conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the first two paragraphs for a book with the title 'Sufferings in Africa'
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Sufferings in Africa
  We had gone up from the sea-board, and were passing between high mountains towards the southeast, when the late affray happened, but about noon we reached a plain, and took an eastern direction. Hassar's men with their camels, and Abdallah with his camel, now filed off to the left, leaving us with our masters and their own camels only, and were soon out of sight, among the bushes. The mortifying resuit of the morning's enterprise, had rendered Seid uncommonly ill natured; he had claimed Horace as his slave from the very beginning, and Mr. Savage also belonged to him. He had always doubted my word to his brother, and would not believe that a miserable wretch like me could find a friend to advance money for my ransom, though both he, Hassar, and all the company, had a high opinion of my courage, since I put my own life in jeopardy to save that of Mr. Savage, at the time he fainted:—Seid had endeavoured to sell his slaves at every place we came to, after leaving the desart. Hassar, as well as others, took a particular fancy to Horace, and had offered a large sum for him in camels and other merchandise, but the interference of Sidi Hamet, who had sworn that Horace should not be separated from me, aided by my often renewed entreaties and my tears, whenever I heard it suggested, had saved him thus far. As we were now approaching the Moorish dominions, powerful chiefs, with large bodies of armed men intent on plunder, were riding about and scouring the country in every direction, and Seid had come to a determination to take his slaves and make the most of them. Seid was a younger brother of Sidi Hamet, and had, until now, submitted in some degree to his counsel, though they had many slight quarrels at different periods of the journey.—Where we stopped the preceding night, the Arabs strove hard to get possession of Horace. Seid had to my knowledge made a bargain to sell him in the morning, but was dissuaded from fulfilling it, by his brother.
  We, slaves, were now five in all, travelling on foot, but moving forward very slowly, for we were worn to the bones by our various and complicated sufferings. It seemed that the breath of hope alone had kept the vital spark from being totally extinguished. Sidi Hamet was riding on his big camel before us, when Seid ordered us to halt, but the other desired us to come on; upon which Seid laid hold of Mr. Savage and Horace, and stopped them. It was now that Sidi Ha-met's wrath was kindled—he leaped from his camel, and darting like lightning up to Seid, laid hold of him and disengaged Mr. Savage and Horace from his grasp. They clinched each other like lions, and with fury in their looks, each strove to throw the other to the ground. Seid was the largest and stoutest man; they writhed and twined in every shape until both fell, but Sidi Hamet was undermost: fire seemed to flash from their eyes, whilst they twisted around each other like a couple of serpents, until at length Sidi Hamet, by superior activity or skill, disengaged himself from his brother's grasp, and both sprang up on their feet. Instantly they snatched their muskets at the same moment, and each retiring a few paces with great rapidity and indignation, tore the cloth covers from their guns, and presented them at each other's breast with dreadful fury:—they were not more than ten yards asunder, and both must have fallen dead, had they fired. Horror had seized and chilled my blood, so that I could neither get from them, nor move, indeed, in any direction. My mind was filled with inexpressible apprehensions—* 'my God, (I cried aloud) have mercy on these unfortunate brothers, I pray thee, for our sakes, and suffer them not to spill each other's blood." In the midst of this ejaculation, I was started by the report of two muskets, and imagined that both the brothers had fallen; but on turning my eyes again to this direful scene, I perceived that Sidi Hamet had fired the contents of both his barrels into the air, having had a moment's reflection, whilst priming and cocking his piece. He now threw it on the ground, then making bare bis bosom, he advanced with a firm step towards Seid, and with an energetic voice, exclaimed, "I am now unarmed, fire! your brother's heart is ready to receive your balls; glut your vengeance on your benefactor." He stopped short; Seid hesitated. Mr. Savage and Horace were near Seid, who threatened them with instant death if they moved. Sidi Hamet finding his brother's mind wavered, ran to Horace, and sent him towards me, telling his brother, he should have Clark in Horace's stead, whom he ordered to come near, but Seid would not consent to the exchange, whereupon my master added Burns; that is, two for one. Seid had made Mr. Savage sit down and had placed one of his feet on his thigh, to keep him there; while his brother ordered me to go with Horace, first to the south and then to the eastward, following the camels; still resolving that we should not be separated, and bade Mr. Savage follow us, but Seid, presenting his gun, told him if he offered to go, he would blow his brains out. As Sidi Hamet, however, bade him run, he obeyed, and when he came near me we were all ordered to stop and our masters seated themselves on the ground to settle the dispute by figuring on the sand with their fingers. Here they calculated it every way Clark and Burns were again offered for Horace, but Seid would not take them: he would keep the slave he had bought with his money: "You shall not separate him from his father, (said my master) I have sworn it." "Then I will destroy him," exclaimed Seid furiously, and springing up, he seized Horace by the breast and dashed him on the ground with all his might. The force of the blow beat the breath from his body, and he lay stretched out apparently dead. Overwhelmed with the most heart-rending emotions, I sank to the earth in an agony of despair. My master observing my anguish, said, "go, Riley," pointing to the east. With tears and sobs, I told him I could not go, for Horace, my son, was dead. After a flood of tears had relieved my swelling heart, I reflected that it was useless to bewail the fate of my adopted child, as I did not know how soon it might be my turn to suffer a similar, or perhaps a more cruel death. Seid's passion now began to subside a little, and my master then went to Horace, and taking him by the hands, raised him upon his seat: his breath returned and he revived. Sidi Hamet melted into tears at the sight: I saw the big drops roll down his cheeks, while in a tender tone, he said to Horace, "go to Riley." The spot where his head fell happened to be clear of stones, which entirely covered the ground on every side, otherwise his brains must have been dashed out. I went up to him as quick as I could, and folding him in my arms, asked him if he was much hurt; but being in great pain, and his breathing being not yet perfectly restored, he was incapable of answering me: his heart, however, was in unison with mine, in thanking the Author of our being that his life was spared, and in imploring his future protection. Our masters again seated themselves, in order to discuss this affair thoroughly, and began to speak very loud, when, fortunately for us, some strangers came in sight which reminded them that their united force was necessary for the defense of themselves and their property; so they agreed to seek a village, and take counsel as to what was best to be done.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: five more paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: To hear such sentiments from the mouth of a Moor, whose nation I had been taught to consider the worst of barbarians, I confess, filled my mind with awe and reverence, and I looked up to him as a kind of superior being, when he added, "We are all children of the same heavenly Father, who watches over all our actions, whether we be Moor, or Christian, or Pagan, or of any other religion; we must perform his will." Rais then called Muley Ibrahim, and had a long conference with him. This prince Ibrahim was a man of a very mild aspect, of a light complexion, about five feet ten inches in height, and rather thin—his countenance was intelligent, and he was very active, though apparently sixty or seventy years of age. By the tenor of the conversation I could understand that Rais was flattering him highly, but in a delicate way: he asked him very affectionately about the prince's wives; and understanding he had but one, he enquired if she had any children; and was answered, she had none: he next wished to know if she had any tea or sugar, and was answered in the negative.
  At last, however, he suffered himself to be persuaded by the united voices of Sheick Ali and Muley Ibrahim, but on the express condition of being escorted to Santa Cruz by the prince, who was a party in the whole secret. He was also to procure camels for us to ride on, and went forth to engage and have them ready for a start at daylight the next morning. Rais bel Cossim now informed me that Muley Ibrahim had previously agreed to accompany us; that we were to ride on camels, and that two hundred horsemen were to guard us on the road, in order to prevent any treachery on the part of Sheick Ali, who might already have troops stationed on the way to seize and carry us off to the mountains: he had also given private orders to his friends and his vassals, to hold themselves in readiness in case of an alarm. The two hundred horsemen were to take stations, so as to keep us in continual view without exciting suspicion, and to be ready to carry intelligence. Rais then bade me kill and boil what fowls and eggs remained, which I did, with the assistance of my men, who had very much recovered.
  Our food being prepared, and every thing packed up tight for a start, we took a short nap, and at daylight on the morning of the 4th of November, we were placed on five camels, which were saddled much better than any we had hitherto rode: they had on them also bags of barley, and empty sacks, made of tent cloth, that would hold, I should suppose, ten or twelve bushels; these altogether made quite a comfortable seat, though rather a wide one, and we could hold ourselves on by the ropes that secured the lading: they placed me on the largest camel I had yet seen, which was nine or ten feet in height. The camels were now all kneeling or lying down, and mine among the rest. I thought I had taken a good hold to steady myself while he was rising—yet, his motion was so heavy, and my strength so far exhausted, that I could not possibly hold on, and tumbled off over his tail, turning entirely over. I came down upon my feet, which prevented my receiving any material injury, though the shock to my frame was very severe. —The owner of the camel helped me up, and asked me if I was injured? I told him no—"God be praised," said he, "for turning you over; had you fallen upon your head, these stones must have dashed out your brains; but the camel," added he, "is a sacred animal, and heaven protects those who ride on him! had you fallen from an ass, though he is only two cubits and a half high, it would have killed you; for the ass is not so noble a creature as the camel and the horse."—I afterwards found this to be the prevailing opinion among all classes of the Moors and the Arabs.—When they put me on again, two of the men steadied me by the legs until the camel was fairly up, and then told me to be careful, and to hold on fast: they also took great care to assist my companions in the same way.
  We continued our journey until about mid-day, still on the plain, when Santa Cruz or Agader was distinctly seen and pointed out to me. It is situated on the summit of a high mountain; its walls are white, and can be descried at a great distance. The plain on which we travelled was nearly level; not a brook or stream of water had we passed since leaving the last mentioned river, but the towns and villages had many deep wells near their walls, from which the inhabitants drew water for themselves and their numerous cattle.—Innumerable clumps of the evergreen arga tree, loaded with the rich oil nut, were scattered over the plain in every direction. Vast numbers of leafless fig trees, and enclosures of grape vines with date, pomegranate, almond, orange, and other fruit trees, promised abundance in their seasons; and delightfully variegated the scene.—Hundreds of the inhabitants were busied in ploughing the soil, which appeared rich, though dry; and sowing their barley; while their herds were browsing on the shrubs round about for the want of grass. Many unarmed men, with droves of camels and asses loaded with salt and other merchandise, were meeting and passing us almost continually. We saw also from time to time, bands of armed men on horseback, of about fifty in each band, most of whom I learned from Rais were the friends of Muley Ibrahim, whom he had requested to ride guard, as I before mentioned, and to be ready to act in our behalf in case of treachery, or of any emergency whatever. Our path led us in a N. E. direction, and the camels were kept most of the time on a great trot, while their drivers were running on foot, and kept up with us, seemingly, with great ease; though I compute we rode at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour.
  About two P. M. approaching the coast, we fell in with huge drifts of loose sand on our left, which extended to the sea shore. This sand had been driven from the sea beach by the constant trade winds, and as the sea had retired, (for it was clean coarse beach sand) it had undoubtedly for ages been making its way gradually from the coast, (which was now about twenty miles distant) and had buried, as I was informed, several flourishing villages, towns, and cities, the tops of whose walls were still visible; the circular domes of a considerable number of saint-houses, or sanctuaries, whose bodies were entirely enveloped, were yet to be seen among these barren heaps of overwhelming sands; for the inhabitants take great care to clear away around them, and to give them a whitewashing every year. Muley Ibrahim informed me that a large town called Rabeah, whose ruins we had passed in mounting over the sand hills, was a flourishing place within his remembrance; (probably fifty years ago;) that he himself was born in it—but that large bodies of sand had already encroached upon its northern wall: that as soon as it was overtopped, it fell in, and the whole city was filled with sand in the course of one year after, and its inhabitants forced to seek a new shelter. These drifts extended, as far as we could distinguish sand, on our right.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the last five paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: I never witnessed a marriage among them, but was told that when a young man sees a girl that pleases him, he asks her of her father, and she becomes his wife without ceremony. Polygamy is allowed, but the Arabs of the desart have but very seldom more than one wife, unless amongst some of the rich ones, who have need of servants, when they take another wife, and sometimes a third.
  There appeared to be no kind of sickness or disease among the Arabs of the desart during the time I was with them: I did not hear of, nor see the smallest symptoms of complaint, and they appear to live to a vast age: there were three people I saw belonging to the tribe in which I was a slave, namely, two old men and one woman, who from appearance were much older than any I had ever seen: these men and the woman had lost all the hair from their heads, beards, and every part of their bodies—the flesh on them had entirely wasted away, and their skins appeared to be dried and drawn tight over the sinews and the bones, like Egyptian mummies: their eyes were extinct, having totally wasted away in their sockets, the bones of which were only covered by their eyelids: they had lost the use of all their limbs, and appeared to be deprived of every sense, so that when their breath should be spent and their entrails extracted, they would in my opinion be perfect mummies without further preparation; for from their appearance there was not sufficient moisture in their frames to promote corruption, and I felt convinced that a sight of such beings (probably on the desart of Arabia) might have given the Egyptians their first idea of drying and preserving the dead bodies of their relations and friends. An undutiful child of civilized parents might here learn a lesson of filial piety and benevolence from these barbarians: the old people always received the first drink of milk, and a larger share than even the acting head of the family when they were scanted in quantity: whenever the. family moved forward, a camel was first prepared for the old man, by fixing a kind of basket on the animal's back; they then put skins or other soft things into it, to make it easy, and next lifting up the old man, they place him carefully in the basket, with a child or two on each side, to take care of and steady him during the march, while he seems to sit and hold on, more from long habit than from choice.—As soon as they stopped to pitch the tents, the old man was taken from his camel, and a drink of water or milk given him, for they take care to save some for that particular purpose. When the tent was pitched, he was carefully taken up and placed under it on their mat, where he could go to sleep:—this man's voice was very feeble, squeaking, and hollow. The remarkably old man I am speaking of belonged to a family that always pitched their tent near ours, so that I had an opportunity of witnessing the manner of his treatment for several days together, which was uniformly the same.
  The tribe of Arabs to which I belonged, owned four horses, or rather mares: they were the general property, and were fed on milk, and watered every two days: with these animals they hunt the ostrich, and with this view, having agreed on the **time** and place, the whole of the men assemble before daylight on their camels, and surround a certain spot of ground where they calculate on finding ostriches, with the horses to windward, and their riders with loaded muskets in their hands: they then approach each other until they start the ostriches, who seeing themselves surrounded on all sides but one, run to the southward before the wind, followed by the horses, which it is said run extremely swift, and pressing on the ostrich very hard, the bird runs himself out of breath in about three hours, when the men on horseback come up and shoot him: but let these birds run against the wind, and no horse can overtake them, for then they do not lose their breath.
  Most of the Arabs are well armed with good double-barrelled French fowling pieces, (which have excellent locks) and with good scimitars and knives: each has a kind of bag to carry his slugs, &c. in, slung by his neck and hanging down to his waist on the left side: their big powder-horn is suspended in like manner: this contains coarse powder, and is used for loading the muskets, but they all have a little horn in which to carry their fine powder for priming. Many of the gun barrels that I saw were worn through, and the holes were stopped up by brazing: —they have procured many of their guns no doubt by shipwrecks on the coast of the desart; many more from caravans that they have overpowered, and others in the way of trade from the French settlements of Senegal, and from Tunis, Tripoli, and other ports on the Mediterranean Sea. I did not see a single Moorish musket or lock during the time I was among the Arabs of the desart: they were all made in Europe, and generally in Paris, with the maker's name on the locks. They have tolerably good powder, which they say they know how to manufacture, but do not make it fine, so that the first rate English or French musket powder is much in request, and looked upon as invaluable for priming. Their swords or scimitars they most probably obtain by the same means as their muskets: they are ever ready to attack an inferior, or even an equal force, and fight for the sake of plunder.
  Their language is the ancient Arabic; is spoken with great fluency, and is distinguished for its powerful emphasis, and elegant cadence. When they converse peaceably, (and they are much given to talking with each other) it thrills on the ear like the breathings of soft wind-music, and excites in the soul the most soothing sensations; but when they speak in anger, it sounds as hoarse as the roarings of irritated lions, or the most furious beasts of prey. They attack the small towns in the vicinity of the desart, on all sides; which are walled in to ward off their incursions: if they are successful, they put all to the sword, burn the towns, and retire again to the desart with their spoil. Such is the wandering Arab of the great African Desart: his hand is against every man, and consequently every man's hand is against him.