INFORMATION CONCERNING THE COURSE OF THE BAHR-ABIAD (WHITE NILE). —
ANTIQUITIES OF KORDOFAN. — BANDANIANIAM.[89]
During my residence in Kordofan, I enjoyed the opportunity of coming
in contact with persons who had travelled over the greater part of
the South-east and South-west of Africa, and who were able to give me
information on many points hitherto subjected to doubt. These were in
part Djelabi (merchants), in part Takruri (pilgrims). My chief object
in making these inquiries, was to obtain an authentic account of
the course of the White Nile, but I was unable to gain satisfactory
information for a length of time, and nearly despaired of ever
arriving at my end; for the men who travelled in the countries
through which this river flows, were partly too deeply engaged in
their own business to attend to matters of little or no importance
to them, or were such from whose statements no certain conclusions
could be deduced. At last, however, I became acquainted with a
negro from Runga, who had spent three years of his life in Europe,
and then returned to his native country. A lengthened intercourse
with this man convinced me that he had enjoyed the opportunity of
learning more than his countrymen, and had profited by it, and was,
moreover, not addicted to falsehood, as the natives are, almost
without exception. He had visited his fatherland after three years
of absence, and had made various journeys into other countries. I
thought, therefore, that he would be the best man to apply to
for information on the course of the White Nile; I found him both
intelligent and willing, and obtained the following description,
which appears to me most worthy of credence:—
The Bahr-Abiad, or White Nile, flows through Runga, a country
situated to the south of Darfour, to which kingdom it is
tributary. The river is said to be very broad, but by no means deep,
and even fordable by men or cattle. During the dry season, it is not
navigable throughout, for in certain spots there is not enough water
to float a boat, and the natives are only in few places provided
with rafts. From Runga its course is directed towards Bakkara,
then towards the country of the Jenky, Dynke, or Denkani, where
it is said to receive a tributary stream, of whose course I could
obtain no further information. After flowing through the country of
the Jenky and Shilluks, the Bahr-Abiad is said to enter Sennaar,
where it unites with the Blue Nile, near Khartoom. As I was more
anxious to know the course of the river before it reaches Runga, my
friend, the negro, introduced me to several of his acquaintances,
natives of those countries, which are watered by this stream, and
from this source I learnt that it flows through Binga, Wuanga, Gulla,
and Banda. I conversed with two or three persons on this subject,
two of them natives of Bornu, and the third a native of Binga,
who had resided during five years in the former state, and they all
coincided in that statement, that a river flows through the country,
named in their language the Gazelle-stream, because its water is
as pure and transparent as that of springs. They could not tell me
its source; but all agreed that it takes its course towards Banda,
where it is named the White River, from the colour it assumes,
dependent on the nature of the soil through which it flows. I also
received intelligence of certain Egyptian antiquities, standing
in the desert, between Kordofan and Darfour, at Cab-Belull,[90]
a place situated at a distance of two days’ march from Caccie, on
the borders of Kordofan. Doum-palms grow by the side of the ruins,
and in the dry season water is to be found at a distance of eight
miles from the spot. This place is very little known in Kordofan
even, for no road passes through the neighbourhood. My informant
was a Djelabi (merchant), who, on his return from Darfour, had
been compelled to make a considerable circuit to avoid a horde of
robbers, and had encamped at Cab-Belull. His camel-drivers, who were
Kubbabeesh, were acquainted with this spot, and had frequently,
on their former journeys, driven their beasts to this place for
pasture. I conclude the ruins to be Egyptian antiquities, as the
merchant compared them with those at Luxor, with which he was also
acquainted. They are said to consist of large portals, and high
walls; some few colossal figures in stone are also reported to
be there met with, but the greater part of them is buried in the
sands. The Djelabi brought a few camel-drivers to me, who had a
knowledge of that neighbourhood, for I had made up my mind to visit
the place, but unforeseen circumstances subsequently prevented me
from carrying this design into effect.
On the hills, in the neighbourhood of Banda, a race of people dwell,
quite uncivilized in manner, warlike and predatory in habit: the
enemy, and even the terror, of all the bordering negro tribes. They
are of a white complexion, like the Arabs in Egypt, of regular
feature, well-grown, and have large blue eyes. They are called by
the negroes, Bandanianiam (_Anthropophagi_), and are said to be of
Jewish extraction. The Sultan of Banda institutes hunts to kidnap
the girls of this tribe, and Sultan Mohammed Fadel, of Darfour,
has a few of them in his harem.