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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The Street Of Entrance Is A Broad Space, Of
At Least A Hundred Yards, Leading To The Wall That Surrounds The
Castle, And Is Extremely Pretty.
Here the horsemen have full scope to
display their abilities, when they skirmish before the sultan.
The
castle itself is an immense mud building, rising to the height of
eighty or ninety feet, with little battlements on the walls, and at a
distance really looks warlike. Like all the other buildings, it has
no pretensions to regularity. The lower walls are fifty or sixty feet
in thickness, the upper taper off to about four or five feet. In
consequence of the immense mass of wall, the apartments are very
small, and few in number. The rooms occupied by the sultan are of the
best quality, that is to say, comparatively, for the walls are
tolerably smooth and white-washed, and have ornamental daubs of red
paint in blotches, by way of effect. His couch is spread on the
ground, and his visitors squat down on the sandy floor, at a
respectful distance. Captain Lyon and his party were always honoured
by having a corner of the carpet offered to them. The best and most
airy part of the castle is occupied by the women, who have small
rooms round a large court, in which they take exercise, grind corn,
cook, and perform other domestic offices. The number of great ladies,
called kibere, seldom exceed six. This dignified title is generally
given to the mothers of the sultan's children, or to those, who
having been once great favorites, are appointed governesses to the
rest; there are, altogether about fifty women, all black and very
comely, and from what stolen glances we could obtain, they appeared
extremely well dressed. They are guarded by five eunuchs, who keep up
their authority by occasionally beating them.
The sultan has three sons and two daughters, who live with him in
this cage, the doors of which are locked at night, and the keys
brought to him, so that he remains free from any fear of attack. The
castle is entered by a long winding passage in the wall, quite dark
and very steep. At the door is a large shed, looking on a square
place capable of containing three or four hundred men, closely
huddled together. Under this shed is a great chair of state, once
finely gilt and ornamented, with a patchwork quilt thrown over it,
and behind it are the remains of two large looking-glasses. In this
chair the sultan receives homage every Friday, before he ascends the
castle, after returning from the mosque. This place is the Mejlees,
and was the scene of all the cruelties practised by Mukni, when he
first took possession of the country.
The habitation in which Captain Lyon and his party were lodged, was a
very good one, and as all the houses are built upon nearly the same
plan, the following description will give an idea of all the rest. A
large door, sufficiently high to admit a camel, opened into a broad
passage or skeefa, on one side of which was a tolerable stable for
five horses, and close to it, a small room for the slaves, whose duty
it might be to attend the house. A door opposite to that of the
stable opened into the kowdi, a large square room, the roof of
which at the height of eighteen feet, was supported by four palm
trees as pillars. In the centre of the roof was a large open space,
about twelve feet by nine, from this, the house and rooms receive
light, not to mention dust and excessive heat in the afternoon. At
the end of the room facing the door, a large seat of mud was raised
about eighteen inches high, and twelve feet in length. Heaps of this
description, though higher, are found at the doors of most houses,
and are covered with loungers in the cool of the morning and evening.
The large room was fifty feet by thirty-nine. From the sides, doors
opened into smaller ones, which might be used as sleeping or store
rooms, but were generally preferred for their coolness. Their only
light was received from the door. Ascending a few steps, there was a
kind of gallery over the side rooms, and in it were two small
apartments, but so very hot as to be almost useless. From the large
room was a passage leading to a yard, having also small houses
attached to it in the same manner, and a well of comparatively good
water. The floors were of sand, and the walls of mud roughly
plastered, and showing every where the marks of the only trowel used
in the country - the fingers of the right hand. There are no windows
to any of the houses, but some rooms have a small hole in the
ceiling, or high up the wall.
Near the house was the principal mosque, to which the sultan and the
Christian party went every Friday, as a matter of course, and every
other day they found it necessary to appear there once or twice. It
is a low building, having a shed projecting over the door, which,
being raised on a platform, is entered by a few steps. A small
turret, intended to be square and perpendicular, is erected for the
Mouadden to call to prayers. One of the great lounges is on the seat
in front of the mosque, and every morning and evening they are full
of idle people, who converse on the state of the markets, and on
their own private affairs, or in a fearful whisper canvass the
sultan's conduct.
In Mourzouk there are sixteen mosques, which are covered in, but some
of them are very small. Each has an imaum, but the kadi is their
head, of which dignity he seems not a little proud. This man had
never, been beyond the boundaries of Fezzan, and could form no idea
of any thing superior to mud houses and palms; he always fancied the
Europeans to be great romancers, when they told him of their country,
and described it as being in the midst of the sea.
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