Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 Part 32

Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 Part 32

Evening visited my little queer friend Bel Kasem. Found with him as usual his mighty lord, Khanouhen. The Prince began to ridicule Hateetah and his brothers, and scold me on the subject of presents:--"Yakob, if you give those rascally brothers of Hateetah presents, I shall have to spear you,"

clenching hold of his spear. "_Kelab_" (dogs), said his jester, "they'll strip you of everything, leaving you no bread, nor even a water-skin, to return to Tripoli." I a.s.sured Khanouhen I had not given Hateetah's brothers anything but a bit of sugar for some of their children. "Good,"

said the Prince. Khanouhen now began in the style of _un esprit fort_: "Yakob, you're a Marabout. Our Marabouts are all rogues, and are always exciting the people against us and our authority (as Sultan). Are you such a rogue?" Here was a glimpse of another contest between the civil and spiritual power in The Desert. I told the Sheikh I was no priest, but a taleb. "Ah! good," said the Prince, giving me his hand. "But when you die, where are you going to? Are you and I going together on the same camel, or do you take one route of The Desert and I another, with different camels?" I replied, "What is the use of such conjectures?"

"Right," said the Prince, "don't you remember (turning to Bel Kasem) that Wahabite the people had here, and how they buffeted him, about? Yakob, (turning to me) I saved a poor devil, a Wahabite, from being killed by the mob in Ghat, and I'm ready to save you. What's the good of killing a man for his religion?" I thanked the Prince for his n.o.ble feelings of tolerance, and left him and his clown to their _tete-a-tete_. Khanouhen is one of the few of those strong-minded and right-thinking men, who see the utter folly and direful mischief of forging a creed for the consciences of his fellows. Had he been a Christian prince of the times of Charles V., he would not, like that celebrated monarch, have pa.s.sed all his life in binding the religious opinions of men in fetters, and then at the end of his days, disgusted with his work, repented of his folly. No, from the beginning of his career, Khanouhen would have proclaimed and defended with his sword the liberty of the human conscience in matters of religion.

_16th._--A warm morning and hazy, but the much-dreaded wind got up at noon. The departure of all the ghafalahs is now fixed for the 25th, and ours for 23rd. The Rais of Ghadames has sent word for all his subjects to return together; this I'm sure they will not do. It is extremely difficult to make up a large caravan. The Soudan caravan is now departing in small detachments of half a dozen people. Found Said crying to-day.

"What's the matter, Said?" "You are going to Soudan, the Touaricks will kill you and cut you into bits, and I shall be again made a slave. I wish to return to Ghadames with the Ghadamsee ghafalah." I had often caught Said crying, and I imagine his grief came from the same source. I now told him positively I was about to return to Fezzan, and never observed him crying afterwards. As at Ghadames, Said is here a great man amongst the lady negresses, and spends all his money in buying them needles and beads. Hateetah called and scolded Said for crying, who had not yet dried his tears. The Sheikh told him the Touaricks were better than the Turks or Arabs; and I supported Hateetah by reminding Said of what our friend Essnousee observed, "_Targhee elkoul zain_, (all the Touaricks are good fellows)." I now spoke to Hateetah seriously about devising some means for stopping the progress of slave-caravans through the country. He pretended that the profit derived from the slave-caravans was infinitely greater than it is, making it some one thousand dollars per annum; he did not think the Sheikhs would suppress it. "They had carried it on always, and would for ever," he observed. "But," he continued, and very justly, "stop it at Constantinople, or at Tripoli, and then it will be stopped here." Hateetah is right. This is and must be our plan, and I am happy to see that Lord Palmerston has made, during the present year, a most decisive effort near the Sublime Porte, to get the demand for slaves cut off at Tripoli and Constantinople, by the closing up of the slave-markets. Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. The Haj was occupied in making under-garments for the slaves he has purchased. Moors do strange things. It is curious to see the richest and most extensively occupied merchant of the Souk sewing up shirts and chemises for his slaves.

_17th._--Shafou left this morning for the country districts. The quiet old gentleman has had enough of the bustle of the Souk, which still continues. His Highness, before his departure, arranged for the Queen's letter and the presents. Called early upon the Governor, and found him in the house of Khanouhen, where there was a full a.s.sembly of Sheikhs. I was obliged to talk politics with them, which were translated as the conversation proceeded, by the Governor himself, to the Sheikhs. I surprised them by telling them of the great number of Mussulman troops employed by the French in Algeira, and how the French Government paid all the priests of religion, even Mussulmans. They questioned me about, and I explained to them the existence of deism in France and Europe. Now and then a solitary Mussulman deist may be found in North Africa. But how few have courage enough to resist the divine mission of The Prophet! Still fewer question the probability of a Revelation. In general conversation, I have always despised the system of running down the Algerian French, whilst travelling in these wilds. It serves no earthly purpose, but to increase the arrogance of the Moors and Arabs against Christians of all nations. Whatever the conduct of the Algerian French, the conquest may have a salutary influence upon Saharan fanatics, though it increases the danger of the European traveller. The Moorish Governments of the coast deserve much censure. They often foster and fan the flame of fanaticism against European tourists. Besides, the conduct of the Maroquines towards the Jews ought not now to be permitted by the Governments of France and England. A missionary to the Jews, (himself a converted Jew,) who visited Tangier with me, could not help exclaiming, on seeing how badly the native Jews were treated, "G.o.d give the French success in Algeria!" It is difficult for a philanthropic mind to suppress such feelings, whatever our national prejudices, and how much soever we may brand the Razzias as an indelible stigma on European civilization. It would be better, and certainly more just, to civilize North Africa by civilizing the established Moorish Governments of The Coast. But if The Coast is to fall under European domination, it is to be hoped England will secure the Bay of Tunis for shipping, and the Regency of Tripoli, as being the natural route of Saharan commerce. The rest may be safely left to France, excepting our old military post of Tangier, in order to maintain our influence through the Straits of Gibraltar. The conversation of the Sheikhs at length turned upon the Turks, and the country of Gog and Magog--whence they came, whom we all agreed to abuse as much as possible, since our antipathies were pretty equal. The Sheikhs then began very naturally to vaunt of their power in The Sahara, and I may embrace this opportunity of giving some outline of the Touarick nations of The Great Desert.

The Arab and Moorish writers of the middle ages, as well as the latest Saharan pilgrims, who have travelled The Desert from the sh.o.r.es of the Atlantic to the banks of the Nile, have all given us brief notices of the Touarick nations; but they have sometimes confounded Touaricks with strictly Berber tribes, and indeed, not without reason, for apparently the Touarick and Berber tribes are descended from one original family, or stock of people. The fairest conclusion is, that they are the descendants of the ancient Numidian tribes.

The Arabic terms employed here to name the Touaricks are ???????

plural and ???????? singular. Vulgarly a Touarick is called _Targhee_ (??????), by the Touaricks themselves, as well as by the Moors and Arabs. Indeed, Targhee is the more correct name, and Touarghee is an enlarged Arabic form. So Leo Africa.n.u.s speaks of these tribes of The Desert as "Targa Popolo."

The extent of Sahara occupied by the Touaricks is exceedingly great, embracing many thousands of miles. The northern line begins at Ghadames, an hour's journey south of that city. This line extends along the north, south-west as far as Touat, and south-east as far as the oases of Fezzan and Ghat. On the western side, proceeding directly south, we find Touaricks on the whole line of route as far as Timbuctoo; on the eastern side, leaving Ghat, and journeying southward, they abound in the populous districts of Aheer and Asbenouwa, as far as Damerghou, the first purely Negro kingdom of Negroland. On the south, they are scattered in villages and towns, or wandering in tribes, along the north banks of The Niger. I have not heard of their being located on the southern banks of the great river of Soudan, nor do they descend the Niger to the Atlantic, for we hear nothing of them in Noufee or Rabbah. But they are scattered higher up through the extensive provinces of Housa, subjected to the Fullans.

In The Sahara, comprehended by these immense lines, they have some large cities and agricultural districts. The princ.i.p.al of them are Ghat, Aheer, and Aghadez, in the east, Touat and Timbuctoo, in the west. We have the three princ.i.p.al cities of Ghat, Aheer, and Aghadez, besides numerous villages, in Western Sahara, entirely under the authority of the Touaricks. Everywhere they inhabit the agricultural districts of the open desert. I have not heard of Touaricks on the western line of the Atlantic Ocean. Captain Riley speaks only of wandering Arabs, almost in a wild state. On the eastern line of The Desert, they do not extend beyond the western limits of the oases of Fezzan, and the southern Tibboo countries. The names of the great sections of the Touaricks, as far as I have been able to learn, are,--

1st. The _Azghar_--???????--of Ghat.

2nd. The _Haghar_--??????--of Touat.

3rd. The _Kylouy_[88]--???????--of Aheer.

4th. The _Sorghou_--??????--of Timbuctoo.

The Sorghou is the Timbuctoo name which is given to them by Caillie, and probably this is not a distinct section from that of the Haghar[89].

There are some lofty ranges of mountains between Ghat and Touat called also Haghar, the nucleus of these tribes, and whose Sultan is the Gigantic Ba.s.sa. Besides, we have the Touaricks of Fezzan, a very small section and distinct from those of Ghat, and who may be considered the pastoral people, the veritable Arcadians of the oases. All these sections have their respective Sultans, and the Sultans their respective subordinate Sheikhs, governing the respective subdivision of territory and tribes of people. The subdivisions of Ghat tribes are the following:--Tinilleum, Aiaum, Dugarab, Sacana, Dugabakar, Auragan, Muasatan, Ghiseban, Elararan, Filelen, Francanan, Botanetum, Skinimen, Deradrinan, Mucarahsen, Keltrubran, Keltunii, Chelgenet, Ilemtein[90].

These various sections of Touaricks, who wander through the vast wilderness of Sahara, or are located in its oases, may be distinguished by some general characteristics, agreeing with and arising from their peculiar location, or habits of trade and life. The Touaricks of Timbuctoo are the more faithless and sanguinary in their disposition, and less addicted to commerce or a regular mode of life. Those of Ghat represent the Touarghee character in its most original type, these tribes being a brave and hardy people, reserved and using few words in speech, of a n.o.ble chivalric disposition, and carrying on some commerce. Those of Touat, I imagine, are the same style of people, from what few of them I saw at Ghadames; but those of Aheer are more effeminate and milder in their manners, and are a good deal mixed with the Negro nations of Soudan. The Touaricks of Aheer bear an excellent character as traders, and companions of travel, always a.s.sisting the stranger first at the well, before their own camels are watered. They seem, besides, mostly addicted to the peaceful pursuits of commerce, if we except their occasionally joining in the Razzias for slaves. A full third of the traffic of the South-eastern Sahara is in their hands, or under their control. I may add a few words upon their country and chief places, Aheer and Aghadez.

_Aheer_, or _Ahir_, ?????? and which is often incorrectly spelt on the maps Ar, is the name of a town and very populous district, including within its territory or jurisdiction the city of Aghadez. Aheer is also called Azben, and its district Azbenouwa ????????--?????? which appear to have been the more ancient names. The town of Aheer is also called _Asouty_, ??????? on the maps Asouda, the dentals ??? and ???

being convertible. These districts are bounded on the north by Ghat and its tribes; on the east by the Tibboo country and Bornou, on the west by the Negro, Touarick and Fullan countries of the north banks of the Niger; and on the south, by the Housa districts, vulgarly called by merchants, Soudan. Aheer is forty short days from Ghat, the Soudanese merchants who visit the Ghat mart always travelling much more _doucement_ and in jog-trot style than the Moorish and Arab merchants of the north. The line of the Aheer stations measures about thirteen days, from Tidik in the north to Toktouft in the south[91]. In this portion of the route, and that previous to arriving at Tidik, there are twenty days of mountains. The Aheer route also abounds with springs and fine streams, which gush out from the base of rock-lands of great height, and some of which form considerable rivers for several months in the year, on whose banks corn and the senna-plant are cultivated. Aheer is the Saharan region of senna, where there are large wadys covered with its crops. The exportation, especially after a season of rain, is very great and profitable. Asouty is the princ.i.p.al town of the Aheer districts, and was formerly the capital of all the Kylouy Touaricks. No less than a thousand houses are now seen abandoned and in ruins. Here in former times all the Soudan trade was carried on and concentrated; its population is still considerable. The houses are nearly all constructed of hasheesh, or straw huts, and the city is without walls. Nevertheless, the people still honour it with the t.i.tle of _Blad es-Sultan_, "City," or "Country of the Sultan," that is, where the Sultan occasionally resides, answering to our _Royal_ city.

Aheer is the rendezvous of the salt caravan of Bilma, in the Tibboo country, situate, almost in a straight line, about ten days east, the route to which is over barren stony ground. A curious story is told of the manner in which the camel drivers supply themselves with forage over this treeless, herbless, naked waste. On their way to Bilma, they leave at certain places or stations a quant.i.ty of forage to supply them on their return; and it is said, the deposit is sacred, no one daring to touch it. It is probable, however, that the forage is concealed in hiding places, as wells are often hidden along some desert routes. Even in the Tunisian Jereed, the sources of water are frequently concealed, a skin being placed over the water with palm branches laid thereupon, and the top of the well's mouth covered with sand. So that a hapless traveller may perish of thirst with water under his feet! Through the hunting districts of South Africa, amongst the Namaquas, the sources of water are concealed in a similar manner. However, a short time ago, the people of Bornou, who were then at war with the Touaricks of Aheer, discovered the hiding places of the Touaricks' forage, carried off or destroyed the supplies, and reduced a large salt-caravan to the greatest extremities; hundreds of camels perished from hunger. These salt-caravans are sometimes a thousand and two thousand strong. The greater part of Housa and the neighbouring provinces is supplied with salt from Bilma.

Aghadez, ?????? is the capital of the Aheer districts. This is the residence of the Sultan of the Touaricks of South-eastern Sahara.

The present Sultan is called _Mazouwaja_, ???????? who is represented as a friendly prince. But it was _En-Nour_ ???????, deputy Sultan of Aheer, to whom I wrote before leaving Ghat, begging his protection in the event of my return, to complete the tour to Soudan. Aghadez is now as large as Tripoli, or containing from eight to ten thousand inhabitants. In a past period it was four times as large. A great number of the people have emigrated to Soudan, where less labour is required to till the soil, and nature is more lavish in her productions. Aghadez is a walled city, but without any particular strength; the houses are but one story high, built of mud and stone and sun-dried bricks. Aghadez abounds in provisions of the most substantial kind, that is, sheep, oxen and grain. The government is despotic, but the lesser chiefs have great power in their respective districts, like those of Ghat. The religion of the people is Mahometan; not a Pagan, Jew, or Christian, is found within these districts. Trade is carried on to a great extent, and Moorish merchants visit Aghadez, proceeding no further towards Soudan. The most interesting district near Aghadez is that of _Bagzem_ ??????, (or _Magzem_, the l.a.b.i.als ??? and ??? being convertible,) consisting of an exceedingly lofty mountain, requiring a full day's journey for its ascent. This mountain figures on the map under the ancient name of Usugala Mons, but for what reason G.o.d knows. The town is placed a good way towards its loftiest heights, the most of which heights are both cultivated and inhabited, and there is abundance of trees, grain, and fruits. Bagzem is three days' journey from Asouty.

I shall take the liberty of appending the account given of Aheer and Aghadez by Leo Africa.n.u.s:--

DISERTO DOVE ABITA TARGA POPOLO.

Il terzo diserto incomincia da'confini di Air dal lato di ponente, e s'estende fino al diserto d'Ighidi verso Levante; e di verso tramontana confina con li diserti di Tuat e di Tegorarin e di Mezab; da mezzogiorno, con li diserti vicini al regno di Agadez. Questo diserto non e cosi aspro e crudele, como sono i due primieri: e truovavisi acqua buona, e pozzi profondissimi; ma.s.simamente vicino ad Air, nel quale e un temperato diserto e di buono aere, dove nascono molte erbe: e piu oltre, vicino di Agadez, si truova a.s.sai manna, che e cosa mirable; e gli abitatori vanno la mattina pertempto a raccorlo, e ve n'empiono certe zucche; e vendonla cosi fresca nella citta di Agadez; e un fiasco che tien un boccale val due bajocchi; beesi mescolata con acqua; ed e cosa perfettissima: la mescolano ancora nelle minestre, e rinfresca molto: penso che per tale cagione li forestieri rade volte s'ammalano in Agadez, come in Tomb.u.t.to, ancorche vi sia aere pestifero. Questo diserto s'estende da tramontana verso mezzogiorno trecento miglia.--_Sixth Part_, lvi.

_chap._

It will be observed, that under the name of _Targa Popolo_, no mention is made of the Touaricks of Ghat. Indeed, all the notices of the Renegade Tourist on this part of Africa, are extremely meagre and unsatisfactory.


As to his divisions of The Sahara into so many deserts, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, &c., this is all arbitrary and most unnatural. The story about the abundance of manna gathered in the districts of Aheer, seems to have been invented to please the Christian doctors of Rome; at any rate, nothing of the kind is now seen or known at Aghadez. But with respect to foreigners who visit Aheer and Aghadez enjoying good health, I have no doubt the Renegade is correct, for I have not heard of either of these places being unhealthy, their salubrity arising, we may imagine, from the elevation at which they are placed. The Aheer Saharan region is emphatically mountainous.

Afternoon, visited Hateetah, who has made up his mind to accompany me to Fezzan, of which I'm glad, not wishing to meet with any more Ouweeks in this neighbourhood. Was pleased this morning to observe amongst the children of Haj Ahmed, who were busy reading pa.s.sages from the Koran, several girls. This circ.u.mstance raises my opinion of the Governor. No doubt it is because he is a Marabout that he grants this privilege to his daughters. The Marabout has no less than a dozen small children, of all complexions, features, and hues, from lily white to sooty black. My sweetest enjoyment in Ghat is to listen to the song of the tiny singing sparrows hopping about my terrace. My days of childhood return with their song, when, if I were not innocent, a little matter made me happy. Sing on you pretty little things, tune your wild Saharan notes, for you gladden my sad heart!

_18th._--A fine warm sunny day. The departure of the ghafalah is now fixed for the 27th. According to some accounts, 8000 Touaricks are being mustered, to march against the Shanbah. The Touaricks evidently expect the robber tribe to be reinforced from Souf and the Warklah districts, or the robbers must number 5000 instead of 500. Haj Ibrahim tells me, he has just read a letter addressed by the Pasha of Tripoli to the united Sheikhs of Ghat, offering them a.s.sistance against the robber tribe. The Touaricks have politely declined the proffered aid, feeling strong (and wise) enough to manage their own battles. Not much troubled with visitors lately, one now and then. The Touaricks are leaving Ghat to reinforce the new levies of troops. Soon the town will be emptied of Touaricks. The Ghadamsee ghafalah is returning, and a small one to Tripoli _via_ Shaty and Misdah.

Haj Ibrahim continues to repeat his story about the people of Ghadames having a great deal of money h.o.a.rded up. I visited him this morning, and found him surrounded with a group of Soudanese merchants. The large court-yard of his house was full of bales of unsold goods, here and there scattered about, and some unpacked, all in the most business-like disorder. In one quarter was a cl.u.s.ter of a dozen slaves, waiting to be bartered for, the poor wretches being huddled up together in this private mart of human flesh. The Moor was calm and collected amidst the dirt and noise of Kanou and Succatou merchants, who with violent gestures were disputing the progress of the bargain inch by inch. Here was a great a.s.sortment of rubbish, for I can't call very coa.r.s.e paper, green baize cloth, gla.s.s and earthen composition beads, bad razors, and a few common woollens, and some very inferior raw silk, merchandize. And such rubbish was offered in exchange for a group of G.o.d's creatures, with his divine image stamped upon them! At length the progress of the bargain came to what might be called a crisis. The Soudanese merchants jumped up suddenly, with shouts and curses, as if they had discovered a perfidious fraud, and rushed to the door, pulling their miserable slaves after them.

I felt shocked at the sight, and my horror must have been depicted in my countenance. For Haj Ibrahim, who well knew I disapproved of this traffic, said to me angrily, "Why do you come here now?" I got out of his way as quick as I could, but did not leave the house. The people of the Moor followed hard after the runaway merchants, seizing first hold of their slaves, dragging them back by main force into the court-yard. Then their owners raised a hideous cry, calling Haj Ibrahim and his people "thieves," and "robbers," and "cheats," and "accursed," and many other similar compliments in the way of slave-dealing. This would make a nice counter-picture to a sketch of one of those Congressional squabbles which so frequently take place on the presentation of Anti-Slavery pet.i.tions to the American Congress, when there is an occasional flourish of the bowie-knife, and a good deal of expectoration to damp the ardour of the combatants, fighting over the victims of Republican Tyranny. After this came a cessation of every kind of noise, for Haj Ibrahim, disgusted with the business, (he was a fair-dealing man though a slave-dealer,) said to Omer, his Arab servant:--"Tell them to be off, and take their slaves with them." Now interposed a merchant of Ghat, and a friend of the Soudanese, who thus upbraided them:--"Fools that you are! Do you think Haj Ibrahim is a cheat? Haj Ibrahim gets nothing by you; Haj Ibrahim buys your slaves, because Haj Ibrahim will not be at the expense of carrying his goods back again to Tripoli." The merchants replied, and I dare say with truth:--"You told us 300, now there are only 200; 20 of this, and only 10; 50 of that, and only 20," &c. This Ghatee was a broker, and a species of sharper; he had been impudently imposing on the Housa merchants. But, to cut a long story short, the bargain was finally arranged. Haj Ibrahim made these quondam merchants a present of some almonds and parched peas, "to _wet_ the bargain." The poor slaves had been dressed up for the sale, and, with other ornaments, large bright iron hoops had been hammered round their ancles. It was a tough job to get them off, and a blacksmith only could do it. Haj Ibrahim called each new slave to him, and looked at their features, in order to know them. This he told me he was obliged to do, to be sure of his own slaves, and prevent quarrels with other merchants, for the slaves often get mixed together.

During Souk there is going on some petty thieving, mostly done by the Negro slaves and Arab camel-drivers. They have stolen many little things from me. It is useless to complain. One must take care of one's things.

But I am informed the Touaricks never steal. At any rate, large bundles of senna are left out in the suburbs, night after night, and in the open fields amongst the sand, and no one touches a leaf of it. This could neither be done in Tunis, nor in Tripoli. The Touaricks are beggars, but not thieves; they will also beg hard and with authority. Rarely, however, will a Touarghee take anything away from you without your knowledge. So, if Touaricks are poor, they are honest, which is so seldom the case, poverty exciting as much or more to crime than exuberant wealth. On the whole, this country must be considered free from crime.

Hungry slaves pilfering about, can hardly be designated crime. I saw a little slave to-day, who had just been brought from Aheer; he was rolling naked on the sand, with some fresh green blades of wheat before him.

These he was devouring, and this was his food. How can human beings fed this way be expected to refrain from stealing food when they have an opportunity? The Touaricks of Aheer, though not cruel masters, feed their slaves mostly on herbage, which is picked up _en route_. At least, so the people tell me.

Afternoon, the aged Berka paid me a visit. I gave him his tobacco, or that which I had promised him. Whenever you promise a person anything in this country, in reminding you of it, if you forget your promise, he calls the article his own, and demands it as a right. Berka can hardly move about, he is so very old a man; I should say the Sheikh is upwards of a hundred. The Saharan veteran made no observation in particular. He replied to my questions about Saharan travelling:--"Don't fear, the Touaricks will do you no harm. You can go to Timbuctoo in safety." I was making ghusub water, and asked him to drink of it. "No," he said, smiling with benignity, "you must drink ghusub water with me, not I with you.

This is the fashion of us Touaricks." Ghusub water, is water poured on ghusub grain after the grain has been par-boiled or otherwise prepared. A milky substance oozes from the grain, and makes a very cooling pleasant beverage. Saharan merchants prize the ghusub water chiefly for its cooling quality in summer. A few dates are pounded with the ghusub to give the drink a sweeter and more unctuous taste. The aged Sheikh, on taking leave, begged a little bit of white sugar. "I wish to give it to my little grandson," he added. I question which was the more childish, he or his little grandson, so true it is the intellect decays as it grows, spite of our theories of the immortality of mind. I have now had visits from all the great chieftains of the Ghat Touaricks, Shafou, Jabour, Berka, and Khanouhen. The three former are the heads of the great divisions of confederated tribes. These centres of the large tribes and families separately const.i.tute an oligarchical n.o.bility, by which the destinies of this Saharan world are governed.

FOOTNOTES:

[82] _Ghafouly_--???????--_Holcus sorghum_, (Linn). Ghafouly grows higher than a man; the stalk is as thick round as sugar-cane; the grain is of white colour, and half the size of a dry pea, of a round flattened shape. It is much coa.r.s.er eating than maize.

[83] _Arachis hypogaea_, (Linn). This sh.e.l.l fruit has two names in Housa, _goujeea_, and _gada_. Many of the sh.e.l.ls are double; they are smallish, very soft, and easily broken. The taste of the fruit is not disagreeable, a good deal like the almond, but more viscid, and a little insipid.

[84] Mostly with the mark "_porco_" on the packets.

[85] Mostly with the mark "_tre lune_" on it. I complained to a merchant that the paper was very coa.r.s.e, and asked him why he did not purchase finer paper. He replied, "_It's all the same in Soudan, fine or coa.r.s.e._" The same answer would be given to every complaint about the coa.r.s.eness and bad quality of these imports into Africa. Fine or coa.r.s.e cloth, and fine or coa.r.s.e silk, sell much the same in Negroland.

[86] This is frequently the case. When a Touarghee wears his _litham_, and when he pulls it off, he undergoes a complete metamorphosis, so that strangers cannot recognize the parties in their change of dress.

[87] ???? ????? ???? ????? Judges xxi. 25. The conduct of the Sheikhs and their tribes is much like that of the Israelites under the Judges.

[88] Sometimes called, Killiwah.

[89] Different Negro tribes call Touaricks by different names.

[90] These names are but imperfectly given, and they must be p.r.o.nounced in Italian style, being written from the dictation of a Targhee chief by Mr. Gagliuffi, according to that language. To these may be added _Haioun_, a tribe of Marabouts.

[91] For the rest of the Stations see the Map.

CHAPTER XXI.

CONTINUED RESIDENCE IN GHAT.

Parallels between The Desert and The East.--The Divine Warranty for carrying on the Slave Trade discussed.--Visit from Aheer and Soudanese Merchants, and present state of Soudan.--Form of the Cross on Touarick Arms.--Boy taught to curse The Christian.--Medina Shereef's opinion on my giving Presents.--A Negress begs in the name of Ouweek.--Visit to the Governor and Hateetah.--Streams of Water and Corn-Fields in the Fabled Region of Saharan Desolation.--Kandarka will recommend me to his Sultan.--Parallel things between Africa and Asia.--Atkee turns out a Scamp.--Visit from Berka.--Arabic is the Language of Heaven.--Khanouhen ridicules Hateetah to his face.--Hospitality of the Governor towards me, and interesting Conversations with him.--Moorish reckoning of Time clashes with mine.--Medina Shereef turns Beggar like the rest.--Meet The Giant begging at Haj Ibrahim's.--Affecting Case of the cruelty of one Slave to another, and compared to the Jews of Morocco.--Chorus Singing of the Slaves.--Mode in which Ostriches are Hunted.--Arrival of Senna and Ivory from Aheer.--Christians are not Liars.--Farewell Visit from Jabour.--Quick Route to Timbuctoo from Ghat.--Kandarka turns Comedian, and satirizes the Touaricks of Ghat.--Mercantile Transactions of the Governor.--Want of a strong Government in The Desert.--a.s.semblage of the Sheikhs, and preparations for War.

_19th._--DID not go out to-day, but amused myself with noting down in the journal several parallel things between The Desert and The East, which are mentioned in The Scriptures.

"And she said, As the Lord thy G.o.d liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die." (1 Kings xvii. 12.) We have in Sahara parallel ideas to all and every part of this simple and affecting discourse. The widow speaks with an oath. When anything particular and extraordinary is to be said or done, the people of Sahara must use an oath. The meal is the barley-meal of our people; the oil is used to cook it as we cook our bazeen. The sticks are gathered from The Desert every day to dress our food. The blank and absolute resignation of the woman is the same with every one here, not excepting those of immoral lives.

"And lo in her mouth, was an olive-leaf plucked off," (Gen. viii. 11.) "And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard," (Gen. ix.

20.) The olive and the vine are still the choice fruit-trees in North Africa, and were the Mussulmans a wine-drinking people, the country would be covered with vineyards. In the beautiful parable of Jotham, (Judges ix. 8-15,) the third, and the three choicest trees of North Africa are separately mentioned, the olive, the fig-tree, and the vine. These are the only fruits valued or cultivated by Tripoline Arabs in their mountains. The jennah or "paradise" of the Koran is also planted with "palm trees and vines."