RESIDENCE AT MOURZUK.
Mr. Gagliuffi's opinion of the Touaricks.--Amazonian
White-Washers.--Visit, and take leave of the Bashaw.--Various
Anecdotes related by His Highness.--Safe-conduct given to
liberated Slaves in returning to their Country.--Character of the
Tibboos, and particularly Tibboo Women.--Description of the Oases
of Fezzan.--Leo's Account of these Oases.--Recent History of the
Government of Mourzuk.--The Traitor Mukni.--Life and Character of
Abd-el-Geleel.--The Civil War in Tripoli, and Usurpation of its
Government by the Turks.--The Tyrant Asker Ali.--Skirmish of
Hasan Belazee with the Town of Omm-Errâneb, and the Oulad
Suleiman.--Retreat of the Oulad Suleiman to Bornou, and their
Marauding Character.--My departure from Mourzuk with the
Slave-Caravan of Haj Essnousee.--Establishment of British Consuls
in The Great Desert and Central Africa.--Force of the new
Slave-Caravan.
_4th._--FEEL as well in health as when I left Tripoli, though housed in
this city of fever. Mr. Gagliuffi has some ideas about the Touaricks
which I have not acquired in Ghat. He pretends Touaricks are always
afraid of their women, and are obliged to do whatsoever their wives tell
them. The son never will go with his father, but always follows his
mother. His father he learns to hate the more he loves his mother. The
Consul does not think the Touaricks of Aheer to be so numerous as
represented. The same, indeed, may be said of all the kingdoms of Africa.
The principal slave or servant (factotum) of the Sultan of Aheer is now
in Mourzuk, transacting business for his master. The Bashaw offered to
write to the Sultan for me through this man. He is called Hiddee, and
paid me a visit this morning. En-Nour, the friend of Kandarka, is only a
Sheikh. Hiddee is the slave whom the Bashaw has been quizzing so severely
about the mighty armies of his master.
A number of women are now occupied opposite to us in white-washing or
white-claying the Guard-house, this _chef-d'œuvre_ of Mourzuk
architecture. The women alone do this work, and as their privilege. There
are about thirty of them so occupied, under the command of a queen
white-washer. They all tremble at the sound of her Majesty's voice.
Sometimes she gives them a crack over the head with a bowl, to make them
look sharp about them. The white-washers prepare the wash in the usual
way, and then lade it out in small bowls, throwing a whole bowl at once
at the walls, using no brush, now and then only with their hands rubbing
over a place not wet with the wash. This arises from the nature of the
wash, it being merely a fine brown-white clay, or a species of pipe-clay.
There is no lime in the oases near: people fetch it from Sockna. For this
reason the Castle is so dirty. There is attendant on the women a band of
Arab musicians, to cheer them on in their work. Every man who passes by
gets a piece of white-wash clay thrown at him. If it hits him he has to
pay, if not he escapes. On his non-payment, when so hit, he is tabooed
from the privileges which he possesses in and over women. He can have no
communication with them, nor can he buy anything from them, or receive
anything from their hands. If he does not pay in a few days, his fine
increases with his delay. This custom prevails, and its stipulations are
most religiously binding, whenever women are employed to white-wash
Government houses and establishments. Once a Targhee received some money,
which a woman thus employed offered to him, to entrap him. Immediately
exclaimed the virago, "You cowardly rascal, instead of giving us money,
you take money away from us." Then a mob of these Amazons followed him to
his house, and, to save himself from being torn and scratched to pieces
by the troop, he paid ten dollars, and was happy to escape so easily. The
Amazonian white-washers like to have a shy at Mr. Gagliuffi or the
Doctor, because they are down upon them for a good mulct or present. To
save their respective dignities, Consul and Doctor take care to keep out
of that quarter of the town where the work of the Amazons is going on.
We paid a visit to the Bashaw this afternoon previous to my departure
to-morrow. We had tea and pipes again as before. His Highness was
excessively civil, and related to me many anecdotes of the people of this
part of the world, of which anecdotes and such chit-chat he is very fond.
This Bashaw is a sort of chronicler of the Arabian Nights order, with the
difference, that what His Highness relates are generally true stories.
Mr. Gagliuffi instructed me in a little of his Desert diplomacy, and I
accordingly observed, "Your Excellency must extend the Turkish rule in
Sahara, and you ought to capture Ghat, for that is the centre of commerce
in these parts." This was put forth as a feeler. The Bashaw deigned the
following in reply:--"There was a boy left with his father, whilst the
mother and wife had gone to a neighbouring village on an errand. The boy,
after a sleep of three hours, awoke, and, looking about him and not
seeing his mother, began to cry for her. 'Oh,' said the father, 'you
have begun to cry for your mother after three minutes, you blubbering
urchin; whilst I have been waiting for my wife, with the most enduring
patience, these three long hours."--"So it is with me," continued the
Bashaw; "you are crying for Ghat after three months' residence here, and
I have been crying for Ghat these three long years. I have been waiting
every year, every month and day in the year, to go and take it, or
destroy it, but the Sultan sends me no orders." I noticed the Fullan boy
of the Bashaw, and observed to him that I had seen very few of the Fullan
slaves. The Bashaw returned, "That boy is gold to me. When I was sick, he
was the only one who waited upon me unceasingly, and never left my couch.
I have also a Fullan girl; her hair is as long as your women's, and
reaches down to her waist." Mr. Gagliuffi afterwards told me His Highness
had been some while choosing a wife, that is, a substitute for his wife
who is in Tripoli, and had at last found what he liked in this Fullan
girl, of whose beauty and grace he said the Bashaw boasted to him (the
Consul), a thing quite unusual amongst Mohammedans. The features of this
Fullan boy were very regular, black eyes and a light olive complexion.
Such were Fullan slaves of our caravan; and the most _recherchée_ of all
the females, fetching the highest price, was a Fullanah girl.
His Highness related several anecdotes of the Soudanese people. Slaves
are told, on leaving Soudan, that white people will kill them and eat
them; but when they get here, and see themselves kindly treated, they
become reconciled to slavery. In some of the Nigritian countries, when
the people get old,--say seventy or eighty years of age,--their
relatives and friends say to them, "Come, now you are very old, and are
of no use in the world: it is better for you to go away to your fathers
and to the gods. There you will be young again, eat and drink as well as
ever, and be as beautiful and as strong as you ever were or can be. You
will renew your young days like the young birds, and the young lions."
"Very well," reply the aged decrepid creatures, "we will go." They then
dress up their aged worn-out victim in his fine clothing, and make a
feast. When in the midst of drums and horrible screams, during the height
of the feast, they lay hold of the old man, and throw him into a large
fire, and he is immediately consumed to ashes. The Bashaw did not
particularize the country, but this barbarous rite has been witnessed in
other parts of the world besides Africa.
The inhabitants of Wadai are a nation of drunkards. They can do nothing
unless drunk. Amongst these people, the greatest mark of friendship is to
present their friends with raw meat, with the bile of the liver poured on
it as sauce or gravy. Wadai is in the neighbourhood of Upper Egypt and
Abyssinia, and the tale reminds one of Bruce, and the live-meat eating
Abyssinians. A Tibboo chief came to Mourzuk, and presented himself
without introduction before His Highness, and thus harangued him:--"Oh
Bey! I want to write to my son, the Bashaw of Tripoli. You must send my
letter to my son." "Give it to me," said His Highness, most
condescendingly. "There it is," cried the Tibboo, and flung it down at
the feet of the Governor. The letter being opened, the contents ran
thus:--"Son, be a good man, fear me and fear God. If you behave well, and
acknowledge me as your father, I will send you three slaves and come and
see you." The Tibboo was allowed to depart from the Governor as a madman.
"See," said the Bashaw to me, "how ignorant and presumptuous are these
Tibboo people."
I replied, "It was always so that ignorance and pride went together, and
it always will be so."
_His Highness._--"Are your people so?"
"Of course, all the world is so."
The Bashaw now came to the Touaricks. "The Touaricks detest cities. When
they visit us, we cannot make them sleep within the walls." I observed,
they have not confidence in the people of the towns they visit. The
Bashaw thought that was a hit at him, and so it was, for the Touaricks
sleep within the walls of their own cities, and even inside Ghadames. I
occupied a house which they had tenanted just before my arrival.
Therefore His Highness jumped from the Touaricks to the
Ghadamseeah:--"The Ghadamsee people are a nation of Jews. I once had to
escort them. One morning when I got up I found them all in separate
groups, for they detest each other's society. (The Bashaw might have
observed the separation of the two hereditary factions.) They were all in
disorder. I got a whip and laid it on them one after another, as they
whip their slaves. The next morning they were all ready to start before I
was. This is the way to treat these Jews. The curse of God is upon them.
When they die nothing is found in their houses, nor gold, silver, money,
or goods, not even victuals. God punishes them thus because they are a
nation of Jews and slave-dealers." Belazee forgets that his government is
partly supported by the slave-traffic. But the Bashaw is a man of great
audacity, takes large views of things, assumes the air of lavish and
magnificent pretensions, and hates the quiet, thrifty, and money-making
character of the merchants of Ghadames. The Bashaw concluded his long
string of anecdotes by asking me, on my return, to bring him a watch, but
not to bring it if I did not intend to charge him for it, for he could
not accept presents from me, since he had a fixed salary from the Sultan.
He added, "I'm sorry you have not brought a letter from the Bashaw of
Tripoli, for I can't show you the attention I would wish. But bring a
letter when you return, and I'll write to all the princes of Africa for
you." I answered, "Oh, I'll bring you a firman from the Porte, if that
will do for you." At which His Highness laughed heartily.
Whatever ferocity of disposition Hasan Belazee may have shown in the
decapitation of Abd-El-Geleeh, he certainly knows how to be polite and
show hospitality to strangers. The British Consul-General tried to get
him removed from Mourzuk, with the tyrant, Asker Ali, from Tripoli, but
Belazee was the only man who could keep this province tranquil, and the
trade with the coast uninterrupted. Mr. Gagliuffi tells me, as a proof of
the Bashaw's influence in the interior, that His Highness wrote to the
Touaricks of Aheer and Ghat to allow liberated slaves to return
unmolested to their country, as an act acceptable to God, seeing the poor
slaves had been liberated by their pious Mussulman masters, who invoked
upon them the blessing of the Almighty on the day of their liberation.
And it is said, that, in no case, when a freed slave took a letter from
the Bashaw, did the slave fail to reach his native country. How
different this Desert morality to that of the villanous Americans, who
glory in recapturing freed slaves, or hanging them up by Lynch Law--and
those poor men have bought their freedom by the sweat of their brow! The
Bashaw is also strong amongst the Tibboos, who are generally an immoral
race of Africans. These Tibboos attacked a merchant of Tripoli and
plundered him near their country. His Highness immediately clapped all
the Tibboos then at Mourzuk in prison, until the merchant's goods were
restored, and he himself brought safe to Mourzuk. Since this strong
measure, the Tibboos have plundered no more Tripoline merchants.
Mr. Gagliuffi pointed out several Tibboos to me in the town, and amongst
the rest one who called himself a Sultan. This chief came the other day
to the Consul and thus addressed him:--
"My wife is coming here. I'm so glad. She is such a good wife. Oh, so
good!"
"Why is she a good wife?" inquired the Consul.
"Oh, she has killed two women; first the daughter, then the mother;
wretches who wanted to kill her. Isn't that a good wife?"
The Tibboo women secrete knives about them, as the Italian and Spanish
ladies conceal the stiletto in their garters. It does not come within my
province to describe the Tibboos, but I may say briefly of the social
condition of those tribes, in that country it is "Man and his Mistress,"
and not "Woman and her Master." The Tibboo ladies do not even allow a
husband to enter his own home without sending word previously to announce
himself. A Tibboo lady once explained this matter in Mourzuk. "Why,"
said the Tibbooess, "should I not have two or three husbands, as well as
my husband two or three wives? Are not we women as good as men? Of
course, I don't wish my husband to surprise me enjoying myself with my
lovers." It is a notorious fact, that when the salt caravans go from
Aheer to Bilma, the whole villages are cleared of the men, the Tibboo men
escaping to the neighbouring mountains with provisions for a month. In
the meanwhile, the Tibboo women and the strangers are left to themselves.
The women transact all the trade of salt, and manage alone their
household affairs. The Tibboo women, indeed, are everything, and their
men nothing--idling and lounging away their time, and kicked about by
their wives as so many useless drones of society. The women maintain the
men as a race of stallions, and not from any love for them; but to
preserve the Tibboo nation from extinction.
A brief description of the oases of Fezzan may be given, beginning with
_Mourzuk_, (مرزوق). The capital is placed in
25° 54′ N. Lat., and 14° 12′ E. of Greenwich. It is a walled city,
contained within the circumference of about three miles, having a
population of about 3,500 souls. The area of the site was reduced to
a third, on the south side, by Abd-El-Geleel, for the convenience of
defence, when he held it against the Turks. On the west, is the
Castle of the Bashaw, forming a separate division or quarter from
the town. The Castle, which consists of many buildings and
court-yards, contains the barracks. The town is formed of one large
broad street, opening into a spacious square before the Castle, and
several smaller narrower streets. Since the occupation of the Turks,
many improvements have been made. A new mosque has been built, and
a guard-house is being finished for the troops in town. Two or three
coffee-houses and new shops have been fitted up, and the progress of
building improvements continues. Mourzuk has three gates. The houses
are mostly built of sun-dried bricks, cemented with mud, very little
stone and no lime being found in the environs. Altogether it is a
clean place, for an interior African city. The suburbs already have
been noticed, where in the gardens wheat, barley, ghusub, ghafouly,
the flax plant, common vegetables and flowers, a few roses and
jessamines, are cultivated, with the noble date-palm overshadowing
all. Every garden has its well, or wells. Sweet water is scarce. The
spring crops are six weeks in advance of those in Tripoli. The
Bashaw, on my taking leave of His Highness, presented me with a
handful of ripe barley to bring to Tripoli, as a rarity. One bushel
or measure of seed-corn produces from twenty-four to twenty-eight
bushels. A greater quantity of corn could be easily produced in all
the oases. A man and boy with an ass can cultivate corn enough in a
season to subsist three or four families during six months. There
are two seasons and two crops. But the gardens near the city offer
no features of beautiful vegetation. At a distance there are much
finer specimens of Saharan cultivation.
The government of Mourzuk consists of a Bashaw, ostensibly assisted by a
Divan of six persons, to whom is joined the Kady. Besides a Kady in this
city, there are four Kadys in the rest of the province. The garrison
consists of five hundred and fifty men and boys, about one-third only of
whom are Turks, the rest being Arabs and Moors. Of the whole force, one
hundred and fifty are cavalry. There is besides an irregular corps of a
hundred Arab horse. The superior officers, including the
commander-in-chief, are all Turks. The medical officer is a Greek. The
Porte has very few Turkish doctors. The medical officer at Tripoli was
the late Dickson, an Englishman. This inconsiderable force is sufficient
to maintain all the oases in tranquillity, and defend them from the
hostile tribes.
The commerce of Mourzuk is at a low ebb on account of the rival Touarick
city of Ghat, and especially from the disturbed state of the Bornou route
during the last few years. However, there are caravans between Cairo and
Mourzuk, which never frequent Tripoli. Many British and Levant goods come
by this route, which are not brought by the ordinary route from Tripoli.
Saharan merchants divide Central Africa or Nigritia, into three
divisions, according to the marts and routes of the interior commerce,
viz.: Bornou, with which Mourzuk has the most direct relations; Soudan,
or Bur-el-Abeed, ("Land of Slaves"), with which Ghat and Ghadames have
direct and most frequent communications; and, finally, Timbuctoo, with
which Ghat and Ghadames have likewise always relations. But Morocco is
the country in North Africa which has the most constant relations with
Timbuctoo; so much so, that in past times, the Emperors pretended to
exercise sovereignty over this mysterious city of the banks of the Niger.
As before mentioned, Mourzuk is not healthy[111]. The Greek doctor calls
the fever "_febre terziane_" (Ital.), apparently the ordinary
intermittent fever, or perhaps the tertian ague, with local
peculiarities. It usually begins in April and continues all summer. It
recommences in October, and persons attacked in this month are sick
during the whole of the month. About two per cent. die if they have
medical assistance, but, without this assistance, a great number die.
After it, comes the bile, "_gastrica bigliosa_." (Ital.) This disease has
also fatal consequences. The simple fever is often accompanied, when it
presents itself, with worms; it then changes to intermittent fever, and
if it does not, is usually fatal. Persons not cured of the fever often
become dropsical. There are a few cases of consumption. Syphilis is very
virulent, and prevails amongst the troops. Ophthalmia and rheumatism are
common complaints. Thus Mourzuk is not quite one of those oases, or
Hesperian gardens, where the happy residents quaff the elixir of immortal
health and virtue. Contrarily, it is a sink of vice and disease within,
and a sere foliage of palms and vegetation without, overhung with an ever
forbidding sky, of dull red haziness.
The Turkish system of laxity of morals, as exhibited in all their
garrison towns, has full force, free course, and scope in Mourzuk,
beginning as an example with His Highness the Bashaw, and descending to
the lowest soldiers. Yet they say, it was infinitely worse before the
present commanding officer had charge of the troops. The officers have
no legitimate wives, nor, of course the privates. The women of Mourzuk
are therefore necessarily of bold aspect and depraved manners. All the
lower classes of females are usually unveiled, and will commit acts of
immodesty anywhere. In general these women are constantly being divorced
and taking new husbands. In such a depraved state of society, love and
affection are consequently unknown,
Here never--
"Love his gold shafts employs;"
Never here--
"Waves his purple wings."
Mr. Gagliuffi thought one of the greatest obstacles to the suppression of
the slave-trade was the facility which it afforded Moorish and Arab
merchants to indulge in sensual amours. Although a merchant would get no
profit by his long and dreary journeys over Desert, he would still carry
it on for the sake of indulging in the lower passions of his nature. A
slave dealer will convey a score or two of female slaves from Mourzuk to
Tripoli, and change the unhappy objects of his brutal lust every night.
This is, he considers, the summum bonum of human existence, and to obtain
it, he will continue this nefarious trade, without the smallest gain, or
prospect of gain, and die a beggar when his vile passions become extinct.
"What is life without a slave?" says The Desert voluptuary. "Better to
die than have no slaves!" But there are exceptions. A young lad is placed
by his uncle, who lives in Tripoli, under the care of the Consul. His
uncle wrote to the Consul, "To tell the lad, to send no more slaves to
Tripoli, to abandon the traffic altogether," adding, in his letter, "In
future, God deliver us from this shameful traffic!" But the Consul
previously had written to the uncle that he would not take the boy under
his care if he trafficked in slaves. Notwithstanding all this, some few
Saharan merchants there are who really detest this traffic, and its
attendant immoralities. Such I have found in my later peregrinations
through North Africa.
Fezzan, as vulgarly computed, is said to contain one hundred and one
towns and villages, or inhabited oases. The districts are, 1st. Mourzuk,
the capital; 2nd. East side, including Hofrah, Shargheeah, and Foghah;
3rd. North side, Sebhah, Bounanees, Jofrah, and Shaty; 4th. West side,
Wady Sharghee, Wady Ghurby, and Wady Atbah; 5th. South side, Ghatroun.
This division embraces twelve principal towns, where there are resident
Kaeds. All the lesser towns have their subordinate Kaeds or Sheikhs. It
will be seen that Sockna is not included in this enumeration, and it is
not usually considered a part of the government of Fezzan. Of the rest,
and all the towns, Zuela is the more interesting for its antiquities.
Formerly the capital, as well as Germa, it was colonized by the Romans.
Zuela contains some ancient inscriptions, and not long ago two
store-rooms were discovered, full of indigo, supposed to have been a
portion of the ancient commerce of the interior. Zuela is the principal
town of the division of Shargheeah, or The East.
To the natural productions of Fezzan, already enumerated, may be added,
the Trona[112], or "Sal Natrone" of Tripoline merchants. It is procured
from the bottom of the lakes when the water evaporates during the summer
season. Besides its use of being masticated in Barbary, it is exported to
Europe in considerable quantities, for the manufacture of glass. A little
gum-arabic is procured hereabouts, and the quantity is increasing.
Leo Africanus gives the following account of these oases, which, joining
those of the Tibboos, connect almost in a straight line Northern with
Central Africa:--
"Fezzen è similmente una grande abitazione, nella quale sono di grossi
castelli e di gran casali, tutti abitati da un ricco popolo si di
possessioni, como di danari; perciocchè sono ne' confini di Agadez e del
diserto di Libia che confina con lo Egitto; ed è discosto dal Cairo circa
a sessanta giornate; nè pel diserto altra abitazione si truova, che
Augela che' é nel diserto di Libia. Fezzen è dominata da un signore che è
come primario del popolo, il quale tutta la rendita del paese dispensa
nel comun beneficio, pagando certo tributo a' vicini Arabi. Similmente in
cotal paese è molta penuria di pane e di carne; e si mangia carne di
camello, la quale è tuttavia carissima."--(_Sixth Part, chap._ Liii.)
Formerly Fezzan was exceedingly rich and populous, but now it is
become impoverished to the last degree, and many of its largest
district populations are reduced to the starvation-point. Its
inhabited oases would produce an infinitely greater amount of the
materials of existence, if moderately cultivated, whilst many oases,
once smiling paradisal spots in Desert, are altogether abandoned.
The few merchants who have any money are those of Sockna, but which
town, as before mentioned, does not properly belong to Fezzan,
though its relations with these oases are intimate. Before the
Turks and Abd-El-Geleel, Fezzan was governed by its own native
Sultans, whose family was of the Shereefs of Morocco. But about
thirty years ago one Mukhanee, or Mukni[113], as he is commonly
called, entered into conspiracy with the Bashaw of Tripoli to seize
the government of the native princes, who were thus deposed, and the
usurped government continued in the hands of the Bashaw and his
creatures, until it was seized in turn by the brave and enterprising
Arab chieftain, Abd-El-Geleel. The immediate ancestors of this
Sheikh were destroyed by old Yousef Bashaw, amongst whom Saif
Nasser, grandfather of the Sheikh, and the head of the Oulad
Suleiman, was a celebrated warrior. These chiefs and their tribes
occupied the shores of the Syrtis (Sert سرت), and were originally
from Morocco. They might claim some connexion with the deposed
Shereefian government. When all his ancestors, and especially his
grandfather, Saif-Nasser, were butchered by the exterminating policy
of Yousef Bashaw, Abd-El-Geleel, then a boy, was saved,--as an
instrument of future vengeance in the hands of Providence--by the
secret interference of the women of the Bashaw's family. As the boy,
however, grew up, he could not fail to excite the suspicions of the
Bashaw, for the old hoary-headed assassin saw in him, not darkly or
dimly, the sword which was being drawn by avenging Heaven to cut off
his family root and branch, perhaps his own head, and break up for
ever his blood-cemented kingdom. These suspicions of a guilty
conscience came at length to such a pitch, that the day arrived when
the innocent youth was to be strangled, so snatching violently away
the instrument of vengeance from the hands of inexorable justice!
But, on that very day, the Bashaw received intelligence of a
threatened invasion from Mehemet Ali, and old Yousef knew this
aspiring young warrior to be the only man who could unite the
scattered and disaffected tribes of the Syrtis, and repel the
invasion. Abd-El-Geleel was therefore forthwith dispatched to muster
the Arabs, and make all things ready to meet the invading enemy.
However, the alarms of invasion soon died away, and the young Sheikh
was sent up to the province of Fezzan to quell some insurrection of
the Arabs.
But finding himself surrounded continually with suspicious agents and
cut-throat spies, who might in a moment compass his assassination, whilst
the Arabs _en route_ were ripe for revolt, the wary Sheikh at once raised
the standard of rebellion, and took possession, successively, of the town
of Benioleed, the mountainous district of Gharian, the Syrtis, and the
province of Fezzan, all which he held nine years with the style and power
of a Sultan. Then the day of his fate also began to hasten on. The old
Bashaw's family, polluted with the most cruel and odious crimes, fell by
its own intestine divisions, ending in a civil war, which war was closed
by the usurpation of the Turks. Abd-El-Geleel was now called upon to
submit to the Sultan of Constantinople, a new and a more formidable
master. The Sheikh refused submission, and declared and carried on war
with the Turks. At length, however, his intrepid brother, Saif Nasser,
was killed in battle, and the Sultan-Sheikh became dispirited, lost his
courage and presence of mind. Abd-El-Geleel madly surrendered himself,
at the instigation of his own Sheikhs, who betrayed him to the Turks, and
Belazee, the present Bashaw of Fezzan, who commanded the troops against
him, on hearing of his voluntary surrender, sent word that the Arab
prince was not to be brought alive into the camp. He was then instantly
decapitated! This cruel assassination took place in 1842. The whole of
the usurped districts held by the prince, now returned to the power of
the Turks.
Asker Ali, the blood-thirsty tyrant then governing Tripoli, on hearing of
this intelligence was drunk with joy. His insolence to the British
Consul-General knew no bounds. The tyrant even boasted openly, that God
would give into his hands his two other enemies, the British
Consul-General, and the Vice-Consul of Mourzuk! The tyrant was fond of
dipping in astrology and reading fate, and he was once surprised by his
ministers, reading the certain destruction of these last two of his
remaining enemies in a small portion of sand. The consequence of all this
open violence naturally was his instant recal, Sir Stratford Canning
threatening the Porte that, if it delayed his recal more than one hour, a
British squadron would depose the tyrant, and replace him by another
Bashaw. The ancient Bey of Bengazi, an exile in Malta, and one of the
Caramanly family, or of the old Moorish dynasty of Bashaws, would have
replaced Asker Ali. This tyrant, like all tyrants, on receiving his
recal, was unmanned, and became weaker than a child, for the performance
of acts of the darkest cruelty and the most arrant cowardice, are quite
compatible. The tyrant Asker Ali shed tears! on leaving the country,
where he had exercised the most atrocious cruelties. However, he was
fated to execute one act of justice, in the style of the Turk, against
the betrayers of Abd-El-Geleel; for the tyrant strangled all the
subordinate Arab chieftains who had conspired against their master, and
delivered him into the hands of the Turks,--the just vengeance of heaven
against traitors. Asker Ali returned to Constantinople, and as is the
custom now-a-days, the Porte, imitating the recent policy of the French
Government, which Government, whenever it disavows its agents, decorates
them as a matter of course,--so that to be, or get decorated, is to do
something contrary to international law and justice,--following such a
good and honest maxim, such a discovery in the science of diplomacy, I
repeat, the Porte, in its sympathy, immediately conferred on the tyrant a
new Pashalic. Thence, after a short time, Asker Ali continuing his
horrible trade of official murder, consulting his book of fate and atoms
of sand, and hanging up the good subjects of the Porte "without judge or
jury," got again recalled; and I have not heard more of this miscreant
Pasha. Asker Ali is a bright jewel of native Ottoman ferocity.
The Chief Abd-El-Geleel figures in the Slave-Trade Reports of Tripoli,
1843, as an abolitionist. But, according to M. Subtil, he was only
bamboozling Col. Warrington[114]. This Subtil also pretends the chieftain
was more inclined to French than English interests. Such a statement is
probably a calumny of the sulphur-exploring adventurer in Tripoli, and
was made to get himself popularity in France, or to help his schemes of
Tripoli speculations. At any rate, it rests solely upon his very dubious
authority. The Arab prince lost all by attempting too much. He reversed
the maxim of "attempt much, and you will get a little." An arrangement
was offered to the Sheikh, by which, on paying a contribution of 25,000
dollars per annum, and acknowledging the sovereignty of the Grand
Signior, the usurped districts should be confirmed to him, and
hereditarily to his family. But, like the ten thousand military
chieftains, soldiers of fortune, who have gone before him, whose faith
saw their star always in the ascendant, he sighed for Tripoli, and its
Bashaw's Castle, and lost all.
The son of Abd-el-Geleel, on the assassination of his father, took the
advice of Col. Warrington, and emigrated to Bornou, whose Sultan being of
Arab extraction, received the emigrant hospitably as a brother, and
assigned the unfortunate prince and his scattered followers, a district
on the confines of Bornou, between the Tibboos and his own empire. Since
then, the exiled prince has received a great accession of strength by a
numerous reinforcement of the Oulad Suleiman, and is now strong enough
himself to defend his newly acquired territory, should the Sultan of
Bornou at any time be won over by the intrigues of the Turks, to cancel
his concession of lands and attempt to expel the refugees. This movement
of the Oulad Suleiman is connected with the further military exploits of
Hasan Belazee.
About a twelvemonth ago, the inhabitants of the village of Omm-Errâneb
("mother of hares"), took it into their heads to revolt, and upon some
frivolous pretext seized their neighbours' camels, as an intimation to
the Bashaw of their seditious intentions. It is certain, however, from
what followed in the course of events, that their revolt was concerted
with the Oulad Suleiman. The villagers of Omm-Errâneb had not the shadow
of excuse for their revolt, for they paid no contributions to the Bashaw,
and merely acknowledged the Porte. This town is walled and consists of
about two hundred houses, and at the time of the war had a population of
some eight hundred souls, entirely Arab, but of the people only three
hundred were armed. The Bashaw of Fezzan went out himself against the
rebels, although extremely unwell, captured their city, and destroyed
about one hundred and twenty of them. The Arab townsmen fought from house
to house with the most determined bravery, obstinately retiring through
their town from one gate to the other. The Bashaw would have slaughtered
more of them, but he had no men to intercept their egress at the opposite
gate of the town. His Highness lost only eight Turks and eight Arabs in
the capture of this place. On the next day, to the astonishment of all,
about six hundred of the Oulad Suleiman came up from the Syrtis, all
fully armed, having left their families some two days' distance. The
first thing they did was to capture a convoy of sick and wounded, in
charge of the Greek Doctor, all of whom they immediately butchered in
cold blood, with the one exception of the Doctor.
The account which the Doctor gives of his capture and escape is
sufficiently characteristic.
_The Assailant._--"May your father and mother be cursed, and your wife
prostituted, you dog of a Turk!" (raising the sword to strike him).
_The Supplicant._--"Oh! have mercy upon me, I'm a doctor," (falling on
his knees).
_An Arab_, aside.--"Strike! strike! he lies."
_The Assailant._--"May all your children beg their bread, and the curse
of God be upon them!" (seizing him by the turban to cut off his head).
_The Supplicant._--"Oh! have mercy upon me, I'm the brother of the
English Consul at Mourzuk, your friend."
_The Arab_, aside.--"Hold! hold! let him go."
But the Doctor did not get off until he had emptied his pockets of his
dollars. In this way only he rendered his supplications effectual.
In warfare, both Turks and Greeks have been in the habit of taking what
money they possess with them, to redeem them from slavery if captured, or
for any other available purpose in the case of defeat[115]. The Oulad
Suleiman then attacked the Bashaw with extreme ferocity, and His Highness
was in great danger. He was so unwell at the time that he could not sit
upon his horse. But, when the troops began to waver, the officers took
the Bashaw and set him upon his horse to show him to the soldiers. The
sight of the veteran commander rallied their sinking courage. His
Highness had just strength enough to hold up his sword and point to the
enemy, on seeing which his troops rushed on impetuously, and obtained a
complete victory over the Arabs. The Arabs were, however, only dispersed
a moment, and were allowed to reunite their scattered bands and pursue
tranquilly their way to Bornou, to the prince of their tribe. All the
fugitives of the Omm-Errâneb accompanied them. On their march up, they
ruthlessly sacked all the villages of Fezzan and the Tibboos, and
arrived at the quarters of their compatriots laden with booty. The
Bashaw returned weary and exhausted, having no sufficient force to follow
up the pursuit of the Oulad Suleiman, whose march was that of conquerors
rather than fugitives. Indeed, the Bashaw was glad enough of their
retreat to Bornou. Whilst this fighting was going on, the greatest
confusion reigned at Mourzuk, and many of the wealthy inhabitants
deposited their money and valuables in the house of the English Consul,
for to add to their miseries, some malicious persons had reported the
capture of the Bashaw, with all his army. It is probable the Turks are
exceedingly well satisfied with the emigration of these restless and
indomitable Oulad Suleiman. There cannot be a doubt of their being
devoted to the English, but they are of difficult treatment for us. At
the present time, they are dispersed in marauding parties on the route of
Bornou, and were even an English tourist to fall into their hands, he
might be maltreated before he was recognized as a British subject, and as
such received the protection of their prince. This was the main
difficulty which prevented my going up to Bornou.
It would seem, however, the Oulad Suleiman are getting tired of the
burning climate and fevers of Bornou, and are sighing for the cool airs
and healthy breezes of the shores of Syrtis, with the refreshing sight of
the dark-blue waters of the Mediterranean. For on my return to Tripoli, I
found the British Consul in negotiation with the Bashaw to procure their
return to the Syrtis: of which since I have heard nothing. The Bashaw
told the Consul they must write to the Sultan for pardon. The negotiation
was placed in the hands of Mr. Gagliuffi, of whom they are passionately
fond, and in whom they have the most implicit confidence. These
malcontent Arabs were, of course, on friendly terms with the Touaricks of
Ghat, as every attempt to resist the consolidation of the power of the
Porte in Tripoli is viewed favourably by the Touaricks. But the marauding
of the Oulad Suleiman in the interior, and the interruption of the
commerce of Bornou, ill requite the asylum and hospitality afforded them
by its Sultan, and for the sake of the commerce of The Sahara, the sooner
they are back again to the Syrtis the better.
_5th._--Rose early to write and prepare for my departure to Tripoli.
Called on the Turkish officers to take leave. One and all observed,
"Before you were going to h----, now you are going to heaven," alluding
to my projected tour to Soudan. I was not of this opinion; for, after
months and months in my dreams, night-dreams and waking-dreams, having
acted over in my imagination all the dangers and privations of The
Desert, and seen all the wonders of the mysterious regions of Nigritia, I
set about my departure from Mourzuk with a heavy heart, lamenting my
ill-starred luck and failure, seeing my mission abruptly cut off midway
in its accomplishment. Mr. Gagliuffi arranged for my returning to Tripoli
with the slave-caravan of Haj Essnousee, whom the reader will be pleased
not to confound with my friend Essnousee of Ghadames, who had gone on to
Soudan with the return caravan. Haj Essnousee had accompanying him two or
three other traders, all of whom were natives of Sockna. Their slaves had
not come from Ghat, but had been brought three months ago by the Tibboos
from Bornou.
I left Mourzuk late in the afternoon. I had heard the melancholy song of
the slaves departing in the morning. I had now to overtake them this
evening. Mr. Gagliuffi and the Doctor accompanied me outside the gates,
and the Consul's Moorish servant conducted me to the first night's
encampment, both of us riding horses. I do not regret turning off the
direct route to Tripoli, and visiting Mourzuk before my return. For here
I obtained a better idea of the Upper Provinces of Tripoli, and I am
greatly indebted to the Vice-Consul for his assistance in my researches.
I must acknowledge likewise the kind attentions of the Doctor and the
Turkish officers. I bade Mr. Gagliuffi an affectionate farewell, who
answered with the plain earnest old English of "God bless you!" I left
the Consul in but indifferent health. Three times has he had the fever,
yet he is determined to keep up to the last. When Mr. Gagliuffi first
went to Mourzuk, he expected that Abd-El-Geleel, whose agent he was, as
well as having the appointment of British Vice-Consul, would have been
confirmed in his authority. But this Chief's assassination left the
Consul to struggle against formidable difficulties, and Mr. Gagliuffi was
obliged to apply to the British Government for pecuniary assistance,
which has been tardily granted.
The appointment of Mr. Gagliuffi has fully answered all the objects
originally projected. The traffic in slaves is well watched on this
route, and reported upon. The Vice-Consul exercises a beneficial
influence on the affairs of Mourzuk, and is useful both to the governing
power and the governed. The population of Fezzan have great faith in the
integrity of Mr. Gagliuffi as agent of the British Government. The Consul
assists them in various ways. Some twenty months ago he lent the people
of Mourzuk money to meet the tribute demanded from them by the Government
of Tripoli. His relations with Bornou have already been mentioned. The
Vizier of the Sheikh lately, on his return from a pilgrimage to Mecca,
stopped at the Consul's house, and Mr. Gagliuffi transacted all his
business. Most strangers go to the Consul, in preference to the Ottoman
authorities, or the people of the town. A great Maroquine Marabout came
this way from Mecca, and deposited all his money, whilst in Mourzuk, in
the hands of the Consul. The people were jealous that a Marabout should
trust a Christian in preference to themselves, and remonstrated with the
Marabout, who very drily replied to them, "You are not of the Faithful:
you are all robbers. I am obliged to trust this Christian."
Unquestionably the establishment of English Consuls and Vice-Consuls
throughout The Desert, and all the great cities of the Interior of
Africa, would be an immense benefit to humanity, whilst it would equally
promote British trade and interests, and the commerce of the entire
world. One day, in happier times, there may be a Minister wise enough and
bold enough to undertake this great enterprize, and to make this
application of our resources, which eventually would be no sacrifice, for
the benefit of all mankind. It will, however, require sacrifices from
individuals as well as from Government, for a residence in The Desert or
Central Africa is no consular retreat, or diplomatic lounge for an
invalid Minister. But if any sacrifice be made for foreign nations and
countries, it surely should be made for Africa, on whose unhappy children
we as a nation, in past times, have inflicted such enormous wrongs.
I shall only give one instance of the positive and material benefit which
the people of Fezzan have derived from the establishment of the British
Consul at Mourzuk. Mr. Gagliuffi induced the people to cultivate the
tholh for collecting gums. Fifty cantars were collected the first year,
and last year some two hundred. The whole of the population are now
seized with a fit of gum-collecting, but they are not yet expert at
making the incisions in the trees. In the course of time it will be a
most profitable article of export for the people. This gum now sells for
10 or 12 mahboubs the cantar in Tripoli. Such has been entirely the "good
work" of the English Consul.
We stopped at one of Mr. Gagliuffi's gardens to get some sweet water.
This was a very nice plantation of palms overshadowing crops of corn. The
Consul has several of these gardens, but all of a limited size. After
sunset, we found the encampment at Terzah. It consisted of three
merchants and their servants, about sixty slaves, most of whom were young
women and girls, and twelve camels. Felt cold during the night--in fact
caught cold, and not very well. Ought to have a tent. Said very happy in
the prospect of returning to Tripoli, and as usual immediately made
friends amongst the male and female slaves.
FOOTNOTES:
[111] Our former tourists say: "The opinion of everybody, Arabs,
Tripolines, and our predecessors (Mr. Ritchie and Captain Lyon),
were unanimous as to the insalubrity of its air." And "Every one
of us, some in a greater or less degree, had been seriously
disordered; and amongst the inhabitants themselves, anything like
a healthy-looking person was a rarity." Denham observes also that
to account for the sickliness of Mourzuk was a very difficult
matter, and required a wiser head than his.
[112] _Trona_, الطرون, and ترونه "Carbonate of
Soda." The great _Trona_ lake is near Germa or Garama.
[113] مُخني
[114] See "Histoire d'Abd-el-Geleel, Sultan de Fezzan, assassiné
en 1842." _Revue de L'Orient_, Sept., 1844.
[115] The Doctor afterwards recovered his money, the Arab who
captured him having fallen in the skirmish.