Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 Part 18

LETTER FROM A BROTHER IN TIMBUCTOO TO A BROTHER IN GHADAMES.

"From the poor servant of his Lord, Muhammad ben Ali ben Talib, to our respected brethren, Abu Bekr and Muhammad, and Abdallah, and Fatimah, and Ayshah, and our Aunt Aminah; G.o.d prosper their conditions, Amen!

"After a thousand salutations and respects to you, and the mercy of G.o.d, and his blessings on you, should you indeed inquire concerning us, we are well, and you, please G.o.d, are so likewise; and we desire no further favour from G.o.d than the sight of your precious countenance; may G.o.d unite us with you before long, for He is the Hearer (of pet.i.tions)! As to this country there is in it neither buying nor selling. By G--d, O my brother! this day we are six months in Timbuctoo, and truly in the whole time I have received but 15 mithcals. There is not a single farthing (or kirat) in this town, nor commerce at all, except in salt, &c., (_some other commodities, whose names I cannot discover_.) And our minds are in continual fear here from the scarcity of the times. I am desirous of going to Arawan, if we can find something to sell there, when the people of Kiblah (_the South_) come; but they are not yet arrived, up to the present moment, and we do not think they will come. And thou, O my brother, beware of sending us any thing! as in this country there is no commerce, (neither buying nor selling); and whatever has been sent us, we have received for it neither far nor near. And truly, from the day in which we entered Timbuctoo, we have given 600 louats (some measure) to the Touaricks and the Fullans. But do you pray with us that we may be delivered from this land; and we have no more news after the letter which we have written to you. Convey our salutation to our aunt and to our brothers, many thousand salutations; and to Muhammad ben al Tayil, and his brother and his sons, many thousand salutations; and to Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Taraki, many thousand salutations. Salute also the Hajj al Bes.h.i.+r, and his brother the Hajj Yusuff, if he is arrived; and salute also Hajj Abdallah. The people (caravan) of Touat have not yet come to us. Our salutation to Al Mustafa and his brother Abdal Cadir, and tell the Hajj al Behir, for G.o.d's sake not to send us any thing. Of a truth, we sincerely hope to fulfil your commissions, but in this land there is neither buying nor selling. By G--d, neither in Arawan nor in Timbuctoo, have we seen any one who will buy of you for a mithcal, nor for a kirat. Tell the Hajj al Bes.h.i.+r, the Sheikh has not yet arrived. And of all the (----?) I brought to Timbuctoo, I have not sold a single thing, and I sent them back to Arawan. Know, that there is no dealing here except by cowries, and the cowrie is 3,500 to a mithcal. Convey my salutation to the Hajj Abdal Kerim Ben Aun Allah, and his brother Abdarrahman, and to their sons; many thousand salutations, and say to them, For G.o.d's sake take care how you send us any thing, for this land is a vexation to us. May G.o.d not visit you with vexation, and may he open to us a way of deliverance! And our salutation to the Hajj Muhammad Sahh, if he is arrived, and tell him not to forget us in the Fatihah (1st. chap. of the Koran, used in prayer,) and in the prayer called Salihah (the Beneficial.) And also to his son and to his mother, many thousand salutations. And our salutation to the Hajj Muhammad ben Ali, and his brother, and their father, many thousand salutations. And salutation to our cousin (the daughter of our uncle) Miriam, many thousand salutations, and to our aunt Sultanah, and to her brothers, and to (some other female name) and her sons, many thousand salutations. And our salutation to our cousins (the children of our uncle) and say to them, For G.o.d's sake do not forget us in the Fatihah and the prayer Salihah, that G.o.d may deliver us from this land; and the people ("or caravan") of Touat are not yet come to us.

O my brethren! we anxiously and most earnestly do desire news of you; the Lord give us news of your welfare before long. And do thou, O my brother! send us some cinnamon and some black pepper, and some grains of ??????. And when thou writest, give us all the news, and take care not to leave your letter unclosed, for the people here read it, and be sure to seal it. Salute the inhabitants of our street, all of them, without exception, each one by name.

"And so farewell: at the date of Rajab the 25th, in the year 1246; and again farewell, from this poor (servant of G.o.d,) and many thousand salutations, as also from Ibrahim and from the Hajj al Mansur and the Hajj al Mansur's son, who is still with him. Farewell.

"(Postscript below.)--Convey our salutation to Hajj Hamad, and tell him Muhammad ben Canab is doing well, and he is in Arawan; and in like manner salute from us his brother Ali.

"(2nd Postscript at the side.)--Salutation also to our uncle, and say to him, that among the people of the Sheikh (???? ??????) we obtain nothing, except what the Lord has brought us (a proverbial expression of the Moors, signifying nothing at all.) So farewell!

ADDRESS.

"To the hand of our esteemed brethren Abu Bekr, and Muhammad and Abdullah ben Ali Ibn Talib; may G.o.d amend their condition, amen!

"(With Solomon's seal, and a rude commencement of another; the name of Ben Talib, and the mystical words ???? and ????? the first of which is prefixed to the xxth chapter of the Koran, and the other probably intended for ?????, heading the xxvith, and xxviiith; or for ???? x.x.xvi.)"

Obs.--This letter is written within and without, and on every fold of it.

The advice to seal the letter to prevent it from being "Grahamized" is curious. I have seen a hundred letters in The Desert _un_sealed, and it is only in case of suspicion, that the Saharan merchants seal their letters. Such is their confidence in each other's honour and good faith, that it is an insult to seal a letter when put into the hands of a friend. It would appear, from this letter, that some twenty years ago the commerce of Timbuctoo was in the most languis.h.i.+ng deplorable state; but as far as I can judge, from the present operations of the merchants in Ghadames, the trade of Timbuctoo has in a measure revived. The letter itself is a most admirable specimen of the epistolary style of the Saharan Moors, and in this respect alone is of considerable value.

When walking out this morning, an impudent young dog came running after me and shouted, "There is no G.o.d but G.o.d, and Mahomet is the Prophet of G.o.d;" whilst another cried out, "You Kafer!" Judging it necessary to put a stop to this, I gave each little imp for his pains a hard rap of the head with my fly-flapper, which greatly surprised them, and sent them off yelping. Some of the boys, however, are very friendly, and come running after me and take hold of my hand. A day or two afterwards these young rascals came running after me again in the same way; but they were chased by an adult Moor, who gave them a good thras.h.i.+ng.

_22nd._--Weather fine. Nothing new. Bought Said a new pair of Morocco shoes, and made him happy for a day or two. He begins to sulk about going amongst the Touaricks. To my great joy, the _Shantah_ from Tripoli has arrived, bringing letters from Colonel Warrington, and Mr. Francovich, which latter has remitted to me 125 mahboubs. Two Touaricks have also arrived from Touat. The road is open. Rain has fallen in many places of The Desert in copious showers, which has buoyed up the hopes of the camel-graziers. Rumours of fighting between the Shanbah and Touaricks are prevalent.

The Tibboo left during the night for Ghat--ALONE! riding on a single camel. His conduct has astonished everybody. Some say "he's mad," and some say "he's a bandit." He had with him a small quant.i.ty of light goods, and about 300 dollars in cash. I asked the Rais about him. He observed, "That Tibboo has no wit. Many people die on the routes, the camels running away whilst they sleep. What can he do alone!" I asked the people, all of whom replied, "The Tibboo is a wonderful fellow!" One said, "Ah, that's a man, Yakob. No Christian like the Tibboo." But another said, "Without doubt he's a cut-throat, that is the reason he goes alone. Even the Touaricks are afraid of him; and when they brought him here he quarrelled with them several times. Besides, a few days ago he was going to knock down the toll-taker at the gate." After this display of personal daring, I shall never have a contemptible idea of a Negro. The free, independent, and enlightened gentleman slave-driver of Yankee Land, armed with that symbol of order and good government, the bowie-knife! would find his match in this his brother Tibboo slave-driver. The Tibboo has done what no man of this city would have dared to do, in undertaking a journey of some twenty days over The Desert alone. What is very extraordinary, he never travelled the route but once before, that is, when he came here. They say he will arrive at Ghat in twelve days. He took the precaution of purchasing a good pair of horse-pistols before he left. I may add, he arrived safe and sound at Ghat.

_23rd._--This morning exceedingly cold. In going out, a man said to me, "Where are you going this cold morning?" People were all s.h.i.+vering, or wrapped up in their burnouses. Said is attacked with ophthalmia. Received a visit from an old Arab doctor. He says cattle are attacked with the plague, as well as men. He wrote me a receipt for the cure of _night_-blindness, which would cure it in one night.

He says, in the neighbouring desert, towards the west, there is a small oasis of Arabs, who are called _El-Hawamad_--????????--who are always afflicted by night-blindness, which singular affection is called by them _Juhur_ (???????). Mr. Jackson, in his Morocco, calls this strange disease _butelleese_. The Arabs of _El-Hawamad_ see perfectly well in the day-time. But I must mention, that I received an application for medicine from a person who is affected with the same strange kind of malady. The European physicians call this disease _Nyctalopia_ (???ta??p?a). I recently myself met with a case in London. But what is equally extraordinary, Captain Lyon (I think) mentions a case which he met with in The Desert, of a person who could see in the night-time but not in the day-time--a human owl. We conversed about other diseases in Ghadames. The princ.i.p.al, as before-mentioned, are ophthalmia and diarrha. There are two lepers; a few dropsical people; and, occasionally, small-pox and syphilitic diseases. There are, besides, various cutaneous affections. Dogs are known to go mad amongst the Arabs, but not very often. When mad, they are called _makloub_. The remedy is, when they bite people, the hair of the mad dog himself, rubbing it over the part bitten. Mussulmans are fond of this antagonistic idea, of the bane and the antidote being one and the same thing, for they preserve the dead scorpions to be applied to the sting of the living ones, and they aver it to be a certain cure. Quackery is the native growth of the ingenious as well as the whimsical and hypochondriacal ideas of men. In dropsy the native doctors cut the body to let out the water, as we do.

Wrote letters to Mr. Alsager, Colonel Warrington, and others. People grumbling about their letters being too high charged. Formerly letters went free to Tripoli. The Turkish post-office and policy never fail to make things worse. Treating some Moors with coffee and loaf-sugar, one asked me if there were blood in sugar, for so he had heard from some Europeans in Tripoli. I told him in loaf sugar. "What, the blood of pigs?" one cried. "How do I know?" I rejoined; "if the refiner has no bullock's blood, why not use that of pigs?" This frightened them all out of their senses. They will not eat loaf-sugar again in a hurry. A most ludicrous anecdote of the old Bashaw of Tripoli here occurs to me. Old Yousef one day sent for Colonel Warrington, with a message that the Consul's presence was very particularly required. The Consul, putting on his best Consular uniform, and taking with him his Vice-Consul, his Chancellor, and his Dragoman, immediately waited upon His Highness. The Consul found His Highness sitting in full Divan, surrounded with all his high functionaries. Approaching the Bashaw, the Consul was begged to take a seat. His Highness then opened business, and, drawing a very long and solemn face, requested to know, "If the Christians were carrying away all the bones from the country?" a.s.suring the Consul that such he heard was the case from his people, adding, that even the graveyards were ransacked for bones. The Consul, nothing blinking, or disquieted, congratulated His Highness upon bringing such an important subject before his notice, and observed, "It is very improper for the Christians to be ransacking the tombs for old bones to s.h.i.+p off for Europe." "Improper!" exclaimed the Bashaw, "why the man who does so ought to be beheaded!" "Yes, yes,"

replied the Consul, coaxingly, "he ought, your Highness; I quite agree with you." The Bashaw then got a little more calm, and begged of the Consul, as a favour, to tell him what the Christians did with all these old bones. The Consul, now a.s.suming a magnificent air, deigned to reply, "Now, your Highness, you must be cool. You drink coffee?" "Yes." "You put sugar in it?" "Yes" (impatiently). "You use white sugar?" "Yes, yes,"

said the Bashaw, half amazed, half trembling, wondering what would come next. "Then," cried the Consul triumphantly, "I beg most submissively to inform your Highness, hoping that your Highness will not be angry, but thank me for the information, that the old bones are used to make white sugar with." Hereupon was an awful explosion of _Allahs!_--beginning with His Highness the Bashaw, and going round the whole a.s.sembled Divan, in such serious and perplexed conclave now met. Then followed _harams!_--in the midst of which Colonel Warrington graciously and elegantly backed himself out of the Divan, smiling and bowing, bowing and smiling, to the utter horror of all present. Next day His Highness made a proclamation forbidding any of his subjects from exporting old bones on pain of death.

On his part, the Consul issued a notice calling upon all British subjects not to be such barbarians as to violate the tombs of pious Mussulmans, at the same time threatening them with the full weight of the Consular displeasure. I am a.s.sured that Yousef Bashaw never ate white sugar afterwards.

The liberties which Colonel Warrington was wont to take with old Yousef Bashaw, of the Caramanly dynasty, could not now be, in these days of Ottoman politeness, at all tolerated. For a long series of years, and especially during the French war, the Colonel was the virtual Bashaw of Tripoli. I shall only give another of a thousand incidents in which the British Consul showed himself the master, and the Bashaw the slave, instead of the Sovereign of his own country. One day the Bashaw had done something to offend the Consul. Colonel Warrington, hearing of it whilst riding out, immediately rides off to the Castle, and rushes, whip in hand, into the presence of the Bashaw, producing consternation through the whole Court. An Italian, having at the time an audience with His Highness, demanded, "_Che cosa vuole Signore Consule?_" seeing the Consul frustrated in his rage for want of an interpreter. "_Tell him_ (the Bashaw) _he's a rascal!_" roared the Consul, almost shaking his whip over the head of His Highness. But the Italian was just as far off, not knowing English, and fortunately could not interpret this elegant compliment. The very next day, the Consul and the Bashaw dined together at the British Garden, the Colonel slapping the old gentleman over his shoulder, and drinking wine with him, like two jolly chums. In this way, Colonel Warrington managed to be, what he was called in Malta, "_Bashaw of Tripoli_." Now that Colonel Warrington, during the time these pages have been going through the press, has left us for another and a better world, we may for a moment compare his Consular system with that which was pursued by the late Mr. Hay, Consul-General of Morocco. The difference is striking, if not remarkable. Colonel Warrington boasted of being able to do anything and everything in Tripoli; Mr. Hay boasted of being able to do nothing in Morocco. The former had the Bashaw under his thumb, or hooked by the nose; the latter stood at an awful distance from the Shereefian Presence. Colonel Warrington underrated the difficulties and dangers of travelling in Tripoli and Central Africa, making the route from Tripoli to Bornou as safe as the road from London to Paris; Mr. Hay, exaggerating every obstacle, represented it as unsafe to walk in the environs of Tangier, under its very walls, and even boasted of himself being shot at in the interior of Morocco, on a Government mission, and whilst attended by an escort of the Emperor's troops. With Colonel Warrington, a mission of science or philanthropy had a real chance of success; with Mr. Hay, no mission could possibly succeed--failure was certain. And so I might continue the opposite parallels. But in justice to these late functionaries and their friends, I must observe, that both were zealous servants of Government and their country. They exerted themselves diligently and conscientiously to protect and advance the interests of their countrymen, who had relations with Tripoli or Morocco, according to their peculiar temperaments and circ.u.mstances. No doubt they gave Government at home an immense deal of unnecessary trouble, and sometimes even annoyance; but so long as each public functionary abroad thinks the affairs of his own particular post of more importance than those of anybody else, this inconvenience will always happen, in a lesser or greater degree.

Said furnishes me with a continual anti-slavery text against the slave-trade. Everybody asks me if Said is a slave. I reply, "Slavery is a great sin amongst the English. We cannot have slaves, or make slaves of our fellow-creatures." Then follow discussions, in which I d.a.m.nify the traffick in human beings as much as possible.

Today witnessed a good specimen of Arab Desert freedom. I was conversing quietly with the Governor, seated beside him on his ottoman, a privilege granted only to me, the Nather (_native_ governor) and the Kady, when rushed into the apartment a Souafee Arab, exclaiming to the Rais, "How are you?" and seizing hold of his hands, knocked his fly-flap down on the floor. His Excellency was shocked at this rudeness, and I myself was a little startled. The conversation which followed, if such it may be called, is characteristic of the bold Arab, and the haughty Turk.

_The Souafee._--"The Shanbah are coming to Ghadames."

_The Governor._--"I don't know; G.o.d knows."

_The Souafee._--"My brothers write to me and tell me so."

_The Governor._--"I don't know."

_The Souafee._--"Give me money, and I'll go and look after them."

_The Governor._--"I have no money."

_The Souafee._--"Make haste, give me money."

_The Governor._--"Have none."

_The Souafee._--"Where's the money?"

_The Governor._--"Go to the Ghadamseeah."

_The Souafee._--"They tell me you have all their money."

_The Governor._--"Go to them."

_The Souafee._--"I'm going, _Bislamah_ (good bye.)"

_The Governor._--"Bislamah."

As the Souafee left the threshold of the apartment, his Excellency turned to me, and raising his right hand underneath his chin, drew its back jerkingly forwards, making the sign of the well-known expression of contempt in North Africa. He then said to me:--"See what a life I lead, what insults I am obliged to put up with! what beasts are these Arabs!"

The Souafah are, indeed, the type of the genuine Desert Arab. They have no foreign master, and manage all their affairs by their own Sheikhs and Kadys. The immense waste of sand lying between Ghadames and Southern Tunis and Algeria, is their absolute domain, in the arid and thirsty bosom of which are planted, as marvels of nature, their oases of palms.

The Shanbah bandits, who plunder every body, and brave heaven and earth, nevertheless dare not lay a finger on them. I cannot better represent the feelings of the Souf Arab, nor the "wild and burning range" of his country, than by quoting the lines of Eliza Cook:

"Through the desert, through the desert, where the Arab takes his course, With none to bear him company, except his gallant horse; Where none can question will or right, where landmarks ne'er impede, But all is wide and limitless to rider and to steed.

No purling streamlet murmurs there, no chequer'd shadows fall; 'Tis torrid, waste and desolate, but free to each and all.

Through the desert, through the desert! Oh, the Arab would no change, For purple robes or olive-trees, his wild and burning range."

FOOTNOTES:

[53] It is now the fas.h.i.+on in French writers to represent the Arabic ??? by the Roman R, as _R_'dames for _Gh_adames.

[54] ???? ??? ??????

[55] _Fullans._--Mungo Park says: "The Foulahs are chiefly of a tawny complexion, with silky hair, and pleasing features."--M.

D'Avezac says: "In the midst of the Negro races, there stands out a _metive_ (_mezzo-termino_?) population, of tawny or copper colour, prominent nose, small mouth, and oval face, which ranks itself amongst the white races, and a.s.serts itself to be descended from Arab fathers, and Tawrode(?) mothers. Their crisped hair, and even woolly though long, justifies their cla.s.sification among the _oulotric_ (woolly-haired) populations; but neither the traits of their features, nor the colour of their skin, allow them to be confounded with Negroes, however great the fusion of the two types may be." Major Rennell calls them the "Leucthiopes of Ptolemy and Pliny." Mr. D'Eichthal thinks them to be of _Malay_ origin, on account of their language; but Dr. Pritchard considers them to be a genuine African race.

CHAPTER XII.

PREPARATIONS FOR GOING TO SOUDAN.

His Excellency the Rais questions me on my rumoured Journey to Soudan.--The Devil has in safe keeping all who are not Mahometans.--I am wearing to a Skeleton.--A Caravan of Women.--Predestination.--The Shanbah begin their Foray.--The Gardens and their Products.--Varieties of the Date-Palm.--Locusts.--Brigands spare the Property of the Marabout Merchants of Ghadames.--Agricultural Implements in The Desert.--Violent capture of a Souf Caravan by the Governor.--Uses of the Date-Palm.--The Touarghee Bandit's opinion as to Killing Christians.--Combat between an Ant and a Fly.--Loose Phraseology in The Mediterranean.--Harsh Hospitality of the Souafah, and Usurpation over their Oases by the French.--Money disappearing from Ghadames.--The Affair of Messrs. Silva and Levi, and their connexion with Ghadamsee Slave-Dealers.--Visit, with his Excellency the Governor, the Ruins of _Kesar-el-Ensara_ "the Castle of the Christians."--Antiquity of Ghadames, and Account of it by Leo Africa.n.u.s.