This evening being that previous to the Ramadan, a great outcry was made to see the moon. According to my Italian almanack it should be three days' old, the geographical position of the two countries may make a difference as to a sight of it. There is a little display of firing off pistols, chiefly by boys. A vast number of persons question me, as to whether I shall fast (soum) to-morrow; and a Touarick goes bolt up to the Governor, and says, to his Excellency, pointing to where I am sitting,—"Does this (man) fast?" His Excellency shakes his head and laughs gravely. To questions put direct to me, I answer, "a little." A boy says to me, "Why, how now, every body fasts, and you don't fast!" It is, however, prudent to avoid all these questions. I told some more liberal:—"The English eat and drink at all seasons that which is good; but some Christian nations occasionally fast." According to the Moslemite rite here observed, all under thirteen may eat during the Ramadan; but, other authorities tell me, all under eight. Those who travel are excused for the time being. The fast endures thirty days. Another patient brought me a few dates. In time I may alter my opinion of Ghadamsee gratitude. Some new patients, nearly all ophthalmia and diarrhœa.
Visited to-day the two wells, which serve a portion of the population, in addition to the great spring. It is surprising what an interest I take in water. It is to me like precious gold, and the most fine gold. One of these wells has better water than the central running spring. They are large wells, but do not run like the great spring: they are also only a little warm. In the winter they rise higher, showing some connexion with the rainy season in the rainy region. Two men were employed in drawing water in a curious manner. The other buckets were not being worked. One end of the shaft is made very heavy, so as to assist in bringing up the water by over-balancing on a swivel; the other end, to which the cord and bucket is attached, is correspondingly light.
The houses of Ghadamsee are one, two, three, four, and even five stories high; the greater part three or four stories. The architecture is ordinarily Moorish, with some Saharan fantastic peculiarities. The public buildings offer nothing remarkable; even the mosques, in a place so devoted to religion, have no pretty minarets. There are four large mosques, viz.: Jemâ Kebir,—Tinghaseen,—Yerasen,—Eloweenah; and many smaller mosques and sanctuaries. The streets are all covered in and dark, (a peculiarity prevailing in many Saharan cities,) with here and there open spaces or little squares, of which there are several to let in the light of heaven. They are small and narrow, and winding, not more than a couple of camels can pass abreast, the ceiling however being high enough to admit the entrance of the tall Maharee camel. A camel of this species entered to-day: it amazed me by its stupendous height; a person of average size might have walked under its belly. The principal streets and squares are lined with stone-benches, on which the people loungingly recline or stretch themselves. Both houses and streets are admirably adapted for the climate, protecting the inhabitants alike from the fiery glare of the summer's sun, and the keen blasts of the winter's cold. Before the Rais Mustapha's appointment, the city had, besides smaller and inner gates, four principal ones, viz., Bab-el-Manderah, Bab-esh-Shydah, Bab-el-Mishrah, and Bab-el-Bur ("gate of the country"), all of which, except the last on the south-west, are now closed, with respect to the entrance of goods and camels. The city is situate on the south-east side of the plantations of palms and gardens, not in the central part of the oasis. I asked the talebs the meaning of some of the names of the gates, but they could not tell. Many proper names of places and persons, amongst them as with us, have now no assignable meaning or derivation.
Footnotes:
[20] Here we find The Sahara called fertile land; and, in fact, many parts of The Desert could be cultivated.
[21] See Surat liii., entitled "The Star."
[22] This complaint is not well founded, for afterwards I saw the Rais often receive presents of fruit, tobacco, sugar, and even wearing apparel.
