Dhourra bread is extremely coarse, and is made without salt.[69]
It is prepared upon the Sadj, or thin iron plate in use among the
Bedouin Arabs; but as the whole operation of grinding, kneading,
and baking does not occupy more than ten minutes, it may easily be
supposed that it is never thoroughly baked. The Dhourra for the
day’s use is ground early every morning by the women, for the
Nubians never keep meal in store. In Sukkot and Mahass, the bread
is made in very thin round cakes, which are placed upon each other
when served up at meals. Animal food is rarely tasted by the Nubians;
the governors even do not eat it every day. In the larger villages
palm-wine is common; it is not unpleasant to the taste, though
too sweet and thick, to be drank in any considerable quantity. It
is obtained by the following process: as soon as the dates have
come to maturity they are thrown into large earthen boilers, with
water, and the whole is boiled for two days, without intermission;
the liquid is then strained, and the clear juice is poured into
earthen jars, which after being well closed, are buried under
ground; here they are allowed to remain for ten or twelve days,
during which the liquor ferments; the jars are then taken up,
and their contents are fit to drink; but the wine will not keep
longer than a year, or beyond the next date-harvest; if kept longer
it turns sour. The Nubians also make a liquor called Bouza, much
resembling beer; it is extracted from Dhourra or barley, but the
best is furnished by the latter. It is of a pale muddy colour,
and very nutricious. At Cairo, and in all the towns and larger
villages of Upper Egypt, there are shops for the sale of Bouza,
which are kept exclusively by Nubians. Great quantities both of the
wine, and of the spirit distilled from dates, are drank at Derr,
where they are sold in shops kept for the purpose, and where the
upper classes are intoxicated with them every evening. From Siout,
southward, through the whole of Upper Egypt, date spirits are made
and publicly sold; and the Pasha levies a tax upon the venders. A
kind of jelly or honey is also extracted from the date, which serves
the rich as a sweet-meat. Except date trees, and a few grape vines
which I saw at Derr, there are no fruit-trees in Nubia.
The climate of Nubia, though intensely hot in summer, particularly
in the narrow rocky parts of the country, is very healthy, owing
perhaps to the extreme aridity of the atmosphere. I do not recollect
having seen a single person labouring under any disease, during the
five weeks I was in the country. Occasionally, the small-pox, as I
have already observed, makes dreadful ravages in every part except
the Wady Kenous; inoculation being unknown, or at least unpractised,
both here and in Upper Egypt; and the several attempts that have been
made to introduce the vaccine into the latter country, or rather to
establish it there, having entirely failed. Some travellers have
supposed that the plague is communicated to Egypt from the south;
but this is a very erroneous supposition, as it never prevails in
Nubia so high as the second Cataract, and is unknown in Dóngola,
and along the whole route to Sennaar.
The men in Nubia are generally well made, strong, and muscular, with
fine features; in stature they are somewhat below the Egyptians;
they have no mustachios, and but little beard, wearing it under the
chin only, like the figures of the fugitives in the battle-pieces
sculptured upon the walls of the Egyptian temples. In passing along
the Wadys of Nubia, it often occurred to me to remark that the
size and figure of the inhabitants was generally proportioned to
the breadth of their cultivable soil; wherever the plain is broad,
and the peasants from being enabled to carry on agriculture to a
tolerable extent, are in comparatively easy circumstances, they are
taller and more muscular and healthy; but in the rocky districts,
where the plain is not more than twenty or thirty yards in breadth,
they are poor meagre figures; in some places appearing almost like
walking skeletons.
The women are all well made, and though not handsome, have generally
sweet countenances, and very pleasing manners; I have even seen
beauties among them. Denon has certainly not done justice to them;
but they are worn down, from their earliest years, by continual
labour; the whole business of the house being left to them, while
the men are occupied exclusively in the culture of the soil. Of
all the women of the East, those of Nubia are the most virtuous;
and this is the more praiseworthy, as their vicinity to Upper Egypt,
where licentiousness knows no bounds, might be expected to have some
influence upon them. During my stay at Esne, girls came every morning
to my lodging to offer milk for sale; the Egyptians boldly entered
the court-yard and uncovered their faces, a behaviour equivalent to
an offer of their persons; but the Nubians (of whom many families
are settled at Esne) stood modestly before the threshold, over
which nothing could induce them to step, and there they received
the money for their milk without removing their veils.
The Nubians purchase their wives from the parents: the price usually
paid by the Kenous is twelve Mahboubs, or thirty-six piastres. They
frequently intermarry with the Arabs Ababde, some of whom cultivate
the soil like themselves; an Ababde girl is worth six camels; these
are paid to her father, who gives back three to his daughter, to
be the common property of her and her husband; if a divorce takes
place, half the value of the three camels goes to the latter.[70]
In Upper Egypt, when a wife insists upon being divorced, her
husband has the right to take all her wearing apparel from her,
and to shave her head; nobody will then marry her till her hair
be grown again. The Nubian is extremely jealous of his wife’s
honour; and on the slightest suspicion of infidelity towards him,
would carry her in the night to the side of the river, lay open
her breast by a cut with his knife, and throw her into the water,
“to be food for the crocodiles,” as they term it. A case of
this kind lately happened at Assouan.
Public women, who are met with in thousands in every part of
Egypt, are not tolerated in Nubia, except at Derr, and these
are not natives, but emancipated female slaves, who being left
destitute, betake themselves to this vile profession, to gain a
subsistence. The execrable propensities which the Mamelouks have
rendered so common in Egypt, even amongst the lowest peasants,
are held in abhorrence in Nubia, except by the Kashefs and their
relations, who endeavour to imitate the Mamelouks in every thing,
even in their most detestable vices.
Small looms are frequently seen in the houses of the Nubians; with
these the women weave very coarse woollen mantles, and cotton cloth,
which they make into shirts. From the leaves of the date-tree they
also form mats, small drinking bowls, and large plates on which
the bread is served at table; and though these articles are formed
entirely by the hand, they are made in so very neat a manner, as to
have every appearance of being wrought by instruments. The above
are the only manufactures in Nubia; every thing else is imported
from Egypt.
[Illustration]
The only musical instrument I saw in Nubia was a kind of Egyptian
tamboura, with five strings, and covered with the skin of a gazell:
it is of the shape here represented. The girls are fond of singing;
and the Nubian airs are very melodious.
The game of chess is common at Derr; and that called Beyadh is
also frequently played. I have described the latter in my journal
through Arabia Petræa, when speaking of the Arabs of Kerek.
I found the Nubians, generally, to be of a kind disposition,
and without that propensity to theft so characteristic of the
Egyptians, at least of those to the north of Siout. Pilfering indeed
is almost unknown amongst them, and any person convicted of such a
crime would be expelled from his village by the unanimous voice of
its inhabitants; I did not lose the most trifling article during my
journey through the country, although I always slept in the open air
in front of the house where I took up my quarters for the night. They
are in general hospitable towards strangers, but the Kenous and the
people of Sukkot are less so than the other inhabitants. Curiosity
seems to be the most prominent feature in their character, and they
generally ask their guest a thousand questions about the place he
comes from, and the business which brings him into Nubia.
If the government were not so extremely despotic, the Nubians might
become dangerous neighbours to Egypt; for they are of a much bolder
and more independent spirit than the Egyptians, and ardently attached
to their native soil. Great numbers of them go yearly to Cairo, where
they generally act as porters, and are preferred to the Egyptians,
on account of their honesty. After staying there six or eight
years, they return to their native Wady, with the little property
they have realized, although well knowing that the only luxuries
they can there expect, in exchange for those of Cairo, are Dhourra
bread and a linen shirt. Such of them as do not travel into Egypt,
hardly ever go beyond the precincts of their village, for, generally,
the Nubians have no inclination towards commercial speculations. At
Ibrim I met with two old men, who assured me that they had never
visited Derr, though it is only five hours distant. Those Nubians
who have resided in Egypt, and can speak Arabic, are for the most
part good Mussulmen, and repeat their prayers daily: but in general
the only prayer known to the others is the exclamation of Allahu
Akbar. A few make the pilgrimage to Mekka, by the way of Suakin.
I estimate the whole population of Nubia, from Assouan to the
southern limits of Mahass, an extent of country about five hundred
miles long, with an average breadth of half a mile, at one hundred
thousand souls.
* * * * *
I shall subjoin to this account of Nubia some notices upon the
Bedouins who inhabit the mountains lying between that country
and the Red sea. They consist of two principal tribes, the Ababde
and Bisharye. The Ababde (عبابده) occupy the country south
of Kosseir, nearly as far as the latitude of Derr. The Bisharye
(بشاري) inhabit the mountains from thence southwards, as far as
Suakin, where they find pasture for their camels and cattle in the
wild herbage which grows in the beds of the winter torrents. Many
of the Ababde have settled in Upper Egypt, on the east bank of
the Nile from Kenne to Assouan, and from thence to Derr; but the
greater part of them still live like Bedouins. They act as guides
to the Sennaar caravans which depart from Daraou (دَراوُ),
and were formerly conductors likewise of the trade from Kosseir to
Kenne; but their enemies, the Arabs Maazyu (معازي) and Ataony
(عَتاونه), who live to the north of Kosseir, have succeeded
in depriving them of the profits arising from this employment,
which the latter now farm from the Pasha of Egypt. The Ababde are
possessed of considerable property, but have a bad character, being
described by all those who deal with them as a faithless people,
who betray their companions, thus rendering themselves unworthy
of that origin from the Arabian Bedouins, of which they boast. No
oath binds an Ababde; but I was informed that they dread breaking
their word, if they give it with the expression, “by the hope
I entertain of remaining in good health (وحياة العا
فيه).” They are known in Upper Egypt for their excellent
breed of camels, particularly dromedaries, and they trade largely
in Senna-Mekke, and in charcoal of acacia wood, both of which are
produced from the trees, growing abundantly in their mountains;
the fuel is exported as far as Cairo. The Ababde have few horses;
when at war with other Arab tribes they fight upon camels, armed
with a target, lance, and sword. Their principal tribes are, El
Fokara (فُقَره), El Ashabat (عشَابات), and El Meleykab
(مليقاب). The Ashabat seldom descend from the mountains to the
banks of the Nile, but many individuals of the tribe have settled
on its banks near Mograt and Demar, on the route to Sennaar, where
they have intermarried with the native inhabitants. Such of them
as encamp with the Bisharye speak the language of the latter.
The Bisharye, who rarely descend from their mountains, are a
very savage people, and their character is worse even than that
of the Ababde. Their only cattle are camels and sheep, and they
live entirely upon flesh and milk, eating much of the former raw;
according to the relation of several Nubians, they are very fond of
the hot blood of slaughtered sheep; but their greatest luxury is said
to be the raw marrow of camels. A few of these Arabs occasionally
visit Derr or Assouan, with Senna, sheep, and ostrich feathers,
the ostrich being common in their mountains; and their Senna is of
the best kind. In exchange for these commodities they take linen
shirts and Dhourra, the grains of which they swallow raw, as a
dainty, and never make it into bread. These traders do not remain
long on the banks of the Nile, as the dread of the small-pox soon
drives them back to their tents. The Bisharye are much addicted
to theft, and will even rob the house of the person who receives
them as guests. Their youth make plundering excursions as far as
Dóngola, and along the route to Sennaar, mounted upon camels, of a
breed superior to any other, that exists between the shores of the
Mediterranean and Abyssinia. Few of the Bisharye speak Arabic. They
fear none but the Ababde, who know their pasturing places in the
mountains, and often surprise their encampments. When the two
tribes are at peace, which happens to be the case at present, the
mountains inhabited by the Bisharye may be crossed in the company
of an Ababdi; but the latter is not to be trusted, unless one of his
nearest relations is left behind as a hostage. Great numbers of the
dispersed Mamelouks fell victims to the treachery of these Arabs, and
the others escaped only by keeping together in considerable bodies.
Encampments of the Bisharye are found on the northern frontier of
Abyssinia; and the sea-coast from Suakin to Massuah is peopled by
their tribes, the most noted of which are, Hammedab, Batra, Alyab,
Amerab, Kamhetab, Hamdora, Eryab, Hazz, Modourab, Kameylab, el
Amarer, all of whom live in separate encampments, and are often at
war with each other. They have no fire-arms; towards the frontiers
of Abyssinia some of the tribes use the bow and arrow, and, as I was
informed, speak the Abyssinian language, or rather understand the
Abyssinians, who are said to have greater difficulty in comprehending
the Bisharye. The two languages are probably derived from the same
source, like many others of the numerous dialects which prevail
towards the northern frontiers of Abyssinia.
The Bisharye are kind, hospitable, and honest towards each other;
their women, who are said to be as handsome as those of Abyssinia,
mix in company with strangers, and are reported to be of very
depraved habits. After long and fruitless enquiries for a Bisharye
Arab, I at last met with a youth who had come to Esne to sell
leather thongs, for the manufacture of which these Bedouins are
famous. I enticed him to my dwelling by bargaining for his goods,
and made him breakfast with me; but when I began to question him
about his language he would stay no longer, although I offered him
a shirt as a present. He imagined that I dealt in spells, which I
meant to put in practise to the injury of his nation; he forced his
way out of the court-yard of my house, and I could never afterwards
prevail upon him to return. The words in the annexed vocabulary,[71]
were procured from a Negro slave who had been educated among the
Bisharye, and sold by them to the chief of a village near Esne.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Single men are always easily found, to act as guides,
but few are willing to expose their own beasts to the chances of
a dangerous journey.]
[Footnote 2:
The different items of expense during my journey
were as follow:
Piast. Par.
To the guide from Assouan to Derr 6 20
Present to him 0 10
Dhourra, bought at Assouan 1 30
Bread and onions, bought at Assouan 0 25
Present to the servant of the governor, at Derr 1 0
Present to the secretary, for writing a letter
to Sukkot, which induced him to recommend
me in strong terms 1 0
Provisions of Dhourra from Derr to Mahass 6 0
Tobacco bought at Derr 1 0
Shoes repaired at Derr 0 5
Paid on the way to my guide to Mahass 1 0
Paid wages to my guide on my return to Derr 6 20
Present to my guide 2 0
Paid to Nubians, for shewing me the ruins,
on the road from Derr to Assouan 1 10
Ferry-boat at Debot 0 10
To the guide from Derr to Assouan 6 20
Present to him 0 20
------------
36 10
or, £1. 15s. sterling.]
[Footnote 3: Anas el Wodjoud; i. e. “the social pleasures of
Wodjoud.” Wodjoud, say the Arabs, was the name of the mighty king
who built the temples of Philæ.]
[Footnote 4: There are two species of Holcus cultivated in Egypt,
nearly resembling one another in appearance before they ripen, but
bearing a very different kind of grain, the one being that which we
commonly call Maize or Indian corn, the other a small grain like
millet, the same which is known in the West Indies by the name
of Guinea corn. Maize being suited to a more northerly climate,
is little grown in Upper Egypt, where it is known by the name of
Dhourra es-Shamy (Syrian Dhourra). In Nubia the millet-grained
Dhourra is exclusively cultivated.]
[Footnote 5: Since the Mamelouks have retired to Dóngola, Mohammed
Aly, the Pasha of Egypt, has prohibited the sale of gunpowder
in every part of Upper Egypt. He has thus cut off his enemies’
ammunition, who pay at present, in Dóngola, one slave for every
six dozen of musquet cartridges.]
[Footnote 6: Vide infra.]
[Footnote 7: From March till June the waters of the Nile are quite
limpid. Volney, who exclaims against its muddy stream, saw it only
in autumn and winter.]
[Footnote 8: Vide infra.]
[Footnote 9: This is the only spot, where I know the Nile to be
fordable.]
[Footnote 10: A Highlander, who had been taken prisoner in the
unfortunate affair at Rosetta, in 1807, and had afterwards joined
the Mamelouks, has lately arrived at Cairo. He left the Mamelouks
at Dongola, and traced his way back, alone, through Nubia and Upper
Egypt, notwithstanding the spies of the Pasha.]
[Footnote 11: One of the servants of these Begs, a Greek Christian
of Brusa, in Asia Minor, assured me afterwards, at Derr, that their
party, being unable to forego the habit of smoking, had, in a total
want of tobacco, in the mountains, filled their pipes with the dry
dung of the Gazells.]
[Footnote 12: Concerning this tribe, and their language, vide infra.]
[Footnote 13: I have since been in the mountains of Sinai, where
I found another tribe of Bedouins, called Aleykat, settled in the
southern valleys of that province. They all affirmed that the Aleykat
of Nubia were their brethren, and originally a colony from them. Some
years since, a poor man of the Sinai Aleykat took the resolution
of visiting those of Nubia, and of collecting a few presents:
he was well received at Wady Seboua, as one of their brethren,
and returned with several camels, purchased with the alms he had
obtained from every family in that place.]
[Footnote 14: A caravan of from thirty to forty laden camels proceeds
every winter from Seboua to Cairo. The merchants of Seboua are
accustomed to enter into partnership with the poor Nubians; to whom
they advance sums of money, to induce them to try a trading journey
to Berber, and on their return take half the profits. There are
families who have thus been mutually travelling partners from time
immemorial. The distance between Seboua and Mograt, on the Nile,
north of Berber (vide infra), is seven days easy travelling. Three
days from Seboua is a large well called Rebt (ربت); and another
at five days journey.]
[Footnote 15: In all these parts soap is a very acceptable present,
none being made in Egypt, except at Siout, which is of a very
inferior quality. It is imported from Syria, and principally from
Palestine. At Esne, one pound of soap is worth 1_s_. 6_d_.]
[Footnote 16: This grain is not sown in Egypt, but is a principal
food in Darfour, Sennaar, and on the coast of the Red Sea, from
Djidda to Mokha.]
[Footnote 17: All Orientals have a delicate taste of water, and
generally describe its qualities by the words light and heavy. The
Greeks in like manner distinguished waters into κοῦφα and
βαρέα.]
[Footnote 18: The Doum (Palma Thebaica) is a common tree in Egypt
as far north as Dendera.]
[Footnote 19: Vide my Journal in Hauran.]
[Footnote 20: The inhabitants of Nouba, and Wady Kenous, as
far as Dongola, are known in Egypt under the name of Berábera
(sing. Berbery); but that appellation is seldom made use of by the
inhabitants themselves, when speaking of their own nation. It is
probably derived from the name of the country called Berber, which
lies in the direction of Bruce’s Goos. The people of Berber are
sometimes considered as belonging to the Nouba.]
[Footnote 21: The descendants of many Bedouin tribes are found in
every part of Egypt north of Minia; the greater part of the peasants
of Upper Egypt are of Bedouin origin; and branches of several Syrian
tribes, have even settled on the banks of the Nile.]
[Footnote 22: Statues are met with in the adyta of all the ancient
temples in Nubia which are cut out of the rock; and the distribution
of the apartments in those temples is much the same as in the one
here described.]
[Footnote 23: Vide infra.]
[Footnote 24: Vide infra.]
[Footnote 25: See p. 12.]
[Footnote 26: I never heard the Nubians speak of crocodiles of
a monstrous size; I conceive that the largest I saw was about
twenty-five feet in length. Crocodiles as large as that in the
British Museum, are met with on the Nile only in the latitude of
Shendy and Sennaar.]
[Footnote 27: Akabe is a term very frequently met with in Arabian
geography; it generally designates a mountainous district, or a
rocky descent, over which the road lies.]
[Footnote 28: Vide my Journal through Arabia Petræa.]
[Footnote 29: See p. 31.]
[Footnote 30: Vide infra.]
[Footnote 31: There is no _village_ bearing the name of Sukkot;
it is a mere territorial appellation.]
[Footnote 32: The few Nubians who know how to write, and who serve
the governors in the capacity of secretaries, are taught by the
Fokara of Damer, south of Goos, (vide Bruce’s Map), who are all
learned men, and travel occasionally to Cairo as already mentioned,
to visit the mosque El Azhar. On their way thither they alight at
the houses of the rich inhabitants, and teach their children to read
and write. Many of the children of Sukkot and Mahass are likewise
sent to the school of the Arabs Sheygya, where they remain for ten
years and upwards, and are fed and taught gratuitously by the Olema
of that tribe.]
[Footnote 33: See p. 39.]
[Footnote 34: M. Rosetti has, for many years, had the trade in
Senna exclusively in his own hands; and has factors at Esne and
Assouan. Since Mohammed Aly has farmed out almost all the articles
of commerce, both foreign and domestic, M. Rosetti has paid for
the monopoly of Senna 150 purses per annum, or about £3,500.]
[Footnote 35: I have already observed, that the water of the wells in
Upper Egypt is of the worst kind, although dug in the neighbourhood
of the river, from which the wells are no doubt supplied, by the
water filtrating through the ground after the inundation, and
collecting at a depth of from twenty to thirty feet. See p. 22, 3.]
[Footnote 36: In the mountains east of the Dead Sea are Bedouins
called Beni Hamyde.]
[Footnote 37: See p. 29.]
[Footnote 38: The Mhoury is a measure corresponding with twelve
Mouds of Cairo, or about eight bushels.]
[Footnote 39: The whips known in the East under the name of Korbadj,
are made of the skin of the hippopotamus, and form an article of
commerce with the Sennaar and Darfour caravans.]
[Footnote 40: I found the reports of distances to be very
contradictory; the only mode of reckoning is by days journeys;
but the daily rate of camels, when not travelling in caravans,
is subject to great variation.]