THE SHOOAS, TIBBOOS, TUARICKS, BEGHARMIS, AND MUSGUESE.
THE SHOOA TRIBE -- THEIR SKILL IN HORSEMANSHIP -- A SHOOA
BUFFALO-HUNT -- CHASE OF THE ELEPHANT -- TRACES OF THEIR ARABIC
ORIGIN -- SHOOA DANCES -- APPEARANCE AND DRESS OF THE WOMEN -- THE
TIBBOO TRIBE -- THEIR ACTIVITY -- DRESS AND APPEARANCE OF BOTH SEXES
-- THEIR SKILL WITH THE SPEAR -- TIBBOO DANCES -- THEIR CITIES OF
REFUGE -- THE TUARICKS -- THEIR THIEVISH CHARACTER AND GRAVE MANNERS
-- TUARICK SINGING -- THE BEGHARMIS -- LOCALITY OF THE PEOPLE -- THE
SULTAN AND HIS RETINUE -- CURIOUS ARCHITECTURE -- COSTUME AND WEAPONS
OF THE LANCERS -- WRESTLERS, BOXERS, AND DANCERS -- THE MUSGU TRIBE
-- APPEARANCE OF THE WOMEN -- THE LIP ORNAMENT -- A MUSGU CHIEF AND
ATTENDANTS -- A DISASTROUS BATTLE.
One of the most important of the many tribes which surround Lake Tchad
is the Shooa tribe, which, like the Kanemboo, has been absorbed into
the Bornuan kingdom. Their chief value is their soldierly nature,
and, as they are splendid horsemen, they form the greater part of the
cavalry. Arabs by descent, they preserve the Arabic language, and
speak it nearly pure, only mixing with it certain words and phrases of
Bornuan origin. They present a strong contrast to the pure Bornuese,
who are peaceable, quiet, slow, and good-natured. They are absurdly
timid, and, except in pursuing an already routed enemy, are useless in
the field, running away when there is the least sign of danger.
The Shooas, on the contrary, are bold, active, energetic, and daring,
passing a considerable part of their lives on horseback, and such
admirable equestrians that man and horse look like one animal. They are
mighty hunters, not being contented to dig pits and catch the animals
that fall into them, but boldly chasing the fierce and dangerous
buffaloes and killing them with the spear alone.
The Shooa hunter rides to the swampy grounds where the buffalo loves to
wallow, and drives the animals upon the firm land. He then makes choice
of one, and gives chase to it, getting on its off side and pressing it
closely. His horse is trained to run side by side with the buffalo, and
the rider then stands like a circus-rider upon the two animals, one
foot on his horse’s back, and the other on that of the buffalo.
He then drives his spear through the shoulders of the buffalo toward
the heart, and, if he has time, will fix another spear. He then drops
on his horse, which leaps away from the wounded animal, so as to avoid
the stroke of the horn which the buffalo is apt to give as it feels
the pain of the wound. As a rule, the buffalo can run but a very short
distance when thus injured, and, as soon as it staggers, the bold
hunter dismounts, and gives the final stroke. Sometimes a badly-trained
horse will be too eager, and press so far forward that the turn of the
buffalo’s head will wound it severely; but an old and experienced horse
knows the danger as well as its rider, and just keeps itself far enough
back to avoid the blow.
The Shooas chase the elephant in a similar manner, but, as the animal
is so enormous, twenty or thirty hunters generally unite their forces,
one always riding in front so as to draw the angry animal’s attention,
while the others follow it up, and inflict a series of wounds, under
which it soon sinks. Sometimes, when the elephant is very active and
savage, one of the hunters will dismount, and try to hamstring the
animal, or will even creep under it and drive his spears into its belly.
It may be easily imagined that such hunters as these are likely to make
good soldiers, and that the Bornuan sheikh was fully justified in
forming them into so large a contingent of his army.
Their constant practice in hunting the wild buffalo renders them
bold and successful cattle managers. They are excellent drivers, and
contrive to make whole herds of half-wild cattle obey them implicitly.
In nothing is their skill shown so much as in forcing the cattle to
cross the rivers in spite of their instinctive dread of the crocodiles
that infest the water. One driver, or rather leader, enters the water
first, dragging after him an ox by a cord tied to the ring through
his nose. As soon as the timid cattle see that one of their number
has ventured into the water, they are easily induced to follow its
example, and whole herds of oxen and flocks of sheep are thus taken
across in safety, the noise and splashing which they make frightening
the crocodiles away. Even the women assist in cattle-driving, and not
unfrequently the part of leader is taken by a woman.
As might be expected, the Shooas possess great numbers of cattle, and
Major Denham calculated that this single tribe owned at least sixty
thousand oxen, sheep, and goats, besides multitudes of horses. The
Shooas, indeed, are the chief horsebreeders of the Soudan.
True to their origin, the Shooas have retained many of their Arabic
characteristics. They build no houses, but live in tents, or rather
movable huts, composed of a simple framework of sticks, covered either
with leather or rush mats. They have, however, lost much of the nomad
character of the Arabs, probably because the fertile soil permits their
flocks to remain permanently in the same spot. They pitch their tents
in a circle, each such circle representing a town, and having two
openings or entrances for the cattle.
Even the governor or sultan of the largest settlement does not inhabit
a house. The establishment of one of these potentates, who was visited
by Dr. Oudney, consisted of a great quadrangular enclosure made of mats
suspended on poles, within which were a number of small huts, or rather
tents, with walls of the same materials, but with thatched roofs, and
much like straw beehives in shape. The doorway, or opening of each
tent, is always placed westward, because rain always comes from the
east. The furniture of the tents is as simple as their architecture,
and consists of a rude bed, some mats, and a few gourds and earthen
jars. The dwelling of a man of rank is distinguished by an ostrich
egg-shell.
Not only do they build no houses of their own, but they never inhabit
those which others have built, and, though they have overcome many
a district, they have never peopled or conquered towns. For the
surrounding negro nations they have the supremest contempt, and yet,
with strange inconsistency, they are always tributary to one of the
nations which they despise. Probably on this account, unless they are
well officered, they do not care to fight even in the service of that
nation which they serve; and although they are foremost when plunder
seems within their reach, they are always apt to retire from the battle
when it seems likely to go against them.
Their amusements consist principally of dances, one of which is very
peculiar, and is performed exclusively by women. They advance by pairs
at a time, and throw themselves into various attitudes, accompanied by
the wild and rude music of the band. Suddenly they turn their backs on
each other, stoop, and butt backward at each other, the object being
to upset the adversary. “She who keeps her equilibrium and destroys
that of her opponent is greeted with cheers and shouts, and is led out
of the ring by two matrons, covering her face with her hands. They
sometimes come together with such violence as to burst the belt of
beads which all the women of rank wear round their bodies just above
the hips, and showers of beads would fly in every direction. Some of
these belts are twelve or sixteen inches wide, and cost fifteen or
twenty dollars.
“Address, however, is often attended in these contests with better
success than strength, and a well-managed feint exercised at the moment
of the expected concussion, even when the weight of metal would be very
unequal, often brings the more weighty tumbling to the ground, while
the other is seen quietly seated on the spot where she had with great
art and agility dropped herself. The Shooas are particularly happy
in these feints, which were practised in different ways, either by
suddenly stepping on one side, or by lying down.”
The young girls are fond of skipping with a long rope, just as is
practised in Europe. They display very great agility, which is not
hindered by the presence of any garment. Major Denham once came on
a party of girls amusing themselves in this manner, and enjoying
the sport so thoroughly that nothing but the fear of losing dignity
prevented him from joining them.
The manners of the Shooas are pleasing and gentle. They are a
hospitable people, and give freely of the milk on which they almost
entirely live, as is always the case with a pastoral tribe. Major
Denham seems to have been particularly charmed with the manners of the
Shooas, which he describes as peculiarly interesting and expressive.
Even when bringing milk to their guests, the girls do so in a sort of
punctilious way, each sitting down by the side of the bowl, and making
a little ceremonious speech with her head wrapped in a mantle, which
she afterward removes for the sake of freer conversation.
The Shooa women are remarkable for their beauty. Their color is a light
ruddy copper, and they have fine open countenances, with aquiline
noses and large eyes--all very remarkable among the negro tribes that
surround them. The women are especially good-looking, and remind the
observer of the gipsy women. Their dress (see engraving on page 631)
consists of two wrappers, one round the waist and the other thrown over
the shoulders. The latter is worn in different ways, sometimes like
a shawl, sometimes tied under the arms so as to leave both shoulders
bare, and sometimes thrown over one shoulder and under the other. On
their feet they wear curious shoes without heels, but coming up the
sides of the foot above the ankles. Their hair is dressed in rather a
curious manner, being plaited into innumerable little tresses, which
are first pressed tightly to the head, and then suddenly diverge.
Handsome as are the Shooa women, their beauty is held in great contempt
by the negro tribes among which they live, and who naturally think that
thick lips, flat noses, and black skins constitute the only real beauty
in man or woman.
THE TIBBOOS.
Allied, in all probability, to the Shooas are the Tibboos.
They are a small and active race, and are admirable horsemen, always
leaping on their horses at a single bound, aiding themselves with the
shaft of a spear, which is used as a leaping-pole. Their saddles are of
wood, lashed together with thongs of cow-hide, and left open along the
middle, so as to avoid galling the horse’s back. They are well stuffed
with camel’s hair, and are comfortable enough when the rider is used to
them. Both the girth and the stirrup leathers are of plaited leather,
and the stirrups themselves are so small that they only admit of four
toes. In fact, the Tibboo saddle is almost exactly like that of the
Patagonian.
The men are very ugly, but the women are tolerably good-looking, and
those who live in the country are better made and more active than
those who live in the towns. The color is copper, but the noses are
flat, and the mouth is very large, though without the thick lips of the
negro.
Their dress is a tolerably large Soudan wrapper, folded round the body
and tied on the left shoulder so as to leave the right side bare. It
is, however, disposed in such a manner as to be a perfectly delicate as
well as a graceful costume. A smaller wrapper is thrown over the head,
and is drawn across the face or flung back at pleasure. The hair is
dressed in triangular flaps, which fall on either side of the face; and
they wear necklaces of amber, which they prize very highly, and bits of
red coral in their noses. They invariably carry something by way of a
sunscreen, such as a bunch of ostrich-feathers, a tuft of long grass,
or even a leafy bough.
Ugly as the men are, they are exceedingly vain of their personal
appearance; and on one occasion, when Major Denham had lent a
Tibboo chief a small looking-glass, the man spent several hours in
contemplating his own features, bursting every now and then into loud
ejaculations of joy at his own beauty, and sometimes leaping in the air
in the extremity of his delight.
They contrive to make their naturally ugly faces still less attractive
by their inveterate habit of taking snuff, which they take both by the
mouth and the nostrils, the latter becoming enormously extended by
their habit of thrusting the snuff into their heads with their fingers.
Their mouths are also distended by their custom of placing quantities
of snuff between the lips and gums.
The dress of the Tibboos is generally a single tobe, or shirt. Close
garments would only embarrass them by a affording a lodgement for the
sand, which has the effect of irritating the skin greatly, and making
almost intolerable sores. They have, however, a mode of alleviating
the pain of such sores by shampooing them with fat, a process which is
always conducted by the women. The only article of dress about which
they seem to trouble themselves is the turban, which is worn high on
the head, and the ends brought under the chin and across the face, so
as to conceal all but the nose, eyes, and part of the forehead. The
turban is dyed of a dark indigo blue, and is mostly decorated with a
vast number of charms, sewed in little leathern cases.
Their horses, though small, are very handsome, and are quite strong
enough to carry the light and active men who ride them. They are kept
in admirable condition, and are fed almost entirely on camel’s milk,
which they take both fresh and when clotted. This diet suits them
admirably, and the animals are in excellent condition.
The Tibboos stand in great dread of the Arabs, who plunder them
unmercifully when they have the chance. They are better riders and
better mounted than their foes; but they do not possess fire-arms,
which they look upon with absolute terror. Major Denham remarks that
“five or six of them will go round and round a tree where an Arab has
laid down his gun for a minute, stepping on tiptoe, as if afraid of
disturbing it; talking to each other in whispers, as if the gun could
understand their exclamations; and, I dare say, praying to it not to
do them any injury as fervently as ever Man Friday did to Robinson
Crusoe’s musket.”
[Illustration: (1.) SHOOA WOMEN. (See page 630.)]
[Illustration: (2.) TUARICKS AND TIBOOS. (See page 631.)]
Though they have no guns, they are more formidable warriors than they
seem to know, hurling the spear with deadly aim and wonderful force.
In throwing it, they do not raise the hand higher than the shoulder;
and, as it leaves the hand, they give it a twist with the fingers that
makes it spin like a rifle bullet. The shaft is elastic, and, when the
blade strikes the ground, the shaft bends nearly double. One young
man threw his spear a good eighty yards; and, as each man carries
two of these spears, it may be imagined that even the Arabs, with
all their fire-arms, are not much more than a match for the Tibboos.
They also carry the strange missile-sword which has already been
mentioned. The warriors carry bows and arrows, as well as two daggers,
one about eighteen inches long, stuck in the belt, and the other only
six inches in length, and fastened to the arm by a ring. The Tibboos
metaphorically term the long dagger their gun, and the short one their
pistol.
The dances of the Tibboo women are not in the least like those of
the Shooas. Dancing is among them one of the modes of greeting an
honored guest; and when a man of rank approaches, the women meet him
with dances and songs, just as Jephthah’s daughter met her victorious
father, and the women of Israel met David after he had killed Goliath.
Nor are these dances the slow, gliding movements with which we
generally associate Oriental dances. The women display very great
activity, and fling themselves about in an astonishing manner. They
begin by swaying their heads, arms, and bodies from side to side, but
gradually work themselves up to a great pitch of excitement, leaping in
the air, gnashing their teeth, whirling their arms about, and seeming
to be in a perfect frenzy.
Some of the Tibboo settlements, or villages, are ingeniously placed on
the tops of rocks with almost perpendicular sides. The situation is
an inconvenient one, but it is useful in warding off the attacks of
the Tuaricks, who make raids upon the unfortunate Tibboos, sweep off
all the cattle and other property that they can find, and carry away
the inhabitants to be sold as slaves, sparing neither age nor sex.
Consequently, as soon as the Tibboos have warning of the approach of
their enemies, they take refuge on the top of the rock, carrying with
them all their portable property, draw up the ladders by which they
ascend, and abandon the cattle to the invaders.
Partly on this account, and partly from natural carelessness, the
Tibboos are almost regardless of personal appearance, and even their
sultan, when he went to meet Major Denham, though he had donned in
honor of his guests a new scarlet bernouse, wore it over a filthy
checked shirt; and his cap and turban, which purported to be white,
were nearly as black as the hair of the wearer.
One might have thought that the continual sufferings which they undergo
at the hands of the Tuaricks would have taught the Tibboos kindness
to their fellow creatures, whereas there are no people more reckless
of inflicting pain. The Tibboo slave-dealers are notorious for the
utter indifference to the sufferings of their captives whom they are
conveying to the market, even though they lose many of them by their
callous neglect. They often start on their journey with barely one
quarter the proper amount of provisions or water, and then take their
captives over wide deserts, where they fall from exhaustion, and are
left to die. The skeletons of slaves strew the whole of the road.
As the traveller passes along, he sometimes hears his horse’s feet
crashing among the dried and brittle bones of the dead. Even round the
wells lie hundreds of skeletons, the remains of those who had reached
the water, but had been too much exhausted to be revived by it. In that
hot climate the skin of the dead person dries and shrivels under the
sun like so much horn, and in many cases the features of the dead are
preserved. Careless even of the pecuniary loss which they had suffered,
the men who accompanied Major Denham only laughed when they recognized
the faces of the shrivelled skeletons, and knocked them about with the
butts of their weapons, laughing the while, and making jokes upon their
present value in the market.
The Tibboos are, from their slight and active figures, good travellers,
and are employed as couriers to take messages from Bornu to Moorzuk, a
task which none but a Tibboo will undertake. Two are sent in company,
and so dangerous is the journey, that they do not expect that both will
return in safety. They are mounted on the swiftest dromedaries, and are
furnished with parched corn, a little brass basin, a wooden bowl, some
dried meat, and two skins of water. Not only do they have to undergo
the ordinary perils of travel, such as the hot winds, the sand-storms,
and the chance of perishing by thirst, but they also run great risk of
being killed by Arab robbers, who would not dare to attack a caravan,
but are glad of the opportunity of robbing defenceless travellers.
Such events do frequently occur, and the consequence is that the
Tibboos and the Arabs are in perpetual feuds, each murdering one of the
enemy whenever he gets a chance, and reckoning each man killed as a
point on his own side.
THE TUARICKS.
We ought, before leaving the Tibboos, to give a few words to their
enemies the Tuaricks. These are emphatically a nation of thieves, never
working themselves, and gaining the whole of their subsistence by
robbing those who do labor. They do not even plant or sow, and their
whole education consists in the art of robbery, in the management of
the dromedary, and the handling of the spear. They live in tents, which
are something like those of the ordinary Bedouin Arabs, and have, like
our gipsies, a supreme contempt for all who are so degraded as to live
in houses and congregate in cities. In the engraving No. 2 on page 631,
the artist has illustrated the characteristics of the Tuaricks and
Tibboos.
Like the gipsies, the Tuaricks have their own language, into which they
have only inserted occasional words of Arabic, and they have their own
written alphabet, in which several letters are exactly the same as some
of the Roman characters, though they do not express the same sounds,
such as the H, the S, and the W. There are also the Greek Θ and Λ and
the Hebrew ב, while several letters are composed of dots grouped in
various ways. These letters are either written from right to left, as
the Arabic, or _vice versâ_, as European languages, or perpendicularly,
as the Chinese; and in their country almost every large stone is
engraved with Tuarick characters. Yet they have no literature, and
assert that no book exists in their language. In sound the Tuarick
language is harsh, but it is expressive, and seems to be capable of
strength.
In their manners the Tuaricks are grave and sedate, and before Denham
and Clapperton visited them they were carefully lectured by the guide
on their proper behavior, the demeanor of Captain Clapperton being
considered too cheerful and humorous to suit the grave Tuaricks. This
applies only to the men, the women being lively and amusing. They
are very fond of singing, joining in little bands for the purpose,
and continuing their songs until midnight. The men, however, never
sing, considering the song to be essentially a feminine amusement,
and, probably for the same reason, they are never heard to recite
poetry like most Orientals. The women wear the usual striped blue and
white dress, and they mostly carry earrings made of shells. Wives are
conveniently valued at six camels each; and whether on account of their
value, or whether from an innate courtesy, the men treat their wives
with respect, and permit them a freedom of manner which denotes the
admission of equality.
The depredations of the Tuaricks have been mentioned when treating of
the Tibboos, on whom the chief brunt of their attacks seems to fall.
That they carry off all the cattle, and would seize even the Tibboos
themselves for slaves, is a standing and reasonable grievance. But even
the constant fear of these attacks does not seem to anger the Tibboos
so much as the raids which the Tuaricks make on their salt-market.
In the Tibboo country there are some large salt marshes, which are
extremely valuable to the owners, salt being a marketable commodity,
fetching a high price, indeed being itself used as a sort of currency;
a cylinder of coarse brown salt, weighing eleven pounds, being worth
four or five dollars. The purified salt, which they obtain in a
beautifully clear and white state, is put into baskets, and brings a
correspondingly high price.
Not choosing to take the trouble of procuring salt for themselves,
the Tuaricks supply themselves as well as their market by robbing the
Tibboos, and in one season these robbers carried off twenty thousand
bags of salt, selling the greater part in the Soudan market. The
Tibboos were particularly enraged at this proceeding. It was bad enough
to have their property stolen, but it was still worse to take their
remaining salt to the market, and then find that the price had fallen
in consequence of the Tuaricks having filled the market with the twenty
thousand bags which they had stolen, and which they could therefore
afford to sell at a very low price.
Among these people medicine and surgery are necessarily at a very low
ebb, shampooing and cauterizing being the chief remedies for almost
every complaint. One man who was suffering from an enlarged spleen was
advised to undergo the operation, and was laid on his back and firmly
held down by five or six assistants. An iron was heated in the fire,
and three spots burned on his side, just under the ribs. Each spot was
about as large as a sixpence.
The iron was then replaced in the fire, and, while it was being heated,
the assistants punched him in the side with their thumbs, asking
whether the pressure hurt him; and, as their hard thumbs bruised his
flesh, he was obliged to admit that it did hurt him. So four more scars
were made, close to the others. He was then burned on his face, and
three large scars burned near the spine; and, by way of making the
cure quite complete, a large burn was made on his neck, just above the
collar-bone. The poor man endured the torture with great patience, and,
when the operation was over, he drank a draught of water, and went on
as usual with the camels.
THE BEGHARMIS.
We now come to the curious Begharmi kingdom, between which and Bornu
there rages a perpetual warfare. War was the ancient custom in 1824,
when Denham and Clapperton visited the country, and many years
afterward, when Dr. Barth travelled through the district, it was going
on as fiercely as ever. Indeed, if they could, each kingdom would
exterminate the other, and, even as it is, great loss of life takes
place by the continual battles, in which no quarter is given, except to
those prisoners who are to be qualified for the harem. Consequently,
the wives of the Bornuan sultan are guarded by Begharmi eunuchs, and
those of the Begharmi sultan by Bornuese.
Even the Bornuan sheikh had yielded to the prevailing custom, and
maintained thirty of these unfortunate individuals. Major Denham saw
about a dozen of them shortly after their admission, and evidently
showed pity by his countenance. The chief, seeing this, exclaimed,
“Why, Christian, what signifies all this? They are only Begharmis!
dogs! Kaffirs! enemies! They ought to have been cut in four quarters
alive; and now they will drink coffee, eat sugar, and live in a palace
all their lives.”
When Dr. Barth visited Begharmi, the sultan was absent on one of
his warlike expeditions, and it was some time before he was allowed
to proceed to Massena, the capital. At last he did so, and had an
opportunity of seeing the sultan return after his expedition, in which
he had been victorious. First rode the lieutenant-governor, surrounded
by his horsemen, and next came another officer, behind whom was borne
a long and peculiarly-formed spear, connected in some way with their
religion. After him rode the commander-in-chief, and then the sultan
himself, riding on a gray horse, wearing a yellow bernouse, and
sheltered from the sun by two umbrellas, one green and one yellow, held
over him by slaves. He was continually cooled by six slaves wielding
long ostrich-feather fans, and having their right arms clothed in iron
armor; and around him rode a few of the principal chiefs.
Then came the war camel, bearing the battle-drums, which were
vigorously belabored by the drummer. Next came a long line of the
sultan’s wives, clothed in black; then the baggage, and then the
soldiers. Prisoners are led in the triumphal procession, and are taken
to the harem, where they are insulted by the inmates. The handsomest
among them are selected for the service of the harem, and the remainder
are put to death.
In this case the Begharmi sultan had been victorious; but in one battle
witnessed by Major Denham the Bornuese won the day, the sheikh having
arranged his few fire-arms with such skill that the Begharmis, nearly
five thousand strong, fell back in confusion, and were at once attacked
by the Bornuan horse, who are ready enough to fight when the enemy
seems to be running away. The slaughter was enormous, considering the
number of the combatants. Of the two hundred Begharmi chiefs who came
into the field, only one was said to have escaped, seven sons of the
sultan were killed, together with some seventeen hundred soldiers,
while many more were reported to have been murdered after the battle
was over. They also lost nearly five hundred horses, and nearly two
hundred women, who, according to the odd custom of the land, followed
their lords to battle.
In the greater part of the country, as well as at Loggun, the houses
are built in a very curious manner, being composed of cell within cell,
like a nest of pill-boxes. This curious architecture is intended to
keep out the flies, which at some seasons of the year swarm in such
numbers that even the inhabitants dare not move out of their houses
for several hours in the day. Major Denham would not believe the story
until it was corroborated by the appearance of one of his men, who
imprudently ventured into the open air, and came back with his eyes and
head swollen up, and so bitten that he was laid up for three days.
The Begharmis, though they are always at war with the Bornuese,
resemble them in so many points that a detailed description is not
needed, and we will only glance at a few of their peculiarities.
As we have mentioned the constant warfare in which they are engaged,
we will give a few words to the remarkable cavalry force which forms
the chief strength of the Begharmi army. These men present a most
remarkable appearance, as may be seen by reference to the illustration
No. 1 on page 638. They carry a most curious spear, with a double head,
something like a pitchfork with flattened prongs.
The most remarkable point is, however, the armor with which the
Begharmi lancer is defended. It is made of quilted cloth or cotton, and
is almost exactly identical with the quilted armor worn by the Chinese,
and which caused the miserable deaths of so many soldiers by the cotton
taking fire from the flash of their own muskets. The whole of the body
and limbs of the rider are covered with this armor, while he wears
on his head a helmet of the same material; and his horse is defended
as well as himself. Although useless against fire-arms, the cotton
quilting is proof against arrows, and is therefore useful in guarding
the soldier against the poisoned weapons of his foes.
As this armor, though light, is very cumbrous, it is seldom worn except
in actual combat, or when the general reviews his troops; and it may
be doubted whether it is not such an impediment, both to horse and
soldier, that the troops would be more efficient without it. Perhaps
the confidence which it inspires is its chief use, after all. These
men are always employed as heavy horse, to protect the van and guard
the rear of the army, the archers being stationed just behind them,
and shooting whenever they find a chance. The saddle is as awkward as
the armor, rising both in front and behind to such a height that the
soldier could hardly fall to the ground even if he were killed. In
front it forms a sort of little table, on which the soldier can rest
his bridle-arm, which might be fatigued with holding the reins and
lifting the sleeve of the quilted coat.
The Begharmis may be almost reckoned as negroes, their skins being
black, and their faces having much of the flatness and thickness of
the negro. They are powerful and active men, and the sultans of other
countries pride themselves on their trained Begharmi wrestlers, these
men being chosen for their gigantic stature and well-knit muscles.
When two athletes contend, it is no child’s play, the vanquished being
sometimes killed on the spot, and frequently maimed for life. Their
masters have a positive monomania on the subject, and urge on the
wrestlers by loud cries, promising great rewards to the victor, and
threatening the severest punishment to the vanquished. The great object
of the wrestlers is to catch the opponent by the hips, and so to lift
him off his feet and dash him to the ground. The master cares nothing
for a wrestler who has been once conquered; and a man for whom his
owner would refuse a couple of hundred dollars in the morning may be
sold for a fiftieth of the sum before night.
Similar to these combats are the boxing-matches, in which the negroes
from Haussa are thought to be the best that can be obtained. A spirited
account of one of these matches is given by Major Denham;--
“Having heard a great deal of the boxers of Haussa, I was anxious to
witness their performance. Accordingly I sent one of my servants last
night to offer 2,000 whydah for a pugilistic exhibition in the morning.
As the death of one of the combatants is almost certain before a battle
is over, I expressly prohibited all fighting in earnest; for it would
have been disgraceful, both to myself and my country, to hire men to
kill one another for the gratification of idle curiosity.
“About half an hour after the ‘massudubu’ were gone, the boxers
arrived, attended by two drums and the whole body of butchers, who
here compose ‘the fancy.’ A ring was soon formed by the master of the
ceremonies throwing dust on the spectators to make them stand back.
The drummers entered the ring, and began to drum lustily. One of the
boxers followed, quite naked, except a skin round the middle. He placed
himself in an attitude as if to oppose an antagonist, and wrought his
muscles into action, seemingly to find out that every sinew was in full
power for the approaching combat; then, coming from time to time to the
side of the ring, and presenting his right arm to the bystanders, he
said, ‘I am a hyæna’--‘I am a lion’--‘I am able to kill all that oppose
me.’ The spectators to whom he presented himself laid their hands on
his shoulder, repeating, ‘The blessing of God be upon thee’--‘thou art
a hyæna’--‘thou art a lion.’ He then abandoned the ring to another, who
showed off in the same manner.
“The right arm and hand of the pugilists were then bound with narrow
country cloth, beginning with a fold round the middle finger; when,
the hand being first clenched with the thumb between the fore and mid
fingers, the cloth was passed in many turns round the fist, the wrist,
and the forearm.
“After about twenty had separately gone through their attitudes of
defiance and appeals to the bystanders, they were next brought forward
by pairs. If they happened to be friends, they laid their left breasts
together twice, and exclaimed, ‘We are lions’--‘We are friends.’ One
then left the ring, and another was brought forward. If the two did not
recognize one another as friends, the set-to immediately commenced.
“On taking their stations, the two pugilists first stood at some
distance, parrying with the left hand open, and, whenever opportunity
offered, striking with the right. They generally aimed at the pit of
the stomach and under the ribs. Whenever they closed, one seized the
other’s head under his arm, and beat it with his fist, at the same
time striking with his knee between his antagonist’s thighs. In this
position, with the head ‘in chancery,’ they are said sometimes to
attempt to gouge or scoop out one of the eyes. When they break loose,
they never fail to give a swingeing blow with the heel under the ribs,
or sometimes under the left ear. It is these blows that are so often
fatal.
“The combatants were repeatedly separated by my orders, as they were
beginning to lose their temper. When this spectacle was heard of, girls
left their pitchers at the wells, the market-people threw down their
baskets, and all ran to see the fight. The whole square before my house
was crowded to excess. After six pairs had gone through several rounds,
I ordered them, to their great satisfaction, the promised reward, and
the multitude quietly dispersed.”
[Illustration: (1.) BEGHARMI LANCERS. (See page 635.)]
[Illustration: (2.) MUSGU CHIEF. (See page 639.)]
The Begharmi women are good dancers, their movements being gentle and
graceful. They make much use of their hands, sometimes crossing them
on their breasts, sometimes clasping them together, and sometimes just
pressing the tips of the fingers against those of the opposite hand.
As they dance, they sing in low and plaintive tones, swinging the body
backward and forward, and bending the head from side to side, ending by
sinking softly on the ground, and covering their faces.
MUSGU.
Nearly, if not quite equal to the Begharmis in stature and strength are
the MUSGU tribe, which inhabit a district of Mandara. In consequence
of their fine proportions, Musgu slaves are greatly valued by the
surrounding nations, and are employed in various ways. The sultans and
great chiefs are fond of having their male Musgu slaves as wrestlers;
and next in interest to a match between two Begharmis is a contest
between a Begharmi and a Musgu wrestler.
The female slaves are proportionately strong, but they are never
purchased by the Fezzan traders, because they lack beauty of feature
as much as they possess strength of muscle. Their faces are large and
ugly, and they have a custom of wearing a silver ornament in the lower
lip. This ornament is about as large as a shilling, and is worn exactly
after the fashion of the “pelele,” which has already been described and
figured. In order to make room for this ugly appendage, the women knock
out the two middle teeth of the lower jaw, and, in process of time,
the lip is dragged down by the inserted metal, and has a very horrid
and repulsive appearance. Their hair is dressed like that of the Bornu
women, _i. e._ one large plait or roll from the forehead to the nape of
the neck, and two others on each side.
They are very trustworthy, and are set to laborious tasks, from which
weaker slaves would shrink. They do all the agricultural work,--digging
the ground, planting the seed, and carrying home the crops. They also
perform the office of watchers, by night as well as by day, and there
is scarcely a year passes that one or two of these patient creatures
are not carried off by the lions, who creep up to them under shelter of
the corn, and then spring upon them.
The men are equally ugly. Only the chiefs wear any clothing, and
even they are seldom clad in anything more than a goat-skin or
leopard’s hide, hung over the shoulders so as to bring the head of the
animal on the wearer’s breast. Their heads are covered with rather
strange-looking caps, and their hair, as it straggles from under the
caps, is thick and bristly. They wear on their arms large rings of bone
or ivory, and round their necks hang trophies of their valor, being
necklaces made of the strung teeth of slain enemies. They paint their
bodies with red, and stain their teeth of the same color, so that they
present a singularly wild and savage appearance. They are mounted on
small but strong and active horses, which they ride without saddles and
almost without bridles, a slight piece of cord being tied halter-wise
round the animal’s muzzle.
Their weapons consist mostly of the spear and the missile knives,
similar to those which have been already described. The inferior men,
though they are mounted, and carry the same weapons as the chief, wear
no clothing except a leather girdle round the waist, and the same
light attire is worn by the women. Though so liable to be enslaved
themselves, they are great slave-dealers; and when they pay tribute to
the sultan of Mandara, or wish to make a peace-offering, the greater
part of it consists of slaves, both male and female.
In illustration No. 2, page 638, is seen a Musgu chief going to battle.
He is one of the very great chiefs, as is shown from the fact that he
wears a tobe instead of a skin. In his right hand is a spear, and in
his left a couple of the missile knives. Behind him ride his soldiers,
naked men on naked horses. In the background is seen a party of women
engaged in the water, with which element they are very familiar, and
are not kept out of it by any fear of wetting their clothes. Near
them is one of the mound-like tombs under which a dead chief has been
buried--the Musguese being almost the only African tribe who erect such
a monument.
The huts are seen a little farther back, and near them are two of the
remarkable granaries, covered with projecting ornaments, and mostly
kept so well filled that marauders are nearly as anxious to sack the
granaries as to steal the people. On the branches of the trees is a
quantity of grass which has been hung there to dry in the sun, and to
be used as hay for the horses.
When Major Denham was near the Musgu territory, he was told that these
strange and wild-looking people were Christians. He said that they
could not be so, because they had just begged of him the carcass of a
horse which had died during the night, and were at that time busily
employed in eating it. The man, however, adhered to his opinion,
saying that, although he certainly never had heard that Christians ate
horse-flesh, they did eat swine’s-flesh, and that was infinitely more
disgusting.
Those people were unwittingly the cause of great loss to the Bornuese
and Mandaras. The Arabs who had accompanied Denham and Clapperton from
Tripoli were very anxious, before returning home, to make a raid on
their own account, and bring back a number of Musgu slaves. The sheikh
of Bornu thought that this would be a good opportunity of utilizing the
fire-arms of the Arabs against the warlike and unyielding Fellatahs,
and sent them off together with three thousand of his own troops.
As had been anticipated, when they reached Mandara, the sultan would
not allow them to attack Musgu, which he looked upon as his own
particular slave-preserve, but added some of his own troops to those of
the Bornuan sheikh, and sent them to capture as many Fellatahs as they
liked, doing them the honor of accompanying the expedition in person.
It is also evident that both the sultan and the sheikh disliked as
well as feared the Arabs, and were very willing to turn to account the
terrible weapons which they carried, and by means of which they had
made themselves so overbearing and disagreeable.
When they reached the first Fellatah town and attacked it, they found
it to be strongly defended with _chevaux de frise_ of sharpened stakes
six feet in height, behind which were stationed their archers, who
poured showers of poisoned arrows on the invaders. The Arabs, after
a struggle, carried the fence and pursued the Fellatahs up the hill.
Here they were received with more arrows, brought to the archers by the
women, and with stones rolled down the hill. Had the Bornu and Mandara
soldiers pushed forward, the whole town must have been taken, instead
of which they prudently kept out of range of the poisoned arrows.
The Fellatahs, seeing their cowardice, then assumed the offensive,
whereupon the Bornu and Mandara soldiers at once ran away, headed by
the sultan, who would have laid claim to the town had the Arabs taken
it. The whole force was routed with great loss, the Bornu leader--a
truly brave man--was killed with a poisoned arrow, and Major Denham was
severely wounded, stripped of all his clothes, and barely escaped with
his life.