The wells of Telig are remarkable for the vicinity of granite mountains, and for the neighbourhood of Toudeyni, which, in all the maps, is carried far to the west of the line between Timbuctoo and Tafilet. M. Caillié’s description leaves no room for supposing that he is treating of some other place of the same name, since this city is well known to be a great mart for salt. I pass over in silence the immense banks of moving sand, and the rare accidents of the soil, which scarcely vary throughout this long tract of road, the dreary uniformity of which is interrupted only by the wells. Beyond the wells of Mayara appear the last branches of the chain of Mount Atlas. The granite shews itself at first in fragments and hillocks, afterwards in high hills and steep mountains. Twelve days’ journey beyond el-Harib, we enter the district of Tafilet. Here the report of M. Caillié is widely different from the received opinions: 1st. He heard nothing of any town of Tafilet, it is merely, he says, the name of a country. It is nevertheless possible that a town may have heretofore existed there, and have disappeared like so many other towns of central Africa. I observe in the travels of Ebn-Hassan from Fez to Tafilet, quoted in the Recherches sur l’Afrique septentrionale[66], &c. that the territory only of Tafilet is mentioned and not the town; which would support the account of M. Caillié. 2ndly. This country is much nearer to the meridian of Fez than it is marked on all the maps[67]. 3rdly. It is farther north[68], Ghourland, M. Caillié informs us, is the principal place in this territory; near it is a place called Afilé, and another of the name of Boheim[69], besides Ressant, the residence of a governor under the Emperor of Morocco. M. Caillié mentions another position unknown upon the maps; a large town called Rauguerute or Rogrut, S. S. E. from Morocco.
The narrative presents but few details concerning the crossing of Mount Atlas; it is not a matter of surprize that, after so many fatigues and perils, our adventurer should be impatient to reach the end of so long a journey. However, I observe in this part the course of a little river or brook, called the Guigo, flowing from Soforo (or perhaps from beyond) towards M-Dayara, and probably as far as Tafilet. Upon carefully examining the traveller’s route, we perceive that he first saw the Guigo, or had some knowledge of it, between Rahaba, and L-Eyarac, afterwards at Tamaroc, and Kars; that he crossed it at L-Eksebi; and that the river fertilizes the environs of N-Zeland, L-Guim, Guigo, and Soforo. The water-mills which our traveller saw at Soforo again announce the presence of the same river. Thus the part of its course with which we are acquainted will be at least fifty leagues in length and probably much more. I do not know whether it passes to el-Fez, where however several different rivulets are seen.
Neither was the journey across the Sahara altogether unprofitable with regard to our knowledge of the oases and of the stations which it contains. The distances of these places from the several points of his route were reported to our traveller; and these distances are very different from those previously admitted: but are there two accordant testimonies concerning these positions? Each caravan and each tribe makes a different estimate of the intervals; and if, to the actual mistakes which the Moors and natives may commit, the errors in which they are interested be added, what a source of uncertainty will these present! Therefore, though I have fixed upon the general map the points of Tychyt, Oualet, Ouadan or Hoden, Ouad-Noun, &c., according to the indications of M. Caillié, combined with other documents, I consider them as very uncertain. Oualet, says our traveller is at ten days’ distance from el-Araouan, to the west, fifteen north from Sego, and eighteen from Ouadan: this point falls near nineteen degrees of latitude and nine degrees forty minutes longitude west from Paris: the three lines meeting at nearly the same point. But if it agrees with the three data given above, it is at variance with the situation of Oualet, as hitherto admitted, either from Mungo Park, or the testimony of the natives. It is perhaps another place named Oualet, not that intended by Mungo Park. Can it be the Gualata of Leo Africanus? but his description suits this no better.[70] In this case Gualata would be much farther to the south than is generally supposed. It is however certain that geographers cannot confound the Walet of Mungo Park with Gualata.
Although M. Caillié has not mentioned Agably which is believed to be the chief place of the oasis of the Touats, I have been obliged to insert it in the map, because the traveller gives a position called Touat much nearer to the route from Timbuctoo to the Tafilet. It is not surprising that several places should be so called, because the wandering tribe bearing this name occupy a considerable portion of the great desert, from the south of Morocco to beyond Agably. Besides, the situation of this place, which could not have been brought within the limits of the map, if we were to adopt the mere reports of the Arabs, to which geographers have had recourse, falls there, on the contrary, according to the astronomical observation of Major Laing, who fixes it much farther to the west. This observation is published, for the first time; I owe it to my learned friend Captain Sabine, himself united in the most affectionate intimacy with the unfortunate traveller, who transmitted it to him after sustaining a first attack on leaving this oasis. Nor was it at Agably that Major Laing made the observation, but at Ain-Salah, belonging to the same canton and at two days’ journey from it; this place is cited in all the itineraries between Tripoli and the western Soudan. According to the Major its situation is twenty nine minutes west of Paris, and twenty-seven degrees eleven minutes thirty seconds north latitude. Notwithstanding the difference between this and the situation allotted to this town upon all the maps, I have thought it right to enter it in the general map of the travels.
The other places of the Sahara, such as Akka, Tatta, el-Kabla,[71] for want of new data, have been fixed from a comparison of those upon which the map of M. Walckenaer, or those of Messrs. Lapie, Brué, Berghaus, &c., were formed. With respect to the names of tribes and colonies, I have endeavoured to place them with all possible exactness, and have been obliged to differ from several recent maps in other respects very valuable.
To the right of his route, and in front of el-A’raouan, M. Caillié heard of an important situation, that of Sala; but the accounts were too vague to be compared with the descriptions of the Arabs.
I shall finish the examination of this third part of the travels by the general list of the wells and stations of the desert on the line from Timbuctoo to Fez; which line appears to be the most advantageous and the shortest, because it is the most frequented. It seemed to me that the collection of all these names into a single table might be of some utility. It will be remarked that Toudeyni does not appear in this list: may not this place be without water fit for drinking? and has Telig succeeded it as a more convenient station for caravans? I submit this doubt to the reader.
| NAMES OF PLACES, wells and stations. | HOURS of march[72] | DAYS. | DEPTH OF THE WELLS, and quality of the water. |
|---|---|---|---|
| From Timbuctoo to el-A’rouan. | 66 | 6 | 60 feet in depth; the water brackish, unwholesome, abundant. Station. |
| Mourat | " | " | 1 foot; water brackish. |
| Telig[73] | 111[74] | 8 | 3 or 4 feet; water brackish and abundant. |
| Crames | 32½ | 5 | Wells sometimes dry. |
| Trazas or Tghazah | 9 | 1 | 7 or 8 feet; water very salt and bad. |
| Amoul-Gragim | 27½ | 3 | 7 or 8 feet; water muddy, salt, but not bad. |
| Amoul-Taf | 25½ | 3 | 4 feet; water sweet, but in small quantity. |
| L-Ekseif | 19 | 3 | Excellent water. |
| Marabouty | 40½ | 4 | Shallow. |
| L-Guedea | 32 | 4 | Tolerably good water. |
| Mayara | 45 | 4 | 4 or 5 feet; water very salt and bad. |
| Sibicia | 21 | 2 | 7 or 8 feet; water clear and delicious. |
| El-Harib | 23 | 2 | Station. |
| El-Hamid | 19 | 2 | From 20 to 25 feet; water good. |
| Mimcina | 9 | 1 | Large town of the Drah. |
| Yeneguedel | 8 | 1 | 3 feet; water good and abundant. |
| Faratissa | 7 | 1 | 2½ feet; water very good. |
| Boharaya | 9 | 2 | 12 feet; water sweet and excellent. |
| Goud-Zenaga | 6 | 1 | |
| Zenatyia[75] | 7 | 1 | From 20 to 24 feet; water pretty good and abundant. |
| Chanerou | 6 | 1 | Wells frequented by the Berbers. |
| Nyela or Ain-Yela | 9 | 1 | The water is taken up by hand; it is abundant and good. |
| Ghourland | 6 | 1 | Station.; chief town of Tafilet. |
| Boheim[76] | 1½ | 1 | |
| Afilé | 1½ | 1 | |
| Taneyara | 4½ | " | A village without water. |
| Marca | 3 | 1 | Deep wells; garden. |
| M-Dayara | 9 | 1 | Town. |
| Rahaba | 3 | 1 | A large village. |
| L-Eyarac | 3 | " | A hamlet. |
| Tamaroc | 5 | " | A village on the banks of the Guigo. |
| Kars | 4 | " | A village. |
| N-Zeland or Ain-Zeland | 8 | 1 | A hamlet. |
| L-Eksebi | 11 | 1 | A large village. |
| L-Guim | 10½ | 1 | A small village. |
| Guigo | 10 | 1 | A Berber village. |
| Soforo | 11 | 1 | A handsome town. |
| Fez | 7 | 1 | The ancient capital of Morocco |
ARTICLE III.
REMARKS ON THE GENERAL MAP OF THE TRAVELS AND THE ELEMENTS WHICH SERVE FOR ITS BASIS.