Thursday, February 17th. Thermometer 0.—At eight we set off over an uneven plain to a stony desert, a cold north wind blowing. After passing some hills, we arrived at the Hatïa, and wells of Om el Abeed, ام العبيد, having gone north 50°. E. twelve miles. We met a few Arabs from Sockna, who said that Sidi Mohammed ben Shaib was expected, on his way to the Sultan of Bornou, with presents from the Bashaw: they also said an Englishman was with him; but I concluded the report to have originated in its being known at Tripoli, that Belford and myself were to have accompanied him. In the evening, we filled and mended our Gerbas, and otherwise prepared for passing the five days’ desert now before us. The Arabs amused themselves by placing a camel’s skull on a rising ground, and firing ball at it, all resting their guns; only one, however, struck it. I rose to fire; but they all laughed at me for not placing my gun on a branch, or otherwise steadying it; I nevertheless struck the head twice, when, resolving not to lose my reputation as a good shot, I laid down my gun with indifference, pretending I could hit it as often as I pleased. The Arabs were astonished (and I must own I was equally so, being but an indifferent shot in general), and gave me the title of Bendag, or marksman.
Baba Hassein, whom we again joined at Zeghen, had never given his Boozaferr, بوزفرّ, or footing in the country, which I mentioned our having done at Sockna, or more properly in the Soudah mountains. The Arabs in these cases procure either the skeleton of an animal, or some carrion, and, digging a grave, bury it, howling as if for a deceased friend. All the night they imitate the cries of wolves and hyænas, as if in search of food, saying, “Where is our Bouzaferr? we are crying for our Bouzaferr; the natives are starving; give your Bouzaferr.” The buried bones are intended to imply a starved friend, who is supposed to be unable to rest till the survivors are fed. The old man was, however, deaf to all their hints, and in consequence the Arabs made a little grave (for him, as they said), and left him, not without a few hearty wishes that some harm might befall him.
As we sat round our little fires, during our march over the desert, we amused ourselves with a variety of Arab games and puzzles, and a few clumsy tricks with date stones, and much laughing and joking passed off our evening very pleasantly, until sleep seized us, and we then laid ourselves down on the sand round the fire until morning.
Friday 18th. Thermometer 2°.—As there was at this place great plenty of Agool, and other shrubs for the camels, they were, owing to a concerted scheme of the Arabs, not to be found; we therefore were destined to pass the day here, in spite of all our threats and remonstrances. One of a party of Arabs, who had joined our Kafflé at Sebha, and from whom I hired the camel which Belford rode, offered one for sale. It would not, like other camels, eat dates, and no food was to be found in the track we were to pass. We consequently despaired of its being able to get through the desert; and I, thinking to make a good bargain with him, offered him for it two dollars, or ten shillings. He refused this, and went away; but an Arab soon after brought me the animal, having purchased it for me for a dollar and one third, 6s. 8d.! I killed it, and made every one merry, as it was sufficiently large to afford, for freemen and slaves, each two days’ allowance; it was a Maherry from Borgoo, and I suppose weighed upwards of 600 lbs. The hungry Arabs had many quarrels in cutting it up; and I sometimes feared there would be mischief amongst them; but the altercation ended, like other quarrels amongst these people, in great noise, and biting tongues at each other.
I never before had an opportunity of observing how water is procured from the belly of a camel, to satisfy the thirst of an almost perishing Kafflé. It is the false stomach which contains the water and undigested food. This is strained through a cloth, and then drank; and from those who have been under the necessity of making use of this beverage, I learn that the taste is bitter. As this animal had recently drank, its stomach was nearly full. I amused myself in making observations on its skin and skeleton, and in planning the formation of a boat; and I found that a most excellent contrivance might be made from them, for the purpose of crossing rivers; the back-bone being used as the keel, and the ribs as timbers. The formation of the chest of a camel resembles the prow of a Portuguese bean-cod, or fishing-boat. Indeed, it was in consequence of hearing the Arabs always calling it Markab, or ship, that the idea first occurred to me.
Saturday, 19th February. Thermometer 1°.—Having filled water for five days, we set out over black stony hills, bounded to the north-westward at the distance of a mile from our track by a sandy desert. At nine, a hillock of a singular form, resembling a turret, and called Amaymet Saad, bore north 52° east. As it stands at the entrance of a pass we were to ascend, we proceeded towards it; a strong east wind blowing very sharply. We met a man on his way from Sockna, who informed us that the Consul had been at Benioleed. The Negresses had, from the time of our setting off, been collecting wood, and the poor creatures were each laden with stock for two days. We passed a grave, which was ornamented by an inverted gourd at the head. The person buried there was a drunken man, a native of Sockna, who had been in the habit of carrying letters or orders across the desert, whenever the Sultan required it, and was able to pass it on foot in three days, at about forty miles a day. It once happened that a letter was to be brought from Sockna to Zeghen, and this man was selected for the purpose; he was drunk at the time, yet insisted on having his gourd full of Lackbi, instead of carrying, as usual, a small skin of water at his back, promising, however, to drink enough at Gutfa, a well at the foot of the mountains. He set out in this condition, and was found dead with his empty gourd by his side, within an hour’s walk of the well we had left, and so finished his task; he was accordingly buried here, as a warning to all topers.
At 12.6. P.M. came to the sand, and passed over it until 1.30. when we reached very steep, irregular sand hills, which we found great difficulty in ascending, the camels falling repeatedly. Having cleared these hills, we ascended a plain by a pass called Kenaire كنير, to the eastward of which, at the distance of a mile, is the turret I have already mentioned. Through the sand hills, I observed a singular line of rocks, resembling the scoria of the lava of Vesuvius, and about ten feet in breadth, running north and south for about five hundred yards. The mountains over Om el Abeed, which we had just left, run east and west, until lost in the distance. The hills we ascended were of limestone and flint, very precipitous, and facing to the southward, running east-south-east and west-north-west. The plain was covered with a white crust or clay, with here and there bare rock intervening.
At 3.40. P.M. we passed over a few sand hills, called El Ramle Shraiya, or the small sands. At 4.15. came to a black stony flat. 4.45. passed a long line of stones facing the east, called “Sala el Sultan, or the praying place of the Sultan;” a former Sultan having prayed here while passing the desert with a numerous army. At 6.30. arrived at a spot called Gheranfāta, which is generally a resting-place, and is marked by two or three basaltic heaps: we had advanced to the pass, north 45° east, twelve miles, and from it north 52° east, the same distance.
Observed this day that the driver of one of the camels, which had joined us at Zeghen, was a blind man: he held by the animal’s tail, and was in the habit of going constantly over this uneven, and, in some places, dangerously steep track between Sockna and Morzouk. I learnt from Khalifa that one of his Khādems had died in the morning, and that he had stopped behind to bury her.
Sunday, 20th February. Thermometer 30′ below 0°.—At 7.30. passed over some gravelly plains as the day before. The horizon was as perfectly level as that of the sea. We saw a great deal of Shrab شراب, or false water. This plain is scattered with the carcasses of the numerous animals which have died on it after passing the mountains. No ravenous animals are found here, so that it is rare to see a skeleton deprived of flesh. At 1.30. we passed El Ramle Kebeer, or the large sands, which is a range of sand hills running to a great distance to the east-south-east from our right hand. At 6.30. stopped, having travelled north 35°, east 35 miles. The slaves were much fatigued, and I placed a couple of little children on my horse, whilst I rode on a camel. Belford’s Maherry was in very poor plight; but I determined, if possible, to get him to Sockna. The hills of El Gaaf, which are placed on the right and left of the road before us, bore thus: north-east point of the western range north 27° east; west point of the eastern range north 66° east. A raw night, much sand blowing over us.