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.