RESIDENCE IN MURZUK.
Unfortunately our stay in Múrzuk seemed likely to become a very long one,
as the chiefs from Ghát, who were to take us under their protection,
were not yet sent for; the courier with our letters, to which was added
a missive from the acting governor, promising perfect security to the
chiefs, did not set out till the 8th of May. No doubt, in order to visit
Aïr, a country never before trodden by European foot, with any degree of
safety, we wanted some powerful protection; but it was very questionable
whether any of the chiefs of Ghát could afford us such, while the sending
for them expressly to come to Múrzuk to fetch us would, of course, raise
their pretensions very high, and in the same degree those of other chiefs
whose territory we should enter hereafter. Be this as it may, this mode
of procedure having been once adopted, the question arose, whether all
three of us should proceed to Ghát; and it was decided, the very next
day after our arrival, that the director of the expedition alone (Mr.
Richardson) should touch at that place, in order to make, if possible,
a treaty with the chiefs in that quarter, while Mr. Overweg and I were
to proceed with the caravan by the southern route directly to the well
Arikím, and there to await Mr. Richardson.
Providentially, a man had been sent to act as mediator between us and
the countries to which we were about to direct our steps. He had been
recommended to us in the very strongest terms by Hassan Bashá, the former
governor of Fezzán, whom we had frequently seen in Tripoli, and who knew
something about the men of influence and authority in Negroland. This
man was Mohammed Bóro, who, with the title Serki-n-turáwa, “Lord of the
Whites,” resided generally in Ágades, but had also a house and many
connections in Sókoto, and at present was on his home-journey from a
pilgrimage to Mekka.
Mohammed Bóro called upon us on the 8th of May at Gagliuffi’s house. He
was an elderly, respectable-looking man, wearing a green bernús over
white under-clothes. He could speak but little Arabic, but received Mr.
Gagliuffi’s empty and rather ironical assurances, that the whole welfare
and success of the expedition were placed in his (Mohammed Bóro’s) hands,
with a continual strain of “el hamdu lilláhi”s. In his company were his
eldest son and another man of Asben. He afterwards sent us some gúro, or
kola-nuts, of which he seemed to have a great stock, and which he also
sold in the market. Gagliuffi sent him, as an acknowledgment, a very
lean sheep, which, with a small loaf of sugar, was all he got from us in
Múrzuk. Instead of gaining his friendship, this treatment served only to
irritate him, and was productive of some very bad consequences for us.
This interesting person will appear in his true character and importance
in the course of this narrative.
The appearance of Múrzuk is rather picturesque; but its extreme aridity
is felt at once; and this feeling grows stronger on a prolonged
residence. Even in the plantation which surrounds it there are only a
few favoured spots where, under the protection of a deeper shade of the
date-trees, a few fruit-trees can be cultivated, such as pomegranates,
figs, and peaches. Culinary vegetables, including onions, are extremely
scarce; milk, except a little from the goats, is of course quite out of
the question.
The town lies in a flat hollow, “Hófrah,” which is the appropriate native
name of the district, but nevertheless at the considerable elevation
of 1,495 ft., surrounded by ridges of sand; and in this hollow lies
scattered the plantation, without the least symmetry of arrangement or
mark of order. In some places it forms a long narrow strip extending to a
great distance, in others a detached grove, while on the south-east side
of the town the desert approaches close to the walls in a deep inlet.
Towards the east a little grove apart forms as it were an advanced post.
The densest and finest part of the grove is towards the north, where also
are the greatest number of gardens and fields in which wheat, barley,
gédheb (or rather kédheb), and a few vegetables, are cultivated with much
labour. In the same quarter also the greatest number of cottages are to
be found, including huts (large and small) made of palm-branches,—the
former consisting of several apartments and a small courtyard, the latter
having generally only one room of very narrow dimensions.
In the midst of this plantation lies Múrzuk. It is situated so as not
to face the cardinal points, but with a deviation from them of thirty
degrees, the north side running N. 30° E., S. 30° W., and so on: it is
less than two miles in circumference. The walls, built of clay with round
and pointed bastions, but partly in bad repair, have, two gates, the
largest on the east, and the other on the west side. There is only a very
small gate on the north side, and there is none towards the south. This
quarter of the town has been greatly contracted by ʿAbd el Jelíl, as the
remains of the old wall of the time of Mukni clearly show; but the town
is still much too large for its scanty population, which is said now to
amount to 2,800, and the greatest part of it, especially in the quarters
most distant from the bazar, is thinly inhabited and half in ruins. The
characteristic feature of the town, which shows that it has more points
of relation with Negroland than with the lands of the Arabs, is the
spacious road or “dendal” stretching out from the eastern gate as far as
the castle, and making the principal part of the town more airy, but also
infinitely more exposed to the heat.
The bazar, of course, is the most frequented part of the town. It lies
nearly halfway between the east and west gates, but a little nearer to
the former, and affords, with its halls of palm-stems, a very comfortable
place for the sellers and buyers. The watch-house at the east end of the
bazar, and almost opposite Mr. Gagliuffi’s house (from the terrace of
which a view was taken), is ornamented with a portico of six columns;
which adds to the neat appearance of this quarter of the town. The kásbah
is the same as in Captain Lyon’s time, with its immense walls and small
apartments; but the outer court has been much improved by the building
of a barrack or kishlah, which now forms its northern portion. It is a
large quadrangular building, with a spacious esplanade in the interior,
around which are arranged the principal apartments. The building is said
to be capable of containing two thousand men, though at present there are
but four hundred in the garrison, who are well lodged and fed.
The accompanying sketch of a ground-plan will give a tolerably exact idea
of the whole character of the town.
[Illustration: 1, Custom-house; 2, Guard-house; 3, Watch-house; 4, Mr.
Gagliuffi’s house; 5, Garden; 6, House of the agent of Bórnu; 7, Mosque;
8, First courtyard of kásbah; 9, Kishlah; 10, Staircase leading to the
upper apartments.]
With regard to commerce, the condition of Múrzuk is very different from
that of Ghadámes. The latter is the residence of wealthy merchants, who
embark all their capital in commercial enterprises, and bring home their
own merchandise. But Múrzuk is rather the thoroughfare than the seat of
a considerable commerce, the whole annual value of imports and exports
amounting, in a round sum, to 100,000 Spanish dollars; and the place,
therefore, is usually in great want of money, the foreign merchants, when
they have sold their merchandise, carrying away its price in specie,—the
Mejábera to Jálo, the Tébu to Bílma and Bórnu, the people of Tawát and
Ghadámes to their respective homes. Few of the principal merchants of
Múrzuk are natives of the place. The western or Sudán route is more
favourable to commerce than the route to Bórnu. On the latter the Tuarek
are always ready to furnish any number of camels to carry merchandise,
and to guarantee their safety, while the road to Bórnu, which is the
nearest for Múrzuk, is in such a precarious state, that the merchant
who selects it must convey his merchandise on his own camels and at his
own risk. As for the routes through Fezzán, the Hotmán, the Zwáya, and
the Megésha are the general carriers of the merchandise; while, on the
route to Sudán, the conveyance at present is wholly in the hands of the
Tinýlkum.
As soon as Gagliuffi learned distinctly the plan of our expedition,
he made an agreement with these people to take our things as far as
Selúfiet; and they were anxious to be off. After much procrastination,
they fixed upon the 6th of June for taking away the merchandise with
which we had been provided here. We were to follow on the 12th; but the
luggage not being ready at an early hour, our final departure was fixed
for the 13th.