RICHARDSON'S TRAVELS IN THE SAHARA.
MR. RICHARDSON belongs to the band of newspaper scribes; and in the course of 1845-46 he made a nine-months tour into the Desert South of Tripoli, at an expense of some fifty pounds. For this expendi- ture of time and money, Mr. Richardson had 1,600 miles of travelling, measured by the rather loose test of a caravan's progress ; he formed a vast number of new acquaintances, encountered a variety of adventures, made a good many observations on the Desert people ; and has published two ample volumes of his journey—only a part of the results. " Certain Reports on the Commerce and Geography of the Great Desert" are yet to appear : indeed, they ought to have appeared before; for these volumes are only supplementary to the "Reports," and, large as they are, they are incomplete.
Brought to the precise test of geographical admeasurement, the extent of Mr. Richardson's travels is not so great as it appears when we only calculate by the camel. It embraces about a degree and a half of latitude
South of Tripoli, and lies between five degrees of longitude (100 to 15°) ; the chief towns he visited in the Desert being four in number—Ghadames,
Ghat, Mourznk, and Sockna. But the merit of the traveller is not to be measured by the mere extent of his journey. The bigotry, ignorance, and lawless independence of the people, render travelling very dangerous for
an European. The danger is increased by the heat of the sun, the oc- casional cold of the night, the hardships of Desert travelling, and the little accommodation to be met with ; so that many travellers who have pene- trated the Barbary Desert have perished by violence or by disease. Mr. Richardson, however, got safely through a journey that has been so often fatal, although he started with a caravan from Tripoli, taking French leave of the authorities both British and African ; and it is evident from his whole outlay that he was not encumbered with superfluous property. Whether this absence of' tempting articles, or a report that he was a British Consul duly accredited to the interior, or the rough and ready ex- perience—the poking and pushing qualities of his vocation, carried him through, we know not ; but beyond the fatigue, and the sufferings from climate, he appears to have been only once in anything like real peril, though not unfrequently engaged in a war of words. The march of mind has penetrated even the Sahara. Mr. Richardson met some liberal Ma- hometans, and many who could be reasoned with. The conquest of Algiers by the French, and the reputation of the English, seem also to have weight. While several fathomed the traveller's object, and declared, with greater truth than they were aware of, that he was there to make a book, others considered he had come to spy the nakedness of the land pre- viously to its being taken possession of by the English,—a consummation devoutly wished by many who are under the government of Tripoli, on ac' count of the oppressive exactions of the Turkish authorities. Money is the incessant demand from Tripoli, and some of the most striking accounts in the book refer to the taxgatherers. The following took place in a mountain village between Tripoli and Ghadames. "Notwithstanding this abject poverty, a bullying taxgatherer, with half-a-dozen !outing soldiers, have been up here prowling about, and wresting with violence the means of supporting life from these miserable beings. The scenes which I wit- ness are heartrending, beyond all I have heard of Irish misery and rent-distrain- ing bullies. One man had his camel seized, the only support of his family; an- other his bullock; another a few bushels of barley: the houses were entered, searched, and ransacked: people were dragged by the throat through the villages, and beaten with sticks; and all because the poor wretches had no money to meet the demands of these voracious bailiffs. Poverty is, indeed, here a crime. One poor old woman had a few bad unripe figs seized, and came to me, and a group of wretched villagers, crying out bitterly. One or two men, who were imagined to have something, though they had nothing, were held by the throat until they were nearly suffocated. I cursed over and over again in my heart the Turks. was not prepared for such scenes of cruelty in these remote mountains. We shall find that among the so-called barbarians of the Desert there was nothing equal in atrocity to this. What wonder that the Arab prefers, if he can, to pas- ture his flocks on savage and remote wastes, to being subjected to these regular governments--of extortion! And yet we, in our ignorance of what is here going on, are surprised at their preference If the people are not ready with their money, the little barley, their winter's store, is seized, and they must pay afterwards their usual quotas of money. Several bags of barley are illegally gotten in this way. The amount of tax or tribute for the whole district of liajban is five or six hun- dred mahboubs, which is paid in three instalments, three times a year; but which, though nothing in amount, is more than all the people are worth together, for riches and poverty are relative possessions, if the latter can be possessed. If they can't pay in money, they pay in kind. The Sheikh of the district, with the elders, determine how much each man and family shall pay. This, of course, gives rise to ten thousand disputes, heartburnings, and eternal wranglings among themselves. The Arabs, on these occasions, however silent and sulky they may be on others, show that they have the gift of speech as well as Frenchmen and Italians."
And again at Ghadames.
"All the people bring their griefs and malcontentments to me. It's not so pleasant to be bored by them, let alone the policy of my listening to all they have to say. But the ill-humour of these poor fleeced people mast have a vent, or sfogo, as the Italians term it; and what can I do? An intelligent merchant came to me. ' Yakob, bisslamah, (how do you fare?) The Rain is always col- lecting money, don't you see? That's the business of the Turks. This city is four thousand years of age. It flourished before Pharoah, in the time of Nimrod. Now the Turks come to destroy it; their business is to destroy: such is the will of God.' I might elaborate the idea. The genius of the Turks is to destroy. The hand of the Turk blasts as mildew everything it touches; it has destroyed the fairest portions of the earth. Happily, however, it so destroys itself; for it is not desirable for truth and civilization that the sway of the Osmanhs should be restored to its pristine strength. "Among the most friendly people to me in Ghadames are the Arab soldiers. Now whilst I write, not less than twenty of these poor fellows are lying around my door, and in the skeefah (entrance-passage or room.) of my house.. They tell me always my house is their house, and their mountains my mountains. They all speali in the highest terms of Mr. Frederick Warrington, son of Colonel War- rington, whom they call Fredreek. They consider him as one of themselves; and so he is as to habits, manners, and language, and frequently dress. When they quarrel in Tripoli, the ultimo ratio or dermer res.sort is, not to go to the Pasha, but Nimshee Id Fredreek, 'Let us go to Fredenck ! ' This is the set- tler.' It has often been said amongst the Consular corps of Tripoli, that, in case Great Britain thought it expedient to assume the protectorate of Tripoli, Frede- rick Warrington would be their man, the instrument of revolution. There is not a single Arab in the Regency but what would flock to his standard. He haat been all his lifetime in Tripoli." The merit of the travels is not so great as that of the traveller. Mr. Richardson is not a man of science • and some scientific knowledge is advantageous, if not essential, in a land BO little visited as the country he travelled through. Neither is he to be commended as a narrator. He has all the gossiping minuteness of reporters, and their seeming incapability Of distinguishing between the important and the trivial ; so that his nar rative is overlaid with slight circumstances and commonplace remarks. Accustomed to fill space with whatever comes to band, he has no selec- tion either of facts, ideas, or words. He has also a free-and-easy not to say unscrupulous mode of expressing himself about persons and things, with a strong spice of self-opinion. Nevertheless, the novelty of the subject supports the writer ; and though The Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara can hardly be called a work of interest, the reader is enabled to go on with it, if he is not carried on. The object of Mr. Richardson was "moral— a random effort to maim, or kill, or cripple the monster Slavery." We do not know that he will succeed in the humblest of these attempts ; though he got himself into difficulty at Ghadames, by writing to our Consul at Tripoli to accuse two houses under British protection of supplying funds to native Merchants to carry on the slave-trade ; and be was often engaged in dis- cussions with the natives. Some of them expressed their willingness to give it up if they had any other trade opened, alleging that it was no longer profitable: but this might be out of politeness merely. In speak- ing of the Desert trade, Mr. Richardson compares the horrors to those of the middle passage : a gross exaggeration. The victims are much fewer in number, and the deaths comparatively light. Hardships the slaves suffer of course : there is no Desert travelling without hardships, and they naturally fall heaviest upon the slaves. But some of the merchants are humane men, and are for their people—not after the fashion of first-class railway travelling, but according to the custom of their country. Others, no doubt, are cruel, and have full power to display their cruelty ; but Mr. Richardson produces only one harsh example, and that was chiefly shown in goading on the lagging sick or wearied. The moral results are bad enough ; but are the Negroes any better at home ?
"Been early, but did not start until the sun was well up, on account of the slaves. These Nigritian people cannot bear the cold. Our Northern cold affects them more than their Southern heat does us. Heat can be borne better than cold in Saharan travelling. Am glad to see that Haj Ibrahim base large tent pitched for the greater part of the miserable shivering things. It is made of rough tan- ned bullock-skins and holds the heat like a shut-up furnace. These tents are brought from Soudan, and, after being used for slaves journeying over Sahara, are sold for so much leather. Touaricka also use them in their districts. In truth, liaj Ibrahim treats his slaves as much like a gentlemanly Moor as he well can or could do; all their wants being attended to, and no freedoms being taken with the
young women. • • •
"Some few particulars must now be recorded of the slave-caravans which I left in the Wady. The united number was some one hundred and thirty slaves. Two-thirds were females, and these young women or girls. There were a few children. Necessity teaches some of the best as well as the sternest lessons. A child of three years of age rode a camel alone, and without fear. The _poor little aeatur knew if it complained or discovered itself frightened, it would be obliged to walk through the Desert. The slaves were fed in the morning with dates, and ut the evening with ghusub. Female slaves, after the style of Abner people, pounded the glonsub in a large wooden mortar just before cooking. But they had little to eat, and were miserably fed, except those who bad the good fortune to be purchased by Haj Ibrahim; for some of these improvident stupid merchants had actually purchased slaves without the means of keeping them. On arriving at the Wady, they sent jointly through Haj Ibrahim to borrow a hundred dollars of the Bashaw of Mourznk. The messenger was Mustapha. His Highness kindly enough handed him over the money. All the masters carried a whip; but this was rarely used, except to drive them along the road, when they lagged from exhaustion. Thus it was administered at times when it could least be borne, when nature was sinking from fatigue and utter weariness; and therefore was cruel and inhuman. Yet only some twenty were sick, and two died. When very DI they were lashed upon the back of the cameL Some of the young women that had become favourites of their masters experienced a little indulgence. I ob- served occasionally love-making going on between the slaves, and some of the boys would carry wood for the girls. My servant, Said, had one or two black beauties under his protection. But everything was of the most innocent and correct cha- racter. Some groups of slaves were aristocratic, and would not associate with the others. Three young females under the care of the Shereef assumed the airs and attitude of exclusives, and would not associate with the rest. Every passion and habit of civilized is represented in savage life. A perfect democracy, in any country and state of society, is a perfect lie, and a leveller is a brainless fool. There is also an aristocracy in crime and in virtue, in demons and in angels. The s/aves are clad variously. Raj Ibrahim tried to give every one of his a blanket or barracan, more or less large. Besides this, the females had a short chemise, and a dark blue Soudan cotton short-sleeved frock. Many had only this frock. The or creatures suffered more from the ignorant neglect of the Touaricks than the Tripoline merchants, and their complaints and diseases usually begin with their former masters. Yet I am assured by Mr. Gegliuffi that the Tonaricks of Aheer fee infinitely_ better and kinder masters than the Tibboo merchants of Bornon, or even many Tripolines."
• Mr. Richardson does not always confine himself to very free remarks. He represents the leaders of Denham and Clapperton's expedition as professing Ma- hometanism, and submitting to circumcision,—in despite of the gross improbability of the charge, the direct representations of their narrative to the contrary, and their express affirmation that they travelled as Christians and Europeans; and this upon no better authority—if he has any authority—than the gossip of people whom he stigmatizes as liars, and worthless in every point of view.
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