reiterated and joyful exclamation, to which we answered by discharge
of our fire-arms; and these compliments continued till we
pitched our tents in a grove of date trees.
All was gladness and felicitation this day throughout the caravan,
and especially amongst the merchants. Perhaps for years
past the caravan had not left Cairo with so gloomy and fearful a
prospect as on the present occasion, when an army of Infidels had
so suddenly assailed and taken the principal city of Africa, destroyed
the ruling power of the Mamelukes, and threatened immediate
abolition to the trade for slaves, on which the caravan principally
subsists. It was but a few days after our leaving Cairo, that the
appearance of an horde of Bedouins gave alarm to our caravan;
indeed it was extraordinary that we should reach Siwah without
attack, as the Arabs had of late been so bold, as even to pass the
French posts, and rob near to the very capital. Whilst at Siwah,
we were apprised of the movements of different hordes of Bengasi
and other Arabian tribes; and not far from our road between
Augila and the frontiers of Fezzan, we descried numerous vestiges
of their depredation, viewing some hundreds of dead camels and
beasts of burthen which they had plundered and left, probably from
deficiency of water for their support. They had robbed in the neigh-
bourhood, and even made an attack on Temissa, and had waited for
us in these parts for a considerable time, till they concluded that,
from the conquest of Cairo, our caravan would not this year proceed.
Being therefore now in no immediate danger, and our future
route laying through the inhabited districts of the realm of Fezzan,
our fears at once vanished.
Temissa is at present a place of little importance, containing not
more than forty men bearing arms. It is built on a hill, and
surrounded by a high wall, capable of securing it against hostile
incursion if in due repair, but in many parts the wall is decayed and
fallen. I was told there were inscriptions to be discovered on some
of the buildings, but I found none, and rather suppose none such
ever existed, the ruins consisting of mere dilapidated houses, built
with limestone, and cemented with a reddish mortar. These remains,
however, shew that the ancient inhabitants of Temissa
were more expert in the art of building than the present, who have
patched up dwelling places in and among the ruins scarcely so
comfortable as our sheds for cattle in Europe.
These people have many sheep and goats. Their only beast of
burden is the ass. The place is surrounded with groves of date trees,
which furnish the chief subsistence ; corn is produced, but in very
small quantity.
Having visited the town ; on my return to camp, I found there a
number of the natives, bartering sheep, fowls and dates, for tobacco,
butter, female ornaments, and the coarse woollen stuffs with which
the Arabs are generally cloathed. The evening closed in mutual
congratulation and festivity, and the younger slaves and boys of
the camp made a bonfire.
Our journies from this place being intended to be short, we did
not decamp the following morning till half an hour after sunrise,
and moved on slowly between date trees, on a generally level ground,
interspersed here and there with low hills formed by the wind, which
had gathered and heaped a deep sand round some of the trees, so that
only the top branches appeared. At two in the afternoon, we came
in sight of Zuila, and proceeded towards the place destined for our
encampment SW. of the town.