camel, and asked us to sup with him. Although we as yet had not tasted
camel flesh, we preferred remaining at home, as we had game, and were
preparing a pudding for supper, and were just about to commence our
meal, when he appeared, followed by two squires, and with friendly
violence forced us to go with him. We found in his recuba Abu Sin, Wod-
Naga, and two other Sheiks. The camel flesh had been cut in small
pieces, stuck on wooden skewers, fat and lean alternately, and roasted.
It did not suit our palates, we much preferring dishes prepared after
our own country fashion. His bilbil, a better kind of merissa, however
repaid us, and put us in better humour; and not to appear stingy before
the Æthiopians, we had our own supper brought in, as also what we had
intended for our next day’s dinner; viz. some roast hare, and a ragout
of guinea-fowl. Of course we, with a “Bismillah,” invited the Sheiks to
partake; and our cookery so well suited their taste, that the strongly
spiced camel flesh found few customers. On our producing a rice pudding,
mixed with raisins, and covered with wine sauce, which certainly should
have been four times as large as it was, all burst out into praises; and
these joys became yet greater, when Mohammed Defallah pulled out two
bottles of date brandy, which he, having spent all his money, had
purchased for two pieces of cloth which he had won by his dromedary’s
speed; and I now requested the party to be allowed to prepare for them a
Frank drink. I poured out the bottles’ contents into a vessel, and, to
the surprise of all, set fire to the brandy; a thing none had before
seen, much less tried; and then taking white sugar, melted it in the
flames. When they beheld us two stirring about the flaming liquor with
our hands, without fear or pain, they took us for sorcerers. Abu-Sin and
Wod-Naga, who, being Faki, did not drink even merissa, stared with the
utmost astonishment at each other, and retired without taking leave of
any one. On our blowing out the flame, Melek Mahmud was the first who
ventured to taste it, and soon after the strong-liquor-loving Defallah
was all joy, and praising the Germans (Nemza) who had invented such a
beverage. Ere long it suddenly occurred to the fat Defallah, that he had
not said his evening prayer. Although Melek Mahmud would have prevented
him, and told him that he himself only prayed when no plunder was to be
had, he, with the aid of his servants, rose from the ground and
staggered out of the door. There he was let down, on the spot where we
had often before seen him praying, and where, contrary to prescribed
ceremony, he let his heavy posteriors rest on his heels, but could not
call to mind one word of his prayers; nor would he have got out a word
had he done so, as he held in his mouth the biting bukka (tobacco,
natron and water), and could only make a dull mumbling murmur. After
this there was much talk, and the Turks were abused, as usual: all had
full confidence in us, and were well convinced we told no tales.
Of the female slaves of Basa, brought into the camp for sale, the old
rogues who had most money (such, for instance, as Hassan Effendi) have
bought the most beautiful, for the purpose of again selling them at a
large profit; the lower ranks of officers also buy on a venture, and
foolishly enough, as they have seldom sufficient to keep themselves. Old
Deli Mustapha, the Pascha’s Kawedschi, had bought a slave, and hidden
her in a nook behind the hearth where he cooked his coffee, where she
could neither stand upright, nor see daylight. Although we were very
well acquainted with him, still his jealousy would not allow us a single
peep at the girl. Besides, he seemed to feel some superstitious fears
about it; he used to pour on the ground, as a libation to the evil
spirits, the first cup of coffee he brewed in the morning. The Bosniak,
Hussein Aga, city commandant of Sennaar, who was a friend of ours, and
who looked upon us as a kind of countrymen, had bought a couple of
pretty girls, and his jealousy was fearfully aroused when they smiled at
one of his slaves. Happily, the latter escaped death, but came in full
career, with his master after him, to seek safety in our recuba. We saw
at once what would occur, and let him in, but excluding his master, who
stood without with drawn sabre, foaming with rage, and demanding his
slave, to murder him. The latter, however, aided by our servants, had
made his escape through the back-door, and was off again, on which I
sent one of my people after him, to tell him to take shelter under the
Pascha’s roof. As our friend Hussein still continued to conduct himself
like a savage, we had to show him our rifles, and I thought it better to
go myself to the Pascha, to save the slave’s life. I told the Pascha the
case; he said that under the circumstances the master was certainly at
liberty to take his slave’s life, but that Hussein, as Chief Hakim,
could make no use of such a right, as he had openly and often promised
not to do so. He declared he would let Hussein Aga taste the bastinado,
and gave orders to a Kawass to go and bring him. I had nothing now for
it than to retire in all haste, send the Kawass to Hussein’s hut, and
get to my own. In an instant I told the yet raging though somewhat
cooled Hussein, who was still before it, what had occurred, and advised
him to take shelter in the back part of our recuba, where he would not
be seen, and at once make out the order for the freedom of the slave;
that I would convey it to the Pascha, as he was certain to demand it
from him. Though a few minutes before so brutally savage, he now went at
once into the proposal, and I hurried off with the manumission to the
Pascha, and prayed him not to let any disgraceful punishment fall on the
brave Bosniak, that might be followed by degradation, and whom he
moreover had, by a mere word, brought to silence; and assured him that
the Bosniak had given us no offence. However, he must appear before the
Pascha, which he did, pale and trembling; but the great man reproved him
for his passionate outburst and former similar offences, and dismissed
him, smiling and nodding to me, as if pleased at what I had done. No one
was happier than the slave, who on the sight of his master had again
fled to our recuba, when I handed him his manumission; we took him into
our service as cook, so that our former cook could now go and follow his
passion, the chase.
The Gisser was not yet swept away, though the water was four or five
feet above the dam. I, along with the Pascha, was riding one day in its
neighbourhood, on the left bank of the Gash, when my dromedary shied,
and we became aware of a large serpent. The Pascha at once gave the
workers orders to catch the animal, and this was at once set about. The
snake, thus pursued, took the water, and once in, it boldly raised its
head and turned on the Arab near it, who, armed with a hassaie, had cast
himself off the dam into the water. With great dexterity he took aim at
the head of the snake, and struck it so violent a blow, that, as if
stunned, it let its head sink and began to writhe and twist most
violently, on which another Arab approached with a cord: the first laid
hold of it, seized the snake by the neck below the head, looped the cord
round it, and then both drew it ashore. Here it lay for a moment quiet,
and we could examine the fearfully beautiful creature, which was more
than eleven feet long and half a foot in diameter. However, when they
began to drag it further on, which, of course, would have spoiled the
whole skin, orders were given to carry the animal into the camp; a
jacket was bound over its head, and three men prepared to raise it on
their shoulders. The brute, however, made such strong convulsive
writhings, that it and its three bearers came to the ground together,
and the same thing happened again when many other bearers were aiding. I
went with them to the camp, had a strong nail driven into the front
large beam of our recuba, and the monster hung on it. It hung all slack
and limber down, as did also another snake that our servants had hung
while yet alive inside our recuba; and I intended to take them down and
skin them in the morning, as the day was too far gone to do anything to
them now. In the night I was most unpleasantly disturbed, for the inside
snake that hung at the head of my bed seemed to glide with its cold
belly over my face; in terror I sprung up, and thought I had been struck
over the shin with a club, when the big serpent, now in its death
agonies, gave me a stroke with its tail through the open door of the
recuba, before which some of the servants sat on their heels telling
tales of spirits, snake-kings, &c.
Next morning, when we called on our servants to take down the snakes to
skin and stuff them, and told them not to spare the alum and arsenical
soap, to our great astonishment they refused to work. We soon perceived
they had been told by some bigot that this was an unclean work for a
Mussulman: as at the moment there was nothing better for it, if we would
not allow the sun to ruin this fine specimen of a python, we ourselves,
though much disgusted, set to work on the job. As soon as the servants
saw that we were not ashamed of such work, first one came and then the
other, and took the assala to themselves, and worked all the more
diligently on our promising them a pot of merissa. This serpent, like
all large snakes, is called assala. Not long after, we received a
similar snake of half a foot in diameter, but only nine feet in length,
that had a short tail, like the Vipera cerastes; this they also called
assala, and held it to be one of those before-mentioned short thick
snakes, that swallow men. The marking of the skins of the two snakes
showed little difference, but the head of the latter was the broader of
the two.
As we here meet with people of all nations of the world, we hear many
things, but with all the praise of their own native country, however
small, is ever the favourite theme. Abdin Bey told us that in his
country, Albania, were to be found flying snakes. He has a black
serpent’s horn, that seems to be an artificially blackened large tooth,
and a stone out of the jawbone of an ass. To make oneself proof against
poisons, as well as the bite of numerous reptiles, one has only with a
sabre to slice off a piece of an Aggem, _i.e._ a heretic, and eat it.
The race of Sagara (sorcerers) is much feared, as they are held to have
strange power; but there is also an herb, a charm against such
sorcerers. In the mountains of the Druses there is yet another kind of
magicians, Gessit, who draw a circle round the bewitched person, out of
which he cannot pass. Superstition, indeed, goes far, and Melek Saat has
written amulets that bring evil on those, who secretly foster ill-will
against him; they are very old, as are all such papers we have examined.
Mahmud Aga, Bulluk Baschi, and Abdin Bey have great seals, the
impression of which they stamped on paper, and gave to those who had the
fever to wear about them; if this has no effect, there must be some evil
spirit (schittan) in the way. There are also papers (uarrag) that sick
men must eat, or burn and inhale the smoke. Omar Kaschef, as a
preventive to cold and cough, drinks the water with which the ink of
certain written words has been washed off a wooden table; and he swears
that a frog split open and placed on a shot-wound will draw out any ball
within twelve hours. Even the most intelligent among them believe more
in their charms than in the best doctor. The Pascha, a freethinker,
states his belief in men living to the age of 400 or 500 years. All,
both Turks and Arabs, are much prejudiced against the European method of
treating diseases. If the medicine does not give immediate relief, it is
bad, _all bosh_. All that any friend recommends is at once tried, and
faki and charms are always employed along with the attending doctor.
Their own receipts are powerful, as, for instance, for a cold, pepper,
ginger, and hot spices, &c. Almost for every illness they open some
particular vein; the vena ranina for indigestion, the vena frontalis for
headache, the vena digitalis for ailments in the limbs, &c. &c. Garlic,
placed on or in the tarbush is a preventive to coup de soleil; and
garlic and salt, placed under the tongue, a cure for thirst and fever.
Arabs and Turks groan and cry at every attack of illness, and call on
Allah and the Prophet, “ia Rabbi! Rassul Allah! Sheik Abd-el-Kader!” &c.
During illness they seldom change their clothes, and remain in their
under garments, which are clogged with perspiration. On fresh wounds
they place sulphur, wash them often with brandy, and strew on them
coffee, salt, and gunpowder. For lance wounds the natives here roll
round a piece of stickgoat’s hair or cotton, and turn it round in them.
When these in a day or two become highly inflamed, they make a rim of
paste round the wound, and pour into it boiling butter. That the butter
that runs over after being applied to the wound is never wasted, but
drunk up, is a matter of course. They say if it does not burn like fire
it does no good, and it is incredible how soon they thus heal wounds.
That every wound in this clime requires to be more stimulatingly treated
than with us, is true, and therefore balsam of Peru is a capital
medicine here. In Beni-Amer men pour into their wounds hot pitch or
rosin, and leave it there. As a cure for fever, milk and senna are used.
The nearest town or village on the Gohr-el-Gash, some half day’s journey
from here, is Terefàt or Hafarra; east from it, on a hill well supplied
with water, is Illit, some day and a half’s journey from Kassela; at a
similar distance to the south-east is, on the Gash, another village,
called Bitama. In the east, on a picturesque hill, rises Sabderath, one
day’s journey from here, and half a day’s further to the east, Gedèhn.
The range of hills these villages are on runs from north to south-east,
and is well supplied with water. At the foot of the hills are gohrs, the
hollows of which collect the rain water from them, which afterwards runs
out or is lost in the plains. The Sheik Nuhr of Sabderath is a great
leader of hostile forays and plundering expeditions. If he can not go on
these, he finds no rest at home, and therefore wars on giraffes and
tigers. The tribe of the hill of Gedèhn are respected by the Turks for
their fidelity and firm adherence to their word. These are Arabs, and of
the Hallenga tribe.
A fresh foray has been made into Basa, and some days ago tidings of
heavy losses reached the camp. The natives there had retreated into
caves, of which there are many and large ones among the hills, some of
which, like those of Kassela, have water inside them; almost all of them
have very small well concealed entrances, though many inside are of
great extent. They are said to be inhabited by men of ancient days,
spirits, and ghosts. The Turks fired in grenades or small shells, full
of schiteta (red peppers pounded), as kindling fires at the mouths does
no good, the smoke escaping by some hidden outlets.
The district of Basa commences, as before said, two days’ journey
further up the Gohr-el-Gash than Kassela, and extends along this Gash
for eight days’ journey up to Makada. Four days’ journey from the
frontier, and so nearly in the centre of the land, is Belgam or Bàlacha,
which is a part of Basa, and has large populous villages among its
hills. The inhabitants of Basa are to be praised for allowing no
thievings to go on among them; one may lay down his goods by the
wayside, and no one will touch them. None commence harvest till all go.
Circumcision is usual among the men, but not as a religious rite.
Elephants are in great numbers, and these are the principal objects of
their hunts. The elephant hunters are called Agàr, and for this reason
my brother’s slave of the Basa race, got the surname of Agàr, as his
father was a famed elephant hunter. The method of killing elephants is,
while one hunter well mounted attracts the monster’s attention in front,
another behind cuts with a sword the back sinews of the leg, a deed not
only requiring much strength, but also high courage and dexterity.
Besides corn, they cultivate simsim (sesame). Children are fed on milk
and honey; grown persons consume merissa and lochma. Flesh is little
used; the head of the elephant is, however, highly famed, as also the
cap of the foot. The climate is healthy, and the people hale and
cheerful. The troops returned from thence highly delighted with the
burmas, filled with honey and merissa, which they found in great plenty
in the larger tokuls of these people.
All speak of a Bellad-el-Kelb (Dog-land); the women there are not
disfigured, but the men have dogs’ faces, feet with claws, and tails
like apes; they cannot speak, though the women well understand what the
men mean by the wagging of their tails! This land of dogs is at one time
said to be on the frontier of the Habesch, at another on those of
Darfur, now Felatta, and so on. A land inhabited by Fellati who are
clothed, was mentioned to me when voyaging on the White Nile; and there
was also pointed out to me, under 4° N. latitude, the hills of Lokoja,
where it was said there was a race of men with dogs’ heads who were
cannibals. Afterwards we heard that the Wadi-el-Kelb was thus named,
from the inhabitants being great robbers who held fast to their prey
like dogs. The great Sheik Abu Sin, however, informed us, that this land
was only six hours’ journey distant from here, and that its Sheik bore
the title of honour of Wod Kelb, which probably had been the title or
name of some earlier renowned Arab chief, and that this Wod Kelb, who
some seven years before had defeated a part of the army of Churschid
Pascha, and would not behold a Turk, paid, in an indirect manner, his
tulba (tribute) through him. There is, in truth, a district of Arabia
called Kalb, pronounced Kelb by the Turks, from whence it is possible
this tribe may have their name.
Hallenga, Haddenda, Mitkenab, Bischari, Homrahn, Beni-Gerahr, Beni-Amer,
and even a part of Schukurie, have a language of their own (Rottàn). Why
not also Arabic, like most of the Arab tribes? who have emigrated the
more so, as now on the Gesira Arabic has even driven out the original
language. Were all these the original tribes, or rather the sole people
of these lands, as they have only _one_ language, or were they a
powerful people, only gradually intermixed with Arabians? or have they
united with them, the latter being the fewer, having adopted the
language, while the former received the new religion? or has only a part
of the well-known immense emigrations of the Arab race remained here,
while the rest moved further south (to Kordofan, Darfur, Borzu, Bornu,
&c.), and thus among larger masses lost its original language, while it
retained its religion? On the hills men speak another language, which
the above-mentioned races do not understand, and these hill tribes must
be an original race, although among the tribes each has a different
language of its own, perhaps the poor remains of their nationality. But
over the great tract of country of the above-mentioned tribes, some one
language, some one great nation must have once spread, as among all
these different races there is a perfect similarity of customs and
usages, as of one nation. The original nation must also have been
migratory and uncivilised, as in the whole extent of country, from the
deserts behind Syene from the Atbara to the Red Sea, not the smallest
trace of a former cultivation, or settled dwelling seat, has been seen
by any traveller, although men talk of pyramids and such-like, as I
afterwards heard. Perhaps all these lands were once subject to the
Abyssinian emperor, who among his titles styled himself King of “Kas,”
which may be identical with “Gash,” and have not only meant the Gohr
itself but also all the lands situated on it. The word, too, “Makada,”
used for Habesch or Ittopia, also points to an olden connection with the
empire of Abyssinia, as according to the Kebra za Negest, the queen who
visited Solomon was called “Makeda,” that is if one does not derive the
word from the Arabic Machada. Although different languages prevail among
the hills on the borders of Habesch, still one finds, with the exception
of those who from trade or religion are connected with Habesch, the
manners and customs nearly the same, and like those of all races of the
earth of a lower grade of civilisation, who do not come into contact
with other nations, and in trade and opinion learn little new. Basa,
however, seems that which has remained most true to a state of nature.
Hardly had the Schaigies and Mograbins returned from their chasua into
Basa with their prisoners and plundered cattle, than the Pascha took it
all to himself, contrary to the common usage that allows the troops
employed one half; but now to stir up Melek Mahmud to a similar foray
with his Schaigies into Beni-Amer, on which land an ever arbitrarily
increased tulba has been laid, and to make him and his people more
zealous, he promised them the whole plunder: Mahmud goes, and returns
when men fancied he and his whole troop had been cut off; and again the
Pascha breaks his word, in spite of the great loss the party had
suffered, and only gives him half of the spoil, and shares some of it
among different Sheiks with whom two stolen camels had been found, as if
he feared such a revolt in Hallenga as has already broken out in
Kalabat. Mohammed Ehle, who with part of his people had joined the
foray, appropriated to himself 50 camels, 200 cows, and 600 sheep. For
the same reason, the Pascha had 400 ardep of corn brought from the
reservoir at Kataref, as the Hallenga knew how to excuse themselves
under the plea of poverty, and the Haddenda, who had declared themselves
(taija) submissive, were not to be heard of, nor would they deliver any
grain.