Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa : $b Including accounts of Tripoli, the Sahara, the remarkable kingdom of Bornu, and the countries around Lake ChadBarth, Heinrich
History
Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa : $b Including accounts of Tripoli, the Sahara, the remarkable kingdom of Bornu, and the countries around Lake Chad
Barth, Heinrich
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Africa, North -- Description and travel
_Monday, August 19._—In the morning our three guests (who, as I made
out, did not belong to the Azkár, but were Kél-fadé from the northern
districts of Aïr) went slowly away, but only to join their companions,
who had kept at some distance beyond the rocky ridge which bordered or,
rather, interrupted the valley to the westward. There some individuals
of the caravan, who went to cut herbage, found the fresh traces of nine
camels. In spite of outward tranquillity, there was much matter for
anxiety and much restlessness in the caravan, and suddenly an alarm was
given that the camels had been stolen, but fortunately it proved to be
unfounded. ʿAbd el Káder, the Tawáti of whom I have spoken above, trying
to take advantage of this state of things, came to Mr. Overweg, and
urgently pressed him to deposit everything of value with Awed el Khér,
the Kél-owí, and something, “of course,” with him also. This was truly
very disinterested advice; for if anything had happened to us, they
would of course have become our heirs. In the evening we had again three
guests, not, however, the same as before, but some of their companions,
who belonged to the Hadánara, one of the divisions of the Azkár.
_Tuesday, August 20._—At an early hour we started, with an uneasy
feeling. With the first dawn the true believers had been called together
to prayer, and the bond which united the Mohammedan members of the
caravan with the Christian travellers had been loosened in a very
conspicuous manner. Then the encampment broke up, and we set out—not,
however, as we had been accustomed to go latterly, every little party
starting off as soon as they were ready, but all waiting till the whole
caravan had loaded their camels, when we began our march in close order,
first along the valley, then entering upon higher ground, sometimes
gravelly, at others rocky. The range to our right, here a little more
than a mile distant, bears different names, corresponding to the more
prominent parts into which it is separated by hollows or saddles,
the last cone towards the south being called Timázkaren, a name most
probably connected with that of the Azkár tribe, while another is named
Tin-dúrdu-rang. The Tarki or Amóshagh is very expressive in names; and
whenever the meaning of all these appellations shall be brought to light,
I am sure we shall find many interesting significations. Though I paid
a good deal of attention to their language, the Tarkíyeh or Temáshight,
I had not leisure enough to become master of the more difficult and
obsolete terms; and, of course, very few even among themselves can at
present tell the exact meaning of a name derived from ancient times.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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