We have little communication with the town, the rain cutting us off from it and its inhabitants. A flood of water pours down the valley every evening, after which the ground continues all night and all next day in a state of wet mud.
9th.—I rose without receiving any good news. On the contrary, Mr. Sfaxee, who has always professed such disinterestedness, begins to hint demands. I find that I shall have to pay him as much as the other people. Escort En-Noor, by the way, was delighted with the little present I made to him of a pair of coloured scissors for his wife. The thermometer a little after mid-day rose to 94° Fahr. and 27° 30' of Réaum. In the afternoon the rain only threatened, and we had but two or three puffs of wind.
We hear that the Sultan is better; and from his servants we collect that he is not willing we should go on to Zinder unless escorted by himself. Certainly this arrangement would please us under ordinary circumstances; but we hear that it would detain us two or three months in Aheer, which will never do. To-day I made acquaintance with the round salt-cakes of Bilma. They consist of a very rough species of salt, like so many big round grains of the coarsest sandstone. One that I saw was of a dark brown colour, extremely dirty, about half-a-foot in diameter. Apparently these lumps are very compact; they serve as money both in Soudan and Tintalous. The greater part of the revenue of Aheer is derived from this salt carrying between Bilma and Zinder.
10th.—This morning I felt much better, as well as I have ever done since leaving Tripoli. One adapts one's self to any climate by degrees. I took courage even to read a little, and went over Jackson's "What to Observe," among other things. But my mind is still troubled about our future course of proceeding. It is impossible to bring Sultan En-Noor to any arrangement. He still shelters himself from our importunities under the plea of ill health. Almost every morning we have a few visitors from the town. The people are not troublesome, except that they show a good deal of prying curiosity to see the faces, forms, and actions of Christians. We learn that scouts are still out after our camels, hitherto without success. I am afraid they have been driven far away; and begin to doubt our ever setting eyes on them again.
The morning was clear and dry, with a little cool wind breathing up the valley. The country was covered with fresh herbage; trees were budding and birds singing, as in spring. Yesterday evening we had a visit from a wolf, who was looking out for our two or three sheep for a supper, but the watch was too well kept. There are many wild animals in Aheer, but we have hitherto seen but few. Very pretty doves fly about our tent; and Dr. Overweg shot some small birds to send home.
Aheer, in general, must be considered as a part of the Southern Sahara, or Great Desert. Any country not producing periodic crops of grain, either by the annual rains or by irrigation, comes under this denomination here. Aheer answers the description perfectly, although there are some exceptions. Seloufeeat and Tintaghoda have annual crops of grain produced by irrigation.
I have obtained a list, such as it is, of the towns and villages surrounding Tintalous. Seloufeeat and Tintaghoda are not mentioned, as they lay in our route to this place. My informant declined to give any account of the numbers of the population, in all cases.[15]
From Tintalous, as radii, are spread around the towns and villages of—Asărá, two hours west; Asărărá, a place near Asoudee; Ghăloulaf, four hours south; Asoudee, six hours south-south-west; Tănousămăt, two hours west (forty people); Aghŏŏōu, two hours north (country of Escort En-Noor); Tănāsămā, four hours east (one family); Aghădéz, six days south-west; Baghzem, two days south; Aghălăgh, a few hours further south (fifty people); Bindăée, one hour and a-half east (no people); Teelaou, four hours east; Tegheda, a walk for shepherds, three hours west; Asoudărăka, five hours south (forty or fifty); Terken, seven hours west (not known); Timeēă, four hours west (fifty, and many dates); Doumous, one day west; Agharghar, two days west; Oudăras, two days south-south-west (place for shepherds); Abasas, two days south (a place for shepherds); Tabernee (a well), two days south; Shouwărēkēdē, or Touwerkedad (on the side of Tabernee), one day south; Maree, one day south (place for shepherds); Arăsāmadăn, by the side of Maree, south (well); Shintaghalee, in Wady Tentaghemea, near the above, south; Azanwazghēr, near the above, south; Zanairas,[16] two days north-east.
It would have been very interesting to collect authentic information as to the population of many places in Aheer. I suspect the number of inhabitants is very small indeed. I had already been powerfully impressed with the paucity of the population of the districts of Ghât, the desert region occupied by the Azgher, and had been led to compute that they cannot contain in all more than a couple of thousand people.
[14] The drâa is an arm of strips of cotton stuff, about two inches long.