In the afternoon I received a visit from En-Noor, with a whole train of his people. The Shereef was absent. The Sultan came especially to see the boat, the pieces of which were put together that he might know its shape and size. Yusuf then drew for him a ship with all sails set, on a piece of paper. It was very well done; and excited the applause of my visitors. I treated them, as usual, with pickles, marmalade, and tea. Among other things I showed En-Noor the broad arrow, or government mark, on many of our things; as the guns, and pistols, tent, bags, and biscuits, which greatly surprised him.
The Sheikh was in good spirits, and was pleased with his visit. I sent him during the day a piece of dark blue cotton print for a pillowcase. This little present delighted him much. I am much hampered with the "princesses," who first sent to buy sugar, and then to beg, forgetting to buy.
We have a Tuat Tuarick changing camels for slaves now in Tintalous. This man belongs to the tribe called Sgomara, if I have caught the name correctly.
18th.—I rose early, having had a bad headache during the night through eating meat in the middle of the day. Whatever is eaten in the middle of the day must be taken very sparingly. I believe the greater part of the diseases with which foreigners in these countries are afflicted arise from want of sufficient attention to diet. We must take great care of our health just as we are entering Soudan. The weather is still cool, especially in the morning. The prevailing wind during these last twenty days has been E.N.E., which is very refreshing. The Moorish merchants pretend that in Soudan it is now very cold.
I received a visit from the young Shereef, whose conversation smacked a good deal of a disagreeable curiosity respecting my movements and intentions in Central Africa. I therefore gave him a very ordinary and cool welcome. This fellow has been here some time, and never offered to pay us a visit before. En-Noor has been feeding him during his stay. He displayed a good deal of shrewdness, and is well acquainted with the Christians of the Mediterranean. He is going to visit his brother in Zinder, and then returns to Tripoli by the way of Bornou and Mourzuk. Like all these shereefs, or marabouts, he pretended that had he been with us, or had we travelled with him from Mourzuk to Tintalous, no one would have dared to molest us; an assertion wholly false, for the Tuaricks care little for marabouts when they are bent on plunder.
A young woman has just arrived from a distant village, with the express object of procuring from the Taleb (Overweg) a medicine to produce abortion: she says she has been gadding, "barra" (out of her mother's house), and is frightened lest she should get a good beating. On Overweg's refusing to give her any such medicine she burst out into a pathetic lamentation, and talked loudly of what her parent would do to her. Young ladies often think of their mothers a little too late under these circumstances.
A slave of the Sultan of Aghadez arrived this morning, in six days from the capital, to inquire after the health of En-Noor. He brings no particular news, but says he saw Barth at Aghadez.
"Man is to man the surest, deadliest foe," has been quoted from the poet as most applicable to the moral and social state of Africa. It may truly be said to be our case, for hitherto we have suffered little in this town except from men. Looking also around us, the people suffer less from the arid country which they inhabit than from the violence which they inflict one upon another.
I learned from Yusuf yesterday evening, that for every dollar I take from the Sfaxee, if I pay in Mourzuk, I must give two. I was greatly afflicted at this positive declaration, but scarcely believe it; if it, however, prove to be the case, I must by all means find money in Soudan. It will be a hard fight, indeed, to keep down the expenses of this expedition; however, every effort must be employed to effect this desirable object.
Mărādee, I learn, is three days west from Tesaoua; and this latter place is two from Zinder. There is another village, called Gazawa, one day south of Tesaoua. The inhabitants of these places are half Mahommedans and half pagans; the latter do not offer human sacrifices; their religious rites consist principally in worshipping trees, to which they sacrifice at certain seasons. The Fellatahs are always at war with the people of Mărādee, but Gouber is at peace with Sakkatou. In Mărādee there is one large stone-and-mud house for the Sultan; all the rest of the houses are bell-shaped huts. The place has a numerous population. Tesaoua is also independent and self-governed, as are most of the places hereabouts.