I'm now writing the journal of yesterday. I can't write every day. Sometimes several days elapse. Often wonder how Denham could write his journal every day, as he asserts. The wind is high and is scattering sand in every direction. Certainly I require no supply of sand when turning over my sheet wet with the ink.

Before we get to the water, we are obliged to scoop out the sand as at Mislah. Many pits in Sahara are in this predicament. But we are infinitely more repaid for our pains, for we find most refreshing nectar-like water, as good as the last was bad. I imagine I drank off a full gallon at once. I was praying night and day for this water, and was obliged to go from tent to tent, begging a drop of the water which was left of Nather well, until all the skins were empty of that water. Some of the merchants kept a little in a small skin as a luxury. But I must do our people justice, for seeing I could not drink the Mislah water, they gave me often their sweet water and themselves drank the brackish. I must add, I see no striking moral difference between the people of this Desert caravan, and the people who fill an English mail-coach or a French diligence. Mankind are morally much the same everywhere. The last sixteen centuries have added little or nothing to discovery and amendment in morals, however orthodox we may all have become. Our Christendom has been chiefly occupied in resisting the worst features of the Mosaic economy as engrafted by the corruptions of the Church on the Christian system. The commission to Moses, "to extirpate the Canaanitish tribes," has been the universal war-cry of the dominant party in the Church to burn and empale heretics. There are still many divinity professors who think it right to kill heretics and infidels. The society of the nineteenth century is still eaten up by the most rancorous bigotry, and morality is proportionably at a low ebb. Nevertheless, with all our present Desert hardships, we are an easy journeying caravan; the patience of no one is particularly tried, and there is no event to draw out the real passions of the soul. We are now five days from Ghat; to-morrow being the Ayed Kebir, we shall make but a short day. Had a little private conversation with a Souf Arab. There are some fifty families of Jews in Souf, occupied in commerce. Speaking of the eternal quarrel of the Shânbah and Souafah, I found him a strong partisan of the Shânbah. "Fine fellows are the Shânbah, like us the Souafah; one Shânbah would kill five Touaricks," he exclaimed. Souf is a rich country. This Souf Arab has thirty fine dughla date-trees, one of finest species. Riches are estimated by the number of date-trees. He has two brothers now returning from Soudan, bringing slaves and elephants' teeth for the markets of Algeria.

The notorious Mohammed Sagheer, who slaughtered thirty Frenchmen in cold blood at Biscara, is now at Tozer, in Tunis. This flight of fugitives will continue as long as France is in North Africa. It is inevitable. When a political refugee is quiet his person should be held sacred; and it was very dastardly on the part of the French to demand to have this Arab Sheikh given up. But the French mind is incapable of comprehending what is a political asylum, or even what is constitutional freedom. Local politics still stick close to our ghafalah, and the people have such faith in my power and influence, that they really believe I could, if I would, get Ghadames freed from paying tribute to the Porte. An Arab of Derge said, "If you return from Soudan, and speak to the English Consul and English Sultan, you will then serve us in Derge and Ghadames, but if you don't come back we are all lost." The British Consul of Tripoli might, indeed, do something for these oppressed people, and save the Saharan commerce from impending ruin. I quiet the people by telling them, (and which is the fact,) I have repeatedly written to the English Consul of Tripoli about their affairs, and to obtain some mitigation of the oppression of their Government.

The bushes springing out of the sand are but a couple of feet high, and their dark foliage is covered with crystallized salt. They are a stinted species of acacia. Nijberten is the first Touarghee name en route, and now we are fairly in the Ghat territory. On our right, a day's journey over some ranges of hills, are tents and flocks and inhabited districts. Passed several tumuli of stones raised in the shape of graves. To-day the stone had a better appearance, a good deal of grey and red marble, and some isolated blocks of granite. No birds, insects, or animals. Course south.

10th.—Strong wind all day, and cold. The Ayed Kebir. But our travellers only prayed a little longer in the morning. Travellers are exempt from the ordinary religious ceremonies and festivals. This feast is usually kept up three days. A camel knocked up to-day, and unloaded this morning. After two hours and half, passed on the right the well of Tbbothteen. People say its water is still sweeter than that of Nijberten. Indeed, we shall find the Ghat water to be usually sweet and delicious. Scenery as usual, broken in valleys, hills, and high ground. Some of the hills, covered partly with sand, looked very pretty at a distance, shrouded as if in a sheet of snow, and dazzling in the sun-beams. Encamped early in the afternoon. The knocked-up camel difficult to be got on. A Divan of camel-drivers was held, and the question discussed, "Whether the camel should be killed?" It was decided that it should be doctored and left to graze until a Targhee was sent from Ghat for it. A most piteous sight it was to look upon the poor camel, prostrate and moaning, as if pleading the excuse of its malady for not moving on. I could not stop to look at the wretched animal. Nevertheless, I returned again, and found the camel tied down, with its mouth pulled open, and its jaws lashed back with cords, to prevent the poor creature from groaning too loud. The hot iron was being applied to the shoulder, where there were some festering or dislocation; meanwhile, the creature groaned in dreadful but silent agonies. At length, this doctoring finished, it was left to graze; but being actually nearly burnt to death, it could not get up, and was killed during the night, to prevent it from dying, in order that our orthodox people might eat the flesh like good Mussulmans.

Rais Mustapha amused me by telling how that the Arabs watched the signs of immediate death, and just stuck the camel in the last agony of dissolution, in order that they might eat the flesh with an orthodox conscience. Camels are killed differently from other animals. Sheep and bullocks and fowls have their throats cut from side to side, with "hideous gash," for they are the most slashing throat-cutters; camels, on the contrary, are stuck in the throat at the bottom of the neck, and the top of the chest-bones. Next morning (11th), was held a Divan of the whole ghafalah to decide upon the value of the slaughtered camel, for the owner was in Ghadames. Its worth was estimated at four dollars. I purchased a quarter of a dollar's worth. The camel was young, but the meat not very good. Our people soon devoured the meat.

11th.—Rose early, but did not start till near noon, to give the camels more rest. Old Sahara looks absolutely pretty with the dark shrubs bespotting and besprinkling his white shining sand-hills. The heavens are strewn with soft flaky light clouds; the blue above is clear and profound, and what other colours there are, look fresh and fair. Our people catch the lighter and more exhilarating influence, and are more talkative to-day. Descending to grosser matters, they are joking about how much of the camel's meat they are to swallow for supper. A part of the ghafalah left us, as the main body would not start early, thinking to arrive a couple of days before us in Ghat. I loaded and wished to go on with them, despising my friend Fletcher's advice. They insisted I should not accompany them, but come on with the larger body of people. I was obliged to return, and it happened for the best. This was a short day's march, but wrote no journal. The advanced party excused themselves for not letting me go with them, by saying, "We are going amongst the Touaricks our friends for a few days, and you will arrive first." I mentioned this to our party, who say, "They're liars. Are you so foolish, Yâkob, as to believe every thing a Mussulman tells you?"

12th.—Rose and started with the earliest rays of the Saharan sun. Scenery as usual; but the ranges of Saharan hills assuming a more battlemental shape, and darker, blacker colour. Fast approaching the inhabited districts; saw the traces of a route to Fezzan, on which the foot-prints of sheep were visible. Saw some inhabited mountains at a considerable distance, but no peculiar feelings started in the mind, and I grow weary of the journey. A dull drear and long day. Overtook the advanced portion of our ghafalah, and had the laugh at them. We asked them, whether they had seen their good friends the Touaricks? whether they had brought us fresh eggs, milk, and a whole sheep? We, of course, begging our portion of the rich spoil. The people now told me to place my tent within the circle of the encampment, as we were getting near the inhabited districts. I usually encamped at a short distance from the centre of confusion in the ghafalah, and found it more quiet. As to fear, I had none, and slept more soundly in the open Desert than in any part of the world where I had travelled before.

13th.—Rose at day-break, and, after a few hours' riding, came in full view of the Touarick camel-grazing country. We descended into a beautiful plain. After such Desert, how lovely it was! the plain of the Paradise of Sahara! This plain afforded many a taste of freshest herbage for the camels, almost approaching to English grass. They cropped it with rapacious greediness. Every person's eyes sparkled with delight at seeing the famished camels devour the herbage. We stopped half an hour to let them graze. Here were butterflies in quantities fluttering about, in dress of silver white, and gorgeous hues of rubies, and labouring beetles and industrious ants covering the small turf-hills, all which were to us "signs of life," and living in the world. We had already seen, before entering the fair plain, a small flight of larks, and now we feasted our eyes on a few swallows skimming this "flowery mead," for here and there were pretty blue and red and yellow wild flowers. A moment I forgot being in The Desert. The abundance of the herbage arises from there having recently fallen copious showers of rain—quite unusual in this thirsty country. But our route is the worst and most desolate of all the routes from Ghadames to Ghat. The other parallel routes always afford more herbage, besides having some inhabited tracts, with flocks of sheep and herds of camels feeding. Indeed, with the exception of a few people at the well of Tadoghseen, which we shall soon mention, we found no inhabitants in this the most easterly route. Whilst passing through the plain I espied a little black something moving about. In getting up to it, to my astonishment it was a little child stark naked! Our people were as much amazed as myself. I thought within myself, if this be the way in which the Touaricks bring up their children, exposed to cold and heat, rain and wind, in such terrible plight in open desert! no wonder then they can bear all the hardship of The Sahara, as we a spring-day in Europe. It is impossible for an European to contend with a nature like that of the Touarick; we can never expect to adopt their habits of Saharan travelling. The little wretched urchin had been left by some of the shepherds, for camels, goats, and donkeys were feeding about. The child was very merry, but not old enough to speak much. Our people gave the boy a piece of bread, which he put at once to his mouth, and grinned "a thank you." From the plain rises a huge block of rock in the shape of a sugar-loaf, a frequent form of blocks of rock in this desert. As we neared the well, I was greatly rejoiced at the arrival of two slaves, one of which had been dispatched by the Sheikh Jabour from Ghat, to tell me, "I was to come with all confidence to Ghat, to fear nothing; no Touarghee should say an untoward word to me." I augured well of all things on the receipt of such news. Our people were as pleased as myself on the arrival of Jabour's slave. They called out to me to take the handkerchief from off my face, to let the messenger see "the face of a Christian."

After riding further, three or four Touaricks showed themselves. I saluted them. They asked our people what I said, and did not seem very friendly. I began to have suspicions[65]. The advanced portion of the ghafalah had disposed of their camels and baggage before I got up to the well. Said and myself went up amongst the people encamping, but, looking on my left about fifty yards' distant, I saw a group of people and a quarrel going on between our people, four or five Touaricks, and two slaves. Our people were violently pulling a slave one way, and Ouweek, a Touarghee chief, tearing him as savagely the other way. At length the slave, struggling stoutly, got free, and went further off to a horse. Ouweek thought the slave intended to mount the horse and ride off to Ghat; so the chief followed the slave and again seized hold of him, and unsheathing his sword, began beating him with its sides. The Ghadamsee people and Arabs again interfered and rescued the slave. In the meanwhile Haj Mafoul Zuleâ passed me, and said, "Go up, go up." I replied, "Why? I shall stop here, where I am." He answered something; but, being hard of hearing, I could not catch what he said. I determined not to move. Afterwards, thinking that Zuleâ wished me not to be mixed up with the quarrel, I went further on towards Ghat. I imagined the slave had been overriding his master's horse, and was being beaten for that. After staying some time up the road, I returned to my camel, tired of waiting, and sat down, telling Said to unpack. But it seems Said had heard something which I had not, and said, "Not yet, not yet." I insisted upon his unloading the camel, and took out some dates and biscuits, and lay myself down to eat them. The scuffle and uproar was now going on about a hundred yards from me, and I saw the sword of Ouweek flourishing and flashing about. This was succeeded by a calm, and a whole circle of people squatted down around Ouweek. Meanwhile, the three followers of the Sheikh went a short distance off, spread their heiks upon the ground with great and solemn parade, and performed the afternoon prayer, as if about to sanctify some impending act of their Sheikh. I watched them anxiously. When I had waited half an hour or so, several of our people, with Zuleâ, returned, and not a little surprised me by making to me the following announcement:—"Ouweek, the Touarghee Sheikh of this district, wants to kill you, because you are a Christian and an infidel. He has just been beating one of the slaves for going to meet you, accompanying the messenger of Ghat. He wished you to come up to him, that he might dispatch you at once." To say the truth, I had such confidence in the Touaricks of Ghat, and had been so confirmed in my confidence by the arrival of the messenger from Ghat, that I could not believe this speech of our people, and was disposed to think it a joke. I was perfectly cool, and myself. But as they most seriously reiterated this story, and let out a hint, or I gave the hint, I'm sure I now forget in the confusion, that perhaps the business could be compromised for money, I said to the spokesman, Zuleâ, "Oh! for God's sake, go, go; yes, yes, make a bargain." I noticed poor Said at the time, who was staring at me full in the face, to see, it would appear, how I was affected by this most unexpected incident. After a great deal of squabbling and bargaining, in a true mercantile style, it was finally arranged. Ouweek first fiercely demanded one thousand dollars! Hereupon all the people cried out that I had no money. The quasi-bandit, nothing receding, "Why, the Christian's mattress is full of money," pointing to it still on the camel, for he was very near me, although I could not distinguish his features. The Touaricks who had come to see me before I arrived at the well, observed, "He has money on his coat, it is covered with money," alluding to the buttons. All our people, again, swore solemnly I had no money but paper, which I should change on my arrival at Ghat. The bandit, drawing in his horns, "Well, the Christian has a nagah." "No," said the people, "the camel belongs to us; he hires it." The bandit, giving way, "Well, the Christian has a slave, there he is," pointing to Said, "I shall have the slave." "No, no," cried the people, "the English have no slaves. Said is a free slave." The bandit, now fairly worsted, full of rage, exclaimed, "What are you going to do with me, am I not to kill this infidel, who has dared to come to my country without my permission[66]?" Hereat, the messenger from Ghat, Jabour's slave, of whom the bandit was afraid, and dared not lay a hand upon, interposed, and, assuming an air of defiance, said, "I am come from my Sultan, Jabour; if you kill the Christian, you must kill me first. The order of my Sultan is, No man is to say a word to the Christian." Our people now took courage from this noble conduct of the slave, declaring, "If Yâkob is beaten, we will all be beat first; if Yâkob is to be killed, we will be killed likewise." Ouweek now saw he must come down in his pretensions. The bargain was struck, after infinite wrangling, for a houlee and a jibbah, of the value of four dollars[67]! I did not, therefore, "sell for much," and Christians at four dollars per head in The Desert must be considered very cheap. It is said, every man has his price; I had not the honour of fixing my price. This was done for me, and I ratified the bargain. I made a present of a turban to the brave messenger, whom the people assured me acted a most noble part. It is strange that this is the second time I have been preserved from something like a catastrophe by the interposition of a slave. Did Providence intend this as any sign of approbation of my anti-slavery labours? We were all uneasy. Everybody had to supply something; and it was hinted, that I ought to send them supper. Our people did this, and would not allow me, saying, that I lived with them and had no provisions of my own. I was indignant at the conduct of the Souf Arabs, who cowered down before the Touaricks, and belied all their previous pretensions to courage and intrepidity. Even a Seenawan Arab was frightened at my coming near his tent, in dread of another quarrel or attack during the night. All our people more or less were alarmed and agitated, although we numbered sixty in the presence of five Touaricks! I thought in myself, What arrant cowards you are! To cover their cowardice they pretended the Sheikh had hundreds of people not far off. Zaleâ, and his Arabs, certainly behaved the best. Zaleâ, in fact, was now the only man of the caravan. He told me afterwards, the Ghadamsee people had proposed to him, that I should run away on to Ghat, but he would not sanction such pusillanimity. I confess, however, when the people described to me the character of Ouweek, I myself felt considerable alarm. During the succeeding night, I slept scarcely a wink. I made the messenger of Jabour sleep close by my mattress, and unsheathing Said's old rusty sword, laid it beside me, determining "to die game," or put a good face upon the matter. At any rate, I thought an Englishman could not, however he might trust the good faith of these people, die like an unresisting coward. Ouweek, like a true politician, feasted the messenger dispatched from Ghat to me nearly all night, and told him to report on his return to Ghat:—"The Christian wished to give Ouweek a handsome present, but the Ghadamsee people, who are sorry dogs, would not let the Christian act from the impulse of his heart. So Ouweek quarrelled with the people of the caravan." The Sheikh and his followers kept up a roasting fire all night, a stone's throw from my encampment. The bandit was merry at the expense of the alarms of me and our people, telling my messenger, "These Ghadamseeah are all dogs, but the Christian is no dog, for when I threatened to cut his throat, he sat down quietly and ate dates and biscuits." The bandit gave me more credit than I can take to myself, for, at the time of munching the biscuits, I was not aware of his violent attempt at levying black mail. There can, however, be no question of the bad character of this Sheikh. He has murdered several people, and, not long ago, killed a rich Marabout, going on a pilgrimage to Mecca, plundering him of a great deal of property. He is therefore no pleasant customer for a Christian to meet with on the highways of The Sahara, whom he would decapitate with less scruple of conscience than a Leadenhall poulterer would cut off a goose's head. He has many people, though a second-rate chief, and is allied by blood to the reigning family of Shafou. Though a little insignificant man, he possesses undaunted courage, and has signalized himself in the wars against the Shânbah. He walks lame with a wound he has received in battle. He is generally dreaded in the open country, except by the merchants, who are personally acquainted with him, to whom he behaves as a very jolly fellow.

14th.—All our people rose early, and got off as quickly as possible. We could not breathe freely until we were out of the clutches of Ouweek. Some of them, however, paid a farewell visit to the Sheikh, who received them very graciously, as politely as any Spanish bandit, and sent this message to me:—"Yâkob, go in amen (peace or security) to Ghat, fear nothing from any one, for you are under my protection." Our people encouraged me along. The Souf Arab, who was so cowardly, said:—"Why didn't you say, 'Mahomet is the prophet of God,' then you would have had to pay no money." I called him a fool, and asked him, if all the people didn't pay something as well as myself? This stopped his mouth. Zaleâ fully agreed with me, as did all our people, that if Ouweek had simply asked for a present, he would have got more from me. I certainly should have given him at once half a dozen dollars if he had shown himself friendly, and welcomed me to his district as a friendly stranger. It appears he refused money, and even the camel, which the people in the imbroglio said he might, if he choose, take; he took the woollens, because he knew they would not be made a question of restitution by the Sheikhs and Sultan. He was clearly entitled to receive something from me, by the usage of ages, commonly called "safety-money," but not to demand it at the point of his broad-sword. This was his great offence in the eyes of all his friends and the authorities of Ghat.

I did not see the well, but the water of Tadoghseen is extremely sweet and palatable. I should have paid my homage to this well, as I had done to all the sources of water in The Desert, had not Ouweek taken up his quarters near it, and I was not anxious to disturb or excite the curiosity of the bandit by a personal interview. One of his followers came to see me off in the morning, a tall attenuated black shape of a man.

We are now fairly in "the region of the Genii," the land of mystery and disembodied spirits; and the whole country is intersected and bounded on every side with the battlemental ranges of black, gloomy, and fantastically-shaped mountains, distinguishing the country of the Ghat Touaricks, where their friends and confederates, the Jenoun or Genii, dwell with them in the most harmonious friendship. Here our people say,

"Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep."



There exists a compact between the Genii and Touaricks to this effect, a species of Magna Charta, and not selling themselves to the Saharan devils:—"The Touarick fathers solemnly vowed, alone of mortals, eternal friendship to the Genii, they would never molest them in the various palaces which they (the Genii) had built in their (the Touarick) country, nor use any means either through Mahomet, or the Holy Koran, to injure them or dislodge them from the black turret-shaped hills: and for this devotion on their part, the Genii promised to afford them (the Touaricks) protection at all times against their enemies, more particularly during the night, giving them vision and tact to surprise their enemy during the dread hour of darkness." So the Touaricks are reckoned very devils at night, and usually attack their enemy at this time, and hack him to pieces with their broadswords. Poor Major Laing was surprised by a Touarghee chief in this way, two of his servants were killed, and himself wounded, or cut and hacked in some thirty places. The air of the region of Genii and Touaricks we now breathed, but found it as free as that of any part of The Sahara. Our people did not think so, and they pointed out to me with a shuddering awe all the mysterious objects. First and foremost, standing out from the lower and more modest abodes of the Genii, like a huge castle, such as the Titans might have built when they scaled the walls of heaven, was the Kesar Genoun, ( ) "Palace of demons," par excellence. This was the hall of council where the Genii meet from thousands of miles round, and debate upon their affairs of State. It is also the Jemâ or Mosque, where they meet on a Friday to pray to Allah, for they also worship Allah, though not properly. These lower and less destructive grades of Demonii "believe and tremble." This is also the mint where the Genii keep their bullion. The entire caverns of this monstrous block of rock are full of gold and silver, and diamonds, and all precious jewels[68]. A more mortal and sublunary mystery was now pointed out to me. This was a small block of rock about fifty feet high, of the shape of the accompanying drawing; the lower or under part where it comes in contact with the ground, being so exceedingly small as not to be visible. Here was the dreadful spot on which several people were murdered, and amongst the rest a wealthy Marabout, but a saint of great sanctity. The murderer (of what country it is not said), was so ashamed and horrified at his own deed of blood, that when he had committed it he begged the Genii to cover up their bodies from his sight, for he had not courage to bury them. The Genii listened to his request, detached this piece of rock from their great palace, where it has rested, occasionally rocking[69], say the people, to this day—a memento against murder and crime! For this service the murderer begged the Genii to accept of some of the spoil, but they refused to accept of gold tainted with blood; and, on the contrary, the avenging spirits of justice pelted him with pieces of rock till he died. He was fairly stoned to death, and his bruised and broken carcase was left unburied, a horror to all passers-by! We see the Genii are a moral people, and in general the Mussulmans of The Sahara speak of them as a good sort of folks, not unlike Puck and his merry crew, only playing occasionally mischievous pranks upon silly inconsiderate mortals.

Beyond the Kesar Jenoun stretches away north and south the long range of black basaltic mountains, called by our people Wareerat, but I am not sure if this be the Touarick name. This ridge forms the boundaries of the Tibboo and Touarick country, for it stretches as far or farther south than the Tibboos, some fifteen or twenty days' journey. From the town of Ghat to the base of this range is half a day, eastward, although the range looks, by the ordinary delusion of Desert optics, to be close upon the town.

FOOTNOTES:

[64] "Slow and sure," has in no case whatever so good an application as to the progress of the camel's march.

[65] These were evidently Ouweek's spies. They certainly did not accost me in that frank manner as the Touaricks had been wont in Ghadames.

[66] "Without my permission," or literally "tearing the Litham from my face." El-Lithm——is the bandage which all the Touaricks wear around the face, covering every part of it except the top of the cheek-bones and the eyes.

[67] The houlee, , is the same as the heik, and the jibbah, , is a huge frock or tobe, with short sleeves, and coming up close round the neck.

[68] On these words of Shakespear, "Kept by a Devil," (King Henry VI., Part II., Act 4, and Scene 3,) Steevens makes the following annotation:—"It was anciently supposed, and is still a vulgar superstition of the East, that mines, containing precious metals, were guarded by evil spirits." So in Certaine Secrete Wonders of Nature, by Edward Fenton, 1569, "There appeare at this day many strange visions and wicked spirites in the metal mines of the Greate Turke. In the mine at Anneburg was a metal sprite which killed twelve workmen; the same causing the rest to forsake the myne, albeit it was very riche."

[69] There is an extraordinary co-resemblance between this Saharan rocking, or logging, stone, and that of our own in Cornwall, much noted and visited by all classes of travellers. Among the truly romantic coast-scenery of Cornwall, at the south-west angle of the county, are the celebrated Logan, or rocking-stone, and the lofty granite rocks called Tiergh Castle. Here is a reef of rocks jutting into the sea, on the summit of one of which is a large single mass of stone, weighing about sixty tons, resting on a sort of pivot, so near the centre that the whole block may be easily made to oscillate or log, to and fro. This logging stone has created astonishment amongst the illiterate, and given rise to many fabulous stories: whilst others have imagined it was placed here by the Druids, to overawe and terrify the vulgar.

Geologists, however, says Dr. Paris, readily discover, that the only chisel ever employed has been the tooth of time—the only artists engaged, the elements. Some years ago, the upper, or logging-stone, was thrown from its equilibrium by the bodily exertions of some sailors; but a general cry of indignation having been raised against this wanton act, it was shortly afterwards reinstated in nearly its original position by the perpetrators of the mischief, who, while thus making honourable amends for their former folly, evinced great ingenuity and skilfulness.—Fisher's Views in Devonshire and Cornwall.

END OF VOL. I.

LONDON: HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS, 45, ST. MARTIN'S LANE.



TRAVELS

IN

THE GREAT DESERT OF SAHARA,

THE YEARS OF 1845 AND 1846.

CONTAINING

A NARRATIVE OF PERSONAL ADVENTURES, DURING A TOUR OF NINE MONTHS THROUGH THE DESERT, AMONGST THE TOUARICKS AND OTHER TRIBES OF SAHARAN PEOPLE;

INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF

THE OASES AND CITIES OF GHAT, GHADAMES, AND MOURZUK.

BY JAMES RICHARDSON

.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.

M.D.CCC.XLVIII.



LONDON: HARRISON AND CO., PRINTERS, 45, ST. MARTIN'S LANE.



TRAVELS IN THE GREAT DESERT.



CHAPTER XVI.

RESIDENCE IN GHAT.

Arrival at Ghat, and reception by its Inhabitants.—The Cold of The Sahara.—Haj Ahmed, the Governor, and Sheikh Jabour.—Distribute Presents to the Governor and Jabour.—Visit the Sheikh Hateetah, styled the British Consul of Ghat.—Make the acquaintance of the Tripoline Merchant Haj Ibrahim.—The Ghat Rabble.—Ouweek arrives in Ghat.—A Visit from Touarick Women.—Arabs begging from me by force.—Arrival of Kandarka from Aheer.—Bel Kasem's account of the Slave Trade.—Visit to Haj Ahmed, the Governor; his Character and Establishment described.—Bel Kasem's Sick Slave.—All classes of People attempt to convert me to Mohammedanism.—Bad effect of an European Tourist assuming the Character of a Mahometan.—Touarghee mode of Saluting.—Miserable condition of Slaves on arriving from Soudan.—Soudanese Merchants friendly to me.—Visit from the Governor.—Report in The Desert of Christians Worshipping Idols.—Make the Acquaintance of a young Touarghee.—Slave Trading and Kidnapping Slaves up The Niger.—Economical Bill of Expenses of Journey from Ghat to Soudan.

15th.—ROSE two hours before daybreak in order to arrive early at Ghat in the morning. About ten A.M., the palms of Ghat were visible through the scattered blocks of rock in the valley, for the plain became now contracted and assumed the shape of a deep broad valley, on the one side a low range of sand-hills, and on the other the high rocky chain of Wareerat. But the first sight of the oasis, after nineteen weary days of Desert, affected me with only disagreeable sensations. The affair of Ouweek, though pretty well got over, had shaken my confidence in the Touaricks. Indeed, the painful forebodings of the last forty hours had seriously deranged my plans, and made me think of returning, availing myself the most of my unsuccessful tour. This suffering of thought day after day is intense and worries me, and will soon make me an old man, if not in years. It was the sudden shock of the affair just after receiving the messenger of peace from Ghat. I saw at once that there was a great deal of insubordination in the lesser chieftains, which made travelling in this country very insecure. I remembered the remark of my taleb, "All the Touaricks are the Divan, and each has his own opinion, and carries it out in spite of the Sultan."

We were now met by the friends of the Ghadamsee merchants, but with the exception of Essnousee and two or three others, I received few salutes of welcome; and when we got up to the gates of the city (at noon), not a single person of our caravan offered me the least assistance, either in interpreting or otherwise. I felt myself in a most deplorable predicament, but I reflected that all men must each one look after his own business, so our people were now each one occupied with his own affairs. I felt much the want of a good Moorish or Arab servant. Said was of no use whatever in this case. Strangers and loungers crowded and clamoured round me, anxious to look at the face of "The Christian." It was covered with my travelling handkerchief, and when I untied my face to gratify their curiosity, they burst out with the rude and wild expression of surprise, "Whooh! Whooh! Whey!" Amongst this mob I at once distinguished a number of the Aheer and Soudan merchants. These showed the greatest curiosity, but my outer dress being entirely Moorish, there was little novelty in my appearance, nay, scarcely any to point me out from the rest of the caravan. Several of the Ghat people then asked me what I wanted. I told them, the Governor of Ghat. I was not understood. At last came up to me a young Tripoline Moor of the name of Mustapha, who volunteered his services as Touarghee and Arabic interpreter, but, of course, our conversation was always in Arabic. Amidst a cluster of Touaricks and Ghat townsmen, the Governor was pointed out. Several Sheikhs were present, but it appears they gave precedence to the Governor's son from a feeling of shamefacedness. Haj Ahmed's son is a very nice polite young gentleman, as smart as a Parisian dandy. After a little delay he conducted us to a house, in which some of his father's slaves were living. It was a dark dreadful dilapidated hovel. The young gentleman most earnestly apologized, protesting, "The town is full of people, merchants, and strangers. We have nothing better left in the town. Perhaps you will come and live in our house out of the town." We looked out our baggage, which had been conveyed for us by Arabs of our caravan, and were astonished to find it scattered about outside the city gates, the caravan people having thrown it down there. However, nothing was lost, and this at once impressed me with the remarkable honesty of the Ghatee people. I took up my quarters in a small room built on the terrace, without window or door, but very airy. A roof of mud and straw was now a luxurious and splendid mansion to me. At least a dozen slaves were occupied in carrying my baggage from outside the gates to my domicile, each carrying some trifle. No camels or beast of burden are allowed to enter the city gates, all goods and merchandize are carried by slaves in and out. Like the porters at the different traveller-stations in Europe, each of these slaves seized hold of the merest trifle of baggage, a stick or a bit of cord, in order to make an exorbitant demand of the value of a shilling. The Desert furnishes a parallel for every circumstance of civilized life.

The last night or two I had found it very cold, and the wind too high for tents. I may observe here, conveniently, the cold was so great in this portion of Sahara, that I never could undress myself for dread of the cold. After loosening my neckcloth and shoes, I lay down in the dress which I wore during the day. My bed was a simple mattress laid over a piece of matting, which latter was spread on the hard earth or sands of The Desert, as it might be, with a small sofa cushion for a pillow. After I had laid down the mattress, I then covered myself up with a large woollen barracan or blanket, very thick and heavy, and over this was also drawn a dark-blue European cloak. The cloth distinguished my bed from those of the merchants, and the nagah always knew the encampment by the sight of this Christian garment. When I wore it in the day she was immediately sensible of the presence of her master. I did not pitch a tent, for we could not, but formed a sort of head-place of the two panniers of the camel, over which we arranged camel's gear, forming a small top. Under this I placed or poked my head, so that, at night, if turning over my face, I found a little shelter from the naked cold heavens. In this way I lay enveloped in a mass of clothing. I usually waked a couple of hours before daybreak with the intensity of the cold. Said slept closely by me on a lion's skin, and rolled himself up in the slight canvass of the tent. Like myself he never undressed himself at night. When he wished to confer a favour upon any of his negro countrymen, or the poor slaves, he would take them and roll them up with him in this canvass. He would have sometimes half a dozen at once with him, the confined air of their united breathings keeping them mutually warm. The poor Arab camel-drivers had nothing but their barracans which they wore in the day to cover themselves up at night, whilst the bare earth was their couch of down, and a heap of stones their luxurious pillow. All these Arabs were wandering wayfaring Jacobs of The Desert. El-Aïshi says, speaking of the bleak wind of The Desert, "The north wind blows in these places with an intensity equalling the cold of hell; language fails me to express this rigorous temperature." The Mohammedans believe that the extremes of heat and cold meet in hell. Some have thought there is an allusion to this in the words, "Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth," (the teeth chattering from cold.) Milton has also enumerated cold as one of the torments of the lost. The tormented spirits passed—

"O'er many a frozen, many a fiery, Alp."

I had not been many minutes in my new apartment before the Governor himself came in. I had been addressing the young Ghatee as the Governor himself, like Goldsmith harangued a duke's footman for the duke himself. Haj Ahmed, his father, welcomed me with every demonstration of hospitality. He sat chatting with me until the arrival of the Sheikh Jabour, who also welcomed me in the most friendly manner. This was the Sheikh who had dispatched his slave to the well of Tadoghseen to meet me. Two or three other Touaricks of distinction came in with my friend Essnousee. They then questioned me upon the conduct of Ouweek, the news of which had now spread over all the town, and thanking Jabour for sending his slave, he replied, smiling, "Ouweek was joking with you." And then all joined in a laugh about Ouweek's affair. Jabour, ashamed of the business, took this method of easing my mind. The Governor now began to ask me about news and politics, and how Muley Abd Errahman was getting on with the French. The burning of the French steamer on the coast of Morocco after she grounded, had been transformed by The Desert reports into a victory over the French, in which the French had lost 70,000 men and several ships. The Governor had also heard the Maroquine war had recommenced. I excused my ignorance by saying, I had been a long time in Ghadames, and had heard nothing. Odd enough, the Governor asked me, "Which was the oldest dynasty in Europe?" I told him the Bourbons of France. The Sheikh Jabour here interposed that his family was more than three thousand years old! The pride of an hereditary noblesse is deeply rooted in these Touarghee chiefs. The lore of ancestral distinction is co-extensive with the human race. I have given but the substance of our conversations. I give some of it in detail:—

Interrogation, by the Governor.

His Excellency.—"What did Ouweek to you?"

"He was saucy to me."

His Excellency.—"Have you seen lately Muley Abd Errahman (Emperor of Morocco)?"

"No."

His Excellency.—"He has conquered the French, destroyed their ships. They have lost 70,000 men. If you had told Muley Abd Errahman you had been coming here, he would have sent me a letter by you."

"I have no doubt of it."

His Excellency.—"How is your Sultan?"

"Very well, thank you?"

His Excellency.—"When did you last see Sidi Abd-el-Kader?"

"Not very lately."

His Excellency.—"He is a prophet." (To which I said, Amen.)

Interrogatory, by Sheikh Jabour.

The Sheikh.—"What did Ouweek to you?"

"He was very rude."

The Sheikh.—"Ouweek was playing with you, trying to frighten you because you are a stranger. He's a fool himself."

"Oh, it's no matter now."

The Sheikh.—"How's your Sultan? Does he doubt we shall utterly destroy the Shânbah."

"Oh, not the least."

The Sheikh (in reply to the Governor).—"My fathers were princes before all the Christian kings, thousands of years ago."

"I dare say they were."

My visitors now took leave of me, Jabour shaking hands with me, and saying, M-thfsh, "don't fear." Afterwards had a great many curious visitors of the lower classes, all raving mad to see the Roumee ("Christian"). And amongst the rest, the son of Ouweek! who is a young harmless fellow, and said his father would never hurt a great Christian like me. He begged hard for a piece of sugar, which I gave him. He asked me if his father was coming to Ghat. For supper I received a splendid dish of meat and sopped bread, but very highly seasoned with pepper and cloves. It is the Soudan pepper, a small quantity of which possesses the most violent, nay virulent strength.

16th.—After taking a walk in the morning, I returned the visit of the Governor. He received me very politely, and presented me with a lion's skin, brought from Soudan. His Excellency shewed me his certificate of character and rank, certified by a huge seal of the Emperor of Morocco. He pointed out with conscious pride the name of Marabout, with which sacred title the Emperor had dubbed him. Muley Abd Errahman is an immense favourite here amongst the Moorish townsmen. They call him their Sultan. The Turks they fear and detest. They expect them one day at Ghat. In the afternoon I sent the Governor, according to the advice of Mustapha, two loaves of sugar (French), a pound of cloves, and a pound of sunbul[70]. Cloves—grunfel, —are greatly esteemed, especially by the women, who season their cakes, cuskasous, and made-dishes with them. The sunbul (leaves) is made into a decoction, or wash, and is used by fashionable ladies in Sahara as eau de Cologne in Europe.

Afterwards I paid a visit to Sheikh Jabour. The Sheikh has a house within the town, which very few of the Sheikhs have. Jabour received me friendly. I could not see the features of the Sheikh very well, on account of his litham. Jabour, however, is a perfect aristocrat in his way, with a very delicate hand. He is tall and well-made, and his simple and elegant manners denote at once "The Marabout Sheikh of the Touaricks," of the most ancient and renowned of Touarghee families. I took the Sheikh a present of a loaf of sugar, three pounds of cloves and sunbul, and a shasheeah, or fez. Jabour received them very graciously, and repeated his ma-tahafsh, "don't fear," several times, promising me, at the same time, to use his influence with his friends to get me safely escorted to Aheer and Soudan. The Sheikh's followers and other distinguished Touaricks repeat the same, but the Governor I find more cautious in his speech. On my return home, the Sheikh sent to know if the handkerchief, in which the present was wrapped, were also a present, and whether the bearer of the present had purloined it, for he had taken it away with him. I immediately sent the Sheikh back the handkerchief, informing the Sheikh the bearer was not told to leave it. All Saharan people are immoderately fond of a handkerchief. I recommend travellers in Sahara to supply themselves with a good stock of very cheap coloured cotton handkerchiefs. My house is thronged all day long with visitors. I am obliged to exhibit myself to the people like the Fat Boy, or the American Giant. It is Richardson's Show at Ghat instead of Greenwich. The rest of the ghafalah, which we left behind, arrived to-day. My friend, El-Besher, to my regret, had turned suddenly back and gone to Touat, where his brother had arrived from Timbuctoo. It is reported that a quarrel had taken place about his brother amongst the Timbuctoo caravan, in which affair ten people had been killed. So all Saharan caravans do not travel in such harmony as we did. The Ghadamsee caravans are certainly the most pacific. But the Timbuctoo people have everywhere a bad character.

17th.—In the morning went to see the Consul of the Europeans, as the Moors call him. This is the Sheikh Hateetah, of whom very honourable mention is made by the Denham and Clapperton party. Hateetah himself assumes the distinction of "Friend," or Consul of the English. I found him stretched on a pallet upon the ground floor, extremely unwell with fever, and surrounded by his friends. He has just come from the country districts. He asked me, "Is the Consul well? Are his daughters well? Is the King of England well?" Hateetah had some years ago visited the Consul and his family at Tripoli, under British protection, for Touaricks dare not approach Tripoli. He has in his possession, after a dozen years, a fine scarlet burnouse and coat, braided with gold lace, and also a gun, which were presented to him by Colonel Warrington, on the part of our Government, for his services to our Bornou expedition. The Sheikh told me he had besides a written certificate from the Consul, but it was in the country. I am the first person whom he has had an opportunity of serving since his return from Tripoli, where he formally engaged, on the part of the Touaricks, to give British subjects all necessary protection in the Ghat districts. For this reason he is styled, "The friend of the English." All strangers here are placed under the care of one Sheikh or another, to whom they make presents, but not to the rest. Hateetah resides in the suburbs.

During the past night was taken dreadfully ill, in the stomach, by eating the high-seasoned dishes of the Governor. After drinking olive-oil and vomiting, found myself much better. People say oil is the best remedy in such cases. The Governor was troubled at my illness, and sent to ask whether he should send me some senna tea. Wrote to-day to Mr. Alsager and Colonel Warrington. The letters were to have been dispatched direct to Tripoli, but the Touaricks would neither allow one of their own people nor an Arab courier to go, giving as the reason that Shafou, the Sultan, was not arrived. Touaricks have a horror of Turks, and cannot bear to have communication with them, and do everything in their power to prevent others from communicating with Tripoli. Not acquainted with Mediterranean politics, they imagine that, because the Turks have retaken possession of Ghadames and Fezzan, so long quasi-independent of Tripoli, they must necessarily invade the Touarick territory, and seize upon their wee town of Ghat, but to them the metropolis of The Sahara. This evening Jabour hinted, in Hibernian style, to one of the slaves waiting upon me, that his present of sugar was rather small. I forthwith sent him two loaves more, which rejoiced him so much that he exclaimed, "Thank the Christian by G—d. Tell him he has nothing to fear in Ghat, and he shall go safe to Soudan." Felt better to-night. The Governor sent his last dish this evening. A stranger of distinction is supplied with food for three days. I have had my share of honour and hospitality, and am glad of it. I shall now be cautious what I eat. But I find everything is exceedingly dear, the number of strangers, foreign merchants, and slaves, is so unusually great as quickly to devour all the food brought here.

Yesterday I made the acquaintance of Haj Ibrahim, a Moorish merchant resident in Tripoli, but a native of Jerbah. When in Tripoli he acts as Consul for the Ghadamsee merchants; his brother is now in charge. Mustapha came with him direct from Tripoli, not passing through Mourzuk, but viâ the oases of Fezzan to the west. So an European agent established at Mourzuk, cannot well collect a statistical account of trade, on account of few Ghat caravans travelling the Mourzuk route. Haj Ibrahim promises to be useful to me, and has already sent a letter for me to Ghadames. This merchant has brought the largest amount of goods to the Souk, about forty camels. The whole of the Soudan ghafalah has not yet arrived from Aheer. It comes in by small detached parties. As there is nothing to fear on the road, people prefer travelling in small companies, which facilitates their march, not being detained at the wells waiting for the running of the water.

I have cut in a certain way my old friends of the Ghadamsee ghafalah. This has done them good, for they now begin to return to me, and are polite. Before they were all so frightened at the Touaricks, that I knew if I did not cut them, they would cut me. Now, when seeing the Touaricks are friendly, they are also friendly;—such is the world of Sahara, as well as the world of Paris or London. When a man has few friends he gets less, when many he gets more. On the principle, I suppose, that money gets money, and friendship friendship. The Moors of the coast, of whom there are a few here, exhibit more courage, and a bolder front to the Touaricks. The worst of this place is, The Rabble. It is the veritable Caboul, or Canton Rabble. Here's my "great difficulty." They run after me, and even hoot me in the streets. Were it not for this rabble, I could walk about with the greatest freedom and safety, and alone.

18th.—Went to see Haj Ibrahim. Sent the letter to Mr. Alsager viâ Ghadames, the only letter I wrote from Ghat during the fifty days of my residence here. In my absence a loaf of sugar was stolen out of my apartment. Suspicion falls upon a Fezzanee, whom I have employed, and to whom I gave this very morning a quarter of a dollar. These small loaves of French beet-root sugar sell for two-thirds of a dollar in Ghat. Ouweek arrived to-day from his district, after stopping for the rest of the caravan to get what he could in the way of begging by force. This is the cunning of the old fox bandit. He knows he can beg more effectually from the merchant and trader in the open desert, than at Ghat, where people may refuse, and do refuse to satisfy his importunities. I have done so with the rest. He now pretends he was only playing with me, and that he would have let me pass through his district though I had given him nothing. Can we believe him? Jabour says in turn:—"I will make Ouweek restore the goods which he has extorted by violence from the Christian." There is no doubt Shafou will reprimand the bandit when he arrives. But I do not ask or expect the restoration of such a few trifling things. In this country, as the Governor says, "full of Sheiks," where authority is so divided, and the Sultan's power is so feeble, we must expect this sort of freebooting extortion. Such were the good and fine old days of chivalry in France and England, so much regretted by certain morbid romancers, Sir Walter Scott to boot, when a baron made a foray upon a neighbouring baron's people, and shut himself up with the booty in his castle, defying equally his plundered neighbour and his sovereign. But if in the comparison there is any declination of the balance, it is in favour of the Touaricks, for these Sheikhs, governing their respective districts with a quasi-independent authority, are now living in profound peace and harmony with one another.

Had a visit from some score of Touarick women, of all complexions, tempers, and ages. After staring at me for some time with amazed curiosity and silence, they became restless. Not knowing what to do with them, I took out a loaf of white sugar, cut it into pieces, and then distributed it amongst them. The scene now suddenly changed, joy beamed in every eye, and every one let her tongue run most volubly. They asked me, "Whether I was married—whether the Christian women were pretty—whether prettier than they—and whether, if not married, I should have any objection to marry one of them?" To all which questions I answered in due categorical form:—"I was not married—the Christian women were pretty, but they, the Touarick women, were prettier than Christian women—and, lastly, I should see whether I would marry one of them when I came from Soudan." These answers were perfectly satisfactory. But then came a puzzler. They asked me, "Which was the prettiest amongst them?" I looked at one, and then at another, with great seriousness, assuming very ungallant airs, (the women the meanwhile giggling and coquetting, and some throwing back their barracans, shawls I may call them, farther from their shoulders, baring their bosoms in true ball-room style,) and, at last, falling back, and shutting my eyes, placing my left hand to my forehead, as if in profound reflection, I exclaimed languidly, and with a forced sigh, "Ah, I can't tell, you are all so pretty!" This created an explosion of mirth, some of the more knowing ones intimating by their looks, "It's lucky for you that you have got out of the scrape." But an old lady, close by me, was very angry with me;—"You fool, Christian, take one of the young ones; here's my daughter." It is necessary to explain, that the woman of the Touaricks is not the woman of the Moors and Mussulmans generally. She has here great liberty, walks about unveiled, and takes an active part in all affairs and transactions of life. Dr. Oudney justly remarks, "The liveliness of the women, their freeness with the men, and the marked attention the latter paid them, formed a striking contrast with other Mohammedan States." Batouta mentions a Berber tribe of Western Sahara, as having similar manners. He says:—"This people has very singular manners. So the men are not at all jealous of their women. The women are not at all embarrassed in the presence of the men; and though they, the women, are very assiduous at their prayers, they appear always uncovered." He adds, that certain women, of free manners, are shared amongst the people without exciting the feelings of jealousy amongst the men. It is the same with the Touaricks, but it is the absence of this Mussulman, or oriental jealousy, of husbands of their wives, which distinguishes the Touaricks from other Mahometans of North Africa, and connects the social condition of the Touaricks more with European society. On departing, I gave the Touarick ladies some pins, and they, not knowing how to use them, (for pins are never imported into The Desert, though needles in thousands,) I taught them a good practical lesson by pinning two of them together by their petticoats, which liberty, on my part, I need not tell the reader, increased the mirth of this merry meeting of Touarghee ladies prodigiously. I certainly felt glad that we could travel in a country and laugh and chat with, and look at the women without exciting the intolerable jealousy of the men. I think there is not a more dastardly being than a jealous husband. Amongst the Moors a traveller does not know whether he can venture to speak to a man's wife or not, or whether he can make her the most trifling present in return for the supper which she may cook.

Afterwards had a very different visit of four Arabs, who came with the evident intention of getting something out of me by main force. I resisted to the last, and to their astonishment. I told them, all my presents were now for the Touaricks, and if they did not leave the house I would get them bastinadoed on their return to The Mountains. The worst class of people which I have met with, since I left Tripoli, are some of these Arabs, who are the most dogged brazen-faced beggars and spongers, banditti in the open day. Yesterday arrived the powerful Aheer camel-driver and conducteur Kandarka Bou Ahmed, the Kylouwee, whose arrival produced a sensation. Some call him a Sheikh. He usually conducts the Ghadamsee merchants between this and Aheer, and as far as Kanou. It is an established custom or law, in The Desert, that the people of each district or country shall enjoy the privilege of conducting the caravans. The Touaricks of Ghat conduct the merchants from Ghadames to Ghat, and the Touaricks of Aheer the merchants from Ghat to Aheer, and so of the rest of the route, as far as Kanou, the final destination of the Soudan caravan.

My Ghadamsee friend Bel Kasem came up to me today, and whispered in my ear the question, "If slaves would be allowed to be sold now in the market of Tripoli?" I answered frankly in the affirmative, but added, "I did not think it would last much longer." All the merchants now look upon me as an anti-slavery agent. The affair of Silva and Levi, if it prejudice the people against me on one side, gives me some consequence on the other, on account of the steps which the British Consul took against those merchants, or caused them to take. I went to see Bel Kasem in the evening, who is but a mere trader. He gave me this account of his slave-dealing:—"I have purchased five slaves at forty mahboubs each. At Tripoli I shall sell them at sixty. The Pasha takes ten duty, and I have only ten for profit and the expenses, of conveying the slaves from Ghat to Tripoli, feeding them as well here as there. What, where is my profit?" I echoed, "Where?" This is a fair specimen of the market. He complains of the dearness of the slaves, although an unusual number, more than a thousand, have been brought to the Souk or Mart. Haj Ibrahim and some other large purchasers have greatly and unexpectedly increased the demand. He says Haj Ibrahim purchases large quantities of goods on credit, or for bills of six and nine months from European merchants in Tripoli. These he exchanges against slaves in Ghat, and then returns and sells his slaves, and pays the bills as they come due. In this way, it will be seen, the Desert slave-traffic is carried on upon the shoulders of European merchants. Haj Ibrahim considers his profits at twenty per cent. The people say he gets more. My friend, the Arab of Derge, called late, to borrow five dollars of me. He said, "I have purchased a slave for twenty-five dollars; at present I have only twenty. You and I, Yâkob, have been always friends. Lend me five dollars and I will pay you in a few days. The slave is a little old but cheap, he is to work in the gardens at Ghadames." I then explained to him the law of England on slavery, which greatly surprised him. The next day this Derge Arab brought in another fellow to ask me to lend him money to buy a slave, just to see whether I should make the same reply to him also.

19th.—Rose early, and better in health. I begin to feel at home in Ghat, amidst the redoubtable Touaricks. I find them neither monsters nor men-eaters[71]. Nevertheless, all the swaggering Arabs and Arab camel-drivers are here very quiet and civil amongst their masters, the Touaricks. I frequently bully them now about their past boasting and present cowardice. Two of the Arabs who had attempted to extort a present from me I met at Haj Ibrahim's house. I lectured them roundly, telling them I would report them to the Pasha, for they were greater banditti than the Touaricks. This had a salutary effect. I was not troubled afterwards with these brazen-faced begging Arabs.

This morning paid another visit to Haj Ahmed, the Governor. Found him very friendly. He talked politics. I explained to him the circumstances of the war between France and Morocco, suppressing the most disagreeable parts for a Mahometan. In the course of conversation I was surprised to hear from Haj Ahmed, "Now, since these twelve years, Tripoli belongs to the English." I used vainly all my eloquence in Arabic to convince him of this error, which has been propagated since the removal of Asker Ali from the Pashalic of Tripoli at the instance of the British Consul. I then spoke to his Excellency of the necessity of sending some trifling presents to the Queen of England, as a sign of friendship, begging him to speak to Shafou. He replied, "The Touaricks have nothing but camels." The Governor has a tremendous family. First of all, he has seven wives and concubines, then nine sons and six daughters. One of his female slaves repeated to me all their names, a complete muster-roll. When I visited the Governor again, I congratulated him upon having so large a family. He observed smiling, with great self-complacency, "Why, Yâkob, do you call this a large family? What is a large family with you?" I told him eight and even six children was a large family. At this he affected great surprise, for he had heard that generally European females have three or four children at a birth. Haj Ahmed is a man of about fifty, rather good-looking, stout and hard-working, but inclining to corpulency, very unusual in The Desert. He is not very dark, and is of Arab extraction, and boasts that his family came from Mecca or Medina. He pretends that his ancestors were amongst the warriors who besieged Constantinople, previous to its capture by the Turks. He is a native of Touat, but has been settled here twenty years, where he has built himself a palace and planted large gardens. He is a shrewd and politic man, and has, in a certain degree, those jealous feelings of Christians which are peculiar to the Moor. He dresses partly in the Moorish and partly in the Touarick style, indeed, like all the Moors of Ghat, who are called Ghateen. He is, perhaps, not very learned, but is assisted by his nephew, a young Shereef of great learning and amiable manners. I asked some of the Ghatee people, who was their Sultan? They replied, "Haj Ahmed; Shafou is not our Sultan." The Touaricks, however, have absolute control over all affairs, and Haj Ahmed stands in the same relation to Shafou, being governor of the town, as the Sheikh El-Mokhtar, who is governor of Timbuctoo, under the Sultan of Jinnee. But, Haj Ahmed, himself, disclaims all temporal authority, he repeatedly says in our conversation, "I am not Sheikh, or Kaëd, I'm only Marabout. All the people here are equal. When you write to the Consul, tell him I'm only Marabout." The fact is, there are so many Sheikhs here that it is no honour to be a Sheikh. The honour is too cheap to be valued, and is as much repudiated as a French Cross of the Legion of Honour. Haj Ahmed repudiates being a Sheikh most stoutly. Notwithstanding this repudiation, the Marabout is obliged to decide upon the affairs of the city, even when Shafou is in town. The Marabout pretends he does not receive presents like the Sheikhs, but he always received what I offered him, and which was more than what I gave to some of the Sheikhs. His palace stands west, two-thirds of a mile from the city walls. Here he reigns supreme, priest and king, as Melchisedech of patriarchal times, surrounded with his numerous family of wives and concubines, and about fifty male and female slaves. Some of the slaves live in huts near his palace, or in the gardens. The Marabout is the largest landed proprietor of Ghat, but he also trades a good deal, and is now sending some of his children to Soudan to trade in slaves.

Yesterday evening Mohammed Kfah sent me a bowl of sopped bread, fat, and gravy, garnished with two or three little pieces of meat. This is the first act and specimen of hospitality on the part of the townsmen. Kafah is a considerable merchant, and one of the three or four grandees of the place. Bel Kasem called out to me to-day, for he lives next door, "Yâkob! Yâkob! Aye! for God's sake, one of my slaves is ill, bring me some medicine to purge him, quick, quick, he'll die." I had nothing to give the poor creature but a worm-powder, ordering half the quantity, all my medicines being distributed, except those for the eyes. Undoubtedly many of the slaves must die before they arrive in Tripoli. They are mostly fed on dates, the profit of the commerce is so small as not to allow wholesome food being given them. The slaves are brought from countries teeming with plenty of meat, grain, and vegetables, whilst they are fed with herbage and dates en route from Aheer to Ghat. What wonder then they die?

Every body, as was the case at Ghadames, high and low, rich and poor, young and old, wishes to convert me into a good Mussulman, being mortified that so quiet a Christian should be an infidel. An old Sheikh paid me a visit to-day, and began, "Now, Christian, that you have come into this country, I hope you will find everything better than in your own country, and become a Mussulman, one loved of God. Come to my house, leave your infidel father and mother. I have two daughters. I will give you both for wives, and seven camels besides. This will make you a Sheikh amongst us. You can also be a Marabout, and spend your life in prayer." I excused myself, by saying, "I had engagements in my country. My Sultan would brand me with disgrace, and I should be fetched out of this country by the Turks, who were always the friends of the English." The Sheikh sighed, raised up his aged body, and departed, mumbling something, a blessing or a curse, upon my head. A younger son of Haj Ahmed came in and addressed me, "Why not say, 'There is one God', and 'Mahomet is the prophet of God?'" I told him a Christian was prohibited from making such a confession. On paying a visit to Mohammed Kafah, who sent me the supper, I found his house full of slaves and Soudan goods, and he himself very busy in the midst of them. He received me very friendly, and, after a little, said, "It would be better for you if you turned Mussulman. Do you not wish to go to Paradise? A slave of ours is better than you, and your estate." To turn the conversation, I observed (which I knew would excite his mercantile lust, despite his orthodox zeal), "I hear you are vastly rich, the richest merchant in Ghat." "Ah!" he replied, distending into consequence, "but the Christians have all the money." I rejoined, "If there were a better Government in Tripoli, the Mussulmans would have more money." Asking about the arrival of Shafou, he observed, "Haj Ahmed is our Sultan. I'm not a Touarick. God help if I were a Touarick." He then took me by the hands, and led me to the women's apartments to show me to his wife and daughters. The good wife, after handling my hands, which were a little whiter and cleaner than what are generally seen in The Desert, for to have hands with a layer of dirt upon them of several months' collecting, is an ordinary circumstance,—exclaimed, "Dear-a-me, dear-a-me, how wonderful, and this Christian doesn't know God!" Her husband shook his head negatively. The court-yard of his house was soon filled and crammed with people, who rushed in from the streets, and the friendly Ghatee was obliged to send me home quick, lest I should be smothered by a mob of people. The affair of Silva and Levi had reached him, and the report will soon get to Soudan and Timbuctoo, for the merchants carry everything with them which interests their commerce, making additions as they go along. Here, as at Mogador, it was reported that I was commissioned by the Sultan of England to buy up and liberate all the slaves. On returning home, I had another posse of visitors, and some of Haj Ahmed's sons, who came with the fixed determination to convert me. One said, on my admiring his Soudan coloured frock, "If you will become a Mussulman, I will give you one." I now felt myself obliged to rebut some of this impertinence, and answered, "If you would give me all the frocks of Soudan I would not change my religion." I then addressed them sharply against wishing to alter the decrees of God, turning the dogmas of their religion upon themselves, and quoted the Koran,—

"Thou wilt not find out any means of enlightening him whom God delivers over to error."

Immediately, this unexpected style of argument struck them dumb. After recovering their senses they became restless to leave me, and began to beg a few things. I gave them some sugar and cake, and we parted apparent friends. On going out, they could not forbear asking Said if he was a Mussulman. Like many other Moslemites of Sahara, they said, "The Turks are not good Mussulmans." I replied, "Mustapha, the Bey of Ghadames, is a better Mussulman than any of the Ghadamsee people."

The reader may disapprove of my conduct in these my frequent evasions of the question of religion; but when they reflect that it required, during my residence in Ghat and other parts of Sahara, the whole strength of my mind, and the utmost tact, to maintain a simple and consistent confession of myself as a Christian, and that to have said a word, or even to have breathed a syllable of disrespect for Mahomet and his religion, would have exposed me to be torn to pieces by the rabble, and perhaps murdered in my bed, they will probably feel less disposed to censure my conduct. If there be any doubt of this critical situation of an European who travels openly and avows himself a Christian in The Sahara, all I can do is to beg of the doubter to make the experiment himself. The reader will also be pleased to recollect, that the Denham and Clapperton party, though they travelled the safest routes of Sahara, were protected by the Bashaw of Tripoli, and their safety was guaranteed solemnly to our Government, as being the immediate agents and representatives of the British nation; and, finally, they had a large escort of Arab cavalry from Fezzan to Bornou. Yet these tourists, surrounded with such protection, were actually circumcised at Tripoli by Dr. Dickson[72], and were accustomed to attend the mosques and perform prayer as Mussulmans. Colonel Warrington certainly told me the people saw through all the mummery, and laughed, or were angry. As to the Frenchman, Caillié, his eternal tale of fabrication, repeated every day, and every hour of the day, to every Sheikh, and every merchant, camel-driver, and slave of The Desert, produces a very painful impression on the mind of the reader. Caillié's falsehood, as lie begets lie, begat many others. He was obliged to tell the people, that Mahometans were not tolerated in Christian countries. He told the Africans, also, that slavery was abolished in Europe, at the time even when England had her thousands of West Indian slaves. In this way, whatever service Caillié has rendered to geography, he has damaged the moral interests of the world. The African Mussulmans might say to future tourists, "If Christians tolerate not us, why should we Mussulmans tolerate you," and assassinate the luckless European tourist. Whatever, then, were my evasions on the question of religion (and I sincerely confess I do not approve of them), I never stooped to such folly, and so far disgraced my character as an Englishman and a Christian, as to adopt the creed and character of a Mahometan. I moreover, on reflecting upon the tremendous question, which I often revolved in my painful journeying over The Desert—determined at all events, at all costs, come what might, I would never profess myself a Mussulman, if it were even to save my head. I thought the least I could do was to imitate the noble example, which The Desert reports of Major Laing—Sooner than forswear my religion, be it good or bad, it was better to die! "Mental reservation" may be good for the Jesuits and papists[73], who misquote the conduct of Jacob to Esau, but it is neither fit for a Christian, or a patriot, or, at any rate, for an honest man, who was, is, and ever will be,

"The noblest work of God."

Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. A Ghadamsee came in who attempted to frighten me from going to Soudan. Haj Ibrahim has the same prejudices as the rest of the people of Tripoli respecting the supposed wealth of the Ghadamsee people. "They have plenty of money but conceal it. Sheikh Makouran has abundance of gold, but he cunningly professes himself a poor man." I have lately read in a work published by the French Government, that once upon a time, a son of old Yousef Bashaw sacked Ghadames and carried off "several camel-loads of gold."

The Touarick mode of saluting is very simple and elegant, but cold, colder than that of the English. A Touarghee elevates deliberately the right hand to a level with his face, turning the outspread palm to the individual, and slowly but with a fine intonation says, "Slm Aleikoum." This is all. When using his own language, a few words are added. How strikingly contrasted are the habits of different people. Amongst the Moors and Arabs this mode of saluting is their way of cursing. With the outspread hand menacingly raised, a man or woman puts their enemy under the ban and curse of God. A vulgar interpretation is, that it means "five in your eye;" but this custom of cursing is so remote as not now to be explained. The door-posts and rooms of houses are imprinted with the outspread hand to prevent or withstand "the eye-malign" from glancing on them and the inhabitants its fatal influence.

20th.—Rose early, felt better in health to-day. Am, however, annoyed, but from what cause I cannot tell. Entertain many misgivings about the climate of Soudan, and having no medicine dispirits me. It is now too late to retreat. "Onward" is the only destiny which guides men, to good or evil. Had a visit from the eldest son of the Governor. Gave him two cups of tea, a little sugar, and two biscuits, which made him my friend for ever; a cheap purchase of eternal friendship. Shafou, he says, will not come before the whole of the Soudan ghafalahs arrive, of which there are still some portions lagging behind. A Soudan caravan, as all Desert caravans, is an omnibus; it collects parties of merchants all along the line of route, and distributes them in the same way, but having a starting-post and a goal. Haj Ahmed's son wished to introduce the question of religion. "The world is nothing and Paradise is every thing." "Amen," I replied. "What do you think of Mahomet?" "The Mahometans have Mahomet, the Jews Moses, and the Christians Jesus, each for their prophet," I said, after which not very satisfactory answer to him, the conversation dropped. He now inquired if I had written to Tripoli to bring plenty of sugar and tea, with a latent desire for a portion of the spoil. I told him "No," very emphatically.

Called at my neighbour's, Bel Kasem, and found him doctoring a poor negress girl. She could neither eat nor drink, she vomited and purged, her bones were nearly through her skin, her stomach empty and dried up as a sun-dried water-skin. Bel Kasem was rubbing her all over with oil. He asked me for medicine. I said, "Give her something good to eat." He replied, "I have nothing." "What do you eat yourself?" I asked. "Bread and bazeen," he replied. "Give her that," I rejoined. He hesitated to reply, did not reply; I saw he considered such food too good for a slave, even to save its life. Such is but one dark sad picture of a thousand now being exhibited here! One would think God had made one part of the human race to torment the other.

Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. A merchant in his house related that Noufee was now convulsed with a civil war. This country is now in the hands of the Fullans. He had often visited that country, and had seen English people there. A large caravan has this winter left Mourzuk for Kanou viâ Aheer. Haj Ibrahim pretends that the Touaricks of Aheer are better than those of Ghat, but the former are people of the country (or peasants), not towns. The Haj has not begun to dispose of his goods, but he will exchange them against slaves. He, however, as a subject of Tunis, is virtually prohibited by the Bey's ordinances.

My most friendly visitors are the merchants and traders from Soudan, Kanou, and Sukatou. I cannot help looking upon these people with profound pity. They bring their sable brethren, of the same flesh and blood, and barter them away for trumpery beads, coarse paper, and cloth, &c. They little think, that for such trifles, what miseries they inflict upon their helpless brethren! A Kanou merchant, in a friendly manner, recommended me not to go to Soudan, adding, "The Touaricks of Aheer would butcher me because I was a Christian." A similar recommendation is being given me by the Arabs, Ghadames people, and others. Still there is a great variety of opinions, pros and cons, on this subject.

21st.—Rose early, improved in health. A small bird, not much bigger than a wren, flits about the houses as our sparrows. This is probably the Jereed sparrow of Shaw, Bou Habeeba, or Capsa-sparrow, but I saw it at no other oasis except Ghat. It is of a lark colour, with a light reddish breast, flitting about continually, twittering a short and abrupt note, but very sweet and gentle. Yesterday Haj Ahmed sent me a few dates and a little milk. To-day the Governor paid me a formal visit. He was polite and friendly. However, he observed, "If you, Yâkob, had brought a few presents for the Touarghee chiefs they would all have known[74] you, but you have come without any thing, with empty hands." I replied that I did not expect to come to Ghat when I left Tripoli. Nevertheless, if the Touarick chiefs were friendly, and would protect Englishmen in The Desert, both the people and Government of England would, I was quite sure, acknowledge the protection with suitable presents. He was satisfied with the explanation. Some of our caravan had told him I had come with nothing, and had overrated my poverty as some tourists have their riches overrated. But this report of abject poverty was a great advantage to me. He was greatly surprised when I told him the Sultan of the English was a woman. I explained, as I had done at Ghadames, when the kings of our country had no sons, but had daughters, the daughters became sovereigns. My vanity was somewhat piqued at the Governor's direct allusion to presents, and I determined, that he himself, at any rate, should have as large a present from me as he got from any of the foreign merchants. He then asked me if I was an English Marabout. I replied, "Yes;" for a Marabout, as in the Governor's own case, means sometimes a person who can tolerably read and write. In this sense I may claim the sacred title. I also dub myself occasionally tabeeb (doctor), but mostly taleb, a mere literary man or pretender to literature. I believe that coming without arms, and as poor as possible, has had a good effect upon the Touaricks. They see, if they were so disposed, they cannot maltreat a man in my circumstances with a very good grace. I have still left, very fortunately, a supply of eye-water, and am making presents of it daily. This solution keeps my medical diploma clean and fair in Ghat.

Had another visit from the family of the Governor. All aspire to religious discussion. Addressing me, "Which way do you pray, east or west?" said another of his sons. "I pray in all directions, for God is everywhere." "You ought to pray in the east." "No, for The Koran says, 'The east and the west belong to God, wherever you turn you find the face of God[75].'" He continued, "You are idolaters, why do you pray to images?" "The English people do not pray to images," I rejoined. As he doubted my word, I was obliged to enter into explanations of the customs of Romanists and Protestants. It is amusing or lamentable to think, as we may sneer at or regret the matter, that these rude children of The Desert should have ground for charging upon the high-bred and transcendantally-polished nations of Europe, idolatry. But, if any one, determined to be an impartial judge, were to visit the Madelaine of Paris, and then pass rapidly over to Algeria, (a journey of a few days), and there enter the simple mosque, and compare its prostrate worshippers, in the plain unadorned temple of Islamism, with the bowing and crossing, going on before the pretty saints and images of the Catholic temple of the Parisians, he could not fail to be struck with the immeasurable space which separates the two cultes, whilst the contrast, so far as the eternal records of nature, impressed upon and read in the page of creation, are involved, would be all in favour of the Moslemite deist, and pity and folly would be mingled with his ideas when appreciating the papistical quasi-idolator.

A young Touarghee came in with the party, whose eyes were very bad. After a good deal of persuasion, for he was at first quite frightened at me, he consented to allow me to apply the caustic. He is a follower of Sheikh Jabour, and employed near the person of the Sheikh. To show how smoothly things go after the first difficulty is vanquished, I may mention, that he visited me ever after whilst I remained in Ghat, sometimes coming every day, and always begging his eyes might be washed with the solution. I had another visit from the Soudan traders. They say people just like me come up to Noufee to where they are now returning. They speak Arabic very imperfectly, and are obliged to converse with signs. They describe thousands of slaves being carried away by men with white cheeks and hands like myself, putting their hands round their wrists and their necks to show how the slaves were ironed. These slaves are carried down the Niger to the salt water (Atlantic). I asked them how the slaves were obtained. One of them sprung up in an instant, seizing an Arab's gun. He then performed a squatting posture, skulking down, and creeping upon the floor of my room, and waiting or watching in silence. He then made a sudden spring, as a tiger on its prey, with a wild shout. These wily antics evidently denoted a private kidnapping expedition. Many slaves are, however, captives of war, for the negro princes are as fond of war as the military nations of France and Prussia, and can play at soldiers as well as the King of Naples. Evening, as usual, paid a visit to Haj Ibrahim. Nothing new, except an economical bill of expenses, from Ghat to Soudan, chalked out for me by a Ghadamsee, in prospect of my journey, viz:—

Presents, en route, to various chiefs 13 dollars. Wheat and bread 5 " Olive-oil and semen (liquid butter) 1 " Extras and unforseen expenses 3 " —— Total 22 ——

This, I imagine, is about what it would cost him himself, though he pretended to allow a little more for me. These 22 dollars are to carry a person two months over Sahara and one over Negroland to Kanou. It will be seen there is nothing down for meat, or sugar, and tea and coffee, in which luxuries Saharan merchants rarely indulge.

FOOTNOTES:

[70] Sunbul——(literally "stalks"). According to French Oriental botanists, it is "Nard, spina celtica." An immense quantity of this fashionable plant is brought into The Desert. No present is made to a man of family without sunbul.

[71] Nor are they Anthropoklephts, as a late Yankee Consul, in his "Notes on North Africa," &c., calls them. Before Mr. Hodgson stigmatizes the Touaricks as men-stealers, he should see that his own States are pure. The reader will agree with me, after hearing further of the Touaricks, that these free sons of The Sahara have every right to say to Mr. Hodgson, and all American Consuls—"Physician, heal thyself: do not charge us with men-stealing when you buy and sell and rob human beings of their liberty."

[72] I speak on the authority of Mr. Gagliuffi, our Vice-Consul at Mourzuk.

[73] And even those who take an oath of et ceteras at the National Universities! And others who subscribe to creeds which they do not read, or if read them, do not comprehend them.

[74] That is, being on friendly terms with you.

[75] See Surat ii., intitled "The Cow."



CHAPTER XVII.

RESIDENCE IN GHAT.

Gloves an enigma of Wonder.—Visit Sheikh Hateetah.—All Men equal at Ghat.—Crowds of People surrounding my House to see me.—Violent Act committed on a Man at Prayer in the Mosque.—Extent of European Literature known at Ghat.—Continue unwell.—Ouweek's public Apology.—Dances of the Slaves.—A Saharan Emeute.—Arrival of Caravans.—Return the Visit of the Governor.—Europe, a cluster of innumerable Islets.—Who has most Money, Christians or Mahometans?—People more used to my presence in Ghat.—The Prophet of the Touaricks.—Visit from Aheer Touaricks.—The Governor's petty dealing.—The Shereef of Moorzuk.—Visit from Jabour.—Beginning Soudanic Cottons.—Visits from Kandarka and Zoleâ.—Route from Ghat to Alexandria, and its distance.—The Shereef of Medina.—Character and influence of Khanouhen, heir-apparent of the Touarghee Throne of the Azgher Touaricks, and his arrival in Ghat.

22nd.—HAVE considerable pain in my stomach with change of diet. Did not go out yesterday and the day before in the day-time, on account of the rabble who follow so close at my heels, that my guides and protectors can't keep them off. Sent a shumlah ("sash") to Haj Ahmed, the Governor, this morning. He expressed himself highly gratified. This makes the Governor's present about five dollars more than he gets from any of the merchants. The richest and most powerful merchants don't give more, and some of them not half this amount. I have already given away 20 dollars out of my extremely modest resources.

Nothing surprises the natives of Ghat and the Touaricks so much as my gloves. I am obliged to put them off and on a hundred times a day to please people. They then try them on, look at them inside and outside, in every shape and way, expressing their utter astonishment by the most sacred names of Deity. Some, also, have not seen stockings before, and examine them with much wonderment. But the gloves carry the palm in exciting the emotion of the terrible. One said, after he had put the glove on his hand, "Ah! ah! Whey! whoo! that's the hand of the Devil himself!"

The Souk or mart has now fairly begun. Merchants are desperately busy buying and selling, chiefly exchanging goods against slaves. All complain of the dearness of slaves.

Afternoon visited Sheikh Hateetah, "Friend" or "Consul" of the English. Found him still unwell; he complains of pain in his bowels. This is the case with most people in Ghat, myself amongst the rest. It cannot be the water, for it is the purest and sweetest of The Desert. Prescribed a little medicine for the Sheikh, who promises to introduce me to Sultan Shafou when he arrives. Returned by another route, and in this manner made the tour of the town. Half an hour is fully enough to walk round the mere walls of the city, but then there are considerable suburbs, consisting of huts and stone and mud houses. At the Sheikh's I met a merchant just returned from Kanou; I put some questions to him, who, thinking I wished to have every one answered in the affirmative, gave me his terrible "yahs" and "aywahs" to all and everything demanded.

"Are there many people ill in Kanou?"

"Yes, many."

"Is the route to Kanou unsafe?"

"Yes."

"Are there banditti in route?"

"Yes."

"Is it hot in Kanou?"

"Very hot, very hot."

"Is there fever in Kanou?"

"Yes, always."

This I thought was good news. I fear we often get incorrect intelligence from these people, through their anxiety to answer all our questions in the affirmative, they not understanding that we put the questions to them simply to gain information.

All men are indeed equal here, as saith the Governor. There seems to be no ruling authority, and every one does what is right in his own eyes. Yesterday, although the Governor knew that some of his slaves or other people had stolen my sugar, he never condescended to mention the circumstance, by speaking to his eldest son about the theft; he said absurdly enough, "Oh, if we knew the thief, we would put him to death." On protesting against such punishment for the offence, he rejoined, "Oh, but we would cut off his hand." This is all stuff, and a proof of the weakness of the Governor's authority. Happily, however, there's no crime worth naming in the oasis.

Am obliged to keep the door shut to prevent people from rushing into the house by twenties and fifties at once. The Governor has sent strict orders to his slaves to keep the door shut, first, to prevent me from being pestered to death all day long, and, secondly, because some of the people have got the habit here, as in Europe, of picking up little things. A young slave is crying out, "Bago! bago!" every five minutes, in answer to knocking at the door to see The Christian, which we interpret in European phrase more politely, "Not at home," but which signifieth in the original Housa, "No, no." However, a troop of the lower class of Touaricks managed to squeeze in as some of our people went out, but I got rid of them without angry words.

A Ghadamsee resident here, came in to-day, with a severe gash on his hands, and one of his fingers, to ask my advice and beg medicine. The gash was inflicted upon him whilst at prayer, by a vagabond Touarghee. The assailant alleged as the reason of his violent act, that the Ghadamsee had called him a thief amongst the people, adding, that he (the Touarghee) had stolen two skin-bags out of a house. For such violence, such a daring act perpetrated on a man whilst in the solemn performance of prayer, our Marabout Governor was obliged to give satisfaction to the injured party. His Excellency stripped the house of the Touraghee of all his little property, turned him out into the street, and ordered him immediately to leave Ghat. To the honour, and humanity, and morality of the inhabitants of this part of The Sahara, such acts of violence are extremely rare. The Ghadamsee had poulticed his hand with wet clay and camel's dung. I recommended a bread poultice, but he kept to his day and camel's dung. The Saharans mostly prefer their own remedies, though they may condescend to ask you your advice. Bought some olive oil from the Arabs of Gharian. Before pouring it out they wished me to put sugar in the measure. I suspected some trick, and refused. As soon as the measure was out of my servant's hand, they seized it, some licking it, others rubbing their hands in it, and then oiling their bread. They wanted to have a lick at the sugar, which would have settled down at the bottom; and were very angry with me because I did not take their advice of improving the oil with my sugar. These Arabs are really more greedy and rapacious than the Touaricks. The difference is, the Arabs are near Tripoli, see Europeans, and learn to be more polite to us than the Touaricks can well be.

A son of the Governor recited to me the following famous distich, begging me to tell him what it meant:—

"Tummora, tummora, tera, Buon giorno, buona sera."

On inquiring how he learned it, he told me a Moor of Tripoli taught it him. This seems to be the extent of European literature acquired by the Ghateen.

23rd.—Continue to have pains in my stomach, and feel very weak. Am undecided whether I shall go or not to Soudan. However, Haj Ibrahim has kindly offered to let me have twenty-five dollars' worth of goods on credit, which, in the case of my going, will relieve me from every embarrassment as to money for the present, until I can get a remittance from Tripoli, for these twenty-five dollars will furnish the presents and expenses of the route, and allow me to retain some twenty or thirty dollars in my pocket. The reader will and must smile at this mighty statement of my financial affairs, worthy of a Desert Budget!

Essnousee called. Ouweek is a personal friend of his; Essnousee says:—"Ouweek has told us, he feared from you (myself), for the English had never before been in his district. For the rest, he was only playing with you. He wished to see whether an Englishman was a man of courage. This you proved to be, for you sat down and ate dates and biscuit whilst he was threatening to kill you. It also proved that you knew that he (Ouweek) was playing with you, for how could you eat dates if you thought he was going to kill you." This is Ouweek's defence about town. I heard also a curious version about the slave who ran to the horse. Zaleâ says, the slave ran there to get Ouweek farther from me, giving me an opportunity, if I chose, of escaping to Ghat. This affair still occupies public attention, but Ouweek keeps his present, and evidently will not restore it despite the threats of Jabour. Essnousee tells me not to be afraid of Ouweek, for he has influence with the Sheikh.

A Souk of little things has just been opened, and provisions, with all sorts of small articles, the manufacture of Soudan and Aheer, are exposed for sale in the public square. Formerly, these matters were purchased at private houses. This is a step in the march of Saharan commerce.

Yesterday evening, the poor slaves danced and sung till midnight in the public squares. Ever-pitying Providence, so permits an hour of gaiety to suffering humanity, under circumstances the most adverse to happiness! The slaves of the caravan are, a few of them, permitted to join those of the town, and the exiled slaves sometimes obtain intelligence in this way of their country. Generally the slaves imported are from such a variety of districts in Negroland, and so widely apart, that the slaves of The Sahara can hear little of their native homes. I asked Bel Kasem, if the slaves of the Ghafalah were prisoners of war. "No," he replied, "there is no war now in Soudan; these are captured with matchlocks at night by robbers (sbandout); the negro is frightened out of his wits at the sound of fire-arms."

Afternoon there was a tremendous hubbub in the public square or market-place, the Negresses flying in all directions from the scene of tumult. One of Haj Ahmed's negresses comes running to me: "Shut the door, shut the door, the world is upset, the world is upset! Haj Ahmed, my master, is no Sheikh, no Sultan. He can't keep the people quiet. I'm going, I'm going." "Where are you going?" "I'm going to another and quieter country, to Haj Ahmed, my master, to tell him the news." This is a very lively negress, her tongue never stops; she retails all the news of the country to me, and is a great politician in her way. Some of these Ghat negresses are actually witty, and crack jokes with the grave Touaricks. The Touaricks are too gallant to be offended with the freedom of even female slaves. I felt somewhat alarmed, thinking the discomfitted party might come and avenge their defeat upon the unlucky Christian stranger. We barricaded the door, and kept quiet, anxiously waiting the result, as people do in Paris, when an emeute is being enacted for the especial benefit of the Parisians. Afterwards I learnt the particulars of this strange tumult. There is an old half-cracked Sheikh, who goes every day into the public square, and strikes his spear into the ground, and retiring at a distance, exclaims aloud to all present, "Whoever dares to touch that spear I'll kill him!" To-day a young Touarick passed by, and seeing the spear sticking up very formidably, as if challenging all-passers by, went near it, and said, "What's this?" and took hold of it. The crazy Sheikh was watching at some distance, and now was his opportunity to show the people his determined will and resolution. He rushes at the lad with his dagger in hand. In an instant the whole place is in wild tumult, cries and shouts rend the air, with a forest of spears brandishing over the heads of Touaricks, Arabs, Moors, slaves, men, women, and children, mingling together, and running over one another in a frightful melée. The boy is rescued, the people resume their lounging seats, the storm drops to a dead calm, and nobody is hurt, not even scratched. Such is a row amongst these untutored children of The Desert. How different to the Thuggee rows now being enacted in Ireland!