Part 8
[Footnote 25: The elevation of this place was determined by Lieutenant (now Rear-Admiral) Smyth, in 1819.]
[Footnote 26: The inhabitants of the Sahel in general, and those of Zlíten and Masráta in particular, are more attached to the Turks than almost any other tribe of the regency; they would rather be subjected to a foreign power, than suffer oppression from their own brethren the Gedádefa and other tribes in the valleys of the interior. Hence, in the revolution in 1855, they remained faithful to the Turks; and a good many of them were killed in the first battle between the Turks and the rebel chief Ghóma.]
[Footnote 27: Wanderings along the Coasts of the Mediterranean, vol. i. p. 317.]
[Footnote 28: Mérkeb means here “the high seat.”]
[Footnote 29: This tribe does not seem habitually to frequent this district, the indigenous name of which is Khoms. The principal tribes of this stock, named to me, were as follows: viz. the Sambára, the Shuwaig, Ziadát, Legáta, Shekhátra, Drúga, Argúb Jehawát, and Swaid.]
[Footnote 30: Smyth’s Benzbárah, which he seems to have confounded in some degree with Wadi Terúggurt.]
[Illustration: DR. BARTH’S TRAVELS IN NORTH AND CENTRAL AFRICA Sheet No. 3. MAP OF THE ROUTE from TRIPOLI TO MÚRZUK 24. March to 6. May 1850.
Constructed and drawn by A. Petermann.
Engraved by Edwd. Weller.
_London, Longman & Co._]
CHAP. IV.
DEPARTURE FOR THE INTERIOR. — ARRIVAL AT MIZDA. — REMAINS OF A CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
Meanwhile the instruments provided by Government had arrived, and proved in general well adapted for their purposes.[31] But the tents and arms had not yet reached us; and I thought it better to provide a strong, spacious, and low tent, which, even after the government tents arrived, did not prove superfluous, although perhaps rather too heavy. All tents intended for travellers in hot climates should be well lined, and not high. Those which we received were quite unfit for the country whither we were going, and while they were so light that they could hardly withstand a strong blast of wind, they scarcely excluded the sun, particularly after a little wear and tear. All the tents ought also to have top-ropes, which can alone secure them in a tornado such as are common in those climates. Mr. Richardson was soon obliged to provide himself with another tent, so that in the course of our journey we had altogether five tents, but generally pitched only two, or, where we encamped for a greater length of time, four.
Mr. Overweg and I sustained a heavy loss in the secession of our black servant Ibrahím, who might have proved of great service to us in the interior, as he spoke the Bórnu and Bagrímma languages, and had himself wandered about a good deal in those little-known districts between Mándara and Bagírmi. But he declared that he could not remain in our service along with our servant Mohammed ben Belál, the son of a liberated Góber slave, who was a very clever but unscrupulous and haughty fellow, and bore the character of a libertine. But another cause of detention was the protest of his wives, who would not allow him to go unless he divorced them. We tried every means of settling the matter, but without success; so that we had only two servants, one of whom, Mohammed e’ Zintáni, the lad I have mentioned before, would certainly not go further than Fezzán.
At length all was ready for our outset, except the boat, which caused Mr. Richardson a great deal of trouble, as it had been divided in Malta into two pieces instead of four. I proposed that we should pitch our tents for some days at ʿAin Zára, in order that we might be duly seasoned for our long journey. I would advise every traveller, who would calculate upon all the means of ensuring success, to adopt a similar course. A few days’ stay in his tent will familiarize him with the little store which is henceforward to form his principal, if not his only resource, and will enable him to bear the heat of the sun with ease.
It was late in the afternoon of the 24th of March, 1850, when Overweg and I, seated in solemn state upon our camels, left the town with our train, preceded by the consul, Mr. Crowe, in his carriage, by Mr. Reade, and by Mr. Dickson and his family, of whom we took a hearty leave under the olive-trees near Kasr el Haeni. We then continued our route, and in fine moonlight pitched our tent on the border of ʿAin Zára.
This locality takes its name from a broad swampy hollow or depression to the south, thickly overgrown with reeds and rushes. At present no one lives in it; the wells are filled up with earth, and the date-trees, cared for by nobody, are partly overwhelmed by the sand which has accumulated in large mounds. Still it is an attractive spot, having just a little of cultivation and a little of sandy waste. A few olive-trees spread their fresh cool shade over a green meadow, forming a very pleasant resting-place. It was at this very spot that, in August 1855, on my joyful return, I again met Mr. Reade the vice-consul, and passed a night there.
Here we remained encamped till Friday the 29th. In the afternoon of the 27th, Mr. Frederic Warrington, who wished to escort us for a few days, came out, accompanied by the American consul Mr. Gaines, and brought us the satisfactory news, that on the following Friday Mr. Richardson would move from the town, and that we should meet him at Mejenín. I and my countryman required eight camels for our luggage, besides the two which we rode ourselves, and which were our own. I should have preferred having a donkey for myself, as it would have enabled me to go with ease wherever I liked; but in Tripoli there are no donkeys strong enough for such a journey, and a horse, including the carriage of barley and water for him, was too expensive for the means then placed at my disposal. But I had been so fortunate as to procure an excellent Arab camel of the renowned breed of the Bú-Saef, which was my faithful companion as far as Kúkawa; and Mr. Warrington had made me a present of a handsome Ghadamsi saddle or basúr, with pillows and Stambúli carpet, so that I was comfortably mounted.
[Sidenote: Friday, March 29th.]
After a great deal of trouble (the camel-drivers and our men being as yet unaccustomed to our unwieldy luggage), we at length succeeded in making a start. After leaving the olive-trees and the little palm-grove of ʿAin Zára, we very soon entered deep sand-hills, which sheltered us from the strong wind; and after more than two hours we came upon pasture-grounds, which furnished our camels with a variety of herbs and gramineæ, such as the shʿade, the shedíde, and various others unknown to me. The progress of an Arab caravan (where the camels march each after its own inclination, straying to the right and to the left, nipping here a straw, and there browsing on a bush) must be rather slow in districts where the stubborn animal finds abundance of food. This way of proceeding is extremely tedious and fatiguing to the rider; and to obviate it the Tawárek, the Téb, and the people in the interior fasten all the camels one behind the other. Owing to our slow progress, the sun was almost setting when we overtook Mr. Warrington, who had pitched his tent on a fine pasture-ground near Bir Sbaea. The last hour and a half’s ride from the well Jenáwa lay along well-cultivated and flourishing corn-fields extending along the narrow wadi of Mejenín[32], and intermingled with a rich profusion of flowers, principally the beautiful blue “khobbés.”
[Sidenote: Saturday, March 30th.]
Having indulged for some hours in the quiet enjoyment of a fine morning and an open green country, I went with the shoush to look after Mr. Richardson’s party. After an hour’s ride through luxuriant corn-fields, and pasture-grounds enlivened by the horses of the Turkish cavalry, we found Mukni, the sailor, and all Mr. Richardson’s baggage; but he himself had not yet come up. I could not persuade the people to remove to our encampment; so I returned, after having paid a visit to the binbásha of the cavalry, who had been stationed here for the last seventeen years. He had contrived to procure himself a cool retreat from the sultry hours, by forming a regular tank, about two feet and a half square, in the midst of his tent, and keeping it always full of water.
In the afternoon I made a long excursion with my Zintáni through the plain, beyond the chapel of Sidi Bargúb, in order to buy a sheep; but though the flocks were numerous, none of the shepherds would sell, as pasturage was abundant and everyone had what he wanted. In 1846, when I first visited the regency, the people were starving, and selling their camels and everything they possessed to procure food.
[Sidenote: Sunday, March 31st.]
Foggy weather indicated that rain was approaching; and just in time Mr. Richardson with his party arrived, and pitched his enormous lazaretto tent opposite our little encampment. Mr. Reade also had come from the town, in order to settle, if possible, the misunderstanding with our servant Mohammed, and see us off. It is an agreeable duty for me to acknowledge the many services which this gentleman rendered us during our stay in Tripoli. Our whole party was detained here the following day by the heavy rains; and Overweg and I were happy to get hold of the black servant of the ferocious pseudo-sheríf mentioned by Mr. Richardson, when that troublesome fellow was sent back to town, as we were much in want of another servant.
[Sidenote: April 2nd.]
We fairly set out on our expedition. The country became more diversified as we approached the defile formed by the Bátes and Smaera, two advanced posts of the mountain-chain, while the varied forms of the latter, in high cones and deep abrupt valleys, formed an interesting background. But the country hereabouts is cultivated with less care than Wadi Mejenín; and the ground being more stony, presents of course more obstacles than the latter, while both districts are inhabited by the same tribes, viz. the Urgáat and the Akára. Even here, however, in the circle formed by the surrounding heights, was a fine extent of plain covered with corn-fields. Just at the entrance of the pass there is a well, where the road divides; and after a little consultation, we took the western branch, as our people feared that on the eastern we should not find water before night. Changing, therefore, our direction, we seemed awhile to keep off entirely from the mountain-range till we reached the wide but very rugged and rocky Wadi Haera, which it was our object to reach at this spot, in order to fill our water-skins from the pools formed by the rains. The wadi, indeed, looked as if it sometimes bore in its floods a powerful body of water; and a considerable dike had been constructed in the early times of the Arabs, extending for two hundred paces from the wadi eastward; but it has fallen to ruin, and the path leads now through the breach.
Resuming our march, after a good deal of delay, we turned sharp off towards the mountains, and at an early hour encamped on a very pleasant spot adorned with numerous sidr-trees (_Rhamnus Nabeca_); but instead of enjoying it in quiet, Overweg and I felt disposed to direct our steps towards a hill called Fulíje, about half an hour’s walk eastward, which promised to be a convenient point for obtaining correct angles of the prominent features of the chain, and proved to be so in reality. Having executed this task, therefore, we returned to our companions well satisfied, and spent the evening in the comfortable tent of Mr. Warrington. We had now reached the slope of the chain, where some of our people supposed that the boat would cause difficulties; but it could not well do so after being cut into quarters, which fitted to the sides of the camels rather better than the large quadrangular boxes. The most troublesome parts were the long oars and poles, which caused the camel much exhaustion and fatigue, by constantly swaying backwards and forwards.
The ground, soon after we had started the next morning, became stony, and, at three miles distance, very rugged and intersected by a number of dry watercourses. The landscape was enlivened not only by our own caravan, composed of so many heterogeneous elements, but also by some other parties who happened to be coming down the slope: first, the Kaimakám of the Jébel, then a slave caravan, consisting of about sixty of these poor creatures, of whom the younger, at least, seemed to take a cheerful interest in the varied features of the country. The Wadi Bú Ghelán, where the ascent commences, is here and there adorned with clusters of date-trees. In about an hour the first camels of our party reached the terrace of Beni ʿAbbás; and till the whole had accomplished the ascent, I had leisure to dismount from my tractable Bú-saefi, and to sit down quietly under a fine olive-tree near the chapel of the Merábet Sámes, watching them as they came up one by one, and cheered by the conviction that the expedition was at length in full train. The country was here hilly, and the path often very narrow and deeply cut in the marly soil. Further on, Overweg and I, together with our shoush, turned off a little to the right from the great caravan-road, and, passing through fine corn-fields interspersed with flowers of different kinds, reached the village Gwásem, lying at a short distance from the eastern foot of Mount Tekút, where we were treated with sour milk by a friend of our companions. When we had overtaken our caravan, I found time to pay a visit to the Roman sepulchre[33], and ascertained that the base measured 24 ft. in every direction, the principal body of the monument, containing the sepulchral chamber, having fallen in entirely. From this point we began to ascend the second terrace, and reached the level of the plateau at two o’clock in the afternoon. The country had now a much more interesting appearance than when I was here two months before, being at present all covered with green corn. Having started in the direction of the castle, we descended, a little before reaching it, along the shelving ground towards Wadi Rummána, and encamped on the spot where the troups usually bivouac.
Here we remained the following day, when, in order to settle formally the demands of our camel-drivers, we had all our things accurately weighed by the officials of the castle. The little market did not grow busy till ten o’clock. The chief articles for sale were three head of cattle, one camel, some sheep and goats, a few water-skins, some barley, a few eggs, and sandals; but at noon it was moderately thronged. In the afternoon we paid a visit to several subterranean dwellings, but were disappointed in not getting access into an entirely new structure of this kind, formed of a much harder sort of clay. Our cheerful friend Mr. Warrington, in order to treat our party before he separated from it for a length of time which nobody could foresee, got an immense bowl of kuskus prepared, seasoned in the most savoury manner; and our whole party long indulged in the remembrance of this delicate dish as a luxury beyond reach. The site of our encampment was most pleasant: below us the wadi, rich with varied vegetation; while towards the north the Tekút, with its regularly-shaped crater towering proudly over the lower eminences around, formed a most interesting object.
[Sidenote: Friday, April 5th.]
Though busy at an early hour, we did not get off till late; for many things were still to be settled here. We separated from Mr. Warrington; and of the three travellers I was the only one whom he was ever to see again.
Our path was at first very winding, as we had to turn round the deep indentation of the Wadi Rummána, after which it took a straighter course, passing through several villages, with their respective olive- groves, till we reached Bu Sriyán, where the cultivation of the olive- tree ceased entirely for some distance, and the country became more open. Here we made another considerable deviation from our southerly direction, and followed a wide valley with much cultivated ground. Having reached the village Sémsa, situated upon an eminence to our right, we turned off eastward into a very pleasant ravine with an olive- grove, and then began the steep ascent towards the height Kuléba[34], which forms the passage over this southern crest of the plateau. While the camels in long rows moved slowly onwards, with their heavy loads, on the narrow and steep rocky path, I, allowing my camel to follow the rest, ascended directly to the village, which is situated round the eastern slope, and is still tolerably well inhabited, although many a house has fallen to ruin; for it has a considerable extent of territory; and owing to its situation as the southernmost point of Ghurián, the inhabitants are the natural carriers and agents between the northern districts and the desert. On the highest crest, commanding the village, there was formerly a castle; but it has been destroyed by the Turks.
Having descended a little into the barren valley, we encamped, at two o’clock in the afternoon, on the slope of the western hills, near the last scanty olive-trees, and not far from the well, from which we intended to take a sufficient supply of water to last us till we reached Mizda. While our people, therefore, were busy watering the camels and filling our water-skins, Overweg and I, accompanied by two of the inhabitants of the village, who had followed us, ascended a conspicuous mount, Jebel Toëshe, the highest in the neighbourhood, on the top of which a village is said to have existed in former times. We took several angles; but there is no very high point about Mizda which could serve as a landmark in that direction.
[Sidenote: Saturday, April 6th.]
The country through which we were marching, along irregular valleys, mostly of limestone formation, exhibited scattered patches of corn for about the first three miles, after which almost every sign of cultivation suddenly ceased, and the “Twél el Khamér,” stretching from N.W. to S.E., about two miles distant on the right, formed, as it were, the northern boundary of the naked soil. On its slope a few trees of the kind called radúk by the Arabs were seen from the distance. We then entered desolate stony valleys, famous for the bloody skirmishes which are said to have once taken place there between the Urfílla and the Welád Bu Séf, in the time of ʿAbd el Jelíl. Refreshing, therefore, was the aspect of Wadi Ranne, which, extending from E. to S.W., was overgrown with green herbage, and had two wells.
A little beyond, near the hill, or rather slope, called Shʿabet el Kadím, the latter part of which name seems, indeed, to have some reference to antiquity, we found the first Roman milestone, with the inscription now effaced; but further on, Mr. Overweg, who went on foot and was far behind the main body of our caravan, succeeded in discovering some milestones with inscriptions, which he regretted very much not being able to show to me. Hereabouts commences the region of the batúm-tree, which, with the fresh green of its foliage, contributes a good deal to enliven and adorn some favoured spots of this sterile, gravelly tract. To the left of our path were some remarkable basaltic cones, starting up from the calcareous ridge. The ground was strewn with numerous flint-stones. About four o’clock P.M. I went to look at a curious quadrangular and regularly-hewn stone, three feet in breadth and length, but only eight inches thick, which was standing upright at some distance from the caravan. It was evidently meant to face the west; but no trace of an inscription was to be seen. About a mile further on we encamped at the foot of the western chain, which rose to a height of about 300 feet, and formed a narrow cleft with the eastern chain, which at this point closes upon it. In this corner (which collects the humidity of two valleys), besides several batúm-trees, a little corn had been sown. Panthers are said to be numerous in this region.
The next day we directed our march towards the pass, crossing the dry beds of several small torrents, and a broader channel bordered by plenty of batúm-trees. After an hour’s march, we had reached the summit of the pass, which now began to widen, the heights receding on each side, and a more distant range bounding the view. We found in the holes of the rocky bottom of Wadi Mezummíta, which we crossed about half-past eight, several pools of rain-water, affording us a most refreshing drink; but it was quite an extra treat, owing to recent heavy rains which had fallen here, for in general the traveller cannot rely on finding water in this place. The ground becoming very stony and rugged, our progress was excessively slow—not above half an English geographical mile in seventeen minutes. The hills on our right displayed to the view regular layers of sandstone. Another long defile followed, which at length brought us to a plain called Wadi Lilla, encompassed by hills, and offering several traces of former cultivation, while other traces, further on, bore testimony to the industry of the Romans. A small herd of goats, and the barking of a dog, showed that even at present the country is not wholly deserted. In our immediate neighbourhood it even became more than usually enlivened by the passage of a slave-caravan, with twenty-five camels and about sixty slaves, mostly females.
After having passed a small defile, we at length emerged into the north- west branch of the valley of Mizda, called here Wadi Udé-Sheráb, the channel of which is lined with a considerable number of batúm-trees. Crossing the stony bottom of this plain, after a stretch of three miles more we reached the western end of the oasis of Mizda, which, though my fancy had given it a greater extent, filled me with joy at the sight of the fine fields of barley, now approaching maturity—the crop, owing to the regular irrigation, being remarkably uniform—while the grove of date-trees encompassed the whole picture with a striking and interesting frame. So we proceeded, passing between the two entirely-separated quarters, or villages, distinguished as the upper, “el fók,” and the lower, “el utah,” and encamped on the sandy open space a little beyond the lower village, near a well which formerly had irrigated a garden. People going to Tripoli encamp at the other end of the oasis, as was done by a caravan of Ghadamsi people with slaves from Fezzán, on the following day.