Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 2/Chapter 5
CHAPTER V.
FEZZAN.
OLITICALLY Fezzan belongs to the Turkish province of Tripolitana; by its position to the south of the Jebel-es-Soda, as well as its climate, it forms part of the zone of the Sahara; by its prevailing Negro population it depends more even on the region of Sudan than on that of North Africa. At the same time, the relative large extent of its oases, and their easy access by the routes from Tripoli, constitute it an intermediate region between the seaboard and the Sahara. In former times the Roman occupation had attached this territory of "Phazania" to the Mediterranean world. They were succeeded by the Arabs, who arrived as conquerors during the first half century of the Hegira. Then came the Turks, heirs of Rome through Constantinople, whose authority was finally established early in the present century after a long series of wars, promoted not by a love of freedom on the part of the inhabitants, but by the rival ambitions of families aiming at the sovereign power.
At present the products of Europe are introduced to a large extent through Fezzan into the heart of the continent, and thus is gradually brought about the work of assimilation between its various races. But whatever importance it may possess as the commercial gateway to Central Africa, Fezzan counts for little in respect of population, which, according to Nachtigal's detailed statistical statement, amounts at most to forty-three thousand, and to thirty-seven thousand only if we exclude the inhabitants of the oases lying north of the watershed. Even accepting Rohlfs higher estimate of two hundred thousand for the whole region, the proportion would be considerably less than two persons to the square mile; for within its natural limits between the Black Mountains to the north, the spurs of the Jebel Ahaggar to the west, the advanced escarpments of Tibesti to the south, and the Libyan desert to the east, Fezzan has a superficial area of at least 120,000 square miles. But the administrative circumscription of Fezzan is far more extensive, as it includes, north of the Black Mountains, the oases of Zella and Jofra, and all the lands draining to the Mediterranean as far as Bu-Njeim.
During the last hundred years, Fezzan has been visited by many European travellers. In 1798, Ilornemann, one of the missionaries sent by the African Exploration Society, traversed both the Black and the White Harûj by, a track rUYSICAL FEATURES. 6» which has been followed by no subsequent western explorer. Twenty years later Lyon surveyed the chief trade route connecting Tripoli through Jofra with Murzuk, and determined a few astronomical jKniits, which were afterwards extended by the researches of Oudnoy, Denham, and Clapporton. The expedition of the year 18f50, associated with the names of Barth, Overweg, and Richardson, followed the direct highway across the Retl llamada wilderness. Then came the important explorations of Vogel, Duveyrier, Beurraann, Rohlfs, Von Bary, and Nachtigal, who have not only laid down the network of their own itineraries, but have also supplemented them with many others, on the authority of numerous Arab informers. Thus, to mention one instance, Rohlfs has published an account of the discovery of one of the Wan oases by Mohammed-el-Tarhoni, an Arab of Zella. In its general outlines, Fezzan presents the form of an amphitheatre gradually inclined towards the east, and on the other three sides encircled by plateaux. Its mean altitude is about l,OoO feet, the lowest levels of the oases nowhere probably falling below G50 feet. According to Barth, the deepest depression occurs at the Sharaba wells, east of Murzuk, where a lacustrine basin receives the drainage of an extensive area, and remains flooded for months together. Physical Features. The vast region enclosed b}' the escarpments of the plateau is itself a somewhat broken country, the general relief of which, as well as its mean elevation, shows that it has not certainly formed a marine basin during recent geological times, notwithstanding the theories lately advanced to the contrary by some eminent geographers, not only for Fezzan, but for the whole of the Sahara. Nevertheless in many places traces are visible of the former presence of salt water, and the submergence of the land at some very remote period is attested both by the undulating lines of shifting sands driving before the winds on the western plateau, and by the polished pebbles of diverse colours strewn like mosaics over the surface of the eastern serirs. The space encircled by the surrounding plateau consists in great part of secondary terraces, whose main axis runs in the direction from west to east, and which are separated from each other by crevasses with a mean depth of about 150 feet. These narrow, tortuous intermediate depressions take the name of ** wadies," like the beds of temporary watercourses in the northern parts of Trijx)litana, but as they are never flushed by any freshets, a more appropriate designation would be that of Lofra or " ditch" which in fact is applied to one of these depressions in the Murzuk district. Some are mere ravines of sand or hard clay, while others present the aspect of verdant glens shaded by overhanging palm-trees. Although not forming a fluvial system p»operly so called, they generally converge one towards another, without, however, always reaching the common bed towards the east of Fezzan. In this direction the unfinished channels are obstructed by sands and reefs. The southern slopes of the Jebel-es-Soda and of the Black Ilaruj present a very gradual incline. They are prolonged southwards by the spurs and terraces of the Ben-Afien serir, plateaux of slight elevation strewn with stones and shingle, which greatly impede the progress of the wayfarer. South of the erest of the Jebel-es-Soda a space of about 80 miles has to be traversed before reaching the escarpment at the foot of which begins Fezzan properly so called. In this almost absolutely desert district the stony surface is broken only by a single green depression, that of the Fogha oasis. The base of the Red Harûj is abruptly limited by the Wady Heran, the first occurring in Fezzan proper. A few trees are here occasionally met in the moist depressions near the wells; but throughout nearly its whole course the wady presents little to the traveller's wearied gaze beyond shifting sands interspersed with sandstone blocks blackened by the heat. Nevertheless,
the aspect of the valley changes at its confluence with a broader wady skirted on the north by the escarpments of the spurs of the Black Mountains. The bed of this Wady-esh-Shiati, as it is called, is covered with a layer of humus, through which the roots of the palm-trees penetrate to a mean depth of 10 feet before striking the moist sands underneath. According to the measurements taken by different explorers, the altitude of the wady varies from 1,150 to 1,650 feet, but from these data no idea can be formed of the real slope of the valley, which may possibly be even more elevated towards the centre than at either extremity.
South of the Wady-esh-Shiati, which is lost eastwards amid the cliffs of the White Harûj, the ground merges in a terrace which in some places has a breadth LAKES AND WADIES. 71 of about 60 miles ; but its surface is broken hero and there by small verdant depressions, mostly inhabited, and by some narrow wadiea. Amongst these is the Wady Zelaf, a remarkable fissure in the ground overgrown with a forest of palms, whose delicious fruit is the common property of all wayfarers. Custom, however, forbids them to carry away any supplies, and what is not consumed on the spot by passing caravans is gathered by the inhabitants of the Esh-Shiati. The western part of the plateau intersected by the wooded Zelaf watercourse is occupied by the so-called cdeyen, that is, in the Temahaq dialect of the eastern Tuaregs, *' sandhills." According to M, Duveyrier, who traverse<l it at two points, this sea of sands stretches for a distance of 480 miles in the direction from west to east, with a mean breadth of 50 miles. Towards the part of the plateau crossed by the main caravan route between Tripoli and Murzuk, the hitherto uninterrupted sandy surface becomes decomposed into a number of low eminences and distinct archipelagoes of sandhills, which are nowhere disposed in regular ranges, but rise in some places in completely isolated heights. North of Jerma, Earth's caravan found the winding lines of dunes so difficult to cross, that the men were obliged to level the crests with their hands before the camels could gain a footing. But the sandhills attain a still greater elevation farther west, where by trigonometrical measurement Vogel found one eminence rising 540 feet above a small lake occupying a depression in the plateau. Lakes and Wadies. The explorer is often surprised to meet in this almost rainless region permanent or intermittent lakes in the midst of the dunes. In a single group north of the Murzuk hamada there are as many as ten, nearly all, however, of difficult access, owing to the hillocks of fine sand encircling them, in which the foot sinks at every step. Two of these basins contain chloride of sodium and carbonate of soda, like the natron lakes of the Egyptian desert; hence the designation of Bahr-el-Trunia, or ** Sea of Xatron," applied to one of the Fezzan lakes. Several other lacustrine basins are inhabited by a peculiar species of worm, highly appreciated by the epicures of the district. The lake yielding the most abundant supplies of this delicacy is specially known as the Bahr-el-Dud, or " Sea of Worms," and the local fishermen take the name of duwada, or " worm- grubbers." This sheet of water, fringed by palms and almost circular in form, has a circumference of about 600 miles, with a depth in the lowest part, measured by Vogel, of 26 feet. But owing to the almost viscous consistency of the excessively saline water, it appears far deeper to the natives, who regard it as fathomless. Invalids from all parts of Fezzan frequent it in crowds, first bathing in this basin, and then plunging in some neighbouring freshwater pool, in which is dissolved the incrustation of salt covering their bodies. The worm, known to naturalists by the name of artcmia Oadncyi, is the larva of a diptera, whose serpentine body, one-third of an inch long, and of a gold-red colour lik^jLa^f the cyprinus of China, flits about like a flash of fire, with surpris72 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. in;]^ velocity amid tlie animalculoB swarming on the surface of the lake. By means of fine nets the larva is captured, together with other larvae which prey ou it, and the fucus on which it feeds. The whole is then kneaded into a sort of paste, which has a flavour resembling that of shrimps " a little gamy." The mess is mostly used as a sauce or relish with other aliments. The plateau of dunes is abruptly terminated southwards by the depression of the Wady Lajjil, which runs mainly in the direction from west- south-west to east- north-east for a total distance of nearly 300 miles between the deserts separating Rl)at from Fezzan, and those stretching towards the AVhite Ilaruj. But the depressions in this wady are occupied by oases for a space of not more than 120 miles altogether, with a mean breadth of about 5 miles. Towards its source in the west, the Wady Lajal has an elevation of 2,000 feet above sca-lovcl, falling to 1,300 at the point where it merges in the eastern deserts. The most striking contrast is presented by the opposite banks of the wady, those on the north side consisting of gently rounded sandy heights, while on the south rise abrupt cliffs, a continuation of the partly Devonian Arasak range, which commands the entrance of the valley. Near the centre two corresponding sandy and rocky headlands projecting towards each other divide the depression into two sections, respectively known from their geographical position as the Wady-el- Gharbi and "Wady-esh-Sherki. The latter, or " eastern " wady, which is the largest, is connected eastwards with the palm-groves of Sebha, beyond which it is interruj)to(l by the desert, reappearing again in the small oases of Temenhint, Semnu, and Zighen. The position of these oases seems to indicate the existence of a former tributary between the AVadies Lajal and Esh-Shiati ; but the whole valley is now obstructed by sands. Like that of other depressions in Fezzan, the soil of the Wady Lajal is formed of hci>ilia — that is, a very light humus saturated with salt and swollen by the com- bined action of heat and the underground waters. Saline eflBorescences in many places develop a central zone skirted on either side by cultivated tracts at the foot of the cliffs and sandhills. In the Wady Lajal the mean depth of the water is about 12 feet ; hence it is unnecessary to irrigate the palms, which derive sufficient moisture through their roots. But the water required for the cereals and vege- tables is obtained from the wells, into which is plunged an apparatus made of date- wood, looking at a distance like shears for masting of ships, or the cranes mounted on the wharves of seaport towns. Notwithstanding the statement of Rohlfs to the contrary, there appear to exist in Fezzan the so-called fogarats, or systems of irrigation wells, one of which was visited by M. Duveyrier on the slope of the southern cliffs of the wady, not far from Jerma. The Murzuk hamada, which separates the Wady Lajal from the depression specially known as the Ilofra, or " Ditch," forms an extensive plateau almost uniformly level, except on its northern verge, partly skirted by the abrupt Amsak range, and at a few other points furrowed by crevasses either occupied by oases or at least containing artificial wells. Such is the Godva oasis, traversed by most of the caravans between Murzuk and Tripolitana. Narrowing towards it^ western extremity to a space of not more than a day's march in breadth, the Murzuk hamâda broadens out eastwards, gradually merging in the stony serirs and the unexplored deserts skirted on the north by the limestone terraces of the White Harûj. In its western section it is limited southwards by the narrow Wady Aberjush, beyond which recommence the stony plateaux. These desolate wastes, which are continued indefinitely southwards in the direction of the Tibbu terriory, are destitute of any vegetation beyond a few straggling gum-trees in their depressions. But towards the east is developed the vast semicircular basin of the Hofra, the great central cavity in which is situated Murzuk, present capital of Fezzan. This low-lying region is divided by waste and stony tracts into two clearly defined sections: to the west the Murzuk ousis, to the east that of Esh-Sherkiya, or "the
Eastern." The latter consists in reality of a long narrow chain of oases subdivided into numerous secondary depressions, which are separated from each other by sandy ridges, without presenting anywhere any regular slope.
Oases of Fezzan.
The various oases vary in altitude from 1,000 to 1,650 feet, and Temissa, the last in the direction of the east, is everywhere surrounded by solitudes. The bed of the Hofra, like that of the other depressions in Fezzan, consists of heisha; here, however, containing rather more argillaceous soil than elsewhere. But this clay is saturated with salt to such an extent that the unbaked earthen bricks of the houses are dissolved during the heavy rains. The water drawn from the deep wells is 74 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. also so brackish that strangers find it very unpalatable. In several places it rises to the surface, spreading out in sebkhas or swamps, which are usually fringed by a crystalline zone of salt. The Ilofro, with its eastern prolongation, the Sherkiya, lies south of the last great oasis in Fezzan. Along the route towards the plateau, 2,500 feet high, which separates this region from the Tibbu domain, caravans meet nothing but a few wells and the two small oases of Gatrodn and Tejerri. Eastwards, in the direction of Kufra, the desert is even more dreary than towards the south. Serirs, dunes, saline depressions follow in succession for a space of over 120 miles before the traveller reaches a first oasis, that of AVau-el-Kebir, or, " the Great Wau,", which was unknown to geographers before the journey of Beurmann in 1862. It was occupied by a Negroid Tibbu population down to the year 1841, when they were driven out by marauding Arab tribes, who made it the centre of their raiding expeditions. The Tibbus attempted in vain to recover this oasis, although the conquering tribe was expelled in its turn, and at the time of Beurmann's visit Wau was held by members of the Senusiya brotherhood, who, being all celibates, allowed no women to reside in the place. Beurmann was informed that at a distance of three days' march westwards there was another oasis, known by the name of Wau-es-Serir, " the little "VVau," or Wau-Namus, " Mosquito Wau ; " but no one in the district was able to show him the route to follow, the only person acquainted with the oasis having recently died at an advanced age. This lost depression is the same that was rediscovered in the year 1876 by the Arab Mohammed Tarhoni, aided by a few voluntary explorers from Zella. Unlike Great Wau, it is uninhabited, although numerous potherbs and palm groves cleared of their undergrowth show that until recently it supported a small population, probably of Tibbu stock. Besides date-palms, its flora comprises acacias and tiiraarisks, as well as shrubs of smaller growth. In the rocks is found a deposit of " fine yellow sulphur," while a small lake in the centre of the oases accounts for the swarms of winged insects, whence it takes its name. The former inhabitants had settled on " a very high mountain " above the lake and the clouds of mosquitoes. According to local tradition, there exists to the south-east another oasis, the Wau-IIarir, a valley clothed with a rich vegetation, and inhabited by a large number of animals, such as moufUons, gazelles, and antelopes, which have not yet learnt to fear man, and allow themselves to be attacked and speared. Camels which have lapsed into the wild state are also said to herd beneath the shade of the palms along the banks of the streamlets watering this mysterious oasis. Climate of Fezzan. Lying under a more southern latitude than Tripolitana, properly so called, Fezzan has naturally a higher temperature, ranging from 81° to 83*^ F. Never- theless the cold is more intense, both on account of its greater distance from the sea, which always exercises a moderating influence on climates, and also in consequence of the greater purity of the atmosphere causing at night a free FLORA OF FEZZAN. 75 radiation of heat into space. Still the sky is seldom perfectly cloudless, the lovely u/ure of temperate zones being here replaced by milky white tints and the striated cirri of the upper atmospheric regions. In December, and during the first half of January, the thermometer at sunrise seldom rises above 42^ or 43" F., and in many parts of the plateau water often freezes at night. Snow is even said to have been observed on the mountains encircling the country. On the other hand, the excessive heat is almost intolerable for strangers. If, according to Lyon, the summer average is already 90° F. at Murzuk, Duveyrier here twice recorded in July a temperature of 110° F. in the shade, while in the desert, properly so called, the glass often rises to over 121^ F. In the sun it exceeds 170° and even 187° F. Altogether Fezzan belongs to the climatic zone of the Sahara, in which the extremes of temperature suffice, in the language of Herodotus, to consume the very heart of the country. Where are the rocks capable of resisting the expansions and contractions caused by extremes of heat and cold, whose mean annual discrepancy amounts to 198°, and possibly even 208° F. ? The rainfall also is all the lighter in Fezzan, that the moisture-bearing clouds from the north are arrested by the Jebel-es-Soda and Black Ilaruj ranges. There id even a complete absence of dew, owing to the dryness of the air. Yet, strange to say, the inhabitants of the country do not themselves desire rainy weather, not only because it washes away thoir earthern cabins, but also on account of its injurious effects on the palm-trees, by interfering with the normal system of irrigation from the subterranean supplies. "Rain water is death, underground water is quickening," says the native proverb. Heavy showers fall usually in winter and spring, that is, from December to April, when the northern winds contend for the supremacy with those from the south. Flora of Fezzan. The great extremes of heat and cold have as their natural accompaniment a correspondingly impoverished flora. Plants unable to adapt themselves to the severe colds and intense heats, all alike perish in this climate. Even in the sheltered depressions of the desert there are scarcely any spontaneous growths, beyond a few talha acacias of scanty foliage, pale tamarisks, the thorny alhagi, on which the camel browses, the sandy colocynth, alfa grass, some scrub, a species of salsola, and two or three herbs. The cultivated are perhaps more numerous than the wild species, although in many of the gardens of the oases there is a great lack of variety. In some of the wadies are grown wheat, barley, and several other kinds of cereals, the gombo, whose pulpy fruit is highly appreciated by the Arabs, some thirty species of vegetables enumerated by Nachtigal, amongs'i which are comprised nearly all those growing in European gardens. The fig and almond yield excellent fruit, but most of the other fruit-trees of the temperate zone are rare, or represented only by a few stunted specimens. The olive reaches no farther south than the Wady Otba, to the west of Murzuk. Tobacco, cotton, and indigo flourish in the gardens of Fezzan, but the supply is 76 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. very limited. The gum-tree, especially in the Wndy Lajal round about the Ubari oasis, yields an excelltmt gum, by no means despised by the Targui when there is a dearth of other aliments. But of still more importance in the economy of the country are the plants yielding fodder, such as luzeme, clover, and several varieties of melilotus (sweet clover). In Fozzan the date finds a thoroughly congenial home. According to the natives, it thrives best in the Hof ra district, and especially in the oasis in the centre of which lies the town of Traghcn. Nowhere else is it found growing in greater profusion, or with such dense masses of foliage. No less than three hundred varieties are reckoned in the whole country, of which over thirty occur in the single oasis of Murzuk. Forests springing spontaneously from the scattered date-stones are so numerous that their produce is left to the gazelles. In the oases the cultivated palms are crowded together in prodigious quantities, in that of Murzuk alone no less than a million being claimed by the Turkish Government, which also possesses large numbers in other plantations. In a country so destitute of other plants, it is impossible to overrate the economic importance of this marvellous plant, whose fruit, stem, branches, sprouts, fibre, sap, are all turned to account. Dates and cereals form the staple food of the settled communities, while for the nomads the date, with camel's milk, yields an all-satisfying and perfect nourishment. The domestic animals, including even the dogs, also consume this fruit, either as their chief food, or in the absence of their more customary aliment. It has been noticed that nearly all the inhabitants of Fezzan suffer from decayed teeth, the cause affecting them being attributed to the too exclusive use of the date, which, although greatly superior to that of the Tripolitan seaboard, is still inferior to the Egyptian and Algerian varieties. Fauna of Fezzan. The absence of pasturage prevents the native populations from occupying themselves with stock-breeding in a large way. The domestic animals are of extremely small size, and relatively no more numerous than wild animals, which find but a scanty supply of herbs and water. The " lion of the desert " does not prowl over the solitudes of Fezzan, where the wayfarer meets neither the panther nor the hyajna. Not even the jackal's nightly howl is heard round the A'illages and cam ping- grounds, which are infested only by tlie long-eared fennec fox. Gazelles and antelopes, described by Lyon under the name of " buffaloes," must be very rare, this game being nowhere exposed for stde in the market-places. A few vultures, wall falcons and ravens, swallows and sparrows, everywhere the constant associates of man, are almost the only birds seen in Fezzan, except during the summer months, when doves and wild duck arrive in larjre flocks from more southern regions where they have passed the winter. In the courts and farmj'ards are seen neither poultry nor pigeons. Goats and sheep degenerate, and nearly all those bred in the country are characterised by long bony frames, stiff tail, small head, and fine coats. The horned cattle. INHABITANTS OF FEZZAN. 77 intrwluctnl from the north, are ull of small size, and resist the climate badly. Horses arc found ouly in the stables of chiefs and grandees, and scarcely fifty are said to exist in the whole country. The only quadruiKxl extensively employed in the service of man is the camel, which is of the Arab species, diiTcring little from the variety common in the Tuareg territory. The largest and finest breeds are found in the Black Mountains and the Ilari^j district. Here they are clothed in winter with a dense coating of hair, which is shorn once a year, and employed for weaving carpets and tent-tloths. According to most authorities, the camel was rot introduced from Kgypt into the more westerly regions of Libya lx?fore the first century of the vulgar era, before which time the Garamantes made use of oxen, of horses, and wheeled carts in their journeys across the dunes and serirs. This circumstance indicates a great change of climate during the last two thousand years, for at the present time it would be impossible to traverse these solitudes without the aid of the camel. The rock carvings still seen at Telissarht^, in the south-western part of Fezzan, represent with great accuracy herds of cattle on their way to the watering-places. On these rocks have also been recognised sketches figuring a horse and an ass. IXHABTTANTS OF FeZZAX. The inhabitants of Fezzan belong to all the races of North Africa, constituting an essentially mixed population, in which the primitive elements appear to be the fair Berbers and the dark Ethiopians, the oldest occupants of the laud. In more recent times the Arabs, especially the Aulad Slinmn family from Egypt and Cyrenaica, have also largely contributed to renew or modify the local population. Formerly, when the Barbary corsairs still scoured the jMediterrancan waters, a number of Italian captives were regularly introduced into the harems of the Murzuk sheikhs, thus supplying an additional ethnical element possessing a certain relative importance in a region so sparsely peopled. Amongst the natives of Fezzan is seen every shade of colour, from a deep black to an almost fair complexion. Rohlfs even tells us it frequently happens that, by a phenomenon of which the inhabitants of Spanish America offer many examples, individual members of the family have spotted skins — white on a black, or black on a white ground. The blacks of Fezzan are also often seen with long, sleek hair, while that of the whites is on the contrary .short and woolly. On the whole the predominant colour may be said to be that of the yellow Malays, although the hair and features are those rather of the Negro stock. Besides that of the Tuareg Berbers, several languages are current amongst these mixed communities. The most prevalent is Kanuri, the speech of the kingdom of Bornu ; and several local names of villages, wells, and other places attest a long residence in Fezzan of the Bornu Negroes, descendants probably of the Garumantes. All the adult men understand Arabic, the language of commerce; and the dialects of IIau.ssa, and other parts of North Africa, are also heard in the cabins of the Fezzan Negroes. 78 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. The Tuiiregs of this rcpfic/n, a smaller and feebler race than those of the Jebel Ahagj^ar, in the south of Algeria, roam for the most part in the south-eastern districts between Murzuk and Rhat. These belong to the Tizilkum group, free men, who despise the Arab, base " payer of tribute," They are members of the brotherhood of !^Iolianimod-el->Iadnni, whose mother-house is at Misrata, and they generally speak Arabic. According to llichardson, they number altogether about a thousand. Slavery, which has so largely contributed to cross the original population of the country, has scarcely diminished, notwithstanding the formal edicts against the traffic issued in Fczzan by order of the Osmanli authorities. The exportation has doubtless fallen oft ; but the slaves, no longer forwarded to the seaports of Trijwlitana, or through the Aujila and Siwah oases to Egypt, tend only to increase the local enslaved class. According to Nachtigal, from five to eight thousand slaves passed every year through Fezzan towards the middle of the present century ; but in. 1870 the gangs had been reduced to about one- third of that number. The blacks who remain in the country have seldom occasion to regret their lot. Here they are absolutely regarded as members of the family into which they have entered, and those amongst them who return to their native homes usually do so not as fugitives, but as commercial agents in the interest of their late masters. The Fezzanese are altogether of a remarkably mild disposition ; but morality is at a very low ebb, and many children perish abandoned on the threshold of the mosques and convents. Whoever chooses to pick up one of these foundlings becomes its adopted father, and never fails to treat it as one of his own children. The traffic in slaves has hitherto been replaced by no other more legitimate trade. The only important article of export is soda from the " Natron lakes," a few tons of which arc yearly sold in the Tripoli market. The time has gone by when gold dust, ivory, and ostrich feathers contributed, with slaves, to enrich the Fezzan traders ; who, however, were never able to compete successfully with their commercial rivals of Ghadames, Jofra, and Aujila. Although the produce for- warded from Sudan to the coast passes through their territory, they derive little profit from this transit trade. Even in Murzuk itself the chief merghants are the Mojabras of the Jalo oasis. The vast distances required to be traversed between the scattered oases oblige the Fezzanese to rely mainly on their local resources. The regular commercial relations established in Mauritania between the inhabitants of the Tell and those of the oases, the former exchanging their cereals for the wool and dates of the latter, scarcely exist between the tribes of the Tripolitan oases and the people of Fezzan. Nevertheless a few palm groves in the Wady Shiati, south of the Black Mountains, belong to the Arabs of Tripoli, who yearly cross the hills and plateaux to collect their crop of dates. In general the land is distributed in fair proportion amongst the inhabitants, each of whom has his plot of ground and palm-grove ; but they are weighed down with heavy taxes. Being unable to breed live-stock owing to the dryness of the climate, and the industries being scarcely sufficient for the local wants, they have no means of procuring any supplies fr(Jm abroad. TOPOGRAPHY. 79 Since the middle of the century they have even grown jworer, the more vigorous young men having emigrated to Sudan to escape military service. According to Richardson, the men are considerably less numerous than the women in Fezzan, scarcely exceoiling 11,000 in a total estimutiHl by him at no more than 20,000 adults. In certain villages visited by Duvoyrier the able-bodied men had been reduced to about 12 per cent., foreign rule having here also depopulated the country and caused a relapse into barbarism. Topography, In the Wady Shiati, the most important oasis of North Fezzan, there are two places ranking as towns : in the east Brak, residence of the mudir or governor, in the west Edcri, standing on an eminence and surrounded by fortifications. Jcduf, that is, the " New," in the more southerly oasis of Sebha, despite its name, is at least three hundred years old. It is also enclosed by walls, and has a population of about a thousand souls. Like the neighbouring town of Karda, it was formerly peopled by a branch of the Aulad Sliman Arabs, who, however, were driven out by the Turks and dispersed throughout the surrounding countries, even as far as Wadai. To the north-east follow the three towns of Tcmenhint, Semiiti, and Zighetif in the oasis of like name — the last mentioned, a mere collection of hovels grouped round a central castle, and exclusively inhabited by Marabuts from the Fogha oasis. In the Wady Lajal, south-west of Jedid, the largest places are Tekerfiba, Ugraifeh, and Ubari. Towards the western extremity of the valley lies the little village of New JermOy near the ruins of Garamn, which 2,500 years ago was the capital of the powerful nation of the Gararaantes, who held sway throughout the Libyan oases as far as the region now known as Marocco. Of Jirma Kadim, or "Old Jerma," there still remain the enclosures, 1 miles in circumference and flanked by broad earthen towers. Not far from the palm groves of Jerma stands a well-preserved monument, noteworthy as being the most advanced Roman structure in the interior of the continent. To this point during the reign of Augustus had penetrated Cornelius Balbus Gaditanus, conqueror of Garama and Cydamus, or Ghadames. Hence the special historic interest attaching to this square tomb, which is in the form of an altar, decorated at its four angles with Corinthian pilasters. Mitrzuk, present capital of Fezzan, has the advantage of being situated in the centre of tlie country. Nevertheless, it seems strange that its rulers should have selected such a malarious place for their residence. In the hot season nearly all strangers, even the Negroes, are attacked by ague ; and till recently the whites were allowed to reside in the town only during the three winter months, not through any solicitude for their health, but from the prevalent idea that their bodies fomented and rendered more fatal the miasmatic exhalations. In the cemetery to the east of the town is shown the tomb of the traveller Ritchie. But the choice made of ^furzuk, which lies on the track of the caravans traversing the southern plateaux in the direction of Sudan, has hel]K'd to make it the most |)opulous city in Fezzan, the number of its inhabitants being estimated by Nachtigal at six thousand five hundred, and by Rohlfs even at a still higher figure. Standing at an altitude variously estimated at from 1,520 to 1,600 feet, Murzuk covers an area of over a square mile, within an earthen wall, strengthened by bastions and flanked by towers. Round the enclosure stretches a zone of sand, and salt marshes, beyond which are the gardens and scattered palm groves. The streets within the walls, mostly at right angles, are intersected by a broad lendal, or boulevard, running from north-west to south-east, and dividing the town into halves. At its north-west end stands the citadel, a massive gloomy building over 80 feet high, and in the middle of the town regular porticoes give access to the bazaar, where are heard all the languages in North Africa. The mean annual value of the exchanges in this mart is estimated at £20,000.
Fig. 21. — Murzuk.
On the route to Rhât, west of the capital, the oasis of Otba or Tessawa, an ancient settlement of Negroes from Haussa, is the only district containing any groups of population. Beyond this point nothing is met except a few wells, such as that of Sharaba, near which Miss Tinné, the "King's daughter," as she was called by the natives, was assassinated in 1869. In the Hofra
district east of Murzuk lies the decayed town of Traghen, in the oasis of like name. For centuries this place was the capital of Fezzan, and residence of a Negro dynasty, whose sepulchral mounds are still shown near the town. But as the population decreased, the magnificent palm groves of Traghen developed into a vast forest, the produce of which is now little used except for the fabrication of lakbi, and a liquor prepared from the fermented juice of the sap. The most copious spring in all Fezzan wells up near the crumbling walls of Traghen; but this source of Ganderma became obstructed during a civil war, and now oozes into a marshy depression.
Zuila and Temissa, the former occupied by Shorfa, or reputed descendants of Mohammed, the latter by Berbers who still speak the national idiom, are both situated in the "Eastern" oasis. Like Traghen, Zuila was also at one time capital of Fezzan, and the whole region is still known to the Tibbus by this name. In another oasis near the southern frontier lies the "holy" city of Gatron, held by learned Marabuts, who monopolise the trade with the Tibesti uplands, and who claim to have come from Marocco three or four centuries ago. But their mixed descent is sufficiently betrayed by their Negroid features, and even now they seek their wives 
Gatron lies at the northern extremity of a chain of oases which stretches as far as Tejerri, the last inhabited place in Fezzan, on the verge of the desert. Here also are seen the last date-palms, and the first dum-palms in the direction of the Sahara. Rohlfs was unable to determine the slope of the wady, which is perhaps nothing more than a depression in an old lacustrine basin.
South of Tejerri, where the Negro element already greatly exceeds that of the Fezzanese people, nothing farther is met on the caravan route to Sudan except the Bir Meshru well, which has been frequently choked by the sand. Round it are shown the skeletons of men and animals still clothed with their sun-dried flesh. Groaning under the lash, worn out by the march across the arid plateaux, burnt by the torrid and dusty atmosphere of the desert, the gangs of slaves trail their chains with difficulty to the brink of the well. Here they often full prostrate for the last time, and are left by the caravans to perish of hunger in the scorching rays of the sun.
