Character of the People of Ghadames.—Strength of our Caravan.—First features of the new Route.—Well of Maseen.—Rate of Travelling.—Our Ghafalah divides in two on account of the difficulty of obtaining Water for so large a Caravan.—Es-Sărāb, or The Mirage.—Gobemouche Politicians.—Camels, fond of dry Bones.—Geological Features of Plateau.—Desert Tombs and Tumuli Directors.—Intense cold of The Desert.—Well of Nather.—Savage Disposition of Camels.—Mr. Fletcher's advice to Desert Tourists.—No scientific instruments with me.—False alarm of Banditti, and meet a Caravan of Slaves.—Sight of the first tree after seven days' Desert.—Wells of Mislah in a region of Sand.—Vulgar error of Sand-storms overwhelming Caravans with billows of Sand.
Mounted on my camel, pressing on through The Desert, my thoughts still lag behind, and as I turn often to look back upon The City of Merchants and Marabouts, its palms being only now visible in the dingy red of the setting sun, I endeavour to form a correct opinion of its singular inhabitants. I see in them the mixture of the religious and commercial character, blended in a most extraordinary manner and degree, for here the possession of wealth scarcely interferes with the highest state of ascetic devotion. To a religious scrupulousness, which is alarmed at a drop of medicine that is prohibited falling upon their clothes, they add the most enterprising and determined spirit of commercial enterprise, plunging into The Desert, often in companies of only two or three, when infested with bandits and cut-throats, their journies the meanwhile extending from the shores of the Mediterranean to the banks of the Niger, as low down to the Western Coast as Noufee and Rabbah. But their resignation to the will of heaven is without a parallel. No murmur escapes them under the severest domestic affliction; whilst prayer is their daily bread. Besides five times a day, they never omit the extraordinary occasions. The aspirations of the older and retired men continue all the live-long day; this incense of the soul, rising before the altar of the Eternal, is a fire which is never extinguished in Ghadames! Their commercial habits naturally beget caution, if not fear. In The Desert, though armed, they have no courage to fight. Their arms are their mysterious playthings. Their genius is pacific and to make peace—they are the peacemakers of The Desert—and they always travel under the intrepid escort of their warlike Touarick friends and neighbours. Intelligent, instructed and industrious, they are the greatest friends of civilization in North Africa and the Great Desert. But upon such a people, falls as a blast of lightning, rending and shivering the fairest palm of the oasis, the curse of Turkish rule.
The force of our caravan consists of about eighty people, including strangers, and two hundred laden camels. Nearly all the people are armed, and some single individuals have two or three matchlocks, besides pistols and daggers. The character of the people are petty traders, commission agents, camel-drivers, and slaves. There are several Arabs, natives of Ghadames, Seenawan, and Derge, and five strangers from Souf. We have with us also three Touaricks. There may be half-a-dozen low women and female slaves distributed amongst the ghafalah. Respectable females scarcely ever travel in The Desert. I have only with me my negro servant Said. My large trunk and tent are conveyed by another camel; the nagah carries me, the provisions, and the rest of the baggage, going extremely well. Said walks with the servants, slaves, and camel-drivers. Two-thirds of the people are on foot. Started in tolerably good health and spirits, and increase my appetite every mile I ride. Feel no fatigue, of course, to-day, and trust I shall soon forget I'm travelling in The Sahara. There are many routes from Ghadames to Ghat, no less than four or five well-travelled desert tracts. Our present one is the more easterly, being skirted by the oasisian districts of Fezzan. None of these routes have been travelled before by an European. Our course to-day is directly east. We are now encamping at sun-set, and we have just lost sight of the palms of Ghadames. Alas! this will, I fear, be an everlasting farewell to the beautiful oasis, and the holy city of merchants.
26th.—Rose before sunrise. Morning cool and refreshing. We are to continue ten days in the route of Fezzan, then turn into that of Ghat, thus describing a sort of semicircle to get out of the forays of the Shânbah.
Course south-east. On the right ranges of low dull hills, with the same on the left, but at a greater distance. The road very good, fit for carriages, through the broad bed of a valley. Two great blocks of rock stand out on the surface which we traverse, one an oblong square, the other sugar-loaf, but flattened at the top.
Camel-drivers.—"Look at these brothers" (the two rocks.)
Myself.—"How! Are these brothers? They are not much like."
Camel-drivers.—"Yâkob, don't you know that one brother is born like the father, and the other like the mother?"
These huge blocks we had long in view, and approached and passed them just as a ship passes rocks on the sea-coast. So steady is our progress, so level our route. Ground strewn over with small flints and other sharp chips of stone. Saw nothing alive in The Desert but one solitary bird, which seemed lost in the illimitable waste. Passed the grave of one who had died in open desert, a small tumulus of stones marked the sad spot; passed also a few white-bleached camel's bones. Very cold, wind from north-east. Feel it more than the keenest winter's blast of Old England. Feel glad I took the advice of the Governor of Ghadames, and purchased a quantity of warm woollen clothing, heik, bornouse, and jibbah. "That route (Ghat) kills people with the cold," his Excellency observed.
27th.—Arrived at the well of Maseen, at 4 p.m. Much the same scenery as yesterday. The road good, not quite so stony as yesterday, and scattered over with pieces of very fine quartz and shining felspar. No sand in quantity, and a little herbage for camels. Wind as yesterday, but more of it. Maseen is a tolerably deep well, but the water is not very sweet. About it there are three or four stunted date-palms, and several shrubby sprouts, pointing the Saharan wayfarer to the well's site. One of the trees bore fruit this year, but the palm rarely bears fruit in open desert. No bird or animal of any sort seen to-day. The camels crop herbage en route as usual. On the whole, however, we proceed pretty quickly. I imagine about three miles the hour, for a man must walk a sharp pace to keep up well with the camels. Our people eat nothing in the morning; two or three, perhaps, may eat a cake and a few dates. They literally fast all day long and take their one meal at about seven in the evening. I can't support this, and take tea in the morning, besides munching dates at intervals through the day. Nay, I feel ravenous, under the influence of the bleak air of The Desert. About an hour before sunrise all the people get up and make large fires, warming their feet and legs, for these are mostly bare and are very sensible to the cold. I'm sorry I've been obliged to scold Said twice, once for running away from my camel after other people's, and once for rough and saucy language. But I must make the best of him; might easily get a worse servant. Glad the eldest son of the Sheikh Makouran has joined the caravan; he came riding after us this evening, attended with a Touarick, both mounted on maharees, well equipped and capable of scouring The Desert.
