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One of the Fezzanees ferreted out a lot of dates, hidden in the sand, and taking some distributed them amongst us. Thus refreshed we pushed on to encamp in Wady El-Takadafah, where there is a well of water, good to drink, but disagreeable in smell, like that of Bonjem. The odour resembles that of a sewer, and is produced by hydrogen of sulphur.
As Overweg is going to Asoudee under the protection of En-Noor, I gave him the loaf of sugar, and told him to send it, on his part, as a present to the Sheikh, and at the same time to ask him to get his escort ready. The Fezzanees call the Milky Way, which appears at this season nearly overhead early in the evening, "the road of the dates," it being now the time in which the dates ripen.
In the scuffle, I noticed that they called him Fezzanee, which is used as a term of insult in these parts. "All the Fezzanees are bad people, and all their women courtezans," says my chaouch. There is a large leopard reported to be abroad near the oasis of Mizdah. He escaped from Abdel-Galeel, who brought him from Soudan, and creates great terror among the camel-drivers.
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.
The chaouch also lectured the people on courage, and publicly maintained that the Fezzanees were all cowards. This fellow is a second Sir John Falstaff, without the corpulence. The tone of all members of the caravan, as I have mentioned, is now much humanised. Every one is more civil to us, and, by habit, to one another.
We saw one or two lizards, but no birds or other signs of life, except two brown-black Fezzanees, trudging over the desert. At four in the afternoon, after a day of hot wind, we encamped in Wady Guber, where there is water two or three feet below the surface; and a small forest of palms belonging to our camel-drivers, having descended to them in small groups from their grandfathers.
Their numbers are not great, perhaps scarcely more than a thousand souls in all Fezzan; but they live in a state of entire independence, and pay no contributions to the Porte. We passed the first well and came up with the true Fezzanees at the village of Laghareefah, where we encamped.
More sandy Desert Fatiguing March Water and Herbage Water-drinking Sight the Plateau over the Mourzuk Hot Wind Arrival in El-Wady Tuaricks Laghareefah Fezzanees The Chaouches astray The Sheikh Abd-el-Hady Description of the Oasis Tempest Native Huts Official Visits Desert News Camel-drivers Ruins of Azerna Move on The Kaïd Modest Requests Ladies of the Wady Leave the Oasis Vast Plain Instinct of the Camel Reach Agar Reception Precede the Caravan Reach Mourzuk Mr.
It was not thought necessary, however, to surround my Mission with any circumstances of diplomatic splendour; and it was still in the character of Yakōb a name already known throughout the greater portion of the route intended to be traversed that I proposed to resume my intercourse with the Moors, the Fezzanees, the Tibboos, the Tuaricks, and other tribes and peoples of the desert and the countries beyond.
In one I found a little sour milk; in another, some bazeen; in another, a few dates soaking in water. A small vessel now and then occurred, full of oil; but this is the greatest luxury they possess. None of the doors has either lock or key. The Fezzanee observed, "Strangers may steal, but Fezzanees never. All the dates remain securely on the trees until gathered by the owners."
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