Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 Part 21

To-day some wild-ox, _bughar wahoush_[60],--???? ????? was brought in from The Desert. This is the hunting time, which lasts three months, and the flesh of this animal supplies a very good subst.i.tute for beef. Indeed, the animal is a species of buffalo, but very small, sometimes not much larger than a good-sized English sheep.

They are hunted in the sands to the north-west by Souf Arabs, who are excellent hunters, and pursue the chase twenty days together through the sandy regions. People pretend the bughar wahoush does not drink; perhaps they don't drink much. But both the wild ox and the aoudad are occasionally caught near the wells, a sufficient proof they sometimes drink water. I cooked some, and found it of excellent flavour. People call this animal also medicine. I purchased half of one to salt for my journey to Ghat, but spoilt it by too much salting. The salt ate away all the flesh from the bones.

I neglected the advice of Said, who a.s.sured me people salt meat very little in Soudan. Indeed, they frequently cut the meat into strips and dry it in the sun without salting. In this way caravans are provisioned over The Desert. I ate some, and found it very good. My Arab friend, the old doctor, brought me a small p.r.i.c.kly shrub, which he calls _El-Had_, ??????, and says it has powerful purgative qualities, purging even the camels. It abounds in The Sahara.

We, The Desert Quack and English Quack, bandy compliments together.

_Desert Quack._--"Whilst you are here, you are the Sublime Doctor (Ettabeeb Elattheem)." [As much as to say, "When you are not here, I am The Sublime Doctor."]

_English Quack._--"How? No, you are always The Sublime Doctor. I am at your disposal. I am your slave."

_Desert Quack._--"Impossible! Haram, it is prohibited. You are the wise doctor, you know all things."

_English Quack._--"How many people have you killed by your physic?"

_Desert Quack_ [surprised at this abrupt and impertinent question].--"G.o.d forefend that I should kill any one! But sometimes _Rubbee_ (G.o.d) takes away my patients, and sometimes they get better. But whether they die or live, people always say, 'It is written (predestined).'"

I then related the story of Gil Blas, who bled to death the rich lady, under the precepts of Dr. San Grado, and was challenged in mortal combat by the suitor of the fair dame. On which he observed, "Gil Blas was a dog. I trust the other man killed him. Here we bleed, but we always know when blood enough is left in a man to keep him alive."

"How do you know that?" I replied.

_The Taleb._--"1st. I see if he sinks down. 2nd. I ask Rubbee. 3rd.

Sometimes the Jenoun (demons) tell me. 4th. If he dies, what matter? Is it not the will of G.o.d?"

_19th._--Great preparations are now going on for the departure of the ghafalah to Ghat and Soudan. An order has come from the Pasha, that the Rais may take 2,500 instead of 3,250, less 750. This the people must pay.

And I hear the poor wretches have at last consented to swallow the bitter pill. Every man, having a small property, or a householder, will pay each five mahboubs; the merchants considerably more. A little by little, till the vitals of this once flouris.h.i.+ng oasis are torn out, and it becomes as dead as The Desert around it.

_20th._--This morning a slave ghafalah arrives from Ghat with forty slaves. Two escaped _en route_. What could the poor creatures do in The Desert? They must have perished very soon. The ghafalah brings important news. The Shanbah, 700 strong, had been ravaging the country of the Ghat Touaricks, and had murdered thirty-seven people.

The Touaricks were arming, and in pursuit of the Shanbah a.s.sa.s.sins.

Besides this, the Shanbah have captured a Ghadamsee ghafalah, escorted by Touaricks, not respecting a jot the Maraboutish character of this city. It consisted of thirty camels, laden mostly with the property of our merchants. Sheikh Makouran himself lost 2,000 mahboubs. Total loss for the merchants here is about 15,000 dollars. It is the caravan which left these two months ago, and took a letter for me to the Governor of Ain Salah. Both letters have been unlucky; the one sent to Ghat could not be delivered because the Governor was changed; and this one, I imagine, has fallen into the hands of the Shanbah. Two slaves escaped with a water-skin. They then fell in with some Touaricks, who gave them a little bread, and in this dreadful plight they got to Ghat. One died after his arrival. What became of the Touaricks is not yet known. They are probably ma.s.sacred. I made the acquaintance of these luckless Touaricks, and gave them some medicine to take to Touat. In this foray the Shanbah killed a little child of three years old. When they struck down a man, they ripped open his belly and left him.

These Shanbah banditti (who, to my surprise, are lauded in the French works published by the Minister of War, as the most enterprising camel-drivers and merchants in The Sahara,) are, without doubt, what the people say here, the vilest and most bloodthirsty miscreants in The Desert. How strange it is they are Arabs! It is always the Arab, who is the most thorough-going, hereditary, eternal robber of The Desert! Is it because we read, "And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him?" The disposition for brigandage in the soul of the Arab was a proverb of Jewish antiquity. So we have, ??????????? ?????????????, "As the Arabian in the Wilderness." My Arabic translation, which was done by the Missionaries of the Roman Church, follows some of the ancient versions, and renders it ????

?????? "like the thief in the Desert" (See Jeremiah iii. 2.) Still, Mr. D'Israeli thinks there's nothing like Arab blood, if we read aright his "Tancred," and would have us regenerate the old effete race of Europe by this fiery and bloodthirsty Oriental barbarian, as the Arabian stallion improves our dull race of horses. It is reported, in town, "When the Shanbah cut to pieces the thirty-seven Touaricks, one man was left untouched amidst the slaughter, owing his safety to his _Ajab_, ????? (amulets), which he wore in great profusion." This lucky charm-clad fellow saw the whole business from first to last, unmoved amidst the commingled cries of the victims and their slaughterers, and made a full report to the Touarghee chiefs. Talking to Rais about this slaughter, his Excellency observed, in the spirit of true Turkish policy, "So much the better.

Let the Touaricks and Shanbah slaughter one another, as long as we are left unharmed. The less of them the better for us." So the Turks have always dealt with the quarrels of the Arab tribes in Barbary, rather blowing up the flames of their discord than pacifying them.

The Shanbah drove away a thousand camels, besides sheep and oxen, from the Touarick districts. The merchants are all frightened enough, and our departure is deferred, notwithstanding that the slave caravan met with no accident. The Shanbah have now got their booty and revenge, and will probably decamp and leave the route clear for us. Common misfortunes often make friends of enemies. I saw Sheikh Makouran and Mohammed Ben Mousa Ettanee, the two princ.i.p.al merchants representing the factions of Weleed and Wezeet, very busy in conversation upon the neutral ground of the market-place, talking over their mutual losses. Both have lost property to a great amount by this Shanbah irruption.

_21st._--The departure of the ghafalah is deferred to the 24th. Rais is busy in comparing the papers of the merchants with the goods arrived from Tripoli. These ill-used merchants pay 13 per cent. for exporting their goods from Tripoli to the interior. The same goods have already paid 5 per cent. when imported into Tripoli by the European merchants. There is then the profit of our Ghadamsee merchants, and the profit of native merchants, and the merchants and the manufacturers in Europe. At what price, then, above their intrinsic value, are those goods sold to the merchants of Central Africa? A hideous thing is this system of transit duties!

_22nd._--Weather is cold, everybody wraps up. People sit two or three hours together out of doors in the morning before they'll stir. I ask them, "Why don't you move about,--you would be then warm?" They answer, "_Mazal shemtz_" (no sun yet). Rais is excessively gracious: he gave me a small loaf of white sugar. I had none left, and the gift came in the nick of time when required. I have said so much about Rais Mustapha, that I must now give a personal description of his Excellency, before I take leave of him and of Ghadames. First of all, Rais is not a military man; he is a civil servant of the Porte, and receives his pay direct from the Sultan. The Turks often employ a civil servant where we should expect to see a military man, as in this distant Saharan post, and find it to their advantage. The Governor for military advice usually writes to the Commandant of The Mountains. His Excellency rarely reads, but writes constantly, and is very expert in accounts, his princ.i.p.al occupation being the collecting of small monies. His Excellency is also fond of collecting coins of different Mussulman States. The reader has seen that he is very attentive to his religious duties, and is quite, if not superior "marabout odour." His Excellency scarcely ever punishes anybody, beats his slaves seldom, but can be very despotic when he pleases. Like most Turks, he has a smack of bad faith in him, and made the Souf Arabs pay the duty on the goods in their possession, though he promised people he would not. We may suppose he is very badly off for money; perhaps his own salary is not very regularly paid. His Excellency always behaved very well when I purchased any corn of him. He is generally esteemed by the people. In person the Rais is exceeding tall, above a convenient height; he is about forty years of age, with strongly-marked Turkish features, and a large aquiline nose. His limbs are heavy and large, but since his residence here he has lost all his flesh. He dresses in the common dress of Ottoman functionaries. I often found him chatty and facetious, but sometimes he was sulky and morose, and would not speak for hours together. He had a fine horse, but rarely could be prevailed upon to go out and ride for his health. Every great man has his shadow, his echo, the expression of himself more or less in his fellow men. The Rais's shadow is one Abd Errahman, a small merchant. His sons call their father _souwa-souwa_ ("like-like") with the Rais. Abd Errahman knew the Rais's most secret thoughts, and he was the only Ghadamsee in whom the Rais could entirely confide. Abd Errahman swore by the Governor's head, and was his most obedient humble servant.

Sheikh Makouran is occupied in purchasing me an outfit of Moorish costume for the The Desert. He is very slow, but he gets them cheaper than if I bought them myself. He purchases one thing one day, and another thing the next day, and all from different persons. This is the way here. Attempted myself to purchase two turbans, one for myself and one for Said, but I found it no easy matter. The owner asked three dollars each, alleging that the turbans had been "blessed at Mecca[61]." I refused to give this price, and it was agreed to wait till the Sheikh came. This was decided by a council of the people, against the wish of the owner, who objected to waiting. At length the Sheikh made his appearance. Nothing was said about the price, for every one knew they must abide by the Sheikh's decision. The Sheikh after examining the turbans, said to the seller, "Let them be sold for one dollar each." The owner began to exclaim against this decision, but the Sheikh stopped his mouth!--"This is our friend (_habeebna_). Do you wish to rob him? Is this your kindness to a stranger, who has lived with us so long, and whom we all love?" These words were uttered with the greatest energy, and silenced every objection. I paid the money, and a quarter of a dollar more for mine.

Without exception, the Sheikh was the most just and kindest man I met with in Ghadames, and yet he had the reputation of being close-fisted in money matters. He refused to receive any rent for his house in which I lived, and when I left he ordered a quant.i.ty of cakes to be made for me, which he brought me himself. They were very nice, made of b.u.t.ter, and honey, and dates, and lasted me all the way to Ghat. Makouran pressed the Rais to write for me to the Touarick authorities of Ghat; but his Excellency could not without an order from Tripoli. I am under very great obligations to the Sheikh, who behaved like a father to me in a land of strangers. His brother was kindness itself, but had not the spirit of the Sheikh. His eldest son, Haj Besheer, was also a very kind and upright young man. Haj Besheer has immense influence with the Touaricks, and if he had gone with me to Ghat, nothing would have happened. His princ.i.p.al connexions are in Touat, and I really think that an European, going with letters from him to one of his Touarghee friends, might make the journey to Timbuctoo in safety. Sheikh Makouran took me to-day before the Rais and Kady, and in their presence a long "Testimonial" of the people of Ghadames was drawn out in Arabic, stating that during the time I had resided in Ghadames I had conducted myself well, and given no offence to any one. This was signed by the Kady, on behalf of all the people, in presence of the Rais and the Nather and several other officers. I was requested to countersign it, which I did with these words: "I have remained three months in Ghadames, and now leave it with great personal satisfaction to myself, and in peace with all the inhabitants." A copy of this I made for the Kady to keep in Ghadames. The "Testimonial" itself was sent to Colonel Warrington, through the Pasha, who either did not forward it to the Colonel, or it has been mislaid or lost, for it cannot now be found in the Consulate Archives. The people of Ghadames were determined to give me this testimonial in order that the Turkish authorities should not hereafter bring any accusation against me. It was dated the 24th, or the day fixed for departure.

The Rais astonished me to-day, by telling me, he had bastinadoed twice my taleb, Ben Mousa, for dishonesty. I absolutely thought the Rais was joking, for the Rais and the taleb seemed always pretty good friends. I knew Ben Mousa was not extremely delicate, and would sometimes sit down with Said and eat his dinner away from him. I inquired of the turjeman about it, who a.s.sured me it was no joke, and that Ben Mousa had been twice bastinadoed for borrowing things and not returning them. I was extremely sorry to hear this, for I had been greatly a.s.sisted by the taleb in obtaining information, and we had pa.s.sed many long hours together. The taleb is a man of about fifty, extremely clever, and a pretty good scholar, and had formerly kept a school. Now he did nothing but calculate the water distribution or irrigation of the gardens. He wished to come with me to England, to work at translations and get a little fortune for his family. But whenever I told him that there were very learned Arabic scholars in England and France, he always answered, "They are concealed Moslems;" that is to say, afraid to confess Mahomet before the Christians, or seeking to convert Christians. From time to time I gave the taleb a few presents and a little money, as also the turjeman. This latter was a very different character. He mended skin bags for water, made shoes, white-washed houses, worked in the gardens, and made himself generally useful. He had some property, and his garden, the heritage of his ancestors, was one of the finest in the country. He was honest, but his defect was want of moral courage. The turjeman had lived a good while in Tunis, with some French, where he learned his Italian, and a few French words. He always said, "When I lived with the Christians, I drank wine like them." Some of the people, in a joke, would call him a Christian. He was a bad scholar, and very bitter against the Wahabites, whom he delighted to picture to himself in the pleasing predicament of carrying the Jews to h.e.l.lfire on their backs. I myself one day had a quarrel with a Wahabite. The Wahabite called me a kafer. I retorted, "Why, what are you? You are nothing but a Wahabite." He was so angry that he was about to draw his knife at me, when the people seized hold of him, and one of my friends knocked him down.

Rais heard of the affair, and said as he was a foreign Arab he should leave the oasis. He came afterwards to me to beg my pardon, and I gave him some coffee to make him merry. He then told me all about the Wahabites, not forgetting to abuse all the other sects. He said the Arabs of his mountain had no objection to the Turks if they would become Wahabites. He was also of the Abadeeah, "white-caps," and declaimed against the "red"-capped Wahabites. The controversy is as nearly as possible the same as that of our white and black-gowned clergy of the Established Church, introduced by the Puseyites.

Begin now to have some trouble with Said. He gets sulky and saucy, and sometimes says he will stop in Ghadames and eat dates. I am obliged to box his ears. Then he gets very frightened at the Touaricks, and begins to blubber, "I shall be made a slave again, and you yourself will be killed." Then he would complain that the Rais's servants and slaves had better clothes than himself. I always found it was the better way to let him have a _sfogo_, or "vent," for his temper, and afterwards he was himself again. He never could keep a _para_ in his pocket, but would give his money to the first person who would ask him for it. I am obliged to buy him snuff every week, and a stock for the journey. With this he is accustomed to treat everybody, and is therefore very popular. Even the Governor thinks him the best Negro he ever knew. As is natural enough, he is a great favourite amongst the Negresses, and even amongst the Touarick ladies. I found him crying one day, and asked,--

"Said, what's the matter?"

"I now recollect my wife whom I left in Jerba," he sighed out.

Before this, I didn't know he was married; he was about thirty years of age. My turjeman and Said were two great cronies, and they discussed all the town's affairs in general, and everybody's affairs in particular. At first, I had not the remotest idea Said had so much wit, and was pleased to hear his remarks and criticisms. One of these was capital, and had a particular reference to his own case. He stared at me, observing, "We can't put the slave-trade down whilst the Jews in Tripoli lend the merchants here goods to carry it on." He was so fond of the turjeman that, on leaving Ghadames, he gave him all the money he had, and said to me when I scolded him, "We don't want any money in The Desert," adding, "Where are the shops?"

_23rd._--Bought a camel this morning, a _nagah_, ??????, or "she-camel," for 25 dollars. Rais would have the honour of choosing the camel, but it was scarcely worth the money. I hired another camel to carry a portion of the baggage. Rais told me the Pasha had offered to the Touaricks to equip an expedition, in conjunction with them, against the Shanbah, but the Touaricks would not accept of the aid, being determined to fight their own battles in their own way.

They might have thought that after the Pasha had destroyed the Shanbah, he would have turned his arms against them.

_24th._--We are all confusion in getting off. It is late in the afternoon. I have loaded the nagah, and disposed of my baggage; I have bid a hundred people farewell, shaking them by the hands. We are surrounded with the whole male population of the city, and half-caste women. Rais is galloping about to see the people off. But a group of people is now seen forming rapidly round a man and a boy, and a camel just come in from The Desert with a load of wood, "What's the matter?"

"The Shanbah! the Shanbah!" people shout from detachment to detachment of the ghafalah. The confusion of parting is succeeded by the terror and rus.h.i.+ng back of the people. The advanced party abruptly returns upon the party immediately behind it, and all rush back to the gates of the city, one running over the other. Rais appears amongst them to calm the consternation. "What's the matter?" His Excellency is too much agitated to answer the question. I find Sheik Makouran. "What's the matter?" "The man and the boy just come in saw twenty-five Shanbah mounted on camels, and the ghafalah cannot go. Rais is going to send out a scout, a _Senawanee_, to see if it be the Shanbah, and then all the people are to arm and go out against the robbers." A pretty kettle of fish, thought I.

The Governor then sent a man down to me, to come and sleep for the night in his house. All the merchants return, but the camels and a few men remain outside, close by the gate. A number of soldiers are sent round the city, and the _Senawanee_ mounted on a maharee, goes off in the direction where the Shanbah had been seen, the Rais accompanying him a short distance. On his return, the Rais bitterly complained of the merchants not furnis.h.i.+ng him immediately with camels. It was some time before he could get the scout off. I went up a mound outside of the city to see the scout "out of sight." As the white form of the maharee was disappearing in the glare of the sand, I admired the bravery of the Senawanee, who thus defied single-handed a troop of robbers, bearding them in their very ambush.

We waited with intense anxiety the return of the scout. Many people got upon the walls to look out. At length, at noon the 25th, a single camel was descried on the dull red glare of the Saharan horizon. This was the Senawanee. A number of people ran to him. "Where are the Shanbah?"

"Where?" "Shanbah?" The messenger said nothing--he was dumb. A crowd gets round him--he's still dumb. He enters the Rais's hall of conference, and squats down in the presence of his Excellency. He speaks now, and calls for coffee. The Rais gets furiously agitated at the moment of breaking silence. The scout very calmly sips off his coffee, and strokes down his beard, and then deigned to satisfy Governor, Kady, officers, and the men, women, and children, who were now pressing upon him with dreadful agitation. "Oh, Bey! (raising himself from the floor, fixing his eyes now on the Bey, and now on the people, and putting his fore-finger of the right hand on the thumb of the left)--I went to the sand. I got there when the sun was gone down. The camel lay down, and so did I lay down on the sand. We watched all night. I fear no one but G.o.d!--(Here was a general hum of approbation.)--Two hours before the _fidger_, (break of day) I looked up and saw pa.s.s by me, at a distance of from here to The Spring, nine _Bughar_ (wild-bullocks). They came and went, and went and came, snuffing up the sand and bellowing. The man and the boy, who cut the wood yesterday, saw the _Bughar_. But the wild oxen are not the Shanbah!" As soon as he mentioned the _Bughar_, the people rus.h.i.+ng out of the Bey's apartment, ran away, and before I could get my dinner, a portion of the ghafalah was on the move. The Rais said to me, "Get off, make haste--make haste." I then went down to load the nagah again, but found it very difficult; seeing the other camels pa.s.sing on, she would not stop to be laden. At length my turjeman came and arranged all. Said observed that the obstinacy of the nagah was a bad omen. His Excellency the Governor came to see me off, and gave me an affectionate shake of the hands. I then met his confidential man Abd-Errahman, who said to me, "Rais has given you in charge of all the people of the ghafalah, (about sixty persons"). This was kind of the Governor, and better, perhaps, than being in the charge of one individual. But still I couldn't help thinking, that what is many persons' business is n.o.body's business. The turjeman accompanied us some distance, chatting with Said. He carried with him a quant.i.ty of date-tree fibrous netting, and was twisting bands as he followed us. We soon parted. I then pa.s.sed my old friend the good-natured Arab doctor. His parting blessing spoke the native goodness of his heart: "Day cool, route wide, route Fezzan, ghafalah large, Shanbah there are none--G.o.d bless you, farewell!"

I began to breathe at once the free air of the open Desert. As is my wont, I now committed my spirit to the care of G.o.d Almighty, leaving my body to the care of the wild tribes of these inhospitable wastes. And why not? Why distrust them? Have not the people hitherto treated me with great and unexpected kindness? And is it not the first step to make strangers your enemies, to distrust them?

FOOTNOTES:

[58] They call all other languages in the world _Ajem_--?????--a distinction like that of Jew and Gentile, only applied to language instead of persons.

[59] Sale says:--"Mahomet here and elsewhere frequently imitates the truly inspired writers, in making G.o.d to operate on the minds of reprobates, to prevent their conversion." Impostors in all ages have charged the inefficacy of their novel mysteries upon the will of G.o.d. But these pa.s.sages have had their use and humanity effects in the strife of contending religions. A Mahometan bigot, with sword in one hand and victim in the other, has often spared his life and his conversion by recollecting, "_G.o.d had sealed up his heart and his hearing_," so that he could not believe. The pride of the Moslem has also thus been content to leave matters in the hands of a predestinating deity.

[60] "Wild bullock:" The _Bos Brachyceras_, Gray.

[61] Turbans are sent to Mecca to be blest there, and by this blessing of course their value is greatly enhanced amongst the Moumeneen. Shrouds are also blessed at Mecca; and a rich Mahometan endeavours to procure one to wrap up his mortal remains. A considerable trade is carried on in blessed garments.

CHAPTER XIV.

FROM GHADAMES TO GHAT.

Character of the People of Ghadames.--Strength of our Caravan.--First features of the new Route.--Well of Maseen.--Rate of Travelling.--Our Ghafalah divides in two on account of the difficulty of obtaining Water for so large a Caravan.--_Es-Sarab_, or _The Mirage_.--_Gobemouche_ Politicians.--Camels, fond of dry Bones.--Geological Features of Plateau.--Desert Tombs and _Tumuli_ Directors.--Intense cold of The Desert.--Well of Nather.--Savage Disposition of Camels.--Mr.

Fletcher's advice to Desert Tourists.--No scientific instruments with me.--False alarm of Banditti, and meet a Caravan of Slaves.--Sight of the first tree after seven days' Desert.--Wells of Mislah in a region of Sand.--Vulgar error of Sand-storms overwhelming Caravans with billows of Sand.

MOUNTED on my camel, pressing on through The Desert, my thoughts still lag behind, and as I turn often to look back upon The City of Merchants and Marabouts, its palms being only now visible in the dingy red of the setting sun, I endeavour to form a correct opinion of its singular inhabitants. I see in them the mixture of the religious and commercial character, blended in a most extraordinary manner and degree, for here the possession of wealth scarcely interferes with the highest state of ascetic devotion. To a religious scrupulousness, which is alarmed at a drop of medicine that is prohibited falling upon their clothes, they add the most enterprising and determined spirit of commercial enterprise, plunging into The Desert, often in companies of only two or three, when infested with bandits and cut-throats, their journies the meanwhile extending from the sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean to the banks of the Niger, as low down to the Western Coast as Noufee and Rabbah. But their resignation to the will of heaven is without a parallel. No murmur escapes them under the severest domestic affliction; whilst prayer is their daily bread. Besides five times a day, they never omit the extraordinary occasions. The aspirations of the older and retired men continue all the live-long day; this incense of the soul, rising before the altar of the Eternal, is a fire which is never extinguished in Ghadames! Their commercial habits naturally beget caution, if not fear.

In The Desert, though armed, they have no courage to fight. Their arms are their mysterious playthings. Their genius is pacific and to make peace--they are the peacemakers of The Desert--and they always travel under the intrepid escort of their warlike Touarick friends and neighbours. Intelligent, instructed and industrious, they are the greatest friends of civilization in North Africa and the Great Desert.

But upon such a people, falls as a blast of lightning, rending and s.h.i.+vering the fairest palm of the oasis, the curse of Turkish rule.

The force of our caravan consists of about eighty people, including strangers, and two hundred laden camels. Nearly all the people are armed, and some single individuals have two or three matchlocks, besides pistols and daggers. The character of the people are petty traders, commission agents, camel-drivers, and slaves. There are several Arabs, natives of Ghadames, Seenawan, and Derge, and five strangers from Souf. We have with us also three Touaricks. There may be half-a-dozen low women and female slaves distributed amongst the ghafalah. Respectable females scarcely ever travel in The Desert. I have only with me my negro servant Said. My large trunk and tent are conveyed by another camel; the nagah carries me, the provisions, and the rest of the baggage, going extremely well. Said walks with the servants, slaves, and camel-drivers. Two-thirds of the people are on foot. Started in tolerably good health and spirits, and increase my appet.i.te every mile I ride. Feel no fatigue, of course, to-day, and trust I shall soon forget I'm travelling in The Sahara. There are many routes from Ghadames to Ghat, no less than four or five well-travelled desert tracts. Our present one is the more easterly, being skirted by the oasisian districts of Fezzan. None of these routes have been travelled before by an European. Our course to-day is directly east.

We are now encamping at sun-set, and we have just lost sight of the palms of Ghadames. Alas! this will, I fear, be an everlasting farewell to the beautiful oasis, and the holy city of merchants.

_26th._--Rose before sunrise. Morning cool and refres.h.i.+ng. We are to continue ten days in the route of Fezzan, then turn into that of Ghat, thus describing a sort of semicircle to get out of the forays of the Shanbah.

Course south-east. On the right ranges of low dull hills, with the same on the left, but at a greater distance. The road very good, fit for carriages, through the broad bed of a valley. Two great blocks of rock stand out on the surface which we traverse, one an oblong square, the other sugar-loaf, but flattened at the top.

_Camel-drivers._--"Look at these brothers" (the two rocks.)