Chapter V

States of Soudan — Women of Bagirmeh — The Jenakherah — The Idolatrous Tribes — Their vast Numbers — A Slave-hunt — A great River — Manners — Manufactures — Peculiar way of going to bed — Marking Cattle — Cannibals — Origin of the Fullans — Meaning of “Soudan” — A Tempest — Thunder-bolts — Darfur and Wadaï.

Of the various constituted states of Soudan, the most vast are Bornou and Dar-Mella, after which come Darfur, Wadaï, Timbuctoo, and Bagirmeh. The least in extent are Afnou and Adagez.[40] Wadaï, although occupying the fourth rank as to extent, has many especial advantages. The slaves are much handsomer than those of Darfur, better trained, and more attentive to domestic duties; but the best slaves of all Central Soudan are, without doubt, those of Bagirmeh, especially the women, whose docility and gentleness are beyond all praise. When Saboun invaded that country the women turned the heads of all the Wadaïans, and almost disgusted them with their own wives. “Verily,” said they, “we have never seen women before.” Nevertheless, the Jenakherian girls, which the Wadaïans take away from the idolatrous tribes situated to the south of Dar-Seleih, are also remarkable for their beauty; and in the habitual relations of life have a seductive character which is not noticed in the slaves taken from the south of Darfur. And yet the Jenakherian people, to the south of both countries, touch upon and are confounded with one another; and the slave-hunts from Wadaï and Darfur often meet. The name of Jenakherah, in its general application, designates an immense conglomeration of people, of which God only knows the number, divided into an incredible number of tribes and clans, and spread throughout a zone that extends from the south of Sennaar to the south of Kashna, constituting Pagan Soudan.

In a straight line from east to west, there is from Sennaar to Kordofal a distance of fifteen or sixteen days; from Obeid, capital of the latter country, to Tendelty, there are ten or twelve days; and from the Forian Fasher to Warah, there are twenty days of ordinary marching, or ten days of forced marching. If you proceed still westward, you come to Bagirmeh; but if you take a south-west direction you reach Katakou, a province dependent on Bornou. Between Wadaï and Bagirmeh there is a space of five or six days’ journey. From Warah to Bornou there are two roads, one a little north of west, a distance of less than twenty days; but the second, which traverses Bagirmeh and Katakou, requires thirty-five days. In fine, to go from Bornou to Adagez, you must proceed fifteen days westward in a straight line.[41] From Adagez to Afnou there are four or five days of desert.

The idolatrous tribes to the south of Soudan are divided into groups and families. They are vastly superior in number to the Muslims, who are thrown like a chain across the desert, and it is at first surprising that they do not overwhelm them. The explanation may be found in the spirit of brotherhood which unites the Muslims, whilst the Pagans are always divided one against another, each station being inimical to its neighbour. When the enemy attacks a village, and takes away the women and children, the people of the next village look on without attempting to give assistance. They are attacked next, and their neighbours regard them with equal indifference, and so on. If these idolaters knew the strength which union gives, none of the Muslim states of Soudan would dare to attack them.

In fact, the numerous tribes of these Majous, or Pagans, cover a space which it takes at least three months of ordinary marching to traverse. The Forian and Wadaïan expeditions have been often out for six months, but have never succeeded in reaching the southern limits. The Fakih Medeny once related to me that a Forian expedition once pushed far into Dar-Fertyt, and resolved not to return until they had reached the southern boundary of that country. “They advanced,” he said, “for five months, going straight before them. Their friends wondered at their lengthy absence, and gave them up for lost. At the end of the five months the expedition reached a great extent of water, on the opposite banks of which it was difficult to distinguish an object no bigger than a man. Some people, however, dressed in red were descried, who took to flight on seeing the Forian troop. There being no means of crossing the water, they were now obliged to return. I asked for information on the distant countries of many persons who had been with the expedition, but could obtain nothing further. A long time afterwards I met an old man who had been on several similar excursions, and he said that he had once penetrated to the plain of water of which I have spoken, and that a man from Arabia, who was with him, said that the savages of the Fertyt somewhat resembled in appearance the Hindoos. But God knows the truth.”

The various tribes of Pagan Soudan, although very numerous, have all artificial signs, which distinguish them one from the other. The Bendeh file all their teeth, except the molars, into a round shape. The Kara are distinguished by the piercing of their lips. The Shala have the rim of their ears pierced with a series of holes, in each of which a quill might be passed. Their women are distinguished by the thousands of little cuts which they make upon their stomachs—figuring rings, squares, &c., and serving as ornaments, for they wear nothing but a very slight cloth round the middle. Others pierce the upper lip, others draw two of their teeth, and others make three rows of incisions upon each cheek.

The regions of Pagan Soudan are remarkable for the fertility of their soil and the purity of the air. The rains are abundant and prolonged, and in some places cease only two months of the year. In those southern countries are produced many kinds of tubercular plants for food, one of which, called oppo, when cooked upon hot coals, has the colour and the taste of a hard egg. Many fruit and other trees cover the plains. The people, so savage, so inhospitable, so far distant from the populations that are advanced in the industrial arts, display, in the fabrication of certain articles, a most wonderful address, giving them a finish worthy of the ablest European artisan. They make for the kings and princes of Soudan stools and seats of elegant shape and perfect finish. They also manufacture, with a cleverness that reminds one of the English, the knife-poniards which are worn tied to the arm above the elbow, and also the iron-work of lances. I have seen among the Fertyt tubes of iron, the work of which was of surprising purity and beauty, reminding one of European industry. These tubes, which are used for pipes, are not more than a span long, and are bent and twisted like some European pipes; but are more elegant, more graceful, and are so beautifully polished that they resemble silver. The bowls are made of earthenware, adorned with iron circlets. They also make bracelets and armlets of elegant manufacture.

The Fertyt make no kind of tissue, having no need of garments. The men wear a kind of apron about a span in breadth, and the women hide themselves only with leaves of trees, which are renewed as soon as they wither. The tribe of the Jengueh is richest in cattle. Their oxen are small, with long horns, and each individual has his flock. These people, men and women, go entirely naked, without apron or leaves. They are the most intrepid of the Fertyt, the most audacious, and the best runners. They are so swift that none can come up with them or escape them. They sleep both sexes together, buried in ashes. This is the way the women in each family prepare the beds: towards evening, when they have milked their cows and finished their domestic labours, they take a large basket and go through the country collecting dry dung, until they have made a great heap before their hut. They then set fire to it and reduce it to ashes. When they want to go to bed, the wife takes a piece of butter and rubs her husband from top to bottom, after which he creeps into his heap of ashes, where he sleeps. In the morning he goes to the first pool of water and washes himself. What I cannot understand in this habit is, that being thus buried in ashes, the Jengueh can breathe without drawing in the dust through the nostrils. Is this the result of habit? Do they leave their heads out in the air, or have they any other particular way of protecting themselves, against suffocation?[42]

The Jengueh do not mark their cattle in the same way as other nations. Every one knows their animals by the shape of their horns, for each herd have them in a particular direction, which is given them as soon as they begin to grow. Thus one master has the horns of his flocks perpendicular, another horizontal, another makes them advance forwards, another backwards, or to the right or left, or crosses them or twists them in various ways. These facts are certified to me by many individuals who have visited Jengueh, and I have myself seen some of their cows with horns bent in the shape of crescents.[43]

The Fertyts constitute an immense population, without any religion whatever.[44] When they are reduced to slavery they adopt the religion of those whose property they become. A year before my departure from Darfur a great Ghazwah, or expedition fitted out to catch slaves, set out under the command of a king or sultan of slave-hunts, authorised by the Forian Sultan according to the established forms. When the expedition was about to cross the boundaries of the Fertyt country some Bedawin Arabs presented themselves to the chief, and said that they had discovered a considerable tribe which had not hitherto been visited, and praised emphatically their beauty. The king, delighted with this information, took a body of men and set out; but some days afterwards he came back much disconcerted, bringing only a few slaves. I was afterwards told that this tribe was a tribe of cannibals who eat people alive. “When we reached their territory,” said a man who had accompanied the expedition, “and appeared before the first village, an immense crowd of the savages, with a weapon in the shape of a sickle, very pointed and sharp as a razor, in their hands, rushed fearlessly towards us. Behind them came an equal number of women, each carrying on her head a great bowl filled with a thick paste. The savages rushed upon us, each choosing a victim, and thrusting the point of their weapons in the shoulder, made an enormous gash. The blood gushed in abundance, and immediately the women came up with their bowls, from which the men took large handfuls, and, having dipped them in the blood, began to eat. They killed several of our men and devoured them, so that we fled away in a fright.”

“And how,” said I, “do you call this tribe, whom God confound?”

“They are called,” he said, “the Majanah.”

The Pagans of Southern Soudan stretch, as I have said, far to the west, even to Dar-Mella, or empire of the Fullans. These Fullans were formerly considered to be the most contemptible of the people of Nigritia. In Soudan, it is related that they descend from a chameleon, and, consequently, never had a human father. The woman from whom they sprang was found sleeping by a chameleon and bore a child, from whom all the Fellatahs descended. For my part, I think that this is a fable, invented with the purpose of contempt. Now-a-days the Fullans are supposed to be the people who are the most advanced in intelligence and knowledge, compared with the other black populations of the centre of Africa. They themselves pretend to be of the blood of the illustrious Ammar, son of Yasir, one of the celebrated and virtuous companions of Mohammed.

If we consider the denomination of Soudan, (which means in Arabic the country of the blacks—Nigritia,) as an expression indicating only the colour of the people who inhabit that part of Africa, and not as applied to a certain geographical division, we must comprehend under it the whole extent of country from Sennaar and Abyssinia inclusively, that is, from the shores of the Arabian Gulf to the western limits of Timbuctoo and Mella. But those who consider the divers regions of this zone in relation to the advantages and products of each, and the quality of the slaves derived from them, give the name of Soudan only to the cluster of states that stretch westward from Bornou exclusively. Thus, when the merchant-travellers of the Magreb, the Ghadamsees, and the Fezzanis, say that they have been to Soudan, they mean only that they have been to Afnou, Niffy, and Timbuctoo.[45] Those who have been to Bornou, Wadaï, or Darfur, never use this expression. They say that these three states are too inferior in advantages and commercial resources to be counted amidst the states of Soudan. When I returned to Tunis, I used often to say in the presence of merchants, when I was in Soudan such and such things happened. But they always took me up, saying,— “Thou hast never been in Soudan, but only in Wadaï and Darfur.”

I shall here make some observations on the climate of Wadaï. Wind, storms, thunder, and lightning, are very frequent there at the time of the Roushach. Their violence is such, especially during the first days of autumn, that it is almost impossible to describe their effects. During the whole time that I remained in the country I scarcely ever saw rain that was not preceded by a great wind that darkened the atmosphere. These storms generally advance from the east, and, passing over Gauz, or sandy plains, raise immense whirlwinds of dust, and carry them to a great distance. At the commencement of the storm the horizon is wrapped in clouds, either black or dun red. Presently the thunder bursts forth with terrific rolls. The people, stricken with fear, run to hide themselves. The shepherds hastily gather together their flocks and urge them towards the villages. Those who are working in the fields hasten to the nearest shelter, or run wildly towards the villages. The traveller seeks the first refuge he can find, for, if he is found abroad, there is peril. The storm, like a haughty and terrible conqueror at the head of his black warriors, strikes and shatters whatever it meets with. Isolated trees are often torn up by the roots, crazy huts are borne away, and old enclosures beaten to the ground. Even the beasts instinctively take to flight. The whirlwinds come laden with sand and gravel, that strike people down as if hurled from a sling.

When I first went to Darfur, on perceiving afar off these immense whirlwinds, I expected great clouds and showers to follow, but I was soon undeceived. These dusty masses are seldom brought by south or west winds. They are often the effects of violent gusts, without rain or thunder, and for this reason are the more dangerous, for the rain soon beats down the dust and sand, and restores tranquillity to the air. Sometimes, during a whole month, these violent burrascos blow every day, beginning in the afternoon. Generally, in the last days of autumn, they are entirely without rain. When they happen at night, they are commonly accompanied by frightful showers and thunder-claps. The lightning falls, setting fire to villages, and dashing trees to pieces. Mischief is announced by terrible detonations, accompanied by long trains of fire descending from the clouds. Many Wadaïans and Forians have assured me that they have dug pits in the earth, at the place where the thunder has fallen, and have found substances resembling ferruginous scoriæ. In the countries of Soudan where I have travelled the thunder is much louder and more terrible than in Egypt. I do not know what is the physical reason of this difference.

From what I have hitherto said of the customs of the Forians, their manner of life, their food, their constitution, their dwellings, their diseases, their ideas of medicine, the quadrupeds and birds that are found in the country, it will be seen that in comparing them with Wadaï the same conditions of life exist very nearly in both countries. The analogy is explained by their neighbourhood, for each people borrows something from its neighbours. The tribes on the two frontiers, likewise, are closely united in bonds of relationship. In describing the manners of Wadaï, therefore, I shall only mention those points which are peculiar to them.