Chapter IV: Habits and Customs (1)

The dwelling-places, in Kordofan, are called “tukkoli,” and are of extremely simple construction. The house is generally ten to twelve feet in diameter, and of a circular form; it has but one single entrance, which answers the purpose of door, window, and chimney, and is just large enough for a man to creep in whilst stooping. One house is as like the other as one egg is like its fellow, for there is no scope for architectural display; as the residences of the negroes are built on the same plan at the present day, and formed of the same materials they were centuries ago. A certain number of wooden poles are stuck into the ground, in a circular form, according to the dimensions required, and, being bent inwards, form a fork above. A second series, exactly similar to the first, is added, and the ends are bound together in a point, so that the second layer has the shape of a sugar loaf, and constitutes the roof. The whole fabric is then combined with a kind of basket-work and covered with dokn[16] straw. The apex of the roof forms a basket, which serves as a nest for the black stork, which generally returns in the months of May and July from its migrations, and hatches its young in the nests it finds ready formed. If no stork happen to build on one or the other of these “tukkoli,” three or four ostrich’s eggs are placed, by way of ornament, on a pole erected perpendicularly on the top of the roof.

Simple as is the construction of these houses, they may be said, on an average, to be very firmly built, so that a drop of water seldom penetrates during the heaviest shower in the rainy season, and they afford, at least, a dry place of shelter. From two to five of these tukkoli are generally built for one family, and the whole homestead is then hedged in with a fence of thorn; an opening is left in this hedge for the gate, represented by a bush of thorn, which is taken away and replaced after entrance or egress from the enclosure. This is not done from any apprehension of thieves or of any other intrusion, but to keep the hungry camels, who would devour the house, in a short time, down to the very framework, at a respectful distance. These thorn fences are a great inconvenience, and even dangerous to strangers, for, if they do not exactly shed blood, they will seldom enter them or quit them without leaving a portion of their dress thereunto attached. The expense of building a house of this description is very trifling; the poorest people, therefore, are able to erect their own tukkoli. Wood may be cut in the forests without any charge being made for it; certainly those who do not happen to grow corn, and consequently have no straw, are obliged to buy this material. The expense, however, rarely exceeds from five to ten piasters, (less than three shillings;) for which sum, a sufficient quantity may be bought to keep out every drop of water during the severest shower. Labourers are not paid, for each man assists his neighbour gratuitously. These houses present another and very desirable advantage, putting aside the consideration that the material costs a mere trifle and the building but little trouble; for every man can have his house carried away, by ten or twelve men, in two divisions, and quickly again erected in a different place, if the site did not please him, or a disagreeable neighbour rendered his prior residence unpleasant to him. If fire break out in a village, no attempt is made to extinguish it, as it would be labour in vain, but the houses nearest to the seat of conflagration are conveyed out of the reach of danger, and a limit is thus put to the raging element. Whole villages are sometimes carried away, when an insect happens to infest the neighbourhood, and renders residence in a certain district insupportable. The animal is the ricinus,[17] called there “kurat;” it harbours in the sand, whence it issues, in astonishing numbers, to attack those who may happen to sit down on the sand naked, as the negroes do. This little animal then immediately approaches and bites most severely. The camels stand in great awe of it, immediately take flight, and cannot be made to stop in a place where it is to be met with. The sting of this insect is only to be avoided by sitting on straw mats, for they seldom creep upon these.

Every family possesses an additional hut, (called “moraka,”) in which the flour necessary for the consumption of the house is ground. This operation is performed in a hollow stone, a species of rude mortar, which is fixed into the ground, whilst a girl, generally a slave, reduces the grain (dokn) with another cylindrical stone to a powder. In a family consisting of eight persons, one girl would be occupied throughout the whole year in grinding the necessary quantity of corn. This simple labour requires great exertion, and is only to be performed by girls who have attained their fourteenth year, younger children being unequal to the task. Even grown persons suffer considerably in this occupation, for it requires no slight exertion to roll a heavy stone all day long backwards and forwards in the heat of these huts; the poor creatures thus employed are generally bathed in perspiration, and yet they may be heard singing all day long. Their songs are certainly merely expressive of their desire to escape, or of longing after their homes. The chaunts are very peculiar, and, with few exceptions, the impromptu pouring-forth of the feelings of the singer, according to the custom prevalent over nearly the whole of the East.

Few songs are to be met with which the one learns of the other; for each individual sings exactly what he thinks, without any regard to metre or time. For their dances the natives have a few peculiar melodies, which, however, are frequently altered by variations of their own composition. The young female slaves are heard to sing chiefly in a minor key, and their notes are scarcely audible in the next hut: the song will frequently run in the following strain: “The sun is concealing itself behind the hills, come people to the joyous dance; the cows are milked, the work is done, light the fire; my lover comes to fetch me home, &c.” A tear may be seen to flow from the eye of many a girl as she thinks of her native hills, over these songs; time, however, is capable of assuaging the grief of these poor creatures, and after the lapse of two or three years but few of them devote a thought to their native country. In Egypt I have often conversed with both male and female slaves who scarcely remembered their fatherland, which they the more easily forget, as they meet with treatment in captivity they could not have experienced under the paternal roof; they subsequently adopt the customs and habits of the people with whom they are forced to live, and frequently laugh at the simple customs of their own country.

In the houses of the married there is a small elevation, of about one foot and a half in height, in which an earthern pot is immured up to its _embouchure_: this is called “tirankul,” and is for the purpose of fumigating the person. Wood cut into thin shavings, named “klet” and “telch,” is placed in the pot, and ignited, whereupon the person performs the fumigation. This smoke is very tonic in its operation, and so astringent that it corrugates the skin. The shirts are also fumigated with sandal-wood over this pot.

The influential and more opulent inhabitants of the village, _e. g._ the sheikhs or the djelabis, possess, in addition to the houses we have already described, a hut built in a quadrangular form and called “rakuba:” they are more spacious than the common dwellings, and are furnished with two entrances to admit of a freer circulation of air, but are not tenantable during the rainy season on account of the extreme lightness with which they are constructed. This description of public building serves the purpose of a place of abode for travellers, and is certainly preferable to the dark and hot tukkoli, which are built rather for the rainy season than for the dry and hot weather, during which period the people live more in the open air. In Bari and Lobeid, where many Turks and Dongolavi reside who look more to comfort, several spacious residences are to be met with, constructed on the principle of those observed in all Egyptian towns. The houses at Bari are more substantially built than those at Lobeid, which are, literally speaking, made of sand. An European architect would be much puzzled to erect a house of this description, if he were shown the material only. It consists of wood and sand; but as the swallows build their nests with very slight material, which, however, in time becomes as firm as stone, in like manner houses are constructed at Lobeid which, although they will not last for ever, resist the inclemencies of the weather for a great length of time, and afford the occupant a secure place of shelter.

In several parts of the East I have had frequent opportunities of observing that they build very neat dwellings as it were of nothing. Houses, two stories in height, are frequently erected from the ground in five or six weeks. The walls are represented by a thick framework of wood, lined with a few bricks. A coating of mortar covers the whole, and thus a house bears all the appearance of being built of stone, and does not easily fall, especially where they are not detached, but form streets, and the one, therefore, supports the other. In Kordofan, on the other hand, each man builds an isolated hut, and every species of building material, excepting wood, is wanting; the construction, therefore, is completely that of a swallow’s nest. When a man has fixed upon the plot of ground on which he intends to construct his house, the earth is excavated to the depth of half a foot; and as much of the sand dug out as is necessary for the building, is mixed with water in a well, at two or three paces distant from the site of the building. The foundation is now erected to a height of about two feet, and the labour is remitted for two or three days, to allow the wall of sand to acquire the proper firmness. This latter proceeding is the more essential as the whole fabric would tumble to pieces before it had attained its necessary height, unless this precaution were adopted. When the destined elevation is completed, and the wall is thoroughly dry, thin rafters are laid horizontally across it to form the skeleton of the roof. Mats of straw are now placed upon the rafters, and covered with a thin layer of sand, which is then wetted; small pebbles of quartz are now strewn over this bed, and the whole mass is firmly beaten together. A fabric of this nature is not unlike _papier maché_, and, like the latter, would become perfectly saturated with the first rain, and fall to pieces, if they did not take the precaution of covering the whole with a coating of cow-dung, which effectually keeps out water, and thus prevents the occurrence of such a calamity. It will be easily conceived that a house of this kind diffuses no very agreeable odour during the first few days after erection, and that its colour is by no means the most pleasing. In the rainy season this plastering has to be repeated several times, and yet the rain frequently penetrates. I have lived in one of these houses, and derived the greatest benefit from my umbrella both by day and by night.

Most places are provided with draw-wells, but the water is on the average very bad. The wells are situated at a short distance from some of their places of residence, and the tributary springs frequently dry up, as was the case in the year 1839, when many villages suffered from want of water. In several localities, where this element was formerly found at a depth of ten feet, it is now necessary to dig to a depth of twenty feet before it can be reached. About fifteen years ago water was found at twenty feet below the level of the ground at Lobeid; at present fifty feet must be penetrated before arriving at it. During the rainy season water is, indeed, never wanting; but the rains do not last long, and that which remains in the ponds either quickly evaporates, or becomes in a short time so deteriorated that it could not be drank without producing fatal consequences.

The arrangements in the interior of the tukkoli are as simple as the huts themselves. In addition to an “angareb” (a bedstead or frame, with straps fastened across it), a leathern shield, and a few spears, the furniture consists of the following objects:—a pot, called “burma,” for water; a second for boiling, and a third for “merissa” (a species of beer); further a flat earthern dish “doka” for baking bread; some few gourds for drinking; a wooden platter named “gedda” for the boiled food; and a dish of straw plaited from the leaves of the Doum palm, called “tabake.” Milk is kept in a basket formed of rushes so densely interlaced that no fluid can percolate: to render them thus impermeable they are steeped in boiling water immediately after they are plaited. Provisions and other articles of domestic economy are hung against the walls, to keep them from the mice and white ants; these insects are a thorough plague in the country, and nothing is safe from them; they will even gnaw and undermine the wood-work of a house, and cause the whole fabric to fall to pieces. Their habitation is the sand, especially where it is rather damp; everything in fact that is placed on the ground is in danger of being eaten up by them; chests and trunks should, therefore, be placed upon stones, for they do not creep up these: the open air is also fatal to the white ant. When they have gnawed anything to pieces they leave a moisture mixed with sand, which becoming hard forms an incrustation; and beneath this they carry on their work of destruction. This covering is not intended to defend them from other insects inimical to them, and likely to disturb them in their work, but to guard themselves against the access of the air, which, as I before mentioned, they cannot bear. I took all possible pains to learn something more of the habits of these animals, to find out where they live and in what numbers they congregate. I have often dug to a depth of one foot or two feet in the sand without meeting with one single ant; and yet, if I placed a wooden chest on the ground, where I had just been digging, I found in a short time the spot covered with hundreds of these insects.

The interior of some of the tukkoli is decorated with beautiful coloured straw mats; the angareb is also covered with variegated matting, and serves, at the same time, as a couch. Two or three ropes are drawn across the middle of the hut, to which ribbons, two fingers in breadth, plaited of rushes, and spreading out inferiorly, are attached; by these ligatures blue porcelain plates, of English manufacture, are suspended, to contain food and preserve it from the insects. A second cord is passed round the hut, to which black glass bottles are hung, ornamented with gold paper; part of these are empty, others again are filled with perfumery and cosmetics belonging to the women, as grease, palm-oil, oil of cloves, shebe,[18] telka,[19] etc. The walls are decorated with a shield, a two-edged sword, and a few spears. Before the tukkoli, a hollow cylinder made of cow-dung is frequently met with, it is placed on stones, and is hermetically closed with a lid. In this vessel the inhabitants keep their corn, but a majority of them bury their stores under-ground. For this purpose they dig a pit, and line it internally with straw-matting; the corn is then thrown in and covered with straw-mats; sand is now shot over the whole, and the ground is levelled. Cabinets d’aisance are not known to the natives; in these matters they imitate the cats. There are no stalls or stables for the domestic animals; the cattle is penned together in an enclosure of thorn, in the vicinity of the tukkoli. The fence is exceedingly dense, intended to keep out the wild beasts at night; and yet it frequently happens that a lion, or hyæna, when urged by hunger, will effect an entry through the thickest hedge, and carry away a sheep, a goat, or a calf.

The habits of the people are very simple, and their labour is restricted to the most necessary employments. As soon as the day begins to dawn old and young rise from their couches, and after washing their faces, hands, and feet, in accordance with their religion, proceed to work; the occupation of the majority, however, consists in again retiring to the angareb. It is worthy of remark that no one sleeps on the bare ground, and that the meanest slave is provided with a mat to lie upon. In the houses of the more respectable natives, one or two angarebs are always found on which they sleep, while the lower orders are provided with straw-mats, for no human being could endure lying on the mere ground for any length of time; for the vermin harbouring in the sand would nearly eat him up. The bed of a slave is certainly not of eiderdown, and many Europeans, rising in the morning from a couch of this description, would consider they had undergone a severe punishment; for these straw, or rather cane-mats, are plaited from a species of reed, the stalks of which are as thick as the little finger, and each particular reed is so far apart in the texture, that their entire number may be counted in the morning on the body of the slave. I have often asked these poor wretches how they could possibly sleep on a bed of torture of this kind, but they have always assured me, laughing, that they could rest better there than on the bare ground. As a general rule no one places any pillow under his head, not even as much as a stone; but the natives cover themselves with a shirt, if indeed they have one; in this garment they envelope the whole head, and if any one, in fact, neglect covering his head at night, he will experience a sensation of heaviness and indisposition in the morning, which will continue during the whole day. Breakfast is not customary in this country. Although the coffee from Abyssinia, and even from Yemen, which stands in commercial connexion with Kordofan, is very cheap, this beverage is but little known and is only drank by some few djelabi and the Turkish residents of Kordofan; with the exception of one coffee-house at Lobeid, there is no establishment of the kind in the whole province, and this single _café_ is frequented by the Turks solely, and not by the natives. Among the most respectable Dongolavi, however, some few may be occasionally found who do not abstain altogether from this beverage. If a foreigner visit an influential person in the morning a pipe and merissa are offered him, and a dish, reckoned a great delicacy, which requires, however, a stomach differently constituted to that of an European to digest it. I, on one occasion, had the honour of being treated with this dish. I was one day invited by a djelabi at Denaglé to breakfast. Having arrived at the appointed time, I was conducted to a seat on an angareb covered with beautiful carpets, and a pipe and merissa were handed to me. When I observed that no fire was lighted in the fire-place and that no other preparations were being made, I asked, without further ceremony, where the breakfast was, for I knew very well that simple merissa would not be considered sufficient to offer me, and I had not time to remain longer. The djelabi told me that it would be ready immediately, and pointed to a sheep which was running about in the court, adding, that he would not have it slaughtered until I had arrived. I replied, “It will soon be midday and I have other business to attend to, and cannot wait until the meat is roasted or boiled, especially as you have not even prepared a fire.” My host assured me that the breakfast would be ready immediately, and that I should have ample time to attend to my business. My curiosity was now excited to the utmost to know with what kind of breakfast he intended to honour me, and I kept my eyes continually on the sheep, which was to be sacrificed in honour of my visit; judge, however, of my embarrassment when a slave, on a signal from his master, quickly decapitated the sheep, and without waiting to flay the animal, ripped up its abdomen, took out the stomach, cleaned it, cut it into small pieces, and laying them on a wooden dish, squeezed the gallbladder of the animal, as we might a lemon, on the fragments, and lastly, strewed a considerable quantity of cayenne pepper over the whole mess. This being done, and, indeed, in an incredibly short space of time, I was pressed to help myself quickly, before the dish became cool; I sighed, however, and thanking my host, begged to be excused, assuring him at the same time that an European stomach could not possibly bear this very exquisite dish, and that I would, therefore, content myself with looking on. He smiled piteously at my fastidiousness, and showed evident symptoms of relishing the delicacy. I afterwards frequently observed that this is a very favourite dish, and was tempted, rather to satisfy my curiosity than my appetite, to partake of it; and really the flavour is not very disagreeable, for the gall in combination with the cayenne takes away the odour and taste of the raw paunch, nevertheless I could never eat a sufficient quantity of it to satisfy the demands of hunger. Not only in Kordofan, but in Sennaar, and Abyssinia, also, this dish is considered, as I have before observed, a great delicacy.

The duties the inhabitants have to perform during the day require very little trouble, and in no country have I seen as much indolence as in Kordofan. Every man, be his means ever so small, endeavours to purchase a slave, and this poor wretch must then do all the work, in order that his master may lie all day long in the shade, indulging in idleness. The natives never perform any more labour than is absolutely necessary, and thus much only when it is urgently required. Those who attend to agriculture have very little trouble or care in their employment; for they have nothing to do but to sow the seed at a certain season, and to carry the harvest in three months’ time. Very few persons occupy themselves with handicraft. The houses are repaired, or renovated, at the utmost every three or five years; thus no one has anything to do, and the natives are consequently seen lying about sleeping all the day long. The women attend, indeed, to the domestic duties, but these are inconsiderable, and if their means will permit it, they pass the greater part of the day on the angareb. The men have no amusements; only very few of the Dongolavi smoke tobacco, but the negro tribes indulge the more in this habit. They take little or no interest in the dances of the women, and when they are tired of lying down, and have slept to their hearts’ content, a few neighbours congregate; and after greetings and mutual inquiries into the state of their health,—a ceremony which generally occupies a quarter of an hour,—the conversation at the most turns upon the governor and the casheffs, or they talk of their sick camels or asses. Politics in general are a very small trouble to them; the taxes, however, which they are forced to pay several times in the year, cause them a few days of great uneasiness. On these occasions they consult together how they may best collect them; and if the harvest was successful, and merissa consequently plentiful, many a bitter hour is drowned with this liquor. Their conversation becomes then more animated, they console themselves with providence, and the rhababa, a lyre with five strings, entirely dissipates their cares. This instrument is their chief amusement, they will listen for hours to its monotonous notes, and it forms a frequent accompaniment to the voice; but story tellers who relate tales from the Arabian Nights are not to be met with among them as in Egypt. However noisy their amusements may become, or whatever the effects of the merissa may be, they seldom or never proceed to quarrels. Swearing and abusive language is scarcely ever heard among them as it is among the Arabs, and if, as a very rare occurrence, a quarrel ever arise, it is immediately arranged by the elders present. They never fall to blows, although they may, perhaps, occasionally pull each other about by the shirts. They are hospitable, and every one who casually passes by whilst they are amusing themselves is considered their guest, and must participate in the amusements.

Among the Dongolavi, I found a very singular custom prevalent for settling their affairs of honour, as they are termed; these are, generally, disputes arising from love, or jealousy, at which the young unmarried men have taken mortal offence; the married, who certainly have better cause for duelling, never proceed to such extremities; they are far more tolerant on the like occasions, and not very particular about such trifling affairs. The young men, on the other hand, take these things far more to heart; when, therefore, the friends have not been able to adjust the quarrel, a formal challenge is sent. The duel takes place in an open space, in presence of all their friends and comrades, who act as seconds, or rather as umpires. An angareb is placed in the middle of the field of battle: the two combatants strip, and, binding their shirts round their loins, each man places his foot close to the edge of the couch, the breadth of which simply separates them from each other. A whip, made of one solid thong of the hide of the hippopotamus, is handed to each, and attempts to reconcile them are again resumed. If both parties, however, prove obstinate, or their sense of honour be too deeply implicated, for either to yield, the signal of battle is at last given. He who is entitled to the first blow, now inflicts a severe lash on the body of his adversary, who instantly returns the compliment, and thus the conflict is kept up, blow for blow, with great regularity. The head must not be struck. The manner in which they lacerate each other is perfectly frightful; for the blows are dealt with the utmost severity, and the weapon is sufficiently formidable to cause an immense ecchymosis with the very first stripe,—with the third or fourth blow the blood begins to flow most copiously. Not the slightest expression of pain is uttered by either party, and the umpires remain cool spectators of the scene. Thus the duellists persevere with their barbarous cruelty, until the one or the other, overcome with pain, or exhausted with fatigue, throws down his whip, whereupon the victor does the same, and both shake hands, in sign of mutual satisfaction. Their comrades now rend the air with their exclamations of joy, and congratulate them on their reconciliation; their lacerated backs are washed with water, and the affair terminates with a copious libation of merissa, sundry jugs of which had been provided beforehand for the occasion.

Similar causes sometimes give rise to another species of duel, far more dangerous in its consequences than the latter, for it frequently terminates with an injury, the effects of which are felt during life, or even with the loss of the use of a limb. The combatants, on this occasion, are also divided by an angareb; but, in dealing out their alternate blows, they pay no attention to the part they fall upon, whether the face, or any other sensitive portion of the body, and thus severe injuries are always the result. These duels are, however, rare, and mortal quarrels are generally fought out in the manner above described. The girl, who had been the cause of all this broil and warfare, is not drawn into the affair, but is generally considered innocent, or pitied as seduced.

As a general rule, the women are far more industrious than the men; for, besides attending to their domestic occupations, they employ themselves more especially with plaiting straw-mats, making baskets to hold milk, and funnels for filtering merissa. They perform, moreover, other business, which should more properly be considered as the duty of the men. I have even seen them tanning leather, whilst their husbands were quietly looking on, smoking their pipes, and indulging in idleness.

The women are, generally speaking, regarded as servants. Their degradation is yet greater, if they should unfortunately happen not to have children. In this case they are quite despised by their lords, if they were ever so fond of them before, and the husband indemnifies himself with a female slave. Should this woman bear him a child, which is generally the case, she is immediately raised to the rank of his wife, and his former spouse is either sent away, or totally neglected. Among the more opulent natives, the custom prevails of making the wife a small allowance after the birth of the second child, and giving her a separate hut as a place of residence; for they grow old very rapidly, and a woman in her twenty-fourth year is considered _passée_. Hence it is that many women may be seen running about as if deranged to consult their Sheikhs,[20] or fortune-tellers. The information these impostors give is, of course, always agreeable to the desires of the client, but is, generally speaking, utterly false.

The women of Kordofan are very merry; they may be heard singing, or laughing, all day long; and chaunt over their work, either singly, or in company. As soon as the labours of the day are ended, the girls and neighbours congregate together, and dancing commences, an amusement generally kept up till past midnight. They are, in fact, passionately addicted to this recreation. If they have even been employed during the whole day with the most onerous labour, sufficient to fatigue a strong man, all symptoms of weariness immediately disappear when the wood-fires are lighted before the huts in the evening, and the sound of the Dar’abook’keh[21] is heard. This is, in fact, the signal for old and young to leave their houses, and hasten to the scene of amusement, where the men, with their wives, lay themselves down in a circle, and become spectators, or, joining in the song, beat the time with their hands, while the girls now make their appearance, and singly begin the dance.

This dance is very simple in its nature, requires, however, great muscular exertion, and would prove a very difficult task for some of our fair countrywomen. The black beauties commence their evolutions by moving slowly, but frequently, in a small space. Whilst beating time with their feet, they throw their heads back at measured intervals, and draw their shoulders up; so that they frequently even bend their bodies backwards until their heads touch the ground. This is done with so much muscular effort, that it is scarcely possible to believe a girl of slender build could possess sufficient power of muscle. The movements are, at first, all very slow, but gradually increase in rapidity, and become, at last, so frequent and quick, that you could almost imagine yourself looking at an automaton moving on springs and wires, and not on a human being. When a girl has nearly danced herself to death, she modestly retires to the background, and a second takes her place. If one of them particularly distinguish herself, and the company wish to pay her a very great compliment, she is desired to stand forth, and a sword is flourished several times over her head. During this ceremony, the music is silenced, but becomes the more noisy afterwards, and is intended as a kind of musical honour to the _danseuse_. This compliment is generally paid her by her admirer or by a stranger present. The natives are always delighted if a stranger will attend their dances, offer him the best place, and treat him with abundance of merissa. Married women, and those more advanced in age, scarcely ever dance; they are mere spectators, or pass the time in a different manner, more agreeably to themselves; they form, namely, _comme chez nous_, very polite _côteries_ for scandal, where the neighbour who happens to be brought on the _tapis_ is by no means spared, for they leave no hair of his head untouched. The married women, again, are those who pay the least attention to the seventh commandment, a crime which is considered very heinous according to the Mahommedan laws; the girls, on the other hand, are far more moral. In some parts of Kordofan, the men consider it a great honour if their wives have several admirers, but the difference exists, in this country, that the ladies court the men.

The dress of both men and women is very simple, for only the Dongolavi, the wealthiest of all the tribes, wear long shirts with wide sleeves, and a táckeéyeh,[22] or small white cap, with a white shawl on their heads, like the turban of the Turks; red caps are but rarely seen, nor is the táckeéyeh white longer than one day, for it soon becomes, with dirt and grease, as black as the owner. All the other tribes are nearly naked; they bind simply a cotton cloth round their loins, throwing one end of it over one shoulder; they wear no covering to their heads, but let their hair grow as long as they please, or braid it in from ten to sixteen plaits, which, however, never reach their backs. Every man carries a double-edged dagger in a sheath on his left arm, and a few charms sewn up in red leather, which the fakéers write and sell to them. On journeys, they wear long double-edged swords, in leathern sheaths, suspended by a short strap from the left shoulder; the hilts of these sabres have no guards, and are merely covered with leather. The sheikhs, however, bear swords with massive silver hilts, terminating in a knob as large as a hen’s egg of the same metal; some of them ornament the sheaths with agates, or imitations of precious stones in glass. The men carry large oval shields on their backs made of the skin of the antelope, when on a march. They also carry a number of spears, or javelins, contained in a rude leathern quiver hanging from their shoulders. Short tours are performed on asses; longer journeys on camels or dromedaries. The peasants who possess no camels travel short distances on oxen.

The dress of the women does not differ from that of the men of the lower orders, for they also wear a large cotton cloth bound round their loins, part of which is thrown over one shoulder. When they walk out they sometimes cover their heads with this cloth, but, whilst at work, they wind the whole of it round their loins. These melayeh, as they are termed, are at first white, then proceed through various gradations of colour, until they lastly become black, for they are seldom washed. In washing they make use of the bark of a tree called Egelit, instead of soap, and spread the linen on a piece of tanned leather, which is laid in a deep hole in the sand. The melayeh of the Dongolavi is washed with soap, and is generally decorated with a broad red border. It is also adjusted with a certain degree of care, in order to give their dress a more picturesque appearance. The women wear no covering on their heads, but roll their hair into curls, smearing them well with butter or oil made of sim-sim.[23] They anoint the skin of the whole body with a pomatum prepared of spikenard,[24] mahleb,[25] and tuffer;[26] these ingredients, rubbed down upon a stone, are called “telka.” The oils and butter give the hair a certain gloss, as long as it is free from dust; but the pomatum on the head soon becomes rancid, when it is impossible to remain long in proximity of one of these beauties, without offence to the olfactory nerves. Their eyelids are covered with powdered antimony.[27] Women who pride themselves on their head-dress, and do not wish to discompose their curls, make use of a small wooden bench, about a span in height, and hollowed out above, so as to admit the neck, as a pillow when they lie down to sleep, in order to avoid pressing their curls. It is the most incommodious pillow in the world, but the women, to gratify vanity, accustom themselves to it, as the slave becomes inured to his fetters, and sleep very well, notwithstanding the uncomfortable position they are obliged to adopt. An idea may be formed of the hardship they have at first to undergo, in considering that this position does not admit of the slightest change during sleep; but as our belles willingly allow their ribs to be uncomfortably compressed by a tight corset to appear with a small waist, thus the women of Kordofan voluntarily submit to this torture to preserve their head-dress. The toilette of these children of nature requires, moreover, a much longer time than that of our European ladies, for the number of curls which are matted together with oil and grease and dust, until they form one dense mass, demand considerable time for their dressing. As they have no combs, scissors, pincers, hair-pins, or other implements of _coiffure_, one simple wooden peg answers the purpose of all these instruments, and we may easily imagine that a great deal of time is spent in arranging the hundreds of curls of their woolly hair. The women wear rings in their noses and ears, mostly of silver and brass, for those of gold have totally disappeared, or have become, at least, very rare. Several of them, indeed, wear bracelets and rings of silver round their ankles, the latter decorated with small pieces of coral or small bells. The greater part of the bracelets worn are of horn or of ivory, frequently two inches in breadth, and the anklets are mostly of copper, sometimes even as much as one pound in weight. Round their necks and heads the women wind strings of beads of Bohemian glass; the favourite colour is dark blue. Some of the ladies hang small round plates of gold, an inch in diameter, on their foreheads, or small round pieces of amber of the same size. On their fingers they wear silver rings set with cornelians. They are, in fact, fond of anything that shines or glitters, and has a bright or gaudy colour, and it is no easy matter, at times, to abstain from laughter, on beholding one of these black beauties in full dress. I have, frequently, on the other hand, met with others who dressed themselves with peculiar taste, so that they really presented an agreeable appearance. Women who are not wealthy wear small pearls, or small red berries, or a charm sewn up in red leather on their foreheads. On their arms they carry ivory or horn bracelets; round their ankles copper rings or a large milk-white glass bead; round their necks they hang strings of blue glass beads, and in their noses and ears rings of brass. The unmarried or girls walk about naked, and bind only round their loins a fringed leathern belt, from which several hundred small thin straps depend. This girth is called “rahat,” and is frequently decorated with agates. They are, also, very fond of ornament, and adorn their heads and necks with glass beads. The boys run about in a perfect state of nudity up to their twelfth year. The men anoint their bodies, like the women, with oil, butter, and other greasy substances, not so much for the purpose of giving the skin a glossy appearance, as to preserve it from cracking, to which inconvenience it would be very liable, as they walk about uncovered, exposing themselves to a scorching heat. The covering to the feet consists of sandals of undressed leather bound with straps; the Dongolavi, however, wear sandals of tanned leather, decorated with coloured straps. On journeys, some of the natives wear sheepskin, after the same fashion as the miners[28] of Germany a leather behind them, to avoid sitting down naked on the burning ground.

Slaves are met with in nearly every house: the female portion is employed in domestic work, the male in agricultural labour; they receive once a year, at the feast of the great Baëram, a piece of cotton stuff; which wound round their loins constitutes their whole clothing. They are treated very well, and, in most families, partake of the same fare as their masters. The badge of servitude is, however, not wanting; for the male slaves are generally bound in fetters, applied to their legs, to prevent them from running away. I never saw one of these beings illtreated by his master for doing too little work; it is only when they make an attempt to run away, that they are beaten. The female slaves run at liberty, and unfettered; they are also treated with more lenity, especially if they should happen to be young and pretty, or when the master admits them to the rights of a wife. The children, born by these slaves, are the property of the owner, who may sell them; this is, however, no longer the case in Egypt, where all natural children are treated like Egyptians. These poor creatures have equal cause to complain of their masters, as some slave-proprietors make this a branch of commerce; thus they are mostly mustered after a few years, and sold to slave-merchants, who take them down to Grand Cairo. Europeans must be very careful in purchasing female slaves, and ought especially to be on their guard against those who speak Arabic well, for many of them are acquainted with all kinds of tricks. Many slaves, on the other hand, are not to be purchased from their proprietors, especially if they are well taught; and only when they have not adopted the faith of Islam, and die, are they treated like cattle. These children of nature frequently behave in the most singular manner when they take an object that is unknown to them into their hands; it would, indeed, make any man laugh heartily to see how awkwardly they comport themselves. A very comical instance of the kind occurred to me: a girl, who was suffering from head-ache, begged a cloth of me to bind round her head, and I lent her my flag,[29] as I had nothing else at hand. I visited her on the next day, thinking to find her ill at home, but was told that she was much better, and had gone out. My astonishment at meeting the handsome girl, in company with several of her friends, on the market-place, decked out with my flag in the form of a woman’s frock, may be easily imagined; and my laughter was greatly increased, at observing the double-headed eagle expanded in full glory over the centre of her body. Several Turks, who were present, were likewise attacked with fits of laughter; but the _belle_, and her friends, found this decoration so pretty, that I was besieged with entreaties to present them also with like _fantasias_; and I was obliged to use all possible means to persuade them, and make them understand, that I possessed no more articles of ornament of this description, and that I must even take this one back. The handsome girls were, as may be supposed, by no means pleased with this measure, for I had a great deal of trouble in getting my flag back to hoist it in its place in proper time.

The food consists chiefly of dokn bread, assida, and woika. The dokn, having been ground on a stone to flour, is put into an earthen pot, and converted, by means of water, into a thin paste. A fire is now lighted under an earthen-dish (or under an iron-plate, called doga), which stands on three stones; when the dish is heated, it is greased with butter, and the paste is spread upon it in the shape and size of an ordinary cake. The one side being baked, the bread is turned, and the dish again greased with butter. These cakes are about the thickness of a finger, and for Europeans very indigestible; they distend the stomach, indeed, awfully; an effect produced by the corn, partly because the husks are not separated from the flour, partly because the bread is not well baked. Those who are more wealthy, consume a better kind of bread, which has also a more pleasant flavour; the flour is purified, and the paste more fluid; it is spread upon the dish by means of a small brush, but otherwise prepared in the same manner as the former variety. Much time is required to bake the necessary quantity for the consumption of the house. More than one hour is spent in making bread enough of the latter description to serve two persons at dinner. Fresh bread must, therefore, be prepared every day; and it is always made by the women; for, as there is no mill in Kordofan, every one is obliged to grind the quantity of flour necessary for his consumption daily. This is done, as I have already observed, by female slaves.

The assida and woika are the common dishes of the natives of Kordofan. The former consists of flour, boiled after the fashion of the Italian polenta[30]; but there is a considerable difference in the mode of preparing this mess; for the poorer class use the flour in its natural state, whereas the wealthy natives have it several times washed in water, a process rendering it much whiter and purer. Woika is prepared in the following manner:—The natives take pieces of beef, dried in the sun, cut for the purpose into long slips, of the thickness of a finger, which form in every family a part of the household stores. This is reduced with dried bamié[31] to a coarse powder in a wooden mortar. Some onions are now burnt with butter in an earthen-pot, over which water is poured. When the stock boils, one person stirs it up, whilst another gradually adds the pounded meat and bamié, until it forms a thick mass. This ragout, or currie, is then poured into the assida before described, and served up; it has a pleasant flavour, is very nutritious, and far more wholesome than any other kind of animal food. A great deal of meat is consumed; for it is very cheap, and nearly every one keeps goats and sheep. The Turks, indeed, do not eat the beef, nor is it to be recommended to Europeans, for it is very indigestible, and of ill flavour. The oock’ckah,[32] of two pounds and three quarters, does not cost more than twenty paras (twopence); and it is sold in the market-place of Lobeid without the bones. In the country, it is retailed at half this amount; and the price of the piece bargained for is fixed, without weighing it, by judging by the eye alone. There is no deficiency of fowls, pigeons, and various species of gazelles; these, however, are luxuries which are only to be met with in the houses of the wealthy, and on festive occasions. Every family dines at midday; the men are first served; and when they have finished their meal, the women and children sit down. A straw-mat is spread upon the sand, in the centre of which a wooden dish is placed, containing assida and woika; while the necessary bread is served up on a flat straw-dish. Every one present in the hut, the family as well as strangers, for no invitation is required, sit down, with their legs bent under them, on the straw-mat round the dish; and, on being invited by the master of the house with the word, Bishmillah (in the name of God) to help themselves, all plunge their hands at the same time into the dish. Each person now takes as much as he can hold in his five fingers, and conveys it to his mouth. The bread is generally eaten at the same time; and thus they proceed, taking one handful after the other, until the dish is emptied of the last morsel. If a stranger cease to eat first, the master of the house invites him to continue, not as a matter of ceremonious courtesy, but in true kindness. During dinner little is spoken, for each individual endeavours above all things to satisfy hunger. In the villages, curds and bread are served up in the dish at meals. The poorer class have not always assida, but the woika alone, and bread and milk. When the contents of a dish are coming to an end, one man rises after the other. The master of the house receives no thanks, nor does he, indeed, expect them; for it is regarded as an understood thing, that every one must be satisfied who happens to be present at the time of the meals. They wash their hands before, and after eating, and the same ablution is performed in the evening at sun-set.

During the dinner, water is only handed round in gourds to drink; when the meal is over the merissa is served up. This description of beer is met with in all the villages of Kordofan with but few exceptions; and even among the nomadic tribes, it is seldom missing, except, indeed, when the harvest has been particularly unsuccessful. Merissa is brewed in the following manner:—the dokn forms the chief basis: it is allowed to germinate first, as the barley in Germany, dried in the sun, and then bruised between stones. Cakes of bread are now made, placed in a pot and covered with water, and when this liquor has sufficiently fermented,—a process requiring two days,—it is filtered through a sieve formed of rushes. This merissa must be drunk immediately, for with the third day it begins to turn acid, a result which is not to be wondered at considering the intense heat of the climate, for they have no cellars in which they could preserve it for any length of time. The same merissa repeatedly filtered until it has become clearer is called _bill-bill_; but _bill-bill_ prepared with sugar, nutmeg, cloves, and other optional drugs forms _sansugot_. The latter beverage is made in various ways. It is an agreeable drink and very cooling. As a rule it is far more conducive to health to drink a larger quantity of merissa than of water in this climate, and I advise travellers in particular to observe this prescription, the more so as I found by experience that, as soon as I discontinued water, and commenced drinking merissa and brandy, the fever and dysentery, of which I could not get rid before, left me. I have also known natives, who, confining themselves to merissa, never drank one drop of water throughout the year, and these men were, without exception, the healthiest; whereas the water-drinkers were always attacked with fever during the rainy season.