Footnotes:

Aheer, orAhir, ‮اهير‬ and which is often incorrectly spelt on the maps Aïr, is the name of a town and verypopulous district, including within its territory or jurisdiction the city of Aghadez. Aheer is also called Azben, and its district Azbenouwa ‮ازبنوة‬—‮ازبن‬ which appear to have been the more ancient names. The town of Aheer is also calledAsouty, ‮اسوطي‬ on the maps Asouda, the dentals ‮ط‬ and ‮د‬ being convertible. These districts are bounded on the north by Ghat and its tribes; on the east by the Tibboo country and Bornou, on the west by the Negro, Touarick and Fullan countries of the north banks of the Niger; and on the south, by the Housa districts, vulgarly called by merchants, Soudan. Aheer is forty short days from Ghat, the Soudanese merchants who visit the Ghat mart always travelling much moredoucementand in jog-trot style than the Moorish and Arab merchants of the north. The line of the Aheer stations measures about thirteen days, from Tidik in the north to Toktouft in the south[22]. In this portion of the route, and that previous to arriving at Tidik, there are twenty days of mountains. The Aheer route also abounds with springs and fine streams, which gush out from the base of rock-lands of great height, and some of which form considerable rivers for several months in the year, on whose banks corn and the senna-plant are cultivated. Aheer is the Saharan region of senna, where there are large wadys covered with its crops. The exportation, especially after a season of rain, is very great and profitable. Asouty is the principal town of the Aheer districts, and was formerly the capital of all the Kylouy Touaricks. No less than a thousand houses are now seen abandoned and in ruins. Here in former times all the Soudan trade was carried on andconcentrated; its population is still considerable. The houses are nearly all constructed of hasheesh, or straw huts, and the city is without walls. Nevertheless, the people still honour it with the title ofBlad es-Sultan, "City," or "Country of the Sultan," that is, where the Sultan occasionally resides, answering to ourRoyalcity.

Aheer is the rendezvous of the salt caravan of Bilma, in the Tibboo country, situate, almost in a straight line, about ten days east, the route to which is over barren stony ground. A curious story is told of the manner in which the camel drivers supply themselves with forage over this treeless, herbless, naked waste. On their way to Bilma, they leave at certain places or stations a quantity of forage to supply them on their return; and it is said, the deposit is sacred, no one daring to touch it. It is probable, however, that the forage is concealed in hiding places, as wells are often hidden along some desert routes. Even in the Tunisian Jereed, the sources of water are frequently concealed, a skin being placed over the water with palm branches laid thereupon, and the top of the well's mouth covered with sand. So that a hapless traveller may perish of thirst with water under his feet! Through the hunting districts of South Africa, amongst the Namaquas, the sources of water are concealed in a similar manner. However, a short time ago, the people of Bornou, who were then at war with the Touaricks of Aheer, discovered the hiding places of the Touaricks' forage, carried off or destroyed the supplies, and reduced a large salt-caravan to the greatest extremities; hundreds of camels perished from hunger. These salt-caravans are sometimes a thousand and twothousand strong. The greater part of Housa and the neighbouring provinces is supplied with salt from Bilma.

Aghadez, ‮اقدز‬ is the capital of the Aheer districts. This is the residence of the Sultan of the Touaricks of South-eastern Sahara. The present Sultan is calledMazouwaja, ‮مزواجى‬ who is represented as a friendly prince. But it wasEn-Nour‮النور‬, deputy Sultan of Aheer, to whom I wrote before leaving Ghat, begging his protection in the event of my return, to complete the tour to Soudan. Aghadez is now as large as Tripoli, or containing from eight to ten thousand inhabitants. In a past period it was four times as large. A great number of the people have emigrated to Soudan, where less labour is required to till the soil, and nature is more lavish in her productions. Aghadez is a walled city, but without any particular strength; the houses are but one story high, built of mud and stone and sun-dried bricks. Aghadez abounds in provisions of the most substantial kind, that is, sheep, oxen and grain. The government is despotic, but the lesser chiefs have great power in their respective districts, like those of Ghat. The religion of the people is Mahometan; not a Pagan, Jew, or Christian, is found within these districts. Trade is carried on to a great extent, and Moorish merchants visit Aghadez, proceeding no further towards Soudan. The most interesting district near Aghadez is that ofBagzem‮بقزم‬, (orMagzem, the labials ‮ب‬ and ‮م‬ being convertible,) consisting of an exceedingly lofty mountain, requiring a full day's journey for its ascent. This mountain figures on the map under the ancient name of Usugala Mons, but for what reason God knows. Thetown is placed a good way towards its loftiest heights, the most of which heights are both cultivated and inhabited, and there is abundance of trees, grain, and fruits. Bagzem is three days' journey from Asouty.

I shall take the liberty of appending the account given of Aheer and Aghadez by Leo Africanus:—

Diserto dove abita Targa Popolo.

Il terzo diserto incomincia da'confini di Air dal lato di ponente, e s'estende fino al diserto d'Ighidi verso Levante; e di verso tramontana confina con li diserti di Tuat e di Tegorarin e di Mezab; da mezzogiorno, con li diserti vicini al regno di Agadez. Questo diserto non è cosi aspro e crudele, como sono i due primieri: e truovavisi acqua buona, e pozzi profondissimi; massimamente vicino ad Air, nel quale è un temperato diserto e di buono aere, dove nascono molte erbe: e più oltre, vicino di Agadez, si truova assai manna, che è cosa mirable; e gli abitatori vanno la mattina pertempto a raccorlo, e ve n'empiono certe zucche; e vendonla cosi fresca nella città di Agadez; e un fiasco che tien un boccale val due bajocchi; beesi mescolata con acqua; ed è cosa perfettissima: la mescolano ancora nelle minestre, e rinfresca molto: penso che per tale cagione li forestieri rade volte s'ammalano in Agadez, come in Tombutto, ancorchè vi sia aere pestifero. Questo diserto s'estende da tramontana verso mezzogiorno trecento miglia.—Sixth Part, lvi.chap.

It will be observed, that under the name ofTarga Popolo, no mention is made of the Touaricks of Ghat. Indeed, all the notices of the Renegade Tourist on thispart of Africa, are extremely meagre and unsatisfactory. As to his divisions of The Sahara into so many deserts, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, &c., this is all arbitrary and most unnatural. The story about the abundance of manna gathered in the districts of Aheer, seems to have been invented to please the Christian doctors of Rome; at any rate, nothing of the kind is now seen or known at Aghadez. But with respect to foreigners who visit Aheer and Aghadez enjoying good health, I have no doubt the Renegade is correct, for I have not heard of either of these places being unhealthy, their salubrity arising, we may imagine, from the elevation at which they are placed. The Aheer Saharan region is emphatically mountainous.

Afternoon, visited Hateetah, who has made up his mind to accompany me to Fezzan, of which I'm glad, not wishing to meet with any more Ouweeks in this neighbourhood. Was pleased this morning to observe amongst the children of Haj Ahmed, who were busy reading passages from the Koran, several girls. This circumstance raises my opinion of the Governor. No doubt it is because he is a Marabout that he grants this privilege to his daughters. The Marabout has no less than a dozen small children, of all complexions, features, and hues, from lily white to sooty black. My sweetest enjoyment in Ghat is to listen to the song of the tiny singing sparrows hopping about my terrace. My days of childhood return with their song, when, if I were not innocent, a little matter made me happy. Sing on you pretty little things, tune your wild Saharan notes, for you gladden my sad heart!

18th.—A fine warm sunny day. The departure ofthe ghafalah is now fixed for the 27th. According to some accounts, 8000 Touaricks are being mustered, to march against the Shânbah. The Touaricks evidently expect the robber tribe to be reinforced from Souf and the Warklah districts, or the robbers must number 5000 instead of 500. Haj Ibrahim tells me, he has just read a letter addressed by the Pasha of Tripoli to the united Sheikhs of Ghat, offering them assistance against the robber tribe. The Touaricks have politely declined the proffered aid, feeling strong (and wise) enough to manage their own battles. Not much troubled with visitors lately, one now and then. The Touaricks are leaving Ghat to reinforce the new levies of troops. Soon the town will be emptied of Touaricks. The Ghadamsee ghafalah is returning, and a small one to TripoliviâShaty and Misdah.

Haj Ibrahim continues to repeat his story about the people of Ghadames having a great deal of money hoarded up. I visited him this morning, and found him surrounded with a group of Soudanese merchants. The large court-yard of his house was full of bales of unsold goods, here and there scattered about, and some unpacked, all in the most business-like disorder. In one quarter was a cluster of a dozen slaves, waiting to be bartered for, the poor wretches being huddled up together in this private mart of human flesh. The Moor was calm and collected amidst the dirt and noise of Kanou and Succatou merchants, who with violent gestures were disputing the progress of the bargain inch by inch. Here was a great assortment of rubbish, for I can't call very coarse paper, green baize cloth, glass and earthen composition beads, bad razors, and a few commonwoollens, and some very inferior raw silk, merchandize. And such rubbish was offered in exchange for a group of God's creatures, with his divine image stamped upon them! At length the progress of the bargain came to what might be called a crisis. The Soudanese merchants jumped up suddenly, with shouts and curses, as if they had discovered a perfidious fraud, and rushed to the door, pulling their miserable slaves after them. I felt shocked at the sight, and my horror must have been depicted in my countenance. For Haj Ibrahim, who well knew I disapproved of this traffic, said to me angrily, "Why do you come here now?" I got out of his way as quick as I could, but did not leave the house. The people of the Moor followed hard after the runaway merchants, seizing first hold of their slaves, dragging them back by main force into the court-yard. Then their owners raised a hideous cry, calling Haj Ibrahim and his people "thieves," and "robbers," and "cheats," and "accursed," and many other similar compliments in the way of slave-dealing. This would make a nice counter-picture to a sketch of one of those Congressional squabbles which so frequently take place on the presentation of Anti-Slavery petitions to the American Congress, when there is an occasional flourish of the bowie-knife, and a good deal of expectoration to damp the ardour of the combatants, fighting over the victims of Republican Tyranny. After this came a cessation of every kind of noise, for Haj Ibrahim, disgusted with the business, (he was a fair-dealing man though a slave-dealer,) said to Omer, his Arab servant:—"Tell them to be off, and take their slaves with them." Now interposed a merchant of Ghat, and a friend of the Soudanese, who thusupbraidedthem:—"Fools that you are! Do you think Haj Ibrahim is a cheat? Haj Ibrahim gets nothing by you; Haj Ibrahim buys your slaves, because Haj Ibrahim will not be at the expense of carrying his goods back again to Tripoli." The merchants replied, and I dare say with truth:—"You told us 300, now there are only 200; 20 of this, and only 10; 50 of that, and only 20," &c. This Ghatee was a broker, and a species of sharper; he had been impudently imposing on the Housa merchants. But, to cut a long story short, the bargain was finally arranged. Haj Ibrahim made these quondam merchants a present of some almonds and parched peas, "towetthe bargain." The poor slaves had been dressed up for the sale, and, with other ornaments, large bright iron hoops had been hammered round their ancles. It was a tough job to get them off, and a blacksmith only could do it. Haj Ibrahim called each new slave to him, and looked at their features, in order to know them. This he told me he was obliged to do, to be sure of his own slaves, and prevent quarrels with other merchants, for the slaves often get mixed together.

During Souk there is going on some petty thieving, mostly done by the Negro slaves and Arab camel-drivers. They have stolen many little things from me. It is useless to complain. One must take care of one's things. But I am informed the Touaricks never steal. At any rate, large bundles of senna are left out in the suburbs, night after night, and in the open fields amongst the sand, and no one touches a leaf of it. This could neither be done in Tunis, nor in Tripoli. The Touaricks are beggars, but not thieves; they will also beg hard andwith authority. Rarely, however, will a Touarghee take anything away from you without your knowledge. So, if Touaricks are poor, they are honest, which is so seldom the case, poverty exciting as much or more to crime than exuberant wealth. On the whole, this country must be considered free from crime. Hungry slaves pilfering about, can hardly be designated crime. I saw a little slave to-day, who had just been brought from Aheer; he was rolling naked on the sand, with some fresh green blades of wheat before him. These he was devouring, and this was his food. How can human beings fed this way be expected to refrain from stealing food when they have an opportunity? The Touaricks of Aheer, though not cruel masters, feed their slaves mostly on herbage, which is picked upen route. At least, so the people tell me.

Afternoon, the aged Berka paid me a visit. I gave him his tobacco, or that which I had promised him. Whenever you promise a person anything in this country, in reminding you of it, if you forget your promise, he calls the article his own, and demands it as a right. Berka can hardly move about, he is so very old a man; I should say the Sheikh is upwards of a hundred. The Saharan veteran made no observation in particular. He replied to my questions about Saharan travelling:—"Don't fear, the Touaricks will do you no harm. You can go to Timbuctoo in safety." I was making ghusub water, and asked him to drink of it. "No," he said, smiling with benignity, "you must drink ghusub water with me, not I with you. This is the fashion of us Touaricks." Ghusub water, is water poured on ghusub grain after the grain has been par-boiled or otherwise prepared. A milky substance oozes from the grain, andmakes a very cooling pleasant beverage. Saharan merchants prize the ghusub water chiefly for its cooling quality in summer. A few dates are pounded with the ghusub to give the drink a sweeter and more unctuous taste. The aged Sheikh, on taking leave, begged a little bit of white sugar. "I wish to give it to my little grandson," he added. I question which was the more childish, he or his little grandson, so true it is the intellect decays as it grows, spite of our theories of the immortality of mind. I have now had visits from all the great chieftains of the Ghat Touaricks, Shafou, Jabour, Berka, and Khanouhen. The three former are the heads of the great divisions of confederated tribes. These centres of the large tribes and families separately constitute an oligarchical nobility, by which the destinies of this Saharan world are governed.

Footnotes:[13]Ghafouly—‮قفولي‬—Holcus sorghum, (Linn). Ghafouly grows higher than a man; the stalk is as thick round as sugar-cane; the grain is of white colour, and half the size of a dry pea, of a round flattened shape. It is much coarser eating than maize.[14]Arachis hypogæa, (Linn). This shell fruit has two names in Housa,goújĕeă, andgaýda. Many of the shells are double; they are smallish, very soft, and easily broken. The taste of the fruit is not disagreeable, a good deal like the almond, but more viscid, and a little insipid.[15]Mostly with the mark "porco" on the packets.[16]Mostly with the mark "tre lune" on it. I complained to a merchant that the paper was very coarse, and asked him why he did not purchase finer paper. He replied, "It's all the same in Soudan, fine or coarse." The same answer would be given to every complaint about the coarseness and bad quality of these imports into Africa. Fine or coarse cloth, and fine or coarse silk, sell much the same in Negroland.[17]This is frequently the case. When a Touarghee wears hislitham, and when he pulls it off, he undergoes a complete metamorphosis, so that strangers cannot recognize the parties in their change of dress.[18]‮איש בץניו הישר יעשה‬ Judges xxi. 25. The conduct of the Sheikhs and their tribes is much like that of the Israelites under the Judges.[19]Sometimes called, Killiwah.[20]Different Negro tribes call Touaricks by different names.[21]These names are but imperfectly given, and they must be pronounced in Italian style, being written from the dictation of a Targhee chief by Mr. Gagliuffi, according to that language. To these may be addedHaioun, a tribe of Marabouts.[22]For the rest of the Stations see the Map.

[13]Ghafouly—‮قفولي‬—Holcus sorghum, (Linn). Ghafouly grows higher than a man; the stalk is as thick round as sugar-cane; the grain is of white colour, and half the size of a dry pea, of a round flattened shape. It is much coarser eating than maize.

[14]Arachis hypogæa, (Linn). This shell fruit has two names in Housa,goújĕeă, andgaýda. Many of the shells are double; they are smallish, very soft, and easily broken. The taste of the fruit is not disagreeable, a good deal like the almond, but more viscid, and a little insipid.

[15]Mostly with the mark "porco" on the packets.

[16]Mostly with the mark "tre lune" on it. I complained to a merchant that the paper was very coarse, and asked him why he did not purchase finer paper. He replied, "It's all the same in Soudan, fine or coarse." The same answer would be given to every complaint about the coarseness and bad quality of these imports into Africa. Fine or coarse cloth, and fine or coarse silk, sell much the same in Negroland.

[17]This is frequently the case. When a Touarghee wears hislitham, and when he pulls it off, he undergoes a complete metamorphosis, so that strangers cannot recognize the parties in their change of dress.

[18]‮איש בץניו הישר יעשה‬ Judges xxi. 25. The conduct of the Sheikhs and their tribes is much like that of the Israelites under the Judges.

[19]Sometimes called, Killiwah.

[20]Different Negro tribes call Touaricks by different names.

[21]These names are but imperfectly given, and they must be pronounced in Italian style, being written from the dictation of a Targhee chief by Mr. Gagliuffi, according to that language. To these may be addedHaioun, a tribe of Marabouts.

[22]For the rest of the Stations see the Map.

Parallels between The Desert and The East.—The Divine Warranty for carrying on the Slave Trade discussed.—Visit from Aheer and Soudanese Merchants, and present state of Soudan.—Form of the Cross on Touarick Arms.—Boy taught to curse The Christian.—Medina Shereef's opinion on my giving Presents.—A Negress begs in the name of Ouweek.—Visit to the Governor and Hateetah.—Streams of Water and Corn-Fields in the Fabled Region of Saharan Desolation.—Kandarka will recommend me to his Sultan.—Parallel things between Africa and Asia.—Atkee turns out a Scamp.—Visit from Berka.—Arabic is the Language of Heaven.—Khanouhen ridicules Hateetah to his face.—Hospitality of the Governor towards me, and interesting Conversations with him.—Moorish reckoning of Time clashes with mine.—Medina Shereef turns Beggar like the rest.—Meet The Giant begging at Haj Ibrahim's.—Affecting Case of the cruelty of one Slave to another, and compared to the Jews of Morocco.—Chorus Singing of the Slaves.—Mode in which Ostriches are Hunted.—Arrival of Senna and Ivory from Aheer.—Christians are not Liars.—Farewell Visit from Jabour.—Quick Route to Timbuctoo from Ghat.—Kandarka turns Comedian, and satirizes the Touaricks of Ghat.—Mercantile Transactions of the Governor.—Want of a strong Government in The Desert.—Assemblage of the Sheikhs, and preparations for War.

19th.—Didnot go out to-day, but amused myself with noting down in the journal several parallel things between The Desert and The East, which are mentioned in The Scriptures.

"And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering twosticks, that I may go and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die." (1 Kings xvii. 12.) We have in Sahara parallel ideas to all and every part of this simple and affecting discourse. The widow speaks with an oath. When anything particular and extraordinary is to be said or done, the people of Sahara must use an oath. The meal is the barley-meal of our people; the oil is used to cook it as we cook our bazeen. The sticks are gathered from The Desert every day to dress our food. The blank and absolute resignation of the woman is the same with every one here, not excepting those of immoral lives.

"And lo in her mouth, was an olive-leaf plucked off," (Gen. viii. 11.) "And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard," (Gen. ix. 20.) The olive and the vine are still the choice fruit-trees in North Africa, and were the Mussulmans a wine-drinking people, the country would be covered with vineyards. In the beautiful parable of Jotham, (Judges ix. 8-15,) the third, and the three choicest trees of North Africa are separately mentioned, the olive, the fig-tree, and the vine. These are the only fruits valued or cultivated by Tripoline Arabs in their mountains. The jennah or "paradise" of the Koran is also planted with "palm trees and vines."

"And Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe." (2 Sam. ii. 18.) In this way Arabs speak of one another. Every person who is conversant with Eastern pictures and scenes in Arabic has met with a scrap of poetry of some sort or other, in which the Arab woos his mistress, by comparing her loved eyes to the fine dark full eye of the gazelle. An Arab also, like usEuropeans, calls a cunning fellow "an old fox," and stupid fellow "a donkey."

"And it came to pass, in an evening tide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house; and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon." (2 Sam. xi. 2.) Everybody now knows, or ought to know, that the roofs of Barbary and Saharan houses are flat, where the people walk and enjoy "the cool of the evening," or "the evening tide" after getting up from their naps or siestas. Here the women gossip and the men pray, but the latter are often disturbed in their devotions by the intruding glimpses of some Desert beauty. Love-matches and intrigues are equally concerted here on house-tops. The flat-roofed house-top, as before observed, is the Ghadamsee woman's entire world; here she lives, and moves, and has her being.

"Woe to thee, O land," &c., "And thy princes eat in the morning." (Eccles. xi. 16.) The principal meal is in the evening, and no people of these countries think of eating a hearty meal "in the morning" like what Europeans are accustomed to eat in the morning. To eat a hearty meal in the morning would be an act of downright gluttony. Here, then, is strikingly brought out the sense of this passage of the Preacher's wisdom.

"We will not drink of the waters of the well." (Numbers xxi. 22.) The Israelites being a numerous host, were obliged to make this promise, for if all had drank, they would soon have emptied the wells, and left the people of the country without water, and their flocks and cattle to die of thirst. The caravans now returning to Ghadames are obliged to go in very small numbers,that they may not exhaust the wells. Having many slaves with them more water is required, which they cannot in any way dispense with. The Israelites renewed their promises about the drinking of the water to other people, through whose country they had to pass.

"He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha!" (Job xxxix. 25.) It is very odd that the horsemen of Morocco, when they gallop to the charge, always cry "Ha, ha!" So the Arabian poet of The Book of Job puts the wild cry of the rider into the mouth of the horse whom he rides. This I frequently witnessed on the parade of Mogador. The wild cavalry of Morocco is the boldest idea transmitted to us of the ancient Numidian horse. In Morocco the horse is both the sacred animal and the bulwark of the empire; for this reason it is the Emperor prohibits the exportation of horses. Even the barley, on which the horses are generally fed, is not allowed to be exported for the same reasons.

‮ויאמר ארור כנען עבד עבדים לאחיו‬

"And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren," (Gen. ix. 25.) This portion of Scripture will occur naturally enough to the mind of a biblical reader, who takes up his residence for some weeks at a slave-mart, and is seeing slaves bought and sold every day. It is the famous and much abused text of the slave dealers of the last three centuries, and is now continually quoted in the pulpits of the United States parsons, who, like the devil himself, quote Scripture to support the wickedness of themselves andtheir slave-holding and man-selling countrymen. The most approved commentators properly apply the text to the Canaanites, whom Providence afterwards dispossessed of their territories in Palestine, and gave them to the children of Shem, and so the Canaanites became the slaves of the Shemites for a limited period. But to prove that it does not refer to the Negroes of North and Central Africa, I may be allowed to produce the following reasons:—

1st. Of all the children of Ham, Canaan only is mentioned.

2nd. The prophecy was fulfilled in the descendants of Canaan, and there is no occasion to extend it beyond the early history of the Jews, when they took possession of the land of Canaan, and reduced its people to servitude.

3rd. The descendants of Canaan were all white people, and the Negroes I need not say are black. But if it be a question of colour, there are red Indians and black Indians, who have been from unknown ages the sons of freedom, and who, when discovered, would not and could not be reduced to slavery. I guess the Yankees have not reduced the Indians to slavery, (although, after robbing them of their hunting-grounds, they have in the most Christian spirit exterminated many,) on the contrary, they are equally free men with the Yankees, and have the same privilege of reducing free men to slavery with their Republican neighbours. The Black Indians, following the precept and example of the White Republicans, have now an immense number of slaves; and in this case, it is not the more civilized who holds his fellow man in bondage, but the less civilized, indeed, savages.So the world is improving and progressing in the Western Hemisphere! The Southern Ocean is peopled with many tribes as black as Negroes. But to return to the Canaanites, they at length mixed with the Israelites and became one people, and the relations of master and slave were lost in equality.

4th. Many of the descendants also of Cush were white people, for he was the father of Nimrod, who founded Babylon, and became the father of all the Babylonians. Were the Babylonians Negroes?

5th. None of the children of Ham, but Canaan, became servants or rather slaves to the rest of the human race in any remarkable degree, during the early period of the Mosaic world. For,

Cush was the alleged father of the Babylonians and the Ethiopians, (the people of Upper Egypt,) but neither of these nations were slaves to conquerors more than any other people of that period of the world; whilst, on the other hand, the Babylonians were great conquerors in their day, and the Ethiopians had princes of their own even down to the days of Solomon. If now the Abyssinians are to be considered the descendants of the Ethiopians, we all know they are not slaves, but like the Yankee States themselves, slave-dealers and slave-holders. The Abyssinians, moreover, enjoyed advantages of civilization when a great portion of Europe was overwhelmed with barbarism. So much for the Cushites and Ethiopians, the lineal descendants of the accursed Ham!

Mizraim was the father of the Egyptians. These ancient and celebrated people, whose country was the cradle of civilization, cannot surely be branded as theslaves of the human race! This was also the lineal descendant of the accursed Ham!

6th. But even the Canaanites, so far from remaining slaves, after the alleged curse was fulfilled in them, recovered from their degradation and rose into consequence, filling the world with their fame. The children of Canaan were undoubtedly the founders of Tyre, whose bold navigators, braving the ocean and the tempest, scoured and ploughed up the waters of the Mediterranean, planting colonies everywhere, and founded Carthage! The Carthaginians, their more renowned sons, passed the Straits of the columns of Hercules, doubled Cape Spartel, and, some say, coasted the entire continent of Africa, returning by the Red Sea. It is monstrous to call such people slaves, branded by the hereditary curse of the inebriated patriarch of mankind. In truth, of all the people of antiquity, the accursed and enslaved race of Ham were the most free-born, enlightened, and enterprising! Never was such a perversion of Scripture interpretation to palliate and bolster up the systems of wickedness of this and former days! Shall we compare the Model Republic and the miserable and degraded nations of Brazils, Spain, and Portugal, the present enslavers of the alleged posterity of Ham, with the once mighty Egyptians and Carthaginians?

7th. But it may be said that Central Africa was peopled from Cush or Ethiopia, and that this Cush, who peopled that portion of the Continent, was the son of Ham. To this I have already replied, that the curse was pronounced not on Cush, but on Canaan his brother, and it is arguing in a circle to extend the subject. Afterall, we are not sure that Central Africa, and the western coast, the theatre of the principal trade, was peopled from Ethiopia. Where is the proof? And besides, Central Africa, thebonâ fideNegroland, possesses states and powerful confederacies, whom no power in Europe or America has yet been able to subjugate to slavery.

8th. The Africo-European slave-trade is only of extremely modern date. It is too late to look for the fulfilment of this prophecy amongst the European transactions of the last three or four centuries, in this and any particular reference to Africa. But finally, up to a late period, slavery was co-extensive with the human race, in all times, ages, and countries. All classes and races of men were made slaves alike, without any relation to Africa and Africans. The Greeks and Romans, if they made slaves of Africans, did not so enslave them because they were Africans, for these ancient people made slaves of all, and even of their own countrymen, it being a constituent element of their society.

I have omitted purposely to question the Divine commission of the Yankee parsons to uphold slavery as the basis of their Republic. But it is difficult not to question the right of an incensed father, awakening from a drunken debauch, to condemn an innocent grandson (for what we know) to everlasting slavery and degradation.

With regard to the wordΔοῦλος,Doulos, used in the Greek Testament to denote either a slave or a servant, there can be no doubt of the application of the term to both these relations of ancient society. The word corresponds to ‮עבד‬ in the Hebrew, and ‮عبد‬ in the Arabic, both being the same consonants, which terms are used, according to their application, to denote both slaves and servants.Slavery existed amongst the Jews as amongst the Greeks and Romans, in the beginning of the Christian era; so we have allusions to "the bond and the free," as well as "the Greeks and the Barbarians," the former phrase distinguishing slaves and free men, the latter, nations of arts and science from those of uncivilized or semi-civilized people. The question is not, then, the meaning of the termDoulos, or its application to slavery at the period of the promulgation of the Christian religion; but, whether, because slavery was not then reprobated by the teachers of Christianity, it was not therefore a very great evil. First of all, there are many things of ancient society not reproved or reprobated by the founders of Christianity, which are inconvenient to, and inconsistent with, our moral sense, and which would violate the laws of modern society. Such are the laws and customs of usury and polygamy. No man in his senses would attempt to establish polygamy in modern society, because it is not prohibited and condemned by the writers of the New Testament. To argue, therefore, that slavery is congenial with the spirit of the Christian religion because it is not condemned by its apostles and evangelists, is an utterly fallacious system of reasoning. But even supposing the apostles themselves practised slavery, and received into their communion slave-holders, men-dealers and men-stealers, it does not therefore follow that we should imitate them, and become men-stealers likewise. What, was good or right for them and their state of society, may not be good or right for us and our society. The liberties of mankind require to be guarded in these our days by the most intense hatred, and the broadest and clearest denunciations of slavery, in every shape andmode of its developement. But let any people imbibe the spirit of Christianity, and slavery cannot exist amongst them; let all nations imbibe the spirit of Christianity, and slavery would become immediately extinguished throughout the world.

20th.—A fine morning; the Desert around is fair and bright, save where the Black Mountains are casting their mysterious shades. Visited by some Succatou merchants, amongst whom were several Touaricks of Aheer. The Housa people and Aheer Touaricks both speak the Housa language, these Touaricks having abandoned their Berber dialect so far as I can learn. It is also difficult to distinguish the one people from the other when they wear the litham. One is nearly as dark as the other, but the features of the Touaricks are much more, and often quite in the style of Europeans. A few of the Aheer merchants are also, I have observed, tolerably fair. How different are the airs and consequence of these merchants, and some of them pure Housa Negroes, from the slaves which they lead into captivity; they talk, and laugh, and feel themselves on a level with us, whilst their slaves are moody and silent, without confidence, and slink away from observation. Such is the impress of slavery on men in whose veins runs the same blood as our own. The Soudanese merchants gave me some account of the reigning Sultans. Ali is the Sultan of Succatou, and succeeded the famous Bello, to whom Clapperton was dispatched in his last mission. Daboo is the Sultan of Kanou, and Ghareema, Sultan of Kashna, but both subjected to the Succatou Sultan. Besides these cities, the districts of Beetschee, Kaferda, Kasada, Sabongharee, Ghouber, Dell, Yakoba and Noufee, besides other provinces,including a vast extent of territory, are subjected to the Fullan dynasty of Succatou. But it is extremely difficult to get correct information from these Soudanese merchants, though dealing and travelling through all the Housa and neighbouring countries; as to the names of the princes, they could not recollect them. There are also frequent dethronements of the petty princes.

21st.—I do not go out much now, except in the evening; I grow weary of the place. A young Aheer Touarick called. I never refuse admittance to Aheer merchants because they are so well behaved, and apparently not fanatical. He offered me a straight broad sword for five small dollars; it is quite new, having the handle made in the form of a cross and of hard wood, with a leathern scabbard. The blade was made in Europe. The Touarick dagger hilts are also made in the shape of a cross. There is besides a Malta cross usually cut on the bullocks-hide shields. The cross appears to be an usual ornament of Soudan and Aheer arms. It has been thought there is in this device of arms some vestige of the now extinct Christianity of North Africa. The subject is curious, but we have no means to arrive at its solution. My Aheer friend pretended his sword was worth two slaves in Soudan; this is an exaggeration. Abdullah, the Souf Arab, called. His brothers have brought thirty slaves from Soudan, which are destined for the market of Constantina. One of the Governor's sons goes to Soudan with the return of the caravan, a lad not more than ten years of age; he is to bring back merchandize as a regular trader. A little urchin of a Touarick, not more than nine years, came up to-day with his mother and asked me, "Why Idid not know Mahomet?" but without waiting for a reply, set on cursing me. It is amazing how well these youngsters have learnt this lesson, and how soon! for they never before saw, or perhaps heard of, a Christian. The zealous mother had probably put up her son to this pious cursing of The Christian.

View of the Town of Ghat from the Oasis

22nd.—Made the tour of the oasis, and sketched a view of the town, which is annexed. Weather extremely warm to-day—nay, hot, and in the midst of January. What must it be in August! But the weather is far more changeable and uncertain in Sahara than it is commonly thought to be. Several visits from the Touaricks of Aheer. Gave one a small lock and key, which is esteemed a great curiosity in this country. It gladdened his heart so much, that I believe he would now go through fire and water for me. He wanted to take me to Soudan by main force. He went away, and returned with some hard cheese made at Aheer, littlesquares somewhat smaller than Dutch tiles, which he presented in acknowledgment. I have had but few returns for the great variety of things I have given away in Ghat. The Medina Shereef, Khanouhen's son-in-law, scolded me:—"Ah, Yâkob, you have done wrong to give away so much. You'll get nothing back. This is a country of extortioners and extortion from strangers. You ought to have come here, said a few words, and left us." This is fine talk for the Shereef. He knows as well as I know, that this wouldn't do. A courier arrived from Ghadames, by which I received two kind letters from Malta. It seems a thousand years since I received a letter from a friend.

A Negress had the hardihood to call on me, begging, in the name of Ouweek, thinking thereby to intimidate me. The bandit, however, sent a person two or three days ago to beg of me a little tobacco. I should certainly have sent some, had I had any left. Hateetah called, wondering what had become of me, as I had not called on him for a few days. Gave him another dollar, but it is the last. The Consul says there is a great deal of fever about amongst the merchants and people, but I don't see it. I was somewhat surprised, for I thought the town enjoyed good health. I have reason to be thankful that it does not attack me. Apparently I'm fever proof. In all my life I never recollect to have caught an epidemic fever.

23rd.—Called upon the Governor. His Excellency displayed his hospitality by giving me zumeeta made with dates and sour milk. Took the opportunity of asking him about the origin of the Touaricks. He pretends they are of Arab extraction. On inquiring howthey lost their language, whilst all the Arabian tribes retained theirs, his Excellency replied, "They have learnt Touarghee as you have learnt Arabic." This is extremely unsatisfactory, for he could not explain from whom they learnt Touarghee. About the history of Ghat his Excellency knows nothing. He says only, "It is a more ancient place than Ghadames," which, however, I do not believe. His Excellency said the news had arrived from Algeria, that the Emperor of Morocco had united with Abdel Kader against the French, and four districts had elected the Emir for their chief. Called on Hateetah. Whilst there, an old lady of eighty years of age came in and got up to dance before me in the indecorous Barbary style, and then begged money. Seeing she had outlived her wits and took a great fancy for one of my buttons, I cut it off and gave it her to the annoyance of Hateetah, the Consul scolding me for my condescension.

The Governor tells me there is a mountain of considerable altitude about two days from Ghat, in the route of Touat, from the base of which gush out some twelve large streams. The rain this year has fallen plentifully on these heights, and wheat and barley have been sown on the banks of the streams. This is fact of importance in Saharan geography, more especially as the mountain is situate in that central part of the Great Desert which is represented on the maps as an ocean of sand, the scene of eternal desolation! . . . . . .

Evening, whilst visiting Haj Ibrahim, who continues unusually kind to me, came in our funny friend, the famous Aheer camel-driver, Kandarka. This Kylouy is a great favourite with all, the Governor excepted.People praise his undaunted courage and say, "If a troop of fifty robbers were to attack Kandarka alone, he would still resist them." He has shown himself very friendly to me, and says, "Write a letter to Aheer, my Sultan, and I will take it. When you return bring me one thing—a sword, and I will take you safely over all Soudan." He has great influence with En-Nour, Sultan of Aheer, and any one travelling under Kandarka's protection is sure of a good reception from En-Nour.

24th.—A fine day, but hot. Our departure is now delayed till next month. What a dreadful loss of time is this! I'm weary to death. I wish I had arranged to continue to Soudan. Grown disgusted with Ghat, I am reading what few books I have with me. Noticed more parallel customs between Africa and the East.

"And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them." (Gen. xxvi. 18.) The object of stopping up the wells was to prevent the children of Abraham making use of them and so occupying the country. The same thing is done in Sahara. When an enemy is to be exterminated, or robbers repulsed from a particular district, the wells are stopped up. Wells are also named by the digger of them. A man who goes to the expense of digging out a well, if peradventure he finds water, has the privilege of giving to it his own name. There is one on the route from Mourzuk to Tripoli calledMukniorBeer-Mukni, from the great merchant who dug the well. So the name of the city of Timbuctoo is said by some to be derived fromthe Berber Wordteen, "well", andBuktu, the name of the person who on its present site dug a well for the rendezvous or casual supply of passing caravans. But this derivation is merely conjectural.

"Take heed that thouspeaknot to Jacob, good or bad." (Gen. xxi. 24.) The verbspeak(‮תְּדַבֵּר‬) is used for the verb todo. The same idiom prevails amongst the Touaricks. The friendly Touaricks always address me, "Don't be afraid, no person willsay(or speak) either good or bad to you." So Jabour's slave brought me word from the Sheikh; "No person is to say anything (doanything) to you."

Dr. Wolff says, in his travels of Central Asia, the people of a strange place always apply to his servant for information about himself. So the Saharans apply to my Negro servant for news or information about me.

"And David sat between the two gates . . . . . and the king said, If he bealonethen is tidings in his mouth . . . . . . tidings." (2 Sam. xviii. 24, 25, 26.) All couriers in this country are sentalone. When they travel through Sahara they have a camel to ride, but if there be abundant water on the road they go on foot. Merchants pay each so much to the courier according to their means. A courier sent from this to Tripoli, who also returns and brings answers to the letters, will receive altogether fifteen dollars. Touarghee couriers between this and Ghadames go for half the sum.—"And the watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall and lifted up his eyes," &c. (part of the verses above cited). When a spy was sent from Ghadames to watch the Shânbah and their approaches round the country, on the eve of my departure from that place,people went up a ruined tower, situated on a high ground, and apparently built specially for the purpose,to watchthe return of the spy. I have seen several of these watch towers in the oases of Sahara.

"And they took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him." (2 Sam. xviii. 17.) When one dies in open desert, the people lay a heap of stones over the grave, the heap being smaller or larger according to the rank and consequence of the individual. The mention of "a very great heap," in the words cited, evidently denotes the royal rank of the deceased.

25th.—My young Targhee called today as usual. Asked him abruptly, "What he did? What was his occupation? And how the Touaricks employed themselves?" With great simplicity, "When thenagah(she-camel) is with young and gives no milk, we come to Ghat, and eat dates and ghusub and bread, if we can get them. When the nagah gives milk we return and drink milk and lie down on the road side. This is all which Touaricks do." The Touaricks are determined to feel as little of the primeval curse,—"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,"—as any people. The Targhee then gave me spontaneously a bit of knowledge which I had not before heard. He proceeded, "When I return to my houseon the road(or by the caravan route), and to my wife, I don't uncover my face and go up to her and stare boldly at my wife. No, I cover my face all over, and sit down gently by her side, waiting till she speaks with all patience. When she speaks, I speak, because I know then that she is willing to speak. It is very indecent to go to your wife with your face uncovered." In fact, generally amongst the Touaricks, the men have their faces covered and the women their faces uncovered. The reverse of what we find in other Mahometan countries. But also the reverse of what the native modesty of the human mind dictates.

Atkee, the Ghadamsee Arab, who was to have been my companion to Soudan, went off, returning to Ghadames, without paying the money which I committed to his care for the owner of the camel's flesh, which we ate on the route of Ghat. Atkee besides neglected to bring the money for the half of the skin of the sheep which I purchased with him, according to promise. These things are merest trifles, but merest trifles develop the character of men. It is such actions of dishonesty which make one afraid of travelling in Africa, lest we are sacrificed to the designing villany of those who pretend most and exhibit the most officious marks of friendship. In such a way poor Laing was entrapped and murdered. This very Atkee, I considered the first man of the ghafalah. Zaleâ now tells me that Atkee wished to lay on two more dollars for the things given to Ouweek. But the Arabs, like the Cretans of old, are "all liars," and I don't wish to make Atkee worse than he was. I am sufficiently disappointed with him.

The Medina Shereef called, who is the most learned person in Ghat. I showed him the Arabic Bible, which amazed and confounded him, as he turned over its well-printed pages. He sighed, nay, literally groaned, at the profanity of having our infidel religion translated into the holy Arabic language. The Shereef told me Arabic would be the language of heaven. The Jews tell us it will beHebrew, (or ‮לשן הקדש‬). The Latin Church hasits holy Latin, and atrilingualbible of "Hebrew, Latin, Greek," was said by pious fathers of that Church, to represent "Christ crucified between two thieves." The Hindoos have their sacred Sanscrit, and so of the rest. The benumbed and frozen mind of the Esquimaux, amidst the fat seals, blubber, and seas of oil in which it revels and swims, when anticipating the joys of the polar heaven, makes the tongue involuntarily speak in genuine Esquimauxan gibberish. It is, however, not surprising that the language in which a people first receives the rudiments of its religion should be greatly venerated and acquire a peculiar sacredness. The Shereef asked me to show him the passage where Mahomet was spoken of under the title of Parakleit; but he kept off religious discussion, having more delicacy than his neighbours of Ghat. Ignorance is bliss to a Shereef of these countries. Were the Shereef to see the wonders of Christian civilization, he would be stung to death with envy. A gentleman once told me as the result of his experience in Barbary, that a Mussulman who had not seen Europe was more friendly to Christians than one who had, accounting for it on the principle of a despicable envy.

26th.—The weather continues warm and fine; little wind. Objects at fifty miles' distance seem close upon you, so clear and rarefied is the air. Berka came this morning ostensibly for eye-powders, but really for a bit more sugar for his little grandson, the well-beloved son of his old age.

Sheikh Berka.—"Sala-a-a-m!"

The writer.—"Good morning, Berka."

Sheikh Berka.—"Medicine for my eyes."

The writer.—"Here is some powder, you mustmix it with a bowl of water; but take care, it's poisonous."

Sheikh Berka.—"Good God, Christian! take it back, my little son will eat it for sugar. He gets everything and eats."

The writer.—"Here's some sugar for him."

Sheikh Berka.—"God Almighty bless you."

The writer.—"How old are you, Berka?"

Sheikh Berka.—"My mother knows, but she's gone. She's gone to God!"

Essnousee came in for eye-powders to make a solution, and fever-powders to take with him to Soudan. Have only two or three of the latter which I keep for myself. Gave him the last I had. He said, "You don't see the fever, you don't visit enough, there's plenty of it in the houses." Apparently it is common intermittent fever with some climatic variety; I think Tertian ague.

People are more civil in the streets to-day, and the rabble has lost its curiosity or fancy for running after us. Negroes and slaves are still impudent, not recognizing in the Kafer their secret friend. Saw Khanouhen in the Esh-Shelly, who called after me to come to him. Hateetah was with him. The Prince began his satires on the Consul:—"Yâkob, who is the best man, I or Hateetah? Have you written[23]this fellow Hateetah? All about him? Is this the English Consul? Does your Sultan own him?" Khanouhen pressed him so hard, that I ran off to save Hateetah's feelings, all the people roaring with laughter, and calling me back.

Afternoon saw the Governor. His Excellency lavished his hospitality on me. He gave me coffee, dried Soudan beef cut up into shreds, and some of the Soudan almonds. These almonds are not fine flavoured like those of the north, but are viscid, rancid, and bitter. Nor are they of the same beautiful filbert-form, but of clumsy oval and double-oval shapes. The shell is soft, and can be broken easily with the fingers. The kernel is mostly double, and when slightly rubbed splits into halves or rather two kernels. The dried beef is very pleasant eating, but rather too dry, the fat and moisture being all consumed. We have heard of beef cooked in the sun on the bastions of Malta, but this is really beef cooked in the sun. It is an excellent provision for long journeys over The Desert. People chew it as tobacco is chewed. Our Governor-Marabout got very familiar this morning, and talked about his family. He called a little boy and said to me, "Look at my little son, he's as white as you are white." The child was indeed very fair for a young Saharan. He asked me as tabeeb, if Christian women had more children than one, and if they went longer than a year, which he had heard. He pretended his was a small family, and he should like to have fifty children, which, he added, "all Sultans ought to have;" but, for money he did not care, he wished all his children were poor but pious marabouts. His preaching is quite contrary to his practice. A more money-getting ambitious fellow I have not found in The Desert. The report which I heard of the Governor of Ghat being changed whilst at Ghadames, was a sham abdication on his part. From domestic matters he proceeded to talk of politics. His Excellency is alwaysanxious to give an immense idea of the fighting qualities and numbers of the Touaricks. He wishes me to make a favourable report of them, and his position at Ghat, and country. He declares the warriors to muster 15,000 strong, which would give too numerous a population for the Azgher section of Touaricks. The Haghar, and especially the Kylouy Touaricks, have an infinitely larger population than those of Ghat. The Marabout pretends there are some Touaricks who never saw corn or tasted bread, and others who dress only in skins. Indeed, I saw a Touarghee from the country, as well as The Touarick Prophet, dressed entirely in skins and tanned leather.

His Excellency then introduced his favourite subject of the battles between Moslems and Nazarenes for the possession of Constantinople, in which his ancestors so valiantly fought. He said, the sword of one of his grandfathers was laid up in the armoury of Stamboul, and submitted to me if I thought the Turks would give it to him if he were to make the demand. I told him to apply to the British Ambassador at the Porte, making the thing of the consequence suited to the Marabout's taste. "No," he replied, "I shall go myself one day and fetch it." His Excellency then began to extol the military forces and powers of the princes of Africa:—"The Sultan of Timbuctoo has 100,000 fighting men! Wadai has 100,000 warriors! The Sultans of Soudan have innumerable hosts, as the sand-grains of The Desert are innumerable!" He then asked silly questions as to whether the Turks could beat the Christians in fighting. I told him plainly, the Turks now learnt the art of war from the Christians, and the latter were notonly superior to them, but to all Mohammedans whatever, Arabs or Touaricks, Kabyles, or what not, recommending his Excellency not to credit the absurd reports propagated by foolish dervishes of The Desert, as to how the Emperor of Morocco was conquering all the French and other Christians. Indeed, I'm obliged to be school-master, and geographer, and admonisher, to Sheikhs, marabouts, merchants, to all and every body. The subject of religion was now introduced, and I found the Governor, though a Marabout, of the first water, did not know that the Christians read and studied the sacred books of the Jews. I told his Excellency, Christian Marabouts must read and study the sacred books of all religions, and Christian talebs frequently read the Koran to acquire a knowledge of classic Arabic. This information greatly amazed the Governor. I cannot, however, report more of his conversation, which would be endless. I sent him on my return the Arabic Bible, which the Shereef had told him I had with me.

Spent the evening with Haj Ibrahim. The Haj surprised me by saying, "All my slaves, even the youngest of not more than four or five years' old, must walk to Tripoli as they have walked from Kanou to Ghat." I found Kandarka with him. The camel-driver is a right-jolly fellow, quite a new species of being from the Touaricks of Ghat. A great deal of merry laughing and grinning Negro feeling is in his composition. But, with all his fun, he is a most determined man. He is about to convey some of the Haj's merchandize to Kanou, as being the bravest and most trust-worthy of all the Aheer camel-drivers.

27th.—I'm out of my reckonings with the Moors bysome mistake or other, of them or me, for I'm Monday, and they're Tuesday. Their month and our month, like our respective religions, is also in continual collision, their month being lunar, not solar. The weather is very warm. Am exceedingly tired of remaining in Ghat; always regretting I did not determine to go to Soudan. Merchants are daily leaving in small caravans, not large caravans, which is a proof of the security of the routes, and the word of the Touarghee Sheikh is "one" word; "The routes are all in peace," they say. Walked out with a very large stick, which frightened the Ghatee boys, who all thought it was for them, on account of their former sauciness. Was surprised at the Medina Shereef asking me to lend (give) him fifteen dollars to go to Tripoli. I promised very foolishly to give him his provisions to Tripoli, in the event of his proceeding with our caravan. What people for begging are these! The Shereef had just been scolding me for giving so much to these importunates. Although their houses are full of stores and money, they will still beg, and beg, and beg . . . . beg . . . beg. . . But this evening, at Haj Ibrahim's, we had a transcendant specimen of begging. The beggar was no less a personage than The Giant. I may remind the reader, The Giant is the son of Berka's sister, and is head of the tribe at Berka's death. The Giant therefore came to demand backsheesh, as being the lineal successor of Berka, who was Haj Ibrahim's protector. Haj Ibrahim observed:—"I have given Berka twenty dollars, and some other presents, and I cannot give any thing to his oulad ('sons.')" The Giant would hear none of this, insisted upon a present for himself, and swore by all the sacred names of the Deity, frequently using hisfavourite oath, "Allah Akbar!" After an hour's debating, it was agreed that, for the future, Berka, if he lived till another year, (for the aged chieftain is "tottering o'er the grave,") should have a smaller present, and the portion subtracted should be given to The Giant. But this is cutting the blanket at one end, to sew the piece on the other, for the sons and nephews of Berka now share the presents amongst them. His Giantship was very condescending to me, though savage enough with the merchant. He laughed and joked, and "grinned a ghastly smile," and asked me, why I did not go into the public square and see all the people, thinking my not going out more showed a want of confidence in the Touaricks. Want of confidence in a Touarick is the most serious insult you can offer to him. So Dr. Oudney properly records of Hateetah, and says, "he was indignant at the feelings which the people of Mourzuk had against the Touaricks—the Touaricks who pride themselves in having one word, and performing what they promise." But Hateetah has since become an old man, and, with the usual prudence of age, recommends me not to go much about amongst the people. "Something unpleasant might happen," he says, "for which all the Sheikhs would be sorry." The Giant said to me, "Come, you Christian, I shall sell you a wife of the Shânbah women. Stop here till I come back."

A most affecting incident was related to me by Mustapha. Two of his slaves quarrelled, and last night, whilst one was fast asleep, the other went stealthily and fetched a shovelful of burning wood ashes, and poured them over the sleeping slave's face, tongue, and neck! He is suffering sadly, and Mustapha has called formedicine. So act these poor creatures, the victims of a common misfortune. How cruel is man to his brother! In all situations, man is his own enemy! This incident reminds me of what Colonel Keatinge relates of the unfortunate Jews in Morocco. Although the Jews are very badly treated in that empire, and all suffer great indignities, yet, to increase their own misfortunes, and by their own hands, one Jew has actually been known to purchase from the Sultan the right, the privilege of torturing another Jew. The speculation, adds the Colonel, was considered "a good one," because, if no pecuniary advantage followed, the pleasure of inflicting the torture was certain. The privilege of bidding for himself, or buying himself from the torture, was the only one allowed the victim on such horrible occasions! Some people have pretended that there is a limit to human degradation; but there is always a lower depth—and a still lower depth. Not death itself limits this sort of degradation—the tomb of the unfortunate Morocco Jew is defiled—and his name and faith furnishes, unendingly, the "by-words" of the curse of the Moor! On the late massacre of the Jews at Mogador, neither the Earl of Aberdeen nor Monsieur Guizot, condescended to remonstrate to the Moorish Emperor; nor did their co-religionists of France and England attempt (that I have heard of) to excite their Governments on behalf of the plundered and houseless Maroquine Jews . . . How long are these things to last? . . . Till doomsday? . . . But did not Jupiter give Pandora the box with hope at the bottom? . . . To be serious, would not a million or two of the Rothschilds be well spent in buying the freedom of the Morocco Jews? Could apatriotic Jew do any thing which, in the last moment of his life, would produce more and such satisfactory reflections? It is to be hoped that the patriotic Jews of Europe are not like some foolish Christians who wish to continue the oppression of the Jews in order to fulfil the prophecies, as if God could not take care of his own veracity! But these sottish Christians had better mind what they are about, in contributing to the continued oppression of the Jews, and preventing their emancipation, because, whatever may be the duration of the prophetic curse upon the Jews, God will not, cannot hold the contributors to their oppression guiltless, no more than he did the Babylonian princes who first carried away the Jews into captivity.

28th.—Distributed to the Soudanese merchants solution for the eyes. This evening Haj Ibrahim's slaves sung and played together in the court-yard. They consist of girls and boys, and young women. They sung in choruses, one first repeating a line or a verse in the style of the ancient Greeks. Their voices are not very melodious, and they remind me of the responses of a charity school at church. Still it is grateful to one's feelings to witness how pitying is God to these poor things, in giving them such happy hearts in the early days of their bondage! Kandarka was here, the same merry-hearted fellow as before. Providence has compensated Africa for the wrongs inflicted by her enemies, in giving her children a happy and contented disposition.

29th.—A fine morning; weather warm, cold seems to have left us altogether. I have discussed the "vexed question," with the Soudanese and Saharan merchants, as to how the ostrich is hunted and caught. In Soudanthe ostrich is snared by small cords, the bird getting its legs into the nooses. The trap is a quantity of herbage laid over the cordage. Here the Negro waits for his rich feathery booty, and draws the cordage as soon as their feet are in the noose. Others throw stones, sticks, and lances, at the ostrich; others shoot them. But in Sahara, and in what is called the edge of The Desert, the ostrich is simply ridden down by the mounted Arab during the great heats of summer. The ostrich, though a tenant of the burning Sahara, cannot run well for any length of time during the summer, and so becomes the prey of the Arab, whose horse bears heat better. In and about Wadnoun, ostriches are hunted with what is called the Desert horse, which is a horse living chiefly on milk, and which has a power of endurance the most extraordinary. This agrees with Porret, who says, "the ostriches can only be taken by tiring them down." But he does not mention the summer. Riley says the ostrich is driven before the wind, and Jackson against the wind, in being hunted. Captain Lyon says, "it is during the breeding season the greatest number of ostriches are caught, the Arabs shooting the old ones on their nests." The Sahara is a world of itself, peopled with a variety of hunters, who will each hunt in the manner he likes best. I may add, as I have often alluded to Biblical matters, the story of the ostrich forsaking her eggs, and leaving them to be hatched in the sun, is not correct. Merchants often questioned me as to what we did with ostrich feathers, people making no particular use of them in Sahara. When I told them our ladies adorned their heads with ostrich feathers, they laughed heartily, adding, "How ridiculous!" We laugh at their sable beautiesadorning their necks and bosoms with trumpery glass-beads, and they laugh at our red and white beauties adorning their heads with ostrich feathers. The Chinese have their peacock's feather as a set-off against our button-hole ribbon; "Ainsi va le monde." One of the Aheer Touaricks, who, unlike my Ghat friends, return presents, brought me to-day a damaged ostrich skin and feathers. Being quite out of pens, and not able to persuade the Tripolines to send me up a few quills, I cut out several ostrich quills, and had the pleasure, for the first time in my life, of writing with an ostrich pen. I cut several, and amused and satirized myself by writing in my journal with one quill, "James Richardson has much to learn;" with another quill, "Richardson, James, must take care of his health," &c., "Yâkob Richardson was an egregious ass to come into The Desert," &c., &c. These quills are very firm, if not fine and flexible, and it is a good substitute in The Desert for "the grey goose quill." I was so delighted with this unexpected supply of pens, that I offered the Touarghee of Aheer another present, but he resolutely refused it, adding, "I wish to show you that a Touarick of Aheer can be grateful, and do a kindness to a stranger, without eating him up." This was a tall man, of fair complexion, but pitted with the small-pox, of middle age, and called Mohammed. He was one of the best specimens of Aheer Touaricks, and always said to me, "Come to our country. You will walk about the streets without being molested by any one. We never saw a Christian in our country, and we wish to see one."

Evening, a ghafalah from Aheer has arrived, bringing sixty camel-loads of senna, and ten of elephants' teeth.A courier is also come from Touat, with the intelligence that the Shânbah, instead of fleeing away from the threatened attack of the Touaricks, had boldly appeared on the Touarick territory, in the route of Touat and Ghadames, having a force of 1200 mounted men. The Touaricks are at last alarmed, and dispatching messengers through all their districts, to give intelligence of the arrival of the enemy. I'm afraid the Touaricks have been making too sure of their approaching success. A messenger has been sent after the last Ghadamsee ghafalah which left here. Great excitement prevails in the town, and Jabour and Khanouhen are preparing to leave for their districts, where the levies of troops are collecting. A portion of the Tripoline ghafalah is stopped a few hours from this, on account of three of the camels running away during the night. The camel is by no means so stupid as it looks, and knows exactly when it is about to commence a long journey over The Desert. The three camels could not withstand the temptation of the herbage in the wady, and started off, and will not be found for days. Fulness of food as well as hunger makes animals savage. One of our camels whilst grazing bit a slave, and has nearly killed him. This, however, rarely happens; the camel is generally docile, if not harmless.

The Touaricks belonging to Berka have just paid Christians a very high compliment, but at my expense. I promised some more sugar to Berka if I could get any from Haj Ibrahim. The Sheikh sent twice for the sugar, and yesterday, when some of his people visited the merchant, they said to him, "Where is the sugar of The Christian? It is not right for Yâkob to treat us thus. Christians never lie." A Christian tourist must neverfollow the example of a Mahometan in this country, that is, of always promising and never refusing, because it is disagreeable to refuse. In the above case, however, my promise was quite conditional, on Haj Ibrahim's having sugar. Nevertheless, there is happily an opinion prevalent in North Africa, that Christians, and especially English Christians, have but "one word." Let all of us British tourists try to keep up this high character.

30th.—A little colder this morning, and foggy. The senna ghafalah will detain us three days more. Our camels are come up from the grazing districts; my nagah looks much better. Jabour called this morning to bid me farewell, before departing to his country house. The Sheikh leaves this evening. Ashamed of the small present I made him on my arrival, I apologized, and begged him to accept of the only razor I had, which being quite new, and very large and fine-looking, exceedingly pleased the Sheikh. We had together a good deal of the most friendly conversation. Jabour promises, on my return, to conduct meen routefor Timbuctoo, and confide me to the care of some of his trustworthy followers. He will conduct me by the south-western route, which is stated to be forty-five days' journey on M. Carette's map. But the Sheikh tells me it is only thirty days, or less. This route is intersected by many mountains, the height of which is so great, that the valleys are, for Sahara, perceptibly cold. These heights attract the clouds and condense them into rain, and the rocky region is full of beautiful springs and foaming cascades, of eternal freshness. There is, however, the dreaded plain ofTenezrouft(‮تنزروفت‬) to be traversed, eight days without water for man, or herbage for camels. Thisis the grand difficulty in getting to Timbuctoo from the north. The Sheikh went so far as to insure my safety to Timbuctoo and back. He then observed, "All the people from Tripoli are under my protection, all Christians who come that way. Tell your countrymen they have nothing to fear in that route; tell them to come in peace." He continued, "Why, I observe you writing Arabic, why don't you believe in our books?" I answered, "We have our prophet, who is Jesus; but all Christians believe that 'God is one,' that 'God is the most merciful,' (‮ربّ واحد‬—‮الله الرحمان الرحيم‬)" citing this Arabic. He then shook hands most cordially with me, and we parted (for ever?). I always looked upon this good and just man as thebonâ fidefriend, not only of me and Christians, but of all strangers, visiting Ghat, whatsoever. A little while after he sent me, by one of his people, a small present of a Touarghee travelling bag, made of coarse-dressed leather. This is my first present from a Touarghee Sheikh, and I shall keep it as long as I can.

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