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.
Thence they
travelled through sandy regions, diversified with numerous limestone
rocks.
Here Horneman was in considerable danger; for the caravan was met
by several hundred inhabitants of Siwah, mounted on asses, who pointed to
him and insisted that he and another of the caravan were Christians from
Cairo, against whom they cherished a deadly enmity. But Horneman's
coolness and courage disarmed their hostility; he insisted that he was a
Moslem, took out the Koran and read passages from it aloud, and even
challenged them to answer him on points of the Mahommedan faith.
Soon after the travellers entered the Black Harutsch, a range of dreary
mountains, the long defiles of which presented the most dismal prospect
imaginable. After sixteen days toilsome journeying they came to the great
Oasis, or small Kingdom of Fezzan. The inhabitants were a commercial
people, and received the caravan with joy. Much communication is held
between this place and Central Africa. Here Horneman endeavoured to
collect information concerning Tombuctoo and the Niger. He resolved to
visit Tripoli before endeavouring to penetrate to the south. He set off
on his journey southward on the 6th April 1800, along with two shereefs
or descendants of Mahomed, who had promised to protect him. Two years
elapsed before any more was heard of him; when a Fezzan merchant informed
the Danish Consul at Tripoli, that he was still alive. He was afterwards
reported to have resided in Kashna, about 1803. Major Denham heard that
he had penetrated as far as Nyffe on the Niger, where he fell a victim to
the climate.
The next traveller sent out to Africa was Mr. Nicholls, who resolved to
land at Calabar, in the Gulf of Benin, and thence to proceed into the
interior. He landed on the coast in January 1805, but speedily fell a
victim to the fever of the country.
Roentgen, a German, endeavoured to reach the interior by the way of
Morocco. He spoke Arabic fluently, assumed the Mahomedan garb, and
entertained high hopes of success. Having procured two guides, he joined
the Soudan caravan; but, a little distance from the spot whence he set
out, his corpse was found lying on the road.
Soon after, some information concerning Tombuctoo was derived from Adams,
an American sailor, who was wrecked upon the coast, and who reported that
he had been carried captive to that city by the Moors, and had remained
there six months. His description of this famous place ill corresponded
with the ideas which Europeans entertained of its splendour; the most
spacious of the houses being merely huts, one storey in height, composed
of timber frame-works filled with earth; and many of the inhabitants
sheltering themselves under hovels, consisting of branches of trees,
covered with mats of the palmetto. The palace was merely a collection of
such apartments enclosed by a mud wall.
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