should be extinguished at evening’s gun-fire,—a most wise and proper
order, as the carelessness, and want of caution of the soldiery was now
doubly dangerous, the huts having become much more inflammable, from the
straw they are formed of being thoroughly dried; and at length it was
found proper to collect all the supply of powder into one hut, dig round
it a wet ditch, and surround all by a wooden fence, near which all fires
were strictly forbidden. But now again there burns, not fifteen paces
from this fence, one of the largest fires; nor is much watch kept over
it, even in the windiest days, and of an evening, one sees fires in the
camp as numerous and late as ever. So it is ever with the Turks. An
order is issued, and no sooner is it so than it is forgotten, nor is it
recalled to mind till some smart bastinadoing in consequence of some
misfortune caused by the breach of it, thus forcibly awakens the memory.
Carelessness and dependence on a merciful Providence are here equal, and
go hand-in-hand. When on the Nile, we often fell in with vessels loaded
with dried straw, and heaped so that the crew had barely room to work
them, but this did not by any means prevent a roaring fire from being
kept up between the piles of straw for cooking, and other purposes.
Every day the soldiers bring to myself and brother numbers of dead
snakes, but, unfortunately, so mangled as to be useless as specimens;
the soldiery not fancying we merely want the skins, but believing our
wish to be the flesh to prepare medicines from. Some of the men have
confidently assured us, that, in a thicket, they came on a snake some
twenty-feet long, and as thick as a man’s thigh. A kind of boa,
probably; pity they could not kill him. The great number of snakes
hereabouts, almost all very venomous, make our living in the open air
and on the ground very unsafe, and it is by no means a matter of
indifference here under what bush, or among what long-grass one sits
down: a loose stalk touched, or the bite of an insect, immediately calls
up one’s fears that it is a snake or scorpion; and when out shooting we
move with eyes bent on the ground, more anxiously looking out to prevent
ourselves treading on any venomous reptile, than gazing about for our
game. However, during such excursions, we have fallen in with many
nebbek-trees; and, during the rainy season, the plants and herbage must
be full and numerous, as even now there is much verdure, though the soil
is covered with withered grasses and herbs. There are also many cotton
plantations that seem to have been tended with care, all being hedged
round and cleared of weeds. In this neighbourhood the durra grows to an
astonishing height; on one field it had an average height of four or
five times the length of our double rifles, and stood so close that it
was with difficulty we could force our way between the stalks.
_6th May._—Early this morning we mounted our dromedaries and, attended
by a servant and guide furnished by Mohammed Defalla, took our way to
(the two hours and a half distant) El Soffrè, where at present Mohammed
Din and most of his people reside. The Pascha very reluctantly granted
his permission; and it was in truth an adventurous enterprise, thus,
without any protecting escort, to place oneself in the power of these
faithless Haddenda. But we were safer all alone, than if accompanied by
the few soldiers the Pascha offered us as escort. Our course was
eastward: for the first half hour it lay through large durra fields, in
which the heads of the grain were cut off from the tall stems, for it
was free to any one in the camp to provide himself and beasts with as
much of this as he pleased, these Arabs not having as yet shown any
great inclination to follow the Pascha’s orders of forming a grain
magazine, as they put no faith in his promises of payment for their
trouble. The greater part has, or will be gathered by the Arabs, who
hang about here in troops, and this is hidden by them in their secret
stores, so as to render the stay of the army here impossible, for want
of this necessary bread stuff. The Arabs (Haddenda) met us often when
some little distance from our camp, and, at last, in large numbers; and
the whole path from these durra fields to El Soffrè was one procession
of people, camels, and asses laden with durra. Among the former were
many crowds of women, but all old and ugly, who sweating under their
loads, trotted behind the beasts, while the men, armed with lance and
shield, rode or walked proudly and burdenless in rear of all. Most of
the burden of labour seems here to fall on the women, and it is plain
they hold no high place, as they are not allowed to anoint their hair.
It was soon evident that large bodies of Arabs were assembled somewhere
near, and that the population of Taka was greater than given out,—a
suspicion much strengthened by such extensive durra fields, and by the
many wells sunk; as also by the extent of ruined huts and enclosures
within our camp, where, ere we came, the Arabs had had their abodes. All
we met were most civil, “Mirhababa” being shouted to us by almost all.
After the first half hour’s ride we came to a wood, but were much
surprised to see only young trees, and not, as we had hoped, old and
venerable timber. But we soon discovered the cause, in fires still
glimmering in different parts around, so placed, that it was evidently
the inhabitants’ intention to burn down the trees to manure the ground,
and also thus to gain clear ground for fresh fields of grain, and better
pasturage for their herds. To a great distance round their camping
places, which, like all Nomadic tribes, they frequently change, these
new copses are found in large quantities.
Incredibly rapidly does all herbage spring up here, called forth by the
great warmth, and the regular tropical rains, from the rich fruitful
earth, and especially where subterraneous water affords moisture, even
to the surface soil. This was here evidenced, by the patches of green
grasses, the trees, and especially the durra, which now, under the
glowing heat, not only sent out from the under joints of the stem
beautifully fresh and vigorous shoots, but, from the tops, where the
heads had been cut off, a verdant crown of graceful sprouts. Most of the
copse, besides some nebbek-trees, mimosas, &c., consisted of a species
of tree that sends out from the root many stems and branches, with
leaves small as needlewood, and much resembling the cypress. The wood is
very weak, excessively light, gives little charcoal, and is very pithy
and brittle. If these trees are deprived of their leaves by fire, or
have got no water for a year, they wither and die away; they give little
shade, and our people called them Aetle. Some quarter of an hour ere we
reached Mohammed Din’s abode, the trees seemed far larger and of
considerable age; the woods also were thicker, as the fires had not,
seemingly, raged so furiously here. But the older trees looked most
mournful; the tops and upper branches were withered, without foliage,
and not seldom were the under ones in the same state.
Much to our vexation, we learned that Mohammed Din had gone with fifty
Schaigies, to a camp of his nephew, Sheik Mussa, some two hours and a
half further distant; and his absence was all the more annoying to us,
as it nullified our purpose of alighting at his tent, partly to gain a
better knowledge of this far-famed man in his own household, and of the
manners and habits of his tribe, and partly to fill our empty and
craving stomachs. His absence, therefore, caused us to dismount at the
entrance to the village, at the hut of Jusbaschi (Captain) Sali Effendi,
where he and the liquor-loving Sheik Ali were making very slow progress
in arranging and collecting the tribute. We had intended remaining with
them till four o’clock P.M., when the worst part of the day’s heat would
have been over; but we soon perceived remaining here was out of the
question, as the small hut afforded no protection from the sun, and was
constantly crowded with Arabs delivering cattle, who never ceased
wrangling and disputing among themselves, as well as with the tribute-
gatherers. We therefore resolved, in spite of the sun, to push on and
reach the village of Mitkenab, two hours and a half distant. Another
reason, too, urged us to move, viz., to regain our liberty; for hardly
had we dismounted at El Soffrè, when my brother was recognised by some
Arabs as a Hakem, and was instantly mobbed by real and fancied sick in
such numbers, that ere long we had half the village round us, demanding
medicines and medical advice, and both gratis. Great patience is
required here by any one acting the part of Doctor, as all directions
must be repeated over and over again, and after all, it is more than
probable, these are neither understood nor followed, and the parties
return again and again to ask questions, and torment the prescriber. The
people here not understanding us, an Arabian interpreter was necessary,
and this made matters worse, as he could not convey medical directions.
Here, too, a sick man never comes alone, but ever accompanied by six or
eight relations or friends, every one of whom must interfere, and give
his opinion as to the illness, and, as may be easily imagined, all this
severely taxes the medical man’s patience and temper. All Arabs and
Turks long and beg for medicines, and with the dose the illness must at
once vanish, or else both doctor and medicine are held valueless. To
repay the doctor for advice or medicine, never, by any chance, enters
their heads; they hold the furnishing of the one as the other to be only
the doctor’s duty, before both man and Allah.
After we were thus for some time pestered, we again mounted our
dromedaries, and left the Arabs to their own devices, who gazed after us
with no pleased eyes, and showered curses on us, as we would not remain
and serve out medicines to them; although not one of them would, on
being asked, procure us even a little milk, but slunk away behind his
companions on our requesting it, and pointed to his neighbour as better
able to furnish it than he. For more than half-an-hour we rode on
through the far scattered village, nor even then did we see any thing
like the half of it, as most of the huts lay off the main path,
concealed among bushes and trees; and great numbers of the tribe, also,
had no huts at all, but lived under the forest’s shade. All the huts we
saw were composed of palm mats, circular and kiln-shaped, high behind,
but so low in front, that one has to stoop much to enter them. The
interior arrangement is most simple; a raised sleeping-place, called an
angareb; a few stakes driven into the ground, or a low bench covered
with mats, woven of reeds of dried twigs, form the whole furniture. If
the owner is well to do, the sleeping-place is covered or surrounded
with a great coarse grey woollen cloth, to keep off wind and weather. A
murhaka (two stones to grind grain with), and earthen pot are all the
moveables, as these, with a girbe (leathern water-bucket) are all
required for Arab housekeeping; so that, without any great preparation
or loss, they can desert the birsch (huts), and proceed on their
constant wanderings. Some twenty or forty huts, inhabited by families
related to each other, are generally surrounded with an enclosure or
thorn fence, called a seriba; and so a settlement or village is made up
out of a number of these smaller squattings. Each of such family seribas
has the most respected or oldest of its occupiers as its head or Sheik;
and this dignity is often even hereditary, so that the children
frequently have a wokil. In the evenings a fire burns before each tent,
on each of which may be seen, in every position and posture, the earthen
pots, filled with durra; and as every pot is, more or less, cracked and
broken, considerable ingenuity is required so to place them, as to only
expose to the fire such parts of them as remain sound, and capable of
holding in the contents while the cooking is going on. Round these pots
crowd the women, occupied in preparing the food; all of those we saw
were old and ugly; but, by all accounts, there is no want of young and
pretty girls here, and such are also in much request as female household
slaves in Bellad-Sudan. Of these, however, we saw none, as all held
their faces closely muffled up in their dirty and torn ferdas; and all
the young-looking women we came upon ran off sideways into the bushes,
or hid behind trees to avoid our gaze. Almost all the women wore a skin
round the hips, which reached down to the knee, and was lapped over in
front. On the march they let it hang down behind like a tail, and when
they sit down, they draw the part hanging down behind in between the
legs and up in front, fastening it to the girdle. Some of the men were
also thus dressed. Two men from the hill regions we fell in with had a
similar skin round the hips, and, in addition, a sheepskin, wool
inwards, hanging over the shoulders: this was the whole dress; and when
to it were joined their long hair and fierce wild faces, they were
excellent specimens of truly savage life.
In the centre of these family divisions there is always an open space,
on which the children, always numerous, play and amuse themselves, all
naked as when born, under the burning sun. Their activity and rapidity
of motion joined to their dark colour and grinning faces, give them much
resemblance to what we would picture a parcel of young devils to be;
even such small children as with us would be in the cradle or nurse’s
arms, roll and tumble about in the sand, without any one heeding them,
but left to look out for themselves. Nothing is more amusing than to
watch these young imps, only a few days old, as they crawl and roll
about, for in these warm climes development is rapid. Clothes they have
none to dirty or spoil, and mixed up among them may be seen cattle of
all kinds; and the lambs and goats jump over and play among and with the
merry little black creatures.
As we all alone rode on through the village, the men gazed most savagely
and angrily at us, and as they certainly took us for Turks, did not
bestow the kindest or most friendly wishes on us. All the natives of
these lands have a wild and defiant physiognomy, and, with their long
black hair and fiery eyes, are by no means unlike their companions the
beasts of blood and rapine of the shaaba. At home here, among their own
settlements, no man moves unarmed, their round shields and lances are
never for a moment out of reach. He who has no iron-headed lance or
javelin, is sure to have a long slender staff, of some hard wood,
pointed at the end, which, against a naked foe, is little inferior to a
more finished lance; the higher orders wear swords in no way differing
from those in common use in Bellad-Sudan. Their build is generally tall
and slender, but powerful, and a proud feeling of self-reliance and
self-esteem is plainly displayed in all their movements and gestures. In
colour most are dark brown or brown-black, but many, especially the
women we saw, are brown-yellow, or even yellow itself. Some few Negro
slaves we saw were perfectly black. Their manner of dressing their hair
is similar to that of the Bischari. They have on the crown a toupé, on
the sides and behind the long hair is laid in small round twists or
curls, first plaited and intertwisted and then frizzed out, so that a
strong head of hair makes the head itself seem more than double the
usual size, and when beheld from behind, gives the wearer the appearance
of having no head, but an immense pyramid of hair rising direct from the
shoulders. Thick beards they cannot boast of, and as little of thick
calves. Water and wells were in plenty; the latter, holes of twenty or
thirty feet deep, going down into a clay subsoil; from these the water
is drawn by the women and poured into great circular flat troughs, made
by a low small surrounding wall of clay or mud, for the cattle to drink
from. The keeping these troughs full, as well as fetching all water for
household purposes, falls on the women; these, as we passed, were
standing in crowds round the wells, drawing water or filling the skins
which were enclosed in a kind of cord net-work. Some bore off these to
the huts, some loaded the many asses with them, while the men sat
looking calmly on, nor did one of them stir to aid or assist the women
in any way. The asses here, as well as the camels, are all trained to
lie down, so as to be more easily loaded. Herds of cattle we saw every
where, and often remarked how these were being driven off by their
owners into concealment in the forest.
The number of huts and tents we beheld were some 1500 or 2000, but far
the greater number we did not see, and many, very many of the natives
have no fixed dwelling. At all events, from the numbers of men, women,
and children we met, double the number of huts we saw would have been
necessary to house them. In the present critical times, doubtless many
natives from other places (such as the settlements of Issi and Teschum,
nearer our camp) have joined Mohammed Din, but it is equally certain
that a greater number (30,000 or 40,000, according to Sali Effendi)
have, from terror of the Pascha, or to conceal their herds and other
goods, fled to the chaaba, to which wilds Mohammed Din himself has sent
off 6000 camels, that they might be out of the way of the Turks. On
reaching the centre of the village, our path led up a gohr some twelve
or fourteen feet wide, which must at times contain a large body of
water, and which runs from east to west. In it, and on both sides along
its course, were the greater number of the wells. It seems as if here,
either a subterraneous stream ran, or that some sunken supply of water
filtered up to the surface through the clay subsoil, as at all seasons
of the year, water is to be had here in plenty. In the country of the
Haddenda is one spring, which supplies nearly the half of it; there one
can plainly observe how the water runs strongly below the surface, and
the land of Taka is also full of such underground watercourses. But,
perhaps, after all it is a mere gathering of water caused by the soil
some twenty or thirty feet down being a stiff clay through which water
cannot penetrate. However, in the gohr of the hills, even where the
ground slopes, and a constant dropping of water must be going on, this
element can every where be found. From this under stratum of clay, the
inhabitants procure the material from which they form the burnt red
earthenware water jugs, which they use in their washings before prayer
and at other times.
In this gohr we came upon a great mass of men and beasts, and much
surprised the former seemed at our appearance. We now understood our
guide’s anxious hurry to get us on to where Mohammed Din was. He
believed us not to be in safety among these people, and he was in the
right, for as Mohammed Din was not at hand, who alone could answer for
our lives, it were better we hastened to him; though it was highly
improbable he would neglect to provide for our security, as his only son
Mussa was a hostage in our camp. We kept up this gohr some half hour,
having all the time many wells and springs on our right and left, and
meeting many Arabs. Our way lay north-east, and all through bush that
often compelled us to lie flat along our dromedary’s back, not to be
left suspended on some tree, although no old or high trees were to be
seen among it, from the constant devastations of the burnings. Ere long
the wood became thinner, the trunks of numbers of trees, withered and
uprooted by the heavy mass of the flood, lay scattered on the ground far
and wide, in many places blocking up the path, and every where annoying
to the rider and dangerous to the legs of his animal. In many places the
water had dug out large hollows in the soil, and here the ground had
fallen in, as if the under soil had been carried away by the waters.
These continued for an hour of our way, and the grey soil uncovered by a
single green stem, with its holes thus excavated, and small gohrs,
devastations, leafless dead trees standing erect or thrown to the earth,
and covered with slime and mud, with no bird or beast visible on or near
it, showed out most mournfully and disheartening. But these holes,
sinkings, lifeless and uprooted trees, bore strong testimony to the
great gatherings and deep floods of waters, the more so as the ground is
level, and so no great stream can be looked for. From all appearance,
the mountains of Abyssinia must shed down much water on to these lands.
One hour before we reached Mitkenab, the country altered. The trees
again showed green leaves, and were enlivened by some long tailed birds,
which we did not venture to pursue, but remained sitting quietly on our
beasts, as the glowing sun shone directly down on our skulls, and no
refreshing breeze made its way in among the trees. We caught sight also
of some antelopes, vanishing like lightning in the distance. The whole
way now showed one uninterrupted stream of people and beasts, and great
numbers of persons on camels, horses, and asses. Some few women and
girls we got a peep at might be called pretty; they much resembled those
of the island, and had, as all women in Bellad-Sudan, large black though
not fiery eyes, round faces, small rather stumpy noses, and thick though
not blubber lips. Their greatest beauty was small very white teeth. All
gazed with angry and hostile eyes on us, taking us for Turks, as we were
the only Franks that had as yet found their way into these lands.
Again, ere we reached Mitkenab, the country altered, and for the better,
becoming almost beautiful, at least beautiful as far as any scenery can
be without hill or water. All was now bright green; older and finer
trees were in numbers on the edge of the chaaba (bruch, thick jungle or
bush). We were most particularly pleased by the great nebbek-trees,
forming bowers and halls, which were overgrown, and joined together by a
bright green creeper till complete roofs were formed, affording perfect
shelter from the hottest sun. The under branches of many of these trees
were cut half through, and their ends being trained down to the ground,
thus formed an enclosure for cattle, the entrances to which were stopped
up with thorny bushes. In all these lands the trees in general afford
but a poor shade, and one can easily conceive how gladly we availed
ourselves of such perfect camping places as these bowery trees offered.
In their branches cooed thousands of doves. We met hereabouts a large
number of camels loaded with salt, which is procured in masses by
evaporation of the waters of the Red Sea (Bachr male); and brought from
thence by Sauakin, and sent even to India; packed up in pear-shaped
basket-work cases.
Mitkenab at last came into sight through the trees, offering us an
asylum from the burning midday sun. On our halting outside the village
under some shady trees, numbers of Arabs as usual gathered round us,
curiously inquiring who we were, but it never occurred to any one of
them to offer us, thirsting as they must have seen us to be, either milk
or water. Ere long the two Sheiks of the village appeared, but evidently
regarded us as very suspicious characters; they did certainly give us
their hands in sign of welcome, but did not invite us to enter the
village. Soon after one of them sent us a present of a fat sheep, but we
declined accepting it, as we expected food would be provided us, and we
saw no means of carrying the animal away with us. In its stead we begged
some milk, though in vain. It was joyful news to us, to learn that some
Schaigies had arrived at the wells near, belonging to the village of
Sheik Mussa, Mohammed Din’s nephew, under the command of their Melek
Mammud, and in company with Mohammed Din himself; and immediately, in
spite of sun and heat, we were on our way to their camping place, some
300 yards from us. This settlement of Mitkenab is in every way perfectly
alike to El Soffrè, both as to huts and inhabitants; the latter are also
numerous, and their lands lie towards the S.E. The village is large, the
huts many and running along the edges of the forest, but it seemed
smaller than El Soffrè. Of its political importance nothing can be said,
for here, as in all Taka, as well as neighbouring, nay, even distant
lands, there is but one Mohammed Din, who is lord of all, and his word
an oracle for and to all. It is true, the Haddenda, like all the tribes,
have Sheiks of their own, but all are subordinate to this great Sheik
Mohammed Din. In Mitkenab were many Sheiks, having equal authority to
each other: among the Hallenga, the head Sheik is Mohammed Ele, who
bears the character of a bold warrior and honest man.