Tuesday, Feb. 29th.—A man arrived from my friend, the Shreef Sādig, bringing two letters, one from himself, and the other from his brother the Shreef Abd el Ateef. These letters contained many kind wishes that I might succeed in all my undertakings, and return to their country; and concluded by saying, that prayers had been offered up in their Mosque for my safety. Four ostrich eggs, and two skins of peculiarly fine dates, accompanied these kind epistles.
Never was I so much out of patience with any people as with the natives of this place; night and day my door was surrounded, not by the poor alone, but by high and low. I really envied poor Belford his deafness, for had I too lost my hearing, I might have enjoyed a little peace. If any of these people obtained admittance, they sat down, and could not be induced to move for an hour or two, all the time flattering and begging. Ill as I was, these tormentors never allowed me to close my eyes. Belford, besides being deaf, understood but little Arabic, and could not assist me in keeping them off; consequently I was continually obliged to answer questions, to admit some, and to turn out others, and was thereby thrown into a fever far more severe than that which at first attacked me. The flies literally covered the walls, and fell by spoonfuls into all we eat or drank; in fact, so many evils overwhelmed me at once, that I have ample reason to recollect Sockna, and the miseries I endured there are too strongly imprinted on my mind to be ever forgotten. I managed, in spite of my weakness, the foregoing night, to go out with a man to see his wife, who was afflicted with sore gums. She was handsome, with large black eyes, and a complexion almost as fair even as that of an Englishwoman. I prescribed as well as I could, by advising her to bleed, and then to wash her gums with bark, which I gave her, and which, I afterwards heard, completely cured her. My fee was honey from Soudan, meat, and what was of far more value than all, about a gill of sweet milk. We heard this day of the arrival of our friend Bouksaysa at Hoon, his native place, with a large Kafflé.
Wednesday, March 1st.—We were to have set out this morning; but, like true Arabs, our camel-men said their animals were ready, when they knew the contrary, and after being kept all day in suspense, we were obliged to defer our departure until the morrow. I know not how I should have managed to hire camels here, had it not been for my friend Lizari, who, while I was ill, took a great deal of trouble on himself. I was very anxious to obtain the longitude of this place, and twice corrected the chronometer by equal altitudes; but it went so badly, and stopped so often, that I gave up the attempt. I was this evening much amused by a boy who came from Hoon to see me, or rather to beg some money. He was the person I mentioned, as having advocated slave-hunting so amusingly to Mr. Ritchie and myself, when we were at that place: he came to the door and begged admittance, knowing that we were eating; some others also came begging at the same time, and wishing to turn him away; on which a vehement dispute arose as to who had the greatest right to my bounty. The boy said he came with me from Tripoli, the year before, in the same Kafflé, which they all agreed was no reason at all; but when he added that Mr. Ritchie and I had given him some money, and that he was therefore my friend, and had a right to expect more, all yielded to his superior claims. An Arab, when you have once treated him kindly, thinks himself entitled to be ever after a burthen on you, and to beg, or perhaps to steal, from you as long as he lives.
The Tripoli money is the currency of Sockna, which occasions great losses to the people, who are obliged to pay their taxes to Mukni in Spanish dollars, which they buy at extravagant prices. The Bashaw’s coin is now almost worthless.
It is not the custom here to bury the dates, which in consequence are very fine, and free from sand; but they keep them in store-huts built for the purpose. I imagine that their being so exposed may account in some degree for the multitude of flies found here.
All the houses are built on the same plan, having a small square court in the centre, from which a few steps lead to an open gallery, which is the principal room. The other rooms are on the ground-floor, and one or two open from the gallery; they have no windows, but receive their light from the doors, which are all curiously chequered and striped with a kind of black paint made from burnt wool, mixed with gum-water. As they are composed of many rounded pannels of date-wood, some appear like the backs of large old books. A little blackish rat was brought to me, which was really very curious; it had a head resembling that of a badger, with the same peculiar marks by the side of the face; its tail was long, black, and rather bushy. Belford and myself contrived to make a cage for it out of a tin canister, and I discovered that it had the power of clinging to the bars, and climbing with its back downwards: it was very fierce, but I had great hopes of being able to bring it home, as well as three other animals, called by the Arabs Dthub ظمب, which resembled lizards in many respects, but were much more clumsily formed, and slower in their motions: their tails were broad, and covered with scaly spikes, and they could hang by their fore paws, which they had the power of closing on any object: their head and nose much resembled those of the hawk’s-bill turtle, and to a certain degree, they changed their colour as cameleons do.
I was rubbed this day with a mixture, which the Arabs consider excellent in cases of fever, and which really, though it made me very dirty, rendered my skin quite comfortable: it was composed of a small aromatic seed, the name of which I have forgotten, with lavender from Tripoli, and cloves, pounded together, and mixed with oil and vinegar; it is rubbed over the whole body and head, until nearly dry. My doctress was a white woman of Tripoli, who, in fear of her life, had escaped from thence.
About eighteen months before this period, the Bashaw, one evening, surprised his black wives and a party of their female friends, making merry, or in other words, very drunk and noisy, and playing all sorts of extraordinary pranks; on sight of him they fled in all directions, leaving in his presence, his wife or wives, with this Tripoline woman and a Negress slave. The latter had her throat cut immediately in the presence of her mistress, the wives were threatened with death, and the white woman, named Sleema, the doctress above-mentioned, received five hundred bastinadoes; she was then allowed to depart, but the Bashaw afterwards thought proper to send after her, with an order that she should be strangled. She was fortunate enough to escape, and after wandering about for some time, attached herself to Lilla Fātma, who was also exiled and given to Sheikh Barood, with whom she arrived safely at Fezzan. The poor woman, owing to severe illness, was on the brink of the grave during her stay at Morzouk, which made her determine on leaving the place, and braving every danger by a return to Tripoli. On my coming away, she put herself under my protection, and I promised to intercede with the Bashaw for her pardon. As she was emaciated and very weak, I allowed her to mount my camels, and I fed her during the journey. She certainly was not a very interesting figure, being much marked with the small-pox, and resembling, in form and person, a little fat man; and I was well aware that I should not make a very beautiful or virtuous addition to the Tripoli ladies: feeling, however, great pity for her, I consented to take her under my charge. Lilla Fātma, whom this unfortunate female had served for a whole year, allowed her to come away without giving her even a shirt, or money to help her on her journey.
Thursday, March 2nd.—We left Sockna, and rested for the day at some palms and sand hills, called Hammam, جمّام, four miles north of the town, where we found our former fellow-travellers already lying with their Kafflés. I last night had one of the yellow rats brought me, much resembling those found in Morzouk, having a sandy red back, and white belly; I put it into the cage with the other, who killed and partly ate it before morning. The first is called Guntsha قنشا. Before we set off this day, our friend Abd el Rahman gave us a fine bowl of milk and dates. My camels were hired at the rate of two dollars the Kantār, the drivers feeding themselves: some of the animals carried six Kantār, and were very fine creatures, in excellent condition. I perceived here that my Maherry, which I had sent out while we were at Sockna to feed in company with the camels, had received some injury in his foot, and was again lame. None of the camel men would allow Sleema, the white woman who had escaped from Tripoli, to ride, even though I offered three dollars for her passage, their animals being too heavily laden. The poor creature was therefore, in despair, obliged to return to Sockna. I gave her all the money I could afford, which was three dollars, promising to mention her to the Consul, in case she came to Tripoli and took refuge under our flag. She was all gratitude, and went crying back again to the house of a woman she had known when at Tripoli, and who had maintained her while we were at Sockna.