PREPARATIONS FOR GOING TO SOUDAN.
Weariness and Exhaustion in Preparating and Waiting to
Depart.--Cold intensely set in.--Excitement of the Messrs. Silva
and Levi affair subsiding.--Suffer from Bad Health.--Pet
Ostrich.--Longevity in The Desert.--Mahometan Doctrine of
Judicial Blindness.--Custom of Dipping and Sopping in
Meats.--Mahometan Propositional Form of Doctrine.--The Wild-Ox,
or _Bughar Wahoush_.--Salting and Drying Meat for
Preservation.--My Friend, the Arab Doctor.--Ravages of Shânbah
Brigandage.--The Immemorial Character of the Arab.--Excess of
Transit Duties.--Person and Character of Rais
Mustapha.--Character of Sheikh Makouran.--Testimonial of the
People of Ghadames in my Favour.--Personal Character of my Taleb
and Turjeman.--Quarrel with a Wahabite.--Said gets Saucy and
Unruly, and development of his Character.--Purchase my _Nagah_ or
she-Camel.--Departure from Ghadames, and False Report of the
appearance of the Shânbah.
_12th._--SLEPT little during the night. Sorry I can't read during the
nights on account of my eyes. But somewhat improved in health. Saw
several merchants who say nothing of the Levi and Silva business. I'm in
hopes this subject will not be agitated during the few days I have to
remain in Ghadames. The second ghafalah has arrived but brings me
nothing, not even the medicines ordered from Tripoli. Patience! What can
be done? The Governor affected this evening to be very indignant against
the son of Yousef Bashaw for destroying the ruins of Kesar-El-Ensarah.
The Turks are becoming antiquaries, and, perhaps, begin to see the
uselessness and folly of destroying ancient buildings for the sake of
destroying them, even though they belong to an infidel age. To their
credit, the Moors themselves are fond of antiquity in churches, and will
patch up a marabet or mosque as long as they can. The Rais, still
frightened, suggests that I should return to Tripoli. But I cannot now, I
will not. I ought not, for I have acted over all the pains and perils of
the journey to Soudan many days and nights, and exhausted myself with
expectations, casualties, probabilities and conceivabilities, &c., &c. I
am now, in truth, suffering all sorts of maladies, mental and bodily.
Such is the wretched existence we are doomed to sustain! And yet is not
this our mortal existence a still greater curse to the man, who lives
without an object and without an aim?
_13th._--Talk of heat and the burning desert, I had last night an attack
of cold, which I shall not forget to the latest day of my life! My limbs
all shrunk together, my teeth chattered, and I did not know what pains or
disease was about to come upon me. This happened whilst undressing. I
immediately dressed myself in all my thickest heaviest clothes, lay down,
and in twenty minutes happily recovered from the attack. But scarcely
slept all night, got a few winks of sleep this morning. I attribute all
this to the nervous agitation of advancing into The Desert without a
guide or friend, on whom I can rely, combined with the severity of the
season fast setting in. Glad to see the sensation of the Silva business
dying away. People begin to laugh at me about it, and call the Consul
_Sheytan_ for disclosing the purport of a letter written confidentially
to him. However, I cannot conceive that Colonel Warrington was influenced
by any other feelings than those which resulted from a strict sense of
duty. Apparently zealous in the performance of his public avocations, he
was determined to discharge them at any cost, even at the sacrifice of
the life of a fellow-countryman. This is all I can now say about the
matter. Fortunately I was well known here, and the people could not
believe that it was from any ill-will to them that I denounced the
parties, which I hope the reader will give me credit for; nor, indeed,
could I have any hostile feelings against the Tripoline merchants. What I
wish, and I imagine every friend of Africa does the same, is to see a
legitimate commerce established in The Desert. It is curious to hear the
Touatee. He says he is sure I never wrote the letter at all, although I
tell him I did, and believes it an invention of people in Tripoli. He
won't believe his friend Yâkob would breathe a syllable against the
people of Ghadames.
_14th._--Slept very little during the night and cannot. Am really reduced
to very low disagreeable feelings. Have an immense boil on my back, and
another on my arm, which I attribute to the effect of the climate on my
constitution, or to drinking Ghadames water.
News have come of the Shânbah having left their sandy wilds on a
free-booting expedition, leaving only the old men, women, and children
behind, for these banditti propagate through all time a race of Saharan
robbers, the scourge of The Desert. Five weeks ago they took their
departure towards Ghat, and it is thought they wish to intercept our
caravan now leaving. Also a skirmish has taken place between some Souafah
banditti and Arabs of Algeria. These banditti were routed, leaving
eighteen dead on the field and many camels.
An ostrich, caught at Seenawan, has been brought in here and presented
to the Rais. His Excellency promised to give him to me if I will return
from Soudan _viâ_ Ghadames. He is a young bird and amuses us much,
running about the streets, picking up things in character of scavenger.
People are trying to make him lie down at the word of command. "Kaed,
(lie down)," cries one, "Kaed," another; at length the stunned and
stupefied bird lies down.
_16th._--Occupied 13th, 14th, and 15th in writing letters. Received a
letter from Dr. Dickson, of Tripoli, expressing friendly feelings. He has
prepared some more medicines, packed them up, and charged them to me.
Received a very friendly letter also from Colli, Sardinian Consul at
Tripoli. Mr. Colli is a fine classical scholar, and the only consul I
have met with in North Africa who pays any attention to classical
literature. The late Mr. Hay of Tangier, had the reputation amongst some
people of being a classical scholar.
Continue unwell and in low spirits, or as the Negroes say, am possessed
by the _Boree_ ("blue devils.") Days are short, and nights tedious and
painful to me, as I cannot use my eyes by lamp-light, on account of a
slight continued ophthalmia. Nothing remarkable to-day. If you want to
feel alone in the world, which at times has its advantages, go into The
Desert.
_17th._--To my great satisfaction the mail arrived this morning, bringing
letters and newspapers. The Governor is very friendly and is in better
health. Quarrelled with Ben Mousa, my taleb, for eating Said's dinner
when I was out of the way; to-day Said got him reconciled to me. Haj
Mansour's family consists of thirty-two persons, all living in one house.
This is the great _quasi_ negro-merchant before mentioned. His father
died a Saharan veteran of the age of one hundred and one. He had been
more than a hundred times over The Desert trading. Yesterday died a man
at the age of ninety-six. There are several women now living more than
eighty. How long these poor creatures survive their feminine charms! A
woman in The Desert gets old after thirty. I think, from what I have
heard, people live to a great age in this and other oases--if not to a
good and happy old age. Some remarkable cases of longevity in The Desert
have been narrated by Captain Riley. Said says the people rob us
desperately when they make our bread. We usually buy the wheat and have
it ground and made into bread at the same time. I tell Said we must
expect this sort of pilfering where there are so many hungry people.
My taleb began his interminable discussions on religion. He said he had
hoped that I should have recognized Mahomet as the prophet of God, being
acquainted as I was with Arabic, the language of truth and unmatched by
any language in the world[58]. I replied language was not enough, other
things were necessary; besides, indeed, some of the Mussulman doctors had
said the Koran could be imitated and even excelled. The taleb replied, "A
lie! the doctors were heretics and infidels, it is impossible to imitate
the Koran's beautiful language," citing the well-known words of
Mahomet:--
"_Answer._--Bring therefore a chapter like unto it; and call whom you
may to your assistance, besides God, if ye speak the truth."--(Surat ii.,
entitled "Jonas.")
The taleb then turned to my turjeman, who was present, and cited another
passage, thinking I did not understand what it was. The passage quoted
was the famous anathema of judicial blindness denounced against
infidels:--
"As to the unbelievers, it will be equal to them whether thou admonish
them, or do not admonish them; they will not believe. God hath sealed up
their hearts and their hearing; a dimness covereth their sight, and they
shall suffer a grievous punishment."--(Surat ii., entitled "the Cow.")
This is evidently an imitation[59] of our Scriptural passages, of which
there are several:
"Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
saying, Go unto this people and say, Hearing ye shall hear and shall not
understand, and seeing ye shall see and not perceive. For the heart of
this people has waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and
their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them."--(Acts xxviii. 25, 26, 27.) So we
have in John x. 26:--"But you believe not because you are not of my
sheep."
Besides these imitations, Mahomet has made differences for the sake of
differences. So the Sabbath of the Moslemites is on the Friday, because
that of the Christians and Jews is on the Saturday and Sunday. I taxed my
taleb with his quotation. He did not flinch or blink a hair of the
eyelid, but said, "You Christians cannot believe if you would, because
God has blinded your eyes and hardened your hearts." "Why do you complain
of us?" I remonstrated. "I do not complain," he rejoined, "it is all
destined." I then related a story of predestination which I had heard, of
one man asking another, "If all things were predestined?" and he
replying, "Yes;" the questioner immediately threw him out of the window,
saying, "Well, that is also predestined." An old Moor sitting by, very
attentively listening, exclaimed immediately, "Well, even that throwing
out of the window, Yâkob, was also predestined." Said then brought in
some stewed meat. I gave my theological disputants, reasoning--
"Of Providence, foreknowledge, will and fate,
Fix'd fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,
And found no end, in wandering mazes lost,"
some bread, and they began breaking it and dipping it in the gravy of the
meat, the invariable custom here. Spoons they abominate, it is either
their fingers, or sopping. The Biblical reader will easily recognize the
custom. I took the Testament and read to the taleb this passage:--"And,"
said Jesus, "He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it;
and he took a sop and gave it to Judas Simon Iscariot."--(John xiii. 26.)
The taleb was greatly delighted, and said, "Yes, so it was in all times
before the infidels introduced knives and forks and spoons to eat with."
I observed it was much more cleanly to eat with knives and forks than
with one's fingers, but it was useless. He only replied, "There's water
always to wash your hands." The sop mentioned in the passage cited might
consist of a piece of bread dipped into a dish of fat or broth. So all
Ghadames people eat, dipping pieces of bread, as they break them from a
loaf, into fat or broth, or other dishes of this sort. We shall find, for
what cause I cannot tell, the Touaricks using spoons, and spoons which
are made in Central Africa, and distributed throughout The Sahara amongst
the Touarghee tribes. This little circumstance would seem to be an
argument against the Oriental origin of the Touaricks, for, eternally
dipping and sopping, and sopping and dipping with the fingers, is
coextensive with the migrations of the Arabs and other tribes from the
East. Jews were the first to introduce knives and forks into Mogador,
because they have not the same religious scruples on this head as
Mohammedans. Barbary Jews do it in imitation of their European brethren.
I shall trouble the reader with another display of the sectarian zeal of
my taleb.
To make a proposition, or a double proposition, of a form of the orthodox
Christian faith, I had constructed the following, in imitation of the
double proposition of the Mahometans, (that is--
لا لله الّا الله ومحمّد رسول الله
"There is one God, and Mahomet is the prophet of God,")
لا لله الّا الله ويسوع ابن الله
"There is one God, and Jesus is the son of God."
The first proposition is seen to be the same; whilst the divine
nature of the Saviour, which is the distinguishing feature of the
Christian religion as looked upon by Mussulmans, is added in the words
ابن الله. The number of syllables is precisely the same, the
و being merely considered as the connecting link of the two
propositions. But the term عيسي would be much preferable to
يسوع, being the classic Arabic term. In teaching Christian
doctrine to Mussulmans, and, indeed, to all people, it is necessary
to adapt our style and language to their style and language and mode
of conception. The Catholics, however, carried the adaptation too
far when they turned the statues of Jupiter and the Emperors into
those of the Apostles and Saints. For the Jews, the proposition
could be made thus:--
لا لله الّا الله ويسوع هو المسيح
"There is one God, and Jesus is the Messiah;"
or as we find the proposition in the first verse of the first chapter of
St. Mark,
[لا لله الّا الله] ويسوع المسيح ابن الله
"There is one God, and Jesus, the Messiah, is the Son of God."
This, being more full of doctrine, including both the divinity
and Messiahship of The Saviour, would, perhaps, be the preferable
form of the latter proposition. I showed the taleb these
propositions, and he was greatly exasperated, adding it was
blasphemy to connect Christian and Jewish ideas with "the Word of God"
(كلام الله). He added, oddly enough, "Such impious things
had never been before done in this holy place, this sacred Ghadames."
_18th._--The Rais makes a last effort to persuade me to return to The
Mountains, and take the route of Fezzan, adding as a reason, which
tourists would very properly consider an objection, "that I knew now the
route to The Mountains." I rejoined, "From what I have seen of the people
of Ghadames, and even the Touaricks, I think I may trust them as well as
the people of Tripoli." _The Rais_: "Well, you are your own master; the
Pasha says you may go if you like. The Ghadamseeah and Touaricks are one
people; make friends with them. But I'm sorry, after you have seen all my
kindness to you, my advice is nevertheless rejected." The Rais now saw I
was inexorable, and left off advising.
To-day some wild-ox, _bughar wahoush_[60],--بقر وحوش was
brought in from The Desert. This is the hunting time, which lasts three
months, and the flesh of this animal supplies a very good substitute
for beef. Indeed, the animal is a species of buffalo, but very
small, sometimes not much larger than a good-sized English sheep.
They are hunted in the sands to the north-west by Souf Arabs, who
are excellent hunters, and pursue the chase twenty days together
through the sandy regions. People pretend the bughar wahoush does
not drink; perhaps they don't drink much. But both the wild ox and
the aoudad are occasionally caught near the wells, a sufficient
proof they sometimes drink water. I cooked some, and found it of
excellent flavour. People call this animal also medicine. I
purchased half of one to salt for my journey to Ghat, but spoilt it
by too much salting. The salt ate away all the flesh from the bones.
I neglected the advice of Said, who assured me people salt meat very
little in Soudan. Indeed, they frequently cut the meat into strips
and dry it in the sun without salting. In this way caravans are
provisioned over The Desert. I ate some, and found it very good. My
Arab friend, the old doctor, brought me a small prickly shrub, which
he calls _El-Had_, الحد, and says it has powerful purgative
qualities, purging even the camels. It abounds in The Sahara.
We, The Desert Quack and English Quack, bandy compliments together.
_Desert Quack._--"Whilst you are here, you are the Sublime Doctor
(Ettabeeb Elâttheem)." [As much as to say, "When you are not here, I am
The Sublime Doctor."]
_English Quack._--"How? No, you are always The Sublime Doctor. I am at
your disposal. I am your slave."
_Desert Quack._--"Impossible! Haram, it is prohibited. You are the wise
doctor, you know all things."
_English Quack._--"How many people have you killed by your physic?"
_Desert Quack_ [surprised at this abrupt and impertinent question].--"God
forefend that I should kill any one! But sometimes _Rubbee_ (God) takes
away my patients, and sometimes they get better. But whether they die or
live, people always say, 'It is written (predestined).'"
I then related the story of Gil Blas, who bled to death the rich lady,
under the precepts of Dr. San Grado, and was challenged in mortal combat
by the suitor of the fair dame. On which he observed, "Gil Blas was a
dog. I trust the other man killed him. Here we bleed, but we always know
when blood enough is left in a man to keep him alive."
"How do you know that?" I replied.
_The Taleb._--"1st. I see if he sinks down. 2nd. I ask Rubbee. 3rd.
Sometimes the Jenoun (demons) tell me. 4th. If he dies, what matter? Is
it not the will of God?"
_19th._--Great preparations are now going on for the departure of the
ghafalah to Ghat and Soudan. An order has come from the Pasha, that the
Rais may take 2,500 instead of 3,250, less 750. This the people must pay.
And I hear the poor wretches have at last consented to swallow the bitter
pill. Every man, having a small property, or a householder, will pay each
five mahboubs; the merchants considerably more. A little by little, till
the vitals of this once flourishing oasis are torn out, and it becomes as
dead as The Desert around it.
_20th._--This morning a slave ghafalah arrives from Ghat with forty
slaves. Two escaped _en route_. What could the poor creatures do in
The Desert? They must have perished very soon. The ghafalah brings
important news. The Shânbah, 700 strong, had been ravaging the
country of the Ghat Touaricks, and had murdered thirty-seven people.
The Touaricks were arming, and in pursuit of the Shânbah assassins.
Besides this, the Shânbah have captured a Ghadamsee ghafalah,
escorted by Touaricks, not respecting a jot the Maraboutish
character of this city. It consisted of thirty camels, laden mostly
with the property of our merchants. Sheikh Makouran himself lost
2,000 mahboubs. Total loss for the merchants here is about 15,000
dollars. It is the caravan which left these two months ago, and took
a letter for me to the Governor of Ain Salah. Both letters have been
unlucky; the one sent to Ghat could not be delivered because the
Governor was changed; and this one, I imagine, has fallen into the
hands of the Shânbah. Two slaves escaped with a water-skin. They
then fell in with some Touaricks, who gave them a little bread, and
in this dreadful plight they got to Ghat. One died after his
arrival. What became of the Touaricks is not yet known. They are
probably massacred. I made the acquaintance of these luckless
Touaricks, and gave them some medicine to take to Touat. In this
foray the Shânbah killed a little child of three years old. When
they struck down a man, they ripped open his belly and left him.
These Shânbah banditti (who, to my surprise, are lauded in the
French works published by the Minister of War, as the most
enterprising camel-drivers and merchants in The Sahara,) are,
without doubt, what the people say here, the vilest and most
bloodthirsty miscreants in The Desert. How strange it is they are
Arabs! It is always the Arab, who is the most thorough-going,
hereditary, eternal robber of The Desert! Is it because we read,
"And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and
every man's hand against him?" The disposition for brigandage in
the soul of the Arab was a proverb of Jewish antiquity. So we have,
כַּעֳרָבִי בַּמִּדְבַּר, "As the Arabian in the Wilderness." My
Arabic translation, which was done by the Missionaries of the Roman
Church, follows some of the ancient versions, and renders it مثل
اللّص "like the thief in the Desert" (See Jeremiah iii. 2.) Still,
Mr. D'Israeli thinks there's nothing like Arab blood, if we read
aright his "Tancred," and would have us regenerate the old effete
race of Europe by this fiery and bloodthirsty Oriental barbarian, as
the Arabian stallion improves our dull race of horses. It is
reported, in town, "When the Shânbah cut to pieces the thirty-seven
Touaricks, one man was left untouched amidst the slaughter, owing
his safety to his _Ajab_, عجب (amulets), which he wore in great
profusion." This lucky charm-clad fellow saw the whole business from
first to last, unmoved amidst the commingled cries of the victims
and their slaughterers, and made a full report to the Touarghee
chiefs. Talking to Rais about this slaughter, his Excellency
observed, in the spirit of true Turkish policy, "So much the better.
Let the Touaricks and Shânbah slaughter one another, as long as we
are left unharmed. The less of them the better for us." So the Turks
have always dealt with the quarrels of the Arab tribes in Barbary,
rather blowing up the flames of their discord than pacifying them.
The Shânbah drove away a thousand camels, besides sheep and oxen,
from the Touarick districts. The merchants are all frightened
enough, and our departure is deferred, notwithstanding that the
slave caravan met with no accident. The Shânbah have now got their
booty and revenge, and will probably decamp and leave the route
clear for us. Common misfortunes often make friends of enemies. I
saw Sheikh Makouran and Mohammed Ben Mousa Ettanee, the two
principal merchants representing the factions of Weleed and Wezeet,
very busy in conversation upon the neutral ground of the
market-place, talking over their mutual losses. Both have lost
property to a great amount by this Shânbah irruption.
_21st._--The departure of the ghafalah is deferred to the 24th. Rais is
busy in comparing the papers of the merchants with the goods arrived from
Tripoli. These ill-used merchants pay 13 per cent. for exporting their
goods from Tripoli to the interior. The same goods have already paid 5
per cent. when imported into Tripoli by the European merchants. There is
then the profit of our Ghadamsee merchants, and the profit of native
merchants, and the merchants and the manufacturers in Europe. At what
price, then, above their intrinsic value, are those goods sold to the
merchants of Central Africa? A hideous thing is this system of transit
duties!
_22nd._--Weather is cold, everybody wraps up. People sit two or three
hours together out of doors in the morning before they'll stir. I ask
them, "Why don't you move about,--you would be then warm?" They answer,
"_Măzāl shemtz_" (no sun yet). Rais is excessively gracious: he gave me a
small loaf of white sugar. I had none left, and the gift came in the nick
of time when required. I have said so much about Rais Mustapha, that I
must now give a personal description of his Excellency, before I take
leave of him and of Ghadames. First of all, Rais is not a military man;
he is a civil servant of the Porte, and receives his pay direct from the
Sultan. The Turks often employ a civil servant where we should expect to
see a military man, as in this distant Saharan post, and find it to their
advantage. The Governor for military advice usually writes to the
Commandant of The Mountains. His Excellency rarely reads, but writes
constantly, and is very expert in accounts, his principal occupation
being the collecting of small monies. His Excellency is also fond of
collecting coins of different Mussulman States. The reader has seen that
he is very attentive to his religious duties, and is quite, if not
superior "marabout odour." His Excellency scarcely ever punishes anybody,
beats his slaves seldom, but can be very despotic when he pleases. Like
most Turks, he has a smack of bad faith in him, and made the Souf Arabs
pay the duty on the goods in their possession, though he promised people
he would not. We may suppose he is very badly off for money; perhaps his
own salary is not very regularly paid. His Excellency always behaved very
well when I purchased any corn of him. He is generally esteemed by the
people. In person the Rais is exceeding tall, above a convenient height;
he is about forty years of age, with strongly-marked Turkish features,
and a large aquiline nose. His limbs are heavy and large, but since his
residence here he has lost all his flesh. He dresses in the common dress
of Ottoman functionaries. I often found him chatty and facetious, but
sometimes he was sulky and morose, and would not speak for hours
together. He had a fine horse, but rarely could be prevailed upon to go
out and ride for his health. Every great man has his shadow, his echo,
the expression of himself more or less in his fellow men. The Rais's
shadow is one Abd Errahman, a small merchant. His sons call their father
_souwa-souwa_ ("like-like") with the Rais. Abd Errahman knew the Rais's
most secret thoughts, and he was the only Ghadamsee in whom the Rais
could entirely confide. Abd Errahman swore by the Governor's head, and
was his most obedient humble servant.
Sheikh Makouran is occupied in purchasing me an outfit of Moorish costume
for the The Desert. He is very slow, but he gets them cheaper than if I
bought them myself. He purchases one thing one day, and another thing the
next day, and all from different persons. This is the way here. Attempted
myself to purchase two turbans, one for myself and one for Said, but I
found it no easy matter. The owner asked three dollars each, alleging
that the turbans had been "blessed at Mecca[61]." I refused to give this
price, and it was agreed to wait till the Sheikh came. This was decided
by a council of the people, against the wish of the owner, who objected
to waiting. At length the Sheikh made his appearance. Nothing was said
about the price, for every one knew they must abide by the Sheikh's
decision. The Sheikh after examining the turbans, said to the seller,
"Let them be sold for one dollar each." The owner began to exclaim
against this decision, but the Sheikh stopped his mouth!--"This is our
friend (_habeebna_). Do you wish to rob him? Is this your kindness to a
stranger, who has lived with us so long, and whom we all love?" These
words were uttered with the greatest energy, and silenced every
objection. I paid the money, and a quarter of a dollar more for mine.
Without exception, the Sheikh was the most just and kindest man I met
with in Ghadames, and yet he had the reputation of being close-fisted in
money matters. He refused to receive any rent for his house in which I
lived, and when I left he ordered a quantity of cakes to be made for me,
which he brought me himself. They were very nice, made of butter, and
honey, and dates, and lasted me all the way to Ghat. Makouran pressed the
Rais to write for me to the Touarick authorities of Ghat; but his
Excellency could not without an order from Tripoli. I am under very great
obligations to the Sheikh, who behaved like a father to me in a land of
strangers. His brother was kindness itself, but had not the spirit of the
Sheikh. His eldest son, Haj Besheer, was also a very kind and upright
young man. Haj Besheer has immense influence with the Touaricks, and if
he had gone with me to Ghat, nothing would have happened. His principal
connexions are in Touat, and I really think that an European, going with
letters from him to one of his Touarghee friends, might make the journey
to Timbuctoo in safety. Sheikh Makouran took me to-day before the Rais
and Kady, and in their presence a long "Testimonial" of the people of
Ghadames was drawn out in Arabic, stating that during the time I had
resided in Ghadames I had conducted myself well, and given no offence to
any one. This was signed by the Kady, on behalf of all the people, in
presence of the Rais and the Nather and several other officers. I was
requested to countersign it, which I did with these words: "I have
remained three months in Ghadames, and now leave it with great personal
satisfaction to myself, and in peace with all the inhabitants." A copy of
this I made for the Kady to keep in Ghadames. The "Testimonial" itself
was sent to Colonel Warrington, through the Pasha, who either did not
forward it to the Colonel, or it has been mislaid or lost, for it cannot
now be found in the Consulate Archives. The people of Ghadames were
determined to give me this testimonial in order that the Turkish
authorities should not hereafter bring any accusation against me. It was
dated the 24th, or the day fixed for departure.
The Rais astonished me to-day, by telling me, he had bastinadoed twice my
taleb, Ben Mousa, for dishonesty. I absolutely thought the Rais was
joking, for the Rais and the taleb seemed always pretty good friends. I
knew Ben Mousa was not extremely delicate, and would sometimes sit down
with Said and eat his dinner away from him. I inquired of the turjeman
about it, who assured me it was no joke, and that Ben Mousa had been
twice bastinadoed for borrowing things and not returning them. I was
extremely sorry to hear this, for I had been greatly assisted by the
taleb in obtaining information, and we had passed many long hours
together. The taleb is a man of about fifty, extremely clever, and a
pretty good scholar, and had formerly kept a school. Now he did nothing
but calculate the water distribution or irrigation of the gardens. He
wished to come with me to England, to work at translations and get a
little fortune for his family. But whenever I told him that there were
very learned Arabic scholars in England and France, he always answered,
"They are concealed Moslems;" that is to say, afraid to confess Mahomet
before the Christians, or seeking to convert Christians. From time to
time I gave the taleb a few presents and a little money, as also the
turjeman. This latter was a very different character. He mended skin bags
for water, made shoes, white-washed houses, worked in the gardens, and
made himself generally useful. He had some property, and his garden, the
heritage of his ancestors, was one of the finest in the country. He was
honest, but his defect was want of moral courage. The turjeman had lived
a good while in Tunis, with some French, where he learned his Italian,
and a few French words. He always said, "When I lived with the
Christians, I drank wine like them." Some of the people, in a joke, would
call him a Christian. He was a bad scholar, and very bitter against the
Wahabites, whom he delighted to picture to himself in the pleasing
predicament of carrying the Jews to hellfire on their backs. I myself one
day had a quarrel with a Wahabite. The Wahabite called me a kafer. I
retorted, "Why, what are you? You are nothing but a Wahabite." He was so
angry that he was about to draw his knife at me, when the people seized
hold of him, and one of my friends knocked him down.
Rais heard of the affair, and said as he was a foreign Arab he should
leave the oasis. He came afterwards to me to beg my pardon, and I gave
him some coffee to make him merry. He then told me all about the
Wahabites, not forgetting to abuse all the other sects. He said the Arabs
of his mountain had no objection to the Turks if they would become
Wahabites. He was also of the Abadeeah, "white-caps," and declaimed
against the "red"-capped Wahabites. The controversy is as nearly as
possible the same as that of our white and black-gowned clergy of the
Established Church, introduced by the Puseyites.
Begin now to have some trouble with Said. He gets sulky and saucy, and
sometimes says he will stop in Ghadames and eat dates. I am obliged to
box his ears. Then he gets very frightened at the Touaricks, and begins
to blubber, "I shall be made a slave again, and you yourself will be
killed." Then he would complain that the Rais's servants and slaves had
better clothes than himself. I always found it was the better way to let
him have a _sfogo_, or "vent," for his temper, and afterwards he was
himself again. He never could keep a _para_ in his pocket, but would give
his money to the first person who would ask him for it. I am obliged to
buy him snuff every week, and a stock for the journey. With this he is
accustomed to treat everybody, and is therefore very popular. Even the
Governor thinks him the best Negro he ever knew. As is natural enough, he
is a great favourite amongst the Negresses, and even amongst the Touarick
ladies. I found him crying one day, and asked,--
"Said, what's the matter?"
"I now recollect my wife whom I left in Jerba," he sighed out.
Before this, I didn't know he was married; he was about thirty years of
age. My turjeman and Said were two great cronies, and they discussed all
the town's affairs in general, and everybody's affairs in particular. At
first, I had not the remotest idea Said had so much wit, and was pleased
to hear his remarks and criticisms. One of these was capital, and had a
particular reference to his own case. He stared at me, observing, "We
can't put the slave-trade down whilst the Jews in Tripoli lend the
merchants here goods to carry it on." He was so fond of the turjeman
that, on leaving Ghadames, he gave him all the money he had, and said to
me when I scolded him, "We don't want any money in The Desert," adding,
"Where are the shops?"
_23rd._--Bought a camel this morning, a _nagah_, ناقه, or
"she-camel," for 25 dollars. Rais would have the honour of choosing
the camel, but it was scarcely worth the money. I hired another
camel to carry a portion of the baggage. Rais told me the Pasha had
offered to the Touaricks to equip an expedition, in conjunction with
them, against the Shânbah, but the Touaricks would not accept of the
aid, being determined to fight their own battles in their own way.
They might have thought that after the Pasha had destroyed the
Shânbah, he would have turned his arms against them.
_24th._--We are all confusion in getting off. It is late in the
afternoon. I have loaded the nagah, and disposed of my baggage; I have
bid a hundred people farewell, shaking them by the hands. We are
surrounded with the whole male population of the city, and half-caste
women. Rais is galloping about to see the people off. But a group of
people is now seen forming rapidly round a man and a boy, and a camel
just come in from The Desert with a load of wood, "What's the matter?"
"The Shânbah! the Shânbah!" people shout from detachment to detachment of
the ghafalah. The confusion of parting is succeeded by the terror and
rushing back of the people. The advanced party abruptly returns upon the
party immediately behind it, and all rush back to the gates of the city,
one running over the other. Rais appears amongst them to calm the
consternation. "What's the matter?" His Excellency is too much agitated
to answer the question. I find Sheik Makouran. "What's the matter?" "The
man and the boy just come in saw twenty-five Shânbah mounted on camels,
and the ghafalah cannot go. Rais is going to send out a scout, a
_Senawanee_, to see if it be the Shânbah, and then all the people are to
arm and go out against the robbers." A pretty kettle of fish, thought I.
The Governor then sent a man down to me, to come and sleep for the night
in his house. All the merchants return, but the camels and a few men
remain outside, close by the gate. A number of soldiers are sent round
the city, and the _Senawanee_ mounted on a maharee, goes off in the
direction where the Shânbah had been seen, the Rais accompanying him a
short distance. On his return, the Rais bitterly complained of the
merchants not furnishing him immediately with camels. It was some time
before he could get the scout off. I went up a mound outside of the city
to see the scout "out of sight." As the white form of the maharee was
disappearing in the glare of the sand, I admired the bravery of the
Senawanee, who thus defied single-handed a troop of robbers, bearding
them in their very ambush.
We waited with intense anxiety the return of the scout. Many people got
upon the walls to look out. At length, at noon the 25th, a single camel
was descried on the dull red glare of the Saharan horizon. This was the
Senawanee. A number of people ran to him. "Where are the Shânbah?"
"Where?" "Shânbah?" The messenger said nothing--he was dumb. A crowd
gets round him--he's still dumb. He enters the Rais's hall of conference,
and squats down in the presence of his Excellency. He speaks now, and
calls for coffee. The Rais gets furiously agitated at the moment of
breaking silence. The scout very calmly sips off his coffee, and strokes
down his beard, and then deigned to satisfy Governor, Kady, officers, and
the men, women, and children, who were now pressing upon him with
dreadful agitation. "Oh, Bey! (raising himself from the floor, fixing his
eyes now on the Bey, and now on the people, and putting his fore-finger
of the right hand on the thumb of the left)--I went to the sand. I got
there when the sun was gone down. The camel lay down, and so did I lay
down on the sand. We watched all night. I fear no one but God!--(Here was
a general hum of approbation.)--Two hours before the _fidger_, (break of
day) I looked up and saw pass by me, at a distance of from here to The
Spring, nine _Bughar_ (wild-bullocks). They came and went, and went and
came, snuffing up the sand and bellowing. The man and the boy, who cut
the wood yesterday, saw the _Bughar_. But the wild oxen are not the
Shânbah!" As soon as he mentioned the _Bughar_, the people rushing out of
the Bey's apartment, ran away, and before I could get my dinner, a
portion of the ghafalah was on the move. The Rais said to me, "Get off,
make haste--make haste." I then went down to load the nagah again, but
found it very difficult; seeing the other camels passing on, she would
not stop to be laden. At length my turjeman came and arranged all. Said
observed that the obstinacy of the nagah was a bad omen. His Excellency
the Governor came to see me off, and gave me an affectionate shake of the
hands. I then met his confidential man Abd-Errahman, who said to me,
"Rais has given you in charge of all the people of the ghafalah, (about
sixty persons"). This was kind of the Governor, and better, perhaps, than
being in the charge of one individual. But still I couldn't help
thinking, that what is many persons' business is nobody's business. The
turjeman accompanied us some distance, chatting with Said. He carried
with him a quantity of date-tree fibrous netting, and was twisting bands
as he followed us. We soon parted. I then passed my old friend the
good-natured Arab doctor. His parting blessing spoke the native goodness
of his heart: "Day cool, route wide, route Fezzan, ghafalah large,
Shânbah there are none--God bless you, farewell!"
I began to breathe at once the free air of the open Desert. As is my
wont, I now committed my spirit to the care of God Almighty, leaving my
body to the care of the wild tribes of these inhospitable wastes. And why
not? Why distrust them? Have not the people hitherto treated me with
great and unexpected kindness? And is it not the first step to make
strangers your enemies, to distrust them?
FOOTNOTES:
[58] They call all other languages in the world _Ajem_--عجم--a
distinction like that of Jew and Gentile, only applied to language
instead of persons.
[59] Sale says:--"Mahomet here and elsewhere frequently imitates
the truly inspired writers, in making God to operate on the minds
of reprobates, to prevent their conversion." Impostors in all ages
have charged the inefficacy of their novel mysteries upon the will
of God. But these passages have had their use and humanity effects
in the strife of contending religions. A Mahometan bigot, with
sword in one hand and victim in the other, has often spared his
life and his conversion by recollecting, "_God had sealed up his
heart and his hearing_," so that he could not believe. The pride
of the Moslem has also thus been content to leave matters in the
hands of a predestinating deity.
[60] "Wild bullock:" The _Bos Brachyceras_, Gray.
[61] Turbans are sent to Mecca to be blest there, and by this
blessing of course their value is greatly enhanced amongst the
Moumeneen. Shrouds are also blessed at Mecca; and a rich Mahometan
endeavours to procure one to wrap up his mortal remains. A
considerable trade is carried on in blessed garments.