An Account Of Timbuctoo And Housa Territories In The Interior Of Africa Part 12

each; I sent for workmen to place them one upon another, and they demanded one dollar per serron for so moving them.]

The country being now depopulated, and much of the territory without owners, vast tribes of Arabs emigrated from their abodes in the interior of Sahara, and took possession of the country contiguous to the river Draha, as well as many districts in Suse; and, in short, settling themselves, and pitching their tents wherever they found a fertile country with little or no population.

The symptoms of this plague varied in different patients, the variety of age and const.i.tution gave it a like variety of appearance and character. Those who enjoyed perfect health were suddenly seized with head-aches and inflammations; the tongue and throat became of a vivid red, the breath was drawn with difficulty, and was succeeded by sneezing and hoa.r.s.eness; when once settled in the stomach, it excited vomitings of black bile, attended with excessive torture, weakness, hiccough, and convulsion. Some were seized with sudden s.h.i.+vering, or delirium, and had a sensation of such intense inward heat, that they threw off their clothes, and would have walked about naked in quest of water wherein to plunge themselves. Cold water was eagerly resorted to by the unwary and imprudent, and proved fatal to those who indulged in its momentary relief. Some had one, two, or more buboes, which formed themselves, 173 and became often as large as a walnut, in the course of a day; others had a similar number of carbuncles; others had both buboes and carbuncles, which generally appeared in the groin, under the arm, or near the breast. Those who were affected[134] with a s.h.i.+vering, having no buboe, carbuncle, spots, or any other exterior disfiguration, were invariably carried off in less than twenty-four hours, and the body of the deceased became quickly putrified, so that it was indispensably necessary to bury it a few hours after dissolution. It is remarkable, that the birds of the air fled away from the abode of men, for none were to be seen during this 174 calamitous period; the hyaenas, on the contrary, visited the cemeteries, and sought the dead bodies to devour them. I recommended Mr. Baldwin's[135] invaluable remedy of olive oil, applied according to his directions; several Jews, and some Muselmin[136], were induced to try it, and I was afterwards visited by many, to whom I had recommended it, and had given them written directions in Arabic how to apply it: and I do not know any instance of its failing when persevered in, even after the infection had manifested itself.

[Footnote 134: _M'drob_ is an idiom in the Arabic language somewhat difficult to render into English; it is well known that the Muhamedans are predestinarians, and that they believe in the existence of spirits, devils, &c.; their idea of the plague is, that it is a good or blessing sent from G.o.d to clear the world of a superfluous population--that no medicine or precaution can cure or prevent it; that every one who is to be a victim to it is (_mktube_) recorded in the Book of Fate; that there are certain Genii who preside over the fate of men, and who sometimes discover themselves in various forms, having often legs similar to those of fowls: that these Genii are armed with arrows: that when a person is attacked by the plague, which is called in Arabic _l'amer_, or the destiny or decree, he is shot by one of these Genii, and the sensation of the invisible wound is similar to that from a musquet-ball; hence the universal application of _M'drob_ to a person afflicted with the plague, i.e. he is shot; and if he die, _ufah ameruh_, his destiny is completed or terminated (in this world). I scarcely ever yet saw the Muselman who did not affirm that he had at some time of his life seen these Genii; and they often appear, they say, in rivers.]

[Footnote 135: Late British Consul in Egypt.]

[Footnote 136: Muselman, sing.: Muselmin. plur.]

I have no doubt but the epidemy which made its appearance at Cadiz, and all along the southern sh.o.r.es of Spain, immediately as the plague was subsiding in West Barbary, was the same disorder with the one above described, suffering, after its pa.s.sage to a Christian country, some variation, originating from the different modes of living, and other circ.u.mstances; for nothing can be more opposite than the food, dress, customs, and manners of Muhamedans and Christians, notwithstanding the approximation of Spain to Marocco. We have been credibly informed, that it was communicated originally to Spain, by two infected persons, who went from Tangier to Estapona, a small village on the opposite sh.o.r.e; who, after eluding the vigilance of the guards, reached Cadiz. We have also been a.s.sured that it was communicated by some infected persons who 175 landed in Spain, from a vessel that had loaded produce at L'Araiche in West Barbary. Another account was, that a Spanish privateer, which had occasion to land its crew for the purpose of procuring water in some part of West Barbary, caught the infection from communicating with the natives, and afterwards proceeding to Cadiz, and spread it in that town and the adjacent country.

It should be observed, for the information of those who may be desirous of investigating the nature of this extraordinary distemper, that, from its character and its symptoms, approximating to the peculiar plague, which (according to the before mentioned Arabic record) ravaged and depopulated West Barbary four centuries since, the Arabs and Moors were of opinion it would subside after the first year, and not appear again the next, as the Egyptian plague does; and agreeably to this opinion, it did not re-appear the second year: neither did St. John's day, or that season, affect its virulence; but about that period there prevails along the coast of West Barbary, a trade-wind, which, beginning to blow in the month of May, continues throughout the months of June, July, and August, with little intermission. It was apprehended that the influence of this trade-wind, added to the superst.i.tious opinion of the plague ceasing on St. John's day, would stop, or at least sensibly diminish the mortality; but no such thing happened: the wind did set in, as it invariably does, about St. John's day; the 176 disorder, however, increased at that period, rather than diminished. Some persons were of opinion, that the infection maintained its virulence till the last; that the decrease of mortality did not originate from a decrease of the _miasma_, but from a decrease of population, and a consequent want of subjects to prey upon; and this indeed is a plausible idea; but admitting it to be just, how are we to account for the almost invariable fatality of the disorder, when at its height, and the comparative innocence of it when on the decline? for _then_, the chance to those who had it, was, that they would recover and survive the malady.

The old men seemed to indulge in a superst.i.tious tradition, that when this peculiar kind of epidemy attacks a country, it does not return or continue for three or more years, but disappears altogether, (after the first year,) and is followed the seventh year by contagious rheums and expectoration, the violence of which lasts from three to seven days, but is not fatal. Whether this opinion be in general founded in truth I cannot determine; but in the spring of the year 1806, which was the seventh year from the appearance of the plague at Fas in 1799, a species of influenza pervaded the whole country; the patient going to bed well, and, on rising in the morning, a thick phlegm was expectorated, accompanied by a distressing rheum, or cold in the head, with a cough, which quickly reduced those affected to extreme weakness, but was seldom fatal, continuing from three to seven days, with more or less violence, and then gradually disappearing.

177 During the plague at MoG.o.dor, the European merchants shut themselves up in their respective houses, as is the practice in the Levant; I did not take this precaution, but occasionally rode out to take exercise on horseback. Riding one day out of the town, I met the Governor's brother, who asked me where I was going, when every other European was shut up? "To the garden," I answered.--"And are you not aware that the garden and the adjacent country is full of (_Jinune_) departed souls, who are busy in smiting with the plague every one they meet?" I could not help smiling, but told him, that I trusted to G.o.d only, who would not allow any of the _Jinune_ to smite me unless it were his sovereign will, and that if it were, he could effect it without the agency of _Jinune_. On my return to town in the evening, the beach, from the town-gate to the sanctuary of Seedi,[137] MoG.o.dole was covered with biers. My daily observations convinced me that the epidemy was not caught by approach, unless that approach was accompanied by an inhaling of the breath, or by touching the infected person; I therefore had a separation made across the gallery, inside of my house, between the kitchen and dining parlour, of the width of three feet, which is sufficiently wide to prevent the inhaling the 178 breath of a person. From this part.i.tion or table of separation I took the dishes, and after dinner returned them to the same place, suffering none of the servants to come near me; and in the accounting-house, I had a part.i.tion made to prevent the too near approach of any person who might call on business; and this precaution I firmly believe to be all that is necessary, added to that of receiving money through vinegar, and taking care not to touch or smell infectious substances.

[Footnote 137: A sanctuary a mile south-east of the town of MoG.o.dor, from whence, the town receives its name.]

Fear had an extraordinary effect in disposing the body to receive the infection; and those who were subject thereto, invariably caught the malady, which was for the most part fatal. At the breaking out of the plague at MoG.o.dor, there were two medical men, an Italian and a Frenchman, the latter, a man of science, a great botanist, and of an acute discrimination; they, however, did not remain, but took the first opportunity of leaving the place for Teneriffe, so that the few Europeans had no expectation of any medical a.s.sistance except that of the natives. Plaisters of gum ammoniac, and the juice of the leaves of the _opuntia_, or _kermuse ensarrah_, _i.e._ p.r.i.c.kly pear, were universally applied to the carbuncles, as well as to the buboes, which quickly brought them to suppuration: many of the people of property took copious draughts of coffee and Peruvian bark. The _Vinaigre de quatre voleurs_, was 179 used by many, also camphor, smoking tobacco, or fumigations of gum Sandrac; straw was also burned by some, who were of opinion, that any thing which produced abundance of smoke, was sufficient to purify the air of pestilential effluvia.

During the existence of the plague, I had been in the chambers of men on their death-bed: I had had Europeans at my table, who were infected, as well as Moors, who actually had buboes on them; I took no other precaution than that of separation, carefully avoiding to touch the hand, or inhale the breath; and, notwithstanding what may have been said, I am decidedly of opinion that the plague, at least this peculiar species of it, is not produced by any infectious principle in the atmosphere, but caught solely by touching infected substances, or inhaling the breath of those who are diseased; and that it must not be confounded with the common plague of Egypt, or Constantinople, being a malady of a much more desperate and destructive kind. It has been said, by persons who have discussed the nature and character of the plague, that the cultivation of a country, the draining of the lands, and other agricultural improvements, tend to eradicate or diminish it; but, at the same time, we have seen countries depopulated where there was no mora.s.s, or stagnate water for many days' journey, nor even a tree to impede the current of air, or a town, nor any thing but encampments of Arabs, who procured water from wells of a great depth, and 180 inhabited plains so extensive and uniform, that they resemble the sea, and are so similar in appearance after, as well as before sun-rise, that if the eye could abstract itself from the spot immediately surrounding the spectator, it could not be ascertained whether it were sea or land.

I shall now subjoin a few cases for the further elucidation of this distemper, hoping that the medical reader will pardon any inaccuracy originating from my not being a professional man.

Case I.--One afternoon, I went into the kitchen, and saw the cook making the bread; he appeared in good health and spirits; I afterwards went into the adjoining parlour, and took up a book to read; in half an hour the same man came to the door of the room, with his eyes starting from his head, and his bed-clothes, &c. in his hands, saying, "open the gate for me, for I am (_m'dorb_) smitten." I was astonished at the sudden transition, and desired him to go out, and I would follow and shut the gate. The next morning he sent his wife out on an errand, and got out of bed, and came to the gate half-dressed, saying that he was quite recovered, and desired I would let him in. I did not, however, think it safe to admit him, but told him to go back to his house for a few days, until he should be able to ascertain that he was quite well; he accordingly returned to his apartments, but expired that evening, and before day-break his body was in such a state, that his feet 181 were actually putrified. His wife, by attending on him, caught the infection, having a carbuncle, and also buboes, and was confined two months before she recovered.

Case II.--L'Hage Hamed O Bryhim, the old governor of MoG.o.dor, had twelve or more children, and four wives, who were all attacked, and died (except only one young wife); he attended them successively to the grave, and notwithstanding that he a.s.sisted in performing the religious ceremony of was.h.i.+ng the body, he never himself caught the infection; he lived some years afterwards, and out of the whole household, consisting of wives, concubines, children, and slaves, he had but one person left, which was the before-mentioned young wife: this lady, however, had received the infection, and was confined some time before she recovered.

Case. III.--Hamed ben A---- was smitten with the plague, which he compared to the sensation of two musket b.a.l.l.s fired at him, one in each thigh; a giddiness and delirium succeeded, and immediately afterwards a green vomiting, and he fell senseless to the ground; a short time afterwards, on the two places where he had felt as if shot, biles or buboes formed, and on suppurating, discharged a foetid black pus; a (_jimmera_) carbuncle on the joint of the arm near the elbow was full of thin ichor, contained in an elevated skin, surrounded by a burning red colour; after three months'

confinement, being reduced to a skeleton, the disorder appeared to 182 have exhausted itself, and he began to recover his strength, which in another month was fully reestablished. It was an observation founded on daily experience, during the prevalence of this disorder, that those who were attacked with a nausea at the stomach, and a subsequent vomiting of green or yellow bile, recovered after suffering in various degrees, and that those who were affected with giddiness, or delirium, followed by a discharge or vomiting of black bile, invariably died after lingering one, two, or three days, their bodies being covered with small black spots similar to grains of gun-powder; in this state, however, they possessed their intellects, and spoke rationally till their dissolution.

When the const.i.tution was not disposed, or had not vigour enough to throw the miasma to the surface in the form of biles, buboes, carbuncles, or blackish spots, the virulence is supposed to have operated inwardly, or on the vital parts, and the patient died in less than twenty-four hours, without any exterior disfiguration.

Case IV.--It was reported that the Sultan had the plague twice during the season, as many others had; so that the idea of its attacking like the small-pox, a person but once in his life, is refuted: the Sultan was cured by large doses of Peruvian bark frequently repeated, and it was said that he found such infinite benefit from it, that he advised his brothers never to travel without having a good supply. The Emperor, since the plague, always has by him a sufficient quant.i.ty of quill bark to supply his emergency.

183 Case V.--H.L. was smitten with the plague, which affected him by a pain similar to that of a long needle (as he expressed himself) repeatedly plunged into his groin. In an hour or two afterwards, a (_jimmera_) carbuncle appeared in the groin, which continued enlarging three days, at the expiration of which period he could neither support the pain, nor conceal his sensations; he laid himself down on a couch; an Arabian doctor, applied to the carbuncles the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es of a ram cut in half, whilst the vital warmth was still in them; the carbuncle on the third day was encreased to the size of a small orange; the before-mentioned remedy was daily applied during thirty days, after which he resorted to cataplasms of the juice of the (_opuntia_) p.r.i.c.kly pear-tree, (_feshook_) gum ammoniac, and (_zite el aud_) oil of olives, of each one-third; this was intended to promote suppuration, which was soon effected; there remained after the suppuration a large vacuity, which was daily filled with fine hemp dipped in honey; by means of this application the wound filled up, and the whole was well in thirty-nine days.

Case VI.--El H--t--e, a trading Jew of MoG.o.dor, was sorely afflicted; he called upon me, and requested some remedy; I advised him to use oil of olives, and having Mr. Baldwin's mode of 184 administering it[138], I transcribed it in the Arabic language, and gave it to him; he followed the prescription, and a.s.sured me, about six weeks afterwards, that (with the blessing of G.o.d) he had preserved his life by that remedy only; he said, that after having been anointed with oil, his skin became harsh and dry like the scales of a fish, but that in half an hour more, a profuse perspiration came on, and continued for another half hour, after which he experienced relief: this he repeated forty days, when, he was quite recovered.

[Footnote 138: Mr. Baldwin observed, that, whilst the plague ravaged Egypt, the dealers in oil were not affected with the epidemy; and he accordingly recommended people to anoint themselves with oil every day as a remedy.]

Case VII.--Moh--m'd ben A---- fell suddenly down in the street; he was conveyed home; three carbuncles and five buboes appeared soon after in his groin, under the joint of his knee, and arm-pits, and inside the elbow; he died in three hours after the attack.

Case VIII.--L.R. was suddenly smitten with this dreadful calamity, whilst looking over some Marocco leather; he fell instantaneously; afterwards, when he had recovered his senses, he described the sensation as that of the p.r.i.c.king of needles, at every part wherein the carbuncles afterwards appeared: he died the same day in defiance of medicine.

Case IX.--Mr. Pacifico, a merchant, was attacked, and felt a p.r.i.c.king pain down the inside of the thick part of the thigh, near the sinews; he was obliged to go to bed. I visited him the next day, and was going to approach him, but he exclaimed, "Do not come 185 near for although I know I have not the prevailing distemper, yet your friends, if you touch me, may persuade you otherwise, and that might alarm you; I shall, I hope, be well in a few days." I took the hint of Don Pedro de Victoria, a Spanish gentleman, who was in the room, who, offering me a sagar, I smoked it, and then departed; the next day the patient died. He was attended during his illness by the philanthropic Monsieur Soubremont, who did not stir from his bed-side till he expired; but after exposing himself in this manner, escaped the infection, which proceeded, as he thought, from his constantly having a pipe in his mouth.

Case X.--Two of the princ.i.p.al Jews of the town giving themselves up, and having no hope, were willing to employ the remainder of their lives in affording a.s.sistance to the dying and the dead, by was.h.i.+ng the bodies and interring them; this business they performed during thirty or forty days, during all which time they were not attacked: when the plague had nearly subsided, and they began again to cherish hopes of surviving the calamity, they were both smitten, but after a few days' illness recovered, and are now living.

From this last case, as well as from many others similar, but too numerous here to recapitulate, it appears that the human const.i.tution requires a certain miasma, to prepare it to receive the pestilential infection.

_General Observation._--When the carbuncles or buboes appeared to 186 have a blackish rim round their base, the case of that patient was desperate, and invariably fatal. Sometimes the whole body was covered with black spots like partridge-shot; such patients always fell victims to the disorder, and those who felt the blow internally, showing no external disfiguration, seldom survived more than a few hours.

The plague appears to visit this country about once in every twenty years[139]: the last visitation was in 1799 and 1800, being more fatal than any ever before known.

[Footnote 139: This opinion is confirmed by the plague, being now (1820) in Marocco just twenty years since the last plague.

65,000 persons have been lately carried off by this disease in the cities of Old and New Fas.]

_Observations respecting the Plague that prevailed last Year in West Barbary, and which was imported from Egypt; communicated by the Author to the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Literature, Science, and the Arts, edited at the Royal Inst.i.tution of Great Britain, No, 15, published in October, 1819._

His Majesty's s.h.i.+p, which was lying in the port of Alexandria, when Colonel Fitzclarence pa.s.sed through Egypt, from India, on his way to England, convoyed to Tangier a vessel which had on board two of the sons of Muley Soliman, emperor of Marocco; on their arrival at Tangier, the princes immediately landed and proceeded to their father at Fas; but it was discovered by the governor or alkaid of 187 Tangier, that during the pa.s.sage some persons had died; and accordingly the alkaid would not suffer any of the pa.s.sengers to land, except the princes, until he should have received orders from the Emperor how to act; he accordingly wrote to Fas, for the imperial orders, and in the mean time the princes arrived, and presented themselves to the emperor: the latter wrote to the alkaid, that as the princes had been suffered to land, it would be unjust to prohibit the other pa.s.sengers from coming ash.o.r.e also. He therefore ordered the alkaid to suffer all the pa.s.sengers, together with their baggage, to be landed, and soon afterwards the plague appeared at Fas, and at Tangier. Thus the contagion which is now ravaging West Barbary was imported from Egypt. It does not appear that the mortality is, or has been, during its acme at Fas, any thing comparable to what it was during the plague that ravaged this country in 1799,[140] and which carried off more than two-thirds of the population of the empire.

[Footnote 140: It has been a.s.serted by a physician who has lately written, _Observations on contagion, as it relates to the plague and other epidemical diseases_, reviewed in article 20th of the _British Review_, and _London Critical Journal_, published in May last, that I have a.s.serted that the deaths during the prevalence of that disorder in West Barbary in 1799, amounted to 124,500; but on a reference to my account of Marocco, Timbuctoo, &c., 2d or 3d edition, note, page 174, it will appear, that this mortality was that of two cities, and two sea-ports only, viz., the cities of Fas and Marocco, and the ports of Saffy and MoG.o.dor; the mortality, however, was equally great in the imperial cities of Mequinas and Terodant, and in the sea-port towns of Tetuan, Tangier, Arzilla, L'Araich, Salee, Rabat, Dar el Bieda, Azamore, Mazagan, and Santa Cruz, or Agadeer; and considerably greater among the populous and numerous encampments of the Arabs, throughout the various provinces of the empire; not to mention the incredible mortality in the castles, towns, and other walled habitations of the Sh.e.l.luh province of Haha, the first province, travelling from the sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean, where the people live in walled habitations, the seaports excepted.]

188 Whence proceeds this difference? Is it a different species of plague, and not so deadly a contagion? Or is it because the remedy of _olive_ oil, applied and recommended generally by me, and by some other Europeans during the plague of 1799, is now made public and generally administered? This is an inquiry well deserving the attention of scientific men. And His Majesty's ministers might procure the information from the British consul at Tangier, or from the governor of Gibraltar: perhaps the truth is, that the contagion is of a more mild character.

With regard to the remedy of olive oil applied[141] internally, I should, myself, be disposed to doubt its efficacy unless M. Colaco, 189 the Portuguese consul at L'Araich, is competent to declare, _from his own knowledge and experience_, that this remedy has been administered effectually by him to persons having the plague, who did not _also use the friction with oil_. I say, till this can be ascertained, I think the remedy of oil applied _externally_, should not be forsaken; as _it has been proved during the plague in Africa, in 1799, to be infallible_, and therefore indispensable to people whose vocation may lead them to a.s.sociate with, or to touch or bury the infected. For the rest, such persons as are not compelled to a.s.sociate with the infected, may effectually avoid the contagion, however violent and deadly it may be, by avoiding contact. I am so perfectly convinced of this fact, from the experience and observation I have made during my residence at MoG.o.dor, whilst the plague raged there in 1799, that I would not object to go to any country, although it were rotten with the plague, provided my going would benefit mankind, or serve any useful purpose; and I would use no fumigation, or any other remedy but what I actually used at MoG.o.dor in 1799. I am so convinced from my own repeated and daily experience, that the most deadly plague is as easy to be avoided BY STRICTLY ADHERING TO THE PRINCIPLE OF AVOIDING PERSONAL CONTACT AND INHALATION, AND THE CONTACT OF INFECTIOUS SUBSTANCES, that I would ride or walk through the most 190 populous and deeply-infected city, as I have done before, without any other precaution than that of a segar in my mouth, when, by avoiding contact and inhalation, I should most a.s.suredly be free from the danger of infection!!

[Footnote 141: Mr. Colaco, having lately observed that oil was used externally to anoint the body, as a preservative against the plague; conceived the idea of administering this simple remedy _internally_ to persons already infected; numerous experiments were made by this gentleman, who administered from four to eight oz. olive oil at a dose; and out of 300 individuals already infected, who resorted to this remedy, only twelve died.]

When these precautions are strictly observed, I maintain, (in opposition to all the theoretical dogmas that have lately been propagated) that there is no more danger of infection with the plague, than there is of infection from any common cold or rheum.

191

JOURNEY FROM TANGIER TO RABAT _THROUGH THE PLAINS OF SEBOO_,

To accompany Dr. Bell, in Company with the Prince Muley Teib and an Army of Cavalry.

_Officiated as Interpreter between the Prince and Dr.

Bell.--Description of Food sent to us by the Prince.--The Plains of M'sharrah Rummellah, an incomparable fine and productive Country.--The Cavalry of the Amorites,--their unique Observations on Dr. Bell.--their mean Opinion of his Art, because he could not cure Death.--Pa.s.sage of the River Seboo on Rafts of inflated Skins.--s.p.a.cious Tent of Goat's Hair erected for the Sheik, and appropriated to the Use of the Prince.--Description of the magnificent Plains of M'sharrah Rummellah and Seboo.--Arabian Royalty.--Prodigious Quant.i.ty of Corn grown in these Plains.--Matamores, what they are.--Mode of Reaping.--The Prince presents the Doctor with a Horse, and approves of his Medicines.--The Prince and the Doctor depart south-eastwardly, and the Author pursues his Journey to Rabat and MoG.o.dor._

I happened to be at Tangier when the (_shereef_) prince Muley Teib was collecting an army to join that of the emperor, which was on the banks of the river Morbeya, (see the map of West Barbary, p.

55,) in Shawiya. Doctor Bell, who had then recently arrived from Gibraltar, to attend the prince, whose lungs were affected, was to 192 accompany his Royal Highness; and, as I had nothing to detain me in Tangier, and was going to Rabat, I engaged to accompany the doctor, and offered to officiate as interpreter between him and the prince till our arrival at Rabat; after which I should leave him, and proceed to MoG.o.dor. The Doctor readily a.s.sented to my proposition, because it is considered more respectable in this country, where the Jews are reprobated and despised, to have for an interpreter a Christian; the prince also, when he heard that I had thus offered my services, expressed himself much gratified, and I received a very polite message from him. The next day we started from Tangier, in the morning at ten o'clock. The army halted east of Arzilla, in the plains: the prince sat down under the shade of a tree to dinner, Dr. Bell and myself under another tree, about 100 yards distant. The Prince sent us a capon stewed _a-la-mauresque_ with saffron, the exquisite flavour of which proved that he had an excellent cook with him. We departed in half an hour; and the tents were pitched at sunset, in a campaign country, between Arzilla and L'Araich. The Ait-Amor or Amorites who formed a part of this army, a wild, uncontrolled race of Berebbers, saw the attention that was paid by the shereef to the doctor, and after dinner they were determined to see what sort of a fellow this doctor was, whom the shereef treated so familiarly. They galloped their high-mettled horses up to the doctor; and stopping short to examine him, made a 193 reflection on him and returned. The doctor observed the wild and tattered appearance of these excellent hors.e.m.e.n. There was nothing evil-minded in them; but their observations were remarkable. The Doctor wore powder, a custom unknown in this country: one party would say, "He has got lime in his head to kill the vermin;"

another would observe that "He was old or grey-headed." The Doctor was fond of his bottle, and some said _skurren bel akkaran_, i.e.

"The[142] son of a cuckold is drunk." Others would bawl out, _Wa Tebeeb washka't dowie elmoot_, i.e. "O, doctor, canst thou cure death?" To which he replied, "No."--"Then," returned they, "thou art no doctor!" On the following morning at sun-rise we proceeded, and reached L'Araich at twelve o'clock; we did not enter the town, but dined in the plains, and proceeding afterwards out of the main road, we directed our course south-east, till we reached a most beautiful and very extensive plain, called M'sharrah Rummellah.

This plain was covered with numerous and immense flocks of sheep and horned cattle, and is many times more extensive than Salisbury plain. We pitched our tents near a very extensive and populous douar of Arabs. We departed the next morning at sun-rise, and reached the plains of the river Seboo about two o'clock in the afternoon; which plains are a continuation of those of M'sharrah 194 Rummellah; the army were engaged the remaining part of the day and the whole night crossing the river Seboo, on rafts made of inflated cow-hides, covered with planks and straw. The river is here about twenty yards wide, but very deep and rapid; the Arabs had a long and s.p.a.cious sheik's tent pitched for the reception of the prince, about forty feet long and fifteen wide, somewhat similar to the hull of a s.h.i.+p reversed, having the long side open to the sun.

These tents are the palace of the sheik of the Arabs, and are erected on great occasions only, such as that of the emperor, or a prince pa.s.sing through their territory. The plains of M'sharrah Rummellah are one hundred and fifty British miles in circ.u.mference, perfectly flat, without a stone, a tree, a hedge, or a ditch; with the majestic river Seboo pa.s.sing through the centre of the plain.

The soil of this territory, which, in the hands of Europeans, might be made a terrestrial paradise, is a rich, productive, decomposed vegetable earth, which extends, as we perceived from various chasms, to the depth of several feet from the surface. It produces incredible quant.i.ties of the finest wheat, of a hard grain, very large and long, clear as amber, and yielding a prodigious increase of flour, so that a saa of wheat[143] produces a saa and a sixth of 195 flour. The prince, Muley Teeb, seated on an eminence in this s.p.a.cious tent, resembled what we should imagine the patriarch Abraham to have been, entertaining his friends; or Saul upon his throne, with his javelin in his hand. He had twelve lanciers, six on each side of him in a row, standing with their lances erect, the Prince having one in his hand. It appears that this is the Arabian etiquette; and the Arabs appeared much gratified that the prince had personified their sheik, with all the paraphernalia of royalty.

His Royal Highness whose mind seemed moved with the beauty of this country, sent for the Doctor and myself, and asked us if we had ever seen such a country before. We frankly confessed we had not.

The prince smiled, and said, that the (_seh.e.l.l_) plain we were on, although extremely populous, and full of douars, could grow seventeen times as much corn as the inhabitants could consume; that there was then corn enough in the matamores[144] of this plain, to supply (_El garb kamel_) the whole of El garb, i.e. the country north of the river Morbeya.[145]

[Footnote 142: Intoxication is a d.a.m.nable vice with these people; and when they remark drunkenness, they invariably add an opprobrium to the observation.]

[Footnote 143: A saa of wheat is little less than two Winchester bushels. The wheat is very heavy, and this measure weighs 100 lb., equal to 119 lb. English.]