_Construction of the Map of Africa_ 211
* * * * *
~_ERRATA._~
Page 81, line 1, for _whathe_ read _what he_
84, line 10, for _vilge_ read _village_
91, line 8, for _loose_ read _close_
99, line 11, for _laying down_ read
_lying down_
153, line 15, for _it has made more_ read
_it has more_
157, last line but one, for _preparation_ read
_perspiration_
174, last line but three, for _double_ read
_combined_.
~_INTRODUCTION._~
The Narrative of the Proceedings of the SOCIETY that was formed in the
year 1788, for the purpose of Promoting the Discovery of the Inland
Districts of Africa, was written, at the request of his Colleagues,
by one of the Members of the Committee of that ASSOCIATION; and
is now printed at the desire, and for the use of the Society: but
as it may also be read by persons unacquainted with the Origin and
Object of the Undertaking to which it relates, the following Paper,
as descriptive of both, is republished for their information.
PLAN
OF THE
~_ASSOCIATION._~
Of the objects of inquiry which engage our attention the most,
there are none, perhaps, that so much excite continued curiosity,
from childhood to age; none that the learned and unlearned so
equally wish to investigate, as the nature and history of those
parts of the world, which have not, to our knowledge, been hitherto
explored. To this desire the Voyages of the late Captain Cook have so
far afforded gratification, that nothing worthy of research by Sea,
the Poles themselves excepted, remains to be examined; but by Land,
the objects of Discovery are still so vast, as to include at least
a third of the habitable surface of the earth: for much of Asia, a
still larger proportion of America, and almost the whole of Africa,
are unvisited and unknown.
In Asia there are few extensive districts of which we are wholly
ignorant; but there are many of which we are imperfectly informed;
and to our knowledge of several of these, the expected publication
of the Travels of Mr. Forster, in the service of the East India
Company, may bring material improvement. For, about three years
since, in returning from Hindostan to Europe, he travelled by the
way of Laldong, Jummoo, Cashmire, Cabul, Herat, and the Caspian Sea;
and though the character of a Moorish Merchant, a disguise which the
nature of the journey compelled him to assume, would not permit him
to depart so far from the usage of Asia, as to make a draught of the
country, or to write any other than short memorandums as he passed,
yet, if we may judge from the opportunities he had of information,
his Narrative must be important. It will probably shew the manners
and customs, and military strength of the populous tribes that
inhabit the mountains on the North of Lahore: it promises to gratify
the eagerness which all men express to acquire a knowledge of the
sequestered and unexplored, though celebrated Country of Cashmire:
and there is reason to suppose, that it will also describe the rising
Empire of the Seiks, the conquerors of Zabeta Cawn, and the rivals
of Abdalla. Should this be the case, we shall learn the history of
an Empire that already extends from the river Attok, the western
branch of the Indus, to the banks of the Jumma; and possibly too we
may also be told the particulars of a Religion, which, according
to the accounts received, professes to bring back the Hindoos
from the idolatrous veneration of images to the purity of their
primitive faith, the worship of One God: a Religion, which is said
to ascribe to its Founder, Nanock, who died about 200 years since,
a sacred character, by supposing that he was Brimha, and that this
was his last appearance upon earth: a Religion, which its Followers,
in contradiction to the former uniform practice of the Believers
in the Shaster, endeavour to make universal, and, with a zeal which
resembles the Mahometan, constantly enforce by the sword.
To our knowledge of America, a large and valuable addition may
soon be expected; for several of the inhabitants of Canada had
the spirit, about two years since, to send, at their own expence,
different persons to traverse that vast continent, from the river
St. Lawrence westward to the opposite ocean.
While, in this manner, the circle of our knowledge with respect
to Asia and America is gradually extending itself, and advancing
towards perfection, some progress has been made in the discovery
of particular parts of Africa: for Dr. Sparman’s Narrative has
furnished important information, to which will soon be added that of
Mr. Patterson, whose account of his Travels and Observations in the
Southern Parts of Africa is already in the Press; and if a description
of the still more extended Travels of Colonel Gordon, the present
Commander of the Dutch Troops at the Cape of Good Hope, should be
given to the Public, the southern extremity of the African peninsula
may perhaps be justly considered as explored. Mr. Bruce also, it is
said, is preparing for the Press an account of the knowledge which
he has obtained on the eastern side of that quarter of the globe.
But notwithstanding the progress of discovery on the coasts and
borders of that vast continent, the map of its Interior is still
but a wide extended blank, on which the Geographer, on the authority
of Leo Africanus, and of the Xeriff Edrissi the Nubian Author, has
traced, with a hesitating hand, a few names of unexplored rivers
and of uncertain nations.
The course of the Niger, the places of its rise and termination, and
even its existence as a separate stream, are still undetermined. Nor
has our knowledge of the Senegal and Gambia rivers improved upon that
of De la Brue and Moore; for though since their time half a century
has elapsed, the Falls of Felu on the first of these two rivers,
and those of Baraconda on the last, are still the limits of discovery.
Neither have we profited by the information which we have long
possessed, that even on the western coasts of Africa, the Mahometan
faith is received in many extensive districts, from the Tropic of
Cancer southward to the Line. That the Arabic, which the Mussulman
Priests of all countries understand, furnishes an easy access to such
knowledge as the western Africans are able to supply, is perfectly
obvious; as it also is, that those Africans must, from the nature
of their Religion, possess, what the Traders to the coast ascribe
to them, an intercourse with Mecca. But although these circumstances
apparently prove the practicability of exploring the Interior Parts
of Africa, and would much facilitate the execution of the Plan,
yet no such efforts have hitherto been made. Certain however it is,
that, while we continue ignorant of so large a portion of the globe,
that ignorance must be considered as a degree of reproach upon the
present age.
Sensible of this stigma, and desirous of rescuing the age from a
charge of ignorance, which, in other respects, belongs so little
to its character, a few Individuals, strongly impressed with a
conviction of the practicability and utility of thus enlarging the
fund of human knowledge, have formed the Plan of an Association for
Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa.
The nature of their Establishment will best appear from the following
account of their proceedings.
* * * * *
At an ADJOURNED MEETING of the SATURDAY’S CLUB, at the
_St. Alban’s Tavern_, on the 9th of _June_, 1788,
_PRESENT,_
* * * * *
EARL OF GALLOWAY,
LORD RAWDON,
GENERAL CONWAY,
SIR ADAM FERGUSSON,
SIR JOSEPH BANKS,
SIR WILLIAM FORDYCE,
MR. PULTNEY,
MR. BEAUFOY,
MR. STUART:
_ABSENT MEMBERS,_
* * * * *
BISHOP OF LANDAFF,
LORD CARYSFORT,
SIR JOHN SINCLAIR:
RESOLVED,
That as no species of information is more ardently desired, or more
generally useful, than that which improves the science of Geography;
and as the vast Continent of Africa, notwithstanding the efforts
of the Ancients, and the wishes of the Moderns, is still in a great
measure unexplored, the Members of this Club do form themselves into
an Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Inland Parts of
that Quarter of the World:
That, for the said purpose, each Member do subscribe Five Guineas
a year, for three years; and that at, or after that period, any
Member, on giving a year’s notice, may withdraw himself from
the Association:
That during the first twelve months from the present day, each of the
Members of the Club be allowed to recommend, for the approbation of
the Club, such of his Friends as he shall think proper to be admitted
to the new Association; but that after that time all additional
Members be elected by a Ballot of the Association at large:
That a Committee, consisting of a Secretary and Treasurer, and of
three Assisting Members, be chosen by Ballot:
That the said Committee do prepare and submit to the consideration
of the Members, at their next meeting, such Rules as they shall
think requisite for the effectual attainment of the object of the
new Institution, and for its good government:
That the Committee be entrusted with the choice of the persons who are
to be sent on the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, together
with the Society’s Correspondence, and the Management of its Funds:
That the Committee shall not disclose, except to the Members of the
Association at large, such intelligence as they shall, from time to
time, receive from the persons who shall be sent out on the business
of Discovery:
That on the receipt of any interesting intelligence from any of
the said persons, the Members of the Association shall be convened
by Letters from the Secretary; and that such parts of the said
intelligence as, in the opinion of the Committee, may, without
endangering the object of their Association, be made public, shall
be communicated to the Meeting:
That an Account of all Monies paid and received shall, on the last
Saturday in the month of May in each year, be submitted to the
consideration of the Society at large, by the Treasurer:
That the Members of the Committee be chosen by Ballot, on the first
Saturday in the month of May in each year.
* * * * *
The preceding Resolutions having been agreed to by all the Members
present, they proceeded on the same day, the 9th of June, 1788,
in pursuance of their Fourth Resolution, to chuse a Committee by
Ballot, and the following persons were elected:
LORD RAWDON,
BISHOP OF LANDAFF,
SIR JOSEPH BANKS,
MR. BEAUFOY,
MR. STUART.
~CHAPTER I.~
_Proceedings of the Association from the Time of its Establishment,
to that of the Departure of_ Mr. LEDYARD.
* * * * *
The Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Regions
of Africa was formed on the 9th of June, in the year 1788; and on the
same day a Committee of its Members was invested with the direction
of its Funds, the management of its Correspondence, and the choice
of the persons to whom the Geographical mission should be assigned.
Naturally anxious for the speedy attainment of the important object
thus recommended to their care, an object made doubly interesting by
the consideration of its having engaged the attention, and baffled
the researches of the most inquisitive and the most powerful nations
of antiquity, the Managers proceeded with the utmost ardour to the
immediate execution of the Plan.
Two Gentlemen, whose qualifications appeared to be eminent, proposed
to undertake the Adventure.
One of them, a Mr. LEDYARD, was an American by birth, and seemed
from his youth to have felt an invincible desire to make himself
acquainted with the unknown, or imperfectly discovered regions of the
globe. For several years he had lived with the Indians of America,
had studied their manners, and had practised in their school the
means of obtaining the protection, and of recommending himself to the
favour of Savages. In the humble situation of a Corporal of Marines,
to which he submitted rather than relinquish his pursuit, he had
made, with Captain Cook, the Voyage of the World; and feeling on
his return an anxious desire of penetrating from the North Western
Coast of America, which Cook had partly explored, to the Eastern
Coast, with which he himself was perfectly familiar, he determined
to traverse the vast Continent from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.
His first Plan for the purpose was that of embarking in a vessel which
was then preparing to sail, on a Voyage of Commercial Adventure, to
Nootka Sound, on the Western Coast of America; and with this view
he expended in sea stores, the greatest part of the money which
his chief benefactor Sir Joseph Banks (whose generous conduct
the Writer of this Narrative has often heard him acknowledge)
had liberally supplied. But the scheme being frustrated by the
rapacity of a Custom-house Officer, who had seized and detained the
vessel for reasons which on legal inquiry proved to be frivolous,
he determined to travel over land to Kamschatka, from whence to the
Western coast of America the passage is extremely short. With no
more than ten guineas in his purse, which was all that he had left,
he crossed the British Channel to Ostend, and by the way of Denmark
and the Sound, proceeded to the capital of Sweden, from whence, as
it was Winter, he attempted to traverse the Gulph of Bothnia on the
ice, in order to reach Kamschatka by the shortest way; but finding,
when he came to the middle of the sea, that the water was not frozen,
he returned to Stockholm, and taking his course Northward, walked
into the Arctic Circle; and passing round the head of the Gulph,
descended on its Eastern side to Petersburgh.
There, he was soon noticed as an extraordinary man.—Without
stockings, or shoes, and in too much poverty to provide himself
with either, he received and accepted an invitation to dine with
the Portugueze Ambassador. To this invitation it was probably owing
that he was able to obtain the sum of twenty guineas for a bill on
Sir Joseph Banks, which he confessed he had no authority to draw,
but which, in consideration of the business that he had undertaken,
and of the progress that he had made, Sir Joseph, he believed, would
not be unwilling to pay. To the Ambassador’s interest it might
also be owing that he obtained permission to accompany a detachment
of Stores which the Empress had ordered to be sent to Yakutz, for
the use of Mr. Billings, an Englishman, at that time in her service.
Thus accommodated, he travelled Eastward through Siberia, six thousand
miles, to Yakutz, where he was kindly received by Mr. Billings, whom
he remembered on board Captain Cook’s ship, in the situation of
the Astronomer’s Servant, but to whom the Empress had now entrusted
her schemes of Northern discovery.
From Yakutz he proceeded to Oczakow, on the coast of the Kamschatka
sea, from whence he meant to have passed over to that peninsula, and
to have embarked on the Eastern side in one of the Russian vessels
that trade to the Western shores of America; but finding that the
navigation was completely obstructed by the ice, he returned again
to Yakutz, in order to wait for the conclusion of the Winter.
Such was his situation, when, in consequence of suspicions not
hitherto explained, or resentments for which no reason is assigned,
he was seized, in the Empress’s name, by two Russian soldiers, who
placed him in a sledge, and conveying him, in the depth of Winter,
through the Deserts of the Northern Tartary, left him at last on
the Frontiers of the Polish Dominions. As they parted they told him,
that if he returned to Russia, he would certainly be hanged, but that
if he chose to go back to England, they wished him a pleasant journey.
In the midst of poverty, covered with rags, infested with the usual
accompaniments of such cloathing, worn with continued hardship,
exhausted by disease, without friends, without credit, unknown, and
full of misery, he found his way to Koningsberg.—There, in the hour
of his uttermost distress, he resolved once more to have recourse to
his old Benefactor, and he luckily found a person who was willing to
take his draft for five guineas on the President of the Royal Society.
With this assistance he arrived in England, and immediately waited on
Sir Joseph Banks, who told him, knowing his temper, that he believed
he could recommend him to an adventure almost as perilous as the one
from which he had returned; and then communicated to him the wishes
of the Association for Discovering the Inland Countries of Africa.
LEDYARD replied, that he had always determined to traverse the
Continent of Africa as soon as he had explored the Interior of North
America; and as Sir Joseph had offered him a Letter of Introduction,
he came directly to the Writer of these Memoirs. Before I had learnt
from the note the name and business of my Visitor, I was struck with
the manliness of his person, the breadth of his chest, the openness
of his countenance, and the inquietude of his eye. I spread the map
of Africa before him, and tracing a line from Cairo to Sennar, and
from thence Westward in the latitude and supposed direction of the
Niger, I told him that was the route, by which I was anxious that
Africa might, if possible, be explored. He said, he should think
himself singularly fortunate to be entrusted with the Adventure. I
asked him when he would set out? “To-morrow morning,” was his
answer. I told him I was afraid that we should not be able, in so
short a time, to prepare his instructions, and to procure for him
the letters that were requisite; but that if the Committee should
approve of his proposal, all expedition should be used.
Such is the history, and such were the qualifications of one of the
persons whom the Committee engaged in its service.
The other, Mr. LUCAS, had been sent, when a boy, to Cadiz, in Spain,
for education as a merchant, and having the misfortune on his return
to be captured by a Sallee Rover, was brought as a slave to the
Imperial Court of Morocco.
Three years of captivity preceded his restoration to freedom, and
his consequent departure for Gibraltar; where, at the request of
General Cornwallis, he accepted the offices of Vice-Consul and Chargé
d’Affaires in the Empire of Morocco; and had the satisfaction to
return, as the Delegate of his Sovereign, to the very kingdom in
which, for so long a period, he had lived as a slave. At the end of
sixteen years he once more revisited England, and was soon appointed
Oriental Interpreter to the British Court, in which situation he was
when he became known to the Committee, and expressed his willingness,
with His Majesty’s permission, to undertake, in the Service of the
Association, whatever Journey his knowlege of the Manners, Customs,
and Language of the Arabs might enable him to perform. His Majesty,
with that liberal attention to the Progress of Knowledge which
at all times has distinguished his reign, signified his pleasure,
that Mr. LUCAS should proceed on the business of the Society; and
that his salary as Oriental Interpreter should be continued to him
during his absence.
Having thus obtained the assistance of two persons so eminently
qualified to facilitate the attainment of its object, the Committee
proceeded to prescribe to them their respective routs.
To Mr. LEDYARD they assigned, at his own desire, as an enterprize of
obvious peril and of difficult success, the task of traversing from
East to West, in the latitude attributed to the Niger, the widest
part of the Continent of Africa.
To Mr. LUCAS, in consideration of the knowledge which he possessed of
the Language and Manners of the Arabs, they allotted the passage of
the Desert of Zahara, from Tripoli to Fezzan; for they had learned
from various information, that with this kingdom, which in some
measure is dependent on Tripoli, the traders of Agadez and Tombuctou,
and of other towns in the Interior of Africa, had established a
frequent and regular intercourse; and their instructions to him
were, that he should proceed directly to Fezzan; that he should
collect and transmit by the way of Tripoli, whatever intelligence,
respecting the Inland Regions of the Continent, the people of Fezzan,
or the traders who visited their country, might be able to afford;
and that he should afterwards return by the way of the Gambia,
or by that of the Coast of Guinea.
One obstacle to the departure of these Geographical Misionaries was
still to be removed; and that was, the smallness of the Fund; for
the Members of the Association, which had not yet passed the second
month of its existence, were extremely few, and the Committee were
too conscious of the importance and dignity of their undertaking,
to canvass for subscriptions.
In this dilemma, the Committee resolved to advance the money that was
requisite; and they accordingly raised among themselves the sum of
430l. which enabled them to provide for their travellers the means
of immediate equipment, and the letters of necessary credit.
Mr. LUCAS, detained by illness, did not leave England till the 6th
of August.
~CHAPTER II.~
_Mr._ LEDYARD’_s Arrival at Cairo. — His Remarks on the
Inhabitants, &c. — His Death and Character._
* * * * *
Mr. LEDYARD took his departure from London on the 30th of June,
1788; and after a journey of six and thirty days, seven of which
were consumed at Paris, and two at Marseilles, arrived in the city
of Alexandria.
His Letters of Recommendation to the British Consul secured him
from the embarrassments that the want of inns would otherwise have
occasioned; and procured for him the necessary instructions for
assuming the dress, and adopting the manners that are requisite for
an Egyptian Traveller.
Forcibly impressed by the objects which he saw, and naturally led to
compare them with those which other Regions of the Globe had presented
to his view, he describes with the energy of an original Observer,
and exhibits in his Narrative the varied effect of similarity and
contrast: but as the travellers who preceded him, have obtained and
transmitted to Europe whatever knowledge, either ancient or modern,
the Lower Egypt affords, and as the examination of that country was no
part of the business which was given him in charge, his descriptions,
generally speaking, would add but little to the instruction which
other Narratives convey.
The following Extracts from different parts of his Journal are given
in his own words.
“A traveller, who should, by just comparisons between things here
and in Europe, tell his tale; who, by a mind unbewitched by antecedent
descriptions, too strong, too bold, too determined, too honest, to be
capable of lying, should speak just as he thought, would, no doubt,
be esteemed an arrant fool, and a stupid coxcomb.—For example,
an Englishman who had never seen Egypt, would ask me what sort of a
woman an Egyptian woman was? If I meant to do the question as much
justice by the answer, as I could in my way, I should ask him to
take notice of the first company of Gypsies he saw behind a hedge
in Essex; and I suppose he would be fool enough to think me a fool.
“August 14th. I left Alexandria at midnight, with a pleasant breeze
North; and was, at sun-rise next morning, at the mouth of the Nile,
which has a bar of sand across it, and soundings as irregular as the
sea, which is raised upon it by the contentions of counter currents
and winds.
“The view in sailing up the Nile is very confined, unless from
the top of the mast, or some other eminence, and then it is an
unbounded plain of excellent land, miserably cultivated, and yet
interspersed with a great number of villages, both on its banks
and as far along the meadows as one can see in any direction: the
river is also filled with boats passing and repassing—boats all
of one kind, and navigated in one manner; nearly also of one size,
the largest carrying ten or fifteen tons. On board of these boats
are seen onions, water-melons, dates, sometimes a horse, a camel,
(which lies down in the boat) and sheep and goats, dogs, men and
women.—Towards evening and morning they have music.
“Whenever we stopped at a village, I used to walk into it with my
Conductor, who, being a Musselman, and a descendant from Mahommed,
wore a green turban, and was therefore respected, and I was sure
of safety:—but in truth, dressed as I was in a common Turkish
habit, I believe I should have walked as safely without him. I saw
no propensity among the inhabitants to incivility. The villages
are most miserable assemblages of poor little mud huts, flung very
close together without any kind of order, full of dust, lice, fleas,
bed-bugs, flies, and all the curses of Moses: people poorly clad,
the youths naked; in such respects, they rank infinitely below any
Savages I ever saw.
“The common people wear nothing but a shirt and drawers, and they
are always blue. Green is the royal or holy colour; none but the
descendants of Mahommed, if I am rightly informed, being permitted
to wear it.
“August 19th. From the little town where we landed, the distance to
Cairo is about a mile and a half, which we rode on asses; for the ass
in this country is the Christian’s horse, as he is allowed no other
animal to ride upon. Indeed I find the situation of a Christian,
or what they more commonly call here a Frank, to be very, very
humiliating, ignominious, and distressing: no one, by a combination
of any causes, can reason down to such effects as experience teaches
us do exist here: it being impossible to conceive, that the enmity
I have alluded to could exist between men;—or, in fact, that the
same species of beings, from any causes whatever, should ever think
and act so differently as the Egyptians and the English do.
“I arrived at Cairo early in the morning, on the 19th of August,
and went to the house of the Venetian Consul, Mr. Rosetti, Chargé
d’Affaires for the English Consul here.
“After dinner, not being able to find any other lodging, and
receiving no very pressing invitation from Mr. Rosetti, to lodge
with him, I went to a convent. This convent consists of Missionaries
sent by the Pope to propagate the Christian Faith, or at least to
give shelter to Christians. The Christians here are principally from
Damascus: the convent is governed by the Order of Recollets: a number
of English, as well as other European travellers, have lodged there.
“August 21st. It is now about the hottest season of the year here;
but I think I have felt it warmer in the City of Philadelphia,
in the same month.
“August 26th. This day I was introduced by Rosetti to the Aga
Mahommed, the confidential Minister of Ismael, the most powerful of
the four ruling Beys: he gave me his hand to kiss, and with it the
promise of letters, protection, and support, through Turkish Nubia,
and also to some Chiefs far inland. In a subsequent conversation,
he told me I should see in my travels a people who had power to
transmutate themselves into the forms of different animals. He
asked me what I thought of the affair? I did not like to render
the ignorance, simplicity, and credulity of the Turk apparent. I
told him, that it formed a part of the character of all Savages to
be great Necromancers; but that I had never before heard of any so
great as those which he had done me the honour to describe; that it
had rendered me more anxious to be on my voyage, and if I passed
among them, I would, in the letter I promised to write to him,
give him a more particular account of them than he had hitherto
had.—He asked me how I could travel without the language of the
people where I should pass? I told him, with vocabularies:—I might
as well have read to him a page of Newton’s Principia. He returned
to his fables again. Is it not curious, that the Egyptians (for I
speak of the natives of the country as well as of him, when I make
the observation) are still such dupes to the arts of sorcery? Was
it the same people who built the Pyramids?
“I can’t understand that the Turks have a better opinion of our
mental powers than we have of theirs; but they say of us, that we are
“_a people who carry our minds on our fingers ends_:” meaning,
that we put them in exercise constantly, and render them subservient
to all manner of purposes, and with celerity, dispatch, and ease,
do what we do.
“I suspect the Copts to have been the origin of the Negro race: the
nose and lips correspond with those of the Negro. The hair, whenever
I can see it among the people here, (the Copts) is curled;—not
close like the Negros, but like the Mulattoes. I observe a greater
variety of colour among the human species here than in any other
country; and a greater variety of feature than in any other country
not possessing a greater degree of civilization.
“I have seen an Abyssinian woman and a Bengal man—the colour is
the same in both; so are their features and persons.
“I have seen a small mummy;—it has what I call wampum work on
it. It appears as common here as among the Tartars. Tatowing is
as prevalent among the Arabs of this place as among the South Sea
Islanders. It is a little curious, that the women here are more
generally than in any other part of the world tatowed on the chin,
with perpendicular lines descending from the under lip to the chin,
like the women on the North West Coast of America. It is also a
custom here to stain the nails red, like the Cochin Chinese, and
the Northern Tartars. The mask or veil that the women here wear,
resembles exactly that worn by the Priests at Otaheite, and those
seen at Sandwich Islands.
“I have not yet seen the Arabs make use of a tool like our axe or
hatchet; but what they use for such purposes as we do our hatchet
and axe, is in the form of an adze, and is a form we found most
agreeable to the South Sea Islanders. I see no instance of a tool
formed designedly for the use of the right or left hand particularly,
as the cotogon is among the Yorkertic Tartars.
“There is certainly a very remarkable affinity between the Russian
and Greek dress. The fillet round the temples of the Greek and Russian
women, is a circumstance in dress that perhaps would strike nobody
as it does me; and so of the wampum work too, which is also found
among them both.
“They spin here with the distaff and spindle only, like the French
peasantry and others in Europe; and the common Arab loom is upon
our principle, though rude.
“I saw to-day (August 10th) an Arab woman white, like the White
Indians in the South Sea Islands, Isthmus of Darien, &c. These kind
of people all look alike.
“Among the Greek women here, I find the identical Archangel
head-dress.
“Their music is instrumental, consisting of a drum and pipe, both
which resemble those two instruments in the South Seas: the drum
is exactly like the Otaheite drum; the pipe is made of cane, and
consists of a long and short tube joined: the music resembles very
much the bagpipe, and is pleasant.—All their music is concluded,
if not accompanied, by the clapping of hands. I think it singular,
that the women here make a noise with their mouths like frogs, and
that this frog-music is always made at weddings; and I believe on
all other occasions of merriment where there are women.
“It is remarkable, that the dogs here are of just the same species
found among the Otaheiteans.
“It is also remarkable, that in one village I saw exactly the same
machines used for diversion as in Russia.—I forget the Russian
name for it. It is a large kind of wheel, on the extremities of
which there are suspended seats, in which people are whirled round
over and under each other.
“The women dress their hair behind exactly in the same manner in
which the women of the Calmuc Tartars dress theirs.
“In the History of the Kingdom of Benin in Guinea, the Chiefs are
called Aree Roee, or Street Kings. Among the Islands in the South
Sea, Otaheite, &c. they call the Chiefs Arees, and the great Chiefs
Aree le Hoi. I think this curious; and so I do that it is a custom
of the Arabs to spread a blanket when they would invite any one to
eat or rest with them.—American Indians spread the beaver skins
on such occasions.
“The Arabs of the Deserts, like the Tartars, have an invincible
attachment to Liberty: no arts will reconcile them to any other life,
or form of government, however modified. This is a character given
me here of the Arabs.
“It is singular that the Arab Language has no word for Liberty,
although it has for Slaves.
“The Arabs, like the New Zealanders, engage with a long strong
spear.
“I have made the best inquiries I have been able, since I have been
here, of the nature of the country before me; of Sennar, Darfoor,
Wangara, of Nubia, Abyssinia, of those named, or unknown by name. I
should have been happy to have sent you better information of those
places than I am yet able to do. It will appear very singular to
you in England, that we in Egypt are so ignorant of countries which
we annually visit: the Egyptians know as little of Geography as the
generality of the French; and like them, sing, dance, and traffic
without it.
“I have the best assurances of a certain and safe conduct by the
return of the caravan that is arrived from Sennar; and Mr. Rosetti
tells me that the letters I shall have from the Aga here, will insure
me of being conveyed, from hand to hand, to my journey’s end.
“The Mahometans in Africa are what the Russians are in Siberia,
a trading, enterprizing, superstitious, warlike set of vagabonds,
and wherever they are set upon going, they will and do go; but
they neither can nor do make voyages merely commercial, or merely
religious, across Africa; and where we do not find them in commerce,
we find them not at all. They cannot (however vehemently pushed on
by religion) afford to cross the Continent without trading by the way.
“October 14th. I went to-day to the market-place, where they
vend the Black slaves that come from towards the interior parts of
Africa:—there were 200 of them together, dressed and ornamented as
in their country. The appearance of a Savage in every region is almost
the same!—There were very few men among them: this indicates that
they are prisoners of war. They have a great many beads and other
ornaments about them that are from the East. I was told by one of
them that they came from the West of Sennar, fifty-five days journey,
which may be about four or five hundred miles. A Negro Chief said,
the Nile had its source in his country. In general they had their hair
plaited in a great number of small detached plaits, none exceeding
in length six or eight inches—the hair was filled with grease,
and dirt purposely daubed on.
“October 16th. I have renewed my visit to-day, and passed it more
agreeably than yesterday; for yesterday I was rudely treated. The
Franks are prohibited to purchase slaves, and therefore the Turks
do not like to see them in the market. Mr. Rosetti favoured me
with one of his running Chargé d’Affaires to accompany me:
but having observed yesterday among the ornaments of the Negros a
variety of beads, and wanting to know from what country they came,
I requested Mr. Rosetti, previously to my second visit, to shew me
from his store samples of Venetian beads.—He shewed me samples of
fifteen hundred different kinds: after this I set out.
“The name of the country these Savages come from is Darfoor, and
is well known on account of the Slave Trade, as well as of that in
Gum and Elephants teeth.
“The appearance of these Negros declares them to be a people in as
savage a state as any people can; but not of so savage a temper, or of
that species of countenance that indicates savage intelligence. They
appear a harmless, wild people; but they are mostly young women.
“The beads they are ornamented with are Venetian; and they have
some Venetian brass medals which the Venetians make for trade. The
beads are worked wampum-wise. I know not where they got the marine
shells they worked among their beads, nor how they could have seen
white men. I asked them if they would use me well in their country,
if I should visit it? They said, “Yes:”—and added, that they
should make a King of me, and treat me with all the delicacies of
their country. Like the Egyptian women, and like most other Savages,
they stick on ornaments wherever they can, and wear, like them,
a great ring in the nose, either from the cartilage, or from the
side: they also rub on some black kind of paint round the eyes,
like the Egyptian women. They are a sizeable well-formed people,
quite black, with what, I believe, we call the true Guinea face, and
with curled short hair; but not more curled or shorter than I have
seen it among the Egyptians; but in general these Savages plait it in
tassels plaistered with clay or paint. Among some of them the hair
is a foot long, and curled, resembling exactly one of our mops. The
prevailing colour, where it can be seen, is a black and red mixed. I
think it would make any hair curl, even Uncle Toby’s wig, to be
plaited and plaistered as this is. This caravan, which I call the
Darfoor caravan, is not very rich.—The Sennar is the rich caravan.
“October 19th. I went yesterday to see if more of the Darfoor
caravan had arrived; but they were not. I wonder why travellers to
Cairo have not visited these slave markets, and conversed with the
Jelabs or travelling Merchants of these caravans: both are certainly
sources of great information.—The eighth part of the money expended
on other accounts, might here answer some good solid purpose. For my
part, I have not expended a crown, and I have a better idea of the
people of Africa, of its trade, of the position of places, the nature
of the country, manner of travelling, &c. than ever I had by any other
means; and, I believe, better than any other means would afford me.
“October 25th. I have been again to the slave market; but neither
the Jelabs (a name which in this country is given to all travelling
Merchants) nor the slaves are yet arrived in town—they will be
here to-morrow. I met two or three in the street, and one with a
shield and spear.
“I have understood to-day, that the King of Sennar is himself a
Merchant, and concerned in the Sennar caravans. The Merchant here
who contracts to convey me to Sennar, is Procurer at Cairo to the
King of Sennar: this is a good circumstance, and one I knew not of
till to-day. Mr. Rosetti informed me of it. He informed me also, that
this year the importation of Negro Slaves into Egypt will amount to
20,000.—The caravans from the interior countries of Africa do not
arrive here uniformly every year—they are sometimes absent two or
three years.
“Among a dozen of Sennar slaves, I saw three personable men, of a
good bright olive colour, of vivacious and intelligent countenances;
but they had all three (which fist attracted my notice) heads
uncommonly formed: the forehead was the narrowest, the longest,
and most protuberant I ever saw. Many of these slaves speak a few
words of the Arab language; but whether they learned them before or
since their captivity I cannot tell.
“A caravan goes from here (Cairo) to Fezzan, which they call a
journey of fifty days; and from Fezzan to Tombuctou, which they call
a journey of ninety days. The caravans travel about twenty miles
a day, which makes the distance on the road from here to Fezzan,
one thousand miles; and from Fezzan to Tombuctou, one thousand eight
hundred miles. From here to Sennar is reckoned six hundred miles.
“I have been waiting several days to have an interview with the
Jelabs who go from hence to Sennar. I am told that they carry, in
general, trinkets; but among other things, soap, antimony, red linen,
razors, scissars, mirrors, beads; and, as far as I can yet learn,
they bring from Sennar elephants teeth, the gum called here gum
Sennar, camels, ostrich feathers, and slaves.
“Wangara is talked of here as a place producing much gold, and
as a kingdom: all accounts, and there are many, agree in this. The
King of Wangara (whom I hope to see in about three months after
leaving this) is said to dispose of just what quantity he pleases
of his gold—sometimes a great deal, and sometimes little or none;
and this, it is said, he does to prevent strangers knowing how rich
he is, and that he may live in peace.”
Such are the most material of those remarks on the people of Africa,
which Mr. LEDYARD was enabled, by his residence at Cairo, to send
to the Committee.—The views which they opened were interesting
and instructive; but they derived their principal importance from
the proofs which they afforded of the ardent spirit of inquiry, the
unwearied attention, the persevering research, and the laborious,
indefatigable, anxious zeal with which their Author pursued the
object of his Mission.
Already informed that his next dispatch would be dated from Sennar;
that letters of earnest recommendation had been given him by the Aga;
that the terms of his passage had been settled; and that the day of
his departure was appointed—the Committee expected with impatience
the description of his journey. Great was therefore their concern,
and severe their disappointment, when letters from Egypt announced
to them the melancholy tidings of his death. A bilious complaint,
the consequence of vexatious delays in the promised departure of the
caravan, had induced him to try the effect of too powerful a dose
of the acid of vitriol; and the sudden uneasiness and burning pain
which followed the incautious draught, impelled him to seek relief
from the violent action of the strongest Tartar emetic. A continued
discharge of blood discovered the danger of his situation, and
summoned to his aid the generous friendship of the Venetian Consul,
and the ineffectual skill of the most approved physicians of Cairo.
He was decently interred in the neighbourhood of such of the English
as had ended their days in the capital of Egypt.
The bilious complaint with which he was seized has been attributed
to the frowardness of a childish impatience—Much more natural is
the conjecture, that his unexpected detention, week after week,
and month after month, at Cairo, (a detention which consumed his
finances, which therefore exposed to additional hazard the success
of his favourite enterprize, and which consequently tended to bring
into question his honour to the Society) had troubled his spirits, had
preyed upon his peace, and subjected him at last to the disease that
proved in its consequences the means of dragging him to his grave.
Of his attachment to the Society, and of his zeal for their service,
the following Extracts from his Letters are remarkably expressive:
“Money! it is a vile slave!—I have at present an œconomy of a
more exalted kind to observe. I have the eyes of some of the first
men of the first kingdom on earth turned upon me. I am engaged
by those very men, in the most important object that any private
individual can be engaged in: I have their approbation to acquire,
or to lose; and their esteem also, which I prize beyond every thing,
except the independent idea of serving mankind. Should rashness or
desperation carry me through, whatever fame the vain and injudicious
might bestow, I should not accept of it;—it is the good and great
I look to: fame from them bestowed is altogether different, and is
closely allied to a well-done from God: but rashness will not be
likely to carry me through any more than timid caution. To find the
necessary medium of conduct, to vary and apply it to contingencies,
is the œconomy I allude to; and if I succeed by such means, men
of sense in any succeeding epoch will not blush to follow me, and
perfect those Discoveries I have only abilities to trace out roughly,
or, a disposition to attempt.
“A Turkish sopha has no charms for me: if it had, I could soon
obtain one here. I could to-morrow take the command of the best
armament of Ishmael Bey.—I should be sure of success, and its
consequential honours. Believe me, a single well-done from your
Association has more worth in it to me, than all the trappings of the
East; and what is still more precious, is, the pleasure I have in the
justification of my own conduct at the tribunal of my own heart.”
To those who have never seen Mr. LEDYARD, it may not, perhaps,
be uninteresting to know, that his person, though scarcely
exceeding the middle size, was remarkably expressive of activity
and strength; and that his manners, though unpolished, were neither
uncivil nor unpleasing. Little attentive to difference of rank, he
seemed to consider all men as his equals, and as such he respected
them. His genius, though uncultivated and irregular, was original and
comprehensive. Ardent in his wishes, yet calm in his deliberations;
daring in his purposes, but guarded in his measures; impatient of
controul, yet capable of strong endurance; adventurous beyond the
conception of ordinary men, yet wary and considerate, and attentive to
all precautions, he appeared to be formed by Nature for atchievements
of hardihood and peril.
They who compare the extent of his pilgrimage through the vast regions
of Tartary with the scantiness of his funds, will naturally ask,
by what means he obtained a subsistence on the road? All that I
have ever learned from him on the subject, was, that his sufferings
were excessive, and that more than once he owed his life to the
compassionate temper of the women. This last remark is strongly
confirmed by the following Extract from his account of his Siberian
Tour:
“I have always remarked, that women, in all countries, are civil,
obliging, tender, and humane; that they are ever inclined to be gay
and chearful, timorous and modest; and that they do not hesitate,
like men, to perform a generous action.—Not haughty, not arrogant,
not supercilious, they are full of courtesy, and fond of society:
more liable, in general, to err than man; but in general, also,
more virtuous, and performing more good actions than he. To a woman,
whether civilized or savage, I never addressed myself in the language
of decency and friendship, without receiving a decent and friendly
answer. With man it has often been otherwise.
“In wandering over the _barren_ plains of _inhospitable Denmark_,
through _honest Sweden_, and _frozen Lapland_, _rude_ and _churlish
Finland_, _unprincipled Russia_, and the _wide spread regions_
of the _wandering Tartar_, if hungry, dry, cold, wet, or sick,
the women have ever been friendly to me, and uniformly so; and
to add to this virtue, (so worthy the appellation of benevolence)
these actions have been performed in so free, and so kind a manner,
that if I was dry, I drank the sweetest draught, and if hungry,
I eat the coarse morsel with a double relish.”
But though the native benevolence, which even among Savages
distinguishes and adorns the female character, might sometimes
soften the severity of his sufferings, yet at others he seems to
have endured the utmost pressure of distress.
“I am accustomed—(said he, in our last conversation—’twas
on the morning of his departure for Africa)—I am accustomed to
hardships. I have known both hunger and nakedness to the utmost
extremity of human suffering. I have known what it is to have food
given me as charity to a madman; and I have at times been obliged
to shelter myself under the miseries of that character to avoid a
heavier calamity. My distresses have been greater than I have ever
owned, or ever _will_ own to any man. Such evils are terrible to bear;
but they never yet had power to turn me from my purpose. If I live,
I will faithfully perform, in its utmost extent, my engagement to
the Society; and if I perish in the attempt, my _honour_ will still
be safe, for death cancels all bonds.”
~CHAPTER III.~
_Arrival of_ Mr. LUCAS _at Tripoli. — His Reception by the
Bashaw. — His Journey to Mesurata with the Shereefs Fouwad and
Imhammed. — His Mode of obtaining from the latter an Account of
his Travels in the Interior Countries of Africa. — His Return
to England._
* * * * *
Mr. Lucas, having taken his passage at Marseilles, on board the
St. Jean Baptiste, a small vessel belonging to that port, embarked
on the 18th of October, 1788; and on the 25th of the same month
arrived in the harbour of Tripoli.
The date trees, which spread themselves like a forest behind the town,
and the hills beyond them, which bound the prospect on the South,
are interesting objects; but the town itself is built in too low a
situation to compose a part of the general scene: for it is scarcely
visible at the distance of a mile.
The first appearance of Tripoli may disappoint, by its meanness, the
expectations of the traveller; but if he reflects on the nature of a
despotic government, ever incompatible with permanent prosperity, he
will not be surprized when he finds, on a nearer view, that the city,
though the capital of an empire, exhibits through all its extent, the
marks of a rapid decay; that its scanty limits, though scarcely four
miles in circumference, are too great for its present population;
and that its antient castle, though once the pride, and still the
residence, of the reigning family, is now a mouldering ruin.
The expected ceremonial of announcing to the Bashaw, which is the
title of the Sovereign, and to the Consul of the State, to whom the
vessel belongs, her arrival in the harbour, having been regularly
observed, Mr. LUCAS, accompanied by Mr. Tully, the British Resident,
waited on Hadgee Abdrahaman, the Tripoline Minister for Foreign
Affairs, who had formerly resided in England as Ambassador from
the Bashaw; and having known Mr. LUCAS there, received him now with
the joy of an old acquaintance, and the cordiality of an intimate
friend. Encouraged by this kindness, Mr. LUCAS explained to him
the object of his mission, and requested that he would present and
recommend him to the Bashaw, and to the Prince, his eldest son, who
is distinguished by the title of the Bey. The Minister consented;
and the next morning was, accordingly, appointed by the Bashaw for
the first of these audiences: the morning after was fixed on by the
Bey for the latter.
The Bashaw, a short and robust old man, of a fair complexion,
a pleasing countenance, and an affable, joyous disposition,
received Mr. LUCAS with great complacency, and accepted, with much
satisfaction, his present of a pair of double-barrelled pistols,
mounted with silver; but expressed his surprize, when leave was asked
to visit his kingdom of Fezzan: for the journey, he said, had never
been attempted by a Christian. Mr. LUCAS replied, that he was led
to undertake it by the report which he had heard of various Roman
antiquities in different parts of the kingdom, and by the hope of
collecting a variety of medicinal plants that are not to be found
in Europe. The Bashaw appeared to be satisfied, and promised that,
on the first opportunity of a safe conveyance, he would give him such
aids for the journey as his countenance and protection could afford.
On the next morning Mr. LUCAS was presented to the Bey, the Bashaw’s
eldest son, a tall and well shaped, but dark complexioned man, in
the middle period of life; and was received by him with the engaging
politeness for which he is eminently distinguished. The present that
was made to him, except that its value was inferior, was similar to
that which had been given to his father; and the assurances of the
protection and friendship, which he offered in return, were the same
in effect with those which the Bashaw had expressed.
Soon after his presentation at Court, Mr. LUCAS was informed that
some of the principal Tribes of the tributary Arabs had lately
revolted from the Government, and were then in actual rebellion;
that all the frontiers of Tripoli, on the side of the Desert, were
infested by their inroads; that a caravan from the inland country had
lately been attacked, and that a Spanish Merchant had been plundered
within a few miles of the Capital. Mr. LUCAS was also informed,
that the Bashaw, who has no regular forces, was preparing to raise,
on this occasion, an army of 2,000 men; that as soon as the grass
should be high enough to afford the necessary forage for the cattle,
which it would be in the month of December, they would begin their
march to the frontier, where they would be joined by the troops of
such of the Arabs as continued faithful to the Government.
With this army, the collective numbers of which were expected to
amount to five or six thousand men, it was hoped that the Bey, by
the usual enforcements of predatory war, would be able to reduce the
rebellious Tribes to their antient obedience, and to the payment of
the customary tribute.
But while, from this expectation, Mr. LUCAS waited with impatience
for the departure of the army, he was informed that two Shereefs
from Fezzan, who were both, as their title announces, descended from
the Prophet, and one of whom had married the daughter of the King,
were arrived in Tripoli. They came there as Merchants, and brought
with them, for sale, a variety of articles, of which slaves and
senna were the chief; and as the reverence in which the descendants
of Mahomet are held secures their persons from violence, and their
property from plunder, they did not think that the restoration of
peace was requisite for the safety of their return. It was, therefore,
with much satisfaction that the Minister, whose intimate acquaintance
they were, received from them an assurance, that if Mr. LUCAS could
bear the fatigue of the journey, they would take him under their
protection, and would be answerable for his safe arrival in Fezzan.
The next morning, in consequence of this conversation, the Shereefs
waited upon Mr. LUCAS. One of them, whose rank as son-in-law to the
King, entitled him to the first consideration, was a tall, thin,
copper complexioned man, of too slender a frame for his height,
which was nearly six feet, but of an appearance that was expressive
of dignity: to this appearance the sedateness of his manners, and the
fewness, but solidity of his words were particularly suited. His age
was seemingly about thirty-five years, and his name was Mohammed
Bensein Hassen Fouwad. The other Shereef was a lively old man,
short and thin, and dark coloured, almost to blackness; affable,
free, and entertaining in his conversation, and much respected by
his companion, to whom he was related. His name was Imhammed, and
his age about fifty years.
After many compliments, for which their countrymen are famous, they
expressed to Mr. LUCAS the pleasure they should feel in presenting
him to their King, who had never seen a Christian Traveller, and
would be highly gratified by so new a visit. They assured him of
every accommodation which their country could afford, and of every
proof which they themselves could give of the kindest good will,
and of the sincerest friendship. The conference was concluded by a
present from Mr. LUCAS of a pair of pistols to each, with a suitable
quantity of powder and ball, and flints.
The Bashaw, being informed by the Minister of the proposal and
promises of the Shereefs, expressed his approbation of the scheme,
and sent, from his own stables, as a present to Mr. LUCAS, a handsome
mule for the journey. The Bey, too, was no sooner acquainted with
the arrangements, than he gave directions to a Jew taylor, who had
been employed in making, and had just finished his own tent, to
wait upon Mr. LUCAS, and take his orders for such a tent as would
be requisite for his journey.
But while in this manner Mr. LUCAS was preparing for his departure,
and had bespoke a Turkish dress for himself, and a magnificent robe,
as a present, for the King of Fezzan, an apprehension arose in the
mind of the Bashaw, that if Mr. LUCAS should be taken prisoner by
the Rebels, he himself should be reduced to the distressing dilemma
of either concluding a disadvantageous peace, or of abandoning the
Interpreter of the King of Great Britain to all the insults, and to
all the cruelties which those Barbarians might be disposed to inflict.
For this reason, the force of which will be much more apparent,
if the respect in which the office of Interpreter in a Mahometan
Government is usually held, be considered, he expressed his desire
(and in this desire his eldest son, the Bey, entirely concurred)
that Mr. LUCAS would defer his intended journey till the revolted
Arabs should be reduced to obedience, and the peace of the Desert
be restored. A few days after this requisition, the Bey began his
march with an army of 300 horse and 1500 foot.
The Shereefs were no sooner informed of the obstacle which had arisen
to the journey of their intended fellow-traveller, than they expressed
as much chagrin and disappointment as Mr. LUCAS himself could feel;
for they said, that they had already sent word to their Sovereign,
that they should soon have the pleasure to present to him a Christian,
who had travelled from his native land, (a journey of many moons)
with no other view than to gratify his wish to visit him, and to see
his kingdom of Fezzan:—that his anger would fall heavily on them,
to whom he would attribute the disappointment; and would probably
lead him to inflict on them the greatest indignity that Shereefs
can endure, that of having dust heaped upon their heads.
Impressed with these apprehensions, the Shereefs waited upon the
Bashaw, and offered to be responsible with their lives for the safety
of the Christian.
In this unfavourable state of Mr. LUCAS’s prospects, an old
man of the class of Maraboots (a name which is given to persons of
distinguished sanctity) informed the Minister, with whom he had been
long acquainted, that he meant, in a few days, to take his departure
for Fezzan; and that as the Rebels, in consequence of the march of the
Bashaw’s forces, had removed from that part of the country through
which he intended to pass, he would engage that, under his conduct,
Mr. LUCAS should travel in safety.
With this proposal Mr. LUCAS, by the advice of the Minister, and with
the consent of the Bashaw, had determined to comply, though against
his own opinion, for the countenance and behaviour of the Maraboot had
suggested suspicions of his sincerity; but while he was preparing for
his departure, which was fixed for the Monday following, the Bashaw,
on further reflection, concluded that the plan which the Shereefs had
proposed would, on the whole, be attended with the smallest hazard.
The scheme of the journey being thus finally settled, the Bashaw,
at the request of the Minister, presented Mr. LUCAS with a letter
of recommendation to the King of Fezzan, of which the following is
a translation.
* * * * *
_TRANSLATION OF THE BASHAW OF TRIPOLI’S RECOMMENDATION OF MR. LUCAS
TO THE KING OF FEZZAN._
* * * * *
“Praise be unto the Almighty God, and unto our Lord his Prophet
Mahommed, whose protection and mercy we crave, and resign ourselves
to his holy will: to our Son Sydy Hamed Benmohamed, the great and just
ruler over his beloved people; may his days be long and happy. Amen.
“Peace, and the protection and blessing of God, be with you,
and preserve you from evil.
“We have to acquaint you, our son, that our friend, the English
King, hath sent one of his Interpreters unto us, and desired we
would procure him a safe conveyance to Fezzan, where he goes for
his own amusement and pleasure; and as we have found a person whom
we esteem, and who has promised us to take great care of him, we
have consented to let the said Interpreter and his friends[1] go
with him to Fezzan. We have to desire that you will shew him and his
friends every kindness in your power, and comply with all his wishes;
and should he be inclined to go to any other place, you will send
proper people to conduct him, and to protect him in every thing;
for he is a man of sense, and much esteemed by us; wherefore we
recommend him to your care and protection. Peace and the blessing
of God be with you: from the Slave of God, Ally Benkaramaly, whose
greatness is under the protection of God. Dated in the Moon of Rabeah
thénee 1203”—(which corresponds with the month of January, 1789.)
* * * * *
To this rout by Mesurata, though not so direct as the antient passage
by the way of the Mountains of Guariano, the Merchants who trade
to Fezzan have lately given the preference: for in the first place,
they avoid the oppressive contributions, which, even in time of peace,
the rapacious tribes of Hooled Bensoliman and Benioleed, who inhabit
those hills, have often levied on travellers; and in the next place,
they have not only the advantage of sending their heavy merchandize
to Mesurata by sea, but have also an opportunity of hiring there,
at a much lower rate than at Tripoli, the camels for which they
have occasion.
On Sunday the first of February, 1789, at half an hour after eight
in the morning, the Shereefs, accompanied by Mr. LUCAS, took their
departure from the suburbs of Tripoli, where, in a garden which is
situated at the distance of three miles from the town, and which
belonged to a Tripoline Merchant, who was travelling with them to
Fezzan, they and their attendants had slept the evening before.
The caravan was composed of the Shereef Fouwad, and of three other
Merchants, on horseback, all of them well armed; of the little old
Shereef, who rode upon an ass; of Mr. LUCAS, who was mounted on the
mule which the Bashaw had given him; of Mr. LUCAS’s black servant,
well armed, upon a camel; of twelve Fezzaners on foot, but armed;
of three Negros and their wives, who had been slaves at Tripoli,
but having obtained their freedom, were now travelling to Fezzan on
their return to their native country; and of twenty-one camels, with
fifteen drivers, each of whom was armed with a musket and a pistol.
That so few camels were requisite in this part of the journey,
was owing to the expedient which the Shereefs, with great œconomy,
had adopted, of sending their heavy merchandize by sea to Mesurata.
At twelve o’clock, the caravan, whose course was E.S.E. passed
through the town of Tajarah, a miserable collection of clay-walled
huts, of which some were covered with terrace, and the rest with
roofs of thatch: but wretched as the buildings are, the country
around them abounds with date trees, among which a few of the olive
are intermixed.
At five the caravan encamped for the night upon a sandy eminence. No
sooner were the camels unburthened of their loads, than their drivers
turned them loose to feed on the stubble of the valleys, and on the
brambles of the adjacent hills; but though their freedom is thus
given them, they never stray to a greater distance than that of two
or three hundred paces from the camp.
The loads in the mean time are piled in a circle, and, except at
the narrow opening which forms the entrance, are stowed as close as
possible to each other. Within this circle the Merchants and drivers
and servants spread their mats and carpets. Here, also, they light
their fires and dress their victuals; and without any other covering
than their alhaiques or blankets (for very few are furnished with a
tent) lie down amidst the heavy dews and occasional storms of rain
that fall upon the coast, and sleep as soundly as in a bed: for the
wetness of their cloaths, which is often the consequence of this
exposure, is little regarded, and from the salubrity of the climate,
is attended with little inconvenience.
Mr. LUCAS’s tent being spread, the two Shereefs, with three of
their friends, took up their quarters with him: and on the first
appearance of supper, which was served in a large wooden dish, and
consisted of dried meat, and of flour formed into balls, and dressed
in steam, they all sat down with the familiarity of near relations,
and dipping their right hands into the dish, without either spoons
or forks or knives, devoured, with a voracious and disgusting haste,
the whole that was set before them.
The conclusion of the meal was followed by the ceremony of washing,
which consisted in each man’s dipping his right hand into the same
water which his companions had used. Coffee being then brought in,
they lighted their pipes, and each of them having drank three or four
dishes as he smoaked, they laid themselves down in their cloaths,
upon the bare sand, and conversed together till they talked themselves
to sleep.
February 2d. The next morning, at day-break, the drivers began to
re-load the camels: at eight o’clock the caravan was again in
motion; from which time till half an hour after four, they travelled
amidst dreary hills of loose and barren sand, where they saw neither
man nor beast, neither wood nor water.
A small valley between the hills, from which, to their great
annoyance, the shifting sand was continually blown down upon them,
was the place of their encampment; a place entirely destitute of
water, but from this circumstance they felt no sort of inconvenience,
as they had brought with them, in goat skins, an ample store.
February 3d. At half an hour after seven in the morning, they
proceeded on their journey, and having emerged from the sand hills
about two in the afternoon, were charmed with the sight of olive
and of date trees, of large quantities of white thorn, and of the
Spanish broom; yet the soil is dry and stoney, and the few fields of
grain which present themselves here and there to the eye, exhibit
in their scanty and meagre appearance, the marks of an ungracious
and sullen vegetation.
On the right or S.E. of their road, at the distance of about twenty
miles, the mountains of Guariano and Misselata rise upon the view.—A
sight that recals to the mind of the experienced Traveller, and leads
him to relate to the stranger, the beauty of the vales, the richness
of the lands, abounding in corn and oil, and the fierce inhospitable
disposition of the inhabitants, that compels the caravan to turn
from their dominions, its direct and antient road, and to take its
course among the desolate hills, and dreary wastes of the sandy and
barren coast.[2]
A request from the Shereef Fouwad was now made to Mr. LUCAS for
his consent to encamp that evening in the neighbourhood of an
old Arab, his particular friend, with whom he had business to
transact, but whose residence was two hours march to the South of
their road. They accordingly turned to the South, and about five
o’clock, after a tedious and difficult passage among rocky hills,
they approached the tents of the Arab. The old gentleman, accompanied
by his two sons and a few attendants, came forward to meet them;
and after expressing great satisfaction at the sight of his friend,
the Shereef, he ordered a tent to be cleared for their reception,
and in the mean time conducted them to a mat and carpet, which his
servants had spread for them under a hedge; for, notwithstanding the
season of the year, the heat was already troublesome. They had not
been seated long when their host invited them to their tent, in which
a number of mats and carpets were neatly laid.—A sheep was killed,
and sent to be dressed for their suppers; bowls of buttermilk were
brought for their present refreshment, and barley in abundance was
given to such of their cattle as were accustomed to that kind of food;
while the camels, as usual, were sent to feed among the hills.
At eight o’clock the supper was brought to the tent, and was placed
before them in two large wooden dishes. Of these the first contained
the mutton, which was boiled, and cut into small pieces: the other
was filled with a boiled paste of dried barley meal, made up in the
form of an English pudding, and surrounded with a great quantity of
oil. This dish, which was intended as an accompaniment to the mutton,
and which is in much estimation at Tripoli, is called bazeen.
While Mr. LUCAS tasted of the last, and eat with pleasure of the
first of these dishes, and the Fezzaners, with their usual dispatch,
were devouring the contents of both, the old man and his sons stood
by to supply them with water and buttermilk; for the rules of the
Arab hospitality require, that during their meals the master of the
house should wait upon his guests.
Feb. 4th. The next morning, at seven o’clock, the entertainment
was repeated, with the same marks of a kind and liberal welcome;
for the old man is rich in corn and cattle, and having obtained the
character of a Musselman Saint, or Maraboot, is, on that account,
exempted from the payment of taxes.
After a march of three hours, during which the rout was perplexed,
and the eye fatigued by a continued succession of rocky hills,
the caravan arrived at the entrance of an extensive and beautiful
plain, that every where exhibited a luxuriant growth of olive trees,
intermixed with dates.
The next two hours brought them to the sea coast, and to all that
now exists of the town of Lebida, where, in the ruins of a temple,
and in the much more perfect remains of several triumphal arches, the
Traveller contemplates the magnificence of an antient Roman colony;
and discovers, in the beauty and fertile appearance of the adjoining
plain, the reasons which led them to chuse, for a sea-port town,
a situation that furnishes no natural harbour.
Eastward of the ruins, for about five and twenty miles, the soil,
though entirely unaided by the poor Arabs who inhabit it, exhibits
the same luxuriant vegetation; and the scene is rendered still more
interesting by the remains of a stupendous aqueduct, which formerly
conveyed to Lebida the water of a distant hill.
At half an hour after five, and in the neighbourhood of a miserable
village, the caravan encamped for the night.
Feb. 5th. The next day’s journey, which was attended with nothing
remarkable, and during which they followed the line of the coast,
brought them to Zuleteen, an inconsiderable town, where they found
that a boat, to which a part of their baggage was intrusted, had been
compelled by a storm to deposit her cargo. From this circumstance, and
the necessity which followed it, of hiring six additional camels for
their goods, the departure of the caravan on the next day (February
6th) was retarded till two o’clock in the afternoon. At the end of
the first hour’s march, they were informed by some friendly Arabs,
who were moving their tents and cattle, for the sake of protection,
to the suburbs of the town, that on the preceding afternoon a party
of the rebel tribe of Hooled Bensoliman, from the neighbouring hills,
had attacked a small caravan belonging to Mesurata, and after killing
four of the people, had carried off the camels and baggage:—and
they were also informed, that on that very morning two men, who were
going from Mesurata to the market, which is held at some distance
from the town, were robbed and killed by the same party. At this news
a Council was summoned to determine on the prudence of attempting
to proceed; for the Shereefs began to distrust the sufficiency
of that title to an exemption from the violence of war, on which,
when the danger was distant, they had so confidently relied. The
opinion of Mr. LUCAS being asked, he observed, that as the party
which committed the depredations were described as not more than
forty or fifty in number, and were consequently much too weak to
resist the detachment that, they must be sure, would be sent from
Mesurata to revenge the violences of which they had been guilty,
he had not the smallest doubt of their being already returned to the
refuge of their mountains; but that at any rate, their own numbers,
considering how well they were armed, were amply sufficient to defend
them from the attacks of such petty marauders. Pleased with an opinion
which gave them the prospect of but little danger, they fresh primed
their muskets and pistols, and singing as they went, drove merrily on.
At six o’clock they encamped upon a hill directly opposite to the
enemy’s mountains, that were now within twelve or fifteen miles;
and having lighted, by Mr. LUCAS’s advice, about seventy fires,
for which the dry brush-wood that was near them furnished the means,
they had soon the satisfaction of observing, that the fires of the
enemy, who probably mistook them for the troops of Mesurata, were
all extinguished.
Feb. 7th. The next morning at day-break, in the midst of a storm
from the S.W. of violent rain and wind, they left the hill; and
after a tempestuous march of four hours, they discerned through
the heavy atmosphere, which now began to clear, a party of fifty or
sixty Arabs upon a rising ground, at a distance, to the left.—That
more were concealed behind the hill, they had not the smallest doubt;
but as escape was impossible, and consultation useless, they resolved
unanimously to _make_ rather than _receive_ the attack. The Shereef
Fouwad took the command, and having given the charge of the camels to
the three Negros and their wives, with orders to drive them slowly,
and keep them close together, led on the rest of the party. The
horse, with the Shereef at their head, formed the van, while those
on foot were mixed together in a croud, dancing, and shouting, and
twirling their muskets over their heads, and running round each other
like madmen, till they came within shot of their antagonists, when
they suddenly dispersed, and each man squatted down behind a bush,
to shelter himself and take a surer aim. The horse were now close
upon the enemy, and were levelling their pieces at the foremost,
when one of the latter laid down his musket, and called to them not
to fire, for they were friends.
A moment’s pause was followed by a mutual recollection, and they
exhibited, on both sides, the most extravagant marks of joy. They
ran round each other like a flock of frighted sheep, and danced,
and shouted, and twirled their guns over their heads, till they were
tired, when they sat down and began a reciprocal congratulation on
their safety. The strangers said that they were herdsmen belonging to
Mesurata; that for want of pasturage near the town, they had brought
their flocks to feed upon these hills; that they were 200 armed men,
and that they did not fear the enemy.
After this information, and the exchange of civilities, the caravan
continued its journey, and at six in the evening arrived at Mesurata.
The Governor, whose politeness and natural good sense had been
improved by a long residence in Italy, received Mr. LUCAS with marks
of the greatest attention; but expressed his fear that, while the
war continued, the Shereefs would not be able to obtain from the
Rebel Arabs, who alone could furnish them, the 120 camels which
were requisite for the conveyance of their goods: and that, as the
prospect of peace was at present remote, and the sultry season would
soon commence, he saw but little chance of their reaching Fezzan
before the following Winter.
Feb. 9th. Information was now received at Mesurata, that the Bey’s
army, which consisted of 1,500 horse and 6,000 foot, was encamped
within five hours march of the Rebels, whose force was composed of
600 horse and 10,000 foot, and was commanded by a powerful Chief of
the name of Séife Bennazar.
It was also said, that the Tribes of the friendly Arabs, who formed
the principal part of the Tripoline army, were too closely connected,
by intermarriages and the force of antient alliance, with many of
the Rebel Clans, to bring with them to the battle that sort of zeal
which Government could safely trust.
Feb. 10th. Such was the situation of affairs when the Shereef Fouwad
requested from the Governor, to whom he was strongly recommended by
the Minister, a public and formal declaration, that if the hostile
Arabs would send to Mesurata 120 camels, with their drivers, for the
conveyance of the merchandize of the Shereefs to Fezzan, both they
and their cattle should be perfectly secure. The Governor replied,
that by his own authority alone he could not, with either prudence or
effect, announce to the Rebel Arabs such a stipulation; but that he
would summon a Council of the Chiefs of the town, and would propose
the business to them; though he himself was persuaded, that should
they consent to the Shereef’s requisition, as he hoped they would,
the Rebel Arabs were much too cautious to rely on the good faith of
such an engagement.
Feb. 11th. The next morning, a Council of six of the principal
inhabitants, with the Governor as President, assembled in
Mr. LUCAS’s tent, (for the Governor’s own house was near the sea,
at the distance of six miles from Mesurata) and unanimously agreed
that a letter should be written by the Governor, and signed by himself
and by all the Members of the Council, to assure the hostile Arabs,
that such of their camels and of their people, as they might send at
the request of the Shereef, should neither be detained or molested
within the jurisdiction of Mesurata. This letter, accompanied by one
from the Shereef, in which he desired to be furnished with 120 camels
for the carriage of his goods, was accordingly sent on that very day,
by an express, to a rebel province, in which he had many friends,
and which is called Gouady.
Feb. 14th. In three days from the time of his departure, the express
returned, and brought with him a reply, in which the Arabs observed
that, as the country was in arms, they could not with prudence trust
their camels from under their own protection, much less could they
spare their people.
Notwithstanding this answer, the Shereef Fouwad conceived that the
refusal of the Arabs was solely dictated by a distrust of the sort of
security which was offered by the Governor and Council of Mesurata;
for independently of the doubts which the Arabs might entertain of
their good faith, it was evident, that without the sanction of the
Bey, who commanded the army, their engagement, at the utmost, could
not extend beyond their own jurisdiction. But if the Bey himself would
guaranty the safety of the camels and their drivers, by granting them
a pass, the Shereef concluded that the real objections of the Arabs
would be entirely removed. With this view, on the 27th of February,
the Shereef and two of his countrymen set out for the camp, which
they reached on the second day, as it was not far from Mesurata;
but their trouble was fruitless, for the Bey could not be prevailed
on to assent to their proposal.
All hopes of obtaining, before the conclusion of the war, a sufficient
conveyance for the goods being thus at an end, the Council resolved
that, until peace should be established, the Shereefs and the other
Merchants of the caravan should be at liberty to warehouse their
packages in the public store-rooms of the Governor.
Deprived, in this manner, of all prospect of arriving this year at
Fezzan, and doubtful if the state of the country would encourage,
or his own situation permit the attempt in the Winter, Mr. LUCAS
resolved to avail himself to the utmost of such means of information
as the knowledge of his fellow-travellers enabled them to afford.
He had already discovered that the little old Shereef Imhammed had
been often employed by the King of Fezzan as his Factor in the Slave
Trade; and in that capacity had travelled to Bornou and different
parts of Nigritia; and he now determined to cultivate his friendship
with double solicitude, and by occasional presents and frequent
conversation, to draw from him an account of the countries which
he had seen. With this view he, one evening, took from his pocket
his map of Africa, and after satisfying the Shereef’s curiosity
as to its nature and use, told him that he once intended it as a
present to the King of Fezzan; but, that having discovered in it
several mistakes, he now proposed to draw another that should be
more correct. The Shereef replied, that the King would be highly
gratified with such a present. Mr. LUCAS said, that if he would
assist him with an account of the distances from place to place, in
such parts of the country as he had visited, and with their names in
Arabic, and would also satisfy him as to such questions as he should
ask, he would prepare _two_ corrected copies of the map, and would
give one of them to the King and the other to himself. The Shereef
was delighted with the proposal; and they immediately retired to a
sand hill at some distance from the tent, that their conversation
might be unreserved and uninterrupted. Many successive days were
employed in the same manner; and as Mr. LUCAS wrote down, at the
time, the information which he obtained, he was soon possessed of
such an account of Fezzan, Bornou, and Nigritia, especially of the
two former, as much diminished the chagrin of his own disappointment.
One afternoon, as they sat together on the customary hill, they were
suddenly disturbed by the loud screams and dismal howlings of all
the women of Mesurata—a mode of alarming and collecting the men,
which is always practised among the Arabs, on the approach of thieves,
or of an invading enemy.
In a few minutes the townsmen were under arms, and together with
the Shereef Fouwad, the other Fezzaners, and Mr. LUCAS’s Black,
went hastily on to the place where the Rebels were said to have
appeared:—there they found that the women had been deceived. It
seems an ass had strayed into a field of barley; and as the owner
of the corn, who was armed, and happened to pass by at the time,
went into the field to drive out the animal, the women mistook him
for one of the Rebels, and conceiving that many more were concealed,
(for they often come down from the mountains to steal the cattle)
had given the usual alarm.
In a few minutes, Mr. LUCAS and the old Shereef, who had both
continued on the hill, observed the Fezzaners coming sulkily back,
and cursing the women for so foolish a disturbance, whilst the
townsmen, on the contrary, fired their pieces, and rejoiced in their
disappointment as much as if they had conquered an army.
A few days afterwards, a second alarm was given, and with much
more reason than the first; for a party of the Rebel Arabs, some on
horseback, and others on foot, had suddenly appeared within two miles
of the town, and after killing two herdsmen, and seizing three Black
slaves, their assistants, had carried off sixty goats, fourteen cows,
and three camels.
The attack was made at a time when most of the townsmen were at the
market, which is held at the distance of three miles from Mesurata;
and to add to their indignation, it was made in a place which
hitherto had been deemed inviolable; for the land on which the cattle
were feeding was considered as under the immediate protection of a
departed Saint, whose remains were buried there, and whose sanctuary,
it was thought, no Musselman, however accustomed to robbery and blood,
could venture to profane.
March 13th. Letters by express from the camp were now received by
the Governor, which announced, that in consequence of the Bey’s
having entered the country of the Rebels, and turned his cattle to
pasture in their corn, an engagement, which soon became general, had
ensued; that after a loss of 150 men, the Rebels had retired to the
mountains; and that the Bey, at the expence in killed and wounded,
of not more than twenty-six horse and seventy or eighty foot, had
obtained possession of ten or twelve thousand sheep, and of three
hundred camels.
Mr. LUCAS congratulated the Governor on the victory, who thanked
him; but “I fear,” said he, shaking his head, “that the news
requires confirmation. There _was_ a time, indeed, when the people
of Tripoli knew how to conquer, and the Arabs trembled at the sight
of an encampment.”
March 15th. On the next day but one, accounts were brought by
different persons who arrived from the camp, that there had indeed
been a skirmish, in their relation of which they varied much from each
other; but they all agreed that the Bey had lost a greater number of
men, and that the only cattle which he had obtained, were a few camels
and some sheep that the straggling parties from the camp had seized.
Wearied with fruitless expectations of a peace, disappointed in their
expedients, and warned by the increasing heat, that the season for
a journey to Fezzan was already past, the Shereefs now resolved to
proceed to the intended places of their Summer residence.
The Shereef Fouwad retired to Wadan, his native town; and the Shereef
Imhammed, with tears in his eyes, and an earnest prayer that he might
see his friend Mr. LUCAS again in November, retired to the mountains,
where he had many acquaintance, and could live at a small expence.
March 20th. A few days afterwards, Mr. LUCAS took leave of the
Governor, to whose civilities he had been much indebted, and having
accompanied a small caravan as far as Lebida, embarked in a coasting
vessel at the neighbouring village of Legatah, and went by sea to
Tripoli, where the Bashaw, upon whom he waited, and to whom with
many acknowledgments he returned the mule, not only received him
with great kindness, but expressed his hope that better fortune
would attend him another year.
April 6th. From Tripoli he sailed for Malta, and after a tedious
quarantine, which the suspicion of the plague at Mesurata had much
prolonged, he took his departure for Marseilles, and on the 26th of
July arrived in England.
_INTRODUCTION_
TO
~CHAPTER IV.~
An account has already been given of the opportunity which the length
of his residence in Mesurata afforded to Mr. LUCAS, of obtaining
from the Shereef Imhammed a description of the Kingdom of Fezzan,
and of such of the countries beyond it to the South as the Shereef
himself had visited.
But though this intelligent stranger had no discoverable motive for
deception, yet as the solitary evidence of any individual excites but
a dubious belief, Mr. LUCAS was anxious to learn from the Governor
of Mesurata, who had formerly travelled to Fezzan, his idea of the
truth of the Narrative. With this view he asked and received the
Governor’s permission to read to him the memorandums that the
repeated conversations of Imhammed had enabled him to make.
“The Shereef’s Account of Fezzan,” said the Governor, “my
own knowledge confirms; and many of the particulars which he relates
of Bornou and Cashna I have heard from the report of others. His
countrymen say that he is better acquainted with both than any
other individual among them; and such is the opinion which the King
himself entertains of his probity, knowledge, and talents, that to
his management is always entrusted whatever business in either of
those empires his Sovereign has to transact.”
But while Mr. LUCAS, with a prudent and laudable caution, was thus
endeavouring to ascertain the truth of the Shereef’s account,
another, and perhaps more decisive test of its value was fortunately
obtained in England.—For, before the return of Mr. LUCAS, or the
arrival of his papers, the Committee of the Association, assisted
by Mr. DODSWORTH, (whose residence of fourteen years in Barbary had
given him a competent knowledge of Arabic) had procured from Ben Alli,
a native of Morocco, at that time in London, an account of all those
countries to the South of the Desart of Zahara, which, in the course
of his extensive Travels as a Merchant, he had formerly visited:
and though his remarks appear to be those of a superficial Observer,
who possesses activity of spirit rather than energy of mind, and whose
remembrance of what he saw is impaired by the lapse of near twenty
years; yet, (as will be seen in the following pages) the general
conformity of his description of Bornou to that which the Shereef has
given, has an obvious tendency to strengthen the credit of the latter.
This short account of the nature of the only external evidence that
has yet been obtained in support of the following Narrative seemed
to be due from the Committee; but in what degree that evidence is
impressive of belief, or what internal marks of authenticity the
Work itself may afford, the judgment of others must decide; for on
these points, it is evident that each individual must determine
for himself. In forming his opinion, however, it is requisite he
should know, that while the most anxious attention has been given
to the faithful preservation of the sense of the Original, an entire
change has been made in its language and arrangement; a change which,
the obvious advantage of methodizing conversations, as desultory as
they were numerous, of separating the blended accounts of unconnected
objects, and of uniting a variety of broken and detached descriptions
of the same thing, has unavoidably occasioned.
~CHAPTER IV.~
_Rout from Mesurata — Enumeration of the principal Towns of Fezzan
— Account of its Climate and principal Productions — Description
of the Manners, Religion, and Government of its People, their Revenue,
Administration of Justice, and Military Force._
* * * * *
Fezzan, whose small and circular domain is placed in the vast
Wilderness, as an island in the midst of the ocean, is situated to
the South of Mesurata. A journey of eight days, through districts
but little inhabited or improved, though naturally not unfertile,
conducts the Traveller to the town of Wadan, where every requisite
for the refreshment of the caravan is found.—From thence, in five
hours, he arrives at the forlorn village of Houn, on the edge of the
Desart of Soudah, on whose black and obdurate soil, the basis of which
is a soft stone, no vegetable but the Talk is seen to grow. To this
tree, which is of the size of the small Olive, and bears a sprig of
yellow flowers, the husbandman of Fezzan is indebted for the hard
and lemon-coloured wood of which he forms the handles of his tools,
and the frames of his larger instruments. Having crossed the Desart,
which furnishes no water, and for the passage of which four days are
requisite, the Traveller accepts the refreshments of a miserable
village that affords him nothing but dates of the worst quality,
some brackish water, and a small supply of Indian corn, of the
species called Gassób. From Zéghen, by which name the village is
distinguished, a single day conducts him to the town of Sebbah,
where the large remains of an antient castle, built upon a hill,
and other venerable ruins, that in point of extent are compared to
those of Lebida, impress on his mind the melancholy idea of departed
greatness; while, on the other hand, the humble dwellings of the
modern inhabitants, and the rich vegetation of their neighbouring
fields, present to his eye an ample store of all that is requisite
for the sustenance of man.—Dates, barley, Indian corn, pompions,
cucumbers, fig trees, pomegranates, and apricots, and for meaner
purposes, the white thorn and Spanish broom are described as but
a part of the numerous vegetables that reward the industry of the
people. The animals in which they most abound are said to be the
common fowl, and the brown long-haired and broad-tailed sheep.
From Sebbah a journey of two days transports the Traveller to Goddoua,
a small town of similar produce; and from thence, in two days more,
he arrives at Mourzouk, the capital of the kingdom of Fezzan.
This city[3] is surrounded by a high wall, which not only furnishes
the means of defence, but affords to the Government an opportunity of
collecting, at its three gates, a tax on all goods (though provisions
are exempted) that are brought for the supply of its people. Its
distance from Mesurata, which borders on the coast, and with respect
to which its situation is nearly South, is about[4] 390 miles.