Proceedings of the expedition to explore the northern coast of Africa, from Tripoly eastward

by Frederick William Beechey; H. W. Beechey

But the people of Tówergah, aware of this intention, and jealous of the colony about to be planted by Jebha, stole upon them in the night, and attacking them unexpectedly, massacred the whole of the party. To commemorate the project of the unfortunate Jebha, and the tragical event which attended it, the little structure in question was raised by the people of Esha, and called after the name of their benefactors; while he, and the party which accompanied him, were buried round the consecrated building. Gusser el Jebha consists of three narrow, vaulted chambers, parallel and communicating with each other, and which are entered by a door in the central one.

They are about twenty feet in length, and no more than five in breadth, and are rudely constructed with unhewn stones arranged with tolerable regularity. The cement is mud with a little mixture of lime, and the vaulted ceilings are coated with plaster from the spring of the arch upwards, and ornamented with a pattern raised from the surface; the lower parts of the interior walls are at present wholly bare, and do not appear to have been coated. The outer parts of the building are now a mass of ruin, and the form of the external roof is not to be ascertained; at least we were not able to make it out.

A day or two before our arrival at Jebha, Chaous Mahmoud, one of the Arabs of the Dúbbah’s party, had stoutly refused to accompany us across the marsh; but after having been severely reprimanded, and threatened with the loss of his pay, the punishment most dreaded by an Arab, he consented to go, provided we would allow him to leave his own horse with the camels, and take one belonging to our party.

This arrangement being acceded to, we trotted on in advance, telling him to follow as soon as he was mounted; but he continued to busy himself about the saddle and stirrups, making one little difficulty after another, till we were nearly out of sight; and then, mounting the horse which he had exchanged for his own, he galloped round the marsh in another direction, to meet us as we arrived on firmer ground.

On coming up with us he began to make excuses for his conduct, and declared, like a true Arab, that his life was at our service, and that he was ready to risk it for us on all occasions; but his horse, he said, was his friend and companion, and he could not bear the idea of losing him in the marsh, which he was certain he should have done if he had rode him across it in the direction which we had pointed out. His regard for our property had at the same time, he added, prevented him from risking the horse he then rode, and not any regard for his own personal safety, which was at all times indifferent to him in the performance of his duty. Perceiving, however, that this gasconade, delivered with all the vehemence which he could muster for the occasion, was not producing the effect which he desired, he called the Prophet to witness the truth of his assertions, and swore that we had had a most miraculous escape in having been enabled to reach the ground we then stood upon in safety. There was nothing to be said against such solemn asseverations; and we contented ourselves with telling him, in the language of his own religion, that what is destined to happen cannot be averted; that there was no occasion to fear, either for his horse or himself, if the time of their deaths were not come; and that if the fatal hour had really arrived, no precautions whatever could retard it.

At the same time we declared that the marsh, in our opinion, was not so dangerous as he had represented, and that we thought he might cross it, in most directions, without incurring the charge of tempting Providence too far. Mahmoud shook his head as if he did not believe it, but said no more upon the subject; and he perhaps thought we were more obstinate than wise in having so often refused to be regulated by his advice.

Repeated success will, however, at all times give confidence, even under the consciousness of danger; and it is not to be wondered at that we should so often have attempted the passage of the marsh, believing, as we did, that there was little risk in doing so. But an accident which occurred in the neighbourhood of Jebha convinced us that more caution was necessary on these occasions; and we were afterwards surprised, not only at our numerous escapes, but at our want of penetration in not having sooner perceived the danger to which the nature of the marsh had exposed us. It is probable that the frequent attempts of our guides to excuse themselves from any service of difficulty or exertion, had prepared us to distrust them on all subjects equally, and to overlook dangers for no other reason than because they were mentioned to us by them. Truth is so little regarded by an Arab, that when his interest or his comfort will be promoted by a breach of it, he is always prepared with a falsehood; and it is difficult, even for those who are well acquainted with his character, to tell when he is sincere in his assertions. One of two things must necessarily result from this want of proper feeling: they who place too much confidence in Arab sincerity will continually be deceived and imposed upon, or they who distrust it too far will on some occasions be liable to wish that they had been less obstinate in their disbelief.

As two of our party were making their way across the marsh (a few days after the conversation just related) to something which bore the appearance of a ruin, the ground suddenly gave way beneath the feet of the foremost horse, and discovered a hollow of ten or twelve feet in depth, at the bottom of which appeared water. The animal, who was galloping at the time, feeling the insecurity of his footing, sprang violently forward with all the energy of terror, and by this sudden exertion saved himself and his rider from destruction; for it would not have been possible to extricate either from such a place, had there even been more persons at hand to attempt it: the ground continued to crack and break away for some distance farther, as the horse galloped on from the hole, and a large aperture was soon formed in the crusted surface of the marsh as the pieces fell in one after another. The whole extent of the danger was not at first perceived by the rider who had so narrowly escaped; but the person who was following saw the chasm which had been made, and wheeling his horse round in another direction was just in time to avoid plunging into it. As this accident occurred near the middle of the marsh, it was difficult to decide upon the best path to be pursued, the surface being everywhere in appearance the same; but, in order that the weight might be more equally divided, both riders dismounted, and continued to lead their horses till they reached a firmer place. This was however no easy matter; as the poor animals were so terrified with their repeated stumbles, that they could with difficulty be pulled along, and they trembled so violently as to be almost incapable of keeping their legs, for the surface frequently cracked and partially gave way in places which appeared to be secure, and the parties were so often obliged to alter their direction, that they almost despaired of being able to bring off their horses. After much winding and turning, this was, however, at length effected, and both horses and riders were heartily glad to find themselves once more on firm ground. Nothing was said to our guides of this accident, but it served to convince us that their apprehensions of the marsh were not groundless, and we afterwards took the precaution of dismounting when we had occasion to cross any part which was considered to be dangerous. We found on examination that many hollow spaces of considerable depth and extent existed in various parts of the marsh; and that the crust of salt and mud which covered them was sometimes no more than two inches, and an inch and a half, in thickness.

These usually occurred in the most level parts, but as the crust was everywhere in appearance the same, there were no means of ascertaining where they existed, but by breaking the surface which concealed them.

The water contained in these hollows was invariably salt, or very brackish; it was usually clear, and was in some places deep: the depth of mud below the water must also have been sometimes considerable, and the vacant space contained between the outer surface of the marsh and the water was in various instances observed to be as much as twelve and fifteen feet in depth. We had no means of ascertaining the depth of the water in the hollow alluded to above; but the space between its surface and that of the marsh appeared to be more than twelve feet, and, from the sound occasioned by the fall of the pieces into it, its depth could scarcely have been less than six or eight feet. In that part of the marsh which surrounds the Gusser el Jebha the nature of these pits is very apparent; for the ground being unequal, and overgrown with reeds and brushwood, no crust has been formed over them, and their dimensions are therefore easily ascertained. They are here very numerous, and it would be scarcely possible to escape falling into them after dark, as the paths which wind among them are sometimes not two feet in breadth, and the edges of the pits are often concealed by the vegetation which surrounds them; indeed many of these hollows are wholly overgrown, and would not be perceived by a casual observer. In crossing to the Gusser, we could not at first account for the obstinacy of our horses in refusing to quit the path, which to us appeared to wind in a most unnecessary manner, and made our ride five or six times as long as it would have been if we could have crossed to the ruin in a straight direction. But we soon found that the animals were more quick-sighted than ourselves, and that the brushwood through which we attempted to push them concealed pits of the nature already described, from many of which we could in all probability have never been extricated, had we persevered in the attempt to force our horses into them.