the shore. My
+negro Cicerone advised to beat a retreat, assuring me I should not reach
+the chain by daylight. We looked round on the city and found it fast
+diminishing and disappearing in the distance, in the fleeting twilight of
+the evening. We returned an hour after dark. On the north we espied a few
+camels, a Fezzan provision caravan, winding their slow length along like
+a line of little black dots in the sand. My companion told me he was
+captured in war. The people are always fighting; some to get slaves,
+others from "a bad heart." He was afraid to go back to his country for
+fear of being recaptured, resold, and made again to recross the Desert.
+The domestic and political history of Africa is an eternal cycle of
+miseries and misfortunes; better that the African world had not been
+created. My negro companion is called Berka Ben-Omer, to distinguish him
+from another slave of his master called Berka. Frequently both slaves and
+free men have but one name, or one name is employed in speaking of them.
+When there are many of the same name in their circle of acquaintance or
+town, then the names of the fathers are used. Joshua, in The Scriptures,
+is usually distinguished in this way when his name is mentioned, "To
+Joshua, son of Nun." (Joshua ii. 23.) The _Ben_-Omer above, is the "son"
+of Omer.
+
+Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. Found Hateetah with the merchant.
+They had made it up, and Hateetah told me, in the morning, there was now
+peace between him and Haj Ibrahim, since he, Hateetah, had got the large
+red sash. The Sheikh related news from Fezzan, respecting the ravages of
+the son of Abd El-Geleel in Bornou, who was attacking the Bornouese
+caravans. Hateetah then made a long speech, in which he recommended me to
+the care of the merchant, calling upon Haj Ibrahim "To swear by his head
+that he would take as much care of me as of himself." This was
+unnecessary, for Haj Ibrahim had shown himself more substantially
+friendly to me than any other merchant at Ghat. The Consul excused
+himself for not accompanying me to Fezzan, by stating that his camels had
+not come up from the country districts: this was a mere excuse. But the
+road was perfectly safe, and we did not require the protection of the
+Sheikh. To-day Hateetah did not beg.
+
+_4th._--A fine morning, weather very warm and sultry. The town is well
+nigh empty. When all the caravans are gone, Ghat will sink into the
+stillness of death. This is the case with all the Saharan towns, which
+are _blad-es-souk_, "a mart of trade," taking place periodically. The
+Governor finds the trade in slaves so thriving, slaves having fetched a
+good price this year, that he is sending this morning two of his sons to
+Soudan to purchase slaves. Kandarka left also this morning. I went to see
+him off. _Saif zain, wahad_, "A good sword, one!" he exclaimed as usual.
+He then made me a long speech. "Put yourself under my sword, no man can
+resist the sword of Kandarka! (drawing his sword from the scabbard, and
+making a cut with it.) Be my witnesses, ye merchants of Ghadames! (some
+of whom were present.) I will give you, Yâkob, a good camel, a mahry.
+Water you will have first, sweet water. Wood there will be always ready
+for you to make a fire and cook the cuscasou. I am the right hand of
+En-Nour (Sultan of Aheer). You will be my friend, Yâkob, before the
+Sultan. In our towns, we have cheese, butter, wheat, sheep, bullocks. You
+Christians have none like them. Make haste back, make haste, and come to
+Aheer."
+
+Hateetah seldom spoke to me of religion, but to-day the Consul said,
+"What sort of Christian are you? I hear there are as many Christians as
+there are sands" (taking up a handful of sand).
+
+_The Author._--"And what sort of Islamites are you Touaricks? for you are
+many, as many as we."
+
+_The Consul._--"We are of Sidi Malek:" (_i. e._, Malekites like Arabs).
+
+I asked then the Consul what was the meaning of Targhee, who replied
+En-nas, or "people." Indeed, the word Targhee seems to have the same
+signification as Kabyle, that is, "tribe," or "nation," both words
+denoting people of the same original stock.
+
+_5th._--The morning of our departure! . . . . . At length comes the
+end--the end of all things, joys or sorrows--even in The Desert, where
+delay and procrastination are the dull and wearying gods of ceaseless
+worship. Rose early to pack up, and pay take-leave visits. Weather is
+mild; the caravan will move slowly on account of the slaves; the journey
+is short; the route is safe; all things promise a favourable end of my
+Saharan tour. The mind looks with regret upon leaving places become
+familiar, but rises buoyant at the thought of seeing new sights and
+scenes. Called upon the Governor to bid him adieu. His Excellency said,
+he should see me at the moment of departing. Found him with some people
+of Touat, who said:--"The English are very devils; they have two eyes
+behind their heads, as well as two before." I did not quite understand
+their allusion. Called on Haj Ibrahim, who had been packing up for three
+days past, and yet things were still in great confusion. To my
+astonishment, I found the merchant surrounded with a group of people in
+the greatest excitement, the master-figure of the group being The Giant
+Sheikh, foaming with rage, and threatening to cut Haj Ibrahim's throat on
+the road, unless he made him some sufficient present, in acknowledgment
+of his authority as heir-apparent of the Sheikhdom of Berka. The Ghatee
+merchants, all the most respectable of whom were in this _mêlée_, kept
+screaming, and some of them pulling hold of Haj Ibrahim, to give a
+trifle, (a couple of dollars,) to The Giant, and get rid of him. Hateetah
+and other Touaricks were also present. Meantime, The Giant bullied,
+menaced, swore, and thundered things horrible and unutterable . . . . .
+Amidst this bedlam din, Haj Ibrahim at length got a hearing, and mustered
+up courage enough to defend himself:--"You call your's a peaceful
+country,--How? Is not this the conduct of bandits? I know (recognize) no
+person but Berka. Him I have given a present. What was demanded I have
+given Berka. I will not now give more presents, and not indeed by main
+force. It is robbery! Go and take my camels." The Giant, who listened to
+these few words, spoken distinctly and energetically, with a brow
+overcast, like a storm-cloud charged with the electric fire, and a bosom
+heaving and boiling with wrath, got up from where he lay sprawling,
+("many a rood,") and very deliberately took hold of his broadsword (I
+began to be alarmed), and with it fetched Hateetah such a stroke on the
+back with its flat side, as made him cry out with pain. Then addressing
+his subordinate sternly and laconically, _Enker, heek_[93], "Get up
+quick." he strode off a few paces. Hateetah instantly followed, and the
+other Touaricks. Now turned round The Giant, and said in Arabic:--"Allah
+Akbar, the camels! Allah Akbar, the camels! Good, good! Allah Akbar, the
+camels!" They went off (or rather pretended to go) to seize the
+merchant's camels. These gone, the merchants of Ghat set all upon Haj
+Ibrahim, "What a fool you are! Why not give the long fellow a couple of
+dollars? If you won't, we shall give the Sheikh the money ourselves." One
+of them turned to me, "Why, Christian, what is a couple of dollars to Haj
+Ibrahim? That's the value?" (putting his hand to his nose.) The reader
+may easily guess how this stupid obstinacy of the merchant ended. The Haj
+forked out, with a bad grace, and the money was carried after The Giant,
+one of the Ghat merchants adding two more dollars. I was pleased with
+this trait of the Ghateen, who were determined we should not go off in
+this uncomfortable plight. The Giant I did not see again; I regretted to
+part with him in this manner. Under his huge and unwieldy exterior he
+concealed the most tender and generous disposition. His Giantship never
+begged of me; and when I gave him a little tobacco, he thanked me a
+thousand times. He was always cheerful with, and had some joke for his
+friends. After all, my plan is best: to make the necessary presents at
+once, and voluntarily; to give all the Sheikhs a trifle, and then you are
+at peace with all.
+
+About 2 o'clock in the afternoon, to our great satisfaction, we got clear
+and clean off. Hateetah came out to see me start, and walked half a mile
+with me on the road. He was extremely kind. It is probable, he begged of
+me so much, because his brothers and cousins incited him, amongst whom I
+know he shared the presents which he received. I now put my hand in my
+pocket, and gave him all the money I had left, half a dollar and a
+karoob! He affectionately shook me with both hands. I then passed the
+Governor, who was waiting for us. His Excellency shook hands very
+friendly, and said, "And Ellah, Yâkob" (God be with you, James!)
+
+During my fifty days' residence in Ghat, although I received numberless
+petty insults, I kept out of all squabbles, and made as few complaints as
+possible to the authorities. In fact, I may safely say, and without
+presumption on my part, if I could not live in peace with these people a
+few weeks, no other European coming after me could.
+
+It is now time to make a few observations upon the general character of
+these Saharan inhabitants, and compare their social state with that of
+ours in Europe.
+
+Crime against society, consists mainly in lying or duplicity, and
+imposture, in thieving, in sensuality, and in murder. Veracity, honesty,
+continence, and respect for human life, distinguish a moral people. We
+have to try the Saharan populations of Ghat and Ghadames by these four
+cardinal points or principles, and compare them with the nations of
+Europe. Whilst resident in Ghadames, not one single case of cutting or
+maiming, or manslaughter, occurred, nor did I hear of any in neighbouring
+countries. Of course, I exclude altogether the depredations of a nation
+or tribe of robbers, as well as all the skirmishes between the Touaricks
+and the Shânbah, which have nothing to do with the question of the
+social condition of the Saharan towns that I visited. In Ghat, three
+cases of cutting and wounding occurred, the gashes on the arms received
+by two slaves from a Touarghee, and the attack on the Ghadamsee trader
+whilst at prayers, also by a Touarghee. These are the only cases which
+occurred during my residence here, although a mart or fair, and the
+rendezvous of tribes of people from all parts of Central Africa and the
+Great Desert! . . . . . So much for the sacredness of human life among
+the barbarians of The Desert! . . . . . . With respect to theft and
+thieving, I have already noticed that thieving is only practised by the
+hungry and starved slaves of these towns, that amongst the people of
+Ghadames, as likewise amongst the Touaricks, theft is unknown as a crime.
+The exceptional cases of theft which are brought to notice can be easily
+traced to strangers. The Touaricks certainly at times levy black-mail in
+open Desert, but do not rob in the towns; and the black-mail is not
+considered by themselves as theft, nor, indeed, is it strictly such,
+being exacted by the Touaricks as transit duties, or as presents for
+protection through their districts, or as tribute, and under a variety of
+such reasons and pretensions. What is legally fixed on the Continent of
+Europe, is here left to the caprice and greediness of the Sheikhs, and
+the liberality or stinginess of the trader. As to incontinence, this is
+more a secret crime. But the sexual habits of the Touaricks, and their
+domestic amours, are purity itself, compared to the sensuality which
+disfigures and saps the vitals of society in all the southern nations of
+Europe. The hardships of The Desert are the greatest safeguards against
+indulgence in, or the pleasures of, an emasculating sensuality amongst
+the Touaricks, whilst the ascetic habits of the Maraboutish city of
+Ghadames sufficiently protect that people from the general indulgence of
+libertinism, and unnatural crimes. Intoxication, or habitual drunkenness,
+is, of course, unknown in these Saharan regions. An inebriated woman
+would be such a wonder as is described in the Book of the Revelations. As
+to veracity, I have told the reader, the Touarghee nation is a "one-word"
+people. We cannot expect the same thing from the commercial and
+make-money habits of the Moors of Ghadames, but they rank much higher for
+veracity than the Moors of The Coast, which latter have the _superior_
+advantages of direct European contact. In my estimate of Saharan
+populations, I have confined myself to Ghat and Ghadames; the oases of
+Fezzan, and the city of Mourzuk, have become too much vitiated by contact
+with The Coast and the Turks for affording fair specimens of Saharan
+tribes. Let us then compare what has been said to those hideous scenes of
+crime, of immodesty, and drunkenness, which abound in the great cities of
+Europe--the ever-present, ever-during stigma on our boasted
+civilization!--and ask the paradoxical question, What do we gain by
+European and Christian civilization? We have Chambers of Legislature,
+infallible and omnipotent Parliaments, princes full of the enlightenment
+of the age, and reigning by divine right, or the sovereignty of the
+people, or what not;--we have hierarchies of priests and ministers of
+religion, we have a Divine revelation;--we have philosophers, poets, and
+rhetoricians, all enforcing the sublime morals of the age, with reason or
+fancy and the attractions of the most cultivated intellect;--we have
+science exhausting nature by its discoveries;--we have our fine arts,
+and the arts to humanize and exalt the characters of men;--we have our
+benevolent, philanthropic, and scientific societies;--we profess to
+govern the destinies of the world, to direct the intellect of all
+nations, and to advance the being of man to the enjoyment of immortal,
+imperishable life! ........ And what else profess we not to do? Now then,
+what are the results? We have the governing authorities of a neighbouring
+people a mass of corruption[94];--we have the States of the North, so
+little acquainted with the arts and justice of Government that planned
+conspiracies and consequent massacres of whole classes are now and then
+had recourse to, and found requisite to preserve the apparent order of
+society. Amongst ourselves, we Englishmen, have in all our great cities,
+the frightful excrescences of crime, too frightful for the pure and
+simple-minded Saharan tribes to look upon. Our common habits of
+intoxication and intemperance, and the intoxication of our women, would
+make the Desert man or woman shrink away from us with horror. Our country
+is filled with prisons, all well tenanted, whilst the Desert cities have
+no one thing in the shape or form of a prison. Then look at the Thuggism
+and open-day assassinations of Ireland! In truth, these Saharan
+malefactors are the veriest minutest fry of offenders, the minnows and
+gudgeons of guilt compared to the Irish Thuggee of Tipperary[95].
+Poverty is the giant of our United Kingdom, and the incarnate demon of
+unhappy Ireland; and, with us, people die of starvation....... The
+Desert, on the contrary, offers the strongest parallel of contrast
+possible. Poverty there is, but it is wealth compared to ours, and our
+wants, and no person that I heard of, whilst resident in The Desert, died
+of starvation. Of course, I omit the traffic in slaves, which has nothing
+to do with the social state of the Saharan towns I am describing. I omit
+likewise the condition of the Arabs of the Tripoline mountains, and the
+terrible exactions of the Turks upon them and other provinces in Tripoli,
+which indeed are a part of the European system I am now animadverting
+upon. But I shall stop this tone and style of animadversion. I am sick at
+heart with the parallel of contrasts between our barbarian and civilized
+social systems: it is so unsatisfactory, it is so disheartening, and
+takes away all hope, all faith in the progress and perfectibility of the
+human race. One thing, however, is certain, that unless we can bring our
+minds to form a just appreciation of ourselves, unless we can learn to
+know ourselves, there is no hope, no chance of advancing in our social
+and moral condition.
+
+Our slave caravan stretched across the plain or bed of the Wady of Ghat
+eastwards, to the black range of Wareerat, and turning round abruptly
+north by some sand hills, we encamped after three hours. It is from this
+place the Ghat townspeople fetch their wood. The fire-wood is gathered
+from the lethel tree. Our caravan consists of eleven camels, five
+merchants or proprietors, some half dozen servants and about fifty or
+sixty slaves. I have my nagah and Said, as before. Nearly all the slaves
+are the property of Haj Ibrahim. They are mostly young women and girls.
+There are a few boys and three children. The poor things on leaving Ghat,
+as is their wont on encountering The Desert, got up a song in choruses,
+to give an impetus to their feelings in starting. For myself, The Desert
+has become my most familiar friend. I felt happy in again spreading my
+pallet upon its naked bosom, by a shady bush of the Lethel.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[93] ‮انكر هيك‬, the Touarghee language.
+
+[94] As to what has taken place, and is happening by the
+    introduction of what is called _French_ civilization into Africa
+    (Algeria), and how the morals of the people, natives and
+    foreigners, are affected, the things are too horrible to be here
+    related. The annals of Norfolk Island, and the Bagnes of Toulon,
+    would be outraged by their recital.
+
+[95] I should be sorry to apply to a minister of any religion the
+    opprobrious epithet of a "Surpliced Ruffian." It would seem,
+    however, that Archdeacon Laffan aspires to the "bad eminence" of
+    the apologist of assassins. What would my readers say, were I to
+    report the Ministers of Islamism in The Desert to be the abettors
+    of assassination? Or what would they have said, if a priest had
+    been found to be the secret or open instigator of the
+    _quasi_-bandit Ouweek, in his violent threat to murder me, because
+    I chanced to be a Christian, or rather, a non-believer in Mahomet.
+    We should not have found words sufficiently strong to express our
+    reprobation of such priestly intolerance and wickedness. And yet
+    Ouweek would have only acted out his religious principles in their
+    stern literality,--‮قتلواهم‬--"_kill them_" (the infidels),
+    as frequently written in the inexorable Koran; whilst Archdeacon
+    Laffan's preaching is diametrically opposed to his religion, whose
+    holy and clement command contrariwise is,--"to forgive our
+    enemies, and bless those who curse us."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+FROM GHAT TO MOURZUK.
+
+     Slaves very sensible to the Cold.--Well of Tasellam.--Saharan
+     Huntsman.--Atmospheric Phenomenon.--My Adventure at the Palace of
+     Demons.--Denham and Oudney's Account of the Kesar Jenoun.--The
+     Genii of Mussulmans.--Desert Pandemonium compared with that of
+     Milton.--Coasting the Range of Wareerat or Taseely.--Soudan
+     Species of Sheep.--Soudan Parrot.--The Lethel Tree.--The Tholh,
+     or Gum-Arabic Tree.--Falling of Rain in The Desert.--Oasis of
+     Serdalas.--My Companions of Travel.--Weather Hot and Sultry.--The
+     Slaves bear up well.--The Ship of The Desert.--Extremes of Cold
+     and Heat.--Mausoleum of Sidi Bou Salah.--Serdalas, a neglected
+     Oasis.--The Sybil of The Sahara.--Death and Burial of two Female
+     Slaves.--Dirge on the Death of one of them, whipped at the point
+     of Death.--Power of the Sun in Sahara.--Desert Mosques.
+
+
+_6th._--ROSE early, but did not start until the sun was well up, on
+account of the slaves. These Nigritian people cannot bear the cold. Our
+northern cold affects them more than their southern heat does us. Heat
+can be borne better than cold in Saharan travelling. Am glad to see that
+Haj Ibrahim has a large tent pitched for the greater part of the
+miserable shivering things. It is made of rough tanned bullock skins, and
+holds the heat like a shut-up furnace. These tents are brought from
+Soudan, and after being used for slaves journeying over Sahara, are sold
+for so much leather. Touaricks also use them in their districts. In
+truth, Haj Ibrahim treats his slaves as much like a gentlemanly Moor as
+he well can or could do, all their wants being attended to, and no
+freedoms being taken with the young women. Their greatest hardship is to
+walk, but after a night's rest, they partially recover. I may add, this
+is the best equipped caravan I could travel with, and, perhaps, hardly a
+fair specimen to judge of for ordinary slave-caravans. We continued our
+route along the chain of mountains to the east, having, on our left, a
+corresponding ridge of low sand hills. During the day, we traversed a
+broad deep valley or wady, and, indeed, water had covered a good part of
+it in the early winter of this year. Here was abundant herbage, and
+camels feeding belonging to the people of Ghat. There is also a well of
+water out of the line of route on the left, about one and a half days'
+from Ghat, but having a good supply, it was not necessary to seek it. It
+is called _Tăsellam_. Here we met a hunter,--
+
+                            "An African
+    That traverses our vast Numidian deserts
+    In quest of prey, and lives upon his bow
+    Coarse are his meals, the fortune of his chase;
+    He toils all day, and at th' approach of night,
+    On the first friendly bank he throws him down,
+    Or rests his head upon a rock till morn;
+    Then rises fresh, pursues his wonted game,
+    And if the following day he chance to find
+    A new repast, or an untasted spring,
+    Blesses his stars and thinks it a luxury."
+
+The Targhee huntsman was clothed in skins, and was a genuine type of the
+hardships of open Desert life. The objects of his chase were gazelles and
+ostriches, and the aoudad. His weapons were small spears and a matchlock.
+A most sorry-looking greyhound slunk along at his heels, the very
+personification of ravening hunger.
+
+_Writer._--"Targhee, where are you going?"
+
+_Huntsman._--"I don't know."
+
+_Writer._--"Where have you been?"
+
+_Huntsman._--"Over the sand." (Pointing west.)
+
+_Writer._--"Have you caught anything?"
+
+_Huntsman._--"Nothing."
+
+_Writer._--"When do you drink?"
+
+_Huntsman._--"Now and then."
+
+_Writer._--"Have you anything to eat?"
+
+_Huntsman._--"Nothing."
+
+_Writer._--"When did you eat anything last?"
+
+_Huntsman._--"I forget."
+
+I threw him down from my camel some barley-bread and dates. He picked
+them up, but said nothing, and went his way. Turning round to look after
+him, I saw him cut across to the mountains on the east.
+
+Observed to-day some curious atmospheric phenomena. A light vapour, the
+lightest, airiest of the airiest, swept gently along the surface of the
+ground, but as if unimpelled by any secret influence. It was also dead
+calm. The vapour continued to sweep before us, till at length it suddenly
+rose up to the sky in the form of a spiral column of air, and then
+disappeared. In this valley, which widened as we advanced, we once or
+twice saw the mirage running along the ground like prostrate columns of
+foam, striking out sparklings of light.
+
+Towards noon we had a full view of the celebrated Kesar Jenoun--"Palace
+of Demons," to the west; in coming to Ghat we had it on the east. As we
+neared it, Haj Ibrahim said to me, "Well, Yâkob, we must go and see the
+great Palace of Demons. We must see what it is, and you must write all
+about it."
+
+At 4 o'clock P.M., we encamped right opposite its eastern side. On
+encamping, I looked about for Haj Ibrahim, and found him busy unpacking.
+I then very carelessly determined to start myself alone. I thought it,
+however, a good opportunity to show the people of the caravan that I was
+not influenced by superstitious fears, and that, as an Englishman and a
+Christian, I cared little about their dreaded Palace of Demons. Haj Omer,
+the merchant's servant, called out after me on starting, "Be off, make
+haste, you'll be back by sunset." I equipped myself with the spear and
+dagger of Shafou, and started off at a good pace, making a straight and
+direct cut to The Palace. I scarcely noticed anything on the road going
+along, staring with full face at the Huge Block of Mountain. But, on
+getting out of sight of the encampment, and, under the shadow of this
+"great rock in a weary land," I unaccountably felt the influence of those
+very superstitious fears and terrors which I was so anxious to combat in
+my fellow-travellers. I then soliloquized to myself, "What a poor
+creature is man, how weak, how miserable! how exposed to every whim and
+folly which a credulous mind can invent!" Thus soliloquizing, I got
+within the mysterious precincts of the Great Mountain Rock, in the course
+of three-quarters of an hour. I had, however, still more fear of the
+living than the dead, and said to myself mechanically aloud, "Man has
+more to fear from the living than the dead;" and I looked around
+anxiously this way, and that way, and every way, if perchance there might
+lurk, as the demon of the mountain, some stray bandit. Reassuring myself,
+my thoughts turned on science. I wished to astonish the boobies of the
+British Museum by geological specimens from the far-famed palace of
+mortal and immortal spirits, built in the heart of The Great Desert. I
+picked up various pieces of stone which lay scattered at its rocky base.
+But I found nothing but calcareous marl, or basaltic chippings and
+crumblings, some of cream colour, some lavender, some purple, some
+red-brown, some nearly black. This done, as connoisseur of geology, I
+stood stock still and gaped open-mouthed like an idiot, at the huge
+pyramidal ribs of The Rock. Then I bethought me I would ascend some of
+these offshoots of the mountain, and take a quiet seat of observation
+from off one of the battlemental turrets which capped its many-towered
+heights, over all the subjected desert and lesser hills and rocks below.
+But I soon changed my mind; not recognizing any decided advantage in
+scrambling up--God knows where--over heaps upon heaps of crumbling
+falling rock. I now turned my back to the Demons' Cavern, without having
+had the honour or pleasure of making a single acquaintance amongst these
+demi-immortals, much to my regret, and my face was towards the
+encampment. At least I thought so. I saw at once that the king of day was
+fast going down to sup on the other side of The Palace, or perhaps with
+the Demons, and I must hasten back to my supper. I started on my return
+as carelessly as I came, with this foolish difference, that, although not
+remarking a single part of my way hither, I fancied I would take a
+shorter cut back to supper, beginning to feel hungry, having eaten
+nothing since morning. In fact, I soon got into another track upon this
+absurd idea of shortening the route. I recommend my successors in Saharan
+travel, never to try short-cuts in unknown places. In ten minutes I made
+sure of my encampment, and ran right up to some mounds of sand topped
+with bushes, where I expected to find Said with the supper already
+cooked, and the nagah lying snugly by, eating her dates and barley. But
+that was not the encampment. The sun was now gone, and following hard
+upon his heels were lurid fleecy clouds of red, the last attendants of
+his daily march through the desert heavens. I now looked a little
+farther, and said to myself, "There they are!" I went to "There they
+are," and found no encampment. I continued still farther, and said, "Ah,
+there they are!" and went to "Ah, there they are!" and found no
+encampment. I now made a turn to the south, and saw them quietly encamped
+under "various mounds," and went to "various mounds," but the encampment
+sunk under the earth, for they "were not." All was right, and "never
+mind," I should soon see their fires, and was extremely glad to notice
+all the light of day quenched in the paling light of a rising crescent,
+some five or six days old. I thus continued cheerfully my search another
+quarter of an hour, when all at once, as if struck by an electric shock,
+it flashed across my mind, "Peradventure, I might be lost for the night!"
+and be obliged to make my bed in Open Desert. I have seen in my life-time
+people strike a dead wall, as a convenient butt against which to vent
+their ill-disguised rage. I now must have a victim for my vexation. It
+was not wanting. I felt something heavy and dragging in my pocket. The
+half hour's running about had reminded me of some until now unnoticed
+heavy weight, and this was the stones, and these were my grand specimens
+of geology. I quietly took out all the stones from my pocket, and threw
+them deliberately but savagely away, certainly a very proper punishment
+for leading me such "a wild-goose chase," such "a dance," over The
+Desert. In my wrath I was not disheartened. Now, as it was dark, I began
+to ascend the highest mounds of Desert, from, whose top I might descry
+the fires of our encampment. I wandered round and round, and on, now
+over, sand and sand-hills, now climbed up trees, now upon eminences of
+sand or earth-banks, seeking the highest mounds of the vast plain, to see
+if any lights were visible, looking earnestly every way. No light showed
+itself as a beacon to the lost Desert traveller--no sound saluted his ear
+with the welcome cry, "Here we are!" Felt so weary that I was now obliged
+to lie down to rest a little. But soon refreshed, I determined to return
+to The Palace, and find the place which I had visited. The fear and
+thought of being lost in The Desert now mastered every other
+consideration, and I started unappalled to the Black Rock, without ever
+thinking of the myriads of spirits which at the time were keeping their
+midnight revels within its mysterious caverns. Got near The Rock, but I
+saw no place which I had seen before. The mountain had now at night
+assumed other shapes, other forms, other colours. Probably the demons
+were dancing all over it, or fluttering round it like clouds of bats and
+crows, preventing me from seeing its real shape and proportions. Be it as
+it may, I could not recognize the place which I had so recently visited.
+I now climbed up some detached pieces of rock to look for lights. I
+sprang up with the elastic step of the roe, over huge broken fragments of
+rock, aided by a sort of supernatural strength, the stones rolling down
+and smashing with strange noises as I was springing over them. From these
+crumbling heights I looked eastward, and every way, but no friendly
+light, watch-fire, or supper-fire, was visible. I descended, much heated,
+in a flowing perspiration, feeling also the cold chill of the higher
+atmosphere. I began to have thirst, the worst enemy of the Saharan
+traveller, and fatigue was violently attacking me. I considered (which
+afterwards I found quite correct) I had got too far north. I could not
+recognize at all the processes of detached rock over which I had been
+scrambling. I must be several miles too high up. I went down along the
+sides of the Immense Rock, looking at every new shape it assumed to find
+the place where so quietly I picked up the stones and geologized a few
+hours before. All was vain. Fatigue was overpowering me, and my senses
+began to reel like a drunken man. Now was the time to see the visions and
+mysteries of this dread abode, and unconsciously to utter sounds of
+unknown tongues. Now, indeed, I fancied I heard people call me; now I saw
+lights; now I saw a camel with a person mounted in search of me, to whom
+I called. And, what is strange, these sights and sounds were all about
+the natural and not the supernatural. For instance, I did not see the
+visage of a grinning goblin just within a little chink of The Rock, as I
+ought to have seen. I did not see "faëry elves" dancing in the moonlit
+beams, as I ought to have seen. Then boldly I took a direct course from
+the mountain over the plain, believing I should intercept our encampment.
+I continued this line for two hours, or not quite so much, but I found
+myself a long way east over the plain, where was neither camel, nor
+encampment, nor object, nor light, nor any moving thing. I then proceeded
+north, thinking I had got too far south again. Here I found a group of
+sand-hills, a new region, in which I painfully wandered and wandered up
+and down. I knew the encampment could not be here. To get clear of this
+horrible predicament, I made another set at the Palace Rock, as if to
+implore the mercy and forgiveness of the Genii. In an hour I found myself
+again under its dark shadows. I walked up and down by its doleful dismal
+sides, thinking if any people were sent in pursuit of me I might find
+them. All was the silence of the dead--no form flitted by except those
+which filled my disturbed imagination. I once more returned eastward to
+the plain, but my head was now swimming, my legs shrank from under me,
+and I fell exhausted upon the sand. There I lay some time to rest. My
+brain, hot and bewildered, was crowded with all sorts of fancies, but my
+courage did not sink. I was seeing every moment people in pursuit of me.
+I heard them repeatedly call "Yâkob." Somewhat composed, I determined
+upon giving up the search of the encampment till day-light, and went
+about to find a tree under which to sleep, if I could. I went to one, but
+did not like it, being low and straggling on the ground, exposed to the
+first chance intruder. I sought another, which I had before observed, for
+in this state I was forced to pick out the objects of the plain. I found
+my tree, which in passing before by it I thought would make me a good
+bed. I could not find the encampment, but the tree observed before, I
+could find. It was placed on a very high mound of earth, which was
+covered with a large bushy lethel-tree. Happy tree! I have always loved
+thy name since. Under this I crept, but finding the top of the mound of a
+sugar-loaf form, I scooped out on its sides, digging away with my hands
+earth and dried leaves, a long narrow cell, literally a grave,
+determining, if I should perish hereabouts, this should be my grave. I
+found it very snug, for the wind now got up east, and moaned in the
+lethel-tree above my head. I drove the spear in the earth, near "the
+bolster," and took off the dagger from my arm. Had on my cloak, which I
+rolled fast round me, and got warm.
+
+The midnight wind increased its doleful notes and heavy moans. Now a
+gruff piping of a cracked barrelled organ, and now, a wild shriek of one
+crying in distress.
+
+    "Mournfully! Oh! mournfully,
+      This midnight wind doth sigh,
+    Like some sweet plaintive melody,
+      Of ages long gone by.
+
+    "It speaks a tale of other years--
+      Of hopes that bloomed to die--
+    Of sunny smiles that set in tears,
+      And loves that mouldering lie!
+
+    "Mournfully! Oh! mournfully,
+      This midnight wind doth moan;
+    It stirs some chord of memory,
+      In each dull heavy tone.
+
+    "The voices of the much-loved dead,
+      Seen floating thereupon--
+    All, all my fond heart cherished
+      Ere death had made it lone."
+
+My first object was to lie and rest my senses, so that I should recover a
+little of my bodily strength, as well as have my thoughts about me. Of
+wild beasts I could not be afraid; I knew there were none. Of the wilder
+animals still, the Desert bandits, I also had every reason to believe
+there were none. But, from my elevated position, I could see their
+approach, or that of friends, nearly all around me. My only fear was to
+perish of thirst, for it attacked me now severely. Thus I lay for an hour
+or so, and then got up to watch the objects of Desert. All things were
+deformed in the shadowy moonlight, and most things looked double with the
+reeling of my poor senses. Several times I imagined I saw a camel coming,
+actually passing by a few paces from the base of the mound. Frightened at
+these illusions of the brain, I determined to try to sleep; my thirst
+still increased and prevented me. As fatigue left me, my head became
+clearer, and more serious thoughts occupied the mind. The moon, however,
+I watched, wheeling her "pale course," for I knew she finished now her
+shadowy reign a few hours before morning. It is impossible to give any
+outline of the thoughts which now rapidly and in wild succession passed
+my mind: suffice to say, I committed my spirit to the Creator who gave
+it. I repeated mechanically to myself aloud, "Weeping may endure for the
+night, but joy cometh in the morning." I now took the bold resolution to
+return to Ghat, not wasting my strength in the morning, after having made
+a short search in The Desert. It was the only chance of saving my life,
+if I could not at once find the encampment. This resolution kept up the
+strength of my mind, and prevented me from sinking into despair. I had
+nothing to eat, nor drink, but I might reach Ghat in the evening of the
+second day, or if strong enough, I might get back in one long day. I knew
+the route along the line of Wareerat, and could not possibly lose myself
+when I was only to pursue the camel-track at the base of this mountain
+range. The only difficulty was, lest I should turn to the right and get
+entangled amongst the sand-hills and dwarf wood, before I reached the
+turning of the road which would conduct me direct to Ghat. Things which
+have made an impression in childhood, the soonest recur to the mind in
+these distressing cases. I thought of poor Hagar with her Ishmael,
+exposed to perish with thirst in The Desert: it was exactly my case,
+whilst dim vistas of childhood now filled up the chasms of opening
+memory. Byron's dying gladiator, in the last struggles of death, saw the
+green banks of the Rhine, the flowery scenes of his childhood's days,
+and, amid the horrid din of the Roman amphitheatre, heard the innocent
+shouts of his little playmates. I was now suffering a dreadful thirst,
+and might perish unless the same Providence directed me to the well, or
+the encampment, as guided the wretched handmaiden of Sarah.
+
+Within seven or eight miles from the place where I now lay, I recollected
+there was the well Tasellam, under the shadow of The Rock. But how to
+find it, when I could not find the encampment lying still nearer me! Then
+came lesser thoughts and vexations. What was I to do in Ghat? How get
+back even if I escaped with my life in my teeth to the oasis? And would
+not the first thing, on my escape, be an attack of fever? Then recurred
+to me the words of my friend Fletcher, "Expose yourself to no unnecessary
+risks." The strongest self-condemnation stung me, I was vexed at my
+extreme folly. Shall I add, that my thoughts wandered far over The
+Desert, skimmed over the surge of the Mediterranean, and ascended on the
+wing of the east wind, now cooling my burning forehead, and sought some
+sad solace in dear objects of my fatherland. Oh! the heart shrinks from
+revealing to the world its secret thoughts, its sorrowful regrets, its
+bitter self-reproaches! I must be silent of the rest. I now got up, sleep
+I could not. I was rejoiced to see a blacker shade thrown upon all
+night-visible things. The moon had performed her nocturnal duty,
+submissive and obedient to the law imposed upon her by universal nature,
+and had also sunk back, like the sun, below the Giant Demon Rock. I then
+lay down again, and just before day, after a few moments of broken sleep,
+for I even slept and forgot my perilous plight, another time I came out
+of my living grave to make observations. I looked at the eastern and
+western horizons, and thought the eastern was the lighter of the two, and
+there was the false dawn, or the dawn itself. I had often watched these
+dawns in the route from Tripoli to Ghadames, and grew wise in
+interpreting nocturnal sights and signs by dire experience. I lay down
+once more. Half an hour past, I came again and the last time forth, for
+all the east was now inflamed with the breaking out of day. The wheels of
+the sun's chariot were of radiant light vermilion, the horses, of darting
+orient flame, were being yoked on, and I stood silent and sad to see "the
+great king of day" mount, and commence his diurnal course. The Rock of
+Demons repelled the light, and shrouded itself in deeper gloom, as Desert
+morn advanced,
+
+    "And sow'd the earth with orient pearl;"
+
+for even in the dry Desert the morning sheds some moisture, if not
+dew-drops. But on that Rock my thoughts now concentrated--there I must
+soon return, and revisit all its dark and rugged precincts. This was my
+only chance to meet with any persons sent in pursuit of me, if such there
+were. Began to see I had wandered at least eight miles from the Huge
+Rock. I threw my mantle over my shoulders, put the dagger under my left
+arm, and took the lance in my right hand, which felt heavy, for I had
+become weak and weary with the past night's traverse of The Desert, and
+the painful vigils afterwards. Descending from the mound to the level of
+the plain, I looked back upon my bed and grave, as if loth to leave it.
+As soon as there was light enough to see objects somewhat distinctly, I
+prayed to God for deliverance, and sallied forth with an unshrinking
+mind. I was amazed at the illusions of The Desert, for it was now day;
+the night might have its deceptions and phantasmagoria. Every tuft of
+grass, every bush, every little mound of earth, shaped itself into a
+camel, a man, a sheep, a something living and moving. Before the day was
+hardly begun, I sprang over again to the base of the Rocky Palace, and
+saw now the detached pieces which during the night I had ascended; but,
+for the life of me, I could not find the place I visited first, and made
+geological discoveries, never, never to be divulged. I continued to pace
+up and down, north and south, for an hour, until weariness began anew to
+attack me. I sighed and said to myself aloud, "So soon tired!" I now
+returned to the plain and made another straight cut. Although the day was
+pretty well developed I was staggered at the deceptions and phantasms of
+The Desert. Every moment a camel loomed in sight, which was no camel.
+There was also a hideous sameness! the reason, indeed, I was lost. For
+there were no distinguishing marks, the mounds followed shrubs, the
+shrubs mounds, then a little plain, then sand, then again the mounds and
+shrubs, plain and sand, and always the same--an eternal sameness! Now
+falling into the track of a caravan, I was determined to pursue it, but
+it was with great difficulty I could follow out the traces. For at long
+intervals the hard ground received no impressions of men or camels' feet,
+and I repeatedly lost the track, going a hundred or more yards before I
+could get into it again, I continued north, I saw the camels' feet, the
+sheep's feet, and the prints of the camel-drivers, and sometimes I
+thought I saw my own foot-marks. But the slaves! Where were the
+impressions of the naked feet of some fifty slaves? Now I groaned with
+the anguish of disappointment. I must abandon the track in despair. I had
+already pursued it painfully over sand and rock, and pebbles, and shrubs,
+and every sort of Desert ground.
+
+All this was fast wasting away my little remaining strength. I now
+mounted two very high mounds. Nothing lived or moved but myself in the
+unbroken silence, the undisturbed solitude! I observed my being too far
+north, I must return south. Another camel appeared. Yes, it was a small
+black bush, on the top of a little hillock, shaping itself into a camel.
+Now a marvel--life I was sure I saw. Two beautiful antelopes, light as
+air, bounded by me with amazing agility, and were lost in a moment
+amongst the shrubs and mounds of the desert plain. I fell to musing on
+natural history, and accounted for these gazelles by the presence of the
+well. I then recollected the Targhee hunter. For an instant I forgot my
+situation. But where was I? What was I doing? Was I to return to Ghat,
+or perish in The Desert? My strength was failing me fast. I could not
+pursue for ever this wild chase at the base of the rock of the Jenoun.
+Under their baleful influence, I shall wander and wander till I drop and
+perish! I must make up my mind. The sun was not yet high up. I could walk
+till noon on the journey back, and then sleep a few hours and rest. The
+chill of the morning had taken away my thirst. I wrapped a handkerchief
+over my month, and took all the precaution I could against the
+approaching thirst at noon-day. The lance was heavy. Shall I throw it
+away? Could it not afford me a moment's protection in meeting a single
+bandit, which class of men mostly go alone? I keep my lance, but
+determine to sit down to rest, previous to departing for Ghat. I had
+often noticed the Arabs make a straight cut of route by raising up the
+right arm, and putting under it the left hand to support it, and then
+waving up and down the right and left arms together. After my short rest,
+I mimicked them. Mimickry is instinctive in us. I singled out for myself
+a distant hill on the plain, lying south in the route by which we had
+come here. Now then, I took the first step towards Ghat. I continued an
+hour, but oh! how weary I had become. Nature seemed ready to sink, and I
+dropped suddenly on the side of a small sand-mound....... What shall I
+do?..... Shall I shed tears to relieve me?..... No, I have long given up
+shedding tears. And, now! I must keep up at the peril of my life. My
+heart renews its courage. I again get up and begin to walk, limping
+along. The small hill was before me--but should I ever reach even
+that?..... My strength of body was now gone, though the mind would not
+yield...... In the last moment of human extremity ...... death
+itself ..... comes deliverance! I continue my route to Ghat. I have just
+strength to raise my lance from the sand it pierces. I turn an instant
+round to the right hand, and a white figure passes by...... What is that?
+A friend or an enemy? I continue on. Is this one of our people, or of
+strangers? Shall I take him for a guide? Before I can think of it, I espy
+something in advance. But I fear an illusion, another deception. No! it
+is the head of a camel! I spring on with my little remaining staggering
+strength. To my joy unspeakable, I find myself upon my own camel--my own
+little encampment! But what a strange, a ludicrous scene! Here is poor
+Said skulking by the supper of the previous night, still placed on the
+fire, but which is gone out, his hands covering his face, and his head
+hanging down, his eyes swollen with tears but staring on the sand. The
+camel looks restless about, and moans. I cry out--"Said!" He starts up as
+if from a death-trance. He bellows out--"Aye wah," and begins to sob
+aloud. The slaves, close by, hear the noise and rush upon us. Where are
+the people? I see only slaves. They are all gone towards The Rock in
+pursuit of me. I now lie down and they bring me something to drink[96]. I
+begin with a little cold tea, and then eat a few dates. Afterwards, we
+got the supper cooked the previous night heated. About a quarter of an
+hour elapsed, when some of the party returned, and then the rest from the
+pursuit. They had gone as soon as it was light this morning. Last night
+some of them had been after me, and traced my steps, wandering over the
+sand, round and round, till they were nearly lost themselves, and got
+back to the encampment with difficulty. As soon as I recovered a little
+rest, our people came up to me and began to joke and laugh. "Ten
+dollars," said one, "you must give us for the trouble we have had in
+seeking for you." Another said, "Lay down, Yâkob, sleep, we will wait
+till noon before we start, to enable you to rest." It was now 9, A.M. But
+the greater number of our party seemed confused, not knowing what to
+think or say. In my absence, the general impression was that I had been
+killed by the demons. Some, more sober, thought I might have fallen into
+the hands of the Touaricks. Now they said: "You were very foolish, you
+ought not, as a Christian, to have presumed to go to the Palace of the
+Demons, without a Mussulman, who could have the meanwhile prayed to God
+to preserve you, and likewise himself. The demons it is who have made you
+wander all night through The Desert." The Medina Shereef, who was of our
+party, boldly asserted, "The palace is full of gold and diamonds. The
+Genii guard it. No wonder then they were offended with your going, and
+struck you as a madman so that you could not return." Others asked me
+what I saw, but would not believe me when I told them I saw nothing. So
+it came to pass, that I nearly lost my life for the sake of confirming
+them more strongly than ever in their superstitions. I, who was to have
+taught them the folly of their fears by practical and demonstrable
+defiance of the Genii confirmed and sealed the power of the Genii over
+this Desert. But I must observe, my companions of travel did not adopt
+the right method of rescuing me from the malignant influence of the
+Genii. If they had sent a man in each direction from the camp, I should
+soon have been found. All going in one direction to The Mountain, the
+other routes were entirely unexplored. If ever I travel The Desert again,
+I shall provide myself with a pocket-compass, and something still better,
+a small tin or other box, of sufficient size to hold about a quarter of a
+pound of crushed dates, or other concentrated food, and a small bottle of
+spirits and water. The compass to be always in my pocket, and the box
+always tied round my neck night and day. In the case now narrated, with
+this little stock of provisions I could have got safe back to Ghat, and
+waited and rested on the road. As it happened, there was every
+probability I should have perished, if I had not found the encampment. I
+continued for a full hour to drink ghusub-water and tea, with a few
+dates. Then I ate more solid food, and took coffee. My mind now
+rebounded, and the joy of deliverance seemed as if it would
+counterbalance the dreadful anxieties of the past night. What a pure
+pleasure I now tasted a few moments! In a freak, I sat down and sketched
+The Demons' Palace, laughing defiance upon it all the while, with the
+wayward self-will and harmless spite of a child, I took this vengeance on
+the unlucky Black Rock.
+
+Now all was passed, I fancied I had merely experienced a distempered
+dream and ugly vision of The Desert. But when I rose to mount my camel, I
+found it had been no vision--I was obliged to be lifted upon my camel.
+Little did I think during the last (to me ever memorable) night, while
+chasing wearily about the dreary Desert, my own countrymen had before
+visited the same identical Demons' Rock. I had heard, indeed, some of the
+people say it had been "written by Christians."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Let us turn now to Dr. Oudney, and hear what he says about The Rock. On
+an excursion westward, from Mourzuk to Ghat, they arrived near Ludinat,
+in the valley of Serdalas or Sardalis. At a small conical hill called
+Boukra, or "father of the foot," the people of the caravans amused
+themselves by hopping over it; he who does it best is considered least
+exhausted by the journey. Near this are a few hills, among which a
+serpent, as large as a camel, is said to reside. "The Targhee is
+superstitious and credulous in the extreme: every hill and cave has
+something fabulous connected with it."
+
+Of the nature of the mountains hereabouts, the Doctor says, "We entered
+(after leaving Serdalas) a narrow pass, with lofty rugged hills on each
+side; some were peaked. The black colour of almost all, with white
+streaks, gave them a sombre appearance. The external surface of this
+sandstone soon acquires a shining black, like basalt; so much so, that I
+have several times been deceived, till I took up the specimen. The white
+part is from a shining white aluminous schistus, that separates into
+minute flakes like snow. The ground had in many places the appearance of
+being covered with snow."
+
+They now got on the plain of the Kesar Jenoun. The hills of Tradart or
+Wareerat (apparently the same word, but sometimes called Taseely) now
+appeared on the east, and the high sands on the west. "The Tradart (or
+Taseely) range," says Oudney, "has a most singular appearance; there is
+more of the picturesque in this than in any hills we have ever seen. Let
+any one imagine ruinous cathedrals and castles; these we had in every
+position, and of every form. (I myself often thought of Windsor Castle,
+and the many hoary-headed old castles of England.) It will not be
+astonishing that an ignorant and superstitious people should associate
+these with something supernatural. That is the fact; some particular
+demon inhabits each. The cause of the appearance is the geological
+structure. In the distance there is a hill more picturesque and higher
+than the others, called Gassur Janoun, or Devil's Castle. Between it and
+the range there is a pass[97] through which our course lies. Hateetah
+dreads this hill, and has told me many strange stories of wonderful
+sights having been seen; these he firmly believes, and is struck with
+horror, when we tell him we will visit it."
+
+Our countrymen kept the range of Wareerat the whole day, and were amazed
+with the great variety of forms. And when Clapperton thought he perceived
+the smell of smoke the previous night, Hateetah immediately said it was
+from the Devil's House. Another smaller rock is called the Chest, under
+which a large sum of money is said to have been deposited by an ancient
+people who were giants of extraordinary stature. The present race of
+Touaricks are, indeed, giants compared to some of our pigmy European
+nations. Oudney made an excursion to Janoun, the Kesar Jenoun. He says,
+"Our servant Abdullah accompanied me. He kept at a respectable distance
+behind. When near the hill, he said, in a pitiful tone, 'There is no road
+up.' I told him we would endeavour to find one. The ascent was
+exceedingly difficult, and so strewed with stones, that we were only able
+to ascend one of the eminences; there we halted, and found it would be
+impossible to go higher, as beyond where we were was a precipice." It
+would appear the Doctor ascended one of the detached blocks, which I
+ascended last night to observe the fires of the encampment. Hateetah got
+alarmed at the departure of Oudney, and Clapperton was not able to allay
+his fears: he was only soothed when the Doctor returned. The Sheikh was
+astonished, as much as our people, when the Doctor said he had "seen
+nothing." How like things happen! Even at the distance of twenty long
+years, between my visit and the Doctor's, it seems as if I was narrating
+one story. The Doctor was also mainly incited by the same feeling as
+myself, to observe the geological structure. He observes, "The
+geological structure is the same as the range (Wareerat) that is near."
+To-day, after twenty years, and without knowing what the Doctor had
+written, when I made the same observation to our people, and tried to
+persuade Haj Ibrahim, the most intelligent of my companions, that there
+was nothing in this huge block different from the mountain range near it,
+being of the same stone and consistence, he replied drily, looking at
+both formations, "Yâkob, it's not true. You see on the Kesar Jenoun the
+very stones which the Demons have built up like the Castle at Tripoli.
+When you will be blind, how can you see? Why not believe in our Genii?"
+
+This leads me to notice the Mahometan belief in Demons or Genii.
+According to the best commentators, the term ‮جنّ‬ "_Jinn_"
+signifies a rational and invisible being, whether angel or devil, or
+the intermediate species called "genius" or "demon." As the word
+Genii is used in the passage of the Koran, "Yet they have set up the
+Genii as partners with God, although he created them," (Surat VI.)
+some believe it refers to "the angels whom the Pagan Arabs
+worshipped, and others the devils, either because they became their
+servants, by adoring idols at their instigation, or else because,
+according to the Magian system, they looked upon the devil as a sort
+of creator, making him the author and principal of all evil, and God
+the author of good only." We all know what a share the Genii have in
+working the wonderful machinery of the Arabian Nights Tales. The
+Touaricks give them still greater powers, and make them a sort of
+delegated or deputy creators, according to the Magian system, but
+do not attribute to them the malevolent passions of an evil being.
+They are probably influenced by the Koran in this, which in the
+Surat, entitled "The Genii" (lxxii.) makes a portion of them to have
+been converted by hearing the reading of the Koran: "Say, it hath
+been revealed unto me, that a company of Genii heard me reading the
+Koran, and said, Verily we have heard an admirable discourse, which
+directeth into the right institution; wherefore we believe therein,
+and we will by no means associate any other with our Lord." The
+ancient Pagan Arabians also believed that the Genii haunted desert
+places, and they frequently retired, under cover of the evening's
+shade, to commune with these familiars of The Desert.
+
+It is, perhaps, worth while to compare this Desert Pandemonium, which the
+imagination of the Touaricks has built up amongst their native hills,
+aided by the light of the Koran, with what the creative mind of Milton
+has constructed by the aid of the learning of his times, and our own
+Scriptures. The difference is as striking as contrast can present. But
+yet there are some wonderful affinities, showing that mind is one and the
+same amongst barbarian or civilized nations. Blackness and darkness enter
+into the situation of both pandemoniums. The Desert Pandemonium has its
+pillars and turrets, its frieze, bas-reliefs, and cornices of ornamental
+architecture, though all done by the hand of "geological structure,"--its
+dark colours shining with "a glossy scurf." The Desert Pandemonium is
+also alive with myriads of spirits, peopling its subterranean vaults. The
+Desert Pandemonium has finally its riches, its jewels, and its
+treasures, such as Mammon, "the least-erected spirit," discovered and
+"led them on" to, in the deeps of hell. We may now transcribe the
+description of Milton's Pandemonium, the great ingredient of contrast
+being light and splendour amidst the "darkness visible" of the regions of
+perdition.
+
+    "Anon, out of the earth a fabric huge
+    Rose like an exhalation, with the sound
+    Of dulcet symphonies, and voices sweet,
+    Built like a temple, where pilasters round
+    Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid
+    With golden architrave; nor did there want
+    Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven;
+    The roof was fretted gold."
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+                        "The ascending pile
+    Stood fix'd her stately height; and straight the doors
+    Opening their brazen folds, discover, wide
+    Within, her ample spaces, o'er the smooth
+    And level pavement; from the arched roof
+    Pendant by subtle magic, many a row
+    Of starry lamps and blazing crezzets, fed
+    With naphtha and asphaltus, yielded light
+    As from a sky."
+
+_7th._--From the Kesar Jenoun, and indeed before arriving there, the
+valley assumed the form of a boundless plain, widening during the whole
+of our march to-day. We had still on our right, the chain of Wareerat,
+and, on our left, but scarcely visible, the low ridge of sand hills. We
+frequently find this sort of Desert geological phenomena; a range of
+rocky hills or mountains has a parallel range of sand hills, and the
+intermediate space is a broad valley or vast plain. In traversing this
+valley-plain, covered now with coarse herbage, now sand, now mounds of
+earth, now pebbles, now quite bare, our progress was precisely like that
+of a ship sailing near the shore, with bluff rocks and headlands jutting
+and stretching into the sea. So were we on our Desert ships (the camels)
+coasting slowly but surely along; whilst the mountains and their varied
+magic shapes continually mocked our weary efforts, and our strained
+vision; now appearing near, then distant, again near, again distant, and
+ever changing their wild, fantastic forms. I thought we passed the tree
+under which I made my grave-bed of the past night, but here were many
+mounds and many dark lethel-trees crowning the many mounds. The detached
+rocks I did see, and recognized fully my error, but which I had
+conjectured, in wandering so far northwards. Our people observed justly,
+"Yâkob, we all went to find you, for we wished all equally to bear the
+responsibility. If you had been lost, who knows but what we should have
+been all blamed for having put you away, or left you behind?" This is,
+perhaps, but too true a conjecture. These poor people would have,
+perhaps, not only been blamed for my death, but accused of it. I was glad
+for their sakes, as well as my own, that I escaped from a Desert death.
+The story of the visiting the Palace of Demons would have been told, of
+course, variously by so many different people. How could they tell the
+story in the same way! These varieties of evidence would have been
+considered unsatisfactory, if not conclusive against them, whilst some
+people, suspicious of the Moors, would have believed the whole was a
+"cunningly-devised" trumped-up invention. The deaths of Park and Laing
+may have been unjustly charged upon the Africans in this way. How, and
+for what they died, is now altogether beyond our investigation. Even the
+more recent death or assassination of Davidson is a mystery of The
+Desert. We encamped close by a little stunted herbage, on which the
+camels scantily fed. Weary with the previous night's adventure,
+immediately on being lifted off the camel, I fell down fast asleep upon
+the ground. Our course to-day due north.
+
+_8th._--Did not rise until the sun was wheeling his daily course high up
+the heavens. Felt better, and walked a little in the morning. No symptoms
+of fever from the former night's exposure. In general the open Desert is
+perfectly salubrious. It is in the oases, mostly situated in the valleys,
+where the fever is generated. The Demon Temple still in view, with all
+its mysterious hideousness, crowned with its grisly towers. It now stands
+out in all its defiant isolation; the sand hills which broke upon its
+view, running north and south, are now seen far beyond. It is its
+detached condition from the neighbouring chain of Wareerat, with which
+its geological structure is indissolubly connected, that has given this
+huge pile its supernatural reputation. The Demons' Rock is apparently a
+huge square, having four faces, and requiring a day to make the tour of
+its rugged and jutting basements. Its highest turret-peaks may be some
+six or seven hundred feet. The wady now has disappeared,--all is an
+immeasurable expanse of plain, and bare as barrenness and barren wastes
+can be. I observed a peculiar mirage to-day--lakes of still black shining
+water.
+
+A part of our caravan, and not the least interesting, are six Soudan
+sheep, which belong to Haj Ibrahim. Their species is well known, but I
+must mention what an agile and strong animal is the Aheer and Housa
+sheep, being brought from both countries. This Soudan sheep is the best
+walker in the whole caravan, and the last which feels fatigue or drops
+from exhaustion. He browses herbage as the camel on the way, nibbling all
+the choicest herbs, and sometimes strays at a great distance from the
+caravan. He has had forty days' training from Aheer, and, as a slave
+said, "He's a better pedestrian than the mahry." He is an attacking
+animal, not scrupling even to attack the hand which feeds him with a
+little barley. He is so formidable to the sheep of the Barbary Coast,
+that I have seen a whole flock scamper away at the simple sight of him.
+He is tall, his legs long, and his limbs generally better proportioned
+than the common sheep. As he requires no wool to shelter him from cold in
+the sultry regions of Central Africa, Providence has only given him a
+coat of hair; and his tail is like that of the common dog. The head
+offers nothing remarkable, but his look is bold, and his heart
+courageous. He butts fiercely at all strangers, and he is the only lord
+of freedom whilst marching over The Desert. In the companionship of these
+sheep over The Desert, they acquire a strong affection for one another,
+and I saw at Ghat two separated from a flock with great difficulty, the
+whole flock pursuing savagely the man who had taken away from them two of
+their _compagnons de voyage_. In going over Desert they require little
+attention, and will go without water for half a dozen days together.
+When, however, we come to a well, they are the first that will be served,
+neither sticks nor blows will keep them off. We have also, as travelling
+companions, ten or twelve parrots of the common blue-grey Soudan breed.
+This parrot has a white broad rim round the eye; its body is a light
+greyish-blue, legs, beak, and claws black, under-tail feathers white and
+upper scarlet. Each two or three of the parrots have a little round house
+to themselves, about eight inches in diameter, made of skins, and pierced
+with holes to let in the air and light, besides a door. Their quarrels
+are frequent, for quarrelling seems an essential part of the nature of
+all animals, the rational and irrational, and they often fight
+desperately, and are obliged to be separated. They are carried on the
+heads of the slaves, being, as these poor people, the purchased luxuries
+of the rich. The parrots are allowed to have an airing and a walk morning
+and evening. They all talk in good grammatical Negro language, and can
+occasionally aid our researches in Nigritian tongues. Parrots are brought
+from as far as Noufee.
+
+The wood in the valley we just left, is the Lethel. Its leaves are
+powdered over with a white saline substance, indeed, why not salt itself?
+Some of these trees are very large, having very thick trunks and boughs,
+perhaps forty feet high, and ten feet round the thickest trunks, which
+wood, when palm-wood is scarce, is used instead for building. On the
+plain, however, the Tholh[98] began to appear. This tree is found, as
+noticed before, in the most desolate places of The Desolate Sahara. It is
+sometimes very large for trees here, perhaps thirty feet high, and six or
+seven of width round its broadest trunks. The camels browse on it
+always, and when hungry crop with avidity a great quantity of the
+prickles and thorns, and thorny leaves. It is a mystery to me how the
+camel can chew such thorns in its delicate mouth. The Koran mentions the
+tholh (Surat lvi.), as one of the trees of Paradise, which Sale has
+translated Mauz, "the trees of mauz loaded regularly with their produce
+from top to bottom." But tholh here seems to refer to a very tall and
+thorny tree, which bears an abundance of beautiful flowers of an
+agreeable odour, one of the many species of acacia, and not the ordinary
+gum-arabic tree.
+
+Near sun-set we left the plain, and I took an everlasting farewell of the
+Temple of Genii. Poor inanimate Rock! which should so much bewilder man's
+crazy brain, and fill the desert travellers with such strange fancies. We
+turned to the north-west into a gorge of the chain of Wareerat. In this
+gorge, besides the usual black sandstone, with glossy basaltic forms,
+were large deposits of chalk, one of which our route intersected, on the
+top of the ridge, where also the action of water was extremely well
+marked. The action of water remains a long time visible in The Great
+Desert, perhaps twelve, twenty, nay, fifty years, during which several
+periods, even in the driest regions of The Sahara, there is sure to be a
+heavy drenching rain,--an overflowing, overwhelming mass of water falls
+on the desert lands. The districts of Ghat remained some eight or ten
+years without an abundant rain, till this last winter, when it came in
+most overpowering showers[99]. The action of rain on the earthy bosom of
+The Desert is very much like that of the action of the sea on its shores,
+which has led to the remark, that The Sahara looks as if it been "washed
+over" by the ocean. The mounds of earth so frequently met with in The
+Desert are formed by water in the time of great rains. In this gorge were
+big blocks of stone, on which were carved Touarghee characters. It was
+fortunate I knew the characters, for the people wished to persuade me
+they were those of very ancient people, and of Christians, whilst none of
+the party could read them. They are probably the names of shepherd and
+Touarghee camel-drivers, wandering through Desert. Some of the letters
+have a very broad square Hebrew or Ethiopic look about them. The gorge
+was steep, narrow, and intricate in the first part of its ascent. We then
+descended and encamped between the links of the chains, which form so
+many valleys, some broad and deep. It was a good while after sun-set,
+when we brought up for the night, and we had come a very long day. All
+were greatly fatigued, especially the poor slave girls.
+
+_9th._--Rose early, and started early. The feet-marks of the aoudad wore
+observed on the sand. Course through the gorge north-east. After a couple
+of hours we cleared the gorge, entering upon a broad open plain or
+valley. Here I observed the chain of Wareerat was rounded off on the
+eastern side, and of considerably less altitude, whilst the peaks of the
+opposite or western side were steep and escarpé, owing apparently to the
+action of the water in the wady.
+
+Continuing our course on the plain for an hour or two, we arrived at
+the oasis of Serdalas, a handful of cultivation, but very fair and
+of vigorous growth. The valley or plain of Serdalas, which is also
+called Ludinat, and the site of a Marabet, is an extensive
+undulating plain, bounded east and west by two ranges of mountains,
+stretching north and south. Near the spot of our encampment are
+wells of excellent water, seven or eight of them, and the largest is
+a thermal spring, which is about the centre of the oasis. It is
+banked up, or rather issues from a rocky eminence, where large lumps
+of bog iron may be picked up. Formerly this spring was fortified,
+the high walls built around its mouth still remaining, and there are
+besides the brick ruins of a castle close by. Tradition relates that
+the oasis was formerly colonized by Christians, and others say, by
+Jews. It may, indeed, have been colonized previously to the arrival
+of the Arabs in Africa by the ancient Berbers, or Numidians, but the
+castle itself is of Moorish modern construction. The present
+miserable population does not exceed ten persons, Fezzaneers and one
+or two Touaricks, who cultivate a little wheat and ghusub. The
+houses are huts of sticks, date-leaves, and dried grass. Near the
+great spring is a large tree, with prickly thorny leaves, not unlike
+the tholh. It is called _Ahatas_, ‮اهتس‬, and was brought from
+Soudan, where its species grows to an enormous magnitude. Its wood
+makes excellent bowls, spoons, and several useful domestic
+utensils. This tree measures at least twelve feet round its trunk;
+its principal branch is prostrate, bent beneath the burden of many a
+Saharan summer's heat and winter's cold. From the old paralyzed arm,
+however, shoot up young green branches, offering a pleasant shade to
+the weary and thirsty wayfarer in these wilds. Under this tree money
+is buried to a great amount, but the writings, pointing out the
+particular spot, were destroyed by a son of the Marabout, whose tomb
+consecrates this desert spot. Several small birds are hopping about,
+like those seen in Ghat, with white heads and white under tails, the
+rest black. This seems a _bonâ fide_ feathered tenant of Sahara.
+
+We remain here to-day and to-morrow. It is, perhaps, for the better, for
+we are all knocked up. By preserving the body we preserve the mind. Our
+party consists of four merchants, the rest being servants and slaves. My
+friend Haj Ibrahim is the principal one. We have the Medina Shereef, who
+is in charge of a male and two female slaves, the property of the
+Governor of Ghat. He continues his route from Tripoli to Mecca, and
+expects to be absent two years on his pilgrimage. The Shereef makes great
+pretensions to learning and sanctity, and I believe he is clever, if not
+learned; he says to me, "My business is study and prayer." He asked me
+about Khanouhen, his father-in-law, and the presents which I made the
+prince, and said, "Khanouhen sent back his presents to you, and would not
+accept them." I told him I commuted the goods into silver; at which he
+laughed and remarked, "Ah! Khanouhen is deeper than the devil himself."
+He considers Jabour's protection omnipotent in the route of Timbuctoo,
+but says the Touaricks only, and not caravans, can protect European
+travellers: I think the Shereef is right. Another of our merchants is a
+very civil Ghadamsee, and acts as a sort of broker for Haj Ibrahim. He is
+very civil and good-natured, but, nevertheless, keeps mostly in his hand
+a little nasty whip, with which he lays it into the unlucky slaves. The
+last of the four is a queer dwarfish Touatee, from Aïn Salah, who is
+carrying a few little bags of gold to Tripoli, perhaps a dozen ounces. At
+the instigation of the Shereef, who likes a laugh, I keep roasting him on
+the way, telling him, "You have got so much gold about you that we are
+sure to be attacked by banditti before we arrive safely at Tripoli." This
+makes him very savage, and sometimes he calls me a kafer. Haj Omer is the
+great factotum of Haj Ibrahim, an Arab of Tripoli, and a most hardy
+hard-working fellow. Omer has two camels which are hired by his master.
+One of these foaled a little before we left Ghat, and he carried the
+young camel the half of a day's journey on his back. Omer never rides,
+walks all day long, pitches the tents, looks after the camels, looks
+after the slaves, and from morning to night is on his legs. So these
+people can work when it is necessary; indeed, I am sure, with a good
+government, and an equitable system of trade, the Moors and Arabs of
+North Africa would be as industrious and persevering as any other people.
+
+It is now afternoon, and very hot. The weather has been sultry the four
+days of our route. But our faces are nearly always north, and a slight
+fresh breeze blows from either N., N.E., or N.W. every day, a most
+grateful relief. It is, however, cold at nights, and very cold in the
+morning after the heat has been absorbed during the night. The negresses
+are busy either pounding ghusub, or washing themselves, or making the
+toilet and arranging their sable persons in showy trinkets. Certainly
+woman in the negro races is a remarkable creature. She bears her bondage
+and its hardships with consummate fortitude, and the greatest good humour
+and gaiety, never quarrelling or sulking with her master, and only now
+and then having a little bickering of jealousy or rivalry with her fellow
+slave. Two or three slaves only, for the present, are unable to keep up,
+and placed on the backs of camels. I am astonished to see how well they
+keep up, what fatigue they are capable of bearing; I should myself die of
+exhaustion were I placed in their situation. There is a little boy only
+four or five years of age, who walks as well as any of them. He refused
+my offer to give him a ride, and answered, "I don't wish to ride. I
+walked all the way from my native country to Ghat." Should this little
+creature continue to walk his way to Tripoli, by the time he arrives in
+that city he will have walked over eighty-five days of Desert, besides
+the distance he may have walked before reaching Aheer, perhaps some
+additional thirty days.
+
+Another of Haj Ibrahim's camels foaled to-day. The foal is stretched upon
+the ground as if lifeless, the mother standing over and staring at it.
+But the foal will not remain so long, for to-morrow or next day it will
+be up on its legs, and after four, five, or six days, it will be able to
+run after its dam. In fact, the foal, now five days' old, runs after its
+mother part of the day's march, and after two or three more days it will
+be able to continue a whole day's journey. Here is an instance of the
+immense superiority of the lower animal over the higher animal man. It is
+curious that the cry of the foal is very much like a child, and I once
+turned round to see a negress child crying, and found it was a
+camel-foal. In marching the foal is tied upon the back of its mother, and
+so borne along, the dam grumbling regular choruses to the cry of the
+foal. (_Later an hour._) The foal is actually upon its legs, about four
+hours after its birth, and it has sucked its mother twice. The mother
+does not quarrel so much about her child as the first she-camel. Such is
+the varying dispositions of brutes. A foal is worth ten dollars when a
+year old. Most she-camels have a foal every other year, but some few
+every year. The foal remains a whole year with its mother. None of these
+camels give milk, because there is not sufficient herbage in our way. In
+cases of extremity, when the herbage is scarce and the camels give little
+milk, the Touaricks of Ghat will drive their camels to graze as far as
+Aheer, or even to Soudan. Milk is an essential portion of their means of
+existence. The reader must not be surprised to find so frequent a mention
+of the Camel-Ship of The Desert. In the Koran the camel is thus
+introduced, "Do not they consider the camels, how they are created?"
+(Surat Lxxxviii.) and very properly, as a wonderful instance of the
+creative might of Deity. These animals are of such use, or rather
+necessity, in The East and in The Desert, that the creation of a species
+so wonderfully adapted to these countries, is a very apposite and proper
+instance to an Arabian and African, or even an European (travelling
+here), of the power and wisdom of the Creator. Like the reindeer, and the
+lichen, or moss, on which it feeds in the polar regions, the camel and
+the date-palms in the Great Desert furnish striking and remarkable
+examples of the inseparable connexion of certain animals and plants with
+human society and the propagation of our common species. Providence, or
+nature, for it is the same, has so formed the faithful, patient and
+enduring camel, as to create in this animal a link of social and
+commercial intercourse amongst widely-scattered and otherwise apparently
+unapproachable nations. The she-camel which I am riding through these
+solitary wastes never fails me, except from sheer exhaustion, the
+enduring creature never giving in whilst nature sustains her! In the most
+arid, herbless, plantless, treeless, thirsty wastes, she finds her
+loved-home, for The Desert is the natural sphere of life and action for
+the camel. The Desert was made for the Camel, and the Camel was made for
+The Desert.
+
+_10th._--Did not sleep very well, and felt very cold during the night.
+But as soon as the sun is up it is hot. Such is The Desert. It is also
+cold in the shade, and hot in the sun. When riding, a hot wind burns the
+one cheek, and a cold wind blanches the other cheek[100]. You wander
+through these extremes like the spirits of the nethermost regions,--
+
+    "And feel by turns the bitter change
+    Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce:
+    From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice--
+    Thence hurried back to fire."
+
+I usually am obliged to wear my cloak out of the sun, besides a woollen
+burnouse.
+
+Visited the marabet, or mausoleum, of Sidi Bou Salah, about two hundred
+paces from the large spring. My Fezzanee guide told me the daughter of
+the buried Marabout was still living in the oasis, but his sons were
+residing in Fezzan. When the corn was reaped, late in the spring, he
+himself should return to Fezzan. One or two persons would remain here.
+The tomb of the Marabout is enclosed within the usual square little
+house, having a dome or cupola roof, but it is not clean whitewashed, as
+these sanctuaries generally are on the Coast. On the tomb is a coverlet
+of particoloured and showy silks. The room of the mausoleum is snug and
+clean. A little lamp is kept burning at the head during the night. This
+is a sort of perpetual fire. There are two or three outhouses, or rooms,
+adjoining, in which, if anything be deposited, it is quite safe, it is
+sacred, no robbers in these wild countries being bold enough to commit
+such a sacrilege against the God of the Islamites. The entire oasis is
+peculiarly protected by the halo of the awful Marabout here buried. It is
+a place of perfect security for all travellers. In this way the sentiment
+of religion confers its advantages, whatever may be the creed of its
+professors. No doubt the sentiment of religion, as connected with
+superstition, inflicts upon mankind intolerable evils; but here, at any
+rate, is some compensation.
+
+I surveyed again the great thermal spring. The water issues from a rocky
+ferruginous soil of iron ore, giving the water a mineral taste. Yet it is
+of the best quality. Apparently the water descends from the neighbouring
+mountain chains, and collects here, but its flow or stream is perennial.
+From this little eminence I had a panoramic view of the country, and was
+gratefully affected with the beautiful situation of the oasis. In the
+hands of Europeans, a city would be created here, one of the largest of
+The Great Desert, for water abounds on every side. This oasis would
+become the centre of a dense population, fed from the products of the
+soil. A mart of commerce would concentrate a great Saharan traffic,
+ramifying through every part of Africa. But what can be expected from
+people whose one predominant and _quasi_-religious idea teaches them that
+everything should remain as it is; as it was before so shall it be
+hereafter. People nevertheless pretend that political causes keep the
+oasis in its present miserable condition. Serdalas belongs to the
+Touaricks, who let it out to the Fezzaneers, but will not permit them to
+plant date-palms, lest the oasis should flourish and rival Ghat, and so
+injure that mart of commerce. Be it as it may, man always fails of his
+work, and if he does so in the more genial climes of Europe, what can
+come of his idleness and his improvidence in The Vast African Desert?
+Desolate as The Sahara may be in its essential character, it is rendered
+still more so by the neglect of its heedless and dreamy tenants. Many are
+the oases in this neglected, abandoned state. And the saddening,
+sickening thought often recurs to me, that, however desolate The Sahara
+may have been in past ages, it is now getting worse instead of better.
+Ghadames, and many oases of Fezzan, are dwindling away to nothing, the
+population lessening, and dispersing under the curse of the Turkish
+system!
+
+Fezzan is only reckoned five days from Serdalas, good travelling, but,
+with a caravan of slaves, it will occupy us six or seven days. How fond
+of lying are the Moors, or, shall we say, boasting? The Shereef, I hear
+from my other companions, is not going on a pilgrimage to Mecca, as he
+boasted to me. He merely goes to Tripoli on a trip to sell his three
+slaves for the Governor, his uncle, and purchase a little merchandise in
+return.
+
+Had a visit from the daughter of the Marabout, the wild Sybil of The
+Desert. She is an Arab lady of some seventy or more years of age, but,
+like most ladies, does not know how old she is. At first sight of her, I
+
+    "Gaz'd on her sun-burnt face with silent awe,
+    Her tatter'd mantle,
+    Her moving lips,--
+
+    "Whose dark eyes flash'd, through locks
+    of blackest shade."
+
+The Pythoness asked me how I liked her country, a hundred times, and then
+begged for something in the name of Allah. She kept saying, "What have
+you got for the daughter of the great Marabout?" "What have you got for
+her who dedicates her life to God?" She was very proud of the
+distinction, _Bent-El-Marabout_ ("daughter of the Marabout"). And why
+should she not be proud? When all comes to all, the Saharan lady is as
+good as a Roman Nepote of the Pope. She continued, "What have you got for
+the daughter of the great Marabout?" And, indeed, I had got very little.
+I then gave her a little looking-glass, the only one I had. But this is
+no privation in The Desert, however necessary elsewhere. The
+looking-glass exceedingly delighted the sybil, for in it she saw the
+stern features of her face, with her dauntless eye. She then got
+familiar. She wondered why I was not married, and how I could go to
+sleep without a wife. She prayed me to take one from Fezzan, or buy a
+negress of the caravan, telling the people, "The Christian is very good,
+but very foolish. The Christian has plenty of money, and does not buy a
+wife." I told her it was prohibited to buy slaves. And as to a wife, I
+could not carry her about in The Desert. To which she at length, after
+much persuasion, consented to agree. The daughter of the Marabout showed
+no hostility against me as a Christian, although of such pure blood, and
+in which the antagonism of the eastern to the western spirit is supposed
+to be stronger. She gave me her blessing, and we parted friends. The only
+piece of dress of any kind which the Maraboutess wore was a thick, dark,
+woollen frock, with short sleeves. She had no ornaments; her hair was
+black, mixed with grey, long, and dishevelled about her neck and
+shoulders. An air of the Pythoness overshadows the countenance and
+carriage of this Desert priestess. Amongst the people she is a holy
+being. She lives alone. She has the power of foretelling future events.
+She receives small presents from all the ghafalahs which visit the oasis,
+as tithes of the Marabout shrine. She never leaves this Desert spot. Her
+person was ever inviolable. It is related that, many years ago, an Arab
+once attempted to surprise her in the night, and share a part of her bed,
+but was immediately struck dead before he could stretch out his hand to
+open the door of her grass-built hut. So The Desert has its incorruptible
+vestals. But the conversation which her ladyship had with me was all
+pro-matrimonial, and would not have suggested to the stranger that she
+was an ancient maiden of inviolate chastity. Perhaps she might have
+thought this sort of conversation would please me best. The Maraboutess,
+as well as the few Fezzaneers in Serdalas, are of short stature, of a
+very dark-brown complexion, approaching nearly to black, and some have
+the broad distended nostrils of the negro. The Shereef said to me this
+afternoon, "I'm going to pray at the Marabout shrine; I go happily, I
+return happily." Our Shereef is a little self-righteous.
+
+Evening, died a young female slave. She had been ill a month. She was of
+the most delicate frame, and cost seventy dollars as a great beauty. She
+was buried in the grave-yard of the Marabet without any ceremonies. Happy
+creature to have so died. They first tried to dig a grave in open desert,
+but not succeeding, they carried her to the burial-ground of the Marabet.
+
+_11th._--To-day is the fourteenth day of the month, and Wednesday instead
+of Monday, by the reckoning of my fellow travellers. A fine morning, but
+we all felt severe cold during the past night, and which nipped up the
+poor slaves.
+
+This morning visited Haj Ibrahim early, and seeing a young female very
+ill I remarked: "You had better leave her with the daughter of the
+Marabout." He replied, much agitated, "Oh, no, it's a she-devil."
+Thinking she might be sulky, as Negroes often sulk, I made no other
+observation. A few minutes after I heard the noise of whipping, and
+turning round, to my great surprise, I saw the Haj beating her not very
+mercifully. He had a whip of bull's hide with which he gave her several
+lashes. This displeased me much, for I thought if the girl had sulked a
+little she might have been cured without recourse to the whip, in her
+debilitated state. About a quarter of an hour afterwards, or not so much,
+I saw Haj Omer, servant of the Haj, going towards the graveyard, with a
+small ax in his hand, and suspecting something had happened, I followed
+to see what it was. On arriving at the Marabet, I asked,
+
+"What are you going to do?"
+
+"Dig a grave, only," was the reply.
+
+"What," I continued, "are you going to dig the grave of the Negress whom
+Haj Ibrahim was just now beating?"
+
+"Yes," Omer returned, greatly ashamed.
+
+I was not surprised at the answer, but a disagreeable chill came over me.
+Omer then added apologetically, "They bring these poor creatures by
+force, they steal them. They give them nothing to eat but hasheesh
+(herbs). Her stomach is swollen. We couldn't cure her; Haj Ibrahim beat
+her to cure her. She had diarrhœa." This requires no comment. I add only,
+if Haj Ibrahim, who is a good master, can treat his slaves thus, what may
+we not expect from others less humane? There is no doubt but that the
+whipping of this poor creature hastened her death. She was, indeed,
+whipped at the point of death. I stopped to see the lacerated slave
+buried. She was some eleven years of age, and of frailest form. A grave
+was dug for her about fifteen inches deep and ten wide. It is fortunate
+there are no hyenas or chacalls to scratch up these bodies. They do "rest
+in peace." Into this narrow crib of earth she was thrust down, resting on
+her right side, with her head towards the south, and her face towards the
+east, or towards Mecca. She had on a small chemise, and her head and
+feet and loins were wrapped round with a frock of tattered black Soudan
+cotton. Omer, before he put her in, felt her breast to see if she were
+really dead. At first he seemed to doubt it, and fancied he felt her
+heart beating, but at last he made up his mind that she was really dead.
+I felt her hands. They were deathly cold. At times Moors bury people
+warm, and not unfrequently alive. They are always in a desperate hurry to
+get corpses under ground, thinking the soul cannot have any peace whilst
+the body lies unburied. As the last service to the body, Omer took some
+earth and stopped up her nostrils. This was done to prevent her reviving
+should she be not really dead, and attempt to move. Unquestionably if
+buried in the open desert, it is a service, for the wretch only revives
+to die a more horrible death. Some small flag-stones were then laid over
+the narrow cell, and these were covered with earth, in the form of a
+common grave, being only a little narrower than our graves, as the body
+is turned up on its side. The two poor young things lay side by side, the
+one who died yesterday, and the one to-day, giving their liberated
+spirits opportunity to return to the loved land of freedom, the wild
+woods of the Niger. Happy beings were they;--better to die so in The
+Desert, in the morning of their bondage, than live to minister to the
+corrupt appetites of the unfeeling sensualist! Seeing others, free
+people, with pieces of stone raised up at their heads, and wishing the
+slave and the free to have equal rights in the grave, I fetched two
+pieces of stone and placed them at their heads likewise. If it be
+permitted to pray for the dead, God save, in mercy, these two youthful,
+frail, but almost sinless souls!
+
+DIRGE[101].
+
+    "O'er her toil-wither'd limbs sickly languors were shed,
+    And the dark mists of death on her eyelids were spread;
+    Before her last sufferings how glad did she bend,
+    For the strong arm of death was the arm of a friend.
+
+    "Against the hot breezes hard struggled her breast,
+    Slow, slow beat her heart, as she hastened to rest;
+    No more shall sharp anguish her faint bosom rend,
+    For the strong arm of death was the arm of a friend.
+
+    "No more shall she sink in the deep scorching air,
+    No more shall keen hunger her weak body tear;
+    No more on her limbs shall swift lashes descend,
+    For the strong arm of death was the arm of a friend.
+
+    "Ye ruffians! who tore her from all she held dear,
+    Who mock'd at her wailings and smil'd at her tear;
+    Now, now she'll escape, every suffering shall end,
+    For the strong arm of death was the arm of a friend."
+
+I returned to the encampment and found the caravan in motion.
+Burning hot to-day. I felt the heat as oppressive as in my journey
+of August to Ghadames. Fortunately our faces were north-east, away
+from the sun in its greatest power. No one can understand this
+passage, καὶ ἡ ὄψις αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος φαίνει ἐν τῇ δυνάμει αὐτοῦ,
+(Rev. i. 16,) who has not travelled under the influence of the
+Saharan sun. The rays dart down with a peculiar fierceness upon your
+devoted head, depriving you of all your life-springs. As to its
+splendour, the eye of the eagle turns away daunted from its
+all-effulgent beams. Since leaving Ghat we have passed many graves
+of the "bond and the free," who have died in open desert. Passed one
+to-day, with Arabic characters carved on the stone raised at its
+head. Passed by also several desert mosques, which are simply the
+outline in small stones, of the ground-plan of Mahometan temples.
+
+We have, in many instances, only the floor of the mosque marked out, or
+rather the walls which inclose the floor. Within the outlines the stones
+are nicely cleared away. Here the devout passers-by occasionally stop and
+pray. The desert mosques are some of them of these shapes--
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The places projecting in squares or recesses are the kiblah, upon which
+the Faithful prostrate themselves towards the east, or Mecca[102].
+
+Our course is through an undulating country of hills and valleys. We made
+a short day, for we began to fear we might lose many of the slaves. A
+Touarghee caravan, going to Fezzan, overtook us _en route_, but soon
+turned off to the north-west.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[96] I hope I offered up a heartfelt prayer of thankfulness to the
+    Almighty for my deliverance from perishing in The Desert.
+
+[97] It is a very wide valley, nay an extensive plain. But the
+    Doctor writes about it before he arrives there.
+
+[98] Tholh--‮الظلح‬--_Acacia gummifera_, (Willd.) It bears what
+    the Moors and Arabs call _Smug Elârab_ (‮صمغ العرب‬),
+    or "Gum Arabic." This is the most hardy tree of The Desert, and,
+    like the karub-trees of Malta, strikes its roots into the very stones.
+
+[99] Dr. Oudney says, who was a man of science:--"Rain sometimes
+    falls in the valley (of Sherkee, Fezzan,) sufficient to overflow
+    the surface and form mountain torrents. But it has no regular
+    periods, five, eight, and nine years frequently intervening
+    between each time. Thus, no trust can be placed in the occurrence
+    of rain, and no application made in agricultural concerns." In
+    truth, the rain which falls in these uncertain intervals, seems to
+    answer no available purpose, unless to feed the wells and
+    under-currents of water.
+
+[100] The blowing hot and cold with the same breath is here a
+    reality, or thereabouts.
+
+[101] Adapted from an anonymous piece, called "_The Dying Negro_."
+
+[102] "But we will cause thee to turn towards a _Kiblah_ that will
+    please thee. Turn, therefore, thy face towards the holy temple of
+    Mecca; and wherever ye be, turn your faces towards that
+    place."--_Surat_ ii.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+FROM GHAT TO MOURZUK.
+
+     Another Range of Black Mountains.--Habits of She-Camels when
+     having Foals.--Our Mahrys.--Intelligence of my Nagah.--Geology of
+     Route.--Arrive at the Boundaries of Ghat and Fezzan.--The
+     Moon-Stroke.--Sudden Tempest.--Theological Controversy of The
+     Shereef.--Wars and Razzias between the Tibboos and
+     Touaricks.--Forests of Tholh Trees.--The Shereef's opinion of the
+     Touaricks.--Dine with The Shereef.--Saharan Travellers badly
+     clothed and fed.--Style of making Bazeen.--Mode of
+     Encamping.--Cold Day, felt by all the Caravan.--Well of
+     Teenabunda.--Arrival in The Wady of Fezzan.--Meeting of the two
+     Slave Caravans.--Tombs of Ancient Christians.--Routes between
+     Ghat and Fezzan.--Weariness of Saharan Travel.--Oases and Palms
+     of The Wady.--We meet a rude Sheikh, demanding Custom-Dues.--Haj
+     Ibrahim's opinion of the Virgin Mary.--Black Jews in Central
+     Africa.--My Affray with the Egyptian.--Route to Tripoli, _viâ_
+     Shaty and Mizdah.--Features and Colour of Fezzaneers.--My Journey
+     from The Wady to Mourzuk, on leaving the Slave-Caravans.--Tombs
+     of former Inhabitants, and Legends about them.--Bleak and Black
+     Plateau.--The Targhee Scout.--Have a Bilious Attack.--Desert
+     Arcadians, and lone Shepherdesses.--Oasis of Agath, and its want
+     of Hospitality.
+
+
+_12th._--A LONG, long, weary day, and tormentingly hot in the middle of
+the day. Course north-east, over plains scattered with small stones.
+Traversed a few small ridges of hills. A new species of stone to-day, the
+hard slate-coloured, and some of it with a granite-like look. Afternoon,
+came in sight of the other chain of black, or, as sometimes designated,
+Soudan mountains, stretching boundlessly north and south, like those
+near Ghat. This chain likewise extends to the Tibboo country. It is an
+error of some of the late French writers, to make the Saharan ranges
+always run east and west. This direction of development only applies to
+the Atlas ranges of the Coast. No trees, and no herbage for the camels.
+The hasheesh which the camels ate this evening was brought us from the
+encampment of yesterday. The poor slaves knocked up to-day; rested many
+times on the road, and another very ill. In all probability she will
+follow her companions lately dead. Others, however, sang and danced, and
+tried to forget their slavery and hardships. But the death of the two
+girls is a damper for the rest, and they have not been so merry since
+that mournful occurrence. The she-camels, which have foals, give no milk
+for want of herbage. The two mothers bite one another's children. This,
+perhaps, they do to teach the young ones their true mothers. One of them
+makes a great noise over her young one, and disturbs all the caravan.
+Evening, whilst all the people were at prayers, and prostrating in their
+usual parallel lines, I went up to her, and began teazing her. The angry
+brute slowly and deliberately got up, but, once on her legs, she made a
+dead set at me, running after me. Meanwhile, receding backwards as fast
+as I could, I fell over some of the people praying and prostrating, and
+the camel attacked them as well as me, spoiling their devotions. The
+camel now returned to her foal; and, prayers over, Haj Ibrahim said to
+me, laughing, "Yâkob, the camel knows you are a kafer, and don't pray
+with us. So she attacks you. Camels never attack good Moslems at their
+prayers." The foal of seven days' old walked the whole of our long march
+to-day! and nearly as fast as a man. So the poor camel begins to learn
+by times its lessons of patience and long-suffering. The mahry of the Haj
+is very vicious and greedy, and bites all the other camels which eat with
+it. Camels are made to eat in a circle, all kneeling down, head to head,
+and eye to eye. Within this circle of heads is thrown the fodder. Each
+camel claims its place and portion, eating that directly opposite to its
+head. The people eat in the same manner in circles, each claiming the
+portion before them, but squatting on their hams instead of kneeling. The
+mahry of the Haj is quite white, and is a very fine animal; but its eye
+is small and sleepy-looking, so that it does not appear to have the
+amount of intelligence of the Coast camels. We have another smaller
+mahry, and some of the mahrys are as diminutive as others are gigantic in
+size. My nagah feeds by herself. The males never bite the females as they
+bite one another,--a piece of admirable gallantry, so far, on their part,
+but they rob the females of their fodder, and I am obliged constantly to
+keep driving them away from my nagah. The nagah knows she receives her
+dates from our panniers. Stooping down on one of them this evening to
+find something, putting my head right in, and raising myself up, I found
+the nagah's head right over my shoulder, attentively watching me, to see
+if I was bringing out her dates. She distinguishes me well from the Moors
+and Arabs, by my black cloak, and is usually very gentle and civil to me,
+and familiar, more especially about the time of bringing out the dates.
+
+_13th._--Our course north-east, over an undulating plain of sand and
+gravel, and at intervals the desert surface was a plain pavement of
+stone, of a dark slate-colour. Greater part of the route strewn with
+pieces of petrified wood, but no pretty fossil remains. Wood, apparently
+chumps of the tholh. We had all day the new range of black mountains on
+our right, which extend southwards far beyond the Fezzanee country to the
+Tibboos. Intensely cold all day, the air misty, and the wind from
+north-west. But I prefer this cold to the heat of yesterday. Haj Ibrahim
+complained of the cold, and was alarmed for his slaves. One of the
+females he chased on his mahry, the girl running away on foot, and gave
+her two or three cuts with the whip. She had been accused of too great
+familiarity with a male slave. Crime and slavery go hand in hand:
+Miserable humanity!
+
+About noon, we reached the territory of Fezzan. Good bye, Touaricks!
+farewell to the land of the brave and the free! Farewell, ye Barbarians!
+where prisons, gibbets, murders, and assassinations are unheard of. We
+now tread the soil of despotism, decapitations, slavery and civilization,
+under the benign Ottoman rule, in conjunction with the Christianized
+Powers of Europe! The boundaries of Ghat and Fezzan are determined by two
+conspicuous objects, first, by a chain of mountains running north-east
+and south-west, joining the oases of Fezzan on the north, and extending
+to the Tibboo towns on the south, the eastern side of all which chain is
+claimed by the masters of Fezzan, the western by the Touaricks of Ghat;
+and secondly the forests of tholh trees, which are now appearing in our
+north, affording abundant wood to the people of the caravan, and browsing
+for the camels. I am now, then, once more under the power of the Porte,
+and within the region of Turkish civilization. Passed other desert
+mosques, with some Arabic characters written in the sand, near the
+Keblah.
+
+To-night the moon shone with a sun's splendour; all our people seemed
+startled at this prodigious effulgence of light. Several of the slaves
+ran out amongst the tholh trees, and began to dance and kick up their
+heels as if possessed. It might remind them of the clear moonlit banks
+and woods of Niger. Haj Ibrahim at last got out his umbrella and put it
+up, "What's that for?" I asked. "The moon is corrupt (fesed), its light
+will give me fever. You must put up your broken umbrella." So said all
+our people, and related many stories of persons struck by the moon and
+dying instantaneously[103]. This is another illustration of the passage,
+"The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night." (Ps. cxxi.
+6.) In the Scriptures are several allusions to a stroke of the sun, (see
+Is. xLix. 10, Rev. vii. 16,) but few to the moon-stroke. Saharan opinion
+is that the moon-stroke is fatal. I am not aware that the moon-stroke is
+well authenticated by our eminent physicians. The writer of the psalm
+spoke the current language of his epoch of science. It is probable that
+"moon-struck madness," and strokes of the moon, are the effects of
+noisome or infectious vapours which crowd about the night, and obscure
+with a still paler light that pale luminary. The sun-stroke seems to be
+well-authenticated; many cases of Europeans going hunting and sporting in
+the open country of Barbary, then and there receiving a stroke of the
+sun, and dying with fever, are on record.
+
+_14th._--Course as usual, north-east. Cold to-day. Skirt the
+mountain-chain on our right, and traverse a vast plain, scattered with
+pebbles and other small stones. As yet, we have not passed over sands or
+through any sandy region, although sand-ranges bounded the west in the
+early part of the route; here and there a little sand, loose and flying
+about. Our road is a splendid carriage-road. Oh, were there but water!
+But water is the all and everything in The Desert. Encamped on the
+limitless plain. How variable is Saharan weather: now, at sunset, a
+tempest rises, and sweeps the bosom of The Desert with "the besom of
+destruction!" A high wind continued all night. I fancied myself at sea,
+but preferred the Ocean Desert, its groaning hurricane, its hideous
+barrenness, to the heaving and roaring of the Ocean of Waters. We passed
+another desert mosque; it was only a simple line, slightly curved for the
+Keblah. There were also some letters written on the earth, in Arabic,
+passages from the Koran. Other writing on the ground is always smoothed
+over, and not allowed to remain. Part of the road was covered with heaps
+of stone, as if done to clear it, as well as to direct travellers _en
+route_.
+
+The Shereef introduced the subject of religion to-night in conversation.
+He observed:--
+
+"The torments of the damned are like all the fires in the world put
+together."
+
+_I._--"Are these torments eternal?"
+
+_The Shereef._--"Yes, as everlasting as Paradise."
+
+_I._--"But do you not continually say, 'God is The Most Merciful.' How
+can this be?"
+
+_The Shereef._--"I don't know, so it is decreed." The Shereef boldly
+continued, "In this world[104] God has given all the infidels plenty of
+good things, (this being a sly allusion to the Christians and their
+possession of great wealth); but, in the next world, the believers only
+will enjoy good, and the kafer will be miserable." "You, Yâkob," he
+proceeded, "are near the truth, very near, and near Paradise, because you
+can read and write Arabic, and understand our holy books."
+
+And so he went on preaching me a very orthodox sermon. I asked him how
+God would dispose of those who never read or heard of Mahomet or the
+Koran. He couldn't tell. The same queries and objections are,
+nevertheless, applicable to our own and to nearly all religions, which
+make the condition of believing one thing, and one class of doctrines,
+absolute for salvation. The Touatee gold-merchant, who was close by at
+the time, interposed, "You are near jinnah (Paradise), Yâkob, one word
+only, 'There is no God but God, and Mahomet is the prophet of God.'" I
+returned, "If this be not uttered from the heart it is useless and
+mockery." "By G--d! you are right, Yâkob," exclaimed the Shereef. Like
+most Mahometans, the Shereef says, "The coming of Jesus is near, when he
+will destroy all the enemies of God, Jews and Christians, and give the
+world and its treasures into the hands of the Moslemites." I asked him
+why he represented all mankind but the Moslemites to be the enemies of
+God? My mind always recoils from the thought of arranging mankind, and
+marshalling them forward, so many enemies of God, as if the Eternal and
+Almighty Being who planned, formed, and sustains the universal frame of
+nature, could have enemies! Man may be the enemy of his fellow man, but
+cannot be the enemy of God. The Shereef here did not know what to say,
+and I think replied very properly, _Allah Errahman Errahem_, "God is most
+merciful!" a sentiment which all of us admit in spite of our peculiar
+dogmas of theology. But this conversation offers nothing new or different
+from those which I had with my taleb Ben Mousa, at Ghadames.
+
+The Shereef then spoke about slavery, and asked me, why the English
+forced the Bey of Tunis to abolish the traffic in slaves. I explained the
+circumstances, adding, the Bey was not forced, but only recommended, by
+the English Government to abolish the slave traffic. He then began a long
+story in palliation of the traffic, stating that the slaves knew not God,
+and that in being enslaved by the Mohammedans they were taught to know
+God. I soon stopped his mouth, first, by telling him, the Turks not long
+ago had enslaved the Arabs and sold them for slaves at Constantinople,
+and then, adding, "Nearly all the princes, whence the Soudanese and
+Bornouese slaves were brought, are professedly Mahometans, as well as
+their people." He acknowledged, however, slaves were mostly procured by
+banditti hunting them, not captured in war. He finished, "The Touaricks
+of Ghat formerly hunted for slaves in the Tibboo country, twice or thrice
+in the year, and in these razzia expeditions some would get a booty of
+three, or five, six, ten, and twenty, according as they were fortunate.
+Now they have other business on hand, the war with the Shânbah. The
+Touaricks of Aheer, those who bring the senna, are now the great
+slave-hunters." The Shereef showed me a Tibboo youth seized by the Aheer
+people. The Shereef's account of the Touarghee razzias in the Tibboo
+country is confirmed by the reports of our Bornou expedition, or rather
+the Shereef confirms the reports of our countrymen. Dr. Oudney says, "It
+is along these hills (the ranges which go as far as the Tibboo country)
+the Touaricks make their grassies (razzias) into the Tibboo country.
+These two nations are almost always at war, and reciprocally annoy each
+other by predatory warfare, stealing camels, slaves, &c., killing only
+when resistance is made, and never making prisoners." But, it must be
+observed, Touaricks are never made slaves; they may be murdered by the
+Tibboos. Not six months ago the Aheer Touaricks captured a Tibboo
+village. The few who escaped fled to the Arabs, under the son of
+Abd-el-Geleel, imploring aid for the restoration of their countrymen and
+property. These Arabs, who themselves mostly live on freebooting, were
+glad of the opportunity for a razzia. They recaptured everything, and
+restored the poor Tibboos to their village, making also a capture of a
+thousand camels from these Kylouy Touaricks.
+
+Enjoy better health in this journey, than on that from Ghadames to Ghat.
+Felt myself stronger, and hope yet to undertake the journey to Bornou
+before the summer heats.
+
+_15th._--Course to-day nearly east. Encamped just as the sun dipped down
+in the ruddy flame of the west. Strong wind, blanching the sooty cheeks
+of the poor slaves, who were borne down with exhaustion. They were
+literally whipped along. And the little fellow who refused a ride from
+me, got a whipping for sitting on the sand to rest himself. I now made
+him mount my camel, which his master, not a bad-natured man, thanked me
+for. All day we continued to traverse the vast plain, having on our right
+the same chain of hills, and, on the left, the sand groups, as far as the
+eye could see. These broad, now boundless plains, or valleys, are
+unquestionably the dry beds of former currents. Even now our people
+called them wadys or rivers. The chain of mountains and the chain of
+sand-hills are their natural banks. The tholh-tree was most abundant
+to-day. I never saw it so thickly scattered before. It was spread over
+all the plain, now in single trees, and now in forest groups, which were
+also magnified in the distance, and had a grateful and refreshing effect
+upon the vision, wearied with looking on stones or gravel, or bare
+desert, or black rocks and glaring sand-hills. Unquestionably these trees
+of the African are as old as those of the American wilderness. The
+tholh-trees of the dry thirsty African plain are however but dwarfs
+compared with the giant trees of the American forest, watered by ocean
+rivers. The tholh would seem to live without moisture: it is fed by no
+annual or periodic rain, no springs. And yet it buds, opens its pretty
+yellow flowers, sheds its fine large drops of translucent gum,
+flourishes all the year round, and tempts with its prickly leaves as with
+richest herbage, the hungry camel. Indeed, about this part of the route
+the camels get nothing else to feed on. We have seen no living creatures
+these last five days. On one part of our route our people pretended to
+trace the sand-prints of the wadan, and others affirmed them to be the
+foot-marks of the wild-ox. I must except the sight of a few small birds,
+black all over but the tails. Some one or two had white heads, as well as
+white tails. People say these birds drink no water, as they say many
+animals of The Sahara drink no water. The little creatures certainly do
+not drink much water. Two or three dead camels thrown across the route of
+this day's march. The live camels usually turn off the way from them.
+Several Saharan mosques, the form of a cross being made in the Keblah on
+one of them, as seen in the diagrams.
+
+The Shereef's ideas of the Touaricks are not so favourable as those of
+his uncle, the Governor of Ghat, and in some respects they are more
+correct. The Shereef says:--"The Touaricks are not of the Arabian race.
+They are the original inhabitants of Africa (Numidians). Their language
+is a Berber dialect. They are a race generally of bandits, and, when
+their food fails them, like famished wolves, they make irruptions into
+their neighbour's territory, and plunder what is before them. This they
+do in small bodies, when camel's milk fails them at home. The Aheer
+Touaricks are of the same race as those of Ghat. Many of those of Aheer
+have no fear of God, and never pray like the rest of professed
+Mohammedans. Those of Ghat are perhaps the best of the Touaricks, and the
+most religious. The Touaricks of Touat encircle those of Ghat, lying
+across the route of Timbuctoo. Their Sultan's name is Bassa, a giant of
+The Desert. He eats as much as ten men. He is the terror of all. But
+Jabour knows him, and enjoys his friendship and confidence. The road from
+Ghat to Timbuctoo, through Bassa's territory, is extremely short. It is
+stony, through high mountains, and intensely cold. Springs of water
+abound there." Such are the ideas and opinions of the Shereef on the
+Touaricks. The mountains of the route alluded to, are the grand nucleus
+of the Hagar, which intersect and ramify through all Central Sahara. The
+Shereef, and some others travelling with us, delight in paradoxes, and
+maintain, in spite of Haj Ibrahim, who has been to Constantinople and
+seen the Sultan of the Turks, that there is no Sultan now, the
+administration at the Turkish capital being in the hands of Christians.
+
+The Shereef now invited me to dine with him from bazeen, and when I sat
+down, kept addressing me:--"Eat plenty!" But only think of three grown
+men sitting down to a small paste dumpling, with a little melted butter
+poured over it, and the host crying out lustily to me:--"Eat plenty!"
+Such, indeed, was our repast! Of course, returning to my encampment, I
+ate my supper as if nothing had happened to me. And this little dumpling
+supper is the only meal in the day which our people eat. Well may they
+cry out about the cold, and pray for the heat. In a hot day a man is
+supposed to eat half the quantity which he does in a cold day. I am,
+therefore, still of the same opinion as before expressed, that the
+sufferings of these people, who travel in Sahara, are enormously
+increased from their want of sufficient food and clothing. As to
+clothing, many of them, in this trying season, go half-naked.
+
+Some of our Arabs, who make bazeen for a large party, have a scientific
+way for its cooking and preparation. On the Ghat route a young Arab was
+accustomed to fill up three parts of a large iron pot with water. This
+water he would boil, throwing into it the meanwhile peppers, sliced
+onions, and occasionally, as a luxury, very small pieces of dried meat,
+or scraps from which fat had been strained. The pot having boiled until
+the onions and peppers were soft, he now brings the meal, mostly
+barley-meal, but sometimes coarse wheaten flour. This he pours into the
+pot, forming a sort of pyramid in the boiling water. He then gets a
+stick, mostly a walking-stick, pretending first to scrape off the dirt,
+or rubbing it in the sand; with the stick so polished, he makes a hole in
+the centre of the pyramid of meal, through which the water bubbles up and
+circulates through the mealy mass, now fast cooking. He now gets two
+small pieces of stick, and puts them into the ears of the iron pot, which
+generally are burning hot. He removes with the pieces of stick the pot
+from off the fire, and places it on the sand. He now squats down over it,
+putting his two feet, or rather the great toes of the feet, one on each
+ear of the pot, which gives him a poise, or sort of fulcrum. And then,
+again, taking the long stick, he stirs it up with all his might, round
+and round and round again, until all the water is absorbed in the
+pudding-like meal, and the meal is thus well mixed into a sort of dough.
+However this dough is not unbaked paste, but a _bonâ-fide_ dumpling,
+cooked and ready for the sauce. Now comes the wash wherewith to wash it
+down. My young Arab friend takes the dumpling, or pudding, in a great
+round mass, and places it within a huge wooden bowl. He then goes off for
+the oil, or liquid butter, which is usually kept in a large leather
+bottle, or goat's-skin, with a long neck. He does not pour the oil out,
+but thrusts one of his hands into the oil, and, taking it out, with his
+other hand rubs or squeezes off the oil over the mass of dumpling. When
+he has got enough, he sets to and sucks his fingers, as the great reward
+of all his labour in preparing the supper of bazeen for his companions.
+Once he did not sufficiently squeeze off the oil from his hands, and his
+uncle scolded him for leaving so much on to suck. He protested to his
+uncle that the bazeen had taken him an unusually long time to
+prepare[105]. The supper is now ready. The party squat round it on their
+hams. They dig into the mass with their fingers, after saying aloud, as
+grace, _Bismillah_, "In the name of God," before they begin supper.
+Digging thus into it, they make small or large balls, according to the
+measure of their jaws, which are generally sufficiently wide, or
+according to the sharpness or dulness of their appetite. These balls they
+roll and roll over in the oil or sauce that is often made of a herb
+called hada, or âseedah, a pleasant bitter, and producing a yellow
+decoction, (whence the bazeen is sometimes called,) which enables the
+large boluses to slip quietly and gratefully down the throat. Meanwhile
+a jug of water is handed round, provided always there is any difficulty
+in getting down the balls; but mostly the water is handed round after the
+eating. It is drunk with a _bismallah_, and then a _hamdullah_, or
+"praise to God," the grace after meat, winds up and finishes the repast.
+
+The business of the caravan and its affairs of encampment are always
+terminated before supper. So the dumpling or pudding-fed travellers now
+roll themselves up in their barracans, covering their faces entirely, and
+stretch themselves down on the ground to sleep, frequently not moving
+from the place where they ate their supper. There is generally a mat or
+skin under them, and they lie down under the shade of the bales of goods
+which their camels carry. The first thing on encamping is to look for the
+direction of the wind, and so to arrange bales of goods, panniers, and
+camel gear, as to protect the head from the wind. In this way one often
+lies very snug whilst the tempest howls through The Desert. People like
+to retain the taste of the pudding in their mouths, particularly if a
+little fat or oil be poured over it. I once gave an Arab some coffee
+after his pudding-supper, which he drank with avidity, but afterwards
+began to abuse me. "Yâkob, what is your coffee? I'm hungry, I'm ravenous.
+Why, before I drank your coffee, my supper was up to the top of my
+throat, but now I want to begin my supper again. I'll never drink any
+more of your coffee, so don't bring it here." A little more cuscasou is
+eaten on this route than on that of Ghat from Ghadames, the Fezzaneers
+and Tripolines preferring coarse cuscasou to bazeen if they can get it.
+The poor Arabs are often obliged to put up with zumeetah, which they eat
+cold. Haj Ibrahim eats his fine cuscasou, which he brought from Tripoli,
+but I do not consider him a _bonâ-fide_ Saharan merchant. This is his
+first trip in The Desert.
+
+_6th._--Rose as the day broke, with a hazy yellow tint over half the
+heavens, and started early in order to reach the well before night. Very
+cold, and continued so all day long. Felt my nerves braced, and liked
+cold better than heat. In proportion as I liked the cold, all my
+travelling companions disliked this weather; all were shivering and
+crumpled up creatures. The slaves suffered dreadfully, having
+shivering-fits and their eyes streaming with water. However, I could not
+help laughing at the Shereef and the Touatee, who kept crying out, as if
+in pain, "_Mou zain el-berd_ (Not good is the cold!)" And, to make it
+worse, they both rode all day, by which they felt the cold more. On the
+contrary, I walked full three hours, and scarcely felt myself fatigued.
+Indeed, to-day, I was decidedly the best man of the caravan, and suffered
+less than any. I always walk an hour and a half every morning. But my
+Ghadames shoes, that I'm anxious to preserve, are fast wearing out, which
+spoils some of the pleasure. The small stones of Desert soon cut and wear
+out a pair of soles, which are made of untanned camel's skin. Observed to
+the Shereef, to tease him, "Why, you Mussulmans don't know what is good.
+Your legs and feet are bare. You have nothing wrapt tight round your
+chest. Your woollens are pervious to the cold air. You're half naked; but
+for myself, I'm clothed from head to foot, only a small portion of my
+face is exposed. You must go to the Christians to learn how to travel
+The Desert." "The Christians are devils," he returned, "and can bear cold
+and heat like the Father of the imps in his house (perdition)." "Mou
+zain, el-berd," cried the Touatee. Yesterday and this morning the slaves
+were oiled all over with olive-oil, to prevent their skin and flesh from
+cracking with the cold. This is a frequent practice, and reckoned a
+sovereign remedy. Hot oil is also often swallowed. Boiling oil is a
+favourite remedy in North Africa for many diseases. The poor slaves were
+again driven on by the whip. We reached the well just after sunset. Haj
+Ibrahim rode far in advance on his maharee to see that the well was all
+right, our water being exhausted. Happily the weather prevented any great
+absorption of its water. When the slaves got up, having suffered much
+to-day from thirst, although so cold, they rushed upon the water to
+drink, kneeling on the sands, and five or six putting their heads in a
+bowl of water together. I myself had only drunk two cups of tea this
+morning, Said having given the slaves all the water we had left. To-day's
+march convinced me that thirst may be felt as painfully on a cold day as
+on a hot day.
+
+Course, north-east, inclining to east. Met with some Fezzanee Touaricks,
+who were a very different class of people from those of Ghat and Aheer.
+They are simple shepherds, tending their flocks, mostly goats, in open
+Desert, which browse the scanty herbage of the plain. The mountain chain
+on our right continues north with us. We found in our route the blood and
+filth of a camel just killed. Dead or killed camels, are generally found
+near the wells on the last day's journey, after having made five or six
+days' forced marches to reach them. It is here they're knocked up, going
+continually and most patiently to the last moment of their strength, when
+they expire at once.
+
+Teenabunda or "Well of Bunda," is a well of sweet delicious water. It is
+some thirty or forty feet deep. There is nothing to mark the site of the
+well from the surrounding plain, nor palm tree, nor shrub, nor herbage of
+any kind. An accident alone could have discovered this well. Some stones
+are placed about in the form of seats, and one can easily see where there
+has once been a fire from the sign or circumstance of three stones being
+placed triangularly, leaving a small space between them for the fire.
+These three stones also support the pot for cooking, as well as inclose
+the fire. This evening took some bazeen with the Ghadamsee merchants.
+They are fond of showing me this little mark of hospitality. However the
+same thing was enacted as at the Shereef's supper. Three grown-up persons
+sat down to the one day's meal, a smallish dumpling, seasoned with highly
+peppered sauce of hada, and a little fat. It is quite absurd to call this
+a supper for three persons; it is mocking European appetite. How they
+live in this way I cannot comprehend.
+
+_17th._--Rose early, but did not start until the sun had two hours
+mounted the horizon. We usually start half an hour after sunrise. Weather
+fair and fine, a cool breeze and hot sun, which is suitable for the
+middle of the day. I do not feel it at all oppressive. Continued
+north-east. We now caught a glimpse of the palms of The Wady. But here we
+overtook our Tripoline friends, who had left Ghat ten days before us and
+were waiting for our arrival. They conducted us to their encampment. The
+party consisted of Mustapha, an Alexandrian merchant of Tripoli, and
+another merchant, having with them some sixty slaves. When our slaves
+arrived these ran out to meet them, welcoming them in a most affectionate
+manner as old friends. In fact, most of them had been companions in the
+route from Aheer to Ghat, sharing one another's burthens and sufferings,
+helping to alleviate their mutual pains. After being separated and sold
+to different masters, never expecting to see one another again, it is not
+surprising there should have been such a tender and affectionate meeting
+of the poor things. I shall not soon forget the sight of two little girls
+who unexpectedly met after being sold to different masters and separated
+some weeks. The little creatures seized hold of one another's hands, then
+each took the the head of each other with the palms of the hand, pressing
+its side, in the meanwhile kissing one another passionately and sobbing
+aloud. And yet those brutal republicans of America,
+
+    "Whose fustian flag of freedom, waves
+    In mockery o'er a land of slaves--"
+
+have the devilish cruelty to continue to stigmatize, by their laws of
+equality and liberty, the Africans as goods and chattels, depriving them
+of their divine right of sentient and intellectual beings, having all the
+tenderest and holiest affections of humanity. These poor little girls
+were quite unobserved by their masters or drivers, who were now occupied
+with the rakas or courier, who had brought letters from Tripoli in answer
+to ours sent some time ago. The news is good for the merchants; the Pasha
+will not exact the customs-dues of Fezzan on those who return this
+route, on account of the war between the Shânbah and Touaricks.
+
+Near the well Haj Omer beckoned me to show me what he called,
+"water-courses of Christians," ancient irrigating ducts of the people of
+former times. These consisted of raised banks of earth, stretching across
+the road to the mountains on the right. Along these lines of embankment
+were large fields of cultivation, showing the country had declined in its
+agricultural industry, which, indeed, is manifest from every oasis I have
+yet seen in The Sahara. It is probable these earlier or ancient
+cultivators of the soil were colonies from the coast. Omer also pointed
+out at a distance, what he styled "The tombs of Christians," on the sides
+of the mountains, scattered miles along, showing The Desert to have been
+cultivated to a far greater extent in past times.
+
+Our route from Ghat to Fezzan is good enough perhaps for man, being
+simple and plain, easily traversed, generally on level surfaces, but it
+is very bad for animals, there being scarcely any herbage, except at
+Serdalas, and the Ghat Wadys. Our camels had little herbage for seven
+days, which greatly tried their strength and endurance. The caravan we
+now joined had lost two camels, and I was afraid for my nagah. Water they
+had none for six days. The Soudan sheep also went without water those six
+long days. Our route is thus mentioned by Dr. Oudney: "There are several
+routes to Ghat (from Mourzuk); and the upper one, where we had to enter
+the hills, was last night fixed for us. There is plenty of water, but
+more rough than the lower, which is said to be a sandy plain, as level as
+the hand, but no water for five days." Travelling with slaves, a route
+is always extended one-fifth, at the very least: such was our case.
+
+Afternoon, we encamped at the mouth of the wady, weary, thirsty, and
+exhausted, which forcibly brought to my mind that oasis of rest,
+(wearied and disgusted, as I felt with Saharan travel,) so divinely
+described in Desert pastoral style: ουδε μη πεσῃ επ' αυτους ὁ ἥλιος,
+ουδε παν καυμα . . . . και ὁδηγησει αυτους επι ζωσας πηγας ὑδατων.
+(Rev vii. 16, 17.) We have in these divine words the smiting and
+parching of Saharan sun and heat, and the Lamb-Shepherd leading the
+drooping flocks to the living life-giving springs of the oases of
+Desert.
+
+Our people called the series of little oases, which we now entered,
+_El-Wady_. But this term is hardly sufficiently distinctive, and, I
+think in the general division of Fezzan, it is called _El-Wady
+Ghurby_--‮الوادي الغربي‬--or "The _Western_ Valley," in
+contra-distinction from _El-Wady Esh-Sherky_, "The _Eastern_
+Valley."
+
+_18th._--Entered fully into The Wady this morning. After so much Desert,
+was delighted to ecstasy with the refreshing sight of the distant forests
+of palms, crowd upon crowd in deepening foliage, their graceful heads
+covering the face of the pale red horizon, as with hanging raven locks of
+some beautiful woman. Saw a few huts of date branches, some wells, and
+here and there a villager. The huts were so blended with the date-palms,
+in colour and make, that it was with difficulty our eye could catch sight
+of them. I am often astonished how these slight, feeble tenements can
+protect the people from the sun and cold and wind. It is like living in
+open Desert. When we had continued our course some two hours, the Sheikh
+of the district came running out after us, demanding the customs-dues,
+and attempting to stop the slaves for payment. "What does this fellow
+want?" I said to our people, feeling myself now under the protection of
+the Tripoline government, and knowing the Sheikh to be subjected to the
+Bey of Mourzuk. They replied, "Oh, he wants some slaves to work at the
+water (by irrigation)." The Sheikh would not be said "nay." He demanded
+to see the teskera of the Pasha exempting us from the duties, which he
+could not, as Haj Ibrahim was gone to purchase dates. He then commenced
+seizing slaves, but our Arabs now attacked him, pushing and dragging him
+away. These people are mighty fond of a little scuffling. We encamped for
+the night in The Wady. More "Tombs of Christians" were pointed out to me.
+Many dwarf palms were scattered about, wild and producing no fruit. Water
+may be under the surface. Our people say these palms would all bear fruit
+if cultivated and watered. Undoubtedly many more could be cultivated.
+There are innumerable palms in this wild dwarf state. My nagah growled
+and grumbled on seeing the palms, rightly concluding that we were arrived
+in an inhabited country. These melancholy-looking creatures are extremely
+wise. The other evening we had great trouble to get the nagah to eat
+herbage when she was brought to the encampment. She had for her supper
+every evening a few dates and barley for several successive days. Now we
+left off giving her them on arriving at The Wady, where there was
+abundant herbage. This she resented, and grumbled nearly all night,
+keeping us from sleeping, and would not eat the herbage. On encamping,
+the camels are allowed to stray and graze an hour or two, and are then
+brought up to the encampment for the night, the drivers cutting a little
+herbage for them to eat during the night, or in the morning before
+starting. Like us, more intelligent brutes, the camels don't like
+starting on a journey with an empty stomach.
+
+Haj Ibrahim expressed surprise that I had with me religious books. He
+thought the English had "no books," (that is, religious books.) Some
+Christians in Tripoli (Roman Catholics) had told him the English people
+had no books. He then observed to me, that it was wrong to worship Mary,
+who was not God, or the mother of God, for God had no mother or father.
+And although the French and Maltese, in Tripoli, had told him the English
+had a bad religion, it could not, he observed, be a worse religion than
+this, that of worshiping a woman instead of God. Of Mary, he continued,
+"She was a good woman, and conceived without a husband. Mary merely
+wished to bear a child, and as it was a pious wish, God granted her
+request, and by a simple word she conceived and bore Jesus." Of slaves,
+the merchant, says:--"They are brought from all countries of Soudan,
+nearly a thousand countries. Only a few slaves captured or brought to the
+Souk are Mussulmans, they're nearly all Pagans. Mussulmans make war
+against infidels to get prisoners, as we and you did formerly; the
+Maltese[106] and English made us slaves, and we made you slaves. Some of
+the slaves are Christians, (_i. e._ Pagans,) and some are Jews." I was
+much interested, and questioned the merchant about this latter remark,
+when a Negro slave, who had been lately to Soudan with his master,
+observed, "The black Jews keep the Sabbath, and get drunk on that day.
+They drink bouza (or grain liquor). They also circumcise as we
+Mohammedans." It is probable these Negro Jews are the corrupt descendants
+of the converts of Abyssinian Jews, who ages ago penetrated Central
+Africa _viâ_ the provinces of Darfour and Kordofan, and the countries
+lying on the two great branches of the sources of the Nile. In the
+beginning of our era, we hear of the Eunuch of the "Queen of the
+South[107]," or of Abyssinia, who was a Jew, and converted by Philip to
+Christianity. There is therefore no manner of difficulty in accounting
+for the presence of these corrupt degenerate black Jews, amongst the
+tribes of Central Africa.
+
+Two little girl-slaves were barbarously whipped this evening for eating
+hasheesh (herbage), which they picked up on the roadside. This was done
+to prevent them having diarrhœa, and eating poisonous herbs. It was
+nevertheless what they had been taught to do on the Aheer route, and
+there could not be very much harm in picking up a little fresh juicy
+herbage, to appease their thirst during the heat of the day's march. The
+slaves _en route_ are only permitted to drink twice in the day, once at
+noon, and once in the evening. When our supply of water is scanty, only
+once a day.
+
+_19th._--This morning made but three hours' journey through The Wady
+Oases. We had not proceeded an hour _en route_, when the same farce was
+attempted to be played upon us as yesterday; three or four people coming
+galloping up to us to stop us, in order to collect the customs-dues. This
+they did a second time, after letting us go on once. I was determined now
+to show I was not a slave-dealer, and would not be stopped to suit their
+caprice, for we told them we had a teskera from the Pasha, exempting us
+from the gomerick. Proceeding forwards with Said, one of the party, a
+fellow on horse-back, stopped my nagah, seized her, and commenced beating
+Said. I instantly jumped off, exclaiming, "I'm an Englishman--a
+Christian, and not a slave-dealer; I have nothing on which to pay duties,
+and will not be stopped." Our people bawled out likewise, "The Christian
+has nothing for the gomerick, he has no slaves." The fellow gave Said
+another rap with his sword on his attempting to rescue our camel.
+Hereupon, losing all patience, I took the spear, and with the flat part
+of its head gave the fellow a tolerable blow on the shoulders. Now
+followed a desperate scuffle, the first I had had in The Desert. The
+fellow screaming out, suddenly maddened to fury, drew his sword, and made
+a thrust at me, but the blow was turned by the shaft of my lance. Our
+people now seized hold of him and me. A little more scuffling went on,
+and getting clear of the grasp of our people, I made off in advance, with
+Said, alone. After continuing half an hour through the palm-woods, we
+turned and saw the whole caravan coming up quickly after us. The party
+who stopped us had consented to let the caravan follow me. Haj Ibrahim,
+who had the Pasha's teskera, was again absent, having gone to purchase
+more dates. If the fellow had not been very impudent and violent,
+inflicting blows on Said, I should not have committed this folly of
+forcing my way, for, after all, it was great imprudence on my part, and
+might have been attended with very serious consequences.
+
+When the caravan came up, I said, in hearing of our people, to the fellow
+who was still following them, "If you had struck my servant in Tripoli,
+the Pasha would have put you in prison. This is not Touarghee country,
+but a country where there is a government. This country belongs to
+Tripoli and the Sultan. Your violence was equally improper and
+unnecessary." All applauded this, and our champion of the sword said
+nothing in reply. After arriving at the small district of Blad
+Marabouteen, or "a country of Marabouts," we encamped for the day. The
+fellow, who turned out to be an Egyptian, a petty officer of the Porte,
+and Kaed of the district through which we passed, now came to me, sat
+down by my side, and made it up. I then observed to him, "It's all
+nonsense." The Egyptian laughed and I laughed. He kept seizing me by the
+hand, and exclaiming with vehemence, "Gagliuffi! Gagliuffi! ah! that's a
+fine fellow! Gagliuffi at Mourzuk." Again the Egyptian laughed, and
+screamed with frantic gesticulations, and our people coming up were also
+merry with him. "Ah!" he continued, "Gagliuffi, a real cock of the
+dunghill, a noble fellow, Gagliuffi! Do you know Gagliuffi?" I said I did
+not. This he couldn't understand, and said, "Ah, Gagliuffi has got plenty
+of money, he's the Bashaw of Mourzuk. Every time you go to see him he
+gives you coffee." Another Fezzaneer, standing by, swore to this:
+"Gagliuffi is the Bey! Gagliuffi has got plenty of money." Afterwards I
+reported this affair to Mr. Gagliuffi, our Vice-Consul at Mourzuk. He was
+greatly amused and flattered at the report of his wealth and consequence.
+He observed, "Although I'm poor enough, God knows, it's better that these
+people should think me rich." The Egyptian was commanding a small force
+of Arabs in The Wady. I learnt from him, the Vice-Consul had been sick
+lately, but was now better. In The Wady there is fever during summer, but
+not much now. The Kaed, I saw in conversing with him, had been drinking
+leghma, and was "elevated," which sufficiently accounted for his
+interrupting our march, and the violence of his conduct. Our people say,
+he wished us to encamp in his district, to amuse himself with us. They
+continued all the evening to praise my spirit for resisting the fellow's
+impertinence in his stopping us. "To-day you were a man, Yâkob," they
+kept repeating. I explained, "Fear, where fear is necessary, as in the
+Touarghee districts. There we must bow the head, for resistance would be
+dangerous. But here, in the country of the Sultan, why should we fear?"
+This speech greatly pleased our people, who themselves had not been
+detained by the Kaed, on account of my forcing the way. Upon the whole,
+this ludicrous affray raised my reputation for (physical) courage amongst
+the people. For moral courage I always take credit to myself. It is
+nevertheless, a very delicate thing in Saharan travel to know when and
+where resistance is to be offered against imposition: and perhaps, it is
+better to give way always than to resist, leaving the matters of dispute
+(of this sort especially) to be settled by the caravan with which you
+travel.
+
+The united caravans will remain here some eight or ten days, to give rest
+to the slaves, as well as to obtain fresh provisions. To-morrow morning I
+go early to Mourzuk, which is two days from The Wady. Tripoli is distant
+from The Wady, fifteen, seventeen, or twenty days, according to the
+progress of the caravan. The route lies direct _viâ_ Shaty, four days'
+distant from this, and Mizdah, in the mountains (Gharian), ten or twelve
+days, and thence three days more to Tripoli. The route from El-Wady to
+Shaty consists of groups of sand-hills, of painful traverse. Shaty itself
+is a series of oases. Between El-Hasee and El-Ghareeah, which now follow,
+there is an immeasurable expanse of Desert plain. The Atlas Mountains
+then succeed with their bubbling fountains and green valleys, and
+olive-clad peaks. Mizdah in The Mountains consists of two large villages.
+
+Saw several of the inhabitants of The Wady, and made acquaintance with
+the Fezzaneers, as they have been called. Some of them are as black as
+negroes, others as white as the Moors of the coast, others olive, yellow,
+brown, &c., and their features are various as the colour of their
+complexions. The Fezzaneers must be considered Moors and townspeople,
+rather than Arabs or nomades. Houses in The Wady are of palm-branches,
+and some of sun-dried mud-bricks, but mostly miserable hovels, the very
+picture of wretchedness. We passed a village entirely abandoned, (Kelah,
+as the people said,) apparently from the failure of water. Palms in The
+Wady are not very fine. There are many patches of cultivation of grain
+and vegetables. Water is found near the surface, and the wells are
+numerous.
+
+_20th._--I left our caravan early this morning for Mourzuk. On taking
+leave of my companions of travel they begged me to come back, and
+continue the route with them to Tripoli. Could only promise in the style
+of En-Shallah, "If God wills," for I had long made up my time not to
+return. Should the Bornou route be favourable, I might go up before the
+hot weather came on; if not, I intend returning _viâ_ Sockna to Tripoli,
+"the royal road," wishing to see as much as possible of the inhabitants
+of the oases of The Sahara, on which route were many centres of
+population. My companions, from whom I had received nothing but kindness,
+continued to call after me, "Come back, Yâkob," until our little company
+was out of sight. I thought this extremely friendly, and another instance
+of the unadulterated kindness of heart found in Saharan traders. Our
+course now lay somewhat back again, we proceeding south-east. We had to
+cut through the mountains which had been so long on our right. The range
+still continued north up The Wady, but how far I cannot tell. I believe
+no European whatever has travelled the route _viâ_ Shaty and Mizdah, to
+Tripoli. As we ascended through the gorge or break in the chain, "the
+tombs of the Christians" were again pointed out to me, or rather the
+burying-places of the earlier inhabitants of these regions. All the early
+inhabitants, or those before the Mohammedan conquest of Africa, are
+vulgarly called Ensara by Moors. These tombs consist simply of circular
+heaps of stones, picked up from the rocks around. Some are large,
+perhaps a dozen yards in circumference. Mounting one, I found it hollow
+at the top; the stones had been merely heaped up in a circular ring.
+Within was a little sand settled, collected from the wind when it
+scatters the sand about. There was no appearance of bones, or any
+inscriptions. The whole mountain range of The Wady, I am told, has heaps
+of stones piled up in this way. There is no doubt but what they are the
+graves of former inhabitants.
+
+The question to be solved is, why are these graves of this circular form?
+why heaps or rings of stones thus heaped up, so different from the long
+square graves now met with in all North Africa and The Desert? The form
+of these tumuli evidently denote another people, or at least a people of
+another religion. Where there are tombs there are legends of the dead. My
+travelling companions now related to me, that there appears not
+unfrequently, and mostly at midnight, when the moon has but a narrow dim
+circlet, a solitary Christian, who flits mournfully through these
+solitudes, now and then sitting on the circular tombs, now peeping from
+within the rings of stones, his chin resting on the edge. His aspect is
+hideous, and he has one big burning eye-ball in the middle of his
+forehead. His skin (for he is naked) is covered with long hair, like a
+shaggy goat (a species of satyr), and two tusks come out of his mouth,
+like those of a wild boar. A holy Marabout once met him, and interrogated
+him courageously about his doleful doings amongst these graves. The
+spectre deigned this answer, "I mourn the fall of my fellow-Christians
+and the triumph of the Faithful over the Infidels. The Devil makes me
+come here. I shall wander until the appearance of Gog and Magog upon the
+earth, and then shall be yoked to their chariot, and go out and conquer
+the world, and kill the Faithful. But I shall be tormented afterwards.
+Such is my doom: I can't help it." It is said the Marabout pitied him,
+and prayed to God for him, but it was revealed to the holy man in a
+dream, not to pray for lost spirits, whom Heaven's decrees had
+irrevocably doomed to perdition.
+
+There was also another legend related to me by the Fezzan Targhee, who
+was now my guide through this dreary gorge, full of the tombs of the
+dead. It is too long to repeat. Suffice it to say that, whilst his
+great-grandfather and other shepherds were tending their flocks on the
+subjected plains below, a troop of these Christians broke loose from the
+dark caverns in the mountains, where they are chained, and began to abuse
+and banter the shepherds, because they did not say, "There are three
+Gods." The shepherds withstood the temptation and the terror of their
+countenances, although they, the shepherds, exceedingly quaked. The
+Christians, in their rage against the shepherds professing so constantly
+the Unity of God, dispersed their flocks, drove them into the caverns,
+and disappeared together with the flocks. But the angel Gabriel descended
+from heaven, and blessed the faithful shepherds, led them on many miles
+to a desert place, where there were three tholh-trees which had been
+planted by these reprobate Spirits in adoration to The Three Gods. Now
+the number of shepherds also happened to be three. The good Gabriel told
+them to cut down the trees, and burn them separately. The shepherds did
+so, and for their obedience, from beneath the ashes a great cake of
+molten gold came pouring out. "These cakes are the Gods of the
+Christians; there are three of these cakes," said Gabriel. "Take each
+one, and go, and trade to Soudan," added the angelical messenger; and
+then in a bright cloud ascended over the top of the mountains. It so
+happened that his great-grandfather thought three was a lucky number, and
+wished to become a Christian, whereupon God caused a troop of banditti to
+fall upon his caravan, who plundered him of everything, and reduced him
+again to beggary. Such are the tales of Marabouts of The Sahara, quite a
+match for the legends of our Monks of the good and happy olden times.
+
+As these legends finished, we got up to the top of the range, when a cold
+bleak wind cut our faces, coming north-east over the plateau, which to my
+surprise now appeared. I expected to find a descent, or another rounded
+side of the chain. But all east was a bare, bleak, black plateau, as
+hideous as desolation could render it, according well with the scenery of
+the desolate grave-stones we had just seen, and the woeful tales about
+them we had heard. It was the veritable beach of the river Styx. I turned
+with a chill of horror from the waste back again upon the valley which we
+had left. How different the view! Here we beheld the ten thousand fair
+waving palms, which cover the green bosom of The Wady,--a paradise
+encircled with ridges and outlines of the most frightful sterility. We
+now mounted our camels, for it was necessary to face also this new
+desert. I greatly perspired with the labour of the ascent, and now caught
+a cold, and had a bilious attack, the only time I was seriously unwell
+during my nine months in The Desert, and strange enough that it should
+be occasioned by cold. Our party consisted of myself and Said, the
+Targhee guide, and Mustapha, the Tripoline Moor, who was going to
+purchase provisions, and borrow money at Mourzuk. These merchants so ill
+manage their affairs, that they were nearly out of provisions for their
+some hundred and odd slaves, themselves and servants, and besides had no
+money to replenish their stock. Our course was now east verging to the
+south. On the plain I saw the last of the Touaricks, and it was a noble
+sight. This was a Targhee Scout, scouring The Desert in search of the
+Shânbah, well-equipped and mounted on his maharee. He was returning
+south-west to Ghat, taking the route over the mountains which we had just
+ascended.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+After a few hours we again descended into a small shallow wady, where was
+a little herbage. We continued all day, and endeavoured to reach a part
+of the plateau, where were some Fezzan Touaricks tending their flocks,
+and where it was said we should get milk and a kid of the goat to kill
+and eat. The whole of the day it was cold, and the wind piercing, which I
+attributed to the elevated region we traversed. On arriving at a thin
+scattered forest of tholh-trees we stopped, but being most unusually
+exhausted by the fatigue of the ride, and the attack of the bile, I could
+not dismount from my camel, and was lifted off. We searched a long time
+for the shepherds, and at length their flocks were discovered. I took a
+little tea, and surrendered myself to rest and to sleep, not being able
+to eat anything. My companions pretended to seek out and purchase a kid,
+but unless you furnish the money, nothing of this luxurious sort is ever
+obtained in The Desert. I had no money, and we had no kid. Meanwhile our
+people, who had only brought with them dates, ate up my little stock of
+cuscasou. I had only laid in a sufficient quantity for some fifteen days,
+from Ghat to Mourzuk. Passed a bad night, and greatly relaxed.
+
+_21st._--Up to this time I had always travelled through The Desert with a
+large number of persons. Our party was now only four. And yet I felt no
+fear, and went to bed last night in open desert with as much indifference
+as if I had been in a hotel in Europe. Such is the force of habit. The
+Desert itself now even begins to wear a homely face to me, and, indeed,
+for the present, I am obliged to make it my home. We rose early, and I
+found myself a little better. At the time I attributed my illness to the
+water of The Wady, but which was incorrect. Before starting, I obtained a
+bowl of sour milk. To my surprise I saw only women tending these flocks.
+I asked about their husbands. They were gone away to work in Ghat,
+Fezzan, and other parts. Here were three or four adult women, and a few
+children, wandering solitarily in Open Desert! Not a habitation was near
+for many miles round! I could not help exclaiming, "Are you not afraid of
+robbers?" "No," replied an aged woman, "I have been here all my life, and
+shall die here. Why go away? What better shall I find in Mourzuk or Ghat?
+Can they give me more than milk? More than milk I care not for. And God
+is here as elsewhere!" Let the reader picture to his mind's eye, three or
+four lone females, with a child or two, wandering over a sandy plain,
+tending amongst a thinly-scattered forest of gum-acacia trees a few small
+goats, without a house or even a hut to sleep under, only the shade of a
+straw mat suspended in the prickly trees, and, then, repeat and mark well
+the truth of Pope's fine lines,--
+
+    "Order is heaven's first law, and this confess'd,
+    Some are, and must be, greater than the rest,--
+    More rich, more wise; but who infers from hence
+    That such are happier, shocks all common sense."
+
+Our people observed to me, "This is a country of the Sultan, so the women
+fear nothing." But the environs of Ghadames are the country of the
+Sultan, which does not prevent the depredations of banditti. There is no
+water here, they go to Agath to bring their water for themselves and
+their flocks. Of course, the complexion of these shepherdesses is quite
+brown or brown-black, by exposure to the weather. I shall ever remember
+the modest air with which a nomade young woman came and presented us with
+a bowl of milk. It was modesty's self's picture! The shepherdess nymph
+stepped forward timidly, with her eyes averted, not presuming even to
+look at us; and as soon as she placed the bowl on the ground, a short
+distance from us, she escaped to the thicket of the tholh-tree, like a
+young roe of the timid trembling herd. On her glowing cheek,--
+
+    "Sweet virgin modesty reluctant strove,
+    While browsing goats at ease around her fed."
+
+    "And now she sees her own dear flock
+    Beneath verdant boughs along the rock--
+    And her innocent soul at the peaceful sight
+    Is swimming o'er with a still delight."
+
+Such a picture of pure heartfelt shyness and delicate modesty could only
+be witnessed in these solitudes, where this maiden shepherdess never
+perhaps speaks to any man but her own way-worn, severe, but
+honest-hearted father, when he returns from his little peregrinations,
+bringing a few blankets, a little barley and oil, the staple matters of
+existence for these lonely nomades. Nothing was given in return for the
+milk, for we had nothing to give. But if offered it would not have been
+accepted, by the laws of hospitality amongst these desert Arcadians. The
+reason now assigned for not giving us a kid, is, all the men are absent,
+and they cannot part with one, even if money be sent from Mourzuk for
+payment.
+
+About 3 P.M., to my great joy, we arrived at the village of Agath. Our
+route was over a bare level plain, and our progress like at sea, when the
+masts of the ship are first seen, then the hull; so here we first saw the
+heads of the date-palms, then their trunks, and then the clusters of the
+hovels of the village. I was happy to learn our guide determined to pass
+the night here. The poor fellow was himself worn to a skeleton in
+travelling these wastes, with but one eye left, and that very dim. He was
+glad to "put up" for the night. When he started it was to have been a
+journey of a day and a half, it was now to be three days. We got into an
+empty hovel, and with palm-branches kindled a fire, which was kept up in
+a blaze to serve for a lamp. This is the usual practice, now and then
+putting on a piece of wood to make a light. Very few Saharans have the
+luxury of lamps or candles. I still suffered from bile, languor, and
+exhaustion, and once placed upon my mattress, I did not leave it till
+next morning. We had no provisions, for our party had eaten up all I had.
+We tried to get something from the Sheikh of the village, but only
+succeeded in obtaining a few loaves of newly-baked bread, with a little
+herb sauce, hot with peppers, to pour upon the bread to moisten it.
+Mustapha attempted to make a great noise, and talked about reporting him
+to the Pasha of Mourzuk, and getting him bastinadoed for treating a
+Christian in this way. I discouraged these threats, and would have no
+imbroglio, for I knew the character of the Sheikh could not well be worse
+than that of Mustapha himself. Mustapha demanded meat, but I begged only
+a little flour and butter to make some bazeen in the morning. The Sheikh
+promised and took leave. In the morning the Sheikh fled, and we saw no
+more of him. He deserved to be reported at Mourzuk. Hospitality certainly
+does not flourish at Agath. It's odd, the only time I was seriously ill,
+and really wanted hospitality, I found it not. To-day we picked off
+several fine pieces of gum from the tholh. Many of the trees had their
+branches lopped off, first for allowing the goats to nibble the green
+leaves, and afterwards to use the dry branches for firing.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[103] In the East Indies persons are known to become blind _for
+    the night_, (something like the _night-blindness_, which we have
+    before mentioned,) by the influence of the moon; or such is what
+    people say.
+
+[104] In the Koran it is intimated that God fattens the wicked in
+    this world for the day of slaughter in the next. I forget the Surat.
+    The Arabic is--‮سنسدرجهم‬--signifying, "_We_ (God) _make
+    them proceed by degrees_;" that is to say, We, God, give the
+    wicked pleasures and enjoyments in this world, that we may punish
+    them the more in the next world. This is a most abominable
+    sentiment, and intolerable to a right-thinking mind. But I believe
+    such a blasphemous opinion has also been held by some mad-brained
+    Christians.
+
+[105] In the event of my publisher bringing out a new edition of
+    the venerable Mrs. Glass, or Mrs. Rundall, I fervently hope he
+    will not fail to avail himself of this receipt for the making of
+    bazeen. I am also of the opinion of the former ancient dame, with
+    regard to the necessity of catching a hare before it is dressed;
+    and I think the meal likewise must be procured before it is made
+    into bazeen. To be eaten with relish, it besides must be eaten in
+    The Desert.
+
+[106] The oath taken by the Knights of the Order of Malta,
+    was--"_To kill, or make the Mohammedans prisoners, for the glory
+    of God_."
+
+[107] "And behold a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority
+    under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all
+    her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for worship."--(Acts viii.
+    27.)
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+RESIDENCE AT MOURZUK.
+
+     Arrival at Mourzuk; and reported as a Christian Marabout from
+     Soudan.--Meet Angelo, who conducts me to his Master, the British
+     Vice-Consul.--Hearty Welcome from Mr. Gagliuffi.--Detail of the
+     Slave-Caravans of The Wady.--Read the Newspapers; Massacre of
+     Jemâ-el-Ghazouat, and the Annexation of Texas.--Visit to the
+     Bashaw of Mourzuk.--Visits to the Commandant of the Garrison and
+     the Kady.--Poetical Scrap of European Antiquity.--Celebration of
+     a Wedding.--Environs of Mourzuk.--Camera Oscura.--Mourzuk
+     Couriers.--The Kidnapped Circassian Officer.--Old Yousef, the
+     Renegade.--Dine with the Greek Doctor on a Carnival Day.--An
+     Albanian's Revenge.--Greece and its Diplomatists.--Officials of
+     Mourzuk.--An Arab's estimate of God and Mahomet.--What is
+     Truth?--Improvements of the Commandant of the Troops.--How
+     English Politics taste in The Desert.--Visit to the Grave of Mr.
+     Ritchie.
+
+
+_22nd._--ROSE early, and got off again as well as I could, considering I
+had had little or nothing to eat for the last two days, and should have
+nothing till the evening, when we expected to reach Mourzuk. Course east
+and south-east. Still cold and windy. Palms scattered over all the route,
+from Agath to Mourzuk, but only a few of them cultivated. It was most
+refreshing to behold so many trees on our road, after traversing such
+treeless and sandy wastes. A few wells here and there, and a little corn
+cultivation. Arrived at Mourzuk at about 4 P.M.
+
+I here thought of a squib which had been published in a rival paper at
+Malta, representing me as "The Consul of the Blacks at Mourzuk" in
+allusion to and satirizing my anti-slavery propensities. These things
+will come back to one's memory years and years after they have been
+forgotten. When I read the squib, I little imagined I should ever visit
+Mourzuk, and yet the visit could be traced readily enough as resulting
+from my anti-slavery labours in Malta and the Mediterranean. Mustapha
+stopped at the gate to make his toilet, and I lent him my barracan to
+make on entering the city. Moors and all Saharan travellers dress
+themselves up before they enter any large or particular place, when on a
+journey, and they wonder why I do not follow their nice tidy example. On
+entering Mourzuk, I suppose I looked very queer, for it was immediately
+reported to the Bashaw, "A Christian Marabout is arrived from Soudan." We
+were stopped a few minutes at the gates, to see if I had any exciseable
+articles. This done, I made the best of my way to the residence of Mr.
+Gagliuffi. On the road I casually met the Maltese servant of the
+Vice-Consul. His face brightened up with joyful amazement, and he shook
+me eagerly by the hands. Englishmen arrive here once in half a century,
+or rather never, which sufficiently accounts for the excitement of the
+Maltese. Angelo took me direct to the Consul's house, and I found Mr.
+Gagliuffi at the door. The Consul was as astonished to see me as his
+servant. He stared at me as if I had just dropped from the clouds. He had
+heard of my going to Ghadames, Ghat, and Soudan, but did not expect to
+see me one while. I need not add, Mr. Gagliuffi gave me a most hearty
+welcome. I found the Consul in a very fine and spacious house for oases
+of Desert, with "all his English[108] comforts around him," as we say.
+Seven months had made me forget all these things, and I was now a Saharan
+entering into the domains of comfortable, if not civilized, life. The
+appearance of Mourzuk was not very pleasing to me, the major part of its
+dwellings being miserable hovels. The Castle looked dirty, and tumbling
+down. Nevertheless, the presence of Turkish troops and officers in
+uniform about the streets, with a variety of people congregated from
+different towns and districts of Sahara, gave the place more the aspect
+of a city than any other town I had seen since I left Tripoli. I was
+extremely knocked up and unwell, and at once determined not to leave
+Mourzuk until my health should be restored. I found myself right as to
+the date of my arrival at Mourzuk, on comparing notes with Mr. Gagliuffi;
+but two days wrong as to the name of the day, having written down Friday
+instead of Sunday. As to the Moorish reckoning of Ghat and Ghadames, that
+was quite different from the name of the day, and the number of the day,
+as found in Mourzuk. Time is very badly and incorrectly kept in The
+Sahara.
+
+Some few particulars must now be recorded of the slave-caravans which I
+left in The Wady. The united number was some one hundred and thirty
+slaves. Two-thirds were females, and these young women or girls. There
+were a few children. Necessity teaches some of the best as well as the
+sternest lessons. A child of three years of age rode a camel alone, and
+without fear. The poor little creature knew if it complained or
+discovered itself frightened, it would be obliged to walk through The
+Desert. The slaves were fed in the morning with dates, and in the evening
+with ghusub. Female slaves, after the style of Aheer people, pounded the
+ghusub in a large wooden mortar, just before cooking. But they had little
+to eat, and were miserably fed, except those who had the good fortune to
+be purchased by Haj Ibrahim. For some of these improvident stupid
+merchants had actually purchased slaves without the means of keeping
+them. On arriving at The Wady, they sent jointly, through Haj Ibrahim, to
+borrow a hundred dollars of the Bashaw of Mourzuk. The messenger was
+Mustapha. His Highness kindly enough handed him over the money. All the
+masters carried a whip, but this was rarely used, except to drive them
+along the road, when they lagged from exhaustion. Thus it was
+administered at times when it could least be borne, when nature was
+sinking from fatigue and utter weariness! and therefore was cruel and
+inhuman. Yet only some twenty were sick, and two died. When very ill they
+were lashed upon the back of the camel. Some of the young women that had
+become favourites of their masters experienced a little indulgence. I
+observed occasionally love-making going on between the slaves, and some
+of the boys would carry wood for the girls. My servant Said had one or
+two black beauties under his protection. But everything was of the most
+innocent and correct character. Some groups of slaves were aristocratic,
+and would not associate with the others. Three young females under the
+care of the Shereef, assumed the airs and attitude of exclusives, and
+would not associate with the rest. Every passion and habit of civilized,
+is represented in savage life. A perfect democracy, in any country and
+state of society, is a perfect lie, and a leveller is a brainless fool.
+There is also an aristocracy in crime and in virtue, in demons and in
+angels. The slaves are clad variously. Haj Ibrahim tried to give every
+one of his a blanket or barracan, more or less large. Besides this, the
+females had a short chemise, and a dark-blue Soudan cotton short-sleeved
+frock. Many had only this frock. The poor creatures suffered more from
+the ignorant neglect of the Touaricks than the Tripoline merchants, and
+their complaints and diseases usually begin with their former masters.
+Yet I am assured by Mr. Gagliuffi, that the Touaricks of Aheer are
+infinitely better and kinder masters than the Tibboo merchants of Bornou,
+or even many Tripolines. The Tibboos cannot bring a female child over The
+Desert of the tender age of six or seven, without deflowering her, whilst
+the Touaricks of Aheer shudder at such sensual brutality, and even bring
+maidens to the market of an advanced age. The brutal Tibboos besides
+bring their slaves quite naked, with only a bit of leather or cotton
+wound round their loins, whilst the Touaricks always furnish them with
+some little clothing.
+
+_23rd._--Felt better, but weak. The excitement produced in me by my new
+quarters and reading the journals, after four months elapsing since I saw
+the last, made all the people fancy I was already attacked with their
+Mourzuk fever. Mr. Gagliuffi treated me as such, and the Greek doctor was
+sent for, who approved of my being treated as attacked, and I took
+accordingly fever powders. But another night's rest restored me and I
+discovered no symptoms of fever, for which I could not be too thankful,
+as the fever nearly attacks all strangers journeying in Mourzuk. The news
+from Europe was exceedingly disagreeable to me, inasmuch as I read of
+crimes and events of a much darker shade than the things which I had seen
+in Desert amongst the Barbarians. The two events which arrested my
+attention were the massacre of five hundred French troops near Jamâ
+El-Ghazouat, and the annexation of Texas, as most relating to my present
+pursuits. The first was an evident retribution for burning alive a tribe
+of Arabs in the caverns of the Atlas. Some high personages in Paris
+deplored this massacre of their devoted and hapless countrymen, but the
+poor Arabs of the Atlas, the men, women, and children burnt or suffocated
+alive, were unpitied and unmourned[109], because they happened to be
+resisting the placing of a foreign yoke on their necks. Such is the high
+tone of our political morality in Europe! No wonder the curse of God is
+upon us and afflicts us with famine and cholera! The annexation of Texas,
+for the extension of slavery and the slave trade, I hope will at once and
+for ever disabuse the minds of our wild democrats, who fancy that because
+people call themselves republicans and establish a republican form of
+government, therefore they are the friends of freedom. Better had America
+been bound hand and foot for ever to the aristocratic tyranny of the
+mother country, than that she should now become, as she is, the world's
+palladium of Negro slavery, and the huge breeding house of slaves to
+endless generations! We cannot but recommend to these trans-atlantic
+tramplers upon the freedom and rights of man, in defiance of all divine
+and human laws, the following lines of Mr. James--
+
+    "Oh, let them look to where in bonds,
+      For help their bondsmen cry--
+    Oh, let them look, ere British hands
+      Wipe out that living lie.
+
+    "Veil, starry banner, veil your pride,
+      The blood-red cross before--
+    Emblem of that by Jordan's side
+      Man's freedom price that bore,
+    No land is strong that owns a slave,
+    Vain is it wealthy, crafty, brave."
+
+    "The slaver's boastful thirst of gain,
+    Tends but to break his bondsman's chain."
+
+_24th._--Much better in health to-day. Sent off Said, with a man of this
+place, to fetch my trunk and other baggage left in The Wady. Find Mr.
+Gagliuffi keeps up a friendly correspondence with the Vizier of the
+Sheikh of Bornou. Any one going to Bornou would derive great advantage
+from the Vice-Consul's letters of recommendation. Mr. Gagliuffi has also
+considerable influence over the population of Fezzan, and is on good
+terms with the Mourzuk Bashaw.
+
+_25th._--Felt well enough to-day to call upon the Bashaw. His Highness's
+full name and title is Hasan Bashaw Belazee. I was introduced to him by
+Mr. Gagliuffi, who previously insisted upon sprucing me up a bit, and
+removing my Maraboutish appearance by getting me a new red cap or _fez_.
+My _Christian_ hat was left at Ghadames. It was impossible to wear it in
+Desert or towns, for people always said I looked like a Christian devil
+when I wore the European black hat. We found His Highness just recovered
+from a month's indisposition. He received us very politely, and Mr.
+Gagliuffi tells me he is really a very good sort of man. His Highness
+gave us pipes and tea, which is becoming now a favourite beverage amongst
+the Moors of East, as it has long been in West Barbary, amongst all races
+of the Maroquines, who have introduced the fashion of tea-drinking and
+teetotalism at Timbuctoo. His Highness was very talkative and affable. He
+was amazed at my audacity in going amongst the Touaricks without a single
+letter of recommendation, and looks upon my arrival at Mourzuk as an
+escape from death to life. His Highness confessed, however, that the
+Touaricks are people of one word, and that, after having told me they
+would protect me, I did right in confiding in their honour. He added, "If
+you go to Aheer hereafter I will assist you all I can." Mr. Gagliuffi
+pretends the Bashaw has considerable influence amongst all the Touarghee
+tribes, and the Touaricks always follow strictly the recommendations
+which the Bashaw, as governor of the province of Fezzan, and a near
+neighbour, has taken upon himself to give them. Every person carrying a
+letter from His Highness to the Touaricks, has invariably been well
+received. His Highness is very fond of illustrating his conversation by
+similes, and related a little facetious palaver which he had with a
+Targhee of Aheer.
+
+His Excellency thus to the Targhee:--"You always thought there was a
+great mountain separating you from us, protecting you from our armies.
+You besides always boasted of having an army of 100,000 warriors. But the
+other day there came to you a bee, and buzzed about your ears, and you
+all at once fled before the little bee. How is this? Where are your
+100,000 unconquerable heroes?"
+
+The Targhee thus to the Bashaw:--"Ah, ah, how amazing! it was just so."
+
+_H. E._--"But are you not ashamed of yourselves?"
+
+_The Targhee._--"Ah, ah, but we shall now go and fight them."
+
+_H. E._--"Well, we shall see your courage."
+
+The Bashaw explained to us, how the Touaricks of Aheer were put to flight
+by the Weled Suleiman, whom he the Bashaw, and his master at Tripoli,
+only esteemed as so many troublesome little bees. This was the affair of
+the capture of the 1000 camels, when the Touaricks were carrying off the
+spoils of a Tibboo village, before mentioned. These Weled Suleiman have
+just joined the rest of the refugees under the son of Abd-El-Geleel. The
+Bashaw is the famous Moorish commander who captured and beheaded
+Abd-El-Geleel, and who has sworn to extirpate not only the family of this
+Sheikh, but all the tribes subjected to his son. The Bashaw received the
+appointment of Bey or Bashaw of Fezzan, for his hatred to this family,
+and his services in capturing and destroying its chief. Belazee is a
+fresh-coloured Moor, and rather good-looking, with a dark, piercing, and
+cruel eye. He is about forty years of age and very stout. Of his courage
+there can be no question, and his reputation as a military man is very
+great in all this part of Sahara. Mr. Gagliuffi had instructed me
+diplomatically to boast of the attentions which I had received from the
+Touaricks, for observed the Consul, "If you say the Touaricks did not
+treat you well in every respect, the Bashaw will commiserate you before
+your face, but laugh at you behind your back, and tell his people how
+happy he is (and I'm sure he will be happy) you have been well fleeced by
+the Touaricks, of whom the Turks here are jealous in the extreme." Mr.
+Gagliuffi also volunteered a diplomatic hit of another kind on his own
+account: "My friend, your Excellency, on entering the gates of Mourzuk,
+and looking up at the Castle, thought he was entering a town of the dead,
+it looked so horribly dingy and desolate." I said to the Consul
+afterwards, "Why did you say so?" He replied, "I am trying my utmost to
+improve the city, and want the Bashaw to whitewash the Castle. He has
+promised me he will do it." The Bashaw addressed me, "Think yourself
+lucky you have escaped, but for the future you must be placed in the
+hands of the Touaricks by us as a sacred deposit, and then if anything
+wrong happens we shall demand you of all the Touaricks by force." I
+thanked him for the compliment; I believe he meant what he said at the
+time. But such an insulting message could not be delivered to the brave,
+chivalric, and freeborn sons of the Touarghee deserts; they would trample
+your letter under their feet, or spear it with their spears.
+
+Mr. Gagliuffi and myself then went to see the troops exercised. The
+commanding officer is trying to reduce them to order and discipline, and
+succeeds admirably. Before he arrived, great disorder reigned amongst
+them, and they were constantly found intoxicated in the streets. After
+the manœuvring, we visited the commander and his staff, who were all
+extremely polite. The Bashaw does not interfere with the discipline of
+the army. The Turks can well distinguish, if they please, between civil
+and military affairs. And it is wrong to consider the Turkish Government
+and people, like Prussia and other military nations of the north, as one
+great military camp. We afterwards visited the Kady, Haj Mohammed Ben
+Abd-Deen, an intimate friend of the Consul. He had under his care the
+Denham and Clapperton caravan, and is well acquainted with us English. I
+was surprised to find the Kady quite black, although his features were
+not altogether Negro. Mr. Gagliuffi says Mourzuk is the first Negro
+country. This statement, however, involves a very difficult question.
+Fezzan, Ghat, and other oases, contain many families of free Negroes,
+some perhaps settled formerly as merchants, and others the descendants of
+freed slaves. I do not think the real black population begins until we
+reach the Tibboos, although Ghatroun is mostly inhabited by Negroes.
+Certainly, the Negroes have never emigrated farther north in colonies.
+Mr. Gagliuffi has just received by the courier from Tripoli, several
+watches sent there for repair, belonging to the Sheikh of Bornou. They
+were given to the Sheikh by our Bornou expedition, twenty years ago. It
+is pleasing to see with what care the watches have been preserved in
+Central Africa, for they looked as good as new.
+
+_26th._--I must now consider myself recovered from indisposition. At
+first, people talked so much about Mourzuk fever that I thought I
+must have it as a matter of course, and felt some disappointment at
+its not attacking me. Three-fourths of the Europeans who come here
+invariably have the fever. I speak of the Turks. It attacks them
+principally in the beginning of the hot, and cold, weather, or in
+May and November. Fortunately, I am here in February. Mourzuk
+is emphatically called, like many places of Africa, _Blad
+Elhemah_--‮بلاد الحمة‬--"country of fever."
+
+Amongst the Christian and European curiosities and antiquities which I
+have discovered in this Mussulman and Saharan city, is the following
+poetical scrap, published by myself, some four or five years ago, upon
+that beautiful rock of Malta, or, according to the Maltese, _Fior del
+Mondo_, "The flower of the world."
+
+SONNET.
+
+    "Hail, verdant groves! where joy's extatic power
+      Once gave the sultry noon a charm divine,
+      Excelling all that Phœbus or the Nine
+    Have told in glowing verse!--Youth's radiant hour
+      Yet beams upon my soul,--while memory true
+      Retraces all the past, and brings to view
+    The magic pleasures which these groves have known,
+      When Hope and Love, and Life itself, were new,
+    Delights which touch the SOUL OF TASTE alone,
+      Taught by the many and reserved for few!
+    O! busy _Memory_, thou hast touched a chord
+    Recalling images, beloved,--adored,--
+      While Fancy keen still wields her knife and fork,
+      O'er roasted turkey and a chine of pork!"
+                                            CLEMENTINA.
+
+I found it flying about in one of Mr. Gagliuffi's old lumber rooms, and,
+being such a precious gem, I must needs reproduce it upon the page of my
+travels. Who is the author, and how I came by it, I cannot now tell. I
+only know it once adorned the columns of the "Malta Times," at a period
+which now seems to me an age ago.
+
+There was a wedding to-day, and the bride was carried on the back of the
+camel, attended with the high honour of the frequent discharge of
+musketry. In order that I might likewise partake of these honours, the
+Arab cavaliers stopped before the Consul's house, and several times
+discharged their matchlocks. It was a gay, busy, bustling scene. The
+cavaliers afterwards proceeded to the Castle, and discharged their
+matchlocks, standing up on the shovel-stirrups, and firing them off at
+full gallop. But these cavaliers are nothing comparable to the crack
+horsemen of Morocco. Their horses are in a miserable condition, and they
+themselves ride badly. The horse does not do well in the Saharan oases.
+In Fezzan he is often obliged to be fed on dates, which are both heating
+and relaxing to the animal. Meanwhile the discharge of musketry was
+rattling about the city, the lady sat with the most exemplary patience on
+the camel (covered up, of course), in a sort of triumphal car. A troop of
+females were at the heels of the animal loo-looing. The ceremony stirred
+up the phlegm of the Turks, and delighted the Arabs.
+
+In the evening I visited one of the gardens in the suburbs. The corn was
+in the ear on this, the 26th day of February. In a fortnight more they
+will cease their irrigation, and it will be reaped quickly afterwards. We
+gathered some young green peas. The flax plant is here cultivated; the
+fibres and dried leaves are burnt, and the seed is eaten; no other use is
+made of it. Two crops of everything are obtained in the year, one now, in
+the spring, and the other in autumn. The irrigation by which all this
+cultivation is produced, rain rarely ever falling, cannot be carried on
+during the intense and absorbing heats of summer. A couple of asses and a
+couple of men, or a man and a boy, do all the business of irrigation.
+Fezzan water is brackish generally, and the wells are about fifteen of
+twenty feet deep. These are in the form of great holes or pits. The more
+distant suburbs present beautiful forests of palms, producing a fine
+reviving effect upon an eye like mine, long saddened by the ungrateful
+aspect of a dreary desert. The atmosphere and ambient air is less
+pleasing to view, presenting always a light dirty red hue, as if
+encharged with the fine sand rising from the surface. The soil of the
+Fezzan oases is indeed mostly arenose, and the dates are nearly all
+impregnated with fine particles of sand, which takes place when they are
+ripe, and very much lowers their value. But this sandy soil does not
+sufficiently account for the eternal dirty vermilion hue of the
+atmosphere of Mourzuk. They say its site is very low, in the shallow of a
+plain, and to this cause they attribute its fever.
+
+_27th._--Health quite restored, and got up early. There are two or three
+round holes in the window-shutters of my bed-room; by the assistance of
+these, when the shutters are closed, in the way of a camera oscura, all
+the objects passing and repassing in the streets are most sharply and
+artistically drawn on the opposite wall. Here beautifully delineated I
+see the camels pass slowly along,--the ostriches picking and billing
+about, which are the scavengers of the street, instead of the pigs at
+Washington, (see Dickens,) and the dogs of Constantinople, (see all the
+tourists,)--the women fetching water,--the lounging soldiers limping by
+with their black thick shoes pulled on as slippers,--the slaves squatting
+in circles, playing in the dirt,--groups of merchants, black, yellow, and
+brown, bargaining and wrangling,--asses laden with wood,--the
+coffee-maker carrying about cups of coffee, &c., &c. Wrote letters for
+to-morrow's post, and very disagreeable to me, as announcing my tour
+broken up midway.
+
+_28th._--Post-day. The courier leaves every Saturday, but it requires
+nearly forty days to get the answer of a letter from Tripoli. The courier
+is eighteen days _en route_. A caravan occupies from twenty-four to
+thirty days. In the route of Sockna there is water nearly every day, but
+one or two places, the longest space three and a half, and four days. The
+Commander visited me again this morning, as also the Greek doctor, who
+calls every morning. The Major now came in. He is a young Circassian; by
+birth a Christian, but kidnapped and sold to the Turks. He is a very
+amiable young man, and deeply regrets that he was not brought up a
+Christian. It is high time this infamous practice of selling the
+Christians of the East to the Turks, was put a stop to. It is to be hoped
+that Russia will atone for the wrongs which she has inflicted upon
+Poland, and offer some compensation for the blood which she is still
+shedding in Circassia, by abolishing this odious system of Christian
+slavery through all south-eastern Europe, as in western Asia.
+Notwithstanding our hatred to Russia's system, and its iron-souled Grand
+Council, we Englishmen (I presume to speak for all), are willing and
+happy to do justice to Russia in the efforts which she made, and the aid
+she rendered the Servians, in emancipating them from the galling yoke of
+Mussulman bigotry and Turkish tyranny[110]. Nicholas has a noble and
+mighty mission before him, not to subjugate Turkey, or infringe upon the
+liberties of Europe, but to civilize his vast empire, and the wild
+countries of Northern Asia. But the Czar does not seem to understand his
+destiny--or the task, more probably, is beyond his power. It must be left
+to his successor, or happier times. This Circassian tells me he has not
+had the fever in Mourzuk. He thinks the city healthier than formerly, and
+attributes the fever to people's eating dates, and their bad living.
+Dates are not only the principal growth of the Fezzan oases, but the main
+subsistence of their inhabitants. All live on dates; men, women and
+children, horses, asses and camels, and sheep, fowls and dogs.
+
+Mr. Gagliuffi gives the following statistics of the slave-traffic _viâ_
+Mourzuk from Bornou and Soudan:--
+
+In 1843       2,200
+In 1844       1,200
+In 1845       1,100
+              -----
+       Total, 4,500
+
+The two last years shows a diminution, and he thinks the trade to be on
+the decline. But this evidently arises from the Bornouese caravan being
+intercepted, or the traffic interrupted by the fugitive Arabs on the
+route. There has been no large caravan from Bornou for three years. And
+Mr. Gagliuffi considers the route at the present, so unsafe, as
+positively to refuse countenancing my going up to Bornou this spring.
+However, a couple of small slave-caravans have ventured stealthily down
+twice a year, conducted by Tibboos. The principal Tripoline slave-dealers
+who frequent Mourzuk are from Bengazi and Egypt. Slaves are besides
+brought occasionally from Wadai; and there is a biennial caravan from
+Wadai to Bengazi direct, leading to the coast a thousand and more slaves
+at once. Our Consul is frequently employed in administering medicine to
+the poor slaves, who arrive at Mourzuk from the interior, with their
+health broken down, and often at death's door. He makes frequent cures,
+but, alas! it is for the benefit of the ferocious Tibboo slave-dealer.
+The Consul naturally laments he cannot buy these miserable slaves, who,
+in this state of disease, are often offered at the market for five or six
+dollars each. He has no funds at his disposal, or he would procure them
+by some means, cure them, and give them their liberty.
+
+This evening I called upon a Moor, an ancient renegade of the name of
+Yousef, who was well acquainted with all our countrymen of the Bornou
+expedition. His arm was set, after being broken, by Dr. Oudney, which he
+still exhibits as an old reminiscence of the doctor. Yousef has lately
+given great disgust to his good neighbours, by purchasing a new concubine
+slave, to whom he introduced us, notwithstanding that he has his house
+full of women and children. This sufficiently proves that Mohammedans
+discountenance the unbridled licence of filling their houses with women.
+One of his old female slaves, by whom Yousef has had several children,
+said to Mr. Gagliuffi, "I won't speak to you any more, Consul. Don't come
+more to this house. Why did you give my master money to buy a new slave?"
+The Consul protested he did not. Old Yousef laughed, and drily
+observed:--"When this (pointing to the new slave), is in the family way,
+I must purchase another wife. If I can't keep my wives myself, I must beg
+of my neighbours to contribute a portion of the necessary expense." Old
+Yousef is a thorough-going scamp of a Moor.
+
+_1st March._--Occupied in writing down the stations of the Bornou route
+from the mouth of one of the Sheikh's couriers. There are now two of
+these couriers in Mourzuk, natives of Bornou. The Sheikh corresponds with
+Belazee as well as with Mr. Gagliuffi. Bornouese couriers travel in
+pairs, lest a single one should fail if sent alone. They are mounted on
+camels, and it requires them forty days to make the traverse from Mourzuk
+to Bornou. I tired the courier pretty well with dictating to me the
+route. It is extremely difficult to get an African to sit down quietly
+and attentively an hour, and give you information. If ever so well paid,
+they show the greatest impatience. Afterwards paid a visit to the young
+Circassian officer. He related to me how he was captured. It was in the
+broad day, when he was quite a child, playing by a little brook, and
+picking up stones to throw in the water. The officer says, that in his
+dreams, he often sees the silvery bubbles and rings of the water rising
+after he had thrown the pebble into the brook; and, especially, does he
+see the ever-flown visions of his green and flowery pastimes of
+childhood, whilst he is out on duty in the open and thirsty desert, lying
+dozing under an intense sun, darting its beams of fire on his head. The
+kidnapper took him to Constantinople. His brother came up after to rescue
+him. But the master, to whom he was sold, terrified him, by threatening,
+if he should show the least wish to return, to cut him to pieces. The
+barbarous threat had its desired effect, and he submitted to his fate.
+This Circassian officer has still a hankering after Christians, and in
+his heart is no good Mussulman. He tries to adopt as much as possible
+Christian manners, and boasts of having all things like them. Such forced
+renegades deserve our most sincere sympathies.
+
+Evening--Mr. Gagliuffi and myself dined with the Greek doctor. It was a
+carnival day with the doctor, and he prepared a befitting entertainment.
+An Albanian Greek dined with us, who had been brought up from Tripoli by
+Abd-El-Geleel, to make gunpowder for the Arab prince. When the Turks
+captured Mourzuk they found here the Albanian. He has nearly lost his
+sight, and is now charitably supported by the Doctor. We were waited upon
+by the Doctor's servant, an Ionian Greek, and the Maltese servant of the
+Consul, and so mustered six Christians, a large number for the interior
+of Africa. The dinner was magnificently sumptuous for this part of
+Africa. We had a whole lamb roasted. After dinner, its shoulder bones
+were clean scraped and held up to the light by the Doctor, in order to
+catch a glimpse of the dark future! This is an ancient superstition of
+the Greeks. Besides several Turkish dishes, (for the Doctor lives half
+Turk, half Christian,) we had salmon and Sardinians. This was the first
+piece of fish I had seen or eaten for seven months. It was remarked when
+the large caravan from Bornou comes, expected in this summer, it will
+certainly bring dried fish from the Lake Tschad. In Central Africa, they
+dry fish, as meat, without salt, and it keeps well. We had bottled stout,
+table wines, Malaga, rosatas, and rum. We were all of course very happy,
+and the Albanian sang several of his wild mountain songs. He was very
+merry, and, swore he was obliged to keep himself merry, because, not
+like other people, he had an affair which rankled in his breast. We asked
+him what it was. The Albanian answered, greatly excited, both with his
+wine and his subject, "A man killed my brother, and I have not yet been
+able to kill him. The vengeance of my brother's blood torments me night
+and day. I pray God to return to my country to kill the murderer." This
+Albanian is an enthusiastic Greek, and wishes and prays to see his
+countrymen plant again the Cross on the dome of St. Sophia. "But many of
+you have turned Turk," I remarked. "Yes," observed the Albanian, "many of
+my countrymen have turned Turk, and I, who am less than the least of them
+all, I have not committed this folly. I can't comprehend how they could
+so trample on the name of their Saviour." In short, I found the Albanian
+possessed of all the fire, bigotry, ferocity and vindictiveness, for
+which his countrymen are so celebrated. I encouraged him, and said, "The
+Greek kingdom ought to have its bounds a little widened." The Greek
+jumped up wildly at this remark, and clenching my hand, began screaming
+one of his patriotic airs, and cursing the Turks, so that we became all
+at once a seditious dinner-party, under the shade of the pale Crescent.
+Had we been in Paris, that pinnacle of liberty and civilization, we
+should all immediately have been conveyed off, without finishing our
+dessert and the wine which made us such patriot Greeks, to the sobering
+apartment of the Conciergerie. Happily we were in The Desert, under the
+rule of barbarians. Coletti was mentioned, but I forget what was said of
+him. In Jerbah, a Greek merchant protested to me, that the only way to
+regenerate Greece was to cut off the head of this Coletti, as well as
+all the present chiefs of parties. He observed "Another generation alone
+can regenerate Greece." The merchant added, "I should like also to hang
+up that Monsieur Piscatory."
+
+It does seem a pity that diplomacy should be reduced to the most
+detestable intrigues, lying and duplicity, which if any other class of
+men were guilty of, they would be put out of the pale of society. But
+mankind would care little about these archpriests of falsehood, were it
+not for the serious consequences resulting from their works. Look at the
+state of Greece now, the handicraft of diplomatists! Such is the result
+of the good and friendly offices rendered to an infant state by these
+sons of the Father of Lies!
+
+At this time there are some nine hundred Albanians in Tripoli, regular
+troops of the Porte, whose only occupation is lounging, lying and smoking
+about the streets. There were sixty or seventy Christians amongst them,
+but for some reason or other unexplained, the Bashaw sent them all back.
+The report is, the Sultan does not know what to do with these Albanians,
+and has sent them to Africa to decimate them. The massacreing Janissary
+days are past, and we have arrived at an age of the more humane policy of
+letting them die of fever on the burning plains of Africa. Perhaps France
+has recommended the Porte this policy, having found it answer so well in
+the experiment made on malcontent regiments in Algeria. How very humane
+all our European Governments are getting! How kindly they treat their
+poor troops! Who would not be a soldier, and fight the battles of
+"glorious war?" But we must return to our host, who is a very different
+kind of Greek. Doctors are always pacific men. The Doctor observed
+laconically, "I eat the bread of the Turks, and whilst I do so I must be,
+and I am a good Ottoman subject." Mr. Gagliuffi speaks Greek and Turkish
+besides Arabic and Italian, and so he is at home with all these people.
+It is happy for the Consul he does, for after all, Mourzuk is but a
+miserable dirty place, and would kill with ennui, if fever were wanting,
+some score of English Vice-Consuls.
+
+_2nd._--The Consul received a visit from the Adjutant-Major, Agha
+Suleman. The Doctor came in and was very merry with the Adjutant, who is
+always trying to get himself reported sick, in order that he may return
+to Tripoli. The Adjutant observed to me, whilst he drew himself up, made
+a wry face, and heaved a deep sigh, as if his last, to persuade the
+Doctor he was greatly suffering, "I would not go to Bornou if you were to
+give me 100,000 dollars." But why should he? With what sort of feeling
+could he go there? The spirit of discovery, which once stirred up the
+Arabian savans to explore Nigritia, is now totally extinct both in Arabs
+and Turks. I learnt some items of the pay of Officials in Mourzuk. The
+Bashaw has 5,000 mahboubs per annum. The Adjutant-Major has 30 dollars
+per mensem; the Doctor 25 dollars; and so on of the rest, the commanding
+officer having perhaps 50 dollars per mensem. This amount of pay is
+considered sufficient for expenses at Mourzuk. The officers have quarters
+with the Bashaw in the Castle. Mr. Gagliuffi related a characteristic
+anecdote of the ignorance prevailing amongst the Arabs as gross as that
+of Negroes. Mohammed Circus (or the Circassian) was a few years ago
+Bashaw of Bengazi whilst Mr. G. visited that place. The Bashaw was buying
+something of an Arab, and gave him but a third of its real value. Mr. G.
+took upon himself to say, "Why do you injure this poor man by giving him
+but a third of the value of his goods?" "Oh!" rejoined the Bashaw, "that
+is not a man, he is only a dog. Let me call him back and you shall see
+what he is." Immediately the Bashaw called the man back and asked him,
+"Who was the better, God or Mahomet?" The Arab bluntly answered, smiling
+with conceit, "Why do you ask me such a thing? What harm do I receive
+from Mahomet or what harm do others receive from our prophet? But God
+kills one man with a sword, hangs another, drowns another. All the evil
+of the world is from God, but Mahomet does nothing except good for us."
+
+This poor ignorant fellow was filled with ideas of irresistible fate.
+Some Arabs and Moors ascribe only the good things to God, whilst others
+all things, the evil and the good. When this anecdote was being ended, a
+Moor came in, and being in a disputing humour, I asked him abruptly,--
+
+"What is truth?"
+
+"The Koran."
+
+"Who told you the Koran is truth?"
+
+"Mahomet."
+
+"And who told Mahomet?"
+
+"God."
+
+"How do you know this?"
+
+"Mahomet says so."
+
+"What did Mahomet do to make you credit his word?"
+
+"Plenty of things."
+
+"What things?"
+
+"Killed the infidels, sent us the camel into Africa, planted for us the
+date-palm, and worked many wonders."
+
+"Is that all?"
+
+"No, great many more things I cannot now recollect."
+
+The camel, I think, was introduced into Africa about the third century.
+It is a mistake to say, Mahomet did no miracles. The people in North
+Africa and The Desert all relate miracles performed by Mahomet. The
+Prophet, however, repudiates miracles in the Koran. In Surats xiii. and
+xvii., in answer to miracles demanded, the Prophet replies by the
+knock-down argument, "All miracles are vain. Whom God directs, believes;
+whom he causes to err, errs." Our conversation passed to old Yousef
+Bashaw, whose family the Porte has deposed. Mr. Gagliuffi observed
+justly, and which so often happens in despotic countries, "Yousef
+established Tripoli and its provinces in one firm united kingdom, and in
+the early part of his life his power was respected and his people happy;
+but as the Bashaw declined in life, he again disorganized everything, and
+Tripoli was rent in pieces." Went to visit a member of the Divan. All
+these despotic Bashaws consult or prompt a mute Divan. Let us hope the
+Consulta lately assembled by Pius IX. will turn out something better than
+these mute Divans, or a Buonaparte Senate. We were treated with coffee,
+and milk, sour milk (or leben), but not skimmed, which is considered a
+great luxury, and only presented to strangers of consequence.
+
+_3rd._--We received a visit from the Bey, as he is sometimes called, the
+commander of the troops, who is a very sociable kind-hearted little
+fellow. Mr. Gagliuffi related some of the atrocities which were committed
+by the troops previous to the commander's arrival. They killed a woman,
+committed rape on a child, were never sober, and always quarrelling with
+the inhabitants. They are now reduced to discipline and order. One day
+Mohammed Effendi said to Mr. Gagliuffi, "I am always at work, either
+making improvements in the town or exercising the troops, but who sees me
+here, no one recognizes my conduct in The Desert." The Consul endeavoured
+to console the desponding officer by observing, God saw him, and one day
+would reward him for his good works. So we see, the Turks are a part of
+the human race after all, and could lead on their fellow-creatures in the
+way of improvement if their energies were properly directed. Africa could
+be greatly benefitted by the Turks. Even at Mourzuk they are introducing
+things which will soon be imitated at Bornou. Not being infidels, the
+same objection does not exist against their innovations as against us
+Christians. Even in the little matter of gloves I saw an immense
+difference. The officers here wear gloves, and nothing is thought of it.
+People do not say to them as they have said to me at Ghat and Ghadames,
+"You have the devil's hands." Mohammed Effendi actually went so far as to
+make this speech, "I shall go to England one day in order that I may
+learn something." The grand occupation of the Commander now is, the
+building of a guard-house within the city. This occupies his attention
+morning, noon, and night; and it certainly has a good appearance. There
+is not such a natty thing in Tripoli. The officer directs all the works,
+and is assisted occasionally by the friendly counsel of the Consul; so
+that a wonder of architecture will at last be reared amidst the
+crumbling-down places of this city of hovels.
+
+My Said returned this afternoon, bringing the baggage from The Wady. Five
+more slaves of Haj Ibrahim are sick. His first slave adventure at Ghat is
+likely to turn out a bad speculation. Read an article or two from
+_Blackwood's Magazine_, No. CCXXX. The Consul has got a few stray numbers
+up The Desert. English politics read all stuff in Desert, like what a
+celebrated man was accustomed to say of his philosophy after dinner,
+"It's all nonsense or worse." So is reading English politics in this part
+of the world. How soon our tastes and passions change, with our change of
+place, and scene, and skies! An Englishman married a Malay woman at
+Singapore. In six years he lost all his English, nay, European feelings,
+and became as listless and stupid as the people whose habits and
+nationality he had sunken under.
+
+Visited this evening the grave of Mr. Ritchie, who died at Mourzuk on
+November 20, 1819. He was buried by Capt. Lyon, his companion in African
+travel. The grave is placed about two hundred yards south of the Moorish
+burying-ground; it is raised eight or ten inches above the level of the
+soil, and is large, being edged round with a border of clay and small
+stones. We were conducted by old Yousef, who told us the Rais (Capt.
+Lyon) chose the site of burial between three small mounds of earth, in
+order that the grave might be easily distinguished hereafter. Mr.
+Gagliuffi, had never visited the grave before my arrival, which I
+proposed to him as a sacred duty that we owed to our predecessors in
+African travel and discovery. The Consul promises now to have the grave
+repaired and white-washed, and I, on my part, promise, in the event of my
+return to the interior, to carry with me a small tombstone, to place over
+the grave, with name, date, and epitaph. If there were a thorough and
+_bonâ fide_ Geographical Society in England, this little attention to the
+memory of that distinguished man of science would have been performed
+long ago. But our societies are instituted to pay their officers and
+secretaries, and not to promote the objects for which they are ostensibly
+supported by the public. The Moorish cemetery close by, is a most
+melancholy, nay, frightfully grotesque picture. No white-shining tombs
+and dome-topped mausoleums, no dark cypresses waving over them and
+contrasting shade with light, which mournfully adorn the cemeteries of
+the north coast. All is the grotesque refuse of misery! Here we see
+sticks of palm-branches driven down at the head of the graves, which
+sticks are driven through old bottles, pitchers, jugs, ostrich eggs, &c.,
+so that at a distance the burying-ground has the appearance of a dull,
+dirty, desolate field of household rubbish, and old crockery-ware. I did
+not trouble myself to ask the reason of this trumpery of trumperies, but
+I imagine it is to distinguish one grave from another. The cemetery of
+Ghadames, where nothing is seen but stones, if it be a desert-looking
+place, yet has not this trumpery appearance. I was glad to see the grave
+of Ritchie lying apart from this, though in its infidel isolation. There
+lies our poor countryman, alone in The Sahara! But, though without a
+stone or monument to mark the desert spot, still it is a memorial of the
+genius and enterprise of Englishmen for travel and research in the
+wildest, remotest regions of the globe. And, for myself, I would rather
+lie here, in open desert, than in the crowded London churchyard, amidst
+smoke, and filth, and resurrectionists, the pride and glory of our
+Cockney-land. Here, at least, the body rests in purity, the desert
+breeze, which sweeps its "dread abode" barer and barer, is not
+contaminated with the effluvia of a death-dealing pestilence; and though
+the ardent sun of Africa smites continually the lonely grave, the bones
+mayhap will rest undisturbed till reunited and refleshed at the loud call
+of the Trump of Doom! unkennelled, uncoffined by wild beast, or more
+ferocious man.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[108] Although Mr. Gagliuffi is an Austrian, a native of Trieste,
+    he has acquired all the English ideas of comfort, and speaks
+    excellent English.
+
+[109] As a remarkable exception, some one or two _French_ papers
+    did protest against this wholesale burning alive of an Arab tribe.
+
+[110] See Mrs. Kerr's translation of the History of Servia.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+RESIDENCE AT MOURZUK.
+
+     Mr. Gagliuffi's opinion of the Touaricks.--Amazonian
+     White-Washers.--Visit, and take leave of the Bashaw.--Various
+     Anecdotes related by His Highness.--Safe-conduct given to
+     liberated Slaves in returning to their Country.--Character of the
+     Tibboos, and particularly Tibboo Women.--Description of the Oases
+     of Fezzan.--Leo's Account of these Oases.--Recent History of the
+     Government of Mourzuk.--The Traitor Mukni.--Life and Character of
+     Abd-el-Geleel.--The Civil War in Tripoli, and Usurpation of its
+     Government by the Turks.--The Tyrant Asker Ali.--Skirmish of
+     Hasan Belazee with the Town of Omm-Errâneb, and the Oulad
+     Suleiman.--Retreat of the Oulad Suleiman to Bornou, and their
+     Marauding Character.--My departure from Mourzuk with the
+     Slave-Caravan of Haj Essnousee.--Establishment of British Consuls
+     in The Great Desert and Central Africa.--Force of the new
+     Slave-Caravan.
+
+
+_4th._--FEEL as well in health as when I left Tripoli, though housed in
+this city of fever. Mr. Gagliuffi has some ideas about the Touaricks
+which I have not acquired in Ghat. He pretends Touaricks are always
+afraid of their women, and are obliged to do whatsoever their wives tell
+them. The son never will go with his father, but always follows his
+mother. His father he learns to hate the more he loves his mother. The
+Consul does not think the Touaricks of Aheer to be so numerous as
+represented. The same, indeed, may be said of all the kingdoms of Africa.
+The principal slave or servant (factotum) of the Sultan of Aheer is now
+in Mourzuk, transacting business for his master. The Bashaw offered to
+write to the Sultan for me through this man. He is called Hiddee, and
+paid me a visit this morning. En-Nour, the friend of Kandarka, is only a
+Sheikh. Hiddee is the slave whom the Bashaw has been quizzing so severely
+about the mighty armies of his master.
+
+A number of women are now occupied opposite to us in white-washing or
+white-claying the Guard-house, this _chef-d'œuvre_ of Mourzuk
+architecture. The women alone do this work, and as their privilege. There
+are about thirty of them so occupied, under the command of a queen
+white-washer. They all tremble at the sound of her Majesty's voice.
+Sometimes she gives them a crack over the head with a bowl, to make them
+look sharp about them. The white-washers prepare the wash in the usual
+way, and then lade it out in small bowls, throwing a whole bowl at once
+at the walls, using no brush, now and then only with their hands rubbing
+over a place not wet with the wash. This arises from the nature of the
+wash, it being merely a fine brown-white clay, or a species of pipe-clay.
+There is no lime in the oases near: people fetch it from Sockna. For this
+reason the Castle is so dirty. There is attendant on the women a band of
+Arab musicians, to cheer them on in their work. Every man who passes by
+gets a piece of white-wash clay thrown at him. If it hits him he has to
+pay, if not he escapes. On his non-payment, when so hit, he is tabooed
+from the privileges which he possesses in and over women. He can have no
+communication with them, nor can he buy anything from them, or receive
+anything from their hands. If he does not pay in a few days, his fine
+increases with his delay. This custom prevails, and its stipulations are
+most religiously binding, whenever women are employed to white-wash
+Government houses and establishments. Once a Targhee received some money,
+which a woman thus employed offered to him, to entrap him. Immediately
+exclaimed the virago, "You cowardly rascal, instead of giving us money,
+you take money away from us." Then a mob of these Amazons followed him to
+his house, and, to save himself from being torn and scratched to pieces
+by the troop, he paid ten dollars, and was happy to escape so easily. The
+Amazonian white-washers like to have a shy at Mr. Gagliuffi or the
+Doctor, because they are down upon them for a good mulct or present. To
+save their respective dignities, Consul and Doctor take care to keep out
+of that quarter of the town where the work of the Amazons is going on.
+
+We paid a visit to the Bashaw this afternoon previous to my departure
+to-morrow. We had tea and pipes again as before. His Highness was
+excessively civil, and related to me many anecdotes of the people of this
+part of the world, of which anecdotes and such chit-chat he is very fond.
+This Bashaw is a sort of chronicler of the Arabian Nights order, with the
+difference, that what His Highness relates are generally true stories.
+Mr. Gagliuffi instructed me in a little of his Desert diplomacy, and I
+accordingly observed, "Your Excellency must extend the Turkish rule in
+Sahara, and you ought to capture Ghat, for that is the centre of commerce
+in these parts." This was put forth as a feeler. The Bashaw deigned the
+following in reply:--"There was a boy left with his father, whilst the
+mother and wife had gone to a neighbouring village on an errand. The boy,
+after a sleep of three hours, awoke, and, looking about him and not
+seeing his mother, began to cry for her. 'Oh,' said the father, 'you
+have begun to cry for your mother after three minutes, you blubbering
+urchin; whilst I have been waiting for my wife, with the most enduring
+patience, these three long hours."--"So it is with me," continued the
+Bashaw; "you are crying for Ghat after three months' residence here, and
+I have been crying for Ghat these three long years. I have been waiting
+every year, every month and day in the year, to go and take it, or
+destroy it, but the Sultan sends me no orders." I noticed the Fullan boy
+of the Bashaw, and observed to him that I had seen very few of the Fullan
+slaves. The Bashaw returned, "That boy is gold to me. When I was sick, he
+was the only one who waited upon me unceasingly, and never left my couch.
+I have also a Fullan girl; her hair is as long as your women's, and
+reaches down to her waist." Mr. Gagliuffi afterwards told me His Highness
+had been some while choosing a wife, that is, a substitute for his wife
+who is in Tripoli, and had at last found what he liked in this Fullan
+girl, of whose beauty and grace he said the Bashaw boasted to him (the
+Consul), a thing quite unusual amongst Mohammedans. The features of this
+Fullan boy were very regular, black eyes and a light olive complexion.
+Such were Fullan slaves of our caravan; and the most _recherchée_ of all
+the females, fetching the highest price, was a Fullanah girl.
+
+His Highness related several anecdotes of the Soudanese people. Slaves
+are told, on leaving Soudan, that white people will kill them and eat
+them; but when they get here, and see themselves kindly treated, they
+become reconciled to slavery. In some of the Nigritian countries, when
+the people get old,--say seventy or eighty years of age,--their
+relatives and friends say to them, "Come, now you are very old, and are
+of no use in the world: it is better for you to go away to your fathers
+and to the gods. There you will be young again, eat and drink as well as
+ever, and be as beautiful and as strong as you ever were or can be. You
+will renew your young days like the young birds, and the young lions."
+"Very well," reply the aged decrepid creatures, "we will go." They then
+dress up their aged worn-out victim in his fine clothing, and make a
+feast. When in the midst of drums and horrible screams, during the height
+of the feast, they lay hold of the old man, and throw him into a large
+fire, and he is immediately consumed to ashes. The Bashaw did not
+particularize the country, but this barbarous rite has been witnessed in
+other parts of the world besides Africa.
+
+The inhabitants of Wadai are a nation of drunkards. They can do nothing
+unless drunk. Amongst these people, the greatest mark of friendship is to
+present their friends with raw meat, with the bile of the liver poured on
+it as sauce or gravy. Wadai is in the neighbourhood of Upper Egypt and
+Abyssinia, and the tale reminds one of Bruce, and the live-meat eating
+Abyssinians. A Tibboo chief came to Mourzuk, and presented himself
+without introduction before His Highness, and thus harangued him:--"Oh
+Bey! I want to write to my son, the Bashaw of Tripoli. You must send my
+letter to my son." "Give it to me," said His Highness, most
+condescendingly. "There it is," cried the Tibboo, and flung it down at
+the feet of the Governor. The letter being opened, the contents ran
+thus:--"Son, be a good man, fear me and fear God. If you behave well, and
+acknowledge me as your father, I will send you three slaves and come and
+see you." The Tibboo was allowed to depart from the Governor as a madman.
+
+"See," said the Bashaw to me, "how ignorant and presumptuous are these
+Tibboo people."
+
+I replied, "It was always so that ignorance and pride went together, and
+it always will be so."
+
+_His Highness._--"Are your people so?"
+
+"Of course, all the world is so."
+
+The Bashaw now came to the Touaricks. "The Touaricks detest cities. When
+they visit us, we cannot make them sleep within the walls." I observed,
+they have not confidence in the people of the towns they visit. The
+Bashaw thought that was a hit at him, and so it was, for the Touaricks
+sleep within the walls of their own cities, and even inside Ghadames. I
+occupied a house which they had tenanted just before my arrival.
+Therefore His Highness jumped from the Touaricks to the
+Ghadamseeah:--"The Ghadamsee people are a nation of Jews. I once had to
+escort them. One morning when I got up I found them all in separate
+groups, for they detest each other's society. (The Bashaw might have
+observed the separation of the two hereditary factions.) They were all in
+disorder. I got a whip and laid it on them one after another, as they
+whip their slaves. The next morning they were all ready to start before I
+was. This is the way to treat these Jews. The curse of God is upon them.
+When they die nothing is found in their houses, nor gold, silver, money,
+or goods, not even victuals. God punishes them thus because they are a
+nation of Jews and slave-dealers." Belazee forgets that his government is
+partly supported by the slave-traffic. But the Bashaw is a man of great
+audacity, takes large views of things, assumes the air of lavish and
+magnificent pretensions, and hates the quiet, thrifty, and money-making
+character of the merchants of Ghadames. The Bashaw concluded his long
+string of anecdotes by asking me, on my return, to bring him a watch, but
+not to bring it if I did not intend to charge him for it, for he could
+not accept presents from me, since he had a fixed salary from the Sultan.
+He added, "I'm sorry you have not brought a letter from the Bashaw of
+Tripoli, for I can't show you the attention I would wish. But bring a
+letter when you return, and I'll write to all the princes of Africa for
+you." I answered, "Oh, I'll bring you a firman from the Porte, if that
+will do for you." At which His Highness laughed heartily.
+
+Whatever ferocity of disposition Hasan Belazee may have shown in the
+decapitation of Abd-El-Geleeh, he certainly knows how to be polite and
+show hospitality to strangers. The British Consul-General tried to get
+him removed from Mourzuk, with the tyrant, Asker Ali, from Tripoli, but
+Belazee was the only man who could keep this province tranquil, and the
+trade with the coast uninterrupted. Mr. Gagliuffi tells me, as a proof of
+the Bashaw's influence in the interior, that His Highness wrote to the
+Touaricks of Aheer and Ghat to allow liberated slaves to return
+unmolested to their country, as an act acceptable to God, seeing the poor
+slaves had been liberated by their pious Mussulman masters, who invoked
+upon them the blessing of the Almighty on the day of their liberation.
+And it is said, that, in no case, when a freed slave took a letter from
+the Bashaw, did the slave fail to reach his native country. How
+different this Desert morality to that of the villanous Americans, who
+glory in recapturing freed slaves, or hanging them up by Lynch Law--and
+those poor men have bought their freedom by the sweat of their brow! The
+Bashaw is also strong amongst the Tibboos, who are generally an immoral
+race of Africans. These Tibboos attacked a merchant of Tripoli and
+plundered him near their country. His Highness immediately clapped all
+the Tibboos then at Mourzuk in prison, until the merchant's goods were
+restored, and he himself brought safe to Mourzuk. Since this strong
+measure, the Tibboos have plundered no more Tripoline merchants.
+
+Mr. Gagliuffi pointed out several Tibboos to me in the town, and amongst
+the rest one who called himself a Sultan. This chief came the other day
+to the Consul and thus addressed him:--
+
+"My wife is coming here. I'm so glad. She is such a good wife. Oh, so
+good!"
+
+"Why is she a good wife?" inquired the Consul.
+
+"Oh, she has killed two women; first the daughter, then the mother;
+wretches who wanted to kill her. Isn't that a good wife?"
+
+The Tibboo women secrete knives about them, as the Italian and Spanish
+ladies conceal the stiletto in their garters. It does not come within my
+province to describe the Tibboos, but I may say briefly of the social
+condition of those tribes, in that country it is "Man and his Mistress,"
+and not "Woman and her Master." The Tibboo ladies do not even allow a
+husband to enter his own home without sending word previously to announce
+himself. A Tibboo lady once explained this matter in Mourzuk. "Why,"
+said the Tibbooess, "should I not have two or three husbands, as well as
+my husband two or three wives? Are not we women as good as men? Of
+course, I don't wish my husband to surprise me enjoying myself with my
+lovers." It is a notorious fact, that when the salt caravans go from
+Aheer to Bilma, the whole villages are cleared of the men, the Tibboo men
+escaping to the neighbouring mountains with provisions for a month. In
+the meanwhile, the Tibboo women and the strangers are left to themselves.
+The women transact all the trade of salt, and manage alone their
+household affairs. The Tibboo women, indeed, are everything, and their
+men nothing--idling and lounging away their time, and kicked about by
+their wives as so many useless drones of society. The women maintain the
+men as a race of stallions, and not from any love for them; but to
+preserve the Tibboo nation from extinction.
+
+A brief description of the oases of Fezzan may be given, beginning with
+_Mourzuk_, (‮مرزوق‬). The capital is placed in
+25° 54′ N. Lat., and 14° 12′ E. of Greenwich. It is a walled city,
+contained within the circumference of about three miles, having a
+population of about 3,500 souls. The area of the site was reduced to
+a third, on the south side, by Abd-El-Geleel, for the convenience of
+defence, when he held it against the Turks. On the west, is the
+Castle of the Bashaw, forming a separate division or quarter from
+the town. The Castle, which consists of many buildings and
+court-yards, contains the barracks. The town is formed of one large
+broad street, opening into a spacious square before the Castle, and
+several smaller narrower streets. Since the occupation of the Turks,
+many improvements have been made. A new mosque has been built, and
+a guard-house is being finished for the troops in town. Two or three
+coffee-houses and new shops have been fitted up, and the progress of
+building improvements continues. Mourzuk has three gates. The houses
+are mostly built of sun-dried bricks, cemented with mud, very little
+stone and no lime being found in the environs. Altogether it is a
+clean place, for an interior African city. The suburbs already have
+been noticed, where in the gardens wheat, barley, ghusub, ghafouly,
+the flax plant, common vegetables and flowers, a few roses and
+jessamines, are cultivated, with the noble date-palm overshadowing
+all. Every garden has its well, or wells. Sweet water is scarce. The
+spring crops are six weeks in advance of those in Tripoli. The
+Bashaw, on my taking leave of His Highness, presented me with a
+handful of ripe barley to bring to Tripoli, as a rarity. One bushel
+or measure of seed-corn produces from twenty-four to twenty-eight
+bushels. A greater quantity of corn could be easily produced in all
+the oases. A man and boy with an ass can cultivate corn enough in a
+season to subsist three or four families during six months. There
+are two seasons and two crops. But the gardens near the city offer
+no features of beautiful vegetation. At a distance there are much
+finer specimens of Saharan cultivation.
+
+The government of Mourzuk consists of a Bashaw, ostensibly assisted by a
+Divan of six persons, to whom is joined the Kady. Besides a Kady in this
+city, there are four Kadys in the rest of the province. The garrison
+consists of five hundred and fifty men and boys, about one-third only of
+whom are Turks, the rest being Arabs and Moors. Of the whole force, one
+hundred and fifty are cavalry. There is besides an irregular corps of a
+hundred Arab horse. The superior officers, including the
+commander-in-chief, are all Turks. The medical officer is a Greek. The
+Porte has very few Turkish doctors. The medical officer at Tripoli was
+the late Dickson, an Englishman. This inconsiderable force is sufficient
+to maintain all the oases in tranquillity, and defend them from the
+hostile tribes.
+
+The commerce of Mourzuk is at a low ebb on account of the rival Touarick
+city of Ghat, and especially from the disturbed state of the Bornou route
+during the last few years. However, there are caravans between Cairo and
+Mourzuk, which never frequent Tripoli. Many British and Levant goods come
+by this route, which are not brought by the ordinary route from Tripoli.
+
+Saharan merchants divide Central Africa or Nigritia, into three
+divisions, according to the marts and routes of the interior commerce,
+viz.: Bornou, with which Mourzuk has the most direct relations; Soudan,
+or Bur-el-Abeed, ("Land of Slaves"), with which Ghat and Ghadames have
+direct and most frequent communications; and, finally, Timbuctoo, with
+which Ghat and Ghadames have likewise always relations. But Morocco is
+the country in North Africa which has the most constant relations with
+Timbuctoo; so much so, that in past times, the Emperors pretended to
+exercise sovereignty over this mysterious city of the banks of the Niger.
+
+As before mentioned, Mourzuk is not healthy[111]. The Greek doctor calls
+the fever "_febre terziane_" (Ital.), apparently the ordinary
+intermittent fever, or perhaps the tertian ague, with local
+peculiarities. It usually begins in April and continues all summer. It
+recommences in October, and persons attacked in this month are sick
+during the whole of the month. About two per cent. die if they have
+medical assistance, but, without this assistance, a great number die.
+After it, comes the bile, "_gastrica bigliosa_." (Ital.) This disease has
+also fatal consequences. The simple fever is often accompanied, when it
+presents itself, with worms; it then changes to intermittent fever, and
+if it does not, is usually fatal. Persons not cured of the fever often
+become dropsical. There are a few cases of consumption. Syphilis is very
+virulent, and prevails amongst the troops. Ophthalmia and rheumatism are
+common complaints. Thus Mourzuk is not quite one of those oases, or
+Hesperian gardens, where the happy residents quaff the elixir of immortal
+health and virtue. Contrarily, it is a sink of vice and disease within,
+and a sere foliage of palms and vegetation without, overhung with an ever
+forbidding sky, of dull red haziness.
+
+The Turkish system of laxity of morals, as exhibited in all their
+garrison towns, has full force, free course, and scope in Mourzuk,
+beginning as an example with His Highness the Bashaw, and descending to
+the lowest soldiers. Yet they say, it was infinitely worse before the
+present commanding officer had charge of the troops. The officers have
+no legitimate wives, nor, of course the privates. The women of Mourzuk
+are therefore necessarily of bold aspect and depraved manners. All the
+lower classes of females are usually unveiled, and will commit acts of
+immodesty anywhere. In general these women are constantly being divorced
+and taking new husbands. In such a depraved state of society, love and
+affection are consequently unknown,
+
+Here never--
+
+    "Love his gold shafts employs;"
+
+Never here--
+
+    "Waves his purple wings."
+
+Mr. Gagliuffi thought one of the greatest obstacles to the suppression of
+the slave-trade was the facility which it afforded Moorish and Arab
+merchants to indulge in sensual amours. Although a merchant would get no
+profit by his long and dreary journeys over Desert, he would still carry
+it on for the sake of indulging in the lower passions of his nature. A
+slave dealer will convey a score or two of female slaves from Mourzuk to
+Tripoli, and change the unhappy objects of his brutal lust every night.
+This is, he considers, the summum bonum of human existence, and to obtain
+it, he will continue this nefarious trade, without the smallest gain, or
+prospect of gain, and die a beggar when his vile passions become extinct.
+"What is life without a slave?" says The Desert voluptuary. "Better to
+die than have no slaves!" But there are exceptions. A young lad is placed
+by his uncle, who lives in Tripoli, under the care of the Consul. His
+uncle wrote to the Consul, "To tell the lad, to send no more slaves to
+Tripoli, to abandon the traffic altogether," adding, in his letter, "In
+future, God deliver us from this shameful traffic!" But the Consul
+previously had written to the uncle that he would not take the boy under
+his care if he trafficked in slaves. Notwithstanding all this, some few
+Saharan merchants there are who really detest this traffic, and its
+attendant immoralities. Such I have found in my later peregrinations
+through North Africa.
+
+Fezzan, as vulgarly computed, is said to contain one hundred and one
+towns and villages, or inhabited oases. The districts are, 1st. Mourzuk,
+the capital; 2nd. East side, including Hofrah, Shargheeah, and Foghah;
+3rd. North side, Sebhah, Bounanees, Jofrah, and Shaty; 4th. West side,
+Wady Sharghee, Wady Ghurby, and Wady Atbah; 5th. South side, Ghatroun.
+This division embraces twelve principal towns, where there are resident
+Kaeds. All the lesser towns have their subordinate Kaeds or Sheikhs. It
+will be seen that Sockna is not included in this enumeration, and it is
+not usually considered a part of the government of Fezzan. Of the rest,
+and all the towns, Zuela is the more interesting for its antiquities.
+Formerly the capital, as well as Germa, it was colonized by the Romans.
+Zuela contains some ancient inscriptions, and not long ago two
+store-rooms were discovered, full of indigo, supposed to have been a
+portion of the ancient commerce of the interior. Zuela is the principal
+town of the division of Shargheeah, or The East.
+
+To the natural productions of Fezzan, already enumerated, may be added,
+the Trona[112], or "Sal Natrone" of Tripoline merchants. It is procured
+from the bottom of the lakes when the water evaporates during the summer
+season. Besides its use of being masticated in Barbary, it is exported to
+Europe in considerable quantities, for the manufacture of glass. A little
+gum-arabic is procured hereabouts, and the quantity is increasing.
+
+Leo Africanus gives the following account of these oases, which, joining
+those of the Tibboos, connect almost in a straight line Northern with
+Central Africa:--
+
+"Fezzen è similmente una grande abitazione, nella quale sono di grossi
+castelli e di gran casali, tutti abitati da un ricco popolo si di
+possessioni, como di danari; perciocchè sono ne' confini di Agadez e del
+diserto di Libia che confina con lo Egitto; ed è discosto dal Cairo circa
+a sessanta giornate; nè pel diserto altra abitazione si truova, che
+Augela che' é nel diserto di Libia. Fezzen è dominata da un signore che è
+come primario del popolo, il quale tutta la rendita del paese dispensa
+nel comun beneficio, pagando certo tributo a' vicini Arabi. Similmente in
+cotal paese è molta penuria di pane e di carne; e si mangia carne di
+camello, la quale è tuttavia carissima."--(_Sixth Part, chap._ Liii.)
+
+Formerly Fezzan was exceedingly rich and populous, but now it is
+become impoverished to the last degree, and many of its largest
+district populations are reduced to the starvation-point. Its
+inhabited oases would produce an infinitely greater amount of the
+materials of existence, if moderately cultivated, whilst many oases,
+once smiling paradisal spots in Desert, are altogether abandoned.
+The few merchants who have any money are those of Sockna, but which
+town, as before mentioned, does not properly belong to Fezzan,
+though its relations with these oases are intimate. Before the
+Turks and Abd-El-Geleel, Fezzan was governed by its own native
+Sultans, whose family was of the Shereefs of Morocco. But about
+thirty years ago one Mukhanee, or Mukni[113], as he is commonly
+called, entered into conspiracy with the Bashaw of Tripoli to seize
+the government of the native princes, who were thus deposed, and the
+usurped government continued in the hands of the Bashaw and his
+creatures, until it was seized in turn by the brave and enterprising
+Arab chieftain, Abd-El-Geleel. The immediate ancestors of this
+Sheikh were destroyed by old Yousef Bashaw, amongst whom Saif
+Nasser, grandfather of the Sheikh, and the head of the Oulad
+Suleiman, was a celebrated warrior. These chiefs and their tribes
+occupied the shores of the Syrtis (Sert ‮سرت‬), and were originally
+from Morocco. They might claim some connexion with the deposed
+Shereefian government. When all his ancestors, and especially his
+grandfather, Saif-Nasser, were butchered by the exterminating policy
+of Yousef Bashaw, Abd-El-Geleel, then a boy, was saved,--as an
+instrument of future vengeance in the hands of Providence--by the
+secret interference of the women of the Bashaw's family. As the boy,
+however, grew up, he could not fail to excite the suspicions of the
+Bashaw, for the old hoary-headed assassin saw in him, not darkly or
+dimly, the sword which was being drawn by avenging Heaven to cut off
+his family root and branch, perhaps his own head, and break up for
+ever his blood-cemented kingdom. These suspicions of a guilty
+conscience came at length to such a pitch, that the day arrived when
+the innocent youth was to be strangled, so snatching violently away
+the instrument of vengeance from the hands of inexorable justice!
+But, on that very day, the Bashaw received intelligence of a
+threatened invasion from Mehemet Ali, and old Yousef knew this
+aspiring young warrior to be the only man who could unite the
+scattered and disaffected tribes of the Syrtis, and repel the
+invasion. Abd-El-Geleel was therefore forthwith dispatched to muster
+the Arabs, and make all things ready to meet the invading enemy.
+However, the alarms of invasion soon died away, and the young Sheikh
+was sent up to the province of Fezzan to quell some insurrection of
+the Arabs.
+
+But finding himself surrounded continually with suspicious agents and
+cut-throat spies, who might in a moment compass his assassination, whilst
+the Arabs _en route_ were ripe for revolt, the wary Sheikh at once raised
+the standard of rebellion, and took possession, successively, of the town
+of Benioleed, the mountainous district of Gharian, the Syrtis, and the
+province of Fezzan, all which he held nine years with the style and power
+of a Sultan. Then the day of his fate also began to hasten on. The old
+Bashaw's family, polluted with the most cruel and odious crimes, fell by
+its own intestine divisions, ending in a civil war, which war was closed
+by the usurpation of the Turks. Abd-El-Geleel was now called upon to
+submit to the Sultan of Constantinople, a new and a more formidable
+master. The Sheikh refused submission, and declared and carried on war
+with the Turks. At length, however, his intrepid brother, Saif Nasser,
+was killed in battle, and the Sultan-Sheikh became dispirited, lost his
+courage and presence of mind. Abd-El-Geleel madly surrendered himself,
+at the instigation of his own Sheikhs, who betrayed him to the Turks, and
+Belazee, the present Bashaw of Fezzan, who commanded the troops against
+him, on hearing of his voluntary surrender, sent word that the Arab
+prince was not to be brought alive into the camp. He was then instantly
+decapitated! This cruel assassination took place in 1842. The whole of
+the usurped districts held by the prince, now returned to the power of
+the Turks.
+
+Asker Ali, the blood-thirsty tyrant then governing Tripoli, on hearing of
+this intelligence was drunk with joy. His insolence to the British
+Consul-General knew no bounds. The tyrant even boasted openly, that God
+would give into his hands his two other enemies, the British
+Consul-General, and the Vice-Consul of Mourzuk! The tyrant was fond of
+dipping in astrology and reading fate, and he was once surprised by his
+ministers, reading the certain destruction of these last two of his
+remaining enemies in a small portion of sand. The consequence of all this
+open violence naturally was his instant recal, Sir Stratford Canning
+threatening the Porte that, if it delayed his recal more than one hour, a
+British squadron would depose the tyrant, and replace him by another
+Bashaw. The ancient Bey of Bengazi, an exile in Malta, and one of the
+Caramanly family, or of the old Moorish dynasty of Bashaws, would have
+replaced Asker Ali. This tyrant, like all tyrants, on receiving his
+recal, was unmanned, and became weaker than a child, for the performance
+of acts of the darkest cruelty and the most arrant cowardice, are quite
+compatible. The tyrant Asker Ali shed tears! on leaving the country,
+where he had exercised the most atrocious cruelties. However, he was
+fated to execute one act of justice, in the style of the Turk, against
+the betrayers of Abd-El-Geleel; for the tyrant strangled all the
+subordinate Arab chieftains who had conspired against their master, and
+delivered him into the hands of the Turks,--the just vengeance of heaven
+against traitors. Asker Ali returned to Constantinople, and as is the
+custom now-a-days, the Porte, imitating the recent policy of the French
+Government, which Government, whenever it disavows its agents, decorates
+them as a matter of course,--so that to be, or get decorated, is to do
+something contrary to international law and justice,--following such a
+good and honest maxim, such a discovery in the science of diplomacy, I
+repeat, the Porte, in its sympathy, immediately conferred on the tyrant a
+new Pashalic. Thence, after a short time, Asker Ali continuing his
+horrible trade of official murder, consulting his book of fate and atoms
+of sand, and hanging up the good subjects of the Porte "without judge or
+jury," got again recalled; and I have not heard more of this miscreant
+Pasha. Asker Ali is a bright jewel of native Ottoman ferocity.
+
+The Chief Abd-El-Geleel figures in the Slave-Trade Reports of Tripoli,
+1843, as an abolitionist. But, according to M. Subtil, he was only
+bamboozling Col. Warrington[114]. This Subtil also pretends the chieftain
+was more inclined to French than English interests. Such a statement is
+probably a calumny of the sulphur-exploring adventurer in Tripoli, and
+was made to get himself popularity in France, or to help his schemes of
+Tripoli speculations. At any rate, it rests solely upon his very dubious
+authority. The Arab prince lost all by attempting too much. He reversed
+the maxim of "attempt much, and you will get a little." An arrangement
+was offered to the Sheikh, by which, on paying a contribution of 25,000
+dollars per annum, and acknowledging the sovereignty of the Grand
+Signior, the usurped districts should be confirmed to him, and
+hereditarily to his family. But, like the ten thousand military
+chieftains, soldiers of fortune, who have gone before him, whose faith
+saw their star always in the ascendant, he sighed for Tripoli, and its
+Bashaw's Castle, and lost all.
+
+The son of Abd-el-Geleel, on the assassination of his father, took the
+advice of Col. Warrington, and emigrated to Bornou, whose Sultan being of
+Arab extraction, received the emigrant hospitably as a brother, and
+assigned the unfortunate prince and his scattered followers, a district
+on the confines of Bornou, between the Tibboos and his own empire. Since
+then, the exiled prince has received a great accession of strength by a
+numerous reinforcement of the Oulad Suleiman, and is now strong enough
+himself to defend his newly acquired territory, should the Sultan of
+Bornou at any time be won over by the intrigues of the Turks, to cancel
+his concession of lands and attempt to expel the refugees. This movement
+of the Oulad Suleiman is connected with the further military exploits of
+Hasan Belazee.
+
+About a twelvemonth ago, the inhabitants of the village of Omm-Errâneb
+("mother of hares"), took it into their heads to revolt, and upon some
+frivolous pretext seized their neighbours' camels, as an intimation to
+the Bashaw of their seditious intentions. It is certain, however, from
+what followed in the course of events, that their revolt was concerted
+with the Oulad Suleiman. The villagers of Omm-Errâneb had not the shadow
+of excuse for their revolt, for they paid no contributions to the Bashaw,
+and merely acknowledged the Porte. This town is walled and consists of
+about two hundred houses, and at the time of the war had a population of
+some eight hundred souls, entirely Arab, but of the people only three
+hundred were armed. The Bashaw of Fezzan went out himself against the
+rebels, although extremely unwell, captured their city, and destroyed
+about one hundred and twenty of them. The Arab townsmen fought from house
+to house with the most determined bravery, obstinately retiring through
+their town from one gate to the other. The Bashaw would have slaughtered
+more of them, but he had no men to intercept their egress at the opposite
+gate of the town. His Highness lost only eight Turks and eight Arabs in
+the capture of this place. On the next day, to the astonishment of all,
+about six hundred of the Oulad Suleiman came up from the Syrtis, all
+fully armed, having left their families some two days' distance. The
+first thing they did was to capture a convoy of sick and wounded, in
+charge of the Greek Doctor, all of whom they immediately butchered in
+cold blood, with the one exception of the Doctor.
+
+The account which the Doctor gives of his capture and escape is
+sufficiently characteristic.
+
+_The Assailant._--"May your father and mother be cursed, and your wife
+prostituted, you dog of a Turk!" (raising the sword to strike him).
+
+_The Supplicant._--"Oh! have mercy upon me, I'm a doctor," (falling on
+his knees).
+
+_An Arab_, aside.--"Strike! strike! he lies."
+
+_The Assailant._--"May all your children beg their bread, and the curse
+of God be upon them!" (seizing him by the turban to cut off his head).
+
+_The Supplicant._--"Oh! have mercy upon me, I'm the brother of the
+English Consul at Mourzuk, your friend."
+
+_The Arab_, aside.--"Hold! hold! let him go."
+
+But the Doctor did not get off until he had emptied his pockets of his
+dollars. In this way only he rendered his supplications effectual.
+
+In warfare, both Turks and Greeks have been in the habit of taking what
+money they possess with them, to redeem them from slavery if captured, or
+for any other available purpose in the case of defeat[115]. The Oulad
+Suleiman then attacked the Bashaw with extreme ferocity, and His Highness
+was in great danger. He was so unwell at the time that he could not sit
+upon his horse. But, when the troops began to waver, the officers took
+the Bashaw and set him upon his horse to show him to the soldiers. The
+sight of the veteran commander rallied their sinking courage. His
+Highness had just strength enough to hold up his sword and point to the
+enemy, on seeing which his troops rushed on impetuously, and obtained a
+complete victory over the Arabs. The Arabs were, however, only dispersed
+a moment, and were allowed to reunite their scattered bands and pursue
+tranquilly their way to Bornou, to the prince of their tribe. All the
+fugitives of the Omm-Errâneb accompanied them. On their march up, they
+ruthlessly sacked all the villages of Fezzan and the Tibboos, and
+arrived at the quarters of their compatriots laden with booty. The
+Bashaw returned weary and exhausted, having no sufficient force to follow
+up the pursuit of the Oulad Suleiman, whose march was that of conquerors
+rather than fugitives. Indeed, the Bashaw was glad enough of their
+retreat to Bornou. Whilst this fighting was going on, the greatest
+confusion reigned at Mourzuk, and many of the wealthy inhabitants
+deposited their money and valuables in the house of the English Consul,
+for to add to their miseries, some malicious persons had reported the
+capture of the Bashaw, with all his army. It is probable the Turks are
+exceedingly well satisfied with the emigration of these restless and
+indomitable Oulad Suleiman. There cannot be a doubt of their being
+devoted to the English, but they are of difficult treatment for us. At
+the present time, they are dispersed in marauding parties on the route of
+Bornou, and were even an English tourist to fall into their hands, he
+might be maltreated before he was recognized as a British subject, and as
+such received the protection of their prince. This was the main
+difficulty which prevented my going up to Bornou.
+
+It would seem, however, the Oulad Suleiman are getting tired of the
+burning climate and fevers of Bornou, and are sighing for the cool airs
+and healthy breezes of the shores of Syrtis, with the refreshing sight of
+the dark-blue waters of the Mediterranean. For on my return to Tripoli, I
+found the British Consul in negotiation with the Bashaw to procure their
+return to the Syrtis: of which since I have heard nothing. The Bashaw
+told the Consul they must write to the Sultan for pardon. The negotiation
+was placed in the hands of Mr. Gagliuffi, of whom they are passionately
+fond, and in whom they have the most implicit confidence. These
+malcontent Arabs were, of course, on friendly terms with the Touaricks of
+Ghat, as every attempt to resist the consolidation of the power of the
+Porte in Tripoli is viewed favourably by the Touaricks. But the marauding
+of the Oulad Suleiman in the interior, and the interruption of the
+commerce of Bornou, ill requite the asylum and hospitality afforded them
+by its Sultan, and for the sake of the commerce of The Sahara, the sooner
+they are back again to the Syrtis the better.
+
+_5th._--Rose early to write and prepare for my departure to Tripoli.
+Called on the Turkish officers to take leave. One and all observed,
+"Before you were going to h----, now you are going to heaven," alluding
+to my projected tour to Soudan. I was not of this opinion; for, after
+months and months in my dreams, night-dreams and waking-dreams, having
+acted over in my imagination all the dangers and privations of The
+Desert, and seen all the wonders of the mysterious regions of Nigritia, I
+set about my departure from Mourzuk with a heavy heart, lamenting my
+ill-starred luck and failure, seeing my mission abruptly cut off midway
+in its accomplishment. Mr. Gagliuffi arranged for my returning to Tripoli
+with the slave-caravan of Haj Essnousee, whom the reader will be pleased
+not to confound with my friend Essnousee of Ghadames, who had gone on to
+Soudan with the return caravan. Haj Essnousee had accompanying him two or
+three other traders, all of whom were natives of Sockna. Their slaves had
+not come from Ghat, but had been brought three months ago by the Tibboos
+from Bornou.
+
+I left Mourzuk late in the afternoon. I had heard the melancholy song of
+the slaves departing in the morning. I had now to overtake them this
+evening. Mr. Gagliuffi and the Doctor accompanied me outside the gates,
+and the Consul's Moorish servant conducted me to the first night's
+encampment, both of us riding horses. I do not regret turning off the
+direct route to Tripoli, and visiting Mourzuk before my return. For here
+I obtained a better idea of the Upper Provinces of Tripoli, and I am
+greatly indebted to the Vice-Consul for his assistance in my researches.
+I must acknowledge likewise the kind attentions of the Doctor and the
+Turkish officers. I bade Mr. Gagliuffi an affectionate farewell, who
+answered with the plain earnest old English of "God bless you!" I left
+the Consul in but indifferent health. Three times has he had the fever,
+yet he is determined to keep up to the last. When Mr. Gagliuffi first
+went to Mourzuk, he expected that Abd-El-Geleel, whose agent he was, as
+well as having the appointment of British Vice-Consul, would have been
+confirmed in his authority. But this Chief's assassination left the
+Consul to struggle against formidable difficulties, and Mr. Gagliuffi was
+obliged to apply to the British Government for pecuniary assistance,
+which has been tardily granted.
+
+The appointment of Mr. Gagliuffi has fully answered all the objects
+originally projected. The traffic in slaves is well watched on this
+route, and reported upon. The Vice-Consul exercises a beneficial
+influence on the affairs of Mourzuk, and is useful both to the governing
+power and the governed. The population of Fezzan have great faith in the
+integrity of Mr. Gagliuffi as agent of the British Government. The Consul
+assists them in various ways. Some twenty months ago he lent the people
+of Mourzuk money to meet the tribute demanded from them by the Government
+of Tripoli. His relations with Bornou have already been mentioned. The
+Vizier of the Sheikh lately, on his return from a pilgrimage to Mecca,
+stopped at the Consul's house, and Mr. Gagliuffi transacted all his
+business. Most strangers go to the Consul, in preference to the Ottoman
+authorities, or the people of the town. A great Maroquine Marabout came
+this way from Mecca, and deposited all his money, whilst in Mourzuk, in
+the hands of the Consul. The people were jealous that a Marabout should
+trust a Christian in preference to themselves, and remonstrated with the
+Marabout, who very drily replied to them, "You are not of the Faithful:
+you are all robbers. I am obliged to trust this Christian."
+
+Unquestionably the establishment of English Consuls and Vice-Consuls
+throughout The Desert, and all the great cities of the Interior of
+Africa, would be an immense benefit to humanity, whilst it would equally
+promote British trade and interests, and the commerce of the entire
+world. One day, in happier times, there may be a Minister wise enough and
+bold enough to undertake this great enterprize, and to make this
+application of our resources, which eventually would be no sacrifice, for
+the benefit of all mankind. It will, however, require sacrifices from
+individuals as well as from Government, for a residence in The Desert or
+Central Africa is no consular retreat, or diplomatic lounge for an
+invalid Minister. But if any sacrifice be made for foreign nations and
+countries, it surely should be made for Africa, on whose unhappy children
+we as a nation, in past times, have inflicted such enormous wrongs.
+
+I shall only give one instance of the positive and material benefit which
+the people of Fezzan have derived from the establishment of the British
+Consul at Mourzuk. Mr. Gagliuffi induced the people to cultivate the
+tholh for collecting gums. Fifty cantars were collected the first year,
+and last year some two hundred. The whole of the population are now
+seized with a fit of gum-collecting, but they are not yet expert at
+making the incisions in the trees. In the course of time it will be a
+most profitable article of export for the people. This gum now sells for
+10 or 12 mahboubs the cantar in Tripoli. Such has been entirely the "good
+work" of the English Consul.
+
+We stopped at one of Mr. Gagliuffi's gardens to get some sweet water.
+This was a very nice plantation of palms overshadowing crops of corn. The
+Consul has several of these gardens, but all of a limited size. After
+sunset, we found the encampment at Terzah. It consisted of three
+merchants and their servants, about sixty slaves, most of whom were young
+women and girls, and twelve camels. Felt cold during the night--in fact
+caught cold, and not very well. Ought to have a tent. Said very happy in
+the prospect of returning to Tripoli, and as usual immediately made
+friends amongst the male and female slaves.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[111] Our former tourists say: "The opinion of everybody, Arabs,
+    Tripolines, and our predecessors (Mr. Ritchie and Captain Lyon),
+    were unanimous as to the insalubrity of its air." And "Every one
+    of us, some in a greater or less degree, had been seriously
+    disordered; and amongst the inhabitants themselves, anything like
+    a healthy-looking person was a rarity." Denham observes also that
+    to account for the sickliness of Mourzuk was a very difficult
+    matter, and required a wiser head than his.
+
+[112] _Trona_, ‮الطرون‬, and ‮ترونه‬ "Carbonate of
+    Soda." The great _Trona_ lake is near Germa or Garama.
+
+[113] ‮مُخني‬
+
+[114] See "Histoire d'Abd-el-Geleel, Sultan de Fezzan, assassiné
+    en 1842." _Revue de L'Orient_, Sept., 1844.
+
+[115] The Doctor afterwards recovered his money, the Arab who
+    captured him having fallen in the skirmish.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+FROM MOURZUK TO SOCKNA.
+
+     Well of Esh-Shour.--Village of Dillaim.--Tying up a Female Slave
+     to the Camel.--Village of Gudwah.--Well of Bel-Kashee
+     Faree.--Melancholy Songs of the Slaves.--Reflections on the Slave
+     Trade; Christian Republicans, and the Scottish Free Kirk.--Well
+     of Mukni.--El-Bab.--She-Camels with Foals.--How American Consuls
+     justify Slavery.--Arrival at Sebhah, and description of the
+     People.--Cruelty of a Moorish Boy to the young Female
+     Slaves.--Prohibited Food in matters of Religion.--The Taste of a
+     Locust.--Anecdotes related by the Bashaw of Mourzuk and Mr.
+     Gagliuffi.--Divinations of the Tyrant Asker Ali.--Continual
+     delays.--Altercation with a Moor about Religion.--The Songs of
+     the Female Slaves interpreted.--Version of Mr. Whittier, the
+     American Poet.--The _Amor Patriæ_ of the Negroes.--Primitive
+     Style of playing Draughts.--Games and Wine prohibited by the
+     Koran.--Sebhah, a City of the Dead.--Oases and extent of the
+     Sebhah district.--Fezzanee Palms bear Fruit without Water.--Town
+     of Timhanah.--Bad Odour of the Turks in these Oases.--Essnousee,
+     an atrocious Slave Driver.--Stroke of a Scorpion.
+
+
+_6th._--ROSE early, and made a long day. Passed a few dwarf wild palms.
+Country about here is mostly sandy, and in hollow flats. Encamped by the
+well of Esh-Shour. Our course east and north-east. We passed by the small
+village of Dillaim. One of the Moors travelling with us said to me, "Oh,
+master, how could you think of going to Soudan! How you would have
+suffered!" I returned, "No noble enterprizes are achieved without great
+mental and bodily suffering." This remark impressed him in my favour, and
+we continued great friends all the route to Tripoli.
+
+This morning Haj Essnousee, being on foot, called out for his camel to
+stop, in a tone which denoted he had some important business on hand. I
+turned to see what was the matter, and so did all, as if something
+peculiar was about to happen. I then saw Essnousee bringing up a slave
+girl about a dozen years of age, pulling her violently along. When he got
+her up to the camel, he took a small cord and began tying it round her
+neck. Afterwards, bethinking himself of something, he tied the cord round
+the wrist of her right arm. This done, Essnousee drove the camel on. In a
+few minutes she fell down, and the slave-master, seeing her fallen down,
+and a man attempting to raise her up, cried out, "Let her alone, cursed
+be your father! you dog." The wretched girl was then dragged on the
+ground over the sharp stones, being fastened by her wrist, but she never
+cried or uttered a word of complaint. Her legs now becoming lacerated and
+bleeding profusely, she was lifted up by Essnousee's Arabs. She then,
+however, continued to hold on, the rope being also bound round her body
+so as to help her along. Thus she was dragged, limping and tumbling down,
+and crippled all the day, which was a very long day's journey. Whether
+she feigned sickness, or sulked, or was exhausted, I leave the reader to
+judge. Neither I nor her cruel master could tell. Indeed, such is the
+nature of the Negro character it is impossible to tell. A slave may sulk,
+and may not; whilst also ill and dying, they may be flogged on the point
+of death, as Haj Ibrahim flagellated his dying victim. No doubt, at times
+these wretched slaves, when worn down and exhausted, play some innocent
+tricks to get a ride. Nevertheless, such is the power of sullen
+insensibility which slaves can command, that the brutal masters may flog
+them to death without finding out whether they are really ill, or only
+sulky.
+
+_7th._--On our return from a difficult journey, everything is, or appears
+to be easy. We think little or nothing of it, especially if we have got
+with us a new supply of matters of equipment and provisions. So I rose
+early with the most profound indifference of the month's journey before
+me, as if travelling in old England, and I must likewise add, with less
+anxiety for the safety of my baggage. Desert baggage-stealers there are
+indeed none, and pickpockets and pilferers are as rare as the birds,
+which now and then are seen hopping about the wells, picking up what they
+can chance to find.
+
+Our course is north, over an undulating sandy soil. About 11 A.M. we had
+in view Ghudwah, and in an hour more we reached the village. Ghudwah is a
+cluster of wretched mud hovels, rendered tolerable by being placed amidst
+a wood of palms. The squalor of these humble dwellings is, in truth,
+forgotten amongst the patches of beautiful green corn, some already in
+the ear, and the graceful, towering, all-over-hanging palm-trees. In a
+wady on the left were also forests of palms. The oases of Fezzan are, in
+fact, but a series of these palm forests. Unquestionably a great body of
+water must be under and near the surface. But we must keep to the
+designation of oases in describing the province of Fezzan, of which we
+had a convincing proof this morning; for, during four or five hours we
+traversed a country in every respect desert, covered with small black
+stones, defying all attempts at cultivation, and this desert land
+apparently surrounds and intersects the entire series of the oases of
+Fezzan.
+
+When we got clear of Ghudwah we halted for the day, about 2 P.M., near a
+well called Bel-Kashee-Faree. I was glad to halt, both for the sake of
+the slaves, and myself. To-day the same girl was not tied to the camel,
+but a younger one. She also, poor thing, was dragged along, limping as
+she went, and whenever she stopped a moment to tie up her sandals, she
+had the greatest difficulty to reach again the camel. I was annoyed to
+see none of her sister-slaves give her a lift and help her on to get up
+to the camel, so that she might continue to be assisted by its march.
+Some of the poor things, however, have their intimate friends in their
+fellow bondswomen. The girl dragged on yesterday, had her faithful
+companion, bringing her water and dates. But in spite of all their
+sufferings, the poor bondswomen keep up well. The young women sing and
+sometimes dance on the road, while the boys ape the Turkish soldiers whom
+they had seen exercise in Mourzuk, walking in file, holding up sticks on
+their shoulders, and crying out "Shoulder arms!" or words to that effect.
+The guileless lads of Africa think these two magic words to be the
+quintessence of Turkish and European civilization, and that which renders
+the white men superior to their sable fathers. Two of the boys are
+dressed in old soldiers' jackets and look very droll. So we journey along
+as well as we can.
+
+But whilst surveying the march of this troop of human cattle for the
+market, I can't but think how dreadful a trade is this of buying and
+selling our fellow creatures! The Moors and Arabs of the ghafalah are
+civil enough. They discover great curiosity at seeing me write, and not a
+little surprise, like all I have met with, to find me writing Arabic,
+whilst some of themselves cannot. They are all of Sockna.
+
+It is now near sunset, but I am not going to write a description of a
+Saharan sunset, which this evening offers nothing but sheets of bright
+yellow flame. Towards the east, the palms, underwood, and herbage make me
+fancy myself in the midst of a boundless circle of cultivation, for I see
+no "darksome desert" through the pale skyey openings of the thick
+verdure. My feelings thus would be soothed and gratified, were it not
+that the sounds--always to me so melancholy--of the Negroes' song, as
+they clap their hands and sing and dance their native sports, are heard
+near my encampment. Then again I feel happy in the reflection that God
+gives moments of joyous happiness even to slaves. Why not be soothed to
+hear this song of slaves? What a mysterious thing is Providence! Not to
+the masters of these slaves, who are now stretched in dreamy listlessness
+on the ground, gives God such jocund innocent delights; not to the wiser
+and wisest, to the stronger or strongest, (as "the battle is not to the
+strong,") gives God happiness; but to the poorest, weakest of mortals,
+the forlorn, helpless female slave! As I have mentioned, I heard this
+same song--to me so melancholy and disheartening--as the slaves were
+departing from Mourzuk. I was then quietly writing, but as the mournful
+accents broke on my ear, I started from my usual propriety of feeling,
+and the courage which carried me over The Desert gave away under the
+pressure of these strange Nigritian sounds of the poor black children,
+the desolate daughters of the banks of the mysterious Niger. The tears
+rushed to my eyes, but I stopped them in their lachrymal sluices, and
+called it folly, for to weep I cannot, I will not. Rather let me curse
+the slave-dealers of every land and clime. Yes, let this foolish
+sensibility be turned to exasperation; let me curse those proud
+Republicans, in whose heart there is no flesh, whose flag bears impiously
+against Heaven the stripes and the scars of the slaves! These I cursed,
+and those who in the hypocrisy of their souls, and their sanctimonious
+pretensions to Church freedom, received the gold tainted with the blood
+of the slave, to build up their Free Kirk! But why curse? What impotence!
+Why not leave the avenging bolt of wrath to that God, who "hath made of
+one blood all the nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the
+earth?"
+
+_8th._--Rose at sunrise and started with the day. Route north and
+north-west, over an undulating gravelly plain. A few tholh trees, and one
+solitary tholh by the road-side, which at a great distance forms a very
+conspicuous object. A single tree in The Desert always excites more
+interest in the mind of the reflective traveller than a forest. Solitary
+palms are often seen near the coast. At noon, reached the well called
+Beer Mukhanee, after the distinguished traitor, who dug it, but who
+betrayed and ruined this country. Many a tyrant and traitor has left
+behind him some monument of utility, to relieve the weight of his
+infamous name with posterity. The well is very deep and the water good,
+but we did not take in any, as wells are frequent hereabouts. Continued
+our course until sunset, a long day, and encamped at the base of a small
+mountain, called Babān, or "Two Doors," and by others, El-Bab, or "The
+Door." The Door and the Gate, like the famous "Iron Gate" in Algeria, are
+frequent names of rocky hills and mountains in this part of Africa.
+Ghaljeewan, a mountainous district of the south-eastern part of Aheer, is
+called "the door of Aheer." On the Danube there is a reef of ugly and
+huge rocks, over which the current of the river dashes furiously. The
+Turks call this "The Iron Gate" of the Danube.
+
+On the road the camels had no herbage to eat. Some of them ate the dried
+dung of camels and horses. We have a young camel with us about four
+months old; it continues to suck. It has no frolic or fun in its actions,
+and is as serious as its mother. The foal of the camel frolics in awkward
+antics a few days after its birth, but apparently soon loses all its
+infant mirth. In the first place, the foal has to walk as long a day as
+its mother, enough to take all the fun out of the poor little thing;
+then, it sees all its more aged companions very serious and melancholy,
+and soon imbibes their sombre spirit, assuming their slow solemn gait.
+The mother-camel never licks or shows any particular fondness for its
+young beyond opening her legs for the foal to suck. At best, the camel,
+as an animal, is a most ungainly and unlovely creature. What surprises me
+most are the bites of the male-camel. He bites his neighbour, without
+passion or any apparent provocation, and simply because he has nothing
+else to do _en route_, or nothing arrests his attention.
+
+To write in the open Desert is no sinecure. When I go under the shade
+from the sun the wind blows unpityingly, when in the sun the flies
+torment me. Our grand slave-driver Haj Essnousee, is most determinedly
+bent on showing himself a perfect master in his profession. This
+afternoon he set to work beating one poor girl most shockingly for not
+keeping up with the rest. Nearly all got whipped along to-day. Gave a
+ride to one little fellow, hardly five years of age, who limped sadly.
+There was no sulk in him. He was cheerful with all his sufferings. Our
+road is strewn with chumps of petrified wood.
+
+Was thinking to-day, for whilst travelling with slaves the subject is
+most disagreeably pressed upon you, even to nausea, of the reasons
+offered by American Consuls in vindication of slavery in the United
+States. Mr. P----thus apologized:--"I once spoke to a male slave who
+earned plenty of money. I said, 'Do you want to be freed?' 'Oh no,' he
+replied, 'I get fifty dollars a month. I give my master forty and keep
+ten for myself. Why should I wish to be free?'" Mr. M---- said to me one
+day, "My wife has slaves, but they are well taken care of. They each have
+two new suits of clothes per year, and the doctor's bill for each comes
+to two or three dollars also per year." To such miserable drivelling as
+this are men, of some education and standing in society, and the
+representatives of the free as well as the slave States, driven to
+bolster up the nefarious system of holding in bondage their fellow
+creatures! In the one case, a man robs his brother of the rightful fruits
+of his labour. This robbery is perpetrated coolly and deliberately
+through a series of years. In the other case, the taking care of a slave,
+as every humane man must take care of his horse, and give him good beans,
+hay, and a warm stable, is made the corner stone of "the living lie" of
+liberty on the southern transatlantic plains.
+
+_9th._--Rose with the sun, throwing his orient beams of gold athwart all
+the plain, and purpling the rocky block of El-Bab. I mounted the rock,
+and saw Sebhah in the north, where we were to rest in the afternoon.
+There was a huge stone balancing on a ledge of the rock, which apparently
+wanted but a feather's weight to throw it down. Bent on mischief, I was
+going to heave it down, when the people called to me to desist. On
+descending, they told me the stone had fallen from the clouds and caught
+there; it was unlucky to touch it. A demon sits upon it every night and
+swings himself as a child is swung in a swing. Continued our route over a
+sandy plain, until we arrived at a line of palms stretching east and
+west, as far as the eye could see. At 11 A.M., we entered the suburbs of
+the town. After a little rest I went to see what sort of a place it was.
+Found it a tolerably well-built place; the houses are constructed of
+stone and mud-mortar; some have even got a touch of lime or pipe-clay
+wash. Several of the streets are covered in at the top like those of
+Ghadames. Very few people stirring about, being occupied in the suburban
+gardens. Fell in with a cobbler, a tailor, and an old pedagogue with an
+ABC board. Discussed the politics of the place with them all. They took
+me at first for a Turkish Rais coming from Mourzuk. When they found I was
+not a Turk, they began to abuse the Turks. "The Turks," said they, "take
+all our money and leave us nothing to eat but dates. The curse of God be
+upon them!" Whenever Turkish officers stop here they levy contributions.
+The town is walled in with mud and stone-work, and there are several
+towers around it forming part of the wall, pierced with loopholes for
+firing musketry therefrom. Most of these towns are built for protecting
+the people against the Arabs, who can do nothing against a wall, even
+were it only a brick thick. One small piece of cannon would be enough to
+batter down every one of these Saharan-fortified towns. A part of this
+town is placed on a small hill, like Ghat. Sebhah has a dull dingy
+appearance at a distance. There is no lime-wash to give it that agreeable
+aspect which many Moorish towns have, although always very delusive when
+one enters their gates.
+
+This forenoon, a slave-girl was sadly goaded along. An Arab boy of about
+the same age was her goad, who was whipping her and goading her along
+with a sharp piece of wood. Sometimes the young rascal would poke up her
+person. I could not see this without interfering, although I am afraid to
+interfere. She had got far behind, and the boy was thus tormenting her
+like a young imp. I made him take one hand, and I the other. But we could
+not get her up to the camel on which she might lay hold by means of a
+rope, and so get dragged along. We then set her upon a donkey, but she
+was too unwell to ride, and fell off several times, the cruel rogue of a
+boy beating her every time she fell. What annoyed me more, her companions
+in bondage, those hearty and well, set up a loud yell of laughter every
+time she fell off. I'm sick at heart of writing these shocking details.
+But the reader will not be surprised that the Moors make bad
+slave-masters, when they have such an early training as this little
+reprobate boy, the nephew of Haj Essnousee. I often wondered how this
+boy, who was some thirteen years of age, and fully capable of the
+sentiment of love, in a climate like Africa, could torment these poor
+girls of his own age with such brutality. If he found one lagging behind,
+and at some distance from the grown-up men, he would strip her, throw her
+down, and begin tormenting her in the way I have already mentioned. I
+spoke to his uncle about it, but without avail. I then refused to carry
+on my camel some choice dates, which he had in his charge for Tripoli.
+But it was of no use, the boy was the worthy pupil of his uncle, a little
+fiend of ferocity.
+
+My Sockna companions of travel chat with me, but their conversation
+offers nothing new or remarkable. "There is no money in Fezzan. Our
+city (Sockna) only has a few merchants. Mukhanee was originally a
+merchant, and a member of the Divan of Mourzuk. He ruined Fezzan."
+One of the people of this place said to me, "Better if you were a
+Mussulman, and ate and drank like us." I replied, "I eat everything
+good, and never fast to make myself ill." This plain speech amazed
+them. But one said, somewhat to my surprise, "That only which is not
+good, and not fit to eat, is haram (prohibited)." I immediately said
+"Amen" to this, for generally the Moors maintain that pork and other
+things of the kind prohibited, are not good because they are
+prohibited, and not on account of any intrinsic badness in the
+things themselves. They, of course, asked me what sort of places
+were England and London. It's little use to answer such questions;
+they cannot realize the idea or forms of an European city, even in
+imagination. Describing the riches of London, one observed
+ill-naturedly, "Oh, God gives the infidels peace in this world, and
+fire in the next." I then thought it time to leave off my
+description. Whilst we were chatting, a locust was caught and
+roasted. I tasted it, and found it not a bad shrimp. The locust
+requires salt and oil to make it palatable. The Arabs swear the locusts
+have a king, which perfectly agrees with--Καὶ ἔχουσιν ἐ
+φ' αὐτῶν βασιλέα: (Rev. ix. 11.) The name given to this
+insect monarch as perfectly corresponds with their migratory devastations,
+Απολλυων, "destroyer," for before their march are smiling fields of
+verdure and fruitfulness, whilst behind them are desert and
+devastation.
+
+I find in this part of my journal several anecdotes of the Bashaw of
+Mourzuk and Mr. Gagliuffi, which seem to have come to my recollection _en
+route_. The Tibboo chief before mentioned, whose jurisdiction extends
+over a wretched village, observed one day to the Bashaw, "The Sultan of
+the Tibboos (himself) inquires after the health of the Sultan of the
+Turks. But I am well, therefore the Sultan of the Turks is well; and if I
+am not well, then the Sultan of the Turks is not well." His Excellency
+replied, menacingly, "You're right, but take care you don't get unwell,
+for by G--d if you do get unwell, and so make my Sultan unwell, I'll come
+and cut all your people's throats, and burn down your city." The Tibboo
+chief, feeling the force of the argumentum ad hominem, started out of the
+audience-chamber in a fright, and made off from Mourzuk as quick as
+possible. Before, indeed, he could get off, he began to fancy himself
+ill, and was ill with fright, and expected every moment to be within the
+clutches of the Bashaw. I related to the Bashaw the story of the Governor
+of Ghat, having the sword of his ancestors amongst the trophies at
+Constantinople. The facetious Bashaw observed to me:--"You ought to have
+said, 'I'll fetch you the sword, Haj Ahmed, if you'll promise like a good
+little boy not to cut your fingers with it.'"
+
+Mr. Gagliuffi was well acquainted with the tyrant Asker Ali. The tyrant
+once dreamt he should kill Abd-El-Geleel, and his brother, and some other
+chiefs, but one would escape. The escaping Sheikh was Ghoma, now an exile
+at Trebisonde. This dream was actually related and retailed in Tripoli
+two years before the events happened. One day Mr. Gagliuffi called on the
+tyrant, and found him very thoughtful divining in the rumel ("sand").
+"What's the matter?" asked the Consul. His Highness exclaimed, "Oh, I'm
+much troubled. An Arab chief has come here professing allegiance to my
+government. But he's a great villain, for such I have found him in the
+sand." The next day the unfortunate Arab was assassinated. Many an honest
+man was murdered by the fortuitous throw and fall, and scattering of
+these atom sands, in the cruel fingers of the tyrant. Who will deny after
+this that the events of our life are (to us) so many accidents? A
+Touarghee Sheikh once proposed to Mr. Gagliuffi to sell his country to
+the Sultan of the English. The Consul, who took this as serious, ought to
+have considered it a joke of the grave Touarghee. The Touaricks can tell
+the most funny stories, and make the most cutting gibes at their
+neighbours, without moving a single muscle of the face.
+
+_10th._--We are to stay here to-day and to-morrow, in order that our
+slave-masters may obtain provisions. These people can do nothing without
+losing an enormous quantity of time. It breaks my heart to lose so much
+precious time. I could have got up to Soudan before I shall get down to
+Tripoli. A Touarghee once talked to me of travelling, and on my telling
+him I was going to The East, to the New World (America), and many other
+places, he exclaimed, "Allah Akbar, thou fool, thy life isn't long
+enough." And certainly it would not were we to travel at the rate of our
+Saharans. They never measure a man's life and what he can do in it. The
+day present, and its evils, is with them enough. The proverb quoted by
+the great teacher of Christianity, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil
+thereof," is much better adapted to ancient than modern society, or
+rather to Oriental and African than European society. The European is
+obliged to think of the morrow, and take thought for the morrow, or he
+would not be able to live; in these days of restless and overpowering
+competition he would die of starvation. One of the Moors tried to write
+the name of Mahomet in Roman letters. I have seen several Moors attempt
+this; one did it pretty well.
+
+At noon, had a strong altercation with a Moor of the town about religion,
+who introduced the subject and was very insulting. Being out of the hands
+of the Touaricks I have less delicacy on these matters, and so I boldly
+contradicted his notions. I told him, with all frankness, "It was
+impossible for a good Christian ever to become a Mussulman: a bad
+Christian might, one who had robbed, or murdered, or run away from his
+country. Such were the Spaniards who run away from the prisons of exile
+in Morocco. Mahomet witnessed that Jesus was a true prophet; and Jesus
+witnessed that Moses was a prophet, and Moses prophesied of Jesus. But
+neither Jesus, nor Moses, nor any other prophet, witnessed to the truth
+of the mission of Mahomet." This amazed him excessively. Seeing this, I
+added, "Never attempt to convert a Christian, or speak to him about
+religion; for in the end you are sure to be dissatisfied." The zealot
+immediately changed the conversation. Several of the people of the town
+listened to our argument, but they made no observation, except one old
+man, who observed laconically, "Mahometans, Jews, and Christians, are all
+rogues; but God is merciful." This, I think, is about the truth.
+
+This evening the female slaves were unusually merry and excited in
+singing, and I had the curiosity to ask Said what they were singing
+about. As several spoke the language of his own country, Mandara and
+Bornou, he had no difficulty in answering the question. I had often asked
+the Moors about the merry songs and plaintive dirges of the negresses,
+but could never get a satisfactory answer.
+
+Said replied at first, "Oh, they're singing of Rubbee (God)."
+
+"What do you mean?" I rejoined impatiently.
+
+"Oh, don't you know," he continued; "they ask God to give them the
+Atkah[116]."
+
+_I._--"Is that all?"
+
+_Said._--"No; they say, 'Where are we going to? The world is large, O
+God! Where are we going? O God! Shall we return again to our country?'"
+
+_I._--"Is that all, what else?"
+
+_Said._--"They call to their remembrance their own country and say,
+'Bornou was a pleasant country, full of all good things, but this is a
+bad country and we are miserable, and are ready to sink down.'"
+
+_I._--"Do they say anything more?"
+
+_Said._--"No, they repeat these words over and over again, and add, 'O
+God! give us our âtkah, let us go to our dear home.'"
+
+I am not surprised the Moors never gave me a satisfactory answer
+respecting the songs said and sung by their slaves. Who can assert that
+the above words are not an appropriate song? What could have been more
+congenially adapted to their present woeful condition? And what language
+could have given us a more favourable opinion of the feeling and
+intellect of the African? May pitying Heaven hear the prayers of these
+poor creatures, give them their liberty, restore them to their country!
+It is not to be wondered at, these poor bondswomen should cheer up their
+hearts with words and sentiments like these; but, oftentimes, their
+sufferings were too great for them to strike up this melancholy dirge,
+and the silence of the dreadful Desert was many days unsubdued,
+uninterrupted by these mournful strains!
+
+I take this opportunity of noticing the several love ditties and songs
+about gallant chiefs and warriors returning from battle, the lovers of
+the sable maidens, attributed to these poor female slaves _en route_ over
+The Desert, as found in some books of travel, which, I believe, are the
+invention of slave-masters, embellished by the traveller. No; their song
+is, and was, and always will be, because the spontaneous voice of
+distressed nature, appealing to the justice and help of the Author of
+all being!
+
+"O God! give us our freedom. Where are we going? The world is large and
+terrifies us.
+
+"Shall we return again to our dear homes, where we lived happily and
+enjoyed every blessing?
+
+"But we are in a horrible country; all things frown upon us; we suffer,
+and are ready to die.
+
+"O God! give us our freedom[117]."
+
+Mr. J. G. Whittier, the distinguished American poet, has rendered these
+words into verse. He says:--
+
+"The following is an attempt to versify this melancholy appeal of
+distressed human nature to the help and justice of God. Nothing can be
+added to its simple pathos.
+
+SONG OF THE SLAVES IN THE DESERT.
+
+    Where are we going? Where are we going?
+      Where are we going, Rubee?
+    Hear us! Save us! Make us free;
+    Send our Atka down from thee!
+    Here the Ghiblee wind is blowing,
+    Strange and large the world is growing!
+    Tell us, Rubee, where are we going?
+      Where are we going, Rubee?
+
+    Bornou! Bornou! Where is Bornou?
+      Where are we going, Rubee?
+    Bornou-land was rich and good,
+    Wells of water, fields of food;
+    Bornou-land we see no longer,
+    Here we thirst, and here we hunger,
+    Here the Moor man smites in anger;
+      Where are we going, Rubee?
+
+    Where are we going? Where are we going?
+      Hear us, save us, Rubee!
+    Moons of marches from our eyes,
+    Bornou-land behind us lies;
+    Hot the desert wind is blowing,
+    Wild the waves of sand are flowing!
+    Hear us! tell us, Where are we going?
+      Where are we going, Rubee?"
+
+Some freed slaves passed to-day on their return to Bornou, their native
+land. This reminded me of what Mr. Gagliuffi related respecting a female
+slave, who, after being brought to Mourzuk, was taken back by her master
+to Bornou. When her master first told her of his intention, she simply
+replied, "No, you will not take me back." She always persisted in the
+same reply, when the subject was ever mentioned. At length the time came,
+and she was mounted on a camel and started off. But her master, on
+returning, having changed the first part of the route from that which he
+came, her suspicions and unbelief were at once confirmed. However, a few
+days elapsed and the old route was resumed, and seeing, at last, from
+various indications of the road that she was really returning, she burst
+into convulsions of joy, and with no ordinary care her life was saved.
+She never properly recovered from the effect of these convulsions of
+transport. What can be stronger than such feelings of _amor patriæ_, what
+more marked proof of intelligent sensibility, allying the negro with the
+whole human, race? For,
+
+    "Lives there a man with soul so dead,
+    Who never to himself hath said,
+    'This is my own, my native land.'"
+
+If Dr. Pritchard's argument be good in religion, by the existence of
+which sentiment in the breast of every portion of humankind he proves
+that all men are of one species, and of one original race or stock, the
+argument is equally true of patriotism. I have found, however, some
+Moors, like some of our philosophers, denying the Negro to be of the same
+race as the white man. But such Mahometan detractors of the Negro
+character are extremely rare. The greatest champion of this class was a
+slave-dealer, and, indeed, it is a convenient opinion for men-stealers of
+every nation.
+
+The Moors have a primitive way of making a draught-board. A person of the
+town brought an apron full of sand. This he threw upon a stone bench, and
+spread it over, making a number of holes for the white and black squares
+of the board. This done, they then brought a certain number of pieces of
+stones with a corresponding number of dried balls of camel's dung, (and
+which, it may be remarked, are very small in comparison to the size of
+the animal). The whole was now complete and the parties set to work. All
+the Islamites whom I have seen are passionately fond of gaming and games
+of chance; and, curious enough, thousands who could not be prevailed upon
+to drink wine (or eat pork), will game all day long, notwithstanding that
+gaming is prohibited in the very sentences of the Koran, in which wine is
+condemned. "They will ask thee (Mahomet) concerning wine and lots.
+_Answer._--In both there is great sin." "Satan seeketh to sow dissension
+and hatred amongst you, by means of wine and lots," &c. (Surat ii. and
+v.) How the commentators have quieted the consciences of the Faithful on
+the point of lots and not about wine, I cannot imagine. Such is the
+absolute folly of matters of this sort, the "clean" and the "unclean" in
+religion.
+
+_11th._--The sky is overcast this morning, and, what a wonder! we have
+had a few precious drops of rain. Rain, like gold, is valuable according
+to circumstances. Wind from N.W. No heat is now felt here. Sebhah is the
+very abode of dead men, the catacombs of the living. Here, at mid-day,
+you might sit in the lonely streets, and lecture on the immortality of
+the soul, to the few people, who, at long intervals, pass flitting by,
+like spectres of the dead. The melancholy appearance of the place so
+horrifies me that I don't go into it. When and where the inhabitants
+rendezvous and gossip is a complete mystery. To the palms and huts of
+palm-leaves without the town, I return, to convince myself I am in the
+land of the living. Visited some of the suburban gardens. Irrigation is
+the support of all vegetable life here. People were employed in weeding
+the corn-fields; besides the weeds, they picked up the small blades of
+corn, those not likely to be ripe with the rest of the crop, which are
+given to the sheep and horses. I have seen, however, no horses here. It
+is reported amongst the people of the town, that the Touaricks attacked
+me and took away all my money. As this continues to spread amongst the
+oases, I shall soon be murdered by the helping imagination of the people,
+at any rate, before I arrive at Tripoli. A gardener tells me, many palms
+grow and bear fruit without being watered, or having any water running
+under them.
+
+The Sebhah district embraces four villages besides its town, viz.,
+Ghortah, Hajrah, Marwees, and Hafat. The population are Moors and Arabs
+mixed occasionally with Negro blood; but no black population begins at
+these or the oases hereabouts, as foolishly stated on the map of Capt.
+Lyon.
+
+_12th._--We leave to-day to pursue our journey. Oh, what is life! In the
+wilderness or the abode of civilization, it is one weary way: but soon,
+thank God! to end. This morning I was convinced, that, however bad the
+condition of a people may be, it may still be worse. A poor wretched
+woman of Sebhah came to beg dates from the slaves! from their scanty
+allowance. As it mostly happens, the poor give more than the rich in
+proportion to their means, so these poor slaves gave the beggar woman a
+most disproportioned quantity of their miserable allowance. A little
+vanity there may have been in this, for however badly off we are
+ourselves, we are not displeased to see some people still worse off, and
+are gratified in laying them under some miserable obligation. Left Sebhah
+about 8 A.M., and after three hours' ride came in view of a forest of
+date-palms. This wood of palms is out of the line of route, and extends
+from Sebhah to Timhanah, a day's journey. Essnousee observed, on arriving
+at the palms, "See, these are all young palms, lately planted; they are
+never watered but bear plenty of dates. It is only in Fezzan the palms
+bring dates without water." Our route is north, and, as before, over an
+undulating gravelly surface. Several heaps of stones in a part of the
+road, evidently to clear it, as it is next to impossible to miss the way
+in this part of Sahara. No stones were added to these heaps by us. Our
+precursors, in past times, were much more attentive to clearing routes
+than ourselves.
+
+I am sorry to record the nasty feelings of the people of these Fezzanee
+towns towards Christians. I found the people a most inhospitable set, and
+could not get from them a drop of milk for love or money. As, however,
+they sent plenty of prepared food every evening to the people of the
+ghafalah, Essnousee was kind enough to give me a dish or two. I attribute
+this inhospitality to their hatred of the Turks, and the English being
+considered as the friends of the Turks.
+
+Reached Timhanah at 3 P.M. I was grievously attacked with the tooth
+and ear-ache, produced by the strong cold wind which had been
+blowing nearly all day. Got some rum and doctored myself, and by
+sunset I was enabled to read a little of my Greek Testament. I did
+not go into the town of Timhanah, being so disgusted with the people
+of Sebhah. Apparently Timhanah is half the size of Sebhah, and
+walled with mud and stones. The country around offers the usual
+prospect of palms and patches of corn cultivation, with wells in
+each field for irrigation. These oases are most annoyingly alike,
+and one description must serve for all. The inhabitants fancy I am a
+Turk, and ask me to speak Turkish. Others shun me as such; and since
+the Turks, in passing these oases, levy upon the inhabitants
+hospitality by force, this may be the cause of the little good
+feeling manifested by them to strangers. Essnousee, for whom I am
+beginning to entertain the most intense disgust, amused himself this
+evening with most unmercifully beating his slaves. I could not find
+out the cause. The females usually catch it most. I cannot tell the
+reason, except it be, they are more difficult to reduce to a
+regimen, or system of travelling, and are always fond of playing
+some innocent pranks. The lively things certainly make more noise
+and botheration than the males. We are to purchase dates here, they
+being cheap and of good quality. The townspeople come to see me
+write, but I lose patience with them, knowing them to be such a
+nasty set. Bad rulers make bad subjects. The Turks would make any
+people suspicious and inhospitable. However, when I left the place,
+some of them came forward to lend a hand in loading the camel, a
+mark of friendship, which showed me they would be hospitable if
+their hospitality were not abused by the Turks. To my surprise, this
+morning a lad of our ghafalah was struck by a scorpion. I did not
+expect to see scorpions this time of the year. The scorpion was
+killed instantly. It was a small one, and its stroke feeble, for the
+lad complained very little, and I heard no more of the matter. In
+the Apocalypse, locusts are represented as striking a man like
+scorpions, although they are by nature harmless, so far as wounding
+humankind is concerned. It is well to observe, the Saharan people
+always speak of scorpions as not stinging but striking a man, the
+verb used being ‮ضرب‬, "to beat," "to strike." So in chap. ix. 5, it
+is said, καὶ ὁ βασανισμὸς αὐτων ὡς βασανισμὸς σχορπίου, ὄταν παίδῃ
+ἄνθρωπον ("and their torment [i. e., _inflicted by locusts_] was
+as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man").
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[116] _Atkah_ is the freedom document. On the liberation of a
+    slave, this is signed by the Kady, in the presence of two
+    witnesses. A freed slave has it generally about him. But after he
+    is known, and has resided long in one place, it is no longer
+    thought of. When a batch of slaves are liberated on the death of
+    their master, they follow him to his burial, carrying the âtkah
+    tied at the top of long rods.
+
+[117] The prayer to God is a chorus sung by the whole troop. When
+    not fatigued, and in good health, the Negresses will sing from
+    morning to night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+FROM MOURZUK TO SOCKNA.
+
+     Continued delays.--Confidence of the Slaves in the Kafer
+     (myself).--Supply them with Water.--Negro Youths exhibit
+     Sham-Fighting.--Commissions recorded in Journal.--Missionary
+     Labour in Central Africa.--Beer Tagheetah.--Palms of
+     Ghurmeedah.--A Fezzanee's description of his Country.--Reading on
+     the Camel's Back.--Arrive at the Village of Zeghen.--French
+     Patent Soup.--Young Camels broken in.--Omm El-Abeed.--Essnousee
+     sermonizes on "What is Good in this World."--Various Races of
+     Fezzan.--My extreme exhaustion.--The Flogging of the Mandara
+     Slave by Essnousee.--Illusions of Desert Sands.--Plateau
+     magnifying objects.--Horrid Waste.--How restored from
+     Fatigue.--Digging a Well by the order of the Turks.--Slaves
+     benighted.--Gibel Asoud.--Well of Ghotfah.--Meet Reinforcements
+     of Arab Cavalry.--Arrival at Sockna.
+
+
+_13th._--TO-DAY we came but a short distance, leaving late and encamping
+about half-past 2 P.M. Our object is to allow the camels to feed well,
+for there will now be little or no herbage for them until we arrive at
+Sockna, a distance of some six days. Respecting all these delays, I can
+say with the most heartfelt sincerity, "Here is the patience of
+(travellers)." The poor slaves know by instinct the encampment of the
+Kafer to be a friendly one, notwithstanding the Moors and Arabs persist
+ungenerously in teaching these poor things to call me kafer, or infidel,
+and to look upon me with a species of horror. For water, they come to us
+continually. To deposit a little bazeen, or flour-pudding, in the evening
+until the morning, they come to us, finding it secure in our hands. Not
+to be beaten, they come to us, crouching down by me, and getting out of
+the way of the whip behind my back. In this way the poor things show
+their confidence in the man whom their masters teach them to look upon as
+an enemy of God! Although the wells are numerous, only a certain supply
+of water is carried, and a small quantity is served out to the slaves.
+They frequently require a little water before the time of departing
+arrives, and come to me, looking up wistfully, putting their fingers to
+their parched and cracking lips. Said looks after them, and gives them as
+much of our water as he dares, fearing we shall be short ourselves.
+
+    "Should ye ever be one of a fainting band,
+    With your brow to the sun, and your feet to the sand,
+    Traverse The Desert, and then you can tell,
+    What treasures exist in the cold deep well;
+    Sink in despair on the red parched earth,
+    And then you may reckon what water is worth."
+
+The Negro youths are practising some of their wild sports and warrior
+tricks. Three on one side and three on the other set to work to bring off
+a sham-fight. The youths made arrows of the branches of the palm, and,
+holding up a portion of their clothes for a shield, they throw these
+palm-branch arrows with great force and precision, almost always hitting
+one another. This they continued for some time. As the arrows are thrown
+by the party of one side they are picked up by the other. When a man
+falls by a slip or otherwise, the opposing combatants fight over his body
+with great obstinacy and animation. This was the prettiest scene of the
+wild fight. The real arrow used in the interior is usually poisoned. The
+Negroes are expert in discovering and preparing vegetable poisons, as
+men of all countries are in inventing weapons for their own destruction.
+The Negroes have their Captain Warners as well as we. Bundles of these
+poisoned arrows were exposed for sale at Ghat, together with
+bullocks'-hide shields. Whilst the lads are thus passing their time, the
+lasses are combing, dressing, and oiling their hair, or washing and
+cleaning, or decorating themselves, or playing with their little trinkets
+of glass beads and chains; thus clearly defining the tastes of the male
+and female Negro animal. It is much the same amongst us civilized brutes.
+Men fight and quarrel one way or the other, and the women flirt and
+dress. The occupation of the women is the more harmless. Perhaps we are
+getting a little better. Men begin to think there is more noble
+employment in the world than cutting one another's throats, and deifying
+the wholesale assassins who destroy them; women, too, seem disposed to
+prove that they have something else to attend to, besides setting off and
+conserving their beauty. We have with us a youth sent for sale to Tripoli
+by the Bashaw of Fezzan, who it seems must dabble in slave-dealing,
+notwithstanding his imprecations against the merchants of Ghadames for
+the same crime. He is from Mandara, and was kidnapped by the Tibboos.
+This is the captain of all the sham-fighters, and the leader and prompter
+of all other sports on the way. There is always one who assumes
+superiority over the rest, in every troop of human beings; so it was in
+the beginning, and so it will ever continue to be.
+
+I see by my notes I have various commissions to execute--if--if--if I
+return to Mourzuk _en route_. First for the Sheikh of Bornou, I am to
+bring a small coining-machine to make a copper-currency, replacing the
+present inconvenient system of pieces of cotton called Ghubgha[118].
+Next, I am to bring Congreve-rockets, by which the Sheikh may set on fire
+the straw-hut cities of his enemies; but I should think a good
+drill-serjeant would be better than rockets. Finally, some instructions,
+in the Arabic language, for preparing indigo, and bees'-wax, and tanning
+leather. This last memorandum of the commission is infinitely more
+grateful to one's feelings, as promoting the useful arts in Central
+Africa, than either establishing a base currency, or multiplying the
+weapons of destruction. For the Bashaw of Fezzan is to be brought a
+splendid gold watch. The Greek Doctor wants an Italian Medical
+Dictionary, and a small case of surgical instruments; and for Mr.
+Gagliuffi I am to bring everything which may be useful to him. The Consul
+very justly recommends, the teaching Negroes the useful arts as the only
+means of permanently extinguishing the traffic in slaves. He also
+recommends the introducing of Missionaries into the Pagan countries,
+Mandara and Begharmy, beyond and neighbouring to Bornou, as an important
+means of civilizing Africa. But, it is to be understood, that the
+Missionaries should go as merchants, and, like Paul, work with their own
+hands at mechanical trades. It must not be a wild-goose chase of empty
+declamation, but a thoroughly conscientious project, wrought out
+according to the circumstances of the country, with discretion and
+courage. In this way it would, with the blessing of Providence, succeed
+admirably. The Moravians alone have successfully applied themselves to
+this kind of Missionary labour.
+
+Passed a well this morning, on our left, called Beer Tagheetah. There is
+water in many places where no attempt is made to cultivate the cultivable
+soil. I asked an Arab of Timhanah why more land was not cultivated? "We
+have no bullocks, no asses; we cannot draw up the water--we want money,"
+was the reply. This sort of answer is applicable to almost every country
+in Europe. Our encampment is at the place called Ghurmeedah. Here are
+only two or three untenanted huts, where the date-watchers sleep or
+repose during the season. This small forest of palms belongs to Zeghen.
+Took a little cuscasou with some Arabs who have joined us, being hired by
+Essnousee to carry dates for the slaves. Giving an account of their
+country, they say, "Fezzan is a country of poor people; it always was so:
+we have only the date-palm. This is our riches. If the sea came up to
+Fezzan, then we would ship dates for Tripoli; but as it is, they are too
+heavy--they don't pay the expense of carrying to Tripoli. We have
+besides, a little corn, but not cattle enough to draw water to increase
+this cultivation. Many of the people live only on dates and hasheesh
+(herbs). We eat the ghoteb." In the abandoned huts I found three or four
+women just come from Zeghen. They were collecting and boiling the ghoteb,
+which they sell in their town; it eats very cooling and pleasant with
+dates. If I recollect, it is something like the barilla-plant. I tasted
+the herb, but could make nothing of it. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of
+Fezzan are apparently healthy and happy. Providence blesses this poor
+dish of herbs, and makes it palatable and nourishing.
+
+_14th._--Rose with the sun's rising, and started with the first
+scattering of the bright orient beams. Course over an undulating surface
+of mostly sandy soil, but firm to the camel's foot. In various places is
+scattered a great quantity of the common black volcanic shingle, and
+which, indeed, covers a fifth of The Sahara I have traversed. Essnousee
+tells me this stone contains iron, for so, reported our countrymen of the
+two former expeditions in Fezzan. The Turks of Mourzuk assert the same
+thing, though not very great authorities in geology. This shingle has
+certainly a most ferruginous appearance. About three hours after leaving
+our encampment we passed the town of Semnou on our right. Our people read
+on the camel's back. Essnousee pretends to devotional reading. I never
+attempted reading on the camel, in order to preserve my eyes, though by
+no means difficult. An European who has to traverse these Saharan
+solitudes might supply himself with a few entertaining books, in large
+type, and while away many lonely and tedious hours, when riding on the
+camel's back. Only one of the slaves is sick, to whom I give a ride every
+morning. The rest go pretty well--in fact, our short days' journeys,
+during these last several days, are a trifle to us all.
+
+Arrived at Zeghen at 2 P.M. Don't feel very strong. Ought to eat more,
+but can't get meat. Had a good drink of camel's milk this morning. Tired
+of cuscasou, and now like bazeen better. Several of the people come to
+see me, apparently more hospitable than those of Sebhah. They are all
+very poor, scarcely existing, ground down to the dust of The Desert. Went
+into the town. People got talking of religion. The presence of a person
+of another faith always suggests the subject to these unsophisticated
+people. I declared to them, that as the Great God was "The Most
+Merciful," every good man of every nation, be he Mahometan, Christian, or
+Jew, might expect the Divine favour. This doctrine was too liberal for
+some, others approved. Moors, in all these discussions, speak a good deal
+about hell-fire. They think, at least, this will shake a Christian's
+courage. They are very sensible to corporal torments themselves, like all
+barbarians or semi-civilized people. But, poor idiots, they don't know
+that we denounce them as the future inhabitants of the same
+place,--"Companions of The Fire." A Marabout came and listened, who
+evidently was one of the fools so kindly and humanely taken care of by
+Barbary people. The idiot had ostrich feathers round his breast, and a
+circlet of large beads in his hands, which he kept telling with a vacant
+stare. He begged of me, but I gave him nothing, having nothing to give.
+Population of Zeghen, about a third or fourth-rate town of these oases,
+is estimated at 200 men, 300 women, and 700 children and slaves. There
+are always a few more women than men in these Saharan towns. This surplus
+of women is kept up by importing female slaves from Central Africa. There
+the men perish in wars, or otherwise are enslaved for the Western Coast,
+and a surplus of women is left for the North.
+
+This evening arrived the courier from Mourzuk, who took charge of a
+small packet of French patent soup, which I left behind. Mr. Gagliuffi
+had had this soup three years, and it was still very good. It is
+preserved in thin pieces like dried glue. It requires only boiling with a
+little salt, and then is pretty good. In long Desert journeying it would
+be easy to take a supply of this sort of preserved soup, as well as
+potted meat. On the address of the packet was, "Signore Richardson--Mr.
+Gagliuffi--God bless him."
+
+_15th._--This morning, at starting, I was very much amused at seeing two
+young camels loaded for the first time with a few trifling things, to
+break them in. They are only one year old. The little reprobates cried
+and groaned, and grumbled most piteously; one would have thought they
+were about to be killed, with the knife at their throats. The Arabs, to
+prevent their crying, throw some sand into their open mouths. By this
+little bit of barbarity, the poor young things were obliged to cease
+crying to chew the unwelcome bolus of sand. When laden, they started off
+as mad, trying to throw off their load. Do they know, by their powerful
+and foreseeing instinct, that this was the beginning of their painful
+labours and journeyings? and do they thus resist the imposition of
+burthens with all their youthful ardour and strength? A young camel
+remains with its mother and sucks a whole year. It is five years before
+the camel attains maturity of growth and strength.
+
+Our route is north, over what the French call _la terre accidentée_. It
+was the _bonâ fide_ Sahara, and wore its rugged face of desolation. But,
+after continuing five hours, we encamped at the Omm-El-Abeed, or "Mother"
+or "Country of Slaves," so called probably because the slave-caravans
+stop here to take in a good supply of water for four days on the highway
+of Tripoli. Whatever its name, this is a fair spot, abounding with
+excellent water near the surface. There are two wells, and both full to
+overflowing. The water is slightly impregnated with iron. Herbage around
+is abundant, and wild palms give it the appearance of an oasis.
+Essnousee, who is a sagacious fellow, justly remarked to me:--"If this
+country were in the hands of Christians, they would make it a fruitful
+garden, palms would be planted, corn sown, and houses built." The Moorish
+merchants can appreciate the superior industry and intelligence of
+Europeans. Undoubtedly, the presence of abundant good water, and a soil
+composed of a mixture of sand and earth, (the essential ingredients for a
+fruitful oasis,) would, in other hands, soon render this spot a paradise
+in Desert. It rejoices my heart to contemplate the future--if perchance
+that future come--when this Saharan region shall fall into the hands of
+another Government, be invaded, circumscribed, and reduced on every side,
+and such a conquest over The Desert made by the hand of industry, as to
+render it a garden of the Hesperides, and to blossom as the rose. In
+another century, or a century after that, this may be the case. Even
+Moors, the worst people of the world in looking forward to improvements,
+have in many of these oases planted young palms, and already reaped the
+benefit in an increasing crop of dates, although, unfortunately, more
+from necessity than forethought have they been actuated. What may then be
+expected from men who adopt the principle of progress! Oftentimes I have
+connected, in imagination, the shores of the Mediterranean with the banks
+of the Niger, by a series of uninterrupted palmy oases, with jutting
+fountains, and silvery streams of living water, and cool shady
+resting-places for weary caravans. Hope is still my consolation in
+travelling through this thirsty dreary wilderness. Better to feed the
+mind with these expectations, even should they be illusory, than sighing
+and groaning over the desolations of Africa.
+
+This evening took a little cuscasou with Essnousee. After supper the
+eternal subject of religion was brought forward by this slave-driver. He
+cannot comprehend my travelling, and thinks I must have some secret
+mission. He was more surprised when I told him I should visit the New
+World after exploring Africa, for this shifted his suspicions from
+Mahometan countries. Essnousee, like others of his countrymen, cannot
+comprehend notions of enterprise and discovery in travel. How should he?
+What country has a Moor? What purposes of renown and glory can fill him
+with a patriotic ambition? Nevertheless, a Moor has three passions, those
+of gain--sensuality--and religion, which latter sentiment often at, or
+even before, the close of life, absorbs the other two, yet itself
+degenerating into superstition and fanaticism. These passions make up the
+end and compass of the being of a Moor, the objects of all his pursuits
+through life. On the latter of these sentiments or passions, Haj
+Essnousee, a thoroughly bad man himself, took the liberty of addressing
+me these words, in reply to my demand of "What is good in this world?"
+"If you wish to do a good thing," said the slave-driver, "do this,
+abandon your country and your friends. Forget you were born a Christian.
+Go to Egypt--there turn Mussulman. Then go to Mecca. There read and
+study all the day, and all the days of your life. See and hear the time
+of prayers announced from El-Kaaba[119]. Pray at Fidger, Subah and Aser,
+Mugreb and Lailah[120]. Observe well the burying-place where the body of
+the Prophet is laid, and be assured that if you are buried there, you
+will rise up at the Resurrection to Paradise. This is the good work I
+counsel you to do, but you won't do it." I smiled at this fine speech,
+and asked the slave-merchant to give up his trade, go to Mecca, and carry
+out that which he so eloquently recommended me to do. This turning the
+thing on himself displeased him, and the zealous preacher dropped his
+sermon in a moment.
+
+Fezzan, with its numerous and large oases, offers for investigation to
+the physiologist, the three distinct species or varieties of the human
+race which overspread all Central Africa, viz., The Arabs and Moors, the
+Touaricks, and the Negroes,--and these all mixed and blended together, of
+all shades of colour, stature, and configuration. The Arabs and Moors
+abound this side Mourzuk. Sebhah and Zeghen are all Arabs and Moors. The
+Touaricks are found in the Wady Ghurbee, and are occupied chiefly in a
+pastoral life, leading their flocks through open Desert. Some live in the
+villages of The Wady. But these Touaricks are not subjects of the
+chieftains of Ghat. The Negroes begin at Mourzuk, and extend south in all
+the districts of Fezzan, as far as the Tibboos. Ghatroun, I am informed,
+has an entire population of coloured people, under the protection of a
+Marabout.
+
+_16th._--Another day lost. We stop here to-day to take in water, (as if
+we did not arrive soon enough yesterday to take in water for a hundred
+times our number,) and to let the camels feed. Felt, however, excessively
+weak, and very nervous to-day. At one moment, I seemed as if I were
+placed in an exhausting-receiver, and was about to give up the ghost.
+It's perhaps as well for my health, we don't go on quicker. According to
+the report of the Fezzaneers, there is fever in every oasis during the
+summer, and considerable mortality. Eating dates continually in the
+summer must create a great deal of heat in the system, and thus it is not
+surprising that fever prevails.
+
+Evening, just at sunset, the Mandara slave came near to my encampment and
+mumbled something to my Negro servant. Looking at him, I saw he asked
+Said to beg me to do something on his behalf. In a few minutes, a slave
+belonging to another master came up to him and began to console him,
+saying, "Go, go." They both then took up handfuls of sand and scattered
+it upon their foreheads and chins, as if performing some incantations to
+avert an impending evil. This done, they both burst into tears, and
+sobbed aloud. By this time, I learnt from Said that Haj Essnousee had
+sent for the Mandara slave to beat him. I then asked, "For what?" The
+slaves replied, "For nothing." This I could not believe. Looking towards
+the encampment of Essnousee, I saw the slave-driver greatly excited, and
+heard him call to two other slaves, "Fetch him, fetch him." These slaves,
+(I almost cursed them in my heart,) came running to my encampment like
+two bloodhounds, and seized the wretched slave, their brother in bondage,
+and dragged him off to the enraged slave-driver. The poor fellow, from
+fear and trembling, could not stand upon his legs, and was held up by his
+captors. The Mandara slave being brought to Essnousee, and the two
+captors having pinned him down, this ferocious Moor took him aside and
+flogged him with a huge slave-whip until The Desert was literally filled
+with his cries! continuing to flagilate his bare body until he
+(Essnousee) was himself exhausted by administering the brutal flogging.
+The Arabs of our caravan, who were near, got upon their legs, from sheer
+annoyance at the sound of the whip and the cries of the slave, but, like
+dastardly wretches, contented themselves with looking on, silent and
+motionless. I felt, at the time, extreme contempt for what are called
+"the brave and gallant sons of The Desert." I was not near enough, on my
+journey to Tripoli, to justify any effectual interference on my part.
+Afterwards I went up to Haj Essnousee and asked him, why he had flogged
+the slave? He answered still greatly excited, "He'll not eat; he's a
+devil; it is necessary there should be one devil amongst my slaves." His
+nephew observed, as a hopeful pupil of his merciless uncle, "He's a
+thief, he robs us." This is the only satisfaction I could get; but from
+the rest of the caravan I learnt that the poor Mandara slave was flogged
+for no other reason except to gratify the capricious cruelty of
+Essnousee. This Sockna Moor was born to be a slave-dealer and
+slave-driver, a cunning ferocity and genuine Moorish sensuality being
+impressed upon his Cain-like countenance. I was enabled to study his
+character on our way, but study was scarcely requisite to discover the
+mark of the first murderer stamped on his brow. When too indolent to beat
+his slaves he would throw stones at them; when flogging the female
+slaves, if he could not succeed in rousing their sensibilities as they
+dropped from exhaustion in The Desert, he would poke up their persons
+with a stick. This Saharan villain was thoroughly imbued with the
+principle of an English duke, "That he (Haj Essnousee) had a right to do
+what he liked with his own," and did not scruple to mutilate a slave to
+satisfy his demoniac caprice, in spite of its losing half of its price or
+value in the market. Poor miserables are those pro-slavery writers, who
+argue that a man will take care of his slaves because they are his own
+property! Why did not the imperial tyrants of Rome defend the liberties
+of their people, because they were their own people? Neither human nor
+divine law can permit any man, even a good man, to have absolute property
+in his fellows, much less a bad man or a tyrant. But Haj Essnousee is not
+altogether an unmixed monster; he has something of enterprise and an
+active intelligence about him, to redeem him from complete execration.
+Seeing me disconcerted about his whipping the slave, he observed,
+
+"There are two fine wells here, have you written them? You must give a
+good account of everything to your Sultan."
+
+I then returned to the other slave-masters, owners of seven slaves, and
+said, "Why do you let a poor wretch be flogged to death in this way and
+not interfere?"
+
+They replied, "Oh, you yourself should interefere; we're frightened at
+Haj Essnousee."
+
+_I._--"You then wish me to interfere,--I, who am a Christian, and an
+Englishman, and we English have no slaves,--and you wish me to meddle
+with your business?"
+
+Another Moor said, "Ah, Yâkob, we know if it had been a Christian
+flogging a Christian, you would have interfered. But we are an accursed
+race, our merchants fear not God. And when one does wrong, another will
+not speak to him, and tell him he does wrong to himself and God."
+
+After this we had no more flogging to Sockna. I hinted to these people,
+something might be said by the English Consul to the Bashaw of Tripoli
+about this flogging work. The remark was probably reported to Essnousee.
+I made up my mind, if the poor fellow was flogged again, to get him to
+run away at Tripoli, or into a consulate, and then divulge the affair. It
+may be mentioned here, that two days before arriving at Sockna, I turned
+to look at one of the female slaves, who was last of all, and being
+driven along by the whip, with several others, and thought I saw symptoms
+of insanity marked in her face. "Why," I observed to the driver, "this
+woman is mad!" "Mad!" he replied; "No, she went blind yesterday." On
+examining her, I found she was both blind and mad from over-driving. What
+a happiness if the poor creature had died or been flogged to death! She
+would then have escaped two of the heaviest of human calamities, as well
+as the curse of slavery.
+
+_17th._--On leaving Omm-El-Abeed, after a couple of hours, we traversed
+some sand hillocks, all dismounting to lighten the camels. The sand
+deceived my vision frequently in walking. Looking at some heaps over
+which I was pacing, I imagined them at a considerable distance off, when,
+to my amazement, I found them under my feet in an instant. It might be
+partly owing to the dizziness of riding. The sand was a deep shining
+red. At another time a hillock of sand seemed projecting near my face,
+and putting out my hand to feel it, I found nothing but thin air. More
+sand encumbers this route than that between Ghadames and Ghat. After a
+couple of hours of sand we ascended an elevated rocky plateau, continuing
+our route north till night. This was a long, long day, full of weariness
+and misery. Nothing for the camels to eat, and we were obliged to give
+them dates. The poor slaves drooped and were dumb. The frown of God was
+stamped on this region! For--
+
+    "Here rocks alone and trackless sands are found,
+    And faint and sickly winds for ever howl around."
+
+_18th._--Continued our course over the plateau. It was now become hard
+sun-baked earth, and bare of herbage. As upon the plain of the celebrated
+Tenezrouft, objects here become greatly magnified in the distance,
+exceeding the most powerful magnifying lens. In the simple and bold
+language of our camel-drivers, "A man becomes a camel, and a camel
+becomes a mountain." Some bones of a camel, at a distance of less than a
+quarter of a mile, looked like a living camel going along with several
+people, the white bones representing the burnouses of the men. A small
+white stone, not ten inches high, appeared to be several feet in height,
+at the distance of a quarter of an hour's ride. And so of the few other
+discernible objects on this wide expanse of optical delusion. Mirage was
+seen at times, but nothing pretty. We encamped late, midway through the
+vast plateau, when shadowy night began to establish her sable throne, in
+"rayless majesty," over this silent, sombre Desert. On such a horrid
+waste as this, when crime and murder shall have depopulated the world,
+the last man will breathe his last sigh! Another long and weary day was
+this. With difficulty could I descend from my camel, and when I did, I
+was unable to stand. My plan is, immediately on descending from the camel
+to take a table-spoonful of rum and swallow it neat. This restores me to
+a consciousness of the objects around me, and then I lie down an hour,
+whilst supper is preparing. An hour's rest generally enables me to get up
+and walk. If restored sufficiently, I go to chat half an hour with my
+companions of travel; if not, I never rise till the next morning. I found
+the rum of essential advantage in restoring me to consciousness. I am
+indebted to the Greek Doctor for it. One bottle lasted me from Mourzuk to
+four days within reaching Tripoli.
+
+_19th._--Continued the route of the plateau till the afternoon, when with
+a low range of mountains on our left, we entered a hilly undulating
+country, having stones, some good sized blocks, scattered thick over all
+the surface of the ground. In the small intervening valleys were a few
+acacias, and a little herbage for our camels. But behold a wonder! At
+noon, we passed through one of these small valleys, when to my thorough
+and complete amazement, we found a few men and a tent pitched. Doing
+what? Oh, wonder of wonders! These men were digging a well at the command
+of the Turks! Formerly the Turks in Barbary did nothing but fill up the
+wells, or let them be filled up. Another day has dawned over "the spirit
+of their dream." The Ottomans now begin to see that they must step
+forward in the march of improvement, or be blotted out of existence, as
+a nation of the earth. This is the most difficult part of the route in
+coming up from Tripoli to Mourzuk, and the object of digging the well is
+to reduce the distance where water may be taken in to two and a half or
+three days, instead of four or five, which is now the case. The new well
+is already dug very deep, and I am sorry this extraordinary enterprise of
+the Turks, that of digging a well in The Desert, has not yet been crowned
+with success. Water would be found at last, but I have my misgivings
+about their perseverance. The French scientific officers, who have
+examined the Saharan districts of Algeria, are of opinion, that Artesian
+wells might be bored through every part of The Desert, and all these vast
+solitudes be linked together with chains of wells. Nothing is too great
+for the enterprising genius of man!
+
+We encamped late in one of these valleys. The male slaves went to fetch
+wood. They were benighted, and could not return, or find their way back.
+A horse-pistol was fired three times, and these reports brought them into
+the encampment. Our Moors recommend me, when at any time benighted in The
+Desert, never to move, but wait for some sign or signal, or report of
+firearms, or until a person be sent in pursuit of me. This the slaves
+did, and were enabled to return. Had they wandered about, they would
+probably have got a long way out of the track, or from the encampment,
+and not heard the report of the pistol. To show the improvidence of our
+Moors, we had only just powder enough for these three discharges.
+
+_20th._--Continued through the undulating country until we got fairly
+amidst massy mountainous groups of considerable altitude. These mountains
+are covered with small blocks of black (iron) stone, and ferruginous
+shingle. These immense groups are called Gibel Asoud, "Black Mountain." I
+went, on foot, with Essnousee and his slaves, "the short-cut," or
+mountain foot-path of Nifdah, leaving the camels to go round by the
+other, or camel route, of En-Nishka. I found, however, this "short-cut" a
+very long one, and dreadfully fatiguing. I recommend all travellers never
+to believe in the short-cuts of the Arabs, for they are sure to be
+deceived. These people have no ideas of distance or time. Only conceive a
+weak and exhausted traveller, like myself, climbing up and down groups of
+mountains for two weary hours. At length we descended into the valley
+where is the well of Ghotfa. We only remained an hour to rest, and drank
+a little water, not encamping at the well. We proceeded to meet the
+camels by the camel route. On overtaking them, we encamped at night-fall.
+This was another long and weary day, and made our fourth from
+Omm-El-Abeed. Our slaves were exhausted to the uttermost; their song,
+with which they were wont to cheer themselves, was never heard: their
+plaintive choruses never broke over the silence of Desert! It was to-day,
+whilst threading the precipitous mountain-path, I observed the unhappy
+negress, who went blind and mad by overdriving. Our route to-day is
+graphically described by Denham, and the passage being short, I shall
+copy it. "We had now to pass the Gibel Asoud, or Black Mountain. The
+northernmost part of this basaltic chain commences on leaving Sockna. We
+halted at Melaghi (or place of meeting); immediately at the foot of the
+mountain is the well of Agutifa (Ghotfa,) and from hence, probably, the
+most imposing view of these heights will be seen. To the south, the
+mountain-path of Nifdah presents its black overhanging peaks, the deep
+chasm round which the path winds, bearing a most cavern-like appearance.
+A little to the west, the camel-path, called En-Nishka, appears scarcely
+less difficult and precipitous, the more southern crags close the
+landscape, while the foreground is occupied by the dingy and barren Wady
+of Agutifa, with the well immediately overhung by red ridges of limestone
+and clay, the whole presenting a picture of barrenness not to be
+perfectly described either by poet or painter." By this craggy gorge the
+plateau above-mentioned is entered, and it is frequently by such gorges,
+which seem to be the buttresses of the plateaus, that the elevated
+Saharan plains are approached.
+
+About noon we met a reinforcement of Arab cavalry on the way to Mourzuk,
+to intercept the son of Abd-El-Geleel, in the event of his returning
+during the spring to Egypt or the Syrtis. I found the reputed six reduced
+to two hundred men, and most _triste_ cavaliers, mounted on still more
+miserable horses. The stories which we have read of the fondness of the
+Arab for his horse were sadly belied by the fact of the condition of this
+troop. Indeed, an Arab treats his horse much in the same way as his
+wife--most miserably bad. This _triste_ troop, worthy the command of the
+Knight of La Mancha, was a faithful picture of the wretched condition of
+the province of Tripoli. On passing me, some saluted, and others stared.
+Said met a former fellow-slave of the island of Jerbah going under the
+protection of this escort. The freed slave gave a confused account of
+the last act of abolition of the Bey of Tunis. He was on his way to
+Begharmy, his native country. I observed a Turkish officer, having a sort
+of sedan-chair, swinging on the back of a camel, a good thing for an
+European female travelling in these countries, and not a bad thing for a
+worn-down emaciated tourist like myself. I envied him this Desert luxury.
+
+_21st._--Started with the first solar rays, and as we journeyed on, the
+valley of Ghotfa widened, till we found ourselves traversing an immense
+plain, at the extreme north of which, and on the west, we saw the palms
+of Sockna. We had seen them yesterday indistinctly from the peaks of
+Gibel Asoud. We continued our route for four hours, when we arrived at
+Sockna. There is still a goodly number of palms, notwithstanding the
+thousands destroyed by Abd-El-Geleel when besieging this place. The
+trunks of the destroyed palms still remain, and look like a leafless
+forest in winter, or as if blasted with lightning. But these Arabs,
+either in building up or in throwing down, never do their work
+effectually. Tired of their work of destruction, they thus, happily, left
+the inhabitants a considerable number of palms, affording a good stock of
+dates. We were met near the gates of the city by the friends and
+relatives of our people. Some of them gave me a salute, but I am now so
+half-Moorishly dressed, or Turk-like, that I am not readily distinguished
+as a Christian. When within the walls, the heat and the refraction of the
+sun's rays from the stone walls were so intense, that I really thought my
+face would have been burnt up. With a little patience we were domiciled
+in the dark room of an empty house, where I went to bed at 3 P.M., and
+did not get up till the evening of the next day. During these hot sultry
+glaring days in Desert, how grateful is darkness,--how much better than
+light. On arriving at a station, I find it the best thing possible to lie
+down an hour or two, and, if in a town, where we are to remain a few
+days, to go to bed at once. This is the only way to recover effectually,
+and far better than food or stimulants. Since leaving Tripoli I have not
+performed a more arduous journey than these last five days. Our days'
+journeys were at least fourteen or fifteen hours long. In summer it
+requires seven days, or five short days and five long nights. On the
+road, there were no animals or living creatures, except a few lizards,
+starting from under the camel's feet, as if to look who we were, and ask
+why we had come to disturb their solitary basking in the sun; and a few
+swallows, which seemed to follow us to the well, or to the shores of the
+Mediterranean, whence they will now skim their airy way to the more
+temperate clime of Europe. I think, also, we saw two birds not unlike
+snipes. But we shall soon get within the region of birds and beasts.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[118] A _ghubgha_ is a measure of six feet long, and measures
+    pieces of cotton six feet long (and three inches broad), from
+    which circumstance the currency is thus named. Four ghubghas form
+    a rottol or pound, and thirty rottols are of the value of a
+    Spanish dollar. This was the exchange in 1845.
+
+[119] The Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple of Mecca.
+
+[120] The names of the five times of the day when Mussulmans pray.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+RESIDENCE IN SOCKNA.
+
+     Visit to the Turkish Kaed of Sockna.--The Concubine of His
+     Excellency.--Convoy of Provisions for the Troops of Mourzuk.--The
+     number of Palms destroyed at Sockna by Abd-El-Geleel.--Population
+     of Sockna, and position of the Oasis.--Visit to the Sockna
+     Maraboutess.--The Lady honoured with "_Stigmata_," or "Holy
+     Marks."--Propriety or impropriety of assuming the Moorish
+     Character and the Mahometan Religion whilst Travelling in
+     Sahara.--Gardens of the Environs.--Find several old Charms in my
+     Lodgings.--Commerce and Merchants of Sockna.--Second Visit to the
+     Maraboutess; her Character and Occupation--Visit the Kaed; he
+     compliments Christians.--Panoramic view from the Castle of
+     Sockna.--Description of the Castle.--Third Visit to the
+     Maraboutess.--Few Children in Sahara.--The little Turk or Kaed
+     suffering under the power of Epsom, and very unwell.--Arrival of
+     another Convoy.--Rain in North Africa.--Parallel Ideas between
+     The East and Africa.
+
+
+_22nd._--GOT up to write a little of my journal; found myself greatly
+recovered. Essnousee called, and we went to see the Turkish Governor in
+the evening. The Governor is called Kaed, Bey, and generally Mudeer
+Suleiman, by the people. We found his Excellency in the midst of his
+business, squatting tailor-like upon a raised bench of mud and lime,
+covered with a carpet. The Mudeer seemed happy enough, his secretary
+sitting below at his feet. He was very glad to see me, "For people," he
+observed, "don't see Christians every day in this horrid country." The
+Mudeer made me mount his throne by his side, giving me his superfine
+cushion to repose on, talking all the time; "Foolish men, you
+Christians, to come to these horrible countries." From this elevated
+position I was enabled to survey his Excellency's receiving apartment,
+with the adjoining one. It was a rich and varied scene; only Dickens
+could do justice to any description of these state-rooms of the Castle of
+Sockna. We had first the Mudeer, a little dirty mean-looking Turk, most
+shabbily attired, with some fifty or sixty winters on his Ottoman brow,
+but with a sufficiently good-natured face. The Mudeer has been only two
+months in Sockna. He was sent from Mourzuk, and enjoys the confidence of
+Hasan Belazee. Before him there was another Turkish Kaed of Sockna. The
+continual jealousies and rivalries in these towns prevent the Pacha from
+appointing them one of their native Sheikhs. The Mudeer has been four
+years in Barbary, but, like all the Turks, speaks Arabic very badly, with
+a most detestable accent. The apartment of the Kaed is a portion of the
+Castle, the passages to which are a mass of ruins, and you are afraid of
+the walls or ceilings of dilapidated rooms tumbling on your head. Sockna,
+like Mourzuk, has its Castle, separated from the town. The Mudeer's room
+is a wretched dirty barn, with a large mud fire-place in the centre.
+Around it are now seated a number of Moors, talking violently and
+quarrelling. The Kaed cannot understand them, and calls out, "What is it?
+what is it?" "Oh, nothing," they scream out in turn, "we're only talking
+amongst ourselves." The Turk turns to me:--"Christian, I am a Kaed of
+beasts, not men, Drink your coffee now." There is always a great mixture
+of freedom and awe, as it may happen, in the intercourse between the
+Turks and Moors. But the prime feature of the scene now under
+consideration, is the Sockna doxy, whom the little dirty Turk has
+closeted in an adjoining room. At first she peeps out, but seeing only a
+Christian has come in, she becomes more familiar, and at last sallies out
+boldly, and begins romping with the Kaed's Negro lad. This is a great
+lout of a fellow, who can't keep from grinning. The Nigger lout is
+dressed in the clothes of the new Turkish troops, and, as might be
+expected, there is a rent behind, from which issues his dirty linen, in
+all its nasty splendour. This the doxy now seizes hold of, to the
+infinite amusement of his Excellency the Governor, his Secretary, and
+various courtiers, as likewise myself. The lady herself is not quite a
+Desert maiden, skipping like a young roe over the mountains, in untutored
+innocence or coyish bashfulness. She is young, it is true, but full-blown
+and bloated, very big about, and excessively dirty and nasty. The
+favourite of the Mudeer is besides almost as black as a Negress, with a
+pock-marked face. After dodging about with the Negro clown some ten
+minutes, her eye catches the shape of a huge ill-looking Turkish fellow,
+walking heavily into our apartment, or hall of audience, and the Moorish
+damsel immediately retires to her private boudoir.
+
+I was not aware of the presence in Sockna of another Turk. He is in
+charge of a convoy of provisions for the troops of Mourzuk, consisting of
+eighty camels laden with oil, and rice, and mutton fat, boiled down. The
+convoy has been detained ten days for want of camels. The officer had
+been on as far as Ghotfa Wady, and returned, his miserable camels
+dropping and dying. These provisions are conveyed at the expense of the
+principal towns through which the convoy passes. The discussion going on
+to-day between the Kaed and the Sockna people, was about obtaining the
+requisite number of camels. The Kaed I now heard exclaim, "By G--d, after
+to-morrow the camels must go!" The people, "Impossible! they will die,
+they will die." I could obtain no news from the Turk escorting the
+convoy. He was an ignorant beast. But, curious enough, the fellow was
+dressed as much like an European as he could well be so travelling, with
+neckcloth, jacket, trousers strapped over black shoes, and a large pair
+of leather gloves, which he told me he found very useful in keeping the
+sun from burning his hands.
+
+During my interview, the circumstance of Abd-El-Geleel cutting down the
+palms of the suburbs because the Sockna people would not surrender to his
+summons, or acknowledge his authority, was mentioned. The number cut
+down, by the besieging Sheikh, from 20,000 was now raised to 120,000. Of
+course, this is exaggeration. Unfortunately, however, the Sheikh
+destroyed nearly all the best palms, those bearing most delicious fruit,
+and which palms have rendered Sockna dates so celebrated, whilst he left
+all the worst to spite the people. It will require seven years merely to
+replace them as fruit-bearing palms, and thirty or fifty years to mature
+palms yielding fruit of the quantity and quality of those destroyed. This
+it is which fills all Sockna people with a thirst of vengeance to
+extirpate root and branch the family of Abd-El-Geleel. The people
+themselves have offered Government to defray the expense of an expedition
+to Bornou, to cut off his son and all the Oulad Suleiman. Essnousee, a
+good patriot, swears he will not rest until he has had vengeance upon the
+Oulad Suleiman; yet he is afraid to go to Bornou again whilst they are
+there. He says:--"We (Sockna people) muster 2,000 men, all fighting men,
+not women or chickens, like the people of Ghadames. We fight like the
+French. Our country is like France. The Bashaw sends no troops to our
+assistance. He knows we can defend ourselves." It is a fact they have no
+troops here, although Sockna is the most important town of these upper
+provinces. Since the conquest of Algiers by the French, the Moors think
+France the greatest military nation upon the face of the earth. If we
+reckon the adult males of Sockna at the half of Essnousee's estimate, the
+general population will be something like this amount:--
+
+Men                  1,000 souls
+Women                1,500 "
+Children and slaves  3,000 "
+                     -----
+            Total    5,500 "
+
+Sockna is often spoken of as distinct from the districts of Fezzan, and
+so it really is; but others include both it and Bonjem within the circle
+of these clusters of oases, forming one province. The Turkish Kaed is
+more or less dependant on the Bashaw of Mourzuk. His salary is not very
+extravagant, twenty-five dollars per mensem. His Excellency may make a
+little besides on his own account, for this is hardly enough to keep him.
+Sockna is placed in 29° 5′ 36″ north latitude, and has always been an
+emporium of trade on the ancient line of communication between Northern
+and Central Africa. In many respects Sockna is like Ghadames. The
+principal inhabitants are a few rich merchants; provisions are scarce,
+everything being imported, as the gardens afford but a scanty supply of
+edible products, and all things are extremely dear. Leo mentions that, in
+his times, both Ghadames and Fezzan were dear places, and food scarce.
+
+_23rd._--Much better to-day in health, and rose early. Wrote several
+letters, which were not sent on, curiosities in their way, and scarcely
+now legible. Afternoon sent a letter by the Shantah (courier) to Mr.
+Gagliuffi. It will reach Mourzuk in eight days. A letter is also eight
+days getting to Tripoli, in the opposite direction. This evening all the
+town was occupied in buying a few sheep. What people for business are
+these Moors! The sheep were brought out, one by one, and bid for, as at
+an auction. They were cheap, from two and a half dollars to three each.
+
+Called upon some Sockna ladies, whose acquaintance I made through the
+nephew of Essnousee. They were his relations, and received us very
+kindly, _en famille_. These ladies were occupied with worsted embroidery,
+at which they earn a few paras. One is a Maraboutah, or Maraboutess. She
+reads and writes a little, and this, with a mind prone to religious
+ideas, constitutes her a saint. Few are the Moorish or Arab female
+saints, for woman is hardly dealt with by the Mahometan faith. There is a
+celebrated tutelary goddess, or Maraboutah, near the city of Tunis, who
+is invoked by all the women of the country, and a pilgrimage is made to
+her shrine every morning. The remarkable circumstance about this Sockna
+Maraboutess is, that she is very weak about the loins and cannot walk
+upright, being frequently carried about. She says, and the people confirm
+her testimony, she has "holy marks" upon her, imprinted by some
+supernatural being; I think the angel Gabriel was mentioned. This reminds
+me of the "Stigmata" of Saint Francis of Assisi, for doubting which
+"canonical fact," Pope Ugolino was very near anathematizing the Bishop of
+Olmutz. I therefore shall not doubt this prodigy, equally well
+authenticated, lest I incur the excommunication of the good people of
+Sockna. I had not the pleasure of seeing the "holy marks" of the
+Maraboutess, they being imprinted on an unobserved portion of her body,
+but I cannot question their existence. It is wonderful (a far greater
+prodigy!) what are the analogies of religion and superstition. How like
+the feeling and the sentiment! and in this case the very corporal marks
+of the body! I asked the Maraboutess if she would prefer the use of her
+limbs to these "holy marks." She answered very quietly and properly, "As
+God wills, so I will." The Sockna saint then put to me this question, "If
+the English knew and worshipped God?" How many times has this question
+been asked! And yet we, in the pride of our conceit, imagine that we
+monopolize all religion, as well as all virtue and science, presuming all
+the world knows it, and recognizes our superiority. My Maraboutess was
+pleased to hear that the English knew God.
+
+_24th._--Copied a letter or two. Since my return, looking over the
+published journal of the Bornou expedition, I find this paragraph under
+the rubric of Sockna. "And in this way we entered the town: the words
+Inglesi! Inglesi! were repeated by a hundred voices from the crowd. This,
+to us, was highly satisfactory, as we were the first English travellers
+in Africa who had resisted the persuasion that a disguise was necessary,
+and who had determined to travel in our real character as Britons and
+Christians[121]," &c. "In trying to make ourselves appear as Mussulmans,
+we should have been set down as real impostors." This is a most
+extraordinary passage. The reader will hardly believe, or really cannot
+believe after this, that these very parties themselves were circumcised
+and attended the mosques. But such was the case; I had it from
+unquestionable authority. This is altogether too bad. A little decorating
+of an incident, or a conversation, I imagine, is allowed to the
+traveller, but this circumstance can hardly be passed by without
+animadversion. However, when this was written, the most conscientious man
+of the party (Oudney) was dead. Clapperton did not write this portion of
+the journal: for its composition Denham alone seems to be responsible. I
+shall add no more, thanking God, that, with all my follies, I did not
+commit such a folly, as first to ape the Mussulman, and then repudiate it
+in print before the world.
+
+_25th._--Took a walk and went to see the Kaed. His Excellency was sitting
+outside, washed and clean shaved, for once whilst I saw him, with a thin
+white burnouse thrown over his shoulders. It was a saint's day with him.
+His Excellency presented to me a cup of coffee without sugar, but,
+Turk-like, when indulging in their dreamy taciturnity, did not open his
+lips. However I had nothing to say to him, nor he to me. Afterwards I
+strolled through the suburbs to botanize. Visited the nearest garden, and
+found the slaves occupied in irrigating it. An old Moor gave me a little
+horticultural information. It requires twelve years for growing a good
+fruit-bearing palm; but, he admitted, a palm might bear fruit within
+seven or eight years. Observed a male palm. Instead of white flowers
+which the female palm has at this season, the male has enormously long
+broad hard pods, but also contains flowers. When the flowers are fit for
+germination the pods will burst. The flowers are then thrown over the
+female palm to produce impregnation. The madder-root is here cultivated;
+it is watered every third day. The leaves are cropped often, but the root
+requires three years to come to perfection. Wheat and barley are watered
+in Sockna every other day. Observed the tree called gharod, or gharoth,
+or gurd; it bears a seed-pod which is used in tanning leather, from its
+great astringency. In all the Sockna gardens this tree abounds. It is a
+species of mimosa, with a yellow flower, and small delicate leaves like
+the acacia. It is a pretty tree, high, and spreading, perhaps twenty feet
+in height. The seed-pod is sold one quarter dollar the Fezzan kael, or
+measure, half a peck or so. The gurd is also employed medicinally. I was
+glad to see several young palms recently planted. I love progress;
+everything in the shape and style of progress delights me. Would to God
+the entire Desert was covered with palms. But man would be just as
+corrupt and unthankful! Being shut up in a dark room three or four days,
+I felt the sun disagreeable, paining my eyes. In returning, I stopped at
+a school and wrote for the boys,
+
+  ‮بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم ربّ واحد وقادراً‬
+
+which delighted them beyond measure.
+
+A man, ran away to-day with his three camels, not liking Government work,
+which is usually performed by Moors and Arabs for the Turks at a price
+less than nothing. Some of the Kaed's officers went in pursuit of him.
+Evening, called on the Kaed, and found his flaming concubine extended at
+her full length upon his elevated seat of authority. His Excellency
+himself, meanwhile, had stepped out of the Castle to look after the
+camels. The Bashaw of Mourzuk has sent him a wigging letter for the delay
+in sending up the convoy of provisions. Picked up several old charms in
+my room to-day. They had been placed over the threshold of the door to
+keep out the Evil One. Sometimes they are tied round the necks of camels,
+and even placed on trees, especially at the time when bearing fruit, for
+the purpose of preserving the camel from mange, or the tree from blight.
+These talismans usually have a diagram of this and other shapes, with
+certain Arabic signs, letters, words, and sentences, written within and
+without.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+It will be seen that some of the signs are Greek letters. I brought with
+me three of these charms from The Desert; one to obtain me a good
+reception from the English Sultan on my return; another to conduct me
+safely to Timbuctoo, should I be disposed to attempt the journey; and the
+third to procure for me a pretty wife. My charms have not yet compassed
+these various interesting objects, but they infallibly will do so. The
+taleb who wrote them gets his living by writing charms, and is very
+successful in his craft. His paper squibs rarely miss fire, and when they
+do it is not the fault of the charms but that of the person who wears
+them. It is necessary to kiss them frequently and fervently, and repeat
+over them the name of God[122].
+
+_26th._--We were to have started to-day, but, as usual, delay. Time is
+not the estate of these people; rather it is their lavish, valueless
+waste. Called early on his Excellency. Coffee without sugar. His
+Excellency very merry, because he had sent off the oil, grease, and rice
+caravan. What a pother it was--it was like the starting of an expedition
+to conquer all Central Africa! His Excellency's concubine still occupies
+the seat of honour, where she frequently goes to sleep. The courtiers of
+his Excellency wink at this little peccadillo. Essnousee remarked to me
+it was all right; "The Mudeer must have some sort of a wife." Had some
+conversation with an intelligent Moor on the trade of Sockna. It appears
+the merchants are in the same predicament as those of Ghadames. They are
+all without capital, and are virtually commission-agents of the Jewish
+and Christian merchants in Tripoli. They receive their goods on giving
+bills for six, nine, and twelve months. These goods they carry to Mourzuk
+and Ghat, exchanging them for slaves and other produce of the interior.
+Afterwards they return to Tripoli, sell their slaves and goods, pay off
+their old debts, and contract new engagements. Meanwhile they have
+scarcely a para to call their own. Therefore European merchants, aided by
+native Jews, are the _bonâ fide_ supporters of the traffic of slaves in
+Sahara.
+
+Visited my dearest lady-saint, or Maraboutess, this evening.
+
+_The Saint._--"In a short time I am going to _Beit Allah_ ('house of
+God,' or Mecca)."
+
+"Indeed!" I replied.
+
+"Yes, there I shall repose under the shadow of the Holy Place, resting my
+poor broken limbs and spending my days in fervent prayer, preparing
+myself for heaven:" continued the pious lady.
+
+_The Traveller._--"What shall you do in Paradise?"
+
+_The Lady._--"I shall eat and drink well, and be dressed in silk."
+
+_The Traveller._--"Shall you have a husband?"
+
+_The Lady._--"Yes."
+
+_The Traveller._--"Shall you bear children!"
+
+_The Lady._--"No."
+
+_The Traveller._--"Where is Paradise?"
+
+_The Lady._--"God knows, you don't know[123]."
+
+This good amiable lady is somewhat _spirituelle_ for a Mooress, and
+makes lively and apposite remarks on other things, as well as
+religion. The Maraboutess may be twenty-five or thirty years of age,
+not good-looking, neither disagreeable. A dark complexion, a
+prominent aquiline nose, a fine gazelle-like eye, and hard-looking
+features are overshadowed with a _triste_ and melancholy expression,
+from the circumstance of her being continually an invalid. I saw the
+poor thing was so weak that she could not stand upright. The saint
+said, with a heavy sigh, as she attempted to move about, "If I were
+to go to Tripoli, would you give me a ride on your camel?" I
+answered, "Every morning a couple of hours," during which time I
+always walk. She then complained of her poverty. She did not know
+how she should get money enough to go on her pilgrimage to Mecca. If
+God had given her the strength of others, she would have walked
+bare-foot over The Desert. I consoled her by saying, that, being a
+saint, all the pious Moslems would relieve her. She would get a ride
+from one and another, and God would soon help her over the dreary
+Desert. The Maraboutess was busy embroidering in coloured worsted,
+chiefly the bodies of frocks, which are worn by brides on their
+marriage-days, as well as by lady Mooresses on other festivals. In
+ten days she earns two shillings, the price of one embroidered
+frock. She has always more than she can do, for the women of Sockna
+consider garments made by her, "holy robes," and keep them all their
+life-time. For the rest, she, poor thing, lives on alms. She asked,
+of course, many questions about women in Christian lands, and was
+very much surprised to hear that the supreme ruler of England was a
+woman. The Maraboutess observed, however, in her character as such,
+"What a pity she (the Queen of England) was not the daughter of
+Mahomet, like Fatima!" The saintess then asked if Her Majesty had
+any children, and was glad to hear she had so many. Three or four
+children is a good number for women in these oases. She was puzzled
+to know why I was not married. I told her I could not carry about a
+wife in Sahara. Another woman, listening, observed, "Why, you
+foolish one, leave her at home till you return." These ladies then
+spoke of religious rites, and asked me if a Christian, when he was
+buried, was placed on his knees. This notion they have got from our
+habits of prayer. Moslems never kneel, properly speaking, at prayer.
+Their attitudes at prayer are in style and essence, prostration. The
+ladies, growing bolder, began to speak of the "Bad Place," the
+_ultima thule_ of Moorish discussion with Christians, imitating the
+fire of perdition with their hands and mouth, wafting the air with
+those, and blowing and puffing with this, and then asked me how I
+should like "The Fire" (‮النار‬). But I returned, "Christians say
+all Mohammedans will go into that fire." This greatly shocked them,
+and they asked if I thought so likewise. I replied, "All who fear
+God, and are good to their neighbour, may expect to see Paradise, if
+there be one." "Ah, that's good!" these proselyting ladies
+exclaimed. The Maraboutess was, however, more thoughtful. "Do you
+doubt there is a Paradise?" she asked, looking me full in the face.
+
+_I._--"There must be such a place, at least let us hope so; for this is a
+bad world, and everybody in it is miserable--Sultans and Dervishes."
+
+"God is great!" exclaimed the Maraboutah. She then begged for medicine to
+cure her, for although she had stigmata like St. Francis, she would
+rather be cured of them. I recommended her the baths in Tripoli, and to
+put herself under the treatment of the English doctor. "Oh," she added,
+"send me some medicine, and I'll give you some milk." Then the poor
+thing, groaning with an attack of pain, continued, "Do, make haste." I
+could do nothing for the poor sufferer. On returning to my house, I sent
+her some cream-of-tartar, and received from her some milk immediately,
+showing her high sense of gratitude.
+
+_27th._--Visited the little dirty Kaed. He gave me dates' syrup to drink.
+It was more delicious than honey This syrup is made by pouring fresh
+water on fresh dates, and covering up the bowl in which they are placed,
+allowing it to stand a night. Only one of the species of the Sockna
+dates, but that of the most exquisite quality, will produce this Saharan
+ambrosia.
+
+Generally, if dates are steeped in water, they will not produce syrup,
+and only get a little soft. People never wash dates. They say it deprives
+them of their fine fresh and peculiar date-flavour. When the Mudeer
+handed me the bowl to drink the syrup, he observed to the Moors and his
+precious doxy, sitting wantonly by his side, "The Christians are fine
+people. If in Sockna you give them a cup of coffee, or a few dates, and
+see them afterwards in Tripoli they will make you many compliments, and
+be very kind to you." This remark was made spontaneously, having no
+selfish end. The old Turk was too much of a gentleman in his way to allow
+such a sordid calculation to enter his mind at the time. I may mention
+here, a woman observed when I visited the Maraboutess, (addressing me),
+"You must send the medicine, for a Christian _mou yakidtheb_ (never
+lies)." It is a pity that these people, who have discernment enough to
+see at times the moral superiority of Christians, should not look a
+little below the surface and inquire into its cause. Not, however, that
+all Europeans, (or myself,) deserve these high compliments of gratitude
+and love of truth, although, compared to Moors and Arabs, we are
+certainly far their superiors in morals. The little dirty Turk had as
+usual his fair concubine installed on the seat of honour. Sockna people
+say, "She has no husband," and others, "She is the Kaed's wife," to make
+the best of a bad appearance.
+
+_28th._--Shut up writing during the morning, but in the evening paid a
+visit to the little nasty dirty Turk, and found the little nasty dirty
+fellow very civil. His Excellency complained of being very sick. I
+returned immediately to fetch him some medicine. Afterwards we mounted
+together to the top of the Castle. From this eminence, we had a splendid
+view of the environs, and the various little oases of Sockna and its
+neighbouring desert. The distant mountains form an unbroken circular line
+on the pale margin of the sky, except on the east, where it is indented a
+little, but of several heights and colours, giving a fine and more varied
+effect to The Desert scene. Within this circle, at the base of the
+various groups, are black-green palms, scattered in little forests,
+casting shades on the now white, now light red, and now purple mountain
+sides, as if to set off the perspective of The Desert picture. Here and
+there are garden-huts or lodges in the wilderness, so many black spots
+within little squares of pale-green patches of corn cultivation. There is
+a string of moving dots. What is that? A caravan winding along its weary
+way. Not a bird is seen to wing the ambient air. The atmosphere generally
+is a pale unpolished yellow, inclining in some cloudy flakes to red. The
+Saharan sun now fast descends, with a feeble heat and exhausted lustre,
+showing the near approach of the dull and drowsy step of shadowy night.
+There is something about Saharan views which is peculiar to them and to
+Africa; every object is so smoothed down and smoothed over, that the
+scenery of Desert looks at a distance more like paint and picture-work,
+than the stern realities of the Wasteful Sahara. And yet these
+smoothed-down picture-objects are so well defined and sharply
+prominent--all the lines traced in the most absolute manner--no blending
+of shapes or even colours. Mist and misty objects are not frequent in the
+African Desert.
+
+The Castle of Sockna would be considered by us a ruined building, and
+condemned as unsafe to be inhabited, but here it is always "The Castle."
+It does not contain a single good room; all is tumbling to pieces, and if
+you don't take care, you will fall through some of the floors, gaping
+open with large holes at your feet to let you in. Only one miserable
+piece of cannon was mounted, and two other pieces of ordnance were lying
+"below stairs," corroding most delightfully in rust. But the Turks never
+pretend that this place can make any serious defence against an enemy.
+Were indeed a good piece of ordnance fired from the top of The Castle,
+the concussion would knock down all the part of the building where it was
+placed. As it is, a portion of the outer walls has fallen down, and the
+rubbish is scattered up to the doors of the neighbouring shops. No effort
+is made to clear away this rubbish. "Why should it not remain where God
+has allowed it to fall?" says the fate-believing Moslemite. The owners of
+the shops creep to their magazines of merchandize as they best may. I
+remarked to the little dirty Turk, who sat with a dreamy stare looking
+over The Desert, smoking very unpolitely with his back to the sun, "This
+country without question was formerly in a much better state, and The
+Castle in good repair." His Excellency shook his head negatively. The
+Turks detest this country, hating its inhabitants with the most cordial
+hatred. Yet the lust of rule, (the object of a fatal ambition in all
+Moslemite countries,) and the right and power of bastinading a man when
+they please, reconciles them to The Desert, and to its weary, dreary,
+blank mode of existence. For what toys do men sacrifice the best days of
+their life, and the most noble faculties of their being!
+
+Glad to get away from the dirty old Turk. Called later to see my dearest
+Maraboutess, with whom I was almost inclined to fall in love. It is a
+positive relief to find something, and somebody amiable in this Desert of
+human affections. The saint had many visitors, and is evidently held in
+high respect by the inhabitants. Her female associates sitting by her,
+asked me, what has been so often asked before, if the Christian women
+brought three or four children at a birth. From some cause or other,
+polygamy, obesity in the women, or the abuse of the marriage-bed, Saharan
+females have very few children. There were five elderly men in our
+caravan; all were married, of course, for every man marries amongst
+Mahometans. These old gentlemen had not more than two children each, and
+one of them none. I set the Sockna ladies right, telling them, some of
+our women had twins, and now and then three, but that one was the rule.
+Every thing about us Christians is exaggerated. The people of these towns
+think us a distinct race from themselves. Such is the effect of religion
+when misapplied; it estranges men from one another instead of drawing
+them together with the cords of brotherly affection. An Arab present with
+us, changing the subject, asked why I did not go to Bornou, for all the
+Oulad Suleiman (Arabs of the Syrtis) up at Bornou were friends of the
+English, and one and the same with them? He continued, "But let them come
+here to cut down again our palms, and we will not leave one of them
+alive." I gave the poor Maraboutess a few paras, received her blessing,
+and bade her an affectionate adieu. Happy would be many, if with such
+bodily afflictions they could amuse themselves with such blissful
+visions!
+
+His Excellency presented me with half a pound of coffee, and told me to
+beware of the Sockna people, who would rob me of it if they could.
+
+_29th._--Called early to visit the "Grand Turk" of the Castle, and
+administered to his Excellency a full dose of genuine Epsom. In turn, he
+gave me a basin of coffee with milk,--quite a novelty in The
+Desert,--which I thought a splendid exchange. I had a good deal to do to
+get him to swallow the Epsom. On calling to see him in the afternoon, I
+found his Excellency racing about like a real jockey of Epsom, running
+out at times very abruptly, to the great amusement of his Sultana, who
+admired the effects of the Epsom. Called again in the evening to see my
+patient, and found his Excellency suffering from what he called
+dysentery, and administered a couple of small opium pills. The Turk
+observed, with something of a grin, that Christian doctors knew more of
+the inside than the outside of a man.
+
+_30th._--Another Turk arrived this morning with another convoy of
+provisions from Tripoli. He is twenty days from that city. He
+complains of the camels. Certainly I never saw worse camels than
+these of the Tripoline Arabs. The Turk brings good news. Rain has
+fallen copiously in The Mountains. It is the "_latter_ rain" in the
+Scriptural phrase, ὑετον οψιμον. The "_early_ rain," ὑετον πρωϊμον,
+falls in North Africa about September and October. The "_latter_
+rain" continues to April, and sometimes falls in May. In December
+and January there is often dry weather, and the finest season in the
+year for Europeans. Want of rain in Fezzan and Sockna is compensated
+for by the abundance of springs. These rains in The Mountains will
+establish the rule of the Turks. It is only a question of
+provisions. The want of rain for several years has brought Tripoli
+to the verge of ruin, and the Sultan is tired of supporting this
+Regency. If a few good harvests come, Tripoli will support itself.
+Wrote to Mr. Gagliuffi by this caravan, to tell him where I was on
+the 30th of March! He expects me by this time to be at Tripoli. We
+are to leave this evening.
+
+Amused myself again by noticing several parallel ideas between The East
+and Africa, as found in our Scriptures.
+
+In these countries there is always some one great river; for this
+reason, Moors will always have the Nile and the Niger to be "one
+great river." Mr. Cooley, in his "Negroland of the Arabs," proposes,
+for the various names given by ancient and modern geographers to the
+Niger, the simple epithet of "The Great River." In The East, we
+have, τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν μεγαν τὸν Εὐφράτην (Rev. xvi. 12), "The Great
+River Euphrates." It is not to be supposed the prophets and
+evangelists were instructed in geography beyond their age. The vial
+of wrath is not poured upon Ganges, or Mississippi, or Amazon, but
+on Euphrates, the great river of that age and time, although not of
+our age and times.
+
+Καλαμον χρυσοῦν (Rev. xxi. 15), "a golden reed." The term
+καλαμον, the root of which are the three consonants κλμ,
+is the same as ‮قلم‬, "a reed" first, and afterwards, "a
+pen made of a reed." It is difficult sometimes to get reeds in The
+Desert, and they are carried about from oasis to oasis. On the salt
+plains of Emjessem, near Ghadames, there is a fine lagoon of reeds,
+of which pens are made. It is probable the angel _wrote_ the
+measurement of the "Holy Jerusalem" with a reed pen, and not
+_measured_ it with a reed, as represented in our version.
+
+Και ἡ γυνη εφυγεν εις την ερημον (Rev. xii. 6), "and the woman fled
+to the Wilderness." The Wilderness, or Desert, in ancient times, as
+now, in this part of the world, was always a place of refuge; but,
+as the world becomes civilized, the Wilderness will offer no
+resource to the fugitive, and the back-woods of the new colonies
+will no longer shelter the runaway, or outlaw of society, or the
+innocent patriot fleeing from the pursuit of his country's tyrants.
+Gibbon gives an affecting description of the fugitive Roman, who
+found Rome's omnipresent tyrant in every clime whither he fled, on
+every soil paced by his trembling foot. Before this time arrives,
+let us hope liberty will have settled down, with its outspread eagle
+wings sheltering every country of the habitable globe.
+
+Εὰν ὁ Κύριος θελήσῃ, καὶ ζήσωμεν, καὶ ποιήσωμεν τοῦτο ἢ εκεῖνο.
+(James iv. 15.) Mahomet and his disciples have made enough of this
+divine injunction, which, indeed, ought to be more practised by
+Christians. By the Moslems, however, it is carried to a superstitious
+excess, and the _En shallah_--‮ان شاء الله‬--"_Deo
+Volente_," is continually in their mouths. They cannot even say,
+"Yes," to anything, although _la, la_, "no, no," is heard frequently
+enough. The _aywah_, ‮ايوه‬, "yes," means rather "well done," than
+"yes." But it is a pity they have not adopted, with the same
+superstitious strictness, the ομνὑετε, "swear not," of the same
+writer; for no people in the world swear so much, and by such sacred
+names, as the Arabs and Moors.
+
+Φόβος ὀυκ ἔστιν ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ, ἀλλ' ἡ τελεία ἀγάπη ἔξω βάλλει τὸν
+φόβον, ὅτι ὁ φόβος κόλασιν ἔχει. (1 John iv. 18.) "There is no fear
+in love, but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath
+torment." I have never yet heard the Arabs or Moors speak of
+"_loving_ God." They say either, "He _knows_ God," or, "He _fears_
+God." Nevertheless, such phrases agree with our expression of
+religious sentiment. Besides knowing and fearing God, our religion
+requires that we _love_ God. This the Saharan Mussulman does not
+well understand. All his religious system is: "To know that there is
+a God, to be feared and dreaded as an earthly Prince or Sultan, who
+at times rules them with a rod of iron." So all their actions,
+motives, impulses, whether religions or secular, spring the rather
+from fear than love. And so it is, that whenever they speak to a
+Christian about religion, their first and last argument is, "The
+torments of the Lost," as I have already so often mentioned; and the
+fear of the fire of perdition, it may be added, is their continual
+"torment." The Koran helps them out, in their dread of corporal
+torments. I need not refer to the celebrated passage, which
+represents the wicked in the regions of the lost as "gnawing their
+fingers and knuckles in the rage and agonies of their pain." But in
+Rev. xvi. 10, we also have--εμασσωντο τας γλωσσας αὑτων εκ του πονου
+"they gnawed their tongues for pain." In both cases the picture is
+too terrible to be calmly contemplated. It is a true observation of
+philosophy, that the pictures of the future state of man, as
+delineated in the sacred books of different religions, are, the
+greater part of them of a painful and horrible character. But the
+Koran surpasses all these books, in wire-drawn and elaborately
+wrought descriptions, the most mournful, the most disgusting, the
+most terrible, of the torments of the damned. Is it because, men
+generally can only be moved by fear, and not by love, to the
+practice of virtue and religious observances? But in Sahara the
+principle of fear is carried into the minutest relations of social
+life. The child fears and venerates, not loves, his father; he
+approaches his parent with awe, not with the confidence of love. The
+wife always fears, rarely loves, her husband. Connubial pleasures
+are not the embraces of love and confidence, but of lust and rule;
+and the woman slavishly submits to the caprices of the man, as bound
+by an absolute and resistless contract, and not from affection or
+any inclination. So it was in earliest times,--the weaker went to the
+wall, and the stronger was the master; might was right. Peter ungallantly
+reminds the women of his age of κύριον αὐτον καλοῦσα,
+"(the wife), calling him (the husband) lord," as the practice of the
+women of a still remoter age. Nothing flatters an African husband so
+much as to hear his wife call him "lord," and "master." But it was
+not the intention of the first propagators of our religion to
+disturb the social customs and (Oriental habits of) society.
+Besides, the apostles, being Jews and Asiatics, would naturally
+introduce into their new doctrine the old despotic notions of the
+East regarding women. When Christianity spread west and north, these
+notions of despotism over women were resisted in Greece[124] and
+Rome, and by the Germanic tribes, amongst whom especially women were
+treated as dignified and responsible agents, enjoying equal rights
+with men. Nevertheless, the condition of women has improved
+everywhere with the spread of the pure morality of Christianity.
+
+Near Sockna, or one and a half hour east, is Houn; and two hours
+north-east, is Wadan. The water of these two towns is brackish.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[121] This is probably an allusion to the following observations
+    of Captain Lyon, in justification of his assuming the Mahometan
+    religion:--"It may be necessary before I take leave of Mourzuk,
+    and indeed of Tripoli, to explain that our adoption of the Moorish
+    costume was by no means a sufficient safeguard in either of those
+    places, or in traversing the interior of Africa; for, though it
+    might, to a casual observer, blind suspicion, yet when we had
+    occasion to remain for a time at any place, or to perform journeys
+    in company with strangers, we found that it was absolutely
+    requisite to conform to all the duties of the Mohammedan religion,
+    as well as to assume their dress. To this precaution I attribute
+    our having met with so little hindrance in our proceedings; for
+    had we openly professed ourselves Christians, we might, in Fezzan,
+    have experienced many serious interruptions; whilst farther in the
+    interior, even our lives would have been in continual jeopardy.
+    The circumstance of our having come from a Christian country,
+    which we always acknowledged, frequently rendered us liable to
+    suspicion; but by attending constantly at the established prayers,
+    and occasionally acknowledging the divine mission of Mahomet; or,
+    more properly, by repeating, 'There is no God but God, Mahomet is
+    his Prophet,' we were enabled to overcome all doubts respecting
+    our faith." It must be added, in justice to Messrs. Ritchie and
+    Lyon, that since 1821 a vast change has been wrought in the minds
+    of the Moors of North Africa, and especially with regard to
+    Englishmen. When even Denham and Clapperton visited Mourzuk, they
+    were not allowed to reside in the town, but kept in the castle,
+    under the special protection of the Bashaw, lest anything should
+    befall them from the prejudices of the people.
+
+[122] As a suitable accompaniment of Mussulman charms, I add in a
+    note, the following specimen of a Christian charm, which I found
+    in the letter of the _Times'_ Swiss correspondent.--(See _Times_,
+    10th Dec., 1847):--
+
+    "More--I have seen some curious little brass amulets, with the
+    effigy of the Virgin on one side and the Cross on the other, which
+    were sold in great numbers to the people as charms against all
+    possible injuries in battle. Those sold at seven and ten batzen
+    (about 10_d._ and 15_d._ of our money) were efficacious against
+    musket and carbine balls; those at twenty batzen (about
+    half-a-crown) were proof against cannon shot also! The purchasers
+    of these medals were also presented with a card, of which the
+    following is a _verbatim_ transcript, capitals, italics, and
+    all:--
+
+                           'O MARIE
+                       CONCUE SANS PECHE,
+            PRIEZ POUR NOUS QUI AVONS RECOURS A VOUS!
+
+    '_Quiconque_, portant une médaille miraculeuse, recite avec piété
+    cette invocation, se trouve placé sous la protection spéciale de
+    la Mère de Dieu; c'est une promesse de Marie Elle Même.'
+
+    Which, being interpreted--if indeed I may be excused for profaning
+    the honest English tongue with such blasphemy--is,
+
+    'Oh Mary!--conceived without sin--pray for us who have recourse to
+    you. _Any one_ carrying a miraculous medal, who recites with piety
+    the above invocation, becomes placed under the especial protection
+    of the Mother of God. This is a promise made by Mary herself.'"
+
+[123] This is the tiresome, frequently-recurring phrase of the
+    Koran.
+
+[124] So we find Paul declaiming that he will not suffer a woman
+    to speak in the churches. It was the Greek women who wished to
+    assert the dignity of woman by teaching in the assemblies of the
+    saints.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+FROM SOCKNA TO MISRATAH.
+
+     Well of Hammam.--Innocent game of the Negresses.--Baiting at
+     noon.--Bird's-nests and Birds in Sahara.--Ghiblee or the
+     _Simoum_; its terrible effects on our Caravan.--Delusions of
+     Desert, and bewilderment of our People.--Disastrous Fate of the
+     Young Tuscan.--Snakes.--Small capital of some
+     Slave-Merchants.--Arrival at Bonjem.--Visit the Roman Ruins of
+     Septimius Severus.--The newly created Oasis.--Regulations to
+     mitigate Saharan Slave-traffic.--My Imbroglio with
+     Essnousee.--Imbroglio of an Arab with the Kaed of
+     Bonjem.--Description of the Fort of Bonjem.--The Disease of the
+     _Filaria Medinensis_, and its Cure.--My Journal confused and
+     fragmentary.--Route from Bonjem to Misratah.--Enter the regions
+     of Rain and Open Culture.--_Bughalah_, or the Rock, where
+     Abd-El-Geleel was assassinated.--Wells of Daymoum and
+     Namwah.--Sudden changes of Temperature in North Africa.--Well of
+     Saneeah Abd-El-Kader.--Stream of Touwarkah.--Ecstatic joy on
+     arriving near the Sea.--How diminutive all things are become in
+     comparison with the Vast Sahara.--Arrival at Misratah.
+
+
+IN the afternoon, about three, we left Sockna _en route_ for Tripoli; we
+arrived at Hammam in a couple of hours. On the road, we met not less than
+three hundred camels laden with provisions and ammunition for the troops
+at Mourzuk, shewing evidently the dread which the Turks have of the Arabs
+under the son of Abd-El-Geleel, and any sudden attack by them on Fezzan.
+This is a bad speculation for the Turks. Fezzan can never pay at such a
+rate.
+
+Hammam, is a collection of small sand-hills grouped together, around and
+upon which are palms. There is also a well of tolerably good water. The
+name Hammam ("hot-spring"), is derived from the circumstance of there
+being here a hot-spring; but now said to be covered up by the sand-hills.
+This is what the people have received by tradition. Very hot this
+evening; the sun burnt us most extraordinarily. We felt it more after
+having been shut up some days in Sockna; we took in a supply of water at
+Hammam in preference to the waters of Sockna. This evening, the Negresses
+played their usual sweet innocent little game. They form an alley by
+taking hands, blocked up at the end. At the top enters one of their
+number backwards. As she passes along the opposite pairs, each couple put
+their hands across and form a sort of seat for her, by which she is
+bumped backwards from one seat to another seat of hands, through the
+whole alley. When arriving at the end, she falls into the chain of hands.
+Another now enters, being bumped backwards on her broad bustle like her
+predecessor, and caught by the hands stretched across the alley. I don't
+know whether this is intelligible, but the game is very simple and full
+of mirth. The point of tact is, their always sitting down on the hands,
+and not falling back on the ground, when, like every body who attempts to
+sit down on a chair and suddenly finds himself on the floor, they would
+look very foolish. But as the Devil leaped over the fold of Paradise, so
+he may be expected to creep in everywhere, and the Negro lads are always
+peeping about, at a respectful distance, to see what they can see, when
+these falls take place; and I imagine the zest of the thing, both amongst
+the lads and the lasses, turns upon this naughty circumstance. So much
+for poor innocence, and innocent games.
+
+_31st._--Started, as the sun shewed his broad face above the horizon.
+Route till the afternoon, over a sandy, gravelly plain; then entered some
+hilly country, where we came to the well of Temet-Tar. Excessively hot
+again to-day, apparently the precursor of the Simoum the following day.
+In this Fezzanee caravan, it is our practice to halt at noon, or
+thereabouts, to take a little refreshment. I am informed all the caravans
+of this route do so. The Ghadamsee caravans, on the route of Ghat, never
+halt in the day-time, continuing from morning to night. Our people carry
+a few dates in a bag, or on the camel's back, all ready for the luncheon.
+These they throw down upon a portion of a barracan spread on the sands.
+Sometimes a piece of bread is broken over the dates. They then squat
+round this repast in groups. The slaves save from their previous day's
+supper, or from the morning, a few dates for this time of the day, and
+are allowed each a drink of water. Noticed a bird's nest on a furze of
+The Desert. This is only the second I have ever seen in Sahara. A few
+small birds are now hopping about on the line of route. But I have
+observed the colour of the birds to vary with the region through which we
+pass. Now they are yellow, now black, now black and white, and all as
+small as linnets. These birds have no song, only chirping and twittering
+about. A few larks I have seen where water and palms and other trees
+abound. We encamped about 4 P.M. The water of the well is by no means
+sweet, but not being brackish, it quenches thirst sufficiently.
+
+_1st April._--Rose early and started early. A terrible day! A
+_ghiblee_ in all its force[125]. The wind is directly from south
+(‮قبلي‬ "south"). It is quite dry, unlike the _sirocco_ which blows
+at Malta. Sirocco is damp and most enervating, and south-east in its
+direction. Probably, however, it is the same wind, but sweeping over
+the sea it attracts moisture, and changes to south-east. I was
+praying for, and prophesying all the morning, up to 9 A.M., a cool
+day. The reverse has happened, as so often happens in answer to our
+most ardent wishes. I never was so astonished as when I saw the
+negroes on this day. Mr. Gagliuffi had said to me, "If you have
+ghiblee, the slaves can't go." But I could hardly believe a hot wind
+to be so injurious to these children of the sun. They seemed as if
+they could bear any cold better than a hot south wind. They got
+behind the camels or stooped under their bellies; they held up their
+barracans, taking it by turns to hold them up, by which means they
+sheltered five or six together; they concealed their faces and their
+bodies with their tattered garments; they invented all sorts of
+expedients to shelter themselves a moment against The Desert simoum.
+I could not help observing how superior the white man was to the
+black man in his physical make. Our Arabs and Moors kept up erect,
+facing this furnace blast, and bore the heat and burthen of the day
+a thousand times better than the Negroes--these children begotten by
+the sun from the slime of the Niger, on whose swampy plains heat
+reigns eternally with all its fiery fervour! I had always thought
+the Negro, being naturally a chilly creature, could not be affected
+with a hot wind. We all drank plentifully today, ten times as much
+as on other days. But this being a ghiblee day, it was necessary to
+drive on the slaves quick, and with violence, the camels not
+carrying a sufficiency of water for a couple of days of this sort.
+Essnousee now showed how eminently qualified he was for this
+infernal traffic. He did drive them on most furiously, while as to
+one wretched Negress, I thought he would have left her dead on the
+spot, flaying her most unmercifully. The miscreant Essnousee was
+only prevented from the perpetration of this horrid crime by the
+main-force interference of Mohammed Azou, another slave-dealer
+travelling with us, with seven slaves, and who, I must record, was a
+humane man, though a dealer in the flesh and blood of his fellow
+creatures. I have not observed him even once beating his slaves,
+which is saying a great deal. The conduct of this humane Moor proved
+that it was not absolutely necessary to beat slaves when driving
+them over Desert. The Touaricks of Aheer, indeed, know this, and
+never lay a finger on their poor captives. We, at length, got
+through this day of horrible heat and thirst, for God gives an end
+to all things. Never will be effaced from the tablet of my memory
+the prayer of a poor Negress girl, who, in the height of the simoum
+came running up to me, her eyes bloodshot, her face streaming with
+tears, "Buy me, Yâkob, O, buy me! I am very good, I will be good
+wife to you, and sleep with you. O, I'm dying! take me, buy me, buy
+me, Yâkob. The wind kills me."
+
+We encamped on a vast plain, having ranges of low mountains on our right
+and left. The carcases of two camels were left on the road, which had
+broken down from the large caravan we had passed; and, a thing unusual,
+the Arabs had left part of the flesh on the bones; some of our slaves
+immediately devoured it raw. Hunger's the thing to give you a relish.
+
+_2nd._--Rose at Fidger, a little before day-break, or at the point of
+day, in fright of another ghiblee. Necessity has, indeed, in such a case,
+no law, and no compassion on the unfortunate. But, to-day, God sent the
+poor slaves a little fresh north wind, for "God tempers the wind to the
+shorn lamb." The north wind increased towards the evening, we journeying
+on very well. Course, north and north-west, over the vast expanse
+mentioned yesterday. Quantities of bits of marble, pieces of fine quartz,
+and shining felspar, are strewn over the plain, which contrasting with
+its dark ground-work, look at times as if we were traversing some
+enchanted carpet. But our brains reeled, and we all suffered from thirst.
+People seemed all mad to-day. One called to me, "Yâkob, listen." I
+listened, but being hard of hearing, I thought there might be some
+sounds. Another camel-driver pretended he heard sweet melodious sounds.
+On inquiring what music it was, he replied, "Like the Turkish band." Then
+another came running to me, "Yâkob, see what a beautiful sight." I turned
+to look, but my eyes were so weak and strained, that I could see nothing
+upon the dreary face of the limitless plain. Essnousee swore to seeing a
+bright city of the Genii, and actually counted the number of the palaces
+and the palms. I believe our people were delirious from the effects of
+yesterday's simoum, for I did not observe mirage. The beautiful words of
+Cowper recurred to me when I had the power of calm reflection, in the
+evening of the day:--
+
+    "So in The Desert's dreary waste,
+    By magic power produced in haste,
+        (As ancient fables say,)
+    Castles, and groves, and music sweet,
+    The senses of the traveller meet,
+        And stop him in his way.
+
+    But while he listens with surprise,
+    The charm dissolves, the vision dies,
+        'Twas but enchanted ground."
+
+Not much sand on the plain, but gravel occasionally. Some sand hills
+appear in the distance, a line of waving dazzling white on the horizon.
+Encamped late in the evening. The well of Nabah is not in the line of
+route.
+
+At the site of this well happened a sad event two years and a half ago,
+and which now, suffering as I was with thirst, came with redoubled force
+to my mind. Mr. Gagliuffi, on his appointment to be Consul at Mourzuk,
+took with him a young Tuscan as secretary. The vivacious Italian soon
+quarrelled with the Consul, and immediately determined to return to
+Tripoli, during the height of summer (August), in spite of the warnings
+of everybody. However, with care and due preparation, this route, and all
+Saharan routes, can be and are travelled in every season of the year; as
+is sufficiently proved by my own journey to Ghadames. Two days after the
+Tuscan left Sockna, came on a terrible ghiblee, but infinitely more
+intense and stifling than any south wind could be in this season. The
+Tuscan was travelling with a caravan of a few people, who determined to
+bring up for the day, about 2 P.M., although having but a small supply of
+water. They were then about seven hours from the well of Nabah. The
+distance was tempting to the rash European. With a little courage and
+dispatch could not the well be reached before night? Why not? thought he.
+The youth was self-willed and peremptory. He knew better than the old
+Arab camel-drivers, traversing this route all their life-time. The Tuscan
+had also with him a horse. But what does he do? Having about a bucket of
+water left, he gives it to the horse; and then starts, taking off with
+him a young Arab, apparently as foolish as himself. They proceeded on
+their last journey, the Tuscan riding the horse, the poor Arab boy going
+on foot, as guide to the well. The caravan weathers out the ghiblee--the
+men covering up their faces and mouths from the scorching blast, afraid
+to breathe the killing air of the simoum--the camels moaning in
+death-like tones, prophetic of the fate of those who had just gone! But
+night comes, and brings some relief to the wasting, if not dying animals.
+Then the morning breaks with a refreshing breeze, and the exhausted
+caravan has enough strength left to seek the well. Near the well, not a
+quarter of a mile distant, they first find the young Italian stretched
+dead, a little farther off the horse, and a little farther off the Arab.
+They had perished at the well's mouth! There cannot be a doubt, these
+unhappy youths perished by their own folly. The European had even water
+enough to last him a whole day, but gave it to his horse, and braved
+wildly the death-gale of The Desert. The poor Arab, I am told, was forced
+away against his will to guide the mad-cap Tuscan to their fatal end. By
+such folly, have also perished unnumbered caravans in the Saharan
+regions.
+
+Our people who went to Nabah for water, found the well too late to
+return, and came back at day-light in the morning, about two and a half
+hours' distance from the line of route.
+
+_3rd._--We held on our course northward, weary and exhausted, but the
+wind freshened from north-west, and we did not suffer from heat. We now
+entered into groups of small mountains. At 4 P.M., seeing the sandy hills
+of Bonjem, our merciful slave-master, Essnousee, determined we might now
+encamp, and go fresh and early next day to the Fortress. Observed two
+small snakes to-day in open Desert, the first time I have seen them in
+Sahara. So much for the snakes, asps, adders, basilisks, cockatrices, and
+fiery flying serpents of The Desert! We have with us one old gentleman
+who joined us at Sockna. He is conveying _one_ slave to Tripoli. Greatly
+surprised at this, I asked him how he could travel these horrid wastes
+with such a miserable stake in commerce as a single slave! The Saharan
+veteran replied, "You are right. It would be better for me to remain in
+Sockna, and spend my days in prayer and poverty like a dervish. But I
+have another slave in Tripoli. This is the whole of my property. I shall
+return again, after I have sold them, to Mourzuk, and buy and sell. Such
+is the will of God, what can I do?" And so the traffic in human beings
+goes on. It is quite certain, from this case, nothing but main force can
+put an end to the slave-trade, for the Moors will carry it on at all
+risks, and under any circumstances. How induce men to give up a traffic,
+who will travel a month over Desert with a capital of a couple of slaves!
+
+_4th._--Rose early, and was astonished and alarmed to find my bed-clothes
+and all my wearing apparel wet with a thick heavy dew. This I had not
+experienced through all my journeyings in Desert, for, as the ancient
+Arabian writers have styled this country, it is a "Dry Country," from
+Egypt to the Atlantic. But new things always surprise--often alarm us. We
+soon got used to dewy nights and heavy dews. We were now also entering or
+near to the regions of rain. I dried my clothes at the fire, and felt no
+ill effects from this heavy night dew. All were travelling without tents,
+except the female slaves, who, unless sheltered during the night, would
+soon have died from cold. Day-time our female slaves were poorly clad,
+having on only a piece of woollen wrapper, besides a black cotton frock,
+and some not even a piece of wrapper to cover their heads and shoulders.
+Bonjem people say these dews are perpetual, covering all the sandy soil
+of the country round with fresh green herbage, which our poor camels now
+cropped with a voracious delight. In two hours and a half we entered the
+new town of Bonjem. It is the site of the ancient Roman station, or town,
+called Septimius Severus. A fort has recently been built from the ancient
+ruins, with a few small miserable houses in the shape of a village. The
+fort, or burge, is however strong and commodious, and has quarters for
+the accommodation of five hundred troops. The present garrison consists
+of about thirty raw Arabs, relieved every two months. They have no pay or
+allowance, except their rations. The object of the Pasha in the erection
+of this fortress, was to connect militarily The Mountains with the large
+and important oasis of Sockna. A few gardens have been laid out, several
+wells dug, and these, with the homely hovels, the very picture of "the
+day of small things," are still infinitely preferable to the naked
+desolation of Sahara. On proceeding upwards, water is here taken in for
+three or four days. The water is very good, although it has a fetid
+odour, rendering it disagreeable when drinking. Walked about the village.
+There may be forty or fifty houses, mere square boxes of mud or plaster,
+mixed with old Roman stones, about twelve feet high, and containing
+perhaps a hundred inhabitants. Being new, the houses have a clean
+appearance. There are two streets, and a fondouk, or caravanserai. To
+build such a village and a fortress, some rather fine Roman ruins
+received their final stroke of demolition.
+
+Afternoon,--went to see the ancient Roman station of Septimius Severus.
+It lies east of Bonjem at a quarter of an hour's walking. Of the fort or
+castle, there remains still a sufficient quantity of blocks of stone to
+point out the four gates, and some rude pillars seven or eight feet high,
+denoting the site of a temple, or other public building, within the
+castle. We visited three of the gates, but found only one inscription,
+cut on a single block deeply imbedded in sand, and covered with other
+blocks of stone. The letters were Roman, and, pretty freshly chiselled,
+but we could not move the other stones so as to decipher the words in
+their full length. Some blocks of stone were shaped into arches, others
+lay scattered in single blocks, on one of which was this plain device.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This is the sole result of my antiquarian visit. Not a bit of fine marble
+or a coin was picked up. The stone of the ruins was a dark grey granite,
+almost black, of very coarse grain. It must have been brought some
+distance, for I have seen no stone like it in the neighbourhood. The
+walls of the castle were very thick, and built in the usual Roman style,
+with cement and small stones, the mortar being now nearly as hard as the
+stone itself. These walls were also faced with the blocks of stone
+mentioned. The walls of the city had merely cement and small stones.
+These latter are extensive. The _ensemble_ of the ruins makes one deeply
+regret to see The Sahara has gone back ages in the arts and civilization,
+for such is evident from these _debris_ of Roman Saharan culture. This
+fact, even the Moors themselves accompanying me, acknowledged by such
+exclamations as _wasâ_, "wide!" and _kebir_, "great!" But the impression
+with them is fleeting, and anything unconnected with their religion, and
+the history of the conquests of Islamism, I have always observed is
+accounted nothing by these people. Half a day west of Bonjem, the people
+tell me there is a few scattered ruins of another ancient city. On our
+way we found two wells, lately dug, and the Taleb-Kaed says, water is
+every where found near the surface, and always good, in spite of the
+disagreeable gaseous exhalation when drunk. A few tiny palms are also
+planted about these wells, in this Turkish attempt to upraise Septimius
+Severus. The little sprigs of palm pleased all, and were welcomed by us
+as the germ of the future oasis, which shall afford shade and fruit to a
+large population. There may be a dozen wells already dug, and every year
+the infant oasis shows more signs of life, and a little, little more
+progressive existence. The prevailing soil is sandy, but good for grain
+and palms.
+
+This evening had an imbroglio or row with Essnousee, who attempted to
+impose upon me by charging for two or three suppers which he furnished me
+in the way of hospitality at his native place of Sockna. I had lent him
+all my money to purchase food for his slaves. He now refused to refund,
+on this and other pleas.
+
+During the road from Sockna to Bonjem, I thought of two or three
+regulations which might mitigate the evils of Saharan slave-traffic, as
+well as limit its operations, if our Government could prevail upon the
+Turks to adopt them. If we can't stop the trade at once, we may try to
+lessen its miseries. We English did the same in the case of our own
+slave-trade.
+
+1st. That no Tripoline, or other Ottoman subject, should purchase a slave
+out of the provinces of Tripoli.
+
+2nd. That the slaves _en route_ for Tripoli should be accompanied by a
+Government officer, who should watch over them and see that they are not
+over-driven or inhumanly flogged.
+
+3rd. That for every slave dying _en route_, or in any of the towns _en
+route_, for the markets of the Coast, whatever may be the cause, the
+owner of that slave should be fined a sum equal to the duty paid for it
+to Government.
+
+The first rules would lessen the operations of the traffic, and prevent
+slave-merchants from purchasing and speculating in Soudan, and always put
+them under the eye and surveillance of the agents of Government. The
+second would in a great measure prevent over-driving and inhuman
+flogging, if faithfully followed out. The third would, at least, always
+insure the slaves having food enough to preserve them in good health.
+
+I think I see the free-trader smile at these restrictions, and hear him
+say, "What humbug!" But first, it is here a question to regulate a
+nefarious traffic which the Porte, our ally, is not yet prepared to
+abolish. Until the free-trader can prove to me that the traffic in slaves
+is a legitimate commerce, I shall advocate the crippling of it by
+restrictions, let these restrictive regulations be ever so puerile. But
+we have the fact, that since Mr. Gagliuffi persuaded the Ottoman
+authorities to lay a tax of ten dollars per head on each slave, the
+traffic has diminished considerably. So at any rate the merchants
+themselves tell me. This was the object of the Vice-Consul, and he
+accomplished his object. On the other hand, it could be represented to
+the Porte, that the first regulation would bring the commerce of the
+interior within their territories, a great advantage for the Regency of
+Tripoli.
+
+_5th._--Not so much dew as yesterday morning. The imbroglio with
+Essnousee continues about refunding the money I lent him. To-day it
+assumed a formidable shape, not only all our caravan was involved in it,
+but the whole of the town, and the Kaëd at their head. I agreed to give
+the slave-merchant a fair price for his suppers, but for the rest,
+insisted on being paid back the money which I lent him, and which he
+promised to refund at Sockna. On arriving at Sockna, Essnousee found
+money scarce, and thought he would bamboozle me out of my money. The
+Taleb-Kaëd saw the justice of the plea, as did all the people, and the
+merchant was ordered to give me the balance of the few dollars. The money
+was requisite to purchase a little milk, or butter, or fresh provisions.
+My vanity, however, came in the way of my stomach. So when I got the
+dollars, to show I did not carry on this imbroglio for selfish purposes,
+but solely for the sake of common justice between man and man, I ordered,
+with great pomposity and an air of immense benevolence, the money to be
+distributed to the poor of the town. This ostentation greatly pleased all
+the Moors and Arabs, save and except the crest-fallen chagrined
+Essnousee; it only increased the bitter misery of his defeat. I was
+wicked enough to be glad to humiliate the unfeeling slave-dealer in this
+way, for he had no money and was obliged to borrow to pay, which sadly
+lessened his consequence.
+
+Afterwards went to see the Moorish Secretary Kaëd, installed in the
+Castle. This functionary is placed here principally for the dispatch of
+the mails backwards and forwards. The secretary does not interfere with
+the Sheikh who commands the garrison, and only attends to couriers and
+the little affairs of the village. For this work he has the large salary
+of three dollars per month. It seemed as if imbrogliamento was the order
+of the day, for here I witnessed a row as violent as my own. An old Arab,
+very crusty and obstinate, had arrived from Sockna on Government
+business. He was to receive money from the Kaed, and pay money to him.
+The Kaed would not pay, and he would not pay. The old gentleman sat down
+before the irritated functionary, and holding the teskera and a new
+Turkish passport in his hand, said, "Give me my rights. Why rob you a
+poor man? Is it because I am poor and old you rob me? Fear I the Sultan?
+Why should I fear you or the Sultan? I fear alone God." The excited Kaed
+could no longer restrain himself. He seized the papers out of the hands
+of the Arab and tore them to pieces, exclaiming, "Go out, you dog!"
+Besides this the Kaed threatened the bastinado. The hangers-on of his
+Excellency carried the old man out of the apartment until the wrath of
+their dwarf tyrant had cooled down. The affair afterwards ended by both
+parties accepting and paying their mutual claims. The Arabs are greatly
+exasperated about these passports, which, indeed, are of no possible use,
+and are only used by these petty functionaries to extort money from the
+poor people. An Arab said to me, showing the animus of the question
+hereabouts, "Before our Sultan became a Christian we never heard of these
+teskeras. Now that he is become an infidel, he sends us these accursed
+things to take away our money, and rob our children of bread." The poor
+Sultan, in fact, if he can get hold of any detestable thing of European
+civilization, is sure to adopt it, to torment his subjects.
+
+Spent the rest of the day within the Castle, gossiping with the Arab
+soldiers, their Sheikh, and the Kaed. To-day I was thankful for two
+things, for having inflicted a salutary lesson on the iniquitous
+slave-driver, and for being sheltered from the sun and wind. The Castle
+has three towers at three of its corners, but not rising much higher than
+the upper terrace walls. The outer walls are about twelve or fifteen feet
+high, and as usual pierced with holes for musketry. I did not see any
+mounted ordnance. Within is a fine court yard, and there is a detached
+breast-work of defence over the entrance. It is very comfortable in many
+of its apartments, affording a most effectual shelter from wind and heat.
+The short time of service makes the Arab soldiers cheerful, and they are
+pretty well fed and enjoy good health. There is no fever, but they tell
+me there are a few cases of the _Enghiddee_ of Soudan, a fine silken worm
+formed under the cuticle of the body, mostly on the legs and arms,
+already described under the name of Arak-El-Abeed[126]. Arabs do not
+catch this disorder so much as merchants going to Soudan. The only arms
+these troops have, is the matchlock or musket, on some of which the
+bayonet is mounted. From the top of the Castle the surrounding country
+presents an unbroken mass of desert, and more distantly low ridges of
+mountains and sand hills. The Kaed assures me, however, that in seven
+years he will have a fine plantation of palms. He has planted several,
+and is about to fetch some choice shoots from Tripoli. With toil and care
+The Desert, in truth, can not only be rendered habitable and tractable,
+but even comfortable, as the building of this fort well proves. It has
+been built since Mr. Gagliuffi passed this way to Mourzuk, and I am the
+only European who has seen this bran-new town of Bonjem. The Bashaw of
+Tripoli boasts of it as his work, and on my return begged me to give him
+a sketch of it, which I did, but for which I received no thanks. A few
+snakes are often seen coiling themselves on the shrubs, gazelles,
+aoudads, and wild oxen, skip and bound and run about, now and then an
+ostrich races past or sails along, half in heaven and half on earth, and
+deebs (wolves) come down to drink at the pits during the night. But the
+Arabs are not allowed to hunt, nor garden or dig; their duty is to spend
+the live-long day in "strenuous idleness," or doing nothing but sleep and
+lounge. To-day was hot and sultry. The female slaves were very busy in
+washing themselves. They afterwards had a good race stark naked, running
+after me and grinning. It is very seldom they commit such breaches of
+modesty. In general, the Negress is very modest in her manners, more so
+than Mooresses.
+
+I congratulated myself in having a comfortable sleep under roof to-night.
+I felt glad also for a rest here of a couple of days. In travelling
+through Sahara, one or two days greatly relieve you without making you
+feel that you have been stopping when you again mount the camel, whilst a
+rest of a week often makes a new journey and a new tour, and you feel all
+the pain and misery of beginning again.
+
+_6th to the 11th._--My journal gets very fragmentary, confused, and
+enigmatical. Many of the memorandums I cannot recal to mind. I find I was
+getting at this time much exhausted, and weary of writing. My health,
+indeed, was being greatly undermined, and suffering was become my daily
+solace! Often I could not stand when lifted off my camel. Sometimes I was
+senseless for an hour or two after we had encamped. I expected "to get
+used to it." Vain thought! I was just as tired and stiff with riding the
+last day as the first day when I started on the tour, besides having my
+health and strength essentially impaired.
+
+We directed our course to Misratah, instead of Benioleed, on account
+of there being more water in the former route. Benioleed, or Ben
+Waleed--‮بن وليد‬--lies to the north-west of Bonjem, but Misratah
+nearly due north. I was disappointed in not seeing Benioleed, on
+account of its Hesperian valley of olives, and other fruit-trees
+scattered in paradisal beauty and profusion. The valley, in which
+the town is situate, lies at the base of some of the lofty ridges of
+the Tripoline Atlas, and contains a population of about three
+thousand souls. I was glad to hear there were some Europeans now
+employed in improving the wells of the town, sent by the Bashaw, all
+which denotes progress in the Turk. Benioleed is six good days'
+journey from Bonjem, and four or five from Tripoli.
+
+Nothing remarkable occurred in our route from Bonjem to Misratah. Before
+arriving at Bonjem, I saw, by the nature of the country, that we were
+approaching the regions of rain, herbage and shrubs increasing on every
+side. The country also assumed a more even, though an undulating
+surface; and I lost sight of those low, dull, dreary, and monotonous
+ridges which characterize the desolations, of the African Wilderness.
+However, I expected to see the eastern terminations of the Tripoline
+Atlas. Continuing our six days' route, now west, now north-west, now
+north, and now north-east and east, wriggling in serpentine style about,
+we arrived at length within open-culture lands, where were two or three
+small patches of barley, mostly in ear, not being irrigated, but left to
+the free rains of heaven. The sight of these made my heart bound with
+joy: now I knew I had got without the bounds of the dry and desolate
+Sahara! There seemed to be something so fresh and natural about
+barley-fields, depending for life and growth on the fattening rains of
+heaven, in comparison with the garden patches of grain I had witnessed
+for months cultivated by the hand of man. All our people seemed equally
+affected by the sight of these natural corn-fields; and Essnousee, to
+show his respect for property thus left to the mercy of every
+camel-driver, ordered the camels not to be driven through the standing
+barley. The camels heeded little the command, and managed to get large
+mouthfuls; our Soudan sheep fed to their full; a good deal was also
+destroyed. I observed, nevertheless, the camels preferred the green
+tender herbage, to the corn in the ear, and picked it out carefully
+between the rows of straggling barley. With the increase of herbage and
+water,--for water was not found in all the route from Bonjem,--the
+animals increased. Gazelles bounded before us, at times in small herds of
+six or seven; and hares were constantly started from under the camels'
+feet. We had no sportsmen with us, and no game was shot or taken. The
+Arabs ran frequently to the bushes whence the gazelles bounded, in order
+to find young ones. Birds now increased to full flights. Here were
+numbers of little birds with yellow body and brown back. This part of The
+Sahara had its particular bird, as the rest. The little black and white
+fellow higher up was now succeeded by the little yellow and brown fellow.
+Other birds were flying about, but not so numerous as this species. But
+the bird that now caught my attention was the gull. At first I was
+perplexed to know how this bird could be found so far up The Desert, but
+I recollected we had but six or seven days from Bonjem to Misratah, near
+the coast. The gull suggested to my drooping spirits sea-breezes to
+restore my shattered frame, and gave me new life. As we neared Misratah
+the country increased in comeliness (because after so much desert), and
+near Misratah the hills were actually green and flowery, so long black
+and hideously bare. But indeed, it was the best time of Spring. We passed
+on every side scattered Arab tents,--to us pavilions of pleasure,--with
+their flocks and herds: all denoting open-culture and the presence of
+rain.
+
+Scarce a ten-thousandth part of this country is reduced to cultivation.
+Here and there only are some few corn-fields, where the seed, when sown,
+is left to get ripe as it may, the only manure being the burning of the
+stubble of the previous year. We must, indeed, say more or less of the
+coast of all North Africa, and express the same hope for the future in
+the words of one of the prophets: "And the desolate land shall be tilled,
+whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they
+shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of
+Eden; and the waste, and desolate, and ruined cities are become fenced,
+and are inhabited." (Ezek. xxxvi. 34, 35.) North Africa was once the
+garden as well as the granary of the world. A series of disastrous
+revolutions has successively reduced this once so fair and fertile
+region, to waste, barrenness, and barbarism; the Mahometan fate-doctrine
+meanwhile hugging and conserving its ruins and dilapidations. We may
+perhaps hope, the French are doing something for the Algerian coast. The
+Turks may yet do something in Tripoli. Tunis and Morocco have more
+cultivated lands than Tripoli or Algeria, and reforms are agitating both
+countries. Once the spirit of improvement gets fairly into this region,
+it may resume its ancient celebrity of being "like the garden of Eden."
+Near Misratah, I observed, for the first time in my tour, the
+hawthorn-tree: it was reddened over with nice ripe haws.
+
+On the evening of the _6th_, we passed the spot where Abd-El-Geleel was
+decapitated, called Bughalah ("mule"). This was a small piece of
+mountain, looking abruptly over a wady, or deep valley. On this mountain
+block the Sheikh concentrated all his military forces, collecting as well
+the families of his tribe. Here he skirmished with the Turks for many
+days, he winning and they winning a battle, as it happened; but they, at
+length hemming him round, and isolating him on the rock, where there was
+not a drop of water to be had, the Sheikh finally was obliged to
+surrender. His retiring to this hideous rock was only matched in folly by
+his confiding in the faith of a Turk. Truly, when men are to be
+destroyed, their evil genius inspires them with madness.
+
+On the _8th_, we took in water from the well of Daymoum. Around were the
+remains of a fortified camp, and stones were placed in a large circle.
+This camp was erected by Hasan Bashaw, Commander-in-Chief of the Regency,
+when he was at war with Abd-El-Geleel. It looks not unlike a Druidical
+circle.
+
+On the _9th_ we took in a little water from the well of Namwah. Several
+sea-gulls were here flying about. To-day I have to mention a fact which
+shows to what extraordinary changes of temperature the Great Desert is
+subject, as well as Barbary generally. About nine in the morning a strong
+ghiblee got up, increasing till it became so violent that we encamped at
+once, not venturing to expose the slaves to this killing simoum. Covering
+up my face and mouth, I put my head into a pannier. I was almost
+suffocated it is true, still it was better than exposing myself to the
+searching flame of this furnace wind. What became of the slaves I cannot
+tell, I was too busy with myself. Here I lay gasping for an hour, when Said
+came and called to me, "Now _Bahree_ (‮بحري‬)," or north. "How,
+bahree!" I answered astonished. "Bahree! bahree!" he continued, "the
+caravan is going." I got up, and felt sensibly and convincingly enough it
+was bahree. The wind had made a whirlwind sweep in the space of an hour,
+it was now blowing as hard from the north as it had done from the south.
+But strange yet natural enough, columns of hot air were blown back into
+our faces from the north for some time, until, towards the evening, the
+wind became as cold, bleak, and biting, as it had been hot and stifling.
+These sudden changes are terrific, and are often attended with most
+serious consequences in The Desert. Asking our people how long a simoum
+or ghiblee would blow in The Desert, they replied, "Never violently more
+than a couple of days." I do not recollect it once to have continued a
+whole day, but light south winds have prevailed for several days. As an
+instance of the calamitous effects of sudden changes of weather in North
+Africa, I may mention that, in the Spring of 1845, when Sidi Mohammed,
+"Bey of the Camp" in the Regency of Tunis, was returning from the Jereed,
+he lost, on one day, some Turks and other troops from the heat, and, on
+the very next day, several perished from the cold. Some hundred camels
+also died from the cold at the same time. A recent expedition in Algeria,
+during which some hundred French troops were frozen to death, must recur
+to the recollection of the reader, having happened from the same cause of
+a sudden change of temperature.
+
+On the _10th_ we came to the well of Saneeah Abdel Kader, ("Garden of the
+slave of the Most Mighty," or God). At this place was a ruined fortress,
+looking over an immense district of country, a great quantity of which
+was under cultivation, presenting light-green and orange-brown patches of
+grain. We passed the stream of Touwarkah, a name apparently derived from
+Touwarick, or Touarick. The bubbling running stream was looked upon as a
+wonder by our slaves. They rushed into it, and washed and bathed
+themselves, like so many mad things; indeed, after so much dry desert,
+the stream was a wonder to us all. I had almost begun to think I should
+never see again a large running stream. But I have seen the negresses
+wash their faces, hands and legs, on the coldest morning. An Arab or a
+Moor hardly washes himself once a month. These habits of cleanliness the
+negresses bring from the banks of the Niger. We had the village of
+Touwarkah on our right, to which was attached a forest of palms, nearly
+half a day's journey in length. I had scarcely spoken a word to Essnousee
+during these last five days, but, on the morning of the 11th, he entered
+voluntarily into conversation with me, informing me there was an English
+quarantine agent at the port of Misratah. The slave-driver, getting
+nearer to the coast, had cunningly abated his ardour for beating the
+slaves. He now began to fear he might get reported to the Bashaw.
+Sometimes, however, he would throw a stone at the poor things, that is,
+when too idle to go and flog them. I looked about in vain for the Atlas
+chain, or the last of its eastern links; one mass of undulating country
+stretched to the sea-shore. What feeling of excessive joy thrilled
+through my nervous frame when our people talked of the sea, for though
+not visible to us, we were near enough to breathe its invigorating air.
+Now, indeed, all was changed, and new life took possession of the entire
+caravan. The green and pleasant spring cultivation, the darkly fair
+verdure of several young olive-trees, here and there a graceful palm, now
+broad leafy shadowy fig-trees, the delicate almond and the pretty
+pomegranate, all the treasures of the gardens of Misratah, raised our joy
+to ecstasy. I myself often thought I should never see again Tripoli, or
+the sea; now they seemed restored to me, and I to them, as if at one time
+they had been hopelessly lost! But how small had all objects become, how
+diminutive, how confined, limited and contracted their dimensions, and
+how pretty yet how petty, compared to the vast huge and limitless lines
+of existence, which form and circumscribe the Great Saharan Regions!
+where I had travelled so many long months. When I first arrived in
+Africa, I looked upon the dark and purple mountains of the coast with a
+species of mysterious feeling, as if such mountain groups were boundless
+in extent, unfathomable and unsearchable in their stronghold foundations.
+But now, returning again to the regions of Atlas, the chains of this
+celebrated range in Tripoli, Tunis, and Algeria, seemed like old familiar
+faces to me, or so many contracted domestic objects. My eye had been so
+accustomed to gazing day after day over plains without an apparent bound,
+on mountain ridges running along weeks and weeks of Desert journeying,
+that it could now only regard all the African coast scenery as so many
+pretty little painted landscapes, which might be reduced and easily
+accommodated to stage scenery at a minor theatre.
+
+On the arrival of our ghafalah at Misratah, I was introduced to the
+quarantine agent, Signor Francesco Regini, an Italian born in Tripoli,
+but under British protection, and having a Maltese wife. Regini begged me
+to put up in his house, and I accepted his kindly proffered invitation,
+when his wife cooked me a fowl and I dined like a prince. I now thought I
+would return to Tripoli by sea, to get a little bracing sea-air, but
+afterwards I determined to continue with the caravan of slaves to
+Tripoli, to see the last of the poor things, or accompany them till their
+arrival at the Tripoline market of human flesh.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[125] As the description of the _Simoum_ ("poisoned" wind, from
+    ‮سمّ‬ "poison"), given by the following writers, is the account
+    of men, who were _bonâ fide_ Saharan travellers, I shall take the
+    liberty of transcribing their various relations:--
+
+    "Nothing can be more overpowering than the South wind (Ghibee,) or
+    the East, (Shirghee), each of which is equally to be dreaded. In
+    addition to the excessive heat and dryness of these winds, they
+    are impregnated with sand, and the air is darkened by it, the sky
+    appears of a dusky yellow, and the sun is barely perceptible. The
+    eyes become red, swelled and inflamed; the lips and skin parched
+    and chapped; while severe pain in the chest is generally felt, in
+    consequence of the quantities of sand unavoidably inhaled.
+    Nothing, indeed, is able to resist the unwholesome effects of this
+    wind. On opening our boxes, we found the many little articles, and
+    some of our instruments which had been carefully packed, were
+    entirely split and destroyed. Gales of the kind here described,
+    generally continue ten or twelve hours."--LYON.
+
+    "I derived some benefit from fastening a strip of cotton over my
+    eyes, and another over my mouth, to keep off the burning air which
+    parched my lungs. The burning East wind which was beginning to
+    blow rendered the heat insufferable, and the scorching sand found
+    its way into our eyes, in spite of the precautions which we took
+    to exclude it. Tepid water was distributed, which we thought
+    delicious, though it had little effect in quenching our thirst. My
+    thirst was so tormenting that I found it impossible to get any
+    sleep. My throat was on fire, and my tongue clove to the roof of
+    my mouth. I lay as if expiring on the sand, waiting with the
+    greatest impatience for the moment when we were to have our next
+    supply of water. I thought of nothing but water--rivers, streams,
+    rivulets, were the only ideas which presented themselves to my
+    mind during this burning fever. In my impatience I cursed my
+    companions, the country, the camels, and for anything I knew, the
+    sun himself, who did not make sufficient speed to reach the
+    horizon."--CAILLIE.
+
+    "The Simoum felt like the blast of a furnace. To describe this
+    awful scourge of The Desert, defies all the powers of language.
+    The pencil assisted by the pen might perhaps afford a faint idea
+    of it, winged with the whirlwind and charioted with thunder, it
+    urged its fiery course, blasting all nature with its death-fraught
+    breath. It was accompanied by a line of vivid light, that looked
+    like a train of fire, whose murky smoke filled the whole wide
+    expanse, and made its horrors only the more vivid. The eye of man,
+    and the voice of beast were both raised to heaven, and both then
+    fell upon the earth. Against this sand tempest all the fortitude
+    of man fails, and all his efforts are vain. To Providence alone
+    must we look. It passed us, burying one of my camels. As soon as
+    we rose from the earth, with uplifted hands for its preservation,
+    we awoke to fresh horrors. Its parching tongue had lapped the
+    water from our water-skins, and having escaped the fiery hour, we
+    had to fear the still more awful death of thirst."--DAVIDSON.
+
+[126] This disease is the _Filaria Medinensis_, or Guinea Worm.
+    The rude Arabs give a sort of Shakesperian witches' receipt for
+    the cure of this disease, such as the liver of a vulture, the
+    brains of an hyæna, the dung of the ostrich, mixed with other
+    wonderful ingredients. This reminds me of the receipt of my
+    Ghadamsee Doctor for the cure of _Night Blindness_, which here
+    followeth:--"_Description of a remedy by which affliction (or
+    blindness) of the sight is cured at night_. Take the liver of a
+    goat, or the liver of a camel, and cut off a piece of it, mince it
+    small, and take also a couple of ‮سحر‬? and reduce it to a fine
+    powder, and rub them together, and place them on the fire so that
+    the water boils or simmers, and then drop (or pour) the water on
+    the eye, and _it will straightway see_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+FROM MISRATAH TO TRIPOLI.
+
+     The Establishment of Signor Regini.--Visit the Acting Kaed of
+     Misratah.--Shabby Conduct of Mehemet Pasha to
+     Regini.--Description of the Villages comprised within the
+     Jurisdiction of Misratah.--Population and Condition of the Jews
+     in Misratah and Tripoli.--Regini sighs for the honour of hoisting
+     the Union Jack.--Village of Zeiten.--Leghma; and the tapping of
+     the Date-Palm.--Corn Fields and Grain Culture in North
+     Africa.--Manipulation.--Sahel or Salhin; its splendid
+     Gardens.--The Eastern _Terminus_ groups of Mount Atlas.--Ruins of
+     Lebida; and other Ancient Ruins.--Monosyllabic Old Moor.--Meet
+     the Bey of Misratah.--Wad Seid, and plain of El-Jumr.--The
+     Sand-Storm.--Our Slaves' first sight of the Sea.--Said left
+     behind.--Essnousee foiled in attempting to beat one of his
+     Slaves.--Trait of the Tender Passion in our Troop of
+     Slaves.--Result of my Observations on the Saharan Slave
+     Traffic.--Gardens of Tajourah.--The Gardens of the
+     Masheeah.--Distance, Time, and Expenses of my Tour.--Disposal of
+     Said, and the Camel.
+
+
+_12th._--EASTER SUNDAY. It is a grand _festa_ with Signor Regini, and his
+family are dressed out in their best. They are the only family of
+Christians in this town, but keep the _festa_ with as much religious zest
+and zeal as if in Malta or Rome. Poor Regini gets only twelve dollars a
+month from the Pasha of Tripoli for his employment of quarantine agent,
+and is obliged to look after three ports, for Misratah has three ports,
+at a considerable distance from each other, as well as several hours'
+ride from the town. Visited with Regini the acting Kaed or Governor of
+this place, and brother of the Bey, now in Tripoli. The Kaed stared
+stupidly at me whilst relating to him some things about the Touaricks.
+He was astonished they treated me so well, instead of murdering me, as he
+thought they had a right, or ought to have done. This Moorish beast
+finished by consulting me respecting his health, and begging physic, but
+which I refused to give him, seeing his indisposition proceeded from
+sheer indolence. His people, or officers of the place, were all amazed at
+my travelling as I was, and wondered what I could be doing. Mr. Regini
+heard one say, "The Christian has written the country; the English are
+coming to take all this land." Another observed, "This Englishman is a
+dervish, and is mad. His friends send him here to get rid of him." I took
+no interest whatever in the interview, feeling thoroughly tired of my
+tour and the people. The Kaed had heard some merchants say, "The
+Touaricks are a people of one word," which he now repeated, and which was
+a good satire upon himself and his Moorish brethren, "A people of ten
+thousand words." The Kaed informed me of the safe arrival of Haj Ibrahim,
+and the rest of his party, at Tripoli.
+
+Regini's house is a constant resort of visitors and idlers. Amongst the
+objects of attraction, is Mr. R.'s pretty little daughter, who turns the
+heads of all the Moors. Mr. R. says the Pacha is going to build him a
+larger house, and allow it him rent-free, as an increase of salary. This
+His Highness, indeed, promised to do. But Mehemet Pasha showed the usual
+and insulting duplicity of the Turk, for the Consul-General heard
+afterwards that, instead of giving Regini a new house, he increased the
+rent of his old one. This unhandsome conduct of the Pasha so enraged
+Colonel Warrington, that, on hearing it, after he had invited the Bashaw
+to dine with him at his garden, the Colonel determined to withdraw the
+invitation, or rather not give the dinner. So the Pasha's dining at the
+British garden did not come off, much to my annoyance, for I wished to
+have been present at the dinner. These little bits of Turkish duplicity
+irritate and annoy our Consuls more than acts of tyrants like Asker Ali.
+
+Visited the environs in the evening. Picked up some chamomile flowers,
+which abound in the lanes and highways. The barilla plant is also very
+common; it is collected and burnt, and the ashes exported in considerable
+quantities. Several ponds of water are found during winter in this
+neighbourhood, which are frequented by numerous flights of wild-duck,
+affording capital game for the hungry sportsman. Date-palms are now in
+blossom, whose flowers are all at first encased in a pod. Essnousee tells
+me, Abd-El-Geleel destroyed the palms of Sockna by simply cutting off the
+tops or heads of the palms, in the same way as people do when they tap
+palms for leghma. Some of them grow again, others do not, it being all a
+matter of chance. The date-palm is most abundantly cultivated on the
+Tripoline Coast, supplying the people with a full third of their food.
+
+_13th._--Misratah is an aggregate or series of villages, scattered about
+to an extent of a full day's journey, containing about 12,000
+inhabitants, two-thirds Moors, the rest Arabs, Negroes, and Jews. The
+houses and other buildings make but a mean appearance, built of mud and
+stones, and some of lime-mortar. There are a few Marabets shining
+beautifully white in the sun, with light and chaste cupola tops. A
+drawing of one of these is given, that of Sidi Salah. The Marabet is a
+common, but fair and picturesque, feature in coast scenery. The bazaar,
+or market of Misratah, is held three times a week, but in different
+places of the villages included within this circle of jurisdiction. The
+principal port is three or four hours from the central village, the
+inhabitants not enjoying an immediate view of the sea, so delightful on
+the North African Coast. The grand cultivation is dates, but not of good
+quality, then barley and wheat (the most of the former), olives, figs,
+and some other fruit-trees. Oxen, goats, and sheep, are in numbers, and
+there is a considerable export trade in hides and wool. The markets are
+pretty well stocked with provisions, and cheaper than in Tripoli.
+Nevertheless, the villages of Misratah are choked full of very poor
+destitute people, and during the past year, in the midst of comparative
+abundance, many of them lived almost entirely on herbs. These wretched
+creatures congregate in Misratah from all the neighbouring districts, the
+Gharian and Gibel mountains, the village of Touarghah, and other places.
+The same system of spoliation by Government is going on here as in other
+provinces of Tripoli, the inhabitants being reduced gradually to most
+complete beggary. Every year the number of poor increases, whilst the
+taxes on land, under the curse of Turkish oppression, as fatally
+increase, reducing all to serfdom, leaving not an acre of land in the
+hands of the people, excepting those lands protected by the sanctuaries
+of religion. The civil power in this country has no conscience; the
+people are alone protected from annihilation by their religion.
+
+Fifty families of Jews are located in these villages, occupied as
+brokers and petty traders, or in making essences. They pay a
+poll-tax of a hundred mahboubs per annum to the Pasha. They have two
+synagogues, and a Rabbi superintending them. Rabbi Samuel says he
+has heard there are Jews in Soudan. Lyon has mentioned the same
+report, and locates Jews south from Timbuctoo, supposing them to
+have gone originally from Morocco. Many of the Tripoline mountains
+contain Jews, and in Misratah there are a hundred families. As a
+specimen of the state of Biblical learning and literature amongst
+these Jews, I give the following conversation I had with Rabbi
+Samuel. He explained the 53rd chap. of Isaiah as referring to
+another and a past suffering Messiah, the Messiah of Ephraim, the
+son of Ephraim, and not the son of David, who is to be the future
+and conquering Messiah. To Philip's question, "Of whom speaketh the
+prophet this?" &c. (Acts viii. 34), he candidly answered,
+acknowledging that the prophet spake not of himself, but the suffering
+Messiah. The epithets אל גבור‬ and ‮אבי־עד‬, in Is.
+ix. 6, 7, the Rabbi explained, as denoting the reign of Messiah to be full
+of peace and happiness for all mankind, quoting Psalm lxxii.,
+observing properly, the words first refer to Solomon, and then to
+the Messiah. Asking him for a passage of the Pentateuch, referring
+to the future state, he replied;--"Moses did not speak at all of a
+future state; Moses intended to have done so when he got to
+Jerusalem, and settled the people in the Holy Land; but having
+offended God, he was not permitted to enter there, and was prevented
+from communicating knowledge about the future world. But you will
+find in the commentaries all the information you require." He could
+not tell where the future state was spoken of in the prophets, so I
+pointed out to him Daniel xii. 2, 3. Rabbi Samuel now bestowed on me
+the honorary title of English Marabout, earnestly recommending me to
+call on Rabbi Jacob at Tripoli, the mighty scholar of the Regency.
+He added:--"The Mussulmans say that our Messiah will conquer them
+first; but afterwards, they (the Mussulmans) will recover their
+strength and dominion, and destroy us and our Messiah. You see they
+are idiots." So much for Jewish learning in Tripoli.
+
+Signor Regini is an original in his way. Speaking of an old man about
+taking a young wife, he observed, "Growing old, he became young." Of
+himself, he says, "_Noi siamo molto respetati qui_ (We are much respected
+here)."
+
+"So you ought to be," I replied, "for I would not live here to be
+despised."
+
+"Stop, Signore Inglese," he rejoined abruptly, "I am the first man here.
+You are a learned man, and have travelled all over the world, and you
+know Latin; '_Aut Cæsar, aut nullus_,' that's my motto. I only want the
+flag here. Get me appointed British Consul. I don't want a salary. Then
+shall I be a greater man than the Bey of Misratah."
+
+I promised, as in duty bound, after this sally of modest ambition, to
+mention his wish to the Consul-General. The fact is, Regini is a very
+deserving man, and could he hoist the Union Jack, might benefit British
+subjects and promote British interests at the same time that he gratified
+his own Cæsar-like ambition.
+
+This afternoon we left Misratah for Tripoli, our last stage. We found the
+gardens of Misratah very agreeable, getting clear of them by night, and
+encamping in a hilly country, covered with the delicious green of spring,
+with nibbling snowy flocks scattered and feeding, and Arabs' tents
+pitched, "black, but comely." But I was surprised to see so few Arabs'
+tents and douwars in this Regency. In fact, the Arabs of Tripoli are
+nearly all located and confined to The Mountains.
+
+_14th._--Afternoon, arrived at _Zeitin_, a small village. The palm is
+abundant as usual, and the gardens are full of olive and
+other Barbary fruit-trees. On encamping, I purchased some
+_Leghma_--‮لقمة‬--according to some philologists, "tears" of the
+palms, and others "foam," from the fermenting quality of the sap. At
+this season many trees are tapped, being, indeed, the tapping season.
+When a tree is tapped, a small hut of palm-branches, cut from off the
+tapped palm, is set up close to it, which is turned into a sort of
+_tap_-room, or boozing-place, for drinking the leghma, and half a
+dozen Moorish louting fellows are always seen idling and skulking
+about the hut, or sweltering with intoxication inside, as long as the
+tree yields the spirituous juice. A tree, if a good one, will yield
+its sap for two months, and sometimes a few days more. You can
+purchase a tree, tap it and drink of its sap at your pleasure, for
+only a couple of dollars. And for this trifle, people will often
+destroy their best palms. The leghma is pleasant when quite new or
+fresh; when a few days old it becomes very strong and acrid drinking,
+continually fermenting. Moors do not understand drinking leghma, wine
+or spirits, for their health, considering the object of drinking
+fermented liquor is not attained until they become intoxicated. In
+these palm-booths, or huts, the Moors occasionally bring their
+provisions, and here they will pass night and day for weeks together
+in dreamy drunken musings, each sot, shut up in himself, making
+himself by a drunken and delirious imagination, Kady, or Sheikh, or
+Sultan, or some mighty warrior, and all mankind his slaves and ardent
+worshippers, as the bent of mind wildly leads him. Moderation Moors
+cannot comprehend, they can neither drink moderately, nor eat
+moderately; they must either abstain altogether or eat or drink like
+beasts. Of course I speak of their general character. But such is the
+case with too many amongst us, as well as these semi-barbarians.
+
+We encamped amidst palms and barley-fields. High wind from the east. The
+barley was getting ripe very fast, in some places being reaped. All these
+crops of grain are thin, the stalk of the barley short, the ears
+small--not the barley or wheat of England certainly. No part of North
+Africa furnishes such fine and heavy corn-fields as my own native county,
+Lincolnshire; I might, perhaps, add, no place in the world. The plains of
+Morocco furnish thousands of acres of barley[127], but all straggling and
+thinly growing. The wheat is the same. Add to which, you will find a
+North African corn-field full of weeds, herbs, and wild flowers.
+
+_15th._--Helping up my little Negro to a ride this morning, as the camel
+ascended a hillock he was pitched off in a summerset. A slave immediately
+got hold of him and began to stretch his neck for fear it was broken, and
+otherwise pull and manipulate him, holding him up by the head and neck.
+Manipulation and pulling and stretching are favourite appliances of
+remedy in all this part of Africa. Manipulation is frequently used at the
+baths, and is attended with surprising cures. Every muscle of the body is
+stretched, and rubbed, and _coaxed_. To burning, bleeding, and charms,
+some Moorish doctors add manipulation, as the fourth sovereign remedy.
+Early, we reached Sahel (Salhin?). These cultivated lands are a
+continuation of Zeiten; but Sahel is in a much higher state of
+cultivation. The golden harvest is nodding over Afric's sunny plains.
+Fields of ripe barley are waving in the wind, overshadowed with splendid
+palms of young and vigorous growth. Besides there are most beautiful
+olive plantations all around us. Essnousee, who now became a little more
+familiar, kept crying out to me with spontaneous admiration, "This is the
+new world (_Dunyah Jedeed_)!" The slave-driver had heard me praise the
+vast fields of fertility in America. Sahel, in fact, is a country of most
+vigorous and teeming fertility. But, to-day, from the camel's back, I saw
+the sea. How rejoiced I was, after nine months _Ocean_ Desert-travelling,
+over sands and rocks, and naked sultry plains, suffering all sorts of
+privations and hardships, to see once more the world of waters! And this,
+notwithstanding it had been so often unfriendly to me in my various
+travellings by land and water. I kept straining (and pumping) my lungs to
+breathe its pure cool air. Sahel is of considerable extent, but has no
+nucleus of houses in the shape of a town, consisting merely of a series
+of small villages and detached houses, like our cottage groups and farms,
+but, of course, in Moorish style. Extremely warm to-day, though near the
+sea. Cleared the Sahel the afternoon, and, at night, encamped amidst the
+last groups of the Atlas, spreading and stretching eastwards. I had
+observed we were about to enter these terminus groups and links of the
+eastern Atlas chain, whilst at some distance, and easily distinguished
+them from those of the Saharan groups and ridges. Their appearance is
+strikingly different, being wooded and bristling on the sides, shooting
+up in craggy heights, hoary and white on the uppermost peaks and ridges,
+as if bitten by the cold and frost, and bared by the bleak winds of the
+sea. The Great Desert ranges, on the contrary, are naked as nakedness can
+be, dull, dreary, and dead, smoothed over as velvet, of black and purple
+hues, and look more like mountains which children might paint than the
+sterile realities of Old Sahara. Here, amidst the mountainous scenery of
+the coast, I could recognise many of the features of Virgil's
+description. (Æneidos b. iv.)
+
+    "Jamque volans apicem et latera ardua cernit
+    Atlantis duri, cœlum qui vertice fulcit:
+    Atlantis, cinctum assidue cui nubibus atris
+    Piniferum caput et vento pulsatur et imbri;
+    Nix humeros infusa tegit; tum flumina mento
+    Præcipitant senis, et glacie riget horrida barba."
+
+But this grand portrait of Old Atlas, whose brawny shoulders support our
+various globe, can only be realized (during winter) in the Morocco chain
+of the Atlas, whose highest peak is Miltsin, in Jibel Thelge, or
+"Mountain of Snow." This peak, some 15,000 feet in height, is near the
+city of Morocco itself. Dr. Shaw, who never visited Morocco, was puzzled
+to apply this classic description to the Algerian chains of Atlas. The
+Atlas Chain, which here terminates eastward, strikes out into the ocean
+just below Santa Cruz, in Morocco, being its western termination; but, in
+Tunis, at many places, it is interrupted in its connecting links. I was
+delighted to find a number of beautiful fruit-gardens, so many Hesperian
+spots, in the small valleys of these Atlas groups, observing for the
+first time the vine cultivated in vineyards. Several pleasant fields of
+the vine adorned the valleys. But the date-palm disappears in these
+mountains, whilst the olive increases, crowning the lower groups of
+Atlas, or spreading in large fields in the valleys. Patches of wheat and
+barley are also cultivated on the mountain sides. Arab stone-built
+villages are seen scattered through the rising groups and valleys. I am
+told these gardens belong to people in Tripoli. They are the sweetest,
+prettiest, loveliest little things which I have seen in all my nine
+months' tour. Oh, that these valleys were full of them!
+
+At noon, we passed the ruins of Lebida (or Lebdah) on our right, situate
+on the sea-shore, several miles out of the line of route. What nonsense
+to believe Cicerones in these parts. Regini told me I should be sure to
+see Lebida, for it was in the road--that is to say, five or six miles
+off, behind sand-hills. The whole of the ground, from Sahel to these
+first groups of Eastern Atlas, is scattered over with Roman and Greek
+ruins, and, as it happens, there is a huge piece of an ancient building
+in the road itself, apparently a temple. I was too weak, however, to
+descend from the camel, to look closely at it. Many of these
+mountain-ridges are crowned with ancient forts, and farther on, when we
+arrived close by the sea-shore, we observed the remains of a Roman
+road,--a firm broad layer of cement and small stones embedded in the
+shifting sands. This was making a road in a business-like, dominion-like
+style, and worthy of those once mighty masters of the world. In our
+traverse of the mountains we met the Bey of Misratah returning from
+Tripoli, full of the confidence of his Turkish master the Pasha, and very
+splendidly attired though _en route_, with some dozen mounted Moors, all
+very gay, showing themselves off on their prancing barbs. Essnousee, with
+all our people, descended from their camels to pay their respects to
+these big-wigs, and made them a present of some crushed Sockna dates,
+called Krum. Here new cavalry horses were feeding, attended by the
+Nitham, or new troops. The Turks in Tripoli have but one small troop of
+horse.
+
+The old Moor with one slave, and I frequently had some serious talk
+together, but I could seldom draw him out. I spoke to him about Said
+to-day.
+
+_Myself._--"I don't know what to do with Said. If I take him to my
+country, the cold will hurt him, and perhaps he'll die."
+
+_Old Moor._--"Rubbee (God)!"
+
+_Myself._--"I thought of giving him my camel, and letting him turn
+camel-driver; but the Arabs are such thieves, they will soon steal the
+camel from him."
+
+_Old Moor._--"Rubbee (God)!"
+
+_Myself._--"He's such a goose, too, he gives away all he has."
+
+_Old Moor._--"Rubbee (God)!"
+
+_Myself._--"Perhaps I shall leave Said at Tripoli."
+
+_Old Moor._--"If it please God."
+
+_16th._--All the morning we continued to traverse the Atlas groups. I
+found the lesser summits of these groups also strikingly contrasted with
+the Saharan ridges. Here were heights crowned with fresh and green
+cultivation. On the contrary, the Saharan mountain tops are covered with
+lava and columnar green stone, and overstrewn with other loose stones,
+forming an extensive black and dreary plain. At noon, we got upon
+undulating ground, a great part of which was under cultivation, with here
+and there sheep and cattle grazing. Encamped in the Wady Seid (Zag). This
+undulating ground is sometimes called the fertile plain of El-Jumr. Wady
+Seid is now quite dry, but evidently has a strong and large current
+during the winter rains. In the course of this day's march, crossed many
+small but deep dry ravines, all of which have water in the winter. No
+hares or gazelles were started in these few days' journey from Misratah,
+the country being generally populated, but birds increased on every side.
+Noticed here, as in Tunis, a great variety of beetles. North Africa,
+indeed, is the classic land of beetles; also a few snakes and many
+lizards were observed. Our people now all shaved their heads and washed,
+changing their linen in preparation for our entering Tripoli to-morrow or
+next day. A Moor will wear a shirt three months, an Arab, six months or a
+year. They cannot comprehend the necessity of the frequent changes of
+linen by Europeans. And yet, Moors will take a bath once or twice a day,
+whilst they re-put on their linen for three months together.
+
+_17th._--When we started this morning we fully expected to reach Tripoli
+in the evening, at least I did, leaving the ghafalah at Tajourah. But,
+after we had marched a few hours, the sky was suddenly overcast, and the
+wind blew until it became a horrible tempest--
+
+    "Sudden the impetuous hurricanes descend,
+    Wheel through the air, in circling eddies play,
+    Tear up the sands, and sweep whole plains away."
+
+We got safely over Wady Rumel, whose bed is covered with reeds, having
+besides a good deal of stagnant water. My nagah forded the river as well
+as any of the camels, if not better. We now entered the sands of the
+sea-shore, and after two hours sat down to eat a few dates. We resumed
+our march through the sands which line the margin of the sea, the wind
+meanwhile blowing a perfect gale.
+
+Now I witnessed what I had not seen in my nine months' Saharan travel, a
+veritable sandstorm. The wind so filled the air with sand, that we could
+hardly see, or get on groping our way, and we were obliged to hold on our
+camels, for fear of being blown off. Our poor slaves shrunk back aghast
+from the tempest, whilst the sea now and then broke open upon them
+through the sand groups, showing, to their amazement, its most
+tempestuous aspect.
+
+Assuredly this, their first sight of the sea, will be associated in
+memory hereafter with the greatest and most cruel sufferings of our poor
+slaves, for to-day they suffered unusually from the wind and cold--the
+tempest of sand blinding them, and the miserable creatures falling
+continually on the wayside. I secured my eyes and face from the sand by
+tying round them a dark silk handkerchief, through which I saw my way
+without getting eyes, ears, and mouth full of sand. All our animals, as
+well as our people, had a thick coating of sand round their eyes, the
+cold and wind making their eyes run, and the water collecting the sand.
+Unable to proceed farther, we were obliged to encamp about 2 P.M., close
+by the sea-shore, under the shadow of a great cliff, the spray of the
+waves washing our feet and resting-place, and the noise of their chafing
+and roaring stunning our ears, whilst the sand-storm worked its way of
+desolation over our heads. The slaves surprised by this new sight of the
+sea, lashed into its wildest form, stared with wonder and horror at the
+tempest-tossed waters; some grinned and chattered with their teeth;
+others looked savage and moody, as if asking, "Whether the devils of the
+white men inhabited these waters?" whilst others, cowered down and
+sinking, hid their faces under their tattered clothes. I love to look
+upon the sea in its wildest shape, possessed by the tempest, and am
+disposed to be very poetical about it, but, mind you, rather from the
+land, than pitching over its briny foamy billows. We had some rain, and
+the cold was intense during the night. In very deed, it seemed as if
+heaven and earth were conspiring against the wretched, slaves the nearer
+they approached the end of their sufferings! Still there was an end of
+this, as of all things, and God sent us fair weather the next day. I was
+grievously afflicted about Said this night. He had suddenly disappeared
+during the sandstorm, and what had become of him I could not tell. I kept
+asking myself, "Whether he was doomed to perish at the gates of Tripoli,
+on his return, after his painfully wearying journey?" I sent out people
+on all sides. No tidings were brought of him. All was a blank...... We
+called, and called...... No answer.
+
+_18th._--Started early, but without Said. I began to be overwhelmed with
+sadness at his unaccountable disappearance. My impression was, when more
+calm, that he had overslept himself during the day, whilst we rested an
+hour to eat a few dates on the sand, and the slaves walking with him, or
+his companions, allowed him to sleep on without waking him. I missed him
+immediately, but was told he was a short way behind and would soon be up
+to us. As he was in the habit of loitering behind in this way, I saw no
+reason for not believing what the slaves said. However, I lectured the
+slaves and all the people, knowing he could not have been left behind
+without some trick, or connivance on their part, threatening to bring
+them up before the Pasha. This startled them, and they were all uneasy.
+Before, they seemed to care no more about it than if a dog had been left
+behind. But at noon, Said was brought up by an Arab who had found him on
+the roadside, lost and wandering about. He pretended he had been sick and
+stayed behind voluntarily, afraid to accuse the slaves to me of their
+unkindness in leaving him sleeping on the sands. Said knew very well we
+had fed them and clothed them often _en route_, and the sick had often
+been placed on my camel, whilst I walked wearily over Desert. I really
+felt deeply wounded at this ingratitude of the slaves, but I believe it
+was a trick planned by Essnousee, to give us annoyance. Poor Said had
+slept all night in open Desert, amidst sand and wind, and cold and rain,
+with nothing to eat. His lips were blanched and his eyes streamed with
+water. I got him placed on a camel.
+
+The wind continues to blow high, and the storm still lingers late,
+scattering about sand. Several of the female slaves are placed on the
+camels from utter exhaustion. Others are cruelly driven on. Just as we
+arrive at Tajourah, a negress of tender age falls down from exhaustion,
+bleeding copiously from the mouth. The Arabs on foot cannot get her
+along. Essnousee, seeing this, called out, "Beat her, beat her." But the
+people not obeying his brutal orders, he immediately jumped off the
+camel, taking with him a thick stick to beat her. As soon as he did this,
+not being able to restrain myself, I instantly also jumped off my camel,
+and ran after him, taking with me a stick, a match for his. When I got up
+to him, surrounded with a group of people, some of whom were from the
+neighbouring village, all striving to save the girl from his stick, I
+called out, "Now, stop, stop your stick, we are now in Tripoli; no more
+whipping on the road," holding up my stick and assuming a threatening
+attitude, determined to resist the slave-driver at all risks. Seeing
+this, he cowered back at once, and screamed out, "Oh, it's a she-devil!"
+The people now took courage against the monster, and said, "No, no, she's
+exhausted with fatigue (with the way)." Essnousee then had her carried on
+the back of a camel to the village, and afterwards she continued riding
+to Tripoli. I was just in the humour for giving this miscreant
+slave-driver a thrashing, and taking on him satisfaction (but a millionth
+part indeed), for the torments he had, during forty days inflicted upon
+these wretched slaves, and should have done so had he attempted to beat
+the poor exhausted bleeding negress. I felt myself secure enough at the
+entrance of the gardens of Tripoli, and could well stand the risk of
+being brought up before the Pasha for flagellating an honourable
+man-dealer.
+
+We sat down under some olives a minute, ate a few dates, drank a little
+water, and then entered the gardens of Tajourah, which offered nothing
+new, except that they were more richly cultivated than most of those we
+had seen on our way. Threading our way amidst the mud garden walls, I was
+gratefully soothed with the sight of increasing culture, and population.
+A sweet trait of the tender passion must be here recorded as taking place
+amidst this havoc of human cruelty, perpetrated on our sable brothers and
+sisters. At the side of my camel were two young things, a lad and a girl,
+who every now and then, when the Moors turned their heads, watching their
+opportunity, kept locking one another's fingers together. The lad now
+started off as if shot from a bow, and instantly brought some beans from
+a neighbouring garden, and these he presented gracefully to his
+lady-love. With such a little innocent incident, and there were many of
+the kind, I bid an eternal farewell to this slave caravan, by stating
+succinctly the results of my observations on the traffic in slaves, as
+carried on in The Great Desert of Sahara.
+
+_1st._--The slave-traffic is on the increase in The Great Desert; (though
+temporarily decreasing on the route of Bornou).
+
+_2nd._--Many slaves are flogged to death _en route_ from Ghat to
+Tripoli, and others are over-driven or starved to death.
+
+_3rd._--The female slaves are subjected to the most obscene insults and
+torments by the Arab and Moorish slave-drivers; whilst the youngest
+females (children of four or five years of age) are violated by their
+brutal masters, the Tibboos, in coming from Bornou to Ghat, or Fezzan.
+
+_4th._--Slave children, of five years of age, walk more than one hundred
+and thirty days over The Great Desert, and other districts of Africa,
+before they can reach the slave-markets of Tripoli to be sold.
+
+_5th._--Three-fourths of the slave-traffic of The Great Desert and
+Central Africa, are supported by the money and goods of European
+merchants, resident in Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and Egypt.
+
+_6th._--A considerable traffic in slaves is carried on in the Southern
+Provinces of Algeria, under French protection, by the Soufah and Shânbah
+Arabs.
+
+_7th._--At present there are no wars carried on in Central Africa, except
+those for the capture of slaves, to supply the markets of Tripoli and
+Constantinople; (so far as my information goes).
+
+_8th._--Slaves are the grand staple commerce of the Soudan and Bornou
+caravans, and without slaves this commerce could hardly exist. Twenty
+years ago, the Sheikh of Bornou reiterated to our countrymen; "You say
+that we are all the sons of one father; you say also, that the sons of
+Adam should not sell one another; and you know every thing. God has given
+you great talents. What are we to do? The Arabs who come here will have
+nothing else but slaves. Why do you not send us merchants?"
+
+The gardens of Tajourah are about one and a half hours' ride. There was
+then the break of an hour, where are pools of stagnant salt-water, with
+snipes running about. Afterwards we entered the gardens of the Masheeah,
+amongst which is the British garden, or residence of Colonel Warrington.
+The Masheeah is a series of mud-walled gardens, or small fields of corn,
+fruit, and vegetable cultivation, and houses within the enclosures. Some
+of them not unlike town farms. The whole stretches some ten miles along
+the sea-shore. The population of the Masheeah, including Tajourah, is
+equal to that of the city of Tripoli itself, if not greater. These
+suburban villages have their mosques and religious establishments. They
+have besides a separate Governor from that of the town, and their
+inhabitants exercise great political influence during a revolution. In
+the last, these people supported one Bashaw, or pretender against the
+other, or that of the city. The Masheeah is two-thirds of a mile from the
+gates of Tripoli. The houses and gardens being situate mostly on the east
+and southeastern suburbs of the city.
+
+We arrived in the neighbourhood of the British Consul's garden an hour
+before sunset. On the road, near it, are great gaping holes, very
+convenient for tumbling in on a dark night. These holes were dug years
+ago to store grain in. The Tripoline Government thinks it not worth while
+to fill them up. Immense fig-trees have grown up in some of these holes.
+I deemed it prudent to wait near the Consular Gardens till dark, having
+rather a dervish appearance, and being without an European hat, cap, or
+shoes. Whilst waiting in a neighbouring garden, a Moor came up to me and
+talked, and then brought me a little cuscasou. I felt sensibly this
+trifling manifestation of hospitality on my return.
+
+It is now just eight months and a half since I left Tripoli for Ghadames.
+I have passed eighty days, or nine hundred and sixty hours, out of this
+on the camel's back, and made a tour in The Sahara of some one thousand
+six hundred miles. I reckon my distances and days thus, averaging one
+with another:--
+
+DAYS' JOURNEY.
+
+From Tripoli to Ghadames     15 days
+From Ghadames to Ghat        20  "
+From Ghat to Mourzuk         15  "
+From Mourzuk to Tripoli      30  "
+                             --
+        Total                80  "
+
+These eighty, days, at the rate of twenty miles per day, make 1600 miles.
+I walked every day, one day with another, about two hours, which, at the
+rate of two and a half miles per hour, makes the distance of four hundred
+miles that I went on foot through the Great Desert.
+
+I wore out two or three pairs of shoes, but not one suit of clothes. My
+Moorish articles of dress I gave to Said, except the burnouse, which I
+gave away afterwards in Algeria. My whole expenses, including servant,
+camel, provisions, lodging, Moorish clothes, &c., &c., for the nine
+months' tour, did not exceed fifty pounds' sterling, and nearly half of
+this was given away in presents to the people and the various chieftains,
+who figure in the journal. I am sure, for I did not keep an exact
+account, my expenses did not exceed the round number of fifty by more
+than half a dozen pounds. I hope, therefore, I shall not be blamed for
+want of economy in Saharan travelling, especially when it is seen that
+the Messrs. Lyon and Ritchie expedition cost Government three thousand
+(3000) pounds' sterling, whose journey did not extend further south than
+mine, nor did they, indeed, penetrate so completely into The Sahara as I
+have done. Capt. Lyon likewise writes, that without "additional pecuniary
+supplies," he could not think of proceeding farther into the Interior,
+and accordingly returned. But were a person to ask me these questions,
+"Did you spend enough? Did you supply all your necessary wants? Could you
+safely recommend others to follow your example?" I must reply negatively
+to them all. This tour, to have been performed properly, as undertaken
+only by a private individual, ought to have cost at least one hundred
+pounds. The reader will, perhaps, be inquisitive to know, at whose
+expense the journey was accomplished. On this score, I am also disposed
+to be as communicative as on other points, for I do not wish this or that
+patronage to be suspected, although certainly the spending of fifty or
+sixty pounds' sterling is not a very mighty business. Well, then, the
+expenses were paid out of the funds of a salary granted for
+correspondence by one of the London newspapers. So much for the aid
+supplied by the Fourth Estate for the prosecution of philanthropic
+objects and discoveries in Africa. Let our printers' devils have their
+due in these days of universal patronage and pretension.
+
+I now lay down and stretched myself at full length upon the fresh herbage
+under a sheltering palm, watching with a silent melancholy the last
+departing rays of the sun. I then thought over all my journey, beginning
+with the beginning and ending with the end, all the incidents of the
+route from first to last, and all the privations and sufferings I had
+undergone--praying to and thanking the Almighty for having delivered me
+from every ill and every danger.
+
+
+POSTSCRIPT.--Said, on my leaving Tripoli, was committed to the care of
+Signor Merlato, the Austrian Consul, who promised to find him employment,
+or keep him in his own service. My poor camel, for which, were I a poet,
+I would chant a plaintive strain of adieu! I was obliged to sell. The
+Bengazi Arab who bought her promised me, however, to treat her lightly,
+and only to use her to ride upon.
+
+    "The world and I fortuitously met,
+    I owed a trifle, and have paid the debt."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[127] On the plains of Angadda the French troops, at the battle of
+    Isly, passed two or three days together through fields of barley.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+LONDON: HARRISON AND CO., PRINTERS, 45, ST. MARTIN'S LANE.
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+1. On page 249 of Vol. II, there is a possible line missing.
+A period has been changed to a comma & marked. See the original
+page image for details.
+
+2. <th> in dates has been italicised consistently.
+
+3. There are numerous spelling inconsistencies in proper and place names
+as well as within accented characters. These have been left as printed.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara,
+in the Years of 1845 and 1846, by James Richardson
+
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+
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