Egypt's rule of the Soudan--Corn-grinding in the Soudan--Mahomet meets
relatives--The parent of Egypt--El Baggar rides the camel.
Cassala was built about twenty years before I visited the country, after
Taka had been conquered and annexed to Egypt. The general annexation
of the Soudan and the submission of the numerous Arab tribes to the
Viceroy have been the first steps necessary to the improvement of the
country. Although the Egyptians are hard masters, and do not trouble
themselves about the future well-being of the conquered races, it must
be remembered that, prior to the annexation, all the tribes were at war
among themselves. There was neither government nor law; thus the whole
country was closed to Europeans. At the time of my visit to Cassala in
1861 the Arab tribes were separately governed by their own chiefs or
sheiks, who were responsible to the Egyptian authorities for the taxes
due from their people. Since that period the entire tribes of all
denominations have been placed under the authority of that grand old
Arab patriarch, Achmet Abou Sinn, to be hereafter mentioned. The iron
hand of despotism has produced a marvellous change among the Arabs, who
are rendered utterly powerless by the system of government adopted
by the Egyptians; unfortunately, this harsh system has the effect of
paralyzing all industry.
The principal object of Turks and Egyptians in annexation is to increase
their power of taxation by gaining an additional number of subjects.
Thus, although many advantages have accrued to the Arab provinces of
Nubia through Egyptian rule, there exists very much mistrust between the
governed and the governing. Not only are the camels, cattle, and sheep
subjected to a tax, but every attempt at cultivation is thwarted by the
authorities, who impose a fine or tax upon the superficial area of the
cultivated land. Thus, no one will cultivate more than is absolutely
necessary, as he dreads the difficulties that broad acres of waving
crops would entail upon his family. The bona fide tax is a bagatelle to
the amounts squeezed from him by the extortionate soldiery, who are
the agents employed by the sheik; these must have their share of the
plunder, in excess of the amount to be delivered to their employer; he
also must have his plunder before he parts with the bags of dollars to
the governor of the province. Thus the unfortunate cultivator is ground
down. Should he refuse to pay the necessary "backsheesh" or present to
the tax-collectors, some false charge is trumped up against him, and he
is thrown into prison. As a green field is an attraction to a flight of
locusts in their desolating voyage, so is a luxuriant farm in the Soudan
a point for the tax-collectors of Upper Egypt. I have frequently ridden
several days' journey through a succession of empty villages, deserted
by the inhabitants upon the report of the soldiers' approach. The women
and children, goats and cattle, camels and asses, had all been removed
into the wilderness for refuge, while their crops of corn had been left
standing for the plunderers, who would be too idle to reap and thrash
the grain.
Notwithstanding the miserable that fetters the steps of improvement,
Nature has bestowed such great capabilities of production in the fertile
soil of this country that the yield of a small surface is more than
sufficient for the requirements of the population, and actual poverty is
unknown. The average price of dhurra is fifteen piastres per "rachel,"
or about 3s. 2d. for five hundred pounds upon the spot where it is
grown. The dhurra (Sorghum andropogon) is the grain most commonly used
throughout the Soudan; there are great varieties of this plant, of which
the most common are the white and the red. The land is not only favored
by Nature by its fertility, but the intense heat of the summer is the
laborer's great assistant. As before described, all vegetation entirely
disappears in the glaring sun, or becomes so dry that it is swept off by
fire; thus the soil is perfectly clean and fit for immediate cultivation
upon the arrival of the rains.
The tool generally used is similar to the Dutch hoe. With this simple
implement the surface is scratched to the depth of about two inches, and
the seeds of the dhurra are dibbled in about three feet apart, in rows
from four to five feet in width. Two seeds are dropped into each hole.
A few days after the first shower they rise above the ground, and when
about six inches high the whole population turn out of their villages at
break of day to weed the dhurra fields. Sown in July, it is harvested in
February and March. Eight months are thus required for the cultivation
of this cereal in the intense heat of Nubia. For the first three months
the growth is extremely rapid, and the stem attains a height of six or
seven feet. When at perfection in the rich soil of the Taka country, the
plant averages a height of ten feet, the circumference of the stem being
about four inches. The crown is a feather very similar to that of the
sugar-cane; the blossom falls, and the feather becomes a head of dhurra,
weighing about two pounds. Each grain is about the size of hemp-seed.
I took the trouble of counting the corns contained in an average-sized
head, the result being 4,848. The process of harvesting and threshing is
remarkably simple, as the heads are simply detached from the straw
and beaten out in piles. The dried straw is a substitute for sticks in
forming the walls of the village huts; these are plastered with clay and
cow-dung, which form the Arab's lath and plaster.
The millers' work is exclusively the province of the women. No man will
condescend to grind the corn. There are no circular hand-mills, as among
Oriental nations; but the corn is ground upon a simple flat stone, of
cithor gneiss or granite, about two feet in length by fourteen inches
in width. The face of this is roughened by beating with a sharp-pointed
piece of harder stone, such as quartz or hornblende, and the grain is
reduced to flour by great labor and repeated grinding or rubbing with a
stone rolling-pin. The flour is mixed with water and allowed to ferment;
it is then made into thin pancakes upon an earthenware flat portable
hearth. This species of leavened bread is known to the Arabs as the
kisra. It is not very palatable, but it is extremely well suited to Arab
cookery, as it can be rolled up like a pancake and dipped in the general
dish of meat and gravy very conveniently, in the absence of spoons and
forks.
On the 14th of July I had concluded my arrangements for the start.
There had been some difficulty in procuring camels, but the all-powerful
firman was a never-failing talisman, and as the Arabs had declined to
let their animals for hire, the Governor despatched a number of soldiers
and seized the required number, including their owners. I engaged two
wild young Arabs of eighteen and twenty years of age, named Bacheet and
Wat Gamma. The latter, being interpreted, signifies "Son of the Moon."
This in no way suggests lunacy; but the young Arab had happened to enter
this world on the day of the new moon, which was considered to be a
particularly fortunate and brilliant omen at his birth. Whether the
climax of his good fortune had arrived at the moment he entered my
service I know not; but, if so, there was a cloud over his happiness in
his subjection to Mahomet, the dragoman, who rejoiced in the opportunity
of bullying the two inferiors. Wat Gamma was a quiet, steady,
well-conducted lad, who bore oppression mildly; but the younger,
Bucheet, was a fiery, wild young Arab, who, although an excellent boy in
his peculiar way, was almost incapable of being tamed and domesticated.
I at once perceived that Mahomet would have a determined rebel to
control, which I confess I did not regret. Wages were not high in this
part of the world--the lads were engaged at one and a half dollars per
month and their keep.
Mahomet, who was a great man, suffered from the same complaint to which
great men are (in those countries) particularly subject. Wherever he
went he was attacked with claimants of relationship. He was overwhelmed
with professions of friendship from people who claimed to be connections
of some of his family. In fact, if all the ramifications of his race
were correctly represented by the claimants of relationship, Mahomet's
family tree would have shaded the Nubian desert
We all have our foibles. The strongest fort has its feeble point, as the
chain snaps at its weakest link. Family pride was Mahomet's weak link.
This was his tender point; and Mahomet, the great and the imperious,
yielded to the gentle scratching of his ear if a stranger claimed
connection with his ancient lineage. Of course he had no family, with
the exception of his wife and two children, whom he had left in Cairo.
The lady whom he had honored by admission into the domestic circle of
the Mahomets was suffering from a broken arm when we started from Egypt,
as she had cooked the dinner badly, and the "gaddah," or large wooden
bowl, had been thrown at her by the naturally indignant husband,
precisely as he had thrown the axe at one man and the basin at another
while in our service. These were little contretemps that could hardly
disturb the dignity of so great a man.
Mahomet met several relatives at Cassala. One borrowed money of him;
another stole his pipe; the third, who declared that nothing should
separate them now that "by the blessing of God" they had met, determined
to accompany him through all the difficulties of our expedition,
provided that Mahomet would only permit him to serve for love, without
wages. I gave Mahomet some little advice upon this point, reminding him
that, although the clothes of the party were only worth a few
piastres, the spoons and forks were silver; therefore I should hold
him responsible for the honesty of his friend. This reflection upon the
family gave great offence, and he assured me that Achmet, our quondam
acquaintance, was so near a relative that he was--I assisted him in the
genealogical distinction: "Mother's brother's cousin's sister's mother's
son? Eh, Mahomet?"
"Yes, sar, that's it!" "Very well, Mahomet; mind he doesn't steal the
spoons, and thrash him if he doesn't do his work!" "Yes, sar", replied
Mahomet; "he all same like one brother; he one good man; will do
his business quietly; if not, master lick him." The new relative not
understanding English, was perfectly satisfied with the success of his
introduction, and from that moment he became one of the party.
One more addition, and our arrangements were completed: the Governor of
Cassala was determined we should not start without a soldier guide to
represent the government. Accordingly he gave us a black corporal, so
renowned as a sportsman that he went by the name of "El Baggar" (the
cow), because of his having killed several of the oryx antelope, known
as "El Baggar et Wabash" (cow of the desert).
After sixteen hours' actual marching from Cassala we arrived at
the valley of the Atbara. There was an extraordinary change in the
appearance of the river between Gozerajup and this spot. There was no
longer the vast sandy desert with the river flowing through its sterile
course on a level with the surface of the country; but after traversing
an apparently perfect flat of forty-five miles of rich alluvial soil,
we had suddenly arrived upon the edge of a deep valley, between five and
six miles wide, at the bottom of which, about two hundred feet below the
general level of the country, flowed the river Atbara. On the opposite
side of the valley the same vast table-lands continued to the western
horizon.
We commenced the descent toward the river: the valley was a succession
of gullies and ravines, of landslips and watercourses. The entire
hollow, of miles in width, had evidently been the work of the river. How
many ages had the rains and the stream been at work to scoop out from
the flat tableland this deep and broad valley? Here was the giant
laborer that had shovelled the rich loam upon the delta of Lower Egypt!
Upon these vast flats of fertile soil there can be no drainage except
through soakage. The deep valley is therefore the receptacle not only
for the water that oozes from its sides, but subterranean channels,
bursting as land-springs from all parts of the walls of the valley, wash
down the more soluble portions of earth, and continually waste away the
soil. Landslips occur daily during the rainy season; streams of rich
mud pour down the valley's slopes, and as the river flows beneath in
a swollen torrent, the friable banks topple down into the stream and
dissolve. The Atbara becomes the thickness of peasoup, as its muddy
waters steadily perform the duty they have fulfilled from age to age.
Thus was the great river at work upon our arrival on its bank at the
bottom of the valley. The Arab name, "Bahr el Aswat" (black river) was
well bestowed; it was the black mother of Egypt, still carrying to her
offspring the nourishment that had first formed the Delta.
At this point of interest the journey had commenced; the deserts were
passed; all was fertility and life. Wherever the sources of the
Nile might be, the Atbara was the parent of Egypt! This was my first
impression, to be proved hereafter.
A violent thunderstorm, with a deluge of rain, broke upon our camp on
the banks of the Atbara, fortunately just after the tents were pitched.
We thus had an example of the extraordinary effects of the heavy rain in
tearing away the soil of the valley. Trifling watercourses were swollen
to torrents. Banks of earth became loosened and fell in, and the rush
of mud and water upon all sides swept forward into the river with a
rapidity which threatened the destruction of the country, could such a
tempest endure for a few days. In a couple of hours all was over.
In the evening we crossed with our baggage and people to the opposite
side of the ricer, and pitched our tents at the village of Goorashee.
In the morning the camels arrived, and once more we were ready to start.
Our factotum, El Baggar, had collected a number of baggage-camels
and riding dromedaries, or "hygeens". The latter he had brought for
approval, as we bad suffered much from the extreme roughness of our
late camels. There is the same difference between a good hygeen, or
dromedary, and a baggage-camel, as between the thoroughbred and the
cart-horse; and it appears absurd in the eyes of the Arabs that a man
of any position should ride a baggage-camel. Apart from all ideas of
etiquette, the motion of the latter animal is quite sufficient warning.
Of all species of fatigue, the back-breaking, monotonous swing of
a heavy camel is the worst; and should the rider lose patience and
administer a sharp cut with the coorbatch, that induces the creature
to break into a trot, the torture of the rack is a pleasant tickling
compared to the sensation of having your spine driven by a sledge-hammer
from below, half a foot deeper into the skull.
The human frame may be inured to almost anything; thus the Arabs, who
have always been accustomed to this kind of exercise, hardly feel the
motion, and the portion of the body most subject to pain in riding a
rough camel upon two bare pieces of wood for a saddle, becomes naturally
adapted for such rough service, as monkeys become hardened from
constantly sitting upon rough substances. The children commence almost
as soon as they are born, as they must accompany their mothers in their
annual migrations; and no sooner can the young Arab sit astride and hold
on than he is placed behind his father's saddle, to which he clings,
while he bumps upon the bare back of the jolting camel. Nature quickly
arranges a horny protection to the nerves, by the thickening of the
skin; thus, an Arab's opinion of the action of a riding hygeen should
never be accepted without a personal trial. What appears delightful to
him may be torture to you, as a strong breeze and a rough sea may be
charming to a sailor, but worse than death to a landsman.
I was determined not to accept the camels now offered as hygeens until I
had seen them tried. I accordingly ordered our black soldier, El Baggar,
to saddle the most easy-actioned animal for my wife; but I wished to see
him put it through a variety of paces before she should accept it. The
delighted EL Baggar, who from long practice was as hard as the heel of
a boot, disdained a saddle. The animal knelt, was mounted, and off he
started at full trot, performing a circle of about fifty yards' diameter
as though in a circus. I never saw such an exhibition! "Warranted
quiet to ride, of easy action, and fit for a lady!" This had been the
character received with the rampant brute, who now, with head and tail
erect, went tearing round the circle, screaming and roaring like a wild
beast, throwing his forelegs forward and stepping at least three feet
high in his trot.
Where was El Baggar? A disjointed looking black figure was sometimes
on the back of this easy going camel, sometimes a foot high in the air;
arms, head, legs, hands, appeared like a confused mass of dislocation;
the woolly hair of this unearthly individual, that had been carefully
trained in long stiff narrow curls, precisely similar to the tobacco
known as "negro-head," alternately started upright en masse, as though
under the influence of electricity, and then fell as suddenly upon his
shoulders. Had the dark individual been a "black dose", he or it
could not have been more thoroughly shaken. This object, so thoroughly
disguised by rapidity of movement, was El Baggar happy, delighted El
Baggar! As he came rapidly round toward us flourishing his coorbatch, I
called to him, "Is that a nice hygeen for the Sit (lady), EL Baggar?
Is it very easy?" He was almost incapable of a reply. "V-e-r-y
e-e-a-a-s-y," replied the trustworthy authority, "j-j-j-just the
thin-n-n-g for the S-i-i-i-t-t-t." "All right, that will do," I
answered, and the jockey pulled up his steed. "Are the other camels
better or worse than that?" I asked. "Much worse," replied El Baggar;
"the others are rather rough, but this is an easy goer, and will suit
the lady well."
It was impossible to hire a good hygeen; an Arab prizes his riding
animal too much, and invariably refuses to let it to a stranger, but
generally imposes upon him by substituting some lightly-built camel
that he thinks will pass muster. I accordingly chose for my wife a
steady-going animal from among the baggage-camels, trusting to be able
to obtain a hygeen from the great Sheik Abou Sinn, who was encamped upon
the road we were about to take along the valley of the Atbara. We left
Goorashee on the following day.