CONTINUED RESIDENCE IN GHADAMES.
The Ayed (little Festival of Moslems).--Ghadames a City of
Marabouts.--Every Accident of Life ascribed to Deity.--Second
Day's Feast, Swinging and Amusements of the People.--Death of the
Sultan of Timbuctoo.--Various Terms employed for denoting
Garden.--French Woman in The Desert.--Price of Slaves.--Time
required to go round the World.--Stature of the Touaricks.--Oases
of Derge.--Reconquest of the World by the Mahometans.--Tibboo
Slave-dealer.--Touatee Silversmith and Blacksmith.--Assassination
of Major Laing.--Tibboos compared to Bornouese.--The Touarick
Bandit again.--First Encounter with the Giant Touarick.--Water of
Ghadames unhealthy.--Manacles for Slaves.--Second Meeting with
the Giant.--The Souafah, and Tuggurt.--Visit from the
Giant.--Chapter in the Domestic History of Ghadames.--Serpents
and Scorpions, the Banditti of The Desert.--Toys Prohibited.--The
Wahabites.--How Moslems despise Jews.
_3rd._--THE Ayed عيد, succeeding Ramadan, is ushered in with a
cold morning, the first cold morning I have felt in The Desert.
Might venture to put on my cloth pantaloons. Happy to feel this
invigorating cold. This is the little âyed; the âyed kebir, or âyed
Seedna Ibrahim, takes place two months hence, when every family, in
imitation of Abraham offering up his son Isaac, kills or sacrifices
a lamb. The caravan from Bornou reports the road to be good. It is
added, rain has fallen in Ghat as well as in The Sahara, near Tunis
and Tripoli, so that the oasis of Ghadames is the only dry spot, for
no rain has yet fallen.
Had several visits from persons all dressed out in festival finery,
amongst the rest the black dervish. He looked like a dusky Nigritian
Sultan. Twenty paras he condescended to take from me, which added to his
holiday happiness; sometimes he won't accept of money. Now comes Ben
Mousa, my taleb, to pay his respects. Not, as amongst the great unwashed
of London, do they shave for a penny and give a glass of ---- (I shall
not say what), in the bargain, here in Ghadames they shave for nothing.
"How is this," I said to my turjeman who had now come in. "This is the
custom of the country," he replied, "we always shave one another for
friendship." There are several other little things done _gratuitously_ in
Ghadames, but shaving the head is the principal one[43]. He who has the
sharpest razor is expected to do the most work. They cut and hack one
another about most barbarously, some using no soap, only rubbing a little
water over their heads. I have seen a score in a row, all sitting on the
ground, waiting patiently their turn. Some shave the head every month,
others allow several months to elapse. By way of diverting conversation,
my taleb had the extreme kindness to tell me that the Touaricks of Aheer
and Aghadez (not those of Ghat) killed Christians and Jews on the
principle of religion, and would refuse to compound matters, even if I
gave them a thousand dollars. He, however, condescended to add, "They are
_mahboul_ (foolish)." He then went on to boast of the sanctity of this
city, and said, "Our people are not afraid of the Sebâah and Shânbah,
because they are a city of marabouts." The taleb had just come from a
full divan of the people, where the Rais, on this festival morning, had
been haranguing them and flattering their prejudices. "Be assured," said
the Governor, "if the Bashaw knew that you were a holy city, _a city of
dervishes_, a zaweea (or sanctuary), he would write to the Sultan at
Constantinople, and the Sultan, hearing of this, would immediately give
orders that no 6,000 mahboubs were to be exacted from you, but that, on
the contrary, money from the Sultan would be sent to you, holy people." I
wondered that a man of the Rais's sense could so commit himself. What
would he have done if after the âyed, the people had brought a petition
to him, addressed to the Sultan, setting forth that they were "_a city of
marabouts_," and praying to have their tribute remitted? But the poor
people are incapable of taking such an advantage. They were excited by
their religious feelings, and believed all the Rais told them. It was
certainly a fine compliment for the feast, to men in the situation of the
people of Ghadames. And my informant added: "Ahmed Effendi in The
Mountains is the rascal and the infidel, and does not tell the Pasha we
are a nation of dervishes." Said told me a slave was brought up to day to
be bastinadoed, but reprieved till to-morrow on account of the feast.
Said's sympathy is always excited on these occasions, he remembers
ancient days. On asking what he had done, he said, "The slave stole some
dates because he had nothing to eat." My taleb, occasionally rather free
in tongue, took upon himself to call all Negroes _thieves_. I admonished
him: "The poor slaves got little from this city of dervishes, now and
then a little barley-meal, or lived almost altogether on a few dates. It
was not surprising they stole to satisfy the cravings of hunger." Berka
the liberated slave of Makouran, and Said's intimate friend, now came in,
dressed up in his holiday clothes. He asked for Said. "He is gone to The
Desert, run away, for he has broken our cooking-pot; see here are the
pieces, here's the meat spoilt; what am I to do for dinner?" I added, "He
ought to have a good beating." The poor old negro stared and looked
really grieved. At last he muttered, "Why, Christian, that _breaking_
comes from God, and not Said." "The truth," said the taleb laughing. Said
now came in, having borrowed another pot, and Berka was comforted at the
return of his friend. In The Desert, every accident of life is ascribed
to an ever-present and all-superintending Divinity!
All people enjoy their festival or carnival, to-day. They follow the
reckoning of Tripoli, but as the people saw the moon a day sooner there,
a day of fasting is here saved. It is so fortunate not to see the moon
too soon. The appointed Ramadan is twenty-nine or thirty days; ours is
twenty-nine. However, rigid Moslems did not begin to eat to-day till
noon, after the morning prayers, so delicately scrupulous are they. My
taleb agrees with me, that the Arabs, who usually only eat in the
evening, and don't smoke, experience but little inconvenience from the
fast. Nothing particular took place to-day's âyed, except every one being
dressed in his best clothes, and most of the youth having on something
_new_. It is the same with the Jews of Mogador on the feast of Passover.
The Sanctuaries hoist the holy colours of their religion, beautiful
vermilion, and yellow, and green; these are their holiest and most-loved
colours. The slaves danced and sang all day long. I was present during
the closing scene at night, which was curious. After their continuous and
laborious dancing, they all suddenly stopped as if struck with paralysis,
offered a prayer to Allah, and dispersed. Did not go out till evening,
for if I had gone out at all in the day-time I must have dressed up, and
I did not wish to appear a Guy Fawkes amongst the people, or excite their
curiosity or prejudices on the day of a solemn festival. The Rais asked
why I did not come in the morning, for this was a grand receiving-day,
when all his particular friends and the heads of the people paid him
visits. On telling him, he approved my reason, and said, "You, Yâcob,
have _compass yaiser_ (plenty of wit)."
_4th._--To-day is half a feast, and full-grown men and aged men are
amusing themselves with swinging, like so many boys. A dead aoudad was
brought in from The Sahara, which the Touaricks had killed. These
Touaricks are also bearers of a letter, written at Timbuctoo, which has
come the round-about way of Soudan, announcing that the Sultan of
Timbuctoo is dead. Sidi Mokhtar, a marabout, is appointed Governor of
Timbuctoo by the new Sultan. The Sultan himself, after visiting Timbuctoo
and making this appointment, retired to Jinnee, his royal residence.
Sheikh El-Mokhtar has a good reputation; he is now occupied reorganizing
his government. No other news. Met in the streets one of the Touaricks
who came yesterday with fifteen camel-loads of senna. Asked him if
Touaricks killed Christians. Surprised at this abrupt question, he asked,
"_Why?_" I added, "If you are a good fellow I will go with you to Ghat."
Pleased at this confidence, he came home with me and took some coffee. A
camel-load of senna now sells for seventeen mahboubs. He asked me what
the Christians did with the senna, and would not believe it was all used
for physic. Said Christians were not numerous enough to drink all they
bought. There is a wady near Ghat covered with senna, during rain, but
the greater portion of senna is brought from Aheer.
An instance of the way in which the Arabic language is used, and
which makes some people think there are different dialects in this
language, may be given in the terms denoting _Garden_. For garden,
the Touaricks and people of Touat use جنّة, a word which
frequently occurs in the Koran, conveying the highest and purest
idea of garden, and which we usually translate "_paradise_." In
Ghadamsee and Touarghee a corruption of this pure Arabic word is used for
heaven, اجّن. The Tripoline and Tunisian Moors use the term
سانية, and the people here قابة, for garden, but
which is, rather, kitchen-garden. Now, all these words are good Arabic, and
may be used indifferently, at least the two latter. In the New
Testament translation, the Persian بستان is used, which I
imagine is the Eastern term for garden generally, in opposition to the
western سانية. _The Garden_ in North Africa is very different
from our ideas of a garden. Corn-fields, overshadowed with the palm, the
olive, and a few other fruit-trees, is the species of plantation to
which the term is usually applied. Certainly a few flowers are
sometimes cultivated in these gardens of Africa, but this is the
exception to the usage.
The Rais, who is a grave Turk, nevertheless unbended himself to-day,
amusing himself in seeing the boys swing. The Moors sadly wanted me to
join their swinging, but I politely declined. They said, it was
"_medicine_," meaning good for the health, everything conducive to health
being called "_medicine_" by people in The Desert. Was gratified to see
some sports amongst the people, for the men are always gloomy and
reclining about the streets, brooding over their ruinous affairs, and the
boys are little encouraged to healthful and innocent games. Up to this
time, the only persons I have seen happy are the slaves, who dance and
sing, and forget everything but the present moment. The swings are tied
high up to the tallest date-palms, two or three persons swing together,
and the sport is a little dangerous. Saw no other amusements during the
âyed, except here and there drafts, played in the primitive way of making
small holes in the sand for the squares.
During the expedition of the Duke d'Aumale to the south of Algeria, the
Bey of Biskera, Mohammed-es-Sagheer ("little") murdered the small
garrison of soldiers left behind, emptied the chest of what francs were
in it, and went off to The Desert. He is now living tranquilly in the
Jereed. The French made a demand to the Bey of Tunis to have him given
up, but it seems His Highness had courage enough to resist it, alleging
that he was a political refugee. Mohammed-es-Sagheer had married a French
woman, and she ran away, or was taken by force, with him. She had borne
him two children. The most extraordinary stories are current of this
French woman. Though a low woman of one of the towns, she gives herself
out as "the daughter of the Sultan of France!" She rides like a man,
dresses like a man, smokes, and follows the Arabs in all their
expeditions _against_ the French. She has adopted the Mahometan religion,
and is become a sort of priestess, or Maraboutah. She promises the
credulous Arabs that she will not only put her husband on the throne of
Algeria, but even of France itself, and then all the world will become
Mussulmans! The Moors say she can never leave The Desert because she has
brought her husband two children.
Saw Rais in the evening, and had a sort of confidential conversation with
him, and told him for the _first_ time of my intention to proceed further
in the interior. Of course, he had heard of it before from his servants.
Nevertheless, he affected great surprise and sorrow. But, when I told him
I might return in six months hence, he became more calm. He then
persuaded me by all means to avoid the routes of the Touaricks, and
proceed to Fezzan, thence to Bornou. Speaking of the Ghadamsee merchants
and their friends and correspondents, Messrs. Silva, Labe, Shaloum, and
Francovich, in Tripoli, he said, "Your merchants exchange products with
the Ghadamseeah in the way of barter, and make a great deal of money,
whilst the Ghadamseeah have no money left, none at all." He wondered,
like the Touaricks, what the Christians do with all the senna. He
expected the Shânbah, on the route of Ghat, in a few days' time. I
observed, "People are all superbly dressed, and there was not much
appearance of poverty." He smiled, and said, "The people are _sheytan_
(very cunning), they lay up their new clothes, and only wear them on
festivals." Speaking of slaves, his Excellency said, "There is now no
profit on slaves. Government takes ten mahboubs duty on each. A good
slave fetches 40,000 wadâ (cowries) in Soudan, usual price 30,000, and
some as low as 15,000. A good slave sells in Ghadames for forty
mahboubs." The Rais told me to take care of the vermin, and abused the
filthiness of the people. If I escape the Touaricks and the fevers as
well as I escape the vermin, which abound on the clothes of all the
people without exception, I shall consider myself fortunate. The
inhabitants of Ghadames make no scruple in attacking the enemy in the
public streets, which stick to them closer than their dearest friends. I
attribute my escape to my being an infidel, for their orthodox l-i-c-e
won't have anything to do with Kafers.
People look worse than during the Ramadan. Poor creatures, they have
little to eat; they say they have nothing but barley-meal and dates to
eat, for the Turks have taken away all their money. Some, however, as a
luxury, which their relations and friends send them from Soudan,
masticate _ghour_[44]-nuts, and which I believe is the _kolat_, or
colat-nut of Caillié. The Arabs called these nuts the "_Coffee of
Soudan_." Konja is a great place for the growth of the ghour, two or
three months west of Kanou.
_5th._--Weather gets colder every day. I was reflecting on the best
situation for a Consul in Northern Sahara. The point would be Touat, the
nucleus of many routes, the great highways of commerce in The Desert.
From this point a British Consul could keep a sharp look-out on the
French, moving southward.
A Mussulman doctor told me with great solemnity this morning, that five
hundred years were necessary to go round the world. Two hundred years
desert (ك٘لع), or nothing, or containing--
"(God's) _dark materials to create more worlds_."
Two hundred years of seas. Eighty years of Gog and Magog. Eighteen years
of Soudan. And two years of white people, including Christians and
Mohammedans. There were countries full of Mussulmans which had not been
visited by the Mussulmans of Turkey or Africa. They had been visited by
one man only, Alexander the Great. Certainly the Moors read history
_backwards_. On asking where this information was to be obtained, he
said, "From the _Tăfseer_ (Commentaries) of the Koran."
The Touaricks who have just arrived are men of very large stature, and as
"straight as a dart." Several of them are full six feet high. Such men
are alone produced in the Sahara! All the weak and the diseased soon die
off, leaving behind only the robust. They walk about the streets with an
air of consummate pride, with their huge broad swords swung at the back,
and their lances in their hands, like "a tall pine."
An Arab, just arrived from Derge, brings intelligence that the Ghadamsee
people who were in Tunis are returning home _viâ_ Tripoli. These are
mostly poor labourers, who go a few months to Tunis to amass a little
capital, with which to trade afterwards. The Ghadamsee is constantly
going on these journeys of profit and enterprize, either as merchant or
labourer. His Desert home is the pulse of all his distant enterprises,
whither he retires to end his days, dedicating the last hours of his
existence to God. The Arab came from Derge, mounted on a good horse, in
the short time of _thirteen hours_,--by camels it occupies two and
two-and-a-half days! The Arab told me he killed, a few days ago, six
ostriches near Derge. The oases of _Derge_ consist of four little oases,
or districts, viz., Derge (proper), Terghuddah, Madress, and Fiffelt,
containing an Arab population of 400 souls, a hardy and brave people.
Water is plentiful, but there are no hot springs. A native told me, that
invariably any stranger drinking this water, was attacked with fever.
Generally these little oases are very unhealthy. Some assert that all who
visit the oases are taken ill. Probably, like Mourzuk, they lay low, in a
wady or hollowed plain. Date-trees are numerous, and bear good fruit. A
fair quantity of wheat and ghusub is grown. Besides sheep, and goats, and
fowls, there is a few camels. The people are occupied in the gardens, but
too numerous for the oases; they are very poor, and obliged to emigrate.
Derge is in the more eastern route of Zantan and Rujban; and when that of
Seenawan, the western, is not safe, this, the longer route, is taken.
_6th._--Slept badly during the night; restless about my journey.
Determined now to take the Fezzan route. Weather very soft, with murky
clouds.
Relating to my taleb, that, formerly, Mussulmans conquered Christians, but
now, all the countries of the Mediterranean were fast falling back again
into the hands of the Christians--such being the will of God, he consoled
himself by replying: "That, in less than forty years will rise up one
Abou Abdullah Mohammed El-Arbee El-Korashee El-Fatamee,
(ابو عبد الله محمّد القرشي الفاطمي,) who
will kill all the Christians, both of the new[45] and the old
world; that this will be the golden age; all people will be
Mussulmans, and all will be rich and powerful, enjoying the
abundance of this world's good things; and the very dust of the
earth, and the sand of the Sahara, will be turned into gold and
silver: But, (the awful but!) that this will only last one
generation, or _forty_ years; for then will arise The Dajal! who,
mounting upon an ass, will scour the earth in three days, and kill
and destroy all the Mussulmans, this Dajal being the Messiah of the
Jews, who will all flock to his standard; and that then will appear
Jesus, _the Son of Mary_[46], from the top of the mountains of the
moon, after Dajal has reigned forty years, and slay this monster
Messiah of the Jews. Now there will appear Gog and Magog, let loose
from Jibel Kaf, in Khoristan, and the country of the Turks and
Russians. And last of all will come the end, when the Wahabites will
carry all the Jews into hell-fire on their backs." Such are the
secret consolations of a good and orthodox Mussulman of The Sahara.
A part of this monstrous fable has been related before, with some
variations. The gist of the prophecy is, _the destruction of the
Christians by another Arab Conqueror_. Here the now humbled follower
of the Prophet finds his sweet revenge. The same revenge the more
ignorant and fanatic of the Jews seek and cherish in the advent of
their long-expected Messiah, who is to enable them to put their feet
upon the necks of all people--all the nations of the earth. But the
better class of Israelites are willing to believe that the Gentile
nations may enjoy a portion of the blessings of Messiah's reign, and
will not be effaced from the earth. Some pious Christians, who,
failing to convert men to their peculiar views of revelation,
anticipate the appearance quickly of a sort of _Buonaparte_ Messiah,
armed with similar attributes, who is to involve all infidel nations
in seas of blood, and make the world a heap of Saharan desolation.
Such views of Christianity have always been abhorrent to my
feelings; and I have kept close to the fair and pacific pictures of
Messiah's reign, so beautifully set forth by Pope:--
All crimes shall cease, and ancient frauds shall fail;
Returning Justice lift aloft her scale;
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white rob'd Innocence from Heaven descend.
The dumb shall sing--the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear,
From every face He wipes off every tear.
No more shall nation against nation rise,
_Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes_,
But useless lances into scythes shall bend,
And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end.
The swain in barren deserts with surprise,
Sees lilies spring and sudden verdure rise;
And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds, to hear,
New falls of water murmuring in his ear.
The steer and lion at one crib shall meet,
And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet.
The smiling infant in his hand shall take,
The crested basilisk and speckled snake.
Afternoon, went to see the slaves lately brought from Bornou. They were
as much like merchandize as they could be, or human beings could be made
to resemble it. They were entirely naked, with the exception of a strip
of tanned skin tied round the loins. All were nearly alike, as so many
goods packed up of the same quality. They were very thin, and almost
skeletons, about the age of from ten to fifteen years, with the round
Bornouse features strongly marked upon their countenances. These slaves
are the property of a Tibboo. I invited the Tibboo home to my house, to
glean some information from him. The Tibboo bought the slaves on
speculation in Bornou; he could now sell them at from forty to fifty
dollars each. He had only six; the Touaricks had thirty-four. He came
from Bornou to Ghat, thence to Ghadames. He had also some elephants'
teeth. The Tibboo pressed me to buy his slaves; he had not yet found
purchasers, though he had been here some days. The merchants have no
money, or none to buy slaves. The Tibboo drank some tea with me, which he
observed was better than _bouzah_, fermented grain liquor. The Tibboo was
a young black, tall and slender, and of mild and not disagreeable
features. There was nothing in him to denote that he was a common
trafficker in human flesh and blood. He was not so much stamped with the
negro features as his slaves; he was, indeed, as much of a gentleman as a
Presbyterian slave-holder of the United States, patronized by Doctors
Cunningham and Candlish, and admitted to the fellowship of Free Kirk
Saints. The Tibboo was excessively curious about me, the Christian. He
handled and turned over everything I had. Seeing my naked (white) arm, he
exclaimed, "Whiter than the moon!" Said did not approve of my new
acquaintance, and declared all the Tibboos rascals; and thinks he
recollects that he was made a slave by the Tibboos. Said was very angry
with me for giving the Tibboo tea--wouldn't make any more for him--I
might make it myself. The Tibboo showed his sense of my attention, by
giving me some trona, which he says abounds in Bornou, and is called
_konwa_. He champs it in its hard crystalline state, like children
champing sugar-candy. He mixes it with his tobacco, and says it is
pulverized and drank in solution for medicine at Bornou, like Epsom
salts, producing the same effects.
Two people left to-day for Ghat, and two for Timbuctoo. The latter were
the headmen of the large mercantile firm of Ettanee. It is the custom of
Saharan merchants to send their headmen, and even slaves, to these
distant countries, when circumstances prevent them going themselves.
My friend the Touatee, who unites in himself a blacksmith and a
silversmith, was this evening employed in making ladies' ornaments for
arms and legs. He was in the course of finishing a pair of anclets,
weighing together about thirty-eight ounces. Each anclet would cost 20
dollars. They are for an Arab lady; but, of course, the husband invests
his money in this way until he can find profitable employment for it, or
becomes distressed. "Meanwhile," says the Touatee, "he has the kisses of
his wife for the investment, and is happier than if he obtained a hundred
per cent. for his outlay of silver." The old Touatee distinctly
recollects Major Laing passing through Ghadames to Timbuctoo. The account
he gives of him is:--"When in Ghadames the Rais (or Major) purchased
something of every thing he could find in our city, as well as specimens
of Soudan manufacture. He had with him _thirty-six bottles of wine_!
which I counted. He was attacked by the Touaricks near Touat, and wounded
in twenty places; but he cured his wounds, and then proceeded on and
arrived safe at Timbuctoo, where he stopped some time. Afterwards he went
to Sansandy, where he was murdered." The unfortunate Major had no money
in his possession when murdered, which greatly surprised the assassins,
who murdered him merely for his money. People add, he wrote every thing
in Timbuctoo, but did not stop long there. He was enticed to go away with
a stranger, against the advice of the parties who conducted him to
Timbuctoo. The stranger was a Saharan Arab. One of them is still living,
Haj Kader, and left lately for Touat, who has the reputation of being a
quiet and upright man. I did not hear of him until he was gone, otherwise
I should have had some conversation with him about the Major. The other
party died at Timbuctoo; he was called the _Marabout_, and seems to have
been another Mohammed (my marabout.) In a letter of the Major, read to me
by Colonel Warrington, his father-in-law, the Major charges his Marabout
with having stolen his double-barrelled gun, and sent it on to Timbuctoo
for sale before they arrived there. For this theft, and other bad
conduct, old Yousef Bashaw made a formal complaint against the people of
Ghadames, and mulcted them several thousand mahboubs. Mr. Gagliuffi heard
a strange story about the Major; according to which, he was murdered near
Touat, on his return, by the same Touarick who stopped him, and wounded
him in twenty-six places, on his way thither, the Touarick alleging, that
the Major was not a man but a devil, so he (the Touarick) was obliged to
kill him. No authentic account now will ever be collected of Major
Laing's death. That he was stopped a couple of days beyond Aghobly, in
the oases of Touat, and there wounded, is certain; we have the Major's
own account for it. He seems also to have remained a month at Timbuctoo,
and wrote a full account of that mysterious city. He then, not being able
to ascend or trace the Niger _viâ_ Jinnee, on account of the objections
of the people, made a _détour_ through The Desert, wishing to go to
Senegambia, when, after four days' journey, he was stopped by a party of
Arabs, and murdered. Some persist in saying, that Caillié found Major
Laing's papers, and gave them as his _own_ account of Timbuctoo. I should
be sorry to attempt either to prove or contradict the charge. All the
documents are in possession of the family of the late Colonel Warrington.
We must suspend our opinion until they are published, which I trust will
not be long.
Afterwards visited the Rais, who is, like myself, very fond of the
Touatee. His Excellency had a bad headache, and his _major-domo_ was hard
at work rubbing his head with his hands. I laughed, but said nothing. The
people are fond of manipulation, and shampooning (_Temras_). Whenever any
one hurts himself by bruises or falls, the limb affected is rubbed and
stretched, and stretched and rubbed, until the poor sufferer's limb is
nearly severed from his body. Manipulation ought to have made the fourth
mode of cure laid down by my marabout, after burning, blood-letting, and
talismanic writing. However, I believe manipulation, aided by the bath,
frequently effects important cures. Some Moors indeed, consider this the
sovereign remedy for every hurt and disease. Found the Touatee again with
the Rais. He amused us both by giving his opinion about the
_inexhaustible_ supply of slaves furnished by Nigritia. "All other
countries," said he, "die and become depopulated. It is now ten thousand
years we go to buy slaves in Soudan. The oftener we go there the more we
find. In that country the men are all night long begetting children, and
the women all the morning bringing them forth. This is the reason the
supply of slaves never becomes exhausted."
_7th._--Said has just come in and told me I must not eat many of the
dates of this country, for they have killed some of the soldiers, and
will kill me. Dates may, indeed, injure the poor soldiers, who have
nothing else to eat. One died yesterday. I asked his comrades what he
died of, who replied, "_Hunger_." It is a disgrace to the Government of
Tripoli to keep these wretched Arabs without any thing to eat. Why not
let them go to their native mountain homes; for there, though they may
pine away and die in the caverns of the Atlas, they will nevertheless
give up the ghost in the arms of friends and relations--joining misery to
misery, where the miserable may comfort the miserable. But, here, amidst
the rude buffs of strangers, it is cruel to let them die like dogs.
The Tibboo called this morning. Merchants have offered him only 35
mahboubs each for his slaves; he asks from 40 to 50. He says, the
Americans, or people nearly as white as I am, ascend the Niger as far as
Noufee, for the purchase of slaves. Bornou and the surrounding countries
are now in peace, and make no slaves by war. The Tibboo bought his
slaves of persons who kidnapped them during the night. To observe, that
although the Tibboos, if this merchant be a fair representation of them,
have not such extended nostrils as the Bornouse, and such thick
projecting lips, yet they are much darker than the Bornouse. Indeed, the
Bornouse are of a lighter, _fairer_ complexion than any of the Negroes I
have yet seen, those of Soudan and Timbuctoo being of a much darker
shade, and some quite black. The Bornouse has a round, chubby, smiling
face; the Tibboo, a long, grave, intellectual face. The old Touarick
bandit called to-day, with other Touaricks, and asked how much I would
give for a _live aoudad_. Told him from 6 to 8 mahboubs. He said they're
going to hunt them next month. This retired cut-throat gave himself a
good character, and the Touaricks generally. "Trust us, don't be afraid
of the Touaricks, upon our heads (_raising his sword to his head_,) we'll
protect you!" Then stepped in an old friend and lover of the mysteries of
geography. These are some of his questions:--"Where is the sea by which
the Christians go to Soudan? Where is Mount Kaf, that girdles the earth
with brass and iron? Where are Gog and Magog, which is Muskou (_Russia_),
the monster which eats up the _Moumeneen_ (_faithful Mohammedans_)?" &c.
Went out and saw for the first time the Giant Touarick. The huge fellow
must be 6 feet 9 inches. His limbs were like the trunks of the palm, and
he walked with a step as firm as a rock; whilst his voice was a gruff
growl like distant thunder. Compare this noble, though monstrous,
specimen of a man, the product of the wild uncongenial Sahara, to the
little ricketty, squeaking, vivacious wretch of the kindly clime of
Italy, "the garden of Europe," and be amazed at the ways in which works
Providence! As soon as the giant saw me, he bellowed out, "Salam
aleikom!" which far resounded through the dark winding streets. He now
strode by without stopping to speak or to look at me, his head and turban
nearly reaching the roof of the streets, and his big sword, swinging from
his back, extended crosswise, scraping the mortar from both sides of the
walls. His iron spear, as large as an ordinary iron gas-light post, was
carried in his firm fist horizontally, to prevent its catching the roof
of the covered streets. The giant is one of the chiefs of a powerful
tribe of Ghat Touaricks, of whom the aged Berka is the reigning Sheikh.
The giant is quite at home here and possesses some forty or fifty camels,
with which he conveys the goods of the merchants between this city and
that of Ghat.
After several trials of changing food, find I am greatly relaxed, and am
convinced it must be the water. This, however, is the opinion of every
stranger who visits Ghadames. Last evening the Rais said, "The water here
is bad. Look at the people of Ghadames, they have no colour in their
cheeks. What a miserable wretch am I! When I first came, I had the colour
of the rose; now I am become like these yellow men: as for my poor horse,
he eats quantities of barley every day, and is still very thin. It's the
bad water. We have a proverb in Turkey, 'Good water makes good horses,
and bad water bad horses.'" I observed, the dates and water together made
the soldiers ill. He replied, "I have written several times to the Pasha
to return, it is impossible for me to enjoy good health here. His
Highness still refuses to allow me, saying, he can get no one to fill my
post so well, but I hope to return in a few months." I am inclined to
think now that Ghadames is not salubrious, although, thank God, I enjoy
pretty good health. Strangers, however, require to be acclimated. A great
controversy is now being carried on amongst the medical men of Algeria,
respecting _acclimating_; some alleging that a man can bear the climate
of a country when he is quite new or fresh in it, much better than after
a long residence. According to the anti-acclimaters, the longer residence
in a country only weakens the force necessary to support a person against
the fever and bad influences of a foreign climate.
Accosted one of my merchant acquaintances, playing with some iron
manacles and fetters for the legs. It did not strike me at first
what they were: at last, he says to me, "These are for slaves, each
has a pair of them, to prevent them from escaping when travelling
through The Desert." A painful shuddering came over me to see a man
playing with these dreadful instruments of the slavery and torture
of his fellow men. Yet he played with them as his rosary of beads,
or some simple toy! . . . . . Another merchant came up to him, and
observed, "The irons for the neck are better, as these may break."
After a pause, I asked my acquaintance where these irons for the
legs were made? He replied, "In Soudan; the people there have iron
mountains, and they make these irons for slaves in that country." I
asked him then how much they cost, and whether he would sell them.
They were not for sale. So Africa enslaves herself! forges the very
chains of her own slavery. Cruel, heartless Europe! Thou that
knowest better, encouragest the wretched African to create his own
misery; to dig from his dark purple mountains the very iron fetters
of his own slavery! Take care that slavery does not surprise thee in
an hour when thou thinkest not, though thou art never so wise, never
so free! Another Corsican tyrant may come and bind thee down anew in
the chains of slavery. . . . . . . Making inquiries of the Moors
about these fetters, they said, (wishing to smooth down the matter,
seeing it was disagreeable to me), "Only those who seek to escape
are chained." This, indeed, afterwards I found was the case. "Some,"
they added, "have irons on their necks, and others irons on their
legs." Alas! poor people, what have they done to be thus ironed? or
what right have others to iron them? Has God said "_Thou shalt iron
thy brother and make him a slave_?" "Yes!" say the free republicans
of America, who, for being taxed for half an ounce of tea,
proclaimed their _freedom_ and independence of the _tyranny_ of the
parent country, in words which, continuing as they are,
slave-holders, must condemn them to everlasting infamy[47]. But, as
God lives, he will have a day of reckoning; he will avenge the
wrongs of Africa! . . . . . Be sure, beware America! . . . . .
Whilst walking through the streets to-day, in a bad humour on this
subject, there were three Bornou youths, nearly naked, offered for
sale, I think they belonged to the Tibboo. Some Arabs sitting near,
asked me to buy. I replied, indignantly, "If I buy, my Sultan will
hang me up, and you too." They stared at one another, and muttered
something like a curse upon me.
I here find several reasons in the journal for my not proceeding by the
route of Fezzan and Bornou, but it is unnecessary to give them. It is
easy to write out a long list of _pro_ and _con_ reasons. Whilst writing
these, the Tibboo comes in and brings a sick slave. He complains the
merchants will not buy his slaves. Give the dropsical slave medicine. Ask
him whether he ironed his slaves _en route_ over The Desert. He answers,
"No." I am bound to believe him, for though a slave-dealer, he appears an
honest man.
[Illustration]
_8th._--O God of the morning! what a fine sight are these lofty
umbrageous palms, with the soft serene morning sky, and the sun just
rising above the clear illumined horizon, colouring and setting off the
heavens around. How still, how voiceless is The Desert! The early morn
now begins to be pleasant as the autumnal morn of old England. It is
indeed, the--
"Sweet hour of prime."
After breakfast visited the quarter of Ben Weleed. Saw the giant Touarick
stretching his unwieldy length upon a stone-bench. At sight of me, he
aroused himself, and raising his head upon his huge arm, growled out to
the people near him, to show them his zeal for their common religion,
"Tell the Christian to say, '_There is only one God, and Mahomet is the
Prophet of God_.'" No one took any notice of the stern command. After a
moment, the conversation was continued on other subjects, and the giant
fell back again to sleep. I asked an acquaintance of mine, how long he
would sleep? He told me that whenever the Sheikh comes here, he usually
sleeps three days before he goes round to see his friends, or begins to
transact business, during which time he occasionally opens his eyes,--and
his mouth, for his slaves to feed him.
Heard some Souafah, Arabs of Souf, had purchased the slaves lately come
from Bornou, to sell them in Algeria, there being no market in Tunis on
account of the abolition of slavery. Rais sent for me and asked me if I
had any money left. I thought his Excellency wanted to lend me some, by
putting the question. His Excellency then said he was in want of money. I
lent him a hundred Tunisian piastres--all the money I had in the world,
with the exception of seventeen in my pocket. Afterwards I dined with the
Rais, and he persuaded me to return to The Mountains, _en route_ for
Fezzan. It is reported, the Touaricks have gone out to meet the Shânbah.
I tell the Governor, as well as the people, whenever they begin to
exaggerate or declaim upon the dangers of travelling in The Desert
"_Rubbee, mout wahad_ (God! death is but once)." This has usually the
effect of stopping their mouths. Were I not to adopt this Moslemite style
of address and reply, I should be worried out of my life with the
exaggerations of the dangers of The Desert.
A small caravan has arrived from Souf, bringing the news of the departure
of the Shânbah from Warklah for Ghat. The Souafah also bring news of
interest from their own country. They are threatened with an invasion of
the people of Tugurt. Twelve hundred men of Souf have returned from Tunis
to their own country, in expectation of a combined attack of the Tugurt
people and the French, for the Tugurt people have given out that the
French, their new allies, will help them. They boast that they must now
go and destroy all the Souafah. The object is to revenge an old grudge,
for formerly the people of Souf and Tugurt fought a pitch battle, and the
latter were worsted. There is no French governor in Tugurt, but the
tribute is regularly paid to the authorities of Constantina. One of the
Souafah came to me much excited. I told him that it was not likely the
French would encourage this war of revenge, and I understood the
principle of the French to be, "to occupy only the countries which before
paid tribute to the Dey of Algiers." He observed he understood that to be
the rule. But if the Souafah attack Tugurt, the French will probably
defend it as a part of their territory.
_9th._--The morning is cool and cloudy; a few drops of rain fell
soon after sunrise, still it holds up. Amused in finding the
Ghadamsee word for _father_ was the same as _dad_ or _dady_, which
is written دادا _dada_. This morning the giant Touarick honoured
me with a visit; he had enough to do to get through the doors of my
house with his pine-tree spear. He behaved extremely well. I gave
him sixty paras to buy tobacco. He begged for a whole piastre, but
thinking he would be a customer of this sort again, I thought it
prudent to begin with a little. His giantship swore by all the
powers terrestrial and celestial, that he would escort me from
Ghadames to Kanou in perfect safety. I evaded the question by
observing, (what the Rais had often told me) "The Rais says the
Touaricks will cut my throat." The giant roared, "_Kitheb_, kitheb,
kitheb, (a lie! a lie! a lie!)"--and went off furiously threatening
wrath against the Turks. Afterwards I heard of a complaint which the
giant made against me, saying I had given him this morning a karoob
short of the half piastre. I was greatly amused at the giant's keen
observance of this defalcation of my generosity.
The Ghadamseeah literally carry out the injunction, "Take no thought for
the morrow," which will be illustrated in the following conversation.
"What do you do for the poor in your country?"
"In England, the poor are not allowed to beg in the streets, but are
provided with food and clothing in a house built on purpose for them when
they can no longer work."
"We have no houses for the poor in Ghadames."
"How then do the poor live?"
"By begging."
"And if the people give them nothing?"
"It is destined _they must die_."
However, in one part of the oasis there are some large gardens which
belong to the poor, who are allowed to eat the dates and cultivate
patches of the gardens. I think also the Sanctuaries sometimes give alms
in the way of the ancient monasteries. These are miserable and precarious
resources. Nevertheless, before the Turks so fleeced the inhabitants, I
question if there were any poor person ever likely to die of starvation,
for the rich members of families provide for the poor, and rich friends
for poor friends, and each faction for the poor of the faction, although
no poor-rates are levied. Indeed, like the Society of Friends, all took
care of their own poor relations and connections.
I shall now give the reader a chapter of the domestic history of
Ghadames, referring to one of the principal families. Most of the rich
merchants of this city have two and some of them three wives. My
venerable friend, the Sheikh Makouran, came in possession of one of his
present young wives in the following romantic way. (His wives by whom he
had his children are long ago dead.) A friend of the Sheikh's died and
left a young and beautiful widow, whose wit and grace was the theme of
all the city, for such things are esteemed also here. The eldest son of
the Sheikh immediately set his heart upon the possession of this beauty,
but unfortunately he did not communicate his intentions to the
disconsolate lady, who remained in ignorance of his attachment.
Meanwhile, El-Besheer, as a party in the firm of his father, purchased
the house over the widow's head and made everything ready for the future
wedding, and then took a journey of business to Touat, intending on his
return to send some old lady, which is mostly the practice, with his
message of love and marriage to the widowed solitary. Perhaps he thought
the widow could not fail to discover his intentions in what he had
already done, mostly preliminary to marriage. But we often imagine others
are thinking about us when we are never in their thoughts. So he left for
twenty days' journey through The Desert, with all these hopes and fears
crowding about him. On his return, to his consternation, he found his old
father, of some seventy years of age, had got possession of the young
blooming widow, the object he had so fondly cherished on his weary way
over the solitudes of The Sahara! But like the doomed Pasha, who receives
the imperial order of his decapitation from the hand of the executioner,
and kisses it and then bows his head to the stroke, so the young
merchant, full of filial veneration for his aged sire, submitted silently
and without a murmur to this cruel decree of heaven. It is said of the
lady that she pines and mourns out her life for the son. She was kept in
profound ignorance of his love until she found herself in the withered,
cold, and shrunken arms of the father. She accepted the father to keep a
house over her head. Alas! poor woman, whether sold at Paris or London in
a marriage of _convenance_, or in The Desert, she is always the victim of
man's galling tyranny.
The Ghadamseeah are a strictly religious people. One of my best friends
would not allow me to touch a religious book of his, concerning the
future world, alleging it was _haram_ ("prohibited"). A young rogue of a
Touarick now came in and asked me impudently, whether I knew God and
prayed? He added, "Say Mahomet is the prophet of God." As several aged
men were present I made no answer. These people believe that there can be
no more question of believing in Mahomet than in the sun when shining in
its full strength, and are astonished that I who read and write Arabic
don't know better. One said, "You are afraid of scorpions, believe in
Mahomet and they will do you no harm." I could not help thinking of the
parallel, for all Oriental phraseology is so much alike:--
هاهوذا اعطيتكم سلطا نا لتدوسا الحيات والعقارب
Luke x. 21.
"Serpents and scorpions" have a peculiar application to The Desert. There
are still more dangerous animals in The Desert, and I have heard the
epithet of "a race of vipers," applied to the Shânbah banditti. This
morning the people showed me a wooden figure of a fiddler, placed on a
box, in which was inserted a handle, turning round and making a squeaking
noise. None of them could understand what it was. A boy was playing with
it as a toy. They told me, as news, "This came from the country of the
Christians; it ought not to have been made, it is _haram_." All toys of
men and animals are considered by these rigid Moslems as so many
violations of the commandment "Thou shalt not make unto thyself any
graven image."
According to my turjeman there are many _Wahabites_ in this
neighbourhood. Besides Jerbah and its mountains, many Wahabites are found
in the Tripoline districts of Nalout, Kabou, Fessatou, Temzeen and
Keklah. The Ghadamsee people detest them and say; "The Wahabites will be
the carriers of the Jews to hell-fire in the next world." The Wahabites
assert, there are five orthodox sects, of which they form the fifth, and
hate cordially the other four. Wahabites have great difficulty in eating
with other Mussulmans, and some refuse absolutely to eat with other than
their own sect. Wahabites are very numerous in the oasis of Mezab,
belonging to Algeria, which is confirmed by the Morocco marabout _El
Aïachi_, who made his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1661. The Wahabites of
Jerbah are subdivided in the _Abadeeah_, or _The Whites_, who wear a
_white_ scull-cap, in contradistinction from those who wear _red_ caps,
like most Mussulmans of the coast. Generally the Wahabites differ from
other Mohammedans as to the observance of the _five_ daily prayers. They
also require that, in the observance of the Ramadan, a person should
purify and wash himself at the hour of the day in which the fast may
begin. The sub-sect of Abadites will neither eat nor drink from the same
vessel with any other sects. Wahabites in general will not weigh or touch
weights, for fear of doing wrong. Other persons do weighing for them,
they looking on, like the Jews who will not touch the candle on their
Sabbath, and get Mussulman or Christian servants to snuff a candle or
trim a lamp for them. It seems what is a sin in them, may or may not be a
sin in others.
My turjeman is surprised we Christians receive the books of the Jews as
sacred and inspired, and so are many other people. They are quite
astonished when I tell them that Christians esteem the Scriptures of the
Jews equally divine with their own. They have a confused notion that the
whole of the Jewish Scriptures consist of the five books of Moses, which
they call the _Torat_, and the Psalms of David. Some of them say Abraham
was not a Jew. I explain to them, that the Christians give a different
interpretation to the Jewish Scriptures from the Jews themselves, and
believe "the Son of Mary" to be the Messiah of the Jews and all the
world. They hardly believe me; and say, "The Jews are corrupt and their
books corrupt." When I told them one day before the Rais that we had had
Jews in India, they flatly replied it was a lie, for said they, "It is
impossible for such a miserable being as a Jew to be a soldier."
FOOTNOTES:
[43] Shaving off the hair from different parts of the body is a
species of religious rite. The barber in North Africa is highly
esteemed. One of the antiquities in Kairwan (Tunis) is the tomb of
Mahomet's barber. This city is also the _third_ holy city of the
Moslemite world, on account of this important personage being
buried there.
[44] Ghour, قور, _Sterculia acuminata_, Pal. de Beauv.
[45] He did not know there was a _new_ world before I told him.
[46] The Moors always add to عيسي, (Jesus,) _the son of Mary_,
to distinguish The Saviour from others of the same name, one of
whom is Jesus, a marabout, the founder of the Brotherhood of
Snakecharmers.
[47] In their "Declaration of Independence," the Anglo-Americans
say--"_All men are created equal_," and "_endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights_;" and "_amongst these, life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness_." I once met a Naval
Officer of the United States of America at Gibraltar, who
graciously told me, "_Slavery is the support of the country_,"
(_his_ country).