Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846Richardson, James
History
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846
Richardson, James
Sahara -- Description and travel
the Major was not a man but a devil, so he (the Touarick) was obliged to
kill him. No authentic account now will ever be collected of Major
Laing's death. That he was stopped a couple of days beyond Aghobly, in
the oases of Touat, and there wounded, is certain; we have the Major's
own account for it. He seems also to have remained a month at Timbuctoo,
and wrote a full account of that mysterious city. He then, not being able
to ascend or trace the Niger _viâ_ Jinnee, on account of the objections
of the people, made a _détour_ through The Desert, wishing to go to
Senegambia, when, after four days' journey, he was stopped by a party of
Arabs, and murdered. Some persist in saying, that Caillié found Major
Laing's papers, and gave them as his _own_ account of Timbuctoo. I should
be sorry to attempt either to prove or contradict the charge. All the
documents are in possession of the family of the late Colonel Warrington.
We must suspend our opinion until they are published, which I trust will
not be long.
Afterwards visited the Rais, who is, like myself, very fond of the
Touatee. His Excellency had a bad headache, and his _major-domo_ was hard
at work rubbing his head with his hands. I laughed, but said nothing. The
people are fond of manipulation, and shampooning (_Temras_). Whenever any
one hurts himself by bruises or falls, the limb affected is rubbed and
stretched, and stretched and rubbed, until the poor sufferer's limb is
nearly severed from his body. Manipulation ought to have made the fourth
mode of cure laid down by my marabout, after burning, blood-letting, and
talismanic writing. However, I believe manipulation, aided by the bath,
frequently effects important cures. Some Moors indeed, consider this the
sovereign remedy for every hurt and disease. Found the Touatee again with
the Rais. He amused us both by giving his opinion about the
_inexhaustible_ supply of slaves furnished by Nigritia. "All other
countries," said he, "die and become depopulated. It is now ten thousand
years we go to buy slaves in Soudan. The oftener we go there the more we
find. In that country the men are all night long begetting children, and
the women all the morning bringing them forth. This is the reason the
supply of slaves never becomes exhausted."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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