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
Afterwards I paid a visit to Sheikh Jabour. The Sheikh has a house within
the town, which very few of the Sheikhs have. Jabour received me
friendly. I could not see the features of the Sheikh very well, on
account of his litham. Jabour, however, is a perfect aristocrat in his
way, with a very delicate hand. He is tall and well-made, and his simple
and elegant manners denote at once "The Marabout Sheikh of the
Touaricks," of the most ancient and renowned of Touarghee families. I
took the Sheikh a present of a loaf of sugar, three pounds of cloves and
sunbul, and a shasheeah, or fez. Jabour received them very graciously,
and repeated his _ma-tahafsh_, "don't fear," several times, promising me,
at the same time, to use his influence with his friends to get me safely
escorted to Aheer and Soudan. The Sheikh's followers and other
distinguished Touaricks repeat the same, but the Governor I find more
cautious in his speech. On my return home, the Sheikh sent to know if the
handkerchief, in which the present was wrapped, were also a present, and
whether the bearer of the present had purloined it, for he had taken it
away with him. I immediately sent the Sheikh back the handkerchief,
informing the Sheikh the bearer was not told to leave it. All Saharan
people are immoderately fond of a handkerchief. I recommend travellers in
Sahara to supply themselves with a good stock of very cheap coloured
cotton handkerchiefs. My house is thronged all day long with visitors. I
am obliged to exhibit myself to the people like the Fat Boy, or the
American Giant. It is Richardson's Show at Ghat instead of Greenwich. The
rest of the ghafalah, which we left behind, arrived to-day. My friend,
El-Besher, to my regret, had turned suddenly back and gone to Touat,
where his brother had arrived from Timbuctoo. It is reported that a
quarrel had taken place about his brother amongst the Timbuctoo caravan,
in which affair ten people had been killed. So all Saharan caravans do
not travel in such harmony as we did. The Ghadamsee caravans are
certainly the most pacific. But the Timbuctoo people have everywhere a
bad character.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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