Friday, May 13.—Therm. 78°. Went to breakfast with the pretty Jewess; her husband is a man of some information. We had too much to eat: afterwards walked about two miles up the bed of the river, which, when full, must contain a large body of water. Visited the Arab tents; on returning, saw some very fine women, but they were beastly dirty. Morality is here at a very low ebb; the husband prostitutes his wife, and the father his child; and this is considered no disgrace, if it is done for a valuable consideration, and not for love. Witnessed a very disgusting scene with the Sheïkh; he has three wives all living, but he still likes his slaves: his fourth wife died lately; she was an Arab of great beauty, for whom he gave two hundred camels, twelve slaves, and a great quantity of produce. His eldest son is a chip of the old block, and is running after every woman he takes a fancy to, the pretty Jewess excepted, whose person is considered sacred. Three Moors have destroyed themselves for her in a fit of love, and all come to see her. As she is a patient, I can visit her daily. I am becoming very impatient, and the people tell me I have a quick temper: but the fact is, time is no object to the people here; their care is merely how to waste it; as soon as one meal is finished, they want to sleep till the time for the next arrives. It is quite dreadful to see the sad state to which human nature is degraded in this place. The small-pox has broken out with great violence, and I have to run the gauntlet without the least chance of escaping from it. A slave was brought in, charged with attempting to run away; it appears to have been a little love affair: he was punished by having a fifty-six pound-weight fastened to his leg.
Saturday, May 14.—Therm. 74°. The poor creature is still chained, and has not a drop of water, although it is now mid-day. The Sheïkh should have clean hands before he thus punished others. Went out again to the bed of the river, and made the round of the Khiesin: met many beautiful women, if they were only clean. Their husbands are all gone to Súdán; had to prescribe for some fifty of them; they wanted me to make their faces of the same colour as my legs and arms. My watch, rings, &c. were a great object of curiosity with them: had a little difficulty in making some of them shew their tongues, which they consider a mark of impudence; they all like to be closely examined; their figures are perfectly beautiful; most of them were at work. I had prayers and thanks in abundance. One very merry lass had on her neck a curious collection: it embraced a little bag of spices and scents; the nail of a horse-shoe; a leather charm, called horse; a broken shell; a large glass bead; another horse; a shell again (habha); a small habha, consisting of a circular piece of agate, and a large horse at the centre, from which was suspended the horn of a young ram; and the same things were repeated, forming the circle. Some of the women work beautiful háïks, blankets, and carpets. In the large tents are two beds raised on feet, with a cradle, the canopy for the bride. There are two tents in each inclosure of thorns or prickly pears. Visited the Millah, and then home.
Sunday, May 15.—Therm. 76°. Had a long conversation with Zeïn, who was at Tumbuktú when Major Laing was killed.[100] It appears that Hámed Libbú gave all the protection he could; but that the Sheïkh, to whose care the Major was entrusted, expected to gain a large plunder by his destruction. Zeïn had seen also Caillié[101] several times during his stay there. Things have now changed. The government is now Fulání. Hámed Libbú killed four thousand of the Tawáriks in one day, and has quite reduced that tribe to subjection. These marauders are, however, still in force between Tumbuktú and Sakatú. A large portion of the former place, inhabited by the Tawáriks, has been burnt down. Zeïn tells me there is no chance of my getting to Sakatú. The Wád and the river are both beset by the Tawáriks. The distance by land is forty days to Jennah, which is distant from Tumbuktú eight days; from thence to Sansanding and Ségó four or five days; and from thence twenty days to the source of the river. To Kóng he did not know how long the journey was; but it is very distressing, and is all performed on foot. Read the prayers. Day very hot towards noon. There is a little quiet to-day, as all the people are out at the Sók; which has been but badly attended, as there is no arrival from Suweïrah, and the káfilah will not be here for some days. Walked out and looked at Wesnúnah, which is about six miles south, and to As-sérir about four east. The Sheïkh has about forty villages, containing a population, they say, of twenty-five thousand. My spirits are much depressed to-day. My position is truly miserable: I am bored to death, and obliged to submit, through the fear of making enemies amongst savages. I have scarcely a book to while away the time, and no means of improving myself, or getting information from others. I have at last learnt the name of the river; it is the Bontkonman, or, as some call it, Buatkuman: it is called also Mulasar. The large river that is laid down in the maps, as the Akassa, runs nearly due east and west, flowing through the south of Wád Nún to the sea. The river here comes from Eít-Bamáran, and runs towards the mountains east, and is lost in the sand. At present there are only a few patches of water, the stream having failed to a mere dropping spring, which the Arab tribes consume. I have been much amused with the Arab ladies; their frankness is quite extraordinary. I shall give away about twenty dollars to them, as soon as I arrive at Sídí el Rasí: it will be money well laid out. Had a very pleasant hour with the Sheïkh, giving him a description of the battle of Waterloo: he said the joy here was universal, when they heard that the French had been beaten; for they are detested in these parts. He said that the price of ostrich feathers had declined terribly; the very same quantity which could once fetch twenty and thirty mithkáls, could now be bought for three or four.
Monday, May 16.—Therm. 72°. The day beautiful; all have been busily occupied for some days past in carrying the corn; the crops are very heavy; they are now treading it out; camels, horses, mules, donkeys, and boys, are all employed indiscriminately. I am feeling severely the effect of hunger: I have now been two days without food, except some bad bread and eggs. If these people think I am going to beg for every thing, they will find themselves mistaken. I shall wait two hours longer, and then send Abú to see if any thing is to be bought. I had ordered some food yesterday, but I could not get it cooked. To-day I have received a present of meat, and the Sheïkh has asked me to drink tea with the party. I am afraid, however, of being too much with these people. Three-fourths of the whole population have been inoculated in the left ankle for the small-pox: how they will manage at the large Sók, I know not. I have been here nearly a month, and there has not been a single death; this, in so large a population, speaks much in favour of the healthiness of the spot. I am anxious for the Sók to take place; for I shall then know how long I am to stay here.
Tuesday, May 17.—Therm. 72°. Weather close, and air heavy, and feels very sirocco-ish. A host of people are under a course of physic. The Sheïkh’s sons have taken up their position in the garden for the day. Received letters from Mr. Willshire, and some for the Sheïkh, which I hope will decide the question. I have been here a month all but two days. Preparations are making for the Sók.
Wednesday, May 18.—Therm. °. The heat is coming on with great power. Some of the Damání have arrived from Tagakánth, and the Súdán caravan is expected to-morrow. I walked out to the four hills leading to the sea. Mashulí is gone to the Sók at Tinzí. From Wád Nún to As-serír three hours; to Tergezít one day; to Tínzert one day; to Oúfren two short days; to Tazerwelt, the residence of Sídí Hasan, two days; to Tinzí three or four days. This line is often taken from hence to the desert. Visited all the gardens to-day; but there is not a single vegetable cultivated here, with the exception of a few onions; fruits, however, such as grapes, figs, dates, pomegranates, and prickly pears, are in abundance. In some of the gardens I found one or two apple-trees: but they never wait for the fruit to ripen. The Sheïkh is rather fidgety, but has said nothing.
Thursday, May 19.—Therm. 76°. It was very cold during the night, notwithstanding the doors that have been put to my room. There is an evident change for the better in our treatment: but I am more anxious about a change of place, and the permission to let us be moving to the south. Something was said, but not to me, of our going in about a month. The Sheïkh has evidently something on his mind, but is afraid to speak out. He is an extraordinary person; I have never seen such a combination of opposites in any individual: at one time proud, arrogant, austere, despotic, and occasionally savage; he then changes his character, and becomes low and grovelling, or else full of kindness, frank and open-hearted: now severely punishing his slaves, and now taking the meanest and dirtiest to his arms, passing at once from finery to filth. Although he thinks nothing of cooking three or four sheep a-day, yet he will ask for the refuse of my tobacco-leaves to fill his own pipe. He is much led by others, and in constant fear about his money. He has a numerous family, four wives, forty female slaves, and hosts of children in all the tents, as he is an universal lover. The wretched state of many of his children is beyond all belief; they are covered with filth and vermin, and clothed in rags. His hoards of treasure must be very great; and as much of it is buried, it will be lost, perhaps for ever, should the owner die without disclosing the place of concealment. The people are all in a great bustle, preparing for the Sók. The place has great capabilities, and would yield, were the people of industrious habits, an immense revenue; but all are afraid of each other. I am now so changed in appearance, that I hardly know myself. I cannot master the language. The electrical horse has lost its power since its arrival here. There is a Sók to-day at Tinzí, from whence the people come here: none are more anxious for it than I am, and none will be more pleased at returning home than I shall be at going on. I have at last resolved, if a delay of more than a month is proposed, to retrace my steps to Fez, and start afresh In-shá-llah! I have written my journal up to noon; at which period all were looking out for the káfilah. At two P.M., eight camels and twenty individuals of the Damání tribe arrived here from Súdán, bringing with them gold, cloths, and twenty slaves, whose looks were savage in the extreme: they had a profusion of long black hair, and were half naked; their lips were remarkably thin, and their teeth looked like ivory; both themselves and their animals looked sadly haggard, and the whole affair tended rather to throw a damp upon my feelings and future movements. I have now told the Sheïkh that I would take no further excuse: he painted in strong colours the dangers and privations I must suffer, if I started except with a káfilah; but as none will move for four months, I determined to commit myself to the care of Providence, and take merely my guides, our guns and pistols being our escort, and not to take the road by Taudení and ’Arrawán, but to strike at once across the desert, and make for our point. Only one man is said to know the track, and I am to have him. All will be settled to-morrow, and I shall start one way or the other, after the Sók. News has been brought of the defeat of the Felláṭehs by the people of Bambárah, and that Hámed Libbú has come down to Hamdu-li-llah, which is about 250 miles south of Tumbuktú.
Friday, May 20.—Therm. 65°. It feels very cold, with a strong wind from the N.W., and heavy clouds. News has been brought by a second party, that the crops in Súdán have failed; that the Tawáriks have assembled on the east of Tumbuktú, and that most of the inhabitants have quitted the city, partly through fear, and partly to seek subsistence elsewhere. This morning we have heard more bad news: the Fulání are said to have been again beaten, with immense loss: some of the female captives have been brought to the Sheïkh; four as a present: they look well, and are well dressed, and do not seem to have suffered as much by the journey as their inhuman traffickers. This is a trying scene for poor Abú, as most of the captives are from the neighbourhood of the place where his family reside. The expedition for the slave-market has not been so fortunate, although the war has furnished an immense number for the people of Bambárah. My heart sickens at the sight of this horrid practice. In another lot of these unfortunate beings were six women, one of whom had given birth to a child on the road, which was thrown into the bargain. There was an old wretch who had come from Suweïrah to purchase female slaves: his examination was carried on in the most disgusting manner. I could not refrain from calling down the curse of Heaven on these inhuman wretches: in many but little feeling is shewn for the poor blacks; and they seemed to think less of their own fate than I did, who was merely a looker-on. One poor creature, however, who was a finer woman and less black than the rest, shed tears: I could have given her my dagger to have plunged it in the breast of the villain who was examining her: and yet these people pray four times a day, and think themselves superior to all God’s creatures. More than ever do I wish to get away from this den of hell-hounds. Each of the grown persons were in the prime of life, and had once possessed a home, and were more to be pitied than the children, who had never known the liberty of thought and act. To each of the ten slaves was given a lunch of bread; while both the inhuman buyers and sellers, after chuckling over their bargains, went to offer up their prayers to Heaven, before they took their daily meal. Can such unhallowed doings be permitted to endure longer? Oh! spirit of civilization, hither turn your eyes, and punish the purchasers, who ought to know better; for thus only will the sale be stopt. At length something has been settled definitively with the Sheïkh: I am not to wait for the káfilah, but to proceed with a few camels and five guides, the whole of whom I am to pay for; and we are to take the courier’s track, by which we shall reach Tumbuktú in forty days from starting. I am to leave this place ten days after the Sók. So far so good.
Saturday, May 21.—Therm. 66°. Wind still very strong. Parties are coming in for the Sók. Another small portion of the káfilah has arrived: the main body is expected here on Monday. Walked the entire circuit of the town, and visited the burial-ground, which is the prettiest I have seen in this country. Most of the graves are planted with flowers, and all are kept in good order. The tomb of Sídí El Kádí is very neat. Coming round by the gardens, I met some of the Damánís, who are anxious to take me on. Had a visit from a Sheïkh, who has just returned from Tumbuktú, where he has resided many years: he has been two months on the road, his camel being a weak one. Feel in much better spirits to-day.
Sunday, May 22.—Therm. 70°. Weather beautiful. Read the prayers, and kept the house till three P.M. Another arrival from Tumbuktú: they were two persons of consequence upon white camels, and four others on their eshreb el ríhhs;[102] all were in good condition. They say that the káfilah will be here to-morrow. I am half-famished.