Bruce leaves Gondar and travels to Sennaar, the Capital of Nubia.
On the 26th of December, 1771, at one o'clock in the afternoon, Bruce,
after having resided in Abyssinia two years and three months, took leave
of Gondar and proceeded to the palace at Koscam. The king, who had done
everything to delay his departure, still continued to trouble him with
advice, and to throw trifling difficulties in his way; but Bruce at last
declared to him that his servants had already set out, that he was
determined to follow them the next morning, and begged that he might be
left to follow his own fortunes, whatever they might be.
On the morning of his departure, an officer of rank and fifty mounted
soldiers were sent by the king to attend him; but, being convinced that
any distinction with which he might travel in Abyssinia would only
increase his difficulties in passing through Sennaar, he declined the
escort, and, starting on his perilous journey, he slowly ascended the
mountain which overlooks the palace of Koscam.
He was accompanied by three Greeks, one of whom had been his servant
ever since he left Cairo; another, named Georgis, was infirm, and nearly
blind; while the rest of the party consisted of an old Turkish janisary,
who had come into Abyssinia in the escort of the abuna, a Copt, who left
Bruce at Sennaar, and a few common muleteers.
"All the disasters," says Bruce, "which I had been threatened with in
the course of that journey which I had thus begun, now presented
themselves to my mind, and made, for a moment, a strong impression upon
my spirits. But it was too late to draw back; the die was cast, for life
or for death; home was before me, however distant! and if, through the
protection of Providence, I should be fortunate enough to arrive there,
I promised myself both ease and the applause of my country, and of all
unprejudiced men of sense and learning in Europe, for having, by my own
private efforts alone, completed a discovery which had from early ages
defied the address, industry, and courage of all the world."
These expressions have been construed by Bruce's enemies into the
language of arrogance and conceit; and it would certainly have been well
for him if he had confined his thoughts to his own breast, and, treating
his reader with greater reserve, had declined intrusting to him the
secret feelings of his heart; but, right or wrong, prudent or imprudent,
it was not in Bruce's nature to conceal his sentiments.
On the evening of the 28th, as Bruce and his party were in the vicinity
of a very thick wood, they were suddenly surrounded by a multitude of
men armed with lances, shields, slings, and clubs. A volley of stones
having been thrown by these people, Bruce ordered a couple of shots to
be fired over their heads. This hint they seemed perfectly to
understand, but, retreating to the top of a hill farther off, they
continued whooping, shrieking, and making violent gesticulations; when
Bruce sent a message to them by a woman, that, if they continued to show
the smallest sign of aggression, he would burn their town, and put every
one of them to the sword. This bravado had its effect, and a very
submissive answer was returned.
For five days Bruce steadily pursued his journey through a rugged
country covered with thick woods. On the 2d of January, 1772, he
approached the town of Tcherkin, and pitched his tent in the
market-place, which appeared like a beautiful lawn, shaded with fine old
trees of an enormous growth, and watered by a limpid brook, that ran
over pebbles as white as snow. As soon as he reached the town, a man
waited on him to say that he was the servant of Ayto Confu, and that he
had orders to conduct Bruce into the presence of his master. He
accordingly followed to a house built on the edge of a precipice, where
he was startled, and most agreeably, by being introduced to Ozoro
Esther, whom he found sitting on an ottoman or couch, with the beautiful
Tecla Mariam at her feet. "Ozoro Esther!" exclaimed Bruce, "I cannot
speak for surprise; what is the meaning of your having left Gondar to
come into this wilderness?" "There is nothing so strange in it," she
replied; "the troops of Begemder having taken away my husband, Ras
Michael, God knows where, and, therefore, being now a single woman, I am
resolved to go to Jerusalem to pray for my husband, to die there, and to
be buried in the Holy Sepulchre. You would not stay with us, so we are
going with you. Is there anything surprising in all this?"
"But tell me truly," said Tecla Mariam, "you that know everything by
peeping and poring through those long glasses, did not you learn by the
stars that we were to meet you here?" "Madam," answered Bruce, "if there
was one star in the firmament that had announced to me such agreeable
news, I should have relapsed into the idolatry of this country, and
worshipped that star for the rest of my life."
Breakfast now appeared; the conversation took a natural and very lively
turn. Bruce learned that the king, from gratitude to Ras Michael, had
given some villages to Ozoro Esther, and that her son Ayto Confu, who
happened to be going to Tcherkin to hunt, had offered to put her in
possession of her new property.
"We now," says Bruce, "wanted only the presence of Ayto Confu to make
our happiness complete; he came about four, and with him a great
company. There was nothing but rejoicing on all sides. Seven ladies,
relations and companions of Ozoro Esther, came with Ayto Confu, and I
confess this to have been one of the happiest moments of my life. I
quite forgot the disastrous journey I had before me, and all the dangers
that awaited me. I began even to regret being so far on my way to leave
Abyssinia for ever."
Confu having come to Tcherkin on purpose to hunt, Bruce was easily
persuaded to join in the amusement, particularly as he learned that
there was a great quantity of all sorts of game, elephants,
rhinoceroses, buffaloes, &c. On the 6th, an hour before daybreak, the
party mounted their horses, attended by a number of people who made
hunting the elephant their particular occupation. These men dwell
constantly in the woods, and subsist principally on the flesh of the
enormous animals which they slay. They are thin, slight, active people,
of a swarthy complexion, but with European features, and are called
Agageer, from the word Agar, which means "to hamstring."
The manner in which they kill the elephant is as follows: two men,
entirely naked, mount a single horse; one has nothing in his hand but a
switch or a short stick, which he uses to manage the animal, while his
comrade, armed with a broadsword, sits patiently behind him. As soon as
the elephant is discovered feeding, the horsemen ride before him, as
near his face as possible, and, crossing him in all directions, they
each vauntingly exclaim, "I am such a man, and such a man; this is my
horse, that has such a name; I killed your father in such a place, and
your grandfather in such another place, and now I am come to kill you,
who are but an ass in comparison to them!" This nonsense (which is used
by the Abyssinians to almost every description of enemy) the man
actually fancies is understood by the enormous beast, who, getting at
last vexed and angry at being so pestered, rushes at the horse,
following and turning after him, and endeavouring to seize him with his
trunk, or, by a single blow with it, to level him with the dust. While
the elephant is thus occupied, the horseman suddenly wheels about, and
then, rapidly riding past him, the swordsman slips off and cuts his
tendon just above the heel of the hind leg. The horseman now wheels
again, and, returning at full gallop, his companion vaults up behind
him. The mischief being done, and the poor victim, as it were, tethered
to the ground, the horsemen leave him to look for another of the herd,
while a party on foot attack him with lances, and at last put an end to
his sufferings and his life.
One of the greatest dangers in riding after the elephant proceeds from
the stumps of the trees which he breaks in forcing his way among them,
and also from the young trees which, bending without breaking, recoil
with such violence that they often have been known to dash both horse
and driver to the ground; whereupon the elephant generally turns, and,
trampling on his puny enemy, luxuriously tears in pieces "the lord of
the creation," limb by limb. Besides this, the soil, like that of all
hot countries during the dry season, is cracked and split into such deep
chasms, that riding is attended with very great danger.
After hunting the elephant and the rhinoceros for some days, Bruce was
anxious to proceed on his journey, but Ozoro Esther insisted on his
remaining with her until she and her attendants returned to Gondar.
At last, on the 15th of January, they separated. Bruce on that day bade
adieu to his Abyssinian friends, and to the beautiful Ozoro Esther, for
whom he had long entertained a feeling of esteem and affection.
With a heavy heart he now left Tcherkin, and the road being bad and
intricate, and the camels overladen, his party proceeded very slowly.
During the whole day they travelled through woods which were almost
impenetrable. The thermometer was often at 115 deg., there was little or no
motion in the air, and the ground was rent in every direction by the
excessive heat. Occasionally they crossed pools of impure muddy water,
the resort of buffaloes and elephants, and, reaching the banks of the
river Woldo, they passed the night there in no little alarm from human
footmarks in the sand, which, by the length of the foot and the breadth
of the heel, the guides pronounced to be Shangalla.
Early next morning they were again on their journey, and in about five
hours they reached Sancaha, the old frontier territory of Abyssinia, and
which was subject to Bruce's government of Ras el Feel. The town
consisted of about three hundred huts neatly built of canes, and
curiously thatched with leaves of the same. The immense plain which
surrounds it belongs to no one, and its wilds and woods are the haunts
of beasts of various descriptions.
As soon as Bruce had encamped, he sent to Gimbaro, the chief of the
Sancaha, to demand provisions for his party and their camels. A very
impertinent answer was returned; when Bruce immediately armed himself
with a fusil and a pair of pistols, and took with him two of his
servants, each carrying pistols and a ship's blunderbuss. After mounting
a hill with so much difficulty that they were several times obliged to
pull each other up by the hands, they reached the residence of the
chief, and entered a large room of about fifty feet in length. The walls
were all covered with elephants' heads and trunks, and with the skeleton
heads of rhinoceroses, enormous hippopotami, and giraffes; lions' skins
were on the floor, and at the end of the room, naked and upright, stood
Gimbaro, "the largest man," says Bruce, "I ever remember to have seen,
perfectly black, flat-nosed, thick-lipped, and woolly-headed, a picture
of those cannibal giants which we read of as inhabiting enchanted
castles in the fairy tales."
Gimbaro scarcely noticed our traveller when first he entered the room;
but, finding that no obeisance was offered to himself, he at last
stepped awkwardly forward, bowed, and attempted to kiss his hand. "I
apprehend, sir," said Bruce, with great firmness, and at the same time
drawing away his hand, "you do not know me?" Gimbaro bowed, and said he
did, but that he was not at first aware who it was that had encamped at
the brook: he added, that the message he had sent was only in sport!
"And was it sport, sir," said Bruce, "when you said you would send me
the flesh of elephants to eat? Did you ever know a Christian eat any
sort of flesh that a Mohammedan killed?" "No," replied Gimbaro; and,
begging Bruce's pardon, he promised to send him bread, honey, camels,
etc.
Bruce, having thus gained his object, returned to his tent, and the next
morning continued his march. The second day they were preceded on their
journey by a lion, which generally kept about a gunshot before them;
but, whenever it came to an open or bare spot, the creature crouched
down and growled, as if it had made up its mind to dispute the way. "Our
beasts," says Bruce, "trembled, and were all covered with sweat, and
could scarcely be kept on the road. As there seemed to be but one remedy
for this difficulty, I took a long Turkish rifle gun, and, crawling
under a bank as near as possible, shot it in the body, so that it fell
from the bank on the road before us quite dead, and even without
muscular motion."
Proceeding on their journey, they passed the corpse of a man who had
evidently been murdered, for his throat was cut, and he was also
hamstrung. The next day they suffered exceedingly; their clothes were
torn to rags, and men and beasts were equally exhausted; the forests
were swarming with game, particularly Guinea-fowls and paroquets; and
when one of the party fired his gun, the first probably that had ever
resounded in these woods, there was instantly such a wild scream of
terror from birds on all sides, some flying to the place whence the
noise came, and some flying from it, that the confusion of the moment
was beyond all description.
Two days afterward Bruce reached the Guangue, which abounds with
hippopotami and crocodiles, and was the largest river, except the Nile
and Tacazze, that he had seen in Abyssinia. Shortly afterward he arrived
at Yasine's village, Hor Cacamoot, which means, literally, the valley of
the shadow of death; "A bad omen," says Bruce, "for weak and wandering
travellers as we were, surrounded by a multitude of dangers, and so far
from home."
"This," says Bruce, "is, I suppose, one of the hottest countries in the
known world. On the 1st day of March, at three o'clock in the afternoon,
Fahrenheit's thermometer, in the shade, was 114 deg., which was at 61 at
sunrise, and 82 at sunset. And yet this excessive heat did not make a
proportional impression upon our feelings. The evenings, on the
contrary, rather seemed cold, and we could hunt at midday; and this I
constantly observed in this sultry country, that what was hot by the
glass never appeared to carry with it anything proportionate in our
sensations."
Some time before Bruce left Gondar he had been threatened with an attack
of dysentery. On his arrival at Hor Cacamoot it grew worse, and had
assumed many unpromising symptoms, when he was cured by the advice and
application of a common Shangalla.
Bruce's faithful friend, Yasine, had made every exertion to secure him a
good reception from Fidele, the sheikh of Atbara. The Sheikh of Beyla,
by name Mohammed, was a man of high character for courage and probity;
and Bruce had often corresponded with him upon the subject of horses for
the king while he was at Gondar. He was greatly tormented with a most
painful disorder, and, through Yasine, Bruce had several times sent to
him soap-pills and lime, with directions how to make lime-water. Bruce
therefore despatched a servant with a letter to the Sheikh of Beyla,
mentioning his intention of coming to Sennaar by the way of Teawa and
Beyla, and desiring him to forward his servant to Sennaar. But while he
was making these vigorous exertions to advance, his exhausted body was
gradually becoming more and more unable to follow. Trembling under the
burning heat of the climate, and feeble from the effects of the most
debilitating of disorders, "Yagoube, the white man," would probably have
ended his career at his petty government of Ras el Feel, had it not been
for the kind attention of Yasine, and the skilful treatment of the
woolly-headed physician. But kindness, medicine, and time at last
recruited his strength; and, after a delay of two months, he set out on
the 17th of March from Hor Cacamoot to proceed to Teawa, the capital of
Atbara. His path was through thick brushwood: his companions were eleven
naked men, driving before them asses laden with salt.
The second morning they reached Surf el Shekh, which is the boundary of
Ras el Feel; and here Bruce took a painful and affectionate leave of his
sincere friend Yasine, who showed at parting that love and steady
attachment which he had maintained since their first acquaintance. The
last tie which connected Bruce's heart with Abyssinia was now severed.
He had said farewell to his last friend, and, with a burning desert
under his feet, and a still more burning sun over his head, he had now,
in danger, sickness, and solitude, to pursue his dreary way.
At half past seven in the evening he came to Engaldi, a large basin or
cavity, about thirty feet deep and several hundred yards in length, made
for the Arabs who encamp there after the rains. The water was almost
exhausted, and the little that remained had an intolerable stench.
Thousands of Guinea-fowls, partridges, and other kinds of birds had
crowded around it to drink; but it was a melancholy omen to see that
they were reduced to absolute skeletons.
At eight they came to Eradeeba, where is neither village nor water, but
only a resting-place about half a mile square, which has been cleared
from wood, that travellers who pass to and from Atbara might have an
esplanade to guard themselves from being attacked unawares by the
banditti which resort to these deserts.
At a quarter past eleven Bruce arrived at Quaicha, the bed of a torrent
where there was no water: the wood now seemed to be growing thicker, and
to be full of wild beasts, especially lions and hyaenas. These did not
fly from them as those which they had hitherto seen, but came boldly up,
especially the hyaena, with apparently a determination to attack them. On
lighting a fire, however, they retired for a time, but towards morning
they approached in greater numbers than before. A lion carried off one
of the asses, and a hyaena attacked one of the men, tore his cloth from
his middle, and wounded him in the back. "As we now expected," says
Bruce, "to be instantly devoured, the present fear overcame the
resolution we had made not to use our firearms unless in the utmost
necessity. I fired two guns, and ordered my servants to fire two large
ship-blunderbusses, which presently freed us from our troublesome
guests. Two hyaenas were killed; and a large lion, being mortally
wounded, was despatched by our men in the morning. They came no more
near us; but we heard numbers of them howling at a distance till
daylight, either from hunger or the smarts of the wounds they had
received--perhaps from both; for each ship-blunderbuss had fifty small
bullets; and the wood towards which they were directed, at the distance
of about twenty yards, seemed to be crowded with these animals."
Though this first day's journey from Falatty and Ras el Feel to Quaicha
occupied eleven hours, the distance travelled was not more than ten
miles; for the beasts were heavily laden, and it was with the utmost
difficulty that they could force their way through the thick woods,
which scarcely admitted the rays of the sun. From this station, however,
they enjoyed a most magnificent sight, the mountains, in almost every
direction, being in a flame of fire.
The Arabs feed all their flocks upon the branches of trees. When,
therefore, the water is entirely dried up, and they can remain no
longer, they set fire to the underwood, and to the dry grass below it.
The flame runs under the trees, and scorches the leaves and the new
wood, without consuming the body of the tree. After the tropical rains
begin, vegetation immediately returns, the springs increase, the rivers
run, and the pools are again filled with water. Verdure being now in the
greatest luxuriance, the Arabs revisit their former stations. This
conflagration is resorted to twice in the year--in October and March.
After travelling two days Bruce came to Rashid, a sandy desert, where he
was surprised to see the branches of the shrubs and bushes covered with
a shell of that white and red species of univalve called turbines. Some
of these were three or four inches long, and not to be distinguished
from the sea shells of the same species which are brought in great
quantities from the West Indian islands.
Bruce had now a new enemy to contend with. "We were just two hours," he
says, "in coming to Rashid, for we were flying for our lives; the
simoom, or hot-wind, having struck us not long after we had set out from
Imserrha, our little company, all but myself, fell mortally sick with
the quantity of poisonous vapour that they had imbibed. I apprehend,
from Rashid to Imserrha, it is about five miles; and, though it is one
of the most dangerous halting-places between Ras el Feel and Sennaar,
yet we were so enervated, our stomachs so weak, and our headaches so
violent, that we could not pitch our tent, but, each wrapping himself in
his cloak, resigned himself immediately to sleep under the cool shade of
the large trees."
While they were in this unconscious state, a Ganjar Arab, who drove an
ass laden with salt, took the opportunity of stealing one of the mules,
and got safely off with his booty. Having refreshed themselves with a
little sleep, the girbas or water-skins were filled. On the 21st, the
fifth day of their journey, they travelled about five hours; yet, from
the weak state they were in, they had advanced but seven or eight miles,
so dreadfully were the mules, camels, and horses affected by the simoom.
They drank repeatedly and copiously, but water seemed to afford them no
refreshment.
Bruce's servants now called to him to come with all haste. A lion had
killed a deer, had eaten a part of it, and had retired; but five or six
hyaenas had seized the carcass. Neither the dysentery nor the simoom had
subdued Bruce's enterprising spirit. "I hastened," he says, "upon the
summons, carrying with me a musket and bayonet, and a ship-blunderbuss
with about forty small bullets in it. I crept, through the bushes and
under banks, as near to them as possible, for fear of being seen; but
the precaution seemed entirely superfluous; for, though they observed me
approaching, they did not seem disposed to leave their prey, but in
their turn looked at me, raising the bristles upon their backs, shaking
themselves as a dog does when he comes out of the water, and giving a
short but terrible grunt; after which they fell to their prey again, as
if they meant to despatch their deer first, and then come and settle
their affairs with me. I now began to repent having ventured alone so
near; but knowing, with the short weapon I had, the execution depended a
good deal upon the distance, I still crept a little nearer, till I got
as favourable a position as I could wish behind the root of a large tree
that had fallen into the lake. Having set my musket at my hand, near and
ready, I levelled my blunderbuss at the middle of the group, which were
feeding voraciously, like as many swine, with considerable noise, and in
a civil war with each other. Two of them fell dead upon the spot; two
more died about twenty yards' distance; but all the rest that could
escape fled without looking back, or showing any kind of resentment."
Here, as usual, Bruce was accused of "exaggeration." People would not
take into account the circumstances of the case; they would not
consider that the noses of these savage hyaenas, devouring their prey,
were all close together, like the herd of critics over Bruce's book;
upon whom, had he fired a blunderbuss loaded with forty slugs, two at
least would have given up the ghost, while many more would have howled
out lame apologies for having accused him of exaggeration. This incident
was most unjustly judged by the experience of a civilized country; and
because people in England were not in the habit of killing four hyaenas
at a shot, Bruce's statement was declared, like his blunderbuss, to have
been overcharged.
Bruce was now much alarmed at finding some traps for birds, which,
having been newly set, showed that the Arabs could not be very far off.
The party, therefore, instantly proceeded. In the evening, having lost
their way, they were obliged to halt in the wood. Here they were
terrified at finding the water entirely gone from the girbas. These
skins had still the appearance of being full, but their lightness too
surely proved the contrary fact. The whole party were sick from the
effect of the simoom, but the horror of being without water drove them
to go on. "A general murmur of fear and discontent," says Bruce,
"prevailed through our whole company."
The next day (being the sixth from Ras el Feel) they set off in great
despondency; but in a short time they providentially succeeded in
regaining the road, and shortly afterward reached a well called
Imgellalib, containing plenty of water, a leathern bucket, and a straw
rope. Every one pressed forward to quench their thirst, and the fatal
effects of this eager haste were soon seen; for two Abyssinian Moors
died immediately after drinking. There was something truly appalling in
thus seeing death, as it were, on either side; men perishing with
thirst, and others from quenching it!
The thick forests which, without interruption, had reached from
Tcherkin, ended here. The country was perfectly flat, and contained very
little water. To destroy the flies, the Arabs had burned the grass, and
Bruce had no means of avoiding the rays of the scorching sun and the
pestilential breath of the simoom, but by seeking shelter in the tent,
which was insufferably close and hot.
The next day they traversed an extensive plain, in which is situated
Teawa, the capital, or principal village of Atbara. The thermometer
slung under the camel, in the shade of the girba, was now from 111 deg. to
1191/2 deg.. At six in the evening they arrived at the village of Carigana,
"whose inhabitants," says Bruce, "had all perished with hunger the year
before; their wretched bones being unburied, and scattered upon the
surface of the ground where the village formerly stood. We encamped
among the bones of the dead; no space could be found free from them; and
on the 23d, at six in the morning, full of horror at this miserable
spectacle, we set out for Teawa." Late in the evening, when they had
arrived within a quarter of a mile from this capital, they were met by a
man on horseback, clothed in a large loose gown of red camlet, with a
white muslin turban on his head, and attended by about twenty naked
servants on foot, armed with lances, and preceded by a pipe and two
small drums. The leader of this savage band was about seventy, with a
very long beard, and a graceful appearance. It was with the utmost
difficulty that he could be prevailed upon to mount his horse, as he
declared it was his intention to walk by the side of Bruce's mule till
he entered the town of Teawa; mounting, however, at last, he made a
great display of his horsemanship, as a mark of humiliation or
politeness. On entering the town they passed a very commodious house,
which had been ordered by the sheikh for the residence of Bruce; and,
after crossing the square, they came to the sheikh's house, or rather
his collection of houses, which were one story high, and built of canes.
They then entered a large hall, built of unburned bricks, and covered
with straw mats. In the middle there was a chair to which obeisance was
made, it being considered as the seat of the Grand Seignior. The sheikh
was sitting on the ground, affecting great humility, and pretending to
be devoutly occupied in reading the Koran. When Bruce entered he seemed
to be surprised, and made an attempt as if to rise, but the traveller
prevented it by holding him down by his hand, which he kissed.
"I shall not fatigue the reader," says Bruce, "with the uninteresting
conversation that passed at this first interview. He affected to admire
my size and apparent strength, and to blame me for exposing myself to
travel in such a country. In return, I complained of the extreme fatigue
of the journey and heat, the beasts of prey, the thick woods without
shade, the want of water, and, above all, the poisonous blasts of the
simoom that had almost overcome me, the effects of which I was at that
instant feeling.
"He then blamed himself very politely, in a manner natural to the Arabs,
for having suffered me to come to him before I had reposed myself, which
he excused by his desire of seeing so _great_ a man as me. He said also
that he would detain me no longer; bid me to repose a day or two in
quiet and safety; and upon my rising to go away, he got up likewise,
and, holding me by the hand, said, 'The greatest part of the dangers you
have passed in the way are, I believe, as yet unknown to you. Your Moor
Yasine, of Ras el Feel, is a thief worse than any in Habesh. Several
times you escaped very narrowly, and by mere chance, from being cut off
by Arabs whom Yasine had posted to murder you. But you have a clean
heart and clean hands. God saw their designs, and protected you; and I
may say, also, on my own part, I was not wanting.' Being then on my legs
for retiring, I returned no answer but the usual one (Ullah Kerim), _i.
e._, God is merciful!"
Bruce and his party had scarcely taken possession of their lodging, and
had but just thrown off their clothes to enjoy rest and ease, when
several slaves of both sexes appeared with dishes of meat from the
sheikh, who also sent flattering compliments and good wishes. But Bruce
was very much astonished at one young man, who, putting his mouth to his
ear, whispered these few words of comfort: "Seitan Fidele! el Sheikh el
Atbara Seitan!" (Fidele is the devil, the Sheikh of Atbara is the devil
himself!)
Bruce, fearing from this hint that he was in danger, privately and
prudently despatched a man to Ras el Feel, begging Yasine to send some
person in the name of the King of Abyssinia, or of Ayto Confu, to
remonstrate against his detention: until an answer could arrive, he had
resolved to see as little of the sheikh as possible; but by-and-by,
getting restless and anxious to depart, he waited on the sheikh with
presents; and these being apparently very graciously received, he asked
for camels. The sheikh replied that they were fifteen days off, in the
sandy desert, to avoid the flies; adding that the road to Sennaar was in
a very unsettled state, and making many other trifling excuses. At last
his real object could no longer be concealed, and he openly insisted on
having a part of the treasure which he declared that Bruce was carrying
with him.
Bruce resolutely refused to give him anything. And the wretch then
endeavoured to have him assassinated by Soliman, to whom he offered half
the plunder of his baggage; but Soliman saved his life by declaring that
the stranger had no treasure, possessing only a few instruments and
glass bottles, the use of which no one understood but himself.
Bruce was again sent for by the sheikh. He was in the alcove of a
spacious room, sitting on a sofa surrounded by curtains. After he had
taken two whiffs of his pipe, and when the slave had left the room, "Are
you prepared?" he said; "have you brought the money along with you?"
Bruce replied, "My servants are at the outer door, and have the vomit
you wanted." "Curse you and the vomit too," says he, with great passion:
"I want money, and not poison. Where are your piastres?" "I am a bad
person," replied Bruce, "Fidele, to furnish you with either. I have
neither money nor poison; but I advise you to drink a little warm water
to clear your stomach, cool your head, and then lie down and compose
yourself; I will see you to-morrow morning." Bruce was going out, when
the sheikh exclaimed, "Hakim, infidel, or devil, or whatever is your
name, hearken to what I say. Consider where you are: this is the room
where Mek Baady, a king, was slain by the hand of my father: look at his
blood, where it has stained the floor, which never could be washed out.
I am informed you have twenty thousand piastres in gold with you; either
give me two thousand before you go out of this chamber, or you shall
die; I will put you to death with my own hand." Upon this he took up his
sword that was lying at the head of his sofa, and, drawing it with a
bravado, threw the scabbard into the middle of the room; and, tucking
the sleeve of his shirt above his elbow, like a butcher, he said, "I
wait your answer."
Bruce stepped one pace backward, and dropped the burnoose behind him,
holding a small blunderbuss in his hand, without taking it off the belt.
In a firm tone of voice he replied, "This is my answer: I am not a man,
as I have told you before, to die like a beast by the hand of a
drunkard; on your life, I charge you, stir not from your sofa." "I had
no need," says Bruce, "to give this injunction; he heard the noise which
the closing the joint in the stock of the blunderbuss made, and thought
I had cocked it, and was instantly to fire. He let his sword drop, and
threw himself on his back on the sofa, crying, 'For God's sake, Hakim, I
was but jesting.'" In all climates and under all circumstances, the
bully is always a coward. Bruce, however, was only acting on the
defensive; it was neither his intention nor his wish to triumph over the
sheikh, and he therefore most willingly accepted the explanation and
retired, calmly wishing his enemy good-night.
About a week afterward letters arrived from Yasine, declaring that,
unless Bruce was instantly allowed to depart, he would burn every stalk
of corn between Beyla and Teawa. This threat had the desired effect;
and, after having been most vexatiously detained more than three weeks,
Bruce received a message to say that the camels were all ready; that
girbas for water, and provisions of all sorts, would be furnished, and
that he might set out as soon as he pleased, provided he would promise
to forgive the sheikh, and not to make any complaint against him at
Sennaar or elsewhere. This having been assented to, Bruce was at last
suffered to escape from Teawa.
For the first seven hours his path was through a barren, sandy plain,
without a vestige of any living creature, without water, and without
grass; "a country," says Bruce, "that seemed under the immediate curse
of Heaven."
After travelling all night, they rested at Abou Jehaarat till the
afternoon. The sun was intensely hot: but, fortunately, there were some
shepherds' caves, into which they crept for shelter. On the 19th of
April they again set out, and that evening arrived at Beyla. At the very
entrance of the town they were met by Mohammed the sheikh, who declared
that he looked upon them as beings who had risen from the dead, and that
they must be good people to have escaped from the Sheikh of Atbara!
Mohammed provided all sorts of refreshments; and the whole party were
filled with joy except Bruce, who was suffering so severely from the
Bengazi ague that he had the greatest repugnance even to the smell of
meat. He had, besides, a violent headache; so, having drunk a quantity
of warm water to serve as an emetic, he retired supperless to his bed--a
buffalo's hide.
There is no water at Beyla but what is got from deep wells. Large
plantations of Indian corn were everywhere about the town. The
inhabitants were in continual apprehension from the Arabs Daveina, at
Sim-Sim, about forty miles distant; and from another powerful race
called Wed abd el Gin--_Son of the slaves of the devil_--who live to the
southwest, between the Dender and the Nile. Beyla is another frontier
town of Sennaar, on the side of Sim-Sim; and between Teawa and this, on
the Sennaar side, and Ras el Feel, Nara, and Tchelga, upon the
Abyssinian side, all is desert and waste, the Arabs only suffering the
water to remain there, without any villages near it, that they and their
flocks may come at certain seasons until the grass grows, and the pools
or springs fill elsewhere.
On the 21st of April Bruce and his party left Beyla. After travelling
four days they crossed the Dender river, and came to a large plain, in
which were a number of villages, nearly of one size, and forming a
semicircle. The plain was of a red, soapy earth, and the country is in
perpetual cultivation. The villages were inhabited by soldiers of the
Mek of Sennaar, who have small features, but are woolly-headed and
flat-nosed, like negroes. Their masters at Sennaar pretend to be
Mohammedans, but they have never attempted to convert these Nuba; on the
contrary, they entertain in every village a number of pagan priests, who
receive soldiers' pay. These people worship the moon, and appear
delighted to see her shine. Coming out of their dark huts, they express
great joy at her brightness, and they celebrate the birth of every new
moon. They are immoderately fond of swine's flesh, and maintain great
herds of these animals. There is no running stream in the immense plain
which they inhabit, and their water is all procured from draw-wells.
On the 25th Bruce set out from the villages of the Nuba, intending to
reach Basboch, which is the ferry over the Nile; but he had scarcely
advanced two miles into the plain when he and his party were enveloped
by that sort of whirlwind which at sea forms the water-spout. "The
plain," says Bruce, "was red earth, which had been plentifully moistened
by a shower in the nighttime. The unfortunate camel that had been taken
by the cohala seemed to be nearly in the centre of the vortex. The
animal was lifted and thrown down at a considerable distance, and
several of its ribs broken. Although, as far as I could guess, I was not
near the centre, it whirled me off my feet and threw me down upon my
face, so as to make my nose gush out with blood. Two of the servants,
likewise, had the same fate. It plastered us all over with mud, almost
as smoothly as could have been done with a trowel. It took away my sense
of breathing for an instant, and my mouth and nose were full of mud when
I recovered. I guess the sphere of its action to be about two hundred
feet. It demolished one half of a small hut as if it had been cut
through with a knife, and dispersed the materials all over the plain,
leaving the other half standing.
"As soon as we recovered ourselves we took refuge in a village, from
fear only, for we saw no vestige of any other whirlwind. It involved a
great quantity of rain, which the Nuba of the villages told us was very
fortunate, and portended good luck to us, and a prosperous journey; for
they said that, had dust and sand arisen with the whirlwind in the same
proportion it would have done had not the earth been moistened, we
should all infallibly have been suffocated; and they cautioned us by
saying that tempests were very frequent in the beginning and end of the
rainy season; and, whenever we should see one of them coming, to fall
down upon our faces, keeping our lips close to the ground, and so let it
pass; and thus it would neither have power to carry us off our feet nor
suffocate us, which was the ordinary case.
"Our kind landlords, the Nuba, gave us a hearty welcome, and helped us
to wash our clothes first, and then to dry them. When I was stripped
naked, they saw the blood running from my nose, and said they could not
have thought that one so white as I could have been capable of
bleeding."
These people gave Bruce a piece of roasted hog, which he ate, very much
to their satisfaction. In return, as the camel was lame, Bruce ordered
it to be killed, and the flesh to be given to the Nuba of the village,
who feasted upon it for several days. With these people Bruce spent a
very cheerful evening, and then, having a clean hut, he retired to rest
from the effects of the whirlwind.
On the 26th he left the village, his way being still across an immense
plain. After encountering several violent storms of thunder, lightning,
and rain, he arrived at Basboch--a large collection of huts bearing the
appearance of a town--where the governor, a venerable old man of about
seventy, received him with no little dignity and urbanity. "Christian,"
said he, taking him by the hand, "what dost thou at such a time in such
a country?"
Basboch is on the eastern bank of the Nile or Blue river, not a quarter
of a mile from the ford below. The river here runs north and south; near
the banks it is shallow, but deep in the middle, and in this part is
much infested with crocodiles. Sennaar is two miles and a half S.S.W. of
it. "We heard," says Bruce, "the evening drum very distinctly, and not
without anxiety, when we reflected to what a brutish people, according
to all accounts, we were about to trust ourselves."
After waiting at this place three days, Bruce and his party having at
last received permission to enter Sennaar, the capital of Nubia,[35]
they were conducted to a very spacious, good house, belonging to the
sheikh himself, and about a quarter of a mile from the palace. The
following morning a messenger came from the king, desiring Bruce to wait
upon him.
The palace, which covers a prodigious deal of ground, is one story high,
built of clay, and the floors of earth. The king was in a small room,
which was covered with a Persian carpet, and the walls were hung with
tapestry. He was sitting upon a mattress, laid on the ground, which was
likewise covered with a Persian rug, and round him were a number of
cushions of Venetian cloth of gold. His dress, however, did not
correspond with this magnificence; for it was nothing but a large common
loose shirt of Surat blue cloth. His head was uncovered; he wore his own
short, black hair, and was as white in complexion as an Arab. He seemed
to be a man about thirty-four; his feet were bare, or only covered by
his shirt. "He had," says Bruce, "a very plebeian countenance, on which
was stamped no decided character; I should rather have guessed him to be
a soft, timid, irresolute man. At my coming forward and kissing his
hand, he looked at me for a minute as if undetermined what to say. He
then asked for an Abyssinian interpreter, as there are many of these
about the palace. I said to him in Arabic, 'That I apprehended I
understood as much of that language as would enable me to answer any
question he had to put to me.' Upon which he turned to the people that
were with him. 'Downright Arabic, indeed! You did not learn that
language in Habesh?' said he to me. I answered, 'No; I have been in
Egypt, Turkey, and Arabia, where I learned it; but I have likewise often
spoken it in Abyssinia, where Greek, Turkish, and several other
languages were used.' He said, 'Impossible! he did not think they knew
anything of languages, excepting their own, in Abyssinia.'"
There were sitting by the side of the room, opposite to him, four men
dressed in white cotton shirts, with a white shawl covering their heads
and part of their face, by which it was known they were religious men,
or men of learning, or of the law. Bruce presented first the Sherriffe
of Mecca's letter, and then one from the King of Abyssinia. The king
took them both and read them, and said, "You are a physician and a
soldier." "Both, in time of need," replied Bruce. "But the sherriffe's
letter," said the sheikh, "tells me, also, that you are a nobleman in
the service of a great king that they call Englise-man, who is master of
all the Indies, and who has Mohammedan as well as Christian subjects,
and allows them all to be governed by their own laws." "Though I never
said so to the sherriffe," replied Bruce, "yet it is true; I am as noble
as any individual in my nation, and am also servant to the greatest king
now reigning on earth, of whose dominions, it is likewise truly said,
these Indies are but a small part." "How comes it," said the king, "you
that are so noble and learned that you know all things, all languages,
and so brave that you fear no danger, and pass, with two or three old
men, into such countries as this and Habesh, where Baady, my father,
perished with an army--how comes it that you do not stay at home and
enjoy yourself, eat, drink, take pleasure, and rest, and not wander like
a poor man, a prey to every danger?" "You, sir," replied Bruce, "may
know some of this sort of men; certainly you do know them; for there are
in your religion, as well as in mine, men of learning, and those, too,
of great rank and nobility, who, on account of sins they have committed,
or vows they have made, renounce the world, its riches, and pleasures:
they lay down their nobility, and become humble and poor, so as often to
be insulted by wicked and low men, not having the fear of God before
their eyes." "True; these are dervis," said the three men of learning.
"I am, then, one of these dervis," said Bruce, "content with the bread
that is given me, and bound for some years to travel in hardships and
danger, doing all the good I can to the poor and rich, serving every man
and hurting none." "Tybe! that is well," said the king. "And how long
have you been travelling about?" "Near twenty years," replied Bruce.
"You must be very young," observed the king, "to have committed so many
sins, and so early." "I did not say," replied Bruce, "that I was one of
those who travelled on account of their sins, but that there were some
dervises that did so on account of their vows, and some to learn
wisdom." The king now made a sign, and a slave brought a cushion, which
Bruce would have refused, but was forced to sit down upon it.
A cadi who was present then asked Bruce when the Hagiuge Magiuge were to
arrive. "Hagiuge Magiuge," said the cadi, "are little people, not so big
as bees, or like the zimb, or fly of Sennaar, that come in great swarms
out of the earth, ay, in multitudes that cannot be counted; two of their
chiefs are to ride upon an ass, and every hair of that ass is to be a
pipe, and every pipe is to play a different kind of music, and all that
hear and follow them are carried to hell." "I know them not," says
Bruce, "and in the name of the Lord, I fear them not, were they twice
as little as you say they are, and twice as numerous. I trust in God I
shall never be so fond of music as to follow to such a place an ass, for
all the tunes that he or they can play." The king laughed violently.
Bruce then went away, and found a number of people in the street, who
all offered him some taunt or insult. "I passed," he says, "through the
great square before the palace, and could not help shuddering, upon
reflection, at what had happened in that spot to the unfortunate M. du
Roule and his companions, though under a protection which should have
secured them from all danger, every part of which I was then unprovided
with."
The drum beat a little after six o'clock in the evening. Bruce then had
a very comfortable dinner sent to him, which consisted of camel's flesh
stewed with an herb, a slimy substance, called bammia. After having
dined, and finished his journal of the day, he began to unpack his
instruments, when a servant came from the palace, telling him to bring
his present to the king. "I sorted," says Bruce, "the separate articles
with all the speed I could, and we went directly to the palace. The king
was then sitting in a large apartment; he was naked, but several cloths
were lying upon his knee and about him, and a servant was rubbing him
over with very stinking butter or grease, with which his hair was
dropping, as if wet with water. Large as the room was, it could be
smelled through the whole of it. The king asked me if ever I greased
myself as he did. I said, 'Very seldom, but fancied it would be very
expensive.' He then told me that it was elephant's grease, which made
people strong, and preserved the skin very smooth."
This simple toilet being finished, Bruce produced his present, which he
said the King of Abyssinia had sent, hoping that, according to the faith
and customs of nations, he would transmit him safely and speedily into
Egypt. The king answered, "There was a time when he could have done all
this, and more: but that times were changed. Sennaar was in ruins, and
was not like what it once was."
Several days having passed unsatisfactorily, Bruce was again summoned
to the palace. "The king," he says, "told me that several of his wives
were ill, and desired that I would give them my advice, which I promised
to do without difficulty, as all acquaintance with the fair sex had
hitherto been much to my advantage. I must confess, however, that
calling these the fair sex is not preserving a precision in terms. I was
admitted into a large square apartment, very ill-lighted, in which were
about fifty women, all perfectly black, without any covering but a very
narrow piece of cotton rag about their waists. While I was musing
whether or not these all might be queens, or whether there was any queen
among them, one of them took me by the hand, and led me rudely enough
into another apartment. This was much better lighted than the first.
Upon a large bench or sofa, covered with blue Surat cloth, sat three
persons, clothed from the neck to the feet with blue cotton shirts.
"One of these, who I found was the favourite, was about six feet high,
and corpulent beyond all proportion. She seemed to me, next to the
elephant and rhinoceros, the largest living creature I had ever met
with. Her features were perfectly like those of a negro; a ring of gold
passed through her under lip, and weighed it down, till, like a flap, it
covered her chin, and left her teeth bare, which were very small and
fine. The inside of her lip she had made black with antimony. Her ears
reached down to her shoulders, and had the appearance of wings; she had
in each of them a large ring of gold, somewhat smaller than a man's
little finger, and about five inches in diameter. The weight of these
had drawn down the hole where her ear was pierced so much, that three
fingers might easily pass above the ring. She had a gold necklace, like
what we used to call _esclavage_, of several rows, one below another, to
which were hung rows of sequins pierced. She had on her ankles two
manacles of gold, larger than any I had ever seen upon the feet of
felons, with which I could not conceive it was possible for her to walk,
but afterward I found they were hollow. The others were dressed pretty
much in the same manner, only there was one that had chains, which came
from her ears to the outside of each nostril, where they were fastened.
There was also a ring put through the gristle of her nose, and which
hung down to the opening of her mouth. I think she must have breathed
with great difficulty. It had altogether something of the appearance of
a horse's bridle. Upon my coming near them, the eldest put her hand to
her mouth, and kissed it, saying, at the same time, in very vulgar
Arabic, 'Kifhalek howaja?' (How do you do, merchant?) I never in my life
was more pleased with distant salutations than at this time. I answered,
'Peace be among you! I am a physician, and not a merchant.'
"I shall not entertain the reader with the multitude of their
complaints; being a lady's physician, discretion and silence are my
first duties. It is sufficient to say, that there was not one part of
their whole bodies in which some of them had not ailments. The three
queens insisted upon being blooded, which desire I complied with, as it
was an operation that required short attendance; but, upon producing the
lancets, their hearts failed them. They then all cried out for the
tabange, which in Arabic means a pistol; but what they meant by this
word was, the cupping instrument, which goes off with a spring like the
snap of a pistol. I had two of these with me, but not at that time in my
pocket. I sent my servant home, however, to bring one, and, the same
evening, performed the operation upon the three queens with great
success. The room was overflowed with an effusion of royal blood, and
the whole ended with their insisting upon my giving them the instrument
itself, which I was obliged to do, after cupping two of their slaves
before them, who had no complaints, merely to show them how the
operation was to be performed."
When the "black spirits" of these queens had somewhat revived, the
creatures naturally became a little playful, and were exceedingly
curious to inspect Bruce's skin.
"The only terms," he says, "I could possibly, and that with great
difficulty, make for myself, were, that they should be contented to
strip me no farther than the shoulders and breast. Upon seeing the
whiteness of my skin, they gave all a loud cry in token of dislike, and
shuddered, seeming to consider it rather the effects of disease than
natural. I think in my life I never felt so disagreeably. I have been in
more than one battle, but surely I would joyfully have taken any chance
again in any of them to have been freed from that examination. I could
not help likewise reflecting that, if the king had come in during this
exhibition, the consequences would either have been impaling, or
stripping off that skin whose colour they were so curious about; indeed,
it was impossible to be more chagrined at, or more disgusted with, my
present situation than I was; and the more so, that my delivery from it
appeared to be very distant, and the circumstances were more and more
unfavourable every day."
During his tedious detention at Sennaar, Bruce occupied himself, as
usual, in making celestial observations, and in inquiring into the
history of the country, a great part of which he minutely relates.
"Nothing," he says, "is more pleasant than the country around Sennaar in
the end of August and beginning of September, I mean so far as the eye
is concerned: instead of that barren, bare waste which it appeared on
our arrival in May, the corn now sprung up, and, covering the ground,
made the whole of this immense plain appear a level, green land,
interspersed with great lakes of water, and ornamented at certain
intervals with groups of villages, the conical tops of the houses
presenting at a distance the appearance of small encampments. Through
this immense plain winds the Nile, a delightful river there, above a
mile broad, full to the very brim, but never overflowing. Everywhere on
these banks are seen numerous herds of the most beautiful cattle of
various kinds, the tribute recently extorted from the Arabs, who, freed
from all their vexations, return home with the remainder of their
flocks in peace, at as great a distance from the town, country, and
their oppressors as they possibly can.
"The banks of the Nile about Sennaar resemble the pleasantest parts of
Holland in the summer season; but, soon after, when the rains cease, and
the sun exerts his utmost influence, the dora begins to ripen, the
leaves to turn yellow and to rot, the lakes to putrify, smell, and be
full of vermin, all this beauty suddenly disappears; bare, scorched
Nubia returns, and all its terrors of poisonous winds and moving sands,
glowing and ventilated with sultry blasts, which are followed by a troop
of terrible attendants, epilepsies, apoplexies, violent fevers,
obstinate agues, and lingering, painful dysenteries, still more
obstinate and mortal.
"War and treason seem to be the only employment of this horrid people,
whom Heaven has separated by almost impassable deserts from the rest of
mankind."
To any one who will consider that Sennaar is only thirteen degrees from
the line, it is scarcely necessary to observe that its heat is
excessive, though the natives bear it with astonishing ease; for on the
2d of August, while Bruce was lying perfectly enervated in a room
deluged with water, at noon, the thermometer being at 116 deg., he saw
several black labourers working without any appearance of being
incommoded.
His observations on heat are so practical, and so admirably expressed,
that we give them in his own words: "Cold and hot are terms merely
relative, not determined by the latitude, but elevation of the place;
when, therefore, we say hot, some other explanation is necessary
concerning the place where we are, in order to give an adequate idea of
the sensations of that heat upon the body, and the effects of it upon
the lungs. The degree of the thermometer conveys this very imperfectly;
ninety degrees is excessively hot at Loheia in Arabia Felix, and yet the
latitude of Loheia is but fifteen degrees, whereas ninety degrees at
Sennaar is, as to sense, only warm, although Sennaar, as we have said,
is in latitude thirteen degrees.
"At Sennaar, then, I call it _cold_ when one, fully clothed and at
rest, feels himself in want of fire. I call it _cool_ when one fully
clothed and at rest feels he could bear more covering all over, or in
part more than he has then on. I call it _temperate_ when a man, so
clothed and at rest, feels no such want, and can take moderate exercise,
such as walking about a room, without sweating. I call it _warm_ when a
man, so clothed, does not sweat when at rest, but, upon moderate motion,
sweats and again cools. I call it _hot_ when a man sweats at rest, and
excessively on moderate motion. I call it _very hot_ when a man, with
thin or little clothing, sweats much, though at rest. I call it
_excessive hot_ when a man in his shirt, at rest, sweats excessively,
when all motion is painful, and the knees feel feeble as if after a
fever. I call it _extreme hot_ when the strength fails, a disposition to
faint comes on, a straitness is found in the temples, as if a small cord
was drawn tight around the head, the voice impaired, the skin dry, and
the head seems more than ordinarily large and light."
If Bruce's enemies could but have been subjected to this last degree of
temperature, they would, perhaps, for once have agreed to admire the
indefatigable exertions which, under such a climate, and in spite of ill
health, he still continued to make. The history, ancient and modern, of
the kingdom of Sennaar, its natural history, its trade, money, measures,
diseases, etc., etc., were objects of his most eager inquiry; and it may
truly be said, that his thirst for information seems actually to have
increased with the difficulties which oppressed him.
He made every exertion to leave Sennaar: in vain were represented to him
the dangers which awaited him. "I persisted," says he, "in my
resolution; I was tied to the stake. To fly was impossible; and I had
often overcome such dangers by braving them;" but a new difficulty now
arose. His funds were exhausted, and the person with whom he had credit
refused to supply him. "This was a stroke," says Bruce, "that seemed to
ensure our destruction, no other resource being now left. My servants
began to murmur; some of them had known of my gold chain from the
beginning, and these, in the common danger, imparted what they knew to
the rest. In short, I resolved, though very unwillingly, not to
sacrifice my own life and that of my servants, and the finishing my
travels, now so far advanced, to childish vanity. I determined,
therefore, to abandon my gold chain, the honourable recompense of a day
full of fatigue and danger.
"It was on the 5th of September," says Bruce, "that we were all prepared
to leave this capital of Nubia, an inhospitable country from the
beginning, and which, every day we continued in it, had engaged us in
greater difficulties and dangers. We flattered ourselves that, once
disengaged from this bad step, the greatest part of our sufferings was
over; for we apprehended nothing but from men, and, with very great
reason, thought we had seen the worst of them."
FOOTNOTE:
[35] Although this city is at the present day but little better than a
heap of ruins, it bears the marks of former magnificence. See _Russell's
Nubia and Abyssinia_, p. 59, Harpers' Family Library.--_Am. Ed._