Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 2 | Page 3

what may be called the palace of En-Noor. It is, indeed, one, compared with the huts and stone hovels amidst which it is placed. The materials are stone plastered with mud, and also the wood of the mimosa tree. The form is an oblong square, one story high, with an interior courtyard, and various appendages and huts around on the outside. There is another house, and also a mosque built in the same style, but much smaller. Of the rest of the habitations, a few are stone sheds, but the greater part are huts made of the dry stalks of the fine herb called bou rekabah, in the form of a conical English haystack, and are very snug, impervious alike to rain and sun. There are not more than one hundred and fifty of these huts and sheds, scattered over a considerable space, without any order; some are placed two or three together within a small enclosure, which serves as a court or yard, in which visitors are received and cooking is carried on. There is another little village at a stone's-throw north. The inhabitants of these two villages consist entirely of the slaves and dependants of En-Noor.
All around Tintalous, within an hour or two hours' ride, there are villages or towns of precisely the same description, more or less numerously peopled. At Seloufeeat and Tintaghoda, however, we saw more houses built of stone and mud. This may be accounted for by the fact that the inhabitants are not nearly so migratory as those of Tintalous, who often follow in a body the motions of their master, so that he is ever surrounded by an imposing household.
I must not omit mentioning an important article of furniture which is to be observed in all the houses of Aheer--namely, the bedstead. Whilst most of the inhabitants of Fezzan lie upon skins or mats upon the ground, the Kailouees have a nice light palm-branch bedstead, which enables them to escape the damp of the rainy season, and the attack of dangerous insects and reptiles like the scorpion and the lêfa.
I shall hereafter make a few observations on the tribes inhabiting Aheer. Here I will note that they are all called Targhee, that is Tuarick, by the traders of the north; and that the predominant race is the Kailouee. To me the latter seems to be a mixture of the Berbers, or supposed aborigines of the northern coast, with all the tribes and varieties of tribes of the interior of Africa. This may account for their having less pride and stiffness than the Tuaricks of Ghat, who are purer Berbers; as well as for their disposition to thieving and petty larceny, of which I have recently been obliged to give some examples. The pure Berbers, likewise, are much less sensual than their bastard descendants, who seem, indeed, to have no idea of pleasure but in its grossest shape.
The Kailouees are, for the most part, tall and active, little encumbered by bulky bodies; some having both complexion and features nearly European. At any rate there are many as fair-looking as the Arabs generally, whilst others are quite negro in colour. The women are smaller and stouter; some are fattened like the Mooresses of the coast, and attain to an enormous degree of embon-point. They are not ill-looking, but offer nothing remarkable in their forms.
I have already set down many particulars of manners, and shall proceed to do so in the same disjointed way. At a future time all these traits must be collected to form one picture.[2] For the present I am anxious about the future progress of the Mission, and impatient, at any rate, to hear some news of our advance. We cannot do all the things we would. Our position is almost that of prisoners. We must depend entirely on the caprice of En-Noor, who, however, may already have laid out his plans distinctly, though he does not choose to communicate them to us.
[2] Perhaps the note-books of Mr. Richardson, in which facts are set down fresh and distinct just as they presented themselves, will be found to be more interesting than an elaborate narrative. At any rate it has seemed better not to attempt to do what was left undone in this matter.--ED.
Oct. 2d.--We have been lately discussing the practicability of going to Sakkatou, on a visit to the Sultan Bello; and this morning I looked over, for the first time, some "letters of credit" which Mr. Gagliuffi, our plausible consul at Mourzuk, had given me. I found that the amount offered for the use of the expedition in Kanou does not exceed a hundred and fifty reals of Fezzan, or about twenty pounds sterling, and that the agent is expressly requested not to advance any more! This extraordinary document induced me