CHAPTER XII.
Reach Falezlez--Dates left in the Desert--Road-marks--Disputes with the Kailouees--News from Tidek--Scarcity of Food in Aheer--Similitudes and Signs of the Tuaricks--Fine Climate--Arrival of Wataitee--His Boasting--Saharan travelling--My Umbrella--Grasping Son of Shafou--Geology of the Desert--The "Person who gives"--Another Caravan--Tuarick Sportsmen--Wady Aroukeen--Fine Scene--New Trees--Kailouee Camels--Fine Nights--Well--New Moon--Passing a Caravan in the Desert--Origin of the Kailouee Tuaricks--Arrive at Tajetterat--No Robbers--An Alarm--Well of Esalan--Senna--Birds--Graves of Slave Children--Our Grievances against the Tuaricks.
_4th._--We might have reached the well of Falezlez last night; but as we did not know who might be waiting for us there, preferred halting three-quarters of an hour from it, and advanced only in the morning, in broad daylight.
Here we found our dates, left by the Tanelkums in the side of a mound of sand, with a piece of rotten wood stuck up to mark the place. Had they been, however, exposed by the side of the well, and a hundred caravans had passed, no one would have touched them. It is a point of honour to steal nothing thus confided in the desert. Mutual interest suggests mutual forbearance. The Tanelkums left these dates, because we had only hired the camels to bring them thus far, and they knew we should not probably come up with them. This increase of our provisions turns out to be opportune. Without it, some of our animals might have fallen down.
Round and near Ghât we found the stones which are set up at certain intervals to mark the direction of the roads, frequently arranged in circular heaps. An usual form is pyramidal, but the most common practice of all is to set up one stone end-ways upon one or two others. Sometimes a hundred of these will be seen together.
We have had some trouble in satisfying the Kailouees for the protection they afford us. At Ghât the agreement made was for one hundred reals, half in goods and half in money, and a trifling present when they arrived at their journey's end. This was arranged by Haj Ibrahim and Mohammed Kafa, a merchant of Ghât, and consul or wakeel of the Kailouees, whom I have before mentioned. Immediately that they became a little familiar with us, they began to say that they had not received all the hundred reals; but on hearing that we should write to Ghât about it, they dropped this plea, and asked for another hundred reals as the present promised them, as they pretended, through Haj Ibrahim. When the news came respecting Sidi Jafel--taking advantage of our supposed fears--they boldly demanded a sword, some burnouses, and one hundred reals in money.
All these demands I firmly resisted as long as I could; but at length, when a compromise seemed necessary, we arranged for a hundred reals more in goods. A part we have given here, and the rest we have promised on our arrival at Aheer. Nothing is now said of Zinder, although the first arrangement was from Aheer to Zinder. Such are the people we have to deal with in Africa. But could we not find similar extortion amongst the innkeepers and the conductors of carriages on the highways of Europe?
That all the people are _soua soua_--"higgledy-piggledy" is our only equivalent phrase--is bad news for a Saharan traveller; for it signifies nothing less than that there is no paramount authority in a country, and that the traveller is exposed to the insolence of every evil-disposed person. Such is represented to be the condition of Tidek, the first province of Aheer upon which we shall enter.
The scarcity of food in Aheer--one of the causes of the disturbances that are taking place--arises, we are told, from the quantity of provisions carried away from the country when the Kailouees made their expedition against the Walad Suleiman. But this expedition is now finished, and there has been time for a revival of prosperity. Sickness and disease are reported in Aheer at the present time. These are unpleasant tidings for a traveller who is braving the fatigues and perils of the Great Sahara, in hopes of some little repose at his journey's end.
To express great numbers, the Arabs and Tuaricks always use the similitudes, "like the dust," or "like flies." When the Tuaricks say we are to give nothing to anybody--speaking, of course, of other people, as Hateetah to me--they take up a little sand between the ends of their fingers and scatter it on the palms of their hands. When they wish to describe roads free from hills and ravines they extend the palm of their hands, adding, "Like this." I cannot say that I admire the Kailouees in any respect. Barth's comparison to snakes is tolerably correct. They have duped us in various ways, and our only consolation is being able to report their conduct to their friends in Ghât and Zinder.
These observations occur to me during our prolonged halt at the well of Falezlez. The whole caravan needs this refreshment, both on account of the fatigues it has already encountered, as of those to which it may look forward on the tract of desert which now stretches wild and inhospitable before us. Yesterday the sky was completely overcast; but during the night and this morning the clouds have been succeeded by wind, and strong blasts have completely cooled us. I do not think that the climate would affect me so much as it does if I had something good to eat; but the Tanelkums have got with them all my soups. The Germans eat hausa like Tuaricks, and do very well. I expected to find the water of Falezlez most unpalatable. This, indeed, is its reputation; but we were all agreeably deceived, and the salt taste was scarcely perceptible.
About ten in the morning, on the 5th, a solitary white camel, with a rider, was reported as trotting rapidly over the hills to the east. The circumstance created some excitement. It was Mohammed Wataitee, son of Shafou, coming riding like the monarch of the desert, as he is, upon his fine maharee. He had been travelling three days and three nights consecutively; and however eager we were to hear his opinion of the dangers that threatened us, it was necessary to allow him to spend the whole day in repose.
When we could get speech of the traveller, he talked boastfully of the value of his protection, and assured us that we had really nothing to fear. He had heard, or would acknowledge to have heard, no rumours of the hostile intentions of his father's cousin; only, he observed, "He is an old man," with a gesture that implied wilfulness. He would have us believe that this terrible enemy who has been pursuing us--at least in our imagination--is nothing but a testy old gentleman, who says these sort of things in a fanciful way just to express his power.
_6th._--We were off soon after sunrise, and made a long day of twelve hours. The Kailouees were half an hour more performing the same distance. They started first, and we travel a little faster than they. Scarcely a blade of herbage cheered our sight to day. A sandy, gravelly hamadah, with a few rocks and sand-hills here and there,--such is the nature of the country. The rocks now assume a conic form, _ke ras suker_, like a sugar-loaf, as the people say. Our course was south-west, and so it will continue to be, nearly as far as Esalan, I was amused by an observation of Dr. Overweg; he said, "I now understand the system of these people" (Saharan travellers). "It is to travel as much as possible without labour--to do all that is necessary, but nothing more. When we left Tripoli, instead of reposing immediately at the camping-ground of the caravan, everybody was running about to climb the hills and rocks; but now we all fall down to rest as soon as we have halted." The Doctor speaks of himself and Barth, certainly not of me; for I always rested as much as possible with the people.
My old broken white umbrella attracts some attention amongst the Kailouees. They all make a trial of it. Strong umbrellas would be very useful during the hot summer months for all Saharan travellers.
I to-day asked the son of Shafou how his father liked the sword. An unfortunate question. He replied, "Ah, he sends his compliments; but says the sword is a little thing, and that you ought to have sent him some money. There were many people waiting to see you at Aroukeen. They were much disappointed at your not coming. They said,--'The Christians must pass this way.'" It appears that a whole tribe of Tuaricks were waiting for us, to beg, and to "eat us up," as the Arabs graphically express it. In this respect we have been fortunate in not finding Tuaricks on our line of route.
7th--We made another long and weary day of twelve hours. The fatigue is killing. Our course was south-west, through heaps and groups of rocks and narrow shallow wadys. In some directions, ridges of small rocks; in others, isolated masses of conic form. The bed of the desert is mostly granite, and some of the rocks are of the same substance. Indeed, the Central Sahara seems to bristle with ridges of granite. Then there are many varieties of this stone, and others springing out of granite, as quartz rocks and felspar, and some sandstone mixed with quartz. Across our path we observed many traces of wild oxen, and a few were seen with their immense horns. Birds and reptiles were rare, and the lizard not so frequent as before. Our camels found scarcely a mouthful of hasheesh; no trees were visible, except a few miserable tholukhs.
The Kailouees have changed in a marked manner since Wataitee has rejoined us, and are much more civil. But I do not talk to them, contenting myself with a civil "Good day. How do you do?" This prevents them from begging of me. They beg of Barth and Overweg, who do not notice them. As I am "the person who gives," I am obliged to be very polite, but distant.
_8th._--We started at sunrise, and made a short day of seven hours and a-half, resting at last in a wady surrounded with rocks, where there was some good herbage.
In the course of this march we met another portion of the large Soudan caravan, and consigned to it our letters. They brought the news that the Tanelkums were a day only in advance, having halted to take up water at Aroukeen, where they dug again the old well which had been blocked with stones.
This caravan informed us, besides, that the body of the large caravan was resting at the well of Tajetterat. They had seen no Tuaricks. We begin to hope that we have been disturbed by false alarms.
At about four hours from the encampment of yesterday we descried some mountains to the south-west. Near them is the well of Janet, said to be about seven hours out of the line of route. It is a frequent resort of Tuaricks, who come to the neighbourhood for hunting purposes. All this region is favourable to sport. Along our route to-day were noticed footmarks of wild oxen and wadan.
Wataitee asked me whether he should go to see if there were any Tuaricks at Janet, to get news of them; but I told him that he had better continue with us until we reach Tajetterat. This he has agreed to do; and we all feel that his presence is, to a certain extent, a protection.
In the evening we had a visit from three Tuarick sportsmen, with a couple of dogs. We purchased two carcases of wadan from them. It would have been most amusing to an untravelled European to witness the bartering between us. The principal hunter got hold of the grey calico, and would not let go until he had his full measure. Then how deliberately he measured again with his long arms, with all the appearance of justice, whilst he was filching off inches at once! Two small carcases cost us about a mahboub. Wataitee pretends that these hunters never carry provisions with them, but must catch wadan and oxen or die. I made a tremendous supper of wadan, being as ravenous as a wolf for a little meat and soup. The meat is so strong and nourishing, that it threatened to produce injurious effects. It is necessary to be cautious about indulging in unaccustomed food. Still this meat is far superior to camels' flesh.
_9th._--We rose, and, with our accustomed regularity, started before daybreak in search of water, for the Kailouees are without this element essential to life in the desert. Having continued about six hours and a-half, we encamped in Wady Aroukeen. It would not have been necessary to come to this place, had our imprudent Kailouees taken in a sufficient supply of water. This wady lies east and Tajetterat west.
Our course had been over an elevated rocky plain; but I had no idea of the height to which we had arrived. Suddenly the ground broke up on either side of the track into rocky eminences, and we now came to the brow of a sharp descent. The valley of Aroukeen wound as it were like a snake far down at the bottom of an immense hollow, surrounded on all sides by an amphitheatre of savage-looking mountains--great stony swells, made hideous here and there by crags and ravines, and piled away on all sides in shattered magnificence. This is the grandest desert prospect I have yet seen, and must strongly clash with the ordinary notion of the Great Sahara which untravelled geologists have represented as the recently-elevated bed of some ocean. We must now have reached the summit of an inland Atlas, dividing the extreme limits of the Ghât territory from the, to us, mysterious kingdom of Aheer.
In Wady Aroukeen there are some of the finest tholukhs I have seen, reaching the height of thirty or forty feet. There are, besides, two new species of trees, the adwa of Soudan, called, in Aheer, _aborah_: they have not been observed before, and are natives of Bornou. Their general aspect resembles the tholukh, but they have large prickles and a smooth roundish leaf. There is a good deal of hasheesh in this valley.
We are now, they say, about twelve days from Aheer, exclusive of the stoppages; twelve days, I mean, of twelve hours a-piece. These long stretches are desperately fatiguing, and trying to the health; but there is no remedy. We must make these weary stages on account of the scarcity of water and herbage for the camels. The Kailouees tie their camels by the lower jaw, and fasten the string to the baggage piled on the back of the preceding animal; and the long line moves on well this way. The Tuaricks fasten their bridles, when they ride their maharees, by a round ring in the nose.
We had granite again to-day, and fine beds of felspar, pebbles, and rocks. The geology of this portion of Sahara is very interesting, but no crystals have yet been found. Yesterday and to-day, the wind has been high, moderating greatly the heat. The wind is nearly always south-east. The nights are resplendent. Jupiter and Venus are seen close together in beautiful conjunction. The constellation of the Scorpion rises higher in the south, whilst the Pole-star apparently falls.
I read nothing nowadays but a few verses of the Greek Testament, and write these miserable leaves of journal. I must save my strength. I am very weak as it is. We have still got nearly forty days of actual travelling to make before we enter Soudan, but we hope Providence will allow us a little rest at Aheer.
_10th._--We moved on late this morning up Wady Aroukeen, one hour and a-half, to a place where we have better feeding for the camels; but it was scarcely worth the trouble of loading and unloading, as the animals could have been led up here to this portion of the wady.
Wady Aroukeen is in every respect a desirable place for the resting-place of a caravan. It is full of trees and hasheesh, and lined with lofty precipitous rocks, which afford shelter in winter and in summer, and, as say the Scriptures, give "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." The well dug by the Tanelkums supplies very palatable water. It lies about an hour and a-half from our encampment.
I sent off my Soudanese servant this morning to the Tanelkums, to ask them to wait for us; or at least leave the things behind which I require for our use.
Yesterday evening the new moon (second evening) was seen by our people, telling them that the Ramadhan was finished. They saluted the pale crescent horn with some discharges of their guns.
To-day is a great feast, but they have not the means of keeping it.
I cannot say that at this portion of my journey my mind is visited by much cheerfulness. However agreeable may be the valley of Aroukeen, with its grass patches, its clumps of trees, and the eternal shadow of its rocks, I find my strength begin, to a certain extent, to fail me. For several days I have had some threatening symptoms of ill-health; not very serious, perhaps, to a person surrounded with any of the comforts of civilisation, but much so to one in my position. Besides, despite my endeavours to disbelieve the dangers with which we are said to be menaced from lawless freebooters, it is difficult to disregard them so far as to remain perfectly impassive.
My Kailouee friends do not seem to share our apprehensions. Sometimes this circumstance cheers me; at others it suggests the idea that they may be in league with their brethren. Let us hope not. At any rate I am still displeased with them on account of their shabby conduct, and disposed, perhaps, to look at them more unfavourably than they deserve.
A man came over the hills to our right in the course of the day. He belonged to the Soudan caravan, the great body of which was passing at no great distance by another road. Our presence does not seem to be agreeable to such of these people as derive no profit from it. This individual, in his own name and that of his companions, insists that we Christians must not be allowed to enter the City of Marabouts, the Holy City of Aheer. Many Musulman countries of the interior have their holy cities. Perhaps this worthy man made these observations because he had nothing else to say. At any rate, having expressed his opinion, he went off. I regretted his churlish warning; but his presence, to a certain extent, cheered me. It was pleasant to know that a large body of my fellow-creatures were near at hand in this inhospitable desert, even though they entertained feelings of suspicion against us, and were proceeding on a path which might never again bring us together. Caravans often pass thus in these regions, like ships at sea, which hail each other if within hearing, but, not lying-to, are satisfied by this slight testimony of mutual sympathy.
_11th._--We started somewhat late, and made a good day of nine hours and a-half through winding narrow valleys, supplying a fair quantity of hasheesh. The country around was wild and rugged--still the same primitive formation, gneiss being the most common rock. On the way we heard the story of the origin of the Kailouees, as given by the Haghar Tuaricks; it is probably meant as a satire. According to this people, a female slave escaped from their country, and travelling over the desert, reached her native place in Soudan. But she bore within her bosom a pledge that still half bound her to her ancient masters. She brought forth a male child, and loved him and reared him; so that in process of time he took a wife, and from this union sprung the bastard race of Kailouees.
_12th._--We had halted the previous evening because we were within an hour of the well of Tajetterat, which had become famous in our caravan as the place where we were to be attacked and despoiled by the freebooter Sidi Jafel Waled Sakertaf. This morning we pursued our way, cautiously sending scouts before. But as the wady opened, the place proved to be desolate, and we advanced joyously, with the confidence that this time at least we had been disturbed by a false alarm. Still, as we descended towards the well we could not now and then refrain from casting our glances about into the gorges of the mountains, to discover whether or not, after all, our enemies were lying in ambush there. Not a living thing stirred upon the hills; and we gathered round the two wells, or rather holes scraped out of the sand, with feelings of delight and confidence. The water proved to be good; it is said to be produced by rain, and to be purgative,--a quality it must derive from the soil through which it trickles. We determined, however, not to stop at this place, lest the men of Janet[7] might after all arrive; and pushing on, in hopes that our track might be confounded with those of the caravans, we reached, after a rapid march of five hours and a-half, the well of Esalan. As we approached, we saw an encampment in its neighbourhood, and camels grazing about. Our vanguard halted; and the whole caravan soon became massed in the entrance of the gorge through which we were about to issue. Our far-sighted guards, however, soon discovered that there was no cause for alarm. We had at length overtaken our Tanelkum friends; and riding forward I greeted them, and, forgetting all idea of danger, anxiously asked for our baggage, and above all for my inestimable supply of potted soups!
[7] This name is sometimes written "Janet," sometimes "Ghanet" by Mr. Richardson, who, moreover, now describes the inhabitants of the place as Haghar and then as Azgher. A more definite account is given further on. It appears, however, that vulgarly in the Sahara all the Tuaricks are called Haghar or Hagar, which seems to have been used rather indiscriminately in the caravan as a term of fear.--ED.
In this part of the country the scenery is far more open than it was before; the mountains are lower, but the wadys are not so wide. Here and there occurred considerable patches of herbage, called _sabot_, and many large, fine trees. Amongst the smaller ones, for the first time, we came upon the senna plant, some of the leaves of which our people plucked. Higher up, in Aheer, is apparently the native soil of this plant. We had also again the adwa, several trees, and the kaiou or kremka, the only plant we have yet seen with a truly tropical aspect.
The adwa bears a fruit something like the date, and is eaten by the people in Soudan. As to the _sabot_, above mentioned, it is a kind of herbage, which covers the beds of the valleys in this region of primitive rock: it forms the principal food of our camels. The _bou rekabah_, however, the best for them, is in small quantities, but when seen is devoured to the sand. The people of Aheer eat its seed as ghaseb.
Yesterday, we saw, for the first time, a bird's nest in the desert, in the side of a rock. It contained no eggs; our people, on a former occasion, brought in some. It is astonishing how few birds' nests are found, though in some places a good number of small flutterers are seen. About the wells of Tajetterat darted half-a-dozen quails. We have not yet observed an ostrich, although many traces have been found on the sand. Around, however, are numbers of the wadan,[8] and our huntsmen are active. Yesterday some flesh of this animal was brought in.
[8] Wadan is the Arabic name of the aoudad of the Berbers. We call the animal "mouflon" (_Ovis tragelaphus_). It is found in considerable numbers throughout the deserts of Northern Africa, from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. I have seen a beautiful specimen, nearly all milk-white, in Cairo.--ED.
In this part of the route we frequently fell in with small heaps of stones; and if we ask what they mean, are invariably told they are the graves of slave-children who have perished by the way, most probably in the arms of their mothers. What wonderful tales of sorrow and anguish could these rocks give, if they were not compelled to eternal dumbness! What sighs, what shrieks of grief have echoed here! How many tears have watered this track! These thoughts saddened our way; but they seemed at the same time to rouse that enthusiasm which is the only adequate ally to those engaged in such a mission as ours.
The son of Shafou is to leave us at Esalan. I may as well record here, in form, a list of our grievances against the Tuaricks, for the information and warning of future travellers:--
1st. They, the Tuaricks, wished to obtain presents from the Germans, nearly in the same quantity as from myself; or, at least, something considerable.
2d. They wanted us to remain six weeks in Ghât, to wait for an answer from Sultan En-Noor at Aheer.
3d. They refused to conduct us to the frontier of Aheer, according to their agreement at Mourzuk.
4th. They demanded seventy reals for the passage of our free blacks.
5th. They insisted on having the presents for Berka, Khanouhen, and Jabour, before the treaty was signed.
The first two demands I successfully resisted, as also the third at Ghât. The fourth was compromised; we paid twenty-eight reals instead of seventy. The last I yielded, on the condition that I should only give three burnouses.
_13th._--The water of Esalan is, likewise, nothing but a deposit of rain. Several holes are scooped out in the sand, down to the rocky bed of the valley.