declared against all tribute; that a revolt against the Egyptian rule
was to be dreaded in Sennaar; and that England threatened Egypt; then,
that fortunately, six cannon, with munitions, had arrived at Berber, and
seventeen at Korusko. But, in spite of this, he would abstain from
chastising the rebels, as the army was much melted away, and many were
sick. He held that the Sheiks under him must have business elsewhere,
and would there make much spoil; he would, therefore, wait till spring,
and then push up, on and by the Blue Nile, to Atisch, from there fall on
Habesch, and quickly conquer it, ere the English, who had taken it and
its bad people under their protection, could have tidings of it, and so
by force open up this old road of trade. His plans of conquest extended
from thence all over the gold lands of Faszogl, out over the Beni-Amer,
and to Darfur; as if all this was a mere trifle. On a sign given, his
attendants quitted the recuba, and he entrusted to me that the Viceroy
had invited him to pay him a visit at Cairo; that he certainly would not
go, but had no wish to quarrel with him, as he still possessed his
confidence, as his sending the twenty-three great guns showed; although
he had before had his doubts about it. (This reserve that he obstinately
persisted in, after a second and even third invitation, afterwards cost
him his life; and it was fortunate for me I made my escape in time, as
he must have divulged to some treacherous Sheiks the plans of
independence he fostered, as I afterwards, on my journey to Mandera, had
completely proved to me by Abu Sin.) He then made a gloomy face, and
related that his father-in-law, even at this busy and unpleasant time,
urged him to equip a second expedition to the White Nile, and that he
must, for the moment, comply with his wishes.
No one was better pleased than I by this last intelligence, and I was
hard put to to conceal it. His promise to promote me to Bey on his
conquest of Abyssinia, or rather of its nearest provinces, and to give
me sixteen purses monthly, was, compared with this, a mere nothing; as,
in this country, there is a mighty difference between promising and
performing, as I, unfortunately, in the sequel had bitter experience of.
Soliman Kaschef, of Karreri, a brave Circassian, and a “fellow of
infinite humour,” who already had commanded the first expedition to the
Bachr-el-Abiat, and who had now been some time with the camp, and
employed on many plundering expeditions, made a long face when the
Pascha announced to him that he should lead this expedition. However, on
our quitting the Pascha’s presence, he came with us to partake of a
bottle of wine, and I revealed to him that it would be the greatest
pleasure to me to accompany him on this journey of discovery, that we
were sure to find much gold (as I knew from my books), and requested him
that he would beg of the Pascha that we two brothers might accompany
him, even though it should be at our own expense; he undertook the task
with great willingness, and also saw that it was all proper that we,
whom the Pascha called his two eyes, should not make such request
ourselves, as it would look as if we were no longer desirous of being
near him. Next morning we got the great man’s decision. I might go;
select a boat for myself, but nothing more; my brother, on the contrary,
must remain with him. My request to him, that my brother might also go
was refused; as he pointed out the great mortality in the camp, and also
the care of his own person, which he would not confide to the Italian
Hakim, Dr. Bellotti.
This determination of the Pascha placed us two brothers, who desired to
live, fight, and die together, in the most painful dilemma. The thoughts
of a separation, when dangers were each day increasing, in the centre of
Africa, where we had already mutually nursed each other during repeated
attacks of fever, and each found, during such, the other so necessary,
was insufferable; nor was this bettered by the short time allowed us to
come to any resolution, as the departure of Soliman Kaschef was fixed
for the next day but one. Only late on the last evening did I acquaint
the Pascha with our determination, and that I would avail myself of his
permission to join the expedition as a traveller. For long he gazed in
silence at me, as if he feared that I, who bore his dangerous secret
about me, might purpose to journey, instead of up, down the Nile, to
receive the reward for betraying him. However, when I recommended my
brother to him, and begged him not to let him from under his eye, this
hostage seemed to him sufficient bail for my honesty; for he broke his
gloomy silence, and recovered his usual friendly manner, though sadder
than common, and sent for Soliman Kaschef. He specially requested me to
keep a careful journal, which he would have translated into Turkish; and
recommended me to cling firmly to Soliman Kaschef, to whom he was
immediately about to commend me. “Oefta ainak” (open your eyes), he said
to me at the conclusion, with meaning emphasis; as if he hoped,
hereafter, pursuing his conquests in this direction, to be able to carry
out his favourite plan of forming all his regiments from the blacks
alone.
As the Pascha could not spare troops to afford us a sufficient escort to
Gos Rajab, our journey had to be kept the greater secret, as during the
night the challenging cries and howlings of the Haddenda had been heard
on the other side of the highly swollen Gohr-el-Gash. At break of day an
alarm was beaten, and, as usual, all, without the smallest order, rushed
out of the camp, as the foe was believed to be already at our gates. In
the utmost haste our camels were laden, and I took our collection and
the greater part of our things with me to place them in safety in
Chartum, as a surprise and plundering of the camp was likely sooner or
later to occur. The Pascha accompanied us with the greater part of his
forces to the village of Hauathi on the banks of the Gash, by this
demonstration, and also by the fire of grape-shot across the Gohr, to
frighten the Haddenda back into the Chaaba. This manœuvre succeeded
completely, for Mohammed Ehle by his spies found out, that the Arabs had
directed their steps to the north, nor was there any trace of themselves
now to be seen; and this, ere long, the bold Melek Mahmud confirmed, who
had taken with his Schaigies possession of the opposite bank of the Gohr
to secure the passage across it. He now received orders from the Pascha
to cover our flank on the side of the Chaaba, to draw off the enemy’s
attention and mask our march, and, if necessary, escort us with his
horsemen as far as the Atbara river. Now commenced leave-takings as if
we were never again to meet each other, save in Paradise; even the
Pascha looked sorrowful; his unsuccessful campaign, his fame; and again
gazing questioningly at me, embraced me for the first and last time, on
which, as became their slavish souls, his train and followers took leave
of me with much respect and reverence. It was curious that my brother
and I, dear as we were to each other, parted, as if we were merely
separating for a morning’s ride. We both regarded this as a good omen;
it seemed as if a greater certainty was given to our again meeting by
this cheerful feeling, and by this more happy mood succeeding to our
forebodings of evil.
In long winding line we rode in single files up the sandy banks after
our leader, and reached, without any mischance in crossing the some 4000
feet wide Gohr, the still most swampy Chaaba, where I all the more
feared our baggage animals would never get through, from the difficulty
I found in making my own way on my dromedary. The Schaigies rode right
and left through the bushes, and so closely crouched down on their
animals under the branches, that often neither man nor horse was to be
seen. The escort (Schaigies not included) of our caravan was only some
sixty men strong, and part of these were camel-drivers and servants
armed only with lances. Nor were we without female, and most assuredly
unveiled, society; many pretty young slave-girls, from the mountains of
Basa, were with us, who understood not a word of Arabic. They belonged
partly to Soliman Kaschef and his Askari, partly to Ladjam and other
lovers, who did not seem to hold the camp as the safest abode for their
loves, as many slaves, both male and female, had already escaped from
it. These poor creatures were much to be pitied and much moved my
compassion, especially when I beheld how longingly they looked towards
the hills, as if they would fix in their minds the direction, in case
any chance of escape offered. No sooner had their conductors observed
these glances, though some of these were themselves slaves of the negro
race, than with the utmost brutality they lashed the poor girls,
crouching on the camels, over the loins and naked back with the kurbash
till the weals rose on them. But to behold this, and dash on the
scoundrels with long whip and lay stoutly about me, and to bestow on one
slave of our friend Mohammed Ladjam’s (who offered to resist me, and was
about to use his weapon, calling me a Kaffre), a horizontal cut with the
lash that circled his neck and dashed him to the ground, where my
servants instantly disarmed him, was the work of a few instants. Soliman
Kaschef and his people had ridden on far in advance without knowing
anything of these doings, and I had nothing therefore for it, but to
remain in the neighbourhood of the slave-women and my baggage, and
putting new caps on my rifle and pistols, threaten to instantly shoot
down any one who did not conduct himself as he ought, or who should
dare, as my servants feared they would, attempt to injure my baggage
camels. On the Kaschef halting and our reaching him, I related the
matter to him, and he repeated my threats as to any one attempting to
injure me or my baggage animals, and turning to me, told me, he would
give me other slaves to indemnify the owners, in case I found it
necessary to shoot any for misconduct; on my particular interference to
obtain good treatment for the slave-women, he at once declared the
punishment of any ill-usage shown them to be irrevocably fixed at fifty
blows of the nabut (bastinado). The poor girls now cast grateful looks
at their deliverer, and I laughed at the jealous but powerless fury of
their conductors, and at an after-time had the satisfaction to be
recognised by some of these unfortunate women, and welcomed by them in
the most kindly manner. We now, without any further strange adventure,
passed over Gos Rajeb, through the meadow-lands of Butana, to which I
intend again to revert in my “Journey to Mandera;” and by Halfaia to
Chartum.
The Pascha also afterwards arrived at the same place, his long-
determined-on retreat having been carried out, as there were no laurels
to be gained by keeping the field, and his presence was indeed much
required in Sennaar.
APPENDIX.
* * * * *
LIST OF BEASTS, BIRDS, AND REPTILES,
SENT TO THE BERLIN MUSEUM.
Lepus æth.
Cercopithecus Sabaeus, n. sp.
Sciurus brachyotus _Ehrenb._
Viverra Canis, a kind of jackal with short tail.
Felis Leo.
Felis, n. sp.
Felis Serval.
Antilope Saltiana.
Antilope Sommeringii _Rupp._
Falco vocifer _Daud._
Falco excaudatus _Daud._
Falco polyzonus _Rupp._
Falco leucocephalus.
Falco melanopterus _Daud._
Falco tinnunculus _L._
Strix flammea _L._ var. Afric.
Corvus Cryptorhina poicilorhynchos _Wag._
Lanius, n. sp.
Lanius nubicus.
Lanius barbatus, sp. dist.
Turdus [Ixos] leucocephalus [Crateropus].
T. [Ixos] xanthopygus [Arsinoe _L._].
Saxicola aurita _Temm._
Fringilla [Pyrgita] spadiceae, n. sp. Afr.
Fr. [Estrelda] elegans _L. Gm._
Fr. bengalus _L. Gm._
Fr. cantans _L._
Fr. nitens, _L._, adult.
Vidua [Fring.] paradisea.
V. [Fring. serena.]
Oryx [Fring. ignicolor] _Vieill._
Ploceus personatus _Temm._
Lamprotornis aenea [Turdus aeneus].
L. chalybea, n. sp.
L. Chrysogaster.
Nectarinia lucida, n. sp.
N. melampogon, n. sp.
N. metallica, n. sp.
N. metallica, adult.
Anabastes acaciæ [Crateropus].
Picus nubicus _L. Gm._
P. Goertan _L. Gm._
Bucco erythropygos, n. sp.
Pogonias senegalensis.
Psittacus frenatus.
Cypselus melba (var. jun.).
Caprimulgus cuneatus, n. sp.
C. climacurus _Vieill._
Merops nubicus.
M. Cuvieri.
M. viridis.
M. erythropterus _Lath._
Alcedo rudis _L._
A. senegalensis _L._
A. Actæon.
A. striolata _Ill._
Coracias abyssinica _L._
Centropus senegalensis _Ill._
Colias senegalensis _L. Gm._
C. striatus _Lath._
Buceros abyss. _L._, adult.
Buc. nasutus _L._
Buc. melanoleucos, _Lichtenst. Bechst._
B. erythrorhynchus _Briss. Tem._
Columba capensis _Lath._, adult.
Pterocles Senegal. _Temm._
Perdix, sp.
Ciconia Senegal.
Grus Pavonina.
Ibis Hagedasch _Lath._
Ib. æthiopica.
Parra africana _Lath._
Anser ægyptiacus.
A. [Sarkidiornis] melanotus.
Pelecanus Onocrotalus L., adult.
Gypogeranus.
Psamosaurus.
Hydrosaurus [Monitor, Varanus niloticus].
Naja Haje [Coluber Naje _Hasselq._].
Vipera Cerastes _Daud._
Python Sebæ.
&c. &c. &c.
THE END.
LONDON:
SPOTTISWOODES and SHAW,
New-street-Square.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Native boat.]
[Footnote 2: In Chartum, the Baron, indeed, had used his poisons at the
Pascha’s desire, and in his service, and it is more than probable that
the latter, at an after period, caused the Baron to be poisoned by one
of his wives, a Circassian, with whom he, Soliman Effendi, lived on the
worst terms of hate and discord.]
[Footnote 3: Nemzani plur. Nimza, borrowed into the Turkish language
from the Sclavonic, in which Niemetz means a silent fellow, and _per
abusum_, a German, as he cannot speak their language, and having the
same meaning as Deutscher among the Sclaves, where this word is still
used as a term of reproach, arising from the bad blood left by the old
Sclavonic wars, though the Turks, as I am fully convinced, use the word
without any bad meaning. In Europe, on the contrary, the word Sclave
(slave) is no title of honour, and even the Greeks sneer at Σκλαβος.]
[Footnote 4: We did not again fall in with this singular man till
encamped at the Kassela-el-Sus, when we richly rewarded and handsomely
entertained him; he, however, had often seen my brother in the interim,
but never came near him, or made himself known.]
[Footnote 5: These are filled up with rubbish, and when much of this was
removed by the treasure seeker, Dr. Ferlini from Bologna, no mummies
were found, but many skeletons in sitting postures, which he stripped of
their gold and ornaments.]
[Footnote 6: The word for brick is top achmer, red stone, and may point
to a manufacture introduced by the Arabs.]
[Footnote 7: Sorghum cernuum, L., the ancient Egyptian bread
corn—Sorgho, a kind of thick-eared, high-growing barley.]
[Footnote 8: How the French in Algeria,—called el Geseier by the
Arabs,—can use the word kabyle for any particular persons, tribe, or
country, I cannot comprehend.]
[Footnote 9: Kisra, flat cakes like pancakes; other bread is called
esch, as is also the durra itself.]
[Footnote 10: Although this short description of Mons. Thibaut is merely
truth, and nothing but truth, even to his having been a _gamin_ of
Paris, still, after having journeyed with him on the White Nile, when he
admitted that we had known each other in Greece in 1822-23, I see, from
the style of it, that the warm climate calls forth a passionateness that
one can hardly explain on calmer consideration; but even for this
psychological fact, I give my journal word for word.]
[Footnote 11: Top, in plural Topchan—pieces of cotton cloths twenty or
thirty ells long and one yard and a half broad, which come from Hedjas.
Dogk—pieces twice as broad, from Habesch, of two reals value.]
[Footnote 12: These names, Ruman and Portugahn, point to emigration from
Greece and Portugal, although the first fruit may be found among the
hieroglyphics.]
[Footnote 13: So called by the Persians with whom they originated; by
the Greeks, nargile; by the Turks, nerschile.]
[Footnote 14: Of this remarkable war in Hedjas, the details of which are
most probably even yet little known, I hope ere long to be able to give
the public some account from materials I have by me.]
[Footnote 15: A long crooked knife, sharpened on the inner edge.]
[Footnote 16: Fustanella, from φουστανα.]
[Footnote 17: Defterdar, keeper of public accounts, minister of
finance.]
[Footnote 18: We have long ago been convinced of the truth of the common
saying in Egypt, that no Arab can bring home even an orange or lemon
from the market, without running a pin into and sucking it, so as to
make something by the job. The love of theft seems to have been an
hereditary vice of Arabs from the earliest times, as even in the Bible
they are described as unsafe companions. However, their thefts are
generally those of the pettiest kinds, such as Frank servants would not
think of, as they never take more than a small portion of what they
steal from, even were this a pile of coin or a heap of sugar. They
either trust that the owner’s stupidity will not miss this (and it is
true Europeans are very apt in this country to sink into a curious state
of careless listlessness), or they imagine that, in case of discovery,
no great noise will be made about such a trifle. The Barabra are perfect
children in their manners. When sent to fetch anything, they never
think, full as their hands may be, of first emptying them, ere trying to
lift other articles. One of these we, for our sins, had, while in
Chartum, attempted to make a cook of, and instruct him, as far as we
ourselves had picked it up, in making our favourite dish of jugged hare;
but all in vain—a nice mess he made! A cookery book would, indeed have
been a treasure here, as the favourite dishes of one’s young and healthy
days are doubly relished when ailing, or among a people whose food and
cookery are so different to European.]
[Footnote 19: The Faki should be well versed in the Koran, able to read
and write; they are not allowed to smoke or drink merissa, and they
should be pious men, but, in spite of their outward holiness, they are
generally the greatest rascals going.]
[Footnote 20: Mara, woman; bint, bannàht, a girl; garië, gàddim, female
slave.]
[Footnote 21: It is also sometimes got rid of by salt water bathing, as
has been remarked on slaves brought to Alexandria.]
[Footnote 22: I also afterwards cured in Chartum (my poor brother having
made his early and sad departure from this life) our brave Agar (meaning
in the Aggem speech of Taka, elephant hunter), who had acquired the
disease from a Koschef in return for having cured his almost cut-off
head. This lad, from the Basa hills, where he, during a chasufa, had
been made a slave, calmly held out his foot and kept it there like a
stoic, so that he might be held by the other servants as “schatter”
(brave), while my own hand trembled fearfully. Each morning showed two
pieces of the worm, like white threads, coming out of the opening caused
by the burning; as these dried up they fell off, and the wound soon
healed of itself. Being obliged afterwards, from want of travelling
funds, to leave him in Alexandria, I handed him over to the Alt-Graf
Franz von Salm-Reifferscheidt of Prague, who soon became very fond of
him, and had an excellent education bestowed on him, as I myself
afterwards saw when on my return home, and was no more than I expected
from my honest countryman.]
[Footnote 23: His mother has herself alone to blame, that her son in his
youth indulged in all kinds of excess. When Ladjam was only twelve years
old she gave him a young female Abyssinian slave as a playfellow, and on
his entering his fourteenth year she presented him with a Circassian
girl, by way of change. At this moment, the son of Omar Kaschif, who is
only twelve years old, lives with a wife of the same age. It is
frightful to see how such young children are almost forced into vice,
and how their parents look on it as a sign of stoutness they may be
proud of.]
[Footnote 24: It is asserted in Paris that this took place at the
altar.]
[Footnote 25: This he closely adhered to on his last trip to France to
look for a bride, and there he happily gained a wife, who may have then
dreamt she had not done so ill.]
[Footnote 26: This I have remarked (when close to them on the long
harbour bridge at Constantinople) in the women of the former Sultan
Mahmoud and other Turks of rank, when these were there taking the air in
the oxen-drawn carriages, enjoying the favour, procured them by the
Sultan, of looking about them and seeing something of life; but this
species of emancipation does not seem to have borne the best fruit, for
I hardly had got to Egypt ere the Sultan issued some pretty severe
orders as to these ladies’ mode of life.]
[Footnote 27: A band some four or five inches wide, drawn through the
trousers to hold them fast above the hips.]
[Footnote 28: Achu—Brother.]
[Footnote 29: Pieces of cotton cloth.]
[Footnote 30: See also L’Univers, ou Histoire et Déscription de tous les
Peuples, de leurs Réligions, Mœurs, Coutumes, &c. Egypte, par M.
Champollion-Figear, conservateur à la Bibliothèque du Roi.]
[Footnote 31: From balta, axe.]
Transcriber's note:
pg 2 Changed: "oldest Juffbaschi or captain" to: "Jussbaschi"
pg 17 Changed: "Nile to look out, ond there" to: "and"
pg 19 Changed: "morning of the 18th May" to: "March"
pg 21 Changed: "and then “Huc bimùtt”" to: "“Hue"
pg 26 Changed: "where no hammah is to be got" to: "hammab"
pg 29 footnote 7 Changed: "Sorgno, a kind of thick-eared" to: "Sorgho"
pg 38 (x2) Changed: "Sanakim" to: "Sauakim"
pg 41 Changed: "was none, the column o" to: "of"
pg 75 Changed: "Schukurie and Habbabee Arabs" to: "Kabbabee"
pg 82 Changed: "be useless as pecimens" to: "specimens"
pg 90 Changed: "at might he called pretty" to: "be"
pg 109 Changed: "on the Amàhe already granted" to: "Amàhn"
pg 129 Missing reference to footnote 19 placed after: "Sebbà. The
Sheiks and Faki"
pg 130 Changed: "A Skukurie-Arab had a considerable" to: "Shukurie-
Arab"
pg 139 Changed: "hostilities with the Pascha Juffuff" to: "Jussuff"
pg 142 Changed: "and become sa man. Rich" to: "becomes a"
pg 143 Changed: "departments hav succeeded in" to: "have"
pg 157 Changed: "to shine in spendid garments" to: "splendid"
pg 157 Changed: "sought after, t bear a high value" to: "after, bear
a"
pg 186 Changed: "our Husseln the Gaddam taib" to: "Hussein"
pg 190 Changed: "l’œil gouflé, le nez écrasé" to: "gonflé"
pg 201-202 Changed: "set on it; in in the breast" to: "it; in the"
pg 204 Changed: "races are to to be looked on" to: "are to be"
pg 212 Changed: "fruit of the thorny Hebbek" to: "Nebbek"
pg 217 Changed: "separation arose Hanathi, Kadmin" to: "Hauathi"
pg 244 Changed: "Osmar Kaschef, as a preventive" to: "Omar"
pg 247 Changed: "and even a part of Schukune" to: "Schukurie"
pg 251 Changed: "shot by our soldiery (Ashari)" to: "Askari"
pg 258 Changed: "black wings (Larius barbarus" to: "Lanius barbatus"
pg 260 Changed: "The Pascha summonsed me" to: "summoned"
Other spelling inconsistencies have been left unchanged.