January 13th. Therm. 2°. 10′.—We left Wudakaire at 7.20. and passed over a desert of sand, without a break in the horizon, N. 10°. W. 35 miles, when at seven we arrived at Mestoota مستوته, a small spot of about two miles in circumference, covered with palm and Attila bushes; and having a low marsh, abounding in rushes, and the favourite shrubs of the camels, viz. Deesa ديسه, Agool عقول, and Dthamaran ظمرعن. There are many wells here, and an old ruined Arab castle. We observed the Ghrazzie to encamp about five miles short of this place. The Jerboas were here in immense quantities, and ran over our heads the whole night: they were even bold enough to attempt stealing a piece of bread from under my head.
Friday 14th. Therm. 2°. 30′. below zero.—Water which we had left in a bowl over night, became ice of the thickness of half an inch; and the Gerbas (water skins) were so completely frozen up at the necks, that we were obliged to melt them over a fire. What must the poor naked Negroes, who know no winter, have suffered during the whole of this night, lying out uncovered, on the sand! We had a long chase after our horses, which had broken loose and gone away, until 10.20. when, after much trouble in securing them, we set off, passing as before over a flat plain of sand until 3.20. when we arrived at some dangerously high sand hills; down which I every moment expected the Maherry, which carried myself and two sacks of dates, would tumble. At 7.30. we arrived safely past the hills at Māfen معفن, a small village which I saw from Traghan, when first I went there. We had travelled, when on the plain, N. 35°. E. 15 miles, and over the sand hills, N. 10°. E. 12 miles.
Saturday 15th. Therm. 2°. Fine morning.—Started at nine from Māfen, and passed over a most curious plain of salt and earth, so broken by the sun, that it resembled the rough and irregular lava of Vesuvius; large slabs of four or five feet in height, with sharp points, were sticking up in every direction, and as hard as stone. I think it next to an impossibility for a man to walk even a few yards over this ground. A poor path, barely wide enough for a camel, has been cut and worn through it; but many accidents still happen by animals falling on their journey over it. This extraordinary bed extends east and west above twenty miles, and is about three in breadth at this part. I paid it a much longer visit than I could have wished, being attacked so severely by hemma, as to be obliged to dismount and lie in the road, until the afternoon, without water to relieve me, or any thing at hand to assuage the pain in my liver.
On my recovery, we passed Traghan, without entering the town; and having refreshed ourselves at a well of tolerably good water, went on with Besheer to his house at Deesa, where he killed the fatted calf, and gave us the most cordial welcome. His mother and young wife came out to receive us, and with his sisters, wept for joy at his return. I gave the old woman some eye medicine, for which she wanted me to accept a fine fat-tailed sheep; and his sister furnished us with eggs, fowls, and sour milk in abundance. Kaid Saad would not stop here; but after taking Lackbi enough to make him merry, set off for Zaizow, to prepare a welcome for us on the morrow.
January 16th. Therm. 4°. We set out at ten for Morzouk. I suffered Belford and the camel to go on, and remained amongst the surrounding little hamlets, with Besheer, who introduced me to his friends and neighbours, many compliments passing on both sides. He also presented me to a very pretty girl whom he had fixed on as his new wife, making two his complement. About noon, we heard the firing of the Ghrazzie’s people on entering Beedan بيدان a village near Zaizow, and soon after, arriving at the latter place, we alighted at the residence of Kaid Saad. We found him lying on the ground, most amusingly drunk and communicative, and surrounded by fowls and bread, eggs, cakes, soup, sweet and sour lackbi, and dates.
He was all generosity, and would have given us his whole house, and into the bargain, even his old wife, who waited on us during the meal, and was highly oiled for the occasion. We soon discovered, as he was not in condition to keep a secret, why he had recourse to such large draughts of lackbi. He had boasted, all the time he was with me, of his second wife, and had promised I should be treated with a sight of her, if he could prevail on so beautiful and bashful a creature to show her face to any other man than her husband: no sooner, however, had he left Zaizow to accompany me a month before, than this charming person decamped. She first collected as much corn as she could find, and a dollar or two which were hoarded up; and after abusing her house-mate, the elder wife, set out for Morzouk. Report spoke unfavourably of her conduct there, and the old man was endeavouring, in consequence, to drown his sorrows in his favourite liquor. The lady of the house presented me with a bowl of Soudan manufacture.
This afternoon, a man came to me for medicine, for a pain in the chest, and opening his shirt, displayed the most sickening sight I ever beheld: he had been so burnt over the whole of his breast, that it had festered, and become a sore of above a foot in diameter, and had so eaten into his skin, that I imagined he could not survive many days. I had nothing with me which would relieve him, but advised that his sore should be kept clean, a precaution which had never entered his head. His friend, who brought him to me, said, that for all the world he would not suffer him to be washed, as he had read in a book, that using water to a burn occasioned certain death. Thus, owing to their ignorance and prejudice, this poor man probably lost his life. After being nearly killed with kindness, we set out. The Kaid, though almost incapable of sitting his own poor lean horse, amused himself by riding at full speed before and across mine, screeching and discharging his gun out of compliment to me; but happily for his own neck, and I may add for mine also, in about half an hour his powder failed him.
In the evening we arrived at Morzouk, and found that my kind friends, Yussuf and the old Hadje, had prepared a feast for me. I went to visit Mukni, who received me very graciously, and thanked me for going to meet his son, whom he pretended to be ashamed of, for not having presented me with a couple of Maherrys; one to eat, and the other to ride on. Yussuf and the old man spent the greater part of the night with us, relating all the city news; and I promised them, that on the morrow, I would set out with the Sultan’s two youngest sons, to Hadge Hajeel, to meet and return with the Ghrazzie to Morzouk.
January 17th. Therm. 6°.—I set out as I had proposed, with the Mamlukes and a large body of Fezzanners, to meet their friends; for which, on joining Aleiwa’s people, I received many thanks and compliments: having only slept one night at my own house, I was not expected to leave it again so quickly. I here found my little patient, whom I mentioned before, quite recovered, and able, by his master’s instruction, to thank me in a few words of Arabic. This little fellow’s patience, during illness, had so won on his master, a shoemaker of Morzouk, that he had adopted him; and intended, instead of selling, to bring him up to his own trade, in which, if the boy succeeds, he is to make me a pair of boots on my return. We spent this afternoon in singing and eating, and every one assumed a new appearance: instead of the dirty ragged wretches whom I had last seen, they were transformed into a gay multitude, dressed in silks, scarlet, and embroidery; their friends collecting for them such finery as would enable them to enter the capital with becoming dignity. Many of the Arabs smelt most odoriferously of attar of roses, and affected to look as if they had been accustomed to it all their lives.
The whole procession would have been very amusing, on the morning of the 18th, but for the multitude of poor dejected captives;—their swelled and sore feet, and emaciated bodies, formed such a sad contrast to the finery and ostentation of the conquerors, that it not only completely checked all inclination to laugh, but gave rise to the most painful feelings. Six flags preceded the army with a large band of musicians, who formed a melodious concert, each disdaining time or tune, and playing such airs as their own taste dictated. On approaching Morzouk, the dancing women and bagpipers came out, and added to the din; and the Arabs, dividing as usual into two bodies, skirmished with very good effect. At noon we entered the town, and I rode ahead of the Sultan’s son, to observe what would be his father’s reception of him. I found Mukni sitting in the greatest agitation, pale, and alone in the Mezlis, or Court of his Castle, and scarcely able to welcome me. The crowd assembling, a lane was formed from the place where Aleiwa was to alight, to the great chair in which the Sultan sat. The boy dismounted, and, supported by his younger brother, ran and threw himself on his knees to kiss his father’s hand. A general silence prevailed, when the father, overcome by his feelings, reclined on the son’s neck, and wept aloud. At that moment I felt that I could have forgiven him all his unkindness to Mr. Ritchie and myself, and the numerous murders he had committed; had I not recollected that this favourite boy was returning with many poor children, whose existence was not less dear to their own parents than his was to Mukni. When the Sultan had become a little composed, and had re-assumed his look of dignity, a splendid Bornouse of cloth of gold was brought, and Aleiwa being stripped of that which he then wore, by some of the principal people, the new one was thrown over him, for which he knelt and kissed his father’s hand. This, I find, is the customary present in all the Barbary states to generals returning victorious. The ceremony over, all the Arabs commenced kissing hands, and the Sultan then, having vouchsafed a smile on the crowd, entered the Castle, leaning on the shoulders of his two sons.