Some time afterwards, however, my father, feeling the roving disposition come over him again, called to me, and said: “I wish to undertake a second journey to Wadaï, and bring back my children with the rest of my family, and arrange all my affairs. Remain, then, at the sanieh. I give it to you, with the land adjoining, in exchange for the money I have had of yours. Watch over this little domain and cultivate it. I leave for that purpose oxen and tools. In the warehouse is abundance of barley for cattle, and of wheat for seed. I leave to your care my mother and your cousins.” I requested my father not to undertake such a journey, and offered to go in his place, but he would not listen to my advice; and having made his preparations, started with many presents for the Sultan of Wadaï.
I settled at the sanieh without money, but with my grandmother and cousins to support. I cultivated the ground; and when I was in want sold a portion of my store of barley. Soon after my father’s departure, my grandmother advised me to marry the younger of my cousins, and I at length consented. Two years passed, and I received news of my father’s death from Tripoli. I repaired there, and met Sedan, my father’s slave. He told me that he had been sent to Mourzouk to sell slaves, and had realised nine hundred and sixty dollars; but that Moknee, who was then governor of Fezzan, had taken them from him. This determined me to return across the desert. I reached Mourzouk in safety, and with some difficulty got back my money. Then I started for Wadaï again; but on the borders of the country of the Tibboo-Reshad I met a large caravan, with which was my Uncle Zarouk. I found that he had appropriated my father’s property; and it was only after a violent quarrel that I got back a portion—namely, a number of slaves.
I returned to Tunis with my slaves, and soon afterwards disposed of my sanieh, which I found to be a losing concern. Then I went to live in Tunis itself, and passed there two years, during which I spent a great part of my fortune. Fearing poverty, I determined to undertake the pilgrimage to Mekka, and carry merchandise with me. My wife refused to accompany me; so I started alone, on board a brig, which touched first at Susa. Whilst we stayed here I made a little excursion to Cairawan. Eleven days afterwards we sighted Alexandria. From this place I went to Cairo, where I was rejoiced to find my mother alive and well. I gave her a hundred piastres for her expenses. Seven days after my arrival I bought an Abyssinian slave, a beautiful girl, gentle and honest. Her heart was good and loving, and she shared my joys and sorrows. I kept her for six years, until she died (A.D. 1821) of the plague. No loss ever grieved me more than the loss of my beautiful Abyssinian girl, whom may God regard with mercy!
CONCLUDING NOTE.
The Sheikh now reverts to his last voyage to Fezzan, and gives further details. After this he promises to write what befell him during his pilgrimage to Mekka, and in a visit he subsequently made to the Morea; but this portion of his work he has not yet executed. I have thought it best to give but a mere outline of the concluding section of his travels. What I have presented will impart some idea of the kind of life led by these Oriental wandering merchants, and enable us to understand the working of the Mohammedan social system, and especially of polygamy. The reader will not have failed to perceive that the intercourse of the sexes becomes almost fortuitous; that filial and parental affection are necessarily weakened and nearly destroyed; and that natural sentiments, though they show themselves now and then, do so in a merely episodical and unimportant way. The great bane of Muslim civilisation is this idea, that women are an article of property. The worthy Sheikh, who so regrets his Abyssinian girl, forgets to tell us what became of Zeitoun. He had loved another slave also, but had endeavoured to change her away to satisfy a momentary caprice. These reflections, however, will have suggested themselves to the sagacious reader.
THE END.
London: Printed by G. Barclay, Castle St. Leicester Sq.