CHAPTER XI.

NARROW ESCAPE FROM CROCODILES. — ILLNESS OF THE AUTHOR. —

DESCRIPTION OF THE ELEPHANT-TREE. — CUSTOM OF MAKING BEDS ON

ASHES VERY ANCIENT. — SULIMAN KASHEF SHOOTS A CROCODILE. —

STRONG SMELL OF MUSK FROM THESE ANIMALS. — THE TRIBE OF THE

ELLIÀBS. — WAR DANCES. — CHARGE AGAINST ARNAUD. — INJURY TO

VESSELS BY HIPPOPOTAMI. — SULIMAN KASHEF’S CIRCASSIAN SLAVE. —

CULTIVATED LAND. — THE FELATI. — APPEARANCE OF A MOUNTAIN. —

TRIBE OF THE TSHISÈRRS. — STRATA OF THE SHORE. — RICINUS PLANTS.

— FOUR LOWER INCISORS WANTING TO THE NATIVES ON THE SHORES OF THE

WHITE NILE. — AGILITY AND STRENGTH OF THE NEGROES. — MORE

MOUNTAINS APPEAR. 319

EXPEDITION

TO DISCOVER THE SOURCES

OF THE

WHITE NILE.

* * * * *

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

Discoveries and conquests, which so frequently go hand in hand, are of

the greatest importance to the history of mankind. Like a combination

of streams, they break through natural boundaries and the rocky dams

of ages, and open a way for the incessant progress of civilization

through new and untrodden paths. Yet glorious enterprises, costly

equipments, and hazardous exploits, may conceal a swelling kernel

of material interest beneath a husk of fine reasons, as if these

constituted the primitive motive. Thus Mohammed Ali, the Viceroy

of Egypt, has done very much for science, especially geography,

without even thinking of it, whose comprehensive relations, with

respect to the higher requirements of mankind, lie far beyond the

limits of his ideas. Neither has he honoured with his study the

hieroglyphics in the Biban el Moluk near Thebes, where the black

Kushi bring golden rings as tribute to the Pharaohs. Yet he knows,

and is so exceedingly fond of these rings (Okiën), which in Ethiopia

even now serve instead of money, that, so far as the destroying arms

of this much-famed satrap reach in Belled-Sudan, no more okiën are

to be seen. Moreover, he is making exertions to follow and secure

those that have retreated and eluded his grasp, which affords an

excellent opportunity for extending our knowledge of the countries

and people of East and Central Africa. He sacrificed his son Ismail,

and, through the Defterdar, devastated and depopulated this beautiful

country, merely to secure to himself the way to the gold regions;

though he might have attained his object much better, had he sought

to elevate the country in every possible way, and to re-establish

mercantile confidence. For, from the earliest ages, a market has

existed here, to which gold comes, first hand, in the leaf and grain

form, by barter with the inhabitants of the interior, just as it has

been separated from the sand of the torrents, and kept in quills or

horns of the gazelle. In Sennaar or Kordofan it is found in rings of

half and whole okiën and in gold wire, but it is frequently changed,

by weighing and melting it down, into ingots or bars, which Mohammed

Ali just as little contemns.

But “Turks:”—in this one word is included all and every

answer to questions on the condition of the people. We shrug up

our shoulders, and say “Turks.” Whoever has lived some time

amongst them must, from the clearest conviction, confess the perfect

incapacity of these Turks for advancing and civilizing the countries

under their government, and their indifference to the interests, nay,

even their premeditated murder of the nations infested by them. The

complete depravity of the Asiatic world, even in the lifeless and

powerless form of a mass dissolved in corrupt fermentation, always

effervesces strongly into cruelty with the wide-spread barbarians

of the East, and displays itself in bestial vices, to the disgrace

of mankind and scorn of the sacred bond of nations. A truly savage

nature is theirs, which, from Montenegro to the east and south,

repels all western civilization, and would seek a kind of national

fame by ridiculous reactions against it, as a hated and even despised

foreign state of manners and life, in order to cover their nakedness

and infamy, and to cloak their empty ostentation. But the Turk of

Egypt is the outcast of his countryman in Turkey itself. Egypt, for

example, is so decried in Albania, on account of its corruption,

that the Arnaut returning from thence seldom obtains a _wife_,

even if he have his girdle full of red gold.

The smallest portion of the white Mohammedan population, called Turks

without distinction in Egypt and Ethiopia, belongs to the Albanian

nation, which, on the whole, provides the Egyptian army with its

best if not also with its cleverest men. This army is a mixture

of heterogeneous materials, having only their religion in common,

and the same slavish treatment and prospect of booty for their bond

of union. If the Turk has no remains left of his ancient aptitude

for conquests but the thirst of power which has accompanied his

victories; a haughty contempt of the rest of the world; the belief,

spread throughout the East, that European princes hold their crowns

from the Sultan by feudal tenure; and a boundless presumption, which

of itself would seem sufficient to destroy his dominion for ever,

yet the Sultan still remains the Padishah of God’s ancient grace

to his people.

This arises from the prevailing conglomeration of ideas about

absolute power, and a slavery denying the rights of subjects to

form themselves into an union of freemen. Thus Mohammed Ali is

looked upon as an intruder, an usurper, and a tyrant, not only by

the people, for he is feared, hated, and cursed even by the Turks;

a circumstance which makes his position so much the more difficult,

and his administration more oppressive and destructive. The whole

aim of his conquests, which he has pursued with such obstinacy,

is _immediate enrichment_ at any price; a dangerous and destructive

principle which animates all his wild hordes and mercenaries, since

it exercises the most pernicious influence over what has been gained

with a devastating hand, and in addition prepares unutterable misery

which will annihilate itself at last, for the Turks, shewing no pity

here, have none to expect. Thus, in my presence in Taka, thirty-two

Turkish horsemen with their servants were slain at a feast given

them by the Haddendas, not to mention other examples, which shew

the feeling prevalent amongst the people of Ethiopia against their

conquerors. Yet, as we before said, evil spirits must often serve

the good against their will; so, also, Mohammed Ali must be of use

to our scientific researches, although an involuntary instrument in

the hands of civilisation.

The treasures which Mohammed Ali had collected with Turkish cunning

and cruelty combined, threatened to be engulfed. The army and the

fleet—Syria, Arabia, and Albania—in one place war, in the other

military levies and plots against the Porte—disbursements in all

kinds of ventures with their costly cheats and samples—manufactories

and other establishments—travellers and agents to spread his

fame, and give him a good European reputation—unprecedented

embezzlements of the public funds, &c., and, lastly, Constantinople,

that insatiable gulf and grave of the Eastern world—all these had

completely exhausted his finances. There seemed but little more to

be gained by him, excepting the temples and antiquities, the sale of

which is not beyond the reach of possibility. Mohammed Ali was in this

embarrassment, when he determined to realise the plan of immediately

laying claim to the treasures of Fàzogl and Kordofàn. His Highness

obtained, by paying dearly for their services, certain officers

from the Austrian mining works, whose contract, however, (dated

Jan. 15th, 1836, in Trieste,) was so cunningly drawn up, that it

only agreed to an examination of the mountainous part of Syria,

Tarsus, and Adana. In Egypt itself, however, a fresh negotiation

took place, and the offers of the Viceroy, who, in his imagination,

already perceived an Ethiopian gold fleet sailing down the Nile, were

so tempting, that Russegger, the director of this mining expedition,

accepted the invitation to go with a part of the company to Kordofàn

and Fàzogl, in order to open those veins of gold from which the

old Venetian ducats had been extracted.

Russegger ate, drank, and lorded it like a bey, the pay of which rank

was granted to him, with a liberal board suitable to it. He made

use of this profitable opportunity to ramble about Belled-Sudàn,

and to write an expensive journal, which Mohammed Ali (though it

must have been with a heavy heart, no treasure having been raised)

honoured, like a worthy Mecænas, with his especial approbation, so

that the curious world has procured a _cheap_ work, and the author

the acknowledgment due to him in his native country.

The issue, however, of the exploration for the precious metals had

answered so little the expectations of the Basha, that he could not

resolve to pay 30,000 Spanish dollars to the experienced Russegger

to put the mine into operation in Fàzogl, as Boreani, the founder

of his great guns, whom the Basha, from pure mistrust, had added

as an assistant to the before-mentioned expeditition, asked only

15,000 crown thalers (about 3,094_l._ English) as his eventual

reward. Russegger had already, as being a German, many opponents in

the Italian spirits of Alexandria and Káhira, and though Boreani

had far more limited acquirements, yet he knew how to anticipate the

fame of discoveries, by loud boasting, (having gone through a much

more extensive routine of experiments and investigations,) and knew

also how to make the best of them with Mohammed Ali. Nevertheless, the

Basha at last trusted neither, and determined, as soon as possible, to

examine the matter himself. Thus the Viceroy, in the autumn of 1838,

undertook a journey of discovery into the country of the Blacks. There

were also other circumstances which made it appear desirable to

the crafty old man to avoid, for some time, the diplomatists in

Alexandria, and certain pressing questions of theirs. Together with

this bold journey to Fàzogl, Mohammed Ali, in the summer of 1838,

had decided upon a navigation of the White branch of the Nile, with

the same golden object. It was on Oct. 15th of this year, that I,

who had been for some time an anchorite in the deserts near Tura,

and had just returned from a hunt on the ruins of Memphis, saw,

from the left bank of the Nile, Abu Dagn (father of the beard),

as Mohammed Ali was designated by the Fellahs standing near me,

and when closer, pointed out to me as Effendina (his Excellency)

steam past in his yacht, hastening away to those regions I had

just so wished to visit. I had already been informed in Alexandria,

over a glass of wine, by the Frigate-Capitan, Ahmed, (Baumgärtner,

from Switzerland,) of the secret plan of the expedition to the White

Stream (Bah’r el abiàd). I had used every exertion, and strained

every nerve, to be allowed to accompany the voyage of discovery,

but my endeavours were in vain, as my silence could not be confided

in, being a Nazrani,—the expression of the authority most nearly

concerned, as Ahmed informed me, with a shrug of the shoulders.

The scientific researches were entrusted to this Ahmed-Capitan,

who had before accompanied Russegger to Belled-Sudàn, and had just

returned from thence. He set out in August, and, on his arrival

in Sennaar, made, in the same year, an experimental journey up the

White Stream, as far as the lower island of the Shilluks. He died,

however, at Khartum, in the May of the following year—before I

arrived there with my younger brother—deserted by the few Franks

residing there; and even at the very moment of his death, according

to the usual custom of the country, they were dividing his property

among themselves without scruple, and handing over the gleanings to

the Divan to be sold. But the enterprise to examine the Bah’r el

abiàd was delayed only a short time by the death of Baumgärtner,

because the other Frigate-Capitan, Selim, was exceedingly anxious

to gain alone the Turkish laurels. But the prospect of joining

ourselves to the expedition seemed lost to us brothers; for we had

kept this constantly in our eye, and considered it as the extent of

our wishes in Africa, since through Baumgärtner’s influence we

might certainly hope for a _procul a fulmine_.

It was on November the 16th, 1839, that I saw in Khartùm the crimson

streamers of the flotilla of discovery waving up the White Stream. My

heart bled at not being able to accompany it on this occasion. I was

so ill and weak that I was obliged to lean against the door-post,

when my brother, who was equally unwell with myself, rose up slowly

from the divan, and standing behind me, made me laugh again by

shaking a large medicine-bottle, with a long label, and commanding

me, as my physician, to retire with a _Hell el Alle! Riff! Jalla!_

(“Spread sails! North! Forward!”); for we were looking with eager

desire towards our northern forests. This first expedition got as

far as the country of the Elliabs (6° 35″ N. lat.) on January the

27th, 1840. The statements and reports giving 3° 35″ N. lat. as

the point reached, rest either on false astronomical calculations,

or the adventurers wished to acquire the fame of having proceeded

3° further, not supposing that any other expedition would follow

to check them.

Mohammed Ali, being dissatisfied with the result of this expedition,

appointed in the very same year a second voyage of discovery. Various

motives have been alleged for this glorious resolution. He either

wished, with respect to various ulterior views, to have a country

inspected, which had pleased him so well in his journey to Fàzogl,

because, among other advantages, it contains the radius of the circle

of an immeasurable kingdom, whose motto is “_Noli me tangere_;”

or he thought of opening another commercial road in the interior

of Africa. Perhaps his restless and avaricious heart hoped to find

a real golden fleece, with the acquisition of which—like Nero,

who also ordered the sources of the Nile to be sought for—he might

connect the reputation of a lover of science. Nevertheless, he has,

like a true Renard the Fox, scented out his _Malepartus_,[1] even

if he have not gone as a penitent pilgrim to Turkish Rome. There the

report was spread, and believed, that the old Basha would return to

Sennaar. Even Ahmed Basha, the Governor-General of the land of Sudàn,

and the greatest Verres among the Bashas of Mohammed Ali, feared

such an unwelcome visit in Sennaar, after the taking of St. Jean

d’Acre; and the merchants of the place wished it, because money,

by that means, would flow into the country.

This Ahmed Basha had also other reasons, which I will detail

afterwards, for fearing such a change of residence. Nevertheless,

whatever may have been the secret thoughts of Mohammed Ali, a second

expedition was resolved upon in 1840, and this time I was fortunate

enough to take a part in it myself. For seven months I had been

present in the Taka country, in a district previously untrodden by

Europeans, at a campaign opened by Ahmed Basha, against the _free_

people of that district, who are called, as being such, _Asi_. That

_nomen_ is one of the words of the diplomatic language of the day,

not sufficiently expressive, because it means _rebels_ as well as

_free men_, and reminds us besides of Asia and the godlike Asi of the

North. For a long time we had our camp surrounded with palisadoes of

thick palm-trees, under the wonderful granite rocks of Kaffela-el-Lus,

rising up above us like a dome, to the height of more than 3.000

feet, near the village of Kadmir, in the country of the Hallengas,

when orders arrived from Káhira for the second expedition. The Basha

permitted me at last to accompany this highly interesting enterprise;

but my brother, who was his physician in ordinary, could not share in

this favour, on account of the great mortality in the camp. For three

days we considered and wavered, before we resolved upon the journey,

and then we mutually promised not to be always forward in exposing

ourselves to danger: for separation is no trifling matter in these

countries, where, from the frequent diseases, and other misfortunes,

no compassion is to be expected; where neither friendship nor love,

and still less gratitude, is known.

Suliman Kashef, a bold Circassian, who had commanded the first

expedition, and had only been a short time with us in the camp,

was nominated, according to Ahmed Basha’s statement, by Mohammed

Ali himself, as the Commandant, though he is said, in the former

expedition, to have been pushed forward by the mistrustful Ahmed,

in order to take care of his interests, and to keep a watch

on Selim-Capitan, who was sent from Alexandria. To deceive, by

a demonstration, the enemy, the great nation of the Haddendas,

(whose cause must be honoured as a sacred and just one, and whose

great Sheikh, Mohammed Din, had been taken prisoner in a treacherous

manner, and was detained in the camp,) and to open at least the

road, Ahmed Basha marched with us, about two miles and a quarter,

as far as the village of Huàthi, where we had to cross a large

mountainous torrent. The spies sent out by Mohammed Ehle, the Sheikh

of the Hallengas, came back the second time, and declared that the

forest on the other side was free from Arabs (Arab plural Urbàn),

as they judged by the footsteps, which all turned to the north. In

this manner Suliman Kashef and the Shaïgiën leader, Melek Hammed,

and myself, left the camp, which was threatened far and wide by more

than 100,000 hostile lances. Having good guides preceding us, we

pushed through Gohr-el-Gash, (Gohr, pass of the floods, or wild path

of tropical cataracts,) the dry and hitherto sandy bed of which was

full of water, 4,000 feet deep, arising from the periodical rains,

pouring down from the lofty chain of mountains of Makada (Habesh),

that lay before us, and crossed, without any accident, a chain of

sand-banks, which Baraká, the overflowing arm of the Gohr, forms

below Huàthi. This Baraká springs in the north-eastern alpine chain

of Habesh, and, as trustworthy persons, amongst others, the Kadhi

of the Hallengas, have assured us, flows towards the west, through

the mountainous countries of Kostàn and Mària, then separates into

two branches, of which one runs by Suakin eastwards into the Red Sea,

and the other takes its course through Beni-Amer westward, and divides

itself again at Sadderath, a day’s journey to the east of Kaffela,

and then flows into the Gash. On the contrary, this great Gohr comes

from the north-west mountains of Habesh, and pursues its principal

direction through the countries, or mountainous regions of Hamassein,

Dembalass, Belga, and Basa, to the group of rocks of Kaffela-el-Lus,

where it runs to the north, and is said to lose itself, or else it

forms the Mogren, which appears to me also to be a Gohr. These Gohrs

afford sufficient water during the hot season, when their beds seem

quite dry, to the various tribes, with whom we partly came in contact,

and who may be the remains of some ruined nations that have fled

to the mountains. When they require water for themselves and their

cattle, they make in the bed of the Gohr a hole, not very deep, in the

sand, till they come to a layer of blue clay, and they draw the water,

that springs forth immediately, so far down that the animals cannot

reach it, into peculiar round cisterns, which they place close to

the hole, and which form flat basins of half a foot or a foot deep,

and six to ten feet in diameter. These basins are kneaded with clay

to make them solid and compact, and then the cattle drink out of

them. Such watering-places are indispensable near the springs, which,

notwithstanding the basin-shaped depression of this whole country, are

of a great depth, on account of the alluvial soil. In these situations

we find not only birds which are scarcely seen anywhere except in the

neighbourhood of water, but also the elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe,

hyæna, and the lion with his family. They not only leave water

behind in cisterns for this great and dreaded lord of beasts, but

they also draw it afterwards, in order to detain him, that they may

fetch him tender fresh calves-flesh from their houses, which is here

his favourite food, as I convinced myself in Beshum, in the country

of the Haddendas. It is a fable that the elephant dislikes the camel:

I saw them both at Hauàthi drinking in the middle of the day, close

to one another, out of two different holes. The elephant is said to

be angry with the people if he find the cistern, from which he is

accustomed to drink, choked up with earth by the wind or animals,

and to attack the nearest village (as was the case some time since

in Hauàthi), to overthrow everything he meets, to clear out the

water-vessels, and not even to disdain the corn he may happen to find.

Ahmed Basha could not spare any troops for our protection, on account

of his being pressed so closely by the enemy. There were about sixty

of us, including the mounted halberdiers of Suliman Kashef, who

carried arms, besides unarmed servants, male and female slaves. The

excellent light cavalry of the Shaïgiës, under the command of

the bold Melek Mahmud, accompanied us only a short distance. These

Shaïgiës are not at all of Arabian origin; they call themselves

“Warriors of old of the soil,” and are still held memorable, even

as knights, through their really daring and adventurous plundering

excursions in these parts.

We worked our way over heavy and untrodden roads, whilst the

Shaïgiës wound right and left through the thicket, like snakes, and

covered our flanks. We passed through the Haba (forest; in this place,

swampy forest), which it is well known is so dreaded by the Turks,

and fortunately reached the high swollen Atbara near Gos Rajeb after

three days’ and three nights’ hard riding, having been obliged to

leave behind many animals, especially horses, which had fallen from

exhaustion on the bad roads, and from the want of sufficient fodder. I

perceived that the Turks congratulated themselves on leaving behind

them their Silva Hercynia, in which Mohammed Din with his Haddendas,

though only armed with lances, had twice defeated Kurdshid Basha.

In vain we looked about here for the ships, which, in case of an

unfortunate issue of the campaign, were ordered from Berber to

communicate with the shore; but there was not a plank to be seen,

as the requisite northern winds had not set in to enable them to sail

against the strong current of Atbara. No sooner had the haughty Sheikh

Hadàb remarked this than he, who had strongly asserted that the ships

would be here, looked about very uneasily, and slipped away from the

side of Suliman Kashef into a bush, giving me a significant look as

he passed, and had nearly disappeared when Suliman Kashef took up

his long gun. The Basha had but lately, from his own absolute power,

advanced him to be the great Sheikh of Sogilàb, and by that means

had gained partisans in the family. He had accompanied us as a guide

from the commencement of our journey to this place in a very dirty

dress, and had all along assured us that we should have a strong

encampment of his Kabyles at our side, although he had only provided

some bread, but no fodder for the beasts, which were completely

disabled and obliged to live merely on the trees, and with which

we were obliged to cross a rapid stream. As he had been created a

Sheikh by the Basha (Sheikh betal Divan), he was exceedingly hated

by the two other Kabyles of Sogilàb; and I, who _knew_ him well,

watched him, lest he should play us any treacherous trick. He was

soon afterwards shot with a pistol, in the middle of his people,

in the village of Sogilàb, by one of our Magrabis (Mogrebins),

who had been sent for the purpose, without his death being avenged

or the Magrab being punished by the Basha.

On a signal-gun being repeated, a small boat appeared, similar in

size and construction to a moderate fishing-cauf. We saw men plunge

from the left shore into the flood, and this cauf became animated

with human beings from Gos Rajeb: soon afterwards the bold swimmers

landed, having been carried here and there by the current. A strong

arm grasped, at my feet, the root of the tree affording me shade:

“Oh, uahet sheïtàn keweiss!” (“Oho, a fine ghost!”) said

my huntsman Sale, whilst he held my pipe under my nose, and gave

a horse-laugh. A woman’s breast, just disclosed from under her

ringlets, and confiding in heaven, appeared first on the top of

the waters, and then dived back again. Shaking off my lassitude,

I threw myself upon the ground to offer an assisting hand to the

poor creature. A nut-brown Amazon, of the clearest complexion,

a true picture of most luxuriant youthful strength and vigour,

stood naked up to her dripping rahat (girdle of strips of leather)

upon the end of my carpet. Throwing off from her head the Ferda

(a long cotton cloth with ornamental borders, worn by all these

people of both sexes, and exactly the same as those found in the

Egyptian tombs), she smoothed it, slung it round her hips over

the right shoulder and the head, soundly rated Sale, and then ran

away laughing because I understood her Aggem, (heathen language,

or rather what is not Arabic,) uttered by her deep hoarse voice, as

little as she my Arabic _cur, quomodo, quando_. Recovering from this

unexpected fright, I followed her, and learned that these Bishari had

come from the Kabyles of Wood Naga, on the Atbara, for the purpose

of conveying across our cattle. The wildly beautiful damsel had

grown up from a child in this employment, which was her greatest

pleasure. Stronger and bolder than any of her nearest relations,

she had lost her voice by lying in the damp in her night-quarters

on the shore, expecting for some time the retreat of the army, said

to be nearly annihilated, for the sake of the profit (four piastres

or girsh, about one shilling,) on every camel and horse.

The old boat, which had been concealed out of fear of the rapacious

Haddendas, and had become leaky, was drained of the water, after it

became certain that there were no other vessels near. This tribe of

the Haddendas is always at war with all the neighbouring races. The

Haddendas, whose territory here borders on the right shore of the

Atbara, above the equally marauding Anafidabs, swim over in a small

daring body, take very coolly the vessels from the left side which

are to transport the people waiting on the right shore to pillage and

murder, and then hasten back with the booty so much the more securely.

Suliman Kashef invited me to cross over immediately with him, but

I could not venture to entrust my collections and camels to the

thoughtless and timid servants; I therefore remained behind, and

by his directions ordered durra, the corn of this country, for the

exhausted animals, and bread, or rather flour, and meat as supper

for myself and my men. We had already, at Gohr el Gash, beaten the

camels to make them go into the water, and yet there were others

sent before to set them a good example; but here it was far worse,

for there was a depth of from forty to fifty feet to swim in.

The beautifully hunchbacked camels from Beni-Amer were abused as being

hashim (stupid, silly), because they feared the water. Water-skins

were inflated and fastened to the breasts of these animals, which

were driven before us in a drove, with as much trouble as those that

bore burdens and were tired. The guides, holding the long halters

or ropes, plunged into the Atbara before them, and curses, cries,

pushes, and the unmerciful Nabùt (a stick four feet long and an

inch thick) assisted in sending the camels after them. Several of

the animals, and also three or four horses, from Taka, which had

no opportunity of learning to swim, for the beasts at the time of

the inundation are driven into the Gallas, or elevated parts, were

drowned, without their loss being mourned, except by the owners. On

the march to Taka, we had here in the month of March nearly ridden

through, dryfooted, on pebbly ground, where we now, in September,

found the Atbara a powerful mountain stream. A motley mixture were

we, of about 20,000 men, white and black cavalry (Turks, Magrabis,

and Shaïgiës), dromedaries, and pack-camels, and more than 4,000

asses for the infantry, which, when they heard the numerous hyænas or

lions prowling about their confined quarters, struck up a horrible

concert. Two field-pieces, moreover, alternately drawn by mules

and camels trained for the purpose, chests containing 3,000 axes

for cutting through the forests, and a quantity of powder upon the

camels, which, though piled up very equally between numerous fires,

“Alla Kerim,” did not trouble us in the least. Yet I must not here

speak of that campaign, and narrate the scenes and recollections that

obtrude themselves on my mind, but I intend to publish them as they

are set down in the journal I had with me on that occasion. Fodder and

provisions arrived as I had ordered; that portion of the train which

still remained on this side commended my advice, and determined, as

darkness was coming on, to pass the night on the right shore. After

I had discovered a clear place quite close, we left the bush and lay

down there, to be secure, and to protect ourselves from being struck

with a lance to the ground before we could even fire a shot. In

a short time several little fires blazed, and there was cooking,

roasting, and baking of pancakes and bread. I slept, in the meantime,

behind the barricade of my chests, in order to keep watch during the

night with the Circassians and Turks. Notwithstanding we were all

very tired, I was fully persuaded that those Muslims would watch,

as they had brought with them as slaves some pretty brown girls,

whom they had purchased in the camp of Kassela, out of the booty of

Mount Basa. The following day we crossed over to the other side. My

Hamàl, or camel-servant, Hammed, took his great favourite camel

himself by the rope and swam before it; but he soon returned back

to me disconsolate, for his murkeb (ship), as he called it, caught

by the strong current, had broken the cord, which was made of the

bark of a tree, just as he had found a favourable resting-place upon

a sand-bank close by. Nevertheless, he trusted every thing to the

size and sagacity of his beast, and immediately disappeared from

my side. On the following evening I saw him again in Gos Rajeb,

but without murkeb. I voluntarily belonged to the last party that

crossed,—two old Turks, a Kurd, and myself with my servants. On

the moment of pushing off, some Arabs sprang on my chests, but the

tall stout Kurd, whom Suliman Kashef had sent over to me as a Charon

that might be entirely depended upon, struck two of them into the

water at the same time with his oar as if with a flyflap, by which

the miserable skiff was nearly upset. At the head of this boat sat

the Kurd in great state, in shirt and breeches; on the luggage was

enthroned Sale from Mahass, his ferda thrown loose over his shoulders,

enjoying himself on merissa (a kind of beer). At my feet squatted

the Turks upon the wet planks, in full dress, with heavy pistols

in their girdles; behind them, on the brim of the obtuse stern,

I had my place, dressed in a light gauze shirt, so that if the wind

came on and threatened to drown the others, I might not, in case of

necessity, be looked upon and seized as a raft. Certainly this Kurd,

who was very much relied on for his skill on the water, had assured

me, _on his head_, that I might, in case of an accident, ride upon

him, as upon a river buffalo (gamùss el Bah’r—hippopotamus);

but I preferred to depend on myself, and the more so, because the

Atbara is not broader than the Rhine at Bonn. The Turks said their

prayers, shook their heads involuntarily at every stroke of the oar,

to which they calmly resigned themselves as their directing fate;

for this vibrating motion of the turbans, which are set generally

on decayed vertebral columns, always takes place, especially in

steam-vessels. My corpulent hippopotamus, the Kurd, laughed and made

fun at them whilst moving round the sand-banks and along the steep

broken shore, without their answering him a single word.

Gos Rajeb means the Hill of Rajeb, from a Sheikh or saint, who first

settled here. Though only appearing to our eyes a village, yet it

is esteemed in this country as an important commercial city, the

inhabitants of which are partly merchants from the Nile, and partly

Nomads of the family of the Shukuriës, Bisharis, and others. The

latter have renounced the rights of their race (gens, genus), and

left their peculiar alliance (Kabyle, from Kab’l); being, like

other wild animals who have been caught, dressed and also protected

by the halo of their founder. But their Sheikh asserts that the old

stock of the inhabitants is an indigenous people of the soil from

the earliest times (min aslu).

I lay there, towards evening, upon an angareb (a convenient bedstead,

made of thongs of camel-skin twisted cross or check wise), and looked

back towards the two rocky hills of Herrèrem, on the other side of

the river, where last night might have proved a bad one to us. These

rocks with their magnificent ruins had deceived us brothers before,

in the same manner as they did the learned Burckhardt, for the here

commonly called “Kenisse betal Kuf’r” (Church of Kafirs or

Unbelievers) composes chief of the fore part, so that we climbed up

with much labour. Moreover, the City of the Nazrani (Christians), said

(according to the statement of the Sheikh who accompanied me at this

time, by command of the Basha, from Gos Rajeb,) to have been larger

than Masr (Káhira), might have been very extensive, as I convinced

myself by the tombs, and especially the foundation-walls of cities,

and burnt masses on the north-east of Herrèrem; so that the word

Kenisse, which is here only applied to a Christian monument, is not

without significance in the mouth of the people. The market, as we see

at the time of the greatest height of the water, points also directly

to this uninhabited spot, as an ancient emporium between the tribes

of the inner countries and the Red Sea. On our present arrival at the

Atbara, I had remarked, about an hour’s walk to the south of this

rock, some three hundred paces from the right bank, not only tombs

and tiles, but also a tolerably large though low shelf of rocks,

of an oblong form, the sides of which shewed niches and cavities

seemingly made by the hands of men. I had just tied my obstinate

dromedary to a tree to graze, and had turned my back to him, when

he broke loose and started after the team, which had trotted before;

whereupon, the completely exhausted Archæologist no longer surveyed

his little Acropolis without pillars and temples, but ran after him,

and forgot everything.

Suliman Kashef, reclining also on an angareb, overhung with a

magnificent Persian carpet, presided like an incipient Basha, over

a divan placed at his feet, of mats made from palm-leaves, on which

there sat some inhabitants of Gos, and the neighbouring Sheikhs. A

silver drinking-cup passed from his hand to mine, and again to his,

whilst the Sheikhs were looking as if interrogating one another,

and my Circassian neighbour became more and more talkative. We

drank wine which a merchant of my acquaintance had brought with

other provisions thus far, though he did not dare to press forward

to the camp. “Dauer!” (medicine), said the Kashef, with averted

countenance, and his face of the colour of japan, when a fellow,

attempting to be witty, shewed a desire to drink with him. In the

very same moment, he exclaimed “Shuff el Marassin” (Look at the

pimp! or bad fellow.) The Haddendas announced their tardy arrival

at the Atbara, by setting fire to some hundred tokuls (plural

tàkela,—straw-huts formed like a cross with pointed roofs),

which Ahmed Basha had ordered to be erected for the cavalry.

The further narration of the journey to Khartum (to which place we

arrived in a westerly direction across the country of ancient Meroë,

and through the wide extended, treeless, but excellent pasture-land

of Butàna and over Halfaia,) I withhold for the present for the

description of my later expedition to the much spoken of, but

hitherto only visited by me, Mandera, Nasùb, Kheli, &c., in the

south-eastern part of Meroë. In Halfaia, which may be called a city

from the castles of earth or clay (Kasr, called by the Baràbras Hosh

a castle) of poor petty kings (Moluk, sing. Melek or Mek), who are

robbed by the Turks, and extremely badly, or not at all pensioned,

Suliman Kashef left us in order to cross over to the neighbouring

Kárreri to see his family. So also did Melek Hammed, who was

generally reckoned the bravest among the so-called Shaïgiës. He

was the son of Wu-Mahmùd, the last king or toparch of Dongola,

who was murdered by the Memlukes (Mamelik). We were great cronies,

and I was sorry for him when the Basha sent him away from the camp;

because, by his unfortunate attempt to connect himself and the men

under his command with the well-known Nim’r, he had given grounds

for being dreaded the most of all the Shaïgiës. It is incredible

how extensive the knowledge of this robber-king was with respect to

the details of the topography of the whole country,: these are, as

it were, family secrets, which are only disclosed, as a particular

favour, over the goblet.

The sight of the Nile had already rejoiced my heart at Halfaia,

but this was still more the case at Hubba, opposite Khartùm, where

I became accurately acquainted with the border of the blue river. I

learnt to value its extraordinary height so much the more, because

it promised to be exceedingly favourable to our voyage of discovery

to the level of the White Stream. We fired off our muskets, and let

the camels lie down, when our shots were answered from the windows

of the divan, or the house of the Basha. The Chasnadar (treasurer

and steward of the Basha) had recognized me with a telescope, and

had sent me immediately a comfortable vessel belonging to the great

man. Every one hurried to Hubba to receive intelligence from the seat

of war; and it was plain to be seen that the people would rather have

heard of Ahmed Basha’s being with the devil than coming to Khartùm.

The east wind soon brought us to the other side. I, for my part,

slipped away under the narrow trellised windows of the Harim,

where I heard women’s voices calling “Hakim Bashi” “Hakim

Bashi,” to the lower part of the great earthern palace, where they

pulled me in through the window—so that I had not to make a great

circuit—on account of the water which had overflowed. If I was not

exactly among old friends, yet I was again among acquaintances who,

at least, appeared to be pleased at seeing me, and who, with one

voice, asked after the Hakim Bashi Yussuf, my brother, who was very

much missed in Khartùm, and whom they were accustomed to see always

with me. But there sat again Suliman Kashef behind the wine-flask

of the Basha, in the jolliest humour, laughing and boasting what he

had done in the meantime, and yet that he had arrived before me. A

profuse breakfast was served, at which also Selim-Capitan was present,

who was forced to drink some wine. The great guns were fetched, and,

being placed at the windows, thundered out the announcement that

it was a Turkish rejoicing. In order also to deceive the people,

orders were given to fire the cannons, which was done without delay,

we being looked upon as messengers of victory. Abdalla Effendi, the

Wakil or deputy of the governor, came in at this alarum, greeted us,

and wished us joy of the victory at Taka; but, as a worthy Moslem,

he soon withdrew his potent nose, that he might escape for a time

the scandal of drinking wine. At last there appeared on the scene

another godly person, of the purest breed, whose heart burned to hear

tidings of the Effendi—whom may the Prophet protect! (Ahmed Basha

also bears, like all great dignitaries, the title of Effendina,

in Turkish Effendim or excellency, and the great Basha, Mohammed

Ali, is then for distinction called Effendina Kebir.) This was the

great Kadi and Bishop of Belled-Sudan, who was the only one before

whom the Basha, who was just of as pure blood, rose from the divan,

and permitted to sit on his right hand close to his ear. The great

man, as the master, having once taken, remained in his seat, which

looked towards the principal door of the hall, and allowed him to

place his legs under him conveniently. Turkish etiquette is carried

to a great extent, and requires a kind of study.

We two slightly saluted each other by bending forward the right

shoulder, because the Basha, shortly before the march to Taka, had

called me and my brother his right and left eye, which saying he was

obliged to repeat here, in order to excuse his friendship towards

Kafirs. Conscious of his dignity, the high-priest sat down upon the

place of honour in the corner of the reception-room, at the right

hand as you enter. In the great audience-hall of the Basha, this

elevated seat of honour is over the divàn, covered with a red or

blue velvet cloth with gold or silver embroidery, and deeply fringed,

with low pillows set round it; but there are days when scarcely a

Mohammed Ali, or the Sultan himself, is allowed to sit upon this,

or any of the seats in the public divàn. The word Divàn signifies

not only the broad sofa running round the wall, or the sitting of a

ministerial council, but every sitting on business transactions and

conversation in council, as well as the hall and even the building

in which this takes place, and also the reception-room in private

houses. The servants in attendance had been dismissed, but the Kadhi,

who being a Magarb, knew wine, and had himself in our house praised

the Spanish as the best. He had, moreover, not disdained a cordial

made of the same by my brother, which he took as a stomachic medicine,

but pretended now not to know anything of the new Turkish labour in

the vineyard of the Lord in _conspectu omnium_, and only gazed upon

the Chasnadàr with his cunning eyes. The latter, a Circassian, who

had grown up in the service of Ahmed, went into a room close by, and

brought the poor man a golden or gilded kupa with a cover; whereupon

the grand inquisitor sipped his refreshing draught with much _goût_,

carefully covered again the vessel and placed it close by him at the

window. The Chasnadàr, who, close to me, was arranging himself in

his place, said, in his excitement, much louder than was necessary,

“el Spitzbub kebir,” and clapped his hands for the servants. The

Kadhi Kebir had received this name at the suggestion of the Basha,

when the latter, just as the Kadhi left him, asked us how a misaur is

called by the Nemzas; and my brother immediately answered Spitzbub

(rogue), which those close around the Basha received with real

ecstasy. However, Misaur means properly a talkative fellow,—_ergo_,

a liar and knave;—Faki, or Fakir misaur, denotes a hypocrite or

lying priest, the number of whom here is legion in proportion to

the population, by whom the Faki (plural Fokra) are not generally

held in esteem. The Kadhi did not concern himself about this title

of honour, but, with the utmost tranquillity, drank his champagne

out of the ciborium, in pious draughts.

Nevertheless every thing was soon prepared for the departure of the

expedition. The north and north-east winds, although not constant,

as is usually the case at the beginning of November, and which

generally commence here after the rainy season, had invited us for

a long time to take advantage of the high water, that threatened

to engulf Khartùm at the end of September from both sides of the

river. Nothing was wanting except the arrival of the two French

engineers, who squatted two-and-forty days in Korusko, because Arnaud

would not pay temporarily, out of his own pocket, for the hire of

some camels, which they required over the number allowed to them in

the Firman or teskerè, to convey their baggage through the desert.

Sabatier, the younger of the Frenchmen, confessed to us, without

disguise, that he, for his part, could not have paid for the camels,

as he had already borrowed money from his colleague, Arnaud,

before they reached Korusko; and he accused the latter of having

unjustifiably delayed his journey, for the purpose of putting

off the expedition till the following year, and to pocket the

pay of a bimbaschi (major) during the interval, in spite of their

beards. This is quite consistent with the character drawn of him

by his own countrymen and the Franks. Eternal regret for the lost

forty-two days! Without this delay, our voyage might have had quite

a different result.

[Illustration: 1 General form of the Tokuls in Bellet-Sudàn.

2 Tokuls of the Shilluks.

3 Tokuls of the Dinkas.

4 Tokuls of the Nuèhrs.

5 Summer-huts of the Kèks (pastoral dwellings of reeds).

6 Sleeping stall.

7 Tokuls of the Keks, also partly of the Bòhrs.

8 Tokuls of the Elliàbs.

9 Tokuls in the kingdom of Bàri (of the Bàris, Chiers, and Lièns).]

CHAPTER II.

COMPOSITION OF THE EXPEDITION. — AHMED BASHA; HIS CHARACTER. —

SCENE BETWEEN MOHAMMED ALI AND SHEIKH SULIMAN OF ROSSÈRES. — SLAVE

TRADE AND SLAVE HUNTS. — SULIMAN EFFENDI, THE SICILIAN POISONER. —

DEATH OF MUSTAPHA BEY. — VAISSIÈRE AND THE EUROPEANS IN EGYPT. —

PUCKLER MUSCAU. — AHMED BASHA’S WIFE. — DESCRIPTION OF

KHARTÙM. — BLUE AND WHITE NILE. — DEPARTURE OF THE EXPEDITION.

Khartùm, 23 Nov. 1840. The engineers have long since arrived, and

at last, in spite of all the assumption and threats of Arnaud, whose

intention of wilfully delaying the expedition could not be denied, and

the motive of which is sufficiently shewn by Sabatier’s explanation,

the Turks themselves determined to set out to-day. They were impelled

to this activity by Ahmed Basha’s having given the strictest orders

to make all despatch, “so that another expedition chargeable solely

to the treasury of this place might not be necessary, as was perhaps

the intention of the Franks.”

The equipment consists of four dahabiës from Káhira (vessels with

two masts and cabins, about one hundred feet long, and twelve to

fifteen broad), each with two cannon; three dahabiës from Khartùm

(one of which has also two cannon); then two kaiàss (ships of

burden with one mast), and a sándal (skiff) for communication:

the crews are composed of two hundred and fifty soldiers (negroes,

Egyptians, and Syrians), and one hundred and twenty sailors and

mariners from Alexandria, Nubia, and the land of Sudan. Suliman

Kashef, although without rank in the army, commands the troops by

the absolute will of the Basha, as he had done before in a Chasua

at Taka. Selim-Capitan from Crete has the direction of the ships and

properly of the whole expedition;[2] the second captain is Feïzulla

Effendi from Constantinople. The other officers are two Kurds, a

Russian, an Albanian, and a Persian; the Europeans are Arnaud and

Sabatier as engineers, Thibaut as collector, and I as an independent

passenger at my own expense. Arnaud has yielded also to circumstances,

notwithstanding his _parole d’honneur_ that he would not go with us,

unless his salary for ten or twelve months were paid beforehand. The

ships are furnished with ten months’ provisions, and six months’

pay has been advanced to preserve in some measure from perishing of

hunger the families of the soldiers left behind, which from the low

price of female slaves were numerous. The officers and the other

persons holding appointments have received the Taïm belonging to

them in money (the different nations according to their grade), owing

to the want of rice, wheat, lupins, lentils, onions, butter and oil,

meat and bread, so that they might make what purchases they pleased,

or stow it in their kammer (money-pouch) according to the manner

of oriental misers, and let the neighbouring stomach feed on common

soldier’s fare, and console itself with the prospect of good days

to come. An indemnification has been given in tobacco and onions,

even to the common people, for the articles of the taïm, deficient

in the victualling magazine, which could not well be realized until

they arrived at Belled-Sudàn.

Ahmed Basha takes very good care of his soldiers, according to Turkish

notions, and pays them regularly, because his very existence, which

is menaced on every side, and the realization of his ambitious plans,

depend upon their fidelity.

Regiments of black slaves, being the born enemies of the Arabs, are

said to support him more resolutely than all his other troops; and,

as he affirms, in case of necessity, they feed on grass, and have

performed miracles of bravery in his presence, in Mora (the Morea)

and in the Hejaz. On this account, the idea struck him in Taka of

making up an amount of 5,000 slaves, and allotting this duty _pro

rata_ among the superior Sheïkhs and officers. On this occasion,

ten slaves were imposed even on Selim-Capitan, which he was obliged

to furnish, although he was not in Ahmed Basha’s service.

I first gained the dangerous confidence of this man in its full extent

by the following means:—He found himself here entirely alone, as if

in banishment; and when we were conversing about the people and the

country, with its abundant resources which were not taken advantage

of, and how Kurdshid Basha had conducted affairs here, and dragged

everything to the devouring Masr, and left nothing remaining to him,

he wished to know my opinion. I pointed out to him repeatedly, and

without reserve, the independence of Egypt, and the plundering system

carried on by the government of that country and—my conviction being

that he should follow the example of the Basha—I sought to instigate

him to render himself independent at the head of this oppressed and

discontented people, and to call himself Sultan of Nigritia. It was

clear to me that this was not the first time since our acquaintance

that he had brooded over the idea, which he opposed with seemingly

plausible, but long-considered scruples. His sleepless nights, during

which old Deli Mustapha was obliged to make coffee for him four or

five times, were now explained; but I did not at that time know that

he was mortally hated there, where he believed he was beloved, and

that in spite of his fine speeches, he was called the executioner of

the Land of Sudàn. I might therefore awaken in the country, from the

great aversion of the grandees of the place to him, the desire for

a declaration of independence, but never for Ahmed himself. I will

bring forward some examples from the conduct of this execrable man,

to shew how the Turks _make their countries happy_.

Ahmed Basha was brought as a Memluke (white slave) from Circassia

to Egypt, and sold to Mustapha Bey, sister’s son of Mohammed

Ali’s first wife. He became the barber of the Bey, and afterwards,

when his own beard grew, was appointed an officer in the army. He

accompanied the campaigns in the Morea, Hejàz and Syria. He

brought intelligence of the victory from St. Jean d’Acre with

incredible celerity to Egypt, and is said to have been attacked

with hemorrhage, as he was delivering the despatches to Mohammed

Ali. He afterwards became war-minister, but was removed in six

months from this important post, not on account of any incapacity,

but from his self-willed disposition, inveterate obstinacy, and

excessive spirit of opposition to all the grandees, and even to

the viceroy himself, who might have been pleased on the whole with

his energetic government. His iron arm threatened even to bend the

Franks in the Egyptian service under Turkish despotism, and he had

already brought the consuls into a good train, when one of them

declared that the Turks had no code of laws, that the Koran could

not be considered as such, and that the _employés_ being Europeans

could not be subjected to arbitrary power. For a time he remained

without an appointment in Káhira, till he was sent with the 8th

regiment to Belled-Sudan. For a year he governed in common with

Kurdshid Basha, during which time he carried his intrigues so far,

that the Governor, who was generally beloved, was recalled, and sent

as Commandant to Adana in Syria, whilst the former received his

post as Governor-General with increased power. Here he preserves,

indeed, his own due respect and that of his people, in the hope of

being made the future Sultan of the natives; yet, by his measures,

he has not only trifled away the love of those men who are so easily

led by their chiefs, but also completely cut off his return to Egypt,

where, in the meantime, a book of his crimes has been opened.

He is a man of fifty years of age, though in appearance he seems

scarcely forty; large and strongly built, with regular, handsome

and expressive features, generally wearing a serious look, though he

laughs a good deal. Whilst he is laughing, which is at his command at

any time, we may often observe in his handsome countenance traces of

agitation, betraying other thoughts than those inspired by the gaiety

of the moment. His physiognomy becomes still more disfigured by his

outbursts of wrath, which are not rare, when his true character

is more rapidly developed in the working of his features than by

all the chiselling and carving of the Gorgon’s head. His blue

eyes stare and sparkle in his deadly pale countenance, and his

inmost soul reflects itself in its real light, at this moment, as

if in a mirror—it is the face of a tiger. Every one, seeing him

for the first time, finds him a handsome man, but with something

inexpressibly gloomy in his look, and in the melancholy features

shaded by a dark beard. Ahmed Basha is a true economist in every

thing, and boasts of his parsimony, (which, however, unfortunately

degenerates into avarice,) saying, it is extremely necessary for

him;—that he requires a good deal of money for present occasions,

and will want more for the future;—and that Mohammed Ali has

only become great through his gold;—every means, therefore, is

justifiable by which he can acquire wealth. His table is sparingly

served; he does not touch the sweet favourite dishes of the Turks,

as being fit for women and not for men; he hates the Turks and calls

them _asses_. Therefore he is always complaining that he stands alone,

that everything presses upon him, which is the truth, because every

one fears him and dares not speak. For his whole large establishment,

with the exception of the Harim, _one sheep_ is killed daily;

whereas, on the contrary, Kurdshid had twelve or fourteen killed;

and what was not consumed was divided amongst the poor starving

people—a custom more worthy of a civil and military Governor of

all Belled-Sudàn; especially as the Turks and wealthy Arabs—the

latter, however, seldom, partly from fear of the former—feed the

poor abundantly. Besides money was obliged to be sent very often from

Egypt to Belled-Sudàn for the support of the troops; moreover, all

the gold which was drawn from Fàzogle and Kordofàn, and coined in

Kahira, was paid; for the preceding Governor complained continually of

his empty chest. Ahmed Basha knew how to provide himself with gold,

since he would never lose sight of his own interest. I heard from

him in Taka of the bombarding and surrender of St. Jean d’Acre,

which intelligence was kept secret. He feared for his position;

and his plan of making himself independent received a severe blow,

since Ibrahim Basha might suddenly march with his disposable army,

and attempt a diversion on this side.

The just Governor sent to his dear sovereign 4,000 purses, the surplus

of the treasury; and to shew the good old man what his Ahmed could

do in the country, 1500 gold okien as a present. Besides this, he

had had considerable expenses, had paid one-half of the soldiers

more than Kurdshid Basha, had purchased thousands of camels and

asses for the Chasua, for the purpose of transport, &c. One would

conclude from this, that under this Basha, a complete reform of the

system of government, and a flourishing condition of the land, had

rendered these supplies of money and gold possible, but the surplus

must be sought for in other causes than in the prosperous state of

the country.

If the direct taxes be very irregularly paid through the conduct of

the Kashefs (plur. Koshàf), Ahmed Basha has a number of other means

by which to squeeze gold out of the people. Inheritances, where the

testator is set aside, and, if necessary, some crime fixed on him;

despotic dictation of tributes in money or gold; farming monopolies;

selling fruits from the Shona, or the farms of the Basha; net-proceeds

of the slave-hunts, &c.

In selling the fruits and farming the monopolies, the price is

generally raised only in appearance by accomplices, and then in a

very courteous manner the affair is hinted first to one and then

to the other, who, in gratitude for the gracious punishment, raise

their hands to their mouth and head, well knowing that even the

latter belongs to the Basha, who commonly presides over such forced

broker’s business.

It is not a very rare thing for Sheikhs who cannot raise the quantum

of gold so arbitrarily imposed, to breathe out their souls under the

Nabút. A favourite plan of his, pursuing the same aim, and having

an apparent legal ground in itself, is the arrangement of his iron

will according to the investigations to be directed towards powerful

Kashefs, who do not deliver to him the half of their plunder, or

towards honest officials, whom he hates, and whose places he has

already beforehand sold to others, when he is certain of the share

of the precious gain, which is made on collecting the Tulba. These

profitable investigations are especially directed against officers

who have the management of the accounts. A fresh revision of their

accounts, which perhaps were delivered twelve to fifteen years ago,

was entered upon for the second time, and, as he partly made it

alone, or by his creatures appointed and assigned for that purpose,

or when he thought it advisable, he ordered a bastinadoing for life

or death, it has never happened that the people selected for payment

were found guiltless.

Enormous sums have been squeezed out in this barbarous manner, and

hundreds of men plunged into misery and extreme poverty; for Ahmed

was not contented with falsifying the accounts of years long past,

and having them liquidated.—No; but he punished them also for their

falsely alleged embezzlements. Not one of these unfortunate creatures

had the least thing left to him, except a miserable dress—everything

belonging to them was sold—house, garden, slaves, clothes, kitchen

utensils, in short, to repeat the word, everything—even the most

necessary carpets and coverings for repose. The proceeds flowed into

the treasury of the Divan.

It is true, that nearly all the Turkish officials are cheats and

extortioners, only seeking to enrich themselves in every possible

way, and to defraud the State, as even the best conduct affords no

security for the duration of their appointments; but let justice

be done to them, and do not, because the Basha gives the order,

find the culprits guilty. Generally, the sum pretended to have been

embezzled, was twice or four times as large as the whole property

of the official. In this case, everything was taken that there was

to take, and if the man were wanted, he remained in his service, but

received for his pay scarcely as much as would provide him sparingly

with durra; the remaining part, being deducted on account of his debt,

flowed into the treasury.

In other instances the accomplices were ordered to replace the

deficient amount. Among these were reckoned those who perhaps formerly

were his superior officers, or his colleagues, and fellow-collectors;

and this judgment always followed, when Copts were his accomplices. In

the whole Egyptian kingdom the Copts (Kopt, or Oept, as they do

not pronounce the K to our ear,) are condemned to be the Mallems

(scribes). The Basha cherishes a cordial hatred of these Nazrani,

partly because he detests their cringing servility and hypocrisy,

which are carried to perfection, and looks upon them, on this account,

with the same contempt as he does on the Greeks and Jews. Many of

them are hanged, merely to spread terror.

Not long ago the following incident occurred: a Coptic Mallem was

convicted in the manner stated above, of having purloined 1000

thalers[3] or pillar dollars at different times. He received 1000

blows, and all his things were sold, the produce of which covered the

sum due, leaving a few hundred dollars over. The unfortunate fellow,

after this fearful punishment, was thrown, more dead than alive, into

chains, and they left him to his fate, without sending him a surgeon

to afford him the least alleviation, by attending to his severe

wounds. The Basha went on a journey; his wakil, Fàragh Effendi,

an Abyssinian, who had been formerly a slave to the Spanish Colonel,

Seguerra, in Alexandria, took pity on him, and sent for the surgeon,

Sulimon Effendi (De Pasquali, a native of Palermo). He passed three

months in prison in this frightful condition, when Fàragh Effendi

thought he might solicit the Basha to pardon the Copt. The answer

of Ahmed Basha was to this effect: “The Nazrani must be hanged,

to serve as an example.”

Everyone at Khartùm was astonished, and the more so, because no

one doubted his innocence. A gibbet was quickly erected at the

market-place, and on the following morning the unfortunate creature

was hanging,—as Faragh Effendi told me the story,—with a placard,

written in large letters, on his back, and his feet scarcely half a

foot from the ground. All the Copts, notwithstanding the calamity,

were exceedingly rejoiced that he had not professed Islamism before

his death, but had died stedfastly as a Nazrani. The Turks and Arabs

are just as strenuous in their exertions to make proselytes as the

expensive European missionaries, without immediately descending in

thunder with their Prophet, as with a _Deus ex machiná_, from high

Olympus. The cruelty of this Basha is said to have gone so far in

Dongola that he wanted to force the son of a Copt to witness the

execution of the sentence of death on his innocent father; but,

luckily, the father died the night before.

In Khartùm, the young Sheikh Effendi (mallem, or Turkish scribe)

received an order to revise the account of the Nasir of the linen

Shunah. He, being yet a novice in these affairs, and not knowing

that the word of the Basha “to investigate” must be always

connected with “guilty,” goes to him, and says that it is quite

correct; but the latter quickly sends the good youth back again

to make another investigation. Sheikh Effendi returns, and says,

that the “man is innocent:” the Basha calls him eshek (ass),

sends him a very large and long piece of cotton-stuff as the standard

measure, and commands him to make good the account, or else he would

indemnify himself out of the Sheikh’s own property. Sheikh Effendi

was therefore forced to take this great Top Homàss as the measure,

when of course an enormous deficit appeared; for, amongst the goods

sent in by several tribes of the Arabs, are included woollen stuffs

made in the country for the dress of soldiers, for sails, tents,

&c., and there is mostly a difference of one to two ells (drà,

arm’s-length) between these pieces. This was now extended back to

all the years in which the fellow had been Nasir, and the man was

entirely ruined.

Except the punishment of beating to death, which causes as little

sensation here as in Russia, public executions are not so frequent

in Khartùm itself, where his presence alone creates terror; but

the secret ones are performed without the cord and the sword. The

following may serve as a proof of the condition of this grievously

afflicted country:—When Mohammed Ali was travelling over Sennaar,

the old Sheikh Suliman of Rossères, the most esteemed and influential

man of Gesira (island, Sennaar) was forced to pay his respects to

him in the city of Rossères. He came with a retinue of his Hammeghs,

dressed simply in a black ferda; and, having stepped into the tent of

the great Basha, he greeted him, and seated himself, without being

invited, on the divàn close to him. The viceroy, beside himself

with anger at this freedom, did not speak a word to him; but, after

a short time, through his dragoman Abdin Bey, bade him depart. The

old Basha told our Ahmed Basha, when Sheikh Suliman should again

appear, to _stand_ before him, in order to instil somewhat more

respect into this old obstinate fellow. Suliman was summoned, and

Ahmed entered into a conversation with him intentionally, standing

before the viceroy, to prevent him from sitting down before the latter

had assigned him the proper place by motioning with his hand to do

so. The crafty Suliman, perceiving the Turkish finesse, and provoked

at such treatment, which he did not deserve, drew himself up erect,

and addressed Mohammed Ali thus in a serious, calm tone of voice,

without waiting for the first word from the latter, conformably to

Turkish etiquette:—

“Thou wishest to reduce me, here, in the presence of my people, to

the grade of thy servant (Gadàm), but thou wilt be disappointed. Thou

dost not know my power. Art thou aware that it only needs a word from

me to excite the whole island to revolt, and to destroy thee and

thy trifling military escort? Reflect that thou art in my kingdom,

in my power, and not I in thine, Yet I will not be base; say, in a

few words, why I have been summoned here, and what I shall do.”

Mohammed Ali, enraged to frenzy at hearing a black talk so to him,

but perceiving only too well the truth of what he said, reflecting

on Suliman’s power and importance, and his own small army, gave

way in this critical juncture, and ordered Abdin Bey (although he

understands Arabic) to explain to him that the manner in which he

had behaved was not proper; that he intended to invest him with

the mantle of honour, and that he must kiss his hand as a token of

subjection. Sheikh Suliman listened to this, laughing at the same

time, but returned thanks for the honour of the investiture, and

stooped to kiss his hand, which, however, he did not do, as the old

Basha, enraged, kept both of them behind him; whereupon Suliman,

without further ceremony, silently went away, and never appeared

again, although he was summoned several times.

Mohammed Ali was indignant at the heads or Sheikhs of the mountains

of Fàzogl not having paid their respects to him, as they had been

apparently subdued by Ahmed Basha, in his expedition against Mount

Tabi, Aba Regrehk, Singue, to Beni-Shangull, (twelve days’ journey

behind Fàzogl, called by the Turks Fèsog’l), or rather had entered

into a friendly alliance. And he attributed their non-appearance

to Sheikh Suliman, whose dominion extends from Aba Nande, below

Rossères, to Fàzogl, and who, although of a small and weak frame,

for he is above eighty years old, (some say more than a hundred),

has not lost by his subjection the fame of his bravery in former

times, which is spread through the land, and of which wonders are

related. On the contrary, he is reckoned a real prince of peace

among these considerable chiefs, and has preserved tranquillity

in the country in behalf of the Turks, entirely for the sake of

preventing bloodshed. He went into the villages of his people,

who honour him as a father and tutelar genius, and merely said,

“The Turks again want Tulba; I know not whence to take it.”

They brought it spontaneously, each according to his means, and

even more than he wanted, which surplus he then distributed among

the poor. One must know the avaricious character of these people

properly to appreciate such generosity.

This frank and open speech on the 24th Dec. 1838, was sufficient

to shew the old Basha how civilization, even in Ethiopia, begins to

assert its claims, and urges resistance against Turkish barbarism;

for wherever the soil is abundant, there personal freedom, the love of

which these people have preserved pure in their hearts, has a right

to demand a generous maintenance; but they have not even this, for,

in contempt of the country and the people, every thing belongs to the

great man, or his hangmen. He sent presents, therefore, and issued

written proclamations, to the absolute rulers of Kamomil—where

the richest veins of gold have been found—of Fazangùr, Duhb,

and even to the Galla-chiefs, in which he says that he is not come

to disturb their tranquillity,—that he, the _Lord of armies and

cannons_, promises peace, &c. Even Abu Sarrott, the terror of all

the mountains behind Fàzogl, received sabres and Turkish dresses

from Mohammed Ali, and, fourteen days afterwards, the receiver of

these presents plundered all the magazines, and carried away the

cows and camels. This Abu Sarrott, before whom every one trembles,

was formerly a slave of the Sultan of Mount Hummos, east of Fàzogl,

had rendered himself independent, and having no settled abode,

makes himself a home everywhere.

Mohammed Ali led four battalions of infantry, 400 Mogrebin cavalry

under their leader Ladham, and 600 horsemen armed with lances,

swords, and bucklers, from Sennaar, under the Sheikhs Defalla and

Edris Wood Adlàn, with two field-pieces, to Fàzogl, where he made

a sacrifice to humanity, by releasing 400 slaves. He had already in

Khartùm revived the old edict issued from Alexandria and Káhira

for the abolition of the slave-trade, in order to throw dust in the

eyes of Europeans; but this order was one of those which, though

publicly given, contained secretly a counter order. This practice

goes so far, that these fine orders which are issued from Kahira,

are entrusted to a kawass or courier, who on such occasions is a

confidential lictor of the great Basha, and who quietly whispers into

the ear of Ahmed Basha how he is to understand the despatches. So

much for the suppression of the slave-trade, or rather of the Chasua

(slave-hunt), as the former is practised publicly throughout all

Egypt, even in the houses of the Consuls. So much for the not

setting foot upon Abyssinia, where however Emir Bey undertook an

expedition from Fàzogl to Atish, towards its boundaries, marching

forward with the incredible caution usual in the Chasua, and seized

Christian churches, and massacred every soul. So likewise in Taka,

where slave-hunts took place on all sides; and from whence we should

very certainly have gone to Habes, if the campaign had turned out

well. Such was the case also in Kordofàn, where, on the intelligence

that Mohammed Ali had himself put into effect at Fàzogl the orders

he had given in Khartum, on account of the delay that took place,

the slaves found unfit to be recruits were set at liberty. At the

same time the well instructed Ahmed Basha dared to issue an order

to Mustapha Bey to prepare a Chasua for 6,000 slaves, by which the

loss of the 400 in Fazogl and of the few who had been emancipated in

Kordofàn was sufficiently covered. Ahmed Basha managed afterwards

to gain the confidence of the old Sheikh Suliman, probably, by

praising his independent behaviour towards Mohammed Ali. In short,

Sheikh Suliman, who had no medical assistant in Rossères, allowed

himself to be persuaded by Ahmed Basha to make his nephew, Edris

Kantòr (also Kamptor) the ruling Sheikh, conformably to Mohammed

Ali’s wishes; to stand by his (Ahmed’s) side in Khartùm as

his counsellor, and to take into consideration the welfare of the

country. The renegade Suliman Effendi (with whom my brother was

once there) was to have him under his care; but the Sheikh would

not take any medicine, because he feared a physician whose fame had

even extended from Arabia. This Sicilian had poisoned thirty-three

soldiers there in order to ruin two Frenchmen, the physician and the

apothecary, whom he detested. Ahmed Basha has need of such persons

even in this land. Suliman suddenly died because he was too tenacious

of life and wanted to return to Rossères, and was immediately buried

according to the custom of this country, just as I was on the point

of visiting him. “_Deve morire, non c’è misericordia_,” said

Suliman Effendi, laughing, when opposing my brother with respect to

the nature of his illness; and he was right. The brother of Sheikh

Suliman, Nasr Wud Ahmed, came six months after to this capital;

the strong, robust man was despatched in fourteen days in the same

Turkish manner. Another brother received for some trifling matter

1,000 blows with the kurbash (a scourge, or whip, cut from the skin

of the hippopotamus), far worse than the Nabùt, and reckoned to be

equivalent to death: this man endured the punishment not only manfully

without uttering a sound, but sprang up, and exclaimed, “_Ana achu

el bennaght!_” (literally, “I am a brother of the maiden!” it

means, however, a man who defends his hearth—generally, a hearty,

brave fellow). Such examples of hardihood are not rare here, and

depend partly on the race from which they spring. By the intrigues

and the constant chicaneries of Ahmed Basha, the family of Suliman

has been reduced to the lowest point. Woe to the Turks, therefore,

when the time for revenge comes! The people belonging to the race of

the Hammeghs still continue formidable, and remain always devotedly

attached to the family.

These great Lords of the Isles, such as Edris Wud Adlàn, and Edris

Kantòr, nephew of old Suliman, possess villages wherein 3000 or 4000

slaves live at their ease, with their wives and children, who are

faithful and require only a hint from their protector. These Sheikhs,

who are the issue of the marriages between the Funghs and Hammeghs,

have besides a body-guard which they have furnished for themselves,

being their own or perhaps not their own children. Thus Kantòr has

more than 100 wives, Edris somewhat less, none of whom must be barren,

if they do not wish to be displaced by others.

The old policy, which unfortunately still holds good, of chiefs being

at variance with one another, bears its fruit also here. Kantòr

as Sheikh of the Divàn, fears the lawful heirs, the children of

Sheikh Suliman and Nasr, and has already murdered seven of them,

without being called to account for it. Two sons, however, fled to

the Sheikh Wud Abrish, on the confines of Makàda.

There died besides, in confinement, whilst I was in the country,

the great Sheikh Mohammed-Din, a martyr for his Haddendas;—also

Sheikh Hademer, highly esteemed in Mahass, who some years before

had prophesied from his old books, that the Inglés (English) would

free them from the Turks; wherefore, as soon as the intelligence

was received of the taking of St. Jean d’Acre, he was seized in

order to be, like Mohammed-Din, for ever set aside.

A man of consideration, on whom the Basha had forced the post of Muder

of Dongola, for a considerable sum of money, died the day before he

was about to set out for Dongola. My brother said to Suliman Effendi,

that the unfortunate man was poisoned. “_Pare cosi ma ben pagato

la sua morte da Muder_,” answered the renegade, and then abused

the avaricious Basha, because, instead of paying his debts, he had

required him to reduce them himself.

What, however, made a great noise and sensation in Egypt, was the

death of Farat-Bey, in Wollet Mèdine, and especially the sudden

decease of the brave Mustaphà Bey, in Khartùm, the only Turk who was

really beloved in the whole country, and who was therefore an enemy

of the Basha. He came from Kordofan to Fàzogl, during the time of

the extreme heat, where Ahmed Basha hoped he would perish from the

insufferable climate, as he said himself jocosely. He was not well,

and was exhausted by the journey; he became worse without Suliman

Effendi summoning to a consultation the three Italian physicians

who happened to be present, Cecconi, Toscanelli, and Count de

Domine. The Bey, surrounded by Memlukes and servants, requested

Suliman Effendi to give him medicine to send him to sleep. The latter

spoke in Italian to himself, went to the small army medicine-chest,

being watched by the slaves, took laudanum and gave it to the Bey,

in a silver tablespoon; but the desired sleep did not come;—and

Mustaphà himself called for opium, though he was not accustomed at

other times to use it. The attendants, still remaining in respectful

silence, heard and saw how the Sicilian muttered again in Italian,

again poured laudanum into the spoon, and held it to the mouth of the

Bey. Scarcely had the latter taken this dose, which was larger than

the first, than blood rushed from his nose and mouth, and he slept for

ever. His Memlukes knew the bottle on which the name was specified,

too exactly, and called it Rogh el Affiùn (spirit of opium). Suliman

Effendi did not appear the next day, and on the morning after, when

he came to me, was very discomposed and absent in mind—exclaiming,

“_che brav’ uomo! peccato_,”—whilst he sought every moment

his snuff-box. Whereupon I asked him, whether he had given the Bey

laudanum twice? He did not deny it, but he had only given “a few

drops,” “_e, Signor Avvocato! mi era padrone, io servo suo_.”

I had everything to fear from this man, who otherwise was friendship

and familiarity itself, on account of my brother, whom the Basha

intended to put in his place, as medical inspector of Belle Sudan,

and had openly expressed that intention. It was therefore with the

most solemn earnestness, that I threatened him with death, if I

should not find my brother alive on my return, and should discover

that he had come in contact with him.

“_Dio guardi, che affronto_,” he said, and quietly drank his

glass of rum; for a similar insult had been openly offered to him in

the divàn of the Basha, which naturally referred to the poisonings

laid to his charge in Arabia and here. Not only did the superior

military and civil officers fear to take medicine from him; but

also the Basha—who, indeed, knew him best—would not receive on

one occasion a glass of lemonade from him, though he had prepared it

under his own eyes, and asked my brother for another glass, which was,

of course, annoying to him. He was called at the bazaars “Rogh el

Affiùn;” in the coffee-houses, “Rogh el Affiùn,” and “el

Marras” (ruffian, or bad man).

The unhappy end of Mustaphà Bey found general sympathy; and some

astonishment was excited when it was known that the Basha had

threatened Suliman Effendi with the bastinado if he did not pay

his debts. Even in the divan of Vaissière (which we also called

the exchange, because this man, who was an officer under Napoleon,

and decorated with the _croix d’honneur_, carries on the most

considerable traffic in slaves in the whole country) the death of

the Bey was discussed by the Franks; and it was doubted whether it

had been done by Ahmed Basha’s orders, or whether Suliman Effendi

had accomplished the deed of his own accord, in order to render an

essential service to him.

Whilst they were speaking of him, the old greybeard entered with his

accustomed sallies of wit. They laughed at his conceits, and treated

him as usual, which is so easy for these European people, even when

they have deadly hatred in their hearts, that it makes an honest man

shudder. I could relate a good deal of these Europeans, but it would

make too long a digression here, although we are stopping between the

Blue and White Nile; and I consider it even my duty to particularize

them by name on another opportunity, as I, with my iron sceptre in

my hand, have before threatened to do. My brother and myself might

perhaps be reproached for having visited such companions, who, under

an exterior appearance, by which the mere passing traveller is so

easily blinded, have utterly abandoned all law, justice, and morality,

and have almost renounced Europe; and for having associated with men

who are no longer masters of their better selves, but entirely lost,

and of whom we were warned in Káhira. Kahira and Alexandria must

be known to estimate properly such a warning, as it does not refer

to the immorality of men, but only to the preservation of one’s

own interests against danger. Káhira, as well as Alexandria,

affords abundance of materials for a _chronique scandaleuse_,

and forms an uncommonly rich and highly interesting stubble-field

of unmistakable colonial nature, where a careful winnowing of the

higher society would give a surprising result. It is the same even

with the small and partly ephemeral colonies of Franks in Khartùm,

where they concentrate themselves at times.

After a tedious journey of three months, we arrived here. The

Muslims perceived the French flag hoisted as a matter of precaution,

as it generally prevents the ship being taken away for the use of

Bilik (government), and they crossed over to the Douaniers, who

never lose sight of their prey: we were truly glad to find human

beings again. Our flag was known by no one except by Vaissière,

who gave vent to an old grudge against the Prussians, and excited

a prejudice against us among the Italians, which was so much the

greater, because a noble example of Prussian manners and customs had

caused an uncommon sensation here in Khartùm. The long title of my

countryman was hardly perceptible on the fragments of pots, whereon

we read “Puckler-Muscau,” called and supposed by the common

people to be “Sultan betal Moscow.” However, they tendered their

services to us with uncommon hospitality, letters having preceded

us which possibly described us as harmless fellows,—except one,

a German letter. A Frank, in white Turkish costume, addressed us,

like a shade from the lower regions, in the German language: we

were surprised, and especially when he asked about a letter from

my countryman ——, which at the best, therefore, must have been

an Uriah’s letter. The pale citizen of Khartùm calls himself a

peasant (from the neighbourhood of Wurzburg), and is now inspector

of manufactories in Kamlin.

A letter, full of low calumny, from my amiable friend had found

its way even to him, although I had not done him any injury; but

he was too well known. He had, in a peculiar sense of the word,

given me letters of recommendation against my will, not only

here, but in Cairo, to which city he took the trouble of writing

three. It is the curse of a prolonged residence in the South that the

character of Europeans, and particularly of the northern nations,

alters more or less in course of time. Slumbering passions display

themselves in an odious and very dangerous manner; the cat becomes

a tiger raging against itself, if the spirits of Ahriman,—brandy,

and opium,—have him betwixt them;—and at last he is mocked and

laughed at. A choice of companions, who might be called “good and

bad, or high and low,” was not to be found among the few Franks

in Khartùm. They live a cat and dog life with each other, but are

breathing witnesses that this is the land of the Lotophagi; for, from

their frequent convivia and bacchanalia, they might be supposed to

be bursting with love and friendship. Whoever is really in earnest

to acquire general information on the manners and customs of the

East, and to increase his knowledge of human nature, must not carry

himself as cautiously as a diplomatist, provided he is conscious of

good sound principles, fostered from youth upwards.

Mustaphà Bey was dead; Ahmed Basha had lost a rival, and moreover

came into possession of 2000 purses, by the closest money transactions

with the public exchequer. The brother of the victim arrived with a

high and mighty Firman from Constantinople and Káhira, to fetch his

brother back to Thrace from the unhealthy climate, and, perchance,

also from the dangerous contiguity to Ahmed Basha. It was intended,

perhaps, that he should come too late, for they managed, in a

remarkable manner, to procrastinate his stay in Káhira, and also

on the road. He was very much cast down, and scarcely regarded by

the Turks, even by the Copts, wherefore he did not dare to reclaim

his inheritance, as he valued his life. _Sero venientibus ossa_

could not, however, be said of him, for the Charim (harim), with

flesh and blood in abundance, remained to him. This arose from

the Princess or Bashalessa,—as the wife of Ahmed Basha, and the

daughter, or adopted daughter, of Mohammed Ali, is called by the

Franks,—having, in an unusual visit, openly shewn her sympathy,

and prevented, by her authority, on the part of the Divàn, the

harim being plundered. This lady was awarded to Ahmed as a mark of

peculiar favour, when he was residing in Káhira, where she also

remained behind till the year 1840.

Ahmed Basha was obliged to discard his former wives, according

to the custom here, and also in Turkey, when the daughters of the

Sultan are married. Even those great men were forced to do this, to

whom Mohammed Ali, in that magnanimous reduction of his inventory

of women in 1838, bequeathed princesses from his Charim (for whom

he had lost all regard, and would not pension as widows), to be

their reigning lawful wives, and whose slippers, conformably to the

Mussulman custom, they were compelled to kiss. Our Bashalessa is,

according to my brother’s opinion, an accomplished Levant lady, who

knows how to distinguish good from bad, and feels herself extremely

unhappy in Khartùm, where she is confined to her cloister, with an

occasional excursion on the Nile. She is desirous of getting away from

the place, and wanted, therefore, to entrust my brother, when we had

determined on our return, with a letter to her father Mohammed Ali:

she sent also, contrary to her former custom, several times during

my brother’s illness to inquire after his health. When he was

called in to see her as a physician, she received him without a veil,

just like her attendants, and spoke continually of Masr, and asked

after political news. She is a tall, imposing, and almost masculine

person, with a deep voice, yet very courteous;—but not nearly so

handsome as two novices in her train, condemned to chastity. In the

antechamber, from whence the Tauwàsch (eunuchs) did not dare to

step over the threshold of the cell, he always found an European

breakfast to console him. She may, therefore, have contributed to

Ahmed Basha’s being recalled to Káhira. The latter, however,

did not obey the repeated invitations, and died _of a tertian ague_

in the spring of 1844. His successor was Ahmed Basha, known by the

epithet of “Menikli,” (meaning “great ear,”) whose march to

Taka appears, according to the usual vaunting of the Arabs, to have

turned into just as rapid a retreat.

Khartùm forms, in every respect, the capital of Belle-Sudan; it has

a mixed population of about 30,000 souls, and lies, according to Duke

Paul William Von Würtemberg, (who visited this country in the spring

of 1840, and went as far as Facharne, near the Geb’l Kassan, three

or four days’ journey above Fazogl), under the 15th° 41′ 25″

north latitude, on the northern point of the land of Sennaar, between

the Nile and the White Stream. It is called Khartùm (point of land)

from this position. Only a few fishing huts marked, some thirty years

ago, the place where gardens and fields extend on the narrow neck of

land running from the city northward towards the mouth of the White

Stream, from whence the colony, advancing upwards in the direction

of the Blue Stream to the south-east, turns the greatest part of its

numerous gardens to its principal side, whilst the miserable huts

of the Baràbras lie scattered about the level margin of the White

Stream. The small group of houses standing in the place of the fishing

huts I have mentioned, is called el Belled, meaning village here, in

opposition to Helle (city). Khurdshid Basha is, properly speaking,

the founder of Khartùm, for he fixed his residence here, erected

more public buildings, and even established a dock on the White and

another on the Blue Stream. Except the dyami (mosque) and the bassàr

(bazaar), all the houses are built of lathes, or air stones, the

fabrication of which is so slight in the new buildings, that very

noxious standing pools are formed, which, at the first rains, are

immediately peopled with frogs, said to come out of the earth. Ahmed

Basha understood these disadvantages to health so much the more,

because he himself was subject to frequent fevers, and wished, in

order to obviate the noxious evil of the unhealthy situation of the

city, not only to fill up these ditches, by pulling down the houses

nearest to them, but also for the sake of a better draught of air,

to have wide streets formed. To render the city secure against any

danger from water, he was to have made the shore of the Blue Nile

an angle of 45°, and the earth removed thereby, with the ruins of

the houses taken down, was to have been employed to make a broad

dam;—this dam to be planted with trees.

In like manner, a long wall was to have been raised along the White

River, and an extensive sandy country would have been laid under

cultivation. We spoke on this subject in Taka, and he immediately

wanted a drawing of a plan, which was easily made, even at so great

a distance, because, excepting the mosque and the new bazaar, no

heed was to be taken even of his palace. Ahmed Basha had really much

practical sense, and thought that every one ought to be, by instinct,

a bit of a Hakim and Maendes, (physician and engineer).

The departure of the expedition was fixed for the 23rd November,

and yet three cannon shots, unexpected by any one, resounded to-day

about l’Asser, (three o’clock in the afternoon), as an imperative

signal, although it had been long wished for by me. I sprang to the

window and heard myself summoned, from the ship which was to convey

me, to come immediately. Now there arose an indescribable swarm of

people and clatter on the shore, a crying, howling, and leave-taking,

so that I was glad to be able to squeeze through the crowd to the

cabin. Sounding above every thing arose the shrill treble of women,

that inimitable and horrible quavering cry, “Kullelullullulu,”

by which they give vent to every lively emotion of the heart in

pain, joy, and misery, with different modulations which a foreign

ear can only distinguish by frequently hearing them. This time it

was a farewell cry, for every one flocked to the shore to give the

parting greeting, and some rushed even into the Nile to the side of

the vessels. There were women, daughters, sisters, brothers, and the

chorus of black, brown, and white dancing girls, who nimbly drew from

large round vessels of clay (burma) more merissa, and passed this

parting drink round in gourd shells (gara) among their acquaintances,

gratis. These dancing women, or filles de joie (guavàsi, _sing._,

ghasië), are never wanting here at any feast, whether with Turks

or Christians, and break, at least, the monotony of such comfortless

society where woman is always excluded.

If we few Europeans had not perhaps dragged ourselves very quickly

to the vessels, with an occasional curse at the climate on our lips,

the Turks, certainly, did not move more actively; nay, they were even

more enervated by the influence of the climate, and the discomforts

attending it. They came therefore surlily, sluggishly, and unattended,

having left behind their attendants in the harims. It was only the

coloured people that suffered nothing; they were in their native

element. Our black soldiers embraced one another, shouting for joy,

because they were going to the south, to their free fatherland,

from which they had been inhumanly torn by Chasuas or Dshellabs

(slave-hunts or slave-dealers). Inspired by Merissa, they shouted,

in their language, to their different countrymen, who, partly in

chains, were carrying water, and many a plan for the recovery of

their freedom, and the destruction of their oppressors, may have been

awakened in their rude minds. Belle-Sudàn means not so much _Land of

the Blacks_, as _Land of Men of Colour_, for _assuet_ denotes black,

and _sud_ smutty or dingy, as the word is used here; for example, in

dirty linen. According to the colour, the name might have been used

as beginning from Assuan, but the northern boundary of Belle-Sudàn

is formed by the two rocks of Assul, on the right shore of the Nile,

a declivity of the Achaba Shangull. _That_ Achaba with its rocks

crosses the Nile, and its natural gates also are the boundaries of

the Mamùr of Berber. But here, where the poor, fair child of man,

not excepting even the Arabs and Kopts, totters about and fades away,

weak, and feverish as if he were affected with the Marasmus senilis;

here upon his native soil, we ought to see this dark people, how

boldly and freely, nay wantonly and flexibly—again, how angularly

and awkwardly they move their limbs under this glowing sun;—how they

stamp with inconceivable pleasure, fury, and perseverance, upon the

hot ground in the wild dance, till the earth trembles again. Here it

is that we must see the Blacks, when they have drowned their grief

for their lost freedom, and the _home-sickness which kills most of

them_, in sparkling Merissa, if we would know them thoroughly, with

all their peculiarities, and in their entire bestial beauty. From

this muddy soil of the shallow lakes of the inner countries fermenting

under the hot sun, such a dark-coloured and black breed as the Dinkas

could alone spring, with the primitive forms of human monsters, yet

with plastic frames, without being masters, in our sense, of their

mass of limbs. With what ease and purity the naturalized dark-brown

Arab and Baràbra, and the black Nuba move here:—how secure their

tread on the vessels, in comparison with our Egyptian lubbers, who,

like the Pachydermata, cannot renounce the Fellah.

The line of the vessels unwound itself into a curve from the shore of

the blue stream; the cannons thundered, all the guns were repeatedly

discharged, the drums (trombet) beat a flourish; here and there arose

a noise and contention for places; the Arabs sang to the stroke of the

oar with the accompaniment of the tarabùka (pot drum), the Baràbras

struck up songs with their tambùr (guitar, Arabic, Rabàba) at the

same time: here one blew the double flute (argùl), there sounded the

sumàra (pastoral pipe). All this was done chiefly to stun themselves

and to lighten their agitated hearts. Scarcely had I by signs taken my

leave, than there came over me a feeling of separation, as if I had

left my brother Joseph in Khartùm. Many days journey indeed he was

from me, and in a campaign that I knew, from being previously present

at it, was dangerous. At Gohr et Gash, I had jumped on a dromedary

without first embracing him: we had both regarded it as a good omen,

but now our separation was first definitively decided. In Khartùm

I had, at times, received intelligence or letters from the camp;

here we had so often afforded brotherly assistance to each other on

a sick bed, and mutually saved one another’s lives. What dangers,

what adventures awaited him and me between the present and the moment

of meeting again!—but—we shall yet see one another.

Sailing down the blue stream, we soon neared the wooded island of

Tuti, inhabited by the Baràbras, rising gently like a little Delta,

at the conflux of the two arms of the Nile. This island is said to

be the oldest colony of the Baràbras in these parts, on account of

which they bury their dead there from the whole surrounding country,

just as the Arab tribes, and the other inhabitants of the banks of

the Nile carry their dead to the village of Hubba, lying opposite

to Khartùm, upon the right side of the Blue River, because in both

places highly revered Sheikhs or saints have their tombs in lofty,

cupola-shaped vaults, gradually diminishing upwards to a conical

form, and called Hubba, (not Kubba, which means the plague, a disease

entirely unknown here). The White River, flowing to the north-east,

rolls in an unbroken stream along the north-west side of the island

of Tuti, whilst the Blue River, whose current is more than twice

as strong, bounds against this straight, whitish stream of water,

as well as against the south-east side of the island, and winding

through between the latter and its right shore, which juts out,

makes a bend, deserts its former direction to the north-west, and

turns in a north-easterly one, with the White Stream.

Here, once, both streams met and became united in a lake, which might

have formed a triangle, according to the direction of the White Downs,

above Khartùm from the Blue River, near the village of Gos Burri,

the smallest angle of which went towards the south into the White

River. At that time, the Blue Stream exercised quite a different

dominion, and did not condescend to the before-named bend at the

Island of Tuti, from which bend the traveller is firmly convinced that

the Blue Stream flows into the White. The inhabitants of the banks,

however, assert the contrary, for the former, as being the Nile, is

considered, as it were, sacred, from its superior water and its more

beautiful colour; although they allow that both streams spring from

one source. This likewise redounds to its fame, that it is said to

flow five times quicker than the White Stream, which latter indeed

is nearly stagnant in the dry season. With all its good qualities,

the Blue Stream displays a destructive activity towards Khartùm. If

it had extended this activity before, more towards its right shore on

the east, and spared the low ground heaped up by it towards the west,

to be the foundation of a future city, and formed by its alluvial

deposit a dam against the White Stream, its waves would now wash

up more against its west shore, exactly opposite to the principal

side of Khartùm. It is very certain that it is not necessary to

go back into the ages before history, to speak of a land-draining

of the northern point of Sennaar, since the expression “fok el

Bachr,” points plainly to the old river’s edge by the Mosque;

and likewise, not a single brick has been found in all this lake

soil of Khartùm, except on the hill near Burri, which also must be

considered merely as a new shore of the lake. As I have said before,

the Blue Stream always extends more towards the mouth of the White,

which it has already pressed down against the edge of the rock, in

the desert near Omdurman, whilst it extended itself, like a lake,

immediately from Hubba in the extensive low country east of Halfaia,

until it closed the road there with the hilly alluvial deposit upon

which this city is partly built.

If the lake ground at Khartùm was principally governed by the White

Stream, and its deep, clayey site overlaid with sand, the blue

stream has heightened its lake at Halfaia with a fruitful soil,

which yet enjoys at high water its blessed waves, that impart,

however, only a soft green to the forest.

Near Wud, or Wolled Hüsseïn, four hours’ east of Halfaia, a

natural canal is seen in the rocks, with a steep fall, which even now

is active as a Gohr, and might have made an outlet once for the lake

on this side. The immediate cause, however, why the blue stream, by

Khartùm, presses against its left shore, and flows almost under the

houses of Khartùm, lies in the fact, that it has thrown up so much

sand within these few years, against its east shore from Hubba to the

island of Tuti, that the inhabitants of that great village are forced,

when the water has somewhat subsided, to go far over the sand of the

heightened bed of the river to the water, and that the inhabitants

of the island there wade through the Nile to the right shore, on a

sandbank ominously forming itself. If this last current of the blue

river shall eventually be dammed up, its mass of water will rush

with the strength of a powerful mountain torrent against the mouth of

the white stream, and raise it, because its last strength is already

expended, even at a moderate height of water, by the projecting rocks

and the islands impeding its mouth. Then Khartùm will be lost, and

the water will not only regain its former territory below Djami,

but the blue stream will also break through above the whole city,

as I sufficiently convinced myself a short time ago, at high water,

when the city, notwithstanding the miserable Turkish precautions, was

saved as if by a miracle, and the blue stream looked into my window,

over the narrow dam of earth, which is about three or four feet high.

On this occasion, I saw five gazelles at the south-west end of the

city, near the hospital, gazing with wonder on the mirror of the

water of the wide white stream passing over into its old lake basin,

which was driving them towards the city. A stupid Topshi (cannoneer),

who was at too great a distance, without further ceremony scared them

away immediately by a heavy shot from the powder magazine, whilst

I, with my servant, had made a long circuit through the water, in

vain. On such an inevitable swelling of the river, which must lead

to the destruction of Khartùm, the old double lake that has ebbed

away, will come to life for some time, and not only wash away the

island of Tuti even to its rocky base, but also the whole margin of

the left shore of the united stream up to Kàrreri, which, however,

possesses in its rocky mountain, about three hours’ distant from

Khartùm, a breakwater reaching from the desert of Baguda.

Ahmed Basha perceived all this very well, when we travelled

together on the Nile to Tomaniàt below Halfaia, where he had

taken the best fields from the Shaïgiës, in an illegal manner,

and had ordered fifty sakies (or chain of buckets, for raising

water) to be constructed upon it, and where the sesame was standing

majestically, higher than a man, and might yet grow another foot. For

this purpose—to obviate the danger which might arise to the future

royal city—the bend of the right shore near Tuti was to have been

broken by a deep canal, in order to carry away the sand from Hubba,

and to deepen there the bed of the river. A favourite plan of the

Basha’s, however, was to make his residence a fortress, to erect

works on Tuti, and to place Khartùm upon an island by a canal,

to be opened from the Blue to the White Nile; for such a canal

formerly existed from Soba to the White Stream. Old people relate,

to be sure, but only as a rumour, that the White and Blue Stream

met together there. The ruins of Soba already known (which place one

hears pronounced likewise Suba and Seba), consists of heaps of burnt

bricks, without any other cement than the Nile slime, which have

supplied the surrounding country for the vaults of the reputed holy

Sheikhs, as well as in more modern times, Khartùm with materials

for its mosque: they extend over a considerable space on the right

shore of the Blue River. I heard the country opposite these ruins

called likewise “Dar Soba;” therefore a contra-Soba, or perhaps

once united to it, since the burnt and fused masses of brick, the

wide-scattered bricks and fragments, even the ditches, if there

had not been clay or foundations and vaults dug out, indicate, at

all events, an old place. A small village on the edge of the river,

under shady mimosas, and called Soba, extends to this. I have found

just as slight traces of that canal, or of the bed of a river in this

woody country, as in the other Soba on the right side of the river;

and, therefore, I cannot assume, with regard to the last-mentioned

ruins, that they were once situated on the land of Sennaar, although

the right shore might indicate the violence of an irruption of water

through the city itself.

Before I forsake the Blue Stream, I must yet remark that, besides

the usual name of “Bach’r asrek,” it is called in this

neighbourhood, “the Nile, or Bahr el Nil,” as I have often

convinced myself. If it be asked why it is called the Nile, the answer

is, because it has beautiful and good water: the old expression for

this river is therefore identical with its properties. It is just

the same in Egypt, where, as I found from experience, especially in

Káhira, Bahr el Nil expresses the material properties of the water,

for even the sakkah (water-carrier) interprets the Nile water with

hellue (sweet), in opposition to cistern and brackish water. The

Basha calls it also nothing but Nile, and says that certain Sheikhs

have declared to him, that ignorant people call it after its blue

colour. Nile means in the Arabic language indigo; otherwise this word

is no longer used for a blue colour. I had an opportunity of hearing

the word Nile used for inundation, together with Ba Kebir, or ruga

tossiga (great water), denoting the same thing. The old expression

of Nile awakes here, therefore, at the moment when it discloses

itself as a divinity, a protector, and a nourisher of the country

and people. Only the large pastoral Arab tribe of the Shukuriës,

in the so-called Meroë, between the Blue River and the Atbara,

has the peculiar name of “Adehk,” in its Aggem language for this

stream, whilst the other nations in their name for it, indicate its

colour. Those of Dongola, and Mahass, who both boast to be Gins betal

Thin (people of the soil), call it Amanga Arumga, and Essige Rumege,

and the united stream, Ruga; even the far distant Nuba negroes,

the old support of the family of the Ethiopian mixture of blood,

from Assuan to Rossères, call it Blue Water (Tè Uri). It is the

Blue River, therefore, which possibly has imposed the name of Nile

on the united stream, and might have formed the road of cultivation

to nations wandering down and back again, whilst the mouth of the

White Stream, retarded by lake-like shallows and swamps, was far less

known. As, in addition to this, it is denied, with some justice,

that fertility and good water are the property of the White River,

it might have been, in the ages of antiquity, despised so much the

more, and looked upon as a subordinate stream, not to be spoken of:

not a single burnt brick, or other memorial, points to an earlier

intercourse with it.

Before we entered the mouth of the White Stream, we conferred the

last honour on the sacred water of the Blue River, by filling the

large earthern water-vessels, (Sirr, like the ancient Amphora)

with a great noise, and cursed the White River as being stinking

(affen.) The sails were worked amid prodigious confusion; the

north-east wind blew gently in them, and we bent our course from the

Mogren, (denoting equally conflux and mouth, _confluentia et ostium_,)

round the northern point of the land of Sennaar, (Ras el Khartùm,

head of the neck of land,) and sailed slowly to the south over the

rocks, overflowed with water, into the White Stream. There we heard

the last kulle-lullu-lulu of the women, who raised, with both hands,

their handkerchiefs in an arch over their heads, as in funerals. This

made most of us laugh, especially my men, who thought that they had

as good teeth as the Njam-Njam, so much feared by many, particularly

by well-fed Egyptians, but whose country no one could point out.

CHAPTER III.

VILLAGE OF OMDURMAN. — MOHAMMED EL NIMR, THE BURNER OF ISMAIL,

MOHAMMED ALI’S SON. — MEROE AND THE PYRAMIDS. — SENNAAR. —

WANT OF DISCIPLINE ON BOARD THE VESSELS. — SCENERY OF THE RIVER. —

TOMB OF MOHA-BEY. — DIFFERENT ARAB TRIBES. — HILLS OF AULI MANDERA

AND BRAME. — SOLIMAN KASCHEF. — REMARKS ON HIS GOVERNMENT. —

AQUATIC PLANTS. — THE SHILLUKS AND BARABRAS. — LITTLE FEAST

OF BAIRAM. — CHARACTERS OF THIBAUT, THE FRENCH COLLECTOR, AND

OF ARNAUD AND SABATIER, THE ENGINEERS. — HONEY. — MANDJERA

OR DUCKS. — FEIZULLA CAPITAN’S EPILEPTIC FITS. — WOODED

ISLANDS. — THE HEDJAZI.

We find ourselves in the gulf, properly speaking, of the arm of the

White Nile, whose waters now extend majestically, and form an elliptic

bay towards Sennaar. The trees of the village of Omdurman, lying upon

the left shore opposite the neck of land, still stood in the water,

as evidence of that forest which Khartùm in its neighbourhood is

said to have absorbed, and by that act to have forfeited the blessing

of rain in an almost incredible manner, excepting the slight showers

which are usual at this season. Omdurman lies upon the rocky edge of

the Desert of Bajuda, and is inhabited by the Gallihn or Djalin. This

people is not of importance on the left side of the Nile, for it

does not possess, except Metemna and some villages, any settlements;

on the east shore of the Nile, however, it makes up the principal

population between Abu Hammed and Abu Haràsk. Mohammed el Nimr,

the burner of Ismail Basha, was the Sheikh of this people, and was

called by them Sedàb. He has founded for himself, principally

through his courage and hatred of the Turks, which were shewn

near Nasùb, a new kingdom on the borders of Habesh, above Sofi,

where the two little rivers of Settiel and Bassalahm flow into the

Atbara: he lives in league with Wud Aued, the Sheikh of the Dabaina

Arabs, and is on the other side connected by marriage with a Ras of

Makada. Immediately beyond the village of Omdurman, there are found

upon the bare, washed-away rocky ground strown over with pebbles,

some foundations and burnt bricks, which we ourselves saw, were used

in the building of the bazaar, and which were without any admixture

of lime, although they lie upon chalky rocks, from which lime has

been burnt for the Djami and the Bazaar. So, also, the bricks of Gos

Burri, where the traces of a very great colony are extant, travelled

to the banks of Hubba, the bricks of which are of uncommon goodness.

The land of Sennaar, to the west side of which we are now sailing, is

called through the whole country _par excellence_ Gesira, the Island,

for it is taken for one by the people, and is designated also a land

by the latter word, as Meroë was once, and indeed from the very same

cause. But if we speak of the city of Meroë, the ruins of which we

may assume to be in the plain on the Nile under Shendy, where the

villages of Gebelabe, Marùga, Dengèla, and Bahr-auie are—this

place was certainly situated upon an island. The low country towards

the pyramids down to the village Maruga, where a canal filled with

mud now disembogues into the Nile, would plainly shew this, if a bed

of rocks, perhaps intended to separate the sacred city from the great

churchyard, were not just before that heap of rubbish, on which is

pointed out the forge, or the heavy scoriæ of metals, said to have

been wrought by the powerful Kafr Ibn Omàli el Kebir. The names

also of the two villages Bahr-auie, (not Begrauie and Bigrauie, as

the Egyptians and Kenuss pronounce it,) and Ma-ruga, refer to water,

in the same manner as Dengela perhaps does to a fortress; Dongola,

also, is called in old writings Dengela, or Tongul, (according to

old Sheikh Hampsa in Hannak, who is well read.)

The hills of ruins of Meroë _in complexu_, are called Geb’l Omàli,

and the Pyramids, which the ass-drivers in Kahira call Piramill

and Paramill, are called here Taralib, and Tarabill, as at Geb’l

Barkal. In the latter place, I heard from the Faki Mohammed in Abhdom,

who has inherited rare manuscripts from his father in Meraui, that

the true name is Tarable, indisputably from Turab, _sing._ Tura,

a grave; if not from Troab, a stone. Lastly, as to the Pyramids of

Assúr, as those in Meroë or Geb’l Omali are called in Europe,

the Sheikh of Maruga knew them only as Chellal el Aschùr above

Metemma. With these people we are always right, if whilst asking one

of them we chose to fit some name to a place where ruins are found,

however corrupt it may be. This is partly politeness, as I have seen

again and again in “Piramill;” partly, they believe, also, that

we, as the descendants of those Kafirs who built such towers, must

know better than they, where we have to seek for the buried treasures.

Let us ascend, therefore, from the island city of Meroë to

Sennaar, to follow the course of the White Stream up to the

Equatorial country, after some ideas have been first suggested

about the origin of the denomination of this Mesopotamia, which

may lead us back into those times when, according to the notions

of the Egyptians, the Nile separated the Asiatics from the Afers

(or Kafirs.) Sennaar (Σενναάρ, שנְער LXX.) means a land in which

Babylon and other cities lay; Sennaar, better, however, Sennarti,

means a little island near Ambukoll, where, in the language of the

Baràbras, “Arti” denotes an island, and is always appended.

“Wachet-sin,” or “sen el har,” (a hot tooth, or throat,) was a piece

of soldier’s wit, which I heard in the city of Sennaar.

Joy and pleasure reigned on board the vessels, and the fresh air

failed not also to have its beneficent effect upon me, for continual

motion and variety are the principal conditions in the South, on

which depend the good humour and feelings of internal life. Thus, the

present expedition promised me pleasure and strength; and to enable

me to make my ideas and thoughts speak livingly from my breast,

without losing myself in a dreamy state of reclining inactivity;

and to permit me to see, observe, and compare a strange world with

its insipid surrounding scenery, without delaying writing my Journal

till the next morning.