Notwithstanding this answer, the Shereef Fouwad conceived that the refusal of the Arabs was solely dictated by a distrust of the sort of security which was offered by the Governor and Council of Mesurata; for independently of the doubts which the Arabs might entertain of their good faith, it was evident, that without the sanction of the Bey, who commanded the army, their engagement, at the utmost, could not extend beyond their own jurisdiction. But if the Bey himself would guaranty the safety of the camels and their drivers, by granting them a pass, the Shereef concluded that the real objections of the Arabs would be entirely removed. With this view, on the 27th of February, the Shereef and two of his countrymen set out for the camp, which they reached on the second day, as it was not far from Mesurata; but their trouble was fruitless, for the Bey could not be prevailed on to assent to their proposal.
All hopes of obtaining, before the conclusion of the war, a sufficient conveyance for the goods being thus at an end, the Council resolved that, until peace should be established, the Shereefs and the other Merchants of the caravan should be at liberty to warehouse their packages in the public store-rooms of the Governor.
Deprived, in this manner, of all prospect of arriving this year at Fezzan, and doubtful if the state of the country would encourage, or his own situation permit the attempt in the Winter, Mr. Lucas resolved to avail himself to the utmost of such means of information as the knowledge of his fellow-travellers enabled them to afford.
He had already discovered that the little old Shereef Imhammed had been often employed by the King of Fezzan as his Factor in the Slave Trade; and in that capacity had travelled to Bornou and different parts of Nigritia; and he now determined to cultivate his friendship with double solicitude, and by occasional presents and frequent conversation, to draw from him an account of the countries which he had seen. With this view he, one evening, took from his pocket his map of Africa, and after satisfying the Shereef’s curiosity as to its nature and use, told him that he once intended it as a present to the King of Fezzan; but, that having discovered in it several mistakes, he now proposed to draw another that should be more correct. The Shereef replied, that the King would be highly gratified with such a present. Mr. Lucas said, that if he would assist him with an account of the distances from place to place, in such parts of the country as he had visited, and with their names in Arabic, and would also satisfy him as to such questions as he should ask, he would prepare two corrected copies of the map, and would give one of them to the King and the other to himself. The Shereef was delighted with the proposal; and they immediately retired to a sand hill at some distance from the tent, that their conversation might be unreserved and uninterrupted. Many successive days were employed in the same manner; and as Mr. Lucas wrote down, at the time, the information which he obtained, he was soon possessed of such an account of Fezzan, Bornou, and Nigritia, especially of the two former, as much diminished the chagrin of his own disappointment.
One afternoon, as they sat together on the customary hill, they were suddenly disturbed by the loud screams and dismal howlings of all the women of Mesurata—a mode of alarming and collecting the men, which is always practised among the Arabs, on the approach of thieves, or of an invading enemy.
In a few minutes the townsmen were under arms, and together with the Shereef Fouwad, the other Fezzaners, and Mr. Lucas’s Black, went hastily on to the place where the Rebels were said to have appeared:—there they found that the women had been deceived. It seems an ass had strayed into a field of barley; and as the owner of the corn, who was armed, and happened to pass by at the time, went into the field to drive out the animal, the women mistook him for one of the Rebels, and conceiving that many more were concealed, (for they often come down from the mountains to steal the cattle) had given the usual alarm.
In a few minutes, Mr. Lucas and the old Shereef, who had both continued on the hill, observed the Fezzaners coming sulkily back, and cursing the women for so foolish a disturbance, whilst the townsmen, on the contrary, fired their pieces, and rejoiced in their disappointment as much as if they had conquered an army.
A few days afterwards, a second alarm was given, and with much more reason than the first; for a party of the Rebel Arabs, some on horseback, and others on foot, had suddenly appeared within two miles of the town, and after killing two herdsmen, and seizing three Black slaves, their assistants, had carried off sixty goats, fourteen cows, and three camels.
The attack was made at a time when most of the townsmen were at the market, which is held at the distance of three miles from Mesurata; and to add to their indignation, it was made in a place which hitherto had been deemed inviolable; for the land on which the cattle were feeding was considered as under the immediate protection of a departed Saint, whose remains were buried there, and whose sanctuary, it was thought, no Musselman, however accustomed to robbery and blood, could venture to profane.
March 13th. Letters by express from the camp were now received by the Governor, which announced, that in consequence of the Bey’s having entered the country of the Rebels, and turned his cattle to pasture in their corn, an engagement, which soon became general, had ensued; that after a loss of 150 men, the Rebels had retired to the mountains; and that the Bey, at the expence in killed and wounded, of not more than twenty-six horse and seventy or eighty foot, had obtained possession of ten or twelve thousand sheep, and of three hundred camels.