the neighbours who had come to greet us had retired, three or four
of these damsels made their appearance, and were saluted with loud
shouts by my companions, who were all their old acquaintance. Some
Angareygs were brought into the open court-yard, which the principal
people of our party having taken possession of, the women proceeded
to give them “the welcome,” as they call it. The men having
undressed to their loins, and stretched themselves at full length
upon the Angareygs, were rubbed by the women with a kind of perfumed
grease, much in the same manner as is used after coming out of the
bath. This operation lasted for about half an hour, but the parties
remained together for the whole night, without being in the least
annoyed by the neighbourhood of those who were lying about in the
court-yard. During the whole of our stay at Berber we had these
damsels almost every evening at our quarters, and the same was the
case in the other houses occupied by travellers. The rooms of the
women were scarcely for a moment free from visitors. They prepare,
as I have already stated, the Bouza, and as it is difficult for
any person to indulge in the drinking of this liquor in his own
house, where he would be immediately surrounded by a great number
of acquaintance, it is generally thought preferable to go to the
women’s apartment, where there is no intrusion. Many of these
women are Abyssinians by birth, but the greater part of them are
born at Berber of slave parents (مولُدَّين). They are in
general handsome, and many of them might even pass for beauties in
any country.
The women of Berber, even those of the highest rank, always go
unveiled, and young girls are often seen without any covering
whatever, except a girdle of short leathern tassels about their
waists. Many, both men and women, blacken their eyelids with Kohel
or antimony, but the custom is not so general as in Egypt. The women
of the higher classes, and the most elegant of the public women,
throw over their shirts, white cloaks with red linings of Egyptian
manufacture, made at Mehalla el Kebir, in the Delta. Both sexes
are in the almost daily habit of rubbing their skins with fresh
butter. They pretend that it is refreshing, prevents cutaneous
complaints, and renders the surface of the skin smoother; the men,
in reference to their frequent quarrels, add, that it renders the
skin tougher and firmer, and more difficult to be cut through with
a knife. I can say from my own experience that I have found great
relief during the mid-day heats, from rubbing my breast, arms, and
legs with butter, or my feet, if I was fatigued with walking. The
cutaneous eruption called the prickly heat, which is so common in
Egypt, is never seen here, and I had often occasion to admire the
smooth and delicate appearance of the skin, even in men who were
very much exposed to the sun. It is by the nature of their skin
that these Arabs distinguish themselves from the Negroes; though
very dark coloured, their skin is as fine as that of a white person,
while that of the Negroes is much thicker and coarser. The hands of
the latter are as hard as a board, while the touch of the Arabs,
who are not of the labouring class, is as soft as that of the
northern nations. The perfumed grease, which is made use of only
upon extraordinary occasions, is a preparation of sheep’s fat
mixed with soap, musk, pulverized sandalwood, senbal, and mahleb. It
has an agreeable odour, and the men pretend that it is a powerful
stimulant; but the truth seems to be, that they generally use it
before they visit their mistresses.
The people of Berber are a very handsome race. The native colour
seems to be a dark red-brown, which if the mother is a slave from
Abyssinia becomes a light brown in the children, and if from the
Negro countries, extremely dark. The men are somewhat taller than the
Egyptians, and are much stronger and larger limbed. Their features
are not at all those of the Negro, the face being oval, the nose
often perfectly Grecian, and the cheek bones not prominent. The
upper lip however is generally somewhat thicker than is considered
beautiful among northern nations, though it is still far from the
Negro lip. Their legs and feet are well formed, which is seldom the
case with the Negroes. They have a short beard below the chin, but
seldom any hair upon their cheeks. Their mustachios are thin, and
they keep them cut very short. Their hair is bushy and strong, but
not woolly; it lies in close curls, when short, and when permitted
to grow, forms itself into broad high tufts “We are Arabs, not
Negroes,” they often say; and indeed they can only be classed
among the latter by persons who judge from colour alone.
The Meyrefab, like the other Arab tribes of these parts of Africa,
are careful in maintaining the purity of their race. A free born
Meyrefab never marries a slave, whether Abyssinian or black, but
always an Arab girl of his own or some neighbouring tribe, and if
he has any children from his slave concubines, they are looked upon
only as fit matches for slaves or their descendants. This custom they
have in common with all the eastern Bedouins, while, on the contrary,
the inhabitants of the towns of Arabia and Egypt are in the daily
habit of taking in wedlock Abyssinian as well as Negroe slaves.
In marrying, the bride’s father receives, according to the
Mussulman custom, a certain sum of money from the bride-groom, for
his daughter, and this sum is higher than is customary in other
parts inhabited by Arabs. The daughters of the Mek are paid as
much as three or four hundred dollars, which the father keeps for
them as a dowry. Few men have more than one wife, but every one who
can afford it keeps a slave or mistress either in his own or in a
separate house. Kept mistresses are called companions (فيقه),
and are more numerous than in the politest capitals of Europe. Few
traders pass through Berber without taking a mistress, if it be
only for a fortnight. Drunkenness is the constant companion of this
debauchery, and it would seem as if the men in these countries had
no other objects in life. The intoxicating liquor which they drink is
called Bouza (بوزه). Strongly leavened bread made from Dhourra is
broken into crumbs, and mixed with water, and the mixture is kept for
several hours over a slow fire. Being then removed, water is poured
over it, and it is left for two nights to ferment. This liquor,
according to its greater or smaller degree of fermentation, takes the
name of Merin, Bouza, or Om Belbel (ام بلبل), the mother of
nightingales, so called because it makes the drunkard sing. Unlike
the other two, which being fermented together with the crumbs of
bread, are never free from them, the Om Belbel is drained through
a cloth, and is consequently pure and liquid. I have tasted of all
three. The Om Belbel has a pleasant prickly taste, something like
Champagne turned sour. They are served up in large roundish gourds
open at the top, upon which are engraved with a knife a great variety
of ornaments. A gourd (Bourma بُرمه) contains about four pints,
and whenever a party meet over the gourd, it is reckoned that each
person will drink at least one Bourma. The gourd being placed on the
ground, a smaller gourd cut in half, and of the size of a tea-cup,
is placed near it, and in this the liquor is served round, to each
in turn, an interval of six or eight minutes being left between each
revolution of the little gourd. At the beginning of the sitting,
some roasted meat, strongly peppered, is generally circulated, but
the Bouza itself (they say) is sufficiently nourishing, and, indeed,
the common sort looks more like soup or porridge, than a liquor to
be taken at a draught. The Fakirs or religious men, are the only
persons who do not indulge (publicly at least) in this luxury; the
women are as fond of it, and as much in the habit of drinking it,
as the men. A Bourma of Bouza is given for one measure of Dhourra,
three-fourths of the measure of Dhourra being required to make the
Bourma, and the remainder paying for the labour.
In other respects the people of Berber are abstemious, and they
often fast the whole day, for the sake of being able to revel in the
evening. The chief article of food is Dhourra bread. As they have
no mills, not even hand-mills, they grind the Dhourra by strewing
it upon a smooth stone, about two feet in length and one foot in
breadth, which is placed in a sloping position before the person
employed to grind. At the lower extremity of the stone, a hole is
made in the ground to contain a broken earthen jar, wooden bowl, or
some such vessel, which receives the Dhourra flower. The grinding
is effected by means of a small stone flat at the bottom; this is
held in both hands and moved backwards and forwards on the sloping
stone by the grinder, who kneels to perform the operation. If the
bread is to be of superior quality, the Dhourra is well washed and
then dried in the sun; but generally they put it under the grinding
stone without taking the trouble of washing it. In grinding, the
grain is kept continually wet by sprinkling some water upon it from
a bason placed near, and thus the meal which falls into the pot,
resembles a liquid paste of the coarsest kind, mixed with chaff
and dirt. With this paste an earthen jar is filled, containing
as much as is necessary for the day’s consumption. It is left
there from twenty-four to thirty-six hours, during which time it
slightly ferments and acquires a sourish taste. No leaven is used;
the sour liquid is poured in small quantities upon an iron plate
placed over the fire, or when no iron is at hand, upon a thin well
smoothed stone: and if the iron or stone is thoroughly heated,
the cake is baked in three or four minutes. As each cake is small,
and must be baked separately, it requires a long time to prepare a
sufficient quantity; for it is the custom to bring several dozen
to table while hot, in a large wooden bowl; some onion sauce,
or broth, or milk, is then poured upon them, the sauce is called
Mallah (ملَّاح). The bread is never salted, but salt is
mixed with the sauce. This dish is the common and daily food both
at dinner and supper. Although very coarse it is not disagreeable,
and the sourish taste, renders it peculiarly palatable during the
heat of the mid-day hours. It is of easy digestion, and I always
found it agree with me; but if left to stand for a day it becomes
ill tasted, for which reason it is made immediately before dinner
or supper. Cakes of this kind, but still thinner, and formed of a
paste left for two or three days to turn quite sour, are made for
travelling provision. After being well toasted over the fire, they
are left to dry thoroughly in the sun, they are then crumbled into
small pieces and put into leather bags, called Abra (ابره). They
thus keep for many months, and serve to the traders upon occasions,
when it is impossible to prepare a supper with fire. Some melted
butter is poured over a few handfuls of this food, and appetite
is seldom wanting to make it palatable. Sometimes the crumbs are
soaked in water, and when the water has acquired a sourish taste it
is drank off; this is called by the traders “the caravan beverage,
Sharbet el Jellabe (شَربة الجَلَّابه).”
Meat is often brought upon the table boiled or roasted, and milk is
a principal food of the people. Dates are a great dainty; they are
imported by the Dongola merchants from Mahass, and are used only upon
extraordinary occasions. They are often boiled together with bread,
meat, and milk. Coffee is drank only by the merchants and the very
first people, and even by them it is not in daily use. The coffee
is not the Arabian or Mokha coffee, but that which grows wild in the
south-western mountains of Abyssinia, from whence it is imported by
the Sennaar merchants. It is sold thirty per cent. cheaper than the
Mokha coffee in Egypt, but its shape and taste appear to be the same.
The effects which the universal practice of drunkenness
and debauchery has on the morals of the people may easily be
conceived. Indeed every thing discreditable to humanity is found in
their character, but treachery and avidity predominate over their
other bad qualities. In the pursuit of gain they know no bounds,
forgetting every divine and human law, and breaking the most
solemn ties and engagements. Cheating, thieving, and the blackest
ingratitude, are found in almost every man’s character, and I am
perfectly convinced that there were few men among them or among my
fellow travellers from Egypt who would have given a dollar to save
a man’s life, or who would not have consented to a man’s death
in order to gain one. Especial care must be taken not to be misled
by their polite protestations, and fine professions, especially
when they come to Egypt: where they represent their own country as
a land inhabited by a race of superior virtue, and excellence. On
the contrary, infamous as the eastern nations are in general,
I have never met with so bad a people, excepting perhaps those
of Suakin. In transactions among themselves the Meyrefab regulate
every matter in dispute by the laws of the strongest. Nothing is
safe when once out of the owner’s hands, for if he happens to be
the weaker party, he is sure of losing his property. The Mek’s
authority is slighted by the wealthier inhabitants: the strength of
whose connections counterbalances the influence of the chief. Hence
it may well be supposed that family feuds very frequently occur,
and the more so, as the effects of drunkenness are dreadful upon
these people. During the fortnight I remained at Berber, I heard
of half a dozen quarrels occurring in drinking parties, all of
which finished in knife or sword wounds. Nobody goes to a Bouza
hut without taking his sword with him; and the girls are often the
first sufferers in the affray. I was told of a distant relation of
the present chief, who was for several years the dread of Berber. He
killed many people with his own hands upon the slightest provocation,
and his strength was such, that nobody dared to meet him in the open
field. He was at last taken by surprise in the house of a public
woman, and slain while he was drunk. He once stript a whole caravan,
coming from Daraou, and appropriated the plunder to his women. In
such a country, it is of course looked upon as very imprudent to
walk out unarmed, after sunset; examples often happen of persons,
more particularly traders, being stripped or robbed at night in the
village itself. In every country the general topics of conversation
furnish a tolerable criterion of the state of society; and that
which passed at our house at Ankheyre gave the most hateful idea
of the character of these people. The house was generally filled
with young men who took a pride in confessing the perpetration of
every kind of infamy. One of their favourite tricks is to bully
unexperienced strangers, by enticing them to women who are the
next day owned as relations by some Meyrefab, who vows vengeance
for the dishonor offered to his family; the affair is then settled
by large presents, in which all those concerned have a share. The
envoy whom Ibrahim Pasha sent in 1812 to the king of Sennaar was
made to suffer from a plot of this kind. Upon his return from
Sennaar to Berber, he was introduced one evening to a female,
at whose quarters he passed the night. The Mek of Berber himself
claimed her the next morning as his distant relation. “Thou hast
corrupted my own blood.” (انت فَسلَة في دَمّي)
said he to the envoy, and the frightened Turk paid him upwards of
six hundred dollars, besides giving up to him the best articles
of his arms and baggage. I had repeated invitations to go in the
evening to Bouza parties, but constantly refused. Indeed a stranger,
and especially an unprotected one, as I was, must measure all his
steps with caution, and cannot be too prudent.
Upon our first arrival the people appeared to me very
hospitable. Every morning and evening large dishes of bread and meat
and milk, often much more than we could eat, were sent to us from
different quarters. This lasted for five or six days, when those
who had sent the dishes came to ask for presents, as tokens of
friendship; this was well understood to be a demand of repayment;
and we found ourselves obliged to give ten times the value of what
we had eaten. In general foreign merchants are considered as “good
morsels” (لقُمةَ as the Arabs say), of which every body
bites off as much as he can; we were the whole day beset by people
who came to ask for presents, but our companions were old traders;
they well knew to whom it would have been imprudent to deny a favour,
but never made the smallest present, except when necessary. I have
had people running after me the whole day praying to have a piece
of soap to wash their shirt. Had I listened to them I should have
had ten demands of the same kind the next day. It may be taken as a
general rule in these countries never to make any presents unasked,
or to give more than half of what is requested, for a traveller
will find it more useful to his purposes to have the reputation
of parsimony, than that of generosity. The same advice would not
be suitable in Syria or Egypt, and it may here be remarked, that
of all the duties which belong to the traveller, that of knowing
the proper seasons for making or withholding presents is the most
troublesome and difficult, not only in the Negroe countries, but
in every part of the East known to me.
Among the plagues that await the traveller in Berber the insolence
of the slaves is the most intolerable. Being considered as members
of the family in which they reside, they assume airs of importance
superior even to those of their masters. The latter are afraid to
punish or even seriously to reprimand them for their offences, as
they can easily find opportunities of running away, and by going
to the Bedouins or the Sheygya they are safe from any further
pursuit. One of the slaves of Edris, to whom I had already made
some little presents, tore my shirt into pieces because I refused to
give it him, and when I applied to Edris for redress, he recommended
patience to me, for that no insult was meant. The grown up slaves are
always armed; they hold themselves upon a par with the best Arabs,
and feel humbled only by the conviction that they cannot marry the
Arab girls. The insolence of the slaves, as well as of the people
in general, is in nothing more displayed than their behaviour with
regard to smoking; if they see a stranger with a pipe in his mouth,
they often take it from him without saying a word, and are unwilling
to return it before they have smoked it out. To a smoker, as all
the orientals are, nothing can be more disagreeable. The people of
Berber are themselves immoderately fond of tobacco, but they smoke
only at home when they expect no visitors, and scarcely ever carry
their pipes abroad, because tobacco is a very dear commodity, and
they fear lest the best whiff should fall to the lot of others. I
have often seen the Egyptian traders, men who would rather give
up their dinner than their pipe, reduced to desperation by the
impudence of their Berber visitors.
In a small treatise on physiognomy by Ali Ben Mohammed El Ghazali,
wherein he paints the characters of the different Mohammedan nations,
he thus describes the Nubians: “They are a people of frolic, folly
and levity, avaricious, treacherous and malicious, ignorant and base,
and full of wickedness and lechery.” This picture is true in every
part, applied to the people of Berber; for besides what I have
already said of them, they are of a very merry facetious temper,
continually joking, laughing, and singing. Even the elderly men
are the same, and they have at least retained one good quality of
their Arabian ancestors; they are not proud. The Mek of Berber is
satisfied with common civility, and assumes no distinction of rank;
the slaves of his family, shew much more haughtiness than himself.
The people of Berber, can be very polite when they think proper. In
receiving strangers and in offering them hospitality, they assume
an air of goodness of heart, and patriarchal simplicity, which might
dupe the most practised traveller, but consummate hypocrites as they
are, they seldom deceive those, who have been at Berber before. Their
language is full of complimentary phrases, and they ask after your
health and welfare in a dozen different forms of speech. After
a long absence they kiss and shake hands with eagerness. Women
are saluted by men in a very respectful manner, by touching their
foreheads with the right hand, and then kissing the part of the
fingers which touched the woman’s head. A common question asked
in saluting is Shedid? (strong?). A still more curious expression,
and one which I never heard before, is نَعلَك طَيب Naalak
Tayeb, “is your sole well?” meaning, “are you strong enough
to walk about as much as you like?” On meeting a person for the
first time after the death of a near relation, they kneel down
upon one knee by his side, and repeat in a howling tone of voice,
as a lamentation, “Fi’Sabil Allah, fi’Sabil Allah” (في
سَبيل اللَّه), literally, “in the road of God,” but
signifying that the deceased went through the right way of God and
may hope to obtain the divine protection. Then they lift up the
person, either man or woman, by the hand, and the common salutation
passes between them.
With some surprise, I observed that in an avowed Mussulman country,
the usual salute of “Salamun aleykum,” is quite out of use. The
general expression of salute is only the word Tayeb? (well);
repeated several times. The religious men only say sometimes,
“Salam Salam,” without any other word; but they never are
answered, as usual among Mussulmen, with Aleykum essalam, the common
reply being “Tayeb, ent tayeb? well, are you well? The members of
the Mek’s family are saluted by the appellation of “Ya Arbab”
(يا آرباب), plur. of “Rab,” (lord). They have the title
of “Ras,” meaning head, as Ras Edris, Ras Mohammed, &c. which
is used all over these countries; and from hence the same title
seems to have been introduced into Abyssinia. Government is called
with the pompous title of Es Saltane (السلطَنه), which is
not applied to the existing chief, but to the government in general.
I lived too short a time at Berber to be able to witness their
peculiar customs in wedding, burying, circumcising, &c. &c. which are
no doubt different from the true Mohammedan customs, as prescribed
by the law. Upon the death of a person, they usually kill either a
sheep, or, if the relations are wealthy, a cow or camel. During our
stay at the house of Edris, he killed a cow for a relation of his,
who died several months before, in the time of famine, when it was
impossible to find a cow to slaughter for that purpose. Almost all
the religious men of Ankheyre were sent for to read some passages
of the Koran in a separate room. A great number of women assembled
in another room, singing to the tambourine, and howling horribly
during the greater part of the night. Many poor people were treated
in the court yard, with broth and the roasted flesh of the cow,
while the choice morsels were presented to the friends of Edris.
I have more than once mentioned the Fakirs,[12] or religious
men. They are likewise known by the appellation of Fakih (فقيه),
i. e. a man learned in the law.[13] There are few respectable
families who have not a son or relation that dedicates his youth to
the study of the law. At the age of twelve or fourteen he is sent to
some of the neighbouring schools, of which those of Damer, on the
road to Shendy, of Mograt,[14] and of the Sheygya are at present
the most celebrated. There they are taught to read and write, and
to learn by heart as much of the Koran and of some other prayer
books, as their memory can retain.[15] They are taught the secret
of writing amulets or charms; and at the age of twenty they return
to their homes, where they live, affecting great uprightness of
conduct and strictness of morals, which amount however to little
more than not to smoke tobacco, or drink Bouza in public, and not
to frequent the resorts of debauchery.
Sometimes they write amulets upon a piece of paper, which if the
unhappy lover swallows, it will force the object of his love to
listen to his intreaties. There are particular Fakirs famous for
love receipts; others for febrifuges, &c. The following are two
amulets, one of which was given to me at Berber, and the other at
Damer. If to the former, the proper name is added, no female is
capable of withstanding the charm, at least such was the assurance
given to me by the Fakir Mansur, from whom I bought the secret for
a string of wooden beads, but I never yet had an opportunity of
trying its efficacy.
[Illustration]
The following is an amulet which protects the owner from being
wounded.
[Illustration]