The general appearance of the men of Fezzan is plain, and their complexion black. The women are of the same colour, and ugly in the extreme. Neither sex are remarkable for figure, weight, strength, vigour, or activity. They have a very peculiar cast of countenance, which distinguishes them from other blacks; their cheek-bones are higher and more prominent, their faces flatter, and their noses less depressed, and more peaked at the tip than those of the negroes. Their eyes are generally small, and their mouths of an immense width; but their teeth are frequently good; their hair is woolly, though not completely frizzled. They are a cheerful people, fond of dancing and music, and obliging to each other. The men almost all read and write a little, but in every thing else they are very dull and heavy; their affections are cold and selfish, and a kind of general indifference to the common incidents of life, mark all their actions. They are neither prone to sudden anger, nor at all revengeful. In Mourzouk the men drink a great quantity of lackbi, or a drink called busa, which is prepared from the dates, and is very intoxicating. The men are good-humoured drunkards, and when friends assemble in the evening, the ordinary amusement is mere drinking; but sometimes a kadanka (singing girl) is sent for. The Arabs practise hospitality generally; but among the Fezzaners that virtue does not exist, they are, however, very attentive and obsequious to those in whose power they are, or who can repay them tenfold for their pretended disinterestedness. Their religion enjoins, that, should a stranger enter while they are at their meals, he must be invited to partake, but they generally contrive to evade this injunction by eating with closed doors. The lower classes are from necessity very industrious, women as well as men, as they draw water, work in the gardens, drive the asses, make mats, baskets, &c. in addition to their other domestic duties. People of the better class, or, more properly, those who can afford to procure slaves to work for them, are, on the contrary, very idle and lethargic; they do nothing but lounge or loll about, inquiring what their neighbours have had for dinner, gossip about slaves, dates, &c., or boast of some cunning cheat, which they have practised on a Tibboo or Tuarick, who, though very knowing fellows, are, comparatively with the Fezzaners, fair in their dealings. Their moral character is on a par with that of the Tripolines, though, if any thing, they are rather less insincere. Falsehood is not considered odious, unless when detected; and when employed in trading, they affirm that it is allowed by the Koran, for the good of merchants. However this may be, Captain Lyon asserts, that he never could find any one able to point out the passage authorizing these commercial falsehoods.
The lower classes work neatly in leather; they weave a few coarse barracans, and make iron-work in a solid, though clumsy manner. One or two work in gold and silver with much skill, considering the badness of their tools, and every man is capable of acting as a carpenter or mason; the wood being that of the date tree, and the houses being built of mud, very little elegance or skill is necessary. Much deference is paid to the artists in leather or metals, who are called, par excellence, sta, or master, as leather-master, iron-master, &c.
From the constant communication with Bornou and Soudan, the languages of both these countries are generally spoken, and many of their words are introduced into the Arabic. The family slaves and their children by their masters, constantly speak the language of the country, whence they originally come. Their writing is in the Mogrebyn character, which is used, as is supposed by Captain Lyon, universally in western Africa, and differs much from that of the east. The pronunciation is also very different, the kaf being pronounced as a G, and only marked with one nunnation, and F is pointed below; they have no idea of arithmetic, but reckon every thing by dots on the sand, ten in a line; many can hardly tell how much two and two amount to. They expressed great surprise at the Europeans being able to add numbers together without fingering. Though very fond of poetry, they are incapable of composing it. The Arabs, however, invent a few little songs, which the natives have much pleasure in learning, and the women sing some of the negro airs very prettily, while grinding their corn.
The songs of the kadankas (singing girls), who answer to the Egyptian almehs, is Soudanic. Their musical instrument is called rhababe, or erhab. It is an excavated hemisphere, made from the shell of a gourd lime, and covered with leather; to this a long handle is fixed, on which is stretched a string of horse hairs, longitudinally closed, and compact as one cord, about the thickness of a quill. This is played upon with a bow. Captain Lyon says, the women really produced a very pleasing, though a wild melody; their songs were pretty and plaintive, and generally in the Soudan language, which is very musical. What is rather singular, he heard the same song sung by the same woman that Horneman mentions, and she recollected having seen that traveller at the castle.
The lower classes and the slaves, who, in point of colour and appearance, are the same, labour together. The freeman has, however, only one inducement to work, which is hunger; he has no notion of laying by any thing for the advantage of his family, or as a reserve for himself in his old age; but if by any chance he obtains money, he remains idle until it is expended, and then returns unwillingly to work. The females here are allowed greater liberty than those of Tripoli, and are more kindly treated. Though so much better used than those of Barbary, their life is still a state of slavery. A man never ventures to speak of his women; is reproached, if he spends much time in their company, never eats with them; but is waited upon at his meals, and fanned by them while he sleeps. Yet these poor beings, never having known the sweets of liberty, are, in spite of their humiliation, comparatively happy.
The authority of parents over their children is very great; some fathers of the better class do not allow their sons even to eat or sit down in their presence, until they become men; the poorer orders are less strict.
There are no written records of events amongst the Fezzaners, and their traditions are so disfigured, and so strangely mingled with religious and superstitious falsehoods, that no confidence can be placed in them. Yet the natives themselves look with particular respect on a man capable of talking of the people of the olden time. Several scriptural traditions are selected and believed. The Psalms of David, the Pentateuch, the Books of Solomon, and many extracts from the inspired writers, are universally known, and most reverentially considered. The New Testament, translated into the Arabic, which Captain Lyon took with him, was eagerly read, and no exception was made to it, but that of our Saviour being designated as the son of God. St. Paul, or Baulus, bears all the blame of Mahomet's name not being inserted in it, as they believe that his coming was foretold by Christ, but that Paul erased it; he is therefore called a kaffir, and his name is not used with much reverence.
Captain Lyon had not been more than ten days at Mourzouk, before he was attacked with severe dysentery, which confined him to his bed during twenty-two days, and reduced him to the last extremity. His unadorned narrative conveys an affecting account of the sufferings to which the party were exposed from the insalubrity of the climate; the inadequate arrangements which had been made for their comfort, or even subsistence, and the sordid and treacherous conduct of the sultan. "Our little party," he says, "was at this time miserably poor; for we had money only sufficient for the purchase of corn to keep us alive, and never tasted meat, unless fortunate enough to kill a pigeon in the gardens. My illness was the first break up in our little community, and from that time, it rarely happened that one or two of us were not confined to our beds. The extreme saltness of the water, the poor quality of our food, together with the excessive heat and dryness of the climate, long retarded my recovery, and when it did take place, it was looked on as a miracle by those who had seen me in my worst state, and who thought it impossible for me to survive. I was no sooner convalescent than Mr. Ritchie fell ill, and was confined to his bed with an attack of bilious fever, accompanied with delirium, and great pain in his back and kidneys, for which he required frequent cupping. When a little recovered, he got up for two days, but his disorder soon returned with redoubled and alarming violence. He rejected every thing but water, and, excepting about three hours in the afternoon, remained either constantly asleep or in a delirious state. Even had he been capable of taking food, we had not the power of purchasing any which could nourish or refresh him. Our money was now all expended, and the sultan's treacherous plans to distress us, which daily became too apparent, were so well arranged, that we could not find any one to buy our goods. For six entire weeks we were without animal food, subsisting on a very scanty portion of corn and dates. Our horses were mere skeletons, added to which, Belford became totally deaf, and so emaciated as to be unable to walk. My situation was now such as to create the most gloomy apprehensions. My naturally sanguine mind, however, and above all, my firm reliance on that Power which had so mercifully protected me on so many trying occasions, prevented my giving way to despondency; and Belford beginning soon to rally a little, we united, and took turns in nursing and attending on our poor companion. At this time, having no servant, we performed for Mr. Ritchie the most menial offices. Two young men, brothers, whom we had treated with great kindness, and whom we had engaged to attend on us, so far from commiserating our forlorn condition, forsook us in our distress, and even carried off our little store of rice and cuscoussou; laughing at our complaints, and well knowing that our poverty prevented the redress which we should otherwise have sought and obtained."
Rhamadan, the Mahommedan Lent, was announced on the 22nd June. The strictest fast was immediately commenced, lasting from before day, about three a.m., till sunset, seven p.m. In order to support their assumed character as Moslem; they were now obliged, during the sixteen hours, to eat only by stealth, their friend Mukni having surrounded them with spies. Mr. Ritchie only, being confined to his bed by illness, was privileged to take food or drink. The excessive heat, which now raged, added to their sufferings. During the month of June, the thermometer, at five o'clock a.m., stood at from 86° to 93°, but at two o'clock p.m., it rose to 117°, 122°, 124°, and at length, on the 19th and 20th, to 131° and 133° of Fahrenheit. In the early part of July, the heat somewhat abated; the thermometer, at two p.m., ranging between 110° and 117°. Towards the close of the month, it again rose to 125°, in August to 130° and 133°, in September it ranged between 119° and 133°, with little difference in the temperature of the mornings; and in October, the average was about 110°. The minimum, in December, was 51° at five a.m., and 77° in the afternoon.
The close of the Rhamadan, on the 22d July, was attended, in the city, with the most extravagant demonstrations of rejoicing. Everybody was in motion, screaming, dancing, firing guns, eating and drinking. Poor Mr. Ritchie, after having been confined to his bed for fifty-eight days, was now able to sit up a little, and by the 20th August had tolerably recovered. About the same time, Belford was again attacked with giddiness and deafness, and fell into a very weak state. Their rate of living was now reduced to a quart of corn per diem, with occasionally a few dates, divided amongst four persons. No one would purchase their merchandize, owing, as it became apparent to Mukni's treacherous orders. Mr. Ritchie, for reasons not explained, did not think it right to draw for money on the treasury, and they were reduced to the last extremity, when the sultan graciously condescended to advance them eight dollars, and at this time a neighbour repaid them ten dollars, which they had lent soon after their arrival. They were now able to treat themselves with a little meat. About the 20th September, Mr. Ritchie, who had never recovered his spirits, but had latterly shunned the society even of his companions, again relapsed, and was confined to his bed, and Belford, though better in health, was entirely deaf; their condition became every day more destitute. They had hired a woman to cook for them at a dollar a month. She was required to come only once a day, to bake their bread or make their cuscoussou; and it often happened, that when she had stolen half the allowance to which they had restricted themselves, they were obliged to fast till the morrow. They were saved, when on the very brink of starvation, by a supply of seven dollars, the munificent reward conferred upon Belford by the sultan, for constructing a rude kind of carriage for him. Soon afterwards, they sold a horse for seventy dollars. This seasonable supply was carefully economized; but it had become much reduced when Captain Lyon and Belford both fell ill again. The former rose from his bed, after being confined to it for a week, a skeleton. Under this exigency they met with a remarkable instance of disinterested friendship on the part of a native, Yusuf el Lizari, who, as well as his brother, had previously shown them much kindness. "One night," says Captain Lyon, "as we were all sitting pensively on our mat, our friend Yusuf came in, and, addressing Mr. Ritchie, said, 'Yusuf, you, and Said are my friends. Mukni has hopes you may die, that he may secure to himself all your goods. You seem very melancholy; do you want money?' Mr. Ritchie having acknowledged that he did, Yusuf rejoined, 'I have none myself, but I will borrow some for you.' Twenty dollars being the sum named, our kind friend went out, and soon returned with thirty, an act of generosity so unlocked for, that we were incapable of thanking him as he deserved. This seasonable supply enabled us to buy some good food, and to make some amends for our late privations. Our health soon improved, and Mr. Ritchie's spirits began to brighten."