Corn and barley are sown in October and November, and reaped in March and April; during which time, and until the last month, the crops are watered twice a week, with much labour, by means of small channels cut from the reservoirs at the wells. Guddub or Sufsafa, قدّن صفسفه, which is a species of clover, is sown in small squares, in January and February, and will bear cutting once a fortnight until November, when it ceases to grow, and the roots are given to cattle. It is very expensive, but fattens horses and camels very quickly. Gussub قصب, and Gafooly قفولي, of both kinds, are sown at midsummer, and ripen in the autumn; they are sometimes given in a green state to horses; the stalks then are very sweet, and resemble sugar-canes in taste. Many people cultivate these plants, without the intention of allowing them to ripen, but merely to supply the horses: by pulling the stalks up by the roots, the land is soon again fit for other crops. The dry straw is the winter fodder, but extravagantly dear. The stalk of the Gafooly sometimes grows to the height of seven or eight feet; the Guddub resembles clover, but is more delicate. The water of Fezzan is universally brackish, and in many places quite salt; and by constantly using it, and comparing the best with the worst, some wells appear almost fresh. There are no rivers of any description; but there are stagnant ponds which produce salt, and generally cause the agues so prevalent in some parts of the country.
The capital of Fezzan is Morzouk, the latitude of which is 25° 54′ north, and longitude 15° 52′ east. The other towns of note are, Sockna in the north, Zuela in the east, and Gatrone in the south. The people derive their subsistence from dates which may almost be said to be the only support of the country, and from the small quantity of grain and vegetables, which they raise with so much toil in the gardens: they occasionally treat themselves with a little camels’ flesh. Sheep and goats are too expensive for the poorer class; and I believe, that even among the opulent, there is no man who can afford to eat meat above three times a week. They do not carry on any particular trade, except with Bornou, Soudan, and Waday, for slaves, and the barter attendant on the dealings with the Kafflés. Many of the plants which are cultivated in the southern parts of Europe would, no doubt, flourish in this country, with the usual attention which is paid to the gardens. European spades, rakes, light hoes, and ploughs, might be introduced in this part of the world with great success, and would be most gratefully received. Machines for winnowing corn, which is generally mixed with chaff, sieves, &c. would also be very beneficial. The people would not at first comprehend their use, but I conceive that those few articles would soon become familiar to them, and be much prized. There is not any kind of timber which can be used for building, or, more properly, which can be cut into planks. The palm is the only tree they have, and is used for doors, props, and frames for wells; it is likewise employed for beams, by cutting the trunk in four quarters; it is very porous, dry, and subject to rot, and is easily broken.
Landed property is generally in the possession of the better classes, and is cultivated for them by the free servants and slaves, who work alike, and experience exactly the same treatment. Lands generally descend to the nearest relations at the decease of the owner; but if he dies without heirs, or is put to death for an alleged crime, the Sultan claims them as his right: the owner, notwithstanding, can, if he pleases, buy or sell, without being bound by any sort of entail or clause, against parting with family property. Houses are held in the same way as the lands. When grounds are leased, or sold, the price is generally proportioned to the number of wells and date trees on the premises: it happens, however, not unfrequently, that the palms are the property of one man, while the land on which they grow belongs to another. The gardens are entirely cultivated by the paddle or hoe, and parcelled out into squares of about three feet, having little channels to them, for the purpose of irrigation. Much dung is used, and the sandy soil of old gardens almost assumes the appearance of earth. From the great labour requisite to keep these spots in order, it would not repay any non-resident to have lands in Fezzan; though I am confident that such possessions would be respected, as there are many absentees who have large groves of palms, which their relatives, or those employed by them, keep, and render up an exact account of. The difficulty of finding willing, honest, faithful, or contented workmen, is very great; and each master or agent is obliged to attend constantly to his own immediate property or charge; some gardens, however, are, and have been, attended for generations, by the same family of labourers.
The commerce is chiefly in slaves, and I have already given a list of such articles as are marketable. They have but few weights; these are, the Kantar, قنتار, 150 lb.; the Rottal, الرتال, 1½ lb.; the Oghia, الوقَيه, or ounce; and the weights used in the purchase or exchange of gold, which was once the money of the country. The weights, with little scales, are generally kept in a small box. The largest is called Groowi, 33⅓ Mitgals; the next is 13¾ Mitgals; another is 6⅔ Mitgals, and is called Oghia, and weighs one dollar; the smallest brass weight is 1⅓ Mitgal. 24 Kharoubas, خروبه, or beans of the locust tree, weigh 1 Mitgal. There are also three small weights of iron or lead, weighing 16, 8, and 4 Khoroubas. The small red and black West India bean, so well known in England, is here named Ain el deek, عين الديك (or cock’s eye,) and is the half Kharouba. The boxes containing the gold weights have also a small spoon for the dust, and a trying stone.—The measures at present in use are, Ghefeese, 24 Khail; half ditto; Webba Fezzan, 8 Kail; half ditto; Kail, 8 Saas, equal to 8 quarts; Saa, a quart. This last measure is divided into halves and thirds, for which there are small baskets made to contain that quantity; these are, by particular ways of placing the hand, again divided into fourths and sixths. The current money of the country is a Spanish dollar; the smaller payments are made in corn. A comparative idea of the value of the above measures may be obtained by knowing that one dollar is generally worth one kail and a half, or three gallons of corn. A quart, or saa, is therefore worth fivepence. Dates average twenty-four kail, or a ghefeese for a dollar.
The government of Fezzan was once hereditary, in a black family, which above 500 years since took possession of the country. They were Shreefs, and of a tribe near Fez, in the kingdom of Morocco; but the intrigues of Mukni have succeeded in destroying them all, and the public offices, government, and revenues have assumed entirely another form. Mukni is absolute while in his hired government, though in Tripoli he is considered only as a private individual. He derives his power from a few armed followers, of whom I have spoken, and from the fear which the people have of the Bashaw in their present state of weakness; but above all, from the great dread they have of himself. He governs with a rod of iron, punishes most severely, and his opinion is the law; money is his chief aim, and he leaves no means untried to extort it from his miserably oppressed subjects. No one has the least voice in the state but himself, and such of his favourites as have gained some ascendency over him; but their interest with him is very precarious. All weighty matters, such as wars of consequence, are submitted to the Bashaw, though Mukni always acts before he has time either to receive instructions or permission.
The Kadi, being supreme head of the law and of the church, or nominally so, is rather more privileged with the Sultan than others are; but his opinions are always expected to assimilate with those of his master. In Morzouk there are some white families who are called Mamlukes, being descended from Renegades, whom the Bashaw had presented to the former Sultans. These families and their descendants are considered noble; and however poor and low their situation may be, are not a little vain of their title. There is no such thing as nobility, except with these people and the Shreefs, who are, throughout the Mohammedan world, highly privileged; yet are, generally speaking, not better men than the rest. The Kadi, Sheikhs of districts, Kaids, or Governors, Chowses, Hadjes, Marāboots, and all who have money, possessions, and, above all, fine clothes, are considered great people, and respected as long as their situation, money, or garments hold out: but in the event of any failure in these uncertain advantages, they become as low and unnoticed as slaves.
The office of Kadi is hereditary, and has been in the same family for 150 years. Talents are by no means necessary in this high office; the ability to read is all that is required, and the next in the family, after the death of a Kadi, is, whether wise or foolish, immediately vested with the authority. The Kadi of Morzouk is a black man, named Mohammed el Habeeb; he is able to read pretty fluently, is very superstitious, and writes charms of more efficacy than any other man in the country. All the principal towns have Kadis; but the office is not, as in the capital, hereditary. The better class of the people, or those who have some property, are distinguished from the poor by being admitted into the Sultan’s presence, and living in every respect better than the Arabs and the other natives. They have great power to oppress and ill treat their inferiors; yet are as free with their slaves as with each other, and associate as much with them. A slave will come and sit down with his master, though not on the same mat, and join in the conversation, amusement, or meal, even without a shirt on his back; when the master wears his best clothes, however, he is too dignified to permit such freedom.
The Fezzanners are possessed of but little courage, spirit, or honesty, and are as completely submissive to their tyrants as oppression could wish: they seem insensible of their abject state, never having known freedom, or having been exempt from the caprice of their rulers. There is little chance, therefore, that amongst such men, any struggles for liberty should be made; and it never enters their heads to take advantage of the power they possess from their situation in the desert to render themselves independent of Tripoli. The Arabs, and particularly those of the tribe Waled Suliman, of whom I have already spoken, were once dangerous, lawless freebooters, but are now at an end. When the Sultan goes to Tripoli, which he generally does once a year, he leaves his eldest son to command in his absence, under charge of whoever may, at the moment, be most in favour; this decision, or more properly those of his governor, are equally to be enforced as the Sultan’s own orders.
Mukni’s military force, if he presses the Arabs into his service, may, on an emergency, amount to 5000 men. No Fezzanners are ever allowed to go on military excursions, being considered too pusillanimous to be trusted; but they pay deeply for their exemption from bearing arms, by being obliged to support those who do. There are no wars in which the Sultan is called upon to engage; but his love of gain, and the defenceless state of the Negro kingdoms to the southward, are temptations too strong to be resisted. A force is therefore annually sent, not to fight (for the Negroes cannot make any resistance against horsemen with fire-arms) but to pillage these defenceless people, to carry them off as slaves, burn their towns, kill the aged and infants, destroy their crops, and inflict on them every possible misery. These inroads have sometimes been conducted by Mukni in person, and in his absence, by some of his principal men; his son, however, is now thought old enough to make his initiatory campaign. In addition to the people usually ordered to attend these expeditions, many Bedouins from the desert near Sockna and Benioleed join them; also some of the Tibboo of Tibesty and Gatrone, in hopes of obtaining a share in the plunder. The wars thus made for the purpose of carrying off slaves, or invading enemies countries, are called Ghrāzzie. There are no permanent or hereditary feuds existing between tribes, or even families in Fezzan, as the warlike race of independent Arabs no longer exists. The Tibboo and those Arabs who inhabit the southern districts of Fezzan, are distinct from each other; and the native people, living in towns, cannot have the appellation of tribes applied to them.
No Barbary or Negro Chief, or indeed any of their people, are able to resist a bribe; much might therefore be done by securing the good will of the Sultans of the interior kingdoms; and they might, by presents properly applied, form together such a barrier against the inroads of Mukni, as would enable them to secure their independence, and prevent the annual seizure of multitudes of their subjects. Though amongst themselves slavery might (and doubtless would) exist; yet it would not, with such arrangements, extend so far as it does at present. The blacks alone, in consequence chiefly of Mukni’s incursions, are always engaged in indemnifying themselves for the losses he occasions them. All their prisoners are sold as slaves, and the money or goods arising from such sale appropriated chiefly by the kings of the country.