Part 14 (2/2)

On the 13th they left Tegerhy and proceeded on the desert. After travelling six miles they arrived at a well called Omah, where their tents were pitched, and here they halted three days. Near these wells, numbers of human skeletons, or parts of them, lay scattered on the sands. Hillman, who had suffered dreadfully since leaving Tegerhy, was greatly shocked at these whitened skulls, and unhallowed remains, so much so as to stand in need of all the encouragement which Major Denham could administer to him.

On the 17th they continued their course over a stony plain, without the least appearance of vegetation. About sunset, they halted near a well, within half a mile of Meshroo. Round this spot were lying more than a hundred skeletons, some of them with the skin still remaining attached to the bones, not even a little sand thrown over them. The Arabs laughed heartily at the expression which Major Denham evinced, and said, ”they were only blacks, _nam boo!_ (d--n their fathers,)”

and began knocking about the limbs with the b.u.t.t end of their firelocks, saying, ”this was a woman: this was a youngster,” and such like unfeeling expressions. The greater part of the unhappy people, of whom these were the remains, had formed the spoils of the sultan of Fezzan the year before. Major Denham was a.s.sured, that they had left Bornou, with not above a quarter's allowance for each; and that more died from want than fatigue; they were marched off with chains round their necks and legs; the most robust only arrived in Fezzan in a very debilitated state, and were there fattened for the Tripoli slave market.

Their camels did not come up until it was quite dark, and they bivouacked in the midst of these unearthed remains of the victims of persecution and avarice, after a long day's journey of twenty-six miles, in the course of which, one of the party counted one hundred and seven of these skeletons.

Their road now lay over a long plain with a slight ridge. A fine naga (she camel), lay down on the road, as it was supposed from fatigue.

The Arabs crowded round and commenced unloading her, when, upon inquiry, it was found that she was suddenly taken in labour; about five minutes completed the operation; a very fine little animal was literally dragged into light. It was then thrown across another camel, and the mother, after being reloaded, followed quietly after her offspring.

One of the skeletons which they pa.s.sed this day, had a very fresh appearance, the beard was still hanging to the skin of the face, and the features were still discernible. A merchant, travelling with the kafila, suddenly exclaimed, ”That was my slave I left behind four months ago, near this spot.” ”Make haste! take him to the _fsug_ (market),” said an Arab wag, ”for fear any body else should claim him.”

On the 20th December, they arrived at the Hormut el Wahr, which were the highest hills they had seen since leaving Fezzan; the highest peak being from five to six hundred feet. They had a bold black appearance, and were a relief to the eye, after the long level they had quitted. They blundered and stumbled on until ten at night, when they found the resting place, after a toilsome and most distressing day. This was the eighth day since the camels had tasted water; they were weak and sore-footed, from the stony nature of the pa.s.ses in these hills of Elwahr.

They had now a stony plain, with low hills of sand and gravel, till they reached El Garha, and here they rested for the night. Several of the camels during this day were drunk--their eyes heavy, and wanting their usual animation; their gait staggering, and every now and then falling, as a man in a state of intoxication. This arose from eating dates after drinking water; these probably pa.s.s into a spirituous fermentation in the stomach.

On the 22nd of December, they moved before daylight, and halted at the maten called El Hammar, close under a bluff head, which had been in view since quitting their encampment in the morning. Strict orders were given this day for the camels to keep close up, and for the Arabs not to straggle, the Tibboo Arabs having been seen on the look out. During the last two days, they had pa.s.sed, on an average, from sixty to ninety skeletons each day, but the numbers that lay about the wells at El Hammar were countless; those of two young women, whose perfect and regular teeth bespoke them young, were particularly shocking; their arms still remained clasped round each other as they had expired, although the flesh had long since perished by being exposed to the burning rays of the sun, and the blackened bones only left; the nails of the fingers, and some of the sinews of the hand also remained, and part of the tongue of one of them still appeared through the teeth.

They had now pa.s.sed six days of desert, without the slightest appearance of vegetation, and a little branch of the snag, _(Caparis sodada,)_ was brought as a comfort and curiosity. On the following, day, they had alternately plains of sand and loose gravel, and had a distant view of some hills to the westward. While Major Denham was dozing on his horse about noon, overcome by the heat of the sun, which, at that time of the day, shone with great power, he was suddenly awakened by a cras.h.i.+ng under his feet, which startled him excessively. He found that his steed had, without any sensation of shame or alarm, stepped upon the perfect skeletons of two human beings, cracking their brittle bones under his feet, and by one trip of his foot, separating a skull from the trunk, which rolled on like a ball before him. This event imparted a sensation to him, which it took him a long time to remove. His horse was for many days afterwards not looked upon with the same regard as formerly.

One of their nagas had this day her accouchement on the road, and they all looked forward to the milk, which the Arabs a.s.sured them she had in abundance, and envied them not a little their morning draughts, which they were already quaffing in imagination. However, one of the many slips between the cup and the lip was to befall them.

The poor naga suddenly fell, and as suddenly died. The exclamations of the Arabs were dreadful. ”The evil eye! the evil eye!” they all exclaimed; ”she was sure to die, I knew it. Well! if she had been mine, I would rather have lost a child, or three slaves. G.o.d be praised! G.o.d is great, powerful, and wise; those looks of the people are always fatal.”

On the 1st January 1823, they arrived at the wadey Ikbar. The Arabs here caught a hyena, and brought it to Major Denham; he, nor any other of the party, had any other wish than to have merely a look at it. They then tied it, to a tree, and shot at it, until the poor animal was literally knocked to pieces. This was the most refres.h.i.+ng spot they had seen for many days; there were dome trees laden with fruit, though not ripe, which lay in cl.u.s.ters, and gra.s.s in abundance. They could have stayed here a week, says Major Denham, with pleasure; so reviving is the least appearance of cultivation, or rather a sprinkling of nature's beauty, after the parching wilds of the long and dreary desert they had pa.s.sed.

Looking back with great regret at leaving the few green branches in Ikbar, with nothing before them but the dark hills and sandy desert, they ascended slightly from the wadey, and leaving the hills of Ikbar, proceeded towards a prominent head in a low range to the east of their course, called Tummer as k.u.mma, meaning ”You'll soon drink water;” and about two miles in advance, they halted just under a ridge of the same hills, after making twenty-four miles. Four camels were knocked up during this day's march: on such occasions, the Arabs wait in savage impatience in the rear, with their knives in their hands, ready, on the signal of the owner, to plunge them into the poor animal, and bear off a portion of the flesh for their evening meal. They were obliged to kill two of them on the spot; the other two, it was hoped, would come up in the night. Major Denham attended the slaughter of one, and despatch being the order of the day, a knife is struck into the camel's heart, while his head is turned to the east, and he dies almost in an instant; but before that instant expires, a dozen knives are thrust into different parts of the carca.s.s, in order to carry off the choicest parts of the flesh. The heart, considered as the greatest delicacy, is torn out, the skin stripped from the breast and haunches, part of the meat cut, or rather torn from the bones, and thrust into bags, which they carry for the purpose, and the remainder of the carca.s.s is left for the crows, vultures, and hyenas, while the Arabs quickly follow the kafila.

On the 4th, they arrived at Anay, a town which consists of a few huts built on the top of a ma.s.s of stone, round the base of which are also habitations, but the riches of the people are always kept above. The Tuaricks annually, and sometimes oftener, pay them a most destructive visit, carrying off cattle and every thing they can lay their hands upon. The people, on those occasions, take refuge at the top of the rock, ascending by a rude ladder, which is drawn up after them; and as the sides of their citadel are always precipitous, they defend themselves with their missiles, and by rolling down stones on the a.s.sailants.

The sultan Tibboo, whose territory extends from this place to Bilma, was at this time visiting a town to the south-west of Anay, called Kisbee, and he requested Boo Khaloom to halt there one day, promising to proceed with him to Bilma. They accordingly reached Kisbee on the evening of the 5th, where the camels got some pickings of dry gra.s.s.

Kisbee is a great place of rendezvous for all kafilas and merchants, and it is here that the sultan always takes his tribute for permission to pa.s.s through his country. The sultan himself had neither much majesty nor cleanliness of appearance; he came to Boo Khaloom's tent, accompanied by six or seven Tibboos, some of them really hideous. They take a quant.i.ty of snuff, both in their mouths and noses; their teeth were of a deep yellow; the nose resembles nothing so much as a round lump of flesh stuck on the face, and the nostrils are so large, that their fingers go up as far as they can reach, in order to ensure the snuff an admission into the head. The watch, compa.s.s, and musical snuff-box of one of the party created but little astonishment; they looked at their own faces in the bright covers, and were most stupidly inattentive to what would have excited the wonder of almost any imagination, however savage. Here was ”the _os sublime,_” but the ”_spiritus intus,_” the ”_mens divinior,_”

were scarcely discoverable. Boo Khaloom gave the sultan a fine scarlet bornouse, which seemed a little to animate his stupid features.

In the evening, they had a dance by Tibboo men, performed in front of their tents. It is graceful and slow, but not so well adapted to the male as the female. It was succeeded by one performed by some free slaves from Soudan, who were living with the Tibboos, enjoying, as they said, their liberty. It appeared to be most violent exertion; one man is placed in the middle of a circle, which he endeavours to break, and each one whom he approaches, throws him off, while he adds to the impetus by a leap, and ascends several feet from the ground; when one has completed the round, another lakes his place.

Whilst they were on the road, a violent disturbance arose amongst the Arabs, one of them having shot a ball through the s.h.i.+rt of another of the Magarha tribe; the sheik of the Magarha took up the quarrel, and the man saved himself from being punished, by hanging to the stirrup-leather of Major Denham's saddle. The Arab sheik made use of some expressions, in defending his man, which displeased Boo Khaloom, who instantly knocked him off his horse, and his slaves soundly bastinadoed him.

Tiggema, near which they halted, is one of the highest points in the range, and hangs over the mud houses of the town; this point stands at the south extremity of the recess, which the hills here form, and is about four hundred feet high; the sides are nearly perpendicular, and it is detached from the other hills by a chasm. On the approach of the Tuaricks, the whole population flock to the top of these heights, with all their property, and make the best defence they can.

The interior of some of the houses is neat and tidy; the men are generally travelling merchants, or rather pedlars, and probably do not pa.s.s more than four months in the year with their families, for the Tibboos rarely go beyond Bornou to the south, or Mourzouk to the north; they appeared light-hearted, and happy as people constantly in dread of such visitors as the Tuaricks can be, who spare neither age nor s.e.x.

They proceeded from Tiggema nearly in a south-west direction, leaving the hills; and while resting under the shade of acacia trees, which were here very abundant, they had the agreeable, and to them very novel sight, of a drove of oxen; the bare idea of once more being in a country that afforded beef and pasture, was consoling in the extreme; and the luxurious thought of fresh milk, wholesome food, and plenty, were highly exhilarating to the whole of the party.

In the afternoon, they came to a halt at Dirkee, A good deal of powder was here expended in honour of the sultan, who again met them on their approach: his new scarlet bornouse was thrown over a filthy check s.h.i.+rt, and his turban and cap, though once white, were rapidly approaching to the colour of the head which they covered; when, however, on the following morning, his majesty condescended to ask one of the party for a little soap, these little negligences in his outward appearance were more easily accounted for.

They had rather a numerous a.s.sembly of females, who danced for some hours before the tents. Some of their movements were very elegant, and not unlike the Greek dances, as they are represented. They were regaled by the sultan with cheese and ground nuts from Soudan; the former of a pleasant flavour, but so hard that they were obliged to moisten it with water previously to eating. During the time that they halted at Dirkee, the women brought them dates, fancifully strung on rushes, in the shape of hearts, with much ingenuity, and a few pots of honey and fat.

They halted at Dirkee rather more than two days. So many of Boo Khaloom's camels had fallen on the road, that, notwithstanding the very peaceable professions which the travelling party held forth, a marauding party was sent out to plunder some maherhies, and bring them in; an excursion that was sanctioned by the sultan, who gave them instructions as to the route they were to take. The former deeds of the Arabs are, however, still in the memory of the Tibboos, and they had therefore increased the distance between their huts and the high road, by a timely striking of their tents. Nine camels, of the maherhy species, were brought in, but not without a skirmish; and a fresh party were despatched, which did not return that night. All the party were ordered to remain loaded, and no one was allowed to quit the circle in which the tents were pitched.

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