Part 7

Two of these Chiefs taken prisoners the Pasha ordered to be impaled in the market-place of Sennaar. They suffered this horrid death with great firmness. One of them said nothing but "there is no God but God, and Mohammed is his Apostle," which he frequently repeated before impalement; while the other, named Abdallah, insulted, defied, and cursed his executioners, calling them "robbers and murderers," till too weak to speak, when he expressed his feelings by spitting at them.[58] The third Chief was detained prisoner, in order to be sent to Cairo.

During my stay in Sennaar, I endeavored to get information of the people of the country, and of the few caravan merchants found in the market-place of Sennaar, relative to the Bahar el Abiud and the Nile. The information I received was as follows: "The source of the Adit (so the people of Sennaar call the river that runs by their city) is in the Gibel el Gumara, (i.e. that great range of mountains called the Mountains of the Moon,) about sixty days march of a camel from Sennaar. in a direction nearly south. It receives, at various distances above Sennaar, several smaller rivers which come from Abyssinia and from the mountains south of Sennaar. The general course of the Bahar el Abiud (they said) was nearly parallel with that of the Adit, but its source was much farther off, among the Gibel el Gumara, than that of the Adit. The Bahar el Abiud, they said, appears very large at the place where the Pasha's army crossed it, because it is augmented from the junction of three other rivers, one from the south-west, and two others from the east, running from the mountains south of Sennaar."[59] On my asking them, "whether the Bahar el Abiud was open and free of shellals or rapids?" they said, "that at a place called Sulluk, about fifteen days march above its junction with the Adit, (i.e. above the place where we crossed the Bahar el Abiud,) there was a shellal, which they believed that boats could not pass.[60] On my asking whether, by following the banks of the Bahar el Abiud and the river that empties into it from the west, it was not possible to reach a city called Tombut or Tombuctoo?" They said, that "they knew nothing of the city I mentioned, having never been farther west than Kordofan and Darfour."

This was all I could learn: but I am disposed to believe, that the main stream of the Bahar el Abiud cannot have its source in the same latitude with that of the Adit, because it commenced its rise, at least, this year, about twenty days sooner than did the Adit, and the different color of its waters proves that it flows through a tract differing in quality of soil from that through which passes the Adit. The interesting question, "whether the Niger communicates with the Bahar el Abiud?" will, however, very probably be determined before the close of another year, as the Pasha will probably send an expedition up that river.

Secondly, I am further disposed to believe that the main stream of the Adit, or Nile of Bruce, does not take its rise in Abyssinia, but in the mountains assigned as the place of its origin by the people of Sennaar. For on viewing the mass of water that runs by Sennaar even now, when the river has not attained two-thirds of the usual magnitude it acquires during the rainy season, I can by no means believe that the main source of such a river is only about three hundred miles distant from Sennaar.

The tract of country included between the Adit and the Bahar el Abiud is called El Gezira, i.e. the island: because, in the season of the rains, many rivers running from the mountains in the south into the Bahar el Abiud and the Adit, occasion this tract to be included by rivers.

I am disposed to believe, that the representations made of the climate of this country are much exaggerated; as, except during the rainy season, and immediately after it, the country is a high and dry plain,[61] by no means excessively hot, because the level of the countries on the Nile being constantly ascending from Egypt, occasions Sennaar to be many hundred feet higher than the level of Egypt, which is proved by the rapid descent of the waters of the Nile toward the latter country. The east and south winds also are, in Sennaar, cool breezes; because they come either from the mountains of Abyssinia, or the huge and high ranges which compose the Gibel el Gumara. I was in Sennaar at Midsummer, and at no time found the heat very uncomfortable, provided I was in the open air, and under a shade. In the cottages and houses, indeed, on account of their want of ventilation, the heat was excessive.

I made during my stay in Sennaar frequent inquiries about the fly mentioned by Bruce; the people of Sennaar said they knew nothing of it;[62] but, in reply to my inquiries, referred to a worm, which they say comes out of the earth during the rainy season, and whose bite is dangerous.

The reptile species in Sennaar are numerous. The houses are full of lizards, which, if you lie on the floor, you may feel crawling or running over you all night. I saw at Sennaar a serpent of a species, I believe, never before mentioned. It was a snake of about two feet long, and not thicker than my thumb, striped on the back, with a copper colored belly, and a flat head. This serpent had four legs, which did not appear to be of any use to him, as they were short and hanging from the sides of his belly. All his motions, which were quick and rapid, were made in the usual manner of serpents, i.e. upon its belly.[63]

I do not feel authorized to give an opinion as to the national character of the people inhabiting the kingdom of Sennaar; but I am obliged to consider the inhabitants of the capital as a very detestable people. They are exceedingly avaricious, extortionate, faithless, filthy and cruel.[64] The men are generally tall and well shaped, but the females are, almost universally, the ugliest I ever beheld; this is probably owing to their being obliged to do all sorts of drudgery.

The children of these people, and indeed of all the tribes on the Upper Nile, go quite naked till near the age of puberty. A girl unmarried is distinguished by a sort of short leather apron, composed of a great number of leather thongs hanging like tassels from a leather belt fastened round the waist: and this is all her clothing, being no longer than that of our mother Eve after her fall. The married women, however, are generally habited in long coarse cotton clothes, which they wrap round them so as to cover their whole person, except when they are at work, when they wrap the whole round the waist.

As to the manufactures of the people of the Upper Nile, they are limited, I believe, to the following articles, Earthenware for domestic uses and bowls for pipes; cotton cloths for clothing; knives, mattocks, hoes and ploughs, for agriculture, water-wheels for the same; horse furniture, such as the best formed saddles I ever rode on, very neatly fabricated; stirrups in the European form, made of silver for the chiefs, and not like those of the Turks; large iron spurs, bits with small chains for reins, to prevent them from being severed by the stroke of an enemy's broadsword; long and double edged broadswords, with the guard frequently made of silver; iron heads for lances, and shields made of the hide of the elephant; to which may be added, that the women fabricate very beautiful straw mats.

There is a general resemblance, in domestic customs, among all the peoples who inhabit the borders of the Nile from Assuan to Sennaar. They differ, however, somewhat in complexion and character. The people of the province of Succoot are generally not so black as the Nubian or the Dongolese. They are also frank and prepossessing in their deportment. The Dongolese is dirty, idle, and ferocious. The character of the Shageian is the same, except that he is not idle, being either an industrious peasant or a daring freebooter. The people on the third cataract are not very industrious, but have the character of being honest and obliging. The people of Berber are by far the most civilized of all the people of the Upper Nile. The inhabitants of the provinces of Shendi and Halfya are a sullen, scowling, crafty, and ferocious people; while the peasants of Sennaar inhabiting the villages we found on our route, are a respectable people in comparison with those of the capital. Throughout the whole of these countries there is one general characteristic, in which they resemble the Indians of America, namely, courage and self-respect. The chiefs, after coming to salute the Pasha, would make no scruple of sitting down facing him, and converse with him without embarrassment, in the same manner as they are accustomed to do with their own Maleks, with whom they are very familiar. With the greatest apparent simplicity they would frequently propose troublesome questions to the Pasha, such as, "O great Sheck, or O great Malek; (for so they called the Pasha) what have we done to you, or your country, that you should come so far to make war upon us? Is it for want of food in your country that you come to get it in ours?" and others similar.

On the 14th of the moon Shawal, Cogia Achmet returned to Sennaar, bringing with him about two thousand prisoners as slaves, consisting almost entirely of women and children. The events of his expedition were related to me as follows: He marched rapidly for ten days in a direction about south-west of Sennaar, (the capital) without resistance, through a well-peopled country, without meeting with any opposition till he came to the mountains of Bokki, inhabited by Pagans, the followers of the chief who had rejected the Pasha's letter. They were posted on a mountain of difficult access; but their post was stormed, and after a desperate struggle, they found that spears and swords, though wielded by stout hearts and able hands, were not a match for fire-arms. They fled to another mountain, rearward of their first position. They were again attacked by cannon and musketry, and obliged to fly toward a third position: in their flight, they were in part hemmed in by the cavalry of Cogia Achmet, and about fifteen hundred of them put to the sword. Those who escaped took refuge in a craggy mountain, inaccessible to cavalry. Cogia Achmet, believing he had made a sufficient proof to them that resistance on their part was unavailing, and the troops having suffered great distress by reason of the almost continual rains, after sweeping the villages of these people of all the population they could find in them, resumed his march for Sennaar. On their return, they had to ford several deep streams, at this season running from the mountains, and both horse and man were almost worn out before they reached Sennaar.

The people of Bokki are a hardy race of mountaineers--tall, stout, and handsome. They are Pagans, worshippers of the sun, which planet they consider it as profane to look at. The prisoners brought in by Cogia Achmet resembled in their dress the savages of America; they were almost covered with beads, bracelets, and trinkets, made out of pebbles, bones, and ivory. Their complexion is almost black, and their manners and deportment prepossessing. The arms of these people gave me great surprise: they consisted of well-formed and handsome helmets of iron, coats of mail, made of leather and overlaid with plates of iron, long and well fashioned lances, and a hand-weapon exactly resembling the ancient bills formerly used in England by the yeomanry. They were represented to me by the Turks as dangerous in personal combat. They had never seen fire-arms before, and they nevertheless withstood them with great intrepidity. They said, I was informed, that a fusee was "a coward's weapon, who stands at a safe distance from his enemy, and kills him by an invisible stroke."[65]

On the 17th, the courier carrying the information to Cairo of this expedition and its results, embarked in a canja to descend the river as far as Berber, from whence he would proceed by the desert to Egypt. Agreeably to the promise of the Pasha, I accompanied him. We arrived at Nousreddin in Berber in five days and nights. Having the favor of the current, and sixteen oarsmen on board, we descended with great rapidity. The view of the country from the river is not pleasing, as the villages lie almost invariably far off from the river; the country, therefore, has the appearance of being almost uninhabited. We saw great numbers of hippopotami, who, in the night, would lift their heads out of the water at no great distance from the canja. They were sometimes fired at, but without apparent effect. We stopped, during the night, for an hour at Shendi, to leave orders from the Pasha to a small garrison of Turkish troops stationed there.[66] The river Nile, below the point of junction with the great Bahar el Abiud, presents a truly magnificent spectacle.[67] Between Halfya and Shendi, the river is straitened and traverses a deep and gloomy defile formed by high rocky hills, between which the Nile runs dark, deep, and rapidly for about twelve or fifteen miles. On emerging from this defile, the river again spreads itself majestically, and flows between immense plains of herbage, bounded only by the horizon: its banks nearly full, but not yet overflowed. About thirty miles above Nousreddin, we passed the mouth of the Bahar el Iswood (on the eastern shore); it is the last river that empties into the Nile. I estimated it at about two-thirds of a mile broad at its embouchure. The Nile, below the point of junction with this river, is more than two miles from bank to bank, at this season. During the two first days of our voyage, we had some severe squalls and very heavy rains; but after passing the territory of Sennaar, we had a sky almost without a cloud.

On our arrival at Nousreddin, no more dromedaries could be immediately obtained than were sufficient to mount the courier and his two guides. I was, therefore, obliged to tarry five days in Nousreddin before I could find a caravan journeying to Egypt.

On the 28th of Shawal, I quitted Nousreddin, along with a caravan on its way to Egypt from Sennaar, conducted by a soldier attached to the Cadilaskier of the army of Ismael Pasha, who was conducting to Egypt twenty-two dromedaries and camels, and some slaves, belonging to the Cadilaskier, and four fine horses belonging to the Pasha.

We started at about three hours before noon, and after marching for three hours, stopped at a village named Sheraffey, to obtain rations for the horses and camels to subsist them through the desert. Our route lay on the outside of the villages, and on the border of the desert. The villages are numerous and well built of sun-dried bricks, and the face of the country, on our side of the river, perfectly level.

We stayed at Sheraffey until the next morning: the conductor of the caravan not being able to obtain at this place the durra he wanted for his cattle, we proceeded to a village called Hassah, which is about an hour's march from Sheraffey. We stayed there till next morning.

On the 30th of the Moon, at day-light, we mounted our camels, and proceeded on our road, which lay on the skirts of the desert. We passed a continual succession of large, well-built and populous villages, lying about a mile distant from the river; the weather serene and cool, as it has been since our arrival in Berber. We halted at about the middle of the forenoon, by a village called Abdea, until an hour and a half before sunset, when we again set forward, and after marching for three hours and a half, halted for the remainder of the night in a small village, half in ruins. The reason of our short marches and frequent stoppages was, to give the conductor of the caravan opportunities to make provision for passing the desert. He might have done it at any of the villages, had he been content to pay the price demanded; but as he was a man who seemed to hold hard bargains in horror, and to love money with great affection, he did not give the latter for durra till he was absolutely obliged to make the afflictive exchange.

On the 1st of Zilkade we started at daylight, and marched till about two hours after sunrise, when we stopped at some villages called Gannettee. The country we passed since yesterday is the desert, which comes down close to the river's bank, presenting but few spots fit for cultivation. We were informed last night, that the camp of Mehemmet Bey, who is on his way from Egypt with five thousand men, to take possession of Darfour and Kordofan, is on the other side of the river.[68] The weather continues serene and not very hot. Stayed at Gannettee till about the middle of the afternoon, when we proceeded on our journey through a a desert and dreary country, without either habitations or cultivation, as the desert comes here down to the river. The rocks and stones of the desert are generally of black granite. No verdure was to be seen, except on the margin of the river. The river hereabouts is much impeded by rocks and rapids, but contains many beautiful islands, some of them very large, fertile, populous, and well cultivated. Malek Mohammed el Hadgin commands this country. His province, called "El Raba Tab," contains eighty-eight large and fertile islands, and the shores of the river adjacent. He has a very high character for courage, morals, and generosity; he resides on the great island of Mograt, which is said to be about sixty miles long.[69]

We halted at about three hours before midnight on the bank of the river, within hearing of a Shellal, where the river forms a regular cataract, except a small pass on the easterly shore. After reposing the camels an hour and a half, and refreshing ourselves with bread and the muddy water of the Nile, we recommenced our march, which was continued without cessation till an hour before noon next morning, always through the desert, in order to cut a point of land formed by an angle in the river, when we stopped under the shade of some fine date trees on the bank of the river, and in view of one of its large and ever verdant isles, called Kandessee, in a small island adjoining which Khalil Aga, my companion, says he saw, when he ascended the third cataract,[70] a pyramid more modern and fresh than any he had seen in these countries. Possibly the island of Kandessee takes its name from the celebrated Candace, who, in the reign of Nero, repulsed and defeated the Roman legions, and this pyramid may be her tomb. Under the date trees, on the bank of the river opposite to this island, we refreshed ourselves with our usual repast, bread and water, as the people of a village close by would give us meat neither for love, money, nor soap,[71] of which latter article they stand in great but unconscious need.

3d of Zilkade quitted our station about two hours after midnight, and went on our way. Our route continued to lie through the desert, but not far from the bank of the river; about three hours before noon in the morning came to a small village, named Haphasheem, lying on the margin of the river, opposite a verdant island it was delightful to look at. The river on the third cataract, Khalil Aga tells me, contains a continual chain of such.[72] I could not get any thing to relish our usual repast of bread and water, except some dates.

My eyes to-day were much inflamed by the reflection of the sun's rays from the sand, and at night were very painful and running with matter. Stayed here till about the same hour after midnight as yesterday, when we again set forward. The country the same as yesterday, except that we saw several stony mountains in the desert, some of them at no great distance from the river. Some of these mountains must contain ruins, as at the village where we halted to-day, which we did at about noon, we found a very large and well-fashioned burnt brick, which the peasants said was brought from one of these mountains. The whole of the country through which we have passed for four days contains no cultivable land on this side of the river, except on its margin; but in compensation for this sterility, the islands in this part of the river, which are numerous, very large, and very beautiful, are without a superior for luxuriance of vegetation. Every day when we have come to the river to halt and refresh ourselves, we found one or more in view. At this last station I was lucky enough to purchase a small kid at the enormous price of twelve piasters, the first meat we had eaten for four days. Applied at night a poultice of dates to my eyes, which were much inflamed by today's march, and found some relief from the remedy. At about three hours after midnight we again resumed our travel, and marched till an hour before noon of to-day, the 5th of Zilkade expecting to arrive at the place where the road quits the river, and plunges into the great eastern desert of Africa; but the weather becoming close and very hot, and the camels fatigued, we halted to repose them and ourselves on the bank of the river. Shortly after our arrival two of the camels of the caravan died. Our route still lay through plains and over hills of rock and sand, which come down to the river's edge, but the river, as usual, presented a continual succession of beautiful islands.

The death of the two camels having alarmed the conductor of the caravan for the others, we stayed in this place till the middle of the second day after to repose and refresh them previous to entering the desert. During our stay here I engaged a man to swim over to the island opposite, to purchase some durra flour and dates. He could, however, obtain only some dates. I was obliged, in consequence, to reconcile myself to entering the desert short of provisions. I had made provision in Berber for fifteen days, being assured that in twelve days we should have passed the desert, and arrive at the villages on the bank of the Nile four days march above Assuan. The unexpected retardments of our march from Berber had, however, made us nine days in arriving at the place where the road turns into the desert. On the 7th of the moon, at about two hours before sunset, we quitted our halting-place, and after only one hour's march by the border of the river came to a place where the Nile suddenly turns off toward the south-west.[73] At this place the guide told us we were to fill our waterskins, and to quit the river for the desert.

We stayed here till the afternoon of the 8th of the moon.

The two last nights we have kept watch, and only slept with our hands upon our arms, robbers being, we were told, in this neighborhood, who had lately pillaged some caravans. We were not, however, molested. The desert, on the border of the river hereabouts, abounds with doum trees, which are inhabited by great numbers of monkeys. Its fruit furnishes their food. This fruit consists in a large nut, on the outside covered with a brown substance almost exactly resembling burned gingerbread. It is, however, so hard that no other teeth and jaws, except those of a monkey or an Arab, are well capable of biting it. About one hour's march below our present position is an encampment of Bedouins and the tomb of a Marabout. The people of the country and the caravans had piled his grave with camels' and asses saddles, probably intended as offerings to interest his good offices in the other world.