Chapter VII: The Kubbabeesh

This small nomadic tribe inhabits the country to the east of the Bahr Abiad (White Nile), and allied tribes are to be met with in the province of Dongola. They differ somewhat in their habits from the Bakkara, remain stationary throughout the year in Kordofan, merely changing their pastures frequently. They scarcely follow any agricultural pursuits, and breed but very little cattle. Their actual occupation consists merely in effecting the transports which the government sends to Dongola and Sennaar, and in supplying the caravans of the Djelabi proceeding in all directions over Africa with the camels necessary for their purpose. They themselves breed very few of these animals, but buy the greater quantity in the country. Their accurate acquaintance with the roads in every direction across the desert is truly wonderful. They readily shape their course by the heavens by day or night, know exactly where they are, and can tell to a nicety the exact distance from the position in which they may happen to be to any other place. Their senses both of sight and hearing are so acute and quick, that they can distinguish, at the greatest distance, objects which an European could only see with the aid of a telescope; they can even at night-time perceive camels at long distances, seldom deceiving themselves in the estimation of their numbers; they are, therefore, invaluable to the government in the transport of the various products of the country, and to the caravans passing through the country, in general, they are almost indispensable. Their sheikhs, who, I may say, are lords and masters, consider their subjects as their serfs, and treat them accordingly. This race of men is already much contaminated by mixing with negro women. The sheikhs make a considerable profit by furnishing travellers with camels; the more so as their expenses on the road may be considered a mere trifle, for they find the food for their camels on the road-side, and the drivers receive only a little flour for bread, (which, however, they do not bake daily,) or dockn, a small quantity of which they boil in water and call belilleh. With a small bag of these hard pills they undertake the longest journeys, and will bear hunger and thirst for an astonishing length of time. Locusts they consider a delicacy. The head, wings, and first joints of the hind-legs of the insect are torn off, and the body, spitted on a wooden skewer, is roasted over the coals. At first I could not make up my mind to taste these insects, but two woful days, many of which may be passed in Africa, at last compelled me to eat them. The hard pills, or belilleh, were too dry for me, and would not pass down my throat; I therefore made the best of a bad case, and resorted to locusts. At first, as I before mentioned, I felt a slight degree of disgust, and I could not relish them, but I subsequently consoled myself with John the Baptist and Allah Kerim. When the Kubbabeesh meet with a sick camel, which the caravans are frequently obliged to leave behind them, they immediately cut its throat, and make a hearty meal; the rest of the meat is laden on their own camels, and eaten even when covered with maggots. They use no doga in making their bread, but bake it after the fashion of many of the negro tribes; that is to say, they lay several stones close together in form of a circle, selecting pebbles, if they can find them, as the small stones become more quickly heated, and light a large fire upon them. As soon as the wood is consumed, they remove the charcoal from the stones, and spread a paste of dockn flour, of the thickness of three fingers, on them, covering it carefully over with the coal. The bread is baked in a very short time, or, to speak more accurately, the upper and lower crust is burnt whilst the paste remains unbaked in the interior. They are not paid any wages, but, at the feast of the great Baëram, a present is made them of a piece of cotton and a dollar.

On journeys it is as well to behave with kindness towards these children of the desert, for although life may never be endangered by them, they injure those who treat them with harshness in a manner which is most severely felt. Their mode of revenging themselves generally consists in making an almost imperceptible incision with their lances into the leather bags containing the water, which is thus wasted, and does not last over the expected time. They call themselves sultans of the desert, and the stranger is indeed entirely at their mercy, for they can themselves bear thirst well for one day or longer, but travellers are dreadfully tortured by this proceeding; hence it is much better not to injure these poor people in any way, as they are by no means officious, but readily perform all the services required of them for a mere trifle.

Merchandize and goods entrusted to them are well taken care of, for their sheikh, with whom an agreement touching the delivery of the goods is made, is answerable for their safe arrival. Anything that may be stolen by his people, or destroyed through their neglect, he is forced to make good; he consequently only receives one half of the stipulated payment in advance. On my journey to Kordofan I met with seventeen camel-loads of gum and hides, near the ravine of Semmeria, which the Kubbabeesh, for some reason with which I am not acquainted, left lying in the road, having themselves decamped with their camels. Neither the gum nor the hides had suffered any damage, and the whole cargo was subsequently safely delivered at Dongola. The Divan of Lobeid, however, made a demand of thirty thousand piasters as an indemnification for the loss said to be sustained by the damage done to the goods. The sheikh was forced to pay this sum to the very farthing, although the goods had not cost the government more than about one thousand piasters; for the government pays one ox-hide with three piasters, and a cantaro of gum with fifteen piasters. The government, moreover, had not even lost anything in interest for the capital laid out, as the occurrence took place during the dry season. But this is the system pursued by this tyrannical administration for extorting money from this tribe, which is otherwise not highly taxed, and thus it again deprives them of their hard-earned wages, a pittance literally gained by the sweat of their brow, as their pay is always most narrowly calculated; and so much is, moreover, deducted from the sum agreed upon, that barely enough remains to keep them from starving.

It has been proved, by accurate calculation, that the Kubbabeesh must make considerable sums by the thousands of camel-loads which the government and the many Djelabi, transport, especially as their own expenses are but trifling. In order, therefore, to lessen these profits, as far as this is possible, for the benefit of their employers, all manner of ruses and subterfuges are resorted to, to enable the government to sue the sheikhs for a compensation for damage sustained. The gum is forwarded immediately after it has been collected from the trees, when four cantari constitute a camel-load. The distance from Kordofan to Dongola, is twenty days’ journey. Wind and heat will dry gum, and it of course decreases in bulk and weight; much is, moreover, lost on the road, in consequence of the slovenly manner in which it is packed. Arrived at Dongola, it is left several days lying in the sun before it is weighed, the natural consequence of this exposure is, that each load suffers a considerable reduction in weight. All this loss the sheikh has to make good, and in effecting the arrangement, the gum is calculated at the price at which the government sells it in Alexandria to the Europeans; thus the sheikh frequently only receives a quarter of the sum agreed upon for the freight, and not even this pittance in ready money, for he is finally compelled to accept cotton-stuff, manufactured at Dongola, in lieu of payment, taking the piece sold by the government in the same place for twelve piasters, at a value of twenty piasters. Goaded to the utmost by oppressions of this description, the subjects of a small sheikh determined, in the year 1838, to leave Kordofan, and settle in Darfour. The poor people, however, gained nothing by this movement, but fell, as the proverb has it, out of the frying-pan into the fire; for on their arrival at Darfour, where they intended to place themselves under the protection of the Sultan Mohammed Fadel, he seized nearly all their camels, with the exception only of some few beasts, laden with bread and water, and had the emigrants hunted over the borders, thus they were forced to deliver themselves again into the hands of their former tormentors in Kordofan. When Mehemed Ali, on his last journey, heard this, he summoned, on his arrival at Khartoom, Salé, the great sheikh of the Kubbabeesh, into his presence, and flattered him in every possible manner, in order to win him over; he even did him the extraordinary honour of allowing him to sit on his right hand, and after having convinced himself of the injustice under which his people groaned, promised to take the measures necessary for their relief. The Viceroy immediately raised the rate of freightage of a camel-load from forty-five to eighty piasters, and thus Sheikh Salé was conciliated. On the same occasion, Mehemed Ali asked the chief the reason why he, so young a man, had already a grey beard? This question he impressively answered by saying,—“Your Turks are the cause of my beard turning grey; for they oppress and torment me in every possible way, and make me grow old before my time!” Mehemed Ali consoled him, and took leave of him with that flattering language so peculiar to him on these occasions. The government, in fact, well understands the necessity of keeping on good terms with these good people; for the services they perform are invaluable, and nothing is, moreover, to be effected by force with this tribe; for if they had the slightest idea that coercive measures were to be employed against them, they would soon disappear out of Kordofan. To emigrate into Darfour would certainly be too hazardous an experiment; to the south and south-east the murderous fly, so destructive to the camels, is to be met with, and helps materially to compel them to remain in the country. Notwithstanding these impediments, however, they know very well how to secure themselves when force is employed against them, for the following facts were related to me by an officer, who was himself an eye-witness of the affair. The government was about to expedite several hundred camel-loads of goods, and sent couriers to the Kubbabeesh with orders to furnish the necessary quantity of camels, and bring them to Lobeid; the latter, however, refused to obey. A considerable military detachment was now sent to force them to submission, but the government was very much deceived in its expectations of the result; for the Kubbabeesh, acquainted with their intentions, collected all their camels, and fled to the desert, where it was impossible to overtake them. They always kept half a day’s march in advance of the troops, could even frequently be descried at a distance, but all attempts to overtake them were in vain; for, thoroughly acquainted with all the roads and various localities, they were enabled easily to deceive their pursuers, and thus to effect their escape. Arrived on the third day at a spring, they watered their camels, supplied themselves with the quantity of water they required, filled up the well, and continued their march. The soldiers, in their turn, arriving with their camels at the well, found it destroyed, and were forced, for want of water, to return, and give up the chase of the victorious Kubbabeesh. Thus the government was obliged to wait patiently until they returned of their own accord.

Their dress consists of a piece of cotton-stuff which they wind round their bodies, and very few of them only wear shirts. Their heads are uncovered, but on journeys they wear a sheep or goatskin, after the fashion of the leathern apron of the miners of Germany, to enable them to sit down, a position which would otherwise be impracticable, considering the burning heat of the sand. They always carry a few spears and a shield. Foreigners visiting these countries cannot travel more economically than by engaging the Kubbabeesh; in Dongola, the Dongolas indeed keep camels, but I advise every one to give the preference to the former, for although the government pays eighty piasters from Lobeid to Debba, or Dolip, on the Nile, (in the province of Dongola,) whereas the Djelabi only pay sixty piasters, sometimes even only forty-five, for the same distance, and thirty piasters from Lobeid to Khartoom, the Kubbabeesh always give the preference to an engagement with the latter because the payment, although less, is effected in ready money, whereas the government make great deductions, and force them moreover to accept of goods in lieu of cash.