Start from the Masheeah--Painful Parting--Chaouch's Tent--A Family
Quarrel--Wady Majeeneen--A Rainy Day--Moknee's Wives--Two mad
Fellows--Great Ascent of Gharian--Tedious Day's Work--The
Castle--View over the Country--Garrison--Troglodytes--Turkish
Tax-gathering--Quarrelsome Servants--Proceed over the lofty
Plain--Underground Villages--Kaleebah--The Batoum--Geology--A Slave
Caravan--Cheerful Blacks--Rows--Oasis of Mizdah--Double
Village--Intestine Discords--Interview with the Sheikh Omer--A Pocket
Province--A Dream of Good Omen--Quarrels on Quarrels--Character of
Fezzanees--A Leopard abroad.
The preliminary miseries of a great journey being at length over, I rose
early on the morning of the 30th of March and started from the Masheeah,
a kind of suburb of Tripoli, distant in the country, at six. Hope and
the spirit of adventure sustained my courage; but it is always sad to
part with those we love, even at the call of duty. However, I at length
mustered strength to bid adieu to my wife--the almost silent adieu of
affection. How many things that were thought were left unsaid on either
side! It will be pleasant to fill up all blanks when we talk of these
days after a safe return from this arduous undertaking.
It was a fresh, cheerful morning, succeeding several days of sultry
weather--an auspicious commencement of the journey. My chaouch, Mohammed
Souweea, preceded me on his great horse, murmuring some Arab ditty, and
I followed hard on my little donkey. The desert assails the walls of
Tripoli, and in half an hour we were in the Sahara sands, which here and
there rise in great mounds. I should have liked to have pushed on to
some considerable distance at once; but the habits of the country are
dilatory, and one must conform to them. In a couple of hours we came to
the chaouch's tent, where he had a wife, five children, and seven
brothers, one of whom was blind. He, too, was to go through the sad
ceremony of parting with his family; and he burst into tears when they
surrounded and embraced him. I am sorry to say, however, that before
this affecting scene was concluded, a quarrel had began between the
blind man and the chaouch's wife, about two Tunisian piastres which were
missing, she accusing him of theft and he indignantly repelling the
charge. These Easterns seem to have minds constructed on different
patterns from ours, and are apt to introduce such petty discussions at
the most solemn moments; but we must not, therefore, be hasty in
concluding that there is any sham in their sorrow, or affectation in
their pathetic bewailings.
They brought in a bowl of milk, and as the chaouch still continued to
caress his children, I left him to pass the night in his tent, and
pushed on to Wady Majeeneen, where my portion of the caravan had already
encamped. Mr. F. Warrington, with my German colleagues, were a little in
advance. The horses of the Pasha's cavalry were feeding around; for when
the first belt of sand is past, the country becomes an undulating
plain--a prairie, as they would call it in America--covered with patches
of corn herbage. Here and there are fields of barley; and a few Arab
tents, with flocks and herds near at hand, give a kind of animation to
the scene.
Next day (21st) it rained hard; but we went on a little to overtake Drs.
Barth and Overweg, whom we found in company with Mr. F. Warrington, Mr.
Vice-consul Reade, and Mr. Gaines the American consul. One of Mr.
Interpreter Moknee's wives had also come out here, to have some
settlement with her husband about support before she let him go. The
gentleman has two wives, both negresses; and had already made an
arrangement for the other, who has several children, of six mahboubs per
month. First come, first served. The second wife, who has two children,
only got three mahboubs a month. However, when matters were arranged,
the pair became rather more loving. These settlements are always hard
matters to manage, all the world over, and it is pleasant to get rid of
them. By the way, a son of the worthy Moknee, by a white woman now
dead--a lad of about twelve years of age--accompanies us, at least as
far as Mourzuk.
The most remarkable persons, however, whom I found at the encampment
were a couple of insane fellows, determined to follow us--perhaps to
show "by one satiric touch" what kind of madcap enterprise was ours. The
first was a Neapolitan, who had dogged me all the while I was at
Tripoli, pestering me to make a contract with him as servant. To humour
his madness, I never said I would not; and the poor fellow, taking my
silence for consent, had come out asking for his master. They tried to
send him away, but he would take orders from none but me. I gave him two
loaves of bread and a Tunisian piastre, and also made him a profound
bow, politely requesting him to go about his business. He did so in a
very dejected manner. During the time he was with the caravan he worked
as hard as any one else in his tattered clothes, and, perhaps, he would
have been of more use than many a sane person.
The other was a madman indeed, a Muslim, with an unpleasant habit of
threatening to cut everybody's throat. Hearing that we were going to
Soudan, he followed us, bringing with him a quantity of old metal,
principally copper, with which he proposed to trade. He gave himself out
as a shereef, or descendant of the Prophet. No sooner had he arrived
than he begun to quarrel on all sides, and, of course, talked very
freely of cutting throats, stabbing, shooting, and other humorous
things. Every one was afraid of him. He fawned, however, on us
Europeans, whilst he had a large knife concealed under his clothes ready
to strike. They were obliged at length to disarm him, and send him back
under a guard to Tripoli. We here took leave of Mr. Reade, who gave me
some last explanations about letters to the interior. It rained
furiously in the afternoon.
We were kept idle a whole day by the rain; but starting on the second,
turned off sharp in the afternoon towards the mountains, and encamped at
length in a pretty place fronting the great ascent of Gharian. The
appearance of the chain here differs in no important particular from
that of any other part of the Tripoline Atlas. The formation is
calcareous, but the colours vary to the eye by the admixture of
minerals. Groups of sandstone are not uncommon. Rounded, rugged heads,
vary the outline of the plateau; and here and there are deep, abrupt
valleys, cut down through the range, with groves of fig-trees, almonds,
aloes, pomegranates, and even grapes, nestling in their laps. Bright
water-courses, springing up in the depths of these ravines, sustain the
streaks of half-buried verdure.
We rose early to commence the ascent. It is not difficult unless the
camels are very heavily laden; but we did not reach the Castle of
Gharian until three in the afternoon. Our caravan dotted with groups of
various outline and colour the slopes of the spur, up the side of which
the track wound, in a very picturesque manner. Sometimes the foremost
camels stood still and complained; and then there was a half-halt
throughout the whole long line. The drivers plied the stick pretty
freely on the gaunt flanks of their beasts; the cry of "_Isa! Isa!_"
resounded in irregular chorus; pebbles and stones came leaping down at
the steep parts. As we rose over the brown slopes, the thin forests of
olive-trees partly covering the undulating plateau beyond, with fields
of barley and wheat here and there, gladdened our eyes, and contrasted
well with the hungry country we had left in the rear.
The castle, sufficiently picturesque in structure, is placed over a deep
ravine, but is commanded by the mountain behind. We turned back on
nearing it, and beheld the plain we had traversed appearing like the sea
enveloped in mist and cloud. In fine weather the minarets of Tripoli can
be seen, but now the northern horizon faded off in haze. On either hand
the steep declivities of the hills presented a wall-like surface, here
and there battered into breaches, from out of which burst little tufts
of green, revealing the presence of springs.
There are 200 troops stationed at the castle under Colonel Saleh, to
whom we paid an official visit; as also to the Kaïd of Gharian. In both
cases we were hospitably treated to pipes, coffee, and lemonade. In this
canton are said to be the fanciful number of "one hundred and one" Arab
districts, inhabited by the Troglodytes. All the villages, indeed,
hereabouts, are underground: not a building is to be seen above, except
at wide intervals an old miserable, crumbling, Arab fort. The people are
easily kept in order by the summary Turkish method of proceeding; for
they are entirely disarmed, and matchlocks, powder and ball, are
contraband articles. The first word of an Oriental tax-gatherer is
"Pay!" and the second is "Kill!"
The outset of a journey in the East is usually employed in finding out
the vices of one's servants. Their virtues, I suppose, become manifest
afterwards. We were on the point of sending our chaouch back from
Gharian for dishonesty; but as we reflected that any substitute might be
still worse, we passed over the robbery of our barley, and merely
determined to keep a good look-out. This worthy, though useful in his
sphere, often, as I had anticipated, proved a sad annoyance to us. When
he seemed to refrain from cheating and stealing, he rendered our lives
troublesome by constant quarrellings and rows--he and his fellow
attached to my German companions--_Arcades ambo!_
Mr. Frederick Warrington and the American Consul took leave of us on the
morning of the 5th. Starting afterwards about nine, we soon left the
Castle of Gharian behind, and continued our course in a direction about
south-west, amongst olive-woods and groves of fig-trees. The country was
varied enough in appearance as we proceeded. Great masses of rock and
cultivated slopes alternated. The vegetation seemed all fresh, and
sometimes vigorous. Few birds, except wild pigeons, appeared. Many of
the heights which we passed were crowned with ruined castles, mementoes
of the past dominion of the Arabs. We saw some of the Troglodytes coming
from underground now and then, and pausing to look at us. Their dress is
a simple barracan, or blanket-mantle, thrown around them; few indulge in
the luxury of a shirt; and they go armed with a great thick stick
terminating in a hook. They look cleanly and healthy in spite of their
burrowing life, but are fox-like in character as in manners, and bear a
reputation for dishonesty.
A little after mid-day we descried afar off the village of Kaleebah,
which is built above-ground, and occupies a most commanding position on
a bold mountain-top. It remained in sight ahead a long time, cheating us
with an appearance of nearness. The inhabitants resemble, in all
respects, their mole-brethren, and occupy themselves chiefly in
cultivating olives and barley. Government exacts from them two
imposts--one special, of a hundred and fifty mahboubs on the
olive-crops; and one general, of five hundred mahboubs. We passed the
village at length, and encamped an hour beyond. Here were the last
olive-groves which were to cheer our eyes for many a long month--many a
long year, maybe. Their dark masses covered the swells right and left,
and near at hand isolated trees formed pleasant patches of shadow.
We left our camping-ground at length next day, having overcome the
obstinate sluggishness of the blacks, and marched nearly nine hours. The
barren forms of the desert begin now to appear, the ground being broken
up into huge hills that run mostly in circles, and groups, and broad
stony valleys. The formation is limestone, often containing flints, with
a little sandstone. Patches of barley here and there splashed this arid
surface with green. At a great distance we saw two or three Arab tents,
and one flock of sheep. Towards evening began to appear a number of
beautiful bushy trees, somewhat resembling our oak in size and
appearance. The Arabs call them "Batoum." They do not seem to have yet
received their proper botanical classification. Desfontaines describes
the tree as the _Pistacia Atlanticis_. It greatly resembles the
_Pistacia lentiscus_ of Linnæus. A few solitary birds, a flight of
crows, lizards and beetles on the ground; no other signs of life.
The next day the country became more barren still, and the batoum
disappeared. The patches of barley likewise ceased to cheer the eye; and
little pools of water no longer sparkled in the rocky bottoms, as near
Kaleebah. The geological formation was nearly the same as yesterday; but
pieces of crystalline gypsum covered the ground, and the limestone here
and there took the form of alabaster. Some of the hills that close in
the huge basin-like valleys are of considerable elevation, and have
conic volcanic forms. All was dreary, and desolate, and sad, except that
some ground-larks whirled about; lizards and beetles still kept crossing
our path; and a single chameleon did not fade into sand-colour in time
to escape notice. No animals of the chase were seen; but our blacks
picked up the dung of the ostrich, and a horn of the aoudad. Here and
there we observed the broken columns of Roman milestones, some of them
covered with illegible inscriptions. The sockets generally remain
perfect. We saluted the memory of the sublime road-makers.
About noon, as we were traversing these solitudes in our usual irregular
order of march, a crowd of moving things came in sight. It proved to be
a slave-caravan, entirely composed of young girls. The Gadamsee
merchants who owned them recognised me, and shook me by the hand. Our
old black woman was soon surrounded by a troop of the poor slave-girls;
and when she related to them how she was returning free to her country
under the protection of the English, and wished them all the same
happiness, they fell round her weeping and kissing her feet. One poor
naked girl had slung at her back a child, with a strange look of
intelligence. I was about to give her a piece of money, but could not;
for, the tears bursting to my eyes, I was obliged to turn away. The
sight of these fragments of families stolen away to become drudges or
victims of brutal passion in a foreign land, invariably produced this
effect upon me. This caravan consisted of some thirty girls and twenty
camel-loads of elephants' teeth. They had been seventy days on their way
from Ghât, including, however, thirty-four days of rest. Most of these
poor wretches had performed journeys on their way to bondage which would
invest me with imperishable renown as a traveller could I accomplish
them.
The caravan was soon lost to view as it wound along the track by which
we had come. This day was exceedingly hot, whereas the previous days had
reminded us of a cool summer in England. The nights have hitherto been
clear, and the zodiacal light is always brilliant. Our blacks keep up
pretty well. There are now nine of them; five men, three women, and a
boy. They eat barley-meal and oil, and now and then get a cup of coffee.
I also feed the Fezzanee marabout, besides those specially attached to
the expedition. As to the camel-drivers, they are an ill-bred,
disobliging set, and I give them nothing extra. How different are our
negroes! They are most cheerful. As we proceed, they run hither and
thither collecting edible herbs; and, like children, making the way more
long in their sport. Sometimes their amusements are less pleasant, and
they seem systematically to take refuge from _ennui_, in a quarrel. Two
of them began to pelt each other with stones to-day; allies dropped in
on either side; laughter was succeeded by execrations; and the whole
caravan at length came to loggerheads.
The sidr, or lote-tree, is abundant in these parts, and it is curious to
notice how in the spring season the green leaves sprout out all over the
white burnt-up shrub. All vegetation in the desert that is not perfectly
new seems utterly withered by time. There is scarcely any medium between
the bud and the dead leaf. Infancy is scorched at once into old age.
As we advanced, the country appeared to put on sterner forms, until
suddenly, in the afternoon, the rocks opened to disclose the Wady
Esh-Shrâb nestling amidst limestone hills, and containing the pleasant
oasis of Mizdah. Its beauties consist, in reality, but of a few patches
of green barley and scanty palm-groves; but, in contrast to the sultry
desert, the scene appeared really enchanting.
We have now left the Troglodytes behind us. Mizdah (eight summer and ten
winter days from Ghadamez, three short days from Gharian, and the same
from Benioleed) is built above-ground, and consists of a double village,
or rather two contiguous villages, inhabited by people of the Arab race.
Each division is fortified after a fashion, with walls now crumbling,
and with round crenulated towers. One large tower, some fifty feet high,
has stood, they say, four hundred years. I asked, What was the use of
these fortifications? and was naïvely told they were for the purposes of
_shamatah_, "war," or rather "rows." And true enough, before the Turks
extended their power so far, these two beggarly villages, fifty miles
from any neighbours, were in constant hostility one with the other. Each
had its great tower, a giant among all the little towers--a kind of
keep, to which the defeated party retired to recruit its strength or
escape utter destruction. This is likewise the case with many other
double towns of the Sahara, and seems to prove that war is the native
passion and trade of man. At any rate, punishment for such turbulence
has not been wanting; for in this, as in so many other cases, whilst
these poor wretches were engaged in cutting one another's throats, the
conqueror has come and established his tyranny. They are now paying the
penalty of their love of shamatah in the shape of an impost of four
hundred mahboubs per annum, and in numbers are reduced to about a
hundred and thirty heads of families.
We had some additional camel-drivers from Kaleebah, who, of course,
endeavoured to extort more than they had agreed for. When we had
squabbled with them a little, we had the honour of receiving Sheikh
Omer, of Mizdah, in the tent. He came with about thirty notables of the
place, the greater part of whom sat outside the doorway, whilst he
stroked his beard within, indulging in a touch of eau de Cologne and a
cup of coffee. We read him the circular-letter of Izhet Pasha, and
received all manner of civilities. The next day, indeed, he came to us
to serve as guide through the country over which he wields delegated
dominion. He had not far to go. His empire is a mere pocket one. The
palm-trees are about three hundred in number, and there are but
half-a-dozen diminutive fields of barley ripening in the ear, fed by
irrigation from several wells which supply tolerably sweet water. A few
onion-beds occur in the little gardens, which are partially shaded by
some small trees.
Sheikh Omer supplied us with copious bowls of milk; the most refreshing
thing, after all, that can be drank in the heat of the day. We were,
however, impatient to get off, but had to wait for a blacksmith to shoe
the horses of our chaouch. The only knowing man in this department was
away at some neighbouring village, and it was necessary to send
messengers to find him. There being nothing better to do, the day,
accordingly, was spent in quarrelling. We had at least a hundred
tongue-skirmishes between our people and the people of Mizdah--between
our chaouch and the other chaouch--between our chaouch and the sheikh of
the country--between Yusuf and the Fezzanee--between every individual
black and every other individual black--Between our chaouch particularly
and all the people of Mizdah:--in short, there were as many rows as it
were possible for a logician to find relations betwixt man and man.
I must not forget that our chaouch, in spite of all this effervescence,
had got up this morning in a very pious state of mind. He told us that a
marabout had appeared to him in a dream, and had said, "O man! go to
Soudan with the Christians, and thou shalt return with the blessing of
God upon thee!" This vision seemed to have made a deep impression upon
him at the time, but he had forgotten it long before it had ceased to be
the subject of my anxious thoughts--"O God, I beseech thee, indeed, to
give us a prosperous journey! But thy will be done. We are entirely in
thy hands!"
_April 10th._--We had another glorious row this morning before starting.
A man who had gone to fetch the blacksmith, and found him not, demanded
payment of two Tunisian piastres. The chaouch, suspecting that he never
went at all, but concealed himself in the village, would not pay him.
This brought on a collision. Sheikh Omer supported us; and so all the
people of the other village took part against us. Two of them were
armed, and some of us thought it advisable to load our pistols. At last,
however, we pushed them away from the tent by force; and, in the first
moment of indignation, wrote a letter to the Pasha about them. Hearing
of this, they came to beg us not to send the letter, which was
accordingly torn up by the Sheikh. My chaouch was the great actor in all
this affair; and it was necessary that I should support him, even if he
were a little wrong, otherwise he would have had no confidence in
himself or us in cases of difficulty.
The Sheikh, who, as well as ourselves, has lost some little things
during these days, gives the people of Mizdah a very bad character. In
the scuffle, I noticed that they called him _Fezzanee_, which is used as
a term of insult in these parts. "All the Fezzanees are bad people, and
all their women courtezans," says my chaouch.
There is a large leopard reported to be abroad near the oasis of Mizdah.
He escaped from Abdel-Galeel, who brought him from Soudan, and creates
great terror among the camel-drivers. They say, with unspeakable horror,
"The nimr eats all the weak camels!" He has already devoured two. He
drinks in the neighbouring wady, where there is water six months of the
year. During the remainder he is capable, they say, of doing without
drinking.