CHAPTER XX.

A disastrous day. Failure to rescue my effects. Burnt Seriba

by night. Comfortless bed. A wintry aspect. Rebuilding the

Seriba. Cause of the fire. Idrees’s apathy. An exceptionally

wet day. Bad news of Niam-niam expedition. Measuring distance

by footsteps. Start to the Dyoor. Khalil’s kind reception.

A restricted wardrobe. Temperature at its minimum. Corn

requisitions of Egyptian troops. Slave trade carried on

by soldiers. Suggestions for improved transport. Chinese

hand-barrows. Defeat of Khartoomers by Ndoruma. Nubians’ fear

of bullets. A lion shot. Nocturnal disturbance. Measurements

of the river Dyoor. Hippopotamus hunt. Habits of hippopotamus.

Hippopotamus fat. Nile whips. Recovery of a manuscript.

Character of the Nubians. Nubian superstitions. Strife in the

Egyptian camp.

The description which has already been given of the large establishment

owned by the firm of Ghattas, where, with all my provisions, I was

now awaiting the start of the caravan, must have made the place in a

large degree familiar to the reader. For the dearer apprehension of the

event I have now to relate it may be advisable to repeat the following

particulars. The colony consisted of about six hundred huts and sheds,

which were built almost entirely of straw and bamboo. In the intervals

between the huts were erected the large sun-screens known as “rokooba,”

which were made of the same materials; and, to separate allotment

from allotment, there were long lines of fences, which were likewise

composed of straw, and these were arranged so close to each other that

they scarcely admitted the narrowest of passages, perhaps but a few

feet across, to run between them. Everything that human ingenuity could

contrive seemed to have been done to insure that, with the cessation

of the rainy season there should commence a period of the extremest

peril, and, for myself, I can avow that fear of fire became my bugbear

by day and my terror by night. In spite of my remonstrances I saw the

crowding together of the huts continually become more and more dense,

and the enclosure packed full to the utmost limits of its capacity.

It became a manifest impossibility in the case of the occurrence of

fire, on however small a scale, to prevent it spreading into such

a conflagration that the safety of the whole establishment must be

imperilled. The material of the structures, dried in the tropical heat,

would accelerate and insure the devastation that must necessarily ensue.

The catastrophe, which I had dreaded with such ominous apprehension,

befell us at midday on the 1st of December.

This most disastrous day of my life had opened in the accustomed

carrying out of its routine. I had been engaged all the morning with my

correspondence and in arranging the notes of the various occurrences

that had transpired since the despatch of my previous budget. I had

partaken of my frugal midday meal, and was just on the point of

resuming my writing, when all at once I caught the sound of the excited

Bongo shrieking out “poddu, poddu” (fire, fire!) Long, how long none

can tell, will the memory of this burst of alarm haunt my ear. It makes

me shudder even now. Eager to know the truth, and to ascertain how far

the ill-omened apparition of misfortune had already spread, I rushed to

the doorway of my hut, and beheld that the devouring element was doing

its work at a distance of only three huts from my own; the flame was

rising fiercely from the top of a hut; there was no room for hope; just

at that time of day the north-east wind always blew with its greatest

violence, and it was only too plain that the direction of the gale was

bringing the fire straight towards my residence. The space of a few

minutes was all that remained for me to rescue what I could.

[Sidenote: MY DISASTER.]

Without an instant’s delay, my people flocked to the scene of the

alarm. Without stopping to discuss what was most prudent or to consider

what was most valuable, they laid hold upon anything that came to hand.

The negro-boys took particular care of all the stuffs, and of their

own clothes as being of the greatest consequence in their estimation,

and by their means all my bedding and two of my leathern portmanteaus

were carried safely out of the Seriba. I myself flung my manuscript

into a great chest which had already been provided against any accident

of the sort, but my care was of no avail. My servants succeeded in

hastily conveying five of my largest boxes and two cases to the open

space of the Seriba where the direction of the wind made us presume

they would be out of danger; but we only too soon learnt our mistake;

the wind chopped and veered about, and the hot blasts fanned the flames

in every direction till there was hardly a place to stand, and it was

hopeless to reckon upon any more salvage. A prompt retreat became

absolutely necessary; great masses of burning straw began to fall in

every quarter, and the high fences of straw left but narrow avenues by

which we could escape. The flames sometimes seemed to rise to a height

of a hundred feet above the combustible structures of dry grass, and

then all at once they would descend, but only to lick with destructive

fury some adjacent spot, while a perpetual shower of hot sparks glared

again in the roaring air. The crowds, as they rushed away before the

advancing flames, were like a swarm of flies buzzing around a lighted

torch. I cast a look towards the remnant of my property which we had

thought we had rescued, and to my horror I perceived that the chests

were enveloped in smoke, and immediately afterwards were encircled

by the flames. It was a moment of despair. How my heart sank at the

sight none can imagine, for those chests contained all my manuscripts,

journals, and records, in comparison with which the loss of all the

effects in my hut appeared utterly insignificant, though they were the

burdens of a hundred bearers. Regardless of the shower of sparks, which

singed off my very hair, I made a frantic rush forwards, the dogs, with

their feet all scorched, howling at my side, and breathlessly stopped

under a tree, where I found a shelter alike from the raging of the

ardent flame and from the noonday glare. In the confusion of the flight

I had been unable to get my hat, and was thus fully exposed to the

midday heat.

Below us from amidst the crackling waves of fire came the crashing

noise of the roofs as they collapsed, and ever and again there broke

forth the louder report caused by the explosion of our ammunition,

and many a loaded gun that had been left behind discharged itself and

exposed the fugitives to a new and random danger. The Nubians behaved

themselves with a strange composure, not to say indifference; the

majority had little or nothing to lose, yet many an account-book must

have perished in the flames, so that not a few of them hoped to turn

the disaster to a profitable account. The priests, however, were not

quite so unmoved; they stood before their doors and howled out the

shrieking formulæ of their incantations, by which they pretended to

control the course of the raging fire. It was very remarkable that the

spot where a Faki had been buried, and which was marked with a white

banner to distinguish it as a place for prayer, was spared from the

general conflagration, although it was within a few yards of where my

burnt chests had been laid. The departed Faki was now as good as a

canonised saint, and had proved himself a genuine sheikh.

The entire Seriba by this time was wrapped in flames, which seemed

still to spread in every quarter. The wind, as it rose, carried away

with it whole bundles of smouldering straw, which it soon fanned into

fire amidst the huts that were scattered round on the exterior of the

palisade.

[Sidenote: THE RESIDUE OF MY EFFECTS.]

Very dry at this season, the steppe had hitherto been preserved,

because the harvest was not yet complete, and it was not very long

before this too was caught by the raging fire, and even the old trees

around did not escape, so that it seemed almost as if the whole

district were being submerged in a sea of flame. Half an hour had

completed the great work of devastation. After that period it was

possible to make a dash between the charred posts of the huts, but

only for a few moments, so intense was the heat of the ground and

so overpowering the glowing atmosphere that pervaded the scene of

destruction. A crowd of people kept on bringing vessels of water to try

and extinguish the flames before they had totally destroyed the clay

“googahs” which held the sole supply of corn.

After a while I succeeded in getting to my garden, which, bereft of the

greater part of its recently-constructed hedge of bamboo, presented a

truly melancholy aspect. As the sun sank low we began to make a search

for anything that might have been spared amidst the still glowing

embers of the huts. I had saved little beyond my life. I had lost all

my clothes, my guns, and the best part of my instruments. I was without

tea and without quinine. As I stood gazing upon the piles of ashes I

could not help reckoning up the accumulation of my labours which had

there, beneath them all, been buried in this hapless destiny. All my

preparations for the projected expedition to the Niam-niam; all the

produce of my recent journey; all the entomological collection that

I had made with such constant interest; all the examples of native

industry which I had procured by so much care; all my registers of

meteorological events which had been kept day by day and without

interruption ever since my first departure from Suakin, and in which

I had inscribed some 7000 barometrical observations; all my journals,

with their detailed narrative of the transactions of 825 days; all

my elaborate measurements of the bodies of the natives, which I had

been at so much pains and expense to induce them to permit; all my

vocabularies, which it had been so tedious a business to compile;

everything, in the course of a single hour; everything was gone, the

plunder of the flames. It had been for the sake of better protection,

as I thought, that I had resolved not to part with my journals, and had

kept my collection of insects in my own possession; I had been afraid

of any misadventure befalling them; but now they might just as well

have been at the bottom of the Nile.

There I sat amongst my tobacco-shrubs upon my stock of bedding that

had been rescued from the flames; but I fear that I could not boast

of overmuch of the spirit of resignation. The entire remnant of my

property was soon reckoned up; it consisted of a couple of chests, my

three barometers, an azimuth-compass, and the ironwork which survived

from the different productions of the Niam-niam and Monbuttoo.

Evening drew on: just as usual, the cow with her calf came and provided

me with two glasses of milk. I had a yam or two, a picking from the

inside of a half-burnt tuber, a morsel from a similarly half-burnt

lump of pickled meat, and I had come to the end of my slender stock of

provisions. My dogs kept up a continual howling; their sufferings from

their burnt feet must have been excessive, and they whined in concert

with the general desolation. The servants, however, were as calm and

undisturbed as usual. Neither the Nubians nor the negroes seemed to be

much concerned; and why should they? They had just nothing to lose.

I looked around and counted up my party. It consisted of seven bipeds

and seven quadrupeds; the same number of each, and each of about the

same sensibility.

When the darkness of night had really set in, the region of the Seriba

had all the aspect of an active colliery. The venerable fig-tree in

front of the main entrance was still flaring away, and the palisade was

yet burning, apparently shutting in the scene of ruin with a garland of

light. It was a ghastly illumination. To the Nubians the spectacle was

not altogether a novelty. The sight of a negro village in flames was

to them familiar enough; but now the tables were turned, and they had

to learn for themselves what it is to be hungry and destitute of every

prospect of supply. Such were the conditions under which that night we

had to seek our rest.

[Sidenote: DESOLATION.]

Hardly anything could be more impressive than the scene that revealed

itself on the following morning. Not merely the places where the fire

had raged, but the regions around were strewn with a thick layer of

ashes; the steppes and sorghum-fields were whitened with them. It would

be easy to have imagined that the glowing green of the tropics had for

a time retreated, and allowed itself to be replaced by a gloomy and

wintry vegetation transported from the arctic zone. Almost as white as

snow were the layers of ashes that had settled on the sorghum-fields,

only broken by the heaps of half-burnt clods that rose like hillocks of

turf upon a moor. The smoke still lingered on the ground, and veiled

the general scene; the trees seemed to stretch out their dry bare arms

to heaven, and helped to complete the resemblance to the winterly

aspect of the frozen world.

It was a pitiful sight to watch the brown and swarthy figures of the

negroes, wrapped in their brown and swarthy rags, run hither and

thither amongst the still smouldering ruins; and the wretchedness

of the view was not a little aggravated by the bloated carcases of

half-roasted donkeys and sheep that lay scattered about in various

parts. Troops of women were bustling about and carrying water-vessels

of every sort, eager in their endeavours to put out the lurking fire

that was threatening the corn-magazines that hitherto had escaped.

These clay-built reservoirs of corn were the only memorials that

seemed to survive the devastation. Blackened indeed by the smoke,

the “googahs” were still erect. Varying in height from five feet to

seven, they were hardly ever wanting in the homes either of the Dyoor

or Dinka: and now as they stood surmounting the otherwise universal

_débris_, their very numbers made them conspicuous, and, forming a

fantastic feature in the scene, gave their testimony as to what had

been the crowded proximity of hut to hut.

Hurrying up from the surrounding country, the natives flocked to search

for beads amidst the ruins, although every bead must necessarily have

been spoilt. Others of them, with a better purpose, set to work to

construct sheds of straw for the shelter of the houseless.

The next day was opened with a general effort to restore the buildings

of the Seriba. Hundreds of Bongo, Dyoor, and Dinka brought the

necessary wood, straw, and bamboos, and proceeded to construct their

new huts with much dexterity: on an average, six men would completely

finish a hut twenty feet in diameter in a couple of days.

No common sense had been learnt through the late calamity, for not only

was the Seriba erected on the selfsame spot, but in the selfsame manner

as before. The fear of being assassinated by the Dinka was assigned as

the reason for refusing to follow the example of Khalil, the controller

of Kurshook Ali’s Seriba, who, in rebuilding his establishment, had

insisted upon placing the Vokeel’s residence and the magazines alone

within the palisade, leaving the soldiers’ huts in detached groups

outside. In vain, day after day, did I repeat my warning of the danger

they were inviting of the repetition of a similar misfortune; but all

my exhortations to care and prudence were utterly wasted; the people

were obstinate, and I could not help passing many a sleepless night

in continual dread of a second catastrophe that I was aware I was

powerless to avert.

[Sidenote: ORIGIN OF THE MISFORTUNE.]

The cause of the fire, when subsequently discovered, did not give me

the least surprise. One of Ghattas’s soldiers had been quarrelling

with his slave, having accused her of unfaithfulness; and in order to

frighten her, and extort a confession of her guilt, he had discharged

a gun into the interior of his hut. I afterwards remembered hearing

the report; as gunshots, however, were far from uncommon, I paid

no particular attention to the circumstance: but the smouldering

paper-cartridge had lodged in the straw-roof, and ten minutes later

the hut was in flames. Although the origin of the fire was thus easily

explained, the Mohammedan fatalists never swerved from their belief

that the misfortune was unavoidable, and was ordained by the decree of

destiny.

All my reproaches failed to reach the real offender, who immediately

after the fire quitted the scene of the disaster he had brought about.

But, in my opinion, Idrees, the controller, was himself primarily

responsible for all the trouble. He allowed a senseless firing to be

carried on inside the Seriba, not only at every new moon, but on a

hundred other occasions, and I was in a perpetual state of vexation

and anger whenever I saw the lighted wads flying about amongst the

dry straw-roofs: then, again, he allowed each person to increase the

number of his huts, rokoobas, and hedges, just as he liked, until the

appearance of the Seriba was that of an inexplicable maze. In his

capacity of Vokeel it was undoubtedly his place to allot a proper space

to each individual; but so far from seeing that this was legitimately

done, he himself did his utmost to increase the complication of

buildings, and had erected a huge rokooba for his horse just in

front of my hut; it was this very rokooba that had been the means of

communicating the flames to the chests containing my manuscripts, as

they stood on a portion of what, previously to its erection, had been a

wide open space.

By the 11th of December some newly-built huts were at my disposal, a

place of security on that day proving doubly welcome, as a heavy storm

of rain came on about four o’clock in the morning, lasting for quite

half an hour. This exceptional storm rose from the south-east, veered

round to the south, and finally passed away towards the south-west.

The entire day remained cold and dull, with slight showers falling

at intervals. For the first time the temperature fell to 65° Fahr.,

having previously varied between 75° and 80°. The coldest season of the

year now set in, and lasted for a couple of months; during this time

the thermometer in the early morning was comparatively low, and the

barometer varied much more continually than in the height of the rainy

season.

Bad news flies apace, and following close upon the destruction of

the Seriba came the intelligence of the total defeat of that first

detachment of the Niam-niam expedition that had been despatched to

the south; besides a number of native bearers, 150 Mohammedans were

reported to have lost their lives.

The immediate effect of these disastrous tidings was to make me know

that all hope of extending my wanderings in that direction must finally

be abandoned. Bitter as had been the misfortune that had befallen me,

it would not of itself have deterred me from my project of a second

Niam-niam journey, but, now that Aboo Guroon was killed, there was

no one who could provide me afresh with such articles as I had lost.

I possessed neither boots nor shoes, guns nor ammunition, paper nor

instruments, and even my watches, which were so essential to me, were

gone; what use then to think any further of a journey to unknown

countries under such circumstances as these? Convinced of the vanity of

any attempt to proceed, I was therefore obliged, with a heavy heart, to

turn my thoughts towards Europe; no succours could reach me for more

than a year, and even then my great distance from Egypt made their safe

arrival more than doubtful.

Still more than six months remained before the trading-boats would

start on their return journey down the Nile; I felt bound to employ

this time to the best of my powers, and I was not long left to make

up my mind as to what I would do. Amongst the few of my effects that

were snatched from the flames I discovered ink, together with materials

for writing and drawing: and the sight of some sketches that had

accidentally been rescued with my bedding first roused me from my

feelings of total despair, and told me that I must once again begin

to collect and investigate, and preserve my observations by means of

pen and pencil. Necessarily somewhat depressed in spirits I once again

turned to as many of my former pursuits as I could, although I felt

the increasing pressure of poverty and hardship, and was as dependent

as a beggar upon the hospitality of the Nubians, many of whom viewed

my presence in the country with suspicion and distrust. My present

discomfort was still further aggravated by its contrast with the

comparative ease and abundance which the arrival of my European stores

had latterly afforded me.

[Sidenote: FAREWELL TO THE SERIBA.]

I came to the resolution of quitting the scene of my disaster, and,

accompanied by my servants, determined to withdraw to Kurshook

Ali’s[58] Seriba beyond the Dyoor, where I knew that Khalil, the

kind-hearted controller, would render me what relief he could under my

present urgent necessities, although the amenities of life to which the

Nubians had any pretension were very few. Accordingly on the 16th of

December, followed by a small herd of cows, I turned my back upon the

Seriba that had arisen from the ashes of its predecessor, and started

by a new and more southerly route for my intended quarters.

For nearly three years my watches had gone with remarkable accuracy,

they were ordinary Geneva _ancres perfectionnées_, having cost about

twenty-five thalers a-piece; their loss was quite irreparable, for the

Nubians have no other means of computing time than upon the great

dial of the firmament,[59] which requires no winding up, and they tell

the hour of the day by simply observing the position of the sun in the

heavens. The only resource left to me for estimating the distance that

I travelled was to count my steps, and in my despondency over my losses

I found a kind of melancholy satisfaction in the performance of this

monotonous task, which probably had never fallen before to the lot of

any other African traveller. My patience, however, was, as it were, an

anchor of safety that I threw out after my calamity: I seemed to myself

like a ship, which, though seaworthy in itself, has thrown overboard

its cargo as the only hope of getting into port. An enthusiast I set

out, enraptured with nature in her wildest aspect, and an enthusiast

should I have remained, had not the fire clipped my wings; but now,

helpless on the inhospitable soil of Africa, I could not but be

conscious how powerless I was to contend with the many obstacles,

both physical and material, that beset my path; but in the place of

enthusiasm, patience, that overcomes all misfortune, came to my aid,

did me good service, and kept me from sinking.

[Sidenote: A PERAMBULATOR.]

I must confess that the first few days’ journey threatened to exhaust

what spirit still remained to me, but by degrees my equanimity was

restored, and persevering in my design I soon became accustomed to a

practice to which I owe some of the most reliable results of the survey

of my route. As a consequence of this method of counting my steps I

succeeded in attaining very considerable accuracy in the relative

distances noted on the map, although very probably I may have been

unable to avoid an error of from 5 to 8 per cent. in the absolute

distances themselves; of course, my steps were not so perfectly uniform

in length as the divisions of a measuring rod; but, after all, the

footsteps of a man are a much more accurate standard of measurement

than those of a beast; the camel, for instance, as is well known, when

it is urged to greater speed does not increase the number of its steps,

but only increases their length; whilst the paces of a man, at whatever

rate he may walk, do not vary much from an average length. Anyone

may easily put this matter to the test for himself by measuring the

distance between his footprints on the moist side of a river, and he

will find that no increase nor diminution in his rate of progress will

make a very material difference in their successive distances. My own

paces varied, according to the nature of the roads, from two feet to

two feet four inches in length, and my method of computation is readily

described. I first counted hundreds, telling off each separate hundred

on my fingers; when I had reached five hundred I made a stroke in my

note-book, and on reaching another five hundred I made a reverse stroke

upon the one already made, thus forming a cross, so that every registry

of a cross betokened a thousand paces; all beyond five hundred were

carried on towards the next stroke, and between the various strokes and

crosses I inserted abbreviated symbols, as notes about the condition

and direction of the road; thus I was prevented from either over or

under estimating the number of my steps, and at the close of each

day’s march was able at my leisure to sum up all the entries and duly

record the result in my diary. In the six months that elapsed before my

embarkation at the Meshera I had in this way taken account of a million

and a quarter of my footsteps.

The route which I had taken towards the Dyoor led through Dubor and

Dangah. On the 16th of December the Molmul was still full of water,

but had no longer any perceptible current; the brook passed along

a considerable, though gradual depression, the rising ground about

Dubor being visible for a long distance to the west. All the pools

and ponds by the wayside were now completely dry; a couple of swamps

were all that remained of the affluent to which the copious brook

near Okale,[60] with its surrounding groves of wine-palms, owes its

existence. The Nyedokoo was reduced to half its former dimensions, and

was now but fifteen feet wide and three deep, although the current was

still strong.

Before its union with the Dyoor, the Nyedokoo receives a considerable

increase in its waters from the left, and on our way north-west from

Dangah we had to cross two small brooks, both flowing into the Dyoor;

the larger of these was called the Kullukungoo. We made a short halt

in a little Seriba belonging to Agahd’s company, and then began to

descend the eastern side of the valley of the Dyoor, which might be

described as a steep wall of rock eighty feet in height. We marched for

a distance of four miles through a lovely wood on the right bank of

the river, and were greatly diverted by the extraordinary quantity of

hippopotamuses that frequented this part of the stream.

[Sidenote: COSTUME.]

I had the kindest of receptions from my old friend Khalil, who did all

that lay in his power to make my visit enjoyable, and showed great

sympathy with me in my misfortunes. His magazines were plentifully

stored with stuffs and ammunition, and, as I had unlimited credit with

him, he was able to supply me with some of the articles that were

more immediately necessary. In the Seriba I found some people who

understood something of the art of tailoring, and with their help I

set to work, to the best of my ability, to make good the defects of

my wardrobe. By taking to pieces the few garments that remained to

me and using the fragments for patterns, I managed to procure some

new clothes, all of which I cut out myself. In none of the Seribas

was there a single piece of linen or of any durable material, and I

could obtain nothing stronger than their thin calico, which, however

well it might do for the costume of the effeminate Arabs, was hardly

adapted for the pursuits of a hunter and botanist who spent all his

days in thorny thickets. But a still more serious inconvenience was

the want of any proper protection for my feet, and I could not at all

get accustomed to wearing the light slippers of the Turks. The loss,

too, of my hat was irreparable, but I contrived a sort of substitute

by pasting together some thick cartridge-paper and sewing some white

stuff over the whole; this hat possessed considerable durability, and

in lightness was all that I could desire. In spite of the poverty of my

wardrobe I was rejoiced to find that in cleanliness at least it was a

match for that of the Khartoomers, who attach great importance to their

washing-garments being of a spotless whiteness. The superiors amongst

them, such as the Vokeels and the agents of the trading firms, even in

these remote districts, not unfrequently appear in Oriental costume as

gorgeous as though they were parading the streets of Khartoom; they

all possess cloth clothes made in the Egyptian Mamelook fashion, and

these are donned on special occasions, as, for instance, whenever they

pay formal visits to their neighbours. For my own part I could never

consent to array myself in an Oriental costume, knowing that the most

meagre garb of European cut commands far higher respect throughout

the domains of the Egyptian Viceroy than all the most brilliant and

elaborate uniforms of the East. The adoption of the European style of

dress in Egypt itself has been remarkably rapid, and between the years

1863 and 1871 I noticed a very conspicuous alteration in this respect,

although unfortunately the advance was limited to this external aspect.

The 25th of December was the coldest day that I experienced during my

residence in the interior. Half an hour before sunrise the thermometer

registered 60° Fahrenheit, whilst on the two preceding mornings at

the same hour it had stood at about 62° Fahrenheit; but it never

afterwards fell so low again, and notwithstanding the coldness of

the mornings the temperature at midday rose regularly above 85°

Fahrenheit, and on the 28th the thermometer out of doors and exposed

to a north wind registered 96° Fahrenheit in the shade, whilst inside

the huts it rose no higher than 88° Fahrenheit. The uniformity of the

temperature throughout the year is a remarkable peculiarity of these

far inland districts, which in winter-time are neither subject to the

great heat in the middle of the day nor to the cold by night, which are

experienced in the steppes and deserts of Nubia. The temperature of

60° Fahrenheit was the lowest that was registered during a residence

of two years and a half, and was quite exceptional, only lasting for

a couple of hours just before sunrise. As a comparison between this

and the relatively cool climate of Tropical America I may mention that

observations in Guatemala gave the average temperature for a period of

twelve years as the same as this one exceptional minimum registered

throughout my two and a half years’ residence in Central Africa.

The camp of the Egyptian Government troops had been removed to the

west, and was now a good seven days’ march beyond the Dyoor. For

the maintenance of the troops, contributions were levied on all the

Seribas: the Government, it is true, paid two Maria Theresa dollars

for each ardeb (1½ cwt.) of corn; but as the bearers from the more

remote places were obliged either to consume more than half of their

own loads upon their journey, or else to obtain extra provisions from

the Seribas through which they passed, this payment was necessarily

very inadequate. Some of the controllers managed to raise their portion

of the compulsory tribute by sending herds of cattle to those Seribas

that were nearest to the camp, and there getting them exchanged for

the required corn; but as some of the settlements were as much as

twenty days’ journey from the encampment, it was perfectly impossible

to provide means of transport to such a distance, and besides this

difficulty, there was a constant occurrence of scarcity of corn in all

the Seribas; the unreasonable Turkish commander, however, took not the

smallest heed of these inconveniences, but, by insisting upon the full

satisfaction of his demands, went far towards hurrying the settlements

into bankruptcy and ruin.

Instead of introducing order and regularity into the country, the

first measures of the Government official tended only to engender

odium and discontent, and completely crippled all the more promising

tendencies of the mercantile intercourse of the Seribas. For the

suppression of the slave-trade they did absolutely nothing. Along the

Nile, it is true, where the route was open and everything obliged to

be above-board, the Governor-General had commenced proceedings for the

suppression of the slave-trade by a series of bombastic and pompous

proclamations; but here, in the deep interior, there was every facility

for the carrying on of the avowedly prohibited traffic.

[Sidenote: SURREPTITIOUS SLAVE-TRADE.]

Nowhere in the world can more inveterate slave-dealers be found than

the commanders of the small detachments of Egyptian troops; as they

move about from Seriba to Seriba, they may be seen followed by a train

of their swarthy property, which grows longer and longer after every

halt.

In the course of my narrative I have repeatedly shown that the

inadequacy of the means of transport throws great difficulties in

the way of the maintenance of a large and concentrated body of men.

Fifty pounds is the standard weight of a bearer’s burden on the longer

journeys, and it does not require much calculation to make it evident

that in comparatively a few days this burden will be materially

encroached upon by the bearer himself having to be maintained by

means of what he carries; he must necessarily exhaust it by his own

requirements. Thus, for marches of many days’ duration, man becomes the

most unsuitable of all instruments for transporting provisions. It was,

therefore, not unnaturally a matter of constant consideration with me

as to whether this difficulty might be obviated in any way, and whether

longer expeditions might be undertaken into the interior without that

continual risk of the failure of their means of subsistence, which was

now so perpetually threatening them as often as they had to make their

way either across uninhabited wildernesses or through hostile territory.

The introduction into these lands of carts drawn by oxen, such as are

in use in South Africa, could only be done with very great caution,

as it would involve much outlay both of time and money; in the first

place, the transport of the heavy waggons themselves into the country

would be far from easy, and then drivers who could train the beasts to

their work would have to be obtained from remote districts; and even if

these preliminary obstacles were overcome, it remains somewhat doubtful

whether the breed of Dinka cattle could produce animals of sufficient

strength and powers of endurance for such a purpose. In addition to all

this I have already shown, in my account of my Niam-niam journey, that

it would be impossible to penetrate with bullock-waggons of any sort

beyond latitude 5° N.

It has been proved by experience that all donkeys, mules, horses, and

camels succumb sooner or later to the effects of the climate; thus

oxen would remain the only animals available as beasts of burden; but

as those of the Dinka would be as incapable of carrying loads as of

drawing waggons, it would be necessary to import suitable cattle from

the Baggara Arabs, thus following the example of the slave-traders from

Kordofan and Darfoor, who thence obtain all the animals that they use

for riding.

Any sort of hand-truck in these countries must necessarily be limited

to a single wheel, for, as I have often said, the paths are everywhere

quite narrow, being in fact no wider than ordinary wheel-ruts; in most

cases they barely allow any one whilst he is walking to put one foot

before the other, as the tall grass closely hems in the avenue on

either hand.

[Sidenote: SUGGESTION FOR HAND-TRUCKS.]

After giving much attention to the subject, I am convinced that the

most suitable form for any hand-trucks would be something like that

used by the Chinese, running upon a single large wheel, which the

framework that contains the goods spans like a bridge; a construction

which, it is well known, permits loads of considerable weight to be

moved by one man. In Central Africa, however, these trucks would have

to be made chiefly of steel and iron, and ought to be constructed so

that they should be propelled by a couple of men, one pushing behind

and one pulling in front, by means of two poles run longitudinally

through the barrows. They would then, I think, be applicable to

every variety of soil, and would be equally adapted for the swamps

and for the flooded depressions of the rivers, for the rocky ground

of the mountainous regions, for the densest forest, and for what to

broader waggons would present hardly inferior difficulties—for the

open steppes. I should estimate that, at a very moderate computation,

trucks of this build could bear upwards of five hundredweight; and

thus the traveller would find the number of men he wanted reduced to

one-fifth, and still be in a position to convey everything that was

really necessary. In 1870 I drew the attention of African travellers

to this style of truck, made almost exactly upon the principle of the

Chinese hand-barrows, and I have since submitted it to the notice of

the German African Society, just now formed, in the hopes that it may

not immaterially assist their expedition from the coast of Loango.

I spent the remainder of the year in Kurshook Ali’s Seriba. Whilst I

was there, some Nubian soldiers arrived, who, having been eye-witnesses

of the late engagement with the Niam-niam, brought us more

circumstantial evidence of the defeat that the united forces of the

several trading companies had suffered. The caravan had been composed

from the three companies of Aboo Guroon, Hassaballa, and Kurshook

Ali, and included a larger number of bearers than it was customary to

take into the Niam-niam lands; thus the entire party numbered close

upon 2250, of which not less than 300 were provided with firearms.

The accompanying train of women slaves, that had never been tolerated

at all in the earlier expeditions, had been gradually increasing from

year to year, and was now of such dimensions as materially to impede

the daily movements of the Khartoomers, as well as to increase the

confusion in the event of war. The leaders had striven in vain to do

away with this abuse, but as it was with some difficulty that these

undisciplined soldiers could be prevailed upon to join the arduous

enterprises at all, they were obliged in this respect at least to let

them have their own way. The assault had been made at a spot about a

day’s journey to the north of the residence of Ndoruma, the son of

Ezo, just as the caravan with all the baggage was entering the obscure

gallery of a bank-forest, and after the two leaders, Aboo Guroon and

Ahmed Awat, on their mules at the head of the procession, had already

emerged from the farther end. To the consternation of the Nubians,

the attack was rendered doubly formidable by the skilful use of the

firearms which the Niam-niam employed against them from behind the

massive tree-stems. Cut off from their people, the two leaders were

killed at the outset of the conflict, the one by a lance and the other

by a bullet.

[Sidenote: A REPULSE.]

During the whole course of the battle, Aboo Guroon’s people alone

displayed any shadow of bravery. A detachment forced their way through

the gallery, and rescued the body of their leader from the hands of the

enemy, so that this old servant of Petherick, one of the earliest and

most experienced of the traders with the Niam-niam, was consigned to an

honourable grave, whilst the dead bodies of all his fellow-sufferers

fell into the hands of the Niam-niam. Ndoruma, who led on the attack in

person, had some months previously captured large quantities of guns

and ammunition, and as he was in possession of several fugitive slaves

from the Seribas who had been familiarised with the use of firearms,

he had lost little time in compelling them to impart their knowledge

to their fellow-countrymen. The Nubians have the most pusillanimous

dread of bullets, and any savage nation that enjoys the reputation of

having guns in its possession may be tolerably sure of being spared any

visits from them. It may therefore be imagined with what success the

Niam-niam pursued their victory, and with what disgrace the intruders

retreated in hasty flight. All the baggage, including a hundred loads

of powder and ammunition, fell into the bands of Ndoruma; and a proper

value the cunning cannibal seemed to know how to set upon his booty,

for I was informed, that he at once erected waterproof magazines for

the protection of his treasure, and diligently set to work to have his

people well-drilled in the use of the weapons they had captured.

From what I could gather from some Niam-niam with whom I had

communication, Ndoruma’s enmity towards the Khartoomers was not

entirely founded upon the exhaustion of the ivory-produce of his

country. The Nubians, too short-sighted to foresee the consequences of

their folly, are accustomed, whenever they can do so without injury to

themselves, to commence an unjustifiable system of depredations upon

any land from which they have no longer anything to gain by an amicable

trade. In this way they have acted with impunity to themselves towards

the Bongo, Mittoo, and others; but with the Niam-niam, a people whose

strength consists in their constitutional unity, they have exposed

themselves to a severe retribution. In their repeated razzias against

the surrounding nations they have been addicted to the practice of

carrying off the women and girls, and this has roused the Niam-niam,

who ever exhibit unbounded affection for their wives, to the last

degree of exasperation. It is this diabolical traffic in human beings

that acts as the leading incentive to these indiscriminating Nubians,

and has caused so much detriment, by the decimation of the Bongo, to

their possessions. In one part, as amongst the Bongo, it has resulted

in bringing about an insufficiency of labour, and in another, as

amongst the Niam-niam, it has thrown a barricade of hostility across

their further progress.

Of the three companies that had met with this serious repulse, Kurshook

Ali’s company had suffered the smallest loss; its column of bearers,

who were bringing up the rear of the procession, had retreated in time;

but of the soldiers of the company, who had naturally hastened to the

assistance of their fellow-countrymen, ten were killed and four more

were carried away severely wounded. According to the protocol that

Khalil received, all of these had been pierced by bullets. Apart from

the grievous loss of life and property that this occurrence entailed,

it foreboded nothing but discouragement for the future of the ivory

trade; the controllers of the Seribas felt absolutely powerless before

the overwhelming fact that the Niam-niam had used firearms, and, under

the circumstances, they were entirely at a loss to know how to induce

their disheartened troops to re-enter the formidable country. The

soldiers openly declared that they had been hired to fight against

savages on the Upper Nile, and by savages, they meant people who

used lances and arrows; but to do battle with people who were armed

with genuine bullets was going beyond their contract, and this they

positively refused to do.

All the bearers who had escaped from the conflict with their lives,

hurried back in crowds to their settlements, and circulated in the

environs of the Seribas the most horrible accounts of the heartrending

massacre they had witnessed. As the demands of the expedition had

nearly emptied several of the Seribas of their fighting force, those

settlements that were on the Dinka frontiers were consequently for

the time considerably exposed to the danger of attack from their

neighbours. Accordingly, in the course of a few days, it happened that

we were solicited by the inhabitants of a neighbouring Seriba of the

deceased Aboo Guroon to send them an armed succour, as the Dinka around

them were assuming a most threatening attitude. Khalil complied with

their request by sending a small detachment of soldiers to co-operate

with the remnant of armed men who had been left in charge of the

garrison.

All these events combined to give my life in the Seriba much more

excitement than before, and my intercourse with strangers was far

from unfrequent. Many of the Gellahbas, mounted upon their donkeys or

Baggara oxen, passed through the place to do business in the purchase

of living ebony, and their rivals, the Turkish soldiers, ever and anon

paid us a visit whilst on their way to make their requisitions of corn

at the adjacent Seribas.

[Sidenote: A LION SHOT.]

On one occasion the surprising intelligence was brought us that a

lion had been shot on the sandy bed of the retreating Dyoor. In the

early morning the animal had gone to quench its thirst at the river,

and had been tracked down to the water’s edge by a troop of soldiers

who happened to be passing by; one of their number, though but an

indifferent marksman, had aimed from a short range, and had succeeded

in mortally wounding the lion by a shot in the head. The skin was

dressed and converted into a splendid saddle-cloth, whilst the head was

stuffed, and devoted to the mysterious purposes of magic.

One night a deafening uproar suddenly arose: it was followed by a

horrible yell, accompanied by what sounded like the wails, screeches,

and howls of a lot of terrified women. Every one started to his feet;

the soldiers seized their weapons; the captain of the Turkish guard,

who happened to be in the place with a party of bazibozuks, rushed out

with his troop, and increased the confusion by sending forth a whole

volley of the usual oaths and imprecations. It turned out, however,

that there was no demand either for his military services or for any of

his bombastic bluster. The simple cause of the tumultuous outcry was

the fall of an enormous tree near the Seriba. To save the trouble of

felling this monster of the woods it had been gradually undermined by

fire, and the negroes, in the course of one of their nightly orgies,

had been waiting for the moment of its downfall, and were now bellowing

and dancing like maniacs around the prostrate and still smoking mass.

On the 25th I made an excursion to the banks of the Dyoor, for the

purpose of hunting hippopotamuses, as well as of verifying the

condition of the river by taking measurements in two fresh places. Six

miles to the S.S.E. of the Seriba, I reached the left bank of the river

at a place where it was overgrown with tall reeds, and on our return

we crossed again four miles farther below. Between these two positions

was a deep basin, in which a number of hippopotamuses throughout the

year found sufficient water in which to perform their evolutions. A

couple of miles still lower down were situated the two crossing-places

of earlier date. Between the most northerly and the most southerly of

the four spots I have mentioned, the general direction of the Dyoor is

due north, varied by gentle windings to the N.N.E. and N.N.W. Beginning

at the most northerly, and taking them in order, I will now proceed

to give the result of my observations on the condition of the Dyoor

at each of the four places where I crossed it either by boat or by

swimming.

1. At the first spot the entire bed was 800 feet wide, but on the 28th

of April, 1869, the water only extended to the width of eighty feet,

being from one to four feet in depth, The edge of the bank stood from

twenty to twenty-five feet above the water.

2. At the next point of examination the measuring-line gave the width

of the bed from bank to bank as 302 feet. On the 8th of May, 1869,

the river was full, and three or four feet deep. On the 27th of

October, and on the 1st of November, 1870, the depth was from sixteen

to twenty feet, whilst the banks were already three or four feet

above the surface of the water. The velocity of the current on the

left and western shore was 105 feet per minute, whilst on the eastern

it was 137½ feet. It could be seen by the flood-marks that in the

height of the rainy season (_i.e._ in August and September) the entire

depression, extending from 1000 to 1200 paces on the left shore, and

only 100 paces broad on the right, was covered with water to a depth of

three or four feet.

[Sidenote: THE BED OF THE DYOOR.]

3. The bed of the river at the third place, where I submitted it to my

examination, was 328 feet wide, and on the 18th and 25th of December

was full. For a distance of sixty feet from the right-hand bank, the

depth of the water was little more than a foot, then for 100 feet in

the middle of the stream it was about two feet, and subsequently for

the remainder of the width as far as the left bank it increased to four

feet. On the western shore, where the river depression stretched out in

wide tracts, the current was far stronger than on the eastern, where

the wooded rocks extend close down to the edge of the water. Near this

place the condition of the depression of the river was exceptional,

being of an equal breadth of about 600 feet on either side of the

stream.

4. The bed of the stream at the last of my points of observation

was, according to the measuring-line, 492 feet wide. On the 25th

of December, 1870, it was only half full of water. Near the reedy

left-hand bank alone was the water of any considerable depth: at that

spot it was about four feet deep, but nowhere else was it more than

two feet. The current was strongest in the middle of the stream: it

is a peculiarity of the Dyoor that its current has always the same

velocity, and does not appear to be at all affected by the variations

in the height of the water.

I sat for hours upon the rocky slopes of the right bank of the river

watching the hippopotamuses as they plunged about in the water, and

occasionally firing at them as opportunities occurred for an aim; but a

light rifle was all that I had saved from the fire, and the small shot

that it carried did not have much effect upon the unwieldy beasts. The

range of my rifle was rarely more than 150 feet, and of the hundred

shots that I discharged very few did any serious damage, and only two

animals appeared to be mortally wounded. Early on the following morning

the natives of the surrounding districts found the body of one of the

creatures that I had killed by a bullet behind the ear lying amongst

the reeds in the river-bed, and they spent several hours in cutting up

the ponderous carcase.

The colour of nearly all these animals was a dark fleshy red, almost

like raw meat, marked irregularly with large black spots; I also

saw specimens of a lighter shade, but never of a pure white; in the

sunshine their damp bodies assumed quite a blueish-grey hue. Half of

the hippopotamuses that I noticed at this deep part of the river, which

extended for about a mile, were females carrying their young, which

at this season seemed very weak and undeveloped, and sat astride on

the short necks of their mothers. The females appeared to rise to the

surface of the water for the sake of their young far more frequently

than was necessary for their own accommodation, and unlike the males,

which usually show their mouth and nostrils, they only lifted their

young above the water, whilst their own heads generally remained

invisible. The animals seem to utter different sounds at different

seasons; they now snorted and grunted, or rather groaned, and the

sharp rattling gurgle was less distinct than in the spring. In the

sunlight the fine spray emitted from their nostrils gleamed like a ray

of light.

Now and then, with a frightful roar that resounded far away, the males

would leap violently from the water, displaying all the forepart of

their huge body; they seemed to be scuffling together, but whether they

were quarrelling for a monopoly of the limited space, or whether they

had been hit by some of my bullets, I could not determine. Their small

pointed ears were remarkably flexible, and were continually moving to

and fro as the animals listened to distant sounds or flapped away the

settling insects. All other characteristics of the hippopotamus are

so well known that it would be superfluous to introduce any further

description of them here.

[Sidenote: THE TENANTS OF THE DYOOR.]

To the same degree as its waters were enlivened by fish and

hippopotamuses, were the banks of the Dyoor animated by birds and many

varieties of animals. The forests were denizened by several species

of the monkey family, that during the winter months found there an

abundant harvest of ripened fruit. The grotesque form of the red-billed

Nashorr-bird rocked to and fro on the half-bare branches, and one

of the most splendid of African birds, the sky-blue Elminia, was

especially frequent. The bare sand-flats in the half dry river-bed were

the favourite resorts of the water-birds. The quaint-looking umbers

(_Scopus umbretta_), which are generally seen sitting solitary by the

shady swamps in the woods, were here marshalled along the banks in

flocks of twelve or fifteen; these birds, with their ponderous crested

heads pensively drooping in the noontide heat, seemed in their “sombre

weeds” rather to belong to the dreary wastes of the chilly north than

to the smiling grass-plains of the Upper Nile. Then there were the

great herons (_Mycteria senegalensis_) gravely strutting about, or

skimming the dark blue surface of the water on their silvery pinions.

The Khartoomers call this bird Aboo Mieh, or father of hundreds, in

commemoration of the munificence of a traveller who is said to have

given a hundred piastres (five dollars) for the first specimens of

this noble bird. In other places the sacred ibises had congregated

into groups, and with their bills turned towards the water, stood

or squatted motionless under the vertical beams of the midday sun.

The return of the dry and cool winter months regularly brings these

birds, like their compatriots the Khartoomers, into the more southerly

negro-countries. Ever and again the sharp cry of the osprey from some

invisible quarter would rouse the traveller from his reveries, as

though by its yelling laughter it were mocking at his meditations.

Storks, which are so prominent a feature in the Central Soudan, and are

so highly reverenced in Adamawa, did not appear in these regions, and

throughout my journey to the Niam-niam I never saw them.

We were hard at work on the following day in turning the huge carcase

of the hippopotamus to account for our domestic use. My people boiled

down great flasks of the fat which they took from the layers between

the ribs, but what the entire produce of grease would have been I

was unable to determine, as hundreds of natives had already cut off

and appropriated pieces of the flesh. When boiled, hippopotamus-fat

is very similar to pork-lard, though in the warm climate of Central

Africa it never attains a consistency firmer than that of oil. Of all

animal fats it appears to be the purest, and at any rate never becomes

rancid, and will keep for many years without requiring any special

process of clarifying; it has, however, a slight flavour of train-oil,

to which it is difficult for a European to become accustomed. It is

stated in some books that hippopotamus-bacon is quite a delicacy, but

I can by no means concur in the opinion; I always found it unfit for

eating, and when cut into narrow strips and roasted, it was as hard

and tough as so much rope; the same may be said of the tongue, which I

often had smoked and salted. The meat is remarkably fibrous, and is one

continuous tissue of sinews.

[Sidenote: KURBATCHES.]

Several hundred Nile-whips or kurbatches can be made from the hide

of a single animal, and afterwards, in Egypt, my servants made a

profitable little market by selling the whips, for which they found

a ready demand. By a proper application of oil, heat, and friction,

they may be made as flexible as gutta percha. The fresh skin is easily

cut crosswise into long quadrilateral strips, and when half dry, the

edges are trimmed with a knife, and the strips are hammered into the

round whips as though they were iron beaten on an anvil. The length of

these much dreaded “knouts” of the south is represented by half the

circumference of the body of the hippopotamus, the stump end of the

whip, which is about as thick as one’s finger, corresponding to the

skin on the back, whilst the point is the skin of the belly.

By a remarkable accident one of my most important manuscripts, happily

for me, escaped the conflagration in Ghattas’s Seriba. The explosion

of a chest of ammunition had sent the book flying high into the air,

where it had been caught by a current of wind caused by the glow, and,

being carried for some distance, fell to the ground in a wood outside

the Seriba; after the lapse of many days it was picked up by some

natives and brought to me with no other damage than that the edges

of the leaves had been slightly singed. The manuscript contained a

copious vocabulary of the Bongo dialect and a collection of carefully

translated phrases and sentences. I could not fail to accept this

recovered treasure as an incitement to the further prosecution of my

linguistic studies, and I set to work at once to replace my Dyoor

and Niam-niam vocabularies. The idioms of the far south and east,

which I had so laboriously committed to writing, the dialects of the

Mittoo tribes, of the Behl, of the Babuckur, and the Monbuttoo, were

unfortunately irrecoverably lost, for during my subsequent residence in

the Seribas I could never meet with competent interpreters.

My old friend Khalil commanded greater respect from his subordinates,

and maintained more order and discipline in his Seriba, than any other

controller belonging to a Khartoom mercantile firm with whom I ever

became acquainted. With him, the settler who had been longest in the

country, I spent many a pleasant hour, and from his confidential gossip

I gained many a hint that enabled me to form an accurate judgment upon

the state of affairs. He complained very much about the undisciplined

troops of his countrymen that were sent to him from Khartoom; he

emphatically denounced the slave trade, and although he could not

enter much into the humanity of the attempts for its suppression, yet

he was fully alive to the disadvantages that it exercised upon the

internal administration of the Seribas. He was extremely anxious that

the natives under his jurisdiction should suffer no diminution in their

numbers, and would often dispute with the itinerant slave-dealers their

right to carry off property that they had obtained from his territory;

he even endeavoured to exercise control over his subordinates in the

subsidiary Seribas, although they generally contrived to elude his

watchfulness. Whenever it happened that any orphan Dyoor or Bongo

children had been sold to the Gellahbas, he would use all sorts of

remonstrances and would spare no argument to induce the traders to

surrender their booty.

“This boy,” he would say, “you can’t have him: in the course of three

or four years he will be old enough to be a bearer, and will be able to

carry his 70 lbs. of ivory to the Meshera; and this girl, you mustn’t

take her: she will soon be of an age to be married and have children.

Where do you suppose I am to get my bearers in future, if you run off

with all the boys? and where do you expect that I shall find wives for

my Bongo and Dyoor, if you carry all the girls out of the country?”

[Sidenote: NUBIAN CHARACTER.]

However reserved might be my behaviour towards the Nubians, yet my long

period of daily intercourse with them gave me a tolerably deep insight

into their character. It may perhaps appear incomprehensible how, with

any equanimity, I could have endured for two years and a half the

exclusive society of what was, for the most part, a mere rough rabble;

but it must be remembered that the social position that I was able to

maintain amongst them was very different to what it would have been

amongst a party of rude and unpolished Europeans, and their religious

fanaticism, as well as the entire difference of their habits, raised

a strong barrier of defence against any sort of intimacy. Amongst the

thousands of Nubian colonists with whom I was thrown in contact, I

never met with a single individual who offered me any insult either in

word or deed; I never had occasion to enter into anything like domestic

relations with them, and never did otherwise than eat and sleep

perfectly alone and in the seclusion of my own hut. But in spite of all

my reserve I was a constant witness of the scenes in their daily life,

and I believe that very few of their habits escaped my notice; it may

not, therefore, be altogether uninteresting to insert here some results

of my observations upon the character of my old travelling companions.

Throughout this account of my wanderings I have, for the sake of

simplicity, always used the term “Nubians” to denote the present

inhabitants of the Nile Valley, in contradistinction to the Egyptians

and true Arabs (Syro-Arabians) on the one hand, and to the Ethiopian

Bedouins and the Negroes on the other. I do not for a moment deny

that the present Nubians (meaning by this term only the people who

dwell on the banks of the river) must have sprung from various races.

Independently of the three dialects of the Nubian language, which are

those of Dongola, of Kenoos, and of Mahass (in which it is supposed

that the still undeciphered ancient Ethiopian inscriptions are

written), and independently of Arabic being the actual mother-language

of the natives, who have, in fact, immigrated from Asia, and some of

whom, as for instance the Sheigieh, have hitherto remained ignorant

of the Nubian language altogether; they are yet all so united by one

common bond alike of general habits and physical character, that

they no longer exhibit any perceptible distinctions. It must also be

remembered that these Nubian natives of the Nile district have for

centuries not only intermarried with each other, but have also mixed

so indiscriminately with slaves of every origin, that they have lost

all traces of being other than a single race. Accordingly the use of

the term “Nubian,” under the restriction named, may be justified in

more than one respect, and may be fairly employed in geographical,

ethnographical, or historical relations.

Whoever has become acquainted with the passive natives of Berber or

Dongola[61] in Egypt only, or more especially in Alexandria, where

they are trusted with the charge of house and home, and whoever has

witnessed the patience with which they endure the antipathy of the

residents, will be at a loss how to reconcile his own impression

with the unfavourable one given by a traveller so faithful as

Burckhardt,[62] who knew them before they were subjected to Egyptian

domination, and has left on record his version of their national

character.

As far as my own experience went, with regard to morality, I decidedly

preferred the people of Berber to the Egyptians, and I believed that

the change for the better that had taken place since Burckhardt’s

visit to Berber and Shendy in 1822, had been owing to the more rigid

government of the Turks on the one hand, and to the increasing

physical luxury of the people of Berber on the other; for in their own

homes I never found them to be otherwise than quiet and harmless.

[Sidenote: VIRTUES AND VICES.]

My impressions, however, were at that time very imperfect; but

when I saw the people on the territory of the Bahr-el-Ghazal,

that pasture-land for their hungry spirits, where they are beyond

the jurisdiction of the Government and are no longer in dread of

bastinadoes, extortions, taxation, or summonses to the divans of

the satraps, and where there are no Egyptians to mock them with the

insulting cry of “Barabra,”—then I discovered the true side of their

nature, and all their leading traits came fully to light. Their

character, a curious mixture of exemplary virtues and most repulsive

vices, was not like a mechanical medley of antagonistic qualities,

but was a composition in which each single quality seemed to partake

of mingled good and evil, though unfortunately the evil decidedly

preponderated.

If an Alexandrian merchant were asked for a character of his Nubian

servant or baob, he would probably give it something in the following

way: “My servant is a man whom I would confidently trust with untold

gold, and yet there is no one to whom he is more indifferent than to

myself. I am convinced that if I were in danger he would not stir a

finger to save me.” And this judgment would indeed be perfectly fair;

the faithfulness of the Nubians is merely inspired by their cowardice,

otherwise it would not be limited to money or things of a similar

nature. Pilfering is not one of their failings, and is unheard of even

in their lawless proceedings in the wilderness of the Upper Nile. As

long as I lived amongst them they never robbed me of the smallest

article of my property, and in this respect their behaviour offered

a very favourable contrast to what I experienced from the Egyptians,

whose thievish propensities have already been placed by Burckhardt

in unfavourable contrast to the honesty of the Nubians. It is not,

however, a genuine sense of right that makes the Nubians honest, but

rather the want of courage that pervades all their dealings: courage,

whether for good or for evil, physical or moral, is entirely wanting

amongst them. Their agreement one with another, and the promptitude

with which every one feels bound to check a rising quarrel, whether it

concern himself or not, arises from this same defect. Their indomitable

striving for freedom is only the utterance of a spirit that rebels

against order of any kind, and refuses, even to be compelled to

cleanliness; but at the same time it cannot be denied that sparks of a

nobler nature can be traced in this part of their character, and they

show a degree of patriotism, a feeling of nationality, and a resistance

to usurped authority, all of which are sentiments quite unknown to the

Egyptians.

Untruthfulness has become to them a second nature, and most of them

will tell lies by habit, even when it is not of the smallest advantage

to conceal the truth.

They display a far greater amount of religious fanaticism in the

Seribas than in their own homes, as may be seen in their behaviour

towards the heathen negroes, and I should fill a long chapter if I were

to attempt to illustrate my account by the various examples of this of

which I was myself a witness. To their ineradicable belief in witches

and in the periodic migration of souls into the bodies of hyænas, I

have already made several allusions. But the most monstrous of all

their practices was that of liver-eating, of which some of the soldiers

(though I must confess they were only exceptions) were shamelessly

guilty during their encounters with the heathen. In Nubia dogs are

trained for the chase in rather a remarkable manner: for a long time

they are deprived of all animal food, but the first time afterwards

that an antelope is killed they are fed with its still reeking liver;

by this means the dog is accustomed to the scent, and becomes so wild

and bloodthirsty, that it is always eager to track and hunt down its

prey. It is probably this custom that has caused the liver-eating

people to imagine that by a similar method they may make themselves

invincible in battle; perhaps they entertain the belief, that after

partaking of such food, a portion of the power and courage of their

fallen foe may pass into the vanquisher.

[Sidenote: PREJUDICES.]

Other notions, very similar in character, appear to be widely diffused

throughout the Mohammedan world. In their bigoted prejudices the

Mohammedans imagine that the Christians are just as fanatical as

themselves; the pitch to which their imagination will carry them

about the actions of which they believe Christians to be guilty may

be illustrated by the following anecdote: A friend of mine, who held

the post of Government physician in a town on the Red Sea, proposed

one day, in order to gain a more accurate knowledge of a disorder that

was raging in the place, to dissect the body of a pilgrim, a stranger

without kith or kin, who had died in the hospital. The doctor had long

been on the look-out for an opportunity of this kind, but up to this

time had never had a body which he could consider as being at his own

disposal; now he thought he had a chance of making his investigations

in peace and quietness. But his project was quickly to be frustrated.

The hospital servants, perceiving his preparations, rushed horrified

to the Governor; the news spread like wild-fire through the little

town; the principal inhabitants met and consulted, and authorised a

deputation to wait upon the Governor, who, at their instance, commanded

the physician, under penalty of forfeiting his post, to desist from

the operation. The offender also received a severe reprimand from the

sanitary authorities, who expressed their indignation that he should

have been guilty of such an outrage upon the customs of the land. The

citizens were at length pacified, but for long afterwards the revolting

report was current amongst them that the doctor, being a Christian,

had been about to take the opportunity of eating the heart of a

Mussulman and of drinking his blood!

Khalil told me that in his own home it was the general belief, in

which, although he now knew better, he had himself been a firm

believer, that when a Mussulman enters the land of the Franks he is at

once caught and put into a cage, where he is carefully fattened; as

soon as he is nice and plump, he is placed upon a gridiron over a fire

that has been lighted in a pit below; the fat is collected as it drops

from his body, and from this fat of the faithful it is believed that

the Franks prepare their most subtle poisons.

Whenever a horse or a donkey gets in any way sickly it is compelled

to swallow pieces of pork; this is considered as an infallible

cure throughout the whole of Nubia, and in some of the heathen

negro-countries, where tame pigs are unknown, the flesh of the wild hog

(_Phacochærus_) is used as a substitute. The practice in Zanzibar and

in other places subject to the Arabian semi-culture of introducing pigs

into the stalls with the horses for the purpose of attracting the devil

from them into the swine, is unknown to the Nubians, but probably only

for the reason that stalls do not exist in the Soudan.

Amulets[63] are not only worn by dozens round the arms of the

“believers,” but are affixed to the doors of the houses as a protection

from fire, and, what may sound still more remarkable, they are hung

upon the necks of horses and donkeys. The writing of amulets is one of

the most remunerative occupations of the Fakis or scribes, and they are

in far greater requisition in Nubia than in Egypt.

[Sidenote: SILVER BULLETS.]

The Fakis of Darfoor are held in the greatest reverence, and they are

credited with the power of securing a certain protection from bullets.

They are presumed, by means of spells, to be able to make the lead to

dissolve into vapour, and to work enchantments so that the discharge

becomes innocuous. There has hence arisen in the Egyptian Soudan such

an exaggerated notion of the superiority of the weapons of Darfoor,

that none other than white Turkish troops are considered suitable for a

campaign against this stronghold of Mohammedan fanaticism. The Turks,

themselves bigoted enough, naturally laugh at all their superstition,

and an anecdote related to me by the Governor of Fashoda will serve

to illustrate the extravagance of these delusions of the Nubians. He

told me that Seebehr Rahama, the great Seriba owner, whose territory

joins the southern frontiers of Darfoor, had boasted to him that he

possessed a means of foiling the black art of the Foorian Fakis; he

had had 25,000 dollars melted down into bullets in Khartoom, and as

the amulets of the Fakis did not apply to silver, he declared these

new-fashioned shot to be most effectual. This story, as I have said,

had been received by the Governor from Seebehr’s own lips, and as I

heard it confirmed in various quarters, I have no reason to doubt its

truth, especially as Seebehr’s wealth and enterprising character were

as well-known to me as his blind superstition. If then the Viceroy

should open a war with Darfoor (and there are few who, interested

in the progress of enlightenment, would not rejoice to hear of such

a movement) he must first, before venturing to attack this African

Bokhara, lay in a store of the precious metal, in order to make the

weapons of his troops at all effective against their foes. A costly war

this would be in truth.

Throughout the Mohammedan Soudan there is a widespread belief in the

unfailing efficacy of water which has been subject to the charm of

imbibing the virtue of leaves of paper inscribed with texts from the

Koran; to the Nubians this infusion is the best of medicine.

According to their notions, all diseases may be divided into two

classes; those that are caused by “haboob” (wind), and those that are

caused by “damm” (blood). For purifying and cooling the blood their

specific remedies are infusions of pepper, cloves, and other spices.

Not a day, and hardly an hour, passed during my residence in the

Seribas without my being a witness to some action prompted by one or

other of their ingrained superstitions. The “evil eye,” which it is

well known is dreaded by all the people on the Mediterranean, plays a

prominent part amongst them. No one is ever seen to eat alone, or even

known to eat in private, and no food is ever carried across the road

without being carefully covered. The invitation “bes-millah,” which is

heard amongst the people as they sit at table, is by no means uttered

because there is a lack of envy and selfishness. Before the tongue of

any animal is eaten, the tip has to be cut off, for here, they say,

is the seat of all curses and evil wishes, and even the tongues of

sheep and oxen are not served up until they have been subject to this

treatment.

It is well known that most dogs have a few white hairs at the extreme

tip of the tail; this tip, they declare, must be removed, otherwise

the animal will not thrive. Altogether their fancies about dogs are

most absurd; they adhere to the belief that to inhale their breath

would be followed by grievous consequences, and that the worst

internal disorders, such as consumption and dropsy, would infallibly

ensue. Every Nubian dreads hearing a dog howl, and I was not a little

surprised at finding in this remote land a superstition that is common

in many parts of Europe, and which I remember having met with in

Hungary. The superstition to which I refer is, that whenever a dog

howls (and that is not seldom, for it will do so on hearing a donkey

bray) it betokens the approaching death of its master.

[Sidenote: MORE PREJUDICES.]

One of their practices is as disgusting as it is strange. They suppose

it will give them strength to apply the sweat of their horses to their

own bodies. After a ride they scrape off the sweat from their horse’s

back with their hand, and rub it about their persons, just in the

same way as if they were using one of their ordinary greasy ointments.

All Mohammedans have peculiar ideas about what is clean and unclean.

A horse is not an unclean animal, and therefore its sweat cannot be

supposed to defile a man. By the same rule, nothing impure can proceed

from a man, because man is not an unclean animal. This theory of

theirs is exemplified when a group of travellers is seen squatting

on the ground preparing their cooling drinks; with their dirty hands

they will squeeze the tamarinds into the water, and their draught is

ready; that a couple of sticks would be in any way a more wholesome or

seemly device appears never to have entered their thoughts. In order

to express his disgust at anything dirty or impure, the traveller

must either invent some phraseology of his own, or must signify his

disapprobation in the words: “Take that away: it is niggis” (_i.e_.

unclean in a religious sense): the Arabic terms for dirt being quite

inadequate to convey the right idea.

I should not omit to mention that there are certain prejudices about

the fabrication of European products that are shared by all the

inhabitants of the Soudan. They believe that gum-arabic is in such

demand in Europe only because the Franks use it for making their

glass-ware, and especially their beads. Cigars, they say, are rolled

up from tobacco that has been soaked in spirits to give it pungency;

consequently no true believer can be induced to put one to his lips.

All preserves are supposed to contain pork, or at any rate to be mixed

with pigs’ fat; otherwise, why should they be introduced into the

country? Cheese, a product that is utterly unknown amongst the pastoral

tribes of Africa, from the people of Morocco to the Bishareen on the

Red Sea, and from the Dinka to the Kaffirs, is imagined to be composed

of pigs’ milk, a fact which accounts for the predilection of the

Europeans for it.

I could go on reciting a hundred of the absurd prejudices and

misconceptions of the Nubians, but having given examples of their

failings, I will now say a few words in commendation and recognition of

the better qualities of my old friends. There are certain peculiarities

of their character that may be described as actual virtues. The Nubian

is far less cringing and servile to his superiors than the Egyptian:

the title “Seedy” (my lord), which is continually heard in ordinary

conversation amongst the Egyptians, is never heard from his lips. One

day I asked my servants why they persisted in addressing me by the

meagre and pointless term “Musyoo,” when their language provided them

with a courteous word like “Seedy,” which is always used in Egypt. They

at once replied that “Seedy” meant lord, and that they acknowledged no

lord but the one All-powerful Allah.

I have already mentioned the romantic tone of conversation used by all

Nubians, high and low, even on the most trifling subjects, and how, in

this respect, they form a striking contrast to the Egyptians, who are

ever harping on money and business.

Another very laudable trait in the character of the Nubians is their

moderation in eating; they eat little, but quickly; their meals seem to

occupy them but a few moments, and it is remarkable with what enjoyment

they will gulp down their frugal repast of tough kissere. They are not

at all dainty, and do not seem to covet tit-bits of any description;

they never helped themselves to any of my delicacies, though amongst

the Egyptians and the true negroes, I was always obliged to keep my

sugar-basin in a place of security. Their outbreaks of intemperance

over their abominable merissa stand out in strong and sad contrast to

their otherwise perfect moderation.

Amongst their physical qualities I may especially remark their powers

of marching; they are the best walkers that I know, and seem formed

for tramping along the wildernesses of Africa. Turks and Egyptians

are rarely seen in the Seribas of the Upper Nile district, and mainly

for the reason that in marching they are unable to keep pace with the

Nubians.

Although they are more lively and excitable than the Turks and

Egyptians, the Nubians exhibit a more decided idleness and dislike to

work than either of them; hence proceeds that utter want of order and

regularity in their households which is so conspicuous everywhere,

and to overcome which would require more energy than they are ever

likely to display. It is true that they are free from some of the

more revolting vices of the Turks, such for instance as opium-eating,

but they indulge in the same lascivious excesses, and have the same

hankering after stimulants when their physical powers flag or fail to

answer to those demands of an insatiable imagination, which have become

a second nature in the degenerate nations of the East.

[Sidenote: EXCURSION TO EGYPTIAN CAMP.]

My condition was somewhat ameliorated, but I was still in want of many

common necessaries. Hitherto I had been quite unable to find anything

that could compensate for the boots and shoes I had lost. In the hope,

therefore, of obtaining some of the things I so much required from

amongst the effects of the deceased Turkish Sandjak, I resolved to make

an excursion to the Egyptian camp. A series of settlements belonging to

various Khartoomers would be passed along the route, and by stopping at

these I might not only break my journey, but might get an opportunity

in addition of gaining information about that portion of the frontier

of the Upper Nile territory.

The camp of the Government was situated close to the chief settlement

of the most powerful of all the Khartoom Seriba owners, Seebehr Rahama,

who himself resided there. His territory included the western portion

of the district occupied by the Khartoomers, and was immediately

adjacent to the most southerly outposts of the Sultan of Darfoor.

A few days before I started on this little journey to the west, a

circumstance had occurred that had thrown all the inhabitants of this

Seriba into a great commotion, and which did not augur altogether well

for my projected tour. A conflict had broken out between the black

Government troops and Seebehr’s Nubian soldiers, and twenty Nubians

as well as many of the negroes had lost their lives in the fray. The

Turkish bazibozuks, instead of remaining neutral, had joined in the

affair and taken part against the blacks. The reason of this coalition

between the Egyptian Turks and the Nubian settlers was, that the

Turkish commander had given orders that their common enemy, Hellali,

should be seized and imprisoned. This Hellali, it will be remembered,

was the man who had been appointed to the special command of the black

troops of the Government, and who had represented himself as the owner

of the copper-mines in the south of Darfoor, stating that they had to

pay him 4000 dollars annually. He was really the cause of the present

quarrel, and the events that led to his imprisonment will not take long

to describe.

Hellali had drawn upon himself the odium of all the Khartoomers,

because, by alleging himself to be the owner of the land in the south

of Darfoor, he threw doubt upon their legal right to the soil on

which they had founded their Seribas; he was consequently summoned to

Khartoom to give an account of his conduct. All the representations by

which he had induced the Viceroy to undertake the expedition to the

Gazelle had turned out to be nothing but the fraudulent devices of a

swindler; Hellali had never possessed land in this district at all,

and much less had received any grant of territory from the Sultan of

Darfoor. For months it had been rumoured that he intended to retire

with his black troops to that part of the country, and in spite of his

appeal to the seal and signature of his Highness, by virtue of which he

claimed possession of the lands, the suspicion against him increased

to such an extent that the Turkish commander appeared to be justified

in proceeding to violent measures against the alleged favourite of the

Viceroy. The conflict that now arose determined the matter; Hellali had

been the mainspring of the quarrel with Seebehr’s people, and thus, as

I have said, his capture brought about a reconciliation between the

Turks and the Nubians.

[Sidenote: HELLALI.]

The immediate cause of the disagreement may now be related. Hellali

had ordered his soldiers to make requisitions of corn upon the natives

under Seebehr’s jurisdiction, who had hitherto been accustomed to

furnish contributions to none but their own master. The strange troops

were proceeding by violence to appropriate to themselves the contents

of the granaries, when the Nubian soldiers, with Seebehr himself at

their head, sallied out from the Seriba, and attempted to drive off the

intruders. Hellali’s people immediately opened fire upon the Nubians,

and the very first shot wounded Seebehr in the ankle. This was the

signal for a general battle, and many lives were lost on either side.

For the first few days the Egyptian camp, so near the Seriba as it was,

was in imminent danger, and could with difficulty hold its own against

the ever-increasing numbers of antagonists, for of course all the

neighbours hastened to the assistance of Seebehr, whose fighting force

already amounted to more than a thousand. In this dilemma the Turkish

commander was obliged to resort to the diplomatic measure to which I

have referred, so as to avert the serious consequences that threatened

himself and his troops.

FOOTNOTES:

[58] The Turkish name is properly pronounced Kutshook

Aly, but I give the words as I believe they are more

generally written.

[59] The negro races of Central Africa also, without any

notion of hours as a division of time, are able to

indicate the time of day by the same method, which

for the equinoctial regions may be considered quite

practical.

[60] _Vide_ Chapter V.

[61] The Egyptians call them simply “Barãbra.”

[62] ‘Travels in Nubia,’ by the late John Lewis Burckhardt.

London, 1822.

[63] Burckhardt gives copies of two of these amulets in his

‘Travels,’ pp. 210 and 211.