the town : the words “ Inglesi! Inglesi!” were repeated by a hundred voices from the crowd. This, to us,' was highly satisfactory, as we were the first English travellers in Africa who had resisted the persuasion that a disguise was necessary, and who had determined to travel in our real character as Britons and Christians, and to wear, on all occasions, our English dresses; nor had we, at any future period, occasion to regret that we had done so. There was here no jealousy, nor distrust of us as Christians j on the contrary, I am perfectly satisfied that our reception would have been less friendly had we assumed a character that could have been at best but ill supported. In trying to make ourselves appear as Mussulmans, we should have been set down as real impostors. The dates- of Soekna are excellent, and in abundance: our animals were liberally supplied with this fruit of fruits; and after the first two days appeared to eat them nearly as well as corn. The population of Soekna must be considerably more than three thousand. The town is walled, and about a mile in circumference : has eight gates; and wears altogether a clean and neat appearance that surprised us. The women are certainly very pretty, and are said to be remarkultie- for their love of intrigue. This may be true, or n o t; but we had no opportunity of ascertaining it from our own knowledge. Of their affability and good humour, however, we had many proofs ; and while only two of us were walking through the town one morning, with a little army ofragged boys following, us; .two; o f rather, the better order, quickly dispersed them; and invited us to enter-a house, saying that a rnarci zenc (a beautiful woman) wished to see us: We put ourselves under their guidance, and entering a better sort of dwelling-house, were quickly surrounded by at least half-ardozen ladies, most of them aged; but who asked us a thousand questions, and, when satisfied we were not. dangerous, called several younger ones; who appeared to be but waiting for permission to appear. Gur dresses and ourselves were then minutely examined. The yellow buttons on our waistcoats, and our watches, created the greatest astonishment; and a pair ofloose white trowsers that I wore, into the pockets of which. I accidentally put my hands, raised their curiosity to a wonderful degree ; .my .hands were pulled ont, and those of three or four o f the ladies thrust in, in their stead: these were replaced by others, all demanding their use So loudly and violently, that I had considerable difficulty in extricating myself, and was glad to make my escape. The dress of the Soekna women is nearly that of the Tripoline: they wear striped shirts, of silk or linen, large silver ear-rings, with leg-lets and arm-lets of. the same : the .lower classesi wear those of glass or horn. The remaining half of our journey to Mourzuk; was over pretty nearly the same kind of surface as that we had passed before:; in some places worse. Sometimes two, and once three days, we were without finding a supply of water ; which was generally muddy, bitter, or brackish: nor is this the worst that sometimes befalls the traveller. The overpowering effects of a sudden sand-wind, when nearly at the close of the desert, often destroys a whole.kafila, already weakened by fatigue ; and the spot was painted out to us, strewed, with bones and dried carcasses, where,the year before fifty sheep, two camels, and two men, perished from thirst and fatigue, when within eight hours’ march of the well which we were anxiously looking out for. Indeed the sand-storm we had the misfortune' to encounter in crossing the desert gave us a pretty correct idea of the dreaded effects .of these hurricanes. The' wind raised the fine sand with which the extensive, desert was covered, so as to fill the atmosphere, and render the immense space before us impenetrable to the eye beyond a few yards. The sun and clouds were entirely obscured, and a suffocating and oppressive weight accompanied 4|he flakes and masses of sand, which, I had almost said, we h ad .to penetrate at every step. At times we completely lost sight of the camels, though only a few yards before us. The horses hung-their tongues out of their mouths; and refused to face the torrents of sand. A sheep, that accompanied the kafila, the last of our stock, lay down on the road, and we were obliged to kill him, and throw the carcass on a camel. A parching thirst o p p r e s s e d , us,..which, nothing, alleviated. We had made but little way by three o’clock in the afternoon, when the wind got round to the eastward, and refreshed us something: with this change we,moved on until about five, when we halted, protected a little by three several ranges of irregular hills, some conical, and some table-topped. As we had but little vrood, our fare was confined to te a ; and we hoped to find relief from our fatigues by a sound sleep. That was, however, denied us ; the tent had been imprudently pitched, and was exposed to the east wind, which blew a hurricane during the n ig h t: the tent was blown down, and the whole detachment were employed a full hour in getting it up again; and our bedding and every thing that was within it was, during that time, completely buried by the constant c 2
27f 24
To see the actual publication please follow the link above