Travels Of Richard And John Lander Into The Interior Of Africa For The Discovery Of The Course And Termination Of The Niger By Robert Huish
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When He Had Finished
Repeating The Fatah Aloud, He Invited The Party Singly To Ride
Through The Spot He Had Consecrated, And Having Obeyed Him, They
Silently Proceeded On Their Journey, Without Repeating Even An Idea.
They passed a small nest of huts in the road, prettily situated,
called El Bahhi, from whence the women of the place followed them
with songs for several miles.
Having halted at Medroosa, they moved
on the next morning, and leaving an Arab castle to the south-east,
and some table-top hills, they arrived at Kasrowa by three in the
afternoon.
On the 9th December, they were to arrive at Tegerhy. The Arabs
commenced skirmishing as soon as they came within sight of it, and
kept it up in front of the town for half an hour after their arrival.
They were to halt here for a day or two, for the purpose of taking in
the remainder of their dates and provisions, and never was halt more
acceptable. Almost the whole of the party were afflicted with
illness; the servants were all so ill, that one of the negro women
made them a mess of kouscasou, with some preserved fat, which had
been prepared in Mourzouk, it was a sorry meal, for the fat was
rancid, and although tired and not very strong, Major Denham could
not refuse an invitation about nine at night, after he had laid down
to sleep, to eat camels' heart with Boo Khaloom; it was woefully hard
and tough, and the major suffered the next morning from indulging too
much at the feast.
The Tibboos and Arabs kept them awake half the night with their
singing and dancing, in consequence of the bousafer or feast, on
entering the Tibboo country. Boo Khaloom gave two camels, and the
major and his party gave one. The sick seemed to gain a little
strength; they had succeeded in purchasing a sheep, and a little soup
seemed to revive them much, but they feared that Hillman and one of
the servants must be left behind. However distressing such an event
would have been, it was impossible for men, who could not sit upright
on a mule, to commence a journey of fifteen days over a desert,
during which travellers are obliged to march from sunrise until dark.
The morning of the 12th December was beautifully mild. After
breakfast, all seemed revived, but it was with great pain that Major
Denham observed the exceeding weakness of Dr. Oudney and Hillman; he
fancied that he already saw in them, two more victims to the noxious
climate of central Africa.
Almost every town in Africa has its charm or wonder, and Tegerhy is
not without one. There is a well just outside the castle gates, the
water of which, they were told most gravely, always rose when a
kafila was coming near the town; that the inhabitants always prepared
what they had to sell, on seeing this water increase in bulk, for it
never deceived them.
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