DESCRIPTION OF A SLAVE-HUNT IN THE YEARS 1838 AND 1839.
Towards the end of the year 1838 the Viceroy commanded the province
of Kordofan to contribute five thousand slaves. The corps under
orders for this purpose, consisting of two thousand four hundred
infantry, seven hundred and fifty Mogghrebeen (Bedouin horsemen),
two hundred men irregular cavalry, three hundred dromedary
riders, and twelve hundred natives armed with spear and shield,
and attended by three guns, set out upon the march towards the
close of the month of November 1838. On this occasion every two
men of infantry were furnished with one camel, as they could
not collect the complement very soon, and an immense number was,
moreover, required for the transport of the baggage, water, tents,
etc., for the troops. Provisions and forage for the cattle, both
for service and for slaughter, were only added to the transport
sufficient for a few days, for they hoped to be able to obtain
the necessary supply in a short time by plunder and pillage. A
hill, one of the nearest on the borders of the free Nuba, which
had already suffered by the troops of Mehemed Ali, and by the
marauding Bakkara, and, was in consequence greatly depopulated,
was the first challenged to surrender. The sheikh instantly came
into camp and delivered himself with all his subjects, consisting
of one hundred and ninety-six souls, into the hands of the Turks;
he received his liberty and a present of a dress, but the sheba was
put on the young men, and the whole number forwarded on the next
day to Lobeid. This sheikh himself told me that when the Turks
first entered his village eighteen years before, the population
consisted of three thousand souls, but the annual contribution of
slaves, augmented by the insatiable Turks to ten times the number,
had reduced them to one hundred and ninety-six souls. The prisoners
of this hill were treated with some humanity, and not one instance
of suicide took place among them, for they had seen the futility of
resistance, and voluntarily surrendered to their dismal fate. The
troops, however, were now in want of bread, and as they found but
a very slight supply of dockn among this impoverished people,
they were necessitated to advance. The next hill was attacked,
but how were the soldiers disappointed in their expectations when
they found the place evacuated! The inhabitants, apprized of the
approach of the corps, had fled, taking all their property and
cattle away with them, and had left nothing but the empty huts,
which were instantly fired and burnt to the ground. And now the
march was continued to the third hill. The inhabitants of this
village had formed the firm resolution of defending their freedom
to the uttermost; and, determined to suffer death rather than the
horror of Turkish captivity, had prepared for a most obstinate
resistance. The hill was charged, but the troops were several times
repulsed; the attacks, however, were renewed, and the village was
ultimately taken by storm. The scene which now presented itself
to view was frightful in the extreme. Of five hundred souls who
had been the peaceful inhabitants of the village, one hundred and
eighty-eight only were found living. Every hut was filled with
the bodies of the aged and the young indiscriminately, for those
who had not fallen by the sword in battle, had put themselves to
death to elude the dreadful fate of captivity. The prisoners were
led away; and the place was given up to the soldiery for plunder,
but the dead were left disinterred. What a fearful scene for the few
who were fortunate enough to escape the carnage by flight! Nothing
but the dead bodies of their friends and the ashes of their homes
met their eye on their return!
In order to recruit the troops, a camp was now formed, and a
detachment sent out in search of forage. An encampment of this
description, which is always erected on the plains, consists
of an irregular quadrangle, surrounded by a hedge of thorns or
bushes, or sometimes even by a stone fence, in which the regular
infantry, the guns, and baggage are enclosed, whilst the cavalry and
spear-bearers encamp without the enclosure. Of setting outposts,
or of other judicious military movements they have no idea, but
confine themselves merely to preparations for defence in case of a
surprise, as the negroes frequently venture by night on an attack,
which might prove very destructive to the troops, considering
their carelessness. Generally speaking a camp is soon broken up,
and this was the case on the present occasion; for no sooner had
the soldiers recovered somewhat from their fatigues, and furnished
a scanty supply of provisions, than the tents were struck, and the
march commanded for the next hill destined for attack. The cavalry
was sent about two miles in advance to surround the hill. On its
arrival, however, in the vicinity of the village, it was suddenly
surprised by the inhabitants, who had received intelligence of the
movements, of the troops and was attacked with vigour. The negroes
in a very large body, and only armed with spears and shields,
broke with impetuosity from their covert, and with a fearful
war-cry, augmented by the shouts of the women accompanying them,
(resembling the _Lu, lu, lu!_ of the Arab women,) threw themselves
headlong upon the enemy. Surprised by this sudden movement, yet too
discreet to sustain the attack of the negroes, the cavalry turned
and took to flight. One of the Bedouin chiefs, who was mounted on a
restive horse, and could not keep up with his troop, was surrounded;
he seized his gun to discharge it at the first man who might attack
him, but it refused fire, and before he could make use of his pistols
and sabre, or put himself in any other way on his defence, he was
torn off his horse and instantly slain. None of his corps made the
slightest attempt to save their officer, for each man was intent on
his own escape. This flight must not be ascribed to cowardice on
the part of the Bedouins; for they generally fight well, provided
their interest is not at stake. By fraud, or promises destined never
to be fulfilled, these nomadic people are enticed away from their
native plains and employed in these frightful slave-hunts. With the
exception of very trifling pay, they can expect nothing beyond what
they may be able to gain themselves by robbery and plunder; if by
any chance, and without fault on their part, they happen to lose a
horse,—which is their personal property—even on actual service,
they cannot reckon upon any indemnification from the government;
for should they not have the means of purchasing a fresh animal, they
are indeed mounted by the government, but the price of the horse is
deducted from their pay, which is always on the very lowest scale,
and thus they have to serve for several years gratuitously. Their
sheikh, or commanding officer, told me this himself, and assured
me that his Bedouins, (erroneously termed Mogghrebeen) would act
very unwisely in risking their horses on an attack whence nothing
was to be gained; for the negroes, in encountering cavalry, are
well aware of the advantage of injuring the horse rather than the
rider, as the latter falls a certain victim to them when the animal
is slain. After the cavalry had again formed in the rear of the
infantry, the officer in command ordered a charge by the foot for
the following day. If the attack had succeeded, the carnage would,
indeed, have been terrific, for the troops were all eager to revenge
the death of the Bedouin sheikh. But it was differently recorded
in the book of fate. With the first dawn of morning the infantry
were put in marching order for the ensuing storm, and the cavalry
placed in reserve. The advance was now made, on the word of command,
with the utmost caution, a few cannon balls having been first sent
into the village without effect. All remained perfectly quiet, until
the advanceguard of the storming party had reached the foot of the
hill and prepared for action, when the negroes suddenly broke forth
endeavouring to surround the enemy. The position of the Egyptians
became now very critical, for bent upon the capture of this hill,
they had overlooked two other villages flanking the one attacked,
which were densely populated by negroes, who joined the besieged,
and threw themselves with the whole strength of their united forces
upon the troops. Not one man would have escaped, for enclosed in a
narrow valley, and surrounded by hills, the infantry could scarcely
move, and no assistance could be expected from the cavalry. The whole
brigade, in fact, would have been lost, as the negroes gathered like
a black cloud upon the hills, and poured down by hundreds upon the
enemy; no troops could withstand their attack, for they rushed into
battle with unparalleled frenzy, regardless of shot or bayonet,
and used their spears with great dexterity. The commander of the
Egyptian forces, however, betimes recognized the danger threatening
his troops, and ordered a retreat; when the whole body fled in wild
confusion from the vale of death. The cavalry was not behindhand in
this movement, and thus the brigade never halted until it was fairly
out of the dominions of the foe. Of a renewal of the attack there
was now no idea; for nothing in the world can induce these heroes
to repeat an advance where they have once been beaten. They know
further that the negroes become almost invincible with success;
while the musket and bayonet afford but slight advantage over
the weapons of the blacks, for the wild inhabitants of the hills
rush blindly to the charge, heedless of every wound. I myself had
opportunities of convincing myself of the intrepidity of these men.
After the troops had again collected, order was once more restored,
and the march was continued; in the course of a few days several
hills were taken, and the prisoners duly forwarded to Lobeid. The
expedition now moved in a southern direction from the Nuba mountains,
towards a country inhabited by a different race of men. The tribe
now attacked differs from the natives of Nuba, both in language and
manners; they are easily recognized by the number of brass ear-rings,
which they do not pass through the appendix of the ear, but wear
in the upper part of the cartilage, by which means the whole ear is
distorted, so that the superior portion covers the meatus. Almost all
the men wear the tooth of some animal, one inch and a half to two
inches in length, above their chin; it is passed through a hole in
the under lip when they are very young, and acquires a firm adhesion
with the integument. In their habits they differ but little from the
other negro tribes, but it is rather remarkable that they do not,
like the negroes, Turks, or Arabs, convey food to their mouths
with their fingers, but make use of a shell, or piece of wood,
shaped like a spoon, for this purpose. The dwelling place of this
tribe was very advantageously situated on the summit of a hill,
and very difficult of access; the commanding officer, therefore,
on hearing that it was not supplied with water, to avoid a loss,
decided upon surrounding the hill, and forcing the negroes by thirst
to surrender. The siege lasted eight days, and the poor creatures,
who felt themselves too weak for a _sortie_, had not a drop of water
left on the fourth day, as was subsequently heard. The cattle was
slain in the early part of the blockade to diminish the consumption
of water; on the sixth day, several children and old people had
perished of thirst; and on the seventh day the mortality became
so frightful, that they determined to surrender. Several of them
advised a sally, but exhausted as they were, they saw the futility
of this movement; and when, on the eighth day, hundreds had fallen
in the most fearful torments of unsatisfied thirst, and many of the
negroes, in the horrors of despair, had put an end to their miseries
by ripping open their abdomina with their double-edged knives,
the small body of survivors delivered itself up to the enemy. Of
more than two thousand souls, one thousand and forty-nine were only
found living, the rest had all perished by thirst, or had committed
suicide. On entering the village, the huts were seen filled with
the dead, and the few unfortunate survivors were so exhausted by
fatigue, and overpowered by thirst, that they could scarcely stand
upon their feet; yet with blows with the butt-end of the musket,
or with the whip, these poor wretches were driven from the huts,
dragged into camp, with every description of cruelty, and thence
despatched for Lobeid, on which march more than one hundred and
fifty souls perished from ill-usage.
On the fourth day of the march of this transport, after the caravan
had halted, and whilst the prisoners were forming detachments to take
up their quarters for the night, it so happened that an aged woman,
worn out with the fatigues of the long march, or overcome by the
mental sufferings she had endured, was incapable of reaching the
spot assigned to her with sufficient alacrity, and a barbarous Turk
dealt her a blow with the butt end of his musket, which laid her
nearly lifeless on the sand. Her son, who witnessed this gratuitous
act of cruelty, no longer master of his feelings, rushed with fury
towards the soldier, struck him a blow with the sheba round his
neck, and felled him to the ground. This was the signal for attack;
all the slaves, who bore a sheba, threw themselves upon the troops,
and knocked them down, before they could take to their arms, or
fix their bayonets; thus fifty-six negroes took to flight during
the confusion in the camp, and aided by the darkness of night,
succeeded in effecting their escape. The natives, attached to this
transport, remained quiet spectators of the fray, a proof of the
interest they feel in these sanguinary hunts.
The body of the expedition had, in the meantime, continued its march
and taken another hill by storm,—but not without loss. This village
was situated on a steep declivity, accessible only on the one side,
and so well supplied with water that a blockade was out of the
question. A storm was, therefore, commanded. On both sides, the men
fought with desperate bravery. The storming party purchased dearly
with their blood every inch of ground they advanced. The negroes had
barricaded every accessible spot; each tree and every stone formed
an ambush whence they rushed forth upon their enemies, who were
scaling the heights under severe difficulties. The muskets were of
no avail, for the soldiers were forced to creep upon their hands and
feet and could not use their arms; thus, many were stabbed by the
spears of the natives, before they could rise on their feet, and,
in their fall, tore several of their advancing comrades down with
them into the precipice and ravines below. The cannonade employed
against the village was ineffective, and forced to be silenced to
avoid injuring their own men. The struggle was fearful, and the event
for some time doubtful, the soldiers, however, at last succeeded in
obtaining a footing on the heights, and were able to employ their
arms; the bayonet now decided the victory in their favour, and the
village was soon taken, in spite of the most obstinate resistance
on the part of the negroes. The havoc became frightful: everyone
who offered the slightest resistance was cut down, children, women,
and old men were put to the bayonet, the huts were fired, and the
whole place was pillaged; in short, every species of cruelty was
perpetrated on these ill-fated victims. Those who fell into the hands
of the victorious enemy were immediately dragged down into the camp;
whilst those who endeavoured to escape, by concealing themselves
in caverns and ravines, were either hunted out by fire and smoke,
or suffocated in their place of shelter; every description of
atrocity was practised, nor did the carnage cease until the very
last man of this ill-starred tribe was exterminated or led away in
captivity. All the inconsiderable property of the natives which the
troops could not carry away with them as plunder was destroyed, and
the whole village sacked and levelled with the ground. These were not
all the sufferings which fell to the lot of these unfortunate men,
for severer tortures awaited them during their march to Kordofan. I
was unfortunately, during some few days, an eye-witness of the misery
these poor prisoners endured. No pen can describe the cruelties these
miserable men were made to suffer, in addition to the mental torment
consequent on their loss of freedom; for laden with the heavy sheba
round their necks, or bound together with tight straps or handcuffs,
the poor negroes were driven on like cattle, but treated with far
less care or forbearance. The greater number of them, covered with
the wounds they had received in battle, or excoriated by the sheba,
or the straps, and handcuffs, were put to yet severer trials on the
road, and, if too exhausted to keep pace with the transport, the
most cruel punishment awaited them; the piercing cry of complaint
of these unfortunate beings, and the tears and sobs of the children
who had either lost their parents in the capture of the village,
or were too tired to follow their exhausted mothers, would have
melted a heart of stone to pity. On these ruthless executioners,
however, even this scene of misery produces no effect; they march
with unconcern by the side of the prisoners, and are only anxious
to further the progress of the convoy, by urging on those who
may be so weak that they cannot follow the rest with blows and
stripes. As they dragged everyone away with them whom they found
living, there was, of course, a large number of lame, blind, and
old men, and persons afflicted with other infirmities, among the
complement of slaves, who were sure to perish on the road, or who
would be of no value on their arrival in Lobeid. But, even this
circumstance was not deemed worthy of consideration; without mercy
all were driven from their homes, and delivered up to their fate;
for the sole object is, to furnish the number of slaves demanded
by the government. Every morning, at about ten o’clock, a halt
was ordered, whereupon the prisoners were formed according to their
age into divisions, to receive their rations, consisting of boiled
dokn. Salt was out of the question, and the dokn so hard that the
full-grown men experienced difficulty in masticating it. Children,
who are too weak in the jaw to reduce the grain, swallow it as they
would pills, and are frequently put to the most excruciating agony
in consequence; for, not being able to digest the food, their bodies
swell, and they suffer from flatulence and spasm. I have seen mothers
chewing the victuals for their children, and then offering it to
them. In forming these detachments according to age, children who
anxiously cling to their parents are torn by force from their arms,
that they may eat alone. The condition of sick and wounded was not
considered; their wounds were not even dressed, and they received
the same allowance; many of them threw themselves on the sand, and,
refusing all food, preferred to rest their weary limbs. When one
of these poor wretches was so debilitated that it became a matter
of doubt whether he could be dragged on any further, or when he was
drawing his last breath, he was thrown, like a piece of wood, aside,
either to languish in despair, or to be torn to pieces by the wild
beasts. Bread is unheard of on these marches, although they have
every convenience for baking; this would be too great a luxury,
however, for the poor slaves, who must content themselves with
food not even good enough for cattle.
As soon as the signal for the march was given, the slaves were forced
to join their detachments, and, in case of delay for one minute
only, the whip and butt-end of the musket were again at work. Old
men and infirm women, bent down with the weight of years and care,
who could scarcely creep along, suffered like treatment, and when too
weak to move on were left to perish on the sand. Children were not
allowed to take leave of their nearest relatives; a tear and a look
of sorrow was the only tribute they could pay to the unfortunate
beings delivered over to their doom. To prevent a father or a
mother from perishing in this miserable manner, their wives or
daughters, who were unfettered, would take one of these wretches
between two of them, who, passing his arms round the neck of both,
was thus dragged on, or even at times carried. Children above six
years of age, or even at the age of four, were forced to walk;
they also generally succumb to the fatigues of the march, and are
then carried by their mothers or sisters. I have seen a mother with
an infant on one arm, and a child of two years of age on the other,
at last charge herself with a grown boy on her back, until she sank
herself exhausted under this triple load.
The officers commanding on these expeditions are more especially
to blame for the cruelty of the troops, for, riding at a distance
in front, or in the rear of the transport, they do not trouble
themselves about the condition of their prisoners, but leave them
entirely to the mercy of a ruthless soldiery. If an officer of
more feeling should happen to be in command, the circumstance is
instantly known by the diminished mortality on the road. I once
met with one of them who feelingly attended to the children and
the sick; who ordered them to be mounted on the beasts of burden
when too weak to proceed, and I saw him even take one or even two
of the children on his own horse. This man may lay his head on his
pillow in peace, free from the reproach of having augmented the
sufferings of his unfortunate fellow-creatures, whilst many of his
comrades must quail under the pangs of a guilty conscience for the
fearful death of hundreds of human beings.
An hour before sunset a halt was again ordered, and rations of
boiled dokn were once more served. But in the night the misery of
the slaves reached its very climax. In the month of January, when
the changes of temperature are ordinarily very perceptible, and the
thermometer generally falls below 4° Reaumur (41° Fahrenheit),
the cold is felt as severely as when at 4° or 5° below 0° of
Reaumur (23° to 20, 75° Fahrenheit), in the northern parts of
Germany. Imagine, now, the poor negroes in a state of absolute
nudity, without the means of covering themselves, and debilitated by
hunger and fatigue, when some idea may be formed of the sufferings
they had to endure; fires were certainly lighted, but the scanty
supply of wood rendered it impossible to defend these poor wretches
from the effects of cold. The shrieks and sobs of the children, the
cries of the wounded, and the groans of the sick, were perfectly
horrifying, and in the morning an infant was once found dead and
stiff with the cold at its mother’s breast. It is true that the
negroes have no covering in their own villages beyond a girdle or
a piece of linen passed round their loins, but then they lie at
night in their huts, or cover themselves with the skins of animals,
none of which they can find on their march. Those who wore the sheba
could not sleep at night for pain, as it so severely compresses the
neck that it impedes every movement, and thus not one man was free
from suffering. A woman far advanced in pregnancy was delivered
in the night without assistance. I gave the poor mother a shirt,
in which she wrapped her infant, and thus safely carried it to
Lobeid, and in compassion for her weak state I lent her my ass
to ride. I am unequal to the task of narrating all the horrors
I witnessed during the few days I attached myself to the convoy;
no words are sufficiently expressive to describe the sufferings of
the slaves, and no tongue can tell the painful sensations of a man
of feeling who witnesses these atrocities. I did all in my power,
with entreaties and presents, to make the troops, and the irregular
natives forming the escort, more compassionate, and thus many a man
was induced to take a child who could not move its jaded feet along
the burning sand upon his back, or to relieve a mother exhausted by
its weight, and carry it during the whole of the day. Unfortunately,
however, I was not able to put a stop to all acts of cruelty, and
was forced on one occasion to see an unfeeling soldier fell a man
to the ground with the butt-end of his musket because unable to keep
pace with the rest: his feet, in fact, refused their office: he had
been wounded in that part during the siege, the wound had inflamed,
and the pain had quite overpowered him. I lost all command of my
feelings on witnessing this brutal act, drew my sword, and should
have cut down the inhuman barbarian, if my servant had not seized my
arm and wrested my sword and pistols from my hand; nor did he return
my arms to me before he saw that my passion had cooled. On the eighth
day the expedition arrived at Lobeid. The distribution, described in
the former chapter, now took place, and this is, properly speaking,
the chief cause of the harsh and merciless behaviour of the soldiery
towards the slaves; for they know, that they will be compelled to
receive them in liquidation of their arrears of pay, at a value far
above the price they will obtain from the slave-merchants; that the
slaves, moreover, frequently die before they can dispose of them,
in which case the loss falls upon them, and they must serve the
government for months gratuitously. Hence they do all in their
power to rid themselves of the old and infirm slaves before they
reach Lobeid, in order to avoid the inconvenience of being forced
to take one of these men in lieu of their pay. If the payment of
the troops in the Belled-Soodan were effected in cash, as it is in
the other provinces, I am convinced that the unfortunate slaves
would meet with more humane treatment. But thanks to the noble
Queen Victoria of England, whose eye of compassion has penetrated
into these distant realms, and cheered the hearts of the dejected
and oppressed inhabitants,—at whose earnest representations,
in fine, these slave-hunts have been put an end to by Mehemed Ali
himself,—thousands of these poor negroes, who from year to year
trembled under the fear of a similar fate, may now live in peace and
tranquillity; and the prayers of the emancipated, offered up to the
throne of the Almightly for this truly great monarch cannot fail
to reward her humanity by a prosperous and happy reign. According
to reports from Kordofan, no expedition for kidnapping slaves
was ordered in the year 1839, and the troops were paid in cash;
but those, unfortunately, of 1840 and 1841 sound very differently,
for Mehemed Ali, in spite of his solemn promise to put an end to all
further slave-hunts, had again commenced these revolting expeditions.