Coast of Africa: Cyrenaica, Benghazi, Bedouins and desert Samum

Early in the morning two Bedupnas came to our ship. One of them spoke Italian well. Having learned about the arrival of the ship, they began to come in, not from Malta, and could they sell the bulls with whom they had wandered the day before5? I immediately asked: were their camps far away, and would they undertake to take me there? The Bedouin replied: the camp is not more than five hours away from a good camel's day. We made a deal with him for five Neapolitan ducats. He undertook to walk me back and forth. I hired two camels and a couple of donkeys for the city, and when our captain told me that there was no way I could leave the harbor in the strong wind, I decided to go to the sandy desert to the Bedouins. The captain's comrade, Kafieri, four sailors, me and my servant, all well armed, set off very early the next day, accompanied by Bedupna Ibrahim, into the field; another Bedouin remained as collateral for the ship. I have no idea about these sandy deserts, and I have never ridden camels. The kornak (counselor) approached the person assigned to me, lightly hit him on the front legs with a stick, and he began to stand on his knees. Kornak gave me a lift, and when I climbed onto the sfdlo, he handed the myth into his hand with a rope entangled around the neck of my trotter, probably. so that I could hold on to it, I could hardly wrap my feet around the low wooden frame, or a kind of armchair; but, fortunately, I thought of putting a travel morocco pillow on it. Stirrups tied with a hemp rope, my raincoat at the back, an umbrella, and a double-barreled gun made up all my luggage. Kornak sat on the same camel, behind me, with his legs to one side. On the other camel—which my comrade Cafieri never wanted to eat, but took the donkey—was loaded with leather bags with water; he also carried our supply of wine, consisting of six bottles, my servant, one sailor, my bed, or just say felt, and something else belonging to Ibrahim. ‘The three sailors and Ibrahim rested on the remaining donkeys, and thus our caravan moved from the mbsta. We are Fkhali to the west, ten turns fortune-tellingly, across the smooth meadow. But a path was visible along the way, and I sat quite calmly, except for the fact that my legs were too wide. Soon I decided to follow the example of my kornak, and threw them to one side opposite to him. My camel walked quickly; the donkeys barely trotted after him. The leading donkey was tied to my camel, beating incessantly, and the bells on it were ringing. The meadow along which we were walking was beginning to be interrupted by sandy drifts, and suddenly we were heading into the vast sandy desert. On the right side the sea was still visible, on the forehead and in front of us there was yellow sand. The vortices formed inequalities on it, similar in other places to sea waves; The azure sky with the scorching sun completed this sad but majestic picture. The camels continued to walk quite briskly; but after about two hours the donkeys lost their heads, and they often began to force them with a stick. Finally we stopped, watered them, gave them a bunch of agrimony, and when they had breakfast with this, the caravan moved forward again. I was unbearably hot with the sun, which had already risen high, and I spread my umbrella. Our tedious and silent hike lasted four hours; Finally, my kornak loudly began to chant some kind of wild song, and his comrade, the sidfvny in Oslb, responded to him, or pulled him up. Something began to seem more like something to me. I looked closely: it seemed like a speck on the horizon; it grew larger and larger as we got closer. Finally I saw a few palm trees, under which the Bedouin camp was located; but they were still about four miles away. In the steppe, as on the sea, objects are visible from afar. The camels and donkeys seemed to sense the imminent rest: they were walking fast, and we all perked up and became impatient, wanting to get off our moving ships as quickly as possible. Arriving towards the camp, Ibrahim galloped forward, and everything began to stir: a group of Bedunnov gathered in a heap, and from the middle of them six people, among whom was Ibrahim, were coming to meet us. We stopped, got off the camels, and the Bedouins, through our interpreter, told the myth that Shenkh ordered to tell me welcome. I was taken to the chief’s quarters, and my retinue followed me, two in a row. The Bedumns surrounded us, but stopped a few steps from the tent. Shenkh left. to meet me: there were two old men with him, and the boy, his son, was ten years old. He seemed to be about 60 years old, quite tall, lean, with a beard that was quite long and long; on his head was a round Fez, a kind of skufia, and without a kieti... He bowed to me according to the Eastern rite, putting his hand on his chest, and then put it to his head5. I began to cry, saying that I had heard a lot about his hospitality; that I am a long-distance traveler from northern countries, and have the opportunity to meet the brave sons of the desert. “We are glad to see you,” replied Sheikh. “Come into my tent. “When Yai KaFieri was there, Sheikh stood at a distance; DVB women entered and brought copper lakhava and a jug of water. ‘Knowing this as usual, I ordered my servant to take off my shoes; the women washed my feet, and I washed my face and head: dust and sweat, dear, turned me into a blackamoor. Washing completely revived me. The women went behind the curtains, dividing the tent into two parts, and Sheikh came up and slept with us. I forgot to say that we sat on an Egyptian mat, according to Eastern custom, with our legs crossed. Ibrahim stood behind Shenkh. Nobody said a word. They answered the phone; The Sheikh smoked once and handed it to me; brought by a friend, for Cafieri and for himself; We all started smoking. This was followed by some coffee. They put thin round cakes on dishes, and Sheikh, breaking one into three, divided it with us; and when we took down our parts, he told us that now we are his guests, and perfect masters of the tent, like himself.