\*»'v-:*V.-'-'-- V:Y'%?;•'\v>- *:'
PROCEEDINGS
or THE
AFRICAN ASSOCIATION.
PROCEEDINGS
Ot THE
ASSOCIATION
FOR
PROMOTING THE DISCOVERY
OF THE
INTERIOR PARTS OF AFRICA.
LIST OF THE MEMBERS
OF THE
ASSOCIATION.
A
TlIE Countefs of Aileibury Right Hon. H. Addington, Speaker of the Houfe of Commons
B
Duke of Buccleugh Earl of Buckinghamlhire Earl of Bute Earl of Briftol
Sir Jofeph Banks, Bart. P. R. S. Lady Belmore Robert Barclay, Efq, Henry Beaufoy, Efq. M. t\
Mark
Mark Beaufoy, Efq. John Beaufoy, Efq. Richard Henry Bennet, Efq. Ifaac H. Browne, Efq. M. P. Robert Barclay, Efq. M. P.
G
Lord Carysfort
Earl of Cholmondeley
Sir H. G. Calthorpe, Bart. M. P.
General Conway
John Call, Efq. M. P.
Mrs. Child
Thomas Coutts, Efq.
John Campbell, Efq. M. P.
D
Lord Daer
Sir John Dick, Bart.
Wm. Drake, Jun. Efq. M. P.
E
Earl of Exeter
G. N. Edwards, Efq. M. P.
F
Earl of Fife
Sir A. FergufTon, Bart. M. P. Sir William Fordyce, Bart.
Colonel Fullerton, M. P. G
Duke of Grafton Earl of Gainfborough Earl of Galloway Edward Gibbon, Efq. Dr. Gifborne George Goftling, Efq. George Gomm, Efq.
H
Earl of Huntingdon Lord Hawke
Mr. Profeffor Harwood Sir John Hort, Bart. John Hunter, Efq. Henry Hoare, Efq. Charles Hoare, Efq. Henry H. Hoare, Efq.
K
Whitfhed Keene, Efq. M. P. L
Lord Loughborough Bifhop of Landaff Wilfred Lawfon, Efq. Dr. Lettfom William Ludlam, Efq.
M
Earl of Moira
Lord Middleton
Sir Charles Middleton, Bart.
Sir William Mufgrave, Bart.
William
William Marfden, Efq. Rev. Dr. Marton Paul Le Mefurier, Efq. M. P. Charles Miller, Efq. James Martin, Efq. M. P.
N
Duke of Northumberland Richard Neave, Efq. The Hon. F. North
P
John Peachy, Efq. M. P. W. Pulteney, Efq. M. P. Charles A. Pelham, Efq. M. P. W. M. Pitt, Efq. M. P. John Parke, Efq.
R
Earl of Radnor Lord of Rawdon Lieut. Gen. Rainsford
Lord
S
Lord Sheffield
Sir John Sinclair, Bart. M. P. Sir John Stepney, Bart. John Stanley, Efq. Mr. Stuart Hugh Scott. Efq. John Simmons, Efq. William Smith, Efq. M. P. Richard Stonehewer, Efq. Hans Sloane, Efq. M. P.
T
Greaves Townley, Efq. Robert Thornton, Efq. M. P.
V
Benjamin Vaughan, Efq. W
Earl of Wycombe
Sir Godfrey Webfter, Bart.
William
William Watfon, Efq. Samuel Whitebread, Efq. M. P. William Wilberforce, Efq. M. P. William Winch, Efq. Joliah Wedge wood, Efq. John Wilkinfon, Efq.
Y
Philip York, Efq. M. P.
CONTENTS;
PAGE
Introduction i
Plan of the Ajfociation........ 3
CHAPTER I.
Proceedings of the Affociation, from the Time of its EJlabli/hment, to that of the Departure of Mr. Led yard . ♦ 17
CHAPTER II.
Mr. Ledyard'j Arrival at Cairo—His Remarks on the Inhabitantst &c.— His Death and Character...... 33
CHAPTER III.
Arrival of "Mr. Lucas at Tripoli—His Reception by the Bajhaw—His Journey
PAGE,
ney to Mefurata with the ShereefFouwad and Imhammed.—His Mode of obtaining from the latter an Account of his Travels in the Interior Countries of Africa.—His Return to England . . 69
INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER IV.
fthe Shereef Imhammed's Information confirmed by the Governor of Mefurata and Ben Alii the Moor....... 119
CHAPTER IV.
Rout from Mefurata.—Enumeration of the principal Towns of Fezzan.—Account cf its Climate and principal Productions.—Defer ipti on of the Manners, Religion, and Government of its People.—Their Revenue, Adminiflra-tion of fufe'ice, and Military Force . . 125
CHAPTER V.
Mode of Travelling in Africa ..... 173
CHAP-
PAGE
CHAPTER VI.
General Remarks on the Empires of Bor-nou and Cajhna—Rout from Mourzouk
to Bomou--Climate of Bomou---
Complexion, Drefs, and Food of the Inhabitants—Their Mode of Building—Their Language—Government-Military Force—Manners—and Trade 189
CHAPTER VII.
Rout from Mourzouk to Cajhna.—Boundaries of the Empire.—Its Language, Currency, and Trade , .......241
CHAPTER VIII.
Countries South of the Niger......259
CHAPTER IX.
General View of the Trade from Fezzan to Tripoli, Bornou, Cafina, and the Countries on the South of the Niger 269
CHAP-
CHAPTER X.
PAGE
Kfiut from Mourzouk to Grand Cairo, according to Hadgce Abdalah Benmi-leitan, the prefent Governor of Mefurata   . ,.............. 285
CHAPTER XL
Conclufiom fuggejiedby the preceding Narrative ............... 295
CHAPTER. XII.
Confirutlion of the Map of Africa ... 311
INTRODUCTION.
THE Narrative of the Proceedings of the Society that was formed in the year 1788, for the purpofe of Promoting the Difcovery  of the Inland Diflridts of Africa, was written, at the requeft of his Colleagues, by one of the Members of the Committee of that Association; and is now printed at the delire, and for the ufe of the Society.   But as it may alfo be read by perfons unacquainted with the Origin and Objed of the Undertaking to which it relates, the following Paper, as defcriptive of both, is re-publifhed for their information.
B
PLAN
ASSOCIATION.
O F the objects of inquiry which engage our attention the moil, there are none, perhaps, that fo much excite continued curiofity, from childhood to age; none that the learned and unlearned fo equally wifh to inveftigate, as the nature and hiftory of thofc parts of the world, which have not, to our knowledge, been hitherto explored. To this defire the Voyages of the late Captain Cook have fo far afforded gratification, that nothing worthy of refearch by Sea, 13 2 the
the Poles themfelves excepted, remains to be examined. But by Land, the objects of Difcovery are fiiil fo vaft, as to include at leaft a third of the habitable furface of the earth: for much of Afia, a full larger proportion of America, and almoft the whole of Africa, are unvifited and unknown.
In Afiathereare fewextenfivc diftricts of which we are wholly ignorant; but there are many of which we are imperfectly informed; and to our knowledge of feveralof thefe, the expected publication of the Travels of Mr. Fofter, in the fer-vice of the Eaft India Company, may bring material improvement. For, about three years iince, in returning fromHin-doftan to Europe, he travelled by the way of Laldong, Jummoo, Caihmire, Cabul, Herat, and the Cafpian Sea; and though the character of a Moorifh Merchant,
chant, a difguife which the nature of the journey compelled him to affume, would not permit him to depart fo far from the ufage of Afia, as to make a draught of the country, or to write any other than fliort memorandums as he paffed, yet, if we may judge from the opportunities he had of information, his Narrative muff be important. It will probably mew the manners and cuitcms, and military ftrength of the populous tribes that inhabit the mountains on the North of Lahore : it pro-mifes to gratify the eagernefs which all men exprefs to acquire a knowledge of the fequeftercd and unexplored, though celebrated Country of Cammire: and there is reafon to fnppofe, that it will alfo defcribe the riling Empire of the Seiks, the conquerors of Zabeta Cawn, and the rivals of Abdalla. Should this be the cafe, we ihall learn the hillory of B 3 an
an Empire that already extends from the river Attok, the weftern branch of the Indus, to the banks of the Jummaj and poflibiy too we may alfo be told the particulars of a Religion, which, according to the accounts received, profeffes to bring back the Hindoos from the idolatrous veneration of images to the purity of their primitive faith, the wor-fhip of One God: a Religion, which is faid to afcribe to its Founder, Nanock, who died about 200 years fince, a facred character, by fuppofing that he was Brimha, and that this was his laft appearance upon earth: a Religion, which its Followers, in contradiction to the former uniform practice of the Relievers in the Shaffer, endeavour to make uni-verfal, and with a zeal which refembles the Mahometan, conilantly enforce by the fword.
To
To our knowledge of America, a large and valuable addition may foon be expected; for feveralof the inhabitants of Canada had the fpirit, about two years fiftce, to fend, at their own expence, different perfons to traverfe that vaft continent, from the river St. Lawrence weft ward to the oppolite ocean.
While, in this manner, the circle of our knowledge with refpect. to Alia and America is gradually extending itfelf, and advancing towards perfection, fome progrefs has been made in the difcovery of particular parts of Africa: for Dr. Sparrman's Narrative has furnimed important information, to which will foon be added that of Mr. Patterfon, whofe account of his Travels and Ob-fervations in the Southern Parts of Africa is already in the Prefs; and if a defcrip-tion of the ft ill more extended Travels B 4 of
of Colonel Gordon, the prefent Commander of the Dutch Troops at the Cape of Good Hope, mould he given to the Public, the fouthern extremity of the African Peninfula may perhaps be juftly confldered as explored. Mr. Bruce alfo, it is faid, is preparing for the Prefs an account of the knowledge which he has obtained on the eailern fide of that quarter of the globe.*
But notwithftanding the progrefs of difcovery on the coafts and borders of that vaft continent, the map of its Interior is If ill but a wide extended blank, on which the Geographer, on the authority of Leo Africanus, and of the XeriffEdrifli the Nubian Author, has traced, with a he-fitatinghand, a few names of unexplored rivers and of uncertain nations.
The
* Mr. Patterson's and Mr. Bruce's Travels are now published.
The courfe of the Niger, the places of its rife and termination, and even its existence as a feparate ftream, are if ill undetermined. Nor has our knowledge of the Senegal and Gambia rivers improved upon that of De la Brue and Moore; for though fince their time half a century has elapfed, the Falls of Felu on the firft of thefe two rivers, and thofe of Baraconda on the laft, are itill the limits of difcovery.
Neither have we profited by the information which we have long poffefTed, that even on the weftern coafts of Africa, the Mahometan faith is received in many exteniivc diftricts, from the Tropic of Cancer fouthward to the Line. That the Arabic, which the Mulfelman Priefts of all countries underftand, furnifhes an eafy accefs to fuch knowledge as the weftern Africans are able to fupply, is perfectly obvious; as it alfo is, that thofe
Africans
Africans muff, from the nature of their Religion, polfefs, what the Traders to the coaff afcribc to them, an intercourfe with Mecca. But although thefe cir-cumffances apparently prove the practicability of exploring the Interior Parts of Africa, and would much facilitate the execution of the Plan, yet no fuch efforts have hitherto been made. Certain however it is, that, while we continue ignorant of fo large a portion of the globe, that ignorance muff be confidered as a degree of reproach upon the pre-fent age.
Senfible of this ffigma, and defirous of refcning the age from a charge of ignorance, which, in other refpects, he-longs fo little to its character, a few Individuals, ftrongly impreffcd with a conviction of the practicability and utility of thus enlarging the fund of human
knowledge,
knowledge, have formed the Plan of an Affociation for Promoting the Difcovery of the Interior Parts of Africa.
The nature of their Effahlifhmcnt will beff appear from the following account of their proceedings.
At an Adjourned Meeting of the Saturday's Clus, at the St.Albarfs Ta~ vern, 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
1Z
ABSENT MEMBERS.
BISHOP OF LANDAFF, LORD CARYSFORT, SIR JOHN SINCLAIR.
Resolved, That as no fpecies of information is more ardently defired, or more generally nfeful, than that which improves the fcience of Geography; and as the vaft Continent of Africa, notwithftanding the efforts of the Antients, and the withes of the Moderns, is if ill in a great mea-fure unexplored, the Members of this Club do form themfelves into an Affo-ciation for Promoting the Difcovery of the Inland Parts of that Quarter of the World:
That, for the faid purpofe, each Member do fubfcribe Five Guineas a year, for three years; and that at, or after that
period,
ASSOCIATION. . 13
period, any Member, on giving a year's notice, may withdraw himfelf from the Alfociation:
That during the firft twelve months from the prefent day, each of the Members of the Club be allowed to recommend, for the approbation of the Club, fuch of his Friends as he fhall think proper to be admitted to the new AfTo-ciation; but that after that time all additional Members be elected by a Ballot of the Affociation at large:
That a Committee, confifting of a Secretary, Treafurer, and three Affiffing Members, be chofen by Ballot;
That the faid Committee do prepare and fnbmit to the conlideration of the Members, at their next meeting, fuch Rules as they fhall think requifite for
the
the effectual attainment of the object of the new lnltitution, and forks good government :
That the Committee be entrufted with the choice of the perfons who arc to be fent on the Difcovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, together with the So* ciciy'sCorrefpondence, and the Management of its Funds:
That the Committee fhall not difclofe, except to the Members of the Affocia-tion at large, fuch intelligence as they fhall, from time to time, receive from the perfons who fhall be fent out on the bufinefs of Difcovery:
That on the receipt of any interefling intelligence from any of the faid perfons, the Members of the Affociation mall be convened by Letters from the
Secretary;
--s^=S...... ■ •      i    =--i--
Secretary; and that fuch parts of the fa id intelligence as, in the opinion of the Committee, may, without endangering the object of their Affociation, be made public, fhall be communicated to the Meeting;
That an Account of all Monies paid and received fhall, on the laff Saturday in the month of May in each year, be fubmitted to the confideration of the Society at large, by the Treafurer:
That the Members of the Committee be chofen by Ballot, on the firif Saturday jn the month of May in each year.
The preceding Refolutions having been agreed to by all the Members present, they proceeded on the fame day,
the
the 9th of June, 1788, in purfuance of their Fourth Refolution, to chufe a Committee by Ballot, and the following perfons were elected:
LORD RAWDON,
BISHOP OF LANDAFF,
SIR JOSEPH BANKS,
MR. BEAUFOY,
MR. STUART,
CHAPTER L
Proceedings of the AJbciationyfrom the Time of its EJiabliJhment, to that of the Departure of Mr. Ledyard.
1 HE Aifociation for Promoting the Difcovery of the Interior Regions of Africa was formed on the 9th of June, in the year 1788; and on the fame day a Committee of its Members was inverted with the Direction of its Funds, the Management of its Correfpondence, and the Choice of the Perfons to whom the Geographical Million mould be auign-ed.
Naturally anxious for the fpeedy attainment of the important object thus
C recom-
recommended to their care, an object made doubly interefting by the confl-deration of its having engaged the attention, and baffled the refearchcs of the moft inquiiitivc and moft powerful nations of antiquity, the Managers proceeded with the utmoft ardour to the immediate execution of the Plan.
Two Gentlemen, whofe qualifications appeared to be eminent, propofed to undertake the Adventure.
One of them, a Mr. Led yard, wras an American by birth, and feemed from his youth to have felt an invincible dehre to make himfelf acquainted with the unknown, or imperfectly difcovered regions of the globe. For feveral years he had lived with the Indians of America, had If udied their manners, and had practifed in their fchool the means of
obtaining
obtaining the protection, and of recommending himfelf to the favour of Savages.   In the humble fituation of a Corporal of Marines, to which he fub-mitted rather than relinquifh his pur-fuit, he had made, with Captain Cook, the Voyage of the World j and feeling on his return an anxious defire of penetrating from the North Weftern Coaft of America, which Cook had partly explored, to the Eaftern Coaft, with which he himfelf was perfectly familiar, he determined to traverfe the vaft Continent from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.
His firft Plan for the purpofe was that of embarking in a veffel which was then preparing to fail, on a Voyage of Commercial Adventure, to Nootka Sound, on the Weftern Coaft of America; and with this view he expended in fea ftores, the C 2 grcateft
greateft part of the money which his chief benefactor Sir Jofeph Banks (whofe generous conduct the Writer of this Narrative has often heard him acknowledge) had liberally fupplied.   But the fcheme being fruff rated by the rapacity of a Cuftom-houfe Officer, who had feized and detained the veffel for reafons which on legal inquiry proved to be frivolous, he determined to travel over land to Kamfchatka, from whence, to the Weftern Coaft of America, the paffage is extremely fliort.   With no more than ten guineas in his purfe, which was all that he had left, he croffed the Britifh Channel to Offend, and by the way of Denmark and the Sound, proceeded to the capital of Sweden, from which, as it was Winter, he attempted to traverfe the Gulph of Bothnia on the ice, in order to reach Kamfchatka by the fhorteft way but finding, when he came to the
middle
middle of the fea, that the water was not frozen, he returned to Stockholm, and taking his courfe Northward, walked into the Arctic Circle; and palling round the head of the Gulph, defcended on its Eaftern fide to Peterlburgh.
There he was foon noticed as an extraordinary man. Without ffockings, or fhoes, and in too much poverty to provide himfelf with either, he received and accepted an invitation to dine with the Portugueze Amhaffador. To this invitation it was probably owing that he Was able to obtain the fum of twenty guineas for a bill on Sir Jofeph Banks, which he confeffed he had no authority to draw, but which, in consideration of the bufinefs that he had undertaken, and of the progrefs that he had made, Sir Jofeph, he believed, would not be unwilling to pay.   To the Ambaffador's intereft it might alfo be owing that he
C 3 obtained
obtained permiilion to accompany a detachment of Stores which the Emprefs had ordered to be fent to Yakutz, for the life of Mr. Billings, an Englifhman, at that time in her fervice.
Thus accommodated, he travelled Eaffward through Siberia, iix thoufand miles, to Yakutz, where he was kindly received by Mr. Billings, whom he remembered on board Captain Cook's fhip, in the Situation of the Aftronomer's Servant, but to whom the Emprefs had now entrufted her fchemes of Northern Difcovery.
From Yakutz he proceeded to Ocza-kow, on the coaft of the Kamfchatka fea, from whence he meant to have paffed over to that peninfula, and to have embarked on the Eaftern fide in one of the Ruffian veflels that trade to the Weftern
fhores
fliores 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 con-fequence of fufpicions not hitherto explained, or refentments for which no reafon is amgned, he was feized, in the Emprefs's name, by two Ruffian foldiers, who placed him in a fledge, and conveying him, in the depth of Winter, through the Defarts of the Northern Tartary, left him at laft on the Frontiers of the Polifh Dominions.   As they parted they told him, that if he returned to Ruflia, he would certainly be hanged ; but that if he chofe to go back to England, they wilhed him a pleafant journey.
In
In the midlt of poverty, covered with rags, infefted with the ufual accompaniments of fuch cloathing, worn with continued hardfhip, exhauffed by dif-eafe, without friends, without credit, unknown, and full of mifery, he found his way to Koninglberg.—There, in the hour of his uttermoft diftrefs, he refolved once more to have recourfe to his old Benefactor, and he luckily found a perfon who was willing to take his draft for five guineas on the Prefident of the Royal Society.
With this affiff ance he arrived in England, and immediately waited on Sir Jofeph Banks, who told him, knowing his temper, that he believed he could recommend him to an adventure almoft as perilous as the one from which he had returned; and then communicated to him the willies of the Affociation for
Dif-
Difcovering the Inland Countries of Africa.
Led yard replied, that he had always determined to traverfe the Continent of Africa as foon as he had explored the Interior of North America; and as Sir Jofeph had offered him a Letter of Introduction, he came directly to the Writer of thefe Memoirs.   Before I had learnt from the note the name and bufi-nefs of my Vifitor, I was If ruck with the manlinefs of his perfon, the breadth of his chelf, the opennefs of his countenance, and the inquietude of his eye. I fpread the map of Africa before him, and tracing a line from Cairo to Sennar, and from thence Westward in the latitude and Suppofed direction of the Niger, I told him that was the route, by which I was anxious that Africa might, if poffible, be explored.   He faid, he
mould
mould think himfelf fingularly fortunate to be entruff ed with the Adventure. I afked him when he would fet out ? " To-morrow morning," was his anfwer. I told him I was afraid that we Should not be able, in fofhort a time, to prepare his instructions, and to procure for him the letters that were requisite ; but that if the Committee mould approve of his propofal, all expedition Should be ufed.
Such is the hiflory, and fuch were the qualifications of one of the perfons whom the Committee engaged in its fervice.
The other, Mr. Lucas, had been fent, 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 ilave
ASSOCIATION.
a flave to the Imperial Court of Morocco.
Three years of captivity preceded his restoration to freedom, and his confe-quent departure for Gibraltar; where, at the requeft of General Cornwallis, he accepted the offices of Vice-Conful and Charge d'Affaires in the Empire of Morocco i and had the fatisfaction to return, as the Delegate of his Sovereign, to the very kingdom in which, for fo long a period, he had lived as a Have. At the end of Sixteen years he once more revisited England, and was foon appointed Oriental Interpreter to the Britifti Court, in which fituation he was when he became known to the Committee, and expreffed his willingnefs, with His Majefty's permission, to undertake, in the Service of the ASTociation, whatever Journey his knowledge of
the
2o
the Manners, Cuftoms, and Language of the Arabs might enable him to perform. His Majefty, with that liberal attention to the Progrefs of Knowledge which at all times has distinguished his reign, Signified his pleafure, that Mr. Lucas Should proceed on the bufinefs of the Society; and that his Salary, as Oriental Interpreter, fhould be continued to him during his abfence.
Having thus obtained the affiftance of two perfons fo eminently qualified to facilitate the attainment of its object, the Committee proceeded to prefcribe to them their refpective routes.
To Mr. Ledyard they afligned, at his own deflre, as an enterprize of obvious peril and of difficult fuccefs, the talk of traverfing from Eaff to Weft, in the latitude attributed to the Niger,
the
the wideft part of the Continent of Africa.
To Mr. Lucas, in confideration of the knowledge which he polfeffed of the Language and Manners of the A-rabs, they allotted the paffage of the Defart of Zahara, from Tripoli to Fezzan; for they had learned from various information, that with this kingdom, which in fome meafure is dependent on Tripoli, the traders of Agadez and Tom-buctou, and of other towns in the Interior of Africa, had eft ablilhed a frequent and regular intercourfe; and their in-ftructions to him were, that he fhould proceed directly to Fezzan; that he fhould collect: and tranfmit by the way of Tripoli, whatever intelligence, reflecting the Inland Regions of the Continent, the people of Fezzan, or the traders who
viiited
vifited their country, might be able to afford; and that he fhould afterwards return by the way of the Gambia, or by that of the Coaft of Guinea.
One obftacle to the departure of thefe Geographical Miflionaries was flill to be removed; and that was, the fmallnefs of the Fund; for the Members of the Affociation, which had not yet paffed the fecond month of its exiftencc, were extremely few, and the Committee were too confcious of the importance and dignity of their undertaking, to canvafs for fubfcriptions.
In this dilemma, the Committee re-folved to advance the money that was requifite; and they accordingly railed among themfel ve s the fum of 430I. which enabled them to provide for their travellers
vellers the means of immediate equipment, and the letters of neceffary credit.
' Mr. Lucas, having been detained by illnefs, did not leave England till the 6th of Auguff.
CHAPTER II.
Mr. ledyard's Arrival at Cairo.—His Remarks on the Inhabitants, &c,—His Death and CharaSler.
Mr . Led yard took his departure from London on the 30th of June, 1788; and after a journey of fix and thirty days, feven of which were confumed at Paris, and two at Marfeilles, arrived in the city of Alexandria.
His Letters of Recommendation to the Britifh Conful fecured him from the embarrailments which the want of inns D would
would otherwife have occafioned > and procured for him the necefTary inftruc-tions for affuming the drefs, and adopting the manners that are requisite for an Egyptian Traveller.
Forcibly impreffedby the objects which he faw, and naturally led to compare them with thofe which other Regions of the Globe had prefented to his view, he defcribes with the energy of an original Obferver, and exhibits in his Narrative the varied effect of fimilarity and contrast. But as the travellers who preceded him, have obtained and transmitted to Europe whatever knowledge, either antient or modern, the Lower Egypt affords, and as the examination of that country was no part of thebufinefs which was given him in charge, his defcrip-tions, generally fpeaking, would add
but
CO MM UNICA TIONS. 3 5
but little to the instruction which other Narratives convey.
The following Extracts, from different parts of his Journal, are given in his own words*
cc A traveller, who mould, by juft comparisons between things here and in Europe, tell his tale; who, by a mind unbewitched by antecedent defcriptions, too ftrong, too bold, too determined, too honeft, to be capable of lying, fhould fpeak juft as he thought, would, no doubt, be efteemed an arrant fool, and a ftupid coxcomb.—For example, an Englishman who had neverfeen Egypt, would afk me what fort of a woman an Egyptian woman was ? If I meant to do the queftion as much juftice by the anfwer, as I could in my way, I fhould afk him to
D 2 take
take notice of thefirft company of Gyp-fies he faw behind a hedge in ESfex; and I fuppofe he would be fool enough to think me a fool.
" Auguft 14. I left Alexandria at midnight, with a pleafant breeze at North} and was, at fun-rife next morning, at the mouth of the Nile, which has a bar of fand acrofs it, and foundings as irregular as the fea, which is raifed upon it by the contentions of counter currents and winds.
" The view in failing up the Nile is very confined, unlefs from the top of the maft, or Some other eminence, and then it is an unbounded plain of excellent land, miferably cultivated, and yet interfperfed with a great number of villages, both on its banks and as far
along
COMMUNICA TIONS. 37
along the meadows as one can fee in any direction. The river is alfo filled with
boats pamng and repafling----boats all
of one kind, and navigated in one manner; nearly alfo of one Size, the largeSt carrying ten or fifteen tons. On board of thefe boats are feen onions, water-melons, dates, Sometimes a horfe, a camel, (which lies down in the boat) and Sheep and goats, dogs, men and women.—Towards evening and morning they have mufic.
" Whenever we Stopped at a village, I ufed to walk into it with my Conductor, who, being a MuSfelman, and a defendant from Mahommed, wore a green turban, and was therefore refpected, and I was fare of fafety:—but in truth, dreSTed as I was in a common Turkifh habit, I believe I mould have walked as fafely without him. I faw no pro* D 3 peniity
penfity among the inhabitants to incivility. The villages are moil miferable affemblages of poor little mud huts, flung very clofe together without any kind of order, full of dud, lice, fleas, bed-bugs, flies, and all the curfes of Mofes; people poorly clad, the youths naked : in fuch refpec~t, they rank infinitely below any Savages I ever faw.
" The common people wear nothing but a fhirt and drawers, and they are always blue. Green is the royal or holy colour; none but the defcendants of Mahommed, if I am rightly informed, being permitted to wear it.
" Augufl 19. From the little town where we landed, the diffance to Cairo is about a mile and a half, which we rode on affes; for the afs in this country is the Chriltian's horfe, as he is allowed
no
C OMM UNICA TIONS. 39
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 diflremng. No one, by a combination of any caufes, can reafon down to fuch effects as experience teaches us do exift here; it being impoflible to conceive, that the enmity I have alluded
to could exift between men;--or, in
fact, that the fame fpecies of beings, from any caufes whatever, fhould ever think and act fo differently as the Egyptians and the Englifh do.
" I arrived at Cairo early in the morning, on the 19th of Auguft, and went to the houfe of the Venetian Conful, Mr. Rofetti, Charge d'Affaires for the Englifh Conful here.
" After dinner, not being able to find D 4 any
4°
M*- LEDYARD's
any other lodging, and receiving no very preffing invitation from Mr. Rofetti to lodge with him, I went to a convent. This convent confifts of Miflionaries fent by the Pope to propagate the Christian Faith, or at leaft to give fhelter to Christians. The Chriftians here are principally from Damafcus: the convent is governed by the Order of Recollets : a number of Englifh, as well as other European travellers, have lodged there.
" AuguSt 21 St. It is now about the hottest Seafon of the year here; but I think I have felt it warmer in the City of Philadelphia, in the fame month.
" Auguft 26th. This day I was introduced by Rofetti to the Aga Mahom-med, the confidential Minister of Ifmael, the moft powerful of the four ruling Reys: he gave me his hand to kifs, and
with
with it the promife of letters, protection, and Support, through Turkifh Nubia, and alfo to fome Chiefs far inland.   In a fubfequent converfation, he told me I fhould fee in my travels a people who had power to tranfmute themfelves into the forms of different animals. He afked me what I thought of the affair? I did not like to render the ignorance, fimplicity, 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 fo great as thofe which he had done me the honour to defcribe; that it had rendered me more anxious to be on my voyage; and if I paffed among them, I would, in the letter I promifed to write to him, give him a more particular account of them than he had hitherto had. <—He afked me how I could travel without the language of the people where I
fhould
42 MR- LEDYARD's
mould pafs ? 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 fpeak of the natives of the country as well as of him, when I make the obfervation) are ftill fuch dupes to the arts of forcery ? Was it the fame people that built the Pyramids ?
" I can't underftand that the Turks have a better opinion of our mental powers than we have of theirs; but they fay of us, that we are " a people who carry our minds on our fingers ends:" meaning, that we put them in exercife conff antly, and render them fubfervient to all manner of purpofes, and with celerity, difpatch, and eafe, do what we do.
" I fufpecf the Copts to have been the
origin
origin of the Negro race: the nofe and lip correfpond with thofe of the Negro. The hair, whenever I can fee it among the people here, (the Copts) is curled; —not clofe like the Negros, but like the Mulattoes. I obferve a greater variety of colour among the human fpecies here than in any other country; and a greater variety of feature than in any other country not poifefhng a greater degree of civilization.
" I have feen an Abyffinian woman
and a Bengal man------the colour is the
fame in both; fo are their features and perfons.
" I have feen a fmall mummyj----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
the South Sea Iflanders. 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 defcending from the under lip to the chin, like the women on the North Weft Coaft of America. It is alfo a cuftom here to ftain the nails red, like the Cochin Chinefe, and the Northern Tartars. The mafk or veil that the women here wear, refembles exactly that worn by the Priefts at Otaheite, and thofe feen at Sandwich Iilands.
" I have not yet feen the Arabs make ufe of a tool like our axe or hatchet; but what they ufe for fuch purpofes as wre do our hatchet and axe, is in the form of an adze, and is a form we found moft agreeable to the South Sea Illan-ders. I fee no inftance of a tool formed dcfignedly for the ufe of the right or
left
left hand particularly, as the cotogon is among the Yorkertic Tartars.
" There is certainly a very remarkable affinity between the Ruffian and Greek drefs. The fillet round the temples of the Greek and Ruffian women, is a circumstance in drefs that perhaps would Strike nobody as it does me; and fo of the wampum work too, which is alfo found among them both.
tc They fpinhere with the diftaff and fpindle only, like the French peafantry and others in Europe; and the common Arab loom is upon our principle, though rude.
<c I faw to-day (Auguft ioth) an Arab woman white, like the White Indians in the South Sea Iilands, Iftmus of Darien, &x.  Thefe kind of people all look alike.
" Among
" Among the Greek women here, I find the identical Archangel head-drefs.
" Their mufic is instrumental, confining of a drum and pipe, both which refemble thofe two instruments in the South Seas. The drum is exactly like the Otaheite drum; the pipe is made of cane, and confifts of a long and fhort tube joined: the mufic refembles very much the bagpipe, and is pleafant.—All their mufic is concluded, if not accompanied, by the clapping of hands.   I think it Singular, that the women here make a noife with their mouths like frogs, and that this frog-mufic is always made at weddings; and I believe on all other occafions of merriment where there are women.
" It is remarkable, that the dogs here
are
are of juft the fame fpecies found among the Otaheiteans.
t{ It is alfo remarkable, that in one village I law exactly the fame machines ufed for diverfion as in Ruflia.—I forget the Ruffian name for it. It is a large kind of wheel, on the extremities of which there are fufpended feats, in which people are whirled round over and under each other.
" The women drefs their hair behind exactly in the fame manner in which the women of the Calmuc Tartars drefs theirs.
" In the Hiftory of the Kingdom of Benin in Guinea, the Chiefs are called Aree Roec, or Street Kings. Among the the Iilands in the South Sea, Otaheite, &x. they call the Chiefs Arees; and the
great
great Chiefs, Aree le Hoi. I think this curious; and fo I do that it is a cuffom among the Arabs to fpread a blanket when they would invite any one to tea or reft with them.—American Indians fpread the beaver fkins onfuchoccafions.
" The Arabs of the Defarts, 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 lingular that the Arab Language has no word for Liberty, although it has for Slaves.
" The Arabs, like the New Zealan-ders, engage with a long ftrong fpear.
" I have made the beft enquiries I
have
have been able, iince I have been here, of the nature of the country before me; of Sennar, Darfoor, Wangara, of Nubia, Abyffinia, of thofe named, or unknown by name. I fhould have been happy to have fent you better information of thofe places than I am yet able to do. It will appear very lingular to you in England, that we in Egypt are fo ignorant of countries which we annually vifit. The Egyptians know as little of Geography as the generality of the French; and like them, ring, dance, and traffic without it.
" I have the belt affurailces of a certain and fafe conduct by the return of the caravan that is arrived from Sennar; and Air. Rofetti tells me that the letters I fhall have from the Aga here, will in-fure me of being conveyed, from hand to hand, to my journey's end.
E " The
tc The Mahometans in Africa are what the Ruffians are in Siberia—a trading* enterprizing, fuperftitious, warlike fet of vagabonds, and wherever they are fet upon going, they will and do go; but they neither can nor do make voyages merely commercial, or merely religious, acrofs Africa; and where we do not find them in commerce, we find them not at all. They cannot (however vehemently pufhed on by religion) afford to crofs the Continent without trading by the way.
(f October 14th. I went to-day to the market-place, where they vend the Black Haves that come from towards the interior parts of Africa:—there were 200 of them together, dreffed and ornamented as in their own country. The appearance of a Savage in every region is almost the fame!—There were very few
men
men among them: this indicates that they are prifoners of war. They have a great many beads and other ornaments about them that are from the Eaff. I was told by one of them that they came from the Weft of Sennar, fifty-five days journey, which may be about four or five hundred miles. A Negro Chief Said, the Nile had its fource in his country. In general they had their hair plaited in a great number of fmall detached plaits, none exceeding in length fix or eight inches—the hair was filled with greafe, and dirt purpofely daubed on.
C£ October 16th. I have renewed my vifit to-day, and paffed it more agreeably than yefterday; for yefterday I was rudely treated. The Franks are prohibited to purchafe Haves, and therefore the Turks do not like to fee them in the market. Mr. Rofetti favoured me E 2 with
one of his running Charge d'Affaires to accompany me: but having obferved yefterday among the ornaments of the Negros a variety of beads, and wanting to know from what country they came, I recruefted Mr. Rofetti, previoufly to my fecond viiit, to fhew me from his
ftore famples of Venetian beads.--He
jfhewed me famples of fifteen hundred different kinds.   After this I fet out.
" The name of the country thefe Savages come from is Darfoor, and is well known on account of the Slave Trade, as well as of that in Gum and Elephant's teeth.
cc The appearance of thefe Negros declares them to be a people in as favage a ftate as any people can j but not of fo favage a temper, or of that fpecies of countenance that indicates favage intelligence.
genee. They appear aharmlefs wild people; but they are mortly young women.
" The beads they are ornamented with are Venetian; and they have fome Venetian brafs medals which the Venetians make for trade. The beads are worked wampum-wife. I know not where they got the marine ffiells they worked among their beads, nor how they could have feen white men. I afked them if they would ufe me well in their country, if I fhould vifit it? They faid, " Yes :*'— and added, that they fhould make a King of me, and treat me with all the delicacies of their country. Like the Egyptian women, and like moft other Savages, they ftick on ornaments wherever they can, and wear, like them, a great ring in the nofe, either from the cartilage, or from the fide: they alfo rub on fome black kind of paint round the eyes, E 3 like
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 thefe Savages plait it in taf-fels plaiftered with clay and paint. A-mong fome of them the hair is a foot long, and curled, refembling exactly one of our mops. The prevailing colour, where it can be feen, is a black and red mixed. I think it would make any hair curl, even Uncle Toby's wig, to be plaited and plaiftered as this is. This caravan, which I call the Darfoor caravan, is not very rich.--The Sennar is
the rich caravan.
*c October 19th. I went yefterday to fee if more of the Darfoor caravan had arrived; but they were not.   I wonder
why
why travellers to Cairo have not vifited thefe Have markets, and converfed with the Jelabs or travelling Merchants of thefe caravans: both are certainly fources of great information.—The eighth part of the money expended on other accounts, might here anfwer fome good folid purpofe. 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 poiition 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 Have market; but neither the Jelabs (a name which in this country is given to all travelling Merchants) nor
the Haves are yet arrived in town-
they will be here to-morrow.   I met E 4 two
MR- LEDYARD's
two or three in the ftreet, and one with a Shield and fpear.
,c I have understood to-day, that the King of Sennar is himfelf 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 circumftance, and one I knew not of till to-day.  Mr. Rofetti informed me of it.   He informed me alfo, that the importation of Negro Haves into Egypt will amount to 20,000.—The caravans from the interior countries of Africa do not arrive here uniformly every year— they are fometimes ahfent two or three years.
" Among a dozen of Sennar flaves, J faw three perfonable men, of a good bright ojive colour, of vivacious and intelligent
telligent countenances; but they had all three (which firth attracted my notice) heads uncommonly formed: the forehead was the narrower!, the longeft, and moft protuberant I ever fawr.   Many of thefe llaves fpeak a few words of the Arab language; but whether they learned them before or lince 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 Tom-buctou, 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 thoufand miles; and from Fezzan-to Tombuctou, one thoufand eight hundred miles.   From here to Sennar is reckoned fix hundred miles.
" I have
" I have been waiting feveral 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, foap, antimony, red linen, razors, fciifars, mirrors, beads * and, as far as I can yet learn, they bring from Sennar elephant's teeth, the gum called here Gum Sennar, camels, oitrich feathers, and Haves.
" 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 fee in about three months after leaving this) is faid to dif-pofe of juft what quantity he pleafes of his gold—fometimes a great deal, and fometimes little or none; and this, it is laid, he does to prevent ftrangers knowing
COMMUNICATIONS. *B9
ing how rich he is, and that he may live in peace."
Such are the moft material of thofe remarks on the people of Africa, which Mr. Led yard was enabled, by his residence at Cairo, to fend 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 fpirit of inquiry, the unwearied attention, the perfevering refearch, and the laborious, indefatigable, anxious zeal with which their Author pur-fued the object of his Million.
Already informed that his next dif-patch would be dated from Sennar; that letters of earned recommendation had been given him by the Aga; that the terms of his paflage had been fettled;
and
6o Af*- LED YARD'S
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 fevere their" difappointment, when letters from Egypt announced to them the melancholy tidings of his death. A bilious complaint, the confecmence of vexatious delays in the promifeddeparture of the caravan, had induced him to try the effect of too powerful a dofe of the acid of vitriol; and the fudden un-eafmefs and burning pain which followed the incautious draught, impelled him to feek relief from the violent action of the ffrongeff Tartar emetic. A continued difcharge of blood difcovered the danger of his Situation, and fummoned to his aid the generous friendfhip of the Venetian Conful, and the ineffectual fkill of the the moft approved phyiicians of Cairo.
He
He was decently interred in the neighbourhood of fuch of the Englifh as had ended their days in the capital of Egypt.
The bilious complaint with which he was feized has been attributed to the frowardnefs of a childifh impatience.— Much more natural is the conjecture, that his unexpected detention, week after week, and month after month, at Cairo, (a detention which confirmed his finances, which therefore expofed to additional hazard the fuccefs of his favourite enterprize, and which confequently tended to bring into queftion his honour to the Society) had troubled his fpirits, had preyed upon his peace, and fubjected him at laft to the difeafe that proved in its confequences the means of dragging him to his grave.
Of his attachment to the Society, and
of
of his zeal for their fervice, the following Extracts from his Letters are remarkably expremve:
" Money! it is a vile Have!—I have at prefent an ceconomy of a more exalted kind to obferve. I have the eyes of fomc of the firft men of the firft kingdom on earth turned upon me. I am engaged by thofe very men, in the moft important object; that any private individual can be engaged in: I have their approbation to acquire, or to lofe; and their efteem alfo, which I prize beyond every thing, except the independent idea of ferving mankind. Should raihnefs or defperation carry me through, whatever fame the vain and injudicious might bellow, I fhould not accept of it;—it is the good and great I look to: fame from them bellowed is altogether different, and is clofely allied to a well-done from
Gods
■» , ..■ 1 • ,   -=--_-—.
God: but rafhnefs will not be likely to carry me through, any more than timid caution. To find the neceffary medium of conduct, to vary and apply it to contingencies, is the ceconomy I allude to; and if I Succeed by fuch means, men of fenfe in any fucceeding epoch will not blufh to follow me, and perfect thofe Difcoveries I have only abilities to trace out roughly, or, adifpofition to attempt.
<( A Turkifh fophahas no charms for me: if it had, I could foon obtain one here. I could to-morrow take the command of the beSt armament of Ifhmaci Bey.—I fhould be Sure of fuccefs, and its consequential honours. Believe me, a Single well-done from your Affociation has more worth in it to me, than all the trappings of the Eaff; and what is Still more precious, is, the pleaSure I have in
the
the justification of my own conduct at the tribunal of my own heart."
To thofe who have never feen Mr. Led yard, it may not, perhaps, be un-interefting to know, that his perfon, though fcarcely exceeding the middle lize, was remarkably exprefllve of activity and Strength; and that his manners, though unpolilhed, were neither uncivil nor unpleahng. Little attentive to difference of rank, he feemed to confider all men as his equals, and as fuch he reflected them. His genius, though uncultivated and irregular, was original and comprehenfive. Ardent in his wifhes, yet calm in his deliberations} daring in his purpofes, but guarded in his meafures; impatient of controul, yet capable of ffrong endurance; adventurous beyond the conception of ordinary men, yet wary and confiderate; and attentive to all pre-
.   . cautions,
cautions, he appeared to be formed by Nature for achievements of hardihood and peril.
They who compare the extent of his pilgrimage through the vafl regions of Tartary with the fcantinefs of his funds, will naturally afk, by what means he obtained a fobfiftence on the road ? All that I have ever learned from him on the fubjccf, was, that his fufferings were excemve, and that more than once he owed his life to the companionate temper of the women. This laft remark is ftrongly 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 andchearful, timorous
F and
and modcft; and that they do not hefi-tate, like men, to perform a generous action.—Not haughty, not arrogant, not Supercilious, they are full of courtefy, and fond of focicty: more liable, in general, to err than man; but in general, alfo, more virtuous, and performing-more good actions than he. To a woman, whether civilized or favage, I never addreffed myfelf in the language of decency and friendfhip, without receiving a decent and friendly anfwer. With man it has often been otherwife.
" In wandering over the barren plains of inhofpitable Denmark) through honeft Sweden, and frozen Lapland, rude and churlifi Finland, unprincipled Rufia, and the wide fpread regions of the wandering Tai~tar, if hungry, dry, cold, wet, or fick, the women have ever been friendly to me, and uniformly fo; and t® add to this virtue,
(fo
(fo worthy the appellation of benevolence) thefe actions have been performed in fo free, and fo kind a manner, that if I was dry, I drank the fweeteit draught; and if hungry, I eat the coarfe morfel with a double relifh."
But though the native benevolence, which even among Savages diitinguifhes and adorns the female character, might fometimes foften the feverity of his fuffcrings, yet at others he feems to have endured the utmoff preffure of diftrefs.
" I am accuStomed—(faid he, in our laft converfation—'twas on the morning of his departure for Africa)—I am accuStomed to hardships. I have known both hunger and nakednefs to the ut-molt extremity of human fuffering. I have known what it is to have food given me as charity to a madman; and I F 2 have
6S M*- LEDYJRD's
have at times been obliged to llielter ray-felf under the miferies of that character, to avoid a heavier calamity. My dif-treffes 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 purpofe. If I live, I will faithfully perform, in its utmoff extent, my engagement to the Society; and if I perifh in the attempt, my honour will ftili be fafe, for death cancels all bonds/'
CHAPTER
CHAPTER III.
Arrival of Mr. Lucas at Tripoli.—His Reception by the Bafaw.—His Journey to Me-furata with the Shereefs Fouivad 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. l ucas, having taken his paffage at Marfeilles, onboard the St. Jean Bap-tifte, afmall veffel belonging to that port, embarked on the 3 8th of October, 17885 and on the 25th of the fame month ai> rived in the harbour of Tripoli,
The
The date trees, which fpread them-fclvcs like a foreft behind the town, and the hills beyond them, which bound the profpedt on the South, are interesting objects; but the town itfelf is built in too low a lit nation to compofc a part of the general fcenc: for it is fcarcely vi-fible at the cliffance of a mile.
The firff appearance of Tripoli may difappoint, by its meannefs, the expectations of the traveller; but if he reflects on the nature of a defpotic government, ever incompatible with permanent profperity, he will not be furpriz-ed when he finds, on a nearer view, that the city, though the capital of an em-, pire, exhibits through all its extent, the marks of a rapid decay ; that its fcanty limits, though fcarcely four miles in cir^ cumference, are too great for its prefent population; and that its antient caftle,
though
though once the pride, and fall the residence of the reigning family, is now a mouldering ruin.
The expected ceremonial of announcing to the Bafhaw, which is the title of the Sovereign, and to the Conful of the State, to whom the veffel belongs, her arrival in the harbour, having been regularly obferved, Mr. Lucas, accompanied by Mr. Tully, the Britifh Resident, waited on Hadgee Abdrahaman, the Tripoline Minister Sor Foreign Affairs, who had formerly refided in England as AmbafTador from the Bafhaw; and having known Mr. T^ucas there, received him now with the joy of an old acquaintance, and the cordiality of an intimate friend. Encouraged by this kindnefs, Mr. Lucas explained to him the object: of his million, and requested that he would prefent and recommend
F 4 him
him to the Bafliaw, and to the Prince, his eldeil Ton, who is diftinguifhedby the title of the Bey. TheMinifterconfentcd, and the next morning was, accordingly, appointed by the Bafhaw for the firft of thefe audiences: the morning after was fixed on by the Bey for the latter.
The Bafhaw, a fliort and robufl old man, of a fair complexion, a pleafing countenance, and an affable, joyous dif-pofition, received Mr. Lucas with great complacency, and accepted, with much fatis faction, his prefent of a pair of double-barrelled piffols, mounted with fil-ver; but expreffed his furprize, when leave was afked to vifit his kingdom of Fezzan: for the journey, he faid, 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
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 Bafhaw appeared to be fatislied, and prornifed that, on the firft opportunity of a fafe conveyance, he would give him fuch aids for the journey as his countenance and protection could afford.
On the next morning Mr. Lucas was prcfentcd to the Bey, the Bafhaw's eld-eft fon, a tall and well fhapecl, but dark complcxioned man, in the middle period of life; and was received by him with the engaging politehefs for which he is eminently diflinguifhed, The prefent that was made to him, except that its value was inferior, was fimilar to that which had been given to his father; and the affurances of the protection and friendship, which he offered him in return,
turn, were the fame in effect with thofe which the Bafhaw had expreffed.
Soon after his prefentation at Court, Mr. Lucas was informed that fome 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 fide of the Defart, were inferred by their inroads ; that a caravan from the inland country had lately been attacked; and that a Spanifh Merchant had been plundered within a few miles of the Capital. Mr. Lucas was alfo informed, that the Bafhaw, who has no regular forces, wras preparing to raife, on this occaiion, an army of 2,000 men; that as foon as the grafs fhould be high enough to afford the ncceffary forage for the cattle, which it would be in the month of December, they would begin
their
their march to the frontier, where they would be joined by the troops of fuch of the Arabs as continued faithful to the Government.
With this army, the collective numbers of which were expected to amount to live or fix thoufand men, it was hoped that the Bey, by the ufual enforcements of predatory war, would be able to reduce the rebellious Tribes to their an-tient obedience, and to the payment of the cuffomary 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, de-fcended from the Prophet, and one of whom had married the daughter of the King, were arrived in Tripoli. They
came
came there as Merchants, and brought with them, for fale, a variety of articles, of which llaves and fenna were the chief: and as the reverence in which the defcendants of Mahomet are held fecures their perfons from violence, and their property from plunder, they did not think that the restoration of peace was requisite for the fafety of their return. It was, therefore, with much Satisfaction that the Minister, whoSe intimate acquaintance they were, received from them an aSTLirance, that if Mr. Lucas could bear the fatigue of the journey, they would take him under their protection, and would be anfwer-ablc for his Safe arrival in Fezzan.
The next morning, in confequence of this conversation, the Shereefs waited upon Mr. Lucas. One of them, whofe rank as fon-in-law to the King, entitled
him
him to the firft consideration, was a tall, thin, copper compiexioncd man, of too ilender a frame for his height, which was nearly fix feet, but of an appearance that was expreffive of dignity : to this appearance the fedatenefs of his manners, and the fewnefs, but folidity of his words were particularly fuited. His age was fcemingly about thirty-five years, and his name was Mahommed Benfein Haffen Fouwad.    The other Shereef was a lively old man, fhort and thin, and dark coloured, almoff to black-nefs 5 affable, free, and entertaining in his converfation, and much reflected by his companion, to whom he was related. His name was Imhammed, and his a«e about fifty years.
After many compliments, for which their countrymen are famous, they ex-prelfed to Mr. Lucas the pleafurc they
mould
MR- LUC/1S\$
mould feel in prefenting him to their King, who had never feen a Christian Traveller, and would be highly gratified by fo new a vilit. They affured him of every accommodation which their country could afford, and of every proof which they themfelves could give of the kindest good will, and of the fiiicercft friendfhip. The conference was concluded by a 2>refent from Mr. Lucas of a pair of piftols to each, with a fuitable quantity of powder and ball and flints.
The Bafhaw, being informed by the Minifter of the propofal and promifes of the Shereefs, cxpreSfed his approbation of the Scheme, and fent, from his {tables, as aprefent to Mr. Lucas, a hand-fomc mule for the journey. The Bey> too, was no fooner acquainted with the arrangements, than he gave directions to a Jew Taylor, who had been employed
in
in making, and had juft finished his own tent, to wait upon Mr. Lucas, and take his orders for fuch a tent as would he reqiiifite for his journey.
But while in this manner Mr. Lucas was preparing for his departure, and had heipoken a Turkifh drefs for himfelf, and a magnificent robe, as a prefent, to the King of Fezzan, an apprehenfion arofe in the mind of the Balhaw, that if Mr. Lucas fhould be taken prifoner by the B.ebels, he himfelf fhould be reduced to the diftrefling dilemma of either concluding a disadvantageous peace, or of abandoning the Interpreter of the King of Great Britain to all the infults, and all the cruelties which thofe Barbarians might be difpofed to inflict:.
For this reafon, the force of which will be much more apparent, if the re-
fpedt
8o
fpecr in which the office of Interpreter in a Mahometan Government is ufualiy held, be conlidered, he expreifed his de-lire (and in this defire his el Jell Ion, the Bey, entirely concurred) that Mr. Lucas would defer his intended journey till the revolted Arabs fhould be reduced to obedience, and the peace of the Defart be restored. A few days after this re* quifition, the Bey began his march with an army of 300 horfe and 1500 foot.
The Shereefs were no fooner informed of the obstacle which had arifen to the journey of their intended fellow-traveller, than they expreifed as much chagrin and disappointment as Mr Lu-CAS himfelf could feel; for they Said, that they had already Sent word to their Sovereign, that they fhould Soon have the pleaSure to preSent to him a Christian,
who
Who had travelled from his native land, (a journey of many moons) with no other view than to gratify his wifh to vifit hinii and to fee 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 drift heaped upon their heads.
ImprefTed with thefe apprehenfions, the Shereefs waited upon the BaShaw, and offered to be refpohfible with their lives for the fafety of the Christian.
In this unfavourable State of Mr. Lucas's proSpect, an Old man of the clafs of Maraboots (a name which is q-iven to perfons of distinguished Sanctity) in-;
G formed
formed 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 con-fequence of the march of the Bafhaw's forces, had removed from that part of the country through which he intended1 to pais, he would engage that, under his conduct, Mr. Lucas mould travel in Safety,
With this propofal Mr. Lucas, by the advice of the Minister, and with the conSent oS the BaShaw, had determined to comply, though againlthis own opinion ; for the countenance and behaviour of the Maraboot had Suggested Suspicions of his Sincerity : but while he was preparing Sor his departure, which was fixed Sor the Monday following, the Bafhaw,on farther reflection, concluded
that
that the plan which the Shereefs had propofed would, on the whole, be attended with the fmalleit hazard.
The fchemeof the journey being thus finally fettled, the Bafhaw, at the requeff of the Minifter, prefented Mr. Lucas with a letter of recommendation to the King of Fezzan, of which the following is a tranllation.
TRANSLATION OF THE BASHAW Of TRIPOLl's RECOMMENDATION OF M* LUCAS TO THE KING OF FEZZAN-
if Praife be unto the Almighty God; and unto our Lord his Prophet Mahom-med, whofe protection and mercy we crave, and refign ourfelves to his holy will: to our Son Sydy Hamed Benmo-hamed, the great and juft ruler over his G 2 beloved
beloved people; may his days be long and happy. Amen.
" Peace, and the protection and blef-fing of God, be with you, and prcferve you from evil.
cf We have to acquaint you, our fon, that our friend, the Englifh King, hath fent one of his Interpreters unto us, and defired we would procure him a fafe conveyance to Fezzan, where he goes for his own amufement and pleafure: and as we have found a perfon whom we efteem, and who has promifed us to take great care of him, we have con-fented to let the faid Interpreter and his friends * go with him to Fezzan. We
have
* In the Arabic, the word Friend is often employed, as in this pqfjage, to expref the fame ?neaning as the Englljh term Servant,
have to defire that you will fhew him and his friends every kindnefs in your power, and comply with all his willies; and fhould he be inclined to go to any other pi ace, you will fend proper people to con duel: him, and to protect him in every thing; for he is a man of fenfe, and much efteemed by us; wherefore we recommend him to your care and protection. Peace and the blemng of God be with you: from the Slave of God, AllyBenkaramaly, whofe greatnefs is under the protection of God. Dated in the Moon of Rabeah thenee 1203"— (which correfponds with the month of January 1789.)
To this rout by Mefurata, though not fo direct as the antient pafTage by the way of the Mountains of Guariano, the Merchants who trade to Fezzan have
G 3 lately
lately given the preference : for in the nrff place, they avoid the opprcilive contributions, which, even in time of peace, the rapacious tribes of I Tooled Benfoliman and Benioieed, who inhabit thofe hills, have often levied on travellers 5 and in the next place, they have not only the advantage of fending their heavy merchandize to Mefurata by fen, but have alfo an opportunity of hiring there, at a much lower rate than at Tripoli, the camels for which they have occafiom
On Sunday the fir ft of February, 1789, at half an hour after eight in the morn" ing, the Shereefs, accompanied by Mr, Lucas, took their departure from the fuburbs of Tripoli, where, in a garden which is lituated at the diftancc of three miles from the town, and which belonged to a Tripoline Merchant, who
was
was travelling with them to Fezzan, they and their attendants had ilept the evening before.
The caravan was compofcd of the Shereef Fouwad, and of three other Merchants, on horfeback, all of them well armed; of the little old Shereef, who rode upon an afsj of Mr. Lucas, Avho was mounted on the nude which the Bafhaw had given him of Mr. Lucas's black fervant, well armed, upon a camel; of twelve Fezzaners on foot, but armed; of three Negros and their wives, who had been flaves 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 muiket and a piftol.
That
That fo few camels were requifite in this part of the journey, was owing to the expedient which the Shereefs, with great ceconomy, had adopted, of fending their heavy merchandize by fea to Mefurata,
At twelve o'clock, the caravan, whofe courfe was E. S. E. palled through the town of Tajarah, a miferable collection of clay-walled huts, of which fome were covered with terrace, and the reft 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 fandy eminence. No fooner were the camels unburthened of their loads, than their drivers turned them loofe to feed on the ftubble of the
valleys,
valleys, and on the brambles of the adjacent hills s but though their freedom is thus given them, they never if ray 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 flowed as clofe as poffible to each other. Within this circle the Merchants and drivers and fervants fpread their mats and carpets. Here, alfo, they light their fires and drefs their victuals; and without any other covering than their al-haiques or blankets (for very few are furnifhed with a tent) lie down amidSt the heavy dews and occasional Storms of rain that Sail upon the coaft, and ileep as Soundly as in bed: Sor the wetneSsof their cloaths, which is often the conference of this expofure, is little regarded,
go MR- LUCAS'S
ed, and from the falubrity of the climate, is attended with little inconvenience.
Mr. Lucas's tent being fpread, the two She reefs, with three of their friends, took up their quarters with him : and on the iirif appearance of fuppcr, which was ferved in a large wooden difli, and coniitied of dried meat, and of flour formed into frails* and dreffed in fleam, they all fat down with the familiarity of near relations, and dipping their right hands into the dim, without either fpoons or forks or knives, devoured, with a voracious and difgurting hafle, the whole that was let before them.
Theconclufion of the meal was followed by the ceremony of wafhing, which confided in each man's dipping his right hand into the fame water which his
com pa-
companions had ufed. Coffee being •then brought in, they lighted their pipes, and each of them having drank three or four dimes as he fmoaked, they laid themfelves down in their cloaths, upon the bare fand, and converted together till they talked themfelves to ilcep.
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 loofe and barren fand, where they law neither man nor bealt, neither wood nor water.
A Small valley between the hills, from which, to their great annoyance, the lliiftingfandwascontinuallyblowndowu upon them, was the place of their encampment ; a place entirely destitute of
water;
water; but from this circumftance they felt no fort of inconvenience, as they had brought with them, in goat fkins, an ample ft ore.
February 3d. At half an hour after feven in the morning, they proceeded on their journey, and having emerged from the fand hills about two in the afternoon, were charmed with the fight of Olive and of Date trees, of large quantities of white thorn, and of the Spanifh broom; yet the foil is dry and ftoney, and the few fields of grain which pre-fent themfelves here and there to the eye, exhibit in their fcanty and meagre appearance, the marks of an ungracious and fullen vegetation.
On the right or S.E. of their road, at the diftance of about twenty miles, the mountains of Guariano and Miffelata rife
upon
COMMUNICATIONS.
93
upon the view.—A fight that recalls to the mind of the experienced Traveller, and leads him to relate to the ltranger, the beauty of the vales, the richnefs of the lands, abounding in corn and oil, and the fierce inhofpitable difpofition of the inhabitants, that compels the caravan to turn from their dominions, its direct, and antient road, and take its courfe among the defolate hills, and dreary waftes of the fandy and barren coaft.*
A requefl
1 " i ' TlfTi " 1 _ "     " " 1        " —
* Ben Ali, 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 Gharlen, on his way to Tripoli, he was met by feveral parties of Arabs, who were robbers by profeffion, And who rendered the rout fo dangerous, that every individual in the caravan was obliged to carry a gun, a brace of piftols, and a yatagan or fabre.    He defcribes the country
as
A requeft from the Shereef Fouwad WaB now made to Mr. Lucas for his-confent to encamp that evening in the neighbourhood of an old Arab, his particular friend, with whom he had buu-nefs to tranfact, but whole rcfidencc was two hours march to the Southward of their road. They accordingly turned to the South, and about five o'clock, after a tedious and difficult paftage among rocky hills, they approached the tents of the Arab. The old gentleman, accompanied by his two fons and few attendants, came forward to meet them j and after expreiling great fatisfaction at
the
as partially cultivated; and remarks, that it is furnifhed with few fprings, and is wholly dcititute of rivers.
By his account, the diihnce from Fezzan to Gharien i* that of a journey of fixteen days.
He reprefents the rout from Gharien to Tripoli as a fandy defart, and its length as that of a feven days journey.
the fight 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 fervants had fpread for them under a hedge; for, notwithstanding the feafon of the year, the heat was already trou-blefome. They had not been feated long when their hoff invited them to their tent, in which a number of mats and carpets were neatly laid.—a fheep was killed, and fent to be dreffed for their fuppers;   bowls of butter-milk were brought for their prefent refrefhment, and barley in abundance was given to fuch of their cattle as were accuffomed to that kind of food   while the camels, as ufual, were Sent to Seed anions the hills.
At eight o'clock the fupperwas brought to the tent, and was placed before them
in
o6
in two large wooden dimes. Of thefe the firit contained the mutton, which was boiled, and cut into fmall nieces : the other was filled with a boiled parte of dried barley meal, made up in the form of an Englifh pudding, and fur-rounded with a great epiantity of oil. This difh, which was intended as an accompaniment to the mutton, and which is in much eftimation at Tripoli, is called bazeen.
While Mr. Lucas tailed of the lafl, and eat with pleafure of the firit of thefe difhes, and the Fezzaners, with their ufualdifpatch, were devouring the con^ tents of both, the old man and his fons flood by to fupply them with water and butter-milk; for the rules of the Arab hofpitality require, that during their meals the matter of the houfe mould wait upon his guefls.
Feb.
Feb. 4th. The next morning, at fe-ven o'clock, the entertainment was repeated, with the fame marks of a kind and liberal welcome; for the old man is rich in corn and cattle, and having obtained the character of a Muffelman Saint, or Maraboot, is, on that account, exempted from the payment of taxes.
After a march of three hours, during which the route was perplexed, and the eye fatigued by a continued fucceflion of rocky hills, the caravan arrived at the entrance of an extenfive and beautiful plain, that every where exhibited a luxuriant growth of Olive trees, intermixed with Dates.
The next two hours brought them to the fea coaft, and to all that now exifts °f the town of Lebida, where, in the ftiins of a temple, and in the much
H more
more perfect: remains of feveral triumphal arches, the Traveller contemplates the magnificence of an antient Roman colony i and difcovers, in the beauty and fertile appearance of the adjoining plain, the reafons which led them to chufe, for a fea-port town, a Situation that fur-nifhes no natural harbour.
Eastward of the ruins, for about live and twenty miles, the foil, though entirely unaided by the poor Arabs who inhabit it, exhibits the fame luxuriant vegetation; and the fcene is rendered Still more interesting by the remains of a Stupendous aqueduct, which formerly conveyed to Lebida the water of a dif-tant hill.
At half an hour after five, and in the neighbourhood of a miferable village, the caravan encamped for the night.
Feb.
Feb. 5th. The next clay's journey, which was attended with nothing remarkable, and during which they followed the line of the coaft, brought them to Zuleteen, an inconfiderable town, where they found that a boat, to which a part of their baggage was in-trufted, had Been compelled by a ftorm to depofit her cargo. From this circum-ftance, and the neceffity which followed it, of hiring fix 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 firfl. hour's march, they were informed by fome friendly Arabs, who were moving their tents and cattle, for the fake of protection, to the fuburbs of the town, that on the preceding afternoon a party of the rebel tribe of Hooled Benfoliman, trom the neighbouring hills, had at-H 2 tacked
M*' LUCAS'S
tacked a fmall caravan belonging to Me-Surata* and after killing four of the people, had carried off the camels and baggage:—and they were alfo informed, that on that very morning two men, who were going from Mefurata to the market, which is held at fome 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 dirtrurt the Sufficiency of that title to an exemption from the violence of war, on which, when the danger was diftant, they had fo confidently relied. The opinion of Mr. Lucas being afked, he obferved, that as the party which committed the depredations were defcribed as not more than forty or fifty in number, and were con-fequently much too weak to refift the detachment that, they mult be Sure,
would
COMMUNICATIONS. 101
would be fent from Mefurata to revenge the violence of which they had been guilty, he had not the fmalleft doubt of their being already returned to the refuge of their mountains; but that at any rate, their own numbers, confidering how well they were armed, were amply fufficient to defend them from the attacks of fuch petty marauders. Pleafed with an opinion which gave them the profpect of but little danger, they frefh primed their mufkets and piffols, and ringing as they went, drove merrily on.
At fix o'clock they encamped upon a hill directly oppofite to the enemy's mountains, that were now within twelve or fifteen miles; and having lighted, by Mr. Lucas's advice, about feventy fires, for which the dry brufh-wood that was near them furnifhed the means, they had foon the fatisfaction of obferving, H 3 that
that the fires of the enemy, who probably mistook them for the troops of Mefurata, were all extinguished.
Feb. 7th. The next morning at daybreak, in the midSt of a Storm from the S. W. of violent rain and wind, they left the hill; and after a tempestuous march oS four hours, they difcerned through the heavy atmofphere, which now began to clear, a party of fifty or fixty Arabs upon a riling ground, at a distance to the left.—That more were concealed behind the hill, they had not the fmalleft doubt; but as efcape was impofliblc, and conSultation uSeleSs, they reSolved unanimoully 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 ilowly, and keep them clofe together,
trier, led on the reft of the party. The horfe, with the Shereef at their head, formed the van, while thofe on foot were mixed together in a croud, dancing and fhouting, and twirling their mufkets over their heads, and running round each other like madmen, till they came within fhot of their antagonifts, when they Suddenly difperfed, and each man fquatted down behind a bufh, to fhelter himfelf and take a furer aim. The horfe were now clofe upon the enemy, and were levelling their pieces at the foremoft, when one of the latter laid down his mufket, and called to them not to fire, for they were friends.
A moment's paufe was followed by a mutual recollection, and they exhibited, on both fides, the moft extravagant marks of joy. They ran round each °ther like a flock of frighted fheep, and H 4 danced
danced, and fhouted, and twirled their guns over their heads, till they were tired, when they fat down and began a reciprocal congratulation on their fafe-ty. The ft rangers faid that they were herdfmen belonging to Mefurata; that for want of pafturage near the town, they had brought their flocks to feed upon thefe 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 lix in the evening arrived at Mefurata.
The Governor, whofe politenefs and natural good fenfe had been improved by a long refidence in Italy, received Mr. Lucas with marks of the greateft attention; but expreffed his fear that,
while
while the war continued, the Shereefs would not be able to obtain from the Rebel Arabs, who alone could furnifh them, the 120camels which were requisite for the conveyance of their goods: and that, as the profpect of peace was at prefent remote, and the Sultry SeaSon would foon commence, he Saw but little chance of their reaching Fezzan before the following Winter,
Feb. 9th. Information was now received at Mefurata, that the Bey's army, which confiited of 1,500 horfe, and 6,000 foot, was encamped within five hours march of the Rebels, whofe force was compofed of 600 horfe and 10,000 foot, and was commanded by a powerful Chief of the name of Seife Bannazar.
It was alfo faid, that the Tribes of the friendly Arabs, who formed the principal
cipal part of the Tripoline army, were too clofely connected, by intermarriages and the force of antient alliance, with many of the Rebel Clans, to bring with them to the battle that fort of zeal which Government could fafely truff.
Feb. ioth. Such was the fituation 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 hoftile Arabs would Send to MeSurata 120 camels, with their drivers, Sor the conveyance of the merchandize of the Shereefs to Fezzan, both they and theircatttle fhould be perfectly fecure. The Governor replied, that by his own authority alone he could not, with either prudence or effect, announce to the Rebel Arabs fuch a Stipulation but that he would Summon a Council of
the
the Chiefs of the town, and would pro-pofe the bufinefs to them; though he himfelf was perfuaded, that fhould they confent to the Shereefs requifition, as he hoped they would, the Rebel Arabs vere much too cautious to rely on the good faith of fuch an engagement.
Feb. nth. The next morning, a Council of fix of the principal inhabitants, with the Governor as Prelident, affembled in Mr. Lucas's tent, (for the Governor's own houfe was near the fea, at the diff ance of fix miles from Mefurata) and unanimoufly agreed that a letter fhould be written by the Governor, and figned by himfelf and by all the Members of the Council, to affure the hoflile Arabs, that fuch of their camels and of their people, as they might fend at the requefl of the Shereef, fhould neither be detained or molefted within
the
the jurifdictton of Mefurata. This letter, accompanied by one from the Shereef, in which he deiired to be furniflied with 120 camels for the carriage of his goods, was accordingly fent on that very day, by ail exprefs, to a rebel province, in which he had many friends,and which is called Guady.
Feb. 14th. In three days from the time of his departure, the exprefs returned, and brought with him a reply, in which the Arabs obferved that, as the country was in arms they could not with prudence trull their camels from under their own protection, much lefs could they fpare their people.
Notwithstanding this anfwer, the Shereef Fouwad conceived that the refufal of the Arabs was folely dictated by a dif-truit of the fort of fecurity which was
offered
offered by the Governor and Council of Mefurata;   for independently of the doubts which the Arabs might entertain of their good faith, it was evident, that without the fanction of the Bey, who commanded the army, their engagement, at the Utmoff, could not extend beyond their own jurisdiction.   But if the Bey himfelf would guaranty the fafety of the camels and their drivers, by granting them a pafs, the Shereef concluded that the real objection of the Arabs would be entirely removed. With this view, on the 27th of February, the Shereef and two of his countrymen fet out for the camp, which they reached on the fecond day, as it was not far from Mefurata; but their trouble was fruit-lefs, for the Bey could not be prevailed on to affent to their propofal.
All hopes of obtaining, before the
con-
conclusion of the war, a Sufficient conveyance for the goods being thus at an end, the Council refolved that, until peace mould be eftabliihcd, the Shereefs and the other Merchants of the caravan, fhould be at liberty to warehoufe their packages in the public ftore-rooms of the Governor.
Deprived, in this manner, of all pro-fpedt of arriving this year at Fezzan, and doubtful if the ftate of. the country would encourage, or his own Situation permit the attempt in the Winter, Mr. Lucas refolved to avail himfelf to the utmoft of fuch means of information as the knowledge of his fellow-travellers enabled them to afford.
He had already difcovcred that the little old Shereef Imhammed had been often employed by the King of Fezzan
as
as his Factor in the Slave Trade j and in that capacity had travelled to Bornou and different parts of Nigritia; and he now determined to cultivate his friendfhip with double folicitude, and by occafional prefents and frequent converfation, to draw from him an account of the countries which he had feen. With this view he, one evening, took from his pocket his map of Africa, and after fatisfying the Shereefs curiofity as to its nature and ufe, told h im that he once intended it as a prefent to the King of Fezzan but, that havin § difcovered in it feveral mistakes, he nowpropofed to draw another that fhoulc 1 be more correct. The Shereef replied,, that the King would be highly pleafed \ vim fuch a prefent. Mr. Lucas Said, tfr it if he would affift him with an accour it of the diftances from place to place,; n fuch parts of the country as he hac i viiited, and with their
names
names in Arabic, and would alfo fatisfy him as to fuch questions as he fhould afk, he would prepare two corrected copies of the map, and would give one of them to the King and the other to himfelf.   The Shereef was delighted with the propofal; and they immediately retired to a fand hill at fome diftance from the tent, that their converfation might be unreferved and uninterrupted. Many fuccefflve days were employed in the fame manner; and as Mr. Lucas wrote down, at the time, the information which he obtained, he was foon pof-feffed of fuch an account of Fezzan, Bornou, and Nigritia, ^Specially of the two former, as much diminifhed the chagrin of his own difa ppointment.
One afternoon, as they fat together on the cuftomary hill, they were fud-denly disturbed by the loud Screams and
difmal
difmal bowlings of all the women of Mefurata—a mode of alarming and collecting the men, which is always prac-tifed among the Arabs, on the approach of thieves, or of an invading enemy.
In a few minutes the townfmen were under arms, and together with the Shereef Fouwad, the other Fezzaners, and Mr. Lucas's Black, went haffily on to the place where the Rebels were faid to have appeared:—there they found that the women had been deceived. It feems an afs had ftrayed into a field of barley; and as the owner of the corn, who was armed, and happened to pafs by at the time, went into the field to drive out the animal, the women miftook him for one of the Rebels, and conceiving that many more were concealed, (for they often come down from the mountains to ileal the cattle) had given the ufual alarm.
I In
In a few minutes, Mr. Lucas and the old Shereef, who had both continued on the hill, obferved the Fezzaners coming fulkily back, and curling the women for fo foolifh a disturbance, whihlthe 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 reafon than the ftrftj 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 herdfmen, and Seizing three Black flaves, their afhStants, had carried off Sixty goats, fourteen cows, and three camels .
The attack was made at a time when
moft
moft of the townfmen were at the market, which is held at the diftance of three miles from Mefurata; 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, whofe remains wefe buried there, and whofe Sanctuary, it was thought, no Mutlelnian, however accuftomedto robbery and blood, could venture to profane.
March 13th. Letters by exprefs from the camp were now received by the Governor, which announced, that in confluence of the Bey's having entered the country of the Rebels, and turned his cattle to pafture in their corn, an engagement, which foon became general, had enfued; that after a lofs of 150 men, the Rebels had retired to themoun-
12 tains
ix6
tains j and that the Bey, at the expence in killed and wounded, of not more than twenty-fix horfe and feventy or eighty foot, had obtained poffemon of ten or twelve thoufand fheep, and of three hundred camels.
Mr. Lucas congratulated the Governor on the victory, who thanked him; but " I fear," faid he, fhaking his head, " that the news requires confirmation. There was a time, indeed, when the people of Tripoli knew how to conquer, and the Arabs to tremble at the fight of an encampment."
March 15th. On the next day but one, accounts were brought by different perfons who arrived from the camp, that there had indeed been a fkirmifh, in their relation of which they varied much from each other; but they all agreed that the
Bey
Bey had loft the greater number of men, and that the only cattle which he had obtained, were a few camels and fome fheep that the ftraggling parties from the camp had feized.
Wearied with fruitlefs expectations of a peace, difappointed in their expedients," and warned by the increafing heat, that the feafon for a journey to Fezzan was already pail, the Shereefs now refolved to proceed to the intended places of their Summer refidence.
The Shereef Fouwad retired to Wa-dan, his native town 5 and the Shereef Imhammed, with tears in his eyes, and an earneft prayer that he might fee his friend Mr. Lucas again in November, retired to the mountains, where he had many acquaintance, and could live at a fmall expence.
13 March
March 20th. A few days afterwards, Mr. Lucas took leave of the Governor, to whofe civilities he had been much indebted, and having accompanied a fmall caravan as far as Lebida, embarked in a coailing veiTel at the neighbouring village of Legatah, and went by fea to Tripoli, where the Bafhaw, upon whom he, waited, and to whom with many acknowledgments he returned the mule, not only received him with great kind-nefs, but expreffed his hope that better fortune would attend him another year,
April 6th. From Tripoli he failed for Malta, and after a tedious quarantine, which the fufpicion of the plague at Mefurata had much prolonged, he took his departure for Marfeilles, and on the 36th of July arrived in England.
INTRO-
INTRODUCTION
T O
CHAPTER IV.
An account has already been given of tire opportunity which the length of his refidence in Mefurata afforded to Mr. Lucas, of obtaining from the Shereef Imhammed a defcription of the Kingdom of Fezzan, and of fuch of the countries beyond it to the South as the Shereef himfelf had vihted.
But though this intelligent ffranger had no difcoverable motive for deception, yet as the folitary evidence of any individual excites but a dubious belief, Mr. Lucas was anxious to learn from
14 the
the Governor of Mefurata, who had formerly travelled to Fezzan, his idea of the truth of the Narrative. With this view he afked and received the Governor's permiffion to read to him the memorandums that the repeated converfa-tions of Imhammed had enabled him to make.
" The Shereefs Account of Fezzan," faidthe Governor," my own knowledge confirms; and many of the particulars which he relates of Bornou and Caihna I have heard from the report of others. His countrymen fay that he is better acquainted with both than any other individual among them; and fuch is the opinion which the King himfelf entertains of his probity, knowledge, and talents, that to his management is always entrufted whatever bufinefs in either of
thofe
COM M UNI CA TIO NS. 121
thofe empires his Sovereign has totran-fad."
But while Mr. Lucas, with a prudent and laudable caution, was thus endeavouring to afcertain the truth of the Shereefs account, another, and perhaps more decisive teft 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 Affociation, alfiffed by Mr. Dods-worth, (whofe residence of fourteen years in Barbary had given him a competent knowledge of Arabic) had procured from Ben Alii, a native of Morocco, at that time in London, an account of all thofe countries to the South of the Defart of Zahara, which, in the courfe of his extenfive Travels as a Merchant, he had formerly vifited: and though his remarks appear to be thofe of a fuperfl-
cial
rial Obferver, who polTelTes activity of fpirit rather than energy of mind, and whofe remembrance of what he faw is impaired by the lapfe of near twenty years; yet, (as will be feen in the following pages) the general conformity of his defer!ption of Bornou to that which the Shereef has given, has an obvious tendency to ffrengthen the credit of the latter.
This fhort account of the nature of the only external evidence that has yet been obtained in fupport of the following Narrative, feemed to be due from the Committee; but in what degree that evidence is imprelTivc of belief, or what internal marks of authenticity the Work itfelf may afford, the judgment of others muff decide; for on thefe points, it is evident that each individual muff determine for himfelf. In forming his opinion, however,
ever, it is requisite he mould know, that while the moft anxious attention has been given to the faithful preservation of the fenfe of the Original, an entire change has been made in its language and arrangement ;• a change which, the obvious advantage of methodizing con-verfations, as defultory as they were numerous, of Separating the blended accounts of unconnected objects, and of uniting a variety of broken and detached descriptions of the fame thing, has unavoidably occasioned.
CHAPTER
CHAPTER IV.
Rout from Mefurata. — Enumeration of the principal Towns of Fezzan—Account of its Climate and principal productions—Defer ip-tion of the Manners, Religion, and Government of its People, their Revenue, Adminijlra* tion of Juftice, and Military Force.
FeZZAN, whofe fmall and circular domain is placed in the vail Wildernefs, as an iiland in the midtt of the ocean, is Situated to the South of Mefurata. A journey of eight days, through diftric~ts but little inhabited or improved, though naturally not unfertile, conducts the Traveller to the town of Wadan, where
every
every requilite for the refrefhment of the caravan is found.—From thence, in five hours, he arrives at the forlorn village of Iloun, on the edge of the Defart of Soudah, on whofe black and obdurate foil, the bails of which is a foft ffone, no vegetable but the Talk is feen to grow. To this tree, which is of the fize of the fmall Olive, and bears a fprig of yellow flowers, the hufbandman 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 croiTed the Defart, which furniihes no water, and for the patfage of which four days are requilite, the Traveller accepts the refrefhments of a miferablc village that affords him nothing but dates of the worft quality, fome brackifh water, and a fmall fupply of Indian corn, of the fpecies called Gaf-fob. from Zeghen, by which name the
village
CO MM UNICA T10NS. 127
village is diftinguifhed, a fingle day con-duels him to the town of Sebbah, where the large remains of an antient caflle, built upon a hill, and other venerable ruins, that in point of extent are compared to thofe of Lebida, imprefs on his mind the melancholy idea of departed greatnefs; while, on the other hand, the humble dwellings of the modern inhabitants, and the rich vegetation of their neighbouring fields, prefent to his eye an ample ftore of all that is requilite for the fuftenance of man.—Dates, barley, Indian corn, pompions, cucumbers, fig trees, pomegranates, and apricots, and for meaner purpofes, the white thorn and Spanifh broom are defcribed as but a part of the numerous vegetables that reward the induftry of the people. The animals in which they moft: abound are faid to be the common fowl,
and
and the brown longhaired and broad-
o
tailed fheen.
From Sebbah a journey of two days tranfports the Traveller to Goddoua, a fmall town of fimilar produce; and from thence, in two days more, he arrives at Mourzouk, the capital of the kingdom of Fezzan.
This city* is furrounded by a high wall, which not only furniihes the means
of
* The capital of Fezzan is fituated on the banks of a fmall river, and is alfo fupplied with water from a multitude of fprings and wells.
Being formerly built with ftone, it ft ill retains the appellation of a Chriftian Town; and the medley which it pre-fents to the eye, of the vaft ruins of antient buildings, and of the humble cottages of earth and fand that form the dwellings of its prefent Arab inhabitants, is fingulajly gro-tefquc and Grange.
Ben Allu
of defence, but affords to the Government an opportunity of collecting, at its three gates, a tax on all goods (though pro villous are exempted) that are brought for the fupply of its people. Its distance from Mefurata, which borders on the coaft} and with rcfpect to which its lituation is nearly South, is about* 390 miles.
Eaitward of Mourzouk, and fituated in a diftricl: of remarkable fertility, is
K the
* In this ejlimate of diftance, the rate of travelling is fup-pofed to be twenty-two miles per day: — a conclufton that arifes from the time that was employed by Mr. Lucas in travelling from Tripoli to Mefurata; for in that journey of 150 miles, feven days were confumed; and though the caravan was detained for a few hours on the fa Ccafl, and was employed during four more inpajfmg to andfrom the tcntstf the Arab, yet thefe loffei were probably compenfated by the extras ordinary difpatch with which, in confequence of their fears> thegreatcfl part of their journey was performed*
the town of Zueela, in which the remnants of antient buildings, the number and fize of the cifterns, and the conff ruction of the vaulted caves, intended perhaps as repofitories for corn, exhibit fuch veifiges of antient fplendour, as will probably attract, and may highly reward the attention of the future Traveller.
To the South of Zueela, and nearly at the fame diftance from the capital, is the town of Jermah, which, like Zueela, is diftinguiihed by the numerous herds, efpecially of fheep and goats, that are feen around it bv the various and abundant produce of its adjacent fields; and by numerous and majeftic ruins, that exhibit to the ignorant inhabitants of its clay-built cottages infcriptions of which they know not the meaning, and
veftiges
veiliges of greatnefs to which they are perfectly indifferent,
Teffouwa, a considerable town, is alfo fituated to the Eastward of the capital ; but feems to have no claim to particular attention. Near this town, a river which the Shereef defcribes as overwhelmed in the moving fands, but which he remembers a deep and rapid ftream, had formerly its courfe.
More remote from Mourzouk, being diftant from it in a N. E. direction, about 120 miles, is the large town of Temmif-fa. Here the caravan of Pilgrims from Bornou and Nigritia, which takes its departure from Mourzouk, and travels by the way of Cairo to Mecca, ufually provides the ftores of corn and dates, and dried meat, that are requifite for its dreary paffage,
K 2 S. E.
S. E. from the capita], and distant from it about fixty miles, is the fmall town of Kattron, which feems 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, Sor though much oS its land is a continued level of hard and barren foil, the quantity of Trona> a Species of foffil alkali that floats on the Surface, or fettles on the banks of its numerous fmoaking lakes, has given it a higher importance than that of the moft fertile districts.
OS this valuable produce great quantities are annually brought by the Merchants of Fezzan to Tripoli, from whence it is ihipped for Turkey and
Tunis,
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 balls of thcirturbans.
The Situation of Mendrah is nearly South from the capital, and is diffant from it about fixty miles.
To the account that has been given of the principal towns of Fezzan, that of Tegerhy alone remains to be added. It is but a fmall 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 fide, the Sullen barren-
K 3 nefs
nefs of the Defart, more effectually than the itrongeft human power, prefcribes a limit to the purfuits of Avarice and to the efforts of Ambition.
Of the Smaller towns of Fezzan, and of its fcattered villages, the number of which, including that of the towns, is laid to be little lefs than one hundred, the Shereef has given no particular de-fcription.
The towns themfelves appear to be chiefly inhabited by hufbandmen and fhepherds; for, though they alfo contain the Merchants, the Artificers, the Ministers of Religion, and the Officers of the Executive Government; yet, the bu-finefs of agriculture and pafturage feems to be the principal occupation of the natives of Fezzan.
In
In every town a market for butcher's meat, and corn, and fruit, and garden vegetables, is regularly held. Mutton and goats flefh are fold by the quarter, without being weighed : the ufual price of a quarter of a goat or fhecp is from thirty-two to forty grains of gold duff, or from four to five fhillings of Englifh money. The flefh of the camel, which is much more highly valued, is commonly fold at a dearer rate, and is divided into fmaller lots.
The houfes, like thofe of the little villages in the neighbourhood of Tripoli, are built of clay, and are covered with a flat roof, that is compofed of the boughs and branches of trees, on which a quantity of earth is laid. Inartificial and defective as this covering appears, it is fuited to the climate: for as rain is •never known in Fezzan, the principal K 4 requifites
requisites of a roof are fhelter from the dews, and protection from the fun.
The heats of the Summer, which begins in April and continues till November, are fo intenfe, that, from nine in the morning till fun-fet, the Streets are frequented only by the labouring people, and even in the houfes refpiration would be difficult, if the expedient of wetting the apartments did not furnifh its Salutary aid. Of this torrid clime the flerce-nefs is chiefly felt from the month of May to the latter end of Auguft; during which period, the courSe of the wind is ufually 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 fuch as to threaten initant Suffocation : but if it happens to change, as, for a few days, it fometimes does, to the
W. or N. W. a reviving frefhnefs immediately fucceeds.
The drefs of the inhabitants of Fezzan is iimilar to that of the Moors of Barbary. The immediate covering of the body confilf s of a pair of large trow-fers, of linen or cloth, which defcends to the fmall of the leg, and of a fhirt, which is wide in the lleeves, but loofe at the brcaft, and the fkirts of which hang over and conceal the upper part of the trowfers. Next to the fhirt is worn a kind of waiff coat, which in fhape refembfes the fhirt, except that it has no fleeves, and that it reaches no lower than the waiff; and to the waiitcoat is Superadded a jacket, with tight fleeves which extend to the wrift, but which are left unbuttoned and open from the wrift al-molf to the elbow. Thus far their drefs may be faid to be fimilar to that of a
Britifh
i38
m*- lucas^
Britiili feaman, its colour excepted, and except too, that the fhirt is not open at the breail, that the waiff coat is not fattened with buttons, but is put on like the Shirt, and that the bottom of the fhirt hangs down on the outride of the trow-fers.
Over the jacket is worn a loofe robe, which reaches below the knee, and the fleeves of which, though wider than thofe of the jacket, are made in the fame form, and, like them, are left open at the wrift.
A girdle of crimfon fdk binds the robe to the waift j and a long cloth (called a barakan or alhaique) of the fhape of a Highlander's plaid, and worn in the fame way, is thrown over the whole. The lees, as far as the calves, to which the
trowfers
trowfers defcend, are covered with a kind of fhort Stockings, which are made of leather, and are laced like the half hoot of an Englifhman. The feet are accommodated with ilippers; and the head is protected by a red woollen cap, which is incircled by the folds of a fdk or muilin turban.
Ample as this cloathing may appear, the farther provision of a long cloak with a large hood is often coniidered as requisite. It is called a burnoofe, and in fine weather is ufually carried on the moulder.
Such, when complete, is the drefs 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
action of the fun; for in other reSpects their bodies are completely naked.
Nature and cuftom have formed their constitutions to fuch high decrees of heat, that any approach to the common temperament of Europe entirely destroys their comfort; for Mr. Lucas often observed, in his journey to Mefurata, that when the fcorchinghent of the noon-day beams had compelled him to feek the iliadc, his fellow-travellers, efpccially if the wind was in the North, laid themfelves down, upon the fand in the open fun, in order to receive a double portion of its warmth; and when, as their cuftom was, they enquired after his health, they, almoft always, concluded with the cxpreflion, " Heack ntandick herd" we hope you are not cold.
The difeafes that are moft frequent in
Fezzan
Fezzan are thofe of the inflammatory, and thofe of the putrid kind.
The fmall-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 phyficians. For pains in the head they prefcribe cupping and bleeding; for pains in the limbs they fend their patients to bathe in the hot lakes, which produce the trona; and for obffinate achs and strains, and long continued If iffnefs in the mufcles, they have recourfe, like the horfe-doctors of Europe and the phyficians of Barbary, to the application of a burning iron.
The ufe of the ffrongeff oils, and of
the
the moil powerful herbs, is alfo frequent among them.
To the nature of their climate the greateff part of their difeafes is probably owing; and to this caufe they are certainly indebted for the extraordinary multitude of noxious and of loathfome animals that infeff their country. Adders, fnakes, fcorpions, and toads, are the conftant inhabitants of their fields, their gardens, and their houfes. The air is crowded with mofquitos; and perfons 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 intirely difappear, the inhabitants are fcarcely fenlible of relief.
In their perfons, the natives of Fezzan
zan incline to the Negro much more than to the Arab call.   Thofe who travelled with Mr. Lucas from Tripoli to Mefurata, and who were fourteen in number, had fhort curly black hair, thick lips, flat broad nofes, and a dark* fkin, which, either from their habitual naffinefs, the vermin with which they are covered, or the natural ranknefs of their perfpiration, emits the molt nau-feous and fetid effluvia.   They are tall, but not ftrong; well fhaped, yet indolent, inactive, and weak; and though the Shereef Fouwad is defcribed as majeftic in his appearance, yet his countrymen, in general, are coniidered at Tripoli as a people of remarkable uglinefs.
In
* The people are of a deep fwarthy complexion.
Ben Alli.
In their common intercourfe with each other all diitinctions of rank appear to be forgotten; for the Shereef and the lowefl plebean, the rich and the poor, the malter and the man, converfe familiarly, and eat and drink together. Generous and eminently hofpitable, the Fezzaner, let his fare be fcanty or abundant, is ever deiirous that others mould partake of his meal; and if twenty people mould unexpectedly vifit his dwelling, they muff all participate as far as it will go.
When they fettle their money tranfac-tions, they fquat down upon the ground, and having levelled a fpot with their hands, make dots as they reckon; and if they find themfelves wrong, they fmooth the fpot again, and repeat the calculation. All this time the by-ftanders, though they have nothing to do with the bufi-
nefs,
nefs, are as eager to put in their word, and to correct, miftakes, as if the affair were their own. Even in common con-verfation, if they fit without doors, they level the fand in order to go on with their difcourfe, and at every fentence mark it with their fingers.
An extenfive plain, encompaffed by mountains, the irregular circle of which is interrupted on the Welt, where it feems to communicate with the Defart, compofes the Kingdom of Fezzan. To the influence of the neighbouring heights it may poflibly be owing, that in Fezzan, as in the Upper Egypt, the Situation of which is extremely fimilar, no rain is ever known to fall.
A light fand conltitutes the general foil • and fand hills of various forms are feen in particular diftricts j but though
L the
character of the furface and the drynefs of the Heavens may feem to announce an eternal Sterility, yet the fprings are fo abundant, and fo ample a ftore of fub-terraneous 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 feveral of which every garden and every field are furnifhed, the hufbandman waters, at fun-rife, the natural or artificial productions of his land. Of thefe the principal are,
The Talk, a tree that in fize refem-bles the fmall Olive. It flowers in yellow fprig&, and Supplies the hard and lemon-coloured wood, from which the handles and frames of the Fezzanner's instruments of hufbandry are made:
The White Thorn:
A kind
A kind of brufhwood that refembles the Spanifh broom:
The Date tree, which is common:
The Olive and the Lime, which are de-fcribed as fcarce; 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 railed:
Pompions or calabafh, carrots, cucumbers, onions, and garlick.
Of the tame animals that are raifed in Fezzan, the Shereef enumerates,
The
The Sheep, which is defcrihed as of a light brown colour; as having a broad tail, and as cloathed with a fpecies of hair rather than of wool:
The Cow, which does not feem to be common, except in a few districts in which the paffure is excellent:
The Goat, and the Camel:
A fpecies of the domeffic fowl of Europe.
The wild animals of the country are, The Off rich:
Antelopes of various kinds, one of which is called the Huadee, and'is celebrated for the Singular addrefs with which, when chafed by the hunter amidif
its
its craggy heights, it plunges from the precipice, and lighting on its hams,with-out danger of purfuit, continues till evening in the vale below:
A fpecies of deer of a Smaller lize than the common park deer of England. Its head, neck, and back, are of a brownifh red; and a pale Streak of the fame colour, running on a white ground, is continued on each fide from the haunch to the hoof: the reft of the body is of a clear and delicate white. Such, if the Fez-zanners are to be credited, is the clean-linefs of its temper, or fuch, more probably, is its dillike to the chill of a watery foil, that during the autumnal rains, which fall in the Dcfarts of Zahara, where it chiefly inhabits, no traces of its lying down have ever yet been feen. In the ftillnefs oS the night it oSten ven-
o
turesto the corn fields of Fezzan, where, L3 in
in traps prepared for the purpofe, it is fometimes taken.
The food of the lower claffes of the people confifts of the flour of Indian corn, feafcned with oil; of dates, apricots, and pomegranates, and of calabafhes, cucumbers, and garden roots.
Perfons of a fuperior rank are alfo fop-plied with wheat bread, which is baked in their own.houfes; with mutton,goats flefh, the flefh of the camel, and that of the antelope; and with a great variety of fruits, and of garden vegetables.
Fezzan produces a fufhciency of fait for the confumption of its own inhabitants.
The water in general has a mineral tafte; yet fome of the fprings are pure:
but
but the favourite beverage confifts of a liquor which the date tree, like the palm, affords. At firft it poffeiles the mild flavour and cooling quality of orgeat; but acquires, when fermented, an acefcent tafte and intoxicating ftrength that are ft ill more highly valued.
• To the palm the lofs of fo large a proportion of its fap is generally fatal; but the hardier date tree recovers from its wound, and in the courfe 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 ftricf and fuperftitious in the obfervance of their own.
The Government of Fezzan is purely monarchical; but its powers, which feem L4 to
to be reftricted by the influence of opinion, are admin iff ered with fuch paternal regard to the happinefs of the people, the rights of property are fo much revered, the taxes are fo moderate, and the courfe of juftice is directed by fo firm, and yet fo temperate a hand, that the inhabitants of Fezzan (as far as judgement can be formed from the feelings of thofe who travelled with Mr. Lucas)
are affectionately and ardently attached to their Sovereign.*
The
* To thefe fentiments of conflant regard and of deep veneration for their King, his acknowledged defcent from the Prophet has undoubtedly contributed: for fuch, if united to the temporal power, is the ejfeft of this claim to religious authority, that in Morocco, when in the hour of his wrath the
fword of the Emperor is drawn, the fubmiffve viclims whom chance or official attendance on the Court prefent s to his fury,
Jlretch forth their necks with filent and humble acquicfcence;
perfectly convinced that the Jlrohe of death, when given by ft
Jacred a hand, is an injiant admiffion to Paradife,
The prefent King, Mohammed Ben Mohammed, is defcended from one of the Shereefs of Tafilet, in the kingdom of Morocco, who was related to the Regal Family of that empire, and who, a-bout 400 years fince, obtained pofTefhon of the Grown of Fezzan.
From that period to the middle of the prefent century, the kingdom maintained its Independence; but at the latter rera, the Bafhaw of Tripoli invaded it with a powerful force, laid liege to the capital, defeated, and took the King captive, and carried him a prifoner 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 fiftv flaves and ten pounds of gold drift, the Bafhaw re-Stored him to his Crown.
Till
Till the acceflion of the prefent ling of Fezzan, this tribute was faithfully tranfmitted. But the reigning Sovereign, confcious of the declining power of Tripoli, and of the internal ftrength which the affection and confidence of his people had given to his Kingdom, has gradually diminifhed the amount, and altered the nature of the acknowledgement; for it now confiits in anoccafional prefent of a few Haves, and of a pound or two of gold duff, and is rather the compliment of a trading State to the Kingdom in which its principal commodities are fold, than a proof of political dependence. Still, however, the exprellion of my Kingdom of Fezzan is in frequent ufe with the reigning Bafhaw of Tripoli, who is the grandfon of the Conqueror; nor has the dependence of
the
the former State on the latter been ever directly renounced.*
In Fezzan, as in all the Countries in which the Mahometan Faith is eftablifh-ed, the defcendants of the Prophet are confidered as a distinct and highly privileged order. Their property is facred; their perfons are inviolable; and while the colour of their turbans, and the revered title of Shereef, announce to the people the auguft dignity which they bear, they derive from the hereditary nature of their privileges a high degree of permanent influence, and fometimes of dangerous power.J
Among
* When L was at Fezzan, about twen y yeais ago, the a&ual government was committed to an Alcaid, who received his annual appointment from the Bafhaw of Tripoli.
BiN ALU.
X In Moroccoy as in Fezzan, the Founder of the reigning family was indebted for the diadem to the refpeel and reverence which the title of Shereef beflows.
Among the privileges of their rank may be numbered an exemption from certain punifhments, and that fort of general indulgence which the prevalent dread of Shedding the blood of the Prophet unavoidably creates.
To thefe circumffances of distinction it is owing that, like the Nobility of other States, they are fometimes fubjected to, and feel a particular apprehenfion of the penalty of dilhonour, efpecially that of having duff thrown upon their heads.
But great as the privileges of this high order unqueff ionably are, the individuals who compofe it have no union or general concert with each other; for neither in contests for power, nor in refiltance to oppreflion, do they ever act as a body.
Some of the clafs are devoted to the
indolence
indolence of a religious life; but a larger proportion is engaged in the active concerns and progreflive purfuits of commerce : for, in general, the defcendants of Mahomet, following the example of their great anceitor, are either Princes or Merchants.
The Revenue of Fezzan is compofed of a variety of branches, the principal of which are,
iff, A tax on towns and villages, at the rate of from 100 to 500 mitkals each. The number of towns and villages is efti-mated at 100; and the value of a mitkal at about ten millings Englifh: consequently, the tax on each town and village is from 50I. to 250I. Sterling.
2d, A tax on every camel's load of goods (provifions for the market excepted)
ceptcd) which enters the capital. The rate of this impolf is one mitkal, or ten. ihillings Englifh, per load.
3d, The fines that are inflicted as punillimcnts for offences.
4th, The produce of fuch lands as, on the death of the pofTeSfors, without heirs, efcheat to the Crown.
5th, A fmall tax upon all gardens and date trees.
To thefe feveral branches of revenue may be added, as another fource of considerable income, the commerce in which the King is engaged; Sor he Seems, especially in the articles of trona and fen-na, to be the principal Merchant in the kingdom.
Gold
Gold dull constitutes in Fezzan the chief medium of payment; and value in that medium is always expreifed by weight.
Their common meafures of weight, and confequently of value, are,
The xarobe (or harrobe) the weight of which is four grains, and which ex-preffes the value of thirty-three piaflres of Tripoli, or 6d. flerling.
The mitkal, the weight of which is eighty-one grains, and which expreffes the value of 668J Tripoli piastres, or i os. lid.
x\ fmgle grain therefore is equal in value to ltd.
In the choice of the firft of thefe meafures,
fures, the xarobe, they fecm to have been influenced by the difcovery, iff, That four grains is the ufual weight of a hard and durable berry,* which is called habbat ell goreth j and sdly, That half that weight, two grains, is the weight of another and moft beautiful berry, which is brought from Nigritia, and to which, from its fcarlet colour, and the black ftroke that ornaments one of its ends, they have given the name of eyne-deeka, or the cock's eye. Thefe berries are therefore employed as the common weights for gold duft in Fezzan; for the xarobe and the mitkal have only an ideal exiftence.
But for the greater convenience of exchange,
* From the appearance of the fuppofd berries, there is reafon to fufpefl that they belong to the clafs of leguminous plants, and are in fail two fpecies of ptafe.
change, the Merchants of Fezzan are generally furnifhed with fmall papers of gold duff, of different values, from that of two xarobes, or one milling, to fuch an amount as their bufinefs is likely to require.
If the value of the article to be pur-chafed is lefs than two xarobes, the payment is generally made in corn or flour. Thus the fmaller articles of provifions, as eggs, onions, &:c. are generally pur-chafed by a proportionable value in corn.
ME
TABLE.
table.
One grain (in weight) of gold r 81 piaftres of Tripoli, is equal to   -   -   -   -    11 id. fterling.
ri xarobe of Fezzan, Four grains ditto are equal to ■< 33 piaftres of Tripoli,
|_6d. fterling.
ri xarobes of Fezzan, Eight grains ditto are equal to J 66 piaftrcs of Tripoli,
Lis. fterling.
f* i mitkal (an imaginary Twenty xarobes, or eighty   J    coin of Fezzan) grains, are equal to   -   -      666 piaftres of Tripoli,
i-ics. fterlins:.
In
* In the neighbourhood of Tombu&ou a gold mitgan is worth about ios. 6d. fterling.
Ben Alli.
In this view of the currency of Fezzan, the fmall fractions that Would he requilite to render it perfectly accurate are omitted.
A mitkal is 675 piaftres of Tripoli, or a fraction more than 10s. ivd. fterling, and confequently it exceeds, by a fraction, the amount of 20 xarobes.
The grains of Fezzan are of the fame % weight as in England, but the okea, or ounce of Fezzan, is very different, for it contains 640 grains; whereas the Englifh M 2 ounce
* Mr. Lucas found by his medicine fcales, that the pea called habbat ellgoreth, which is ufed in Fezzan for a weight °f fQUr grains, is exafily equal to four grains Englijh.
In England one grain of gold is worth id.—one penny* weight is worth \s.—and one ounce is worth ^l.flerling.
Rkes's Edition of Chambers Di&ionary, Article " Coi-d."
ounce contains but 480, which is afourh lefs.
A Fezzan ounce of gold therefore, or 640 grains, at ifd. per grain, muff be worth in Fezzan 4I.
And an Englifh ounce of gold, or 480 grains, at I id, per grain, muff be worth in Fezzan 3L
Afnoiig the circumffances for which the natives of Fezzan, who travelled with Mr. Lucas, conlidered their Sovereign as eminently diftinguifhed, they often mentioned his juft and impartial, but fevere and determined adminiftration of juft ice j and as a proof of the af-cendancy which, in this refpect., he has acquired over the minds of his fubjects, they defcribed the following cuftom :— If any man has injured another, and re-
■ fufes
co mm vnic a tio ns. 165
fufes to go with him to the Judge, the complainant, drawing a circle round the opprefTor, Solemnly charges him in the King's name, not to leave the place till the Officers of Juflice, in Search of whom he is going, mall arrive: and fuch (if they are to be credited) is, on the one hand, his fear of the punifhment which is inflicted on thofe who difobey the injunction, and fo great, on the other, is his dread of the perpetual baniShment which, if he fceks his SaSety by withdrawing from the kingdom, muff be his inevitable lot, that this imaginary prl-fon operates as a real confinement, and the offender fubmiffively waits the arrival of the Officers of the Judge,
Small offences are punifhed by the bastinado : but thofe of a greater magnitude Subject the convict, according to the different degrees of guilt, to the penalty
i66
nalty of a fine, of imprifonment, or of
death.-Shereefs, like the Nobility of
other States, are fometimes punifhcd, as was mentioned before, by the pain of dif-honour; in which clafs of punifhments, the moft dreaded, becaufe the moft reproachful, is the indignity of having duft heaped upon their heads.
To their infulated and remote Situation, and to their natural barrier of deSolate mountains and dreary waftes oS Sand, much more than to military Strength, the people of Fezzan are indebted for their Security.
Trufting to this natural defence, their towns are without guards, and, their capital excepted, are without walls; nor have they any regular {landing force; yet the Shereef conceives that 15 or 20,000 troops might, upon an emergency,
cy, be raifed. The only expedition of a military nature that has happened within his remembrance, was undertaken on the following account:—
South-Eaft of the capital, at the dif-tanceof 150 miles, is a wide andfandy defart, entirely barren, and oppreffed with a Suffocating heat. Immediately beyond this defart, the width of which is about 200 miles, the mountains of Tibefti, inhabited by a wild and favage people of that name, begin to take their rife. Ferocious in their manners, free-booters in their principles, and fecure, as they thought, in the natural defences of their fituation, thefe independent mountaineers became the terror of the caravans which traded from Fezzan to Bornou, and which are obliged to pafs the Weftern extremity of the Defart. But at length, having plundered a caravan M 4 which
which belonged to the King himfelf, and having killed about twenty of his people, their conduct: provoked his re-fentment, and determined him to revenge the infult. With this view he immediately raifed a fmall army of from 3 to 4,000 men, the command of which he gave to an able and active Magi/Irate> announcing, by that appointment, that he fent them, not to fubdue a refpecta-ble enemy, but to punifh an affemblage of plunderers and affaflins. Having corn-pleated the difficult paffage of the defart, and having gained the firit afcent of the mountains, they proceeded without oppofition, till at length the natives, who waited in ambufh, rufhed upon them, and with the bows and arrows, and lances, with which they were armed, began a furious aSTault: but the inftant that the foremoft of the fokliers had given their fire, the mountaineers, more
alarmed
alarmed at the dreadful founds which they heard, and at the imagined lightning which they law, than terrified with the daughter that was made, threw down their arms, and flying with great precipitation, abandoned, to the mercy of the victors, their houfes and their helplefs 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 mould defire to im-poSe. The Alcaid accordingly demanded, and received, as hoflages Sor their future conduct, twenty oS 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 kind-nefs, and under a promife that their nation
tion mould acknowledge him as their Sovereign, and fhould annually pay to him a tribute of twenty camel loads of fenna, made them valuable prefents and with ftrong impreffions on their minds, of the generous treatment which they had received, fent them back to Tibefli.
From that period no attempt to moleft his caravans has been made by the mountaineers i and though they neither acknowledge the King of Fezzan for their Sovereign, nor pay him any tribute, yet they bring the whole of their fenna to Mourzouk for fale, where it is purchafed to great advantage by the King, and is afterwards fold, on his account, at the market of Tripoli.
Anoccafional vilit to the Court of Fezzan is paid by their Chief, who is always -received with great hofpitalityj and after
a re-
a refidence of a few weeks, is difmiffcd, with a prefent of a long robe.
The vales of Tibefti are fertile in corn, and pafturage for cattle, of which they have numerous herds, and are particularly celebrated for their breed of camels, which are efteemed the beff in Africa. For this fertility they are indebted to the water of the innumerable fprings that amply compenfate for the want of rain, which Seldom, if ever, falls within the limits of Tibeiti.
Huts of the fimpleff con If ruction (for they are formed of flakes driven into the ground in a circular arrangement, and covered with the branches of trees and brufhwood intermixed) compofe the dwellings of the people.
In return for the fenna and the camels
which
which they fell in Fezzan, they bring-back coral, alhaiks, or barakans, Imperial dollars, and brafs, from the two laft of which articles they manufacture the rings and bracelets which are worn by their women.
Among the natives of Tibeiti different religions are profeffed; forfomeof them are Mahometans, and others continue attached to their antient fyftem of Idolatry.
CHAPTER
CHAPTER V.
Mode of Travelling in Africa.
TllE mode of travelling in Africa is fo connected with the commerce, and therefore with the manners of its principal nations, that without fome knowledge of the former, a defcription of the two latter cannot be clearly understood.
In that divilion of Africa which lies to the North of the Niger, the feafon for travelling begins with the month of October, and terminates with the month of March. During this period, the temperature
rarure of the air, though ff rongly affected by the degree of latitude, the elevation of the land, the diftance of the fea, and the direction of the wind, is comparatively cool; and in fome places, as in the neighbourhood of Mount Atlas, and on the Coafts of the Mediterranean, oc-cafionally exhibits the phaenomena of an European Winter. At Tripoli, the Thermometer is fometimes feen at the 40th degree of Farenheit's fcale ; and on the 31ft of December, in the year 1788, it was obferved, at nine in the morning, to have fallen within four degrees of the freezing point; a coldnefs that was followed by a flight lliower of mow.
In all countries, the animals which Nature and the attention of man have provided for the conveyance of the Traveller, and for the tranlit of his merchandize, are fuited to the character of
the
the foil, and to the fmoothnefs or inequality of its furface. Of the foil of Africa, to the North of the Niger, the prevailing character is fand; and though in the neighbourhood of rivers, and in all thofe diftricts which receive from the adjacent mountains, the advantage of numerous Springs, the fand is blended with a vegetable mould, yet the ground, in general, is remarkably foft and dry. In general, too, the furface of the land, though in fome places broken by naked rocks, and fwelling, in others, to mountains of considerable magnitude, may be regarded as comparatively level.
To fuch a country the camel is peculiarly fuited j for his broad and tender foot, which Hides on a wet furface, and is injured by the refiffance of ftones, is obferved to tread with perfect fecurity and eafe on the dry and yielding fand:
and
and while, from the fame circumstances in its Structure, his hoof is incapable of fattening, with any Strength, on the ground of a Steep aScent, and SurniShes, in a Shelving declivity, no Solid or Sufficient Support, his movement on a Smooth and level furface is Singularly firm and Safe.
So remarkably exemplified in Africa is that rule in the ceconomy of Nature which Suits the beaft of burden to the land which it inhabits, that in the country which lies to the South-Weft oS the Niger, where the SurSace is mountainous, and the ground is as Stony in Some place, as it is wet and muddy in others, no camels are Sound. Their place is Supplied by Small horSes, affes, and mules.
The proper burthen for a camel varies with its ftrength, which is very different
ferent in different fpecies 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.
The ufuai rate of travelling is three miles in the hour, and the number of hours that are actually employed on the rout, exclufive of thofe which are allotted to refreshment, is feldom more than feven or eight in a day. Of the number of days which are confumed on a long journey, many are devoted to the purpofe of occasional trade, to that of recruiting the Strength of the camels, and to that of procuring additional Stores of provilions and of water; for in all Such places as are able to far ifh a Supply of provilions (which are generally places of confiderable population, and N there
therefore of fome traffic) the flay of the caravan is feldom lefs than two days, and is often prolonged to more.
The general food of the camels is fuch only as their nightly paflure affords •, and is often confined to the hard and thorny fhrubs of the Defart, where a fullen vegetation is created by the rains of the Winter, and upheld by the dews that defcend in copious abundance through all the remainder of the year.
Of the drivers and fervants of the caravan, the cuflomary food confifts of the milk of the camels, with a few dates, together with the meal of barley or Indian corn, which is fometimes feafoned with oil, while the Merchant fuperadds, for his own ufe, the dried flefh of the camel, or of fheep, and concludes his repaft with coffee*
Water
communications*
179
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 fkins of goats, through which, however, though tarred within and without, it is often exhaled by the heat of the noon-day fun,
A particular mode of eafy conveyance is provided for the women and children, and for perfons opprefTed with infirmity or illnefs. Six or eight camels are yoked together in a row, and a number of tent poles are placed in parallel lines upon their backs: thefe are covered with carpets; and bags of corn are fuperadded to bring the floor to a level, as wrell as to foften the harfhnefs of the camel's movement; other carpets are then fpread, and tbe traveller fits or lies down, with as much convenience as if he refted on a couch.
N 2 The
The Defart (a term of the fame meaning with its Arabic name of Zahara) may be faid, like the ocean, to connect the very nations which it feems to feparate; for, in comparifon with the woods and moraifes of America, it furnifhes the Merchant with an eafy and convenient road.
A fandy heath of various levels, in fome places naked and bare, but much more frequently covered with an odoriferous plant, which the Arabs call the She, and which, though far fuperior in fragrance, has at leaff a remote refem-blance to the wild thyme of Europe, con-ft.it utes the general appearance of the Defart. The exceptions, however, are interesting and important: for befides the diveriity that arifes from the different fhrubs, which are often fcantily intermixed with the She, and of which the
thorny
thorny plant that forms the harfli food of the camel appears to be the moft common, an effcntial variation is furniShed by the comparative fertility of fome particular diff ricts, and by the total barren-nefs of others.
In fome portions of the general wil-dernefs, thoufands of Sheep, and goats, and cows, are feen to pafture; while in others nothing is prefented to the eye butdefolate hills of fhifting fand.
To thelaft of thefe the name of Defarts without Water is emphatically given; a name that conveys to an Arab ear the fearful idea of an intenfe and Suffocating beat, of the total abfence of vegetable life, and of the hazard of a dreadful death. For though the movement of the fhiSt-lr*g Sands is not So rapid as to endanger the Safety of the caravan, yet as the N 3 fcorch-
Scorching heat of the fun-beams, con-» fined and reflected by the hills of fand, hourly diminishes the Store of water, and as the breadth of feveral of thefe defarts is that of a ten days journey, the hazard of periihing with thirSt is Sometimes, fatally experienced.
All means of afcertaining the rout by land-marks, the ufual guides in other parts of the wildernefs, are here destroyed by the varying forms and fhifting positions of the hills: but Srom anxious ob-fervation and continued practice, the camel-drivers acquire a Sufficient knowledge oS the bearings of the fun and Stars to direct them in their way.
Such are the expedients by which the difficulties of the Defart are in general overcome: thofe which are prefented by the broad current of the impetuous Niger*
ger, though much more eafily, are not fo frequently fur mounted.
Of this river, which in Arabic is fometimes called Neel il Kibeer, or the Great Nile, and at others, Neelil Abeed, or the Nile of the Negros, the rife and termination are unknown, but the courfe is from Eaff to Weft. So great is its rapidity, that no veffel can afcend its ftream: and fuch is the want of fkill, or fuch the abfence of commercial inducements a-rnong the nations who inhabit its borders, that even with the current, neither veffels nor boats are feen to navigate. In one place, indeed, the Traveller finds accommodations for the paffage of himfelf and of his goods; but even there, though the ferrymen, by the indulgence of the Sultan of Cafhna, are exempted from all taxes, the boat which conveys the merchandize is nothing more than
N 4 an
an ill-con fir acted raft; for the planks are fattened to the timbers with ropes, and the feams are clofed both within and without, by a plaifter of tough clay, of which a large provifion is always carried on the raft for the purpofe of excluding the flream wherever its entrance is ob-ferved.
The depth of the river at the place of paffage, which is more than a hundred miles to the South of the City of Cafhna, the capital of the empire of that name, is eftimated at twenty-three or twenty-four feet Englifh. *
Its width is fuch that even at the If-land of Gongoo, where the ferrymen re-fide,
* Its depth Is from ten to twelve peeks, each of which is twenty-feven inches.
The Shereef Imhammed.
fide, the found of the loudeff voice from the northern fhoreis fcarcely heard; and at Tombudtou, where the name of Gne-wa, or black, is given to the ft ream, the width is defcribed as being that of the Thames at Weftminfter. In the rainy feafon it fwells above its banks, and not only floods the adjacent lands, but often fweeps before it the cattle and cottages of the fhort-fighted or too confident inhabitants.
That the people who live in the neighbourhood of the Niger fhould refufe to profit by its navigation, may juftly fur-prife the Traveller: but much greater is his aftonifhment, when he finds that even the food which the bounty of the ftream would give, is ufelefsly offered to their acceptance; for fuch is the want of fkill, or fuch the fettled dillike of the people
to
to this fort of proviiion, that the fifli with which the river abounds are left in undiifurbed pofTellion of its waters.
Having paffed the ft ream, the face of the country, and with it the mode of travelling, are changed. High mountains and narrow valleys, extenhve woods and miry roads, fucceed to the vaff plains and fandy foil of the Zahara and its neighbouring kingdoms. Water is no longer refufed or fcantily given to the parched lips of the Traveller; but while the abundance of this refreihment, and of the vaff variety both of vegetable and animal food that is offered in profufion for his fupport, diminffh the hardfhips and remove the principal hazards of his journey, the raging heat of the Torrid Clime increafes as he proceeds. Wet cloths applied to the mouth are fometimes
COMMUNICATIONS, 187
times requisite, and efpecially in the woods, to allay, for the purpofe of re-fpiration, the violence of the burning air; and the journey, which the fierce-nefs of the fun fufpends, is often renewed amidft the dews and comparative dark-nefs of the night.
From the want of camels, which are feldom feen to the South of Cafhna, nor even to the Weft, except in higher latitudes, the conveyance of the Merchant and his goods is committed to the mules, and fmall horfes and alfesof the country. Of the firft, the ufual burden is 2oolbs. of the fecond, i5olbs. and of the laft, loolbs.
Travelling through all this part of Africa is confidered as fo fecure, that the Shereef Imhammed, with the utmoft
chear-
chearfalnefs and confidence of Safety, propofed to accompany and conduct: Mr. Lucas, by the way of Fezzan and Caihna, acrofs the Niger, to AfTente, which borders on the Coaft of the Christians,
CHAPTER
CHAPTER VI.
General Remarks on the Empires of Bomou and Cajhna—Rout from Mourzouk to Bomou-— Climate of Bomou—Complexion, Drefs, 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 vaft region which fpreads itfelf from the river of the Antelopes wefiward for 1200 miles, and includes a considerable part of the Niger's courfe, two great empires, thofe of Bornou and thofe of Caihna, are eftablifhed.
The
10° M*> LUCJS's
The circumftances of foil and climate, and thofe alfo which conff itute political character, are nearly the fame in both : for their prevailing winds are the fame; their rains, which are periodical in each, though much more prof ufe in Bornou, begin at the fame feafon; the fame grains are cultivated; the fame fruits (generally fpeaking)are produced; and except that no camels are bred to the weffward of the City of Cafhna, the capital of the empire, the fame animals are reared.   In both, the complexion of the inhabitants is black; their mode of building too is fimilar, and their manners, though in fome refpects more civilized in Bornou, have a general refem-blance.
Each of the two empires is formed by the fubjecf ion of different tribes or nations to the dominion of one ruling people.
pie. The nature of the Government, and the laws which regulate its fuccef-lion, are the fame in both. In both, the ruling people are Mahometans; in both, the dependent nations are compofed of converts to the Muffelman faith, and of adherents to the antient worfhip; and though at prefent their languages are different, the conquerors in both had probably the fame original.
Of thefe empires, Caihna, till of late, was effeemed the firff in power; but though a thoufand villages and towns are ft ill included in her vaft domains, fhe is now confidered as much inferior to Bornou.
ROUT
ROUT FROM MOURZOUK TO BORNOU.
FROM Mourzouk in Fezzan to Bornou, the capital of the empire from which it takes its name, the Fezzaners, whofe commercial fpirit no diftance can difcourage, are conducted by a rout of more than a thoufand miles. Temiffa, the firft town at which they arrive, and the laft which they fee in Fezzan, they reach on the feventh day; and in three days more they enter the territories of Bornou. Several villages, inhabited by Blacks, whofe perfons, their waiits excepted, are entirely naked, whofe meagre limbs and famifhed looks announce the extremity of mifery, and whofe idolatrous religion neither excites the re-fentment nor reftrains the charity of the
benevo-
benevolent Fezzaners, mark the northern frontier of the empire.
On the day following their departure from thefe melancholy hamlets, they begin the afcent of a hilly uninhabited defart of fand, where a few bullies of penurious vegetation point out the fuc-cellive wells that are found in thefe barren heights, and diminifh the fatigues of a three days paffage. At the clofe of the fourth day they enter a plain that is inhabited by Mahometans, where, in addition to a plentiful fupply of excellent water, they are cheared with the light of date trees, and of Indian corn.
From this plain, which lies to the Weft of the Defart of Tibefti, and the end of which they reach on the fecond day, a part of the Tibefti mountains take
O their
their rife. Thefe vaff hills, the range of which is very extenfive, are varioully peopled: but fuch of them as are croffed on the rout from Fezzan to the City of Bornou, are inhabited by a mixture of Muffelmen and Idolaters, who employ themfelves in breeding camels and affes, and other cattle, particularly horfes of a fmall lize.
Exclulivelyof the two days that are requilite for the palfage of the mountains, an allowance of twice that time is generally given to refreshment and repofe > foon after which a fertile and beautiful country, as richly diverfified as nume-rouily peopled, opens to their view. Its inhabitants are herdfmen, and with the exception of a few Pagans who are intermixed among them, are Muffelmen in their faith.   Their dwellings are in
tents
tents, which are compofed of hides, and their wealth confiff s in the multitude of their cows and Iheep.
Four days are employed in crofling thefe fortunate diff riots: the fixth con-duds the caravan to the entrance of the vaft and burning Defart of Bilma. Surrounded by this dreary folitude, the Traveller fees 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 paffage, lif-tens with horror to the voice of the driving blaff, the only found that interrupts the awful repofe of the Defart*
On the eleventh day from their entrance °n thefe fcorching fands, the caravan drives in the fertile plains that encom-Pafs the Town of Domboo, the approach O 2 to
to which is enlivened by the frequent appearance of the majeftic Off rich, and of the gay but fearful Antelope.
From thence, in about five days, they reach the City of Kanem, the capital of an extenfive and fertile province, of which it bears the name, and in which the inhabitants, who are compofed of Muffelmen and'Pagans, breed multitudes of cattle, and raife innumerable horfes for the fervice of the King.
A journey of ten days more concludes their labour, and brings them to the imperial City of Bornou.*
Bornou,
* The rout which Ben Alli purfucd from Fezzan to Bornou is not diftindly dcfcribed.
His
Bornou, the name which the natives give to the country, is diitinguiihed in O 3 Arabic
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 Weddan, or the Rivers, for Weddan is the plural of Wed, which fignifies a river.
The firft part of the country through which he parTed is reprefented as a fandy Defart, in which the She (a plant that refembles the Wild Thyme of England) and a few bufties of fhrubs and ftiort trees are thinly fcattered, and wells of Water are extremely rare. Wandering Arabs, of the powerful but hofpitable Tribes of Booaifh and Duhaflin, appear to be its only inhabitants; and Weddan itfelf is faid to contain but 130 houfes, which are built of earth and fandj and to furntfh no articles of trade but dates and fait; yet the country around it is called prolific : the rice grounds are defcribed as numerous j and multitudes of ihecp and goats, of camels and of horfes, fwell the lift of its poflemons.
He represents the Duhaffin Arabs, as Merchants journeying to Bornou, who carried with them for fale an aflbrt-
ment
198
M*- LUCAS's
Arabic by the appellation of Bernou or Bernoa, a word that Signifies the land
of
ment of goods; among which he enumerates wheat, barley, dates, fait, tobacco, and alhaiks : and he obferves, that he purchafcd from the Chief the permiffion of accompanying the Tribe, and the confequent afliiranceof a fafe paffage to Bornou.
From Weddan, by forced marches, they arrrtved in twenty days at Bornou. A defart of fand, in fome places interrupted by woods, and occafiona'ly watered with rivulets of a ftrong mineral tafte, conftitutes the general defcrip-tion of the country. But as he entered the kingdom of the Bornoos, the limit of which he reprefents as feven days diftant from the capital, he paffed through feveral 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 fame rout, and pafs by thofe villages both in going and returning,
Ben Alli feems to have travelled from Mourzouk to Bornou by a different rout from that which is ufually taken by the Merchants of Fezzan : nor can it be fuppofed, that the independent and powerful Arabs with whom he journeyed,
of Noah, for the Arabs conceive that, on the firff retiring of the deluge, its mountains received the Ark.
The Climate, as may naturally be expected in a kingdom which feems to be bounded by the 16th and the 26th parallels of latitude, is characterized by ex-ceffive, though not by uniform heat.
O 4 Two
neyed, would either obtain, or folicit the permimon of the Sovereign of Fezzan to pafs in fo large a body through his fmall and unguarded dominions. And though the corre-fponding accounts that are given in the narratives of the Shereef and of Ben Alli, of fome villages of mifera-ble Blacks, may fuggeft an idea that two roads interfered. each other on the frontier of Bornou, yet as on that fup-pofition, the different times within which the feveral parts of the two journeys were refpeclively performed cannot be eafily reconciled, there is reafon to believe that the villages defcribed by Ben Alli, though peopled by fimilar inhabitants, may not be the fame with thofe which attracted the companionate notice of the Shereef.
Two feafons, the one commencing foon after the middle of April, the other at the fame period of October, may be faid to divide the year. The Jirji is introduced by violent winds that bring with them, from the South Eaff and South, an in-tenfe heat, with a deluge of fultry rain, and fuch tempeff s of thunder and lightning as deftroy multitudes of the cattle, and many of the people.   During the rainy period (the continuance of which is from three to nine fuccemve days, with fhort intervals from the occafional changes of the wind to the North or Weft) the inhabitants confine themfelves clofely to their dwellings; but the reft of the firft feafon, however fultry and however occalionally wet, is not in^ compatible with the neceffary labours of the hulbandman and the fhepherd.
At the commencement of the fecond
feafon
oct
feafon in the latter part of October, the ardent heat fubiides; the air becomes foft and mild; the weather continues perfectly ferene; and as the year declines, an unwelcome coolnefs precedes the riling of the fun;
The inhabitants, though confining of fuch a multitude of nations that thirty languages are faid to be fpoken in the empire, are alike in their Complexion, which is entirely black $ but they are not of the Negro caff.
In a climate fo warm, the chief recommendations of Drefs are decency and ornament : among the pooreft, therefore, by whom the firif only is regarded, a kind of girdle for the waiff is fometimes the only covering; but in general a turban, coniifting, as in Barbary, of a red woollen
len cap, furrounded by folds of cotton, together with a loofe robe of coloured cotton of a coarfer kind, are alfo worn.*
The Grain that conftitutes the principal object of culture in Bornou is Indian corn, of two different kinds, which are diifinguifhed in this country by the names of the gaffob, and the gamphuly.
The gaffob, which in its general fhape refembles the common reed, is of two fpecies. The hrlf grows with a long If alk
that
* The drefs of the greateft part of the people is compofed of fhirts of blue cotton, which is manufactured in the country ; of a red cap, which is imported from Tripoli; and of a white muQln turban, which is brought from Cairo by the pilgrims who return through that City from Mecca. Nofc-rings of gold are worn by the principal people as a mark of diftinclion.
that bears an ear, which in length is from eight to twelve inches, and contains, in little hulks or cavities, from three to five hundred grains, of the fize of fmall peafe. The fecond fpecies, wdiich is common in Tripoli, differs no otherwife from the firff than in the fhorter fize of the ear.
The gamphuly is diftinguifhed from the gaffob, by the bulk of the flalkj for that of the gamphuly is much thicker, by the number of its ears, for it has fe-veral on the fame reed, and by the fize of the grain, which is con fkler ably larger. This kind of corn is frequently feen in Spain, and is there called Maize.
Wheat and barley are not raifed in Bornou i but the horfe-bean of Europe and the common kidney-bean are cultivated with great affiduity, as they are
ufed
ufed for food, both by the ilaves and by the cattle.*
In the culture of thefe different grains, the hoe alone is employed, as the ufe of the plough is if ill unknown to the people. The women divide with the men the labours of their hufbandryj for while the latter, with their hoes, open the ground, and form the trenches in fh'aight lines parallel to each other, the women follow and throw in the feed: nor is this the only part which they take in the bufmefs of the field; for to them,
as
* The country in the neighbourhood of the City of Bornou is fertile in Indian corn and rice. Of barley and wheat the quantity railed is fmall. A fpecies of bean, which re-fembies the horfe-bean of Europe, though larger, ar.d of a darker hue, is a much more common produce. Gum-trees are thinly (tattered. Cotton, hemp, and indigo, are alfo among the various produce of its foil.
as foon as the weeds begin to rife on the ridges of the lines in which the grain is lowed, the hoe is conff antly transferred.
The fowing feafon commences at the end of the periodical rains of April; and fuch in that climate is the rapid vegetation, that on the 9th of July the gaffob is reaped; but the gamphuly, a grain of flower growth, is feldom cut till the month of Auguff or September.
Such are the feveral fpecies of corn that, among the people of Bornou, fup-ply the place of the wheat, the barley, and the oats of Europe. Two fpecies of roots are alfo ufed as wholefome and fub-lf antial food: the one, which is called the Dondoo, produces a low plant, with branches that fpread four or live feet upon the ground, and leaves that referable thofe of the garden-bean.   At the
end
206
M*- LUCAS's
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 fmall pieces, is dried in the fun, in which lfate it may be kept for two years. Its farther preparation confiff s in reducing it to a fine powder, and mixing it with palm oil till it affumes the confiffency of pafte.
The other root is that of a tree, of which the name had efcaped the She-reef's recollection: boiling is the only procefs that is requilite in preparing it for ufe.
The fame character of fufliciency which marks the catalogue of the different kinds of grain in Bornou, belongs alfo to the lift of its various Fruits; for though neither olives nor oranges are feen in the empire, and even figs are rare j
and
and though the apples and plumbs of its growth deferve no commendation, and the dates are as indifferent as they are fcarce, yet grapes, and apricots, and pomegranates, together with lemons and limes, and the two fpecies of melons, the water and the mulls:, are produced in large abundance.* But one of the moll valuable of its vegetable If ores, is a tree which is called Kedeynah, that in form and height refembles the Olive, is like the Lemon in its leaf, and bears a nut, of which the kernel and the ihell are both in great effimation, the firit as a fruit, the laff on account of the oil which it furnifhes when bruifed, and which fup-plies the lamps of the people of Bornou with a fubffitute for the oil of olives.
To
* The country abounds in different fpecies of fruit trees, tut that which produces the date is not of the number.
Ben Alu,
To this competent provifion of fuch vegetables as are requilite to the fupport, or grateful to the appetite of man, mult be added a much more ample and more varied fupply of Animal Food. Innumerable flocks of fheep, and herds of goats and cows, (for there are no oxen) together with multitudes of horfes, buffaloes, and camels, (the flefh of which is in high eftimation) cover the vales or pafturc on the mountains of Bornou.*
The common, though not the Guinea fowl is alfo reared by the inhabitants j and their hives of bees are fo extremely numerous, that the wax is often thrown away as an article of no value in the market.
Their
* Horfes and horned cattle, goats and fheep, and camels, are the common animals of the country.
Their Game confifts of the Huaddee, and other fpecies of antelopes, of the partridge, the wild duck, and the off rich, the flefh of which they prize above every other.
Their other wild animals are, the lion, the leopard, the civet cat, the fmall wolf, the fox, the wild dog, that hunts the antelope j the elephant, which is not common, and of which they make no ufe; 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 Defart of Bilma; and a large and lingular animal, which is dif-tignifhed by the name of Zarapah, and which is defcribed as refembling the ca-rnel in its head and body, as having a long and flender neck like the oftrich, as being much taller at the fhoulders than the haunches, and as defended by fo P tough
tough a fkin, as to furnifh the natives with fhieldsthat no arrow or javelin can pierce.*
Bornou, like other countries that approach the Equinoctial, is much infefted with different kinds of dangerous or dif-gutting reptiles, efpecially makes and fcorpions, centipedes and toads.
Of its beajls of burthen the variety is as ample as the numbers are abundant; for the camel, the horfe, the afs, and the mule, are common in the empire.
The dog, with which the inhabitants purfue their game, appears to be their only domeftic animal.
In
* GWaffa is the name by which the Camekpardalis is called in the old zoological books.—The defcriphon here inferted, feetnt to have arifen from a Uended rccolleflion of that animal, and *f the hippopotamus, whofe hide is extremely tough.
In the mountains of Tibeiti, and perhaps in other parts of the empire, the herdfmen, probably for the fake of a more eafy change of paff ure, prefer a refidence in tents to ftationary dwellings; and thofe, it feems, are not manufacliured, like the tents of the Zahara, from the camel's hair; but are compofed of the hides of cows, a more durable and impervious covering.
Through all the empire of Bornou the fame mode of buildi?ig, and with the difference of a greater or a fmaller fcale, the fame form in the plan of the houfes univerfally prevails. — Four walls, in-cloling a fquare, are erected: within thofe walls, and parallel to them, four other walls are alfo built: the ground between the walls is then divided into different apartments, and is covered with a roof. Thus the fpace within the interior walls P 2 determines
212 mr. lucas's
determines the fize of the court; the fpace between the Walls determines the width of the apartments; and the height of the walls determines the height of the rooms. In a large houfe the rooms are each about twenty feet in length, eleven feet in height, and as many in width.
On the out fide of the houfe, a fecond fquare or large yard, furrounded by a wall, is ufually provided for the inclofure and protection of the cattle.*
Such is the general plan of a Bornou houfe. For the conflrucf ion of the walls the following method is conff antly pur-fued: a trench for the foundation being made, is filled with dry and folic! materials rammed in with force, and levelled:
on
* In form, the houfes are fimilar to thofe of Tripoli.
Ben Alli.
on thefe a layer of tempered mud or clay is placed; and in this fubffitute for mortar a fuitable number of If ones are regularly fixed. Thus with alternate layers of clay and ff ones the wall proceeds ; but as foon as it has reached the height of fix or feven feet, the workmen fufpend its progrefs for a week, that it may have time to fettle, and become compacf; for which purpofetheywrater it everyday.
When the walls are finifhed they are neatly plaiftered, both within and without, with clay or mud, tempered with fand; for the country furnifhes no lime.
The roofs are formed of branches of the palm tree, intermixed with brufh-wood; and are fo conft rudted as at firft to be water-proof; but fuch is the violence of the wind and rain, that the end P 3 of
214 M*- LUCAS^
of the fecond year is the utmoft period of their duration.*
Much lefs attention is given to the furniture than is beff owed on the ft nocture of the houfes ; for the catalogue of utenfils is extremely fhort. Among the lower claflesof the inhabitants it confifts of the mats covered with a fheep-fkin, upon which they ileep; of an earthen pot; of a pan of the fame materials; of two or three wooden dilhes, a couple of wooden bowls, an old carpet, a lamp for oil, and perhaps a copper kettle.
Perfons
* The walls of the greateft part of the houfes are built of a competition of earth and fand, and arc often warned down by the heavy rains ; but others are formed of the more durable materials of ftones and bricks.
The roofs are compofed of the branches of trees, which are covered with layers of earth, and the whole building is ivhite-wamed with a fpecies of chalk.
Perfons of a fuperior rank are alfo pof-feffed of leathern cufhions, that are fluffed with wool; of feveral brafs and copr-per utenfds, of a handfome carpet, and of a fort of candlefticks; for inftead of the vegetable oil which is ufed by the common people, they employ the light of candles manufactured from their bees wax and the tallow of their fheep.
Bornou is fituated at the diftance 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 loft in the deep and fandy waftes of the vaff Defart of Bilma.*
From the fymmetry of the houfes, P 4 and
* Bornoo is fituated in a flat country, on the banks of a faiall river.
and the general refemblance which they hear to each other, a regular arrangement of Itreets might, with the utmoff eafe, have been given to their towns. In Bornou, however, a different fylf em has prevailed; for even in the capital, the houfes, flraggling wide of each other, are placed without method or rule; and the obvious propriety of giving to the principal mofque, a central fituation, exhibits the only proof of attention to general convenience.*
The King's palace, furrounded by high walls, and forming a kind of citadel, is
built,
* Bornoo, though a town of greater extent than Tripoli, confifts of a multitude of houfes, fo irregularly placed that the fpaces between them cannot be called ftreets- It is furnished with mofques, which are conftru&ed of brick and of earth; and with fchools, in which the Koran is taught, as in the principal towns of Barbary.
built, perhaps with a view to fecurity, in a corner of the town.*
Markets for the fale of pro virions are opened within the city; but for other articles, a weekly market, as in Barbary, is held without the walls.
The common price in Bornou of a cow or a-j
L o  6 o bull is a mahaboob of Tripoli, or ... 3
A fheep,................ o   3 o
An oftrich, ............... o   6 o
An antelope, .............. o   1 6
A camel from 61. to 7I. 10s. or at a medium, 6150
A horfe from 3I. to 7I. 10s. or at a medium, 5   5   o .
In general, the towns have no other defence than that which the courage of the inhabitants affords; but the capital
is
* In time of peace the Sultan always refides in the capital*
Ben Alli.
is furrounded by a wall of fourteen feet in height, the foundations of which are from eight to ten feet deep, and which feems to be built with confiderable ilrength. To this defence is given the additional fecurity of a ditch, which en-compalfes the whole; and care is taken, that at fun-fet the feven gates which form the communication with the country mall be (hut*
The great population of Bornou is de-fcribed by the indefinite and metaphorical expreflion of acountlefs multitude.
In Fezzan the price of all things is meafured by grains of gold; and where the value is too fmall to be eafily paid in
fo
* Bornoo is furrounded by a wall, on which, however, there are no guards.
fo coffly a metal, the inhabitants have recourfe to corn, as a common medium of exchange. But in Bornou, as in Europe, the aid of inferior metals is employed, and copper and brafs (which feem 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 conffitute the current fpecies of the empire.*
Dominions fo exteniive as thofe of Bornou have feldom the advantage of one uniform language; but an inftance of fo many different tongues, within the limits of one empire, as are fpoken in that kingdom, and its dependencies, has
ffill
* A fmall quantity of gold duft is produced in Bornoo; but the principal medium of exchange confifts of pieces of metal which has fome refemblance to tin.
22Q
frill lefs frequently occurred, for they are faid to be more than thirty in number.
. Of the language, however, which is current in the capital, and which fecnas to be coniidered as the proper language* of Bornou, the following fpecimcn is given by the Shereef.
One is expreffed by Lakkn
Two    ....... Endee
Three ..... Niefioo
Four ...... Dekoo
Five ...... Okoo
Six ....... Arafkoo
Seven ...... Hujkoo
Eight is exprcficd by Tailore
Nine-........ Vilkar
Ten ........ Melh
Eleven . Twelve . Thirteen Fourteen .
Meiko Lakka Meiko Endee Meiko Niefkoa Mich Deko
Two
* The language of the common people of Bornoo, though different from, has a flrong refemblance to that of the neighbouring Negros, and is very unlike the Arabic, in which, however, the Nobles and principal families convert.
The
Two different Religions divide the fentiments, without diffurbing the peace of the kingdom.
o
The ruling people profefs the Mahometan faith ; * and though the antient Paganifm of the dependent nations does not appear to fabject them to any inconvenience, a confiderable part are converts to the doctrines of the Prophet.
An elective monarchv con ft itutes the Government of Bornou,! and like the ftmi-lar fyif em of Caflma, endangers the hap-
pinefs,
The art of writing is known among them, and they arc taught to exprefs the Bornoo tongue in the characters of the Arabic.
Ben Alli.
* The Sultan and his fubje&s are Muffelmen.
Ben Alli.
+ Bornoo is governed by a King, who takes the title of Sultan.
Ben Alli.
pinefs, while it acknowledges the power of the people. On the death of the Sovereign, the privilege of chilling among his fons, without regard to priority of birth, a fuccelTor to his throne, is conferred by the nation on three of the moft diftinguifhed men, whofe age and character for wifdom, are denoted by their title of Elders; and whole conduct in the State has invefted them with the public efteem. Bound by no other rule as to their judgment, or reftraint as to their will, than that which the expreifed or implied inftruction of electing the moft worthy may form, they retire to the appointed place for their fecret deliberation, the avenues to which are carefully guarded by the people: and while the contending fuggeftions of private intereft, or a fenfe of the real difficulty of chufing where judgment may eafily err, and error may be fatal to the State,
keeps
C OMMUNI CATIONS. 11$
., ,    , . -. . —
keeps them in fufpence, the Princes are clofely confined in feparate chambers of the Palace. Their choice being made, they proceed to the apartment of the Sovereign elect, and conduct him, in ii-lence, to the gloomy place in which the unburied corpfe of his father, that cannot be interred till this awful ceremony is paffed, awaits his arrival. There, the Elders point out to him the feveral virtues and the feveral defects which marked the character of his departed parent; and they alfo forcibly defcribe, withjuff panegyric, or fevere condemnation, the feveral meafures which raifed or de-prelfed the glory of his reign. " You *' fee before you the end of your mortal u career: the eternal, Which fucceeds to fi it, will be miferable or happy in pro-*' portion as your reign fhall have proved te a curfe or a blefling to your people."
From
From this dread fcene of inftruction, the new Sovereign, am id ft the loud acclamations of the people, is conducted back to the Palace, and is there inverted by the electors with all the Haves, and with two-thirds of all the lands and cattle of his father; the remaining third being always detained as a pro virion for the other children of the deceafed Monarch. No fooner is the Sovereign inverted with the enfigns of Royalty, than fuch of his brothers as have reached the age of manhood proftrate themfelves at his feet, and in riling prefs his hands to their lips— the two ceremonies that conftitute the declaration of allegiance.
If any doubt of their iincerity fuggeft s itfelf to the King, or to the Elders, death or perpetual imprifonment removes the fear; but if no fufpicion arifes, an efta-
blifhment
ttBtfaa—    • ■---—--■...... --- —
blifhment of lands and cattle from the pofTeflions of their rather, together with prefects of Haves from the reigning monarch, are liberally bellowed upon them.
Often, however, the moll popular, or the moll ambitiousof the rejedfedPrinces, covering his defigns with clofe diffimu-lation, and the zeal of feeming attachment, creates a powerful party; and af-fured of foreign aid, prepares, in fecret, the means of fuccefsful revolt. But, flained with fuch kindred blood, the fceptre of the victorious Rebel is not lailingly fecure—-one revolution invites and facilitates another; and till the Slaughter of the field, the fword of the executioner, or the knife of the affaflin have left him without a brother, the throne of the Sovereign is feldom firmly ^ftablifhed.
Q
Such,
Such, in the Mahometan empires of Bornou and of Caihna, is the rule of fuc-ceffion to the monarchy ; but the Pagan kingdoms adjoining, with obviouily lefs wifdom, permit the feveral fons of the late Sovereign, attended by their refpec-tive partizans, to offer themfelves in per-fon, to the choice of the electors, and to be actually prefent atthedecifion; an imprudence that often brings with it the interference of other States, and unites the different calamities of foreign and inteffine war.
Thofe of the Royal Children of Bornou who are too young to take fhare in the referved part of their deceafed father's poffeflions, are educated in the Palace till the age of maturity arrives; at which time their refpective portions of lands and cattle are affigned them.
To
communications.
227
To the four lawful Wives of the late Sovereign, a feparate houfe, with a fui-table eftabliihment, is granted by the reigning Monarch j and fuch of his numerous concubines as were not flaves, are at liberty to return to their feveral friends; and, together with leave to retain their cloaths, and all their ornaments, which are often valuable, have free permiflion to marry.
In the empire of Bornou, as in all the Mahometan States* the adminiff ration of the provinces is committed to Governors, appointed by the Crown; and the ex-pences of the Sovereign are partly defrayed by his hereditary lands, and partly by taxes levied on the people.
The prefent Sultan, whofe name is Alli, is a man of an unoff entatious plain aPpearance; for he feldom wears any Q 2 other
228 JlfA. lucas's
other drefs than the common blue fhirt of cotton or of filkj and the filk or muf-lin turban, which form the ufual drefs of the country. Such* however, is the magnificence of his feraglio, that the ladies who inhabit it are faid to be five hundred in number; and he himfelf is defcribed as the reputed father of three hundred and fifty children, of whom three hundred are males; adifproportion which naturallyfuggeffs the idea that the mother, preferring to the gratification of natural affection, the joy of feeing her-felf the fuppofed parent of a future candidate for the empire, fometimes exchanges her female child for the male offspring of a ffranger.
Equally fplendid in his ff able, he is faid to have 500 horfes for his own ufe, and for that of the numerous fervants of his houfehold.
In
In many of the neighbouring kingdoms, the Monarch himfelf is the executioner of thofe criminals on whom his own voice has pronounced fentence of death; but the Sultan of Bornou, too polifhed, or too humane, to pollute his hands with the blood of his fubjecfs, commits the care of the execution to the Cadi, who directs his Haves to ftrike off the head of the prifoner*
The Military Force of the Sultan of Bornou confiff s in the multitude of his horfemen; for his foot foldiers are few in number, and are fcarcely conlidered as contributing to the ftrength of the battle.*  The fabre, the lance, the pike,
Q 3 and
* The Sultan of Bornoo commands a vaft army of horfernen, and is a much more powerful Monarch than the Emperor of Morocco.
Ben Alli.
i*-......■ ■ -------• i
and the how, conllitute their weapons of offence; and a fhield of hides compofes their defenfive armour. Fire-arms, though not entirely unknown to them, (for thofe with which the Merchants of Fezzan occaiionally travel, are fufficient to give them an idea of their importance and decifive effect) are neither ufed nor pofTefTed by the people of Bqrnou.
When the Sovereign prepares for war, and levies an army for the purpofe, he is faid to have a cuifom, (the refult of idle vanity or of politic orientation) of directing a date tree to be placed as a threfhold to one of the gates of his capital, and of commanding his horfemen to enter the town one by one, that the parting of the tree in the middle, when worn through by the trampling of the horfes, may enable him to judge of the
fuffi-
fufliciency of their numbers, and operate as a lignal that his levy is complete.
In their Manners, the people of Bornou are Angularly courteous and humane. They will not pafs a ftranger on the road till they have flopped and faluted him: the moll violent of their quarrels are only contefls of words j and though a part of the bufinefs of their hufbandry is afligned to the women, yet, as their employment is confined to that of dropping the feed in the furrows, and of removing the weeds with a hoe, it has more of the amufement of occafional occupation, than of the harfhnefs of con^ tinued labour.
Paflionately attached to the tumultuous gratifications of play, yet unac-Q 4 quainted
quainted with any game but drafts, they qften lit down on the ground, and forming holes to anfwer the purpofe of fquares, fupply the place of men with plates, or the meaner fubff itute of ff ones, or of camel's dung. On their fkill in fhe management of thefe rude inffru-ments of the game, they if ake their gold duff, their brafs money, and even their very clothes; and as the byc-ftanders on thefe occallons conifantly obtrude their advice, and fometimes make the moves for the perfon whofe fuccefs they wilh, their play is ufually accompanied by that conflict of abide, and vehemence of fcolding, which mark and terminate the fharpeff of their quarrels.
Such is the amufement of the lower claims of the people: thofe of a fuperior rank are devoted to the more difficult
and
and more interefting game of chefs, in which they are eminently fkilled.
In countries that afford without cultivation, or that give in return for flight exertions of labour, the principal rcqui-fites of life, few articles of export are Jikely to be found. Thofe of the Bornou Empire confiff of—
Gold Duff Off rich Feathers,
Slaves, Salt, and
Horfes, Civet,
By what means the gold duff, that appears to be a principal article of trade, is procured by the inhabitants, whether from mines in the country, or by pur-chafe from other nations, the Shereef
has
* At Bornoo i exchanged for gold duft and oflrich feathers the merchandize which i brought from Tripoli.
Ben Alli,
has not explained. But of their mode of obtaining the Slaves, who conftitute another extenfive branch of their commerce, he gives the following account:
South Earc of Bornou, at the diftance of about twenty days travelling, and fe-parated from it by feveral fmall defarts, is fituated an extenfive kingdom of the name of Begarmee, the inhabitants of which arc rigid Mahometans,and though perfectly black in their complexions, are not of the Negro caff. Beyond this kingdom to the Eaff are feveral tribes of Negros, idolaters in their religion, favage in their manners, and accuffomed, it is faid, to feed on human flefh. They are called the Kardee, the Serrowah, the Showva, the Battah, and the Mulgui. Thefe nations the Bergarmeefe, who fight on horfeback, and are great warriors, annually invade 5 and when they
have
have taken as many prifoners as the opportunity affords, or their purpofe may require, they drive the captives, like cattle, to Begarmee. It is faid that if any of them, weakened by age, or exhauff ed by fatigue, happen to linger in their pace, one of the horfemen feizes on the oldelf, and cutting off his arm, ufes it as a club to drive on the reft.
From Begarmee they are fent to Bornou,* where they are fold at alow price; and thence many of them are conveyed tp Fezzan, where they generally embrace
* The Sultan of Bornoo is continually at war with the various idolatrous trihes of Blacks who border on his dominions. Thofe who are taken prifoners are fold to the Arabs, and this traffic constitutes the principal commerce of the country.
Slaves are every day brought to him; for the acouifition «f this fort of plunder is his comtant occupation.
Ben Alli,
brace the Muffelman faith, and are afterwards exported by the way of Tripoli to different parts of the Levant.
Such is the mode of obtaining the greateff part of the ilaves who are annually fold in Bornou: but as feveral of the provinces of the empire are inhabited by Negros, their infurrecf ions, real or pretended, afford to the Sovereign an opportunity of increafing his income by their fale.
A more politic and more effectual mode of aiding his finances is fruitlefsly offered by the fait lakes of the Province of Domboo: for, as the great Empire of Caihna is entirely deffitute of fait, and none is found in the dominions of the Negros, the fole poifemon of this article might infure to the King of Bornou a conflant and ample revenue of the belt
kind.
kind, a revenue collected from the fub-jects of Foreign States. But fuch is the prevalency of antient cuffom over the obvious fuggeftions of policy, that the people of Agadez, a province of the Caihna Empire, are annually permitted to load their immenfe caravans with the fait of Bornou, and to engrofs the profits of this invaluable trade. The fait is collected on the ihores of the feveral 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 brafs and copper (the currency of Bornou) to the neighbouring peafants.
The civet, which forms another article of the export trade of Bornou, and the greateff part of which is fent to the Negro States who inhabit far to the South, is obtained from a fpecies of wild
cat
cat that is common in the woods of Bornou and of Caihna.
This animal is taken alive in a trap prepared for the purpofe, is placed in a cage, and is ffrongly irritated till a Copious perfpiration is produced. Its fweatt and efpecially the moiffure that appears upon the tail, is then fcraped off, is pre-ferved in a bladder^ and conflitutes the much valued perfume. After a fhort 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 furnifhed by the people of Bornou; but the Shereef remarks that, for their own confumption, they fabricate from
the
com muni c a ti0 ns. 239
the iron ore of their country, though with little fkill, fuch flight tools as their hufbandry requires.*
In return for their exports, they receive the following goods:
Copper
* From the hemp of the country, a coarfe linen is manufactured by the people of Bornoo, Their cotton, which is alfo a native produce, is fpun to a thread of remarkable finenefs, and is then converted to callicoes and muflins of about nine inches in breadth, and of a length which varies from fifteen to twenty yards. Such of thefe cotton manufactures as are enriched with the blue dye of the country, which, from the fuperiority of the indigo, is preferable to that of the Eaft Indies, are valued more highly than folk; yet their only fupply of the latter is that which the Merchants of Barbary convey.
They alfo fabricate a fpecies of carpet, as a covering for their horfes. Tents, from wool and the hair of goats and of camels, are made for the ufe of the army.
The little filver they have is converted by their own ar-lifts into rings.
240 M*- Lt/CAS's
Copper and Brafs* which are brought to them from Tripoli, by the way of Fezzan, and which, as already mentioned, are ufed as the current fpecies of Bornou 1
Imperial Dollars, which ark alfo brought to them from Tripoli by the Merchants of Fezzan, and are converted by their own artiffs into rings and brace^ lets for their women;
Red Woollen Caps, which are worn under the turban;
Check Linens,
Light coarfe Woollen Cloths,
Baize,
Barakans,
Small Turkey Carpets, Plain Mefurata Carpets.
CHAPTER
CHAPTER VII.
Rout from Mourzouk to Cajlma—Boundaries of the Empire—Its Language, Currency, and Trade.
EQUALLY connected by their commerce with Caihna and Bornou, the Pezzaners difpatch to the former as well as to the latter, and always at the fame feafon, an annual caravan. From Mourzouk, their capital, which they leave at the clofe of October, they take their c°urfe to the South South Weft, and proved to the Province of Hiatts, the moft
R barren,
barren, and the woril inhabited diflricl; of their country.
Five of the fourteen days which are requilite for this part of their rout, are confumed in the pafTage of a fandy defart, in which their ufual expedient of covering their goat .(kins, both within and without, with a refinous fubif ance, prevents but imperfectly the dreaded evaporation of their water,
From the Province of Kiatts they crofs the low mountains of Eyre, which fepa-rate the Kingdom of Fezzan from the vaff Empire of Caihna; and leaving to their right the fmall river which flows from thefe hills, and is loft in the deep fands of a neighbouring defart, they en? ter a wide heath, uninhabited, but not delfitute of water, The fixth day conducts them from this extended folitude
tQ
to the long defired refrelhments of the Town of Ganatt, where the two next days are devoted to repofe.
From thence, by a march of nineteen days, during lix of which they are im-merfed in the heats of a thirfty defart, they pafs on to the Town of Affouda, which offers them equal refrelhments with Ganatt, and equally fufpends their journey.
On leaving AfTouda, they travel a delightful country, as fertile as it is mime-roully peopled; and while the exhilarating light of Indian corn and of frequent herds of cattle accompanies and chears their pafTage, the eighth day introduces them to the large and populous City of Agadez, the capital of an extenfive province,
Diffin-
244 m*- lucas's
Diftinguimed as the moft commercial of all the towns of Caihna, and, like Alfouda and Ganatt, inhabited by Mahometans alone, Agadez naturally attracts the peculiar attention of the Merchants of Fezzan. Many of them proceed no farther but the greateff part, committing to their Agents the care of the Haves, cotton, and fenna, which they purchafe in the courfe of a ten days re-r lidence, continue their journey to the South.
In this manner, if the camels are com-pleatly loaded, feven and forty days, ex-clufive of thofe which are allotted to re-frefhment and neceffary reft, are employed in travelling from Mourzouk to Agadez.
At the end of three days more, amidft fields that are enriched with the luxuriant
riant growth of Indian corn, and pastures that are covered with multitudes of cows, and with flocks of fheep and goats, the Traveller reaches the fmall Town of BegZam -t from which, through a country of herdfmen, whofe dwellings are in tents of hides, the fecond day conducts him to the Town of Tegomah* There, as he furveys the ftony* uninhabited, defolate hills that form the chearlefs profpecT before him, he caffs a regretful eye on thofe verdant fcenes that furrounded him the day before. Employed for two days in the pafTage of thefe dreary heights, he defcends on the third to a deep and fcorching fand, from Which he emerges at the approach of the fifth evening, and entering a beautiful country, as pleafingly diverfified with the natural beauties of hills and vales and woods, as with the rich rewards °f thehulbandman's and the ihepherd's B 3 toil,
toil, he arrives in feven days more at the City of Caihna, the capital of the empire of which it bears the name, and the ufual refidence of its powerful Sultan.
The country to which the Geographers of Europe have given the name of Nigritia, is called by the Arabs Soudan, and by the natives Aafnou, two words of fimilar import, that, like the European appellation, exprefs the land of the Blacks, and like that too, are applied to a part only of the region to which their meaning fo obvioully belongs.-—Yet, even in this limited fenfe, the word Soudan is often varioully employed for while fome of the Africans reftricT it to the Empire of Caihna, which is fituated at the North of the Niger, others extend it, with indefinite com-preheniion, to the Negro States on the
South
South of the river, and applying it as a means of exprefling the extended rule and tranfcendant power of the Emperor of Caihna, call him, with extravagant compliment, the Sultan of all Soudan.
I lis real fovereignty is bounded, on the North, by the mountains of Eyre, and by one of thofe diftridts of the great Zahara, that furnifh no means of ufeful property or available dominion j on the South, by the Niger; and on the Eaff, by the Kingdom of Zamphara and the Empire of Bornou, Its wellern limit is not defcribedby the Shereef nor is any thing faid of the Capital, except that it is fituated to the North of the Niger, at the diftance of five days journey, and that its buildings referable thofe of Bornou.
The
The obfervations which introduced the account of Bornou, have already announced the remarkable fimilaritv, as well with refpect to climate, foil, and natural productions, as with regard to the colour, genius, religion, and political in-ftitutions of the people, that prevails between that powerful State and its filter Kingdom of Caihna.
The rains* indeed, are lefs violent than thofe of Bornou. It exclufively fur-nifhes the bifhnah, a fpecies of Indian corn that differs from the gamphuly, in the blended colours of red and white which diftinguifh its grain. Its monkeys and parrots (animals but feldom feen in Bornou) are numerous, and of various fpecies. The meridian of its capital is confidered as a weftern limit, in that parallel of latitude, to the vegetation
of
of grapes and the breed of camels; for between Caihna and the Atlantic few camels are bred, and no grapes will grow. The manners of the common people are lefs courteous in Caihna than in Bornou, and their games are lefs expreffive of reflection; for their favourite play con-lifts in toiling up four fmall fticks, and counting thofe that crofs each other, as fo many points of the number that con-ftitutes the game. But the circumftances of chief difcriruination between the empires are, thofe of language, currency, and certain articles of commerce.
Of
Of the difference between the Languages of Bornou and of Caihna, the following fpecimen is given by the Shereef.
In the Language of Bornou		!    In the	Language of Caffina
i	is exprejfed by Lakkah	• 1 is exprejjidby Deiyrh	
2		2 ....	Becyou
3		3 ••••	Okoo
4		4 ....	Foodoo
5	........ Okoo	5 ....	Beat
6		6 ....	Shedah
7		7	Eookal
8		; s ....	Tattoos
9	........ L'ilkar	! 9 ....	Tarr&h
10		1 10 ....	Goumah
ii			Goumah maDehah
12		12 ....	Goumah ma BeeyoU
'3		13 ....	Goumah lha Okoo
'4		14 ....	Goumah Ilia Foodoo
The Currency of Caihna, like that of the Negro States to the South of the Niger, is compofed of thofe fmall fhells
that
that are known to Europeans and to the Blacks themfelves by the name of Cowries, and to the Arabs by the appellation of Hueddah.—Cardie, which is another term for this fpecies of Negro money, and the fpecific meaning of which the Shereef has neglected to explain, is faid to be given to it by the idolatrous tribes alone j a circumitance that feems to indicate fuperffitious attachment.--Of
thefe fhells, 2,500 are effimatedin Caihna as equal in value to a mitkal of Fezzan, which is worth about 675 piaftres of Tripoli, or ten millings and three half-pence fterling.
Among the few circumftances which characterize the Trade of Caihna, as dif-tinguifhcdfrom thatof Bornou, the moft remarkable is, that the Merchants of the former kingdom are the fole carriers, to other nations, of a fcarce and moft valuable
able commodity, which is only to be obtained from the inhabitants of the latter. For though the fait of Bornou fupplies the confumption of Caihna, 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 mores of which this article of African luxury is found, are feparated from Agadez by a march of five and forty days, and are encompaffed on all fides by the fands of the vaff Defart of Bilma, where the ardent heat of a flaming fky is returned with double fiercenefs by the furface of the burnino; foil.   A thoufand camels,
C-J
bred and maintained for the purpofe, are faid to compofe the caravan which annually explores, in the favage wilder-nefs, the long line of this adventurous
journey.
journey. Perilous, however, and full of hardlhips as their labour is, the Merchants find an ample recompence in the profits of their commerce i for while the wretched villagers who inhabit the neighbourhood of the lakes, and collect the fait that congeals upon the fhores, arc contented to receive, or obliged to accept a fcanty price, the value that the Merchants obtain in the various markets of Caihna, of Tombuctou, and of the countries to the South of the Niger, is fuited to the high effimation 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 themfelves of the commodities that are furnifhed by their own; for knowing the fuperior quality of the fenna which grows upon
their
their mountains, they demand and receive from the Merchants of Fezzan a proportionable price.—
The fenna of Agadez is valued in Tripoli at fourteen or fifteen maha-boobs, or from 41.4s. t.041. los.per hundred weight; wThile that of Tibeffi is worth no more than from nine to ten mahaboobs, or from 2I. 14s. to 3I. fterling. From Tripoli the fenna is exported to Turkey, Leghorn, and Mar-feilles.
Of the other articles of fale which the extenfive Empire of Caihna affords, the principal are—
Gold Dull—the value of which appears to be eftimated at a higher rate in Caihna than in Fezzan 5 for in the former the worth of an ounce of 640 grains
(which
(which is the weight of an ounce in Fezzan, Caihna, and probably in all the States between that kingdom and the Niger) is faid to be nine mitkals, or 4I. 10s. fterling; whereas an ounce of the fame weight is worth in Fezzan but 4I. In Caihna the value of an Engliffi ounce of 480 grains is confequently 3L 7s. 6d. whereas in Fezzan it is only 3I.
Slaves.—In what manner thefe are obtained, does not diftinclly appear; but the value of a male Have is faid to be from 15 to 20,000 cowries, or from 3I. to 4I. fterling:
That of a female Have is defcribed as being two-thirds of the former, or from 10,000 to 13,334 cowries, which in Englifh money would be from 2I. to 2b 13s. 4d,
Cotton
W- LUCJS's
Cotton Cloths—which are the general manufacture of Caihna, of Bornou, and of the Negro States to the South of the Niger;
Goat-fkins—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 fale, weredefcribedin the account which has been given of the trade of Bornou.
In return for thefe articles the inhabitants of Caihna receive-^
Cowries—a fea fhell which is brought from the coaft, and conff itutcs the common fpecie of the empire:
Horfes
Horfes and Mares—which are pur-chafed 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 Gaps,
Check Linens,*
Light coarfe Woollen Cloths,
Baize,
Barakans or Alhaiks, Small Turkey Carpets, Plain Mefurata Carpets, Silk, wrought and unwrought, Tiffues and Brocades, Sabre Blades,
S Dutch
* The drefs of the people of Fullan (a country to the weft of Cafhna) refembles the cloth of which the plaids °f the Scotch Highlanders are made.
Dutch Knives, SchTars, Coral, Beads,
Small Looking-GlafTes,
Tickera—a pafte which is prepared in Fezzan from dates and the meal of Indian corn, and which, whenever they travel, is in great requeft 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 pleafant bitter that they communicate to any liquid in which they are infufed.
CHAPTER
CHAPTER VIII.
Countries, South of the Niger.
THE account which the Shereef has given of fuch of the kingdoms to the South of the Niger as he himfelf has vi-iite'd, is too deficient in geographical information, to furniih a clear and determinate idea of this part of his travels: and though the names of the principal States in whofe capitals he traded, or through whofe dominions he paffed, may be ufed with advantage as the means °f future enquiry, and are therefore inserted in the map which accompanies S 2 this
2-6o Mr. LUCAS'S
this Narrative; yet the places afligned them mull; be confidered as in fome degree conjectural. That the line of his journey was towards the Gold Coaft, there is, however, the ftrongeft reafon to believe; and the following brief account of his remarks may lead to con-clufions which are neither unintereff ing nor unimportant.
From that part of the Niger which forms the fouthern limit of the great Empire of Caihna, to the Kingdom of Tonouwah, which borders on the coaft. of the Chriffians, and of which the Town of Affente is faid to be the capital, afuc-ceihonof hills, among which are mountains of a if upendous height, diverfifies or conffitutes the general face of the country. Moft of the lands are defcribed as already cleared, but fome particular diir.ricf s are ftill incumbered with woods
of
of a vaft extent; and though for the moft part the highlands are paftured by innumerable flocks of fheep, and by herds of cows and goats, and the vales exhibit the captivating view of fuccef-flve villages, encompaffed with corn and rice, and fruits of various kinds, yet there are places of native fferility and eternal barrennefs.
The combined occupations of the fhep-herd and of the hulbandman compofe the general employment of the people j While the cotton cloth, and the goat-fkins of the red and of the yellow dyes, that are offered in feveral of the towns for fale, announce the rudiments of future manufactures, and perhaps of an extenfive commerce.
Exempted by the nature of their climate from many of thofe hardlhips from
S 3 which.
i6z
MR- LUCJS's
which, in other countries, drefs is the principal protection, a large proportion of the inhabitants wear only the covering that decency requires. But moff of theMahometans,as the mark of a religion which they are proud to profefs, adorn their heads with the folds of the turban, and alfo adopt, at leaf! in fome of the States, the cotton fliirt, which is fo much worn in the empires of Caihna and Bornou.
Tents, which are formed of the hides of cows or of buffaloes, and which are peculiarly fuited to the fhepherd life, are the only dwellings of multitudes of the Negros; while the huts, which o-thers erect with the branches of trees, are of a conftruction almoft equally fim-ple.
Several of the towns are defcribed as
furrounded
furrounded by walls ; and bows and arrows are mentioned as the common in-itruments of war.
In the defcription of their Government, a few inftances of fmall Republics are given; but moft of their States are monarchical; and of thefe, the inhabitants of the Mahometan Kingdom of Degombah are diftinguifhed by the cuf-tom of taming the Elephant, and by that of felling for iiaves the prifoners they take from fuch of the bordering nations as motives of religion or of avarice prompt them to invade.
Suchj however, is the mildnefs of the Negro character, that even the afperi-ties of religious disagreement appear to have no effect on their general conduct; for there is reafon to believe, from the Shereefs account, that the Muffelman
S 4 and
and the Pagan are indifcriminately mixed; that their cattle feed upon the fame mountain ; and that the approach of evening fends them in peace to the fame village: and though the nations who are attacked by the people of Degombah punifh with death, as guilty of atrocious injuffice, fuch of the invaders as the chance of war throws into their hands, yet thofe of the Mahometans who vifit them for the purpofes of trade, are received with protection and refpect.
To the Merchants of Fezzan, who travel to the fouthern States of the Negros, the purchafe of gold, which the dominions of feveral, and efpecially of thofe of Degombah, abundantly afford, is always the firft object of commercial ac-quifition. The other articles which they obtain, confiff of
Slaves,
Cotton
Cotton Cloth,
Goat-Skins, of a beautiful dye, Hides of Buffaloes and Cows, and A fpecies 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 inclofed a number of nuts that varies from feven to nine.   Their colour is a yellowifh green; their fize is that of a chefnut, which they alfo refemble in being covered by a hulk of a fimilar thieknefs; and their tafte, which is defcribed as a pleafant bitter, is fo grateful to thofe who are accuffomed to its ufe, and fo important as a corrective to the unpalatable or unwholefome waters of Fezzan, and of the other kingdoms that border on the vaff Zahara, as to be deemed of importance to the happinefs of life.
No
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 fays, is eftablifhed among the tribes to the South of the Niger, feems to be the only fpecies of weaving that is known among them. Perhaps the dark colour of the fleece, as di {qualifying it for the dye, may be one reafon, and its coarfe and hairy nature may be another, of the little efteem in which it appears to be held.
In return for the articles which they fell to their foreign vifitors, the Negros receive—
Salt, from the Merchants of Agadez,
Dutch Knives,
Sabre Blades,
Carpets,
Coral,
Beads,
Beads,
Looking-GlafTes, Civet,
Imperial Dollars and Brafs—from both of which the Negro artiffs manufacture rings and bracelets for their women.
Fire Arms are unknown to fuch of the nations on the South of the Niger as the Shereef has vifited; and the reafon which he affigns for it is, that the Kings in the neigbourhood of the coaft, perfuaded that if thefe powerful inftruments of war fhould reach the poffeffion of the populous inland States, their own independence would be loft, have ftrictly prohibited, and by the wifdom of their meafures, have effectually prevented this dangerous merchandize from palling beyond the limit of their dominions.
CHAPTER
CHAPTER IX.
General View of the Trade from Fezzan to Tri~ foli, Bornou, Cajhna* and the Countries on the South of the Niger.
In the general defcription of Fezzan, an account was given of the various articles of native produce which fupply 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 diftinguifhed, the detail was purpofely deferred: for till a previous account of the countries
to
to which that commerce is ertabliihed had been exhibited, no adequate conception of its nature or extent could be eaiily conveyed.
At the latter end of October, when the ardent heat of the Summer months is fuccecded by the pleafant mildnefs and fettled ferenity of Autumn, the feveral caravans that are reflectively deffined for Tripoli and Bornou and Caihna, and the Negro Nations beyond the Niger, take their departure from Mourzouk, the capital of Fezzan. The parties which compofe them are ."generally fmall j for unlefs information has been received that the road is infeffed with robbers, ten or a dozen Merchants attended by twice as many camels, and by the ne-ceffary fervants, conffitute the ufual ftrength of the caravan.  But if an attack is apprehended, an affbciation of
forty
forty or fifty men, with mufkets 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 coaff excepted) have yet poffeffed themfelves of fire-arms, the collective force of fuch a number is fuflicient to infure their fafety.
Their flore of provifions ufually confifts of dates; of meal prepared from barley or from Indian corn, and pre-vioufly deprived of all its moifture in an oven temperately heated; and of mutton, which is cured for the purpofe, by the treble procefs of being falted and dried in the fun, and afterwards boiled in oil or fat; a procefs which gives it, even in that climate, a lafting preferva-tion.
In all the principal towns to which
they
they trade, the Merchants of Fezzan have Factors, or confidential Friends, to whofe care, till their return, or till their in ft ructions as to the market fhall arrive, they confign fuch Negros as they pur-chafe, perfectly affined that the ilaves will be forwarded by the Agents according to the orders they receive; but their gold duff, as being more ealily conveyed, and lefs dependant for its value on the choice of the market, is feldom entrufted to the Factor.
The caravans which proceed to Tripoli are freighted partly with trona, the produce of their native land, and partly with fenna and gold duff and ilaves, the produce of the fouthern countries with which they trade: and in return they bring back the cutlery and woollens (particularly red woollen caps) and filks, wrought and unwrought, together with
the
the Imperial dollars, the copper and the brafs, which are requilite for the con-fumption of thofe countries or for their own.
The caravans which travel to Bomou are loaded with the following goods:
Brafs and copper—for the currency of Bornou. The caravan which Mr. Lucas accompanied from Tripoli to Mefurata, had brought ten camel loads or forty hundred weight of thefe metals for the Bornou market: their value in Bornou is about four fhillings Iferling for each pound weight.
Imperial Dollars—which are called in Arabic Real Abotacia, and the value of Much, in comparifon with the dollars of Spain, is, at Tripoli, as 365 piaftres to 34°> or nearly as 16 to 15:
T Red
274
m*- lucas's
Red Woollen Caps, Check Linens, Light coarfe Cloth, Baize,
Barakans or Alhaiks, Small Carpets of Turkey, Small plain Carpets of Mefurata, Silk, wrought and unwrought, Tiflhes and Brocades—for the Royal Family and other perfons of rank, Sabre Blades, Dutch Knives, Scilfars, Coral, Beads,
Small Looking-Glaffcs, Gooroo Nuts.
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,
corn, highly dried in an oven. It is called Tickera, and is valued, efpecially by Travellers, as a portable and highly fa-lubrious food.
In return for the goods which they bring to Bornou the Merchants take back with them,
Slaves,
Gold Duff,
Civet—for the markets on the South of the Niger.
The exports from Fezzan to Cajhna and its dependent States, confiff of the following articles:
Cowries—a fea fhell (in Arabic called Hueddah) which conltitutes the circulating fpecie of this empire, and of the T 2 Negro
Negro kingdoms, and which the Merchants procure from the Southern nations who border on the coaft j 17,062 are confidered in Caihna as equivalent to an Englifh ounce (480 grains) of gold;
Brafs—from which the Smiths of the country manufacture rings and bracelets for their women;
Horfes,
Red Woollen Caps? Check Linens, Light coarfe Cloths, Baize,
Barakans, or Alhaiks, Small Turkey Carpets, Plain Mefurata Carpets, Silk, wrought and unwrought, TiflTues and Brocades, Sabre Blades,
Dutch
Dutch Knives, Sciffars, Coral, Beads,
Small Looking-GlafTeS,
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, and the ufe of which has been mentioned before.
The articles received in return, are—■
Gold Drift—of which an Englifh ounce (or 480 grains) appears to be valued at 3I. 8s. 3d. though in Fezzan it feems to be worth no more than 3I. The Fez-zaners, in all probability, make them-T 3 felves
felves amends by the price which they charge upon their goods:
Slaves—A male Have is worth in Caihna, from 3I. 10s. to 5L—a female Have is worth two-thirds of the amount, or from 2I. 6s. 8d. to 3I. 6s. 8d.
Cotton Cloths—of various colours, principally blue and white, of which in the Empire of Caihna, 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 Caihna Empire:—the Agadez fenna is worth at Tripoli, from fourteen to fifteen mahaboobs (4I. 4s. to 4I. 10s. fterling)
ling) per hundred weight t that which the Fezzaners obtain at Tibefti is only worth per hundred weight, from nine to ten mahaboobs, or from 2I. 14s. t.031. fterling.
Civet.
To fuch of the various nations inhabiting the Country on the South of the Niger as they are accuffomedto vifit, the Merchants of Fezzan convey the following articles :
Sabre blades, Dutch Knives, Carpets, Coral, Beads,
Looking-Glafles, Brafs,
T 4 Imperial
28o
M*- LUCAS's
Imperial Dollars, Civet.
In return the Merchants receive—
Gold Drift, Slaves,
Cotton Cloths—of various colours,
Goat Skins—red and yellow,
Ox and Buffalo Hides,
Gooroo Nuts—for fale in Cafhna, Bornou, and Fezzan, where they are pur-chafed at the rate of 12s. for one hundred pods:
Cowries—for fale in Cafhna.
Ivory, though very common in the country to the South of the Niger, is not coniidered by the Merchants of Fezzan as an article of profitable tranfport, the demand for it on the Coaft being fuch as induces them to fell to the Negros who traffic there, the teeth which in
the
the courfe of their journey, they often find in the woods.*
Such
* The goods imported by the Merchants of Fezzan, confift of
Slaves—in which they have a great trade,
Gold Dull,
Ivory,
Oftrich Feathers,
Senna—which is brought from the neighbouring countries,
European goods of various fpecies, from Tripoli.
The goods exported from Fezzan, confift of the following European articles :
Woollen Cloths,
Linens of different forts,
Gun Barrels,
Gun and Piftol Locks,
Small Shot,
Ball,
Iron Bars, Tin,
Copper,
Such are the principal branches of the extenfive commerce of the Merchants of Fezzan j from a view of which it appears, that, vaff as their concerns are, they have little communication with any of the States that are fituated to the Weft of the Empire of Cafhna; a circum-ftance which the Shereef afcribes to the
want
Copper, Brafs j
Brafs Dimes,
Nails,
Spices-,
Mufk,
Benzoin,
Dying Wood,
Allum,
Tartar for Dying, Green Vitriol, Verdigreafe, Brimftone, Looking-G lanes.
want of a proper conveyance for their goods; for the country on the Weff of Cafhna furnifhes but few camels, and even horfes and mules are hngularly fcarce and dear.
CHAPTER
CHAPTER X.
Rout from Mourzouk to Grand Cairo, according to Hadgee Abdalah Benmileitan, the prefent Governor of Mefurata.
PLACED in a fituation which affords an eafy intercourfe with the Mediterranean, and therefore with the States of Europe, on the one hand, and on the other with the extenfive Empires of Bornou and Cafhna, the dominions of of Tomtmctou, and the various nations of Negros to the South of the Niger, the Merchants of Fezzan are happily
pofTeffed
286
MR' LUCJS's
poffefTed of the farther advantage of communicating by a fafe and comparatively commodious paffage with the Cities of Grand Cairo and of Mecca. A pilgrimage to the latter, the object, from time immemorial, of veneration in Arabia, is prefcribed to every Muffelman; and though the greateff part of the believers in Mahomet, deterred by diftance, or restrained by the avocations of bull-nefs and the feelings of domeftic attachment, content themfelves with imperfect refolutions of performing at fome future period this arduous journey; yet there are perfons, even from the in-nermoft receffes of Africa, who think, that a pofitive injunction of their faith is too folemn for excufes, and too momentous for delay. Prompted by this urgent confideration, or allured by the honourable diftinction which attends upon the title of Hadgee, the envied, appellation
pellation of thofe who have vifitecl the facred Temple, a number of the faithful from the Empires of Bornou and Cafhna, from the extenfive kingdom of Caf-faba* and from feveral of the Negro States, refort to Fezzan, and proceed from thence, with the caravan, which in the Autumn of every fecond or third year takes its departure for Mecca. The caravan, which feldom confiffs of lefs than one hundred, or of more than three hundred Travellers, affembles at Mourzouk, and begins its journey in the laff week of October, or in the fir ft of the fucceeding month.
Temiffa, a town in the dominions of Fezzan, and fituated to the Eaft North Eaft of Mourzouk, receives them at the clofe.of the feventh day5 and in two days more, of eafy travelling, they arrive at a lofty mountain, rocky, uninhabited,
bited, and barren, of the name of Xa-nibba. Having recruited their goat-f kin bags from the only well which thefe ful-len heights afford, they defcend to a vaff and dreary defart, whofe hill^ furface, for four fucceflive days, prefents 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 foft and fandy ffone fucceeds. Through all this wide expanfe of varied nakednefs no trace of animal or vegetable life, not even the defart thorn, is feen. On the eighth day, the vail mountain of Ziltan, the rugged fides of which are marked with fcanty fpots of brufhwood, and are enriched with ft ores of water, increafes the labour of the journey. Four days are devoted to the toils of this ftupendous pafTage i four others are employed in crofting the fultry plain that ftretches its barren fands
from
communications. 289
t- • _„
from the foot of the mountain to the verdant heights of Sibbeel, where the wells of water and the cheating view of multitudes of antelopes fufpend their fatigues, and anticipate the refrelhments that await them on the next evening; for the clofe of the following day conducts them to the town of Augela.
From that place, which is fubject 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 afcent of the broad mountain of Gerdobah, from whofe inflexible bar-rennefs the Traveller, in the courfe of a five days pafTage, can only collect a fcan-ty fopply of unpalatable water. Defending from thefe mournful highlands, he enters the narrow plain of Ge-gabib, Tandy and uninhabited, yet fer-
U tile
tile in dates, which the people of Duna (a town dependant on Tripoli, and fituated on the Coaft at the diftance of eight days journey from Gegabib) annually gather.
From this fcene of gladfome contraft to the inveterate rocks of Gerdobah, a three days march conducts the caravan to another defolate mountain of the name of Bufelema, that furnifhes only water; and in three days more they enter the dominions of the independent Republic of See-wah.
Governed by a Council of fix or eight Elders, whofe lafting diffentions divide the opinions and diffract the allegiance of the people, this unfortunate State is conftantly involved in the miferies of inteftine war.  Its chief produce is the
date
communica tions. 2qi
,_______
(late tree; for the lands, though not destitute of water, furnifh hut little corn.
From See-wah, the capital, the caravail proceeds in a fingle day to the miferable village of Umfeguer, which is one of the dependencies of the State, and is fituated at the foot of the mountainous Defart of Le Magra, where, in the long courfe of a feven days pafTage, the Traveller is fcarcely fenfible that a few fpots of thin and meagre brufhwood ftightly interrupt the vaff expanfe of fferility, and diminifh the amplitude of defolation. The eighth day terminates with his arrival at the hill of fluaddy L'Ottron, which is diffinguifhed by a fmall convent, of three Ghriffian Monks, who re-Tide there under the protection of Cairo, and to whofe hofpitable entertainment the Traveller is largely indebted. Buildings furrounded with high walls, and
U 2 erected
erected in the neighbourhood of the convent, are opened for his reception j and for three fucceflive days, if he chu-fes to be their gueft fo long, his wants, as far as their means extend, are chear-fully and liberally fupplied.
Their garden, in which is a well of excellent and never-failing water, affords an ample ftorc of vegetables of various kinds: the maintenance of a few fheep is furnifhed by an adjoining paf-ture i and they raife, without difficulty, a numerous breed of fowls. All other articles, except their bread, which they manufacture themfelves* they receive from Cairo.
Refpected by the Arabs, who revere their hofpitality more than they hate their religion, thefe venerable men are
apparently fecure,--Yet as too much
con-
co mm uni cat! ons. 293
confidence might invite the meaner! plunderers to invade their peaceful dwelling, they have cautioully guarded their convent by a feparate and lofty inclofure from an opening in which a ladder of ropes furnifhes the means of defcent.
Leaving this hofpitable hill with fuch refrefhments as the generous Fathers could fupply, the caravan continues its courfe, and on the fifth day arrives at the City of Cairo, from whence, at the ufual feafon, it proceeds by the cufto-mary rout to Mecca,
U 3 CHAPTER
CHAPTER XL
Conclujions fuggcfted by the preceding Narrative,
FrOM the perufal of the preceding account, the Society are enabled to judge of the credit which it deferves, and of the value of the information which it offers. If the evidence of its truth fhould be thought infufficient, they will keep their minds in fufpencetill Narratives of more confirmed authenticity Ihall difprove or eftablifh the relation. But if they fhould think that the Shereef's account of Bornou and of the Niger is too ffrongly Supported by the corref ponding description of Ben Alli, to leave a fufpicion of
U4 its
2Q& m*- lucas'S
its falSehood 5 and that the fidelity of this part of his Narrative warrants the belief of whatever elfe is equally defcribed on the authority of his pcrfonal knowledge, then they will feel that conclulions of an important and interefting nature refult from the various,though imper feci; intelligence which he has furnifhed.
The prefent ftate of the Empire of Bornou, compared with its condition when Leo Africanus, who wrote his account in the year 1526, was its vifitor, exhibits an interefting proof of the advancement of the Mahometan Faith, and of the progrefs of imperfect civilization.*   A favage nakednefs, or the rude
covering
* Leo's Hiji. of Africa, book xn.p. 293, 294. Eng. Edition.
" OF THE KINGDOM OF BORNO.
" The inhabitants in Summer go all naked, except at V their waifts, which they cover with a piece of leather:
« but
ip—.....      " , *~ ■
covering which the fkins of beafts afford, are now relinquifhed, for the decency
V but all the Winter they are clad in fkins, and have beds *f of fkins alfo. They embrace no religion at all, being <c neither Chriftians, Mahometans, nor Jews, nor of any « other profeflion, but living after a brutiih manner, and " having wives and children in common: and (as I un-" derftood of a certain Merchant that abode a long time " among them) they have no proper names at all, but f every one is nick-named according to his length, his " fatnefs, or fome other qu alkie. They have a mod " puiflant Prince, being lineally defcended from the Ly-" bian people called Bardoa : horfemen he hath in a con-" tinual readinefs, to the number of 3000, and an huge 11 number of footmen, for all his fubjccls are fo fervice-" able and obedient unto him, that whenfoever he com-u mandeth them, they will arme themfelves and follow " him whither he pleafeth 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 Eftate, but only fuch fpoils as he getteth from his $' next enemies by often invafions and afiaults."
Yet the King feemcth to be marvellous rich; for
" his
cency and convenience of a drefs of cotton manufacture. Tenrpered by the courtefy of commerce, and the conciliating interchange of important benefits, the antient barbarifm of the people is foftened to habits of kindnefs, and, in the minds of the greateff part, the ab-furd fuperffitions of Paganifm have given place to the natural and fublime idea of the Unity of God.
From the account of the nations to the South of the Niger, it appears, that,
among
u his fpursj his bridles, platters, dimes, pots, and other " veflels 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 alfo. Howbeit this " King is extremely covetous, for he had much rather pay " his debts in ilaves than in geld. In this kingdomeare " great multitudes of Negros and of other people, the " names of whom (bicaufe I tarried here but one month) " I could not well note."
among the Mahometan Blacks, the ifern-nefs of the Muffelman is foftened by the miklnefs 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 feldom confidered as a reafon or pretext for war.
Perhaps the attention of the PMIofo-fher may be engaged by the ufe to which the fmall fhells of the Maldive Iflands are equally applied by the inhabitants of Caihna, and by the natives of Bengal. Samenefs of opinion, or resemblance of conduct, when founded in natural feeling, or a fimilar If ate of fociety, are feen without wonder in nations unconnected and remote 5 but that a cuftom fo arbitrary and artificial as that of employing Cowries as a fubffitute for coin, a cuftom which inftinct could not have produced, and chance could fcarcely have
occafi-
300 Mr. LUCASfs
* r   ' "■•------:-----;-=™-^™x
occafioned, fh ould equally prevail among the Negros of Africa and the natives of Bengal, may juff ly be deemed a curious and interefting phenomenon.
To the Britifh Traveller, a deflre of ex-, changing the ufual excurlion from Calais to Naples, for a Tour more extended and important, and of palling from fcenes with which all are acquainted, to refearches in which every object is new, and each ftep is difcovery, may recommend the Kingdom of Fezzan, If Antiquities be his favourite purfuit, the ruins which fhadow the cottages of Jer-r mah and of Temilfa, promife an ample gratification: or if the ffudy of Nature be his wifh, the expanfive fcenes and numerous productions of that uninvestigated foil may equally promote his entertainment and his knowledge. But if a fpirit of more adventurous refearch
ihould
mould induce him to travel with the Merchants of Fezzan, difcoveries of fu-perior value may diftinguifh and reward his toil. The powerful Empires of Bornou and Cafhna will be open to his in-veftigation; the luxurious City of Tom-budtoUj whofe opulence and fevere police attract the Merchants of the moft diftant States of Africa, will unfold to him the caufes of her vaft profperity; the myfterious Nigefwill difclofe her unknown original and doubtful termination j andcountries unveiled to antient or modern refearch will become familiar to his view. Or fhould he be willing to join the Cairo Caravan, the difcovery of the antient fcite, and of whatever elfe may remain of the Temple of Jupiter Ammon, may perhaps be attempted with fuccefs: for the fame caufes which gave birth to the Iprings, and, by their means, to the luxuriant
vege-
vegetation of the antient domains of the Temple, muff ffill continue to diftin-guilh the fortunate foil: and there feems no reafon to doubt that the hofpitable convent of Huaddy L'Ottron, or the neighbouring Republic of See-wah, will not only furniifi a place of convenient departure and of eafy retreat, but will alfo fupply the requifite information, and the neceifary aid. At this time, an Interpreter, who is equally acquainted with Arabic and Englifh, may be found in London -} and, at all times, the Cities of Tripoli, of Tunis, and Ceuta, afford a number of Mahometans who are al-moft as converfant with the Italian or the Spanifh, as with the Arabic, their native language.
But of all the advantages which a better acquaintance with the Inland Regions of Africa may lead, the firit in importance
portance is, the extenfion of the Commerce, and the encouragement of the Manufactures of Britain. That firearms are in requeft with all nations, civilized and favage, who have the means of obtaining them, experience uniformly proves; and we now learn, that to the jealoufy which the Princes on the Southern Coafl 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 fale of one of the moft profitable manufactures of Great Britain is flill in a great meafure confined to the fcanty Tribes which inhabit the fhore of the Atlantic. From the fame information we are alfo led to conclude, that the anxious policy which prohibits the conveyance of fire-arms to the Inland Tribes, dictates, as a neceffary caution,
3°4 M*- LUCAS's
— m
tion, the fevereft reftraints on the tranfit of. other merchandize. But if, on the fyftem of the Moors, the effect of which has been tried too long for its wifdom to be difputed, affociations of Englifh-men fhould form caravans, and take their departure from the higheit navigable reaches of the Gambia, or from the fettlement which is lately effabliflied at Sierra LCona, there is reafon 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 fyftem, much greater would be their profits than thofe which the Merchants of Fezzan receive; for they would reach, by a journey of 700 miles from their veffels, the fame markets to which a land-carriage of 3000 conveys from the Mediterranean the goods of the Fez-zaners ; and they would alfo polfefs the
farther
farther advantage of obtaining at prime coif, the fame articles for which the Merchants of Fezzan are fubjected to the complicated difadvantages of a high price, of an inferior quality, and of the varying exactions that the defpotic Governments of Barbary impofe.   Now if it be considered, that notwithstanding the vaff expence of land-carriage, and of an exorbitant price on the purchafe of the articles which they fell, the Traders of Fezzan are ft ill enabled to collect a profit that upholds and encourages their commerce, it muff be evident, that the gain which theMerchants of England would derive from a 1 Similar traffic, conducted as is here propofed, would be fuch as few commercial adventures have ever been found to yield.   That no difficulties will attend the execution of the Plan, the general hiftory of new undertakings forbids us to believe; but as far X as
as the climate and religion of the Negros are in queftion, there feems to he little difcouragement; for the long defcent of the rivers is a proof that the elevation of the inland country is raifed above the level of the coaft, and confequently that the climate is much more temperate, and probably more falubrious: and while the Narrative of the Shereef announces that the Merchant is conlidered by the Negro as the general friend of Mankind, common experience convincingly fhews that, in the judgment of the Pagan, the Crefcent and the Crofs are objects of equal indifference j and that the comparative welcome of the Muffelman and of the Chriftian depends on their Merchandize rather than their Greed.
As little difcouragement is fuggelted by a view of the purchafeable goods of which the natives are poffeffed ; for, in*
depen-
CO MM UNICA TIQNS. 3 07
dependently of their cotton, which in all the interior nations is defcribed as of common manufacture, and therefore as of general growth, their mines of gold (the improveable poffeffion of many of the Inland States) Will furnifh, to an unknown, and probably boundlefs extent, an article that commands, in all the markets of the civilized world, a conflant and unlimited fale.
Such are the important objects of mercantile purfuit, which the various intelligence obtained by thefirff efforts of the Affociation, enables them to point out and recommend to their Country: and while the contemplation of national in-tereffs, and of the ffill more extended intereff s of philofophy, directs their efforts and animates their hopes, they cannot be indifferent to the reflection, that in the purfuit of thefe advantages,
X 2 and
and by means as peaceable as the purpofes are juft, the conveniencies of civil life, the benefits of the mechanic and manufacturing arts, the attainments of fcience, the energies of the cultivated mind, and the elevation of the human character, may in fome degree be imparted to nations hitherto configned to hopelefs barbarifm and uniform contempt.
FOR the following Memoir, and for the Map which it defcribes, the Society are indebted to the eminent talents and ardent zeal in the Promotion of Geographical Improvement that diftinguifh the character of Major Rennell.
X3
CHAPTER XII.
Conftruffiion of the Map of Africa.
TlIAT the Geography of Africa has made a flower progrefs towards improvement than that of every other part of the world, during the laff, and the prefent century, is to be attributed more to natural caufes, than to an abfolute want of attention on the part of Geographers. Formed by the Creator, with a contour and furface totally unlike the other Continents, its interior parts elude all nautic refeai ch; whilff the wars and commerce in which Europeans have ta-X 4 ken
en part, have been confined to very circumfcribed parts of its borders. Thefe moft productive means of geographical information failing, the next refource is to collect: materials from the belt informed amongit the travellednativei: I fay natives, becaufe the generality of European Travellers reckon upon fome degree of folace, as well as the gratification of curiofity, during their peregrinations: not to mention, that it is more the practice to fee what has been already feen, than to ftrikeintoanewpath, and dare to contemplate an unfafhonable fubject. To the lovers of adventure and novelty, Africa difplays a moft ample field: but the qualification of local manners, and, in fome degree, of habits, muff in this cafe, be fuperadded to that of language: and this, unquestionably, renders the undertaking more arduous than that of an ordinary Tour.   But the
Adven-
Adventurer in queft of fame, will readily appreciate the degree of glory attendant on each purfuit.
The 18th century has fmiled propiti-oufly on the Science of Geography throughout the globe; and an Englifh* man may be allowed to pride himfelf, that his countrymen have had their full Share of the glory attending this, and other kinds of refearches calculated to increafe the general itockof knowledge. It is to this fpirit that we are to attribute the acquisition of the materials which form the fubject of the prefent Work. It is no lefs to this fpirit that we are indebted for the progreffi ve improvements in the North-American and Afiatic Geography : our fylfems embracing objects far fuperior to thofe, for which Geographical Surveys are ordinarily underta^ ken: not the urpography of townfhips,
districts,
dilhi'fts, countiesj but the Geography of Empires, Regions, and Continents!
As bothEu rope, and its adjacent Continent, Asia, are fpread over with inland feas, lak s, or rivers of the molt extended navigations, fo as collectively to aid the tranfport of bulky articles of merchandize from one extreme of them to the other; and to form (likeftepping-ftones over a brook) a more commodious communication : fo likewife the northern part of the new Continent appears to have an almoif continuous Inland Navigation; which muff prove of infinite advantage to its inhabitants, when fully peopled; and contribute to their fpeedier civilization, in the mean time. But Africa Hands alone in a geographical viewr! Penetrated by no inland feas, like the Mediterranean, Baltic, or Hudfon's Bay; nor overfpread with extenlive
lakes,
lakes, like thofe of North America: nor having in common with the other Continents, rivers running from the center to the extremities; hut, on the contrary, its regions feparated from each other by the leait practicable of all boundaries, arid Defarts of fuch formidable extent, as to threaten thofe who traverfe them, with the moft. horrible of all deaths, that aiiiing from thirft! Placed in fuch circumftances, can we be furprifed either at our ignorance of its Interior Part, or of the tardy progrefs of civilization in it ? Poffibly, the difficulty of conveying merchandize to the coafts, under the above circumft ances, may have given rife to the traffic in men, a commodity that can tranfport itfelf! But laying this out of the qucftion, as an ab-ftradt Speculation, there can be little doubt but that the progrefs of civilization amongft the Africans, has been
as
as flow as can be conceived, in any Situation : and it has alfo happened, of courfe, that thedeftinedinffruments of their civilization, have remained in a proportional degree of ignorance concerning the nature of the country.
Nothing can evince the low ftate of the African Geography, more than M. DAnville's having had recourfe to the Works of Ptolemy and Ed nisi, to com-pofe the Interior Part of his Map of Africa (1749.) It is well known, that thofe Authors wrote in the fecond, and in the twelfth centuries of our uera. Moft of the pofitions in the Inland Part of the great body of Africa are derived from EdPvTsi ; and it is wonderful how nearly fome of the pofitions agree with thofe furnifhed by the prefent materials. Such was the tranfcendant judgment of D'Anville, in combining the fcanty notices
tices that are furnifhed by the Nubian Geographer!
But the Public are not to expect, even under an improved fyftem of African Geography, that the Interior Part of that Continent will exhibit an afpect fimilar to the others; rich in variety; each region affirming a diftinct character. On the contrary, it will be meagre and vacant in the extreme. The dreary expanfes of defart which often furround the habitable fpots, forbid the appearance of the ufual proportion of towns; ard the paucity of rivers, added to their being either ab-forbed or evaporated, inftead of being conducted in flowing lines to the ocean, will give a Singular caff to its hydrography ; the direction of their courfes, being moreover, equivocal, through the want of that information, which a communication with the fea ufually affords
at
at a glance. Little as the Antients knew of the Interior Part of Africa, they appear to have underftood the character of its furface; one of them comparing it to a leopard's fkin. Swift alfo, whomiffes no opportunity of being witty at the ex-pence of mathematicians, diverts himfelf and his readers both with the nahd-nefs of the land, and the abfurdity of the map-makers.
" Geographers, in Afric maps, With favage pictures fill their gaps, And o'er unhabitable downs Place elephants, for want of towns."
The Society for Promoting the Difcovery of the Interior Parts of Africa has been fortunate in collecting much geographical information, in fo early a ft age of the African refearches; and there is little doubt but that in a few years all the
great
great features of this Continent (within the reach of their enquiries) may be known and defcribed. But to accomplish this, it willbe neceffary that intelligent Europeans mould trace fome of the principal routes 5 as well to apportion the diff ances, as to eftabfifh fome kind of criterion forthe parole information derived from the natives. As yet, in the wide extent of near thirty degrees on a meridian, between Benin and Tripoli, not oneceleffial obfervation has been taken, to determine the latitude.
But as far as the materials compofed by a fcale founded on eff imated diftances (that is days journeys of caravans) may go towards the eftablffhment of geographical pofitions, the itineraries made ufe of for conffructing the new matter in the accompanying map, are lefs difcor-dant than might be expected in fo wide
an
an expanfe, and on the foundation of rules fo vague as thofe which neceffity has compelled me to apply. On this, however, the Reader muff exercife his own judgment, after the following exposition of the data* and the rules by which I have determined the fcale.
It will eafily be conceived by the Reader, that all roads, except fuch as are made through a country, in which the public works are in the higheft If ate of improvement, and where alio the face of it is perfectly level (the curvature of the earth excepted) muff have fome degree of inflexion, both horizontally and vertically ; and either of thefe will occasion a Traveller to trace a line of greater length by the road, than can be meafured on a Straight line, drawn from the point of commencement, to that of the termination of his journey.   The quantity of
the
the difference muft vary with the nature of the country j hut in ordinary-cafes, if ill more with the extent of the line of diftance t for a different ratio between the road diftance and horizontal diftance muft obtain, as the line of diftance is increafed.   Let it be admitted, that in ftages of ten or twelve miles, the winding; of the road cccaftons a lofs of only One-tenth part, which may be termed the fimple winding t yet as the different ftages in an extent of 100 or 150 miles, do not lie in a ftraight line, drawn through the Whole extent, but often very far to the right and left of it, a compound winding arifes: and I have found by long experience, that one mile in eight muft be deducted, to reduce the road meafure, on fuch a length, to horizontal meafure.   When a line of diftance is extended to 506 miles and upwards, the rule becomes much more vague than
y when
when applied to moderate diftances; be-caufe it often happens (and more particularly in unimproved countries) that obitacles arife, which give an entire new direction to the courfe of the road; although the two parts of it, confidered Separately, may have only an ordinary degree of crookednefs. However, as Some of the lines of diftance applied to the prefent Subject, are from thirty to forty days journey, it becomes neceffary that fome general rules fhould be adopted. It happens that examples are furnifhed, in two cafes, on very long journies, where the real diftances between the terminating points of the routes are nearly known: fuch is that of fifty-three days journey, between the Capital of Fezzan and Cairo; and the mean horizontal diftance for each day, is fourteen and a half geographic miles, or thofe of Sixty to a degree.   I confefs
I fhould
.1.fhould have expected much lefs. The other example is between Arguin and Galium: there forty days produce thirteen miles for each day; and this is conformable to my expectations. In the examples of fmall diftances, fuch as fix days journey, fixteen miles per day is the refult, and is confiftent. For a caravan journey, taken at twenty-two Britifh miles of road diftance, will produce, when the allowance for winding is deducted, and the remainder reduced to geographic miles, about fixteen and a half fuch miles for a fingle day.
The following are the proportions which I have eftablifhed, for the application of a fcale, to the different degrees of diftance.
For one day, fixteen miles and a half; for fevcnteen to twenty-five days, fif-Y 2 teen
teen miles; for forty to fifty clays, thirteen miles. Thefe numbers are particularly felected, becaufe they occurred in the courfe of the Work. The Reader will be pleafed to obferve, that the miles fpoken of in the construction, are always thofe of iixty to a degree of a great circle. However tedious this investigation may appear to the generality of readers, it is abfolutely neceffary; as it is the hinge upon which the whole turns: and a neglect, of attention to this particular fubjeer, would warrant the Reader's taking the whole for granted, without further examination.
Mr. Beaufoy having given, from the materials in his polfeffion, fo full an account of each road and country, nothing remains for me to do, but fimply to de-fcribe, from the fame materials, the mode of fixing the principal pofitions,
iri
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 abfolutely neceffary towards explaining the other: and as the borrowed particulars are dif-tinguifhed from the reft, the Reader cannot be miftaken, The outline of the great body of Africa, together with the courfes of the Nile, Gambia, Senegal, and Wad-drah, are copied from Mr. P'Anville.
Fezzan (or rather its capital, Mourzouk) is given in the Itineraries at the diftance of feventeen days and a half from Mefurata. Thefe, taken at fifteen miles per day, produce twTo hundred and fixty-two miles. The bearing is faid to be South from Mefurata; and this latter is placed according to D'Anville. Mourzouk, then, falls in latitude 27 Q 20'.
Y 3 Agadez,
Agadez, the next principal ftation, is, at a medium forty-one days from Mourzouk, on a South Weft courfe, or thereabouts : and thefe, at thirteen miles per clay, produce four hundred and fifty-five miles; and place Agadez in latitude 20g 20f; and nearly in the meridian of Tripoli. Agadez is the Agadoft of Ed-rifi.
From Agadez to Cafhna is feventeen days; which, at fifteen miles per day, give a diftance of two hundred and fifty-five miles. The bearing is faid to be South South Weft. Cafhna, then, will ftand in or about the latitude of 160 207 North, and about a degree and a half Weft from Tripoli.
DAnville's Cqffeenah (undoubtedly meant for Cafhna) is placed about thir-ty-feven miles to the North Weft of the
pofition
pofition affiimcd in the accompanying Map; whence I confider mine as a near approximation, efpecialiy as the diftance from Mefurata is upwards of nine hundred and Seventy miles.
Caihna 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 prefent but few particulars are known.
Ghanah, or Ghinnah, is placed, in respect of Caihna, according to M. D'An-ville's Map. It does not appear whether he had any authority for placing it ninety miles to the North Eaft of Cafhna: but its pofition, in refpect of the City of Nubia, (antiently Meroe, on the Nile) is on the authority of Edrili. This Author alfo allows twelve days between Aearlez and Ghanah : and by my Y 4 con-
construction, they are two hundred and eight miles afunder. See Gecg. Nuhicnfis, p. 39. Ghanah was in the twelfth century a city of the firit confequence. Wangara and Kanem, were alfo known to Edrin\
The river known to Europeans by the name of Niger, runs on the South of the kingdom of Caihna, in its courfe towards Tombuctou j and if the report which Ben Alli heard in that town, may be credited, it is afterwards loft in the fands on the South of the country of TombucStou. In the Map, only the known part of its courfe is marked by a line; and the fuppolitious part by dots. It may be proper to obferve, 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 alfo term the
Nile^
Nile, (that is the Egyptian River) Neel Shem: fo that the term Neel, from whence our Nile, is nothing more than the appellative of River; like Ganges,
or SlNDE.
From Caihna the road leads Weff ward to the Kingdom of Gonjah, ninety-feven days journey from the former. Gonjah, is, from circumffances, the Con-of M. D'Anville, and the Gonge of M. Delille; and the fmiilitude of names, however great, is the leait proof of it: for the Itinerary of the Shereef Imhammed fays, that eighteen or twenty days from Gonjah, towards the North Weil (or between the Weff and North) lies the Country of Yarba: and eight days farther Weff, that of Affow. Now the countries of Yarra and Yaffon, will be found in Delille's Map of Senegal
(1726)
(1726), nearly in the pofition that Yarba and Affbw take in refpect of Gonjah; fup-poflng D'Anville's Conche to be meant for it. It is extremely difficult to affign a ratio for the decreafe of the horizontal diftance, on fo extended a line as ninety-feven days journey; and therefore it would be lofing time to attempt it. Gonjah, by circumitances, is about eight hundred and feventy miles from Cafhna; 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-fix days journey from the Coait of Guinea, to which the Chriffians trade. It is probable that the Gold Coaft is the part meant, and that may be taken at five hundred and thirty miles from D'An-vilie's Conche. The ratio at thirteen per
day,
day, would give near fix hundred. Here again, it would be loimg of time, to rea-fon on fuch a point of uncertainty, fince neither of the extreme points of the line of diftance are correctly known. The Reader muft therefore determine for himfelf. Of this fpace of forty-fix days travelling,  from Gonjah towards the Coaft, the Shereef had travelled only the firft ten days, to the City of Kalanfhee, a dependecy of the Kingdom of Toitnou-wabi the capital of which, according to his report, AssentaI (the Affiants of D Anville) fituated midway between Kalanfhee and the fea coaft: that is, eighteen days journey from each. The Shereef alfo reports, that there is no communication between this coaft (which we may fuppofe to be the Gold Coaft) and the country of Gonjah: for that the King of Alfentai, who polfefTes the fpace
tween*
betwen, prohibits his Inland Neighbours from palling through his country.
But Mr. Norris, a gentleman who refided many years in Wydah, 8tc. imports differently: for he fays, that there are other States, (that is, the Fantees, and their confederates) lying between Affentai and the fea; and that the Affen-tais have often attempted, but without fuccefs, to open a communication with the Coaft.
To return to the route from Cafhna to Gonjah. There are between thern fome extenfive kingdoms or ftates, moft of which appear to preferve their antient religion. I have generally marked the progrefs of the Mahomedan Religion* by a crefcent; and the Caffre States by an arbitrary mark of a different kind.
ft
It will appear by a flight inflection of the Map, that the Mahomedan Religion, as far as refpects the Interior Part of the Country, has fpread Southward, to about the parallel of twelve degrees of North latitude. Probably though, in fome of thofe countries where the Court religion is Mahomedan, the bulk of the people may profefs the antient religion.
Tombuctou, is placed on the following authorities: Firff, Mr. Matra, the Britifh Conful in the dominions of Morocco, fays, on the authority of the natives, that Tombuctou is fifty days caravan travelling from Tattah, a place fituated on the common frontiers of Morocco, Drab, and Zenhagaj and in the route from Morocco, and Suz, to Tombuctou. Tattah is afcertaincd in pofition, by a route of Ben Alli's. He found it to be nine days and half from Morocco,
co, and one day fhort of a ftation on the Wad-drah (or Drah River) which fta-tion was four days, or fixty-fix miles lower down than Tinjulecn, a place in D'Anville's and Delifle's Maps of Africa. It was alfo twelve days journey from the City of Nun, or Non, which city by Ben Alli's account, is two days from the fea coaft; and well known to be oppofite to the Cape of the fame name. Thefe authorities enable us to place Tattah one hundred and feventy miles South South EaftfromMorocco. Then, fifty days from Tattah to Tombuclou, at thirteen each day, produces fix hundred and fifty miles. By Ben Alli's report, Tombuc-tou is forty-eight days from the capital of Sultan Fullan, lying within the diftricl of Gallam, on the River Senegal. The pofition of this place is not known to me; but bycircumftanccsitmuftbe near the river: and in ufing materials of fo
coarfe
Elucidations. 335
coarfe a kind, trifles muff not be regarded. Forty-eight days at thirteen each day, produce iix hundred and twenty miles; and this line of diftance meets that from Tattah, in latitude 19°. 40'. and nearly midway between Gallam and Cafhna. In this pofition, it falls only twenty-eight miles to the North Weft of D'Anville's Tombuctou.
It appears that moft of the road from Tattah to Tombuctou, lies acrofs the vaft Defart, commonly known by the name of Zahara, or properly, TheDe-sart. Geography is at prefent, very bare of particulars, in this quarter. Ben Alli went from Tombuctou, direct: to Fezzan, fkirting the South Eaft border of this great Defart. He reckoned only fixty-four days between Tombuctou and Fezzan, which at twelve miles and half per day, produce only eight hundred
miles.
miles. The interval on the Map is nine hundred and feventy. Reafon, however, points out, that the diftance from the neareft place, Gallam, ought to be preferred. And as it is underftood, that Agadez and Tombuctou are about fifty-five days afunder, it appears yet more probable that the interval between Fezzan and Tombuctou, ought not to be reduced. It muft be recollected, that Ben Alli's Communications were given from memory, afteran interval of twenty years.
The point of the next importance, is Bornou, the capital of an extenfive kingdom fituated on the South Eaft 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
about fifty days from Mourzouk (or Fezzan) which may be taken at fix hundred and fifty miles.   He alfo reports that it is twenty-five days journey from the courfe of the Nile, where it partes the country of Sennar; or in diftance about three hundred and fixty miles. This would place Bornou in a direction of South Eaft, fomewhat fouth-wardly, from Mourzouk; and about the }3arallel of 19° 40'.    It is not probable that Bornou has amore wefterly pofition. Edrifi's account would phxcc it more eafterly; for he fays, Mat than, a city of Kanem, lies thirty-one days from Nuabia (on the Nile) through Tegua. Geog. Nub. p. 15. Edrifi's day's journey is equal to eighteen Arabic miles, or nearly nineteen geographic ones: confequently the thirty-one days give five hundred and eighty-feven miles.   Matthan is not reported in the Itinerary: but Kanem is, Z both
both as Province and a capital City: and the pofition of the latter according to my conftruction, is feven hundred miles from Nuabia. Whether the error lies on the fide of Edrifi, or the Shereef; or arifes from the faulty pofition of Nuabia in D'Anville, cannot eafily be discovered.
Ben Alli travelled the road between Bornou and Alexandria; but was too much indifpofed to make any obferva-tions, other wife than that the Kingdom of Bornou extends fifteen days journey, or about two hundred and thirty miles, in that direction. This wras particularly unfortunate; for whichsoever route he went, he muft probably have crofted Someone or more of the Oases ; and of courfe fome important matter would have been added to the Map.
The
The only ronte of importance that remains to be difcuffed, is that from Fezzan or Mourzouk, to Cairo, leading to Mecca; for, at Mourzouk the Mahome-dans from the Southern and weftern parts of Africa, who intend to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, afTemble at the proper feafon, as at a common point of departure. The route to Cairo, which requires fifty-three days to atchieve, appears on the Map to be feven hundred and Seventy miles; being equal to fourteen and half for each day: and is on the whole, feventy more than I fhould have expected that number of days to produce. To what degree of accuracy the difference of longitude between Mefurata and Cairo, is afcertained, I am ignorant : as alfo whether the bearing of Mourzouk from Mefurata, be fight. Fourteen miles and half of horizontal diftance for each day, on So long a line Z a of
of diftance, and on fo rugged a way as the Itinerary defcribes, is too great a proportion; and we may fufpect an error fomewhere.
A circumffance occurs in the Itinerary, which would determine how near this route approaches to the Coaft of the Mediterranean Sea; if we might depend on the accuracy of the Itinerift. The dates produced in the Plain of Gegabib$ are gathered by the people of Derna, who are faid to inhabit the fea coaft, eight days journey off j or about one hundred and thirty miles. Derna (antiently Dar-nis) is fituated within the confines of Tripoli: but the diftance muff be faulty; becaufe Augela is the neareft point in this route, to Derna, though ten days from it: and Gegab'tb, is feven days from Augela, in a direction that ftill increafes. the diftance.
Angela
tees —
Angela is found in Herodotus, Book IV. under the name of Mgila; and in Ptolemy and Pliny it is written Augila. In Ptolomy, (Africa, Tab. III.) it is placed about one hundred and ninety-feven miles from the fea coaft, and about a degree of longitude to the eaftward of Barnis.   Its longitudinal pofition from Mourzouk and Cairo, agrees very well: and considering the extent of Ptolemy's local knowledge in this quarter, we may fnppofe him well acquainted with its diftance from the coaft. Allowance muft be made for an excefs of diftance given by Ptolemy's fcale, in this Map; and it being in the proportion of twenty-feven to twenty-three, the one hundred and ninety-feven miles fhould be reduced to one hundred and fixty-eight: and according to this, Augela ought to Stand in latitude 290 20'$ and Z 3 nearly
nearly midway between Mourzouk and Cairo.
Gegabib, as has been faid before, is feven days journey from Augela, towards Cairo; and as I have a particular pleafurein producing any authority that ferves to prove the veracity of fuch an Author as Herodotus, I fhall juft mention, that (in B. IV.) he fays, that the Nafamones in the Summer feafon, leave their cattle on the coaft, and go to the plains of iEgila, to gather the fruit of the Palm trees, which abound in that place. And he marks the pofition of this coaft, by placing it on the Weft of Teuchera, or Tauchira, (the modern Teukera) a fea-port that lay within the diftrict, of Cyrene, now better known by the names of Curin and Barca.
But
But Ptolemy's Nafamones occupy, in refpect of Augi/a, the very fpot where the dates are now gathered in the plain of Gegahib: and therefore their territories muff have extended at leaff from that plain, to the eaftern coaft of the Great Syrtis. And although the prefent gatherers of the Augela dates may come from different parts of the coaft, from thofe, in the time of Herodotus; yet it is remarkable, that the fame cuftom fhould have exifted for twenty-two or twenty-three centuries.
Between Augela and See-wat, the next town towards Cairo (and probably the Siropum of Ptolemy) the road palfes over a chain of very high mountains, named in thefe times Gerdobah: and this is un-queftionably the fame ridge that terminates on the Mediterranean, a few days journey farther on; and which, by the
Z 4 fudden-
fuddcnnefs of its defcent towards the lea, was antiently named Catabathmus. This chain or ridge divided Cyrene from Marmarica.
The fite of the antient Temple of Jupiter Ammon, wasafew days journey (perhaps four or five) inland from the plain of Gegabib, fo often mentioned. I think I may venture to fay this, on the authority of Herodotus, Straho, Pliny, and Arrian; from each of whom, fome particulars may be collected reflecting its fituation. Firff, Herodotus fays, (Book IV.) that the Temple is fituated ten days from AEgi/a, (frequented by the Nafa-mones on account of the dates) and on the road from Thebes to Mgiia. Next, Arrian fays, on the authority of Arifto-bulus, that Alexander went to it, from the fite of his new city of Alexandria, along the fea coafts of Egypt and Marmarica,
marie a, to Paraetonium: which latter was fituated, according to the fame authority, fixteen hundred ftadia from Alexandria.   Pliny gives it at two hundred Roman miles (Book V.) Thefe accounts are perfectly conclufive; and the pofition of Paraetonium, is alfo very clear in Ptolemy; and is moreover known to the Moderns under the name of Al Bareton: fo that no difficulty can arife here. Arrian fays farther, that Alexander ft ruck inland from Paraetonium* and entered the Defart: but he does not fay how far the Temple lay from the fea coaft.   This is Supplied by Strabo, (Book XXVII.) who gives the diftance at thirteen hundred ftadia.   Allowing thefe to produce one hundred and thirty, or one hundred and forty miles; and taking Herodotus's ten days from Augela, at one hundred and feventy (we muft not confider them as faravan journies, but as ordinary ones) the
meeting
meeting of thefe lines of diftance, place the Temple in latitude twenty-nine degrees, and a fmall fraction; and in a South Wefterly direction from Paraetonfum. Pliny fays, (Book V.) that the Temple is four hundred [Roman] miles from Gyrene; that is, twice as far as Parsetoninm is from Alexandria: and this agrees with the former pofition. Laftly, Ptolemy places it one hundred and ninety-five geographic miles from Paraetonium, and from Cyrene three hundred and forty.— But Ptolemy's fcale, in Africa, Tab. III. gives too much diftance (as I have faid before) and corrected, it Should be one hundred and Sixty-fix from Paraetonium. As thefe authorities do not vary amongft themfelves more than thirty miles, I confider them conclufive.
M. D'Anville's pofition of this Temple is about thirty miles farther to the Southward;
ward ; 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 paffage: " Selon la Geographie adfuelle, ce qu'on " trouve fous le nom de Santrieh, paroit " en tenir la place; 8c par la Nature du " pays, qui ne laiffe point diffinguer " d'autre objet, on n'eft point embar-" raffe fur le choix.1' Edrili (Geo. Nub. p. 41.) places Santrie ten days Eaffward from Augela, and nine days from the Mediterranean; which carries Sant-rie farther from the fea coaft, than Strabo allows to the Temple; but accords with Ptolemy. Savary (Vol. ii. Lett. VIII.) quotes Abulfeda, to lliew that the Oafes were only three days journey Weft of the Nile; and Ptolemy places the largeft of them, named El Wah by the Arabs, under the parallel of 27°. I fufpeel: Abulfeda is wrong; and that Ptolemy is
nearer
nearer the truth, when he allows one hundred and twenty-three miles, (or one hundred and five corrected) for the diftance of the Great Oafis from Ptolemais on the Nile, in the direction of Weff, fome what Southwardly.    Then Edrifi allows only nine days between Sant-rie and El Wah; whereas the fite of the Temple of Jupiter Amnion, by the above authorities, fhould be, according to my apprehenfion, at lealt twelve days from El Wah.   But we are young in African Geography: and as I have faid before, the data furnifhed by Arrian, Strabo, and Pliny, may fatisfy us.
The defcription of the Oafis (or Ifiand in the midft of the fandy Defart) which contained the Temple, is pretty generally known: but for the fake of thofe who may not recollect the particulars, I have extracted the following account.
Arrian
Arrian fays, that it is not more than forty ftadia in extent; Diodorus fifty: fay, fix or feven 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 PalmandOlive. What appeared to be a very great natural cu-riolity, was* a fountain, which according to Arrian, (whofe account is the leaft 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 prefume thefe phenomena will not appear very extraordinary to thofe, who confider, that a deep-feated fpring will preferve a mean degree of temperature at all feafons: fo that, in effect, it was the atmofphere that underwent the change; and with
it>
it, the bodies of thofe who made the observations.
The Temple was furrounded by a triple wall, forming three diitincf quarters or diviflons; one of which was appropriated to the ufe 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 fpoke a mixed language, (Herod. Book III.) Ammon, or Ham-mon, 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
Temple was almoft deferred; as the Oracle was grown out of fafhion.
It is probable that fome 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 tranfport of the materials acrofs the Defart could only have been accomplished by the ffrong impulfe of furperftition : and being once collected, nothing but a like caufe could remove them. See-wah appears to be the neareff town to this Oafis; and is probably not more than fix days journey on the North Eaft of it: the fpring, together with the ruins of the Temple, and the triple wall, might af-certain the fpot, if the curiofity of the prefent age demanded it.
March, 1790.
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