The next day, the 16th of April, I received a message from the Moullah, that the camels were all ready, that girbas for the water were wanting, but girbas should be found for me; and he would give me his word they should be found filled at the river where I directed; as also all sorts of provisions and necessaries to carry me to Beyla, to which place I should set out the moment I pleased; only that I must not go from Teawa without making peace with the Shekh, and promising to forgive him, and not make any complaint against him at Sennaar or elsewhere, provided he, on his part, gave over all further machinations against me. I answered, That however ill-used, yet, for his sake, I would do any thing he wished me to do, and that I was ready to pacify Yasine, by writing to him by the return of his messengers. All was agreed, so we packed up our baggage with the utmost diligence.
On the 17th, in the forenoon, I was appointed to meet the Shekh at his own house, and told the Moullah I expected he would have the camels ready. As we suspected, our girbas were insufficient, and indeed we had found them so when they lost our water in the wood near Imgellalib; we got three new ones from the Shekh in perfect good condition, and gave him our two in exchange, which were something larger than his. Each of these skins are valued at 12 dollars, or about three pounds sterling. There is great art and labour required in making the seams water-tight; they areall stitched most dexterously, strongly greased, and then laid over thick on the outside with warm tar, and need constant care and inspection. About nine o'clock we went to the Shekh, and entered presently upon business. I engaged to pacify Yasine, whose servants, upon my message, came to town to see me depart, and were kindly received and cloathed by the Shekh. A large breakfast was ordered; Fidele and I, with Yasine's servants, ate together of several very good dishes. The two holy men, and another stranger equally holy, ate together out of a separate plate; after which we all stood up, and said the prayer of peace, and I took my leave. We all then went out together into the market-place, and eight camels were ordered down to my house, with people to wait upon them.
The girbas, which lay filled and soaking at the river-side, were ready to be loaded upon our camels. A servant of the Kaiya held my horse, which had been taken from me by Fidele soon after my arriving at Teawa, but which was now restored me. My servant who came from Sennaar had indeed told me that no horses would live there; that those that were necessary for the troops of the government were all kept at a distance from Sennaar, and maintained at Aira, or places in the sand at a small distance, but free from the plague of the fly. The Shekh made no observation upon this. I said, The horse is a very excellent one, and I will now shew him to you. I sent for a short double-barrelled gun, threw off my burnoose, and mounting the horse, made him do every thing he was capable of, putting him to his full speed, firing to right and left on each side of him.
They were all struck with amazement, and with a kind of terror. They had never before seen a gun fired on horseback, much less a gun fired twice without charging. I did not want to explain the matter to them; and, as far as I could perceive, the Moullah especially was very glad when I sent it home. "This is the way, said I, that my countrymen ride, and the way they fight; no people on earth understand fire-arms or horsemanship like them. For my part, I am a man of peace, a Dervish, and no soldier; it is not my profession, and I do the thing aukwardly. If you saw some of our soldiers ride, it would be a sight indeed." Fidele laughed, or counterfeited a laugh, but being a soldier, it was his part to say something. "If many of your countrymen like you were here, man of peace as you are, unless they were friends to us they would get all Atbara to themselves. If they were friends, says he, I think I could do something with them; that horse seems to have the sense of a man."—"Such as he is, said I, dismounting, a prince gave him to me, and such as he is I now give him to you, as a proof that I am your friend, and that I should not grudge you a few paltry piasters, if I had not been under a vow of poverty; money is of no kind of value to me, and consequently not carried about with me." The horse was gladly received, though, as I was going to Sennaar, where no horses are kept, the compliment was a cheap one on my part.
"How could you, Fidele, says the Moullah in great surprise, have it in your heart to torment such a man as this? I told you what he was, our books speak of them: they are not Kafrs, but spend all their lives in wandering over theface of the earth in search of wisdom, and are always to do so till Hagiuge Magiuge come, and then there will be an end of the world." I made a bow of assent to the Moullah, and all the rest turned up their eyes to heaven in wonder of so much learning, repeating their usual ejaculation, "Ullah Akbar!" God is great. I now took my leave of them, and was going home, when the younger sherriffe called after me, and said, "I suppose, now you are all at peace, we shall not see the sign that you foretold us was to appear in the heavens to-day." "I should be thought a liar if it did not appear, said I; do you wish to see it?"—"I wish to see it, says he, if it will do no harm."—"Then, replied I, you shall see it, and it shall do no harm now. I hope it will bring health and happiness, and a good crop to Teawa, and all the kingdom of Sennaar. Go home, while I order my affairs. Something more than two hours after this I will come to you, and it will then appear." They all went away, and, as I thought by their looks, they would have been better satisfied that affair had been forgot, the Shekh saying peevishly to the sherriffe, "Let him mind his affairs and his journey; what is the use of these things now?"
I had rectified my watch by observation. I knew I could not be far wrong, having seen in the ephemerides the hour the eclipse was to begin. I passed a corner of the Shekh's house, and went in at the back-door. He was there with his usual friends, the Moullah, the sherriffe, the Kaiya, and one or two more. The sherriffe asked me where the sign would appear; and the Moullah, if there would be any thunder and lightning? I told them there would be nothing disagreeable at all. I went to the door,and saw it was begun. There was to be a total eclipse of the moon. I did not tell them at first, till it had advanced some way, and was apparent upon the disk. "Now! look at that, said I; in some time after this the moon shall be so totally swallowed up in darkness, that a small light shall only be seen in the edges." They were frightened at the denunciation, rather than at any thing they observed, till a little before the eclipse became total. A violent apprehension then fell upon them all; and the women from their apartments began to howl as they do on all melancholy occasions of misfortune, or death. They were in the inner square. "Now, continued I, I have kept my word; it will soon be clear again, and will do no harm to man or beast."
It was agreed among them that I should not go home till it was totally at an end. I consented to this; and only said to the Shekh, that I wished he would let me see my patients before I went away, for that one of them was really ill, and needed advice. He seemed to take it very kindly, and desired me to go in. I was met in the anti-chamber by Aiscach, and two or three black slaves, who cried out in great terror, "O! Hakim! what is this! what are you going to do!" "I am going to do, Madam, said I, one of the most disagreeable things I ever did in my life; I am going to take leave of you." I was immediately surrounded with a number of women, some of them crying, some of them with children in their arms. I went into the room where the two ladies were, whom I quieted and satisfied to the utmost of my power. We parted with reciprocal professions of friendship and regret at separation. I then begged that I might see their slave, who used to bring us meat, with a clean cloth, to wrap up something I had for them. Theytold me, Sennaar was but a bad place for white people; but promised to send recommendations in my favour, both to Adelan and the king's women, by Adelan's servant, who was to conduct us.
When I returned to the Shekh, the emersion was far advanced, and they all seemed to be regaining their composure, though strong marks of surprise remained in their countenances. After a little conversation, turning chiefly upon Hagiuge Magiuge, and their silly stories about them, which I shall not repeat, I took my leave, and went home, renewing my assurances that all was forgotten.
At night, the slave came and brought a clean cotton cloth. I sent a piece of thin India yellow satin, and six handsome crimson and green handkerchiefs, to the beautiful Aiscach; and, to the best of my power, discharged all our obligations to those that were our friends and had been kind to us.
In a country so desert, and exceedingly poor as Teawa, under such a government, it is not to be expected that trade of any kind should flourish; yet there is a miserable manufacture of coarse cotton cloths of the size of large towels, just enough to go round the middle, which pass current, like specie, all over Atbara: They are called Dimoor, and are used in place of small silver money. The Mahalac, a very bad copper coin, passes for smaller matters; so that the currency of Teawa stands thus:—
The vakia of gold is worth about forty-five shillings; but the only commerce of Teawa is carried on by exchange, as salt for grain, camels for salt; the value of goods varying according to the scarcity or plenty of one sort of commodities with respect to the other.
The reader will, I believe, by this, be as desirous to get out of Teawa as I was; and if so, it is charity in time to deliver him. I took leave of the Shekh on the 18th in the morning; but before we could get all ready to depart it was five in the afternoon. The day had been immoderately hot, and we had resolved to travel all night, though we did not say so to the Shekh, who advised us to sleep at Imgededema, where there was fresh water. But we had taken a girba of water with us, or rather, in case of accident, a little in each of the three girbas; and all being ready on the river-side, except the king's servant, we set out, and he overtook us in less than two hours afterwards, pretty well refreshed with the Shekh's bouza, and strongly prejudiced against us, as we had occasion to discover afterwards.