Let us turn now to Dr. Oudney, and hear what he says about The Rock. On an excursion westward, from Mourzuk to Ghat, they arrived near Ludinat, in the valley of Serdalas or Sardalis. At a small conical hill called Boukra, or "father of the foot," the people of the caravans amused themselves by hopping over it; he who does it best is considered least exhausted by the journey. Near this are a few hills, among which a serpent, as large as a camel, is said to reside. "The Targhee is superstitious and credulous in the extreme: every hill and cave has something fabulous connected with it."
Of the nature of the mountains hereabouts, the Doctor says, "We entered (after leaving Serdalas) a narrow pass, with lofty rugged hills on each side; some were peaked. The black colour of almost all, with white streaks, gave them a sombre appearance. The external surface of this sandstone soon acquires a shining black, like basalt; so much so, that I have several times been deceived, till I took up the specimen. The white part is from a shining white aluminous schistus, that separates into minute flakes like snow. The ground had in many places the appearance of being covered with snow."
They now got on the plain of the Kesar Jenoun. The hills of Tradart or Wareerat (apparently the same word, but sometimes called Taseely) now appeared on the east, and the high sands on the west. "The Tradart (or Taseely) range," says Oudney, "has a most singular appearance; there is more of the picturesque in this than in any hills we have ever seen. Let any one imagine ruinous cathedrals and castles; these we had in every position, and of every form. (I myself often thought of Windsor Castle, and the many hoary-headed old castles of England.) It will not be astonishing that an ignorant and superstitious people should associate these with something supernatural. That is the fact; some particular demon inhabits each. The cause of the appearance is the geological structure. In the distance there is a hill more picturesque and higher than the others, called Gassur Janoun, or Devil's Castle. Between it and the range there is a pass[28] through which our course lies. Hateetah dreads this hill, and has told me many strange stories of wonderful sights having been seen; these he firmly believes, and is struck with horror, when we tell him we will visit it."
Our countrymen kept the range of Wareerat the whole day, and were amazed with the great variety of forms. And when Clapperton thought he perceived the smell of smoke the previous night, Hateetah immediately said it was from the Devil's House. Another smaller rock is called the Chest, under which a large sum of money is said to have been deposited by an ancient people who were giants of extraordinary stature. The present race of Touaricks are, indeed, giants compared to some of our pigmy European nations. Oudney made an excursion to Janoun, the Kesar Jenoun. He says, "Our servant Abdullah accompanied me. He kept at a respectable distance behind. When near the hill, he said, in a pitiful tone, 'There is no road up.' I told him we would endeavour to find one. The ascent was exceedingly difficult, and so strewed with stones, that we were only able to ascend one of the eminences; there we halted, and found it would be impossible to go higher, as beyond where we were was a precipice." It would appear the Doctor ascended one of the detached blocks, which I ascended last night to observe the fires of the encampment. Hateetah got alarmed at the departure of Oudney, and Clapperton was not able to allay his fears: he was only soothed when the Doctor returned. The Sheikh was astonished, as much as our people, when the Doctor said he had "seen nothing." How like things happen! Even at the distance of twenty long years, between my visit and the Doctor's, it seems as if I was narrating one story. The Doctor was also mainly incited by the same feeling as myself, to observe the geological structure. He observes, "The geological structure is the same as the range (Wareerat) that is near." To-day, after twenty years, and without knowing what the Doctor had written, when I made the same observation to our people, and tried to persuade Haj Ibrahim, the most intelligent of my companions, that there was nothing in this huge block different from the mountain range near it, being of the same stone and consistence, he replied drily, looking at both formations, "Yâkob, it's not true. You see on the Kesar Jenoun the very stones which the Demons have built up like the Castle at Tripoli. When you will be blind, how can you see? Why not believe in our Genii?"
This leads me to notice the Mahometan belief in Demons or Genii. According to the best commentators, the term جنّ "Jinn" signifies a rational and invisible being, whether angel or devil, or the intermediate species called "genius" or "demon." As the word Genii is used in the passage of the Koran, "Yet they have set up the Genii as partners with God, although he created them," (Surat VI.) some believe it refers to "the angels whom the Pagan Arabs worshipped, and others the devils, either because they became their servants, by adoring idols at their instigation, or else because, according to the Magian system, they looked upon the devil as a sort of creator, making him the author and principal of all evil, and God the author of good only." We all know what a share the Genii have in working the wonderful machinery of the Arabian Nights Tales. The Touaricks give them still greater powers, and make them a sort of delegated or deputy creators, according to the Magian system, but do not attribute to them the malevolent passions of an evil being. They are probably influenced by the Koran in this, which in the Surat, entitled "The Genii" (lxxii.) makes a portion of them to have been converted by hearing the reading of the Koran: "Say, it hath been revealed unto me, that a company of Genii heard me reading the Koran, and said, Verily we have heard an admirable discourse, which directeth into the right institution; wherefore we believe therein, and we will by no means associate any other with our Lord." The ancient Pagan Arabians also believed that the Genii haunted desert places, and they frequently retired, under cover of the evening's shade, to commune with these familiars of The Desert.
It is, perhaps, worth while to compare this Desert Pandemonium, which the imagination of the Touaricks has built up amongst their native hills, aided by the light of the Koran, with what the creative mind of Milton has constructed by the aid of the learning of his times, and our own Scriptures. The difference is as striking as contrast can present. But yet there are some wonderful affinities, showing that mind is one and the same amongst barbarian or civilized nations. Blackness and darkness enter into the situation of both pandemoniums. The Desert Pandemonium has its pillars and turrets, its frieze, bas-reliefs, and cornices of ornamental architecture, though all done by the hand of "geological structure,"—its dark colours shining with "a glossy scurf." The Desert Pandemonium is also alive with myriads of spirits, peopling its subterranean vaults. The Desert Pandemonium has finally its riches, its jewels, and its treasures, such as Mammon, "the least-erected spirit," discovered and "led them on" to, in the deeps of hell. We may now transcribe the description of Milton's Pandemonium, the great ingredient of contrast being light and splendour amidst the "darkness visible" of the regions of perdition.
"Anon, out of the earth a fabric huge Rose like an exhalation, with the sound Of dulcet symphonies, and voices sweet, Built like a temple, where pilasters round Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid With golden architrave; nor did there want Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven; The roof was fretted gold."
* * * * *
"The ascending pile Stood fix'd her stately height; and straight the doors Opening their brazen folds, discover, wide Within, her ample spaces, o'er the smooth And level pavement; from the arched roof Pendant by subtle magic, many a row Of starry lamps and blazing crezzets, fed With naphtha and asphaltus, yielded light As from a sky."