Themilitary force stationed in Kordofan consists of three battalions of the first regiment of the line, each battalion being composed of 1000 men, further of 800 Bedouin horsemen, called also Mogghrebeen, and of about 40 artillery men to serve the few guns employed in the slave-hunting expeditions; to this number about 200 men of the irregular Turkish cavalry were added, in the commencement of the year 1839. The latter troops were removed from Dongola to Kordofan, but for an indefinite time only; they were, indeed, expecting orders shortly to return to their former quarters. The staff is stationed at Lobeid, and the colonel of the regiment (the Bey) whom we have before mentioned, is both civil and military governor of the province. Two companies of the same regiment are quartered in Sennaar. This regiment was originally the first which Mehemed Ali formed of Negroes at Assuan in Egypt, and placed on European footing; hundreds of Egyptians have, at various times, been drafted into this corps, but they mostly fell victimsto the climate, or perished after a few years’ service in the razzias or slave-hunts. The entire garrison consists of blacks: it is, in fact, indispensably necessary that it should be so; for the white men cannot accommodate themselves to the climate. Among all Mehemed Ali’s troops, numbers of which I have seen in various parts of his dominions, I never met with a regiment so wretchedly equipped, so badly drilled, and so utterly deficient in discipline as the one in question. The soldiers wear only a white cotton uniform, and it would be injudicious indeed to clad them in cloth in this hot climate; but when we come to consider that the negroes, by nature not over addicted to cleanliness, do not trouble themselves with washing, and are not even provided for this purpose with soap, an expense they feel no inclination to defray from their own purses, and add to this that they are in the habit of anointing their bodies frequently with butter as a means for preserving their health, a pretty correct idea of a trooper of Kordofan may be formed. On meeting one of these foot-soldiers without his accoutrements a stranger is really at a loss how to classify him, and before he has thoroughly accustomed himself to the sight he would rather take him for a scarecrow than a soldier.[52]The accoutrements,like the regimentals, are not in the very best state; while the drill sergeants are as ignorant as the recruits, and quite inadequate to their task, with the exception that the latter have no conception of fire-arms; thus muskets may be seen on which Time has set his tooth in the literal sense, so weak in the barrel, not with over cleaning, but with over rust, that they would never stand a charge. Instead of a flint a piece of wood is frequently screwed into the lock, the soldier finding it far more judicious to sell the former to enable him to buy a little tobacco. To prevent desertion as far as it is possible, the government encourages the soldiers in marrying; they do not then live in barrack, but in separate huts of their own without the precincts. It must not, however, be imagined that there are barracks in Kordofan like those in Europe, or even in Egypt. Those at Lobeid consist of about fifty detached huts built irregularly, but surrounded with a fence of thorn; in the latter an aperture is left, guarded with the branch of a tree, which forms the gate. The interior arrangements correspond with the external appearance; beside the angarebs and the knapsacks of the men, there is not a single article of barrack furniture to be seen. There are three infantry barracks of this description in Lobeid. When the men mount guard, the women accompany them, or, if they happen to be unmarried, some of their comrades follow, carrying the straw mats and pipes of the detachment; forit is the first maxim among them to make their visit to the guard-room as pleasant and comfortable as possible. This rule extends even to the very sentry, who makes his duties as easy as he possibly can; he does not stand sentry, but sits down whilst on duty, and that the musket may not inconvenience him by its weight during this important time, he lays it down at a few paces distance. If an officer happen to pass by, the occurrence by no means disturbs his equanimity; the sentinel at the most rises, but shouldering or presenting arms is a mark of respect never heard of. In relieving guard they do not wait for orders or other arrangements, but as soon as the fresh detachment arrives, and the various posts have been relieved, every man walks quietly home with his straw mat and pipe under one arm, and his musket on the other, leaving it to his superior officers to manage every thing else.
Their drill and exercise is at the same low ebb as their garrison and field service. The recruits are drilled during a few weeks only; they are quick of conception, and with the exception of the Shilluks, very soon learn, but they as readily again forget what they have acquired, for they do not consider it worth their while to keep themselves in practice by repeated exercise. The drill is generally performed singly, they very seldom exercise in large detachments, and scarcely ever in companies. It is, therefore, not astonishing, that a battalioncannot execute the most simple movement with precision. I have seen the commanding-officer on a field-day not even able to bring his battalion to form a square; he had, in fact, to take each separate man by the arm, and lead him to the place where the square was to be formed, and yet this is the only manœuvre to which they are obliged to pay attention, because frequently put in practice in skirmishes, in warfare with their neighbours, or on those barbarous expeditions of slave-hunting. The intention of thisquarréis to place the troops in readiness to receive their enemy, who always attacks suddenly, sword in hand, because it was found by experience that single detachments sent in advance were literally cut up, notwithstanding the advantage Mehemed Ali’s regular troops enjoy in the possession of fire-arms. According to the present system, when an attack is expected, the troops form a quarré, and prepare to receive cavalry; sometimes the square is hollow, and all non-combatants, ammunition, and baggage, and frequently also the cavalry, are enclosed within its precincts. When the first shock has been sustained, and the enemy retreats in disorder, they deploy and pursue. The nature of the attack of the negroes has therefore induced the officers to have this manœuvre principally practised. Of other movements, such as advancing in column, marching in sections, wheeling to the right or left, forming detachments, defiling, or other necessary manœuvres, be they ever so simple, these soldiershave no conception, and should it ever enter the head of the inspector at a review to order one of them, it is executed with so much confusion, that the officer commanding has the greatest trouble in re-forming his battalion from the confused chaos. It is incredible how soon they forget every thing, for this regiment formerly had an excellent French preceptor, as lately even as the middle of the year 1837, at which period he was obliged to leave the country on account of ill health. The troops learn to shoot well; it is not, however, to be wondered at, considering the wretched state of their muskets, if the best shot frequently miss his aim. Ball practice, so essential a branch of service, is but rarely resorted to, and in this country, indeed, the soldier is treated more like a policeman than a military man, for his services are required for enforcing the payment of taxes, the arrest of prisoners, and for other duties generally devolving upon the constabulary.
It would, moreover, prove a very dangerous experiment to trouble the troops much with exercising and other matters of duty, and would be attended with an incurrence of the very worst of hazards. An officer dare not even venture to enforce his orders with the common rigidity of discipline; they would not only not be obeyed, but the officer offending in this manner must expect the worst. With kindness every thing may be effected with these semi-barbarians, whilst with harshness nothing is to be done; and toobtain obedience to an order in which their services are required, it is necessary either to rouse their ambition, or to persuade them by soft words. There is, therefore, a wide difference between these negro soldiers and the Egyptian troops. The latter, accustomed from infancy to be driven with a stick to their duties, cringe before an officer, like a worm upon the ground, in presentiment of the punishment they are to undergo; whereas the negro who has been reared in liberty boldly faces his superior, whilst awaiting his command. When he has received his orders, provided his sense of dignity or freedom be not impeached, the officer may rely upon their being punctually executed. But woe betide themartinetwho should venture to force a soldier by harsh words or ill-treatment to the performance of his duty! His life would be endangered from that moment, and a revolt amongst the whole troops might prove of the most serious consequence, as has already been the case. The Turkish officers are well aware of this, and are very careful not to say or do anything that might irritate the negro soldiers.
The pay is the same as that of all other Egyptian troops, namely, twenty paras (two-pence) per diem, and a ration consisting of bread, meat, and butter in abundance; but for their actual pay they have to wait frequently a whole twelvemonth, and their arrears are then liquidated with slaves or camels.
It frequently happens on these occasions that a son receives his father or his brother instead of payment.It might be imagined that this would be considered a fortunate occurrence by both parties, and that the slave would, as a natural consequence, be liberated; but this is by no means the case, for the soldier has usually incurred a debt on his arrears, and in the distribution of pay two troopers very often become co-proprietors of one full-grown slave. Thus little regard can be paid to filial or fraternal affection; the soldier can only delay the sale of his father or brother for a few days, but it must eventually take place. Officers themselves have told me, that these scenes are of frequent occurrence, and that it would move the heart of the most unfeeling man to pity, to behold a son or brother concluding the bargain with the Djelabi for his near relative, when they are forced to part for ever.
The soldiers’ boys receive pay from the day of their birth, and having attained their eleventh year, are drafted into the ranks as drummers or pipers; when they subsequently increase in strength they advance to the musket. On the whole, a military anarchy may be almost said to reign predominant; and it is indeed an arduous undertaking for the colonel to keep order among these undisciplined troops. Their present commander, however, appears to be better fitted to the task, and also to have the design of paying greater attention to the subject; for he insists upon a more rigid discipline, but will tolerate no ill-treatment; and I am convinced that he is most likely to succeed in bringing about animproved subordination, as everything may be expected from the negroes by stimulating their ambition.
The Bedouins, those children of the desert, enticed by vain promises from their native plains, to them still dear, though neglected by nature, are to be pitied indeed; for they have but slight hopes of ever being able to return to their homes; receive a miserable pay after waiting for it for a long time, like the rest of the troops; and are expected to find themselves in clothing, horses, and accoutrements out of their own pockets. Their sheikh must supply all deficiencies, and if a man lose his horse is forced to procure him another, whilst the Bedouin has to resign all claims on pay, until the sum the new animal cost is defrayed; and thus it often happens that the poor fellow must serve during three or five years gratuitously. The government allows no compensation, even if the horse be killed on actual service. It will now be understood what kind of services may be expected from these men. Although they are not deficient in personal valour, in cases where it is required, and are certainly equal to the rest of the troops in courage and bravery, if they do not surpass them; yet they never confidently meet the enemy, as a natural consequence of this absurd system, for they are always thinking of their horses, on these occasions, and often take to flight at the most decisive moment, to avoid sustaining a loss. It has frequently even happened on slave-huntsin which service they are generally employed, that the van-guard, on being surprised by the enemy, has turned to the right about in disorderly flight, and thrown the infantry, by which it was to be supported, into confusion; so that the latter were obliged to retreat in all haste, and to form again, in order to stand the charge of the pursuing enemy. If the government were to treat the Mogghrebeen like the rest of the cavalry, and when they had lost a horse in service, were to provide them with another, or at least to allow some proper indemnification, they would prove a far more efficient body of men. This corps is, moreover, not treated as it deserves; for if one of them happen to be on the sick list he is not even admitted into the infirmary. Certainly, as far as my experience bears me out, they are far better off in this respect than those who have the misfortune to be received into the hospital at Lobeid, whilst under the direction of medical men who have pursued the whole course of their studies from beginning to end at Abusabel.[53]There is more discontent among these Bedouins or Mogghrebeen, as they are also termed, (although they constitute the less number of the body,) than in any other corps. The greater part of them are quartered at Lobeid, the rest are distributed over the country, where they perform a species of gens d’armes duty. The circumstance oftheir being used by the government as catchpolls, and the excess of which they are frequently guilty in their ill-humour and discontent, render them obnoxious to the natives, and they themselves take no pains to heal the breach or to remove this ill impression. They are of robust constitution, and can defy the climate and all weather. An instance presenting the opportunity of convincing myself of their capability of bearing more than ordinary men came under my own observation. It appears, indeed, an adventureá la Münchhausen, but I can vouch for the truth, for I was not the only person present at the time, but several thousands witnessed the feat:—The governor held a review of all the troops prior to a march, the occasion was a slave-hunt. After inspecting the Mogghrebeen, he commanded them to dismount; in the confusion attending this movement, a horse broke loose and ran away. Some of the men pursued it on horseback, whilst others endeavoured to catch it on foot: and thus it happened that a Bedouin who tried to stop the animal came in collision with it, his forehead, indeed, striking the front of the horse. Both man and beast instantly fell, the horse dead on the spot, but the man survived the shock for several days.
Their arms consist of a long gun, two pistols, and a sabre; their colours are a green silk flag, which they regard as sacred, and two kettle-drums attached to the saddle-bow of the drummers arebeaten on a march by way of music, which is, of course, very monotonous. These troops are irregulars, and their attacks are always made with impetuosity, and in the greatest disorder. Hence the first moment is decisive, whether they shall keep the ground, or seek their safety in a precipitate flight.
The third detachment of troops, stationed in Kordofan, consists of about forty men of artillery. I have been present at their ball practice, and have, therefore, had the opportunity of convincing myself of their performances. Of fifty balls scarcely one hit the target, and even the successful shot must be ascribed to perfect chance, for the men have not the slightest conception of charging or pointing their guns. The pieces of ordnance are in a most lamentable condition; the carriages, warped by the excessive heat, give no firmness to their bearings, and the officers and men have no idea of remedying the defect. Repair is totally out of the question, and thus these field-pieces are dragged about from place to place, as long as it is possible, when their services are required, charged, pointed at hazard at the object against which they are employed, and fired without further consideration. The effect of their balls may be easily guessed; during the first slave-hunts, when they attacked a hill, several shots were generally fired at an object without one ball ever taking effect. The negroes were, indeed, alarmed at the terrible report, and even put to therout; but they soon became accustomed to the noise, and, subsequently, paid but little attention to it, when they perceived no other effect than noise and smoke. The artillery men are all Turks, and when they are enlisted at Cairo no one questions what their prior occupation consisted in; it is, in fact, all the same whether they were shoemakers or tailors by trade, they are enrolled as artillery, and must, henceforth, act in that capacity.
The military, in general, have a great deal to suffer, for, besides being hated by the people, as the executioners of the cruel punishments to which the poor natives are frequently condemned by the government, they do not lead the most agreeable life themselves, inasmuch as they are only paid once a-year. They are obliged to serve for the term of their natural lives, and are nothing but slaves in the strictest sense of the word. If a man fall sick, he is, indeed, admitted into the hospital, but this is a perfect place of horror to the soldier, for, as soon as he enters the infirmary, he may make his will and prepare for his latter end, so few are fortunate enough to escape with their lives. It would really be more humane to allow the soldiers to cure themselves after their own fashion; and I am convinced that the majority of those literally murdered by the doctors and apothecaries from sheer ignorance, would be yet living to put them to the blush. Before I was aware of the frightful mortality in the hospitals, I expressed my sorrowfor the poor Mogghrebeen who are refused admission, and severely censured the government for its cruelty; but I subsequently convinced myself that they have every reason to think themselves fortunate in not being received into those houses of slaughter. I procured, indeed, the bills of mortality of the regiment, and that of the corps of Mogghrebeen, compared the number of deaths amongst the three thousand troops of the line and the number of patients in the hospital, with those of the eight hundred men, Bedouins, who receive no medical relief, but cure themselves by domestic remedies, and found a result of twenty-seven per cent. of deaths among those killed in the hospital above the rate of mortality of the Mogghrebeen, who are left entirely to themselves. The Egyptian doctors and apothecaries, scarcely escaped from the elementary schools and placed on their own footing, treat the sick soldiers like cattle, never dream of diagnosis, prescribe whatever enters their heads, and care very little whether they save a man’s life or murder him.
The hospital consists of a few hovels of clay, covered with a straw roofing; they are ill-ventilated, and, in the wet season, the rain beats in upon the sick soldiers through the narrow windows, as they are not furnished with glass; the cold nights, moreover, prove very severe trials, especially to those who are suffering from small-pox. The invalid lies on an angareb, and is left to hisfate. The medical man hurries through the whole hospital in one single visit, which he pays after sunrise, prescribes what he has been reading up for the occasion at home, without inquiring into the disease, and every order is given on the principle of “Allah kerim!” I have several times had the opportunity of convincing myself of the unparalleled neglect with which the hospital patients are treated, for, on my arrival at Lobeid, I found but one European medical man, Dr. Iken, a native of Hanover, who was too ill to do duty, and shortly afterwards died. It is a common saying, that an apothecary is no physician, and,vice versâ; but we know by experience that there are many apothecaries who are sufficiently well educated to be able to prescribe a remedy in cases of urgent necessity; we may, however, form an idea of the want of medical knowledge of an Arabian apothecary, when the doctor of medicine is himself ignorant, and we may also guess what the poor patients who fall into their hands have to expect or suffer between them. In Europe, the sick soldier is desirous of being admitted into the hospital, because he is convinced that he will there receive speedy and certain relief. In Lobeid, the contrary is observed, for the invalided men are obliged to be dragged to the infirmary by force, because they stand in so much awe of this terrible place, that every disease increases as soon as they know that theyare to enter the establishment; and thus the greater number keep their sufferings secret as long as they possibly can. The apothecary who performed the duty of the medical man in the infirmary paid his visit once daily, and, on his arrival there, it depended, properly speaking, on the nurses what medicines the patients should take. Of these subordinate functionaries, even, there was a great deficiency, for, as fast as they arrived from Cairo, they were taken off their duties and employed by the doctor and apothecary in private practice; for by these means they were enabled to earn more than their pay, for which they always had to wait twelve months. This extensive apothecary, who acted in the capacity of pharmaceutist and medical man, usually commenced a categorical conversation with the nurse, without seeing any one of the patients; the following dialogue took place during one of my visits to the establishment.
Apothecary.—“How is No. 1?”
Nurse.—“He is still feverish.”
Apoth.—“It cannot be helped, for I have not had a drachm of quinine for several months past, and I have no other febrifuge; he will get better in time without physic. How is No. 2?”
Nurse.—“He died last night.”
Apoth.—“And is No. 3 no better?”
Nurse.—“He wants nothing further, for in two or three days he will be dead.”
Apoth.—“How is No. 7?”
Nurse.—“I don’t understand his complaint. The patients tell me he has not been able to sleep for the last four nights; he has no appetite, and is continually vomiting.”
Apoth.—(Making up some tincture of opium, which he gives to the nurse.)“There, that is to make him sleep. I know nothing about the other symptoms. What does No. 8 say for himself? has his dysentery diminished?”
Nurse.—“No, it has rather increased, and it will probably be all over with him this evening, so he wants nothing more; but No. 9 may be discharged to-day.”
Apoth.—“How is No. 35?”
Nurse.—“I think he ought to be bled, for the inflammation increases.”
Apoth.—“I will have nothing at all to do with venesection, for I might be placed in the same unpleasant position as Dr. Ali Effendi, from whose pay three hundred piasters were deducted, because he divided the artery in performing the operation, and the soldier was invalided. Is there no increase?”
Nurse.—“Three patients; two fevers, and I don’t know what is the matter with the third, but my comrades think it is gout.”
From this short dialogue, we may conclude how the hospital at Lobeid is managed, and what condition the poor patients who are sighing for relief must be in. No medicine, no attention, and ahard couch! My heart misgave me every time I entered this place of misery, and saw the cool deliberation with which the poor sick soldiers are murdered, in the strictest sense of the word. If the other inhabitants of Lobeid died in the same ratio, the capital of Kordofan would be totally depopulated in less than fifty years.
Thetwo seasons prevailing in this country and so strongly defined, are the chief reason why the ground does not yield as many products as might be obtained by the assistance of art; for, if field and garden fruits were cultivated with the utmost care during the dry season, no success could be expected, as there is a total want of water wherewith to irrigate the plants, and, in the wet season, the rain beats down with such force that it would wash all small plants out of the earth; hence agriculture is confined to articles which thrive without much attention, and proceed quickly to maturity. I have no doubt that, if wells were sunk and large reservoirs excavated to collect, during the rainy months, the quantity of water necessary for the irrigation of the soil during the ensuing dry season, many vegetables might be produced which it is now quite impossible to rear. There are no running streams, and the few small lakes, or rather ponds, met with in the country, are not supplied with water throughout the year, and are,moreover, very inconsiderable when compared with the extent of arable land.
Horticulture is limited to certain spots, and, excepting at Bara and some other small villages, where there is plenty of water, no gardens are to be seen in the whole province. The wants of the natives who live in fixed places of residence are not such as they may supply by cultivating gardens; and the frequent change of residence is a yet greater hindrance to the nomades from occupying themselves with tillage of the ground. The blame, however, is chiefly to be attributed to the government, who would lay their hands upon the harvest, or levy large contributions upon it, which the natives would not be able to pay. When the Egyptians first took possession of the country, under the Defturdar, they found merely dokn, a little douhra, water-melons, bamíyeh, meluchia (lentils), onions, and tobacco. The Defturdar’s army, therefore, suffered greatly from want of provisions, until it was supplied from the stores in the north, and the necessary articles of consumption were subsequently produced in the country. Since these times, the Turks, who have become residents, and the Dongolavi have cultivated gardens, in which they now grow wheat, bedingajoti[54](Poradies-üepfel[55]), small beans, radishes, celery, dill, and garlic; some vineyards have been planted, as also pomegranates,lemon trees, Indian and common figs. In the larger plantations sim-sim, ful-Darfûr (beans from Darfour), rice, and cotton are grown. It is, however, by mere chance if garden fruits, or green vegetables, are ever seen exposed for sale in the market place at Lobeid; weeks frequently pass without any such luxuries coming to sight, for the gardeners are very far backward in their art, and take but little pains to produce any plants. The natives, in fact, leave the cultivation of the gardens, like everything else, to chance, and do not give the vegetation the slightest assistance, so that it is really by mere hazard if anything thrive. Should the traveller wish to obtain vegetables for his own consumption during his residence in this country, he must make a kind of agreement with the proprietor of a garden to deliver the produce of the season at his house; for to wait for what might be exhibited in the market, would be, indeed, to wait in vain, as such an exhibition is, in the first place, according to my former statement, of very rare occurrence, and vegetables are only offered publicly for sale when all the private consumers are supplied, and there is a surplus of one or the other production. The vegetables indigenous in temperate climates are not of the same succulent quality in this country, partly because they are not properly attended to, and partly because the tropical climate causes them to grow too luxuriantly to arrive at the same state of perfection in which we obtain them in Europe. Grapes ripen twicein the year, but the leaves must be gathered off the vines, or all the sap will be exhausted by the foliage and tendrils, and no grapes will be formed. Those which ripen in the month of August are very watery, those, on the other hand, which come to perfection at the end of December are very sweet. A great number of lime-trees are planted in the gardens, but the lemons are too small, have but little juice and acidity, and are quite exsiccated in a few days after they have been gathered from the trees. The orange tree produces no fruit, for it is not suited to the climate. Indian (cactus) and Syrian figs bear fruit, but not of the best quality. The same observation applies to other garden productions: they have not the flavour that might be expected, and do not in general attain their full size, for all plants form too much leaf to produce sound and good fruit. Thus even onions are too sweet in taste, of small dimension, and without the slightest acridity. Salad is not to be met with. The water-melons, which are chiefly cultivated in Dar-Hammer, are not of an agreeable flavour. The fruit of the few date-trees to be seen in the province ripens during the rainy season, is, consequently, very watery, and will not keep for any time, like the dates of Egypt, but decomposes shortly after it is gathered. Sim-Sim is largely cultivated, whence the natives express an oil used in the preparation of their pomatum; for they never burn oil, and, if they wish to illuminate their tukkoli at night-time, light a wood-fire. Wheatis grown in some few places, but only in small quantities, and in the dry season, indeed, by artificial irrigation; a sufficient supply for the few Turkish residents during a few months is, however, merely, produced, and even they are obliged to eat dokn-bread during the greater part of the year. This description of corn is very dear, and cost, in the year 1838, two hundred piasters (£2 18s.4d.) the ardeb; whilst in Egypt the value of the same quantity rarely exceeds the sum of thirty or sixty piasters. Only the Bakkara cultivate rice on the borders of the lakes Arrat and Pirget, but it differs totally from the variety generally met with in commerce; for it is small in grain, and of unpleasant flavour. The greater quantity of rice consumed in Kordofan, by the Turks more especially, is imported, therefore, from Egypt. Cotton is grown in very inconsiderable quantities, in proportion to the demand for this article; in fact, not one-third of the quantity consumed in the manufacture of their calicoes. It is of the finest quality, and resembles that of Sennaar,[56]well-known in the trade in Europe. The fibre is rather longer than that of the Makko[57]variety. I have often enquired of the natives, why they do not attach more importance to the cultivation of plants, which would prove of so much advantage to them, since they are at present necessitated to purchase the calico required for their simple clothing at a very high price; but they always answered me, they werewell aware that the growth of cotton was very profitable, but they had no desire to work for the soldiers of the government, as they knew very well that they would leave them little or none of the cotton produced, and they should therefore be obliged to buy the cloth for their own consumption as they do at present; hence they save themselves the labour. Indigo would thrive very well in various parts of Kordofan,—for it grows spontaneously in some districts,—and its cultivation would prove a source of great profit to the government. Experiments have been already made, and have furnished indigo of a quality superior to that of Egypt; but the government pays no attention to this subject, and the natives are far too ignorant to stumble upon an object of so much importance without a hint from some kind friend.
All the articles above mentioned are reared in gardens, the cultivation of which is entrusted to slaves. The irrigation is effected artificially by means of draw-wells. As soon as the rainy season is at an end, every native hastens to put his garden in order, which during the former period had been, as it were, lying fallow; for if any one were to venture to sow or plant during the period of the rains, he must expect everything either to be washed out of the earth by the violent showers, or to rot before it arrived at maturity. Very few articles are, therefore, cultivated, and these merely where the position of the land is suitable. The absolute tillage, or treatment of the soil, requiresbut slight trouble, for the clods of earth are simply broken by means of a short-pointed stick, beaten into mould with a rather thicker staff, and then levelled with the hand, or with the same instrument. The seed is now sown, and covered with a little earth; and small furrows are made in the various beds, which are daily watered from a draw-well. Agriculture, in general, is confined to dockn, a species of field-fruit which may be compared to the millet, from which it however differs in the circumstance that the stalk, with the inflorescence, attains the height of seven or eight feet. It is the only species of grain used by the inhabitants of Kordofan and the bordering countries, and is indispensable to them for their bread. It is a very exuberant and profitable plant, and is cultivated everywhere throughout the whole province. The fields in which the dockn grows are generally very large, and many of them are situated in the forests. To render these woodland tracts arable, the trees are hewn down to the height of a man; by the next year they are dry—when fires are lighted, the stems being burnt at the same time with the brushwood. These fields do not require as much labour and attention as our corn-fields. The natives are not acquainted with the plough, the harrow, or, in fact, with any other civilized engine of husbandry; a single falciform piece of iron, pointed at either extremity, and furnished in the centre with a staff, answers the purpose of all necessary implements. This instrument is called a hashash, and is to be found in every hut;thus all the agricultural utensils of a Kordofanese peasant cost twenty paras (little more than three-halfpence). After the fall of the first rain the grass is raked up in the fields, and preparations are made for sowing, an occupation requiring the services of two persons only; the one walks before the other, making, at about every two paces, a hole with the hashash in the sandy soil, in which his companion each time places a few seeds, and then treads down the hole with his right foot. This operation is performed with extraordinary rapidity. The ensuing rain imparts to the ground the necessary moisture, and as soon as the rainy season terminates the fruit ripens. The chief condition for a successful harvest is, that an over abundance of rain do not injure the seed, and on this account the field should be situated on a declivity, that the water may run off; but if too little rain fall, a failure is likewise the result. With the straw the natives build their tukkoli; the remainder is consumed as food by the cattle. The grain is thrashed out in the field, laden upon camels or oxen, and brought into the village, where it is shot into pits lined with straw mats, and subsequently covered over with sand. The latter proceeding is chiefly for the purpose of securing the produce from the over-abundant vermin, and frequently also from the rapacity of the government.
Besides this species of grain a small quantity of douhra may be met with, and I doubt very muchwhether a species of corn of the temperate zone might be cultivated with more profit or with the same facility as the dockn. It happens, however, in some years that the necessary quantity is not grown, and then whole villages are frequently necessitated to betake themselves to the woods, and live upon the egelit,[58]a fruit of the size of a plum, of a yellowish colour, and pulpy consistence, which has not an unpleasant flavour. Kordofan is altogether blest with many useful trees notwithstanding its poverty in other respects, and an addition might be made to their number with very little artificial aid, were the inhabitants not too lazy and too stolid to engage with energy in any undertaking, whilst the government, on the other hand, only directs its attention to those objects which return an immediate profit.
Among the most useful trees growing without cultivation, must be reckoned: the gum-tree, the tamarind, the beautiful tabaldi, and the egelit before mentioned. The gum-tree (mimosa Nilotica) as it is termed in books, merits a different denomination in Kordofan, for the shape of the tree, its leaves and spines, differ materially from those of the mimosa Nilotica, properly so called. The latter tree yields common gum only, whereas that of Kordofan is of the finest description, so that it is erroneously distinguished by the name of gum-Arabic.In some parts of the country, the mimosa forms whole forests of vast extent; but the district of Bara furnishes the largest quantity of gum. The harvest is modified by the annual fall of rain, for, if it rain much, the trees sweat the more. The gum exudes from the bark of the stem and large branches, nearly in the same manner as the resinous exudation from the cherry-trees of Europe. In digging for a beetle, I casually observed that the gum proceeds from the root also. Sennaar, which is situated under the same degree of latitude as Kordofan, yields a far less quantity of this product. The gathering takes place a few months after the rain, in the months of December, January, and February, it is an exceedingly profitable affair to the government, and therefore a monopoly. But even in this undertaking, the Egyptians act with unparalleled neglect, and do not interfere when they see whole forests of gum-trees hewn down, and the ground converted into dockn fields, although immense tracts of the country far better adapted for arable land remain uncultivated, by making use of which, the gum-trees would be spared. But the government does not trouble itself about such trifles, it merely scrapes together that which comes within its reach without paying the slightest attention to ulterior consequences. Of the plantation of young trees and the extirpation of such as are unprofitable, it has no idea, nature must attend to that business.
The Garrat,[59]whose pod is employed in tanning,and the tamarisk (tamarindus Indica) are likewise frequently seen in the province, but not in the same abundance as the gum-tree. The pods of the tamarind are collected and trodden into the form of cakes, which are dried, and either kept for domestic use or converted into commodity. A large quantity of this production is consumed in the country. This tree suffers greatly by the locusts; for sometimes the inflorescence, sometimes the fruit, is totally devoured by these destructive insects, and in those years, there is, of course, a scarcity of this fruit in many villages.
The Tabaldi is one of the most beautiful specimens of the vegetable kingdom indigenous in this country. When in blossom, the majestic tree is nearly covered with flowers, resembling those of the double red hollyhock, and, at a distance, gives the idea of hills covered with roses, while the eye rests with delight on so beautiful an object. It blooms at the commencement of August: the sarcocarp is three-quarters of a foot in length, interiorly divided into many cells, each of which includes a stone. The fruit is of a pleasing acidulous flavour, but causes diarrhoea in those who are not accustomed to eat it; it is, however, also employed for allaying dysentery; but, to produce this opposite effect, it must be eaten in large quantities. The stems of these trees measure sometimes more than forty feet in circumference, and the wood is as hard as ebony; their age may be estimated at thousands of years. Ofthe fruit of the Doum palm[60]and fan-shaped palm,[61]the outer skin is eaten, and a kind of syrup is also obtained from them.
Besides the trees above-mentioned, there is an innumerable variety of plants which spring up from the ground in full luxuriance after the first rain, and convert the whole province into a most beautiful flower-garden. I am too little versed in botany to be expected to give a full description of all the plants found in the country, more especially as there are many species not yet mentioned in any botanical work; but I am convinced that Kordofan would prove a very interesting field to any botanist who would take the trouble to explore it by travelling there for a lengthened period. Dr. Rueppell and Mr. Kotschy spent too short a time in the country, and visited, moreover, too few places to be able to make valuable collections.
The animal kingdom affords a no less fertile source of instruction and amusement in this country. Among domestic animals we have the horse, the camel, the ass, the mule, the cow, the sheep, the goat, the dog, the cat, fowls and pigeons; and of wild beasts: lions, giraffes, leopards, panthers, two varieties of hyænas, jackals, about ten species of antelopes, some of which are not yet known in Europe: further, monkeys, three varieties of wild cats, hares, hedge-hogs, black and yellow mice, rats, andmany animals yet unknown, are to be met with in Kordofan; elephants and rhinoceroses are rare; occasionally, however, one or the other of these animals may be seen on the borders of the country. The province is very rich in specimens of reptiles, and the boa may also be found.
The country abounds in insects of every description, many of which are analogous, or very similar, to those of Senegal. A good harvest may be made a month before the rain, during the whole of that season, and at the most a month after it; during the remainder of the year all trouble to find single specimens even is in vain. Collecting insects formed one of my chief occupations during the whole of my travels, and my labours were rewarded in a very extensive display of the various specimens of the insects of Kordofan: so complete a collection was, in fact, never yet brought from that country to Europe. Entomology might have been benefited by the addition of many new species, and years must transpire before so copious a collection will again reach Europe, for few men will be able to stand eleven months of this unhealthy climate. I have shed millions of drops of sweat in my pursuit, and looked like one who had been scourged after every excursion, from the scratches I received from the thorns, with which most of the shrubs and trees of this country are furnished. I defied all weather and every species of danger in forming this cabinet: but, unfortunately, all my trouble, together with the advantages entomologymight thence have reaped, are totally lost—thanks to those barbarians of the lazaretto at Trieste, who allowed my whole collection, consisting of several consignments, to spoil. In butterflies the country is very poor, but there are more than a hundred different species of flies.
Among the feathered tribe there are birds of the most beautiful plumage in this province, and many European varieties, even those of Germany, hibernate here. The grey water-wagtail may more especially be met with in myriads. The desert, the woods, even the huts in the villages, are filled with these beautiful creatures, which delight the eye with their magnificent colours, and the ear with their charming song. It is, indeed, impossible to form a conception of the spectacle they afford without having seen it. New species arrive with every month, whilst others migrate until the proper season recalls them. Eagles, vultures, parrots, colibris, a variety of aquatic birds, ostriches, black storks, and the ibis, considered holy by the ancient Egyptians, are to be here met with; the latter two varieties are the chief birds of Kordofan. A large aquatic bird saved me a great deal of trouble in collecting shells in the marshes. If I descried one of these birds in the vicinity of a pond, I had only to retreat to a distance of about fifty paces from it, and to watch its movements. It dived beneath the water, and always brought up one of the conchylia in its beak, which resembles that of the woodpecker,and laid it on the sand at a distance of a few paces from the water. Its prize consisted of a larger or smaller number of these shells according to their size. It generally collected about twelve on one spot, but as these conchylia are bivalvular, and the one shell is so firmly connected with the other that they can only be opened with a knife, it had to wait until the rays of the sun performed the office for it. He continually walked round the spot where he had deposed his prey, and kept his eye upon it. As soon, however, as one of these mollusca opened its shell he instantly inserted his beak, to prevent it from closing it again, and tore it asunder with his claw. I never disturbed him in his work, for he saved me the trouble of destroying the animal and clearing the shell, which, as I knew by experience, he seldom entirely separates.
Kordofan can enumerate no running streams; the fula (ponds) and small lakes nearly all dry up during the hot season, and yet fish, differing in variety and size, are to be found in this province. At first, I could not understand this apparent anomaly, and the explanation given me by the natives, that the fish hide themselves in the mud, appeared to me very unsatisfactory, for it becomes in time, so hard that a heavily laden waggon might pass over it, and the spawn of the fish remaining would, of course, be soon destroyed by the rays of the sun. The natives, however, firmly believe that the fish are preserved under ground, and come to life again in three orsix months’ time, when the rain has softened their bed. I, of course, could not give credence to this version of the story, but casually made a discovery likely to throw a light upon the subject. I one day shot a wild duck, and having gutted it, proceeded to prepare it for dinner; in examining the intestines, I found a quantity of fish eggs. Is it not, therefore, probable that the aquatic birds, which set out on their migration immediately after having gorged themselves with spawn on the White Nile, and take to the water again on their arrival in Kordofan, discharge one half of their prey in an undigested form, and that thus the fish are shortly hatched?
The horses are not very excellent, or of pure Arabian blood, but a half-breed between Dongola horses and those of Berber and Darfûr; they are not, indeed, as well built as the pure Arabians, but are, nevertheless, fleet, and exceedingly hardy. The natives, more especially the Bakkari, pride themselves on their steeds, and give them milk to drink as long as they live, which they say renders them very strong, and capable of enduring the greatest fatigue. The other inhabitants of Kordofan also offer their horses milk until they are four years old, and not until they have attained that age do they feed them on grass. The dockn forms their substitute for oats. The sheikhs of the Bakkara, seem nearly grown to their horses, and are scarcely ever seen without them. They are of the utmost service to them, in their warsamong themselves, and against their neighbours; but more especially in capturing slaves. Their remarkable fleetness renders them very useful in catching giraffes, and ostriches even; but on the whole there are not so many horses to be met with in this country as in the other provinces under the sway of the Viceroy.
The most valuable gift nature has bestowed on the hot climates of Africa, is undoubtedly the camel. The value of these animals to the country is beyond calculation, independently of their utility in carrying loads, which no other beast, except the elephant, could bear, or would even be capable of drawing. The food of the camel causes the drivers but little care, for contented with the worst produce of the desert plains, namely, with thistles or a few leaves, this animal will hold out for four days without feeding, and even eight days without drinking, and yet it suffers no appreciable loss of strength. Its paces are very sure, and it scarcely ever falls, hence all goods, be they ever so fragile, may be more safely transported by camels than they could possibly be by any other animal, or by waggon. For loading or unloading, the camel bends down, as it does also for the convenience of the rider, when about to mount. If the load be too heavy, it instantly gives notice of the circumstance to its driver by its groans. It requires no whip, and keeps up its slow but progressive march without ever breaking from the same pace. A laden camel will performeight miles in two hours. In the cool of the morning or evening, and when cheered up by the songs of the drivers, these animals become more lively, and increase their paces to one third of their speed. Their organs of sight and smell are very acute, for they scent the vicinity of water at a distance of half a day’s journey or further, and make it known by snuffing with the upper lip, in sign of pleasure. By night they perform the office of a watchful dog; for if a man, or an animal approach the caravan, or a wild beast give tongue even at a great distance, the camels instantly perceive it, prick their ears, and stretch their long necks towards the suspected quarter, to draw the attention of their keepers to the interruption. Of no less utility is the dromedary, a camel of more slender build, and broken in for riding. It was formerly an erroneous hypothesis that the dromedary was a different animal from the camel, and the former was generally depicted with two humps; but this is a fallacy, for the dromedary is nothing but a camel, and the variation in the name is merely made use of by the inhabitants of the East to indicate that it is broken-in for riding, and not for carrying loads. They select from among the young camels such as are most slightly built, and most light of foot, never lay any load upon their backs except the saddle, and thus gradually break them in for this important service. No horse can keep up with the dromedary, when proceeding at full trot. When this animal is at the top of its speed, the rider is obliged to bind a hand-kerchiefbefore his face, to avoid the effects of the pressure of air, which would otherwise be painful to him. If a dark speck, which quickly increases, be observed on the horizon, at the greatest distance in the desert, a dromedary rider is sure to be met in a few minutes, and the natives, in endeavouring to impart a correct idea of the fleetness of these animals to the traveller, have a saying: “If you meet a good dromedary, and the rider salute you with‘Es-selam’ aley’koom,’[62]both man and beast are out of sight before you can answer‘aley’koom es-selám.”It requires, indeed, some practice to be able to bear the exertion of riding these animals. Letters from the southern provinces, are usually forwarded to Cairo by couriers mounted on dromedaries, who generally require twenty-eight days to perform a distance of about seventeen degrees of latitude. For the accomplishment of this task, a relay of three or four couriers is necessary. On important missions, however, one and the same courier frequently performs the whole distance, merely changing his dromedaries at the various stations. The rider is always very lightly accoutred, and carries, besides his arms, consisting of a sabre, a pair of pistols, and frequently also of a long gun, two bags of moderate size for his provender, and a small water-bag attached to his saddle-bow, and thus he sets out upon his journey, which would prove a most arduous undertaking toany other person, with the least possible incumbrance, and with no uneasiness.
The flesh of the young camels, of the two or four years old, is highly prized by the natives, more especially by the Nomadic tribes, and forms their chief article of food. Many of them are slaughtered at Lobeid, and the meat is sold at the same price as beef, which some of the residents prefer. The milk is also a chief article of consumption with many of the natives.
The asses, native to the country, are of a very inferior breed; good donkeys are, therefore, still imported from Egypt by the Djelabi. Horned cattle is more especially met with in vast numbers. There are few villages in the neighbourhood, in which large herds may not be seen at pasture; and amongst the Bakkara, the droves consist even of thousands of heads. They feed throughout the year in the open air, but suffer much from hunger in the dry season, when everything is burnt to a cinder, and are, therefore, not so fat at this period as during the rainy season, when they are, literally speaking, up to their horns in grass. Thus thousands of heads of cattle may be feeding in a meadow, and yet not one single beast will be seen; their presence is merely denoted by the motion of the grass. The kine, however, are not of very excellent breed, they yield but little milk, of inferior quality, and much worse beef. The Turks resident in Kordofan never eat this meat. Amongst the Bakkara, a particular breed of short-horned oxen is tobe met with, furnished with a high hump, or deposition of fat above the fore-quarters, and a dependent flap of skin below the neck and chest, reaching downwards to the knee.[63]The oxen are chiefly used for riding, and carrying weights: a cord passed through the nose of the animal forms a species of bridle. They are instructed for these purposes at a very early age, and, indeed, by children. The instruction, however, requires immense patience, for many months frequently transpire before a young calf will allow a lad to sit quietly on its back, and the boys meet with innumerable falls, before they succeed in thoroughly breaking-in one of these animals. In many parts of Africa, where the camel will not live on account of the fly (yohara), oxen are only employed for riding, and transporting loads. There are many sheep, and among them one species of very large breed; they bear no wool, but short hair; the mutton is of good flavour, and is preferred to beef, or to the flesh of goats.
The goat is very common in the country, and may be reckoned among the chief domestic animals. There are several varieties, or rather cross breeds, and some of exceedingly elegant form; but they are mostly very small. Nothing can induce the Turks to partake of goat’s-milk during the rainy season; for they firmly believe that it produces fever, if the animal should happen to have browsed the leaves of a tree called, in Arabic,escher(asclepias procera), and known as a poisonous plant. It is, in fact, the treewhence the well-known poison is expressed, with which an obnoxious person was quietly put out of the way with a fingán of coffee in former times in Egypt, and is sometimes employed for the same purpose at the present day. This plant may be met with occasionally as a shrub in Upper Egypt; but in Kordofan it attains the height of a tree. Many of the natives pay great attention to its cultivation, and lay the leaves into the sieve, through which they filter their merissa. These leaves contain a white milky juice, which is imparted to the beer and said to render it very narcotic. I have often warned these good people against its use; but they excuse themselves, by saying that their fathers, and mothers made use of it before them. The camel, not very particular in the selection of its food in general, never touches the escher.[64]As regards the superstition prevalent among the Turks, that the milk of the goats generates fever, in consequence of their having fed off the foliage of this poisonous plant, it is perfectly absurd; for it is a well-known fact, that any kind of milk taken during the rainy season will produce fever.
Dogs, of which there are a great number, run about, as in all other mahommedan countries, without any real owners, and are yet looked upon as domestic animals. They are mostly of a yellow colour, but rather better shaped than the Egyptian dogs; like them they feed off the garbage and fallen cattle, and are not otherwise of the slightestutility. I found, however, that they might be instructed for sporting, with very little trouble. There are very few cats in the country, hence the rats and the mice are so tame that they will run across the feet of a person by day-time. If anything be thrown to them for food, they immediately pick it up, devour it quickly, and return fearlessly to fetch more. The natives of Kordofan take little pains to destroy this vermin, and merely set snares in the fields and gardens for the field rat, which is eaten by many negroes, and even by some few of the Dongolavi. I myself saw the Nuba negroes eating rats; they roast them in their skins, and flay them after they are cooked. There is one species of rat, however, which does not create the slightest disgust. It is of a cream-colour, with a snow white belly and feet tipped with white, and its coat is as sleek as silk. They may be classed amongst the most elegant animals.
The fowls of this province are far larger than those of Egypt—the cock birds more especially—and are decorated with a very beautiful plumage, similar to those observed in Nubia. The tame pigeons are likewise larger than those met with in Egypt, and I counted nine different varieties of wood-pigeons, the smallest of the size of a blackbird, but with a tail as long as the bird itself.
The giraffe, one of the most beautiful animals of Africa, is frequently seen in Kordofan, and nearly all the specimens of this animal sent by way of Egypt to Europe and America, have been caughtin the plains of Kordofan. During the rainy season they are not to be met with, for they are supposed to travel into countries situate at a great distance from this province. The natives believe them to betake themselves to parts where very little rain falls, as of all the wild beasts of the torrid zone, none is so sensitive to climate as the giraffe. In captivity they require the greatest care and attention to keep them alive; in Egypt even they must be guarded during the winter months against cold, and their diet, moreover, demands the strictest attention, for instances are known of giraffes dying very soon, in consequence of a trifling neglect on the part of their keepers. As soon as the dry season commences, the giraffes return to the neighbourhood of Kordofan; they are not gregarious in their habits like the antelopes, and are only to be seen separately, or at the most in pairs. These beautiful creatures are caught by men on horseback, but merely the young animals are taken alive, as it would almost amount to an impossibility to catch an old beast, who would overthrow both horse and rider, and use them very roughly. The latter are, therefore, slain with the sword, merely for the sake of their skins, which form an article of trade. The flesh is eaten, and has not exactly a disagreeable flavour. In order to be allowed to hunt giraffes for a menagerie, it is necessary first to obtain a firman from the minister of the interior, and it is indeed the best plan to apply at once to the Sheikh Abdel Had at Haraza; hewill immediately give an order to his people who occupy themselves with this sport, for it requires not only a very expert horseman, but a very perfect horse, and more especially experience in this species of hunting. Generally speaking, two horsemen provided with one or two camels laden with a supply of provender and water sufficient for a few days, proceed into the desert frequented by the giraffes. The camels are left at an appropriate place, whilst the riders reconnoitre the country until they come upon the track of an animal. Great experience is now requisite to distinguish whether the trace be of to-day or yesterday, or of a yet older date. If it be recent, and that of a young animal, it is immediately followed up, and the huntsmen may make sure of gaining a sight of their prey in a few hours. As soon as the giraffe is in view, the run instantly takes place, for the animal, very timid by nature, seeks refuge in flight, and indeed with extraordinary fleetness. Everything now depends on the dexterity of the rider, and activity of his horse. They must do all in their power to gain upon the game they have started, an endeavour which is the more readily to be effected, as the giraffe never takes a straight course, but by nature timid, doubles, in the fear of its life, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left, and is thus quickly overtaken by the horsemen. Having come up with the young animal pursued, the rider casts a lasso over its head; his throw but seldom fails, and in theworst case must be repeated. He then attaches the end of the rope to his saddle, drags the animal as closely as he can to his horse, and thus the capture is effected. But now a steady and patient horse, well broken to its work, is again necessary for the further transport; for the horse must resist the animal’s efforts, or give way to them (for it pulls and jumps in all directions), in conveying it to the nearest village, which the huntsmen endeavour to reach as quickly as they possibly can. A she-camel should stand in readiness there to give the young giraffe milk, with which it is fed before being weaned to grass or hay. This treatment must be subsequently followed, and even full grown giraffes should receive milk daily as drink, if it be in any way possible.
When the young animal has rested for some time, it is furthered, without delay, to Dongola, but on this occasion great attention is again required. A kind of head-stall is put on the animal’s head, to which four stout cords are fastened. Two men, each holding the end of one of the ropes in his hand, walk in front, and two follow, to keep its gait steady, a task requiring during the first few days extraordinary exertion. A she-camel must accompany the young giraffe to give it the necessary nourishment on the road. Arrived at Dongola, a certain time is again devoted to rest, and the animal is here accustomed to the milk of the cow and to grass. It is incredible what difficultiesthe Arabs have to contend with in preserving a giraffe alive, and it is, consequently, not to be wondered at that their price is so enormous. In Egypt, for example, at Cairo or Alexandria, a living specimen always costs from five to six hundred dollars.
There are not many leopards in this province; the stragglers merely from the interior of Africa show themselves occasionally in Kordofan. They will sometimes approach the villages, but instances of their having done an injury to man are very rare. They mostly steal their prey from one of the herds, but immediately withdraw with it to their covert, but are by no means as bold as they may be in the more internal tracts of this and another quarter of the globe. They are not hunted, partly from want of fire-arms, partly because the skin, the only portion of value about them, is not much in request, and a leopard is very rarely, indeed, known to have been killed in any district. Hyænas, of which there are said to be three varieties, are far more numerous. The striped species is the most common in Egypt and Syria; but the tiger-skinned hyæna is far larger, and if the third variety exist it has never come under my own observation. They form herds of ten or twenty animals, secrete themselves during the day in the caves and ravines of the neighbouring mountains, which they merely quit at night, when they go in quest of prey, and on these occasions theygradually separate. Dead bodies, which they dig out of the graves, are their favourite food, and they immediately scent out where a corpse has been interred, whether in the desert or in the burial-ground. They are also fond of picking out the young sheep from a flock, although these are enclosed during the night within a dense fence of thorn-hedging. The hyæna, however, understands mining, digs beneath the fence, and frequently breaks in upon a flock. They never do any harm to man, and there is scarcely a single instance on record of a hyæna having seized upon a man, and those, indeed, known, were only occasions where they had been greatly irritated or wounded. In Europe, this animal is very much calumniated as being the most ferocious and most cruel of all wild beasts, thus, at least, it is described in nearly all the books on natural history; one author, in fact, copies the error from the other, without investigating his subject more closely; hence the opinion first gained ground and subsequently became prevalent in the whole of Europe, that the hyæna is the most formidable of all quadrupeds. I and several other Europeans have convinced ourselves, that it is not only not feared, but totally disregarded by the natives. It is timid, may be cowed by blows, and rather endeavours to secrete itself than to attack. The circumstance of its disinterring dead bodies and devouring them is no proof of its being the most formidable or ferocious animal;for if it can surprise sheep or gazelles, it prefers them, but hunger oftentimes forces it to dig up a corpse, and feed off it. Its forepaws are certainly adapted by nature for digging in the earth, but there are sufficient instances of dogs having scratched out the bodies of the dead and eaten them. In Hungary, Poland, and Russia, examples of wolves attacking men are very numerous; in Africa, the instances of the hyæna having done the same are very scarce. Ten hyænas may, in fact, be sooner tamed than one jackal. Thus, in the court of a house at Lobeid, I saw a hyæna running about quite domesticated: the children of the proprietor teased it, took the meat thrown to it for food out of its jaws, and put their hands even into its throat, without receiving the least injury. When we took our meals in the open air, to enjoy the breeze, as was our general custom during the hot season, this animal approached the table without fear, snapped up the pieces that were thrown to it like a dog, and did not evince the slightest symptom of timidity. A full grown hyæna, and her two cubs, were, on another occasion, brought to me for sale: the latter were carried in arms, as you might carry a lamb, and were not even muzzled. The old one, it is true, had a rope round its snout, but it had been led a distance of twelve miles by one single man, without having offered the slightest resistance. The Africans do not even reckon the hyæna among the wild beasts of their country, for they are not afraid of it. The rhinocerospasses among them as the most vicious of all quadrupeds. They say the lion, and other beasts of prey, merely attack man when they are wounded or irritated, or when goaded on by hunger; and as there are sheep and goats everywhere, and numbers of antelopes and other animals, in the desert, and they suffer no want of food, man need not fear them. Widely different is the case with the rhinoceros, for although it is a graminivorous animal, neither man nor beast are safe from its wanton cruelty. Without having been disturbed or irritated in the least, it will immediately attack a man or animal, be it ever so large—even the elephant or lion. It endeavours in the first charge to pierce its adversary with its powerful horn, which is situated, as is well known, superiorly on the nasal bone, taking a curved direction upwards. If the first blow take effect, the animal attacked, even if it be the elephant, is lost; should he, or the lion, however, avoid the blow, the rhinoceros generally succumbs, and notwithstanding this risk it is always the aggressor. Fortunately there are said to be but very few rhinoceroses; and it is indeed a great rarity if one of them happen to stray into Kordofan. The haunts of these animals are in the vicinity of rivers and lakes, their horns may be met with in commerce, and are employed in the manufacture of the handles of the Turkish swords. The lighter the colour of the horn the greater is its value; but the black variety is not in request, and is regarded as useless for sabre hilts.The quality of the horns cannot be judged of by their outward appearance, for externally they are all black. Those which are met with in commerce in Kordofan are imported from the countries tributary to Darfour, situated on a river,—probably the White Nile,—of which I shall speak more fully in a subsequent chapter.
The number of lions in this province is not very considerable, but they frequently enter villages for prey, and carry away a head of cattle before their visit is even suspected. In the day time they are neither heard nor seen, for they generally lie crouching in a dense covert, or sleeping beneath a shady tree. But early in the morning, as soon as the sun begins to cast its rays on the sandy billows of the desert, the royal animal rises from his lair to sally forth in quest of prey. His voice may then be heard in the distance; it commences with a low murmuring, which gradually increases, until it at last becomes a fearful and terrific roar, like the rolling of thunder, and is audible at a distance of two miles. The whole animal kingdom trembles, and evinces the greatest fear when the king of the beasts is heard; the sheep tremble as if attacked with ague, place their heads together, and endeavour to hide themselves; the horses break out into a sweat with fear; and the dogs hurry away as fast as they can to find a place of refuge. In fine, all the beasts are seized with the most unequivocal terror when the lion makeshis approach known. Should a caravan happen to be near the spot, it is impossible to keep the camels together, they leap about in all directions, and are scattered abroad under the influence of fear. I myself once had the opportunity of witnessing a scene of this kind. On arriving in my travels at the wells of Semmeria, we suddenly heard a murmuring noise afar, resembling the rolling of balls in an empty barrel; but we were soon acquainted with its true cause when it gradually increased to that terrible thunder-like roar. With the first perception of this noise, the camels belonging to our caravan suddenly took fright, and instantly separated in all directions. The men and the cases were thrown off, and if one of the riders happened to keep his seat at the first alarm, he was subsequently necessitated to leap down, to avoid being felled by the branches of the trees; for we were unfortunately near a forest of mimosas, and every one was in danger of being torn by their large spines. This confusion, however, did not last long, for the lion took quite an opposite direction to the route of our caravan; but a whole day was lost in collecting the goods that had been thrown off, or torn down by the trees, and one of the camels strayed to a great distance. Lions are seldom hunted in this country; for there are very few of them, as I have before-mentioned, and they do so little damage that it would not be worth while to incur the danger attending the sport. The flesh of the lord of theforest is very tough and tendinous, and is not readily devoured by any other animal. A dog will sneak away as soon as he smells it.
A few panthers may be met with in the country, but they are not as large as those of Asia. I have been assured that there are no tigers in Kordofan. Antelopes may be seen browsing in large numbers, and, indeed, in great variety; like the camels, they are able to bear thirst for eight days. I have myself observed them in places situated at a distance of twenty-six miles from any water, so that it would have been impossible for them to perform this journey daily, or even on every other day.
Besides the animals mentioned, there are a number of quadrupeds, the names of which are not even known in Europe; for Kordofan has only been visited, up to the present day, by two naturalists,viz., by Dr. Rueppell and Dr. Kotschy, who remained too short a time in the country to have been able to traverse it, and explore it in all directions. A residence of a few years would at least be required to investigate everything thoroughly; and all those who have resided in the country hitherto have suffered so much by the unhealthy climate, that they have been obliged to leave it as quickly as possible, to avoid the danger threatening the life of every European.
The various species of birds arriving in this country at the different seasons of the year, and leaving it again at others, are very numerous, and vary from the little colibri to the gigantic ostrich. As they arenot often frightened by the noise of fire-arms they are not timid and may be easily shot; but if the traveller sojourn for some days in one spot and pursue them with his gun, they then of course soon become as shy here as in other places. Several of the birds, and this applies more especially to the varieties of pigeons, are so little accustomed to fire-arms that, although many will fall at one shot, those which are not hit will remain quietly perched on the tree. I must also draw the attention of all travellers who may be sportsmen to the fact that the birds become very shy if they observe a Turkish attire and a red cap or turboosh, whereas if the sportsman wear a blue shirt and brown cap, after the fashion of Upper-Egypt, he may be sure of killing double the number he would in the dress above-mentioned. The black storks occupy nearly every house in the villages; each hut is furnished with a basket, which forms the apex of its roof, and serves these birds as a nest, thus saving them the trouble of building for themselves. He who might venture to do an injury to a stork would expose himself to the greatest abuse from the natives; and were the dread of the white men not overawing, he might even subject himself to sensible proofs of their displeasure; for, as regards these birds, they are as superstitious as the people in some parts of Europe about the white stork. They are in consequence so tame that they run about the villages like geese, and I frequently had to throw my stick atthem when collecting insects in their company in a meadow, for they were far quicker in picking them up than I was, and would frequently snatch a beetle away from me when I had my hand upon it. The sacred ibis, of the ancient Egyptians, appears to be a native of Kordofan: it builds its nest on trees in the villages, and I have often counted from twenty to fifty of them on one tree. I have altogether seldom seen animals living as peacably among themselves as these birds. They hatch their young, two in number,—rarely three,—during the rainy season; they enjoy the same good opinion of men as the storks, but even to a greater degree; for when I was about to kill a few, near the house of Sultan Temé, at Lobeid, he said very solemnly: “Rather shoot all the fowls in my court, than one of these ibises, which have come to my trees to build their nests, and sought my protection.” When the young birds are full grown, the old ones migrate, and return with the first fall of rain. I could not find out where they resort to during the dry season; in the time of the ancient Egyptians, they evidently went to Egypt, as the many thousands of ibis-vases met with at Sakara and in other situations would prove; but at present they are never to be seen in that country. I have, indeed, occasionally observed a single bird of this species on the White River, as late as the month of April; but I suppose these to have been invalids incapable of following the flight.