The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917 | Page 7

7,500
camels, started on their homeward march.
But suddenly there was a mighty noise of crying and groaning, of
calling at each other and bidding farewell to friends. Some were so
overcome at the fear of being eaten that they rolled upon the ground
and absolutely refused to walk. Nothing could persuade them to get up
until a guard came along with his great whip which brought blood at
each lash. As the great army passed through the gate of the city, an

officer of the Sultan examined every slave to be sure none was a
Fellatah, Mohammedan, or Jew. The Ghat caravan happened to have
among its slaves a Fellatah, who was at once discovered and set free.
At the first camp, says Daumas, "Each caravan established its bivouac
separately, and as soon as the camels were crouched, and after having
chained our Negro women by the feet and in groups of eight or ten, we
forced our Negro men to aid us, with the left hand which we had left
free, to unload our baggage, to arrange it in a circle and to stretch in the
center the tents which we had brought from Katsena. Two or three of
the oldest women that we had not put in chains, but who had always
had their two feet fettered, were directed to prepare our supper. We ate
in groups of four. This sad supper over, we placed the guards around
our camp, and made the slave women and men sleep as before
said."[12]
The next day the caravans were obliged to stop in consequence of a
Negro woman who gave birth to a child. This stop, however, was not
very lengthy. In a few hours she and her infant were placed upon a
camel and the caravan went forward. When the camp was pitched for
the next night, the leader, in making his rounds, ordered that the young
Negro mother be left unshackled, and that she be given some meat for
supper and allowed to sleep warmly upon a mat. But during the night,
when everything was quiet, the mother put her infant in a basket filled
with ostrich feathers, placed it upon her head, and made her escape.
Next morning, upon discovering her flight, several bands of men were
sent out in different directions to find her. One of these, after a few
hours of search, found her in a thicket nursing her child. She was led
back to the camp, and two gun-shots recalled the other bands, and the
caravans then resumed their march. The caravans stopped at Aghezeur
to replenish their provisions and make repairs; and up to that time none
of the people had died, and only one camel was lost.
After a month's traveling they reached "Ogla d'Assaoua," which was a
rendezvous for all the marauding bands that returned from the Sudan. It
was particularly dangerous for the reason that it was the point at which
groups of caravans divided and proceeded in different directions across

the desert, and some of the independent caravans had to pass near the
Tuareg nomads.
"None of our slaves," says Daumas, "I am sure, will ever forget this
stop, for it was there that they were for the first time given their liberty
after being in irons a month. The men and women danced all day after
the fashion of their own country, until they fell prostrated with heat and
fatigue. Even those whose legs and necks had been made sore from the
chains took an active part in this fatiguing exercise, and all came to kiss
our hands and to prostrate themselves at our feet and to sprinkle them
with sand. We were careful not to interrupt this feast of good augury. It
was the first proof to us that they had at last accepted their lot, and we
had no longer to fear they would dream of escaping as they were so far
from the Sudan and in the very middle of the desert.... From that day all
were sincerely attached to us, and our joy was not less than theirs, for
the continued watch which had been imposed upon us had been
frightfully fatiguing. They helped us to load and unload our camels, to
guide them en route, to stretch our tents, and to bring wood and water,
labors which we alone had performed for a month. Finally we could lie
down and sleep in peace."[13] At an early hour the next morning the
tents were folded and the several caravans parted company. One went
eastward through Ghat to Ghedames, accompanied as far as Ghat by
another whose wares were sold in Fezzan and to other caravans coming
from Murzuk. Another went eastward directly to Fezzan, where its
merchandise was to be distributed to points in Tunis,