Drawn by Captn. Clapperton.Engraved by E. Finden.ANAY.TIBBOO COUNTRY.Published Feb. 1826, by John Murray, London.
Drawn by Captn. Clapperton.Engraved by E. Finden.ANAY.TIBBOO COUNTRY.Published Feb. 1826, by John Murray, London.
ANAY.
TIBBOO COUNTRY.
Published Feb. 1826, by John Murray, London.
Jan. 4.—We crossed the ridge before us by eight this morning, and proceeded between a conical hill to the east and one to the west, called Gummaganumma. We had a fine open space of a mile in width between these hills, and about noon we came to a large mass of dark, soft sandstone, one hundred feet in height; about twenty yards from this stone is a rising well of water, only a few inches deep, and a sprinkling of coarse grass. Arabs call the spot “Irchat,” Tibboos, “Anay.” The sultan’s army halted here two days, on its return from Begharmi.
The town of Anay consists of a few huts built on the top of a similar mass of stone to the one we had just left; round the base of the rock are also habitations, but their riches are always kept aloft. The Tuaricks annually, and sometimes oftener, pay them a most destructive visit, carrying off cattle and every thing they can lay their hands on. The people on these occasions take refuge at the top of the rock; they ascend by a rude ladder, which is drawn up after them; and as the sides of their citadel are always precipitous, they defend themselves with their missiles, and by rolling down stones on the assailants. The people who came out to meet us had each four short spears and one long one.
Jan. 5.—The Sultan Tibboo, whose territory extends from this place to Bilma, was visiting a town to the south-west of Anay, called Kisbee, and he requested Boo-Khaloom to halt there one day, promising to proceed with him to Bilma; we accordingly made Kisbee this day, distant five miles. Our animals got some pickings of dry grass.
Kisbee is a great place of rendezvous for all kafilas and merchants; and it is here that the sultan always takes his tribute forpermission to pass through his country. It is eight days distant from Aghadis, twenty-four from Kashna, and, by good travelling by the nearest road, twenty-seven from Bornou[14]. The sultan had neither much majesty nor cleanliness of appearance: he came to Boo-Khaloom’s tent accompanied by six or seven Tibboos, some of them really hideous. They take a quantity of snuff both in their mouths and noses; their teeth were of a deep yellow; the nose resembles nothing so much as a round lump of flesh stuck on the face; and the nostrils are so large, that their fingers go up as far as they will reach, in order to ensure the snuff an admission into the head. My watch, compass, and musical snuff-box, created but little astonishment; they looked at their own faces in the bright covers, and were most stupidly inattentive to what would have excited the wonder of almost any imagination, however savage: here was the “os sublime,” but the “spiritus intus,” the “mens divinior,” was scarcely discoverable. Boo-Khaloom gave the sultan a fine scarlet bornouse, which seemed a little to animate his stupid features. We had a dance by Tibboo-men performed in front of our tents, in the evening: it is graceful and slow, but not so well adapted to the male as the female; it was succeeded by one performed by some free slaves from Soudan, who were living with the Tibboos, enjoying their liberty, as they said. It appears most violent exertion: one man is placed in the middle of a circle, which he endeavours to break, and each one whom he approaches throws him off, while he adds to the impetus by a leap, and ascends several feet from the ground:—when one has completed the round, another takes his place.
An Arab returned this evening, whom I had sent the night before for the purpose of finding a poodle dog which had accompanied me from Malta, and had remained behind from fatigue, the day weleft Ikbar: he was unsuccessful, and said that some of the wandering Tibboos must have eaten him; he had found marks in the sand of the footsteps of these people, and the remains of the two camels we had left on the road were carried off: he traced their steps to the east, but was afraid to follow them. It is from these wanderers that small kafilas, or single merchants, have to dread attack. Generally speaking, the regular sheikhs are satisfied by levying a tax, while these are contented with nothing short of the whole.
Jan. 6.—At seven the thermometer was 42° in the tent.—About five miles from Kisbee we left a wadey called Kilboo, by the Tibboos Trona to our left, and coming close under the ridge of hills at a point called Ametrigamma, we proceeded to Ashenumma, which is about four miles beyond, with the high hills to the east, and a very pleasing wadey to the west, producing palm and other trees. A violent disturbance arose this morning on the road among our Arabs; one of them having shot a ball through the shirt of another of the Magarha tribe: the sheikh of the Magarha took up the quarrel, and the man saved himself from being punished, by hanging to the stirrup leather of my saddle. The Arab sheikh made use of some expressions in defending his man, which displeased Boo-Khaloom, who instantly knocked him off his horse, and his slaves soundly bastinadoed him.
Tiggema, near which we halted, is one of the highest points in the range, and hangs over the mud houses of the town: this point stands at the south extremity of the recess, which the hills here form, and is about four hundred feet high; the sides are nearly perpendicular, and it is detached from the other hills by a chasm. On the approach of the Tuaricks the whole population flock to the top of these heights, with all their property, and make the best defence they can. The insides of some of the houses are neat and tidy; the men are generally travelling merchants, or rather pedlers, and probably do not pass more than four months in the year with theirfamilies, for the Tibboos rarely go beyond Bornou to the south, or Mourzuk to the north; they appeared light-hearted, and happy as people constantly in dread of such visitors as the Tuaricks can be, who spare neither age nor sex. A wadey, comparatively fertile, extends several miles parallel to the heights under which the village stands, producing dates and grass in abundance, and a salt water or trona lake is within two miles of them, in which are wild fowl. Mr. Clapperton shot two of the plover species, with spurs on their wings. A general caution was given for no person to go out of the circle after sunset.
Jan. 8[15].—Our course was still under the range of hills, and at five miles distance we came to another town called Alighi, and two miles beyond that another called Tukumani: these towns were built to the south of, and sheltered by slight projections from, the hills under which they were placed. The people always came out to meet us, and when within about fifty paces of the horses, fell on their knees singing and beating a sort of drum, which always accompanies their rejoicing. To the west of both these towns is a salt lake resembling the one near Ashenumma, but rather smaller. We proceeded from hence nearly south-west, leaving the hills, and while resting under the shade of some gourd trees, which are here abundant, we had the agreeable, and to us very novel, sight of a drove of oxen: the bare idea of once more being in a country that afforded beef and pasture was consoling in the extreme, and the luxurious thought of fresh milk, wholesome food, and plenty, was most exhilarating to us all. At two we came to a halt at Dirkee. A good deal of powder washere expended in honour of the sultan, who again met us on our approach: his new scarlet bornouse was thrown over a filthy checked shirt, and his turban and cap, though once white, were rapidly approaching to the colour of the head they covered; when, however, the next morning his majesty condescended to ask me for a small piece of soap, these little negligences in his outward appearance were more easily accounted for.
We had rather a numerous assembly of females, who danced for some hours before the tents: some of their movements were not inelegant, and not unlike the Greek dances as they are represented. The sultan regaled us with cheese, and ground nuts from Soudan, the former of a pleasant flavour, but so hard that we were obliged to moisten it with water previous to eating. Dirkee is of a different description from the Tibboo towns we had seen: it stands in a wadey, is a mile in circumference, and it has two trona lakes, one to the east, and the other to the west. Of this saline substance an account will be found in the Appendix.—It is generally supposed that these lakes were originally caused by taking from the spot they now occupy the earth which was required for building the town, and its surrounding walls. Water, as we have before observed, is found in many parts of this country, at the depth of from six inches to six feet, and the soil near the surface, particularly in the neighbourhood of these Tibboo towns, is very powerfully impregnated by saline substances; so much so, that incrustations of pure, or nearly pure, trona are found sometimes extending several miles. The borders of these lakes have the same appearance: they are composed of a black mud, which almost as soon as exposed to the sun and air becomes crisp like fresh dug earth in a frosty morning. In the centre of each of these lakes is a solid body or island of trona, which the inhabitants say increases in size annually: the one in the lake to the east is probably fourteen or fifteen feet in height, and one hundred in circumference: the edges quite close to the water aresolid, nor is there any appearance of mud or slime; it breaks off in firm pieces, but is easily reduced to powder[16]. There are several wells in the town of tolerably good water very slightly impregnated with the trona taste.
Dirkee, from its situation in the wadey, is more exposed to the attacks of the Tuaricks than the towns nearer the hills, and on this account, they say, it is so thinly peopled. The houses have literally nothing within them, not even a mat; and a few women and old men are the only inhabitants: the men, they said, were all on journeys, or at Kisbee, Ashenumma, or Bilma, where they go themselves after the date season. During the time we halted here, the women brought us dates fancifully strung on rushes in the shape of hearts with much ingenuity, and a few pots of honey and fat.
We halted two days. So many of Boo-Khaloom’s camels had fallen on the road, that notwithstanding all their peaceable professions, a marauding party was sent out to plunder some maherhies, and bring them in; an excursion that was sanctioned by the sultan, who gave them instructions as to the route they were to take. The former deeds of the Arabs are, however, still in the memory of the Tibboos, and they had increased the distance between their huts and the high road by a timely striking of their tents. But nine camels of the maherhy species were brought in, yet not without a skirmish: a fresh party was despatched, and did not return at night. We were all ordered to remain loaded, and no one was allowed to quit the circle in which the tents were pitched.
On the 11th we proceeded along the wadey. The thickly scattered mimosa trees afforded some very delightful varieties of shade. Ourcourse was nearly two miles distant from the hills[17], which are all here called Tiggema. After our march, while waiting for the coming up of the camels, the Tibboos tried their skill with the spear, and were far more expert than I expected to see them; the arm is bent, and the hand not higher than the right shoulder, when they discharge the spear: as it leaves the hand, they give it a strong twist with the fingers, and as it flies it spins in the air. An old man of sixty struck a tree twice at twenty yards; and another, a powerful young man, threw the spear full eighty yards: when it strikes the ground, it sometimes bends nearly double: all who travel on foot carry two. Another weapon, which a Tibboo carries, is a sword of a very peculiar form, called hungamunga; of these they sometimes carry three or four. The Arabs, who had been out foraging, returned with thirteen camels, which they had much difficulty in bringing: the Tibboos had followed them several miles. We had patroles the whole night, who, to awaken us for the purpose of assuring us they were awake themselves, were constantly exclaiming Balek-ho, the watchword of the Arabs. We had near us a well of very good water amidst high grass and agoul. On the surface was a saline incrustation of several inches in thickness; below, a sandstone rock, and at a depth of two feet, water clear and good. We had also this day a dish of venison, one of the Arabs having succeeded in shooting two gazelles; many of which had crossed our path for the last three days. On finding a young one, only a few days old, the tawny, wily rogue instantly lay down in the grass, imitated the cry of the young one, and asthe mother came bounding towards the spot, he shot her in the throat.
On the 12th we reached Bilma[18], the capital of the Tibboos, and the residence of their sultan, who, having always managed to get before and receive us, advanced a mile from the town attended by some fifty of his men at arms, and double the number of the sex we call fair. The men had most of them bows and arrows, and allcarried spears: they approached Boo Khaloom, shaking them in the air over their heads; and after this salutation we all moved on towards the town, the females dancing, and throwing themselves about with screams and songs in a manner to us quite original. They were of a superior class to those of the minor towns; some having extremely pleasing features, while the pearly white of their regular teeth was beautifully contrasted with the glossy black of their skin, and the triangular flaps of plaited hair, which hung down on each side of their faces, streaming with oil, with the addition of the coral in the nose, and large amber necklaces, gave them a very seducing appearance. Some of them carried a sheish, a fan made of soft grass, or hair, for the purpose of keeping off the flies; others a branch of a tree, and some fans of ostrich feathers, or a bunch of keys: all had something in their hands, which they wave over their heads as they advance. One wrapper of Soudan tied on the top of the left shoulder, leaving the right breast bare, formed their covering, while a smaller one was thrown over the head, which hung down to their shoulders, or was thrown back at pleasure: notwithstanding the apparent scantiness of their habiliments, nothing could be farther from indelicate than was their appearance or deportment.
On arriving at Bilma, we halted under the shade of a large tulloh tree while the tents were pitching; and the women danced with great taste, and, as I was assured by the sultan’s nephew, with skill also. As they approach each other, accompanied by the slow beat of an instrument formed out of a gourd, covered with goat’s skin, for a long time their movements are confined to the head, hands, and body, which they throw from one side to the other, flourish in the air, and bend without moving the feet; suddenly, however, the music becomes quicker and louder, when they start into the most violent gestures, rolling their heads round, gnashing their teeth, and shaking their hands at each other, leaping up, andon each side, until one or both are so exhausted that they fall to the ground: another pair then take their place.
I now, for the first time, produced Captain Lyon’s book in Boo Khaloom’s tent, and on turning over the prints of the natives he swore, and exclaimed, and insisted upon it, that he knew every face:—“This was such a one’s slave—that was his own—he was right—he knew it. Praised be God for the talents he gave the English! they were shater, clever; wolla shater, very clever!” Of a landscape, however, I found that he had not the least idea; nor could I make him at all understand the intention of the print of the sand-wind in the desert, which is really so well described by Captain Lyon’s drawing; he would look at it upside down; and when I twice reversed it for him, he exclaimed, “Why! why! it is all the same.” A camel or a human figure was all I could make him understand, and at these he was all agitation and delight—“Gieb! gieb! Wonderful! wonderful!” The eyes first took his attention, then the other features: at the sight of the sword, he exclaimed, “Allah! Allah!” and on discovering the guns instantly exclaimed, “Where is the powder?” This want of perception, as I imagined, in so intelligent a man, excited at first my surprise; but perhaps just the same would an European have felt under similar circumstances. Were an European to attain manhood without ever casting his eye upon the representation of a landscape on paper, would he immediately feel the particular beauties of the picture, the perspective and the distant objects? Certainly not: it is from our opportunities of contemplating works of art, even in the common walks of life, as well as to cultivation of mind, and associations of the finer feelings by an intercourse with the enlightened and accomplished, that we owe our quick perception in matters of this kind, rather than from nature.
To the south of Bilma are marshes with pools of stagnant water, which our horses could scarcely drink. The town stands in a hollow,and is surrounded by low mud walls, which, with the houses within, are mean and miserable. About two miles north of the town are a few huts, and near them several lakes, in which are great quantities of very pure crystallized salt: some was brought to us for sale in baskets, beautifully white, and of an excellent flavour. On visiting the two most productive lakes, which lay between low sand hills, I expressed my surprise at the difference between that which the Tibboos were carrying away from the heaps by the side of the water, and that which I had seen the day before: I however found that their time for gathering the salt was at the end of the dry season, when it was taken, in large masses, from the borders of the lake. This transparent kind they put into bags, and send to Bornou and Soudan; a coarser sort is also formed into hard pillars, and for which a ready market is found. In Soudan, a single pillar weighing eleven pounds brings four or five dollars. The Tuaricks supply themselves with salt entirely from the wadeys of the Tibboos. Twenty thousand bags of salt were said to have been carried off during the last year by the Tuaricks alone. The Tibboos say, “It is hard to rob us, not only for their own consumption, but for the purposes of commerce too; and in consequence of paying nothing for the commodity, undersell us likewise in the Soudan market.” But the Tibboos must be another people before they can keep the Tuaricks from plundering their country: a people who neither plant nor sow; whose education consists in managing a maherhy, and the use of the spear; and who live by plundering those around them, as well as those whom necessity or chance may lead to pass through their own country.
About a mile from Bilma is a spring of beautiful clear water, which rises to the surface of the earth, and waters a space of two or three hundred yards in circumference, which is covered with fresh grass: but passing this, the traveller must bid adieu to every appearance of vegetable production, and enter on a desert whichrequires thirteen days to cross. Near the first hill of sand I succeeded, with the assistance of two Arabs, in catching a small beautiful animal, nearly white, much resembling a fox in make and shape, although not larger than a moderate-sized cat. It was of the species called fitchet: the belly was white, and the back and rest of the body of a light brown colour; the tail was bushy like that of the fox, nearly white, and the end of the hair tipped with black.
Jan. 16.—Our road lay over loose hills of fine sand, in which the camels sank nearly knee-deep. In passing these desert wilds, where hills disappear in a single night by the drifting of the sand, and where all traces of the passage, even of a large kafila, sometimes vanish in a few hours, the Tibboos have certain points in the dark sandstone ridges, which from time to time raise their heads in the midst of this dry ocean of sand, and form the only variety, and by them they steer their course. From one of these landmarks we waded through sand formed into hills from twenty to sixty feet in height, with nearly perpendicular sides, the camels blundering and falling with their heavy loads. The greatest care is taken by the drivers in descending these banks: the Arabs hang with all their weight on the animal’s tail, by which means they steady him in his descent. Without this precaution the camel generally falls forward, and, of course, all he carries goes over his head. We halted at Kaflorum (where the kafila stops), which is a nest of hills of coarse, dark sandstone: an irregular peak to the east is called Gusser, or the castle. At the end of these hills, about two miles from the road, lies a wadey called Zow Seghrir, in which grows the suag tree, and also grass. Our course was south; but we were obliged to wind round the different sand hills in order to avoid the rapid descents, which were so distressing to the camels. We bivouacked under a head called Zow (the Difficult), to the east, where we found several wells.
Jan. 18.—The sand hills were less high to-day, but theanimals sank so deep, that it was a tedious day for all. Four camels of Boo Khaloom’s gave in; two were killed by the Arabs, and two were left to the chance of coming up before morning. Tremendously dreary are these marches: as far as the eye can reach, billows of sand bound the prospect. On seeing the solitary foot passenger of the kafila, with his water-flask in his hand, and bag of zumeeta on his head, sink at a distance beneath the slope of one of these, as he plods his way alone, hoping to gain a few paces in his long day’s work, by not following the track of the camels, one trembles for his safety:—the obstacle passed which concealed him from the view, the eye is strained towards the spot in order to be assured that he has not been buried quick in the treacherous overwhelming sand.
An unfortunate merchant of Tripoli, Mohamed N’diff, who had suffered much on the road from an enlarged spleen, was here advised to undergo the operation of burning with a red-hot iron, the sovereign Arab remedy for almost every disorder: he consented; and, previous to our move this morning, he was laid down on his back, and, while five or six Arabs held him on the sand, the rude operators burnt him on the left side, under the ribs, in three places, nearly the size of a sixpence each. The iron was again placed in the fire, and while heating, the thumbs of about a dozen Arabs were thrust in different parts of the poor man’s side, to know if the pressure pained him, until his flesh was so bruised, that he declared all gave him pain: four more marks with the iron were now made near the former ones, upon which he was turned on his face, and three larger made within two inches of the back bone. One would have thought the operation was now at an end; but an old Arab, who had been feeling his throat for some time, declared a hot iron, and a large burn, absolutely necessary just above the collarbone, on the same side. The poor man submitted with wonderful patience to all this mangling, and after drinking a draught of water,moved on with the camels. We made this day twenty-one miles, and halted at Chukœma, which means half way. We lost more than twenty of our camels this day, by their straying out of the path.
Jan. 20.—We were promised to find water early; and as the animals had not drank the night before, we pushed on with our horses: we were told the wells were near; but it was a long twenty miles, over loose rolling sand hills. At less than half way, we passed two hills of dark sandstone, called Geisgae (Dhubba—the hyena), which had been in sight great part of yesterday; and at 1. 30. arrived at a wadey called Dibla (Inchat tegeel—heavy stone). In the wadey near is a little sprinkling of rusty grass, which the animals devoured with an avidity that would have done credit to better fare. The water was extremely brackish, and strongly impregnated with trona; but it was fresh and cool, and therefore a delightful beverage to us.
In the wadey Dibla stands a detached conical table-topped hill: the summit had a black rugged appearance from below, and was formed of a sort of bituminous earth, dry and crumbling to the touch. Under this were layers or strata of thin plates, almost resembling foil, of brittle schistose clay, of black, yellow, and green: these also crumbled on receiving the pressure of the hand[19]. Aboutten miles from Dibla we came to Chegarub, and four miles further to Kersherma, where we rested for the night. No wood or water.
Jan. 22.—A tedious day over sandy deserts, without even the relief of a dark hill to look forward to. About sun-set we came to a spot with some little sprinkling of a grass calledsbeet, and some fine grass, with a flower callednisse. Made twenty-four miles, and halted at Kasama-foma-hamse, or the five trees. No wood nor water. Alarm of Tibboos,—all mounted and turned out.
Jan. 23.—Desert as yesterday. High sand hills[20]. Burmenmadua (all sand). At three in the afternoon, we arrived at an extensive wadey, called Aghadem. Here are several wells of excellent water, forage, and numbers of the tree called suag, the red berries of which are nearly as good as cranberries. We broke in on the retreats of about a hundred gazelles, who were enjoying the fertility of the valley. It was, however, with great difficulty, from their extreme shyness, that we shot one, which afforded us an ample meal. A roadhere branched off to the westward, leading to the Tuarick country, and Soudan, but not frequented by kafilas. Aghadem is a great rendezvous, and the dread of all small kafilas and travellers. It is frequented by freebooters of all descriptions.
Jan. 24, we halted. The thermometer, in the shade of my tent, was 101°. at half-past two. The animals were all enjoying the blessings of plenty in the ravines, which ran through the range of low black hills, extending nearly north and south, quite across the valley. The camels, in particular, feasted on the small branches of the suag, of which they are fond to excess. The tracks of the hyæna had been numerous for the last three days; and last night they approached in droves quite close to our encampment.
My telescope this evening afforded great delight to Boo-Khaloom, the brother of the kadi at Mourzuk, Mohamed Abeedeen, and several others, for more than an hour. I usually passed some time every evening in Boo-Khaloom’s tent, and had promised them a sight of the moongrib(near), for some time. One old hadje, who obtained a sight by my assistance, for he could not fix the glass on the object, after an exclamation of wonder, looked me fully in the face, spoke not a word, but walked off as fast as he could, repeating words from the Koran. This conduct, I 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 of Orion, Canis Major, and Taurus, presented a coup d’œil truly impressive and sublime.
Jan. 25.—The camels moved off soon after eight; and we 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 our departure. We had three or four long days to the next water; and the camels were too fatigued to carry more than one day’s food for the horses. While we were in this situation, twoArabs, 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 Mourzuk. They soon made their appearance, mounted on maherhies, only nine days from Kouka. They brought news that the Sheikh Kanemy had just returned from a successful expedition against the sultan of Begharmi; 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.
We proceeded on our route, which was along a continued desert; and at sun-set halted on the sand, without either wood or water, after twenty-four miles. The courier from Bornou to Mourzuk assured us, that he should not be more than thirty days on the road from where we left him. Since Sheikh Kanemy’s residence at Kouka, couriers have occasionally passed between Bornou and Mourzuk,—a circumstance before that event unknown. One of Kanemy’s wives and three children were in Mourzuk; and the Bashaw, in order to secure his perfect submission, refused to allow them to leave that place. 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 we 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, with 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, calledgedeed, 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 thedung is preserved, and 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 we appeared gradually approaching something resembling vegetation: we had rising sands and clumps of fine grass the whole way; and the country was not unlike some of our heaths in England. Towards evening the trees increased greatly in number; and where we halted, the animals found abundance of food. The tulloh trees, the kossom (a very beautiful parasitical plant), and the herbage, were most refreshing to our parched feelings, although in reality they were of the most dingy green and stunted appearance. A herd of more than a hundred gazelles crossed us towards the evening; and the foot-marks of the ostrich, and some of its feathers, were discovered by the Arabs. The spot where we halted is called Geogo Balwy.
Jan. 28.—We met two Tibboos this day, who informed us that the Tuaricks had been to Kanem, eight hundred strong, and had carried off every thing from two towns. The Arabs were all anxiety to fall in with them, and rob the true rogues. The route resembled that of yesterday. Early in the day we made Beere-Kashifery. The well here was of great depth; Arabs were obliged to descend into it, and throw out several loads of sand, before any water could be drawn, and which occupied them the greater part of the night. By daylight the next morning, Mina Tahr, or the black bird, the sheikh 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 our case, his was a visit 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 greatswiftness: their saddles are of wood, small and light, open along the bone of the back; the pieces of wood of which it is composed are lashed together with thongs of hide; the stuffing is camel’s hair, wound and plaited, so as to be a perfect guard; the girth 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 their saddle. The bridle is light, but severe; the reins and head-stall of strips of hide, fancifully twisted and plaited.
Our camels had not finished drinking until the sun was full six fathom high, as the Arabs say; and as we were in want of fresh meat, and, indeed, every thing, Mina Tahr proposed that we should go to a well nearer his people—a well, he assured us, which was never yet shown to an Arab. At eleven, therefore, on the 29th of January, we moved on, accompanied by the Tibboos, nine miles nearly south; where, about half a mile west of the road, we came to the well Duggesheinga: here were the marks of immense herds, which had been drinking in the morning. This was a retired spot, undiscoverable from the ordinary route of travellers, from which it was completely hid by rising sand hills. Here the Tibboos left us, promising to return early the day after 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. We were terribly annoyed the whole of the day by a strong easterly wind, and such volumes of sand, as quite obscured the face of nature.
Jan. 30.—The wind and drifting sand were so violent, that we were obliged to keep our tents the whole day; besides this, I was more disordered than I had been since leaving Mourzuk. I founda loose shirt only the most convenient covering, as the sand could be shaken off as soon as it made a lodgment, 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 my Christian belief, I was deprived of the luxury of possessing half a dozen of these shampooing beauties, yet, by marrying my negro Barca to one of the bashaw’s freed women slaves, as I had done at Sockna, I 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 me on these occasions of fatigue or sickness. It is an undoubted fact, and in no case probably better exemplified than in my own, 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 Sheikh, and about thirty of his people, male and female, returned, but their supplies were scanty for a kafila of three hundred persons. The sweet milk turned out nothing but sour camel’s milk, full of dirt and sand, and the fat was in small quantities and very rancid. We, however, purchased a lean sheep for two dollars, which was indeed a treat. Great precaution must always be taken on procuring meat, after long abstaining from animal food: eating more than a very moderate quantity ever disorders the stomach, which is often succeeded by fever, ague, and all its attendant evils: although not gormandizers, some of us suffered from too great an indulgence in the luxuries of boiled mutton. Illness here should be the more avoided, from its being altogether of a nature different from illness elsewhere: the attacks are sudden, and render a person incapableof any exertion, leaving him in a state of weakness and debility scarcely credible to those who have not been eye-witnesses of the fact.
Some of the girls who brought the milk, &c. 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. The men brought, as a present to Boo-Khaloom, two beautiful maherhies; one of them was a most superb animal, and measured nine feet and a half from the ground to the middle of the back: they also brought a horse or two for sale. Their animals are their only riches; and Mina Tahr told me, that their tribe had more than five thousand camels: on the milk of these animals they entirely live for six months in the year, and for the remaining half year they manage to raise from their barren soil sufficientgussub(a species of millet) to satisfy their wants. Formerly, when they had little or no communication with Fezzan and Bornou, they were nearly naked, as their crops of cotton were scarcely sufficient, from the dryness and poverty of the soil, to afford them covering. Now the Kafilas bring them indigo, cotton, and ready-spun linen in strips, with which they make tobes and wrappers: for these, when they are not given as tribute, the Tibboos exchange the skins and feathers of the ostrich, with dried meat of gazelles and bullocks.
Two of the horses were very handsome, though small; and on remarking their extreme fatness, I was not a little surprised at learning that they were fed entirely on camels’ milk, corn being too scarce and valuable an article for the Tibboos to spare them: they drink it both sweet and sour; and animals in higher health and condition I scarcely ever saw. It is quite surprising with what terror these children of the desert view the Arabs, and the ideathey have of their invincibility; while they are smart active fellows themselves, and both ride and move better and quicker: but the guns! the guns! are their dread; and five or six of them will go round and round a tree, where an Arab has laid down his gun for a minute, stepping on tiptoe, as if afraid of disturbing it, talking to each other in a whisper, as if the gun could understand their exclamations; and I dare say, praying to it not to do them an injury, as fervently as ever man Friday did to Robinson Crusoe’s musket.
None of the Gunda Tibboos were above the middle size, slim, well made, with sharp, intelligent, copper-coloured faces, large prominent eyes, flat noses, large mouth and teeth, regular, but stained a deep red, from the immoderate use of tobacco; the forehead is high; and the turban, which is a deep indigo colour, is worn high on the head, and brought under the chin and across the face, so as to cover all the lower part from the nose downwards: they have sometimes fifteen or twenty charms, in red, green, and black leather cases, attached to the folds of their turbans.
Most of them have scars on different parts of their faces: these generally denote their rank, and are considered as an ornament. Our sheikh had one under each eye, with one more on each side of his forehead, in shape resembling a half moon. Like the Arabs of the north, their chieftainships are hereditary, provided the heir is worthy; any act of cowardice disqualifies, and the command devolves upon the next in succession. Our Gunda sheikh, Mina Tahr-ben-Soogo-Lammo, was the seventh in regular succession. This tribe is called Nafra Gunda, and are always near Beere-Kashifery.
My watch pleased him wonderfully at first; but after a little time, I found that looking at himself in the bright part of the inside of the case gave him the greatest satisfaction: they are vainer than the vainest. Mina Tahr had the finest clothes on that had ever been brought to Beere-Kashifery; and what to him could be soagreeable as contemplating the reflection of his own person so decked out? I could not help giving him a small looking-glass; and he took his station in one corner of my tent for hours, surveying himself with a satisfaction that burst from his lips in frequent exclamations of joy, and which he also occasionally testified by sundry high jumps and springs into the air.
Jan. 31.—After regaining the road, we moved until noon, when our horses were watered at a well called Kanimani (or the sheep’s well), where some really sweet milk was brought us in immensely large basket bottles, some holding two gallons and more. We had drank, and acknowledged its goodness, and how grateful it was to our weak stomachs, before finding out that it was camels’ milk.
No traveller in Africa should imagine thatthishe could not bear, orthatcould not be endured. It is wonderful how a man’s taste conforms itself to his necessities. Six months ago, camels’ milk would have acted upon us as an emetic; now we thought it a most refreshing and grateful cordial. The face of the country improved in appearance every mile. We passed along to-day what seemed to us a most joyous valley, smiling in flowery grasses, tulloh trees, and kossom. About mid-day, we halted in a luxurious shade, the ground covered with creeping vines of the colycinth in full blossom, which, with the red flower of the kossom which drooped over our heads, made our resting-place a little Arcadia. Towards the evening, we saw two very large black vultures (aglou, in Bornou), but were not near enough to shoot them; and at sun-set we pitched the tents, surrounded by forage for our horses, while the half-famished camels fed on the young branches of the tulloh. The place was called Auoul Mull (before Mull).
Feb. 1.—By three in the morning our people commenced packing, and by daylight we moved off. The herbage, almost resembling wild corn, was often up to our horses’ knees. We killed to-day oneof the largest serpents we had seen: it is calledliffaby the Arabs, and its bite is said to be mortal, unless the part is instantly cut out. It is a mistaken idea, that all the serpent tribe are called liffa; this species alone bears the name: it has two horns, and is of a light brown colour. My old Choush Ghreneim had a distorted foot, which was of but little use to him except on horseback, from the bite of one of these poisonous reptiles, notwithstanding the part infected was cut out: he was for thirteen months confined to his hut, and never expected to recover.
Arabs are always on the look out for plunder: “’Tis my vocation, Hal!”—none are ashamed to acknowledge it; but they were on this occasion to act as an escort to oppose banditti, not play the part of one. Nevertheless, greatly dissatisfied were they, at having come so far, and done so little: they formed small parties for reconnoitring on each side of the road, and were open-mouthed for any thing that would offer. One fellow on foot had traced the marks of a flock of sheep to a small village of tents to the east of our course, and now gave notice of the discovery he had made, but that they had seen him, and he believed struck their tents. I felt that I should be a check upon them in the plunderings. Boo-Khaloom, myself, and about a dozen horsemen (who had each a footman behind him), instantly started for their retreat, which lay over the hills to the east. On arriving at the spot, in a valley of considerable beauty, where these flocks and tents had been observed, we found the place quite deserted. The poor frighted shepherds had moved off with their all, knowing too well what would be their treatment from the Naz Abiad (white people), as they call the Arabs. Their caution, however, was made the excuse for plundering them, and a pursuit was instantly determined on. “What! not stay to sell their sheep, the rogues! We’ll take them now without payment.” We scoured two valleys without discovering the fugitives, and I began to hope that the Tibboos had eluded their pursuers, when, after crossing adeep ravine, and ascending the succeeding ridge, we came directly on about two hundred head of cattle, and about twenty persons, men, women, and children, with ten camels laden with their tents and other necessaries, all moving off. The extra Arabs instantly slipped from behind their leaders, and with a shout rushed down the hill; part headed the cattle to prevent their escape, and the most rapid plunder I could have conceived quickly commenced. The camels were instantly brought to the ground, and every part of their load rifled: the poor women and girls lifted up their hands to me, stripped as they were to the skin, but I could do nothing for them beyond saving their lives. A sheikh and a maraboot assured me it was quite lawful (hallal) to plunder those who left their tents instead of supplying travellers. Boo-Khaloom now came up, and was petitioned. I saw he was ashamed of the paltry booty his followers had obtained, as well as moved by the tears of the sufferers. I seized the favourable moment, and advised that the Arabs should give every thing back, and have a few sheep and an ox for a bousafer (feast): he gave the order, and the Arabs from under their barracans threw down the wrappers they had torn off the bodies of the Tibboo women; and I was glad in my heart, when, taking ten sheep and a fat bullock, we left these poor creatures to their fate, as, had more Arabs arrived, they would most certainly have stripped them of every thing. We halted, after dark, at a place called Mull.
Feb. 2.—Our road, as yesterday, was an extensive valley, bounded to the right and left by low hills; about noon we descended slightly, and found ourselves in a productive plain of great extent, thickly planted with trees and underwood, not unlike a preserve in England. About an hour before sun-set, we came to what had the appearance of the bed of a lake, and here was the wished-for well of water. The horses had not drank since noon on the 31st, and although ready todrop on the road from faintness, were, on reaching the well, quite unmanageable. The name of the well was Kofei.
On the 31st, Boo-Khaloom had thought it right to send on a Tibboo with the news of our approach to the sheikh El-Kanemy, who, we understood, resided at Kouka, and one was despatched with a camel and a man of Mina Tahr: the Gundowy accompanied him on the arrival at Kofei of the Arabs, who preceded us for the purpose of clearing the well. The Tibboo who had been despatched was found alone and naked; some Tibboo Arabs, of a tribe called Wandela, had met them near the well on the preceding evening and robbing him even to his cap, and taking from him the letters, saying, they cared not for the sheikh or Boo-Khaloom, tied him to a tree, and then left him. In this state was he found by our people; and Mr. Clapperton coming up soon after, gave him, from his biscuit-bag, wherewithal to break his fast, after being twenty-four hours without eating. Eighteen men had stripped him, he said, and taken off the camel and Mina Tahr’s man, who, they also said, should be ransomed, or have his throat cut. Mina Tahr represented these people as the worst on the road in every sense of the word: “They have no flocks,” said he, “and have not more than three hundred camels, although their numbers are one thousand or more; they live by plunder, and have no connexion with any other people. No considerable body of men can follow them; their tents are in the heart of the desert, and there are no wells for four days in the line of their retreat. Giddy-ben-Agah is their chief, and I alone would give fifty camels for his head: these are the people who often attack and murder travellers, and small kafilas, and the Gundowy, who respect strangers, have the credit of it.”
The men of Traita, with their chief, Eskou-ben-Coglu, came in the evening to welcome us: the well Kofei belongs to them; and greatly enraged they appeared to be at the conduct of the Wandelas.This chief returned to Boo-Khaloom his letters, which, he said, “the chief of the Wandelas had sent him that morning, begging that he would meet the kafila at the well, and deliver them to Boo-Khaloom: had he known then what had taken place, the slave,” he said, “should have been stabbed at his father’s grave before he would have delivered them.” Boo-Khaloom was greatly enraged; and I was almost apprehensive that he would have revenged himself on the Traita chiefs. However, the Tibboo courier was again clothed and mounted, and once more started for Bornou. The Traita Tibboos are more important-looking fellows than the Gunda, but they want their quickness and activity: they are said not to be more than eight hundred strong in males.
Feb. 3.—Our course, during the early part of the day, was due south, and through a country more thickly planted by the all-tasteful hand of bounteous Nature. We disturbed a flock of what we at first thought were deer, but they were only a large species of antelope; they are of a deeper fawn colour, and have black and white stripes under the belly. The Guinea fowl were in great numbers, but extremely shy. The whole day our route lay through most pleasing forest scenery. It was near sunset when we arrived at Mittimee, which, in the Bornou language, means warm, tepid: the wells exceed fifty in number, and lie in a woody hollow, where there are clumps of the tulloh and other species of the mimosa tribe, encircled by kossom and various parasitical and twining shrubs, which, embracing their stems, wind to the extremities of their branches, and climb to the very tops, when, falling over, they form weeping bowers of a most beautiful kind: it was indeed a lovely and a fair retreat.
Boo-Khaloom, myself, and about six Arabs, had ridden on in front: it was said we had lost the track, and should miss the well: the day had been oppressively hot, my companions were sick and fatigued, and we dreaded the want of water. A fine dust, arisingfrom a light clayey and sandy soil, had also increased our sufferings: the exclamations of the Arab who first discovered the wells were indeed music to our ears; and after satisfying my own thirst, with that of my weary animals, I laid me down by one of the distant wells, far from my companions; and these moments of tranquillity, the freshness of the air, with the melody of the hundred songsters that were perched amongst the creeping plants, whose flowers threw an aromatic odour all around, were a relief scarcely to be described. Ere long, however, the noisy kafila, and the clouds of dust which accompanied it, disturbed me from the delightful reverie into which I had fallen.
Feb. 4.—Previously to arriving at Lari, we came upon two encampments of the Traita Tibboos, calling themselves the sheikh’s people: their huts were not numerous, but very regularly built in a square, with a space left in the north and south faces of the quadrangle, for the use of the cattle. The huts were entirely of mats, which, excluding the sun, yet admitted both the light and the air: these habitations, for fine weather, are preferable to the bete shars, or tents, of the Arabs of the north. The interior was singularly neat: clean wooden bowls, with each a cover of basket-work, for holding their milk, were hung against the wall. In the centre of the inclosure were about one hundred and fifty head of cattle feeding from cradles: these were chiefly milch cows, with calves and sheep. The Tibboos received us kindly at first, but presumed rather too much on sheikh Kanemy’s protection, which they claim or throw off, it is said, as it suits their purpose. The modest request of a man, with two hundred armed Arabs, for a little milk, was refused; and ready as the Arabs are to throw down the gauntlet, a slight expression of displeasure from their leader was followed by such a rapid attack on the Tibboos, that before I could mount, half the stock was driven off, and the sheikh well bastinadoed. Boo-Khaloom was, however, too kind to injure them; and after driving their cattlefor about a mile, he allowed them to return, with a caution to be more accommodating for the future. Accustomed as these people are to plunder one another, they expect no better usage from any one who visits them, provided they are strong enough, andvice versa; they are perfect Spartans in the art of thieving, both male and female.
An old woman, who was sitting at the door of one of the huts, sent a very pretty girl to me, as I was standing by my horse, whose massy amber necklace, greased head, and coral nose studs and ear-rings, announced a person of no common order, to see what she could pick up; and after gaining possession of my handkerchief and some needles, while I turned my head, in an instant thrust her hand into the pocket of my saddle-cloth, as she said, “to find some beads, for she knew I had plenty.”
Another and much larger nest of the Traitas lay to the east of our route, a little further on, with numerous flocks and herds. About two in the afternoon we arrived at Lari, ten miles distant from Mittimee. On ascending the rising ground on which the town stands, the distressing sight presented itself of all the female, and most of the male inhabitants, with their families, flying across the plain in all directions, alarmed at the strength of our kafila. Beyond, however, was an object full of interest to us, and the sight of which conveyed to my mind a sensation so gratifying and inspiring, that it would be difficult in language to convey an idea of its force or pleasure. The great lake Tchad, glowing with the golden rays of the sun in its strength, appeared to be within a mile of the spot on which we stood. My heart bounded within me at this prospect, for I believed this lake to be the key to the great object of our search, and I could not refrain from silently imploring Heaven’s continued protection, which had enabled us to proceed so far in health and strength, even to the accomplishment of our task.
It was long before Boo-Khaloom’s best endeavours could restoreconfidence: the inhabitants had been plundered by the Tuaricks only the year before, and four hundred of their people butchered; and but a few days before, a party of the same nation had again pillaged them, though partially. When, at length, these people were satisfied that no harm was intended them, the women came in numbers with baskets of gussub, gafooly, fowls, and honey, which were purchased by small pieces of coral and amber of the coarsest kind, and coloured beads. One merchant bought a fine lamb for two bits of amber, worth, I should think, about twopence each in Europe; two needles purchased a fowl; and a handful of salt four or five good sized fish from the lake.
Lari is inhabited by the people of Kanem, who are known by the name of Kanemboo: the women are good-looking, laughing negresses, and all but naked; but this we were now used to, and it excited no emotions of surprise. Most of them had a square or triangular piece of silver or tin hanging at the back of the head, suspended from the hair, which was brought down, in narrow plaits, quite round the neck.
Feb. 5.—By sun-rise I was on the borders of the lake, armed for the destruction of the multitude of birds, who, all unconscious of my purpose, seemed as it were to welcome our arrival. Flocks of geese and wild ducks, of a most beautiful plumage, were quietly feeding at within half pistol shot of where I stood; and not being a very keen or inhuman sportsman, for the terms appear to me to be synonymous, my purpose of deadly warfare was almost shaken. As I moved towards them they only changed their places a little to the right or left, and appeared to have no idea of the hostility of my intentions. All this was really so new, that I hesitated to abuse the confidence with which they regarded me, and very quietly sat down to contemplate the scene before me. Pelicans, cranes, four and five feet in height, grey, variegated, and white, were scarcely so many yards from my side, and a bird, between a snipe and a woodcock,resembling both, and larger than either; immense spoonbills of a snowy whiteness, widgeon, teal, yellow-legged plover, and a hundred species of (to me at least) unknown water fowl, were sporting before me; and it was long before I could disturb the tranquillity of the dwellers on these waters by firing a gun.