Dec. 18th. Thermometer 5° at the tent door. Fine clear morning, with the wind to the eastward. We had much difficulty in catching our horses, which had broken their tethers, and run out on the desert; even the Kaid’s Rosinanté was capering about: my horse, however, stopped at the sound of my voice, and by 9.15. we were enabled to proceed. At about three-quarters of a mile south-east by east of Zaitoon, is another village of the same description, called Touela, طويله. We passed through it, and, I believe, shook hands with every male inhabitant in the place. Near this village is a large heap of ruins, said to have once been a castle, the walls of which are, though roughly built, very curious. Between a rising ground a little to the eastward, and the principal well, there are twelve others, each about four yards apart, and having arched communications sufficiently high for a man to walk erect in. Leaving Touela, we ascended to a bleak stony plain, running on to the desert on the left, and having very irregular sand hills, about the distance of two miles to the right. We directed our course north 65° east. A strong north-east wind was blowing, and I observed, as in coming from Tripoli, that in the coldest days the sun has the greatest power of burning the skin. Belford and myself were completely disfigured about the nose, which became very red, and smarted painfully. At eleven the sand hills closed in, and we came again to a few palms and a small village called Maghwa, مخوه. We remained to warm ourselves in the sun by a well side, and were joined by Besheer el Dthucker, the Kaid of Traghan’s brother, who had followed us full speed from Morzouk. At 11.45. the camel having passed, we went on; and at 1.30. came again to sand hills. At 2.10. we arrived with the horses at Taleb, طالب, (Fox), a village with about eighteen palm trees, and four or five mud huts: the Sheikh brought us out some dates and very salt water. The mountains between us and Hamera, حميره, called El Gāra, القار, bore north 60° east. At three, the camel having passed, we went on. At 4.10. passed El Gāra on the right. From hence Hamera bore north 55° east. We travelled all this day, with the exception of the villages, over a gravelly desert. On the plain we visited a well which is haunted by Iblis, or the devil; for the Arabs cannot conceive that the echo which proceeds from it can arise from any other cause. At five we arrived at Hamera. I found myself greatly exhausted in consequence of the pain in my liver, and the debility occasioned by the mercury I had taken. The Kaid promised me much comfort here, as we were to have the Sultan’s own house; but we waited so long in the midst of the village, before we could find any one to get it ready, that I was obliged to produce my Teskera, which soon set the people in motion, and converted a set of impudent lazy Arabs into the most submissive people in the world, and every one of them seemed equally anxious to do us honour. We soon found the house, which was a miserable ruin, having only two roofed rooms. The one destined for our reception was occupied by five or six half naked Arab women, and a small flock of sheep; but they all made way for us, and we took possession of it.
Dec. 19th.—I was so ill that I remained in bed, and was stared at by the whole village.
December 20th. Thermometer 3° 30′. This place is now nearly unwalled by time, and is completely wretched; it stands on the desert, but is surrounded by a few straggling palms, and gardens. The ground near the walls is covered with bushes of Agool (or thorn of the desert), which, at a little distance, has a pleasing green effect, and was then quite a novelty to us. The Sheikh brought his two wives to me for advice: the first, who had a head-ache and sore eyes, I was able to do something for; but as for the second, her case was hopeless; for, according to her husband’s and her own account, she had been three years with child. Such mistakes are frequent here, as many women take this method of deceiving their husbands, to avoid being divorced for sterility. The lady left the house very much irritated at my giving her no remedy for her complaint. At 11.20. we started, and I observed the following bearings from Hamera. El Bedere, east by north two miles. (It is from this place that the people of the neighbouring districts supply themselves with salt, as it is here free from earth, and of a beautiful whiteness.) Omelerāneb, west-south-west two miles. This is the town of Sheikh Barood, of the Boowadie Arabs; and from this place Teweewa is south-west two or three miles. As usual, the desert is to the left, and high sand hills to the right. The first part of our road was over a barren plain, and we then, for an hour and a half, travelled over a plain of salt, broken up in large slabs by the heat of the sun, and having the appearance of a brown disturbed sea. We found the footing very difficult for ourselves and animals. At 1.40. arrived at the village of Omesogueen. Stopped here for a short time, and sent the camels on. I consider this place seven miles and a half east 8° north of Hamera. Low table-topped hills bound the view to the northward. The plains which occurred at intervals between the sand hills, were covered by brittle stones, resembling pieces of yellowish earthen ware, and ringing when struck by iron. At 2.15. we set off, and proceeded east 17° north; met three more Augela prisoners, and eight camels laden with merchandize, which they had brought from Egypt, and which, with themselves, were seized on their entering Zuela. At four we passed a flat hill on the left, running east and west for many miles, called Mengār; some talhh trees are scattered on the plain at its foot, which afford a lasting joke against the people of Zuela. A man coming from thence, in great dread of meeting the Waled Suliman, a band of Arabs who were pillaging the country, was so blinded by his fears, that he mistook these trees, which he had seen from his infancy, for horsemen, and in great trepidation galloped to Zuela with the news: the Zuela men, in consequence, putting their women and children in safety, went out in a body towards evening to reconnoitre, when, after the usual caperings of a party of Arabs, they came up with their enemy, which proved to be the trees in question! After passing over another rough salt plain, we arrived at 5.10. at Zuela, having on each side heaps of ruins within the walls. On an eminence near the town, the principal people (who are Shreefs) had been assembled for four or five hours in order to welcome us. We were shown to a very good house, and numberless visitors came, bringing provisions of all descriptions. For each mess Kaid Saad, who was highly delighted, paid some compliment to the bringer, though not till he had first dipped his finger in and tasted. I was here so ill, that I was obliged to apply a large blister to my side, and to go to bed, leaving my party listening to the wonders which the Kaid was relating about Belford and myself, whom he represented as two very extraordinary personages.
Dec. 21st. Thermometer, at nine A.M. 7°. Being too unwell to leave my bed, Shreefs in numbers came to see us. About twelve different bowls of meat, soup, and bread, were sent in to us, which the Kaid and Besheer (for neither Belford nor myself had much appetite) successively despatched.
December 22nd. Thermometer 9°, wind east-north-east, and at two P.M. thermometer 21°. I found myself better until noon, when a severe attack of hemma seized me, and my spleen became so very hard and painful, that I was unable to lie down. At night, the attack having ceased, I had a very large party to visit me, and to examine my curiosities, amongst which the compass, and a phosphoric match-box, were the most admired, and of course in great danger of being broken. A venerable Shreef, named Mohammed Ali, came late, and it was therefore necessary to go through my exhibition a second time, at which he seemed highly gratified. He paid me great compliments on my sagacity in having turned Moslem, and invited me to an assembly at the great Mosque on the Friday following.
The inhabitants of Zuela are nearly all white, and Shreefs, and they are particularly careful about intermarriages with other Arabs, priding themselves much on their immediate descent from Mohammed. They are certainly the most respectable, hospitable, and quiet people in Fezzan, and their whole appearance (for they are handsome and very neatly dressed) bespeaks something superior to the other whites. I observed this evening that these people, as well as all other Arabs and Negroes, invariably express admiration by laughter, which is generally accompanied by holding the open hand with the back towards the forehead. The more they are surprised or amused, the more boisterous and loud they become.
December 23rd. Thermometer 9°, wind easterly. This morning my curiosity was much excited respecting a very extraordinary fowl, of which the Shreef, Mohammed el Dthābi, last night told me some wonderful stories. He described it as being almost white, and above a foot and a half in height; very stately and dignified in its gait. He had brought a cock and a hen from Egypt, and what was most remarkable, though the cock crowed very loud, and unlike other cocks, the hen crowed also, and nearly as well as her mate. The eggs were very large, and an omelette, which he brought me, was composed of five of them, though, from its size, I really thought twenty would have been requisite. A very large crowd assembled to witness what would be my surprise at the sight of this creature, and while the Sidi went out to fetch it, each told me some curious story respecting it. At last it arrived, and Mohammed having begged that the way might be cleared, walked up to me with great importance, and opening his abba, set before me a goose, which waddled off with great dignity, hissing as it went; while I, to the great disappointment of the company, fell back and laughed immoderately.
We rode out of the town to see the extraordinary ruins, so much spoken of by the commentators on Horneman’s travels, but which Horneman himself never saw or heard of, unless as two or three miserable mud edifices of the early Arabs. The one most esteemed by the Shreefs is an old Mosque, standing at about half a mile to the westward of the town. It is a large oblong building of evidently an early date, though certainly of Arab origin. The walls are built with a neatness now unpractised and unknown, of unbaked rough bricks, and strong binding clay. At the north-west corner is the Mouaden (or minaret), much dilapidated, but still of a height sufficient to command an extensive view of the surrounding country. The length of the Meseed inside is 135 feet, and its breadth is 90, immense dimensions for an Arab building, which has no cross walls to support the roof. It is quite open overhead, and nothing remains to give an idea of what it once was covered with. There are two niches for the Imaum; one is in a partition built partly across, near one end, for that purpose; the other is in the wall, and in the form of a pulpit, and I suppose has been used for the purpose of addressing the people when assembled on the plain below, a custom prevailing at Morzouk after Rhamadan, at Milood, and other feast days.
From this Mosque we went to a spot half a mile east of the town, to examine five buildings, the appearance of which was much more interesting. These are in a line with one another, and have a passage between them of three or four feet in breadth. They are square; their diameters are about twenty feet, and their height about thirty. They have dome tops, and two windows; one low near the ground, the other high and narrow, and situated about ten feet above it. The rough skeleton of the building is of sun-dried bricks and clay, which have hardened to nearly the consistency of stone; over this, to about half the height of the building, are laid large flat stones of a reddish colour, and unhewn, as found in the neighbouring mountains. Few of these, however, still adhere.
The interior of the buildings are perfectly void, and appear never to have had any floors or partitions. From the smallness of the lower windows, it strikes me that these places were the tombs of the Shreefs, who first settled here about five or six hundred years ago; at all events, they now answer this purpose, as each contains a Shreef, whose grave is ornamented with the usual complement of broken pots, shreds of cloth, and ostrich eggs. The people here look with much reverence on these edifices, and tell many wonderful stories of the dead now enshrined in them.