Narrative of travels and discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, in the years 1822, 1823, and 1824Denham, Dixon
History
Narrative of travels and discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, in the years 1822, 1823, and 1824
Denham, Dixon
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Africa, North -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Africa, North
A voyage to Marseilles, on my way to England, was the consequence
of our altercation with the bashaw; and the promptitude with which
it was decided upon, and carried into effect, by means of a small
French vessel which, at the time, most fortunately lay in the harbour,
was not without its good effects. The bashaw sent three despatches
after me, by three different vessels, to Leghorn, Malta, and the
port I had sailed to, which I received in quarantine, informing me,
that Boo-Khaloom was appointed with an escort to convey us forthwith
to Bornou. This was every thing I wished for; and immediately
re-embarking, a seven days’ passage brought me once more to the
shores of Barbary. Boo-Khaloom and part of the escort were already
at the entrance to the desert; and on the 17th of September we
re-entered the pass of Melghra in the Tarhona mountains. Hope and
confidence had taken possession of my mind, in the place of anxiety
and disappointment; there was now an air of assurance and success
in all our arrangements; and I felt my health and spirits increase
with this conviction. But little beyond the casualties attendant on
desert travelling occurred, previous to our arriving again at Sockna,
which we did on the 2d of October.
I found the great failing of my friend, Boo-Khaloom, was pomp and
show; and feeling that he was, on this occasion, the bashaw’s
representative, he was evidently unwilling that any sultan of
Fezzan should exceed him in magnificence. On entering Sockna, his six
principal followers, handsomely attired in turbans and fine barracans,
and mounted on his best horses, kept near his person, whilst the
others, at a little distance, formed the flanks. I rode on his right
hand, dressed in my British uniform, with loose Turkish trowsers,
a red turban, red boots, with a white bornouse over all, as a shade
from the sun; and this, though not strictly according to order, was by
no means an unbecoming dress. Boo-Khaloom was mounted on a beautiful
white Tunisian horse, a present from the bashaw, the peak and rear
of the saddle covered with gold, and his housings were of scarlet
cloth, with a border of gold six inches broad. His dress consisted
of red boots, richly embroidered with gold, yellow silk trowsers, a
crimson velvet caftan with gold buttons, a silk benise of sky blue,
and a silk sidria underneath: a transparent white silk barracan was
thrown lightly over this, and on his shoulders hung a scarlet bornouse
with wide gold lace, a present also from the bashaw, which had cost,
at least, four hundred dollars; a cashmere shawl turban crowned the
whole. In this splendid array, we moved on until, as we approached
the gates of the town, the dancing and singing men and women met us;
and, amidst these, the shouts and firing of the men, who skirmished
before us, and the “loo! loo!” of the women, we entered Sockna.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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