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."