AFRICAN WANDERINGS.
LONDON:
SPOTTISWOODES and SHAW,
New-street-Square.
[Illustration: THE LAND OF BELLAD-SUDAN.]
AFRICAN WANDERINGS;
OR,
AN EXPEDITION FROM SENNAAR TO TAKA, BASA,
AND BENI-AMER,
WITH A PARTICULAR GLANCE AT
THE RACES OF BELLAD SUDAN.
BY
FERDINAND WERNE,
AUTHOR OF
“EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF THE SOURCES OF THE WHITE NILE.”
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN
BY
J. R. JOHNSTON.
LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.
1852.
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.
* * * * *
Although of late years much has been done to explore that least known
quarter of our globe, Africa, and many works of deep interest, valuable
information, and exciting incident have appeared, recounting bold and
enterprising expeditions into that country, none of them surpasses the
“Feldzug nach Taka,” lately published by Herr Werne, nor does any of
them treat of those almost unknown districts of Africa into which his
wanderings led him. In a recent number of “Blackwood’s Magazine,” in
which Mr. Werne’s work was ably analysed, the writer says of it:—
“In various respects, Mr. Werne’s ‘Feldzug’ is one of the most curious
books of travel and adventure that, for a very long time, has appeared.
It has three points of particular attraction and originality. In the
first place, the author wanders in a region previously unexplored by
Christian and educated travellers, and amongst tribes whose bare names
have reached the ears of but few Europeans. Secondly, he campaigns as
officer in such an army as we can hardly realise in these days of high
civilisation and strict military discipline,—so wild, motley, and
grotesque are its customs, composition, and equipment,—an army whose
savage warriors, strange practices, and barbarous cruelties, make us
fancy ourselves in presence of some fierce Moslem horde of the middle
ages marching to the assault of Italy or Hungary. Thirdly, during his
long sojourn in the camp, he had opportunities such as few ordinary
travellers enjoy, and of which he diligently profited, to study and note
down the characteristics and social habits of many of the races of men
that make up the heterogeneous population of the Ottoman Empire.”
Under the sanction of such high authority, the translator ventured to
think that an English version of Mr. Werne’s work would not prove
unacceptable to the readers of the “Traveller’s Library,” and he now
offers these AFRICAN WANDERINGS to the public.
CONTENTS.
* * * * *
CHAPTER I.
Meeting of the Brothers. — Fever in Chartum. — Travelling Page 1
Projects. — Present from the Pascha. — The Divan. — A German
Sultan. — Party at Soliman Effendi’s — Preparations for
Departure
CHAP. II.
Embark for Damer. — Disastrous Voyage. — Reach Damer. — 17
Joseph’s Sufferings. — The March. — Banks of the Atbara. — An
Arab Village
CHAP. III.
Rejoin the Army. — Arab Sheiks. — Ruins of Herrerem. — The 36
Mirage. — A Country March. — Corn Stores. — A Sheik of the
Hallenga. — False Alarms. — A Skirmish
CHAP. IV.
A Turkish Camp. — Mohammed Din. — Negroes. — Egyptian 52
Apothecaries. — Tribute. — Nile Expedition. — Monsieur
Thibaut. — Diseases. — Natives’ Self-Admiration. — An
Adventurer. — Madame Vigoureux
CHAP. V.
A Pilgrim Town. — Nimr the Tiger. — Character of the French. 74
— Blood Feud. — Excursion from the Camp. — Arab Infants. —
Medical Advice. — El Soffre. — Interview with Mohammed Din
CHAP. VI.
Merissa Huts. — Arab Gratitude. — Splendid Soil. — The 94
Pascha’s Grand Projects. — A Pleasant Servant. — Turkish
Eating. — Turkish Faith. — Arabs of Hedjas. — Mehemet Ali’s
Campaigns
CHAP. VII.
Position of Mohammed Din. — Camels Stolen. — Ant Hills. 119
— Chameleons. — Animal Fraternity. — Uses of Tobacco. —
Rosaries — Beads — Amulets. — Blacks — Appearance and Opinions
CHAP. VIII.
Effects of Exposure to the Sun. — Diseases of the Natives. 133
— Their Insensibility to Pain. — Stoicism under Surgical
Operations. — Mograbin Soldiers. — A travelled Arab. —
Tyranny of Mehemet Ali. — Amulets. — Foreigners in Egypt. —
Turkish Prejudice
CHAP. IX.
Circassians and Georgians. — Dress of the Sheiks. — Turkish 155
Etiquette. — Arab Officers and Soldiers. — An Arab Regiment.
— Black Soldiery
CHAP. X.
Breaking up of the Camp. — March into the Interior. — Nature 168
of the Country. — Sheiks’ Swords
CHAP. XI.
March from Dabàab. — A Sham Fight. — Schaigies. — Sufferings 199
from Heat and Thirst. — Choice of Camp. — Kassela-el-Lus. —
Escape of Female Slaves. — Storm of Rain
CHAP. XII.
Gohr-el-Gash. — Dam across the great Gohr. — Kassela-el-Lus. 213
— Elephants. — Lion and Elephant Hunt. — Mohammed Din. —
Murder of his Nephew and Friends. — Sheik Mussa resolves to
starve himself. — The Faki-el-Kebir. — Faki Village. — Faki
Plot. — Narrow Escape
CHAP. XIII.
Ravages of Wild Beasts. — Hills of Basa. — Native Tribes. 231
— Chariff. — A Chasua and its consequences. — Singular
Recovery. — Supper Party. — Female Slaves. — Turkish
Jealousy. — Snakes. — Superstitions. — Basa. — Origin of
Tribes and Races. — Miseries and Ennui of Camp Life
CHAP. XIV.
Advance against the Enemy. — Retreat. — Omar Kaschef. — Great 250
Cavern of the Kassela-el-Lus. — Baobab Trees. — Hunting.
— Birds. — Beasts. — Pascha’s Plans. — Quit the Camp for
Chartum. — Conclusion
APPENDIX.
List of Beasts, Birds, and Reptiles 266
AFRICAN WANDERINGS.
* * * * *
CHAPTER I.
Meeting of the Brothers. — Fever in Chartum. — Travelling Projects. —
Present from the Pascha. — The Divan. — A German Sultan. — Party at
Soliman Effendi’s. — Preparations for Departure.
For about a year I and my youngest brother had resided at Chartum, the
capital of Bellad-Sudan, in the district of Sennaar, at which place we
had arrived after a journey of three months, from Cairo. Of all my
brothers, Joseph was the dearest to me, and loved me in turn most
devotedly. After passing his medical examinations in Berlin, he had come
to pay me a visit and make himself acquainted with the remarkable
diseases of Egypt, ere he settled down for life.
In the tavern of Guerra, in Cairo, he recognised me the instant he
entered the room; whereas I took him for some impertinent Frenchman,
when in his joyful surprise he stared at me from head to foot, and
laughed at the rage I showed, and the furious look with which I strode
towards him to demand what he meant, and call him to account on the
spot. We had not met for eight years, and besides that he had meanwhile
grown into manhood, his whole expression of countenance was changed, as
a severe sabre cut he had received in a duel had severed the risible
muscles of one side of his face, and the poor fellow could only laugh
with the other side of it. The joy of this meeting, in another quarter
of the globe, proved so overpowering to both of us, that at first the
wine would not go down, for all that many congratulating friends, and
especially my particular ally, Von Salis, from Switzerland, could do,
though the latter, with warm tears of sympathy, exerted himself by
pledging and jingling glasses with us, to arouse our cheerfulness and
enable us to rally. In a short time, however, we got on better.
I now quitted the village of Tura, lying in a waste, although on the
Nile, and some three miles (German, equal to twelve English) further up
it than Cairo, and where I had retired to do penance, and finish my work
on the White Nile, leaving also my dear friend Dr. Scheldehaus, from
Osnabrück, the professor of the military school there (now Director of
Military Hospitals in Alexandria), with whom my brother had been a
fellow-student at Bonn, and hired for Joseph and myself a small bouse on
the Eshekir Plâce, in Cairo. After undergoing an examination of some
half hour, Joseph was appointed surgeon-major, with the rank of
Sakulagassi (oldest Jussbaschi or captain) to the central hospital,
Kasr-el Ain, with a monthly salary of 1000 piastres (or about 10_l._)
and the allowances of the rank—rations for one horse and four servants.
But our gaze was directed on Central Africa and its interior. I had
already heard, when in Alexandria, from Achmet Capitan, the former
frigate captain, Baumgartner, from Switzerland, and there an honest
tailor of high skill, that preparations were making to fit out an
expedition to explore the source of the Nile (though gold was the spring
sought); but, until this came off, we lived in the happiest brotherly
unity in the ancient city of the Caliphs. Our love of travelling was
aroused; my office in the Prussian Consulate at Alexandria was
sacrificed to the love of adventure, and Joseph was appointed surgeon to
the 1st regiment in Sennaar, in addition to his office as surgeon of the
Central Hospital at Chartum. Our friends were alarmed for us on account
of the dangerous climate; but, full of high heart, we sailed past the
fair Isle of Roda, with pleasing remembrances of the happy hours spent
on it, and up the Nile, feeling more and more rejoiced as, free from the
tumults of the city, we advanced to fresh views and new places. In Tura
our stout Dr. Schledehaus awaited us, along with the kind-hearted
Schley, from Hamburgh, who, as instructor, was quartered with his
regiment in the camp near. The sorrows of parting, like the joys of
meeting, were drowned in wine. These were the last friends to wish us a
happy return. With outfit for some years that had cost us much money,
and in our lately assumed Turkish dress and arms, we looked boldly and
firmly towards the future and its unknown dangers; and now and then, by
the Prussian flags flying from the mast-head and stern of our
Dahabie[1], our thoughts were turned back to our distant fatherland; but
no fears of home-sickness—never could this overtake us! The powerful
impressions of this splendid voyage, and the responses of our minds to
these most magnificent views of the world’s wonders, I must for the
present drive forcibly from my recollection, and will only mention how
my poor brother, near the cataracts of Ariman, in Upper Nubia, where our
bark was nearly dashed to pieces on the rocks, received a _coup de
soleil_, and that after ten days of delirium, during which his
sufferings tortured my anxious mind, I cured him by the application of
blisters. I then fancied him as not yet acclimated; but I, too, who had
already passed many years in the East, was, after a few days’ residence
at Chartum, a sufferer under a similar attack of this dreadful malady,
which, alas! after my return from the White Nile, was the disease that
put an end to my brother’s young and promising life.
During our whole residence in Chartum, we were ever in a most pitiable
state, suffering almost continually from attacks of intermittent and
other fevers, there so malignant. Gracious Heaven, however, so ordered
it, that we were always laid up at different times, once only excepted,
when, as about to sit down to dinner, we both felt so overpowered, as we
fancied by the smell of the viands, as to fall back nearly unconscious
on the divan, where more than likely we had then met our fate, had not
two Italian doctors seen us through the window, and, coming to our aid,
bled us freely. Our fears, therefore, of being at last compelled,
struggle as we might against it, to sink under the influence of a
climate that slowly saps man’s health, and even destroys his mind, could
not be looked on as cowardly, or founded on improbable grounds.
Under such uncomfortable circumstances, it was little wonder our
departure from Chartum for Egypt was determined on; eternal illnesses,
despondency, and increasing dislike to an unbearable climate, as well as
spirits and bodies dying of ennui of a life of quarantine, united to a
devouring longing for the healthy, white-skin-producing North, urged us
as soon as possible to quit for ever this unhealthy city, as well as the
arid steppes of the Bellad-Sudan. Our purpose was still more
strengthened by the first expedition to the source of the White Nile,
having sailed while we lay on sick couches, and with it went the main
object of our journey. At this time, the Grand Cadi paid us a visit,
while his attending Faki remained standing at the doors. We fancied he
had come to have a talk with us, or hold a small court of inquiry as to
a matter in which I was principally concerned. The case was this: we had
allowed the poor mother and sisters of our two servants to occupy one of
our out-buildings, and for some days I had observed a tall young Faki,
in white garments, and with an immense rosary round his neck, creep over
the court to the window, and write some characters on the ground before
her door. I asked the sons what the priest did there, and was told by
them, with sad faces, that he wrote charms, or amulettes, for the women,
and that they had to give up their wages to pay him; that he was a
greedy miser, and had already received so much that they had nothing
left for themselves. This angered me, and I went across the court to
him, and asked, “Amiè è?” (What do you?) but without honouring me with a
glance, or even rising for a Nasrani, or Kafr (Infidel), he replied, “Di
schogie betai!” (That’s my business!) Next moment I had him by the arm,
and, pointing to the gate, desired him to quit our court; but he would
not, and striking his breast, exclaimed, “Ana Faki!” (I am a priest),
and I retorted by “Ente uachet Faki misaur!” (You are a cheating priest
and robber!) and only on my laying hold of a piece of stout stick lying
handy, did he, with many threats, quit the court. Hardly had I again sat
down and cooled somewhat, when a violent knocking was made at our gates,
before which a crowd of Faki and other rabble had gathered. Our
servants, who had not been long under my training, retreated in terror,
and would not venture to open the court gates, until I, double-barrelled
gun in hand, went to our house door, and in loud voice, ordered the
gates, with an “Hab ekta el hal!” to be opened. “Stand still!” said my
sick brother, in feeble voice, as he laid his double rifle over my left
shoulder; and a lad of the name of Sale, from Mahaff, who was anxious to
enter our service, also laid hold of a rifle. The cowardly priest-rabble
now drew off as fast as they had come; and in the bazaars the Turks had
great rejoicings, that we had here thus asserted the sacredness of
Europeans’ dwellings. But our good Cadi Effendi had no such matters in
his head; but told us with kind, friendly, but sly look, how much the
Effendina (Excellency Achmet Pascha, Governor General of Bellad-Sudan)
had been pleased to hear of two stout brothers like us, each attending
to the other during our illnesses, and advised us from time to time to
appear at his Excellency’s divan, &c. &c. Although in our own hearts we
felt that we had been merely doing our duty, still the acknowledgment of
it by strangers much pleased us; for, as the Italians say, “questi sono
fratelli!” We also received tidings from the Pascha, that the private
physician of Abbas Pascha, who was no other than our old friend Dr.
Gand, was coming to Chartum. The Cadi also spoke of the pleasant taste
of the Spanish wines, which he, as a Magrabian (Maugrabin), and
unprejudiced Mussulman, was aware of, on which my brother at once
prescribed and administered to him a glass of Cardinal, as medicine to
strengthen his stomach.
Dr. Gand, an old friend of our Pascha Achmet, with whom he had made a
campaign in Arabia, arrived; and as the Doctor was also an old fellow
campaigner of mine, we having served together as Philhellenists in
Greece, in 1822, my intimacy with the Pascha became more repeated and
friendly. He had much raised the Pascha’s expectations as to us, and had
not hesitated, in Eastern style, to recommend us as universal geniuses,
and as honest, honourable men, to whom he, the Pascha, might trust life
and limb. Dr. Gand confided to us that the Pascha meditated a campaign
into Darfur, during which we might be of much service to him, and where
he would look upon us as his two eyes, as he could not confide fully in
any of his own people. On this news, that much excited and interested
us, we at once gave up all thoughts of so immediate a departure, and the
more willingly, as other inducements were held out to us. My brother was
to be made, in place of Soliman Effendi (the renegade Baron de Pasquali,
from Palermo), inspector-general of the medical department of all
Bellad-Sudan, as the Pascha no longer could employ a man who had already
been guilty of so many poisonings, both in Arabia and here.[2] This
office of inspector had a salary of six purses, or 3000 piastres, per
mensem, attached to it; and the Pascha was also to appoint Joseph his
own physician, and that of his harem, and give him from his own pocket a
monthly gratification of 1000 piastres. I, who, as my old comrade had
told him, had been a captain in the Greek wars of liberty, was to be at
his side as Maëndes (engineer), have the rank of Bimbaschi (major), with
five purses, free table, and all I could wish for. On my reminding my
friend Gand that I was nothing more than a lawyer, he laughed heartily,
and replied, that in these lands a man must know everything; that he
himself (he had served under Napoleon) had filled here military and
various other posts. Besides, he added, that it was the Pascha’s wish,
that agreeably to Turkish etiquette, I, a free Frank, should want
nothing that would raise my greatness in their eyes.
Next morning we all three waited on the Pascha, who expressed himself
highly pleased at our decision, and repeated himself to us the promises
he had made through Dr. Gand, and gave orders to procure the sanction of
his father-in-law, the Viceroy, to our appointments. After a time he
even offered to make me a bey, if I would, as he said, turn Mussulman,
not on his own account, for he was an unprejudiced Circassian, but to
please the Turkish asses; I laughed, and he said no more about it. He
asked our advice as to how he had better carry out his advance into
Darfur, and he was Turk enough himself to select the time of the
Chariff, or rainy season, for it; and when I also represented to him
that from the well-known sensibility of the troops to the effects of
wet, one half of his army would give in, he replied by a contemptuous
“Malesch!” (It matters not!) I voted for the dry season, as water was to
be had here and there, and for the establishment of wells under the
protection of block-houses, thus to supply the army, when in the
steppes, with the needful water. Such doings were beyond his
comprehension; and he boasted of his 700 dromedaries, each of which
could, on an emergency, carry three soldiers. On our departing, he sent
his Mameluke to call me back, and said, “Musju, ente masduht, musch
doggeri?” (Sir, you are discreet and silent; is it not so?) and adding,
after looking for a time inquiringly at me, “Taib!” (Good!) he again
dismissed me. Soon after this Dr. Gand became seriously unwell, and so
irritable, that no one save we two brothers dared approach him; to us he
continually talked, and in German, paying no regard to his Italian and
French visitors, and on purpose that they might not understand him.
Unheeding my brother’s well-meant advice to quit Chartum without delay,
he lingered there too long, and died at Abu Hamet, on his way back to
his former station. For a year his body lay in the wilderness, covered
with the dry sand, ere his family could have it disinterred to be
conveyed to France. During his life, the kind Doctor had been little
better than skin and bone, and the warm sand had converted his corpse
into a kind of mummy; but it had suffered so little change, that not a
feature was altered, nor a hair gone of those long, fair moustaches,
from which the Pascha and his courtiers used to call the Doctor, Abu
Schennap.
When we got home after the above-mentioned audience, two handsome and
fully-equipped dromedaries stood at our gates; but instead of being
those of visitors, as we thought, they proved to be a present from the
Pascha, and were well fitted for a campaign, both from their strength
and size, and also from their having been broken to allow of firing from
their backs without shying or bolting. At the Divan the Pascha had
repeatedly asked me if there was anything I wished for, and Dr. Gand had
admonished me in German not to be modest, but I had no wish to appear
selfish or greedy; we had enough, and I was too proud to desire to
divest myself of my independence by accepting presents, or putting
myself under obligations of any kind. Some days after I was summoned to
the Pascha; and keeping on my shoes, as I ever did, strode over the
large carpet to near where he sat, and bowed to him, while he only
touched with his hand his tarbusch (red cap), and did not touch either
mouth or breast, the usual sign by which breath, hand, and heart are
placed at another’s disposal. I, without any leave asked, sat down
European fashion on the divan, and took the cup of coffee offered me,
without making the usual sign of thanks for the honour conferred, by
placing the hand on the breast. After some business was despatched, the
Bascha dismissed all his attendants by a wave of the hand, and turning
to me, said with a most dark and lowering face, “I have had letters;
first Darfur, and now Taka, will pay no tribute, nor have they done so
since Churschid Bascha was in the Chaaba (the forests where he was
defeated); and so nothing comes in to the chasne (public purse). I need
money, much money,—want it most badly. So come along with me, and on the
journey we all will recover our healths (he had also been ill of fever);
yonder there are woods, and waters, and many high hills, as in Germany
and Circassia.” On my showing my pleasure at his proposal, he went on
more cheerfully, and told me, that as soon as he had brought Taka back
to its duty, he would open the gate of Habesch, and then that of Darfur,
and thus again restore the old trading communication, and compel the
caravans to pass through Bellad-Sudan. When I remarked to him that the
English cabinet had announced, by an energetic note to Mahomed Ali, that
it would at once declare war against him, and lay siege to Alexandria,
if he encroached on the limits of Abyssinia, he smiled, and said in most
meaning tones, that Egypt was far off, and he was not likely to see it
again. ’Twas true he had been minister of war there (Divan Gehadie), and
plenty of trouble he had had as such; but that he was now exiled to
Bellad-Sudan, and it was his country, where he, as Egyptian general and
judge (Miraloa), would follow his own will: as for the English, he was
no friend to them, nor would be to those who had been such bitter foes
to Napoleon; and he rather fancied he could conquer all Habesch ere an
enemy’s ship showed itself; then he would be in a position to make
conditions, and I should be his envoy, &c.
My brother was again ill, desponding, and spoke of quitting the country;
but he smiled more cheerfully as I produced the map, and spreading it
before him, requested him to place his finger on the spot where I should
found for him a dukedom, or at least a countship, during the expedition
of the Crescent, or anti-Crusade. We again discussed a former plan of
ours of going to Bagdad, where Joseph was to set up as a physician, and
I, _nolens volens_, qualify myself as apothecary, there to win heathen
gold; as some Turks, whose homes were there, had told us wonders of the
delights of their fat Mesopotamians, and the splendid dates of Bassora.
We therefore resolved to take our passports with us, in case we should
determine to cross the Red Sea. By this time I had thoroughly seen
through the Pascha, and resolved at once to propose to him a scheme I
had formed in favour of these oppressed races, viz., that he should
place himself at their head, and declare them and himself independent of
the Egyptian Vampire; and ere long I actually did so, and all, in the
end, might have gone right, had he not, instead of gaining in every way
the confidence of the principal persons and heads of tribes, and most
influential people about him, tyrannised over all in the most shameful
manner. Gold and regiments was his motto.
When either my brother or I wished to pay a visit to the Pascha (and
this Joseph, as private physician, should have done every morning, but
cunningly avoided it, under the plea of not daring to interrupt him in
the multiplicity of matters which the Pascha had to attend to, though
the sly doctor never omitted his morning’s visit to the Pascha’s wife, a
daughter of Mahomed Ali, and to his harem), we went first to the
chasnadar’s (treasurer’s), a Circassian, who had been manumitted by the
Pascha, and who could always produce a good breakfast from the great
man’s cellar and kitchen; and such visits, at which there was generally
a merry party, we used, among ourselves, to call “antichambriren”
(antechambering). Others who had not the entrée of our small divan, had
often to stand for hours at the doors of the great divan, as there all
business is so far public, that any one who has a report or request to
make, may without announcement enter, and remain standing till the
Pascha makes a sign to him to advance, and permits him, with the before-
mentioned movements of the hands and deepest reverence, to say, “Good
morning, your Excellency!” (Salbacheer, Saba-el-chair Effendina!) and
perchance to kiss the hem of his robe, and then, according to his rank,
tell him, either by slightest sign, or in words, to be seated (fadl
ochaut), _i.e._ to kneel with the feet under the hinder part of the
body, which, resting on them, is bent, however, forward in the attitude
of prayer, and so to remain till the great man, by another sign, allows
of a seat being taken in a somewhat more comfortable position, viz.,
that of the well-known Turkish fashion, comfortable enough to them
indeed, but far from it to Europeans.
At one of these meetings at the Treasurer’s, we heard from him that the
Pascha had said that a German sultan was coming to Chartum, and ordered
him to have the kandschia (row boats) ready to send out to meet him. How
the word sultan, or sultana, was now used here, though properly only
designating a prince of the reigning family, we well knew, from its
being bestowed on Prince Puckler Muscau, who figured here as Sultan
belal Moscow, and had even been taken, by some wise persons, to be the
Tzar of Muscovy, although he here, as in other places, tried to avoid
giving the everlasting and indispensable Bakschish, that men might not
suppose that gold was to be had in Germany for the gathering. However,
we proceeded to pay our respects to the Pascha, and learn from him the
name of this expected and noble guest; he drew from under the carpet he
sat on, the letters of introduction from Cairo, though rather, as it
seemed, annoyed at our asking. The name was not given, but the guest was
a German.[3]
The Pascha sent us a message, “the German was come,”—nothing more. It
was evening, but our curiosity was too highly excited to rest contented,
for the messenger knew no more than that he was a fat handsome sultan
(semmin keweiss). The great curtain of the divan door was down, a sign
that public business was over, and entrance forbidden the profane; so we
reached the saloon by a side entrance, and here I at once recognised one
of the Janissaries of the Russian Consulate in Alexandria, by his large
silver badge. On my “Chi?” I heard “Principe di Wurtemberg,” and the
secret was out. The stout gentleman was delighted when he heard himself
saluted in German. For the first time we beheld the Pascha seated on a
chair; he was in full uniform, a red jacket covered with gold, the large
crescent richly set with diamonds, and three brilliant stars on his left
breast, and sabre at his side; the Prince, Duke Paul William of
Mergentheim, was also dressed in a sort of half Turkish style, a red cap
on his head, a shawl round his white trowsers, and his broad sabre at
his side. Soliman Effendi, who had got there before us, had taken on
himself the office of interpreter, although the Prince could only
converse with him in French, and this he often misunderstood. The
institutions of Mahomed Ali seemed to have struck the noble traveller as
exceeding all his expectations. The Pascha listened and was silent; but
on the conversation being turned on European, and at last on German
affairs, love of country, and a feeling of insulted nationality burst
from me, and now German was the language; happily our views and opinions
agreed, and ere long, all again went on quietly and pleasantly. The Duke
rose, so did the Pascha, and all the rest of us; the curtain was drawn
back by the numerous attendants, and I plainly observed how the proud
Circassian drew himself up, and hardly bent his handsome head as our
good countryman, on coming to the head of the steps, took a wordless
leave with many low bows and reverences, at which the Pascha could not
conceal his laughter and great amusement. On the stairs the Prince took
my arm, which gave the Pascha afterwards reason for a well-founded
remark on respect due to difference of ranks, though Turkish etiquette
carries it rather too far.
Next evening we supped with the Pascha. In vain had we been amusing
ourselves with the idea of beholding the fat Prince seated on the ground
and eating with his fingers, the table was set out and all arranged
European fashion. Some Franks and Turks had been also invited; my
brother sat by the Duke, I by the Pascha at the opposite side of the
table, and each had before him a different kind of wine. The Pascha did
not fail to continually fill my glass, something unheard of, as here
this is a servant’s business, and to insist on my being helped before
himself; “Keddi el tartibb Frengk” (Such are European customs), he said
to me. The Duke first proposed a health to the Viceroy; the Pascha drank
it, and gave the Duke; and then came the Pascha’s own health, and it was
also drunk. I was again filling the Pascha’s glass, when I felt, under
the table, an ice-cold hand laid on mine, and he whispered to me that he
was suffering under an attack of the fever, but to say nothing about it.
Although my brother was most assiduously performing the part of cup-
bearer to the Duke, and doing honour to his name of Joseph, still the
Pascha every moment kept calling on me to urge him to fulfil his office.
The rest of the party at table, though impressed, drank stoutly; and
when from a side table a number of bottles of champagne were brought
into play (though, in spite of all I could say, each was well shaken by
the stupid attendants, and on the corks being sprung, all was froth and
foam), then did the noise and jubilee begin, and a perfect Babel of
tongues arose, as the half dozen different languages of our party came
into contact with each other; and only with difficulty could I make out
what the Duke, in great glee, shouted to me in his loud, commanding
officer like tones, or translate to the Pascha all the pretty
complimentary speeches his German Highness gave vent to, in praise of
the Pascha and brave Circassians. He would make the campaign to Taka
with the Pascha; would manage all; overthrow and defeat all before him.
The Pascha smiled, and accepted his offers; and when I told him that the
Duke was a cavalry general, he laughing said, “Such troops as he has
been used to command I have not, but still it were well he went with me;
but he jests.”
The morning of this party the Duke told us, that as he travelled
incognito, he wished to be treated as a private gentleman. We asked him
to dinner for next day; he accepted, and declared himself decidedly
opposed to water drinking in tropical climates, and to a certain degree
he was right, as the stomach there much more requires stimulants. At
dinner he was wonderfully eloquent, told us tales of his travels in
America, and that he had served as major in the Prussian army, and was
aware he yet retained somewhat of his old commanding officer’s tones.
The wine, added to the effects of the previous evening’s carouse with
the Pascha, put his princely corpulence into a fearful state of heat,
and the warmth of the day also conduced to his feverish state, so that
my brother Joseph gazed on him with alarm, and in case bleeding should
be necessary laid out his apparatus all ready in the next room; but his
Highness’s strong constitution held firmly out, not only then, but also
during his further tour, which in spite of my brother’s advice, and that
of his own private physician, Dr. Veit, an old friend of Joseph’s, he
undertook and luckily completed in safety. His train, besides the
kawass, before mentioned, consisted of a lot of Yagers, and an American
of Spanish blood. He passed most of his time with us, and took in our
garden the latitude of Chartum, which he laid down as 15° 41′ 25″ N. He
also selected from our small collection of birds the most curious
specimens, and a good many too, for his rich museum at Mergentheim, from
which we were in return to be allowed to choose other things. Soliman
Effendi asked me if he might venture to invite the Duke, as this
“Altezza tedesca” much pleased him; and more, he would like to give him
the German national dish of “Fava.” I delivered the invitation, along
with some remarks as to this gentleman’s poisoning habits, though I
feared much less for the Duke than for my brother, who had already been
named the Baron’s successor. This mattered not to the Prince, and as I
had before now placed myself on a decided footing with Soliman, I told
him plainly he must reserve his revengeful feelings and poisoning
abilities for some others, as both my brother and myself would come with
loaded pistols to his feast, and if any of our party felt even a belly-
ache, shoot him through the head (brucciare il cervello). His table was
served in the German manner, and much to our surprise he kept his
promise as to the Fava (large beans shelled). All invited appeared save
Vaissière—formerly a captain in the French service, now a slave-dealer,
and with the cross of the Legion of Honour—who would not trust himself
at the Baron’s table, as the latter had, after trying to purchase over
his head a favourite female slave, managed, out of revenge, to poison
her. All appetites were sharp, but we rose all sound. After a time the
Duke altered his mind and plans as to Taka, but promised, however, on
his return from Faszogl, to take a part in the campaign. I had to
promise the Pascha, in his name, a rifle peculiarly adapted for
crocodile shooting, and a hundred bottles of champagne.
* * * * *
On the 1st of March, 1840, my brother returning from the Pascha, told me
that the vessels were again all in readiness for Karreri, that he had to
accompany the Pascha, and we would meet again at Damer, the place of
rendezvous of the army intended for Taka. Karreri (by the Turks called
Chirreri), a village some three hours below Chartum, and the residence
of the friend and countryman of the Pascha’s, Soliman Kaschef, has a
healthy climate, and on this account Joseph had advised the Pascha to
hasten there as soon as possible, for the latter was again suffering
from fever, and would hear nothing of quinine, but insisted on bleeding;
and that, Joseph in his turn, with equal stern pertinacity, would not
allow of, let the other fume and look as fierce as he chose. Often have
I admired the Pascha’s composure during illness. The curtain of the
great door was down, and I therefore entered by a side one, and there he
sat as usual, occupied with various affairs, and all kinds of business;
but at such times the Circassian lion was tamed and mild as a lamb.
The whole burden of our unfinished preparations now fell to my lot. For
provisions, clothes, arms, ammunition, tent, &c., were already 6,000
piastres gone. As far as food and drink went, we might perchance have
saved ourselves somewhat, as the Pascha had assured us of places at his
table; but we could not depend on the Turkish complimentary style of
promising, knowing the hungry state of his dependants, and were
particularly anxious to reserve perfect liberty to ourselves. I still
required ten camels for the conveyance of our baggage, as the golden
cupolas of Bagdad yet held a place in our minds, and had bought, at a
high price, two pack-camels (hamln) that had escaped the searching eyes
of the soldiery, when Khaimakan (Lieutenant-colonel) Sorop Effendi
offered me eight camels from government (belik), their price to be
deducted from our allowances. Now came the puzzle, what was I to do with
our animals? Our great pride, a young lion without a mane, was dead.
Soliman Effendi, who was in terror of it even when it was shut up, had
dared to poison it, as I afterwards learned from our servants, but not
until the renegade himself was dead; but still there were the birds I
had trapped, all in their cages, and these I turned out into the garden,
and scattered about a good supply of food for them. Still there were the
larger carnivorous birds, an eagle, and our special pet the black horn
bird, Abu Goru (Buceros abyss. _L._) who answered to the name of “Hans,”
came hopping up on being so called, took in his long bent beak the piece
of meat offered him, threw it up in the air, catching it again as it
descended, and so swallowed it, as nature had only bestowed on him an
apology for a tongue (this performance especially delighted his Highness
of Wurtemberg), but who did not, however, despise frogs or lizards, and
every morning at daybreak aroused us by his cry of “Hum! Hum!” till we
replied to it by “Hans;” also two king-cranes (Gornu, grue royale, Grus
Pavonia _L._), a snake-devouring secretary, with handsome eagle’s head,
long tail, and heron-like legs; curious wild ducks, geese, and other
much prized birds, some having been shot unable to fly, but others were
perfectly cured of their wounds by my brother, who was most dexterous
with his pincers, extracting with them the shot pellets, and not seldom
making a perfect cure. Under these circumstances, equally pleasant and
flattering was the visit of the Chasnadar, who came with the Princess’s
request that our birds might be confided to her care during our absence.
Many a time before now had this lady, with her female slaves and
eunuchs, been in our garden,—at such times, as a matter of course, we
had to retire into our innermost apartment,—to visit our plants and
flowers, that reminded her of Cairo; and much did it please her when
requested to pluck or take with her such as pleased her, as the Pascha’s
great garden produced nothing equal to them, no attempts having been
made there to raise flowers from seeds, and all I had having been grown
from seed I had brought with me from Cairo. In this way she knew of our
beasts and birds, and felt that they might help her to pass her time, as
she, a well-informed woman, suffered much from the fearful ennui of
comfortless Chartum, and even advised my brother to leave it, and go
with letters of recommendation, and also her petitions to her father,
Mahomed Ali, at Cairo, she not daring to place so dangerous a trust in
any one else, for she did not live on the best footing with the
obstinate head-strong Pascha. When the Treasurer asked how the bird with
the horn was called, I answered, Abdallah Effendi, and this was the name
of the Vakul or deputy of the Pascha, a good-humoured Turk, with a
splendid nose, but a mere tool of his master’s. As our pet Hans now went
to the harem under the name of Abdallah Effendi, it became a habit at
the Treasurer’s divan, when any one asked where Abdallah Effendi was, to
reply, “Hue fi Charim belal Effendi,” which might be taken either in
jest or earnest by the asker.
We had, in addition to poultry, bought for eighty piastres, or about
16_s._, a young ox, had him killed, salted, and along with a lot of ox-
tongues gradually picked up, placed in our chimney to smoke, a simple
enough business, but one unknown here. The naturalist Kotchi, from
Austrian Silesia, had come with eleven people, from Kordofan, and joined
us; and these for a fortnight kept up such an immense fire on our
hearth, that all our smoking meat was singed and burnt so as to be
useless, save two tongues, which proved excellent. Our house was ever a
perfect _hospitium_; and now, when I had to look after and pack up
everything, as nothing could be trusted to the servants, I had to run in
and out in the sun, till I was completely done up. For some weeks back,
Dr. Windgratzhofer, from Austria, had been with us, waiting till a boat
was provided by government to convey him to his station at Faszogl. This
good-humoured and droll _medico_, who had been nicknamed by some of us
“Dicksack,” and which name he ever insisted on being called, I seated on
our divan as guard over the numerous goods and chattels that lay open
and exposed all round, knowing from experience the losses that were to
be feared from the many curious callers, under excuses of paying
farewell visits. Did I go out, there he sat, like a pagoda, on his post,
grim, gruff, and surly (as far as his German went, for he spoke no other
language) if any one only looked at an article, and on my return was
ever ready with some humorous story, as to how faithfully and well he
had filled his post, and how he had kept an eye at the same time on both
sides, squinting most fearfully, to display his capability of doing so.
But, alas! his jovial mood was checked in Faszogl, as his sorrowing
letters told us. He had with him, as interpreter, the Pole Michel, a
tailor, formerly in the Russian service, but who had been, for a long
series of years, well known in Cairo, and was now a man over sixty.
Besides these, we had also in our inn the unfortunate goldsmith, Erno,
from Swabia, who wished to settle at Chartum, though he had sold all his
instruments at Cairo. He, as well as old Michel, fancied that here, so
near the gold hills, they would merely require to scrape with their
hands the gold-dust from the Nile’s sand, and at once be _made men_.
Both afterwards died on the journey homewards. The dragoman discharged
by Dr. Belloti, a Nubian, also remained with us, as he was now and then
employed by my brother; and at last, so that I might not have one corner
to call my own, there came now on us Dr. Bellotti, a Bolognese, and the
apothecary Dumont, from the neighbourhood of Marseilles, who had
established himself at Wollet-Medine, with baggage and servants, having
been ordered to follow their regiments on the chasua, or campaign.
* * * * *
CHAP. II.
Embark for Damer. — Disastrous Voyage. — Reach Damer. — Joseph’s
Sufferings. — The March. — Banks of the Atbara. — An Arab Village.
The troops from Sennaar and Wollet-Medine had encamped opposite Chartum
in Chobba, so as to march by land to Damer. The garrison of Chartum,
also, had all, save a very small force, been conveyed over to the right
bank of the Blue Nile. As I felt very unwell, I proposed following them
by water, but now not a boat was to be seen or heard of, all having been
seized on by government, for the conveyance of military stores,
munition, and provisions, and without either owner or sailor daring to
claim any payment for such services. I sent our cook Achmet down the
Nile to look out, and there he hit on a boat belonging to our friend
Faragh Effendi, but sunk to its edge in the water, by the rais, who had
also got out of the way, that he might not have to sail without a fee.
However, on our offering a fair sum for the use of the boat to Damer, as
the rais could not be found, his brother was dragged out to put it in
order. Our traps were carried on board, the mast lowered down so as to
form a tent, and we arranged our beds on our chests, placed alongside
each other,—a necessary precaution in this inhospitable and innless
country. Bellotti, Dumont, the merchant, Bruno Rollet, a stout Savoyard,
of Chartum, and myself, formed our party, and our cook, Achmet, was to
look after the kitchen and victualling department.
Our boat would not go on, and every moment we stuck on one or other of
the many sandbanks of the river. Our rais had to be threatened with the
kurbash (a whip made of the hide of the Nile-horse, or giraffe, both
excellent), and he confessed that he expected the proper rais, his
brother, to whom he had sent notice of his being compelled to sail the
boat, as he himself dared not venture to take her through the cataracts.
Nor were my recollections of these, as I saw them on the way up, most
pleasant, although they had made a far less lasting impression on my
mind than the splendid scenery had done; as when coming, as if from a
prison, out of the six or seven miles long rapids (el Bad) of Geb’l
Charri, all appeared so glorious, and we seemed to have arrived in a new
land. Ere long the brother came down to the banks, and we got him
aboard, but hardly were we again afloat, when he again ran us ashore on
the rocks at the first tschellel or foaming rapids,—a special term for
the white waters of rushing falls,—and instantly the whole bottom of the
boat was filled with water, he howling like an old woman, as he feared
for his head if he lost the boat. In consequence of my exertions during
the last days in Chartum, I had, for the three days we had now been on
the water, been suffering from fever, attended with vomitings and
diarrhœa; weak and miserable as I was, I could not have saved myself by
swimming, had it been necessary, but, as I knew that our boat could not
sink deeper than the bottom, and that it was now firm and fast on the
rocks, as the ark on Mount Ararat, I felt no alarm and consoled the
others. The holes and splits of our really almost unserviceable craft
were stopped up, and the rais and crew made desperate efforts to get it
off the water-covered rocks. With much _naïveté_ the former prayed us
all to get out for a single moment, which brought down on him a volley
of curses and abuse from my companions, who would hear of nothing of the
sort. The hot fit of my fever was past; so I took off all my upper
garments, keeping, however, my shoes on, so that my feet might not be
cut by the many thornmussels (etheria, Caill.), and sending Achmet first
into the water, slid, feeble as I was, down after him: on this, the
others followed my example, and in a few seconds we again had our heavy-
laden bark afloat. Hardly had the boasting rais again begun his lies,
that he was at home in Assuan, and knew the Nile as well as the palm of
his hand, and had before now ascended it with Ismail Pascha, &c., &c.,
to all of which I calmly listened, when we again went bump on a hidden
rock till all crashed again. Such was again and again our fate, till,
after a long passage of eleven days, we arrived at Damer, during which
we consumed various sheep, which we had forced the natives on the banks
to sell to us. After my cold bath, my fever had left me, and all that
remained of it was a real wolf’s appetite, which I, without feeling any
trace of indigestion, indulged by most ravenous devourings. So sudden,
in these climes, is the step from severe illness to perfect health.