RECENT DISCOVERIES
IN
AFRICA.
CHAPTER I.
FROM MOURZUK TO KOUKA IN BORNOU.
On the evening of the 29th of November we left Mourzuk, accompanied by nearly all those of the town, who could muster a horse: the camels had moved early in the day, and at Zezow we found the tents pitched—there are here merely a few huts. From Zezow to Traghan there is a good high road, with frequent incrustations of salt, and we arrived there before noon. It is a clean walled town, one of the best of one hundred and nine, of which Fezzan is said to boast. Traghan was formerly as rich as Mourzuk, and was the capital and residence of a sultan, who governed the eastern part of Fezzan, whose castle, in ruins, may still be seen.
A maraboot, of great sanctity, is the principal person in Traghan, as his father was before him. During the reign of the present bashaw’s father, when the Arab troops appeared before the town, the then maraboot and chief went out to meet them; and, from his own stores, paid sixty thousand dollars to prevent the property of his townspeople from being plundered. They make carpets here equal to those of Constantinople. There are some springs of good water in the gardens near the town, the only ones in Fezzan, it is said, except the tepid one at Hammam, near Sockna.
After being crammed, as it were, by the hospitality of the maraboot, we left Traghan for Maefen, an assemblage of date huts, with but one house. The road to this place lies over a mixture of sand and salt, having a curious and uncommon appearance: the surface is full of cracks, and in many places it has the effect of a new ploughed field: the clods are so hard, that it is with great difficulty they can be broken. The path by which all the animals move for some miles is a narrow space, or stripe, worn smooth, bearing a resemblance, both in hardness and appearance, to ice: near Maefen, it assumes a new and more beautiful shape, the cracks are larger, and from the sides of cavities several feet deep hang beautiful crystals, from beds of frost of the purest white[9]. I broke off a large mass, but the interior was as brittle as the exterior was difficult to break; the frost work was fine salt, and fell away in flakes on being lightly shaken. It extends more than twenty miles, east and west. The water of Maefen, though strongly tinctured with soda, is not disagreeable to the taste, or unwholesome.
Quitting Maefen, we quickly entered on a desert plain; and, after a dreary fourteen hours march for camels, we arrived at Mestoola, a maten, or resting place, where the camels find some little grazing from a plant called Ahgul. Starting at sun-rise, we had another fatiguing day over the same kind of desert, without, I think, seeing one living thing that did not belong to our kafila—not a bird, or even an insect: the sand is beautifully fine, round, and red. We now arrived at Gatrone. The Arabs watch for a sight of the high date trees, which surround this town, as sailors look for land; and after discovering these landmarks, they shape their course accordingly.
I here joined my companions, whom I found in a state of health but ill calculated for undertaking a long and tedious journey. During my stay at Mourzuk, I had suffered from a severe attack of fever, which had kept me for ten days in my bed; and although considerably debilitated, yet was I strong in comparison with my associates. Doctor Oudney was suffering much from his cough, and still complaining of his chest. Mr. Clapperton’s ague had not left him, and Hillman had been twice attacked so violently as to be given over by the doctor. We all, however, looked forward anxiously to proceeding, and fancied that change of scene and warmer weather would bring us all round. Gatrone is not unpleasingly situated: it is surrounded by sandhills, and mounds of earth covered with a small tree, called athali. Huts are built all round the town for the Tibboos.
Though encamped on the south side of the town, we had cold north and north-east winds, and the thermometer in the tent was from 43 to 45 in the mornings. The person of the greatest importance at Gatrone is one Hagi-el-Raschid, a large proprietor and a maraboot. He is a man of very clear understanding and amiable manners, and as he uses the superstition of the people as the means of making them happy and turning them from vicious pursuits, one becomes almost reconciled to an impostor.