Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 2/Chapter 2
CHAPTER II
THE AUJILA OASES.
This depression, known to the Arabs by the name of Gerdoba, is interrupted by the high dunes of Rhat. But if the preliminary measurements taken by Rohlfs and his associates can be trusted, it begins again farther west under the form of a winding wady, which is connected with the oases of Jalo and Aujila. The level of these depressions varies, according to Rohlfs, from 100 to 170 feet below the sea. East of the group of onses the broadest valley, known specially as the "wady," presents a general direction from south to north and north-west, probably merging in the Bir Rassam, another marine bed, which Rohlfs found to be from 330 to 350 feet below the Great Syrtis. Here the ground is abundantly strewn with fossil plants, especially palms and the mastic, forming extensive "petrified forests" like those of Egypt.
At the point where the Bir Rassam depression was crossed by the German traveller, it turns north-westwards, probably to form a junction near its old mouth with the Wady Fareg, another dried-up basin which, according to the Arabs, is a five days' journey long. Its mouth, now closed by dunes or, perhaps, rocky hills, is indicated by the Ain Kebrit, a place nearly 120 miles south of Benghazi. The Wady Fareg is usually regarded as the line of demarcation between the habitable lands and the desert. Travellers for the first time ascending the southern escarpment are expected to treat their companions to the "feast of the valley;" otherwise the caravan folk heap the surrounding stones into a cairn to serve as tho tomb of the niggard. This is a kind of "anathema" analogous to that raised by the Greek peasantry against the tax-gatherer.
Thus limited southwards by the Wady Fareg, the Bir Rassam, the Wady of the Aujila oases, Gerdoba uud Siwah, the limestone plateau of Cyrenaica and Marmariea would seem to form a large island almost detached from the rest of the continent. There can be no doubt that the whole of this depression of the wadies and oases was formerly flooded with the Mediterranean waters. After their separation from the sea by intervening strips of coastlands, the marine basins gradually evaporated under the fierce sun of Africa. But the waters have left clear traces of their existence in the banks of recent shells, the deposits of salt, gypsum, saltpetre, magnesia, and numerous "bitter lakes." Thus from one extremity to the other of the Gulf of Sidra, there is an exact parallelism in the
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physical aspect and relief of the several regions, and in the natural phenomena of which they have been the scene. On both sides low-lying tracts stretch far inland, some of which lie below sea-level, and are supposed to have formed marine inlets at some more or less remote period. It has been proposed to convert both basins into an "inland sea," through which the Mediterranean waters might penetrate into the interior of the continent. After his first explorations in the Libyan oases, Rohlfs thought that by simply piercing the riverain sill on the Gulf of Sidra, it might be possible to flood a large part of the continent as far as the Kufra oasis, under the 22° north latitude, “whereby the largest vessels might reach Fezzan, perhaps even the oasis of Wajanga." But more recent surveys have shown that the geographical changes produced by these projects would be far less important than was supposed; in any ease, the results of more accurate measurements must be awaited before there can be any question of creating an "inland sea." TOPOGRAPHY. 25 Topography. In the part of the territory lying south of the Barka plateau, there are neither towns nor permanent villages, except in the group of oases occupying the depres- sions in the desert below the level of the Mediterranean. In a bee-line the distance is at least 130 miles between the Aujila oases and the point on the Gulf of Sidra where formerly stood Ajabia, the old outlet for the caravan trade of the interior. The track usually followed by caravans across the desert still reaches the coast at the same point. On an average, travellers take about ten days to cover the distance between Aujila and the seaboard. During the journey they have to traverse vast solitudes, " where even the flea forsakes the wayfarer," and where the only procurable water is a nauseous and brackish fluid often refused by the camel itself. In many places the traces of preceding caravans are soon covered bv the sands. Here the only indication of the proper route to follow are the so- called al/emSf or heaps of stones raised at intervals as landmarks. On the eastern route, towards the Faredgha oasis, the sands conceal the dried bodies of forty travellers, who perished of thirst after being abandoned by their guide.* The eastern oasis of Aujila, which during the Hellenic epoch gave its name to the whole group, is neither the largest nor the most populous. Some 12 miles long with a breadth of little over half a mile, it is developed in the form of a crescent with its convex side facing eastwards. A solitary spring, as in the time of Herodotus, wells up in this depression, which is enclosed on all sides by the stony terraces of the serirs. The Jalo oasis, which occupies the centre of the group, is perhaps ten times more extensive than that of Aujila ; it is about the same length, but in some places has a width of from 6 to 7 miles. But it is absolutely destitute of fresh water, possessing nothing but a saline fluid, which serves to irrigate the palm groves; hence all the drinking water has to be brought from the almost uninhabited oasis of the wady Ijang farther east. The western part of the group of oases is the most thickly peopled, and in proportion to its extent Aujila is one of the most densely inhabited districts in the whole world. Jalo presents extensive waste spaces and ranges of dunes interrupting its palm groves. Batofl or Battifal, lying to the south-east, at the southern extremity of the wady, forms a badly watered depression, dotted with a few camping-grounds, and fringed with reeds on which the camels browse. But beyond this point the whole zone of eastern depressions has been abandoned, except the small oasis of Leshkerreh, which is isolated amid the moving sands. Vegetables raised in the gardens of the oases, cereals, and dates, form the chief food of the inhabitants, who however also keep a few flocks of sheep and goats, some poultry and pigeons. But they have neither asses nor oxen, and not more than half a dozen horses. The dog, although rare, is not unkno^Ti in the country. The tribes occupying the Aujila oases do not belong all to one stock. The Wajili, who claim to be aborigines, and who descend perhaps from the Nasamons
- Bohlfg, " Von Tripolis nach Alexandrien," ii., p. 68.
84— AV mentioned by Herodotus, still speak a Berber dialect closely related to the Tamasirht of the Tuaregs. Inhabiting the western oasis and the part of Jalo which surrounds Lebba, the capital, they are engaged chiefly in agriculture. They also work the saline beds of the neighbouring depressions, for in these old marine inlets salt is everywhere found, associated with gypsum. They have an excellent breed of camels, which they hire to the caravans, conducting them along the desert routes us far as Benghazi, Murzuk, Siwah, and Kufra.
The Mojabras, who also claim Berber descent, although now speaking Arabic, dwell in the eastern part of the oases, and especially in the district of El-Areg in the Jalo depression. This tribe despise agriculture, but, like the people of Ghadâmes, they are born traders, and like them also have founded commercial centres
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throughout all the Libyan oases. Travellers praise their courage, temperance, and perfect honesty. According to Burckhart, to then is due the discovery of the route leading from the coast through Kufra and Wajanga to Wadai.
The little Leshkerreh oasis is inhabited by the Zwiyas (Swayas), a tribe of Arab origin. But whatever the differences in speech and race, Mojabras, Wajilis and Zwiyas all closely resemble each other physically; and their almost black complexion attests the importance taken by the Negro element in the crossings of the races. The marriage tie is very lax amongst the inhabitants of Aujila. According to Hamilton, men are not unfrequently met who have successively contracted twenty or thirty unions, the price of a bride varying from twenty-five to thirty shillings. But the establishment of the austere Senûsiya sect in the country cannot Wadjili TOPOGRArnV. 27 fail to effect a reformation in this respect, by rendering divorces less frequent, and Tv'st rioting the consumption of palm wine. The trade of the Aujila oases with the states of the interior, and esixjcially with Wmlai and Dar-Fur, appoars to have acquired some expansion since the route of the Nile hjjs Ix^en elose<l hy the revolt of the Egyptian Sudanese. In 1800 the traffic between Aujila and Wadai was completely susjx^uded for some years in con- s(H|uence of the action of some Maltese traders, who, at the instigation, as was said, of the Pasha of Tripoli, attacked a caravan near Aujila, killed several jx^rsons, and carried oil thirty captives. It was to avenge this outrage that the Sultan of Wadai put Vogel to death, vowing at the same time to slay all Christian travellers falling into his hands. The religious order of the Senusiya virtually rules througtiout the oases, but the official representative of authority is a mudir who resides in the Jalo oasis, and who ii'sues his mandates in the name of the Governor of Benghazi. His power is limited to the levying of taxes, the various Wajili, Mojabra, and Zwiya tribes, to the number of twenty, enjoying local independence in all communal matters. When Pacho visited the Jalo oasis, the authority was in the hands of an old French drummer, who had escai)ed from the Egyptian expedition, and who after a scHl^s of remarkable adventures at last found himself at the head of a petty state surrounded by the wilderness, and forgotten by his fellow-countrNracn.