FAST OF THE RAMADAN.
The Shâanbah and Banditti of The Desert.--Native Plays and Dances
of Ghadamsee Slaves.--Aâween, or Square of Springs.--The Women of
Ghadames, their Habits and Education.--The Ghadamsee and Berber,
or Numidian Languages.--Varieties of People and Population of
Ghadames.--Charge of corrupting the Scriptures.--Ben Mousa
Ettanee.--The Bishop of Gibraltar.--Continue teaching
Geography.--Ruin of the Country.--Approaching end of the
World.--Seeing the New Moon.--My Taleb disputes about
Religion.--Movements of Banditti.--The small Force by which the
Turks hold Tripoli.
_28th._--HEARD the _Shâanbah_--شعانبة--and Touaricks are about
to have a set-to. Last year they had a skirmish, and the Touaricks
killed about eighty of the Shâanbah. These latter are going to
avenge their defeat; they will attack the open districts, and then
proceed to Ghat. The Shâanbah inhabit a desert of sand in the
neighbourhood of Warklah--وارقلة--about fifteen days from
Ghadames, and four from Souf. They are independent tribes, but small
in number, not more than from five to six hundred. Nominally,
however, they are located in French Algerian territory. They have
been celebrated from time immemorial as the robbers and assassins of
The Desert--_to be a brigand_ is, with them, an hereditary
honour--and they are equally the dread of the people of Warklah,
whose neighbours they are, as of stranger merchants and caravans.
They have a well of water scooped out in the sandy regions where
their tents are pitched, and here they live in a horrid security,
defying all law and authority, human and divine, and all the
neighbouring Powers. Around them is an immensity of sandy wastes,
and none dare pursue them to their abhorred dens. Horses, indeed,
would be useless; and camels might wander for months without water,
and perish before coming upon their hiding places in these dreadful
regions. "Two hundred men would require four hundred camels, eight
hundred water-skins, and provisions for two months," says the Rais,
"and therefore we must leave them to be exterminated by time."
Unfortunately, they are recruited from the bad characters of the
Souafah, a kindred tribe of Arabs, and other outlaws. The Shâanbah
are the great professional bandits of the North, but there are some
other fragmentary tribes, located on the confines of The Sahara, and
the valleys of the Atlas. Particularly I may mention the horde of
brigands of Wady-es-Sour, which infest the routes between Touat and
Tafilelt. But this horde is more placable, and mostly, after levying
black-mail, will allow a caravan to pass uninterruptedly on its way.
The expedition of the Shâanbah will take place after Ramadan, for,
like the story of the Spanish assassins, who, being too early to
enter the house of an unfortunate victim, went in the meanwhile to
the matins which were being celebrated in a neighbouring church, so
these pious assassins of The Desert highways will not proceed to
their work of blood and slaughter until the fast of Ramadan is
concluded. The Shâanbah and Touaricks are, besides, national enemies
as to blood, the former being pure Arab, and the latter of the
Berber, or aboriginal stock of North Africa. The Shâanbah have for
arms common matchlocks, and a few horses in addition to their
camels. The Touaricks have the spear, dagger, the straight broad
sword, and a few matchlocks and pistols, it is said, and all are
mounted on camels, so the contest is somewhat differently balanced
with regard to the mode of equipment. People speculate as to the
success of the parties, but their sympathies are entirely with the
Touaricks.
Said comes in blubbering, sympathizing with his countrymen, saying,
Rais has been bastinadoing his household slaves, natives of Bornou
like himself. Rais certainly ought not to do this, for he does not
bastinade his Moors or Arab servants. In the evening I went with
Said to see the slaves of Ghadames indulge in their native dances and
other plays. These are called لعب العبيل "_playing of the
slaves_." The festival of the evening was "_the night of power_"
(ليلة القدر), on which the Koran[39] descended from heaven,
and the slaves were allowed a holiday in consideration of this
solemnity. The slaves danced in a circle around a leader of the
dance in the centre. At first, it is a simple walking round, face to
back, the legs raised, and a little swinging, and the steps keeping
time to the iron castanets fastened on the hands of each. Meanwhile,
they sing, and the chorus comes at intervals between the noise of
castanets, or finger-clappers. They now turn round and face their
leader, some prostrating before him, and others twirling themselves
round, but always moving in their circular motion and singing. The
tones of their voice are melodious and deep, not the plaintive
wearying monotony of the Arabs. Now the sounds increase, the chorus
rises higher and higher, the steps fall heavy, like the tread of
military, on the ground; and now, sounds, steps, and every noise and
movement quickens, until it becomes a frantic rush around their
terrified leader, who is at last, as the finish of the dance,
overthrown in the wild tumult. . . . . . . Besides the castanets,
they have a rude drum, consisting of a piece of skin stretched over
the mouth of a large calabash, brought from Soudan, which makes a
low hollow sound: to these is added occasionally a rude squeaking
hautboy. This circular dance was performed by about thirty male
slaves, gaily dressed in their best clothes, and evidently all very
happy, in truth, the free blood of their native homes danced through
their veins. Aye, the poor slave danced and sung! happier far than
his proud and wealthy master, who looked on in moody silence. So God
has ordained it to alleviate and balance human miseries. This dance
of freedom lasted a full hour, and was very laborious. There were
several Negresses near, who answered in shrill voices to the deep
choruses of the Negroes, but did not themselves dance. After the
circular dance, came off reels of couples. These were danced with
great spirit, nay, violence: there was no dancing of a person
singly. None of the dancing was indecent, like the Moorish; the
lower part of the body and legs now and then assumed steps and
positions like the well known Spanish _fandango_ with castanets.
_29th._--Weather is now tolerably cool all day long in the city, but
not cool enough for agreeable travelling. Sketched to-day the
_Aâween_, اعوين, or square of "fountains," which belongs to the
faction of the Ben Weleed. A group of fifty persons surrounded me,
all clamoring to see what I was doing, and making the funniest
observations. They call drawing, _writing_ a thing. One said, "Ah,
it is well written, the Christians know everything but God."
Another, "Yâkob, shall you give that writing to your Sultan?" From
the fountains in this square, which merely run into stone troughs,
the camels drink.
[Illustration]
The white women, or the respectable women of Ghadames, white or coloured,
never descend to the streets, nor even go into the gardens around their
houses. Their flat-roofed house is their eternal promenade, and their
whole world is comprehended within two or three miserable rooms. The
date-palms they see, and a few glimpses of The Desert beyond--and this is
all. Truly it is necessary to establish an Anti-Slavery Society for the
women of this oasis. I have visited a few of them in their private
apartments with their husbands, in my capacity of quack-doctor. None of
them were fair or beautiful, but some pleasing in their manners, and of
elegant shape; they are brunettes, one and all, with occasionally large
rolling, if not fiery, black eyes. They are gentle in their manners, and
were very friendly to The Christian. Many of them, in spite of their
seclusion, shewed extreme intelligence; they are also very industrious.
My taleb assured me the little money he got from keeping the register of
the distribution of water, and other minor matters, could not keep his
family, and his chief support was from the industry of his wife in
weaving, whom he highly praised, adding, "God has given me the best wife
in Ghadames." Most of the women weave woollens enough for the consumption
of their family, and some for sale abroad. The education of women
consists in learning by heart certain prayers, portions of the Koran, and
legendary traditions of the famous _Sunnat_. The women are proud of their
learning, and the men pride themselves in saying, "Only in this country
are women so well instructed!" Besides this, they have the privilege of
going to the mosques very early in the morning, and late in the evening,
where they say their prayers like men, at least, so I understood from my
taleb; but a Christian must not ask questions about women in these
countries. The same authority assured me, the women, mostly negresses and
half-castes, seen in the streets in the day-time, are slaves, or esteemed
as such, the Touarick women excepted. I have no doubt the manners of the
women of this city are generally very correct, and as chaste as any women
in North Africa. But the Touarick women, especially of the elder sort,
are not always exceedingly refined. One morning, going out from my
house, I found some seven or eight Touarick women sitting on the
stone-bench at the door. They began to laugh and joke with me; at last
one of the elder present said, "Now, Christian, give me some money, and
then I'll come into your house." At this delicate sally, all expressed
their approbation in loud laughter: the half-caste women are much the
same. A Moor said something to me, which I did not understand, and then
laughed and said, "It is a Negro word," and, lest I should want an
interpreter, an half-caste lady present, putting her hand deliberately to
something, said, "That's the meaning," repeating the action two or three
times. On the whole, however, I have not seen so many cases of indelicacy
in this part of the world, as are to be seen almost every day in Paris
and London. No, the morals of The Desert are mostly pure and continent as
compared to those of our great European cities.
My taleb to-day made a vocabulary of the Touarghee, Ghadamsee, and Arabic
languages. He finished also the translation of the third chapter of
Matthew into the Ghadamsee language, which I sent afterwards to the
British and Foreign Bible Society. I did not expect that he would have
done it so easily, thinking his religious scruples would have interfered.
He would have done all the Gospels had I paid him. According to Ben
Mousa, the Ghadamsee language contains a few Arabic words, and is a most
ancient dialect. It is spoken only at Siwah and Ougelah, two Tripoline
oases near the coast, ten days apart, on the route to Egypt, and there is
a dialect something like it in one of the Tunisian mountains. Many of the
Touarghee words, he says also, are very much like, if not the same, as
those of Ghadamsee. I showed him the Gospel of St. Luke, translated into
the Berber language of Algeria, through Mr. Hodgson, and published by the
Bible Society. He was only able to recognize a few Ghadamsee words in
this translation. The Berber dialects, which comprehend the Ghadamsee,
the Touarghee, the Kabylee, the Shouweeah (of Dr. Shaw), and the Shelouk
of Morocco, although more or less intimately related, are very dissimilar
in many words and expressions. But they are sister branches of one
original mother, which require to be reduced to consistency and harmony
by some mastermind, and then a very copious and powerful language might
be formed. Such is said to have been the state of the German language
when Luther made his translation of the Scriptures, by which he laid the
foundation of the present mighty language of the Germans. Their common
enemy is the Arabic, which is daily making inroads upon them; and the
probability is, instead of being moulded into one mighty whole, they will
in the course of a few centuries be destroyed by the language of their
religion, for which the Berber tribes have a superstitious reverence.
There is a singularity about the language of Ghadames: it has differences
as spoken by the two factions of the Weleed and the Wezeet, the
provincialisms of the country. It is highly probable that the various
Berber dialects are the fragments of the language of those formidable,
but doubtful, auxiliaries, which so often balanced and changed the
fortune of Roman and Carthaginian arms. Of all these Numidian dialects,
only one people has amongst them a native alphabet, the rest using Arabic
characters: this people are the Touaricks. It is besides worthy of
remark, that amongst all the African tribes of Central Africa, nay, every
part of Africa, excepting the Coptic and Abyssinian Christians, only one
alphabet has been found, none of the other tribes having any characters
wherewith to write. Specimens of the Touarghee and Ghadamsee language, as
well as this alphabet, have been recently published, under the auspices
of the Foreign Office.
The language of Ghadames is spoken by an extremely mixed and various
population. Some are from Arabs of the plains, others from Arabs of the
mountains, others from Berber tribes, others from Moors of the Coast, and
not a few from Negress mothers, of every description of Negro race found
in the interior. Sometimes the men make a boast of being descended from
ancestors of pure Arab blood, from immigrants of the princes of Mecca and
countries thereabouts in Arabia, but in practice they contemn the
principle of uncontaminated blood, cohabiting with their favourite female
slaves, and from these rearing up a large family of mixed blood and
colour. In the Arab suburb a considerable number of free Negroes, the
offspring of liberated slaves, are settled. This class of population has
been mistaken for emigration from the interior, by some writers; but
Negroes never emigrate from the south to the north over The Desert,
however, some may wander, like the Mandingoes, in the countries of
Western Africa, as itinerant traders, tinkers, and pedlars. The city of
Ghadames presents therefore a most mixed and coloured population, there
being but very few of pure Arab blood, and fewer still of fair
complexions. I have seen, nevertheless, some families of sandy hair and
fair skins; but, certainly, the _barbarossa_ ("red beard,") or flaxen
locks, are not esteemed. These children of the sun prefer the raven-black
beard, the tanned skin, and the gazelle eye. The united population
amounts to about 3,000, but there are many Ghadamsee families established
in Soudan and Timbuctoo. I may add, six languages are spoken daily in
Ghadames, viz., Ghadamsee, Arabic, Touarghee, Housa, Bornouse, and
Timbuctoo. The Rais has not a Turkish soldier or servant with him, or
Turkish would make seven. Mourzuk being a garrison town, there Turkish,
Greek, Italian, and Tibbo may be added to these six languages. The Negro
languages are spoken by the slaves and free Negroes, and the merchants in
conversing with them.
As a specimen of flying reports, I heard yesterday Bona was not in the
hands of the French, but the Mussulmans. With respect to _shamatah_
("fighting"), the reports added, the French had lost 100,000 men in
battle! The eyes of all genuine Moslems are turned anxiously westwards,
and force and conquest, is everything with them.
_30th._--The mornings are now very cool and delicious. Walked on my
terrace, and enjoyed the fresh air of this autumnal spring. The palms are
beautiful to look upon, and the Desert city has the aspect of an
Hesperides. Are these the "fortunate isles" of the ancients? A few birds
twittering and chirping about, pecking the ripe dates.
My taleb, backed with two or three Mussulman doctors, charged me in
the public streets with corrupting and falsifying the text of the
word of God. "This," he said, "I have found by looking over your
الانجيل Elengeel (Gospel)." It is precisely the charge which
we make against the Mohammedans. But our charge is not so much
corrupting one particular revelation as falsifying the entire books
of the Jews and the Christians, of giving them new forms, and adding
to them a great number of old Arabian fables. A taleb opened the
Testament at the Gospel of St. Mark, and read, _that Jesus was the
Son of God_. Confounded and vexed at this, he said, "_God neither
begets nor is begotten_," (a verse of the Koran). An Arab from the
Tripoline mountains turned upon me and said, "What! do you know
God?" I answered sharply, "Yes; do you think the knowledge of God is
confined to you alone?" The bystanders applauded the answer.
In general, the ignorant of the population of this part of North Africa,
as well as Southern Morocco and Wadnoun, think the Christians are not
acquainted with God, something in the same way as I heard when at Madrid,
that Spaniards occasionally asked, if there were Christians and churches
in England: "Hay los Cristianios, hay las iglesias in Inglaterra?" But in
other parts of Barbary, I have found, on the contrary, an opinion very
prevalent, that the religion of the English is very much like the
religion of the Moors, arising, I have no doubt, from the absence of
images and pictures in Protestant churches.
This evening, when visiting the Ben Weleed, conversation turned upon the
Bas-Relief. The people showed some jealousy at my possessing it, and
would have prefered that it remained in the oasis, and were not sent to
Tripoli. They added:--"Because it proves that God has given us the land
of the Christians." This is the grand argument in proof of the
Mussulman's religion, that God has given him the countries of the
Infidels. Indeed, the sooner the Bas-Relief is off the better. On my
observing that the slab belonged to a date prior to the Christians, they
were astonished, and asked, "_Who were before the Christians?_" They have
no idea of people before the Christians. The conversation was suddenly
stopped by the appearance of a remarkable personage, the _quasi_-Sultan
of the Ben Weleed. This was the famous rich and powerful Haj Ben Mousa
Ettanee. He is a man of a great age, and nearly blind, and the chief of
the most numerous and influential family of Ghadames. He always exhibits
a most difficult and obstinate temper in public affairs, and, I
understand, from the first, has shown an hostility to my residence in
Ghadames, unlike the Sheikh Makouran, who is the recognized Chief of the
Ben Wezeet, and who has shown himself as favourable as the other Chief
hostile. There may be a little of the spirit of faction in this; for we
see often a person unsupported by the one party, because he is supported
by the other party. But the whole family of Ettanee is considered _wâr_
("difficult"). The Rais speaking to me of this family, said: "Wâr, wâr--I
can do nothing with the Ettanee." Ettanee was attended by two or three
servants, one carrying a skin, and another a cushion to recline on
(_mokhaddah_). These arranged, the old gentleman mounted upon the
stone-bench and took his seat, everybody making way for him with the
greatest alacrity. Having heard I was present, after a short silence, he
addressed me: "Christian, do you know Scinde[40]?" I replied, "I know
it." "Are not the English there?" he continued. "Yes," I said. He then
turned and said something to the people in the Ghadamsee language[41]. My
conversation with them was always in Arabic. He abruptly turned to me,
"Why do the English go there, and eat up all the Mussulmans? Afterwards
you will come here." I replied, "The Ameers were foolish, and engaged in
a conspiracy against the English of India; but the Mussulmans in Scinde
enjoyed the same rights and privileges as the English themselves."
"That's what you say," he rejoined, and then continued: "Why do you go so
far from home, to take other people's countries from them?" I replied,
"The Turks do the same; they came here in The Desert." "Ah! you wish to
be such oppressors as the Turks," he continued very bitterly, and then
told me not to talk any more. No one present dared to put in a word. This
painful silence continued for some time. I was anxious to get off,
feeling very disagreeable; and beginning to move, he said to somebody,
"_Who's_ that?" for he couldn't see much, being nearly blind. They told
him it was the Christian going. He cried out, "Stop!" and then added,
"You have books with you, but you English are not Christians. You deceive
us. Nor are the Danish, or the Swedes, or the Russians Christians. _They
have no books._" He meant _religious_ books. The same opinion, I found
afterwards, was entertained by Haj Ibrahim, a very respectable and
intelligent Moorish merchant of Tripoli. Haj Ibrahim said to me, "How is
it that you have books on religion, when the English have none?"
Formerly Ettanee resided at Tripoli; and I have not the least doubt both
these Moors derived this false information from the intolerant and
Protestant-hating Romanist priests resident in Tripoli, backed as the
falsehoods were by the absence of any English church or worship, although
the English Consul very regularly celebrated worship in his family every
Sunday,--a circumstance which ought to have been known amongst the town
population of all religions. I am sorry the intentions of the British
Government have been so feebly carried out by the Bishop of Gibraltar.
Her Majesty's Government was anxious that Dr. Tomlinson should visit all
the coasts of the Mediterranean, both to strengthen the few Protestants
scattered on these inhospitable shores, and to show the various
authorities and people of this famed inland sea, that the English had a
religion, and cared for its prosperity. Up to the time I left the Barbary
coast, Dr. Tomlinson had neither visited Tunis nor Tripoli, though he had
been resident at Malta some three years. This is too bad; and it is quite
clear the Bishop does not understand the object of his mission in the
Mediterranean. He ought to have shown himself at once in all Barbary; he
then might have annihilated this monstrous error, propagated by Romish
priests, that the English had no religious books, and were not
Christians. It is but justice to add, the Bishop went to Tangiers. Mr.
Hay expected a very unctuous episcopal visit, and was shocked to hear the
good Bishop talk so much about fortifications and "horrid war." There is
consistency in everything; and common sense dictated that the Bishop
should have, on such a visit, assumed his character of "Overseer of the
scattered Protestant flock." Unfortunately, when he went first to Malta,
Dr. Tomlinson acted more like an episcopalian tight-rope dancer, always
balancing himself between Puseyism and Evangelicalism, and so distracted
the few Protestants at Malta. He is eminently a man of no decision of
character; and whenever he does manage to get up his reluctant will to a
decision, it is invariably on the wrong side of the question. Here in The
Desert I found myself pestered with both political and religious
questions; and to have shirked either, would have been to offend the
people. There was no alternative but to preach to them that all the
English and all Protestants had the same Bible as the Romanists, and were
equally Christians with them. I may add, of the Bishop of Gibraltar:
Since my return, I have heard that his Lordship found all his efforts
useless to conciliate the Malta papistical authorities; that he was much
shocked at their treachery; and that he was determined, on his return
again to Malta, _to become once more a good Protestant_. The truth is, he
had nothing to do with the Roman Catholics. He was to mind and care for
the Protestants in Malta, and on the shores of the Mediterranean. I
believe, however, he did do something in the way of unpleasant
interference with Colonel Warrington. It is well known the Colonel was
high-priest of Protestantism through his long Consular service of
thirty-three years, as well as Her Britannic Majesty's Consul. The
Colonel baptized, married, and buried, whenever applied to. He baptized,
married, and buried the members of his own family, and was surprised Sir
Thomas Reade had not the courage to do the same. Of this the Colonel was
very proud, citing the authority of some peer in the British Parliament,
who said, "If the King's subjects wished to _procreate_ in a foreign
land, where there was no parson, why should not the British Consul help
them?" This the Bishop demurred at; but the Colonel supported himself on
the authority of Dr. Lushington. The Colonel was undoubtedly right.
Still, politically and ecclesiastically, it would be much better if
English clergymen of some denomination or other were established along
the line of the whole coast of North Africa, which would show the native
Mussulmans we had a religion, and that we could afford to support and
protect our co-religionists. The French reap a good harvest by _their
protection of Christians_, which, characteristically enough, they use as
a political engine of aggrandizement.
On returning home, my Moorish friends pestered me still with more
questions, as to what people were _before_ the Christians. I endeavoured
to impress upon them, that the Christian era was comparatively _new_, and
that _before_ Christ, there were many nations, and great events occurred.
I found them grossly ignorant. But I had the good fortune to procure an
Arabic map in the possession of one of the merchants, who had laid it up
for many years amongst dusty papers. This had been published by the
printers and agents of the Church Missionary Society of Malta, very much
to their credit. By the aid of this, I made more progress in teaching
geography to the people. Seeing several dots on the map where _Sahara_ is
written, the people asked me what it meant. I told them sand. However, I
must protest against this device. We shall see that the greater part of
The Desert is stone and hard earth. The term "_sandy border_" of The
Desert is equally incorrect. Such a distinction does not exist in the
Tripoline provinces. The Desert comes up to the gates of Tripoli, it then
gives way to cultivation and The Mountains; it beyond them appears again
here and there and everywhere, within and without the regions of rain.
There is nothing like a border of The Desert. The "Grand Desert" and
"Petite Desert" of the French, are equally incorrect and absurd. All is
Sahara, or waste, uncultivated lands, and oases scattered thick within
them, as spots on the back of the leopard[42].
Saw the Rais late, who had heard all about my conversation with Ettanee,
and jokingly said, "_Wâr, wâr_, that old fellow, aye?" His Excellency
turned, to other matters: "The Shânbah are not going to attack the
Touaricks, they are coming hereabouts to plunder our caravans." Asked
him, if the city was secure enough to prevent them entering and pillaging
it? His Excellency replied, "Yes," but adding, "_koul sheyan maktoub_
(all is predestinated)." This doctrine is not only a comfort in every
misfortune, but also an apology for every fault, crime, or mismanagement
a person may be guilty of. Nay, if a man be starved to death, because he
will not work, which is sometimes the case in this part of the world, as
well as Ireland, it is destiny and the will of God! . . . . . . So of all
other things. If Ghadames should be stormed and plundered by the Shânbah
in its present defenceless condition, it will be, as a matter of course,
the will of God. But I must add, which unhappily cannot be said of
Ireland, the security of human life is very great in Ghadames and the
neighbouring desert. I have heard of no murder since I have been here,
and a murder is the last thing thought of. This does not arise from any
preventitive police, but from the simple dispositions of the
people--their horror and unwillingness to shed human blood! If a
messenger from a distant planet were to come to prove the divinity of a
religion, from the absence of the crime of murder, and were to take these
Saharan oases, and our Ireland, and put them in the balances of Eternal
Justice, we should soon see Ireland and its popular religion kick the the
beam, as--
"The fiend look'd up, and knew
His mounted scale aloft."
The "signs of the times" in this country are, when I first came here
bread was found in the Souk occasionally, as a luxury for the poor who
could not buy wheat and make bread; now, and it is only a little more
than a month, no bread is to be found. To-day not a single sheep was
killed anywhere, and I am obliged to go without meat. So the country
progresses in poverty and misery, so rapidly is its money being filched
from the people! Or, is it because every body has conspired together
against the Rais, and determined to wear an air of abject poverty? And
thus to evade the new contributions? This cannot be. To-morrow is the
last day of Ramadan; provided the new moon can be seen. I hope they'll
see it, for I am heartily sick of the Ramadan: the most amiable and
kind-hearted get out of humour in Ramadan; as to the Rais, I never go to
see him, except in the evening, unless to get a little money from him,
his Excellency being my banker. A Turk, who smokes all day long for
eleven months out of twelve, must suffer greatly in these thirty days.
Should like to have tried a day's fasting, as I have been so strongly
recommended by the people, but I expect to have enough of fasting in The
Desert, and it is of no use adding to our miseries for the sake of
curiosity or vanity. From recent conversations, it appears there is no
great danger in attempting Timbuctoo, but I have resolved on the route of
Kanou, because my object is not so much a journey of discovery, as to
collect a statistical account of the slave-trade, and see whether there
are any practicable legitimate means for extinguishing the odious
traffic. For this latter object, the Kanou route is decidedly more
advantageous. A wild adventure to Timbuctoo, ever so successful, can
never serve me in such stead in the end, when I have to read my own heart
and its motives, as a humane mission on the behalf of unhappy weak
Africans, doomed, by men calling themselves Christians, to the curse of
slavery.
_1st October._--Sheikh Makouran paid me a visit this morning. Our
conversation turned chiefly on the discoveries of lands and countries
since the times of Christ and Mahomet. The Sheikh was a little surprised
when I told him: "We ought to consider the world as just beginning, for
the ancients knew but little, and the greater part of the now inhabited
world was unknown to them." Moors, like some Christians, think the time
is near when Deity shall appear to destroy all unbelievers in their
respective religions. For myself, I cannot but believe that the world has
only _yet_ begun. It is impossible that the Creator should destroy the
world in its present imperfect state. No--the world will go on yet
thousands of years on years in the path of improvement unto (_shall I
say?_) perfection. At any rate, I belong to those whose aspirations are
for the future and not for the past. I am not enamoured with Hebrew
patriarchal innocence, or Grecian classic polish and freedom, or
Christian mediæval chivalry of the past. I am of the _New_ Englanders,
but not for the resurrection of the past. Rather than subscribe to
divinely-anointed kings and pious monks, church charities and May-day
holidays and May-poles for the people, I would sooner affix my signature
to railways, electric telegraphs, and the wild, bold, and raving
aspirations of a Shelley--in fact, to plunge anywhere head _foremost_,
than back again into the past.
A Moor to-day, in wishing to give a grand idea of the Touaricks (some of
whom were present), said, "Muley Abd Errahman (Emperor of Morocco) and
the Sultan of Stamboul, pay tribute to the Touaricks; but they pay
tribute to no one." This is ingeniously made out by the merchants of
Tripoli and Morocco, the subjects of the two Sultans, being obliged to
pay black-mail in passing through the Saharan districts of the Touaricks.
Some of the ill-natured are continually magnifying the dangers of the
route of Kanou, and one present said, "You can't go, there are thousands
of Touaricks to block up your way." Annoyed with this man and others, I
replied, "Do Touaricks eat the flesh of Christians after they have killed
them?" This made him very angry, and he began to apologize for the
Touaricks, one class of Mohammedans being always anxious to defend
another from unwonted or odious suspicions. They have, nevertheless, not
the least difficulty in confessing that the Touaricks will kill
Christians, as such, thus tacitly acknowledging it to be right to kill
Christians. The more respectable Ghadamseeah argue that in no case, if I
pay the Touaricks a certain sum as tribute, or what not, have the
Touaricks a right by the law of the Prophet to do me the least harm.
Heard all the Arab soldiers have run away from Emjessen, being without
anything to eat. These wise Turkish commanders gave the poor fellows a
bag of barley and a little oil, and left it, like the widow's cruse in
Holy Writ, to replenish itself. The Shânbah may now go and drink the
water of the well, and plunder the caravans as they please. The wonder is
that more open-desert robberies are not committed.
The Rais told me this evening that _one_ person saw the moon, but it is
necessary _two_ should have seen the dim, pale, half-invisible crescent
streak. Then the _âyed_ after the fast would have been to-morrow. At
sun-set, all the people were on the _qui-vive_, the Marabouts mounting
the minaret tops, but none saw it but this solitary moongazer, who, said
the Rais, "might have _imagined_ he saw the moon." The telescope was not
lawful, he added, "The people must see it with the naked, unassisted
eye."
_2nd._--No patients; only a little girl with severe ophthalmia, and the
old blind man, who fancies his eyes are better with the application of
the caustic. Generally the Moors think there is a different sort of
medicine for women. Yesterday I was asked for a medicine for women. I
gave a man a fever powder for his wife. This morning being the last
before the Ramadan, the Rais sent me a _backsheesh_ of meat (not cooked)
and a quantity of rice, enough to make a sumptuous festa. Certainly the
Rais is very gracious, and continues, if not increases, in his friendly
feelings towards me. People are killing and preparing for the festival.
There's a report, the merchants in Tripoli are afraid to leave for this
city on account of rumoured depredations of the Sebâah and Shânbah.
To-morrow, my taleb says he marries his two daughters. He prepares the
wedding-feast, and gives his daughters a stock of _semen_ (liquid
butter), and barley and wheat, to begin the world with. The sons-in-law
make presents to their brides of clothes, besides a little money; and
this is all the matter. My taleb seems very glad to get rid of his
daughters so easily; they are extremely young--thirteen and fifteen.
Besides these daughters he has a pet son. People usually choose a
religious festival, for the day of the celebration of their nuptials, as
in some parts of England. The taleb then, who is excessively fond of
religious discussion, began, "The essence of all religion is,--
وهو لا يولد ولا مولد
_He_ (God) _neither begets nor is begotten_: and
وما عند الله شركاً
_God has no associate_":--
both referring to the unity of God. Speaking of the duration of the
world, I said:--"The world must now begin, for, up to this time, men have
been generally very ignorant; and until lately the whole of the earth has
not been discovered." Very angry at this, he replied:--"Now the world
will finish; God is coming to destroy all you Christians, and all the
black _kafers_ (infidels), as well as the white." He then gave me an
account of the creation. "The world," he said, "was created seven times,"
&c., &c., adding many curious things.
_I._--"What is to become of the world; are nearly all its inhabitants,
from its beginning until now, to be d----d?"
_He._--"Yes."
_I._--"Is this the decree of God?"
_He._--"Yes, all is _maktoub_."
_I._--"But you say, God, is الرحمان الرحيم,
(_Most merciful_.)"
_He._--"Yes; but men won't obey his religion and Mahomet."
_I._--"What is to become of those who never saw, nor never could see or
read the Koran?"
_The Taleb._--"I don't know; God is great; God must have mercy upon
them."
_I._--"Undoubtedly God created the world; but according to you, the world
is now all corrupt (_fesad_), and nearly all men must soon be destroyed.
Is this honourable to God?"
_The Taleb._--"All is decreed."
_I._--"But many of the unbelieving Infidels are better than the Touaricks
and Arabs. Is not the British Consul in Tripoli better than a Shânbah
bandit?--better than an assassin who cuts the throats of the Faithful? Do
not all the people speak well of our Consul?"
_The Taleb._--"I know it; he's very good."
_I._--"But you can't change the religion of some people though you kill
them. When the Mohammedans conquered India, they got tired of putting
Hindoos to death for not changing their religion, and becoming
Mussulmans."
_The Taleb._--"God knows all, but you don't know," (a frequent phrase in
the Koran).
_I._--"Now, I don't think it's of much use to talk about religion, for
you won't change yours nor I mine. Here's the end of the matter. We must
all die, that's a thing no one disputes; but as to who is saved, or who
perishes, we cannot tell."
_The Taleb._--"The truth, by G--d! If God please, we shall see all soon."
A small caravan of Arabs, bringing sheep for the _Ayed_, arrived this
morning from Tunis. The route is _viâ_ Jibel Douerat, and only seven
days. If the roads were safe, travelling indeed about North Africa could
soon be rendered expeditious. The Arabs report:--"That great military
preparations are making at Jerbah, where the Bey of Tunis is expected
after the _Ayed_, and whence he will invade Tripoli, all his Arabs being
ready to march with him." After this, a caravan of forty slaves arrived
from the south, under the conduct of Touaricks. The _ghafalah_ is
originally from Bornou, but half left for Fezzan on arriving at Ghat. Was
much surprised when Rais told me this evening, after five or six days, he
would send a soldier to sleep as a guard in my house. He explained he had
received authentic intelligence from Souf, of the Shânbah banditti being
on the march, five hundred strong, proceeding in the direction of Ghat
and Ghadames, and he expected them near this in the course of ten days.
Their intention is to avenge themselves on the Touaricks for the defeat
last year. They are the immemorial enemies of the Touaricks, who have a
stake in the commerce of the Desert, but they as professional robbers
have none. Besides this, we hear the Sebâah continue their depredations,
and have carried off 2,000 sheep from The Mountains: they also threaten
an attack on Derge. The whole country, indeed, will soon be full of
banditti, unless some energetic measures are adopted, and we shall have
no communication between this and Tripoli. All the routes are now
considered unsafe. Rais assured me, he has applied to the Pasha for a few
Turkish troops, but His Highness refused, on the plea of expense. The
whole force of the Rais is not a hundred Arabs, and poor miserable
fellows they are, with two or three horses placed at their disposal. With
such inconsiderable means the Pacha presumes to hold in the heart of The
Desert this important commercial city, and its dependencies of Seenawan
and Derge! The French manage matters very differently in Algeira. Indeed,
the united force occupying all Tripoli, with its wide-spread provinces of
many hundred miles apart, does not exceed _five_ thousand men of all
arms! Compare this to the hundred and thirty thousand men (including
native troops) in Algeira, and be astonished at the different effects of
the French and Turkish systems. . . . . To add to the Rais's
embarrassments, the people are in ill-humour, whilst some hear the news
with pleasure, and fancy they see in our present troubles the beginning
of the end of Turkish rule in Ghadames.
FOOTNOTES:
[39] This book is said to be eternal as God himself, even
UNCREATED. This is argued metaphysically from all the thoughts and
volitions of Deity being eternal and immutable, and therefore the
laws of the Koran have no relation to time or creation.
[40] Most of the people here have heard of Scinde; but their
knowledge of it is very imperfect.
[41] I afterwards learnt it was--"You see these Christians are
eating up all the Mussulman countries."
[42] Strabo mentions the oasis:--"To the south of Atlas lies a
vast desert of sand and stones, which, like the spotted skin of a
panther, is here and there diversified by oases, or fertile
grounds, like isles in the midst of the ocean."