I gave to the Kaïd a handkerchief, as well as some snuff and tobacco. In return, he sent a little bread and a fly-flapper; so that we parted good friends. During our stay, we heard this jolly fellow entertaining the chaouches and his own horsemen with a description of the ladies of the Wady, who had no reason to be flattered by his account. And yet he seems to have married one himself: hinc illæ lachrymæ, perhaps. My chaouch had already given me a confirmation of these libels, and was evidently greatly delighted by this testimony to his exactitude.
There are several roads from the Wady to Mourzuk, all much about the same distance. It is said, also, that Ghât is only ten days from Laghareefah. We moved on a little further on the evening of the 4th, but did not start properly until next day, when we made a long stretch of more than thirteen hours, and encamped at the village of Agar, where I remembered having halted once before on my way from Ghât. During this day's march we found, that what we had supposed to be the border of the Mourzuk plateau was not in reality so. We soon reached the summit of the cliffs, and having cast back a glance upon the valley, with its expanse of corn-fields and thousands of palm-trees, expected to find an elevated plateau beyond; but the hills gradually softened down into a plain on their eastern side. Our route may be said to have led through a wilderness, not a desert. On all sides were clusters of the tholukh, which grows prettily up, and has a poetical appearance. The ground at some places was strewed with branches, cut down for the goats to feed on. Then we came to a small wady full of resou, which our marabout calls the "meat of the camel;" and all the camels at once stopped, and for a long time obstinately refused to proceed. This appeared strange to us, but on inquiry we found that the sagacious brutes remembered perfectly well that until the evening there would be no herbage so good, and were determined to have their fill whilst there was an opportunity. The drivers, after indulging them a few moments, took them in flank, and their shouts of "Isa! Isa!" and some blows, at length got the caravan out of this elysium of grass into the hungry plain beyond. As we proceeded, a cold bracing wind began to blow from the east, and considerably chilled our frames. I had met the same weather four years previously. Towards evening, however, it became warmer, as it usually does. The country was bare and level, like an expanse of dull-coloured water; and the palm-trees that cluster near the village rose slowly above the horizon as we drew nigh. The sun had gone down, and the plain stretched dim and shadowy around before we came in sight of the group of hovels which form the village. As I looked back, the scattered camels slowly toiling along could be faintly traced against the horizon.
The Sheikh of Agar received us well this time, sending us two fowls and supper for our people. This place consists of huts made of palm-branches and of mud hovels, several of which are in ruins. The same remark constantly recurs in reference to almost all the towns of Barbary, both towards the coast and far in the interior. The vital principle of civilisation seems to have exhausted itself in those parts.
I was now in a country comparatively familiar to me, and knew that I had but one more ride to reach the capital of Fezzan. Rising early on the 6th, therefore, I determined to press on in advance of the caravan; and starting with warm weather, puffs of wind coming now from the south-east, now from the north-west, very unsteadily—the atmosphere was slightly murky, with sand flying about—I soon came in sight of the palm-groves of Mourzuk, without making any other rencontre than a Tuarick coursing over the desert in full costume. The old castle peeped picturesquely through the trees, but I had still a good way to go before reaching shelter. The sand and white earth that form the surface of the oasis near the town were painfully dazzling to my eyes.
At length I reached the suburbs, where a few people stared curiously at me. My arrival had been announced by the chaouches, who had gone on about a quarter of an hour before; and at the eastern gate the soldiers allowed me to pass without notice, or any allusion to gumruk. Mr. Gagliuffi had come out to meet me; but having taken a different gate we crossed, and I arrived on my camel at his house, and found it empty. My veil being down in the streets I was recognised by no one. The acting Governor had arranged to meet me with twenty horsemen, but I had taken them all quite unawares. The letters forwarded requesting us to make a halt in the suburbs, and then advance slowly in "holiday costume," for the sake of effect, had not reached me. However, they had hoisted the Ottoman flag on the castle, in honour of our expected arrival,—a compliment that had not before been paid to strangers, and one never offered at Tripoli.
Our German friends arrived shortly afterwards, and we all had a very hospitable reception from Mr. Gagliuffi, with whom we lodged. A few calls were made upon us in the evening, but we were glad enough to seek our beds. Next day the chief people of the city, the Kady and other dignitaries, began early to visit us. When we had exchanged compliments with them, we went in full European dress to wait on the acting Pasha. We found him to be a very quiet, unassuming man, who gave us a most kind and gentlemanlike reception, equal to anything of the kind of Tripoli. He is a Turk, and recognised me as having been before at Mourzuk. We had coffee, pipes, and sherbet made of oranges. Afterwards we visited the Treasurer, who also gave us coffee, and was very civil; and finally called upon the brother of the Governor of Ghât, who was writing letters for us to-day.
I feel in better health than when I left Tripoli. Yet we are all a little nervous about the climate of Mourzuk, which is situated in a slight depression of the plain, in a place inclined to be marshy. The Consul has just recovered from a severe illness.
We had been, in all, thirty-nine days from Tripoli, a considerable portion of which time was spent in travelling. This makes a long journey; but I am told that our camel-drivers should have brought us by way of Sebha, and thus effected a saving of three or four days. The greater portion of our sandy journey was unnecessary, and merely undertaken that these gentlemen might have an opportunity of visiting their wives and families.
On a retrospective view of the route from Tripoli to Mourzuk, viâ Mizdah, I am inclined to divide the country, for convenience sake, into a series of zones, or regions.
1st zone. This includes the sandy flat of the suburbs of the town of Tripoli, with the date-palm plantations and the sand-hills contiguous.