Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 Part 36

Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 Part 36

_Huntsman._--"I don't know."

_Writer._--"Where have you been?"

_Huntsman._--"Over the sand." (Pointing west.)

_Writer._--"Have you caught anything?"

_Huntsman._--"Nothing."

_Writer._--"When do you drink?"

_Huntsman._--"Now and then."

_Writer._--"Have you anything to eat?"

_Huntsman._--"Nothing."

_Writer._--"When did you eat anything last?"

_Huntsman._--"I forget."

I threw him down from my camel some barley-bread and dates. He picked them up, but said nothing, and went his way. Turning round to look after him, I saw him cut across to the mountains on the east.

Observed to-day some curious atmospheric phenomena. A light vapour, the lightest, airiest of the airiest, swept gently along the surface of the ground, but as if unimpelled by any secret influence. It was also dead calm. The vapour continued to sweep before us, till at length it suddenly rose up to the sky in the form of a spiral column of air, and then disappeared. In this valley, which widened as we advanced, we once or twice saw the mirage running along the ground like prostrate columns of foam, striking out sparklings of light.

Towards noon we had a full view of the celebrated Kesar Jenoun--"Palace of Demons," to the west; in coming to Ghat we had it on the east. As we neared it, Haj Ibrahim said to me, "Well, Yakob, we must go and see the great Palace of Demons. We must see what it is, and you must write all about it."

At 4 o'clock P.M., we encamped right opposite its eastern side. On encamping, I looked about for Haj Ibrahim, and found him busy unpacking.

I then very carelessly determined to start myself alone. I thought it, however, a good opportunity to show the people of the caravan that I was not influenced by superst.i.tious fears, and that, as an Englishman and a Christian, I cared little about their dreaded Palace of Demons. Haj Omer, the merchant's servant, called out after me on starting, "Be off, make haste, you'll be back by sunset." I equipped myself with the spear and dagger of Shafou, and started off at a good pace, making a straight and direct cut to The Palace. I scarcely noticed anything on the road going along, staring with full face at the Huge Block of Mountain. But, on getting out of sight of the encampment, and, under the shadow of this "great rock in a weary land," I unaccountably felt the influence of those very superst.i.tious fears and terrors which I was so anxious to combat in my fellow-travellers. I then soliloquized to myself, "What a poor creature is man, how weak, how miserable! how exposed to every whim and folly which a credulous mind can invent!" Thus soliloquizing, I got within the mysterious precincts of the Great Mountain Rock, in the course of three-quarters of an hour. I had, however, still more fear of the living than the dead, and said to myself mechanically aloud, "Man has more to fear from the living than the dead;" and I looked around anxiously this way, and that way, and every way, if perchance there might lurk, as the demon of the mountain, some stray bandit. Rea.s.suring myself, my thoughts turned on science. I wished to astonish the b.o.o.bies of the British Museum by geological specimens from the far-famed palace of mortal and immortal spirits, built in the heart of The Great Desert. I picked up various pieces of stone which lay scattered at its rocky base.

But I found nothing but calcareous marl, or basaltic chippings and crumblings, some of cream colour, some lavender, some purple, some red-brown, some nearly black. This done, as connoisseur of geology, I stood stock still and gaped open-mouthed like an idiot, at the huge pyramidal ribs of The Rock. Then I bethought me I would ascend some of these offshoots of the mountain, and take a quiet seat of observation from off one of the battlemental turrets which capped its many-towered heights, over all the subjected desert and lesser hills and rocks below.

But I soon changed my mind; not recognizing any decided advantage in scrambling up--G.o.d knows where--over heaps upon heaps of crumbling falling rock. I now turned my back to the Demons' Cavern, without having had the honour or pleasure of making a single acquaintance amongst these demi-immortals, much to my regret, and my face was towards the encampment. At least I thought so. I saw at once that the king of day was fast going down to sup on the other side of The Palace, or perhaps with the Demons, and I must hasten back to my supper. I started on my return as carelessly as I came, with this foolish difference, that, although not remarking a single part of my way hither, I fancied I would take a shorter cut back to supper, beginning to feel hungry, having eaten nothing since morning. In fact, I soon got into another track upon this absurd idea of shortening the route. I recommend my successors in Saharan travel, never to try short-cuts in unknown places. In ten minutes I made sure of my encampment, and ran right up to some mounds of sand topped with bushes, where I expected to find Said with the supper already cooked, and the nagah lying snugly by, eating her dates and barley. But that was not the encampment. The sun was now gone, and following hard upon his heels were lurid fleecy clouds of red, the last attendants of his daily march through the desert heavens. I now looked a little farther, and said to myself, "There they are!" I went to "There they are," and found no encampment. I continued still farther, and said, "Ah, there they are!" and went to "Ah, there they are!" and found no encampment. I now made a turn to the south, and saw them quietly encamped under "various mounds," and went to "various mounds," but the encampment sunk under the earth, for they "were not." All was right, and "never mind," I should soon see their fires, and was extremely glad to notice all the light of day quenched in the paling light of a rising crescent, some five or six days old. I thus continued cheerfully my search another quarter of an hour, when all at once, as if struck by an electric shock, it flashed across my mind, "Peradventure, I might be lost for the night!"

and be obliged to make my bed in Open Desert. I have seen in my life-time people strike a dead wall, as a convenient b.u.t.t against which to vent their ill-disguised rage. I now must have a victim for my vexation. It was not wanting. I felt something heavy and dragging in my pocket. The half hour's running about had reminded me of some until now unnoticed heavy weight, and this was the stones, and these were my grand specimens of geology. I quietly took out all the stones from my pocket, and threw them deliberately but savagely away, certainly a very proper punishment for leading me such "a wild-goose chase," such "a dance," over The Desert. In my wrath I was not disheartened. Now, as it was dark, I began to ascend the highest mounds of Desert, from, whose top I might descry the fires of our encampment. I wandered round and round, and on, now over, sand and sand-hills, now climbed up trees, now upon eminences of sand or earth-banks, seeking the highest mounds of the vast plain, to see if any lights were visible, looking earnestly every way. No light showed itself as a beacon to the lost Desert traveller--no sound saluted his ear with the welcome cry, "Here we are!" Felt so weary that I was now obliged to lie down to rest a little. But soon refreshed, I determined to return to The Palace, and find the place which I had visited. The fear and thought of being lost in The Desert now mastered every other consideration, and I started unappalled to the Black Rock, without ever thinking of the myriads of spirits which at the time were keeping their midnight revels within its mysterious caverns. Got near The Rock, but I saw no place which I had seen before. The mountain had now at night a.s.sumed other shapes, other forms, other colours. Probably the demons were dancing all over it, or fluttering round it like clouds of bats and crows, preventing me from seeing its real shape and proportions. Be it as it may, I could not recognize the place which I had so recently visited.

I now climbed up some detached pieces of rock to look for lights. I sprang up with the elastic step of the roe, over huge broken fragments of rock, aided by a sort of supernatural strength, the stones rolling down and smashing with strange noises as I was springing over them. From these crumbling heights I looked eastward, and every way, but no friendly light, watch-fire, or supper-fire, was visible. I descended, much heated, in a flowing perspiration, feeling also the cold chill of the higher atmosphere. I began to have thirst, the worst enemy of the Saharan traveller, and fatigue was violently attacking me. I considered (which afterwards I found quite correct) I had got too far north. I could not recognize at all the processes of detached rock over which I had been scrambling. I must be several miles too high up. I went down along the sides of the Immense Rock, looking at every new shape it a.s.sumed to find the place where so quietly I picked up the stones and geologized a few hours before. All was vain. Fatigue was overpowering me, and my senses began to reel like a drunken man. Now was the time to see the visions and mysteries of this dread abode, and unconsciously to utter sounds of unknown tongues. Now, indeed, I fancied I heard people call me; now I saw lights; now I saw a camel with a person mounted in search of me, to whom I called. And, what is strange, these sights and sounds were all about the natural and not the supernatural. For instance, I did not see the visage of a grinning goblin just within a little c.h.i.n.k of The Rock, as I ought to have seen. I did not see "faery elves" dancing in the moonlit beams, as I ought to have seen. Then boldly I took a direct course from the mountain over the plain, believing I should intercept our encampment.

I continued this line for two hours, or not quite so much, but I found myself a long way east over the plain, where was neither camel, nor encampment, nor object, nor light, nor any moving thing. I then proceeded north, thinking I had got too far south again. Here I found a group of sand-hills, a new region, in which I painfully wandered and wandered up and down. I knew the encampment could not be here. To get clear of this horrible predicament, I made another set at the Palace Rock, as if to implore the mercy and forgiveness of the Genii. In an hour I found myself again under its dark shadows. I walked up and down by its doleful dismal sides, thinking if any people were sent in pursuit of me I might find them. All was the silence of the dead--no form flitted by except those which filled my disturbed imagination. I once more returned eastward to the plain, but my head was now swimming, my legs shrank from under me, and I fell exhausted upon the sand. There I lay some time to rest. My brain, hot and bewildered, was crowded with all sorts of fancies, but my courage did not sink. I was seeing every moment people in pursuit of me.

I heard them repeatedly call "Yakob." Somewhat composed, I determined upon giving up the search of the encampment till day-light, and went about to find a tree under which to sleep, if I could. I went to one, but did not like it, being low and straggling on the ground, exposed to the first chance intruder. I sought another, which I had before observed, for in this state I was forced to pick out the objects of the plain. I found my tree, which in pa.s.sing before by it I thought would make me a good bed. I could not find the encampment, but the tree observed before, I could find. It was placed on a very high mound of earth, which was covered with a large bushy lethel-tree. Happy tree! I have always loved thy name since. Under this I crept, but finding the top of the mound of a sugar-loaf form, I scooped out on its sides, digging away with my hands earth and dried leaves, a long narrow cell, literally a grave, determining, if I should perish hereabouts, this should be my grave. I found it very snug, for the wind now got up east, and moaned in the lethel-tree above my head. I drove the spear in the earth, near "the bolster," and took off the dagger from my arm. Had on my cloak, which I rolled fast round me, and got warm.

The midnight wind increased its doleful notes and heavy moans. Now a gruff piping of a cracked barrelled organ, and now, a wild shriek of one crying in distress.

"Mournfully! Oh! mournfully, This midnight wind doth sigh, Like some sweet plaintive melody, Of ages long gone by.

"It speaks a tale of other years-- Of hopes that bloomed to die-- Of sunny smiles that set in tears, And loves that mouldering lie!

"Mournfully! Oh! mournfully, This midnight wind doth moan; It stirs some chord of memory, In each dull heavy tone.

"The voices of the much-loved dead, Seen floating thereupon-- All, all my fond heart cherished Ere death had made it lone."

My first object was to lie and rest my senses, so that I should recover a little of my bodily strength, as well as have my thoughts about me. Of wild beasts I could not be afraid; I knew there were none. Of the wilder animals still, the Desert bandits, I also had every reason to believe there were none. But, from my elevated position, I could see their approach, or that of friends, nearly all around me. My only fear was to perish of thirst, for it attacked me now severely. Thus I lay for an hour or so, and then got up to watch the objects of Desert. All things were deformed in the shadowy moonlight, and most things looked double with the reeling of my poor senses. Several times I imagined I saw a camel coming, actually pa.s.sing by a few paces from the base of the mound. Frightened at these illusions of the brain, I determined to try to sleep; my thirst still increased and prevented me. As fatigue left me, my head became clearer, and more serious thoughts occupied the mind. The moon, however, I watched, wheeling her "pale course," for I knew she finished now her shadowy reign a few hours before morning. It is impossible to give any outline of the thoughts which now rapidly and in wild succession pa.s.sed my mind: suffice to say, I committed my spirit to the Creator who gave it. I repeated mechanically to myself aloud, "Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning." I now took the bold resolution to return to Ghat, not wasting my strength in the morning, after having made a short search in The Desert. It was the only chance of saving my life, if I could not at once find the encampment. This resolution kept up the strength of my mind, and prevented me from sinking into despair. I had nothing to eat, nor drink, but I might reach Ghat in the evening of the second day, or if strong enough, I might get back in one long day. I knew the route along the line of Wareerat, and could not possibly lose myself when I was only to pursue the camel-track at the base of this mountain range. The only difficulty was, lest I should turn to the right and get entangled amongst the sand-hills and dwarf wood, before I reached the turning of the road which would conduct me direct to Ghat. Things which have made an impression in childhood, the soonest recur to the mind in these distressing cases. I thought of poor Hagar with her Ishmael, exposed to perish with thirst in The Desert: it was exactly my case, whilst dim vistas of childhood now filled up the chasms of opening memory. Byron's dying gladiator, in the last struggles of death, saw the green banks of the Rhine, the flowery scenes of his childhood's days, and, amid the horrid din of the Roman amphitheatre, heard the innocent shouts of his little playmates. I was now suffering a dreadful thirst, and might perish unless the same Providence directed me to the well, or the encampment, as guided the wretched handmaiden of Sarah.

Within seven or eight miles from the place where I now lay, I recollected there was the well Tasellam, under the shadow of The Rock. But how to find it, when I could not find the encampment lying still nearer me! Then came lesser thoughts and vexations. What was I to do in Ghat? How get back even if I escaped with my life in my teeth to the oasis? And would not the first thing, on my escape, be an attack of fever? Then recurred to me the words of my friend Fletcher, "Expose yourself to no unnecessary risks." The strongest self-condemnation stung me, I was vexed at my extreme folly. Shall I add, that my thoughts wandered far over The Desert, skimmed over the surge of the Mediterranean, and ascended on the wing of the east wind, now cooling my burning forehead, and sought some sad solace in dear objects of my fatherland. Oh! the heart shrinks from revealing to the world its secret thoughts, its sorrowful regrets, its bitter self-reproaches! I must be silent of the rest. I now got up, sleep I could not. I was rejoiced to see a blacker shade thrown upon all night-visible things. The moon had performed her nocturnal duty, submissive and obedient to the law imposed upon her by universal nature, and had also sunk back, like the sun, below the Giant Demon Rock. I then lay down again, and just before day, after a few moments of broken sleep, for I even slept and forgot my perilous plight, another time I came out of my living grave to make observations. I looked at the eastern and western horizons, and thought the eastern was the lighter of the two, and there was the false dawn, or the dawn itself. I had often watched these dawns in the route from Tripoli to Ghadames, and grew wise in interpreting nocturnal sights and signs by dire experience. I lay down once more. Half an hour past, I came again and the last time forth, for all the east was now inflamed with the breaking out of day. The wheels of the sun's chariot were of radiant light vermilion, the horses, of darting orient flame, were being yoked on, and I stood silent and sad to see "the great king of day" mount, and commence his diurnal course. The Rock of Demons repelled the light, and shrouded itself in deeper gloom, as Desert morn advanced,

"And sow'd the earth with orient pearl;"


for even in the dry Desert the morning sheds some moisture, if not dew-drops. But on that Rock my thoughts now concentrated--there I must soon return, and revisit all its dark and rugged precincts. This was my only chance to meet with any persons sent in pursuit of me, if such there were. Began to see I had wandered at least eight miles from the Huge Rock. I threw my mantle over my shoulders, put the dagger under my left arm, and took the lance in my right hand, which felt heavy, for I had become weak and weary with the past night's traverse of The Desert, and the painful vigils afterwards. Descending from the mound to the level of the plain, I looked back upon my bed and grave, as if loth to leave it.

As soon as there was light enough to see objects somewhat distinctly, I prayed to G.o.d for deliverance, and sallied forth with an unshrinking mind. I was amazed at the illusions of The Desert, for it was now day; the night might have its deceptions and phantasmagoria. Every tuft of gra.s.s, every bush, every little mound of earth, shaped itself into a camel, a man, a sheep, a something living and moving. Before the day was hardly begun, I sprang over again to the base of the Rocky Palace, and saw now the detached pieces which during the night I had ascended; but, for the life of me, I could not find the place I visited first, and made geological discoveries, never, never to be divulged. I continued to pace up and down, north and south, for an hour, until weariness began anew to attack me. I sighed and said to myself aloud, "So soon tired!" I now returned to the plain and made another straight cut. Although the day was pretty well developed I was staggered at the deceptions and phantasms of The Desert. Every moment a camel loomed in sight, which was no camel.

There was also a hideous sameness! the reason, indeed, I was lost. For there were no distinguishing marks, the mounds followed shrubs, the shrubs mounds, then a little plain, then sand, then again the mounds and shrubs, plain and sand, and always the same--an eternal sameness! Now falling into the track of a caravan, I was determined to pursue it, but it was with great difficulty I could follow out the traces. For at long intervals the hard ground received no impressions of men or camels' feet, and I repeatedly lost the track, going a hundred or more yards before I could get into it again, I continued north, I saw the camels' feet, the sheep's feet, and the prints of the camel-drivers, and sometimes I thought I saw my own foot-marks. But the slaves! Where were the impressions of the naked feet of some fifty slaves? Now I groaned with the anguish of disappointment. I must abandon the track in despair. I had already pursued it painfully over sand and rock, and pebbles, and shrubs, and every sort of Desert ground.

All this was fast wasting away my little remaining strength. I now mounted two very high mounds. Nothing lived or moved but myself in the unbroken silence, the undisturbed solitude! I observed my being too far north, I must return south. Another camel appeared. Yes, it was a small black bush, on the top of a little hillock, shaping itself into a camel.

Now a marvel--life I was sure I saw. Two beautiful antelopes, light as air, bounded by me with amazing agility, and were lost in a moment amongst the shrubs and mounds of the desert plain. I fell to musing on natural history, and accounted for these gazelles by the presence of the well. I then recollected the Targhee hunter. For an instant I forgot my situation. But where was I? What was I doing? Was I to return to Ghat, or perish in The Desert? My strength was failing me fast. I could not pursue for ever this wild chase at the base of the rock of the Jenoun.

Under their baleful influence, I shall wander and wander till I drop and perish! I must make up my mind. The sun was not yet high up. I could walk till noon on the journey back, and then sleep a few hours and rest. The chill of the morning had taken away my thirst. I wrapped a handkerchief over my month, and took all the precaution I could against the approaching thirst at noon-day. The lance was heavy. Shall I throw it away? Could it not afford me a moment's protection in meeting a single bandit, which cla.s.s of men mostly go alone? I keep my lance, but determine to sit down to rest, previous to departing for Ghat. I had often noticed the Arabs make a straight cut of route by raising up the right arm, and putting under it the left hand to support it, and then waving up and down the right and left arms together. After my short rest, I mimicked them. Mimickry is instinctive in us. I singled out for myself a distant hill on the plain, lying south in the route by which we had come here. Now then, I took the first step towards Ghat. I continued an hour, but oh! how weary I had become. Nature seemed ready to sink, and I dropped suddenly on the side of a small sand-mound....... What shall I do?..... Shall I shed tears to relieve me?..... No, I have long given up shedding tears. And, now! I must keep up at the peril of my life. My heart renews its courage. I again get up and begin to walk, limping along. The small hill was before me--but should I ever reach even that?..... My strength of body was now gone, though the mind would not yield...... In the last moment of human extremity ...... death itself ..... comes deliverance! I continue my route to Ghat. I have just strength to raise my lance from the sand it pierces. I turn an instant round to the right hand, and a white figure pa.s.ses by...... What is that?

A friend or an enemy? I continue on. Is this one of our people, or of strangers? Shall I take him for a guide? Before I can think of it, I espy something in advance. But I fear an illusion, another deception. No! it is the head of a camel! I spring on with my little remaining staggering strength. To my joy unspeakable, I find myself upon my own camel--my own little encampment! But what a strange, a ludicrous scene! Here is poor Said skulking by the supper of the previous night, still placed on the fire, but which is gone out, his hands covering his face, and his head hanging down, his eyes swollen with tears but staring on the sand. The camel looks restless about, and moans. I cry out--"Said!" He starts up as if from a death-trance. He bellows out--"Aye wah," and begins to sob aloud. The slaves, close by, hear the noise and rush upon us. Where are the people? I see only slaves. They are all gone towards The Rock in pursuit of me. I now lie down and they bring me something to drink[96]. I begin with a little cold tea, and then eat a few dates. Afterwards, we got the supper cooked the previous night heated. About a quarter of an hour elapsed, when some of the party returned, and then the rest from the pursuit. They had gone as soon as it was light this morning. Last night some of them had been after me, and traced my steps, wandering over the sand, round and round, till they were nearly lost themselves, and got back to the encampment with difficulty. As soon as I recovered a little rest, our people came up to me and began to joke and laugh. "Ten dollars," said one, "you must give us for the trouble we have had in seeking for you." Another said, "Lay down, Yakob, sleep, we will wait till noon before we start, to enable you to rest." It was now 9, A.M. But the greater number of our party seemed confused, not knowing what to think or say. In my absence, the general impression was that I had been killed by the demons. Some, more sober, thought I might have fallen into the hands of the Touaricks. Now they said: "You were very foolish, you ought not, as a Christian, to have presumed to go to the Palace of the Demons, without a Mussulman, who could have the meanwhile prayed to G.o.d to preserve you, and likewise himself. The demons it is who have made you wander all night through The Desert." The Medina Shereef, who was of our party, boldly a.s.serted, "The palace is full of gold and diamonds. The Genii guard it. No wonder then they were offended with your going, and struck you as a madman so that you could not return." Others asked me what I saw, but would not believe me when I told them I saw nothing. So it came to pa.s.s, that I nearly lost my life for the sake of confirming them more strongly than ever in their superst.i.tions. I, who was to have taught them the folly of their fears by practical and demonstrable defiance of the Genii confirmed and sealed the power of the Genii over this Desert. But I must observe, my companions of travel did not adopt the right method of rescuing me from the malignant influence of the Genii. If they had sent a man in each direction from the camp, I should soon have been found. All going in one direction to The Mountain, the other routes were entirely unexplored. If ever I travel The Desert again, I shall provide myself with a pocket-compa.s.s, and something still better, a small tin or other box, of sufficient size to hold about a quarter of a pound of crushed dates, or other concentrated food, and a small bottle of spirits and water. The compa.s.s to be always in my pocket, and the box always tied round my neck night and day. In the case now narrated, with this little stock of provisions I could have got safe back to Ghat, and waited and rested on the road. As it happened, there was every probability I should have perished, if I had not found the encampment. I continued for a full hour to drink ghusub-water and tea, with a few dates. Then I ate more solid food, and took coffee. My mind now rebounded, and the joy of deliverance seemed as if it would counterbalance the dreadful anxieties of the past night. What a pure pleasure I now tasted a few moments! In a freak, I sat down and sketched The Demons' Palace, laughing defiance upon it all the while, with the wayward self-will and harmless spite of a child, I took this vengeance on the unlucky Black Rock.

Now all was pa.s.sed, I fancied I had merely experienced a distempered dream and ugly vision of The Desert. But when I rose to mount my camel, I found it had been no vision--I was obliged to be lifted upon my camel.

Little did I think during the last (to me ever memorable) night, while chasing wearily about the dreary Desert, my own countrymen had before visited the same identical Demons' Rock. I had heard, indeed, some of the people say it had been "written by Christians."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Let us turn now to Dr. Oudney, and hear what he says about The Rock. On an excursion westward, from Mourzuk to Ghat, they arrived near Ludinat, in the valley of Serdalas or Sardalis. At a small conical hill called Boukra, or "father of the foot," the people of the caravans amused themselves by hopping over it; he who does it best is considered least exhausted by the journey. Near this are a few hills, among which a serpent, as large as a camel, is said to reside. "The Targhee is superst.i.tious and credulous in the extreme: every hill and cave has something fabulous connected with it."

Of the nature of the mountains hereabouts, the Doctor says, "We entered (after leaving Serdalas) a narrow pa.s.s, with lofty rugged hills on each side; some were peaked. The black colour of almost all, with white streaks, gave them a sombre appearance. The external surface of this sandstone soon acquires a shining black, like basalt; so much so, that I have several times been deceived, till I took up the specimen. The white part is from a shining white aluminous schistus, that separates into minute flakes like snow. The ground had in many places the appearance of being covered with snow."

They now got on the plain of the Kesar Jenoun. The hills of Tradart or Wareerat (apparently the same word, but sometimes called Taseely) now appeared on the east, and the high sands on the west. "The Tradart (or Taseely) range," says Oudney, "has a most singular appearance; there is more of the picturesque in this than in any hills we have ever seen. Let any one imagine ruinous cathedrals and castles; these we had in every position, and of every form. (I myself often thought of Windsor Castle, and the many h.o.a.ry-headed old castles of England.) It will not be astonishing that an ignorant and superst.i.tious people should a.s.sociate these with something supernatural. That is the fact; some particular demon inhabits each. The cause of the appearance is the geological structure. In the distance there is a hill more picturesque and higher than the others, called Ga.s.sur Janoun, or Devil's Castle. Between it and the range there is a pa.s.s[97] through which our course lies. Hateetah dreads this hill, and has told me many strange stories of wonderful sights having been seen; these he firmly believes, and is struck with horror, when we tell him we will visit it."

Our countrymen kept the range of Wareerat the whole day, and were amazed with the great variety of forms. And when Clapperton thought he perceived the smell of smoke the previous night, Hateetah immediately said it was from the Devil's House. Another smaller rock is called the Chest, under which a large sum of money is said to have been deposited by an ancient people who were giants of extraordinary stature. The present race of Touaricks are, indeed, giants compared to some of our pigmy European nations. Oudney made an excursion to Janoun, the Kesar Jenoun. He says, "Our servant Abdullah accompanied me. He kept at a respectable distance behind. When near the hill, he said, in a pitiful tone, 'There is no road up.' I told him we would endeavour to find one. The ascent was exceedingly difficult, and so strewed with stones, that we were only able to ascend one of the eminences; there we halted, and found it would be impossible to go higher, as beyond where we were was a precipice." It would appear the Doctor ascended one of the detached blocks, which I ascended last night to observe the fires of the encampment. Hateetah got alarmed at the departure of Oudney, and Clapperton was not able to allay his fears: he was only soothed when the Doctor returned. The Sheikh was astonished, as much as our people, when the Doctor said he had "seen nothing." How like things happen! Even at the distance of twenty long years, between my visit and the Doctor's, it seems as if I was narrating one story. The Doctor was also mainly incited by the same feeling as myself, to observe the geological structure. He observes, "The geological structure is the same as the range (Wareerat) that is near."

To-day, after twenty years, and without knowing what the Doctor had written, when I made the same observation to our people, and tried to persuade Haj Ibrahim, the most intelligent of my companions, that there was nothing in this huge block different from the mountain range near it, being of the same stone and consistence, he replied drily, looking at both formations, "Yakob, it's not true. You see on the Kesar Jenoun the very stones which the Demons have built up like the Castle at Tripoli.

When you will be blind, how can you see? Why not believe in our Genii?"

This leads me to notice the Mahometan belief in Demons or Genii.

According to the best commentators, the term ????? "_Jinn_"

signifies a rational and invisible being, whether angel or devil, or the intermediate species called "genius" or "demon." As the word Genii is used in the pa.s.sage of the Koran, "Yet they have set up the Genii as partners with G.o.d, although he created them," (Surat VI.) some believe it refers to "the angels whom the Pagan Arabs worshipped, and others the devils, either because they became their servants, by adoring idols at their instigation, or else because, according to the Magian system, they looked upon the devil as a sort of creator, making him the author and princ.i.p.al of all evil, and G.o.d the author of good only." We all know what a share the Genii have in working the wonderful machinery of the Arabian Nights Tales. The Touaricks give them still greater powers, and make them a sort of delegated or deputy creators, according to the Magian system, but do not attribute to them the malevolent pa.s.sions of an evil being.

They are probably influenced by the Koran in this, which in the Surat, ent.i.tled "The Genii" (lxxii.) makes a portion of them to have been converted by hearing the reading of the Koran: "Say, it hath been revealed unto me, that a company of Genii heard me reading the Koran, and said, Verily we have heard an admirable discourse, which directeth into the right inst.i.tution; wherefore we believe therein, and we will by no means a.s.sociate any other with our Lord." The ancient Pagan Arabians also believed that the Genii haunted desert places, and they frequently retired, under cover of the evening's shade, to commune with these familiars of The Desert.

It is, perhaps, worth while to compare this Desert Pandemonium, which the imagination of the Touaricks has built up amongst their native hills, aided by the light of the Koran, with what the creative mind of Milton has constructed by the aid of the learning of his times, and our own Scriptures. The difference is as striking as contrast can present. But yet there are some wonderful affinities, showing that mind is one and the same amongst barbarian or civilized nations. Blackness and darkness enter into the situation of both pandemoniums. The Desert Pandemonium has its pillars and turrets, its frieze, bas-reliefs, and cornices of ornamental architecture, though all done by the hand of "geological structure,"--its dark colours shining with "a glossy scurf." The Desert Pandemonium is also alive with myriads of spirits, peopling its subterranean vaults. The Desert Pandemonium has finally its riches, its jewels, and its treasures, such as Mammon, "the least-erected spirit," discovered and "led them on" to, in the deeps of h.e.l.l. We may now transcribe the description of Milton's Pandemonium, the great ingredient of contrast being light and splendour amidst the "darkness visible" of the regions of perdition.

"Anon, out of the earth a fabric huge Rose like an exhalation, with the sound Of dulcet symphonies, and voices sweet, Built like a temple, where pilasters round Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid With golden architrave; nor did there want Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven; The roof was fretted gold."

"The ascending pile Stood fix'd her stately height; and straight the doors Opening their brazen folds, discover, wide Within, her ample s.p.a.ces, o'er the smooth And level pavement; from the arched roof Pendant by subtle magic, many a row Of starry lamps and blazing crezzets, fed With naphtha and asphaltus, yielded light As from a sky."

_7th._--From the Kesar Jenoun, and indeed before arriving there, the valley a.s.sumed the form of a boundless plain, widening during the whole of our march to-day. We had still on our right, the chain of Wareerat, and, on our left, but scarcely visible, the low ridge of sand hills. We frequently find this sort of Desert geological phenomena; a range of rocky hills or mountains has a parallel range of sand hills, and the intermediate s.p.a.ce is a broad valley or vast plain. In traversing this valley-plain, covered now with coa.r.s.e herbage, now sand, now mounds of earth, now pebbles, now quite bare, our progress was precisely like that of a ship sailing near the sh.o.r.e, with bluff rocks and headlands jutting and stretching into the sea. So were we on our Desert ships (the camels) coasting slowly but surely along; whilst the mountains and their varied magic shapes continually mocked our weary efforts, and our strained vision; now appearing near, then distant, again near, again distant, and ever changing their wild, fantastic forms. I thought we pa.s.sed the tree under which I made my grave-bed of the past night, but here were many mounds and many dark lethel-trees crowning the many mounds. The detached rocks I did see, and recognized fully my error, but which I had conjectured, in wandering so far northwards. Our people observed justly, "Yakob, we all went to find you, for we wished all equally to bear the responsibility. If you had been lost, who knows but what we should have been all blamed for having put you away, or left you behind?" This is, perhaps, but too true a conjecture. These poor people would have, perhaps, not only been blamed for my death, but accused of it. I was glad for their sakes, as well as my own, that I escaped from a Desert death.

The story of the visiting the Palace of Demons would have been told, of course, variously by so many different people. How could they tell the story in the same way! These varieties of evidence would have been considered unsatisfactory, if not conclusive against them, whilst some people, suspicious of the Moors, would have believed the whole was a "cunningly-devised" trumped-up invention. The deaths of Park and Laing may have been unjustly charged upon the Africans in this way. How, and for what they died, is now altogether beyond our investigation. Even the more recent death or a.s.sa.s.sination of Davidson is a mystery of The Desert. We encamped close by a little stunted herbage, on which the camels scantily fed. Weary with the previous night's adventure, immediately on being lifted off the camel, I fell down fast asleep upon the ground. Our course to-day due north.

_8th._--Did not rise until the sun was wheeling his daily course high up the heavens. Felt better, and walked a little in the morning. No symptoms of fever from the former night's exposure. In general the open Desert is perfectly salubrious. It is in the oases, mostly situated in the valleys, where the fever is generated. The Demon Temple still in view, with all its mysterious hideousness, crowned with its grisly towers. It now stands out in all its defiant isolation; the sand hills which broke upon its view, running north and south, are now seen far beyond. It is its detached condition from the neighbouring chain of Wareerat, with which its geological structure is indissolubly connected, that has given this huge pile its supernatural reputation. The Demons' Rock is apparently a huge square, having four faces, and requiring a day to make the tour of its rugged and jutting bas.e.m.e.nts. Its highest turret-peaks may be some six or seven hundred feet. The wady now has disappeared,--all is an immeasurable expanse of plain, and bare as barrenness and barren wastes can be. I observed a peculiar mirage to-day--lakes of still black shining water.

A part of our caravan, and not the least interesting, are six Soudan sheep, which belong to Haj Ibrahim. Their species is well known, but I must mention what an agile and strong animal is the Aheer and Housa sheep, being brought from both countries. This Soudan sheep is the best walker in the whole caravan, and the last which feels fatigue or drops from exhaustion. He browses herbage as the camel on the way, nibbling all the choicest herbs, and sometimes strays at a great distance from the caravan. He has had forty days' training from Aheer, and, as a slave said, "He's a better pedestrian than the mahry." He is an attacking animal, not scrupling even to attack the hand which feeds him with a little barley. He is so formidable to the sheep of the Barbary Coast, that I have seen a whole flock scamper away at the simple sight of him.

He is tall, his legs long, and his limbs generally better proportioned than the common sheep. As he requires no wool to shelter him from cold in the sultry regions of Central Africa, Providence has only given him a coat of hair; and his tail is like that of the common dog. The head offers nothing remarkable, but his look is bold, and his heart courageous. He b.u.t.ts fiercely at all strangers, and he is the only lord of freedom whilst marching over The Desert. In the companionship of these sheep over The Desert, they acquire a strong affection for one another, and I saw at Ghat two separated from a flock with great difficulty, the whole flock pursuing savagely the man who had taken away from them two of their _compagnons de voyage_. In going over Desert they require little attention, and will go without water for half a dozen days together.

When, however, we come to a well, they are the first that will be served, neither sticks nor blows will keep them off. We have also, as travelling companions, ten or twelve parrots of the common blue-grey Soudan breed.

This parrot has a white broad rim round the eye; its body is a light greyish-blue, legs, beak, and claws black, under-tail feathers white and upper scarlet. Each two or three of the parrots have a little round house to themselves, about eight inches in diameter, made of skins, and pierced with holes to let in the air and light, besides a door. Their quarrels are frequent, for quarrelling seems an essential part of the nature of all animals, the rational and irrational, and they often fight desperately, and are obliged to be separated. They are carried on the heads of the slaves, being, as these poor people, the purchased luxuries of the rich. The parrots are allowed to have an airing and a walk morning and evening. They all talk in good grammatical Negro language, and can occasionally aid our researches in Nigritian tongues. Parrots are brought from as far as Noufee.