When the kingdom of Fezzan was governed by a native Prince, this town and the two neighbouring ones were, in a manner, independent; the distance from their own capital, as well as from Tripoli, securing them from surprise. All discontented or disaffected people, from either country, took refuge here, and the population was, at that time, more than double what it now is. The people of Sockna speak a language peculiar to themselves and to the Tuarick of the Great Desert; it is called Ertāna, and is, I believe, the original Breber tongue. In another part of this work, I have given a short vocabulary of it. Mukni receives all his tribute in person, and is, from daylight until dark, sitting in the midst of the Arabs. As soon as the business of one party is settled, a prayer is recited, and room is left for another equally noisy set, who, though they dispute and make all sort of difficulty about paying their money, are never suffered by Mukni to gain their point: at the very moment indeed when they appear most confident of having their complaints attended to, some one of Mukni’s men cries out “The Fattha!” (or first chapter of the Koran), every one joining in that prayer. This is the signal for the poor creatures to retire, and they are then obliged to consider their claims as settled.
The Sheikh is in continual apprehensions of losing his life; his predecessor having, the year before, been found one night with his throat cut, and no one was allowed to inquire who committed the deed. The inhabitants were obliged to pay a fine or penalty of 2000 dollars to Mukni (who alone was supposed guilty), in consequence of the murder having been perpetrated in the town.
It being necessary for the Sultan to employ persons of trust to receive his taxes at Hoon and Wadan, as well as from the neighbouring Arabs, he proposed sending with them his young son Yussuf, allowing Mr. Ritchie and myself also to accompany them, in order to afford us a safe opportunity of seeing those places. A troop of about thirty horsemen being prepared, on the 14th of June we set out. Little Yussuf was placed under the charge of a man named Ibrahim, who had also orders to attend to and supply all our wants.
After passing over the plain, and through the palms, east by south ten miles, we arrived at Hoon, حون. It is a smaller town than Sockna, but walled, and built in the same manner: its palms and gardens are close to the walls. It has three gates, three mosques, and a large building which is dignified with the name of a castle, although it does not appear even to have a loophole for musketry. The inhabitants, having about three hundred muskets, came out to welcome Yussuf, and we met with the same boisterous reception as was given a few days before to the Sultan. A number of dancing women performed in the court of the house in which we were assembled, the greatest part of the day; and in the evening the slaves joined the concert with their cymbals. The whole was so completely to the taste of Mukni’s men, and continued so long, that the performers were literally tired out. When they came to request corn or money from the spectators, it was to us they first applied, as considering us the greatest personages; but we were so poor, in despite of our fine garments, that we actually had nothing to give, which disappointed and astonished them much.
| Drawn from Life by G. F. Lyon. | On Stone by M. Gauci. |
| Piper and Dancer. Tripoli. | Dancing Woman. Sockna. |
London. Published by J. Murray Albemarle St. Feb.1.1821.
C. Hullmandel’s Lithography.
In the burying-grounds near the town we observed that nearly all the graves were ornamented with one or more ostrich eggs, as were the doors and angles of the mosques, and their enclosures. We entered the tomb of a Marāboot, and standing near the grave, recited the “Fatha” aloud. In the evening we visited the gardens, which are close to the town, the latter being completely hidden from the view by the thick palms which surround it. The soil is sand, but the grain was in the most luxuriant state of forwardness, owing to its being constantly refreshed by little channels from the wells, the water of which is brackish.
The people of the town having been told what sum of money they were required to collect before we returned from Wadan, we proceeded on the 15th April to that place, passing over a barren stony flat east by north twelve or thirteen miles. The town is not walled, and appears very inferior to the other two in point of neatness, comfort, and convenience, though its aspect is much more pleasing, as it is built on a conical hill, on the top of which are some enclosed houses, called the Castle. Here there is a well of great depth, cut through the solid rock, and evidently not the work of the Bedouins. One of the Shreefs took us into a mosque, that we might examine a curious stone, bearing an Arabic inscription in raised letters, and, from its date, it must have been above six hundred years old. It was let into the mud wall, but no one knew where it had been found. Mr. Ritchie did not attempt to copy it, as we were not yet enough acquainted with the customs of the Arabs to know if it would be permitted. The tombs and mosques, as at Hoon, were ornamented with quantities of ostrich eggs.