‘But are you sure your wife is quite dead?’
‘Do not mock me, O Moslems!’
The interrogator then called a soldier, who happened to be near, and gave him his horse to hold, while he himself ruthlessly entered the tent. On removing the blanket, he found the Arab’s wife, all alive, and holding the pet sloghi in her arms. On being thus detected, the poor woman cried out most beseechingly, ‘Do not take the dog!’ and the whole company, men, women, and children, most imploringly re-echoed the cry.
The intruder then turned to old Ali, and with an ironical smile said,—‘You see your dear wife is not quite dead!’”
The Prince, as we have said, was a keen sportsman, and not one of his dogs could compare with Ali’s sloghi; but his veneration for justice predominated even over his love of the chase. “Ali is rich,” said he, when the hound was brought to him, “and money will not tempt him, else I would gladly offer it him. Send the sloghi instantly back!”
The day after the junction of Smeeda and his noble Dreeds, the expedition entered the district of the Majer,—a tribe (numbering 200 tents, or 1200 souls) of a peculiarly rascally character, and the larger portion of whose scanty resources is obtained by the robbery and murder of travellers. For these outrages they are rarely brought to account, save when the Prince, or other representative of the Regency of Tunis, makes a tour in person among the tribes. On the present occasion they had a heavy debt to pay,—the value of a life, in the Desert, being generally reckoned at from twenty-five to thirty camels. Within the precincts of this tribe are the ruins of Spaitla, the ancient Sufetula; and, by the favour of the Prince, our author set out to visit them. Under the guidance of the Majer chief, and escorted by twenty soldiers well mounted, and armed to the teeth—after a gallop over a beautiful plain, and thence crossing a district of hill and dale, “all covered with verdure, and occasionally bordering upon the picturesque,” Mr Davis and his party arrived at the ruins. On their first approach all was perfectly still. Not a sound but their own was audible, save the rippling of a brook which glides past the ruins on their north-eastern side. Not a human being was to be seen, either among the ruins or in their vicinity; and even animal life seemed to have for ever departed from the sombre walls and mansions of the ancient Sufetulans. But such was not really the case. In the holes, caverns, and clefts of the rocks on which the city stands, were dispersed numbers of the followers and subjects of the Majer chief. From their dwellings they issued forth imperceptibly to the travellers. And most unpleasant company they must have been; for, says our author, “all the corrupt ramifications of the human heart,—all the vile actions of which man is capable, could be traced, and that distinctly, in the features of these sons of Ghiath.”
The situation of this ancient city is delightful. It is built upon an eminence, commanding a panoramic view of an expanse of country which, even in its present barren and deserted condition, has a charming aspect. Wild olive, juniper, and almond trees in abundance stud the banks of the brook. Of the place itself, Mr Davis says, “I had no conception of the extent of the ruins to be found here; so that my companions, as well as myself, were absolutely amazed on beholding the magnificence of some of them. As I viewed these from some angles, I could almost fancy myself again on the majestic ruins of Baalbec.” He especially notices a sumptuous triumphal arch of the Corinthian order, with a lesser arch on each side. From this he proceeded to three temples,—upon which time, and the innate destructive disposition of the Arabs, have left evident traces. “Parts are in a most dilapidated condition, yet it is surprising to meet with so much which, with very little trouble and expense, might easily be restored to its former grandeur. The front and entrance to the temples are in ruins, and large masses of stone are lying about in all directions, and block up the ingress; but the backs, which face the triumphal arch, are in capital repair.”
On his return from visiting the ruins of Spaitla, our author and his companions, miscalculating the movements of the main body of the expedition, found themselves very much out of their reckoning. Night came on,—their guide, the Majer chief, disappeared at the very time his presence was most required; and what with the fear of his rascally tribe before their eyes, as well as of the wild beasts of the desert, the night which the little party had to pass on the sands before they could rejoin the main body was anything but a comfortable one.
Lions are common in these parts, and their tracks were occasionally visible; but the king of beasts nowhere appeared in person, and the Prince, who longed to try his skill on this lordly tenant of the wastes, was balked of his sport. Hyenas are likewise to be met with; and the manner in which they are taken by the Arabs in these parts is very peculiar. Its subterranean abode, it appears, is so narrow as not to permit of the animal turning about in it; and hence, to use the Arab phraseology, it has “two doors,” by one of which it enters, and by the other goes out. The Arabs, lying perdus in the vicinity of one of these dens, watch the particular hole by which the hyena enters, and then proceed to place a strong rope net over the opposite hole,—whilst one of their fraternity, skilled in the business, and prepared with a rope, works his way in by “the door” which the animal has entered. As he nears the brute (which cannot turn upon him), he “charms it,” according to our author’s informants, saying,—“Come, my dear little creature; I will lead you to places where many carcases are prepared for you,—plenty of food awaits you. Let me fasten this rope to your beautiful leg, and stand quiet whilst I do so.” This sentence, or something very similar to it, is repeated till the operation is effectually achieved; when the daring son of the Sahara begins to gore the brute with a dagger, till he is forced to rush out, when he is caught in the net, and either killed on the spot or carried off alive. If any blunder happens, however,—as is sometimes the case—through which the hyena is enabled to struggle and re-enter its abode, the “charmer,” in spite of his charming, falls a victim to its savage rage, and frequently his companions can scarcely contrive to get clear without feeling something of its effects.
The powerful Hamama tribe was the next which our travellers fell in with,—two hundred of this tribe coming to pay their respects to the heir-apparent of the throne, and escort him to the city of Cafsa. “There was much in their appearance,” says Mr Davis, “to make me regard this tribe with a great degree of interest. They are genuine Arabs, and of this they are very proud. ‘Their hand is against every man, and every man’s hand is against them.’ An officer from the reigning sovereign of Tunis, (who has just joined our expedition) with a number of cavalry soldiers, is now amongst them, in order to enforce a fine of 2000 camels, for murders and other outrages committed by these genuine descendants of Ishmael. They are at enmity with the Dreeds, jealous of the Farasheesh, and almost constantly at war with the Mamshe—a tribe inhabiting the western borders of the regency, quite as powerful and as full of pretensions as their own.” As seldom more than thirty camels are ever demanded for a single life, these two thousand camels symbolise upwards of sixty murders committed by this tribe, and known to the Government!