I had to-day a conversation with a Tibboo of Tibesty. How interesting it is to talk with the natives of those untrodden countries, to which chance may some day lead us! He says Tibesty is ten days from Gatroun, and fourteen from Mourzuk. It is all mountainous, except one long wady where the population is located. There is no regular town; but all along the valley the population, which is said to be about 5000, though desert statistics are little to be credited, is scattered in groups of three or four, cultivating the ground and tending on the flocks which feed on the rich herbage, whilst goats scramble for food along the slopes of the boundary mountains. The people dwell either in huts or in caverns scooped out of the sides of hills, some of them very extensive. What a picture of primitive life! Families living separate, not yet driven to hide behind walls, or congregate in masses for safety. The desert is their bulwark. This place lies, indeed, far east of the caravan route from Bornou. There is no road direct eastward from Tibesty, but caravans can go south-east to Wadaï. The valley produces, besides other grain, a good quantity of ghaseb, which is the principal food of the inhabitants. Some palms rise here and there in clumps, but are not very productive; and dates are imported from Fezzan. The tree most frequent is the tholukh; but there is also another common tree, called the arak. In the open country, the wadan, the gazelle, and the ostrich are found, and the people hunt them with dogs. Good water is supplied by wells and streams, in sufficient quantities to irrigate the fields of ghaseb, wheat, and barley. Rain is abundant some years, but fails in others; torrents are continually descending from the mountains: one stream flows through a space of two days' journey. If these accounts be correct, the country must be one of the most interesting in Africa. They say, that on account the height of the mountains some of the inhabitants do not see the moon for fifteen days together. A Sultan rules paternally in this out-of-the-way country, where the Mohammedan religion reigns paramount. My informant made me pay three Tunisian piastres and two common handkerchiefs for a vocabulary of the language of the Tibboos of Tibesty. A visit to this singular oasis might repay a hardy traveller; but the people of the country have a faithless character, and it would be dangerous to trust to their promises of protection.
The Tibesty Tibboos must not be confounded with the Tibboos of the salt-mines of Bilma, who have recently made their submission to the Porte. There is little connexion between the people, although they speak a similar language. The Bilma Tibboos lie in the direct route to Bornou, and were fully studied by the Denham and Clapperton expedition.
15th.—Continue to prepare papers to send home. Report the fact, that the functionaries of Mourzuk trade in slaves.
16th.—I had lent Mustapha a sword; but, after keeping it a night, he was obliged to return it, sending word that a firmân had been written to all the functionaries of the Porte, forbidding them to receive any presents,—an excellent measure, doing credit to the Sultan's administration. The great plague of the East is the system of bribery carried on under the form of presents. The pay of the Pasha is six hundred and fifty mahboubs per month, nearly all spent in the town.
17th.—The weather is extremely hot and sultry. The sun burns the umbrella if you pass for a few minutes under it. Even the natives complain of the extreme heat of the weather.
18th.—Not quite so oppressive; but, as Dr. Barth says, the south wind blows throughout Northern Africa in May.
20th.—This morning, the black who came with us, and had two wives, divorced one of them, returning the woman's dowry of thirty-seven Tunisian piastres. The divorce took place before the Kady in the open streets.
21st.—Haj Lameen came to see me. He does not forget to remind us that the Tuaricks expect many presents. I have no doubt they do. He says we must be generous at all the following places:—Ghât, Aheer, Aghadez, Damerghou, Zinder, Minyou, Tesaouah, Kashna, Kanou, Sakkatou, Bornou, Begharmi, Mandara, and to the Tibboos of Bilma; not to mention the intermediate towns and villages. However, if the presents be valuable, we may expect in some places rations of food in return. It is worthy of remark, that this said Haj Lameen, brother of the governor of Ghât, took an oath during the past year that he would never again purchase slaves. This is a remarkable instance of the progress of opinion. I afterwards gave Lameen a present, consisting of one pound of tea, five pounds of coffee, and four heads of loaf sugar. This was the first considerable present I made. In the evening we observed Mercury in conjunction with Venus. The heavens were unusually bright for Mourzuk. We saw also Jupiter's satellites at seven in the evening. The two upper ones were much nearer than the two lower ones to the great planet, but all in a line. Mars was very bright. The rings, or extinct volcanoes of the moon, were also truly transparent this evening. Usually the sky of Mourzuk is charged with a dirty red haze, and not at all favourable to astronomical observations.
21st.—The culture of water-melons is progressing for the summer season. The melons are planted in the irrigation ducts that lead to the squares of clover, which is cultivated at this season for the horses of the cavalry stationed here, and also for the camels of the merchants. Every fifteen or twenty days a fresh crop is ready, all produced by irrigation.
The fig-tree is found frequently in the gardens of Fezzan, and when planted near a well, produces as fine fruit as those on the coast. The rich green of its leaves is very refreshing to the eye. During the present season, however, the greater portion of the gardens is devoted to onion-raising. Whole fields are covered with this vegetable. Parsley is running to seed. The korna is also seen in the suburbs. Few birds visit the gardens of Fezzan, which are all planted with palms. One or two groves have been recently added, and are distinguished as the "new trees." The irrigated beds are covered with palm-shoots, the curving fan-like leaves bending prettily over the ground.