Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51 Volume I Part 4

In this oasis the palm-groves are much more dense than in any other I have seen. They almost merit the name of forests, both from their size and wild luxuriant appearance. The Fezzanees pay little attention to their culture, and when a tree falls it is frequently suffered to lie for months, even though it block up the public road. In contrast to the burning desert we had just traversed, these dense woods casting their shadows on the white sand produced a most pleasing effect. We eagerly wandered into the cool arcades, and watched with delight the doves and hippoes, and other birds, as they fluttered to and fro amidst the drooping leaves.

Laghareefah, like Edree, had been destroyed by the brilliant, though ruthless usurper, Abd-el-Galeel, on account of its resistance to his authority. The old town is at a little distance from the new, and was evidently a much better-built place, commanded by an earthen kasr or fortress.

On May 2d, we had a tempest of thunder and lightning to the south on the hills, produced by the intense heat of the morning, and its acc.u.mulation during the previous few days. Rain seemed to be falling at a distance of a few hours. In the evening the mercury still stood about 100. The heat now was still very distressing. The wind came charged with dust that rolled in columns, like smoke beaten down by a tempest, across the surface of the valley. All the vegetation seemed withered, as if in an oven; and the wheat in the ear was brittle, as though roasted. There is a good deal of wheat in this oasis. I observed an old woman reaping, and went to chat with her. Her sickle had a long handle, and the blade itself was narrow, but slightly bent and somewhat serrated. I tried it, and found that it answered its purpose very well, however rude in appearance.

I entered one of the huts made of palm-branches, and carelessly smeared with mud--an attempt at plastering that can hardly be called successful.

The door was formed of rough planks of date-wood, and the flooring of hard-trodden earth, covered with mats. The princ.i.p.al article of furniture was, as usual, the small hand corn-mill, for nearly every person in the East is still his own miller. The huts, though rude in outward appearance, were dark, cool, and comfortable within. In the town itself, many of them are built entirely of mud; that is to say, of round mud b.a.l.l.s, first moistened with water, and then dried in the sun. I entered several, and found that most were empty. Where we found people, they were courteous and cheerful in manners, and smiled at the curiosity with which I lifted up the wicker covers of their pots and jars. In one I found a little sour milk; in another, some bazeen; in another, a few dates soaking in water. A small vessel now and then occurred, full of oil; but this is the greatest luxury they possess.

None of the doors has either lock or key. The Fezzanee observed, "Strangers may steal, but Fezzanees never. All the dates remain securely on the trees until gathered by the owners." It must be observed, however, that the anomaly of vast possessions being held by one man, who can scarcely consume or utilise the produce, whilst others have not a stone whereon to lay their heads, and depend even for a burial-place upon charity, is not to be observed in this barbarous country.

The children of the Wady, up to the age of seven or eight years, go about perfectly naked, which may partly account for the bronze-black colour of their skins. The Tuaricks are generally fairer than the Fezzanees, though some of these latter are fair as the Moors on the coast, whilst others are black as very n.i.g.g.e.rs.

We received a visit from the Nather, or civil governor of the Wady. He is a Fezzanee, Abbas by name; and thankfully received the present of a handkerchief. The Kad, or military commander, is a Moor from Tripoli.

Everybody seems interested about us, and there is a perfect flux of visits. All the authorities around seem to make our arrival a holiday.

We are quite the fas.h.i.+on. The chaouch gets drunk in the evening on leghma, furnished by the Nather, who wants to worm out all the news; and there is little doubt that he has learned the whole truth, and a good deal more. El-Maskouas, the Turkish officer employed in collecting contributions for Mourzuk, arrived at the camp and brought letters from M. Gagliuffi. He also told us that the Sheikh of Aghadez had not yet returned from his pilgrimage to Mekka. The motions of all these desert magnates are circulated from mouth to mouth as a.s.siduously as those of our Mayfair fas.h.i.+onables.

Among our visitors was Haj Mohammed El-Saeedy, the owner of our camels.

His social position answers to that of an English s.h.i.+powner. He is a marabout of great celebrity in this country, and moves about in an atmosphere of respect. By the way, when it became clearly impressed upon my mind that the Fezzanee camel-drivers were merely employed for hire, and had no property whatever in the beasts they drove, my opinion of them began to rise. It would have been impossible to take more care of the camels than they did.

We remained stationary in the Wady, from the 1st of May to the evening of the 3d, when we moved on to Toueewah. After dark was pa.s.sed Azerna, in the neighbourhood of which stood the ancient town, celebrated for its ruins. The modern place, though presenting a martial kind of appearance with its battlemented mud walls, contained only ten inhabitants, who live like so many rats in holes or under the piles of ruins. On the 4th, when the people removed our beds in the morning, a scorpion sallied furiously forth. We had been sleeping with him under our pillows. We moved on, still in the Wady, for a couple of hours, until we came to the house of the Kad, and once more encamped. His habitation is large, commodious, and well protected from the sun. He showed us his sleeping-apartment, which is airy and well protected from the sun. A number of little wicker baskets, the handiwork of his wife, served as so many clothes-presses. The baskets of Fezzan are perfectly water-tight.

This Kad, called Ahmed Tylmoud, is quite a character, and looks very droll with his single eye. He has twenty soldiers only under his command throughout the valley. The Turks do not waste their men, making up by severity for want of numbers. Like the commandant of Shaty, this Ahmed Tylmoud insisted on "playing at powder" with his men for our edification; but was also obliged to beg his ammunition. It is singular, that although these people are only armed with matchlocks, and are supposed to be ready for service, either to defend the country or levy contributions, they seem entirely dest.i.tute of all necessary provisions for that purpose.

We were pestered with two very modest requests, which were not in our power to grant. In the first place, the native inhabitants sent a deputation to ask us to use our influence with the Governor of Mourzuk to procure a reduction of their taxes; and then the Arab troops desired that we should procure for them their discharge. Our refusal even to take the charge of these verbal pet.i.tions seemed very harsh. An impression had evidently got abroad that we came to bring about a general redress of grievances; or, at any rate, that our influence was far greater than we chose to avow.

I gave to the Kad a handkerchief, as well as some snuff and tobacco. In return, he sent a little bread and a fly-flapper; so that we parted good friends. During our stay, we heard this jolly fellow entertaining the chaouches and his own hors.e.m.e.n with a description of the ladies of the Wady, who had no reason to be flattered by his account. And yet he seems to have married one himself: _hinc illae lachrymae_, perhaps. My chaouch had already given me a confirmation of these libels, and was evidently greatly delighted by this testimony to his exact.i.tude.

There are several roads from the Wady to Mourzuk, all much about the same distance. It is said, also, that Ghat is only ten days from Laghareefah. We moved on a little further on the evening of the 4th, but did not start properly until next day, when we made a long stretch of more than thirteen hours, and encamped at the village of Agar, where I remembered having halted once before on my way from Ghat. During this day's march we found, that what we had supposed to be the border of the Mourzuk plateau was not in reality so. We soon reached the summit of the cliffs, and having cast back a glance upon the valley, with its expanse of corn-fields and thousands of palm-trees, expected to find an elevated plateau beyond; but the hills gradually softened down into a plain on their eastern side. Our route may be said to have led through a wilderness, not a desert. On all sides were cl.u.s.ters of the tholukh, which grows prettily up, and has a poetical appearance. The ground at some places was strewed with branches, cut down for the goats to feed on. Then we came to a small wady full of _resou_, which our marabout calls the "meat of the camel;" and all the camels at once stopped, and for a long time obstinately refused to proceed. This appeared strange to us, but on inquiry we found that the sagacious brutes remembered perfectly well that until the evening there would be no herbage so good, and were determined to have their fill whilst there was an opportunity.

The drivers, after indulging them a few moments, took them in flank, and their shouts of "_Isa! Isa!_" and some blows, at length got the caravan out of this elysium of gra.s.s into the hungry plain beyond. As we proceeded, a cold bracing wind began to blow from the east, and considerably chilled our frames. I had met the same weather four years previously. Towards evening, however, it became warmer, as it usually does. The country was bare and level, like an expanse of dull-coloured water; and the palm-trees that cl.u.s.ter near the village rose slowly above the horizon as we drew nigh. The sun had gone down, and the plain stretched dim and shadowy around before we came in sight of the group of hovels which form the village. As I looked back, the scattered camels slowly toiling along could be faintly traced against the horizon.

The Sheikh of Agar received us well this time, sending us two fowls and supper for our people. This place consists of huts made of palm-branches and of mud hovels, several of which are in ruins. The same remark constantly recurs in reference to almost all the towns of Barbary, both towards the coast and far in the interior. The vital principle of civilisation seems to have exhausted itself in those parts.

I was now in a country comparatively familiar to me, and knew that I had but one more ride to reach the capital of Fezzan. Rising early on the 6th, therefore, I determined to press on in advance of the caravan; and starting with warm weather, puffs of wind coming now from the south-east, now from the north-west, very unsteadily--the atmosphere was slightly murky, with sand flying about--I soon came in sight of the palm-groves of Mourzuk, without making any other rencontre than a Tuarick coursing over the desert in full costume. The old castle peeped picturesquely through the trees, but I had still a good way to go before reaching shelter. The sand and white earth that form the surface of the oasis near the town were painfully dazzling to my eyes.

At length I reached the suburbs, where a few people stared curiously at me. My arrival had been announced by the chaouches, who had gone on about a quarter of an hour before; and at the eastern gate the soldiers allowed me to pa.s.s without notice, or any allusion to _gumruk_. Mr.

Gagliuffi had come out to meet me; but having taken a different gate we crossed, and I arrived on my camel at his house, and found it empty. My veil being down in the streets I was recognised by no one. The acting Governor had arranged to meet me with twenty hors.e.m.e.n, but I had taken them all quite unawares. The letters forwarded requesting us to make a halt in the suburbs, and then advance slowly in "holiday costume," for the sake of effect, had not reached me. However, they had hoisted the Ottoman flag on the castle, in honour of our expected arrival,--a compliment that had not before been paid to strangers, and one never offered at Tripoli.

Our German friends arrived shortly afterwards, and we all had a very hospitable reception from Mr. Gagliuffi, with whom we lodged. A few calls were made upon us in the evening, but we were glad enough to seek our beds. Next day the chief people of the city, the Kady and other dignitaries, began early to visit us. When we had exchanged compliments with them, we went in full European dress to wait on the acting Pasha.

We found him to be a very quiet, una.s.suming man, who gave us a most kind and gentlemanlike reception, equal to anything of the kind of Tripoli.

He is a Turk, and recognised me as having been before at Mourzuk. We had coffee, pipes, and sherbet made of oranges. Afterwards we visited the Treasurer, who also gave us coffee, and was very civil; and finally called upon the brother of the Governor of Ghat, who was writing letters for us to-day.

I feel in better health than when I left Tripoli. Yet we are all a little nervous about the climate of Mourzuk, which is situated in a slight depression of the plain, in a place inclined to be marshy. The Consul has just recovered from a severe illness.

We had been, in all, thirty-nine days from Tripoli, a considerable portion of which time was spent in travelling. This makes a long journey; but I am told that our camel-drivers should have brought us by way of Sebha, and thus effected a saving of three or four days. The greater portion of our sandy journey was unnecessary, and merely undertaken that these gentlemen might have an opportunity of visiting their wives and families.

On a retrospective view of the route from Tripoli to Mourzuk, _via_ Mizdah, I am inclined to divide the country, for convenience sake, into a series of zones, or regions.

1st zone. This includes the sandy flat of the suburbs of the town of Tripoli, with the date-palm plantations and the sand-hills contiguous.

2d zone. The mountains, or Tripoline Atlas, embracing the rising ground with their influence on the northern side, and the olive and fig plantations, covering the undulating ground on the southern side, where the Barbary vegetation is seen in all its vigour and variety. This may also be emphatically called the region of rain.

3d zone. The limestone hills and broad valleys, gradually a.s.suming the aridity of the Sahara as you proceed southward, between the town of Kaleebah and Ghareeah; the olive plantations and corn-fields disappear, entirely in this tract.

4th zone. The Hamadah, an immense desert plateau, separating Tripoli from Fezzan.

5th zone. The sandy valleys and limestone rocks between El-Hasee and Es-Shaty, where herbage and trees are found, affording food to numerous gazelles, hares, and the wadan.

6th. The sand between Shaty and El-Wady, piled in ma.s.ses, or heaps, extending in undulating plains, and occasionally opening in small valleys with herbage and trees.

7th. The sandy valleys of El-Wady, covered with forests of date-palms, through which peep a number of small villages.

8th. The plateau of Mourzuk, consisting of shallow valleys, ridges of low sandstone hills, and naked flats, or plains, sometimes of sand, at others covered with pebbles and small stones.

All these zones beyond the Atlas are visited by only occasional showers, or are entirely without rain, the vegetation depending upon irrigation from wells. I do not go into further detail on this subject, because, although our line of route was new, this stretch of country is tolerably well known to the geographical reader.

I have omitted to mention, or to lay much stress on the fact, that we were unable to procure sufficient camels at Tripoli to convey our goods all the way to Mourzuk. We were compelled to leave three camel-loads behind, in the first place, at Gharian; these were subsequently got on to Kaleebah, and thence to Mizdah: but there the influence of Izhet Pasha's circular letter entirely failed to procure for us three extra camels, and we were compelled to push on to Mourzuk, leaving part of our goods in the oasis. This circ.u.mstance caused me a great deal of annoyance, both on the route and after our arrival, for it was a long time before we got in all our baggage. However, it at last arrived, and the delay only served to ill.u.s.trate the difficulty of procuring conveyance in these dismal countries, and to lead us into considerable expense.

CHAPTER VI.

The Oasis of Fezzan--Population--Ten Districts--Their Denomination and Condition--Sockna--Honn--Worm of the Natron Lakes--Zoueelah--Mixed Race--Improvements in Mourzuk--Heavy Ottoman Yoke--Results of the Census--Amount of Revenue--Military Force--Arab Cavaliers--Barracks--Method of Recruiting--Turkish System superior to French--Razzias--Population of Mourzuk--Annual Market--Articles of Traffic--Acting-Governor and his Coadjutors--Story of a faithless Woman--Transit Duties in Fezzan--Slave Trade--Sulphur in the Syrtis--Proposed Colony from Malta.

The Pashalic of Fezzan, although it occupies a considerable s.p.a.ce upon the map--advancing like a peninsula from the line of Barbary countries into the Sahara--is in reality a very insignificant province. From all that I can learn, its entire population does not exceed twenty-six thousand souls, scattered about in little oases over a vast extent of country. It is, in fact, a portion of the Sahara, in which fertile valleys occur a little more frequently than in the other portions.

Immense deserts, sometimes perfectly arid, but at others slightly sprinkled with herbage, separate these valleys; and are periodically traversed by caravans, great and small, which in the course of time have covered the country with a perfect network of tracks.

Fezzan is divided into ten districts, of which the princ.i.p.al is El-Hofrah, containing the capital, Mourzuk, and several smaller towns.

It is here and there besprinkled with beautiful gardens, in which are cultivated, besides the date-palm, several of the choicest fruits that grow on the coast--as figs, grapes, peaches, pomegranates, and melons.

In these gardens, as in most of the oases of the desert, the fruit trees that require most protection from the sun are planted between the palms, which make a kind of roof with their long leaves. Abd-el-Galeel destroyed many of these groves to punish their owners, refractory to his authority.

Two crops are obtained in the year: in the spring, barley and wheat are reaped; and in the summer and autumn, Indian corn, ghaseb, and other kinds of grain. All the culture is carried on by means of irrigation, the water being thrown over the fields by means of runnels of various dimensions twice in the day; that is, once early in the morning, and once late in the afternoon until dark.

Wady Ghudwah is a single town with gardens, and the other features common to all the Fezzan oases.

Sebha includes two towns, having a considerable population, with gardens and date-palms.

Bouanees includes three towns, well peopled, and has immense numbers of date-palms.

El-Jofrah contains the second capital or large town of the pashalic, Sockna, built of stones and mud, with nine or ten smaller towns, all tolerably populous.

Sockna is situated midway between Mourzuk and Tripoli, and is about fourteen days from the former. The inhabitants are Moors, and, besides Arabic, speak a Berber dialect. Sockna is celebrated for its fine sweet dates, called kothraee; and there is abundance of every kind of this fruit. A considerable quant.i.ty of grain is sown--wheat and barley--and the gardens abound with peaches. The town of Honn, distant about two hours from this place, is nearly as large, and also surrounded with gardens.

Wady Gharby, and Es-Shaty, have already been described. In the sands between these two places are situated the celebrated natron lakes, in which that miraculous dud ("worm") spontaneously appears at certain seasons of the year, and is eaten as people in Europe eat sardines--to sharpen the appet.i.te. The natron is also a source of profitable exportation. Wady Sharky almost exactly resembles Wady Gharby, in population and natural features.

Sharkeeah, besides some insignificant places, includes the interesting ancient capital called Zoueelah, whence the name of Zoilah is given by the Tibboos to all Fezzan. Half the population of this place consists of Shereefs, and there are indeed great and increasing numbers of this cla.s.s of persons throughout the whole country.