Chapter XX: Part 20

_June 3d._—We saw this morning, while travelling in the plain, a mirage of the brightest azure, as pure and clear as those I had witnessed in the desert between Egypt and Berber. After a march of four hours (direction south), we again reached the river, nearly opposite the large village of Goz Radjeb (قوز رجب), an Arabic name. The banks on both sides were quite barren. We encamped under some Oshour trees, large enough to afford shade to the whole party. It was our intention to remain here a few days, as the Hadherebe thought the market of Goz Radjeb a fit place for disposing of a part of their merchandize. In approaching the river I saw at a distance two insulated hills close to each other in the plain, and at a short distance from the river; and when we drew nearer to them, I was extremely surprised to see upon the summit of the largest a huge fabric of ancient times. Being naturally short-sighted, and my vision having been further impaired by two attacks of ophthalmia while I was in Upper Egypt, I could not trust my eyes, and therefore asked my companions what it was that appeared like a building upon the hill. “Don’t you see,” they replied, “that it is a church?” (Kenise, كنيسه, a name often applied by the Egyptians to their ancient temples, which they ascribe to the Christians) “and no doubt the work of infidels.” We continued to approach the hill, and encamped at about half an hour’s distance from it. As soon as we had alighted, and placed our baggage in order, I started for the hills, in great eagerness to examine these Ethiopian remains; but a loud cry from the Souakin people brought me back. “The whole country,” they said, “is infested by the peasants of Goz Radjeb; you will not be able to move a hundred paces alone, without being attacked.” Indeed several suspicious looking persons were seen lurking among the trees that lined the banks of the river farther on. My companions added, that the hill was inhabited by Hadendoa robbers, who lived in caverns in it, and were at war with all their neighbours. As they could have no interest in deceiving me, I readily believed them, and returned, not with the intention of abandoning my design, but in the hope of being able the next day to concert measures with some of the country people who might come to barter with us, for their accompanying me to the ruins, which I was then fully determined to visit, whatever might be the consequences. Unfortunately I was deceived in my expectations; and I shall never forgive myself for the momentary irresolution which prevented me from examining the most interesting object which occurred during my journey.

A party of our people had crossed the river to Goz Radjeb to inquire after the state of the market. About two hours after sunset, when we were retiring to sleep,[59] they returned, and soon after the chief of the caravan came to us, crying: “Make haste, the caravan is in fear; if we remain here we shall be attacked. Fill your water-skins, and load your camels, for we shall depart immediately.”[60] In such cases, every feeling gives way to that of self-preservation. Forgetting for a moment the temple, I ran with two skins to the river, while my slave got the camel ready, and by the time I returned with my filled skins, the chief had set off. The people who went to Goz Radjeb had been there secretly informed that a large party of Bisharein intended to surprise us, and the immediate departure of the caravan became in consequence advisable, as it would have been very difficult to pass the river during the night, in order to take refuge at Goz, where we might have been moreover besieged for a long while. We proceeded in silence along the bank of the river; I passed the foot of the hill, but the night was cloudy, and its darkness prevented me from catching the smallest glimpse of the ruins. The barking of dogs proved to me that our people had told me the truth in saying that the rocks were inhabited. Our merchants seemed much frightened, the greatest silence was observed, no pipes were permitted to be lighted, lest the burning ashes might indicate the direction of our march, and nothing was heard but the groans of a few infirm female slaves, and the whips of their cruel masters, who obliged them to follow the caravan on foot, having lent the camels upon which they rode to some people of Goz, for the transport of goods to Taka. I cast a last look towards the object of my curiosity, and lamented the ill fortune, which last year, when at the most southern point which I reached on the Nile, had prevented me from seeing the temple of Soleb in Mahass, and now again, when I had gained the farthest term of my journey southwards, had equally thwarted my desires, and had deprived the public of what many persons might perhaps have thought the most valuable fruit of this difficult journey. May a more fortunate or a more courageous traveller be hereafter able to examine what I have thus merely pointed out.

The rock of these hills is granite; while passing them in the night, I picked up several stones, which I found the next morning to be red coarse-grained granite. The hill upon which the ruin stands appears to be the highest, being about three or four hundred feet above the river, with sloping sides covered with large irregular blocks, and masses of rock. It is perpendicular on the side towards the river, between which and the hill is a space of about thirty yards, where the road passes. The building appears to be just over the precipice, and to face the river. What I could distinguish of it were two high and extremely massive walls, with an equally massive flat roof; on the roof was a sort of cupola, the sides of which appeared to be perpendicular. I could perceive no columns, or any other building. The ruin itself is enclosed on all sides by high rocks, which hide the greater part of it from view; and in the day time I was unable to get a sight of it in front. As far as I could judge its walls must be between thirty and forty feet in height, and I suppose them to be built of granite, as they were of the same hue as the surrounding rocks. I had no telescope with me, and can therefore give no accurate details respecting these remains; but the whole building, with the exception of the pointed roof, appeared to me to be of the rudest construction, and of the remotest antiquity. I asked the Souakin merchants if they had ever seen any similar ruins in this neighbourhood, but they had never gone higher up the river, and could therefore give me no positive information, and no natives appeared whom I could question on the subject.

The village of Goz Radjeb stands in the sandy plain, at a distance of about a quarter of a mile from the left bank of the river. It is named Goz from its situation among sands. Its inhabitants are said to be a mixture of all sorts of Arabs, Bisharein, Hadendoa, Djaalein, and Shukorye, who have settled here principally for the purposes of trade. As far as I could judge, agriculture forms no part of their occupation, and I understood that they draw all their Dhourra from the neighbouring district of Taka. They possess cattle, which feed in the summer on the bank of the river, and in winter in the interior of the desert. Goz is under the dominion of Sennaar, and its chief, like that of Shendy, is of the reigning family of Wold Adjib (ولد عجيب). The inhabitants carry on a brisk trade with Sennaar and Shendy, and sometimes visit the market of Damer, where, as at Shendy, they sell their cattle. Slaves are always to be found in the market of Goz, which is frequented sometimes by Souakin traders, but more usually by the Bisharye and Hadendoa Bedouins, for, although they are enemies, yet, in these countries, as among the Arabian Bedouins, a free passage is allowed through a hostile territory, under certain restrictions. The caravans from Souakin to Sennaar, which do not wish to pass by Atbara or Shendy, take the route by Goz, from whence they proceed straight across the desert to Sennaar. In the winter pools of water abound in the sands; but in summer the caravans are obliged to carry water with them for the whole journey of six days; this desert is said also to be destitute of trees. The route is only attempted during the hot season, because the Bedouins Shukorye encamp there during the winter, and render the road dangerous. Although the barrenness which prevails in this route in the summer often proves fatal to the slaves, the traders nevertheless prefer it to incurring the expenses which attend a stay at Shendy, and the payment of passage duties at Atbara. We marched about four hours during the night, and then rested upon deep sandy ground near some thorny trees and tamarisks.

_June 4th._—We set out before sun-rise. Our road lay over an immense plain, without the smallest elevation, except the abovementioned hills to our left, which, in the morning, bore N. N. E. and at mid-day, when we halted, N. W. The soil of the plain consists of clay, with very few stones, and is almost as fertile as that on the banks of the Nile; it is over-grown with many different species of wild herbs, and what appeared to me remarkable, each species occupied a separate spot, seldom mixing with those adjoining it, so that the whole plain had the appearance of an immense sheet of patterns. Many of the herbs were now withered.

Our direction was E. N. E.; during the morning a part of our companions quitted the caravan, and took a more southerly route towards the southern parts of the country of Taka. About noon we descried some trees at a distance, and as the heat of the sun was extremely great, every one hastened in search of a shady place. The surface of the ground, as well as the trees, afforded proofs of the prevalence of strong easterly winds. In the afternoon we entered upon a completely barren, gravelly plain, without trees or the slightest vegetation of any kind, and without any elevation, or other land marks to guide the traveller. In the evening there were some vivid flashes of lightning, which served as a direction for the march, as the people of the caravan knew the quarter from whence they came; the horizon was cloudy, and threatened rain. After a march of about eleven hours we encamped, much tired, in a Wady of trees, a part of the caravan having gone astray during the night.

_June 5th._—It appeared that we had all missed our road yesterday, owing to the extreme flatness and barrenness of the plain; for we started to-day in the direction of E. S. E. After about an hour’s march we reached the boundaries of the province of Taka; where we found a rich soil as fine as that near the Nile, and much like it in colour; the march of the camels was obstructed by thick groves of Oshour and acacias. A most violent gust of wind arose, and blew about the dust and sand in such a manner, that we were unable to see ten yards before us; we in consequence lost our way among the trees, and after wandering about for some time, during which we frightened several shepherds, who mistook us for Bisharye enemies, and hastily drove away their flocks, we reached, after a three hours march, an encampment of Hadendoa Bedouins, where we rested. One of our chief guides or Khobara (خبرا) was married to a relative of the chief of this encampment. We alighted in the open area surrounded by the tents, which, as in Arabia, were pitched in a Douar or circle (دوار). Towards evening we were visited by another hurricane, the most tremendous I ever remember to have witnessed. A dark blue cloud first appeared, extending to about 25° above the horizon; as it approached nearer, and increased in height, it assumed an ash gray colour with a tinge of yellow, striking every person in the caravan, who had not been accustomed to such phænomena, with amazement at its magnificent and terrific appearance; as the cloud approached still nearer, the yellow tinge became more general, while the horizon presented the brightest azure. At last, it burst upon us in its rapid course, and involved us in darkness and confusion; nothing could be distinguished at the distance of five or six feet; our eyes were filled with dust; our temporary sheds were blown down at the first gust, and many of the more firmly fixed tents of the Hadendoa followed; the largest withstood for a time the force of the blast, but were at last obliged to yield, and the whole camp was levelled with the ground. In the mean time the terrified camels arose, broke the cords by which they were fastened, and endeavoured to escape from the destruction which appeared to threaten them, thus adding not a little to our own embarrassment. After blowing about half an hour with incessant violence, the wind suddenly abated, and when the atmosphere became clear, the tremendous cloud was seen continuing its havoc to the north-west. Similar hurricanes frequently happen at this time of the year, their consequences, however, are never more disastrous than what I have just detailed; in a few minutes the tents were raised, and every thing was again put in order.

The Hadendoa showed us little hospitality; we encamped in the very midst of them, that we might not be exposed to any hostile attacks in the night, during the whole of which we kept watch to preserve our baggage from their pilfering propensities. The wells were at some distance from the encampment, and as the road to them, which lay through the wood, was unsafe for strangers, the Hadendoa made us pay for the water they supplied us with. The guide and his relations feasted upon a sheep that had been slaughtered in honour of him; a few pounds of the roasted meat were sent from their board to the party of black merchants to which I belonged, and presently afterwards the Shikh of the Douar sent a slave to beg some cloves, which could not be refused, as they were evidently considered as a return due for the meat. In the Arabian deserts, such meanness would disgrace a Bedouin and the whole tribe to which he belongs.

_June 6th._—Our people did not like to remain longer with the Hadendoa, because the smallness of their encampment, and its distance from any market, left our people little hopes of disposing of their goods; we therefore, against the opinion of our chief, moved on this morning in a S. S. E. direction, over the fertile grounds of Taka, which consist every where of a rich soil, but uncultivated, with trees, and wild herbs in great abundance. After a winding march of three hours through the woods, we came to a large encampment called Filik, where we intended to stop. We entered through one of the openings made in the high thick enclosure formed of the thorny branches of trees, with which all these encampments are surrounded, and we pitched our huts in the square area within. Many of the merchants had friends here, in whose tents they took up their quarters. The black traders kept close together, and as I knew that we should, at all events, remain here for several days, I hired a Bedouin, for a handful of tobacco, to construct for me a small tent of mats, which might at least afford me shelter from the sun.

_Taka_ (بلاد التاكا Bellad el Taka). The country of Taka, or as it is also called by its inhabitants, El Gash (القاش), is famous all over these countries for its extreme fertility. It extends in a SE. direction for about three long days journeys in length, and one in breadth, and is peopled entirely by tribes who are part settlers and part Bedouins. One day’s journey, in a SE. direction from Filik, which is an encampment of Hadendoa, begin the encampments of the Bedouins called Melikinab; further on live the Bedouins Segollo; one day’s journey from the Melikinab, begin the tribe of Hallenga, which is divided into the Upper and Lower, the former dwelling about one day’s journey beyond the latter. Taka forms part of the country of Bedja,[61] which includes the course of the river Atbara from Goz Radjeb, and continues, as I was informed, to the south, as far as the mountains (of Abyssinia, I suppose), while, to the north, the chain of mountains called Langay marks the boundary of Bedja, thus including many deserts, and several hilly districts. Taka itself, however, is an entirely flat country, or rather low ground, bounded on the N. and W. by deserts, and on the SE. by a chain of mountains called Negeyb, which, from what I learnt, runs parallel with the Red Sea. Of the nature of its frontiers to the south I cannot speak with certainty, but I believe it to be a country interspersed with mountains and fertile valleys.

The reason why Taka is so fertile, and has become so populous, is its regular inundation, a fact of which not a doubt can be entertained, although I found it impossible to obtain exact information of the causes of this inundation, or of the circumstances attending it. About the latter end of June, or sometimes not till July, for the period does not seem to be so fixed as that of the rise of the Nile,[62] large torrents coming from the S. and SE. pour over the country, and in the space of a few weeks (or according to some, in eight days), cover the whole surface with a sheet of water, varying in depth from two to three feet; these torrents are said to lose themselves in the eastern plain, after inundating the country, but the waters remain upwards of a month in Taka; and if I am to believe the reports of several persons who had seen the Nile, and could draw a comparison, the waters, on subsiding, leave a thick slime, or mud, upon the surface, similar to that left by the Nile. It is certain that immediately after the inundation is imbibed, the Bedouins sow the seed upon the alluvial mud, without any previous preparation whatever. The inundation is usually accompanied by heavy rains, which set in a short time before the inundation, and become most copious during its height. I was informed that the rains are ushered in by hurricanes of incredible violence, blowing from the south every evening after sun-set. The rains last several weeks longer than the inundation; but they are not incessant, falling in heavy showers at short intervals. In the winter and spring, the people of Taka obtain their water from deep wells, extremely copious, dispersed all over the country, but at a considerable distance from each other; they are in groups of half a dozen together, with large mud basins round them for the cattle to drink from, and as they supply the adjacent country to the distance of four or five miles, they are crowded the whole day with shepherds and their flocks. The water of most of these wells is brackish; but it is said that there is always found one in each group of which the contents are sweeter than the rest. They are dug to the depth of from twenty-five to forty feet, and are not lined on the sides with either brick or stones.

The produce of Taka is very disproportioned to what it might be in such a fine soil, every part of which is inundated, and where the inundation rarely fails. The people appear to be ignorant of tillage. They have no regular fields; and the Dhourra, their only grain, is sown among the thorny trees, and Oshour, by dibbling large holes in the ground, into each of which a handful of the seed is thrown. After the harvest is gathered, the peasants return to their pastoral occupations; they seem never to have thought of irrigating the ground for a second crop with the water which might every where be found by digging wells. Not less than four-fifths of the ground remain unsown; but as the quantity of Dhourra produced is, generally, sufficient not only for their own consumption, but also for the supply of others, they never think of making any provisions for increasing it, notwithstanding that when the inundation is not copious, or only partial (no one remembers its ever failing entirely), they suffer all the miseries of want. Twenty-four Mouds of Dhourra were bought here with one piece of Tob Dammour; at Shendy the same price is given for seven Mouds. Calculating the price by dollars, nearly the same quantity of Dhourra is obtained here for one Spanish dollar, as in Upper Egypt, which is the cheapest corn-market in the East.[63] The Dhourra is of the best quality, and of the same species as that of Upper Egypt, and the countries on the Nile, but it is much larger grained, whiter, and better flavoured; it is therefore in great request, and when I was at Souakin, in the house of the Turkish officer of the customs, I eat of loaves made of this Dhourra, which were little inferior to wheaten bread. In the Djidda market the Taka Dhourra is sold twenty per cent. dearer than that grown in Egypt. I believe nothing else is cultivated except a few Bamyes and Loubyes. The people are extremely fond of onions, which have become a kind of currency between them and the Souakin traders; but no one has ever tried to grow them in Taka.

Taka is as celebrated for its herds of cattle as for its Dhourra; they are very numerous; the cows are particularly handsome, and have all humps on the back, like those on the Nile; they serve, as in Darfour and Kordofan, for a medium of exchange. The price of a large fat cow was four pieces of Dammour, or ninety-six Mouds of Dhourra, which is equivalent to about two Erdeybs, or thirty bushels. The price of a strong camel is one-fourth more. As it was now the hottest part of the year, just before the period of the rains, when the ground is quite parched up, I saw few cattle. According to the annual custom, the herds had been sent several months before to the Eastern desert, where they feed in the mountains and fertile valleys, and where springs of water are found. After the inundation, they are brought back to the plain. The camels of Taka are highly prized, from an idea that the young shoots of the acacia trees, on which they feed in the woods, render them stronger than camels fed with other food. The people use the skin of the long neck of the camel, sowed up on one side, and left open on the other, as sacks to transport their grain in, when travelling; their form is very convenient for loading. The quantity of cattle would be even greater than it is, were it not for the wild beasts which inhabit the forests, and destroy great numbers of them; the most common of these are lions, and what they call tigers, but which I suppose to be leopards or panthers. I never saw any of these animals, but I heard their howlings every night. The flocks of the encampment, near which a few sheep are always kept, are driven in the evening into the area within the circle of tents, and the openings in the thorny enclosure already described are filled up with a heap of thorns. No one dares stir out of this entrenchment during the night; it is sufficiently strong to be impenetrable to the wild beasts, which prowl about it the whole of the night, filling the air with their dismal howls, which are answered by the incessant barking of the dogs within. It rarely happens that either lions or tigers are killed in these countries; when such an occurrence happens, it is in self-defence; for the inhabitants having no other weapons than swords and lances,[64] have little chance of conquering the king of the forest, of which this district appears to be a favourite haunt. Some of the Shikhs, but very few, have lion skins in their tents; they appeared to be of middling size; but if the testimony of the Hadendoa may be credited, a lion here sometimes reaches the size of a cow. Persons are frequently killed by them. In the woods wolves (ذيب), Gazelles, and hares abound; and the Bedouins relate stories of serpents of immense size, which often devour a sheep entire. The fiercest animals, however, that inhabit these woods are the Bedjawy, or inhabitants of Bedja, themselves. Great numbers of asses are kept by all these Bedouins. In the mountains of Negeyb, the Giraffa is said to be very numerous; I saw a piece of the skin of one in the tent of a Hadendoa. Locusts are always seen in Taka, which seems to be their breeding-place, from whence they spread over other parts of Nubia. However innumerable their hosts may be, they appear to be incapable of destroying the verdure of this country, as sometimes happens in Egypt and Syria. Those I saw were of the largest size, with the upper wings of a red, and the lower of a yellow colour. The trees are full of pigeons, and crows in large flocks. I do not remember having seen any birds remarkable for their plumage. From the acacia trees gum arabic is collected, which is sold at Souakin to the Djidda merchants; from Djidda it finds its way to Egypt; but it is of an indifferent quality, owing, probably, to the moisture of the soil; for the best gum is produced in the driest deserts.

The Hadendoa Bedouins, the only inhabitants of Taka seen by me, evidently belong to the same nation as the Bisharein, and all the Eastern Nubians, with whom they have the same features, language, character, and manners. They are the strongest of the four tribes who people Taka; the Melikinab are the weakest. All these people are partly cultivators and partly Bedouins. Each tribe has a couple of large villages built in the desert, on the border of the cultivable soil, where some inhabitants are always to be found, and to which the whole population, excepting those who tend the cattle in the interior of the desert, repairs during the rainy season. When the waters subside the Bedouins then spread over the whole district, pitching their Douars or camps in those places where they hope for the best pasturage, and moving about from month to month, until the sun parches up the herbage; the settlers in the village meantime sow the ground adjoining the neighbouring desert. The camps consist of huts formed of mats, like those of Atbara. There are also a few huts with mud walls, resembling those in the countries on the Nile, but smaller: even of the settlers, however, the greater part prefer living in the open country, under sheds, to inhabiting close dwellings. Besides the villages just described, there are others within the fertile districts, which are built upon insulated sandy spots, like islands, somewhat elevated above the general level. I enquired whether there were any marshes, or large ponds of stagnant water in Taka, but was answered in the negative.

The encampment where we remained consisted of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred tents, divided into four Douars, or circles; these were separated from each other by fences lower than the general thorny enclosure, by which the whole were surrounded. In every settlement in Taka, as at Shendy and Atbara, there are several Bouza huts, and many public women, with some of whom even the most respectable of the Souakin merchants took up their quarters. These women seemed to me to be more decent in their behaviour than those of the same description in the countries on the Nile; at least they seldom appeared abroad during the day, whereas the others were seen walking about at all hours. Both sexes wear the common Nubian dress, a Dammour shirt, and a cloke of the same stuff thrown over the shoulders. I observed one peculiarity amongst the women, that of wearing brass or silver rings on their toes; many of them wear leathern aprons, instead of the Dammour cloth which the Nubian women generally wrap round the middle; the same custom prevails amongst the Bedouins of the Hedjaz. In their tents they suspend various ornaments of white shells, Woda (وضع), from the Red Sea, intermixed with black ostrich feathers. All the women go unveiled, and the most respectable think it no shame whatever to receive a man in their tent, and to be seen chatting with him during the husband’s absence. This, however, never happened to me, for whenever I presented myself before a tent, the ladies greeted me with loud screams, and waved with their hands for me to depart instantly. Nothing astonished them more than my beard and mustachios; for the beards of the Bedouins never grow long or thick, and they cut their mustachios very short, it being a disgrace amongst them to wear them long, and considered as great a mark of slovenliness as an unshorn beard among Europeans.

In almost every village we found one or two individuals who had been on the Hadj, and who exercised the functions of Fakys. They are the only persons who trouble themselves about religious ceremonies, the people generally being entirely ignorant of the Mohammedan law and religion. In some instances they act directly contrary to the dictates of Mohammed, as for example, in eating the blood of slaughtered animals, which is prepared by placing it over the fire till it coagulates, when some salt is mixed with it, and butter poured upon it. Cows blood is most esteemed for this dish, which is equally common in Darfour, as I was informed by the Negroe slaves from that country. They eat no flesh raw excepting the liver, or kidneys; these the Arabian Bedouins, and the inhabitants of Syria, also eat raw with salt. The raw marrow of cows is considered a great dainty. When their cattle is near the encampment they live almost wholly upon milk, particularly that of the camel. When a company is collected, a large bowl of milk is set on the ground in the midst of them, and is handed round at intervals of about five minutes, for every one to sip a little; when emptied the bowl is filled again, and thus continues as long as the guests remain.

The Hadendoa are very indolent; the business of the house is left to the wives and slaves, while the men pass the day either in paying an idle visit to some neighbouring encampment, or at home reclined upon the Angareyg, smoking their pipes, and generally going drunk to bed in the evening. To each other they shew great hospitality, but towards strangers I never saw a more pitiless race of people, which is the more remarkable from its being so contrary to the general disposition of the Bedouins, one of whose first considerations is how to supply the wants of the stranger. Inhospitality to strangers seems to be a marked characteristic both of this people and of those of Souakin. In the market village near our encampment I could never obtain a drop of water without paying for it in Dhourra; and in our own encampment I was obliged to pay for the hire of a mat for a few minutes, to spread a little Dhourra meal upon in order to dry it in the sun. The poor Negroe pilgrims who pass through Taka in their way to Mekka, complain bitterly of this want of hospitality. Several of them were here during our stay, and lived in the encampment; they used to go round in the evening with their wooden bowls to beg for a little bread, when they knew that the people were at supper; but from two hundred tents they never could collect enough to make a meal sufficient for themselves; and myself and companions were obliged to entertain two of them every evening at supper. Where no feelings of generosity exist, the baser passions easily find access. The people of Taka are as noted for their bad faith as for their inhospitality; they live in continual broils with each other, which are not terminated by open hostility, but by a warfare of treachery, wherein each man endeavours to surprise and destroy his enemy by secret contrivances. Even in their own encampments they are armed with a spear, sword, and shield; and when they go to any distance it is generally in parties. During my stay two men were murdered in the woods by some persons unknown. The people of the caravan never ventured out of the encampment except in large parties; in the evening it was our practice to form a small caravan to proceed to the wells to fill our water-skins, taking care to keep as close together as possible. Treachery is not considered here as criminal or disgraceful, and the Hadendoa is not ashamed to boast of his bad faith, whenever it has led to the attainment of his object. The Souakin people assured me that no oath can bind a man of Taka; that which alone they hesitate to break is when they swear, “By my own health” (وحياة عافيتي). A Hadendoa seldom scruples to kill his companion on the road in order to possess himself of the most trifling article of value, if he entertains a hope of doing it with impunity; but the retaliation of blood exists in full force. Among the Hallenga, who draw their origin from Abyssinia, a horrible custom is said to attend the revenge of blood; when the slayer has been seized by the relatives of the deceased, a family feast is proclaimed, at which the murderer is brought into the midst of them, bound upon an Angareyg, and while his throat is slowly cut with a razor, the blood is caught in a bowl, and handed round amongst the guests, every one of whom is bound to drink of it, at the moment the victim breathes his last. I cannot vouch for the truth of this, although several persons asserted it to be a fact, and I heard no one contradict it. I might, perhaps, have come to the knowledge of several other strange customs amongst these savages, had I understood their language, or met with many of them who spoke Arabic; it was not sufficient to have found one or two who were acquainted with that language, for they will not endure to be plagued with questions, when no advantage is to be gained by answering them, and a traveller circumstanced as I was, can only obtain information of this kind by listening to general conversation, or by endeavouring to draw it insensibly to the subject upon which he wishes to be informed.

To treachery the people of Taka add a great propensity to theft. We had all occasion to complain of their pilfering habits, but particularly a Sowakiny, who lodged in the tent of one of the principal Bedouins of the encampment: his leathern sack was cut open during the night, and one hundred ounces of gold taken out of it. We missed every morning some trifles; but our precautions were such, that nothing of value could be taken away without awakening us. One day when I was in the market-place measuring some Dhourra, the Ferdes (or quarter of a piece) of Dammour, which I had thrown over my shoulder to expose it for sale, was taken off without my immediately missing it, although all the bye-standers saw the thief walking off with it. As soon as I discovered the robbery I pursued him, but as I found him armed, and more than a match for me, and as others interfered in his favour, I thought myself fortunate in recovering two-thirds of the value of the Dammour in Dhourra, the thief keeping the remainder to himself for the trouble he had had in stealing the whole.

Their own quarrels, and their national enmity to the Bisharein, with whom they are never known to be at peace, have rendered the people of Taka a warlike nation. They use the same weapons as the inhabitants of the Nile countries; bows and arrows are unknown amongst them. Their chiefs keep horses, and arm themselves with coats of mail. They are said to be brave, but I never saw scars on any part of their bodies except the back. The same remark applies to all the people of Nubia, where I have never seen any individuals with scars upon their breasts, while the backs of most of the men bear the marks of large wounds, in which they seem to pride themselves. The shield is said to protect the sides from blows. I found a custom here, which in my journey towards Dóngola I had been told of, as existing among the Bisharein; when a young man boasts of his superior prowess, in the presence of another, the latter draws his knife and inflicts several flesh wounds in his own arms, shoulders, and sides; he then gives the knife to the boaster, who is bound in honour to inflict still deeper wounds upon his own body, or yield for ever in reputation to his antagonist. They are certainly a strong and hardy race of men; and are more robust and muscular than any Bedouins I ever saw. During winter they live almost wholly upon flesh and milk, tasting very little bread; and it is to this they attribute their strength. The only disease which they dread is the small-pox, which made great ravages among them last year, and had not yet entirely disappeared; a neighbouring encampment was still infected, and all communication had in consequence been cut off between it and the surrounding encampments. The disease was first brought here by the Souakin merchants, from whence it has spread over all the countries on the Nile.

On the skirts of the desert, at a quarter of an hour from our encampment, was a village called Souk Hadendoa, or the market-place of Hadendoa (the Arabic word Souk سوق being used in the native idiom), the residence of the great chief of the Taka Hadendoas. On the sands behind the village a market is held once a week, which is frequented by great numbers of Bedouins and country-people; I visited it twice, and occasioned no little amusement and astonishment among the strangers, to whom I was an object of the greatest curiosity; but I always excited much more contempt and disgust amongst the women than amongst the men. The Black traders with whom I lived accompanied me to this market, where we sold various articles brought from Shendy, for Dhourra, which is the common currency here. Bedouins who take dollars are seldom found at Taka, but Dammour is in great demand. The following were the articles brought to market by the country people, besides _cattle_. A variety of _mats and baskets_ made of reeds, and of the leaves of the Doum tree, which is common in the valleys of the desert to the N. and E. _Earthen pots_ for cooking, and for ablution (Ibareik alloudhou اباريق اللوضو); the latter are of the annexed form, and are bought by the Souakin people and carried to the Hedjaz; all the Negroes, and other poor Hadjis carry one of them for their daily ablutions.—_Camel saddles_; _ropes_, made of reeds; _hides_; _water-skins_; a few _fowls_, which are met with all over Nubia; dried _camel’s flesh_ (butter was no where to be procured, the flocks being at a distance); the _Allobe_ and _Nebek fruits_; of the latter they make here a sort of viscid jelly, which has an agreeable taste. _Tama_, the bark of a tree similar to that which I observed at Shendy under the name of Gyrfe, of like taste, and used for the same purposes; in the mountains south of Hallenga it is called Basinya. _Gum arabic_. _Gharab_, the pulse of the acacia, with which leather is tanned. _Salt_, brought from Souakin, which forms a considerable article. _Black Ostrich feathers_; these are the feathers of the female ostrich; the white feathers are sold privately to the Souakin traders. Some blacksmiths attend the market; a slave works the bellows, while the master is employed in mending knives, lance heads, or the iron chains which are used for tying the fore legs of the camels during the night.

The principal article sold by the foreign merchants is _tobacco_, as well the produce of Sennaar as of Persia and the Yemen; that which comes from the latter countries is called here Suratty, and is the yellow leaved sort called Tombac in the Hedjaz and Egypt, and which is smoked in the East in the Persian pipe or Nargyle; being much stronger than the Sennaar tobacco, it is preferred in Taka principally for the manufacture of snuff, of which the people are very fond; the snuff is prepared by mixing natron or salt with the pulverised tobacco. No man or woman is seen without a small gourd, the size of a goose’s egg, in which they carry their snuff. The Souakin traders sell here also _natron_, which they bring from Shendy; all kinds of _spices_, especially cloves, which are in great demand among the Hallenga; _incense_, _beads_, and _hardware_; but the chief articles are tobacco, Dammour, and cloves. Dhourra is taken in exchange for all these articles, and is the main object with the merchants from Souakin, because that place depends solely upon Taka for its supply of this necessary of life, none, or very little, being cultivated in its neighbourhood. The Dhourra of Taka is imported into Souakin in such quantities that many ship-loads of it can at any time be sent from thence to Djidda, where it is always to be purchased in the markets. I need hardly add, that the intercourse between Taka and Souakin is in consequence extremely brisk; a fortnight seldom passes without some arrivals from the latter place; and as camels are very cheap, the expense of transport is proportionally small; nevertheless the Dhourra at Souakin was just four times dearer than at Taka, twelve measures being sold for one dollar; but it was still sufficiently cheap to enable the dealers to transport it to Djidda, and there sell it to advantage. During the last famine Taka supplied the whole valley of the Nile from Shendy to Mograt with Dhourra. There are several market places in the district similar to the one I have described; that of the Hallenga is said to be the largest, and Dhourra is even cheaper there than it is in this part of Taka. The Tob Dammour was there worth from thirty-two to thirty-six Mouds. Several of our people rode thither to sell their tobacco.

The direct road from Taka to Shendy is rendered unsafe by the incursions of the Shukorye, which obliges the Taka people bound for that place to go by Goz Radjeb and Atbara. Small caravans sometimes go straight from Taka to Sennaar for Dammour and tobacco; from the most southern limits of the Hallenga they travel half a day to the village of Menan; from thence three days across a sandy desert, without water, to the river Atbara, where its banks are inhabited by the Arabs Omran, who speak Arabic. From the Atbara they reach, after two days desert journey, the Arabs Dhebdayle (ضبدايله), who possess considerable herds of cows and camels. From thence a journey of one day among woods and cultivated spots, to the village of Dender, and two days more, across a desert bring them to Sennaar, making in the whole a journey of eight or nine days, slow march, but not in a straight line. This route is much frequented by the Negroe pilgrims. The above distances were given to me by a man from Dar Saley, who performed the journey with a boy, and without a guide. He was well treated by the Arabs Omran, from whose tents he performed the journey to Menan across the desert, without a guide, directing his course by the stars. The accuracy of his statements I believe may be depended on. The following is the account which I received of the route towards Ras el Fil, but I am not so well convinced of its correctness as of that of the preceding.

From the last settlements of the Hallengas, one long journey to the Arabs Fohara (فحاره); from thence to Wady Omran (امرن), one day and a half. To Ayaye (عيايه) one day; and from thence in two days to Ras el Fil (راس الفيل), on the route from Sennaar to Gondar. Three days below the Arabs Omran, towards Goz on the Atbara, is a large settlement of Shukorye, called Gabaryb (قباريب), which was stated to be as large as Shendy; its name often occurred in the conversations of the people of Taka.

Great animosity seems to prevail between the Hallengas and the Abyssinians, the latter never being mentioned by them without some opprobrious epithet, the mildest of which is Kafer. I had heard in Upper Egypt, and at Berber, that caravans sometimes depart from the Hallengas for Massouah; and I was afterwards told at Djidda, by some Massouah merchants, that Hallengas were sometimes seen at that place with cows for sale; but I could hear of no such intercourse during my stay at Taka. The Hallengas have a slight commercial intercourse with the Abyssinians of the province called Walkayt. Had I seen the least probability of making my way towards Massouah, I should have attempted it, for that part of the country appeared to me to be very interesting; it would have led me through the dwellings of many tribes who form the links of the chain by which the Abyssinians are connected with the Arabs, and whose manners, no doubt, present striking originalities; but after what I observed of the character of the people of Taka, I did not think that I should have the smallest chance of being able to protect my little property after quitting my companions the Souakin merchants; and from what I saw of the hospitality of these people, I was certain that if once stripped I should perish of want. To have engaged one of these savages as a guide would have been of little avail, had he even proved faithful, as he could not have ensured my safety for more than one day’s journey, or as far as the limits of his own tribe. I should then have fallen among strangers, all intent upon plundering me of whatever I possessed, while I should have had nothing to offer in my defence, and could hardly have made myself understood, very few people in those parts speaking Arabic. I hope, therefore, I shall not be blamed for abandoning this project, while, on the other hand, I had reasonable hopes of reaching Souakin in safety. I heard at Taka that Souakin and Massouah were at equal distances from the Hallengas.

I was not molested during my stay at Taka, and nothing particularly disagreeable happened to me; but I learnt afterwards, that I had nearly been reduced to a most distressing situation, a grown up slave of one of my companions having formed the design of stealing my camel, and selling it at a neighbouring encampment, in which case I should probably never have recovered it. Our camels were driven into the woods every morning to feed, under the care of the slaves; mine was entrusted to my own slave-boy; during the mid-day heat, when the slaves sometimes indulged in sleep, camels belonging to the caravan were occasionally lost, and mine would certainly have shared the same fate, had not the man who intended to steal it communicated his intention to another, who informed me of it. I complained to his master, who reprimanded him severely, and from that day I never permitted my camel to pasture abroad, but kept it in the camp, and fed it with Dhourra. To prevent their best camels from being stolen, the merchants are in the habit of fastening their fore legs with heavy iron chains, which being locked on, and not removable without a key, prevent at least any attempt to drive off the animal suddenly. The day after our arrival the chief of the encampment treated the whole party with a breakfast and supper of Dhourra, in a state of thin paste, sent round to each mess. Two days after, he ordered a couple of cows to be slaughtered, in honour of our arrival; a part of the flesh was intended for my companions the Tekaýrne and myself, but the slaves of the Souakin merchants got hold of it, and it disappeared in an instant. In return for this hospitality we were obliged to make a present to the chief, of a Ferde Dammour, equivalent to about twelve measures of Dhourra, for each slave in the caravan, which amounted in all to nearly twenty times the value of the bread and meat he had given us. No direct duties are paid here, neither do the Taka people pay any at Souakin.

By the 14th the merchants of the caravan had sold all their cotton stuffs and tobacco; and some of them had already set off with a small party on their return to Goz Radjeb. We had learnt that, on the morning of our departure from opposite that place, the Bisharein arrived there in superior force, but that they retired again when they found, by the extinguished fires of the caravan and the cold ashes, that we had got a long start of them. On the eve of our departure from Taka the caravan was joined by several people of the place with loads of Dhourra. Our own merchants had converted all their goods into Dhourra, and had loaded their camels to the utmost they could bear. A large party of Negroe pilgrims also joined, and we formed in all a caravan of about three hundred camels. Our departure was extremely irregular; the principal chief had set out on the 14th, and we thought that we should remain several days longer, when the second chief broke up suddenly, and began to load. One of my companions was thus obliged to abandon an outstanding debt, which made him a loser to the amount of twenty measures of Dhourra; he hesitated long whether or not he should stay behind, in order to recover it, and repair to Souakin with some future caravan; but prudence got the better of avarice, and we marched off early on the morning of the 15th of June. Before our final departure we were beset by all the people of the Douar endeavouring to obtain some small presents from us before we left them; they had plagued us during the whole of our stay, especially the women, who left no arts of coquetry untried, in order to possess themselves of the objects of their wishes. One of the cousins of the chief, who had just been married, was particularly importunate. Knowing that she looked on me with disdain and derision, I could not help admiring her subtilty and address in persuading me by signs, that she had conceived a great affection for me, giving me plainly to understand that for a handful of cloves she would refuse me nothing. Her own people probably knew that the whole was a trick to get from me something of value; it was some satisfaction to me, therefore, that all her arts were ineffectual, and that she did not succeed in obtaining the smallest present from me.

During the whole of my stay in this encampment, as well as at Shendy, I affected the greatest sanctity of manners, imitating, as far as possible, the Fakys, whose character is the more respected in these countries from their enjoying the reputation of great learning, and of exemplary private conduct. This is the character of the whole body, but it is well known how unworthy many individuals are of it, and that all their actions are governed by hypocrisy. Superstitious prejudices, and respect for a religion which appears more awful from the great bulk of the people being ignorant of its tenets; fear, perhaps, of incantations, and the great respect shewn towards each other, still tend to keep up the popular belief that a Hadji must be a being superior in virtue and sanctity; and if he ever proves the contrary, no one is bold enough to accuse him, as the whole body would then become the enemy of the accuser. It is much the same with the Olemas in Turkey and Arabia; their real character is well known; but they continue to enjoy great credit, because no one likes to be the first to raise his hand against them; and they are protected by the government, which finds them useful in enslaving the multitude, and in directing public opinion.