RESIDENCE IN GHAT.
Arrival at Ghat, and reception by its Inhabitants.--The Cold of
The Sahara.--Haj Ahmed, the Governor, and Sheikh
Jabour.--Distribute Presents to the Governor and Jabour.--Visit
the Sheikh Hateetah, styled the British Consul of Ghat.--Make the
acquaintance of the Tripoline Merchant Haj Ibrahim.--The Ghat
Rabble.--Ouweek arrives in Ghat.--A Visit from Touarick
Women.--Arabs begging from me by force.--Arrival of Kandarka from
Aheer.--Bel Kasem's account of the Slave Trade.--Visit to Haj
Ahmed, the Governor; his Character and Establishment
described.--Bel Kasem's Sick Slave.--All classes of People
attempt to convert me to Mohammedanism.--Bad effect of an
European Tourist assuming the Character of a
Mahometan.--Touarghee mode of Saluting.--Miserable condition of
Slaves on arriving from Soudan.--Soudanese Merchants friendly to
me.--Visit from the Governor.--Report in The Desert of Christians
Worshipping Idols.--Make the Acquaintance of a young
Touarghee.--Slave Trading and Kidnapping Slaves up The
Niger.--Economical Bill of Expenses of Journey from Ghat to
Soudan.
_15th._--ROSE two hours before daybreak in order to arrive early at Ghat
in the morning. About ten A.M., the palms of Ghat were visible through
the scattered blocks of rock in the valley, for the plain became now
contracted and assumed the shape of a deep broad valley, on the one side
a low range of sand-hills, and on the other the high rocky chain of
Wareerat. But the first sight of the oasis, after nineteen weary days of
Desert, affected me with only disagreeable sensations. The affair of
Ouweek, though pretty well got over, had shaken my confidence in the
Touaricks. Indeed, the painful forebodings of the last forty hours had
seriously deranged my plans, and made me think of returning, availing
myself the most of my unsuccessful tour. This suffering of thought day
after day is intense and worries me, and will soon make me an old man, if
not in years. It was the sudden shock of the affair just after receiving
the messenger of peace from Ghat. I saw at once that there was a great
deal of insubordination in the lesser chieftains, which made travelling
in this country very insecure. I remembered the remark of my taleb, "All
the Touaricks are the Divan, and each has his own opinion, and carries it
out in spite of the Sultan."
We were now met by the friends of the Ghadamsee merchants, but with the
exception of Essnousee and two or three others, I received few salutes of
welcome; and when we got up to the gates of the city (at noon), not a
single person of our caravan offered me the least assistance, either in
interpreting or otherwise. I felt myself in a most deplorable
predicament, but I reflected that all men must each one look after his
own business, so our people were now each one occupied with his own
affairs. I felt much the want of a good Moorish or Arab servant. Said was
of no use whatever in this case. Strangers and loungers crowded and
clamoured round me, anxious to look at the face of "The Christian." It
was covered with my travelling handkerchief, and when I untied my face to
gratify their curiosity, they burst out with the rude and wild expression
of surprise, "_Whooh! Whooh! Whey!_" Amongst this mob I at once
distinguished a number of the Aheer and Soudan merchants. These showed
the greatest curiosity, but my outer dress being entirely Moorish, there
was little novelty in my appearance, nay, scarcely any to point me out
from the rest of the caravan. Several of the Ghat people then asked me
what I wanted. I told them, the Governor of Ghat. I was not understood.
At last came up to me a young Tripoline Moor of the name of Mustapha, who
volunteered his services as Touarghee and Arabic interpreter, but, of
course, our conversation was always in Arabic. Amidst a cluster of
Touaricks and Ghat townsmen, the Governor was pointed out. Several
Sheikhs were present, but it appears they gave precedence to the
Governor's son from a feeling of shamefacedness. Haj Ahmed's son is a
very nice polite young gentleman, as smart as a Parisian dandy. After a
little delay he conducted us to a house, in which some of his father's
slaves were living. It was a dark dreadful dilapidated hovel. The young
gentleman most earnestly apologized, protesting, "The town is full of
people, merchants, and strangers. We have nothing better left in the
town. Perhaps you will come and live in our house out of the town." We
looked out our baggage, which had been conveyed for us by Arabs of our
caravan, and were astonished to find it scattered about outside the city
gates, the caravan people having thrown it down there. However, nothing
was lost, and this at once impressed me with the remarkable honesty of
the Ghatee people. I took up my quarters in a small room built on the
terrace, without window or door, but very airy. A roof of mud and straw
was now a luxurious and splendid mansion to me. At least a dozen slaves
were occupied in carrying my baggage from outside the gates to my
domicile, each carrying some trifle. No camels or beast of burden are
allowed to enter the city gates, all goods and merchandize are carried by
slaves in and out. Like the porters at the different traveller-stations
in Europe, each of these slaves seized hold of the merest trifle of
baggage, a stick or a bit of cord, in order to make an exorbitant demand
of the value of a shilling. The Desert furnishes a parallel for every
circumstance of civilized life.
The last night or two I had found it very cold, and the wind too high for
tents. I may observe here, conveniently, the cold was so great in this
portion of Sahara, that I never could undress myself for dread of the
cold. After loosening my neckcloth and shoes, I lay down in the dress
which I wore during the day. My bed was a simple mattress laid over a
piece of matting, which latter was spread on the hard earth or sands of
The Desert, as it might be, with a small sofa cushion for a pillow. After
I had laid down the mattress, I then covered myself up with a large
woollen barracan or blanket, very thick and heavy, and over this was also
drawn a dark-blue European cloak. The cloth distinguished my bed from
those of the merchants, and the nagah always knew the encampment by the
sight of this Christian garment. When I wore it in the day she was
immediately sensible of the presence of her master. I did not pitch a
tent, for we could not, but formed a sort of head-place of the two
panniers of the camel, over which we arranged camel's gear, forming a
small top. Under this I placed or poked my head, so that, at night, if
turning over my face, I found a little shelter from the naked cold
heavens. In this way I lay enveloped in a mass of clothing. I usually
waked a couple of hours before daybreak with the intensity of the cold.
Said slept closely by me on a lion's skin, and rolled himself up in the
slight canvass of the tent. Like myself he never undressed himself at
night. When he wished to confer a favour upon any of his negro
countrymen, or the poor slaves, he would take them and roll them up with
him in this canvass. He would have sometimes half a dozen at once with
him, the confined air of their united breathings keeping them mutually
warm. The poor Arab camel-drivers had nothing but their barracans which
they wore in the day to cover themselves up at night, whilst the bare
earth was their couch of down, and a heap of stones their luxurious
pillow. All these Arabs were wandering wayfaring Jacobs of The Desert.
El-Aïshi says, speaking of the bleak wind of The Desert, "The north wind
blows in these places with an intensity equalling the cold of hell;
language fails me to express this rigorous temperature." The Mohammedans
believe that the extremes of heat and cold meet in hell. Some have
thought there is an allusion to this in the words, "Weeping and wailing
and gnashing of teeth," (the teeth chattering from cold.) Milton has also
enumerated cold as one of the torments of the lost. The tormented spirits
passed--
"O'er many a frozen, many a fiery, Alp."
I had not been many minutes in my new apartment before the Governor
himself came in. I had been addressing the young Ghatee as the Governor
himself, like Goldsmith harangued a duke's footman for the duke himself.
Haj Ahmed, his father, welcomed me with every demonstration of
hospitality. He sat chatting with me until the arrival of the Sheikh
Jabour, who also welcomed me in the most friendly manner. This was the
Sheikh who had dispatched his slave to the well of Tadoghseen to meet me.
Two or three other Touaricks of distinction came in with my friend
Essnousee. They then questioned me upon the conduct of Ouweek, the news
of which had now spread over all the town, and thanking Jabour for
sending his slave, he replied, smiling, "Ouweek was joking with you." And
then all joined in a laugh about Ouweek's affair. Jabour, ashamed of the
business, took this method of easing my mind. The Governor now began to
ask me about news and politics, and how Muley Abd Errahman was getting on
with the French. The burning of the French steamer on the coast of
Morocco after she grounded, had been transformed by The Desert reports
into a victory over the French, in which the French had lost 70,000 men
and several ships. The Governor had also heard the Maroquine war had
recommenced. I excused my ignorance by saying, I had been a long time in
Ghadames, and had heard nothing. Odd enough, the Governor asked me,
"Which was the oldest dynasty in Europe?" I told him the Bourbons of
France. The Sheikh Jabour here interposed that his family was more than
three thousand years old! The pride of an hereditary _noblesse_ is
deeply rooted in these Touarghee chiefs. The lore of ancestral
distinction is co-extensive with the human race. I have given but the
substance of our conversations. I give some of it in detail:--
Interrogation, _by the Governor_.
_His Excellency._--"What did Ouweek to you?"
"He was saucy to me."
_His Excellency._--"Have you seen lately Muley Abd Errahman (Emperor of
Morocco)?"
"No."
_His Excellency._--"He has conquered the French, destroyed their ships.
They have lost 70,000 men. If you had told Muley Abd Errahman you had
been coming here, he would have sent me a letter by you."
"I have no doubt of it."
_His Excellency._--"How is your Sultan?"
"Very well, thank you?"
_His Excellency._--"When did you last see Sidi Abd-el-Kader?"
"Not very lately."
_His Excellency._--"He is a prophet." (To which I said, Amen.)
Interrogatory, _by Sheikh Jabour_.
_The Sheikh._--"What did Ouweek to you?"
"He was very rude."
_The Sheikh._--"Ouweek was playing with you, trying to frighten you
because you are a stranger. He's a fool himself."
"Oh, it's no matter now."
_The Sheikh._--"How's your Sultan? Does he doubt we shall utterly destroy
the Shânbah."
"Oh, not the least."
_The Sheikh_ (in reply to the Governor).--"My fathers were princes before
all the Christian kings, thousands of years ago."
"I dare say they were."
My visitors now took leave of me, Jabour shaking hands with me, and
saying, _Mā-tăhāfsh_, "don't fear." Afterwards had a great many curious
visitors of the lower classes, all raving mad to see the _Roumee_
("Christian"). And amongst the rest, the son of Ouweek! who is a young
harmless fellow, and said his father would never hurt a great Christian
like me. He begged hard for a piece of sugar, which I gave him. He asked
me if his father was coming to Ghat. For supper I received a splendid
dish of meat and sopped bread, but very highly seasoned with pepper and
cloves. It is the Soudan pepper, a small quantity of which possesses the
most violent, nay virulent strength.
_16th._--After taking a walk in the morning, I returned the visit of
the Governor. He received me very politely, and presented me with a
lion's skin, brought from Soudan. His Excellency shewed me his
certificate of character and rank, certified by a huge seal of the
Emperor of Morocco. He pointed out with conscious pride the name of
Marabout, with which sacred title the Emperor had dubbed him. Muley
Abd Errahman is an immense favourite here amongst the Moorish
townsmen. They call him their Sultan. The Turks they fear and
detest. They expect them one day at Ghat. In the afternoon I sent
the Governor, according to the advice of Mustapha, two loaves of
sugar (French), a pound of cloves, and a pound of sunbul[70].
Cloves--_grunfel_, قرنفل--are greatly esteemed, especially by
the women, who season their cakes, cuskasous, and made-dishes with them.
The sunbul (leaves) is made into a decoction, or wash, and is used
by fashionable ladies in Sahara as eau de Cologne in Europe.
Afterwards I paid a visit to Sheikh Jabour. The Sheikh has a house within
the town, which very few of the Sheikhs have. Jabour received me
friendly. I could not see the features of the Sheikh very well, on
account of his litham. Jabour, however, is a perfect aristocrat in his
way, with a very delicate hand. He is tall and well-made, and his simple
and elegant manners denote at once "The Marabout Sheikh of the
Touaricks," of the most ancient and renowned of Touarghee families. I
took the Sheikh a present of a loaf of sugar, three pounds of cloves and
sunbul, and a shasheeah, or fez. Jabour received them very graciously,
and repeated his _ma-tahafsh_, "don't fear," several times, promising me,
at the same time, to use his influence with his friends to get me safely
escorted to Aheer and Soudan. The Sheikh's followers and other
distinguished Touaricks repeat the same, but the Governor I find more
cautious in his speech. On my return home, the Sheikh sent to know if the
handkerchief, in which the present was wrapped, were also a present, and
whether the bearer of the present had purloined it, for he had taken it
away with him. I immediately sent the Sheikh back the handkerchief,
informing the Sheikh the bearer was not told to leave it. All Saharan
people are immoderately fond of a handkerchief. I recommend travellers in
Sahara to supply themselves with a good stock of very cheap coloured
cotton handkerchiefs. My house is thronged all day long with visitors. I
am obliged to exhibit myself to the people like the Fat Boy, or the
American Giant. It is Richardson's Show at Ghat instead of Greenwich. The
rest of the ghafalah, which we left behind, arrived to-day. My friend,
El-Besher, to my regret, had turned suddenly back and gone to Touat,
where his brother had arrived from Timbuctoo. It is reported that a
quarrel had taken place about his brother amongst the Timbuctoo caravan,
in which affair ten people had been killed. So all Saharan caravans do
not travel in such harmony as we did. The Ghadamsee caravans are
certainly the most pacific. But the Timbuctoo people have everywhere a
bad character.
_17th._--In the morning went to see the Consul of the Europeans, as the
Moors call him. This is the Sheikh Hateetah, of whom very honourable
mention is made by the Denham and Clapperton party. Hateetah himself
assumes the distinction of "Friend," or Consul of the English. I found
him stretched on a pallet upon the ground floor, extremely unwell with
fever, and surrounded by his friends. He has just come from the country
districts. He asked me, "Is the Consul well? Are his daughters well? Is
the King of England well?" Hateetah had some years ago visited the Consul
and his family at Tripoli, under British protection, for Touaricks dare
not approach Tripoli. He has in his possession, after a dozen years, a
fine scarlet burnouse and coat, braided with gold lace, and also a gun,
which were presented to him by Colonel Warrington, on the part of our
Government, for his services to our Bornou expedition. The Sheikh told me
he had besides a written certificate from the Consul, but it was in the
country. I am the first person whom he has had an opportunity of serving
since his return from Tripoli, where he formally engaged, on the part of
the Touaricks, to give British subjects all necessary protection in the
Ghat districts. For this reason he is styled, "The friend of the
English." All strangers here are placed under the care of one Sheikh or
another, to whom they make presents, but not to the rest. Hateetah
resides in the suburbs.
During the past night was taken dreadfully ill, in the stomach, by eating
the high-seasoned dishes of the Governor. After drinking olive-oil and
vomiting, found myself much better. People say oil is the best remedy in
such cases. The Governor was troubled at my illness, and sent to ask
whether he should send me some senna tea. Wrote to-day to Mr. Alsager and
Colonel Warrington. The letters were to have been dispatched direct to
Tripoli, but the Touaricks would neither allow one of their own people
nor an Arab courier to go, giving as the reason that Shafou, the Sultan,
was not arrived. Touaricks have a horror of Turks, and cannot bear to
have communication with them, and do everything in their power to prevent
others from communicating with Tripoli. Not acquainted with Mediterranean
politics, they imagine that, because the Turks have retaken possession of
Ghadames and Fezzan, so long quasi-independent of Tripoli, they must
necessarily invade the Touarick territory, and seize upon their wee town
of Ghat, but to them the metropolis of The Sahara. This evening Jabour
hinted, in Hibernian style, to one of the slaves waiting upon me, that
his present of sugar was rather small. I forthwith sent him two loaves
more, which rejoiced him so much that he exclaimed, "Thank the Christian
by G--d. Tell him he has nothing to fear in Ghat, and he shall go safe to
Soudan." Felt better to-night. The Governor sent his last dish this
evening. A stranger of distinction is supplied with food for three days.
I have had my share of honour and hospitality, and am glad of it. I shall
now be cautious what I eat. But I find everything is exceedingly dear,
the number of strangers, foreign merchants, and slaves, is so unusually
great as quickly to devour all the food brought here.
Yesterday I made the acquaintance of Haj Ibrahim, a Moorish merchant
resident in Tripoli, but a native of Jerbah. When in Tripoli he acts as
Consul for the Ghadamsee merchants; his brother is now in charge.
Mustapha came with him direct from Tripoli, not passing through Mourzuk,
but _viâ_ the oases of Fezzan to the west. So an European agent
established at Mourzuk, cannot well collect a statistical account of
trade, on account of few Ghat caravans travelling the Mourzuk route. Haj
Ibrahim promises to be useful to me, and has already sent a letter for me
to Ghadames. This merchant has brought the largest amount of goods to the
Souk, about forty camels. The whole of the Soudan ghafalah has not yet
arrived from Aheer. It comes in by small detached parties. As there is
nothing to fear on the road, people prefer travelling in small
companies, which facilitates their march, not being detained at the
wells waiting for the running of the water.
I have _cut_ in a certain way my old friends of the Ghadamsee ghafalah.
This has done them good, for they now begin to return to me, and are
polite. Before they were all so frightened at the Touaricks, that I knew
if I did not cut them, they would cut me. Now, when seeing the Touaricks
are friendly, they are also friendly;--such is the world of Sahara, as
well as the world of Paris or London. When a man has few friends he gets
less, when many he gets more. On the principle, I suppose, that money
gets money, and friendship friendship. The Moors of the coast, of whom
there are a few here, exhibit more courage, and a bolder front to the
Touaricks. The worst of this place is, _The Rabble_. It is the veritable
Caboul, or Canton _Rabble_. Here's my "great difficulty." They run after
me, and even hoot me in the streets. Were it not for this rabble, I could
walk about with the greatest freedom and safety, and alone.
_18th._--Went to see Haj Ibrahim. Sent the letter to Mr. Alsager _viâ_
Ghadames, the only letter I wrote from Ghat during the fifty days of my
residence here. In my absence a loaf of sugar was stolen out of my
apartment. Suspicion falls upon a Fezzanee, whom I have employed, and to
whom I gave this very morning a quarter of a dollar. These small loaves
of French beet-root sugar sell for two-thirds of a dollar in Ghat. Ouweek
arrived to-day from his district, after stopping for the rest of the
caravan to get what he could in the way of begging by force. This is the
cunning of the old fox bandit. He knows he can beg more effectually from
the merchant and trader in the open desert, than at Ghat, where people
may refuse, and do refuse to satisfy his importunities. I have done so
with the rest. He now pretends he was only playing with me, and that he
would have let me pass through his district though I had given him
nothing. Can we believe him? Jabour says in turn:--"I will make Ouweek
restore the goods which he has extorted by violence from the Christian."
There is no doubt Shafou will reprimand the bandit when he arrives. But I
do not ask or expect the restoration of such a few trifling things. In
this country, as the Governor says, "full of Sheiks," where authority is
so divided, and the Sultan's power is so feeble, we must expect this sort
of freebooting extortion. Such were the good and fine old days of
chivalry in France and England, so much regretted by certain morbid
romancers, Sir Walter Scott to boot, when a baron made a foray upon a
neighbouring baron's people, and shut himself up with the booty in his
castle, defying equally his plundered neighbour and his sovereign. But if
in the comparison there is any declination of the balance, it is in
favour of the Touaricks, for these Sheikhs, governing their respective
districts with a _quasi_-independent authority, are now living in
profound peace and harmony with one another.
Had a visit from some score of Touarick women, of all complexions,
tempers, and ages. After staring at me for some time with amazed
curiosity and silence, they became restless. Not knowing what to do with
them, I took out a loaf of white sugar, cut it into pieces, and then
distributed it amongst them. The scene now suddenly changed, joy beamed
in every eye, and every one let her tongue run most volubly. They asked
me, "Whether I was married--whether the Christian women were
pretty--whether prettier than they--and whether, if not married, I should
have any objection to marry one of them?" To all which questions I
answered in due categorical form:--"I was not married--the Christian
women were pretty, but they, the Touarick women, were prettier than
Christian women--and, lastly, I should see whether I would marry one of
them when I came from Soudan." These answers were perfectly satisfactory.
But then came a puzzler. They asked me, "Which was the prettiest amongst
them?" I looked at one, and then at another, with great seriousness,
assuming very ungallant airs, (the women the meanwhile giggling and
coquetting, and some throwing back their barracans, shawls I may call
them, farther from their shoulders, baring their bosoms in true ball-room
style,) and, at last, falling back, and shutting my eyes, placing my left
hand to my forehead, as if in profound reflection, I exclaimed languidly,
and with a forced sigh, "Ah, I can't tell, you are all so pretty!" This
created an explosion of mirth, some of the more knowing ones intimating
by their looks, "It's lucky for you that you have got out of the scrape."
But an old lady, close by me, was very angry with me;--"You fool,
Christian, take one of the young ones; here's my daughter." It is
necessary to explain, that the woman of the Touaricks is not the woman of
the Moors and Mussulmans generally. She has here great liberty, walks
about unveiled, and takes an active part in all affairs and transactions
of life. Dr. Oudney justly remarks, "The liveliness of the women, their
freeness with the men, and the marked attention the latter paid them,
formed a striking contrast with other Mohammedan States." Batouta
mentions a Berber tribe of Western Sahara, as having similar manners. He
says:--"This people has very singular manners. So the men are not at all
jealous of their women. The women are not at all embarrassed in the
presence of the men; and though they, the women, are very assiduous at
their prayers, they appear always uncovered." He adds, that certain
women, of free manners, are shared amongst the people without exciting
the feelings of jealousy amongst the men. It is the same with the
Touaricks, but it is the absence of this Mussulman, or _oriental_
jealousy, of husbands of their wives, which distinguishes the Touaricks
from other Mahometans of North Africa, and connects the social condition
of the Touaricks more with European society. On departing, I gave the
Touarick ladies some pins, and they, not knowing how to use them, (for
pins are never imported into The Desert, though needles in thousands,) I
taught them a good practical lesson by pinning two of them together by
their petticoats, which liberty, on my part, I need not tell the reader,
increased the mirth of this merry meeting of Touarghee ladies
prodigiously. I certainly felt glad that we could travel in a country and
laugh and chat with, and _look at_ the women without exciting the
intolerable jealousy of the men. I think there is not a more dastardly
being than a jealous husband. Amongst the Moors a traveller does not know
whether he can venture to speak to a man's wife or not, or whether he can
make her the most trifling present in return for the supper which she may
cook.
Afterwards had a very different visit of four Arabs, who came with the
evident intention of getting something out of me by main force. I
resisted to the last, and to their astonishment. I told them, all my
presents were now for the Touaricks, and if they did not leave the house
I would get them bastinadoed on their return to The Mountains. The worst
class of people which I have met with, since I left Tripoli, are _some_
of these Arabs, who are the most dogged brazen-faced beggars and
spongers, banditti in the open day. Yesterday arrived the powerful Aheer
camel-driver and conducteur Kandarka Bou Ahmed, the _Kylouwee_, whose
arrival produced a sensation. Some call him a Sheikh. He usually conducts
the Ghadamsee merchants between this and Aheer, and as far as Kanou. It
is an established custom or law, in The Desert, that the people of each
district or country shall enjoy the privilege of conducting the caravans.
The Touaricks of Ghat conduct the merchants from Ghadames to Ghat, and
the Touaricks of Aheer the merchants from Ghat to Aheer, and so of the
rest of the route, as far as Kanou, the final destination of the Soudan
caravan.
My Ghadamsee friend Bel Kasem came up to me today, and whispered in my
ear the question, "If slaves would be allowed to be sold now in the
market of Tripoli?" I answered frankly in the affirmative, but added, "I
did not think it would last much longer." All the merchants now look upon
me as an anti-slavery agent. The affair of Silva and Levi, if it
prejudice the people against me on one side, gives me some consequence on
the other, on account of the steps which the British Consul took against
those merchants, or caused them to take. I went to see Bel Kasem in the
evening, who is but a mere trader. He gave me this account of his
slave-dealing:--"I have purchased five slaves at forty mahboubs each. At
Tripoli I shall sell them at sixty. The Pasha takes ten duty, and I have
only ten for profit and the expenses, of conveying the slaves from Ghat
to Tripoli, feeding them as well here as there. What, where is my
profit?" I echoed, "Where?" This is a fair specimen of the market. He
complains of the dearness of the slaves, although an unusual number, more
than a thousand, have been brought to the Souk or Mart. Haj Ibrahim and
some other large purchasers have greatly and unexpectedly increased the
demand. He says Haj Ibrahim purchases large quantities of goods on
credit, or for bills of six and nine months from European merchants in
Tripoli. These he exchanges against slaves in Ghat, and then returns and
sells his slaves, and pays the bills as they come due. In this way, it
will be seen, the Desert slave-traffic is carried on upon the shoulders
of European merchants. Haj Ibrahim considers his profits at twenty per
cent. The people say he gets more. My friend, the Arab of Derge, called
late, to borrow five dollars of me. He said, "I have purchased a slave
for twenty-five dollars; at present I have only twenty. You and I, Yâkob,
have been always friends. Lend me five dollars and I will pay you in a
few days. The slave is a little old but cheap, he is to work in the
gardens at Ghadames." I then explained to him the law of England on
slavery, which greatly surprised him. The next day this Derge Arab
brought in another fellow to ask me to lend him money to buy a slave,
just to see whether I should make the same reply to him also.
_19th._--Rose early, and better in health. I begin to feel at home in
Ghat, amidst the redoubtable Touaricks. I find them neither monsters nor
men-eaters[71]. Nevertheless, all the swaggering Arabs and Arab
camel-drivers are here very quiet and civil amongst their masters, the
Touaricks. I frequently bully them now about their past boasting and
present cowardice. Two of the Arabs who had attempted to extort a present
from me I met at Haj Ibrahim's house. I lectured them roundly, telling
them I would report them to the Pasha, for they were greater banditti
than the Touaricks. This had a salutary effect. I was not troubled
afterwards with these brazen-faced begging Arabs.
This morning paid another visit to Haj Ahmed, the Governor. Found him
very friendly. He talked politics. I explained to him the circumstances
of the war between France and Morocco, suppressing the most disagreeable
parts for a Mahometan. In the course of conversation I was surprised to
hear from Haj Ahmed, "Now, since these twelve years, Tripoli belongs to
the English." I used vainly all my eloquence in Arabic to convince him of
this error, which has been propagated since the removal of Asker Ali from
the Pashalic of Tripoli at the instance of the British Consul. I then
spoke to his Excellency of the necessity of sending some trifling
presents to the Queen of England, as a sign of friendship, begging him to
speak to Shafou. He replied, "The Touaricks have nothing but camels."
The Governor has a tremendous family. First of all, he has seven wives
and concubines, then nine sons and six daughters. One of his female
slaves repeated to me all their names, a complete muster-roll. When I
visited the Governor again, I congratulated him upon having so large a
family. He observed smiling, with great self-complacency, "Why, Yâkob, do
you call this a large family? What is a large family with you?" I told
him eight and even six children was a large family. At this he affected
great surprise, for he had heard that generally European females have
three or four children at a birth. Haj Ahmed is a man of about fifty,
rather good-looking, stout and hard-working, but inclining to corpulency,
very unusual in The Desert. He is not very dark, and is of Arab
extraction, and boasts that his family came from Mecca or Medina. He
pretends that his ancestors were amongst the warriors who besieged
Constantinople, previous to its capture by the Turks. He is a native of
Touat, but has been settled here twenty years, where he has built himself
a palace and planted large gardens. He is a shrewd and politic man, and
has, in a certain degree, those jealous feelings of Christians which are
peculiar to the Moor. He dresses partly in the Moorish and partly in the
Touarick style, indeed, like all the Moors of Ghat, who are called
Ghateen. He is, perhaps, not very learned, but is assisted by his nephew,
a young Shereef of great learning and amiable manners. I asked some of
the Ghatee people, who was their Sultan? They replied, "Haj Ahmed; Shafou
is not our Sultan." The Touaricks, however, have absolute control over
all affairs, and Haj Ahmed stands in the same relation to Shafou, being
governor of the town, as the Sheikh El-Mokhtar, who is governor of
Timbuctoo, under the Sultan of Jinnee. But, Haj Ahmed, himself, disclaims
all temporal authority, he repeatedly says in our conversation, "I am not
Sheikh, or Kaëd, I'm only Marabout. All the people here are equal. When
you write to the Consul, tell him I'm only Marabout." The fact is, there
are so many Sheikhs here that it is no honour to be a Sheikh. The honour
is too cheap to be valued, and is as much repudiated as a French Cross of
the Legion of Honour. Haj Ahmed repudiates being a Sheikh most stoutly.
Notwithstanding this repudiation, the Marabout is obliged to decide upon
the affairs of the city, even when Shafou is in town. The Marabout
pretends he does not receive presents like the Sheikhs, but he always
received what I offered him, and which was more than what I gave to some
of the Sheikhs. His palace stands west, two-thirds of a mile from the
city walls. Here he reigns supreme, priest and king, as Melchisedech of
patriarchal times, surrounded with his numerous family of wives and
concubines, and about fifty male and female slaves. Some of the slaves
live in huts near his palace, or in the gardens. The Marabout is the
largest landed proprietor of Ghat, but he also trades a good deal, and is
now sending some of his children to Soudan to trade in slaves.
Yesterday evening Mohammed Kāfah sent me a bowl of sopped bread, fat, and
gravy, garnished with two or three little pieces of meat. This is the
first act and specimen of hospitality on the part of the townsmen. Kafah
is a considerable merchant, and one of the three or four grandees of the
place. Bel Kasem called out to me to-day, for he lives next door, "Yâkob!
Yâkob! Aye! for God's sake, one of my slaves is ill, bring me some
medicine to purge him, quick, quick, he'll die." I had nothing to give
the poor creature but a worm-powder, ordering half the quantity, all my
medicines being distributed, except those for the eyes. Undoubtedly many
of the slaves must die before they arrive in Tripoli. They are mostly fed
on dates, the profit of the commerce is so small as not to allow
wholesome food being given them. The slaves are brought from countries
teeming with plenty of meat, grain, and vegetables, whilst they are fed
with herbage and dates _en route_ from Aheer to Ghat. What wonder then
they die?
Every body, as was the case at Ghadames, high and low, rich and poor,
young and old, wishes to convert me into a good Mussulman, being
mortified that so quiet a Christian should be an infidel. An old Sheikh
paid me a visit to-day, and began, "Now, Christian, that you have come
into this country, I hope you will find everything better than in your
own country, and become a Mussulman, one loved of God. Come to my house,
leave your infidel father and mother. I have two daughters. I will give
you both for wives, and seven camels besides. This will make you a Sheikh
amongst us. You can also be a Marabout, and spend your life in prayer." I
excused myself, by saying, "I had engagements in my country. My Sultan
would brand me with disgrace, and I should be fetched out of this country
by the Turks, who were always the friends of the English." The Sheikh
sighed, raised up his aged body, and departed, mumbling something, a
blessing or a curse, upon my head. A younger son of Haj Ahmed came in and
addressed me, "Why not say, 'There is one God', and 'Mahomet is the
prophet of God?'" I told him a Christian was prohibited from making such
a confession. On paying a visit to Mohammed Kafah, who sent me the
supper, I found his house full of slaves and Soudan goods, and he himself
very busy in the midst of them. He received me very friendly, and, after
a little, said, "It would be better for you if you turned Mussulman. Do
you not wish to go to Paradise? A slave of ours is better than you, and
your estate." To turn the conversation, I observed (which I knew would
excite his mercantile lust, despite his orthodox zeal), "I hear you are
vastly rich, the richest merchant in Ghat." "Ah!" he replied, distending
into consequence, "but the Christians have all the money." I rejoined,
"If there were a better Government in Tripoli, the Mussulmans would have
more money." Asking about the arrival of Shafou, he observed, "Haj Ahmed
is our Sultan. I'm not a Touarick. God help if I were a Touarick." He
then took me by the hands, and led me to the women's apartments to show
me to his wife and daughters. The good wife, after handling my hands,
which were a little whiter and cleaner than what are generally seen in
The Desert, for to have hands with a layer of dirt upon them of several
months' collecting, is an ordinary circumstance,--exclaimed, "Dear-a-me,
dear-a-me, how wonderful, and this Christian doesn't know God!" Her
husband shook his head negatively. The court-yard of his house was soon
filled and crammed with people, who rushed in from the streets, and the
friendly Ghatee was obliged to send me home quick, lest I should be
smothered by a mob of people. The affair of Silva and Levi had reached
him, and the report will soon get to Soudan and Timbuctoo, for the
merchants carry everything with them which interests their commerce,
making additions as they go along. Here, as at Mogador, it was reported
that I was commissioned by the Sultan of England to buy up and liberate
all the slaves. On returning home, I had another posse of visitors, and
some of Haj Ahmed's sons, who came with the fixed determination to
convert me. One said, on my admiring his Soudan coloured frock, "If you
will become a Mussulman, I will give you one." I now felt myself obliged
to rebut some of this impertinence, and answered, "If you would give me
all the frocks of Soudan I would not change my religion." I then
addressed them sharply against wishing to alter the decrees of God,
turning the dogmas of their religion upon themselves, and quoted the
Koran,--
"Thou wilt not find out any means of enlightening him whom God delivers
over to error."
Immediately, this unexpected style of argument struck them dumb. After
recovering their senses they became restless to leave me, and began to
beg a few things. I gave them some sugar and cake, and we parted apparent
friends. On going out, they could not forbear asking Said if he was a
Mussulman. Like many other Moslemites of Sahara, they said, "The Turks
are not good Mussulmans." I replied, "Mustapha, the Bey of Ghadames, is a
better Mussulman than any of the Ghadamsee people."
The reader may disapprove of my conduct in these my frequent evasions of
the question of religion; but when they reflect that it required, during
my residence in Ghat and other parts of Sahara, the whole strength of my
mind, and the utmost tact, to maintain a simple and consistent
confession of myself as a Christian, and that to have said a word, or
even to have breathed a syllable of disrespect for Mahomet and his
religion, would have exposed me to be torn to pieces by the rabble, and
perhaps murdered in my bed, they will probably feel less disposed to
censure my conduct. If there be any doubt of this critical situation of
an European who travels openly and avows himself a Christian in The
Sahara, all I can do is to beg of the doubter to make the experiment
himself. The reader will also be pleased to recollect, that the Denham
and Clapperton party, though they travelled the safest routes of Sahara,
were protected by the Bashaw of Tripoli, and their safety was guaranteed
solemnly to our Government, as being the immediate agents and
representatives of the British nation; and, finally, they had a large
escort of Arab cavalry from Fezzan to Bornou. Yet these tourists,
surrounded with such protection, were actually circumcised at Tripoli by
Dr. Dickson[72], and were accustomed to attend the mosques and perform
prayer as Mussulmans. Colonel Warrington certainly told me the people saw
through all the mummery, and laughed, or were angry. As to the Frenchman,
Caillié, his eternal tale of fabrication, repeated every day, and every
hour of the day, to every Sheikh, and every merchant, camel-driver, and
slave of The Desert, produces a very painful impression on the mind of
the reader. Caillié's falsehood, as lie begets lie, begat many others. He
was obliged to tell the people, that Mahometans were not tolerated in
Christian countries. He told the Africans, also, that slavery was
abolished in Europe, at the time even when England had her thousands of
West Indian slaves. In this way, whatever service Caillié has rendered to
geography, he has damaged the moral interests of the world. The African
Mussulmans might say to future tourists, "If Christians tolerate not us,
why should we Mussulmans tolerate you," and assassinate the luckless
European tourist. Whatever, then, were my evasions on the question of
religion (and I sincerely confess I do not approve of them), I never
stooped to such folly, and so far disgraced my character as an Englishman
and a Christian, as to adopt the creed and character of a Mahometan. I
moreover, on reflecting upon the tremendous question, which I often
revolved in my painful journeying over The Desert--determined at all
events, at all costs, come what might, I would never profess myself a
Mussulman, if it were even to save my head. I thought the least I could
do was to imitate the noble example, which The Desert reports of Major
Laing--Sooner than forswear my religion, be it good or bad, it was better
to die! "Mental reservation" may be good for the Jesuits and papists[73],
who misquote the conduct of Jacob to Esau, but it is neither fit for a
Christian, or a patriot, or, at any rate, for an honest man, who was, is,
and ever will be,
"The noblest work of God."
Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. A Ghadamsee came in who attempted to
frighten me from going to Soudan. Haj Ibrahim has the same prejudices as
the rest of the people of Tripoli respecting the supposed wealth of the
Ghadamsee people. "They have plenty of money but conceal it. Sheikh
Makouran has abundance of gold, but he cunningly professes himself a poor
man." I have lately read in a work published by the French Government,
that once upon a time, a son of old Yousef Bashaw sacked Ghadames and
carried off "several camel-loads of gold."
The Touarick mode of saluting is very simple and elegant, but cold,
colder than that of the English. A Touarghee elevates deliberately the
right hand to a level with his face, turning the outspread palm to the
individual, and slowly but with a fine intonation says, "_Sălām
Aleikoum._" This is all. When using his own language, a few words are
added. How strikingly contrasted are the habits of different people.
Amongst the Moors and Arabs this mode of saluting is their way of
cursing. With the outspread hand menacingly raised, a man or woman puts
their enemy under the ban and curse of God. A vulgar interpretation is,
that it means "five in your eye;" but this custom of cursing is so remote
as not now to be explained. The door-posts and rooms of houses are
imprinted with the outspread hand to prevent or withstand "the
eye-malign" from glancing on them and the inhabitants its fatal
influence.
_20th._--Rose early, felt better in health to-day. Am, however, annoyed,
but from what cause I cannot tell. Entertain many misgivings about the
climate of Soudan, and having no medicine dispirits me. It is now too
late to retreat. "Onward" is the only destiny which guides men, to good
or evil. Had a visit from the eldest son of the Governor. Gave him two
cups of tea, a little sugar, and two biscuits, which made him my friend
for ever; a cheap purchase of eternal friendship. Shafou, he says, will
not come before the whole of the Soudan ghafalahs arrive, of which there
are still some portions lagging behind. A Soudan caravan, as all Desert
caravans, is an _omnibus_; it collects parties of merchants all along the
line of route, and distributes them in the same way, but having a
starting-post and a goal. Haj Ahmed's son wished to introduce the
question of religion. "The world is nothing and Paradise is every thing."
"Amen," I replied. "What do you think of Mahomet?" "The Mahometans have
Mahomet, the Jews Moses, and the Christians Jesus, each for their
prophet," I said, after which not very satisfactory answer to him, the
conversation dropped. He now inquired if I had written to Tripoli to
bring plenty of sugar and tea, with a latent desire for a portion of the
spoil. I told him "No," very emphatically.
Called at my neighbour's, Bel Kasem, and found him doctoring a poor
negress girl. She could neither eat nor drink, she vomited and purged,
her bones were nearly through her skin, her stomach empty and dried up as
a sun-dried water-skin. Bel Kasem was rubbing her all over with oil. He
asked me for medicine. I said, "Give her something good to eat." He
replied, "I have nothing." "What do you eat yourself?" I asked. "Bread
and bazeen," he replied. "Give her that," I rejoined. He hesitated to
reply, did not reply; I saw he considered such food too good for a slave,
even to save its life. Such is but one dark sad picture of a thousand now
being exhibited here! One would think God had made one part of the human
race to torment the other.
Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. A merchant in his house related that
Noufee was now convulsed with a civil war. This country is now in the
hands of the Fullans. He had often visited that country, and had seen
English people there. A large caravan has this winter left Mourzuk for
Kanou _viâ_ Aheer. Haj Ibrahim pretends that the Touaricks of Aheer are
better than those of Ghat, but the former are people of the country (or
peasants), not towns. The Haj has not begun to dispose of his goods, but
he will exchange them against slaves. He, however, as a subject of Tunis,
is virtually prohibited by the Bey's ordinances.
My most friendly visitors are the merchants and traders from Soudan,
Kanou, and Sukatou. I cannot help looking upon these people with profound
pity. They bring their sable brethren, of the same flesh and blood, and
barter them away for trumpery beads, coarse paper, and cloth, &c. They
little think, that for such trifles, what miseries they inflict upon
their helpless brethren! A Kanou merchant, in a friendly manner,
recommended me not to go to Soudan, adding, "The Touaricks of Aheer would
butcher me because I was a Christian." A similar recommendation is being
given me by the Arabs, Ghadames people, and others. Still there is a
great variety of opinions, _pros_ and _cons_, on this subject.
_21st._--Rose early, improved in health. A small bird, not much bigger
than a wren, flits about the houses as our sparrows. This is probably the
Jereed sparrow of Shaw, _Bou Habeeba_, or _Capsa_-sparrow, but I saw it
at no other oasis except Ghat. It is of a lark colour, with a light
reddish breast, flitting about continually, twittering a short and abrupt
note, but very sweet and gentle. Yesterday Haj Ahmed sent me a few dates
and a little milk. To-day the Governor paid me a formal visit. He was
polite and friendly. However, he observed, "If you, Yâkob, had brought a
few presents for the Touarghee chiefs they would all have known[74] you,
but you have come without any thing, with empty hands." I replied that I
did not expect to come to Ghat when I left Tripoli. Nevertheless, if the
Touarick chiefs were friendly, and would protect Englishmen in The
Desert, both the people and Government of England would, I was quite
sure, acknowledge the protection with suitable presents. He was satisfied
with the explanation. Some of our caravan had told him I had come with
nothing, and had overrated my poverty as some tourists have their riches
overrated. But this report of abject poverty was a great advantage to me.
He was greatly surprised when I told him the Sultan of the English was a
woman. I explained, as I had done at Ghadames, when the kings of our
country had no sons, but had daughters, the daughters became sovereigns.
My vanity was somewhat piqued at the Governor's direct allusion to
presents, and I determined, that he himself, at any rate, should have as
large a present from me as he got from any of the foreign merchants. He
then asked me if I was an English Marabout. I replied, "Yes;" for a
Marabout, as in the Governor's own case, means sometimes a person who can
tolerably read and write. In this sense I may claim the sacred title. I
also dub myself occasionally _tabeeb_ (doctor), but mostly _taleb_, a
mere literary man or pretender to literature. I believe that coming
without arms, and as poor as possible, has had a good effect upon the
Touaricks. They see, if they were so disposed, they cannot maltreat a man
in my circumstances with a very good grace. I have still left, very
fortunately, a supply of eye-water, and am making presents of it daily.
This solution keeps my medical diploma clean and fair in Ghat.
Had another visit from the family of the Governor. All aspire to
religious discussion. Addressing me, "Which way do you pray, east or
west?" said another of his sons. "I pray in all directions, for God is
everywhere." "You ought to pray in the east." "No, for The Koran says,
'The east and the west belong to God, wherever you turn you find the face
of God[75].'" He continued, "You are idolaters, why do you pray to
images?" "The English people do not pray to images," I rejoined. As he
doubted my word, I was obliged to enter into explanations of the customs
of Romanists and Protestants. It is amusing or lamentable to think, as we
may sneer at or regret the matter, that these rude children of The
Desert should have ground for charging upon the high-bred and
_transcendantally_-polished nations of Europe, idolatry. But, if any one,
determined to be an impartial judge, were to visit the Madelaine of
Paris, and then pass rapidly over to Algeria, (a journey of a few days),
and there enter the simple mosque, and compare its prostrate worshippers,
in the plain unadorned temple of Islamism, with the bowing and crossing,
going on before the pretty saints and images of the Catholic temple of
the Parisians, he could not fail to be struck with the immeasurable space
which separates the two _cultes_, whilst the contrast, so far as the
eternal records of nature, impressed upon and read in the page of
creation, are involved, would be all in favour of the Moslemite deist,
and pity and folly would be mingled with his ideas when appreciating the
papistical _quasi_-idolator.
A young Touarghee came in with the party, whose eyes were very bad. After
a good deal of persuasion, for he was at first quite frightened at me, he
consented to allow me to apply the caustic. He is a follower of Sheikh
Jabour, and employed near the person of the Sheikh. To show how smoothly
things go after the first difficulty is vanquished, I may mention, that
he visited me ever after whilst I remained in Ghat, sometimes coming
every day, and always begging his eyes might be washed with the solution.
I had another visit from the Soudan traders. They say people just like me
come up to Noufee to where they are now returning. They speak Arabic very
imperfectly, and are obliged to converse with signs. They describe
thousands of slaves being carried away by men with white cheeks and hands
like myself, putting their hands round their wrists and their necks to
show how the slaves were ironed. These slaves are carried down the Niger
to the salt water (Atlantic). I asked them how the slaves were obtained.
One of them sprung up in an instant, seizing an Arab's gun. He then
performed a squatting posture, skulking down, and creeping upon the floor
of my room, and waiting or watching in silence. He then made a sudden
spring, as a tiger on its prey, with a wild shout. These wily antics
evidently denoted a private kidnapping expedition. Many slaves are,
however, captives of war, for the negro princes are as fond of war as the
military nations of France and Prussia, and can play at soldiers as well
as the King of Naples. Evening, as usual, paid a visit to Haj Ibrahim.
Nothing new, except an economical bill of expenses, from Ghat to Soudan,
chalked out for me by a Ghadamsee, in prospect of my journey, viz:--
Presents, _en route_, to various chiefs 13 dollars.
Wheat and bread 5 "
Olive-oil and _semen_ (liquid butter) 1 "
Extras and unforseen expenses 3 "
----
Total 22
----
This, I imagine, is about what it would cost him himself, though he
pretended to allow a little more for me. These 22 dollars are to carry a
person two months over Sahara and one over Negroland to Kanou. It will be
seen there is nothing down for meat, or sugar, and tea and coffee, in
which luxuries Saharan merchants rarely indulge.
FOOTNOTES:
[70] _Sunbul_--سنبل--(literally "stalks"). According to French
Oriental botanists, it is "_Nard, spina celtica_." An immense
quantity of this fashionable plant is brought into The Desert. No
present is made to a man of family without sunbul.
[71] Nor are they _Anthropoklephts_, as a late Yankee Consul, in
his "Notes on North Africa," &c., calls them. Before Mr. Hodgson
stigmatizes the Touaricks as men-stealers, he should see that his
own States are pure. The reader will agree with me, after hearing
further of the Touaricks, that these free sons of The Sahara have
every right to say to Mr. Hodgson, and all American
Consuls--"Physician, heal thyself: do not charge us with
men-stealing when you buy and sell and rob human beings of their
liberty."
[72] I speak on the authority of Mr. Gagliuffi, our Vice-Consul at
Mourzuk.
[73] And even those who take an oath of _et ceteras_ at the
National Universities! And others who subscribe to creeds which
they do not read, or if read them, do not comprehend them.
[74] That is, being on friendly terms with you.
[75] See Surat ii., intitled "The Cow."