Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 Part 7

Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 Part 7

Besides, they can't stomach seeing Infidels eat, whilst they the Faithful fast.

Supped with the Rais. His fowl flew away, and left him without meat for supper. "_Maktoub_," he said, laughing. The Mussulmans are extravagantly fond of rice, but they never prepare it in that nice delicious way in which we do, with milk, or in rice pudding. It is always covered with fat, and soon surfeits one. His Excellency and his servants played practical jokes on the black dervish. First, they bastinadoed the dervish, and then he bastinadoed the Rais's servants. But the dervish did it in reality, and so effectually, that after two or three strokes, they jumped up, for he laid it on under all the force of his witless revenge.

When in a pa.s.sion, or excited, he speaks his native lingo of Soudan, but when cool he speaks Arabic and Ghadamsee. He became mad, _en route_, by grief in being ravished from his country. These practical jokes were played off under the sanction of his Excellency, before all the people in the streets.

The prevalent diseases at this season, are diarrha and ophthalmia, with occasional cases of fever. The diarrha arises from the people's eating unripe or bad fruit, particularly melons, the ophthalmia from frequent exposure to the sun during the past hot months. The camel-drivers also bring it into the city, and it is so propagated by infection. One of my patients is dead, a little boy, afflicted with diarrha for three months.

His father, in relating his death to me, spoke with a resignation which might be imitated, but could not be surpa.s.sed by a Christian. It is amazing how the thought of all-powerful and resistless destiny calms the mind, and tones it down to a speechless patience! My stock of drugs is fast going. It consisted originally of worm-powders, emetics (of which the Arabs and Moors are very fond), fever powders, purgative pills, Epsom salts, compound opium pills, Goulard powders, eye powders, sulphate of quinine pills, and solution of nitrate of silver. They were made up by Dr. d.i.c.kson, of Tripoli. I was surprised to find nothing for pectoral complaints. Many persons here are troubled with chronic diseases of this sort. Although administering medicines these eight days to some fifty persons or more, not one of them has offered me anything in turn. There are no guinea or five-guinea fees here. On the contrary, some have asked me for sugar and money before they could be persuaded to take the medicine. Such is the consolation of doing good. Verily the philosopher had it when he said, "Virtue must be loved for its own sake." Here I may mention that the Commandant Omer of our caravan got into a great pa.s.sion because I would not buy him a pair of shoes, and left for The Mountains, without coming to bid me good bye. He had had coffee and tea, and provisions always with me, _en route_, and I thought this enough. Unless the last favour or request is granted, all former favours are counted nothing.

_3rd._--The morning opens cool and pleasant, and the heat begins gradually to leave us. People expect rain in ten days.

Another Touarick has come forward to offer to conduct me to Timbuctoo. He says now is the time to go, when it is hot the banditti do not infest the routes, for they find no water to drink. He offers to take me for five hundred dollars, which is to be deposited in the hands of the Sheikh Makouran, and is not to be paid until our safe return. He will allow me to stop a month or six weeks in the city of Timbuctoo. The distances of routes which he gives me, are the same as those on M. Carette's map, attached to his brochure on the commerce of The Desert. Of all the French writers who have recently written on Africa, M. Carette is most correct.

Wrote down a vocabulary of Ghadamsee words from my turjeman's dictation.

Whilst I was lamenting the little grat.i.tude, or rather none, which the people showed for my medicines, an old man, to whose mother-in-law (he having married a woman forty years younger than himself, frequently the case here,) I gave some pills, brought me a melon, and said he should bring also some dates. I was conversing with a group at the time, and I took the opportunity of observing that doctors were paid amongst us. An upstart man angrily replied:--"Yes, but we are the chosen people of G.o.d!

you Infidels are bound to serve us in every way, and ought to be thankful that you are so honoured as to be the servants and slaves of The Moumeneen. You think you are clever, but your talents are not your own; your knowledge comes from G.o.d." These affronting words contain a common fanatic sentiment of Barbary. I made no reply.

Went at noon to visit the Arab suburb, and was a great curiosity amongst the women and children. Some of the little girls were frightened out of their wits, but the boys took up stones to pelt me. The suburb contains about five hundred souls; the houses are all miserable, and the people poor. A genuine Ghadamsee would not live here without being degraded: it is the St. Giles of the city. Went into a house, the walls of which were completely concealed beneath the covers for dishes and meats, bowls and calabashes, the greater part brought from Soudan. The people were dealers in them. Talking with the Rais about Soudan, he displayed the usual ignorance of Mussulmans, even in The Desert, of this country. It would take a person five years to travel through that vast country, many parts of which were populated by cannibals. We read of the Lemlems, Lamlams, and the Yemyems, as cannibals, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Zegzeg and Yakobah; but after conversing with several of the merchants who have scoured Soudan and Bornou, I have not found one who has seen these terrible cannibals. They have all _heard_ of them. It appears to me to be an ancient tale of wonder to adorn the narratives of travellers.

This evening being that previous to the Ramadan, a great outcry was made to see the moon. According to my Italian almanack it should be three days' old, the geographical position of the two countries may make a difference as to a sight of it. There is a little display of firing off pistols, chiefly by boys. A vast number of persons question me, as to whether I shall fast (_soum_) to-morrow; and a Touarick goes bolt up to the Governor, and says, to his Excellency, pointing to where I am sitting,--"Does this (man) fast?" His Excellency shakes his head and laughs gravely. To questions put direct to me, I answer, "a little." A boy says to me, "Why, how now, every body fasts, and you don't fast!" It is, however, prudent to avoid all these questions. I told some more liberal:--"The English eat and drink at all seasons that which is good; but some Christian nations occasionally fast." According to the Moslemite rite here observed, all under _thirteen_ may eat during the Ramadan; but, other authorities tell me, all under _eight_. Those who travel are excused for the time being. The fast endures thirty days. Another patient brought me a few dates. In time I may alter my opinion of Ghadamsee grat.i.tude. Some new patients, nearly all ophthalmia and diarrha.

Visited to-day the two wells, which serve a portion of the population, in addition to the great spring. It is surprising what an interest I take in water. It is to me like precious gold, and the most fine gold. One of these wells has better water than the central running spring. They are large wells, but do not run like the great spring: they are also only a little warm. In the winter they rise higher, showing some connexion with the rainy season in the _rainy_ region. Two men were employed in drawing water in a curious manner. The other buckets were not being worked. One end of the shaft is made very heavy, so as to a.s.sist in bringing up the water by over-balancing on a swivel; the other end, to which the cord and bucket is attached, is correspondingly light.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The houses of Ghadamsee are one, two, three, four, and even five stories high; the greater part three or four stories. The architecture is ordinarily Moorish, with some Saharan fantastic peculiarities. The public buildings offer nothing remarkable; even the mosques, in a place so devoted to religion, have no pretty minarets. There are four large mosques, viz.: Jema Kebir,--Tinghaseen,--Yerasen,--Eloweenah; and many smaller mosques and sanctuaries. The streets are all covered in and dark, (a peculiarity prevailing in many Saharan cities,) with here and there open s.p.a.ces or little squares, of which there are several to let in the light of heaven. They are small and narrow, and winding, not more than a couple of camels can pa.s.s abreast, the ceiling however being high enough to admit the entrance of the tall Maharee camel. A camel of this species entered to-day: it amazed me by its stupendous height; a person of average size might have walked under its belly. The princ.i.p.al streets and squares are lined with stone-benches, on which the people loungingly recline or stretch themselves. Both houses and streets are admirably adapted for the climate, protecting the inhabitants alike from the fiery glare of the summer's sun, and the keen blasts of the winter's cold.

Before the Rais Mustapha's appointment, the city had, besides smaller and inner gates, four princ.i.p.al ones, viz., Bab-el-Manderah, Bab-esh-Shydah, Bab-el-Mishrah, and Bab-el-Bur ("gate of the country"), all of which, except the last on the south-west, are now closed, with respect to the entrance of goods and camels. The city is situate on the south-east side of the plantations of palms and gardens, not in the central part of the oasis. I asked the talebs the meaning of some of the names of the gates, but they could not tell. Many proper names of places and persons, amongst them as with us, have now no a.s.signable meaning or derivation.

FOOTNOTES:

[20] Here we find The Sahara called _fertile_ land; and, in fact, many parts of The Desert could be cultivated.

[21] See Surat Liii., ent.i.tled "The Star."

[22] This complaint is not well founded, for afterwards I saw the Rais often receive presents of fruit, tobacco, sugar, and even wearing apparel.

CHAPTER V.

THE FAST OF THE RAMADAN.

Deathly stillness of the City on first morning of the Ramadan.--Rais weighing Gold.--The Gold Country.--Use of different Arabic terms in different Countries.--Insecurity of Merchants in The Desert.--Jews on the borders of The Sahara.--Sin not to Marry.--Wood in The Sahara.--Rais, a Marabout.--Sheikh of Slaves.--Complaints of the People to me.--Mr. Frederick Warrington.--M. Carette's _brochure_ on Saharan Commerce.--Trait of Tolerance.--Growing reputation of Said.--Preach anti-Slavery Doctrines in the Street of Slaves.--Ignorance of the People on Geography.--Talismans in Africa.--The Queen of England's Physic.--Rais's Desert Politics.--Increase of Patients.--Gradual method of obtaining Information.--Visit from a Touarick.--Tripoline Merchants have the Money of those in Ghadames.--Indifference of Mussulmans in reading The Bible.

_4th._--WALKED out this morning and found no one in the streets; every body was still in bed, or shut up in their houses, being the first day of the Ramadan. A paralysis of death seemed to have stricken the city. Had no morning patients for the same reason. Afterwards, the servants of the Rais came to visit me and found me taking coffee; they gaped with full (empty?) open mouths, as if wondering I was not choked. I asked them if the Rais would take his tea. "It's unlawful," they screamed, and ran away as if Old Nick were after them. Usually make tea for the Governor every morning, which I send him in a gla.s.s, and sometimes also for the Sheikh Makouran. I could not help thanking G.o.d that I was born a Protestant, and professed a religion not in violence to the physical requirements of human nature, nor in contradiction to the plain sense of mankind. Man has evils enough to contend with, and to war against, without inflicting new and additional evils upon himself, like this most health-trying and health-destroying Ramadan. My turjeman confessed every body was mad in Ramadan. Whatever becomes of me in the deserts of Africa, I hope I shall have force of mind enough to maintain my religion intact.

I amused myself with thinking how the Desert-travelling might be considerably shortened. This could be effected by joining camels with horses through the routes. Horses could come easily from Tripoli to The Mountains in two days. The camels could undertake the journey from The Mountains to Seenawan in three or four days. Horses then could again accomplish the rest in two days. In all, _seven_ days. Were Europeans in possession of this country, horses and mules would soon take the place of camels, for all quick travelling. Putting aside horses, by the use of the _maharee_, or fleet-camel, the journey for post could be reduced nearly half. All the Moors and Arabs dissuade me against going to Timbuctoo, a.s.suring me that the Touaricks will cut my throat; but I begin to feel my opinion changing as to the Touaricks. I am sure, if a friend can be made of a brave man of this nation, there is no danger. Am glad, however, people manifest some sympathy with my travelling projects; what I want to do is, to effect some real discovery, or do something great in Africa.

Ghadames is not enough, nor even Bornou; it is, must be, Timbuctoo. Yet a man must not put his head into the fire and then call upon G.o.d to quench the flames. Met Sheikh Makouran in the street, and brought him home to my house in order that he might give me a more detailed account of the finances of Ghadames. Notwithstanding that the Turks overturn and ruin commerce by restrictions, they poorly protect the merchants. The Sheikh complained to me of several losses. During the last two years four ghafalahs had been plundered on different routes, by which he lost considerable sums. Other merchants lost property in proportion. He considered Ghadames, from various causes, fast approaching its ruin. Our conversation then turned to the New World, America. He was quite astonished at my description of it, and asked if any Mohammedans were there. We then came to the traffic in slaves. He did not see why men should not be sold like camels and a.s.ses, if such was the law of G.o.d.

"All," he observed, "depended upon the will of the Creator of all beings."

The Rais is a very religious man, and I'm cautious what I say. At noon, paid him a visit, and said, "Why, all the people are dead to day." He replied, "It's only for one day." I never saw a poor devil look so comfortless. He is an inveterate, eternal smoker, like all who boast to be of the same nation as the Imperial Osmanlis, the pipe is never out of his mouth; he therefore suffers more than any person in Ghadames. He was still busy, or affected to be, to kill time, weighing gold with his servants. I said, "Is there much gold in the country?" "Less and less every year," was the reply. Many caravans go by way of Mourzuk, not coming this way. The servant held up the little bags, showing that the gold, not more than two or three ounces, belonged to _four_ persons. When gold is brought over The Desert, it is tied up in little dirty filthy bits of rags, first twisted round where it opens, and then tied. These are carried on the person, in the bosom or the turban.


When a caravan is attacked and the people rifled, all these little bags of rags, whether containing gold, or salt, pepper, essences, or what not, are scrupulously cut open by the brigands. The gold brought to Ghadames consists chiefly of women's ear-rings, hoop and drop ear-rings. Some of the drops are hollow and contain little matters which rattle, and perfumed with small quant.i.ties of atar, or of zebed, (civet). The workmanship is rude and clumsy, but the gold is of the finest quality, though small and unpolished, something as the Malta gold is worked. The Rais collects the gold from those who cannot pay in the current coin. The gold country of the merchants is not very distinctly understood by them.

Some say it is _fouk_, "above," Timbuctoo, others beyond Jinnee and Bambara, about three months from Timbuctoo, in a south-west direction.

The country is called Mellee, which includes many large districts and provinces, but the particular district is _Furra_. This is a flat and sandy place, "not a stone," say the merchants, "is to be seen." The mines of Furra, if such they may be called, are sold by auction, and the lot of land is a lot of fortune, some plots producing nothing, others gold in abundance. When the gold arrives at Timbuctoo, it is converted into women's ornaments, mostly ear-rings. I have seen very few bags of gold-dust or bars. There are no camel-caravans from Timbuctoo to Mellee and Furra; people go in small parties on horses and a.s.ses; some go alone on foot. Foot-travelling is very common in Central Africa; and these pedestrian merchants or pedlars will make journeys of three and four months. A merchant is obliged to remain some time before he can buy up any quant.i.ty of gold; it is brought in such small quant.i.ties, and the trade in gold is declining, and has been so for twenty years past. It is probable the merchants take more of it now to the western coast and its European factories. Certainly that route is safer than bringing it north, over several months' journey of Desert.

The Rais is a most diligent servant of Government. One cannot help observing, however, that the whole scope and end of governing with the Osmanlis is--_money_. Of the people, their protection and improvement, they rarely ever think. As the Rais is now busy in making every body book up, some people asked me if there was much money in Tripoli? I told them I did not think there was any money left. "The Pasha has plenty," cried one. I took the trouble of explaining the new system, that each functionary had a salary, granted by the Sultan, from the highest to the lowest, and the Deftadar, after paying each his salary, sent the rest of the money to Constantinople, where (as the Rais himself said) it was "poured away as water." Perhaps this was speaking too freely, but the Moslemites at times speak uncommonly free and bold for despotic governments. The Bey of Tunis has often been menaced with h.e.l.l-fire by the Arabs, when they pleaded before him in the hall of judgment, swearing, that if he did not deal to them justice, G.o.d would deal to him vengeance.

The use of different terms is very curious in travelling through North Africa, and each country has its peculiar Arabic word, the words being all more or less cla.s.sical. Perhaps no word is so much used in Ghadames and The Mountains as the epithet _batel_--??????--"vain, useless," &c., and really answers in its use to something like our tremendous "Humbug." It especially denotes everything bad, false, and wrong, in any matter and in any body. On the contrary, for the opposite epithet, various terms are used, "_maleah_," "tayeb," and "_zain_," which latter term always means pretty, as well as good. The polite Ghadamseeah are very fond of _zain_; but it should properly apply to pretty women. The people use the term ????? "month," for moon, instead of ?????. The ??? is not distinguished in p.r.o.nunciation from ???, and I have not attempted it in writing. Indeed, I shall avoid as much as possible distinctions which the generality of readers cannot understand.

Only one of my patients came to-day, the little blind boy. The Rais sent me in the evening a fine dish and soup, on occasion of the night of the first day's fasting. The people kept to-night as an _ayed_ or feast. A Touarick took Said, my servant, aside, and whispered mysteriously in his ear,--"Has the Christian fasted to-day?" Speaking to a liberal Moor, I told him the fast was _batal_, inasmuch as the Mussulmans ate all night and slept the greater portion of the day, making things equal; that to fast really, as some Christians did, was to eat nothing, night or day. At the time I added, "I am not such a fool as to increase the miseries of this life by fasting when I can get anything to eat." The fellow, laughing, observed, "You English are right." I see the fast is nearly universal, old and young, rich and poor, high and low, all fast. They mix with it strong religious feelings, and I dare say fanaticism, a quality rarely apart from the purest religious sentiment. Still continue our conversations on Timbuctoo. Most of the old respectable merchants have been to Timbuctoo. One of them, Haj Mansour, resided there fourteen years, carrying on a prosperous trade. But so perverse and unstable are human affairs, that, on returning home after so long an exile, with thirty camels laden with the riches of the interior, and with much fine gold, and whilst within a few days of Touat, the banditti of The Desert fell upon him and carried off everything, not leaving a water-skin to quench his thirst! Had he not been near Touat, he would have perished in The Desert. The Haj is quite black, though his features are not Negro. He is now an old gentleman of upwards of seventy, and yet very active. His family is immense; what with women, and girls, and sons, and grandsons, it musters some thirty souls. He told me with bitterness, as if it had been the case with himself, the merchants were often their own enemies, they were so parsimonious that they would not hire a sufficient escort of Touaricks, and so left defenceless in The Desert many were plundered and ruined irretrievably. The greatest misfortune in travelling through the country of the Touaricks is, their chiefs have not sufficient power to control the people, and for whose actions they will not always be responsible. One day you may meet with the best of men amongst the Touaricks, the next day with a band of robbers; such is the uncertainty and insecurity of The Desert.

_5th._--It would be a good project at least, and might be attended with incalculable benefit, in promoting Christianity and civilization in Africa, were portions of The Scriptures translated into Touarick, with the native Touarick characters. Their vanity would be so exceedingly excited that it would be almost impossible for them to refuse reading a book written in their own dear characters. All can read their own characters, but very few the Arabic. It is not a little surprising, if I am to believe what I hear, that the Touaricks, with all their savage boldness--whose home is The Desert--will not venture on a journey to Tripoli. Many, many times have they been persuaded and pressed by the coast merchants, but they have always set their faces against the journey. Perhaps they think (as some, indeed, hinted to me) the Pasha would keep them prisoners, and not let them return until they had delivered up some of their districts to his authority. Whatever the motive, it is strange that men, who wander through all parts of Central Africa, cannot be prevailed upon to visit Tripoli. I have heard but of one exception.

It is pleasant to witness the least sign of improvement in a people who are commonly condemned by their own habits, their religion, and the opinions of Europeans, to a retrograde or eternally stationary existence.

I was much pleased to observe in one of the small squares of the city a tree recently planted, (the _tout_[23], a species of small white mulberry,) which promises to afford not only a grateful shade to repose under in summer's burning heat, but is in itself a pretty ornament. The great fault of the Africans is want of forethought, or impatience of the future. Their maxim is, to enjoy the present, to take no thought for the morrow, but let the morrow provide for itself. Like all rude and unlettered people, the precepts of religion are interpreted in their strictest literality. To-day, I find more people in the streets, and the Ramadan is not so visible in their faces as I expected it would be. The fact is, the generality of the Saharan inhabitants, and especially the poor Arabs eat but once, or make but one meal a day, and this in the evening; so, in reality, as far as eating is concerned, the Ramadan is no Ramadan with them. Saw the Rais, he is better than yesterday. His Excellency called me a simpleton for talking with the Touaricks about going to Timbuctoo; nevertheless, I feel as if I should like to go the whole-hog--Timbuctoo, or nothing. The future will tell! His Excellency, however, observed, that the Touaricks of Touat had nearly destroyed all the banditti on the route of Timbuctoo. It is the interest of the Touaricks to keep the routes free that they may have the advantage of the visits and escorting of caravans.

One of the peculiarities of Ghadames is that there is no Jew resident in the city. It is strange that a people of such a commercial genius as the Israelites should never have had courage to undertake an enterprize over The Great Desert, whilst they have crept all around it. In Tunis they are scattered throughout the Jereed; in Algeria they are established at the oases of Souf and Mezab; in Morocco we find them at Sous and Wadnoun; and in Tripoli they are located in nearly every town of the coast, whilst a few visit The Mountains. But, to the credit of the Jews and their mercantile genius, it is not their fault. The fanaticism of the Ghadamsee people would be strongly opposed to their residence here, more so than against Christians; it is enough to support the overbearing Christian _kafer_, without the pollution of the weak miserable Jew in their holy city, for the _force_ principle makes the Mohammedans respect the Christians. The weak are despised, the strong respected. I might, however, have made the experiment of bringing a Jewish servant here: one sadly wanted to come with me. Still a traveller should not unnecessarily increase his difficulties, and excite the prejudices of the people amongst whom he resides, mostly by sufferance. It is probable also the mercantile jealousy of the people would be excited against the Jews.

Afterwards I learnt that two _Barbary_ Jews went either to Bornou or Soudan, in the year 1844, and returned safe. Unfortunately this species of Jew can add nothing to our stock of geographical knowledge beyond what we may get from the Arabs and Moors themselves; his ideas of nature and science are all the same, with the exception of a few religious dogmas, and a strong national bias. The visit of these two Jews to Bornou excited no attention in Tripoli. Along the line of The Desert the Jews help commerce. They are great ostrich-feather merchants in Southern Morocco.

Some have said they go to Timbuctoo, but this report is not authenticated. In Souf they greatly a.s.sist the Arabs in the exchange of their products. About twenty families are established amongst the Souafah, in the greatest security of life and property. The Jews here dress like the Arabs, and are not easily distinguishable from them. In most of the interior districts they have the privilege of dressing like the rest of the people.

The Rais is an old bachelor, like myself. He seems to live very wretchedly without a wife. The good Mussulmans, who think it a sin to live unmarried, excuse him because his residence in different parts of the regency is uncertain, and he tells them he cannot lead about a wife.

The only object of affection of this bachelor is a parrot, which speaks pure Housa lingo, and is very angry at the gruff tones of the Touraghee language, always scolding the Touaricks when they speak.

My Marabout camel-driver once had an interesting conversation with me about a plurality of wives:--

"It is not right to have more wives than one, because men and women are nearly equally in numbers, and if one man has two wives another man must go without even one."

_The Marabout._--"Oh, if a man has money, he may have two, or three, or four?"

"That is not a good religion which gives four wives to one man because he has money, and leaves another man without any because he has no money, or not so much money as his neighbour."

_The Marabout._--"So it is," (as if convinced of the reasonableness of the thing).

"Why has such an old man as Sheikh Makouran two young wives? This is against nature."

_The Marabout._--"He plays; his time of work is past."

I believe this unequal distribution of the women is a great check on population. It prevails to a greater extent amongst the Negro tribes. I am not of opinion that Central Africa is populous. I saw nowhere any populous districts myself.

The wood used in the construction of buildings is that of the date-tree, which, apparently, grows stronger and tougher with age. Of this all the doors of the houses and the lighter works are made. Wood for fireing is brought in from The Sahara, but from a great distance. It is sold for three Tunisian piastres the camel-load. It is the common brush-wood, underwood, or scrub of The Desert, and is excessively dry, for withered and dead trees or shrubs are gathered. In seasons of rain The Sahara creates this wood quickly, it then perishes for want of rain. Sometimes wood for building is brought from Tripoli, _i. e._, deal-boards. Our caravan brought some doors for a mosque, made of deal.

This evening was a grand celebration of divine worship in the house of the Rais, and a Marabout chanted verses from the Koran. His Excellency certainly gains the respect, if not the affections, of the pious. He is often said by the people to be a man who "fears G.o.d." I sat near the door listening. A fellow said to me, "You must sit farther off whilst the people are praying, it is unlawful to sit where you are." I took no notice of his impertinence. The Rais sent me yesterday, as the evening before, a very good supper. Being Ramadan, I stopped up till midnight talking politics with him. He is a native of a province, near Circa.s.sia, fallen under the iron rule of Muskou (the Russians). Having been in the Syrian campaign he was enabled to see the _feeding_ of the English soldiers and sailors, which quite astonished him. He observed, "The Emperor of Russia will never have good troops, he scarcely gives them anything to eat. It is not surprising they desert to the Circa.s.sians."

The Rais has a great dread of the Russians absorbing the Ottoman empire: it is not an unreasonable dread.

_6th._--My turjeman complains that neither he nor the people can pay their excessive taxes; they must all be soon ruined. Yet a couple of thousand pounds per annum is nothing for a commercial city like this. He says, "If we were to cultivate our gardens, we should have more; but then the Turks would demand more, so our spirits are broken, and we are eaten up. We have no heart to work for our oppressors." Continue to read the Arabic New Testament, which aids me in colloquial disquisitions with the people. The Ghadamsee people persist in not taking medicines during the fast. One told me, "Even if a man dies, and medicine could save him, he must not take it." I have therefore fewer patients during the inexorable Ramadan. But I _save_ my tea and coffee--"An ill wind blows, &c." The Rais, however, gets his tea in the evening. It is remarkable with what willingness, and without any sort of prejudice, several of the people offer me information. Even when refused, I always find it arises from indolence to narrate it. They are not afraid that I am collecting information to supply the English Government with the means of invading their country, like some Moors in Barbary. They look upon the thing just as it is,--that I am writing a book about their country to amuse Christians.

The Sheikh of the slaves came in, with several Ghadamsee youths:--

"The Governor says, you are not the Sheikh; _he_ is the Sheikh."