a country of considerable extent in Northern Africa. Its northern boundary is the village of Bonjem, which, according to Dr Vogel, is situated in Lat. 30° 34' 58" N. South of this point it extends six degrees and a half of latitude, or about 450 miles, and is bounded in that quarter by what are called the Wells of Meshroo. To the south and south-east is the country of the Tibboos, to the south-west that of the nomadic Tuaricks, and to the north-west the borderers are Arabs. Of this tract of country it is calculated that about 300 miles, stretching from north to south, are cultivated. The greatest breadth is estimated at 350 miles, the Black Haratch to the east and other deserts to the south and west being included in its territory. Fezzan may be said to consist of a chain of verdant islands embosomed in an ocean of sand. Fine yellow sand, and a species of gravel, cover the whole surface of the plains, except where the Soudah and Haratch extend. It is only in the immediate neighbourhood of towns that the palm is cultivated, and that corn and esculent plants, of which a little is raised with great difficulty and labour, are produced. The plains of the desert consist of red sand and sandstone, containing gypsum and rock-salt, associated with beds of dolomite and carbonate of lime. Soda, alum, saltpetre, and sulphur, are also found in this country.
In order to convey as clear and intelligible a view of Fezzan as possible, we shall follow the route generally pursued by travellers in proceeding from Tripoli to Mourzouk, the capital, and thence to the other parts of the country which have been described. Bonjem is a small place with 120 inhabitants, and a few small gardens, and is only 204 feet above the level of the sea. The water of the numerous wells is strongly purgative. About half a mile beyond the walls of Bonjem, which is the northern frontier, stands a Roman castle, situated among some high sand-hills. It is of an oblong form, having in the centre of each of the walls a large arched gateway, between two strong towers. After leaving this interesting ruin, the traveller proceeds over a barren desert called Khia, the soil of which, where clear of sand, consists of gypsum intermixed with numerous shells. Twelve miles south-south-east from Bonjem is that remarkable hill called the Bazzen, 70 feet high, and consisting of limestone. Further on is a similar hill called Klayrma, resembling a tent, and 120 feet high. Twenty-two miles from Bonjem the road leads through a defile called Hormut Emhalla, or the Pass of the Army. After crossing a range of table-mountains called Elood, running north-east and south-west, it passes through a stony and very uneven plain, encircled with mountains, to the pass of Hormut Tazzet, which appears to be situated about sixty miles from Bonjem. After clearing this pass, the road opens upon a plain called El Grarat Arab Hoon. The journey now becomes harassing, on account of the scarcity of vegetation and water, and the frequency of sand-winds. The first place of importance that is met with on this route is Sockna, near which are a plantation of palms and two wells of fresh water.
Sockna, which is about half way between Tripoli and Mourzouk, is situated on an immense plain of gravel 1036 feet above the level of the sea. It is bounded to the south by the Soudah Mountains, at the distance of about fifteen miles; to the eastward by the mountains of Wadan, at the distance of about thirty miles; to the westward by a distant range of hills; and to the northward by the country above The town, which is about a mile in circumference, is walled, and contains about 2500 persons. The streets are very narrow, and the houses are built of mud mixed with small stones. The water is almost all brackish or bitter. In the immediate neighbourhood there are several hundred thousand date trees, which pay duty to the government. Sockna pays of duty annually about 2000 dollars, exclusively of a tax of one dollar on every 200 date trees. The Tripoli money is the currency of Sockna; and this occasions a considerable loss to the traders who are obliged to pay their taxes in Spanish dollars, which they purchase at exorbitant prices. The dates grow in a belt of sand, at the distance of two or three miles from the towns; and their quality is far superior to any produced in the north of Africa, in consequence of which they bring a very high price in Tripoli. In the gardens situated about three miles from Sockna, barley, maize, a small quantity of onions, and a few other garden-stuffs, are cultivated. But there is little or no other kind of vegetation, so that all the animals are fed on dates. This place is infested with an immense quantity of flies, attracted probably by the dates, which are preserved in storehouses. The men have in general a clean and neat appearance, whilst the women are pretty and handsome, but remarkable, it seems, for their love of intrigue. The latitude of Sockna is 29° 4' 4" N., the longitude 16° 18' 30" E.
East of Sockna stands the town of Hoon. It is smaller than the former, but is built and walled in the same manner. Palm groves and gardens approach close to the walls of the town, and completely conceal it. The soil is sand, but it is fertilized and refreshed by little streams from wells of brackish water. Twelve miles east by north of Hoon stands the town of Wadan. Its external aspect is pleasing, being built upon a conical hill, on the top of which are some enclosed houses called the castle; but internally it is inferior to the two other towns in point of neatness, comfort, and convenience. There is here a well of great depth, cut through the solid rock. The bulk of the inhabitants of Wadan are shepherds, that is, pretended descendants of the Prophet, and Arabs who act as shepherds. A few miles eastward of the town there is a chain of mountains, which, with the town itself, derives its name from a species of buffalo called wadran, which is found here in immense numbers. There is also a great abundance of ostriches amongst these mountains, by hunting which many of the natives obtain a subsistence. At all the three towns, Sockna, Hoon, and Wadan, it is the practice to keep tame ostriches in a stable, and in two years to take three cuttings of the feathers.
The whole way to Mourzouk is now an almost uninterrupted succession of stony plains and gloomy wadys, with no water but that of wells, generally muddy, brackish, or bitter, and placed at widely extended intervals. Sand winds also prevail, and their visitations are at all times harassing, and not unfrequently destructive. Several towns or villages are situated in this long and dreary waste, and they are usually encircled with groves of palm. Sebha, which stands in latitude 27° 2' 34" N., and 1380 feet above the level of the sea, is a mud-walled town picturesquely situated on a rising ground, and surrounded by a palm grove. Two marches farther on lies Ghroodwa, a small and miserable collection of mud huts. The palms here, which are the property of the sultan, extend from ten to fifteen miles east and west. The leading features of the above remarkable tract of country may be shortly described. The chain known by the name of the Soudah, or Jebel Assoud, that is, Black Mountains, commences near Sockna, and extends from north to south three days' journey, but in so tortuous a direction as not, according to Major Denham, to exceed thirty-five miles in a straight line, and only twenty-five according to Dr Vogel. To the westward they extend as far as the well of Assela, on the road to Shiati, a district to the westward of Sebha, where the red clay hills continue unbroken, and unite with those of Benioleed in Tripoli. To the east they extend three days to a wady called Temleek, which lies on the way to Zella or Zula near Barca. They form, indeed, a branch or continuation of the mountainous desert called Haratch el Assouat, which was traversed by Horneman in his route from Cairo to Mourzouk. That traveller gives a fearful description of this wild region, so much dreaded by those who have had to traverse it. The mountain presents the appearance of an imperfect cone, and the rock, upon fracture, seemed to Horneman to consist of ferruginous basalt. Range upon range of black and dreary mountains, intersected by narrow and dismal ravines rather than valleys, rose before his view. Here and there, however, the eye was relieved by the sight of patches of vegetation, approaching even to luxuriance, from the rains which fall in this hilly region. Contiguous to the Black lies the White Haratch, a chain of mountains composed of friable limestone, and abounding in petrifications. To the south of Sockna, the description of the Jebel Assoud, as given by Major Denham, exactly corresponds to that of the Black Haratch. Dr Oudney describes the hills as from 400 to 600 feet in height, the tops being in general tabular, but a few are irregular, and two or three terminate in conical peaks. The sides of all of them are covered with a considerable quantity of debris. The Black Mountains consist of yellow sandstone impregnated with iron, from which its crust receives a black colour, appearing in the sun's rays a deep blue. Large round patches of a yellow or brown colour are often seen on these black rocks, which give to the whole a most remarkable appearance. The summits are low and flat, and the valleys mostly circular or oval-shaped hollows, whilst the sides of the mountains are in many instances overhung by pillars, curved, inclined, and perpendicular. Animal and vegetable life is entirely absent in this region, which vividly recalls to mind a landscape by moonlight. The whole exhibits a scene of barrenness which, according to Major Denham, cannot be perfectly described, either by poet or painter. After these dreary wastes have been passed, the hills of Zeghren commence. They run nearly east and west, are low, long, oval, and truncated at the top, and altogether different from any others which Denham and Oudney had seen. The town of Zeghren, according to the former traveller, is better built than any other in Fezzan.
Mourzouk, the capital of Fezzan, which, according to Dr Vogel, stands in latitude 25° 55' 16" N., and longitude 14° 10' 15" E., 1495 feet above the level of the sea, is a walled town, containing about 2000 inhabitants, very much mixed. The walls are built of mud, but sufficiently thick and high to guard the place from attack. As a substitute for stones, which are not to be found, the people use baked clay, a substance which is found sufficiently durable, as rain is here unknown. The houses are generally of one story; the doors are low and without hinges, but made to move upon a pivot. The streets are small and narrow, but there are numerous open spaces, destitute of buildings, and covered with sand, on which the camels of the traders remain. Many palms grow in the town, and a few red peppers and onions are cultivated. The street of entrance is a place about a hundred yards broad, leading to the walls which surround the castle, and is extremely elegant. The castle itself is an immense mud edifice, about ninety feet in height, and furnished with small battlements immensely broad at the base, but gradually tapering to about four feet in thickness at the top. Like all the rest of the buildings, the castle has no pretensions to regularity. It is the residence of the sultan, whose apartments are of the best quality, although, on account of the enormous mass of wall, all the rooms are of very small dimensions. The more spacious houses in Mourzouk are constructed in the manner which we shall now endeavour to describe. A large door, sufficiently high to admit a camel, opens into a broad passage, in which there is a stable, and near it a room for slaves. Opposite the stable is a large square apartment, the roof of which is supported by palm trees. In the centre of the roof is an open space, through which the apartment is lighted, for all the houses are destitute of windows. There is generally a divan or seat of mud about eighteen inches high and twelve feet long. From the sides of the large room, doors open into the smaller ones, and a passage leads into a yard which has small houses attached to it, and a well. There are sixteen mosques in Mourzouk, which are covered in, but some of these are very small. The principal one is a low building, destitute of elegance. The burying places are outside the walls, and of considerable extent. Owing to the want of wood, no coffins are used; the bodies are merely wrapped in a mat or linen cloth, and covered with palm branches, over which the earth is thrown. The men of the lower orders of Mourzouk wear a large shirt of white or blue cotton, with long loose sleeves, trousers of the same, and sandals of camel's hide; but the shirt being in general long, many have no other covering. Those of the better sort, however, attire themselves more gaily; and their dress nearly resembles that of the people of Tripoli. The men have little beard, which they mostly keep closely clipped. The dress of the women here differs materially from that generally worn by Moorish females, and their appearance is by no means prepossessing. They plait their hair in thick bobbins, which hang over the forehead, and anoint it so profusely with oil that this liquid drips down over the face and clothes. From the back hair, however, ornaments of silver or coral are suspended. Other parts of the face and head, such as the ears, are profusely adorned. A woollen handkerchief is fastened to the back of the head, and falling over, is tied by a leather strap under the chin. A blue shirt is generally worn; and a jereed and red slippers complete their equipment. Some of the better class of women wear trousers, and all adorn their persons according to their rank and importance. Both men and women have a singular custom of stuffing their nostrils with a twisted leaf of onion or clover, which has a very disgusting appearance. The natives have a variety of dances, two or three of which are peculiar to the country. In Mourzouk the luxuries of life are very limited, the people subsisting principally on dates. Many of them do not taste corn for months together; but when obtained, it is made into cakes, which are baked in ovens formed of clay in holes in the earth, and heated by burning wood. Tobacco is very generally chewed by the women, as well as by the men; but smoking is the amusement of a great man only.
The revenues of the sultan of Fezzan arise from slaves, merchandise, and dates. For every slave that enters his dominions he receives two Spanish dollars (in some years the number of slaves amounts to 4000); for a camel's load of oil or butter, seven dollars; for a load of beads, copper, or hardware, four dollars; and for one of clothing, three dollars. All Arabs who buy dates pay a dollar of duty on each load before they are allowed to remove it; an impost which, at times, is equal to the market price of the article. Above 3000 loads are sold to them annually. Date trees, excepting those of the kadi and Mamelukes, are taxed at the rate of one dollar for every 200. By this duty, in the neighbourhood of Mourzouk, or, more properly, in the few neighbouring villages, the sultan receives yearly about 10,000 dollars. Of all sheep or goats he is entitled to a fifth. On the sale of every slave he has, in addition to the head money, a dollar and a half, which, at the rate of 4000 slaves annually, gives 6000 dollars. The captured slaves are sold by auction, at which the sultan's brokers attend, bidding high only for the finest. The trees which are his private property produce about 6000 camel-loads of dates, each of 400 lbs. weight, which may be estimated at about 18,000 dollars. Every garden pays a tenth part of the corn produced. The gardens are very small, and are watered with great labour from brackish wells, as rain is unknown, and dows never fall. Pomegranate trees and fig trees are sometimes planted in the water channels. Presents of slaves are frequently made and fines levied. Each town pays a certain sum, which is small; but as the towns are numerous, the average amount may be estimated at 4000 dollars. Add to this the annual excursions for slaves, sometimes bringing 1000 or 1500, of which one-fourth are the sultan's property, as well as the same proportion of camels. He alone can sell horses, which he buys for five or six dollars, when half-starved, from the Arabs, who come to trade, and cannot maintain them, and makes a great profit by obtaining slaves in exchange for them. All his people are fed by the public, and he has no money to pay, excepting to the pasha, which was formerly 15,000 dollars per annum. There are various other modes by which he extorts money. If a man dies childless, the sultan inherits the greater part of his property; and if he thinks it necessary to kill a man, he becomes his sole heir.
In Mourzouk about a tenth part of the population are in a state of slavery. There are some white families, who are denominated Mamelukes, being descended from renegades whom the pasha had presented to the former sultan. These families and their descendants are considered as noble, and, however poor and humble their situation may be, they are not a little vain of their title.
The general appearance of the men of Fezzan is plain, and their complexion is black; the women are of the same colour, and ugly in the extreme. Neither sex is remarkable for figure, height, strength, vigour, or activity; and they have a very peculiar cast of countenance, which distinguishes them from other blacks. But they are a cheerful people, fond of dancing and music, and obliging to each other. The men almost all read and write a little; but in everything else they are very dull and heavy, their affections being cold and selfish, and a kind of general indifference to the common incidents of life marking all their actions. In Mourzouk the men drink a quantity of taqibi, as also a liquor called basa, which is prepared from dates. The Arabs generally practise hospitality; but amongst the Fezzanese that virtue does not exist. They are, however, very attentive and obsequious to those in whose power they are, or who can repay them tenfold for their pretended disinterestedness. Their religion enjoins that, should a stranger enter whilst they are at their meals, he must be invited to partake; but they generally contrive to evade this injunction by eating with closed doors. The lower classes are, from necessity, very industrious; but amongst people of rank industry is not a characteristic virtue. In regard to morals, they are much upon a level with the people of Tripoli, being both dishonest and insincere. Falsehood is not looked upon as odious unless it be detected.
The lower classes work neatly in leather. They weave a few coarse barracans, and work iron in a solid although clumsy manner. A few likewise work in gold and silver with tolerable skill; and every man is capable of acting as a carpenter or mason. The wood being that of the date tree, and the houses built of mud, very little elegance or skill is required in their construction.
From the constant communication with Bornou and with Soudan, the languages of both these countries are generally spoken, and many of their words are introduced into the Arabic; but the pronunciation is very different from that of the east. Their writing is in the Mogrebyn characters; but they have no idea of arithmetic, and reckon everything by dots on the sand, ten in a line. Though very fond of poetry, they are incapable of composing it. The Arabs, however, compose a few little songs, which the natives have much pleasure in learning. The women are kept in a state of abject subordination, as is indeed common in all Mohammedan nations. The authority of parents over their children is very great, in fact unnecessarily despotic. There are no written records of events among the Fezzanese, and their traditions are so disfigured, and so strangely mingled with religious and superstitious falsehoods, that no confidence whatever can be placed in them. Several scripture passages are selected and believed. The Psalms of David, the Pentateuch, the books of Solomon, and many extracts from the inspired writers, are universally known, and most reverentially considered.
The only towns of any consideration in Fezzan, besides those already described, are Zuela, towards the eastern frontier, on the road to Egypt; Germa, to the west; and Gatrone, on the road to Bornou. In 1822, Dr Oudney and Captain Clapperton visited Germa. It is a walled town, and surrounded by a ditch. At a little distance from it stands the remains of ancient Garama, which appears to have occupied more space than the modern town. It was formerly the capital of Fezzan, and once gave its name to the nation of the Garamantes; at least, unless there are two places of the same name, this must be the ancient Garama, which is described by Pliny as a fine city, the capital of Fazania. The inhabitants of the modern town are very poor, and many of the houses are in ruins. The aspect of the country between this place and Mourzouk is similar to that of the other portions of Fezzan which we have already described. The hills, which stand about a hundred yards apart, are composed of sandstone, finely interstratified with beds of blue and white pipeclay and alum slate. There is a valley of considerable dimensions, and also several villages. The number of date trees in the eastern and western divisions of this valley is very great. There is here a town called Khraik, situated amidst some fine groves of palm trees, and possessing cultivated patches of ground and wells of good water.
The eastern and southern portions of Fezzan were visited by Captain Lyon. In latitude 25. 55. stands the town of Traghan, which was formerly a place as considerable as Mourzouk. It is situated in a flat desert plain, with its gardens and date groves at a short distance, and contains four mosques; but most of the houses, which are large, are in ruins, and the population is very trifling. Major Denham says that carpets are manufactured here equal to those of Constantinople. The route to Zuela lies entirely through salt plains and stony deserts, with here and there a small village. Zuela, or Zuila, is situated in latitude 26. 11. 48. It was formerly a considerable place, but is now only about a mile in circumference. It contains three mosques and three gates, but there are few good houses in it. The inhabitants are nearly all white; and Captain Lyon observes, that "they are certainly the most respectable, hospitable, and quiet people in Fezzan; and their whole appearance, for they are handsome, and very neatly dressed, bespeaks something superior to the other whites." At a short distance from Zuela are some very interesting ruins, one of them a castle, which must have been a place of great strength, on account of the immense thickness of the walls. These ruined fabrics have been much commented upon, but there is nothing to prove that they were of Roman origin. The next town of any importance is Gatrone, which stands in latitude 24. 47. 57. The country between Zuela and this place is a perfect desert, which in one place consists of a singular mixture of sand and salt. Gatrone is rather pleasantly situated. It is surrounded with sand hills and mounds of earth, covered with a small tree called athali. On leaving this place, Captain Lyon proceeded to Tegerly, the southernmost town in Fezzan, and situated in Lat. 24. 4. N. Here the cultivation of the date and palm ceases, and the Arabic gives place to the Bornouese language. The desert comes close to the walls of the town, which is situated to the southward of its palms. The dates are here very fine and plentiful. Tegerly is commanded by a fort, containing wells of water within the walls. A range of low hills extends to the eastward; and near the town are some salt pools, which are frequented by snipes, wild ducks, and geese. The natives are black, and little superior to savages.
Our information on Fezzan has recently been much enlarged by the expedition under Messrs Richardson, Barth, Overweg, and Vogel, particularly as regards the northwestern and western portions of the country. Dr Vogel chose the usual road by Bonjem and Sockna, already described; but the former three travellers selected the western route, by Mizda, Gharecah, and Hessi, which is very rarely followed, as being less practicable and agreeable to travel. There the Hamida, a frightful desert of 1400 to 2000 feet mean elevation, and 110 geographical miles in width, has to be crossed. As far as the eye can reach, neither trees nor indications of wells are visible, and the scanty vegetation which occurs is only found here and there in the trifling irregularities of the surface. The ground is covered with small stones, pyramids of which, erected with great labour, serve as road-marks to the intrepid camel-drivers by day, while the Polar star and Antares are their guides by night. This desert plateau, which it took the expedition six long days' journey to cross, forms the boundary between Fezzan and Tripoli in that direction.
The southern edge of that tableland descends in perpendicular walks to the Wady el Hessi, where the black population and the dominions of Fezzan commence. Herbage and trees are here found, affording food to numerous gazelles, hares, and the wadran. South of Wady el Hessi, which is only 696 feet above the level of the sea, follows another barren region, ascending to 921 feet, and from 40 to 50 geographical miles in width, before Wady Shiati is reached, where some wells of good water are found, and palms, wheat, and barley, with a few figs and grapes, are cultivated. Between Wady Shiati and Wady Gharbi another sandy desert intervenes of nearly 60 geographical miles in width. It is composed of black sandstone, the disintegration of which forms a dark yellow sand, covering the inequalities of the stony surface, from which stands out prominently the black rock, in high cones of the most fantastic forms, strikingly representing basaltic rocks. The monotony of the dreary black rock is relieved by the yellow sand, without which the whole of Fezzan would be a lifeless wilderness, as it is in the sand that the palm trees grow, and in the wadys filled with it that the wells are found.
Wadi Gharbi, i.e. Western Wady, or Wady Lashal, or the Wady, comprises the most fertile region of Fezzan. It contains complete forests of palm-trees, through which peep a number of small villages, as well as cultivated fields of wheat and barley. It opens out on the east into the Wady Shergi, or Eastern Wady, and its elevation above the sea at the village of Ogrefah is 1192 feet.
In this journey from Mourzouk to Ghat, Messrs Richardson, Barth, and Overweg went almost due west, and kept nearly on the 26th parallel as far as the valley of Ghat. They discovered some extremely curious rock-sculptures in the Wady Tilissareh, which is situated in about 25. 58. N. Lat., and 12. 8. E. Long. One of these sculptures consists of two bird and bull-headed human figures, armed with spears, shields, and arrows, and combating for a child. The other represents a fine group of oxen going to a watering-place, most artistically grouped and skilfully executed. In the opinion of the travellers, the two works bear a striking and unmistakable resemblance to the sculptures of Egypt. They are evidently of a very high antiquity, and superior to numerous other sculptures of more recent date found at the same time, in which camels generally formed the principal object. They most probably relate to a period of an- cient Libyan history, when camels were unknown in that part of Africa, and oxen were used instead.
As far as Tilissareh the road runs in a shallow wady called Barjouj, which is fringed on both sides with extensive plains, enlivened by numerous gazelles; only at some distance to the south, and nearly parallel with Wady Barjouj, rises a high range of sandstone hills. Wady Tilissareh is about 1800 feet high, and the ground keeps ascending other 30 miles further to the west, when the western edge of the tableland of Mourzouk is reached. The road there is cut through a narrow pass, consisting of blue marl, limestone, and sandstone. It seemed to the travellers to have been purposely cut out of the solid rock for the use of man, and reminded them of a railway excavation. As they advanced it assumed the form of a cave, slightly open at the top—narrow, winding, and furnished with seats on either hand. A dim light came from above. Now and then the pass became quite a tunnel, but the concave roof being high enough for any camel to pass. Little openings, containing groups of tholakhs, now and then made a pleasant impression, but the general aspect of the pass was horrible and desolate. From the gorge the plain of Taceta opens out to the west, an arid region, covered with pebbles and blocks of sandstone and limestone, and at the western end of this plain, in the meridian of 11° Long. E., the western boundary of Fezzan is considered to be.
Dr Vogel has made very interesting observations on the botany of Fezzan, the principal results of which may here be alluded to. Unfortunately the vegetation between Tripoli and Mourzouk was mostly dried up when he traversed that region, the time being the height of summer. Within Fezzan every vestige of wild plants had disappeared, save a shrubby Tamarix and a spinous Papilionacea, called agid by the Arabs, and used as fodder for the camels. For days in succession he perceived no other plants but date-palms, under which the drifting sand of the desert, the bane of vegetation, had accumulated to a considerable height, as if attempting to bury even these trees under its deadly mantle.
Respecting the cultivated plants of Fezzan, the inhabitants grow in the gardens of Mourzouk several kinds of grain and culinary vegetables with great labour. During the winter barley and wheat are cultivated, during the summer ghussub and ghafuly. The ghafuly mozi, so often mentioned by African travellers, is the Indian corn (Zea mais), the spikes of which are gathered before they are quite ripe, and in this state they are roasted and eaten. So small is the agricultural produce in this part of the world that the inhabitants cover each spike of the ghussub and ghafuly abiad with a neatly-made basket, in order to prevent the wild pigeons from picking the seeds. Amongst the few trees growing near Mourzouk the finest is a Corrus, called kurroo by the Arabs; it attains a height of 80 feet, and a thickness of about 3 feet in diameter. Its chief native land is Soudan, and the latitude of 26° N. appears to be its northernmost limit. The gum acacia enlivens and adorns the most stony sides of the valleys of the Wady Shergi and Gharbi. The gum of the trees near the roads is collected by the caravans and used as food. This article is brought in considerable quantity by the Tuaricks from the regions between Wadys Gharbi and Ghat. The senna plant, the chief native country of which is Air, was found by Dr Vogel in a spot near Djerma in Wady Gharbi.
In the materia medica of the Arabs, Peganum Harmala, vernacularly termed harmel, occupies a prominent place. It is used as a preventative against ophthalmia. For that purpose a dozen of its seed-vessels are swallowed by the natives in the spring, fancying that in so doing they will be exempt from all diseases of the eyes. The plant ranges from the coasts of Tripoli to Fezzan, and is very common. Another common plant is a species of Cucurbitacea, known by the name of colocynth, the fruits of which are eaten by the ostriches. This Cucurbitacea occurs in great abundance in the valleys of the Black Mountains, and forms a troublesome weed in the more fertile wadys of Fezzan. The Tibboos are very fond of the seeds; they roast them in the manner those of the pumpkin are occasionally done on the continent, after they have been previously soaked for twelve hours in water to deprive them of their bitter taste. The fruit itself is used against urinary complaints, and diseases of the sexual organs. The only ornamental flower in the small gardens of Fezzan is the sun-flower (Helianthus annus), which grows to the height of eight to nine feet. There is a useful plant met with by Dr Vogel, which resembles in foliage the thorn. The bark of its root is used by the natives for tanning leather and dyeing it red; the charcoal of this shrub is used in manufacturing gunpowder. At Beniold, in particular, the Arabs possess a great many secret powder-mills, in which an inferior article of gunpowder, for about 2s. a pound, is manufactured.
The date-palm is the most important of the cultivated plants of Fezzan. Of this tree Dr Vogel has given a complete history, of which only the following notes are extracted. All that country and half of Tripolitania are fed on that product. The huts of the poorer classes are entirely made of date-palm leaves, and the more substantial habitations consist chiefly of the same material; every door, every post, is made of date-palm wood, and the ceilings of the rooms are formed by its stems. The branches of the tree furnish the most common fuel. It is often brought from a distance of six to eight miles, a man's load consisting of two bundles, fetching about twopence. The fruit of the tree forms the food of both man and beast; camels, horses, dogs, all eat dates. Even the stones of this fruit are softened in water, and given to the cattle; for in many districts the cattle have no grass or any other herbage, except a little salisha (mellilotus), which in Mourzouk is cultivated with almost as much care as the corn, and fetches the high price of about fourpence a bundle, which is not more than a good handful. The camels of Mourzouk are therefore often sent about 100 miles to the north to have sufficient pasture. The number of the date-palms cultivated is enormous. When Abdel Gelli besieged Soekna in 1829, he cut down no less than 43,000 trees, in order to compel the town to surrender; nevertheless there are still 70,000 left. Their produce is comparatively small, 100 full-grown trees yielding about 40 hundredweight of dates, worth at Mourzouk about 30s., but at Tripoli about four times that sum. The dates, after having been gathered, are dried in the sun, and when quite hard, buried in the sand. They may thus be preserved about two years, but generally after the first 18 months they are attacked by the worms, and in the beginning of the third year nothing is left of them but the stones. As an everyday food dates are considered very heating; in consequence they are not much used on the journey, as causing great thirst. The most relishing and wholesome way to eat them is when made into a paste, mixed with barley. When the heart of the leaves has been cut out, a sweet thickish fluid collects at that cavity, called laghi, which is very refreshing, and slightly purgative. A few hours afterwards this fluid begins to ferment, becomes acid, and very intoxicating. From the ripe fruit a kind of treacle is prepared, used especially for coating leather bags or pipes to render them tight.
Dr Vogel also explored the celebrated Trona Lakes of Fezzan, of which he gives the following description:
The Trona Lakes are situated in a desert of the most dreary and impracticable description, presenting a labyrinth of hills, undulations, valleys, precipices, and literally not one square yard of level ground; formed entirely of drifting sand, in which the camels sink up to their bellies. For carrying a tent and cooking apparatus, together with two water-pipes—in all about 350 lb. weight, no less than five camels were required, and nevertheless only 9½ miles could be accomplished in eighteen hours. One of these sandhills, measured trigonometrically—for the transport of the barometer was found impossible—was ascertained to be 530 feet above the adjoining lake. The whole of these lakes are situated along the northern side of Wady Shergi and Wady Gharbi. In the eastern portion of the former Dr Vogel found the remains of ancient towers built by the original inhabitants of Fezzan; and in Wady Gharbi, near the village of Khariga, some extremely interesting ancient tombs. These tombs consisted of about 50 pyramids, mostly between 6 and 8 feet high, and 6 to 8 feet square at the bases, the sides corresponding precisely with the four cardinal points. Only two of these pyramids were 16 feet high. One of them was opened, and in the interior a carefully constructed tomb was discovered, with the skeleton of a child and some pearls and corals.
The Tromi Lakes, and especially Bahr-el-Dood, were said to be bottomless, but Dr Vogel found the depth of the latter 18 feet at an average, and 24 feet where it was deepest. This lake contains the celebrated Fezzan worm or Dood. From the drawings sent home by Dr Vogel, Dr W. Baird of the British Museum has found it to be a species of the Artemia or brine shrimp, and has called it Artemia Oudneyi, from having been first seen and described by Dr Oudney. A full-grown specimen was measured by Dr Vogel and found to be 3½ Paris lines (about a quarter of an English inch) in length, and 1½ Paris lines (or about ¼ of an English inch) in breadth under the head. They are of a very pretty colour, and in their bright hues resemble those of the gold-fish. They are caught with cotton nets, in which are hauled up innumerable other insects and flies, with which the lake is filled; the whole is mixed with a red kind of date and made into a paste, which has a smell and taste similar to salt herring, and is eaten by the inhabitants of Fezzan, in place of meat, along with bazzen.
The pashalic of Fezzan is computed to contain about a hundred towns and villages, but the population is thought not to exceed 26,000. It is governed by a sultan, who, although in fact only a viceroy dependent upon the pasha of Tripoli, possesses absolute sway. In regard to climate, Fezzan cannot be considered as fortunate. In summer the heat is intense, and the south wind, which is very dry, and impregnated with sandy particles, is scarcely supportable even by the natives. The winter, on the other hand, is accompanied with a bleak and penetrating wind blowing from the north, the cold of which is painfully felt even by the natives of a northern climate. Rain falls seldom, and in small quantities; thunder is also rare, but tempests of wind frequently occur. With regard to the soil, we have already spoken at sufficient length. The revenue, as derived from sources already mentioned, is devoted solely to the maintenance of the sultan, his army, and court. The cali and other officers of justice, the ministers of religion, and even the great officers of state are maintained from grounds set apart for this purpose, and which are covered usually with gardens, or woods of date trees. The office of cali or chief judge, to which is also attached that of first minister of religion, is hereditary in a certain family. The military force by which the Turks hold possession of this vast but thinly-peopled territory is the very inconsiderable number of 630 men.
This country was well known to the ancients under the title of the Phazania Regio, and the country of the Garantites, whose ancient capital has been recognised by Major Rennell in the modern Germa, as already noticed. The name of Pasun or Fezzan seems to have been imposed by the Saracens, when they overran Northern Africa and established the Mohammedan faith; and ever since it has continued to prevail.
FIARS PRICES were originally instituted in Scotland for the purpose of ascertaining the value of the victual or grain rents, and fees-duties payable to the crown.
They were first ascertained by the exchequer upon the prices of grain returned by the sheriffs of counties. Afterwards it was left to the sheriffs themselves, who proceeded through means of a jury.
Chalmers, in his Caledonia, vol. ii., p. 317, dates the commencement of fairs in counties some time after 1617 at the earliest, but the commissary fairs were much earlier. The Commissary Court records mention them as far back as 1564. The Act 1584, cap. 22, alludes to an exchequer fair; and there are many instances during the latter half of the seventeenth century to be found in the records of the Teind or Tythe Court, when the judge ordained payments to be made according to the sheriffs' fairs.
It is remarkable, however, that there is no act of parliament enjoining the striking or using the fairs prices, or regulating the procedure in taking the averages. The sheriffs of the several counties seem to have assumed the right of dictating the mode of procedure; consequently the manner of conducting this process is various, sometimes contradictory, and generally loose. Of late great dissatisfaction has been expressed with the manner in which the average prices of grain are ascertained, and proposals have been made for applying to parliament for an act better regulating the fairs.
The English averages are more accurately attained. By act of parliament, there are 290 towns the market clerks of which send weekly to the general registrar in London statements of the quantity and price of all grain sold in their markets, from which the registrar makes up the weekly returns as published in the Gazette.
The Earl of Lauderdale, when sheriff of Edinburgh, seems to have been the first who passed an act, Feb. 22, 1722, by which he ordained the summoning of a jury of fifteen for striking the fairs, and laid down rules of procedure. But the contrariety of decisions in litigations before the civil courts relative to the fairs prices attracted the attention of the Court of Session, which passed an act of sedenture, Dec. 21, 1723, regulating the procedure in the fairs courts. It is, however, doubtful if the Court of Session had power to make such regulations; and it was afterwards acknowledged that it had no jurisdiction with regard to the sheriffs in striking the fairs, consequently the matter is now left in a great measure under the direction of the sheriffs themselves.
The mode of striking the Haddington fairs is this—the jury summoned by the sheriff takes the average of all the prices as the middle fairs, the average of all the prices above that rate is taken as the highest fairs, and the average of all the prices below the same rate is taken as the lowest fairs, and then two and a half per cent. is added to each class.
In Scotland it has been found to be a fair and safe principle in letting farms on lease, that the whole or a certain portion of the rent should be paid in grain or in the value of so many bolls of wheat or barley, so that in the event of a great fall of prices during the currency of the lease, the tenant should not suffer, and on the other hand, that the landlord should reap a fair share of the advantage in a rise of prices. It is obviously, therefore, the interest of those who have to pay that the fairs should be struck upon a low average, whereas it is the interest of those who have to receive that the rate should be high; and it is believed that the fairs are generally a little below the true market prices.
A great many contracts are regulated by fairs prices besides grain rents. There are fees-duties payable both to the
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1. This seems to have taken its origin from there being three qualities of each description of grain in the county. The averages, as taken in Haddington, are generally higher than in the other counties of Scotland. crown and private parties, grain teinds or tithes payable to titulars, the stipends of the Established Church clergy, which are always, as a general rule, awarded in victual (oatmeal or barley), the salaries of the parochial schoolmasters, &c.
As far as the counties of Scotland are concerned, Edinburgh may be taken as a fair average of the whole, and we have given a list of the flairs prices as struck in that county between 1740 and 1854. These prices are higher than they are in some counties, and lower than in others. They are under those of Haddingtonshire by from 5 to 10 per cent., but they may be taken as a fair average of the flairs prices over all the counties of Scotland.
The measure which was used in striking the flairs from 1740 (the earliest year in which the prices are recorded) to 1824 was the boll. The Linlithgow boll, which was used in most of the counties, was equal to 8-11ths of the imperial quarter. The Mid-Lothian boll was within a small fraction of the same. From 1825, the year when the prices ceased to be reckoned for bolls, they are given as in the following table in imperial quarters.
**Flairs Prices—Mid-Lothian.**
| Year | Best Wheat | Best Barley | Best Oats | |------|------------|-------------|-----------| | | Per Boll. | Per Boll. | Per Boll. | | 1740 | £1 2 11 | £0 17 8 | £0 14 6 | | 1750 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1760 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1770 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1780 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1790 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1800 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1810 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1820 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1830 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1840 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1850 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1860 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1870 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1880 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1890 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1900 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1910 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1920 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1930 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1940 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1950 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1960 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1970 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1980 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 1990 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 | | 2000 | £0 13 6 | £0 10 7 | £0 9 4 |
The average for all Scotland in 1847 was—wheat, Ls.2, 12s. 5d.; barley, Ls.1, 9s. 7d.; oats, Ls.1, 2s. 7d.
The average for Mid-Lothian was—wheat, Ls.2, 11s. 6d.; barley, Ls.1, 11s. 6d.; oats, Ls.1, 4s. 6d.
**Fibre (Lat. fibra),** a fine thread or filament; a fine slender body, such as those of which flesh, nerves, plants, roots, &c., are composed. In our manufactures vegetable filaments and fibres are among the most important of the whole series of raw produce; furnishing thread, cloth, cordage, and the like. For these purposes the filamentous parts of the *Gossypium*, *Cannabis*, and *Linum*, or cotton, hemp, and flax, are commonly used. The fibres of other plants have been employed in different countries for the same uses. Putrefaction destroys the pulpy matter, and leaves the tough filaments entire. Different kinds of cloth are prepared in the east from the fibres of the bark of certain trees boiled in a strong lye. Some of these cloths are very fine, and approach to the softness of silk, but in durability fall short of cotton; others again are coarser and stronger, and much exceed cotton in durability. See Botany, vol. v., p. 69, and Flax. For the chemical properties of vegetable fibre, see Chemistry, vol. vi., pp. 515, 516.
**Fibrin,** a peculiar organic compound, found both in vegetable and animal substances. Fibrin is a soft solid, white, insipid, inodorous, and insoluble in water. It is procured in its most characteristic state from animal matter. It exists in the chyle and in the blood, and constitutes the chief part of animal muscle; hence it must be regarded as the most abundant constituent of animal bodies. Fibrin may be readily obtained by agitating new-drawn blood with a bundle of twigs, when it will adhere to them in long reddish filaments, which may be rendered colourless by washing in cold water. When dried, fibrin becomes semitransparent, yellowish, and brittle. It is composed of 53·36 carbon, 19·69 oxygen, 7·02 hydrogen, and 19·93 azote. Fibrin is a most important element of nutrition, and is essential to the sustenance of carnivorous animals.
**Fibula (Lat. a clasp or buckle),** the outer and smaller bone of the leg; so called from its connecting and giving firmness to the other parts. See Anatomy, vol. iii., p. 37.
**Fichte, Johann Gottlieb,** an eminent German metaphysician, was born at Rammelau, a village of Lusatia, on the 19th of May 1762. His father was a ribbon manufacturer, and carried on a small trade in haberdashery. A wealthy person in the neighbourhood having been struck with the extraordinary genius which young Fichte displayed, put him to school, in order to give him an opportunity of cultivating his talents; but the boy becoming impatient of restraint, ran off, and was found sitting on the banks of the Saale, with a map, on which he was endeavouring to trace the way to America. From this period he seems to have prosecuted his studies in an extremely desultory manner; occasionally attending the lectures of the professors of Wittenberg and Leipzig, without devoting his attention exclusively to any particular science. Theology, however, appears to have been his favourite study; and this predi- lection is conspicuous in many of his subsequent writings, which are distinguished by a singular mixture of philosophical and religious mysticism. When he left the university, his situation was by no means enviable. He possessed no fortune to enable him to indulge in the luxury of philosophical speculation; and, in spite of his decided aversion to every kind of constraint, he was compelled, by the necessity of his circumstances, to accept the situation of tutor in the family of a Prussian gentleman. But his residence in Prussia enabled him to cultivate the acquaintance of the celebrated philosopher of Königsberg, to whose judgment he submitted his first work, the *Critical Review of all Relations*, which was published anonymously in 1792. In the literary journals, this production, which had attracted considerable attention, was ascribed to the pen of Kant, until the real author made himself known.
Having received fifty ducats from a Polish nobleman, in whose family he had been tutor, Fichte set out on a course of travels through Germany and Switzerland, and afterwards married a niece of Klopstock's at Zurich. In 1793, he published the first part of his *Contributions towards rectifying the Opinions of the Public respecting the French Revolution*. This book, which is written with considerable force and originality, created a great sensation in Germany, and was violently attacked, in consequence of a new and apparently dangerous theory which the author advanced relative to the social contract. The book, however, was perused with great avidity; but the attacks to which we have alluded probably prevented him from publishing the continuation.
The reputation of Fichte was now so well established, that he soon afterwards obtained an appointment to the philosophical chair at Jena, as successor to Reinhold, who had been called to the university of Kiel. Here he commenced his lectures by a programme, in which he endeavoured to give an idea of the *Doctrine of Science* (*Wissenschaftslehre*), the name by which he distinguished the principles of that system of transcendental idealism which he afterwards more fully developed. In 1794, besides the ordinary duties of his professorship, he every Sunday gave a regular course of lectures, in the form of sermons, *On the Literary Calling*, which was numerously attended. Having established the principles of his doctrine of science, he endeavoured to extend their application to the several departments of philosophy; and with this view he published in 1796 his *Fundamental Principles of the Law of Nature*, and two years afterwards his *System of Morals*. In conjunction with Niethammer, he also published a philosophical journal, in which some articles were inserted, containing certain philosophical views of religion, which were considered by many as tending directly to atheism. Amongst a number of objectionable propositions, it was maintained that God was nothing else than the moral order of the universe; and that to worship God as a being who could only be represented as existing in time and space was a species of idolatry. One of Fichte's colleagues called the attention of the Saxon minister Burgsdorf to these heretical propositions; and the consequence was the rigorous confiscation of the work throughout the whole of Saxony. Fichte and his friend Forberg wrote an *Appeal to the Public*, and several *Apologies*, in order to exculpate themselves from the imputation of atheism. The government of Weimar behaved on this occasion with prudence and moderation; but the celebrated Herder, vice-president of the consistory, took part against Fichte. Eberhard, on the other hand, although hostile to the metaphysical system of Fichte, undertook his defence. The controversy was carried on with great violence, and excited considerable ferment throughout the whole of Germany.
In the meantime Fichte resigned his professorship at Jena, and repaired to Berlin, where he met with a very flattering reception. Here his time was occupied in giving private lectures, and in composing his various writings. In 1800 he published a short treatise, entitled *The Exclusive Commercial State*, containing one of those philosophical systems of political economy from which the praise of ingenuity cannot be withheld; whilst, at the same time, the most cursory view of the general principles on which it is founded must be sufficient to convince us that it could never be advantageously reduced to practice.
About this period Fichte met with a formidable rival in Schelling, who had formerly been a warm partisan of the *Doctrine of Science*, but who now separated from his master, and propounded a new metaphysical theory of his own, which soon acquired a large share of popularity at the German universities, especially at Jena. Fichte indeed endeavoured to modify his theory of the *Doctrine of Science*, and to present it to the world in a new and more attractive form; but he never again recovered the sway which he had formerly exercised over the public mind. Meanwhile, his ardent wish to be again placed in an academical chair was at length gratified by M. de Hardenberg, who in 1805 procured for him the appointment of ordinary professor of philosophy in the university of Erlangen. This appointment was accompanied with the especial favour of being permitted to pass the winter at Berlin, in order to continue his lectures there. But this state of amphibious professorship, as his friends used to call it in jest, did not last long. During the summer of 1805 he delivered at Erlangen his celebrated lectures *On the Essence of the Literary Character* (*über das Wesen des Gelehrten*). The following winter he delivered to a numerous audience the course which he afterwards published under the title of *Guide to a Happy Life*. This was one of those publications in which he attempted to present his metaphysical doctrines to the public in all their sublimity, and, at the same time, with such clearness, as should render them intelligible to common readers.
The disasters which assailed the Prussian monarchy in 1806 were attended with serious consequences to Fichte. Erlangen having ceased to be a Prussian university, he did not await the entry of the French into Berlin, but fled to Königsberg, and thence proceeded to Riga. In the summer of 1807 he delivered a course of philosophical lectures at Königsberg. The peace which ensued enabled him to return to Berlin, where he pronounced his famous *Orations to the German Nation*, which were enthusiastically read and applauded throughout all Germany. When the university of Berlin was founded, he obtained, through the interest of M. de Humboldt, the situation of rector, which secured to him an honourable revenue, whilst his rank as first professor of philosophy gave him great academical influence. His health, however, had suffered considerably from the shocks he had for some time experienced, and he found it necessary to have recourse to the waters of Bohemia, from which he derived great benefit. But his wife was attacked with a nervous fever, in consequence of her attendance on the deserted sick; and although she recovered, Fichte, whose affection would not allow him to leave her for a moment, caught the infection, and died on the 29th of January 1814.