Chapter XXIII: Part 23

_July 7th._—We remained in port the whole of the morning, waiting for a supply of water. The Tekaýrne and their slaves pay one dollar a head for their passage; each of them has his water-skin suspended over the side of the vessel. Provisions of water for the master and crew, and for the Souakin merchants, for three days, are kept in a few large jars standing on the prow. The sailors and Souakin people dealt heavy blows among the blacks, who were fighting with each other for room in the vessel. We sailed in the evening, and anchored after midnight, at the mouth of the bay of Souakin, where a small ruined bastion or watch tower stands. Here the pilot who had brought us out of the channel left us, to return by land to El Geyf.

_July 8th._ We sailed after sun-rise, with a good wind; the course was northward along the coast, at the distance of four or five miles, amongst rocks and coral-reefs. At three o’clock P. M. we entered a very narrow creek, of dangerous access, called Dagoratag; the breadth, at the entrance, was hardly sufficient to allow a ship of any size to veer round, but the depth of water was considerable, except close in-shore. The beach is sandy and gravelly, with some trees and shrubs growing upon it. The Bedouin inhabitants, who are of the tribe of Amarer, soon ran down to demand their harbour dues, which consist of about one dollar’s worth of Dhourra, and must be paid by all ships touching at this harbour. They sold us at the same time, some milk. All these anchorages are called by the Arabs, Merasy (مراسي).

_July 9th._ We sailed after sunrise; it is the practice in all parts of the Red Sea to sail at this hour, and to anchor in a port in the afternoon; the mariners never depart from this custom till they are obliged to stand over to the opposite coast. The ignorance of the Arabians in navigation obliges them to proceed with great caution in this dangerous sea. Conscious of their want of skill, and of the insufficiency of their vessels, they avoid encountering an open sea or an adverse wind. The smaller ships have neither logs nor compasses on board, or if they have, never make much use of them. Our captain’s plan was to proceed along shore as far as Djebel Mekouar. This is the common route of the Souakin vessels during the prevalence of the northerly breezes, as the wind from thence is usually fair for stretching across to Djidda. Ships bound from Souakin to Mokha generally proceed southward along the African coast, anchoring in some port every evening, till they reach Massouah, from whence they cross over to the Arabian shore. In the northern part of the Red Sea, the vessels bound from Kosseir to Djidda cross over to the nearest point of the opposite coast, and then proceed along shore to Djidda. On the contrary, those from Djidda to Kosseir follow the coast as high as the latitude of Moyla, or Ras Mohammed, and cross from thence, by the help of the northerly winds. These coasting voyages are still more necessary to the Souakin slave vessels, because they are generally so full of passengers and slaves as to be obliged to take in a daily supply of water.

We had a fair westerly wind this morning. The Blacks were all sick, no person had room sufficient to stretch out his limbs, and we were confined the whole day in the same position, exposed to the heat of the sun; the sailors were obliged to walk over the passengers to do their work, and the whole vessel was a scene of confusion and quarrelling. In the course of the morning we passed the tomb of a Shikh named Berghout (شيخ برغوت), with a cupola over it, built upon the beach by Souakin sailors, who revere him as the protector of mariners. We saw a great number of dolphins, of the same size and shape as those seen on the coast of Egypt, near the mouths of the Nile; the sailors would not allow me to throw a lance at them; to wound one of them they think will be attended with disaster to the voyage. Soon after mid-day we anchored in the bay of Gayayá; we had sailed almost the whole morning among rocks just appearing above water. In sailing into the bay we ran ashore, an accident which often happens; the sailors are in the habit of entering these creeks in full sail; when at a certain distance from the beach, they suddenly furl the sail, and let the vessel run up to the anchorage; but they often mistake the distance, and as they have no anchor in these small vessels, she is aground before she can veer round. The moment the sail is lowered three or four men jump overboard, with ropes fastened to grappling-irons, which they make fast to some coral rock or tree on shore. The passengers go on shore every evening, and often pass the night there. As we had no boat, and the vessel could not always be brought close in shore, we were sometimes obliged to wade or swim to the beach.[77] The Negroes encamped every afternoon in the same manner as they had done when crossing the desert. This evening I observed the whole beach to be covered with shells, and in the water among the coral rocks were numberless fishes of various shapes and colours. I was shewn the shell of the Sorombak, the fish of which is eaten by the Arabs all along the coasts of the Red Sea, and particularly in this part. Among the calcined shells, I saw those of the lobster. A party of Amarer Bedouins came to the beach to sell water, sheep (three fat sheep for a dollar’s worth of Dhourra), shell-fish, boiled fish, and some hares,[78] and to receive the usual presents from the master of the vessel. These people were entirely ignorant of the Arabic language, and although we were in much greater numbers than themselves, they appeared to think very lightly of us, and behaved with little ceremony or civility. The bay of Gayayá is one of the best anchorages on this coast; even large ships might find shelter here in stress of weather.

_July 10th._ A good wind carried us before mid-day to the bay of Deroura, where we anchored, knowing that there is a copious well in the neighbourhood. We passed yesterday, as well as to-day, several other bays frequented by country ships. Every pilot (رُبّان Robban) knows their situation, but long practice is wanted not to mistake the entrance, which is always through a labyrinth of shoals. The Tekaýrne went and filled their water-skins at the well, and after their return the captain obliged them to go a second time, to bring a sufficient quantity for the ship’s company. These poor people were, on all occasions, extremely ill-treated, although not one of them owed his passage to the captain’s charity; the Souakin people and sailors cursed and beat them repeatedly in the course of the day, and obliged them to do the ship’s work, while they themselves sat at their ease smoaking their pipes: the water and provisions of the poor pilgrims were constantly pilfered by the crew, and they were crowded into as narrow a space as three persons would be in the seat of a carriage intended to carry but two. The ship’s company and the merchants had every morning and evening fresh Dhourra bread, baked in a small oven on the prow, while the Negroes, who were never allowed to make use of the oven, fasted the whole day, till they could cook their supper on shore. If any of them attempted to take out a leaf of his papers, or to read or write his prayers, some Souakiny was sure to throw water over him, and spoil his book. At Souakin the Tekaýrne, before they embark, are exposed to another inconvenience: instances having been known of black traders dressing their slaves like pilgrims in order to elude the duties levied upon them, the Aga has made it a pretext for exacting duties upon free-born pilgrims, by insisting that they are slaves in disguise, and thus taking two dollars from each, though they may be able to prove the contrary. For three or four months previous to the time of the Hadj Souakin is always full of Tekaýrne, and they would be much more numerous were it not for the ill treatment they meet with from the people of Souakin, and the dangers of the passage across the Red Sea; the dread of which, more than of the journey to the coast, discourages great numbers from coming.

_July 11th._ The wind was adverse, and we found ourselves greatly entangled among rocks. We passed a ruined castle, or large tower, situated two miles in-land. The Souakin people told me that it had been built by an ancient Pasha of Souakin, near a well, and that it was a halting-place on the road, once frequented, between Kosseir and Souakin. The former existence of such a route through the mountains of Nubia had already been mentioned to me by the people of Upper Egypt, and the Pasha of Souakin, it was said, always travelled by this route from Egypt to his government. The Souakin people farther informed me, that at every halting place a similar tower was found; but this they knew only by report, none of them having ever travelled the road.

In the mountains to the eastward of Daraou in Upper Egypt, three journeys from that village towards the Red Sea, is a plain with wells of sweet water, which is called Shikh Shadely (شيخ شادلي) from the tomb of a holy man, who is said to have died there, on the road from Kosseir to Souakin; which passes by the wells. The tomb is held in great veneration by the Egyptians; one of the Mamelouk Begs built a cupola over it, and people frequently make vows to visit the Shikh’s tomb, and there sacrifice a sheep in his honour. The surrounding valleys are full of trees; and according to the statements of my informants there are some remains of buildings, and caverns cut in the rocks. The mountain has long had the reputation of containing emeralds, and most of the Arabian geographers confirm the opinion by their writings. Mohammed Aly Pasha having been informed of the tradition, sent in 1812 a party of soldiers to Shikh Shadely, accompanied by a Greek jeweller of Cairo, who was supposed to understand something of precious stones. They carried several hundred peasants with them, and after digging in the rocky ground, and in the plain near the tomb, in a place were a Mamelouk Beg had been reported to have found a stone of inestimable value, they happened, by a singular accident, to dig up a piece of green opaque glass, about eight cubic inches in size, with something of an emerald hue; this was immediately declared to be the true stone, and carried as such in triumph to Cairo. When the jeweller passed through Esne, I had just arrived there, and saw the supposed treasure at the governor’s house; but I took care not to damp the joy of the officer of the detachment, who no doubt considered that his fortune was made. I heard afterwards that the news of the lucky discovery reached Cairo before the arrival of the treasure; that the discoverers received a handsome present from the Pasha; and that it was not till long afterwards that some connoisseur had the courage to assure his highness that the supposed emerald was nothing but a piece of glass. It had been dug out of a thick bed of gypsum, between ancient walls; and I have little doubt that a glass manufactory was anciently established on the spot. The surrounding mountains are very well wooded, and the Ababde Arabs burn there a large quantity of charcoal from the acacia trees, which they carry to the Nile, from whence it is shipped by the merchants to Cairo. The herbs Shieh (شيح), and Rothe (روثه), from which the best Kelhy or soda is made are common in the same mountain, and sand is found in plenty in the valleys; this, therefore, was a most convenient spot to establish a manufactory of glass. No doubt can be entertained that the ancient Egyptians made use of glass vessels; fragments of which, of the most varied shapes and colours, are found in the ruins of all their towns. It is even evident that they must have attained to considerable skill in this art, and that they had attempted to imitate precious stones in glass; for during my stay at Esne, several small pieces of glass were dug up amongst the ruins of Edfou (Apollinopolis Magna), which were perfect imitations of the amethyst and topaz.

Before mid-day we entered the bay of Fedja (فجع)[79]; its entrance is easy, and the anchorage spacious. The ship’s yard was injured this morning through the unskilfulness of the sailors in tacking; nothing, indeed, can be more awkward than the manner in which these country ships are navigated; none of the crew has any particular duty assigned to him, and every manœuvre creates general confusion. The captain has no real command over his men, who generally do only what they like, without attending either to his or the pilot’s orders; but as they are great cowards, the consequences of their ignorance prove less frequently fatal to the vessel than might be supposed. Whenever a fresh breeze springs up, the Arabian sailor instantly furls his sails, and runs his vessel ashore, where he remains till it abates; if the ship reaches the neighbourhood of a bay before noon, and doubts are entertained from the state of the wind, of the possibility of reaching the next bay before sun-set, the first is at once entered, and the whole afternoon is passed in idleness; for after the ship is made fast, there they remain, however favourable the wind may prove.

El Fedja is a noted anchorage on this coast. We soon opened a market with some Bedouins, who brought us excellent water. The mountains continue all along the coast at about four or five miles distant from the shore, which rises gradually to their base. The beach is sandy, with layers of chalk, formed by calcined conchylias; great numbers of shells are everywhere found, and it appeared to me that each species was generally confined to a particular spot on the coast. There were however various sorts in the bay of El Fedja. I particularly noticed the Sorombak, and the small white shell called at Cairo Woda (وَدَع), with which the Gipsey women tell fortunes, by tossing them up, as they pronounce the person’s name, and by observing the position in which they fall on the ground.

_July 12th._ We had a good wind, but want of water obliged us to run into the bay of Arakyá long before noon. It was our practice not to sail in the morning till the sun was sufficiently high to render shallow water and reefs visible at a good distance, for in most of these intricate channels the pilot’s eye is his only guide. Late this evening, the Arabs brought a large supply of water upon camels and asses, which they had drawn from a reservoir of rain-water three or four hours distant in the mountains. The bay is composed entirely of calcined shells, and affords a safe anchorage for large ships. I fought here a hard battle with some of the Souakin merchants, who continued to ill treat, by every means in their power, the poor Negroes, and would listen to none of my representations in their behalf. They had conceived a contemptible opinion of myself, notwithstanding the respect they saw paid to me at Souakin, because I had not got a new dress, and because they thought that I had made myself too familiar with the Black wretches, as they termed them. I was seconded in my endeavours for the benefit of the Tekaýrne by a Greek Christian, who had come with us from Souakin, and who afforded me much entertainment during the voyage. His name was Stafa, a native of Negropont, and he was a sailor by profession. He had visited England some years ago on board a brig of war sent there by Mohammed Aly Pasha, to solicit permission to sail to the Red Sea by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. Having remained in England a whole year, he had learned a little English; after his return the Pasha had given him the command of a Dow in the Red Sea. He had been to Souakin to recover a debt of some hundred dollars, from a Souakiny, and was now returning to Djidda. Like all the other persons on board, he took me for a Syrian, and conversed with me in broken Arabic. I was exceedingly amused with the account of his travels in Europe, and the palpable falsehoods and absurdities which he uttered respecting what he had seen in England, and the manners of the inhabitants. Comparatively speaking, I had no reason to complain of my treatment on board the vessel; the Reis, an inhabitant of Djidda, was the more willing to accommodate me, as I had given him a dollar as a present, notwithstanding my being a free passenger: the merchants paid two dollars each.

_July 13th._—We had a tolerable wind, and by the help of the oars, which we often had recourse to, we reached at two o’clock A. M. the bay of Tahde. As there was a settlement of Amarer close to the beach, and as these Bedouins are not in much reputation for good faith, we remained at a considerable distance from the shore. Some of the sailors swam to the beach to settle with the chief the amount of duty to be paid; and the Greek captain and I were obliged to pay each half a measure of Dhourra above the stipulated sum, under the pretence that we were in the service of the Pasha, and not Arabs, like the others. We then landed upon a small raft towed alongside the vessel from the shore, and were well treated, or at least were unmolested by the Bedouins who assembled around us. They are of the tribe of Coubad, a principal branch of the Amarer, and they live here in tents made of black goats hair, like those of the Arabian Arabs. There were about thirty or forty tents. That of the Shikh was pitched close by the side of the tomb of his grandfather, a man who had been much respected among his tribe, and to whom a sepulchre of stone had been erected. In the evening immense herds of camels, sheep, and goats, came running down to the beach to drink at about half a dozen springs among some trees close to the sea. The water of all these springs, except one, is brackish. The sheep have short bad wool; but the hair of the goats is long. In the mountains are reservoirs of rain water; but the Bedouins seem to be accustomed to the water of the springs, and do not take the trouble of bringing sweet water from such a distance. Not far from the wells the beach becomes very rocky, is covered with loose stones of great size, and rises rapidly towards the mountains; as far as I could observe, these rocks are entirely of gray granite. The whole of the morning was spent in bargaining for milk; after the camels had drank water, their owners milked them; and the milk was placed before the camels in large vessels made of reeds, closely interwoven, exactly like those made by the Barábera above Assouan. We had all brought with us a quantity of Dhourra and tobacco, which are the best medium of traffic on this coast. We put down near each vessel as much of the one or the other, as we thought fit to give; but until we made up the exact quantity which the Bedouin was determined to have, he continued to order us very coolly to “go away” (Kak); they would not admit of any sort of bargaining, but repeated the word Kak.[80] Several of the Souakin merchants and sailors found here some female friends of old acquaintance, and although the captain had given orders that every body should return on board after sun-set, they remained on shore, and we heard their boisterous songs the whole night. The women here went unveiled, and behaved with great freedom. The dress of the men is the usual Dammour shirt; they carry lances, and targets, and a few have swords; their principal enjoyment seems to be, as in other parts of Nubia, to get drunk with Bouza. The great numbers of their cattle expose them sometimes to the inroads of foreign enemies. The people of Yembo occasionally come here in small ships, well armed with firelocks, and plunder the whole neighbourhood of the cattle, alleging as an excuse, that the Amarer formerly killed several of their countrymen, who had been shipwrecked on this coast.

_July 14th._—As we stood out of the bay a ship from Djidda was entering: vessels bound from that port to Souakin usually cross over here, and then coast along southward to their destination. Unless the wind is particularly favourable, they rarely cross the sea direct to Souakin. Had the wind been favourable for us, we should have stood across from this bay; but it was southerly, and we therefore steered for a small island, a few miles to the north of Tebade, where we entered a fine bay, with the intention of waiting there for a northerly wind. This island bears the name of Djebel Mekouar; Djebel, because it consists almost entirely of a single low rocky mountain; and Mekouar, from كورّ, يكورّ, which in the dialect of the Yemen sailors means to cross over, or to start in order to cross over.[81] The passage across the sea is usually begun at this island, as well from its being in a more northern latitude than Djidda, and thus affording the full advantage of the northerly winds, as from the passage across being quite free from hidden shoals or reefs, which otherwise might render the navigation dangerous during the night. It requires generally two days and one night to perform the passage.

We dispersed among the low trees and shrubs with which the shores of the island are thickly lined, and some of which even grow in the water; in foliage the trees resemble the aloe; the wood is very brittle. The island, as far as I could judge, is about eight miles in circumference; on its north-east side, and close to it, is a much smaller one. I wished to visit the interior of the island; but we were kept ready to sail at a moment’s notice, in case the wind should come round to the northward. The island is of secondary formation, with chalk, and entirely barren, except the beach, where the trees grow. On its western side is another anchorage, but less spacious than that on the south side, in which our vessel moored. It is inhabited by about twenty Bisharye families, who are complete ichthyophagi: they have very few sheep and goats, the mountain scarcely affording any pasture. On the north side of the island are some wells, but the water is so brackish that even the inhabitants cannot drink it. During the winter they find rain water among the rocks; in the summer they cross over weekly upon the rafts used by them in fishing, to the continent, which is only one or two miles distant, and where they obtain a supply from some wells to the north of Tebade. They appear to live almost entirely upon fish, shell-fish, and eggs; they obtain a little milk from their sheep, which are not more than thirty in number. They fish with nets and hooks, which they buy from the Souakin ships. Of the thick skin of some large fish, unknown to me, they make targets of a round and square form, about a foot and a half in diameter, and sufficiently strong to resist a spear-thrust. In the mountains they collect at this season vast numbers of the eggs of a species of sea-gull, which is very common here. About a dozen men and women came to the bay, with some sheep and a little milk and eggs for sale. The boiled yolks of the eggs were piled up on their targets, and carried on their heads, and I was told that they preserve them in this state for many weeks. Both the men and women had a very emaciated appearance; none of them spoke Arabic. I wished to barter for some milk, but the women had conceived such horror on seeing me, that they absolutely refused to have any dealings whatever with me. They all seemed extremely desirous of Dhourra, which they have no other means of obtaining than from ships touching here; but their sheep were still more valuable to them, for they would not part with any of them, though we offered a good price.

From the adjacent point of the main land begin the territories of the Bedouins Bisharein, which extend northwards eight days journey to the limits of the dominions of the Bedouins Ababde. The inhabitants of Mekouar are exposed to the attacks of the Amarer from Tebade, when the two tribes are at war; they then usually retire to the main land; their principal object in coming here seems to be to barter with the ships which touch at the island in their passage to or from Djidda and Souakin. I was told that they consider the island as their own property, and that no other Bisharein are permitted to settle on it. It has been supposed to be the _Emerald Island_; but the Arabian sailors give that name to some islands further northward, between this and Kosseir.

I was informed here, that one day’s sail farther north, or from twenty to twenty-five miles, which is the usual rate of these vessels, there is a large bay extending considerably inland, called Mersa Dóngola (مرسي دنقله), or the harbour of Dóngola, with an island at its entrance: it is well known for its rich pearl fishery. The captain of our boat, Seid Mustafa ed-Djedáwy (سيد مصطفي الجداوي), had once been there, and brought home a considerable quantity of pearls of middling quality, which the Sherif Ghalib afterwards took from him at Djidda. He told me that the bottom of the sea in the bay was full of pearl-oysters, and that they may easily be fished, as the water is not very deep. It is not however frequented at present for pearl-fishing, partly because the treacherous character of the Bisharein, who inhabit the harbour, is much dreaded; but chiefly because the ship-owners are fearful of its being said that they have found treasures of pearls, which would immediately attract the attention of the government of Djidda. I was repeatedly assured that the coast northwards from Djebel Mekouar towards Kosseir is entirely unknown to the Souakin and Kosseir pilots; and that of the Djidda pilots very few only, of the tribe of the Zebeyde Arabs, have even a slight knowledge of it. No commerce, nor direct intercourse is carried on between Kosseir and Souakin; and the navigation of this part of the coast, as well as northward from Kosseir to Suez, is scarcely ever performed by natives of the Red Sea. The Zebeyde Arabs alone sometimes touch at the harbour of Olba, which is four days sail beyond the harbour of Dóngola, and five from Djebel Mekouar. Pearls are said to be found all along this coast, as far south as Massouah, but no where in such plenty as at Mersa Dóngola.

We had to repair a leak in the vessel, occasioned by her striking on a coral reef the preceding day; proper arrangements were also made in the distribution of the cargo and passengers, in order to leave room sufficient for the sailors to work the vessel in the passage across the sea, which the Arabians never undertake without evident signs of fear, and without recommending themselves to the protection of the Prophet and all the saints.

_July 15th._—A favourable wind sprung up this morning, and we steered for the open sea. A compass was brought from amongst the ship’s lumber, but merely for form’s sake, for the captain and pilot quarrelled which was the due north. Towards evening the wind increased, when the sailors exchanged the large sail for a smaller. When night set in, the brilliant light on the surface of the water, wherever it was agitated, greatly astonished the Negroes, who endeavoured in vain to obtain an explanation of the phænomenon from the sailors. We passed a cold uncomfortable night, no one having room enough to sleep in. The bold travellers of the desert betrayed great fear in the open sea, to the great amusement of the people from Souakin.

_July 16th._ Early in the morning we descried the coast of Arabia; the ignorance of the pilot now became evident, for instead of finding ourselves off Djidda, as we might have been, had he steered by compass, we were at least fifty miles to the south of it. We entered a small bay in full sail, and had nearly foundered by a whirlwind that sprung up at the moment. We found the beach to be entirely barren, and without wells or springs to a considerable distance; no Bedouins were any where visible. We were now in great distress for water; the last supply we had taken in at Arakyá was nearly consumed; and the water-skins of the Tekaýrne were all empty; the wind was foul, and we had no reasonable hope of reaching Djidda in less than two days. In the evening the greater part of the Tekaýrne left the ship, to proceed by land to Djidda; the sailors represented this place to them as being much nearer than it really was, and pointed to a mountain, about twelve miles distant from our anchorage, where they said a well would be found; but where, as I afterwards understood, no such well existed, their design being merely to get rid of the pilgrims in the fear that necessity might at last force them to fall upon the crew’s stock of water.[82] The Souakin ships seldom arrive at Djidda with pilgrims, without their having suffered from a want of water; the number of pilgrims on board being always so great, that it is impossible for them to carry a supply for more than three days, without a sacrifice of other conveniences, which they are never willing to make; and Djebel Mekouar, from whence the ship takes her departure for the opposite coast, furnishes no water at all. I afterwards saw Negroes at Djidda who had not drank water during this passage for four whole days. We were obliged to remain at anchor here till the following day. There are fewer shells on this coast than on the other.

_July 17th._ About noon we sailed with a southerly breeze, and at sunset the vessel was moored to a coral reef at some distance from the shore. There was an almost total eclipse of the sun this morning; the sailors and the Tekaýrne who remained on board were all equally terrified at the unusual darkness which surrounded them. According to the Mohammedan law, every Mussulman repeated two Rekats (صلاةْ الكسفه Salat el-kassfé, i. e. Prayers of the eclipse), which done, kettles, swords, shields, and spoons were beaten against each other while the eclipse continued.

_July 18th._ It was a calm this morning, and the sailors were employed at the oars; but they became so fatigued with rowing, that we entered about mid-day a harbour opposite to the tomb of a Shikh, with a cupola upon it; it was called Shikh Amer (شيخ عمرْ) There was now not a drop of water in the vessel; a well was said to be in the mountain behind the shore, but no one on board knew exactly in what part; and though we were so near Djidda as to hear the report of some guns in the evening, yet there was a probability of our still remaining on board several days, and thus suffering all the pangs of thirst. I desired therefore to be set on shore upon a raft which the captain had purchased at Tebade. The Greek passenger, and two Souakin men, with their slaves also followed. We walked the whole night along the barren beach, which was covered with a saline crust, till we fell in with the high road leading along shore towards Yemen; about an hour from Djidda we reached a Bedouin encampment, where we refreshed ourselves, and safely entered the town in good health. In the course of the morning of the 19th, we smuggled the slaves who had walked with us, into Djidda; those landed from the ships pay a duty of a dollar a head. The vessel arrived the day following, the 20th July, 1814.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: The traders are in the habit of giving to their camels several days before they start, each day three times the usual quantity of Dhourra; which they force down their throats. The camels chew this supply of food for several days after, during the march.]

[Footnote 2: The Nubians fight naked in the same manner.]

[Footnote 3: The Ababde pay some deference to the Fellah merchants, and are unwilling to disoblige them, because they expect presents from them. But the Ababde enjoy much higher credit every where than the Fellahs, and in all essential points the latter must yield to the former.]

[Footnote 4: Until lately eunuchs belonging to Mekka and Medina often went upon mendicant expeditions into Soudan. In 1811, an eunuch went there, and was so much respected, for his connection with the holy places, that he formed a strong party, and at length possessed himself of a district, which he now governs as Melek, or King.]

[Footnote 5: Sélames are common all over Nubia, as well as in Taka and Suakin. A man when he has no lance in his hand is seldom without a Sélame.]

[Footnote 6: Their pay is five dollars from each man, and as much from every load. On the return they take from each slave two dollars, and from every load coming from the black countries five dollars.]

[Footnote 7: See below.]

[Footnote 8: This kind of wound is very dangerous, and is called Dabr (ضَبر). It takes place on the fore shoulders and the fore ribs of the camels, and is occasioned by bad saddles. Wounds in other parts of the body are soon healed, when the camels have enjoyed some days of repose.]

[Footnote 9: Temsah is the family name, meaning crocodile.]

[Footnote 10: Goz is a term applied in the Negro countries to villages built in sandy plains.]

[Footnote 11: See the former Journal.]

[Footnote 12: Fakir means a poor man (before the Lord.)]

[Footnote 13: At Tekake, in Mograt, there lives a tribe of Fokaha (plu. of Fakih,) who are Sherifs (nobles), and pretend to descend from the Abbassides (شُرفاَ من بن عبّاس.) Shorafa mimbaní Abbass.]

[Footnote 14: At Wady Heysad, (وادي حيصاد) a village on the Nile, in Mograt, two and a half days journey from Berber, there lives a celebrated Fakih, who has a great number of disciples.]

[Footnote 15: I have seen several Fokaha at Berber and Damer who knew the whole of the Koran by heart.]

[Footnote 16: In all these countries the Bahmieh is called Weyke, (ويكه).]

[Footnote 17: The expression used here, and also in Egypt, when any traveller is seen taking notes, is, “he writes down the country.” (يكتب البلاد).]

[Footnote 18: There is no distinction made in these countries between villages and towns. Every inhabited place of any size is called Beled, and a small hamlet Nezle. The word Medineh (city or town) is never applied to any place in this part of Soudan.]

[Footnote 19: يُسَبّحِ باِلحصوةِ صَمَدَهِ. Musulmans, in praying over their beads say; “Praise be to God;” as they pass each bead through their fingers.]

[Footnote 20: The Μεγαβάροι, perhaps, of Strabo.]

[Footnote 21: The vizier of Sennaar, of the Adelan family, is said to be the real master there, while the king has a mere shadow of authority.]

[Footnote 22: In Egypt, the meal of the Tormos is used as a substitute for soap in washing the head and body.]

[Footnote 23: The trade in ostrich feathers is one of the most complicated in the markets of Africa: at Cairo the feathers are assorted into several different qualities, and parcels are made up by the Jews (who alone understand the trade well), containing portions of every kind. Each parcel of ten pounds weight must contain one pound of the finest and whitest sort, one pound of the second quality, also white, but of a smaller size, and eight pounds of the sorts called Jemina, Bajoca, Coda, and Spadone, the last of which is black, and of little value. The market price of white sorted feathers is at present (1816) two hundred and eighty piastres per rotolo, or pound, or two thousand eight hundred piastres, each parcel of ten pounds.]

[Footnote 24: The _Editor_ saw it growing in the island of Elephantine.]

[Footnote 25: The same name is given to cinnamon, which is here called Kerfé Hindy.]

[Footnote 26: Berr, originally meaning “continent,” is a word often used to indicate the whole extent of the Soudan countries.]

[Footnote 27: The Arabs say سَنط and سُنط.]

[Footnote 28: The Sembil is the _Valeriana Celtica_, or Spiga Celtica of the Italians. It is chiefly grown in the southern provinces of the Austrian dominions, and is exported from Venice and Trieste. The Mehleb is brought from Armenia and Persia, and is exported from Smyrna and other ports of Asia Minor. It appears to be the fruit of a species of _Tilia_.]

[Footnote 29: The most fashionable among the women of the town at Shendy have fixed the price of their favours at a loaf of sugar.]

[Footnote 30: The expenses of the outward journey are three times as much as those attending the transport back from Berber to Daraou, on account of the cheapness of camels at Berber.]

[Footnote 31: Upon every slave imported into Upper Egypt, Government exacts at present a duty of sixty piastres. The most important articles of the trade, as slaves, Erdeyb, ostrich feathers, natron (from Darfour), are besides exclusively bought up by the Pasha, who fixes a maximum to the Soudan merchants, and resells them at pleasure, with a great profit.]

[Footnote 32: The Pasha of Djidda takes the title of Governor of Djidda, Souakin, and the Habbesh, or Abyssinia (والي جده و سواكن و الحبش), although he possesses nothing in the latter country, except the customs of Massouah, and the nominal jurisdiction of that place. Since the Wahabi have reduced the Hedjaz, and, in conjunction with Ghaleb, Sherif of Mekka, have dispossessed the Turks of Djidda, Ghaleb has taken Massouah into his own hands.]

[Footnote 33: The eastern fashion is to give, as a present, a suit of clothes (Kessoua كسّوه), and a sum for pocket-money (Massrouf, مصروف).]

[Footnote 34: Such is the pronunciation given to this word by the Arabs, and not Amhara, as Bruce writes it. The Abyssinians are not called Habbeshy, but Nekkaty, by which appellation the whole country is more frequently known than by that of Habbesh.]

[Footnote 35: It is well known how little discrimination the Arabs shew in judging of quantities; the terms long or short, great or small, high or low, deep or shallow, &c. &c. are seldom accurately applied by them, and in their descriptions they generally magnify or diminish the object beyond what it naturally is.]

[Footnote 36: Formerly the Sennaar caravans brought as much as 2000 cwt. of gum arabic, annually, to Egypt; at present they do not bring more than 100 cwt. The gum arabic which is collected from the acacias, in the deserts of the Hedjaz, is known at Cairo under the name of Samegh Embawy or rather Yembawy, from Yembo, (صَمغ يمباعوي). The gum arabic collected in the deserts of Suez, Tyh, and in Mount Sinai, is called _Gomma Torica_ (Samegh Tori, صَمغ طوري), from the Arabs of Tor; this is exported to no part of Europe but France. The Kordofan gum is of the best quality, small grained, and of the clearest white. The Sennaar gum is less esteemed.]

[Footnote 37: Since the Mamelouks have established themselves in Dóngola, they are under the necessity of procuring their Egyptian articles by the way of Shendy. The shortest road, which is across the mountains from Korti, in the southern limits of Dóngola, is five days journey, but it is not quite safe.]

[Footnote 38: Wherever I use the word Turks, I mean the Osmanli, or Mohammedans of Europe and Asia Minor.]

[Footnote 39: I met with a Djeheyne Arab at Cairo, who told me that the tribe consisted of both Bedouins and cultivators.]

[Footnote 40: In the country of Sennaar the slave is not called Abd but Raghig.]

[Footnote 41: During the wars of the Sherif of Mekka with Saoud, the chief of the Wahabi, the Arab tribe of Kahtan was particularly obnoxious to the Sherif, as being zealous proselytes of the Wahabi faith. He once took forty of them prisoners, and telling them that he had already killed individuals enough of their tribe, he ordered the whole to be mutilated and sent to their homes. As they were all grown up men, two only survived the operation; these rejoined their families, and became afterwards most desperate enemies of the Sherif Ghaleb; one of them killed the cousin of Ghaleb with his own hand, in battle; the other was killed in endeavouring, on another occasion, to pierce through the ranks of Ghaleb’s cavalry, in order to revenge himself personally upon the Sherif. The Sherif was much blamed for his cruelty, such an action being very contrary to the generally compassionate dispositions of the Arabs; I mention it to shew that the ancient practice of treating prisoners in this manner, as represented in the paintings on several of the temples of Upper Egypt, particularly at Medinet Habou, is not quite forgotten: but the above is the only instance of the kind I ever heard of.]

[Footnote 42: Mihi contigit nigram quandam puellam, qui hanc operationem subierat, inspicere. Labia pudendi acu et filo consuta mihi plane detecta fuere, foramine angusto in meatum urinæ relicto. Apud Esne, Siout, et Cairo, tonsores sunt, qui obstructionem novaculâ amovent, sed vulnus haud raro lethale evenit.]

[Footnote 43: W. G. Browne’s Travels to Africa, &c. p. 347. The same custom, as well as that mentioned in the next page, has also been described by M. Frank in the Mémoires sur l’Egypte, tome 4, p. 125.]

[Footnote 44: Excisio clitoridis. The custom is very ancient. Strabo (p. 284) says—και τοῦτο δὲ τῶν ζηλουμένων μάλιστα παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς (τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις) τὸ πάντα τρέφειν τὰ γεννωμένα παιδία, καὶ τὸ περιτέμνειν, καὶ τὰ θήλεα ἐκτέμνειν. ὅπερ καὶ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις νόμιμον καὶ οὗτοι δὲ εἰσὶν Αἰγύπτιοι.

Its effect in rendering them _Mukhaeyt_ has not been noticed by the ancients. Cicatrix, post excisionem clitoridis, parietes ipsos vaginæ, foramine parvo relicto, inter se glutinat. Cum tempus nuptiarum adveniat, membranam, a quâ vagina clauditur, coram pluribus pronubis inciditur, sponso ipso adjuvante. Interdum evenit ut operationem efficere nequeant sine ope mulieris aliquæ expertæ, quæ scalpello partes in vaginâ profundius rescindit. Maritus crastinâ die cum uxore plerumque habitat: unde illa Araborum sentenzia, “Leilat ed-dokhlé messel leilat el fatouh” (ليلة الدُخله مشل ليلة الفتوح) i. e. post diem aperturæ, dies initus. Ex hoc consuetudine fit ut sponsus nunquam decipiatur, et ex hoc fit ut in Ægypto Superiori innuptæ repulsare lascivias hominum parum student, dicentes, “Tabousny wala’ takhergany” (تبوسني ولا تخرقني). Sed quantum eis sit invita hæc continentia, post matrimonium demonstrant, libidini quam maxime indulgentes.]

[Footnote 45: Rif is the name given to Egypt throughout those countries; it means properly a low ground abounding in water.]

[Footnote 46: A curious proof of this happened while I was in Upper Egypt; a great man who had bought two girls at Siout from the Darfour caravan, soon afterwards made a party with some friends to spend an afternoon in the cool caves in the mountain behind Siout, and ordered the two girls to attend him. When they entered the caves they immediately conceived it to be the place destined for their immolation; and when the knives were produced to cut the meat that had been brought for dinner, one of them ran off, and endeavoured to escape, while the other threw herself on the ground, imploring the company to spare her. It required a considerable time to convince them that their fears were ill-founded.]

[Footnote 47: On the death of a Djaaly chief at Shendy, I saw the female relations of the deceased walking through all the principal streets and places, uttering the most lamentable howlings. Their bodies were half naked, and the little clothing they had on was in rags; while the head, face, and breast, being almost entirely covered with ashes, they had altogether a most ghastly appearance. They were accompanied by their female friends, in great numbers, echoing their howlings, and continually clasping their hands. Several cows were killed in the evening, and small dishes of the flesh sent to all the foreign merchants.]

[Footnote 48: A Greek priest, with whom I visited part of the Hauran, south of Damascus, made me pay two paras for every answer he gave me on curious subjects, and one para for the name of every village, or Arab tribe which I noted down, from his information; for every Greek inscription he found for me to copy, he received five paras.]

[Footnote 49: As far as I am able to judge, the road to Sennaar is practicable to a Christian or Frank traveller, or to an experienced person of any nation; but the routes from the Nile towards the Red Sea are impracticable to any one who cannot appear as a native trader.]

[Footnote 50: Adjem (عجم). This word is applied by the Arabians to Persia on the one side, and on the other to the countries of the African coast opposite to Arabia, where many different languages are spoken. These countries are still known to the inhabitants of Yemen and the Hedjaz, by the name of Berr el Adjem (برّ العجم), under which appellation is comprised the whole of the coast from Souakin to Barbara, not excepting Abyssinia. It is the _Regnum Adjamiæ_ of the European geographers.]

[Footnote 51: See p. 160.]

[Footnote 52: The Kaszyde is one of the most ancient kinds of Arabic versification; the compositions in it are never long, rarely exceeding one hundred distichs, and they ought not to contain less than twenty, though some of seven are met with. The long or true Kaszyde is confined to heroic or serious subjects; the shorter are generally of a playful or amatory description. The versification is peculiar, the two first lines of the poem, and each alternate one, throughout, ending with the same sound. See Jones’s Comment. Poet. Asiat. c. iii. p. 78.]

[Footnote 53: The slaves of the Mek are the only persons who sometimes wear their master’s fire-arms.]

[Footnote 54: I afterwards learnt that a Shikh can never be the chief of a caravan; because, according to the ancient custom still prevalent in the eastern deserts of Arabia, the Shikh of the tribe is never the commander (قايد Kayed) of the armed parties, which the tribe sends out against an enemy. He may join the expedition, but the command of it is in the Kayed or leader, a dignity which is always hereditary in the same family. The Arabs say, (الشيخ ما يقيد القوم) Es Shikh ma yakyd el koum. “The Shikh has no right to be a leader.” I shall recur to this subject in a future journal.]

[Footnote 55: Several of the Souakin merchants had concubines with them, whom they always carry with them on their travels.]

[Footnote 56: In all the Mussulman countries the female cousins can be demanded in marriage by the males of the family.]

[Footnote 57: I omitted to mention in a preceding part of this journal, that in all the countries on the Nile which I visited, as well as in the Nubian desert, I observed the people make use of small wooden supports, about five inches in height, with a top about the same length, and three or four inches broad, much resembling, on the whole, the head of a crutch; they are formed out of single pieces of very hard wood, and the best are brought from Sennaar; they are placed under the head when persons go to sleep, or serve during the day-time to rest one arm upon while in a reclining position. Whenever a great man walks out, one of these supports is carried after him, and in the house or tent of every person one of them is always found, which is offered to the stranger who pays a visit; but it requires to have been accustomed to it from infancy to find any kind of ease in the use of it. I am led to notice this, from observing in Mr. Salt’s book that a similar machine is used in Abyssinia, the manners of which country appear, from the descriptions of Mr. Salt and Mr. Bruce, to bear a great resemblance to those of the people on the borders of the Nile.]

[Footnote 58: Several of the Bisharye tribes, although Bedouins, do not despise agriculture; they repair to the banks of the Atbara immediately after the inundation, to sow Dhourra, and remain there till the harvest is gathered in, when they return to their mountains. During the hottest part of the summer, when pasturage is dried up in the desert, they again descend, to feed their cattle on the herbage on the borders of the stream. In like manner the Turkmans in the vicinity of Aleppo are both Bedouins and cultivators.]

[Footnote 59: Whenever the country is dangerous the whole caravan is divided into two watches, one till midnight, and the other from midnight till day.]

[Footnote 60: استعجلوا يا ناس الجلابه ساقت اذا قعدنا يقتلونا يا الله دلوّا قِرَبّكم وشدّوا علي جمالكم.]

[Footnote 61: البجه سُكَّانها يسمون بجاوا, Bedja and its inhabitants are called Bedjawa.]

[Footnote 62: This year, as I learnt afterwards at Souakin, it began about the 26th or 29th of June.]

[Footnote 63: When I was in Upper Egypt, the Erdeyb of the best wheat, about fifteen bushels, cost five patacks, equivalent to eleven bushels for a Spanish dollar. The Pasha monopolized it, and sold it at Alexandria, for forty patacks the Erdeyb, or eleven bushels for eight dollars.]

[Footnote 64: The Souakin merchants are equally unused to fire-arms. A few Arabians sometimes pass this way armed with matchlocks, in company with the Souakin caravans, on their road to Shendy or Sennaar.]

[Footnote 65: The mosque El Azhar is famous for its pious foundations for the relief of poor travellers of various nations. In this building the Upper Egyptians, the Negroes, the Moggrebyns, the Abyssinians, (or Djebert, as they are called,) the Yemeny, the Indians, the Afghans and Soleymany, the Bokharas, the Persians, the Kurds, the Anatolians, the Syrians, &c. &c. have each their separate establishment, called Rouaks, over which one of the principal Olemas of Cairo presides; these together form the Olema of El Azhar, a body which has often made Pashas tremble.]

[Footnote 66: This, like the other names of places, since we have quitted the Atbara, is not of Arabic, but Bisharye formation.]

[Footnote 67: This tree bears a great resemblance to the larch: I often saw it in the Hedjaz: the dried branches, as I was told, are used to procure fire, by rubbing them against each other.]

[Footnote 68: This comprises the whole country south of Langay, as far as the Atbara, and the Abyssinian mountains, including Taka.]

[Footnote 69: Thus pronounced in the vulgar dialect of the Hedjaz, instead of Hadhareme, the plural of Hadhramy, or a native of Hadhar el Mout (حضر الموت, meaning in Arabic, “Come death,”) and which Europeans have converted into Hadramout. The people of Hadramout are famous for emigrating; large colonies of them are found in all the towns of the Yemen and Hedjaz. The greater part of the people of Djidda, and the lower class of the inhabitants of Mekka, are from the same country.]

[Footnote 70: It is in a liquid state, which is the only kind of butter used in the black countries. It is made, as in Egypt and Arabia, by shaking the milk in goatskins till the butter separates (بخضّوا القِربَ).]

[Footnote 71: I had assumed the name of Osmanly on quitting Shendy, having there heard that there was an officer of the Pasha at Souakin, and another at Massouah.]

[Footnote 72: This method of swimming is called, on the lakes in Swisserland, ‘Water-treading.’ Das wasser stampfen.]

[Footnote 73: This seems to be the only crime in the east which has not yet penetrated into Africa, where all classes express disgust and horror at the descriptions given by the returning pilgrims, of the unnatural excesses of the Turks and Arabians.]

[Footnote 74: See under 14th July.]