on the hill, with our encampment in the foreground, I took a walk all
round the scattered groups of the plantation, which must have suffered a
great deal from ʿAbd el Jelíl, even though the number of 6000 trees,
which he is said to have cut down, be an exaggeration. Towards the east
side the salt crust is still thicker than on the west, and is very
unpleasant for walking. I found here that, in addition to wheat and
barley, much amára was cultivated in the garden-fields, besides a few
figs; but I saw no grapes. Several families were living here outside in
light huts or sheds made of palm-branches, and seemed to enjoy some
degree of happiness. At the south-east end of the plantation rose a hill
also formed of marl, and very similar to that on which the town is
situated. The names of the villages along the valley, proceeding from
west to east, are the following: after Éderi, Témesán; then Wuenzerík,
Berga (a couple of villages distinguished as B. el foka and B. el
utíyah), Gúta, Turut, El Ghurda, Meherága, Agár, Gógam, Kosaer Sellám,
Támezawa, Anerúya, Zeluáz, Abrák, Gíreh, Debdeb, and Ashkiddeh. The
valley has two kaíds, one of whom, ʿAbd el Rahmán, resides at present in
Temesán, while the residence of the other, ʿAgha Hassan e’ Rawi, is in
Támezawa. Meherága seems to be the most populous of the villages. Abrák
has the advantage of a school.
[Sidenote: April 28th.]
We left our picturesque encampment in order to commence the passage over
the sand-hills which separate the shallow “rent” of Wadi Shiyáti from
the deeper valley the Wadi el Gharbi, the great valley _par excellence_.
It is rather singular that even the higher ground, which is elevated
about fifty feet above the bottom of the valley, is entirely covered
with a crust of salt. Having traversed this, we began the ascent of the
sand-hills, which in several favoured spots present small clusters of
palm-trees, which too have their proprietors. Mukni, the father of
Yusuf, Mr. Richardson’s interpreter, is said to have killed a great many
Welád Slimán hereabouts. The most considerable of the depressions or
hollows in the sand, which are decked with palm-trees, is the Wadi
Shiúkh, which afforded in truth a very curious spectacle,—a narrow range
of palm-trees half-buried between high sand-hills, some of them standing
on the tops of hillocks, others in deep hollows, with the head alone
visible. At length, after a good deal of fatigue, we encamped in Wadi
Góber, another shallow cavity between sand-hills with brackish water and
a few palm-trees. Here our camel-drivers themselves possessed a few
trees, and, of course, were more interested in the inspection of their
own property than in starting at an early hour the next day.
When we resumed our march we found our work more difficult than before,
the sand-hills assuming a steepness most trying for the camels,
particularly at the brink of the slopes. We were several times obliged
to flatten away the edges with our hands, in order to facilitate the
camel’s ascent. I went generally a little in front, conducted by
Mohammed ben Sbaeda, one of our camel-drivers, who, from the moment we
had entered Fezzán, had exchanged the quarrelsome character by which he
had made himself disagreeable to us, for very obliging and pleasing
manners, and was anxious to give me every information. He told me that
this belt of sand extended in a south-west and north-east direction from
Dwésa as far as Fukka, a place, according to him, five days’ march on
this side of Sókna. He added, that however high and steep we might think
these sand-hills, they were nothing in comparison with those in the
direction of the natron-lakes; but, in making this remark, I think he
wanted to excuse himself and his companions for taking us this long way
round by the west. He knew that it was our desire to visit the natron-
lakes, and that our direct way to Murzuk led by those lakes, while their
object was to take us to their native village Ugréfe. Mohammed stated
that each district in Fezzán has its own peculiar dialect; and he
contended that, while the inhabitants of Wadi Sháti speak a good sort of
Arabic, similar to that spoken in Mizda, the people of the great wadi
(Wadi el Gharbi) make use of a corrupt dialect.
Meanwhile the caravan remained very far behind, and we thought it
prudent to wait for them in Wadi Tawíl, particularly as the path divided
here. It was so hot that my camel, when I let it loose to browse a
little, would not touch anything. When the other camel-drivers at length
came up, there was a dispute as to the path to be followed; but the
truth was, that while there could be no doubt about the direct road to
Murzuk, some of the camel-drivers wished to take us to Ubári. But at
length the other party, interested only in carrying us westward as far
as Ugréfe, which was a great deal out of our route, got the upper hand,
and we left the road to Ubári, which passes only two wadis, or hollows,
called Tekúr and Uglah, both with bad water, to the west, and followed
the road to Ugréfe.
About four o’clock in the afternoon we encamped in the Wadi Mukméda,
near the sand-hills bordering its southern side, under the shade of a
wild palm-bush. Close to it was very good water only two feet below the
surface; but as the hole had only just been made, it contained much
sulphuretted hydrogen. The following day we crossed several smaller
valleys with a few palm-trees (but a larger grove adorned the Wadi
Jemál), all belonging to one of our camel-drivers of the name of Bu
Bakr. He also possessed here a magazine, built of bricks, and probably
several centuries old, but entirely covered with sand, where he had
deposited forty camel-loads of dates. They were of the kind called
tefsirt, of very large size and exquisite taste, and were eagerly
devoured by our people. After having refreshed ourselves for a moment,
we went on, having just before us the very steepest ascent that occurs
on the whole road. I was obliged to dismount from my beautiful Bu-Séfi
in order to get him over it. This ridge being once behind us, we were
told that all the “wár” was over; there were, however, still a few
“difficult passes” before us. In the Wadi Gellah, which we next crossed,
we found the footsteps of a flock of sheep and of a single camel, which
latter animal finds plenty of food in this sandy district, and, at the
shallow well in Wadi Uglah, is able to quench its thirst without the
assistance of man. Thence we descended into Wadi Tigidéfa, where we
encamped near a couple of palm-trees, the only ones in the wadi; a
copious well of very good water was near them, overshadowed by a thick
cluster of palm-bushes. It was altogether a very satisfactory camping-
ground, except that it swarmed with camel-bugs, as such places in the
desert generally do.
[Sidenote: Wednesday, May 1st.]
With a general impulse of energy, we started this morning at a very
early hour, twenty minutes past two o’clock in the morning, in order to
get out of the sands, and to arrive in “the Wadi.” After seven hours’
constant march, we at length got a fine view of the steep cliffs which
enclose the Wadi on the south side, and which contrasted marvellously
with the white sand-hills in the foreground; for, stretching out in a
horizontal dark line which faded away at each end, they exhibited an
illusive picture of a lake spread out before us in the remote distance.
The cool east wind, which had blown in the morning, and promised a fine
day, changed, as is very common in these regions, towards noon into a
hot south wind, and made us very uncomfortable and susceptible of the
fatigue of a long march, particularly as the distance proved much
greater than we had expected. Indeed it was not till nearly two o’clock
in the afternoon, that Mr. Richardson and I, who were much in advance of
the caravan, reached the border of the Wadi, and shortly afterwards the
well Moghrás, at the foot of two tall palm-trees, where we found a woman
with two neatly dressed children. They belonged to the Azkár-Tawárek,
who, leaving their miserable abodes, migrate to these more fertile
districts, where they build themselves light cottages of palm-branches,
and indulge in a patriarchal life, breeding camels and rearing sheep.
Near almost every village in the Wadi, outside the palm-grove, in the
bare naked bottom of the valley, these poor people form a sort of suburb
of frail huts; but nevertheless they keep up family ties with their
brethren near Ghát, and respect in some degree the authority of the
chief Nakhnúkhen. That this state of things might become very
unfavourable to Fezzán in an outbreak of hostilities between the Turks
and the Tawárek, is obvious; I shall have occasion to say more on this
subject further on. A belt of saline incrustation, of more than half a
mile in breadth, runs through the middle of the valley, forming a line
of demarcation between the separate palm-groups and the continuous
grove.
On reaching this grove we soon caught sight of the famous village
Ugréfe, the residence of our camel-drivers, which was to them the grand
point of attraction, and in truth the only cause of our taking this
westerly route. It consisted of about thirty light and low dwellings
made of clay and palm-branches, and lay near an open space where we were
desired to encamp; but longing for shade, we went a little further on,
and encamped near two splendid ethel-trees (_Tamarix orientalis_), the
largest I ever saw before I reached Égeri. When the camels came up and
the tents were pitched, the encampment proved most agreeable.
[Illustration]
Early next morning I was again in motion, roving over the plantation,
and was very much pleased with its general character. The corn, which
was a fine crop, was just ripe and about to be harvested; and close to
our camping-ground two negro slaves were employed in cutting it, while
three or four negresses carried it away to the stores. The negroes were
powerful young fellows; the women were rather ugly, excepting one, who
had a very handsome figure, and by coquettish demeanour tried to make
herself more attractive. All of them accompanied their work with singing
and wanton movements, and gave distinct manifestations of the customs of
this district, which is notorious for the familiarity of its female
inhabitants with the large caravans of pilgrims who annually pass
through the Wadi on their way to or from Mekka. The fields are watered
from large holes or wells, which are sunk through layers of variegated
marl.
Being anxious to visit Old Jerma, and to convince myself of its identity
with the Garama of the Romans, I hired a miserable little donkey, and,
accompanied by the stupid young son of Sbaeda, set out on an exploring
expedition into the eastern part of the valley. Keeping in general along
the southern border of the plantation, and having on my right the
precipitous rocky cliff, of from 300 to 400 feet elevation, I went on
slowly till I reached the south-west corner of Jerma kadím, fortified
with a quadrangular tower built of clay, and exhibiting a very curious
arrangement in its interior. The whole circumference of the town, which
was deserted long ago, is about 5000 paces. Here, near the town, there
are no Roman ruins whatever, but the remains of several large and strong
towers built of clay are to be seen a little further on; and being
unable to make out the sepulchre described by Dr. Oudney[54], I was
obliged to go to Tawásh, the village inhabited by the Merabetín. It is
divided into three distinct parts, a Tarki village, consisting of huts
of palm-branches, an outer suburb of scattered dwellings built of clay,
and a small quadrangular place of very regular shape, surrounded by
earthen walls, and furnished with two gates, one on the east, and the
other on the west side, and regular streets crossing at right angles.
Having here obtained a guide from Háj Mohammed Sʿaídi, a wealthy man and
the owner of almost all our camels, I started for the Roman monument,
situated in a wide opening of the southern recess. I found it in
tolerably good preservation, and without delay made a sketch of it, as
it seemed to me to be an object of special interest as the southernmost
relic of the Roman dominion. It is a remarkable fact, that several years
before the beginning of our era the Romans should have penetrated as far
as this place; and that their dominion here was not of a merely
transitory nature, this monument seems clearly to show. It is only one
story high, and seems never to have been loftier. This is evidently
characteristic of the age in which it was built; and I am persuaded that
it is not later than the time of Augustus. Those high steeple-tombs
which I have described above, seem not to have come into fashion before
the middle of the 2nd century after Christ.[55] The base measures 7 ft.
9½ in. on the west and east sides, and at least 7 ft. 4 in. on the other
two sides, including a spacious sepulchral chamber or burial-room; but
while the base forms almost a quadrangle, the sides of the principal
structure are of very different dimensions, measuring not more than 5
ft. 8½ in. on the north and south, and 7 ft. on the west and east sides.
It is adorned with pilasters of the Corinthian order. The whole monument
is covered with Tefínagh or Berber writing, which was not only
intelligible to me, but also to our young camel-driver ʿAli Karámra,
whose family lives in this part of the wadi, in a homely little dwelling
of palm-leaves. However, as the writing was very careless, and my time
was fully taken up with sketching the more important subjects, I did not
copy the inscriptions, which indeed are only names; but of course even
names might contribute something towards elucidating the history of the
country.
[Illustration]
By a direct path I returned from this place to our encampment, and felt
rather fatigued, having been in motion during all the heat of the day.
The south wind still increased in the evening; and we could distinctly
see that it was raining towards the longed-for region whither we were
going, while we had nothing from it but clouds of sand. Overweg,
meanwhile, had ascended in the morning the highest cliff of the
sandstone rocks forming the southern border of the valley, and had found
it to be 1605 feet high, or 413 feet above the ground at our encampment.
[Sidenote: Friday, May 3rd.]
Having heard, the day before, in the village of the Merabetín, that Háj
Mohammed, the owner of our camels, ordered the boy who was with me to
tell Sbaeda, his father, that they should not start before this evening,
I was not surprised at our camel-drivers not bringing the camels in the
morning. It was almost four o’clock in the afternoon when Overweg and I
at length pushed on, entering the extensive grove of New Jerma,—a
miserable place, which being entirely shut in by the palm-grove, is
almost deserted. The grove, however, exhibited a very interesting
aspect, all the trees being furnished with a thick cluster of palm-bush
at their roots, while the old dry leaves were left hanging down
underneath the young fresh crown, and even lower down the stem, not
being cut off so short as is customary near the coast. But picturesque
as the state of the trees was, it did not argue much in favour of the
industry of the inhabitants; for it is well-known to Eastern travellers
that the palm-tree is most picturesque in its wildest state. Beyond the
town the grove becomes thinner, and the ethel-tree predominates over the
palm-tree; but there is much palm-bush.
We entered another grove, which stretches far northward into the valley,
its produce being, according to our camel-drivers, entirely reserved for
the poor. Having passed Tawásh, with its little grove, we entered the
fine plantation of Brék, enlivened by the bleating of sheep and goats.
Here, in the small fields where corn is cultivated, the ground is
thickly incrusted with salt and soda. We at length encamped near the
grove of Tewíwa, close to the village of the same name, and to the north
side of the Merábet Sidi e’ Salám.
The next morning, while the camels were loading, I visited the interior
of the village. The walls have given way in several places, and the
whole made the impression of a half-deserted place; but the little
kasbah, which is never wanting in any of these towns, was in tolerable
condition. One of the inhabitants, on being asked why the village was so
much decayed, told me that a torrent had destroyed a great portion of it
nine years ago, in consequence of which the greater part of its
population had dispersed abroad, only about twenty families now
remaining. But this is the condition of nearly all the places in Fezzán;
and it can be partially accounted for only by supposing that many of the
male inhabitants go off to Negroland, to avoid being made soldiers. A
very extensive grove belongs to Tewíwa; but the plain between the
village and the rocks is rather open, only a few patches of corn-field
being scattered thereabouts. Three vast and detached buttresses, which
jut out from the cliffs into the plain, give a very picturesque
appearance to the groves and villages which we passed on our route.
We were just proceeding in the best manner, when a halt was ordered,
from very insufficient reasons, a little south from the village
Tekertíba, where we were to pass the heat. Meanwhile I ascended a ridge
of rocks which, a little further down, crossed the valley from the
southern border. The ridge was a narrow, steep, wall-like cliff, which
afforded a very interesting view of the end, or rather beginning, of the
fertile Wadi, which was close at hand.
From the highest point of the ridge I descended northwards, crossing a
small defile, which is formed between the two rocky buttresses to the
north and south, the latter being the more considerable. Along it runs a
path, connecting the two valleys. Here I obtained a view of the fresh
green valley on the one side, and the destructive sand-hills on the
other, and directed my steps to the plantation, where young people were
busily engaged in drawing water from the large pond-like wells. The
beams, by means of which the water is drawn up, require to be strongly
constructed, the whole of the khattár having a height of from sixty to
eighty feet. These draw-wells are always placed in pairs; and a couple
of miserable asses, partners in suffering, do all the work. The young
male labourers all wore straw-hats, and had an energetic appearance.
The northern border of the plantation is now menaced by the approach of
the sand-hills, which have already overwhelmed the last range of palm-
trees. There is a curious tradition in Tekertíba, that from the highest
peak of the cliffs bordering the valley on the south side, a rivulet or
brook, issuing from a spring, runs down into the valley underground.
There were, it is related, originally several canals or stream-works
leading down to this subterranean aqueduct; but they have been all
filled up. The village itself, on the south border of the plantation, is
tolerably large, but is inhabited by only forty families at the utmost,
though it is the most populous place in the valley next to Ubári.
By the exertion of much energy, I at length succeeded in the afternoon
in getting our little caravan again under way; and we left the Great
Wadi through the defile, which appears to have been once defended by
walls, and, having crossed some irregular depressed plains, encamped at
seven o’clock in the evening in a wadi with a moderate supply of
herbage. Starting on the following morning, at an early hour, we soon
emerged into a more open level, beautifully adorned with fine talha-
trees, and having with difficulty dragged on our camel-drivers, who
shortly afterwards wanted to encamp in Wadi Resán, we entered a dreary
wilderness, from which we did not emerge till we arrived at the
plantation of Aghár, where we encamped.
[Sidenote: Monday, May 6th.]
All the people were eager to reach to-day the first great station of our
journey; but owing to the straying of some of the camels, we were unable
to start quite as early as we wished. The country in general was very
sterile, presenting only a few small date-groves, which we passed at
greater or less distance, and at length, when we reached the plantation
of Murzuk itself, we were far from finding in it that picturesque and
refreshing character which we had admired in the palm-groves of the
Wadi. These had formed a dense beautiful shade and fine groups; while
the plantation of Múrzuk was scattered about in thin growth, so that it
was scarcely possible to determine exactly where it began or where it
ended. Thus we reached the wall of the town, built of a sort of clay
glittering with saline incrustations; and going round the whole western
and northern sides, which have no gate wide enough for a caravan, we
halted on the eastern side of the town, not far from the camp of the
pilgrims who were returning from Egypt to Marocco and Tawát, till Mr.
Gagliuffi came out of the town, and brought us in. Mr. Richardson had
arrived about an hour before us. I was lodged in a cool and airy room on
the N.E. corner of Mr. Gagliuffi’s house, which had within the court a
very pleasant half-covered hall. Mr. Gagliuffi treated us with all
possible hospitality, and did all in his power to render our stay in the
town agreeable.
[Footnote 53: So the name is generally pronounced, the correct form
being Shiyáti, “the rent.”]
[Footnote 54: Excursion to the Westward of Mourzuk, p. xlvii., Denham
and Clapperton.]
[Footnote 55: Lucius Balbus Gaditanus, the conqueror of Cydamus
(Ghadámes) as well as of Garama (Jerma), celebrated his triumph in the
year 18 B.C. or A.U. 735. (Plin. N. H. l. v. c. 5.; Velleius Patercul.
ii. 51.; Strabo, iii. 169.; Marmor Capitolin.) The names and pictures of
the other nations and towns, which Balbus carried in his triumph
(Plinius, l.c.), were evidently a mere show, comprising, most probably,
all the information which he had been able to obtain of the interior.]
CHAP. VII.
RESIDENCE IN MURZUK.
Unfortunately our stay in Múrzuk seemed likely to become a very long
one, as the chiefs from Ghát, who were to take us under their
protection, were not yet sent for; the courier with our letters, to
which was added a missive from the acting governor, promising perfect
security to the chiefs, did not set out till the 8th of May. No doubt,
in order to visit Aïr, a country never before trodden by European foot,
with any degree of safety, we wanted some powerful protection; but it
was very questionable whether any of the chiefs of Ghát could afford us
such, while the sending for them expressly to come to Múrzuk to fetch us
would, of course, raise their pretensions very high, and in the same
degree those of other chiefs whose territory we should enter hereafter.
Be this as it may, this mode of procedure having been once adopted, the
question arose, whether all three of us should proceed to Ghát; and it
was decided, the very next day after our arrival, that the director of
the expedition alone (Mr. Richardson) should touch at that place, in
order to make, if possible, a treaty with the chiefs in that quarter,
while Mr. Overweg and I were to proceed with the caravan by the southern
route directly to the well Arikím, and there to await Mr. Richardson.
Providentially, a man had been sent to act as mediator between us and
the countries to which we were about to direct our steps. He had been
recommended to us in the very strongest terms by Hassan Bashá, the
former governor of Fezzán, whom we had frequently seen in Tripoli, and
who knew something about the men of influence and authority in
Negroland. This man was Mohammed Bóro, who, with the title Serki-n-
turáwa, “Lord of the Whites,” resided generally in Ágades, but had also
a house and many connections in Sókoto, and at present was on his home-
journey from a pilgrimage to Mekka. It was a great pity that Mr.
Gagliuffi, H.M.’s agent and our host, influenced I know not by whom,
greatly underrated the importance of this man, and treated him with very
little consideration. He was represented to us as an intriguer who,
besides, arrogated to himself much more consequence than he was really
entitled to—a man, in short, whose friendship was scarcely worth
cultivating, at least not at any sacrifice.
Mohammed Bóro called upon us on the 8th of May at Gagliuffi’s house. He
was an elderly, respectable-looking man, wearing a green bernús over
white under-clothes. He could speak but little Arabic, but received Mr.
Gagliuffi’s empty and rather ironical assurances, that the whole welfare
and success of the expedition were placed in his (Mohammed Bóro’s)
hands, with a continual strain of “el hamdu lilláhi”s. In his company
were his eldest son and another man of Asben. He afterwards sent us some
gúro, or kola-nuts, of which he seemed to have a great stock, and which
he also sold in the market. Gagliuffi sent him, as an acknowledgment, a
very lean sheep, which, with a small loaf of sugar, was all he got from
us in Múrzuk. Instead of gaining his friendship, this treatment served
only to irritate him, and was productive of some very bad consequences
for us. This interesting person will appear in his true character and
importance in the course of this narrative.