character wild beasts more than human beings. The pilgrims are
exposed during their sea voyage to terrible adventures. They usually
meet with strong winds in distant and desert anchoring places to
the south.[185] The Bedja people then come down to them from their
mountains and hire to them their camels, with which they travel
without any supply of water.[186] Many of them die from thirst, and
the Bedjas take whatever they had with them. Others lose their road,
and likewise die from thirst, and he who escapes reaches Aidab as
if risen out of his winding sheet, and entirely altered in features
and in body. No where perish more pilgrims than in these anchoring
places. To others, but the smaller number, the wind is propitious,
and carries them to Aidab. In the ships that carry the pilgrims,
are no nails whatsoever. They sew the planks with the Kombar,
which is made of the cocoa tree,[187] and drive into them wooden
pegs made of the date tree; after which they pour butter over
them, or the oil of the Kheroa,[188] or the fat of the Kersh,[189]
which is a very large sea fish that swallows up the drowned. The
sails of these ships are made of the mats of the tree Mokel.[190]
The inhabitants of Aidab use all kind of devilish practices with
the pilgrims. Anxious for the fare, they load their ships with
passengers one above the other, and never care about what may happen
to them at sea, saying, on the contrary: “to us belongs the care
of the ships, and to the pilgrims that of their own selves.”[191]
The inhabitants of Aidab are of the Bedja, and have a king of that
nation, and a governor named by the Sultan of Egypt. I have seen
myself their Kadhy at Cairo, a man of black colour. The Bedjas
have no religion, and are people of no understanding. Their males
and females go constantly naked, with some rags round their loins,
but many of them have no covering whatever. The heat is very great
at Aidab, on account of the burning Simoum. (V. note _b_ at the end.)
NOTES.
* * * * *
(1.) This work of Ibn Selym I have in vain searched for in Egypt. Its
title is well known; at Assouan and at Derr in Nubia, I found that
some people knew it by name, but I never could find any body who
had seen it.
(1.*) (see p. 494). I am led to believe, from different
circumstances, that the Mokel here meant is the Doum. Wahyshe speaks
of a tree called the blue Mokel, or Mokel el Azrek, which he says
resembles the quince tree, has no fruit or flower, but emits from its
trunk a fluid that has a good odour, and is used as a perfume. This
tree, he adds, is principally found in Barbary. Of the Mokel simply
so called, Wahyshe says that it produces a gum which is used by the
Arabs as a mixture with perfumes, and that it grows in Arabia. He no
farther describes the tree. I am ignorant whether the Doum produces
a gum.
(2.) Selt (سلت) is a species of barley. In an abridgment of Ibn
Wahyshe’s translation of the Agriculture of the Nabateans,[192]
it is said that the Selt requires a hard stony soil and little
water. (The country of Bedja would therefore be well fitted for
it.) The bread made of it is of difficult digestion.
(3.) The expression of the author (فيعتقبون الارض
لفيقها) may likewise mean, that the first cultivator makes
room for another, who sows in the same spot after him.
(4.) Djawars or Djawarsh (جاورس or جاورش). A grain unknown
to me, and, I believe, unknown in Egypt. The above cited author
says that it requires a well watered soil to prosper; and that it
is like Dhourra.
(5.) I find this name spelt Bedjrash, Bahrash, Narash, Bakhrash,
Nadjrash. The two first occur most frequently.
(6.) The sense of this passage is not clear in my MSS. من
قال حتي ان عظيمهم اذا جزبها و قف به
المسلمي و اوهم افه يفتّش عليه حتي
يجد الطريق الي و لده او وزيره و من
دو نهما.—In another copy I find اذا حاربها و
قف بها.
(7.) The Sembad is a stone still used in Egypt by jewellers and
goldsmiths to give a polish; but it is imported from India and not
from Nubia.
(8.) This ruin of Say I have not seen myself, as I could find no boat
to carry me over. But I saw from a distance an ancient castle-like
edifice among the palm groves.
(9.) This corresponds to the country of Mahass.
(10.) I find this word written Yonso, Benso, Noso. Perhaps Mosho,
the frontier town of Dóngola is meant. The extent of the Merysy
language is perfectly well indicated here.
(11.) I find it spelt likewise Yaoun (يعون). The description
of this country agrees well with the present state of the country
of Dóngola.
(12.) Taghtit and Nouby are, I believe, different species of
the parrot. The term Babagh (ببغ), which I have translated
here by parrot, is given to a small green parrot of the size of
a black-bird. The Sennaar caravans bring them to Cairo. Some of
them are found at Sennaar, but the greater part come from the
neighbourhood of Shilluk, on the Nil el Abyadh. I never saw any
wild parrots in any part of Nubia.
(13.) I find this written likewise Sendykal and Sefdabkal
(سنديقل, سفدبقل).
(14.) The Sant is a well known species of Mimosa, very common in
Upper Egypt and all over Nubia. The wood Sadj is of a dark brown
colour, and very hard. Articles of furniture are manufactured from
it at Bombay and Surat, and are exported to Djidda, from whence
they are sent to Cairo. According to Masoudy, in his Golden Meadows
(مروج الزهب), the Sadj is a very large tree, larger than
the palm or the walnut tree.[193]
(15.) The Arabic reads ولقد رايت علي بعضها علامة
عربية, and another copy has: علامة غريبة, which
would mean, I have seen myself on several of them very curious
signs of workmanship.
(16.) Instead of Shenka and Shenkyr, I find these words also written
Sheka, Shekfyr, and Shenfyr.
(17.) This name is written in a different manner, every time that it
occurs. Nadha, Nasza, Madha, Badha (ناضع, ناصع, ماضع,
باضع). Shultens, in the extracts he gives from Masoudy in
his Monumenta, has adopted the reading of Nasza, which he calls
Nazoa. It is no doubt a harbour on the coast of Abyssinia, or on
the coast between Souakin and Dahlak. If on the coast of Abyssinia,
the names of Massouah, or as it may likewise be written, Masōa
(مصوع), or Madyr, in the bay of Amphila, two days journey south
of Massouah, which, according to Mr. Salt, is a much frequented port,
are the nearest corresponding to it in sound. If, on the contrary,
a harbour is meant north of Massouah or Dahlak, it seems, from
Capt. Court’s map, that the only good harbour on that coast is
Port Mornington, of which it is to be regretted that we are not
acquainted with the native name.
(18.) The Beni Omeya and Koreysh, who fled from Mekka into Abyssinia,
are meant here.
(19.) I find this city spelt Maafa, Naka, Yafa (معافة, ناقه,
يافه); in Arabic MSS. the points over the consonants of proper
names are very often misplaced. I read here Tafa (تافة), because,
at one long day’s journey from Assouan is a ruined town of that
name, which I have mentioned in my journal. More considerable remains
of private habitations are seen there than any where else between
the cataracts, and likewise several small temples. Descendants of
ancient Christian families are still found here among the tribe of
Kenz, who inhabit these parts.
(20.) Of this word are different readings. I find it spelt Nara in
two copies, and Zonara in one: (from the latter word Sennaar might
perhaps be derived.) نارة, زناره.
(21.) These pigeons are called Narein or Bazein (نارين or
بازين). I prefer the former name, as being derived from the
name of Nara.
(22.) The Bekam is a dye wood that comes to Cairo by the way of
the Red Sea, from India and the Somauly coast. I believe it to be
the logwood.
(23.) The Kena (قناة, plur. قنا) is the cane of which the
shafts of lances are made.
(24.) The Arabic name of سرداب, is applied to cellars,
caverns, grottos, and subterraneous passages, the work of men and
not of nature.
(25.) To place Meroe between the Nile and the Atbara, where Shendy
lays, is totally inconsistent with the nature of the ground. For,
instead of the fertile island, we find there only a narrow border
of cultivated ground, close by the river, while the whole country
from thence to the Atbara is a desert, barren soil. I believe that
the distances given by Herodotus will be found to agree very well
with the position of the island described by Selym.
(26.) This theory of the rise of the Nile is certainly more natural
than the theory of Herodotus, Strabo, or Diodorus Siculus. The
remarkable fact that the Nile rises every where at the same time
is universally believed in Egypt, and the first day after the
Khamseyin, or the 18th-20th of June is stated all over Egypt as
the day of rise. To make exact researches on that subject would
require several observers stationed in different spots, and making
their observations on the rise of the river at the same time. I am
ignorant whether the French savants have done it.
(27.) The explanation which I have given of this passage appears
to me the only reasonable one. I do not find the term of Ras Hofra
applied to the Cape of Guardafui by the Arabian geographers, who
usually call this promontory Djebel Mandeb. But I find in Edrisy a
passage that supports my opinion of this cape being designated here
by the name of Ras Hofra. He says (Geog. Nub. i. 6.) in speaking
of the Djebel Mandeb: “on the back of this mountain is a cave,
which if once entered, none comes out again, on account of some
beast that devours him, or on account of pits (Hofer, the plural
of Hofra), into which he falls.”[194]
(28.) Northwards is here rendered by the word بحري, Bahry,
which is the usual word applied to the north by the Egyptians,
who have the Mediterranean or el Bahr always to the north.
(29.) The different readings of this name are, Souba, Souya,
(سوية, سوبة). I strongly suspect it to be the same city which
is called below Serfeta, Serketa, Serkya (سرقيه, سرقته,
سرفته), as a copyist might easily make that mistake.
(30.) Edrys, in describing Nubia, speaks of a town called Ghaloa
(غلوه), which he places much farther down the Nile than this
Aloa, although I believe that the latter is meant. The point over
the ع makes the sole difference.
(31.) This I find written Korsa, Kortyna, and Koroma (كرما,
كرتينا, كرسا). I have chosen the latter appellation,
because it is an Arabic word, meaning “the generous,” an epithet
that might well be given to the Meroe shepherds.
(32.) This town is likewise spelt Zerla (زرلا). I prefer
(زلا), as similarly corresponding in sound to Zeyla; and if
under the country of Kanem we must understand here the whole of
the middle part of northern Africa, the author is quite right
in stating that the nearest place to Egypt is Zela, (or Zeyla)
because this was no doubt the nearest place on the caravan road,
although it might not be so in a straight direction.
(33.) This is likewise spelt Wandy (وندي, دندي).
(34.) I find this name written likewise Djezye or Herye (جزية,
حريه, خربه).
(35.) The work of Djaheth alluded to here, is probably his natural
history.
(36.) The existence of these emerald mines has lately been
authenticated by an European traveller. (V. note 82.)
(37.) هذا عرش فُلان, may mean “this is the tent
covering, or the tent pole, or the panoply, of such a man.” In one
of the MSS. it is written عرس; which would mean, “this is the
wedding of such a one.” But the allusion to the tent is preferable,
because it was therein that the guest was defrauded or ill treated.
(38.) I am not acquainted with the tree Shohat (شوحظ), but
I find in the dictionary that it is a kind of yew tree. Wahyshe,
in the above cited work, says that it is a fine looking tree which
grows to a considerable height, with yellow leaves, shaped like
those of the apple tree; its wood is of a spotted colour, black
and white, of which the Persians and Arabs formerly made great use.
(39.) In a small minerological treatise of Tyfashy (خواص
الاحجار ليو سف التيفاشي), I find the Hamest
mentioned as a stone used in polishing sword blades, and other arms,
and likewise to cut with. It is added, that this stone is principally
found in the valley of Szafra, in the Hedjaz.
(40.) Under Ahlylid, I believe the Myrobolan to be understood,
although it is not quite certain whether this is really the tree. Ibn
Wahyshe describes four different species of it; the Indian, which
is divided into two species, the yellow and black; and the Kabely,
which is likewise of two sorts, black and white.
(41.) The Adkher or Azkher (ادخر or اذخر), is, according
to Wahyshe, a shrub growing in deserts. It is odoriferous, with a
red flower or rose. Its seed is a narcotic and an astringent. The
plant is not unknown at Cairo. Amongst the charcoal rolled up in
mats which is sent to Cairo from Upper Egypt, where it is collected
principally by the Arabs Ababde, who live in the mountains south of
Kenne and Kosseir, some branches of this Adkher are often met with,
and are bought up by the druggists. In Azraky’s history of Mekka,
I find that it grows likewise in the Hedjaz, and that formerly the
Mekkans mixed it with the mortar (or to burn the mortar), with which
they built their houses and their tombs, or perhaps they burnt the
mortar with it.
(42.) The Shyh is the Artemisia; and is found in most deserts,
for I have seen it in those of the Euphrates, of Arabia petræa,
of the Hedjaz, of Nubia, and it is likewise found in Libya. It is
one of the favorite herbs of the camels. In the Syrian deserts it
is burnt by the Arabs, and the alkali procured from it is exported
to the Syrian towns, where it is used in the manufacture of soap.
(43.) The Senna and coloquintida are mentioned in different parts
of my journal.
(44.) El Ban, a species of tamarisk, I believe. Wahyshe says it
produces a pulse, the shape of which is like that of a lupin,
and the bean like a pistaccio nut. It has a green flower.
(45.) The Fahed is a beast of prey, which, according to Damyry, in
his Zoology, is called Heyat el Heywan (حيوة الحيوان
للدميري), and is born of the tiger and the lion. Its
propensity to sleep has become proverbial among the Arabs. The
Khalifs of Bagdad and the governors of Mekka used it to hunt
game.[195]
(46.) Anak el Ardh (عناق الارض), according to the same,
is an animal smaller than the Fahed, of the size of a small dog. It
has a long back. It hunts every thing, even birds. It is probably
a weazel or a martern. Damyry adds, that it belongs to the species
of the lion, and that it is likewise called Teffa (تفّه).
(47.) At Cairo the name of Komary is given to a species of turtle
dove, with a ring of white or coloured feathers round the neck. They
are scarce in Egypt.
(48.) I do not know what is meant by the Habesh fowl. In Egypt
a species of fowl is distinguished by the name of Bedja fowl
(دجاجه البحر), which is somewhat larger than other fowls,
but is indigenous in the country.
(49.) Perhaps the people called Nara (v. note 20) are meant here;
or else it is from this race of Baza, that the name of the pigeon
Bazein derives its origin (v. note 21.)
(50.) In my journal, in speaking of Souakin, I have mentioned these
Hadareb; but, according to the manner in which I saw their name
spelt then, I wrote them Hadherebe (حضارب) and not Hadareb. I
have stated that they are a colony from Hadhramout, at least this
is universally affirmed by themselves. From what is said here, it
should seem that they are Bedjas, or at least very ancient settlers
in that country.
(51.) From the manner in which Nadha is mentioned here, with regard
to Dahlak, it should appear that both places are distant from
each other, and that Nadha, or Madha, or Maza, cannot therefore be
Massouah (V. note 17.)
(52.) It seems that at that time, as at present, people were found
among the Djidda inhabitants who spoke Bedja or the Bisharein
language. Many Djidda people are established even now at Souakin,
and return home after having made a small fortune with the trade
in slaves and Soudan merchandise.
(53.) Instead of في عدة قوية و رجال منتخبة,
one of the copies has في عدة قليلة, which would mean,
with a small but well chosen force. عدة means the equipment of
an army or numbers.
(54.) The Discourse of el Ahbās: خطبة
الاحباس.—الاحباس, has the same signification as
الاوقاف, and means property bequeathed for pious or beneficent
purposes. It is probably a small treatise in which the different
decisions which Aly gave on that subject have been collected.
(55.) It should appear therefore that the famous mines of Ollaky
contain gold dust, and no ore.
(56.) The extracts which Macrizi has here given from Masoudy’s
excellent work, called Meroudj e’dahab, or the Golden Meadows, are
made from different parts of it. The great work of that historian,
called Akhbar e’Zaman (اخبار الزمان), which I suspect is
one of the richest treasures of Arabian literature, is not extant in
Egypt. A Shikh from Cairo told me that he had seen above 20 volumes
in quarto of it,[196] in the library of the mosque of St. Sophia
at Constantinople.
(57.) Arteyt, or Arneyb (ارتيت, ارنيب).
(58.) This does not agree with the statement above, that their colour
has a yellow tinge. I believe the colour of the Bedjas and that of
the Habesh people to be much the same, from the many individuals
of the latter whom I have seen at Mekka. The people of the Amhara
province of Abyssinia are certainly less black than the Bedjas.
(59.) Thus I translate و كان القصر فرضة القوص. The
word فرضة, is still applied in Egypt and in the Hedjaz to
designate the income of the custom-house.
(60.) I call the conqueror of Egypt Amr, because his name is thus
pronounced by the Arabs, and not Amrou, as the Europeans pronounce
it. The و at the end of عمرو, which is added to distinguish
the name from عمر, Omar, is never pronounced.
(61.) Slinging machines (مجانيق), to throw stones, appear to
have been used by the Arabs in very ancient times. Some time after
the death of Mohammed, the rebel Yezyd defended himself at Mekka
against Ibn Zebeyr with similar machines. (V. Azraky’s History
of Mekka).
(62.) The different names recorded in these notices of Nubian
kings, are all Greek or Christian names. In an odd volume of
Macrizi’s “ancient history of Egypt,” called Akhbar Messr fi
Ed-daher Elawel (اخبار مصر في الدهر الاول),
in the chapter of “the titles and surnames given to the kings
of different nations,” I find it stated, that the name of the
ancient kings of Nouba was always Kabyl (كابيل), in the same
manner as Hatty was the name given to the kings of Abyssinia, Toba
to those of the Hemyar race of Yemen, &c. &c. This volume of a work
of Macrizi’s, which I believe is no where found complete in Egypt,
is the more valuable, because it is written by the author’s own
hand, with many notes and corrections.[197] It belongs to the library
of Seyd Mahrouky, the first merchant of Cairo, who has the finest
collection of books in Egypt, and which he is continually enlarging,
although he has given them to a mosque lately built by him.
(63.) In the history of Bahnase (Oxyrinchus), and that of its
valorous defence against the Arab conquerors of Egypt, I find it
stated, that a large army of Bedjas and Noubas, headed by Maksouh,
king of Bedja, and Ghalyk, king of Nouba, came to the assistance
of the Christian chief, Batlos, who was besieged at Bahnase, by
the officers of Amr Ibn el Aas. This black army is said to have
consisted of 50,000 men. They had with them 1,300 elephants, each
bearing upon its back a vaulted house made of leather, in which 10
men took their post in the battle. In the company of the Bedjas were
a race of men of gigantic stature, called El Kowad (القواد),
coming from beyond Souakin. They were covered with tiger skins, and
in their upper lips copper rings were fixed. The Moslims defeated
this army. There is a strange mixture of truth and romance in this
history, but the arrival of the Bedja army is so well authenticated
by a train of witnesses, that little doubt can remain of its having
really taken place; although the number both of men and elephants
seems to be exaggerated. The elephants of southern Nubia are,
as far as I know, no longer used to ride upon.
(64.) I am unacquainted with the wine measure called Kanyr.
(65.) Or Bahbas (بحنس—بحبس).
(66.) The text has ان اسوان اشتروا املاقاً من
عبيده. The word املاق (Emlak, plural of Malaka) is used
in Egypt as synonymous with بلاد, or ضياع, villages. It
is likewise used as a measure of distance, and the peasants say,
“such a place is distant so many Emlak from another,” meaning
that so many villages intervene between the two points. According to
the greater or lesser population of the province, the villages are
farther from or nearer to each other. A Malaka in Upper Egypt may
be taken for one hour and a half, and in Lower Egypt for one hour.
(67.) I find this name written in my MSS. Shekende, Sekebde, Tenekde,
Sekende, (شكندة, سكبدة, تنكدة, سكنده).
(68.) The intendant of his household, or Istedar
(استدار). Syouty, in his description of Egypt, called Hossn
el Mohādhera (حسن المحاضرة) says, in his chapter of
the officers at court, that the Istedar has under his inspection
the household establishment of the Sultan of Egypt, in as far as
relates to domestic affairs, expenses, and dress. He is one of the
great officers at court.
(69.) Djanedar (جاندار) I believe to be a chief of soldiers,
from the word Djend, (جند).
(70.) Provincial horsemen, اجناد الولايات. The word
جند, or جندي, is at present applied in Egypt exclusively
to a horseman, in opposition to عسكري, a foot soldier. I do
not know how far back this use of the word جند may date, which
originally means a soldier of any kind, whether cavalry or infantry.
(71.) Kallat Addo (قلعة الدو), or the castle Addo, is
no doubt the same mentioned before, in the description of Nouba,
under the name of Addoa, which I believe to be the castle of Adde.
(72.) From this Moslim name it should seem that the Noubas had
Moslims in their service; and it is not surprising that they should
go over to the enemy.
(73.) We have seen above that a giraffa had already been sent
in tribute by the Noubas to the Kalif el Mohdy. Masoudy, in his
chapter on the Negroe nations, in the Golden Meadows, says that it
was the custom in the time of the Abassides, to present them with
giraffas. Djaheth, in his natural history, called “The Animals”
(الحيوان),[198] says that the Giraffas are no where found
in the world, but in the southern Nouba country. The southern parts
of Africa were unknown to the Arabs.
(74.) The notices of these Arab tribes is interesting, because
it shows how this part of Africa came to be peopled by them, and
explains why we find on the Nile, in Kordofan, Darfour, and Borgho,
pure Arabian blood. In speaking of the Bedjas, the author has already
mentioned the tribes of Modher (مُضر), Rabya, and Djeheyne, who
intermixed with the Bedjas. Of the Djeheyne, some appear to have
wandered farther on towards Darfour, where I have heard that they
are still settled, and of whom I have myself seen an individual at
Cairo. I have stated in my first journal through Nubia, that the few
inhabitants of the Batn el Hadjar, above the second cataract, trace
their origin from the tribe of Koreysh, no doubt descendants of those
who were settled in the neighbourhood of Assouan. In the chapter on
Upper Egypt, which precedes these notices on Nubia, Macrizi states,
“the most numerous and potent tribes of Upper Egypt were six: Beni
Helal, Bily, Djeheyna, Koresh, Howata, and Beni Kelab. Besides these
great tribes, many of the Anzar[199] alighted in these parts, and
many from the tribes of Mezeyna, Beni Deradj, Beni Keleb, Thalebe,
and Djezam.” Almost all these tribes can still be traced in Egypt
and its neighbouring country. Beni Helal have retired to Barbary,
where they are very powerful; I do not believe that any of them
remain in Egypt at present.[200] The Bily are found in the province
of Sherkye in Lower Egypt. The Djeheyne are in the same province, and
some descendants of them have a few poor encampments in the plains
of Kous and Goft in Upper Egypt. The Koreysh, as I have said before,
are met with in Nubia[201] Some of the Beni Kelab are at present
cultivators in several villages in the vicinity of Miniet in Upper
Egypt. The Mezeyna, a strong tribe of Beni Harb, still living in the
desert east of Medina, are likewise found in the peninsula of Mount
Sinai. Several peasant tribes of the Sherkye[202] claim descent
from the Rabya, a tribe that accompanied Amr Ibn el Aas to Egypt,
and had the principal share in the conquest of the country. And
the Beni Kenz, a branch of these Rabya, are still settled above
the cataract of Assouan, forming part of the nation commonly called
Berábera in Egypt, a name which, as I have stated in my journal,
is given to them by the Egyptians only, and is not their own.[203]
The history of the emigration of the Arab tribes into Mesopotamia,
Syria, Egypt, Barbary, and Soudan, would throw great light upon
the race of these nations, and in Egypt in particular, we should
find that the Ethiopian blood is not the aboriginal of the nation,
as some ingenious authors have asserted. From Syout to Assouan the
country is exclusively inhabited by Arab tribes; on the west bank
as high up as Orment, and on the east side as high as Kenne, live
peasant tribes who state their origin to be from Barbary Bedouins;
farther south, tribes from Arabia are found, as the Hāmede,
Djaafere, Rowādjah, and others.