Improvidence of the Arabs. — Derna, its lively appearance. —
Ruined Battery. — Curious Bargain.
From the summit of the Okbah one looks down upon a long line
of coast, the view extending to the promontory Ras el Hilal
(Nausthasmus) on the left, and eastward to the Ras el Tin. The hills
which run along the sea-line to the right are barren sandstone; the
coast, a line of low rocks; and from this point Derna is only just
visible, as a dark spot on the sea-shore in the midst of glaring
sands. It took an hour to descend from this height to the more
level ground; and the intense heat reflected from the sandy soil,
where not a shrub affords the slightest shade, made this the least
pleasant three hours’ ride I had yet had in this country. Neither
well nor fountain is met with in this day’s march till about an
hour from Derna, where a brackish spring issues from the rock, and
flows directly into the sea, in a situation where it is difficult
to find it. At length, after ascending a low hill of sand, which
had hitherto bounded the view ahead, the green gardens of Derna
relieve the eye, lying between the foot of bare rocky hills and the
sea. Here I was most kindly received by the English Vice-Consul,
Mr. Aquilina, whose ready hospitality I with difficulty declined,
being unwilling to inflict the presence of strange servants on his
establishment. Through his kindness I was soon put in possession of
a garden, where I pitched my tent under the shade of its palms and
fig-trees. Though we had not before met, I was already indebted
to this gentleman for many of the attentions shown me while at
Grennah; and during my stay here I derived from him much valuable
information—the result of his thirteen years’ residence among
them—regarding the people of the country and their governors.
Leo Africanus, in the sixth book of his “Description of Africa,”
gives an account of the poverty of the inhabitants of Barca, and
tells how they were in the habit of bartering their children for
corn with the merchants of Sicily. The spontaneous fertility and
pastoral wealth of the country, as I saw it, seemed to contradict
this account, though the general fidelity of the author inclined
me to place almost implicit belief in him. In Derna I afterwards
learned, that his description, instead of exceeding, falls far short
of the truth during the seasons when the country is desolated by
one of those blights which occur at uncertain periods. The Arabs
of Gebel-el-Achdar are among the least provident people in the
world; and when a reverse befalls them, are one and all, the poor
and the wealthy, reduced to the greatest straits. When the crops
are abundant, everything becomes dear, labour can be obtained on
no terms, the Arab refuses to sell either his cattle or flocks,
he buys slaves and horses at any price, and setting his cap on
one side, spends all his time in riding and gormandising. But
sometimes a flight of locusts descends upon the country, and in
a few hours every blade of corn or grass, and every leaf, have
disappeared; or successive years of drought wither up the crops,
and then, no provender remaining for the cattle, the wells are
exhausted, and pestilence, which spares neither man nor beast,
follows hard upon the scarcity and the drought. Then, though too
late, the Arab is as anxious to sell all he has at any price he
can obtain, as he was before hard in his dealings and careless
of reasonable gain. He eats the corn reserved for seed, and when
the rains at length descend to fecundate the country, the fields
remain unsown. Such a visitation came upon them some eight years
ago. Their cattle, the great wealth of the country, died for want
of food; the next year there was no grain for sowing, and then the
misery was so terrible that it would require the pen of a Defoe
to describe it. The strongest guard was insufficient to insure the
safety of the traveller in such a season; misery rendered the people
desperate, so that it seemed easier to them to die in combat than
by the slow agony of want. Parents sold their children literally
for a few measures of barley: a very pretty girl was offered to one
of my acquaintance for two dollars; and I know some persons who,
through pure compassion, bought children at this price. The dying
were devoured even before life was extinct; and in the ravings of
hunger, as eye-witnesses have related to me, the poor wretches would
gnaw the thighs and arms of those who, more reduced than themselves,
were too weak to defend themselves. Thousands emigrated into Egypt,
and hundreds of them died of exhaustion on the road thither.
We read in antiquity, even in the flourishing days of the empire,
of terrible famines in this country; but these, doubtless, were
alleviated by the resources of the other provinces. Though again
subject to an extensive empire, the country can now look for no
such assistance when these disasters fall upon it. The duty of the
provinces is, to send yearly subsidies to the capital; that of the
Government is, to send rapacious satraps to enrich themselves by
the spoils of the people, and to stifle their complaints.
The town of Derna is composed of four villages—Upper and Lower
Derna, and Upper and Lower Bou Mansour, the former separated from the
two latter villages by a broad, stony wady, which in winter forms the
bed of one of the two streams whose abundant waters, diverted by a
former governor into many channels, flow through all the streets,
and are at regular periods distributed to the different gardens
in which the houses of the town are situated. These many streams
of water, and the gardens from which rise thousands of splendid
palms, rich in the bright green of the banana and the reddening
leaf of the vine, give this place a strong resemblance to some of
the villages on the outskirts of Damascus, a resemblance which
is still further increased by the arid barrenness of the hills
above and of the surrounding country. Unfortunately this luxuriant
vegetation, as too often happens in these lands, is accompanied by
periodical fevers, dysentery, and ophthalmia, which the sea-breezes
seem to have no effect in preventing. An old castle, now in ruins,
which once commanded the town from the hill above, and the lanes
which lead to it, overarched, as they are, with verdure, through
which the rays of the sun pierce in chequered patches, form a
most picturesque scene. The whole town has an air of prosperity
far surpassing that of Benghazi, though its population, about 4500
souls, is smaller, and its trade is comparatively insignificant. It
consists principally in exports of wax, great quantities of which
are produced in the neighbouring country, occasional cargoes of
cattle for Malta, and sheep, which are yearly sent in vast flocks
by land a journey of thirty-five days to Alexandria. Antiquarian
remains are few, Darnis having been a place of not the slightest
importance until about the fourth century: they consist of some
traces of the ancient port at the western extremity of the town,
a Roman gateway, and some excavations in the hills.
Derna has no harbour. From September to January its roadstead is
sufficiently secure, but after this month no ship can anchor there
in safety, as it is entirely exposed to the north and east winds,
which then blow with great fury. There is, to the east of the town,
a point where the shore makes a bend, on which may be seen a ruined
battery, with half a dozen dismounted guns; it serves as a monument
to record the fact that this place was held by the Americans, for a
short period, about thirty years ago.[3] Probably the difficulty of
making a harbour (they had planned an excavated basin in the wady
which separates Derna from Bou Mansour), as well as the traditional
policy of their country, always opposed to distant settlements,
decided them to abandon the place.
I spent a very pleasant fortnight in Derna, encamped within reach of
the sea-spray when the winds blew strong; but before I left I began
to experience that feeling of discomfort which malaria is apt to
give when it does not produce fever; and, notwithstanding the beauty
of the place, and the attentions of Mr. Aquilina and his family,
I was glad to find myself once more on the heights of the Okbah.
_October_ 1.—I returned to Ain-esh-Shehad nearly by the same
route which I had followed in coming to Derna, and there I spent
ten days in revisiting some of the most beautiful spots in its
neighbourhood, and in the enjoyment of the pure light air of its
hills. I had left a part of my baggage in the charge of one of the
Arabs of the place; and though the eatables must have been tempting,
I had not to complain of any great indiscretion in his visits to my
sacks. Though my neighbours were fanatical, I had, on the whole,
no reason to be dissatisfied with them; with the exception of the
Marābut and his pupils, they gave me very little trouble, and their
thefts were confined to articles of trifling value. I had got rid
of my friend Mohammed at Derna, with the servants, children, and
horses which he had quartered upon me, so that there was no longer
a daily fair held round my tents; and thus the last days I spent
at Grennah were among the most agreeable of my residence there.
The advancing autumn, the threatening clouds which now overshadowed
the sky, and the increasing cold of the nights, warned me not to
prolong my stay; and with regret I tore myself from a place where I
had spent two quiet months so pleasantly, and, as far as health at
least was concerned, so profitably. I find among my notes of these
last days mention made of a curious bargain, which was struck in my
presence; it was the sale of half a mare. The price of the entire
animal was fixed at a certain sum, half of which was paid down by
the purchaser, who took possession of the mare, which he was bound
to keep in good condition. The foals were to be joint property,
and the original proprietor could at any time have the use of the
mare, or, by repaying the purchase-money, again become her sole
proprietor. This is a common transaction; and as a fourth, or even a
smaller fraction of a mare may be thus sold, some have many masters,
and serious quarrels often arise from such joint possession.
It was not without many a long look that I rode away from the
fountain towards the western gate of the town and the street of
Tombs, which I have described as the old road to Barca. I was now
on my return to Benghazi, not by the road I had taken in July,
but with the intention, after visiting Nurdj, of following the
coast by Dolmeita and Tokra.