WANDERINGS
IN
NORTH AFRICA.
NOTICE.
* * * * *
The following pages have been passed through the press during the
absence of their Author in the East. This circumstance will explain
any few errors in the orthography of names of places or persons
which may be met with in them.
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF ROCK TOMBS IN THE NECROPOLIS OF CYRENE.]
=WANDERINGS=
IN
=NORTH AFRICA.=
BY
JAMES HAMILTON.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1856.
LONDON: PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER,
ANGEL COURT, SKINNER STREET.
CONTENTS.
* * * * *
PAGE
INTRODUCTION ix
CHAPTER I.
Malta to Benghazi. — Benghazi. — Aspect of the Town. —
Population. — Diseases. — Government. — Antiquities. — Dress
of the Inhabitants. — Trade. — Artisans. — Jews 1
CHAPTER II.
Preparations for Departure from Benghazi. — Leave Benghazi.
— Arab Horses. — Ruins of Kasa Tawileh. — Labiar. — What
an Arab is. — Mode of Travelling. — Retinue. — Silphium. —
Tombs. — Cyrene 18
CHAPTER III.
Grennah. — Arab Conversation. — Fountain of Cyre. — Ruins
of Cyrene. — Interrupted by Bedawin. — Ruins of a Theatre.
— Bas-reliefs. — Inscriptions. — Terraces. — Temple of
Æsculapius. — Aqueduct. — Cyrene’s History unknown. — Its
Ruinous state 33
CHAPTER IV.
Interview with the Bey. — Arab Feast. — The Bey’s Hospitality 55
CHAPTER V.
Meditations at Sunrise. — Violation of the Tombs. —
Description of the Tombs. — Allegorical Figures. — Splendid
Tomb. — Curious Tombs. — Lively Vale. — Unartistic Statues 62
CHAPTER VI.
Charming Scenery. — Arab Summer Dwellings. — Ruins of
Apollonia. — Ancient Granaries. — Chapels over Saints’ Tombs.
— Abd-el-Kader’s Warriors. — Temple of Bacchus 78
CHAPTER VII.
Grennah, a Charming Retreat. — Pleasant Camping-ground. —
Rencontre with an Arab Saint. — The Son of a Rich Prince. —
Striking Cures 92
CHAPTER VIII.
An Arab “Vendetta.” — Coquetry at the Wells. — A Bridal
Procession. — The Okbah Pass 103
CHAPTER IX.
Improvidence of the Arabs. — Derna, its lively appearance. —
Ruined Battery. — Curious Bargain 113
CHAPTER X.
Convent Agriculture. — A Roman Stronghold. — Splendid Olive
Groves. — Water runs short. — The Mirage. — Dine with the
Governor. — The Site of Ancient Barca. — Quit the Plain of
Merdj 122
CHAPTER XI.
Tomb of a Ptolemy. — Unequal Taxation. — What a Wife costs. —
Ruins of Tolmeta. — Wall around Tancra. — Good State of the
Ruins. — The Rains. — Arab Tents. — Return to Benghazi 138
CHAPTER XII.
What a Consul should be. — Turkish Oppression. — Official
Corruption. — Universal Venality. — The Moslem hates the
Christian 154
CHAPTER XIII.
Benghazi to Augila. — Corn Stores. — Cachettes. — Ruins near
El-Farsy. — Remarkable Fortress. — Horrors of the Slave
Trade. — England should forbid it. — Herds of Gazelles. —
Bruce. — Rĕsam. — Oasis of Augila 165
CHAPTER XIV.
Augila and Jalo. — Group of Oases. — The Majabra Arabs. — The
Sultan of Waday. — Turkish Drunkards. — Inconveniences of
Travel 187
CHAPTER XV.
The rival Sheikhs. — Weary Days at Augila. — Chain of Oases. —
Marriage Feasts. — Marriage Gifts 204
CHAPTER XVI.
Vexatious Delay. — Lose the Track. — Short commons in the
Desert. — Genuine Arab Hospitality. — En route for Siwah.
— Sand Valleys. — Scene of Desolation. — Signs of Volcanic
Action. — Approach Siwah. — Sepulchral Caves. — Arrive at
Siwah 215
CHAPTER XVII.
Encampment at Siwah. — Conference with the Sheikhs. — Refuse
to quit Siwah. — Attack on the Tents. — Detained at Siwah.
— Incidents while imprisoned. — Defensive Preparations. — A
South Wind blows Good Luck. — Manners, &c., of the People. —
Their Appearance and Dress. — An Industrious Race 237
CHAPTER XVIII.
Arab Mesmerism. — Divination. — Sheikh Senusi. — Morocco
Miracles. — A Treasure-seeker’s Tales. — Yusuf’s Ingenuity. —
Further exemplified. — My Captivity ended. — The Tables turned 261
CHAPTER XIX.
Antiquities of Agharmy. — Ruins of a Temple. — Ancient Palace.
— Acropolis of the Oasis. — Tombs of the Ammonians. — Interior
of Siwah. — Ruins of Beled er-Roum. — Many Ruins around 281
Siwah. — Preparations for Departure
CHAPTER XX.
Leave Siwah. — Rude Sepulchres. — A Camel’s Last Stage. — Sand
Storm. — Find an Arab Cousin. — Corn hard to get at. — Adieu
to the Desert. — The Desert. — The Oasis. — Arrive at Cairo 301
INTRODUCTION.
* * * * *
A few words of preface concerning a country so little known as that
in which these pages were written may, perhaps, be useful to the
reader. For the sake of those who may be interested in its past
history or present condition, I shall indicate the sources which
will supply further information.
Cyrenaica, or, as it was called under the Ptolemys, Pentapolis,
is situated on the northern coast of Africa, between Carthage and
Egypt. In its commercial importance it once almost rivalled the
former, and in the fertility of its soil, the latter. Its early
political vicissitudes are little known in detail, nearly all
the works which were specially dedicated to its history having
disappeared in the wreck of ages, among which the most to be
regretted is the Book on the Republic of Cyrene, which Aristotle
inserted in his Politics.
The Cyrenaica presents a succession of hills and table-lands, bounded
on the east by the barren plains of Marmarica; to the south it is
separated from the Great Desert of Libya by the hills of Hercules
and the Velpa Mountains; on the north and west it is washed by the
Mediterranean. Its insular position amidst water and sands afforded
considerable security as well as great facilities for commerce. In
contrast with the countries on either hand, it was well watered
with frequent rains and perennial springs, so that it seemed an
earthly Paradise, well fitted to be the site of the Garden of the
Hesperides, or the abode of the Lotos-eaters.
Cyrene, the capital of the country, was founded by a colony of
Theræans, who quitted their native island in the Ægean Sea in
the latter half of the seventh century B.C., under the conduct
of Battus the Dorian. He was said to derive his origin from the
Minyæ, the descendants of the Argonauts, and was pointed out by
the Pythian Oracle to be the founder, with his countrymen, of a
colony in Libya. The inhabitants of Thera, says the story, did not
even know where Libya was situated, and, returning home, neglected
to comply with the orders of the god. At length, admonished by a
severe calamity—the total cessation of rain for seven years, and
the consequent destruction of all the trees in the island excepting
one—they sent one of their number into Crete, whose inhabitants
were of kin to them, to inquire if any one there had ever heard of
Libya. One Corobius undertook to be their guide. With him they sailed
to the island of Platæa, in the Gulf of Bomba and (after taking
possession of it) returned home with the news. Thereupon, Battus,
“alike distinguished by nobility of birth and genius,” was
despatched, with two fifty-oar galleys, as king, to the new colony.
The situation thus chosen was an unfavourable one, for the island was
small and barren. After suffering great privations, its inhabitants
left it for the mainland, and at length, under conduct of the
Galigammæ, one of the Libyan tribes, (who were tired of the new
comers, and in return had proved themselves troublesome neighbours,)
they settled around the fountain of Cyre, which issues from a cave
in the side of a hill about twelve miles from the sea-shore; and
returned thanks to the god under whose auspices they had found at
length a new home in the midst of a fertile country, “under an
open heaven.”
Cyre was a daughter of the king of the Lapithæ, and displayed
her courage in combats with the wild beasts, which attacked
her father’s herds. One day being seen by Apollo, when, in
the fastnesses of Pelion, she wrestled with a lion, he became
enamoured of her. Counselled by Chiron, he carried her off in a
golden chariot into Libya. They were there kindly received by Venus,
their nuptials were celebrated, and the god gave her the country as
a kingdom. Of the other fables which connect the origin of Cyrene
with the gods of Greece; of the Grecian Hercules, who wrestled
and overthrew Antæus, the son of the Earth (the native Libyans);
of the Garden of the Hesperides, which bloomed with golden apples,
inaccessible on the western shore,—I need say nothing. The hidden
meaning of the myths, with which a patriotic religion was not long
in enrolling the obscure origin of a Grecian colony, perpetuates
the story of its early struggles, throwing a poetic gauze over
facts too humbling for its full-grown pride.
The new city was built on the table-land above the hill, from whose
side the fountain issues. The lofty walls which inclosed it, and
the temples and palaces which adorned it, arose a landmark for the
mariner. Seven descendants of its founder reigned in it successively
until about 450 B.C., probably invested with a sort of patriarchal
authority, such as the early kings of Athens exercised. This was
followed by a hundred and thirty years of liberty or licence,
succeeded by a strict monarchical government under the Egyptian
Ptolemys, the last of whose kings bequeathed his country to the
Roman Senate.
The history, as it has come down to us, begins with a period of
profound obscurity, which clouds the reigns of Battus and his son
Arcesilaus. To the latter succeeded Battus II., Eudaimon, Felix the
Happy. His reign was the golden age of Cyrenæan tradition. Fresh
settlers from the mother country brought increased prosperity to
the colony. Their territory became too narrow for its inhabitants,
who, gradually spreading over the surrounding country, drove out
the Libyan nomads; and thus the foundations of a power were securely
laid, which soon gave (with the possession of a sea-port, Apollonia)
a new impulse to enterprise. Teuchira and Hesperides were afterwards
founded to the westward, and Barce—long the most flourishing of the
daughter-cities, and at one time the rival of the metropolis—whose
name is still perpetuated in the Turkish province of Barka. The
native nomads did not, however, relinquish their pasture grounds
without a struggle; they implored the assistance of the Egyptian
king Apries, and the surname of Happy was, perhaps, earned at the
fountain of Theste (Kubbeh?), where Battus defeated his troops. The
Libyans were now subdued; the victors intermarried with the daughters
of the soil; Greek genius was not long in adopting some, at least,
of the mythology of their subjects; and thus a permanent dominion,
supported by force, consanguinity, and religion, was established
by the conqueror.
But it was not long before the monarchy was weakened by the
defection of the brothers of Arcesilaus II., son of Battus Felix,
who, retiring from their brother’s capital, founded Barce, and soon
formed around it an independent territory, peopled, like the new city
itself, for the most part by Libyans. Civil discord now divided the
colony, and bloody feuds stained the royal house. The constitution,
thus undermined by popular tumults and by regal encroachments, or
weakness, threatened to involve in its ruin the material prosperity
of the colony. In this conjuncture, the Cyrenæans again applied
to the Pythian Oracle for advice, and Demonax, the Mantinean, was
deputed by the god to restore order; he gained the good-will of all
parties, and established new institutions, which greatly curtailed
the royal power, but which were maintained during the reign of the
third Battus. His son and successor, Arcesilaus III., not content
to follow in his father’s steps, and impatient of restraint, was
driven into exile by the insurrection which his arbitrary conduct
had aroused; but soon returning, with Samian reinforcements, he
repossessed himself of a power which he now used with uncurbed
barbarity.
Such was the situation of affairs, when the Persian conquest
of Egypt threatened to destroy the political independence of
Cyrene. The king, not daring to trust his disaffected subjects
(after promising tribute to his new neighbour), retired to Barce,
where he continued the cruelties which had rendered him odious in
his own dominions. He and his father-in-law, the king of Barce,
were soon afterwards murdered. His mother fled to Egypt, and claimed
the protection of the Persian Suzerain, with whose troops returning
she laid siege to Barce, and savagely revenged the assassination of
her son. Cyrene, by timely concessions, escaped uninjured from the
Persian raid. Another Battus and a fourth Arcesilaus reigned in it
with mingled feebleness and severity; in their hands the royal power
lost all consideration, and on the death of the last, royalty was
abolished. A free republic, aristocratic rather than democratic,
now took its place, accompanied by all the party contests and all
the civil seditions of which the history of the mother-country shows
so many examples. To this unsettled condition of its government must
be ascribed the fact, that, notwithstanding its situation—equally
favourable to commerce as that of Carthage—and its infinitely
more fertile soil, Cyrene never, either in the arts of war or in
the arts of peace, rivalled the city of Dido. A love of turbulence
and feuds seems to have formed an essential feature of the Greek
character; all the efforts which, from time to time, were made by
her wiser citizens to introduce better order into the republic,
were vain. At last they applied to the divine Plato, requesting him
to furnish them with a code of laws; and posterity regrets that he
was too prudent to compromise his reputation, by legislating for
so turbulent a community.
Alexander’s apparition in Egypt was followed by a treaty which
seemed to guarantee the independence of Cyrene; but after his
death intestine troubles and the solicitations of exiles (who, for
whatever cause expelled their country, are ever its worst enemies)
attracted armed bands into their fertile provinces. These marauders
seized the ports, twice besieged the capital, and filled the country
with rapine and ruin, which neither the aid of Carthage nor of the
Libyan nomads could stay. At last, one stronger than either party,
Ptolemy, who had succeeded to Alexander in Egypt, sent a fleet and
troops and re-established tranquillity, B.C. 322—a service which
he turned to his own profit, so that Cyrene became thereafter for
many years a province of Egypt, under the name of Pentapolis.
Unaccustomed to a regular government, the turbulent Cyrenæans
bore the yoke impatiently. Revolt followed revolt, and the Egyptian
viceroy himself rebelled against his master. But these vain attempts
at forming an independent government only sunk the Pentapolis in
deeper misery. It was about the time that the first Jewish colonies
were introduced, in conformity with the general policy of Ptolemy;
and they soon became so numerous here, that, at length, no other
country besides Palestine, contained so many individuals of their
nation. Enjoying equal rights with the Greeks and the special favour
of the king, they formed in the end a fourth order in the State,
and were governed by municipal magistrates of their own. That
they had a separate synagogue at Jerusalem, we learn from the
Acts of the Apostles, vi. 9; and their frequent mention in the
New Testament proves how important a part of the Jewish nation
they constituted. They distinguished themselves under Trajan by a
rebellion, in which they exhibited great ferocity; this rebellion
was only suppressed after immense slaughter had taken place on
both sides.
The reign of the third Ptolemy was a remarkable era for Cyrene. The
original laws delivered by Demonax the Arcadian had been retained
(with what corruption or modifications we know not) up to this
time; but now, with the king’s consent, the people called in
two distinguished natives of Megalopolis in the same province,
Ecdemus and Demophanes—disciples of the philosopher Arcesilaus—to
revise them. These two, as the historian informs us, “restored the
public peace and the safety of the citizens.” The history of the
following years is generally obscure; but enough remains to show,
that this tranquillity was not of long duration, and tumults and
rebellions continued to weaken the country till Ptolemy Apion, on
his death, B.C. 96, bequeathed it to the Roman Senate. About twenty
years later, after a vain attempt had been made to leave it in the
enjoyment of self-government, it was merged into a Roman province
in conjunction with Crete. It was, perhaps, in his administration
of this quæstorship, that Vespasian first came in contact with
the Jews. In the division of the empire, it fell to the share of
Constantinople, and was exempt from none of the miseries which
afflicted the distant provinces of the empire in its decay. The
subsequent desolation of the country is described in the inflated
eloquence of his time by the rhetorician Synesius, the Platonist
bishop of Ptolemaïs, who, in espousing his church, refused to part
with his wife. The nomad tribes gradually regained the ascendancy,
driving out the more civilised inhabitants; and from the date of
the Arab occupation, which immediately followed the conquest of
Egypt, we hear no more of the Cyrenaica, excepting what is given
of it in the short notice, which Abulfida has inserted in his
Geography, under the head of Barka. It now forms the eastern part
of the Turkish pachalik of Tripoli, divided into two prefectures,
Benghazi and Derna, which are the only inhabited towns remaining
in its whole extent.
The sources of wealth which the Cyrenaica presented were many and
valuable. Its trade with the interior of Africa, by way of Augila,
furnished for exportation ivory, gold, precious stones, ostrich
feathers, and slaves—the same products which the triennial caravan
from Waday, at the present day, brings to Benghazi. Judging,
however, from the accounts of the ancients, from the remains
of the splendid caravanserais which we meet with on this route,
the trade must have been conducted on a far greater scale than at
the present time. Pindar refers to the commercial navy of Cyrene,
by means of which an active commerce was carried on with the main
land, the islands of Greece, and the coasts of Asia Minor. Of the
indigenous produce of this country, the first in rank, both for value
and utility, was derived from the silphium, which yielded a gummy
juice, the laserpitium, esteemed by the ancients as a remedy for
almost every disease. So universal was its fame that it gave a common
epithet to the country; and the “Silphium of Battus” is used by
Aristophanes as a synonym for exceeding wealth. It was a government
monopoly, and in Rome was sold for an equal weight of silver. It
is mentioned, if I mistake not, among the treasures which Cæsar
laid hold of at the commencement of the civil wars. Theophrastus
and Pliny describe the method of its cultivation, though, from the
expressions used by other authors, it seems to have grown wild in
the desert places; but, however obtained, it undoubtedly yielded
a large revenue to the country.
The olive flourished with remarkable fruitfulness in its soil;
and the immense tracts which are at the present day still covered
with it, proves how extensive its cultivation must once have been,
and how congenial to it is the soil in which, after ages of neglect,
it still flourishes. Its crops of grain were as abundant as those
of Mauritius and Sicily, and furnished large exports. During four
months of my stay in the country I ate ripe grapes, and in one place
I left the half-formed fruit hanging in rich clusters from the vines;
so true is the ancient description which, speaking of the various
climates of the Cyrenaica, says, that the harvest lasted nine months,
beginning in the low grounds, then ascending to the table-lands,
and ending in the hills. The flowers of the Cyrenaica were also
celebrated, and the ground is still enamelled with a rich flora;
the crocus officinalis furnished a considerable article of export,
and its roses yielded the finest attar distilled for its Egyptian
Queen. The honey almost vied with that of Hymettus, and in some
places it is still gathered by the Arabs, who send it in presents to
their distant friends. The herds and flocks which Pindar celebrates
are still the wealth of its nomad inhabitants. The breed of horses
was remarkable for fleetness and endurance; and the war-chariots
in which they were harnessed were as celebrated as the skill of
the drivers who conducted them.
But the ancients do not confine their praises to the natural
productions of the soil. Cyrene was fruitful, also, in men
distinguished in the arts and sciences. Architecture and the
engraving of precious stones were both carried to great perfection
by the Cyrenæans. Of their skill in painting and sculpture few
evidences have reached us. It was in the liberal arts that they
especially shone; and a long list might be produced of men of
letters and science who adorned their birthplace or spread its
fame in other lands. The poems of Callimachus, a Cyrenæan of
noble birth, prove that the noblest exercise of genius was not
neglected. But the brightest lustre is shed upon the African Doria
by its mathematicians, physicians, and philosophers. Eratosthenes,
the poet, philosopher, and geometer, may also be called the Father
of Geography. But all are eclipsed by the fame of Aristippus,
his daughter Arete, and her son Aristippus (the mother-taught),
who founded, and to the third generation sustained, the glory of the
Cyrenæan School of Philosophy—a rare, perhaps a singular instance
of such mental gifts descending, as it were, by inheritance. We know
the doctrines of this school only by the writings of its adversaries;
we are not, therefore, qualified to pronounce judgment upon them. In
the original teaching it seems rather to have been a contradiction to
the stoic and cynical doctrines, establishing enjoyment as the chief
end of man, allied to moral freedom—a philosophical enjoyment,
which consists in using all the good things which Providence has
showered upon us. This was a doctrine not discordant with the
habits and genius of the people with whom it originated. If later
disciples of this school contended that the true philosophy of life
consists in the pursuits of voluptuousness, or, exaggerating even
this doctrine, taught that virtue for itself is despicable, that
no Deity exists, and that, since pain cannot be entirely avoided,
life itself is detestable—we may regard such aberrations as the
declamatory sophistries of ill-regulated genius, not as the real
opinions of a school whose first teacher sat at the feet of Socrates.
I shall conclude by mentioning the authors who in modern times have
called attention to this country. Our guide in all that relates
to its ancient condition is the learned Dane Thrige, who, in his
work “Res Cyrenensium,” has exhausted all the information
that the most ingenious acuteness could extract from the writers
of antiquity. Of modern observers, the first in point of time is
Leo Africanus, who, with naïve simplicity, describes the Desert of
Barka as a hideous waste, peopled only by barbarians sunk in the most
abject poverty. Early in the eighteenth century, Lemaire, quoted by
Paul Lucas, was sent to explore the ruins which it was reported to
contain, by Louis XIV. After him, Shaw and Bruce visited some parts
of the province; but the first work which treated in detail of its
antiquities was that of the French artist Pacho, whose untimely end
prevented his reaping the laurels which his enterprising genius had
planted. He may be regarded as the re-discoverer of the remains of
Greek civilisation in this part of Africa. The work which he produced
under incredible difficulties is remarkable among modern books of
travel as a monument of industry and daring; and I here gratefully
acknowledge the amount of enjoyment for which I was indebted to it
during my tour. To his name it is only just to add that of Beechey,
whose accounts and scientific labours have deprived future authors of
the right to intrude upon their readers the results of geographical
observations. The plans and map which accompany his work are of
great value. Two Italian travellers, anterior in point of time to the
last-mentioned, must not be forgotten, viz. Della Cella, a Genoese
physician, who in the suite of the Bey of Benghazi, visited this
country in 1819, and published an account of his travels, which,
though not without merit, leave much to be desired in accuracy;
and a merchant Crevelli, whose meagre journal was published by the
French Society of Geography. The last of the few travellers who
have penetrated into these almost unknown regions is Dr. Barth, on
whose hazardous attempt to reach the central kingdoms of Africa the
eyes of Europe are now turned with equal hope and admiration. May
the desert which has devoured so many valuable lives, spare his to
the advancement of science and civilisation!
J. H.
CAIRO.
_September_ 1, 1853.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
* * * * *
GENERAL VIEW OF ROCK TOMBS IN THE NECROPOLIS OF CYRENE _Frontispiece._
ENTRANCE TO FOUNTAIN OF APOLLO _To face page_ 37
ROCK TOMBS IN THE NECROPOLIS AT CYRENE 62
ROCK TOMBS ON THE WESTERN SIDE OF THE NECROPOLIS AT CYRENE 65
WALL PAINTINGS IN A ROCK TOMB IN THE NECROPOLIS AT CYRENE, NO. 1 68
WALL PAINTINGS IN A ROCK TOMB IN THE NECROPOLIS AT CYRENE, NO. 2 69
TOMBS OVER EXCAVATED CAVES 75
REMAINS OF IONIC BUILDING AT PTOLEMAIS 144
[Illustration: Part of NORTH AFRICA, TO SHEW MR. HAMILTON’S ROUTE.
_Ford & West, Lithrs._
Published by John Murray, Albemarle St. May, 1856.]
WANDERINGS
IN
NORTH AFRICA.
* * * * *
CHAPTER I.
Malta to Benghazi. — Benghazi. — Aspect of the Town. —
Population. — Diseases. — Government. — Antiquities. —
Dress of the Inhabitants. — Trade. — Artisans. — Jews.
The journey which the following pages describe had been for many
years the object of my wishes, although it was only in 1852 that I
was able to put my design in execution. The experience of several
tours in Syria had taught me the necessity of knowing the language
of the country, for the sake of personal safety, as well as for
gaining information; I therefore lost no opportunity of making
myself acquainted with the colloquial, which differs so much from
the classical, Arabic. The study of this language is, indeed, very
difficult, but it has been to me a most charming employment, and I
have never regretted the many long hours which I have devoted to the
acquisition of it. Before leaving Europe I had carefully studied all
that ancient or modern authors have written upon the old Pentapolis;
and I came to this country provided with the necessary instruments
for measuring heights and ascertaining the positions of the several
points I should visit. I do not, however, pretend to write a book
full of antiquarian lore or geographical details—on this head,
my predecessors have left little to be gleaned. Thrige, in his
“Res Cyrenensium,” offers an ample repertory for those who are
desirous of knowing every fact that classical antiquity has handed
down to us, concerning the ancient wealth and arts of the Cyreneans;
and Beechey has given, with the utmost accuracy, the position of
the principal points of interest. Pacho gives us many interesting
details in his work, though, perhaps, he has too highly coloured
his descriptions; his drawings of the remaining ruins are full of
errors. Pacho has the merit of having alone traversed this country
at a time when it required no little enterprise to risk a passage
through it. I disclaim all merit on the score of enterprise or
remarkable discoveries; and if the narrative of my visit to this
lovely region should induce others of my countrymen to vary their
Egyptian and Syrian tours by a visit to the Pentapolis, the object
of my ambition will be gained. I shall have conferred upon them
the benefit of calling their attention to this forgotten land, and
on the inhabitants the still greater advantage of a more frequent
contact with European civilisation. There is no country, excepting
Morocco, where the Moslem has so little felt the influence of modern
civilisation, or where his fanaticism is more offensive. Here, we
are still in the sixteenth century; the pages of Shaw and other old
travellers are recalled in our daily dealings with the Arabs, whose
most offensive characteristics are only mitigated by the vicinity
of Malta, and through a certain traditionary fear of British power.
Without further preamble, I shall state that my point of departure
was Malta, from whence I sailed for Benghazi, now the principal
town in the district, and the seat of Government. I took my passage
on board a brigantine of 150 tons, the _Pace_, the largest vessel
which trades between Malta and Benghazi. The depth of water in the
small part of the ancient harbour, which is not yet sanded up,
admits no vessel which draws more than ten feet of water; after
September the passage is so insecure, that all direct intercourse
ceases, and letters then can only be conveyed from Malta by Tripoli,
whence there is a weekly courier who comes in thirteen days. I stowed
myself on the deck of the brigantine, in a box ten feet by five,
and about three and a half high, which, when washed and carpeted,
formed no inconvenient cabin, and saved me in great part from the
attacks of those creeping and jumping fellow-passengers from which
no Mediterranean merchant-vessel is free. Being well supplied with
new books, I managed to kill time pleasantly enough during the
six days that the passage lasted. In the evening, after sunset,
I used to take a seat upon the deck, to chat with the captain and
the scrivano,—a sort of mate,—and thus learnt from them all they
could tell me of the trade between Europe and the regency of Tripoli,
and of the wonders of the unknown land I was going to visit. In
their gossip I sometimes caught a faint echo of old Herodotus. I
much enjoyed one of their stories, which they told with the greatest
gravity, assuring me that they had heard it from the most respectable
natives. In the interior of Africa, beyond the black hills, is a race
of people whose men are dogs, their women being like those of other
nations. The husbands spend their days in hunting, and at night
bring home to their wives the game they have killed; these cook
and eat the meat, and give the bones to their dog-husbands. They
were both intelligent men, able to give a satisfactory account of
their trade; but they made no difficulty in believing this story,
and other tales not less marvellous. The profits of the trading
vessels are principally made on the return voyage, when the cargo
consists of cattle for the consumption of the island, and bales of
coarse wool, which is principally destined for Leghorn. Paper and
glass from this place, plain and printed cottons from England and
Switzerland, with planks from Trieste, form nearly all the imports
to Benghazi. The approach to the town is not promising; the long,
flat line of sand, broken here and there by groups of palm-trees,
becomes visible only at a very short distance from the shore. On
nearing it, two insignificant white-washed marābuts, and the
castle—a square building, flanked with round towers, standing
on the sea-shore, and conspicuous only from its whiteness—are
the first objects which strike the eye. The town itself is not
seen until the traveller is close to it; it looks like a large
collection of mud huts, unrelieved by a single minaret, or even by
the dove-cots, which render many of the mud villages on the Nile
so picturesque. Closer inspection confirms this first impression of
the town. The houses are indeed built of stone, badly cemented with
crumbling lime; but in the whole town not more than a dozen have the
convenience of a room raised above the ground-floor (ghorfa). They
are built round an oblong court, with no attempt at architectural
ornament, the walls not exceeding fourteen feet in height, and
almost in no case are the rooms more than ten feet in breadth,
though frequently thirty or forty feet long. They are lighted
from the door; and, in the better houses, one, or perhaps two,
rooms have the additional convenience of small windows, which are
closed by wooden shutters. The flooring is sometimes of flag-stones,
generally of mud; and the flat roofs, formed with the undressed
trunks of the juniper trees, laid side by side across the walls,
covered with mats and plaster, are not impervious to the winter
rains. This is no unfavourable account of the houses of Benghazi;
and when I add, that the streets, filled with loose sea-sand,
are kept tolerably clean—remarkably so for an Oriental town—I
have done ample justice to its merits. The water for drinking is
brought from wells at a distance, in barrels or skins; and every
house has in its court-yard a well of brackish water, which in many
places is found at a depth of six feet. There are near the shore two
public wells—one due to a former English consul—which are used
for watering the cattle, but the essential luxury of a fountain,
or the convenience of a walk where the sand does not reach the
ankles, has not been thought of. The sanitary inspection, under a
talented German doctor, is very strict, and in some cases might,
perhaps, be adopted with advantage at home. His word is law in
all such matters as cleaning the streets, or removing nuisances;
no meat can be exposed for sale in the market, which has not been
offered for his inspection before going to the slaughter-house;
no burial takes place without his certificate, though he only
examines the body when death is suspected to result from plague
or other infectious disease. He has not only the right to examine
the bodies of females, but he can have them disinterred if buried
without his certificate. Proceedings so contrary to Moslem prejudice,
and even to Moslem law, afford perhaps the strongest proof that can
be adduced of the utter disregard which the powers at Constantinople
show to the religious laws of the Koran, as well as of the slavish
submission of the people to the Government.
The census just completed gives 1200 for the number of houses
in Benghazi, which, in this country, represents a population of
10,000 to 12,000 souls; the deaths in the last year were 333, and
seem to favour the higher number, but they were above the annual
average, in consequence of epidemic measles having carried off 57
children. In general, Benghazi may be considered the most healthy
town in North Africa; neither fever nor dysentery are endemic here,
nor is any other form of disease frequent, except ophthalmia,
the prevalence of which may be ascribed to the general filthiness,
and to the habit which the people have at night of sleeping exposed
on the terraces, or in the damp court-yards. It is disgusting to
see the little children, round whose inflamed eyes swarms of flies
cluster, no one taking the trouble to drive them away. The markets
are abundantly supplied with mutton; occasionally beef is offered for
sale; but vegetables and fruit are very rare, and, till the last six
years, nothing but onions were to be had. Though the sea abounds in
excellent fish, the quantity taken is very small. Wine, potatoes,
and fruit are sometimes to be had, brought from Malta or Canea,
from whence the European and wealthier Turkish residents obtain
their few luxuries. When I speak of wealth, it is in a comparative
sense; probably no one, either native or foreigner, has a capital
of 4000_l_.; but there is no absolute poverty among the people,
for the cultivation of the land is open to all, on paying a tax of
one-tenth of the produce; and, excepting the Morocco or Tunis Hajji,
who pass through on their way to Mecca, I have never seen a beggar
in Benghazi.
The government of the province is in the hands of a Bey, sometimes
sent from Constantinople, sometimes nominated by the Pacha of
Tripoli, to whom he is subordinate. Soliman Agha, the present
Kaimakan, formerly in a domestic situation in his household, was
long Kehin to the present Pacha of Tripoli (Izzet Pacha), and by
him was appointed to Benghazi. His inability to read or write is
considered no obstacle to his being an efficient Governor of an
extensive district; and in the visits I paid him I must acknowledge
that he seemed to be well-informed regarding the affairs of his
government, and to have an excellent memory. The object of such an
appointment is, of course, that the Pacha may have in Benghazi a
dependant who will not interfere with his peculations. The Kaimakan,
or Bey, is assisted by a Medjlis, or council, composed of the
Cadi, Mufti, and some ten members chosen from among the principal
persons of the place; and his consideration is sustained by part
of a regiment which is stationed here—the rest of it doing duty
at the castles newly erected for the purpose of keeping the Arabs
of the interior in subjection. The Consular body consists of an
English Vice-Consul, a French Consular Agent, and Vice-Consuls—or
calling themselves such—for Tuscany and Sardinia. All of them,
excepting the Englishman, are merchants, and it may be questioned
if their action is consequently as independent as it should be,
when we remember the monetary transactions which they have with the
customs, which are here administered by the local Government. I
can personally bear testimony to the cordial hospitality of the
French Consular Agent, M. Brest, and of his family; and to the
unceasing attentions of M. Xerri, a young Maltese merchant, whom
I found acting as Vice-Consul in the interim between the departure
of the last Consul and the arrival of his successor. Although the
climate of Benghazi is perfectly wholesome, I should not recommend
it to any one as a residence: there are few of the necessaries, and
none of the luxuries, of life to be found there; above all, there
is no kind of society. Its antiquities afford at most two days’
employment. They consist of large squared blocks of stone scattered
along the sea-shore, foundations of ancient buildings in the sea,
between the reef, which probably formed the old mole, and the shore,
with a flight of steps at the extremity of the former. The shore has
sunk considerably in this part of the coast, as the foundations of
buildings now beneath the water testify; and often, after a winter
storm, gems and medals are picked up on the beach. On the land side
of the town, the sea has also made an irruption, forming a shallow
lake in winter, which dries up in summer, and leaves the surface
glittering with salt, if the winds are not high: hence Benghazi may
be said to be built on a narrow tongue of sand. On the opposite side
of this lake, the summits of the hills to the south-east of the town
are covered with old tombs, many of which are rifled, but not a few
still yield vases and stalactites of _terra cotta_. It was from here
that M. de Bourville obtained the splendid Panathenaic vases which
adorn the Museum of the Louvre; but such good fortune is hardly to
be looked for again. The existence of the tombs is not indicated
by monuments or other external marks,—a circumstance to which,
perhaps, they owe their preservation. Some are grottoes cut in the
rock, beneath its surface, and have long been sanded up; the more
common are rectangular excavations, about five feet by two feet,
cut in the rock, and covered by rough flattish stones. These also
are always found completely choked with sand; they contain vases
generally of a coarse quality, really fine vases being rare. The
statuettes are, generally, much more beautiful; and nothing can
exceed the grace of some which I saw in Paris, derived from M. de
Bourville’s collection. Though this country is named by ancient
writers as famed for its engravers, I have not seen a single fine
intaglio or cameo found here.
The modern costume of the Benghazini is simple, but not ungraceful,
and, like that of all countries which have not yet adopted the
tight-fitting fashions of Europe, is admirably adapted to the
climate. The red cap (tarboush or takyeh), with which a cotton
skull-cap (ma’raka) is generally worn, without the turban. The
under-garment consists of blue or white cotton drawers (serwàl),
generally reaching to the ankles, and rather tight from the knee,
exactly like those which one sees on the Roman statues of barbarian
prisoners; a shirt, with wide sleeves (sourieh), and a waistcoat
without sleeves (fermleh), or with sleeves (reboun), but this is not
always worn. A long, narrow, woollen sash (hhezàm) is wound several
times round the body, and the whole is covered by the barracan
(jerd), the simplest and most graceful, as it probably was the
earliest, article of dress ever invented. It is of white or gray,
sometimes of red wool, heavy or light, according to the season;
very like the Scotch plaid, though rather longer, but differently
worn. One corner is looped to the edge, about a yard and a half from
the end; the right arm and head are passed through the aperture thus
formed, the loop resting on the left shoulder; the long end is next
passed under the left elbow, and is then thrown across the right arm
and shoulder. This is the usual way of wearing it in the town; but in
the country, or where exposed to the sun, a part of the breadth is
passed over the head, and the end is brought over the left shoulder
in front. Thus worn, it is exactly the costume of the antique
statue of the sacrificator, which one sees in many museums. The
apparent cleanliness of this costume, entirely white in summer,
and its graceful folds, render it one of the most elegant I have
ever seen. These barracans are, for the most part, the manufacture
of Jerbel, in the regency of Tunis, and the finer have stripes of
silk interwoven in the breadth. Socks or stockings (to complete my
fashions of Benghazi) are seldom seen; the yellow under-shoe (mest)
more frequently. There are three kinds of slippers worn: the red
Egyptian (markoub); a yellow slipper, with no heel, and a red shoe,
which leaves the instep quite uncovered, both called sebàt.
The barracan forms, also, the principal dress of the women;
but they wear it in a different way, making a petticoat of it,
and a bag behind, in which they carry their children, or any other
_impedimenta_ they may have; and they bring it in such a way over
the face as to form a very effectual veil. I have seen none on whom
this dress sat gracefully, and all seem frightfully dirty. Some of
the children whom one sees rolling naked in the sand of the street
would, if washed, be pretty, but the filth in which they are reared
soon destroys all vestige of good looks. Both women and children
wear immense hoop ear-rings, three and four inches in diameter, and
sometimes four or five in each ear, inserted one above the other
in the cartilage. The silver bracelets and anklets which complete
their adornment are sometimes of great weight. A Jewess in Benghazi
wears a pair of anklets which weigh five pounds.
The flies form a remarkable feature, which must not be omitted in
describing Benghazi. None of the plagues of Egypt could exceed them,
and they often during the day render writing, or any occupation which
does not leave one hand free for the fan, utterly impossible. They
exist in myriads; hence, the Turks call Benghazi the fly kingdom;
and the flies by their pertinacity and voracity evidently show that
this is their own opinion. Nothing but continual fanning can keep
them off; even the musquitoe-net being unavailing against plagues
which creep as well as fly. When very thirsty they draw blood, even
through one’s stockings, their bite resembling the sharp pricking
of a leech; and wafers left upon a table entirely disappear under
their attacks in a very short time. In the evening, if disturbed
on the curtains, they rise in hundreds, making a rushing noise
like pheasants when a well-stocked cover is beaten. In addition
to the plague of flies, the shrill trumpet of musquitoes keeps one
constantly on the _qui vive_, but their bite is not venomous like
that of the musquitoes of Syria, Egypt, or even Italy; and it is
rather the association of ideas which renders them harassing, than
any actual injury they inflict. Other insects, though not unknown,
are seldom seen, or with a little care may be entirely avoided. The
first day I was in Benghazi my servant killed a tarantula, a hideous,
rough-backed, flat-headed lizard, in the room I was put up in;
but I have not seen a second. Nor have I met with any scorpions,
though they are sometimes found; their bite is hardly to be called
venomous. So insensible is the Arab epidermis to pain, that a native
hardly takes the trouble to apply even a little butter or honey to
the wound.
Scarcely any trades, beyond those of the most necessary description,
are exercised at Benghazi. The French Consul, during my stay
there, was unable to have a pane of glass put into a window; the
Tunisian who formerly performed such feats having allowed himself
to die. The glass was there, but no one could cut it to the size
of the window. There are Jews here, into whose hands most of the
less laborious trades have fallen, as is usual in all countries,
especially in the East. They can sew a covering for your divan,
or make up the cushions; they will repair, in a certain fashion,
any article of silver or gold, or make you a saddle-cloth, or a
sabre belt. They are ready to turn their hands to anything; but
after showing themselves serviceable as may be, ask prices equal
to about ten times what would be demanded in Bond Street. A few
days before starting for the interior, I wished to have some balls
cast, and I soon saw the same Jews at work who a few days before
had come to repair a silver nargilih, which had passed through an
Arab servant’s hands. They worked in the court of my house; the
casting of balls being a highly prohibited operation. I was amused
at the way in which they set to work. Two commenced, but before
the end of the performance a third came to their aid, and then
two more, apparently to lighten the labour by the charms of their
conversation. My Jews sat down opposite to each other, and scraped
a hole in the ground between them. In this they placed some lead,
and covered it with charcoal, which they soon blew into a bright
heat by means of a pair of bellows made of an entire goat’s skin,
one end of which was fitted with a nozzle, while the edges of the
other extremity were sewed to two flat sticks, so as to open or
close by the pressure of the hand. The lead was now melted, and to
extract it from its primitive crucible a little bit of tin, which was
lying on the ground, the lining of an old packing-case, was slipped
and fashioned into something like the bowl of a ladle, and this,
held by a pair of pincers, was all the apparatus required. It was
highly simple, but the quantity of wood and charcoal consumed was
enormous, and it took nearly five hours to cast little more than
a hundred balls. It must be confessed, in favour of the Jews, that
if their filth and ignorance equal those of their brethren in all
these countries, they are not behind them in industry. They are the
only hard workers in the place: other tradesmen, whether Moslem or
Maltese, seeming utterly indifferent to obtaining custom. I required
a framework for a divan, and the Maltese carpenter whom I had sent
for, after keeping me two days waiting, send word on the Monday
that he would come next week. I therefore found a couple of Jews,
who knocked together a very creditable divan in two hours. One of
the community, who by a series of most ingenious manœuvres has
contrived to obtain English protection, and is now broker to the
Vice-Consulate, was hardly ever out of my house during my stay in
Benghazi. His voice was generally the first I heard in full exercise
about sunrise, and from time to time during the entire day, his
tongue seemed never to tire of discharging bad Arabic and worse
Italian. Such cleverness, such industry, never were employed for
smaller ends, for his profits must be inconsiderable. He knows, I
believe, every article in every house in the town, as well as if he
had taken an inventory of their contents, and when he pronounces some
longed-for object unattainable, it is certain that neither money,
diplomacy, nor address have been able to discover its existence.
There is nothing to be said of the domestic habits of the Moslem
inhabitants. Their life is less luxurious, their feasts are less
frequent and less gay than those of richer places; they have few or
no amusements, and there is no bath in the town, excepting in the
castle, where there is one capable of containing a single person. I
have nowhere seen Moslemin so dirty in person.