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.