_fukkara_, who affect extraordinary sanctity, and are distinguished
for their intolerance and brutality to strangers. Rîl is inhabited
partly by Fûrians; but there are also some foreign merchants. During
the reign of Sultan Teraub there appear to have been many more there;
for he had built a house, and made the town his usual residence in
time of peace. But Abd-el-rachmân has abandoned it, probably from
the fear attendant on usurpation. Rîl[40] is the key of the South
and East roads, as Cubcabîa of the West, and Sweini of the North;
and therefore a Melek with a body of troops commonly resides there,
as a guard to the frontier, and to keep the Arabs, who abound in
that neighbourhood, in subjection. It is a place eminently fitted
for the Imperial residence, being abundantly supplied with fresh
water from a large pool, which is never completely dry, with bread
from _Saïd_[41], with meat, milk, and butter from the Arabs,
who breed cattle, and with vegetables from a soil well adapted to
horticulture; nor are they without a kind of tenacious clay, which,
with little preparation, becomes a durable material for building. In
Shoba, another town of some note, was an house of Sultan Teraub. The
place is said to be well supplied with water, and there are some
chalk pits near it, from which that material was drawn at the
time I was in the country. These pits were then almost exhausted,
for the purpose of adorning the royal residence, and some others,
with a kind of white-wash. In Shoba reside some jelabs; the rest of
the people are Fûrians, and occupied in other pursuits.
Gidîd has also a competent supply of water, and is near the road
from Cobbé to Rîl. Its bearing from the former is South-east. It
is a town of _Fukkara_, who are reported to be so little famous for
hospitality, that they will hardly furnish to a traveller water to
allay his thirst. In this town are many houses, and some of them
belong to merchants who derive their origin from the Eastward.
Gellé was esteemed less flourishing than most other towns of
Dar-Fûr, being under the galling tyranny of a priest. The _Faqui
Seradge_, one of the two principal _Imams_ of the Sultan, a man of
intrigue and consummate hypocrisy, had gained an ascendancy over his
master, and distanced all competitors at court. Gellé was his native
place, and the people of the town were become his dependents. His
unsated avarice left them neither apparel nor a mat to lie on; and his
immortal malice persecuted them for having no more to plunder. The
greater part of the people are either _Corobâti_ or _Felatîa_
(two tribes); of the latter sort is the _faqui_.
The greater part of the people inhabiting Cobbé consists, as
hath been already observed, of merchants. The generality of them
are employed in trading to Egypt, and some of them are natives
of that country; but the greater number come from the river. The
latter class, if from circumstances a conjecture may be hazarded,
seem first to have opened the direct communication between Egypt
and Fûr. For many years their native countries, Dongola, Mahas,
and all the borders of the Nile as far as Sennaar, which, according
to report, are in all the gifts of nature much superior to Dar-Fûr,
have been the scene of devastation and bloodshed, having no settled
government, but being continually torn by internal divisions, and
harassed by the inroads of the _Shaikié_ and other tribes of Arabs,
who inhabit the region between the river and the Red Sea. Such of the
natives as were in a condition to support themselves by traffic, or
by manual labour, in consequence emigrated, and many of them retired
to the West. These people, accustomed in their native country to a
short and easy communication with Egypt, and impelled by the prospect
of immense profit, which a farther attempt of the same kind promised
them, opened the route which the Jelabs now pursue. But to return
to _Cobbé_.—
Some Egyptians, chiefly from Saïd, a few Tunisines, natives of
Tripoli, and others, come and go with the caravans, only remaining
long enough to sell their goods. Others have married in Dar-Fûr,
and are now perfectly naturalized, and recognized as subject to the
Sultan. The fathers being no more, the children are in many instances
established in their room, and are engaged in the same occupations.
The remainder of them consists of foreigners, coming from Dongola,
Mahas, Sennaar, and Kordofân, who are generally remarked as
indefatigable in commerce, but daring, restless, and seditious, (which
consideration has induced the present Sultan to use some efforts to
banish them from his dominions,) and the offspring of those whose
parents have emigrated, and who are themselves born in Dar-Fûr. The
latter are often people of debauched manners, and not remarkable for
the same spirit of enterprise as the actual emigrates. Gradually
formed to the despotism which coerces their external deportment,
and seeks to crush and sterilize even the seeds of energy, somewhat
of the spirit of their progenitors yet remains: the affections indeed
are turned askance, but not eradicated. The pushes that should have
been made _ad auras æthereas_, opposed revert to _Tartarus_. The
luxuriancy of mental vigour, though repulsed and forcibly inverted,
still extends its ramifications. Its pallescent shoots pierce the
dunghill, when not permitted to open themselves to the influence of
the sun. The active mind may descend to brutal sensuality, when it
can no longer expand itself in a more sane exercise.
The people first mentioned commonly among themselves use the language
of _Barabra_, though they also speak Arabic. The latter are generally
unacquainted with any language but the Arabic. They usually intermarry
with each other, or with the Arabs. Some of them avoid marrying,
and cohabit only with their slaves, seldom taking to wife a Fûrian
woman. Both these descriptions of men are easily distinguishable
from the natives of the country[42], being usually of a more olive
complexion, and having a form of visage more nearly resembling
the European, with short curly black hair, but not wool. They are
a well-sized and well-formed people, and have often an agreeable
and expressive countenance, though sometimes indicating (if so much
faith may be given to physiognomy) violent passions and a mutable
temper. Such are the inhabitants of Cobbé. South-east of the town,
in a large open space adapted to the purpose, a market[43] is held
twice in the week, (Monday and Friday,) in which are sold provisions
of every kind, and, in short, all the commodities which the country
produces, or which are derived from Egypt and other quarters. Slaves
however, though sometimes brought to the market, are now commonly
sold privately, which is not unfrequently complained of as an evil,
inasmuch as it facilitates the sale of such as have been stolen
from other quarters. The people of Barabra and Kordofân cannot
relinquish their favorite liquor, and as all who drink persist in
drinking till they are completely inebriated, the natural violence of
their temper is increased, and gives occasion to continual disputes,
which frequently are not decided without blows, and occasionally
terminate in bloodshed.
There are in the town four or five _Mectebs_, where boys are taught
to read, and, if they wish it, to write. Such of the _Fukkara_ as
fill the office of lecturer, instruct gratuitously the children of
the indigent; but from those who are in easy circumstances they are
accustomed to receive a small remuneration. Two or three lecture in
the Korân, and two others in what they call _Elm_, theology.
There was, at the time of my arrival, only one small mosque, a
little square room, formed by walls of clay, where the _Fukkara_
were accustomed to meet thrice in the week. The _Cadi_ of the place
was a certain _Faqui Abd-el-rachmân_, a man much in the decline of
life, originally of _Sennaar_. He had studied at the _Jama-el-azher_
in Kahira, and was much reputed in the place for the justice and
impartiality of his decisions, and the uniform sanctity of his
life. He sunk under the weight of years and infirmity, during the
second year after my arrival, and the charge of Cadi was committed by
the monarch to another, who was almost incapacitated from executing
the duties of it, as well by a painful disorder as by his great
age. The more active part of the office, therefore, was discharged
by his son, who was as remarkable for corruption as the _Faqui
Abd-el-rachmân_ had been for integrity. Whether from indignation at
this man’s unworthiness, or envy of his pre-eminence, is uncertain,
a division ensued among the _Fukkara_, and part of them united under
_Hassan_, part under _Bellilu_, a man said to be learned in the laws,
but of a forbidding and ungracious deportment. The former, with the
countenance and assistance of the Sultan, had commenced building a
mosque more spacious than that above mentioned; but I observed it
went on slowly, though the material for building was nothing better
or more costly than clay. The area inclosed was about sixty-four
feet square, and the walls were to be three feet thick.
CHAP. XVIII.
DAR-FÛR.
_On the mode of travelling in Africa — Seasons in Dar-Fûr —
Animals — Quadrupeds — Birds — Reptiles and Insects — Metals
and Minerals — Plants._
One mode of travelling, with small variations, obtains through all the
north of Africa. I mean by _caravans_ (from قرو _Karu_, to wander
from place to place). When the inhabitants have occasion to pass
the boundaries of their respective states, they form themselves into
a larger or smaller body, united under one head. Their association
is produced by considerations of mutual convenience and security,
as even the most easy and safest of the roads they are to pass,
would yet be difficult and dangerous for a single traveller.
Three distinct caravans are employed in bringing slaves, and other
commodities, from the interior of Africa to Kahira. One of them comes
straight from Murzûk, the capital of Fezzân, another from Sennaar,
and the third from Fûr. They do not arrive at fixed periods, but
after a greater or less interval, according to the success they may
have had in procuring slaves, and such other articles as are fitted
to the market, the orders of their respective rulers, and various
other accidental circumstances.
The Fezzân caravan is under the best regulations. The merchants from
that place employ about fifty days in their passage from Murzûk
to Kahira; which city they as often as possible contrive to reach
a little before the commencement of Ramadan, that such as find
themselves inclined to perform the pilgrimage, may be prepared to
accompany the Emîr of Misr. The sale of their goods seldom employs
them in the city much more than two months; after the expiration of
which, those who have no design of visiting Mecca return to their
native country. The arrival of this caravan is generally annual.
The other two are extremely various in their motions; sometimes
not appearing in Egypt for the space of two or even three years,
sometimes two or more distinct caravans arriving in the same
year. The perpetual changes in their several governments, and the
caprices of their despots, are in a great degree the occasion of this
irregularity. The road also between these two places and Kahira, is
often infested by bodies of independent Arabs, as that of Sennaar,
by the Ababdé and Shaikié, and that of Fûr by the Cubba-Beesh and
Bedeiât: the latter is however for the most part much safer than the
former. The departure of a caravan from Dar-Fûr forms an important
event. It engages the attention of the whole country for a time,
and even serves as a kind of chronological epocha.
The period of their arrival in Kahira is as uncertain as that of
their departure; for they travel indifferently either in winter or
summer. The journey from Assûan to Sennaar requires much less time
than that from Assiût to Dar-Fûr.
Many obstacles exist to the erection of any permanent marks by which
the roads of the desert might be distinguished. Yet I have observed
that the people of our caravan, in such places as afforded stones for
the purpose, used to collect four or five large ones, thus raising
small heaps at proper distances from each other. This affords them
some satisfaction at their return; but in many places, where the sand
is loose and deep, it becomes impracticable. They are then obliged to
rely on the facility acquired by habit, of distinguishing the outline
and characteristic features of certain rocks, as they are perfectly
ignorant of the compass, and very little informed as to the fixed
stars. Though the names of the constellations be little known to
them, yet they distinguish such as may guide them in their course
during the night. With all these aids however their deviations from
the true line are not infrequent. Three times, in the course of our
journey, the whole caravan was quite at a loss for the road, though
some of the members of it had made ten or twelve different journies
to and from Dar-Fûr. During the whole of my route I had reason to
suspect that the accounts in books of travels, which have generated
such terrific notions of the moving sands of Africa, are greatly
exaggerated. While we remained at Leghea, indeed, a violent gale
sprang from the North-west, and raised a cloud of sand. At that time
I placed a wooden bowl, capable of containing about two gallons, in
the open air. Thirty minutes had elapsed when it appeared completely
filled with sand. Our companions indeed affected to relate various
stories of caravans that had been overwhelmed. But as neither time
nor place were adduced, it would seem not unreasonable to doubt the
truth of the assertion.
If caravans have been thus buried on their road, it may be presumed
that accident can only have happened after they have been deprived of
the power of moving, by the influence of a hot wind, want of water,
and other causes. A number of men, and other animals, found dead, and
covered with sand, would be sufficient ground for succeeding native
travellers to believe, as they are strangers to ratiocination, or,
though not entirely persuaded, to relate, as they delight in the
marvellous, that the persons they had found had been overwhelmed
on their march; when in fact this accumulation had not happened
till they were already dead. But perhaps the matter scarcely merits
this discussion.
Our company consisted of nearly five hundred camels. This exceeds
the number usually employed by the Jelabs on their return from
Egypt, which is often not more than two hundred. In passing from
Dar-Fûr to Egypt, they esteem two thousand camels, and a thousand
head of slaves, a large caravan. Of persons of other countries, but
particularly Egyptians, trading for themselves, there were not more
than fifty, including five or six Coptic Christians, whose admittance
in Dar-Fûr the monarch of that country has since forbidden. Several
of this number were Muggrebines, or Occidental Arabs; the remainder,
amounting to one hundred and fifty or two hundred, including the
chabîr, or leader, were subjects of Fûr. Few particulars of other
caravans are known to me but by report.
The Arabs and Jelabs find the camel too indispensable to their
long and fatiguing voyages, not to employ much care in nourishing
him. This _ship of the land_, (مركب البر,) as he is called, is
exclusively the bearer of their fortunes, and the companion of their
toils. Much care is observed in rearing him, and not unfrequently the
merchant pays nearly as much for the camels to carry his merchandize,
as he did for the commodities themselves; what then must be the
profit that covers his expenses, his fatigue, indemnifies him for
accidental losses, and yet leaves him a gainer? But if this patient
and enduring animal be thus rendered subservient to their wants,
or their avarice, he is not at least tortured for their caprice.
Horses are very little used by the Jelabs. They generally furnish
themselves with Egyptian asses, which alleviate the fatigue
of the way, and are afterwards sold in Soudân at an advanced
price. The strength and spirits of this animal are recruited with
a small quantity of straw and water; the horse has not the same
recommendation; and these people, though not averse from parade in
cities, find the labour and hazard of these voyages too enormous,
not to augment their profits by all possible economy.
The provisions they use are scanty and indifferent, and by no means
testify any foresight for the necessities of the sick, or for the
procrastination of the voyage by those innumerable accidents that
may befal them.
I did not observe that any of them were furnished with dried meat,
as is common with the Fezzanners. But few used coffee and tobacco,
and the rest contented themselves with a leathern bag of flour,
another of bread baked hard, a leathern vessel of honey or treacle,
and another of butter. The quantity of each was regulated by
the number of persons, and seldom exceeded what is absolutely
necessary. In travelling from Dar-Fûr to Egypt another article is
much in use, especially for the slaves, which Egypt itself does
not afford, or produces in no quantity. The grain chiefly in use
among the Fûrians is the small _kassob_, called among them _dokn_
(millet). Of this, after it has been coarsely ground, they take a
quantity, and having caused it to undergo a slight fermentation,
make a kind of paste. This will keep a long time, and when about
to be used, water is added to it; if properly made, it becomes a
tolerably palatable food. But the natives are not very delicate. From
its acidity they esteem it a preventive of thirst. The fermentation
gives it also a slight power of inebriating, and it has a narcotic
tendency. The substance so prepared is called _ginseia_. The want of
materials for fire on the road prevents the use of rice, and other
articles that would require cookery.
Experienced travellers, among every ten camels laden with merchandize,
charge one with beans, and straw chopped small, which, sparingly
given, serves them during the greater part of the voyage. Those with
whom I travelled were not so provided, these articles being then very
dear in Egypt; and in consequence numbers of camels perished. In
coming from Dar-Fûr, they use for the same purpose the _dokn_,
and coarse hay of the country, but not altogether with the same
salutary effect.
The water, in leaving Egypt, is commonly conveyed in goat
skins artificially prepared; but no skill can entirely prevent
evaporation. On their march from Soudân to Egypt, the Jelabs oftener
use ox-hides, formed into capacious sacks and properly seasoned
with tar or oil. A pair of these is a camel’s load. They keep the
water in a better state for drinking than the smaller; and these
sacks are sold to great advantage throughout Egypt, a pair of the
best kind being sometimes worth thirty piasters. They are the common
instruments for conveying water from the river to different parts of
each town. The camels are not allowed to partake of this store, which,
after all the care that can be taken of it, is often very nauseous,
from the tar, the mud which accompanies the water in drawing, heat,
&c. Six of the smaller skins, or two of the larger, are generally
esteemed sufficient for four persons for as many days.
The _Cubba-Beesh_, and the _Bedeiât_, the latter of whom seem to
me not of Arab origin, when they make any attempt on the caravans,
commonly shew themselves between Leghea and the Bîr-el-Malha. But
this road is so ill provided with any thing that is necessary for
the sustenance of man or beast, that neither the wandering tribes,
nor the ferocious animals, which infest other parts of the continent,
are commonly found there. The Egyptians and other whites therefore,
though they commonly carry fire-arms with them from the North,
generally take advantage of the market of Fûr, and return without
any. The natives of Soudân are furnished with a light spear,
or spears, the head of which is made of unhardened iron of their
country. They have also a shield of about three feet long, and one
foot and a half or three-quarters broad, composed of the hide of
the elephant or hippopotamus, very simple in its construction.
_Intercourse with Mecca._
No regular caravan of Hadgîs leaves Dar-Fûr, but a number of
the natives make their way to Mecca, either with the caravan of
merchants trading to Egypt, or by way of Suakem and Jidda. The
present king was about to establish his attorney (_waquîl_) at
Mecca, but some obstacles had prevented his reaching that place,
when I came away. Fear of the sea, or I know not what other cause,
prevents them from choosing the route by Suakem, though it be so
much shorter and less expensive than that by the way of Egypt; but
the territory between Fûr and Suakem is not subject to any settled
government, and those who have travelled with property have frequently
been plundered there. The _Tocrûri_ however, who come from various
parts, and somewhat resemble the Derwishes of the North, travelling
as paupers, with a bowl to drink out of, and a leathern bag of bread,
frequently take that route and pass in safety.
_Seasons, &c._
The perennial rains, which fall in Dar-Fûr, from the middle of
June till the middle of September, in greater or less quantity, but
generally both frequent and violent, suddenly invest the face of the
country, till then dry and steril, with a delightful verdure. Except
where the rocky nature of the soil absolutely impedes vegetation,
wood is found in great quantity, nor are the natives assiduous
completely to clear the ground, even where it is designed for the
cultivation of grain.
As soon as the rains begin, the proprietor, and all the assistants
that he can collect, go out to the field, and having made holes
at about two feet distance from each other, with a kind of hoe,
over all the ground he occupies, the _dokn_ is thrown into them,
and covered with the foot, for their husbandry requires not many
instruments. The time for sowing the wheat is nearly the same. The
_dokn_ remains scarcely two months before it is ripe; the wheat about
three. Wheat is cultivated only in small quantities; and the present
Sultan having forbidden the sale of it, till the portion wanted for
his domestic use be supplied, it is with difficulty to be procured
by purchase. The _Mahriek_, or greater _kassob_, which is a larger
grain than the _dokn_, is also common, and a small supply of sesamum,
(_Simsim_ in Arabic,) is sown. What they term beans is a species
of legumen different from our bean. In what are called gardens are
_Bamea_, _Meluchîa_, lentils, (_adis_,) kidney beans, (_lubi_,) and
some others. The water melon, and that called in Kahira _Abd-el-awi_,
together with some other kinds, abound during the wet season, and
indeed before, if they be watered. Sultan Teraub was solicitous to
procure every thing the gardens of Egypt produce, and caused much care
to be taken of the culture of each article brought: but the present
prince does not turn his thoughts to that kind of improvement, and
little of the effect of his predecessor’s laudable anxiety is at
this moment distinguishable. There are several species of trees, but
none that produces fruit worth gathering, unless it be the Tamarind
(_Tummara_[44] _Hindi_). The date trees are in very small number,
and their fruit diminutive, dry, and destitute of flavour. That tree
seems not indigenous in the country, but to have been transported
from the neighbourhood of the Nile, Dongola, Sennaar, &c. The
inhabitants appear not well to understand the management of this
useful production; and perhaps the great drought will never admit of
its flourishing, whatever diligence or care may be used to increase
the number or improve the kind.
ANIMALS.
_Quadrupeds._
Of animals the list found in Dar-Fûr with which my own knowlege
furnishes me, is not very extensive; nor will it be interesting so
much as containing any thing new, but as it will shew the peculiar
circumstances of the country, as distinguished from other neighbouring
regions, and somewhat indicate the present state of the people.
The horse is used, but not in great number, nor are the natives very
solicitous as to the breed. The only good horses they possess are
bred in the country of Dongola, and by the Arabs to the East of the
Nile. These are generally larger than we are accustomed to find the
Egyptian horses. They are perfectly well formed, and full of fire,
yet tractable. Their action is grand beyond what I have observed in
any other species; but it is said they are not remarkable for bearing
fatigue. The Arabs, who breed them, are in the habit of feeding them
with milk. They rarely, if ever, castrate them. Horses and mares are
indiscriminately used for the saddle. The horses of Soudân are none
of them shod.
Two or three distinct breeds of sheep, _Ovis aries_, exist in
Soudân, not however very materially differing from each other. The
large-tailed sheep, which are found elsewhere, I believe are here
unknown. The meat is inferior to that of the Egyptian sheep. They
are covered with coarse wool, resembling hair, and apparently
wholly unfit for any manufacture. The goats, _capræ cervicapræ_,
are much more numerous than the sheep, and the flesh of the former
is somewhat cheaper than that of the latter. The goats grow perhaps
rather larger, but otherwise differ not from those of Egypt. It is
not uncommon to castrate both these animals, but neither is it a
very general practice.