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
We waited with intense anxiety the return of the scout. Many people got
upon the walls to look out. At length, at noon the 25th, a single camel
was descried on the dull red glare of the Saharan horizon. This was the
Senawanee. A number of people ran to him. "Where are the Shânbah?"
"Where?" "Shânbah?" The messenger said nothing--he was dumb. A crowd
gets round him--he's still dumb. He enters the Rais's hall of conference,
and squats down in the presence of his Excellency. He speaks now, and
calls for coffee. The Rais gets furiously agitated at the moment of
breaking silence. The scout very calmly sips off his coffee, and strokes
down his beard, and then deigned to satisfy Governor, Kady, officers, and
the men, women, and children, who were now pressing upon him with
dreadful agitation. "Oh, Bey! (raising himself from the floor, fixing his
eyes now on the Bey, and now on the people, and putting his fore-finger
of the right hand on the thumb of the left)--I went to the sand. I got
there when the sun was gone down. The camel lay down, and so did I lay
down on the sand. We watched all night. I fear no one but God!--(Here was
a general hum of approbation.)--Two hours before the _fidger_, (break of
day) I looked up and saw pass by me, at a distance of from here to The
Spring, nine _Bughar_ (wild-bullocks). They came and went, and went and
came, snuffing up the sand and bellowing. The man and the boy, who cut
the wood yesterday, saw the _Bughar_. But the wild oxen are not the
Shânbah!" As soon as he mentioned the _Bughar_, the people rushing out of
the Bey's apartment, ran away, and before I could get my dinner, a
portion of the ghafalah was on the move. The Rais said to me, "Get off,
make haste--make haste." I then went down to load the nagah again, but
found it very difficult; seeing the other camels passing on, she would
not stop to be laden. At length my turjeman came and arranged all. Said
observed that the obstinacy of the nagah was a bad omen. His Excellency
the Governor came to see me off, and gave me an affectionate shake of the
hands. I then met his confidential man Abd-Errahman, who said to me,
"Rais has given you in charge of all the people of the ghafalah, (about
sixty persons"). This was kind of the Governor, and better, perhaps, than
being in the charge of one individual. But still I couldn't help
thinking, that what is many persons' business is nobody's business. The
turjeman accompanied us some distance, chatting with Said. He carried
with him a quantity of date-tree fibrous netting, and was twisting bands
as he followed us. We soon parted. I then passed my old friend the
good-natured Arab doctor. His parting blessing spoke the native goodness
of his heart: "Day cool, route wide, route Fezzan, ghafalah large,
Shânbah there are none--God bless you, farewell!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account