Footnotes:

Semper aliquid novi Africam afferre[38],

all which is either entirely incorrect or a monstrous exaggeration. It would have been veryniceto fight one's way through The Desert in the midst of every kind of beast and monster which the gloomy imagination of men may have conjured up from the beginning of the annals of adventure and travel; this would have made these pages undoubtedly very "stirring and exciting." Happily Providence has not filled up those vast spaces which separate Northern and Central Africa with such hideous tenants! Sufficient are the evils of The Desert to the wayfarer who sojourns therein.

In the evening, had a long conversation with a group of people. The subjects, in which they all felt more than ordinary curiosity, were, the new world of America, Australia, the Pacific, and the whales in it, and the gold and silver mines of South America, &c. The number of sheep, also, in Australia, amazed them, in comparison with the few wandering scattered flocks in TheDesert. I am become a walking gazette amongst the people, and ought to be dubbed "Geographer of The Desert." They also question me on the relative forces of the Christian Powers, and have a great idea of the military strength of France. The capture of Algiers has produced a vivid and lasting impression of the French power throughout all North Africa. They consider England the great power on the sea, and France on the land. I have, besides, to tell them of the population of all the world, and to answer a thousand other questions. Sometimes their conversation, after being exceedingly animated, falls into unbroken and moody silence, and they recline for hours, without moving a muscle of the face or uttering a syllable. Indolence is the besetting sin of the Saharan tribes. It is also the same in Tripoli. Col. Warrington, in reporting upon the Tripolines, says:—"Whether the extraordinary indolence of the people proceeds from the climate, or want of occupation, I know not, but they are in an horizontal position twenty hours out of the twenty-four, sleeping in the open air." In this temperate season of the year, the Ghadamsees might find useful and healthful occupation in the gardens, but they are so confoundedly lazy that they won't stir, and what work really is done is performed by slaves. Such people deserve to starve. Caillié says:—"The Mandingoes would rather go without food part of the day than work in the fields; they pretend that labour would take off their attention to the Koran, which is a very specious excuse for laziness." Like most people in Central Africa, all their hard work is done by the poor slaves. The Ghadamsee people have, however,the excuse that, being a city of merchants, their object is repose when they return from long journeys.

Paid a visit to Rais; presented to his Excellency one of my best razors, with which he was highly delighted. Saw plenty of my acquaintances, all pleased with the Ramadan being about to terminate. Few patients.

Footnotes:[30]The Arabic ‮عرك‬ seems to be used for a pustule or small tumour. The term is applied to the tumour of a camel. There is also the term ‮عرق‬, "decayed flesh or bone."[31]‮يونس‬,Ἰωνας.Esaiasis changed in the same way.[32]‮الضب‬,Thob—monitor: probably,monitor pulchra.[33]‮كحل‬,Kohel, "powder of lead," name derived from the epithet "black."[34]‮حنّا‬,Henna, "Lawsonia alba," Law. The Henna shrub is cultivated in irrigated fields at Ghabs (Tunis), and is a source of wealth.[35]It is theOvis Tragelaphusof Zoologists.[36]I was fellow-passenger from Mogador with the male oudad, now at the Royal Zoological Gardens. He is a very fine animal, but has but one eye.[37]The foundation of Nimrod's reputation was laid in the East, many curious facts of which have been preserved in Armenian tradition. The Armenian Bishop, Dr. Nerses Lazar, says, for the benefit of all England, (See hisScriptural and Analogical Conversations on the Physical and Moral World with reference to an Universal Commercial Harmony, published by Bentley, London, 1846):—"In the second age of the world, just on entering the second century,Nimrod began to be a mighty one in the earth; he was the first great warrior, conqueror, or most severe governor.He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord, by which means he became a mighty monarch. For he inured himself to labour by this toilsome exercise, and got together a great company of young robust men to attend him in this sport;who were hereby also fitted to pursue men as they had done wild beasts. (Here the Free Kirk will find the beginning of the system which they are patronizing in Yankee Land.) Besides, in the age of Nimrod, the exercise of hunting might win him the hearts of men, whom he thus delivered from wild beasts, to which they were much exposed in their rude and unprotected way of living; so that many at last joined him in the great designs he formed of subduing men, and making himself master of the neighbouring people in Babylon, Susiana, and Assyria. The memory of this hunting of his was preserved by the Assyrians, who made Nimrod the same as Orion, for they joined the dog and the hare, the first creature perhaps that he hunted, with his constellation. He first erected Babylon, and Assyria is called the land of Nimrod, &c., &c. He began to exalt himself, and he is calledBelfrom his dominions, andNimrodfrom his rebellion (against God)." The worthy prelate goes on giving a very long affair about the father of huntsmen and jockies. Nimrod has come up again in this our year of 1847. The French and English antiquarians and excavators have dug him up, and all his splendid posterity from the banks of the Euphrates at theBir-el-Nimroud. TheRoyal Asiatic Societyno doubt will soon find his mark, or cross, His Turfy Highness not being expected to be aletterato, in Cuneiform, wedge-shaped or arrow-headed characters upon the unbaked or sun-dried bricks thrown out of the famous Nineveh mound, so that at last Nimroud will have full justice done him by a grateful posterity.[38]Pliny. This vulgar error of antiquity is cited from the Greek of Aristotle.Λεγεται δε τις παροιμα ὁτι αει τι Λιβυη καινον.

[30]The Arabic ‮عرك‬ seems to be used for a pustule or small tumour. The term is applied to the tumour of a camel. There is also the term ‮عرق‬, "decayed flesh or bone."

[31]‮يونس‬,Ἰωνας.Esaiasis changed in the same way.

[32]‮الضب‬,Thob—monitor: probably,monitor pulchra.

[33]‮كحل‬,Kohel, "powder of lead," name derived from the epithet "black."

[34]‮حنّا‬,Henna, "Lawsonia alba," Law. The Henna shrub is cultivated in irrigated fields at Ghabs (Tunis), and is a source of wealth.

[35]It is theOvis Tragelaphusof Zoologists.

[36]I was fellow-passenger from Mogador with the male oudad, now at the Royal Zoological Gardens. He is a very fine animal, but has but one eye.

[37]The foundation of Nimrod's reputation was laid in the East, many curious facts of which have been preserved in Armenian tradition. The Armenian Bishop, Dr. Nerses Lazar, says, for the benefit of all England, (See hisScriptural and Analogical Conversations on the Physical and Moral World with reference to an Universal Commercial Harmony, published by Bentley, London, 1846):—"In the second age of the world, just on entering the second century,Nimrod began to be a mighty one in the earth; he was the first great warrior, conqueror, or most severe governor.He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord, by which means he became a mighty monarch. For he inured himself to labour by this toilsome exercise, and got together a great company of young robust men to attend him in this sport;who were hereby also fitted to pursue men as they had done wild beasts. (Here the Free Kirk will find the beginning of the system which they are patronizing in Yankee Land.) Besides, in the age of Nimrod, the exercise of hunting might win him the hearts of men, whom he thus delivered from wild beasts, to which they were much exposed in their rude and unprotected way of living; so that many at last joined him in the great designs he formed of subduing men, and making himself master of the neighbouring people in Babylon, Susiana, and Assyria. The memory of this hunting of his was preserved by the Assyrians, who made Nimrod the same as Orion, for they joined the dog and the hare, the first creature perhaps that he hunted, with his constellation. He first erected Babylon, and Assyria is called the land of Nimrod, &c., &c. He began to exalt himself, and he is calledBelfrom his dominions, andNimrodfrom his rebellion (against God)." The worthy prelate goes on giving a very long affair about the father of huntsmen and jockies. Nimrod has come up again in this our year of 1847. The French and English antiquarians and excavators have dug him up, and all his splendid posterity from the banks of the Euphrates at theBir-el-Nimroud. TheRoyal Asiatic Societyno doubt will soon find his mark, or cross, His Turfy Highness not being expected to be aletterato, in Cuneiform, wedge-shaped or arrow-headed characters upon the unbaked or sun-dried bricks thrown out of the famous Nineveh mound, so that at last Nimroud will have full justice done him by a grateful posterity.

[38]Pliny. This vulgar error of antiquity is cited from the Greek of Aristotle.Λεγεται δε τις παροιμα ὁτι αει τι Λιβυη καινον.

The Shâanbah and Banditti of The Desert.—Native Plays and Dances of Ghadamsee Slaves.—Aâween, or Square of Springs.—The Women of Ghadames, their Habits and Education.—The Ghadamsee and Berber, or Numidian Languages.—Varieties of People and Population of Ghadames.—Charge of corrupting the Scriptures.—Ben Mousa Ettanee.—The Bishop of Gibraltar.—Continue teaching Geography.—Ruin of the Country.—Approaching end of the World.—Seeing the New Moon.—My Taleb disputes about Religion.—Movements of Banditti.—The small Force by which the Turks hold Tripoli.

28th.—HeardtheShâanbah—‮شعانبة‬—and Touaricks are about to have a set-to. Last year they had a skirmish, and the Touaricks killed about eighty of the Shâanbah. These latter are going to avenge their defeat; they will attack the open districts, and then proceed to Ghat. The Shâanbah inhabit a desert of sand in the neighbourhood of Warklah—‮وارقلة‬—about fifteen days from Ghadames, and four from Souf. They are independent tribes, but small in number, not more than from five to six hundred. Nominally, however, they are located in French Algerian territory. They have been celebrated from time immemorial as the robbers and assassins of The Desert—to be a brigandis, with them, an hereditary honour—and they are equally the dread of the people of Warklah, whose neighbours they are, as of stranger merchants and caravans. They have a well of water scooped out in the sandy regions where their tents are pitched, and here they live in a horridsecurity, defying all law and authority, human and divine, and all the neighbouring Powers. Around them is an immensity of sandy wastes, and none dare pursue them to their abhorred dens. Horses, indeed, would be useless; and camels might wander for months without water, and perish before coming upon their hiding places in these dreadful regions. "Two hundred men would require four hundred camels, eight hundred water-skins, and provisions for two months," says the Rais, "and therefore we must leave them to be exterminated by time." Unfortunately, they are recruited from the bad characters of the Souafah, a kindred tribe of Arabs, and other outlaws. The Shâanbah are the great professional bandits of the North, but there are some other fragmentary tribes, located on the confines of The Sahara, and the valleys of the Atlas. Particularly I may mention the horde of brigands of Wady-es-Sour, which infest the routes between Touat and Tafilelt. But this horde is more placable, and mostly, after levying black-mail, will allow a caravan to pass uninterruptedly on its way. The expedition of the Shâanbah will take place after Ramadan, for, like the story of the Spanish assassins, who, being too early to enter the house of an unfortunate victim, went in the meanwhile to the matins which were being celebrated in a neighbouring church, so these pious assassins of The Desert highways will not proceed to their work of blood and slaughter until the fast of Ramadan is concluded. The Shâanbah and Touaricks are, besides, national enemies as to blood, the former being pure Arab, and the latter of the Berber, or aboriginal stock of North Africa. The Shâanbah have for arms common matchlocks, and a few horses in addition totheir camels. The Touaricks have the spear, dagger, the straight broad sword, and a few matchlocks and pistols, it is said, and all are mounted on camels, so the contest is somewhat differently balanced with regard to the mode of equipment. People speculate as to the success of the parties, but their sympathies are entirely with the Touaricks.

Said comes in blubbering, sympathizing with his countrymen, saying, Rais has been bastinadoing his household slaves, natives of Bornou like himself. Rais certainly ought not to do this, for he does not bastinade his Moors or Arab servants. In the evening I went with Said to see the slaves of Ghadames indulge in their native dances and other plays. These are called ‮لعب العبيل‬ "playing of the slaves." The festival of the evening was "the night of power" (‮ليلة القدر‬), on which the Koran[39]descended from heaven, and the slaves were allowed a holiday in consideration of this solemnity. The slaves danced in a circle around a leader of the dance in the centre. At first, it is a simple walking round, face to back, the legs raised, and a little swinging, and the steps keeping time to the iron castanets fastened on the hands of each. Meanwhile, they sing, and the chorus comes at intervals between the noise of castanets, or finger-clappers. They now turn round and face their leader, some prostrating before him, and others twirling themselves round, but always moving in their circular motion and singing. The tones of their voiceare melodious and deep, not the plaintive wearying monotony of the Arabs. Now the sounds increase, the chorus rises higher and higher, the steps fall heavy, like the tread of military, on the ground; and now, sounds, steps, and every noise and movement quickens, until it becomes a frantic rush around their terrified leader, who is at last, as the finish of the dance, overthrown in the wild tumult. . . . . . . Besides the castanets, they have a rude drum, consisting of a piece of skin stretched over the mouth of a large calabash, brought from Soudan, which makes a low hollow sound: to these is added occasionally a rude squeaking hautboy. This circular dance was performed by about thirty male slaves, gaily dressed in their best clothes, and evidently all very happy, in truth, the free blood of their native homes danced through their veins. Aye, the poor slave danced and sung! happier far than his proud and wealthy master, who looked on in moody silence. So God has ordained it to alleviate and balance human miseries. This dance of freedom lasted a full hour, and was very laborious. There were several Negresses near, who answered in shrill voices to the deep choruses of the Negroes, but did not themselves dance. After the circular dance, came off reels of couples. These were danced with great spirit, nay, violence: there was no dancing of a person singly. None of the dancing was indecent, like the Moorish; the lower part of the body and legs now and then assumed steps and positions like the well known Spanishfandangowith castanets.

29th.—Weather is now tolerably cool all day long in the city, but not cool enough for agreeable travelling. Sketched to-day theAâween, ‮اعوين‬, or square of"fountains," which belongs to the faction of the Ben Weleed. A group of fifty persons surrounded me, all clamoring to see what I was doing, and making the funniest observations. They call drawing,writinga thing. One said, "Ah, it is well written, the Christians know everything but God." Another, "Yâkob, shall you give that writing to your Sultan?" From the fountains in this square, which merely run into stone troughs, the camels drink.

Square of Fountains

The white women, or the respectable women of Ghadames, white or coloured, never descend to the streets, nor even go into the gardens around their houses. Their flat-roofed house is their eternal promenade, and their whole world is comprehended within two or three miserable rooms. The date-palms they see, and a few glimpses of The Desert beyond—and this is all. Truly it is necessary to establish an Anti-Slavery Society for the women of this oasis. I have visited a few of them in theirprivate apartments with their husbands, in my capacity of quack-doctor. None of them were fair or beautiful, but some pleasing in their manners, and of elegant shape; they are brunettes, one and all, with occasionally large rolling, if not fiery, black eyes. They are gentle in their manners, and were very friendly to The Christian. Many of them, in spite of their seclusion, shewed extreme intelligence; they are also very industrious. My taleb assured me the little money he got from keeping the register of the distribution of water, and other minor matters, could not keep his family, and his chief support was from the industry of his wife in weaving, whom he highly praised, adding, "God has given me the best wife in Ghadames." Most of the women weave woollens enough for the consumption of their family, and some for sale abroad. The education of women consists in learning by heart certain prayers, portions of the Koran, and legendary traditions of the famousSunnat. The women are proud of their learning, and the men pride themselves in saying, "Only in this country are women so well instructed!" Besides this, they have the privilege of going to the mosques very early in the morning, and late in the evening, where they say their prayers like men, at least, so I understood from my taleb; but a Christian must not ask questions about women in these countries. The same authority assured me, the women, mostly negresses and half-castes, seen in the streets in the day-time, are slaves, or esteemed as such, the Touarick women excepted. I have no doubt the manners of the women of this city are generally very correct, and as chaste as any women in North Africa. But the Touarick women, especially of the elder sort, are notalways exceedingly refined. One morning, going out from my house, I found some seven or eight Touarick women sitting on the stone-bench at the door. They began to laugh and joke with me; at last one of the elder present said, "Now, Christian, give me some money, and then I'll come into your house." At this delicate sally, all expressed their approbation in loud laughter: the half-caste women are much the same. A Moor said something to me, which I did not understand, and then laughed and said, "It is a Negro word," and, lest I should want an interpreter, an half-caste lady present, putting her hand deliberately to something, said, "That's the meaning," repeating the action two or three times. On the whole, however, I have not seen so many cases of indelicacy in this part of the world, as are to be seen almost every day in Paris and London. No, the morals of The Desert are mostly pure and continent as compared to those of our great European cities.

My taleb to-day made a vocabulary of the Touarghee, Ghadamsee, and Arabic languages. He finished also the translation of the third chapter of Matthew into the Ghadamsee language, which I sent afterwards to the British and Foreign Bible Society. I did not expect that he would have done it so easily, thinking his religious scruples would have interfered. He would have done all the Gospels had I paid him. According to Ben Mousa, the Ghadamsee language contains a few Arabic words, and is a most ancient dialect. It is spoken only at Siwah and Ougelah, two Tripoline oases near the coast, ten days apart, on the route to Egypt, and there is a dialect something like it in one of the Tunisian mountains. Many of the Touarghee words, hesays also, are very much like, if not the same, as those of Ghadamsee. I showed him the Gospel of St. Luke, translated into the Berber language of Algeria, through Mr. Hodgson, and published by the Bible Society. He was only able to recognize a few Ghadamsee words in this translation. The Berber dialects, which comprehend the Ghadamsee, the Touarghee, the Kabylee, the Shouweeah (of Dr. Shaw), and the Shelouk of Morocco, although more or less intimately related, are very dissimilar in many words and expressions. But they are sister branches of one original mother, which require to be reduced to consistency and harmony by some mastermind, and then a very copious and powerful language might be formed. Such is said to have been the state of the German language when Luther made his translation of the Scriptures, by which he laid the foundation of the present mighty language of the Germans. Their common enemy is the Arabic, which is daily making inroads upon them; and the probability is, instead of being moulded into one mighty whole, they will in the course of a few centuries be destroyed by the language of their religion, for which the Berber tribes have a superstitious reverence. There is a singularity about the language of Ghadames: it has differences as spoken by the two factions of the Weleed and the Wezeet, the provincialisms of the country. It is highly probable that the various Berber dialects are the fragments of the language of those formidable, but doubtful, auxiliaries, which so often balanced and changed the fortune of Roman and Carthaginian arms. Of all these Numidian dialects, only one people has amongst them a native alphabet, the rest using Arabic characters: this people are the Touaricks.It is besides worthy of remark, that amongst all the African tribes of Central Africa, nay, every part of Africa, excepting the Coptic and Abyssinian Christians, only one alphabet has been found, none of the other tribes having any characters wherewith to write. Specimens of the Touarghee and Ghadamsee language, as well as this alphabet, have been recently published, under the auspices of the Foreign Office.

The language of Ghadames is spoken by an extremely mixed and various population. Some are from Arabs of the plains, others from Arabs of the mountains, others from Berber tribes, others from Moors of the Coast, and not a few from Negress mothers, of every description of Negro race found in the interior. Sometimes the men make a boast of being descended from ancestors of pure Arab blood, from immigrants of the princes of Mecca and countries thereabouts in Arabia, but in practice they contemn the principle of uncontaminated blood, cohabiting with their favourite female slaves, and from these rearing up a large family of mixed blood and colour. In the Arab suburb a considerable number of free Negroes, the offspring of liberated slaves, are settled. This class of population has been mistaken for emigration from the interior, by some writers; but Negroes never emigrate from the south to the north over The Desert, however, some may wander, like the Mandingoes, in the countries of Western Africa, as itinerant traders, tinkers, and pedlars. The city of Ghadames presents therefore a most mixed and coloured population, there being but very few of pure Arab blood, and fewer still of fair complexions. I have seen, nevertheless, some families of sandy hair and fair skins; but, certainly, thebarbarossa("red beard,") or flaxen locks, are not esteemed. These children of the sun prefer the raven-black beard, the tanned skin, and the gazelle eye. The united population amounts to about 3,000, but there are many Ghadamsee families established in Soudan and Timbuctoo. I may add, six languages are spoken daily in Ghadames, viz., Ghadamsee, Arabic, Touarghee, Housa, Bornouse, and Timbuctoo. The Rais has not a Turkish soldier or servant with him, or Turkish would make seven. Mourzuk being a garrison town, there Turkish, Greek, Italian, and Tibbo may be added to these six languages. The Negro languages are spoken by the slaves and free Negroes, and the merchants in conversing with them.

As a specimen of flying reports, I heard yesterday Bona was not in the hands of the French, but the Mussulmans. With respect toshamatah("fighting"), the reports added, the French had lost 100,000 men in battle! The eyes of all genuine Moslems are turned anxiously westwards, and force and conquest, is everything with them.

30th.—The mornings are now very cool and delicious. Walked on my terrace, and enjoyed the fresh air of this autumnal spring. The palms are beautiful to look upon, and the Desert city has the aspect of an Hesperides. Are these the "fortunate isles" of the ancients? A few birds twittering and chirping about, pecking the ripe dates.

My taleb, backed with two or three Mussulman doctors, charged me in the public streets with corrupting and falsifying the text of the word of God. "This," he said, "I have found by looking over your‮الانجيل‬ Elengeel (Gospel)." It is precisely the charge which we make against the Mohammedans. But our charge is not so much corrupting one particular revelation as falsifying the entire books of the Jews and the Christians, of giving them new forms, and adding to them a great number of old Arabian fables. A taleb opened the Testament at the Gospel of St. Mark, and read,that Jesus was the Son of God. Confounded and vexed at this, he said, "God neither begets nor is begotten," (a verse of the Koran). An Arab from the Tripoline mountains turned upon me and said, "What! do you know God?" I answered sharply, "Yes; do you think the knowledge of God is confined to you alone?" The bystanders applauded the answer.

In general, the ignorant of the population of this part of North Africa, as well as Southern Morocco and Wadnoun, think the Christians are not acquainted with God, something in the same way as I heard when at Madrid, that Spaniards occasionally asked, if there were Christians and churches in England: "Hay los Cristianios, hay las iglesias in Inglaterra?" But in other parts of Barbary, I have found, on the contrary, an opinion very prevalent, that the religion of the English is very much like the religion of the Moors, arising, I have no doubt, from the absence of images and pictures in Protestant churches.

This evening, when visiting the Ben Weleed, conversation turned upon the Bas-Relief. The people showed some jealousy at my possessing it, and would have prefered that it remained in the oasis, and were not sent to Tripoli. They added:—"Because it proves that God has given us the land of the Christians." This is the grand argument in proof of the Mussulman's religion, that God has given him the countries of the Infidels. Indeed, the sooner the Bas-Relief is off the better. On my observing that the slab belonged to a date prior to the Christians, they were astonished, and asked, "Who were before the Christians?" They have no idea of people before the Christians. The conversation was suddenly stopped by the appearance of a remarkable personage, thequasi-Sultan of the Ben Weleed. This was the famous rich and powerful Haj Ben Mousa Ettanee. He is a man of a great age, and nearly blind, and the chief of the most numerous and influential family of Ghadames. He always exhibits a most difficult and obstinate temper in public affairs, and, I understand, from the first, has shown an hostility to my residence in Ghadames, unlike the Sheikh Makouran, who is the recognized Chief of the Ben Wezeet, and who has shown himself as favourable as the other Chief hostile. There may be a little of the spirit of faction in this; for we see often a person unsupported by the one party, because he is supported by the other party. But the whole family of Ettanee is consideredwâr("difficult"). The Rais speaking to me of this family, said: "Wâr, wâr—I can do nothing with the Ettanee." Ettanee was attended by two or three servants, one carrying a skin, and another a cushion to recline on (mokhaddah). These arranged, the old gentleman mounted upon the stone-bench and took his seat, everybody making way for him with the greatest alacrity. Having heard I was present, after a short silence, he addressed me: "Christian, do you know Scinde[40]?"I replied, "I know it." "Are not the English there?" he continued. "Yes," I said. He then turned and said something to the people in the Ghadamsee language[41]. My conversation with them was always in Arabic. He abruptly turned to me, "Why do the English go there, and eat up all the Mussulmans? Afterwards you will come here." I replied, "The Ameers were foolish, and engaged in a conspiracy against the English of India; but the Mussulmans in Scinde enjoyed the same rights and privileges as the English themselves." "That's what you say," he rejoined, and then continued: "Why do you go so far from home, to take other people's countries from them?" I replied, "The Turks do the same; they came here in The Desert." "Ah! you wish to be such oppressors as the Turks," he continued very bitterly, and then told me not to talk any more. No one present dared to put in a word. This painful silence continued for some time. I was anxious to get off, feeling very disagreeable; and beginning to move, he said to somebody, "Who'sthat?" for he couldn't see much, being nearly blind. They told him it was the Christian going. He cried out, "Stop!" and then added, "You have books with you, but you English are not Christians. You deceive us. Nor are the Danish, or the Swedes, or the Russians Christians.They have no books." He meantreligiousbooks. The same opinion, I found afterwards, was entertained by Haj Ibrahim, a very respectable and intelligent Moorish merchant of Tripoli. Haj Ibrahim said to me, "How is it that you have books on religion, when theEnglish have none?" Formerly Ettanee resided at Tripoli; and I have not the least doubt both these Moors derived this false information from the intolerant and Protestant-hating Romanist priests resident in Tripoli, backed as the falsehoods were by the absence of any English church or worship, although the English Consul very regularly celebrated worship in his family every Sunday,—a circumstance which ought to have been known amongst the town population of all religions. I am sorry the intentions of the British Government have been so feebly carried out by the Bishop of Gibraltar. Her Majesty's Government was anxious that Dr. Tomlinson should visit all the coasts of the Mediterranean, both to strengthen the few Protestants scattered on these inhospitable shores, and to show the various authorities and people of this famed inland sea, that the English had a religion, and cared for its prosperity. Up to the time I left the Barbary coast, Dr. Tomlinson had neither visited Tunis nor Tripoli, though he had been resident at Malta some three years. This is too bad; and it is quite clear the Bishop does not understand the object of his mission in the Mediterranean. He ought to have shown himself at once in all Barbary; he then might have annihilated this monstrous error, propagated by Romish priests, that the English had no religious books, and were not Christians. It is but justice to add, the Bishop went to Tangiers. Mr. Hay expected a very unctuous episcopal visit, and was shocked to hear the good Bishop talk so much about fortifications and "horrid war." There is consistency in everything; and common sense dictated that the Bishop should have, on such a visit, assumed his character of "Overseer of the scattered Protestant flock." Unfortunately, when he went first to Malta, Dr. Tomlinson acted more like an episcopalian tight-rope dancer, always balancing himself between Puseyism and Evangelicalism, and so distracted the few Protestants at Malta. He is eminently a man of no decision of character; and whenever he does manage to get up his reluctant will to a decision, it is invariably on the wrong side of the question. Here in The Desert I found myself pestered with both political and religious questions; and to have shirked either, would have been to offend the people. There was no alternative but to preach to them that all the English and all Protestants had the same Bible as the Romanists, and were equally Christians with them. I may add, of the Bishop of Gibraltar: Since my return, I have heard that his Lordship found all his efforts useless to conciliate the Malta papistical authorities; that he was much shocked at their treachery; and that he was determined, on his return again to Malta,to become once more a good Protestant. The truth is, he had nothing to do with the Roman Catholics. He was to mind and care for the Protestants in Malta, and on the shores of the Mediterranean. I believe, however, he did do something in the way of unpleasant interference with Colonel Warrington. It is well known the Colonel was high-priest of Protestantism through his long Consular service of thirty-three years, as well as Her Britannic Majesty's Consul. The Colonel baptized, married, and buried, whenever applied to. He baptized, married, and buried the members of his own family, and was surprised Sir Thomas Reade had not the courage to do the same. Of this the Colonel was very proud, citing the authority of some peer in the BritishParliament, who said, "If the King's subjects wished toprocreatein a foreign land, where there was no parson, why should not the British Consul help them?" This the Bishop demurred at; but the Colonel supported himself on the authority of Dr. Lushington. The Colonel was undoubtedly right. Still, politically and ecclesiastically, it would be much better if English clergymen of some denomination or other were established along the line of the whole coast of North Africa, which would show the native Mussulmans we had a religion, and that we could afford to support and protect our co-religionists. The French reap a good harvest bytheir protection of Christians, which, characteristically enough, they use as a political engine of aggrandizement.

On returning home, my Moorish friends pestered me still with more questions, as to what people werebeforethe Christians. I endeavoured to impress upon them, that the Christian era was comparativelynew, and thatbeforeChrist, there were many nations, and great events occurred. I found them grossly ignorant. But I had the good fortune to procure an Arabic map in the possession of one of the merchants, who had laid it up for many years amongst dusty papers. This had been published by the printers and agents of the Church Missionary Society of Malta, very much to their credit. By the aid of this, I made more progress in teaching geography to the people. Seeing several dots on the map whereSaharais written, the people asked me what it meant. I told them sand. However, I must protest against this device. We shall see that the greater part of The Desert is stone and hard earth. The term "sandy border" of The Desert is equally incorrect. Such a distinction doesnot exist in the Tripoline provinces. The Desert comes up to the gates of Tripoli, it then gives way to cultivation and The Mountains; it beyond them appears again here and there and everywhere, within and without the regions of rain. There is nothing like a border of The Desert. The "Grand Desert" and "Petite Desert" of the French, are equally incorrect and absurd. All is Sahara, or waste, uncultivated lands, and oases scattered thick within them, as spots on the back of the leopard[42].

Saw the Rais late, who had heard all about my conversation with Ettanee, and jokingly said, "Wâr, wâr, that old fellow, aye?" His Excellency turned, to other matters: "The Shânbah are not going to attack the Touaricks, they are coming hereabouts to plunder our caravans." Asked him, if the city was secure enough to prevent them entering and pillaging it? His Excellency replied, "Yes," but adding, "koul sheyan maktoub(all is predestinated)." This doctrine is not only a comfort in every misfortune, but also an apology for every fault, crime, or mismanagement a person may be guilty of. Nay, if a man be starved to death, because he will not work, which is sometimes the case in this part of the world, as well as Ireland, it is destiny and the will of God! . . . . . . So of all other things. If Ghadames should be stormed and plundered by the Shânbah in its present defenceless condition, it will be, as a matter of course, the will of God. But I must add, which unhappily cannot be said of Ireland, the security of human life is very great in Ghadames and the neighbouring desert. I have heard of no murder since I have been here, and a murder is the last thing thought of. This does not arise from any preventitive police, but from the simple dispositions of the people—their horror and unwillingness to shed human blood! If a messenger from a distant planet were to come to prove the divinity of a religion, from the absence of the crime of murder, and were to take these Saharan oases, and our Ireland, and put them in the balances of Eternal Justice, we should soon see Ireland and its popular religion kick the the beam, as—

"The fiend look'd up, and knewHis mounted scale aloft."

The "signs of the times" in this country are, when I first came here bread was found in the Souk occasionally, as a luxury for the poor who could not buy wheat and make bread; now, and it is only a little more than a month, no bread is to be found. To-day not a single sheep was killed anywhere, and I am obliged to go without meat. So the country progresses in poverty and misery, so rapidly is its money being filched from the people! Or, is it because every body has conspired together against the Rais, and determined to wear an air of abject poverty? And thus to evade the new contributions? This cannot be. To-morrow is the last day of Ramadan; provided the new moon can be seen. I hope they'll see it, for I am heartily sick of the Ramadan: the most amiable and kind-hearted get out of humour in Ramadan; as to the Rais, I never go tosee him, except in the evening, unless to get a little money from him, his Excellency being my banker. A Turk, who smokes all day long for eleven months out of twelve, must suffer greatly in these thirty days. Should like to have tried a day's fasting, as I have been so strongly recommended by the people, but I expect to have enough of fasting in The Desert, and it is of no use adding to our miseries for the sake of curiosity or vanity. From recent conversations, it appears there is no great danger in attempting Timbuctoo, but I have resolved on the route of Kanou, because my object is not so much a journey of discovery, as to collect a statistical account of the slave-trade, and see whether there are any practicable legitimate means for extinguishing the odious traffic. For this latter object, the Kanou route is decidedly more advantageous. A wild adventure to Timbuctoo, ever so successful, can never serve me in such stead in the end, when I have to read my own heart and its motives, as a humane mission on the behalf of unhappy weak Africans, doomed, by men calling themselves Christians, to the curse of slavery.

1st October.—Sheikh Makouran paid me a visit this morning. Our conversation turned chiefly on the discoveries of lands and countries since the times of Christ and Mahomet. The Sheikh was a little surprised when I told him: "We ought to consider the world as just beginning, for the ancients knew but little, and the greater part of the now inhabited world was unknown to them." Moors, like some Christians, think the time is near when Deity shall appear to destroy all unbelievers in their respective religions. For myself, I cannot but believe that the world has onlyyetbegun. It is impossible that the Creator should destroy the world in its present imperfect state. No—the world will go on yet thousands of years on years in the path of improvement unto (shall I say?) perfection. At any rate, I belong to those whose aspirations are for the future and not for the past. I am not enamoured with Hebrew patriarchal innocence, or Grecian classic polish and freedom, or Christian mediæval chivalry of the past. I am of theNewEnglanders, but not for the resurrection of the past. Rather than subscribe to divinely-anointed kings and pious monks, church charities and May-day holidays and May-poles for the people, I would sooner affix my signature to railways, electric telegraphs, and the wild, bold, and raving aspirations of a Shelley—in fact, to plunge anywhere headforemost, than back again into the past.

A Moor to-day, in wishing to give a grand idea of the Touaricks (some of whom were present), said, "Muley Abd Errahman (Emperor of Morocco) and the Sultan of Stamboul, pay tribute to the Touaricks; but they pay tribute to no one." This is ingeniously made out by the merchants of Tripoli and Morocco, the subjects of the two Sultans, being obliged to pay black-mail in passing through the Saharan districts of the Touaricks. Some of the ill-natured are continually magnifying the dangers of the route of Kanou, and one present said, "You can't go, there are thousands of Touaricks to block up your way." Annoyed with this man and others, I replied, "Do Touaricks eat the flesh of Christians after they have killed them?" This made him very angry, and he began to apologize for the Touaricks, one class of Mohammedans being always anxious to defend anotherfrom unwonted or odious suspicions. They have, nevertheless, not the least difficulty in confessing that the Touaricks will kill Christians, as such, thus tacitly acknowledging it to be right to kill Christians. The more respectable Ghadamseeah argue that in no case, if I pay the Touaricks a certain sum as tribute, or what not, have the Touaricks a right by the law of the Prophet to do me the least harm. Heard all the Arab soldiers have run away from Emjessen, being without anything to eat. These wise Turkish commanders gave the poor fellows a bag of barley and a little oil, and left it, like the widow's cruse in Holy Writ, to replenish itself. The Shânbah may now go and drink the water of the well, and plunder the caravans as they please. The wonder is that more open-desert robberies are not committed.

The Rais told me this evening thatoneperson saw the moon, but it is necessarytwoshould have seen the dim, pale, half-invisible crescent streak. Then theâyedafter the fast would have been to-morrow. At sun-set, all the people were on thequi-vive, the Marabouts mounting the minaret tops, but none saw it but this solitary moongazer, who, said the Rais, "might haveimaginedhe saw the moon." The telescope was not lawful, he added, "The people must see it with the naked, unassisted eye."

2nd.—No patients; only a little girl with severe ophthalmia, and the old blind man, who fancies his eyes are better with the application of the caustic. Generally the Moors think there is a different sort of medicine for women. Yesterday I was asked for a medicine for women. I gave a man a fever powder forhis wife. This morning being the last before the Ramadan, the Rais sent me abacksheeshof meat (not cooked) and a quantity of rice, enough to make a sumptuous festa. Certainly the Rais is very gracious, and continues, if not increases, in his friendly feelings towards me. People are killing and preparing for the festival. There's a report, the merchants in Tripoli are afraid to leave for this city on account of rumoured depredationsofthe Sebâah and Shânbah. To-morrow, my taleb says he marries his two daughters. He prepares the wedding-feast, and gives his daughters a stock ofsemen(liquid butter), and barley and wheat, to begin the world with. The sons-in-law make presents to their brides of clothes, besides a little money; and this is all the matter. My taleb seems very glad to get rid of his daughters so easily; they are extremely young—thirteen and fifteen. Besides these daughters he has a pet son. People usually choose a religious festival, for the day of the celebration of their nuptials, as in some parts of England. The taleb then, who is excessively fond of religious discussion, began, "The essence of all religion is,—

‮وهو لا يولد ولا مولد‬

He(God)neither begets nor is begotten: and

‮وما عند الله شركاً‬

God has no associate":—

both referring to the unity of God. Speaking of the duration of the world, I said:—"The world must now begin, for, up to this time, men have been generally very ignorant; and until lately the whole of the earth has not been discovered." Very angry at this, he replied:—"Now the world will finish; God is coming to destroyall you Christians, and all the blackkafers(infidels), as well as the white." He then gave me an account of the creation. "The world," he said, "was created seven times," &c., &c., adding many curious things.

I.—"What is to become of the world; are nearly all its inhabitants, from its beginning until now, to be d——d?"

He.—"Yes."

I.—"Is this the decree of God?"

He.—"Yes, all ismaktoub."

I.—"But you say, God, is ‮الرحمان الرحيم‬, (Most merciful.)"

He.—"Yes; but men won't obey his religion and Mahomet."

I.—"What is to become of those who never saw, nor never could see or read the Koran?"

The Taleb.—"I don't know; God is great; God must have mercy upon them."

I.—"Undoubtedly God created the world; but according to you, the world is now all corrupt (fesad), and nearly all men must soon be destroyed. Is this honourable to God?"

The Taleb.—"All is decreed."

I.—"But many of the unbelieving Infidels are better than the Touaricks and Arabs. Is not the British Consul in Tripoli better than a Shânbah bandit?—better than an assassin who cuts the throats of the Faithful? Do not all the people speak well of our Consul?"

The Taleb.—"I know it; he's very good."

I.—"But you can't change the religion of some people though you kill them. When the Mohammedans conquered India, they got tired of putting Hindoos to deathfor not changing their religion, and becoming Mussulmans."

The Taleb.—"God knows all, but you don't know," (a frequent phrase in the Koran).

I.—"Now, I don't think it's of much use to talk about religion, for you won't change yours nor I mine. Here's the end of the matter. We must all die, that's a thing no one disputes; but as to who is saved, or who perishes, we cannot tell."

The Taleb.—"The truth, by G—d! If God please, we shall see all soon."

A small caravan of Arabs, bringing sheep for theAyed, arrived this morning from Tunis. The route isviâJibel Douerat, and only seven days. If the roads were safe, travelling indeed about North Africa could soon be rendered expeditious. The Arabs report:—"That great military preparations are making at Jerbah, where the Bey of Tunis is expected after theAyed, and whence he will invade Tripoli, all his Arabs being ready to march with him." After this, a caravan of forty slaves arrived from the south, under the conduct of Touaricks. Theghafalahis originally from Bornou, but half left for Fezzan on arriving at Ghat. Was much surprised when Rais told me this evening, after five or six days, he would send a soldier to sleep as a guard in my house. He explained he had received authentic intelligence from Souf, of the Shânbah banditti being on the march, five hundred strong, proceeding in the direction of Ghat and Ghadames, and he expected them near this in the course of ten days. Theirintentionis to avenge themselves on the Touaricks for the defeat last year. They are the immemorial enemies of the Touaricks, whohave a stake in the commerce of the Desert, but they as professional robbers have none. Besides this, we hear the Sebâah continue their depredations, and have carried off 2,000 sheep from The Mountains: they also threaten an attack on Derge. The whole country, indeed, will soon be full of banditti, unless some energetic measures are adopted, and we shall have no communication between this and Tripoli. All the routes are now considered unsafe. Rais assured me, he has applied to the Pasha for a few Turkish troops, but His Highness refused, on the plea of expense. The whole force of the Rais is not a hundred Arabs, and poor miserable fellows they are, with two or three horses placed at their disposal. With such inconsiderable means the Pacha presumes to hold in the heart of The Desert this important commercial city, and its dependencies of Seenawan and Derge! The French manage matters very differently in Algeira. Indeed, the united force occupying all Tripoli, with its wide-spread provinces of many hundred miles apart, does not exceedfivethousand men of all arms! Compare this to the hundred and thirty thousand men (including native troops) in Algeira, and be astonished at the different effects of the French and Turkish systems. . . . . To add to the Rais's embarrassments, the people are in ill-humour, whilst some hear the news with pleasure, and fancy they see in our present troubles the beginning of the end of Turkish rule in Ghadames.

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