at the emerald mines in the desert of Kous, about three days journey
from that town.[76] Djaheth mentions that there are no other emerald
mines in the world, but in this spot. They are found in far extended
and dark caverns, into which they enter with lights and cords,[77]
for fear of going astray, and with these they trace their way
back. They dig for the emeralds with axes, and find them in the midst
of stones, surrounded by a substance[78] of less value, and inferior
in colour and brilliancy.[79] The extremities of Bedja touch upon
the confines of Habesh. The Bedja live in the midst of this island,
meaning the island of Egypt, as far as the shores of the salt sea,
and towards the island of Souakin, and Nadha, and Dahlak. They
are Bedouins, and fetch the herbs, wherever they grow, in leathern
sacks. They reckon lineage from the female side. Each clan has a
chief; they have no sovereign, and acknowledge no religion. With them
the son by the daughter, or the son by the sister, succeeds to the
property, to the exclusion of the true son, and they allege that the
birth of the daughter, or sister’s son, is more certain, because,
at all events, whether it is the husband or some one else who is the
father, he is always her son.[80] They had formerly a chief, upon
whom the minor chiefs depended, who lived at the village of Hedjer,
on the extremity of the island of Bedja. They ride choice camels,
of a reddish colour, the breed of which they rear, and the Arabian
camel is likewise there met with in great numbers. Their cows are
very handsome, and of various colours, with very large horns; others
without any horns; their sheep are spotted, and full of milk. Their
food is flesh and milk, with little cheese, though some of them
eat it. Their bodies are full grown, their stomachs emaciated,
their colour has a yellowish tinge. They are swift in running,
by which they distinguish themselves from other people. Their
camels are likewise swift and indefatigable, and patiently bear
thirst; they outrun horses with them, and fight on their backs,
and turn them round with ease. They perform journies which appear
incredible. In battle the Bedja pursue each other with their camels;
when they throw the lance, and it adheres, the camel flies after
it, and its master takes it again; but if the lance falls down,
the camel lowers its hinder parts to permit the master to take the
lance up from the ground. They are people of good faith; if any of
them has defrauded his guest, the latter holds up a shirt on the
end of his lance, and exclaims, “This is the tent-covering[81]
of such a one,” meaning the guilty; the people then abuse the
culpable until he satisfies the defrauded. They are very hospitable;
if a guest arrives they kill for him (a sheep); if there be more
than three people, they slaughter a camel of the nearest herd,
whether it belongs to them or to anyone else;[82] and if nothing
else is at hand, they kill the camel upon which the guest arrived,
and afterwards give him a better in return. Their arms are the
lances called Sebaye, with an iron point three peeks in length,
and a wooden shaft of four peeks, for which reason they are called
Sebaye.[83] The iron head is of the breadth of a sword. They very
seldom deposit these lances, but keep them always in their hands. On
the extremity of the wood is something like a handle, which prevents
it from slipping through the hand. These lances are made by women,
at a place where they have no intercourse with men, except with
those who come to buy the lances. If any of these women bears a
female child by one of these visitors, they permit it to live;
but if a male, they kill it, saying that all men are a plague and
a misfortune. Their shields are made of cow-skins full of hair;
and others of their shields, called Aksomye,[84] are inverted in
shape, and made of buffaloe skin, as are likewise the Dahlakye,[85]
or else of the skin of a sea animal.[86] Their bow is the Arabian
bow, large and thick, made of the wood of Seder and Shohat;[87]
they use with them poisoned arrows: their poison is made of the
root of the tree Falfa (or Galga), which is boiled over the fire,
until it dissolves into a glue. To try its efficacy, one of the
people scratches his skin, and lets the blood flow, if the blood,
upon being touched with the poison, is driven back, they know that
the poison is strong, and they wipe the blood off, that it may not
return into the body, and kill the person. If the arrow hits a man,
it kills him in an instant, even though the wound be not larger than
the scratch made in cupping; but it has no effect except in wounds,
and in blood, and it may be drank without any harm.
This country is full of mines; the higher it is ascended the richer
it is found to be in gold. There are mines of silver, copper,
iron, lead, loadstone, marcasite, Hamest,[88] emeralds, and a very
brittle stone, of which if a piece is rubbed with oil, it burns
like a wick; other similar productions are found in their researches
after gold; but the Bedja work none of these mines except those of
gold. In their valleys grow the tree Mokel, and the Ahlyledj,[89]
and the Adkher,[90] the Shyh,[91] Sena, Coloquintida,[92] Ban,[93]
and others. On the farthest confines of their country dates, and
vines, and odoriferous plants, and others, grow naturally. All
sorts of wild animals are seen here, as lions, elephants, tigers,
Fahed,[94] monkeys, Anak el Ardh,[95] civet cats, and a beautiful
animal resembling the Gazelle, with two horns of a golden colour;
it holds out but a short time when it is hunted.[96] Their birds are
the parrot, the Taghteit, the Nouby, the pigeon called Narein, the
Komary,[97] the Habesh fowl,[98] and others. Maribus omnibus in hâc
regione testiculorum dexter abstrahitur: præcisa autem fœminarum
labia pudendi, intensione primâ, ut medici dicunt, contrahuntur
et sibi invicem radicitùs adhærent: ante nuptias perforantur,
cum rima ad mensuram inguinis virilis efficitur. Hæc autem, quæ
jam rarior est, consuetudo, originem traxisse fertur ex antiquo
pacis fœdere, cum tyranno quodam inito, qui, ad gentem funditùs
delendam, universis imperavit, ut masculorum liberorum testiculos,
alterius autem sexûs mammas abscinderent: hi vero, diversâ
ratione, maribus quidem mammas, fœminis pudenda exsecabant. A
race of Bedja tear out their back teeth, alleging that they do
not wish to resemble asses. Another of their races living on the
extremity of their country is called Baza.[99] Among them all the
women are called by the same name, and so are the men. A Moslim
merchant[100] once travelled through their country, who happening to
be a handsome looking man, they called out to each other and said,
“this is God descended from heaven;” and they kept looking at
him from afar while he sat under a tree.[101] The serpents of this
country are large and of many different species: it is related that
a serpent was once lying in a pond, with its tail above water, and
that a woman who came in search of water looked at it, and died in
convulsions.[102] Here lives a serpent without a head, not large,
with both extremities (or sides) alike, and of a spotted colour. If
a person walks upon its track he dies; and if it is killed, and the
person takes into his hand the stick that killed it, he himself is
killed: one of these serpents was once killed by a stick, and the
stick split in two. If any of these serpents, whether alive or dead,
is looked at, the beholder will be hurt.
The Bedja country is always in commotion, and the people are prone to
mischief. During the Islam, and before that time, they had oppressed
the eastern banks of Upper Egypt, and had ruined many villages. The
Pharao kings of Egypt made incursions against them, and at other
times left them in peace, on account of their works at the gold
mines; and the Greeks did the same when they took Egypt. Remarkable
ruins of Greek origin are still to be seen at the mines, and their
people were in possession of these mines when Egypt was conquered
by the Moslims. Abderrahman Ibn Abdallah Ibn Abd el Hekham relates,
that when Abdallah Ibn Sayd Ibn Aly Sarh returned from the country
of Nouba, he met with the Bedjas on the banks of the Nile; he
asked them about their state, and they told him that they had no
king. Hearing this he scorned (going to war with) them, and left
them, without concluding a peace nor any treaty with them. The first
who concluded an engagement with them was Obeydullah Ibn el Hydjab,
to whom they agreed to pay yearly a tribute of three hundred female
camels, in order to be permitted, for the sake of trade, to repair
to Egypt, where they were never to take up their residence; that
they should kill neither Moslim nor any of their tributaries:[103]
that if they killed any, the treaty was to be void; that they
should not give refuge to any of the slaves of the Moslims; that
they should return whatever slave or cattle should have run away
and come to them; that fines were to be paid on that account, and
that for every sheep a Bedjawy took, he was to pay four dinars,
and for every cow, ten. An agent of theirs remained in Egypt,
as hostage in the hands of the Moslims. The Moslims at the mines
afterwards increased in number, they mixed with the Bedjas, and
intermarried with them, and many of the people called Hadharebe, who
are the principal and the primates of the nation, became Moslims, but
their faith was weak. These dwell from the nearest limits of their
country where it borders on Upper Egypt, to the Ollaky and Aidab,
from whence the sea is crossed to Djidda, and likewise beyond. With
them lives another race called Zenafedj, superior to the Hadharebe
in numbers, but subordinate to them; they serve as their guards,
and supply them with cattle. Every chief of the Hadharebe has
among his attendants people of the Zenafedj, like slaves, whom they
transmit in inheritance to their successors, although, formerly,
the Zenafedj were more powerful than themselves.[104]
The mischievous doings of the Bedjas against the Moslims afterwards
increased. At that time the governors of Assouan were from
Irak. Representations were made to the Emir of the true Believers,
El Mamoun, at whose command Abdallah Ibn Djahan set out against
them; he fought many battles with them, and then left them, and
a treaty passed between him and Kanoun, the chief of the Bedja,
who resided at the above mentioned village of Hedjer. This is the
copy of the letter: “This letter is written by Abdallah Ibn el
Djahan, the officer of the Emir of the True Believers, the chief of
the victorious army, the governor of the prince Aby Is-hak, son of
Er-rasheid, the Emir of the True Believers; (may God, prolong his
days!) In the first month of Rabya, in the year (A. H.) 216. It is
addressed to Kanoun Ibn Azyz, the chief of the Bedja, and written at
Assouan. “Thou hast asked me, and demandest from me, a safe conduct
for theyself and the people of Bedja, binding for all the Moslims,
I therefore grant it to thee, and promise thee this safe conduct,
as long as thou and thy people shall observe the conditions to which
thou bindest thyself in this letter; which are: That the plains
and mountains of thy country, from Assouan in Egypt to the country
between Dahlak and Nadha[105] shall belong to Mamoun Abdallah Ibn
Haroun Er-rasheid, the Emir of the true Believers, may the Almighty
increase his honours!—and thou and all thy people shall be slaves
of the Emir of the true Believers, so that he shall be called King
of the country, as thou art King of the Bedjas. Thou shalt pay an
annual tribute, as the Bedjas did formerly, which is to consist
either in one hundred camels or three hundred Dinars, full weight,
to the Beit el Mal,[106] at the option of the Emir of the true
Believers, or his governors, and thou shalt not purloin any part of
this tribute. If any one of you shall mention the name of Mohammed,
the Prophet of God, may his mercy be with him!—or of the book and
the religion of God, in a way in which it ought not to be mentioned;
or if any one kills a Moslim, free man or slave, he is no longer
entitled to this pledge of faith, which is given in the name of God,
and of the Prophet, and of the Emir of the true Believers,—may
God increase his honours!—and of the whole body of the Moslims,
and his blood becomes lawful, like the blood of the enemies of the
Islam, or their descendants. If any of you give assistance to the
enemies of the people of the Islam, either by aiding them with his
property, or by shewing them the weak sides of the Moslims, or by
actually attempting to deceive or delude the latter, the pledges of
this treaty are annulled with respect to him, and his blood becomes
lawful. If any of you kill a Moslim purposely, or involuntarily,
whether it be a free man or a slave, or a tributary, or rob the
property of a Moslim or a tributary in the country of Bedja, or the
country of the Islam, or in Nouba, or any other country, by land or
by water, he is to pay ten times the fine of blood; and if it be
a slave, ten times his value; and if it be a tributary, ten times
his fines, as these fines are enacted by the laws. If any Moslim
enters Bedja as a merchant, either to remain, or to pass through,
or as a pilgrim,[107] he shall be in perfect safety, like one of
yourselves, until he leaves the country. You shall not harbour any
run-aways from the Moslims, and if any one of them come to you,
you shall return him. In the same manner you shall send back the
cattle of the Moslims, if it strays into your territory, without
requiring any fee on its account. If you descend into Upper Egypt,
either to pass through that province, or to trade, you shall wear
no arms, nor enter any cities or villages whatsoever. You shall not
prevent any of the Moslims from entering your country, and trading
in it by land or by sea. You shall not endanger their passage, nor
waylay any Moslims or tributaries on the road, and you shall not
pilfer any goods of the Moslims or their tributaries; you shall not
ruin any part of the Mesjed that the Moslims have built at Dhyher
and Hedjer, or in any other part of your country, in its whole
length and breadth. If you do this, no promise or pledge given to
you shall be binding. Kanoun Ibn Azyz shall appoint in Upper Egypt
an agent to ensure the payment of the tribute, as well as of those
sums which the Bedjas may have to pay to the Moslims in fines of
blood or of stolen property. None of the Bedjas shall pass into the
Nouba territory from the Kaszer to the city of Koban; the limits to
be reckoned from the columns.[108] Obeyd Ibn ed-Djaham, the officer
of the Emir of the true Believers, grants the peace to Kanoun Ibn Abd
el Azyz, the chief of the Bedja, on condition that he shall fulfil
these engagements to the Emir of the true Believers. But if he shall
contravene them, and prove rebellious, all promises and pledges are
annulled. Kanoun shall moreover permit the officers of the Emir of
the true Believers to enter the country of Bedja to collect there
the alms of those who are converted to the Moslim faith.”[109]
This letter was translated word for word by Zakerya Ibn Saleh, el
Makhrouny, an inhabitant of Djidda,[110] and Abdullah Ibn Ismayl,
the Koreyshy, and some people of Assouan added their testimonies.
This treaty was for a long time observed; after which the
Bedjas re-assumed their inroads into Upper Egypt, and clamorous
representations were repeatedly made on that subject to the Emir of
the true Believers, Djafar el Motewakel al’Allah; upon which the
latter ordered Mohammed Ibn Abdallah el Komy to prepare to attack
them. He begged to be permitted to take with him those only he
liked, as he did not wish for great numbers, the passage through the
country being difficult. He set out against them from Egypt, with a
well furnished and well chosen force,[111] and the ships departed
by sea.[112] The Bedjas collected in vast numbers, all mounted on
camels, and the Moslims were frightened. But their commander drew
off the attention of the Bedjas by a long letter which he wrote to
them on a roll wrapped up in cloth.[113] They assembled to read it,
and at that moment the Moslims attacked them, having small bells
hung to the necks of their horses. The camels of the Bedjas could
not withstand the noise of the bells, and fled. They were pursued
by the Moslims, who killed many of them, and among their numbers,
the chief. He was succeeded by the son of his brother, who sued for
reconciliation, which was acceded to, on condition that he should
pay his personal obeissance to the Emir of the true Believers. He
repaired to Bagdad, and presented himself before Motewakel, at
the place called Sermanraa, in the year of the Hedjra 241. Peace
was then granted to him, on condition of the payment of his dues,
and the Bakt;[114] and it was prescribed to him that the Bedja
should not put any obstacles to the work of the Moslims at the
mines. El Komy remained a long time at Assouan, and deposited in
the treasury of that town all his arms and instruments of war, of
which the governors of Assouan continued to take till none were left.
When the Moslims increased at the mines, and intermixed with the
Bedjas, the mischievous doings of the latter diminished. The number
of people who now went in search of gold-dust discovered it (in
abundance), the news spread, and people of all countries repaired
thither. There arrived Abou Abderrahman Ibn Abdallah Ibn Abd el
Hamyd el Amry, after his campaign against the Noubas in the year
255. He had with him the Rabya, and Djeheyne, and others, by whom
Bedja became more cultivated and populous, so that the caravans
which brought the provisions from Assouan consisted of six thousand
camels; and this was exclusive of what the ships carried by the sea
of Kolzoum to Aidab. The Bedja liked the Rabyas, and intermarried
with them. It is related that the priests of the Bedja, before some
of that nation had become Moslims, had told them that their gods
ordered them to obey the Rabya, and likewise Kanoun, which they
did. When Amry was killed, and that the Rabya became masters of the
island (of Bedja) and that the Bedja according to this injunction
united with them; those Arabs who were inimical to them, left the
country. The Rabya married the daughters of the chiefs of the Bedja,
and the conduct of the latter towards the Moslims (of Egypt) became
now less mischievous.
The interior Bedja live in the desert between the country of
Aloa and the salt sea, and extend to the limits of the country
of Habesh. Their people rear cattle and are pastors; their way of
living, their ships, and army, are like those of the Hadharebe, but
the latter are a more courageous and more religious people, while
those of the interior all remain infidels. They adore the devil,
and follow the example of their priests: every clan has its priest,
who pitches a tent made of feathers, in the shape of a dome, wherein
he practises his adorations; when they consult him about their
affairs, he strips naked, and enters the tent stepping backwards; he
afterwards issues with the appearance of a mad and delirious person,
and exclaims, “the devil salutes you, and tells you to depart
from this place, for that a hostile party (naming it) will fall
upon you.” If you ask advice about an expedition which you may be
about to undertake against any particular country, he often answers,
“march on, and you will be victorious, and will take booty to such
an amount, and the camels you will take at such a place must be my
property, as well as the female slave you will find in such a tent,
and the sheep, &c.” On the march, the priest loads his tent upon
a camel destined for that sole purpose, and they believe that the
camel rises up from the ground, and walks with great difficulty,
and that it sweats profusely, although the tent is quite empty,
and nothing is in it. Among the Hadharebe live some of those people
who still retain this religion, and others who mix with it the Islam.
The Nubian historian (Selym) from whom I (Macrizi) have made these
extracts, says, “I have read in the “Discourse of the Ahbas,”
by the Emir of the true Believers, Aly Ibn Aly Taleb,[115] and
found therein mention made of the Bedja and the Kedja, and that
they are warlike nations who do not make much booty.” The Bedja
are of that description, but I know not who the Kedja are.
Abou el Hassan el Massoudy relates as follows, (continues
Macrizi:[116]) The Bedja took up their abode in the country between
the sea of Kolzoum and the Egyptian Nile; they separated into
branches, and chose a king. In this country are the mines of gold,
that is the gold dust, and the emerald mines. Their hostile parties
and partizans, mounted upon camels, penetrate as far as Nouba, which
country they attack, and from thence they carry off prisoners. In
former times the Nouba were stronger than the Bedja, until the Islam
took firm footing among the latter. A number of Moslims came then
to inhabit the gold mines, and the country of Ollaky and Aidab,
and Arabs of the tribe of Rabya Ibn Nezar Ibn Mad Ibn Adnan settled
in these parts. Their chiefs grew powerful and intermarried with
the Bedja, whose strength increased by this connection, while they
on their side supported the Rabya against the Arabs of the tribe
of Kahtan and Modher, who had settled there, and other tribes who
had settled in the vicinity of this territory. The possessor of
the mines in our times (says Masoudy,) which is in the year 332
(A. H.) is Besheir Ibn Merwan Ibn Is-hak of the Rabya, who has
under his command three thousand horsemen of the Arabs Rabya and
other Arabs of Egypt and Yemen, and thirty thousand fighting men of
the Bedja mounted upon camels of good race, armed with the Bedja
bucklers, and these are the people called Hadharebe, who are the
only Moslims among the Bedja, those of the interior being infidels
and adoring an idol. By the valley of Bedja, which encloses the
emerald mines, this country extends to the Ollaky, where are the
gold mines. From the Ollaky to the Nile are fifteen days journey,
and the nearest cultivated part of it is Assouan.[117]
The island of Souakin is less than one mile in length and in
breadth. Its inhabitants are a tribe of Bedja called Khasa; they
are Moslims, and have a king. Hamadany relates, that Kenan, the
son of Ham, married Arteyt,[118] the daughter of Benawyl Ibn Ters
Ibn Yafeth. She gave birth to Haka and El Asáwed, and the Nouba,
and Koran,[119] and Zendj, and Zaghawa,[120] and all the tribes of
the Negroes. It is also said that the Bedja descend from Ham, the
son of Noah, or else from the son of Koush, the son of Kenan, the
son of Ham. Others state, that they are a tribe of the Habesh. The
Bedja live under tents of hair, their colour is darker than that
of the Habesh;[121] they have the manners of Arabs. They have no
towns, no villages, no fields. Their provisions are carried to them
from Egypt, and Habesh, and Nouba. They were formerly idolatrous,
and then took the Islam, under the governorship of Abdallah Ibn
Sad Ibn Aly Sarh. They are hospitable and charitable people; they
are divided into tribes and branches, every one of which has its
chief. They are pastors, and live entirely on flesh and milk.
_Of the Tribute of the Nouba, called Bakt, by Ibn Selym el
Assouany._
The captives received in tribute from the Nouba are called
Bakt.—(Here follow some etymological remarks on the word
Bakt).—It was levied at the Kaszer (Philæ) five miles from
Assouan, situated between Belak and the Nouba territory. The income
of the customs of the Kaszer belongs to Kous. This Bakt[122]
was first instituted in the reign of Amr Ibn el Ras,[123] who
after the conquest of Egypt sent Abdallah Ibn Sad Ibn Aly Sarh,
in the year 20 or 21 (A. H.) with twenty thousand soldiers against
the Nouba. He tarried there a long time, until Amr el Aas wrote
to him to come back. After the death of Amr, the peace that had
been concluded between the Nouba and Aly Sarh was broken, and they
frequently renewed their invasions of Upper Egypt, when they ruined
the country and committed many excesses. Aly Sarh now attacked them
a second time, while he was governor of Egypt, in the time of the
Khalifat of Othman, in the year 31 (A. H.) He besieged them very
closely in the city of Dóngola, and with slinging machines,[124]
unknown to the Nouba, launched stones into the town, which shattered
their church. This appalled them, and their king, Koleydozo,[125]
asked for a renewal of peace. He issued from the town, and met Aly
Sarh with all the signs of weakness, misery, and humbleness. Aly Sarh
gave him a polite and kind reception, and concluded the peace upon
the condition of an annual tribute of three hundred and sixty head
of slaves. Upon the king’s complaints of the want of provisions
in his country, he promised him a present of grain. A document was
written out on that occasion, of which the following is a copy.