FROM MOURZUK TO SOCKNA.
Well of Esh-Shour.--Village of Dillaim.--Tying up a Female Slave
to the Camel.--Village of Gudwah.--Well of Bel-Kashee
Faree.--Melancholy Songs of the Slaves.--Reflections on the Slave
Trade; Christian Republicans, and the Scottish Free Kirk.--Well
of Mukni.--El-Bab.--She-Camels with Foals.--How American Consuls
justify Slavery.--Arrival at Sebhah, and description of the
People.--Cruelty of a Moorish Boy to the young Female
Slaves.--Prohibited Food in matters of Religion.--The Taste of a
Locust.--Anecdotes related by the Bashaw of Mourzuk and Mr.
Gagliuffi.--Divinations of the Tyrant Asker Ali.--Continual
delays.--Altercation with a Moor about Religion.--The Songs of
the Female Slaves interpreted.--Version of Mr. Whittier, the
American Poet.--The _Amor Patriæ_ of the Negroes.--Primitive
Style of playing Draughts.--Games and Wine prohibited by the
Koran.--Sebhah, a City of the Dead.--Oases and extent of the
Sebhah district.--Fezzanee Palms bear Fruit without Water.--Town
of Timhanah.--Bad Odour of the Turks in these Oases.--Essnousee,
an atrocious Slave Driver.--Stroke of a Scorpion.
_6th._--ROSE early, and made a long day. Passed a few dwarf wild palms.
Country about here is mostly sandy, and in hollow flats. Encamped by the
well of Esh-Shour. Our course east and north-east. We passed by the small
village of Dillaim. One of the Moors travelling with us said to me, "Oh,
master, how could you think of going to Soudan! How you would have
suffered!" I returned, "No noble enterprizes are achieved without great
mental and bodily suffering." This remark impressed him in my favour, and
we continued great friends all the route to Tripoli.
This morning Haj Essnousee, being on foot, called out for his camel to
stop, in a tone which denoted he had some important business on hand. I
turned to see what was the matter, and so did all, as if something
peculiar was about to happen. I then saw Essnousee bringing up a slave
girl about a dozen years of age, pulling her violently along. When he got
her up to the camel, he took a small cord and began tying it round her
neck. Afterwards, bethinking himself of something, he tied the cord round
the wrist of her right arm. This done, Essnousee drove the camel on. In a
few minutes she fell down, and the slave-master, seeing her fallen down,
and a man attempting to raise her up, cried out, "Let her alone, cursed
be your father! you dog." The wretched girl was then dragged on the
ground over the sharp stones, being fastened by her wrist, but she never
cried or uttered a word of complaint. Her legs now becoming lacerated and
bleeding profusely, she was lifted up by Essnousee's Arabs. She then,
however, continued to hold on, the rope being also bound round her body
so as to help her along. Thus she was dragged, limping and tumbling down,
and crippled all the day, which was a very long day's journey. Whether
she feigned sickness, or sulked, or was exhausted, I leave the reader to
judge. Neither I nor her cruel master could tell. Indeed, such is the
nature of the Negro character it is impossible to tell. A slave may sulk,
and may not; whilst also ill and dying, they may be flogged on the point
of death, as Haj Ibrahim flagellated his dying victim. No doubt, at times
these wretched slaves, when worn down and exhausted, play some innocent
tricks to get a ride. Nevertheless, such is the power of sullen
insensibility which slaves can command, that the brutal masters may flog
them to death without finding out whether they are really ill, or only
sulky.
_7th._--On our return from a difficult journey, everything is, or appears
to be easy. We think little or nothing of it, especially if we have got
with us a new supply of matters of equipment and provisions. So I rose
early with the most profound indifference of the month's journey before
me, as if travelling in old England, and I must likewise add, with less
anxiety for the safety of my baggage. Desert baggage-stealers there are
indeed none, and pickpockets and pilferers are as rare as the birds,
which now and then are seen hopping about the wells, picking up what they
can chance to find.
Our course is north, over an undulating sandy soil. About 11 A.M. we had
in view Ghudwah, and in an hour more we reached the village. Ghudwah is a
cluster of wretched mud hovels, rendered tolerable by being placed amidst
a wood of palms. The squalor of these humble dwellings is, in truth,
forgotten amongst the patches of beautiful green corn, some already in
the ear, and the graceful, towering, all-over-hanging palm-trees. In a
wady on the left were also forests of palms. The oases of Fezzan are, in
fact, but a series of these palm forests. Unquestionably a great body of
water must be under and near the surface. But we must keep to the
designation of oases in describing the province of Fezzan, of which we
had a convincing proof this morning; for, during four or five hours we
traversed a country in every respect desert, covered with small black
stones, defying all attempts at cultivation, and this desert land
apparently surrounds and intersects the entire series of the oases of
Fezzan.
When we got clear of Ghudwah we halted for the day, about 2 P.M., near a
well called Bel-Kashee-Faree. I was glad to halt, both for the sake of
the slaves, and myself. To-day the same girl was not tied to the camel,
but a younger one. She also, poor thing, was dragged along, limping as
she went, and whenever she stopped a moment to tie up her sandals, she
had the greatest difficulty to reach again the camel. I was annoyed to
see none of her sister-slaves give her a lift and help her on to get up
to the camel, so that she might continue to be assisted by its march.
Some of the poor things, however, have their intimate friends in their
fellow bondswomen. The girl dragged on yesterday, had her faithful
companion, bringing her water and dates. But in spite of all their
sufferings, the poor bondswomen keep up well. The young women sing and
sometimes dance on the road, while the boys ape the Turkish soldiers whom
they had seen exercise in Mourzuk, walking in file, holding up sticks on
their shoulders, and crying out "Shoulder arms!" or words to that effect.
The guileless lads of Africa think these two magic words to be the
quintessence of Turkish and European civilization, and that which renders
the white men superior to their sable fathers. Two of the boys are
dressed in old soldiers' jackets and look very droll. So we journey along
as well as we can.
But whilst surveying the march of this troop of human cattle for the
market, I can't but think how dreadful a trade is this of buying and
selling our fellow creatures! The Moors and Arabs of the ghafalah are
civil enough. They discover great curiosity at seeing me write, and not a
little surprise, like all I have met with, to find me writing Arabic,
whilst some of themselves cannot. They are all of Sockna.
It is now near sunset, but I am not going to write a description of a
Saharan sunset, which this evening offers nothing but sheets of bright
yellow flame. Towards the east, the palms, underwood, and herbage make me
fancy myself in the midst of a boundless circle of cultivation, for I see
no "darksome desert" through the pale skyey openings of the thick
verdure. My feelings thus would be soothed and gratified, were it not
that the sounds--always to me so melancholy--of the Negroes' song, as
they clap their hands and sing and dance their native sports, are heard
near my encampment. Then again I feel happy in the reflection that God
gives moments of joyous happiness even to slaves. Why not be soothed to
hear this song of slaves? What a mysterious thing is Providence! Not to
the masters of these slaves, who are now stretched in dreamy listlessness
on the ground, gives God such jocund innocent delights; not to the wiser
and wisest, to the stronger or strongest, (as "the battle is not to the
strong,") gives God happiness; but to the poorest, weakest of mortals,
the forlorn, helpless female slave! As I have mentioned, I heard this
same song--to me so melancholy and disheartening--as the slaves were
departing from Mourzuk. I was then quietly writing, but as the mournful
accents broke on my ear, I started from my usual propriety of feeling,
and the courage which carried me over The Desert gave away under the
pressure of these strange Nigritian sounds of the poor black children,
the desolate daughters of the banks of the mysterious Niger. The tears
rushed to my eyes, but I stopped them in their lachrymal sluices, and
called it folly, for to weep I cannot, I will not. Rather let me curse
the slave-dealers of every land and clime. Yes, let this foolish
sensibility be turned to exasperation; let me curse those proud
Republicans, in whose heart there is no flesh, whose flag bears impiously
against Heaven the stripes and the scars of the slaves! These I cursed,
and those who in the hypocrisy of their souls, and their sanctimonious
pretensions to Church freedom, received the gold tainted with the blood
of the slave, to build up their Free Kirk! But why curse? What impotence!
Why not leave the avenging bolt of wrath to that God, who "hath made of
one blood all the nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the
earth?"
_8th._--Rose at sunrise and started with the day. Route north and
north-west, over an undulating gravelly plain. A few tholh trees, and one
solitary tholh by the road-side, which at a great distance forms a very
conspicuous object. A single tree in The Desert always excites more
interest in the mind of the reflective traveller than a forest. Solitary
palms are often seen near the coast. At noon, reached the well called
Beer Mukhanee, after the distinguished traitor, who dug it, but who
betrayed and ruined this country. Many a tyrant and traitor has left
behind him some monument of utility, to relieve the weight of his
infamous name with posterity. The well is very deep and the water good,
but we did not take in any, as wells are frequent hereabouts. Continued
our course until sunset, a long day, and encamped at the base of a small
mountain, called Babān, or "Two Doors," and by others, El-Bab, or "The
Door." The Door and the Gate, like the famous "Iron Gate" in Algeria, are
frequent names of rocky hills and mountains in this part of Africa.
Ghaljeewan, a mountainous district of the south-eastern part of Aheer, is
called "the door of Aheer." On the Danube there is a reef of ugly and
huge rocks, over which the current of the river dashes furiously. The
Turks call this "The Iron Gate" of the Danube.
On the road the camels had no herbage to eat. Some of them ate the dried
dung of camels and horses. We have a young camel with us about four
months old; it continues to suck. It has no frolic or fun in its actions,
and is as serious as its mother. The foal of the camel frolics in awkward
antics a few days after its birth, but apparently soon loses all its
infant mirth. In the first place, the foal has to walk as long a day as
its mother, enough to take all the fun out of the poor little thing;
then, it sees all its more aged companions very serious and melancholy,
and soon imbibes their sombre spirit, assuming their slow solemn gait.
The mother-camel never licks or shows any particular fondness for its
young beyond opening her legs for the foal to suck. At best, the camel,
as an animal, is a most ungainly and unlovely creature. What surprises me
most are the bites of the male-camel. He bites his neighbour, without
passion or any apparent provocation, and simply because he has nothing
else to do _en route_, or nothing arrests his attention.
To write in the open Desert is no sinecure. When I go under the shade
from the sun the wind blows unpityingly, when in the sun the flies
torment me. Our grand slave-driver Haj Essnousee, is most determinedly
bent on showing himself a perfect master in his profession. This
afternoon he set to work beating one poor girl most shockingly for not
keeping up with the rest. Nearly all got whipped along to-day. Gave a
ride to one little fellow, hardly five years of age, who limped sadly.
There was no sulk in him. He was cheerful with all his sufferings. Our
road is strewn with chumps of petrified wood.
Was thinking to-day, for whilst travelling with slaves the subject is
most disagreeably pressed upon you, even to nausea, of the reasons
offered by American Consuls in vindication of slavery in the United
States. Mr. P----thus apologized:--"I once spoke to a male slave who
earned plenty of money. I said, 'Do you want to be freed?' 'Oh no,' he
replied, 'I get fifty dollars a month. I give my master forty and keep
ten for myself. Why should I wish to be free?'" Mr. M---- said to me one
day, "My wife has slaves, but they are well taken care of. They each have
two new suits of clothes per year, and the doctor's bill for each comes
to two or three dollars also per year." To such miserable drivelling as
this are men, of some education and standing in society, and the
representatives of the free as well as the slave States, driven to
bolster up the nefarious system of holding in bondage their fellow
creatures! In the one case, a man robs his brother of the rightful fruits
of his labour. This robbery is perpetrated coolly and deliberately
through a series of years. In the other case, the taking care of a slave,
as every humane man must take care of his horse, and give him good beans,
hay, and a warm stable, is made the corner stone of "the living lie" of
liberty on the southern transatlantic plains.
_9th._--Rose with the sun, throwing his orient beams of gold athwart all
the plain, and purpling the rocky block of El-Bab. I mounted the rock,
and saw Sebhah in the north, where we were to rest in the afternoon.
There was a huge stone balancing on a ledge of the rock, which apparently
wanted but a feather's weight to throw it down. Bent on mischief, I was
going to heave it down, when the people called to me to desist. On
descending, they told me the stone had fallen from the clouds and caught
there; it was unlucky to touch it. A demon sits upon it every night and
swings himself as a child is swung in a swing. Continued our route over a
sandy plain, until we arrived at a line of palms stretching east and
west, as far as the eye could see. At 11 A.M., we entered the suburbs of
the town. After a little rest I went to see what sort of a place it was.
Found it a tolerably well-built place; the houses are constructed of
stone and mud-mortar; some have even got a touch of lime or pipe-clay
wash. Several of the streets are covered in at the top like those of
Ghadames. Very few people stirring about, being occupied in the suburban
gardens. Fell in with a cobbler, a tailor, and an old pedagogue with an
ABC board. Discussed the politics of the place with them all. They took
me at first for a Turkish Rais coming from Mourzuk. When they found I was
not a Turk, they began to abuse the Turks. "The Turks," said they, "take
all our money and leave us nothing to eat but dates. The curse of God be
upon them!" Whenever Turkish officers stop here they levy contributions.
The town is walled in with mud and stone-work, and there are several
towers around it forming part of the wall, pierced with loopholes for
firing musketry therefrom. Most of these towns are built for protecting
the people against the Arabs, who can do nothing against a wall, even
were it only a brick thick. One small piece of cannon would be enough to
batter down every one of these Saharan-fortified towns. A part of this
town is placed on a small hill, like Ghat. Sebhah has a dull dingy
appearance at a distance. There is no lime-wash to give it that agreeable
aspect which many Moorish towns have, although always very delusive when
one enters their gates.
This forenoon, a slave-girl was sadly goaded along. An Arab boy of about
the same age was her goad, who was whipping her and goading her along
with a sharp piece of wood. Sometimes the young rascal would poke up her
person. I could not see this without interfering, although I am afraid to
interfere. She had got far behind, and the boy was thus tormenting her
like a young imp. I made him take one hand, and I the other. But we could
not get her up to the camel on which she might lay hold by means of a
rope, and so get dragged along. We then set her upon a donkey, but she
was too unwell to ride, and fell off several times, the cruel rogue of a
boy beating her every time she fell. What annoyed me more, her companions
in bondage, those hearty and well, set up a loud yell of laughter every
time she fell off. I'm sick at heart of writing these shocking details.
But the reader will not be surprised that the Moors make bad
slave-masters, when they have such an early training as this little
reprobate boy, the nephew of Haj Essnousee. I often wondered how this
boy, who was some thirteen years of age, and fully capable of the
sentiment of love, in a climate like Africa, could torment these poor
girls of his own age with such brutality. If he found one lagging behind,
and at some distance from the grown-up men, he would strip her, throw her
down, and begin tormenting her in the way I have already mentioned. I
spoke to his uncle about it, but without avail. I then refused to carry
on my camel some choice dates, which he had in his charge for Tripoli.
But it was of no use, the boy was the worthy pupil of his uncle, a little
fiend of ferocity.
My Sockna companions of travel chat with me, but their conversation
offers nothing new or remarkable. "There is no money in Fezzan. Our
city (Sockna) only has a few merchants. Mukhanee was originally a
merchant, and a member of the Divan of Mourzuk. He ruined Fezzan."
One of the people of this place said to me, "Better if you were a
Mussulman, and ate and drank like us." I replied, "I eat everything
good, and never fast to make myself ill." This plain speech amazed
them. But one said, somewhat to my surprise, "That only which is not
good, and not fit to eat, is haram (prohibited)." I immediately said
"Amen" to this, for generally the Moors maintain that pork and other
things of the kind prohibited, are not good because they are
prohibited, and not on account of any intrinsic badness in the
things themselves. They, of course, asked me what sort of places
were England and London. It's little use to answer such questions;
they cannot realize the idea or forms of an European city, even in
imagination. Describing the riches of London, one observed
ill-naturedly, "Oh, God gives the infidels peace in this world, and
fire in the next." I then thought it time to leave off my
description. Whilst we were chatting, a locust was caught and
roasted. I tasted it, and found it not a bad shrimp. The locust
requires salt and oil to make it palatable. The Arabs swear the locusts
have a king, which perfectly agrees with--Καὶ ἔχουσιν ἐ
φ' αὐτῶν βασιλέα: (Rev. ix. 11.) The name given to this
insect monarch as perfectly corresponds with their migratory devastations,
Απολλυων, "destroyer," for before their march are smiling fields of
verdure and fruitfulness, whilst behind them are desert and
devastation.
I find in this part of my journal several anecdotes of the Bashaw of
Mourzuk and Mr. Gagliuffi, which seem to have come to my recollection _en
route_. The Tibboo chief before mentioned, whose jurisdiction extends
over a wretched village, observed one day to the Bashaw, "The Sultan of
the Tibboos (himself) inquires after the health of the Sultan of the
Turks. But I am well, therefore the Sultan of the Turks is well; and if I
am not well, then the Sultan of the Turks is not well." His Excellency
replied, menacingly, "You're right, but take care you don't get unwell,
for by G--d if you do get unwell, and so make my Sultan unwell, I'll come
and cut all your people's throats, and burn down your city." The Tibboo
chief, feeling the force of the argumentum ad hominem, started out of the
audience-chamber in a fright, and made off from Mourzuk as quick as
possible. Before, indeed, he could get off, he began to fancy himself
ill, and was ill with fright, and expected every moment to be within the
clutches of the Bashaw. I related to the Bashaw the story of the Governor
of Ghat, having the sword of his ancestors amongst the trophies at
Constantinople. The facetious Bashaw observed to me:--"You ought to have
said, 'I'll fetch you the sword, Haj Ahmed, if you'll promise like a good
little boy not to cut your fingers with it.'"
Mr. Gagliuffi was well acquainted with the tyrant Asker Ali. The tyrant
once dreamt he should kill Abd-El-Geleel, and his brother, and some other
chiefs, but one would escape. The escaping Sheikh was Ghoma, now an exile
at Trebisonde. This dream was actually related and retailed in Tripoli
two years before the events happened. One day Mr. Gagliuffi called on the
tyrant, and found him very thoughtful divining in the rumel ("sand").
"What's the matter?" asked the Consul. His Highness exclaimed, "Oh, I'm
much troubled. An Arab chief has come here professing allegiance to my
government. But he's a great villain, for such I have found him in the
sand." The next day the unfortunate Arab was assassinated. Many an honest
man was murdered by the fortuitous throw and fall, and scattering of
these atom sands, in the cruel fingers of the tyrant. Who will deny after
this that the events of our life are (to us) so many accidents? A
Touarghee Sheikh once proposed to Mr. Gagliuffi to sell his country to
the Sultan of the English. The Consul, who took this as serious, ought to
have considered it a joke of the grave Touarghee. The Touaricks can tell
the most funny stories, and make the most cutting gibes at their
neighbours, without moving a single muscle of the face.
_10th._--We are to stay here to-day and to-morrow, in order that our
slave-masters may obtain provisions. These people can do nothing without
losing an enormous quantity of time. It breaks my heart to lose so much
precious time. I could have got up to Soudan before I shall get down to
Tripoli. A Touarghee once talked to me of travelling, and on my telling
him I was going to The East, to the New World (America), and many other
places, he exclaimed, "Allah Akbar, thou fool, thy life isn't long
enough." And certainly it would not were we to travel at the rate of our
Saharans. They never measure a man's life and what he can do in it. The
day present, and its evils, is with them enough. The proverb quoted by
the great teacher of Christianity, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof," is much better adapted to ancient than modern society, or
rather to Oriental and African than European society. The European is
obliged to think of the morrow, and take thought for the morrow, or he
would not be able to live; in these days of restless and overpowering
competition he would die of starvation. One of the Moors tried to write
the name of Mahomet in Roman letters. I have seen several Moors attempt
this; one did it pretty well.
At noon, had a strong altercation with a Moor of the town about religion,
who introduced the subject and was very insulting. Being out of the hands
of the Touaricks I have less delicacy on these matters, and so I boldly
contradicted his notions. I told him, with all frankness, "It was
impossible for a good Christian ever to become a Mussulman: a bad
Christian might, one who had robbed, or murdered, or run away from his
country. Such were the Spaniards who run away from the prisons of exile
in Morocco. Mahomet witnessed that Jesus was a true prophet; and Jesus
witnessed that Moses was a prophet, and Moses prophesied of Jesus. But
neither Jesus, nor Moses, nor any other prophet, witnessed to the truth
of the mission of Mahomet." This amazed him excessively. Seeing this, I
added, "Never attempt to convert a Christian, or speak to him about
religion; for in the end you are sure to be dissatisfied." The zealot
immediately changed the conversation. Several of the people of the town
listened to our argument, but they made no observation, except one old
man, who observed laconically, "Mahometans, Jews, and Christians, are all
rogues; but God is merciful." This, I think, is about the truth.
This evening the female slaves were unusually merry and excited in
singing, and I had the curiosity to ask Said what they were singing
about. As several spoke the language of his own country, Mandara and
Bornou, he had no difficulty in answering the question. I had often asked
the Moors about the merry songs and plaintive dirges of the negresses,
but could never get a satisfactory answer.
Said replied at first, "Oh, they're singing of Rubbee (God)."
"What do you mean?" I rejoined impatiently.
"Oh, don't you know," he continued; "they ask God to give them the
Atkah[116]."
_I._--"Is that all?"
_Said._--"No; they say, 'Where are we going to? The world is large, O
God! Where are we going? O God! Shall we return again to our country?'"
_I._--"Is that all, what else?"
_Said._--"They call to their remembrance their own country and say,
'Bornou was a pleasant country, full of all good things, but this is a
bad country and we are miserable, and are ready to sink down.'"
_I._--"Do they say anything more?"
_Said._--"No, they repeat these words over and over again, and add, 'O
God! give us our âtkah, let us go to our dear home.'"
I am not surprised the Moors never gave me a satisfactory answer
respecting the songs said and sung by their slaves. Who can assert that
the above words are not an appropriate song? What could have been more
congenially adapted to their present woeful condition? And what language
could have given us a more favourable opinion of the feeling and
intellect of the African? May pitying Heaven hear the prayers of these
poor creatures, give them their liberty, restore them to their country!
It is not to be wondered at, these poor bondswomen should cheer up their
hearts with words and sentiments like these; but, oftentimes, their
sufferings were too great for them to strike up this melancholy dirge,
and the silence of the dreadful Desert was many days unsubdued,
uninterrupted by these mournful strains!
I take this opportunity of noticing the several love ditties and songs
about gallant chiefs and warriors returning from battle, the lovers of
the sable maidens, attributed to these poor female slaves _en route_ over
The Desert, as found in some books of travel, which, I believe, are the
invention of slave-masters, embellished by the traveller. No; their song
is, and was, and always will be, because the spontaneous voice of
distressed nature, appealing to the justice and help of the Author of
all being!
"O God! give us our freedom. Where are we going? The world is large and
terrifies us.
"Shall we return again to our dear homes, where we lived happily and
enjoyed every blessing?
"But we are in a horrible country; all things frown upon us; we suffer,
and are ready to die.
"O God! give us our freedom[117]."
Mr. J. G. Whittier, the distinguished American poet, has rendered these
words into verse. He says:--
"The following is an attempt to versify this melancholy appeal of
distressed human nature to the help and justice of God. Nothing can be
added to its simple pathos.
SONG OF THE SLAVES IN THE DESERT.
Where are we going? Where are we going?
Where are we going, Rubee?
Hear us! Save us! Make us free;
Send our Atka down from thee!
Here the Ghiblee wind is blowing,
Strange and large the world is growing!
Tell us, Rubee, where are we going?
Where are we going, Rubee?
Bornou! Bornou! Where is Bornou?
Where are we going, Rubee?
Bornou-land was rich and good,
Wells of water, fields of food;
Bornou-land we see no longer,
Here we thirst, and here we hunger,
Here the Moor man smites in anger;
Where are we going, Rubee?
Where are we going? Where are we going?
Hear us, save us, Rubee!
Moons of marches from our eyes,
Bornou-land behind us lies;
Hot the desert wind is blowing,
Wild the waves of sand are flowing!
Hear us! tell us, Where are we going?
Where are we going, Rubee?"
Some freed slaves passed to-day on their return to Bornou, their native
land. This reminded me of what Mr. Gagliuffi related respecting a female
slave, who, after being brought to Mourzuk, was taken back by her master
to Bornou. When her master first told her of his intention, she simply
replied, "No, you will not take me back." She always persisted in the
same reply, when the subject was ever mentioned. At length the time came,
and she was mounted on a camel and started off. But her master, on
returning, having changed the first part of the route from that which he
came, her suspicions and unbelief were at once confirmed. However, a few
days elapsed and the old route was resumed, and seeing, at last, from
various indications of the road that she was really returning, she burst
into convulsions of joy, and with no ordinary care her life was saved.
She never properly recovered from the effect of these convulsions of
transport. What can be stronger than such feelings of _amor patriæ_, what
more marked proof of intelligent sensibility, allying the negro with the
whole human, race? For,
"Lives there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
'This is my own, my native land.'"
If Dr. Pritchard's argument be good in religion, by the existence of
which sentiment in the breast of every portion of humankind he proves
that all men are of one species, and of one original race or stock, the
argument is equally true of patriotism. I have found, however, some
Moors, like some of our philosophers, denying the Negro to be of the same
race as the white man. But such Mahometan detractors of the Negro
character are extremely rare. The greatest champion of this class was a
slave-dealer, and, indeed, it is a convenient opinion for men-stealers of
every nation.
The Moors have a primitive way of making a draught-board. A person of the
town brought an apron full of sand. This he threw upon a stone bench, and
spread it over, making a number of holes for the white and black squares
of the board. This done, they then brought a certain number of pieces of
stones with a corresponding number of dried balls of camel's dung, (and
which, it may be remarked, are very small in comparison to the size of
the animal). The whole was now complete and the parties set to work. All
the Islamites whom I have seen are passionately fond of gaming and games
of chance; and, curious enough, thousands who could not be prevailed upon
to drink wine (or eat pork), will game all day long, notwithstanding that
gaming is prohibited in the very sentences of the Koran, in which wine is
condemned. "They will ask thee (Mahomet) concerning wine and lots.
_Answer._--In both there is great sin." "Satan seeketh to sow dissension
and hatred amongst you, by means of wine and lots," &c. (Surat ii. and
v.) How the commentators have quieted the consciences of the Faithful on
the point of lots and not about wine, I cannot imagine. Such is the
absolute folly of matters of this sort, the "clean" and the "unclean" in
religion.
_11th._--The sky is overcast this morning, and, what a wonder! we have
had a few precious drops of rain. Rain, like gold, is valuable according
to circumstances. Wind from N.W. No heat is now felt here. Sebhah is the
very abode of dead men, the catacombs of the living. Here, at mid-day,
you might sit in the lonely streets, and lecture on the immortality of
the soul, to the few people, who, at long intervals, pass flitting by,
like spectres of the dead. The melancholy appearance of the place so
horrifies me that I don't go into it. When and where the inhabitants
rendezvous and gossip is a complete mystery. To the palms and huts of
palm-leaves without the town, I return, to convince myself I am in the
land of the living. Visited some of the suburban gardens. Irrigation is
the support of all vegetable life here. People were employed in weeding
the corn-fields; besides the weeds, they picked up the small blades of
corn, those not likely to be ripe with the rest of the crop, which are
given to the sheep and horses. I have seen, however, no horses here. It
is reported amongst the people of the town, that the Touaricks attacked
me and took away all my money. As this continues to spread amongst the
oases, I shall soon be murdered by the helping imagination of the people,
at any rate, before I arrive at Tripoli. A gardener tells me, many palms
grow and bear fruit without being watered, or having any water running
under them.
The Sebhah district embraces four villages besides its town, viz.,
Ghortah, Hajrah, Marwees, and Hafat. The population are Moors and Arabs
mixed occasionally with Negro blood; but no black population begins at
these or the oases hereabouts, as foolishly stated on the map of Capt.
Lyon.
_12th._--We leave to-day to pursue our journey. Oh, what is life! In the
wilderness or the abode of civilization, it is one weary way: but soon,
thank God! to end. This morning I was convinced, that, however bad the
condition of a people may be, it may still be worse. A poor wretched
woman of Sebhah came to beg dates from the slaves! from their scanty
allowance. As it mostly happens, the poor give more than the rich in
proportion to their means, so these poor slaves gave the beggar woman a
most disproportioned quantity of their miserable allowance. A little
vanity there may have been in this, for however badly off we are
ourselves, we are not displeased to see some people still worse off, and
are gratified in laying them under some miserable obligation. Left Sebhah
about 8 A.M., and after three hours' ride came in view of a forest of
date-palms. This wood of palms is out of the line of route, and extends
from Sebhah to Timhanah, a day's journey. Essnousee observed, on arriving
at the palms, "See, these are all young palms, lately planted; they are
never watered but bear plenty of dates. It is only in Fezzan the palms
bring dates without water." Our route is north, and, as before, over an
undulating gravelly surface. Several heaps of stones in a part of the
road, evidently to clear it, as it is next to impossible to miss the way
in this part of Sahara. No stones were added to these heaps by us. Our
precursors, in past times, were much more attentive to clearing routes
than ourselves.
I am sorry to record the nasty feelings of the people of these Fezzanee
towns towards Christians. I found the people a most inhospitable set, and
could not get from them a drop of milk for love or money. As, however,
they sent plenty of prepared food every evening to the people of the
ghafalah, Essnousee was kind enough to give me a dish or two. I attribute
this inhospitality to their hatred of the Turks, and the English being
considered as the friends of the Turks.
Reached Timhanah at 3 P.M. I was grievously attacked with the tooth
and ear-ache, produced by the strong cold wind which had been
blowing nearly all day. Got some rum and doctored myself, and by
sunset I was enabled to read a little of my Greek Testament. I did
not go into the town of Timhanah, being so disgusted with the people
of Sebhah. Apparently Timhanah is half the size of Sebhah, and
walled with mud and stones. The country around offers the usual
prospect of palms and patches of corn cultivation, with wells in
each field for irrigation. These oases are most annoyingly alike,
and one description must serve for all. The inhabitants fancy I am a
Turk, and ask me to speak Turkish. Others shun me as such; and since
the Turks, in passing these oases, levy upon the inhabitants
hospitality by force, this may be the cause of the little good
feeling manifested by them to strangers. Essnousee, for whom I am
beginning to entertain the most intense disgust, amused himself this
evening with most unmercifully beating his slaves. I could not find
out the cause. The females usually catch it most. I cannot tell the
reason, except it be, they are more difficult to reduce to a
regimen, or system of travelling, and are always fond of playing
some innocent pranks. The lively things certainly make more noise
and botheration than the males. We are to purchase dates here, they
being cheap and of good quality. The townspeople come to see me
write, but I lose patience with them, knowing them to be such a
nasty set. Bad rulers make bad subjects. The Turks would make any
people suspicious and inhospitable. However, when I left the place,
some of them came forward to lend a hand in loading the camel, a
mark of friendship, which showed me they would be hospitable if
their hospitality were not abused by the Turks. To my surprise, this
morning a lad of our ghafalah was struck by a scorpion. I did not
expect to see scorpions this time of the year. The scorpion was
killed instantly. It was a small one, and its stroke feeble, for the
lad complained very little, and I heard no more of the matter. In
the Apocalypse, locusts are represented as striking a man like
scorpions, although they are by nature harmless, so far as wounding
humankind is concerned. It is well to observe, the Saharan people
always speak of scorpions as not stinging but striking a man, the
verb used being ضرب, "to beat," "to strike." So in chap. ix. 5, it
is said, καὶ ὁ βασανισμὸς αὐτων ὡς βασανισμὸς σχορπίου, ὄταν παίδῃ
ἄνθρωπον ("and their torment [i. e., _inflicted by locusts_] was
as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man").
FOOTNOTES:
[116] _Atkah_ is the freedom document. On the liberation of a
slave, this is signed by the Kady, in the presence of two
witnesses. A freed slave has it generally about him. But after he
is known, and has resided long in one place, it is no longer
thought of. When a batch of slaves are liberated on the death of
their master, they follow him to his burial, carrying the âtkah
tied at the top of long rods.
[117] The prayer to God is a chorus sung by the whole troop. When
not fatigued, and in good health, the Negresses will sing from
morning to night.