Part 48

The Emir has no insignia of royalty about him, except his yellow Turkish slippers, which, according to ancient custom, he is obliged to wear, and the small Takye, or Arabian bonnet; these form a singular contrast with his Bedouin dress; and as it is not thought decorous to wear the bushy Bedouin hair with the bonnet, he is obliged also to shave his head. He has two or three men attached to his establishment, as officers, or spies to find out the exact number of slaves and merchandize imported by every caravan. He resides in the Geyf, and is altogether different from the Shikh of the Hadherebe, who has nothing whatever to do with the Turkish government, being chosen merely for the administration of their internal affairs.

The Turkish government is represented in Souakin by a custom house officer, who lives on the island, and who bears the title of Aga. He commands the town, but his influence is greatly circumscribed by the power of the Hadherebe; it is at present even insignificant, and before the conquest of Arabia by Mohammed Aly it must have been held in great contempt. The Pasha of Djidda is also Waly (والي) or governor of Souakin, and has therefore the right to send a representative here; a right which has never been disputed by the Souakinese, although they preserve the tradition that Souakin, before it was annexed to Djidda, had its own Pasha, sent from Constantinople. The Aga has no other means of maintaining the little authority he possesses, than by living on good terms with the Emir, whom he either permits, or aids to extort sums from weak individuals in the Geyf, in order that he may receive the Emir’s assistance in the collection of the customs on the island. During late years the Aga has farmed the customs of the maritime commerce of Souakin, and has paid annually into the treasury at Djidda three thousand two hundred dollars for this privilege; it is supposed that he gains two or three thousand dollars a year by it, and that this sum might be doubled if the customs were strictly paid; but very little can ever be obtained from the Hadherebe, who are the richest individuals. The customs are levied upon all merchandize imported, principally India goods and spices destined for the Soudan markets, and upon all the imports from Soudan which are shipped at Djidda for other countries, consisting chiefly of slaves, horses, and tobacco; two dollars are paid on every slave, and three on every horse. Dhourra passes duty free, as do the articles which remain in Souakin.

The Aga is either re-appointed, or a new one sent, annually. The present Aga is a man of the name of Yemak (يمك), a native of Djidda, whose father was a Hadji from Mosul, settled in the Hedjaz. In the time of the Sherif, Yemak was the buffoon of the court, and a broker in the market of Djidda. When Mohammed Aly arrived, he ingratiated himself with the Osmanlis by means of his scanty knowledge of their language, and after having served the Turks as a mediator with, and spy upon the Sherif, he was appointed to his present situation. He is a man of the meanest disposition, and has rendered himself ridiculous by affecting to adopt the Osmanli customs in such a place as Souakin; the titles of Khaznadar, Selehdar, Kahwedji Bashy, Bash Keteb, &c. which are those of a Pasha’s officers of treasurer, sword-bearer, cup-bearer, chief secretary, &c.; are bestowed by him upon his miserable servants; young slaves wait on him, in imitation of Mamelouk boys, and he talks with as much consequence as a Pasha of three tails, intermixing his broad vulgar Arabic dialect with a few Turkish expressions. The Aga has five or six soldiers of the mercenaries of Yemen, such as are found in the service of the Sherif of Mekka and of all the chiefs of Arabia; they are paid by the Aga out of his own revenues; and they form the only garrison of Souakin, whence it may easily be conceived that the Turkish authority is little respected here. These soldiers hardly dare stir out of the island, for fear of being insulted; and the Aga himself, for obvious reasons, never enters the Geyf. When any disputes happen, the Hadherebe generally interfere, and the Aga is obliged to waive his authority. The Bedouins pay only half the customs levied upon other traders; and I have often heard them plainly tell the Aga that they had no money to pay more. The soldiers who, during the night, are put into the ships anchored under the Aga’s windows to watch for smugglers, frequently get a beating or a ducking: even the Aga is insulted in his own house; yet he bears it all with complacency, and tells the people that if he were not so much their friend, he would write thundering letters to the Pasha, and draw a terrible storm upon their heads. When the Bedouin who has insulted him is gone, he curses him behind his back in Turkish, and vents his rage upon his own servants: he one day said to me, when a Bedouin, who in the heat of dispute had called him a liar (انت كذاب), had just left the room, “You see me put up with these people; but they will at last learn to know the resentment of the Turkish government, for the vengeance of the Turks when once exerted is terrible. I continue to ward off the arm of vengeance from them, because if the Pasha were to send an expedition, the whole place would be ruined, and many innocent individuals would perish.” In fact, were it not for their secret apprehensions of such an expedition from Djidda, which might with the greatest ease suddenly fall upon them and destroy both towns, this people would, no doubt, throw off all submission, and publicly assert their independence. But the smallest brig of war might compel the place to surrender. About twenty or thirty years since a Pasha of Djidda sent hither a corps of about two hundred soldiers, who plundered the Geyf; they were afterwards besieged for some time by the Bedouins, in the governor’s house, and adjoining buildings, but they contrived at last to get off with their booty. The Wahabi, after the conquest of Mekka, sent two commissioners to Souakin, to exhort the people to embrace the doctrines of their chief; but they were not permitted to proceed to Geyf, and were obliged soon to re-embark. During the power of the Wahabi the people of Souakin were allowed to trade with Djidda; but Saoud, the Wahabi chief, who had seen several of them at Mekka, with their bushy hair white with grease, obliged them to cover their heads with a handkerchief, like the Arabian Bedouins.

The Hadherebe, and the Bedouins of Souakin, have exactly the same features, language, and dress, as the Nubian Bedouins. They are clothed chiefly in the Dammour imported from Sennaar; but the better classes of both sexes wear the Nubian shirt, made of Indian cambric; they have, however, one dress, which is seldom seen in other parts of Nubia; it consists of a long piece of cambric, one end of which is wrapped round the loins, while the other, thrown across the breast and left shoulder, hangs loosely down over the back, leaving the legs, and the greater part of the upper body, entirely naked: this is the favourite negligé of the Hadherebe; and if to it be added a handsome pair of sandals, three or four large amulets hanging over the left elbow, like those worn in the countries on the Nile, a sword and Korbadj in the hands, the thick and bushy hair white with grease, and a long wooden skewer sticking in it, to scratch the head with, the whole will afford a tolerable picture of a Souakin Bedouin. In general they have handsome and expressive features, with thin and very short beards. Their colour is of the darkest brown, approaching to black, but they have nothing of the Negroe character of countenance. They are a remarkably stout and muscular race.

The inhabitants of Souakin have no other pursuit than that of commerce, either by sea, or with Soudan. They export the commodities which they receive from the African continent, to all the harbours of the Hedjaz and Yemen, down to Mokha, but chiefly to Djidda and Hodeyda. In Djidda they have a quarter of the town allotted exclusively to themselves, where they live in huts made of rushes, like those of El Geyf. Many of the Hadherebe Bedouins, after visiting Sennaar, perform the journey to the Arabian coast, but others sell their African merchandize to the traders in Souakin, by whom they are exported to Arabia. Besides the articles of trade from Shendy and Sennaar; namely, slaves, gold, tobacco, incense, and ostrich feathers, no ship leaves Souakin for any part of the Arabian coast, without having its hold filled with Dhourra from Taka; and they furnish nearly the whole of the Hedjaz with water-skins, leathern sacks, and leather in hides; the water-skins are bought up in the five principal towns of the Hedjaz, as well as in the open country; the sacks are bought by the Bedouins only, who use them to carry their provisions in. These articles form a very profitable branch of trade, for as cattle in general is very scarce in the Hedjaz, from the want of pasturage, and as great numbers of water-skins are wanted for the pilgrims to Mekka, the skin sowed up is worth as much at Djidda as the sheep is worth at Souakin. They are also exported, but in smaller quantities, to the Yemen; and I have seen them in the market of Suez; they are preferred to all other water-skins, on account of the well-tanned leather and the excellence of the sewing. The hides are tanned as in Upper Egypt, and along the Nile with the pulse of the acacia, which I have frequently had occasion to mention (الجلود مدبوغين بالقَرَض El djeloud madboughin b’el karad.) All the Bedouins in the vicinity of Souakin, sell their hides in the market there, and take Dhourra in return. The leather and cow-hides which are exported to Djidda, are used in Arabia to make sandals; but the best hides imported into the Hedjaz come from Massouah. Souakin also exports _butter_[70] to Djidda. During the Hadj, both Mekka and Djidda principally depend upon Souakin and Massouah for this article; its consumption is very great in those places, where it is used by all ranks, and where the poorest man will expend half his daily income in order to have plenty of butter to his dinner, and that he may drink at least a quarter of a pound of it every morning for his breakfast. While I resided at Djidda butter rose to one half above its usual price, because two ships loaded with it from Massouah had sold their cargoes in the Yemen, instead of proceeding to Djidda. _Mats_ made of Doum-leaves, of which every ship takes a quantity; they are in general use throughout the Hedjaz and Yemen, where Doum trees are scarce, and where few people condescend to earn a livelihood by manual labour. The floors of the mosques at Mekka and Medina are covered with these mats, which are renewed almost annually by the donations of the pilgrims; and few Hadjis quit Mekka without taking with them a very small neatly made Souakin mat, in the shape of a carpet, for the purpose of kneeling upon when they pray. The mats are manufactured by the Bedouins in the mountains near Souakin. A small _shell-fish_, very common on the African coast, is also exported to Djidda. It is eaten chiefly by children and poor people; it is called Sorúmbak (سُرُمباق), and is supposed, from its astringent properties, to be a remedy for the dysentery. Dhourra, water-skins, and mats are exported also to Hodeyda, in the Yemen, which is the principal market for the horses brought by the Souakin merchants from the Nile countries. I have already mentioned that the Sherif of Yemen eagerly purchases African stallions to remount his cavalry; a horse worth about twenty-five dollars at Shendy, is sold at Hodeyda at one hundred or one hundred and fifty; but the risks are great, and many of the horses die during the passage from want of proper care on board the small country ships. Dromedaries of the Bisharye race, which is the finest in existence, are put on board the larger ships, and carried to Djidda. If they arrive safe, they are sold at from sixty to eighty dollars each, or about eight times the sum paid for them at Souakin; but half at least of those embarked die on the passage; the freight for each is ten dollars.

At Djidda the Souakin merchants purchase all the Indian goods wanted for the African markets, together with those articles of luxury which are in demand in Souakin; such as dresses and ornaments for the women, household utensils, and several kinds of provision for the table, such as Indian sugar, coffee beans, onions, and particularly dates, which are not produced in any part of Eastern Nubia. A good deal of iron is likewise imported from Djidda, for lances and knives; they are manufactured by common smiths, who are the only artisans I saw in Souakin, except masons and carpenters, and who furnish these weapons to all the Bedouins in a circuit of fifteen days journey.

Few foreign vessels, as I was informed, ever enter the harbour of Souakin except from stress of weather. The trade by sea is carried on principally with ships belonging to people of Souakin and Djidda, who are almost entirely occupied in sailing between the two coasts. No week passes without some vessel arriving from Djidda, or sailing for that port. During my stay only one ship sailed for Hodeyda, and another for Mokha, and nine for Djidda; the ship for Mokha was laden with a considerable part of the slaves who had come with us in the caravan from Shendy, for natives of Souakin are settled in most of the towns of the Yemen, where they act as agents for their countrymen. One ship arrived from Djidda, and a small boat from Loheya; there were besides four or five vessels in the harbour, bound for the Arabian coast. These ships are often manned by Bedouins, who are as expert in handling the rigging, as they are in tying the ropes of their camels loads; but the greater part of the sailors are Somaulys from the African coast lying between Abyssinia and Cape Guardafui, and who are the most active mariners in the Red Sea. The pilot is usually a man from Djidda or Yemen. The people of Souakin are active fishermen, and have a dozen small fishing boats constantly at sea. Fish is always found in the market, but very few Bedouins will touch it. Pearls are sometimes found in the neighbourhood by the fishermen. Souakin, upon the whole, may be considered as one of the first slave-trade markets in Eastern Africa; it imports annually from Shendy and Sennaar from two to three thousand slaves, equalling nearly in this respect Esne and Siout in Egypt, and Massouah in Abyssinia, where, as I afterwards learnt at Djidda, there is an annual transit from the interior of about three thousand five hundred slaves. From these four points, from the southern harbours of Abyssinia, and from the Somauly and Mozambik coast, it may be computed that Egypt and Arabia draw an annual supply of fifteen or twenty thousand slaves brought from the interior of Africa.

The market of Souakin is held in the Geyf, in an open space surrounded by huts, where almost the same articles are exposed for sale as at Shendy. All the surrounding Bedouins take from hence their supplies of Dhourra and Dammour, in exchange for hides; the selling of Dhourra to the northern Bedouins is very advantageous to the Hadherebe and Hadendoa, who have an exclusive intercourse with Taka. At the market of El Geyf I saw for the first time after four months, Dhourra loaves for sale; these with butter form the only food of the poor classes in the town. In all small concerns, the currency is Dhourra, which is measured by handfuls or with the same sized Moud as at Shendy: for greater bargains dollars are used. Neither the piastre, nor the para, nor the gold coins of Turkey are taken: but they have old paras cut into four parts, which are paid for articles of little value. Sales to a large amount are paid by Wokye, or the ounce of gold, which has its fixed value in dollars.

The manners of the people of Souakin are the same as those I have already described in the interior, and I have reason to believe that they are common to the whole of Eastern Africa, including Abyssinia, where the character of the inhabitants, as drawn by Bruce, seems little different from that of these Nubians. I regret that I am compelled to represent all the nations of Africa which I have yet seen, in so bad a light. Had I viewed them superficially I might have been scrupulous in giving so decided an opinion, but having travelled in a manner which afforded me an intimate acquaintance with them, I must express my conviction that they are all tainted more or less deeply with ill faith, avarice, drunkenness, and debauchery. The people of Souakin partake of these vices with their neighbours of the desert, and in cruelty surpass them. My not being ill treated by the Souakin merchants in the caravan must not be adduced as a proof of their kindness of disposition. The secret fears of the Turks, which the entrance of Mohammed Aly into the Hedjaz had generally inspired, together with the apprehension of being brought to an account, if it should be known at Souakin and Djidda, that an Osmanly[71] had been ill-treated by them, were probably a powerful protection to me, although not a motive sufficient to induce them to shew me the smallest kindness on the route. I do not recollect a single instance of their condescending to assist me in loading my camel, or filling my water skin, of interpreting for me, or of rendering me any of those little services which travellers are in the habit of interchanging: on the contrary, they obliged me, on different occasions, to furnish them with provisions and water; and in the evening their slaves were often sent to me to ask for a part of my supper for their masters, or to demand permission for the slave to eat with mine, under pretence that he had not had time to cook his supper. The intimacy of the people of Souakin with the Nubian Bedouins, and the unsettled state of their own government, have been the principal causes of their degenerating from the character of their Arabian ancestors. They have every where on the coast of the Red Sea, the character of avarice and ingratitude, or, to use the expression of an Arab of Yembo: “Though you give them water from the holy well of Zemzem to drink when they are thirsty, yet they will suffer you to choke with thirst even when their own wells are full” (حَتَّي اذا سقينهم من مأ زمزم فليخّلوك تموت من الظما و لو كان بير هم مليان); and this character is confirmed by the testimony of all those who have had an opportunity of observing them in their houses. At Souakin, the law of the strongest alone is respected, and it is impossible to carry on business without purchasing the protection of some powerful Hadherebe. Every day some bloody quarrel takes place among them. Their bodies, principally their backs, are covered with scars; and a man, far from being reproached as a murderer, prides himself in the number of persons he has slain in private quarrels, and the sums he has paid as the price of blood. Three or four years ago a slave belonging to one of the chiefs of the Hadherebe spread terror through the whole town. He was superior to every body in strength, as well as in courage and enterprise; and after committing the most horrible crimes, and murdering upwards of twenty persons, he quitted his master, who through fear still continued to protect him. He was at last killed by a youth, whose mother he had attempted to ravish. While I was sitting one day with the Aga, a poor sailor entered with a fresh sword-wound in his side, begging the Aga to protect him from a Hadherebe, who was attempting his life. The Aga advised him to make up the matter amicably, and gave him two measures of Dhourra to console him. Hospitality is as little known here as at Taka. Bouza huts and public women are as common as in any part of Nubia; but I do not believe that any Hadherebe woman dares openly to prostitute herself. The druggists shops in the market are kept exclusively by public women, who are Abyssinian slaves restored by their masters to liberty. All the women in El Geyf go unveiled; those who reside on the island are veiled, and clothed like the women of Arabia.

There is one coffee-house on the island, where all matters of importance are settled among the towns-people and the Hadherebe. The coffee is paid for in Dhourra. The communication between the Geyf and the island is by rafts; a handful of Dhourra is paid to the man who manages the raft; but even this trifling fare the Souakin people are seldom willing to pay; they strip, and fastening their cloak, sandals, and sword upon their head, they swim across the channel, in the same manner as the Egyptians cross the Nile. They are the most expert swimmers I ever saw, and are particularly skilful in keeping the body, as high as the top of the shoulder, in an upright posture in the water, while they work their way with their lower extremities, as if they were walking on firm ground, and almost as fast.[72]

The Bisharye language is generally spoken at Souakin; the Arabic, though understood by every one in the Geyf, is spoken there with a bad accent, but the inhabitants of the town speak it as their native language, and with the Djidda pronunciation. Among the neighbouring Hadendoas, who bring butter and sheep to the market of El Geyf, I saw many individuals entirely ignorant of Arabic.

The people on the island have a Kadhi, a Mufti, a public school, and two or three persons belonging to the corps of Olemas. The chief and richest man amongst them had filled the office of Aga during the time of the Sherif; he was now at the head of an opposition against the actual Aga, who was of Mohammed Aly’s appointment, and whose official acts his opponent had sufficient cause to censure. Before I left Souakin the Kadhi secretly called me to his house, and gave me a letter, which he entreated me to carry to the Hedjaz, and to deliver into Mohammed Aly’s own hands; it contained a statement of complaints against Yemak, and the Hadherebe; wherein the latter were described as rebels, and as having proved themselves to be such by not permitting the coin of Mohammed Aly and the piastres of Cairo to pass current in the place, and by not attending the Friday’s devotions, when public prayers were added for the Sultan and the Pasha. The complaints against Yemak were, that he made the Turkish name ridiculous, that he stood in too much fear of the Bedouins, and that he disgraced his office by his unnatural propensities.[73] The letter was altogether a curious composition; the most ridiculous titles were given in it to the Pasha; among others, he was styled Asad el barr wa fil el bahr (اسد البرّ و فيل البحر), the lion of the earth and the elephant of the sea. It was signed and sealed by a dozen supplicants; and although I did not deliver it myself in the Hedjaz, I took care that it was duly forwarded to the Pasha.

The inhabitants of Souakin use very few fire-arms, and few individuals in the Geyf dare fire a gun. They carry the same weapons as the Nubians, a sword, a lance, a target, and a knife. About a dozen horses are kept in the town; in war, the bravest men mount upon dromedaries and surprise the enemy. Almost every house in the Geyf possesses a dromedary. The Bedouins of the Geyf are as indifferent about religion as those of the desert; very few of them would be found, upon inquiry, to know how to pray in the Mohammedan form; and I was told that even the fast of Ramadhan is little attended to. In the town the inhabitants are as strict in their religious duties as sea-faring people usually are.

I calculate the whole population of Souakin at about eight thousand souls, of whom three thousand live upon the island, and the rest in the Geyf.