PREPARATIONS FOR GOING TO SOUDAN.
His Excellency the Rais questions me on my rumoured Journey to
Soudan.--The Devil has in safe keeping all who are not
Mahometans.--I am wearing to a Skeleton.--A Caravan of
Women.--Predestination.--The Shânbah begin their Foray.--The
Gardens and their Products.--Varieties of the
Date-Palm.--Locusts.--Brigands spare the Property of the Marabout
Merchants of Ghadames.--Agricultural Implements in The
Desert.--Violent capture of a Souf Caravan by the Governor.--Uses
of the Date-Palm.--The Touarghee Bandit's opinion as to Killing
Christians.--Combat between an Ant and a Fly.--Loose Phraseology
in The Mediterranean.--Harsh Hospitality of the Souafah, and
Usurpation over their Oases by the French.--Money disappearing
from Ghadames.--The Affair of Messrs. Silva and Levi, and their
connexion with Ghadamsee Slave-Dealers.--Visit, with his
Excellency the Governor, the Ruins of _Kesar-el-Ensara_ "the
Castle of the Christians."--Antiquity of Ghadames, and Account of
it by Leo Africanus.
THE 23rd, 24th, and 25th, employed in writing letters. On one of these
days the Rais called me to him and asked, "Whether I really intended to
go to Soudan, as the people had reported to him?" I told him Yes, and
that I was already making preparations. His Excellency affected great
amazement, and looked exceedingly mysterious, but did not know what to
reply. At last he observed, "I must write to Ahmed Effendi of The
Mountains, and if he says you may go, all well, if not, you must not go."
I then asked the Rais, what I was to do in Ghadames? His Excellency said
anxiously, "Stay with me to keep me company. I am surrounded with
barbarians. I am weary of my life here." As the Rais spoke what I knew to
be the truth, I pitied him and said nothing, although I could not
understand this asking of permission from Ahmed Effendi, whom I knew to
be a queer customer to deal with. However, I interpreted the sense of
Colonel Warrington's letter to Rais, viz., "If I had friends I might
venture further into the interior, if not, stay where I was until I made
friends." I believe the sympathy of the Rais _sincere_, which is a great
deal for a Turk, or even any body else in this insincere and lying world.
He is a timid man, and is afraid the Touaricks will make an end of me.
What the Rais says is reasonable enough: "Bring me a Ghadamsee, or a
respectable Arab merchant whom I know, and who will take you with him,
and be answerable for your head (safety), and will protect you equally
with himself, then I have no fears for your safety." I took my friend
Zaleâ to the Rais, who is a native of Seenawan, and much respected by
all. The camels of the giant left to-day for Ghat, his giantship himself
waits to be conducteur of our caravan.
In replying to an observation about another increase of taxes of which
the people bitterly complained, I said, "The Mahometan princes are now
the greatest oppressors of the people, whilst the Christian kings are
more tolerant, and people enjoyed more security under our Governments."
My taleb replied, "Yes, it is the truth, Yâkob, and this is the reason.
The Devil knows that all the Christians, and Jews, and black _kafers_,
belong to him. So he troubles them not, they are his safe property and
sure possession. But he is always stirring up amongst us Mussulmans evil
passions, and leading our sovereigns to oppress the people, and one
Mussulman to oppress another." Such is the reasoning of a bigoted
Moslemite, and with him and others it has considerable force. Indeed, a
Christian stands a very poor chance with these subtle orthodox doctors.
_26th._--The mornings grow colder and colder. I feel the change
sensitively, more so than the natives; am exceedingly chilly. I perceive
the hot weather has dried up or torn off the flesh from my bones, and my
feet are very skinny. Attribute this a good deal to the water. Rais is
almost worn to a skeleton. This morning he called his servants to attest,
how stout he was when he first came here. But as the heat is gone, I
shall not now drink so much water. The more malicious, in revenge for
Turkish oppression here, hope and pray the Rais will die of the climate,
and every Turk who succeeds him.
To-day the Touarick _women_ leave for Ghat. No men go with them, only
some of their little sons. About ten women form this caravan. They have
camels to carry their water, and ride on occasionally when they are
fatigued. I asked a Ghadamsee whether these women were not afraid to go
by themselves, particularly now as banditti are reported to be in the
routes. He replied, "These Touarick women are a host of witches and
she-devils. No men will dare to touch them." This ghafalah of women is a
perfectly new idea to me. Some of the women are quite young and pretty,
and delicate, and don't appear as if they could bear twenty days'
desert-travelling. One said to me, "If you will go with us women, we will
take better care of you than the men can do."
_27th._--Occupied in writing. Rais paid me a visit in the afternoon. Gave
one of the slaves who came with him a pill-box, which highly delighted
the boy. I found when I visited Rais again, that his Excellency himself
had become so enamoured with the pill-box, as to purchase it from his
slave. Said continues bad with ophthalmia. The disease seems to attack
mostly people of this country, and not strangers. At any rate it would
seem that we require to be acclimated to catch these diseases, as well as
acclimated to resist them. Rais took it into his head to preach to me
about the decrees of Heaven. "You and I," said his Excellency, "were
great fools to come to this country; I to leave Constantinople, you to
leave London. But it was the decree of God that we should come to this
horrible country." The decrees of Heaven, or the acknowledgment of such,
are the _bonâ fide_ religion of Ghadames. "What do the people eat?" I
said to a man. He replied, "What is decreed!" Another interposed, "Don't
be afraid of the Touaricks; you will not die before the time which is
decreed by Heaven for you to die." Such is consolation in man's misery.
Are we to believe this? or why not believe it?
_28th_, _29th_, and _30th._--Employed in preparing routes of The Desert.
This evening the Governor received a letter from his spies in Souf, which
reports that the Shânbah had left their country four days before they
wrote, which is now fifteen days. It is not known whether the banditti
have taken the route to Ghat or Ghadames. His Excellency has taken
precautionary measures, and sent soldiers to look out in the routes near
our city. He has also sent to bring back a merchant who started yesterday
to Touat, and another to Derge. The freebooters are 100 horse, and 400
camels strong. The Giant Touarick taking the alarm, and mounting his
strongest and fleetest Maharee, has gone off to protect his family and
country. He was one of the expedition last year, and slew a dozen Shânbah
with his own hand. In the meanwhile _caravaning_ to all quarters is to be
stopped.
_31st._--Purchased an outfit for Said. Afterwards he would put them on,
and walked all over the town, and left me to cook the dinner myself. I
said nothing to him, humouring his vanity. No people are so fond of new
and fine clothes as Negroes.
_1st November._--A strong wind blowing from the south-east, or nearly
east. Not very cold, clouds thick and dark, and no sun. The music of the
wind in the date-palms is very agreeable, and tunes my soul to a quiet
sadness. The Ghadamsee merchant who was overtaken on his road to Tourat,
refuses to come back, and says he trusts in God against the Shânbah. Some
Souf Arabs have come in to-day, giving out that the French wish to assume
the sovereignty over their country. The able-bodied men of the united
oases are calculated at 2,000.
Visited the gardens with my taleb as _cicerone_. Was much gratified
with the rural ramble, although there is nothing remarkable to be
seen. The three principal productions are dates, of which there is a
great variety, some thirty or forty different sorts[56]; barley and
_ghusub_[57]. The ghusub is grown in the Autumn and the barley in
the Spring; in this way two crops of corn are reaped in the year. A
little wheat is now and then grown, but does not thrive. The native
date is the _madghou_ (مدغو) which is also common in Seenawan
and Derge. It is small and filbert-shaped, of a black colour, very
pleasant when fresh, but when dry very indifferent. I saw no black
dates in any other parts of The Sahara. The gardens furnish besides
a few vegetables and fruits, such as pomegranates, apricots,
peaches, almonds, olives, melons, pumpkins, tomatas, onions, and
peppers, a few grape-trees and fig-trees in the choicest gardens,
but all in small quantities. There is scarcely a flower or fancy
tree but the _tout_. No person of my acquaintance, except my
turjeman, showed much fancy for botany. He had brought an aloe from
Tripoli, and planted it in his garden. It is the only one. He has
another tree or two besides, which nobody else has. The merchants
have brought the varieties of the date-palm from the different oases
of The Sahara. Nearly every householder has a garden, and some
several. Sometimes a date plantation is divided between two or three
families, each cultivating and gathering the fruits of his pet
choice palm. Herbage is grown in the gardens for fattening the
sheep. Pounded date-stones both fatten sheep and camels. In summer
the gardens are intolerable, but in winter deliciously pleasant.
Sheikh Makouran is the largest landed-proprietor. He has seventeen
gardens; "nearly half the country," as a person observed. So Europe
is not the only place in the world where there is such an unequal
division of the land. The gardens are small, and the whole number is
some two hundred and odd, only the half of which are regularly
watered from the Great Spring. As the people can never depend upon
rain, the whole culture is conducted on irrigation. The Ghadamsee
garden-gate, of all the absurdities of inconvenience is the greatest
I ever met with. It is scarcely large enough for a small sheep to
enter. Every person entering a garden must not only stoop but crawl
through the gate. It is fortunate there are no lusty people here,
all being bony and wiry like the Arabs. Not being dependant on rain,
the gardens only suffer from the locusts, and now and then a
blighting wind. In the Spring of this year these insect marauders
passed over the oasis and made a pillage of the date blossoms for
thirty days, besides doing much damage to the barley. I encountered
a flight of the same horde, which emerged from The Desert and then
took to sea, and were scattered over to Malta and Sicily by the
wind, when I was travelling from Tunis to the isle of Jerbah late in
the Spring. From Ghadames they proceeded _en masse_ to Tripoli and
Ghabs, inflicting great damage. When they passed near the gardens of
Ghabs, the people climbed up the fruit-trees and made a great noise,
screaming and shouting, which kept them from settling in masses on
the fruit-trees and vegetables. They also kindled a fire and tried
to smoke them away. Many of those which did settle were gathered,
cooked, and eaten with great _gusto_ by the people. I met them
myself on the immense plains of Solyman; they were the first flight
of locusts I ever saw. I had seen locusts on the hills near Mogador,
where they are bred in great numbers. Millions of small green things
were just starting into being. The locust is a somewhat
disproportioned insect, the wings are too fine for the bulk and
weight of the body, which explains why they are unable to struggle
against the wind; as it is said in the Scriptures, "and when it was
morning the east wind brought the locusts." (Exod. x. 13.) They do
not fly high, and when they settle on the ground they roll over very
clumsily. A flight at a distance looks like falling flakes of snow
in a snow-storm. They are mostly of a reddish colour, with
lead-coloured bodies, and some of a glaring yellow. The yellow ones
are said to be the males, and are not so good eating as the others.
The locust tastes very much like a dry shrimp when roasted. They are
from an inch and a half to two and a half long. The head is large
and square, and very formidable. Hence the Scripture allusion: "and
on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces
were as the faces of men." (Rev. ix. 7.) But the prophecy gives them
a superadded power which they do not possess, "and unto them was
given power as the scorpions of the earth have power;" (v. 3.) for
when you catch the locust it makes little resistance and does not
bite. Few of these were eating, and most of them were either flying
or lay motionless basking in the sun, grouped in hundreds round
tufts of long coarse grass. My Moorish fellow-travellers didn't like
their appearance. They said the locusts are bad things, and came
from the hot country to devour their harvest. It was indeed, an
unpleasant sight, this horde of insect marauders, and soon lost the
charm of novelty. But the world is made up of the elements of
destruction and reproduction. Such is the eternal order of
Providence, and we must bear the evil and the good. I do not think
that they come far south or from the inner Desert, for they could
not be bred in regions of desolation, where there is no green thing.
Yet these flights were from the south of Ghadames, and at any rate
they are bred in the Saharan districts, from the banks of the Nile
to the shores of the Atlantic. The world is full of impostors. One
of these went once upon a time to Morocco, and endeavoured to
persuade the people he could destroy all the locusts by some
chemical process. I believe he was a French adventurer.
_2nd._--Occupied in taking notes of routes. The whole day overcast but no
rain. Rais alternately laughs and admires the Ghadamsee people. He was
endeavouring to prove to me what profound respect the bandits of The
Desert entertain for these Marabout people, and said, "If a camel of the
Ghadamseeah falls down in The Desert and dies, and no person present has
a camel to lend them, they leave the goods or the load of the camel on
the high road until they fetch one. Should a bandit pass by in the
meanwhile and see the goods, and recognize them to belong to an
inhabitant of Ghadames, he does not even touch them, but passes by and
calls for the blessing of Heaven upon the Holy City of The Desert." This,
one would say, is too good to be true, at the same time, I have no doubt
the banditti of The Desert have a species of religious respect for these
pacific-minded, unresisting merchants. I took an opportunity of asking
Rais about the use and value of his charms. His Excellency replied, "They
are to protect me when exposed to robbers like the Shânbah, or to other
evils. These charms will then render me great assistance." I I have
already said Rais is as big a ninny in these superstitious matters as any
of his Maraboutish subjects.
_3rd._--Am still in great doubt as to the route I shall take for the
interior. Every route has its separate advantages, and separate dangers.
In this perplexity what can I do but wait the turn of events? . . . . .
Another overcast morning, as dull and foggy as Old England's November. A
perfect Thames-London fog. I was accustomed to think that in the bright
sky of an African desert such a mass of cloud and haziness was
impossible. Still, though gloomy and drear, there is more boldness and
definiteness of outline than in England. After a person has been living
long under the bright skies of the Mediterranean, he may mistake a clear
winter's day on Blackheath, as I have done, for a moonlight, owing to the
want of those sharp angles by which nature draws her landscapes in
Southern Europe. To-day the face of the heavens has cast its shadows upon
the countenance of the population, for all is dull in business. Every one
is awaiting the result of the skirmishes between the Touaricks and the
Shânbah.
_4th._--A fine morning, and not very cold. No patients, everybody
apparently in health. My old friend Berka, the liberated slave, is now
occupied in turning or digging, or hoeing up a whole garden of good size,
about two days and a half's labour, for which he will receive one
Tunisian piastre! (Seven pence English money.) This is free labour. I am
sure the slave labour, the principal here, cannot be cheaper. The
implements of agriculture are few and simple in The Desert. Friend Berka
had but a small hoe, which is well described by Caillié, who saw it used
near Jinnee, and indeed it seems to be used throughout Central Africa.
This hoe is about a foot long, and eight inches broad; the handle, which
is some sixteen inches in length, slants very much. With this hoe they
turn up the earth instead of the plough, and prepare and open and shut
the squares of irrigated fields. For reaping they make use of a small
sickle without teeth. The caravans usually have a supply of these sickles
for cutting up Desert provender for the camels. The use of the hoe
requires constant stooping to the ground and is consequently laborious,
but the Saharan fields are very limited, and are soon hoed up. The
smallness of space is compensated by a redundant fertility, and double
and even treble crops in the course of the year. Passing by a group of
gossipping slaves to-day, one came running up to me and said, "Buy me,
buy me, and I will go with you to Ghat. I shall only cost you 100
mahboubs." This is humiliating enough, but those who offer their services
for sale, like hundreds in the metropolis of London, to write up a bad
cause and write down a good one, or to--
"Make the worse appear
The better reason--"
"With words cloth'd in reason's garb--"
certainly perform a greater act of degradation than these poor debased
bondsmen.
A few evenings ago intelligence arrived that a Souf caravan of eight
camels and five persons were seen about a day and a half from this city,
proceeding in the route of Ghat. This gave rise to suspicions that the
news about the Shânbah and Touaricks was a hoax of the Souafah, in order
to frighten the people of Ghadames, and allow them (the Souafah) to get
first to the market of Ghat, and buy slaves cheaper. So reason the
merchants with the usual jealousy of such people. Rais, on receipt of
the above, summoned his Divan, and it was debated, "Whether the Souafah
should not be brought in here by force?" The question was decided in the
affirmative, and late at night, fourteen Arab soldiers, two Arabs of
Seenawan, intimately acquainted with the routes, and an official of the
Rais, went off to seize the caravan. This bold measure may bring us
unpleasant consequences. First of all, the Governor has no right to seize
a caravan in a district where the Sultan, his master, has no authority,
decidedly neutral ground, especially a caravan of strangers. Then the
Souafah, in revenge, may attack the caravans of Ghadames. Again, it is a
question whether the caravan will come in without fighting, for the
Souafah are tough men to deal with. It will be a poor excuse for the
Governor to plead before the Pasha, that the caravan was guilty of this
hoax, supposing it so, and giving this as the reason for seizing the
peaceable caravan of an independent state. Indeed, who shall decide that
they gave false intelligence of the Shânbah? And if they did, should this
be the punishment for spreading a false report? Many other disagreeable
thoughts occur. It is clear there is a violent infraction of
international law committed on our neighbour's (the Touarick's)
territory.
Talking with a gossip about the character of Moors, and he saying they
were "_friends of flous_ (money,)" _i. e._ mercenary, and adding that the
Touattee was the best fellow amongst them. Said, who was present, said to
me, "Yes, it is so, and because he is a black man." Said often repeats to
me, "In Soudan it will cost you nothing to live; being a stranger,
everybody will feed you in our country." Another free black took upon
himself to ridicule the constitution of the white man. "Ah," he cried,
"what is a white man! a poor weak creature; he can't bear Soudan heat; he
gets the fever, and dies. No, it is the black man that is strong, strong
always. He never droops or sinks! Look at the strength of my limbs." Such
are the traits of character of coloured men in this Saharan world. I add
another anecdote. Speaking to Berka one day, I said, "I shall have that
Tibboo himself sold as a slave; what right has he to bring people here as
slaves and sell them?" Berka mistook my meaning, thinking that, because
the Tibboo was black, I wished to have him sold and punished, and not for
being a slave-dealer, and the old gentleman got into a great passion,
sharply reprimanding me in this style: "Yes, Christian! drop that
language; when you get to Soudan you will find everybody black. Drop that
language; don't fancy, because the Tibboo is black, you can sell him.
Drop that language, for all are black there."
_7th._--This morning, after a pursuit of three days, our soldiers brought
in the Souf Arabs, which has made a great clamour in the town, as it
always happens in disputed cases, the people arranging themselves on
different sides as partisans, some for the Rais and others for the
Souafah. Called upon the Governor and told him I hoped he would not take
the _gomerick_ ("duties") for the goods of the caravan, as the people
were brought here against their will. His Excellency said he would not,
but merely reprimand them for spreading false news. It appears there is
some slight evidence of a hoax, but nothing to justify such a violent
measure. The Governor wants to make it out that they might have been
Shânbah, when it was well known before their capture they were Souafah.
Every part of the date-palm is turned to account. The fibrous net-work,
which surrounds the ends of the branches where they attach themselves to
the trunk, is woven into very strong and tough ropes, with which the legs
of camels are tied, and horses picketed. The very stones are split and
pounded, to fatten all animals here. The branches make baskets of every
kind; the dried leaves are burned, and the trunk builds the houses,
supplying all the beams and rafters. One day, on looking up to some palm
wood-work, the old men present said, "How old do you think that wood is,
Yâkob?" "I can't tell," I replied. They observed, "That wood is upwards
of three hundred years old. Indeed, we can't tell how long it has been
there. Our grandfathers found it there, and it looked just the same then
as now." It was large beams of the trunk of the tree, with platted thin
pieces of the boughs across them, forming a fantastic zig-zag joice of
wood ceiling. The fruit of the date-palm supports man, in many oases,
nine months out of twelve. In Fezzan, all the domestic animals, including
dogs, and horses, and fowls, eat dates. Such are some of the various and
important uses to which this noble tree is turned. The Saharan tribes,
likewise, are wont to live for several months of the year upon two other
products, viz., milk and gum. Milk I have mentioned as supporting the
Touaricks exclusively six or more months in the year. Gum, also, in the
Western Sahara, furnishes tribes with an exclusive sustenance for many
months. Even the prickly-pear, or fruit of the cactus, will support a
Barbary village for three months. It is, therefore, not surprising the
Irish peasant may live on potatoes and milk the greater part of the year.
The bead on the date-stone is the part (vital) whence commences
germination, and sprouts the new shoots of the palm. New shoots spring up
all over the oases, but particularly in those places where water is
abundant, and within and about the ducts of irrigation. These shoots are
collected for the new plantations, and the female plants carefully
separated from the males, and these latter destroyed. Only a few male
plants are kept for impregnation.
_8th._--Warm this morning, the cold weather gone apparently for a short
time. No patients. The long-expected ghafalah from Tripoli has arrived by
the way of Derge, avoiding the more dangerous route of Seenawan, by which
latter I came here. No mail. All the people now in a hurry to be off to
Ghat, as their goods have arrived. I begin to feel extremely irritable
and irresolute at the prospect of the new unknown Desert journey. The old
bandit called, and asked, "Well, are you going?" I answered, "Yes, very
soon, but I must first have a letter of permission from the Pasha of
Tripoli, so the Rais says, for the Pasha is greatly afraid you Touaricks
will cut my throat." "God! God! God!" exclaimed the bandit; "I'll risk my
head that you'll go on safe to Ghat and Aheer. But, as for those
villains, the Touaricks of Timbuctoo, those, I'll grant you, are
cut-throats." As I was about to take leave of the old brigand, I gave him
a piastre, and said, "Now tell me fairly, and as an honest man, what is
the reason that the Touaricks kill Christians, and why did they kill the
English officer who went to Timbuctoo?" "Stop, stop," the brigand
replied, very pleased with the piastre, "I'll tell you. There are three
reasons. First (scratching with his spear on the ground), the Christians
will not say that Mahomet is the prophet of God. Second (again scratching
with his spear on the ground), the Christians are the brothers of
Pharaoh, and have plenty of money; we are poor, we kill you for your
money. Third (again scratching), you wish to take our country. You have
nearly all the world; you have robbed us of Algeria, and Andalous. Why
don't you stop in the sea, where you are? We shall not come to you. We
don't like the sea." Seeing I could make nothing of the old sinner, so
cunning was he, I gave him a piece of sugar for his little son, and he
went away. I thought often of the words which I had recently read in the
Arabic, "The time will come when those who kill you will think that they
render service to God," (John xvi. 2,) when discussing so repeatedly this
question of the killing of Christians by the Touaricks with the Rais,
with the people of Ghadames, and with the Touaricks themselves. But has
this principle alone reference to the wild tribes of The Sahara? Has it
not had a pointed application in all the authenticated annals of the
world? Take our own era. The Jew thought he did service to God by killing
those who confessed Christ. Then the Imperial Roman, he immolated the
Christian who worshipped not the image of Cæsar. Then the Roman Christian
killed the heretic Donatist, lighting up the flames of persecution in
this Africa. Then the Catholic killed the Protestant, and deluged Europe
with a sea of blood. Thus in England we enacted our penal laws against
Catholics and Protestant Dissenters, some of which, to our shame, still
exist on the statute book. What a horrid heritage of murder for
conscience' sake has been transmitted to us in this nineteenth century?
And is the present fratricidal war in Switzerland unconnected with this
principle of blood and persecution! No; and again, no! How, then, can we
find fault with the barbarians of the Great Desert? Nay, contrarily,
those who follow me through The Desert, will find the Saharan Barbarians
infinitely more tolerant than the mild, and the gentle, and the polished,
and the educated, and the civilized, and the Christianized professors of
religion in our own great Europe!
This afternoon the first portion of the Ghadamsee Soudanic caravan left
for Ghat, consisting of about twenty-five camels, and some ten merchants
and traders. This is merely a detachment. The larger portion of the
population went to see them off, and several families were dressed in
their best clothes, as on festas. It is the usual custom on the departure
and return of caravans. Two or three mounted on saddled Maharees
accompanied the caravan a day's journey. I have many offers of the
people, as in The Mountains, to accompany me to Ghat: a strange
infatuation for such rigid Moslems as the Ghadamseeah!
To-day I witnessed in my court-yard or _patio_ a tremendous struggle
between an ant and a fly: both species of insects are very numerous in
Ghadames, and there is a great number of various coloured ants. The ant
got hold of the muzzle of the fly, or its neck, and there grasped it with
as firm a grasp as it is possible to conceive of one animal grasping
another. In vain the fly struggled and flapped its wings; over and over
again the combatants rolled as these weak defences beat the air: and yet
they must have had great force in them, for they flung over the ant, of a
good size, some hundred times. The struggle continued a full half hour. I
once or twice took them up on a piece of straw, but the ant never let go
its hold on the fly, and paid no attention to me. At last, the fly was
exhausted, and ceased to flap its tiny wings. The sanguinary ant
strangled the poor silly fly, as some sharper strangles or ruins his poor
dupe. After death, the ant seemed busy at sucking its blood. Satiated
with this, the ant attempted to convey the fly away, dead as it was, but
thinking better of the matter, the carcase was abandoned. I observed that
the combat went on in the midst of a thousand flies, but alas! these
rendered their fellow, in this his death-struggle, against a common foe,
no assistance. Such is the way the tyrants of the earth succeed! They
strike down the friends of freedom one by one, and the people, as silly
as the flies, leave their champions to struggle alone against the common
oppressor of mankind, only thinking of what they shall eat and drink, in
which fashion adorn themselves, and how they shall fill up sufficiently
the measure of their idle days of folly.
The whole phraseology of the Mediterranean is very loose in the
designation of persons and objects. The Italians call every
Mussulman _un Turco_, "a Turk." The French of Algeria call every
Mohammedan resident amongst them "_un Arab_." So the Moors and Arabs
here call all people who are not Mussulmans _Ensara_, الانصرا,
"Christians," whether Pagans, Idolaters, or what not. I was writing
some information from the mouth of a Moor, and got into a scrape. He
told me there were plenty of _Ensara_ in Soudan, and I thought
these might be Abyssinian Christians, until I reflected that it was
merely the ordinary denomination of those who are not Moslemites.
_9th._--Slept very little during the past night; always dreaming of
Timbuctoo. The further an object is from you the nearer it is to your
thoughts. The morning broke with a violent wind from the south-east,
which is exceedingly disagreeable. Rais continues very gracious, and
sends me constantly cakes, being a portion of what he receives as
presents from the people.
I omit a great deal about Souf politics, not being anxious to worry the
reader with French and Tuniseen Saharan diplomacy. But a Souafee's notion
of hospitality is rather, I should think, rigid. I said to a Souafee,
whose acquaintance I have made, "I shall come to your country, and write
all about it."
"If you dare," he replied, "by G--d, the people will immediately cut your
throat."
_I._--"I will get an _amer_ ('order') from the Bey of Tunis, which will
protect me."
"No, no," rejoined the Souafee, "the people will tear the amer to pieces,
and set the Bey, the French, and all Christians, at defiance."
No doubt the Souafah, the most interesting Arabs of all this region, are
very fierce of their independence, which explains their jealousy of the
French, and their determinedly withholding any mark of sovereignty, in
the way of tribute, from the Bey of Tunis. It appears, however, two or
three of the small districts have really consented to pay a tribute to
the French, an act of decided usurpation on the part of France, as the
Souf oases "formerly did acknowledge" the sovereignty of Tunis. It is,
nevertheless, a pleasing trait in the character of the Souafah, that they
have permitted some thirty families of Jews to settle amongst them, a
concession not yet made by the Marabouts of Ghadames.
Within my couple of months' residence here, how rapid has been the
impoverishment of the country! Everything gets worse and worse. Now, it
is almost impossible to get change for a Tunisian piastre. I've been two
days trying to get change, and have not yet succeeded. The money in
circulation is principally Tunisian piastres; but since the Turks have
come, Turkish money also passes. There are, besides, a quantity of
Spanish dollars and five-franc pieces. Apparently, all the money has left
the country, or is hidden by the people. A good deal, I have no doubt,
has been hidden within a few weeks. The Governor himself laments that he
changed a dollar yesterday for two karoubs (two pence) less than its
current value in Tripoli. His Excellency is very low-spirited, and very
sick. His Excellency prays that the Pasha will allow him to return to
Tripoli a few months. Being a good man, the system of extortion which he
is obliged to put in practice to meet the demands of the Pasha, makes his
heart sick. His Excellency assured me, that if the Souf Arabs had not
lately brought some money, with which they purchased slaves for the
markets of Algeria, there would have been no money left in the country.
The merchants say their affairs must now be transacted in the way of
barter, as in Soudan. I am particular in noticing these things, and the
cause of the impoverishment of these unhappy people, as showing the curse
of the Turkish system on the transactions of commerce.
My taleb wrote in my journal this splendid Arabic proverb:
الرجال سناديق مغلقة ومفاتحها التجريب صدور الرجال
سنادق الاسرار
"Men are locked-up boxes--experience opens them; the bosom of man is a
box of secrets."
_10th._--To-day I ran about town to tire myself, in order to sleep at
nights. This morning, one of the two expected ghafalahs of Tripoli,
consisting of 117 camels and twenty traders of Ghadames, arrived; the
other ghafalah will arrive in a few days. The ghafalah has brought goods
only for the interior. The merchants just come report in town, "That
Yâkob (myself) has written to the English Consul of Tripoli, informing
him how _Aaron_ (_Signor Silva_) lends money and goods to the merchants
of Ghadames, with which goods and money to go into the interior, and
traffick in slaves." This is substantially correct; but it was written in
confidence to Colonel Warrington, and to no other person in Tripoli. I
expressly begged Colonel Warrington not to divulge the fact, or my
mention of such a matter, until I was out of the lion's mouth of the
slave-dealing interests of this part of North Africa. The Consul,
however, deemed it his duty to disregard my request, and to divulge or
violate this confidence, and posted up a placard on the door of the
Tripoline Consulate, stating, "That certain merchants, under British
protection, were accused of slave-dealing with the merchants of Ghadames,
and calling upon them to clear themselves from such an imputation." Of
course, as there was nobody else likely to make such an accusation but
myself, being well known as an anti-slavery man in Tripoli, the public
attention was at once directed to me as the accuser. The other merchant
alluded to is Mr. Laby (Levi), a Barbary Jew, and the head of a house in
Tripoli. Mr. Silva is also a Jew, but from Europe. This report,
circulating from mouth to mouth, has created a tremendous sensation in
Ghadames; and the people fancy they see in it not only a blow aimed at
them and the slave-trade, but the final ruin of their commerce, already
sufficiently crippled by the oppression of the Turks. I am, therefore,
obliged to Colonel Warrington, not so much for facilitating my progress
in the interior, as for increasing my difficulties a hundred-fold. I was
astonished that a high functionary, of thirty-three years' experience in
these countries, should have committed such an act of egregious
indiscretion, exposing the life of a fellow countryman to such increased
danger, who was already without any kind of guaranteed protection. If I
had been murdered in The Desert tract from Ghadames to Ghat, it would
have most justly been attributed to the placard placed on the doors of
the Consulate at Tripoli. Justice requires from me, however, that I
should state an indiscretion also on my part. I wrote to the Consul that
I had communicated the charge against Messrs. Silva and Levi to the
Secretary of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, and did not
add, as I ought perhaps to have done, that I had likewise begged of Mr.
Scoble not to make the charge public for the present. Colonel Warrington
was afraid the charge would be known in London before he had reported
upon it, and in this way his Consulate might suffer in the eyes of
Government. Now I shall not trouble the reader with the proof of the
charge. It must already have been seen, that as the merchants of Ghadames
are drained of all their capital by the Turkish Government, they, the
merchants of Ghadames, are obliged to fall back upon the merchants of
Tripoli, who will give them credit, some of which latter are under
British protection. So Sheikh Makouran complained to me he could not now
trade without the credit of Silva, so the people told me the house of
Ettanee, the other great mercantile firm of this country, had received
several thousand dollars' worth of goods on credit from the Messrs. Laby,
and so the Rais frequently has told me, the money of the merchants of
Ghadames is in the holding of those of Tripoli, who are mostly under
European protection. The question is, whether such a state of things can
be brought under the provision of Lord Brougham's Act, for preventing
British merchants from trading in slaves, or aiding others to trade in
slaves, in foreign countries. It is a very delicate subject, because the
modes of evading the Act, by private and secret contracts, are
innumerable. British juries are also unwilling to convict parties under
this Act, and the case of Zulueta failed not so much from the want of
evidence as from the unwillingness of the jury to come to an impartial
decision on the evidence.
Whilst reflecting upon my very critical position, my poor Said came in
from the streets very much cast down, and very sulky.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"Oh!" blubbered Said, "the people are all talking about your telling the
Consul that the Jews lend them goods to trade in slaves. They hate you
now."
"Never mind," I returned, "it will pass away soon."
Said had already become a staunch abolitionist, both from principle and
circumstances, and often asked me, "When the English would put down the
slave-trade in Tripoli?" Said is by no means so stupid as I first took
him to be. I immediately determined not to go out for two or three days
until the excitement had somewhat abated. In the evening I had many
visitors, who all spoke of my accusation against Levi and Silva. I met
the accusations by a deprecatory proposal of this kind: "Would the
Ghadamsee merchants consent to abandon the traffic in slaves, on the
conditions that some English merchants would furnish them with goods on
credit at a lower rate than that which they obtained them from Levi and
Silva: if so, I would write about it to the Consul? And, likewise, I
would ask the Consul to get their Soudan goods charged only five per
cent. importation, which was the sum paid for European goods coming into
Tripoli; thereby equalizing the per centage of the imports and exports."
My merchant friends received this proposal very favourably, and swore
there was no profit in slaves, and declared themselves ready to give up
the traffic. Some proposed that they should try the gold trade of
Timbuctoo, and leave the Soudan trade altogether. The traffic to Soudan
is two-thirds in slaves or more. I knew, however, that to expect such a
thing from the Turks, was all but hopeless,--their grand maxim of
Government being to depress and to destroy, not to help and build
up,--and I made to them the proposition chiefly with the object of
diverting the odium of the accusation from myself. But yet, who does not
see that the proposal is well worthy the attention of any Government
that wishes to establish in Africa a legitimate commerce, a system of
trade which a good man and a good Government may approve of and support?
Sixty Arab soldiers came yesterday from The Mountains to protect the
people whilst they are building the caravansary of Emjessem. A merchant
made a present to-day of some slave neck-irons and leg-irons to the Rais.
His Excellency said to me, "I had none before, it was necessary to have
some of these things, in case they should be wanted for the banditti who
might be captured." A person justly observed, "Before the _Truk_ (Turks)
we had no need of these things, except for runaway slaves, and we seldom
used them." The Irishman who discovered himself to be in a civilized
country from the erection of a gallows, might have equally proved the
advance of civilization in The Sahara from this fact.
_11th._--Feel greatly discomposed on account of the news which has
transpired respecting the joint dealings of Silva and Levi with our
Ghadamsee merchants. One trouble succeeds another, as the angry waves
beating on the rocky shore. First the pain of delay, then sickness, now
other matters, then the prospect of a dangerous journey through The
Desert, with a people who may look upon me with dislike, distrust, and
every kind of suspicion. . . . . . In the past night, blew a gale from
the north-west. Slept very little. Also troubled with a large boil.
Received a visit from some of my old Arab friends of the Rujban
Mountains, who regaled themselves with bread and dates. Called on the
Rais, who was as friendly as ever. If his Excellency have heard the
report, he has the delicacy to say nothing about it. His Excellency told
me he had dispatched ninety-two _shatahs_, or mails, during the fifteen
months which he has been in Ghadames. It is reported in town, that Signor
Silva is in a great fright, and fears being arrested by the British
Consul at the order of the Queen. A notary visited me to-day, laughed at
the news of Silva, and was very friendly; he protested the people got
nothing by slave-dealing. Begin to feel relieved, but I see clearly some
discouraging circumstances. My taleb comes in as usual, but the turjeman
is frightened and keeps away. Several of the merchants positively affirm,
that now, since the market of Tunis is shut, and the Pasha takes ten
dollars duty on each slave, there is no profit in slave-dealing. However,
news has arrived from Ghat that a great many slaves are coming with the
next caravan from Soudan.
This evening was glad to go with the Rais to see the ruins of
_Kesar-El-Ensara_, قصر الانصرا, "The Castle of the
Christians," although I had seen them often before. It was a great
relief to me. The Rais put his head down to the vaults under the
ruins to listen to the conversation of the _Jenoun_, or "Demons."
His Excellency said he thought he heard the Demons talking. The
ruins are situate about half a mile from the walls of the city S.SW.
All the piles have a small vault under them, apparently for water,
but it might have been an excavated tomb. The people pretend that
these ruins are four thousand years of age. A son of the late Yousef
Bashaw, on a visit to Ghadames, about thirty years ago, to amuse
himself and frighten the demons, blew up a large portion of the
ruins with gunpowder. Previously the ruins were much more perfect
and imposing. I have made a sketch of what remains of these ancient
buildings. The style of the buildings can be easily distinguished
from the modern by its being composed of a very white cement and
small stones, half the size of ordinary paving stones, the cement
being in a large proportion. My turjeman once pointed out to me a
piece of the ancient walls of the city, still remaining, exactly
corresponding to these ruins. I have seen frequent ruins of ancient
Roman walls, representing the same kind of building in North Africa.
This Kesar-El-Ensara, together with the bas-relief, and the Latin
inscription, copied by a Moor from a tomb-stone, beginning with the
words "_Diis Manibus_," are more than sufficient evidence to prove
that Ghadames was "colonized," as it was called, by the Romans, and
probably earlier by the Greeks and Carthaginians. The same Moorish
prince who blew up the ruins, carried away also to Tripoli the
tomb-stone, from which a Moor copied the inscription, and which
transcript I brought with me from Ghadames. The copyist of this
inscription says, he affixed the Arabic letters in order that the
Mussulman might compare them with the Christian letters and find out
their sense, but he himself did not know what were their meaning. On
returning from Kesar-El-Ensara, we looked around and were painfully
impressed with the appalling barrenness of The Sahara. The Rais
said, "Ah, these people, little know they what a garden is my
country compared to this!" The Rais then stumbled over a small
solitary herb and exclaimed instinctively, _Hamdullah_, "Praise to
God," picking it up. What attracted our attention was the almost
infinite number of small serpentine camel-tracks, wriggling
endlessly through the wastes of The Sahara. The Rais said, "Those
Touaricks are incarnate Genii! they know all these paths:" pointing
south towards Ghat.
[Illustration]
Ghadames, غدامس, is the ancient _Cydamus_, the name being
precisely the same. In the year 19 before our era, it was subjugated
by Cornelius Balbus, being at that period in the possession of a
people called Garamtes. The Romans are said to have embellished it,
and probably built the fortifications whose ruins have been just
described. In an ancient itinerary, from Tunis to Ghadames, we find
the following names of stations, viz., Berezeos, Ausilincli, Agma,
Augemmi, Tabalata, Thebelami and Tillibari. Leo Africanus, gives the
subjoined account of Ghadames:
GADEMES, ABITAZIONE.--Gademes è una grande abitazione, dove sono molti
castelli e popolosi casali, discosti dal mare Mediterraneo, verso
mezzogiorno, circa a trecento miglia. Gli abitatori sono ricchi di
possessioni di datteri, e di danari, perciocchè sogliono mercatantare nel
paese de' Negri: e si reggono da lor medesimi, e pagano tributo agli
Arabi; ma prima erano sotto il re di Tunis, cioè il luogotenente di
Tripoli. E vero che quivi il grano e la carne sono molto cari.--(Part
vi., chap. Lii.)
FOOTNOTES:
[56] In the Tunisian Jereed there are more than two hundred
different varieties. Some thrive in one kind of soil, and some in
another. At first it is difficult for a stranger to distinguish
these varieties, but when his eye becomes practised, he can easily
do so at a great distance.
[57] _Ghusub_, قسب, a species of millet. _Pennisetum Tyhoideum._
Rich. It is called _drâ_ in Tunis and _bishma_ in Tripoli.