of regular culture, being used in various ways as an aphrodisiac,
and in different proportion as a narcotic. _Hashîsh_ is a general
name for green herbs, but chiefly appropriated to this: it is chewed
in its crude state, inhaled by means of a pipe, or formed, with other
ingredients, into an electuary, _maijun_. In Egypt the consumption
of this article is much greater than in Dar-Fûr, but the best is
that of Antioch in Syria.
26. Rice, Oryza, _Oruzz_ Ar. is brought in small quantities by
the wandering Arabs, who find it growing wild in the places they
frequent. It is little used or esteemed, and indeed has no quality
to recommend it.
27. Cayenne pepper, _chetti_ or _Tchetti_, in the language of the
country, is extremely common in one district, whence it is dispersed
over the country and used with food.
28. Kidney-bean, _Lubi_ Ar.
29. _Meluchia_.
30. _Bamêa_, in great abundance.
31. A plant of the same size with the _Meluchia_, of very dark green,
strong smell and taste. It grows in great quantity, and with the
natives forms a principal article of food. They call it _Cowel_.
32. Sesamum, _Simsim_, Ar. From this an oil is extracted. It is
also bruised in a mortar, and mixed with the food. It is even used
by the great to fatten their horses.
33. _Mahreik_, and _Dokn_, the holcus dochna, of _Forskal_, as has
been already mentioned, are the basis of their provision, but chiefly
the latter.
34. Tobacco is produced in abundance in Fertît and Dar Fungaro. It
seems to be unquestionably of native growth.
CHAP. XIX.
DAR-FÛR.
_Government — History — Agriculture, &c. — Population —
Building — Manners and customs — Revenue — Articles of
commerce, &c._
_Government._
The magistracy of one, which seems tacitly, if it be not expressly
favoured by the dispensation of Mohammed, as in most other countries
professing that religion, prevails in Dar-Fûr. The monarch indeed
can do nothing contrary to the Korân, but he may do more than the
laws established thereon will authorise: and as there is no council
to control or even to assist him, his power may well be termed
despotic. He speaks in public of the soil and its productions as his
personal property, and of the people as little else than his slaves.
When manifest injustice appears in his decisions, the _Fukkara_,
or ecclesiastics, express their sentiments with some boldness, but
their opposition is without any appropriate object, and consequently
its effects are inconsiderable. All the monarch fears is a general
alienation of the minds of the troops, who may at their will raise
another, as enterprising and unprincipled as himself, to the same
envied superiority.
His power in the provinces is delegated to officers who possess
an authority equally arbitrary. In those districts, which have
always or for a long time formed an integral part of the empire,
these officers are generally called _Meleks_. In such as have been
lately conquered, or perhaps, more properly, have been annexed to
the dominion of the Sultan, under certain stipulations, the chief
is suffered to retain the title of Sultan, yet is tributary to and
receives his appointment from the Sultan of Fûr.
In this country, on the death of the monarch, the title descends of
right to the oldest of his sons; and in default of heirs male, as
well as during the minority of those heirs, to his brother. But under
various pretences this received rule of succession is frequently
infringed. The son is said to be too young, or the late monarch
to have obtained the government by unjust means; and, at length,
the pretensions of those who have any apparent claim to the regal
authority are to be decided by war, and become the prize of the
strongest.
It was in this manner that the present Sultan gained possession
of the Imperial dignity. A preceding monarch, named _Bokar_,
had three sons, _Mohammed_, surnamed _Teraub_, _el-Chalîfe_, and
_Abd-el-rachmân_. Teraub the eldest (which cognomen was acquired
by the habit of rolling in the dust when a child) first obtained the
government. He is said to have ruled thirty-two lunar years, one of
the longest reigns remembered in the history of the country. The
sons he left at his death being all young, the second brother,
under pretence that none of them was old enough to reign, which was
far from being the fact, and in some degree favoured by the troops
for the generosity by which he was eminently distinguished, under
the title of _Chalîfe_, vicegerent of the realm, assumed the reins
of government. His reign was of short duration, and characterised
by nothing but violence and rapine. He had been only a short time
seated on the throne, when a discontented party joining with the
people of Kordofân, in a war with whom his brother Teraub had
perished, found employment for him in that quarter. Abd-el-rachmân,
who, during the life of his brother, had assumed the title of
_Faquîr_, and apparently devoted himself to religion, was then
in Kordofân. He took advantage of the situation of the Chalîfe,
and the increasing discontent of the soldiery, to get himself
appointed their leader. Returning towards Fûr, he met his brother
in the field, and they came to an engagement, which, whether by the
prowess of Abd-el-rachmân, or the perfidy of the other’s adherents,
is unknown, was decided in favour of the former. The Chalîfe was
wounded; and while one of his sons parried the blows that were aimed
at his life, they perished together covered with wounds. The children
of Teraub, the rightful heirs, were in the mean time forgotten, and
are now wandering about, scraping a miserable subsistence from the
parsimonious alms of their usurping uncle. Abd-el-rachmân thought
fit to sacrifice but one of them, who being of mature age, and,
according to general report, endowed with talents greater than the
rest, was the chief object of his suspicion and his fears.
The usurper, after the victory, found himself in peaceable possession
of the throne; yet judging it right to maintain for a time the shew of
moderation and self-denial, he employed that dissimulation for which
his countrymen are famous, in persuading them that his affections were
fixed on the blessings of futurity, and that he was indifferent to
the splendour of empire. He refused even to see the treasures of his
deceased brother, in gold, slaves, &c. and as he entered the interior
of the palace drew the folds of his turban over his eyes, saying the
temptation was too great for him, and invocating the Supreme Being
to preserve him from its effects. For a certain time too he confined
himself to the possession of four wives (free women) allowed by
the law of the Prophet. At length, finding his claim unquestioned,
and his authority firmly established, the veil of sanctity, now
no longer necessary, was thrown aside, and ambition and avarice
appeared without disguise. He now wastes whole days in misanthropic
solitude, gazing in stupid admiration on heaps of costly apparel, and
an endless train of slaves and camels, and revels in the submissive
charms of near two hundred free women. Abd-el-rachmân assumed the
Imperial dignity in the year of the Hejira 1202, of the Christian
æra 1787. The discontent of the people however, and particularly
of the soldiery in consequence of the severity of his regulations,
and his personal avarice, were (1795) very much increasing, which
made me imagine his reign would not be long.
_History._
Mohammed Teraub, already mentioned, was preceded by a king named
Abd-el-Casim; Abd-el-Casim by Bokar; Bokar by Omar. Some of the
earlier kings are yet spoken of under the names of Solyman, Mohammed,
&c. But as the people of the country possess no written documents, I
found those of whom I inquired often at variance both with regard to
the genealogy and the succession of their monarchs. In all countries
these are points of small import; but especially in one of which so
few particulars are known to us. It may yet be remarked, that they
commonly mention the reign of Solyman, as the epocha when Islamism
began to prevail in the country. Describing this Sultan, at the
same time, as of the _Dageou_ race, which swayed the sceptre long
before that of Fûr became powerful. Circumstances have inclined me
to believe, that the reign of this prince must have been from one
hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty years ago.
On what the natives relate of their early history, little dependence
can be placed: but it seems that the _Dageou_ race came originally
from the North, having been expelled from that part of Africa now,
nominally at least, under the dominion of Tunis[46].
_Harvest, food, &c._
In that part of the country where I resided are found neither lakes,
rivers, marshes, nor any other appearance of water but the wells
which are dug for domestic consumption, except during the rainy
season. At that period torrents, of greater or less dimensions,
intersect the country in all directions. The rainy season lasts from
before the middle of June to the middle or end of September. This
season is called Harîf[47].
I have observed that the rain, which is generally very heavy and
accompanied with lightning, falls most frequently from 3 P.M. till
midnight.
The changes of the wind are not periodical but instantaneous. It is
with a southerly wind that the greatest heat prevails; and with a
South-East that the greatest quantity of rain falls. When the breeze
is from the North or North-west it is most refreshing, but does not
generally continue long in that quarter. The hot and oppressive winds
which fill the air with thick dust blow constantly from the South.
One day, while I was sitting in the market-place at Cobbé, I observed
a singular appearance in the air, which soon discovered itself to
be a column of sand, raised from the desert by a whirlwind. It was
apparently about a mile and a half distant, and continued about eight
minutes; this phenomenon had nothing of the tremendous appearance
of the columns of sand described by Bruce as rising between Assuân
and Chendi, being merely a light cloud of sand.
The harvest is conducted in a very simple manner. The women and
slaves of the proprietor are employed to break off the ears with
their hands, leaving the straw standing, which is afterwards applied
to buildings and various other useful purposes. They then accumulate
them in baskets, and carry them away on their heads. When threshed,
which is awkwardly and incompletely performed, they expose the grain
to the sun till it become quite dry; after this an hole in the earth
is prepared, the bottom and sides of which are covered with chaff
to exclude the vermin. This cavity or magazine is filled with grain,
which is then covered with chaff, and afterwards with earth. In this
way the maize is preserved tolerably well. In using it for food,
they grind it, and boil it in the form of polenta, which is eaten
either with fresh or sour milk, or still more frequently with a
sauce made of dried meat pounded in a mortar, and boiled with onions,
&c. The Furians use little butter; with the Egyptians and Arabs it
is an article in great request. There is also another sauce which
the poorer people use and highly relish, it is composed of an herb
called _Cowel_ or _Cawel_, of a taste in part acescent and in part
bitter, and generally disagreeable to strangers.
As a substitute for bread, cakes of the same material are also baked
on a smooth substance prepared for the purpose, which are extremely
thin, and if dexterously prepared not unpalatable. These are called
_kissery_ (fragments or sections); they are also eaten with the sauce
above mentioned, or with milk, or simply water; and in whatever form
the grain be used, the rich cause it to be fermented before it be
reduced to flour, which gives it a very agreeable taste. They also
make no hesitation in eating the dokn raw, but moistened with water,
without either grinding or the operation of fire.
The Sultan here does not seem wholly inattentive to that important
object, agriculture. Nevertheless, it may be esteemed rather a blind
compliance with antient custom, than individual public spirit, in
which has originated a practice adopted by him, in itself sufficiently
laudable, since other of his regulations by no means conduce to the
same end.
At the beginning of the _Harîf_, or wet season, which is also the
moment for sowing the corn, the King goes out with his Meleks and the
rest of his train, and while the people are employed in turning up
the ground and sowing the seed, he also makes several holes with his
own hand. The same custom, it is said, obtains in Bornou, and other
countries in this part of Africa. It calls to the mind a practice
of the Egyptian kings, mentioned by Herodotus. Whether this usage
be antecedent to the introduction of Mohammedism into the country,
I know not; but as it is attended with no superstitious observance,
it would rather seem to belong to that creed.
_Population._
The number of inhabitants in a country in so rude a state as this is
at present, it must necessarily be extremely difficult to compute with
precision. Possibly the levies for war may furnish some criterion. The
Sultan, for about two years, had been engaged in a very serious war
with the usurper of Kordofân. The original levies for this war
I have understood consisted of about two thousand men. Continual
reinforcements have been sent, which may be supposed to amount to
more than half that number. At present the army does not contain more
than two thousand, great numbers of them having been taken off by the
small-pox, and other causes. Even this number is very much missed,
and the army is still spoken of as a very large one. It seems to me
from this and other considerations, that the number of souls within
the empire cannot much exceed two hundred thousand. Cobbé is one
of their most populous towns; yet from the best computation I have
been able to make, knowing the number of inhabitants in the greater
part of the houses, I cannot persuade myself that the total amount
of both sexes, including slaves, much exceeds six thousand. Of these
the greater proportion are slaves.
[Illustration: MAP of DARFUR to Accompany Travels in AFRICA &c. from
the Year 1792 to 1798.
_by W. G. Browne._
_to face page 284._
_London, Published by Messrs. Cadell and Davies Strand 4 June 1799._]
The houses are separated from each other by wide intervals, as
each man chooses for building the spot nearest to the ground he
cultivates; so that in an extent of about two miles on a line,
not much more than one hundred distinct inclosures properly to be
termed houses are visible. The number of villages is considerable;
but a few hundred souls form the sum of the largest. There are only
eight or ten towns of great population.
The people of Dar-Fûr are divided into those from the river, of whom
I have already spoken, some few from the West, who are either Fukkara,
or come for the purposes of trade. Arabs, who are very numerous,
and some of whom are established in the country, and cannot quit
it; they are of many different tribes, but the greater number are
those who lead a wandering kind of life on the frontiers, and breed
camels, oxen, and horses. Yet they are not, for the most part, in
such a state of dependence as always to contribute effectually to the
strength of the monarch in war, or to his supplies in peace. These
are _Mahmîd_, the _Mahréa_, the _beni-Fesâra_, the _beni-Gerâr_,
and several others whose names I do not recollect. After the Arabs
come the people of Zeghawa, which once formed a distinct kingdom,
whose chief went to the field with a thousand horsemen, as it is
said, from among his own subjects. The Zeghawa speak a different
dialect from the people of Fûr. We must then enumerate the people
of Bégo or Dageou, who are now subject to the crown of Fûr, but
are a distinct tribe, which formerly ruled the country. Kordofân,
which is now subject to Fûr, and a number of other smaller kingdoms,
as _Dar Bérti_, &c. _Dar Rugna_ has a king, who is however dependent,
but more on Bergoo than on Fûr. What are the numbers of each is
very difficult to say, as there are few or no data whence any thing
satisfactory can be deduced.
[Illustration: _Sketch of a Plan of the Residence of the Sultan
of Fûr._
_to face page 286._
_Brown del._
_Lowry Sculp._
_For the Description of this Plate, to which the References are made,
see the End of the Appendix._]
_Building._
This art, in which more refined nations display so much ingenuity,
and consume so much of their property, is here limited by the
necessity that produced it. A light roof shelters the Fûrian from
the sun and rain, and he fears not to be crushed by the mass which
he has raised for his security. The conflagration may desolate his
abode, but his soul is not appalled, for he has raised no monument of
vanity to become its prey. The walls, wherever that material is to be
procured, are built of clay; and the people of higher rank cover them
with a kind of plaster, and colour them white, red, and black. The
apartments are of three kinds, one is called a _Donga_, which is a
cube commonly formed in the proportion of twenty feet by twelve. The
four walls are covered with a flat roof consisting of light beams
laid horizontally from side to side; over this is spread a stratum
of ushar, or some other light wood, or, by those who can afford the
expense, course mats; a quantity of dried horse’s or camel’s dung
is laid over this; and the whole is finished with a strong and smooth
coating of clay. They contrive to give the roof a slight obliquity,
making spouts to carry off the water. The roof thus constructed is
a tolerable protection from the rain, and the whole building is in
a certain degree secure from robbers, and the other inconveniences
which are there to be expected. The _Donga_ is provided with a door,
consisting of a single plank, hewn with the axe, as the plane and saw
are equally unknown. It is secured by a padlock, and thus constitutes
the repository of all their property. The next is called a _Kournak_,
which is usually somewhat larger than the _Donga_, differing from
it in being without a door, and having no other roof than thatch,
shelving like that of our barns, composed of Kassob, the straw of
the maize, and supported by light rafters. This however is cooler in
summer than the more closely covered buildings, and is appropriated
to receiving company, and sleeping. The women are commonly lodged,
and dress their food in another apartment of the same kind as the
last, but round, and from fifteen to twenty feet in diameter: this is
called _Sukteia_. The walls of the _Donga_ are often about twelve or
fifteen feet high; those of the other buildings seldom exceed seven or
eight, but this depends on the taste of the owner. The floor of each,
by persons who are attentive to neatness, is covered with clean sand,
which is changed as occasion requires. An house in which there are
two _Dongas_, two _Kournaks_, and two _Sukteias_, is considered as
a large and commodious one, fitted to the use of merchants of the
first order. A _Rukkûba_ (shed) is frequently added, which is no
more than a place sheltered from the sun, where a company sit and
converse in the open air. The interior fence of the house is commonly
a wall of clay. The exterior universally a thick hedge, consisting
of dried branches of acacia and other thorny trees, which secures
the cattle, and prevents the slaves from escaping; but which, as it
takes no root, is never green, and has rather a gloomy aspect. The
materials of the village houses require no particular description;
they are commonly of the form of the _Sukteia_, when they rise above
the appellation of hut, but the substance is the straw of the maize,
or some other equally coarse and insecure. Tents are not used, except
by the Meleks and great men, and these are ill-constructed. In time
of war materials to construct huts are found by the soldiers, and
applied without great difficulty; and the _Sarcina belli_ of each
man is a light mat adapted to the size of his body.
_Manners._
The troops of the country are not famed for skill, courage, or
perseverance. In their campaigns much reliance is placed on the Arabs
who accompany them, and who are properly tributaries rather than
subjects of the Sultan. One energy of barbarism they indeed possess,
in common with other savages, that of being able to endure hunger
and thirst; but in this particular they have no advantage over their
neighbours. On the journey, a man whom I had observed travelling on
foot with the caravan, but unconnected with any person, asked me for
bread—“How long have you been without it?” said I.—“Two days,” was the
reply.—“And how long without water?”—“I drank water last night.”—This
was at sun-set, after we had been marching all day in the heat of the
sun, and we had yet six hours to reach the well. In their persons the
Fûrians are not remarkable for cleanliness. Though observing as
Mohammedans all the superstitious formalities of prayer, their hair is
rarely combed, or their bodies completely washed. The hair of the pubes
and axillæ it is usual to exterminate; but they know not the use of
soap; so that with them polishing the skin with unguents holds the place
of perfect ablutions and real purity. A kind of farinaceous paste is
however prepared, which being applied with butter to the skin, and
rubbed continually till it become dry, not only improves its appearance,
but removes from it accidental sordes, and still more the effect of
continued transpiration, which, as there are no baths in the country, is
a consideration of some importance. The female slaves are dexterous
in the application of it, and to undergo this operation is one of
the refinements of African sensuality. Their intervals of labour and
rest are fixed by no established rule, but governed by inclination
or personal convenience. Their fatigues are often renewed under the
oppressive influence of the meridian sun, and in some districts
their nightly slumbers are interrupted by the dread of robbers,
in others by the musquitoes and other inconveniences of the climate.
An inveterate animosity seems to exist between the natives of Fûr
and those of Kordofân. From conversations with both parties I have
understood that there have been almost continual wars between the
two countries as far as the memory of individuals extends. One
of the causes of this hostility appears to be their relative
position; the latter lying in the road between Dar-Fûr and Sennaar,
which is considered as the most practicable, though not the direct
communication between the former and Mekka. Nor can caravans pass from
Suakem to Fûr, as appears, but by the permission of the governors
of Kordofân. The jealousy of trade therefore is in part the origin
of their unvaried and implacable animosity.
Nothing resembling current coin is found in Soudân, unless it
be certain small tin rings, the value of which is in some degree
arbitrary, and which alone obtains at El Fasher. In that place they
serve as the medium of exchange for small articles, for which in
others are received beads, salt, &c. These rings are made of so many
various sizes, that I have known sometimes twelve, sometimes one
hundred and forty of them, pass for a given quantity and quality
of cotton cloth. The Austrian dollars, and other silver coins,
brought from Egypt, are all sold for ornaments for the women, and
some little profit attends the sale of them, but the use of them in
dress is far from general.
Gold not being found within the limits of Fûr, is seldom seen in the
market; when it appears there, it is in the form of rings of about
one-fourth of an ounce weight each, in which state it comes from
Sennaar. The Egyptian _mahbûb_, or other stamped money, none will
receive but the people of that country. The other articles chiefly
current, are such as belong to their dress, as cotton cloths, beads,
amber, kohhel, rhéa, and on the other hand, oxen, camels, and slaves.