We found them invariably civil and obliging, and apparently contented with their condition; which proves how much habit will reconcile us to evils, which, to those not inured to them, would be intolerable. The “fierce impatience” which formerly characterized the Jews of the Cyrenaica has disappeared with the probability of its being successfully exerted; and poverty is now almost the only evil to which they will not quietly submit[6]. The trade of Bengazi is not, however, wholly confined to the Jews; for, besides the Bey himself, who may be considered as the first merchant, there are several other very respectable Mahometan traders[7]; the Bazaar, notwithstanding, presents little more than the articles in greatest request among the Bedouins; amongst which may be seen bundles of rusty nails, horse-shoes, musket-balls, and large flints, which form the chief objects of their visits, and are exposed for sale, on boards, at the doors of a few of the most industrious Arab inhabitants of the town, and bargained for with as much seriousness and vehemence, as if they were the most costly goods. The produce of the interior consists chiefly in corn, wool, and manteca, with which the merchants freight the different foreign vessels which purposely touch at Bengazi. This is done in preference to employing the small vessels of the country; first, because the foreign vessels are much better navigated, and secondly, because in sailing under European colours they are less liable to molestation from the Greeks. Besides these articles, oxen are well known to constitute a great portion of the trade of Bengazi, and many vessels are kept constantly employed in transporting them to Malta and other places during the summer months. If the wind prove favourable, and the passage be quickly made, the profits to all parties are great; but it sometimes happens that, from violent or contrary winds, or from the vessel being ill calculated for the cargo, and more frequently from there being too great a number of these poor animals crowded inconsiderately together, that so many oxen die from thirst and suffocation, from bruises, and occasionally from drowning, as to render the profits of the voyage very trifling.
The cattle are chiefly driven from the neighbourhood of Cyrene, where their original cost is from six to eight dollars a head; some expenses, of course, are incurred on the road, but these are amply covered by the price of ten and thirteen dollars, at which sum the oxen are furnished to the captains of the bullock-vessels: the master, again, being fully compensated by a contract of about eighteen dollars a head at Malta.
The prospect of fine weather very often induces the captain to take on board as many as there is standing-room for in his vessel, on both upper and lower deck, in both of which the poor animals are jammed as close as they can possibly be stowed. The sufferings of the oxen in hot and oppressive weather, taken at once from the invigorating atmosphere of their native mountains, and exposed to the thick and almost suffocating steam (proceeding from their own bodies) which they must necessarily breathe in the place of their confinement, will be more easily deplored than described. So oppressive is the heat, on many occasions, in the lower deck of the bullock-vessels, that the men employed to look after the unfortunate animals can scarcely stay more than ten minutes there, except immediately under the hatchways; and such of the oxen as chance, from their situation, or other causes, to be more affected by the closeness of the atmosphere than the rest, are obliged to be dragged up continually to the deck above, to prevent them from dying of suffocation.
We are sorry to say that our own experience enables us to speak decidedly on these points; for as there was no other vessel in the harbour of Bengazi, when we left the coast, than a bullock-vessel, and no other expected to arrive, we were obliged to take a passage in the only one of them then remaining. As we experienced, nearly the whole voyage, the most provoking calms, our passage was an unusually long one; and independently of the extreme inconvenience (to use the mildest term) which we experienced ourselves, we had to witness a scene of suffering which we shall never forget, and which we would willingly have gone through much more than we experienced to have avoided. It is indeed scarcely possible to conceive that human nature could be really so degraded from its rank in creation, as it appears to be in the persons of those who form the crew of a bullock-vessel.
And yet many of them are not, on other occasions, cruel men—but the constant habit of witnessing and inflicting sufferings, which they seem to think matters of course, has so blunted their kinder feelings in the discharge of this particular duty, that one might almost blush (on witnessing their conduct) at being classed in the same species with them[8]. The horrors of slave-ships are happily for the most part abolished, through the humanity and the influence of Englishmen; and if the government of Malta were acquainted with the horrors of bullock-vessels, they would surely take means to prevent the recurrence of them. Let us hope that some Martin may arise in the Mediterranean who will exert himself in bringing this about; we will answer for it, he will never sit down to a piece of beef without feelings of more than usual satisfaction.
Among the persons to whom we were introduced by Shekh Mahommed, there were several whose good sense and good feeling would have done credit to a more civilized people; and the time which we spent in their society was often very agreeably passed. They were able to afford us a good deal of information respecting the country to the eastward, and in the interior, which we afterwards found very useful; but they were generally shy in giving an opinion upon affairs of a political nature. They would, however, talk freely of the exploits of Mahommed Bey, who was so instrumental in reducing the country to its present state of tranquillity; and whose sanguinary measures alone procured for Bengazi the security which it now enjoys[9]. We often conversed on the subject of the existing war with the Greeks, and they manifested at all times extreme curiosity to know what part we should take, in the event of the arrival of any Greek vessel off their port. Our answers were always satisfactory to them; and a report of the English being favorably inclined towards the Porte having by some means reached them, we were in subsequent interviews addressed as Sahab, or ally.
This confidence in our intentions was not, however, so strongly felt among the lower classes of people; at least it did not appear to have been so on the occasion which we are about to mention.
Some vague reports of the successes of the Greeks, and their merciless treatment of the prisoners which they had taken, having reached the people of Bengazi, they became, on a sudden, uncommonly nervous, and were in momentary apprehension of an invasion, and of an indiscriminate slaughter of themselves and their families. The appearance of the Adventure, about this time, on their coast, which had not been visited by a man-of-war for a long time before, together with the arrival, soon after, of our party, whose real objects were for the most part unintelligible to them, added to the circumstance of their having seen us employed in making plans and drawings of their fort and harbour, all contributed to strengthen their suspicions and their fears; and they soon began to consider our residence among them as, in some way, connected with the Greeks. While their minds were thus prepared, it unluckily happened one evening just before sunset, that some hard clouds had formed themselves on the horizon, into shapes which they conceived to resemble ships under sail; the appearance soon excited the greatest alarm, and many an eager eye was fixed upon the formidable armada which imagination had suggested to the terrified Arabs[10]. Before they could be satisfied that there was no foundation for their fears, it was too dark to distinguish anything more; and the greatest confusion very shortly prevailed in every part of Bengazi. The men now began to prepare their fire-arms, and the signal to assemble was everywhere repeated; the women and children running about in the greatest terror, calling out that the Christians were coming to murder them!
The disturbance was not long unknown to our party, for our door shortly became the centre of confusion; a mob of Arabs was very soon collected about it, who manifested the most hostile feeling, and the street rang with invectives against the Nasáras[11]. It would have gone hard with any Christian who had been found unarmed in the streets at this moment; for even Giacomo Rossoni (the brother of the Consul), who was a great favorite with the Arabs, and who chanced to be out just before, very narrowly escaped with his life in making his way to take refuge in our house. We had every desire to act as conciliatory a part as possible, but finding our doors assailed in the manner described, we armed ourselves, with the intention of defending the house to the last, should the Arabs proceed to extremities. At this difficult moment Shekh Mahommed and his brothers, accompanied by some of our other Arab friends, made their way through the mob and arrived just in time to prevent an immediate attack upon our quarters; and we afterwards learnt that one of the Shekh’s brothers had been felled to the ground, for his remonstrances in our favour, before he could reach our door. A parley was now begun with great vehemence on both sides; but before any measures could be determined upon, an alarm was excited that the Greeks might be landing while this discussion was pending, and the whole party of rioters hurried down to the beach, leaving none but the women and children in the town. Muskets were now discharged in various directions, without any person knowing what they were firing at, and the whole strength of the place was drawn up on the beach in momentary expectation of being attacked by the invaders. At length, after a lapse of several hours, they conceived that sufficient time had been given for the approach of the vessels, if Bengazi had been really their object; and after inquiring of one another what grounds there had been for all the disturbance they had been making, without any one being able to give a satisfactory answer, the whole party retired very quietly to their houses, and nothing more was ever heard of the formidable invasion which had excited such alarm and confusion. In the mean time Signor Giacomo, who had been some time in our house, became anxious to relieve his family from the apprehensions which they could not but have entertained for his safety; but his European dress being likely to attract attention, and expose him to danger or insult, we offered our services to accompany him; and on reaching his house in safety, he learnt that the Consul had been obliged to shut himself up with his family, and that they had been in the greatest alarm for him. Thus ended a panic which arose from the most trifling circumstance, threw the whole town into serious confusion, and threatened the lives of all the Christians in the place, without having the slightest foundation.
It was singular to observe, during the whole of this affair, the total want of system and discipline which prevailed; each person hurrying he hardly knew where, because he saw others in motion, and leaving his home, with his family and property, at the mercy of any one who might invade it. A handful of men might have taken the whole town, which was left for several hours without any defence, and carried off their plunder beyond the reach of pursuit before the inhabitants knew they had been there. This was the only molestation we ever met with from the people of Bengazi; and, to do them justice, we must allow that it proceeded rather from their ignorance and their fears, than from any decided hostility or ill-will towards ourselves. On all other occasions we found them civil and obliging, and usually inclined to be of service to us when they could. With regard to the manners and customs of the people of Bengazi, we saw nothing in which they differed materially from those of Arabs in general; and it would merely be repeating what has been often observed by others, were we to give any detailed description of them. It is well known what reliance is placed by the Arab on the efficacy, we may say, the infallibility of charms and family nostrums, and how much they are averse to calling in medical aid till they have repeatedly tried their own remedies without success. We saw a lamentable instance of this adherence to popular prejudice and superstition, in the case of an interesting girl of Bengazi, the daughter of one of the Arabs of the town. As Mr. Campbell was standing at the door of our house, in company with some others of our party, an old woman hurried towards him, and eagerly seizing both his hands, conjured him to come and visit her daughter, who she said was very ill with a swelling in the throat. Mr. Campbell immediately complied with her request, and accompanied her, together with one or two of the other officers, to the house where the patient was lying. On entering they found the poor girl we have mentioned, extended upon the floor, in a state of delirium, while her sister, on her knees by her side, was endeavouring by means of a fan to keep away the myriads of flies from her face, with which the room as usual abounded. Her throat was soon found to be so much ulcerated and swelled, as almost to prevent respiration; and it seemed but too evident that the hand of death was already lying heavily upon her. She had been ill for nine days with a typhus fever, and the usual charms and remedies had been employed by her parents, who only came to Mr. Campbell for advice when all their own prescriptions had failed. The violence of the fever had now subsided, leaving the unhappy girl in a state of exhaustion, and a mortification appeared to have taken place. Every means were of course resorted to which our medicine-chest afforded, and every possible attention was paid to the comfort of the patient; but all our care was unavailing; the disease was too far advanced to be subdued by medical skill, and the poor girl shortly expired, a victim rather to ignorance and superstition, than to any fatal symptoms in the disease itself, had the proper remedies been applied in time.