Footnotes:

Footnotes:[20]Here we find The Sahara calledfertileland; and, in fact, many parts of The Desert could be cultivated.[21]See Suratliii., entitled "The Star."[22]This complaint is not well founded, for afterwards I saw the Rais often receive presents of fruit, tobacco, sugar, and even wearing apparel.

[20]Here we find The Sahara calledfertileland; and, in fact, many parts of The Desert could be cultivated.

[21]See Suratliii., entitled "The Star."

[22]This complaint is not well founded, for afterwards I saw the Rais often receive presents of fruit, tobacco, sugar, and even wearing apparel.

Deathly stillness of the City on first morning of the Ramadan.—Rais weighing Gold.—The Gold Country.—Use of different Arabic terms in different Countries.—Insecurity of Merchants in The Desert.—Jews on the borders of The Sahara.—Sin not to Marry.—Wood in The Sahara.—Rais, a Marabout.—Sheikh of Slaves.—Complaints of the People to me.—Mr. Frederick Warrington.—M. Carette'sbrochureon Saharan Commerce.—Trait of Tolerance.—Growing reputation of Said.—Preach anti-Slavery Doctrines in the Street of Slaves.—Ignorance of the People on Geography.—Talismans in Africa.—The Queen of England's Physic.—Rais's Desert Politics.—Increase of Patients.—Gradual method of obtaining Information.—Visit from a Touarick.—Tripoline Merchants have the Money of those in Ghadames.—Indifference of Mussulmans in reading The Bible.

4th.—Walkedout this morning and found no one in the streets; every body was still in bed, or shut up in their houses, being the first day of the Ramadan. A paralysis of death seemed to have stricken the city. Had no morning patients for the same reason. Afterwards, the servants of the Rais came to visit me and found me taking coffee; they gaped with full (empty?) open mouths, as if wondering I was not choked. I asked them if the Rais would take his tea. "It's unlawful," they screamed, and ran away as if Old Nick were after them. Usually make tea for the Governor every morning, which I send him in a glass, and sometimes also for the Sheikh Makouran. I could not help thanking God that I was born a Protestant, and professed a religion not in violence to the physical requirements of human nature, nor in contradiction to the plain sense ofmankind. Man has evils enough to contend with, and to war against, without inflicting new and additional evils upon himself, like this most health-trying and health-destroying Ramadan. My turjeman confessed every body was mad in Ramadan. Whatever becomes of me in the deserts of Africa, I hope I shall have force of mind enough to maintain my religion intact.

I amused myself with thinking how the Desert-travelling might be considerably shortened. This could be effected by joining camels with horses through the routes. Horses could come easily from Tripoli to The Mountains in two days. The camels could undertake the journey from The Mountains to Seenawan in three or four days. Horses then could again accomplish the rest in two days. In all,sevendays. Were Europeans in possession of this country, horses and mules would soon take the place of camels, for all quick travelling. Putting aside horses, by the use of themaharee, or fleet-camel, the journey for post could be reduced nearly half. All the Moors and Arabs dissuade me against going to Timbuctoo, assuring me that the Touaricks will cut my throat; but I begin to feel my opinion changing as to the Touaricks. I am sure, if a friend can be made of a brave man of this nation, there is no danger. Am glad, however, people manifest some sympathy with my travelling projects; what I want to do is, to effect some real discovery, or do something great in Africa. Ghadames is not enough, nor even Bornou; it is, must be, Timbuctoo. Yet a man must not put his head into the fire and then call upon God to quench the flames. Met Sheikh Makouran in the street, and brought him home to my house in order that he might give me a more detailed accountof the finances of Ghadames. Notwithstanding that the Turks overturn and ruin commerce by restrictions, they poorly protect the merchants. The Sheikh complained to me of several losses. During the last two years four ghafalahs had been plundered on different routes, by which he lost considerable sums. Other merchants lost property in proportion. He considered Ghadames, from various causes, fast approaching its ruin. Our conversation then turned to the New World, America. He was quite astonished at my description of it, and asked if any Mohammedans were there. We then came to the traffic in slaves. He did not see why men should not be sold like camels and asses, if such was the law of God. "All," he observed, "depended upon the will of the Creator of all beings."

The Rais is a very religious man, and I'm cautious what I say. At noon, paid him a visit, and said, "Why, all the people are dead to day." He replied, "It's only for one day." I never saw a poor devil look so comfortless. He is an inveterate, eternal smoker, like all who boast to be of the same nation as the Imperial Osmanlis, the pipe is never out of his mouth; he therefore suffers more than any person in Ghadames. He was still busy, or affected to be, to kill time, weighing gold with his servants. I said, "Is there much gold in the country?" "Less and less every year," was the reply. Many caravans go by way of Mourzuk, not coming this way. The servant held up the little bags, showing that the gold, not more than two or three ounces, belonged tofourpersons. When gold is brought over The Desert, it is tied up in little dirty filthy bits of rags, first twisted round where it opens, and thentied. These are carried on the person, in the bosom or the turban.

When a caravan is attacked and the people rifled, all these little bags of rags, whether containing gold, or salt, pepper, essences, or what not, are scrupulously cut open by the brigands. The gold brought to Ghadames consists chiefly of women's ear-rings, hoop and drop ear-rings. Some of the drops are hollow and contain little matters which rattle, and perfumed with small quantities of atar, or of zebed, (civet). The workmanship is rude and clumsy, but the gold is of the finest quality, though small and unpolished, something as the Malta gold is worked. The Rais collects the gold from those who cannot pay in the current coin. The gold country of the merchants is not very distinctly understood by them. Some say it isfouk, "above," Timbuctoo, others beyond Jinnee and Bambara, about three months from Timbuctoo, in a south-west direction. The country is called Mellee, which includes many large districts and provinces, but the particular district isFurra. This is a flat and sandy place, "not a stone," say the merchants, "is to be seen." The mines of Furra, if such they may be called, are sold by auction, and the lot of land is a lot of fortune, some plots producing nothing, others gold in abundance. When the gold arrives at Timbuctoo, it is converted into women's ornaments, mostly ear-rings. I have seen very few bags of gold-dust or bars. There are no camel-caravans from Timbuctoo to Mellee and Furra; people go in small parties on horses and asses; some go alone on foot. Foot-travelling is very common in Central Africa; and these pedestrian merchants or pedlars will make journeys of three and four months. A merchantis obliged to remain some time before he can buy up any quantity of gold; it is brought in such small quantities, and the trade in gold is declining, and has been so for twenty years past. It is probable the merchants take more of it now to the western coast and its European factories. Certainly that route is safer than bringing it north, over several months' journey of Desert.

The Rais is a most diligent servant of Government. One cannot help observing, however, that the whole scope and end of governing with the Osmanlis is—money. Of the people, their protection and improvement, they rarely ever think. As the Rais is now busy in making every body book up, some people asked me if there was much money in Tripoli? I told them I did not think there was any money left. "The Pasha has plenty," cried one. I took the trouble of explaining the new system, that each functionary had a salary, granted by the Sultan, from the highest to the lowest, and the Deftadar, after paying each his salary, sent the rest of the money to Constantinople, where (as the Rais himself said) it was "poured away as water." Perhaps this was speaking too freely, but the Moslemites at times speak uncommonly free and bold for despotic governments. The Bey of Tunis has often been menaced with hell-fire by the Arabs, when they pleaded before him in the hall of judgment, swearing, that if he did not deal to them justice, God would deal to him vengeance.

The use of different terms is very curious in travelling through North Africa, and each country has its peculiar Arabic word, the words being all more or less classical. Perhaps no word is so much used in Ghadames and The Mountains as the epithetbatel—‮باطل‬—"vain, useless,"&c., and really answers in its use to something like our tremendous "Humbug." It especially denotes everything bad, false, and wrong, in any matter and in any body. On the contrary, for the opposite epithet, various terms are used, "maleah," "tayeb," and "zain," which latter term always means pretty, as well as good. The polite Ghadamseeah are very fond ofzain; but it should properly apply to pretty women. The people use the term ‮شهر‬ "month," for moon, instead of‮قمر‬. The ‮ق‬ is not distinguished in pronunciation from ‮غ‬, and I have not attempted it in writing. Indeed, I shall avoid as much as possible distinctions which the generality of readers cannot understand.

Only one of my patients came to-day, the little blind boy. The Rais sent me in the evening a fine dish and soup, on occasion of the night of the first day's fasting. The people kept to-night as anâyedor feast. A Touarick took Said, my servant, aside, and whispered mysteriously in his ear,—"Has the Christian fasted to-day?" Speaking to a liberal Moor, I told him the fast wasbătāl, inasmuch as the Mussulmans ate all night and slept the greater portion of the day, making things equal; that to fast really, as some Christians did, was to eat nothing, night or day. At the time I added, "I am not such a fool as to increase the miseries of this life by fasting when I can get anything to eat." The fellow, laughing, observed, "You English are right." I see the fast is nearly universal, old and young, rich and poor, high and low, all fast. They mix with it strong religious feelings, and I dare say fanaticism, a quality rarely apart from the purest religious sentiment. Still continue our conversations on Timbuctoo. Most of the old respectable merchants have been to Timbuctoo. One of them, Haj Mansour, resided there fourteen years, carrying on a prosperous trade. But so perverse and unstable are human affairs, that, on returning home after so long an exile, with thirty camels laden with the riches of the interior, and with much fine gold, and whilst within a few days of Touat, the banditti of The Desert fell upon him and carried off everything, not leaving a water-skin to quench his thirst! Had he not been near Touat, he would have perished in The Desert. The Haj is quite black, though his features are not Negro. He is now an old gentleman of upwards of seventy, and yet very active. His family is immense; what with women, and girls, and sons, and grandsons, it musters some thirty souls. He told me with bitterness, as if it had been the case with himself, the merchants were often their own enemies, they were so parsimonious that they would not hire a sufficient escort of Touaricks, and so left defenceless in The Desert many were plundered and ruined irretrievably. The greatest misfortune in travelling through the country of the Touaricks is, their chiefs have not sufficient power to control the people, and for whose actions they will not always be responsible. One day you may meet with the best of men amongst the Touaricks, the next day with a band of robbers; such is the uncertainty and insecurity of The Desert.

5th.—It would be a good project at least, and might be attended with incalculable benefit, in promoting Christianity and civilization in Africa, were portions of The Scriptures translated into Touarick, with the native Touarick characters. Their vanity would be so exceedingly excited that it would be almost impossible for themto refuse reading a book written in their own dear characters. All can read their own characters, but very few the Arabic. It is not a little surprising, if I am to believe what I hear, that the Touaricks, with all their savage boldness—whose home is The Desert—will not venture on a journey to Tripoli. Many, many times have they been persuaded and pressed by the coast merchants, but they have always set their faces against the journey. Perhaps they think (as some, indeed, hinted to me) the Pasha would keep them prisoners, and not let them return until they had delivered up some of their districts to his authority. Whatever the motive, it is strange that men, who wander through all parts of Central Africa, cannot be prevailed upon to visit Tripoli. I have heard but of one exception.

It is pleasant to witness the least sign of improvement in a people who are commonly condemned by their own habits, their religion, and the opinions of Europeans, to a retrograde or eternally stationary existence. I was much pleased to observe in one of the small squares of the city a tree recently planted, (thetout[23], a species of small white mulberry,) which promises to afford not only a grateful shade to repose under in summer's burning heat, but is in itself a pretty ornament. The great fault of the Africans is want of forethought, or impatience of the future. Their maxim is, to enjoy the present, to take no thought for the morrow, but let the morrow provide for itself. Like all rude and unlettered people, the precepts of religion are interpreted in their strictest literality. To-day, I find more people in the streets,and the Ramadan is not so visible in their faces as I expected it would be. The fact is, the generality of the Saharan inhabitants, and especially the poor Arabs eat but once, or make but one meal a day, and this in the evening; so, in reality, as far as eating is concerned, the Ramadan is no Ramadan with them. Saw the Rais, he is better than yesterday. His Excellency called me a simpleton for talking with the Touaricks about going to Timbuctoo; nevertheless, I feel as if I should like to go the whole-hog—Timbuctoo, or nothing. The future will tell! His Excellency, however, observed, that the Touaricks of Touat had nearly destroyed all the banditti on the route of Timbuctoo. It is the interest of the Touaricks to keep the routes free that they may have the advantage of the visits and escorting of caravans.

One of the peculiarities of Ghadames is that there is no Jew resident in the city. It is strange that a people of such a commercial genius as the Israelites should never have had courage to undertake an enterprize over The Great Desert, whilst they have crept all around it. In Tunis they are scattered throughout the Jereed; in Algeria they are established at the oases of Souf and Mezab; in Morocco we find them at Sous and Wadnoun; and in Tripoli they are located in nearly every town of the coast, whilst a few visit The Mountains. But, to the credit of the Jews and their mercantile genius, it is not their fault. The fanaticism of the Ghadamsee people would be strongly opposed to their residence here, more so than against Christians; it is enough to support the overbearing Christiankafer, without the pollution of the weak miserable Jew in their holy city, for theforceprinciple makes the Mohammedans respect the Christians. The weak are despised, the strong respected. I might, however, have made the experiment of bringing a Jewish servant here: one sadly wanted to come with me. Still a traveller should not unnecessarily increase his difficulties, and excite the prejudices of the people amongst whom he resides, mostly by sufferance. It is probable also the mercantile jealousy of the people would be excited against the Jews. Afterwards I learnt that twoBarbaryJews went either to Bornou or Soudan, in the year 1844, and returned safe. Unfortunately this species of Jew can add nothing to our stock of geographical knowledge beyond what we may get from the Arabs and Moors themselves; his ideas of nature and science are all the same, with the exception of a few religious dogmas, and a strong national bias. The visit of these two Jews to Bornou excited no attention in Tripoli. Along the line of The Desert the Jews help commerce. They are great ostrich-feather merchants in Southern Morocco. Some have said they go to Timbuctoo, but this report is not authenticated. In Souf they greatly assist the Arabs in the exchange of their products. About twenty families are established amongst the Souāfah, in the greatest security of life and property. The Jews here dress like the Arabs, and are not easily distinguishable from them. In most of the interior districts they have the privilege of dressing like the rest of the people.

The Rais is an old bachelor, like myself. He seems to live very wretchedly without a wife. The good Mussulmans, who think it a sin to live unmarried, excuse him because his residence in different parts of the regencyis uncertain, and he tells them he cannot lead about a wife. The only object of affection of this bachelor is a parrot, which speaks pure Housa lingo, and is very angry at the gruff tones of the Touraghee language, always scolding the Touaricks when they speak.

My Marabout camel-driver once had an interesting conversation with me about a plurality of wives:—

"It is not right to have more wives than one, because men and women are nearly equally in numbers, and if one man has two wives another man must go without even one."

The Marabout.—"Oh, if a man has money, he may have two, or three, or four?"

"That is not a good religion which gives four wives to one man because he has money, and leaves another man without any because he has no money, or not so much money as his neighbour."

The Marabout.—"So it is," (as if convinced of the reasonableness of the thing).

"Why has such an old man as Sheikh Makouran two young wives? This is against nature."

The Marabout.—"He plays; his time of work is past."

I believe this unequal distribution of the women is a great check on population. It prevails to a greater extent amongst the Negro tribes. I am not of opinion that Central Africa is populous. I saw nowhere any populous districts myself.

The wood used in the construction of buildings is that of the date-tree, which, apparently, grows stronger and tougher with age. Of this all the doors of the houses and the lighter works are made. Wood for fireing is brought in from The Sahara, but from a great distance.It is sold for three Tunisian piastres the camel-load. It is the common brush-wood, underwood, or scrub of The Desert, and is excessively dry, for withered and dead trees or shrubs are gathered. In seasons of rain The Sahara creates this wood quickly, it then perishes for want of rain. Sometimes wood for building is brought from Tripoli,i. e., deal-boards. Our caravan brought some doors for a mosque, made of deal.

This evening was a grand celebration of divine worship in the house of the Rais, and a Marabout chanted verses from the Koran. His Excellency certainly gains the respect, if not the affections, of the pious. He is often said by the people to be a man who "fears God." I sat near the door listening. A fellow said to me, "You must sit farther off whilst the people are praying, it is unlawful to sit where you are." I took no notice of his impertinence. The Rais sent me yesterday, as the evening before, a very good supper. Being Ramadan, I stopped up till midnight talking politics with him. He is a native of a province, near Circassia, fallen under the iron rule of Muskou (the Russians). Having been in the Syrian campaign he was enabled to see thefeedingof the English soldiers and sailors, which quite astonished him. He observed, "The Emperor of Russia will never have good troops, he scarcely gives them anything to eat. It is not surprising they desert to the Circassians." The Rais has a great dread of the Russians absorbing the Ottoman empire: it is not an unreasonable dread.

6th.—My turjeman complains that neither he nor the people can pay their excessive taxes; they must all be soon ruined. Yet a couple of thousand pounds per annum is nothing for a commercial city like this. Hesays, "If we were to cultivate our gardens, we should have more; but then the Turks would demand more, so our spirits are broken, and we are eaten up. We have no heart to work for our oppressors." Continue to read the Arabic New Testament, which aids me in colloquial disquisitions with the people. The Ghadamsee people persist in not taking medicines during the fast. One told me, "Even if a man dies, and medicine could save him, he must not take it." I have therefore fewer patients during the inexorable Ramadan. But Isavemy tea and coffee—"An ill wind blows, &c." The Rais, however, gets his tea in the evening. It is remarkable with what willingness, and without any sort of prejudice, several of the people offer me information. Even when refused, I always find it arises from indolence to narrate it. They are not afraid that I am collecting information to supply the English Government with the means of invading their country, like some Moors in Barbary. They look upon the thing just as it is,—that I am writing a book about their country to amuse Christians.

The Sheikh of the slaves came in, with several Ghadamsee youths:—

"The Governor says, you are not the Sheikh;heis the Sheikh."

"So, does he say?"

(The Youths.—"But the Sheikhisthe Sheikh.")

"I am," says the Sheikh, "from Timbuctoo; all the people are Mohammedans, and fast. Do you fast?"

I.—"I eat and drink what is good at all times, even wild-boar."

The Sheikh and Youths.—"Oh, wonderful!"

They.—"You write Arabic?"

I wrote that God wasone.

They.—"And write Mahomet was the Prophet of God?"

I wrote Mahomet was the Prophet of the Arabs and the Touaricks?

The Sheikh.—"Ah, ah, I see, I see, you're very cunning."

The Youths.—"Who is your Prophet?"

I.—"Aysa (Jesus)."

The Youths.—"Have you any books of your Prophet?"

I.—"Yes, here is one:" (Giving them the New Testament.)

They.—"Oh, see, let us read it, let us take it home."

I.—"No; if you were men, yes. But if I allow you to read it, or read it to you, your Bey and the people will be offended with me, and send me out of the city. When you go to Tripoli, you can see and read the Christian books."

I was surprised that a well-informed man like the Sheikh Makouran should ask me whether the Emperor of Morocco was also Emperor of Fez, and whether Morocco was a large country. "Ghat," says the Rais, "like all the Touarick countries, is a republic. All the people govern." Walked out this evening for the first time to-day. The people are vehement in their complaints against the oppressions of the Turks: "All the wealth of the country is dried up, and the merchants are all running away. We are ruined unless the English save us."

It has been very hot and sultry to-day. Not a breath of air. The sky overcast—a profound, deathlike tranquillity sleeping over the environs! The Rais sent supper as usual. After visiting him, he had a fit ofwriting, and wrote for the courier all night. Thank God, there are no gnats in Ghadames. I have not seen nor felt any. It is probably owing to the absence ofnono water, stagnating here, all being absorbed in the dry earth of the gardens.

7th.—Read eight chapters of the Arabic Testament. Some of the phrases very strangely rendered into Arabic. The Moors cannot understand them. My Testament wants some verses: it is the ordinary Arabic Bible circulated by The Bible Society. There is no good translation of The Scriptures into Arabic, from what I have been able to learn. Continue to think all day long and dream of Timbuctoo. Had a conversation with the Touaricks about a journey there. The difficulty is, the strongest Touarick escort practicable cannot always pass through the Touarick districts, there being such a great variety of tribes. It is the quarrels of the Touaricks themselves, and not our not being able to trust them individually, which renders the route so dangerous.

Slave-dealing is so completely engendered in the minds of the Ghadamsee merchants, that they cannot conceive how it can be wrong. A young man wrote me down the objects (very few) of exportation from Soudan, and in the following order, viz., "Cottons, elephants' teeth,bekhour(perfume), wax, slaves, bullocks' skins, red skins, feathers, (of the ostrich)." Human beings are just summed up with the rest as an article of commerce, as a matter of course, in the most mercantile style.

It will be next to impossible to propagate anti-slavery notions in Central Africa, supported as slavery isby commerce and religion. We can only say, "With God nothing is impossible."

All the people bring their griefs and malcontentments to me. It's not so pleasant to be bored by them, let alone the policy of my listening to all they have to say. But the ill humour of these poor fleeced people must have a vent, orsfogo, as the Italians term it, and what can I do? An intelligent merchant came to me. "Yâkob,bisslamah, (how do you fare?) The Rais is always collecting money, don't you see? That's the business of the Turks. This city is 4000 years of age. It flourished before Pharaoh, in the time of Nimrod. Now the Turks come to destroy it; their business is to destroy; such is the will of God." I might elaborate the idea. The genius of the Turks is to destroy. The hand of the Turk blasts as mildew everything it touches; it has destroyed the fairest portions of the earth. Happily, however, it so destroys itself, for it is not desirable for truth and civilization that the sway of the Osmanlis should be restored to its pristine strength.

Among the most friendly people to me in Ghadames are the Arab soldiers. Now, whilst I write, not less than twenty of these poor fellows are lying around my door, and in theskeefah(entrance-passage or room) of my house. They tell me always, my house is their house, and their mountains my mountains. They all speak in the highest terms of Mr. Frederick Warrington, son of Colonel Warrington, whom they callFredreek. They consider him as one of themselves, and so he is as to habits, manners, and language, and frequently dress. When they quarrel in Tripoli, the ultima ratio, or dernier ressort, is not to go to the Pasha, butNimshee lelFredreek, "Let us go to Frederick!" This is "the settler." It has often been said amongst the Consular corps of Tripoli, that, in case Great Britain thought it expedient to assume the Protectorate of Tripoli, Frederick Warrington would be their man, the instrument of revolution. There is not a single Arab in the Regency but what would flock to his standard. He has been all his lifetime in Tripoli.

M. Carette, in his brochure of theCommerce of Central Africa, says, "Timbaktou, Kânou, et Noufi sont les trois marchés principaux du pays des Noirs. Les voyageurs du Nord ne parlent pas du Niger; c'est une limite qu'ils ne franchissent pas; ils paraissent n'avoir aucunes relations avec les populations Mandingues de la rive droite:" (p. 26). This is inexact. The merchants do speak of the Niger frequently to me, calling it theWady Neel, thinking, and which is a very ancient opinion, that it is a continuation of the Nile of Egypt. They also visit the opposite shores or banks of the Mandingoes. Some of them go to Noufi, as M. Carette admits; on my leaving for Ghat, a merchant going to Noufi was my fellow traveller, and promised to accompany me there. Here Mr. Becroft has recently, from the south-east, ascending the Niger, shaken hands with the merchants of the north. An old slave, a native ofSansandee(orSinsindee‮سنسندي‬) says of the Niger, "The river is like the sea of Tripoli and all sweet" (water.)

The Sheikh Makouran does not approve of my Timbuctoo ideas. Says the city is always in an uproar with the Touaricks, who are robbers and not like the Touaricks of Touat. Walked through the town at noon, and met Essnousee, had not seen him for some time, and wonderedwhat had become of him. He was very friendly, and wanted to bring me lemonade in the street. But as there was a large concourse of people present, all fasting, poor devils, at this time of the day; I thought common decency required me to go with him to his house. I waited in a dark corner close by his door, and here I quaffed the forbidden draught in the high-noon of the Fast. He smiled at me when I finished, and said, "Well done, Yâkob." He gave me also a fine melon to bring home with me. I considered this feat of drinking lemonade, under the circumstance related, a remarkable trait of tolerance. People usually put into their lemonade pieces of rag steeped in lemon-juice and dried; in this way the juice is preserved from evaporation. Essnousee had just lost his wife. "Have you any other wives?" I said. "Oh yes," he replied, "one here and one in Ghat." Many of the merchants, like the roving tar who has a sweetheart at every port, have a wife at every city of The Desert and Soudan where they trade. Several of the children now in Ghadames were born either in Timbuctoo or Soudan.

8th.—Few patients on account of the Ramadan. Weather extremely sultry. People bear the fast remarkably well, and with good humour enough. The Rais persists in sending me supper though I would rather he did not. After mass and chanting prayers in the evening, his Excellency holds a court. He abused the Sultan of Constantinople and called him an ass for spending his money like a fool, and this license before all the people! Smoking, drinking coffee, talking, and writing for the courier, all together, so his Excellency passes his Ramadan evenings. Said, my negro servant, is becoming as greata man as his master in Ghadames. He receives visits from all the slaves of the city, as well as the free negroes. Being slaves, I am very indulgent, and sometimes they stop all day with him. The slaves of the Touaricks also come. Said manages to talk with them all in all languages. I see there is a sort of free-masonry amongst negroes, and they all (which is greatly to their credit) stick close to one another, and take one another's part. Said is impatient about hisâtka, or freedom ticket. He said to me to-day—

"Oh, Sidi, where's my âtka? The people will steal me and sell me again."

"No, Said," I replied, "have patience, if they steal you, they must steal me also."

Visited with Said to-day "the Street of Slaves." This is a little dark street appropriated for the rendezvous of the slaves in my part of the city, where they enjoy the cool of the evening and chat together. I squatted down to chat amongst them, which awakened their curiosity.

"Who's that naked boy there?"

They.—"The Touaricks brought him from Bornou."

"What are they going to do with him?"

They.—"The Touaricks will send him to Tripoli, and sell him; will you buy him?"

"No, no; if I buy him, my sultan will put me in prison."

(They, one to the other.—"Do you believe him?")

"The English had many slaves, but gave them all theâtka; and soon, please God, they will destroy slavery in all the world."

They.—"Ah, ah," (laughing), "that's right; we wish to have theâtka."

I found some were from Soudan, others from Timbuctoo, the greater part from Bornou. About a score of them were present; their greatest delight was in exchanging their various lingos. When they heard I was going to Kanou, one jumped up like a fury, saying, "Oh, I must send something to my mother." This was a poor grey-headed wrinkled-faced old man! His poor mother, alas! may have been long ago whipped to death upon the cotton plantations of South Carolina, where the blood of the slave is poured out to fertilize the fields of pampered republicans, and give tongue to the braggadocio of the free sons of the Model-Republic!

To-day, saw three swallows in a garden for the first time at Ghadames. They darted over the heads and through the foliage of the graceful palms, performing sweet eccentric circles. To me, they were winged messengers from the fair bowers and silvery brooks of Paradise.

To give an idea of the general ignorance of the Ghadamsee people on European geography, I have only to record a part of a conversation with them.

They.—"Where's your country; is it near Rome?"

"No; further to the west and north."

They.—"Did not the English spring from the Arabs?"

"No; the English are from the north, a colder country; the Arabs are from a hot country."

They.—"Are the Greeks like the English? and is their country near yours?"

"No; they are farther from us than Rome itself."

They.—"Do the English fast?"

"Sometimes; but when they fast they don't eat in the night time, like you; they fast day and night."

They.—"That's not good; that's not right. Do you fast?"

"Never, thank God."

The people bother my life out about fasting. Two young Touarick women came to me—

"Thou Christian! dost thou fast?" (they having never seen a person before who did not fast).

"No; the Christians don't fast."

The girls.—"Don't the Christians know God?"

"Yes, they know God."

The girls.—"No, they don't, for they don't say Mahomet is the prophet of God."

The sum of religion amongst many of the wild tribes, is the formula of Mahomet being the prophet of God—fasting and circumcision. Many of the Touaricks, however, will not fast, or fast with difficulty, it involving the cessation of smoking, of which they are passionately fond. A Touarick, who was accustomed to visit Mr. Gagliuffi at Mourzuk, ridiculed the Ramadan, and called those who fasted, fools. He would squat down in Mr. Gagliuffi's house, and take out his pipe at midday, and say, "Come, Consul, let's have adrinkof the pipe. These people who fast all day are asses." Other Touaricks, more scrupulous, always set out on a journey during Ramadan, in order to have the relaxation permitted by the law.

The Rais is deeply engaged in petty finance, some quite mites, to make up the accounts for Tripoli. Whilst seated near his Excellency, a big lout of a fellow wasbrought up, charged with beating a little urchin, who was present to substantiate the charge. The Rais, after gravely hearing the case, had the big clown turned round with his hands tied behind him, and then told the little rogue aggrieved to lay it into him as hard as he could with his fists clenched. The little imp, who looked as wicked as imp could be, instantly gave the broad back of the great fellow half a dozen strokes. Hereupon all the bystanders, and the officers of his Excellency, burst into a fit of tremendous laughter, and the big coward was allowed to escape, sneaking off like a dog with his tail between his legs. The Rais came up to me smiling with great self-complacency, and said—"Well, isn't that the way to administer justice?" I then astonished the hangers-on of his Excellency's Court, by relating to them some account of the expeditions to the North Pole. They asked me whether any Mussulmans were there, and how they could fast when the sun did not set? Several said I merely invented the account to amuse them. In this case, and also in that of the precepts of the Mosaic Institute, we see the inconvenience of making the precepts of religion depend on local and physical circumstances.

I have seen little urchins in Italy, before the flaming wax-light altars, drink in with their mother's milk the virus of Popery, but I never witnessed a stronger case of infantile prejudice than to-day. A child of less than three years old came running out of a by-street (apparently no person being near it), and called after me,Kafer, kafer, "Infidel, infidel"! and spat at me in the bargain like a little toad.

Noon.—I met with a fellow, a sort of swaggeringcheap-jack penny-a-liner, who swore that there was no man so learned as himself in all Ghadames, and that he would teach me the history of Ghadames, and all the world,for money. He then followed me home, asked me for my journal, and wrote in it five lines of Arabic poetry. Meanwhile I poured him out a cup of tea, putting a large lump of sugar in it. When he had finished his five lines, which he did without being asked, he impudently demanded a dollar for his trouble. I told some Arabs who were present to turn him out of the house. He decamped, but not before giving us his blessing—"The curse of God be upon you Arab dogs, and the Christian dog."

Awfully hot to-day. The hottest day since my residence in Ghadames. Yet, strange to say, when shut up in my room, I feel very little of it. My house is only one story high; there is only a single roof between me and this sun of fire—a strong proof of how little is necessary to protect you from the heats of The Sahara. Late at night, when sitting with the Rais, he amused me with pulling off his greegrees or talismans. As he pulled off each he kissed it devoutly, and laid it by gently on his papers. He wears one round his arm in the shape of an armlet, and three round his neck, two suspended with separate ribbons, and one with a silver chain. As he kissed each, he put it to his eyes, rubbing it over the eyelid. I am sadly afraid his charms obtain all the credit of my solution of nitrate of silver. Be it so; it is hard to cure men of this sort of folly, at best a most unwished, unrequited labour[24]. I always tell theGhadamsee people the medicine I distribute neither belongs to me, nor to the English Consul at Tripoli, but to the Queen of England, and which, I have observed, heightens its value in their eyes.Douwa min, ând Sultana Ingleeza, ("physic from the English Sultana",) is a sort of royal talisman which helps the medicine down as a bit of sugar taken with a child's draught.

10th.—The women brought several little children, all ailing, but could do very little for them. Occupied writing most of the day. Spent the evening with the Rais. His Excellency is very fond of politics: "The Touaricks number more than two hundred thousand souls. They are dispersed over all The Desert. The Sahara is not so difficult to occupy as some think; it can be more easily conquered than the mountainous districts. The country is more open. The only difficulty is the wells. But in winter, the time when military expeditions are undertaken, there is water on the line of most of the grand routes, and camels can supply a large body of compact troops, where there are no wells. At the different wells small forts could be built, like that I am building atEmjezzem, which forts the Touaricks would never dare approach. The wells once in possession of the invading force, it would be impossible for any considerable body of Arabs or Touaricks to follow up or after their steps. Twenty thousand men could occupy, in detachments, the greater part of The Sahara. The French will go to Touat one day, not yet!" Butthe Rais never spoke much against the French. He often said, "I wish the French would exterminate theShânbahbanditti, the Sultan would applaud them for it. I pray God the French will destroy these robbers."

Continue to agitate the question of a tour farther into the interior. Have almost determined to pursue the route of Ghat, and accompany the ghafalah of the Ghadamsee merchants. This route has two advantages for me—I shall be safe with my old friends the merchants, and the route has never before been trodden by an European traveller. The routes of Bornou and Timbuctoo have been travelled by Europeans, though some of the parties have never returned. One thing is certain—unless I go to the first-hand traffickers in human flesh—to the heart of Africa itself, I can never get the information which I require. Am told I can defray the expense of the whole journey from here to Kanou and back, (exclusive of presents), for about fifty pounds sterling, but it must be with economy. Afterwards saw several merchants again on the question, felt discouraged, and my faith shook in the Ghat route. They think the best route for me Bornou, thence I may proceed to Kanou, and perhaps even to Timbuctoo. It is astonishing how everybody's opinion varies; the majority, nevertheless, are in favour of the Bornou route for me. Probably they are afraid of the responsibility of escorting me through the Touarick districts. Determined a day or two after to go to KanouviâGhat and Aheer. Cannot see any danger if I stick close to the Ghadamsee merchants. A young merchant said to me, "Yâcob, we are not jealous of you, for you are not a merchant. You can draw your money, and get it ready. Theghafalah will be cheap for you, for no escort will be required. You can go without your Consul, or the Pasha, or the Rais."

The wind continues hot to-day; theghibleeis getting more suffocating and intense. Everything is drooping and the poor emaciated fasters are dying with thirst. The air is as the small still breath of the furnace when its heat is at the greatest intensity, without flame or smoke.

11th.—Every day, in spite of the Ramadan, brings an increase of patients. In time there will not be a single inhabitant of Ghadames who has not been physicked by my quackery. I notice my negro servant Said is gradually expanding into a full-blown reputation, of which he is very proud. The Mussulmans pay him almost more deference than myself, and I ought to be jealous. It is the plan in these countries to influence the masters through the servants; so whenever anything is to be obtained, the masters are not spoken to, but the servants, which latter are feed and bribed until the object is obtained. Preached anti-slavery and anti-Ramadan doctrines to Berka, the liberated slave of Sheikh Makouran. The poor fellow confessed it was better to eat and drink in the Ramadan, and not steal men and sell them as slaves, than to fast in the Ramadan, and steal men and sell them. The old lad has great influence amongst the slaves of Ghadames, being their senior, and the liberated slave of one of the most respectable men of the country. He went and preached in turn to the slaves my anti-slavery and anti-fast principles.

It may be observed here, that information can only be obtained bit by bit, here a little and there a little; andit is absolutely necessary to note everything down immediately if you would not forget it, at least if you would be correct. The Moors and Arabs have no patience, beyond a few minutes, in giving information, unless it be something where their own interests are deeply concerned. My scattered notes must then be compared one with another to arrive at a proper idea of the objects respecting which they treat. Some notes will necessarily correct others.

A Touarick came in whilst I was eating my dinner this evening, about half an hour before sun-set. I was sitting in the patio, or open court of my house. The Touarick, standing erect before me, with a long spear in his right hand, and extending his left towards the sky, looked up, and then, with an air of imposing solemnity, uttered these words in a measured, solemn tone: "And—thou—Christian—thou fastest—thus! Thy father—knoweth—not—God! Thou art aKafer—he is a Kafer—and the fire[25]at last will eat you both up!" Turning round, and looking up to this prophet-like denunciator, I said, smiling: "Why, how now? you Mussulmans fast, and think you are righteous; but whether is it better to eat and drink on the Ramadan, for which God cares nothing, or fast in the Ramadan, and go afterwards and steal or buy men and women and little children, like your little son there, and take them to Tripoli, and sell them like donkeys and camels? This is forbidden to us English—this is our religion, not to steal and sell men, but to eat and drink in the Ramadan is not forbidden to us." After this answer, which I had some difficulty in making him comprehend, the fellow stoodspeechless, completely staggered. I continued to eat my dinner with a good appetite, notwithstanding his threatening position and silence. God knows what was passing through his mind. After a long pause he receded back a few steps, and then quietly squatted down. He then got up again, and said, "Have you any medicines for my mother in Ghat?" I told him to come to-morrow, and I would give him some.

Rais occupied as usual this morning with collecting money. He avows with exasperation that the people have deposited all their money in the hands of a few merchants of Tripoli, who are under the protection of the Consuls. He was writing teskeras to obtain money from those Tripoli merchants. "The Pasha," he added, "gets no benefit from these deposits, nor the people. The Tripoli merchants are lying, bloodsucking Jews." Did not go out again till the evening; occupied in copying a long letter forThe Times. My sugar and tea go very fast. Do not know what I should have done unless the Ramadan had interposed to save these luxuries of The Desert. It is surprising how rigid the fast is kept. Not a soul in the city of the proper age who does not fast.

12th.—Weather continues very sultry. The wind has scarcely changed for a month, always south. To-day I ate camel's flesh for the first time, but did not like it much; it depends, however, upon the part you eat, as also upon the camel itself, whether young or old, or in a good condition. The camel is usually killed when past work, and very lean and poor. The people call camels' flesh their beef; it does serve as a substitute for bullocks' flesh, no bullocks being killed here. The wholecarcase was immediately sold as soon as exposed in the Souk.

13th.—Wrote this evening to the Governor of Ghat, to tell him I wished to come to Ghat, and begged for his protection; and that I should be obliged if he could send some trusty person to fetch me, whose expenses I would pay. Wrote also letters to go by courier to Tripoli.

14th.—Weather continues hot. My taleb calls the seasonkhareef, "autumn;" and says the fruits of heaven which are always ripe have nevertheless a peculiar ripeness at this period. Staring at him, he continued, "Yes, there is a greater correspondence between earth and heaven than people think." I was recommended this taleb by the Rais. He writes my Arabic letters for The Desert; he calls himself Mohammed Ben Mousa Bel Kasem. The reader will hear now a great deal about him, and his learning and character. He takes up my Arabic Bible now and then, and reads a verse or two; but it is astonishing how little effect, even in the way of curiosity, it produces on the mind of these Mussulmans. One would think at least they would like to know something of its contents. Notwithstanding, The Book, which contains the religion of the civilized world, hardly excites curiosity enough in them to take it up and read a single verse! I have often offered it to them to read, but they have refused to open the book. A great disadvantage is the crabbed, miserable language into which it is translated. After the bold, impudent, and sublime language of the Koran, they cannot relish the tame and stunted language of the Arabic New Testament. As for the simple and grand truths of the New Testament, thesethey cannot or will not comprehend. Force, or the Sword—as the Might of the Almighty—is the thing alone which strikes the minds of Mussulmans, in spite of all their moral maxims and philosophy. But I must confess I never expected that a religion like that of the Koran, which contains so few fundamental truths, and so few mysteries, would have produced such a race of superstitious pharisees. To-day a fellow, whose eyes are dreadfully inflamed with ophthalmia, refuses to have themdoctored, because the solution administered to the eye may enter the stomach, by which he would violate the sanctity of the Ramadan. I can only beg him to come at night. Another jackanapes, who suffers equally, refuses to have my solution at all applied. He said to me, "I suffer, and I may be blind, but it will be the will of God." I wonder the whole population is not blind. Another sufferer craved a talisman to drink with water at night[26].

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