Here we remained the following day, when, in order to settle formally the demands of our camel-drivers, we had all our things accurately weighed by the officials of the castle. The little market did not grow busy till ten o’clock. The chief articles for sale were three head of cattle, one camel, some sheep and goats, a few water-skins, some barley, a few eggs, and sandals; but at noon it was moderately thronged. In the afternoon we paid a visit to several subterranean dwellings, but were disappointed in not getting access into an entirely new structure of this kind, formed of a much harder sort of clay. Our cheerful friend Mr. Warrington, in order to treat our party before he separated from it for a length of time which nobody could foresee, got an immense bowl of kuskus prepared, seasoned in the most savoury manner; and our whole party long indulged in the remembrance of this delicate dish as a luxury beyond reach. The site of our encampment was most pleasant: below us the wady, rich with varied vegetation; while towards the north the Tekút, with its regularly shaped crater towering proudly over the lower eminences around, formed a most interesting object. Though busy at an early hour, we did not get off till late; for many things were still to be settled here. We separated from Mr. Warrington: and of the three travellers I was the only one whom he was ever to see again.
Our path was at first very winding, as we had to turn round the deep indentation of the Wady Rummána, after which it took a straighter course, passing through several villages, with their respective olive-groves, till we reached Bu Sriyán, where the cultivation of the olive-tree ceased entirely for some distance, and the country became more open. Here we made another considerable deviation from our southerly direction, and followed a wide valley with much cultivated ground. Having reached the village Sémsa, situated upon an eminence to our right, we turned off eastward into a very pleasant ravine with an olive-grove, and then began the steep ascent towards the height Kuléba, which forms the passage over this southern crest of the plateau. While the camels in long rows moved slowly onwards, with their heavy loads, on the narrow and steep rocky path, I, allowing my camel to follow the rest, ascended directly to the village, which is situated round the eastern slope, and is still tolerably well inhabited, although many a house has fallen to ruin; for it has a considerable extent of territory; and owing to its situation as the southernmost point of Ghurián, the inhabitants are the natural carriers and agents between the northern districts and the desert. On the highest crest, commanding the village, there was formerly a castle; but it has been destroyed by the Turks.
Having descended a little into the barren valley, we encamped, at two o’clock in the afternoon, on the slope of the western hills, near the last scanty olive-trees, and not far from the well, from which we intended to take a sufficient supply of water to last us till we reached Mizda. While our people, therefore, were busy watering the camels and filling our water-skins, Overweg and I, accompanied by two of the inhabitants of the village, who had followed us, ascended a conspicuous mount, Jebel Toëshe, the highest in the neighbourhood, on the top of which a village is said to have existed in former times. We took several angles; but there is no very high point about Mizda which could serve as a landmark in that direction. The country through which we were marching, along irregular valleys, mostly of limestone formation, exhibited scattered patches of corn for about the first three miles, after which, almost every sign of cultivation suddenly ceased, and the “Twél el Khamér,” stretching from north-west to south-east, about two miles distant on the right, formed, as it were, the northern boundary of the naked soil. On its slope a few trees of the kind called radúk by the Arabs were seen from the distance. We then entered desolate stony valleys, famous for the bloody skirmishes which are said to have once taken place there between the Urfílla and the Welád Bu Séf, in the time of ʿAbd el Jelíl. Refreshing, therefore, was the aspect of Wady Ranne, which, extending from east to south-west, was overgrown with green herbage, and had two wells.
A little beyond, near the hill, or rather slope, called Shʿabet el Kadím, the latter part of which name seems, indeed, to have some reference to antiquity, we found the first Roman milestone, with the inscription now effaced: but further on, Mr. Overweg, who went on foot and was far behind the main body of our caravan, succeeded in discovering some milestones with inscriptions, which he regretted very much not being able to show me. Hereabouts commences the region of the batúm-tree, which, with the fresh green of its foliage, contributes a good deal to enliven and adorn some favoured spots of this sterile, gravelly tract. To the left of our path were some remarkable basaltic cones, starting up from the calcareous ridge. The ground was strewn with numerous flint-stones. About four o’clock P.M. I went to look at a curious quadrangular and regularly hewn stone, three feet in breadth and length, but only eight inches thick, which was standing upright at some distance from the caravan. It was evidently meant to face the west; but no trace of an inscription was to be seen. About a mile further on we encamped at the foot of the western chain, which rose to a height of about three hundred feet, and formed a narrow cleft with the eastern chain, which at this point closes upon it. In this corner (which collects the humidity of two valleys), besides several batúm-trees, a little corn had been sown. Panthers are said to be numerous in this region.
The next day we directed our march towards the pass, crossing the dry beds of several small torrents, and a broader channel bordered by plenty of batúm-trees. After an hour’s march, we had reached the summit of the pass, which now began to widen, the heights receding on each side, and a more distant range bounding the view. We found in the holes of the rocky bottom of Wady Mezummíta, which we crossed about half-past eight, several pools of rain-water, affording us a most refreshing drink; but it was quite an extra treat, owing to recent heavy rains which had fallen here, for in general the traveller cannot rely on finding water in this place. The ground becoming very stony and rugged, our progress was excessively slow—not above half an English geographical mile in seventeen minutes. The hills on our right displayed to the view regular layers of sandstone. Another long defile followed, which at length brought us to a plain called Wady Lilla, encompassed by hills, and offering several traces of former cultivation, while other traces, further on, bore testimony to the industry of the Romans. A small herd of goats, and the barking of a dog, showed that even at present the country is not wholly deserted. In our immediate neighbourhood it even became more than usually enlivened by the passage of a slave-caravan, with twenty-five camels and about sixty slaves, mostly females.
After having passed a small defile, we at length emerged into the north-west branch of the valley of Mizda, called here Wady Udé-Sheráb, the channel of which is lined with a considerable number of batúm-trees. Crossing the stony bottom of this plain, after a stretch of three miles more we reached the western end of the oasis of Mizda, which, though my fancy had given it a greater extent, filled me with joy at the sight of the fine fields of barley, now approaching maturity—the crop, owing to the regular irrigation, being remarkably uniform—while the grove of date-trees encompassed the whole picture with a striking and interesting frame. So we proceeded, passing between the two entirely separated quarters, or villages, distinguished as the upper, “el fók,” and the lower, “el utah,” and encamped on the sandy open space a little beyond the lower village, near a well which formerly had irrigated a garden. People going to Tripoli encamp at the other end of the oasis, as was done by a caravan of Ghadamsi people with slaves from Fezzán, on the following day.
Mizda, most probably identical with the eastern “Musti kome” of Ptolemy, appears to have been an ancient settlement of the indigenous inhabitants of North Africa, the Berbers, and more particularly of a family or tribe of them called “Kuntarár,” who even at present, though greatly intermixed with Arabs, have not entirely forgotten their Berber idiom. The oasis lies in the upper part of Wady Sofejín, or rather a branch of it, stretching out from south-west to north-east, which has in some parts a great breadth. The natural advantage, or productive principle, of the locality seems to lie in the circumstance that the humidity carried down by the Wady Sheráb is here arrested by a hill, and absorbed by the clayey soil. This hill is of a lengthened form, and consists entirely of gypsum.
The wells have little depth, and the water is drawn to the surface by means of oxen; but there being at present only three specimens of this precious animal in the place, the wells are far from being made use of to the extent which is practicable and has been once practised, as may be concluded from the pillars which extend to a considerable distance on the plain. The town, as I said, consists of two distinct quarters or villages, of which the western one, situated at the eastern foot of the hill, is by far the larger; it is built exactly in the character of the ksúr of the Algerian Sahara, with high round towers decreasing a little in width towards the upper part, and furnished with several rows of loopholes. The wall, purposely built with a great many salient and retiring angles, is in a state of decay, and many of the houses are in ruins; but the village can still boast a hundred full-grown men able to bear arms. The chief of this village always resides in it, while that of the other generally lives at some distance under tents. The circumference of the village, together with the palm-grove attached to its eastern side, and consisting of about two hundred trees, is 2,260 paces.
The lower or south-eastern village, the circumference of which is 600 paces, is separated from the former by an interval of about 400 paces, and has at present no palm-grove, all the gardens having been destroyed or ruined by neglect, and only twenty or thirty palm-trees now remaining scattered about the place. About 100 paces further down the declivity of the valley, is a group of three small gardens surrounded by a wall, but in bad condition; and at about the same distance beyond, another in the same state. The only advantage peculiar to this quarter is that of a large “zawíya,” the principal articles in the inventory of which are eight holy doves. But this also has now become but an imaginary advantage, as, according to its learned keeper’s doleful complaints, it is very rarely visited. In this as well as in the other quarter, all the houses are built of gypsum. As Mizda is a very remarkable feature in the country, I thought it worth while to make a particular sketch of the oasis also from this side.