Chapter VI: The Bakkara. (nomadic Tribes.)

There are several large and small tribes of this nomadic people in the country who have no fixed places of residence, but change them frequently in the same year. They inhabit the districts situated towards the south, south-east, and south-west of Lobeid. Each tribe, whether large or small, is governed by its sheikh, who may be regarded almost as an absolute monarch; as all the rest of the tribe, with the exception of a few under-sheikhs, are totally dependent upon him, and may, indeed, be considered as his serfs. They pay tribute to Kordofan, consisting of about twelve thousand oxen, a little gold, and a few slaves; but the contribution must generally be collected by force. They are not reckoned among the other inhabitants of the five districts; but when the time for levying the tribute arrives, they are hunted out, tribe by tribe, and—plundered. They do not cultivate agriculture, excepting on the lake of Arrat, where a little rice, of an inferior quality, is grown. Their occupation consists otherwise in breeding horned cattle, and, besides herds of kine, they possess a few horses and camels. The sheikhs are all wealthy, and carry on a considerable trade in cattle, butter, and slaves, the latter of which they steal from the bordering countries. They are a very warlike and depredatory race, and live in a continual state of warfare, not only with their neighbours, but even among themselves; for if two Bakkara tribes meet, or are merely encamped near each other, there is sure to be bloodshed; nor does the conflict terminate until the weaker tribe succumbs, or is driven away. With the commencement of the hot season, they wander into distant regions, unknown to the governor of Kordofan, into which he dare not venture to penetrate to levy the taxes, as this measure would be attended with great danger to his troops. It is, indeed, impossible for the government to send a large force, as it would meet with many obstacles, and a small detachment would not answer the purpose, for it might be easily intercepted, and totally cut up. Thus this people enjoy exemption from all contributions during the dry season. The government, however, suffers no loss thereby, for it knows full well that they will, in a short time, be forced to leave the safe districts beyond the boundaries of Kordofan, and thus return spontaneously into the hands of their oppressors. There is, perhaps, no people who have so many and such dangerous enemies. All the negro tribes, without exception, persecute the Bakkara from one region to the other, on account of the slaves they have kidnapped, and endeavour, by all possible means, to revenge themselves on them. The government does all in its power to torment this people in the most piteous manner; and, lastly, add the quarrels of the tribes among themselves. Annoyances of this description would be sufficient in themselves to force the Bakkari to change their residences continually.

But their greatest plague is a little animal, called _Yohara_[42]—a fly which makes its appearance in great numbers, in many regions in central Africa, in the rainy season, and proves very destructive. Its bite is harmless to man, but the more dangerous to cattle, and instances are on record, in several regions, of whole herds having been destroyed by these vermin in a very short time. The camels, who cannot defend themselves with their short tails against their encroachments, and must, therefore, of course perish, suffer chiefly. In Shilluk, Shabun, Runga, Kulla, etc., no camels are, consequently, to be met with; these countries, therefore, can only be visited in the dry season. The Djelabi are frequently prevented from entering on their march home from these countries betimes, and have, on these occasions, lost all their camels by the sting of this fly. This insect is also the chief cause of the Bakkari leaving these parts of the country, which are otherwise so safe for them, and so advantageous for their cattle; it forces them, in fact, to deliver themselves into the hands of the Turks. Their habits are very simple, and they occupy themselves with attending to the cattle, and occasionally with warlike exercises.

I passed some time among one of the Bakkara tribes, on the lake of Arrat, and had ample time and opportunity for making myself thoroughly acquainted with the people, and their habits and customs, for they kept nothing secret from me, and, as they knew for certain that I was no Turk, they received me with extraordinary hospitality. I would, however, not advise an European to entrust himself to their care, or to venture too near to their encampment, without having previously secured the friendship of their sheikhs; for his life would be exposed to all manner of dangers, as they do not even know the word European, or Frank, as we are otherwise termed, but look upon every person of white colour as a Turk, consequently as their enemy. But their acquaintance being once made, the traveller may be certain of receiving the most unequivocal proofs of hospitality, and may place the greatest confidence in them. Their food consists of meat alone, and milk; of the latter there is such an abundance among them, that they give it to their horses as drink, and it seems to agree excellently with them. All the horses I saw, whilst sojourning among them, were of very superior breed. The Bakkari eat very little bread, which is reckoned a luxury, and merely enjoyed by their sheikhs. Their dwellings consist of tents covered with ox hides. They pitch them in separate divisions, and then enclose the whole camp, together with the space of ground into which they drive the cattle, with a fence of thorns. In the centre of the encampment, and generally on a slight elevation, the chief guard-house is situated, which is inhabited by a certain number of armed men, who are daily relieved. The guard is armed with from three to six light javelins, and shields, and the men are provided with their dar’book’keh (drum), in order to be able to alarm the whole camp with the slightest danger. A fire is also kept up all night at this guard-house. They generally dance half the night long to keep themselves awake, are always prepared for an attack, and cannot easily be surprised. The women and girls pass the time of the watch with their husbands, or brothers, at the chief guard-house, and join in the dances. Their dance differs entirely from that of the other natives of Kordofan; it is very fantastic, and has really something imposing about it. A large fire is frequently lighted at each of the four corners of the space, where the drummers, singers, and those who beat time, are located. The dancers range themselves in two rows in the centre, the one being formed of women, the opposite of men, armed with their spears, with which they frequently strike the ground, in time, during the dance. At first their movements are slow, but they are soon hurried away by excitement; and the men swing their lances with a fearful cry, as if they were about to throw them at the women, who represent the enemy. The latter now assume a more humble deportment, and evince their submission to the attacking party. This dance must be seen, in order to form a proper conception of it; and I can assure my readers, that nothing can be more picturesque than to see this group of dancers on a dark night, the scene lighted up by four blazing fires, when the stillness of the night is only interrupted by the simple scream of a night-bird, the distant roar of a lion, or the howl of a hyæna. The expressive countenances of the dancers form an admirable picture, which well accords with the wildness of the whole scene.

The women and girls are very talkative and friendly with those they know; they all shook hands with me, and made repeated enquiries about my health, and frequently asked me what I wished to eat or drink. Nor are they by any means shy; for I even had the opportunity of being present at the toilette of a sheikh’s wife. The lady sat on an angareb (bedstead), surrounded by a number of young and beautiful negro girls, upon each of which a particular duty was incumbent. The one fanned away the flies with a handful of the most beautiful ostrich feathers, whilst the others arranged her hair, an occupation requiring several hours for its performance; for it is no easy task to open all the various matted curls with a single pointed wooden peg. A third slave washed her feet, a fourth ground sulphur to a fine powder between two stones. Another slave held a gourd, filled with merissa, in her hand, to offer her mistress a cooling draught whenever she might demand it; while another girl held a cup, containing more than one pound of melted butter, which was poured over the lady’s head as soon as the hair was undone. All the butter that dropped off her hair on to her back was rubbed in over her whole body by an additional attendant. In conclusion, her head was powdered with the fine flower of sulphur, which was strewn by handfulls over her greasy hair, where every single grain remained adherent. A massive golden ring was now inserted in her nostrils, and two bracelets of ivory, about two inches in breadth, were put upon her arms. On her forehead three pieces of amber, about the size of a gold coin, were hung, and round her neck, several strings of beads, formed of Bohemian glass. A piece of cotton stuff was wound round her loins, the one end of which was thrown gracefully over her right shoulder, and thus the toilette of this black princess was completed. She now admired herself once more in the mirror, represented by half a gourd filled with water. It must not be imagined that these women in any way offend against the dictates of delicacy; for although, like the other inhabitants of this hot climate, they are totally naked, with the exception of a piece of cotton, or a leathern apron (rahat), round their loins, they never transgress the rules of the most rigid propriety. The women are, without exception, handsome, and are treated very well by their husbands. Their occupation consists in cooking, and attending to other domestic duties; but when the men go into battle, they by no means remain idle spectators, but encourage them with their shouts, and assist them in every way in offering the most resolute resistance.

The men attend to the cattle, and make depredatory excursions for stealing slaves, on which occasions their few, but exceedingly beautiful and hardy horses render them essential service. When a tribe of Bakkara is encamped in the vicinity of the hills of the negroes, the horsemen are sent out to kidnap boys or girls. They have not yet had the courage to carry on this business on the same extensive scale as Mehemed Ali. The mode of proceeding is the following:—The Bakkari repair to places in which it is likely that these children will congregate,—for example, in the vicinity of separate droves of cattle, or to wells,—where they lie in ambush, and as soon as one of the children is within reach, they seize it, mount their horses, and ride away with their prize at full gallop. Although the scene of this robbery may be in the neighbourhood of a village, or of a tribe of negroes, and it even create a disturbance, yet they are certain of their prey, for their fleet steeds soon carry them beyond the reach of their pursuers, who, moreover, possess no horses. They live very contentedly among themselves, and are very happy, as I was assured by one of their sheikhs, who added,—“We have beautiful horses, handsome wives, good fare, suffer no want, and might even call ourselves rich; but our enemies, who surround us on all sides, and especially the flies, so dangerous to our cattle, embitter our lives; for, in order to escape the latter plague, we are forced to leave the safe parts of the country. In the neighbourhood of the negroes we cannot remain, as they would rise in mass against us, and destroy us all, in revenge for their kidnapped children; thus we are forced to choose the least of these many evils, and to deliver ourselves into the hands of the Turks, who treat us with great harshness and cruelty, and take away by force what we will not give them willingly,—but ALLAH KERIM (as God will)!”

The government of Kordofan treats this people, indeed, with every species of cruelty; for as soon as they are necessitated to fly from the more distant regions, and make their appearance in the neighbourhood of Kordofan, troops are immediately despatched to demand the tribute of them. I was myself an eye-witness of this scene, and saw nothing but unmerciful extortion and barbarous brutality used, which is, unfortunately, the ordinary proceeding of that government. A major, with three subaltern officers, and two hundred men, rank and file, of infantry, attended by a few Bedouin horsemen, and fifty men of irregular troops, received orders to proceed from Lobeid to levy the annual tribute, consisting of one thousand heads of oxen, from the nearest Bakkara. The tribe, acquainted with the approach of their enemies, did all in their power to entertain them to the best of their means. On their arrival, several oxen and sheep were daily slaughtered, merissa was served in abundance, all kinds of amusements were introduced, in short, nothing was neglected that might render the sojourn agreeable to their tormentors. The officers and soldiers felt exceedingly comfortable with this kind of life during four days, enjoyed their Keyf,[43] and everything went off very peaceably and all were happy. On the fifth day, however, the scene suddenly changed: for the major had a sheikh summoned into his presence, and greeting him with all the customary terms of abuse, said, in a harsh tone,—“Do you remember that you gave me last year the worst and leanest cattle, the greater part of which died on the road, and that I had to make good the loss to Mehemed Ali from my own purse! That I may not suffer a similar loss this year, I draw your attention to this circumstance, and shall immediately take care to impress it also on your memory.” He hereupon ordered the sheikh to lay himself on the ground. Entreaties, prayers, and promises, were all in vain. Two corporals seized the condemned man, threw him forcibly to the ground, and stood in readiness to inflict the punishment the major might think fit to order, with the whips of hippopotamus’ hide they held in their hands. The delinquent again endeavoured to conciliate the major with entreaties, and, begging for mercy, assured him that he would not only give him very good cattle this time, but, moreover, make him a present, as a compensation for the loss he had sustained the preceding year. This was what the extortioner wanted; but to intimidate the sheikh the more, and to force him to increase his liberality, he pretended to be inflexible; at last, however, he allowed the supplicant to rise, and go home to fetch the promised presents. The sheikh hastened immediately to fulfil his promise, and brought the major four large nose-rings of massive gold, and two slaves for each officer. Thus harmony was once more restored; the number of oxen required, and, indeed, from the best herd, were selected, and the march was ordered back to Lobeid.

On every occasion of levying tribute, the commanding officer, after having collected the government dues, allows himself all kinds of cruelties and oppressive means to extort a present for himself and his men. A sheikh of the Bakkara told me,—and the soldiers subsequently corroborated his statement,—that two years ago a major, who had already collected the tribute from a small Bakkara tribe, and had besides received considerable presents for himself and his officers, not contented with the booty, resorted to a singularly cruel plan for forcing them to greater liberality.

A sergeant, who was in the secret, feigning drunkenness, went into a tent in which the sheikh’s wives were kept, and there conducted himself with so much impropriety, that the women ordered him to leave the place. He refused to obey; and seized upon a woman, who, not knowing how to free herself from his importunities, began to scream. On hearing the cry, several Bakkara, who happened to be near, entered the tent, and one of them, witnessing the sergeant’s indecorous behaviour, dealt him a blow. This was what the soldier expected; he immediately made a great noise, ushered himself instantly into the presence of the commanding officer, and complained that a Bakkara had dared to strike one of Mehemed Ali’s soldiers. For this offence, the commanding officer demanded a most enormous fine, and ordered his troops to take possession of all the sheikh’s women and girls, and to keep them as hostages. The sheikh himself was now summoned, and told to bring instantly an addition of two hundred oxen, as a compensation for the offence offered to a soldier in the service of the government. To give additional weight to these orders, and to intimidate the chief the more, the barbarian had one of the sheikh’s wives and two of his female slaves hewn to pieces by a corporal, in his presence, informing him, at the same time, that a similar fate awaited all his wives and female slaves, if the two hundred oxen demanded were not instantly forthcoming. The sheikh, terrified to the utmost by these proceedings, promised to satisfy their demands, and in a few hours the number of oxen required were delivered to the extortioner. The cattle was of course shared by those who were privy to the secret.

As the delivery of cattle to Egypt is at present put an end to by order of the Viceroy, the Bakkara have no longer to suffer these torments; but they are, no doubt, tortured in some other way. The southern provinces, as Dongola, Sennaar, and Kordofan, have, for several years past, been forced to tender twelve thousand oxen annually for Egypt alone; eight or nine thousand heads being the stipulated portion required from Kordofan. More than one half of these animals perished on the road on account of the bad management with which the transport was conducted, and thus the government suffered a great loss. Sheds where grass or chaff was kept for the transport were, indeed, erected between Deppa and Cairo, at a distance of each day’s march; but these shunes, as they are here termed, were under very bad direction; for the inspectors sold the greater part of the forage, and thus the cattle were but sparingly fed, and the exhausted beasts were deprived of the opportunity of recruiting their strength. A second error was also prevalent, namely, that of not allowing tired or sick beasts to rest on the road, for they were driven on with the rest of the drove until they dropped. Thus by bad management one half the cattle was annually lost, although they might easily have been preserved by more careful treatment, and would have been of invaluable assistance to the northern part of Egypt, where the consumption of beasts is considerable.