was conducted by means of simple exchange. To carry on this in such
a way as not to be grossly defrauded, especially having my attention
engrossed by other objects, and in utter ignorance of the articles
fit for bargain and sale in this country, seemed wholly impossible;
I therefore sought for a person who might go through this business
for me, at least with some share of probity. Such a one arose to
the notice of my friends there; and knowing nothing more of the
man, as indeed I could not know any thing more, than the character
they gave of him, I took him on the general recommendation of being
honest, and understanding the business in which he was likely to be
employed. The person recommended had been a slave-broker in the market
of Kahira; a circumstance which, had it been known to me earlier,
would probably have prevented my employing him. Till the moment of
departure I had observed in him keenness but no fraud, and in general
that submissive acquiescence and absolute devotion to the will of
the superior, for which the lower class of Kahirines are externally,
at least, remarkable. The hour for commencing our march, however,
seemed with him the signal for disobedience and insulting behaviour;
and we were not yet far removed from the confines of Egypt, when
this misconduct was carried to such an excess that I once levelled
my gun at him with a view of inspiring terror. The merchants around
us interfered, and for the time this passed off; but the man only
sought an opportunity of revenge, which the prejudices of the people
of Soudan, in direct opposition to my former information, too soon
afforded him means to gratify.
The letters with which I was provided for different merchants in
this district, under whose roof I might have had a safe lodging,
could be of no use to me till I had seen the Sultan; for till then
no person knew in what character to receive me. The object of this
man therefore was to prevent my introduction to the Sultan, and to
preclude me from any opportunity of representing my case. We were
no sooner arrived at Sweini, than he found means to employ one of
his associates, who had been some years established in the place,
to go to the monarch, and infuse into his mind suspicions of me as a
Frank and an infidel, who came to his country for no good purpose,
and whose designs it behoved him to guard against; and to suggest
to him that it would not be proper I should remain at large, nor
yet immediately come to his presence, but that some person should be
commissioned to watch over and report my actions, and thus frustrate
my supposed evil intentions. He added, as I afterwards found, many
anecdotes, falsified or exaggerated, of the inquiries I had made,
the way I had been employed, and my general behaviour on the road.
Nor was the villain himself idle during the time his coadjutor was
thus laudably engaged. I have already mentioned that there were no
doors to the apartments of the house we were in. He took advantage of
this circumstance and my momentary absence, to take out of a box which
had been broken on the road a quantity of red coral, the most valuable
article in my package. As the box remained locked, it was not till
long after that I discovered this loss. By the help of this commodity
he expected to make his way with the great. At the end of a few days
this agent returned, bearing a specious letter impressed with the
Sultan’s seal, ordering that no officer on the road should presume
to detain me, or to take any thing from me, till I came to the house
of _Ibrahim-el-Wohaishi_, (the name of this very agent,) in Cobbé,
where I was to rest myself, till further orders should be given for
my admission to his presence. I was not indeed at that time privy to
the plot, yet if I could have obtained a knowlege of it, it might not
have been easy immediately to counteract its influence; nevertheless
I suspected something might have been practised against me.
An order from the despot, which while it was to protect me
from his officers on the road, obliged me to confine myself to a
particular spot, was a matter of surprise to me; but submission was
unavoidable, as I was at that time unprovided even with the means of
remonstrance. Had the machinations of my adversaries, which went much
farther than my confinement, having been actually employed against
my life, been at that time known to me, this severity would not have
caused any astonishment, and the means of redress might have been
less doubtful. But suspense filled the void of positive suffering—a
suspense to which no apparent remedy suggested itself. Those who
had known me in Egypt or on the road were dispersed to the East and
West, and the people of the place were ill disposed to form any
communication with me, being filled with religious horror of one
supposed an infidel, but of yet undefined impiety, and whose colour,
variously regarded as the sign of disease, the mark of divine
displeasure, or at least, the unequivocal proof of inferiority
of species, had averted their wonted hospitality, closed their
compassion, and inflamed their personal pride and religious fury.
It was in this situation that, seeing no means of immediate relief, I
began to feel impatience; which, as I continued in a state of perfect
inactivity, communicated the more rapidly its pernicious influence
to my state of health. On the fourteenth day after my arrival, I
was attacked with a violent fever, attended with extreme pain in the
head. How long it lasted I cannot precisely say, having on the second
day lost my recollection. It was afterwards recalled by the effect
of a dysentery, which lasted for two days, and left me too weak to
assist myself. I had reflection enough to know, that of the aliments
there to be procured, scarcely any could be found that would not be
pernicious. After the first attack therefore, I confined myself to
the use of bark and water, which last I drank in great quantities.
A little more than a month had elapsed, when the symptoms appearing
to diminish, I again pressed to be permitted to visit the residence
of the Sultan. But I had reason to regret my impatience; for having
at length obtained leave, I proceeded to El Fasher, only to repeat
my suffering. The rainy season was almost at an end, but the air,
which still continued insalubrious, fatigue, and anxiety renewed the
malady, which, after extreme abstinence, and having gone through the
short catalogue of remedies which I had had the precaution to take
with me, I found unabated. Excessive headachs, lassitude, thirst,
occasional constipation, succeeded by extreme irritation of the
viscera, continued for several months to shew the inefficacy of my
precautions, and to incapacitate me from all personal exertion. At
length the heat of the ensuing summer gradually increasing, and
producing regular and continued transpiration, and the state of
the air then meliorated, having removed the cause of indisposition,
it was not long before I gained a certain degree of strength.
Arrived at El Fasher, I was first introduced to the Melek _Misellim_,
one of the principal ministers. This man, when young, had been a
slave, and engaged in domestic offices of the palace, but having
been detected using some familiarities with one of the women,
the monarch had ordered him to be deprived of the ensigns of
manhood. Ignorant and uneducated, he appeared to have a certain
quickness of apprehension, which, together with uncommon gaiety
of humour, had rendered him acceptable at court, where he appeared
more as a buffoon than a minister of state. He received me with a
rude stare as an object he was unused to, which was followed by a
mingled smile of contempt and aversion. He was seated with some
other of the royal attendants, under a kind of awning of cotton
cloth, on a mat spred upon the sand. After the common salutations,
the Melek and his company entered into conversation on the nature
of my visit to the country; and each made his remarks on my person,
and offered his conjectures as to my character and intentions.
Their conversation was partly carried on in their vernacular idiom,
partly in Arabic. At length a wooden bowl of _polenta_, and another
of dried meat, were set before them. My illness deprived me of all
inclination to eat; and observing the company not much inclined
to invite me to join them, and yet embarrassed how to avoid that
ceremony, I relieved them by declining it, and desiring them to
begin. When they were satiated, and they lose no time in eating,
a great number of foolish questions were asked me about Europe,
some of which I waved, and satisfied them as to others in the best
manner I was able.
One of the principal questions was, whether the English paid the
Jizié to the Othman Emperor? This, as is well known, is a capitation
tax, paid by the Greeks and others, for liberty to worship after
their own manner. I replied, that England was so remote from the
Imperial dominions, that no war between the two countries could well
have place, till all the rest of Europe should have submitted to the
Mohammedan arms, which had not hitherto come to pass: but that, for
the purposes of trade, the inhabitants of the one country frequented
the other, and by mutual agreement were considered as personally
secure; that presents were occasionally made by the British King to
the Emperor, in token of amity, but not as a mark of subjection;
and that the latter, on his part, as it did not appear that the
decrees of the Almighty had fixed this as the moment of general
conversion to the true faith, in virtue of his dispensing power, and
swayed by the general law of hospitality to strangers, sanctioned by
the authority of the Prophet, judged it lawful, and even a matter
of political expediency, to tolerate such Europeans as conducted
themselves inoffensively in his dominions, though they did not pay
the Jizié. I thought it necessary to enter into this explanation of
the terms on which I conceived myself to stand in relation to them,
having by this time learned how rigidly they were disposed to adhere
to the letter of the Prophet’s _dictum_, viz. that no infidels are
to be spared but such as pay the capitation tax. When I observed they
grew tired of asking questions, I seized the opportunity of explaining
why I came there, and what favour I expected would be shewn me.
“Melek,” said I, “having come from a far distant country to
Misr, (Kahira,) I was there made acquainted with the magnificence, the
extended empire, and, above all, the justice and hospitality of the
King Abd-el-rachmân, whose dominion be eternal! Having been used to
wander over various countries as a _derwish_, to learn wisdom from the
aged, and to collect remedies for diseases from the herbs that spring
in various soils, I grew desirous of seeing Dar-Fûr. I was told that
my person and property would be secure, and that permission would be
given me to go wherever I might think proper. Since my arrival within
the confines, I have found that all these assurances were fallacious;
my inclinations have been thwarted, my person treated with indignity,
and my property plundered, while compliance has been refused even
to my most reasonable demands. I ask redress.—What I have already
suffered from the officers of the Sultan is passed, and cannot now
be remedied, but I desire protection for the future. I desire the
punishment of the man who has robbed me, and restitution of what
has been taken. Nor is this all, I particularly desire permission to
go to Sennaar, in order to proceed to Habbesh. I was prevented from
going there last year by the straight road. Habbesh is a Christian
country, abounding in slaves and gold. There are also many herbs
valuable in medicine. Being there, I may easily join my countrymen,
merchants who come to Moccha, in the Bahr Yemeni. I desire the Sultan
will allow me to proceed thither; and, if it be necessary, grant me
his protection, and three or four persons, deserving confidence, to
attend me to the frontiers of Kordofân. I have a small present to
offer him, consisting of such things as my circumstances permitted
me to bring—I hope he may not refuse to receive it, and to grant
me the favour I ask.” He answered—“Merchant, you are welcome
to the _Dar_—The King is kind to strangers, and he will favour
you in all you wish. Whatever you want you have only to demand. He
has ordered a sack of wheat and four sheep to be sent you.—At this
time it is not possible to pass through Kordofân—The Sultan has
a great army there, and when the country shall be in subjection to
him you may pass unmolested. When you are admitted to his presence,
you will tell him who has robbed you, and what you have lost, and
he will cause it to be restored.” It was now the hour of prayer,
and when the company commenced their ablutions I retired.
During three or four days ensuing I suffered so violent a relapse
as to be unable to perform the common offices of life, and even
to suppose that it was nearly at an end. The moment any symptom of
amelioration appeared, I sent word to the Melek that it was my wish
to be introduced to the Sultan, and then as soon as possible to be
dismissed. No reply was made to this message; but the following day he
came to the tent with some of his attendants, and desired to see the
merchandize that I had brought with me. As to part of the articles,
consisting of wearing apparel suited to the great, &c. I very readily
complied. But this was not sufficient—The Melek insisted also on
seeing the contents of a small chest, which chiefly held articles
useful to myself, but not designed for sale. There were also in it
some English pistols, of which I intended to avail myself as presents
at Sennaar, or wherever else I might be able to penetrate. I therefore
positively refused to open the chest. He then threatened to have it
broke open—I remained unmoved—At length his attendants proceeding
to break it open, _Ali Hamad_, the man who was with me, with his usual
villany, took the key from its concealment and opened the box. Every
thing was taken out, and examined minutely—many small articles
appeared no more. The pistols were reserved to be taken by the Sultan,
(after a violent but fruitless altercation,) at the valuation made
by his own servants; and my telescopes, books, of which they knew
not the use, wearing apparel, &c. were graciously left me.
The valuation was to be made the following day, which was done quite
against my consent, and in contempt of my warmest remonstrances. Some
part of the articles were stated at their full value, and others
far below it. The whole was estimated at thirty-eight head of
slaves, being at the market-price worth about eighty, exclusively
of a present of value for the Sultan. A pair of double-barrelled
pistols, silver-mounted, which had cost twenty guineas in London,
were valued at one slave, which is commonly purchasable, by those who
are experienced in that traffic, for the value of fifteen piastres
in Egyptian commodities. On this I exclaimed, that if they meant to
plunder, and bargain and sale were not conducted in this country by
consent of the parties, but by force, it would be better to take
the whole gratis.—No answer was made, but the day following two
camels were brought me as a present.
The violent manner in which my property had been seized, and the
general ill-treatment I had received, much augmented the disorder,
already severe. I had now been fifteen days in the tent, exposed
to great variations of temperature, it being at the close of the
rainy season, and so entirely disregarded, that though tormented
with thirst, I could rarely obtain water to drink. I judged that the
only means of restoration which remained were, to return to Cobbé,
and avail myself of the shelter of a clay-house, and that privacy and
quiet, the want of which I had so sensibly felt. Being in possession
of the greater part of my property, and having left me only so much
as would supply the wants of a few months, the Melek did not seem
very anxious about my stay. I hired two Arabs, and with the camels
that had been given me, and the property that remained, made my way
on the third day to the place whence I came.
In the intervals of my illness, I visited the chief persons of the
place; and as the eyes of the people became habituated to me, I found
my situation growing somewhat more tolerable. Idle, as I certainly
was, during this winter, with respect to the immediate objects of my
voyage, I grew of course more familiar with the manners and particular
dialect of the country; for the Arabic, which is spoken here, differs
materially from the vernacular idiom of Egypt. I seldom, indeed,
joined in the parties where _Merîsi_[35] was introduced, because
it was important not to hazard becoming concerned in the riots,
which are the frequent consequence of their inebriation. But I was
often diverted by the mode of conducting a bargain, which sometimes
lasts for several hours; and I listened, perhaps not wholly without
instruction, to their legal arguments, and the cool discussions of
right, which are the consequence of often submitting disputes to
arbitration. I could smile at the quibbling distinctions, by which
the niceties of external observance are settled; but I had generally
reason to be satisfied with their theory of morals.
It is usual for the graver men, during the heat of the day, to sit
and converse under a shed erected for the purpose. When convalescent,
I seldom failed to be of this party; for though the conversation
contained few sallies of wit, much less profundity of observation,
yet it was carried on without ill-humour, with mutual forbearance,
and on the whole in an equable course. Perhaps indeed the society
appeared less dull, as dissipating reflections which my situation
rendered unpleasant.
The following summer (1794) having in some degree recovered my
strength, I determined to go and reside for a time near the Sultan,
as well to have an opportunity of supplicating for redress of what
I had already suffered, as to seize any moment that might offer of
pressing my request for permission to advance. On leaving the house
which I had inhabited at Cobbé, a dispute had arisen with the owner
of it, who wanted me to sign a declaration that nothing had been
lost during my residence in his house. This, which was directly
the reverse of the truth, I refused to do; and in consequence he
called an assembly of _Fukkara_ or sacred judges. The result, after
much contest, served to skreen him from the responsibility legally
attached to his conduct, without averting the charge, and determined
me never to return to his roof.
On my arrival at El Fasher, my good friend the Melek Misellim being
employed by his master in the South, I went under the protection of
the Melek _Ibrahim_, one of the oldest persons in authority there,
and lodged myself (as all strangers are obliged to lodge in the
inclosure of some of the natives) in the house of a man named _Musa_,
now only an inconsiderable officer, though one of the sons of Sultan
_Bokar_. This Musa was one of the most upright and disinterested men
I have known in that country, and indeed among the Mohammedans of
any country. Calm and dignified in his demeanour, though poor and
destitute of power, he never insulted, though his religion taught
him to hate. No motive could have been strong enough to induce him
to eat out of the same plate with a Caffre, but he was punctiliously
observant of the rights of hospitality which that religion also
dictated, and daily provided me with a portion of food from his
kitchen. He often said that, as it was a precept of my faith to hate
the Prophet, he was bound to encourage the same sentiment towards me;
but that he was neither obliged to injure me, nor excused in doing so.
The Melek Ibrahim is a man of about sixty years of age, tall but
not athletic, and characterised by the roughness rather than the
expression of his features. He has no beard, and the little hair which
remains either on his head or face is grey. His manners and even the
motions of his body are ungraceful, and without the ease of superior
rank, or the majesty of superior intellect. Yet his understanding
seems clear and comprehensive, and his sagacity not unworthy the
station assigned him—one of the first in the empire. He is indeed a
bigot in matters of faith, but in all that concerns not the prevailing
superstition, his judgment is cool, and little liable to error. He
once held the reputation of integrity above the rest of his order,
but his present riches render this character ambiguous. Generosity,
however, holds no place among his virtues. The uniform tenor of
his life is governed by mean avarice; and though the most opulent
man in the empire, except the Sultan, so little does he possess of
Arabian hospitality, that the man used to be regarded as unhappy
who went supperless to his evening councils. He had never yet seen
a Frank, and regarded me nearly as the British or French commonalty
view the dwarfish Goîtres of the Alps. I could collect from his
conversation that he looked on Europeans as a small tribe, cut off
by the singularity of colour and features, and still more by their
impiety, from the rest of mankind.
When I entered the court where he was sitting, he bad me welcome,
and received with complacency a present which, in compliance with
custom, I brought on the occasion. He even thanked me for it; but
expressed strong surprise at my journey to Dar-Fûr. I complained
of the injuries done me, and he assured me of redress for the past,
and protection for the future. At the same time it was clear that he
esteemed the present a tribute, and conceived that personal safety
was more than I could reasonably expect. His conduct afterwards
was a further proof of his sentiments: for though I remained at El
Fasher three entire months, I saw him only when I forced myself on
his notice, and experienced no return of civility, much less any
compensation for what I had already suffered.
During this time I was solicitous to attend regularly the levees of
the Sultan, which are from six in the morning till ten; but could
very rarely obtain admittance, and when I did had no opportunity
of speaking. Whether the general prejudice against me, or the
machinations of my enemies, produced this pointed disregard,
which, as was said, a stranger scarcely ever experienced before,
circumstances afforded no sufficient ground to decide. I suspected
the former; but probably both had their share.
On returning to my temporary habitation, a shed, as was usual with me
on the sun’s approach to the meridian, fatigued with heat, oppressed
with thirst, and not without inclination for food, my repast was
commonly a kind of bread gently acid, moistened with water. I grew
acquainted with a few of the people who attend the court, as well
as with many strangers who were suitors there. Their conversation
sometimes amused me, but more often I found their continued and
unmeaning questions harassing and importunate, and their remarks
either absurd or offensive. The tædium of solitude, unfurnished with
the means to render it agreeable, was however removed. I occasionally
frequented the markets, which are usually held from four o’clock in
the afternoon till sunset. But my person being there still strange,
the crowd that assembled inclined me to a precipitate retreat.
The Fûrians here seemed unacquainted with the sports of the
field. I occasionally went out with a gun after the commencement
of the rainy season, when the face of the country became green;
but little offered itself worthy attention, either in the animal or
vegetable kingdoms. During the early part of the summer the earth
had been parched, and destitute of all vegetation.
After waiting in fruitless expectation at El Fasher, as the time of
my departure was drawing near, an accident happened, which, though
not of the most pleasing kind, contributed to make me noticed, and
obtained for me at length an interview with the Sultan.—The slaves
of the house used frequently to collect round me, as if to examine
a strange object—I joked occasionally with them, without any other
view than that of momentary relaxation. One day as I was reading in
the hut, one of them, a girl about fifteen, came to the door of it,
when, from a whim of the moment, I seized the cloth that was round
her waist, which dropped and left her naked. Chance so determined
that the owner of the slave passed at the moment and saw her. The
publicity of the place precluded any view of farther familiarity,
but the tumult which succeeded appeared to mark the most heinous
of crimes, and to threaten the most exemplary vengeance. The man
threw his turban on the earth, and exclaimed, “Ye believers in
the Prophet, hear me! Ye faithful, avenge me!” with other similar
expressions.—“A Caffre has violated the property of a descendant
of Mohammed;” (meaning himself, which was utterly false.) When a
number of people was collected around him, he related the supposed
injury he had received in the strongest terms, and exhorted them to
take their arms and sacrifice the Caffre. He had charged a carbine,
and affected to come forward to execute his threats, when some one
of the company who had advanced farthest, and saw me, called out to
the rest that I was armed, and prepared to resist.