The wood used in the construction of buildings is that of the date-tree, which, apparently, grows stronger and tougher with age. Of this all the doors of the houses and the lighter works are made. Wood for fireing is brought in from The Sahara, but from a great distance. It is sold for three Tunisian piastres the camel-load. It is the common brush-wood, underwood, or scrub of The Desert, and is excessively dry, for withered and dead trees or shrubs are gathered. In seasons of rain The Sahara creates this wood quickly, it then perishes for want of rain. Sometimes wood for building is brought from Tripoli, i. e., deal-boards. Our caravan brought some doors for a mosque, made of deal.

This evening was a grand celebration of divine worship in the house of the Rais, and a Marabout chanted verses from the Koran. His Excellency certainly gains the respect, if not the affections, of the pious. He is often said by the people to be a man who "fears God." I sat near the door listening. A fellow said to me, "You must sit farther off whilst the people are praying, it is unlawful to sit where you are." I took no notice of his impertinence. The Rais sent me yesterday, as the evening before, a very good supper. Being Ramadan, I stopped up till midnight talking politics with him. He is a native of a province, near Circassia, fallen under the iron rule of Muskou (the Russians). Having been in the Syrian campaign he was enabled to see the feeding of the English soldiers and sailors, which quite astonished him. He observed, "The Emperor of Russia will never have good troops, he scarcely gives them anything to eat. It is not surprising they desert to the Circassians." The Rais has a great dread of the Russians absorbing the Ottoman empire: it is not an unreasonable dread.

6th.—My turjeman complains that neither he nor the people can pay their excessive taxes; they must all be soon ruined. Yet a couple of thousand pounds per annum is nothing for a commercial city like this. He says, "If we were to cultivate our gardens, we should have more; but then the Turks would demand more, so our spirits are broken, and we are eaten up. We have no heart to work for our oppressors." Continue to read the Arabic New Testament, which aids me in colloquial disquisitions with the people. The Ghadamsee people persist in not taking medicines during the fast. One told me, "Even if a man dies, and medicine could save him, he must not take it." I have therefore fewer patients during the inexorable Ramadan. But I save my tea and coffee—"An ill wind blows, &c." The Rais, however, gets his tea in the evening. It is remarkable with what willingness, and without any sort of prejudice, several of the people offer me information. Even when refused, I always find it arises from indolence to narrate it. They are not afraid that I am collecting information to supply the English Government with the means of invading their country, like some Moors in Barbary. They look upon the thing just as it is,—that I am writing a book about their country to amuse Christians.

The Sheikh of the slaves came in, with several Ghadamsee youths:—

"The Governor says, you are not the Sheikh; he is the Sheikh."

"So, does he say?"

(The Youths.—"But the Sheikh is the Sheikh.")

"I am," says the Sheikh, "from Timbuctoo; all the people are Mohammedans, and fast. Do you fast?"

I.—"I eat and drink what is good at all times, even wild-boar."

The Sheikh and Youths.—"Oh, wonderful!"

They.—"You write Arabic?"

I wrote that God was one.

They.—"And write Mahomet was the Prophet of God?"

I wrote Mahomet was the Prophet of the Arabs and the Touaricks?

The Sheikh.—"Ah, ah, I see, I see, you're very cunning."

The Youths.—"Who is your Prophet?"

I.—"Aysa (Jesus)."

The Youths.—"Have you any books of your Prophet?"

I.—"Yes, here is one:" (Giving them the New Testament.)

They.—"Oh, see, let us read it, let us take it home."

I.—"No; if you were men, yes. But if I allow you to read it, or read it to you, your Bey and the people will be offended with me, and send me out of the city. When you go to Tripoli, you can see and read the Christian books."

I was surprised that a well-informed man like the Sheikh Makouran should ask me whether the Emperor of Morocco was also Emperor of Fez, and whether Morocco was a large country. "Ghat," says the Rais, "like all the Touarick countries, is a republic. All the people govern." Walked out this evening for the first time to-day. The people are vehement in their complaints against the oppressions of the Turks: "All the wealth of the country is dried up, and the merchants are all running away. We are ruined unless the English save us."

It has been very hot and sultry to-day. Not a breath of air. The sky overcast—a profound, deathlike tranquillity sleeping over the environs! The Rais sent supper as usual. After visiting him, he had a fit of writing, and wrote for the courier all night. Thank God, there are no gnats in Ghadames. I have not seen nor felt any. It is probably owing to the absence of no water, stagnating here, all being absorbed in the dry earth of the gardens.

7th.—Read eight chapters of the Arabic Testament. Some of the phrases very strangely rendered into Arabic. The Moors cannot understand them. My Testament wants some verses: it is the ordinary Arabic Bible circulated by The Bible Society. There is no good translation of The Scriptures into Arabic, from what I have been able to learn. Continue to think all day long and dream of Timbuctoo. Had a conversation with the Touaricks about a journey there. The difficulty is, the strongest Touarick escort practicable cannot always pass through the Touarick districts, there being such a great variety of tribes. It is the quarrels of the Touaricks themselves, and not our not being able to trust them individually, which renders the route so dangerous.

Slave-dealing is so completely engendered in the minds of the Ghadamsee merchants, that they cannot conceive how it can be wrong. A young man wrote me down the objects (very few) of exportation from Soudan, and in the following order, viz., "Cottons, elephants' teeth, bekhour (perfume), wax, slaves, bullocks' skins, red skins, feathers, (of the ostrich)." Human beings are just summed up with the rest as an article of commerce, as a matter of course, in the most mercantile style.

It will be next to impossible to propagate anti-slavery notions in Central Africa, supported as slavery is by commerce and religion. We can only say, "With God nothing is impossible."

All the people bring their griefs and malcontentments to me. It's not so pleasant to be bored by them, let alone the policy of my listening to all they have to say. But the ill humour of these poor fleeced people must have a vent, or sfogo, as the Italians term it, and what can I do? An intelligent merchant came to me. "Yâkob, bisslamah, (how do you fare?) The Rais is always collecting money, don't you see? That's the business of the Turks. This city is 4000 years of age. It flourished before Pharaoh, in the time of Nimrod. Now the Turks come to destroy it; their business is to destroy; such is the will of God." I might elaborate the idea. The genius of the Turks is to destroy. The hand of the Turk blasts as mildew everything it touches; it has destroyed the fairest portions of the earth. Happily, however, it so destroys itself, for it is not desirable for truth and civilization that the sway of the Osmanlis should be restored to its pristine strength.

Among the most friendly people to me in Ghadames are the Arab soldiers. Now, whilst I write, not less than twenty of these poor fellows are lying around my door, and in the skeefah (entrance-passage or room) of my house. They tell me always, my house is their house, and their mountains my mountains. They all speak in the highest terms of Mr. Frederick Warrington, son of Colonel Warrington, whom they call Fredreek. They consider him as one of themselves, and so he is as to habits, manners, and language, and frequently dress. When they quarrel in Tripoli, the ultima ratio, or dernier ressort, is not to go to the Pasha, but Nimshee lel Fredreek, "Let us go to Frederick!" This is "the settler." It has often been said amongst the Consular corps of Tripoli, that, in case Great Britain thought it expedient to assume the Protectorate of Tripoli, Frederick Warrington would be their man, the instrument of revolution. There is not a single Arab in the Regency but what would flock to his standard. He has been all his lifetime in Tripoli.

M. Carette, in his brochure of the Commerce of Central Africa, says, "Timbaktou, Kânou, et Noufi sont les trois marchés principaux du pays des Noirs. Les voyageurs du Nord ne parlent pas du Niger; c'est une limite qu'ils ne franchissent pas; ils paraissent n'avoir aucunes relations avec les populations Mandingues de la rive droite:" (p. 26). This is inexact. The merchants do speak of the Niger frequently to me, calling it the Wady Neel, thinking, and which is a very ancient opinion, that it is a continuation of the Nile of Egypt. They also visit the opposite shores or banks of the Mandingoes. Some of them go to Noufi, as M. Carette admits; on my leaving for Ghat, a merchant going to Noufi was my fellow traveller, and promised to accompany me there. Here Mr. Becroft has recently, from the south-east, ascending the Niger, shaken hands with the merchants of the north. An old slave, a native of Sansandee (or Sinsindee ) says of the Niger, "The river is like the sea of Tripoli and all sweet" (water.)

The Sheikh Makouran does not approve of my Timbuctoo ideas. Says the city is always in an uproar with the Touaricks, who are robbers and not like the Touaricks of Touat. Walked through the town at noon, and met Essnousee, had not seen him for some time, and wondered what had become of him. He was very friendly, and wanted to bring me lemonade in the street. But as there was a large concourse of people present, all fasting, poor devils, at this time of the day; I thought common decency required me to go with him to his house. I waited in a dark corner close by his door, and here I quaffed the forbidden draught in the high-noon of the Fast. He smiled at me when I finished, and said, "Well done, Yâkob." He gave me also a fine melon to bring home with me. I considered this feat of drinking lemonade, under the circumstance related, a remarkable trait of tolerance. People usually put into their lemonade pieces of rag steeped in lemon-juice and dried; in this way the juice is preserved from evaporation. Essnousee had just lost his wife. "Have you any other wives?" I said. "Oh yes," he replied, "one here and one in Ghat." Many of the merchants, like the roving tar who has a sweetheart at every port, have a wife at every city of The Desert and Soudan where they trade. Several of the children now in Ghadames were born either in Timbuctoo or Soudan.

8th.—Few patients on account of the Ramadan. Weather extremely sultry. People bear the fast remarkably well, and with good humour enough. The Rais persists in sending me supper though I would rather he did not. After mass and chanting prayers in the evening, his Excellency holds a court. He abused the Sultan of Constantinople and called him an ass for spending his money like a fool, and this license before all the people! Smoking, drinking coffee, talking, and writing for the courier, all together, so his Excellency passes his Ramadan evenings. Said, my negro servant, is becoming as great a man as his master in Ghadames. He receives visits from all the slaves of the city, as well as the free negroes. Being slaves, I am very indulgent, and sometimes they stop all day with him. The slaves of the Touaricks also come. Said manages to talk with them all in all languages. I see there is a sort of free-masonry amongst negroes, and they all (which is greatly to their credit) stick close to one another, and take one another's part. Said is impatient about his âtka, or freedom ticket. He said to me to-day—

"Oh, Sidi, where's my âtka? The people will steal me and sell me again."

"No, Said," I replied, "have patience, if they steal you, they must steal me also."

Visited with Said to-day "the Street of Slaves." This is a little dark street appropriated for the rendezvous of the slaves in my part of the city, where they enjoy the cool of the evening and chat together. I squatted down to chat amongst them, which awakened their curiosity.

"Who's that naked boy there?"

They.—"The Touaricks brought him from Bornou."

"What are they going to do with him?"

They.—"The Touaricks will send him to Tripoli, and sell him; will you buy him?"

"No, no; if I buy him, my sultan will put me in prison."

(They, one to the other.—"Do you believe him?")

"The English had many slaves, but gave them all the âtka; and soon, please God, they will destroy slavery in all the world."

They.—"Ah, ah," (laughing), "that's right; we wish to have the âtka."

I found some were from Soudan, others from Timbuctoo, the greater part from Bornou. About a score of them were present; their greatest delight was in exchanging their various lingos. When they heard I was going to Kanou, one jumped up like a fury, saying, "Oh, I must send something to my mother." This was a poor grey-headed wrinkled-faced old man! His poor mother, alas! may have been long ago whipped to death upon the cotton plantations of South Carolina, where the blood of the slave is poured out to fertilize the fields of pampered republicans, and give tongue to the braggadocio of the free sons of the Model-Republic!

To-day, saw three swallows in a garden for the first time at Ghadames. They darted over the heads and through the foliage of the graceful palms, performing sweet eccentric circles. To me, they were winged messengers from the fair bowers and silvery brooks of Paradise.

To give an idea of the general ignorance of the Ghadamsee people on European geography, I have only to record a part of a conversation with them.

They.—"Where's your country; is it near Rome?"

"No; further to the west and north."

They.—"Did not the English spring from the Arabs?"

"No; the English are from the north, a colder country; the Arabs are from a hot country."

They.—"Are the Greeks like the English? and is their country near yours?"

"No; they are farther from us than Rome itself."

They.—"Do the English fast?"

"Sometimes; but when they fast they don't eat in the night time, like you; they fast day and night."

They.—"That's not good; that's not right. Do you fast?"

"Never, thank God."

The people bother my life out about fasting. Two young Touarick women came to me—

"Thou Christian! dost thou fast?" (they having never seen a person before who did not fast).

"No; the Christians don't fast."

The girls.—"Don't the Christians know God?"

"Yes, they know God."

The girls.—"No, they don't, for they don't say Mahomet is the prophet of God."

The sum of religion amongst many of the wild tribes, is the formula of Mahomet being the prophet of God—fasting and circumcision. Many of the Touaricks, however, will not fast, or fast with difficulty, it involving the cessation of smoking, of which they are passionately fond. A Touarick, who was accustomed to visit Mr. Gagliuffi at Mourzuk, ridiculed the Ramadan, and called those who fasted, fools. He would squat down in Mr. Gagliuffi's house, and take out his pipe at midday, and say, "Come, Consul, let's have a drink of the pipe. These people who fast all day are asses." Other Touaricks, more scrupulous, always set out on a journey during Ramadan, in order to have the relaxation permitted by the law.

The Rais is deeply engaged in petty finance, some quite mites, to make up the accounts for Tripoli. Whilst seated near his Excellency, a big lout of a fellow was brought up, charged with beating a little urchin, who was present to substantiate the charge. The Rais, after gravely hearing the case, had the big clown turned round with his hands tied behind him, and then told the little rogue aggrieved to lay it into him as hard as he could with his fists clenched. The little imp, who looked as wicked as imp could be, instantly gave the broad back of the great fellow half a dozen strokes. Hereupon all the bystanders, and the officers of his Excellency, burst into a fit of tremendous laughter, and the big coward was allowed to escape, sneaking off like a dog with his tail between his legs. The Rais came up to me smiling with great self-complacency, and said—"Well, isn't that the way to administer justice?" I then astonished the hangers-on of his Excellency's Court, by relating to them some account of the expeditions to the North Pole. They asked me whether any Mussulmans were there, and how they could fast when the sun did not set? Several said I merely invented the account to amuse them. In this case, and also in that of the precepts of the Mosaic Institute, we see the inconvenience of making the precepts of religion depend on local and physical circumstances.

I have seen little urchins in Italy, before the flaming wax-light altars, drink in with their mother's milk the virus of Popery, but I never witnessed a stronger case of infantile prejudice than to-day. A child of less than three years old came running out of a by-street (apparently no person being near it), and called after me, Kafer, kafer, "Infidel, infidel"! and spat at me in the bargain like a little toad.

Noon.—I met with a fellow, a sort of swaggering cheap-jack penny-a-liner, who swore that there was no man so learned as himself in all Ghadames, and that he would teach me the history of Ghadames, and all the world, for money. He then followed me home, asked me for my journal, and wrote in it five lines of Arabic poetry. Meanwhile I poured him out a cup of tea, putting a large lump of sugar in it. When he had finished his five lines, which he did without being asked, he impudently demanded a dollar for his trouble. I told some Arabs who were present to turn him out of the house. He decamped, but not before giving us his blessing—"The curse of God be upon you Arab dogs, and the Christian dog."

Awfully hot to-day. The hottest day since my residence in Ghadames. Yet, strange to say, when shut up in my room, I feel very little of it. My house is only one story high; there is only a single roof between me and this sun of fire—a strong proof of how little is necessary to protect you from the heats of The Sahara. Late at night, when sitting with the Rais, he amused me with pulling off his greegrees or talismans. As he pulled off each he kissed it devoutly, and laid it by gently on his papers. He wears one round his arm in the shape of an armlet, and three round his neck, two suspended with separate ribbons, and one with a silver chain. As he kissed each, he put it to his eyes, rubbing it over the eyelid. I am sadly afraid his charms obtain all the credit of my solution of nitrate of silver. Be it so; it is hard to cure men of this sort of folly, at best a most unwished, unrequited labour[24]. I always tell the Ghadamsee people the medicine I distribute neither belongs to me, nor to the English Consul at Tripoli, but to the Queen of England, and which, I have observed, heightens its value in their eyes. Douwa min, ând Sultana Ingleeza, ("physic from the English Sultana",) is a sort of royal talisman which helps the medicine down as a bit of sugar taken with a child's draught.

10th.—The women brought several little children, all ailing, but could do very little for them. Occupied writing most of the day. Spent the evening with the Rais. His Excellency is very fond of politics: "The Touaricks number more than two hundred thousand souls. They are dispersed over all The Desert. The Sahara is not so difficult to occupy as some think; it can be more easily conquered than the mountainous districts. The country is more open. The only difficulty is the wells. But in winter, the time when military expeditions are undertaken, there is water on the line of most of the grand routes, and camels can supply a large body of compact troops, where there are no wells. At the different wells small forts could be built, like that I am building at Emjezzem, which forts the Touaricks would never dare approach. The wells once in possession of the invading force, it would be impossible for any considerable body of Arabs or Touaricks to follow up or after their steps. Twenty thousand men could occupy, in detachments, the greater part of The Sahara. The French will go to Touat one day, not yet!" But the Rais never spoke much against the French. He often said, "I wish the French would exterminate the Shânbah banditti, the Sultan would applaud them for it. I pray God the French will destroy these robbers."

Continue to agitate the question of a tour farther into the interior. Have almost determined to pursue the route of Ghat, and accompany the ghafalah of the Ghadamsee merchants. This route has two advantages for me—I shall be safe with my old friends the merchants, and the route has never before been trodden by an European traveller. The routes of Bornou and Timbuctoo have been travelled by Europeans, though some of the parties have never returned. One thing is certain—unless I go to the first-hand traffickers in human flesh—to the heart of Africa itself, I can never get the information which I require. Am told I can defray the expense of the whole journey from here to Kanou and back, (exclusive of presents), for about fifty pounds sterling, but it must be with economy. Afterwards saw several merchants again on the question, felt discouraged, and my faith shook in the Ghat route. They think the best route for me Bornou, thence I may proceed to Kanou, and perhaps even to Timbuctoo. It is astonishing how everybody's opinion varies; the majority, nevertheless, are in favour of the Bornou route for me. Probably they are afraid of the responsibility of escorting me through the Touarick districts. Determined a day or two after to go to Kanou viâ Ghat and Aheer. Cannot see any danger if I stick close to the Ghadamsee merchants. A young merchant said to me, "Yâcob, we are not jealous of you, for you are not a merchant. You can draw your money, and get it ready. The ghafalah will be cheap for you, for no escort will be required. You can go without your Consul, or the Pasha, or the Rais."

The wind continues hot to-day; the ghiblee is getting more suffocating and intense. Everything is drooping and the poor emaciated fasters are dying with thirst. The air is as the small still breath of the furnace when its heat is at the greatest intensity, without flame or smoke.

11th.—Every day, in spite of the Ramadan, brings an increase of patients. In time there will not be a single inhabitant of Ghadames who has not been physicked by my quackery. I notice my negro servant Said is gradually expanding into a full-blown reputation, of which he is very proud. The Mussulmans pay him almost more deference than myself, and I ought to be jealous. It is the plan in these countries to influence the masters through the servants; so whenever anything is to be obtained, the masters are not spoken to, but the servants, which latter are feed and bribed until the object is obtained. Preached anti-slavery and anti-Ramadan doctrines to Berka, the liberated slave of Sheikh Makouran. The poor fellow confessed it was better to eat and drink in the Ramadan, and not steal men and sell them as slaves, than to fast in the Ramadan, and steal men and sell them. The old lad has great influence amongst the slaves of Ghadames, being their senior, and the liberated slave of one of the most respectable men of the country. He went and preached in turn to the slaves my anti-slavery and anti-fast principles.

It may be observed here, that information can only be obtained bit by bit, here a little and there a little; and it is absolutely necessary to note everything down immediately if you would not forget it, at least if you would be correct. The Moors and Arabs have no patience, beyond a few minutes, in giving information, unless it be something where their own interests are deeply concerned. My scattered notes must then be compared one with another to arrive at a proper idea of the objects respecting which they treat. Some notes will necessarily correct others.

A Touarick came in whilst I was eating my dinner this evening, about half an hour before sun-set. I was sitting in the patio, or open court of my house. The Touarick, standing erect before me, with a long spear in his right hand, and extending his left towards the sky, looked up, and then, with an air of imposing solemnity, uttered these words in a measured, solemn tone: "And—thou—Christian—thou fastest—thus! Thy father—knoweth—not—God! Thou art a Kafer—he is a Kafer—and the fire[25] at last will eat you both up!" Turning round, and looking up to this prophet-like denunciator, I said, smiling: "Why, how now? you Mussulmans fast, and think you are righteous; but whether is it better to eat and drink on the Ramadan, for which God cares nothing, or fast in the Ramadan, and go afterwards and steal or buy men and women and little children, like your little son there, and take them to Tripoli, and sell them like donkeys and camels? This is forbidden to us English—this is our religion, not to steal and sell men, but to eat and drink in the Ramadan is not forbidden to us." After this answer, which I had some difficulty in making him comprehend, the fellow stood speechless, completely staggered. I continued to eat my dinner with a good appetite, notwithstanding his threatening position and silence. God knows what was passing through his mind. After a long pause he receded back a few steps, and then quietly squatted down. He then got up again, and said, "Have you any medicines for my mother in Ghat?" I told him to come to-morrow, and I would give him some.

Rais occupied as usual this morning with collecting money. He avows with exasperation that the people have deposited all their money in the hands of a few merchants of Tripoli, who are under the protection of the Consuls. He was writing teskeras to obtain money from those Tripoli merchants. "The Pasha," he added, "gets no benefit from these deposits, nor the people. The Tripoli merchants are lying, bloodsucking Jews." Did not go out again till the evening; occupied in copying a long letter for The Times. My sugar and tea go very fast. Do not know what I should have done unless the Ramadan had interposed to save these luxuries of The Desert. It is surprising how rigid the fast is kept. Not a soul in the city of the proper age who does not fast.

12th.—Weather continues very sultry. The wind has scarcely changed for a month, always south. To-day I ate camel's flesh for the first time, but did not like it much; it depends, however, upon the part you eat, as also upon the camel itself, whether young or old, or in a good condition. The camel is usually killed when past work, and very lean and poor. The people call camels' flesh their beef; it does serve as a substitute for bullocks' flesh, no bullocks being killed here. The whole carcase was immediately sold as soon as exposed in the Souk.

13th.—Wrote this evening to the Governor of Ghat, to tell him I wished to come to Ghat, and begged for his protection; and that I should be obliged if he could send some trusty person to fetch me, whose expenses I would pay. Wrote also letters to go by courier to Tripoli.

14th.—Weather continues hot. My taleb calls the season khareef, "autumn;" and says the fruits of heaven which are always ripe have nevertheless a peculiar ripeness at this period. Staring at him, he continued, "Yes, there is a greater correspondence between earth and heaven than people think." I was recommended this taleb by the Rais. He writes my Arabic letters for The Desert; he calls himself Mohammed Ben Mousa Bel Kasem. The reader will hear now a great deal about him, and his learning and character. He takes up my Arabic Bible now and then, and reads a verse or two; but it is astonishing how little effect, even in the way of curiosity, it produces on the mind of these Mussulmans. One would think at least they would like to know something of its contents. Notwithstanding, The Book, which contains the religion of the civilized world, hardly excites curiosity enough in them to take it up and read a single verse! I have often offered it to them to read, but they have refused to open the book. A great disadvantage is the crabbed, miserable language into which it is translated. After the bold, impudent, and sublime language of the Koran, they cannot relish the tame and stunted language of the Arabic New Testament. As for the simple and grand truths of the New Testament, these they cannot or will not comprehend. Force, or the Sword—as the Might of the Almighty—is the thing alone which strikes the minds of Mussulmans, in spite of all their moral maxims and philosophy. But I must confess I never expected that a religion like that of the Koran, which contains so few fundamental truths, and so few mysteries, would have produced such a race of superstitious pharisees. To-day a fellow, whose eyes are dreadfully inflamed with ophthalmia, refuses to have them doctored, because the solution administered to the eye may enter the stomach, by which he would violate the sanctity of the Ramadan. I can only beg him to come at night. Another jackanapes, who suffers equally, refuses to have my solution at all applied. He said to me, "I suffer, and I may be blind, but it will be the will of God." I wonder the whole population is not blind. Another sufferer craved a talisman to drink with water at night[26].

FOOTNOTES:

[23] Tut, "Morus alba," L. It is pleasant and sweet, but a little insipid eating.

[24] Whether the Rais brought his superstitious reverence for amulets from Turkey or not I cannot tell, or acquired the notion here. But the superstition seems merely to have changed place with the Fetisch amongst the Negro Mohammedan converts. Haj Ibrahim, a merchant of Tripoli, was the only Mussulman I found who despised the use of charms. He observed:—"The grigri is only fit for slaves, or ignorant Mussulmans."

[25] Hell is ordinarily denominated fire by people in The Desert.

[26] Caillié gives an affecting account of this superstition amongst the Mandingoes:—

"On the 8th, I found myself very ill in consequence of the food, and I had an attack of fever. I took a few doses of sulphate of quinine, which had the effect of abating the fever for a few days. My host seemed much concerned at my indisposition. He searched through some old books which contained verses of the Koran, and brought me a scrap of paper well fumigated on which was written a charm in Arabic characters, assuring me that it was an excellent remedy for the disorder under which I was suffering. He directed me to copy it on a little piece of wood which he brought me; then, to wash off the writing with some water which I was to drink: he observed that this would to a certainty relieve me. To please him I copied the writing as he directed, and when he was gone washed the bit of board; but instead of drinking the water I threw it away, which had quite as good an effect, for next day I found myself tolerably well. My host, of course, attributed my amendment to the efficacy of his remedy."



CHAPTER VI.

THE FAST OF THE RAMADAN.

The Sahara, and derivation of the Name.—Astonishment of the People at the Sovereign of England being a Woman.—Decision of the Kady on a diseased Camel.—The old Mendicant Bandit.—Phrenological examination of the Servants of the Rais.—The Scorpion and the Chamelion.—Starving state of the Arab Troops.—Contradictions in the Moorish Character.—Difficulty of acquiring notions of Quantities and Distances from the People.—The Princes to whom Presents are made in the Soudan Route.—How Butchers cut up their Meat.—Connexion between North Africa, The Sahara, and the East.—The Prophecy of The Dajal and Gog and Magog.—Origin of the Turks, Touaricks, and Russians.—How the Fast is broken in the Evening.—Phenomenon of Desert Sound.—The Great Spring of Ghadames.—The Malta Times.—The People their own Enslavers.—Quotation from Scripture.

A TALEB tells me that The Sahara is so called from its consisting mostly of rocky stony ground, and its name is a cognate term with Sakharah, , i. e. "rock." This derivation we can scarcely admit, although as we advance into The Sahara we shall find at least a third of its entire surface to consist of rocks and stones, and mountains. The Sahara——being the theatre of my adventures and researches, deserves a little consideration as to the derivation of this appellation, for so vast a proportion of the African Continent. A late French writer, M. Le Lieutenant-Colonel Daumas, defines The Sahara as "une contrée plate et très-vaste, où il n'y a que peu d'habitants, et dont la plus grande partie est improductive et sablonneuse." This definition presents no proper idea of The Sahara. We have already seen it intersected with long low ridges of mountains, but we shall soon meet with groups of high mountains, as well as find it bristled over and bounded by interminable chains. We shall find also that but a certain portion of its actual mass consists of sand. Unproductive the greater part undoubtedly is, or rather uncultivated; and its population, compared with its vast sterile surface, is extremely small, perhaps not one inhabitant to many thousand square miles. The Mahometan talebs give the following curious etymology of the term Sahara. "We call Sehaur," they say, "that point scarcely distinguishable which precedes the point of day, (fidger), and during which, in the time of Ramadan, we can eat, drink, and smoke. The most rigorous abstinence ought to commence from the time of morning, or when we can distinguish a white thread from a black thread. The Sehaur is then a shade between night and the point of day, which is important for us to seize upon and to determine, and which ought to occupy the attention of our Marabouts. One of them, Ben-ej-Jiramy, starting on the principle, that the Sehaur is more easily and sooner distinguished by the inhabitants of the plains, where nothing bounds the horizon, than by the mountaineers, who are enveloped in masses of earth, concludes that, from the name of the phenomenon there formed, viz., on the plains, where it is more particularly distinguished or observed, we have named the country Sahara, or the country of the Sehaur." In this whimsical and ingenious derivation there is a change of the into , but which is sufficiently frequent in the Shemitic languages. The grand fallacy of the above etymology is, that it assumes the Sahara to be a perfectly flat country, or country of plains, which is not the fact. The talebs also give various names to different portions of The Sahara, according to the geological character of the country. Feeafee is The Oasis, where life is retired, and one spends one's happy days amidst eternal springs of living water, reclining under palms and fruit trees, securely sheltered from the burning simoon (shoub). Keefar, is the sandy arid plain, which, occasionally watered by the winter's revivifying refreshing and fructifying rains, produces spring herbage, where the Nomade tribes pasture their flocks in the neighbourhood of the oases. Falat, is the region of sands in the immensity of steril wastes. But all these distinctions are arbitrary, and can be predicated of tracts of country lying on the North Coast of Africa, as well as the boundless Sahara. On the coast of Tripoli we have the oasis, the arid plain, and the groups of sand-hills of eternal sterility. Captain Lyon enumerates in the same way as the talebs, the various names which the Arabs apply to different regions of The Desert. Sahara is sand alone, forming a plane surface, which agrees with the hypothesis of Ben-ej-Jiramy. Ghoud is groups of sand-hills of indefinite height, situate on the borders of stony plains, where the wind has formed and collected them. Sereer, is generally plains, whence the sand-hills have been swept, and where alone sand-hills are found. Wâr, is a rough plain, covered with large detached stones, lying in confusion, and very difficult to pass over, which is the meaning of the appellation. It is applied to all difficult traverse. Hateea, is a spot possessing the power of fertility; indeed, those patches of land which are the germs of the oases, now producing small stinted shrubs scattered at intervals, from which camels browse a scanty meal, or travellers make their Desert fire. Wishek, is productive sand-hills and plains, where the wild palm and lethel-tree grow. Ghabah, distinguishes cultivated Sahara, sometimes a portion of the oases, but mostly where there are no inhabitants. So near Touat, there is a cultivated place called Ghabah, and without inhabitants. But the people of Ghadames call also their gardens Ghabah. Sibhah, is the usual name for all salt plains, sometimes called Shot in Algeria, being mostly sandy salt marshes. Like the Sibhah of Emjessen, and "The Lake of Marks," in Tunis, the saline particles are often combined with earths or sand so closely as to form a substance resembling stone, and equally hard to break or cut through. With this salt stone houses are built. Wady, is the designation of all long deep depressions of the surface, and is used indifferently for a valley, a bed of a river, or torrent, or ravine. These wadys are almost always dry, except one or two months in the winter. Gibel, is applied to all hills and mountains. It is quite evident, from the above enumeration, that these various terms can be equally applied to the coast and other regions of land, not comprehended within the assigned limits of The Sahara, and are therefore not peculiar to The Great Desert of Sahara.

All the people are astonished when I tell them the British Sovereign is a lady. They have enough to believe it; indeed, some of them do not, and think I am trifling with their credulity. It goes against the grain, and their grain especially, to be ruled over by a woman, (though many of them, from my own personal knowledge, are entirely under the influence of their wives in private, as all or most men are,) and is contrary to all their notions of government and womankind. I was surrounded with a group when the information was given, and I shall just mention the questions which were put to me in rapid succession. "Does that woman govern well?" "Has she a husband? What does her husband?" "Has she any children?" "Is she a big woman?" "Is she beautiful?" "How much does she pay you for coming to our country?" "Who has more power, she or the Sultan (of Constantinople)?" "What's her name?" "Have the Christians any other women who govern?" And so forth. I explained to them that Spain and Portugal were ruled by two other Queens, but that, in France, a Queen never reigns. At the mention of this latter fact, there was general murmur of approbation, "El-Francees ândhom âkel (the French have wisdom)." To soften the matter down a little, and abate their prejudices, I told them the father of the Queen of England had no sons, and in all such cases, if there were daughters, these were allowed to govern the people. "Batel (stupid)," said one fellow, and the conversation dropped.

Begin to like the place, as I find I can pick up information respecting the interior. The merchants seem now more disposed to assume the responsibility of taking me with them. Went through the market-place, and witnessed a sitting of judgment upon a sick camel. This was an affair of the Kady, a little, fat, chubby, cherub-looking fellow, but proud and silent. The people said he was sagheer, "young," and excused his uncanonical conduct. He sat, high placed on a stone-bench, amidst a semicircle of people, squatting on the ground. He looked very grave, now exchanging a word or half syllable with one, now with another, but continually moving his lips as if in prayer. I met him afterwards in the street, and always found him moving the lips, with his rosary of black Mecca beads in his hands. He holds a separate and independent jurisdiction from the Rais, and is the Archbishop or Pope of Ghadames. His decision cannot be annulled by the authorities in Tripoli, but must be referred to the Ulemas at Constantinople. He therefore thinks not a little of himself, and with reason. Four questions were now before the Kady, embracing physic, law, and divinity.

1st. To whom did the camel belong (for the Arabs disputed this)?

2nd. Could it recover from its sickness, or was it incurable?

3rd. Whether it should be killed, if it could not be cured?

4th. Whether it should be eaten after it was killed?

The diseased, emaciated camel lay groaning just without the semicircle. There was a large abscess over the shoulders, produced by the loads it had carried, besides other sores. A million of flies was then settled on the abscess, which was a running sore. It was a most disgusting sight. But not to the people who eyed the poor animal as connoisseurs. I learnt afterwards the Kady's decision was: "The camel is incurable, but may be killed and eaten." I asked the people whether they were not afraid to eat an animal which was so much diseased. They replied, "No, it is the judgment of the Kady. To-morrow we shall kill and eat it. To-day there's camels' flesh enough." I was astonished at the Kady's decision, and told the people diseased animals were not allowed to be killed for eating in our country, for there was danger in their making people ill. Some approved of this; but the population is much poorer than I, at first, thought, and the indigent are glad to catch anything. The few rich bury their money in foreign speculations, or hoard it up in their houses. After the decision, the miserable camel was left alone in the Souk, a prey to the flies, which were voraciously feeding on its running sores, till the next day. Semi-civilized people cannot comprehend the mercy or duty of alleviating the sufferings of the inferior creation.

To-day a new case of severe ophthalmia. This was that of a woman, who also had a fever. To my agreeable surprise, a number of her friends decided that she should take a fever-powder, in spite of the Ramadan. I administered it myself, and she drank it greedily. I was glad of such a marked exception to the rigid fasting. Her relatives said she was permitted to drink it, first, because she was a woman, and, secondly, because she was sick. This was the law of the Kady. Met a remarkable Touarick in the streets. This is an old worn-out man, with one eye, and that much damaged. In his day he has been a famous bandit, has plundered many a caravan and murdered the hapless merchants. He is now, in his dreadful old age, sheltered in the very city whose wayfaring merchants he so often plundered and murdered. The judgment of heaven seems pressing hard upon him; for he is poor and miserable, a beggar in the streets—all his ill-gotten wealth is gone! He leads about a little lad, whom he calls his son, and who seems to afford the wretched old villain his only repose of mind, if repose he can have from so horrible a conscience. I gave the child a small coin. The inhabitants feed the bandit, and tolerate him with an admirable spirit of merciful forgiveness. And if they do, who cries for vengeance?

Wrote to-day a letter to the Pasha of Tripoli, thanking His Highness for the kind attentions I had received from the Governor of Ghadames. I never did anything with such good will. It was, besides, an absolute duty.

This afternoon examined phrenologically, bumpologically, the heads of many children. There was a considerable variety in the bumps, as well as the configuration, of the cranium. Some of the heads were well flattened on either side, others rounded, and mostly low, depressed foreheads, with "self-esteem" and "love of approbation" ascending appallingly far up at the back of the head. Very few men or children have the frontal regions well developed. Examined a man esteemed a great dervish, who is always reading and writing the Koran. It's strange that the saint had the organ of veneration well developed. The Rais hearing of my cunning in this occult science, which some of the people called a new deen, ("religion,") wished to see me perform; so, on visiting him in the evening, he ordered forth all his understrappers and hangers-on, and made them submit to the fearful ordeal of head pummelling, first begging me to speak out everything, and then calling for fire to light his pipe, that he might muse over the exhibition à la Turque. The first officer examined was collector of the revenue, a native of Derge, a regular task-master in his way, and very malicious; I was frightened what to say. All was attention, the Rais particularly wishing to know if he was a thief, and had secreted Government money in his house. This his Excellency told me afterwards, when we were alone. The collector happened, by good luck, to have a large "acquisitiveness," and "benevolence" at the same time. This I explained to the Rais, and said the one balanced or neutralized the other. Tayeb, ("good"), said his Excellency, much chagrined, his Excellency evidently wishing to have had the fellow made out a thief. I must not continue through all the examinations. Suffice it to say, by this display of my new craft, I was raised very much in the estimation of everybody. But the most surprising thing was, a Touarick affirmed to the Rais, with great vehemence, that one of his neighbours was a phrenologist, and acquired his knowledge from the jenoun ("demons"). The major-domo of his Excellency, (who had had a good character given to him in the examination,) was very angry at this attempt to lower my credit of being the first to teach phrenology in the The Desert, and pushed the Touarick out of the Rais's house, and we only just escaped a disturbance, or losing all our fun, the Touarick drawing his sword to defend himself. In general I was disappointed, and did not observe the African and Moorish forms of cranium so much marked as I expected. They were all, thank goodness, pretty cleanly shaved. It is well known Mussulmans generally shave their heads, and leave their beards unshaven. This is, then, a splendid field for accurate phrenological observation. I observed that the negroes have all of them "self-esteem" most surprisingly developed. From this, (if the science were true, which I very much question[27],) we could easily deduce their habitual gaiety, for a man who has always a good opinion of himself is rarely miserable.

Just after the examination finished, whilst we were all very gay, smoking, drinking coffee, talking, and laughing, one of the Moors started up suddenly, and in an instant, taking his shoe, lying beside him, struck something down with a great smack on the floor; it turned out to be an immense scorpion! I felt a chill start through all my blood. The smashed reptile looked hideous in the dim light of the Ramadan lamp. This is the third scorpion within a fortnight the Rais has killed in his own house; one of enormous size he killed a few days ago. The Rais called for more coffee, and said coolly and laconically, "It's all maktoub between you and the scorpions; if they are to bite you, they will." His Excellency thought the sting often deadly. My taleb joins the rest in their notions of fatality. In coming home with me afterwards, I said to him, "I am alarmed at these scorpions, as there's no security from them; for you say they get upon the beds, on the tops of the houses, and in every hole and corner." The taleb—"I am not afraid; I am always killing them in my house, and yet I fear them not, for it's all from God. If they are destined by Rubbee to sting me to death, they will, so I do not disturb myself. You Christians are foolish." It does not appear that this reptile strikes a person unless it be attacked, or trodden upon. The people say they feed on trb, "dust" or "dirt." Yesterday the chameleon was seen in the gardens: there is a few in Ghadames, and in most parts of North Africa. The one I saw was a most unsightly creature. The construction of the eyes is remarkable; they turn on a swivel, or seem to do so, and are directed every way in a moment of time. It is a trite observation, that the lower brute animal has many advantages over the more perfect and rational animal. I often, en route, admired the beautiful facility with which the camel turned its head and neck completely round, and looked upon objects in every direction, without even moving its body, or if in motion, without stopping. I watched the chameleon a long time, to see it "change its colour;" it did so continually, but scarcely any of the colours were agreeable or beautiful; they were mostly dunnish red and yellow, and sometimes black brown; often-times it was covered with spots, now with stripes, now with neither one nor the other. Once it was an ugly black, and then of a light pale-green yellow. The fewness of animals in this oasis occasions me to record its appearance. The people mention two or three varieties of the species. They are fond of the chameleons, at least, give them the full liberty of the gardens, without attempting to destroy them.

The Sebâah, a freebooting tribe of Tunisian Arabs on the frontier, who some two months ago plundered a Ghadames caravan near Gharian, have been made to render up an account of the spoil. The Pasha of Tripoli wrote to the Bey of Tunis, and the Bey has undertaken to make them surrender their booty. The value is only about 1000 dollars, and forty camels. People are very inquisitive about my personal affairs. They ask me repeatedly, why I don't marry, or where are my wife and children? and add, "for you are getting old, and have plenty of money." I usually reply, "I can't carry a wife about with me all over the world." In the Desert and all over North Africa, it is looked upon as a species of disgrace for a man not to be married. It perhaps ought to be so everywhere; but our social system of Europe is become now so bad, that nearly half of the people cannot afford to marry. And so degraded in their feelings have become the lower classes of the British Isles, that many of those who do marry, marry with the clear understood determination of throwing their offspring upon the public bounty. The Puseyite and Church alms-giving clergy, to their shame, encourage our miserable population in these most despicable sentiments, and tell the people it is their right as granted to them by the founder and apostles of the Christian Church. Tyrants must have slaves, and priestly tyrants as well as other sorts of tyrants; it is therefore necessary there should be propagated a race of slaves.

This morning the poor old blind man demands the strong medicine for his eye. He says, "I feel less pain in my eyes though I see no better." O Dio! what a precious gift is sight—how persevering is this old man to see again those sights of desert, palm, and oasis, which he saw in his youthful days! Perhaps there is a tenth of the population of Ghadames nearly blind, or quite blind. The Sheikh Makouran has calculated the expense from Ghadames to Kanou, and back, for me, at two hundred dollars. The Moors are essentially children in some things. Young men, full grown, carry about with them in their pockets a little bit of white sugar to suck, stowed away in needlecases. To-day, a ghafalah of Touaricks, twenty persons, left for Ghat. They took my letter for the Governor. The Touaricks are getting used to the sight of a Christian. My opinion is also undergoing a favourable change towards them. Certainly, the best informed of the Ghadamsee people give them a good character.

15th.—The Rais killed two more scorpions after I left him last night. A child was bitten a few days ago by a scorpion, and died to-day. His Excellency hopes they will disappear after the Ramadan. The scorpion, like many other venemous and deadly animals, is a creature of heat, and in the winter is never seen. The scorpion usually comes out of his hiding-places, or the crevices of the walls, during night time, and is rarely seen in the day. Various remedies for its bite or sting, or stroke, are in vogue here. People usually employ garlic: they both eat it and rub it into the bitten or stricken part. Others cut round the stung part, and then rub over the whole with snuff. People persist that the scorpion eats dust, but that he is very fond of striking Ben-Adam ("the human race.") Two nights after the scorpion affair with the Rais, to our dread and horror, Said killed a large one close by our beds. We always sleep upon the ground-floor on matting. He was dozing in the night, after his Ramadan midnight meal, when the monster scrambled past by his head like an enormous crab. In the morning he showed me his sting as a trophy of victory. We then examined all the walls in our sleeping apartment, and stopped up cracks and crevices. After a short time the scorpions were forgotten, or we got used to them; and the next one that Said had a chase after, excited in me little attention. So I found, like the Moors, myself a fatalist, or at least became reconciled to the presence of these death-stinging reptiles. I found eventually, in fact, the people killed them with as much unconcern as we do spiders. The scorpion is the only creature armed with the fatal power of destroying life, which, for the present I hear of in the oases of The Sahara. The Arabs, in their hatred of the Touaricks, say, "The scorpion and the Touarick are the only enemies you meet with in The Sahara."

16th.—The old worn-out bandit met me, and asked me to cure his rheumatic pains. "Show me your tongue," I said. He flatly refused, as several persons were present. Then when I went away he came running after me, and tried to put out his tongue, but did not succeed. I told him to drink plenty of hot broth, and go to bed. He seemed satisfied. An Arab soldier afflicted with diarrha, came for medicine. He waited till the last rays of the sun were seen to depart from the minaret's top, before he would take his pills. Meanwhile, he gave me a catalogue of grievances, the sum and substance of which was, "he had nothing to eat." I questioned him over and over again, and then, coming to the same stern conclusion, I gave him some supper. Some weeks ago the Rais gave each soldier 3 Tunisian piastres, about 1s. 10d. Since then they had had nothing. Substantially, I believe, he spoke the truth, for these poor fellows are kept just above the starvation-to-death point. It is not surprising they wish to return to their homes, or Tripoli, and that they pilfer about the town. Asking him why the Rais did not give them a few karoobs, he replied naively, "The Rais has none for us, but plenty to buy gold for his horse's saddle." To-day, nor yesterday, could I buy any eatable meat. I mean mutton, for this is the ordinary meat of the place, and upon which I live, with now and then a fowl. But in the Souk another camel was killed, and a great display was made of its meat. The camel was ill before killed, but not so bad as the one already mentioned. Some fifty persons were enjoying the sight of the camel being cut up, for the Moorish butchers always cut up their meat into very small portions, sometimes not bigger than a couple of mouthsful. Before killed, the camel sold for one hundred and eight Tunisian piastres; the one on which the Kady gave judgment, only produced thirty-three. (Tunisian piastres vary from 7d. to 9d.)

Yesterday the weather sultry, and a few drops of rain fell on the parched oasis—drops of ambrosia from the gods. To-day it is cloudy and cool, for the first time since my residence here; a cool elastic sensation braces up my poor drooping frame.

The Moor picks up every bit, or little dirty scrap of paper he finds in the streets, and places it in a hole of the wall, or upon a ledge, lest there should be written on it, "the name of God," and the sacred name be trodden upon and profaned. It is probable they derived the superstition from the Jews, who have many mysterious notions about certain letters which form the name of The Almighty. I have often seen affixed on the door-posts of Jewish houses in Barbary. But no people in the world use the name of God more vainly than Mussulmans, nor swear more than they, the greater part of the words used being different epithets of the Divine Nature. This inconsistency runs through all the actions of these semi-civilized people. No people pretend to more delicacy in the mode of dress, more respect for women, not even mentioning the names or existence of their wives. My late Marabout camel-driver, when speaking of his wife and family, merely said saghar ("little children"). And, notwithstanding all this, no people are more sensual and impure, and esteem women less, than the Moors of towns. In swearing and oaths, the epithets "With God!" "By God!" "God!" "The Lord!" or "My Lord (Rubbee)!" "God, the Most High!" and, "The Most Sacred Majesty of God (Subkhanah Allah)!" are the common forms of using the Divine Name. A Tibboo stranger went into a house to buy a pair of pistols, and the seller was not at home. My taleb, who was a neighbour, and was anxious his friend should sell his pistols, run about exclaiming, Subkhanah Allah! I confess I was greatly shocked on hearing these most awful words used in such a way. I taxed the taleb afterwards with it, and compared his conduct with what I had seen in his picking up bits of paper in my house, for fear the names of The Deity should be upon them. He merely answered pettishly, "What do you wish? all people say so." A less serious note may be added here, that of the loose and curious way in which the Arabs express their ideas of quantities and distances. "Great" and "small" means with them any quantities, as "near" and "afar," any distances. I asked an Arab of Tunis when he expected his caravan? He replied, Ghareeb ("near"). "What do you mean, a week, a fortnight, or how long?" "Twenty days!" was the reply. In endeavouring to obtain information from these people on distances and quantities, the only way is to make them compare the thing unknown with what you know. They will tell you at such a place is an exceedingly high mountain. If there is a hill or a mountain near you at the time, you must ask them if it as large or larger than that? In this way you will frequently find their great mountain to be no bigger than a hillock.

The merchants say it is necessary to give presents to the following princes of authority, in the route of Soudan:—

TOUARICKS.

Governor of the town of Ghat; The Sultan of the Touaricks of Ghat, and the surrounding districts; The Sultan of Aheer; and The Sultan of Aghadez:

and these princes demand presents as a matter of right.

FULLANNEE AND NEGROES.

The Governor of Damerghou; The Sultan of Tesouwah; The Deputy-Sultan of Kashna; and The Deputy-Sultan of Kanou:

but these latter princes do not demand presents as a matter of right, leaving it to the good pleasure of the stranger. There are also a few other smaller places where a trifling present will help a merchant on his way. The presents are collected according to the means and wealth of each individual merchant, each subscribing his share, one giving a burnouse, others a piece of cloth, or silk, or beads, and what not. The whole is then collected together, and a deputation of two or three merchants is formed out of the caravan, who convey their presents to the prince, and the prince, when he finds the merchants have treated him liberally, sometimes returns a present of a slave or two, but generally a quantity of fresh provisions.

A small ghafalah of Touaricks having left to-day for Touat, Sheik Makouran, whose merchandise they were escorting on its way to Timbuctoo, begged me to write a letter to the Sheikh of Ain-Salah, one of the oases, which is in direct commercial relations with Ghadames. The plain English of the letter was, that Sheikh Haj Mohammed Welled Abajoudah, of Ain-Salah, would receive me friendly if I came to him, would protect all Englishmen travelling through his country, and would not let them be attacked and murdered as Major Laing was. When I gave my friend Makouran the letter, he asked me what I had written. I related the substance. "Allah, Allah!" exclaimed old Makouran; "Why, the Sheikh of Ain-Salah is my friend, he'll treat you as kindly as I do; he's one of us." Then he added, "Never mind, the letter may go." This evening the Rais was very unwell. Gave his Excellency some purgative pills. Afraid he will be obliged to return to Tripoli for his health; poor fellow, he suffers greatly.

17th.—The weather has opened this morning, dull, cloudy, and cool, threatening rain. A dingy veil is drawn over the face of things.

Have not yet seen any pretty plays amongst the children. All is dullest monotony. The youth, however, ultimately recover their wits by travelling. My turjeman says, "The natives of Ghadames are the greatest travellers in the world, and are to be found in every country." The Souk offers nothing for sale but olive-oil, liquid butter, a little bread, camels' flesh, and now and then a few vegetables. All the Touarick traders have now left, some for Ghat and others for Touat. My Ghadamsee friends cease talking of the dangers of my Soudan trip, and it is a settled thing that I go. Some of them wish me to try a fasting day; "one day, to see how I like it," they tell me.

It is very amusing to see butchers in this place cut up their meat. Four, eight, or twelve persons, join to buy a sheep. The sheep is killed, and the butcher has to divide it into as many equal parts as joint-purchasers. He begins by dividing it into four equal parts, but not in the way we should imagine, by cutting the carcase into four. No, quite different. He first divides the intestines into four portions, cutting the heart, liver, and lights into four equal portions, and so of the rest. Sometimes the heart is made a present to some favoured individual. Of two sheep cut up to-day, the heart of one was given to a young friend of mine, and that of the other to the Governor. The intestines divided, the butcher proceeds to divide the legs and shoulders into four equal portions, dividing one leg and one shoulder into two, and so of the other. The ribs and rest of the meat is then also equally divided. When the carcase is thus far divided, a few persons only take one whole quarter, the rest the butcher proceeds leisurely and scientifically to divide, several persons taking a whole quarter divided and subdivided amongst them, not being able to purchase a large quantity. The quarter is divided into half-quarters, the half-quarters into quarter-quarters, and the quarter-quarter is often again divided and subdivided before it gets into the pot. In this division, you would imagine the Desert dissector would cut the meat all away;—no such thing; and so great is the precision with which he divides and subdivides, that he has no need of scales and weights, equally dividing every bit of muscle, cartilage, fat, and bone; indeed, every person goes away perfectly satisfied with the justice of the division. I never saw scales and weights used on these occasions. Should, perchance, a difficulty or dispute arise as to the comparative size of the portions or equal divisions, a child is then sent for, and each party having chosen his token—a piece of wood, a straw, or what not, the whole are put into the hands of the child, who is requested to place the sticks or straws upon the portions of meat it chooses, or to which its caprice may guide. This decision of the umpire Chance is without or beyond all appeal. Mussulmans of The Sahara have no idea of separate joints or choice parts, the heart, perhaps, excepted, which is highly prized; or, if you will, they like a bit of every part of the carcase, and cut it up into these infinitesimal divisions in order that they may obtain this aggregate of delicate minutiæ. But as this is all cooked together, there can never be that separate taste of separate parts which distinguishes the meat as killed and cooked by Europeans. All Mussulmans are instinctively butchers, and are familiar with the knife, and expert at killing animals; it is a sort of religious rite with them. What I have observed particularly is, there is none of that shrinking back and chilled-blood shudder at seeing a poor animal killed, which characterizes Europeans, and especially the children of Europeans. Here children may be seen holding the animal whilst its throat is most barbarously cut! and not flinching a step, or blinking the eye. Apropos of killing and eating meat, I had a long polemical discussion with my taleb upon the respective rites and ceremonies of Christians and Mussulmans. I told him what distinguished the religion of the New Testament was, that it prescribed no rules for eating and drinking, or dress; that the whole Christian religion was based upon two great commandments: "Thou shalt love God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself." This, however, only drew from him the observation, "Before the time of Sidi Mahomet, this was the religion of the world." I rejoined, "This was the religion—still is the religion—of all the English, who eat and drink everything that is good, and dress any way they please; and such is the will of God." The taleb observed, "You wear braces, which is unlawful." I could not find out the why and the wherefore, unless it were that it tightened men-folks up too much for modesty. I told him the Rais and all Turks had braces to their pantaloons. He simply replied, "Braces are not permitted by our marabouts."

North Africa, or this region of The Sahara, more particularly, is essentially the East, (the Syrian, Arabian East,) and the religion of Mahomet has indissolubly bound in ideas, manners, and customs, the inhabitants of these countries with those of the East. It is, therefore, very satisfactory to read the Arabic New Testament in these countries; for, besides presenting all the ideas and metaphorical adornments, such reading often gives you the very words and idiomatical expressions of the people. This correspondence is certainly a strong proof, both that the latter Biblical writers were natives of the East, and that the inhabitants of North Africa and The Sahara were originally emigrants, or colonies from Syria and Arabia. This is the opinion of my taleb, and all the literati of the oasis. My taleb also treated me to-day with writing the famous Mohammedan prophecy, respecting the destinies of the East, and the world in general, and everybody in particular. It runneth according to this mighty import: "The Dajal, (,) whose name is the Messiah, and who is the son of Said, and who is a monstrous fellow, with one eye, shall come upon the earth, or rather, go abroad upon the earth, and all the Jews shall flock around him, and enrol themselves under his standard, for he is their expected Messiah; and then, armed with their prowess and gold, he shall slay all Christians and Mohammedans, and shall reign upon the earth, after their destruction, forty years. This time outran, there shall then appear Jesus, the son of Mary, (the Messiah of the New Testament,) in the clouds, who shall descend upon the earth with flaming vengeance, and destroy The Dajal. This done, then shall come the end of the world." My taleb assures me, upon his parole d'honneur, that The Dajal will come in forty years from the present time, or in the year 1885! Khoristan, the country where he is now bound in chains, is, besides, the country of Gog and Magog ( ). One of these gentlemen is very small, indeed a dwarf, about the size of General Tom Thumb, perhaps one and a half inches shorter; and the other is tall enough to reach the moon when it is high over your head. It is strange the Mussulmans of Ghadames make also the Turks (Truk, as they call them,) to come from the country of Gog and Magog. See the following table of the genealogy of all the people of the earth, especially the Turks, the Touaricks, and the Russians:—

Noah. + + + Shem. Ham. Japheth. + + + + + + Christians. Arabs. Jews. Negroes. Gog and Magog. + + + -+ Turks. Touaricks. + + Russians.

Such is the leaf of holy tradition in The Desert. It is astonishing how all nations love to indulge their gloomy musings with monsters. The extraction of the Russians from Gog and Magog is a curiosity; but the Russians, (Moskou, such is their name here,) are looked upon as a species of monster, whose jaw is capacious enough to swallow up all the Turks, and the Sultan of the East. The Rais has the greatest dread of them, whose native soil they have already gorged, "These Russians," he said to me one day, "are always, always, always advancing, advancing, advancing upon the Sultan." Who will say the patriotic Turk's apprehensions are groundless? With regard to the extraction of the Touaricks, I asked one of these people where his countrymen sprang from. He answered me, that formerly they were demons, () and came from a country near Kanou, on the banks of The Great River. Another told me, in true Hellenic style, "The Touaricks sprang out from the ground." An opinion has been advanced by some acquainted with ancient Eastern and African geography, that the Touaricks are from Palestine, and are a portion of the tribes of the Philistines expelled by Joshua; that the first rendezvous of the wanderers was the oasis of Oujlah, which is a few days' journey from Siwah, the site of the celebrated Ammonium; and thence they proceeded, wandering at will, to the west and south, peopling all the arid regions of the Sahara. The Sheikh of the slaves visiting me to-day, and describing Timbuctoo, said, "It is several times larger than Tunis; it is as large as Moskou (or Russia)."

I.—"Who told you Moskou was large?"

He.—"The people."

So the Emperor of all the Russians may rejoice in the consciousness, that he and his people constitute as large a kingdom as Timbuctoo, and are celebrated in the gossip of Saharan cities.

The first thing with which people break their fast in the evening is dates. My taleb, when visiting me, takes a few dates in his hands, and goes to a corner of the court-yard, or upon the house-top, about the softening, musing time, when the last solar rays are lingering playfully—and to the emaciated faster, teasingly, on this Saharan world, and there he listens in silence for the first accents of the shrill voice of the Muethan, calling to prayers, from the minaret of a neighbouring mosque. This heard, he commences putting the dates, one by one, slowly into his parched mouth, repeating a short prayer with each as he swallows it with a sort of choking difficulty. After he has eaten a dozen or so, he drinks, and then goes off to mosque prayers. Sometimes he prays in my house, and then comes down to dine with me. Many people, of course, in Ghadames, never saw a Christian before me; but they are quite as much astonished to see a Christian eat and drink in the Ramadan, as to see the Christian himself. This afternoon I was very thirsty, and went to drink a little water from one of the water-skins suspended in a square. A woman, of half-caste, going by at the time, cried out, "Why, why?" I went up to her and said, "Because you are a Mussulman and I'm a Christian." Her astonishment was no way abated; she kept exclaiming, "Why, why?" as if she would raise the whole city. One of my merchant friends seeing there was some prospect of a disturbance, came up to me and said, "Yâkob, that woman is mad; make haste, go home." However, I rarely ever eat and drink before the people, avoiding as much as I can shocking their prejudices; and if asked about fasting, usually evade the question, or say I fast or wait for my dinner till Said can eat his dinner also.

18th.—Weather has now set in cool. This morning a little cold and raw. Now's the time for catching coughs and cold;—people are coughing already. Just before day-break, a thunderbolt was said to be discharged over the city, accompanied with a long, low growling muttering sound, which reverberated from the Saharan hills. The circumstance remarkable, in the falling of this dread bolt of heaven's artillery, at the time the sky was perfectly clear and bright, and there was nothing in the shape of storm. These discharges of sound are rare in the Saharan regions. People asked me to explain to them what it was, and what it prognosticated? I told them, thunderbolts were frequent in Christian countries during storms, and nothing of consequence follow from them. I have reason to believe since, after conversing with several French officers in Algeria on the subject, that this phenomenon of a tremendous discharge of sound was a discharge of electricity from the earth, which sometimes occurs in North Africa.

Went to examine the Great Spring of Ghadames this morning, which is situate on the west side of the city, but conveniently between the two grand divisions of the population, the Ben Wezeet and the Ben Weleed. It was to me a delicium. What a revolution has my opinions undergone respecting water since I have travelled in The Thirsty Desert! Never was such an enthusiastic conversion! But were all conversions so harmless, how happy for mankind! Some thirty swallows are skimming its gaseous-bubble surface, playing off their wing-darting delights. The Spring or Well is perennial, as old as the foundation of the city, and may have ran for ages before the palms were planted around it by the hand of man, or sprung up from a few date-stones left by some chance fugitives who had stopped to taste its waters, and then held their way on in The Desert. Without the Spring the city could have no existence. It runs into a basin made and banked up for it, an oblong square of some twenty yards by fifteen. In its deepest part it is not more than six feet. The water is hot, averaging a temperature of 120 degrees, and upwards, it being too hot to bathe in near the orifices, whence the water gushes with gaseous globules, which continually rise from the bottom. But the orifices are not visible, and hence an air of mystery is thrown over this spring of "Living Water." The people say it was created by God on the same day when the sea near Tripoli was made. The gaseous particles are larger and more numerous in the centre, where is the great force of the Spring. The water is tolerably good, but a little purgative. It is usually allowed twelve, but some give it twenty-four hours to cool before drunk. The form of the basin may be thus rudely represented:—



A. Small bathing-places.

B. Steps where the women descend to fill their jugs with water.

C. Corners where the water runs away to the fountains in the squares and streets, and to the gardens, in and without the city. Around are the ruins and backs of houses, walls, and gardens, the palms alone being visible, looking very fresh and gracefully picturesque, near this source of life. After this went to see the Water-Watch[28], which is placed in one corner of the Souk. This is constructed upon the same principle as the hour-glass, but it is small, and requires to be emptied twenty-four times to complete the hour. In fact, it is only a small earthen pot or jar with a hole in the bottom of certain dimensions, and when filled with water, and the water has emptied itself, running out twenty-four times, the hour is completed. Some gardens require the stream, which the Water-Watch measures the time of the running of, an hour, others only half an hour, and others two or more hours, according to their size and distance from the source. The inhabitants pay Government so much per hour for the running of the stream into their gardens; but some have an hereditary possession in a certain quantity of the time of the stream's running. Of this they are naturally very proud. For ordinary household purposes the water is given without cost. There are two or three places in the town where a small water-watch is kept, but that in the Souk is the principal one. I have thus entered into particulars, for the obvious reason that, "water is the liquid gold in these thirsty regions." In Southern Algeria, the oasis of El-Agouat, each landed proprietor has the prescriptive right of an hour or two hours of the running of the water, according to the title deeds of the estate. The time is measured with an hour-glass (of sand) held by the officer who distributes the water, and who opens and shuts the conduit of irrigation at the time fixed. Many other oases have the same system.

Some Touaricks remained, who called on me to-day. One, who had shown himself very friendly, began to enlarge on the dangers of the Soudan route. I immediately observed, "God is greater than all the Touaricks." This stopped his gab, and was applauded by the rest. A Ghadamsee bawled out, "Oh! it requires a great deal—much, much, much money to go to Soudan." "How much?" I asked,—"Oh! much, much, much!" was rejoined. "What is much?" "Five hundred dollars!" was shouted out by half a dozen. I coolly observed, "It is not much for an Englishman." Another of the Touaricks said, about twenty years ago he saw some Englishmen come to his country from Fezzan. What struck the Touarick was, the English tourists gave a dollar for a fowl, for a drink of milk, and even, he added with an oath, for an Es-Slamah âleikom? ("How do you do?") This story was told to impress me with the necessity of taking plenty of money with me, and I was to keep up the liberal character of my predecessors in Saharan travel. So we see these English tourists, who undoubtedly were Messrs. Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, have spoiled the roads of travelling between Ghat and Fezzan, as Englishmen have spoiled the routes of the Continent of Europe. This is the propensity of John Bull, to buy up everything and everybody abroad[29]. The Touarick added, "A deal of money is required, because there are many banditti." He meant not exactly robbers, but beggars, who, whilst begging, give you to understand that their appeal to your eleemosynary feelings must not be in vain. All who beg impudently on the routes, or who levy black-mail, are called Sbandout ("banditti.") But I'm more convinced than ever, that the greatest shield of safety for the Desert traveller is his poverty.

Saw an aged Moorish lady, who greatly interested me. She told me she was an hundred years old, fasted all day long, and expected soon to go to Paradise. It is undoubtedly a vulgar error to say the Mahometan doctrine teaches that women have no souls. During her hundred years, she had never seen a Christian before. Her faculties were too weak for sectarian spite, and she looked upon me as if I had been a simple Mussulman stranger.

Sunset, this evening, a man proclaimed from the housetops the arrival of the ghafalah, long expected from Tripoli: only a courier arrived. By him I received the first letter from Tripoli, and the first newspaper, the Malta Times! That mark of admiration means, gentle reader, my poor old paper, the paper I established at so much cost and waste of time, money, health, and labour, for the good pleasure and caprice of The Island of Malta and its dependencies. It's yet pleasing to see the old paper following me; it will, perhaps, follow at my heels to Central Africa. Ramadan began a day earlier in Tripoli. The courier, also, brings the news, banditti are prowling about the The Mountains attacking isolated travellers and small caravans. I am sorry to see, by my papers, the people advocates of their own slavery, and that the Texans have carried through their Congress "the Annexation with the United States," the republican patrons and upholders of slavery and the slave-trade! In this case, at any rate, 'it is not kings and despots enslaving mankind,' but the people wilfully forging their own chains. There is also a humble case before my eyes. Here sits by my side, the slave of Haj Abd-Errahman, who is sent every year by his master to buy and sell goods, as if a regular free merchant. It is wonderful fidelity on the part of this slave that he does not run away. Unquestionably the negro has some fine qualities. This slave, however, in palliation of the wrong, tells me he brings few slaves, and mostly goods. I don't fail to tell him, slaves are haram, ("prohibited,") to the English. My taleb comes in, and after asking me the news, takes up the Arabic Bible, and reads the following beautiful prophetic sentiment:



and then asks what it means? "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold," I reply, "may be illustrated in this way: Suppose the Rais buys up or bribes the people, so that nearly all the people applaud whatever he does, whether right or wrong, then the love of your country, amongst you few faithful remaining, will wax cold?"

Ben Mousa.—"Yes, I understand, Seedna Aysa, ('our Lord Jesus,') was a prophet."

FOOTNOTES:

[27] I always thought phrenology too good to be true. Such a study, however, may be of some service in classifying mental phenomena, and induce a taste for metaphysical research.

[28] Mungalah or Saah-el-ma. Watches are very uncommon: only the Governor, and a few of the richest people, have a watch.

[29] Once passing through Lyons, I heard of an English tourist who hired a steam-boat to himself to pass down the Rhone in, hired an hotel to himself, and one evening took the upper part of a theatre to himself, including the boxes, and all to enjoy himself tranquillement, said my French informant.



CHAPTER VII.

FAST OF THE RAMADAN.

The Women in possession of the Streets.—The Grand Factions of Ghadames, the Ben Weleed and the Ben Wezeet.—Interest of the People in Algerian Affairs.—Names, from Bodily Deformities.—Starving Slaves makes them Thieves.—Disease of the Arak-el-Abeed.—Finances of Ghadames.—The Prophet Jonah, still living.—Bad system of collecting Taxes by common Soldiers.—Essnousee leaves for Ghat, alone.—The Thob.—Stroke of the Moon.—Mission of Impostors always that of pretended Mercy to Men.—How the Turk governs the Arabs.—Saharan Lady-Gentlemen.—Classic and Vulgar Names of Things.—The Wadan, or Oudad.—Nimrod, the Hercules of the Saharan Moors.—Enoch, a Tailor.—Noah, a Carpenter.—Serpents and Monsters in The Desert.—Teach Geography to the People.—Indolence of the Inhabitants of Africa.

19th.—MORNING spent in spelling the Malta Times. Saw a Ben-Wezeetee, who protested that all the money of the country was in the hands of the Ben-Weleed. I asked if he ever went to the Ben-Weleed. "For what," he replied angrily, "should I go to see those devils?" In the afternoon found all the streets deserted by the men-folks, and in possession of the women, girls, and little children, who were playing all sorts of pranks, and dancing and singing like so many people let loose from Bedlam. As soon as they saw me there was a simultaneous rush at me, all crying out, "Oh, Christian! Christian! where's your mother? where's your sister? where's your wife?—don't you want a wife?" Then they began to pelt me with date-stones. I got out of the way as quickly as possible. Wondered what in the world had become of the men. At last found them and the boys all congregated round a mosque, this being some important ceremony of religion.

I had to-day some talk about the two great political factions, the Ben-Wezeet and the Ben-Weleed, the Whigs and Tories of Ghadames, but pushed to such extremities of party spirit, as almost to be without the limits of humanity. Notwithstanding the assumed sanctity of this holy and Marabout City of Ghadames, and its actually leaving its walls to crumble away, and its gates open to every robber of the highways of The Desert—trusting to its prayers for its defence and to its God for vengeance—it has nourished for centuries upon centuries the most unnatural and fratricidal feuds within its own bosom, dividing itself into two powerful rival factions, and which factions, to this day, have not any bonâ fide social intercourse with one another. Occasionally one or two of the rival factions privately visit each other, but these are exceptions, and the Rais has the chiefs of the two parties together in Divan on important business being brought before him. In the market-place there is likewise ground of a common and neutral rendezvous. Abroad they also travel together, and unite against the common enemy and the foreigner. The native Governor, or Nther, and the Kady, are besides chosen from one or other party, and have authority over all the inhabitants of Ghadames. But here closes their mutual transactions. It is a long settled time-out-of-mind, nay, sacred rule, with them, as a whole, "Not to intermarry, and not to visit each other's quarters, if it can possibly be avoided." The Rais and myself, reside without the boundaries of their respective quarters, so that we can be visited by both parties, who often meet together accidentally in our houses. The Arab suburb is also neutral ground. Most of the poor strangers take up their residence here. The Ben-Wezeet have four streets and the Ben-Weleed three. These streets have likewise their subdivisions and chiefs, but live amicably with one another, so far as I could judge. The people generally are very shy of conversing with strangers about their ancient immemorial feuds. I could only learn from the young men that in times past the two factions fought together with arms, and "some dreadful deeds were done." My taleb only wrote the following when I asked him to give some historical information respecting these factions:—"The Ben Weleed and the Ben Wezeet are people of Ghadames, who have quarrelled from time immemorial: it was the will of God they should be divided, and who shall resist his will? Yâkob, be content to know this!"