this third part of the ancient world will give up its secrets. And how many of these perilous expeditions will end in disaster!
The most recent expedition was led by a brave Belgian who ventured out into the least frequented and least known regions of the Touat.
Carl Steinx had organized a caravan in Constantine and headed south. It was not a large caravan, about a dozen men in all, Arabs who had been recruited locally. They used horses and méharis, or dromedaries, as mounts and as draft animals to pull the two wagons that carried the expedition’s supplies.
The first leg of their journey brought them to Ouargla by way of Biskra, Touggourt, and Negoussia, where Steinx had no difficulty replenishing his supplies. The French authorities living in those towns promptly came to the explorer’s assistance.
At Ouargla, which lies on the thirty-second parallel, he was, so to speak, in the very heart of the Sahara.
Until then, the expedition’s ordeals had not been too onerous. They had suffered fatigue, even exhaustion, but had encountered no serious dangers. Even in those far-off lands the French influence made itself felt. The Tuareg, outwardly at least, proved to be docile, and the caravans satisfied all the needs of inland commerce without undue risk.
At Ouargla Steinx had to make some changes to his personnel. Some of the Arabs accompanying him refused to go any farther, and he had to pay them off—no easy matter, in view of their insolent demands and ill-tempered squabbles. It was better to get rid of these overtly uncooperative people whom it would have been dangerous to keep as part of the escort.
On the other hand, he could not start out again without hiring replacements, and under the circumstances he clearly had no choice. He thought he had solved this problem by accepting the services of some Tuareg, who offered, for a high price, to accompany his expedition as far as its destination, whether at the west or the east coast of Africa.
Steinx had some reservations about the Tuareg as a people, but how could he have suspected that he was bringing traitors into his caravan, that it had been watched by Hadjar’s band ever since it left Biskra, and that the formidable chieftain was only waiting for the right moment to attack? His followers, who were now part of the expedition because they had been hired to guide the caravan through those unknown regions, would be able to lead the explorer to the point where Hadjar was waiting for him.
That is exactly what happened. From Ouargla the caravan headed south, crossed the Tropic of Cancer, and reached the territory of the Ahaggar. From there it veered southeast, intending to head for Lake Chad. But from the fifteenth day after his departure there had been no news of Carl Steinx or his companions. What had happened? Had the kafila been able to get as far as Chad? Was it now on its way back by the eastern or the western route?
Steinx’s expedition had aroused keen interest among the many geographical societies whose special area of concern was travel to the African interior. They had been kept informed of its itinerary as far as Ouargla. For the next hundred kilometers or so beyond Ouargla, a few scraps of information had still come through, picked up by desert nomads and passed on to the French authorities. It was thought that within a few weeks, under favorable conditions, the expedition would reach the vicinity of Lake Chad.
But weeks went by, and then months, and no news could be obtained about the daring Belgian explorer. Messengers were sent to the far south and French outposts lent a hand in the search, which spread out in every direction. All efforts proved fruitless, and there was reason to believe that the entire caravan had perished, either in an attack by the nomads of the Touat, or from exhaustion and disease in the heart of the immense solitude of the Sahara.
Gafsa. (Photo by Dr. Tersen)
The geographical community did not know what to think, and it was beginning to lose hope, not only of ever seeing Steinx again, but of ever hearing any news of him. But three months later there arrived in Ouargla an Arab who shed light on the mystery surrounding this unfortunate expedition.
This Arab was a member of the caravan’s personnel who had managed to escape. He reported that the Tuareg who entered the explorer’s service had betrayed him. Steinx had been led into an ambush and attacked by a band of Tuareg operating under the leadership of the tribal chieftain Hadjar, already famous for his raids on a number of caravans. Steinx and the loyal members of his escort had defended themselves bravely. For forty-eight hours, entrenched in an abandoned kouba, or chapel, he had managed to hold off the attackers, but the numerical inferiority of the little group made it impossible for them to resist any longer, and they fell into the hands of the Tuareg, who massacred them all.5
Gafsa, general view. (Photo by M. Brichard)
Needless to say, this news aroused deep emotions. The outraged public demanded vengeance and grieved for the death of this brave explorer; they insisted that the ruthless Tuareg chieftain, whose name was held up to public loathing, pay for this crime and for his many other attacks on caravans. The French authorities decided to mount an expedition to capture him, to punish him for his crimes, and, in so doing, to eliminate his nefarious influence on the native tribes, who were known to be gradually moving toward the eastern part of the continent and settling in the southern part of Tunisia and Tripolitania. The heavy commercial traffic that traveled through these regions was in danger of being disrupted, or even destroyed, if the Tuareg were not completely subdued. An expedition was therefore ordered. Both the governor-general of Algeria and the resident-general in Tunisia commanded that it be supported by the cities in the region of the chotts and sebkha, where military outposts had been established. For this difficult campaign, which was expected to yield such important results, the Ministry of War assigned a squadron of spahis commanded by Captain Hardigan.
A detachment of some sixty men arrived at the port of Sfax aboard the Chanzy. A few days after disembarking they left the coast and headed west, with their Arab guides and with their supplies and tents carried on the backs of camels. They would replenish their supplies in the towns and villages of the interior, Tozeur and Gafsa among others, and there was no lack of oases in the Djerid region.
The captain had under his command a junior captain, two lieutenants, and several noncommissioned officers, including Sergeant Nicol.
Since the sergeant was with the expedition, that meant that his old brother Giddup and the faithful Ace-of-Hearts were necessarily part of it as well.
The expedition, pacing its marches regularly so as to ensure the success of its journey, crossed the entire Tunisian Sahel, or grassland region. After passing through Dar el Mehalla and El Quittar, it came to Gafsa, in the Henmara region, to rest for forty-eight hours.
The town of Gafsa occupies a plateau surrounded by hills, on a large bend of the Wadi Bayoeh. Several kilometers beyond the hills rises a formidable range of mountains. Of all the settlements of southern Tunisia, Gafsa has the largest population, which lives in an urban area of houses and shacks. It is dominated by the Kasbah, where Tunisian soldiers used to stand guard, but which is now manned by French and native troops. Gafsa can also boast of being a literate community and has a number of schools where Arabic and French are taught. Industry thrives there also, in the form of cloth weaving and the manufacture of silk haiks and blankets and burnouses made from the wool provided by the Hammâmma tribe’s many sheep. One can still see the termil, baths built during the Roman period, and thermal springs whose temperature ranges from twenty-nine to thirty-two degrees centigrade.
In Gafsa, Captain Hardigan obtained more precise information about Hadjar.
