the wives and slaves, while the men pass the day either in paying
an idle visit to some neighbouring encampment, or at home reclined
upon the Angareyg, smoking their pipes, and generally going drunk to
bed in the evening. To each other they shew great hospitality, but
towards strangers I never saw a more pitiless race of people, which
is the more remarkable from its being so contrary to the general
disposition of the Bedouins, one of whose first considerations is
how to supply the wants of the stranger. Inhospitality to strangers
seems to be a marked characteristic both of this people and of those
of Souakin. In the market village near our encampment I could never
obtain a drop of water without paying for it in Dhourra; and in our
own encampment I was obliged to pay for the hire of a mat for a few
minutes, to spread a little Dhourra meal upon in order to dry it in
the sun. The poor Negroe pilgrims who pass through Taka in their way
to Mekka, complain bitterly of this want of hospitality. Several
of them were here during our stay, and lived in the encampment;
they used to go round in the evening with their wooden bowls to beg
for a little bread, when they knew that the people were at supper;
but from two hundred tents they never could collect enough to make
a meal sufficient for themselves; and myself and companions were
obliged to entertain two of them every evening at supper. Where
no feelings of generosity exist, the baser passions easily find
access. The people of Taka are as noted for their bad faith as for
their inhospitality; they live in continual broils with each other,
which are not terminated by open hostility, but by a warfare of
treachery, wherein each man endeavours to surprise and destroy
his enemy by secret contrivances. Even in their own encampments
they are armed with a spear, sword, and shield; and when they go
to any distance it is generally in parties. During my stay two men
were murdered in the woods by some persons unknown. The people of
the caravan never ventured out of the encampment except in large
parties; in the evening it was our practice to form a small caravan
to proceed to the wells to fill our water-skins, taking care to keep
as close together as possible. Treachery is not considered here as
criminal or disgraceful, and the Hadendoa is not ashamed to boast
of his bad faith, whenever it has led to the attainment of his
object. The Souakin people assured me that no oath can bind a man
of Taka; that which alone they hesitate to break is when they swear,
“By my own health” (وحياة عافيتي). A Hadendoa seldom
scruples to kill his companion on the road in order to possess
himself of the most trifling article of value, if he entertains
a hope of doing it with impunity; but the retaliation of blood
exists in full force. Among the Hallenga, who draw their origin from
Abyssinia, a horrible custom is said to attend the revenge of blood;
when the slayer has been seized by the relatives of the deceased,
a family feast is proclaimed, at which the murderer is brought
into the midst of them, bound upon an Angareyg, and while his
throat is slowly cut with a razor, the blood is caught in a bowl,
and handed round amongst the guests, every one of whom is bound to
drink of it, at the moment the victim breathes his last. I cannot
vouch for the truth of this, although several persons asserted it
to be a fact, and I heard no one contradict it. I might, perhaps,
have come to the knowledge of several other strange customs amongst
these savages, had I understood their language, or met with many
of them who spoke Arabic; it was not sufficient to have found one
or two who were acquainted with that language, for they will not
endure to be plagued with questions, when no advantage is to be
gained by answering them, and a traveller circumstanced as I was,
can only obtain information of this kind by listening to general
conversation, or by endeavouring to draw it insensibly to the
subject upon which he wishes to be informed.
To treachery the people of Taka add a great propensity to
theft. We had all occasion to complain of their pilfering habits,
but particularly a Sowakiny, who lodged in the tent of one of the
principal Bedouins of the encampment: his leathern sack was cut
open during the night, and one hundred ounces of gold taken out of
it. We missed every morning some trifles; but our precautions were
such, that nothing of value could be taken away without awakening
us. One day when I was in the market-place measuring some Dhourra,
the Ferdes (or quarter of a piece) of Dammour, which I had thrown
over my shoulder to expose it for sale, was taken off without my
immediately missing it, although all the bye-standers saw the thief
walking off with it. As soon as I discovered the robbery I pursued
him, but as I found him armed, and more than a match for me, and
as others interfered in his favour, I thought myself fortunate
in recovering two-thirds of the value of the Dammour in Dhourra,
the thief keeping the remainder to himself for the trouble he had
had in stealing the whole.
Their own quarrels, and their national enmity to the Bisharein,
with whom they are never known to be at peace, have rendered the
people of Taka a warlike nation. They use the same weapons as the
inhabitants of the Nile countries; bows and arrows are unknown
amongst them. Their chiefs keep horses, and arm themselves with
coats of mail. They are said to be brave, but I never saw scars on
any part of their bodies except the back. The same remark applies to
all the people of Nubia, where I have never seen any individuals with
scars upon their breasts, while the backs of most of the men bear the
marks of large wounds, in which they seem to pride themselves. The
shield is said to protect the sides from blows. I found a custom
here, which in my journey towards Dóngola I had been told of,
as existing among the Bisharein; when a young man boasts of his
superior prowess, in the presence of another, the latter draws his
knife and inflicts several flesh wounds in his own arms, shoulders,
and sides; he then gives the knife to the boaster, who is bound
in honour to inflict still deeper wounds upon his own body, or
yield for ever in reputation to his antagonist. They are certainly
a strong and hardy race of men; and are more robust and muscular
than any Bedouins I ever saw. During winter they live almost wholly
upon flesh and milk, tasting very little bread; and it is to this
they attribute their strength. The only disease which they dread
is the small-pox, which made great ravages among them last year,
and had not yet entirely disappeared; a neighbouring encampment
was still infected, and all communication had in consequence been
cut off between it and the surrounding encampments. The disease
was first brought here by the Souakin merchants, from whence it
has spread over all the countries on the Nile.
On the skirts of the desert, at a quarter of an hour from our
encampment, was a village called Souk Hadendoa, or the market-place
of Hadendoa (the Arabic word Souk سوق being used in the native
idiom), the residence of the great chief of the Taka Hadendoas. On
the sands behind the village a market is held once a week, which is
frequented by great numbers of Bedouins and country-people; I visited
it twice, and occasioned no little amusement and astonishment among
the strangers, to whom I was an object of the greatest curiosity;
but I always excited much more contempt and disgust amongst the
women than amongst the men. The Black traders with whom I lived
accompanied me to this market, where we sold various articles
brought from Shendy, for Dhourra, which is the common currency
here. Bedouins who take dollars are seldom found at Taka, but
Dammour is in great demand. The following were the articles brought
to market by the country people, besides _cattle_. A variety of _mats
and baskets_ made of reeds, and of the leaves of the Doum tree, which
is common in the valleys of the [Illustration] desert to the N. and
E. _Earthen pots_ for cooking, and for ablution (Ibareik alloudhou
اباريق اللوضو); the latter are of the annexed form,
and are bought by the Souakin people and carried to the Hedjaz;
all the Negroes, and other poor Hadjis carry one of them for
their daily ablutions.—_Camel saddles_; _ropes_, made of reeds;
_hides_; _water-skins_; a few _fowls_, which are met with all over
Nubia; dried _camel’s flesh_ (butter was no where to be procured,
the flocks being at a distance); the _Allobe_ and _Nebek fruits_;
of the latter they make here a sort of viscid jelly, which has an
agreeable taste. _Tama_, the bark of a tree similar to that which
I observed at Shendy under the name of Gyrfe, of like taste, and
used for the same purposes; in the mountains south of Hallenga it
is called Basinya. _Gum arabic_. _Gharab_, the pulse of the acacia,
with which leather is tanned. _Salt_, brought from Souakin, which
forms a considerable article. _Black Ostrich feathers_; these are the
feathers of the female ostrich; the white feathers are sold privately
to the Souakin traders. Some blacksmiths attend the market; a slave
works the bellows, while the master is employed in mending knives,
lance heads, or the iron chains which are used for tying the fore
legs of the camels during the night.
The principal article sold by the foreign merchants is _tobacco_,
as well the produce of Sennaar as of Persia and the Yemen; that
which comes from the latter countries is called here Suratty, and
is the yellow leaved sort called Tombac in the Hedjaz and Egypt,
and which is smoked in the East in the Persian pipe or Nargyle;
being much stronger than the Sennaar tobacco, it is preferred
in Taka principally for the manufacture of snuff, of which the
people are very fond; the snuff is prepared by mixing natron or
salt with the pulverised tobacco. No man or woman is seen without
a small gourd, the size of a goose’s egg, in which they carry
their snuff. The Souakin traders sell here also _natron_, which
they bring from Shendy; all kinds of _spices_, especially cloves,
which are in great demand among the Hallenga; _incense_, _beads_,
and _hardware_; but the chief articles are tobacco, Dammour, and
cloves. Dhourra is taken in exchange for all these articles, and is
the main object with the merchants from Souakin, because that place
depends solely upon Taka for its supply of this necessary of life,
none, or very little, being cultivated in its neighbourhood. The
Dhourra of Taka is imported into Souakin in such quantities that
many ship-loads of it can at any time be sent from thence to Djidda,
where it is always to be purchased in the markets. I need hardly add,
that the intercourse between Taka and Souakin is in consequence
extremely brisk; a fortnight seldom passes without some arrivals
from the latter place; and as camels are very cheap, the expense
of transport is proportionally small; nevertheless the Dhourra at
Souakin was just four times dearer than at Taka, twelve measures
being sold for one dollar; but it was still sufficiently cheap to
enable the dealers to transport it to Djidda, and there sell it to
advantage. During the last famine Taka supplied the whole valley
of the Nile from Shendy to Mograt with Dhourra. There are several
market places in the district similar to the one I have described;
that of the Hallenga is said to be the largest, and Dhourra is even
cheaper there than it is in this part of Taka. The Tob Dammour was
there worth from thirty-two to thirty-six Mouds. Several of our
people rode thither to sell their tobacco.
The direct road from Taka to Shendy is rendered unsafe by the
incursions of the Shukorye, which obliges the Taka people bound for
that place to go by Goz Radjeb and Atbara. Small caravans sometimes
go straight from Taka to Sennaar for Dammour and tobacco; from the
most southern limits of the Hallenga they travel half a day to the
village of Menan; from thence three days across a sandy desert,
without water, to the river Atbara, where its banks are inhabited
by the Arabs Omran, who speak Arabic. From the Atbara they reach,
after two days desert journey, the Arabs Dhebdayle (ضبدايله),
who possess considerable herds of cows and camels. From thence a
journey of one day among woods and cultivated spots, to the village
of Dender, and two days more, across a desert bring them to Sennaar,
making in the whole a journey of eight or nine days, slow march,
but not in a straight line. This route is much frequented by the
Negroe pilgrims. The above distances were given to me by a man
from Dar Saley, who performed the journey with a boy, and without a
guide. He was well treated by the Arabs Omran, from whose tents he
performed the journey to Menan across the desert, without a guide,
directing his course by the stars. The accuracy of his statements
I believe may be depended on. The following is the account which
I received of the route towards Ras el Fil, but I am not so well
convinced of its correctness as of that of the preceding.
From the last settlements of the Hallengas, one long journey to the
Arabs Fohara (فحاره); from thence to Wady Omran (امرن),
one day and a half. To Ayaye (عيايه) one day; and from thence
in two days to Ras el Fil (راس الفيل), on the route from
Sennaar to Gondar. Three days below the Arabs Omran, towards Goz
on the Atbara, is a large settlement of Shukorye, called Gabaryb
(قباريب), which was stated to be as large as Shendy; its name
often occurred in the conversations of the people of Taka.
Great animosity seems to prevail between the Hallengas and the
Abyssinians, the latter never being mentioned by them without some
opprobrious epithet, the mildest of which is Kafer. I had heard in
Upper Egypt, and at Berber, that caravans sometimes depart from the
Hallengas for Massouah; and I was afterwards told at Djidda, by some
Massouah merchants, that Hallengas were sometimes seen at that place
with cows for sale; but I could hear of no such intercourse during
my stay at Taka. The Hallengas have a slight commercial intercourse
with the Abyssinians of the province called Walkayt. Had I seen
the least probability of making my way towards Massouah, I should
have attempted it, for that part of the country appeared to me to
be very interesting; it would have led me through the dwellings of
many tribes who form the links of the chain by which the Abyssinians
are connected with the Arabs, and whose manners, no doubt, present
striking originalities; but after what I observed of the character of
the people of Taka, I did not think that I should have the smallest
chance of being able to protect my little property after quitting
my companions the Souakin merchants; and from what I saw of the
hospitality of these people, I was certain that if once stripped
I should perish of want. To have engaged one of these savages as a
guide would have been of little avail, had he even proved faithful,
as he could not have ensured my safety for more than one day’s
journey, or as far as the limits of his own tribe. I should then have
fallen among strangers, all intent upon plundering me of whatever I
possessed, while I should have had nothing to offer in my defence,
and could hardly have made myself understood, very few people in
those parts speaking Arabic. I hope, therefore, I shall not be
blamed for abandoning this project, while, on the other hand, I
had reasonable hopes of reaching Souakin in safety. I heard at Taka
that Souakin and Massouah were at equal distances from the Hallengas.
I was not molested during my stay at Taka, and nothing particularly
disagreeable happened to me; but I learnt afterwards, that I had
nearly been reduced to a most distressing situation, a grown up
slave of one of my companions having formed the design of stealing
my camel, and selling it at a neighbouring encampment, in which case
I should probably never have recovered it. Our camels were driven
into the woods every morning to feed, under the care of the slaves;
mine was entrusted to my own slave-boy; during the mid-day heat,
when the slaves sometimes indulged in sleep, camels belonging to the
caravan were occasionally lost, and mine would certainly have shared
the same fate, had not the man who intended to steal it communicated
his intention to another, who informed me of it. I complained to
his master, who reprimanded him severely, and from that day I never
permitted my camel to pasture abroad, but kept it in the camp,
and fed it with Dhourra. To prevent their best camels from being
stolen, the merchants are in the habit of fastening their fore legs
with heavy iron chains, which being locked on, and not removable
without a key, prevent at least any attempt to drive off the animal
suddenly. The day after our arrival the chief of the encampment
treated the whole party with a breakfast and supper of Dhourra,
in a state of thin paste, sent round to each mess. Two days after,
he ordered a couple of cows to be slaughtered, in honour of our
arrival; a part of the flesh was intended for my companions the
Tekaýrne and myself, but the slaves of the Souakin merchants got
hold of it, and it disappeared in an instant. In return for this
hospitality we were obliged to make a present to the chief, of a
Ferde Dammour, equivalent to about twelve measures of Dhourra, for
each slave in the caravan, which amounted in all to nearly twenty
times the value of the bread and meat he had given us. No direct
duties are paid here, neither do the Taka people pay any at Souakin.
By the 14th the merchants of the caravan had sold all their cotton
stuffs and tobacco; and some of them had already set off with a
small party on their return to Goz Radjeb. We had learnt that,
on the morning of our departure from opposite that place, the
Bisharein arrived there in superior force, but that they retired
again when they found, by the extinguished fires of the caravan and
the cold ashes, that we had got a long start of them. On the eve of
our departure from Taka the caravan was joined by several people of
the place with loads of Dhourra. Our own merchants had converted
all their goods into Dhourra, and had loaded their camels to the
utmost they could bear. A large party of Negroe pilgrims also joined,
and we formed in all a caravan of about three hundred camels. Our
departure was extremely irregular; the principal chief had set out on
the 14th, and we thought that we should remain several days longer,
when the second chief broke up suddenly, and began to load. One
of my companions was thus obliged to abandon an outstanding debt,
which made him a loser to the amount of twenty measures of Dhourra;
he hesitated long whether or not he should stay behind, in order
to recover it, and repair to Souakin with some future caravan;
but prudence got the better of avarice, and we marched off early
on the morning of the 15th of June. Before our final departure we
were beset by all the people of the Douar endeavouring to obtain
some small presents from us before we left them; they had plagued
us during the whole of our stay, especially the women, who left
no arts of coquetry untried, in order to possess themselves of the
objects of their wishes. One of the cousins of the chief, who had
just been married, was particularly importunate. Knowing that she
looked on me with disdain and derision, I could not help admiring
her subtilty and address in persuading me by signs, that she had
conceived a great affection for me, giving me plainly to understand
that for a handful of cloves she would refuse me nothing. Her
own people probably knew that the whole was a trick to get from
me something of value; it was some satisfaction to me, therefore,
that all her arts were ineffectual, and that she did not succeed
in obtaining the smallest present from me.
During the whole of my stay in this encampment, as well as at Shendy,
I affected the greatest sanctity of manners, imitating, as far as
possible, the Fakys, whose character is the more respected in these
countries from their enjoying the reputation of great learning,
and of exemplary private conduct. This is the character of the whole
body, but it is well known how unworthy many individuals are of it,
and that all their actions are governed by hypocrisy. Superstitious
prejudices, and respect for a religion which appears more awful from
the great bulk of the people being ignorant of its tenets; fear,
perhaps, of incantations, and the great respect shewn towards each
other, still tend to keep up the popular belief that a Hadji must
be a being superior in virtue and sanctity; and if he ever proves
the contrary, no one is bold enough to accuse him, as the whole body
would then become the enemy of the accuser. It is much the same with
the Olemas in Turkey and Arabia; their real character is well known;
but they continue to enjoy great credit, because no one likes to be
the first to raise his hand against them; and they are protected by
the government, which finds them useful in enslaving the multitude,
and in directing public opinion.
During the two last days of our stay at Taka, we were greatly
alarmed by intelligence from Souakin that a man of Taka had been
killed there by a Hadherebe. The Hadendoa deliberated whether they
should not detain all the individuals of the caravan till they knew
the result of the affair, and they would probably have done it had
not another Bedouin arrived soon after, with information that the
business had been settled by the Souakiny paying the price of blood.
JOURNEY FROM TAKA TO SOUAKIN.
_June 15th._—Just as we started a violent wind rose and continued
the whole of the morning; the sand flew about in every direction,
and caused us to miss our way. Our general direction was N. E. by
N. We passed alternately sandy and fertile ground, the latter,
which traverses the desert in narrow strips, is regularly inundated
by the waters of Taka. At the end of about four hours we reached
the extremity of this cultivable tract, where high acacias were
growing. Here we found the principal chief of the caravan waiting
for us. In the afternoon we continued in the same direction, over
the desert plain, and halted after a day’s march of nine or ten
hours. After sunset we were involved in a violent whirlwind, during
which the camels became unruly, and we were obliged to remain on
the spot till it ceased.
_June 16th._—We continued in the direction of N. E. by N. We
had now with us eighteen or twenty of the Tekaýrne, or Negroe
pilgrims. Tekroury, the _singular_ of this name, is not derived
from a country called Tekrour, as is generally supposed in the East,
and which has misled all the Arabian geographers, but from the verb
Takorror (تكرّر), to multiply, renew, to sift, to purify,
to invigorate; i. e. their religious sentiments, by the study of
the sacred book, and by pilgrimage. The appellation is bestowed on
all Negroes who come from the west, in search of learning (Taleb
Olm, طالب عُلم—or simply Taleb), or for the Hadj, of
whatever country they may be. They do not call themselves by this
name of Tekroury, which many assured me they had never heard till
they reached the limits of Darfour. All these pilgrims can read
and write a little; and they all belong to the class styled Faky
(_plur._ Fakiha). I never found any of them quite illiterate. After
making some progress in the schools of their country, (schools
being met with in all the Mohammedan countries of Africa,) they
proceed to Mekka for the Hadj, or in order to study the Koran and
the commentaries upon it, in that place and Medinah; or to Cairo,
for the same purpose; but the greater part go for the Hadj; at
present there are not more than twelve in the mosque El Azhar at
Cairo, and I did not find above double that number in the great
mosque at Mekka, where they are occupied chiefly in learning
the Koran by heart, in the belief, that they can never forget a
chapter which they have once learnt in the Beit ullah (house of
God). The greater part of the Tekaýrne who visit Mekka come from the
schools of Darfour, the principal of which are at Kondjara, in the
neighbourhood of Kobbe. Those from the most western countries who
pass this road are from Bahr el Ghazal and Bagerme. All the Black
Hadjis from the countries to the west of Bagerme, from Bournou as
far as Timbuctou, either travel with the Fezzan, or great Moggrebyn
pilgrim caravan, or proceed by sea from the coast of Barbary. Their
motives for undertaking the journey are, partly a sincere desire to
fulfil the precepts of their religion, and partly the ambition of
enjoying afterwards the credit which the Hadj confers in their own
country upon those who have performed it, and which is of course
in proportion to the difficulty of the journey.