Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/139

 F E Z Z A N 129 figs, and almonds are the chief fruits, besides the date, which is the great wealth of the land. The number of sorts of date-palm found in the oases is very large : in that of Murzuk alone more than 30 varieties are counted, the most esteemed being named the Tillis, Tuati, and Auregh. In all Fezzan the date is the staple food, not only for men, but for camels, horses, and dogs. Even the stones of the fruit are softened and given to the cattle. The huts of the poorer classes are entirely made of date-palm leaves, and the more substantial habitations consist chiefly of the same material. The produce of the tree is small, 100 full- grown trees yielding only about 40 cwts. of dates, worth about 30s. at Murzuk, and about four times that sum at Tripoli. They may generally be preserved about two years. Domestic animals include only the camel (in two varieties, the Tebu or Sudan camel and the Arabian, differing very much in size, form, and capabilities), domestic fowls, and pigeons, for the few horses, perhaps 50 in all Fezzan, and the miserable cattle, sheep, and goats imported, scarcely deserve mention. There are no large carnivora in Fezzan ; even the hyena and jackal are absent. In the uninhabited oases gazelles and antelopes are occasionally found, but they are by no means abundant. Among birds are sparrows, swallows, ravens, falcons, and vultures ; in summer wild pigeons and ducks are numerous, but in winter they seek a warmer climate. There are no remarkable insects or snakes. A species of Artemia or brine shrimp, about a quarter of an inch in length, of a colour resembling the bright hue of the gold fish, is fished for with cotton nets in the Bahr-el-Daud before noticed, and, mixed with dates and kneaded into a paste, which has the taste and smell of salt herring, is considered a luxury by the people of Fezzan. People. The inhabitants of Fezzan are undoubtedly a mixed people, derived from the surrounding Teda and Bornu on the south, Tuareg of the plateaus on the west, Berbers and Arabs from the north. In colour the people vary from black to pure white, but the prevailing hue of skin is a Malay-like yellow, the features and woolly hair being negro. The chief languages in use in Fezzan are, first, the Kaniiri or Bornu language, which is spoken by little children before they learn Arabic, and, secondly, Arabic itself. Many understand Targish, the Teda, and Haussa languages. If among such a mixed people there can be said to be any national language, it is that of Bornu, which is most widely understood and spoken. The people of Sokna, north of the Jebel-es-S6da, have a peculiar Berber dialect which Rohlfs found to be very closely allied to that of Ghadarnes. The natives of Fezzan are mild and con ciliatory. As soon as one has passed the frontier of their country there is no more need to fear robbers; and this is the more remarkable since Tebus, who bear a thievish character in their own country, are very numerous. The men wear a haik or barakan like those of Tripoli, and a fez ; short hose, and a large loose shirt called mansaria, with red or yellow slippers, complete their toilet. Yet one often sees the large blue or white tole of Sudan and Bornu, and the lit/tarn or shawl-muffler of the Tuareg, wound round the mouth to keep out the blown sand of the desert. The women, who so Jong as they are young have very plump forms, and who are generally small, are more simply dressed, as a rule, in the barakan, wound round their bodies ; they seldom wear shoes, but generally have sandals made of palm leaf. Like the Arab women they load arms and legs with heavy metal rings, which are of silver among the more wealthy; a single one of these rings sometimes weighs a French pound. The hair, thickly greased with butter, soon catching the dust, which forms a crust over it, is done up in numberless little plaits round the head, in the same fashion as in Bornu and Haussa. Little children run about naked until they attain the age of puberty, which comes very early, for mothers of ten or twelve years of age are not uncommon. Morality is at a very low stage, and the Fezzanians live a careless and happy life : every even ing the sounds of music and dancing are heard. The greater number live in huts of palm leaves, which are set up in the simplest manner ; sometimes there is a small outer hut, which is plastered outside with mud, and serves as a winter dwelling ; the two are then surrounded by a little palm fence. Towns, like the capital Murzuk, are either built of stone or of lumps of earth, as these may be convenient to the site, but beyond the town wall nothing is to be seen but palm huts. The houses are generally one-floored, and have one or two rooms ; sometimes there is a little courtyard ; all are windowless, and have only a low doorway. Dates, as has been already noticed, form the staple food, and camels flesh is only eaten in the towns. In Murzuk, on an average, three camels are slaughtered every day, with one sheep and one goat, which serve for the whole population without and within the walls of about 8000. With regard to the numbers of the population of Fezzan the estimates of various travellers, in the absence of any trustworthy data, are widely different. Hornemann gives 70,000 to 75,000, Richardson only 26,000, Vogel 54,000. Rohlfs, who visited Fezzan at a prosperous period in 1865, believes the number 200,000 to be a moderate estimate ; but Nachtigal, in 1870, thinks the whole population cannot exceed 40,000. Government. Fezzan is governed by a kaimakam or lieu tenant-governor, under the governor of the vilayet, province, or regency of Tripoli. At the time of Ilohlfs s visit, the twelve mudirates or districts into which it had formerly been divided had been reduced to seven, but the Government was on the point of restoring the twelve districts, and of marking out their limits more distinctly. These districts are those of Bonjem, Sokna, Shati, Temenhint, Sebha, Wadi Sherki, Wadi Gharbi, Hofra, Sherguia, Zella, Rhodua, and Gatron. All the mudirs are appointed by the kaimakam of Fezzan, and deposed by him, if he should see fit, with out reference to the mushir of Tripoli. The government is like that of the other Turkish provinces, practically abso lute for the will of the kaimakam or the mudir is law although in form constitutional, since a mijelis or council, in most cases only imaginary, is supposed to have a voice in the legislature. Although the inhabited parts of Fezzan are naturally rich and fertile, the Turkish Government shows little skill in taking advantage of its resources. Under the most favourable circumstances the direct revenue of the country amounts to about 800,000 piastres, or about 72,000. Besides this, however, the Government receives a large sum from the sale of dates. Round Murzuk alone the number of palm trees belonging to the Government is reckoned by Rohlfs at a million. The direct receipts serve to salary the officials, including the kaimakam and the troops, who, however, are not very regularly paid. Except it may be a present of slaves or other articles sent by the kaimakam, not a farthing passes to Tripoli or Constantinople. On the contrary, all clothing, arms, even provisions, such as rice, sugar, and coffee for the soldiers, come from Tripoli or Stamboul. At the time of M. Duveyrier s visit the garrison of Murzuk consisted of 250 men of the regular Ottoman army (redif), nearly all natives of Fezzan or negroes. At a later date Ilohlfs found a garrison of 500 men. Treble, The commerce of Fezzan is unimportant, and has never been great. The country serves as a depot or middle station between Bornu and its surrounding negro states in the south and Tripoli and Egypt in the north, the caravan IX. 17