we made our way as well as we could in the dark, stumbling along over a
rugged ground in a north-westerly direction, and were not a little
delighted when at length we saw the fires of the encampment, which this
time had not been pitched on the highest level, but rather in a hollow
not far from the well. Its name is Bír el Hamésh, or Yégil, or, as it is
generally pronounced, Yíggeli. We were the more delighted to reach it,
as we found here, not only all our people and luggage, but also
provisions, and we were nearly famished. Of course, we were most
cheerfully hailed by those of our servants whom, with the remainder of
the Arabs, we had left at the Bír el Kúrna, and who had felt the
greatest anxiety about our safety, on account of the many unfavourable
rumours which had reached them with regard to the proceedings and
sufferings of our party. They had transported the camp from Bír el Kúrna
to this place several days previously, and were looking forward to our
return most anxiously.
We immediately attacked a bowl of camel’s milk, and thus materially
comforted, rested outside our tents enjoying the freshness of the
evening. The camp or dowar was rather narrow, being encumbered by the
booty which had been taken from the enemy; and the people, dreading lest
the enemy might follow them, all huddled closely together, and kept
strict watch. In such circumstances the wailings of the women over the
dead, which sounded through the night, accompanied by loud, mournful
strokes on the great drum, could not fail to make a deep impression.
However, we passed here tranquilly the following day, and enjoyed rest
and repose the more as the weather was very oppressive.
We received here the positive news that the body of Wadáy horsemen who
had come to the assistance of the Woghda, and had caused the Arabs so
much fear and anxiety the day before, had returned to Mʿawó; and a very
curious story was told with regard to them, which at once shows how
highly these horsemen of Wadáy are respected by the Arabs, and the
esteem which they themselves entertain for the latter. Thirty Wadáy
horsemen were said to have arrived with the Woghda in consequence of
their entreaties, and to have followed with them the traces of our
friends, the Woghda representing to them that many of the latter had
been killed. Thus they arrived in the morning when we had just left the
camp at Áláli, and the dust raised by our host was plainly visible in
the distance; but when the Woghda instigated the Wadáy people to go and
attack that host, they wanted to assure themselves how many of the Arabs
had fallen in the last battle, in which thirty-four of the Woghda were
said to have been slain, and when they found only two tombs, the latter
told them that in each there were ten bodies; but the Wadáy people,
being anxious to make sure of the valour of their friends, had the tombs
dug up, and found only two buried in each. Whereupon they stigmatized
the Woghda as liars, and felt little inclined to follow the valiant
robbers who had killed so many of the enemy, while they had lost so few
of their own. But this story may have been adorned by our friends the
Welád Slimán, who could not even deny that, besides a great deal of
other booty from their own camp, which the enemy had succeeded in
carrying away, the chief of the Woghda could pride himself on the red
bernús which we had given as a present to Sheikh Ghét; nay, he could
even boast of four horses taken from the Arabs.
[Sidenote: Sunday, October 26th.]
This and the following day the Arabs were all busy in writing, or
getting letters written, to Kúkawa, as a courier was to leave. I myself
was almost the only person who did not get a note ready; for I could not
muster sufficient energy to write a letter. Had I been strong enough, I
should have had sufficient leisure to make up the whole journal of my
excursion to the eastern parts of Kánem; but I was quite unable, and the
consequence was, that this part of my diary always remained in a very
rough state. Sheikh Ghét, who thought that we were greatly indebted to
him for having seen so much of the country, sent for a variety of
things; but we were only able to comply with very few of his wishes. On
our telling him that we were not at all satisfied with what we had seen,
and that, in order not to waste more time, we had the strongest wish to
return to Kúkawa as soon as possible, he wanted to persuade us that he
himself was to leave for the capital of Bórnu in five or six days. But
we prudently chose to provide for ourselves, and not rely upon his
promise.
[Sidenote: Monday, October 27th.]
The courier for Kúkawa left in the morning, and in the evening a party
of freebooters made an attack upon the camels of the Arabs, but, being
pursued by the horsemen, whose great merit it is to be ready for every
emergency, they were obliged to leave their booty, and be contented to
escape with their lives. The vale in which the well is situated is
rather more exuberant than is the case generally, and there were several
pools of stagnant water, from which the cattle were watered. There was
even a real jungle, and here and there the den of a ferocious lion, who
did not fail to levy his tribute on the various species of animal
property of our friends, and evinced rather a fancy for giving some
little variety to his meals; for a horse, a camel, and a bullock became
his prey.
[Sidenote: Tuesday, October 28th.]
Seeing that there was a caravan of people forming to go to Kúkawa, while
the Arabs intended once more to return to Burka-drússo, we at once went
to the chief to inform him that we had made up our minds to go with the
caravan. A chief of the Haddáda, or rather Búngo, arrived with offerings
of peace on the part of the Shíri, and came to see us, together with the
chief mentioned above, Kédl Batrám, who was the father-in-law of the
khalífa of Mʿawó; Kóbber, or rather the head man of the Kóbber, and
other great men of the Fugábú; and I amused them with my musical box.
Overweg and I, disappointed in our expectations of penetrating further
eastward, prepared for our return-journey, and I bought a small skin of
tolerable dates for half a túrkedí; while to ʿAbd-Allah, who had been
our mediator with the chief, I made a present of a jeríd, in order not
to remain his debtor.
All this time I felt very unwell, which I attribute principally to the
great changes of atmosphere, the nights being cool and the days very
warm.
[Sidenote: Friday, October 31st.]
Though we were determined to return to Kúkawa, we had yet once more to
go eastward. The Arabs removed their encampment to Arnánko, the hollow
which we passed on our way from Burka-drússo to Yégil. There had been a
great deal of uncertainty and dispute amongst them with reference to the
place which they were to choose for their encampment; but though, on the
following day, very unfavourable news was brought with regard to the
security of the road to Bórnu, the departure of the caravan nevertheless
remained fixed for the 2nd November; for in the morning one of the Welád
Slimán arrived from Kúkawa, accompanied by two Bórnu horsemen, bringing
letters from the vizier, requesting the Arabs, in the most urgent terms,
to remove their encampment without delay to Késkawa, on the shore of the
lake, whither he would not fail to send the whole remainder of their
tribe who at that time were residing in Kúkawa; for he had positive
news, he assured them, that the Tawárek were meditating another
expedition against them on a large scale.
The report seemed not without foundation; for the three messengers had
actually met, on their road between Bárrowa and Ngégimi, a party of ten
Tawárek, three on foot, and the rest on horseback, and had only escaped
by retreating into the swamps formed by the lake. This news, of course,
spread considerable anxiety amongst the Arabs, who were still more
harassed the same day by information received to the effect that a party
of fifteen Wadáy horsemen were lying in ambush in a neighbouring valley;
and a body of horsemen were accordingly sent out to scour the country,
but returned without having seen anybody.
[Sidenote: Sunday, November 2nd.]
The day of our departure from Kánem at length arrived. Sorry as we were
to leave the eastern shore of the lake unexplored, we convinced
ourselves that the character of our mission did not allow us to risk our
fate any longer by accompanying these freebooters.[11] The camels we had
taken with us on this expedition were so worn out that they were unable
to carry even the little luggage we had left, and Sheikh Ghét made us a
present of two camels, which, however, only proved sufficient for the
short journey to Kúkawa; for the one fell a few paces from the northern
gate on reaching the town, and the other a short distance from the
southern gate on leaving it again on our expedition to Músgu.
The caravan with which we were to proceed was numerous; but the whole of
the people were Kánembú, who carried their little luggage on pack-oxen
and a few camels, while, besides ourselves, there were only two
horsemen. But there were some respectable people among them, and even
some women richly adorned with beads, and, with their fine regular
features and slender forms, forming a strong contrast to the ugly
physiognomy and square forms of the Bórnu females. The difference
between the Bórnu and Kánembú is remarkable, although it is difficult to
account for by historical deduction.
We were so fortunate as to perform our home-journey without any serious
accident, although we had some slight alarms. The first of these
occurred when we approached the town of Berí and found all the
inhabitants drawn up in battle-array, at a narrow passage some distance
from the town; and at the first moment there was considerable alarm on
both sides: but we soon learned that they had taken us for Tawárek, of
whom a numerous freebooting party, consisting of 200 camels and about as
many horses, had a short time previously carried away all the cattle
belonging to the place. The state of the country was so insecure that
the inhabitants would not allow Mr. Overweg to stay here,
notwithstanding his earnest protestations, so that he was obliged to
make up his mind to proceed with the caravan, although he was sensible
of the danger connected with such an undertaking; and certainly, if we
had met with a tolerably strong party of the Tawárek, our companions
would have afforded us very little protection. We were so fortunate,
however, as to pass through this infested track just at the time when an
expedition, laden with booty, had returned homewards.
We, however, met more than forty Búdduma half a day’s journey beyond
Ngégimi, armed with spears and shields, and clad in nothing but their
leather apron. They had been occupied in preparing salt from the roots
of the siwák or _Capparis sodata_; and when they saw the first part of
our caravan coming through the thick forest, they commenced an attack,
so that Overweg and I were obliged to fire a few random shots over their
heads, when, seeing that we were stronger than they had supposed, and
recognizing some friends among the Kánembú, they allowed us to pass
unmolested. But our whole march from Ngégimi to Bárrowa, through the
thick underwood with which the shores of the lake are here overgrown,
resembled rather a flight than anything else.
On the 10th we reached the komádugu; and after some lively negotiation
with the governor or shitíma, who resides in the town of Yó, I and my
companion were allowed to cross the river the same afternoon: for it has
become the custom with the rulers of Bórnu to use the river as a sort of
political quarantine, a proceeding which of course they can only adopt
as long as the river is full. During the greater part of the year
everybody can pass at pleasure. Even after we had crossed, we were not
allowed to continue our journey to the capital, before the messenger,
who had been sent there to announce our arrival, had returned with the
express permission that we might go on. The shores round the komádugu
were greatly changed, the river being now at its highest. Extensive
patches were cultivated with wheat, being regularly laid out in small
quadrangular beds of from four to five feet in diameter, which were
watered morning and evening from the river by means of buckets and
channels.
We reached Kúkawa on the 14th, having met on the road a party of about
fifty Welád Slimán, who were proceeding to join their companions in
Kánem. We were well received by our host, the vizier of Bórnu.
We had already heard from the governor of Yó, that the sheikh and his
vizier were about to leave in a few days on an expedition; and, being
desirous of employing every means of becoming acquainted with new
regions of this continent, we could not but avail ourselves of this
opportunity, however difficult it was for us, owing to our entire want
of means, to make the necessary preparations for another campaign, and
although the destination of the expedition was not quite certain.
[Illustration: Drawn by J. M. Bernatz, from a Sketch by Dr. Barth.
M. & N. Hanhart, lith. et impt.
KANÉMMA CHIEF.]
[Footnote 11: The information which, in the weak and exhausted state I
was then reduced to, and under the unfavourable circumstances in which I
was placed as an hostile intruder, I was able to collect with regard to
this country, once the mighty and populous kingdom of Kánem, and now
reduced to the desolate abode of the scanty remnants of the former
native population preyed upon every day by roving and lawless tribes
from different quarters, I shall put together in an Appendix (I.) at the
end of this volume, as well as the interesting geographical details with
regard to Kánem in its flourishing state, as they are to be gleaned from
the historical work of Imám Ahmed (Appendix II.). The dates of the
earlier history of Kánem, as far as they have come to our knowledge,
have been detailed in a former chapter, Vol. II.]
[Illustration: DR. BARTH’S TRAVELS IN NORTH AND CENTRAL AFRICA Sheet No.
10.
MAP OF THE ROUTE from KÚKAWA TO MÚSGU 25 Novr. 1851-1 Feby. 1852.
Constructed and drawn by A. Petermann.
Engraved by E. Weller, _Duke Strt. Bloomsbury._
_London, Longman & Co._]
CHAP. XLII.
WARLIKE PREPARATIONS AGAINST MÁNDARÁ.
[Sidenote: November 25th, 1851.]
Ten days after having returned to our head-quarters,
from the wearisome journey to Kánem, I left Kúkawa again, in order to
join a new warlike expedition.
The sheikh and his vizier, with the chief part of the army, had set out
already, the previous Saturday. The route had not yet been determined
upon—it was, at least, not generally known; but Wándalá or, as the
Kanúri call it, Mándará was mentioned as the direct object of the march,
in order to enforce obedience from the prince of that small country,
who, protected by its mountains, had behaved in a refractory manner. The
chief motive of the enterprise, however, consisted in the circumstance
of the coffers and slave-rooms of the great men being empty; and, a new
supply being wanted, from whence to obtain it was a question of minor
importance. There was just then much talk about a final rupture between
ʿAbd e’ Rahmán and the vizier, the former having intimate relations with
the prince of Mándará; and it was for that reason that Mr. Overweg had
at first thought it better to remain behind.
My means were scanty in the extreme, and did not allow me to have a
mounted servant, my camp-followers consisting merely of the same naga or
“jíge,” as the Kanúri call the female camel, which had proved of the
highest value to me on the journey to Kánem, and of two very indifferent
Fezzáni lads, weak in mind and body,—Mohammed ben Habíb and Mohammed ben
Ahmed.
The weather being temperate, and my spirits excellent, I followed
cheerfully the Ngórnu road, with which I was well acquainted. The
country looked much more interesting now than three months before, on my
return from Ádamáwa. Then all was dry and barren, scarcely a single
fresh blade had started from the ground, and I was obliged to draw with
immense exertion my supply of water from a deep well near Kaine; now the
ground was covered with young herbs, the trees were in foliage, and,
near the very place of Kaine where the sheikh with his camp-followers
had rested the first night, a large lake had been formed by the rains.
This lake, which is surrounded by shady trees, retains its water until
two or three months after the rainy season, when it begins gradually to
dry up. I was therefore enabled to water my horse without any further
trouble, after which I followed my people, who were in advance. Here I
met with my friend Háj Edrís and Shitíma Makarémma, who were just
returning from the camp. They told me that the sheikh had encamped that
day at Kúkia, beyond Ngórnu. I therefore made a short halt at noon on
this side of that town, in order to reach the camp during the evening
without staying in the place; for the city, on all sides, at about an
hour’s distance, is almost entirely surrounded by fields devoid of
trees. After I had enjoyed about an hour’s rest, Overweg arrived with
the disagreeable tidings that his camel, soon after leaving the gate,
had fallen, and was unable to get up again even after the luggage had
been removed. He therefore sent his servant Ibrahím in advance, in order
to procure another camel from the vizier, while he remained with me.
When we set out again we took the direct route to the camp, the road
being enlivened by horsemen, camels, and pedestrians. The country on
this side was only cultivated in some places; we perceived, however, two
miles behind Ngórnu a carefully-kept cotton-plantation, and the fields
near the village of Kúkia were well cultivated.
The whole of this fertile plain became a prey to the inundations of the
Tsád in the year 1854, caused by a sinking of the ground, when the whole
country was changed in the most marvellous way. Here we obtained a first
view of the camp with its tents; but it made no remarkable impression
upon me, being still in an unfinished state, including only those people
who were in the most intimate connection with the court.
The “ngáufate” having its fixed arrangements, our place was assigned
near the tents of Lamíno, at some distance east from those of Háj
Beshír. As the greater part of the courtiers were taking at least a
portion of their harím with them to the “kerígu,” a simple tent was not
sufficient for them; but by means of curtains made of striped cotton-
stuff a certain space is encompassed in order to insure greater privacy.
For the sheikh and the vizier, as long as we remained in the Bórnu
territories, at every new encampment an inclosure of matting was
erected; for it is not the custom, as has been asserted, to separate the
royal camp from that of the rest, at least not on expeditions into a
hostile country, nor has it been so in former times. The common soldiers
had no further protection, except some light and small huts with high
gables, which some of them had built with the tall stalks of the Indian
corn, which lay in great abundance on the stubble-fields.
But I shall first say a few words about our friend Lamíno, whom I have
already occasionally mentioned, and with whom on this expedition we came
into closer contact. This man furnishes an example how in this country,
notwithstanding the immense difference of civilization, in reality
matters take the same course as in Europe, where notorious rogues and
sharpers often become the best police-functionaries. Lamíno, originally
“El Amín,” had formerly been a much-dreaded highway-robber, but had now
become _chef de police_, or, as the Háussa people would say, “serkí-n-
karfi,” being, in consequence of his hard-heartedness and total want of
the gentler feelings, of the greatest importance to the vizier, whose
mild character did not allow him personally to adopt severe measures.
Imprisoning people and ordering them to be whipped constituted one of
Lamíno’s chief pleasures. He could, however, at times be very gentle and
amiable; and there was nothing which afforded greater amusement to my
companion and me than to hear him talk in the most sentimental manner of
the favourite object of his affections, a woman whom he carried with him
on this expedition. It caused us also great delight to witness the
terror he felt at our comparing the shape of the earth to an ostrich’s
egg; for he seemed to be quite at a loss to understand how he should be
able to preserve his balance on such a globe, with his great heaviness
and clumsiness.
[Sidenote: Wednesday, November 26th.]
Early in the morning the signal for the decampment of the army was given
in front of the tent of the sheikh, by the sound of the great drum; and
in broad battle-array (“báta”) the army with its host of cavalry moved
onwards over the plain, which was covered with tall reeds, and showed
only here and there a few signs of cultivation.
This time I still remained with the camels and the train-oxen, which,
mixed with pedestrians and some single horsemen in long unbounded lines,
kept along the road, while single troops of Kánembú spearmen, in their
light fanciful garments, mostly consisting of a small apron of rags, or
a hide tied round the loins, and armed with their light wooden shields,
passed the luggage train, shouting out in their wild native manner.
Thus, after a march of about eleven miles, we reached the cotton-fields
of Yédi, a town of considerable magnitude, surrounded by a clay wall in
a state of good repair. We passed it on a rising ground to our left,
while the country on the north-western side spread out in one continuous
sandy plain, dotted here and there by a few dúm-bushes (ngílle) and by a
few single dúm-palms. On this side of the town, at about a quarter of an
hour’s distance, after the autumnal rains, a large pond is formed, on
the borders of which gardens of onions are planted by the inhabitants of
Yédi, and irrigated with the aid of khattatír.
The sun was intensely hot; and the heat at noon was very great. Strange
to say, during all this time I neglected to make thermometrical
observations; and as far as I am aware Overweg did not pay more
attention to this subject than myself: but the reason of this neglect
was, that we usually started early in the morning, and seldom had shade
in the neighbourhood of our tents at noon; for these, which by this time
were so much worn that every object inside cast a shadow as well as
outside, could give us, of course, no measure for the temperature of the
air.
Our protector Lamíno afterwards sent us an excellent dish of rice boiled
in milk and covered with bread and honey. The rice was of a whiteness
unusual in this country. Having received likewise a dish of bread and
honey from the vizier, we thought it our duty to pay him a visit, and
through his mediation to the sheikh also. The sheikh had alighted at his
spacious clay mansion outside the walls of the city; and he was just
occupied with granting a grand reception to the townspeople.
After the usual exchange of compliments, our discourse turned upon
Captain Denham (Ráís Khalíl), who had once taken the same road in
conjunction with Kashélla Bárka Ghaná, and with Bú-Khalúm. On this
occasion also the manner in which old Mʿallem Shádeli or Chádeli, then a
simple fáki, who was present, behaved towards that Christian was
mentioned. We related to them what a faithful description Major Denham
had given, in the narrative of his adventures, of the hostile
disposition of the fáki, when the old mʿallem, who was now one of the
grandees of the empire, in order to revenge himself upon Major Denham
and ourselves, described to the assembly, with sundry sarcastic hints,
how he had seen the Major, after his shameful defeat at Musfáya, half
dead and stripped of his clothes, and exhibiting to uninitiated eyes all
the insignia which mark the difference between the faithful and
unfaithful. The whole spirit in which the story was told bore evidence
of the enlightened character and the tolerance of these gentlemen.
All the people behaved very friendly; and the sheikh sent us in the
evening two sheep, a load of “ngáberí” or sorghum, besides two dishes of
prepared food. We were also entertained by a young musician, who had
accompanied Mr. Overweg during his voyage on the Tsád; and in this way
there was no end of feasting. Nor was there any want of intellectual
food, the inquisitive and restless vizier being desirous of learning
from us as much as possible on this expedition, where he enjoyed plenty
of leisure. Here we remained also the following day, as some more
detachments were to join the army.[12]
[Sidenote: Friday, November 28th.]