Laghareefah, like Edree, had been destroyed by the brilliant, though ruthless usurper, Abd-el-Galeel, on account of its resistance to his authority. The old town is at a little distance from the new, and was evidently a much better-built place, commanded by an earthen kasr or fortress.
On May 2d, we had a tempest of thunder and lightning to the south on the hills, produced by the intense heat of the morning, and its accumulation during the previous few days. Rain seemed to be falling at a distance of a few hours. In the evening the mercury still stood about 100°. The heat now was still very distressing. The wind came charged with dust that rolled in columns, like smoke beaten down by a tempest, across the surface of the valley. All the vegetation seemed withered, as if in an oven; and the wheat in the ear was brittle, as though roasted. There is a good deal of wheat in this oasis. I observed an old woman reaping, and went to chat with her. Her sickle had a long handle, and the blade itself was narrow, but slightly bent and somewhat serrated. I tried it, and found that it answered its purpose very well, however rude in appearance.
I entered one of the huts made of palm-branches, and carelessly smeared with mud—an attempt at plastering that can hardly be called successful. The door was formed of rough planks of date-wood, and the flooring of hard-trodden earth, covered with mats. The principal article of furniture was, as usual, the small hand corn-mill, for nearly every person in the East is still his own miller. The huts, though rude in outward appearance, were dark, cool, and comfortable within. In the town itself, many of them are built entirely of mud; that is to say, of round mud balls, first moistened with water, and then dried in the sun. I entered several, and found that most were empty. Where we found people, they were courteous and cheerful in manners, and smiled at the curiosity with which I lifted up the wicker covers of their pots and jars. In one I found a little sour milk; in another, some bazeen; in another, a few dates soaking in water. A small vessel now and then occurred, full of oil; but this is the greatest luxury they possess.
None of the doors has either lock or key. The Fezzanee observed, "Strangers may steal, but Fezzanees never. All the dates remain securely on the trees until gathered by the owners." It must be observed, however, that the anomaly of vast possessions being held by one man, who can scarcely consume or utilise the produce, whilst others have not a stone whereon to lay their heads, and depend even for a burial-place upon charity, is not to be observed in this barbarous country.
The children of the Wady, up to the age of seven or eight years, go about perfectly naked, which may partly account for the bronze-black colour of their skins. The Tuaricks are generally fairer than the Fezzanees, though some of these latter are fair as the Moors on the coast, whilst others are black as very niggers.
We received a visit from the Nather, or civil governor of the Wady. He is a Fezzanee, Abbas by name; and thankfully received the present of a handkerchief. The Kaïd, or military commander, is a Moor from Tripoli. Everybody seems interested about us, and there is a perfect flux of visits. All the authorities around seem to make our arrival a holiday. We are quite the fashion. The chaouch gets drunk in the evening on leghma, furnished by the Nather, who wants to worm out all the news; and there is little doubt that he has learned the whole truth, and a good deal more. El-Maskouas, the Turkish officer employed in collecting contributions for Mourzuk, arrived at the camp and brought letters from M. Gagliuffi. He also told us that the Sheikh of Aghadez had not yet returned from his pilgrimage to Mekka. The motions of all these desert magnates are circulated from mouth to mouth as assiduously as those of our Mayfair fashionables.
Among our visitors was Haj Mohammed El-Saeedy, the owner of our camels. His social position answers to that of an English shipowner. He is a marabout of great celebrity in this country, and moves about in an atmosphere of respect. By the way, when it became clearly impressed upon my mind that the Fezzanee camel-drivers were merely employed for hire, and had no property whatever in the beasts they drove, my opinion of them began to rise. It would have been impossible to take more care of the camels than they did.
We remained stationary in the Wady, from the 1st of May to the evening of the 3d, when we moved on to Toueewah. After dark was passed Azerna, in the neighbourhood of which stood the ancient town, celebrated for its ruins. The modern place, though presenting a martial kind of appearance with its battlemented mud walls, contained only ten inhabitants, who live like so many rats in holes or under the piles of ruins. On the 4th, when the people removed our beds in the morning, a scorpion sallied furiously forth. We had been sleeping with him under our pillows. We moved on, still in the Wady, for a couple of hours, until we came to the house of the Kaïd, and once more encamped. His habitation is large, commodious, and well protected from the sun. He showed us his sleeping-apartment, which is airy and well protected from the sun. A number of little wicker baskets, the handiwork of his wife, served as so many clothes-presses. The baskets of Fezzan are perfectly water-tight.
This Kaïd, called Ahmed Tylmoud, is quite a character, and looks very droll with his single eye. He has twenty soldiers only under his command throughout the valley. The Turks do not waste their men, making up by severity for want of numbers. Like the commandant of Shaty, this Ahmed Tylmoud insisted on "playing at powder" with his men for our edification; but was also obliged to beg his ammunition. It is singular, that although these people are only armed with matchlocks, and are supposed to be ready for service, either to defend the country or levy contributions, they seem entirely destitute of all necessary provisions for that purpose.
We were pestered with two very modest requests, which were not in our power to grant. In the first place, the native inhabitants sent a deputation to ask us to use our influence with the Governor of Mourzuk to procure a reduction of their taxes; and then the Arab troops desired that we should procure for them their discharge. Our refusal even to take the charge of these verbal petitions seemed very harsh. An impression had evidently got abroad that we came to bring about a general redress of grievances; or, at any rate, that our influence was far greater than we chose to avow.