Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 1 - Under the Orders and at the Expense of Her Majesty's Government by James Richardson
page 138 of 292 (47%)
page 138 of 292 (47%)
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his hiding-place, and would return and fetch the wheat. All over these
hills things are hidden, and often money, which is sometimes lost for ever, the owner dying without pointing out his hiding-place. There was no herbage for camels to-night, but we had brought a little hasheesh with us. A strong wind set in towards evening and continued nearly all night, preventing us from sleeping. We were much exhausted by our day's march, and so were all our animals; they suffer much from these long stretches. We gave them dates, as we give horses corn. _14th._--We rose before daylight, and got off by sunrise, continuing till about two hours after noon. The wind was so exceedingly strong, blowing from the south-east, that we did not feel the heat of the sun. But now and then we had strong gusts of hot wind, like the breath of a furnace. I tied a thin dark cotton handkerchief over my eyes, and found great relief. Our course is now south, over a high sandy plain. We are at length fairly in the Land of Demons, as the country of the Ghât Tuaricks is called by themselves. All around, the mountains take castellated forms, and high over all rises the Kasar Janoon, Palace or Citadel of the Ginn: a huge square mass of rock, said to be a day in circuit, and bristling with turret-pinnacles, some of which must be seven hundred feet in height. Nothing but its magnitude can convince the eye at a distance that it is not a work raised by human hands, and shattered by time or warfare. Its vast disrupted walls tower gigantically over the plain. Here, as in another Pandemonium, the spirits of the desert collect from places distant thousands of miles, for the purpose of debate or prayer. It is a mosque as well as a hall of council, and a thesaurus to boot, for unimaginable treasures are buried in its caverns. Poor people love to forge wealthy neighbours for themselves. No Tuarick will venture to |
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