Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 Part 9

Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 Part 9

"No; they are farther from us than Rome itself."

_They._--"Do the English fast?"

"Sometimes; but when they fast they don't eat in the night time, like you; they fast day and night."

_They._--"That's not good; that's not right. Do you fast?"

"Never, thank G.o.d."

The people bother my life out about fasting. Two young Touarick women came to me--

"Thou Christian! dost thou fast?" (they having never seen a person before who did not fast).

"No; the Christians don't fast."

_The girls._--"Don't the Christians know G.o.d?"

"Yes, they know G.o.d."

_The girls._--"No, they don't, for they don't say Mahomet is the prophet of G.o.d."

The sum of religion amongst many of the wild tribes, is the formula of Mahomet being the prophet of G.o.d--fasting and circ.u.mcision. Many of the Touaricks, however, will not fast, or fast with difficulty, it involving the cessation of smoking, of which they are pa.s.sionately fond. A Touarick, who was accustomed to visit Mr. Gagliuffi at Mourzuk, ridiculed the Ramadan, and called those who fasted, fools. He would squat down in Mr. Gagliuffi's house, and take out his pipe at midday, and say, "Come, Consul, let's have a _drink_ of the pipe. These people who fast all day are a.s.ses." Other Touaricks, more scrupulous, always set out on a journey during Ramadan, in order to have the relaxation permitted by the law.

The Rais is deeply engaged in petty finance, some quite mites, to make up the accounts for Tripoli. Whilst seated near his Excellency, a big lout of a fellow was brought up, charged with beating a little urchin, who was present to substantiate the charge. The Rais, after gravely hearing the case, had the big clown turned round with his hands tied behind him, and then told the little rogue aggrieved to lay it into him as hard as he could with his fists clenched. The little imp, who looked as wicked as imp could be, instantly gave the broad back of the great fellow half a dozen strokes. Hereupon all the bystanders, and the officers of his Excellency, burst into a fit of tremendous laughter, and the big coward was allowed to escape, sneaking off like a dog with his tail between his legs. The Rais came up to me smiling with great self-complacency, and said--"Well, isn't that the way to administer justice?" I then astonished the hangers-on of his Excellency's Court, by relating to them some account of the expeditions to the North Pole. They asked me whether any Mussulmans were there, and how they could fast when the sun did not set?

Several said I merely invented the account to amuse them. In this case, and also in that of the precepts of the Mosaic Inst.i.tute, we see the inconvenience of making the precepts of religion depend on local and physical circ.u.mstances.

I have seen little urchins in Italy, before the flaming wax-light altars, drink in with their mother's milk the virus of Popery, but I never witnessed a stronger case of infantile prejudice than to-day. A child of less than three years old came running out of a by-street (apparently no person being near it), and called after me, _Kafer, kafer_, "Infidel, infidel"! and spat at me in the bargain like a little toad.

Noon.--I met with a fellow, a sort of swaggering cheap-jack penny-a-liner, who swore that there was no man so learned as himself in all Ghadames, and that he would teach me the history of Ghadames, and all the world, _for money_. He then followed me home, asked me for my journal, and wrote in it five lines of Arabic poetry. Meanwhile I poured him out a cup of tea, putting a large lump of sugar in it. When he had finished his five lines, which he did without being asked, he impudently demanded a dollar for his trouble. I told some Arabs who were present to turn him out of the house. He decamped, but not before giving us his blessing--"The curse of G.o.d be upon you Arab dogs, and the Christian dog."

Awfully hot to-day. The hottest day since my residence in Ghadames. Yet, strange to say, when shut up in my room, I feel very little of it. My house is only one story high; there is only a single roof between me and this sun of fire--a strong proof of how little is necessary to protect you from the heats of The Sahara. Late at night, when sitting with the Rais, he amused me with pulling off his greegrees or talismans. As he pulled off each he kissed it devoutly, and laid it by gently on his papers. He wears one round his arm in the shape of an armlet, and three round his neck, two suspended with separate ribbons, and one with a silver chain. As he kissed each, he put it to his eyes, rubbing it over the eyelid. I am sadly afraid his charms obtain all the credit of my solution of nitrate of silver. Be it so; it is hard to cure men of this sort of folly, at best a most unwished, unrequited labour[24]. I always tell the Ghadamsee people the medicine I distribute neither belongs to me, nor to the English Consul at Tripoli, but to the Queen of England, and which, I have observed, heightens its value in their eyes. _Douwa min, and Sultana Ingleeza_, ("physic from the English Sultana",) is a sort of royal talisman which helps the medicine down as a bit of sugar taken with a child's draught.

_10th._--The women brought several little children, all ailing, but could do very little for them. Occupied writing most of the day. Spent the evening with the Rais. His Excellency is very fond of politics: "The Touaricks number more than two hundred thousand souls. They are dispersed over all The Desert. The Sahara is not so difficult to occupy as some think; it can be more easily conquered than the mountainous districts.

The country is more open. The only difficulty is the wells. But in winter, the time when military expeditions are undertaken, there is water on the line of most of the grand routes, and camels can supply a large body of compact troops, where there are no wells. At the different wells small forts could be built, like that I am building at _Emjezzem_, which forts the Touaricks would never dare approach. The wells once in possession of the invading force, it would be impossible for any considerable body of Arabs or Touaricks to follow up or after their steps. Twenty thousand men could occupy, in detachments, the greater part of The Sahara. The French will go to Touat one day, not yet!" But the Rais never spoke much against the French. He often said, "I wish the French would exterminate the _Shanbah_ banditti, the Sultan would applaud them for it. I pray G.o.d the French will destroy these robbers."

Continue to agitate the question of a tour farther into the interior.

Have almost determined to pursue the route of Ghat, and accompany the ghafalah of the Ghadamsee merchants. This route has two advantages for me--I shall be safe with my old friends the merchants, and the route has never before been trodden by an European traveller. The routes of Bornou and Timbuctoo have been travelled by Europeans, though some of the parties have never returned. One thing is certain--unless I go to the first-hand traffickers in human flesh--to the heart of Africa itself, I can never get the information which I require. Am told I can defray the expense of the whole journey from here to Kanou and back, (exclusive of presents), for about fifty pounds sterling, but it must be with economy.

Afterwards saw several merchants again on the question, felt discouraged, and my faith shook in the Ghat route. They think the best route for me Bornou, thence I may proceed to Kanou, and perhaps even to Timbuctoo. It is astonishing how everybody's opinion varies; the majority, nevertheless, are in favour of the Bornou route for me. Probably they are afraid of the responsibility of escorting me through the Touarick districts. Determined a day or two after to go to Kanou _via_ Ghat and Aheer. Cannot see any danger if I stick close to the Ghadamsee merchants.

A young merchant said to me, "Yacob, we are not jealous of you, for you are not a merchant. You can draw your money, and get it ready. The ghafalah will be cheap for you, for no escort will be required. You can go without your Consul, or the Pasha, or the Rais."

The wind continues hot to-day; the _ghiblee_ is getting more suffocating and intense. Everything is drooping and the poor emaciated fasters are dying with thirst. The air is as the small still breath of the furnace when its heat is at the greatest intensity, without flame or smoke.

_11th._--Every day, in spite of the Ramadan, brings an increase of patients. In time there will not be a single inhabitant of Ghadames who has not been physicked by my quackery. I notice my negro servant Said is gradually expanding into a full-blown reputation, of which he is very proud. The Mussulmans pay him almost more deference than myself, and I ought to be jealous. It is the plan in these countries to influence the masters through the servants; so whenever anything is to be obtained, the masters are not spoken to, but the servants, which latter are feed and bribed until the object is obtained. Preached anti-slavery and anti-Ramadan doctrines to Berka, the liberated slave of Sheikh Makouran.

The poor fellow confessed it was better to eat and drink in the Ramadan, and not steal men and sell them as slaves, than to fast in the Ramadan, and steal men and sell them. The old lad has great influence amongst the slaves of Ghadames, being their senior, and the liberated slave of one of the most respectable men of the country. He went and preached in turn to the slaves my anti-slavery and anti-fast principles.

It may be observed here, that information can only be obtained bit by bit, here a little and there a little; and it is absolutely necessary to note everything down immediately if you would not forget it, at least if you would be correct. The Moors and Arabs have no patience, beyond a few minutes, in giving information, unless it be something where their own interests are deeply concerned. My scattered notes must then be compared one with another to arrive at a proper idea of the objects respecting which they treat. Some notes will necessarily correct others.

A Touarick came in whilst I was eating my dinner this evening, about half an hour before sun-set. I was sitting in the patio, or open court of my house. The Touarick, standing erect before me, with a long spear in his right hand, and extending his left towards the sky, looked up, and then, with an air of imposing solemnity, uttered these words in a measured, solemn tone: "And--thou--Christian--thou fastest--thus! Thy father--knoweth--not--G.o.d! Thou art a _Kafer_--he is a Kafer--and the fire[25] at last will eat you both up!" Turning round, and looking up to this prophet-like denunciator, I said, smiling: "Why, how now? you Mussulmans fast, and think you are righteous; but whether is it better to eat and drink on the Ramadan, for which G.o.d cares nothing, or fast in the Ramadan, and go afterwards and steal or buy men and women and little children, like your little son there, and take them to Tripoli, and sell them like donkeys and camels? This is forbidden to us English--this is our religion, not to steal and sell men, but to eat and drink in the Ramadan is not forbidden to us." After this answer, which I had some difficulty in making him comprehend, the fellow stood speechless, completely staggered. I continued to eat my dinner with a good appet.i.te, notwithstanding his threatening position and silence. G.o.d knows what was pa.s.sing through his mind. After a long pause he receded back a few steps, and then quietly squatted down. He then got up again, and said, "Have you any medicines for my mother in Ghat?" I told him to come to-morrow, and I would give him some.


Rais occupied as usual this morning with collecting money. He avows with exasperation that the people have deposited all their money in the hands of a few merchants of Tripoli, who are under the protection of the Consuls. He was writing teskeras to obtain money from those Tripoli merchants. "The Pasha," he added, "gets no benefit from these deposits, nor the people. The Tripoli merchants are lying, bloodsucking Jews." Did not go out again till the evening; occupied in copying a long letter for _The Times_. My sugar and tea go very fast. Do not know what I should have done unless the Ramadan had interposed to save these luxuries of The Desert. It is surprising how rigid the fast is kept. Not a soul in the city of the proper age who does not fast.

_12th._--Weather continues very sultry. The wind has scarcely changed for a month, always south. To-day I ate camel's flesh for the first time, but did not like it much; it depends, however, upon the part you eat, as also upon the camel itself, whether young or old, or in a good condition. The camel is usually killed when past work, and very lean and poor. The people call camels' flesh their beef; it does serve as a subst.i.tute for bullocks' flesh, no bullocks being killed here. The whole carcase was immediately sold as soon as exposed in the Souk.

_13th._--Wrote this evening to the Governor of Ghat, to tell him I wished to come to Ghat, and begged for his protection; and that I should be obliged if he could send some trusty person to fetch me, whose expenses I would pay. Wrote also letters to go by courier to Tripoli.

_14th._--Weather continues hot. My taleb calls the season _khareef_, "autumn;" and says the fruits of heaven which are always ripe have nevertheless a peculiar ripeness at this period. Staring at him, he continued, "Yes, there is a greater correspondence between earth and heaven than people think." I was recommended this taleb by the Rais. He writes my Arabic letters for The Desert; he calls himself Mohammed Ben Mousa Bel Kasem. The reader will hear now a great deal about him, and his learning and character. He takes up my Arabic Bible now and then, and reads a verse or two; but it is astonishing how little effect, even in the way of curiosity, it produces on the mind of these Mussulmans. One would think at least they would like to know something of its contents.

Notwithstanding, The Book, which contains the religion of the civilized world, hardly excites curiosity enough in them to take it up and read a single verse! I have often offered it to them to read, but they have refused to open the book. A great disadvantage is the crabbed, miserable language into which it is translated. After the bold, impudent, and sublime language of the Koran, they cannot relish the tame and stunted language of the Arabic New Testament. As for the simple and grand truths of the New Testament, these they cannot or will not comprehend. Force, or the Sword--as the Might of the Almighty--is the thing alone which strikes the minds of Mussulmans, in spite of all their moral maxims and philosophy. But I must confess I never expected that a religion like that of the Koran, which contains so few fundamental truths, and so few mysteries, would have produced such a race of superst.i.tious pharisees.

To-day a fellow, whose eyes are dreadfully inflamed with ophthalmia, refuses to have them _doctored_, because the solution administered to the eye may enter the stomach, by which he would violate the sanct.i.ty of the Ramadan. I can only beg him to come at night. Another jackanapes, who suffers equally, refuses to have my solution at all applied. He said to me, "I suffer, and I may be blind, but it will be the will of G.o.d." I wonder the whole population is not blind. Another sufferer craved a talisman to drink with water at night[26].

FOOTNOTES:

[23] _Tut_, "Morus alba," L. It is pleasant and sweet, but a little insipid eating.

[24] Whether the Rais brought his superst.i.tious reverence for amulets from Turkey or not I cannot tell, or acquired the notion here. But the superst.i.tion seems merely to have changed place with the Fetisch amongst the Negro Mohammedan converts. Haj Ibrahim, a merchant of Tripoli, was the only Mussulman I found who despised the use of charms. He observed:--"The _grigri_ is only fit for slaves, or ignorant Mussulmans."

[25] h.e.l.l is ordinarily denominated _fire_ by people in The Desert.

[26] Caillie gives an affecting account of this superst.i.tion amongst the Mandingoes:--

"On the 8th, I found myself very ill in consequence of the food, and I had an attack of fever. I took a few doses of sulphate of quinine, which had the effect of abating the fever for a few days.

My host seemed much concerned at my indisposition. He searched through some old books which contained verses of the Koran, and brought me a sc.r.a.p of paper well fumigated on which was written a charm in Arabic characters, a.s.suring me that it was an excellent remedy for the disorder under which I was suffering. He directed me to copy it on a little piece of wood which he brought me; then, to wash off the writing with some water which I was to drink: he observed that this would to a certainty relieve me. To please him I copied the writing as he directed, and when he was gone washed the bit of board; but instead of drinking the water I threw it away, which had quite as good an effect, for next day I found myself tolerably well. My host, of course, attributed my amendment to the efficacy of his remedy."

CHAPTER VI.

THE FAST OF THE RAMADAN.

The Sahara, and derivation of the Name.--Astonishment of the People at the Sovereign of England being a Woman.--Decision of the Kady on a diseased Camel.--The old Mendicant Bandit.--Phrenological examination of the Servants of the Rais.--The Scorpion and the Chamelion.--Starving state of the Arab Troops.--Contradictions in the Moorish Character.--Difficulty of acquiring notions of Quant.i.ties and Distances from the People.--The Princes to whom Presents are made in the Soudan Route.--How Butchers cut up their Meat.--Connexion between North Africa, The Sahara, and the East.--The Prophecy of The Dajal and Gog and Magog.--Origin of the Turks, Touaricks, and Russians.--How the Fast is broken in the Evening.--Phenomenon of Desert Sound.--The Great Spring of Ghadames.--The Malta Times.--The People their own Enslavers.--Quotation from Scripture.

A TALEB tells me that _The Sahara_ is so called from its consisting mostly of rocky stony ground, and its name is a cognate term with _Sakharah_, ??????, _i. e._ "rock." This derivation we can scarcely admit, although as we advance into The Sahara we shall find at least a third of its entire surface to consist of rocks and stones, and mountains. _The Sahara_--????????--being the theatre of my adventures and researches, deserves a little consideration as to the derivation of this appellation, for so vast a proportion of the African Continent. A late French writer, M. Le Lieutenant-Colonel Daumas, defines The Sahara as "une contree plate et tres-vaste, ou il n'y a que peu d'habitants, et dont la plus grande partie est improductive et sablonneuse." This definition presents no proper idea of The Sahara. We have already seen it intersected with long low ridges of mountains, but we shall soon meet with groups of high mountains, as well as find it bristled over and bounded by interminable chains. We shall find also that but a certain portion of its actual ma.s.s consists of sand. Unproductive the greater part undoubtedly is, or rather uncultivated; and its population, compared with its vast sterile surface, is extremely small, perhaps not one inhabitant to many thousand square miles. The Mahometan talebs give the following curious etymology of the term Sahara. "We call _Sehaur_," they say, "that point scarcely distinguishable which precedes the point of day, (_fidger_), and during which, in the time of Ramadan, we can eat, drink, and smoke. The most rigorous abstinence ought to commence from the time of morning, or when we can distinguish a white thread from a black thread. The _Sehaur_ is then a shade between night and the point of day, which is important for us to seize upon and to determine, and which ought to occupy the attention of our Marabouts. One of them, Ben-ej-Jiramy, starting on the principle, that the _Sehaur_ is more easily and sooner distinguished by the inhabitants of the plains, where nothing bounds the horizon, than by the mountaineers, who are enveloped in ma.s.ses of earth, concludes that, from the name of the phenomenon there formed, viz., on the plains, where it is more particularly distinguished or observed, we have named the country _Sahara_, or the country of the _Sehaur_." In this whimsical and ingenious derivation there is a change of the ??? into ???, but which is sufficiently frequent in the Shemitic languages. The grand fallacy of the above etymology is, that it a.s.sumes the Sahara to be a perfectly flat country, or country of plains, which is not the fact.

The talebs also give various names to different portions of The Sahara, according to the geological character of the country.

_Feeafee_ is The Oasis, where life is retired, and one spends one's happy days amidst eternal springs of living water, reclining under palms and fruit trees, securely sheltered from the burning simoon (_s...o...b..). _Keefar_, is the sandy arid plain, which, occasionally watered by the winter's revivifying refreshing and fructifying rains, produces spring herbage, where the Nomade tribes pasture their flocks in the neighbourhood of the oases. _Falat_, is the region of sands in the immensity of steril wastes. But all these distinctions are arbitrary, and can be predicated of tracts of country lying on the North Coast of Africa, as well as the boundless Sahara. On the coast of Tripoli we have the oasis, the arid plain, and the groups of sand-hills of eternal sterility. Captain Lyon enumerates in the same way as the talebs, the various names which the Arabs apply to different regions of The Desert. _Sahara_ is sand alone, forming a plane surface, which agrees with the hypothesis of Ben-ej-Jiramy. _Ghoud_ is groups of sand-hills of indefinite height, situate on the borders of stony plains, where the wind has formed and collected them. _Sereer_, is generally plains, whence the sand-hills have been swept, and where alone sand-hills are found.

_War_, is a rough plain, covered with large detached stones, lying in confusion, and very _difficult_ to pa.s.s over, which is the meaning of the appellation. It is applied to all difficult traverse.

_Hateea_, is a spot possessing the power of fertility; indeed, those patches of land which are the germs of the oases, now producing small stinted shrubs scattered at intervals, from which camels browse a scanty meal, or travellers make their Desert fire.

_Wishek_, is productive sand-hills and plains, where the wild palm and lethel-tree grow. _Ghabah_, distinguishes cultivated Sahara, sometimes a portion of the oases, but mostly where there are no inhabitants. So near Touat, there is a cultivated place called Ghabah, and without inhabitants. But the people of Ghadames call also their gardens Ghabah. Sibhah, is the usual name for all salt plains, sometimes called _Shot_ in Algeria, being mostly sandy salt marshes. Like the Sibhah of Emjessen, and "The Lake of Marks," in Tunis, the saline particles are often combined with earths or sand so closely as to form a substance resembling stone, and equally hard to break or cut through. With this _salt_ stone houses are built.

_Wady_, is the designation of all long deep depressions of the surface, and is used indifferently for a valley, a bed of a river, or torrent, or ravine. These wadys are almost always dry, except one or two months in the winter. _Gibel_, is applied to all hills and mountains. It is quite evident, from the above enumeration, that these various terms can be equally applied to the coast and other regions of land, not comprehended within the a.s.signed limits of The Sahara, and are therefore not peculiar to The Great Desert of Sahara.

All the people are astonished when I tell them the British Sovereign is a lady. They have enough to believe it; indeed, some of them do not, and think I am trifling with their credulity. It goes against the grain, and their grain especially, to be ruled over by a woman, (though many of them, from my own personal knowledge, are entirely under the influence of their wives _in private_, as all or most men are,) and is contrary to all their notions of government and womankind. I was surrounded with a group when the information was given, and I shall just mention the questions which were put to me in rapid succession. "Does that woman _govern well_?" "Has she a husband? What does her husband?" "Has she any children?" "Is she a big woman?" "Is she beautiful?" "How much does she pay you for coming to our country?" "Who has more power, she or the Sultan (of Constantinople)?" "What's her name?" "Have the Christians any other women who govern?" And so forth. I explained to them that Spain and Portugal were ruled by two other Queens, but that, in France, a Queen never reigns. At the mention of this latter fact, there was general murmur of approbation, "El-Francees andhom _akel_ (the French have wisdom)." To soften the matter down a little, and abate their prejudices, I told them the father of the Queen of England had no sons, and in all such cases, if there were daughters, these were allowed to govern the people. "Batel (stupid)," said one fellow, and the conversation dropped.

Begin to like the place, as I find I can pick up information respecting the interior. The merchants seem now more disposed to a.s.sume the responsibility of taking me with them. Went through the market-place, and witnessed a sitting of judgment upon a sick camel. This was an affair of the Kady, a little, fat, chubby, cherub-looking fellow, but proud and silent. The people said he was _sagheer_, "young," and excused his uncanonical conduct. He sat, high placed on a stone-bench, amidst a semicircle of people, squatting on the ground. He looked very grave, now exchanging a word or half syllable with one, now with another, but continually moving his lips as if in prayer. I met him afterwards in the street, and always found him moving the lips, with his rosary of black Mecca beads in his hands. He holds a separate and independent jurisdiction from the Rais, and is the Archbishop or Pope of Ghadames.

His decision cannot be annulled by the authorities in Tripoli, but must be referred to the Ulemas at Constantinople. He therefore thinks not a little of himself, and with reason. Four questions were now before the Kady, embracing physic, law, and divinity.

1st. To whom did the camel belong (for the Arabs disputed this)?

2nd. Could it recover from its sickness, or was it incurable?