Note 92 — Chapter XIX · ON THE KINGDOM OF DARFOUR.[91]

Runga is situated on a river, believed to be the White Nile, and is said to be a fertile country, with a very healthy climate. Bananas, wild grapes, lemons, and three sorts of potatoes, grow in the country; the first is a small and curved variety, which grows without cultivation in the sand; the second variety resembles the European potatoe in shape and flavour, and is planted; the third, which is also cultivated, is a giant potatoe, said to attain the weight of twelve oock’ckahs, equal to twenty-seven pounds. The country is supposed to be very rich in silver ore, of which but little use is made, as the smelting costs the natives too much trouble. Darfour draws a great deal of ivory and rhinoceros’ horn from this country, but it has no camels. Islamism has made great progress there within the last few years. The religion of the natives is exceedingly simple; they believe in the existence of an invisible deity who produces water, namely rain, and makes their fruit to grow. They pay, further, great respect to persons afflicted with fatuity, and believe them to be prophets of the invisible God. They build peculiar huts for these beings, more like birdcages than houses, where they are confined, and provided with food. Before sunset the populace visits them to consult them for advice, and every answer, be it ever so nonsensical, is regarded as an oracle, and firmly believed. The same ideas are said to prevail in Banda, Wuanga, Binga, and Gulla.