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Stratagem to preserve Water. Second Christening in The Desert. Senawan and its group of Oases. Resume our Journey. Emjessem. Met by a party of Friends from Ghadames. Quarrel about Said. First sight of Ghadames. 7th. Drank a large basin of milk and coffee, and went to pay a visit to the Commandant.
"He will die," I said. "Let him die," returned the unfeeling old blood-letter; "why do they bring soldiers here, we don't want them?" This afternoon I visited the barrack, where several Arab soldiers were laid up with the fever, which they had caught at Emjessem. One was very bad. The Arabs said to me, "You must give him money to buy some bread, and a little meat to make some broth."
My friend, Zaleâ, of Seenawan, did not come with us, he having contracted for the building of the caravansary of Emjessem, but his brother, a rough bold Arab, accompanied us, who assured me to-day, "That all the goods of the ghafalah were the property of Christians and Jews in Tripoli, and the Ghadamseeah merchants were only their commission agents.
Our route was still south-west, and south, and the prevailing wind ghiblee, or from about the same quarter. On leaving Emjessem, we were met in the afternoon by several friends and relatives of the merchants, who had come from Ghadames in answer or invitation to our letters written at Seenawan.
After we come to satire, and with the help of the word batel, "good-for-nothing," we manage to hit off somebody. An Arab Sheikh came to us, one day, when we were joking. I said, "Oh! here's the lion-heart, who ran away from Emjessem for fear of the Shânbah-Bātel." "Nor have we here," replied a merchant, "you better go and hunt with the greyhounds of the Touaricks.
But yet, who does not see that the proposal is well worthy the attention of any Government that wishes to establish in Africa a legitimate commerce, a system of trade which a good man and a good Government may approve of and support? Sixty Arab soldiers came yesterday from The Mountains to protect the people whilst they are building the caravansary of Emjessem.
Then Saheer El-Maharee, and then a long stream, in which are reeds. Afterwards you find Hinsheer El-Basasah. Thence you come to Emjessem. All this route is Sahara; and the road from Seenawan to Emjessen is two days' journey. After this you find the small mountains Baârbeeah Aghour. Then you find Ghadames. There is a day's journey from Emjessen to Ghadames." 28th.
My taleb assures me he was obliged to sell two of his shirts to make up the last amount of the regular tax. What is to be done for extraordinary demands? The fortifications of Emjessem are to be immediately rebuilt. The mud and salt walls are to be destroyed, and new ones of stone and lime are to replace them. Rais showed me the plan of the fonduk, which was nearly executed.
The term καλαμον, the root of which are the three consonants κλμ, is the same as قلم, "a reed" first, and afterwards, "a pen made of a reed." It is difficult sometimes to get reeds in The Desert, and they are carried about from oasis to oasis. On the salt plains of Emjessem, near Ghadames, there is a fine lagoon of reeds, of which pens are made.
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