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The baskets of Fezzan are perfectly water-tight. This Kaïd, called Ahmed Tylmoud, is quite a character, and looks very droll with his single eye. He has twenty soldiers only under his command throughout the valley. The Turks do not waste their men, making up by severity for want of numbers.
Dates are not only the principal growth of the Fezzan oases, but the main subsistence of their inhabitants. All live on dates; men, women and children, horses, asses and camels, and sheep, fowls and dogs. Mr. Gagliuffi gives the following statistics of the slave-traffic viâ Mourzuk from Bornou and Soudan: In 1843 2,200 In 1844 1,200 In 1845 1,100 Total, 4,500
The natron is also a source of profitable exportation. Wady Sharky almost exactly resembles Wady Gharby, in population and natural features. Sharkeeah, besides some insignificant places, includes the interesting ancient capital called Zoueelah, whence the name of Zoilah is given by the Tibboos to all Fezzan.
More than once, indeed, the thermometer was down to freezing-point whilst we were traversing the plateau; and one morning the desert was covered with a shining frost. Although we became accustomed to the desolate appearance of this district by degrees, we counted eagerly the days and hours that brought us nearer the confines of Fezzan. Every night's incidents were the same.
Barca Gana then strongly advised him to return to Kouka, showing that his hopes of getting to the east would certainly be disappointed. A little sheikh, who had arrived from Fezzan, endeavoured to poison the mind of El Kanemy against the English, telling him that they had conquered India and probably fully intended to attack Bornou.
It is necessary to take such precautions with these Moors, who often barbarously abandon their families, without any adequate provision, for months and even for years together. We found that he had left dates, wheat, and a little olive-oil and mutton-fat the ordinary stock of all families in Fezzan. Only a few rich people indulge in such luxuries as coffee, sugar, meat, and liquid butter.
In twenty-four hours they came to Siwah, an extensive oasis, about fifty miles in circumference, and the only inhabited spot of any considerable extent on the route to Fezzan. Here there were found some curious remains of antiquity; among the rest a monument, called by the natives Ummebeda, a large mass of dilapidated ruins, which some suppose to have been the celebrated shrine of Jupiter Ammon.
The extent of Sahara occupied by the Touaricks is exceedingly great, embracing many thousands of miles. The northern line begins at Ghadames, an hour's journey south of that city. This line extends along the north, south-west as far as Touat, and south-east as far as the oases of Fezzan and Ghat.
Each pilgrim, on approaching the royal seat, put off his sandals, kissed the sovereign's hand, and took his station behind, where the whole assembly joined in a chant of pious gratitude. Fezzan, according to Horneman, has a length of 300, and a breadth of 200 miles, and is much the largest of all the oases, which enliven the immense desert of Northern Africa.
Their proper name is Tanelkum, a genuine Tuarick word, and decisive of their Targhee origin. Their trade is chiefly camel-driving between Ghât and Fezzan. They are a fairer and finer race than the Fezzanees, and do not intermarry with them.
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