Chapter II: History

Every one will agree that it is no easy matter to write the history of a country, or, rather, of a province, whose inhabitants live in a state of utter ignorance, and care little for the occurrences which took place but half the period of the life of man before them. There exist, moreover, no chronicles capable of giving information on any event which might serve as reference; thus I was unable to extend my researches, or to learn more than was communicated to me by a faquir,[4] seventy-eight years of age, who appeared to me worthy of belief, and who had been an eye-witness of all the recent events.

Kordofan takes its name from a mountain, situate at three and a half hours’ march to the south-east of Lobeid. The aborigines are negroes from Nubia, who, even at the present time, inhabit many parts of Kordofan. The word Kordofan itself is of Nubian derivation. Three tribes subsequently immigrated: the Hadejat, el Giomme, and Bederie. The period of this immigration, however, cannot be definitely determined. These three nomadic tribes distributed themselves over the country round about Mount Kordofan, occupied themselves with cattle-breeding, and each tribe had its sheikh, or magistrate; but from these three tribes, collectively, a head was chosen, who acted as impartial judge in all questions of difficulty, and, in fact, as the last authority. This people became, towards the middle of the last century, better acquainted with Sennaar. The King of Sennaar, namely, sent, in the year 1779, the Sheikh Nacib, with two thousand cavalry, to take possession of the country, and the tribes surrendered, with a pretty good grace, to their fate, without offering much resistance. Thus they remained for about five years, under the government of Sennaar. A Melek was instituted, and the people felt themselves happy under his government. Several Arab tribes, and people from Sennaar and Dongola, immigrated into the country, and agriculture and commerce began to flourish. Darfour now directed its attention towards this province, and entered on a campaign, in which the Melek-el-Hashma was driven out of Sennaar, and expelled the country for ever. Meleks now governed this country in the name of the Sultan of Darfour, up to the year 1821, during thirty-five years of the reign of Mehemed Ibn Fadels. During this epoch the country was also prosperous; the inhabitants lived in peace, and were not troubled with taxes; the merchants were exempt from all duties, and the tribute paid was a voluntary present to the Sultan of Darfour.

Bara, the second commercial town of importance in the country, was built by the Dongolavi; tribes immigrated from the most distant parts, and this province enjoyed a high degree of prosperity, under the really mild government of Darfour. Commerce extended in all directions; caravans brought the produce from Abyssinia, the interior of Africa, and from Egypt, into the two towns of Lobeid and Bara, whence the greater part was again transported into other countries. Abundance might be said to reign everywhere, and there was no want of any necessaries, whilst all were wealthy, and even the women of the less opulent inhabitants wore golden rings in their noses and ears, and many even golden bracelets and silver anklets round their feet. No other metal but gold or silver was to be seen in the decoration of the women, and many female slaves even wore gold about their persons. Agriculture and cattle-breeding flourished, and there were few inhabitants in the country who did not, to a certain extent, devote themselves to commerce. The whole population, in fact, lived free from care, and was wealthy; singing and dancing resounded from place to place; in short, this was the golden age of Kordofan.

This state of happiness was not, however, of long duration, for in the year 1821 Mehemed Ali sent his son-in-law, the notorious Defturdar, with a brigade of four thousand five hundred infantry and cavalry, attended by eight hundred Bedouins and eight pieces of artillery, to subject this country to his power. The people, apprized of his intention, prepared themselves to the utmost of their power for defence. The Melek Moosalem marched out with his troops to meet the Defturdar at Bara,—a march of twelve hours from Lobeid. His numerous but irregular army was well provided with every species of warlike weapons, excepting fire-arms, which were little or not at all known in the country. The cavalry, like the old Numidian equestrian troops, wore a shirt of mail, and pointed helmet without a vizor on their heads, and bore a double-edged sword thirty-six inches in length. The horses were caparisoned with plates of copper. The infantry were nearly naked; armed simply with a shield and spear, and but a small party of them with two-edged swords, (_turbatsh_,) and a species of tomahawk. The battle was fierce and bloody. The men of Kordofan rushed with fury upon the foe, and defended their freedom with a total disregard of death; even women participated in the fray. Hundreds of the combatants fell struck by the balls of the enemy; the wounded placed their fingers in their wounds, unable to understand how they could have been hurt, without having been touched by a weapon; so ignorant were they of the use of fire-arms. Infuriated they flung their spears at the cannons; and, having succeeded in capturing a gun for a short time, sought to revenge themselves on it for the destruction it had poured forth, by attacking it with their swords. The battle remained for a long time undecided. The Defturdar placed himself at the head of his cavalry, and, although ill, would not leave the field. Several attacks were valiantly repulsed. The Bedouins put the Turks to the blush by their bravery; where the battle raged hottest, these children of the desert were to be seen discomfiting the enemy most. Victory inclined sometimes to the side of the Turks, sometimes to the side of the men of Kordofan, but it yet remained doubtful. The Turks were sometimes sorely pushed; a Sheikh, however, of the Bedouins, from the race of Gemeat, was fortunate enough to lay Moosalem, the leader of the Kordofanese, prostrate with a pistol shot; his death decided the battle. The army of Kordofan, deprived of its leader, turned and took to flight; they were pursued by the Turkish cavalry, and many of them killed on this route. Amongst the dead on the field of battle three women were even found, who had taken an active part in the fight for their freedom. On the second day after this battle, the Defturdar entered Lobeid with his victorious army. The town was plundered, and nearly wholly sacked; the Defturdar found immeasurable treasure in this place, which this avaricious tyrant immediately appropriated to himself. The country surrendered without further resistance, excepting the mountain of “Dyre,” situated at twenty hours’ march from Lobeid, which has retained its freedom to the present day. The Turkish army suffered deprivations of all kinds; the greater part fell victims to the climate, and but few survived who could withstand its pernicious influence, and thus escaped with their lives.

Kordofan, excepting the free Nuba, is now divided into five districts; a Casheff, or captain, presiding over each; a colonel, resident in Lobeid, is governor of the province, and no pen can describe to what oppression the country is now subjected; all signs of wealth have entirely disappeared, and it is, as it were, drained by the Turks, who will not suffer any private person to attain the slightest degree of opulence. Many of the natives, tired of this oppression, have emigrated with all their possessions, and sought refuge either in Darfour, or in Takeli; and even as lately as the year 1838 the inhabitants of six villages have left the country. Nothing is now discernible but poverty and misery; inhabitants of even moderate means are not to be met with, if we, perhaps, except some few Djelabi.[5]

The various tribes inhabiting the country at present are the following: Hadejat, el Giomme, Bederie, Shiswaba, el Etoman, Ogendiab, Birget, Dombab, Almakaita, Elberiab, Hassenie, Hawara, Felata, Denagle or Dongolavi, Darhammer, Abusanun, Darhami, Serauy, Freseh, Basaue, el Maramera, Volet el Angon, Czahalin, Kubbabeesh (Sheikh Salé), Benecira, Hababin (Sheikh Abdel Mahmud), Elhauwasma (Sheikh Moosa), el Messerie (Sheikh Labaied), Koncieri or Darfurer, Pergu, and Nas-Gioffon;[6] but these people may be arranged collectively under three heads, namely: the Negroes; the Bakkari and Arabs or free people; and the Dongolavi. All these various tribes differ in their manners and customs, if not totally, at least to a certain extent, and speak thirteen dialects and languages among them.

The total population of Kordofan may be computed at 400,000 souls, excluding the nomadic Bakkari. The Defturdar did all in his power to degrade this country, and his name is, even at the present day, a word of terror to the natives. Terribly, indeed, the tyrant abused his authority in this unhappy country; no pen can describe the cruelties which he perpetrated in the province. Human nature revolts at hearing the inventions of this ruffian, practised upon his unfortunate victims for the mere gratification of his passion of cruelty. I should not have believed every rumour, or have regarded the accounts I heard of the atrocities of this man, for the most part, in the light of fiction, if I had not received corroborating evidence in all the districts of Kordofan, Sennaar and Egypt, through which I travelled; tales the more worthy of credit, inasmuch as many persons are yet living who were not only eye-witnesses of all these deeds of horror, but even themselves sufferers by his cruelty.

I may, perhaps, be permitted to illustrate a few traits in the character of this ruthless tyrant by narrating some of his feats; it will then become evident, that this flourishing country could but sink in a very short time, as the natural consequence of his oppressive tyranny; and that a considerable period must elapse before it will be able to recover itself but slightly.

A soldier who had stolen a sheep from a peasant was caught in the very act. He not only refused to return the stolen goods, but even maltreated the peasant. Confiding in the equity of his cause, the latter thought he should more probably have justice done him by the governor than by any one else, and entered a complaint against the soldier. The Defturdar listened very patiently to the story; but, when the peasant had finished, the tyrant accosted him in an angry voice, with the words: “And with these trifles you trouble me?” Then turning to his attendants he ordered the peasant to be brought before the kadi; they understood immediately that he meant by the kadi, a cannon, carried the poor wretch immediately off, and bound him to the mouth of a gun which was instantly fired.

His very servants, consisting not only of slaves, but of free Arabs and Turks, although they might be regarded as his executioners, stood in great awe of him, for he punished the slightest offence of which they might be guilty with every imaginable species of cruelty. Thus it happened that one of these servants was tempted to dip his finger into a dish to taste it. The Defturdar, unfortunately, observed the act. He demanded of the unhappy man, in an ironical tone, whether the dish were sweet or sour? The servant was naturally mute with fear. The Defturdar now ordered him to be nailed by the tongue to the door and his face to be smeared with honey, in order, as he expressed himself, to stimulate his gustatory faculties. In this position the unfortunate man had to pass two full hours. It took a long time before he recovered, and a variety of remedies were required to heal his tongue.

A seyss or groom, whose office is, according to custom in Egypt, to run before the rider, was incapable of keeping up with the Defturdar from absolute fatigue, in a long and quick trot. The tyrant struck him with his whip to quicken his pace. The unfortunate man, who was, however, quite exhausted, as may be supposed, did not become more active after this remedy had been applied. For this crime the unnatural barbarian had his feet bound to the tail of a horse, and ordered the animal to be driven through the streets of Lobeid by two other seyss. The unhappy groom would, no doubt, have met with his death in this manner, were not the streets paved merely with fine sand; thus he received many wounds, but none which proved mortal. The horse, unaccustomed to such usage, turned suddenly round, and struck at the unfortunate seyss, who, in desperation, seized the animal with all his remaining strength by the head; and to save himself bit into its upper lip. No attention was at first paid to this slight wound, but in a short time the head of the horse began to swell, and it eventually died. The seyss who was covered with wounds, however, survived the torture.

A man gave his neighbour, in a quarrel, a box on the ears; the latter brought a complaint against him before the Defturdar. “With which hand didst thou strike thy neighbour?” asked the tyrant. “With the right,” answered the peasant. “Well,” replied the Defturdar, “that thou mayst not forget it, I shall have the flesh removed from the palm of that hand.” This order was immediately executed. “Now return to thy work,” said the Defturdar to the sufferer, who, writhing with pain, replied: “In this state I cannot work.”—“What!” exclaimed the tyrant in a rage; “thou darest to contradict me! cut his tongue out, it is rather too long!” and this operation was also immediately performed, without consideration of the tortures to which he had been previously subjected.

The Defturdar one day observed, that some one had taken a pinch of snuff out of his box during his absence; his suspicion lighted upon his valet; he, therefore, on a subsequent occasion, confined a fly in his box and leaving it in his divan went into another room, and ordered his servant to fetch something from the chamber in which he had put down the box. The servant fell into the snare, was really tempted to take a pinch, and the fly escaped without being observed. In a short time the Defturdar returned to the room, found that the fly had escaped from its confinement, and immediately asked the servant “Who had opened the box?”—“I, sir,” he confidently replied; “I took a pinch.” This liberty he paid with his life: the ruffian had him flogged to death.

A negro bought milk of a women for five paras,[7] drank it, but forgot the payment; the woman complained to the Defturdar, who happened to be in the neighbourhood. “Well,” said he, “I will immediately investigate the affair,” and ordered the offending negro to be instantly brought before him. When he appeared, he asked him, if he had bought milk of that woman and not paid for it? The negro in fear denied it. The barbarian immediately ordered the abdomen of the negro to be cut open, to see whether his stomach contained the milk. It was, indeed, found; whereupon he quietly said to the woman: “Thou art right, take these five paras, and now go thy ways.”

In his garden the Defturdar had a den, in which he kept a lion; the animal became gradually so tame that he ran about at liberty in the grounds, and followed his master like a dog. Of this tame lion the tyrant made use to frighten the people who came before him, a species of wanton sport in which he took the greatest pleasure. If it so happened that no stranger came to visit him during the hour in which he engaged himself in his garden, he ordered his attendants to bring any person they might meet on the high roads to him. The invitation was sufficient in itself to frighten any one to death; but when an unfortunate man in the greatest trepidation entered the garden, and in absolute fear of his life creeping along the earth, approached the Defturdar, he set the lion at him, and the poor fellow, of course, fell senseless to the ground at the sight of the wild beast. This was now his greatest delight; for, although the animal did no harm, it was sufficient to frighten the most courageous man to be brought in close contact with a rampant lion.

Before this animal was quite domesticated, and whilst it was yet kept in confinement, one of the gardener’s assistants was guilty of some error, of which the superintendant complained to the Defturdar. In no case dilatory in passing judgment, he ordered the accused, without going into details, or listening even to the full explanation of the case, to be cast into the lion’s den. This order was immediately complied with; the beast, however, treated the poor condemned wretch like a second Daniel; it not only did him no harm, but, to the astonishment of all beholders, licked his hands. The gardener’s assistant was not the animal’s attendant, but had occasionally thrown some of his bread into the den in passing. The noble animal had not forgotten this kindness, and spared his benefactor’s life. The Defturdar, on hearing this, was by no means pleased; but bloodthirsty as ever, and without feeling the slightest appreciation for this act of generosity, ordered the lion to be kept fasting during the whole of the day, and the delinquent to remain in confinement, thinking in the anger of ungratified rage, to force the beast to become the executioner of its benefactor. But even hunger could not overcome the magnanimity of the royal animal, and the poor gardener remained the whole day unhurt in the den with the lion.[8] In the evening he was liberated, but the unfortunate man did not long escape the vengeance of the tyrant, who, meeting him one day in the garden, where he had brushed up a heap of leaves, accosted him with, “Dog, thou art so bad that a lion will not eat thee, but now thou hast made thine own grave.” Hereupon he commanded him to carry the dry leaves to an oven, and then to creep in himself. When this order was executed the tyrant had the leaves lighted, and the poor wretch expired under the most horrid tortures.

A Fellah (peasant) owed the government forty maamle,[9] the sheikh of his village had his last ox seized, the fellah declaring himself incapable of paying. The beast was slaughtered and divided into forty parts: the butcher received the head and skin for his trouble, and the remaining forty parts were sold at one maamle each, to the inhabitants of the village promiscuously. The meat, as may be supposed, was quickly sold at this low price. The poor peasant now appeared with a complaint before the Defturdar, assuring him that the ox was worth more than forty maamle. The Defturdar proceeded with all speed to the village, to investigate the matter on the spot. Having convinced himself of the truth, he ordered the sheikh, the butcher, and all those persons who had bought a portion of the confiscated ox, to be called together, and reproached the sheikh, in presence of all for his unlawful conduct. The butcher now received the order to slaughter the sheikh and to divide his body into forty parts. Every former purchaser was obliged to buy a part at a price of one maamle, and to carry the flesh home with him. The money was handed over to the Fellah as an indemnification for the ox which had been taken from him.

At the feast of the Baëram[10] all the servants and seyss, eighteen in number, went before the Defturdar to offer their congratulations according to custom, and begged at the same time for a pair of new shoes. “You shall have them,” said he. He now had the farrier called, and commanded him to make eighteen pairs of horse-shoes to fit the feet of his servants; these were ready on the next day, whereupon he ordered two shoes to be nailed to the soles of the feet of each of the eighteen servants without mercy. Nine of them died in a short time of mortification; he then had the survivers unshod, and consigned them to the care of a medical man.

But, enough of the atrocities perpetrated by this tiger in human shape, cruelties which are neither to be justified nor excused. Volumes might be filled with instances of tyranny of which this barbarian was guilty in the conquered country of Kordofan, in Sennaar, and Egypt. No single day passed without its tribute to his blood-thirsty cruelty. His power of invention of tortures for his unfortunate victims was extraordinary, and he was always capable of lighting upon some new mode of gratifying his revengeful disposition. His name will remain unforgotten for ages in Kordofan, Sennaar, and Egypt, and is yet an object of terror to all who hear it. Mehemed Ali, wearied of the complaints which daily reached him against this tyrant, at last had a bowl of poison presented to him. I myself saw several of the victims of his cruelty who had been fortunate enough to escape with their lives, but wandered about the country as cripples, begging their daily bread from their neighbours, deprived of their noses, ears, or tongues, or with their eyes put out.

We may now easily imagine what fate befel this ill-starred country, when it became subject to the Turks. In former days, the inhabitants lived in freedom, without care, in the consciousness of security of property, or at least of life; but, when the Turks gained possession of this province, a total change took place; from that moment, the right of property ceased to exist, and the government considered all possessions as its own. Add to this the inhuman conduct of the Defturdar, which brought the people to the verge of despair; for the slightest suspicion that any one subject had amassed a small fortune, either in goods, money, or cattle, was sufficient to bring him, under some pretext, to death, in order to be able to confiscate his property. The Defturdar was insatiable; he robbed everything, if he only knew where to find it, and had thus collected immeasurable wealth in a very short space of time.

The government is, indeed, at present, rather more lenient, and its officers have received a check in their arbitrary abuse of power; but the distance from the seat of government is too great to render the superior authorities cognizant of all abuses, too many of which, unfortunately, yet afflict this doomed province.