*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 73779 ***
[Illustration: _SKETCH_ _of the_ Northern Part _of_ AFRICA:
_Exhibiting the_ _GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION_ _Collected by_ The
AFRICAN ASSOCIATION.
_Compiled by_ J. Rennell. 1790.
_Published according to Act of Parliament by James Rennell, March
27th. 1790._]
* * * * *
_PROCEEDINGS_
OF THE
AFRICAN ASSOCIATION.
* * * * *
PROCEEDINGS
OF
_THE ASSOCIATION_
FOR
PROMOTING THE DISCOVERY
OF THE
INTERIOR PARTS OF AFRICA.
* * * * *
~_LONDON:_~
PRINTED BY C. MACRAE, PRINTER TO THE ASSOCIATION.
* * * * *
1790.
* * * * *
LIST OF THE MEMBERS
OF THE
~_ASSOCIATION_.~
A
The Countess of Ailesbury
Rt. Hon. H. Addington, Speaker of the House of Commons
B
Duke of Buccleugh
Earl of Buckinghamshire
Earl of Bute
Earl of Bristol
Sir J. Banks, Bart. P. R. S.
Lady Belmore
Robert Barclay, Esq.
Henry Beaufoy, Esq. M. P.
Mark Beaufoy, Esq.
John Beaufoy, Esq.
Richard Henry Bennet, Esq.
Isaac H. Browne, Esq. M. P.
Robert Barclay, Esq. M. P.
C
Lord Carysfort
Earl of Cholmondeley
Sir H. G. Calthorpe, Bart. M. P.
General Conway
John Call, Esq. M. P.
Mrs. Child
Thomas Coutts, Esq.
John Campbell, Esq. M. P.
D
Lord Daer
Sir John Dick, Bart.
Wm. Drake, Jun. Esq. M. P.
E
Earl of Exeter
G. N. Edwards, Esq. M. P.
F
Earl of Fife
Sir A. Fergusson, Bart. M. P.
Sir William Fordyce, Bart.
Colonel Fullarton, M. P.
G
Duke of Grafton
Earl of Gainsborough
Earl of Galloway
Edward Gibbon, Esq.
Dr. Gisborne
George Gostling, Esq.
George Gomm, Esq.
H
Earl of Huntingdon
Lord Hawke
Mr. Professor Harwood
Sir John Hort, Bart.
John Hunter, Esq.
Henry Hoare, Esq.
Charles Hoare, Esq.
Henry H. Hoare, Esq.
K
Whitshed Keene, Esq. M. P.
L
Lord Loughborough
Bishop of Landaff
Wilfred Lawson, Esq.
Dr. Lettsom
William Ludlam, Esq.
M
Earl of Moira
Lord Middleton
Sir Charles Middleton, Bart.
Sir William Musgrave, Bart.
William Marsden, Esq.
Rev. Dr. Marton
Paul Le Mesurier, Esq. M. P.
Charles Miller, Esq.
James Martin, Esq. M. P.
N
Duke of Northumberland
Richard Neave, Esq.
The Hon. F. North
P
John Peachy, Esq. M. P.
W. Pulteney, Esq. M. P.
Charles A. Pelham, Esq. M. P.
W. M. Pitt, Esq. M. P.
John Parke, Esq.
R
Earl of Radnor
Lord Rawdon
Lieut. Gen. Rainsford
S
Lord Sheffield
Sir John Sinclair, Bart. M. P.
Sir John Stepney, Bart.
John Stanley, Esq.
Mr. Stuart
Hugh Scott, Esq.
John Simmons, Esq.
William Smith, Esq. M. P.
Richard Stonehewer, Esq.
Hans Sloane, Esq. M. P.
T
Greaves Townley, Esq.
Robert Thornton, Esq. M. P.
V
Benjamin Vaughan, Esq.
W
Earl of Wycombe
Sir Godfrey Webster, Bart.
William Watson, Esq.
Samuel Whitebread, Esq. M. P.
Wm. Wilberforce, Esq. M. P.
William Winch, Esq.
Josiah Wedgewood, Esq.
John Wilkinson, Esq.
Y
Philip Yorke, Esq. M. P.
~_CONTENTS._~
_PAGE_
_Introduction_ 1
_Plan of the Association_ 2
CHAPTER I.
_Proceedings of the Association, from the Time of
its Establishment, to that of the Departure of_
Mr. LEDYARD 13
CHAPTER II.
Mr. LEDYARD’s _Arrival at Cairo. — His Remarks on
the Inhabitants, &c. — His Death and Character_ 19
CHAPTER III.
_Arrival of_ Mr. LUCAS _at Tripoli. — His Reception
by the Bashaw. — His Journey to Mesurata with the
Shereefs Fouwad and Imhammed. — His Mode of obtaining
from the latter an Account of his Travels in the
Interior Countries of Africa. — His Return to England_ 43
INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER IV.
_The Shereef Imhammed’s Information confirmed by the
Governor of Mesurata and Ben Alli the Moor_ 75
CHAPTER IV.
_Rout from Mesurata. — Enumeration of the principal
Towns of Fezzan. — Account of its Climate and principal
Productions. — Description of the Manners, Religion,
and Government of its People — Their Revenue,
Administration of Justice, and Military Force_ 81
CHAPTER V.
_Mode of Travelling in Africa_ 87
CHAPTER VI.
_General Remarks on the Empires of Bornou and Cashna.
— Rout from Mourzouk to Bornou. — Climate of Bornou.
— Complexion, Dress, and Food of the Inhabitants —
Their Mode of Building — Their Language, Government,
Military Force, Manners, and Trade_ 125
CHAPTER VII.
_Rout from Mourzouk to Cashna. — Boundaries of the
Empire. — Its Language, Currency, and Trade_ 161
CHAPTER VIII.
_Countries South of the Niger_ 173
CHAPTER IX.
_General View of the Trade from Fezzan to Tripoli,
Bornou, Cashna, and the Countries on the South of
the Niger_ 181
CHAPTER X.
_Rout from Mourzouk to Grand Cairo, according to
Hadgee Abdalah Benmileitan, the present Governor
of Mesurata_ 193
CHAPTER XI.
_Conclusions suggested by the preceding Narrative_ 199
CHAPTER XII.
_Construction of the Map of Africa_ 211
* * * * *
~_ERRATA._~
Page 81, line 1, for _whathe_ read _what he_
84, line 10, for _vilge_ read _village_
91, line 8, for _loose_ read _close_
99, line 11, for _laying down_ read
_lying down_
153, line 15, for _it has made more_ read
_it has more_
157, last line but one, for _preparation_ read
_perspiration_
174, last line but three, for _double_ read
_combined_.
~_INTRODUCTION._~
The Narrative of the Proceedings of the SOCIETY that was formed in the
year 1788, for the purpose of Promoting the Discovery of the Inland
Districts of Africa, was written, at the request of his Colleagues,
by one of the Members of the Committee of that ASSOCIATION; and
is now printed at the desire, and for the use of the Society: but
as it may also be read by persons unacquainted with the Origin and
Object of the Undertaking to which it relates, the following Paper,
as descriptive of both, is republished for their information.
PLAN
OF THE
~_ASSOCIATION._~
Of the objects of inquiry which engage our attention the most,
there are none, perhaps, that so much excite continued curiosity,
from childhood to age; none that the learned and unlearned so
equally wish to investigate, as the nature and history of those
parts of the world, which have not, to our knowledge, been hitherto
explored. To this desire the Voyages of the late Captain Cook have so
far afforded gratification, that nothing worthy of research by Sea,
the Poles themselves excepted, remains to be examined; but by Land,
the objects of Discovery are still so vast, as to include at least
a third of the habitable surface of the earth: for much of Asia, a
still larger proportion of America, and almost the whole of Africa,
are unvisited and unknown.
In Asia there are few extensive districts of which we are wholly
ignorant; but there are many of which we are imperfectly informed;
and to our knowledge of several of these, the expected publication
of the Travels of Mr. Forster, in the service of the East India
Company, may bring material improvement. For, about three years
since, in returning from Hindostan to Europe, he travelled by the
way of Laldong, Jummoo, Cashmire, Cabul, Herat, and the Caspian Sea;
and though the character of a Moorish Merchant, a disguise which the
nature of the journey compelled him to assume, would not permit him
to depart so far from the usage of Asia, as to make a draught of the
country, or to write any other than short memorandums as he passed,
yet, if we may judge from the opportunities he had of information,
his Narrative must be important. It will probably shew the manners
and customs, and military strength of the populous tribes that
inhabit the mountains on the North of Lahore: it promises to gratify
the eagerness which all men express to acquire a knowledge of the
sequestered and unexplored, though celebrated Country of Cashmire:
and there is reason to suppose, that it will also describe the rising
Empire of the Seiks, the conquerors of Zabeta Cawn, and the rivals
of Abdalla. Should this be the case, we shall learn the history of
an Empire that already extends from the river Attok, the western
branch of the Indus, to the banks of the Jumma; and possibly too we
may also be told the particulars of a Religion, which, according
to the accounts received, professes to bring back the Hindoos
from the idolatrous veneration of images to the purity of their
primitive faith, the worship of One God: a Religion, which is said
to ascribe to its Founder, Nanock, who died about 200 years since,
a sacred character, by supposing that he was Brimha, and that this
was his last appearance upon earth: a Religion, which its Followers,
in contradiction to the former uniform practice of the Believers
in the Shaster, endeavour to make universal, and, with a zeal which
resembles the Mahometan, constantly enforce by the sword.
To our knowledge of America, a large and valuable addition may
soon be expected; for several of the inhabitants of Canada had
the spirit, about two years since, to send, at their own expence,
different persons to traverse that vast continent, from the river
St. Lawrence westward to the opposite ocean.
While, in this manner, the circle of our knowledge with respect
to Asia and America is gradually extending itself, and advancing
towards perfection, some progress has been made in the discovery
of particular parts of Africa: for Dr. Sparman’s Narrative has
furnished important information, to which will soon be added that of
Mr. Patterson, whose account of his Travels and Observations in the
Southern Parts of Africa is already in the Press; and if a description
of the still more extended Travels of Colonel Gordon, the present
Commander of the Dutch Troops at the Cape of Good Hope, should be
given to the Public, the southern extremity of the African peninsula
may perhaps be justly considered as explored. Mr. Bruce also, it is
said, is preparing for the Press an account of the knowledge which
he has obtained on the eastern side of that quarter of the globe.
But notwithstanding the progress of discovery on the coasts and
borders of that vast continent, the map of its Interior is still
but a wide extended blank, on which the Geographer, on the authority
of Leo Africanus, and of the Xeriff Edrissi the Nubian Author, has
traced, with a hesitating hand, a few names of unexplored rivers
and of uncertain nations.
The course of the Niger, the places of its rise and termination, and
even its existence as a separate stream, are still undetermined. Nor
has our knowledge of the Senegal and Gambia rivers improved upon that
of De la Brue and Moore; for though since their time half a century
has elapsed, the Falls of Felu on the first of these two rivers,
and those of Baraconda on the last, are still the limits of discovery.
Neither have we profited by the information which we have long
possessed, that even on the western coasts of Africa, the Mahometan
faith is received in many extensive districts, from the Tropic of
Cancer southward to the Line. That the Arabic, which the Mussulman
Priests of all countries understand, furnishes an easy access to such
knowledge as the western Africans are able to supply, is perfectly
obvious; as it also is, that those Africans must, from the nature
of their Religion, possess, what the Traders to the coast ascribe
to them, an intercourse with Mecca. But although these circumstances
apparently prove the practicability of exploring the Interior Parts
of Africa, and would much facilitate the execution of the Plan,
yet no such efforts have hitherto been made. Certain however it is,
that, while we continue ignorant of so large a portion of the globe,
that ignorance must be considered as a degree of reproach upon the
present age.
Sensible of this stigma, and desirous of rescuing the age from a
charge of ignorance, which, in other respects, belongs so little
to its character, a few Individuals, strongly impressed with a
conviction of the practicability and utility of thus enlarging the
fund of human knowledge, have formed the Plan of an Association for
Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa.
The nature of their Establishment will best appear from the following
account of their proceedings.
* * * * *
At an ADJOURNED MEETING of the SATURDAY’S CLUB, at the
_St. Alban’s Tavern_, on the 9th of _June_, 1788,
_PRESENT,_
* * * * *
EARL OF GALLOWAY,
LORD RAWDON,
GENERAL CONWAY,
SIR ADAM FERGUSSON,
SIR JOSEPH BANKS,
SIR WILLIAM FORDYCE,
MR. PULTNEY,
MR. BEAUFOY,
MR. STUART:
_ABSENT MEMBERS,_
* * * * *
BISHOP OF LANDAFF,
LORD CARYSFORT,
SIR JOHN SINCLAIR:
RESOLVED,
That as no species of information is more ardently desired, or more
generally useful, than that which improves the science of Geography;
and as the vast Continent of Africa, notwithstanding the efforts
of the Ancients, and the wishes of the Moderns, is still in a great
measure unexplored, the Members of this Club do form themselves into
an Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Inland Parts of
that Quarter of the World:
That, for the said purpose, each Member do subscribe Five Guineas
a year, for three years; and that at, or after that period, any
Member, on giving a year’s notice, may withdraw himself from
the Association:
That during the first twelve months from the present day, each of the
Members of the Club be allowed to recommend, for the approbation of
the Club, such of his Friends as he shall think proper to be admitted
to the new Association; but that after that time all additional
Members be elected by a Ballot of the Association at large:
That a Committee, consisting of a Secretary and Treasurer, and of
three Assisting Members, be chosen by Ballot:
That the said Committee do prepare and submit to the consideration
of the Members, at their next meeting, such Rules as they shall
think requisite for the effectual attainment of the object of the
new Institution, and for its good government:
That the Committee be entrusted with the choice of the persons who are
to be sent on the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, together
with the Society’s Correspondence, and the Management of its Funds:
That the Committee shall not disclose, except to the Members of the
Association at large, such intelligence as they shall, from time to
time, receive from the persons who shall be sent out on the business
of Discovery:
That on the receipt of any interesting intelligence from any of
the said persons, the Members of the Association shall be convened
by Letters from the Secretary; and that such parts of the said
intelligence as, in the opinion of the Committee, may, without
endangering the object of their Association, be made public, shall
be communicated to the Meeting:
That an Account of all Monies paid and received shall, on the last
Saturday in the month of May in each year, be submitted to the
consideration of the Society at large, by the Treasurer:
That the Members of the Committee be chosen by Ballot, on the first
Saturday in the month of May in each year.
* * * * *
The preceding Resolutions having been agreed to by all the Members
present, they proceeded on the same day, the 9th of June, 1788,
in pursuance of their Fourth Resolution, to chuse a Committee by
Ballot, and the following persons were elected:
LORD RAWDON,
BISHOP OF LANDAFF,
SIR JOSEPH BANKS,
MR. BEAUFOY,
MR. STUART.
~CHAPTER I.~
_Proceedings of the Association from the Time of its Establishment,
to that of the Departure of_ Mr. LEDYARD.
* * * * *
The Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Regions
of Africa was formed on the 9th of June, in the year 1788; and on the
same day a Committee of its Members was invested with the direction
of its Funds, the management of its Correspondence, and the choice
of the persons to whom the Geographical mission should be assigned.
Naturally anxious for the speedy attainment of the important object
thus recommended to their care, an object made doubly interesting by
the consideration of its having engaged the attention, and baffled
the researches of the most inquisitive and the most powerful nations
of antiquity, the Managers proceeded with the utmost ardour to the
immediate execution of the Plan.
Two Gentlemen, whose qualifications appeared to be eminent, proposed
to undertake the Adventure.
One of them, a Mr. LEDYARD, was an American by birth, and seemed
from his youth to have felt an invincible desire to make himself
acquainted with the unknown, or imperfectly discovered regions of the
globe. For several years he had lived with the Indians of America,
had studied their manners, and had practised in their school the
means of obtaining the protection, and of recommending himself to the
favour of Savages. In the humble situation of a Corporal of Marines,
to which he submitted rather than relinquish his pursuit, he had
made, with Captain Cook, the Voyage of the World; and feeling on
his return an anxious desire of penetrating from the North Western
Coast of America, which Cook had partly explored, to the Eastern
Coast, with which he himself was perfectly familiar, he determined
to traverse the vast Continent from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.
His first Plan for the purpose was that of embarking in a vessel which
was then preparing to sail, on a Voyage of Commercial Adventure, to
Nootka Sound, on the Western Coast of America; and with this view
he expended in sea stores, the greatest part of the money which
his chief benefactor Sir Joseph Banks (whose generous conduct
the Writer of this Narrative has often heard him acknowledge)
had liberally supplied. But the scheme being frustrated by the
rapacity of a Custom-house Officer, who had seized and detained the
vessel for reasons which on legal inquiry proved to be frivolous,
he determined to travel over land to Kamschatka, from whence to the
Western coast of America the passage is extremely short. With no
more than ten guineas in his purse, which was all that he had left,
he crossed the British Channel to Ostend, and by the way of Denmark
and the Sound, proceeded to the capital of Sweden, from whence, as
it was Winter, he attempted to traverse the Gulph of Bothnia on the
ice, in order to reach Kamschatka by the shortest way; but finding,
when he came to the middle of the sea, that the water was not frozen,
he returned to Stockholm, and taking his course Northward, walked
into the Arctic Circle; and passing round the head of the Gulph,
descended on its Eastern side to Petersburgh.
There, he was soon noticed as an extraordinary man.—Without
stockings, or shoes, and in too much poverty to provide himself
with either, he received and accepted an invitation to dine with
the Portugueze Ambassador. To this invitation it was probably owing
that he was able to obtain the sum of twenty guineas for a bill on
Sir Joseph Banks, which he confessed he had no authority to draw,
but which, in consideration of the business that he had undertaken,
and of the progress that he had made, Sir Joseph, he believed, would
not be unwilling to pay. To the Ambassador’s interest it might
also be owing that he obtained permission to accompany a detachment
of Stores which the Empress had ordered to be sent to Yakutz, for
the use of Mr. Billings, an Englishman, at that time in her service.
Thus accommodated, he travelled Eastward through Siberia, six thousand
miles, to Yakutz, where he was kindly received by Mr. Billings, whom
he remembered on board Captain Cook’s ship, in the situation of
the Astronomer’s Servant, but to whom the Empress had now entrusted
her schemes of Northern discovery.
From Yakutz he proceeded to Oczakow, on the coast of the Kamschatka
sea, from whence he meant to have passed over to that peninsula, and
to have embarked on the Eastern side in one of the Russian vessels
that trade to the Western shores of America; but finding that the
navigation was completely obstructed by the ice, he returned again
to Yakutz, in order to wait for the conclusion of the Winter.
Such was his situation, when, in consequence of suspicions not
hitherto explained, or resentments for which no reason is assigned,
he was seized, in the Empress’s name, by two Russian soldiers, who
placed him in a sledge, and conveying him, in the depth of Winter,
through the Deserts of the Northern Tartary, left him at last on
the Frontiers of the Polish Dominions. As they parted they told him,
that if he returned to Russia, he would certainly be hanged, but that
if he chose to go back to England, they wished him a pleasant journey.
In the midst of poverty, covered with rags, infested with the usual
accompaniments of such cloathing, worn with continued hardship,
exhausted by disease, without friends, without credit, unknown, and
full of misery, he found his way to Koningsberg.—There, in the hour
of his uttermost distress, he resolved once more to have recourse to
his old Benefactor, and he luckily found a person who was willing to
take his draft for five guineas on the President of the Royal Society.
With this assistance he arrived in England, and immediately waited on
Sir Joseph Banks, who told him, knowing his temper, that he believed
he could recommend him to an adventure almost as perilous as the one
from which he had returned; and then communicated to him the wishes
of the Association for Discovering the Inland Countries of Africa.
LEDYARD replied, that he had always determined to traverse the
Continent of Africa as soon as he had explored the Interior of North
America; and as Sir Joseph had offered him a Letter of Introduction,
he came directly to the Writer of these Memoirs. Before I had learnt
from the note the name and business of my Visitor, I was struck with
the manliness of his person, the breadth of his chest, the openness
of his countenance, and the inquietude of his eye. I spread the map
of Africa before him, and tracing a line from Cairo to Sennar, and
from thence Westward in the latitude and supposed direction of the
Niger, I told him that was the route, by which I was anxious that
Africa might, if possible, be explored. He said, he should think
himself singularly fortunate to be entrusted with the Adventure. I
asked him when he would set out? “To-morrow morning,” was his
answer. I told him I was afraid that we should not be able, in so
short a time, to prepare his instructions, and to procure for him
the letters that were requisite; but that if the Committee should
approve of his proposal, all expedition should be used.
Such is the history, and such were the qualifications of one of the
persons whom the Committee engaged in its service.
The other, Mr. LUCAS, had been sent, when a boy, to Cadiz, in Spain,
for education as a merchant, and having the misfortune on his return
to be captured by a Sallee Rover, was brought as a slave to the
Imperial Court of Morocco.
Three years of captivity preceded his restoration to freedom, and
his consequent departure for Gibraltar; where, at the request of
General Cornwallis, he accepted the offices of Vice-Consul and Chargé
d’Affaires in the Empire of Morocco; and had the satisfaction to
return, as the Delegate of his Sovereign, to the very kingdom in
which, for so long a period, he had lived as a slave. At the end of
sixteen years he once more revisited England, and was soon appointed
Oriental Interpreter to the British Court, in which situation he was
when he became known to the Committee, and expressed his willingness,
with His Majesty’s permission, to undertake, in the Service of the
Association, whatever Journey his knowlege of the Manners, Customs,
and Language of the Arabs might enable him to perform. His Majesty,
with that liberal attention to the Progress of Knowledge which
at all times has distinguished his reign, signified his pleasure,
that Mr. LUCAS should proceed on the business of the Society; and
that his salary as Oriental Interpreter should be continued to him
during his absence.
Having thus obtained the assistance of two persons so eminently
qualified to facilitate the attainment of its object, the Committee
proceeded to prescribe to them their respective routs.
To Mr. LEDYARD they assigned, at his own desire, as an enterprize of
obvious peril and of difficult success, the task of traversing from
East to West, in the latitude attributed to the Niger, the widest
part of the Continent of Africa.
To Mr. LUCAS, in consideration of the knowledge which he possessed of
the Language and Manners of the Arabs, they allotted the passage of
the Desert of Zahara, from Tripoli to Fezzan; for they had learned
from various information, that with this kingdom, which in some
measure is dependent on Tripoli, the traders of Agadez and Tombuctou,
and of other towns in the Interior of Africa, had established a
frequent and regular intercourse; and their instructions to him
were, that he should proceed directly to Fezzan; that he should
collect and transmit by the way of Tripoli, whatever intelligence,
respecting the Inland Regions of the Continent, the people of Fezzan,
or the traders who visited their country, might be able to afford;
and that he should afterwards return by the way of the Gambia,
or by that of the Coast of Guinea.
One obstacle to the departure of these Geographical Misionaries was
still to be removed; and that was, the smallness of the Fund; for
the Members of the Association, which had not yet passed the second
month of its existence, were extremely few, and the Committee were
too conscious of the importance and dignity of their undertaking,
to canvass for subscriptions.
In this dilemma, the Committee resolved to advance the money that was
requisite; and they accordingly raised among themselves the sum of
430l. which enabled them to provide for their travellers the means
of immediate equipment, and the letters of necessary credit.
Mr. LUCAS, detained by illness, did not leave England till the 6th
of August.
~CHAPTER II.~
_Mr._ LEDYARD’_s Arrival at Cairo. — His Remarks on the
Inhabitants, &c. — His Death and Character._
* * * * *
Mr. LEDYARD took his departure from London on the 30th of June,
1788; and after a journey of six and thirty days, seven of which
were consumed at Paris, and two at Marseilles, arrived in the city
of Alexandria.
His Letters of Recommendation to the British Consul secured him
from the embarrassments that the want of inns would otherwise have
occasioned; and procured for him the necessary instructions for
assuming the dress, and adopting the manners that are requisite for
an Egyptian Traveller.
Forcibly impressed by the objects which he saw, and naturally led to
compare them with those which other Regions of the Globe had presented
to his view, he describes with the energy of an original Observer,
and exhibits in his Narrative the varied effect of similarity and
contrast: but as the travellers who preceded him, have obtained and
transmitted to Europe whatever knowledge, either ancient or modern,
the Lower Egypt affords, and as the examination of that country was no
part of the business which was given him in charge, his descriptions,
generally speaking, would add but little to the instruction which
other Narratives convey.
The following Extracts from different parts of his Journal are given
in his own words.
“A traveller, who should, by just comparisons between things here
and in Europe, tell his tale; who, by a mind unbewitched by antecedent
descriptions, too strong, too bold, too determined, too honest, to be
capable of lying, should speak just as he thought, would, no doubt,
be esteemed an arrant fool, and a stupid coxcomb.—For example,
an Englishman who had never seen Egypt, would ask me what sort of a
woman an Egyptian woman was? If I meant to do the question as much
justice by the answer, as I could in my way, I should ask him to
take notice of the first company of Gypsies he saw behind a hedge
in Essex; and I suppose he would be fool enough to think me a fool.
“August 14th. I left Alexandria at midnight, with a pleasant breeze
North; and was, at sun-rise next morning, at the mouth of the Nile,
which has a bar of sand across it, and soundings as irregular as the
sea, which is raised upon it by the contentions of counter currents
and winds.
“The view in sailing up the Nile is very confined, unless from
the top of the mast, or some other eminence, and then it is an
unbounded plain of excellent land, miserably cultivated, and yet
interspersed with a great number of villages, both on its banks
and as far along the meadows as one can see in any direction: the
river is also filled with boats passing and repassing—boats all
of one kind, and navigated in one manner; nearly also of one size,
the largest carrying ten or fifteen tons. On board of these boats
are seen onions, water-melons, dates, sometimes a horse, a camel,
(which lies down in the boat) and sheep and goats, dogs, men and
women.—Towards evening and morning they have music.
“Whenever we stopped at a village, I used to walk into it with my
Conductor, who, being a Musselman, and a descendant from Mahommed,
wore a green turban, and was therefore respected, and I was sure
of safety:—but in truth, dressed as I was in a common Turkish
habit, I believe I should have walked as safely without him. I saw
no propensity among the inhabitants to incivility. The villages
are most miserable assemblages of poor little mud huts, flung very
close together without any kind of order, full of dust, lice, fleas,
bed-bugs, flies, and all the curses of Moses: people poorly clad,
the youths naked; in such respects, they rank infinitely below any
Savages I ever saw.
“The common people wear nothing but a shirt and drawers, and they
are always blue. Green is the royal or holy colour; none but the
descendants of Mahommed, if I am rightly informed, being permitted
to wear it.
“August 19th. From the little town where we landed, the distance to
Cairo is about a mile and a half, which we rode on asses; for the ass
in this country is the Christian’s horse, as he is allowed no other
animal to ride upon. Indeed I find the situation of a Christian,
or what they more commonly call here a Frank, to be very, very
humiliating, ignominious, and distressing: no one, by a combination
of any causes, can reason down to such effects as experience teaches
us do exist here: it being impossible to conceive, that the enmity
I have alluded to could exist between men;—or, in fact, that the
same species of beings, from any causes whatever, should ever think
and act so differently as the Egyptians and the English do.
“I arrived at Cairo early in the morning, on the 19th of August,
and went to the house of the Venetian Consul, Mr. Rosetti, Chargé
d’Affaires for the English Consul here.
“After dinner, not being able to find any other lodging, and
receiving no very pressing invitation from Mr. Rosetti, to lodge
with him, I went to a convent. This convent consists of Missionaries
sent by the Pope to propagate the Christian Faith, or at least to
give shelter to Christians. The Christians here are principally from
Damascus: the convent is governed by the Order of Recollets: a number
of English, as well as other European travellers, have lodged there.
“August 21st. It is now about the hottest season of the year here;
but I think I have felt it warmer in the City of Philadelphia,
in the same month.
“August 26th. This day I was introduced by Rosetti to the Aga
Mahommed, the confidential Minister of Ismael, the most powerful of
the four ruling Beys: he gave me his hand to kiss, and with it the
promise of letters, protection, and support, through Turkish Nubia,
and also to some Chiefs far inland. In a subsequent conversation,
he told me I should see in my travels a people who had power to
transmutate themselves into the forms of different animals. He
asked me what I thought of the affair? I did not like to render
the ignorance, simplicity, and credulity of the Turk apparent. I
told him, that it formed a part of the character of all Savages to
be great Necromancers; but that I had never before heard of any so
great as those which he had done me the honour to describe; that it
had rendered me more anxious to be on my voyage, and if I passed
among them, I would, in the letter I promised to write to him,
give him a more particular account of them than he had hitherto
had.—He asked me how I could travel without the language of the
people where I should pass? I told him, with vocabularies:—I might
as well have read to him a page of Newton’s Principia. He returned
to his fables again. Is it not curious, that the Egyptians (for I
speak of the natives of the country as well as of him, when I make
the observation) are still such dupes to the arts of sorcery? Was
it the same people who built the Pyramids?
“I can’t understand that the Turks have a better opinion of our
mental powers than we have of theirs; but they say of us, that we are
“_a people who carry our minds on our fingers ends_:” meaning,
that we put them in exercise constantly, and render them subservient
to all manner of purposes, and with celerity, dispatch, and ease,
do what we do.
“I suspect the Copts to have been the origin of the Negro race: the
nose and lips correspond with those of the Negro. The hair, whenever
I can see it among the people here, (the Copts) is curled;—not
close like the Negros, but like the Mulattoes. I observe a greater
variety of colour among the human species here than in any other
country; and a greater variety of feature than in any other country
not possessing a greater degree of civilization.
“I have seen an Abyssinian woman and a Bengal man—the colour is
the same in both; so are their features and persons.
“I have seen a small mummy;—it has what I call wampum work on
it. It appears as common here as among the Tartars. Tatowing is
as prevalent among the Arabs of this place as among the South Sea
Islanders. It is a little curious, that the women here are more
generally than in any other part of the world tatowed on the chin,
with perpendicular lines descending from the under lip to the chin,
like the women on the North West Coast of America. It is also a
custom here to stain the nails red, like the Cochin Chinese, and
the Northern Tartars. The mask or veil that the women here wear,
resembles exactly that worn by the Priests at Otaheite, and those
seen at Sandwich Islands.
“I have not yet seen the Arabs make use of a tool like our axe or
hatchet; but what they use for such purposes as we do our hatchet
and axe, is in the form of an adze, and is a form we found most
agreeable to the South Sea Islanders. I see no instance of a tool
formed designedly for the use of the right or left hand particularly,
as the cotogon is among the Yorkertic Tartars.
“There is certainly a very remarkable affinity between the Russian
and Greek dress. The fillet round the temples of the Greek and Russian
women, is a circumstance in dress that perhaps would strike nobody
as it does me; and so of the wampum work too, which is also found
among them both.
“They spin here with the distaff and spindle only, like the French
peasantry and others in Europe; and the common Arab loom is upon
our principle, though rude.
“I saw to-day (August 10th) an Arab woman white, like the White
Indians in the South Sea Islands, Isthmus of Darien, &c. These kind
of people all look alike.
“Among the Greek women here, I find the identical Archangel
head-dress.
“Their music is instrumental, consisting of a drum and pipe, both
which resemble those two instruments in the South Seas: the drum
is exactly like the Otaheite drum; the pipe is made of cane, and
consists of a long and short tube joined: the music resembles very
much the bagpipe, and is pleasant.—All their music is concluded,
if not accompanied, by the clapping of hands. I think it singular,
that the women here make a noise with their mouths like frogs, and
that this frog-music is always made at weddings; and I believe on
all other occasions of merriment where there are women.
“It is remarkable, that the dogs here are of just the same species
found among the Otaheiteans.
“It is also remarkable, that in one village I saw exactly the same
machines used for diversion as in Russia.—I forget the Russian
name for it. It is a large kind of wheel, on the extremities of
which there are suspended seats, in which people are whirled round
over and under each other.
“The women dress their hair behind exactly in the same manner in
which the women of the Calmuc Tartars dress theirs.
“In the History of the Kingdom of Benin in Guinea, the Chiefs are
called Aree Roee, or Street Kings. Among the Islands in the South
Sea, Otaheite, &c. they call the Chiefs Arees, and the great Chiefs
Aree le Hoi. I think this curious; and so I do that it is a custom
of the Arabs to spread a blanket when they would invite any one to
eat or rest with them.—American Indians spread the beaver skins
on such occasions.
“The Arabs of the Deserts, like the Tartars, have an invincible
attachment to Liberty: no arts will reconcile them to any other life,
or form of government, however modified. This is a character given
me here of the Arabs.
“It is singular that the Arab Language has no word for Liberty,
although it has for Slaves.
“The Arabs, like the New Zealanders, engage with a long strong
spear.
“I have made the best inquiries I have been able, since I have been
here, of the nature of the country before me; of Sennar, Darfoor,
Wangara, of Nubia, Abyssinia, of those named, or unknown by name. I
should have been happy to have sent you better information of those
places than I am yet able to do. It will appear very singular to
you in England, that we in Egypt are so ignorant of countries which
we annually visit: the Egyptians know as little of Geography as the
generality of the French; and like them, sing, dance, and traffic
without it.
“I have the best assurances of a certain and safe conduct by the
return of the caravan that is arrived from Sennar; and Mr. Rosetti
tells me that the letters I shall have from the Aga here, will insure
me of being conveyed, from hand to hand, to my journey’s end.
“The Mahometans in Africa are what the Russians are in Siberia,
a trading, enterprizing, superstitious, warlike set of vagabonds,
and wherever they are set upon going, they will and do go; but
they neither can nor do make voyages merely commercial, or merely
religious, across Africa; and where we do not find them in commerce,
we find them not at all. They cannot (however vehemently pushed on
by religion) afford to cross the Continent without trading by the way.
“October 14th. I went to-day to the market-place, where they
vend the Black slaves that come from towards the interior parts of
Africa:—there were 200 of them together, dressed and ornamented as
in their country. The appearance of a Savage in every region is almost
the same!—There were very few men among them: this indicates that
they are prisoners of war. They have a great many beads and other
ornaments about them that are from the East. I was told by one of
them that they came from the West of Sennar, fifty-five days journey,
which may be about four or five hundred miles. A Negro Chief said,
the Nile had its source in his country. In general they had their hair
plaited in a great number of small detached plaits, none exceeding
in length six or eight inches—the hair was filled with grease,
and dirt purposely daubed on.
“October 16th. I have renewed my visit to-day, and passed it more
agreeably than yesterday; for yesterday I was rudely treated. The
Franks are prohibited to purchase slaves, and therefore the Turks
do not like to see them in the market. Mr. Rosetti favoured me
with one of his running Chargé d’Affaires to accompany me:
but having observed yesterday among the ornaments of the Negros a
variety of beads, and wanting to know from what country they came,
I requested Mr. Rosetti, previously to my second visit, to shew me
from his store samples of Venetian beads.—He shewed me samples of
fifteen hundred different kinds: after this I set out.
“The name of the country these Savages come from is Darfoor, and
is well known on account of the Slave Trade, as well as of that in
Gum and Elephants teeth.
“The appearance of these Negros declares them to be a people in as
savage a state as any people can; but not of so savage a temper, or of
that species of countenance that indicates savage intelligence. They
appear a harmless, wild people; but they are mostly young women.
“The beads they are ornamented with are Venetian; and they have
some Venetian brass medals which the Venetians make for trade. The
beads are worked wampum-wise. I know not where they got the marine
shells they worked among their beads, nor how they could have seen
white men. I asked them if they would use me well in their country,
if I should visit it? They said, “Yes:”—and added, that they
should make a King of me, and treat me with all the delicacies of
their country. Like the Egyptian women, and like most other Savages,
they stick on ornaments wherever they can, and wear, like them,
a great ring in the nose, either from the cartilage, or from the
side: they also rub on some black kind of paint round the eyes,
like the Egyptian women. They are a sizeable well-formed people,
quite black, with what, I believe, we call the true Guinea face, and
with curled short hair; but not more curled or shorter than I have
seen it among the Egyptians; but in general these Savages plait it in
tassels plaistered with clay or paint. Among some of them the hair
is a foot long, and curled, resembling exactly one of our mops. The
prevailing colour, where it can be seen, is a black and red mixed. I
think it would make any hair curl, even Uncle Toby’s wig, to be
plaited and plaistered as this is. This caravan, which I call the
Darfoor caravan, is not very rich.—The Sennar is the rich caravan.
“October 19th. I went yesterday to see if more of the Darfoor
caravan had arrived; but they were not. I wonder why travellers to
Cairo have not visited these slave markets, and conversed with the
Jelabs or travelling Merchants of these caravans: both are certainly
sources of great information.—The eighth part of the money expended
on other accounts, might here answer some good solid purpose. For my
part, I have not expended a crown, and I have a better idea of the
people of Africa, of its trade, of the position of places, the nature
of the country, manner of travelling, &c. than ever I had by any other
means; and, I believe, better than any other means would afford me.
“October 25th. I have been again to the slave market; but neither
the Jelabs (a name which in this country is given to all travelling
Merchants) nor the slaves are yet arrived in town—they will be
here to-morrow. I met two or three in the street, and one with a
shield and spear.
“I have understood to-day, that the King of Sennar is himself a
Merchant, and concerned in the Sennar caravans. The Merchant here
who contracts to convey me to Sennar, is Procurer at Cairo to the
King of Sennar: this is a good circumstance, and one I knew not of
till to-day. Mr. Rosetti informed me of it. He informed me also, that
this year the importation of Negro Slaves into Egypt will amount to
20,000.—The caravans from the interior countries of Africa do not
arrive here uniformly every year—they are sometimes absent two or
three years.
“Among a dozen of Sennar slaves, I saw three personable men, of a
good bright olive colour, of vivacious and intelligent countenances;
but they had all three (which fist attracted my notice) heads
uncommonly formed: the forehead was the narrowest, the longest,
and most protuberant I ever saw. Many of these slaves speak a few
words of the Arab language; but whether they learned them before or
since their captivity I cannot tell.
“A caravan goes from here (Cairo) to Fezzan, which they call a
journey of fifty days; and from Fezzan to Tombuctou, which they call
a journey of ninety days. The caravans travel about twenty miles
a day, which makes the distance on the road from here to Fezzan,
one thousand miles; and from Fezzan to Tombuctou, one thousand eight
hundred miles. From here to Sennar is reckoned six hundred miles.
“I have been waiting several days to have an interview with the
Jelabs who go from hence to Sennar. I am told that they carry, in
general, trinkets; but among other things, soap, antimony, red linen,
razors, scissars, mirrors, beads; and, as far as I can yet learn,
they bring from Sennar elephants teeth, the gum called here gum
Sennar, camels, ostrich feathers, and slaves.
“Wangara is talked of here as a place producing much gold, and
as a kingdom: all accounts, and there are many, agree in this. The
King of Wangara (whom I hope to see in about three months after
leaving this) is said to dispose of just what quantity he pleases
of his gold—sometimes a great deal, and sometimes little or none;
and this, it is said, he does to prevent strangers knowing how rich
he is, and that he may live in peace.”
Such are the most material of those remarks on the people of Africa,
which Mr. LEDYARD was enabled, by his residence at Cairo, to send
to the Committee.—The views which they opened were interesting
and instructive; but they derived their principal importance from
the proofs which they afforded of the ardent spirit of inquiry, the
unwearied attention, the persevering research, and the laborious,
indefatigable, anxious zeal with which their Author pursued the
object of his Mission.
Already informed that his next dispatch would be dated from Sennar;
that letters of earnest recommendation had been given him by the Aga;
that the terms of his passage had been settled; and that the day of
his departure was appointed—the Committee expected with impatience
the description of his journey. Great was therefore their concern,
and severe their disappointment, when letters from Egypt announced
to them the melancholy tidings of his death. A bilious complaint,
the consequence of vexatious delays in the promised departure of the
caravan, had induced him to try the effect of too powerful a dose
of the acid of vitriol; and the sudden uneasiness and burning pain
which followed the incautious draught, impelled him to seek relief
from the violent action of the strongest Tartar emetic. A continued
discharge of blood discovered the danger of his situation, and
summoned to his aid the generous friendship of the Venetian Consul,
and the ineffectual skill of the most approved physicians of Cairo.
He was decently interred in the neighbourhood of such of the English
as had ended their days in the capital of Egypt.
The bilious complaint with which he was seized has been attributed
to the frowardness of a childish impatience—Much more natural is
the conjecture, that his unexpected detention, week after week,
and month after month, at Cairo, (a detention which consumed his
finances, which therefore exposed to additional hazard the success
of his favourite enterprize, and which consequently tended to bring
into question his honour to the Society) had troubled his spirits, had
preyed upon his peace, and subjected him at last to the disease that
proved in its consequences the means of dragging him to his grave.
Of his attachment to the Society, and of his zeal for their service,
the following Extracts from his Letters are remarkably expressive:
“Money! it is a vile slave!—I have at present an œconomy of a
more exalted kind to observe. I have the eyes of some of the first
men of the first kingdom on earth turned upon me. I am engaged
by those very men, in the most important object that any private
individual can be engaged in: I have their approbation to acquire,
or to lose; and their esteem also, which I prize beyond every thing,
except the independent idea of serving mankind. Should rashness or
desperation carry me through, whatever fame the vain and injudicious
might bestow, I should not accept of it;—it is the good and great
I look to: fame from them bestowed is altogether different, and is
closely allied to a well-done from God: but rashness will not be
likely to carry me through any more than timid caution. To find the
necessary medium of conduct, to vary and apply it to contingencies,
is the œconomy I allude to; and if I succeed by such means, men
of sense in any succeeding epoch will not blush to follow me, and
perfect those Discoveries I have only abilities to trace out roughly,
or, a disposition to attempt.
“A Turkish sopha has no charms for me: if it had, I could soon
obtain one here. I could to-morrow take the command of the best
armament of Ishmael Bey.—I should be sure of success, and its
consequential honours. Believe me, a single well-done from your
Association has more worth in it to me, than all the trappings of the
East; and what is still more precious, is, the pleasure I have in the
justification of my own conduct at the tribunal of my own heart.”
To those who have never seen Mr. LEDYARD, it may not, perhaps,
be uninteresting to know, that his person, though scarcely
exceeding the middle size, was remarkably expressive of activity
and strength; and that his manners, though unpolished, were neither
uncivil nor unpleasing. Little attentive to difference of rank, he
seemed to consider all men as his equals, and as such he respected
them. His genius, though uncultivated and irregular, was original and
comprehensive. Ardent in his wishes, yet calm in his deliberations;
daring in his purposes, but guarded in his measures; impatient of
controul, yet capable of strong endurance; adventurous beyond the
conception of ordinary men, yet wary and considerate, and attentive to
all precautions, he appeared to be formed by Nature for atchievements
of hardihood and peril.
They who compare the extent of his pilgrimage through the vast regions
of Tartary with the scantiness of his funds, will naturally ask,
by what means he obtained a subsistence on the road? All that I
have ever learned from him on the subject, was, that his sufferings
were excessive, and that more than once he owed his life to the
compassionate temper of the women. This last remark is strongly
confirmed by the following Extract from his account of his Siberian
Tour:
“I have always remarked, that women, in all countries, are civil,
obliging, tender, and humane; that they are ever inclined to be gay
and chearful, timorous and modest; and that they do not hesitate,
like men, to perform a generous action.—Not haughty, not arrogant,
not supercilious, they are full of courtesy, and fond of society:
more liable, in general, to err than man; but in general, also,
more virtuous, and performing more good actions than he. To a woman,
whether civilized or savage, I never addressed myself in the language
of decency and friendship, without receiving a decent and friendly
answer. With man it has often been otherwise.
“In wandering over the _barren_ plains of _inhospitable Denmark_,
through _honest Sweden_, and _frozen Lapland_, _rude_ and _churlish
Finland_, _unprincipled Russia_, and the _wide spread regions_
of the _wandering Tartar_, if hungry, dry, cold, wet, or sick,
the women have ever been friendly to me, and uniformly so; and
to add to this virtue, (so worthy the appellation of benevolence)
these actions have been performed in so free, and so kind a manner,
that if I was dry, I drank the sweetest draught, and if hungry,
I eat the coarse morsel with a double relish.”
But though the native benevolence, which even among Savages
distinguishes and adorns the female character, might sometimes
soften the severity of his sufferings, yet at others he seems to
have endured the utmost pressure of distress.
“I am accustomed—(said he, in our last conversation—’twas
on the morning of his departure for Africa)—I am accustomed to
hardships. I have known both hunger and nakedness to the utmost
extremity of human suffering. I have known what it is to have food
given me as charity to a madman; and I have at times been obliged
to shelter myself under the miseries of that character to avoid a
heavier calamity. My distresses have been greater than I have ever
owned, or ever _will_ own to any man. Such evils are terrible to bear;
but they never yet had power to turn me from my purpose. If I live,
I will faithfully perform, in its utmost extent, my engagement to
the Society; and if I perish in the attempt, my _honour_ will still
be safe, for death cancels all bonds.”
~CHAPTER III.~
_Arrival of_ Mr. LUCAS _at Tripoli. — His Reception by the
Bashaw. — His Journey to Mesurata with the Shereefs Fouwad and
Imhammed. — His Mode of obtaining from the latter an Account of
his Travels in the Interior Countries of Africa. — His Return
to England._
* * * * *
Mr. Lucas, having taken his passage at Marseilles, on board the
St. Jean Baptiste, a small vessel belonging to that port, embarked
on the 18th of October, 1788; and on the 25th of the same month
arrived in the harbour of Tripoli.
The date trees, which spread themselves like a forest behind the town,
and the hills beyond them, which bound the prospect on the South,
are interesting objects; but the town itself is built in too low a
situation to compose a part of the general scene: for it is scarcely
visible at the distance of a mile.
The first appearance of Tripoli may disappoint, by its meanness, the
expectations of the traveller; but if he reflects on the nature of a
despotic government, ever incompatible with permanent prosperity, he
will not be surprized when he finds, on a nearer view, that the city,
though the capital of an empire, exhibits through all its extent, the
marks of a rapid decay; that its scanty limits, though scarcely four
miles in circumference, are too great for its present population;
and that its antient castle, though once the pride, and still the
residence, of the reigning family, is now a mouldering ruin.
The expected ceremonial of announcing to the Bashaw, which is the
title of the Sovereign, and to the Consul of the State, to whom the
vessel belongs, her arrival in the harbour, having been regularly
observed, Mr. LUCAS, accompanied by Mr. Tully, the British Resident,
waited on Hadgee Abdrahaman, the Tripoline Minister for Foreign
Affairs, who had formerly resided in England as Ambassador from
the Bashaw; and having known Mr. LUCAS there, received him now with
the joy of an old acquaintance, and the cordiality of an intimate
friend. Encouraged by this kindness, Mr. LUCAS explained to him
the object of his mission, and requested that he would present and
recommend him to the Bashaw, and to the Prince, his eldest son, who
is distinguished by the title of the Bey. The Minister consented;
and the next morning was, accordingly, appointed by the Bashaw for
the first of these audiences: the morning after was fixed on by the
Bey for the latter.
The Bashaw, a short and robust old man, of a fair complexion,
a pleasing countenance, and an affable, joyous disposition,
received Mr. LUCAS with great complacency, and accepted, with much
satisfaction, his present of a pair of double-barrelled pistols,
mounted with silver; but expressed his surprize, when leave was asked
to visit his kingdom of Fezzan: for the journey, he said, had never
been attempted by a Christian. Mr. LUCAS replied, that he was led
to undertake it by the report which he had heard of various Roman
antiquities in different parts of the kingdom, and by the hope of
collecting a variety of medicinal plants that are not to be found
in Europe. The Bashaw appeared to be satisfied, and promised that,
on the first opportunity of a safe conveyance, he would give him such
aids for the journey as his countenance and protection could afford.
On the next morning Mr. LUCAS was presented to the Bey, the Bashaw’s
eldest son, a tall and well shaped, but dark complexioned man, in
the middle period of life; and was received by him with the engaging
politeness for which he is eminently distinguished. The present that
was made to him, except that its value was inferior, was similar to
that which had been given to his father; and the assurances of the
protection and friendship, which he offered in return, were the same
in effect with those which the Bashaw had expressed.
Soon after his presentation at Court, Mr. LUCAS was informed that
some of the principal Tribes of the tributary Arabs had lately
revolted from the Government, and were then in actual rebellion;
that all the frontiers of Tripoli, on the side of the Desert, were
infested by their inroads; that a caravan from the inland country had
lately been attacked, and that a Spanish Merchant had been plundered
within a few miles of the Capital. Mr. LUCAS was also informed,
that the Bashaw, who has no regular forces, was preparing to raise,
on this occasion, an army of 2,000 men; that as soon as the grass
should be high enough to afford the necessary forage for the cattle,
which it would be in the month of December, they would begin their
march to the frontier, where they would be joined by the troops of
such of the Arabs as continued faithful to the Government.
With this army, the collective numbers of which were expected to
amount to five or six thousand men, it was hoped that the Bey, by
the usual enforcements of predatory war, would be able to reduce the
rebellious Tribes to their antient obedience, and to the payment of
the customary tribute.
But while, from this expectation, Mr. LUCAS waited with impatience
for the departure of the army, he was informed that two Shereefs
from Fezzan, who were both, as their title announces, descended from
the Prophet, and one of whom had married the daughter of the King,
were arrived in Tripoli. They came there as Merchants, and brought
with them, for sale, a variety of articles, of which slaves and
senna were the chief; and as the reverence in which the descendants
of Mahomet are held secures their persons from violence, and their
property from plunder, they did not think that the restoration of
peace was requisite for the safety of their return. It was, therefore,
with much satisfaction that the Minister, whose intimate acquaintance
they were, received from them an assurance, that if Mr. LUCAS could
bear the fatigue of the journey, they would take him under their
protection, and would be answerable for his safe arrival in Fezzan.
The next morning, in consequence of this conversation, the Shereefs
waited upon Mr. LUCAS. One of them, whose rank as son-in-law to the
King, entitled him to the first consideration, was a tall, thin,
copper complexioned man, of too slender a frame for his height,
which was nearly six feet, but of an appearance that was expressive
of dignity: to this appearance the sedateness of his manners, and the
fewness, but solidity of his words were particularly suited. His age
was seemingly about thirty-five years, and his name was Mohammed
Bensein Hassen Fouwad. The other Shereef was a lively old man,
short and thin, and dark coloured, almost to blackness; affable,
free, and entertaining in his conversation, and much respected by
his companion, to whom he was related. His name was Imhammed, and
his age about fifty years.
After many compliments, for which their countrymen are famous, they
expressed to Mr. LUCAS the pleasure they should feel in presenting
him to their King, who had never seen a Christian Traveller, and
would be highly gratified by so new a visit. They assured him of
every accommodation which their country could afford, and of every
proof which they themselves could give of the kindest good will,
and of the sincerest friendship. The conference was concluded by a
present from Mr. LUCAS of a pair of pistols to each, with a suitable
quantity of powder and ball, and flints.
The Bashaw, being informed by the Minister of the proposal and
promises of the Shereefs, expressed his approbation of the scheme,
and sent, from his own stables, as a present to Mr. LUCAS, a handsome
mule for the journey. The Bey, too, was no sooner acquainted with
the arrangements, than he gave directions to a Jew taylor, who had
been employed in making, and had just finished his own tent, to
wait upon Mr. LUCAS, and take his orders for such a tent as would
be requisite for his journey.
But while in this manner Mr. LUCAS was preparing for his departure,
and had bespoke a Turkish dress for himself, and a magnificent robe,
as a present, for the King of Fezzan, an apprehension arose in the
mind of the Bashaw, that if Mr. LUCAS should be taken prisoner by
the Rebels, he himself should be reduced to the distressing dilemma
of either concluding a disadvantageous peace, or of abandoning the
Interpreter of the King of Great Britain to all the insults, and to
all the cruelties which those Barbarians might be disposed to inflict.
For this reason, the force of which will be much more apparent,
if the respect in which the office of Interpreter in a Mahometan
Government is usually held, be considered, he expressed his desire
(and in this desire his eldest son, the Bey, entirely concurred)
that Mr. LUCAS would defer his intended journey till the revolted
Arabs should be reduced to obedience, and the peace of the Desert
be restored. A few days after this requisition, the Bey began his
march with an army of 300 horse and 1500 foot.
The Shereefs were no sooner informed of the obstacle which had arisen
to the journey of their intended fellow-traveller, than they expressed
as much chagrin and disappointment as Mr. LUCAS himself could feel;
for they said, that they had already sent word to their Sovereign,
that they should soon have the pleasure to present to him a Christian,
who had travelled from his native land, (a journey of many moons)
with no other view than to gratify his wish to visit him, and to see
his kingdom of Fezzan:—that his anger would fall heavily on them,
to whom he would attribute the disappointment; and would probably
lead him to inflict on them the greatest indignity that Shereefs
can endure, that of having dust heaped upon their heads.
Impressed with these apprehensions, the Shereefs waited upon the
Bashaw, and offered to be responsible with their lives for the safety
of the Christian.
In this unfavourable state of Mr. LUCAS’s prospects, an old
man of the class of Maraboots (a name which is given to persons of
distinguished sanctity) informed the Minister, with whom he had been
long acquainted, that he meant, in a few days, to take his departure
for Fezzan; and that as the Rebels, in consequence of the march of the
Bashaw’s forces, had removed from that part of the country through
which he intended to pass, he would engage that, under his conduct,
Mr. LUCAS should travel in safety.
With this proposal Mr. LUCAS, by the advice of the Minister, and with
the consent of the Bashaw, had determined to comply, though against
his own opinion, for the countenance and behaviour of the Maraboot had
suggested suspicions of his sincerity; but while he was preparing for
his departure, which was fixed for the Monday following, the Bashaw,
on further reflection, concluded that the plan which the Shereefs had
proposed would, on the whole, be attended with the smallest hazard.
The scheme of the journey being thus finally settled, the Bashaw,
at the request of the Minister, presented Mr. LUCAS with a letter
of recommendation to the King of Fezzan, of which the following is
a translation.
* * * * *
_TRANSLATION OF THE BASHAW OF TRIPOLI’S RECOMMENDATION OF MR. LUCAS
TO THE KING OF FEZZAN._
* * * * *
“Praise be unto the Almighty God, and unto our Lord his Prophet
Mahommed, whose protection and mercy we crave, and resign ourselves
to his holy will: to our Son Sydy Hamed Benmohamed, the great and just
ruler over his beloved people; may his days be long and happy. Amen.
“Peace, and the protection and blessing of God, be with you,
and preserve you from evil.
“We have to acquaint you, our son, that our friend, the English
King, hath sent one of his Interpreters unto us, and desired we
would procure him a safe conveyance to Fezzan, where he goes for
his own amusement and pleasure; and as we have found a person whom
we esteem, and who has promised us to take great care of him, we
have consented to let the said Interpreter and his friends[1] go
with him to Fezzan. We have to desire that you will shew him and his
friends every kindness in your power, and comply with all his wishes;
and should he be inclined to go to any other place, you will send
proper people to conduct him, and to protect him in every thing;
for he is a man of sense, and much esteemed by us; wherefore we
recommend him to your care and protection. Peace and the blessing
of God be with you: from the Slave of God, Ally Benkaramaly, whose
greatness is under the protection of God. Dated in the Moon of Rabeah
thénee 1203”—(which corresponds with the month of January, 1789.)
* * * * *
To this rout by Mesurata, though not so direct as the antient passage
by the way of the Mountains of Guariano, the Merchants who trade
to Fezzan have lately given the preference: for in the first place,
they avoid the oppressive contributions, which, even in time of peace,
the rapacious tribes of Hooled Bensoliman and Benioleed, who inhabit
those hills, have often levied on travellers; and in the next place,
they have not only the advantage of sending their heavy merchandize
to Mesurata by sea, but have also an opportunity of hiring there,
at a much lower rate than at Tripoli, the camels for which they
have occasion.
On Sunday the first of February, 1789, at half an hour after eight
in the morning, the Shereefs, accompanied by Mr. LUCAS, took their
departure from the suburbs of Tripoli, where, in a garden which is
situated at the distance of three miles from the town, and which
belonged to a Tripoline Merchant, who was travelling with them to
Fezzan, they and their attendants had slept the evening before.
The caravan was composed of the Shereef Fouwad, and of three other
Merchants, on horseback, all of them well armed; of the little old
Shereef, who rode upon an ass; of Mr. LUCAS, who was mounted on the
mule which the Bashaw had given him; of Mr. LUCAS’s black servant,
well armed, upon a camel; of twelve Fezzaners on foot, but armed;
of three Negros and their wives, who had been slaves at Tripoli,
but having obtained their freedom, were now travelling to Fezzan on
their return to their native country; and of twenty-one camels, with
fifteen drivers, each of whom was armed with a musket and a pistol.
That so few camels were requisite in this part of the journey,
was owing to the expedient which the Shereefs, with great œconomy,
had adopted, of sending their heavy merchandize by sea to Mesurata.
At twelve o’clock, the caravan, whose course was E.S.E. passed
through the town of Tajarah, a miserable collection of clay-walled
huts, of which some were covered with terrace, and the rest with
roofs of thatch: but wretched as the buildings are, the country
around them abounds with date trees, among which a few of the olive
are intermixed.
At five the caravan encamped for the night upon a sandy eminence. No
sooner were the camels unburthened of their loads, than their drivers
turned them loose to feed on the stubble of the valleys, and on the
brambles of the adjacent hills; but though their freedom is thus
given them, they never stray to a greater distance than that of two
or three hundred paces from the camp.
The loads in the mean time are piled in a circle, and, except at
the narrow opening which forms the entrance, are stowed as close as
possible to each other. Within this circle the Merchants and drivers
and servants spread their mats and carpets. Here, also, they light
their fires and dress their victuals; and without any other covering
than their alhaiques or blankets (for very few are furnished with a
tent) lie down amidst the heavy dews and occasional storms of rain
that fall upon the coast, and sleep as soundly as in a bed: for the
wetness of their cloaths, which is often the consequence of this
exposure, is little regarded, and from the salubrity of the climate,
is attended with little inconvenience.
Mr. LUCAS’s tent being spread, the two Shereefs, with three of
their friends, took up their quarters with him: and on the first
appearance of supper, which was served in a large wooden dish, and
consisted of dried meat, and of flour formed into balls, and dressed
in steam, they all sat down with the familiarity of near relations,
and dipping their right hands into the dish, without either spoons
or forks or knives, devoured, with a voracious and disgusting haste,
the whole that was set before them.
The conclusion of the meal was followed by the ceremony of washing,
which consisted in each man’s dipping his right hand into the same
water which his companions had used. Coffee being then brought in,
they lighted their pipes, and each of them having drank three or four
dishes as he smoaked, they laid themselves down in their cloaths,
upon the bare sand, and conversed together till they talked themselves
to sleep.
February 2d. The next morning, at day-break, the drivers began to
re-load the camels: at eight o’clock the caravan was again in
motion; from which time till half an hour after four, they travelled
amidst dreary hills of loose and barren sand, where they saw neither
man nor beast, neither wood nor water.
A small valley between the hills, from which, to their great
annoyance, the shifting sand was continually blown down upon them,
was the place of their encampment; a place entirely destitute of
water, but from this circumstance they felt no sort of inconvenience,
as they had brought with them, in goat skins, an ample store.
February 3d. At half an hour after seven in the morning, they
proceeded on their journey, and having emerged from the sand hills
about two in the afternoon, were charmed with the sight of olive
and of date trees, of large quantities of white thorn, and of the
Spanish broom; yet the soil is dry and stoney, and the few fields of
grain which present themselves here and there to the eye, exhibit
in their scanty and meagre appearance, the marks of an ungracious
and sullen vegetation.
On the right or S.E. of their road, at the distance of about twenty
miles, the mountains of Guariano and Misselata rise upon the view.—A
sight that recals to the mind of the experienced Traveller, and leads
him to relate to the stranger, the beauty of the vales, the richness
of the lands, abounding in corn and oil, and the fierce inhospitable
disposition of the inhabitants, that compels the caravan to turn
from their dominions, its direct and antient road, and to take its
course among the desolate hills, and dreary wastes of the sandy and
barren coast.[2]
A request from the Shereef Fouwad was now made to Mr. LUCAS for
his consent to encamp that evening in the neighbourhood of an
old Arab, his particular friend, with whom he had business to
transact, but whose residence was two hours march to the South of
their road. They accordingly turned to the South, and about five
o’clock, after a tedious and difficult passage among rocky hills,
they approached the tents of the Arab. The old gentleman, accompanied
by his two sons and a few attendants, came forward to meet them;
and after expressing great satisfaction at the sight of his friend,
the Shereef, he ordered a tent to be cleared for their reception,
and in the mean time conducted them to a mat and carpet, which his
servants had spread for them under a hedge; for, notwithstanding the
season of the year, the heat was already troublesome. They had not
been seated long when their host invited them to their tent, in which
a number of mats and carpets were neatly laid.—A sheep was killed,
and sent to be dressed for their suppers; bowls of buttermilk were
brought for their present refreshment, and barley in abundance was
given to such of their cattle as were accustomed to that kind of food;
while the camels, as usual, were sent to feed among the hills.
At eight o’clock the supper was brought to the tent, and was placed
before them in two large wooden dishes. Of these the first contained
the mutton, which was boiled, and cut into small pieces: the other
was filled with a boiled paste of dried barley meal, made up in the
form of an English pudding, and surrounded with a great quantity of
oil. This dish, which was intended as an accompaniment to the mutton,
and which is in much estimation at Tripoli, is called bazeen.
While Mr. LUCAS tasted of the last, and eat with pleasure of the
first of these dishes, and the Fezzaners, with their usual dispatch,
were devouring the contents of both, the old man and his sons stood
by to supply them with water and buttermilk; for the rules of the
Arab hospitality require, that during their meals the master of the
house should wait upon his guests.
Feb. 4th. The next morning, at seven o’clock, the entertainment
was repeated, with the same marks of a kind and liberal welcome;
for the old man is rich in corn and cattle, and having obtained the
character of a Musselman Saint, or Maraboot, is, on that account,
exempted from the payment of taxes.
After a march of three hours, during which the rout was perplexed,
and the eye fatigued by a continued succession of rocky hills,
the caravan arrived at the entrance of an extensive and beautiful
plain, that every where exhibited a luxuriant growth of olive trees,
intermixed with dates.
The next two hours brought them to the sea coast, and to all that
now exists of the town of Lebida, where, in the ruins of a temple,
and in the much more perfect remains of several triumphal arches, the
Traveller contemplates the magnificence of an antient Roman colony;
and discovers, in the beauty and fertile appearance of the adjoining
plain, the reasons which led them to chuse, for a sea-port town,
a situation that furnishes no natural harbour.
Eastward of the ruins, for about five and twenty miles, the soil,
though entirely unaided by the poor Arabs who inhabit it, exhibits
the same luxuriant vegetation; and the scene is rendered still more
interesting by the remains of a stupendous aqueduct, which formerly
conveyed to Lebida the water of a distant hill.
At half an hour after five, and in the neighbourhood of a miserable
village, the caravan encamped for the night.
Feb. 5th. The next day’s journey, which was attended with nothing
remarkable, and during which they followed the line of the coast,
brought them to Zuleteen, an inconsiderable town, where they found
that a boat, to which a part of their baggage was intrusted, had been
compelled by a storm to deposit her cargo. From this circumstance, and
the necessity which followed it, of hiring six additional camels for
their goods, the departure of the caravan on the next day (February
6th) was retarded till two o’clock in the afternoon. At the end of
the first hour’s march, they were informed by some friendly Arabs,
who were moving their tents and cattle, for the sake of protection,
to the suburbs of the town, that on the preceding afternoon a party
of the rebel tribe of Hooled Bensoliman, from the neighbouring hills,
had attacked a small caravan belonging to Mesurata, and after killing
four of the people, had carried off the camels and baggage:—and
they were also informed, that on that very morning two men, who were
going from Mesurata to the market, which is held at some distance
from the town, were robbed and killed by the same party. At this news
a Council was summoned to determine on the prudence of attempting
to proceed; for the Shereefs began to distrust the sufficiency
of that title to an exemption from the violence of war, on which,
when the danger was distant, they had so confidently relied. The
opinion of Mr. LUCAS being asked, he observed, that as the party
which committed the depredations were described as not more than
forty or fifty in number, and were consequently much too weak to
resist the detachment that, they must be sure, would be sent from
Mesurata to revenge the violences of which they had been guilty,
he had not the smallest doubt of their being already returned to the
refuge of their mountains; but that at any rate, their own numbers,
considering how well they were armed, were amply sufficient to defend
them from the attacks of such petty marauders. Pleased with an opinion
which gave them the prospect of but little danger, they fresh primed
their muskets and pistols, and singing as they went, drove merrily on.
At six o’clock they encamped upon a hill directly opposite to the
enemy’s mountains, that were now within twelve or fifteen miles;
and having lighted, by Mr. LUCAS’s advice, about seventy fires,
for which the dry brush-wood that was near them furnished the means,
they had soon the satisfaction of observing, that the fires of the
enemy, who probably mistook them for the troops of Mesurata, were
all extinguished.
Feb. 7th. The next morning at day-break, in the midst of a storm
from the S.W. of violent rain and wind, they left the hill; and
after a tempestuous march of four hours, they discerned through
the heavy atmosphere, which now began to clear, a party of fifty or
sixty Arabs upon a rising ground, at a distance, to the left.—That
more were concealed behind the hill, they had not the smallest doubt;
but as escape was impossible, and consultation useless, they resolved
unanimously to _make_ rather than _receive_ the attack. The Shereef
Fouwad took the command, and having given the charge of the camels to
the three Negros and their wives, with orders to drive them slowly,
and keep them close together, led on the rest of the party. The
horse, with the Shereef at their head, formed the van, while those
on foot were mixed together in a croud, dancing, and shouting, and
twirling their muskets over their heads, and running round each other
like madmen, till they came within shot of their antagonists, when
they suddenly dispersed, and each man squatted down behind a bush,
to shelter himself and take a surer aim. The horse were now close
upon the enemy, and were levelling their pieces at the foremost,
when one of the latter laid down his musket, and called to them not
to fire, for they were friends.
A moment’s pause was followed by a mutual recollection, and they
exhibited, on both sides, the most extravagant marks of joy. They
ran round each other like a flock of frighted sheep, and danced,
and shouted, and twirled their guns over their heads, till they were
tired, when they sat down and began a reciprocal congratulation on
their safety. The strangers said that they were herdsmen belonging to
Mesurata; that for want of pasturage near the town, they had brought
their flocks to feed upon these hills; that they were 200 armed men,
and that they did not fear the enemy.
After this information, and the exchange of civilities, the caravan
continued its journey, and at six in the evening arrived at Mesurata.
The Governor, whose politeness and natural good sense had been
improved by a long residence in Italy, received Mr. LUCAS with marks
of the greatest attention; but expressed his fear that, while the
war continued, the Shereefs would not be able to obtain from the
Rebel Arabs, who alone could furnish them, the 120 camels which
were requisite for the conveyance of their goods: and that, as the
prospect of peace was at present remote, and the sultry season would
soon commence, he saw but little chance of their reaching Fezzan
before the following Winter.
Feb. 9th. Information was now received at Mesurata, that the Bey’s
army, which consisted of 1,500 horse and 6,000 foot, was encamped
within five hours march of the Rebels, whose force was composed of
600 horse and 10,000 foot, and was commanded by a powerful Chief of
the name of Séife Bennazar.
It was also said, that the Tribes of the friendly Arabs, who formed
the principal part of the Tripoline army, were too closely connected,
by intermarriages and the force of antient alliance, with many of
the Rebel Clans, to bring with them to the battle that sort of zeal
which Government could safely trust.
Feb. 10th. Such was the situation of affairs when the Shereef Fouwad
requested from the Governor, to whom he was strongly recommended by
the Minister, a public and formal declaration, that if the hostile
Arabs would send to Mesurata 120 camels, with their drivers, for the
conveyance of the merchandize of the Shereefs to Fezzan, both they
and their cattle should be perfectly secure. The Governor replied,
that by his own authority alone he could not, with either prudence or
effect, announce to the Rebel Arabs such a stipulation; but that he
would summon a Council of the Chiefs of the town, and would propose
the business to them; though he himself was persuaded, that should
they consent to the Shereef’s requisition, as he hoped they would,
the Rebel Arabs were much too cautious to rely on the good faith of
such an engagement.
Feb. 11th. The next morning, a Council of six of the principal
inhabitants, with the Governor as President, assembled in
Mr. LUCAS’s tent, (for the Governor’s own house was near the sea,
at the distance of six miles from Mesurata) and unanimously agreed
that a letter should be written by the Governor, and signed by himself
and by all the Members of the Council, to assure the hostile Arabs,
that such of their camels and of their people, as they might send at
the request of the Shereef, should neither be detained or molested
within the jurisdiction of Mesurata. This letter, accompanied by one
from the Shereef, in which he desired to be furnished with 120 camels
for the carriage of his goods, was accordingly sent on that very day,
by an express, to a rebel province, in which he had many friends,
and which is called Gouady.
Feb. 14th. In three days from the time of his departure, the express
returned, and brought with him a reply, in which the Arabs observed
that, as the country was in arms, they could not with prudence trust
their camels from under their own protection, much less could they
spare their people.
Notwithstanding this answer, the Shereef Fouwad conceived that the
refusal of the Arabs was solely dictated by a distrust of the sort of
security which was offered by the Governor and Council of Mesurata;
for independently of the doubts which the Arabs might entertain of
their good faith, it was evident, that without the sanction of the
Bey, who commanded the army, their engagement, at the utmost, could
not extend beyond their own jurisdiction. But if the Bey himself would
guaranty the safety of the camels and their drivers, by granting them
a pass, the Shereef concluded that the real objections of the Arabs
would be entirely removed. With this view, on the 27th of February,
the Shereef and two of his countrymen set out for the camp, which
they reached on the second day, as it was not far from Mesurata;
but their trouble was fruitless, for the Bey could not be prevailed
on to assent to their proposal.
All hopes of obtaining, before the conclusion of the war, a sufficient
conveyance for the goods being thus at an end, the Council resolved
that, until peace should be established, the Shereefs and the other
Merchants of the caravan should be at liberty to warehouse their
packages in the public store-rooms of the Governor.
Deprived, in this manner, of all prospect of arriving this year at
Fezzan, and doubtful if the state of the country would encourage,
or his own situation permit the attempt in the Winter, Mr. LUCAS
resolved to avail himself to the utmost of such means of information
as the knowledge of his fellow-travellers enabled them to afford.
He had already discovered that the little old Shereef Imhammed had
been often employed by the King of Fezzan as his Factor in the Slave
Trade; and in that capacity had travelled to Bornou and different
parts of Nigritia; and he now determined to cultivate his friendship
with double solicitude, and by occasional presents and frequent
conversation, to draw from him an account of the countries which
he had seen. With this view he, one evening, took from his pocket
his map of Africa, and after satisfying the Shereef’s curiosity
as to its nature and use, told him that he once intended it as a
present to the King of Fezzan; but, that having discovered in it
several mistakes, he now proposed to draw another that should be
more correct. The Shereef replied, that the King would be highly
gratified with such a present. Mr. LUCAS said, that if he would
assist him with an account of the distances from place to place, in
such parts of the country as he had visited, and with their names in
Arabic, and would also satisfy him as to such questions as he should
ask, he would prepare _two_ corrected copies of the map, and would
give one of them to the King and the other to himself. The Shereef
was delighted with the proposal; and they immediately retired to a
sand hill at some distance from the tent, that their conversation
might be unreserved and uninterrupted. Many successive days were
employed in the same manner; and as Mr. LUCAS wrote down, at the
time, the information which he obtained, he was soon possessed of
such an account of Fezzan, Bornou, and Nigritia, especially of the
two former, as much diminished the chagrin of his own disappointment.
One afternoon, as they sat together on the customary hill, they were
suddenly disturbed by the loud screams and dismal howlings of all
the women of Mesurata—a mode of alarming and collecting the men,
which is always practised among the Arabs, on the approach of thieves,
or of an invading enemy.
In a few minutes the townsmen were under arms, and together with
the Shereef Fouwad, the other Fezzaners, and Mr. LUCAS’s Black,
went hastily on to the place where the Rebels were said to have
appeared:—there they found that the women had been deceived. It
seems an ass had strayed into a field of barley; and as the owner
of the corn, who was armed, and happened to pass by at the time,
went into the field to drive out the animal, the women mistook him
for one of the Rebels, and conceiving that many more were concealed,
(for they often come down from the mountains to steal the cattle)
had given the usual alarm.
In a few minutes, Mr. LUCAS and the old Shereef, who had both
continued on the hill, observed the Fezzaners coming sulkily back,
and cursing the women for so foolish a disturbance, whilst the
townsmen, on the contrary, fired their pieces, and rejoiced in their
disappointment as much as if they had conquered an army.
A few days afterwards, a second alarm was given, and with much
more reason than the first; for a party of the Rebel Arabs, some on
horseback, and others on foot, had suddenly appeared within two miles
of the town, and after killing two herdsmen, and seizing three Black
slaves, their assistants, had carried off sixty goats, fourteen cows,
and three camels.
The attack was made at a time when most of the townsmen were at the
market, which is held at the distance of three miles from Mesurata;
and to add to their indignation, it was made in a place which
hitherto had been deemed inviolable; for the land on which the cattle
were feeding was considered as under the immediate protection of a
departed Saint, whose remains were buried there, and whose sanctuary,
it was thought, no Musselman, however accustomed to robbery and blood,
could venture to profane.
March 13th. Letters by express from the camp were now received by
the Governor, which announced, that in consequence of the Bey’s
having entered the country of the Rebels, and turned his cattle to
pasture in their corn, an engagement, which soon became general, had
ensued; that after a loss of 150 men, the Rebels had retired to the
mountains; and that the Bey, at the expence in killed and wounded,
of not more than twenty-six horse and seventy or eighty foot, had
obtained possession of ten or twelve thousand sheep, and of three
hundred camels.
Mr. LUCAS congratulated the Governor on the victory, who thanked
him; but “I fear,” said he, shaking his head, “that the news
requires confirmation. There _was_ a time, indeed, when the people
of Tripoli knew how to conquer, and the Arabs trembled at the sight
of an encampment.”
March 15th. On the next day but one, accounts were brought by
different persons who arrived from the camp, that there had indeed
been a skirmish, in their relation of which they varied much from each
other; but they all agreed that the Bey had lost a greater number of
men, and that the only cattle which he had obtained, were a few camels
and some sheep that the straggling parties from the camp had seized.
Wearied with fruitless expectations of a peace, disappointed in their
expedients, and warned by the increasing heat, that the season for
a journey to Fezzan was already past, the Shereefs now resolved to
proceed to the intended places of their Summer residence.
The Shereef Fouwad retired to Wadan, his native town; and the Shereef
Imhammed, with tears in his eyes, and an earnest prayer that he might
see his friend Mr. LUCAS again in November, retired to the mountains,
where he had many acquaintance, and could live at a small expence.
March 20th. A few days afterwards, Mr. LUCAS took leave of the
Governor, to whose civilities he had been much indebted, and having
accompanied a small caravan as far as Lebida, embarked in a coasting
vessel at the neighbouring village of Legatah, and went by sea to
Tripoli, where the Bashaw, upon whom he waited, and to whom with
many acknowledgments he returned the mule, not only received him
with great kindness, but expressed his hope that better fortune
would attend him another year.
April 6th. From Tripoli he sailed for Malta, and after a tedious
quarantine, which the suspicion of the plague at Mesurata had much
prolonged, he took his departure for Marseilles, and on the 26th of
July arrived in England.
_INTRODUCTION_
TO
~CHAPTER IV.~
An account has already been given of the opportunity which the length
of his residence in Mesurata afforded to Mr. LUCAS, of obtaining
from the Shereef Imhammed a description of the Kingdom of Fezzan,
and of such of the countries beyond it to the South as the Shereef
himself had visited.
But though this intelligent stranger had no discoverable motive for
deception, yet as the solitary evidence of any individual excites but
a dubious belief, Mr. LUCAS was anxious to learn from the Governor
of Mesurata, who had formerly travelled to Fezzan, his idea of the
truth of the Narrative. With this view he asked and received the
Governor’s permission to read to him the memorandums that the
repeated conversations of Imhammed had enabled him to make.
“The Shereef’s Account of Fezzan,” said the Governor, “my
own knowledge confirms; and many of the particulars which he relates
of Bornou and Cashna I have heard from the report of others. His
countrymen say that he is better acquainted with both than any
other individual among them; and such is the opinion which the King
himself entertains of his probity, knowledge, and talents, that to
his management is always entrusted whatever business in either of
those empires his Sovereign has to transact.”
But while Mr. LUCAS, with a prudent and laudable caution, was thus
endeavouring to ascertain the truth of the Shereef’s account,
another, and perhaps more decisive test of its value was fortunately
obtained in England.—For, before the return of Mr. LUCAS, or the
arrival of his papers, the Committee of the Association, assisted
by Mr. DODSWORTH, (whose residence of fourteen years in Barbary had
given him a competent knowledge of Arabic) had procured from Ben Alli,
a native of Morocco, at that time in London, an account of all those
countries to the South of the Desart of Zahara, which, in the course
of his extensive Travels as a Merchant, he had formerly visited:
and though his remarks appear to be those of a superficial Observer,
who possesses activity of spirit rather than energy of mind, and whose
remembrance of what he saw is impaired by the lapse of near twenty
years; yet, (as will be seen in the following pages) the general
conformity of his description of Bornou to that which the Shereef has
given, has an obvious tendency to strengthen the credit of the latter.
This short account of the nature of the only external evidence that
has yet been obtained in support of the following Narrative seemed
to be due from the Committee; but in what degree that evidence is
impressive of belief, or what internal marks of authenticity the
Work itself may afford, the judgment of others must decide; for on
these points, it is evident that each individual must determine
for himself. In forming his opinion, however, it is requisite he
should know, that while the most anxious attention has been given
to the faithful preservation of the sense of the Original, an entire
change has been made in its language and arrangement; a change which,
the obvious advantage of methodizing conversations, as desultory as
they were numerous, of separating the blended accounts of unconnected
objects, and of uniting a variety of broken and detached descriptions
of the same thing, has unavoidably occasioned.
~CHAPTER IV.~
_Rout from Mesurata — Enumeration of the principal Towns of Fezzan
— Account of its Climate and principal Productions — Description
of the Manners, Religion, and Government of its People, their Revenue,
Administration of Justice, and Military Force._
* * * * *
Fezzan, whose small and circular domain is placed in the vast
Wilderness, as an island in the midst of the ocean, is situated to
the South of Mesurata. A journey of eight days, through districts
but little inhabited or improved, though naturally not unfertile,
conducts the Traveller to the town of Wadan, where every requisite
for the refreshment of the caravan is found.—From thence, in five
hours, he arrives at the forlorn village of Houn, on the edge of the
Desart of Soudah, on whose black and obdurate soil, the basis of which
is a soft stone, no vegetable but the Talk is seen to grow. To this
tree, which is of the size of the small Olive, and bears a sprig of
yellow flowers, the husbandman of Fezzan is indebted for the hard
and lemon-coloured wood of which he forms the handles of his tools,
and the frames of his larger instruments. Having crossed the Desart,
which furnishes no water, and for the passage of which four days are
requisite, the Traveller accepts the refreshments of a miserable
village that affords him nothing but dates of the worst quality,
some brackish water, and a small supply of Indian corn, of the
species called Gassób. From Zéghen, by which name the village is
distinguished, a single day conducts him to the town of Sebbah,
where the large remains of an antient castle, built upon a hill,
and other venerable ruins, that in point of extent are compared to
those of Lebida, impress on his mind the melancholy idea of departed
greatness; while, on the other hand, the humble dwellings of the
modern inhabitants, and the rich vegetation of their neighbouring
fields, present to his eye an ample store of all that is requisite
for the sustenance of man.—Dates, barley, Indian corn, pompions,
cucumbers, fig trees, pomegranates, and apricots, and for meaner
purposes, the white thorn and Spanish broom are described as but
a part of the numerous vegetables that reward the industry of the
people. The animals in which they most abound are said to be the
common fowl, and the brown long-haired and broad-tailed sheep.
From Sebbah a journey of two days transports the Traveller to Goddoua,
a small town of similar produce; and from thence, in two days more,
he arrives at Mourzouk, the capital of the kingdom of Fezzan.
This city[3] is surrounded by a high wall, which not only furnishes
the means of defence, but affords to the Government an opportunity of
collecting, at its three gates, a tax on all goods (though provisions
are exempted) that are brought for the supply of its people. Its
distance from Mesurata, which borders on the coast, and with respect
to which its situation is nearly South, is about[4] 390 miles.
Eastward of Mourzouk, and situated in a district of remarkable
fertility, is the town of Zuéela, in which the remnants of antient
buildings, the number and size of the cisterns, and the construction
of the vaulted caves, intended perhaps as repositories for corn,
exhibit such vestiges of antient splendour, as will probably attract,
and may highly reward the attention of the future Traveller.
To the South of Zuéela, and nearly at the same distance from the
capital, is the town of Jermah, which, like Zuéela, is distinguished
by the numerous herds, especially of sheep and goats, that are seen
around it; by the various and abundant produce of its adjacent fields;
and by numerous and majestic ruins, that exhibit to the ignorant
inhabitants of its clay-built cottages inscriptions of which they
know not the meaning, and vestiges of greatness to which they are
perfectly indifferent.
Tessouwa, a considerable town, is also situated to the Eastward of
the capital; but seems to have no claim to particular attention. Near
this town, a river which the Shereef describes as overwhelmed in
the moving sands, but which he remembers a deep and rapid stream,
had formerly its course.
More remote from Mourzouk, being distant from it in a N.E. direction,
about 120 miles, is the large town of Temmissa. Here the caravan of
Pilgrims from Bornou and Nigritia, which takes its departure from
Mourzouk, and travels by the way of Cairo to Mecca, usually provides
the stores of corn and dates, and dried meat, that are requisite
for its dreary passage.
S.E. from the capital, and distant from it about sixty miles, is the
small town of Kattrón, which seems to be remarkable for nothing
but the quantity which it breeds of the common fowl, and for the
abundant crops of Indian corn which the neighbouring lands afford.
Very differently distinguished is the town, or rather the province,
of Mendrah, for though much of its land is a continued level of hard
and barren soil, the quantity of _Trona_, a species of fossil alkali
that floats on the surface, or settles on the banks of its numerous
smoaking lakes, has given it a higher importance than that of the
most fertile districts.
Of this valuable produce great quantities are annually brought by the
Merchants of Fezzan to Tripoli, from whence it is shipped for Turkey
and Tunis, and the dominions of the Emperor of Morocco. The people of
the latter employ it as an ingredient in the red dye of the leather,
for which they are famous, and in that of the woollen caps that are
worn by the Arabs and the Moors as the basis of their turbans.
The situation of Mendrah is nearly South from the capital, and is
distant from it about sixty miles.
To the account which has been given of the principal towns of Fezzan,
that of Tegérhy alone remains to be added. It is but a small town,
is situated S.W. of the capital, about eighty miles, and collects from
its lands but little other produce than dates and Indian corn. The
territory of Fezzan, to the Westward of the capital, appears to extend
but a little way; for on that side, the sullen barrenness of the
Desart, more effectually than the strongest human power, prescribes
a limit to the pursuits of Avarice and to the efforts of Ambition.
Of the smaller towns of Fezzan, and of its scattered villages,
the number of which, including that of the towns, is said to be
little less than one hundred, the Shereef has given no particular
description.
The towns themselves appear to be chiefly inhabited by husbandmen
and shepherds; for, though they also contain the Merchants, the
Artificers, the Ministers of Religion, and the Officers of the
Executive Government; yet, the business of agriculture and pasturage
seems to be the principal occupation of the natives of Fezzan.
In every town a market for butcher’s meat, and corn, and fruit,
and garden vegetables, is regularly held. Mutton and goats flesh
are sold by the quarter, without being weighed; the usual price
of a quarter of a goat or sheep is from thirty-two to forty grains
of gold dust, or from four to five shillings of English money. The
flesh of the camel, which is much more highly valued, is commonly
sold at a dearer rate, and is divided into smaller lots.
The houses, like those of the little villages in the neighbourhood of
Tripoli, are built of clay, and are covered with a flat roof, that is
composed of the boughs and branches of trees, on which a quantity of
earth is laid. Inartificial and defective as this covering appears,
it is suited to the climate: for as rain is never known in Fezzan,
the principal requisites of a roof are shelter from the dews, and
protection from the sun.
The heats of the Summer, which begins in April and continues till
November, are so intense, that, from nine in the morning till sun-set,
the streets are frequented only by the labouring people, and even
in the houses respiration would be difficult, if the expedient of
wetting the apartments did not furnish its salutary aid. Of this
torrid clime the fierceness is chiefly felt from the month of May
to the latter end of August; during which period, the course of the
wind is usually from the E. the S.E. the S. or the S.W. and though
from the two latter points it blows with violence, the heat is often
such as to threaten instant suffocation; but if it happens to change,
as, for a few days, it sometimes does, to the W. or N.W. a reviving
freshness immediately succeeds.
The dress of the inhabitants of Fezzan is similar to that of the Moors
of Barbary. The immediate covering of the body consists of a pair
of large trowsers, of linen or cloth, which descends to the small of
the leg, and of a shirt, which is wide in the sleeves, but close at
the breast, and the skirts of which hang over and conceal the upper
part of the trowsers. Next to the shirt is worn a kind of waistcoat,
which in shape resembles the shirt, except that it has no sleeves,
and that it reaches no lower than the waist; and to the waistcoat is
superadded a jacket, with tight sleeves which extend to the wrist,
but which are left unbuttoned and open from the wrist almost to the
elbow. Thus far their dress may be said to be similar to that of a
British seaman, its colour excepted, and except too, that the shirt
is not open at the breast, that the waistcoat is not fastened with
buttons, but is put on like the shirt, and that the bottom of the
shirt hangs down on the outside of the trowsers.
Over the jacket is worn a loose robe, which reaches below the knee,
and the sleeves of which, though wider than those of the jacket,
are made in the same form, and, like them, are left open at the wrist.
A girdle of crimson silk binds the robe to the waist; and a long
cloth (called a barakan or alhaique) of the shape of a Highlander’s
plaid, and worn in the same way, is thrown over the whole. The legs,
as far as the calves, to which the trowsers descend, are covered with
a kind of short stockings, which are made of leather, and are laced
like the half boot of an Englishman. The feet are accommodated with
slippers; and the head is protected by a red woollen cap, which is
incircled by the folds of a silk or muslin turban.
Ample as this cloathing may appear, the further provision of a long
cloak with a large hood is often considered as requisite. It is called
a burnoose, and in fine weather is usually carried on the shoulder.
Such, when complete, is the dress of the inhabitants of Fezzan. But in
the Summer months the common people have no other covering than the
drawers, which decency requires; and the caps, which protect their
heads from the immediate action of the sun, for in other respects
their bodies are compleatly naked.
Nature and custom have formed their constitutions to such high
degrees of heat, that any approach to the common temperament of Europe
entirely destroys their comfort; for Mr. LUCAS often observed, in his
journey to Mesurata, that when the scorching heat of the noon-day
beams had compelled him to seek the shade, his fellow-travellers,
especially if the wind was in the North, laid themselves down,
upon the sand in the open sun, in order to receive a double portion
of his warmth; and when, as their custom was, they enquired after
his health, they, almost always, concluded with the expression,
“_Heack m’andick berd_,” we hope you are not cold.
The Diseases that are most frequent in Fezzan are those of the
inflammatory, and those of the putrid kind.
The small-pox is common among the inhabitants; violent head-achs
attack them in the Summer; and they are often afflicted with
rheumatic pains.
Their old women are their principal physicians. For pains in the head
they prescribe cupping and bleeding; for pains in the limbs they send
their patients to bathe in the hot lakes, which produce the trona;
and for obstinate achs and strains, and long continued stiffness in
the muscles, they have recourse, like the horse-doctors of Europe
and the physicians of Barbary, to the application of a burning iron.
The use of the strongest oils, and of the most powerful herbs,
is also frequent among them.
To the nature of their climate the greatest part of their diseases
is probably owing; and to this cause they are certainly indebted
for the extraordinary multitude of noxious and of loathsome animals
that infest their country. Adders, snakes, scorpions, and toads,
are the constant inhabitants of their fields, their gardens, and
their houses. The air is crowded with mosquitos; and persons of every
rank are over-run with all the different kinds of vermin that attack
the beggars of Europe; and though in the Summer the fleas entirely
disappear, the inhabitants are scarcely sensible of relief.
In their persons, the natives of Fezzan incline to the Negro much
more than to the Arab cast. Those who travelled with Mr. LUCAS from
Tripoli to Mesurata, and who were fourteen in number, had short
curly black hair, thick lips, flat broad noses, and a dark[5] skin,
which, either from their habitual nastiness, the vermin with which
they are covered, or the natural rankness of their perspiration,
emits the most nauseous and fetid effluvia. They are tall, but not
strong; well shaped, yet indolent, inactive, and weak; and though
the Shereef Fouwad is described as majestic in his appearance, yet
his countrymen, in general, are considered at Tripoli as a people
of remarkable ugliness.
In their common intercourse with each other all distinctions of rank
appear to be forgotten; for the Shereef and the lowest plebeian,
the rich and the poor, the master and the man, converse familiarly,
and eat and drink together. Generous and eminently hospitable,
the Fezzanner, let his fare be scanty or abundant, is ever desirous
that others should partake of his meal; and if twenty people should
unexpectedly visit his dwelling, they must all participate as far
as it will go.
When they settle their money transactions, they squat down upon the
ground, and having levelled a spot with their hands, make dots as
they reckon; and if they find themselves wrong, they smooth the spot
again, and repeat the calculation. All this time the by-standers,
though they have nothing to do with the business, are as eager to
put in their word, and to correct mistakes, as if the affair was
their own. Even in common conversation, if they sit without doors,
they level the sand in order to go on with their discourse, and at
every sentence mark it with their fingers.
An extensive plain, encompassed by mountains, the irregular circle
of which is interrupted on the West, where it seems to communicate
with the Desart, composes the Kingdom of Fezzan. To the influence of
the neighbouring heights it may possibly be owing, that in Fezzan,
as in the Upper Egypt, the situation of which is extremely similar,
no rain is ever known to fall.
A light sand constitutes the general soil; and sand hills of various
forms are seen in particular districts; but though the character of
the surface and the dryness of the Heavens may seem to announce an
eternal sterility, yet the springs are so abundant, and so ample a
store of subterraneous water is supplied by the adjacent heights, that
few regions in the North of Africa exhibit a richer vegetation. From
wells of eight or ten feet deep, with several of which every garden
and every field are furnished, the husbandman waters, at sun-rise,
the natural or artificial productions of his land. Of these the
principal are,
The Talk, a tree that in size resembles the small Olive. It flowers
in yellow sprigs, and supplies the hard and lemon-coloured wood,
from which the handles and frames of the Fezzanner’s instruments
of husbandry are made:
The White Thorn:
A kind of brushwood that resembles the Spanish broom:
The Date tree, which is common:
The Olive and the Lime, which are described as scarce; the Apricot,
the Pomegranate, and the Fig:
Indian corn and barley, the two favourite objects of the Fezzanner’s
cultivation:
Wheat, of which but little is raised:
Pompions or calabash, carrots, cucumbers, onions, and garlick.
Of the _tame_ animals that are raised in Fezzan, the Shereef
enumerates,
The Sheep, which is described as of a light brown colour; as having
a broad tail, and as cloathed with a species of hair rather than
of wool:
The Cow, which does not seem to be common, except in a few districts
in which the pasture is excellent:
The Goat, and the Camel:
A species of the domestic fowl of Europe.
The _wild_ animals of the country are,
The Ostrich:
Antelopes of various kinds, one of which is called the Huaddee, and
is celebrated for the singular address with which, when chased by
the hunter amidst its craggy heights, it plunges from the precipice,
and lighting on its hams without danger of pursuit, continues till
evening in the vale below:
A species of deer of a smaller size than the common park deer of
England. Its head, neck, and back, are of a brownish red; and a pale
streak of the same colour, running on a white ground, is continued
on each side from the haunch to the hoof: the rest of the body is
of a clear and delicate white. Such, if the Fezanners are to be
credited, is the cleanliness of its temper, or such, more probably,
is its dislike to the chill of a watery soil, that during the autumnal
rains, which fall in the Desarts of Zahara, where it chiefly inhabits,
no traces of its lying down have ever yet been seen. In the stillness
of the night it often ventures to the corn fields of Fezzan, where,
in traps prepared for the purpose, it is sometimes taken.
The _food_ of the lower classes of the people consists of the flour of
Indian corn, seasoned with oil; of dates, apricots, and pomegranates,
and of calabashes, cucumbers, and garden roots.
Persons of a superior rank are also supplied with wheat bread, which
is baked in their own houses; with mutton, goats flesh, the flesh
of the camel, and that of the antelope; and with a great variety of
fruits, and of garden vegetables.
Fezzan produces a sufficiency of salt for the consumption of its
own inhabitants.
The water in general has a mineral taste; yet some of the springs
are pure; but the favourite beverage consists of a liquor which the
date tree, like the palm, affords. At first it possesses the mild
flavour and cooling quality of orgeat; but acquires, when fermented,
an acescent taste and intoxicating strength that are still more
highly valued.
To the palm the loss of so large a proportion of its sap is generally
fatal; but the hardier date tree recovers from its wound, and in
the course of two or three years regains its former health.
In their _Religion_ the people of Fezzan are rigid Mahometans; not
intolerant to the opinions of others, but strict and superstitious
in the observance of their own.
The _Government_ of Fezzan is purely monarchical; but its powers,
which seem to be restricted by the influence of opinion, are
administered with such paternal regard to the happiness of the people,
the rights of property are so much revered, the taxes are so moderate,
and the course of justice is directed by so firm, and yet so temperate
a hand, that the inhabitants of Fezzan (as far as a judgment can
be formed from the feelings of those who travelled with Mr. LUCAS)
are affectionately and ardently attached to their Sovereign.[6]
The present King, Mohammed Ben Mohammed, is descended from one of
the Shereefs of Tafilet, in the kingdom of Morrocco, who was related
to the Regal Family of that empire, and who, about 400 years since,
obtained possession of the Crown of Fezzan.
From that period to the middle of the present century, the kingdom
maintained its Independence; but at the latter æra, the Bashaw of
Tripoli invaded it with a powerful force, laid siege to the capital,
defeated, and took captive the King, and carried him a prisoner
to Tripoli. For two years the unfortunate Monarch was detained in
bondage, but at the end of that period, on the condition of an
annual tribute of fifty slaves and ten pounds of gold dust, the
Bashaw restored him to his Crown.
Till the accession of the present King of Fezzan, this tribute was
faithfully transmitted; but the reigning Sovereign, conscious of
the declining power of Tripoli, and of the internal strength which
the affection and confidence of his people had given to his Kingdom,
has gradually diminished the amount, and altered the nature of the
acknowledgement; for it now consists in an occasional present of a
few slaves, and of a pound or two of gold dust, and is rather the
compliment of a trading State to the Kingdom in which its principal
commodities are sold, than a proof of political dependence. Still,
however, the expression of _my_ Kingdom of Fezzan is in frequent
use with the reigning Bashaw of Tripoli, who is the grandson of the
Conqueror; nor has the dependence of the former State on the latter
been ever directly renounced.[7]
In Fezzan, as in all the Countries in which the Mahometan Faith
is established, the descendants of the Prophet are considered as
a distinct and highly privileged order. Their property is sacred;
their persons are inviolable; and while the colour of their turbans,
and the revered title of Shereef, announce to the people the august
dignity which they bear, they derive from the hereditary nature of
their privileges a high degree of permanent influence, and sometimes
of dangerous power.[8]
Among the privileges of their rank may be numbered an exemption from
certain punishments, and that sort of general indulgence which the
prevalent dread of shedding the blood of the Prophet unavoidably
creates.
To these circumstances of distinction it is owing that, like the
Nobility of other States, they are sometimes subjected to, and feel
a particular apprehension of the penalty of dishonour, especially
of that of having dust thrown upon their heads.
But great as the privileges of this high order unquestionably are,
the individuals who compose it have no union or general concert with
each other; for neither in contests for power, nor in resistance to
oppression, do they ever act as a body.
Some of the class are devoted to the indolence of a religious life;
but a larger proportion is engaged in the active concerns and
progressive pursuits of commerce: for, in general, the descendants
of Mahomet, following the example of their great ancestor, are either
Princes or Merchants.
The _Revenue_ of Fezzan is composed of a variety of branches, the
principal of which are,
1st, A tax on towns and villages, at the rate of from 100 to 500
mitkals each. The number of towns and villages is estimated at
100; and the value of a mitkal at about ten shillings English:
consequently, the tax on each town and village is from 50l. to
250l. sterling.
2d, A tax on every camel’s load of goods (provisions for the market
excepted) which enters the capital. The rate of this impost is one
mitkal, or ten shillings English, per load.
3d, The fines that are inflicted as a punishment for offences.
4th, The produce of such lands as on the death of the possessors,
without heirs, escheat to the Crown.
5th, A small tax on all gardens and date trees.
To these several branches of revenue may be added, as another source
of considerable income, the commerce in which the King is engaged;
for he seems, especially in the articles of trona and senna, to be
the principal Merchant in his kingdom.
Gold dust constitutes among the people of Fezzan the chief medium
of payment; and value in that medium is always expressed by weight.
Their common measures of weight, and consequently of value, are,
The xarobe (or harrobe) the weight of which is four grains, and
which expresses the value of thirty-three piastres of Tripoli,
or 6d. sterling.
The mitkal, the weight of which is eighty-one grains, and which
expresses the value of 668¼ Tripoli piastres, or 10s. 1½d.
A single grain therefore is equal in value to 1½d.
In the choice of the first of these measures, the xarobe, they seem
to have been influenced by the discovery, 1st, That four grains is
the usual weight of a hard and durable berry,[9] which is called
habbat ell goreth; and 2dly, That half that weight, two grains,
is the weight of another and very beautiful berry, which is brought
from Nigritia, and to which, from its scarlet colour, and the black
stroke that ornaments one of its ends, they have given the name of
eyne-deeka, or the cock’s eye. These berries are therefore employed
as the common weights for gold dust in Fezzan; for the xarobe and
the mitkal have only an ideal existence.
But for the greater convenience of exchange, the Merchants of Fezzan
are generally furnished with small papers of gold dust, of different
values, from that of two xarobes, or one shilling, to such an amount
as their business is likely to require.
If the value of the article to be purchased is less than two xarobes,
the payment is generally made in corn or flour. Thus the smaller
articles of provisions, as eggs, onions, &c. are generally purchased
by a proportionable value in corn.
~_TABLE._~
{ 8¼ piastres of Tripoli,
One grain (in weight) of gold is equal to {
{ 1½d. sterling.
{ 1 xarobe of Fezzan,
{
Four grains ditto are equal to { 33 piastres of Tripoli,
{
{ 6d. sterling.
{ 2 xarobes of Fezzan,
{
Eight grains ditto are equal to { 66 piastres of Tripoli,
{
{ 1s. sterling.
{[10]1 mitkal (an imaginary
{ coin of Fezzan)
Twenty xarobes, } {
or } are equal to { 660 piastres of Tripoli,
Eighty grains, } {
{ 10s. sterling.
In this view of the currency of Fezzan, the small fractions that
would be requisite to render it perfectly accurate are omitted.
A mitkal is 675 piastres of Tripoli, or a fraction more than
10s. 1½d. sterling, and consequently it exceeds, by a fraction,
the amount of 20 xarobes.
The grains of Fezzan are of the same[11] weight as in England, but
the okea, or ounce of Fezzan, is very different, for it contains
640 grains; whereas the English ounce contains but 480, which is a
fourth less.
A Fezzan ounce of gold therefore, or 640 grains, at 1½d. per grain,
must be worth in Fezzan 4l.
And an English ounce of gold, or 480 grains, at 1½d. per grain,
must be worth in Fezzan 3l.
Among the circumstances for which the natives of Fezzan, who travelled
with Mr. LUCAS, considered their Sovereign as eminently distinguished,
they often mentioned his just and impartial, but severe and determined
administration of justice; and as a proof of the ascendancy which,
in this respect, he has acquired over the minds of his subjects,
they described the following custom:—If any man has injured
another, and refuses to go with him to the Judge, the complainant,
drawing a circle round the oppressor, solemnly charges him, in the
King’s name, not to leave the place till the Officers of Justice,
in search of whom he is going, shall arrive: and such (if they are to
be credited) is, on the one hand, his fear of the punishment which is
inflicted on those who disobey the injunction, and so great, on the
other, is his dread of the perpetual banishment which, if he seeks his
safety by withdrawing from the kingdom, must be his inevitable lot,
that this imaginary prison operates as a real confinement, and the
offender submissively waits the arrival of the Officers of the Judge.
Small offences are punished by the bastinado: but those of a
greater magnitude subject the convict, according to the different
degrees of guilt, to the penalty of a fine, of imprisonment, or of
death.—Shereefs, like the Nobility of other States, are sometimes
punished, as was mentioned before, by the pain of dishonour; in which
class of punishments, the most dreaded, because the most reproachful,
is the indignity of having dust heaped upon their heads.
To their insulated and remote situation, and to their natural
barrier of desolate mountains and dreary wastes of sand, much more
than to military strength, the people of Fezzan are indebted for
their security.
Trusting to this natural defence, their towns are without guards, and,
their capital excepted, are also without walls; nor have they any
regular standing force: yet the Shereef conceives that 15 or 20,000
troops might, upon an emergency, be raised. The only expedition
of a military nature that has happened within his remembrance,
was undertaken on the following account:—
South-East of the capital, at the distance of 150 miles, is a wide
and sandy desart, entirely barren, and oppressed with a suffocating
heat. Immediately beyond this desart, the width of which is about 200
miles, the mountains of Tibesti, inhabited by a wild and savage people
of that name, begin to take their rise. Ferocious in their manners,
free-booters in their principles, and secure, as they thought, in the
natural defences of their situation, these independent mountaineers
became the terror of the caravans which traded from Fezzan to
Bornou, and which are obliged to pass the Western extremity of the
Desart. But at length, having plundered a caravan which belonged
to the King himself, and having killed about twenty of his people,
their conduct provoked his resentment, and determined him to revenge
the insult. With this view he immediately raised a small army of from
3 to 4,000 men, the command of which he gave to an able and active
_Magistrate_, announcing, by that appointment, that he sent them,
not to subdue a respectable enemy, but to punish an assemblage of
plunderers and assassins. Having compleated the difficult passage
of the desart, and having gained the first ascent of the mountains,
they proceeded without opposition, till at length the natives, who
waited in ambush, rushed upon them, and with the bows and arrows,
and lances, with which they were armed, began a furious assault: but
the instant that the foremost of the soldiers had given their fire,
the mountaineers, more alarmed at the dreadful sounds which they
heard, and at the imagined lightning which they saw, than terrified
with the slaughter that was made, threw down their arms, and flying
with great precipitation, abandoned, to the mercy of the victors,
their houses and their helpless inhabitants. The next morning, a
deputation, from the natives, of their principal people arrived at
the camp, with humble intreaties that their wives and children might
be spared, and an offer, on that condition, to submit to any terms
which the Alcaid should desire to impose. The Alcaid accordingly
demanded, and received, as hostages for their future conduct, twenty
of their principal people, with whom, and with all the plunder which
the country afforded, he returned in triumph to Fezzan. There the King
entertained them with kindness, and under a promise that their nation
should acknowledge him as their _Sovereign_, and should annually pay
to him a tribute of twenty camel loads of senna, made them valuable
presents; and with strong impressions on their minds, of the generous
treatment which they had received, sent them back to Tibesti.
From that period no attempt to molest his caravans has been made
by the mountaineers; and though they neither acknowledge the King
of Fezzan for their Sovereign, nor pay him any tribute, yet they
bring the whole of their senna to Mourzouk for sale, where it is
purchased to great advantage by the King, and is afterwards sold,
on his account, at the market of Tripoli.
An occasional visit to the Court of Fezzan is paid by their Chief,
who is always received with great hospitality, and after a residence
of a few weeks, is dismissed, with a present of a long robe.
The vales of Tibesti are fertile in corn, and pasturage for cattle,
of which they have numerous herds, and are particularly celebrated
for their breed of camels, which are esteemed the best in Africa. For
this fertility they are indebted to the water of the innumerable
springs that amply compensate for the want of rain, which seldom,
if ever, falls within the limits of Tibesti.
Huts of the simplest construction (for they are formed of stakes
driven into the ground in a circular arrangement, and covered with
the branches of trees and brushwood intermixed) compose the dwellings
of the people.
In return for the senna and the camels which they sell in Fezzan,
they bring back coral, alhaiks, or barakans, Imperial dollars,
and brass, from the two last of which articles they manufacture the
rings and bracelets which are worn by their women.
Among the natives of Tibesti different religions are professed;
for some of them are Mahometans, and others continue attached to
their antient system of Idolatry.
~CHAPTER V.~
_Mode of Travelling in Africa._
* * * * *
The mode of travelling in Africa is so connected with the commerce,
and therefore with the manners of its principal nations, that without
some knowledge of the _former_, a description of the two _latter_
cannot be clearly understood.
[Sidenote: The shereef Imhammed.]
[Sidenote: Ben Alli.]
[Sidenote: Lucas.]
In that division of Africa which lies to the North of the Niger, the
season for travelling begins with the month of October, and terminates
with the month of March. During this period, the temperature of
the air, though strongly affected by the degree of latitude, the
elevation of the land, the distance of the sea, and the direction
of the wind, is comparatively cool; and in some places, as in the
neighbourhood of Mount Atlas, and on the Coasts of the Mediterranean,
occasionally exhibits the phenomena of an European Winter. At Tripoli,
the Thermometer is sometimes seen at the 40th degree of Farenheit’s
scale, and on the 31st of December, in the year 1788, was observed,
at nine in the morning, to have fallen within four degrees of the
freezing point; a coldness that was followed by a light shower
of snow.
In all countries, the animals which Nature and the attention of
man have provided for the conveyance of the Traveller, and for the
transit of his merchandize, are suited to the character of [Sidenote:
Imhammed and Ben Alli.]the soil, and to the smoothness or inequality
of its surface. Of the soil of Africa, to the North of the Niger,
the prevailing character is sand; and though in the neighbourhood of
rivers, and in all those districts which receive from the adjacent
mountains, the advantage of numerous springs, the sand is blended with
a vegetable mould, yet the ground, in general, is remarkably soft
and dry. In general, too, the surface of the land, though in some
places broken by naked rocks, and swelling, in others, to mountains
of considerable magnitude, may be regarded as comparatively level.
To such a country the camel is peculiarly suited; for his broad and
tender foot, which slides on a wet surface, and is injured by the
resistance of stones, is observed to tread with perfect security
and ease on the dry and yielding sand: and while, from the same
circumstances in its structure, his hoof is incapable of fastening,
with any strength, on the ground of a steep ascent, and furnishes,
in a shelving declivity, no solid or sufficient support, his movement
on a smooth and level surface is singularly firm and safe.
[Sidenote: Imhammed.]
So remarkably exemplified in Africa is that rule in the œconomy of
Nature which suits the beast of burthen to the land which it inhabits,
that in the country which lies to the South-West of the Niger, where
the surface is mountainous, and the ground is as stony in some places,
as it is wet and muddy in others, no camels are found. Their place
is supplied by small horses, asses, and mules.
[Sidenote: Lucas.]
The proper burthen for a camel varies with its strength, which is
very different in different species of the animal. In the dominions
of Tripoli, a common load is from three to four hundred weight;
and the medium expence of the conveyance for each hundred appears
to be one farthing per mile.
[Sidenote: Lucas.]
[Sidenote: Imhammed.]
The usual rate of travelling is three miles in the hour, and the
number of hours that are actually employed on the rout, exclusive of
those which are allotted to refreshment, is seldom more than seven
or eight in a day. Of the number of days which are consumed on a
long journey, many are devoted to the purpose of occasional trade,
to that of recruiting the strength of the camels, and to that of
procuring additional stores of provisions and of water; for in all
such places as are able to furnish a supply of provisions (which
are generally places of considerable population, and therefore of
some traffic) the stay of the caravan is seldom less than two days,
and is often prolonged to more.
[Sidenote: Ben Alli.]
The general food of the camels is such only as their nightly pasture
affords; and is often confined to the hard and thorny shrubs of the
Desart, where a sullen vegetation is created by the rains of the
Winter, and upheld by the dews that descend in copious abundance
through all the remainder of the year.
[Sidenote: Imhammed.]
Of the drivers and servants of the caravan, the customary food
consists of the milk of the camel, with a few dates, together with
the meal of barley or of Indian corn, which is sometimes seasoned
with oil, while the Merchant superadds, for his own use, the dried
flesh of the camel, or of sheep, and concludes his repast with coffee.
[Sidenote: Imhammed and Ben Alli.]
Water is drawn from the wells in leather buckets, that form a part
of the travelling equipage of the caravan, and is carried in the
skins of goats, through which, however, though tarred both within
and without, it is often exhaled by the heat of the noon-day sun.
[Sidenote: Ben Alli.]
A particular mode of easy conveyance is provided for the women and
children, and for persons oppressed with infirmity or illness: six
or eight camels are yoked together in a row, and a number of tent
poles are placed in parallel lines upon their backs: these are covered
with carpets, and bags of corn are superadded to bring the floor to a
level, as well as to soften the harshness of the camel’s movement;
other carpets are then spread, and the traveller sits or lies down,
with as much convenience as if he rested on a couch.
The Desart (a term of the same meaning with its Arabic name of Zahara)
may be said, like the ocean, to connect the very nations which it
seems to separate; for, in comparison with the woods and morasses of
America, it furnishes the Merchant with an easy and convenient road.
[Sidenote: Ben Alli.]
A sandy heath of various levels, in some places naked and bare, but
much more frequently covered with an odoriferous plant, which the
Arabs call the Shé, and which, though far superior in fragrance,
has at least a remote resemblance to the wild thyme of Europe,
constitutes the general appearance of the Desart. The exceptions,
however, are interesting and important: for besides the diversity that
arises from the different shrubs, which are often scantily intermixed
with the Shé, and of which the thorny plant that forms the harsh food
of the camel appears to be the most common, an essential variation is
furnished by the comparative fertility of some particular districts,
and by the total barrenness of others.
[Sidenote: Imhammed and Ben Alli.]
In some portions of the general wilderness, thousands of sheep,
and goats, and cows, are seen to pasture; while in others nothing
is presented to the eye but desolate hills of shifting sand.
[Sidenote: Imhammed.]
To the last of these the name of _Desarts without Water_ is
emphatically given; a name that conveys to an Arab ear the fearful
idea of an intense and suffocating heat, of the total absence of
vegetable life, and of the hazard of a dreadful death. For though the
movement of the shifting sands is not so rapid as to endanger the
safety of the caravan, yet as the scorching heat of the sun-beams,
confined and reflected by the hills of sand, hourly diminishes the
store of water, and as the breadth of several of those desarts is
that of a ten days journey, the hazard of perishing with thirst is
sometimes fatally experienced.
[Sidenote: Imhammed.]
All means of ascertaining the rout by land-marks, the usual guides in
other parts of the wilderness, are here destroyed by the varying forms
and shifting position of the hills; but from anxious observation and
continued practice, the camel-drivers acquire a sufficient knowledge
of the bearings of the sun and stars to direct them in their way.
Such are the expedients by which the difficulties of the Desart
are in general overcome: those which are presented by the broad
current of the impetuous Niger, though much more easily, are not so
frequently surmounted.
[Sidenote: Imhammed.]
[Sidenote: Imhammed and Ben Alli.]
[Sidenote: Imhammed.]
[Sidenote: Imhammed.]
Of this river, which in Arabic is sometimes called Neel il Kibeer,
or the Great Nile, and at others, Neel il Abeed, or the Nile of the
Negros, the rise and termination are unknown, but the course is from
East to West. So great is the rapidity with which it traverses the
Empire of Cashna, that no vessel can ascend its stream; and such
is the want of skill, or such the absence of commercial inducements
among the inhabitants of its borders, that even _with_ the current,
neither vessels nor boats are seen to navigate. In one place, indeed,
the Traveller finds accommodations for the passage of himself and
of his goods; but even there, though the ferrymen, by the indulgence
of the Sultan of Cashna, are exempted from all taxes, the boat which
conveys the merchandize is nothing more than an ill-constructed raft;
for the planks are fastened to the timbers with ropes, and the seams
are closed both within and without, by a plaister of tough clay,
of which a large provision is always carried on the raft for the
purpose of excluding the stream wherever its entrance is observed.
[Sidenote: Imhammed.]
The depth of the river at the place of passage, which is more than
a hundred miles to the South of the City of Cashna, the capital of
the empire of that name, is estimated at twenty-three or twenty-four
feet English.[12]
[Sidenote: Imhammed.]
[Sidenote: Ben Alli.]
Its width is such that even at the Island of Gongoo, where the
ferrymen reside, the sound of the loudest voice from the northern
shore is scarcely heard; and at Tombuctou, where the name of Gnewa,
or black, is given to the stream, the width is described as being
that of the Thames at Westminster. In the rainy season it swells
above its banks, and not only floods the adjacent lands, but often
sweeps before it the cattle and cottages of the short-sighted or
too confident inhabitants.
[Sidenote: Imhammed and Ben Alli.]
That the people who live in the neighbourhood of the Niger should
refuse to profit by its navigation, may justly surprise the
Traveller; but much greater is his astonishment, when he finds
that even the food which the bounty of the stream would give, is
uselessly offered to their acceptance; for such is the want of skill,
or such the settled dislike of the people to this sort of provision,
that the fish with which the river abounds are left in undisturbed
possession of its waters.
[Sidenote: Imhammed.]
[Sidenote: Imhammed.]
Having passed the stream, the face of the country, and with it the
mode of travelling, are changed. High mountains and narrow valleys,
extensive woods and miry roads, succeed to the vast plains and sandy
soil of the Zahara and its neighbouring kingdoms. Water is no longer
refused or scantily given to the parched lips of the Traveller;
but while the abundance of this refreshment, and of the vast variety
both of vegetable and animal food that is offered in profusion for
his support, diminish the hardships and remove the principal hazards
of his journey, the raging heat of the Torrid Clime increases as he
proceeds. Wet cloths applied to the mouth are sometimes requisite,
and especially in the woods, to allay, for the purpose of respiration,
the violence of the burning air; and the journey, which the fierceness
of the sun suspends, is often renewed amidst the dews and comparative
darkness of the night.
[Sidenote: Imhammed.]
From the want of camels, which are seldom seen to the South of Cashna,
nor even to the West, except in higher latitudes, the conveyance
of the Merchant and his goods is committed to the mules, and small
horses and asses of the country. Of the first, the usual burthen is
200lbs. of the second, 150lbs. and of the last, 100lbs.
Travelling through all this part of Africa is considered as so
secure, that the Shereef Imhammed, with the utmost chearfulness and
confidence of safety, proposed to accompany and conduct Mr. LUCAS,
by the way of Fezzan and Cashna, across the Niger, to Assenté,
which borders on the Coast of the Christians.
~CHAPTER VI.~
_General Remarks on the Empires of Bornou and Cashna. — Rout from
Mourzouk to Bornou — Climate of Bornou — Complexion, Dress,
and Food of the Inhabitants — Their Mode of Building — Their
Language — Government — Military Force — Manners — and Trade._
* * * * *
To the South of the kingdom of Fezzan, in that vast region which
spreads itself from the river of the Antelopes westward for 1200
miles, and includes a considerable part of the Niger’s course, two
great empires, those of Bornou and those of Cashna, are established.
The circumstances of soil and climate, and those also which constitute
political character, are nearly the same in both: for their prevailing
winds are the same; their rains, which are periodical in each,
though much more profuse in Bornou, begin at the same season; the
same grains are cultivated; the same fruits (generally speaking)
are produced; and except that no camels are bred to the westward
of the City of Cashna, the capital of the empire, the same animals
are reared. In both, the complexion of the inhabitants is black;
their mode of building too is similar, and their manners, though in
some respects more civilized in Bornou, have a general resemblance.
Each of the two empires is formed by the subjection of different
tribes or nations to the dominion of one ruling people. The nature
of the Government, and the laws which regulate its succession, are
the same in both. In both, the ruling people are Mahometans; in both,
the dependent nations are composed of converts to the Musselman faith,
and of adherents to the antient worship; and though at present their
languages are different, the conquerors in both had probably the
same original.
Of these empires, Cashna, till of late, was esteemed the first in
power; but though a thousand villages and towns are still included
in her vast domains, she is now considered as much inferior to Bornou.
* * * * *
_ROUT FROM MOURZOUK TO BORNOU._
* * * * *
FROM Mourzouk in Fezzan to Bornou, the capital of the empire from
which it takes its name, the Fezzanners, whose commercial spirit
no distance can discourage, are conducted by a rout of more than a
thousand miles. Temmissa, the first town at which they arrive, and
the last which they see in Fezzan, they reach on the seventh day;
and in three days more they enter the territories of Bornou. Several
villages, inhabited by Blacks, whose persons, their waists excepted,
are entirely naked, whose meagre limbs and famished looks announce
their extreme of misery, and whose idolatrous religion neither excites
the resentment nor restrains the charity of the benevolent Fezzanners,
mark the northern frontier of the empire.
On the day following their departure from these melancholy hamlets,
they begin the ascent of a hilly uninhabited desart of sand, where
a few bushes of penurious vegetation point out the successive wells
that are found in these barren heights, and diminish the fatigues
of a three days passage. At the close of the fourth day they enter
a plain that is inhabited by Mahometans, where, in addition to a
plentiful supply of excellent water, they are cheared with the sight
of date trees, and of Indian corn.
From this plain, which lies to the West of the Desart of Tibesti, and
the end of which they reach on the second day, a part of the Tibesti
mountains take their rise. These vast hills, the range of which
is very extensive, are variously peopled; but such of them as are
crossed on the rout from Fezzan to the City of Bornou, are inhabited
by a mixture of Musselmen and Idolaters, who employ themselves in
breeding camels and asses, and other cattle, particularly horses of
a small size.
Exclusively of the two days that are requisite for the passage of
the mountains, an allowance of twice that time is generally given
to refreshment and repose; soon after which a fertile and beautiful
country, as richly diversified as numerously peopled, opens to their
view. Its inhabitants are herdsmen, and with the exception of a
few Pagans who are intermixed among them, are Musselmen in their
faith. Their dwellings are in tents which are composed of hides,
and their wealth consists in the multitude of their cows and sheep.
Four days are employed in crossing these fortunate districts: the
sixth conducts the caravan to the entrance of the vast and burning
Desart of Bilma. Surrounded by this dreary solitude, the Traveller
sees with a dejected eye the dead bodies of the birds that the
violence of the wind has brought from happier regions; and as he
ruminates on the fearful length of his remaining passage, listens
with horror to the voice of the driving blast, the only sound that
interrupts the awful repose of the Desart.
On the eleventh day from their entrance on these scorching sands,
the caravan arrives in the fertile plains that encompass the Town of
Domboo, the approach to which is enlivened by the frequent appearance
of the majestic Ostrich, and of the gay but fearful Antelope.
From thence, in about five days, they reach the City of Kánem, the
capital of an extensive and fertile province, of which it bears the
name, and in which the inhabitants, who are composed of Musselmen
and Pagans, breed multitudes of cattle, and raise innumerable horses
for the service of the King.
A journey of ten days more concludes their labour, and brings them
to the imperial City of Bornou.[13]
_Bornou_, the name which the natives give to the country, is
distinguished in Arabic by the appellation of Bernou or Bernoa, a
word that signifies the land of Noah, for the Arabs conceive that,
on the first retiring of the deluge, its mountains received the Ark.
The _Climate_, as may naturally be expected in a kingdom which seems
to be bounded by the 16th and the 26th parallels of latitude, is
characterized by excessive, though not by uniform heat. Two seasons,
the one commencing soon after the middle of April, the other at the
same period of October, may be said to divide the year. The _first_
is introduced by violent winds that bring with them, from the South
East and South, an intense heat, with a deluge of sultry rain,
and such tempests of thunder and lightning as destroy multitudes
of the cattle, and many of the people. During the rainy period
(the continuance of which is from three to nine successive days,
with short intervals from the occasional changes of the wind to the
North or West) the inhabitants confine themselves closely to their
dwellings; but the rest of the first season, however sultry and
however occasionally wet, is not incompatible with the necessary
labours of the husbandman and the shepherd.
At the commencement of the _second_ season in the latter part of
October, the ardent heat subsides; the air becomes soft and mild;
the weather continues perfectly serene; and as the year declines,
an unwelcome coolness precedes the rising of the sun.
The inhabitants, though consisting of such a multitude of nations
that thirty languages are said to be spoken in the empire, are alike
in their _Complexion_, which is entirely black, but are not of the
Negro cast.
In a climate so warm, the chief recommendations of _Dress_ are decency
and ornament: among the poorest, therefore, by whom the first only
is regarded, a kind of girdle for the waist is sometimes the only
covering; but in general a turban, consisting, as in Barbary, of
a red woollen cap, surrounded by folds of cotton, together with a
loose robe of coloured cotton of a coarser kind, are also worn.[14]
The _Grain_ that constitutes the principal object of culture in Bornou
is Indian corn, of two different kinds, which are distinguished in
the country by the names of the gassób, and the gamphúly.
The gassób, which in its general shape resembles the common reed,
is of two species; the first grows with a long stalk that bears an
ear, which in length is from eight to twelve inches, and contains,
in little husks or cavities, from three to five hundred grains,
of the size of small pease. The second species, which is common in
Tripoli, differs no otherwise from the first than in the shorter
size of the ear.
The gamphúly is distinguished from the gassób, by the bulk of
the stalk, for that of the gamphúly is much thicker, by the number
of its ears, for it has several on the same reed, and by the size
of the grain, which is considerably larger. This kind of corn is
frequently seen in Spain, and is there called Maize.
Wheat and barley are not raised in Bornou; but the horse-bean of
Europe and the common kidney-bean are cultivated with great assiduity,
as they are used for food, both by the slaves and by the cattle.[15]
In the culture of these different grains, the hoe alone is employed,
as the use of the plough is still unknown to the people. The women
divide with the men the labours of their husbandry; for while the
latter, with their hoes, open the ground, and form the trenches in
straight lines parallel to each other, the women follow and throw in
the seed: nor is this the only part which they take in the business
of the field; for to them, as soon as the weeds begin to rise on
the ridges of the lines in which the grain is sowed, the hoe is
constantly transferred.
The sowing season commences at the end of the periodical rains of
April; and such in that climate is the rapid vegetation, that on
the 9th of July the gassób is reaped; but the gamphúly, a grain
of slower growth, is seldom cut till the month of August or September.
Such are the several species of corn that, among the people of Bornou,
supply the place of the wheat, the barley, and the oats of Europe. Two
species of roots are also used as wholesome and substantial food:
the one, which is called the Dondoo, produces a low plant, with
branches that spread four or five feet upon the ground, and leaves
that resemble those of the garden-bean. At the end of five months,
from the time of its being planted, the leaves fall off, and the
root is taken from the ground, and being cut into small pieces, is
dried in the sun, in which state it may be kept for two years. Its
further preparation consists in reducing it to a fine powder, and
mixing it with palm oil till it assumes the consistency of paste.
The other root is that of a tree, of which the name had escaped
the Shereef’s recollection: boiling is the only process that is
requisite in preparing it for use.
The same character of sufficiency which marks the catalogue of the
different kinds of grain in Bornou, belongs also to the list of its
various _Fruits_; for though neither olives nor oranges are seen
in the empire, and even figs are rare, and though the apples and
plumbs of its growth deserve no commendation, and the dates are
as indifferent as they are scarce, yet grapes, and apricots, and
pomegranates, together with lemons and limes, and the two species of
melons, the water and the musk, are produced in large abundance.[16]
But one of the most valuable of its vegetable stores, is a tree which
is called Kedéynah, that in form and height resembles the olive,
is like the lemon in its leaf, and bears a nut, of which the kernel
and the shell are both in great estimation, the first as a fruit,
the last on account of the oil which it furnishes when bruised, and
which supplies the lamps of the people of Bornou with a substitute
for the oil of olives.
To this competent provision of such vegetables as are requisite to
the support, or grateful to the appetite of man, must be added a much
more ample and more varied supply, of _Animal Food_. Innumerable
flocks of sheep, and herds of goats and cows, (for there are no
oxen) together with multitudes of horses, buffaloes, and camels,
(the flesh of which is in high estimation) cover the vales or pasture
on the mountains of Bornou.[17]
The common, though not the Guinea fowl is also reared by the
inhabitants; and their hives of bees are so extremely numerous, that
the wax is often thrown away as an article of no value in the market.
Their _game_ consists of the Huaddee, and other species of antelopes,
of the partridge, the wild duck, and the ostrich, the flesh of which
they prize above every other.
Their other wild animals are the lion, the leopard, the civet cat,
the small wolf, the fox, the wild dog, that hunts the antelope; the
elephant, which is not common, and of which they make no use; the
crocodile, the hippopotamus, which is often killed on the banks of the
river that runs from the Neel Shem, (the Nile of Egypt) to the Desart
of Bilma; and a large and singular animal, which is distinguished by
the name of Zarapah, and which is described as resembling the camel
in its head and body, as having a long and slender neck like the
ostrich, as being much taller at the shoulders than the haunches,
and as defended by so tough a skin, as to furnish the natives with
shields that no arrow or javelin can pierce.[18]
Bornou, like other countries that approach the Equinoctial, is much
infested with different kinds of dangerous or disgusting reptiles,
especially snakes and scorpions, centipedes and toads.
Of its _beasts of burthen_ the variety is as ample as the numbers
are abundant; for the camel, the horse, the ass, and the mule,
are common in the empire.
The dog, with which the inhabitants pursue their game, appears to
be their only _domestic_ animal.
In the mountains of Tibesti, and perhaps in other parts of the empire,
the herdsmen, probably for the sake of a more easy change of pasture,
prefer a residence in tents to stationary dwellings; and those,
it seems, are not manufactured, like the tents of the Zahara, from
the camel’s hair; but are composed of the hides of cows, a more
durable and impervious covering.
Through all the empire of Bornou the same mode of _building_,
and with the difference of a greater or a smaller scale, the same
form in the plan of the houses universally prevails.—Four walls,
inclosing a square, are erected; within those walls, and parallel to
them, four other walls are also built: the ground between the walls
is then divided into different apartments, and is covered with a
roof. Thus the space within the interior walls determines the size
of the court; the space between the walls determines the width of
the apartments; and the height of the walls determines the height
of the rooms. In a large house the rooms are each about twenty feet
in length, eleven feet in height, and as many in width.
On the outside of the house, a second square or large yard, surrounded
by a wall, is usually provided for the inclosure and protection of
the cattle.[19]
Such is the general plan of a Bornou house. For the construction of
the walls the following method is constantly pursued: a trench for
the foundation being made, is filled with dry and solid materials
rammed in with force, and levelled; on these a layer of tempered
mud or clay is placed; and in this substitute for mortar a suitable
number of stones are regularly fixed. Thus with alternate layers of
clay and stones the wall proceeds; but as soon as it has reached
the height of six or seven feet, the workmen suspend its progress
for a week, that it may have time to settle, and become compact;
for which purpose they water it every day.
When the walls are finished they are neatly plaistered, both within
and without, with clay or mud, tempered with sand; for the country
furnishes no lime.
The roofs are formed of branches of the palm tree, intermixed with
brushwood; and are so constructed as at first to be waterproof;
but such is the violence of the wind and rain, that the end of the
second year is the utmost period of their brief duration.[20]
Much less attention is given to the furniture than is bestowed on
the structure of the houses; for the catalogue of the utensils is
extremely short. Among the lower classes of the inhabitants it
consists of the mats covered with a sheep-skin, upon which they
sleep; of an earthen pot; of a pan of the same materials; of two
or three wooden dishes, a couple of wooden bowls, an old carpet,
a lamp for oil, and perhaps a copper kettle.
Persons of a superior rank are also possessed of leathern cushions,
that are stuffed with wool; of several brass and copper utensils,
of a handsome carpet, and of a sort of candlesticks; for instead of
the vegetable oil which is used by the common people, they employ
the light of candles manufactured from their bees wax and the tallow
of their sheep.
Bornou is situated at the distance of a day’s journey from a river
which is called Wed-el-Gazel, from the multitude of antelopes that
feed upon its banks, and which is lost in the deep and sandy wastes
of the vast Desart of Bilma.[21]
From the symmetry of the houses, and the general resemblance which
they bear to each other, a regular arrangement of streets might,
with the utmost ease, have been given to their towns. In Bornou,
however, a different system has prevailed; for even in the capital,
the houses, straggling wide of each other, are placed without method
or rule; and the obvious propriety of giving to the principal mosque,
a central situation, exhibits the only proof of attention to general
convenience.[22]
The King’s palace, surrounded by high walls, and forming a kind
of citadel, is built, perhaps with a view to security, in a corner
of the town.[23]
Markets for the sale of provisions are opened within the city; but
for other articles, a weekly market, as in Barbary, is held without
the walls.
_£._ _s._ _d._
The common price in Bornou of a cow or a bull is
a mahaboob of Tripoli, or 0 6 0
A sheep, 0 3 0
An ostrich, 0 6 0
An antelope, 0 1 6
A camel from 6l. to 7l. 10s. or at a medium, 6 15 0
A horse from 3l. to 7l. 10s. or at a medium, 5 5 0
In general, the towns have no other defence than that which the
courage of the inhabitants affords: but the capital is surrounded
by a wall of fourteen feet in height, the foundations of which
are from eight to ten feet deep, and which seems to be built with
considerable strength. To this defence is given the additional
security of a ditch, which encompasses the whole; and care is taken,
that at sun-set the seven gates which form the communication with
the country shall be shut.[24]
The great population of Bornou is described by the indefinite and
metaphorical expression of a countless multitude.
In Fezzan the price of all things is measured by grains of gold;
and where the value is too small to be easily paid in so costly a
metal, the inhabitants have recourse to corn, as a common medium of
exchange. But in Bornou, as in Europe, the aid of inferior metals is
employed, and copper and brass (which seem to be melted together,
and to be mixed with other materials) are formed into pieces of
different weights, from an ounce to a pound, and constitute the
current species of the empire.[25]
Dominions so extensive as those of Bornou have seldom the advantage of
one uniform language; but an instance of so many different tongues,
within the limits of one empire, as are spoken in that kingdom,
and its dependencies, has still less frequently occurred, for they
are said to be more than thirty in number.
Of the language, however, which is current in the capital, and
which seems to be considered as the proper language[26] of Bornou,
the following specimen is given by the Shereef.
One is expressed by _Lakka_ Eight is expressed by _Tallóre_
Two _Endee_ Nine _L’ilkar_
Three _Nieskoo_ Ten _Meiko_
Four _Dekoo_ Eleven _Meiko Lakka_
Five _Okoo_ Twelve _Meiko Endee_
Six _Araskoo_ Thirteen _Meiko Nieskoo_
Seven _Huskoo_ Fourteen _Meiko Dekoo._
Two different _Religions_ divide the sentiments, without disturbing
the peace of the kingdom.
The ruling people profess the Mahometan faith;[27] and though the
antient Paganism of the dependent nations does not appear to subject
them to any inconvenience, a considerable part are converts to the
doctrines of the Prophet.
An elective monarchy constitutes the _Government_ of Bornou,[28] and
like the similar system of Cashna, endangers the happiness, while it
acknowledges the power of the people. On the death of the Sovereign,
the privilege of chusing among his sons, without regard to priority of
birth, a successor to his throne, is conferred by the nation on three
of the most distinguished men, whose age and character for wisdom,
are denoted by their title of Elders; and whose conduct in the State
has invested them with the public esteem. Bound by no other rule as
to their judgment or restraint, as to their will, than that which the
expressed or implied instruction of electing the most worthy may form,
they retire to the appointed place of their secret deliberation, the
avenues to which are carefully guarded by the people: and while the
contending suggestions of private interest, or a sense of the real
difficulty of chusing where judgment may easily err, and error may be
fatal to the State, keeps them in suspence, the Princes are closely
confined in separate chambers of the Palace. Their choice being made,
they proceed to the apartment of the Sovereign elect, and conduct
him, in silence, to the gloomy place in which the unburied corpse
of his father, that cannot be interred till this awful ceremony is
passed, awaits his arrival. There, the Elders point out to him the
several virtues and the several defects which marked the character
of his departed parent; and they also forcibly describe, with just
panegyric, or severe condemnation, the several measures which raised
or depressed the glory of his reign. “You see before you the end
of your _mortal_ career; the _eternal_, which succeeds to it, will
be miserable or happy in proportion as your reign shall have proved
a curse or a blessing to your people.”
From this dread scene of terrible instruction, the new Sovereign,
amidst the loud acclamations of the people, is conducted back to the
Palace, and is there invested by the electors with all the slaves,
and with two-thirds of all the lands and cattle of his father;
the remaining third being always detained as a provision for the
other children of the deceased Monarch. No sooner is the Sovereign
invested with the ensigns of Royalty, than such of his brothers as
have reached the age of manhood prostrate themselves at his feet,
and in rising press his hands to their lips—the two ceremonies
that constitute the declaration of allegiance.
If any doubt of their sincerity suggests itself to the King or to
the Elders, death or perpetual imprisonment removes the fear; but
if no suspicion arises, an establishment of lands and cattle from
the possessions of their father, together with presents of slaves
from the reigning monarch, are liberally bestowed upon them.
Often, however, the most popular, or the most ambitious of the
rejected Princes, covering his designs with close dissimulation,
and the zeal of seeming attachment, creates a powerful party; and
assured of Foreign aid, prepares, in secret, the means of successful
revolt. But, stained with such kindred blood, the sceptre of the
victorious Rebel is not lastingly secure—one revolution invites and
facilitates another; and till the slaughter of the field, the sword
of the executioner, or the knife of the assassin has left him without
a brother, the throne of the Sovereign is seldom firmly established.
Such, in the Mahometan empires of Bornou and of Cashna, is the rule
of succession to the monarchy; but the Pagan kingdoms adjoining, with
obviously less wisdom, permit the several sons of the late Sovereign,
attended by their respective partizans, to offer themselves, in
person, to the choice of the electors, and be actually present at the
decision; an imprudence that often brings with it the interference
of other States, and unites the different calamities of foreign and
intestine war.
Those of the Royal Children of Bornou who are too young to take their
share in the reserved part of their deceased father’s possessions,
are educated in the Palace till the age of maturity arrives; at which
time their respective portions of lands and cattle are assigned them.
To the four lawful wives of the late Sovereign, a separate house,
with a suitable establishment, is granted by the reigning Monarch; and
such of his numerous concubines as were not slaves, are at liberty to
return to their several friends; and, together with leave to retain
their cloaths, and all their ornaments, which are often valuable,
have free permission to marry.
In the empire of Bornou, as in all the Mahometan States, the
administration of the provinces is committed to Governors, appointed
by the Crown; and the expences of the Sovereign are partly defrayed
by his hereditary lands, and partly by taxes levied on the people.
The present Sultan, whose name is Alli, is a man of an unostentatious
plain appearance; for he seldom wears any other dress than the
common blue shirt of cotton or of silk, and the silk or muslin
turban, which form the usual dress of the country. Such, however,
is the magnificence of his seraglio, that the ladies who inhabit it
are said to be five hundred in number; and he himself is described
as the reputed father of three hundred and fifty children, of whom
three hundred are males; a disproportion which naturally suggests
the idea that the mother, preferring to the gratification of natural
affection, the joy of seeing herself the supposed parent of a future
candidate for the empire, sometimes exchanges her female child for
the male offspring of a stranger.
Equally splendid in his stables, he is said to have 500 horses for
his own use, and for that of the numerous servants of his household.
In many of the neighbouring kingdoms, the Monarch himself is the
executioner of those criminals on whom his own voice has pronounced
the sentence of death; but the Sultan of Bornou, too polished,
or too humane, to pollute his hands with the blood of his subjects,
commits the care of the execution to the Cadi, who directs his slaves
to strike off the head of the prisoner.
The _Military_ Force of the Sultan of Bornou consists in the
multitude of his horsemen; for his foot soldiers are few in number,
and are scarcely considered as contributing to the strength of the
battle.[29] The sabre, the lance, the pike, and the bow, constitute
their weapons of offence; and a shield of hides composes their
defensive armour. Fire-arms, though not entirely unknown to them,
for those with which the Merchants of Fezzan occasionally travel,
are sufficient to give them an idea of their importance and decisive
effect, are neither used nor possessed by the people of Bornou.
When the Sovereign prepares for war, and levies an army for the
purpose, he is said to have a custom, (the result of idle vanity or
of politic ostentation) of directing a date tree to be placed as a
threshold to one of the gates of his capital, and of commanding his
horsemen to enter the town one by one, that the parting of the tree
in the middle, when worn through by the trampling of the horses,
may enable him to judge of the sufficiency of their numbers, and
operate as a signal that his levy is compleat.
In their _Manners_, the people of Bornou are singularly courteous
and humane. They will not pass a stranger on the road till they
have stopped to salute him: the most violent of their quarrels
are only contests of words; and though a part of the business of
their husbandry is assigned to the women, yet, as their employment
is confined to that of dropping the seed in the furrows, and of
removing the weeds with a hoe, it has more of the amusement of
occasional occupation, than of the harshness of continued labour.
Passionately attached to the tumultuous gratifications of play, yet
unacquainted with any game but drafts, they often sit down on the
ground, and forming holes to answer the purpose of squares, supply
the place of men with dates, or the meaner substitute of stones, or
of camel’s dung. On their skill in the management of these rude
instruments of the game, they stake their gold dust, their brass
money, and even their very cloaths; and as the bye-standers on these
occasions constantly obtrude their advice, and sometimes make the
moves for the person whose success they wish, their play is usually
accompanied by that conflict of abuse, and vehemence of scolding,
which mark and terminate the sharpest of their quarrels.
Such is the amusement of the lower classes of the people; those of a
superior rank are devoted to the more difficult and more interesting
game of chess, in which they are eminently skilled.
In countries that afford without cultivation, or that give in return
for slight exertions of labour, the principal requisites of life,
few articles of export are likely to be found. Those of the Bornou
Empire consist of—
Gold Dust,[30] Ostrich Feathers,[30]
Slaves, Salt, and
Horses, Civet.
By what means the gold dust, that appears to be a principal article
of trade, is procured by the inhabitants, whether from mines in
the country, or by purchase from other nations, the Shereef has
not explained. But of their mode of obtaining the Slaves, which
constitute another extensive branch of their commerce, he gives the
following account:
South East of Bornou, at the distance of about twenty days travelling,
and separated from it by several small desarts, is situated an
extensive kingdom of the name of Begarmee, the inhabitants of which
are rigid Mahometans, and though perfectly black in their complexions,
are not of the Negro cast. Beyond this kingdom to the East are several
tribes of Negros, idolaters in their religion, savage in their
manners, and accustomed, it is said, to feed on human flesh. They
are called the Kardee, the Serrowah, the Showva, the Battah, and the
Mulgui. These nations the Begarmeese, who fight on horseback, and
are great warriors, annually invade; and when they have taken as many
prisoners as the opportunity affords, or their purpose may require,
they drive the captives, like cattle, to Begarmee. It is said that
if any of them, weakened by age, or exhausted by fatigue, happen
to linger in their pace, one of the horsemen seizes on the oldest,
and cutting off his arm, uses it as a club to drive on the rest.
From Begarmee they are sent to Bornou,[31] where they are sold at
a low price; and from thence many of them are conveyed to Fezzan,
where they generally embrace the Musselman faith, and are afterwards
exported by the way of Tripoli to different parts of the Levant.
Such is the mode of obtaining the greatest part of the slaves who
are annually sold in Bornou; but as several of the provinces of
the empire are inhabited by Negros, their insurrections, real or
pretended, afford to the Sovereign an opportunity of increasing his
income by their sale.
A more politic and more effectual mode of aiding his finances is
fruitlessly offered by the salt lakes of the Province of Domboo:
for, as the great Empire of Cashna is entirely destitute of salt, and
none is found in the dominions of the Negros, the sole possession of
this article might insure to the King of Bornou a constant and ample
revenue of the best kind, a revenue collected from the subjects
of Foreign States; but such is the prevalence of antient custom
over the obvious suggestions of policy, that the people of Agadez,
a Province of the Cashna Empire, are annually permitted to load their
immense caravans with the salt of Bornou, and to engross the profits
of this invaluable trade. The salt is collected on the shores of the
several lakes which produce it, and the only acknowledgement that the
Merchants of Agadez give in return for the article, is the trifling
price which they pay in brass and copper (the currency of Bornou)
to the neighbouring peasants.
The civet, which forms another article of the export trade of Bornou,
and the greatest part of which is sent to the Negro States who
inhabit far to the South, is obtained from a species of wild cat
that is common in the woods of Bornou and of Cashna.
This animal is taken alive in a trap prepared for the purpose,
is placed in a cage, and is strongly irritated till a copious
perspiration is produced. Its sweat, and especially the moisture
that appears upon the tail, is then scraped off, is preserved in
a bladder, and constitutes the much valued perfume. After a short
interval the operation is renewed, and is repeated, from time to
time, till at the end of twelve or fourteen days the animal dies of
the fatigue and continual torment. The quantity obtained from one
cat is generally about half an ounce.
Of _Manufactures_, none for exportation are furnished by the people
of Bornou; but the Shereef remarks that, for their own consumption,
they fabricate from the iron ore of their country, though with little
skill, such slight tools as their husbandry requires.[32]
In return for their exports, they receive the following goods:
Copper and Brass, which are brought to them from Tripoli, by the way
of Fezzan, and which, as already mentioned, are used as the current
species of Bornou;
Imperial Dollars, which are also brought to them from Tripoli by
the Merchants of Fezzan, and are converted by their own artists into
rings and bracelets for their women;
Red Woollen Caps, which are worn under the turban;
Check Linens,
Light coarse Woollen Cloths,
Baize,
Barakans,
Small Turkey Carpets,
Plain Mesurata Carpets.
~CHAPTER VII.~
_Rout from Mourzouk to Cashna — Boundaries of the Empire — Its
Language, Currency, and Trade._
* * * * *
Equally connected by their commerce with Cashna and Bornou, the
Fezzanners dispatch to the former as well as to the latter, and always
at the same season, an annual caravan. From Mourzouk, their capital,
which they leave at the close of October, they take their course
to the South South West, and proceed to the Province of Hiatts,
the most barren, and the worst inhabited district of their country.
Five of the fourteen days which are requisite for this part of
their rout, are consumed in the passage of a sandy desart, in which
their usual expedient of covering their goat skins, both within and
without, with a resinous substance, prevents but imperfectly the
dreaded evaporation of their water.
From the Province of Hiatts they cross the low mountains of Eyré,
which separate the Kingdom of Fezzan from the vast Empire of Cashna;
and leaving to their right the small river which flows from these
hills, and is lost in the deep sands of a neighbouring desart, they
enter a wide heath, uninhabited, but not destitute of water. The
sixth day conducts them from this extended solitude to the long
desired refreshments of the Town of Ganatt, where the two next days
are devoted to repose.
From thence, by a march of nineteen days, during six of which they
are immersed in the heats of a thirsty desart, they pass on to the
Town of Assouda, which offers them equal refreshments with Ganatt,
and equally suspends their journey.
On leaving Assouda, they traverse a delightful country, as fertile as
it is numerously peopled; and while the exhilarating sight of Indian
corn and of frequent herds of cattle accompanies and chears their
passage, the eighth day introduces them to the large and populous
City of Agadez, the capital of an extensive province.
Distinguished as the most commercial of all the towns of Cashna,
and, like Assouda and Ganatt, inhabited by Mahometans alone,
Agadez naturally attracts the peculiar attention of the Merchants
of Fezzan. Many of them proceed no further; but the greatest part,
committing to their Agents the care of the slaves, cotton, and senna,
which they purchase in the course of a ten days residence, continue
their journey to the South.
In this manner, if the camels are compleatly loaded, seven and
forty days, exclusive of those which are allotted to refreshment and
necessary rest, are employed in travelling from Mourzouk to Agadez.
At the end of three days more, amidst fields that are enriched with
the luxuriant growth of Indian corn, and pastures that are covered
with multitudes of cows, and with flocks of sheep and goats, the
Traveller reaches the small Town of Begzam; from which, through
a country of herdsmen, whose dwellings are in tents of hides,
the second day conducts him to the Town of Tegomáh. There, as
he surveys the stoney, uninhabited, desolate hills that form the
chearless prospect before him, he casts a regretful eye on those
verdant scenes that surrounded him the day before. Employed for two
days in the passage of these dreary heights, he descends on the
third to a deep and scorching sand, from which he emerges at the
approach of the fifth evening, and entering a beautiful country,
as pleasingly diversified with the natural beauties of hills and
vales and woods, as with the rich rewards of the husbandman’s and
the shepherd’s toil, he arrives in seven days more at the City
of Cashna, the capital of the empire of which it bears the name,
and the usual residence of its powerful Sultan.
The country to which the Geographers of Europe have given the name of
Nigritia, is called by the Arabs Soudán, and by the natives Aafnou,
two words of similar import, that, like the European appellation,
express the land of the Blacks, and like that too, are applied
to a part only of the region to which their meaning so obviously
belongs.—Yet, even in this limited sense, the word Soudán is often
variously employed; for while some of the Africans restrict it to
the Empire of Cashna, which is situated to the North of the Niger,
others extend it, with indefinite comprehension, to the Negro States
on the South of the river, and applying it as a means of expressing
the extended rule and transcendant power of the Emperor of Cashna,
call him, with extravagant compliment, the Sultan of all Soudán.
His real sovereignty is bounded, on the North, by the mountains of
Eyré, and by one of those districts of the great Zahara, that furnish
no means of useful property or available dominion; on the South,
by the Niger; and on the East, by the Kingdom of Zamphara and the
Empire of Bornou. Its western limit is not described by the Shereef;
nor is any thing said of the Capital, except that it is situated
to the North of the Niger, at the distance of five days journey,
and that its buildings resemble those of Bornou.
The observations which introduced the account of Bornou, have already
announced the remarkable similarity, as well with respect to climate,
soil, and natural productions, as with regard to the colour, genius,
religion, and political institutions of the people, that prevails
between that powerful State and its sister Kingdom of Cashna.
The _rains_, indeed, are less violent than those of Bornou. It
exclusively furnishes the Bishnah, a species of Indian corn that
differs from the gamphúly, in the blended colours of red and white
which distinguish its grain. Its monkeys and parrots (animals but
seldom seen in Bornou) are numerous, and of various species. The
meridian of its capital is considered as a western limit, in that
parallel of latitude, to the vegetation of grapes and the breed
of camels; for between Cashna and the Atlantic few camels are
bred, and no grapes will grow. The manners of the common people
are less courteous in Cashna than in Bornou, and their games are
less expressive of reflection; for their favourite play consists
in tossing up four small sticks, and counting those that cross each
other, as so many points of the number that constitutes the game. But
the circumstances of chief discrimination between the empires are,
those of language, currency, and certain articles of commerce.
Of the difference between the _Languages_ of Bornou and of Cashna,
the following specimen is given by the Shereef.
In the Language of Bornou
1 _is expressed by_ Lakkah
2 Endee
3 Nieskoo
4 Dekoo
5 Okoo
6 Araskoo
7 Huskoo
8 Tallóre
9 L’ilkar
10 Meikoo
11 Meiko Lakkah
12 Meiko Endee
13 Meiko Nieskoo
14 Meikoo Dekoo
In the Language of Cashna
1 _is expressed by_ Deiyah
2 Beeyou
3 Okoo
4 Foodoo
5 Beát
6 Sheedah
7 Bookai
8 Tàkoos
9 Tarráh
10 Goumah
11 Goumah sha Deiyah
12 Goumah sha Beeyou
13 Goumah sha Okoo
14 Goumah sha Foodoo
The _Currency_ of Cashna, like that of the Negro States to the South
of the Niger, is composed of those small shells that are known to
Europeans and to the Blacks themselves by the name of Cowries,
and to the Arabs by the appellation of Hueddah.—Cardie, which
is another term for this species of Negro money, and the specific
meaning of which the Shereef has neglected to explain, is said to
be given to it by the idolatrous tribes alone; a circumstance that
seems to indicate superstitious attachment.—Of these shells, 2,500
are estimated in Cashna as equal in value to a mitkal of Fezzan,
which is worth about 675 piastres of Tripoli, or ten shillings and
three half-pence sterling.
Among the few circumstances which characterize the _Trade_ of Cashna,
as distinguished from that of Bornou, the most remarkable is, that
the Merchants of the _former_ kingdom are the sole carriers, to other
nations, of a scarce and most valuable commodity, which is only to be
obtained from the inhabitants of the _latter_. For though the salt of
Bornou supplies the consumption of Cashna, and of the Negro Kingdoms
to the South, yet its owners have abandoned to the commercial activity
of the Merchants of Agadez, the whole of that profitable trade.
The lakes, on the dreary shores of which this scarce article of
African luxury is found, are separated from Agadez by a march of
five and forty days, and are encompassed on all sides by the sands
of the vast Desart of Bilma, where the ardent heat of a flaming sky
is returned with double fierceness by the surface of the burning
soil. A thousand camels, bred and maintained for the purpose, are
said to compose the caravan which annually explores, in the savage
wilderness, the long line of this adventurous journey. Perilous,
however, and full of hardships as their labour is, the Merchants
find an ample recompence in the profits of their commerce; for while
the wretched villagers who inhabit the neighbourhood of the lakes,
and collect the salt that congeals upon the shores, are contented
to receive, or obliged to accept a scanty price, the value that the
Merchants obtain in the various markets of Cashna, of Tombuctou,
and of the countries to the South of the Niger, is suited to the
high estimation in which the article is held.
Attentive in this manner to the means of profiting by the produce of
a neighbouring country, the people of Agadez are equally anxious to
avail themselves of the commodities that are furnished by their own;
for knowing the superior quality of the senna which grows upon their
mountains, they demand and receive from the Merchants of Fezzan a
proportionable price.
The senna of Agadez is valued in Tripoli at fourteen or fifteen
mahaboobs, or from 4l. 4s. to 4l. 10s. per hundred weight, while
that of Tibesti is worth no more than from nine to ten mahaboobs,
or from 2l. 14s. to 3l. sterling. From Tripoli the senna is exported
to Turkey, Leghorn, and Marseilles.
Of the other articles of sale which the extensive Empire of Cashna
affords, the principal are—
Gold Dust—the value of which appears to be estimated at a higher
rate in Cashna than in Fezzan; for in the former the worth of an ounce
of 640 grains (which is the weight of an ounce in Fezzan, Cashna,
and probably in all the States between that kingdom and the Niger)
is said to be nine mitkals, or 4l. 10s. sterling; whereas an ounce
of the same weight is worth in Fezzan but 4l. In Cashna the value of
an English ounce of 480 grains is consequently 3l. 7s. 6d. whereas
in Fezzan it is only 3l.
Slaves—In what manner these are obtained, does not distinctly
appear; but the value of a male slave is said to be from 15 to 20,000
cowries, or from 3l. to 4l. sterling:
That of a female slave is described as being two-thirds of the former,
or from 10,000 to 13,334 cowries, which in English money would be
from 2l. to 2l. 13s. 4d.
Cotton Cloths—which are the general manufacture of Cashna, of
Bornou, and of the Negro States to the South of the Niger:
Goat-skins—of the red and of the yellow dyes:
Ox and Buffalo Hides:
Civet—the mode of obtaining which, as well as the principal markets
for its sale, were described in the account which has been given of
the trade of Bornou.
In return for these articles the inhabitants of Cashna receive—
Cowries—a sea shell which is brought from the coast, and constitutes
the common specie of the empire:
Horses and Mares—which are purchased from the Merchants of Fezzan;
but whether bred in that country, or procured from the Arabs, or
from the people of Bornou, is not mentioned by the Shereef:
Red Woollen Caps,
Check Linens,[33]
Light coarse Woollen Cloths,
Baize,
Barakans or Alhaiks,
Small Turkey Carpets,
Plain Mesurata Carpets,
Silk, wrought and unwrought,
Tissues and Brocades,
Sabre Blades,
Dutch Knives,
Scizzars,
Coral,
Beads,
Small Looking-Glasses,
Tickera—a paste which is prepared in Fezzan from dates and the
meal of Indian corn, and which, whenever they travel, is in great
request among the people of Fezzan:
Gooroo Nuts—which are brought from the Negro States on the South of
the Niger, and which are principally valued for the pleasant bitter
that they communicate to any liquid in which they are infused.
~CHAPTER VIII.~
_Countries South of the Niger._
* * * * *
The account which the Shereef has given of such of the kingdoms to
the South of the Niger as he himself has visited, is too deficient
in geographical information to furnish a clear and determinate idea
of this part of his travels: and though the names of the principal
States in whose capitals he traded, or through whose dominions he
passed, may be used with advantage as the means of future enquiry, and
are therefore inserted in the map which accompanies this Narrative;
yet the places assigned them must be considered as in some degree
conjectural. That the line of his journey was towards the Gold
Coast, there is, however, the strongest reason to believe; and the
following brief account of his remarks may lead to conclusions which
are neither uninteresting nor unimportant.
From that part of the Niger which forms the southern limit of the
great Empire of Cashna, to the Kingdom of Tonouwah, which borders on
the coast of the Christians, and of which the Town of Assenté is said
to be the capital, a succession of hills, among which are mountains
of a stupendous height, diversifies or constitutes the general face
of the country. Most of the lands are described as already cleared,
but some particular districts are still incumbered with woods of a
vast extent; and though for the most part the highlands are pastured
by innumerable stocks of sheep, and by herds of cows and goats,
and the vales exhibit the captivating view of successive villages,
encompassed with corn and rice, and fruits of various kinds, yet
there _are_ places of native sterility and eternal barrenness.
The combined occupations of the shepherd and of the husbandman compose
the general employment of the people; while the cotton cloth, and
the goat-skins of the red and of the yellow dyes, that are offered
in several of the towns for sale, announce the rudiments of future
manufactures, and perhaps of an extensive commerce.
Exempted by the nature of their climate from many of those hardships
from which, in other countries, dress is the principal protection,
a large proportion of the inhabitants wear only the covering that
decency requires. But most of the Mahometans, as the mark of a
religion which they are proud to profess, adorn their heads with the
folds of the turban, and also adopt, at least in some of the States,
the cotton shirt, which is so much worn in the empires of Cashna
and Bornou.
Tents, which are formed of the hides of cows or of buffaloes,
and which are peculiarly suited to the shepherd life, are the only
dwellings of multitudes of the Negros; while the huts, which others
erect with the branches of trees, are of a construction almost
equally simple.
Several of the towns are described as surrounded by walls; and bows
and arrows are mentioned as the common instruments of war.
In the description of their Governments, a few instances of small
Republics are given; but most of their States are monarchical; and
of these, the inhabitants of the Mahometan Kingdom of Degombah are
distinguished by the custom of taming the Elephant, and by that of
selling for slaves the prisoners they take from such of the bordering
nations as motives of religion or of avarice prompt them to invade.
Such, however, is the mildness of the Negro character, that even the
asperities of religious disagreement appear to have no effect on their
general conduct; for there is reason to believe, from the Shereef’s
account, that the Musselman and the Pagan are indiscriminately mixed,
that their cattle feed upon the same mountain, and that the approach
of evening sends them in peace to the same village: and though the
nations who are attacked by the people of Degombah punish with death,
as guilty of atrocious injustice, such of the invaders as the chance
of war throws into their hands, yet those of the Mahometans who
visit them for the purposes of trade, are received with protection
and respect.
To the Merchants of Fezzan, who travel to the southern States of
the Negros, the purchase of gold, which the dominions of several,
and especially of those of Degombah, abundantly afford, is always
the first object of commercial acquisition. The other articles which
they obtain, consist of
Slaves,
Cotton Cloth,
Goat-Skins, of a beautiful dye,
Hides of Buffaloes and Cows, and
A species of Nut—which is much valued in the kingdoms to the North
of the Niger, and which is called Gooroo. It grows on a large and
broad leafed tree that bears a pod of about eighteen inches in length,
in which are inclosed a number of nuts that varies from seven to
nine. Their colour is a yellowish green; their size is that of a
chesnut, which they also resemble in being covered by a husk of a
similar thickness; and their taste, which is described as a pleasant
bitter, is so grateful to those who are accustomed to its use, and
so important as a corrective to the unpalatable or unwholesome waters
of Fezzan, and of the other kingdoms that border on the vast Zahara,
as to be deemed of importance to the happiness of life.
No commercial value appears to be annexed to the fleeces which
the numerous flocks of the Negro kingdoms afford; for the cotton
manufacture, which, the Shereef says, is established among the tribes
to the South of the Niger, seems to be the only species of weaving
that is known among them. Perhaps the dark colour of the fleece,
as disqualifying it for the dye, may be one reason, and its coarse
and hairy nature may be another, of the little esteem in which it
appears to be held.
In _return_ for the articles which they sell to their foreign
visitors, the Negros receive—
Salt, from the Merchants of Agadez,
Dutch Knives,
Sabre Blades,
Carpets,
Coral,
Beads,
Looking-Glasses,
Civet,
Imperial Dollars and Brass—from both of which the Negro artists
manufacture rings and bracelets for their women.
Fire Arms are unknown to such of the nations on the South of the Niger
as the Shereef has visited; and the reason which he assigns for it
is, that the Kings in the neighbourhood of the coast, persuaded that
if these powerful instruments of war should reach the possession of
the populous inland States, their own independence would be lost,
have strictly prohibited, and by the wisdom of their measures, have
effectually prevented this dangerous merchandize from passing beyond
the limit of their dominions.
~CHAPTER IX.~
_General View of the Trade from Fezzan to Tripoli, Bornou, Cashna,
and the Countries on the South of the Niger._
* * * * *
In the general description of Fezzan, an account was given of
the various articles of native produce which supply the wants,
or contribute to the trade of its people; but of their _Foreign_
Commerce, for which, like the Dutch in Europe, they are eminently
distinguished, the detail was purposely deferred: for till a previous
account of the countries to which that commerce is established had
been exhibited, no adequate conception of its nature or extent could
be easily conveyed.
At the latter end of October, when the ardent heat of the Summer
months is succeeded by the pleasant mildness and settled serenity
of Autumn, the several caravans that are respectively destined for
Tripoli and Bornou and Cashna, and the Negro Nations beyond the Niger,
take their departure from Mourzouk, the capital of Fezzan. The parties
which compose them are generally small; for unless information has
been received that the road is infested with robbers, ten or a dozen
Merchants, attended by twice as many camels, and by the necessary
servants, constitute the usual strength of the caravan; but if an
attack is apprehended, an association of forty or fifty men, with
muskets for their defence, is formed; and as none of the Africans to
the South of Fezzan (the people of Agadez and the nations on the coast
excepted) have yet possessed themselves of fire-arms, the collective
force of such a number is sufficient to insure their safety.
Their store of provisions usually consists of dates; of meal prepared
from barley, or from Indian corn, and previously deprived of all its
moisture in an oven temperately heated; and of mutton, which is cured
for the purpose, by the treble process of being salted and dried in
the sun, and afterwards boiled in oil or fat; a process which gives
it, even in that climate, a lasting preservation.
In all the principal towns to which they trade, the Merchants
of Fezzan have Factors, or confidential Friends, to whose care,
till their return, or till their instructions as to the market
shall arrive, they consign such Negros as they purchase, perfectly
assured that the slaves will be forwarded by the Agents according to
the orders they receive; but their gold dust, as being more easily
conveyed, and less dependent for its value on the choice of the
market, is seldom entrusted to the Factor.
The caravans which proceed to _Tripoli_ are freighted partly with
trona, the produce of their native land, and partly with senna and
gold dust and slaves, the produce of the southern countries with which
they trade; and in return they bring back the cutlery and woollens
(particularly red woollen caps) and silks, wrought and unwrought,
together with the Imperial dollars, the copper and the brass, which
are requisite for the consumption of those countries or for their own.
The caravans which travel to _Bornou_ are loaded with the following
goods:
Brass and Copper—for the currency of Bornou. The caravan which
Mr. LUCAS accompanied from Tripoli to Mesurata, had brought ten
camel loads or forty hundred weight of these metals for the Bornou
market: their value in Bornou is about four shillings sterling for
each pound weight.
Imperial Dollars—which are called in Arabic Real Abotacia, and
the value of which, in comparison with the dollars of Spain, is,
at Tripoli, as 365 piastres to 340, or nearly as 16 to 15:
Red Woollen Caps,
Check Linens,
Light coarse Cloth,
Baize,
Barakans or Alhaiks,
Small Carpets of Turkey,
Small plain Carpets of Mesurata,
Silk, wrought and unwrought,
Tissues and Brocades—for the Royal Family and other persons of rank,
Sabre Blades,
Dutch Knives,
Scissars,
Coral,
Beads,
Small Looking-Glasses,
Gooroo Nuts—that grow on the South of the Niger, and are much valued
in Bornou for the pleasant taste which they communicate to water.
Of the native produce of Fezzan the only article which is brought as
merchandize to Bornou is a preparation of pounded dates, and of the
meal of Indian corn, highly dried in an oven. It is called Tickera,
and is valued, especially by Travellers, as a portable and highly
salubrious food.
In _return_ for the goods which they bring to _Bornou_ the Merchants
_take back_ with them,
Slaves,
Gold Dust,
Civet—for the markets on the South of the Niger.
* * * * *
The _exports_ from Fezzan to _Cashna_ and its dependent States,
consist of the following articles:
Cowries—a sea shell (in Arabic, called Hueddah) which constitutes
the circulating specie of this empire, and of the Negro kingdoms,
and which the Merchants procure from the Southern nations who border
on the coast; 17,062 are considered in Cashna as equivalent to an
English ounce (480 grains) of gold:
Brass—from which the Smiths of the country manufacture rings and
bracelets for their women:
Horses,
Red Woollen Caps,
Check Linens,
Light coarse Cloth,
Baize,
Barakans, or Alhaiks,
Small Turkey Carpets,
Plain Mesurata Carpets,
Silk, wrought and unwrought,
Tissues and Brocades,
Sabre Blades,
Dutch Knives,
Scissars,
Coral,
Beads,
Small Looking-Glasses,
Tickera—a preparation of pounded dates, and the meal of Indian corn,
which is manufactured in Fezzan:
Gooroo Nuts—which are brought from the Negro Countries on the
South of the Niger.
The articles received in _return_, are—
Gold Dust:—of which an English ounce (or 480 grains) appears to
be valued at 3l. 8s. 3d. though in Fezzan it seems to be worth no
more than 3l. The Fezzanners, in all probability, make themselves
amends by the price which they charge upon their goods.
Slaves—a male slave is worth in Cashna, from 3l. 10s. to 5l.—a
female slave is worth two-thirds of the amount, or from 2l. 6s. 8d. to
3l. 6s. 8d.
Cotton Cloths—of various colours, principally blue and white,
of which in the Empire of Cashna, and in the Negro States to the
South of the Niger, great quantities are made:
Goat Skins—dyed red or yellow,
Ox and Buffalo Hides—for tents,
Senna from Agadez—a province of the Cashna Empire; the Agadez senna
is worth at Tripoli, from fourteen to fifteen mahaboobs (4l. 4s. to
4l. 10s. sterling) per hundred weight; that which the Fezzanners
obtain at Tibesti is only worth per hundred weight, from nine to
ten mahaboobs, or from 2l. 14s. to 3l. sterling.
Civet.
* * * * *
To such of the various nations inhabiting _the Country on the South
of the Niger_ as they are accustomed to visit, the Merchants of
Fezzan convey the following articles:
Sabre Blades,
Dutch Knives,
Carpets,
Coral,
Beads,
Looking-Glasses,
Brass,
Imperial Dollars,
Civet.
In _return_ the Merchants receive—
Gold Dust,
Slaves,
Cotton Cloths—of various colours.
Goat Skins—red and yellow.
Ox and Buffalo Hides,
Gooroo Nuts—for sale in Cashna, Bornou, and Fezzan, where they
are purchased at the rate of 12s. for one hundred pods:
Cowries—for sale in Cashna.
Ivory, though very common in the country to the South of the Niger,
is not considered by the Merchants of Fezzan, as an article of
profitable transport, the demand for it on the Coast being such as
induces them to sell to the Negros who traffic there, the teeth which
in the course of their journey, they often find in the woods.[34]
Such are the principal branches of the extensive commerce of the
Merchants of Fezzan; from a view of which it appears, that, vast
as their concerns are, they have little communication with any of
the States that are situated to the West of the Empire of Cashna;
a circumstance which the Shereef ascribes to the want of a proper
conveyance for their goods; for the country on the West of Cashna
furnishes but few camels, and even horses and mules are singularly
scarce and dear.
~CHAPTER X.~
_Rout from Mourzouk to Grand Cairo, according to Hadgee Abdalah
Benmileitan, the present Governor of Mesurata._
* * * * *
Placed in a situation which affords an easy intercourse with the
Mediterranean, and therefore with the States of Europe, on the
one hand, and on the other with the extensive Empires of Bornou
and Cashna, the dominions of Tombuctou, and the various nations of
Negros to the South of the Niger, the Merchants of Fezzan are happily
possessed of the farther advantage of communicating by a safe and
comparatively commodious passage with the Cities of Grand Cairo and of
Mecca. A pilgrimage to the latter, the object, from time immemorial,
of veneration in Arabia, is prescribed to every Musselman; and though
the greatest part of the believers in Mahomet, deterred by distance,
or restrained by the avocations of business and the feelings of
domestic attachment, content themselves with imperfect resolutions
of performing at some future period this arduous journey, yet there
are persons, even from the innermost recesses of Africa, who think,
that a positive injunction of their faith is too solemn for excuses,
and too momentous for delay. Prompted by this urgent consideration,
or allured by the honourable distinction which attends upon the
title of Hadgee, the envied appellation of those who have visited the
sacred Temple, a number of the faithful from the Empires of Bornou
and Cashna, from the extensive kingdom of Caffaba, and from several
of the Negro States, resort to Fezzan, and proceed from thence,
with the caravan, which in the Autumn of every second or third year
takes its departure for Mecca. The caravan, which seldom consists
of less than one hundred, or of more than three hundred Travellers,
assembles at Mourzouk, and begins its journey in the last week of
October, or in the first of the succeeding month.
Temissa, a town in the dominions of Fezzan, and situated to the
East North East of Mourzouk, receives them at the close of the
seventh day; and in two days more, of easy travelling, they arrive
at a lofty mountain, rocky, uninhabited, and barren, of the name
of Xanibba. Having recruited their goat-skin bags from the only
well which these sullen heights afford, they descend to a vast
and dreary desart, whose hilly surface, for four successive days,
presents nothing to the eye but one continued extent of black and
naked rock; to which, for three days more, the equally barren view
of a soft and sandy stone succeeds. Through all this wide expanse
of varied nakedness no trace of animal or vegetable life, not even
the desart thorn, is seen. On the eighth day, the vast mountain
of Ziltan, the rugged sides of which are marked with scanty spots
of brushwood, and are enriched with stores of water, increases the
labour of the journey. Four days are devoted to the toils of this
stupendous passage; four others are employed in crossing the sultry
plain that stretches its barren sands from the foot of the mountain
to the verdant heights of Sibbeel, where the wells of water and the
chearing view of multitudes of antelopes suspend their fatigues, and
anticipate the refreshments that await them on the next evening; for
the close of the following day conducts them to the town of Augéla.
From that place, which is subject to Tripoli, and is famed for the
abundance and excellent flavour of its dates, they proceed in one
day to the little village of Gui Xarrah; another brings them to the
long ascent of the broad mountain of Gerdóbah, from whose inflexible
barrenness the Traveller, in the course of a five days passage, can
only collect a scanty supply of unpalatable water. Descending from
these mournful highlands, he enters the narrow plain of Gegabib,
sandy and uninhabited, yet fertile in dates, which the people of
Duna (a town dependant on Tripoli, and situated on the Coast at the
distance of eight days journey from Gegabib) annually gather.
From this scene of gladsome contrast to the inveterate rocks
of Gerdóbah, a three days march conducts the caravan to another
desolate mountain of the name of Buselema, that furnishes only water;
and in three days more they enter the dominions of the independent
Republic of See-wah.
Governed by a Council of six or eight Elders, whose lasting
dissentions divide the opinions and distract the allegiance of the
people, this unfortunate State is constantly involved in the miseries
of intestine war. Its chief produce is the date tree; for the lands,
though not destitute of water, furnish but little corn.
From See-wah, the capital, the caravan proceeds in a single day to the
miserable village of Umseguér, which is one of the dependencies of
the State, and is situated at the foot of the mountainous Desart of
Le Mágra, where, in the long course of a seven days passage, the
Traveller is scarcely sensible that a few spots of thin and meagre
brushwood slightly interrupt the vast expanse of sterility, and
diminish the amplitude of desolation. The eighth day terminates with
his arrival at the hill of Huaddy L’Ottrón, which is distinguished
by a small convent, of three Christian Monks, who reside there
under the protection of Cairo, and to whose hospitable entertainment
the Traveller is largely indebted. Buildings, surrounded with high
walls, and erected in the neighbourhood of the convent, are opened
for his reception; and for three successive days, if he chuses to
be their guest so long, his wants, as far as their means extend,
are chearfully and liberally supplied.
Their garden, in which is a well of excellent and never-failing water,
affords an ample store of vegetables of various kinds; the maintenance
of a few sheep is furnished by an adjoining pasture; and they raise,
without difficulty, a numerous breed of fowls. All other articles,
except their bread, which they manufacture themselves, they receive
from Cairo.
Respected by the Arabs, who revere their hospitality more than they
hate their religion, these venerable men are apparently secure.—Yet
as too much confidence might invite the meanest plunderers to invade
their peaceful dwelling, they have cautiously guarded their convent
by a separate and lofty inclosure from an opening in which a ladder
of ropes furnishes the means of descent.
Leaving this hospitable hill with such refreshments as the generous
Fathers could supply, the caravan continues its course, and on the
fifth day arrives at the City of Cairo, from whence, at the usual
season, it proceeds by the customary rout to Mecca.
~CHAPTER XI.~
_Conclusions suggested by the preceding Narrative._
* * * * *
From the perusal of the preceding account, the Society are enabled
to judge of the credit which it deserves, and of the value of the
information which it offers. If the evidence of its truth should be
thought insufficient, they will keep their minds in suspence till
Narratives of more confirmed authenticity shall disprove or establish
the relation. But if they should think that the Shereef’s account of
Bornou and of the Niger is too strongly supported by the corresponding
description of Ben Alli, to leave a suspicion of its falsehood;
and that the fidelity of this part of his Narrative warrants the
belief of whatever else is equally described on the authority of
his personal knowledge, then they will feel that conclusions of an
important and interesting nature result from the various, though
imperfect intelligence which he has furnished.
The present state of the Empire of Bornou, compared with its condition
when Leo Africanus, who wrote his account in the year 1526, was its
visitor, exhibits an interesting proof of the advancement of the
Mahometan Faith, and of the progress of imperfect civilization.[35]
A savage nakedness, or the rude covering which the skins of beasts
afford, are now relinquished, for the decency and convenience of a
dress of cotton manufacture. Tempered by the courtesy of commerce,
and the conciliating interchange of important benefits, the antient
barbarism of the people is softened to habits of kindness; and, in
the minds of the greatest part, the absurd superstitions of Paganism
have given place to the natural and sublime idea of the Unity of God.
From the account of the nations to the _South of the Niger_, it
appears, that, among the Mahometan Blacks, the sternness of the
Musselman is softened by the mildness of the Negro; and that if the
zeal of the invader be not inflamed by the value of the captive,
the propagation of the faith is seldom considered as a reason or
pretext for war.
Perhaps the attention of the _Philosopher_ may be engaged by the use
to which the small shells of the Maldive Islands are equally applied
by the inhabitants of Cashna, and by the natives of Bengal. Sameness
of opinion, or resemblance of conduct, when founded in natural
feeling, or a similar state of society, are seen without wonder in
nations unconnected and remote; but that a custom so arbitrary and
artificial as that of employing Cowries as a substitute for coin,
a custom which instinct could not have produced, and chance could
scarcely have occasioned, should equally prevail among the Negros
of Africa and the natives of Bengal, may justly be deemed a curious
and interesting phenomenon.
To the British _Traveller_, a desire of exchanging the usual excursion
from Calais to Naples, for a Tour more extended and important, and of
passing from scenes with which all are acquainted, to researches in
which every object is new, and each step is discovery, may recommend
the Kingdom of Fezzan. If Antiquities be his favourite pursuit, the
ruins which shadow the cottages of Jermah and of Temissa, promise
an ample gratification: or if the study of Nature be his wish, the
expansive scenes and numerous productions of that uninvestigated
soil may equally promote his entertainment and his knowledge. But if
a spirit of more adventurous research should induce him to travel
with the Merchants of Fezzan, discoveries of superior value may
distinguish and reward his toil. The powerful Empires of Bornou
and Cashna will be open to his investigation; the luxurious City of
Tombuctou, whose opulence and severe police attract the Merchants
of the most distant States of Africa, will unfold to him the causes
of her vast prosperity; the mysterious Niger will disclose her
unknown original and doubtful termination; and countries unveiled
to antient or modern research will become familiar to his view. Or
should he be willing to join the Cairo Caravan, the discovery of
the antient scite, and of whatever else may remain of the Temple
of Jupiter Ammon, may perhaps be attempted with success: for the
same causes which gave birth to the springs, and, by their means,
to the luxuriant vegetation of the antient domains of the Temple,
must still continue to distinguish the fortunate soil; and there seems
no reason to doubt that the hospitable convent of Huaddy L’Ottrón,
or the neighbouring Republic of See-wah, will not only furnish a place
of convenient departure and of easy retreat, but will also supply
the requisite information, and the necessary aid. At this time,
an Interpreter, who is equally acquainted with Arabic and English,
may be found in London; and, at all times, the Cities of Tripoli,
of Tunis, and of Ceuta, afford a number of Mahometans who are almost
as conversant with the Italian or the Spanish, as with the Arabic,
their native language.
But of all the advantages to which a better acquaintance with the
Inland Regions of Africa may lead, the first in importance is, the
extension of the Commerce, and the encouragement of the Manufactures
of Britain. That fire-arms are in request with all nations, civilized
and savage, who have the means of obtaining them, experience uniformly
proves; and we now learn, that to the jealousy which the Princes
on the Southern Coast entertain of the powerful Interior States,
and to the total neglect of all opportunities of opening, from more
favourable quarters, an immediate communication with the inland
country, it is owing that the sale of one of the most profitable
manufactures of Great Britain is still in a great measure confined to
the scanty Tribes which inhabit the shores of the Atlantic. From the
same information we are also led to conclude, that the anxious policy
which prohibits the conveyance of fire-arms to the Inland Tribes,
dictates, as a necessary caution, the severest restraints on the
transit of other merchandize. But if, on the system of the Moors,
the effect of which has been tried too long for its wisdom to be
disputed, associations of Englishmen should form caravans, and take
their departure from the highest navigable reaches of the Gambia,
or from the settlement which is lately established at Sierra Leona,
there is reason to believe, that countries new to the fabrics of
England, and probably inhabited by more than a hundred millions
of people, may be gradually opened to her trade. On this system,
much greater would be their profits than those which the Merchants
of Fezzan receive; for they would reach, by a journey of 700 miles
from their vessels, the same markets to which a land-carriage of 3000
conveys from the Mediterranean the goods of the Fezzanners; and they
would also possess the farther advantage of obtaining at prime cost,
the same articles for which the Merchants of Fezzan are subjected to
the complicated disadvantages of a high price, of an inferior quality,
and of the varying exactions that the despotic Governments of Barbary
impose. Now if it be considered, that notwithstanding the vast expence
of land-carriage, and of an exorbitant price on the purchase of the
articles which they sell, the Traders of Fezzan are still enabled
to collect a profit that upholds and encourages their commerce,
it must be evident, that the gain which the Merchants of England
would derive from a similar traffic, conducted as is here proposed,
would be such as few commercial adventures have ever been found to
yield. That no difficulties will attend the execution of the Plan,
the general history of new undertakings forbids us to believe;
but as far as the _climate_ and _religion_ of the Negros are in
question, there seems to be little discouragement; for the long
descent of the rivers is a proof that the elevation of the inland
country is raised above the level of the coast and consequently that
the climate is much more temperate, and probably more salubrious:
and while the Narrative of the Shereef announces that the Merchant
is considered by the Negro as the general friend of Mankind, common
experience convincingly shews that, in the judgement of the Pagan,
the Crescent and the Cross are objects of equal indifference; and
that the comparative welcome of the Musselman and of the Christian
depends on their Merchandize rather than their Creed.
As little discouragement is suggested by a view of the purchasable
goods of which the natives are possessed; for, independently of
their cotton, which in all the interior nations is described as of
common manufacture, and therefore as of general growth, their mines
of gold (the improveable possession of many of the Inland States)
will furnish, to an unknown, and probably boundless extent, an
article that commands, in all the markets of the civilized world,
a constant and unlimited sale.
Such are the important objects of mercantile pursuit, which the
various intelligence obtained by the first efforts of the Association,
enables them to point out and recommend to their Country: and
while the contemplation of national interests, and of the still
more extended interests of philosophy, directs their efforts and
animates their hopes, they cannot be indifferent to the reflection,
that in the pursuit of these advantages, and by means as peaceable
as the purposes are just, the conveniencies of civil life, the
benefits of the mechanic and manufacturing arts, the attainments
of science, the energies of the cultivated mind, and the elevation
of the human character, may in some degree be imparted to nations
hitherto consigned to hopeless barbarism and uniform contempt.
_FOR the following Memoir, and for the Map which it describes, the
Society are indebted to the eminent talents and ardent zeal in the
Promotion of Geographical Improvement that distinguish the character
of MAJOR RENNELL._
~CHAPTER XII.~
_Construction of the Map of Africa._
* * * * *
That the Geography of Africa has made a slower progress towards
improvement than that of every other part of the world, during
the last, and the present century, is to be attributed more to
natural causes, than to any absolute want of attention on the part
of Geographers. Formed by the Creator, with a contour and surface
totally unlike the other Continents, its interior parts elude all
nautic research; whilst the wars and commerce in which Europeans
have taken part, have been confined to very circumscribed parts of
its borders. These most productive means of geographical information
failing, the next resource is to collect materials from the best
informed amongst the travelled _natives_: I say _natives_, because
the generality of European Travellers reckon upon some degree of
solace, as well as the gratification of curiosity, during their
peregrinations: not to mention, that it is more the practice to
see what has been already seen, than to strike into a new path,
and dare to contemplate an unfashionable subject. To the lovers of
adventure and novelty, Africa displays a most ample field: but the
qualification of local manners, and, in some degree, of habits,
must in this case, be superadded to that of language: and this,
unquestionably, renders the undertaking more arduous than that of
an ordinary Tour. But the Adventurer in quest of fame, will readily
appreciate the degrees of glory attendant on each pursuit.
The 18th century has smiled propitiously on the Science of GEOGRAPHY
throughout the globe; and an Englishman may be allowed to pride
himself that his countrymen have had their full share of the glory
attending this, and other kinds of researches tending to increase
the general stock of knowledge. It is to this spirit that we are to
attribute the acquisition of the materials which form the subject of
the present Work. It is no less to this spirit that we are indebted
for the progressive improvements in the North-American and Asiatic
Geography: our systems embracing objects far superior to the limited
views with which Geographical Surveys are ordinarily undertaken: not
the topography of townships, districts, counties; but the Geography
of Empires, Regions, and Continents!
As both EUROPE, and its adjacent Continent, ASIA, are spread over
with inland seas, lakes, or rivers of the most extended navigations,
so as collectively to aid the transport of bulky articles of
merchandize from one extreme of them to the other; and to form (like
stepping-stones over a brook) a more commodious communication: so
likewise the northern part of the new Continent appears to have an
almost continuous Inland Navigation, which must prove of infinite
advantage to the inhabitants, when fully peopled; and contribute to
their speedier civilization, in the mean time. But Africa stands
alone in a geographical view! Penetrated by no inland seas, like
the Mediterranean, Baltic, or Hudson’s Bay; nor overspread with
extensive lakes, like those of North America; nor having in common
with the other Continents, rivers running from the center to the
extremities: but, on the contrary, its regions separated from each
other by the least practicable of all boundaries, arid Desarts of
such formidable extent, as to threaten those who traverse them, with
the most horrible of all deaths, that arising from thirst! Placed
in such circumstances, can we be surprised either at our ignorance
of its Interior Parts, or of the tardy progress of civilization in
it? Possibly, the difficulty of conveying merchandize to the coasts,
under the above circumstances, may have given rise to the _traffic_
in _men_, a commodity that can transport itself! But laying this out
of the question, as an abstract speculation, there can be little
doubt but that the progress of civilization amongst the Africans
has been as slow as can be conceived, in any situation: and it has
also happened, of course, that the destined Instruments of their
civilization have remained in a proportional degree of ignorance
concerning the nature of the country.
Nothing can evince the low state of the African Geography, more than
M. D’Anville’s having had recourse to the Works of PTOLOMY and
EDRISI, to compose the Interior Part of his Map of Africa (1749.) It
is well known, that those Authors wrote in the second and in the
twelfth centuries of our æra. Most of the positions in the Inland
Part of the great body of Africa are derived from EDRISI; and it is
wonderful how nearly some of the positions agree with those furnished
by the present materials. Such was the transcendant judgement of
D’Anville in combining the scanty notices that are furnished by
the Nubian Geographer!
But the Public are not to expect, even under an improved system
of African Geography, that the Interior Part of that Continent
will exhibit an aspect similar to the others; rich in variety;
each region assuming a distinct character. On the contrary, it will
be meagre and vacant in the extreme. The dreary expanses of desart
which often surround the habitable spots, forbid the appearance of
the usual proportion of towns; and the paucity of rivers, added
to their being either absorbed or evaporated, instead of being
conducted in flowing lines to the ocean, will give a singular cast
to its hydrography; the direction of their courses being, moreover,
equivocal, through the want of that information, which a communication
with the sea usually affords at a glance. Little as the Antients knew
of the Interior Part of Africa, they appear to have understood the
character of its surface; one of them comparing it to a leopard’s
skin. Swift also, who loses no opportunity of being witty at the
expence of mathematicians, diverts himself and his readers both with
the _nakedness_ of the land, and the absurdity of the map-makers.
“Geographers, in _Afric_ maps,
With savage pictures fill their gaps,
And o’er unhabitable downs
Place elephants, for want of towns.”
The Society for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of
Africa has been fortunate in collecting much geographical information,
in so early a stage of the African researches; and there is little
doubt but that in a few years all the great features of this Continent
(within the reach of their enquiries) may be known and described. But
to accomplish this, it will be necessary that intelligent Europeans
should trace some of the principal routes; as well to apportion the
distances, as to establish some kind of criterion for the parole
information derived from the natives. As yet, in the wide extent of
near thirty degrees on a meridian, between BENIN and TRIPOLI, not
one celestial observation has been taken, to determine the latitude.
But as far as materials composed by a scale founded on estimated
distances (that is, days journeys of caravans) may go towards
the establishment of geographical positions, the itineraries made
use of for constructing the new matter in the accompanying map,
are less discordant than might be expected in so wide an expanse,
and on the foundation of rules so vague as those which necessity has
compelled me to apply. On this, however, the Reader must exercise
his own judgement, after the following exposition of the _data_,
and the rules by which I have determined the scale.
It will easily be conceived by the Reader, that all roads, except
such as are made through a country, in which the public works are
in the highest state of improvement, and where also the face of
it is perfectly level (the curvature of the earth excepted) must
have some degree of inflexion, both horizontally and vertically;
and either of these will occasion a Traveller to trace a line of
greater length by the road, than can be measured on a straight line,
drawn from the point of commencement, to that of the termination of
his journey. The quantity of the difference must vary with the nature
of the country; but in ordinary cases, still more with the extent of
the line of distance: for a different ratio between the road distance
and horizontal distance must obtain, as the line of distance is
increased. Let it be admitted, that in stages of ten or twelve miles,
the winding of the road occasions a loss of only one-tenth part,
which may be termed the _simple_ winding: yet as the different stages
in an extent of 100 or 150 miles, do not lie in a straight line, drawn
through the whole extent, but often very far to the right and left of
it, a _compound_ winding arises: and I have found by long experience,
that one mile in eight must be deducted, to reduce the road measure,
on such a length, to horizontal measure. When a line of distance is
extended to 500 miles and upwards, the rule becomes much more vague
than when applied to moderate distances; because it often happens
(and more particularly in unimproved countries) that obstacles
present themselves, and give an entire new direction to the course
of the road; although the two parts of it, considered separately,
may have only an ordinary degree of crookedness. However, as some of
the lines of distance applied to the present subject, are from thirty
to forty days journey, it becomes necessary that some general rules
should be adopted. It happens that examples are furnished, in two
cases, on very long journies, where the real distances between the
terminating points of the routes are nearly known: such is that of
fifty-three days journey, between the Capital of _Fezzan_ and _Cairo_;
and the mean horizontal distance for each day, is fourteen and a
half geographic miles, or those of sixty to a degree. I confess I
should have expected much less. The other example is between _Arguin_
and _Gallam_: there forty days produce thirteen miles for each day;
and this is conformable to my expectations. In the examples of small
distances, such as six days journey, sixteen miles per day is the
result, and is consistent. For a caravan journey, taken at twenty-two
British miles of _road_ distance, will produce, when the allowance for
winding is deducted, and the remainder reduced to geographic miles,
about sixteen and a half such miles for a single day.
The following are the proportions which I have established, for the
application of a scale, to the different degrees of distance.
For one day, sixteen miles and a half; for seventeen to twenty-five
days, fifteen miles; for forty to fifty days, thirteen miles. These
numbers are particularly selected, because they occurred in the
course of the Work. The Reader will be pleased to observe, that the
miles spoken of in the construction, are always those of sixty to
a degree of a great circle. However tedious this investigation may
appear to the generality of readers, it is absolutely necessary;
as it is the hinge upon which the whole turns: and a neglect of
attention to this particular subject, would warrant the Reader’s
taking the whole for granted, without further examination.
Mr. BEAUFOY having given, from the materials in his possession,
so full an account of each road and country, nothing remains for
me to do, but simply to describe, from the same materials, the mode
of fixing the principal positions, in the Map. As the object of it
is to exhibit the new matter only, care has been taken to exclude
all that has already appeared, except what was absolutely necessary
towards explaining the other: and as the borrowed particulars are
distinguished from the rest, the Reader cannot be mistaken. The
outline of the great body of Africa, together with the courses of the
Nile, Gambia, Senegal, and Wad-drah, are copied from Mr. D’Anville.
Fezzan (or rather its capital, Mourzouk) is given in the Itineraries
at the distance of seventeen days and half from Mesurata. These,
taken at fifteen miles per day, produce two hundred and sixty-two
miles. The bearing is said to be South from Mourzouk; and this latter
is placed according to D’Anville. Mourzouk, then, falls in latitude
27° 20′.
Agadez, the next principal station, is, at a medium forty-one days
from Mourzouk, on a South West course, or thereabouts: and these,
at thirteen miles per day, produce four hundred and fifty-five miles;
and place Agadez in latitude 20° 20′; and nearly in the meridian
of Tripoli. Agadez is the Agadost of Edrisi.
From Agadez to Cashna is seventeen days; which, at fifteen miles
per day, give a distance of two hundred and fifty-five miles. The
bearing is said to be South South West. Cashna, then, will stand in
or about the latitude of 16° 20′ North, and about a degree and
half West from Tripoli.
D’Anville’s _Casseenah_ (undoubtedly meant for Cashna) is placed
about thirty-seven miles to the North West of the position assumed in
the accompanying Map; whence I consider mine as a near approximation,
especially as the distance from Mesurata is upwards of nine hundred
and seventy miles.
Cashna may be regarded as the central kingdom of the great body
of Africa; and as a part of the region named SOUDAN, of which at
present but few particulars are known.
Ghanah, or Ghinnah, is placed, in respect of Cashna, according
to M. D’Anville’s Map. It does not appear whether he had any
authority for placing it ninety miles to the North East of Cashna:
but its position, in respect of the City of Nuabia, (antiently Meroé,
on the Nile) is on the authority of Edrisi. This Author also allows
twelve days between Agadez and Ghanah: and by my construction, they
are two hundred and eight miles asunder. See _Geog. Nubiensis_,
p. 39. Ghanah was in the twelfth century a city of the first
consequence. Wangara and Kanem, were also known to Edrisi.
The river known to Europeans by the name of NIGER, runs on the
South of the kingdom of Cashna, in its course towards Tombuctou; and
if the report which Ben Alli heard in that town, may be credited,
it is afterwards lost in the sands on the South of the country of
Tombuctou. In the Map, only the known part of its course is marked
by a line; and the suppositious part by dots. It may be proper to
observe, that the Africans have two names for this river; that is,
NEEL IL ABEED, or RIVER OF THE NEGROS; and NEEL IL KIBEER, or THE
GREAT RIVER. They also term the NILE, (that is, the Egyptian River)
NEEL SHEM: so that the term NEEL, from whence our NILE, is nothing
more than the appellative of River; like GANGES, or SINDE.
From Cashna the road leads Westward to the Kingdom of GONJAH,
ninety-seven days journey from the former. _Gonjah_, is, from
circumstances, the _Conche_ of M. D’Anville, and the _Gonge_
of M. Delisle; and the similitude of names, however great, is the
least proof it: for the Itinerary of the SHEREEF IMHAMMED says,
that eighteen or twenty days from Gonjah, towards the North West (or
between the West and North) lies the Country of YARBA: and eight days
farther West, that of AFFOW. Now the countries of YARRA and YAFFON,
will be found in Delisle’s Map of Senegal (1726), nearly in the
position that _Yarba_ and _Affow_ take in respect of Gonjah; supposing
D’Anville’s _Conche_ to be meant for it. It is extremely difficult
to assign a ratio for the decrease of the horizontal distance, on so
extended a line as ninety-seven days journey; and therefore it would
be losing time to attempt it. Gonjah, by circumstances, is about eight
hundred and seventy miles from Cashna, which allows only nine miles
for each day. I therefore conclude that the road is very circuitous.
Gonjah is reported by the Shereef to be forty-six days journey from
the Coast of Guinea, to which the Christians trade. It is probable
that the Gold Coast is the part meant, and that may be taken at five
hundred and thirty miles from D’Anville’s Conché. The ratio, at
thirteen per day, would give near six hundred. Here again, it would
be losing of time, to reason on such a point of uncertainty, since
neither of the extreme points of the line of distance are correctly
known. The Reader must therefore determine for himself. Of this
space of forty-six days travelling, from Gonjah towards the Coast,
the Shereef had travelled only the first ten days, to the City of
Kalanshee, a dependency of the Kingdom of _Tounouwah_; the capital
of which, according to his report, is ASSENTAI (the Assianté of
D’Anville) situated midway between Kalanshee and the sea coast:
that is, eighteen days journey from each. The Shereef also reports,
that there is no communication between this coast (which we may
suppose to be the Gold Coast) and the country of Gonjah: for that
the King of Assentai, who possesses the space between, prohibits
his Inland Neighbours from passing through his country.
But Mr. NORRIS, a gentleman who resided many years in Whydah,
&c. reports differently: for he says, that there are other States,
(that is, the Fantees, and their confederates) lying between Assentai
and the sea; and that the Assentais have often attempted, but without
success, to open a communication with the Coast.
To return to the route from Cashna to Gonjah. There are between them
some extensive kingdoms or states, most of which appear to preserve
their antient religion. I have generally marked the progress of
the Mahomedan Religion, by a crescent; and the Caffre States by an
arbitrary mark of a different kind.
It will appear by a slight inspection of the Map, that the Mahomedan
Religion, as far as respects the Interior Part of the Country,
has spread southward, to about the parallel of twelve degrees of
North latitude. Probably though, in some of those countries where
the Court religion is Mahomedan, the bulk of the people may profess
the antient religion.
TOMBUCTOU, is placed on the following authorities: First, Mr. MATRA,
the British Consul in the dominions of Morocco, says, on the
authority of the natives, that Tombuctou is fifty days _caravan
travelling_ from TATTAH, a place situated on the common frontiers of
Morocco, Drah, and Zenhaga; and in the route from Morocco, and Suz,
to Tombuctou. Tattah is ascertained in position, by a route of Ben
Alli’s. He found it to be nine days and half from Morocco, and one
day short of a station on the Wad-drah (or Drah River) which station
was four days, or sixty-six miles lower down than _Tinjuleen_, a
place in D’Anville’s and Delisle’s Maps of Africa. It was also
twelve days journey from the City of Nun or Non, which city by Ben
Alli’s account, is two days from the sea coast; and well known to
be opposite to the Cape of the same name. These authorities enable us
to place Tattah one hundred and seventy miles South South East from
Morocco. Then, fifty days from Tattah to Tombuctou, at thirteen each
day, produces six hundred and fifty miles. By Ben Alli’s report,
Tombuctou is forty-eight days from the capital of Sultan Fullan,
lying within the district of Gallam, on the River Senegal. The
position of this place is not known to me; but by circumstances it
must be near the river: and in using materials of so coarse a kind,
trifles must not be regarded. Forty-eight days at thirteen each day,
produce six hundred and twenty miles; and this line of distance meets
that from Tattah, in latitude 19°. 40′. and nearly midway between
Gallam and Cashna. In this position, it falls only twenty-eight
miles to the North West of D’Anville’s Tombuctou.
It appears that most of the road from Tattah to Tombuctou, lies across
the vast Desart, commonly known by the name of ZAHARA, or properly,
THE DESART. Geography is at present, very bare of particulars, in this
quarter. Ben Alli went from Tombuctou, direct to Fezzan, skirting the
South East border of this great Desart. He reckoned only sixty-four
days between Tombuctou and Fezzan, which at twelve miles and half
per day, produce only eight hundred miles. The interval on the Map
is nine hundred and seventy. Reason, however, points out, that the
distance from the nearest place, Gallam, ought to be preferred. And
as it is understood, that Agadez and Tombuctou are about fifty-five
days asunder, it appears yet more probable that the interval between
Fezzan and Tombuctou, ought not to be reduced. It must be recollected,
that Ben Alli’s Communications were given from memory, after an
interval of twenty years.
The point of the next importance, is Bornou, the capital of an
extensive kingdom situated on the South East of Fezzan, and between
the two NEELS or NILES; that of Egypt, and that of the Negros.
Bornou, is given by the Shereef, at about fifty days from Mourzouk
(or Fezzan) which may be taken at six hundred and fifty miles. He
also reports that it is twenty-five days journey from the course of
the Nile, where it passes the country of Sennar; or in distance about
three hundred and sixty miles. This would place Bornou in a direction
of South East, somewhat southwardly, from Mourzouk; and about the
parallel of 19° 40′. It is not probable that Bornou has a more
westerly position. Edrisi’s account would place it more easterly;
for he says, that _Matthan_, a city of _Kanem_, lies thirty-one
days from _Nuabia_ (on the Nile) through _Tegua_. _Geog. Nub._
p. 15. Edrisi’s day’s journey is equal to eighteen Arabic miles,
or nearly nineteen geographic ones: consequently the thirty-one days
give five hundred and eighty-seven miles. Matthan is not reported
in the Itinerary; but Kanem is, both as Province and a capital
City: and the position of the latter according to my construction,
is seven hundred miles from Nuabia. Whether the error lies on the
side of Edrisi, or the Shereef; or arises from the faulty position
of Nuabia in D’Anville, cannot easily be discovered.
Ben Alli travelled the road between Bornou and Alexandria; but was
too much indisposed to make any observations, otherwise than that
the Kingdom of Bornou extends fifteen days journey, or about two
hundred and thirty miles, in that direction. This was particularly
unfortunate; for whichsoever route he went, he must have crossed
some one or more of the OASES; and of course some important matter
would have been added to the Map.
The only route of importance that remains to be discussed, is that
from Fezzan or Mourzouk, to Cairo, leading to Mecca; for, at Mourzouk
the Mahomedans from the southern and western parts of Africa, who
intend to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, assemble at the proper season,
as at a common point of departure. The route to Cairo, which requires
fifty-three days to atchieve, appears on the Map to be seven hundred
and seventy miles; being equal to fourteen and half for each day:
and is on the whole, seventy more than I should have expected
that number of days to produce. To what degree of accuracy the
difference of longitude between Mesurata and Cairo, is ascertained,
I am ignorant: as also whether the bearing of Mourzouk from Mesurata,
be right. Fourteen miles and half of horizontal distance for each
day, on so long a line of distance, and on so rugged a way as the
Itinerary describes, is too great a proportion; and we may suspect
an error somewhere.
A circumstance occurs in the Itinerary, which would determine how
near this route approaches to the Coast of the Mediterranean Sea; if
we might depend on the accuracy of the Itinerist. The dates produced
in the Plain of _Gegabib_, are gathered by the people of _Duna_, who
inhabit the sea coast, eight days journey off; or about one hundred
and thirty miles. No such place as _Duna_ appears in the modern maps;
but _Derna_ (antiently _Darnis_) does: and it is situated within the
confines of Tripoli, as Duna is said to be. But the distance must be
faulty; because _Augela_ is the nearest point in this route, to Derna,
though ten days from it: and _Gegabib_, is seven days from Augela,
in a direction that still increases the distance.
Augela is found in Herodotus, Book IV. under the name of _Ægila_;
and in Ptolemy and Pliny it is written _Augila_. In Ptolemy,
Africa Tab. III. it is placed about 197 miles from the sea coast,
and about a degree of longitude to the eastward of _Darnis_. Its
longitudinal position from Mourzouk and Cairo, agrees very well:
and considering the extent of Ptolemy’s local knowledge in this
quarter, we may suppose him well acquainted with its distance from
the coast. Allowance must be made for an excess of distance given
by Ptolemy’s scale, in this Map; and it being in the proportion
of twenty-seven to twenty-three, the one hundred and ninety-seven
miles should be reduced to one hundred and sixty-eight: and according
to this, Augela ought to stand in latitude 29° 20′; and nearly
midway between Mourzouk and Cairo.
Gegabib, as has been said before, is seven days journey from Augela,
towards Cairo; and as I have a particular pleasure in producing
any authority that serves to prove the veracity of such an Author
as HERODOTUS, I shall just mention, that (in B. IV.) he says, that
the _Nasamones_ in the Summer season, leave their cattle on the
coast, and go to the plains of Ægila, to gather the fruit of the
Palm trees, which abound in that place. The portion of this coast,
is marked by its lying on the West of Teuchira,[36] a sea-port that
lay within the district of _Cyrene_, now better known by the names
of Curin and Barca.
Ptolemy’s Nasamones, occupy, in respect of _Augila_, the very
spot where the dates are now gathered in the plain of _Gegabib_: and
therefore we may conclude that the Nasamones’ Territories extended
at least from that plain, to the Eastern Coast of the Great Syrtis. It
may, perhaps, in future, be known where the Port or Coast of Duna is;
whether it be Derna, the antient Darnis, or some place on the Syrtis.
Between _Augela_ and _See-wah_, the next town towards Cairo (and
probably the _Siropum_ of Ptolemy) the road passes over a chain of
very high mountains, named in these times _Gerdobah_: and this is
unquestionably the same ridge that terminates on the Mediterranean,
a few days journey farther on; and which by the suddenness of its
descent towards the sea, was antiently named _Catabathmus_. This
chain or ridge divided _Cyrene_ from _Marmarica_.
The scite of the antient Temple of _Jupiter Ammon_, was a few days
journey (perhaps four or five) inland from the plain of Gegabib, so
often mentioned. I think I may venture to say this on the authority
of Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, and Arrian; from each of whom, some
particulars may be collected respecting its situation. First,
Herodotus says, (Book IV.) that the Temple is situated ten days
from _Ægila_; (frequented by the Nasamones on account of the dates)
and on the road from Thebes to _Ægila_. Next, Arrian says, on the
authority of Aristobulus, that Alexander went to it, from the scite
of his new city of Alexandria, along the sea coasts of Egypt and
Marmarica, to _Paraetonium_: which latter was situated, according to
the same authority, sixteen hundred stadia from Alexandria. Pliny
gives it at two hundred Roman miles (Book V.) These accounts are
perfectly conclusive; and the position of _Paraetonium_, is also very
clear in Ptolemy; and is moreover known to the Moderns under the
name of _Al Bareton_: so that no difficulty can arise here. Arrian
says farther, that Alexander struck inland from _Paraetonium_,
and entered the Desart: but he does not say how far the Temple lay
from the sea coast. This is supplied by Strabo, (Book XXVII.) who
gives the distance at thirteen hundred stadia. Allowing these to
produce one hundred and thirty, or one hundred and forty miles; and
taking Herodotus’s ten days from Augela at one hundred and seventy
(we must not consider them as _caravan_ journies, but as _ordinary_
ones) the meeting of these lines of distance, place the Temple in
latitude twenty-nine degrees, and a small fraction; and in a South
Westerly direction from Parætonium. Pliny says, (Book V.) that the
Temple is four hundred [Roman] miles from Cyrene; that is, twice
as far as Parætonium is from Alexandria: and this agrees with the
former position. Lastly, Ptolemy places it one hundred and ninety-five
geographic miles from _Paraetonium_; and from _Cyrene_ three hundred
and forty.—But Ptolemy’s scale, in Africa Tab. III. gives too
much distance (as I have said before), and corrected, it should be
one hundred and sixty-six from Parætonium. As these authorities do
not vary amongst themselves more than thirty miles, I consider them
as conclusive.
M. D’Anville’s position of this Temple is about thirty miles
farther to the Southward; that is, from the Mediterranean; but
he does not quote his authorities. In his _Geographie Ancienne
Abregee_, vol. iii. p. 42. he has the following passage: “Selon la
Géographie actuelle, ce qu’on trouve sous le nom de _Sant-rieh_,
paroit en tenir la place; & par la Nature du pays, qui ne laisse
point distinguer d’autre objet, on n’est point embarrassé sur
le choix.” Edrisi (_Geo. Nub._ p. 41.) places _Sant-rie_ ten days
Eastward from Augela, and nine days from the Mediterranean; which
carries Sant-rie farther from the sea-coast, than Strabo allows to the
Temple; but accords with Ptolemy. Savary, vol. ii. Lett. VIII.) quotes
Abulfeda, to shew that the _Oases_ were only three days journey
West of the Nile; and Ptolemy places the largest of them, named EL
WAH by the Arabs, under the parallel of 27°. I suspect Abulfeda
is wrong; and that Ptolemy is nearer the truth, when he allows one
hundred and twenty-three miles, (or one hundred and five corrected)
for the distance of the Great Oasis from Ptolemais on the Nile, in
the direction of West, something Southwardly. Then Edrisi allows
only nine days between Sant-rie and El Wah; whereas the scite of
the Temple of Jupiter Ammon, by the above authorities, should be,
according to my apprehension, at least twelve days from EL WAH. But
we are young in African Geography: and as I have said before, the
_data_ furnished by Arrian, Strabo, and Pliny, may satisfy us.
The description of the _Oasis_ (or Island in the midst of the sandy
Desart) which contained the Temple, is pretty generally known:
but for the sake of those who may not recollect the particulars,
I have extracted the following account.
Arrian says, that it is not more than forty stadia in extent; Diodorus
fifty; say, six or seven miles. All accounts agree, that it has one
or more fountains of water; and that it was planted with divers kinds
of fruit trees: Arrian particularly notices the Palm and Olive. What
appeared to be a very great natural curiosity, was, a fountain,
which according to Arrian, (whose account is the least extravagant)
varied in its temperature, in a greater degree than any other that
has been heard of: that is, it was very warm, or hot, at midnight;
very cold in the heat of the day. I presume these phenomena will not
appear very extraordinary to those, who consider, that a deep-seated
spring will preserve a mean degree of temperature at all seasons:
so that, in effect, it was the atmosphere that underwent the change;
and with it, the bodies of those who made the observations.
The Temple was surrounded by a triple wall, forming three distinct
quarters or divisions; one of which was appropriated to the use of
the Monarch. In the time of Herodotus, when probably the Temple
was in its glory, the dominions of the Ammonites reached within
ten days journey of the City of Thebes: the people were a colony of
Egyptians and Ethiopians, and spoke a mixed language, (Herod. Book
III.) Ammon, or Hammon, was the Egyptian name of Jupiter; and the
image of the god, similar to that at Thebes; that is, it had the
head of a Ram. (Book IV.)
In the time of Strabo, about four hundred and fifty years after
Herodotus, the Temple was almost deserted; as the Oracle was grown
out of fashion.
It is probable that some remains either of the triple wall, or of
the Temple, may be found at this day; although the materials may
have undergone a different kind of arrangement. The transport of
the materials across the Desart could only have been accomplished
by the strong impulse of superstition: and being once collected,
nothing but a like cause could remove them. See-wah appears to be
the nearest town to this Oasis; and is probably not more than six
days journey on the North East of it: the spring, together with the
ruins of the Temple, and the triple wall, might ascertain the spot,
if the curiosity of the present age demanded it.
* * * * *
MARCH, 1790.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: _In the Arabic, the word Friend is often employed,
as in this passage, to express the same meaning as the English
term servant._]
[Footnote 2: BEN ALLI, a native of Morocco, who was lately in
England, and of whom an account is given in the Introduction to
Chapter IV. relates, that in proceeding from Fezzan to Gharien,
on his way to Tripoli, he was met by several parties of Arabs, who
were robbers by profession, and who rendered the rout so dangerous,
that every individual in the caravan was obliged to carry a gun,
a brace of pistols, and a yatagan or sabre. He describes the country
as partially cultivated; and remarks, that it is furnished with few
springs, and is wholly destitute of rivers.
By his account, the distance from Fezzan to Gharien is that of a
journey of sixteen days.
He represents the rout from Gharien to Tripoli as a sandy desart,
and its length as that of a seven days journey.]
[Footnote 3: The capital of Fezzan is situated on the banks of a
small river, and is also supplied with water from a multitude of
springs and wells.
Being formerly built with stone, it still retains the appellation of
a Christian Town; and the medley which it presents to the eye, of the
vast ruins of antient buildings, and of the humble cottages of earth
and sand that form the dwellings of its present Arab inhabitants,
is singularly grotesque and strange.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 4: _In this estimate of distance, the rate of travelling
is supposed to be twenty-two miles per day:—a conclusion that
arises from the time that was employed by_ Mr. LUCAS _in travelling
from Tripoli to Mesurata; for in that journey of 150 miles, seven
days were consumed; and though the caravan was detained for a few
hours on the sea coast, and was employed during four more in passing
to and from the tents of the Arab, yet these losses were probably
compensated by the extraordinary dispatch with which, in consequence
of their fears, the greatest part of the journey was performed._]
[Footnote 5: The people are of a deep swarthy complexion.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 6: _To these sentiments of constant regard and of deep
veneration for their King, his acknowledged descent from the Prophet
has undoubtedly contributed: for such, if united to the temporal
power, is the effect of this claim to religious authority, that in
Morrocco, when in the hour of his wrath the sword of the Emperor is
drawn, the submissive victims whom chance or official attendance on
the Court presents to his fury, stretch forth their necks with silent
and humble acquiescence; perfectly convinced that the stroke of death,
when given by so sacred a hand, is an instant admission to Paradise._]
[Footnote 7: When I was at Fezzan, about twenty years ago, the
actual government was committed to an Alcaid, who received his annual
appointment from the Bashaw of Tripoli.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 8: _In Morrocco, as in Fezzan, the Founder of the reigning
family was indebted for the diadem to the respect and reverence
which the title of Shereef bestows._]
[Footnote 9: _From the appearance of the supposed berries, there is
reason to suspect that they belong to the class of leguminous plants,
and are in fact two species of pease._]
[Footnote 10: In the neighbourhood Tombuctou a gold mitgan is worth
about 10s. 6d. sterling.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 11: Mr. LUCAS _found by his medicine scales, that the pea
called habbat ell goreth, which is used in Fezzan for a weight of
four grains, is exactly equal to four grains English._
_In England one grain of gold is worth 2d.—one penny-weight is
worth 4s.—and one ounce is worth 4l. sterling._
REES’s Edition of Chambers’s Dictionary, Article “GOLD.”]
[Footnote 12: Its depth is from ten to twelve peeks, each of which
is twenty-seven inches.
The Shereef IMHAMMED.]
[Footnote 13: _The rout which_ BEN ALLI _pursued from Fezzan to
Bornou is not distinctly described._
_His relation is, that on the 26th day from the time of his leaving
Fezzan, he arrived at a place which in Arabic is called Wéddan, or
the Rivers, for Wéddan is the plural of Wed which signifies a river._
_The first part of the country through which he passed is represented
as a sandy Desart, in which the Shé (a plant that resembles the Wild
Thyme of England) and a few bushes of shrubs and short trees are
thinly scattered, and wells of water are extremely rare. Wandering
Arabs, of the powerful but hospitable Tribes of Booaish and Duhassin,
appear to be its only inhabitants; and Wéddan itself is said to
contain but 130 houses, which are built of earth and sand; and to
furnish no articles of trade but dates and salt; yet the country
around it is called prolific: the rice grounds are described as
numerous, and multitudes of sheep and goats, of camels and of horses,
swell the list of its possessions._
_He represents the Duhassin Arabs, as Merchants journeying to Bornou,
who carried with them for sale an assortment of goods; among which
he enumerates wheat, barley, dates, salt, tobacco, and alhaiks:
and he observes, that he purchased from the Chief the permission
of accompanying the Tribe, and the consequent assurance of a safe
passage to Bornou._
_From Wéddan, by forced marches, they arrived in twenty days at
Bornou. A desart of sand, in some places interrupted by woods,
and occasionally watered with rivulets of a strong mineral taste,
constitutes the general description of the country. But as he entered
the kingdom of the Bornoos, the limit of which he represents as seven
days distant from the capital, he passed through several poor villages
of Blacks, who live upon the charity of Travellers; for though there
be no regular marked road, yet the caravans always take the same rout,
and pass by those villages both in going and returning._
BEN ALLI _seems to have travelled from Mourzouk to Bornou by a
different rout from that which is usually taken by the Merchants of
Fezzan: nor can it be supposed, that the independent and powerful
Arabs with whom he journeyed, would either obtain, or solicit
the permission of the Sovereign of Fezzan to pass in so large a
body through his small and unguarded dominions. And though the
corresponding accounts that are given in the narratives of the
Shereef and of_ BEN ALLI, _of some villages of miserable Blacks,
may suggest an idea that the two roads intersected each other on the
frontier of Bornou, yet as on that supposition, the different times
within which the several parts of the two journeys were respectively
performed cannot be easily reconciled, there is reason to believe
that the villages described by_ BEN ALLI, _though peopled by similar
inhabitants, may not be the same with those which attracted the
compassionate notice of the Shereef._]
[Footnote 14: The dress of the greatest part of the people is composed
of shirts of blue cotton, which is manufactured in the country; of a
red cap, which is imported from Tripoli; and of a white muslin turban,
which is brought from Cairo by the pilgrims who return through that
City from Mecca. Nose-rings of gold are worn by the principal people
as a mark of distinction.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 15: The country in the neighbourhood of the City of Bornou
is fertile in Indian corn and rice. Of barley and wheat the quantity
raised is small. A species of bean, which resembles the horse-bean
of Europe, though larger, and of a darker hue, is a much more common
produce. Gum-trees are thinly scattered. Cotton, hemp, and indigo,
are also among the various produce of its soil.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 16: The country abounds in different species of fruit trees,
but that which produces the date is not of the number.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 17: Horses and horned cattle, goats and sheep, and camels,
are the common animals of the country.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 18: _Giraffa is the name by which the camelopardalis is
called in the old zoological books.—The description here inserted,
seems to have arisen from a blended recollection of that animal,
and of the hippopotamus, whose hide is extremely tough._]
[Footnote 19: In form, the houses are similar to those of Tripoli.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 20: The walls of the greatest part of the houses are built
of a composition of earth and sand, and are often washed down by the
heavy rains; but others are formed of the more durable materials of
stones and bricks.
The roofs are composed of the branches of trees, which are covered
with layers of earth, and the whole building is white-washed with
a species of chalk.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 21: Bornoo is situated in a flat country, on the banks of
a small river.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 22: Bornoo, though a town of greater extent than Tripoli,
consists of a multitude of houses, so irregularly placed that the
spaces between them cannot be called streets. It is furnished with
mosques, which are constructed of brick and of earth; and with
schools, in which the Koran is taught, as in the principal towns
of Barbary.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 23: In time of peace the Sultan always resides in the
capital.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 24: Bornoo is surrounded by a wall, on which, however,
there are no guards.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 25: A small quantity of gold dust is produced in Bornoo;
but the principal medium of exchange consists of pieces of a metal
which has some resemblance to tin.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 26: The language of the common people of Bornoo, though
different from, has a strong resemblance to that of the neighbouring
Negros, and is very unlike the Arabic, in which, however, the Nobles
and principal families converse.
The art of writing is known among them, and they are taught to
express the Bornoo tongue in the characters of the Arabic.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 27: The Sultan and his subjects are Musselmen.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 28: Bornoo is governed by a King, who takes the title
of Sultan.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 29: The Sultan of Bornoo commands a vast army of horsemen,
and is a much more powerful Monarch than the Emperor of Morrocco.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 30: At Bornoo I exchanged for gold dust and ostrich feathers
the merchandize which I had brought from Tripoli.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 31: The Sultan of Bornou is continually at war with the
various idolatrous tribes of Blacks who border on his dominions. Those
who are taken prisoners are sold to the Arabs, and this traffic
constitutes the principal commerce of the country.
Slaves are every day brought to him, for the acquisition of this
sort of plunder is his constant occupation.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 32: From the hemp of the country, a coarse linen is
manufactured by the people of Bornoo. Their cotton, which is also
a native produce, is spun to a thread of remarkable fineness, and
is then converted to callicoes and muslins of about nine inches
in breadth, and of a length which varies from fifteen to twenty
yards. Such of these cotton manufactures as are enriched with the
blue dye of the country, which, from the superiority of the indigo,
is preferable to that of the East Indies, are valued more highly
than silk; yet their only supply of the latter is that which the
Merchants of Barbary convey.
They also fabricate a species of carpet, as a covering for their
horses. Tents, from wool and the hair of goats and of camels, are
made for the use of the army.
The little silver they have is converted by their own artists
into rings.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 33: The dress of the people of Fullan (a country to the
West of Cashna) resembles the cloth of which the plaids of the Scotch
Highlanders are made.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 34: The goods _imported_ by the Merchants of Fezzan,
consist of
Slaves—in which they have a great trade,
Gold Dust,
Ivory,
Ostrich Feathers,
Senna—which is brought from the neighbouring countries,
European goods of various species, from Tripoli.
The goods _exported_ from Fezzan, consist of the following European
articles:
Woollen Cloths,
Linens of different Sorts,
Gun Barrels,
Gun and Pistol Locks,
Small Shot,
Ball,
Iron Bars,
Tin,
Copper,
Brass,
Brass Dishes,
Nails,
Spices,
Musk,
Benzoin,
Dying Wood,
Allum,
Tartar for Dying,
Green Vitriol,
Verdigrease,
Brimstone,
Looking-Glasses.
BEN ALLI.]
[Footnote 35: Leo’s History of Africa, book 7th, pages 293 and 294.
English edition.
“OF THE KINGDOM OF BORNO.”
“The inhabitants in Summer go all naked, except at their waists,
which they cover with a piece of leather: but all Winter they are
clad in skins, and have beds of skins also. They embrace no religion
at all, being neither Christians, Mahometans, nor Jews, nor of any
other profession, but living after a brutish manner, and having wives
and children in common: and (as I understood of a certain Merchant
that abode a long time among them) they have no proper names at all,
but every one is nick-named according to his length, his fatness, or
some other qualitie. They have a most puissant Prince, being lineally
descended from the Lybian people called Bardoa: horsemen he hath in
a continual readiness, to the number of 3000, and an huge number of
footmen, for all his subjects are so serviceable and obedient unto
him, that whensoever he commandeth them, they will arme themselves and
follow him whither he pleaseth to conduct them. They paye unto him
none other tribute but the tithes of all their corne: neither hath
this King any revenues to maintain his Estate, but only such spoils
as he getteth from his next enimes by often invasions and assaults.”
—“Yet the King seemeth to be marveilous rich; for his spurs,
his bridles, platters, dishes, pots, and other vessels wherein his
meat and drink are brought to the table, are all of pure gold: yea,
and the chains of his dogs and hounds are of gold also. Howbeit this
King is extremely covetous, for he had much rather pay his debts in
slaves than in gold. In this kingdome are great multitudes of Negros
and of other people, the names of whom (bicause I tarried here but
one month) I could not well note.”]
[Footnote 36: _Teuchira_ was situated near the present _Tolemata_;
antiently _Ptolemais_.]
Transcriber's note:
Changes in the _Errata_ have been made.
pg vii Changed: C. A. Pelham to: Charles A. Pelham
(in accordance to catchword in previous page)
pg 75 Changed: had carrried off sixty to: carried
pg 85 (footnote 3) Changed: singulary grotesque to: singularly
pg 130 (footnote 13) Changed: not distincty described to: distinctly
pg 152 Changed: of those crimimals to: criminals
pg 166 Changed: 7 -- Nuskoo to: Huskoo
pg 222 Changed: _Gonjah_, is, from circumstamces to: circumstances
pg 231 Changed: the plain of _Gebabib_ to: _Gegabib_
Minor changes in punctuation have been done silently.
Other spelling inconsistencies have been left unchanged.
Underlined text is indicated with '~'.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 73779 ***