ARRIVAL AT SOUÂKIN—THE SOUDAN—BEDOUIN ARAB PRISONERS IN
THE SQUARE, NOT “ON THE SQUARE”—IVORY—ENGAGE CAMELS—SHEIK
MOUSSA—SOUÂKIN—SLAVES—TRAGIC END OF A DOCTOR—HADENDOWAH
ARABS—AN ILL-FATED MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE.
We were now just about to land in the Soudan, and as that word is, as I
am writing, in everyone’s mouth, it would be as well to say something
about it before I go any further.
The Soudan, or Beled-es-Sudan, Land of the Blacks, has since the Middle
Ages been the common name of the vast extent of country in Central
Africa, which stretches southward from the Desert of Sahara to the
Equator. The name was originally applied by the Arabs, but with great
latitude of signification, different authors giving it to the different
parts of the territory with which the varying routes across the desert
made them acquainted. Later geographers divide it into High and Low
Soudan. Many include Senegambia in it. High Soudan stretches from the
sources of the Niger, Senegal and Gambia, to the Upper Nile, or, at all
events, to the south of Lake Chad, and embraces the mountains of Kong
and of Upper Senegambia, the kingdoms of Ashantee, Dahomey, Mandingo,
Houssah, and Feelah. All this country is richly watered and wooded,
distinguished by a luxuriant tropical vegetation and by deposits of gold.
Low Soudan stretches on the north of High Soudan, eastward to Kordofan,
and northward to the desert. This district is partly level, partly
undulating, and partly broken by chains of lofty hills rising within
its own limits. Its situation between the desert on the north and the
mountains which border it on the south, with a climate destructive to
foreigners, and a lawless and predatory population, make it one of the
most inaccessible regions in the world. In the south, where it is watered
by the Niger, Lake Tchad, and their tributaries, it assumes a fertile
and cultivated appearance. The inhabitants contain numerous nations of
different races, chiefly of the Negro, Fulde, or Fellatah stems, together
with many Arab colonists.
This is what Sir Samuel Baker says about the Soudan in the _Contemporary
Review_: “Before the White Nile annexation the Soudan was accepted as
a vague and unsatisfactory definition as representing everything south
of the first cataract at Assouan, without any actual limitation; but
the extension of Egyptian territory to the Equator has increased the
value of the term, and the word Soudan now embraces the whole of that
vast region which comprises the Deserts of Libya, the ancient Merve,
Dongola, Kordofan, Darfur, Senaar, and the entire Nile Basin, bordered
on the east by Abyssinia, and elsewhere by doubtful frontiers. The Red
Sea alone confines the Egyptian limit to an unquestionable line. Wherever
the rainfall is regular the country is immensely fertile; therefore the
Soudan may be divided into two portions—the great deserts which are
beyond the rainy zone, and consequently arid, and the southern provinces
within that zone, which are capable of great agricultural development.
Including the levels of the mighty Nile, a distance is traversed of about
3,300 miles from the Victoria N’yanza to the Mediterranean; the whole of
this region throughout its passage is now included in the name ‘Soudan.’”
We had on board Captain Gascoigne and Dr. Melidew, of the Royal Horse
Guards. They were also bent on a shooting expedition in the Soudan,
but did not accompany us farther than Souâkin. There were several other
passengers on board bound for India.
We landed at Souâkin on the quay, in a large open square. One side is
occupied by what is absurdly called the palace, a large building in which
the Governor transacts his official duties, the opposite side by the
custom-house, the other by a guard-house, whilst the opposite side was
not occupied by any building, but was open to and contiguous to the Red
Sea; it was, in fact, the quay.
Here I saw nine tons of elephants’ tusks ready for shipment. The average
weight of each pair of tusks would be somewhere about 36lbs. I computed
that about 560 elephants would have been slaughtered to make up nine
tons of ivory; and if elephants are killed at that rate, people may well
exclaim about the scarcity of ivory. What next attracted my attention was
about 60 Bedouin Arabs in heavy chains, wandering about in this large
open square. These poor fellows had to pay their gaolers 100 dollars
a month. The Maria Theresa dollar which is in use in the Soudan, and
preferred to any other coin, is worth 4s. of our money. They had to
find their own food, or rather their tribe did so. I was told that at
one time they were a strong tribe, and had come over from Arabia. They
had at one time 8,000 camels, but they had dwindled down to 2,000, as
whenever they failed to pay the taxes some of their camels were seized.
I cannot speak with any certainty of their offence, but somehow or other
they had incurred the anger of the then Governor of the Soudan, Ali Riza
Pacha, about a year beforehand. He clapped them into irons, and there
they seemed likely to remain, unless some more kindly-disposed Governor
superseded him. This fortunately happened not long before our return to
Souâkin in the following April, when Ali Dheen Pacha was appointed, who
soon liberated them.
The inhabitants of Souâkin are principally Arabs, a few Greek and Italian
merchants, and two Englishmen. The Government usually have a garrison
of about 300 Nubian troops stationed in an undefended barrack on the
mainland, about a mile from the town.
Blind to their own interest, the Egyptian Government obstructs traffic by
the heavy duties which it levies. Cattle and sheep, which can be obtained
from the tribes in the neighbourhood, are sent by hundreds annually to
Suez by sea. Were it not for the heavy duties imposed, I should say that
a large trade ought to be done with Suez, which is but three and a half
days from Souâkin. There is a telegraph line to Kassala. They have large
numbers of camels for sale or hire, but no horses, mules, or donkeys. The
water is collected during the wet season in a large reservoir about a
mile from the town; there are also two or three wells at the same place.
We soon introduced ourselves to Mr. Brewster, an Englishman, and head
of the custom-house; and he in turn sent for Achmet Effendi, the Civil
Governor of Souâkin, to whom he introduced us. Of course, there followed
the inevitable salaaming, coffee and cigarettes, so customary in the
East. Our business was very soon explained; we wanted about 80 camels
provided without delay to transport ourselves and our baggage across
the desert to Kassala. The camel sheik, Moussa, was sent for, and soon
appeared—a really picturesque, handsome-featured man, almost black,
possessed of gleaming, regular teeth, wearing a snow-white turban and
loose white robe, precisely like the ancient Roman toga. _En passant_, I
cannot help thinking that the slang word “togs” is derived from the word
toga.
The Sheik Moussa promised to provide us with the camels within three
days; and, strange to say, he did so, a singular instance of a man
keeping his word to one in the East. I know that my experience amongst
the officials in Turkey was very different—there everything was put off
until to-morrow. A day would be fixed for me to call at the Seraskierat,
or War Office, and when I went I was usually met with the reply, “Yarrin
sabbah, effendi” (to-morrow, sir), or “Ywash, ywash” (by and bye), not
once or twice, but I daresay five or six times. Another inconvenient
phrase which is always on their lips if one wants any money from them,
and which is spoken trippingly on the tongue, is “Para yok” (no paras),
in English, “I haven’t a farthing.”
It soon became known that there was a “Hakeem Ingelese,” as they called
me, in our party, and I very soon had many patients, amongst whom was a
child of one of the Bedouin Arabs.
In the afternoon I improved my acquaintance with Mr. Brewster, who had
officially resided here four years, and, of course, knew most of the
people and the customs of the place. There are a great many good and
curiously-built houses with flat roofs, built of blocks of white coral,
and a great many tent-like structures constructed with reeds, stalks of
palm leaves, and matting, which is very cheap and abundant, made by the
natives out of palm leaves. Mr. Brewster was good enough to escort me
over Souâkin, and give me all the information he could about the place
and people. As we strolled on he pointed out the home of a slave-dealer,
who then had several slaves—children and young girls. These could easily
be transferred as ivory, dhurra, or something of the kind, as old Achmet
Effendi connived at slave-dealing, and would shut his eyes to the
transaction provided his palm was crossed with a couple of dollars per
head. The little children realize from 30 to 40 dollars a head, and young
girls 70, 80, or 100 dollars.
“Why,” said I, “in England it is supposed that the slave trade has been
abolished in Egypt long ago. When in Cairo I saw the slave-market, but
was told no slaves have been sold there for the past three or four year.”
“Ah,” said he, “you will find, when you get further into Africa, that it
is still carried on, and more openly than it is here. When they have been
captured they are driven across the desert just like cattle to some quiet
place on the Red Sea coast, where there is a stambouk waiting; there
shipped and taken across to Jeddah in a day or so, and sold by public
auction.” The only other Englishman resident at Souâkin was Mr. Bewlay;
he had at once lived in Jeddah for a time, and he assured me that he had
often seen slaves sold there. _Apropos_ of my profession, Mr. Brewster
related a very interesting, and, to me, a very instructive anecdote,
which served to enlighten me considerably as to the peculiar line of
thought which sometimes permeates the native brain, and to the still more
peculiar line of action which it leads to. He told me that about three
years or so before our arrival a German doctor, who had settled there,
whilst attending a native, had occasion to perform some trivial operation
which was not attended with the success which he desired or anticipated,
as unfortunately for the native, and subsequently for the doctor, the
former was so inconsiderate as to expire a day or two afterwards. The
doctor could truly say after this, “A doctor’s lot is not a happy one,”
inasmuch as the friends of the defunct Arab paid him a visit, and in a
marked but highly objectionable manner, showed what they thought of the
doctor’s services in a way that did not commend itself to me, and which,
for want of a better illustration, we will call “a new way of paying
old debts.” The worthy leech was requested, in so pressing a manner
that refusal was out of the question, to accompany these friends of the
deceased, and _nolens volens_, they escorted him to a large open space
just outside the town, where dhurra and other things were sold, and there
they remunerated him, not in dhurra, not in sheep, not in goats, not
even in money, but in a most cutting manner, for they fell upon him with
their knives and literally chopped him to pieces. Reader, “would you be
surprised to hear,” that on learning this I was extremely careful not to
perform any rash operations, and that my ministrations to the lame, the
halt, the sick, and the blind, should be successful. At all events, it is
a source of great gratification to me that they were not so unsuccessful
as to necessitate the sudden and unlooked-for departure of any of my
patients to their happy hunting-grounds.
The Hadendowah Arabs are the most numerous tribe in the neighbourhood
of Souâkin, and are, for the most part, good-looking men; they are very
dark, approaching to blackness, have good, well-formed features, large
dark eyes, arched black eyebrows, and face, on which as a rule there is
little or no hair, and nearly every Arab, here and elsewhere, that I met
with, is possessed of the most beautifully white, regular, and sound
teeth possible. There is little doubt but that this is due to the simple
manner in which they live; their chief food is dhurra (sorghum vulgare).
This contains 11½ per cent. of gluten, our wheat only ten per cent.
This is the wheat of Egypt, and is the food of camels, horses, and men.
Camels, however, get very little of it, as a rule, unless on a forced
march, or are owned by a man who can afford it. It grows to the height of
nine or ten feet, and is very prolific. I never counted the seeds in a
head of this sorghum, but Sir Samuel Baker did, and he says that in one
single head he found 4,840 grains. The Arabs, speaking generally, are not
big-boned men, but are lithe, active, and sinewy. Their hair is bushy,
frizzly, long, and black, which they wear very curiously; they often take
as much trouble with it as any West-end dandy would do. A parting is made
around the crown from one temple to the other; the hair on the top is
combed up and kept short—perhaps an inch long—the rest is combed down,
and stands out in a bush all round the head to a distance of three or
four inches; a thin piece of stick, like a skewer slightly bent towards
the sharp point, is stuck through the hair at the top, and is often used
to stir up the population, which is no doubt very numerous. I have often
seen their hair white with fat, which they plaster on most abundantly
when they can get it, and as few wear any covering over their shoulders
when they are exposed to the heat of the blazing sun, this drips down on
to them. They wear a bundle of charms secured just above the elbow, a
tope, or loin-cloth round the waist, which reaches down to their knees,
and very many a ring in one nostril. Nearly all of them carry a shield
and a long spear weighted at one end. The Hadendowhas are much given to
lying and laziness.
During the time that we remained here we were fully occupied in
preparing for our journey across the desert from Souâkin to Kassala,
a distance of about 280 miles; we cut up old boxes, made new ones,
and sorted out what provisions, &c., we should require. I arranged my
medicine-chest and surgical instruments so that I could get at what I
might want easily. We got a little shooting, sand-grouse, flamingoes,
pelicans, and herons; wandered about the town and frightened all the
children in the place, who thought we were slave-dealers come to steal
them. The principal slave supply is obtained from the White Nile and
Darfour; Khartoum, I believe, is the principal slave mart.
At nights we stretched ourselves out on the divan that ran round the room
in the palace, and slept head to feet all round. This room adjoined and
looked out on the square in which the Bedouin prisoners were confined;
frequently in the early morning they woke us up with their clanking
chains, or by indulging in their peculiar mode of devotion. The day
before we started on our journey, Mr. Brewster said—
“Well, Doctor, I hope you will all return alive and well, and not be so
unfortunate as a party that Dr. Felkin accompanied a year or two ago.”
“I am sure I quite indulge in the hope of returning to England in a sound
state,” I replied. “But tell me about the misfortunes of the party you
speak of.”
“That is done in a very few words,” said he. “Six missionaries went from
Souâkin and six from Zanzibar, meeting eventually in the wilds of Africa,
sent out by the English Church Mission Society, to reclaim lost sheep.
They were not happy in the selection of a suitable spot for evangelising,
as only three of them and Dr. Felkin returned to Souâkin, looking
considerably the worse for wear; the others had succumbed to fever,
dysentery, and spears. Indeed, I am not quite sure that some of them were
not eaten.”