Sea, are a motley race; one principal class, however, is conspicuous;
the forefathers of the chief families of the Arabs of Souakin were
natives of Hadramout, and principally of the town of Shahher, the
harbour of that country in the Indian ocean. They came hither,
according to some, about a century ago; others state that they
arrived soon after the promulgation of the Islam; it is from them
that the collective population of the town has obtained the name
of Hadherebe[69] with foreigners; but the inhabitants themselves
draw a strict line of distinction between the true Hadherebe, or
descendants of the natives of Hadramout, and the other settlers,
whom they term Souakiny (سواكني). To the latter belong
many individuals of the Bedouin tribes of Hadendoa, Amarer, the
Bisharein, and others of Arabian and of Turkish origin. The former
are intimately mixed with the Hadherebe, and retain their Bedouin
names even in the town. Those of Turkish origin are, for the most
part, descendants of Turkish soldiers, who, in the beginning of the
sixteenth century, during the reign of Selim the Great, were sent
here, after that emperor had conquered Egypt, to garrison Souakin, in
the same manner as those who occupied Assouan, Ibrim, and Say. Many
of them assert that their forefathers were natives of Diarbekr and
Mosul; but the present race have the African features and manners,
and are in no respect to be distinguished from the Hadherebe. There
are at Souakin also a few Turkish merchants, masters of ships,
refugees, &c. &c. descended from later settlers; but these have
long forgotten the Turkish language, and are now connected both by
interest and consanguinity with the descendants of the people from
the towns of Arabia, who are numerous here, and who wear the dress
of the inhabitants of the towns in the Hedjaz, and have all the
customs and manners of that country. Thus two principal races of
people are conspicuous in Souakin: 1. the Bedouins, who comprise
the Hadherebe, Hadendoa, &c. &c., including the descendants of
the ancient Turks: 2. the towns-people, who are either Arabs of
the opposite coast, or Turks of modern extraction. The Bedouins
intermarry among themselves; but it is difficult for a townsman to
obtain a Bedouin girl; the daughters of the principal families are
given to none but Bedouins. The latter inhabit the suburbs El Geyf;
the towns-people live upon the island.
The government of Souakin is in the hands of the Emir el Hadherebe,
who is chosen from among the first families of the tribe; these are
five in number, and are distinguished from the others by the Bisharye
word Orteyga, which means Patricians. The jurisdiction of El Geyf
is in the hands of the Emir, but his authority over the Bedouins
is trifling, though he presides in their councils. He is nominally
dependent upon the Pasha of Djidda, but his conduct is regulated by
the strength or weakness of his superior. When the Sherif Ghaleb
held Djidda, and was hard pressed on all sides by the Wahabi, the
Emir was quite independent of the Sherif; since the conquest of the
Hedjaz by Mohammed Aly, Pasha of Egypt, he has entered into terms
with the Pasha. He is confirmed annually in his office by whoever
happens to be governor of Djidda, and is generally invested with
the power of collecting in the Geyf the customs which the Hadherebe
levy upon the caravans from the interior. For several years he had
paid nothing for this privilege to the Sherif; at present his fear
of Aly Pasha leads him to purchase the collectorship annually at the
rate of about forty ounces of gold, or eight hundred Spanish dollars.
The Emir has no insignia of royalty about him, except his
yellow Turkish slippers, which, according to ancient custom,
he is obliged to wear, and the small Takye, or Arabian bonnet;
these form a singular contrast with his Bedouin dress; and as it
is not thought decorous to wear the bushy Bedouin hair with the
bonnet, he is obliged also to shave his head. He has two or three
men attached to his establishment, as officers, or spies to find
out the exact number of slaves and merchandize imported by every
caravan. He resides in the Geyf, and is altogether different from
the Shikh of the Hadherebe, who has nothing whatever to do with the
Turkish government, being chosen merely for the administration of
their internal affairs.
The Turkish government is represented in Souakin by a custom house
officer, who lives on the island, and who bears the title of Aga. He
commands the town, but his influence is greatly circumscribed by
the power of the Hadherebe; it is at present even insignificant,
and before the conquest of Arabia by Mohammed Aly it must have
been held in great contempt. The Pasha of Djidda is also Waly
(والي) or governor of Souakin, and has therefore the right to
send a representative here; a right which has never been disputed by
the Souakinese, although they preserve the tradition that Souakin,
before it was annexed to Djidda, had its own Pasha, sent from
Constantinople. The Aga has no other means of maintaining the little
authority he possesses, than by living on good terms with the Emir,
whom he either permits, or aids to extort sums from weak individuals
in the Geyf, in order that he may receive the Emir’s assistance
in the collection of the customs on the island. During late years
the Aga has farmed the customs of the maritime commerce of Souakin,
and has paid annually into the treasury at Djidda three thousand two
hundred dollars for this privilege; it is supposed that he gains two
or three thousand dollars a year by it, and that this sum might be
doubled if the customs were strictly paid; but very little can ever
be obtained from the Hadherebe, who are the richest individuals. The
customs are levied upon all merchandize imported, principally India
goods and spices destined for the Soudan markets, and upon all the
imports from Soudan which are shipped at Djidda for other countries,
consisting chiefly of slaves, horses, and tobacco; two dollars are
paid on every slave, and three on every horse. Dhourra passes duty
free, as do the articles which remain in Souakin.
The Aga is either re-appointed, or a new one sent, annually. The
present Aga is a man of the name of Yemak (يمك), a native
of Djidda, whose father was a Hadji from Mosul, settled in the
Hedjaz. In the time of the Sherif, Yemak was the buffoon of the
court, and a broker in the market of Djidda. When Mohammed Aly
arrived, he ingratiated himself with the Osmanlis by means of his
scanty knowledge of their language, and after having served the Turks
as a mediator with, and spy upon the Sherif, he was appointed to his
present situation. He is a man of the meanest disposition, and has
rendered himself ridiculous by affecting to adopt the Osmanli customs
in such a place as Souakin; the titles of Khaznadar, Selehdar,
Kahwedji Bashy, Bash Keteb, &c. which are those of a Pasha’s
officers of treasurer, sword-bearer, cup-bearer, chief secretary,
&c.; are bestowed by him upon his miserable servants; young slaves
wait on him, in imitation of Mamelouk boys, and he talks with as much
consequence as a Pasha of three tails, intermixing his broad vulgar
Arabic dialect with a few Turkish expressions. The Aga has five or
six soldiers of the mercenaries of Yemen, such as are found in the
service of the Sherif of Mekka and of all the chiefs of Arabia;
they are paid by the Aga out of his own revenues; and they form
the only garrison of Souakin, whence it may easily be conceived
that the Turkish authority is little respected here. These soldiers
hardly dare stir out of the island, for fear of being insulted; and
the Aga himself, for obvious reasons, never enters the Geyf. When
any disputes happen, the Hadherebe generally interfere, and the
Aga is obliged to waive his authority. The Bedouins pay only half
the customs levied upon other traders; and I have often heard
them plainly tell the Aga that they had no money to pay more. The
soldiers who, during the night, are put into the ships anchored
under the Aga’s windows to watch for smugglers, frequently get
a beating or a ducking: even the Aga is insulted in his own house;
yet he bears it all with complacency, and tells the people that if
he were not so much their friend, he would write thundering letters
to the Pasha, and draw a terrible storm upon their heads. When
the Bedouin who has insulted him is gone, he curses him behind
his back in Turkish, and vents his rage upon his own servants:
he one day said to me, when a Bedouin, who in the heat of dispute
had called him a liar (انت كذاب), had just left the room,
“You see me put up with these people; but they will at last learn
to know the resentment of the Turkish government, for the vengeance
of the Turks when once exerted is terrible. I continue to ward off
the arm of vengeance from them, because if the Pasha were to send
an expedition, the whole place would be ruined, and many innocent
individuals would perish.” In fact, were it not for their secret
apprehensions of such an expedition from Djidda, which might with
the greatest ease suddenly fall upon them and destroy both towns,
this people would, no doubt, throw off all submission, and publicly
assert their independence. But the smallest brig of war might compel
the place to surrender. About twenty or thirty years since a Pasha
of Djidda sent hither a corps of about two hundred soldiers, who
plundered the Geyf; they were afterwards besieged for some time by
the Bedouins, in the governor’s house, and adjoining buildings,
but they contrived at last to get off with their booty. The Wahabi,
after the conquest of Mekka, sent two commissioners to Souakin,
to exhort the people to embrace the doctrines of their chief; but
they were not permitted to proceed to Geyf, and were obliged soon
to re-embark. During the power of the Wahabi the people of Souakin
were allowed to trade with Djidda; but Saoud, the Wahabi chief,
who had seen several of them at Mekka, with their bushy hair white
with grease, obliged them to cover their heads with a handkerchief,
like the Arabian Bedouins.
The Hadherebe, and the Bedouins of Souakin, have exactly the same
features, language, and dress, as the Nubian Bedouins. They are
clothed chiefly in the Dammour imported from Sennaar; but the better
classes of both sexes wear the Nubian shirt, made of Indian cambric;
they have, however, one dress, which is seldom seen in other parts of
Nubia; it consists of a long piece of cambric, one end of which is
wrapped round the loins, while the other, thrown across the breast
and left shoulder, hangs loosely down over the back, leaving the
legs, and the greater part of the upper body, entirely naked: this
is the favourite negligé of the Hadherebe; and if to it be added
a handsome pair of sandals, three or four large amulets hanging
over the left elbow, like those worn in the countries on the Nile,
a sword and Korbadj in the hands, the thick and bushy hair white
with grease, and a long wooden skewer sticking in it, to scratch the
head with, the whole will afford a tolerable picture of a Souakin
Bedouin. In general they have handsome and expressive features, with
thin and very short beards. Their colour is of the darkest brown,
approaching to black, but they have nothing of the Negroe character
of countenance. They are a remarkably stout and muscular race.
The inhabitants of Souakin have no other pursuit than that of
commerce, either by sea, or with Soudan. They export the commodities
which they receive from the African continent, to all the harbours
of the Hedjaz and Yemen, down to Mokha, but chiefly to Djidda
and Hodeyda. In Djidda they have a quarter of the town allotted
exclusively to themselves, where they live in huts made of rushes,
like those of El Geyf. Many of the Hadherebe Bedouins, after visiting
Sennaar, perform the journey to the Arabian coast, but others sell
their African merchandize to the traders in Souakin, by whom they
are exported to Arabia. Besides the articles of trade from Shendy
and Sennaar; namely, slaves, gold, tobacco, incense, and ostrich
feathers, no ship leaves Souakin for any part of the Arabian coast,
without having its hold filled with Dhourra from Taka; and they
furnish nearly the whole of the Hedjaz with water-skins, leathern
sacks, and leather in hides; the water-skins are bought up in the
five principal towns of the Hedjaz, as well as in the open country;
the sacks are bought by the Bedouins only, who use them to carry
their provisions in. These articles form a very profitable branch
of trade, for as cattle in general is very scarce in the Hedjaz,
from the want of pasturage, and as great numbers of water-skins are
wanted for the pilgrims to Mekka, the skin sowed up is worth as much
at Djidda as the sheep is worth at Souakin. They are also exported,
but in smaller quantities, to the Yemen; and I have seen them in
the market of Suez; they are preferred to all other water-skins,
on account of the well-tanned leather and the excellence of the
sewing. The hides are tanned as in Upper Egypt, and along the
Nile with the pulse of the acacia, which I have frequently had
occasion to mention (الجلود مدبوغين بالقَرَض El
djeloud madboughin b’el karad.) All the Bedouins in the vicinity
of Souakin, sell their hides in the market there, and take Dhourra
in return. The leather and cow-hides which are exported to Djidda,
are used in Arabia to make sandals; but the best hides imported into
the Hedjaz come from Massouah. Souakin also exports _butter_[70]
to Djidda. During the Hadj, both Mekka and Djidda principally depend
upon Souakin and Massouah for this article; its consumption is very
great in those places, where it is used by all ranks, and where
the poorest man will expend half his daily income in order to have
plenty of butter to his dinner, and that he may drink at least a
quarter of a pound of it every morning for his breakfast. While I
resided at Djidda butter rose to one half above its usual price,
because two ships loaded with it from Massouah had sold their
cargoes in the Yemen, instead of proceeding to Djidda. _Mats_ made
of Doum-leaves, of which every ship takes a quantity; they are in
general use throughout the Hedjaz and Yemen, where Doum trees are
scarce, and where few people condescend to earn a livelihood by
manual labour. The floors of the mosques at Mekka and Medina are
covered with these mats, which are renewed almost annually by the
donations of the pilgrims; and few Hadjis quit Mekka without taking
with them a very small neatly made Souakin mat, in the shape of a
carpet, for the purpose of kneeling upon when they pray. The mats are
manufactured by the Bedouins in the mountains near Souakin. A small
_shell-fish_, very common on the African coast, is also exported
to Djidda. It is eaten chiefly by children and poor people; it
is called Sorúmbak (سُرُمباق), and is supposed, from its
astringent properties, to be a remedy for the dysentery. Dhourra,
water-skins, and mats are exported also to Hodeyda, in the Yemen,
which is the principal market for the horses brought by the Souakin
merchants from the Nile countries. I have already mentioned that
the Sherif of Yemen eagerly purchases African stallions to remount
his cavalry; a horse worth about twenty-five dollars at Shendy,
is sold at Hodeyda at one hundred or one hundred and fifty; but the
risks are great, and many of the horses die during the passage from
want of proper care on board the small country ships. Dromedaries
of the Bisharye race, which is the finest in existence, are put on
board the larger ships, and carried to Djidda. If they arrive safe,
they are sold at from sixty to eighty dollars each, or about eight
times the sum paid for them at Souakin; but half at least of those
embarked die on the passage; the freight for each is ten dollars.
At Djidda the Souakin merchants purchase all the Indian goods wanted
for the African markets, together with those articles of luxury
which are in demand in Souakin; such as dresses and ornaments for
the women, household utensils, and several kinds of provision for the
table, such as Indian sugar, coffee beans, onions, and particularly
dates, which are not produced in any part of Eastern Nubia. A good
deal of iron is likewise imported from Djidda, for lances and knives;
they are manufactured by common smiths, who are the only artisans I
saw in Souakin, except masons and carpenters, and who furnish these
weapons to all the Bedouins in a circuit of fifteen days journey.
Few foreign vessels, as I was informed, ever enter the harbour of
Souakin except from stress of weather. The trade by sea is carried on
principally with ships belonging to people of Souakin and Djidda, who
are almost entirely occupied in sailing between the two coasts. No
week passes without some vessel arriving from Djidda, or sailing
for that port. During my stay only one ship sailed for Hodeyda,
and another for Mokha, and nine for Djidda; the ship for Mokha was
laden with a considerable part of the slaves who had come with us
in the caravan from Shendy, for natives of Souakin are settled in
most of the towns of the Yemen, where they act as agents for their
countrymen. One ship arrived from Djidda, and a small boat from
Loheya; there were besides four or five vessels in the harbour, bound
for the Arabian coast. These ships are often manned by Bedouins,
who are as expert in handling the rigging, as they are in tying the
ropes of their camels loads; but the greater part of the sailors
are Somaulys from the African coast lying between Abyssinia and
Cape Guardafui, and who are the most active mariners in the Red
Sea. The pilot is usually a man from Djidda or Yemen. The people
of Souakin are active fishermen, and have a dozen small fishing
boats constantly at sea. Fish is always found in the market, but
very few Bedouins will touch it. Pearls are sometimes found in
the neighbourhood by the fishermen. Souakin, upon the whole, may
be considered as one of the first slave-trade markets in Eastern
Africa; it imports annually from Shendy and Sennaar from two to
three thousand slaves, equalling nearly in this respect Esne and
Siout in Egypt, and Massouah in Abyssinia, where, as I afterwards
learnt at Djidda, there is an annual transit from the interior of
about three thousand five hundred slaves. From these four points,
from the southern harbours of Abyssinia, and from the Somauly and
Mozambik coast, it may be computed that Egypt and Arabia draw an
annual supply of fifteen or twenty thousand slaves brought from
the interior of Africa.
The market of Souakin is held in the Geyf, in an open space
surrounded by huts, where almost the same articles are exposed for
sale as at Shendy. All the surrounding Bedouins take from hence
their supplies of Dhourra and Dammour, in exchange for hides; the
selling of Dhourra to the northern Bedouins is very advantageous to
the Hadherebe and Hadendoa, who have an exclusive intercourse with
Taka. At the market of El Geyf I saw for the first time after four
months, Dhourra loaves for sale; these with butter form the only food
of the poor classes in the town. In all small concerns, the currency
is Dhourra, which is measured by handfuls or with the same sized
Moud as at Shendy: for greater bargains dollars are used. Neither
the piastre, nor the para, nor the gold coins of Turkey are taken:
but they have old paras cut into four parts, which are paid for
articles of little value. Sales to a large amount are paid by Wokye,
or the ounce of gold, which has its fixed value in dollars.
The manners of the people of Souakin are the same as those I have
already described in the interior, and I have reason to believe that
they are common to the whole of Eastern Africa, including Abyssinia,
where the character of the inhabitants, as drawn by Bruce, seems
little different from that of these Nubians. I regret that I am
compelled to represent all the nations of Africa which I have yet
seen, in so bad a light. Had I viewed them superficially I might have
been scrupulous in giving so decided an opinion, but having travelled
in a manner which afforded me an intimate acquaintance with them,
I must express my conviction that they are all tainted more or less
deeply with ill faith, avarice, drunkenness, and debauchery. The
people of Souakin partake of these vices with their neighbours of the
desert, and in cruelty surpass them. My not being ill treated by the
Souakin merchants in the caravan must not be adduced as a proof of
their kindness of disposition. The secret fears of the Turks, which
the entrance of Mohammed Aly into the Hedjaz had generally inspired,
together with the apprehension of being brought to an account,
if it should be known at Souakin and Djidda, that an Osmanly[71]
had been ill-treated by them, were probably a powerful protection
to me, although not a motive sufficient to induce them to shew me
the smallest kindness on the route. I do not recollect a single
instance of their condescending to assist me in loading my camel,
or filling my water skin, of interpreting for me, or of rendering
me any of those little services which travellers are in the habit
of interchanging: on the contrary, they obliged me, on different
occasions, to furnish them with provisions and water; and in the
evening their slaves were often sent to me to ask for a part of
my supper for their masters, or to demand permission for the slave
to eat with mine, under pretence that he had not had time to cook
his supper. The intimacy of the people of Souakin with the Nubian
Bedouins, and the unsettled state of their own government, have been
the principal causes of their degenerating from the character of
their Arabian ancestors. They have every where on the coast of the
Red Sea, the character of avarice and ingratitude, or, to use the
expression of an Arab of Yembo: “Though you give them water from
the holy well of Zemzem to drink when they are thirsty, yet they will
suffer you to choke with thirst even when their own wells are full”
(حَتَّي اذا سقينهم من مأ زمزم فليخّلوك
تموت من الظما و لو كان بير هم مليان); and
this character is confirmed by the testimony of all those who have
had an opportunity of observing them in their houses. At Souakin,
the law of the strongest alone is respected, and it is impossible
to carry on business without purchasing the protection of some
powerful Hadherebe. Every day some bloody quarrel takes place
among them. Their bodies, principally their backs, are covered
with scars; and a man, far from being reproached as a murderer,
prides himself in the number of persons he has slain in private
quarrels, and the sums he has paid as the price of blood. Three
or four years ago a slave belonging to one of the chiefs of the
Hadherebe spread terror through the whole town. He was superior to
every body in strength, as well as in courage and enterprise; and
after committing the most horrible crimes, and murdering upwards
of twenty persons, he quitted his master, who through fear still
continued to protect him. He was at last killed by a youth, whose
mother he had attempted to ravish. While I was sitting one day with
the Aga, a poor sailor entered with a fresh sword-wound in his side,
begging the Aga to protect him from a Hadherebe, who was attempting
his life. The Aga advised him to make up the matter amicably, and
gave him two measures of Dhourra to console him. Hospitality is
as little known here as at Taka. Bouza huts and public women are
as common as in any part of Nubia; but I do not believe that any
Hadherebe woman dares openly to prostitute herself. The druggists
shops in the market are kept exclusively by public women, who are
Abyssinian slaves restored by their masters to liberty. All the
women in El Geyf go unveiled; those who reside on the island are
veiled, and clothed like the women of Arabia.
There is one coffee-house on the island, where all matters of
importance are settled among the towns-people and the Hadherebe. The
coffee is paid for in Dhourra. The communication between the Geyf
and the island is by rafts; a handful of Dhourra is paid to the man
who manages the raft; but even this trifling fare the Souakin people
are seldom willing to pay; they strip, and fastening their cloak,
sandals, and sword upon their head, they swim across the channel,
in the same manner as the Egyptians cross the Nile. They are the most
expert swimmers I ever saw, and are particularly skilful in keeping
the body, as high as the top of the shoulder, in an upright posture
in the water, while they work their way with their lower extremities,
as if they were walking on firm ground, and almost as fast.[72]
The Bisharye language is generally spoken at Souakin; the Arabic,
though understood by every one in the Geyf, is spoken there with a
bad accent, but the inhabitants of the town speak it as their native
language, and with the Djidda pronunciation. Among the neighbouring
Hadendoas, who bring butter and sheep to the market of El Geyf,
I saw many individuals entirely ignorant of Arabic.