CONTINUED RESIDENCE IN GHADAMES.
Gaiety of the Black Dervish.--Walking Dance of the Slaves.--The
Fullans or Fellatahs.--_Shoushoua_, or scarifying the face of
Negroes.--Terms used in connexion with Slaves.--The _Razzia_.--A
Souafee Politician.--Parallel Customs between The East and The
Sahara.--The mercenary Blood-letter.--Indifference to the
sufferings of the Arab Troops.--Colour of the people in
Paradise.--Excellent Government of the Fullanee Nations.--Moors
do not fondle their Children.--Administering Physic to
Camels.--Simplicity of Touarick manners.--Knocked down by a Pinch
of Snuff.--Departure of the Tibboo alone to Ghat.--Blood in White
Sugar, and Anecdote of Colonel Warrington and Yousef Bashaw about
collecting old Bones.--Colonel Warrington compared to the late
Mr. Hay.--Said, a subject of Anti-Slavery discussion.--Specimen
of Desert Arab freedom.
_18th._--WITH the full moon the cold has regularly set in. Good-bye flies
and good-bye scorpions. Can now write with my door open, without being
covered with flies. Can also sleep without waking up at midnight to kill
scorpions running over the mattresses. The mad black dervish is always in
motion, and full of gaiety. People are so fond of him that they think he
is inspired. When all the Moors are in solemn vacant thought, or brooding
over their griefs, or dreaming in broad day of their being marabouts or
sultans, the poor witless thing runs in amongst them, shaking hands with
the first he meets with, and bursts out a-laughing. He usually succeeds
in infusing a little of his cheerfulness into these equally _mad_ people,
but more sober in their method of madness. Yesterday the slaves had
another feast _for the dead_. The Moors allow their slaves the liberty of
blending the two religions, as Rome has allowed the blending of
Christianity and paganism. And when questioned about it they say; "Oh,
the slaves know only a little of Allah, and are not much better than
donkeys in their understandings." The slaves assembled to the number of
some fifty in the Souk. Here they performed a species of walking dance,
in two right lines, very slow and very stiff and measured, having
attached to it some mysterious meaning. They were gaily dressed, attended
with a drum and iron castanets, making melodious noises. Each had a
matchlock slung at his back. The women carried a chafing-dish of incense,
as if about to raise some spirit or ghost. A crowd was around them; but
they performed nothing but this slow-marching dance, and then retired to
the tombs. The dervish, poor fellow, mingled in the gay throng,
shouldering a stick for a gun.
Received many little presents from people lately. Sheikh Makouran brought
me himself a small basket of very fine dates. My taleb afterwards brought
me some _gharghoush_, or small cakes, made of flour, honey, sugar, and
milk. They are extremely pleasant eating and a little _acid_, which adds
greatly to their flavour. There are but few things acid in this country;
of sour things there is an abundance.
Heard a great deal about the Foullans, Foulahs, and Fellatahs, the
predominant race in Soudan. _Foullan_ (فلّان فلّانين
فلّاني) is the Soudanic term, _Fellatah_ the Bornouese, and
_Foulah_ what is used to denominate them among the Mandingoes. According to
information here, they were once the most miserable race of _Arab_
wanderers in The Desert. But at last they settled down as neighbours
to the Negroes, some 700 years since. They continued to increase in
numbers and importance, abandoning tents and building villages and
towns, and intermixing with the Negroes, till about forty-five (and
others thirty-five) years ago, when they expanded their ideas to
conquest and renown. About this time they made the conquest of
Kanou, Succatou, and the other large cities of Housa. Never a people
rose to greater fame and power. They were assisted, like the
Saracens before them, by religious fanaticism, and so far
corresponded with them, in extending the boundaries of Islamism.
They went on conquering and to conquer till within the present year,
when their power received some check by the daring exploits of the
Tibboo prince of Zinder, a vassal of Bornou. This prince has taken
from them a few towns. The complexion of the ordinary Fullanee is a
deep olive, with pleasing features, not much Negro, and long hair.
[Illustration]
Negroes in Nigritia are known by the _Shoushoua_ (شوشوا), or
scarifying. Generally in Negro countries, which profess the Mohammedan
religion, the _Shoushoua_ is abandoned as _haram_ or prohibited. It is
mostly the sign of paganism. The operation is performed by a sharp cutting
instrument, and is never _effaced_ from the face during life. The annexed
drawing presents the _Shoushoua_ of the Negroes of Tombo, near Jinnee,
who are pagans. Whenever the slaves see these marks they know the country
of the other slaves who bear them. Formerly it could be ascertained whether
a slave was born on the coast, or brought from the interior, by the
presence or absence of the _Shoushoua_. Now it cannot, because the
practice is discontinued in countries subject to Moslem rule, whence
slaves are sometimes brought. In Ghadames a freed slave is called
_mâtouk_ (معتوق) or _horr_ (حرّ). The terms _waseef_
(وسيف) and sometimes _mamlouk_ (مملوك) are employed
for a single slave, and _âbeed_ (عبيد) for many. The Arabic
terms قايد الوصفان "the chief of slaves," are used to
denote the person who is responsible for the conduct of slaves, or the
"Sheikh of the slaves." The word RAZZIA, which the French are said
to have invented, and which has acquired such a _triste_ celebrity
by their butcheries of the Arabs in Algeria, is derived from the
same word as designates a Slave-hunt (_ghazah_)[53] amongst our
Saharan people. The verb is غَزَا _ghaza_, "petivit," which in
the second conjugation means, "expeditione bellica petivit hostem," and
the noun in use is غَزَاة _ghazah_, "expeditione bellica." The
Bornouese word to denote a slave-hunt, as carried on by the
Touaricks, is DIN, applied to private kidnapping expeditions, and
means, I think, simply "theft," showing that not by war, as
captives, but by "theft," "stealing," the "man-stealing" of the
Apostle Paul, are slaves generally procured in Central Africa. It is
only just that _razzia_ and _ghazah_, the same words, should be so
closely allied in application to their different actions. The
French, to do the thing properly, and in their usual style, should
erect a monument upon the "Place" of the city of Algiers, to the new
invention RAZZIA, with its derivations from _ghazah_, "a
slave-hunt." A prize essay might also be proposed to the Oriental
Chair of Paris, and its various students, now looking for
distinction as interpreters in the land of RAZZIAS or "butcheries,"
for the best derivation and historical progress of the term RAZZIA,
as used by Christian and civilized nations, in relation to infidel
and Mohammedan barbarians. At the bottom of the monument erected by
the French to the DEMON RAZZIA, may be appended the following
veracious words, copied from the late proclamation of the Duc
d'Aumale, on his assumption of the high post of Governor-General of
Algeria (_Moniteur Algérien_, October 20, 1847):--"You have learned
by experience, O Mussulmans! how just and clement is the Government
of France." The Duke unpardonably forgets to cite one of the last
proofs of this just and clement Government, the roasting of a tribe
of Arabs, men, women and children in the caverns of the Atlas! . . . . Will
not the Lying Bulletin (native of France) be proclaimed till
doomsday?
This morning the merchants asked me why the English did not drive
out the French from Algeria. They had often badgered me with this
subject. I thought it better to speak plainly at once, and for all.
I began by asking, why should the English drive out the French? and
continued, "France and England are now at peace. They don't wish to
make war at all, and England does not consider Algeria of such
importance as to go to war about it. England did not derive much
benefit from Algeria when Mussulmans ruled there; besides the
Algerines were always sea-robbers. The English were obliged to go
and chastise them several times before the French captured their
country. And do not think, that if war did take place between
England and France, and the English should drive the French out of
Algeria, the country would therefore be given up to the Sultan and
the Mussulmans. The English might wish to rule there themselves.
Upon no account wish for war in Algeria, for the miseries of the war
would chiefly fall upon you, Mussulmans." This completely settled
them, and exasperated them, as well it might; they said no more. The
Mussulmans always have in their memories the conduct of the English
when they drove out the French from Egypt, and discussing this kind
of politics, it is quite natural.
Afterwards I heard a Souafee holding forth to another group. His
theme was, the Shânbah, Warklah, Touaricks, Tugurt, Souf, and
Ghadames, and it was evident to him that besides the people now
enumerated there were no others in the world. A respectable Moor
observed at the time, "That Souafee is a rascal. He's as great a
robber as a Shânbah bandit. Mussulmans are not like Christians. The
Christians have but one word, and are brothers. The Mussulmans have
a thousand and ten thousand words, they don't speak the truth, and
they are enemies to one another." The ingenuous Moor knew little of
the history of Europe and America. I did not disabuse him of his
good opinion of us. He was a Ben Wezeet, and complained that now the
_Nāther_ (ناظر), or native overseer of the city, and the Kady or
judge, and some of the richest merchants belonged to the Ben Weleed,
and added mournfully, with a sigh, "It was not so in my father's
time. But the world has changed, and this is the new world."
In reading the Arabic Testament, I have noticed several parallel customs
or habits between The East and North Africa. Take this:
"But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote upon the ground."
(John viii. 6.)
People of Ghadames are writing daily with their fingers on the ground.
They are also wont, with fancy ornamental sticks, which they usually
carry, to illustrate their ideas on the sand or dust of the streets, by
drawing figures. In speaking with them on geography, they sketch shapes
of countries. They cast up all their ordinary accounts by writing figures
on the sand. They have also certain games which they play by the use of
sand. Sand is their paper, their ledger, their boards of account, their
pavement, and their auxiliary in a thousand things. It is said in the
Gospels, that The Saviour escaped to the mountains[54], either from the
pressure of the people, or from the persecutions of his enemies. Persons
are accustomed to escape to the mountains in Barbary, more particularly
in Morocco and Algeria; but also in this country. Our Saviour, besides,
gives the same advice to his disciples: "Let them which are in Judea
_flee to the mountains_." (Luke xxi. 21.) It has always been difficult to
apprehend fugitives in the mountains, especially in ancient times, when a
good police did not exist. The conqueror has always had great difficulty,
and exposed his conquests to imminent risk, by pursuing the conquered in
mountainous districts. Such are the instincts and habits of men in all
ages. The Desert has, besides, afforded an asylum to the fugitive and
unfortunate, as well as the persecuted. Our Saviour was wont to retire to
desert places. In this country, the discomfited defenders of their
country's liberties have invariably escaped to The Sahara. How many times
has Abd-el-Kader escaped to the mountains of Rif, or the solitudes of The
Sahara? But it is unnecessary to pursue this obvious idea farther,
otherwise it also will escape to The Mountains or The Desert.
The "five _barley_ loaves," (John vi. 9,) reminds me of the _barley_
bread of these countries, more frequent than any other sort of bread.
Wheaten bread is rarely eaten by the lower classes.
It is needless to cite all the passages of Scripture where the people in
the towns and villages are represented as bringing out their sick of
every kind and description. (Matt. xiv. 14, 35, 36.) So it is in North
Africa. Whenever an European visits these countries with any pretensions
to medical skill, all the sick of the place are brought out to him. When
I see the sick daily brought to me--as also when I was in The
Mountains--I cannot help thinking of those affecting pictures of disease
and misery which were providentially exhibited to demonstrate the divine
skill of the Great Physician of mind and body.
Salt is procured in a few hours' journey beyond _Sidi Mâbed_, and is
considered superior to that procured at the _Salinæ_ of the coast. This
Saharan salt is only obtained after there has been some rain, the earth
being impregnated with it, and the water washing away the earthy
particles. It is gathered in the dry season.
_19th._--Amuse myself with Arabic reading and philological studies. The
mornings continue cool. Administer now little medicine, for I have but
little left. Ordered an Arab to be bled by the old Moor, who possesses a
good lancet. The big hulking Arab proved a greater coward than a child.
How sickness unnerves a man, the hardiest and strongest of men! I once
took a passage from Algeria to Marseilles in a French transport of
convalescents. There I saw the brave and brilliant French troops cry and
whine like children under the influence of fever. When the old Moor had
bled the soldier, he said to me, "Where's the money?" This shows that,
though they rarely think of remunerating the services of the Christian
Tabeeb, they have a perfectly clear conception of what is due to the
labour and skill of a doctor when the case refers to themselves. Some
time after, I went to the old Moor again, and asked him to bleed another
soldier attacked with fever. He refused to bleed him, alleging that he
must be paid. "He will die," I said. "Let him die," returned the
unfeeling old blood-letter; "why do they bring soldiers here, we don't
want them?" This afternoon I visited the barrack, where several Arab
soldiers were laid up with the fever, which they had caught at Emjessem.
One was very bad. The Arabs said to me, "You must give him money to buy
some bread, and a little meat to make some broth." I told them they must
go the Rais; it was his business to look after his troops. It is
distressing to witness the condition of these wretched Arabs. At
different times I have given them a little meat, and bread, and oil; but
now my stock of provisions is getting down, and the communication between
Tripoli and Ghadames is very precarious. In the evening I saw the
_Nāther_, and said to him--expecting he would mention it to the Rais,
"See that soldier lying on the stone-bench; he is sick, and has nothing
to eat."
_The Nāther._--"Yes, he is ill."
_I._--"But he has nothing to eat; can't you get him something to eat?"
_The Nāther,_--"Pooh, he must die."
The other Moors present laughed at my simplicity in begging something to
eat for a fever-worn, emaciated wretch of a soldier. The matter of fact
is, these poor fellows are detested by the inhabitants, and starved to
death by the Government. The soldier had caught the fever of Derge,
whilst sent there on business, which is a bad tertian fever, prevalent in
some oases of The Sahara.
Lately, as my turjeman and Said, with several negroes, were
chatting, and saying people would have husbands and wives in the
next world, I asked, in the manner of the Sadducees, "If a woman had
three husbands in this world, whose wife would she be in the next?"
They all answered, "_The wife of the last_." As some of the group of
these theologians and diviners of the future state were negroes, I
asked, "What _colour_ will people be in the next world?" They
replied, "_All white_, and alike; and not only will their skins be
white, but all their clothing will be _white_." White, indeed, is
the favourite colour of Mussulmans; and a sooty-black Mohammedan
negro will set off his face with a white turban, as our Christian
niggers do their _japan_ with a lily-white neckcloth. But _white_ is
the colour of purity, of religion in North Africa and The
East, as in _Biblical_ times.--περιβεβλημένους ἐν
ἱματίοις λευχοῖς. (Rev. iv. 4.)
_20th._--Weather continues fine and cool. Less meat to be had; nothing
decided about the new levy of money, except that the people will not or
cannot pay. The Sheikh Makouran tells me he is greatly in debt to Messrs.
Silva and Laby, and so are all Ghadamsee merchants. The money now
employed in commerce is chiefly that of European and other merchants of
Tripoli and Tunis. "We have no money," says Makouran, "we cannot pay any
new levies. If Rais persists, he must collect our money at the edge of
the sword; and this can't last, for we shall all soon die of hunger."
These continual complaints make me melancholy, and added to my impatience
"to be up and doing," make me very peevish. O Dio! but such is the lot of
man, to suffer always, either in mind or body. Much annoyed at my taleb
for eating Said's dinner, even before my face. These Moors, at least some
of them, have neither honour nor conscience. I suppose the taleb is
pinching his belly to pay his portion of the new contribution. To punish
the taleb, I give Said coffee before him, without asking him to take any.
I may observe, the Moors don't like to see me treat the poor blacks and
slaves as their equals. I frequently give the negroes tea and coffee
before I serve them, to show I despise such distinctions, although,
perhaps, against propriety.
The taleb began boasting about Soudan, and he has much reason to
boast of it, if we compare what Mohammedans have there done with
what Christians have done on the Western Coast of Africa. He said,
"There's no _gomerick_ (Custom-house), no oppression, for the people
are Mussulmans." Such were the reasons for their not being
oppressive. It is a great question how far a country may be
civilized, and in how short a time, without actual conquest?
Civilization has progressed in Central Africa with the spread of
Islamism. When it reaches the point of Mahometan civilization it
will stop. The question with us is, "Whether we shall civilize the
Mohammedans, and so work on Central Africa, or reconquer their
conquests?" There appears very little chance of civilizing Africa
without arms and conquest. Bornou, Soudan, and its numerous
cities, Timbuctoo and Jinnee, formerly all governed by the
_Kohlan_--كحلان, or "blacks," are now governed by strangers,
either Arabs (pure) or Touaricks or Fullans. These are the present
most important kingdoms of the ancient Nigritia, and include a
population of some millions. I continue to pursue my inquiries
respecting the Fullans. All agree in representing them as originally
_Arab_, but now greatly mixed, of very dark colour, some being
nearly black, others, and most of them, a dark brown and yellow red,
and some nearly white. The fortunes of the Fullans, emerging
filthily from the dregs and offscouring of The Sahara, have become
as great as the old Romans formerly in Europe, but they will always
have powerful and vindictive rivals in the Touarghee and pure Arab
and Berber races. The Revd. Mr. Schön has given a too unfavourable
report of the Fullans, in his Notes and Journal of the Niger
Expedition, biassed against them in his Missionary zeal, simply
because they are Mahometans. It is true that the Fullans are great
slave-dealers, but so are nearly all the princes of Africa. The mild
and equitable administration of the kingdoms of Kanou, Succatou,
Kashna, and other immense centres of population, as carried on by
the Fullans, is notorious throughout The Great Desert. No people of
Nigritian Africa has so profoundly excited my best sympathies as the
Fullanee races[55].
The Moors do not fondle and dandle their children on their knees, as
parents are accustomed in Europe; and when grown up, the children appear
as distant from their parents as strangers. This arises from the absolute
authority assumed by parents over children during their minority. I have
often been angry to see some of the lower people here teaching the
children to call me _Kafer_ ("infidel") as a sort of religious duty,
lest, I imagine, the children should see at last that there is no very
great difference between a _Kafer_ and a Moslemite.
Was much amused this afternoon in seeing physic administered to camels.
The camel is made to lie down, and its knee joints are tied round so that
it cannot get up. One person then seizes hold of the skin and cartilage
of the nose, and that of the under jaw, and wrests with all his force the
mouth wide open, whilst another seizes hold of the tongue and pulls it
over one side of the mouth; this done, another pours the medicine down
the throat of the animal, and, when the mouth is too full, they shut the
jaws and rub and work the medicine down its throat. The disease was the
falling off of the hair; and the medicine consisted of the stones of
dates split into pieces and mixed with dried herbs, simple hay or grass
herbs, powdered as small as snuff, the mixture being made with water.
People told me it would fatten the camel as well as restore its hair.
Camels frequently have the mange, and then they are tarred over. For
unknown incomprehensible diseases, the Moors burn the camel on the head
with hot irons, and call this physic. Men are treated in the same way,
and the Moors are very fond of these analogies between men and brutes.
What is good for a camel is good for a man, and what is good for man is
good for a camel. Whilst the camel was being drugged, a Touarick came up
and said, "_Salām âleikom_" to me. They always use this primitive mode of
salutation. When they swear oaths they also say, "_Allah Akbar_," (God is
Greatest!) the famous war-cry of the Saracennic conquerors of olden
times. They are primitive in all their ideas and words; their manners are
equally stiff, and slow or courtly, "stately and dignified;" they fully
understand the doctrine that, "Great bodies move slow."
A man is said sometimes not to be worth "a pinch of snuff;" and yet
a pinch of snuff will knock a man down, as it knocked me down this
evening. My value then does not quite reach to a pinch of snuff
standard. To come to explanation: a merchant offered me a pinch of
snuff, and to please him, I took a large pinch, pushing a portion of
it up my nostrils. Immediately I fell dizzy and sick, and in a short
time, vomited violently. The people stared at me with astonishment,
and were terrified out of their wits, and thought I was about to
give up the ghost. They never saw snuff before produce such terrible
effects. After some time, I got a little better and returned home.
This snuff was that from Souf, and what people call _wâr_
("difficult"). I had been warned of it, and therefore richly paid
for my folly. Moreover, it was a violation of my usual abstinence
from this not very elegant habit. The Souf snuff is extremely
powerful; it is constantly imported here, and for the satisfaction
of snuff-takers and snuff-taking tourists, I am bound to inform them
that they will find snuff much cheaper in Ghadames than in Tripoli.
People call snuff hot and cold, according to its stimulating,
irritating, and tickling power. It is prohibited to drink wine and
spirits amongst Moslemites, but, nevertheless, many of them do not
fail to intoxicate themselves with everything besides which comes in
their way: they snuff most horribly all the live-long day. In the
season the Arabs drink their _leghma_, and the Mahometan Negroes
their _bouza_, the Soudanic merchants chew their _ghour_, nuts, and
_kouda_, as our jolly tars their tobacco, and others munch the
_trona_. My taleb came to me to see if I were dead. He had heard
such a horrible report in the town. I embraced the opportunity of
lecturing him upon the absurdity of the prohibition from drinking
wine, when he and others intoxicated themselves with snuff. But man
will have _his_ stimulant, and the tee-totaller, who protests
against all stimulants, seeks his in his tea and coffee. There is no
harm in this, and the question only remains to seek as harmless a
stimulant, as consistent with health as possible. In justice to the
Marabout city of Ghadames, I must mention that some of the more
strict Mohammedans consider snuffing, as well as smoking, prohibited by
their religion, and opium (ععيون), and _keef_, an intoxicating
herb, sometimes called _takrounee_, تكروني, are not smoked
in this place. In general, few of the Moors of this place smoke at all.
_21st._--Weather fine, no rain. The merchants begin to bake biscuits for
their journey to Ghat, which looks like preparation. My friend Abu Beker
called and gave me two letters written to him from Timbuctoo by his
brother, who is established there. Since my return, I have given one of
these letters to the Royal Asiatic Society, and the other to the British
Museum, considering them a great curiosity, so long as this city shall
remain separated from us Europeans by such impassable barriers.
The following is the translation of the letter presented to the Royal
Asiatic Society:--
LETTER FROM A BROTHER IN TIMBUCTOO TO A BROTHER IN GHADAMES.
"From the poor servant of his Lord, Muhammad ben Ali ben Talib, to our
respected brethren, Abu Bekr and Muhammad, and Abdallah, and Fatimah, and
Ayshah, and our Aunt Aminah; God prosper their conditions, Amen!
"After a thousand salutations and respects to you, and the mercy of
God, and his blessings on you, should you indeed inquire concerning
us, we are well, and you, please God, are so likewise; and we desire
no further favour from God than the sight of your precious
countenance; may God unite us with you before long, for He is the
Hearer (of petitions)! As to this country there is in it neither
buying nor selling. By G--d, O my brother! this day we are six
months in Timbuctoo, and truly in the whole time I have received but
15 mithcals. There is not a single farthing (or kirat) in this town,
nor commerce at all, except in salt, &c., (_some other commodities,
whose names I cannot discover_.) And our minds are in continual fear
here from the scarcity of the times. I am desirous of going to
Arawan, if we can find something to sell there, when the people of
Kiblah (_the South_) come; but they are not yet arrived, up to the
present moment, and we do not think they will come. And thou, O my
brother, beware of sending us any thing! as in this country there is
no commerce, (neither buying nor selling); and whatever has been
sent us, we have received for it neither far nor near. And truly,
from the day in which we entered Timbuctoo, we have given 600 louats
(some measure) to the Touaricks and the Fullans. But do you pray
with us that we may be delivered from this land; and we have no more
news after the letter which we have written to you. Convey our
salutation to our aunt and to our brothers, many thousand
salutations; and to Muhammad ben al Tayil, and his brother and his
sons, many thousand salutations; and to Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim
Taraki, many thousand salutations. Salute also the Hajj al Beshir,
and his brother the Hajj Yusuff, if he is arrived; and salute also
Hajj Abdallah. The people (caravan) of Touat have not yet come to
us. Our salutation to Al Mustafa and his brother Abdal Cadir, and
tell the Hajj al Behir, for God's sake not to send us any thing. Of
a truth, we sincerely hope to fulfil your commissions, but in this
land there is neither buying nor selling. By G--d, neither in Arawan
nor in Timbuctoo, have we seen any one who will buy of you for a
mithcal, nor for a kirat. Tell the Hajj al Beshir, the Sheikh has
not yet arrived. And of all the (----?) I brought to Timbuctoo, I
have not sold a single thing, and I sent them back to Arawan. Know,
that there is no dealing here except by cowries, and the cowrie is
3,500 to a mithcal. Convey my salutation to the Hajj Abdal Kerim Ben
Aun Allah, and his brother Abdarrahman, and to their sons; many
thousand salutations, and say to them, For God's sake take care how
you send us any thing, for this land is a vexation to us. May God
not visit you with vexation, and may he open to us a way of
deliverance! And our salutation to the Hajj Muhammad Sahh, if he is
arrived, and tell him not to forget us in the Fátihah (1st. chap. of
the Koran, used in prayer,) and in the prayer called Salihah (the
Beneficial.) And also to his son and to his mother, many thousand
salutations. And our salutation to the Hajj Muhammad ben Ali, and
his brother, and their father, many thousand salutations. And
salutation to our cousin (the daughter of our uncle) Miriam, many
thousand salutations, and to our aunt Sultánah, and to her brothers,
and to (some other female name) and her sons, many thousand
salutations. And our salutation to our cousins (the children of our
uncle) and say to them, For God's sake do not forget us in the
Fátihah and the prayer Salihah, that God may deliver us from this
land; and the people ("or caravan") of Touat are not yet come to us.
O my brethren! we anxiously and most earnestly do desire news of
you; the Lord give us news of your welfare before long. And do thou,
O my brother! send us some cinnamon and some black pepper, and some
grains of جلاو. And when thou writest, give us all the news, and
take care not to leave your letter unclosed, for the people here
read it, and be sure to seal it. Salute the inhabitants of our
street, all of them, without exception, each one by name.
"And so farewell: at the date of Rajab the 25th, in the year 1246; and
again farewell, from this poor (servant of God,) and many thousand
salutations, as also from Ibrahim and from the Hajj al Mansur and the
Hajj al Mansur's son, who is still with him. Farewell.
"(Postscript below.)--Convey our salutation to Hajj Hamad, and tell him
Muhammad ben Canab is doing well, and he is in Arawan; and in like manner
salute from us his brother Ali.
"(2nd Postscript at the side.)--Salutation also to our uncle, and
say to him, that among the people of the Sheikh (اهل الشيخ)
we obtain nothing, except what the Lord has brought us (a proverbial
expression of the Moors, signifying nothing at all.) So farewell!
ADDRESS.
"To the hand of our esteemed brethren Abu Bekr, and Muhammad and
Abdullah ben Ali Ibn Talib; may God amend their condition, amen!
"(With Solomon's seal, and a rude commencement of another; the name
of Ben Talib, and the mystical words طه and بسم the first
of which is prefixed to the xxth chapter of the Koran, and the other
probably intended for طسم, heading the xxvith, and xxviiith; or
for يس xxxvi.)"
Obs.--This letter is written within and without, and on every fold of it.
The advice to seal the letter to prevent it from being "Grahamized" is
curious. I have seen a hundred letters in The Desert _un_sealed, and it
is only in case of suspicion, that the Saharan merchants seal their
letters. Such is their confidence in each other's honour and good faith,
that it is an insult to seal a letter when put into the hands of a
friend. It would appear, from this letter, that some twenty years ago the
commerce of Timbuctoo was in the most languishing deplorable state; but
as far as I can judge, from the present operations of the merchants in
Ghadames, the trade of Timbuctoo has in a measure revived. The letter
itself is a most admirable specimen of the epistolary style of the
Saharan Moors, and in this respect alone is of considerable value.
When walking out this morning, an impudent young dog came running after
me and shouted, "There is no God but God, and Mahomet is the Prophet of
God;" whilst another cried out, "You Kafer!" Judging it necessary to put
a stop to this, I gave each little imp for his pains a hard rap of the
head with my fly-flapper, which greatly surprised them, and sent them off
yelping. Some of the boys, however, are very friendly, and come running
after me and take hold of my hand. A day or two afterwards these young
rascals came running after me again in the same way; but they were chased
by an adult Moor, who gave them a good thrashing.
_22nd._--Weather fine. Nothing new. Bought Said a new pair of Morocco
shoes, and made him happy for a day or two. He begins to sulk about going
amongst the Touaricks. To my great joy, the _Shantah_ from Tripoli has
arrived, bringing letters from Colonel Warrington, and Mr. Francovich,
which latter has remitted to me 125 mahboubs. Two Touaricks have also
arrived from Touat. The road is open. Rain has fallen in many places of
The Desert in copious showers, which has buoyed up the hopes of the
camel-graziers. Rumours of fighting between the Shânbah and Touaricks are
prevalent.
The Tibboo left during the night for Ghat--ALONE! riding on a single
camel. His conduct has astonished everybody. Some say "he's mad," and
some say "he's a bandit." He had with him a small quantity of light
goods, and about 300 dollars in cash. I asked the Rais about him. He
observed, "That Tibboo has no wit. Many people die on the routes, the
camels running away whilst they sleep. What can he do alone!" I asked the
people, all of whom replied, "The Tibboo is a wonderful fellow!" One
said, "Ah, that's a man, Yâkob. No Christian like the Tibboo." But
another said, "Without doubt he's a cut-throat, that is the reason he
goes alone. Even the Touaricks are afraid of him; and when they brought
him here he quarrelled with them several times. Besides, a few days ago
he was going to knock down the toll-taker at the gate." After this
display of personal daring, I shall never have a contemptible idea of a
Negro. The free, independent, and enlightened gentleman slave-driver of
Yankee Land, armed with that symbol of order and good government, the
bowie-knife! would find his match in this his brother Tibboo
slave-driver. The Tibboo has done what no man of this city would have
dared to do, in undertaking a journey of some twenty days over The Desert
alone. What is very extraordinary, he never travelled the route but once
before, that is, when he came here. They say he will arrive at Ghat in
twelve days. He took the precaution of purchasing a good pair of
horse-pistols before he left. I may add, he arrived safe and sound at
Ghat.
_23rd._--This morning exceedingly cold. In going out, a man said to
me, "Where are you going this cold morning?" People were all
shivering, or wrapped up in their burnouses. Said is attacked with
ophthalmia. Received a visit from an old Arab doctor. He says cattle
are attacked with the plague, as well as men. He wrote me a receipt
for the cure of _night_-blindness, which would cure it in one night.
He says, in the neighbouring desert, towards the west, there is a
small oasis of Arabs, who are called _El-Hawamad_--الحومد--who
are always afflicted by night-blindness, which singular affection is
called by them _Juhur_ (جُهُر). Mr. Jackson, in his Morocco,
calls this strange disease _butelleese_. The Arabs of _El-Hawamad_ see
perfectly well in the day-time. But I must mention, that I received
an application for medicine from a person who is affected with the
same strange kind of malady. The European physicians call this
disease _Nyctalopia_ (Νυκταλωπια). I recently myself met with a
case in London. But what is equally extraordinary, Captain Lyon (I
think) mentions a case which he met with in The Desert, of a person
who could see in the night-time but not in the day-time--a human
owl. We conversed about other diseases in Ghadames. The principal,
as before-mentioned, are ophthalmia and diarrhœa. There are two
lepers; a few dropsical people; and, occasionally, small-pox and
syphilitic diseases. There are, besides, various cutaneous
affections. Dogs are known to go mad amongst the Arabs, but not very
often. When mad, they are called _makloub_. The remedy is, when they
bite people, the hair of the mad dog himself, rubbing it over the
part bitten. Mussulmans are fond of this antagonistic idea, of the
bane and the antidote being one and the same thing, for they
preserve the dead scorpions to be applied to the sting of the living
ones, and they aver it to be a certain cure. Quackery is the native
growth of the ingenious as well as the whimsical and hypochondriacal
ideas of men. In dropsy the native doctors cut the body to let out
the water, as we do.
* * * * *
Wrote letters to Mr. Alsager, Colonel Warrington, and others. People
grumbling about their letters being too high charged. Formerly letters
went free to Tripoli. The Turkish post-office and policy never fail to
make things worse. Treating some Moors with coffee and loaf-sugar, one
asked me if there were blood in sugar, for so he had heard from some
Europeans in Tripoli. I told him in loaf sugar. "What, the blood of
pigs?" one cried. "How do I know?" I rejoined; "if the refiner has no
bullock's blood, why not use that of pigs?" This frightened them all out
of their senses. They will not eat loaf-sugar again in a hurry. A most
ludicrous anecdote of the old Bashaw of Tripoli here occurs to me. Old
Yousef one day sent for Colonel Warrington, with a message that the
Consul's presence was very particularly required. The Consul, putting on
his best Consular uniform, and taking with him his Vice-Consul, his
Chancellor, and his Dragoman, immediately waited upon His Highness. The
Consul found His Highness sitting in full Divan, surrounded with all his
high functionaries. Approaching the Bashaw, the Consul was begged to take
a seat. His Highness then opened business, and, drawing a very long and
solemn face, requested to know, "If the Christians were carrying away all
the bones from the country?" assuring the Consul that such he heard was
the case from his people, adding, that even the graveyards were ransacked
for bones. The Consul, nothing blinking, or disquieted, congratulated His
Highness upon bringing such an important subject before his notice, and
observed, "It is very improper for the Christians to be ransacking the
tombs for old bones to ship off for Europe." "Improper!" exclaimed the
Bashaw, "why the man who does so ought to be beheaded!" "Yes, yes,"
replied the Consul, coaxingly, "he ought, your Highness; I quite agree
with you." The Bashaw then got a little more calm, and begged of the
Consul, as a favour, to tell him what the Christians did with all these
old bones. The Consul, now assuming a magnificent air, deigned to reply,
"Now, your Highness, you must be cool. You drink coffee?" "Yes." "You put
sugar in it?" "Yes" (impatiently). "You use white sugar?" "Yes, yes,"
said the Bashaw, half amazed, half trembling, wondering what would come
next. "Then," cried the Consul triumphantly, "I beg most submissively to
inform your Highness, hoping that your Highness will not be angry, but
thank me for the information, that the old bones are used to make white
sugar with." Hereupon was an awful explosion of _Allahs!_--beginning with
His Highness the Bashaw, and going round the whole assembled Divan, in
such serious and perplexed conclave now met. Then followed _harams!_--in
the midst of which Colonel Warrington graciously and elegantly backed
himself out of the Divan, smiling and bowing, bowing and smiling, to the
utter horror of all present. Next day His Highness made a proclamation
forbidding any of his subjects from exporting old bones on pain of death.
On his part, the Consul issued a notice calling upon all British subjects
not to be such barbarians as to violate the tombs of pious Mussulmans, at
the same time threatening them with the full weight of the Consular
displeasure. I am assured that Yousef Bashaw never ate white sugar
afterwards.
* * * * *
The liberties which Colonel Warrington was wont to take with old Yousef
Bashaw, of the Caramanly dynasty, could not now be, in these days of
Ottoman politeness, at all tolerated. For a long series of years, and
especially during the French war, the Colonel was the virtual Bashaw of
Tripoli. I shall only give another of a thousand incidents in which the
British Consul showed himself the master, and the Bashaw the slave,
instead of the Sovereign of his own country. One day the Bashaw had done
something to offend the Consul. Colonel Warrington, hearing of it whilst
riding out, immediately rides off to the Castle, and rushes, whip in
hand, into the presence of the Bashaw, producing consternation through
the whole Court. An Italian, having at the time an audience with His
Highness, demanded, "_Che cosa vuole Signore Consule?_" seeing the Consul
frustrated in his rage for want of an interpreter. "_Tell him_ (the
Bashaw) _he's a rascal!_" roared the Consul, almost shaking his whip over
the head of His Highness. But the Italian was just as far off, not
knowing English, and fortunately could not interpret this elegant
compliment. The very next day, the Consul and the Bashaw dined together
at the British Garden, the Colonel slapping the old gentleman over his
shoulder, and drinking wine with him, like two jolly chums. In this way,
Colonel Warrington managed to be, what he was called in Malta, "_Bashaw
of Tripoli_." Now that Colonel Warrington, during the time these pages
have been going through the press, has left us for another and a better
world, we may for a moment compare his Consular system with that which
was pursued by the late Mr. Hay, Consul-General of Morocco. The
difference is striking, if not remarkable. Colonel Warrington boasted of
being able to do anything and everything in Tripoli; Mr. Hay boasted of
being able to do nothing in Morocco. The former had the Bashaw under his
thumb, or hooked by the nose; the latter stood at an awful distance from
the Shereefian Presence. Colonel Warrington underrated the difficulties
and dangers of travelling in Tripoli and Central Africa, making the route
from Tripoli to Bornou as safe as the road from London to Paris; Mr. Hay,
exaggerating every obstacle, represented it as unsafe to walk in the
environs of Tangier, under its very walls, and even boasted of himself
being shot at in the interior of Morocco, on a Government mission, and
whilst attended by an escort of the Emperor's troops. With Colonel
Warrington, a mission of science or philanthropy had a real chance of
success; with Mr. Hay, no mission could possibly succeed--failure was
certain. And so I might continue the opposite parallels. But in justice
to these late functionaries and their friends, I must observe, that both
were zealous servants of Government and their country. They exerted
themselves diligently and conscientiously to protect and advance the
interests of their countrymen, who had relations with Tripoli or Morocco,
according to their peculiar temperaments and circumstances. No doubt they
gave Government at home an immense deal of unnecessary trouble, and
sometimes even annoyance; but so long as each public functionary abroad
thinks the affairs of his own particular post of more importance than
those of anybody else, this inconvenience will always happen, in a lesser
or greater degree.
Said furnishes me with a continual anti-slavery text against the
slave-trade. Everybody asks me if Said is a slave. I reply, "Slavery is a
great sin amongst the English. We cannot have slaves, or make slaves of
our fellow-creatures." Then follow discussions, in which I damnify the
traffick in human beings as much as possible.
Today witnessed a good specimen of Arab Desert freedom. I was conversing
quietly with the Governor, seated beside him on his ottoman, a privilege
granted only to me, the Nather (_native_ governor) and the Kady, when
rushed into the apartment a Souafee Arab, exclaiming to the Rais, "How
are you?" and seizing hold of his hands, knocked his fly-flap down on the
floor. His Excellency was shocked at this rudeness, and I myself was a
little startled. The conversation which followed, if such it may be
called, is characteristic of the bold Arab, and the haughty Turk.
_The Souafee._--"The Shânbah are coming to Ghadames."
_The Governor._--"I don't know; God knows."
_The Souafee._--"My brothers write to me and tell me so."
_The Governor._--"I don't know."
_The Souafee._--"Give me money, and I'll go and look after them."
_The Governor._--"I have no money."
_The Souafee._--"Make haste, give me money."
_The Governor._--"Have none."
_The Souafee._--"Where's the money?"
_The Governor._--"Go to the Ghadamseeah."
_The Souafee._--"They tell me you have all their money."
_The Governor._--"Go to them."
_The Souafee._--"I'm going, _Bislamah_ (good bye.)"
_The Governor._--"Bislamah."
As the Souafee left the threshold of the apartment, his Excellency turned
to me, and raising his right hand underneath his chin, drew its back
jerkingly forwards, making the sign of the well-known expression of
contempt in North Africa. He then said to me:--"See what a life I lead,
what insults I am obliged to put up with! what beasts are these Arabs!"
The Souafah are, indeed, the type of the genuine Desert Arab. They have
no foreign master, and manage all their affairs by their own Sheikhs and
Kadys. The immense waste of sand lying between Ghadames and Southern
Tunis and Algeria, is their absolute domain, in the arid and thirsty
bosom of which are planted, as marvels of nature, their oases of palms.
The Shânbah bandits, who plunder every body, and brave heaven and earth,
nevertheless dare not lay a finger on them. I cannot better represent the
feelings of the Souf Arab, nor the "wild and burning range" of his
country, than by quoting the lines of Eliza Cook:
"Through the desert, through the desert, where the Arab takes his course,
With none to bear him company, except his gallant horse;
Where none can question will or right, where landmarks ne'er impede,
But all is wide and limitless to rider and to steed.
No purling streamlet murmurs there, no chequer'd shadows fall;
'Tis torrid, waste and desolate, but free to each and all.
Through the desert, through the desert! Oh, the Arab would no change,
For purple robes or olive-trees, his wild and burning range."
FOOTNOTES:
[53] It is now the fashion in French writers to represent the
Arabic غ by the Roman R, as _R_'dames for _Gh_adames.
[54] هرب الي الجبل
[55] _Fullans._--Mungo Park says: "The Foulahs are chiefly of a
tawny complexion, with silky hair, and pleasing features."--M.
D'Avezac says: "In the midst of the Negro races, there stands out
a _métive_ (_mezzo-termino_?) population, of tawny or copper
colour, prominent nose, small mouth, and oval face, which ranks
itself amongst the white races, and asserts itself to be descended
from Arab fathers, and Tawrode(?) mothers. Their crisped hair, and
even woolly though long, justifies their classification among the
_oulotric_ (woolly-haired) populations; but neither the traits of
their features, nor the colour of their skin, allow them to be
confounded with Negroes, however great the fusion of the two types
may be." Major Rennell calls them the "Leucœthiopes of Ptolemy and
Pliny." Mr. D'Eichthal thinks them to be of _Malay_ origin, on
account of their language; but Dr. Pritchard considers them to be
a genuine African race.