From el-Drah, our little party had been increased by several Moors; they all assembled round the wells, and talked much about me; with the exception of my guide all appeared to take an interest in my fate: fears were expressed that on my arrival in Alexandria I might not meet with any parents. “Poor young man,” said they, “what will he do all alone?” I told them that I had full confidence in God, who had supported me through a thousand dangers and would not abandon me at the moment of reaching port. “In short,” said I, “if God has called to himself my father and mother, he will have left me a brother and a sister.”
On such occasions Aly spoke highly in my favour and even pitied me: this day he carried his kindness so far as to shave my head, a compliment which I would willingly have dispensed with; but, as it was a religious duty, I could not complain. In the very act he proved his hypocrisy by insulting me, and encouraging his slaves to follow his example. To escape these persecutions, I took refuge in the tents of the Moors, our fellow-travellers, where we passed the night under the palms, the coolness of whose foliage invited us to sleep. The camels and mules not having had water the whole day, we rested till three in the afternoon of the 17th.
The intense heat having then moderated, we proceeded northward, over a soil similar to that of the preceding day. About half past six we stopped, and each of us supped upon a piece of barley-cake and some dates. After this meagre repast, we again stretched ourselves upon the stony ground, where I slept soundly till about three in the morning of the 18th, when we started afresh.
As my guide was fearful of fatiguing his camel, he obliged me to walk the whole morning: I therefore followed on foot the little caravan, which slowly advanced towards the N. N. E. over a gravelly soil; the face of the country was covered with hills composed of rocks of granite. About nine in the morning, we halted at the wells of Bohayara, around which the vegetation is luxuriant; they are twelve feet deep, and sunk in grey sand, mingled with coarse gravel. They are very near to a camp of Berbers, who water their sheep and goats at them: these men inhabit the passes of the mountains, where they feed numerous flocks of sheep and herds of camels, and cultivate a little barley and wheat. They are rovers, but change their place of abode less frequently than the Moors, and whenever occasion calls them to a distance from their little fields, they always leave some one behind to take care of them.
I found the Berber women much cleaner and less curious than the Moorish. They dress like the latter in old rags, but take care to wash them. These women, whose good looks proclaim that they live in plenty, colour the tips of their noses and chins blue; they envelop their heads in ragged cloths of red or white worsted, and wear their hair in tufts behind their ears, and fastened in rolls at the back of their heads. Their principal ornaments consist of necklaces of amber, coral, and various kinds of glass-beads, and in silver bracelets and anclets; their skin however appeared to be as dirty as that of the Moorish females of el-Harib. They are industrious, and employ themselves in spinning the wool of their sheep, and weaving the yarn into blankets, which they sell at Tafilet. These Berbers have a peculiar idiom, which the Arabs do not speak; they also conform to the religion of Mahomet; they have several wives, who superintend all the household concerns, prepare the food, take care of the sheep, and have besides the laborious task of drawing water for them to drink. They pasture their flocks in the passes of the mountains wheresover they can find herbage, for the appearance of their own country is absolutely bare. Hills of granite, of moderate height, but totally destitute of vegetation, meet the eye on all sides. This wandering and pastoral tribe subsist like the Moors, upon dates and sangleh made of barley; they often make their supper upon couscous, or barley-cake, baked upon the ashes. In the rainy season, the milk of their flocks, being then more abundant, forms a portion of their nourishment. Such of them as live in the villages have houses in the Moorish style, built like those of the Arab inhabitants of the towns: the rovers have only tents, the coverings of which are made of the hair of their camels. They grow but little grain, the land which they occupy being scarcely fit for cultivation; but here and there may be traced veins of more fertile earth which they turn to good account.
Their cookery, like that of the Moors of el-Harib, is performed in large copper vessels, manufactured by native smiths. It is astonishing that they escape being poisoned by the verdigris, for the Moorish women are so excessively dirty that they never wash their utensils, merely rubbing off with the hand what adheres to the sides.
The Berbers encamped at Bohayara presented Sidi-Aly and our escort with a sheep, which had a particularly fine fleece, and was killed by the Berbers of our company for our supper. As we had no vessel to boil it in, our guides had recourse to the ingenious expedient of picking up a number of large smooth calcareous stones, with which they formed a small oven, and heated it with roots of hedysarum alhagi, the only combustible that grows in this part. The entrails of the sheep were converted into chitterlings and the carcase was cut into many small parts.
The oven, when strongly heated, was carefully swept, and the pieces of mutton put in one upon another; it was then hermetically sealed with loose sand. When the meat was properly dressed, the chief of our Berbers, who was a lover of justice, secured its impartial distribution by giving each of us a bit of wood, which, being duly marked, was brought to one of the Moors appointed for the purpose. He was ordered to shake them together, and taking them up at random, to place each upon a piece of the meat: thus every one was entitled to his own lot. I had also my share, for which I was solely indebted to the chief of the Berbers, who had been often indignant at the conduct of the Moors towards me. The meat was pretty good, served with cleanliness, and perfectly well dressed.
On the 19th of July, at four in the morning, we quitted the delicious wells of Bohayara, slowly directing our course N. N. E. over a soil covered with small grey gravel; on either side of our route was a chain of low, bare hills, containing abundance of black granite, in huge detached blocks; and the country was still naked, presenting its usual appearance of frightful sterility.
About ten, after proceeding at the rate of three miles an hour, the wells of Goud-Zenaga afforded us a resting place; here we found some Berbers from an adjacent camp who were watering their flocks. The aspect of the country around led me into reflections upon the habits and character of these people; it seems inconceivable how they can contentedly take up their abode in such dreary regions, producing nothing but scanty herbage, and neither tree nor shrub of any kind.