"Lives there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, 'This is my own, my native land.'"
If Dr. Pritchard's argument be good in religion, by the existence of which sentiment in the breast of every portion of humankind he proves that all men are of one species, and of one original race or stock, the argument is equally true of patriotism. I have found, however, some Moors, like some of our philosophers, denying the Negro to be of the same race as the white man. But such Mahometan detractors of the Negro character are extremely rare. The greatest champion of this class was a slave-dealer, and, indeed, it is a convenient opinion for men-stealers of every nation.
The Moors have a primitive way of making a draught-board. A person of the town brought an apron full of sand. This he threw upon a stone bench, and spread it over, making a number of holes for the white and black squares of the board. This done, they then brought a certain number of pieces of stones with a corresponding number of dried balls of camel's dung, (and which, it may be remarked, are very small in comparison to the size of the animal). The whole was now complete and the parties set to work. All the Islamites whom I have seen are passionately fond of gaming and games of chance; and, curious enough, thousands who could not be prevailed upon to drink wine (or eat pork), will game all day long, notwithstanding that gaming is prohibited in the very sentences of the Koran, in which wine is condemned. "They will ask thee (Mahomet) concerning wine and lots. Answer.—In both there is great sin." "Satan seeketh to sow dissension and hatred amongst you, by means of wine and lots," &c. (Surat ii. and v.) How the commentators have quieted the consciences of the Faithful on the point of lots and not about wine, I cannot imagine. Such is the absolute folly of matters of this sort, the "clean" and the "unclean" in religion.
11th.—The sky is overcast this morning, and, what a wonder! we have had a few precious drops of rain. Rain, like gold, is valuable according to circumstances. Wind from N.W. No heat is now felt here. Sebhah is the very abode of dead men, the catacombs of the living. Here, at mid-day, you might sit in the lonely streets, and lecture on the immortality of the soul, to the few people, who, at long intervals, pass flitting by, like spectres of the dead. The melancholy appearance of the place so horrifies me that I don't go into it. When and where the inhabitants rendezvous and gossip is a complete mystery. To the palms and huts of palm-leaves without the town, I return, to convince myself I am in the land of the living. Visited some of the suburban gardens. Irrigation is the support of all vegetable life here. People were employed in weeding the corn-fields; besides the weeds, they picked up the small blades of corn, those not likely to be ripe with the rest of the crop, which are given to the sheep and horses. I have seen, however, no horses here. It is reported amongst the people of the town, that the Touaricks attacked me and took away all my money. As this continues to spread amongst the oases, I shall soon be murdered by the helping imagination of the people, at any rate, before I arrive at Tripoli. A gardener tells me, many palms grow and bear fruit without being watered, or having any water running under them.
The Sebhah district embraces four villages besides its town, viz., Ghortah, Hajrah, Marwees, and Hafat. The population are Moors and Arabs mixed occasionally with Negro blood; but no black population begins at these or the oases hereabouts, as foolishly stated on the map of Capt. Lyon.
12th.—We leave to-day to pursue our journey. Oh, what is life! In the wilderness or the abode of civilization, it is one weary way: but soon, thank God! to end. This morning I was convinced, that, however bad the condition of a people may be, it may still be worse. A poor wretched woman of Sebhah came to beg dates from the slaves! from their scanty allowance. As it mostly happens, the poor give more than the rich in proportion to their means, so these poor slaves gave the beggar woman a most disproportioned quantity of their miserable allowance. A little vanity there may have been in this, for however badly off we are ourselves, we are not displeased to see some people still worse off, and are gratified in laying them under some miserable obligation. Left Sebhah about 8 a.m., and after three hours' ride came in view of a forest of date-palms. This wood of palms is out of the line of route, and extends from Sebhah to Timhanah, a day's journey. Essnousee observed, on arriving at the palms, "See, these are all young palms, lately planted; they are never watered but bear plenty of dates. It is only in Fezzan the palms bring dates without water." Our route is north, and, as before, over an undulating gravelly surface. Several heaps of stones in a part of the road, evidently to clear it, as it is next to impossible to miss the way in this part of Sahara. No stones were added to these heaps by us. Our precursors, in past times, were much more attentive to clearing routes than ourselves.
I am sorry to record the nasty feelings of the people of these Fezzanee towns towards Christians. I found the people a most inhospitable set, and could not get from them a drop of milk for love or money. As, however, they sent plenty of prepared food every evening to the people of the ghafalah, Essnousee was kind enough to give me a dish or two. I attribute this inhospitality to their hatred of the Turks, and the English being considered as the friends of the Turks.
Reached Timhanah at 3 p.m. I was grievously attacked with the tooth and ear-ache, produced by the strong cold wind which had been blowing nearly all day. Got some rum and doctored myself, and by sunset I was enabled to read a little of my Greek Testament. I did not go into the town of Timhanah, being so disgusted with the people of Sebhah. Apparently Timhanah is half the size of Sebhah, and walled with mud and stones. The country around offers the usual prospect of palms and patches of corn cultivation, with wells in each field for irrigation. These oases are most annoyingly alike, and one description must serve for all. The inhabitants fancy I am a Turk, and ask me to speak Turkish. Others shun me as such; and since the Turks, in passing these oases, levy upon the inhabitants hospitality by force, this may be the cause of the little good feeling manifested by them to strangers. Essnousee, for whom I am beginning to entertain the most intense disgust, amused himself this evening with most unmercifully beating his slaves. I could not find out the cause. The females usually catch it most. I cannot tell the reason, except it be, they are more difficult to reduce to a regimen, or system of travelling, and are always fond of playing some innocent pranks. The lively things certainly make more noise and botheration than the males. We are to purchase dates here, they being cheap and of good quality. The townspeople come to see me write, but I lose patience with them, knowing them to be such a nasty set. Bad rulers make bad subjects. The Turks would make any people suspicious and inhospitable. However, when I left the place, some of them came forward to lend a hand in loading the camel, a mark of friendship, which showed me they would be hospitable if their hospitality were not abused by the Turks. To my surprise, this morning a lad of our ghafalah was struck by a scorpion. I did not expect to see scorpions this time of the year. The scorpion was killed instantly. It was a small one, and its stroke feeble, for the lad complained very little, and I heard no more of the matter. In the Apocalypse, locusts are represented as striking a man like scorpions, although they are by nature harmless, so far as wounding humankind is concerned. It is well to observe, the Saharan people always speak of scorpions as not stinging but striking a man, the verb used being ضرب, "to beat," "to strike." So in chap. ix. 5, it is said, καὶ ὁ βασανισμὸς αὐτων ὡς βασανισμὸς σχορπίου, ὄταν παίδῃ ἄνθρωπον ("and their torment [i. e., inflicted by locusts] was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man").
Footnotes:
[47] Atkah is the freedom document. On the liberation of a slave, this is signed by the Kady, in the presence of two witnesses. A freed slave has it generally about him. But after he is known, and has resided long in one place, it is no longer thought of. When a batch of slaves are liberated on the death of their master, they follow him to his burial, carrying the âtkah tied at the top of long rods.