PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE TO FEZZAN.
Account of Timbuctoo.--Streets of Ghat deserted by departure of
Caravans.--Packing of Senna.--Return of the Soudan Caravan.--The
Giant and his Gang sally out in search of a Supper.--System of
Irrigation.--The Saharan Hades.--Continued departure of People to
Soudan.--Hateetah serves himself from Haj Ibrahim's Goods.--Scold
Ghadamsee Merchants for introducing Religious Discussion.--Mode
of Fashionable Dressing of the Hair, and Female
Adornment.--Saharan Beauties.--Costume of Touaricks.--Gardens of
the Governor.--Attempt a Journey to Wareerat Range.--Hateetah and
Haj Ibrahim become reconciled.--Departure of Kandarka for
Aheer.--Day of my departure from Ghat.--Moral and Social
Condition of the Saharan People compared to European
Society.--Force of our Slave Caravan.--First Night's Bivouack.
I HAVE not obtained any additional information at Ghat respecting the
still mysterious city of Timbuctoo. In comparing Caillié's description
with that given by the American sailor, Robert Adams, I find Caillié's
information agrees the better with what I have collected myself from the
mouths of those who have been long resident at Timbuctoo. Indeed, Adams's
description apparently refers to some Negro city in Bambara or
thereabouts, between Jinnee and Timbuctoo. But I shall not attempt to
impugn the veracity of the one or the other. Caillié says, "The little
information which I have obtained of Timbuctoo was furnished me by my
host Sidi Abdullah-Chebir, and the Kissour Negroes." In another place he
says that he wished to return _viâ_ Morocco, and not by the Senegal, for
fear he should not be believed, his countrymen being envious of his
success. Both of these statements deserve consideration in determining
the authenticity of his voyage.
A great variety of spelling exists in the writing of the name of
Timbuctoo. M. Jomard, Member of the French Institute, gives
تِيم٘بُك٘تُ but says he does not think that this word when
properly written contains the ي. He thinks, however, we may be
satisfied with the orthography of تِم٘بُك٘تُ. And he
adds, "I know that Batouta writes Te_n_boctou, _n_ being used for _m_." I
have found two ways of spelling Timbuctoo in The Desert, viz.,
تِن٘بُك٘تُوا, and تِن٘بُك٘تُا, and they both agree with Batouta.
We may, therefore, consider Batouta's style of spelling the more
correct orthography. Now, تين, _Teen_, in Touarghee, is "well" or
"pit." The term occurs in combination with many names of stations in
Targhee Sahara, as will be seen in the map; for example,
_Teenyeghen_, a well of water, seven days' journey on the route from
Ghadames to Ghat; and _Nijberteen_, a well in my route from Ghadames
to Ghat, already mentioned. In the first instance _Teen_ occurs at
the beginning of the word, and the second at the end; but, in both
cases, the meaning is "the well of Nijber," and "the well of
Yeghen." _Teenbuktu_ follows the same rule of Berber or Touarghee
combination, and means "the Well of Buktu," probably Buktu being the
digger of the pits of Timbuctoo.
With regard to information collected by myself of this city, I can only
add a few particulars. Timbuctoo is situated upon the northern flats of
the Niger, or at about half a day's distance from it during the summer,
and three hours only in winter, the difference arising from the increase
of the water of the river during the latter season. But our merchants do
not mention whether this river be a branch of the Niger (which they call
Neel or Nile), or the Niger itself. This they are evidently unacquainted
with. They never mention the port of Cabra, which is so distinctly
noticed by Caillié. The climate is hot, and always hot, but extremely
healthy--as healthy as any part of Central Africa. The city is about four
times larger than Tripoli as to area, but in proportion not so densely
inhabited, the population being about 23,000 souls. It has no walls now;
though it formerly had, and is open to the inroads of the tribes of The
Desert. The population is very mixed, and consists of Fullans, who are
the dominant caste, Touaricks, Negroes, and Moors and Arabs from
different oases of Sahara, as also from the Northern Coast of Africa. The
majority of the Moors are Maroquines. The Government is absolute, and now
in the delegated possession of a Marabout named Mokhtar, and the national
religion Mahometan. There do not appear to be any Pagans or idolatrous
Africans now resident in Timbuctoo, but some half century ago most of the
Kissour Negroes, the native Negroes of Timbuctoo, were Pagans. The
present Sultan is called Ahmed Ben Ahmed Lebbu Fullan, whose authority is
established over the two great cities of Jinnee and Timbuctoo, and all
the intervening and neighbouring districts, including several cities of
inferior note. He is the son of the famous warrior Ahmed Lebbu, who
dethroned the native princes of the Ramee, or those who "bend the bow."
The usual residence of the Sultan is now at Jinnee. The city is a place
of great sanctity, and no person has the privilege of smoking in it--that
is to say, defiling it, but the Touaricks, who are there so overbearing
and unmanageable, as to be above the local laws. They are the cause of
continual disturbances at Timbuctoo; nevertheless, so powerful are the
Fullans, that they manage to keep the Touaricks in subjection, as well as
the native Negro tribes. There are seven mosques, the minarets of some of
which are as large as those of Tripoli.
There are several schools and a few learned doctors amongst the priests.
The houses are only one story high, but some few have a room over a
magazine; they are built of stones and mortar, and some of wood or straw.
The streets are narrow, few of them admit of the passage of two camels
abreast. Several covered bazaars are built for merchandize. There are no
native manufactures of consequence. Timbuctoo is properly a commercial
depôt or emporium. The principal medium of exchange is salt, which is
very inconvenient. The grand desideratum of merchants is the acquisition
and accumulation of gold, but this is obtained only by a long and
wearying residence in Timbuctoo, and is very uncertain in supply. The
gold is brought from a considerable distance south-west. Jinnee is a
greater place of trade than Timbuctoo. The neighbouring country is flat
and sandy, stretching in plains over the alluvial deposits of the Niger.
There are no fruit-trees or gardens, beyond the growing of a few melons
and vegetables; but trees abound on the vast plains of Timbuctoo, and
there is a great number of the Tholh, or gum-bearing acacia. The
communication between Jinnee and Timbuctoo is principally by water, and
with light boats the journey can be accomplished in seven days, but the
distance is a month by land. The navigation of the Niger is extremely
difficult, and in the dry season the boats are continually grounding,
whilst in the wet season people are in constant dread of being
precipitated on the rocks. The boats have no sails, and are pushed along
by poles with great labour. There is no water in the city: it is brought
from pits east and west, a quarter of a mile distant,--that from the east
being brackish, and that from the west sweet. Water is sold in the
streets of Timbuctoo, as in many African cities. The Maroquine merchants
live in style and luxury at Timbuctoo, and tea, coffee, and sugar may be
obtained from them at a reasonable price. The residence of an European at
Timbuctoo may, perhaps, be considered secure for a short time; but the
grand difficulty is to get there, and when you get there, to get safe
back again. These details are not very interesting, and I should not have
mentioned them, but for the general anxiety there still exists to obtain
correct and recent information of this celebrated Nigritian city.
_1st February._--The streets of Ghat begin to be deserted. Touaricks are
going, and gone, as well as the various merchants from neighbouring
countries. So I walk with much freedom in the streets. Have not been
molested about religion for some time; but a man said to me to day,
"Unless you believe in Mahomet, you will burn in the fire for ever!"
Strange anomaly this in the conduct of men! They deliver over their
fellow-men to everlasting torments, as if it was some slight corporal
castigation! . . . . Saw Hateetah. The Consul is still at war with Haj
Ibrahim; but he is cutting his own throat, and not the merchant's, by his
foolish conduct. A low Ghat fellow came in, and finding me writing,
begins crying out:--"Oh, you are writing our country! You are coming
afterwards to destroy it! Never was our country written before, and it
shall not be now!" I turned him out of doors. He then fetched a mob of
"lewd fellows of the baser sort," and began wheying, whooing. Hateetah
luckily came by at the time, and belaboured them with his spear, and off
they ran, wheying whooing. Went to see them pack up senna, or rather
change the sacks, those in which it had been packed in Aheer being worn
out. The sacks are made of palm-leaves. Here were lying some hundred
large bundles. I am not surprised these simple people wonder what we do
with senna, and are the more surprised when I tell them it is for
medicine. Medicine they take little of; and then they have no conception
of the millions of Christians in Europe, thinking we are so many
islanders squatting upon the oases of the watery ocean. The senna leaves,
on account of the late rains, are finer and broader than usual: they are
very large, and, except the edges, of a dark purple hue. There is a good
deal of small wood (stalks of the plant), and here and there a few yellow
flowers, besides a quantity of dust and dirt mixed up with the leaves.
Several detachments of the return Soudan caravan left to-day. Went to see
them off. It was amusing to be present at the preparations for departing.
Some just starting, some packing up, others loading, others weighing the
camels' burdens, others saluting their friends, all in busy and
distracting confusion. Strings of camels were in advance, with their
heads towards Berkat. I sighed with regret. I wished to follow . . . .
The camels are tied one after another, held together by strings in their
nose, and they are not allowed to graze during the march, like the camels
of Arabs. This is an advantage to the traveller, for much time is lost by
the camels cropping herbage on the way. The files of camels are twenty
and thirty in number, and sometimes these files are double. I imagine in
mountainous districts they are untied, otherwise one camel slipping or
falling, would draw another after it, and, so the whole line would be
thrown in confusion. In the palms noticed two small birds, white bodies,
head and wings black. With the exception of the diminutive singing
sparrow, and a few crows, these are all the birds I have seen in the
oasis. Saw several Aheer Touaricks just arrived, and found them tall,
well-made, comparatively fair, and fine-featured; nothing of the Negro
character about them. All extremely civil to me; and I certainly like
them as well, if not better, than the ordinary run of Ghat Touaricks.
These Aheer Touaricks must be one of the finest races of men in Central
Africa.
Went as usual to spend the evening with Haj Ibrahim. Had not sat down
many minutes before a thundering knocking was heard at the outer door. An
Arab youth called out, "Who's there?" and "Don't open," to the slave that
had the charge of the court-yard door. The knocking increased in fury,
the tumult of voices without being terrific; and Haj Ibrahim, at last,
recognizing the party, and yielding to their violence, said "Open." As
soon as the door was thrown back, in poured a host of Touaricks, like
the opening of a deluging sluice, all belonging to Berka, headed by their
acting chief, the redoubtable Giant! Their first object was to abuse
roundly the Arab youth who had called out, "Don't open." The merchants of
Ghadames and Tripoli try to shut out the Touaricks as much as possible
all times of the day, and especially just at supper-time, for this is the
hour when the Touaricks prowl about for their evening meal, like famished
evening wolves, seeking whom and what they can devour. Prowling for food
is an absolute necessity with them, for generally they have no food; they
bring only a very small quantity from their native districts, when they
leave to spend some weeks at the Souk. This foraging party therefore came
in for supper. Haj Ibrahim tried to work up his courage into rage; but it
was useless, for his struggling ire was at once choked and quelled by the
accents of thunder which The Giant belched out like old Ætna. The Giant
opened fire upon the trembling merchant, by asserting the safety and
tranquillity of the country: "There are no robbers or free-booters here;
you buy and sell, fill your bags with money, and are in peace. Why, then,
cannot we eat as the price of our protection?" Resistance being very
madness, the supper which Haj Ibrahim had prepared for himself, was
brought out to them, the servant crying out, not "Il pranzo è servito!"
but, "This is all the supper we have for ourselves!" And like a wise
steward, he kept a little back for his lord and master. After unbroken
silence, which lasted full ten minutes, when every person seemed to be
gasping for breath to speak, and struggling with some terrible inward
commotion of the spirit, the supper-hunting Touaricks made a
simultaneous move towards the supper-bowl. About nine big brawny fellows
attacked the savoury cuscusou, for Haj Ibrahim had the best kind of
provisions brought from Tripoli. The dainty merchant told me he could not
eat what was made in Ghat. Now, The Giant did not join the onslaught on
the merchant's supper, that did not beseem his dignity as heir of the
Sheikhdom of the venerable Berka! The chief of the gang, on the principle
of delicacy and generosity, left the spoil to his men. The Giant, like
Neptune rising to quell the fury of the tempest, sat reclining in dignity
and authority, with a serene brow, calmly looking on, and smoking his
pipe. Not a word was uttered, not a sound was heard, but the licking up
the food, and the smacking of the lips of these uncouth, unbidden,
uninvited guests. As soon as the supper was swallowed up, (only a few
minutes,) they all arose, The Giant first rising, with unabashed
effrontery, and led the way out. In another moment they were gone! and
the door was shut. It was like some broken and distempered slumber, and
the lamps having nearly burnt out, and all being dim and dark, rendered
the illusion complete. The quondam _protégé_ of these chiefs was too ill,
too much upset, to speak. I bade him good night, and returned home,
half-admiring The Giant and his troop, and abusing the foolish parsimony
of the merchant, who ought to have thrown a few lumps of flesh to these
hungry and wolfish sons of The Desert, and satisfied them at once. One of
the party was Hateetah's brother; and Hateetah told me next day that he
himself sent them.
_2nd._--Our departure is now finally fixed for to-morrow. The weather is
cool, but not so cold as on my arrival. Within the last three weeks it
has gradually become warmer, and the spring enlivening warmth will soon
be succeeded by summer's burning reign. Took a very pleasant walk round
the Governor's palace, and made a sketch of it, which is subjoined.
[Illustration]
Irrigation is the grand means of agricultural production in Sahara.
Without irrigation the oases would be mere halting-places for caravans,
and would afford but a scanty supply for centres of human existence. But
irrigation has not only sustained and sustains the towns and cities of
the African Desert, but in Asia it has always been the grand means of
maintaining vast populations. The Assyrians of ancient days became great
by irrigation. In the prophets we read, "The waters made him (the
Assyrian) great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running
round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees
of the field. Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of
the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long
because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth. All the fowls of
heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the
beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt
all great nations. Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of
his branches: for his root was by great waters." (Ezek. xxxi. 4-7.) The
metaphors are extremely explicit and beautiful, making water the source
of the Assyrian greatness. Nothing can show more the power of water in
the hot and dry climate of Syria. But the prophet particularly alludes to
the system of irrigation, as practised on the banks of the Euphrates,
from which river the waters were conveyed in small streamlets and
conduits, "running round about the plants" in the gardens, and sent out
to a considerable distance in little rills to all the trees of the field.
The immense parterres of Babylon, artificial gardens supported by
irrigation, have been celebrated by the historians of antiquity. In Ghat,
Ghadames, and other oases of the Sahara, as well as the greater part of
the Tripoline coast, this system of irrigation is now practised to its
full extent, and water here shows a power of production with which we are
unacquainted in more humid and temperate climes. At this time, the barley
and wheat are shooting up simply under the power of water, which is
conveyed to them by small ducts of earth, as drawn up from the wells,
every four or five days. A bullock, or slave, draws up the water from the
wells, which are of very rude construction, but answer the purpose. The
water is then poured into a receiver of earth or stone, from which it
runs into the small conduits of earth. Sometimes the main conduits are
made of lime-mortar, as in the island of Jerbah. The field to be
irrigated is divided into small squares or compartments, sometimes oblong
of about seven by five feet in size; each is edged up with a small
embankment of earth; between each line of squares run parallel ducts or
gutters of earth, communicating with one large and common conduit, which
is usually placed, to run better, on the highest part of the field, and
as nearly as possible cutting it into halves. Whilst the water is being
drawn up, a lad opens each compartment of the field with a hoe or
shovel-hoe, and lets the water into each square, shutting it up again
when the surface of the ground is merely covered with water. I have seen
them tread upon the springing blades of grass when so irrigating them, to
give their roots more force and tenacity in the ground. In Ghat this
irrigation is repeated every five days, or less, until the grain is in
the ear and nearly ripe.
The Medina Shereef, who expresses sincere sympathy for my state of
"judicial blindness," told me to-day that I should not go down to
the real _bonâ fide_ pit or abode of perdition, but to a dull
shadowy place, "the region of nothings," and I might get out again
and ascend to _Jennah_, (جنّة) "paradise;" and this, because I
was near to them (the Mussulmans), and read and wrote Arabic, and was
not afraid to write or repeat a verse of the Koran. In our prophets
we have, "Thus saith the Lord, In the day when he went down to the
grave I caused a mourning." (Ezek. xxxi. 15.) "I made the nations to
shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with
them that descend into the pit." (Id. 16.) "They also went down to
hell with him." (Id. 17.) In the first verse cited שאלה is
translated "grave," in the two latter verses "hell." But there is no
reason for the alteration of the term from "grave" to "hell." The
prophets I imagine, like most of us, had extremely indistinct
notions of the future world, and the place of disembodied spirits,
and were accustomed to use the word שאלה (which ought invariably
to be translated grave, or hades, and not hell,) something in the
same manner as my friend the Shereef, for a dreary shadowy region of
imperfect beings or non-entities, a nether limbo of nothings and
vanities.
Took a walk to see the merchants leaving for Soudan; many of them were
accompanied a short distance by their friends. It is an affecting thing
to part with people who are about to enter upon forty days of Desert,
without a human habitation, (the route from this to Aheer.) Saw Hateetah
in my walk. He took a shumlah, or girdle, by force from Haj Ibrahim. The
Consul found the auctioneer going round with it for sale, and inquiring
to whom it belonged, and hearing it was Haj Ibrahim's, he took the sash
from the auctioneer and told him to go and acquaint the merchant with
what he had done, and which sash he had taken instead of the turban,
offered to Hateetah by Haj Ibrahim, but refused on account of its little
value. This is a nasty trick to say the least, but as the Moorish
auctioneer observed, "Such is the way with the Touaricks." However, I am
persuaded neither Jabour, nor Khanouhen, would have stooped to such a
shabby dirty manœuvre. It seems besides, Haj Ibrahim is giving great
provocation to the chiefs who are appointed his protectors at the Souk.
They complain that, whilst he brings as many goods as twenty ordinary
merchants, he gives less than any one. So we must hear both sides of the
question. Saw to-day the Moorish Kady of Ghat for the first time: I had
not made his acquaintance. His son I knew, who was very impertinent,
insisting that I should give him some tea because he was the son of the
Kady. This I refused to do, and Khanouhen praised my conduct and said, I
behaved "like a Touarghee!" The Kady is an old gentleman, but dresses
superbly in a fine red turban and long flowing bright-green coat, in full
sacerdotal character, as the triple-crowned Pope of Ghat. This morning I
took upon myself to scold severely some Ghadamsee merchants for
introducing the subject of religion before the ignorant people of Ghat
and Soudan. I found a group of them in the streets when they wanted to
speak of religion. I asked them "If they would do so in Tripoli, and if
not, why here?" They understood the point of censure and immediately left
off. Some Arabs present, said, "You are right, Yâkob." Vexed at my
reproof, they attacked me on the subject of slaves, asking me why the
English disapproved of slaves? I replied sharply, "It is not our religion
to buy and sell men, though it may be your religion."
At the Governor's I observed the style of cutting and braiding
fashionable young ladies' hair, in the example of his daughters. The
forehead is shaved high up, leaving, however, one long curl or _with_ of
hair depending. This curl is braided and hangs down gracefully over the
forehead. On each side of the head, over the ears, depend three other
separate curls or locks of hair, each double-braided. Behind the head
hang also two other longer curls, and each double-braided. Between these
curls, as they detach themselves from the head, the cranium is clean
shaven, and the hair or tuft on the crown of the head, whence the several
curls depend, covers a very small space. At the end of the braided curls
is tied a piece of coloured string or narrow ribbon, the same as is done
amongst our little dressy nymphs. The hair is dressed with olive-oil or
daubed over with semen, or liquid butter. My old negress landlady is a
hair-dresser of the first style, and the fashionable negresses come to
have their woolly crispy locks dressed by her _secundum artem_ nearly
every day. This hair-dressing takes place on my terrace, and affords me a
splendid field for observation. I ought to have brought with me into The
Desert the book, "How to observe," in order to have given a complete and
satisfactory description of the fashionable Libyo-Saharan hair-dressing.
The old lady sits down, spreading out her knees, and the young sable
belle throws herself flat at full length sprawling on the terrace floor,
putting her head into the lap of the arbitress of The Desert toilette,
her heels meanwhile kicking up, and sometimes not very decently. The
operation then commences. The woolly locks, not more than three inches in
length, are gradually drawn up tight to the crown of the head, and
plaited in tiers in the shape of a high ridge, whilst they are being
rubbed over with liquid butter. The lower circle of the cranium is left
all bare, not a curl depending, and is shaven quite clean. But this is
done previously, for my old negress does not undertake the profession of
shaver, with her other important services. The hair, when fully dressed
in this style, assumes the shape of an oval crown, or the head part of
the helmet. Some negresses use false tails as well as false locks, as our
belles do, the long flowing curls being preferred by the sooty Nigritian
beauties, in spite of such an ornament being unnatural to them. These
ladies, however, neither paint nor tattoo their faces, and in general,
painting with red and white is not used by the Libyan and Oriental
beauties. In Algeria, however, some of the Mooresses have learnt to paint
from their new mistresses, as an acquirement of French civilization in
Africa. Dr. Shaw is quite right in his new rendering of the passage
referring to Jezebel, "And she adjusted (or set off) her eyes with the
powder of lead-ore," (2 Kings ix. 30,) which in the common version is,
"And she painted her face," (or, in the margin, "put her eyes in
painting"). This painting of the eyelids is a custom of great antiquity.
It has the effect of of giving the eye a peculiar prominency, enlarging
its apparent size, and adding to it a greater bewitching force. The
Touarick women, however, disdain the unnatural adornment, and shame the
unmanly conduct of certain of the Saharan men who actually paint thus
their eyelids. It is a trite saying, that women are coquettes all the
world over. But if mothers will educate their daughters so, it must be
so. Besides cheerful young ladies are frequently confounded with
coquettes, which is very unfair. Here, of course, there is coquetry as
elsewhere. Why not? I have two neighbours, Negresses, and sisters, who
get upon the house-top every morning, wash their faces, and oil them to
make them shine, as it is said, "Man had given him oil to make his face
to shine." They then dress one another's hair, which usually occupies
them all the morning. The toilette here, as with us, is a very serious
affair. These sable beauties sometimes play the coquette with me, which
is innocent enough. I asked my old negress about these and other coloured
residents, and found there were many families of free negroes in Ghat. My
friendly coquetting neighbours have a brother who is a free Negro and
trades between Ghat and Soudan. A few of the free Negroes are perhaps
_bonâ fide_ immigrants, but these are really very limited. The dress of
the women in this place is extremely simple; it consists solely of a
chemise and a short-sleeved frock, with a barracan used as a shawl, and
thrown over the head and shoulders, when there is wind or cold. The
ladies have sandals, and some of them shoes. Beads are esteemed only by
Negresses. Those particular beads made of a composition of clay at Venice
and Trieste, are now the fashion. The Touarick ladies prefer pieces of
coral and charms strung round their neck in necklaces. The arms, wrists,
and ancles are hooped with wood-painted, and generally, metal armlets,
bracelets, and anclets. Some ladies hang a small looking-glass about
their necks, which is, of course in frequent use. The Touarick women
industriously weave the woollen tobes, jibbahs, or frocks; they are very
cheap, warm, and comfortable in the water. But the Soudan cottons are the
great Saharan consumption. There are also now introduced from Europe
quantities of, I think, what are called "Indians" in mercantile slang, or
coarse white cottons. The merchants call them "new". These cottons are
much liked in Morocco because they are cheap and pleasant clothing in
summer. Men and women are clothed with them, and they are made up into
every kind of dress. These European cottons are supplanting those of
Soudan, which furnish work for thousands in Central Africa. So the
legitimate commerce, already so limited, is diminishing instead of
increasing. Poor Africa! thrice-poor, and every way poor, gets nothing at
present by her intercourse with Europe, saving the enslavement of her
unhappy children, and the impoverishment of her native manufactures. The
Niger and other _philanthropic_ and commercial expeditions have only laid
bare her nakedness--they have not advanced her one step in the scale of
improvement. Connected with Saharan female dress is naturally that of
female beauty. The _beau ideal_ of an Arab beauty, according to the
Arabian poets Havivi and Montannibi, is, that "Her person should be
slender like the bending rush, or taper lance of Yemen." This is also the
_beau ideal_ of female beauty amongst Touaricks. I have seen no fat
fed-up women amongst Touaricks, like those in such esteem and the
_bon-ton_ of the Moors. The _enbonpoint_ of Mooresses is well known, and
beauty amongst them is literally by the weight. Recent discoveries in
Malta have made us acquainted with this _enbonpoint_, as an essential
feature of female or other beauty in the most early times, say as far
back as the Carthaginian and other ancient settlers in Malta. The rude
statues lately dug up in that island are all remarkable for obese
processes from the waist downwards.
The taste of the Arabs has been greatly vitiated, and the slight, spare,
"bending rush" is often rejected for the bridal beauty who requires a
camel to carry her to the house of her husband. The Moors resident in
Ghat have imported the vicious Moorish ideas, and the Negress slaves are
fattened for the market, and fetch higher prices.
[Illustration]
The dress of Touarick men is more elaborate than that of their
women. The principal garment is the Soudanic cotton frock,
smock-frock, or blouse, sometimes called tobe, with short and wide
open sleeves, and wide body reaching below the knee. Under this is
at times worn a small shirt. The pantaloons are also of the same
cotton, not very wide in the leggings, and scarcely reaching to the
ancles, and something in the Cossack style. The frock is confined
low round the waist with the "leather girdle," and often by a sash
in the style of the Spaniards. There is generally attached to it a
good-sized red leather bag, not unlike an European lady's work-bag,
and this is made into various compartments, one for tobacco, one for
snuff, one for trona or ghour nuts, another for striking-light
matters, another for needles and thread, another containing a little
looking-glass, &c., &c.; and I have seen a Touarghee fop
adjust his toilette with as much coquetry as the most brilliant
flirt,--indeed, the vanity of some of these Targhee dandies
surpasses all our notions of vanity in European dress. Over the
frock, on one of the shoulders, is carried the barracan or hayk,
which is sometimes cotton, and white and blue-striped, or figured in
checks, of Timbuctoo manufacture, but generally a plain woollen
wrapper. The hayk is wound several times round the body, and is the
only real protection the Touarick, or his wife, (for the women
likewise wear them,) has, from the cutting cold winds of The Sahara.
A red or white cap sometimes covers the naked shaved head, but many
do not wear a cap, as besides many do not shave the head. But the
grand distinguishing object in the dress of Touarick men is the
_Lithām_ (اللثام), from which article of dress the Touaricks
have been called ages ago by historian and tourists of The Desert "The
people of the Litham" (اهل اللثام). The litham is nothing
more than a thin wrapper, which is first wound round the head, and then
made to cover the whole of the forehead and partially the eyes, and
the lower part of the face, especially the mouth. The mouth and the
eyes are the two grand objects to protect in The Desert, and in
Saharan travelling, equally against heat and cold, and wind. A
Saharan traveller, having his mouth well covered with the litham,
will go at least twenty-four hours longer, fasting in abstinence,
whilst his lips will not be parched with thirst. The litham shelters
the eyes effectually from the hot sand grains, borne on the deadly
wing of the Simoom. A turban is mostly folded round the head as a
mark of orthodox Islamism. The young beaux prefer the great red sash
wound round the head in shape of the turban.
The Touarick, from his habit of wearing the litham, does not like a
beard, which, indeed, could rarely be seen. As it grows, they pull it
out, and so in time it often disappears altogether. In the matter of
beard, the almost sacred ornament of the Moor and the Arab, the Touarick
is placed again in strong contrast with his Mahometan neighbour. All wear
a profusion of talismans suspended round the neck, or sewn or stuck about
the head, like so many liberty or election cockades. This is the usual
style of the dress of Touaricks; and, with dagger under the left arm,
sword swung from the back, and spear in the right hand, it looks
sufficiently novel and imposing, befitting the wild scenery and wild sons
of The Desert. Many, however, of the Touaricks go almost naked, whilst
the younger Sheikhs occasionally indulge in the foreign fashions of the
Moors of the north, dressing very fantastically and elaborately.
[Illustration]
_3rd._--Our departure from Ghat to Mourzuk, capital of Fezzan, is now
again finally fixed for the 5th of the month, at least three weeks
delayed beyond the time first spoken of. European travellers in Sahara
must always reckon upon these wearying delays. A ghafalah is just arrived
from Fezzan, bringing dates, ghusub, and wheat. This is a most seasonable
relief, for absolutely there is no food left for the poorer inhabitants
of Ghat, the provisions being carried away by various caravans which have
left us within a few days. I was myself obliged to borrow from the
Governor. Fortunately, Fezzan is near, or the Souk of Ghat, with its
thousand slaves, would be often reduced to great extremities, there being
no capital invested in keeping up a supply of provisions. Haj Ibrahim
complains of Hateetah, and considers him the worst of the Touarghee
Sheikhs. The merchant "has reason."
Called to see Haj Ahmed. Met the Governor near his gardens, and he
invited me to go and look at them. Was agreeably surprised to find a
really splendid plantation of date-palms, underneath and amidst which
were some of the choicest fruits, the fig, pomegranate, and apricot. He
has also planted some hedges of Indian fig. The plantation might cover a
dozen acres. It is the work of eighteen years of the industrious
Marabout, but the palms are still in their youth, some even in their
childhood. It is important to mention, this beautiful plantation was a
waste of sand before the Governor took it in hand, but the whole of it,
by the assistance of water and irrigation, his persevering industry has
made to bud and "blossom as the rose." Were the rest of the wealthy
residents to imitate the Marabout, they would in a few years make Ghat a
large and most lovely oasis of Desert. Water is complained of as to
supply, but there is water enough to irrigate an oasis of five times the
present extent. So in Ghadames, so almost in every Saharan oasis. The
Governor encourages his sons to industry, by giving each a plot of ground
to cultivate for himself. I saw a fine field belonging to one of his
sons, which has been under culture only three years. It is sown with
barley and wheat, and planted with rows of sprig-palms, in the very
childhood of growth; but, by the time the sons of the Marabout are
married, and have young families, these green-shooting palm-sprigs will
be branching trees high up, bearing mature and delicious fruit. Nature
furnishes pretty and striking lessons of industry, more affecting to the
observant mind than the lessons of the most eloquent moralist. There are
also shoots of the fig-tree and the pomegranate set around a pool of
crystal water, the embryo paradise of the future. The son, whose garden
this was, said to me, in reply about the supply of water, "See, the water
comes from a spring near that hill of sand. I dug the well, and God gave
me the water. God does not give water to all when they dig." I went
forward, and saw a refreshing spring bubbling out from beneath the sandy
bosom of The Desert.
It is quite a pleasure now to walk about Ghat, the noisy rabble is
hushed, and the Touaricks, excepting some chiefs of Berka, are all gone.
The remaining Ghadamsee merchants are as pleased as myself that the
Touaricks are gone. A strange hallucination got possession of my brain
to-day. "I determined I would stop five years in Africa. I would visit
all the great kingdoms of Nigritia. I would write the history and
legends of the ten thousand tribes of Africa from their own mouths. Then
I would return with these spoils and treasures of Africa to my
fatherland." Vain phantoms of ambition, only to fever my poor brain! The
first untoward event would lay me prostrate on the burning plains,
leaving my bones scattered and bleaching, a monument to deter and dismay
the succeeding wanderer of The Desert. . . . . . . One of the occupations
of the poor in this country, by which they get a bit of bread, is
breaking date-stones, something analogous to our stone-breakers on the
high roads. The date-stones are taken one by one, and put on a big round
stone within a circle of a roll of rags, and another stone is used to
crush or pound them. The pounded stones are sold to fatten sheep and
camels upon. The poor earn two karoobs (twopence) a day in this manner,
on which many are obliged to live. Hard is the lot of the poor in every
clime!
Afternoon late, I went to the range of Wareerat mountains, to collect a
few geological specimens, accompanied by a slave. All our senses deceive
us. The world is a world of delusions and deceptions, and we are dupers
and dupes, as it happens. After continuing a couple of hours, the base of
the range, which seemed always close upon us, still receded and was
receding. On the plains of Africa bounded by mountain ranges, one is as
much at a loss to measure distances as the landsman at sea, when
measuring the distance from his ship to the rocks bounding the shore. My
negro Cicerone advised to beat a retreat, assuring me I should not reach
the chain by daylight. We looked round on the city and found it fast
diminishing and disappearing in the distance, in the fleeting twilight of
the evening. We returned an hour after dark. On the north we espied a few
camels, a Fezzan provision caravan, winding their slow length along like
a line of little black dots in the sand. My companion told me he was
captured in war. The people are always fighting; some to get slaves,
others from "a bad heart." He was afraid to go back to his country for
fear of being recaptured, resold, and made again to recross the Desert.
The domestic and political history of Africa is an eternal cycle of
miseries and misfortunes; better that the African world had not been
created. My negro companion is called Berka Ben-Omer, to distinguish him
from another slave of his master called Berka. Frequently both slaves and
free men have but one name, or one name is employed in speaking of them.
When there are many of the same name in their circle of acquaintance or
town, then the names of the fathers are used. Joshua, in The Scriptures,
is usually distinguished in this way when his name is mentioned, "To
Joshua, son of Nun." (Joshua ii. 23.) The _Ben_-Omer above, is the "son"
of Omer.
Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. Found Hateetah with the merchant.
They had made it up, and Hateetah told me, in the morning, there was now
peace between him and Haj Ibrahim, since he, Hateetah, had got the large
red sash. The Sheikh related news from Fezzan, respecting the ravages of
the son of Abd El-Geleel in Bornou, who was attacking the Bornouese
caravans. Hateetah then made a long speech, in which he recommended me to
the care of the merchant, calling upon Haj Ibrahim "To swear by his head
that he would take as much care of me as of himself." This was
unnecessary, for Haj Ibrahim had shown himself more substantially
friendly to me than any other merchant at Ghat. The Consul excused
himself for not accompanying me to Fezzan, by stating that his camels had
not come up from the country districts: this was a mere excuse. But the
road was perfectly safe, and we did not require the protection of the
Sheikh. To-day Hateetah did not beg.
_4th._--A fine morning, weather very warm and sultry. The town is well
nigh empty. When all the caravans are gone, Ghat will sink into the
stillness of death. This is the case with all the Saharan towns, which
are _blad-es-souk_, "a mart of trade," taking place periodically. The
Governor finds the trade in slaves so thriving, slaves having fetched a
good price this year, that he is sending this morning two of his sons to
Soudan to purchase slaves. Kandarka left also this morning. I went to see
him off. _Saif zain, wahad_, "A good sword, one!" he exclaimed as usual.
He then made me a long speech. "Put yourself under my sword, no man can
resist the sword of Kandarka! (drawing his sword from the scabbard, and
making a cut with it.) Be my witnesses, ye merchants of Ghadames! (some
of whom were present.) I will give you, Yâkob, a good camel, a mahry.
Water you will have first, sweet water. Wood there will be always ready
for you to make a fire and cook the cuscasou. I am the right hand of
En-Nour (Sultan of Aheer). You will be my friend, Yâkob, before the
Sultan. In our towns, we have cheese, butter, wheat, sheep, bullocks. You
Christians have none like them. Make haste back, make haste, and come to
Aheer."
Hateetah seldom spoke to me of religion, but to-day the Consul said,
"What sort of Christian are you? I hear there are as many Christians as
there are sands" (taking up a handful of sand).
_The Author._--"And what sort of Islamites are you Touaricks? for you are
many, as many as we."
_The Consul._--"We are of Sidi Malek:" (_i. e._, Malekites like Arabs).
I asked then the Consul what was the meaning of Targhee, who replied
En-nas, or "people." Indeed, the word Targhee seems to have the same
signification as Kabyle, that is, "tribe," or "nation," both words
denoting people of the same original stock.
_5th._--The morning of our departure! . . . . . At length comes the
end--the end of all things, joys or sorrows--even in The Desert, where
delay and procrastination are the dull and wearying gods of ceaseless
worship. Rose early to pack up, and pay take-leave visits. Weather is
mild; the caravan will move slowly on account of the slaves; the journey
is short; the route is safe; all things promise a favourable end of my
Saharan tour. The mind looks with regret upon leaving places become
familiar, but rises buoyant at the thought of seeing new sights and
scenes. Called upon the Governor to bid him adieu. His Excellency said,
he should see me at the moment of departing. Found him with some people
of Touat, who said:--"The English are very devils; they have two eyes
behind their heads, as well as two before." I did not quite understand
their allusion. Called on Haj Ibrahim, who had been packing up for three
days past, and yet things were still in great confusion. To my
astonishment, I found the merchant surrounded with a group of people in
the greatest excitement, the master-figure of the group being The Giant
Sheikh, foaming with rage, and threatening to cut Haj Ibrahim's throat on
the road, unless he made him some sufficient present, in acknowledgment
of his authority as heir-apparent of the Sheikhdom of Berka. The Ghatee
merchants, all the most respectable of whom were in this _mêlée_, kept
screaming, and some of them pulling hold of Haj Ibrahim, to give a
trifle, (a couple of dollars,) to The Giant, and get rid of him. Hateetah
and other Touaricks were also present. Meantime, The Giant bullied,
menaced, swore, and thundered things horrible and unutterable . . . . .
Amidst this bedlam din, Haj Ibrahim at length got a hearing, and mustered
up courage enough to defend himself:--"You call your's a peaceful
country,--How? Is not this the conduct of bandits? I know (recognize) no
person but Berka. Him I have given a present. What was demanded I have
given Berka. I will not now give more presents, and not indeed by main
force. It is robbery! Go and take my camels." The Giant, who listened to
these few words, spoken distinctly and energetically, with a brow
overcast, like a storm-cloud charged with the electric fire, and a bosom
heaving and boiling with wrath, got up from where he lay sprawling,
("many a rood,") and very deliberately took hold of his broadsword (I
began to be alarmed), and with it fetched Hateetah such a stroke on the
back with its flat side, as made him cry out with pain. Then addressing
his subordinate sternly and laconically, _Enker, heek_[93], "Get up
quick." he strode off a few paces. Hateetah instantly followed, and the
other Touaricks. Now turned round The Giant, and said in Arabic:--"Allah
Akbar, the camels! Allah Akbar, the camels! Good, good! Allah Akbar, the
camels!" They went off (or rather pretended to go) to seize the
merchant's camels. These gone, the merchants of Ghat set all upon Haj
Ibrahim, "What a fool you are! Why not give the long fellow a couple of
dollars? If you won't, we shall give the Sheikh the money ourselves." One
of them turned to me, "Why, Christian, what is a couple of dollars to Haj
Ibrahim? That's the value?" (putting his hand to his nose.) The reader
may easily guess how this stupid obstinacy of the merchant ended. The Haj
forked out, with a bad grace, and the money was carried after The Giant,
one of the Ghat merchants adding two more dollars. I was pleased with
this trait of the Ghateen, who were determined we should not go off in
this uncomfortable plight. The Giant I did not see again; I regretted to
part with him in this manner. Under his huge and unwieldy exterior he
concealed the most tender and generous disposition. His Giantship never
begged of me; and when I gave him a little tobacco, he thanked me a
thousand times. He was always cheerful with, and had some joke for his
friends. After all, my plan is best: to make the necessary presents at
once, and voluntarily; to give all the Sheikhs a trifle, and then you are
at peace with all.
About 2 o'clock in the afternoon, to our great satisfaction, we got clear
and clean off. Hateetah came out to see me start, and walked half a mile
with me on the road. He was extremely kind. It is probable, he begged of
me so much, because his brothers and cousins incited him, amongst whom I
know he shared the presents which he received. I now put my hand in my
pocket, and gave him all the money I had left, half a dollar and a
karoob! He affectionately shook me with both hands. I then passed the
Governor, who was waiting for us. His Excellency shook hands very
friendly, and said, "And Ellah, Yâkob" (God be with you, James!)
During my fifty days' residence in Ghat, although I received numberless
petty insults, I kept out of all squabbles, and made as few complaints as
possible to the authorities. In fact, I may safely say, and without
presumption on my part, if I could not live in peace with these people a
few weeks, no other European coming after me could.
It is now time to make a few observations upon the general character of
these Saharan inhabitants, and compare their social state with that of
ours in Europe.
Crime against society, consists mainly in lying or duplicity, and
imposture, in thieving, in sensuality, and in murder. Veracity, honesty,
continence, and respect for human life, distinguish a moral people. We
have to try the Saharan populations of Ghat and Ghadames by these four
cardinal points or principles, and compare them with the nations of
Europe. Whilst resident in Ghadames, not one single case of cutting or
maiming, or manslaughter, occurred, nor did I hear of any in neighbouring
countries. Of course, I exclude altogether the depredations of a nation
or tribe of robbers, as well as all the skirmishes between the Touaricks
and the Shânbah, which have nothing to do with the question of the
social condition of the Saharan towns that I visited. In Ghat, three
cases of cutting and wounding occurred, the gashes on the arms received
by two slaves from a Touarghee, and the attack on the Ghadamsee trader
whilst at prayers, also by a Touarghee. These are the only cases which
occurred during my residence here, although a mart or fair, and the
rendezvous of tribes of people from all parts of Central Africa and the
Great Desert! . . . . . So much for the sacredness of human life among
the barbarians of The Desert! . . . . . . With respect to theft and
thieving, I have already noticed that thieving is only practised by the
hungry and starved slaves of these towns, that amongst the people of
Ghadames, as likewise amongst the Touaricks, theft is unknown as a crime.
The exceptional cases of theft which are brought to notice can be easily
traced to strangers. The Touaricks certainly at times levy black-mail in
open Desert, but do not rob in the towns; and the black-mail is not
considered by themselves as theft, nor, indeed, is it strictly such,
being exacted by the Touaricks as transit duties, or as presents for
protection through their districts, or as tribute, and under a variety of
such reasons and pretensions. What is legally fixed on the Continent of
Europe, is here left to the caprice and greediness of the Sheikhs, and
the liberality or stinginess of the trader. As to incontinence, this is
more a secret crime. But the sexual habits of the Touaricks, and their
domestic amours, are purity itself, compared to the sensuality which
disfigures and saps the vitals of society in all the southern nations of
Europe. The hardships of The Desert are the greatest safeguards against
indulgence in, or the pleasures of, an emasculating sensuality amongst
the Touaricks, whilst the ascetic habits of the Maraboutish city of
Ghadames sufficiently protect that people from the general indulgence of
libertinism, and unnatural crimes. Intoxication, or habitual drunkenness,
is, of course, unknown in these Saharan regions. An inebriated woman
would be such a wonder as is described in the Book of the Revelations. As
to veracity, I have told the reader, the Touarghee nation is a "one-word"
people. We cannot expect the same thing from the commercial and
make-money habits of the Moors of Ghadames, but they rank much higher for
veracity than the Moors of The Coast, which latter have the _superior_
advantages of direct European contact. In my estimate of Saharan
populations, I have confined myself to Ghat and Ghadames; the oases of
Fezzan, and the city of Mourzuk, have become too much vitiated by contact
with The Coast and the Turks for affording fair specimens of Saharan
tribes. Let us then compare what has been said to those hideous scenes of
crime, of immodesty, and drunkenness, which abound in the great cities of
Europe--the ever-present, ever-during stigma on our boasted
civilization!--and ask the paradoxical question, What do we gain by
European and Christian civilization? We have Chambers of Legislature,
infallible and omnipotent Parliaments, princes full of the enlightenment
of the age, and reigning by divine right, or the sovereignty of the
people, or what not;--we have hierarchies of priests and ministers of
religion, we have a Divine revelation;--we have philosophers, poets, and
rhetoricians, all enforcing the sublime morals of the age, with reason or
fancy and the attractions of the most cultivated intellect;--we have
science exhausting nature by its discoveries;--we have our fine arts,
and the arts to humanize and exalt the characters of men;--we have our
benevolent, philanthropic, and scientific societies;--we profess to
govern the destinies of the world, to direct the intellect of all
nations, and to advance the being of man to the enjoyment of immortal,
imperishable life! ........ And what else profess we not to do? Now then,
what are the results? We have the governing authorities of a neighbouring
people a mass of corruption[94];--we have the States of the North, so
little acquainted with the arts and justice of Government that planned
conspiracies and consequent massacres of whole classes are now and then
had recourse to, and found requisite to preserve the apparent order of
society. Amongst ourselves, we Englishmen, have in all our great cities,
the frightful excrescences of crime, too frightful for the pure and
simple-minded Saharan tribes to look upon. Our common habits of
intoxication and intemperance, and the intoxication of our women, would
make the Desert man or woman shrink away from us with horror. Our country
is filled with prisons, all well tenanted, whilst the Desert cities have
no one thing in the shape or form of a prison. Then look at the Thuggism
and open-day assassinations of Ireland! In truth, these Saharan
malefactors are the veriest minutest fry of offenders, the minnows and
gudgeons of guilt compared to the Irish Thuggee of Tipperary[95].
Poverty is the giant of our United Kingdom, and the incarnate demon of
unhappy Ireland; and, with us, people die of starvation....... The
Desert, on the contrary, offers the strongest parallel of contrast
possible. Poverty there is, but it is wealth compared to ours, and our
wants, and no person that I heard of, whilst resident in The Desert, died
of starvation. Of course, I omit the traffic in slaves, which has nothing
to do with the social state of the Saharan towns I am describing. I omit
likewise the condition of the Arabs of the Tripoline mountains, and the
terrible exactions of the Turks upon them and other provinces in Tripoli,
which indeed are a part of the European system I am now animadverting
upon. But I shall stop this tone and style of animadversion. I am sick at
heart with the parallel of contrasts between our barbarian and civilized
social systems: it is so unsatisfactory, it is so disheartening, and
takes away all hope, all faith in the progress and perfectibility of the
human race. One thing, however, is certain, that unless we can bring our
minds to form a just appreciation of ourselves, unless we can learn to
know ourselves, there is no hope, no chance of advancing in our social
and moral condition.
Our slave caravan stretched across the plain or bed of the Wady of Ghat
eastwards, to the black range of Wareerat, and turning round abruptly
north by some sand hills, we encamped after three hours. It is from this
place the Ghat townspeople fetch their wood. The fire-wood is gathered
from the lethel tree. Our caravan consists of eleven camels, five
merchants or proprietors, some half dozen servants and about fifty or
sixty slaves. I have my nagah and Said, as before. Nearly all the slaves
are the property of Haj Ibrahim. They are mostly young women and girls.
There are a few boys and three children. The poor things on leaving Ghat,
as is their wont on encountering The Desert, got up a song in choruses,
to give an impetus to their feelings in starting. For myself, The Desert
has become my most familiar friend. I felt happy in again spreading my
pallet upon its naked bosom, by a shady bush of the Lethel.
FOOTNOTES:
[93] انكر هيك, the Touarghee language.
[94] As to what has taken place, and is happening by the
introduction of what is called _French_ civilization into Africa
(Algeria), and how the morals of the people, natives and
foreigners, are affected, the things are too horrible to be here
related. The annals of Norfolk Island, and the Bagnes of Toulon,
would be outraged by their recital.
[95] I should be sorry to apply to a minister of any religion the
opprobrious epithet of a "Surpliced Ruffian." It would seem,
however, that Archdeacon Laffan aspires to the "bad eminence" of
the apologist of assassins. What would my readers say, were I to
report the Ministers of Islamism in The Desert to be the abettors
of assassination? Or what would they have said, if a priest had
been found to be the secret or open instigator of the
_quasi_-bandit Ouweek, in his violent threat to murder me, because
I chanced to be a Christian, or rather, a non-believer in Mahomet.
We should not have found words sufficiently strong to express our
reprobation of such priestly intolerance and wickedness. And yet
Ouweek would have only acted out his religious principles in their
stern literality,--قتلواهم--"_kill them_" (the infidels),
as frequently written in the inexorable Koran; whilst Archdeacon
Laffan's preaching is diametrically opposed to his religion, whose
holy and clement command contrariwise is,--"to forgive our
enemies, and bless those who curse us."