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

by Frederick William Beechey; H. W. Beechey

Zaffran is a place of some note in the district of Syrt; it affords excellent pasturage, and furnishes large supplies of corn, wool, and manteca. The name which it bears would lead us to imagine that this place has been originally famous for its saffron; Zaffran is the Arab term by which that plant is distinguished, and we know that the northern coast of Africa has been noted for the excellence of the saffron which it produced[10]. We could not, however, perceive any traces of the plant properly so called; but the whole neighbourhood of Zaffran is overspread with a species of crocus from which saffron might very possibly be extracted.

The best saffron of our own times is that which is made from the crocus, by selecting the pistils and carefully drying them in a kiln; and the colour of the plant which we saw was well calculated to suggest the idea that it might be usefully employed in a similar way: it is a bulb, with a flower somewhat larger than the crocus, and grows to a height of four or five inches. We had collected a few specimens, but the nature of our journey did not allow of our stopping to have them properly dried, and we afterwards found, on unpacking them at Bengazi, that the damp had destroyed them, together with some others which we had collected in passing through the Syrtis.

The inhabitants of Zaffran are Bedouins, as are also all those of the other parts of the Syrtis; for there is not a single inhabited town or village to be found between Mesurata and Bengazi. We found them hospitable and obliging, and never entered one of their tents without receiving a cordial reception: their simple fare of milk and dates was always freely offered, and our horses were regaled with a feed of corn which they usually found very acceptable. Fresh milk was not always to be had, but they were never without a good supply of léban (sour milk, or more properly butter-milk), and we were seldom unwilling to alight from our saddles to take a draught of this patriarchal beverage, which a long day’s hard riding through a country without roads, and under the influence of an African sun, made infinitely more palatable than will easily be imagined by those who can spare it for their pigs.

We were often much amused on these occasions with the surprise which our appearance created, and at the contest between ill-repressed curiosity and the respect which our Arab friends were desirous of shewing to their guests.

This struggle usually lasted till we had finished our repast, and our hosts would then begin to draw a little nearer to the mats which they had spread upon the ground for our seats; the women to examine our dress more minutely, and the men to handle our sabres and fire-arms.

The white linen of which our turbans and under garments were composed excited the greatest admiration in the former, while our double-barrelled guns, and pocket-pistols with stop-locks, were the objects of attraction to the latter. In a very short time the reserve of both sexes would begin to wear away very rapidly, and the whole family of our host would crowd round us indiscriminately each trying to be heard above the other: one question after another poured in upon us from all sides, and either nobody waited for an answer, or the answer was given by half a dozen of the family at once, each expressing a different opinion from that of his neighbour. At length, when no satisfactory conclusion could be formed upon the subject of their inquiry, they would wait to have the question formally answered by ourselves; and the real use of every object which excited their curiosity was generally so different from all those which they had assigned to it, that the whole party, then waiting in silent expectation for the result, would burst out all at once into the loudest exclamations of surprise, and sometimes into fits of laughter, which laid them rolling on the ground, and left them scarcely strength to rise when we got up to take our leave.

Among the numerous objects of attraction, our compass, telescopes, and watches, excited universal admiration; and the reason why the hands of the latter should move round of themselves, and why the needle of the compass should always turn to the northward, must have been canvassed among them for many months afterwards.

Why a man or a camel could be seen distinctly through a tube, when they could scarcely be seen at all, at the same distance, without it, will afford equal matter for speculation: and the next European who may visit the tents of our friends will probably hear an account of these wonders so much disfigured by misrepresentation, and so much exaggerated by the enthusiasm of Arab fancy, as will lead him to doubt whether they ever saw what they are describing, or to believe that they are telling him some whimsical story which has no better foundation than those of the Hundred and one Nights or the description of a Mahommedan Paradise.

We found the men of Zaffran active, healthy, and well made, and the women pretty and well-behaved; the dress of the former consists merely of a coarse baracan, with a red cap, and sandals of camel’s hide.

The women wore a loose cotton shirt under the baracan, and instead of the sandals were furnished with laced boots. They had as usual a profusion of rude ornaments, and charms to avert the evil eye, and were not at all anxious to keep their faces veiled or to avoid the society of strangers. A small looking-glass and a few strings of beads were received with delight by the fairer part of this community, and a knife, with a few flints, and some powder, were accepted very thankfully by the men.