Reach Falezlez--Dates left in the Desert--Road-marks--Disputes with the
Kailouees--News from Tidek--Scarcity of Food in Aheer--Similitudes and
Signs of the Tuaricks--Fine Climate--Arrival of Wataitee--His
Boasting--Saharan travelling--My Umbrella--Grasping Son of
Shafou--Geology of the Desert--The "Person who gives"--Another
Caravan--Tuarick Sportsmen--Wady Aroukeen--Fine Scene--New
Trees--Kailouee Camels--Fine Nights--Well--New Moon--Passing a Caravan
in the Desert--Origin of the Kailouee Tuaricks--Arrive at Tajetterat--No
Robbers--An Alarm--Well of Esalan--Senna--Birds--Graves of Slave
Children--Our Grievances against the Tuaricks.
_4th._--We might have reached the well of Falezlez last night; but as we
did not know who might be waiting for us there, preferred halting
three-quarters of an hour from it, and advanced only in the morning, in
broad daylight.
Here we found our dates, left by the Tanelkums in the side of a mound of
sand, with a piece of rotten wood stuck up to mark the place. Had they
been, however, exposed by the side of the well, and a hundred caravans
had passed, no one would have touched them. It is a point of honour to
steal nothing thus confided in the desert. Mutual interest suggests
mutual forbearance. The Tanelkums left these dates, because we had only
hired the camels to bring them thus far, and they knew we should not
probably come up with them. This increase of our provisions turns out to
be opportune. Without it, some of our animals might have fallen down.
Round and near Ghât we found the stones which are set up at certain
intervals to mark the direction of the roads, frequently arranged in
circular heaps. An usual form is pyramidal, but the most common practice
of all is to set up one stone end-ways upon one or two others. Sometimes
a hundred of these will be seen together.
We have had some trouble in satisfying the Kailouees for the protection
they afford us. At Ghât the agreement made was for one hundred reals,
half in goods and half in money, and a trifling present when they
arrived at their journey's end. This was arranged by Haj Ibrahim and
Mohammed Kafa, a merchant of Ghât, and consul or wakeel of the
Kailouees, whom I have before mentioned. Immediately that they became a
little familiar with us, they began to say that they had not received
all the hundred reals; but on hearing that we should write to Ghât about
it, they dropped this plea, and asked for another hundred reals as the
present promised them, as they pretended, through Haj Ibrahim. When the
news came respecting Sidi Jafel--taking advantage of our supposed
fears--they boldly demanded a sword, some burnouses, and one hundred
reals in money.
All these demands I firmly resisted as long as I could; but at length,
when a compromise seemed necessary, we arranged for a hundred reals more
in goods. A part we have given here, and the rest we have promised on
our arrival at Aheer. Nothing is now said of Zinder, although the first
arrangement was from Aheer to Zinder. Such are the people we have to
deal with in Africa. But could we not find similar extortion amongst the
innkeepers and the conductors of carriages on the highways of Europe?
That all the people are _soua soua_--"higgledy-piggledy" is our only
equivalent phrase--is bad news for a Saharan traveller; for it signifies
nothing less than that there is no paramount authority in a country, and
that the traveller is exposed to the insolence of every evil-disposed
person. Such is represented to be the condition of Tidek, the first
province of Aheer upon which we shall enter.
The scarcity of food in Aheer--one of the causes of the disturbances
that are taking place--arises, we are told, from the quantity of
provisions carried away from the country when the Kailouees made their
expedition against the Walad Suleiman. But this expedition is now
finished, and there has been time for a revival of prosperity. Sickness
and disease are reported in Aheer at the present time. These are
unpleasant tidings for a traveller who is braving the fatigues and
perils of the Great Sahara, in hopes of some little repose at his
journey's end.
To express great numbers, the Arabs and Tuaricks always use the
similitudes, "like the dust," or "like flies." When the Tuaricks say we
are to give nothing to anybody--speaking, of course, of other people, as
Hateetah to me--they take up a little sand between the ends of their
fingers and scatter it on the palms of their hands. When they wish to
describe roads free from hills and ravines they extend the palm of their
hands, adding, "Like this." I cannot say that I admire the Kailouees in
any respect. Barth's comparison to snakes is tolerably correct. They
have duped us in various ways, and our only consolation is being able to
report their conduct to their friends in Ghât and Zinder.
These observations occur to me during our prolonged halt at the well of
Falezlez. The whole caravan needs this refreshment, both on account of
the fatigues it has already encountered, as of those to which it may
look forward on the tract of desert which now stretches wild and
inhospitable before us. Yesterday the sky was completely overcast; but
during the night and this morning the clouds have been succeeded by
wind, and strong blasts have completely cooled us. I do not think that
the climate would affect me so much as it does if I had something good
to eat; but the Tanelkums have got with them all my soups. The Germans
eat hausa like Tuaricks, and do very well. I expected to find the water
of Falezlez most unpalatable. This, indeed, is its reputation; but we
were all agreeably deceived, and the salt taste was scarcely
perceptible.
About ten in the morning, on the 5th, a solitary white camel, with a
rider, was reported as trotting rapidly over the hills to the east. The
circumstance created some excitement. It was Mohammed Wataitee, son of
Shafou, coming riding like the monarch of the desert, as he is, upon his
fine maharee. He had been travelling three days and three nights
consecutively; and however eager we were to hear his opinion of the
dangers that threatened us, it was necessary to allow him to spend the
whole day in repose.
When we could get speech of the traveller, he talked boastfully of the
value of his protection, and assured us that we had really nothing to
fear. He had heard, or would acknowledge to have heard, no rumours of
the hostile intentions of his father's cousin; only, he observed, "He is
an old man," with a gesture that implied wilfulness. He would have us
believe that this terrible enemy who has been pursuing us--at least in
our imagination--is nothing but a testy old gentleman, who says these
sort of things in a fanciful way just to express his power.
_6th._--We were off soon after sunrise, and made a long day of twelve
hours. The Kailouees were half an hour more performing the same
distance. They started first, and we travel a little faster than they.
Scarcely a blade of herbage cheered our sight to day. A sandy, gravelly
hamadah, with a few rocks and sand-hills here and there,--such is the
nature of the country. The rocks now assume a conic form, _ke ras
suker_, like a sugar-loaf, as the people say. Our course was south-west,
and so it will continue to be, nearly as far as Esalan, I was amused by
an observation of Dr. Overweg; he said, "I now understand the system of
these people" (Saharan travellers). "It is to travel as much as possible
without labour--to do all that is necessary, but nothing more. When we
left Tripoli, instead of reposing immediately at the camping-ground of
the caravan, everybody was running about to climb the hills and rocks;
but now we all fall down to rest as soon as we have halted." The Doctor
speaks of himself and Barth, certainly not of me; for I always rested as
much as possible with the people.
My old broken white umbrella attracts some attention amongst the
Kailouees. They all make a trial of it. Strong umbrellas would be very
useful during the hot summer months for all Saharan travellers.
I to-day asked the son of Shafou how his father liked the sword. An
unfortunate question. He replied, "Ah, he sends his compliments; but
says the sword is a little thing, and that you ought to have sent him
some money. There were many people waiting to see you at Aroukeen. They
were much disappointed at your not coming. They said,--'The Christians
must pass this way.'" It appears that a whole tribe of Tuaricks were
waiting for us, to beg, and to "eat us up," as the Arabs graphically
express it. In this respect we have been fortunate in not finding
Tuaricks on our line of route.
7th--We made another long and weary day of twelve hours. The fatigue is
killing. Our course was south-west, through heaps and groups of rocks
and narrow shallow wadys. In some directions, ridges of small rocks; in
others, isolated masses of conic form. The bed of the desert is mostly
granite, and some of the rocks are of the same substance. Indeed, the
Central Sahara seems to bristle with ridges of granite. Then there are
many varieties of this stone, and others springing out of granite, as
quartz rocks and felspar, and some sandstone mixed with quartz. Across
our path we observed many traces of wild oxen, and a few were seen with
their immense horns. Birds and reptiles were rare, and the lizard not so
frequent as before. Our camels found scarcely a mouthful of hasheesh; no
trees were visible, except a few miserable tholukhs.
The Kailouees have changed in a marked manner since Wataitee has
rejoined us, and are much more civil. But I do not talk to them,
contenting myself with a civil "Good day. How do you do?" This prevents
them from begging of me. They beg of Barth and Overweg, who do not
notice them. As I am "the person who gives," I am obliged to be very
polite, but distant.
_8th._--We started at sunrise, and made a short day of seven hours and
a-half, resting at last in a wady surrounded with rocks, where there was
some good herbage.
In the course of this march we met another portion of the large Soudan
caravan, and consigned to it our letters. They brought the news that the
Tanelkums were a day only in advance, having halted to take up water at
Aroukeen, where they dug again the old well which had been blocked with
stones.
This caravan informed us, besides, that the body of the large caravan
was resting at the well of Tajetterat. They had seen no Tuaricks. We
begin to hope that we have been disturbed by false alarms.
At about four hours from the encampment of yesterday we descried some
mountains to the south-west. Near them is the well of Janet, said to be
about seven hours out of the line of route. It is a frequent resort of
Tuaricks, who come to the neighbourhood for hunting purposes. All this
region is favourable to sport. Along our route to-day were noticed
footmarks of wild oxen and wadan.
Wataitee asked me whether he should go to see if there were any Tuaricks
at Janet, to get news of them; but I told him that he had better
continue with us until we reach Tajetterat. This he has agreed to do;
and we all feel that his presence is, to a certain extent, a protection.
In the evening we had a visit from three Tuarick sportsmen, with a
couple of dogs. We purchased two carcases of wadan from them. It would
have been most amusing to an untravelled European to witness the
bartering between us. The principal hunter got hold of the grey calico,
and would not let go until he had his full measure. Then how
deliberately he measured again with his long arms, with all the
appearance of justice, whilst he was filching off inches at once! Two
small carcases cost us about a mahboub. Wataitee pretends that these
hunters never carry provisions with them, but must catch wadan and oxen
or die. I made a tremendous supper of wadan, being as ravenous as a wolf
for a little meat and soup. The meat is so strong and nourishing, that
it threatened to produce injurious effects. It is necessary to be
cautious about indulging in unaccustomed food. Still this meat is far
superior to camels' flesh.
_9th._--We rose, and, with our accustomed regularity, started before
daybreak in search of water, for the Kailouees are without this element
essential to life in the desert. Having continued about six hours and
a-half, we encamped in Wady Aroukeen. It would not have been necessary
to come to this place, had our imprudent Kailouees taken in a sufficient
supply of water. This wady lies east and Tajetterat west.
Our course had been over an elevated rocky plain; but I had no idea of
the height to which we had arrived. Suddenly the ground broke up on
either side of the track into rocky eminences, and we now came to the
brow of a sharp descent. The valley of Aroukeen wound as it were like a
snake far down at the bottom of an immense hollow, surrounded on all
sides by an amphitheatre of savage-looking mountains--great stony
swells, made hideous here and there by crags and ravines, and piled away
on all sides in shattered magnificence. This is the grandest desert
prospect I have yet seen, and must strongly clash with the ordinary
notion of the Great Sahara which untravelled geologists have represented
as the recently-elevated bed of some ocean. We must now have reached the
summit of an inland Atlas, dividing the extreme limits of the Ghât
territory from the, to us, mysterious kingdom of Aheer.
In Wady Aroukeen there are some of the finest tholukhs I have seen,
reaching the height of thirty or forty feet. There are, besides, two new
species of trees, the adwa of Soudan, called, in Aheer, _aborah_: they
have not been observed before, and are natives of Bornou. Their general
aspect resembles the tholukh, but they have large prickles and a smooth
roundish leaf. There is a good deal of hasheesh in this valley.
We are now, they say, about twelve days from Aheer, exclusive of the
stoppages; twelve days, I mean, of twelve hours a-piece. These long
stretches are desperately fatiguing, and trying to the health; but there
is no remedy. We must make these weary stages on account of the scarcity
of water and herbage for the camels. The Kailouees tie their camels by
the lower jaw, and fasten the string to the baggage piled on the back of
the preceding animal; and the long line moves on well this way. The
Tuaricks fasten their bridles, when they ride their maharees, by a round
ring in the nose.
We had granite again to-day, and fine beds of felspar, pebbles, and
rocks. The geology of this portion of Sahara is very interesting, but no
crystals have yet been found. Yesterday and to-day, the wind has been
high, moderating greatly the heat. The wind is nearly always south-east.
The nights are resplendent. Jupiter and Venus are seen close together in
beautiful conjunction. The constellation of the Scorpion rises higher in
the south, whilst the Pole-star apparently falls.
I read nothing nowadays but a few verses of the Greek Testament, and
write these miserable leaves of journal. I must save my strength. I am
very weak as it is. We have still got nearly forty days of actual
travelling to make before we enter Soudan, but we hope Providence will
allow us a little rest at Aheer.
_10th._--We moved on late this morning up Wady Aroukeen, one hour and
a-half, to a place where we have better feeding for the camels; but it
was scarcely worth the trouble of loading and unloading, as the animals
could have been led up here to this portion of the wady.
Wady Aroukeen is in every respect a desirable place for the
resting-place of a caravan. It is full of trees and hasheesh, and lined
with lofty precipitous rocks, which afford shelter in winter and in
summer, and, as say the Scriptures, give "the shadow of a great rock in
a weary land." The well dug by the Tanelkums supplies very palatable
water. It lies about an hour and a-half from our encampment.
I sent off my Soudanese servant this morning to the Tanelkums, to ask
them to wait for us; or at least leave the things behind which I require
for our use.
Yesterday evening the new moon (second evening) was seen by our people,
telling them that the Ramadhan was finished. They saluted the pale
crescent horn with some discharges of their guns.
To-day is a great feast, but they have not the means of keeping it.
I cannot say that at this portion of my journey my mind is visited by
much cheerfulness. However agreeable may be the valley of Aroukeen, with
its grass patches, its clumps of trees, and the eternal shadow of its
rocks, I find my strength begin, to a certain extent, to fail me. For
several days I have had some threatening symptoms of ill-health; not
very serious, perhaps, to a person surrounded with any of the comforts
of civilisation, but much so to one in my position. Besides, despite my
endeavours to disbelieve the dangers with which we are said to be
menaced from lawless freebooters, it is difficult to disregard them so
far as to remain perfectly impassive.
My Kailouee friends do not seem to share our apprehensions. Sometimes
this circumstance cheers me; at others it suggests the idea that they
may be in league with their brethren. Let us hope not. At any rate I am
still displeased with them on account of their shabby conduct, and
disposed, perhaps, to look at them more unfavourably than they deserve.
A man came over the hills to our right in the course of the day. He
belonged to the Soudan caravan, the great body of which was passing at
no great distance by another road. Our presence does not seem to be
agreeable to such of these people as derive no profit from it. This
individual, in his own name and that of his companions, insists that we
Christians must not be allowed to enter the City of Marabouts, the Holy
City of Aheer. Many Musulman countries of the interior have their holy
cities. Perhaps this worthy man made these observations because he had
nothing else to say. At any rate, having expressed his opinion, he went
off. I regretted his churlish warning; but his presence, to a certain
extent, cheered me. It was pleasant to know that a large body of my
fellow-creatures were near at hand in this inhospitable desert, even
though they entertained feelings of suspicion against us, and were
proceeding on a path which might never again bring us together. Caravans
often pass thus in these regions, like ships at sea, which hail each
other if within hearing, but, not lying-to, are satisfied by this slight
testimony of mutual sympathy.
_11th._--We started somewhat late, and made a good day of nine hours and
a-half through winding narrow valleys, supplying a fair quantity of
hasheesh. The country around was wild and rugged--still the same
primitive formation, gneiss being the most common rock. On the way we
heard the story of the origin of the Kailouees, as given by the Haghar
Tuaricks; it is probably meant as a satire. According to this people, a
female slave escaped from their country, and travelling over the desert,
reached her native place in Soudan. But she bore within her bosom a
pledge that still half bound her to her ancient masters. She brought
forth a male child, and loved him and reared him; so that in process of
time he took a wife, and from this union sprung the bastard race of
Kailouees.
_12th._--We had halted the previous evening because we were within an
hour of the well of Tajetterat, which had become famous in our caravan
as the place where we were to be attacked and despoiled by the
freebooter Sidi Jafel Waled Sakertaf. This morning we pursued our way,
cautiously sending scouts before. But as the wady opened, the place
proved to be desolate, and we advanced joyously, with the confidence
that this time at least we had been disturbed by a false alarm. Still,
as we descended towards the well we could not now and then refrain from
casting our glances about into the gorges of the mountains, to discover
whether or not, after all, our enemies were lying in ambush there. Not a
living thing stirred upon the hills; and we gathered round the two
wells, or rather holes scraped out of the sand, with feelings of delight
and confidence. The water proved to be good; it is said to be produced
by rain, and to be purgative,--a quality it must derive from the soil
through which it trickles. We determined, however, not to stop at this
place, lest the men of Janet[7] might after all arrive; and pushing on,
in hopes that our track might be confounded with those of the caravans,
we reached, after a rapid march of five hours and a-half, the well of
Esalan. As we approached, we saw an encampment in its neighbourhood, and
camels grazing about. Our vanguard halted; and the whole caravan soon
became massed in the entrance of the gorge through which we were about
to issue. Our far-sighted guards, however, soon discovered that there
was no cause for alarm. We had at length overtaken our Tanelkum friends;
and riding forward I greeted them, and, forgetting all idea of danger,
anxiously asked for our baggage, and above all for my inestimable supply
of potted soups!
[7] This name is sometimes written "Janet," sometimes "Ghanet"
by Mr. Richardson, who, moreover, now describes the
inhabitants of the place as Haghar and then as Azgher. A
more definite account is given further on. It appears,
however, that vulgarly in the Sahara all the Tuaricks are
called Haghar or Hagar, which seems to have been used rather
indiscriminately in the caravan as a term of fear.--ED.
In this part of the country the scenery is far more open than it was
before; the mountains are lower, but the wadys are not so wide. Here and
there occurred considerable patches of herbage, called _sabot_, and many
large, fine trees. Amongst the smaller ones, for the first time, we came
upon the senna plant, some of the leaves of which our people plucked.
Higher up, in Aheer, is apparently the native soil of this plant. We had
also again the adwa, several trees, and the kaiou or kremka, the only
plant we have yet seen with a truly tropical aspect.
The adwa bears a fruit something like the date, and is eaten by the
people in Soudan. As to the _sabot_, above mentioned, it is a kind of
herbage, which covers the beds of the valleys in this region of
primitive rock: it forms the principal food of our camels. The _bou
rekabah_, however, the best for them, is in small quantities, but when
seen is devoured to the sand. The people of Aheer eat its seed as
ghaseb.
Yesterday, we saw, for the first time, a bird's nest in the desert, in
the side of a rock. It contained no eggs; our people, on a former
occasion, brought in some. It is astonishing how few birds' nests are
found, though in some places a good number of small flutterers are seen.
About the wells of Tajetterat darted half-a-dozen quails. We have not
yet observed an ostrich, although many traces have been found on the
sand. Around, however, are numbers of the wadan,[8] and our huntsmen are
active. Yesterday some flesh of this animal was brought in.
[8] Wadan is the Arabic name of the aoudad of the Berbers. We
call the animal "mouflon" (_Ovis tragelaphus_). It is found
in considerable numbers throughout the deserts of Northern
Africa, from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. I have seen a
beautiful specimen, nearly all milk-white, in Cairo.--ED.
In this part of the route we frequently fell in with small heaps of
stones; and if we ask what they mean, are invariably told they are the
graves of slave-children who have perished by the way, most probably in
the arms of their mothers. What wonderful tales of sorrow and anguish
could these rocks give, if they were not compelled to eternal dumbness!
What sighs, what shrieks of grief have echoed here! How many tears have
watered this track! These thoughts saddened our way; but they seemed at
the same time to rouse that enthusiasm which is the only adequate ally
to those engaged in such a mission as ours.
The son of Shafou is to leave us at Esalan. I may as well record here,
in form, a list of our grievances against the Tuaricks, for the
information and warning of future travellers:--
1st. They, the Tuaricks, wished to obtain presents from the Germans,
nearly in the same quantity as from myself; or, at least, something
considerable.
2d. They wanted us to remain six weeks in Ghât, to wait for an answer
from Sultan En-Noor at Aheer.
3d. They refused to conduct us to the frontier of Aheer, according to
their agreement at Mourzuk.
4th. They demanded seventy reals for the passage of our free blacks.
5th. They insisted on having the presents for Berka, Khanouhen, and
Jabour, before the treaty was signed.
The first two demands I successfully resisted, as also the third at
Ghât. The fourth was compromised; we paid twenty-eight reals instead of
seventy. The last I yielded, on the condition that I should only give
three burnouses.
_13th._--The water of Esalan is, likewise, nothing but a deposit of
rain. Several holes are scooped out in the sand, down to the rocky bed
of the valley.