The Turks in Tripoli refuse, of course, to acknowledge French rule in Tunisia; and as the people of Rhadamés are mainly Berbers under Turkish administration, these do all in their power to destroy the little trade there is with the French territories of Duirat, Tatuin, Medinin, and beyond them to Gabés.
For the moment the Tuareg place no obstacles in the way of persons who venture to travel from the Duirat mountains through the desert to Rhadamés; so the route is open, but no one who is supposed to have the slightest relations with the French is allowed to enter the oasis.
The traveller who desires to visit this town, which in the time of the Romans had constant intercourse with the coast, must start from Tripoli; if he has letters of recommendation from the authorities there, he is sure to be admitted; the journey on camel back is wearisome and even distressing through the heat and lack of water, but of danger there is none—for the present—the Tuareg not being camped by the roads in any appreciable numbers.
The French authorities have done all they could to establish peaceful relations with Rhadamés and to explore the southern frontier. Officers have reconnoitered the country from the southern mountains to far into the desert. Commandant Billet in person has ridden through the mountains as far as the Tunisian frontier. On one of these expeditions he visited the ruins of a very ancient village in the mountains, known as “Ksar Uni,” which lies eighty miles south of Tatuin.
An interpreter who spoke Arabic like a native, and who was, further, a Mohammedan, was sent to the desert not long since to endeavour to penetrate as far as Rhadamés. His mission failed entirely. He was robbed, imprisoned in Rhadamés, and sent to Tripoli, from whence, after much difficult negotiation, his release was obtained.
West of the Matmata mountains and south of the belt of shotts is a steppe where are found a number of small wells, but south again of this and as far as Rhadamés is an almost waterless desert, barren and waste and very dangerous to cross. A few earlier travellers may possibly have passed through it, but in March and February of this year the desert was traversed by two French officers, under such marvellous conditions that I cannot refrain from giving an account of their journey, exactly as I heard it related by Major Gausset in Gabés.
Lieutenant Dumas of the Spahis (now captain of the 6th Chasseurs at Oran), and Lieutenant Cazemajou of the Engineers, both courageous and determined men, who feared neither exposure to the elements nor the sufferings of hunger and thirst, determined on trying to make their way secretly from Nafta, by the shott and through the desert, to Rhadamés. Well aware that a request for permission to travel during the difficulties in connection with the frontier would be refused by their superiors, they only asked for leave to take a trip to Algiers. This was granted without suspicion being aroused, and, accompanied by a guide, they disappeared in the desert, both in Arab dress and mounted on camels.
After a dangerous and fatiguing ride they drew near to Rhadamés, and were already rejoicing over the happy termination of their journey; but no sooner had they reached the gates than they were driven off like dogs, their lives were menaced, and they were compelled to retreat.
Their coming had been announced by some Marabout whose kubba they had passed shortly before arriving at the town.
There was nothing to be done but to return as quickly as possible, which they did; but as they thought it possible that they might be pursued and attacked on their homeward way, they took another route, where water was very scarce, and with which none of them were acquainted.