THE DINKAS AND BARIS.--GONDOKORO.--ANNEXATION TO EGYPT.
The day after the incident of the lion Frank was looking over the
country with his glasses, and discovered what he supposed to be a
cluster of ant-hills of a new kind. Scanning them closely for some
minutes, he finally determined that they were not ant-hills, but the
huts of a village. Being somewhat uncertain on this point, he appealed
to the Doctor.
"You are right," was the reply, "they are the huts of a native village."
[Illustration: SECTIONAL VIEW OF DINKA HUT.]
"But they are different in shape from the Shillook huts we have been
seeing as we ascended the river."
"Yes, they are different in shape, and they belong to another tribe of
negroes. We are now in the country of the Dinkas, of whom we have
already spoken.
"The Dinkas are mainly on the east bank of the Nile, and their
possessions extend quite a distance into the interior. The actual area
of their country is unknown, as it has never been surveyed, and only a
few travellers have explored it. The Dinkas are taller and finer in
appearance than the Shillooks, and are a brave, hardy people. Their
faces are more intelligent than those of the Shillooks, and altogether
they are superior to their neighbors. Like the Shillooks, they are fond
of veneering their skins with ashes, which gives them a brownish hue,
and the favorite bed of the Dinka is a pile of ashes, with a stick of
wood at one end, on which his neck can rest. When the ashes are washed
away their skins are of inky blackness, and the Dinka may be fairly set
down as one of the darkest of his dark race."
Fred wished to know how they lived.
"As to that," replied Doctor Bronson, "their ways of life are not much
unlike those of the Shillooks, except that they are more peaceful. They
have large herds of cattle, and are eminently a pastoral people. They
cultivate the soil to quite an extent, and they move their villages
occasionally in search of pasturage for their herds.... There:
observe the bank of the river with your glass and you will see one of
their herds, which is evidently coming down to allow the cattle to
drink."
[Illustration: HEAD OF A DINKA BULL.]
Frank looked to where a dark spot seemed moving over the plain. As soon
as he had adjusted his glasses he descried the drove that the Doctor had
pointed out.
There were hundreds of cattle in the herd, which moved at a dignified
pace, under the control of two or three dozen men, who were clothed only
in long lances, if a lance may be called an article of wearing apparel.
Frank remarked the nakedness of the Dinkas, and the Doctor informed him
that among this people the wearing of clothing is considered effeminate,
and only the women are dressed with anything more than oil and ashes.
The Dinkas call the Nubians "women," because they wear clothing,
although it is not much, and a true Dinka would allow himself to be
frozen to death rather than put on a garment to keep his body
comfortable. "But they do not consider it effeminate," continued the
Doctor, "to seek the shelter of their huts when the cold wind blows, and
in this way they get along without much suffering."
Abdul had been among the Dinkas, and said their herds of cattle would
astonish the boys if they could see them. "Why," said he, "I have seen
many a herd of ten thousand animals, and one of two thousand is
considered small. They have large yards, or corrals, where the beasts
are driven at night, to prevent their straying, and also to protect them
from the attacks of wild beasts. The cattle are much like those you saw
in the neighborhood of Khartoum. They live entirely on the wild grass,
and in dry seasons are apt to suffer from scanty pasturage.
[Illustration: A DINKA CATTLE-YARD.]
"A cattle-yard among the Dinkas, when the herds are driven in for the
night, is an interesting and also a noisy spot. Each animal has his
place, where he is tied to a strong peg driven into the ground; and the
herdsmen have the same trouble as herdsmen everywhere else in managing
the refractory portion of the drove. Once in a while a man is trampled
under their feet or gored by their horns. The absence of clothing is in
favor of these cattle-drivers, as they are able to get around with more
agility than if they were encumbered with garments. The cows are milked
only once a day, and their yield is surprisingly small.
[Illustration: A SHEEP WITHOUT WOOL.]
"In addition to their horned cattle the Dinkas have great numbers of
sheep and goats. But, unlike the sheep of Northern climes, they do not
have any wool."
"Why should they," said Fred, "when they live in a country where they
don't need it? Nature adapts herself to the conditions of the climate."
"If that is the fact," retorted Frank, "Nature has not been true to
herself in some cases that I could mention. For instance, she ought to
have given the natives of London, where it rains so much, a cuticle like
a rubber overcoat; and if she had skinned them with regular Goodyear or
Macintosh garments, pockets and all, she would have done a good thing."
"Quite right," replied his cousin; "and while she was about it she might
have given the New Yorker a double covering of mosquito-netting and
buffalo robes, so that he could provide for his tropical summers and his
arctic winters. When you talk about the rain of England you may offset
it against the terrible variations of the thermometer in New York."
"But about the Dinka sheep," said Abdul. "They have a sort of shaggy
mane on the neck and shoulders, but the hair on the rest of the body,
including the tail, is quite short. This style of covering makes them
look like small buffaloes, and when you see one you almost require to be
told that you are looking at a sheep, and not at some other animal.
Their color is white or a dirty brown, and sometimes they are spotted or
'brindled.' The goats are not unlike the goats of other countries, but
they grow quite large, and are usually very thin in flesh.
"It is a curious circumstance that the Dinkas do not slaughter their
cattle, but have no scruple about eating beef when the animal is killed
by accident or is the property of somebody else. They reckon their
possessions in cattle, just as we do in money, and a man who has no
horned property is indeed poor. Neither do they kill their sheep, and
the goat is the only domestic animal that they slaughter for food. In
their currency one cow equals thirty goats. Goats take care of
themselves, and require very little attention, but the cattle must be
herded and watched. Wild beasts occasionally carry off their goats, but
the loss is so slight that it is not heeded.
[Illustration: A DINKA VILLAGE NEAR THE WHITE NILE.]
"Their huts are made of thatched grass, and larger than those of the
Shillooks. The people take considerable pains to keep their dwellings
clean, and in this respect are rather better than the majority of the
natives of Africa."
Frank thought their habit of sleeping in ashes was not an agreeable one.
Abdul said the practice had at least one merit, as it drove away a good
many insects that make sleeping disagreeable on many parts of African
soil. "I have suffered less from fleas and other small game in the
Dinkas' huts," said he, "than among the Shillooks or the other tribes
that I have seen. They are a hospitable race, and their cooking is not
to be despised. They live on the flesh of goats and on fish caught from
the river, and they make several nice dishes of milk and farinaceous
products. Their manners at table are as polite as in Europe, and their
way of eating is more like yours than that of the Arabs."
"Do they have cups and saucers, plates, knives and forks, and other
table things, as we do?" one of the youths asked.
"Not by any means," was the reply, "as they have few manufactures, and
their dishes are principally gourds and shells. This is the way they eat
at their meals:
"A large dish of cooked farina is placed on the ground, and the party
sits down around it, each one having a gourd-shell full of milk or
butter. When all is ready, the oldest person or the one highest in rank
pours some of his milk on the farina; then with a spoon he eats as much
as he likes, and passes the dish to the next. The first pours his milk
only on the part he touches, and the second follows his example, and
thus they take their turns till all are supplied. I think you will agree
that this is a much neater way than that of the Arabs, who all sit
around and thrust their fingers into the same dish, even though they are
scrupulously careful to wash their hands before and after, and also
several times during the meal."
"I remember reading in Dr. Schweinfurth's book," said Frank, "that he
often entertained Dinka ladies of rank in his tent, and was surprised at
the way they fell into European manners. He used to serve them with his
foreign dishes, and they sat on his chairs; they handled his forks and
spoons as though accustomed to them all their lives, and carefully
washed everything when through with it and put it in its proper place."
With the study of the curious people through whose country they were
passing, with frequent sights of crocodiles and river-horses, occasional
shots at cranes and other birds, and a goodly amount of sleep whenever
the mosquitoes would permit, the youths did not find the time hanging
heavy on their hands. Finally, one afternoon they were told that
Gondokoro was in sight, and their steamboat voyage was about to end.
The arrival at Gondokoro was a grateful relief from the marshes and
lowlands through which our friends had travelled for nearly a thousand
miles. As they approached this point they saw mountains in the distance,
and found the little settlement on a bluff, or high bank, ten or twelve
feet above the river. Frank hoped they had said farewell to the swarms
of mosquitoes that had been pestering them for many days, but the Doctor
brought him no grain of comfort in replying that the mosquito had the
whole of Africa for his domain, and they could only be rid of his
presence by leaving the country.
Frank asked for the history of Gondokoro, and received the following
information, which he duly recorded in his note-book:
"Gondokoro is in the territory of the Bari negroes, and on the right
bank of the White Nile; it is in latitude 4° 54' north and longitude 31°
46' east, and in a hot and unhealthy country. It was formerly a station
of the ivory traders, and was occupied only two months in the year,
during their annual visits to the Upper Nile valley. The tropical rains
last about three-fourths of the year, and render the air very moist and
the vegetation vigorous. The grass is so luxuriant that the buffaloes
are concealed by it, and the reeds on the banks of the lagoons near the
river grow to a height of twenty-five or thirty feet.
"It was formerly an important depot of the slave-traders, and when Baker
Pacha came up the Nile to abolish their traffic he took possession of
Gondokoro in the name of the Khedive, and annexed the country to Egypt."
"Yes," said Abdul, to whom Frank read the notes he had made, "the
ceremony of annexation was very interesting.
"Baker had decided to change the name of the place to Ismailia, in honor
of the Khedive, and the ceremony was fixed for the morning of May 26,
1871. A tall flag-staff had been erected for supporting the Egyptian
colors on the highest point of land overlooking the river, and all the
trees and bushes were cleared away, so that the ground was as smooth as
a lawn.
"The troops, to the number of twelve hundred, marched from their
quarters at six in the morning and formed a square near the flag-staff,
one side consisting of a battery of ten guns, ready to fire a salute.
[Illustration: CEREMONY AT GONDOKORO ON ITS ANNEXATION TO EGYPT.]
"When all was ready the official proclamation announcing the annexation
of the country to the Khedive's dominions was read at the foot of the
staff, and as the last sentence was uttered, the flag was run to the top
of the pole and immediately fluttered in the breeze. The officers waved
their swords, the soldiers presented arms, and the battery fired a royal
salute. The natives had been invited to witness the ceremony, and they
came in large numbers. When the artillery was fired they were greatly
astonished, as few of them had ever heard anything of the kind before,
and their surprise was increased when the troops indulged in a sham
battle, during which they fired about ten thousand rounds of blank
cartridges. They were not at all friendly to the annexation, as they had
been persuaded by the slave-traders that the movement was intended for
their oppression, and they would all be carried into captivity."
Frank continued his notes on the history of the place:
[Illustration: AUSTRIAN MISSION-HOUSE AT GONDOKORO.]
"The Austrian government established a mission at Gondokoro in 1853, and
built a church of bricks which were made of the clay found in the
neighborhood. The mission was discontinued in 1858, and of twenty
missionaries that went there to preach the Gospel to the natives
thirteen died of fever, two of other diseases, and two others went away
with their health so broken down that they died soon after reaching
Khartoum. The natives tore down the mission church and pounded the
bricks into dust, which they mixed with oil; they anointed their bodies
with the paste, which they pronounced an excellent substitute for red
paint. All missionary efforts were abandoned, to the great delight of
the slave-traders, who had found them interfering with their business.
"From that time down to the arrival of Baker, in 1871, the town resumed
its former condition and appearance, as a station of the ivory-merchants
and slave-traders. There was no law in Gondokoro, and very little order,
and if anybody chose to commit a crime there was hardly a probability
that he would be punished for it. Everybody who went there for any
purpose other than trading was regarded as a nuisance, and the merchants
were not slow to excite the natives against him.
[Illustration: VIEW OF GONDOKORO, FROM THE RIVER.]
"Baker erected a line of earthworks for the defence of the place, and
built warehouses for keeping his goods and military stores. After his
departure some of the buildings erected by him were pulled down, and the
material became scattered and lost. The military station was made on the
bank of a small stream which enters the Nile at this point, but it is
too shallow to admit steamers and sail-boats, which are consequently
moored to the bank of the river."
[Illustration: COLONEL ABD-EL-KADER.]
Our friends were cordially received by the commandant of the post,
Colonel Abd-el-Kader, who had served with Baker in the famous
expedition, and was highly complimented by that gentleman for his zeal
and efficiency. The colonel invited them to his quarters, and as soon as
the greetings were over he assigned them a place where their tents could
be erected. The youths were not at all sorry to exchange their quarters
on the steamer for their canvas houses, whose qualities they had tested
in the journey from Korosko to Berber. Frank declared he was rapidly
becoming an Arab, and thought it not at all improbable that he would
prefer a tent to a substantial dwelling-place for the rest of his life.
Fred said he would wait a while before declaring himself, as he was a
long way from renouncing the comforts of a home in New York or any other
civilized city.
"Be careful about one thing," said the colonel as they left his
quarters; "remember you are now in the country of the white ants, and
they will eat anything except iron. They have even been known to gnaw
holes in a stove-pipe, if some of my officers tell the truth, and it is
currently reported that they have ruined our best grindstone. Everything
not enclosed in tin or something stronger is subject to their teeth, and
you must be constantly on the lookout for them."
The boys promised to be careful, and as they watched the landing of
their stores they gave directions to Abdul, forgetting that he had been
in the country before and knew all about it. The goods were properly
stowed, those not enclosed in tin cases being hoisted on posts, to hold
them clear from the ground, and the feet of the posts placed in pots of
water. At night when the boys retired they were obliged to be careful of
all their garments and hoist them out of reach. Of course it happened
that the second night one of them forgot the necessary precaution, and
left his boots on the floor of the tent. In the morning he found they
had been riddled by the ants and were no longer water-proof, and their
usefulness as coverings for the feet had passed away. He was more
careful in future, and learned to appreciate the ants at their true
value as destroyers.
Almost everything except metals yields to the teeth of these insects.
Ordinary timber, carefully dried and painted, is attacked by them, and
it was not unusual to find them devouring the gun-stocks of the soldiers
or the wood-work of machinery and implements of daily use. One of the
officers found his sword-belt had been eaten on a hook where he hung it
during the night, and there was hardly a garment belonging to the men of
the garrison that had not suffered in some way from the pests. Fred
recalled some familiar words of 'Pinafore' relative to sisters, cousins,
and aunts, and wondered if the author had the ants of the Soudan in mind
when he penned the now antiquated lines.
The youths were interested in studying the natives of the country around
Gondokoro, and the information they obtained was carefully recorded in
their journals. We are permitted to make the following extracts, which
will save us the trouble of referring to the explorers of Africa who
have written about these savages:
"Gondokoro is in the country of the Baris, a race of negroes somewhat
resembling the other tribes of the Nile, but differing from them in
language and customs. They have large herds of cattle, like their
neighbors the Dinkas, and, like them, they till the soil to some extent,
though the raising of cattle is their chief occupation. Doctor Bronson
says they raise a good deal of mischief as well as cattle, and have
given no end of trouble to travellers and to the military expeditions
that have been sent among them. The Austrian missionaries were unable to
do anything with them, and their labors of several years among the Baris
and the sacrifice of valuable lives did not make a single earnest
convert to Christianity.
[Illustration: BARIS STEALING CATTLE FROM THE GARRISON AT GONDOKORO.]
"They occupy a territory about ninety miles long by seventy wide, its
greatest extent being from north to south. They have no king or any
other person whom they recognize as a ruler. The country is divided into
districts, and each district has a chief, who does not acknowledge the
authority of any other. The result is they have occasional wars among
themselves, but these troubles do not last long. They are implacable
enemies, and famous for their treachery, and they look upon every
stranger as a spy or intriguer. They have suffered considerably from the
raids of the slave-traders, who plundered their villages and carried the
prisoners into captivity; but when Baker Pacha came among them, with the
avowed object of suppressing the slave-trade, they were hostile to him,
and remained so till after his departure. They stole his cattle,
attacked his camp, killed his soldiers, and did everything in their
power to drive him from the country and stop the work for which he went
among them.
"The country of the Baris is a fine region for grazing, and admirably
adapted to the support of their herds of cattle. It is diversified with
park-like stretches of grass-lands, interspersed with extensive forests
of the finest timber, and occasionally rises into mountain-ranges two or
three thousand feet high. Rivers rise among these mountains and flow to
the Nile, and they are sufficiently numerous to give the country a good
supply of water, except in the season of drought.
"Most of the soil is fertile, and produces abundantly when tilled. The
mountains contain iron ore of excellent quality, which the natives
reduce and work into weapons and other things. They have very skilful
blacksmiths, and some of the products of their skill would be no
discredit to the best workmen of an English or American shop. We have
seen spear-heads, knives, arrow-points, and similar things from their
hands, and they were fashioned as perfectly as though turned in a lathe
or stamped by a machine.
[Illustration: BARI ARROWS AND ELEPHANT-SPEAR.]
"Some of the arrow-points have barbs below the head, so that the weapon
when driven into the flesh of an animal will have no chance of being
drawn out, and there are several forms of these arrows. Then they have
elephant-spears weighted with a ball of iron, so that a hunter may drop
them from a tree upon the unsuspecting animal that passes beneath him.
They have learned the process of hardening their iron, though they
have not yet discovered how to convert it into steel. It is certainly
good enough for all their uses, and the supply is inexhaustible."
* * * * *
"Since writing the above we have been to a Bari village about five miles
from Gondokoro, and had the opportunity of inspecting their dwellings.
The village consists of conical huts, which resemble those of the Dinkas
in outward appearance; the inside is different, as it has an inner
circle, with a low opening. We had to crawl on our knees to enter one of
the huts, as the door was only two feet high. When we got through we
stood up, but had to stoop again to get to the inner circle, which has
an opening no higher than the door.
"Contrary to our expectation we found the inside of the huts perfectly
clean, and we voted unanimously that the Bari women are good
house-keepers, for they do all the work about the dwellings. The walls
are of wattles, or reeds, and small withes woven together. The outside
of the hut is thatched with grass, and the inside is plastered with
cement made from the clay of the ant-hills mixed with ashes, and worked
into a paste with water. Outside of the hut there is a little
court-yard, with a fence around it, and paved with the same kind of
cement that we saw on the walls. This yard is carefully swept every
morning, and no dirt is allowed to gather there in the course of the
day.
"Most of the huts had granaries near them, and we were told that some of
the villages had large granaries in common. The granaries are made of
wicker-work, plastered with cement, and standing on posts of stone or
cement, so that they cannot be damaged by the white ants.
"Every village has a large _zeriba_, or cattle-yard, where their herds
are driven at night for safety. The one we saw was made of posts of a
very hard wood, much like ebony, and one of the very few woods that the
white ants will not devour. The posts were six or eight inches in
diameter, and sunk into the ground, so as to form a stockade about eight
feet high. The spaces between the posts were interlaced with thorny
bushes, and would form an admirable defence against an enemy armed with
Bari weapons.
"Near the house of the sheik or chief we passed an open shed, near which
a drum was suspended. Abdul said the drum belonged to the sheik, and no
one is allowed to touch it except by his orders. It was shaped somewhat
like an egg with a slice cut off from one end, and was evidently
hollowed from a log of wood.
"Abdul explained that the Baris place great reliance on their drums, and
have a system of signals for them, so that information can be readily
conveyed. One kind of beat calls the fighting-men together for war,
another summons them to a council, and another tells them to go in a
certain direction to meet an enemy. The signal for war is sounded from
one village to another, so that the whole country can be under arms in a
very short time. It is not unlike a telegraph in its operations, and may
be very well compared to the bugle and drum calls in a civilized army.
"Every morning the drum is beaten to give the signal for milking the
cows, and when the work is done another signal sends the herds to
pasture. A similar call is given for bringing them in at night, and it
is said that the cattle know the different sounds of the drum just as
well as their masters do.
"The dress of the Bari men is much like that of the Dinkas--a veneering
of ashes, and a spear or lance. The women wear aprons of leather, but
the men go quite naked, and consider clothing a mark of effeminacy. One
reason of their disrespect for Europeans is the fact that the latter
wear clothing, and they invariably speak of the Egyptian officers as
'Turkish ladies,' because they are clothed from head to foot."
[Illustration: AFRICAN DRUMS.]