Part 47

The route over the mountain which we had just crossed presents no difficulties whatever; the mountain is called by the inhabitants Orbay Langay, or the mountain of Langay, and is one of the principal features in the topography of Eastern Nubia. It is full of pasturage in every direction, but more particularly to the west, where many wells and springs are found. I think it probable that in the most western point of this mountain the river, or rather great torrent, Mogren has its rise, for as I have already said, its course does not intersect the caravan route from Atbara to Souakin. The mountain Langay is inhabited by Hadendoa Arabs only, and serves them as an asylum against the depredations of the Bisharein. The Hadendoa who live at several days distance, and the people of Souakin also, send their cattle in the summer to this mountain, where they are certain of finding pasturage. The Langay forms a separation of climates in Eastern Nubia; to the south of it the rains had set in for a fortnight, while to the north no rain had yet fallen, as appeared both by the dusty ground, and the testimony of the Bedouins. At Souakin, I was told that the rains were not expected there till the middle of July. In the plains of the Bedja,[68] easterly winds had generally prevailed; but in this northern plain we had usually northerly breezes. On the south of the mountains, since quitting the Atbara, we had never felt any dew during the night, whereas heavy dews now fell every night, and continued during our stay at Souakin. The whole of this chain consists of primitive calcareous rock. I could no where find any petrifactions, nor any granite.

_June 21st._—We rode this morning over uneven and generally stony ground; direction NE. ½ N.; the rocks were quartz and grünstein, which latter is met with in every part of Nubia. Many low grounds, the beds of torrents, intersected the road. At the end of three hours we halted in Wady Osouyt, near a pool of water. These collections of rain water amongst the rocks are often of considerable depth; those on the level plain are shallow and of greater extent. From Wady Osouyt we continued NW. by N. over a plain having exactly the appearance of the Syrian deserts. Low shrubs were growing everywhere in a soil that might easily be rendered productive. We travelled parallel with the chain on our left, and from four to six miles distant from it. This chain is called Dyaab, and extends along the coast, I conjecture, as far as Kosseir: at first sight it appears barren, but the sheep and goats find plenty of herbage in its clefts. We met another caravan of about thirty camels, returning unloaded, to Taka. We also passed a small encampment of Hadendoa, who had large herds of camels. We halted in the plain after a day’s march of ten hours.

_June 22d._—We travelled over stony ground; direction NNW. After three hours march we entered Wady Moez, full of large fragments of rocks, among which we rode westward towards the mountain, till we reached a well, close to which was a pool of rain water; here we found flocks of sheep and many camels, which the Hadendoa shepherds had been watering. Notwithstanding the steepness of the mountain there are trees to its very summit, exhibiting an interesting and novel sight to me, who had seen nothing like it since I quitted Syria. There are numberless ravines through which the torrents are precipitated into the plain during the rains, when they must form so many cascades boiling over the rocks, and presenting altogether a grand spectacle. Many Seder trees grow in the plain. Here again the slaves caught locusts, which they roasted over the fire, after taking out the entrails. From Wady Moez we continued over even but rocky ground, four hours farther, when we halted.

_June 23d._ The country before us presented a valley (called Wady Osyr) of at least four hours in breadth, bordered on the east side by low hills. We continued our route close to the high western chain; the whole plain is full of trees and shrubs, and in every low ground was herbage, now parched up. We passed another encampment of Hadendoa, with large herds of camels; they appear to live here in perfect security from any surprise by their enemies. We also met a travelling party of Hadendoa, with their women and tents; the women were seated upon the camels, on high saddles fantastically decorated, with three or four poles sticking out in front, beyond the animal’s head, having the extremities ornamented with large bunches of black ostrich feathers. The African, like the Arabian Bedouins, seem to display elegance of equipment in the decorations of their women only: leathern tassels of different sizes, small bells, and white shells, from the Red Sea, contributed to the ornament of the harness and saddles of the camels. None of the women passed me without uttering a loud shriek, and then laughing. After marching two hours and a half, we halted under a thick cover of acacia trees, in low ground, called Wady Shenkera. The slaves had to bring water from an hour’s distance in the mountain. We here collected the same herb which I have already mentioned, to season our Asyde. A few poor women came to sell us milk and to beg a little Dhourra, which is scarce among these Bedouins; they draw their supplies from Taka, but they live generally upon milk and flesh only. We continued travelling in Wady Osyr during the evening, NE. b. E. and halted for the night after a day’s journey of eight hours and a half.

_June 24th._—During the night the chief of the caravan and several of the principal merchants left us, and being well mounted upon dromedaries, expected to reach Souakin the next day. We started before sunrise. The eastern hills terminate in this latitude; and the sun was just rising beyond them, when we descried its reflection at an immense distance in the sea, affording a pleasing sight to every individual in the caravan, but most of all to me. The slaves asked whether it was the Nile, for they had never heard of any other great water or sea, and the Arabs apply the same word Bahr (بحر) both to the sea and to the Nile. A plain which lay between us and the sea appeared to consist of barren sand, covered towards the sea with a superstratum of salt. Our road continued among trees and the beds of torrents which empty themselves into the sands. After a march of three hours and a half we reached Wady Shinterab in which is a copious spring, but the water has a brackish taste; it collects in a basin, and can only be drank by man when sweetened by rain water. Around this well are some rocks of gray granite, the only granite I had seen since quitting the hills of Goz Radjeb. A good deal of Senna Mekke grows here. A very wild rocky valley branches off into the chain on the left. The Wady Shinterab forms a very large torrent during the rainy season; it is at least three hundred yards broad, and about twelve feet deep. Farther on the ground was uneven, and the road so very rocky, that the camels proceeded along it with difficulty. There was a beaten path the whole of the way we had come from the Langay, and it continued as far as Souakin. After a journey of six hours and a half, direction NE. by N. we halted in a Wady full of verdure, where our cattle were driven to pasture.

A camel belonging to one of the Kordofan traders fell and was killed during this day’s march. The Souakin merchants, who proved themselves on every occasion to be destitute of every feeling of compassion or charity, passed on without shewing the least disposition to aid the owner in his distress. My camel was the strongest in the party, I therefore volunteered my services, and transferred the greater part of the dead camel’s load to mine, which obliged me to perform the remainder of the journey to Souakin on foot. The merchant to whom the camel belonged had several times ordered his slaves to cook my supper and bring me water, when he had seen me exhausted by fatigue, and it thus became my duty to repay his kindness.

_June 25th._—We set out soon after midnight, and travelled over a rocky plain. When the sun rose, we saw the sea about five hours distant. The soil now began to be strongly impregnated with salt; a bitter saline crust covering its surface in many places to the depth of several inches. The atmosphere arising from this soil, rendered still more saline by the sea breezes, had made the branches of all the trees as black as if they had been charred; and it was with difficulty that the herds of camels of forty or fifty together, could find out a few green leaves. I had never seen the camel so nearly approaching to a wild state. Whole herds are here left to pasture without the care of either men or dogs; the Hadendoa keep them almost entirely for their milk and flesh, very few being employed as beasts of burthen; they appeared to be frightened at the approach of men and of loaded camels, a circumstance I had never witnessed before. In the Arabian and Syrian deserts, the camels when grazing come running and frisking towards any strange camel which they perceive at a distance, and they easily obey even the call of strangers, provided they are Bedouins like their own masters. The herds of camels which we saw this day were, like those of Nubia, in general of a white colour. The acacia trees in this plain are stunted, owing to the violent winds to which they are exposed. I observed a parasitic species of cactus growing upon all of them, and completely covering some of them like a net.

After marching about four hours, we took the direction of N. by E. and approached a mountain branching into the plain, from the main chain of Dyaab. It is called the mountain of Gangerab, and is inhabited by families of Hadendoa, who supply Souakin with butter and milk during the summer, when no cattle is to be found near that place. We encamped during the mid-day hours at some distance from the mountain, and were much distressed for water, having taken a very small supply on the 23d. The Souakin merchants, who knew the country well, hired without our knowledge, an Arab who brought them several camel loads of water from the mountain, which we in vain intreated them to share with ourselves and slaves. No idea can be formed by Europeans of the quantity of water necessary for drinking, cooking, and washing during a journey through these countries, but more particularly to allay the thirst of the traveller, whose palate is continually parched by the effects of the fiery ground and air, who has been confined perhaps for several days to a short allowance of water, and who lives upon food which, consisting of farinaceous preparations and butter, is calculated to excite thirst in the greatest degree. It is a general custom in the caravans in these parts, as well as in the Arabian deserts, never to drink, except when the whole caravan halts for a few minutes for that purpose; the time of doing this is, in the slave caravans, about nine o’clock in the morning, and twice during the afternoon’s march, namely about four and six o’clock. In the forenoon also every one drinks at the halting of the caravan, and again after the meal; and the same rule is observed in the evening. To drink while others do not, exposes a man to be considered effeminate, and to the opprobrious saying, that “his mouth is tied to that of the water-skin.” (فمه مربوط علي خشم القربه—Fomoh marboutt alá kháshm el gerbé), and it is otherwise imprudent, as the opening of his water-skin at an unusual time subjects the traveller to importunities which it is not always prudent to reject; but none thinks of asking such a favour when the whole caravan halts to drink. Those who have many slaves fill the large wooden bowl in which dinner is served up, and place it upon the ground, when the slaves kneel down and drink out of it half a dozen times, as cattle do out of a trough; this is done to prevent the waste of water that would be occasioned by each having a separate allowance. Travellers in these journeys drink a great quantity of water when it is plentiful; I do not exaggerate when I say that I have often drank in the afternoon, at one draught, as much as would fill two common water-bottles. To drink three or four times a day is considered short allowance; few Blacks and Arabs, when water is abundant, drink less than six or seven times daily; but when the S. E. wind blows no quantity is sufficient to keep the mouth moist, and one wishes to drink every quarter of an hour. The stories related by the Bedouins to the town’s-people, of their remaining often two or three days in the desert without drinking, are mere fables. In all parts of Nubia, at least in the caravan routes, travellers can never be in very great distress from want of water, if the wells are not dried up. The only portions of the road, of any length, without water, are from Goz Radjeb to Sennaar, and from the frontiers of Kordofan to Shendy. Yet the Black traders often suffer from want of water, even where the wells are near, because their avarice leads them to load their camels so heavily with merchandize, that they have no room for a plentiful supply of water. The usual computation is that a middling sized skin or Gerbé (قربه) holding about fifty or sixty pounds of water, will serve a man for three days, if he is alone, or four men for one day, if they mess together.

The Arabs call the halt at noon, el Keyale (القيله). They say, “Nahun kayalna fi el mattrah el fulani” (نحن قيلناَّ في المطرح الفلاني). “We halted in such a place.” The chief, in giving orders to alight, cries out: “Keyaloua ikhouatna (قيلويا اخواتنا) Brothers, let us alight. When the caravan is to set out again, he exclaims, Esshedeid, Esshedeid (الشديد, from شدّ to tie fast the ropes of the loads.) In the evening he gives the word Hottoué, (حطّوا), to rest. Thus an Arab, when relating the history of his day’s march, says, “Komna fi el fadjer, wa keyalna alá el ma’a, wa shaddeyna wa ed-dhal bettoul es-shaksz, wa baad el nizoul hatteyna, wa beitna fi mattrah el fulani.” (قمنا في الفجر و قيّلنا علي الماء و شدّينا و الظل بطول الشخض و بعد النزول حطينا و بيتنا في المطرح الفلاني). We started at day break, we rested at noon near the water, we set out again, when a man’s shadow was equal to his length, and after sunset we alighted and slept, in such and such a place.

The Souakin caravans, like those of the Hedjaz, are accustomed to travel in one long file; the Egyptians, on the contrary, march with a wide extended front; but the former method is preferable, because if any of the loads get out of order, they can be adjusted by leading the camel out of the line, before those behind have come up; in the latter case, the whole caravan must stop, when any accident happens to a single camel. The caravans from Bagdad to Aleppo and Damascus, consisting sometimes of two thousand camels, marching abreast of each other, extend over a space of more than a mile. Our Souakin traders obliged their slaves to lead each of the camels by a halter, and upon every false step made by the animal they applied the whip to the leader.

I was much amused by a circumstance which took place to day, during our halt at noon: the black merchants had bought a sheep, and after it was killed a part of the meat was distributed among the slaves; some of it was offered to me, but I refused it, because meat always made me very thirsty; it had this effect upon the slaves who ate it, and unfortunately for them, their masters had no water left in the Gerbes. A boy came to me with a bone he had just been gnawing, and offered it to me, remarking that the best part of the meat was still remaining on it, if I would give him a drink of water for it; ‘my master,’ he added, ‘has sent to Gangerab with the Souakin people, and if his water-skins return filled, I faithfully promise to repay you the draught.’ The greediness of this little fellow in devouring his allowance of meat, together with his attempt to cheat me, by offering me the bone, and promising what he knew he could not perform, presented as complete a picture of the Oriental character in low life, as could be drawn: he failed however in his artifice, for I drank with my slave the last drop of water left in the skin.

We had a long afternoon’s march over the saline plain. I saw a Gazelle of the largest size, almost as tall as a stag, with long pointed horns. A Souakiny approached it near enough to throw his lance at it, but missed it. Towards sun-set we came in sight of Souakin, and halted near a small village, or rather encampment, after a day’s march of ten or eleven hours. The greater part of the merchants proceeded immediately to the town; but myself and companions thought it more prudent to enter it in the day time.

_June 26th._—We reached the invirons of Souakin at the end of two hours, and pitched our little sheds at about twenty minutes walk from the town.

_Souakin_ (سواكن) is situated at the extremity of a narrow bay, about twelve miles in depth and two in breadth. Towards the bottom of the bay are several islands, upon one of which the town itself is built, separated from its suburb, called El Geyf (القيف), which stands on the main land, by an arm of the sea about five hundred yards wide. The harbour is on the east side of the town, and is formed by a prominent part of the continent. The arm of the sea on the west side affords no anchorage for ships of any size. The islands, as well as the whole of the surrounding country, are sandy, and produce nothing but a few shrubs, or low acacias. The town upon the island is built in the same manner as Djidda; the houses have one, or two stories, are constructed of blocks of madrepores, and have a neat appearance; but the greater part of them are falling to decay; the suburb El Geyf, on the contrary, is rapidly increasing in size and population, and is now larger than the town itself. On the south-east side of the town, near the harbour, some ancient walls indicate the former existence of fortifications. It is within the precincts of these walls that the Aga resides, and the ships generally anchor just under the windows of his house. Two or three rusty iron guns lie dismounted upon the rubbish of the ruined walls, which at present afford not the slightest protection to the town. The Aga’s house is a mean building, but commands a fine view over the bay towards the sea; near it are some warehouses, and a wharf, at which were lying the shattered hulls of several small ships, for no body has here the means or skill to repair vessels when once damaged.

The number of houses in Souakin is about six hundred, of which two-thirds are in ruins, for the madrepore with which they are built soon decays, unless constantly kept in repair. The only public buildings in the town are three mosques. In the suburb El Geyf are a few houses of stone, built rather in the Soudan than Arabian style, having large courtyards; the other dwellings are formed of mats, like those of the Nubian Bedouins. El Geyf contains one mosque.

At half an hour’s distance from El Geyf are the wells which supply Souakin, the suburbs, and the shipping, with water; they are about a dozen in number, and within fifty yards of each other; near them stand a few Nebek trees. One of the wells is lined with stone, the others are mere holes dug in the ground. The water of a few of them is tolerable, but in none of them is it good. In the town are cisterns for holding rain water; but they are in ruins, and nobody will incur the expense of repairing them.

All those concerned in the maritime trade, and about the shipping, and those connected with the government, reside upon the island, while the native Arabs and the Soudan traders live in the Geyf, where the market is kept.

The inhabitants of Souakin, like those of all the harbours in the Red Sea, are a motley race; one principal class, however, is conspicuous; the forefathers of the chief families of the Arabs of Souakin were natives of Hadramout, and principally of the town of Shahher, the harbour of that country in the Indian ocean. They came hither, according to some, about a century ago; others state that they arrived soon after the promulgation of the Islam; it is from them that the collective population of the town has obtained the name of Hadherebe[69] with foreigners; but the inhabitants themselves draw a strict line of distinction between the true Hadherebe, or descendants of the natives of Hadramout, and the other settlers, whom they term Souakiny (سواكني). To the latter belong many individuals of the Bedouin tribes of Hadendoa, Amarer, the Bisharein, and others of Arabian and of Turkish origin. The former are intimately mixed with the Hadherebe, and retain their Bedouin names even in the town. Those of Turkish origin are, for the most part, descendants of Turkish soldiers, who, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, during the reign of Selim the Great, were sent here, after that emperor had conquered Egypt, to garrison Souakin, in the same manner as those who occupied Assouan, Ibrim, and Say. Many of them assert that their forefathers were natives of Diarbekr and Mosul; but the present race have the African features and manners, and are in no respect to be distinguished from the Hadherebe. There are at Souakin also a few Turkish merchants, masters of ships, refugees, &c. &c. descended from later settlers; but these have long forgotten the Turkish language, and are now connected both by interest and consanguinity with the descendants of the people from the towns of Arabia, who are numerous here, and who wear the dress of the inhabitants of the towns in the Hedjaz, and have all the customs and manners of that country. Thus two principal races of people are conspicuous in Souakin: 1. the Bedouins, who comprise the Hadherebe, Hadendoa, &c. &c., including the descendants of the ancient Turks: 2. the towns-people, who are either Arabs of the opposite coast, or Turks of modern extraction. The Bedouins intermarry among themselves; but it is difficult for a townsman to obtain a Bedouin girl; the daughters of the principal families are given to none but Bedouins. The latter inhabit the suburbs El Geyf; the towns-people live upon the island.

The government of Souakin is in the hands of the Emir el Hadherebe, who is chosen from among the first families of the tribe; these are five in number, and are distinguished from the others by the Bisharye word Orteyga, which means Patricians. The jurisdiction of El Geyf is in the hands of the Emir, but his authority over the Bedouins is trifling, though he presides in their councils. He is nominally dependent upon the Pasha of Djidda, but his conduct is regulated by the strength or weakness of his superior. When the Sherif Ghaleb held Djidda, and was hard pressed on all sides by the Wahabi, the Emir was quite independent of the Sherif; since the conquest of the Hedjaz by Mohammed Aly, Pasha of Egypt, he has entered into terms with the Pasha. He is confirmed annually in his office by whoever happens to be governor of Djidda, and is generally invested with the power of collecting in the Geyf the customs which the Hadherebe levy upon the caravans from the interior. For several years he had paid nothing for this privilege to the Sherif; at present his fear of Aly Pasha leads him to purchase the collectorship annually at the rate of about forty ounces of gold, or eight hundred Spanish dollars.