FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[1]If the reader should wish to consult Dr. Perron’s work in the British Museum, he will find the “Voyage au Darfour” under the head “Muhammad Ibn Umar,” in the Old Catalogue, p. 98b; and the “Voyage au Wadaï” under the same head in the New Catalogue. I believe that, after “Mehemet,” it would be impossible to select a system of spelling more likely to mislead in pronunciation. The Arabic version will be found in the New Catalogue—also under Muhammad, but further on, p. 103a.[2]See the introduction for observations on the chronology of the Sheikh.[3]It will be observed that our Sheikh here drops all allusion to his mother, who, perhaps, to a certain extent, abandoned him. Altogether, this narrative illustrates the slightness of the family bond in the East.[4]The Arabs rarely start on a journey on Friday before the mid-day prayer, it being considered unlucky.—Perron.[5]The Sheikh had better fortune, if his memory did not betray him, than most travellers. It generally takes a good day’s sail to reach as far as Benisouef.[6]This was during the French occupation of Egypt.[7]The Darfur caravan still starts from the same neighbourhood.[8]The eunuchs of high rank in Darfur marry, that they may appear to have a family.[9]Rashid was one of the titles of the Orphan.[10]Basy is a title meaning great, and is applied to most of the courtiers.[11]It is evident that this is the account of a partisan; and, if we could interest ourselves in these distant politics, we might perhaps become convinced that Zawanah was the victim of that jealousy and fear which all powerful foreigners excite in Darfur. We shall presently see that, in one case at least, Abd-er-Rahman did not merit the title of Rashid. It is very possible that he regretted the wealth he had bestowed upon the Mamlouk.[12]The Sheikh, who had already abandoned his personal narrative to relate the historical incidents that preceded or were contemporary with his residence in Darfur, now assumes a didactic tone, and gives the result of his observations, interspersing personal adventures and anecdotes. It is, perhaps, necessary to repeat that Darfur is pronounced Darfoor.[13]Aghadez, described in Mr. Richardson’s “Mission to Central Africa.”[14]It is possible that some filthy custom of this kind, among our ancestors, was the origin of the contemptuous expression of lick-spittle.[15]Read the private histories of most courts for instances equally absurd: the origin of high cravats, of shaving in some periods, of beard-wearing in others; of long hair, of short hair, of wigs, of pantaloons; of Protestantism, of Romanism, of adultery, and piety. The poor Forians, falling off their saddle, in imitation of their sovereign, would, perhaps, feel offended by this comparison.[16]A similar ceremony is celebrated in China by the emperors.[17]This singular custom of concealing the face with the Litham, as a mark of sovereignty, is found in most parts of Central Africa. The whole conquering tribe of Touaricks, and, indeed, all people of Berber race, keep it up. I noticed it at Siwah.[18]I once saw at Cairo a Zikr of the kind, in which a woman stood behind the performers and excited them by her singing.[19]Previously called Anbousah. Seep. 45.[20]In Egypt I have observed that, in spite of the great number of black concubines, there absolutely exists no class of mulattoes. The children almost all die young.[21]The Sheikh gives a detailed account of the operation, as also of various other kinds of treatments for different diseases, which it may be curious for medical men to consult. I have no doubt that many barbarous nations are in possession of valuable medical secrets.[22]So the Forians, as well as the English, regard as a delicacy meat in which the process of putrefaction has commenced.[23]The zhalym has on each wing eight beautiful white plumes, and the rabdah eight grey ones.[24]I suppose this is the same tree as the tholukh, so often mentioned in Mr. Richardson’s “Journal.”[25]Chloroform?[26]This royal way of paying debts appears to be common in Soudan. See the exploits of the Sarkee of Zinder, in Richardson’s “Journal.”[27]Those who are acquainted with the history of recent political events, need not go to the centre of Africa for an example of a prince pausing in the midst of massacre to perform those pious duties which public opinion is always ready to set down to the account of the powerful.[28]I cannot again refrain from pointing out the singular similarity which exists between the histories of all nations in which the idea of authority is developed, and in which a man or a family presumes to look upon a whole people as personal property. The fact of this similarity is, perhaps, the only useful information we can derive from a study of the bloody annals of empires, present or past, expiring or nascent.[29]It is amusing to see the right divine of kings asserted in the person of the ferocious Saboun, and how priests of all forms of faith are ready to justify bloodshed in the interest of authority. It must be observed, that the learned men to whom this case was submitted made no allusion to the mild alternative expressed in the last words of the law.[30]This splendid description of how an African prince wades through slaughter to a throne, and at once becomes an idol, is an unconscious satire of some of the great events of modern history.[31]I have preserved with some regret the constant reference to a sacred Name in this Chapter, because the frightful picture it contains, and the terrible code of political morals which it represents, would be otherwise incomplete. The Sheikh, who has no suspicion of wrong, goes on to give his theory of absolute government, and, naturally taking the optimist view, uses the old comparison of the shepherd and the flock. I may remark that it is peculiarly characteristic of the bloodiest despotic governments, and their defenders of all degrees of refinement, to make a wanton use of the Divine Name.[32]M. Fresnel, French consul at Jeddah, has published a memoir on the abou-kern, which he considers to be the unicorn, and not the rhinoceros.—Perron. In this case, however, the Sheikh clearly marks that he means the khartit; and in no part of his work makes allusion to the unicorn.[33]This title corresponds to the Ab of Wadaï and Darfur.[34]The Sheikh here enters into considerable details on the revolution by which this change of government took place. Those who have read the “Journal” of Mr. Richardson will be aware that his principal servant was a descendant of the Moknee mentioned in the text.[35]It is just possible that Saboun may have been ruthless only against his political enemies. The glowing character, however, which I have given complete in the text, is evidently the work of a parasite. The Sheikh has as little respect for human life as a Soudan prince. In a lengthy episode, which I am obliged to omit, he refers to Saboun’s murder of his brother, and says that a man who gets his enemies into his power, and pardons them, prepares for himself dangers which may cost him his life, “for according to the Prophet, on whom be the benediction of God, no wise man suffers himself to be twice stung by a viper;” and then he goes on to tell an illustrative story of Noman the One-eyed.[36]Let us here admire the Sheikh’s modesty—a quality not common in travellers. An European doctor, after a week or two’s residence in a country of which he does not know the language, will send home to a learned society an elaborate account, not only of the present state, but of the history and origins of all its tribes and families. The Sheikh resided more than a year in Wadaï, and nearly eight years in the neighbouring country of Darfur.[37]This is the punishment prescribed by the Muslim law. In most countries, however, the same feeling which forces women to use the veil leads to the employment of the sack for women taken in adultery.[38]These observations may be transferred from the Bornouese to the classes which check public opinion at present in France, and, to a certain extent, in England. I notice that most people who are opposed to war on principle—setting aside those who are guided by religious motives, the smallest number—are comfortable and fat.[39]In a former Chapter it is said that the palace has seven gates, the fourth of which is the iron gate.[40]This state ought scarcely to be reckoned amongst those of Soudan. It more properly belongs to the Sahara, although the neighbourhood of Soudan has certainly influenced its manners and its population. It is inhabited by people of Berber origin, mixed with blacks.[41]The Sheikh speaks loosely and from report. The route from Bornou to Adagez (Aghadez) is first slightly north of west, as far as Zindar, and then turns north-north-west. Adagez is the capital of the kingdom of Aheir, the northern limits of which form, in fact, the southern limits of the Central Sahara.[42]The Sheikh seems distressed lest the Jengueh should stifle themselves; but it is evident that, after having anointed their bodies, they simply roll in the ashes, and collect, as it were, in this way a peculiar kind of counterpane.[43]The French traveller, Le Vaillant, gives, I remember, some still more curious facts of this nature. Among the tribes which he visited, advancing towards Central Africa from the south, he saw bulls which seemed, at first sight, to have four or even eight horns. He afterwards learned that the owners, as soon as the horns began to grow, used to split them carefully into two or four parts, and afterwards carefully bend and twist them into the shapes they desired.[44]Assertions of this kind, so common among travellers, have generally been disproved by more careful research.[45]In fact, they appear to mean only a single country, the capital of which is Kanou.[46]News travels quicker than we are apt to think amongst the Easterns, especially if it concerns their faith. Probably Zaky was excited to begin his crusade by the news that came from Arabia.[47]Niffy is situated on the easternmost bend of the Niger. It appears certain that the American slave-traders penetrate sometimes thus far with their schooners. Mr. Richardson heard, on the confines of Soudan, a very detailed account of white men who came up the great river to Niffy.[48]“This,” says Mr. Perron, “refers probably to the foundation of Sakkatou, which name, however, was not given till 1805.”[49]These bags are used to carry water. Two of them form a camel-load. The water-dealers fill from them the sheep-skin bags which they carry on their backs.[50]It would be difficult to invent any more effective way of exciting a feeling of horror against this wretched institution of slavery, which still lags in the rear of the army of abuses that has been put to flight, than this cold-blooded statement.[51]See “Voyage to Darfur.”[52]The Sheikh here relents from his uncompromising condemnation of the Forian character, which probably had its origin in the rough treatment he himself received on some occasions.[53]It is worth while to reflect on the frightful state of society that must be produced by a consistent adherence to the laws of the Koran, which it is the fashion among sensualists in all times, and politicians at this particular moment, to praise directly, or by implication.[54]There is something very ludicrous in this excessive severity against women expressed by a man like the Sheikh. The same one-sided feeling, in a mitigated form, dictated a clause in the proposed divorce bill of this last session.[55]I have myself noticed the rapidity with which a Bedawin encampment prepares to meet what may seem to be a surprise. When our caravan rose over the little hills that command the settlement of Mudar, scarcely a minute elapsed before the women were engaged in driving away the cattle on the opposite side, whilst the men came running to meet us, imagining us to be an attacking party.[56]Here follows a singular story, the principal incident of which, however, can scarcely be adapted to European reading.[57]I suppose he means “capable of bearing arms.” He had not previously mentioned that there were any Tibboos with him, except the family of Ahmed.[58]I have given the Sheikh’s account of the incidents of this journey in some detail—although his geographical information is wonderfully meagre—because I think it is the only record we have of personal observation in that desert. What he says of the manners of the Tibboos agrees well with other accounts.[59]The Sheikh is prejudiced against Fezzan, which, however, is not a very delightful oasis. Besides, he was impatient to reach his own country; and nothing appears so disagreeable as the vestibule of a house you are anxious to enter, if you are kept long waiting.[60]This tribe was subsequently driven into the Saharah, and forced to retreat as far as the borders of Soudan, where its turbulent and marauding disposition engaged it in constant quarrels with its black neighbours. It was nearly exterminated in 1851.[61]The Sheikh seems to have understood pretty well the character of the Bedawins, who are, in fact, a set of coarse barbarians, with some few fine qualities, which sound very well when spoken of in poetry or romance, apart from the vulgar and repulsive realities of their ordinary existence.

[1]If the reader should wish to consult Dr. Perron’s work in the British Museum, he will find the “Voyage au Darfour” under the head “Muhammad Ibn Umar,” in the Old Catalogue, p. 98b; and the “Voyage au Wadaï” under the same head in the New Catalogue. I believe that, after “Mehemet,” it would be impossible to select a system of spelling more likely to mislead in pronunciation. The Arabic version will be found in the New Catalogue—also under Muhammad, but further on, p. 103a.

[2]See the introduction for observations on the chronology of the Sheikh.

[3]It will be observed that our Sheikh here drops all allusion to his mother, who, perhaps, to a certain extent, abandoned him. Altogether, this narrative illustrates the slightness of the family bond in the East.

[4]The Arabs rarely start on a journey on Friday before the mid-day prayer, it being considered unlucky.—Perron.

[5]The Sheikh had better fortune, if his memory did not betray him, than most travellers. It generally takes a good day’s sail to reach as far as Benisouef.

[6]This was during the French occupation of Egypt.

[7]The Darfur caravan still starts from the same neighbourhood.

[8]The eunuchs of high rank in Darfur marry, that they may appear to have a family.

[9]Rashid was one of the titles of the Orphan.

[10]Basy is a title meaning great, and is applied to most of the courtiers.

[11]It is evident that this is the account of a partisan; and, if we could interest ourselves in these distant politics, we might perhaps become convinced that Zawanah was the victim of that jealousy and fear which all powerful foreigners excite in Darfur. We shall presently see that, in one case at least, Abd-er-Rahman did not merit the title of Rashid. It is very possible that he regretted the wealth he had bestowed upon the Mamlouk.

[12]The Sheikh, who had already abandoned his personal narrative to relate the historical incidents that preceded or were contemporary with his residence in Darfur, now assumes a didactic tone, and gives the result of his observations, interspersing personal adventures and anecdotes. It is, perhaps, necessary to repeat that Darfur is pronounced Darfoor.

[13]Aghadez, described in Mr. Richardson’s “Mission to Central Africa.”

[14]It is possible that some filthy custom of this kind, among our ancestors, was the origin of the contemptuous expression of lick-spittle.

[15]Read the private histories of most courts for instances equally absurd: the origin of high cravats, of shaving in some periods, of beard-wearing in others; of long hair, of short hair, of wigs, of pantaloons; of Protestantism, of Romanism, of adultery, and piety. The poor Forians, falling off their saddle, in imitation of their sovereign, would, perhaps, feel offended by this comparison.

[16]A similar ceremony is celebrated in China by the emperors.

[17]This singular custom of concealing the face with the Litham, as a mark of sovereignty, is found in most parts of Central Africa. The whole conquering tribe of Touaricks, and, indeed, all people of Berber race, keep it up. I noticed it at Siwah.

[18]I once saw at Cairo a Zikr of the kind, in which a woman stood behind the performers and excited them by her singing.

[19]Previously called Anbousah. Seep. 45.

[20]In Egypt I have observed that, in spite of the great number of black concubines, there absolutely exists no class of mulattoes. The children almost all die young.

[21]The Sheikh gives a detailed account of the operation, as also of various other kinds of treatments for different diseases, which it may be curious for medical men to consult. I have no doubt that many barbarous nations are in possession of valuable medical secrets.

[22]So the Forians, as well as the English, regard as a delicacy meat in which the process of putrefaction has commenced.

[23]The zhalym has on each wing eight beautiful white plumes, and the rabdah eight grey ones.

[24]I suppose this is the same tree as the tholukh, so often mentioned in Mr. Richardson’s “Journal.”

[25]Chloroform?

[26]This royal way of paying debts appears to be common in Soudan. See the exploits of the Sarkee of Zinder, in Richardson’s “Journal.”

[27]Those who are acquainted with the history of recent political events, need not go to the centre of Africa for an example of a prince pausing in the midst of massacre to perform those pious duties which public opinion is always ready to set down to the account of the powerful.

[28]I cannot again refrain from pointing out the singular similarity which exists between the histories of all nations in which the idea of authority is developed, and in which a man or a family presumes to look upon a whole people as personal property. The fact of this similarity is, perhaps, the only useful information we can derive from a study of the bloody annals of empires, present or past, expiring or nascent.

[29]It is amusing to see the right divine of kings asserted in the person of the ferocious Saboun, and how priests of all forms of faith are ready to justify bloodshed in the interest of authority. It must be observed, that the learned men to whom this case was submitted made no allusion to the mild alternative expressed in the last words of the law.

[30]This splendid description of how an African prince wades through slaughter to a throne, and at once becomes an idol, is an unconscious satire of some of the great events of modern history.

[31]I have preserved with some regret the constant reference to a sacred Name in this Chapter, because the frightful picture it contains, and the terrible code of political morals which it represents, would be otherwise incomplete. The Sheikh, who has no suspicion of wrong, goes on to give his theory of absolute government, and, naturally taking the optimist view, uses the old comparison of the shepherd and the flock. I may remark that it is peculiarly characteristic of the bloodiest despotic governments, and their defenders of all degrees of refinement, to make a wanton use of the Divine Name.

[32]M. Fresnel, French consul at Jeddah, has published a memoir on the abou-kern, which he considers to be the unicorn, and not the rhinoceros.—Perron. In this case, however, the Sheikh clearly marks that he means the khartit; and in no part of his work makes allusion to the unicorn.

[33]This title corresponds to the Ab of Wadaï and Darfur.

[34]The Sheikh here enters into considerable details on the revolution by which this change of government took place. Those who have read the “Journal” of Mr. Richardson will be aware that his principal servant was a descendant of the Moknee mentioned in the text.

[35]It is just possible that Saboun may have been ruthless only against his political enemies. The glowing character, however, which I have given complete in the text, is evidently the work of a parasite. The Sheikh has as little respect for human life as a Soudan prince. In a lengthy episode, which I am obliged to omit, he refers to Saboun’s murder of his brother, and says that a man who gets his enemies into his power, and pardons them, prepares for himself dangers which may cost him his life, “for according to the Prophet, on whom be the benediction of God, no wise man suffers himself to be twice stung by a viper;” and then he goes on to tell an illustrative story of Noman the One-eyed.

[36]Let us here admire the Sheikh’s modesty—a quality not common in travellers. An European doctor, after a week or two’s residence in a country of which he does not know the language, will send home to a learned society an elaborate account, not only of the present state, but of the history and origins of all its tribes and families. The Sheikh resided more than a year in Wadaï, and nearly eight years in the neighbouring country of Darfur.

[37]This is the punishment prescribed by the Muslim law. In most countries, however, the same feeling which forces women to use the veil leads to the employment of the sack for women taken in adultery.

[38]These observations may be transferred from the Bornouese to the classes which check public opinion at present in France, and, to a certain extent, in England. I notice that most people who are opposed to war on principle—setting aside those who are guided by religious motives, the smallest number—are comfortable and fat.

[39]In a former Chapter it is said that the palace has seven gates, the fourth of which is the iron gate.

[40]This state ought scarcely to be reckoned amongst those of Soudan. It more properly belongs to the Sahara, although the neighbourhood of Soudan has certainly influenced its manners and its population. It is inhabited by people of Berber origin, mixed with blacks.

[41]The Sheikh speaks loosely and from report. The route from Bornou to Adagez (Aghadez) is first slightly north of west, as far as Zindar, and then turns north-north-west. Adagez is the capital of the kingdom of Aheir, the northern limits of which form, in fact, the southern limits of the Central Sahara.

[42]The Sheikh seems distressed lest the Jengueh should stifle themselves; but it is evident that, after having anointed their bodies, they simply roll in the ashes, and collect, as it were, in this way a peculiar kind of counterpane.

[43]The French traveller, Le Vaillant, gives, I remember, some still more curious facts of this nature. Among the tribes which he visited, advancing towards Central Africa from the south, he saw bulls which seemed, at first sight, to have four or even eight horns. He afterwards learned that the owners, as soon as the horns began to grow, used to split them carefully into two or four parts, and afterwards carefully bend and twist them into the shapes they desired.

[44]Assertions of this kind, so common among travellers, have generally been disproved by more careful research.

[45]In fact, they appear to mean only a single country, the capital of which is Kanou.

[46]News travels quicker than we are apt to think amongst the Easterns, especially if it concerns their faith. Probably Zaky was excited to begin his crusade by the news that came from Arabia.

[47]Niffy is situated on the easternmost bend of the Niger. It appears certain that the American slave-traders penetrate sometimes thus far with their schooners. Mr. Richardson heard, on the confines of Soudan, a very detailed account of white men who came up the great river to Niffy.

[48]“This,” says Mr. Perron, “refers probably to the foundation of Sakkatou, which name, however, was not given till 1805.”

[49]These bags are used to carry water. Two of them form a camel-load. The water-dealers fill from them the sheep-skin bags which they carry on their backs.

[50]It would be difficult to invent any more effective way of exciting a feeling of horror against this wretched institution of slavery, which still lags in the rear of the army of abuses that has been put to flight, than this cold-blooded statement.

[51]See “Voyage to Darfur.”

[52]The Sheikh here relents from his uncompromising condemnation of the Forian character, which probably had its origin in the rough treatment he himself received on some occasions.

[53]It is worth while to reflect on the frightful state of society that must be produced by a consistent adherence to the laws of the Koran, which it is the fashion among sensualists in all times, and politicians at this particular moment, to praise directly, or by implication.

[54]There is something very ludicrous in this excessive severity against women expressed by a man like the Sheikh. The same one-sided feeling, in a mitigated form, dictated a clause in the proposed divorce bill of this last session.

[55]I have myself noticed the rapidity with which a Bedawin encampment prepares to meet what may seem to be a surprise. When our caravan rose over the little hills that command the settlement of Mudar, scarcely a minute elapsed before the women were engaged in driving away the cattle on the opposite side, whilst the men came running to meet us, imagining us to be an attacking party.

[56]Here follows a singular story, the principal incident of which, however, can scarcely be adapted to European reading.

[57]I suppose he means “capable of bearing arms.” He had not previously mentioned that there were any Tibboos with him, except the family of Ahmed.

[58]I have given the Sheikh’s account of the incidents of this journey in some detail—although his geographical information is wonderfully meagre—because I think it is the only record we have of personal observation in that desert. What he says of the manners of the Tibboos agrees well with other accounts.

[59]The Sheikh is prejudiced against Fezzan, which, however, is not a very delightful oasis. Besides, he was impatient to reach his own country; and nothing appears so disagreeable as the vestibule of a house you are anxious to enter, if you are kept long waiting.

[60]This tribe was subsequently driven into the Saharah, and forced to retreat as far as the borders of Soudan, where its turbulent and marauding disposition engaged it in constant quarrels with its black neighbours. It was nearly exterminated in 1851.

[61]The Sheikh seems to have understood pretty well the character of the Bedawins, who are, in fact, a set of coarse barbarians, with some few fine qualities, which sound very well when spoken of in poetry or romance, apart from the vulgar and repulsive realities of their ordinary existence.

Transcriber's note:pgxChanged: Story of Passon to: Passionpg27Changed: Story of Passon to: Passionpg33Added period after: the Kaliph, Abou-Bekrfootnote 18 (pg109) Changed: a woman tood behind to: stoodpg135Changed: what is call the narrah to: calledpg168Changed: Ab-el-Kerim to: Abd-el-Kerimpg249Changed:Spina Celticato:Spicapg263Changed: a frightful punish- was to: punishmentpg309Changed: many soldie to: soldiersOther spelling inconsistencies have been left unchanged.New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

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