for their horses. The purchaser states the price he is willing to
give, and the owner, without explaining the sum he wants, replies
to every bidding by the word Hot (حط, give or set down,) till
the bidder has reached the price which he has fixed in his own mind.]
[Footnote 81: Thus they say, “We crossed over the sea on such a
day” (نحن كورّنا البحر يوم الفلاني)—and
again, “We started from Djebel to cross over to Djidda (نحن
كورّنا من الجبل الي جدّه). In the northern parts
of the Red Sea they use, instead of the second expression, the verb
دفع, and say, “We started from Ras Mohammed to cross over to
the western continent (نحن دفعنا من راس محمّد
الي البَّر الغربي).]
[Footnote 82: These unfortunate Tekaýrne were two days and a
half in reaching Djidda; one of their women and a boy, perished
of thirst by the way, and the remainder of the party arrived in an
exhausted state: they uttered bitter complaints against the sailors
for their falsehood.]
* * * * *
APPENDIX.
* * * * *
APPENDIX. No. I.
* * * * *
_Itinerary from the Frontiers of Bornou, by Bahr el Ghazal,
and Darfour to Shendy._
From Bornou towards Bahr el Ghazal, lies Dar Katakou (دار
كتاكو); its king is tributary to the king of Bornou, who resides
at Birney (برني).[1] The principal districts of Katakou, which
have all their own chiefs, are Dar Mandara (منضره); Dar Mekry
(مكري); Dar Ankala (انكالا); Dar Afady (افَدي); Dar
Kolfey (كلفي). The Bedouin tribes in Katakou, are Beni Hassan[2]
(بني حسن); Oulad Abou Khedheyr (اولاد ابو خضير);
El Nedjeymé (النجيمه); El Fellate (الفلّاته);
Beni Seid (بني صيد); Essalamat (السلامت); El Kobbar
(الكبّار); El Aouy Sye (العويسيه); Om Ibrahim
(ام ابراهيم); El Adjayfe (العجايفه). All these
tribes pay tribute to Bornou; and all pretend to draw their origin
from Arabia. Some of them speak the Bornou language, while others,
as the Beni Hassan, Essalamat, Om Ibrahim, speak only Arabic. The
strongest among them are the Fellate. They are often at war with the
king of Bornou, and have, in later times, it should seem, extended
their influence over the northern limits of Soudan, quite across
the continent, for they are also in great strength at Timbuctou;
and about ten years ago conquered, and half ruined Kashna. Their
chief force is cavalry, and their chiefs dress in robes of coloured
cloth or silk.
Between Katakou and Bahr el Ghazal, flows the great river called
Shary (شاري), in a direction, as far as I could learn, from
N.E. to S.W.,[3] towards Bagerme, but its source was unknown. It is
represented to be as large as the Nile, full of fish, and abounding
with crocodiles, hippopotami, and an animal called Om Kergay (ام
قرغي), said to be as large as the rhinoceros, with a very small
head and mouth, but harmless. Its banks are inhabited by elephants,
rhinoceroses, lions, and giraffas. The Bahr Djad (بحر جاد)
a considerable stream, runs into the Shary, besides several smaller
ones. The tribe Abou Khedheyr reside chiefly on its banks, which are
also visited in the summer by the other Bedouins, for the purpose
of pasturing their cattle. From the limits of Bornou to Bahr Shary
is fifteen days slow march, in the direction of the Kebly.[4]
The route from Bahr Shary to Bahr el Ghazal is in the same direction.
The Bahr el Ghazal (بحر الغزال) is a wide extent of low
ground without any mountains: it is called Bahr (i. e. sea, or
river), and also Wady, because tradition reports, that in ancient
times a large river flowed through it. Rice grows wild; elephants
are in great numbers, and all the other wild beasts above mentioned
are found in it. It is inhabited only during the rainy season, and
the months immediately following it, by Bedouins, who there pasture
vast herds of cows, camels, and sheep (the latter without wool
like those of Shendy), and who retire, in the dry season, towards
the limits of Katakou, Bagerme, and Dar Saley. They purchase the
Dhourra necessary for their consumption in Dar Saley and Bagerme;
and in the latter place they also procure the blue and red striped
cotton stuffs there manufactured, for which they give in exchange
cows, the general currency of the country in all large bargains;
a fine slave girl is there worth ten cows. All these Bedouins,
as well as those of Katakou, are Mussulmans, and the greater
part of them speak nothing but Arabic. They have a good breed of
horses, which they mount in their wars; their weapons are lances,
and a few two-edged swords of German manufacture, like those used
in Nubia and Abyssinia; coats of mail, worth twenty cows each,
are frequent among them; they ride mares only. They live in huts
(Ishash عِشَش) made of rushes and brushwood, and intermarry
with the people of Bornou, Bagerme, and Saley. There is no trade in
their country, which is not visited by any caravans; and it is not
unusual to see heaps of elephants tusks collected, which no body
carries away. These Bedouins are sometimes visited by Sherifs from
the Hedjaz, who come by the way of Sennaar and Darfour, in order
to solicit alms of the chiefs of the tribes, who respect them
as descendants of the family of the Prophet. The chiefs, every
three or four years, pay tribute to Bornou, consisting of horses,
camels, and slaves. A man who possesses fifty cows, two camels,
and a mare, is considered to be poor. Spanish dollars are found
amongst them, but not as a currency. The law of retaliation is
in full force. Among the Beni Hassan the price of blood (Azzeye,
الذيه) is two hundred cows, if a stranger kills one of them,
or one hundred, if an Arab of the same tribe is the murderer,
a distinction which is also made in Arabia. Few people among them
read and write, or are Fakys; those who aspire to that name, study
in the schools of Bagerme, Katakou, and Saley, and are held in great
reverence by their countrymen. The place nearest to the Shary in
the Bahr el Ghazal, is Kanem (كانم), four days distant; it is
a large district inhabited by the tribes of Tendjear (تنجر)
and Beni Wayl[5] (بني وايل); they have their own language,
and speak no Arabic. Between Kanem and Shary is the Dar Karka
(داركاركا), which forms no part of the Bahr el Ghazal;
it is inhabited by the Bedouins Kory (كوري), who pasture their
cattle on the banks of a large river, called Bahr el Feydh (بحر
الفيض), i. e. the inundating river, from its periodical risings,
and which empties itself into the Shary. The Kory have a breed of
very large cows, with horns two feet long.
The principal tribe in the Bahr el Ghazal is that of Beni Hassan,
who pretend to be from the Hedjaz, and who assert that the Sherif
Rashouan is their forefather. They are related to the Beni Hassan
in Katakou. They speak no other language than Arabic, are of a deep
brown colour, and have lips rather thick, but nothing else of the
Negroe character; their hair is not woolly. They are subdivided into
the tribes Daghana (دَغَنَه), which inhabits close to Kanem;
Oulad Mehareb (اولاد محارب); Oulad Serar (اولاد
سرار); Oulad Ghanem (اولاد غانم); Oulad Abou Aisa
(اولاد ابو عيسي), and El Aszalé (الاصالع). In
the district occupied by the Daghana, is a place called Mezrag
(مزراق), in which is a fresh-water lake (بحر ما حلو,
Bahr ma halou), two days journies in length, and half a day in
breadth; it is called Wady Hadaba (وادي هدبا), and is always
filled with water. The Bedouins of Bahr el Ghazal are continually
moving about. Three or four days from them, on the northern side,
live Negroe tribes of infidels, who have many languages; as El
Kareyda (القريده); El Keshreda (الكشرده); El Nouarme
(النوارمه); El Famallah (الفامالله); the Arabs
of Bahr el Ghazal often make predatory incursions among them,
and drive away their children as slaves. If we had fire-locks,
said my informant, we should soon be able to subdue them entirely.
Four or five days from Bahr el Ghazal lies Bagerme (باكرمه),
a country lately conquered by the king of Saley; its inhabitants have
a language of their own, but are all Mussulmans; their manufactories
of cotton stuff furnish the whole of the eastern part of Soudan,
with the stuff of which the people make their shirts. Once in two or
three years caravans of Fakys go from Bagerme to Afnou, a journey
of twenty or twenty-five days, to sell their stuffs; but they are
often obliged to fight their way through the idolatrous tribes on
the road. In Bagerme are the Bedouins Essalamat (السلامات);
Oulad Abou Dhou (اولاد ابو ضو); Fullatem (فلّاتم);
Oulad Ahmad (اولاد احمد); not Oulad Ahmed; Oulad Aly[6]
(اولاد علي), who speak Arabic.
From Kanem there is a road to Fittre (فتره) a journey of eight
days. From Kanem to the Bedouins called Oulad Hameid (اولاد
حميد) is three days; through the district of the Hameid two days;
and from thence to Fittre three days. Another road leads from Fittre
to Megrag, near the lake Hadaba, a journey of ten days. The Arabs of
Fittre are Belale (بلاله), who inhabit nearest to the Bahr el
Ghazal; Djaathene (جاعثنه);[7] El Heleylat(الحليلات);
El Khozam (الخزام). The road between Fittre and Bahr el
Ghazal is inhabited by Bedouins only in the rainy season. The
only travellers who pass through these districts are a few Negroe
pilgrims, who follow the wandering tribes in their slow and irregular
movements, proceeding from tribe to tribe till they reach Saley,
where they join the caravans of merchants.
From Fittre to Dar Saley (دار صليح), are three days
journey. The Arabs Beni Hassan, in the Bahr el Ghazal, turn
their faces towards Dar Saley when they pray. The King of Saley,
Abd el Kerim, nick-named Saboun, _Soap_, (عبد الكريم
صابون) is, next to those of Darfour and Bornou, the most
potent prince in the eastern part of Soudan,[8] and has conquered
several of the neighbouring states. Mekka is visited annually
by pilgrims from his dominions. The Bedouin inhabitants in Dar
Saley, are Mehameid (محاميد); Nowadiéh (نواديه);
Beni Hellyé (بني حليه); El Masirieh (المسيريه);
El Fawalé[9] (الفواله); Essalamat (السّلامات);
Esshorafa (الشّرفه); El Aszalé (الاصالع); El Heymat
(الحيمات); Oulad Rashed (اولاد راشد).[10]
The soil of Saley is well cultivated, and sown with grain after the
rains; the country is full of villages, with houses built of mud,
like those of Shendy; and many of the above mentioned Bedouins have
become settlers and cultivators. One of the principal villages in
Dar Saley is called Kauka (كَوكا). There are many schools in the
country; the Fakys, as well of Saley as of the countries to the east
of it, all write the eastern Arabic Nuskhy character (خط نسخي),
though very much corrupted; while those to the west and north
have uniformly adopted the Moggrebyn character (خط الغرب),
which differs in several of its letters from the eastern Arabic;
this I know from my own observation, and I think it worth noticing.
There are two routes from Dar Saley to Darfour. The shorter one
leads over a hilly country, and a barren desert; there are three
long days journeys from the farthest limits of Saley to the Dar
Beni Mohammed (دار بني محمّد), a district of Bedouins
belonging to Darfour. But travellers seldom use this road, because
it is infested by robbers of both countries; they prefer a longer,
but safer journey through a country where they meet with many
rivulets. From Saley they proceed along the banks of the river
Oulad Rashed (بحر اولاد راشد), next along those of the
river Abou Redjeyle (بحر ابو رجيله), and further on by
those of the river Om Etteymam (بحر ام التّمام). The
borders of all these rivers are populous, and cultivated, and the
grain Dhoken is plentiful there. From the last mentioned river
they reach, in three days, Dar Rouka (رُكا), and from thence
cross an uninhabited district of fifteen days to Darfour. This is
a safe road, but as there is no water whatever in this district,
it is crossed only in the rainy season, or immediately after
it; it is full of trees, among which is the Nebek, the Erdeyb
(شجر العرديب) which bears the Tamarind; the ebony tree
(بابانومو), which is very common; and also a tree called
Djerdjak (جرجق), from which a kind of honey is extracted. As
the Kings of Darfour and Saley are generally at war with each other,
their respective officers are stationed at both extremities of the
desert, who search the goods of the merchants and pilgrims, and
confiscate every kind of fire arms, and all horses; the traveller
suffers greatly from their rapacity. In travelling from Saley,
the first district of Darfour which is entered, is that of Taayshe
(تعايشه); from thence to Kobbe is five days, and from Kobbe
to Dar Essoltáne, or the residence of the king, one day.
The Bedouin inhabitants of Darfour are the Mehameid (محاميد);
Areykat (عريقات); Djeleydat (جليدات); Zeyadye
(زياديه); Beni Djella (بني جلّه); Taayshe
(تعايشه); and Djeheyne[11] (جهينه); they bring gum
arabic, Tamarinds, ostrich feathers, and ivory, to the market of
the slave-traders.
From the Dar Essoltáne to the village of Ako (اكو) is four days
journey, through an inhabited country; between Ako and the frontiers
of Kordofan extends a desert of eight days, over which there are two
roads; by the one the traveller proceeds straight across the desert,
but finds no water; by the other he proceeds two days from Ako to
a place called Armen (ارمن), inhabited by Arabs, where water
is found, and from thence he crosses the waterless track in seven
days. But this is a dangerous route on account of the incursions of
the Arabs Bedeyat (عرب بديات), the same who often way-lay the
Darfour caravans to Egypt. Both roads terminate on the frontiers of
Kordofan at one point, at a village called Om Zemeyma (زميما),
from whence the caravans proceed through a cultivated and fertile
country for three days to El Obeydh (الاُبيض), the capital
of Kordofan.
Kordofan is at present under the jurisdiction of Darfour; its King,
who is called Mosellim, was formerly a slave of the King of Darfour;
he is praised for his justice, but it is said he would gladly act
otherwise, were it not for fear of his master at Kobbe, in whose
name he governs; he resides at Obeydha, and keeps about five hundred
horsemen. There is also at Obeydha a king of the Tekaýrne (مك
التكارنه), as he is styled; he is a native of Bornou, and
a Tekroury himself; his jurisdiction extends over all the foreign
traders, from whom he levies a tribute. Obeydha is a large place,
but with few houses; the far greater part of the inhabitants live
in huts made of bushes, to which is annexed a court yard enclosed
by hedges. They are active traders, and also cultivators of the
soil, their principal grain is Dokhen; and Bamyes and red pepper
are common.
The Bedouins of Kordofan are called Bakara, from their rearing great
numbers of cows, Bakar (بكر). The principal tribes are Moteyeye
(متييه); Hamma (حمّاي); Djeleydat (جليدات); Djerar
(جرار); Kobabeish (قبابيش); Feysarah (فيساره),
who bring the best ostrich feathers to the market of Obeydha; Zyade
(زياده); Beni Fadhel (بني فضل); Maaly (معالي), and
on the south-east limits of Kordofan, and subject to it, lives a
strong tribe called Ghyatene (غياتنه). They all speak Arabic
exclusively, but intermarry with the free-born inhabitants of
Obeydha and the surrounding villages, whose language is the idiom
of Darfour. The Djerar, Kobabeish, and Feysara live to the north
and north-east, and in winter time render the roads to Dóngola and
Shendy dangerous. The Beni Fadhel and Maaly live on the route from
Obeydha to Shilluk on the way to Sennaar; they supply the best Leban
(لبان), or incense. During the summer all these tribes approach
the cultivated ground in search of pasture for their cattle. They
have all good breeds of horses, are warlike, and are dreaded by the
chief of Kordofan. Many of them have become settlers and cultivators;
many Djaalein also have done the same, but these live chiefly on the
borders of the Nile. The manners of Kordofan appear to be similar
to those of Darfour, and differ little from those of Shendy.
From Obeydha the traveller proceeds three days through an inhabited
country, to the large village of Douma (الدومه) which is
entirely inhabited by Djaalein Arabs; and from thence three days
more to Om Ganater (ام قناطر) where duties are levied on the
caravans which arrive there from Shendy, by an officer appointed by
the Mek of Kordofan; they are levied in a very arbitrary manner;
and amount to about five per cent.; the goods are all closely
searched. On quitting Om Ganater the desert is entered, and on the
second day the traveller arrives at a mountain called Abou Dhober
(ابو ضبر), standing in the midst of sands; it is inhabited by
Noubas and a few people from Dóngola, who are in possession of deep
wells, the water of which they sell to the passing caravans. From
thence to the Nile, opposite to Shendy, is a desert without water
of five or six days, but with Wadys of trees, and inhabited in the
rainy season by Bedouins.
Kordofan is a complete Oasis, being separated on all sides from
the neighbouring countries by deserts of six days extent, except
that of Shilluk, which is only four.
I have reason to believe that this Itinerary is very exact. I might
have extended it, but not with the same certainty or accuracy; I
could occupy many pages with the most plausible statements respecting
countries in the interior of Africa; for a Tekroury, if asked, is
never at a loss to answer; but very few of them are met with who
can be brought to any thing like accurate details. The route from
Dar Saley to Shendy was confirmed to me by great numbers of them.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: All reports agree that there is a great fresh-water
lake in the interior of Bornou, on the west side of which the city of
Birney is said to be built. The size of this lake cannot be so easily
determined by hearsay, for the statements respecting its length vary
from four to fifteen days. Several large torrents are reported to
empty themselves into it, and it contains many islands. On its east
side dwell idolatrous nations, the most numerous of which are the
Voey. The name of the lake is Nou, and from it the country derives
the name of Bornou (برنو), or the land of Nou.]
[Footnote 2: I received this Itinerary at Mekka from one of the
Beni Hassan, a remarkably shrewd young man, who knew the whole of
the Koran by heart. He was of the darkest brown colour, somewhat
approaching to a copper tinge; his features were decidedly Arab,
having nothing of the Negroe in them.]
[Footnote 3: At Medina I met with another man from the Beni Hassan,
who was well acquainted with the one above mentioned; he confirmed
the accuracy of the Itinerary, but insisted that the Shary flowed
from south to north.]
[Footnote 4: In questioning Mussulman Negroes about bearings, the
only mode of obtaining a satisfactory answer, is to ask them what
country or town they had before or behind them, or on either side
of them, when they prayed at a certain place. The bearing of the
Kebly, or Mekka, is tolerably well known all over Africa, and much
attended to in praying, and it forms a much more certain point to
reckon from than either the quarter of the rising or setting sun.]
[Footnote 5: The Aeneze, the most powerful Bedouin tribe of Arabia,
deduce their origin from the Beni Wayl.]
[Footnote 6: In the Lybian desert between Cairo and Siwah, and
extending as far as Derne, is a potent tribe of Moggrebyn Bedouins,
called Oulad Aly, who draw their origin from the Would Aly, a branch
of the Aeneze tribe in the Arabian desert.]
[Footnote 7: A tribe of Djaathene lives in the mountains of Yemen.]
[Footnote 8: It should seem that the Negroes themselves, (not the
slave-traders, who call the whole of the Black country Soudan,)
give this name to the countries west of Bagerme.]
[Footnote 9: On the east side of the Nile, between Esne and Edfou,
is a small tribe of Arab peasants, called El Fawalé.]
[Footnote 10: All the Bedouins of Soudan, of whom I have seen
many individuals, differ entirely in colour and features from
the aborigines, approaching more to the Arab cast: the aborigines
are of the deepest black; but they are divided into two distinct
races; the free Mohammedan blacks, who, though evidently of Negroe
origin, have features not entirely Negroe; and the Negroe slaves,
from the idolatrous countries, who have never mixed with Arabs,
and therefore retain the true African features. The former by
continually intermarrying with the Bedouin Arabs, their conquerors,
have now become intimately intermixed with them; but no man of
Bedouin extraction in any part of Africa ever marries a girl whose
parents were not free people.]
[Footnote 11: A tribe of Djeheyne still flourishes in the Hedjaz. At
Cairo I met with a Djeheyne of Darfour, who told me that they were
both Bedouins and husbandmen.]
APPENDIX. No. II.
* * * * *
_Some Notices on the Countries of Soudan west of Darfour, with
Vocabularies of the Borgo and Bornou Languages; collected at Cairo
from Negroe Pilgrims, in the winter of 1816-17._
In the preceding Itinerary, I have mentioned Dar Szaleyh, or
Seleyh, or Saley. Dar Szeleyh (دار صليح) is the name used
by the natives themselves. The people of Darfour and Kordofan give
to it the name of Borgo (بُرقو). Their northern neighbours
of Bornou and Fezzan, and the Moggrebyn merchants, call it Waday
(واداي). Similar instances of different names applied to the
same country are not unfrequent in Soudan. Horneman makes the
same observation. Next to Bornou and Darfour, Dar Saley is the
most important country in eastern Soudan. It is said to be a flat
country, with few mountains. In the rainy season, which usually
lasts two months, large inundations are formed in many places,
and large and rapid rivers then flow through the country. After
the waters have subsided, deep lakes remain in various places
filled with water the whole year round, and sufficiently spacious
to afford a place of retreat to the hippopotami and crocodiles,
which abound in the country.
Mr. Browne has indicated in his map several rivers to the west of
Darfour; but I was told that none of them are large, except during
the rains. The principal of these streams is called Abou Teymam,
or Om Teymam, (ابو تيمام). According to a very general
custom in Soudan, of giving to the same river different names; it
is also called Djyr (جير), which in the Egyptian pronunciation,
sounds Gyr, and may perhaps be the _Gir_ of Ptolemy. The name of
Misselad was unknown to my informants. Elephants, rhinoceroses,
hippopotami, giraffas, and herds of wild buffaloes, are very common
in this country; there is another animal also, of the size of a cow,
with large horns, called Abou Orf (ابو عُرف). It is hunted by
horsemen for its meat and skin. When attacked, it lowers its head to
the ground, and then rushes furiously at the hunter, whom it often
kills or severely wounds as it raises its head, and strikes with its
horns. There is another species of horned animal, about the size
of a calf, called _Djalad_. The mountain goat (تيتل) Taytal,
(known by the same name in Upper Egypt) is also met with in the
mountains of Borgo. The tree Hedjyly grows there, bearing a sweet
fruit, much like a date. The wood, of which I have seen specimens,
is hard and heavy. The pilgrims write their prayers and charms upon
small boards made of it.