Europeans, and was most probably constructed by the Spaniards in the
first half of the 16th century. It is built in the form of a triangle,
one side of which, running N.W. and S.E., measures about 108 yards;
another, running E.N.E. and W.S.W., measures 78½ yards, and the third,
S. 5 W. and N. 5 E., 106½ yards. At the corner between the first and the
second wall, is a polygonal bastion; between the second and third a
round bastion, and a small one also between the third and the first
wall. Descending from the fortress, I went with Mesʿaud through the
village, the dwellings of which are built in a much better style than is
usual in the regency. It is also stated that, in comparison with the
rest of the country, its inhabitants enjoy some degree of wealth, and
that the market is well supplied.
[Sidenote: Thursday, February 21st.]
I rose at an early hour, in order to continue my route, and entered a
very pleasant country, rendered more agreeable in appearance by the
fineness of the morning. Winding along through hilly slopes covered with
luxuriant corn-fields and wide-spreading olive-trees, we reached at
half-past eight o’clock an interesting group of ruins consisting of
immense blocks, and amongst them one like the flat quadrangular stones
represented above, but having on its surface, besides the little
channel, a large hole; also a block of extraordinary dimensions,
representing a double altar of the curious massive sort described above.
Close to these remarkable ruins, in a fine corn-field, is a small
castle, situated upon a natural base of rock, in which subterranean
vaults have been excavated in a very regular way. Towards the south, at
the distance of about half an hour’s march, the large castle of Amámre
rises into view. We then reached the fine plantation of Rumíyeh, while
on a hill to the left lie other scattered ruins.
We met a good many people going to the Thursday market at Kúsabát.
Further on, near another little grove, we found a small encampment of
the Jehawát, a tribe which claims the possession of this whole district.
We then passed a castle irregularly built of large square stones about
twelve yards square. Having crossed a hollow, we obtained a good view
over the country, in which the “Merkeb Sʿaid n ʿAli (the most advanced
spur of this chain towards the coast) formed a distinguished point,
while we had already reached the last low breaks of the mountain-country
towards the east. Meanwhile the greater dimensions of the ruins remind
the traveller that he is approaching the famous remains of Leptis. I
found here, a little to the right of our path, near a Bedwin encampment,
the ruins of a temple of large proportions, called Sanem ben Hamedán,
and of rather curious arrangement, the front, which faces the north and
recedes several feet from the side-walls, being formed by double ranges
of enormous stones standing upright—they can scarcely be called
pilasters,—while the inner part is ornamented with columns of the Ionic
order. The whole building is about 40 paces long, and 36 broad; but the
architectural merit of its details is not sufficient to repay the
trouble of exact measurements. About a thousand yards further on, to the
east, are the ruins of another still larger monument, measuring about 77
paces in every direction, and called by the Arabs Kasr Kérker. It has
several compartments in the interior—three chambers lying opposite to
the entrance, and two other larger ones on the east side. Nearly in the
middle of the whole building, there is a large square stone like those
mentioned above, but having on one of its narrow sides a curious
sculpture in relief.
[Illustration]
The camels having been allowed to go on, I hastened after them with my
shoush as fast as my donkey could trot, and passed several sites of
ancient villages or castles, and numerous fine hollows with luxuriant
olive-trees. I scarcely ever remember to have seen such beautiful trees.
The country continues undulating, with fertile hollows or depressions.
We reached the camels at Wadi Lebda, which I found perfectly dry.
Close to our left we had cultivated ground and ruins. Near the sea-
shore, the spacious and pleasant site of Leptis spread out on the
meadow-land, while a little further on rose a small ridge, on the top of
which is situated the village Khurbet Hammám. After we had passed a
pleasant little hollow, the plain became for a while overgrown with
thick clusters of bushes; but on reaching the plantation of Swail, an
almost uninterrupted line of villages stretched along the sahel (sea-
shore) amid corn-fields and groves of olive and date-trees. According to
my shoush, a great deal of corn is cultivated also in the valleys behind
this plain; and numerous well-trodden paths were seen leading from the
sahel into the hilly country on its southern side. After plentiful
rains, this part of the plain is inundated by the waters of the Wadi
Bondári, which is called after the general name of the low range
bordering the plain. Having passed several little villages of the sahel,
and paid my due tribute of veneration to “el Dekhaele” (the oldest and
tallest palm-tree in the whole district), a little before five o’clock
in the afternoon I reached the village called Zawíya Ferjáni, where we
pitched our tent in the stubble-field near a date-grove, and rested
from our pleasant day’s march, experiencing hospitable treatment from
our hosts.[26]
The country hereabouts is regarded as tolerably healthy, but ʿAbd e’
Saʿade, a village a little further eastward, has suffered greatly from
malignant fevers, which are attributed to the unwholesomeness of the
waters of the Wadi Kʿaám, as I noticed on my former journey[27]; hence
the population has become rather thin, and industry has declined. At
some distance from the wadi, cultivation ceases entirely, and, instead
of groves and gardens, a wide and wild field of disorder and
destruction meets the eye. This rivulet, which is identical with the
Cinyps, was in great vogue with the ancients, who knew how to control
and regulate its occasional impetuosity. Immense walls, which they
constructed as barriers against destructive inundations, remain to
testify to their activity and energy. Of these one group, forming a
whole system of dikes, some transverse, some built in the form of a
semicircle, is seen near the spot, where a beautiful subterranean
aqueduct which supplied Leptis issues from the wadi; another enormous
wall, 650 yards long, and from 4 to 4½ yards thick, stands about three
quarters of a mile higher up the valley. But with the details of all
these works, though to me they appeared so interesting that I measured
them with tolerable exactness, I will not detain the reader, but shall
hasten to carry him back to Tripoli.
Having started in the afternoon from the mouth of the wadi, I re-entered
Zawíya ʿAbd el Ferjáni from the rear, but finding that my people had
gone on to Leptis, I followed them, after a little delay, by the way of
Wadi Súk, where every Thursday a market is held (“Súk el khamís,” a name
applied by Captain, now Rear-Admiral, Smyth to the neighbouring
village), and then over the open meadow-plain, having the blue sea on my
right, and came up with my people just as they were about to pitch my
tent at the foot of an enormous staircase leading to some undefined
monument in the eastern part of the ancient city of Leptis.
[Sidenote: February 23rd.]
During the forenoon I was busily employed in a second investigation of
some of the ruins of Leptis, which have been so well described and
illustrated by Admiral Smyth. Near the small creek called Mirsá Legátah,
and a little east of the chapel of the Merábet ben Shehá, a small castle
has been lately built by the Turks, about a hundred paces square. It has
quite a handsome look with its pinnacles and small bastions.
Leaving the site of this celebrated city, we proceeded, early in the
afternoon, through a diversified hilly country, till we reached the high
hill or mount of Mérkeb[28] Sʿaid-n-ʿAli, which is visible from a great
distance. This I ascended in order to correct some of my positions,
particularly that of el Gellʿah in Meselláta, but found the wind too
violent. Passing an undulating country, over-grown with the freshest
green, and affording ample pastures to the herds of numerous Arab
encampments, I pitched my tent near a small dowar of the Beni Jéhem[29],
who treated us hospitably with sour milk and bazín.
[Sidenote: February 24th.]
The country continued varied, hill and dale succeeding each other; but
beyond Kasr Aláhum (an irregular building of a late age), it became more
rough and difficult, especially near the steep descent called Negási.
Soon after this we descended into the plain, not far from the seashore,
where we crossed several flat valleys. From the Wadi Bú Jefára[30],
where a small caravan going from Zlíten to the town overtook us, a
monotonous plain, called Gwaea mtʿa Gummáta, extends to the very foot of
the slope of Meselláta. Having traversed the desolate zone called el
Míta mtʿa Terúggurt, whence may be descried the “úglah” near the shore,
the residence of my old friend the sheikh Khalífa bú-Ruffa, we reached
the broad and rock-bound valley Terúggurt itself, probably the most
perfect wadi which this part of the coast exhibits. To my great
satisfaction, I met Overweg at the Kasr Jefára.
K. Jefára is also called Karabúli, from the name of a Mamlúk who, in the
time of Yusuf Basha, built here a sort of convent or chapel. It is
rather a “funduk,” or caravanserai, than a “kasr,” or castle, and the
gates are always left open; but its situation is important, and it is
the residence of a judge or kaíd. A battle between Ghóma and the Turks
was fought in 1855 at no great distance from it. The country around is a
monotonous plain, enlivened only by three small clusters of palm-trees
towards the north. The following morning we proceeded, and encamped on
the eastern side of Wadi Raml. On Tuesday we returned to Tripoli well
satisfied with our little excursion, and convinced that the Regency of
Tripoli is not by any means so poor and miserable as it is generally
believed to be.
[Footnote 18: The ancient character of this mountain is most probably
indicated by its present name “Msíd.”]
[Footnote 19: See especially the Plate No. 7. in Higgins’s “Celtic
Druids.”]
[Footnote 20: See Plate No. 39. in Higgins’s work.]
[Footnote 21: Compare what Higgins says, p. lx., in describing the
Constantine tolmen in Cornwall.]
[Footnote 22: From this plain example it might seem that the flat stone
in Stonehenge was intended for a similar purpose.]
[Footnote 23: The principal tribes living in the district Tarhóna are
the Hhamadát, the Drahíb, Welád Bu-Síd, Welád Bu-Mʿarah, Marghána, Welád
ʿAli, W. Yusuf, Megaigerah, Firján, W. Meháda, W. Bú-Sellem, Naʿaje,
Máta, Khwárish, Gerákta, Bu-Saba, Shefátra, Welád Hámed, Erhaimíyeh.]
[Footnote 24: The quarter of the village nearest to the castle is
principally inhabited by Jews.]
[Footnote 25: The elevation of this place was determined by Lieutenant
(now Rear-Admiral) Smyth, in 1819.]
[Footnote 26: The inhabitants of the Sahel in general, and those of
Zlíten and Masráta in particular, are more attached to the Turks than
almost any other tribe of the regency; they would rather be subjected to
a foreign power, than suffer oppression from their own brethren the
Gedádefa and other tribes in the valleys of the interior. Hence, in the
revolution in 1855, they remained faithful to the Turks; and a good many
of them were killed in the first battle between the Turks and the rebel
chief Ghóma.]
[Footnote 27: Wanderings along the Coasts of the Mediterranean, vol. i.
p. 317.]
[Footnote 28: Mérkeb means here “the high seat.”]
[Footnote 29: This tribe does not seem habitually to frequent this
district, the indigenous name of which is Khoms. The principal tribes of
this stock, named to me, were as follows: viz. the Sambára, the Shuwaig,
Ziadát, Legáta, Shekhátra, Drúga, Argúb Jehawát, and Swaid.]
[Footnote 30: Smyth’s Benzbárah, which he seems to have confounded in
some degree with Wadi Terúggurt.]
[Illustration: DR. BARTH’S TRAVELS IN NORTH AND CENTRAL AFRICA Sheet No.
3. MAP OF THE ROUTE from TRIPOLI TO MÚRZUK 24. March to 6. May 1850.
Constructed and drawn by A. Petermann.
Engraved by Edwd. Weller.
_London, Longman & Co._]
CHAP. IV.
DEPARTURE FOR THE INTERIOR. — ARRIVAL AT MIZDA. — REMAINS OF A CHRISTIAN
CHURCH.
Meanwhile the instruments provided by Government had arrived, and proved
in general well adapted for their purposes.[31] But the tents and arms
had not yet reached us; and I thought it better to provide a strong,
spacious, and low tent, which, even after the government tents arrived,
did not prove superfluous, although perhaps rather too heavy. All tents
intended for travellers in hot climates should be well lined, and not
high. Those which we received were quite unfit for the country whither
we were going, and while they were so light that they could hardly
withstand a strong blast of wind, they scarcely excluded the sun,
particularly after a little wear and tear. All the tents ought also to
have top-ropes, which can alone secure them in a tornado such as are
common in those climates. Mr. Richardson was soon obliged to provide
himself with another tent, so that in the course of our journey we had
altogether five tents, but generally pitched only two, or, where we
encamped for a greater length of time, four.
Mr. Overweg and I sustained a heavy loss in the secession of our black
servant Ibrahím, who might have proved of great service to us in the
interior, as he spoke the Bórnu and Bagrímma languages, and had himself
wandered about a good deal in those little-known districts between
Mándara and Bagírmi. But he declared that he could not remain in our
service along with our servant Mohammed ben Belál, the son of a
liberated Góber slave, who was a very clever but unscrupulous and
haughty fellow, and bore the character of a libertine. But another cause
of detention was the protest of his wives, who would not allow him to go
unless he divorced them. We tried every means of settling the matter,
but without success; so that we had only two servants, one of whom,
Mohammed e’ Zintáni, the lad I have mentioned before, would certainly
not go further than Fezzán.
At length all was ready for our outset, except the boat, which caused
Mr. Richardson a great deal of trouble, as it had been divided in Malta
into two pieces instead of four. I proposed that we should pitch our
tents for some days at ʿAin Zára, in order that we might be duly
seasoned for our long journey. I would advise every traveller, who would
calculate upon all the means of ensuring success, to adopt a similar
course. A few days’ stay in his tent will familiarize him with the
little store which is henceforward to form his principal, if not his
only resource, and will enable him to bear the heat of the sun with
ease.
It was late in the afternoon of the 24th of March, 1850, when Overweg
and I, seated in solemn state upon our camels, left the town with our
train, preceded by the consul, Mr. Crowe, in his carriage, by Mr. Reade,
and by Mr. Dickson and his family, of whom we took a hearty leave under
the olive-trees near Kasr el Haeni. We then continued our route, and in
fine moonlight pitched our tent on the border of ʿAin Zára.
This locality takes its name from a broad swampy hollow or depression to
the south, thickly overgrown with reeds and rushes. At present no one
lives in it; the wells are filled up with earth, and the date-trees,
cared for by nobody, are partly overwhelmed by the sand which has
accumulated in large mounds. Still it is an attractive spot, having just
a little of cultivation and a little of sandy waste. A few olive-trees
spread their fresh cool shade over a green meadow, forming a very
pleasant resting-place. It was at this very spot that, in August 1855,
on my joyful return, I again met Mr. Reade the vice-consul, and passed a
night there.
Here we remained encamped till Friday the 29th. In the afternoon of the
27th, Mr. Frederic Warrington, who wished to escort us for a few days,
came out, accompanied by the American consul Mr. Gaines, and brought us
the satisfactory news, that on the following Friday Mr. Richardson would
move from the town, and that we should meet him at Mejenín. I and my
countryman required eight camels for our luggage, besides the two which
we rode ourselves, and which were our own. I should have preferred
having a donkey for myself, as it would have enabled me to go with ease
wherever I liked; but in Tripoli there are no donkeys strong enough for
such a journey, and a horse, including the carriage of barley and water
for him, was too expensive for the means then placed at my disposal. But
I had been so fortunate as to procure an excellent Arab camel of the
renowned breed of the Bú-Saef, which was my faithful companion as far as
Kúkawa; and Mr. Warrington had made me a present of a handsome Ghadamsi
saddle or basúr, with pillows and Stambúli carpet, so that I was
comfortably mounted.
[Sidenote: Friday, March 29th.]
After a great deal of trouble (the camel-drivers and our men being as
yet unaccustomed to our unwieldy luggage), we at length succeeded in
making a start. After leaving the olive-trees and the little palm-grove
of ʿAin Zára, we very soon entered deep sand-hills, which sheltered us
from the strong wind; and after more than two hours we came upon
pasture-grounds, which furnished our camels with a variety of herbs and
gramineæ, such as the shʿade, the shedíde, and various others unknown to
me. The progress of an Arab caravan (where the camels march each after
its own inclination, straying to the right and to the left, nipping here
a straw, and there browsing on a bush) must be rather slow in districts
where the stubborn animal finds abundance of food. This way of
proceeding is extremely tedious and fatiguing to the rider; and to
obviate it the Tawárek, the Téb, and the people in the interior fasten
all the camels one behind the other. Owing to our slow progress, the sun
was almost setting when we overtook Mr. Warrington, who had pitched his
tent on a fine pasture-ground near Bir Sbaea. The last hour and a half’s
ride from the well Jenáwa lay along well-cultivated and flourishing
corn-fields extending along the narrow wadi of Mejenín[32], and
intermingled with a rich profusion of flowers, principally the beautiful
blue “khobbés.”
[Sidenote: Saturday, March 30th.]
Having indulged for some hours in the quiet enjoyment of a fine morning
and an open green country, I went with the shoush to look after Mr.
Richardson’s party. After an hour’s ride through luxuriant corn-fields,
and pasture-grounds enlivened by the horses of the Turkish cavalry, we
found Mukni, the sailor, and all Mr. Richardson’s baggage; but he
himself had not yet come up. I could not persuade the people to remove
to our encampment; so I returned, after having paid a visit to the
binbásha of the cavalry, who had been stationed here for the last
seventeen years. He had contrived to procure himself a cool retreat from
the sultry hours, by forming a regular tank, about two feet and a half
square, in the midst of his tent, and keeping it always full of water.
In the afternoon I made a long excursion with my Zintáni through the
plain, beyond the chapel of Sidi Bargúb, in order to buy a sheep; but
though the flocks were numerous, none of the shepherds would sell, as
pasturage was abundant and everyone had what he wanted. In 1846, when I
first visited the regency, the people were starving, and selling their
camels and everything they possessed to procure food.
[Sidenote: Sunday, March 31st.]
Foggy weather indicated that rain was approaching; and just in time Mr.
Richardson with his party arrived, and pitched his enormous lazaretto
tent opposite our little encampment. Mr. Reade also had come from the
town, in order to settle, if possible, the misunderstanding with our
servant Mohammed, and see us off. It is an agreeable duty for me to
acknowledge the many services which this gentleman rendered us during
our stay in Tripoli. Our whole party was detained here the following day
by the heavy rains; and Overweg and I were happy to get hold of the
black servant of the ferocious pseudo-sheríf mentioned by Mr.
Richardson, when that troublesome fellow was sent back to town, as we
were much in want of another servant.
[Sidenote: April 2nd.]
We fairly set out on our expedition. The country became more diversified
as we approached the defile formed by the Bátes and Smaera, two advanced
posts of the mountain-chain, while the varied forms of the latter, in
high cones and deep abrupt valleys, formed an interesting background.
But the country hereabouts is cultivated with less care than Wadi
Mejenín; and the ground being more stony, presents of course more
obstacles than the latter, while both districts are inhabited by the
same tribes, viz. the Urgáat and the Akára. Even here, however, in the
circle formed by the surrounding heights, was a fine extent of plain
covered with corn-fields. Just at the entrance of the pass there is a
well, where the road divides; and after a little consultation, we took
the western branch, as our people feared that on the eastern we should
not find water before night. Changing, therefore, our direction, we
seemed awhile to keep off entirely from the mountain-range till we
reached the wide but very rugged and rocky Wadi Haera, which it was our
object to reach at this spot, in order to fill our water-skins from the
pools formed by the rains. The wadi, indeed, looked as if it sometimes
bore in its floods a powerful body of water; and a considerable dike had
been constructed in the early times of the Arabs, extending for two
hundred paces from the wadi eastward; but it has fallen to ruin, and the
path leads now through the breach.
Resuming our march, after a good deal of delay, we turned sharp off
towards the mountains, and at an early hour encamped on a very pleasant
spot adorned with numerous sidr-trees (_Rhamnus Nabeca_); but instead of
enjoying it in quiet, Overweg and I felt disposed to direct our steps
towards a hill called Fulíje, about half an hour’s walk eastward, which
promised to be a convenient point for obtaining correct angles of the
prominent features of the chain, and proved to be so in reality. Having
executed this task, therefore, we returned to our companions well
satisfied, and spent the evening in the comfortable tent of Mr.
Warrington. We had now reached the slope of the chain, where some of our
people supposed that the boat would cause difficulties; but it could not
well do so after being cut into quarters, which fitted to the sides of
the camels rather better than the large quadrangular boxes. The most
troublesome parts were the long oars and poles, which caused the camel
much exhaustion and fatigue, by constantly swaying backwards and
forwards.