Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa, Vol. 1 (of 5) : $b being a journal of an expedition undertaken under the auspices of H.B.M.'s Government, in the years 1849-1855Barth, Heinrich
History
Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa, Vol. 1 (of 5) : $b being a journal of an expedition undertaken under the auspices of H.B.M.'s Government, in the years 1849-1855
Barth, Heinrich
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Africa, North -- Description and travel
Having passed a small wadi, we came in sight of the encampment of the
governor, which stretched out in front of us in a well-chosen situation
at the southern foot of a small cone. A Turkish officer’s green tent,
pitched a little in advance, was surrounded by several smaller ones,
while another group of twelve Bedwín tents, in a higher position up the
slope of the mount, contained the household. The governor received us in
a very friendly but rather affected manner, which seemed peculiar to
him, and might even be thought becoming in a man who has assisted his
country’s foes in exterminating all the members of his family, formerly
one of the foremost in the country. His friends, who try to represent
him as an honest man, say that he was forced to the deed, after having
once entered into Turkish service. This man, Bel Kásem el Lohéshi
Mahmúdi, has since played a conspicuous part in the present revolution;
for he it was who led the Turkish force last year against Ghóma, his
near relative but most bitter enemy, who, having been a prisoner in
Trebizond for many years, suddenly made his escape from thence during
the Russian war, and, issuing from the Tunisian frontier, appeared in
Jébel Yéfren. El Lohéshi was routed, and taken prisoner, and, according
to the first report, slain by the successful rebel. When we visited El
Lohéshi, he had occupied his new post only for the last year, having
been before governor of the Jebel. During all the period he had been in
Tarhóna, he assured us he had not moved his encampment from this place;
which I can well understand, as it is a very pleasant spot. His
principal business, of course, consists in collecting the tithes, in
registering which he was busily employed. He knew very little of the
province under his government; and it was to other men that I had to
look for information.
Having pitched our tent near that of the governor, we proceeded to make
ourselves acquainted with the locality, and, a few paces north from our
encampment, stumbled upon the famous brook called ʿAin Shersher, or ʿAin
Shershára, which, proceeding from the junction of three springs, forms
here a cascade of about twenty-five feet over the firm calcareous rock.
Running west a short distance, it then turns north and, breaking through
the mountain-slope in a deep picturesque glen, takes the direction of
the Wadi Ramle, which, however, it only reaches during great floods.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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