Part 2 — CHAP. XVI.

DAR-FÛR.

Residence with the Melek Musa — Dissimulation of the Arabs — Incidents — Return to Cobbé — Endeavours to proceed farther into Africa — Necessity of exercising Medicine — Festival — Punishment of Conspirators — Art of the Sultan — Atrocious Conduct of my Kahirine servant — At length find an opportunity of departure, after a constrained residence in Dar-Fûr of nearly three years.

My reception with Musa Wullad Jelfûn was very different from that which I had experienced in the house of Misellim, or Ibrahim. All the principal people saluted me, and sought my conversation. The Melek, by those who knew him, was esteemed a man of consummate dissimulation, and boundless ambition; quick of apprehension, decisive, and energetic. I found him easy and dignified in his manner; and, by his communication with foreigners perhaps, more polished, and better informed, than the rest of his order. His behaviour toward myself was complacent; and he affected to seek opportunities of hearing my sentiments on such subjects as occurred. During three days we were generally seated with him, and partook of his table, which was remarkable for the abundant supply, if not for the delicacy of the food. On these occasions I was indeed frequently harassed with questions, the simplicity of which disgusted me, and was even in some instances indirectly reviled for my supposed attachment to a sect, whose tenets among Mohammedans are thought absurd and even impious. However, when they were led to imagine that the favour of the Sultan was beginning to brighten my prospects, their disposition on that head appeared much more easy and tolerant. But I was also frequently impressed with the clear intelligence, and penetrating sagacity, with which the claims of the respective suitors were investigated, and the equity and firmness with which they were terminated by this officer. Oftener than once even, during my short abode with him, the best constructed plans to disguise the truth, and elude the purposes of justice, were laid open and rendered abortive; for it is remarkable with how much artifice the Arabs, however ignorant in other respects, defend themselves, whether right or wrong, as long as they have any profit to hope, or loss to dread. So clear is their discernment, so retentive their memory, and so firm their resolution on these occasions, that no word, no look, not even an involuntary movement escapes them, which can in the smallest degree betray their cause; and the longest cross-examination, or questions put at the greatest distance of time, will bring to light no fact unfavourable to the interest which they are to defend.

In obedience to the Sultan’s command, I gave in an exact statement of the property I had lost, and substantiated the proof by the strongest circumstantial evidence. With regard to the slave, the most complete redress was accorded me. The charge brought against me was judged absolutely futile, and she was restored to her master; while he, on the other hand, was compelled to give up the chest, &c. which had been violently withheld. The plunder which had fallen into the hands of my servant and his accomplice was not so easily restored. The Melek, tired of gratuitous justice, began to think that a lucrative composition was more eligible. The offenders, who had been obstinate in the first instance, seeing how the cause relative to the jarea (female slave) had been decided, thought proper to offer to the Melek marks of their gratitude for the lenity they expected from him; and the Sultan was unwilling to imagine that the sufferings of a Caffre could fall heavy on himself at the day of final retribution. In fact, his disgust at the complaints continually preferred, and jealousy and resentment against some of the Egyptians, who in this and other instances appeared to have usurped his authority, certainly influenced him in the first part of the proceedings, rather than any love of justice.

At length the Melek, who in reality was supreme arbiter of the contest, contented himself with giving me in intrinsic value about four head of slaves, instead of twenty-four or twenty-five, which at first he had unequivocally declared due to me, and promised I should receive. And thus the matter was terminated.

I a second time retired to Cobbé, with little expectation of ever leaving the country. Of the property which the king’s agents had on my arrival purchased, no part of the price had yet been discharged. I had been insulted with the mockery of justice, yet obliged to thank my oppressors for the compensation which their corruption and malignity alone had rendered incomplete.

I had not indeed omitted to renew to the Melek Musa, the request which had been previously made to Misellim and Ibrahim. I explained to him in the manner least exceptionable, my intention in coming thither, completely did away all the suspicions, which my enemies had at first been assiduous to excite, and too successful in establishing; and concluded with desiring permission to go to Sennaar, or to accompany the first Selatea (an armed expedition for the purpose of acquiring slaves) to the South or South-west; or finally to have a safe-conduct, and one of the Sultan’s slaves, acknowleged as such, to accompany me to Bergoo (the first Mohammedan kingdom to the West). By the first route I hoped to have reached Abyssinia; or, if that had been impracticable, to have gone through Nubia to Egypt, or by Suakem to the Red Sea, and thence to Mocha or Jidda. By the second I was almost certain of settling some important points relative to the White River, possibly of tracing it to its source. And by the third, either of passing directly West, and tracing the course of the Niger, or of penetrating through Bornou and Fezzan to Tripoli.

To the first proposal, he answered in a manner which gave me no reason to doubt his sincerity, that the road to Sennaar was at present impassable, the Sultan being as yet master of but one half of Kordofan; that the natives of all that part of it which remained unsubdued, were his implacable foes, and would infallibly destroy any person who came from Dar-Fûr; that he thought however, if I waited another year, that route might possibly be more secure; and in case it should be so, that he would use all his efforts to obtain the Sultan’s permission for my departure. Of the Selatea he said, that I should only encounter certain death by attempting it, as between the jealousy of those who accompanied me, and the actual hostility of the country attacked, there would be no hope of escaping. I hinted that the Sultan might give me a few attendants, whom I was very ready to pay, and an order to enable me to pass unmolested, as his physician in search of herbs. He replied that he would propose such a measure, but did not expect it would receive the Sultan’s approbation, whom he represented as very adverse to strangers, and still suspicious of me individually, in consequence of the reports that had been spread on my arrival. To the third proposal, he answered, that he had no hope of my succeeding; and if I should attempt it, would by no means be answerable for what might happen, since the utmost distrust subsisted between the monarchs of Fûr and Bergoo, and the most implacable enmity to Christians in the latter country. He concluded with strongly recommending it to me to seize the first opportunity of returning to Egypt; but assured me, that if he could accomplish either of the measures I so much wished, he would not fail to inform me, and afford me the necessary aid. I left matters thus when I retired to Cobbé, dejected, and little expecting to realize even my least sanguine hopes. Not more than six weeks after this conversation had taken place, I was sent for in haste to attend the Melek, who was confined by an old disorder in his lungs. I found him yet sensible, but his eyes were fixed, and the extremities incapable of motion. In five hours afterwards he expired. Thus were blasted my returning hopes of success; for no mediator now remained between myself and the monarch, and no longer was there near the court a man, even of seeming liberality and good sense, to whom my projects might safely be opened.

The transactions I had been engaged in, and my frequent appearance in public, had given me a degree of notoriety, which I shunned rather than sought. Having learned by accident that I was in possession of a few medicines, which indeed were rather studiously concealed, all the town grew indisposed, and sought for remedies. Under various pretences, I as often as possible declined administering any; but one or two of the sick having recovered, spread the news of their supposed cure, with such additions as they thought proper. It then became necessary for me to attend at El Fasher, whither I was sent for on several occasions, in the course of the subsequent year. Soon after Musa’s death, a messenger arrived requiring my presence, but, as is usual with them, without specifying the object. Judging it might possibly be something favourable to my interests, I used all possible dispatch. On my arrival I was directed to attend the Faqui Seradge, the principal Imam, who was ill of a fistula. It appeared that palliatives could afford him no relief, and I declined the responsibility attached to more violent remedies. On this occasion however the Sultan had seen me, and addressed me personally, telling me that he should give orders for the payment of what was due to me, and that he should consult my inclination in all things. I began to press my request for permission to travel; but to this he turned a deaf ear, and soon left the place of audience. Another time I was called to a Melek, a man of advanced age, who had been blind of one eye for nine years, but was much displeased at being told his disorder was incurable. Many instances of the same kind occurred.

The same winter I was sent for by Misellim, to receive a part of what was due to me. He was at Gidîd, a town about forty miles from Cobbé. I was not long detained, having been permitted to return in a few hours after my arrival. But the payment was made in oxen, a commodity to me of very little value. They however afforded me subsistence for some months, which otherwise probably I should have wanted.

The first week of the month Rabîa-el-achir, this year, was distinguished by a festival which I conceive peculiar to this country—the Geled-el-Nahâs, the leathering of the kettle-drum. It lasts eight or ten days successively; during which time the Meleks and great men offer to the monarch considerable presents. I have known the Melek of jelabs take with him in his visit of congratulation presents, of various kinds, worth sixty head of slaves. Almost all, except absolute mendicants, are obliged to come forward with some offering, proportioned to their rank. In recompence of this involuntary generosity on the part of the people, a kindness almost as involuntary, but somewhat cheaper, is exhibited on the part of the Sultan—his kitchen during the time is devoted to the public service. But as too great a number of animals is frequently slaughtered on the first day, the meat often remains to be devoured in a corrupt state; which gave occasion to some one to remark, that the festivals of Fûr resembled those of the Leopard[38]. The celebrity is also marked by a review of the troops. But as their equestrian exercises are no more than a clumsy imitation of those of the Mamlûks, a more particular description of them would afford nothing new. They serve however to characterise the mode of warfare, where victory is always the effect of personal exertion. The monarch and his chief officers have fine horses of Dongola, which they mount without skill, carrying in one hand five or six javelins, in the use of which they are adequately expert.

During the summer of 1794, five men, who had exercised considerable authority in some of the provinces, were brought to El Fasher as prisoners. It was said that they had been detected in treasonable correspondence with the hostile leader (Hashem) in Kordofân. They did not undergo any form of trial, but as the Sultan chose to give credit to the depositions that were made against them, his command issued for their execution. Three of them were very young men, the youngest not appearing to be more than seventeen years of age. Two of them were eunuchs. A little after noon they were brought, chained and fettered, into the market-place before one of the entrances of the palace, escorted by a few of the royal slaves, armed with spears. Several of the Meleks, by the monarch’s express order, were present, to witness, as he termed it, what they might expect to suffer if they failed in their fidelity. The executioner allowed them time only to utter some short prayer, when he plunged the knife in the neck of the oldest of them, exactly in the same manner as they kill a sheep. The operation too is marked by the same term (dhebbah). He fell and struggled for some time: the rest suffered in their turn. The three last were much agitated, and the youngest wept. The two first had borne their fate with becoming firmness. The crowd, that had assembled, had scarcely satiated itself with the spectacle of their convulsive motions, while prostrate in the dust, when the slaves of the executioner coolly brought a small block of wood, and began mangling their feet with an axe. I was surprized at this among Mohammedans, whose decency in all that concerns the dead is generally worthy of applause. Nor did it diminish my astonishment, that having at length cut off their feet, they took away the fetters, which had been worn by the criminals, in themselves of very inconsiderable value, and left the bodies where they were. Private humanity, and not public order, afterwards afforded them sepulture.

It happened this year that some excesses had been committed by persons in a state of inebriation, and the Sultan having had cognizance of the fact, could find a remedy only in force. He ordered search to be made in all houses throughout the country for the utensils for making merîsé; directed that those who should be found in a state of intoxication should be capitally punished; and the women who made it should have their heads shaved, be fined severely, and exposed to all possible ignominy. The Furians had however been habituated to Merîsé before they had known their monarch, or the Islam. The severity of the order, therefore, and the numbers trespassing against it, defeated the Sultan’s purpose. It was indeed put in execution, and a few miserable women suffered unrelenting tonsure, and innumerable earthen jars were indignantly strewed piecemeal in the paths of the faithful; but the opulent, as is usual, escaped with impunity, and some were bold enough to say, that the eyes even of the Sultan’s women were still reddened with the voluptuous beverage, while priests and magistrates were bearing the fulminating edict from one extremity of the empire to the other. It is certain that, subsequent to this new law, the minds of the troops were much alienated from the monarch, and it is thought that no other cause than this was to be sought. The monarch who admits of no licence will never reign in the hearts of the soldiery; and he must give up the hope of their affections, who is disposed to become an impartial censor of the public morals.

Innumerable reports had been propagated at different times, that the Jelabs would be allowed to depart. But none was well authenticated; nay, as afterwards appeared, all were false. It is probable they were artfully circulated by order of the Sultan, with a view to cajole the foreign merchants, who, having now collected the intended number of slaves, were at a heavy expense for their daily sustenance, and of course ill bore the unexplained delay, while his own merchandize was sold at a prodigious advance in Egypt. In effect, two small caravans found their way thither, between the time of my arrival at Fûr, and that of my departure; but they consisted only of the Sultan’s property, and that of one or two individuals, whom he particularly favoured. For a great quantity of merchandize having accumulated in his hands, he was determined to dispose of it to advantage, before the other merchants should be permitted to produce theirs for sale.

They were therefore restrained by the strong arm of power, to favour the monarch’s pernicious monopoly; while the latter, with singular effrontery, gave out, that he had sent to negociate with the Beys the reception of the commodities of Soudân, on more advantageous terms than they had been before admitted.

The man whom I had brought with me from Kahira as servant, had availed himself of the property he had plundered to purchase several slaves. He still continued to live in an apartment within the same inclosure with myself, and I occasionally employed one of his slaves to prepare my food.

He knew too much of me to imagine that I should lose any opportunity that might offer of punishing him, and accordingly was desirous of anticipating my design. I had received warning of his views, and was cautious, sleeping little at night, and going always armed; not that I much expected any thing would be attempted by open force, though in effect two men had been employed by him, under promise of a reward, to strangle me. Finding that measure unsuccessful, he obtained some corrosive sublimate, and put it into a dish that one of the slaves was dressing. She was honest and generous enough to inform me of it, or the scheme would probably have taken effect, as I had certainly then no suspicion. The villain on returning, after a few hours, and finding that the poison had not produced its effect, vented his rage on the slave, and had nearly strangled her with a cord, when I interfered and forced him to leave her. The next scheme was an accusation of debauching his slaves, which after a tedious investigation before the civil judge, and then the Melek of Jelabs, I was able to refute. Other attempts, planned with sufficient art, were made against my life, which, however, I had equal good fortune in escaping.

In the summer of 1795, I received the second payment for the property in the Sultan’s hands, which consisted of female camels (naka). The same injustice operated on this occasion as before. After all the other creditors of the monarch had been satisfied, I was directed to choose from what remained: two of which, as usual, were allotted as equivalent to a slave, though of so inferior a kind, that three would not have been sufficient to purchase one.

After having received these, I was preparing to return to Cobbé, when a message came to require my attendance on a sick person. The patient was brother of the Melek of the Jelabs. He was in the last stage of a peripneumony, and I immediately saw the case was desperate; but was forced to remain there with the sick man, administering such remedies as his situation permitted the application of, till he expired. Two guides were sent to accompany me home, but coming to a torrent that crossed the road, (it was the middle of the Harîf, or wet season,) they were fearful of passing it, and returned, after endeavouring in vain to persuade me to do the same. I was obliged to abandon the camel, which belonged to the Melek, and pursue my journey on foot.

The time I was constrained to devote to this patient afforded me an opportunity of remarking the True believer’s practice of physic. No mummery, that ever was invented by human imbecility to banish the puny fears of mortality, was forgotten to be put in practice. The disease was sometimes exorcised as a malignant spirit, at others deprecated as the just visitation of the Deity: two or three thousand fathas were to be uttered, and numbered at the same moment on a chaplet; and sentences of the Koran were then written on a board, which being washed off, the inky water was offered to the sick man to drink, when he was no longer able to open his mouth. But though this puerile anxiety prevailed so long as the man remained alive, the moment he was dead, all sunk into undisturbed composure, except a few of the women, who officiously disquieted the living, with vociferations of affected sorrow for the dead.

Near the end of the year 1795, a body of troops was mustered and reviewed, who were to replace those that had died of the small-pox in Kordofân, which it was said amounted to more than half the army. The spoils which had been taken from Hashem, were also on this occasion ostentatiously displayed. They consisted of eighty slaves, male and female, but the greater proportion of the latter, many of them were very beautiful, nor the less interesting, that though the change in their situation could not be very important, their countenances were marked with despondency. To these succeeded five hundred oxen and two hundred large camels; the whole procession concluded with eighty horses, and many articles of less value borne by slaves. Shouts rent the air, of “Long live el Sultan Abd-el-rachmân el rashîd! May God render him always victorious!”

A short time after I caused a petition to be drawn up, which was presented by Ali-el-Chatîb to the Sultan, in which I stated my sufferings, requested payment of what yet remained due to me, and permission to proceed on my journey to Kordofân. Though the person who presented it was a man of considerable weight, no answer was given. I therefore followed it up by a visit in person, which I had resolved should be my last. My arrival was no sooner known, than I was directed as before to attend some sick person. This I positively refused to do; and it was many days before I could be admitted at court, for Fowaz, the Melek of Jelabs, was grown tired of his office. I therefore accompanied (11th December 1795) the Chatîb to the monarch’s presence, and shortly stated what I came to request, which the former seconded, though not with the zeal that I might have wished. To my demand of permission to travel no answer was returned. But the generous and hospitable monarch, who had received from me the value of about 750 piasters in goods, and notwithstanding that my claim was well supported, condescended to give me twenty meagre oxen, in value about 120 piasters! The state of my purse would not permit me to refute even this mean supply, and I bad adieu to El Fasher, as I hoped for ever.

Another accident happened at this time, which awaked my attention to personal security. Being retired at night to a small distance from my apartment, a spear was thrown over the fence, grazed my shoulder, and stuck in the ground near me. I ran to the place whence it came, but saw no one, and in vain endeavoured to discover the owner of it.

Having applied the value of the oxen to preparatives for the journey to Egypt, the report of the caravan’s departure growing daily stronger, I lost no time in joining the Chabîr, who was then encamped at Le Haimer, (3d March 1796,) a small village about three days’ journey North of Cobbé, where was a tolerable supply of water, but no other requisite for living.

Two nights previously to leaving Cobbé I received a letter, impressed with the seal of Fowas, Melek of Jelabs, importing that he (Fowas) had obtained from the Sultan for me the permission I had so often earnestly sought, viz. of passing through Kordofan to Sennaar, and that nothing remained but to repair to El Fasher, and set out from that place. My astonishment was great at finding that what had so constantly and contumeliously been refused, should now be spontaneously offered. I therefore immediately went to some of the merchants, in whom I had the greatest confidence, to inquire their opinion. All of them strongly dissuaded me from paying any attention to the Melek’s letter, hinting at the same time that they understood what it meant. I acquiesced, notwithstanding my earnest desire of going eastward; and it afterwards was proved to me in a way sufficiently clear, that this letter was the result of a scheme concerted between the Melek and my servant Ali, by which it was contrived that I should reach the eastern confine, and there perish by the hands of my attendants.

During my residence at El Fasher and Cobbé, I had been repeatedly assured, and that from those persons who were best informed, that the Sultan never meant to permit my departure; and the imperfect compensation he had directed for what had been brought him confirmed that opinion. But as I knew much is done among persons of that description by whispers, I took care to spread them thickly in his way. To the Chabîr I promised an ample recompence for his assistance, and set before him the consequences of his appearing in Kahira without me. I also offered proofs that I had been able to dispatch letters to Egypt, unknown to the government here. The Chabîr did not neglect to use his interest with the Sultan; and whether the latter was really intimidated by these vain insinuations, whether he had begun to hold a more favourable opinion of me from my having been so long in the country without attempting any thing improper, or whether he was not in reality much more tranquil and indifferent on the subject than we at that time imagined, I cannot even now with certainty affirm.

We arrived at Le Haimer about a month before Ramadan, and it was not till the sixth day of El Hedge, the second month after that fast, that we actually commenced our journey to Egypt. In the mean time having pitched the tent under a great tree, where we were sheltered from the rays of the sun, and in tolerable security, I fed on polenta (as-cidé) and water with the camel-drivers. I had collected eight camels for the journey, but the best of them was stolen while grazing. Another died; and to supply his place I was obliged to seek one on credit, for my whole exchangeable property at that time amounted only to about eight piasters.

While the caravan was assembling, an incident happened which may deserve mention. The Muggrebîns of Elwah, having passed by Selimé, crossed the desert (a route of three or four days) to Dongola, where they carried off goods and captives. Among these was a Dongolese girl, of fourteen years of age, who was sold in Upper Egypt, and carried to Kahira, where she was bought by an Arab, who had afterwards returned to Dar Fûr with his property. The girl being recognized by some Dongolese, of her own tribe, resident in Fûr, the question came before the Melek of the district, and was referred to the monarch. Her master pleaded the purchase at a valuable consideration; but it was decided that having been free, she was not a subject of sale, and she was restored to her friends.

This pretext of an accusation for purchasing free persons is often used to extort money from rich merchants, and an instance happened, within my knowlege, in which the purchaser was condemned, not only to forfeit two females, but to pay a fine of seven slaves for each. Such is the sole attention which the government pays to the freedom of the subject.

Our voyage, once commenced, was continued with little remarkable, except the violent heat. We returned by the only caravan route, Bir el malah, Leghea, Selime, Sheb, and Elwah. Our provisions were indifferent, and in small quantity. The camel-drivers regaled themselves with the flesh of those animals, when they chanced to be disabled on the road. When we came to Beirîs we were met by a Cashef, who welcomed the Jelabs with an exhibition of fire works; on this occasion he treats the chief merchants with coffee, and presents to each a benîsh of coarse cloth, worth about a guinea, expecting, however, in return, a slave from each, worth at least ten guineas. When I arrived at Assiût it was four months since I had eaten of animal food. The hard living, heat, and fatigue, occasioned a diarrhea which much weakened me; but before leaving Assiût, where I passed about twenty days, it was considerably abated.