The evening of the 25th being beautifully serene, the telescope of Major Denham afforded great delight to Boo Khaloom; the brother of the kadi at Mourzouk, Mohamed Abedeen, and several others, for more than an hour. Major Denham usually passed some time every evening in Boo Khaloom's tent, and had promised them a sight of the moon greeb (near) for some time. An old hadje, who obtained a sight by the assistance of the major, for he could not fix the glass on the object, after an exclamation of wonder, looked him fully in the face, spoke not a word, but walked off as last as he could, repeating some words from the Koran. This conduct the major was pleased to see, brought down the ridicule of the others, who were gratified beyond measure, and asked a hundred questions. The night was beautifully serene and clear, and the three splendid constellations, Orion, Canis Major, and Taurus, presented a coup d'oeil at once impressive and sublime.
On the 25th January, the camels moved off soon after eight, and they took shelter from the sun, under the shade of some clumps, covered with high grass, near the wells, in order that the horses might drink at the moment of their departure. They had three or four long days to the next water, and the camels were too much fatigued to carry more than one day's food for the horses. While they were in this situation, two Arabs, who had gone on with the camels, came galloping back, to say that they had encountered two Tibboo couriers, on their way from Bornou to Mourzouk. They soon made their appearance, mounted on maherhies, only nine days from Kouka. They brought news, that the sheik el Kanemy, who now governed Bornou, had just returned from a successful expedition against the sultan of Bergharmi; that he had attacked and routed a powerful tribe of Arabs, called La Sala; and that the sultan, on hearing this, had fled, as before, to the south side of the great river, amongst the Kirdies.
They proceeded on their route, which was along a continued desert, and at sunset halted on the sand, without either wood or water, after twenty-four miles. The courier from Bornou to Mourzouk assured them, that he should not be more than thirty days on the road from where they left him. The Tibboos are the only people who will undertake this most arduous service, and the chances are so much against both returning in safety, that one is never sent alone. The two men whom they had encountered were mounted on two superb maherhies, and proceeding at the rate of about six miles an hour. A bag of zumeeta (some parched corn), and one or two skins for water, with a small brass basin, and a wooden bowl, out of which they ate and drank, were all their comforts. A little meat, cut in strips, and dried in the sun, called gedeed, is sometimes added to the store, which they eat raw; for they rarely light a fire for the purpose of cooking; although the want of this comfort during the nights, on approaching Fezzan, where the cold winds are sometimes biting after the day's heat, is often fatal to such travellers. A bag is suspended under the tail of the maherhy, by which means the dung is preserved, and this serves as fuel on halting in the night. Without a kafila, and a sufficient number of camels to carry such indispensables as wood and water, it is indeed a perilous journey.
On the 27th, they appeared gradually to approach something resembling vegetation. They had rising lands and clumps of fine grass the whole of the way, and the country was not unlike some of the heaths in England. A herd of more than a hundred gazelles crossed them towards the evening, and the footmarks of the ostrich, and some of its feathers, were discovered by the Arabs. The spot where they halted was called Geogo Balwy.
Early on the following morning, they made Beere-Kashifery, and soon afterwards Mina Tahr, (the black bird,) the sheik of the Gunda Tibboos, attended by three of his followers, approached the camp. Beere-Kashifery lay within his territories, and no kafilas pass without paying tribute, which, as he is absolute, sometimes amounts to half what they possess. In the present case, the visit was one of respect. Boo Khaloom received him in his tent, and clothed him in a scarlet bornouse of coarse cloth, and a tawdry silk caftan, which was considered as a superb present. The Tibboos are smart active fellows, mounted on small horses of great swiftness; their saddles are of wood, small and light, open along the bone of the back; the pieces of wood, of which they are composed, are lashed together with thongs of hide; the stuffing is camels' hair, wound and plaited so as to be a perfect guard; the girths and stirrup-leathers are also of plaited thongs, and the stirrups themselves of iron, very small and light; into these, four toes only are thrust, the great toe being left to take its chance. They mount quickly, in half the time an Arab does, by the assistance of a spear, which they place in the ground, at the same time the left foot is planted in the stirrup, and thus they spring into the saddle.
Their camels had not finished drinking until the sun was full six fathoms high, as the Arabs term it; and as the expedition was in want of fresh meat, and indeed of every thing, Mina Tahr proposed that they should go to a well nearer his people, which, he assured them, was never yet shown to an Arab.
On the 29th January, therefore, they moved on, accompanied by the Tibboos; and after travelling about ten miles, they came to the well of Duggesheinga. This was a retired spot, undiscoverable from the ordinary route of travellers, being completely hidden from it by rising sand-hills. Here the Tibboos left them, promising to return early on the following day, with sheep, an ox, honey, and fat. This was joyful news to persons who had not tasted fresh animal food for fourteen or fifteen days, with the exception of a little camel's flesh.
On the following day, the wind and drifting sand were so violent, that they were obliged to keep their tents during the whole of it. Major Denham found a loose shirt only the most convenient covering, as the sand could be shaken off as soon as it made a lodgement, which with other articles of dress, could not be done, and the irritation it caused, produced a soreness almost intolerable. A little oil or fat, from the hand of a negress, all of whom are early taught the art of shampooing to perfection, rubbed well round the neck, loins, and back, is the best cure, and the greatest comfort in cases of this kind; and although, from his Christian belief, he was deprived of the luxury of possessing half a dozen of these shampooing beauties, yet, by marrying his negro, Barca, to one of the freed women slaves, as he had done at Sockna, he became, to a certain degree, also the master of Zerega, whose education in the castle had been of a superior kind, and she was of the greatest use to the major on these occasions of fatigue or sickness. It is an undoubted fact, and in no case probably better exemplified than in this, that man naturally longs for attentions and support from female hands, of whatever colour or country, so soon as debility or sickness comes upon him.
Towards the evening, when the wind became hushed, and the sky re-assumed its bright and truly celestial blue, the Tibboo sheik, and about thirty of his people, male and female, returned; but their supplies were very scanty for a kafila of nearly three hundred persons. The sweet milk turned out to be nothing but sour camel's milk, full of dirt and sand; and the fat was in small quantities, and very rancid. They, however, purchased a lean sheep for two dollars, which was indeed a treat.
Some of the girls who brought the milk were really pretty, as contrasted with the extreme ugliness of the men. They were different from those of Bilma, were more of a copper colour, with high foreheads, and a sinking between the eyes. They have fine teeth, and are smaller and more delicately formed than the Tibboos who inhabit the towns.