The buildings here being covered with a mixture of sand and clay which easily receives the impression of feet, I endeavoured to trace on the top of ours the tracks of our visitor, and succeeded in finding one long print of a foot, exactly in the direction in which Mr. Ritchie had first observed this man. The impression did not resemble the shape of any of our feet; but was longer, and entirely flat, like those of most Negroes. Little doubt, therefore, could remain that a stranger had been there, evidently with no good intentions.
The next morning we waited on Mukni, informing him of what had occurred, when he affected to think Mr. Ritchie must have been delirious, and laughed very much at our alarm. Old Hadje Mahmoud was firmly persuaded it was Iblis, who had haunted our house ever since a man was murdered in it. The foot-mark, however, staggered him a good deal, and he offered to bring a Marāboot, who would by smelling it, and reciting a few prayers, tell us who had imprinted it. The more rational people agreed in our opinion, that it was a spy, but this was only ventured in private; in public they pretended to treat the matter as lightly as the Sultan did.
The preparations we had made, and our being observed to start up ready armed, perhaps secured us from any farther visits of the kind, and we took especial care to announce openly, that we would shoot the first person we saw even looking into our back yard. We never could positively ascertain why such a mysterious visit was made to us, but we strongly suspected Mukni to be the sole instigator of it. He soon after again fell sick, and constantly professed his great regard for us.
After Boo Khalloum’s departure, some Arab Sheikhs were established as inmates of the castle, and Mukni frequently walked hand in hand with one of them, who was Chief of the tribe Barooda. This man was considered as being better acquainted with all the roads of the desert, than any other person in Fezzan. His own tribe were, at this time, near Egypt; and many suspected, that Mukni intended, with his assistance, to go off in that direction. But whatever might have been his destination, every route would have been equally dangerous for him, since he was detested by all the Arabs, and liable to be tortured and put to death by the Negroes, should he fall into their power.
For the present, however, leaving him confined in his castle, I shall speak more of the people of Morzouk. The ablest person of our sick party always went to the gardens to shoot pigeons, which had been numerous, but which now had emigrated to the countries to the southward. These visits to the date groves gave us many opportunities of observing the manner of cultivating the grain and esculents. The wells are generally about 20 or 30 feet in depth, and more resemble large deep ponds than what we call wells. The water lies on a stratum of grayish clay, is salt, and generally smells very badly: it is raised by means of sheers made of date trees, lashed together, and placed slopingly over the centre of the pit. One or two asses, according to the number of buckets used, are attached by a light harness and run down a steep bank, which renders their work less laborious. The men who attend also draw with them, and quicken their pace by pricking them on the flanks, with their small reaping hooks, in so rude a manner, that many of the poor animals are quite scarified. The water runs into small channels, which are formed round the garden, while the women and children, with scoops, distribute it as it may be wanted.
In some places where it is intended to allow the ground to “drink,” the embankments are opened, and the garden is completely flooded; thus the labour is very great, and absolutely necessary, as rain is unknown, and no dews ever fall. The people who attend the gardens, live in little huts constructed of palm branches, and about six feet in height. The dates, when quite dry, are buried in square holes, dug in the sand, and are afterwards covered over with it. Corn is made into little sheaves, and laid out until wanted: it is then beaten with long date-sticks, and asses are made to run over it. The ground on which these operations take place is a circle firmly clayed and quite clean: much sand is, however, unavoidably mixed with their corn. Pomegranate and fig-trees form an agreeable shade near some of the wells; they are so planted, as to stand in the centre of the water channels. The gardens are, as I have before stated, very small; yet it sometimes happens, that one alone produces all the vegetables and fruits peculiar to the country.
Near our house was the principal Mosque, to which the Sultan and ourselves went every Friday, as a matter of course; and every other day, we found it necessary to appear there once or twice. It is a low building, having a shed projecting over the door, which, being raised on a platform, is entered by a few steps. A small turret, intended to be square and perpendicular, is erected for the Mouadden to call the people to prayers. One of the great lounges is on the seats in front of the Mosque; and every morning and evening, they are full of idle people, who converse on the state of the markets, and on their own private affairs; or, in a fearful whisper, canvass the Sultan’s conduct.
The men of Morzouk, of the better sort, dress nearly like the people of Tripoli; the lower orders wear a large shirt of white or blue cotton with long loose sleeves, trowsers of the same, and sandals of camels’ hide: the shirts being long, many wear no other covering. When leaving their houses, and walking to the market or gardens, a Jereed or Aba is thrown round them, and a red cap, or a neatly quilted white cotton one, completes the dress: on Fridays they perhaps add a turban, and appear in yellow slippers. In the gardens, men and women wear large broad-brimmed straw hats to defend their eyes from the sun, and sandals made from the leaves and fibres of the palm-tree. Very young children go entirely naked; those who are older have a shirt: many are quite bare-headed, and in that state exposed all day to the sun and flies. The men have but little beard, which they keep closely clipped. The dress of the women here differs materially from that of the Moorish females, and their appearance and smell are far from being agreeable: they plait their hair in thick bobbins, which hang over their foreheads, nearly as low down as the eyebrows, and are there joined at the bottom, as far round to each side as the temples.
The hair is so profusely oiled, that it drops down over the face and clothes; this is dried up by sprinkling it with plenty of a preparation made of a plant resembling wild lavender, cloves, and one or two more species, pounded into powder and called Atrïa: it forms a brown, dirty looking paste, and, combined with perspiration and the flying sand, becomes in a few days far from savoury in appearance or odour. The back hair is less disgusting, as it is plaited into a long tress on each side, and is brought to hang over the shoulders; from these tresses, ornaments of silver or coral are suspended. Black wool is frequently worked in with these back locks, to make them appear longer. In the centre of the forehead, an ornament of coral or beads is placed, hanging down to the depth of an inch or two. A woollen handkerchief is fastened on the back of the head; it falls over behind, and is tied by a leather strap under the chin. Each ear is perforated for as many rings as the woman possesses, some wear even six on one side; the largest, which is about five inches in diameter, hanging lowest, supported by a string from the head. Round the neck, a tight flat collar of beads, arranged in fancy patterns, is worn with coral necklaces, and sometimes a broad gold plate immediately in front. A large blue shirt is generally worn, the collar and breast ornamented with needle-work: the women also wear white shirts, and striped silk ones called Shāmi, which are brought from Egypt;—a Jereed and red slippers complete their dress.
They generally have those wrappers of a darker colour than those of the men. Some of the better class of women wear trowsers, not fuller in the leg than those worn in Europe; they are very prettily embroidered with silk at the bottom of the leg, and form a handsome contrast to the black skin of the wearer. Cornelians or Agates, roughly shaped in the form of hearts, are much worn as necklaces, and they have a variety of rings for the thumbs and fingers. A band of silk cord hanging round the body from one shoulder is generally filled with pendent leather or cloth bags containing charms. Round the wrists and above the elbows, Armlets of silver, gold, glass, horn, or ivory, are worn according to the ability of the wearer to purchase them; and on the ankles they have silver, brass, copper, or iron shackles. I have seen a pair of silver ones, which weighed 128 ounces; but these ponderous ornaments produce a callous lump on the leg, and entirely deform the ankle. The poorest people have only the Jereed and sandals. Both men and women have a singular custom of stuffing their nostrils with a twisted leaf of onions or clover, which has a very disgusting appearance. The men, not using oil, are much cleaner than the women; but the whole race of them, high and low, apparently clean or otherwise, are abominably lousy; and they make no secret of it. I have frequently observed the Sultan, when detecting an interloper, moisten his thumb to prevent its escape, and then demolish it with great composure and dignity. Some of the neighbours whom we visited, whilst reposing on their carpets, would send for a slave to hunt for these tormentors on their shirts; and it is a great recommendation to a female slave, on sale, to say that she is well skilled in this art, and in that of shampooing.