Chapter I (12)

To form a regiment for the Khaimakan Hassan Effendi, a vile fellow, who was slave along with the Pascha, the officials have to furnish slaves. The Pascha gave 50, Mustapha Bey 35, a Colonel 30, a Kaimakan 15, a Bimbaschi 10, a Jusbaschi 2, a Melasim, and all Mallems, 1; and just as arbitrarily does the Pascha act with the Saraf (money-changer, or financial officials). The Saraf of Cairo has run off with 7000 purses (kies). The Pascha has been generous enough to place 3000 to his own debit, but the other Sarafs of the country must pay the remaining 4000. No officer, however old, gets his discharge without first having his accounts overhauled, or, in other words, being plundered. Some people of Mohammed Ehle’s have been caught tempting the soldiers to desert, and stealing camels, but our chief remains true to his policy not to break with the Hallenga. The only punishment he inflicts on them is to take away their lances and shields, and, at the prayer of Mohammed Ehle, after a few days’ imprisonment, let them go. The making of busa, or merissa, is forbidden, and brandy is not to be had; so now they steep raisins and honey in water till it ferments, burying the vessel containing it in the ground. The opium is, too, all used up, and the few who have been in the habit of using it torment my brother for some, and promise in return what they never mean to perform. The tigers (nimr), or panthers, almost nightly spring from the rocks over the low camp-fence, and bear off so easily goats and sheep, that the owners, who sleep beside them, only hear the dying cry of the prey, and the rapid spring of the spoiler over the pales. The lions have again slain a man, and three cows, near the camp; we therefore are now more cautious when we go out to hunt, and the servants wisely stick close to us. Our collection of birds and four-footed animals is much increased, and we have also gathered together a number of snakes and other reptiles.

Towards the east, among the hills, running up to Habesch, dwell savage tribes and robbers; they speak an aggem of their own, are Maguss (heathens), dress in skins, or go perfectly naked. Their weapons are the lance and a small shield of buffalo-hide. The men ornament themselves with coral, are powerful, incredibly agile, and wonderful runners. They are an abomination to the Mussulmen, as they neither pray, have any kitab (book or Koran), nor any Faki. They have neither camels nor horses, but only cattle, goats and sheep, and live on milk and flesh. They grow little durra, as their ground is ill adapted to it, and only eat of it every tenth or twelfth day. Their towns or villages are situated on the highest hill-tops, are fenced in with thorns and stone walls, and they are said to have sixty such fortresses. They are of various shades of colour,—brown, black, red, and almost white. The fairer females of bright complexion are highly valued. They plunder from each other, principally stealing women and cattle, and make forays into Habesch and Taka; they know not the duties of hospitality; the stranger who enters their country, even though a female, is robbed and murdered. The father will demand the guest from the son, even though he has eaten and drunk with him, and only with the view of sacrificing him to their inhospitable usages. This makes them deeply hated by the Arabs, with whom a guest (Diffahn), with certain exceptions, is sacred. They sell their own offspring, even their daughters, as victims to Turkish lust. They tattoo body and limbs very neatly. Whence these _hill-tribes_, whom the Arabs, in contempt, call Naas-el-Gebl saket, spring, no one knows; probably, however, they are the original inhabitants of the land, driven back into the hills by the conquering races of Abyssinians and Arabs: further, the different hill-tribes have different languages, with some Arab words mixed in them, as in Faszogl.

On the Gohr-el-Gash, two days’ journey from here to the eastward, commence the extensive and highly populous mountains of Basa. The two principal cities of that land are Bada and Deriba. These nations also murder their guests, and are Kaffers or Maguss (heathens). Here, too, plundering is the main pursuit, with little agriculture, but much cattle-breeding. The whole labours are those of the chase, especially elephant-hunting, the making of coloured straw mats, and vessels for food and drink; they also make very neat drinking-cups and milk-dishes, covered or lacquered over with rosin. They generally eat their meat raw, drink much merissa, and old and young dance and beat the nogara day and night. The Gash winds through among the hills, and gives these tribes water; for eight days’ journey on each side of it, extend the hills of Basa to Makada, to which succeed the hills of Damballass, followed by the high lands of Hammassein, in which the Gohr commences. The houses in Basa are well-built tokuls. The coral-ornamented men, who smoke much, wear a ferda, the women only a small loin-cloth. In both sexes the eyes are small, the cheek-bones very prominent, the face broad, and the lips not even fleshy; their whole physiognomy displays brutality and savageness. Each hill has its chief; one over all there is not; the powers of the chiefs are small. Even the Turks admit their bravery, and say that individuals among them would take up a position on the rocks, and, after having cast away all their lances, would defend themselves against a heavy fire with stones, until they were brought down riddled with many balls. The love of home is very great; much to our joy, almost the whole of the slaves of both sexes have escaped from the camp by the gate, which the Schukurie held. The women had actually slain their infants, that these, by their cries, might not betray or impede their flight. These people run like deer, and in a moment leave much ground behind them. Their language is perfectly different from all others, and is certainly a well-sounding one, e.g. _Oïfa_, meaning merissa. Here, and on the way to the hills, snakes are said to be found, not so very long, but thick as a crocodile, and able easily to swallow a man; instances are related of their having half or wholly swallowed the sleeper from his angareb. Four days’ journey off, higher among the hills, lies Belcha, or Balacha, which, according to these people, must be an immense and most populous city.

Behind these, a day’s journey from here, on a hill towards the east, is Sabderath, and half a day’s journey from thence is Gedehn, the population of which are of Arab descent, and tributary to the Turks. From the hills of Baria, Mària, Basehn, and Semhend and to the north- west, bounded by the Haddenda, extends in a somewhat bowlike form, from the south to the east, the land of the Beni Amer, which, in its people and their habits, much resembles the Haddenda; its southern part is hilly, more so than on the east, where it slopes away till it reaches the Red Sea. It receives its principal supplies of water from the Gohr Baraka, which has its rise in the north-east chain of the Abyssinian mountains, and winds through the lands of Kostahn and Mària westwards, then divides into two branches, one of which runs eastward by Sauakin into the Red Sea, and the other through the Beni Amer. On its course to Sabderath, where date and tamarind-trees are to be found, it loses much of its waters, and beneath that hill it divides again into two arms, one of which runs southward round the hill of Kassela-el-Lus, by the village of Hafara, and the other westward, by Hauathi, into the Gohr-el-Gash. Among the Beni Amer, cultivation is not much pursued, but attention is paid to cattle-breeding, and they have many of these, and camels with large humps, which they barter with the Haddenda for grain. There are also in their land many giraffes and elephants, the teeth of which they pay tribute in.

North-east of Basa, to the frontiers of Makada, and to the south-east of the Beni-Amer, extend the hills of Baria, inhabited by a numerous race of blacks, heathens, who, however, wear the ferda. They are a stout, warlike race, great hunters, and therefore little of agriculturists.

Mària, yet more populous, and on the western frontier of Habesch, and south-west of Sauakin, has, on the contrary, much grain, and many most beauteous female slaves, of a copper-brown and red-yellow colour. These people have a sultan, and manners very like the Abyssinians. It is said they are Christians (Nassara), and not badly disposed or cruel; to this it is not unlikely Christianity has somewhat contributed. The hills there are well covered with fine trees, and tamarinds are plentiful; but also immense serpents, of which most wonderful tales are told. The natives are most dexterous in weaving straw.

On the land of Mària joins, to the S.E., Kostahn, the tribes of which are the most warlike of all, and are ruled by a sultan. Both races much resemble the Abyssinians, and in Kostahn are both Christians and heathens. Swords are rare; with their lances, however, they attack elephants, of which there are many, as also wild buffalos and rhinoceroses; the teeth, hides, and horns of these they bring to Massaua, in the Habesch, and there barter them for pieces of cotton cloths for clothing. Both countries receive their waters from the Baraka, and on it, but further up the hills, their villages lie. Each land has a different language, mutually plunder each other of women and cattle, and carry on war among themselves, and against Makada. The men usually wear their hair long, and anoint it with fat. In all these lands gold is unknown, so are also the Abu Nukta and Abu Matfe (Theresa dollars and Spanish piastres), and all trade is carried on by barter in salt, cloths, and cattle.

The tropical rains generally commence at Assur or Magreb (three o’clock, P.M., or sunset), are usually accompanied by a Habub (blast of wind), and last till far into the night. In the morning the sky is clear and pure, not a cloud, save those which almost the whole day hang round the great hills’ rocky dome. If the cloud (Nedde) withdraws during the day, rain sets in. However, it has not proved, as we were told by all, that during the Chariff, or rainy season, rain fell day and night, and in drops the size of musket-balls. Not only in the valleys, but in every crevice and fissure of rock, now starts up verdure, even where it could hardly have been looked for. A man here came to my brother, and requested a certain poison, backing his request by saying that he wished to separate from his wife for ever. We advised him to adopt the Mussulman’s plan, and, if his wife was a bad one, to divorce her; but he preferred dying to exercising such a right, and left us much depressed. I had tried to persuade the Pascha not to treat Mohammed Din so harshly; but he said I did not know him. He at the same time told us, that his policy demanded he should also carry off into imprisonment at Chartum, the as-saint-esteemed old Sheik Hagemar, of Mahass, who had long prophesied the arrival of the English in these countries, and now English ships were in the port of Sauakim, from which the people much desired a landing.

Desertion among the soldiery still goes on, and increases: so many are now sick, that all fear to die. The vapours drawn from the water and damp soil by the sun’s heat, the many dead camels lying round the camp, have poisoned the air, and brought on a serious mortality among the men, who are almost all covered with small, itching pimples. Even the finest horses of Dongola, Cairo, Scham (Syria), and Arabia, are dying in the same way. The Pascha, not to embitter his higher officers, although all, discontented as they are, still appear before him with the utmost outward subserviency, allows them now to draw almost the full amount of their allowances; though they alone should answer for the deserters. The news from Sauakim, of a probable landing of the English, has caused much excitement in the camp. From all sides men flock to and question us, as they fancy that we, being Franks, must be aware of the English plans. On the whole, much general satisfaction would follow a change of rule; and this is specially shown when we tell them of the good pay of the English, the good treatment all receive at their hands, and how no officer is subjected to unworthy usage from his superiors, nor dare any attempt, such practices as are common here, towards man or officer.

Certain of the detachments sent out in various directions to bring in tulba (tribute) have been slain, and a kind of revolt has occurred in the camp. In Mitkenab, in the land of the Haddenda, one of these detachments, a troop of Turkish cavalry, who seemed to be on the best footing with the inhabitants, who prepared a feast for them, have been treacherously murdered. They had encamped, eaten, and drunk, when the Haddenda attacked with their knives the thirty-two horsemen and fifteen servants, and cut their throats like sheep, before these, armed with pistols and muskets, could rise to defend themselves. The Buluk Baschi, alone, slew the Arab attacking him, threw himself on his horse, and galloped in with the horrible tidings. We were with Abdin Bey, their commandant, when the messenger of death entered. Abdin Bey, who loved his men, dead or alive, became so furious, that he howled aloud, and plainly gave us to understand that this murder was done at the instigation of the Pascha. He was about to rush to him, but as this would at once have driven matters to extremities, his relatives and we held him back by force, although the foam actually stood on his lips. Then he wanted to mount with all his men, and take a bloody revenge, nor wait for any orders from the Pascha. Afterwards I accompanied him to the Pascha, who put on a most indifferent face, as if nothing particular had occurred, called him merely Aga, though he is by birth a Bey of one of the first Albanian families, and smiled sarcastically when he prayed to be allowed to set out immediately; and at last said to him, “Your men and horses are ill, but, if you choose to go alone, you may.” This finished the business. The Pascha, indeed, could not put up with the pride of this Arnaut, who could see in the Pascha merely a Mameluke and a slave.

The tribute laid on the land of the Beni-Amer, in camels and cattle, has only come in part to hand. There are yet due 3500 cattle and 1300 camels, which the blood-sucker Hassan Effendi must go and bring in. Soon after his setting out, there was much talk of the cruelties which he was exercising on the natives. Although the people, on the whole, remained quiet, and their chiefs, not being able to assert their authority, had fled, still Hassan had allowed 200 persons to be pitilessly shot down, and besides had carried away whole herds of camels from the Haddenda, with whom we were on terms of peace. These, at once, took their revenge; burned Gos Rajeb, murdered some twenty merchants, and plundered the magazines of corn laid up there for our retreat. Almost all the soldiers returned ill, when the continued rains forced them to retire to camp. To give the Pascha actual proof of their courage, they had cut off the ears of the slain; and he, in return, ordered a present to the soldiery. A servant had been compelled to cut off the ears, and now he lies yonder firmly bound, and raving mad. All stealers of camels, when caught in _flagranti_, are immediately deprived of their ears, as the Pascha also pays for them. That many lose their ears who had no thought of theft, is easily imagined, as the operation is done on the instant and spot. Besides many pretty women and children, Hassan Effendi brought in 2900 cattle, and 7000 sheep. He had, also, laid hands on eighty camels for himself; these he gave out he had bought. The camels, though handsome animals, showed little docility, as they live among these natives as untrained as in the desert; they were sent off to Cairo for sale. Although Hassan cheats the soldiers in an unheard-of manner, keeps back their corn, has cows stolen and slain and sells them, milk, flesh, and all such things, to the soldiers, at a high price, and has before been imprisoned for his roguery, and a second time, for similar tricks, degraded, still the Pascha has advanced him to be Kaimakan, and raised for him, as already said, at the expense of all his officers and officials, a complete regiment. All he requires for his own housekeeping is one piastre’s worth of flesh a day, and his people get only belila (boiled durra) and water for themselves. If they ask wages, he gives them the bastinado. He purchases from the poorer officers the horses they have taken as spoil, but never pays them; and these are afraid to complain to the Pascha, lest they expose themselves to Hassan’s intrigues, and the cabals which the higher officers carry on against their inferiors. The Pascha had sent the poor camel-drivers sixteen cows, but this vampire took on himself to reduce their share to three, keeping thirteen to himself. I held it my duty to tell the Pascha this, who merely said, “Malliich” (’Tis no matter), and soon after mentioned he had recommended him to Cairo, to be made Bey! that he was already very old, and was failing, and that, ere long, the Divan might call him to account, or be his heir. While thus speaking he could not repress an ironical smile—such is Turkish policy. The market now showed well; fine cows could be bought for forty or sixty piastres, five to eight cows were given for a horse from Habesch, and goats and sheep were to be had at three or four piastres a head. The Hallenga made large profits, and those who had before represented themselves as miserably poor, now flocked in with from eight to twelve pieces of cotton cloth on their shoulders for sale.

The Schaigies, also, made a chasua on the Dabaina-Arabs, who dwell towards the south, between the small rivers Settiet and Bassalahn, and will pay no tribute. The Schaigies, however, suffered considerable loss, from the now highly flooded waters, the lands there being very fruitful from this abundance of water. Although the Schaigies lost many men, and also horses, still they have brought in with them 700 cows and 300 camels; but all, from the constant rains, have returned ill. Such as have to supply themselves with new horses are much cast down, as a new horse often costs them all their pay for two years. Although it is usual to give a part of the spoils of such robbing expeditions to the troops engaged, still the Pascha on this occasion took the whole of the plunder to himself, but in the name of the Belik, leaving unanswered their petition for a share. By this, the Schaigies, who are ever placed in the most dangerous posts, are much soured, openly and bitterly complain to us of their wants, and make no secret of their hatred of the Turks. Thus, in one way or another, the whole camp is filled with sickness and discontent. I myself had been ill eight days of fever and ague, and was lying alone in our tent, suffering from violent fever, when a Faki entered and came up to my bed head, accompanied by Melek Mahmud, who had brought him to cure me. My brother entered, and seating himself on his angareb, signed to me, with assumed gravity, to remain calm and quiet, as the Faki commenced murmuring sentences out of the Koran, and, like a mesmeriser, to pass his hand over my head and face. To please the Melek, I submitted quietly; but when the priest, raising his voice, began to spit in my face, while he would have held me down by the shoulders, I, enraged, sprung up and hurled him from me on my brother, whose enjoyment of the scene greatly annoyed me. In an instant, I was all well again: the excitement had thrown off the fever, nor did it return.

The Sheik Mohammed Defallah, who very often visits us, had slain a young camel, and asked us to sup with him. Although we as yet had not tasted camel flesh, we preferred remaining at home, as we had game, and were preparing a pudding for supper, and were just about to commence our meal, when he appeared, followed by two squires, and with friendly violence forced us to go with him. We found in his recuba Abu Sin, Wod- Naga, and two other Sheiks. The camel flesh had been cut in small pieces, stuck on wooden skewers, fat and lean alternately, and roasted. It did not suit our palates, we much preferring dishes prepared after our own country fashion. His bilbil, a better kind of merissa, however repaid us, and put us in better humour; and not to appear stingy before the Æthiopians, we had our own supper brought in, as also what we had intended for our next day’s dinner; viz. some roast hare, and a ragout of guinea-fowl. Of course we, with a “Bismillah,” invited the Sheiks to partake; and our cookery so well suited their taste, that the strongly spiced camel flesh found few customers. On our producing a rice pudding, mixed with raisins, and covered with wine sauce, which certainly should have been four times as large as it was, all burst out into praises; and these joys became yet greater, when Mohammed Defallah pulled out two bottles of date brandy, which he, having spent all his money, had purchased for two pieces of cloth which he had won by his dromedary’s speed; and I now requested the party to be allowed to prepare for them a Frank drink. I poured out the bottles’ contents into a vessel, and, to the surprise of all, set fire to the brandy; a thing none had before seen, much less tried; and then taking white sugar, melted it in the flames. When they beheld us two stirring about the flaming liquor with our hands, without fear or pain, they took us for sorcerers. Abu-Sin and Wod-Naga, who, being Faki, did not drink even merissa, stared with the utmost astonishment at each other, and retired without taking leave of any one. On our blowing out the flame, Melek Mahmud was the first who ventured to taste it, and soon after the strong-liquor-loving Defallah was all joy, and praising the Germans (Nemza) who had invented such a beverage. Ere long it suddenly occurred to the fat Defallah, that he had not said his evening prayer. Although Melek Mahmud would have prevented him, and told him that he himself only prayed when no plunder was to be had, he, with the aid of his servants, rose from the ground and staggered out of the door. There he was let down, on the spot where we had often before seen him praying, and where, contrary to prescribed ceremony, he let his heavy posteriors rest on his heels, but could not call to mind one word of his prayers; nor would he have got out a word had he done so, as he held in his mouth the biting bukka (tobacco, natron and water), and could only make a dull mumbling murmur. After this there was much talk, and the Turks were abused, as usual: all had full confidence in us, and were well convinced we told no tales.

Of the female slaves of Basa, brought into the camp for sale, the old rogues who had most money (such, for instance, as Hassan Effendi) have bought the most beautiful, for the purpose of again selling them at a large profit; the lower ranks of officers also buy on a venture, and foolishly enough, as they have seldom sufficient to keep themselves. Old Deli Mustapha, the Pascha’s Kawedschi, had bought a slave, and hidden her in a nook behind the hearth where he cooked his coffee, where she could neither stand upright, nor see daylight. Although we were very well acquainted with him, still his jealousy would not allow us a single peep at the girl. Besides, he seemed to feel some superstitious fears about it; he used to pour on the ground, as a libation to the evil spirits, the first cup of coffee he brewed in the morning. The Bosniak, Hussein Aga, city commandant of Sennaar, who was a friend of ours, and who looked upon us as a kind of countrymen, had bought a couple of pretty girls, and his jealousy was fearfully aroused when they smiled at one of his slaves. Happily, the latter escaped death, but came in full career, with his master after him, to seek safety in our recuba. We saw at once what would occur, and let him in, but excluding his master, who stood without with drawn sabre, foaming with rage, and demanding his slave, to murder him. The latter, however, aided by our servants, had made his escape through the back-door, and was off again, on which I sent one of my people after him, to tell him to take shelter under the Pascha’s roof. As our friend Hussein still continued to conduct himself like a savage, we had to show him our rifles, and I thought it better to go myself to the Pascha, to save the slave’s life. I told the Pascha the case; he said that under the circumstances the master was certainly at liberty to take his slave’s life, but that Hussein, as Chief Hakim, could make no use of such a right, as he had openly and often promised not to do so. He declared he would let Hussein Aga taste the bastinado, and gave orders to a Kawass to go and bring him. I had nothing now for it than to retire in all haste, send the Kawass to Hussein’s hut, and get to my own. In an instant I told the yet raging though somewhat cooled Hussein, who was still before it, what had occurred, and advised him to take shelter in the back part of our recuba, where he would not be seen, and at once make out the order for the freedom of the slave; that I would convey it to the Pascha, as he was certain to demand it from him. Though a few minutes before so brutally savage, he now went at once into the proposal, and I hurried off with the manumission to the Pascha, and prayed him not to let any disgraceful punishment fall on the brave Bosniak, that might be followed by degradation, and whom he moreover had, by a mere word, brought to silence; and assured him that the Bosniak had given us no offence. However, he must appear before the Pascha, which he did, pale and trembling; but the great man reproved him for his passionate outburst and former similar offences, and dismissed him, smiling and nodding to me, as if pleased at what I had done. No one was happier than the slave, who on the sight of his master had again fled to our recuba, when I handed him his manumission; we took him into our service as cook, so that our former cook could now go and follow his passion, the chase.

The Gisser was not yet swept away, though the water was four or five feet above the dam. I, along with the Pascha, was riding one day in its neighbourhood, on the left bank of the Gash, when my dromedary shied, and we became aware of a large serpent. The Pascha at once gave the workers orders to catch the animal, and this was at once set about. The snake, thus pursued, took the water, and once in, it boldly raised its head and turned on the Arab near it, who, armed with a hassaie, had cast himself off the dam into the water. With great dexterity he took aim at the head of the snake, and struck it so violent a blow, that, as if stunned, it let its head sink and began to writhe and twist most violently, on which another Arab approached with a cord: the first laid hold of it, seized the snake by the neck below the head, looped the cord round it, and then both drew it ashore. Here it lay for a moment quiet, and we could examine the fearfully beautiful creature, which was more than eleven feet long and half a foot in diameter. However, when they began to drag it further on, which, of course, would have spoiled the whole skin, orders were given to carry the animal into the camp; a jacket was bound over its head, and three men prepared to raise it on their shoulders. The brute, however, made such strong convulsive writhings, that it and its three bearers came to the ground together, and the same thing happened again when many other bearers were aiding. I went with them to the camp, had a strong nail driven into the front large beam of our recuba, and the monster hung on it. It hung all slack and limber down, as did also another snake that our servants had hung while yet alive inside our recuba; and I intended to take them down and skin them in the morning, as the day was too far gone to do anything to them now. In the night I was most unpleasantly disturbed, for the inside snake that hung at the head of my bed seemed to glide with its cold belly over my face; in terror I sprung up, and thought I had been struck over the shin with a club, when the big serpent, now in its death agonies, gave me a stroke with its tail through the open door of the recuba, before which some of the servants sat on their heels telling tales of spirits, snake-kings, &c.

Next morning, when we called on our servants to take down the snakes to skin and stuff them, and told them not to spare the alum and arsenical soap, to our great astonishment they refused to work. We soon perceived they had been told by some bigot that this was an unclean work for a Mussulman: as at the moment there was nothing better for it, if we would not allow the sun to ruin this fine specimen of a python, we ourselves, though much disgusted, set to work on the job. As soon as the servants saw that we were not ashamed of such work, first one came and then the other, and took the assala to themselves, and worked all the more diligently on our promising them a pot of merissa. This serpent, like all large snakes, is called assala. Not long after, we received a similar snake of half a foot in diameter, but only nine feet in length, that had a short tail, like the Vipera cerastes; this they also called assala, and held it to be one of those before-mentioned short thick snakes, that swallow men. The marking of the skins of the two snakes showed little difference, but the head of the latter was the broader of the two.

As we here meet with people of all nations of the world, we hear many things, but with all the praise of their own native country, however small, is ever the favourite theme. Abdin Bey told us that in his country, Albania, were to be found flying snakes. He has a black serpent’s horn, that seems to be an artificially blackened large tooth, and a stone out of the jawbone of an ass. To make oneself proof against poisons, as well as the bite of numerous reptiles, one has only with a sabre to slice off a piece of an Aggem, _i.e._ a heretic, and eat it. The race of Sagara (sorcerers) is much feared, as they are held to have strange power; but there is also an herb, a charm against such sorcerers. In the mountains of the Druses there is yet another kind of magicians, Gessit, who draw a circle round the bewitched person, out of which he cannot pass. Superstition, indeed, goes far, and Melek Saat has written amulets that bring evil on those, who secretly foster ill-will against him; they are very old, as are all such papers we have examined. Mahmud Aga, Bulluk Baschi, and Abdin Bey have great seals, the impression of which they stamped on paper, and gave to those who had the fever to wear about them; if this has no effect, there must be some evil spirit (schittan) in the way. There are also papers (uarrag) that sick men must eat, or burn and inhale the smoke. Omar Kaschef, as a preventive to cold and cough, drinks the water with which the ink of certain written words has been washed off a wooden table; and he swears that a frog split open and placed on a shot-wound will draw out any ball within twelve hours. Even the most intelligent among them believe more in their charms than in the best doctor. The Pascha, a freethinker, states his belief in men living to the age of 400 or 500 years. All, both Turks and Arabs, are much prejudiced against the European method of treating diseases. If the medicine does not give immediate relief, it is bad, _all bosh_. All that any friend recommends is at once tried, and faki and charms are always employed along with the attending doctor. Their own receipts are powerful, as, for instance, for a cold, pepper, ginger, and hot spices, &c. Almost for every illness they open some particular vein; the vena ranina for indigestion, the vena frontalis for headache, the vena digitalis for ailments in the limbs, &c. &c. Garlic, placed on or in the tarbush is a preventive to coup de soleil; and garlic and salt, placed under the tongue, a cure for thirst and fever. Arabs and Turks groan and cry at every attack of illness, and call on Allah and the Prophet, “ia Rabbi! Rassul Allah! Sheik Abd-el-Kader!” &c. During illness they seldom change their clothes, and remain in their under garments, which are clogged with perspiration. On fresh wounds they place sulphur, wash them often with brandy, and strew on them coffee, salt, and gunpowder. For lance wounds the natives here roll round a piece of stickgoat’s hair or cotton, and turn it round in them. When these in a day or two become highly inflamed, they make a rim of paste round the wound, and pour into it boiling butter. That the butter that runs over after being applied to the wound is never wasted, but drunk up, is a matter of course. They say if it does not burn like fire it does no good, and it is incredible how soon they thus heal wounds. That every wound in this clime requires to be more stimulatingly treated than with us, is true, and therefore balsam of Peru is a capital medicine here. In Beni-Amer men pour into their wounds hot pitch or rosin, and leave it there. As a cure for fever, milk and senna are used.

The nearest town or village on the Gohr-el-Gash, some half day’s journey from here, is Terefàt or Hafarra; east from it, on a hill well supplied with water, is Illit, some day and a half’s journey from Kassela; at a similar distance to the south-east is, on the Gash, another village, called Bitama. In the east, on a picturesque hill, rises Sabderath, one day’s journey from here, and half a day’s further to the east, Gedèhn. The range of hills these villages are on runs from north to south-east, and is well supplied with water. At the foot of the hills are gohrs, the hollows of which collect the rain water from them, which afterwards runs out or is lost in the plains. The Sheik Nuhr of Sabderath is a great leader of hostile forays and plundering expeditions. If he can not go on these, he finds no rest at home, and therefore wars on giraffes and tigers. The tribe of the hill of Gedèhn are respected by the Turks for their fidelity and firm adherence to their word. These are Arabs, and of the Hallenga tribe.

A fresh foray has been made into Basa, and some days ago tidings of heavy losses reached the camp. The natives there had retreated into caves, of which there are many and large ones among the hills, some of which, like those of Kassela, have water inside them; almost all of them have very small well concealed entrances, though many inside are of great extent. They are said to be inhabited by men of ancient days, spirits, and ghosts. The Turks fired in grenades or small shells, full of schiteta (red peppers pounded), as kindling fires at the mouths does no good, the smoke escaping by some hidden outlets.

The district of Basa commences, as before said, two days’ journey further up the Gohr-el-Gash than Kassela, and extends along this Gash for eight days’ journey up to Makada. Four days’ journey from the frontier, and so nearly in the centre of the land, is Belgam or Bàlacha, which is a part of Basa, and has large populous villages among its hills. The inhabitants of Basa are to be praised for allowing no thievings to go on among them; one may lay down his goods by the wayside, and no one will touch them. None commence harvest till all go. Circumcision is usual among the men, but not as a religious rite. Elephants are in great numbers, and these are the principal objects of their hunts. The elephant hunters are called Agàr, and for this reason my brother’s slave of the Basa race, got the surname of Agàr, as his father was a famed elephant hunter. The method of killing elephants is, while one hunter well mounted attracts the monster’s attention in front, another behind cuts with a sword the back sinews of the leg, a deed not only requiring much strength, but also high courage and dexterity. Besides corn, they cultivate simsim (sesame). Children are fed on milk and honey; grown persons consume merissa and lochma. Flesh is little used; the head of the elephant is, however, highly famed, as also the cap of the foot. The climate is healthy, and the people hale and cheerful. The troops returned from thence highly delighted with the burmas, filled with honey and merissa, which they found in great plenty in the larger tokuls of these people.

All speak of a Bellad-el-Kelb (Dog-land); the women there are not disfigured, but the men have dogs’ faces, feet with claws, and tails like apes; they cannot speak, though the women well understand what the men mean by the wagging of their tails! This land of dogs is at one time said to be on the frontier of the Habesch, at another on those of Darfur, now Felatta, and so on. A land inhabited by Fellati who are clothed, was mentioned to me when voyaging on the White Nile; and there was also pointed out to me, under 4° N. latitude, the hills of Lokoja, where it was said there was a race of men with dogs’ heads who were cannibals. Afterwards we heard that the Wadi-el-Kelb was thus named, from the inhabitants being great robbers who held fast to their prey like dogs. The great Sheik Abu Sin, however, informed us, that this land was only six hours’ journey distant from here, and that its Sheik bore the title of honour of Wod Kelb, which probably had been the title or name of some earlier renowned Arab chief, and that this Wod Kelb, who some seven years before had defeated a part of the army of Churschid Pascha, and would not behold a Turk, paid, in an indirect manner, his tulba (tribute) through him. There is, in truth, a district of Arabia called Kalb, pronounced Kelb by the Turks, from whence it is possible this tribe may have their name.

Hallenga, Haddenda, Mitkenab, Bischari, Homrahn, Beni-Gerahr, Beni-Amer, and even a part of Schukurie, have a language of their own (Rottàn). Why not also Arabic, like most of the Arab tribes? who have emigrated the more so, as now on the Gesira Arabic has even driven out the original language. Were all these the original tribes, or rather the sole people of these lands, as they have only _one_ language, or were they a powerful people, only gradually intermixed with Arabians? or have they united with them, the latter being the fewer, having adopted the language, while the former received the new religion? or has only a part of the well-known immense emigrations of the Arab race remained here, while the rest moved further south (to Kordofan, Darfur, Borzu, Bornu, &c.), and thus among larger masses lost its original language, while it retained its religion? On the hills men speak another language, which the above-mentioned races do not understand, and these hill tribes must be an original race, although among the tribes each has a different language of its own, perhaps the poor remains of their nationality. But over the great tract of country of the above-mentioned tribes, some one language, some one great nation must have once spread, as among all these different races there is a perfect similarity of customs and usages, as of one nation. The original nation must also have been migratory and uncivilised, as in the whole extent of country, from the deserts behind Syene from the Atbara to the Red Sea, not the smallest trace of a former cultivation, or settled dwelling seat, has been seen by any traveller, although men talk of pyramids and such-like, as I afterwards heard. Perhaps all these lands were once subject to the Abyssinian emperor, who among his titles styled himself King of “Kas,” which may be identical with “Gash,” and have not only meant the Gohr itself but also all the lands situated on it. The word, too, “Makada,” used for Habesch or Ittopia, also points to an olden connection with the empire of Abyssinia, as according to the Kebra za Negest, the queen who visited Solomon was called “Makeda,” that is if one does not derive the word from the Arabic Machada. Although different languages prevail among the hills on the borders of Habesch, still one finds, with the exception of those who from trade or religion are connected with Habesch, the manners and customs nearly the same, and like those of all races of the earth of a lower grade of civilisation, who do not come into contact with other nations, and in trade and opinion learn little new. Basa, however, seems that which has remained most true to a state of nature.

Hardly had the Schaigies and Mograbins returned from their chasua into Basa with their prisoners and plundered cattle, than the Pascha took it all to himself, contrary to the common usage that allows the troops employed one half; but now to stir up Melek Mahmud to a similar foray with his Schaigies into Beni-Amer, on which land an ever arbitrarily increased tulba has been laid, and to make him and his people more zealous, he promised them the whole plunder: Mahmud goes, and returns when men fancied he and his whole troop had been cut off; and again the Pascha breaks his word, in spite of the great loss the party had suffered, and only gives him half of the spoil, and shares some of it among different Sheiks with whom two stolen camels had been found, as if he feared such a revolt in Hallenga as has already broken out in Kalabat. Mohammed Ehle, who with part of his people had joined the foray, appropriated to himself 50 camels, 200 cows, and 600 sheep. For the same reason, the Pascha had 400 ardep of corn brought from the reservoir at Kataref, as the Hallenga knew how to excuse themselves under the plea of poverty, and the Haddenda, who had declared themselves (taija) submissive, were not to be heard of, nor would they deliver any grain.

Many and various as are the natives of the countries we meet with here from all parts of the Ottoman empire, their own country is and ever will be the favourite theme of all. We feel this also, and our old Rhine songs make us now gay, now sad. For some days I had been sick of fever. Omar Kaschef sent me some lemonade with orange juice in it; I fancied I was drinking our favourite May-drink, and that I was in Konigswinter on the Rhine, and, in spite of the fever’s violence, I was happy. Unfortunately we have had latterly to give up the chase, as from behind almost every bush peep out hostile lances, and horrible murders daily occur. I lie all day on my angareb, constantly smoking, and, like a dreamer, keep my eyes fixed on the dusty partition of our hut, scarce hearing the dull words of the ignorant Turks, and allowing the time to pass on in idle listlessness. Thus do men alter; I am vexed with myself, but the unendurable heat soon changes my anger against myself, into curses at this broiling, monotonous life, the camp, and all in it. But I cannot venture outside the seriba without running the risk of being massacred, and the life and doings inside the fence are all too familiar to me. On all sides are heard nothing but grumblings about want of money, food, and everything else; then, each abuses the other, the Pascha comes in for his full share, and all round are complaints of the present, and praises of past times under Churschid Pascha. Only a small German country town could show dulness similar, and there other things would be better. The few books I carry with me I have read over a dozen times, and all that remains for me is thought, though my mind is so dulled and worn, that I almost at once fall into dreamy fancies and castle-buildings;—gigantic plans! immense fortune,—careless, luxurious old age,—purchase of landed estates in some happy, fair land, improvement of them,—family happiness, &c. These coloured and handsome women are not calculated, even for a short time, to afford amusement to an educated man; one can indeed only look on them as dumb conductors, as no one spark of feeling seems to be ever drawn from them. They themselves are unconscious of their unhappy lot, to be thus throughout all these lands condemned to slavery. All feelings here die away and become blunted, save only the remembrances of earlier life in one’s native country, and especially the joys of one’s student years and intercourse with youthful friends. Then come the thoughts of wine, beer, and clear cold water, and the food of home, not delicacies, but the plainest fare. How often do we talk over the sauer-kraut, potatoes, hams, sausages, and pork and broad beans! These may all be trifles, but if a man wants them for many years, and is exposed to all the annoyances of such a climate, he will soon feel how dear such things will become. I have now been more than half a year from Chartum, and constantly in the field, and not once have I enjoyed the great luxury of reposing undressed between clean-washed linen sheets, but have invariably slept, full dressed, on the ground, or on the angareb. Our best linen soon vanishes, as the constant perspiration spoils its purity, the chalky dust burns into it, and the servants know nothing of washing; near their black skin all seems to them white; and, alas! for three months we have had no soap. In the midst of such a lazy, idle life, creeping on like a slow fever, all at once one hears the cry of “Jalla!” and one hangs for four or five days, eighty or a hundred leagues on a camel’s back, shaken and rubbed till sore in body and bones, with a glowing sun, or sudden cold, and constant thirst and hunger as embellishments. But a man can bear much; I have held out through what I never would have believed. In violent fever, mounted on a dromedary, in midday sunbeams, more dead than living, held on by others,—and yet I recovered. To remain behind was certain death from the hand of the enemy, or the teeth of wild beasts. I have experienced what necessity will force a man to bear. In this monotonous state of existence and uniform manner of life, I compared myself to the camels picketed outside our tent, under the burning sun, now perfectly quiet, now lazily stretching themselves, undisturbed, though crows and ravens walk about on their backs, ever chewing the cud, or, as a change, seizing a blade of grass, and never showing the slightest sign of joy or curiosity.

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CHAP. XIV.

Advance against the Enemy. — Retreat. — Omar Kaschef. — Great Cavern of the Kassela-el-Lus. — Baobab Trees. — Hunting. — Birds.—Beasts. — Pascha’s Plans. — Quit the Camp for Chartum. — Conclusion.

The Haddenda continue shooting our camels, although these are sent out to feed under military escort. We, ourselves, have during this campaign lost in all five and twenty camels and six dromedaries by such robberies,—a loss that falls on our own purse, as we could not bring ourselves to ask the Pascha for any share of the plundered camels taken by our troops. Quite close to the camp the Haddenda, or, as is likely, the Hallenga, have with their broad lance heads pierced through and through three Mograbins, who defended themselves and their camels against them. My brother, who, at the first glance, gave up the wounded as hopeless cases, now says, it is a wondrous chance that these three men have ever recovered so far as they have; they are now out of danger. Sobi Aga, a leader of the Mograbins, had presented us for these cures, or rather that we might speak well of him before the Pascha, a truly handsome dromedary. For the latter reason also another chief officer, Soliman Aga, left behind him, on visiting us, 400 piastres, which we sent back to him by a servant, to whom, however, he maintained that the money was none of his. On our telling this to the Pascha, he rejoiced at our prize, and, laughing heartily, advised us to keep our consciences quiet, as in this land a man must take all he could get.