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Title: Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria from the year 1792 to 1798
Author: William George Browne
Release date: December 18, 2023 [eBook #72452]
Language: English
Original publication: London: T. Cadell junior and W. Davies, 1799
Credits: Galo Flordelis (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRAVELS IN AFRICA, EGYPT, AND SYRIA FROM THE YEAR 1792 TO 1798 ***
=TRAVELS=
IN
_AFRICA, &c._
[Illustration: _L-Mayer. del._
_J-Neagle Sct._
_An ancient Egyptian Temple complete, from the Description of Strabo._]
=TRAVELS=
IN
_AFRICA,
EGYPT, AND SYRIA,_
FROM THE YEAR 1792 TO 1798.
* * * * *
By W. G. BROWNE.
* * * * *
_LONDON:_
PRINTED FOR T. CADELL JUNIOR AND W. DAVIES, STRAND; AND
T. N. LONGMAN AND O. REES, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1799.
=PREFACE.=
* * * * *
IF the desire of literary fame were the chief motive for submitting
to public notice the following sheets, the writer is not so far
blinded by self-love, as not to be conscious of having failed of
his object. The simple narrative of a journey is perhaps as little a
proper source of reputation for elegance of composition, as a journey
of the kind described is in itself of the pleasures of sense. But the
present, from various circumstances, comprehends so small a portion
of what might be expected from the observations of several years,
that he has been often disposed to give it a different title.
The retrospect on the events of his life which are briefly mentioned
in the ensuing pages, offers him a mixed sensation. The hopes with
which he undertook the voyage, even without being very sanguine,
contrasted with the disappointment with which he now sits down to
relate its occurrences, allow him little satisfaction from what has
been executed. He feels, however, some confidence of not experiencing
severe censure when his design shall be understood. The work is not
offered as elaborate or perfect. The account of Dar-Fûr fills up a
vacancy in the geography of Africa; and of a country so little known,
the information obtained should not be estimated by its quantity,
but by its authenticity. Sitting in a chamber in Kahira or Tripoli,
it is easy to give a plausible account of Northern Africa, from
Sennaar and Gondar to Tombuctoo and Fez. It would not be difficult
even to sanction it by the authority of the Jelabs. These people are
never at a loss whatever question is asked them, and if they know
not the name of the place inquired for, they recollect some other
place of a name a little resembling it in sound, and describe what
they never heard of by what they know. With regard to manners they
are as little to be relied on. Ask but a leading question, and all
the miracles of antiquity, of dogheaded nations, and men with tails,
will be described, with their situation, habits, and pastimes.
But their descriptions, when given without the smallest appearance
of interested views, if verified on the spot, are constantly found
defective or erroneous.
The writer is aware, that when the length of the time he passed in
Dar-Fûr is considered, the short account here given will appear,
to persons accustomed to the busy scenes of Europe, but very
imperfectly to fill up the void. Confiding, however, that those
of more reflection and experience in travelling, will be better
pleased with a short and clear narrative of what really happened,
than by frivolous anecdotes or remarks, inserted merely to swell the
size of the volume, he has contented himself with extracting from
his journal the principal occurrences during his residence there,
and giving them the connection required; at the same time omitting
nothing that could any way contribute to throw light on the state
of the country, or character of the inhabitants.
A more creative imagination would have drawn more animated pictures;
a mind more disposed to observation would have collected more facts
and incidents; and a more vigorous intellect would have converted
those facts and incidents into materials of more interesting and
more striking investigation. The descriptions would have been more
impressive, and the deductions more profound.
The present work has the merit of being composed from observations
made in the places and on the subjects described. But the praise
of fidelity, the only one to which the writer lays claim, cannot be
received till another shall have traced his footsteps.
With respect to Egypt a greater number of persons may be found
who are qualified to decide, and there is not the same reason for
suspension of judgment.
Without pretending to any extraordinary sources of information,
the writer hopes, that what is here said will afford some little
satisfaction to those who wish for the latest information concerning
that country. He arrogates not to himself the praise of augmenting
greatly the sum of knowlege already to be found in books; but very
widely dispersed, and within the reach of comparatively few persons.
Innumerable books have been written on Egypt, but none of them, in
our language, can pretend to a popular plan. Those of Pococke and
Norden are most known to ourselves—valuable works for all that
concerns the antiquities, and they are by no means superseded. The
form and price, however, at this time keep them out of the hands of
the greater number.
Niebuhr’s writings require not an additional testimony of their
value; but the professed object of his voyage was Arabia; and the
account of Egypt is only incidental.
Volney and Savary are in the public hands, and no attempt shall be
made to influence its judgment of their works. The talents of the
former are well known; but he saw the East with no favourable eye;
and his manner in speaking of Egypt will be found materially different
from that here adopted.
Of Syria the Author could expect to say little that is new, after
the numberless descriptions which have already been published,
and he has accordingly used great rapidity in his narrative.
In Kahira, the sources of information are few and scanty. A traveller
may remain there many months, without finding his ideas of the
country, or its inhabitants, much more clear or precise.
The Europeans, there immured as prisoners, may be reasonably excused
for hastening their commercial advantages, and, whenever unengaged
by that object, for amusing themselves in trying to forget the place
in which their ill fortune has obliged them to reside. Those who
are found there, with every disposition to accommodate strangers,
and receiving them always with complacency and kindness, are yet,
with few exceptions, not of the order of men most able to generalize
their ideas, and avail themselves to the utmost of the information
which accident throws in their way.
The Greeks, whose inquisitive turn, and more intimate connexion
with the people at large and with the government, make them more
familiar with characters and occurrences, rarely represent things
as they really are, but as they feel them, or would have them to
be. Where their report is not entirely imaginary, their portraits
are like those of _Lely_, all adorned with nicely-combed locks and
a fringed neckcloth. They mark no character, but as it appears to
their prejudices; give no history that is not interlarded with their
own fables; and describe no place but in the vague and superficial
manner that satisfies their own ignorance.
The Copts who, it might be supposed, would be accurately informed
of all that relates to the government and history of the country,
have no sentiment of antient glory, and are wholly immersed in gain
or pleasure.
Settled in the composure of ignorance, they cannot conceive the
motive of minute inquiries; and timid and reserved, they fear to
discover even what they know.
The more liberal among the Mohammedan ecclesiastics, may be safely
consulted for what concerns literature and the laws, and some few of
them are communicative; but in general they despise strangers, and do
not readily answer questions not of the most ordinary occurrence. On
the whole, the most intelligent and communicative among the people
of Kahira are the Mohammedan merchants, of a certain rank, who have
visited various parts of the empire, and who have learned to think
that all wisdom is not confined to one country or one race of men;
and who having been led to mix, first by necessity and then by
choice, with various nations, preserve their attachment to their
own persuasion, without thinking all the rest of mankind _dogs_
and _accursed_.
The general design of the Writer, as will be seen in the sequel,
was of such a nature, that, without being extremely sanguine, he
might have hoped to execute a considerable part of it. His prospects
the first year were darkened by an unexpected disappointment on
his arrival at Assûan; concerning which he may say, without any
disposition to complaint, that he felt it severely. Another winter
furnished him with a little more information and more experience:
but still, as he afterwards unfortunately discovered, by no means
all that was necessary to his purpose.
He might have appeared in Dar-Fûr as a Mohammedan, if he had known
that the character was necessary to his personal security, or to his
unrestrained passage; but, from the accounts he received in Kahira,
among the people of Soûdan no violent animosity was exhibited
against Christians. The character of the converts to Mohammedism,
among the black nations, was, according to the general voice of the
Egyptians who travelled among them, mild and tolerant. A disposition
so generally acknowleged, that the more zealous among the latter
are little scrupulous in honouring them with the appellation of
_Caffre_. His surprise therefore was not inconsiderable at finding,
on his arrival, that an unbeliever in the infallibility of the
Korân was more openly persecuted, and more frequently insulted,
than in Kahira itself.
The information received, previously to his departure in 1793,
taught the writer to expect, from having chosen the route of what is
called the Soudân Caravan, the choice of a free passage to Sennaar,
which would, without much doubt, have secured him an entrance into
_Habbesh_, under the conduct of the Fungni, who trade there: for the
Fûrian monarch, had his favour not been withdrawn in consequence
of false insinuations, would readily have accorded a safe-conduct
through Kordofân, which was all that circumstances required. The
being removed a few weeks journey too far to the Westward, was
no objection, when he reflected on the confusion then reigning at
Sennaar, and that in proportion as the road he took was indirect,
the less suspicion would be entertained of him as a Frank, the
greater experience he must acquire among the people of the interior,
and the more easily he might be suffered to pass as a mere trader.
He had been taught, that the expeditions in quest of slaves,
undertaken by the people of Fûr and its neighbourhood, extended
often forty or more days to the Southward. This, at the lowest
computation, gave a distance of five degrees on a meridian, and
the single hope of penetrating so much farther Southward than any
preceding traveller, was worth an effort to realize. He owns, he
did not then foresee all the inconveniences of being exposed, on
the one hand, to the band of plunderers whom he was to accompany,
and on the other, to the just resentment of the wretched victims
whom they were to enthral. Perhaps those very evils were magnified
greatly beyond their real value by the Fûrians to whom he applied,
and who were predetermined not to allow him to pass.
Another inducement to this route was, that part of it was represented
to lie along the banks of the _Bahr-el-abiad_, which he had always
conceived to be the true Nile, and which apparently no European had
ever seen. To have traced it to its source was rather to be wished
than expected; but he promised himself to reach a part of it near
enough to that source, to enable him to determine in what latitude
and direction it was likely to exist. It is unnecessary to observe,
that, had either of these objects been realized, much interesting
matter must have occurred in the course of the route. He could not
in the sequel discover that the armed expeditions of the Fûrians
extend to any high reaches of the Bahr-el-abiad.
Another object, perhaps in the eyes of some the most important of the
three, was to pass to one or more of the extended and populous empires
to the Westward. Africa, to the North of the Niger, as is certified
from the late discoveries, is almost universally Mohammedan; and to
have been well received among one of the nations of that description,
would have been a strong presumption in favour of future efforts. He
expected in that road to have seen part of the _Niger_, and even
though he had been strictly restrained to the direct road from
_Dar-Fûr_ through _Bernou_ and thence to _Fezzan_ and _Tripoli_,
an opportunity must have offered of verifying several important
geographical positions, and observing many facts worthy remembrance
relative to commerce and general manners; or, if those designs had
entirely failed, at least of marking a rough outline of the route,
and facilitating the progress of some future traveller.
So fixed was his intention of executing some one of these plans, that
near three years of suffering were unable to abate his resolution;
and the pain he endured at being ultimately compelled to relinquish
them, had induced him to neglect the only opportunity that was
likely to offer of personal deliverance, till the destitution of
the means of living roused him from his lethargy; and the ridicule
of his Mohammedan friends, who, fatalists as they are, yield to
circumstances, instructed him that to despair was weakness and not
fortitude; and that the frail offspring of hope, nursed by credulity,
and not by prudence, marks the morbid temperament of the mind that
conceived it.
The following papers would perhaps have been something less imperfect,
if what was originally committed to writing had been altogether
within the reach of the writer, when he began to prepare them
for publication. Two accidents, however, both equally unforeseen,
rendered abortive his hope of compensating in some measure for the
general failure in his design, by greater exactness and detail as
to the particulars of what he had actually seen.
The losses he had sustained in Soudân, were not very important,
comprising only some specimens of minerals, vegetables, and other
cumbrous materials, which he designed to have brought with him. On
his arrival in Kahira, he thought it would be an impediment, in
his journey through Syria, to transport all he possessed thither,
and therefore caused the greater part of his baggage to be sent to
Alexandria; among which were copies of such papers as he thought
least unfit for the use of a third person. In the number he regrets a
register of the caravans which had arrived in Kahira from Fûr since
the year of Hejira 1150, containing an account of their numbers,
and many other curious particulars; copied from a book belonging to
the shech of the slave-market in Kahira.
A kind of general itinerary, in the hand-writing of a Jelab of his
acquaintance, containing the roads of Eastern Africa.
A vocabulary of the Fûrian language, compiled by himself.
Some remarks on natural history.
List of names of places both in Egypt and Fûr, written by an Arab.
The detail of particulars relating to the time and manner of his
observations in Astronomy, with other remarks tending to illustrate
the geography of his route.
To return to a few considerations on the present intercourse between
Egypt and Abyssinia.
Towards the close of the year 1796, I was told by the Coptic
patriarch, that for the preceding nine years or more, no communication
had taken place between Egypt and Abyssinia. Two men pretending
to be priests of that country, came in 1793 to Kahira, but it
was afterwards discovered that they were either not Abyssins, or
fugitives, and without authority or commission. The interception of
their intercourse by land might be caused by the unsettled state of
_Sennaar_ and _Nubia_. Slaves from Abyssinia are usually brought by
the Red Sea from _Mâsuah_ to Jidda, and many of them are sold in
Mecca, though but few reach Kahira by way of Cossîr and Suez. Gold
sometimes comes to market by the same route, and the Abyssins are
thence supplied with such foreign commodities as they stand in
need of.
To the slaves of Habbesh no very marked preference is shewn in
Egypt. They are more beautiful than those of Soudân; but the price
of the two kinds, _cæteris paribus_, is nearly the same.
A priest of the Propaganda, a native of Egypt, and consequently
possessing every advantage of language and local knowlege,
during my absence to the Southward, had endeavoured to penetrate
into Abyssinia. Having reached Sennaar, he was dissuaded by the
people of that city from attempting to proceed. Unmindful of their
representations he prosecuted his journey, but was assassinated
between _Sennaar_ and _Teawa_.
The Propagandists had a single missionary, a native of _Habbesh_,
at _Gondar_, and styled _Bishop of Adel_, but concealing himself
under the exterior of a physician. In 1796, the order at Kahira told
me that they had received no authentic intelligence concerning him
during several years preceding.
At Suez, March 1793, I met an Armenian merchant, who had formerly
traded to Abyssinia, and seemed a man of intelligence. He told me
that he was at Gondâr while Bruce was there, and that Yakûb was
universally talked of with praise. This merchant narrated of his own
accord the story of shooting a wax-candle through seven shields;
but when I asked him if Bruce had been at the Abyssinian source
of the Nile, he affirmed that he never was there. He observed that
Bruce had been appointed governor of _Râs-el-Fîl_, a province in
which Arabic is spoken. My informer added, that the Abyssins were
a gross ignorant people, and often ate raw flesh.
In Dar-Fûr a Bergoo merchant, named _Hadji Hamâd_, who had long
resided in Sennaar, and was in Bruce’s party from Gondar to Sennaar,
said that _Yakûb_ had been highly favoured in the Abyssinian court,
and lived splendidly. He was often observing the stars, &c. Both
my informers agreed that he had been governor of Râs-el-Fîl; and
both, that he had never visited the Abyssinian source of the Nile,
esteemed the real one in that ignorant country.
An Englishman under the name of Robarts came to Alexandria in 1788,
and after a short stay proceeded to Kahira. His intention was, it is
said, to have penetrated into Abyssinia by way of Massuah. While at
Kahira he applied repeatedly to the Coptic Patriarch for a letter
from him to the head of the Abyssin church; with which the latter,
under various pretences, constantly refused to furnish him. He
continued at Kahira several months, and afterwards found his way to
_Moccha_. Repeated attempts were made by him to execute his projected
voyage to the opposite territory, but all without success. The persons
from whom I received this information, and who, as would seem, derived
it from his own authority, assured me that he had encountered almost
insurmountable obstacles, and been obliged to submit even to personal
indignities. They allowed too that this gentleman was far from being
unqualified for the enterprize, in judgment, experience, or physical
force. The same persons acquainted me that he had afterwards advanced
to the Mogul peninsula, and had accompanied the British troops,
during two campaigns, against the usurper of Mysore, in various parts
of the peninsula. He even returned to Alexandria after the treaty of
Seringapatam; and at that place, being attacked by an acute disease,
breathed his last in the Franciscan convent there established. More
authentic and interesting materials respecting this traveller, may
possibly have reached this country. Yet I thought it not improper
to mention these few particulars, which may tend to illustrate the
nature of a voyage to Abyssinia.
The errors in African geography are numerous, and proceed from
various causes. Among those causes, however, are particularly to
be enumerated,
That the same province has often one name in the language of that
province, and another in Arabic. Of the places called indiscriminately
_Fertît_ by the Arabs, each little district has an appropriate name.
Again, the name of a small province is occasionally taken for a
large one, and _vice versâ_. _Bahr_ is applied to a great lake,
as well as to a river. _Dar_ is a kingdom, and is sometimes applied
to a village, and often to a district.
_Fûr_ seems to be an Arabic name, signifying in that tongue a _Deer_;
and, it may be conjectured, has been applied to that people in the
same sense as _Towshân_, a hare, is by the Turks to the natives
of the Greek islands—from the rapidity of their flight before the
Mohammedan conquerors.
Nothing can well be more vague than the use of the word _Soudan_
or _Sûdan_. Among the Egyptians and Arabs _Ber-es-Soudan_ is the
place where the caravans arrive, when they reach the first habitable
part of Dar-Fûr: but that country seems its eastern extremity;
for I never heard it applied to Kordofân or Sennaar. It is used
equally in Dar-Fûr to express the country to the West; but on the
whole seems ordinarily applied to signify that part of the land of
the blacks nearest Egypt.
An innovation as to the orthography of some proper names, it is
supposed, will not appear affected or improper, when the reason is
explained; as _Kahira_, _Damiatt_, _Rashîd_, for _Cairo_, _Damietta_,
_Rosetto_. It is of some use in appellatives to approximate to the
pronunciation of the natives, and there can be as little reason
for receiving Arabic names through the medium of the Italian, as
for adopting the French way of writing Greek ones, as _Denys_ for
_Dionysius_, and _Tite-Live_ for Titus Livius. Kahira and Rashîd
have each of them their proper meaning in Arabic.—In Italian they
have no meaning. The only rule observed has been, to bring back
proper names to the original pronunciation, as far as might be done
without obscurity.
Where a circumflex has been put over a vowel it is to denote its
length, or something exotic in the enunciation. An approach to
systematic regularity would have been attempted in expressing Arabic
words by Roman letters, but the author freely owns that no rule, at
once general in its use and simple and easy enough to be remembered,
has yet occurred to him. He has therefore added the original word,
wherever it could in any degree tend to illustration or precision.
The word _Turk_ is never applied to signify a professor of
Mohammedism, an indefinite mode of designation, that occasions
perpetual confusion in speaking of the affairs of the East. The
design was, to confine that term to the natives of Europe and Asia
Minor. _Arab_ is applied equally to the inhabitants of Syria, Egypt,
and the coast of Barbary, as well as to those of Arabia Proper,
whether villagers or wanderers. The wandering tribes are however
more frequently marked by the terms _Bedouin_ and _Muggrebin_.
The orthography of the word _Calif_ conveys no idea of the strong
guttural letter with which it commences; it is therefore here written
_Chalîf_, or more properly _Chalifé_. He is no stranger to the
Turkish word _Bek_ or _Beg_; but as those whose enunciation of
that language is esteemed most correct, but faintly articulate the
consonant which terminates it, he has retained the common orthography
_Bey_. In general, the original language is esteemed the criterion
of spelling; and if the same word be occasionally spelled in two
different ways, it is only because they are both equally near to
that original.
_Weights and Measures._
One _oke_ of Kahira = four hundred drams.
One _rotal_ = one hundred forty-four drams.
One _rotal_ silk of Syria = two hundred twenty-nine and a half
drams.
The Cantar is rotals = 102 — 105 — 110 — 120 — 130,
variable according to the commodity.
_Jewels, Gold, and Silver._
One kerât = 4 grains.
One dram or dirhem = 16 kerâts.
One mitkâl = 24 kerâts.
One wekîé = 8¼ drams.
_Measure of Cloth, &c._
Pike of Constantinople, called _Draa Stambuli_, Arab.;
Turk. _Hindazi_, is used for selling cloth and silk. It amounts
to twenty-seven inches.
Pike of Kahira, used for other articles = eighteen inches.
=CONTENTS.=
* * * * *
CHAP. I.
ALEXANDRIA.
_ANTIENT walls and ruins — The two ports — Reservoirs —
Vegetation — Antiquities — Population — Government — Commerce
— Manufactures — Anecdote of recent history._ Page 1
CHAP. II.
SIWA.
_Attempt to penetrate to the Temple of Jupiter Ammon — Route
and provisions — Animals of the desert — Occurrences on the
road — Description of Siwa — Antient edifice — Intercourse
with other countries — Produce and manners — Attempt to
penetrate farther into the desert — Return._ 14
CHAP. III.
FROM ALEXANDRIA TO RASHID.
_Abu-kîr — Fertility of the country — Description of Rashîd —
Journey to Terané — Fué, Deîrut, and Demenhûr._ 30
CHAP. IV.
TERANE AND THE NATRON LAKES.
_Government of Terané — Carlo Rossetti — The trade in natrôn —
Manners — Journey to the Lakes — Observations there — Remarks
on natrôn — Coptic convents and MSS. — Proceed to Kahira._ 36
CHAP. V.
KAHIRA.
_Topography — Government of Kahira and of Egypt — Pasha
and Beys — Mamlûks — Birth, education, dress, arms, pay —
Estimate of their military skill — Power and revenue of the
Beys — The Chalige — The NILE — Mosques, baths, and okals —
Houses — Manners and customs — Classes of people — Account of
the Copts._ 45
CHAP. VI.
KAHIRA.
_Commerce — Manufactures — Mint — Castle and well —
Misr-el-Attîké and antient mosque — Antient Babylon — Fostat
and Bûlak — Jizé — Tomb of Shafei — Pleasure-boats — Charmers
of serpents — Magic — Dancing girls — Amusements of Ramadân —
Coffee-houses — Price of provisions — Recent history of Egypt
— Account of the present Beys._ 74
CHAP. VII.
KAHIRA.
_Brief abstract of the history of Africa in general, and Egypt
in particular, under the domination of the Arabs._ 93
CHAP. VIII.
UPPER EGYPT.
_Design to penetrate into Habbesh or Abyssinia — Voyage on the
Nile — Description of Assiût — General course of the Nile —
Caverns — Kaw — Achmîm — Painted caverns — Jirjé or Girgi —
Dendera — Antient temple — Kous — Topography of Upper Egypt —
El-wah-el-Ghîrbi — Situation of the_ Oasis parva. 120
CHAP. IX.
UPPER EGYPT.
_Thebes — Site and antiquities — Painted caverns — Their
discovery and plan — Manners of the people of Thebes — Isna
— Fugitive Beys — Antiquities — Rain — Assûan or Syené —
Obstacles to farther progress — Return to Ghenné._ 134
CHAP. X.
JOURNEY TO COSSÎR ON THE RED SEA.
_Inducements and danger — Route — Account of Cossîr — Commerce
— Return by another route — Granite rocks, and antient road —
Marble quarries — Pretended canal — Earthen ware of Ghenné —
Murder of two Greeks, and subsequent report of the Author’s
death._ 143
CHAP. XI.
OCCURRENCES AT KAHIRA.
_Arrival of the Pasha — Death of Hassan Bey — Decline of
the French factory in Kahira — Expulsion of the Maronite
Christians from the Custom-house — Riot among the Galiongîs
— Obstructions of the canal of Menûf — Supply of fish in the
pools of Kahira — Expedition of Achmet Aga, &c._ 151
CHAP. XII.
ANTIENT EGYPTIANS.
_Their persons, complexion, &c._ 159
CHAP. XIII.
JOURNEY TO FEIUME.
_Tamieh — Canals — Feiume — Roses — Lake Mœris — Oasis parva —
Pyramids — of Hawara — of Dashûr — of Sakarra — of Jizé, or
the Great Pyramids — Antient Memphis — Egyptian capitals._ 167
CHAP. XIV.
JOURNEY TO SINAI.
_Route — Suez — Ships and ship-building — Trade — Scarcity of
water — Remains of the antient canal — Tûr — Mountains of red
granite — Description of Sinai — Eastern gulf of the Red Sea
— Return to Kahira._ 175
CHAP. XV.
JOURNEY TO DAR-FÛR,
A KINGDOM IN THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA.
_Design to penetrate into the interior of Africa —
Difficulties — Caravan from Soûdan or Dar-Fûr — Preparations
— Departure from Assiût — Journey to El-wah — Mountains
— Desert — Charjé in El-wah — Bulak — Beirîs — Mughes —
Desert of Sheb — Desert of Selimé — Leghéa — Natrôn spring —
Difficulties — Enter the kingdom of Fûr — Sweini — Detention
— Representations to the Melek — Residence — New difficulties
— Villany of Agent — Sultan’s letter — Enmity of the people
against Franks — El-Fasher — Illness — Conversations with the
Melek Misellim — Relapse — Robbery — Cobbé — Manners — Return
to El-Fasher — The Melek Ibrahim — Amusements — Incidents
— Audience of the Sultan Abd-el-rachmân-el-Rashîd — His
personal character — Ceremonies of the Court._ 180
CHAP. XVI.
DAR-FÛR.
_Residence with the Melek Mûsa — Dissimulation of the Arabs —
Incidents — Return to Cobbé — Endeavours to proceed farther
into Africa — Constrained to exercise medicine — Festival —
Punishment of Conspirators — Art of the Sultan — Atrocious
conduct of my Kahirine servant — At length an opportunity
of departure is offered, after a constrained residence in
Dar-Fûr of nearly three years._ 216
CHAP. XVII.
DAR-FÛR.
_Topography of Dar-Fûr, with some account of its various
inhabitants._ 234
CHAP. XVIII.
DAR-FÛR.
_On the mode of travelling in Africa — Seasons in Dar-Fûr_ —
ANIMALS — _Quadrupeds — Birds — Reptiles and insects — Metals
and minerals — Plants._ 246
CHAP. XIX.
DAR-FÛR.
_Government — History — Agriculture — Population — Building —
Manners, Customs, &c._ 276
CHAP. XX.
DAR-FÛR.
_Miscellaneous remarks on Dar-Fûr, and the adjacent countries._ 305
CHAP. XXI.
MEDICAL OBSERVATIONS.
_Psoropthalmia — Plague — Small-pox — Guinea worm — Scrophula
— Syphilis — Bile — Tenia — Hernia — Hydrocele — Hemorrhoides
and fistula — Apoplexy — Umbilical ruptures — Accouchemens —
Hydrophobia — Phlebotomy — Remedies — Remarks — Circumcision
— Excision._ 314
CHAP. XXII.
FINAL DEPARTURE FROM KAHIRA, AND JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM.
_Voyage down the Nile to Damiatt — Vegetation — Papyrus —
Commerce — Cruelty of the Mamlûk government — Voyage to
Yaffé — Description of Yaffé — Rama — Jerusalem — Mendicants
— Tombs of the kings — Bethlehem — Agriculture — Naplosa —
Samaria — Mount Tabor._ 351
CHAP. XXIII.
GALILEE — ACCA.
_Improvements by Jezzâr — Trade — Taxes — White Promontory,
and River Leontes — Tyre — Seide — Earthquake — Kesrawan —
Syrian wines — Beirût — Anchorage — Provisions — River Adonis
— Antûra — Harrîse — Tripoli — Ladakia — Journey to Aleppo,
or Haleb._ 366
CHAP. XXIV.
OBSERVATIONS AT HALEB.
_Sherîfs and Janizaries — Manufactures and commerce — Quarries
— Price of provisions — New sect — Journey to Antioch —
Description of antient Seleucia — Return to Haleb._ 384
CHAP. XXV.
JOURNEY TO DAMASCUS.
_Entrance of the Hadjîs — Topography of Damascus — Trade and
manufactures — Population — Observations on the depopulation
of the East — Government and manners of Damascus — Charitable
foundations — Anecdotes of recent history — Taxes — Price of
provisions — Sacred caravan._ 394
CHAP. XXVI.
_Journey from Damascus to Balbec — Syriac language — Balbec
— Recent discoveries — Zahhlé — Printing-office — Houses of
Damascus — Return to Aleppo._ 405
CHAP. XXVII.
_Journey from Aleppo towards Constantinople — Route — Aintâb —
Mount Taurus — Bostan — Inhabitants, their manners and dress
— Kaisarîa — Angora — Walls and antiquities — Angora goats —
Manufactures — Topography — Journey to Ismît — Topography —
General remarks concerning Anatolia or Asia Minor._ 410
CHAP. XXVIII.
_Observations at Constantinople — Paswân Oglo — Character of
the present Sultan — State of learning — Public libraries —
Turkish taste — Coals — Greek printing-house — Navy — Return
to England._ 419
CHAP. XXIX.
_Comparative view of life and happiness in the East and in
Europe._ 425
APPENDIX.
No. I. _Illustration of Maps_ Page 445
II. _Itineraries_ 451
III. _Meteorological Table_ 473
IV. _Remarks on the works of Savary and Volney_ 481
V. _Remarks on the recent French accounts of Egypt_ 486
VI. _Explanation of the plate facing page 286_ 495
=TRAVELS=
IN
_AFRICA,_
_EGYPT, AND SYRIA._
* * * * *
CHAP. I.
ALEXANDRIA.
_Antient Walls and Ruins — The two Ports — Reservoirs —
Vegetation — Antiquities — Population — Government — Commerce
— Manufactures — Anecdote of recent History._
THE transit from the coasts of Britain to those of Egypt was marked
by nothing that can interest or amuse, unless it be the contrast
between the phenomena of winter on the former, with those which
strike the view on approaching the latter. A sea voyage is always
tedious, except to the merchant and the mariner; and therefore,
though our’s was attended with every favourable circumstance,
and occupied no more than twenty-six days, there is scarcely any
thing relative to it that can afford entertainment in the recital. I
arrived in Egypt on the 10th of January 1792.
Alexandria now exhibits very few marks, by which it could be
recognized as one of the principal monuments of the magnificence
of the conqueror of Asia, the emporium of the east, and the chosen
theatre of the far-sought luxuries of the Roman Triumvir, and the
Egyptian queen. Its decay doubtless has been gradual; but fifteen
centuries, during which it has been progressive, have evinced its
antient opulence by the slowness of its fall.
The present walls are of Saracenic structure, and therefore can
determine nothing with respect to the antient dimensions of the
city[1]. They are lofty, being in some places more than forty
feet in height, and apparently no where so little as twenty. But,
though substantial and flanked with towers, they could offer no
resistance, unless it were against the Mamlûk cavalry, which alone
the inhabitants fear, and accordingly keep them in some repair. They
also furnish a sufficient security against the Bedouins, who live part
of the year on the banks of the canal, and often plunder the cattle
in the neighbourhood. The few flocks and herds, which are destined
to supply the wants of the city, are pastured on the herbage, of
which the vicinity of the canal favours the growth, and generally
brought in at night, when the two gates are shut; as they also are
whenever it is known that hostile tribes are encamped near them.
These Saracenic walls present nothing curious, except some ruinous
towers: and the only remain of the antient city worth notice is
a colonnade, near the gate leading to Rashîd, of which, however,
only a few columns remain; and what is called the amphitheatre on
the south east, a rising ground, whence is a fine view of the city
and port. Of the singular suburb styled Necropolis, or “The City
of the Dead,” no remain exists.
It cannot be supposed that the antient city should have occupied
only the small space contained within the present inclosure. The
pristine wall was certainly far more extensive than the present:
yet even of this only an inconsiderable portion between the two
ports is now filled with habitations.—What remains is laid out
in gardens, which supply such fruits and vegetables as are suited
to the climate and soil, and the natives are most accustomed to
use for food; or left waste, and serving as a receptacle for offal
and rubbish; being in part rendered unfit for culture by the ruins
which cover the surface to a considerable depth. For, though it be
not now possible to determine the antient boundaries of the city, or
to assign with precision the site of its more remarkable edifices,
these vestiges of former magnificence yet remain. Heaps of rubbish
are on all sides visible, whence every shower of rain, not to mention
the industry of the natives in digging, discovers pieces of precious
marble, and sometimes antient coins, and fragments of sculpture.
The harbour on the east, styled, I know not why, the new port,
which in all appearance could never have been a very good one,
from the rocky nature of the bottom, has the farther disadvantage
of partaking in the agitation of the sea when certain winds
prevail. The European vessels which frequent it are, however,
enabled, with some precautions, to lie at anchor securely, to the
number of about twenty. They are confined to this small space,
which bears no proportion to the whole extent of the harbour, by
the shallowness of the water, which seems in some degree the effect
of great quantities of ballast, that from time to time have been
discharged within its limits. The Government pays no regard to this
practice, which yet in the end must render the port useless. It is
currently reported in the place, and many marks yet exist to give
credibility to that report, as well as the design of Norden, which
so represents it, that the water, within the memory of persons now
living, reached the gate of the old custom-house; which I now find
removed many fathoms from the water’s edge. So that it would seem
the sea is retiring, and that nature, rather than any weaker agent,
has effected the change. The old port, allotted to the Mohammedans,
is spacious, though somewhat of less extent than the other. There is
throughout a depth of five or six fathom; and in many places more:
the anchorage is generally secure.
The city extends along a part of the isthmus and the peninsula; at the
eastern extremity of which is situated a fort, where it would seem
may formerly have stood the Pharos. This fort is now ruinous, and
is joined with the continent by a mole built of stone, and in which
are wrought arches, to weaken the effect of the water. It has been
sheltered by a wall on the west side, now also ruinous. The houses,
which are chiefly masonry, are commonly of more than one story,
and well adapted to the mode of living among the inhabitants. Though
rain occasionally fall in the autumn, a flat roof is found to answer
every purpose of security from the weather, and accordingly it is
the general form of the dwelling-houses.
Of the deep and capacious reservoirs, which preserved the water
of the Nile during the annual subsidence of that river, and of
which there was probably a series, continued from one to the other
extremity of the city, not more than seven remain fit for use. From
these the citizens are at this time supplied; and, as they are
some way removed from the inhabited quarter, a few of the poorer
class obtain a subsistence by drawing the water, and carrying it on
camels from house to house; and for each camel’s load they receive
four or five _paras_, about twopence. The roofs of these cisterns or
reservoirs are supported by massy timber. They have probably been thus
constructed at the beginning, as it is difficult to suppose that the
modern Alexandrians should entirely have changed so essential a part,
and have chosen to substitute wood for stone, in a place where the
former is extremely scarce, and the other very abundant.
The elevation of the city above the level of the sea is small;
and it seems very difficult to render it capable of offering any
formidable resistance to an external enemy.
The soil, wherever a vegetable mould is discoverable, is light, and
favourable to any kind of culture; but it has apparently been brought
there for the purpose, as the natural soil seems wholly unfit for
cultivation, being throughout either sand or stone. The orange and
lemon are found in the gardens here, but not in great quantities. The
dates are good, though not of the most esteemed kind. Yet they are
found the most profitable article that the owner of the ground can
cultivate. And accordingly these trees, with which the gardens
are filled, not only relieve the eye from the dry whiteness of
buildings, and the sandy soil; but well repay the owners for the
trouble required to manage them, and for the space they occupy to
the exclusion of almost every thing else. The greater number of
esculent herbs, or roots, that are common among us, may be raised
here, without any other difficulty than that of watering. The fruit
trees that I have remarked as peculiar to the place, are the nebbek
(_Paliurus Athenæi_) and the kishné (_Cassia Keshta_,) the latter
of which is also found in the West Indies. The former bears a small
fruit like the cherry in size, and having a stone of the same kind;
but very different in colour and flavour, which more resemble those
of the apple.
The chief monuments of antiquity remaining in any degree perfect,
are the column, usually but improperly termed of Pompey[2], and the
obelisk. On the former, not even so much of the inscription as Pococke
copied is now to be distinguished. There is also a sarcophagus or
chest of serpentine marble in the great mosque, which is used for
a cistern. It is of the same kind with that so minutely described
by Niebuhr, at Kallaat el Kabsh in Kahira, and seems to be almost
as rich in hieroglyphics. It has the additional advantage of being
entire, and little if at all injured by time. It is said, that one
of those who farmed the customs some years since, on retiring from
Egypt, had negociated for the removal of this precious monument of
antiquity, on board of an European vessel, with the intention of
carrying it as a present to the Emperor of Germany. On the night
when it was to be embarked, however, the secret being disclosed,
the citizens clamorously insisted that the property of the mosque
was inviolable. The projected removal was accordingly relinquished,
and the chest has ever since been watched with uncommon vigilance,
so that it is now difficult for an European even to obtain a sight
of it; which must be my excuse for not having been more minute in my
description of a monument that seems not to have been particularly
observed by former travellers.
The population consists of Mohammedans of various nations; Greeks
in considerable number, who have a church and convent, containing
only three or four religious, but agreeably situated on the highest
ground among the gardens; Armenians, who have also a church; and a few
Jews, who have their synagogue. The whole, perhaps, may not amount
to less than twenty thousand souls[3]; which, however, the length
of my residence there did not enable me to decide. The Franciscans
of Terra Santa have a church and monastery, in which reside three
or four of their order. The habitations of the European consuls and
merchants are all near together, east of the city and close to the
sea. They associate with each other, dress and live as in Europe, and,
unless by their mutual animosities, are perfectly undisturbed. It is
true, indeed, that the natives bear no very good character for their
behaviour to strangers, but, I believe, when incivility has been
experienced, it has generally first been provoked: and the natives
are, perhaps, at least as often the dupes of the Frank merchants,
as the latter are of the native brokers and factors, whom their
commercial concerns oblige them to employ. The command of the fort,
and of the few troops which are in the city, is vested in a Sardar,
who is sometimes a Cashef, sometimes an inferior officer of the
Beys. The internal government is in the hands of the citizens. The
chief magistrate is the Cadi, an Arab, who receives his appointment
from Constantinople; the others are, the Shechs of the four sects,
and the Imâms of the two principal mosques. Here it may be observed,
once for all, that the municipal magistrates in the east are always
of the sacerdotal order.
The revenues of Alexandria, under the Ptolemies, are stated at
12,500 talents, which at 193l. 15s. the talent, is little less than
two millions and an half sterling. At this time it is thought that
they do not exceed four thousand five hundred purses, or 225,000l.
The commerce of Alexandria is more considerable than that of
Damiatt. All exports to Europe, or imports from thence, are made at
the former. The whole of the timber for house or ship building is
brought from Candia, or the Archipelago. The copper, manufactured or
rough, of which the consumption is large, from Constantinople. Coffee
and rice, raw leather, &c. are exported to that and other places. The
transit of all these keeps the inhabitants in that state of activity
to which they are eminently disposed; and if various causes operate
unavoidably to fetter and stagnate commerce, it cannot be said that
they are in fault. The navigation from Alexandria to Rashîd is
conducted in small vessels of from fifteen to fifty tons burthen,
which deposit their goods at Rashîd, whence they are embarked in
boats of another form, and conveyed to Kahira.
Among the articles of native produce, considerable quantities of
which are taken by the Frank merchants in return for the goods of
their respective countries, are saffranon, _Carthamus tinctorius_,
which is cultivated in Egypt; and senna, which chiefly comes by
way of Suez: but some portion of which is also produced in Nubia,
and near the first Cataract.
The consumption of broad cloth in Egypt used to be about eight
hundred bales; but it was greatly decreased when I left the country,
owing to the war in Europe, which prevented a proper supply. The
consequent high price constrained many to have recourse to the
native manufactures. Red coral is imported from Leghorn, glass beads,
&c. from Venice.
The Alexandrians are remarkable for the facility with which they
acquire different languages. But their own Arabic is impure, being
mingled with Turkish and other dialects.
Among the characteristic features of the people of this city, it
is deserving of notice that they preserve the ancient character
of perseverance and acuteness, especially ascribed to them by the
historian of the Alexandrian war[4]. For example, suppose they
wish to divide an antique column of three or four feet diameter,
into two parts, for the purpose of securing the foundations of the
houses near the shore from the encroachments of the sea, they make a
line not more than half an inch deep, for the space of one twelfth
of the circumference, then inserting two pieces of tempered steel,
not larger than a dollar, at the extremities of the line, they
drive a wedge in the midst. At the same time, small pieces of steel,
like the former, are fixed at equal distances round the column, to
the number of five or six, by means of small hammers, which strike
quick, but with no violence. Thus the piece is cut off regular,
and in a very short space of time.
Glass for lamps and phials is made at Alexandria, both green and
white. They use natron in the manufacture instead of barilla: and
the low beaches of the Egyptian coast afford plenty of excellent sand.
A dispute has lately arisen between the Alexandrians and the
government, which originated in the conduct of the Syrian Christian,
who has the management of the customs here. The people of Alexandria,
it is to be remarked, are not among the most obedient and tractable
subjects of the Mamlûk government; and their situation, together
with other circumstances, has favoured them in their opposition to
public orders. The present Beys, especially, they affect to consider
as rebels against the authority of the Porte. Thus mutually jealous,
each party is constantly on the watch to profit by any oversight of
the other: the Beys, in order to put the Alexandrians in the same
unqualified subjection, with respect to them, as the rest of the
Egyptians are; and the Alexandrians to perpetuate that qualified
dependence, or imperfect autocracy, in which, by subterfuge and
fertility of expedient, they have hitherto maintained themselves.
Affairs were in this state when an order came from Murad Bey, who had
the jurisdiction of this district, to shut up the public warehouses,
or _okals_, where commerce is chiefly carried on. A Cashef was sent
to see it executed, but unaccompanied by any military force: he had
also orders to arrest, and bring with him to Kahira, the person of
Shech Mohammed el Missiri, one of the chief Mullas who had always
been active in promoting opposition to the measures of the Beys; and
who is remarkable, as I am informed, for eloquence both persuasive
and deliberative. The greater part of the inhabitants assembled
in the principal mosque, and came to the resolution of obliging
the Cashef to quit the city. They also determined on sending away
the superintendant of the customs, who by frauds of every kind
had rendered himself hateful to them, and against whom unavailing
complaints had already repeatedly been made to the Bey. Some of the
body were deputed to inform both parties, that they must leave the
city before night, under pain of death. But the impatience of the
people was too great to wait for night, and they were compelled to
depart instantly, the Cashef by land, and the Christian by sea.
Orders were given to repair the walls, plant cannon, and put every
thing in a state of defence. Shech Mohammed advised the citizens to
divide themselves into districts; which being complied with, it was
resolved that every man should provide himself with arms, who should
be able to purchase them; and that those who could not should be armed
at the public expence. At the end of about a month, notice was brought
that two Cashefs were on their way, with a body of troops, to punish
the inhabitants for their contumacious behaviour. When their arrival
at Rashîd was known, the Alexandrians sent them word, that if they
came without hostile intentions, they would be peaceably received:
but if it were their design to have recourse to violent measures,
the whole force of the city would be opposed to their entrance. One
of these Cashefs afterwards proved to be the same who had before been
sent back. The other was a man of the first rank, having formerly
filled the office of Yenktchery Aga. They were in fact unattended,
except by the domestics of this latter, perhaps in all two hundred
men, chiefly on foot. The Cashef declared he had no view but to
certify that the minds of the citizens were not alienated from the
government, nor their intentions hostile to it; which from the news,
that they were putting themselves in a state of defence, Murad Bey
had been led to imagine. Yet he recommended it to them, in proof
of their pacific disposition, to depute three or four of the chief
citizens to Kahira, who might have an opportunity of informing the
Beys concerning such grievances as they should have found reason to
represent, and might pave the way to a future good understanding.
This was not complied with, and the Cashef remained without
proposing any alternative. After fourteen or fifteen days he left
Alexandria, with a present of very small value from the citizens,
and some trifles given him, in respect to the character he bore,
by the European merchants. So ended this great turmoil, which I have
mentioned perhaps at too great length; but which throws some light
on the situation and character of the late government.
CHAP. II.
JOURNEY TO SIWA.
_Attempt to penetrate to the Temple of Jupiter Ammon — Route and
Provisions — Animals of the Desert — Occurrences on the Road —
Description of Siwa — Antient Edifice — Intercourse with other
Countries — Produce and Manners — Attempt to penetrate farther
into the Desert — Return._
The information I had obtained in Alexandria having induced me
to resolve on attempting to explore the vestiges of the Temple
of Jupiter Ammon from that place, I procured a proper person as
interpreter, and made the necessary arrangements with some Arabs,
who are employed in transporting through the desert, dates and other
articles, between Siwa (a small town to the westward) and Alexandria,
to convey my baggage and provisions, and to procure for me a secure
passage among the other tribes of Arabs, who feed their flocks at
this season in the vicinity of the coast. In this I was much assisted
by Mr. Baldwin, who readily entered into my views, and used all the
means in his power to promote their success.
When the Arabs had finished the business on which they came to
the city, and had fixed on an hour, as they thought, auspicious
to travellers, they made ready for departure; and on Friday, 24th
February 1792, we left Alexandria. The inclinations of my conductors
were in unison with mine, in the choice of a route; for they preferred
that nearest the sea, for the sake of forage for their camels, which
abounds more there than in the direct road; and I preferred it,
as being the same that Alexander had chosen for the march of his army.
We travelled the first day only about eight miles[5], in which
space several foundations of buildings are discoverable; but so
imperfect are the remains, that it is not possible to say whether
they were antient or modern, or to what purpose they might have
been applied. From that time till Sunday, 4th March, our route lay
along the coast, and we were never long together out of sight of
the sea. The coast is plain; and after having left the neighbourhood
of Alexandria, where it is rocky, the soil is generally smooth and
sandy. Many spots of verdure, particularly at this season, relieve the
eye from the effect of general barrenness: and though the vegetation
be very inconsiderable, the greater part of it consisting only of
different kinds of the grasswort, or kali, it offers a seasonable
relief to the suffering camel. For our horses we were obliged to
carry a constant supply of barley and cut straw.
There are several kinds of preserved meat prepared among the orientals
for long journies. They obviate the inconveniency of salt provision
by using clarified butter. The kind most used is called _mishli_,
and will keep good for many years. It is brought from Western Barbary
to Kahira.
In the places where we generally rested are found the jerboa,
the tortoise, the lizard, and some serpents, but not in great
number. There is also an immense quantity of snails attached to the
thorny plants on which the camels feed. These the Arabs frequently
eat. Very few birds were visible in this quarter, except of the
marine kind. One of our party killed a small hawk, which was
the only one I saw. Near the few springs of water are found wild
rabbits, which in Arabic they distinguish by the same name as the
hare, (ارنب) and the track of the antelope and the ostrich are
frequently discoverable. We passed no day without being incommoded
with frequent showers; and generally a cold wind from north-west and
north-west by north. Several small parties of Bedouins, who were
feeding a few goats, sheep, and asses, were encamped in the road,
and in the vicinity of the lake Mareotis, now dry. Such of them as
were the friends of our conductor received us with every mark of
hospitality and kindness; and regaled us with milk, dates, and bread
newly baked. One party, indeed, became contentious for a present,
or tribute on passing; but being in no condition to enforce their
demand, it was after a time relinquished.
On Sunday the 4th, having travelled about six hours, we came to
a well where was a copious supply of water; and having given the
camels time to drink, we left the coast, and proceeded in a south-west
direction. From Alexandria to this well, the time employed in motion
was seventy-five hours and an half, or nearly so. Thence to Siwa,
there being little or no water, we were obliged to use all possible
diligence in the route. Our arrival there happened on Friday the 9th,
at eight in the evening. The space of time we were actually travelling
from the coast, was sixty two hours and a quarter. The road from the
shore inward to Siwa is perfectly barren, consisting wholly of rocks
and sand, among which talc is found in great abundance. On Wednesday
the 7th, at night, we had reached a small village called قارة
ام الصغير Karet-am-el Sogheir: it is a miserable place, the buildings
being chiefly of clay; and the people remarkably poor and dirty. It
afforded the seasonable relief of fresh water, a small quantity of
mutton, (for the Shech el Bellad was kind enough to kill a sheep, in
return for some trifling presents which were made him,) and wood to
dress pilau, from which we had been obliged to abstain since leaving
the coast. This village is independent, and its environs afford nothing
but dates, in which even the camels and asses of this quarter are
accustomed to find their nourishment.
For about a mile and an half from Karet-am-el Sogheir the country
is sprinkled with date trees, and some water is found. After which
it again becomes perfectly desert, consisting of the same mountains
of sand and barren rock, as before remarked, for the space of about
five hours travelling. Then we were employed for more than eight hours
in passing an extensive plain of barren sand, which was succeeded by
other low hills and rocks. I observed, through a large portion of the
road, that the surface of the earth is perfectly covered with salt.
We at length came to Siwa, which answers the description given of
the Oases, as being a small fertile spot, surrounded on all sides by
desert land. It was about half an hour from the time of our entrance
on this territory, by a path surrounded with date trees, that we
came to the town, which gives name to the district. We dismounted,
and seated ourselves, as is usual for strangers in this country,
on a _misjed_, or place used for prayer, adjoining the tomb of
a _Marabût_, or holy person. In a short time the chiefs came to
congratulate us on our arrival, with the grave but simple ceremony
that is in general use among the Arabs. They then conducted us to
an apartment, which, though not very commodious, was the best they
were provided with; and after a short interval, a large dish of rice
and some boiled meat were brought; the Shechs attending while the
company was served, which consisted of my interpreter, our conductor,
two other Bedouins our companions, and myself.
I should here mention that my attendants, finding reason to fear that
the reception of a Frank, as such, would not be very favourable,
had thought proper to make me pass for a Mamlûk. Not having
had any intimation of this till it was too late, and unable as I
then was to converse in Arabic, it was almost impossible to remain
undiscovered. Our arrival happening before the evening prayer, when
the people of the place disposed themselves to devotion, in the
observance of which they are very rigorous, it was remarked that I
did not join. This alone was sufficient to create suspicions, and
the next morning my interpreter was obliged to explain. The Shechs
seemed surprised at a Christian having penetrated thus far, with some
expence and difficulty, and apparently without having any urgent
business to transact. But all, except one of them, were disposed
to conciliation; inclined thereto, no doubt, by a present of some
useful articles that had been brought for them. This one was, with
the herd of the people, violently exasperated at the insolence of an
unbeliever, in personating and wearing the dress of a Mohammedan. At
first they insisted on my instant return, or immediate conversion to
the true faith; and threatened to assault the house, if compliance
with these terms should be refused. After much altercation, and loud
vociferations, the more moderate gained so far by their remonstrances,
that it was permitted I should remain there two or three days to
rest. But so little were the chiefs able to keep peace, that during
the two days ensuing, whenever I quitted my apartment, it was only
to be assailed with stones, and a torrent of abusive language. The
time that had been allowed me to rest operated favourably for my
interest, at least with the chiefs, though the populace continued
somewhat intractable. For the former were contented on the fourth day
to permit me to walk, and observe what was remarkable in the place.
We left our apartment at day-break, before any great number of people
was assembled; and having taken with me such instruments as I was
provided with, we passed along some shady paths, between the gardens,
till at the distance of about two miles we arrived at what they
called the ruins, or _birbé_. I was greatly surprised at finding
myself near a building of undoubted antiquity, and, though small,
in every view worthy of remark. It was a single apartment, built of
massy stones, of the same kind as those of which the pyramids consist;
and covered originally with six large and solid blocks, that reach
from one wall to the other. The length I found thirty-two feet in the
clear; the height about eighteen, the width fifteen. A gate, situated
at one extremity, forms the principal entrance; and two doors, also
near that extremity, open opposite to each other. The other end is
quite ruinous; but, judging from circumstances, it may be imagined
that the building has never been much larger than it now is. There
is no appearance of any other edifice having been attached to it,
and the less so as there are remains of sculpture on the exterior of
the walls. In the interior are three rows of emblematical figures,
apparently designed to represent a procession: and the space between
them is filled with hieroglyphic characters, properly so called. The
soffit is also adorned in the same manner, but one of the stones which
formed it is fallen within, and breaks the connection. The other
five remain entire. The sculpture is sufficiently distinguishable;
and even the colours in some places remain. The soil around seems
to indicate that other buildings have once existed near the place;
the materials of which either time has levelled with the soil, or
the natives have applied to other purposes. I observed, indeed,
some hewn stones wrought in the walls of the modern buildings,
but was unable to identify them by any marks of sculpture.
It was mentioned to me that there were many other ruins near; but
after walking for some time where they were described to be, and
observing that they pointed out as ruins what were in fact only rough
stones, apparently detached from the rock, I returned fatigued and
dissatisfied. The Shechs had provided for us a dinner in a garden,
where we were unmolested by intruders; and the sun being then near
the meridian, I took the opportunity of observing its altitude by
means of an artificial horizon. They who are best versed in these
matters will be far from thinking this the most accurate method of
determining the latitude. But the result was not materially different,
though in the sequel I repeated my observation. It gave N. L. 29°
12′, and a fraction:—the long. E. F. 44° 54′.
The following day I was led to some apartments cut in the rock,
which had the appearance of places of sepulture. They are without
ornament or inscription, but have been hewn with some labour. They
appear all to have been opened; and now contain nothing that can with
certainty point out the use to which they may have been originally
applied. Yet there are many parts of human sculls, and other bones,
with fragments of skin, and even of hair, attached to them. All these
have undergone the action of fire: but whether they are the remains
of bodies, reposited there by a people in the habit of burning the
dead, or whether they have been burned, in this their detached state,
by the present inhabitants, it must now be difficult to affirm. Yet
the size of the catacombs would induce the belief that they were
designed for bodies in an unmutilated state; the proportions being,
length twelve feet, width six, height about six. The number of these
caverns may amount to thirty, or more.
Having found a monument so evidently Egyptian in this remote quarter,
I had the greater hope of meeting with something more considerable
by going farther; or of being able to gain some information from the
natives, or the Arabs, that would fix exactly the position of the
remains, if any such there were, of the far-famed Temple of Jupiter
Ammon. The people of Siwa have communications equally with Egypt and
Fezzan, and the wandering Arabs pass the desert in all directions,
in their visits to that small territory, where they are furnished
at a cheaper rate with many articles of food than they can be in
the towns of Egypt. They pass thither from Elwah, from Feium, and
the district of Thebes, from Fezzan, from Tripoli, from Kahira, and
from Alexandria. It seemed therefore unlikely that any considerable
ruins should exist within three or four days of Siwa, and unknown to
them; still less so that they should be ignorant of any fertile spot,
where might be found water, fruits, and other acceptable refreshments.
I therefore, by means of my interpreter, whom I had always found
honest in his report, and attentive to my wishes, collected three
of the Shechs who had shewn themselves most friendly to us, with my
conductor, and two other Arabs who happened to be there. They entered
freely into conversation about the roads, and described what was known
to them of Elwah, Fezzan, and other places. But in the direction
laid down for the site of the temple, they declared themselves
ignorant of any such remains. I inquired for a place of the name of
_Santrieh_, but of this too they professed their ignorance. Then,
said I, if you know of no place by the name I have mentioned, and of
no ruins in the direction or at the distance described, do you know
of no ruins whatever farther to the westward or south-west? Yes,
said one of them, there is a place called _Araschié_, where are
ruins, but you cannot go to them, for it is surrounded by water,
and there are no boats. He then entered into an enchanted history
of this place; and concluded with dissuading me from going there. I
soon found, from the description, that _Araschié_ was not the Oasis
of Ammon, but conceiving it something gained to pass farther west,
and that possibly some object might eventually offer itself that
would lead to farther discovery, I determined, if it were possible,
to proceed thither.
For this purpose we were obliged to use all possible secrecy, as the
Siwese were bent on opposing our farther progress. An agreement was
therefore made with two persons of the poorer class of the natives,
for a few zecchins, that they should conduct us to _Araschié_;
and if what we sought for was not there found, that they should,
on leaving it, proceed with us to the first watering-place that
they knew directly to the southward. The remainder of the time I
stayed at Siwa was employed in combating the difficulties that were
raised about our departure; and it was not till Monday, 12th March,
that we were enabled to commence our journey west.
The Oasis which contains the town Siwa, is about six miles long,
and four and a half or five wide. A large proportion of this space
is filled with date trees; but there are also pomegranates, figs,
and olives, apricots and plantains; and the gardens are remarkable
flourishing. They cultivate a considerable quantity of rice,
which, however, is of a reddish hue, and different from that of
the Delta. The remainder of the cultivable land furnishes wheat
enough for the consumption of the inhabitants. Water, both salt
and fresh, abounds; but the springs which furnish the latter are
most of them tepid; and such is the nature of the water, air, and
other circumstances, that strangers are often affected with agues
and malignant fevers. One of those springs, which rises near the
building described, is observed by the natives to be sometimes cold
and sometimes warm.
I had been incommoded by the cold in the way, but in the town I found
the heat oppressive, though thus early in the season. The government
is in the hands of four or five Shechs, three of whom in my time
were brothers, which induced me to suppose that their dignity was
hereditary; but the information I received rather imported that,
ostensibly, the maxim _detur digniori_ was observed in the election,
though, in fact, the party each was able to form among the people,
was the real cause of his advancement. These parties, as well as
the Shechs, are continually opposed to each other, which renders it
difficult to carry any measure of public utility. The Shechs perform
the office of Cadi, and have the administration of justice entirely
in their own hands. But though external respect is shewn them,
they have not that preponderating influence that is required for
the preservation of public order. On the slightest grounds arms are
taken up; and the hostile families fire on each other in the street,
and from the houses. I observed many individuals who bore the marks
of these intestine wars on their bodies and limbs. Perhaps too it is
to the debility of the executive power that we are to attribute some
crimes, that seem almost exclusively to belong to a different state of
society. While I was there, a newly born infant was found murdered,
having been thrown from the top of a house. I understood that these
accidents were not unfrequent. It would seem an indirect proof of
libertinism in the women, which, however, no other circumstance led me
to suppose. Inquiry was instituted, but no means offering to identify
the perpetrator of the crime, the matter was dropped. The complexion
of the people is generally darker than that of the Egyptians. Their
dialect is also different. They are not in the habitual use either
of coffee or tobacco. Their sect is that of Malik. The dress of the
lower class is very simple, they being almost naked: among those
whose costume was discernible, it approaches nearer to that of the
Arabs of the desert, than of the Egyptians or Moors. Their clothing
consists of a shirt of white cotton, with large sleeves, and reaching
to the feet; a red Tunisine cap, without a turban; and shoes of the
same colour. In warm weather they commonly cast on the shoulder a
blue and white cloth, called in Egypt _melayé_; and in winter they
are defended from the cold by an _ihhram_, or blanket. The list of
their household furniture is very short; some earthen ware made by
themselves, and a few mats, form the chief part of it, none but the
richer order being possessed of copper utensils. They occasionally
purchase a few slaves from the Murzouk caravan. The remainder of
their wants is supplied from Kahira or Alexandria, whither their
dates are transported, both in a dry state, and beaten into a mass,
which when good in some degree resembles a sweet meat. They eat no
large quantity of animal food; and bread of the kind known to us
is uncommon. Flat cakes, without leaven, kneaded, and then half
baked, form part of their nourishment. The remainder consists of
thin sheets of paste, fried in the oil of the palm tree, rice, milk,
dates, &c. They drink in great quantities the liquor extracted from
the date tree, which they term _date-tree water_, though it have
often, in the state they drink it, the power of inebriating. Their
domestic animals are, the hairy sheep and goat of Egypt, the ass,
and a very small number of oxen and camels. The women are veiled,
as in Egypt. After the rains the ground in the neighbourhood of Siwa
is covered with salt for many weeks.
Having left our temporary residence, we proceeded, myself and my
interpreter on horseback, our original conductor on foot, and the
two men we had hired each on an ass: but we had not gone far, before
one of the latter told us that it would be necessary to return, as
the people of the town were in pursuit of us, and would not permit
us to go and disinter the treasures of Araschié.
We nevertheless continued our journey for two days, without any
particular molestation; in constant alarm indeed, from the pretended
vicinity of hostile tribes, but without actually seeing any. At the
end of that time we arrived at the place described to us. It is not
far from the plain of Gegabib[6]. I found it an island, in the middle
of a small lake of salt water, which contained misshapen rocks in
abundance, but nothing that I could positively decide to be ruins;
nor indeed was it very likely that any such should be found there,
the spot being entirely destitute of trees and fresh water. Yet
I had the curiosity to approach nearer to these imaginary ruins;
and accordingly forced my horse into the lake. He, from fatigue
and weakness, or original inability to swim, soon found himself
entangled, and could not keep his head above water. I fell with him,
and was unable immediately to detach myself: at length, when I found
myself again on dry ground, the circumstances I was under prevented
me from making further observation on this island and lake.
After having visited this place, we continued our journey south,
according to the agreement made with our guides, but found the
pursuit equally fruitless. After having, at the end of the third day,
arrived in lat. 28. 40. or nearly so, we became much distressed for
water. We remained a whole night in suspense concerning our destiny,
when at length a supply of this necessary refreshment was found. Not
having, however, discovered any thing that bore the least resemblance
to the object of our search, we were obliged to think of returning,
as well from the importunity of the Arabs, as from our own fatigue
and unpleasant sensations. We did so, and having fallen into the
strait road from Siwa to Alexandria, we arrived at the latter place,
without any new occurrence, on Monday, 2d April 1792.
I had been much indisposed with a fever and dysentery, apparently
caused by drinking brackish water; and for the latter part of the
time was utterly incapable of making observations, having been
obliged to continue prostrate on a camel.
After leaving Siwa to go to Araschié, at about six miles from the
former, we passed a small building of the Doric order, apparently
designed for a temple. There either has been no inscription on it,
or it is now obliterated. But the proportions are those of the best
age of architecture, though the materials are ordinary, being only
a calcareous stone, full of marine spoils.
The ruin at Siwa resembles too exactly those of the Upper Egypt, to
leave a doubt that it was erected and adorned by the same intelligent
race of men. The figures of Isis and Anubis are conspicuous among the
sculptures; and the proportions are those of the Egyptian temples,
though in miniature. The rocks, which I saw in the neighbourhood,
being of a sandy stone, bear so little resemblance to that which is
employed in this fabric, that I am inclined to believe the materials
cannot have been prepared on the spot. The people of Siwa seem to
have no tradition concerning this edifice, nor to attribute to it
any quality, but that of concealing treasures, and being the haunt
of demons.
The distance between Siwa and Derna, on the coast, is said to be
thirteen or fourteen days journey; from Siwa to Kahira, twelve days;
and the same from Siwa to Charjé, the principal village of Elwah.
Since the above was written, an opinion has been communicated to
me, that Siwa is the _Siropum_ mentioned by Ptolemy, and that the
building described was probably coëval with the Temple of Jupiter
Ammon, and a dependency thereon[7]. The discovery of that celebrated
fane, therefore, yet remains to reward the toil of the adventurous,
or to baffle the research of the inquisitive. It may still survive
the lapse of ages, yet remain unknown to the Arabs, who traverse
the wide expanse of the desert; but such a circumstance is scarcely
probable. It may be completely overwhelmed in the sand; but this is
hardly within the compass of belief.
CHAP. III.
FROM ALEXANDRIA TO RASHID.
_Abu-kîr — Fertility of the Country — Description of Rashîd
— Journey to Terané — Fué — Deîrut and Demenhûr._
After a month, passed in recovering from the effects of the journey to
the westward, I prepared for leaving Alexandria. For many days boats
could not pass to Rashîd from the contrary winds, and I constantly
preferred going by land, as affording the means of more frequent
and interesting observation. Reports were spread, of the road being
infested by Bedouins; but I chose rather to encounter a slight danger,
than omit seeing what might offer of the country. Accordingly, on the
1st of May, I commenced my journey to Rashîd. We were near four hours
in reaching the village called ابوقير Abu-kîr, on horseback.
The road, for about two miles after leaving the gate of Rashîd,
is marked by many vestiges of buildings, but nothing worth
observing. There are also many date trees scattered round in the
neighbourhood of the canal, and vegetation enough to serve for food
for the small flocks of the city. About two miles from Abu-kîr
are the ruins of a town, close to the sea, and a part of them under
water. There are also some remains of columns. This is what has been
remarked as the _Taposiris parva_ of antiquity. Abu-kîr is a village,
consisting of few inhabitants. There is near it, however, a small
port, and on the point of land which forms it, a fortress, but of
little strength. A Tsorbashi resides there, with a few soldiers. He
collects a toll from those who pass the ferry near it. It is a place
of no trade, and vessels that frequent it come there chiefly for the
purpose of avoiding bad weather. We were eight hours and a half in
reaching Rashîd, exclusively of the time taken up in crossing two
ferries. The latter part of the road, from the seaside to Rashîd,
has been all marked with short columns of burned brick, at certain
distances from each other.
The beauty and fertility of the country round Rashîd deserves all
the praise that has been given it. The eye is not, indeed, gratified
with the romantic views, flowing lines, the mixture of plain and
mountain, nor that universal verdure that is to be observed on the
banks of the Rhine or the Danube. But his taste is poor who would
reduce all kinds of picturesque beauty to one criterion. To me, after
being wearied with the sandy dryness of the barren district to the
west, the vegetable soil of Rashîd, filled with every production
necessary for the sustenance, or flattering to the luxury of man,
the rice fields covering the superficies with verdure, the orange
groves exhaling aromatic odours, the date trees formed into an
umbrageous roof over the head; shall I say the mosques and the tombs,
which, though wholly incompatible with the rules of architecture,
yet grave and simple in the structure, are adapted to fill the mind
with pleasing ideas; and above all, the unruffled weight of waters
of the majestic Nile, reluctantly descending to the sea, where its
own vast tide, after pervading and fertilizing so long a tract, is
to be lost in the general mass: these objects filled me with ideas,
which, if not great or sublime, were certainly among the most soothing
and tranquil that have ever affected my mind.
There are some few remains of antiquity in the neighbourhood of
Rashîd, though the city itself be modern. The castle of Abu-Mandûr
stands about two miles from it, higher up the Nile, in a situation
very picturesque, as is seen by many drawings of it extant in
Europe. Columns are frequently dug up here. My arrival at Rashîd
happened in the month Ramadân, a time when it is particularly
cheerful. The populace there are esteemed more quiet, and better
disposed to civility than those of Alexandria or Kahira.
The city of Rashîd is built in an oblong irregular form. It has
no walls nor fortress. Its population is considerable; among which
are some Franks, and many Greeks. The commerce is principally the
carrying trade between Kahira and Alexandria. There is a cotton
manufacture, but confined to home consumption. Across the mouth of
the Nile, below Rashîd, is a bar which renders navigation perilous,
goods being obliged to be brought in boats of a particular form
from Kahira, and embarked in others of a different description for
Alexandria. Great damage is sustained by the boats striking on the
banks in entering the river, in which case they are commonly overset
and sunk; and it would be easy to institute an office of insurance
at Kahira, for goods coming by Rashîd. One half per cent. would be
a sufficient rate; but it would be necessary that a person should
inspect the jerms, or boats, at Rashîd, as the boatmen are such
knaves that they will overset the vessel, on purpose afterwards to
get at the goods under water.
It may not be improper here to observe, that though, during the
rise of the Nile, the water runs through several small canals,
yet the real mouths, presenting a constant stream, are but two,
those of Rashîd and Damiatt.
Rashîd is governed by an inferior officer, appointed by the Beys. All
this district is under the jurisdiction of Murad Bey. Property is
secure from all plunderers, except the Beys.
At Rashîd are many learned men; that is, skilled in Mohammedan
theology and casuistry. These Shechs pass their lives in great
tranquillity, preserving an apathy completely stoical. Their chief
amusement is to sit in their gardens, on the banks of the river,
smoking and conversing.
After staying five days to see the place, May 6th, I embarked with a
view of proceeding to Terané. It was my intention to have gone by
land, but the persons to whom I had recourse for information could
not persuade themselves that there was any security in that route
at the moment.
The production called Natrôn, efforts to introduce which into
general use in Europe have more than once been made, was at that
time becoming a considerable article of export; and I felt some
curiosity to observe the production in its nascent state. Terané is
the place nearest the lakes, and therefore I chose it as a point of
departure. We proceeded as far as the canal of Menûf with a fair
wind. Beyond this a loaded boat of any size cannot pass, except by
that canal; the water having left the main channel, and now flowing
through the canal, which is more in a line with the course of the
river above the Delta. No want of population appears in the villages
of this quarter, which are very numerous; and the land adjoining
them is clean and well cultivated. An unbounded plain on both sides
strikes the view, but on the West there is no great extent of arable
land. The peasants wear the appearance of poverty, which, indeed,
under the present abuse of government, is necessary to their personal
security; but they have abundance of cattle, and the frequent return
of passengers in the boats is to them a source of much gain.
In many of the villages are women for the convenience of strangers,
a part of whose profits is paid to the government which tolerates
them. I did not observe, however, that the nature of their calling
created any external levity or indecency of behaviour. Having taken
a small boat from Menûf, in six hours, the wind being either S.E. or
calm, we arrived at Terané. I counted more than an hundred distinct
villages and towns between Rashîd and Terané, as well on the West
as the East of the Nile. Among the most considerable of those on the
East is Fué, a place formerly more eminent in commerce than Rashîd;
but the latter has now in a great degree superseded it, and it is
diminished in size and population. It is nevertheless one of the
most agreeable situations on the Nile. Deîrût is the largest town
on the West. For Demenhûr, which is more populous, is not visible
from the Nile, being situated near the canal that conveys water to
Alexandria. At Demenhûr is a garrison of Janizaries. The course of
the Nile from its mouth to Terané is, with the exception of some
curves, nearly N.W. and S.E. In that space are several islands, which
are continually changing in place and number. From Rashîd to Damiatt,
in a direct line, is computed to be about twenty-seven leagues.
CHAP. IV.
TERANÉ TO THE NATRÔN LAKES.
_Government of Terané — Carlo Rossetti — The Trade in Natrôn —
Manners — Journey to the Lakes — Observations there — Remarks
on Natrôn — Coptic Convents and MSS. — Proceed to Kahira._
Terané is a town situated on the left of the most western mouth
of the Nile, at a very small distance from the river. Its latitude
is 30° 24′. The buildings are chiefly unburned brick, but there
are also some of stone. The town and district, containing several
villages, belong to Murad Bey, who usually entrusts its government and
the collection of its revenue to one of his Cashefs. But the person
who now holds it, May 1792, is Carlo Rossetti, a Venetian merchant,
recently appointed consul-general of the Emperor of Germany, and
well known to those who have visited the country. Observing, as he
thought, the demands for natrôn increasing in Europe, he supposed
that by obtaining an exclusive right to collect and export it, he
should secure to himself an immense and increasing revenue. Till now,
indeed, this article had never been productive of any advantage to
the Beys. The officers who successively obtained the government there,
exacting, without any settled rule, whatever they thought themselves
entitled to expect from the people, who brought the commodity from the
lakes to the river: and the European merchants obtained it by their
agents at the cheapest rate they were able from the natives. The
quantity supplied, the prime cost, and the contingent charges,
were therefore variable and uncertain. It had never before, as I
understood, been farmed by an European. Sre Rossetti wished for a
clear and exclusive property in the produce of the lakes, on paying
regularly an annual sum, to be determined by the quantity sold. He
has attained, from long experience, a considerable local knowlege,
and had, at that time, from various causes, great interest with
Murad Bey. Pecuniary prospects singularly influence those regents,
whose office being precarious, and at most for life, totally omit
to reflect on any remote consequences, for the sake of an immediate
advantage. The proposal was accepted, and Rossetti obtained over the
district of Terané an authority almost equal to that exercised in
former times by the Cashefs.
At that time the consumption was augmenting at Marseilles, Venice,
and Leghorn, and the article had been tried with some success in
Great Britain. Rossetti sent his nephew to reside at Terané as his
deputy. But the young man, preferring the repose of his sofa to the
Mamlûk exercises of arms, was little adapted to the government of a
people accustomed to be ruled only by fear. He had a few Sclavonian
soldiers, who could not prevent injuries being done to the little
parties employed to fetch the natrôn. About three months after I
left Terané the young man died, not without suspicions of poison;
and Sre Rossetti has since sold a large share in the grant, which
he now retains to little purpose.
During the year of the most extensive export, the duty to government
amounted, as was said, to 32,000 patackes, which, at twelve piatres
the pound sterling, may be estimated at 6000l. Hence the quantity
must have been from 3500 to 4000 tons, of which the greater part
was shipped for Marseilles. The present war exceedingly reduced the
quantity exported.
On my arrival at Terané, my application to Sre Ferrari, nephew of
Rossetti, for whom recommendations had been given me, was attended
with assurances from that gentleman of his co-operation in all I
might wish to undertake, and an invitation to reside with him. I
passed a day in wandering over the adjacent ground, particularly
that part of the Delta which is opposite the town, where are many
columns and other considerable remains, which indicate the site of
antient structures. I could, however, find no inscriptions, nor,
indeed, any thing that was worth the search.
Sre Rossetti had made a very neat garden near his house, in which was
cultivated a number of fruit-trees and useful plants. He had also
attempted many other improvements, by planting trees, &c. in the
suburbs; but in this laudable design he was far from being seconded
by the natives, who refused even to water the trees he had been
at the trouble of planting, and seemed to judge their forbearance
remarkable in abstaining from their destruction. A striking lesson to
those who would force refinement on any people, to which they must
ever be stimulated by their necessities, or led by their personal
conviction. Yet, perhaps, they had suspicions which are unexplained,
or discontents at the appearance of novelty, concerning the sources
of which we are ignorant. I have ever observed the Egyptians, as
all the Orientals, passionately fond of trees and water; and if in
this instance they preferred being without them, it might possibly
be from distrust of bringing on themselves some real evil, by the
pursuit of an imaginary advantage.
The ensuing night, when the Arabs were to go to the lake for a
lading of natrôn, Sre F. appointed his company of five Sclavonians
to attend me, and I set off at nine in the evening on horseback. We
continued our march, chiefly in a western direction, till seven the
following morning, at which time we came to a spring of fresh water,
that rises among some rushes near the lake, which, though it afford
no very copious supply of water, was yet a seasonable refreshment,
as the heat of the sun was already inconvenient. The latitude at the
eastern extremity of the most western lake I found 30°, 31′, north;
but this is not decided by a single observation. The difference of
time between Terané and the Convents of St. George, gave a distance,
as nearly as I could compute it, of thirty-five miles.
The road from Terané is level, with very small exception, and
generally firm and good, though with intervals of loose and deep sand.
The country we passed through, however, is destitute of water, and
consequently barren, as is all that which borders on the lakes. The
only buildings in the neighbourhood are three convents, inhabited by a
few religious of the Coptic church; two of which are about a mile and
half, the third about six miles from the eastern lake. There are some
vestiges of other buildings, which also seem to have been convents
that have long since ceased to exist. The antelope and the ostrich
are seen rarely here, and they appear to be the only wild animals
that frequent that part of the country. No vegetation appears, except
reeds on the margin of the lake, which is very irregular in its form;
so that it is not very easy to say what may be the quantity of ground
covered with water, nor to discern the extremities. It is higher in
winter than in summer; and, at this period, I could no where observe
that the breadth of it exceeded a mile: its length may be nearly four.
The Arabs told me, that the water during the last winter had been
remarkably low. There seem to be marks of its having occasionally
risen about four feet higher than at present; which must greatly
change the appearance of the whole. Towards the end of the summer, it
is said, these lakes are almost dry; and the space that the water has
retired from is then occupied by a thick deposition of salt. Not far
removed from the eastern extremity, a spring rises with some force,
which much agitates the rest of the water. Close to that spring the
depth was far greater than my height, in other parts it was observable
that it did not generally exceed three feet. The thermometer near
this spring stood at 76, while in the open air it was 87. The more
western lake differs not materially from the eastern in size, form,
or productions. The colour of the water in both is an imperfect red,
and where the bottom is visible, it appears almost as if covered with
blood. Salt, to the thickness of five or six inches, lies constantly
in the more shallow parts.
The surface of the earth, near the lake, partakes more or less
generally of the character of natrôn, and, in the parts farthest
removed, offers to the foot the slight resistance of ploughed ground
after a slight frost. The soil is coarse sand. The water of the lake,
on the slightest evaporation, immediately deposits salt. There is a
mountain not far from the lakes, where natrôn is found in insulated
bodies, near the surface, of a much lighter colour than that produced
in the lake, and containing a greater portion of alkali. This kind
more resembles the natrôn of Barbary, and what I have since observed
in the road to Soudân.
How thick the substance of natrôn commonly is in the lake, I did
not accurately determine, but those employed to collect it report
that it never exceeds a cubit, or common pike; but it appears to be
regenerated as it is carried away. The Arabs report that the natrôn
country extends twenty days journey; and indeed I had remarked
something resembling that substance near Siwa. I understood it was
delivered at Terané for about a piaster the _cantâr_. But there are,
probably, some other expenses attending it. Notwithstanding Sre R.’s
exclusive right, the Arabs carry off some of the commodity, which
they sell wherever they can find a market. The quantity exported to
Venice was much decreasing in 1792, as it had been found on trial
inapplicable to many purposes to which it was supposed it might
be converted. I know not how far correct their experiments might
have been; but if ever it should be brought to supersede the use
of barilla, the quantity obtainable seems likely to answer every
possible demand.
I detected much alkali in all the specimens which came into my
possession; but not equal in all. And circumstances did not permit
me to make an analysis so complete as to merit insertion here.
During my stay near the lakes, I visited two of the Coptic convents,
that called the _Syrian_, and that of _St. George_; where I could
observe no traces of any European traveller, but Baron Thunis, whom
the Empress of Russia had sent, some years before, to negotiate a
defection on the part of the Beys; but who having exhibited less
prudence than courage, in the promotion of the designs of his
mistress, had been privately put to death in Kahira, by order of
the Beys, to avoid delivering him to the Porte, as had been required
of them. These convents contain each of them several religious, who
retain all the simplicity of the primitive ages.—They drink water,
and eat coarse bread and vegetables; very seldom touching meat,
wine, or coffee. They are ignorant indeed, but strangers to vice;
and though their time is employed to no useful purpose, so neither
is the application of it prejudicial to any.
They have each a small garden, which supplies common vegetables,
and a breed of tame fowls, together with a well of water, within the
walls; the rest of the necessaries of life are provided them by the
voluntary contributions of the Christians of their own persuasion;
and as the business of artificers and menials is all performed by
the monastics themselves, their expenses are not very extended. The
entrance to each is by a small trap-door, against which two great
mill-stones are rolled within. The buildings appear to have lasted
several centuries, and the walls are still firm and substantial. No
praise is to be given to the religious for cleanliness; but as the
list of their furniture and apparel is very small, they cannot be
frequently renewed; human beings more ignorant of mankind and their
transactions than some of those whom I conversed with, are scarcely
any where to be seen. But the superiors in both were in a certain
degree intelligent. One of them, when I was admitted, was mending his
shoes, and seemed to think little of theological controversies. The
other attempted to prove to me the Eutychian tenet of monothelism, and
on my expressing myself persuaded by his arguments, he seemed highly
gratified. Indeed I met with on their part every mark of hospitality.
I inquired for MSS. and saw in one of the convents several books
in the Coptic, Syriac, and Arabic languages. Among these were an
Arabo-Coptic Lexicon. The works of St. Gregory, and the Old and
New Testament in Arabic. The superior told me they had near eight
hundred volumes; but positively refused to part with any of them,
nor could I see any more. The monks are strangers to all idioms but
the vulgar Arabic.
Having thus spent two days and part of a third in the vicinity
of the lakes, my attendants grew impatient, and I was obliged to
return. After a short interval, having re-embarked for Kahira,
I arrived there on the 16th May 1792[8].
CHAP. V.
KAHIRA.
_Topography — Government of Kahira and of Egypt — Pasha and Beys
— Mamlûks — Birth, education, dress, arms, pay — Estimate
of their military skill — Power and revenue of the Beys — The
Chalige — The NILE — Mosques, Baths, and Okals — Houses —
Manners and customs — Classes of people — Account of the Copts._
A residence in Kahira at distinct intervals, but extending in all
to eleven months, may enable me to attempt some account of this
celebrated city, with perhaps more advantages than have fallen to
the lot of any recent traveller. A cursory glance of the manners and
customs of a people is often fallacious, and a temporary exception
is liable to be converted into a general rule.
The yet numerous population, the various nations with their several
languages, dresses, and manners, conspire with the romantic fame
of _Grand Cairo_, the second capital of the East, the metropolis of
Africa, the scene of surprising events in history, and of yet more
surprising incidents in Arabian fable, to impress the spectator with
curiosity and admiration.
The city Kahira (مصر القهره) is situated on the East of the
Nile, which devolves its majestic flood at some little distance. The
suburbs, however, Misr el attiké, and Bulak, or the port, form two
points of contact with the river. To the South-East and East is a
ridge of the extensive chain which runs along the course of the Nile
to Upper Egypt, sometimes receding, and leaving a plain of about a
league broad, at other places opposing its barrier to the stream. To
the North a plain extends to the Delta, which it resembles in soil
and productions. Immediately under the mountain is the castle, now
incapable of defence, though esteemed of great strength, before the
invention of artillery.
To an eye accustomed to the cities of Europe, their wide streets,
and general uniformity, the view of the capital of Egypt might appear
mean and disgusting. Yet it is termed by the natives “Misr without
an equal, Misr the mother of the world.” Convenience is comparative,
and ideas of it must vary with manners and customs. The narrowness
of the streets appears even necessary to a native, to protect him
from the fierce effulgence of the meridian sun: a slight canopy,
extended from house to house, affords him more pleasure than any
architectural prospect could convey.
For about the space of three hundred years Egypt had been governed
by the military aristocracy of the Mamlûks, when it was subdued by
Sultan Selim, in the year 1517. Sensible of the distance, defended
situation, and refractory spirit of the province, he thought it
politic to enter into a compromise with its former government and
antient prejudices. It was likewise well known, that the secure
situation of the country, little exposed to any external attack,
would have favoured the ambitious designs of a rival Pasha.
By an institution still observed in some instances, he ordained, that
the Pasha should be contented to share the power of the Beys, and
that the duration of his authority should depend on their collective
will. The Beys must necessarily have separate personal interests,
which sometimes lead them to intestine outrage and bloodshed; yet,
with regard to any external power or influence, their interests are
universally the same. As allies or as enemies they form one body and
one soul. Selim was too confident in the power and splendour of the
Ottoman arms, and in his own character of chief of their religion,
to entertain any suspicion that the commands of the Porte would ever
be treated except with distinguished respect.
The power of the Pasha was at first very extensive; but has, by the
intrigues and ambition of the Beys, been gradually reduced almost
to a cipher.
His jurisdiction was rather civil than military. He was always
president of the Diwan, which was held in the castle where he
resided. But that council now commonly meets in the palace of one
of the chief Beys, except when a firmân or mandate is received from
Constantinople, when the Beys are summoned to the castle to hear the
commands of the Porte. The few who attend, as soon as the reading
is finished, answer, as is usual, _Esmâna wa taâna_, “We have
heard, and we obey.” On leaving the castle, their general voice
is _Esmâna wa awsîna_, “We have heard, and shall disobey.”
In the year 1791, Salah Aga, a slave of Murad Bey, was deputed from
the government of Egypt to negotiate their peace with the Porte.—He
carried presents of horses, rich stuffs, &c. A spontaneous tribute,
which the Porte was in no condition to enforce, implied obligation on
the part of the latter.—He was well received, and afterwards was
appointed _Waquîl es Sultân_, “Agent or Attorney to the Sultan
in Kahira.” It is probable this office was given him to incline
him to second the efforts of the Court in disuniting the Beys;
but it was ineffectual. These had formerly experienced the evils
of division, and now were united by common interest, grown rich,
and well provided with slaves. So that, as I have understood, no
tribute has since that time found its way to Constantinople.
As the Beys are chosen from among the Mamlûks, it may be proper to
begin with some account of that extraordinary class of men. They
remain, as they have ever been, military[9] slaves imported from
Georgia, Circassia, and Mingrelia. A few have been prisoners, taken
from the Austrians and Russians, who have exchanged their religion
for an establishment. The Beys give general orders to their agents
at Constantinople, to purchase a certain number every year, and many
are brought to Egypt by private merchants on speculation. When the
supply proves insufficient, or many have been expended, black slaves
from the interior of Africa are substituted, and if found docile,
are armed and accoutred like the rest.
Particular attention is paid to the education of these favoured
slaves. They are instructed in every exercise of agility or strength,
and are in general distinguished by the grace and beauty of their
persons. The gratitude of the disciples is equal to the favour of
their masters, whom they never quit in the hour of danger. If they
have a disposition for learning they are taught the use of letters;
and some of them are excellent scribes: but the greater part neither
can read nor write, a striking example of which deficiency is
observable in Murad Bey himself.
The inferior Mamlûks constantly appear in the military dress,
and are commonly armed with a pair of pistols, a sabre, and a
dagger. They wear a peculiar cap of a greenish hue, around which
is wreathed a turban[10]. The rest of their dress resembles that
of other Mohammedan citizens, and is restricted to no particular
colour: but another singularity is their large drawers of thick
Venetian cloth, of a crimson colour, to which are attached their
slippers of red leather. On horseback they add to their arms a pair
of large horse-pistols, and the _Dubbûs_ or battle-axe. In battle
many of them wear an open helmet, and the antient ring armour of
interwoven links of steel, worn under part of their dress, and thus
concealed. These are dear, sometimes costing five hundred piastres,
or about forty pounds. Some of them are made at Constantinople,
others in Persia. Their horses are of the finest Arabian breeds, and
are often purchased at three or four purses, 150l. to 200l. sterling.
They have no pay, as they eat at a table in the house of their
master, the Bey, Cashef, or other officer. Any military officer may
purchase a slave, who becomes _ipso facto_ a Mamlûk. The name, from
_Malek_ to possess, implies merely a person who is the property of
another. After a proper education, the candidate thus constituted
a Mamlûk, receives a present of a horse and arms from his master,
together with a suit of clothes, which is renewed ever year in the
month Ramadân. The generosity of their masters, and rewards or
extortions from others, afford them supplies of money either for
avarice or debauchery. Some of them, admitted to peculiar favour
by the Beys, as chasnadars or pursebearers, &c. acquire great
wealth. They are rather gay and thoughtless, than insolent; fond of
shew, and unprincipled in their means of acquiring it. They seldom
marry till they acquire some office.
Though born of Christian parents, they seem highly satisfied with
their condition; which they have been known to refuse to exchange
for freedom. The majority are regarded by the Arabs as little strict
in the principles or duties of Mohammedism.
It is worthy of remark, that though the Mamlûks in general be
strong and personable men, yet the few who marry very seldom have
children. As the son even of a Bey is not honoured with any particular
consideration, the women perhaps procure abortions. However this be,
of eighteen Beys, whose history I particularly knew, only two had
any children living.
Hardy, capable of every fatigue, of undaunted courage, and eminent
skill in horsemanship and the use of the sabre, the Mamlûks may be
regarded as by far the best troops in the East. But in a regular
battle, conducted by manœuvres, and large or rapid movements,
they are equally inferior to European troops.
Being distinguished by favouritism or merit, the Mamlûk becomes
a Cashef, and in time a Bey. The chief cause of preference arises
from political adherence to some powerful leader.
The government of Kahira, and Egypt in general, is vested in
twenty-four Beys, each of whom is nominally chosen by the remaining
twenty-three, but in fact appointed by one of the most powerful. The
_Yenk-tchery aga_, and several other officers, are enumerated among
the twenty-four Beys.
Besides being governors of certain districts of Egypt, several
of the Beys receive other dignities from the Porte. Such are the
_Shech el Bellad_, or governor of the city; the _Defterdar_,
or accountant-general; the _Emîr el Hadj_, or leader of the
sacred caravan; and the _Emîr es Saïd_, or governor of the upper
Egypt[11]. These officers have also revenues allotted them by the
Porte, ill-defined, and liable to much abuse.
Of the other Beys, each appoints all officers and governors within
his district, putting into it some slave of his own, who is compelled
to render an account of the receipts; of which a part passes to
support the grandeur of his master. An opulent Bey may have from 600
to 1000 purses annually; the revenue of Murad Bey more than doubles
that sum. The inferior Beys may have 300 purses or 15,000l.
The chief judicial authority in Kahira is delegated to a _Mulla_,
who is annually appointed from Constantinople; but his jurisdiction
is principally directed to cases of doubt and difficulty. There are
besides _Cadis_ in all the districts, or _parishes_, if so it may
be expressed, which, in this great city, amount to more than two
hundred. There are Imâms, or priests of the four sects, each having
the direction of the adherents of that sect. The _Shech-el-Bikkeri_
is an office of great respect, having special authority over the
she-rîfs. There are other exclusive jurisdictions, which need not
be specified.
The revenue of the Cadis arises solely from a tenth of the value of
the thing litigated. Justice or injustice is speedily administered,
but is often influenced by bribery.
Every Bey sits in judgment on cases of equity. These personages
are very observant of their respective jurisdictions; and no Bey
will imprison a man liberated by another. Though sometimes too
impetuous, they nevertheless display great acuteness and knowlege
of characters. This government at least possesses every advantage
of publicity, as every Bey is a magistrate.
But the justice of the rulers is ever open to the omnipotent influence
of gold. During my residence at Kahira an instance happened worthy of
commemoration. Two Syrian Christians, of the Maronite persuasion,
had been successively farmers of the customs, and had acquired
great wealth: a quarrel arising between them, one made a reflection
peculiarly grating on the other, who went to the Bey, and thus
addressed him: “This city is not wide enough for me and such a
one. You must put one of us to death. If you will put him to death,
here are ten thousand sequins.” Said and done instantly.
Each Bey appoints his Cashefs or lieutenants. These officers preside
each over a town or village, collecting the revenues, and judging
small causes; but an appeal lies to the Bey. The Beys and Cashefs are,
from their ignorance, constrained to employ Copts as accomptants in
adjusting and receiving the revenues, that duty being of an intricate
nature, and requiring great local knowlege. The authority of a Cashef
is as arbitrary as that of a Bey.
_Revenue of Egypt._
The more considerable sources of revenue, as well of the Porte at this
day, as of the Chalifé while the sovereignty remained with the Arabs,
are nearly coëval in their institution with Mohammedism itself.
The innovations which have since had place derive their authority
from the dispensing power of the sovereign, or are reconciled with
the primitive institutes by the ingenuity of the legal professors.
The most antient tribute due from the subject to government was
the _zecchât_, a tenth of all the permanent productions of the
earth. According to its original establishment, this did not affect
property under a certain value, and was exigible of an unbeliever
in a twofold proportion. It was imposed by Mohammed himself,
and applied, as would appear, to the relief of the necessitous;
the prophet expressly forbidding his own family to share in it, as
unworthy of their rank, and, at the same time, allotting to them a
fifth part of the plunder obtained in war. This impost continues
to be levied, but is applied to needful expenses or unnecessary
prodigality, rather than to soften the lot of the indigent, its
original purpose. Ostentatious charities satisfy the scruples of the
monarch, and blind the eyes of the people to this misapplication. The
tax is not now applicable to land or houses, but to the merchandize
imported into the country. The duties on these, when demanded of
Mohammedans, are taken under the name of _zecchât_.
The second impost is the _charâge_, which signifies the product
of lands. It is intended to denote, not only any tax on land, but
also on the persons of _dhummies_, i.e. Christians and Jews; though
in the latter case it receives the appellation of Jizie (جزيه),
the capitation tax, or _salvage_ for their persons, which otherwise,
according to the letter of the Korân, the true believer is not
bound to spare.
In modern times, the public revenue of the Porte, which is derived
from various sources, is known under the name of Miri; the private one
of the emperor is supplied in a different way, and termed _Chasné_.
The nature of the revenue of each province depended at first, in a
great measure, on the manner in which that province was originally
acquired; and, even now, the same distinction in some cases
operates. Irak was to be protected under one condition of tribute,
Egypt under another. The immediate successors of Mohammed appear
to have been guided in many instances by sound policy, and to have
tempered the rage of fanaticism, by some attention at least to the
well-being even of their heretical subjects. The imposts in Egypt,
one of their earliest territorial acquisitions, and the inhabitants
of which had many of them embraced Islamism, were not distinguished
by any remarkable severity; and if that country have since been
impoverished and depopulated, it appears not to result from the
original institutions, so much as from the abuses which happened at
an early period of the Egyptian Chalifat, and which may contaminate
the mildest and most reasonable establishments. These abuses, which
have long been gradually increasing, are now multiplied to a point,
beyond which, consistently with the being of the peasantry, they
cannot well be extended.
The principal local tribute is a tax on land of two patackes each
_foddân_, all over the country; which, whether the effect of a
compact between the Arabian victor and the natives, or an impost
in force under the former government, was continued by Sultan
Selim. Taking the cultivable lands in Egypt at two million one hundred
thousand acres, this should give the sum of twelve thousand nine
hundred purses, or at the present exchange of 630,000l. sterling; but
at this time only two-thirds of these lands are actually cultivated,
which reduces the sum to 420,000l. On the other hand, however, the
Beys are not contented with this legitimate revenue, but insist on
receiving in many instances five or six patackes per foddân[12],
which again raises this single branch of revenue to a million and
a quarter, or even more. There are however some districts in the
Upper Egypt always several years in arrear.
The other articles are, the customs of Alexandria, Damiatt, Suez,
Cossîr; and what is drawn from the commerce of Africa in its passage
by Charjé, Assiût, and at Kahira itself. Of these it is difficult to
form any correct idea. The caravan with which I returned to Assiût
paid, in duties on the commodities it brought, a sum not less than
150 purses. I estimated the value of those commodities at nearly
two thousand three hundred purses, or 115,000l. sterling.
The _Jizié_ is much less considerable than it might be supposed,
from the following considerations. 1. That though there be many entire
villages of Copts in the Upper Egypt, several of them are rebellious,
and pay nothing. 2. The same people is very numerous in the towns;
but a great proportion of them consists of ecclesiastics, or of
persons in the service of the Beys, and both these descriptions are
exempt. The Greeks and Armenians are but few, and many of them pay
the _Jizié_ in other places, being only travellers. On the whole,
I doubt whether that tax in Egypt amounts to more than fifteen
hundred purses. The remaining revenue is made up of casualties;
as forfeitures, small imposts, and tolls, passing on the Nile, and
other parts of the interior; and above all, the incalculable profit
arising from continued plunder of all ranks and denominations. Five,
ten, twenty to thirty thousand patackes are demanded, in one day,
of the Christians engaged in commerce, at another of the Mohammedans,
and at another of the Franks. Advantage was taken of the unprotected
state in which the French merchants found themselves after the
commencement of the war, and all, except three, were in consequence
obliged to leave Kahira, and retire to Alexandria.
I never could learn that the wandering Arabs, or Bedouins, paid any
regular tribute. They were often plundered and repulsed when they came
in bodies too near the city; but in general the Beys appeared to be
inclined to keep them in good humour, for their personal security,
in case of being expelled from the government. The article of
salt, for there are _salines_ close to the sea, which supply all
Egypt with culinary salt, pay a low impost in entering Kahira,
and another at Assiût. All the prostitutes, the public baths,
the places where brandy is sold, (_Chummari_,) &c. &c. are under a
particular jurisdiction, and pay something to government.
In Kahira every trade or profession has its shech or leader, who has
great authority over the rest of his order; and this circumstance
tends much to the good order of the city. The gates no less, which
are at the end of every street, and which, though not capable of
resisting violence, impede the progress, and render difficult the
escape of ill-intentioned persons. The articles above enumerated
form collectively the _Miri_ or public revenue; 1200 purses of which
should be annually forwarded to Constantinople, but it is retained by
the Beys, under pretence of repairing mosques and other public works.
The Pasha receives, for his whole expenses, one thousand mahbûbs,
or three thousand piastres per day. His establishment however is
large, so that this is not esteemed a rich pashalik.
Murad Bey is accustomed to have from the mint daily, for his pocket
expenses, five hundred half mahbûbs, and his wife the same. This
amounts to fifteen hundred piastres, and is only a small part of
his disbursements.
The value of land in Egypt is far from being inconsiderable, as is
evident from the large amount of the annual impost which is paid
for it. Yet not having been present at the formalities of bargain
and sale, I feel myself unprepared to give an exact estimate of it.
The same may be said of the value of labour; for as the agricultural
labourer is paid in the produce, a number of circumstances combine to
diminish the value of what is thus received. Comparing the wages of
the husbandman with the price of other labour, I should be inclined
to state them at about six medines, or one-seventh of a piastre per
day, which, as his toil is often remitted, cannot exceed forty-five
piastres annually. Exclusively of the value of the peasant’s
clothing, which lasts long, it is scarcely possible that the maize,
lentils, milk, butter, &c. on which he feeds, can amount to less
than three paras or medines daily, for each individual.
_Tenure of Lands._
An explicit declaration of Mohammed himself, “That property, after
the death of the proprietor, cannot be detained from division among
his heirs,” shews in how great respect inheritance was held by him,
and how little he was inclined to consider as annexed to the sovereign
power, the property of the lands of the countries it governed.
But the same moderation and good policy has not been found among
his successors. His code has been perverted to sanction abuses,
or trampled on by the insolence of power.
In many of the countries over which the Othman emperor exercises or
claims the sovereign authority, the property of the land is claimed by
the Government in right of conquest; and though material exceptions
must have had place in Egypt, with respect to the great number who
embraced Mohammedism, or consented to pay the _Jizié_, and who
consequently did not forfeit their lands, all these distinctions are
now confounded, and, alienations, forfeitures, and, more than all,
violence, have reduced the whole to one undistinguished mass.
The greater part of the lands in Egypt, is to be considered as
divided between the Government, and the religious bodies who perform
the service of the mosques, who have obtained possession of what
they now hold by the munificence of princes and rich men, or by the
measures taken by individuals for the benefit of their posterity. The
property of the mosques is called _wakf_, a term signifying, in its
technical acceptation, the appropriation of a thing in such a way,
that the proprietor’s right in it shall continue, but the profit
belong to some charitable establishment.
From the right which the Government claims to inheritances, and the
ruinous fines paid on readmission, those who have landed property
frequently make this appropriation to the mosque, and their lands
become part of the _wakf_ of that establishment. The Government then
has no farther claim on them. But the appropriator takes care, at the
same time, that his next heir, or if a minor, trustees on his behalf,
under the name of _Mutwâlli_, shall receive the rents, and so on,
as long as any heirs remain in the family. The individual continues
in the secure receipt of his income, paying however annually a small
proportion of it to the administrators of the mosque.
It will hence be observed, that in Egypt, a large proportion of
the tenants and cultivators hold either of the Government, or the
procurators of the mosques. To the personal ease of the cultivator,
and the general good of the whole, it is of little consequence
which. For there is one circumstance common to them both, viz. that
their lands, becoming unoccupied, are never let but on terms ruinous
to the tenant. For as there is a number of bidders, and the managers
of them are exorbitant in their demands, the tenant becomes accessory
to his own misery, by engaging to pay the owner so large a portion
of the product, that his profits are absolutely insignificant.
These contracts are of various forms, but commonly made for a
given number of years, or for life, in the nature of leases. The
occupier, assisted by his family, is the cultivator; and in the
operations of husbandry scarcely requires any other aid. When the
Nile rises, those who are employed to water the fields are commonly
hired labourers. Volney[13] has said generally, that the peasants
of Egypt are _hired labourers_. It will hence be seen to how small
a portion of them those terms can be properly applied.
The hired servants of the great are paid chiefly by having their food
provided for them, and receiving occasionally presents of clothes;
excepting what they obtain by extortion, opportunities of which are
given even to the lowest menial, by the system of terror established
in the country.
The tenant of land commonly holds no more than he and his family
can cultivate, and gather the produce of. Yet he is far from being
a villain, attached to the soil, having always the power of quitting
his farm to obtain another in a different quarter. It however often
happens, that families are connected with a particular spot for a
great length of time. I have met with persons of that description
at _Ben-Ali_ near Assiût, whose ancestors of the fifth remove had
resided in the same spot. “I used to smoke tobacco,” (said one
of them, a very old man,) “but it cost me almost a para a-day,
and times are always growing worse, so now I am satisfied with a dry
reed, till the master (ربنا) free me from these embarrassments.”
I shall now return to the topography and population of this great
city. It has been originally walled, but at present only fragments
remain. The dimensions of the city from North to South[14] greatly
exceed those from East to West. There are several open spaces,
but the houses, generally speaking, are close to each other. The
_Chalige_, which pierces the city from North to South, commencing near
Misr-el-Attiké, assumes various aspects, according to the season of
the year. Its most permanent character is that of a dunghill, a public
receptacle for all kinds of offal. Before the rise of the Nile, it is
cleaned, and becomes a street; it is then filled by the increase of
the river, and exhibits the appearance of a canal covered with boats.
Here it may be remarked in general concerning that noble river,
that its rise seems to remain the same as in the most antient
times, namely, sixteen cubits, or twenty-four feet in perpendicular
height. The medium increase is nearly four inches a-day; and takes
place, as is well known, from the end of June to the beginning
of September, from which period to the following solstice it is
gradually falling, again to rise. Those versed in antient astronomy
know, that the rise of the river was indicated by the heliacal rising
of Sirius, or the Dogstar, a few mornings before; whence that star
was denominated, as resembling the fidelity of a dog, in warning
his master to remove his effects from the ravages of the stream. It
is asserted that Sihor, or Sihir, is an antient name of the Nile,
as well as the Indus, whence _Siris_, corruptly _Sirius_, another
appellation of the most brilliant of all the fixed stars.
Mr. Gray’s well-known description of Egypt, as immersed under the
influx of the Nile, is exquisitely poetical, but far from just. In
Upper Egypt the river is confined by high banks, which prevent
any inundation into the adjacent country. This is also the case
in Lower Egypt, except at the extremities of the Delta, where the
Nile is never more than a few feet below the surface of the ground,
and where inundation of course takes place. But the country, as may
be expected, is without habitations. The fertility of Egypt arises
from human art. The lands near the river are watered by machines;
and if they extend to any width, canals have been cut. The soil in
general is so rich as to require no manure. It is a pure black mould,
free from stones, and of a very tenacious and unctuous nature. When
left uncultivated, I have observed fissures, arising from the extreme
heat, of which a spear of six feet could not reach the bottom.
The greatest breadth of this majestic river may be computed at two
thousand feet, or about a third of a mile. Its motion is even slower
than that of the Thames, and does not exceed three miles an hour. The
water is always muddy: in April and May, when it is clearest, it has
still a cloudy hue. When it overflows, the colour is a dirty red. It
is replete with a variety of fish; those I have chiefly observed are,
_Bûlti_, Labrus Niloticus; _Kelb-el-bahr_; _Farhôn_; _Charmût_,
a round fish about eight inches long, and said to be poisonous;
_Tabân-el-bahr_, the eel, Muræna Anguilla; _Nefâsh_, apparently
a species of salmon, and found of very large size. It seems not
now determinable of what species, or whether of any now known,
was the fish called _Oxyrynchus_, so famous in the antiquities of
Egypt. D’Anville says it is the one now called _Kesher_. The best is
the _Bûlti_, somewhat like the white trout, but sometimes attaining
such a size as to weigh fifty pounds. Except good and large eels,
none of the fish have a strict similitude of the European.
From Kâhira to Assûan, a distance of about three hundred and sixty
miles, the banks, except where rocky, present no natural plant; they
somewhat resemble the steps of stairs, and are sown with all sorts
of esculent vegetables, chiefly that useful plant the _Bamea_. It
grows to a little more than three feet in height, with leaves like
those of the currant-bush; and produces oblong aculeated pods,
which lend a pleasant flavour to the repast.
Among several kinds of water-fowl which frequent the Nile, may be
mentioned what is here called the Turkey goose, _Anas Nilotica_,
LIN. a large fowl, the flesh of which is palatable and salubrious
food.
Other striking and antient features of this distinguished stream, are
the rafts of _Belasses_, or large white jars, used for carrying water;
little rafts of gourds, on which a single person conducts himself
with great philosophical dignity across the stream; and the divers,
who, concealing their heads in pumpkins, approach the water-fowl
unperceived, and seize them by the legs. Concerning the crocodile
and hippopotamus so much has been said, that I despair of adding any
thing new. The latter I never saw or heard of in Egypt; in Nubia they
are said to abound. The crocodile itself seems reduced in number,
and is confined to the district above Assiût, where he is dangerous
to bathers. A young man bathing at Dendera, a day or two before I
arrived, had his leg bitten off by one of those unwieldy animals.
Parallel to the _Chalige_[15] runs the principal street. It should
be observed that the houses of the Europeans are all on the
_Chalige_, the stench of which has been supposed to operate in
producing the pestilence, to which that order of men is however
the least subject. The mosques in Kahira are computed at more
than three hundred; four or five of them far exceeding the rest in
splendor. The _Jama el Az-her_ is a very considerable eleemosynary
establishment, supplying chiefly poor ecclesiastics, to the amount of
some thousands, with broth and other articles. Most of the mendicants
in Kahira are ecclesiastics, who urge their studies as an excuse for
idleness. Blindness, I know not from what cause, affecting one or
both eyes, is extremely common among the Egyptian beggars. The mosque
called _Jama el Az-her_ is one of the most magnificent of Kahira,
ornamented with pillars of marble, and Persian carpets. The property
attached to this mosque is immense. A shech, being an ecclesiastic
of the highest order, presides over the establishment; which also
supports a number of persons distinguished for their profound skill
in theology, and accurate knowlege of literal Arabic. It is furnished
with an extensive collection of MSS. and lectures are read on all
subjects which are here called _scientific_, being commonly removed
farthest from science.
The other mosques most frequented are, that of _Sultan el Ghouri_,
_el Hassanein_, and, of later date, that erected by Mohammed Bey
Abudhahab. For the construction of the latter the most costly
materials were provided, and it is esteemed a _chêf-d’œuvre_
of oriental magnificence.
The Saracenic structure on the island _Rouda_, which contains the
_Mokkias_, or Nilometer, has been represented in various designs, and
repeatedly described. The graduation of it is confused, imperfect,
and not to be depended on: so that they who would inform themselves
correctly as to the Nile’s increase, should make their observation
on some smooth surface, washed by the river, and perpendicular to
its plane; never depending on the public report, which the cryers
are suborned to make agreeable to the will of government; and which
at the beginning of the increase generally exceeds the truth, and
afterwards falls short of it.
Large and sumptuous reservoirs are found in various parts of the
city, where water is given to passengers. Baths, adorned with marble,
and provided with every possible convenience, and plenty of water,
also abound. The attendants are extremely dextrous, and the charge
very reasonable.
The Okals, or warehouses, are spacious, strongly built, commodious and
clean. These are for wholesale goods. For retail, are the bazârs, as
_Khân Chalîl_, _Hamsâwi_, &c. extensive buildings, with convenient
shops, each trade in its allotted quarter, and copiously supplied
with every commodity.
Through the greater part of the city the houses are built with stone,
two, or sometimes three stories high, with flat roofs. The windows of
the upper stories are latticed, the ground floor being either a shop
or having no windows to the street. Sometimes the lattices suffice;
a few have paper windows, some of the rich have glass.
The houses of the great chiefly surround _Birket-el-fîl_, a pool
which receives the Nile water from the _Chalige_. The palace of
a Bey contains a square court, one or two sides occupied by his
Mamlûks. Apart is the Harem. The room in which the Bey generally
sits in summer has a contrivance in the roof to admit a copious
supply of fresh air. In Kahira fire is only employed in cookery,
the effects of cold being sufficiently obviated by warmer clothing.
The apartments of the women are furnished with the finest and most
expensive articles; but those of the men are only remarkable for
a plain style of neatness. The houses in general are irregular,
but substantial and commodious.
The Mamlûks breakfast before sun-rise, make their second meal
at ten, and the third about five in the afternoon. Animal food
abounds. A large dish of pilau appears in the middle of the table,
surrounded with small dishes of meat, fish, and fowls. The meat is
cut into minute pieces before it be dressed. Drink only water, and
immediately after the meal, coffee is served. At the tables of the
great _sherbet_ is introduced. Egypt produces no wine; the Greeks
and Franks procure that commodity from other quarters.
The Egyptians still make a fermented liquor of maize, millet, barley
or rice, but it bears little resemblance to our ale. It is of a light
colour, and in the hot season will not keep above a day; but it is
sufficiently pleasant to the taste. It is drank in considerable
quantities in Kahira and in Saïd. The native Christians mostly
distil for themselves, from dates, a liquor called by the general
name _Araki_; it is also made from currants, or the small grapes
imported from Cerigo.
When brought into the houses, the water of the Nile is put into jars,
called _hammam_, previously rubbed, in the inside, with a kind of
paste, made of bitter almonds. Thus preserved, it becomes quite
clear and limpid in two hours. But it is often drank in its most
muddy state, without any ill effects.
The eyes and fingers are the only parts of a woman that are
visible in public. In general, the women of Kahira are not tall,
but well formed. The upper ranks tolerably fair, in which and
in fatness, consist the chief praises of beauty in the Egyptian
climate. They marry at fourteen or fifteen, and at twenty are
passed their prime. For what reason the natives of hot climates
ordinarily prefer women of large persons, I have not been able to
discover. Nevertheless, the Coptic women have interesting features,
large black eyes, and a genteel form.
The population of Kahira consists, 1. of the Arabs, or lower class
of Mohammedans, who form the body of the people, and who pride
themselves in the name of _ibn Arab_, son of an Arabian. 2. Of the
Coptic Christians, who form a considerable number, here and in Upper
Egypt; in the Delta they are rare. 3. Mamlûks. I was assured that,
during the last eleven years, not fewer than sixteen thousand white
slaves, of both sexes, have been imported into Egypt. A plague had
carried off a thousand Mamlûks, and other causes had reduced their
number to about eight thousand, so that there was a great demand
for the article. Still I cannot venture to estimate the number of
Mamlûks at more than ten or twelve thousand. 4. Greeks, Syrians, and
Armenians; Muggrebîns, from Tripoli, Tunis, and Morocco, who have a
quarter to themselves, are remarkable for industry and frugality,
and are attracted hither by the great profits of trade. Other
Mohammedans from Arabia Proper, and yet farther East. There are very
few Turks established in Egypt, but many come hither on business,
and return to Constantinople. Jews were once numerous, but are now
on the decrease. Exclusively of negro slaves in every house, there
are blacks from Nubia, who act as porters at the gates of the rich,
and sometimes sell _bouza_ and eatables.
In general, the total population of Kahira cannot certainly be
estimated at less than three hundred thousand souls. Egypt may
contain, in all, two millions and a half.
In speaking of the population of Egypt, and other countries under
the same circumstances, it may be remarked, that among ourselves,
to obtain a tolerably correct knowlege of the number of people
in a town or city, it is sufficient to know the number of houses,
and the average number of inhabitants in each house. In Egypt the
case is widely different. A large proportion of the people has no
visible dwelling. The slightest shelter suffices to protect them from
the inconsiderable variations of a regular climate, and obscurity,
under the falcon eye of power always a blessing, is here sought with
peculiar avidity.
Of all those descriptions of men, the Copts, or original inhabitants,
most interest curiosity. There are some peculiarities of feature
common to all of them. I was not struck with any resemblance of the
negro features or form. Their hair and eyes are indeed of a dark hue,
and the former is often curled; but not in a greater degree than
is occasionally seen among Europeans. The nose is often aquiline,
and though the lips be sometimes thick, by no means generally so;
and on the whole, a strong resemblance may be traced between the
form of visage in the modern Copts, and that presented in the antient
mummies, paintings, and statues.
Their complexion, like that of the Arabs, is of a dusky brown;
it is represented of the same colour in the paintings which I have
seen in the tombs of Thebes.
The Coptic language may be considered as extinct. Numerous and minute
researches have enabled me to ascertain this fact. In Upper Egypt,
however, they unknowingly retain some Coptic words, such as _Boyúni_,
the name of a month.
Nevertheless, in the Coptic monasteries, the prayers are read in
Arabic, and the epistle and gospel in Coptic; but the priest is a
mere parrot, repeating a dead letter. Coptic manuscripts are found
in some of the convents, and leave to copy them might be obtained
from the Patriarch.
Their creed is the Monothelite, or Eutychian heresy. The solely divine
nature of Christ, the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father
alone. The Copts embrace transubstantiation; in which, and other
points, the Catholics of Kahira think they approach their faith nearer
than the Greeks. Yet the Copts have adopted from the Mohammedans
the custom of frequent prostrations during divine service, and of
public individual prayer; of ablution after the conjugal rites, &c.
The Copts are an acute and ingenious people. They are generally
writers and accomptants. In business they accumulate money steadily,
without shew; long experience having taught them, what the other
Christians have yet to learn, that, under an arbitrary government,
obscurity is safety. Melancholic in their temperament, but when called
into action, industrious and laborious. Otherwise, fond of their
distilled liquor, and rather licentious in their amours. The Copts
are zealous in their faith, and their ecclesiastics are numerous.
It is remarkable, that in Egypt the children of Europeans seldom
survive their second or third year. This proceeds, it is likely,
from the improper warmth of place and clothing, in which they are
kept by the injudicious fondness of their parents, while the children
of the natives run about almost naked, and enjoy a constitution firm
and vigorous.
CHAP. VI.
KAHIRA.
_Commerce — Manufactures — Mint — Castle and well — Misr
attiké — Antient mosque — Antient Babylon — Fostat — Bulak
— Jizé — Tomb of Shafei — Pleasure-boats — Charmers of
Serpents — Magic — Dancing girls — Coffee-houses — Price of
provisions — Recent history of Egypt — Account of the present
Beys._
Before the revolution in commerce, occasioned by the discovery of the
passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope, that of Kahira was very
extensive. It has since gradually declined, and is now restricted
to the following articles.
From Yemen are imported coffee, odours, gems, and several useful
drugs. From Surat, and other neighbouring parts of India, muslins
and various articles of cotton manufacture, a portion of the spices
of Ceylon; shawls from Cashmîr.
Kahira may still be regarded as the metropolis of the trade of
eastern Africa, as Tripoli chiefly possesses that of the west. A
few slaves are brought from Habbesh (Abyssinia) by the way of Jidda
and Mecca. Caravans pass to and from Sennaar, Dar-Fûr, and Fezzan,
bringing slaves, gold-dust, ivory, horns of Rhinoceros, Ostrich
feathers, gum, drugs.
There is another uncertain caravan from Morocco, which employs
five thousand camels for merchandise; part passes to Mecca, and
part remains to transact business, and await the return of the
pilgrims. The other caravans are merely for the carriage of goods;
and the camels are supplied by the Arabs, who rove through the
deserts which form the boundaries of Egypt.
The navigation of the Red Sea cannot be conducted upon worse
principles than it is by the Egyptians and Arabs. The ships are
constructed on a wrong plan, being sharp, while the shallows and rocks
require vessels that draw little water; and they are overcharged with
passengers and goods. Hence the passage would be dangerous, even
if managed by able navigators; but the mariners here are extremely
unskilful, and only pique themselves on avoiding the sunk rocks near
the shore, in which it must be confessed they are very dextrous. The
ships employed by persons residing in Egypt are thirty-seven in
number, so far as I could learn from an agent at Suez, and so many are
lost, that the continual building barely supplies the usual number.
European imports in general have been specified under the head
Alexandria. From Tunis and Tripoli are brought oil, red caps,
of a particular manufacture, for which Tunis is famous, and fine
flannel, used for garments by the Bedouins and others. From Syria
arrive cotton, silk, crude and manufactured, soap, tobacco, beads of
glass. From Constantinople, besides white slaves, male and female,
all kinds of brass, copper, and iron manufactures.
Proceeding to exports, those to Europe have been mentioned in
treating of Alexandria, and those to Dar-Fûr shall be enumerated
when we come to visit that kingdom. To Sennaar and Fezzan, the
same with Dar-Fûr. Hedjas, in Arabia, is wholly supplied with
grain from Egypt, but the trade to India and Jidda is carried on
chiefly by money. To Constantinople, black slaves, chiefly eunuchs,
great quantities of coffee, and some Indian goods, though these be
for the most part conveyed thither by caravans.
Egypt was formerly the granary of Rome and of Constantinople. The
exports of rice remain very great, with considerable quantities of
wheat from Upper Egypt, in favourable years. No oats are seen in
Egypt; and the barley is consumed by the horses.
To Syria are exported rice, crude leather, flax, and sometimes wheat.
The manufactures at Kahira are not numerous. The sugar cane
being cultivated with ease in Egypt, it was manufactured in great
quantities at Kahira, so as to supply Constantinople. But a capital
being requisite, Government made demands on it which crushed the
trade. The sugar, though of less strength than that of the West
Indies, was nevertheless well refined, of a close texture, pure and
of a light white. It is now extremely bad, and so scarce as to sell
for fourteen pence the pound, retail.
The sal ammoniac made at Kahira is of a very good quality. Glass
lamps, saltpetre, and gun-powder, red and yellow leather, for
home-consumption. There is a great manufacture of linen cloth made
of the fine Egyptian flax.
The mode almost peculiar to Kahira, of hatching eggs without incubation,
has been very minutely described by former travellers.—The practice is
said by the Egyptians to proceed from the experience that, at a certain
season, the eggs fostered only by the hens are commonly unprolific. Of
those hatched in the ovens, on the contrary, not quite one third is
lost.—The ovens where these eggs are placed are of the most simple
construction, consisting only of a low arched apartment of clay. Two
rows of shelves are formed, and the eggs placed on each in such a manner
as not to touch each other. They are slightly moved five or six times in
twenty-four hours, and the whole time they are in the oven does not
exceed twenty-two days, when the chickens free themselves from the
shell. All possible care is taken to diffuse the heat equally
throughout, and there is but one small aperture, large enough to admit
a man stooping. During the first eight days the heat is rendered great,
and, during the last eight is gradually diminished; till at length, when
the young brood is ready to come forth, it is reduced almost to the
state of the natural atmosphere. At the end of the first eight days, it
is known which eggs will not be productive. Those who have eggs to be
hatched, bring them to the master of the oven, and contract to pay so
much a hundred; and when the chickens appear, he receives his money
on delivering them. Those which have not succeeded, are required to
be produced. The oven is public property.
Kahira is the only mint for Egypt, where they strike in gold mahbûbs
and half mahbûbs; the first about five shillings in value. In copper
washed with silver the small coins worth about a halfpenny, and
called in Turkish _paras_, in Arabic _diwani_, _fuddha_, or _maidi_:
by European writers, _aspers_, and _medines_. On one side is the
name of the reigning Sultan, on the reverse, _Misr_, and the date.
The mint is fixed in the castle, built by the celebrated _Yussuf
abu Moddafar ibn Aiûb_, whose title of honour was Salah-eddîn,
in the sixth century of Mohammedism. The people of the country,
who are in the habit of confounding all history and chronology,
attribute it to Joseph the son of Isaac, whose palace they say it
was; but it is unnecessary to confute an opinion wholly unsupported
by facts. Including the quarters of the Janizaries and Assabs (the
latter of whom no longer exist), the building occupies a large
space. But it is irregular, and the Pasha’s apartments are mean
and incommodious. The well is of great depth, and has been hewn with
much labour through the solid rock, but as that rock is of a soft
nature, the magnitude of the work is not comparable to that of some
excavations which have been executed in several other places. The
broken remains of the palace of Salah-eddîn, are indeed worthy of
remark. An apartment of great length overlooks the city, the river,
and the adjacent country; and several beautiful columns raise their
heads out of the general wreck. In a chamber of this building is
fabricated the embroidered cloth, which the munificence of the Porte
annually devotes to the use of the _Kaba_.
Misr-el-Attiké, to the South of the present city, is pleasantly
situated, and well inhabited. It can now only be esteemed a faux-bourg
of the former. A mosque there, said, probably without reason, to
have been built by order of the Chalîfé Omar, was lately rescued
from the oblivion to which it was hastening, by the mandate of Murad
Bey. This mosque is a building of great extent; there may be thirty
or thirty-five columns remaining in their original position. The rest
have been reversed, and again set up without any regard to order. The
most perfect remain is a small octagon building in the middle of
the mosque, supported by eight Corinthian columns, the shaft, about
ten feet high, of blue-and-white marble. In this small edifice is
a chamber, which is said never to have been opened. Multitudes of
columns appear around, to the number of more than a hundred, some in
black marble, one has a small cavity, fabled an impression made by
the hand of the Prophet. The cement is so hard as to evince that the
Saracens were no strangers to the antient mode of preparing it. Many
arches of an elliptical form remain, and some inscriptions, on the
West, probably the place of the antient gate, as it is of the modern.
Antient Arabic books, some of them in the Kuphic character, have
been recently discovered here, in a cellar, under lock and key,
and inclosed in a sycamore chest. Some of them are on vellum,
and very beautiful. Such a number was found as filled a very large
chest. Murad Bey, being informed that treasures were hid under the
antient mosque, had recourse to the finesse of pretending to rebuild
it; he did rebuild part of a wall; and the cellar and books were
discovered in clearing the foundations.
From the convent of St. George, one distinguishes clearly on the west
the ruins of an antient city, ascertained to have been the Babylon
built by the Persians. They constitute merely a heap of rubbish,
already described by former travellers.
Fostât is a long street, running parallel to the river, and
occupying part of the space between Kahira and its bank. It nearly
joins Misr-el-Attiké on the South.
Bulak is a large irregular town, which has gradually risen around the
place of embarkation. It is marked by an extensive and convenient
okal, built by Ali Bey the Great, and called the Alexandrian okal,
being chiefly used for goods brought from that city. Gardens, filling
the fertile grounds between the houses, and betwixt Bulak and Kahira,
afford an ample supply of fruits and vegetables. Boats croud the
river at Bulak, which is the port of Lower Egypt, as Misr-el-Attiké
is of the Upper.
An island is situated in the middle of the river, nearly opposite
Bulak, where Murad Bey has a kind of summer-house, or place of
retirement. Here are also several gardens. On the opposite coast
is Embabîl, a village, where cows are kept, that furnish excellent
butter.
Farther to the south, and nearly opposite Misr-el-Attiké, is Jiza,
a considerable town, fortified by Ismaîl Bey, who also built a
palace there, completed and since inhabited by Murad Bey, by whom
has been established a foundery, constructed by a Zanthiote, who has
embraced Mohammedism. I found six mortars and twenty-three cannon,
some of them however almost useless. Three of the mortars and six of
the field-pieces, cast by that Zanthiote, were excellent, considering
the place, the instruments, and the workmen. The guns are twenty-four,
eighteen, and twelve pounders. These are in reserve, and the Bey has
a larger number mounted, in different parts of the fort. The walls
of Jiza are of great extent, and have only one gate to the country;
they are ten feet high, three feet thick, and have six half-moons:
but are only fit to resist cavalry, the original intention in raising
them. Murad Bey has suffered the iron work about the loop-holes,
&c. to be plundered or ruined.
The palace is in the southern quarter of Jiza, close to the water. It
has numerous apartments for the Mamlûks, and every convenience for
ease or luxury.
Murad Bey has, of late years, thought it necessary to institute
a marine; to effect which, he has caused three or four vessels
to be built, and has purchased some from the Europeans. The whole
has been attended with no small expense, and promises no adequate
advantage. The largest of these vessels carries twenty-four guns. Six
of them were moored before Jiza, whence they cannot be navigated,
except during the time of the Nile’s increase. They were well
appointed, and had their full complement of mariners, chiefly Greeks
of the Archipelago, moderately skilful in their art, and receiving
every encouragement from the Bey. They were commanded by a native
of Sagos named _Nikôla reis_, Admiral, or Captain Nicholas.
Not far south of Jiza is _Geziret-ed-dahab_, a small island, intended,
as appears, by Diodorus Siculus under the name of _Venus aurea_.
North-east of the city are gardens, and some spacious houses,
the property of the great, who occasionally leave the city to
divert themselves in this retreat; and have there an open space,
where the Mamlûks perform their military evolutions, and exercise
their horses. The ground under the mountains to the East is filled
with tombs. The mountain is of white sand and calcareous stone,
and destitute of verdure.
The tomb of the Imâm Shafei is without the walls of the city,
near the castle. It is in a mosque of good architecture, and kept in
complete repair. On Friday, the day of devotion among the Mohammedans,
the women being at liberty to visit the tombs of their relations,
crowd to this mosque to provide substitutes, the place being the
Daphne of Kahira, and sacred to the blandishments of Venus.
There is a much more considerable canal, styled _Chalige ibn Menji_,
which, from its opening to the Nile near Bulak, extends to _Bilbeis_,
(according to D’Anville, the _Pharbæthus_ of antiquity, which
Herodotus, Pliny, and Ptolemy, make the capital of a _Nome_,) where
it joins another canal, and passes to the lake _Sheib_.
The pleasure boats used by the great on the increase of the Nile are
very numerous. They are light and of elegant form; rowers from four
to eight. Those for the women covered with wainscot; such as are for
the use of the men, are covered above, and open at the sides, or only
latticed. Others are kept for hire, like the Venetian gondolas. They
are used in the chalige, and upon the river.
The gates of Kahira are numerous; but the most striking are two
at the northern extremity of the city, called _Bab-el-Nasr_, and
_Bab-el-Fituch_, which present a splendid display of Saracenic
architecture.
_Romeili_ is an open place, of an irregular form, where feats of
juggling are performed. The charmers of serpents also seem worthy of
remark, their powers appearing extraordinary. The serpent most common
at Kahira is of the viper class, and undoubtedly poisonous. If one
of them enter a house, the charmer is sent for, who uses a certain
form of words. I have seen three serpents enticed out of the cabin
of a ship, lying near the shore. The operator handled them, and then
put them into a bag. At other times I have seen the serpents twist
round the bodies of these Psylli in all directions, without having had
their fangs extracted or broken, and without doing them any injury.
The Egyptians pretend to numerous kinds of magic. The powerful influence
of the name of the Divinity, _Ism Ullah_, an account of which is
contained in the _Kitab-el-rihani_, is supposed to work various
miracles. The mode of its application is divided into _halâl_, lawful,
and _harâm_, unlawful. Though the practice terminate in perpetual
disappointment, the credulous, who still confide in it, are not few.
There are three or four places on the mountain, above Kahira, to which
the Arabs ascribe some influence of magic. _El Maraga_, where they say
the earth trembles. _Bîr-el-kuffâr_, the well of the infidels.—_Cassaat
el Molûk_.—_Ain el Siré_, a spring of salt water, to which they
attribute medical virtues.
The dancing girls form a distinct class. They are always attended by
an old man and woman, who play on musical instruments, and look to
the conduct of the girls, that they may not bestow their favours for
an inadequate reward; for, though not chaste, they are by no means
common. Their dances exhibit all that the most luxurious imagination
can picture—all the peculiar motions and arts for which Martial
has remarked the Egyptians as celebrated,
_Nequitias Tellus scit dare nulla magis._
Their forms are elegant, their faces rather expressive than beautiful.
The following amusements are chiefly exhibited during the Ramadân:
After breaking the fast by some refreshments, the prayer commences,
which is a long one. The principal meal then has place, and then the
arrival of strangers to pay their respects to the Bey, or to transact
business, occupies some time. The amusements then commence. The
Gerîd and various other exercises are practised by day-light, but
at night wrestling is commonly the first. In this the lower class
of people in Egypt shew considerable vigour and activity at least,
though perhaps not consummate skill. When the Bey and his company
are tired of these exercises, singers (male) appear. The plaintive
vocal music of Kahira, and the agreeable sensations occasioned by it,
have been the subject of remark to many who have described Egypt. Then
appear the story-tellers, who with wonderful readiness and rapidity of
utterance go through the romantic adventures resembling the _Thousand
and One Nights_, of which the varieties are innumerable. These are
succeeded by wits, who with droll and unexpected similies often set the
company in fits of laughter. The adversary brings some similitude
equally unexpected.—Whoever holds out the longest is rewarded as
conqueror.—“Methel Sire”—“Let us wrestle in similies;” the other
answers, “Ma Methel-lak”—“What is your similitude?” “You are like the
city ass, look sleek and carry dung.” Some of these have really a
portion of wit, and it is almost the only occasion that I remember, when
the Arabs exhibit any thing that can properly be so denominated. The
place of these, when they have received a present according to the
pleasure of the Bey, is often supplied by female singers, who frequently
accompany their voices with an instrument, touched like the guitar.
There are women who are highly valued for this talent of amusing the
public; and if any judgment may be formed from the manner in which they
are sometimes rewarded, the gratification of their auditors is far
from being moderate. There are occasions when some of the _Harem_
exhibit their vocal powers in the presence of select company; but
this is not common; and in that case the performer is concealed
behind a curtain or lattice.
The last are the female dancers or _ghawasié_. These, it may be
supposed, if they are able to fascinate the eye of the multitude,
in the public streets, with only ordinary exertions, neglect not
to have recourse to the more laboured blandishments of their art in
the presence of a prince.
_Pehlawân_, rope-dancers, &c. are introduced, whose exertions are
not contemptible.
Chess and the Polish drafts are the only games that are indulged
in, and in these some of the Beys are skilled. They play remarkably
quick, and apparently without much premeditation. But habit has given
this facility. They practise daily, and their minds are occupied by
few objects.
Convenient markets appear in every part of the city. Coffee-houses
are equally numerous, where the natives pass a great part of the
day smoking and conversing. These commonly consist of one apartment,
not very large. Only coffee and fire for the pipe are furnished. But
at Damascus I afterwards saw coffee-houses remarkably large, some
of them placed over running water. The furniture is however very
simple, and unlike the splendid apartments, for the same purposes,
to be seen in Constantinople. One, in particular, at Damascus, under
the castle wall, is capable at a very moderate calculation of holding
one thousand persons: it has no walls, but an extensive roof spreads
over numerous benches, and it is encircled with trees and water.
The number of small imposts in Egypt is almost inconceivable; they are
estimated to amount to three hundred and sixty. One is for all goods
crossing from Jiza to Kahira; a poor woman bringing a basket of eggs,
worth two paras, must pay the fifth part of a para for passing. Upon
the whole, the revenue can hardly be raised to a greater amount than
it is.
In May 1792 there was a famine, occasioned by various accidental
circumstances; and wheat sold at 20 and 22 patackes the _ardeb_. In
October 1796 it was at five patackes. When I made my inquiries at
the latter period, the following prices of provisions were stated:
Mutton, per rotal, 10 paras.
Beef, ditto, 8 ditto.
Sugar, per rotal, 20 to 25 paras.
Sweet oil, ditto, 12 ditto.
Milk, ditto, 4 ditto.
Tobacco of Ladakîa, per oke, 45 to 70 paras.
Fowls, small, 12 paras each.
The recent history of Egypt, till the time of Ismaîl Bey, is
sufficiently known. On the death of Ismaîl, Hassan Bey succeeded him
in his office of Shech-el-bellad, governor of the city, and implying
the precedence among the Beys. Hassan was soon expelled by Murad Bey,
who held the office till the Capitan Pasha arrived from Constantinople
with a fleet, and drove him into Upper Egypt. The Pasha, after
satisfying his avarice, withdrew, and the Beys returned. Ibrahim Bey,
who had been a slave of Ali Bey the Great, had however acquired such
authority, that Murad was constrained to share the government with
him; and they have since ruled Egypt, Ibrahim as _Shech-el-bellad_,
and Murad as _Defter-dâr_. Mutual jealousies prevail between them,
each seeking the destruction of the other. They however conspire
together to recruit the number of the Mamlûks, and to collect
treasure from all quarters.
These are considered as usurpers by the Beys of Upper Egypt, who are
favoured by the Porte; one of whom, named Ali, contrived to escape
from Saïd into Syria, where he courted the nearest Pasha, Jezzâr
of Akka, to support their interest; but that potent and able leader
refused to listen to his suggestions, or amused him with false hopes.
The year before I arrived, there had been a pestilence which had
destroyed great numbers of the Mamlûks. The next memorable event
was the contest with Alexandria, before stated.
To strengthen his interest, Ibrahim Bey had negotiated a marriage
between his daughter and another powerful Bey, of the same name, but
no relation. The wedding-day, 30th of August 1792, was celebrated
with great pomp. A splendid equipage was prepared, in the European
form, of a coach, drawn by two horses, and ornamented with wreaths
of artificial flowers, in which a beautiful slave from the _harem_,
personating the bride, whose features were very plain, was carried
through the principal streets of Kahira. The blinds of the coach were
however drawn up, and the fair deputy sat concealed. The procession
was attended by some Beys, several officers and Mamlûks, and ended at
the house of the bridegroom, who received her from the carriage in his
arms. The Beys have baths in their houses, otherwise this procession,
on arriving at the house of the bridegroom, would have attended the
female to the bath, and then returned thither. In general, at Kahira,
the bride, completely veiled, walks under a canopy, and supported
by two women, to the house of the bridegroom.
The fête had continued for three days preceding the marriage. In
the evening, fire-works were exhibited at the houses of the husband
and the father, and presents of shawls, caffetans, and other parts
of dress and money were liberally distributed. After consummation
the ensanguined cloth was shown to the relations of the bride,
especially the mother. The virgin had been before instructed by
matrons in what manner to receive the conjugal embraces, and the same
women remained in an adjoining chamber during this final ceremony,
to lend assistance if required. The Oriental virgins marry in such
early youth that the marks of their purity are seldom deficient.
A curious circumstance occurred to mark the systematic rapacity
of the Beys, which could not be lulled even by such a season of
festivity. Ibrahim Bey, the father of the bride, having heard that
a company of female singers, who usually attend on these occasions,
had been employed in singing in Birket-el-fîl, the chief open
place in the city, not only during the day, but also most part of
the ensuing night, and had in consequence collected donations to a
considerable amount, sent for the leading woman to his house. She,
supposing that she had been summoned to receive some reward,
or that the charms of her voice had been made known to the Bey,
readily obeyed the mandate. On entering the apartment, the first
question was, “How many half sequins (_nusfiat_) did you collect
yesterday?”—She replied, “About ten thousand.”—“Pay me
eight thousand, then,” said the Bey, “and I will give you a note
of credit on Ibrahim Jeuhari, my secretary.” The money was paid,
but the woman was turned out of the house without receiving any
security whatever. She is said to have died of the disappointment
a short time after.
Some negotiations took place that summer between the Beys here, and
those in Upper Egypt (whom I afterwards found at Isna, attended by
a small party of Mamlûks); the former were so powerful that they
rejected the applications of the latter. All continued quiet till
I went to Upper Egypt.
I shall now endeavour to give some idea of the most celebrated Beys,
who at present have the sway in this unhappy country. Ibrahim Bey
is upwards of sixty years of age, a tall thin man, with an aquiline
nose. He is very avaricious, but by his treasures and connections
has secured a large party. His Mamlûks may amount to about a
thousand. Though reputed to manage the sabre with dexterity, he has
nothing of enterprise in his character, which has the mean rapacity
of the vulture, nothing of the daring flight of the eagle.
Murad Bey, once his superior, now his equal in power, has passed
a life of tumult and activity. Originally a slave of Mohammed Bey
Abu-dhahab, at the head of a detachment of his master’s Mamlûks,
he defeated and made prisoner Ali Bey the great, whose death shortly
after ensued. Murad is detested by the Porte. He is an energetic
character, and his profusion is supplied by his rapacity: about
forty-five years of age, of a replete habit of body. His Mamlûks,
in 1796, amounted to about seventeen hundred. His party, though not
so numerous as that of Ibrahim Bey, is yet of a more decided and
military stamp. Murad Bey is married to the widow of his master,
the daughter of the celebrated Ali Bey.
Next in power is Mohammed Bey Elfi, a young man of not more than
thirty-five years: his name imports that he was bought for a
thousand patackes. His master was Murad Bey, just mentioned. Quick
in apprehension, impetuous in action. Mamlûks eight hundred. Power
great and increasing.
Ibrahim Bey, _el Uali_, a name derived from the second military
magistracy in the city, is a young man, about the same age with the
last. He is married, as has been mentioned, to the daughter of the
elder Ibrahim, and is firmly attached to his interests. Of a sedate,
yet firm character. Mamlûks six or seven hundred.
Aiûb Bey, _el zogheir_, or junior, is another powerful leader,
perhaps the most eminent in capacity among the whole, and on
all occasions consulted by the rest. His age, between thirty and
forty. Mamlûks not many. He is a prudent manager, and rarely accused
of extortion.
Fatmé, now the aged daughter of the famous Ali, is held in much
respect by all the Beys. Even Murad, her husband, stands reverently
in her presence. When a Bey is appointed to a government, he never
fails to pay a visit to this old lady, who lectures him on his duties;
and will say, “Do not pillage the people; they were always spared
by my father.”
CHAP. VII.
_Abstract of the history of Africa in general, and Egypt in
particular, under the domination of the Arabs._
As this portion of history is little known, and may lend illustration
to many topics discussed in these pages, I have been induced to insert
a brief idea of it, abstracted chiefly, in what regards Africa,
from the valuable work of Cardonne, a compilation which has saved
me much research into the original writers[16].
Syria and Persia had already fallen under the rapid progress of
the followers of Mohammed, and it was so early as the 19th year
of the Hejira, the 640th of the Christian æra, that the Chalîf
Omar commanded Amrû to subdue Egypt. Memphis, or Misr, submitted
through the treason of the governor; but Alexandria stood a siege of
fourteen months. The loss of the library has been much regretted;
it was probably replete with the absurd philosophy and divinity of
the times; and amid the number of libraries in the Greek empire,
it is impossible to conceive, that the work of any truly valuable
author should have existed only in one copy.
A.D. 643. A famine desolating Arabia, Amrû re-opened the canal,
formed by the Romans from Memphis to the Red Sea. The capital seat
of the Chalîfs being soon after removed from Medina to Damascus,
it was neglected and went to ruin.
A.D. 647. Abd-ullah, governor of Egypt, proceeds to the conquest
of Africa. He vanquishes the Greek patrician Gregory in the battle
of Yakûb.
PART I.
_AFRICA._
THIS and the subsequent events are so ably narrated by Mr. Gibbon[17],
that it would be presumptuous to enter the same ground. It is
sufficient to observe that the Arabs, alternately advancing and
repulsed, were not complete masters of Africa, or rather that portion
of this vast continent which extends along the Mediterranean Sea,
till about the year 709 of our æra. They had not only been opposed
by the Greeks, but by the _Berbers_, or natives of the West. These
Berbers were, according to Cardonne, an ancient Arabian colony,
which had migrated into Africa, and retained its native speech.
They were divided into five tribes, which now amount to about six
hundred lineages, partly dwelling under tents, and partly in towns
and villages.
Mûsa ben Nasr had effectuated the conquest of Africa before he
proceeded to that of Spain. Till this period Africa had remained an
appendage to the government of Egypt, which was in quiet submission
to the Chalîfs, successors of Mohammed. But Abd-el-aziz, governor
of Egypt, having been guilty of great extortions from Hassan the
general in Africa, the Chalîf, Walid I. had assigned to Mûsa an
independent authority.
Mohammed-ben-Yezîd succeeded Mûsa in the government of Africa.
A.D. 721. Nechrên Seffran was appointed governor of Africa by the
Chalîf Yezîd, and died in 727, after having made some incursions
into the interior of that continent.
The natives soon after revolted against the Arabs, whom they defeated
with great slaughter.
A.D. 741. Hantele-ben-Seffran, governor of Egypt, was sent against
them by the Chalîf Hakim. He succeeded in his enterprise; subdued the
insurgents with great slaughter, and regained possession of Cairoan,
the Arabian capital of Africa, founded by Akbal, about A.D. 670,
fifty miles to the south of Tunis.
The revolt reviving, Hantelé again conquered the rebels, whose
vast army was conducted by Abd-el-wahhad. The exaggeration of the
Arabian authors computes the insurgents slain at an hundred and sixty
thousand; and Hantelé, in giving an account of his operations to
the Chalîf Hakim, reported that a more sanguinary contest had never
been fought.
A.D. 749. The sceptre of the Chalîfs passing from the Ommiades to
the Abbassides, Abd-el-rachmân, governor of Africa, refused tribute,
assembled the people in the mosque of Cairoan, tore his robe, and
abjured the authority of the new Chalîf.
Abd-el-rachmân being slain by his brothers, a civil war arose.
A.D. 772. The Chalîf Abu-Mansûr Djafar sends Yezîd with a strong
army to regain Africa. He succeeds, re-establishes tranquillity,
and attracts arts and manufactures to Cairoan the capital.
A.D. 786. On the death of Yezîd, the Chalif names Dawûd, son of that
leader, to be his successor. Dawûd conquers the insurgent Berbers,
and accepts the government of Egypt; his uncle, Ruhh-ben Chatem,
succeeding him in that of Africa.
SECT. I.
_Dynasty of the Aglabites._
A.D. 800. It was under the reign of the famous Harôn-el-Rashîd,
that Ibrahim ben-el-Aghleb, governor of Africa, finally threw off
the yoke of the Chalîf of Damascus. Ibrahim secured his authority
by maintaining a regular body of troops; and died in 811, being
succeeded by his son Abu-’l-abbâs.
Ziadet-Ullah, his successor, subdued Sicily.
837. Abu Akkal ascended the throne of Africa.
840. The next prince, Abu-’l-abbâs, reigned thirty-four years;
humane, liberal, and a lover of justice. He was however too much
addicted to the pleasures of the table; and it is related, that one
day being in a state of intoxication in the town of Sût, he embarked
for the isle of Kûssa, and when the fumes of the wine had evaporated,
was not a little surprised to find himself in the open sea.
874. Abu-’l-Abbâs had obtained of his brother Ishak an open
renunciation, in the chief mosque of Cairoan, of all claim to the
crown; yet that prince seized it on his death, to the prejudice of
the former’s son. Ishak built a new town, called Rifadé.
A.D. 877. Ishak sends a fleet against Sicily. Syracuse is besieged
for nine months, taken, sacked, and all the inhabitants put to the
sword. The booty of that commercial city was immense.
The Egyptians invaded Africa, and besieged Tripoli, but were forced
to retire on the approach of Ishak, with his regular negro troops.
878. A dreadful famine in Africa; corn at eight pieces of gold
the bushel.
Ishak was a most cruel prince. It is reported that he put
to death, in one day, sixteen of his own natural daughters by
various concubines. His mother presenting him with two beautiful
female slaves, he sent her in return a platter covered with a
napkin; on lifting it up, instead of jewels as she expected, she
beheld the heads of the two slaves. He was succeeded by his son
Abu-’l-Abbâs-Abd-ullah, murdered by his brother Ziadet-Ullah,
who seized the sceptre of Africa.
908. A revolt arising, the timid Ziadet-Ullah abandoned his dominions,
and retired to Egypt, then governed by Basi-el-Nûchîsi, in the
name of Mûktadir-b’illah, eighteenth Chalîf of the dynasty of the
Abbassides. With Ziadet-Ullah expired the dynasty of the Aglabites,
which had ruled Africa for an hundred and eight years[18].
SECT. II.
_Dynasty of the Fatimites, or Ismaëlians._
Obeid-ullah, who had seized the authority, resigned it soon after
to his son Abu-’l-Cassim. Though the new family was of Egyptian
extract, it pretended to deduce its origin from Fâtmé, daughter
of Mohammed, through Ismael the sixth Imâm of the posterity of Ali.
Abu-’l-Cassim assuming the style of _Mahadi_, or real successor
of Ali, displayed talents that sanctioned his usurpation. In the
first year of his reign he subdued the Edrîssites of the West,
and united all the Mohammedan part of Africa.
A.D. 912. Abu-’l-Cassim pours three armies into Egypt, intending to
add that rich province to his other domains. The Chalîf Mûktadir,
then reigning at Bagdad, had foreseen this design, which was
frustrated by the defeat of the armies of Mahadi, though he took
Alexandria. He built a city called Mehedié, now Mahdié, on the
African shore, which he destined for the seat of his empire. He died
in the sixty-third year of his age and twenty-sixth of his reign.
A.D. 933. His son Achmed was less fortunate. He died while his
capital Mehedié was besieged by insurgents.
A.D. 945. Ismaîl his son defeated the rebels, and built Mansûriéh
in Africa.
952. Abu-Tammim succeeded Ismaîl his father. In 968, he sent
Jeuhar, a Greek, at the head of a strong army to seize Egypt, and
succeeded. The capital, then styled _Misr_, or _Fostat_, opened
its gates. Jeuhar built a new capital, which he named _Kahira_,
or the _Victorious_. Abu-Tammim, surnamed Moaz, in the twentieth
year of his reign embarked for Sardinia, then subject to Africa,
till Jeuhar should complete the new metropolis.
972. Abu-Tammim lands at Alexandria, where he is met by Jeuhar:
advancing to Kahira he was welcomed by the acclamations of his new
subjects. To this city he removed all his treasures, and even the
bodies of his ancestors.
Jeuhar, the founder, had desired the building to be begun under
the horoscope or ascendant of the planet Mars, called _Kahir_,
or conqueror, by the Arabs; and hence it was styled Kahira.
The dynasty of the Fatimites, now transplanted to Egypt, ruled
there till the year 1171, (Hejira 566,) when it was supplanted by
Salah-el-dîn, the famous Saladin of the Christian authors.
SECT. III.
_Dynasty of the Zeirites._
To return to Africa. Abu-Tammim, before he proceeded to Egypt,
had resigned the sovereignty of Africa, on condition of homage,
to Yussuf-ben-Zeiri, of a family sprung from Arabia Felix.
The people of the province of Muggrib having rebelled, Yussuf defeated
them; and Tremesen shewing a disposition to join the Muggrebins,
it was razed, and the inhabitants transplanted to Aschir. Another
revolt was equally unsuccessful: the chiefs were led in triumph
through the streets of Cairoan, and then put to death.
979. Yussuf seized Fez and Sejelmas; and the Chalîfs of Spain lost
all their African possessions, except Ceuta.
983. Abu-’l-Cassim Mansûr succeeded his father. He built a palace
in the city of Cairoan, which cost eight hundred thousand pieces of
gold. His cruelty was shewn in the murder of Abd-ullah his minister,
and even in the punishment of the ungrateful rebel Abu-’l-Fahm,
whose heart this prince is said to have torn from his body and
devoured.
996. His son Abu-Menad received the homage of his nobles in Sardinia,
long subject to Africa. The Fatimite Chalîf of Egypt sent him the
dress and sabre, the accustomed mark of their superiority over the
African monarchy.
Moaz, his son and successor, displayed his rage against heretics,
or those Mohammedans who differed from his own sect, by an universal
massacre. A Roman Catholic prince, misled by his priests, could
not have shewn more inveterate cruelty. Moaz was however so young,
that the blame rests with his ministers.
A.D. 1050. An important war arose between Moaz and Mostansir, Chalîf
of Egypt, who wished to revive the absolute dominion of his house over
Africa. The Egyptians entered the province of Muggrib, by the town
of Zenata. Four years after they seized Tripoli. Mûnis, governor
of the province of Cairoan, passed over to the enemy. Moaz lost a
pitched battle, and took shelter in Mehedié. The Egyptians seized his
capital Cairoan, stopped the springs, turned the course of the river,
and destroyed the magnificent palaces and delicious gardens of the
monarchs of Africa. Moaz, overwhelmed with his misfortunes, sunk into
the grave, and closed a long and fortunate reign in the utmost misery.
1061. Tamîm, his eldest son, succeeded to the sceptre.
1088. The Greeks and Franks, equipping a fleet of four hundred sail,
landed at the isle of Kûssa in Africa, which they ravaged. They then
seized the town of Zawilé, but retired on receiving a contribution
of 200,000 pieces of gold. The conquest of Sicily by the Normans
had given a military impulse, which Africa was often to feel.
A.D. 1107. Tamîm died, leaving the reputation of a just and
generous prince. Having once purchased a slave, and her master,
who was enamoured with her, deeply regretting the loss, Tamîm not
only restored her, but sent him magnificent presents.
1108. Yaiah, his son and successor, put to death three alchymists,
who had misled him by their vain pretensions.
1115. Yaiah died suddenly. Being addicted to astrology, he imagined
a particular day would be fatal to him, and passed it in prayer. In
the evening, happy that he had escaped the danger, he ordered a
magnificent festival, and died as he sat down to table. His son Ali
received the homage of his people at Mehedié.
1116. Ali suppressed the pirates of the isle of Gerbi, and received
Tunis on submission. The people of Sebât, who robbed the caravans,
were severely punished.
1121. Ali prepared a fleet of ten vessels of the first rank, and
thirty of the second, against Sicily. Death prevented his designs.
His son Hassan being only in his fifteenth year, dissentions arose
among the great.
1125. A Sicilian fleet ravaged the isle of Gerbi.
1146. The Sicilians seized Tripoli, which they held six months,
and then retired.
A dreadful famine in Africa, so that even human carcases were
devoured. Many of the inhabitants fled to Sicily.
Roger king of Sicily sent out a fleet of an hundred and fifty sail,
loaded with soldiers and ammunition. Having captured an African ship,
with some pigeons on board, Georgi the Christian admiral forced
the captain to write a letter, importing that the Sicilian fleet
had sailed to Constantinople. The pigeon flew back to Mehedié; and
the inhabitants were exulting in the intelligence, when the hostile
fleet appeared before the city. On landing, the Sicilians found the
place totally abandoned, and the pillage lasted ten hours. Sfax and
Sus were also taken; and the Sicilians became masters of all the
coast from Tripoli to Tunis.
These events, accompanied with intestine commotions, terminated the
rule of the Zeirite dynasty. Hassan-ben-Ali was the last prince.
SECT. IV.
_Dynasty of the Marabûts, called by the Spanish authors
Al-Moravides._
Marabût implies a saint; and this dynasty arose to power from a
pretended zeal for religion. It originated in the West of Africa,
about the year 1060. Yussuf the second prince, in the year 1069
founded Morocco; he conquered part of Spain, and died in 1106. His son
Ali was less fortunate, and the short-lived dynasty of the Marabûts
was followed by that of the Elmohâds or Unitarians.
SECT. V.
_Dynasty of the Elmohâds._
This dynasty originated in Mount Atlas. Tomrût, its founder, was
followed by his celebrated disciple Abd-el-mûmin, originally a
doctor of theology, but who displayed such talents in war, that Ali,
king of Morocco, after meeting with many defeats, died in despair.
Abd-el-mûmin aspiring to the universal sovereignty of the Mohammedans
in Africa, besieged and took Oran and Fez, A.D. 1142. Tasfîn, son
of Ali, hardly retained Morocco, which was taken by Abd-el-mûmin
from Ishak his successor, the last of the Marabût dynasty.
1150. The Moors of Spain having suffered great losses, sent to
Abd-el-mûmin to request his aid against the Christians. That
ambitious prince eagerly seized the opportunity, and sent several
armies into Spain. The following year he conquered Bugia in Africa.
1159. The Sicilians retaining Tunis, and other places on the coast in
the Eastern part of Africa, Abd-el-mûmin equipped a fleet, and left
Morocco at the head of one hundred thousand combatants. Tunis was
taken by treason. Mehedié, surrounded by the sea, except one part
which was strongly fortified, was bravely defended by the Sicilians,
and their king sent a fleet to their assistance. It was defeated by
that of the Mûslims, and famine forced the garrison to surrender.
Abd-el-mûmin, being acknowleged sovereign of all Mohammedan Africa,
resolved on the conquest of Spain; but death unexpectedly seized
him at Sallî in 1160. He was succeeded by Abu-Yakûb his son.
1180. Abu-Yakûb carried his arms into Spain, where he received
the homage of several Arabian princes. He was constrained to return
to Africa, on intelligence arriving that a horde of Turks, who had
passed from Egypt, had seized Tripoli, and other places. Sfax had
also revolted. These commotions were appeased; and, at Mehedié,
Abu-Yakûb renewed the truce with Sicily for ten years.
1184. Abu-Yakûb invades Spain, is defeated, and killed. Yakûb his
son succeeded him.
The El-Moravides, who had fled to Spain, endeavoured to regain their
power in Africa. They were supported by the Turks of Tripoli; but
Yakûb took that city, and razed its walls.
1195. Yakûb defeats Alfonso king of Castille at Rema near Cordova,
and besieges Toledo. He makes other campaigns in Spain.
1199. Yakûb dies at Sallî, in his forty-eighth year. The sceptre
passes to Mohammed-el-Nasîr his son.
Mohammed lost all that his ancestors had possessed in Spain.
1210. He attempts to recover his Spanish territories at the head of
600,000 men, according to the wonted exaggerations of the Arabs;
but is completely defeated at the famous battle called _Akal_ by
the Arabs, and _Vanos-Tolosa_ by the Spaniards. Mohammed died of
vexation the following year. The Elmohâds had possessed Valencia,
Seville, Carmona, &c.
1211. Yussuf, son of Mohammed, proved a voluptuous and feeble
prince. He reigned twelve years, and died without posterity.
1223. Abd-el-wahhad, his great uncle, succeeded, or was chosen by the
grandees. The same year the royal title was transferred to Abd-ullah
his nephew, who was murdered by rebels.
1226. Edrîs-ben-Yakûb, brother of Abd-ullah, became king of Africa,
and used great cruelties to establish his authority. After reigning
five years, he died of an apoplexy.
1231. His son Abd-el-wahhad succeeded, and was drowned when
bathing. Other princes of this dynasty were, Said-Abul, 1242; Umer,
1248; Wasîk-Abul, 1266. In this usurper closed the dynasty of
the Elmohâds.
* * * * *
Upon the fall of this powerful dynasty, Africa was divided into
those petty royalties which still subsist, with few variations.
The family of the _Merinis_ became masters of Fez and Morocco,
and were the most powerful of the successors of the Elmohâds.
The Abi-Hafs seized Tunis; and the Beni Ziân enjoyed Tremesen.
Abu-’l-Hassan, sultan of Morocco, became sovereign by conquest,
about A.D. 1347, of all the African states; but this power was only
a momentary meteor.
About the year 1500 an ambitious _Sherîf_, or descendant of Mohammed,
seized the sovereignty of Morocco; and his descendants, under the
style of Sherîfs, retain the power to this day.
The kingdom of Tremesen, on the East of Fez, contained Algier, Oran,
&c. It was seized by the Beni Ziân about A.D. 1249. On the death
of the last of that race, A.D. 1560, it was united to the Turkish
Deydom of Algier.
The power of the Turks in Africa is very recent. It began in 1514,
when the pirate Barbarossa seized Algier; and piracy, as is too well
known, has become an appendage of their dominion.
Tunis became subject to the Abi-Hafs about A.D. 1240. Abu-Zekeria,
the first prince, is said to have extended his contribution to
the country of the negroes. A.D. 1270, St. Louis, attacking Tunis,
perished by a pestilence.
In 1533 Barbarossa seized Tunis. The expedition of Charles V. 1535,
is well known; but the African marygold is its only permanent
product. The race of the Abi-Hafs terminated in 1570, when El-Wahhali,
a descendant of Barbarossa, and Dey of Algier, took possession
of Tunis. The Mohammedan power, on the North and West of Africa,
remains divided between the Sherîfs of Morocco and Fez, and the
Turks of Algier and Tunis.
PART II.
_EGYPT._
Egypt remained for a considerable time in quiet subjection to the
Chalîfs, successors of Mohammed. But their power being on the
decline, owing to the insolence of their Turcoman militia, the
janizaries of that period, and other causes, this fertile country
began to throw off the yoke.
DYNASTY I.
_The Tholonides._
In the year of the Hejira 265, A.D. 879, Achmed, son of Tholon or
Teilûn, governor of Egypt, usurped the sovereignty from the Chalîf
Motamid-b’-illah. This short-lived dynasty expired in Sultan Harôn,
grandson of the usurper, about thirty years after.
DYNASTY II.
_The Fatimites._
The conquest of Egypt by Abu-Tammîm, Sultan of Africa, has been
already mentioned.
975. Abu-Tammîm or Moaz was succeeded by his son Aziz. He carried
on several wars in Syria.
996. Hakim, his successor, is only famed for his cruelty.
1021. Daher, fourth Chalîf of Egypt, conquered Aleppo, but was
forced to abandon it.
1036. Abu-Tamîm Mostansir. In the reign of this Chalîf most of
the Egyptian possessions in Syria were lost.
1094. Mostali. This Chalîf, in 1098, regained Jerusalem from
the Turks; next year it was taken by the Franks, under Godefroy
de Boulogne.
1101. Amer, a child. The Wizîr Afdhal exercised the sovereignty
during his reign of thirty years.
1130. Hafed.
1149. Dafer. In his Chalîfate the Christians took Ascalon.
1155. Fayez.
1160. Aded. The Fatimite race had before this period sunk
into such imbecility, that the Wizirs held the whole executive
power. Shawûr, the _reigning_ Wizir, having been supplanted by the
intrigues of Dargham, passed to Syria, to implore the assistance
of Nûr-el-din, Sultan of Damascus[19]. In 1164 his request was
complied with. Shirakûk, called Syracon by the Christian writers,
and his nephew, the famous Salah-el-dîn, or Saladin, were sent to
re-establish Shawûr, who soon finding his associates too powerful,
formed an alliance with the Franks. Shirakûk however defeated
all his projects; and in 1169 procured an order from the Chalîf
Aded for the decapitation of Schawûr, with the robe and firmân of
wizîr for himself. He died in the same year, and was succeeded by
his nephew Saladin.
1171. Saladin obliges the Franks to evacuate Egypt. An enemy of the
Fatimites, from religious schism, he omits the name of Aded, in the
public prayers, and substitutes that of the Chalîf of Bagdad. Aded
died on the 13th of September 1171; and in him terminated the dynasty
of the Fatimites. His successors renounced the title of Chalîf,
and assumed only that of Sultans.
DYNASTY III.
_The Aiûbite Sultans._
Salah-ed-din, son of Aiûb, a Kurd, usurped the title of Sultan of
Egypt in 1174. Not contented with that sovereignty, he extended
his views to Syria. In 1177 he is defeated at Ramlé by Rainaud
de Chatillon.
1182. More success attended his arms in Syria; and next year he
seized Amida in Mesopotamia, and forced Aleppo to a capitulation.
1187. Saladin gains over the Franks his famous victory at Hittîn:
the Christian power falls, and Saladin becomes master of Jerusalem
on the 2d of October.
1189. The Franks besiege Akka, or Ptolemais, which did not surrender
till after it had been invested for two years.
1192. Saladin concludes a truce with Richard king of England. Akka
and Yaffa were almost the only places left to the Franks.
Saladin died on the 4th March 1193, aged only fifty-seven, leaving
sixteen sons and a daughter.
1193. Malek-el-Azîz, second son of Saladin. He seized Damascus,
and left to his brother only Samosata.
1198. Malek-el-Mansûr. His uncle Afdhal, prince of Samosata,
was called by the Emîrs to rule the kingdom during the minority,
by the title of Atabek.
1200. Adel-Seif-el-dîn, brother of Saladin, usurps the crown.
1209. The Franks penetrate into Egypt, and retire with considerable
booty. Nine years afterward they returned, and seized the isle Pharos
and Damiatt.
1218. Malek-el-Kâmel, son of Seif-el-dîn. The crusaders abandon
Damiatt in 1221.
1228. Malek surrenders, by treaty, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth,
and Sidon, to Frederic II. the Emperor of Germany.
1239. Malek Adel deposed by his brother.
1240. Malek Salah. In 1244 he defeated the Franks and Syrians,
who were about to penetrate into Egypt.
1249. St. Louis seized Damiatt; and in the same year Malek Salah died.
He had bought from the Tatars a number of Turkish slaves from
Kaptchak, to form a guard and marine. These he raised to the highest
employments; and they became the famous MAMLÛKS, who seized the
sovereignty of Egypt.
1249. Turân Shah, son of Malek. Next year he captures St. Louis,
and his army of 20,000. On the 1st May 1250, Turân Shah is massacred
by the Mamlûks, who assign the sceptre to his step-mother, and
afterwards to a boy of the Aiubite race, which in him closed its
domination over Egypt.
* * * * *
MAMLUKS.
SECT. I.
_Baharite Mamlûks._
These were so styled, from having been originally employed as
_mariners_ on board the ships of the Sultan of Egypt. They were Turks.
A.D. 1254. Ezz-ed-dîn Moaz Ibegh was the first sovereign of this
dynasty. He was assassinated.
1255. Nûr-ed-dîn Ali, son of Sultan Ezz-ed-dîn, followed.
It would be uninteresting to mark the names and short reigns of these
princes, most of whom fell by assassination. The chief events alone
shall be commemorated.
Bibars I. who reigned from A.D. 1260 to 1277, was an active prince,
and seized most of the Christian possessions in Syria.
Kalîl Ascraf, who ascended the throne in 1290, took Ptolemais,
and terminated the power of the Christians in Palestine.
During successive reigns many contests took place in Syria, the
possession of which was disputed by the Mamlûk Sultans and the
Moguls.
Nazr Mohammed, who died in 1341, distinguished himself by the
protection which he granted to agriculture and the arts.
In 1348 a pestilence appeared in Egypt, or perhaps originally in
Syria, which spread over a great part of Europe.
A.D. 1365. In October, Peter de Lusignan, king of Cyprus, besieged
Alexandria; but he was soon constrained to abandon it, for want of
provisions[20]. Shabân Ascrâf was then Sultan, and he was the
first who ordered the Sherîfs, or descendants of the Prophet,
to wear a green turban.
SECT. II.
_Borgite Mamlûks._
This race was of Circassian extract, and continued to rule Egypt
till the French invasion.
1382. Barkûk-Daher, who had been Atabek in the minority of Hadgi
Salah, deposed his pupil, and seized the supreme authority. Timûr
invading Syria, Barkûk obtained two victories over the Moguls,
and forced them to withdraw.
1399. Faradj, son of Barkûk. Few of these Sultans reigned above a
year, till
1442. Bursbai, who reigned sixteen. He sent a fleet against Cyprus,
which took Lymissos and Nicosia, and brought John II. and most of
his nobility, captives. Syria remained almost a constant appanage
to Egypt.
1461. Abu-’l-Fathe Achmed received tribute from Cyprus, and assigned
the crown to James, natural son of John III.
Of the succeeding Sultans we find nothing remarkable; and the Mamlûk
aristocracy began to render their station more and more precarious.
In 1501 Kansû El-ghûri was raised to the throne.
In 1516, Selim II. emperor of Constantinople, having declared war
against him, defeated and slew him near Aleppo, and seized Syria.
Tomân Bey was appointed his successor by the Mamlûks. On the 24th
January 1517, he lost, at Rodania near Kahira, a great battle against
the Othman troops. After another obstinate conflict, Tomân Bey was
again defeated by Selim, taken prisoner, and hanged at one of the
gates of Kahira on the 13th April.
* * * * *
Selim was contented with abolishing the _monarchy_ of the Mamlûks,
but suffered their _aristocracy_ to retain its former power, on
certain conditions; the chief of which were, an annual tribute,
obedience in matters of faith to the Mufti of Constantinople, and
the insertion of the name of the Othman Emperors in the prayers,
and on the coin.
Syria, its usual appanage, being withdrawn, Egypt has rarely
intermeddled with foreign affairs, and the Beys have generally been
contented with squeezing the people, and enjoying in ease the fruit
of their extortions. During the pre-eminence of the Othman power,
Egypt appears one of the most quiet and submissive of the provinces:
and the travellers of this and the two preceding centuries may
supply what few materials arise, concerning its history, or rather
its condition. The evening of the Turkish domination was marked by
the appearance of that meteor, Ali Bey, who had scarcely dazzled
the nations with his wild effulgence before he disappeared.
CHAP. VIII.
UPPER EGYPT.
_Design to penetrate into Habbesh or Abyssinia — Voyage on the Nile
— Description of Assiût — General course of the Nile — Islands
and villages — Caverns — Kaw — Achmîm — Painted caverns
— Girgi — Dendera — Antient Temple — Kous — Topography of
Upper Egypt — El-wah-el-Ghurbi — Situation of the Oasis parva._
Ever eager to accomplish my proposed journey into Abyssinia, I was
nevertheless not able to set out till Monday 10th of September,
and, even then, not with all the advantages that might have been
expected. I had indeed employed part of the summer, which was
passed in Kahira, in learning the Arabic language; which is a task
of difficulty to those who are unable to supply the utter want of
books, and method and perspicuity in the teacher. My friends were
forward in representing the dangers to be encountered, rather than
in furnishing the means of avoiding them. I determined to adopt such
a method as an imperfect knowlege of the country suggested as the
least exceptionable, and leave the rest to fortune. Judging that I
should yet have occasion for an interpreter, I took care to provide
a Greek, who, besides his native language, was acquainted with the
Turkish, Arabic, and Italian. I had also with me a Mohammedan of
the lower class of Kahirines, who, as belongs to that character, was
prepared for every office. Thus provided, we commenced our voyage,
and on the eighth day reached Assiût.
If we except some few inconveniences from the motley company that
fills the boats, it is not easy to conceive a more pleasurable mode of
travelling than that by the Nile when it overflows. The great body of
water, perfectly calm and unruffled, the banks on each side covered
with the rich product of the husbandman’s labour, form a scene
in every sense alluring. The passengers are protected by a simple
awning of branches from the immediate action of the sun, and the
great heat of the tropical latitude is assuaged by a gentle breeze,
which generally continues during four or five meridian hours. The
mariners chaunt responsive to the motion of their oars; and the vessel
offers an apt emblem of finding fortune in her most prosperous career.
I landed near Assiût, and went to an okal in that city to lodge. Here
I suffered no kind of inconvenience.—A small room, dry and perfectly
quiet, not infested with vermin, answered the purpose of security
to property; and in this climate, at such a season, no shelter is
required except from the sun’s rays. Assiût is, at this time, by
far the most considerable city in the higher Egypt. This character
formerly belonged to Girgi, which is in effect still a place of
note, but less so than Assiût. The situation is in all respects
favourable, and the manner in which the water is conducted round the
town is worthy of remark. A canal, dug probably from an early period,
parallel to the Nile, in this part of the country laves the foot of
the mountains which are near to Assiût, and having surrounded that
city, and the villages adjacent, descends again into the river. The
water, however, is not admitted into it but at a certain period
of its increase, and then it overflows all the surrounding lands,
and Assiût only communicates with the Nile, by a road, artificially
raised above the common level, which leads down to the point where
the boats resort, and are laden and discharged; and by two bridges,
the one leading to this road, and the other towards the mountains.
It has become much more populous within a few years by the good
government of Solyman Bey, who has also adorned it by planting many
trees. Assiût was formerly known to the Arabic writers by the name
of _hâut-es-Sultân_, the king’s fish, or fish-pond, for حوض
signifies both. It would be curious to inquire from what circumstance;
whether from having been appointed to supply the king’s table
with fish, or what other reason? The mountains above Assiût abound
with caverns which have probably originally answered the purpose of
sepulture, and then, in the Christian age, may have been the resort of
persons who sought religious retirement. There are some hieroglyphic
inscriptions, but nothing very remarkable, and they have been already
described by former travellers, so that it is not necessary to give
a detailed account of them here. The principal antiquities between
Kahira and Assiût, are at Shech Abade[21], the antient Antinoopolis,
and at Ashmunein. In the former are two Corinthian columns, highly
adorned, standing diagonally opposed to each other, and having each
a Greek inscription. The first words of the one are as follow,
ΑΓΑΘΗ ΤΥΧΗ
ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΙ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΙ ΜΑΡΚΩ ΑΥΡΗΛΙΩ.
The next word appears to be ΣΕΚΟΥΝΔΩ, but it is obliterated[22].
Having passed about fourteen days in Assiût, waiting for a boat to
go forward, which, in this season, when the corn is transported into
the magazines, it is rather difficult to find, at length was able to
hire one, of a moderate size, and entirely devoted to ourselves. We
left Assiût on the 4th of October, and passed the night before
a village called Mehâla. It has been built by a certain Osman
Bey, within twenty years; and however destitute of any spirit of
improvement persons of this description may be thought in Europe,
this village is an evidence of some attention thereto; for the four
streets of which it consists are at right angles with each other,
built in right lines, and four times as wide as what is generally
seen in places of the same kind. It is true, the materials are mean,
and the number of houses inconsiderable.
The villagers of the Upper Egypt are at little expense for
building. Clay and unburned bricks, the chief materials used in
fabricating houses, are to be had for the labour of collecting or
forming them. The same may be said of the thatch; and the date tree,
though perishable, furnishes the timber required. If a carpenter be
employed, his time is not occupied in preparing useless ornaments. In
the towns however, as Ghenné, Assiût, Girgi, &c. the habitations
are constructed of better materials, with much more art, and are
some of them sumptuous.
Many considerable islands exist in the course of the Nile, but they
are too frequently changing place, in consequence of new depositions
of mud, to admit of their being marked with permanent accuracy.
The number of towns and villages which I distinguished on the
Eastern side between Kahira and Assuân, amounted to about one
hundred and sixty.
On the Western, where the cultivable lands are more extended,
two hundred and twenty-eight. Yet they cannot be enumerated very
accurately in passing on the stream; for there are many within the
limits of the arable land on both sides, but principally on the West,
which are not visible from the river, and the names and numbers of
which the circumstances then existing did not permit me to learn
from those to whom I could have recourse for information.
The more populous of the towns seem to be those which follow:
_East of the Nile._ _West of the Nile._
1. Achmîm. 1. Benesoef.
2. Ghenné. 2. Mînié; city.
3. Kous. 3. Melawi.
4. Assuân. 4. Monfalût; city.
5. Assiût; city.
6. Tachta.
7. Girgi; city.
8. Bardîs.
9. Bagjúra.
10. Nakade.
11. Erment.
12. Isna; city.
In the mountain above Assiût are several remarkable caverns, very
spacious, and adorned with hieroglyphics and emblematic figures. Some
appear to have been sepulchral, as they contain fragments of the
jars in which were deposited, not only the Ibis, but cats, dogs,
and other animals, whether considered as sacred, or slain to attend
their master or mistress in the other world. In one of these caverns,
besides the entrance, there are three chambers hewn in the rock, which
is free-stone, one sixty feet by thirty, another sixty by twenty-six,
a third twenty-six by twenty-five. Farther up the mountain there
are caverns yet more spacious than these.
In other parts of the mountain are numerous rough cavities, from which
the stone has been extracted for the purposes of building, but they
have afterwards been used for various objects; some for sepulture,
as appears from the remains of jars curiously stopped with bitumen,
others for summer retreats, as they are exposed to the North, and
very cool.
Large quantities of fine flax are cultivated in the neighbourhood
of Assiût: this article and wheat are transported from Upper to
Lower Egypt. Salt and other articles are brought in return. From
Mecca by way of Cossîr are imported Indian goods; but the European
articles of broad-cloth, tin, &c. are here rarely seen. The Soudân
caravans form a chief support of Assiût, which, with respect to them,
serves as a midway station. Assiût is regarded as the capital of
Middle Egypt; and in population exceeds all the towns to the South
of Kahira. I should not be inclined to estimate the inhabitants
at less than twenty-five thousand. The _Senjiak_, or Bey of Saïd,
divides the year of his office between Assiût and Girgi; the internal
government consists of the Cadi, assisted by other civil officers;
and five Cashefs, mostly appointed by Soliman Bey, constantly reside
there. It is the seat of a Coptic bishop, but the Copts are not very
numerous, the people being chiefly Mohammedans.
So severely is female chastity guarded in this country, that
instant death follows its violation. If tenderness of disposition
should prevent the father, brother, husband from inflicting this
punishment, he is shunned by all his acquaintance, and becomes a
stranger to society.
Provisions are considerably cheaper at Assiût than in Kahira.
Lentilles form a considerable article of food to the inhabitants of
the Upper Egypt, who rarely enjoy the luxury of rice. The lentilles
are so prepared as to be very palatable.
In Dar-Fûr are no lentilles.
The Egyptian onions are remarkably mild, more so than the Spanish, but
not so large. They are of the purest white, and the _lamina_ are of
a softer and looser contexture than those of any other species. They
deteriorate by transplantation; so that much must depend on the soil
and climate. They remain a favourite article of food with all classes;
and it is usual to put a layer or two of them, and of meat, on a spit
or skewer, and thus roast them over a charcoal fire. The desire of
the Israelites for the onions of Egypt is not to be wondered at.
About four hours from Assiût we had passed Monfalût, a city which
I afterwards returned to view at more leisure. Monfalût is of
considerable extent and population. Between it and Assiût stands
Ben-Ali, a populous town. Those three places constitute, with Girgi,
the chief marts of the trade of Upper Egypt.
October 4th, 1792. Continued our navigation up the Nile.
6th. Passed Kaw or Gaw-es-Sherkî, the Antæopolis of antiquity,
where remains part of a curious temple, consisting of several columns,
built of large stones, as usual in Egyptian remains, and covered with
emblematical figures, interspersed with hieroglyphics. Some of the
stones in the temple are from eighteen to twenty feet in length. At
How on the West, supposed the ancient Diospolis, observed no ruins.
8th. Came to Achmîm, the antient Chemmis or Panopolis, on the East
side of the Nile, now a pleasant village or small town. Heliodorus,
in his celebrated romance, often mentions Chemmis, and speaks of
a dispute between its people and those of Bessa or Antinoe. Many
cities intervened between Bessa and Chemmis, the latter of which he
seems to place not far from a lake near the Heracleotic mouth of the
Nile. The whole geography of that ingenious prelate forms one puzzle,
though he was a native of the neighbouring country of Syria.
At Achmîm some fragments of columns still remain, and in the adjacent
mountain are caverns resembling those at Assiût. The hieroglyphics
have been painted in distemperature, as usual with all those executed
on the smooth surface of free-stone. A mummy had been recently
taken out of the principal room, as appeared from the remains of
prepared cloth, and human bones. The ceilings of the chambers have
been plaistered and coloured. Perhaps the antient Egyptians had
a custom, not unknown to other Oriental nations, of annual visits
to the dead[23]; and these chambers might be constructed for the
reception of the relations on those occasions.
The neighbourhood of Achmîm abounds with sycamores.
This kind of sycamore, it is well known, bears a small dry fig, of
a yellowish colour, adhering to the trunk of the tree. Many gardens
are also seen, in which grow date and other trees.
11th October, arrived at Girgi, formerly the capital of Upper
Egypt, now declining. There is a large market-place, with shops in
abundance. At Menshié, antient Ptolemais, and at Girgi, observed
several large pieces of granite, seemingly antique mill-stones. They
are about six feet in diameter, and nearly three feet thick, with
a perforation of one foot square in the centre, from which waving
radii, about an inch deep, pass to the circumference.
The Senjiak, or Emîr-es-Saïd, passes half the year at Girgi, as
already mentioned. His office is esteemed the third in importance,
and is now filled by Soliman Bey, an honest and respectable character.
15th October. Passed onward to Farshiût, a populous town, with many
Christian inhabitants.
17th. Arrived at Dendera, the antient Tentyra. Saw the noted temple,
the most perfect remain of Egyptian architecture. It is in the
form of an oblong square, 200 feet by 150—Pococke says 145; is
now almost buried in the sand. Ascending some steps in the middle
of the wall, you come to a dark gallery, passing through all the
sides. Many of the columns are standing. The inside of the _pronaos_
and of the gallery is covered with painted hieroglyphics in all their
original freshness. A Cashef, imagining treasures were concealed,
was employed in the laudable work of blowing up part of the walls!
The same night, about twelve, reached Ghenné, the antient Cœne, or
Cœnopolis. The navigation on the Nile is particularly delightful in
the stillness of the night, diversified by the bright reflection of
the moon on the water, or the clear sparkling of innumerable stars;
among which the brilliant Canopus, unseen in European climates,
is observable, except when some mountain conceals that part of
the hemisphere.
19th. Came opposite to Coptis, now Kepht. The rubbish may fill a
circumference of two miles, evincing its antient extent. Several small
columns of grey granite lie on the ground, and some large stones,
engraved with hieroglyphics. The distance from the Nile to Coptis
is much smaller than has been supposed by European geographers.
A small part of a bridge remains near Kepht or Coptis, sufficient to
determine that there once was one, but it is impossible to say of
what æra. There is nothing grand in the structure, which consists
of small stones.
20th. Stopped at Kous, the Apollinopolis parva. Observed at a small
distance on the North-east an antient gate, adorned with figures,
and a deep cornice. Kous is a populous town, about a mile on the
East of the Nile.
21st October 1792. Passed the night at Nakadé, where is a Catholic
convent. On the following day came to Aksôr, the antient Thebes.
A brief general retrospect of the topography of Upper Egypt may
here be given. The towns and cultivation are wholly confined to the
banks of the Nile, but especially on the East. Mountains continue to
present a regular barrier behind on both sides. Beyond this natural
wall, on the West, is a vast sandy desert, traversed at times by the
Muggrebîn Arabs; here and there, at the distance of about a hundred
miles or more from the Nile, are Oases or fertile isles, in the
ocean of sand. On the East, between the river and the Arabian gulf,
are vast ranges of mountains, abounding with marble and porphyry,
but generally destitute of water, so that no town or village can be
built. Among these ranges, however, some tribes of Bedouin Arabs,
as the _Ababdi_ and _Beni Hossein_, contrive to find some fertile
spots and diminutive springs, so as to furnish residences for about
three or four thousand inhabitants. Even the shores of the Red Sea,
corresponding with Egypt, contain but a small number of tribes;
and the Arabs on the East in general are little formidable. The
Muggrebîns are more ferocious, and might send forth thirty thousand
men capable of bearing arms, could they ever be united, a thing almost
impossible, their parties seldom exceeding four or five hundred,
and the tribes being divided by intestine enmities. The Lesser Oasis,
now _El-wah el-Ghurbi_, forms a kind of capital settlement, if I may
so speak, of the Muggrebîn Arabs, who extend even to Fezzân and
Tripoli. They are dressed in a linen or cotton shirt, over which is
wrapped a blanket of fine flannel; all have fire-arms and are good
marksmen, and their musquets are their constant companions. Their
chief employment lies in breeding horses[24], camels, and sheep. They
are very hardy and abstemious, a small cake of bread and leathern
bottle of water supplying a man with ample provision for a day.
It is said that several ruins are to be found at _El-wah-el-Ghurbi_. Of
the _Oasis Magna_, now El-wah, I shall speak at large in treating of my
journey to Dar-Fûr; but must observe that the distance between this
Oasis and that styled _Parva_ is erroneously laid down in the most
recent maps. I was informed by the Muggrebîns at _El-wah_, that
_Charjé_, the most northern village of that district, was but two days
journey from the nearest part of _El-wah-el-Ghurbi_; that is, about
forty miles. _Oasis Magna_ seems rightly to correspond with the latitude
of Dendera, and of course that of the southern extremity of _Oasis
Parva_ should be a little to the South of that of Assiût, and not far
North of Tinodes Mons, in D’Anville’s map; apparently the chain on the
East of both the Oases, or الواحات. On the West I observed no mountains,
nor on the South. The most northern Oasis known near Egypt is that
of _Siwa_, already described.
CHAP. IX.
UPPER EGYPT.
_Thebes — Site and antiquities — Painted caverns — Their
discovery and plan — Manners of the people at Thebes — Isna
— Fugitive Beys — Antiquities — Rain — Assûan or Syene —
Obstacles to farther progress — Return to Ghenné._
I found the inhabitants of the Thebaic district had been recently
in open rebellion against the Mamlûks, but they were now somewhat
more quiet. The Troglodytes of the caverns remained tumultuous,
and sometimes opposed the troops of the Bey, by firing from their
recesses; at other times they would retreat to the mountains, and
leave all pursuit behind.
The massy and magnificent forms of the ruins that remain of antient
Thebes, the capital of Egypt, the city of Jove, the city with a
hundred gates, must inspire every intelligent spectator with awe and
admiration. Diffused on both sides of the Nile, their extent confirms
the classical observations, and Homer’s animated description rushes
into the memory:
“Egyptian Thebes, in whose palaces vast wealth is stored; from
each of whose hundred gates issue two hundred warriors, with their
horses and chariots.”
These venerable ruins, probably the most antient in the world, extend
for about three leagues in length along the Nile. East and West they
reach to the mountains, a breadth of about two leagues and a half. The
river is here about three hundred yards broad. The circumference of
the antient city must therefore have been about twenty-seven miles.
In sailing up the Nile, the first village you come to within the
precincts is _Kourna_, on the West, where there are few houses,
the people living mostly in the caverns. Next is _Abuhadjadj_,
a village, and _Karnak_, a small district, both on the East. Far
the largest portion of the city stood on the Eastern side of the
river. On the South-west _Medinet-Abu_ marks the extremity of the
ruins; for Arment, which is about two leagues to the South, cannot
be considered as a part.
Modern authors have styled the site of Thebes _Luxor_, a name which
is not in my journal taken on the spot, nor does my memory retain
a trace of such an appellation, not to mention that the word is
not Arabic. Some write _Aksor_, which convinces me that both are
corruptions of _El Kussûr_, the real term, which is still applied
to the ruins by the Arabs. Norden is very imperfect in his Arabic
names, as well as his topography.
In describing the ruins, we shall begin with the most considerable,
which are on the East of the Nile. The chief is the Great Temple,
an oblong square building of vast extent, with a double colonnade,
one at each extremity. The massy columns and walls are covered with
hieroglyphics, a labour truly stupendous. 1. The Great Temple stands
in the district called _Karnac_.
2. Next in importance is the temple at _Abu-Hadjadj_.
3. Numerous ruins, avenues marked with remains of Sphinxes, &c. On
the West side of the Nile appear,
1. Two colossal figures, apparently of a man and woman, formed of
a calcareous stone like the rest of the ruins.
2. Remains of a large temple, with caverns excavated in the rock.
3. The magnificent edifice styled the _palace of Memnon_. Some of
the columns are about forty feet high, and about nine and a half in
diameter. The columns and walls are covered with hieroglyphics. This
stands at _Kourna_.
4. Behind the palace is the passage styled Bibân-el-Molûk, leading
up the mountain. At the extremity of this passage, in the sides of
the rock, are the celebrated caverns known as the sepulchres of the
antient kings.
Several of these sepulchres have been described by Pococke with
sufficient minuteness; he has even given plans of them. But in
conversation with persons at Assiût and in other parts of Egypt,
I was always informed that they had not been discovered till within
the last thirty years, when a son of Shech _Hamâm_, a very powerful
chief of the Arabs, who governed all the South of Egypt from Achmîm
to Nubia, caused four of them to be opened, in expectation of
finding treasure.
They had probably been rifled in very antient times; but how the
memory of them should have been lost remains to be explained. One of
those which I visited exactly answers Dr. Pococke’s description;
but the other three appear materially different from any of his
plans. It is therefore possible that some of those which he saw have
been gradually closed up by the sand, and that the son of _Hamâm_
had discovered others.
They are cut into the free-stone rock, in appearance upon one general
plan, though differing in parts. First, a passage of some length;
then a chamber; a continuation of the first passage turns abruptly to
the right, where is the large sepulchral chamber, with a sarcophagus
of red granite in the midst.
In the second part of the passage of the largest are several cells
or recesses on both sides. In these appear the chief paintings,
representing the mysteries, which, as well as the hieroglyphics
covering all the walls, are very fresh. I particularly observed
the two harpers described by Bruce; but his engraved figures seem
to be from memory. The French merchants at Kahira informed me that
he brought with him two Italian artists; one was Luigi Balugani,
a Bolognese, the other Zucci, a Florentine.
On landing with my Greek servant at _Kourna_, no male inhabitants
appeared, but two or three women were standing at the entrance of one
of their dens. As we passed in quest of the Shech-el-belad, to request
a guide, one of the women said in Arabic, “Are not you afraid of
crocodiles?” I replied in the negative. She said emphatically,
“We are crocodiles;” and proceeded to depict her own people as
thieves and murderers. They are indeed a ferocious clan, differing in
person from other Egyptians. Spears twelve or fourteen feet in length
are sudden and deadly weapons in their hands. At Kahira, Mohammed
Bey Elfi had told me I should here need a guard of twenty men,
but I found two guides assigned me by the Shech-el-belad sufficient.
In the temple at _Medinet Abu_ we observed a large quantity of blood,
and were told by the peasants of Beirât that the Kournese had there
murdered a Muggrebîn and a Greek, travellers passing from Assuân
to Kahira, who had strayed thither from mere curiosity, or perhaps
with a view of finding treasure, in which the Muggrebîns pretend
to superior skill.
At the village called _Beirât_ is a native spring; and some others,
I was told, are found in the neighbourhood, the water of which is
different from that of the Nile, yet sweet.
Walled towns, it has been observed by Pococke, were not common in
Egypt, and therefore, he adds, it is probable that Thebes was never
surrounded by a wall.—That the passage in Homer refers not to the
gates of the city, must readily be admitted. But it appears to me
likely that Thebes was walled, from some feint remains, which are even
to this day visible. In the precincts of the vast temple at Aksor,
or El-Kussûr, is discoverable a small chamber, lined either with
red granite or with porphyry, on ascending to the roof of which from
without, and directing the eye to the Southward in a straight line,
as far as it can reach, an insulated mass is seen, which has the
appearance of having been a gate. With a telescope, from the same
spot, are visible other still more imperfect remains, under the same
circumstances, in the directions West and North. From their situation,
precisely opposed to each other, and at the three cardinal points,
at so great a distance, rather than from any stronger circumstance,
I was inclined to believe that these may have been three gates.—That
to the West is very near the mountains on that side.
After passing three days in and about antient Thebes, we advanced
on the 26th Oct. 1792 on our voyage up the Nile.
27th Oct. Came to Isna, a large town, the residence of the fugitive
Beys. Here is also found a temple of the same kind as those of Thebes,
inferior in size, but tolerably well preserved.
The Beys now resident here, are, _Hassan el Giddawi_, _Achmet
el Uali_, _Osman Bey Hassan_, and another, whose name I did not
learn. They are very poor and dejected, in consequence of their
long exclusion from the government. Hassan Bey has about thirty
Mamlûks with him; the rest only eight or ten each. Their whole
revenues are drawn from the country near Isna and Assuân, which
is but unproductive. Passed one night at Isna, and thence proceeded
towards _Edfû_.
The people here have a superstition concerning crocodiles similar to
that entertained in the West Indies; they say there is a king of them,
who resides near Isna, and who has ears, but no tail; and he possesses
an uncommon regal quality, that of doing no harm (“the king can do
no wrong”). Some are bold enough to assert that they have seen him.
28th Oct. Near a village called Hillal, observed reliques of an
antient town; part of two small Egyptian temples, and a statue of
less than the human size, in a kneeling posture, but broken off
above the knees; the feet and legs remaining entire. The place has
been surrounded by a thick wall of unburned brick, but of what date
it is now impossible to determine.
The following day, a little shower fell in the morning; the only
instance I met with of rain in Upper Egypt. Arrived at Edfû, and
inspected a gate or portico, and a small Egyptian temple adjoining.
30th. Passed by _Gebel-el-Silsili_, the chained mountain, where,
in antient times, a chain was passed across the Nile. Here are some
sculptures in the rock, which is of hard free-stone, not of granite,
as Norden mentions by mistake.
Same day sailed by _Kûm-Ombû_, literally the heap or ruins of
Ombos. Saw there the temple described by the traveller just mentioned.
On the following day arrived at _Assuân_, the antient Syene. The
remains of antiquity are here few, and some seem rather of Roman
than Egyptian fabric. Even the modern town is almost in ruins, and
contains very few houses and inhabitants; it is chiefly supported by
a small duty upon dates, passing from Ibrîm to Kahira. Near Assûan
may be still seen the tombs of the Mamlûks who fled from Selim on
his invasion of Egypt. They are now very ruinous.
Some remains of antiquity are yet visible in the isle opposite Syene,
antiently called Elephantine[25]. The Arabs use one as an inclosure
for cattle. A statue of granite also appears, holding a lituus in
each hand. It is remarkable that many of the present inhabitants of
this island have the negro countenance, hair, and person.
About three hours walk from Assûan is the _cataract_, in Ar. _Shelal_,
more properly _rapides_, being merely an easy descent of the river among
numerous isles and rocks of granite, which obstruct the current. Far from
deafening the spectator, the noise is hardly audible.
Near the cataract I observed some black rocks; but whether of
basaltes, or any other substance, the distance prevented me from
distinguishing. It is well known that many of the antient statues
and engraved stones found in Egypt are of that material, but it is
believed to have been drawn from Abyssinia. I observed no quarries of
basaltes either in Egypt or the other parts of Africa which I visited.
At Assûan I remained three days, contriving, if possible, to pursue
my route up the Nile. But a war having arisen between the Mamlûks
of Upper Egypt and the Cashef of Ibrîm, no one was suffered to pass
from Egypt to Nubia. The caravans had all been stopped for many
months, and not even a camel could be procured. At Kahira I could
attain no previous knowlege of this war having originated with the
fugitive Beys.
With deep regret for the disappointment in my earnest wish of
proceeding to Abyssinia by this route, I was constrained to abandon
all hope for that season, and to think of returning.
Left Assûan the 4th of November 1792, and proceeding rapidly down
the Nile, arrived at Ghenné on the 7th.
CHAP. X.
JOURNEY TO COSSÎR ON THE RED SEA.
_Inducements and danger — Route — Account of Cossîr — Commerce
— Return by another route — Granite rocks and antient road —
Marble quarries — Pretended canal — Earthen ware of Ghenné —
Murder of two Greeks, and subsequent report of the writer’s death._
Arriving on my return at Ghenné (غنه), I could not resist the
impulse of curiosity excited by the late descriptions of curious
marbles, &c. which had been found in that route. It was not difficult
to find the means of passing, though the Bedouins then infested the
road; but I determined to take nothing that could be of importance to
lose, not intending to stay long at Cossîr. For which indeed there
was another motive—An English vessel, commanded, as was said,
by a Captain Mitchell, having three or four years before moored
there, a quarrel had arisen between them and the natives about
a supply of water, which is a commodity furnished at Cossîr not
without extreme difficulty. From a violent contention blows ensued,
and the Captain thought himself justified in firing on the town: in
consequence several individuals were killed, it is said there that
they amounted to fourteen, and much damage done. The natives were
exceedingly exasperated, and swore to sacrifice the first Englishman
that should fall into their hands. I however conceived it possible
to pass undiscovered; and so in fact it happened. Having agreed with
an Arab for two dromedaries and a man, also mounted on a dromedary,
for all which I was to pay fifteen mahbûbs, I left Ghenné at one
in the morning of 8th November 1792, and travelling diligently,
arrived at Cossîr on the 11th before sun-rise. We took the most
northern route, which is not that apparently which Bruce travelled,
(and which seems to be the longest by two or three hours,) as being
the least frequented by robbers. Our course on the first day occupied
twelve hours, the second fifteen, and the third thirteen hours; in
all about forty hours. The principal inhabitants of Cossîr came
successively to compliment us on our arrival. They all scanned me with
an eye of suspicion, and the more so as I could not yet speak the Arabic
fluently. But none so much as an old Sherîf, a considerable man in the
place, who having travelled to Mecca, Constantinople, Bakdad, and other
parts of the Turkish empire, had become acquainted with the various
orders of men, and acquired an intuitive discrimination of character
which very few in that country possess. After the common salutations had
passed, “Are you not a Frank?” said he.—“No,” replied I.—“But of Frank
origin?”—“No,” said I, “I am a Georgian by birth, but have passed so
short a time in Constantinople, that I believe I cannot speak Turkish
much better than I do Arabic;” (for I knew he spoke a little, and was
beginning to address me in that language.) My servant then joined the
conversation, and I escaped discovery. The dress, and apparently the
language of the people of Cossîr, approach more to those of the Eastern
shore of the Arabian gulph, than to those of the Egyptians. They are
armed with the _Jembîa_, a crooked knife, often not less than a yard
long, and commonly a lance. Indeed they altogether appear rather
settlers from the opposite shore than native Egyptians. The commerce in
coffee here is not inconsiderable. Formerly all Upper Egypt was supplied
with coffee by way of Suez and Kahira, but the Beys having laid a very
heavy duty on that commodity, the inhabitants began to import from
Cossîr for themselves, whence they are now supplied with the best
coffee, and at a cheaper rate than from Suez. The town is provided
with excellent fish, and pepper and other spices are brought there
free of duty. Some Abyssinian slaves, transported from Jidda, are
landed there and carried to Kahira, but in very small number. While
I was there, a beautiful girl, of about fifteen, was sold for an
hundred mahbûbs, or about 30l. sterling. There is no plenty of
provisions at Cossîr, there being no cultivable land near the
town. Even the butter they use there is brought from Arabia. The
only good water they have is supplied by the Bedouins from Terfowi,
which is at the distance of three hours. If any quarrel ensue with
them about the price, the town is compelled to use brackish water. We
paid twenty-five medines for the _ghirbé_ of fresh water. I observed
but two vessels lying in the road, and these were lately arrived from
Jidda. The houses in Cossîr are built of clay, and the number of
inhabitants settled there is very small, though the strangers, who
are continually passing and repassing, augment them prodigiously. I
could observe no remain of antiquity within the limits of Cossîr,
and it was not then possible to stray to a distance from it. Finding
the resentment of the people as strong as ever against the Franks,
in consequence of what had happened between them and the English
vessel in 1786, I thought it most advisable to hasten my departure,
though otherwise inclined to have made some excursions by sea,
as to the emerald mine, _maadden ezzummerud_, &c.
13th Nov. at 7½ hours A.M. we left Cossîr, and proceeding by
the strait road, apparently that which Bruce travelled, on the
15th, about five P.M. arrived at the village called Bîr-Ambar,
having met a caravan coming from Ghenné the second day on the
road. The morning of the 16th at sun-rise we proceeded to Ghenné,
which is distant about three hours, having slept at Bîr-Ambar in
the house of a villager, who was very civil and hospitable. There
was an officer at Cossîr, who belonged to the Cashef of Kenné,
but he seemed to have very little authority with the people, being
there only to collect the customs.
The road we travelled in going to Cossîr, as well as that we took
in returning, have both something in them very remarkable. The rough
and lofty rocks of granite and porphyry with which it is on all
sides environed have a magnificent and terrific appearance; and the
road between them, which is almost level throughout, gives the idea
of immense labour in cutting it. All these circumstances concur in
testifying the importance Cossîr must once have had as a port. In
the route we took in going, at certain distances on the highest
rocks is observable a succession of small structures, formed with
uncemented stones, and which, by the marks of fire within them, seem
to have served as signals. These are numerous, but they are too rude
to enable one to fix any time for their erection. They appear to me
to be pretty antient. The red granite is in vast quantities, and the
chain of rocks consisting of that substance appears to extend itself
in a North and South direction. Huge rocks of porphyry, both red and
green, are distinguishable, and, as appears, more of it in the road
we pursued in going, than in that by which we returned. I observed
veins of alabaster in both, but particularly in returning. The _verde
antico_ it was long before I could discover; at length I found it,
in returning, by the signs Bruce had described. In short, this route
unfolds a treasure of marbles that astonishes the beholder, and
demonstrates, that on any future occasion the quarries may be again
wrought, and modern architecture equal that of the best ages of Greece
or Rome as to richness and durability of ornament, if ever it shall
in justness of proportion, simplicity of taste, or unity of parts
in one sublime whole, which indeed seems sufficiently problematical.
The immense excavations in these rocks, which greatly contribute
in many places to facilitate the road, are abundantly sufficient
to supply any quantity of these marbles that is any where known
to exist. And it was more convenient to bring them thence, than
from any other part of Egypt, to the Southward, or by a long land
carriage from Arabia Petræa and the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai:
yet, as the stones were to be carried some way by land, perhaps
a day’s journey at least, it was necessary to have a road more
level and easy, than could have been required for the passage of
less ponderous and cumbrous materials. Whether observation of the
fact, without reflecting enough on the probable cause, might have
given rise to the report respecting a canal communicating in this
quarter between the Nile and the Arabian gulf, or whether it was
the effect of misunderstanding the antient writers on the subject,
is unimportant; such an idea has prevailed, and it is countenanced by
some intelligent authors. In frequenting the places, and not wholly
unimpressed by this thought, I have never yet been able to persuade
myself that such a canal had existed, or could have been formed. There
are no marks, in either of the roads I passed, of water having ever
flowed there, and the level of the road, after leaving the river,
is much higher than that of the river itself. But the level of the
river is certainly not lower than in former ages, and the water,
if ever it flowed there, must have flowed from the Nile to the sea,
and not from the sea to the Nile.—The conclusion is obvious.
The coloquintida, cœlocynth, abounds near _Bîrambar_, and between
it and Ghenné. The natives scarcely think it worth gathering,
so low is the price in Kahira. At Ghenné is a manufactory of the
best _bardaks_, _kullé_, earthen bottles, and jugs for water. They
are made of a fine blue or bluish white clay; very thin and light,
not too much baked, of a pretty shape and convenient size. Something
of the same kind is made in other places, but none so much esteemed
as those of Ghenné. The fabric is in few hands, but great numbers
are made. They sell for double the price at Kahira which they fetch
here. Large jars are also constructed, which are called _hamâm_, or
bath. These too are very elegantly formed, and both by filtration
purify and cool the water, in a greater degree than might be
imagined. The people of the country however drink the water that
remains within, not that which has passed through the jar or bottle.
On going to Cossîr, I had sent my baggage forward to Assiût. Nothing
remained therefore but to find a small boat, on my return to Ghenné,
in which to be conveyed to Assiût. This offered itself on the second
day, and two Derwîshes were my companions in that journey, one of
them a very intelligent man. We stopped at all the principal towns,
but without any new occurrence, and reached Assiût on the 21st.
I remained in that city till the 30th, when we set sail for Kahira, or
rather trusted ourselves to the current, the wind blowing constantly
from North-west. I stopped a night at Benesoef, intending to have
passed thence to Feiume: but finding it not easy to meet with a
conveyance, declined that journey, and arrived in Kahira on the 8th
of December.
The wind, which was high during our excursion to Cossîr, and
afterwards on the Nile, contained such penetrating cold, that, on
coming to Assiût, I found myself affected strongly with a fever. A
large dose of James’s powder however removed it.
A short time before my arrival at Ghenné, two Greeks, who were
going to seek their fortune, as they reported, in Habbesh, came
to Kous. The one had a small supply of money, of which the other
was destitute—Words arose between them, and some good friend
advised them to have recourse to the Cashef of the place to settle
their difference. This officer, who was a young man, and noted for
the violence of his character, heard their respective narratives,
and then, finding that money was the cause of their disagreement,
terminated the hopes of the one, and the fears of the other, by an
order for the instant death of both.
The report, in reaching Kahira, was charged with various circumstances
of aggravation, and even the persons of the sufferers were changed. It
was there said, that the Frank who was in Saïd was one of the two
massacred, and the Cashef’s master was among the number of those who
had been deceived. _Keid Aga_, in whose department Kous was situated,
sent word of this event, accompanied with a suitable comment, and,
as was said, an offer of any reasonable reparation, to the Austrian
Consul, the only one resident in Kahira. The latter had forwarded
it to the British Consul at Alexandria, when I arrived at Kahira
in time personally to contradict it. The death of the two Greeks,
it was said, remained unnoticed.
CHAP. XI.
OCCURRENCES AT KAHIRA.
_Arrival of the Pasha — Death of Hassan Bey — Decline of the
French factory in Kahira — Expulsion of the Maronite Christians
from the Custom-house — Riot among the Galiongîs — Obstruction
of the canal of Menûf — Supply of fish in the pools of Kahira
— Expedition of Achmet Aga, &c._
On the 13th October 1796, the newly-appointed Pasha made his entrance
into the city, in a manner more public than has been usual for some
years. His name is Bekîr: he is a Pasha of three _tôk_ or tails,
and was formerly Grand Wizîr. The procession consisted of, first,
the great officers of the city, and among them the Janizary aga, then
some bostangîs, two and two. Several of the Beys, superbly mounted,
two and two, preceded and followed by a body of Mamlûks. Twelve
fine led horses, richly caparisoned. The band of music belonging to
the Pasha. The tails, the officers and servants of his house-hold;
and lastly, the Pasha himself.
Neither Ibrahim nor Murad Bey was present. They both afterwards
made their visit of ceremony, when, as usual, nothing remarkable
passed. After a convenient interval, Bekîr Pasha sent to the
_Shech-el-Belad_ and _Defterdâr_, desiring them to meet him
to consider of providing the usual Chasné for Constantinople,
which he said for some time had been greatly in arrear. The former
replied, that all which related to the public revenue was under the
management of his brother Murad; and that he (Ibrahim) only concerned
himself with the city, and its internal government. The latter gave
for answer, that he had long since turned his attention from public
affairs to his personal ease and security; that he was now poor, and
become a farmer, cultivating wheat and beans. He contented himself
with referring the Pasha to the younger Beys, who, he said, shared
between them all the public authority. The next message was directed
to Mohammed Bey Elfi, Ibrahim Bey el Sogheir, and other of the younger
Senjiaks. They replied, that if the Pasha sought for money, all their
treasures were buried in _Kara-meidân_[26], and he had nothing more
to do than to meet them there, to become possessed of a part of them.
The Mamlûks commonly exercise on Monday and Friday in each week, at
a place called Mustabé, between Kahira and Misr-el-attiké. Here
they shoot at a mark, and throw the _jerîd_. The Beys are
often spectators, and sometimes actors. It was on one of these
occasions that Hassan Bey, who had been formerly a slave of Ibrahim
_Shech-el-Belad_, and in whom the latter placed much confidence, being
present, a mamlûk of his train, having attempted to discharge his
fusil, which missed fire, threw it on his shoulder, and rode off, to
make way for others. In passing the Bey, the powder, which was damp,
having taken fire, the piece went off, and lodged the contents in the
breast of the Bey. He fell, and immediately expired. The slave fled,
but it was not supposed any notice would be taken of what was merely
accidental, however unfortunate. To fill up the number, Murzûk,
son of Ibrahim Bey, was promoted by his father’s interest.
Even as far back as the period of my arrival in Egypt, the French
nation complained loudly of the treatment it received from the
Beys. Forty or fifty days scarcely elapsed without some new demand
for money, which it was understood was never likely to be repaid. Add
to this, their commerce was daily decreasing, and no fixed tarif
had they been able to establish with the farmer of the customs,
for the reception of their goods.
When the war commenced, a consul was newly arrived at Alexandria,
and he came to Kahira; but it was to little purpose that he fixed
himself there for the protection of trade, when the thoughts of the
French government were engrossed by other objects, and they could
neither support nor supply their factories.
Affairs continued nearly in the same state till this time, Nov. 1796,
when the Consul, _Magallon_, has obtained leave from his government
to quit Kahira, and to reside entirely at Alexandria, which is
obviously a place of greater security, and more prompt escape,
if they have any shipping in the port. The merchants must indeed
divide their profits with their agents in Kahira, but in all other
respects have ameliorated their condition. At this time there remain
only three French commercial houses in Kahira, and a physician. The
remainder of the nation is at Alexandria, to the amount perhaps of
ten or twelve families.
Nov. 1796. A change has lately taken place in the custom-house here,
and at Alexandria and Damiatt, with which the Christians are much
displeased. The duties for many years had been farmed to Jews,
whose gains and sufferings were both in the extreme. During the
last twenty years they have been in the hands of Damascene or other
Syrian Christians, whose numbers and wealth have in that period
increased. Their mutual jealousies and incessant quarrels were of
great benefit to the ruling Beys, who took care to fleece each party
alternately, and teach them a wisdom by dear-bought experience,
which, however, they were not always able to learn.
Their most solemn asseverations would have led any person uninformed
on the subject to imagine, that their whole nation was continually a
loser by its bargain with the Beys. But their gains were in reality
so vast, that certain secrets, developed by their infidelity to
each other, led Murad Bey, in whose jurisdiction the customs were,
to imagine that the having the collection of them in his own
hands would be a material addition to his revenue. For once his
determination accorded with the public good: the plurality of the
Kahirine merchants being better contented with the new mode than the
old one. The Christians were removed, and spared the sufferings of
which they had long so loudly complained. But how vain are human
wishes! This novel regulation was scarcely put in force, and the
collection of the import and export duties thrown into the hands
of Mohammedans, who were immediately responsible for the receipts
of their office to the Bey, than the Syrian Christians came forward
with very lucrative proposals, if they might be allowed to hope, that
the right of farming the customs would be a second time transferred
to them. Murad, whose intellect is clear, though constitution, past
sufferings, and indifference as to the future, have rendered him
absolutely sensual, whose profuseness had left him no option as to
the means of gain, but who had yet spirit to scorn the baseness of
these parasites, on the offer of some conditional presents of great
value, contumeliously dismissed the deputation from his presence. The
customs therefore continued in the hands of Mohammedans, and the
Christians were reduced to despair.
The Christian merchants of Syria, established here, make such a
prodigal and ostentatious display of wealth, that it lessens our
wonder at the extortions of the Beys. At one of their weddings,
five hundred chickens were served up every day, and other articles
in proportion. This fête lasted ten successive days. The presents to
the singers were said to have amounted to fourteen hundred mahbûbs.
A riot happened between the _Galiongîs_, or sailors, (mostly
Christians,) belonging to Murad Bey, and the Mamlûks. Murad had
dismissed a naval officer, beloved by the Galiongîs, and their
discontent joined with the constant jealousy of the Mamlûks to
create a disturbance, in which about seventy lives were lost, and
the city was shut up for several days.
Nov. 1796. The waters of the Nile having almost abandoned the Eastern
branch, which leads to Damiatt, pursuing the more direct course
of the canal of Menûf, after a neglect of many years, it became
necessary to apply a remedy. Accordingly, Murad Bey commanded his
engineer, Achmed, to undertake this duty. After encountering some
difficulties, the purpose was at length effected by driving piles,
and the river resumed its former course.
A circumstance is related concerning the propagation of fish
in Kahira. As soon as the Nile begins to fill the several pools,
_birkets_, in the neighbourhood, the fishermen go to the river, and
collecting several sorts of spawn, distribute it into the pools, where
in the space of three or four days, it produces fish in abundance.
Nov. 1796. Achmet Aga, a Zanthiote, who has been already mentioned,
about this time left Kahira on his way to Dar-Fûr, by the return of
the caravan with which I came. The Sultan Abd-el-rachmân, desirous
of gaining a name among the neighbouring princes, but injudicious
and governed by caprice in the choice of the means, and stung with
the rage of conquest, though regardless of the means of security,
sought for some person to exhibit to him the European invention of
artillery; and though he had not yet been witness to its effects,
conceived that the possession of some of the gold mines under
_Sennaar_ would soon be realized on his obtaining these powerful
engines. He wrote to the Beys to request they would send him some
one from among their servants, who might make him master of this
important discovery. He also sought for a medical practitioner.
The person abovementioned had embraced Islamism, and possessed some
ingenuity in mechanical operations, particularly the construction
of artillery. He was not extremely at ease in Kahira; and Murad
Bey, unable to improve his situation from the multitude of prior
claimants, consented to his request for permission to depart. He
gave him strong recommendations to the monarch, and a horse, camels,
and other requisites for the journey. Achmed commenced his route with
eclat, having with him fifty or sixty artificers, who had enterprize
enough to encounter the difficulties of so long a passage, or who
thought no change could render their situation worse. He had also
four pieces of brass cannon, six pounders.
Thus an opening seemed offered to furnish the people of Soudân
with one more, at least, of the equivocal blessings of civilized
society.—What may have been the termination of Achmet’s voyage
I have not heard; but his perseverance was scarcely equal to the
undertaking, and it seems likely, that when his golden hopes should
have vanished, he would return to Egypt in despondency, or perish
in Dar-Fûr.
CHAP. XII.
ANTIENT EGYPTIANS.
_Their persons, complexion, &c._
In the history of nations, some facts may gradually become
obscure, by having appeared to the historiographer of the time,
and even to those of some ages after, too notorious to require being
particularly recorded. Amid the various information respecting the
manners of the Athenians and Romans to be drawn from their respective
historians, poets, and orators, we are not furnished with the means
of ascertaining the appropriate enunciation of their own languages. A
few casual hints, from Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Cicero, afford
all the light that antiquarian labour has been able to throw on
this subject.
The colour of the antient Egyptians has of late become a matter of
doubtful investigation from the same causes; but is in its nature
more interesting, and therefore merits a short discussion. By one
of the most recent and intelligent travellers in that country,
a conjecture, apparently novel, has been offered to the public,
viz. that the original inhabitants of Egypt were _negroes_, and that,
accordingly, the world is indebted for all those branches of science
which had their origin in Egypt, and were afterwards perfected by
the Greeks, and for all those monuments of art, the feint remains
of which still excite admiration, to a people of that description.
The philanthropy of Volney has induced him to rely more on the
arguments he adduces in support of his hypothesis, than the nature
of those arguments seems to admit: and the authority of an author who
justly holds so high a place in the public estimation, is sufficient
to give currency to error.
If plausible arguments were brought to establish the doctrine
here mentioned, it would be unreasonable to refuse assent to it
solely as militating against a commonly received opinion. But to
fix beyond controversy an historical fact, more surely is required
than ingenious conjecture, fancied resemblances, and quotations of
but dubious meaning.
The subject in question ought not to be clouded by any prejudicated
opinion relative to the physical differences between the white and
black race of men. The evidence should be patiently weighed, and the
whole left to stand on a solid basis, or fall by its own infirmity.
The Coptic language bears a manifest relationship to the Arabic
and Syriac, as Volney allows. But are the languages allied, and the
nations who speak them strangers to each other? It would seem, on
the contrary, the subject of proof, that if the languages be indeed
cognate, the nations who speak them must have proceeded from one
parent stock; for what resemblance between the sonorous copiousness
of the Arabic, and the ineffable mendicancy of the native African
tongues[27]?
The Ethiopians, or in a more confined sense, the Abyssinians,
though so much farther removed from Asia, the source of migration,
are far from partaking what is properly called the negro character,
as the narratives of the Portuguese writers, who first knew them, with
those of Poncet, and in our times of Bruce, abundantly testify. The
_Fungni_, or people of Sennaar, with those of Dongola, Mahas, &c. in
_Barabra_, or _Nubia_, are, as all the Europeans who have seen them
in Kahira can affirm, not negroes. And if all these be colonies
from Syria or Arabia Felix, how are we constrained to acknowlege
that the Egyptians must have been of the African race?
It has been urged that the Colossal figure of the _Sphinx_, near
the pyramids, gave additional countenance to the opinion that the
Egyptians were black, the face of that statue having been said to
resemble the negro. But, not to mention that the form of the visage is
now become entirely dubious, in forming statues of mere ornament, or
as representations of the human figure, the artist endeavours to give
the features most habitual to him, or what are most admired among his
countrymen; but as to a merely emblematical figure, the same reasoning
is not conclusive. Would it be imagined that a dog-headed nation
once existed from the figure of _Latrator Anubis_? Unfortunately,
of the Sphinxes at Thebes, innumerable fragments of which are yet
remaining, scarcely one is entire enough to give any idea of the
form of the visage which the sculptor designed to attach to it.
The statues of the Nile, it is said, were made of black marble,
in allusion to his coming from Ethiopia. If this symbol, hitherto
so unsatisfactorily explained, (the Sphinx,) had any relation to
the same subject, might not the negro face be given to it for a
similar reason[28]? It would hardly have been thought necessary to
explain why the figure of the Nile was black, if the complexion of
the natives of Egypt had been generally acknowleged of the same tinge.
The complete silence of the antient writers, concerning so singular a
circumstance as that of the negro character of the Egyptians, if all
other arguments were equally balanced, would be sufficient to decide
this point in the negative. In defect, however, of historical and
positive testimony, strong circumstantial evidence is drawn from the
monuments of undoubted antiquity yet remaining. Among these are the
small statues of Isis, &c. daily found among the ruins in various
parts of Egypt. These are adorned with a profusion of long hair,
peculiarly contorted, and the nose, lips, and other features, are far
from resembling those of the negro. The same may be observed of the
figures in alto relievo and basso relievo, on the walls at Thebes,
in the caverns of Gebel-el-Silsili, &c. Of the Colossal statues at
Thebes, the features are too much damaged to be adduced in proof.
The two harpers, and several other human figures in the caverns
of Thebes, called _Biban-el-molûk_, (tombs of the kings,) and in
which the colours are perfectly well preserved, have the features
and complexion exactly resembling the Egyptians of the present day.
The apparent testimony of Herodotus, the earliest historian whose works
have reached our days, is not so strong as might at first appear. The
terms μελάγχροες και ουλότριχες are merely relative, and apply to the
greater or less degree of blackness and crispature of the Egyptians, as
compared with the Greeks, to whom the writer was addressing himself; and
certainly cannot be confined to positive blackness or woolly hair. To
corroborate this interpretation of the passage from Herodotus, may be
adduced a similar one from Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xxii. That author
says, that the Egyptians are _Atrati_, a term of equally strong import
with the μελάγχροες of Herodotus, but, like it, evidently applied in a
comparative sense; for, in the very next sentence, he says,
_erubescunt_, they blush, or grow red. It is true, indeed, negroes
suffer a certain change of countenance when affected with the sentiment
of shame, but it would be rather a bold assertion that the word
_erubescere_ can ever be applied to characterise the effect of that
feeling on a negro. Even in the vernacular idioms of modern Europe, by
the term a _black man_, is daily designated one of visibly a darker
complexion than ourselves. Besides, what antient writer has described
the inhabitants of Colchis? Was Medea, the Love of the Grecian heroes,
a negress?
Volney has offered as a general remark on the Mamlûks of Egypt,
that they are easily distinguishable from the natives by having
light hair. It is certain that dark hair, eyes, and complexion, do
not obtain so universally among them as among the native Egyptians
or Arabs; yet in fact, their eyes and hair may be observed much
more commonly of a dark than light hue. If then the fondness for
generalizing his remarks have operated to deprive this author of
the knowlege which hourly experience, continued for several months,
could not fail to have given him, what may not be credited as to the
effect of his prejudices in matters of remote and doubtful history,
where truth is to be drawn out only by patient inquiry, and the
frequency of error is exactly proportioned to that of conjecture?
But if all the arguments to confute this new theory should fail,
one fact remains which is invincible. The persons of the antient
Egyptians, preserved as it were entire by the prescience of that
people concerning the errors into which posterity might fall,
exhibit an irrefragable proof of their features and of the colour
of their skin, which is now, by the quantity of mummies that have
been imported into Europe, subject to the inspection of the curious
almost throughout that quarter of the globe. This resurrection of
witnesses also evinces, that the Copts are their genuine descendants,
and preserve the family likeness in their complexion of dusky brown,
dark hair and eyes, lips sometimes thick, but the nose as often
aquiline, and other marks of a total dissimilitude between them and
the negro race.
* * * * *
The black complexion of the Africans seems to extend much farther
North in the Western, than in the Eastern part of the continent
they inhabit. The people of Fezzân, whose capital is in latitude
27° 48″ or about 2° 10″ to the South of Kahira, are black,
while the Egyptians, in the same latitude, are only of brown or
olive colour. The Fezzâners, however, have not entirely the negro
feature. They have frequently children by their negro slaves, the
Egyptians but seldom. The island, near Assûan, consists chiefly
of blacks; but the townsmen of Assûan are of a red colour, and
have the features of the Nubians, _Barabra_, whose language they
also willingly speak. The people of El-wah are quite of Egyptian or
Arab complexion and feature, none of them black: so that I scarcely
conceived myself to have arrived at the confines of the blacks,
till we reached the first inhabited part of Dar-Fûr. The first
I saw are called _Zeghawa_; they are not negroes, but a distinct
race. The Arabs of this empire remain always very distinguishable
in colour and feature. The people of _Harrâza_ are of a reddish
complexion. Perhaps this being a very mountainous district may
occasion some peculiarity. The Fûrians are perfectly black. I
have seen some of the natives of Kulla, whence slaves are brought,
and which is farther South than Dar-Fûr, that were red. On the
whole, one might be inclined to go as far fifteen degrees of north
latitude in this part of Africa, to find the line between the Arabs
and the Blacks.
CHAP. XIII.
JOURNEY TO FEIUM.
_Tamieh — Canals — Feiûm — Roses — Lake Mœris — Oasis
Parva_ — PYRAMIDS — _of Hawara — of Dashûr — of Sakarra
— of Jizé, or the great Pyramids — Antient Memphis — Egyptian
Capitals._
On the 28th of December 1792 left Kahira to visit Feiûm, a city
distant about sixty miles to the South-west. At Moknân procured from
the Shech a letter to one of his officers, residing at Bedis, another
village further on to the Southward, commanding him to accompany me
to Feiûm. Proceeded through a grove of large date trees, which are
watered from several cisterns, all of them supplied from the Nile,
during its increase.
Between Bedis and Tamieh passed a natural opening, in the chain
which constitutes the Western wall of Egypt. A small canal runs
through Tamieh[29], and here the country again assumes the aspect
of cultivation. This little town is remarkable for a manufacture
of mats, though the situation be so insecure, that the Arabs in
the preceding night had plundered their whole stock, to the value,
as they said, of five or six thousand patackes. The Arabs still
haunted the neighbourhood, and we were forced to discharge a few
musket shot to keep off a small party that assailed us in the morning.
Passed another canal at Senûris, the seat of an hospitable Shech of
the Bedouins. These canals reach from the Nile to the lake called
Mœris. Left Senûris at half past seven on the 1st January 1793
and in two hours arrived at Feiûm.
At a small distance to the North are the ruins of an antient town,
called by the Arabs _Medinet Faris_, city of the Persians, probably
antient Arsinoe. Some mutilated busts and statues found here were
offered for sale. I also observed some jars, resembling those used
to contain the dead Ibis, and some vitrifications that seemed to
indicate an Arab glass-work.
Feiûm stands on the principal canal leading from the Nile to the
lake, and is surrounded with cultivated ground, a great part gardens,
producing that profusion of roses for which this place was celebrated,
and which were distilled into rose-water. The mode of propagating them
was by continued layers; the young twigs thence arising being found
to produce the largest and most fragrant flowers. The rose-water
was excellent, and sent to all quarters; but the cultivation is
now running gradually to decay. Wheat and other grain abound in
the vicinity.
This city is not walled, but is populous, though on the decline;
it contains several mosques and okals. There are few Copts, the
inhabitants being chiefly Mohammedans. The houses are partly stone,
partly unburned bricks. It is governed by a Cashef. The fish from the
lake cannot be praised. Provisions tolerably plentiful; water good.
After passing three days at Feiûm, proceeded towards the lake, of
which I wished to make the circuit. This is the Mœris of Strabo
and Ptolemy; and the testimony of the latter, living in Egypt,
seems unquestionable. However this be, the lake, now called
_Birket-el-kerun_, probably from its extremities bearing some
resemblance to horns, bears no mark of being, as some suppose,
the product of human art. The shape, as far as was distinguishable,
seems not inaccurately laid down in D’Anville’s map, unless it
be that the end nearest the Nile should run more in a North-west and
South-east direction. The length may probably be between thirty and
forty miles; the breadth, at the widest part I could gain, was 5000
toises, as taken with a sextant, that is, nearly six miles. The utmost
possible extent of circuit must of course be thirty leagues. On the
North-east and South is a rocky ridge, in every appearance primeval:
there are some isles in the extremity nearest Feiûm, where there
is a flat sandy shore. In short, nothing can present an appearance
more unlike the works of men. Several fishermen, in miserable boats,
are constantly employed on the lake. The water is brackish, like
most bodies of water under the same circumstances.
The western extremity of this lake is in the dominion of the
Muggrebine Arabs, who pass thither from _El-wah el-ghurbi_, and
other places, and who being there under no control, suffer no person
to travel thither, unless under their immediate protection. This
information, which I received not till my arrival at Feiûm,
frustrated my expectations of reaching some ruins which are said to
exist there. The Arab Shech of _Abu-kissé_ told me it would require
four days to go round the lake, and return on the other side. That
there are no villages near it, nor any thing to be procured but from
the Muggrebines just mentioned. On one of the isles at the Eastern
extremity it is said that human bones are sometimes found.
From Feiûm travelled South-east. At Hawâra are two small pyramids
of unburned brick, and another passage through the mountain. The
plain from Feiûm to the Nile is in excellent cultivation, chiefly
wheat, then just rising from the ground. Illahôn is a town or
large village, filled with persons whose chief employment is the
culture of the soil. Passed the _Bahr-bila-ma_, the channel of a
large canal. Farther on is Bathen[30], a long deep cut, supposed to
be the artificial Mœris of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus.
Returned to Bedis. On the following day passed the pyramids of
Dashûr. Five appear successively, exclusive of those of Sakarra. The
third after those of _Hawâra_, already mentioned, is that of Medûn,
which has been very elegant, and built in this singular form,
[Illustration]
It is composed of large pieces of the usual soft free-stone, joined
together with a little cement; and has been hewn off to a straight
surface. It would be extremely difficult to ascend to the top,
which is now very broad; but it is probable that there was another
square, completing its summit, which has been removed. The north
side has been injured by tearing out stones, which open a view
of the interior, which is however entirely solid. This pyramid
has been supposed to be natural rock at the base, but this mistake
must have arisen from a part being concealed. On removing the sand,
(which rises chiefly in the middle,) and on examining the corners,
the stones and cement may be observed to the very bottom.
The fourth is the most southerly of the four pyramids of Dashûr,
where are two large and two small. It is in the form of a cone,
terminating in an obtuse triangle, and is now much damaged. There is
no appearance of any casing on this or any other of the pyramids. The
stones do not point to the center, like those of the great pyramids
of Jizé. The faces of all these pyramids are directed to the four
cardinal points of the compass. Near them stands one of unburned
brick, and a small one of stone, not completed.
At Sakarra a great number exist, among which ten are of a large
size. The smaller ones are sometimes almost undistinguishable from the
sand-hills, and are dilapidated; the stones being used as materials
for building at Kahira, Jizé, &c.
The two largest of the pyramids are at about the distance of two
hours and a half from Jizé, and are well known to all who have
visited Egypt. The dimensions of that which has been opened I found
to be as follow:
Feet. Inches.
Great chamber 34 5
Breadth 17 2
Sarcophagus 7 8
Breadth 3 2
Depth within 2 10½
Thickness 0 6
The galleries and great chamber are situated due North and South,
allowing for the variation of the needle.
Feet. Inches.
The first passage descending 105 1
Small chamber, length 18 9
-------------- breadth 17 1
Antichamber, length 7 5
Main gallery, upper part 150 0
------------- lower part 148 0
Passage to inferior chamber 109 1
An absurd opinion has recently been stated, that the pyramids are
hewn out of the rock on which they stand; but the first ocular
inspection would set this aside, the joinings of the stones being
everywhere marked with cement. But it is unnecessary to dwell on a
conjecture so futile.
In the open pyramid, the chamber is lined with granite, and the
sarcophagus also formed of that stone. But the materials used in
the general fabrication of these edifices is free-stone, of a soft
kind and white hue; it is replete with shells. The rock on which
they stand is of the same soft stone. Returned to Kahira.
On another occasion I visited the pleasant site of the antient
Memphis, on the left bank of the Nile, about two hours to the South of
Kahira, in a plain above three miles broad, between the river and the
mountains. The land is now laid down in corn, with date trees toward
the mountains. Nothing remains except heaps of rubbish, in which are
found pieces of sculptured stone. The spot has been surrounded with
a canal, and seems every way a more eligible situation than that of
Kahira[31]. Its extent might be marked by that of the ground where
remains are dug up, and which is always overgrown with a kind of
thistle that seems to thrive among ruins. It is most conveniently
visited from the Coptic convent called _Abu-Nemrûs_.
None of the fine marbles that are scattered so profusely at Alexandria
are discoverable here; whether it be that they were never used,
or carried away to adorn other places.
Of the several capitals of Egypt in successive ages, Thebes, or
Diospolis, seems the most antient. Next was Memphis, itself a city
of the most remote antiquity. Babylon seems to have been only the
capital of a part retained by the Persians, after Cambyses had subdued
Egypt, and was, by all accounts, founded by the Persians. Alexandria
succeeded Memphis, and remained the chief city, till the Saracens
founded _Misr-el-Kahira_.
CHAP. XIV.
JOURNEY TO SINAI.
_Route — Suez — Ships and ship-building — Trade — Scarcity
of water — Remains of the antient canal — Tûr — Mountains
of red granite — Description of Sinai — Eastern gulf of the Red
Sea — Return to Kahira._
On the 1st of March 1793 left Kahira to proceed to Suez. I had made
an agreement with the Arab Shech, who was charged with the care of
the caravan, that he and his servant should accompany me, without
waiting for its slow progress. But he broke his engagement, as usual
with the Arabs, and I was constrained to wait for the departure of
a large body, consisting of an hundred and fifty persons and two
hundred camels.
The route to Suez is nearly one uniform plain, generally hard and
rocky, though here and there spots of deep sand occur. The journey
was very slowly conducted, as the camels were permitted to brouze on
the verdure which sprinkles the desert solely after the winter. On
the third day, a South-west wind having subsided, rain fell for four
hours and a quarter. The mornings and evenings were cold, though
hot in the day. Some have ignorantly conceived that no rain falls in
Egypt. At Alexandria showery weather will prevail for a week together;
and I have sometimes seen rain at Kahira. In Upper Egypt even showers
are very rare, and only one fell while I was in that country.
After a heavy progress of five days reached Suez. The town is small,
and built of unburned brick. It contains twelve mosques, of which some
are stone, but the most are mean buildings. The sea near the town is
very shallow, yet there is a small yard for ship-building. Population,
Mohammedans, with a very few Greeks. Suez is very modern, probably
built within these last three hundred years; being unknown to
travellers of a more antient date.
There are here at present four three-masted vessels, and ten others,
some with two, some with one. Two building, one of which is pierced
for twelve guns; and ten large boats, without masts. The largest of
these ships was intended for the Indian trade, the rest for traffic
to Jidda; one or two of them had been built in Yemen.
The Arab mode of ship-building is singular. They have no art to bend
the timbers; none of them are crooked except naturally so. They are
very slender, and where the upper and lower ribs join, do not pass
one over the other, but by the side of each other.
At Suez coffee forms the chief article of trade. It is a place of no
strength, and has only eight old cannon, seemingly unfit for service;
the others were removed to Jizé by Ismaîl Bey. The sea here produces
few fish. Oysters indeed, and a few others of the shell kind, are
seen; the best fish not coming higher than Cossîr. Meat is scarce,
bread of an inferior quality, sometimes hardly eatable. Butter and
milk are brought in small quantities by the Arabs. Water is brought
from three several places. _Bîr Naba_, to the northward, affords
the best; the others are _Aiûn Mûsa_ and _Bîr-es-Suez_. It is
always bought by the skin at a considerable price, and if a war were
to arise with the Arabs, none could be found.
I was very desirous to inspect the Eastern portion of the canal cut by
Adrian, according to D’Anville, which extends from _Birket-es-Sheib_
to Suez, but my Arab guides would not accompany me, in spite of a
previous agreement made for that purpose. All consented that marks
of the canal existed, and some of them arose to my own observation.
The ruins of Arsinoe may yet be recognized in a mount of rubbish
in the neighbourhood of Suez. The spot is now called _Kolsûm_, and
remains exist of a stone pipe for conveying water thither from Bîr
Naba. A rock, on the African side of the gulf, furnishes _petroleum_,
which is brought to Suez, and esteemed a cure for bruises, &c. In
crossing the gulf just before Suez, boats are used at high water,
which comes in rapidly to the height of four feet; at other times
camels, horses, and men ford it with safety.
At Suez I observed in the shallow parts of the adjacent sea, a
species of weed, which in the sunshine appeared to be red coral,
being of a hue between scarlet and crimson, and of a spungy feel and
quality. I know not if any use be made of it, nor am I acquainted
with its Arabic name; but it strikes me, that, if found in great
quantities at any former period, it may have given the recent name
to this sea; for this was the Arabian gulf of the Antients, whose
_Mare Erythræum_, or Red Sea, was the Indian Ocean. This weed may
perhaps be the סוּפ suph of the Hebrews, whence ים סוּפ _Yam Suph_,
their name for this sea.
The shores here abound in beautiful shells of various kinds; a
circumstance which might also have been remarked in speaking of
Maadié near Abukîr.
On the 8th of March 1793, passed the ford at Suez, and on the 14th
arrived at Tûr. So many journies to Mount Sinai have been published,
that I shall not dwell much on the particulars. The route from Suez
to Tûr at first lies along a barren coast, but afterwards some
pleasant vales of verdure are found, particularly _Wadi Corondel_,
where grow some date trees and shrubs. Mountains of red granite are
seen, perhaps too interspersed with porphyry.
A spot is pointed out by the Greek priests of a small convent near
Tûr, where a church is said to have been buried, and miraculous
noises still heard, but on visiting it, in the mere expectation of
some natural phenomenon, found nothing.
On the 18th left Tûr, and on the 22d, at 3½ hours A.M. reached the
monastery of Sinai. Shot a red-legged partridge. The convent is large,
with a good garden, to which there is a subterraneous passage. Within
the walls is a small mosque for the convenience of the Arabs. The
mountain now called Sinai is high and abrupt. On the North side of
it some snow was visible. The whole is a very remarkable rock of red
granite, interspersed with spots, to which soil has been brought by
human toil, or washed down by rain, and in which grow almond trees,
(now in bloom,) figs, and vines. Numerous rills of excellent water
gush from various apertures in the precipice, and wander among the
little gardens. Sinai has two summits somewhat resembling Parnassus,
another scene of inspiration; and the one termed St. Catherine,
being, it is believed, the highest, may be the Sinai of Moses.
The weather being very clear, I observed, from Mount Sinai, the
Eastern gulph of the Red Sea, which appears very small, and more
round and short than is laid down in the latest maps.
Returned to Suez and Kahira, meeting with nothing memorable on
the route.
[Illustration: MAP_ of the route of the _SOUDAN CARAVAN_, from
ASSIUT to DARFÛR,
_Including some of the routes of the Jelabs, or Slave Merchants,
from the latter to the adjacent Countries._
To Accompany Travels in AFRICA &c. from the Year 1792 to 1798.
_by W. G. Browne._
_to face page 180._
_London, Published by Messrs. Cadell and Davies Strand 4 June 1799._]
CHAP. XV.
JOURNEY TO DAR-FÛR,
A KINGDOM IN THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA.
_Design to penetrate into the interior of Africa — Difficulties —
Caravan from Soudan or Dar-Fûr — Preparations — Departure from
Assiût — Journey to El-wah — Mountains — Desert — Charjé in
El-wah — Bulak — Beirîs — Mughes — Desert of Sheb — Desert
of Selimé — Leghéa — Natrôn spring — Difficulties — Enter
the kingdom of Fûr — Sweini — Detention — Representations to
the Melek — Residence — New difficulties — Villany of agent
— Sultan’s letter — Enmity of the people against Franks —
El Fasher — Illness — Conversations with the Melek Misellim —
Relapse — Robbery — Cobbé — Manners — Return to El Fasher
— The Melek Ibrahim — Amusements — Incidents — Audience of
the Sultan Abd-el-rachman-el-rashîd — His personal character —
Ceremonies of the Court._
My views to the South of Egypt having been frustrated during
the last year, I was reduced to the alternative of abandoning any
further projects in that quarter, or of waiting for a more seasonable
opportunity. As it was reported that such an one would soon offer, I
did not hesitate to prefer the latter, though strongly dissuaded from
it, as generally happens to those whose designs are any way analogous
to mine. The Europeans in this quarter, as well as the natives,
being immersed in commerce from their early years, are unable to
conceive the advantages promised by voyages of discovery, to which
no immediate profit is attached; and accordingly as they know the
hazard great, and imagine the atchievement frivolous and useless,
even from the best motives they are rather inclined to discourage,
than to animate, any one who undertakes them.
From conviction sufficiently clear, arising both from reading and
the sentiments of those who were best informed on the subject,
that the river whose source Mr. Bruce describes is not the true
Nile, I thought it an object of still greater importance, that the
source of the more Western river should be investigated. But what
might have been a matter of choice, was with me only the result
of necessity. The idea of reaching the sources of this river,
(the Bahr-el-abiad,) laid down in the maps apparently at about two
hundred leagues farther South than Sennaar, seemed to me so hopeless,
that this object alone would hardly have induced me to undertake such
a voyage. I should rather have been inclined to attempt Abyssinia,
and endeavour to certify, as well as circumstances might permit,
how far authentic former narratives had been, and what might offer
that was new to European observation. For this purpose the obvious
and most easy route was by the Red Sea to Masouah. But all accounts
concurred in magnifying the difficulty, and almost impossibility,
of an European passing there undiscovered; and, being discovered,
of his penetrating any farther.
The road from Kahira to Sennaar was the one I should have preferred;
but the desolation and anarchy then prevailing in Nubia, which had
prevented me from passing the former year, would not probably have
allowed me better success in this. Besides, the city of Sennaar
was then occupied by the slaves of the last _Mecque_, or king,
who had deposed and put to death their master, and still continued
to usurp the government. By taking the route of Dar-Fûr, I was
taught to believe that I might hope for the advantages of a regular
government; and with proper management might expect every favour
from the monarch. The local inconvenience of being so much farther
removed from Abyssinia was indeed obvious; but on the other hand the
choice of more than one route was, it seemed likely, thereby offered;
which, in a place where progress is so uncertain, and contingencies
so numerous, would be a matter of no inconsiderable importance.
At the moment of my return from Assûan to Assiût, the caravan of
jelabs from Dar-Fûr, called _Cafflet-es-Soudân_[32], the Soudân
caravan, arrived at El-wah. It was then reported that the sale of
their merchandize and slaves, of which they had no great quantity,
would be completed in about two months, and that then they would
return home. Their stay, however, was protracted during the whole
of that winter; and in the month of March 1793 they commenced
their departure from Kahira for the Upper Egypt. They were slow in
collecting all that was necessary for the journey, and I made use
of the time so allowed to draw information from various quarters
concerning what was requisite for the voyage. From what cause I
know not, but at that time the persons of whom I made enquiry gave
no intimation that the treatment of Christians in their country
was marked by any asperity. The late Sultan of Fûr, indeed,
as I afterwards learned, had been remarkable for his mildness and
liberality to all descriptions of persons. But this was not all—a
native of Soudân is, in Kahira, the most obsequious and servile of
the human race. He behaves towards a Christian whom he meets there
nearly as to one of the true believers. In his own country he repays
with interest the contempt that has been shewn him by the Egyptians.
On the 21st April 1793, I set out from Bulak, having embarked on the
Nile; and on the eighth day, the wind having been often unfavourable,
arrived at Assiût. The first care was to provide camels for the
route, and these were unfortunately at that time scarce. Five however
I at length obtained, at about 13l. sterling each. We had also made
our provision of food, &c. required for the journey; and the caravan
having at length assembled, after about fifty days the expected
moment of departure arrived. It was the hottest season of the year,
and consequently unfavourable to travelling. These merchants however,
disposed as they are to indolence, and governed by present sensations,
when their profit is concerned, esteem the variations of climate
unworthy of a thought: and long habit has familiarized them with such
degrees of heat, that what is insupportable to northern nations is
with them no serious motive for the remission of labour.
The route taken by the Soudân caravan is in part the same as that
traversed by Poncet, in the beginning of the present century, on his
way to Abyssinia. He passed by Sheb and Selimé, and thence striking
across the desart South-east, crossed the Nile at Moscho. We continued
our march from Selimé, almost due South, or with a small variation
to the West. Our party having left Assiût on the 25th May, encamped
on the mountain above it till the 28th, when it proceeded by short
stages towards El-wah. The jelabs commonly pay the Muggrebines for
their protection, or rather for forbearing to plunder them, at the
rate of about a patacke for each camel. I refused them this tribute,
alleging that I was not of the number of merchants who usually trade
to Soudân, but a stranger who was employed on business to the Sultan;
and though my refusal occasioned a slight dispute, the Arabs thought
proper to relinquish their claim. The camels were heavily laden, and
the jelabs travelled slowly, and in detached parties, each consulting
his own convenience, till the 31st of the same month, when we came to
Gebel Rumlie, an high rocky mountain, which we were to descend. It
forms the Western side of the ridge, which constitutes, as it were,
the wall of Egypt, and the Eastern boundary of the low desert, in
which lie the _Oases_. It consists of a coarse _tufa_, and is of
rugged and difficult descent. The road seems in many places to have
been opened by art. We were a full hour in reaching the bottom. The
camels not without great pain carrying their loads on the steep
declivity, and being often in danger of falling.
From the summit of this rock the view lost itself in an extensive
valley, consisting chiefly of rocks and sand, but diversified by
small bushes of the date tree, and other marks of vegetation, near
the spring where we designed to repose. Nothing could exceed the
sterility of the mountain we had passed. Having reached the plain,
it became necessary to unload the camels, and allow them some rest. We
were employed four hours and a half, the following morning, in passing
from the foot of the mountain to Ainé Dizé, the first place where
water is found, and the Northern extremity of the great Oasis. An
hot wind blowing during the meridian hours, the thermometer here
stood during that time under the shade of the tent at 116 degrees.
In marching from Ainé Dizé to Charjé, eight hours were employed.
Excepting a small space near the spring, all is waste. The Chabir, or
leader, chose to notify his approach to the town by beating drums, (two
of which he had borne before him as marks of his office, and as occasion
might require, to collect the travellers when dispersed,) and by other
tokens of joy, as firing small arms, shouting, &c. One of my camels, in
descending the mountain, had fallen and injured his right shoulder,
which, as a cure could not suddenly have place, obliged me to change
him for another.
There is a _Gindi_ or officer at Charjé, and another at Beirîs,
both belonging to Ibrahim-bey-el-kebir, to whom those villages
appertain; and to them is entrusted the management of what relates
to the caravan during the time of its stay there. We left Charjé
on Friday the 7th of June, and having passed another desert space,
after six hours reached another village, called Bulak. This is a
wretchedly poor place, the houses being only small square pieces of
ground inclosed with a wall of clay, or unburned bricks, and generally
without a roof. It furnishes good water, and the people live by the
sale of their dates. The caravan remained a day at Bulak, and having
left it on Sunday the 9th, arrived at Beirîs on Monday the 10th,
after nearly fourteen hours march through a barren tract. Here the
Chabir thought proper to go through the same ceremony as at Charjé.
On the 13th we employed two hours in passing from Beirîs to Mughess,
the last village of the Oasis toward the Southern desert. We left
Mughess on the morning of the 15th, and on Thursday the 20th,
in the morning, arrived at Sheb. At this place, by digging to the
depth of a few feet in the sand, is found a supply of indifferent
water. A tribe of the wandering Arabs, called _Ababde_, who come
from the neighbourhood of the Nile, sometimes infests it. Sheb
is marked by the production of a great quantity of native alum,
as the name imports. The surface, near which the alum is found,
abounds with a reddish stone; and in many places is seen argillaceous
earth. Having left Sheb on the 21st, we arrived at Selimé on the
23d. This is a small verdant spot, at the foot of a ridge of rocks of
no great height, nor apparently extending very far. It affords the
best water of any place on the route; but though there be verdure
enough to relieve the eye from the dry sterility of the surrounding
surface, it affords no vegetable fit for the support either of man
or beast. At Selime is a small building, which has apparently been
raised by some of the tribes resting there, that place being much
frequented by the roving parties passing the desert in different
directions. The building consists only of loose stones, but the
jelabs related many fables concerning it; as that it had of old
been inhabited by a princess who, like the Amazons, drew the bow,
and wielded the battle-axe, with her own hand; that she was attended
by a large number of followers, who spread terror all over Nubia,
&c.; and that her name was Selimé[33].
On the 24th we rested, and having proceeded the following morning,
employed five days more in reaching Leghea. Water there is scarce,
and far inferior in quality to that of Selimé, having a brackish
taste. The camels throughout the caravan began now to be excessively
weak and jaded, and the Chabir was at a loss for the true road:
for though several persons in the caravan had traversed this desert
ten or twelve times, they were not unfrequently unable to determine
which was the right course. One of the party was sent forward to
discover some known object that might be our guide, and after having
been absent thirty-six hours he returned. While we remained here we
felt much inconvenience from a suffocating wind that blew from the
South, and raised the sand in clouds. On the 2d of July the caravan
left Leghea; and on the eighth, after a severe and fatiguing march,
reached the Bir-el-Malha or salt spring. The vicinity of this spring
is remarkable for the production of _natron_, which substance appears
under different circumstances, and is of different quality from that
of Terané. It is very white and solid; and on immersion in water
becomes hot, and discharges a great portion of its air.
Small quantities of it are carried by the jelabs to Egypt, where it
is sold at a high price, and is used principally in making snuff. The
water found at this place is very unpalatable, being brackish.
A troop of the natives of Zeghawa met us at this well. It is their
practice to station a small party there, when caravans are expected,
who remunerate themselves for the fatigue of a ten days journey by
supplying provisions, and what else may be wanted by travellers,
at an exorbitant rate. Many of our companions at this time had
great need of their assistance, as their supply had been originally
insufficient, and many camels had perished on the road. The vicinity
of the Bir-el-Malha is occasionally infested by the Cubba-Beesh,
a wandering tribe, who, mounted on the swiftest dromedaries, rapidly
traverse the desert, and live by plundering the defenceless. As they
are, however, unfurnished with fire-arms, so numerous a body as ours
was not in much danger from their attack.
We remained at the Bir-el-Malha till the 12th; on which day we left
that place, and travelled with little interruption till the 20th,
and then encamped at a spot called Medwa, where however is no supply
of water. One of my camels having fallen, we were obliged to purchase
water of the _Mahréa_ Arabs[34] whom we met, or to take up what had
lodged in cavities on the earth, in consequence of the rains which
were then beginning to fall.
On the 23d we came to the first springs within the limits of Fûr,
which are in this place called Wadi Masrûk. The white ant, _Termis_,
was here exceedingly vexatious, building his covered way to every
thing within the tent, and destroying all within his reach. This
together with the rains, which were now increasing, and began to pour
in a torrent through the valley, obliged us to abandon the tents,
and take shelter in the next village, (Sweini,) where I obtained
an apartment in the house of Ali-el-Chatîb, one of the principal
merchants established in the country. In it I passed eight or ten
days, not having arrived at Cobbé, one of the towns whither the
jelabs chiefly resort, till the seventh of August.
At Sweini resides generally a Melek or governor on the part of the
Sultan of Dar-Fûr; and there all strangers, as well as merchants
of the country, coming with the caravan, are obliged to wait, till
the pleasure of the monarch in disposing of them be known.
Coming as I did under considerable exceptions from the general rule
of merchants trading to that country, and, in the Arabic language,
rather as _Daif-es-Sultan_, the king’s stranger, in which light
the people of the country had hitherto viewed me, I expected to
obtain, without delay, permission to continue my journey to the
royal residence. I observed to the Melek of Sweini and other public
officers, in one among many conversations I had with them, that
“intending to visit the Sultan, I should hardly have expected to be
put back with frivolous excuses, as the nonpayment of duties which
you dare not explicitly demand of me, and tributes under the name
of presents, which have never yet been exacted of a stranger. If
any duties be payable, beyond what have already been discharged,
you are perfectly at liberty to detain all, or such part, of the
articles I bring with me, as you judge sufficient to answer your
claim; but not to refuse me permission to go to the Sultan, with
whom I have business. Or if other reasons operate to prevent my
request being complied with, and any suspicions prevail relative
to my views in coming here, I desire, without further delay, to be
furnished with the means of returning to Egypt, before I suffer,
as commonly happens to strangers, from the effects of the climate,
while I am yet in the habit of travelling, and while the funds are
yet unexhausted which should support me in my progress farther.”
The misrepresentations which had been made concerning me, and which
had by this time reached the Sultan, manacled the hands of the Melek,
and prevented my remonstrance from having any effect. But candour
and ingenuousness have no part in the character of slaves; and the
antient observation is most just, that “when a man becomes a slave
he loses half his virtue.” I therefore remained in perfect ignorance
of the reasons of my detention. Perhaps indeed, without implicating
himself, the Melek could not have declared them; or perhaps he was
not thoroughly informed as to their nature. The plot that had been
laid against me might indeed have deceived much abler heads than
theirs, on whose caprices my fate depended.
Finding no mode of advancing, till the rest of the caravan had
obtained the same permission, I resolved to follow the example of
the other jelabs, and wait patiently the event. The house I was
in consisted of a multitude of distinct apartments, built with
clay, and covered with a slanting thatched roof, but not closed
by doors. The hospitality of the owner allowed all who could find
place in it to lodge themselves without distinction. At length, after
the expiration of about ten days, an order from the Sultan arrived,
directing that all the jelabs should be allowed to proceed to their
houses on paying the duties assessed on them.
The circumstances attending myself were peculiar; and many of the
disadvantages I had to contend with could not be well foreseen:
it is therefore necessary to mark them, that if any occasion should
offer they may be serviceable to others, and for this reason they
shall be detailed at considerable length.
Before leaving Kahira I was apprised, that all commerce in Dar-Fûr
was conducted by means of simple exchange. To carry on this in such
a way as not to be grossly defrauded, especially having my attention
engrossed by other objects, and in utter ignorance of the articles
fit for bargain and sale in this country, seemed wholly impossible;
I therefore sought for a person who might go through this business
for me, at least with some share of probity. Such a one arose to
the notice of my friends there; and knowing nothing more of the
man, as indeed I could not know any thing more, than the character
they gave of him, I took him on the general recommendation of being
honest, and understanding the business in which he was likely to be
employed. The person recommended had been a slave-broker in the market
of Kahira; a circumstance which, had it been known to me earlier,
would probably have prevented my employing him. Till the moment of
departure I had observed in him keenness but no fraud, and in general
that submissive acquiescence and absolute devotion to the will of
the superior, for which the lower class of Kahirines are externally,
at least, remarkable. The hour for commencing our march, however,
seemed with him the signal for disobedience and insulting behaviour;
and we were not yet far removed from the confines of Egypt, when
this misconduct was carried to such an excess that I once levelled
my gun at him with a view of inspiring terror. The merchants around
us interfered, and for the time this passed off; but the man only
sought an opportunity of revenge, which the prejudices of the people
of Soudan, in direct opposition to my former information, too soon
afforded him means to gratify.
The letters with which I was provided for different merchants in
this district, under whose roof I might have had a safe lodging,
could be of no use to me till I had seen the Sultan; for till then
no person knew in what character to receive me. The object of this
man therefore was to prevent my introduction to the Sultan, and to
preclude me from any opportunity of representing my case. We were
no sooner arrived at Sweini, than he found means to employ one of
his associates, who had been some years established in the place,
to go to the monarch, and infuse into his mind suspicions of me as a
Frank and an infidel, who came to his country for no good purpose,
and whose designs it behoved him to guard against; and to suggest
to him that it would not be proper I should remain at large, nor
yet immediately come to his presence, but that some person should be
commissioned to watch over and report my actions, and thus frustrate
my supposed evil intentions. He added, as I afterwards found, many
anecdotes, falsified or exaggerated, of the inquiries I had made,
the way I had been employed, and my general behaviour on the road.
Nor was the villain himself idle during the time his coadjutor was
thus laudably engaged. I have already mentioned that there were no
doors to the apartments of the house we were in. He took advantage of
this circumstance and my momentary absence, to take out of a box which
had been broken on the road a quantity of red coral, the most valuable
article in my package. As the box remained locked, it was not till
long after that I discovered this loss. By the help of this commodity
he expected to make his way with the great. At the end of a few days
this agent returned, bearing a specious letter impressed with the
Sultan’s seal, ordering that no officer on the road should presume
to detain me, or to take any thing from me, till I came to the house
of _Ibrahim-el-Wohaishi_, (the name of this very agent,) in Cobbé,
where I was to rest myself, till further orders should be given for
my admission to his presence. I was not indeed at that time privy to
the plot, yet if I could have obtained a knowlege of it, it might not
have been easy immediately to counteract its influence; nevertheless
I suspected something might have been practised against me.
An order from the despot, which while it was to protect me
from his officers on the road, obliged me to confine myself to a
particular spot, was a matter of surprise to me; but submission was
unavoidable, as I was at that time unprovided even with the means of
remonstrance. Had the machinations of my adversaries, which went much
farther than my confinement, having been actually employed against
my life, been at that time known to me, this severity would not have
caused any astonishment, and the means of redress might have been
less doubtful. But suspense filled the void of positive suffering—a
suspense to which no apparent remedy suggested itself. Those who
had known me in Egypt or on the road were dispersed to the East and
West, and the people of the place were ill disposed to form any
communication with me, being filled with religious horror of one
supposed an infidel, but of yet undefined impiety, and whose colour,
variously regarded as the sign of disease, the mark of divine
displeasure, or at least, the unequivocal proof of inferiority
of species, had averted their wonted hospitality, closed their
compassion, and inflamed their personal pride and religious fury.
It was in this situation that, seeing no means of immediate relief, I
began to feel impatience; which, as I continued in a state of perfect
inactivity, communicated the more rapidly its pernicious influence
to my state of health. On the fourteenth day after my arrival, I
was attacked with a violent fever, attended with extreme pain in the
head. How long it lasted I cannot precisely say, having on the second
day lost my recollection. It was afterwards recalled by the effect
of a dysentery, which lasted for two days, and left me too weak to
assist myself. I had reflection enough to know, that of the aliments
there to be procured, scarcely any could be found that would not be
pernicious. After the first attack therefore, I confined myself to
the use of bark and water, which last I drank in great quantities.
A little more than a month had elapsed, when the symptoms appearing
to diminish, I again pressed to be permitted to visit the residence
of the Sultan. But I had reason to regret my impatience; for having
at length obtained leave, I proceeded to El Fasher, only to repeat
my suffering. The rainy season was almost at an end, but the air,
which still continued insalubrious, fatigue, and anxiety renewed the
malady, which, after extreme abstinence, and having gone through the
short catalogue of remedies which I had had the precaution to take
with me, I found unabated. Excessive headachs, lassitude, thirst,
occasional constipation, succeeded by extreme irritation of the
viscera, continued for several months to shew the inefficacy of my
precautions, and to incapacitate me from all personal exertion. At
length the heat of the ensuing summer gradually increasing, and
producing regular and continued transpiration, and the state of
the air then meliorated, having removed the cause of indisposition,
it was not long before I gained a certain degree of strength.
Arrived at El Fasher, I was first introduced to the Melek _Misellim_,
one of the principal ministers. This man, when young, had been a
slave, and engaged in domestic offices of the palace, but having
been detected using some familiarities with one of the women,
the monarch had ordered him to be deprived of the ensigns of
manhood. Ignorant and uneducated, he appeared to have a certain
quickness of apprehension, which, together with uncommon gaiety
of humour, had rendered him acceptable at court, where he appeared
more as a buffoon than a minister of state. He received me with a
rude stare as an object he was unused to, which was followed by a
mingled smile of contempt and aversion. He was seated with some
other of the royal attendants, under a kind of awning of cotton
cloth, on a mat spred upon the sand. After the common salutations,
the Melek and his company entered into conversation on the nature
of my visit to the country; and each made his remarks on my person,
and offered his conjectures as to my character and intentions.
Their conversation was partly carried on in their vernacular idiom,
partly in Arabic. At length a wooden bowl of _polenta_, and another
of dried meat, were set before them. My illness deprived me of all
inclination to eat; and observing the company not much inclined
to invite me to join them, and yet embarrassed how to avoid that
ceremony, I relieved them by declining it, and desiring them to
begin. When they were satiated, and they lose no time in eating,
a great number of foolish questions were asked me about Europe,
some of which I waved, and satisfied them as to others in the best
manner I was able.
One of the principal questions was, whether the English paid the
Jizié to the Othman Emperor? This, as is well known, is a capitation
tax, paid by the Greeks and others, for liberty to worship after
their own manner. I replied, that England was so remote from the
Imperial dominions, that no war between the two countries could well
have place, till all the rest of Europe should have submitted to the
Mohammedan arms, which had not hitherto come to pass: but that, for
the purposes of trade, the inhabitants of the one country frequented
the other, and by mutual agreement were considered as personally
secure; that presents were occasionally made by the British King to
the Emperor, in token of amity, but not as a mark of subjection;
and that the latter, on his part, as it did not appear that the
decrees of the Almighty had fixed this as the moment of general
conversion to the true faith, in virtue of his dispensing power, and
swayed by the general law of hospitality to strangers, sanctioned by
the authority of the Prophet, judged it lawful, and even a matter
of political expediency, to tolerate such Europeans as conducted
themselves inoffensively in his dominions, though they did not pay
the Jizié. I thought it necessary to enter into this explanation of
the terms on which I conceived myself to stand in relation to them,
having by this time learned how rigidly they were disposed to adhere
to the letter of the Prophet’s _dictum_, viz. that no infidels are
to be spared but such as pay the capitation tax. When I observed they
grew tired of asking questions, I seized the opportunity of explaining
why I came there, and what favour I expected would be shewn me.
“Melek,” said I, “having come from a far distant country to
Misr, (Kahira,) I was there made acquainted with the magnificence, the
extended empire, and, above all, the justice and hospitality of the
King Abd-el-rachmân, whose dominion be eternal! Having been used to
wander over various countries as a _derwish_, to learn wisdom from the
aged, and to collect remedies for diseases from the herbs that spring
in various soils, I grew desirous of seeing Dar-Fûr. I was told that
my person and property would be secure, and that permission would be
given me to go wherever I might think proper. Since my arrival within
the confines, I have found that all these assurances were fallacious;
my inclinations have been thwarted, my person treated with indignity,
and my property plundered, while compliance has been refused even
to my most reasonable demands. I ask redress.—What I have already
suffered from the officers of the Sultan is passed, and cannot now
be remedied, but I desire protection for the future. I desire the
punishment of the man who has robbed me, and restitution of what
has been taken. Nor is this all, I particularly desire permission to
go to Sennaar, in order to proceed to Habbesh. I was prevented from
going there last year by the straight road. Habbesh is a Christian
country, abounding in slaves and gold. There are also many herbs
valuable in medicine. Being there, I may easily join my countrymen,
merchants who come to Moccha, in the Bahr Yemeni. I desire the Sultan
will allow me to proceed thither; and, if it be necessary, grant me
his protection, and three or four persons, deserving confidence, to
attend me to the frontiers of Kordofân. I have a small present to
offer him, consisting of such things as my circumstances permitted
me to bring—I hope he may not refuse to receive it, and to grant
me the favour I ask.” He answered—“Merchant, you are welcome
to the _Dar_—The King is kind to strangers, and he will favour
you in all you wish. Whatever you want you have only to demand. He
has ordered a sack of wheat and four sheep to be sent you.—At this
time it is not possible to pass through Kordofân—The Sultan has
a great army there, and when the country shall be in subjection to
him you may pass unmolested. When you are admitted to his presence,
you will tell him who has robbed you, and what you have lost, and
he will cause it to be restored.” It was now the hour of prayer,
and when the company commenced their ablutions I retired.
During three or four days ensuing I suffered so violent a relapse
as to be unable to perform the common offices of life, and even
to suppose that it was nearly at an end. The moment any symptom of
amelioration appeared, I sent word to the Melek that it was my wish
to be introduced to the Sultan, and then as soon as possible to be
dismissed. No reply was made to this message; but the following day he
came to the tent with some of his attendants, and desired to see the
merchandize that I had brought with me. As to part of the articles,
consisting of wearing apparel suited to the great, &c. I very readily
complied. But this was not sufficient—The Melek insisted also on
seeing the contents of a small chest, which chiefly held articles
useful to myself, but not designed for sale. There were also in it
some English pistols, of which I intended to avail myself as presents
at Sennaar, or wherever else I might be able to penetrate. I therefore
positively refused to open the chest. He then threatened to have it
broke open—I remained unmoved—At length his attendants proceeding
to break it open, _Ali Hamad_, the man who was with me, with his usual
villany, took the key from its concealment and opened the box. Every
thing was taken out, and examined minutely—many small articles
appeared no more. The pistols were reserved to be taken by the Sultan,
(after a violent but fruitless altercation,) at the valuation made
by his own servants; and my telescopes, books, of which they knew
not the use, wearing apparel, &c. were graciously left me.
The valuation was to be made the following day, which was done quite
against my consent, and in contempt of my warmest remonstrances. Some
part of the articles were stated at their full value, and others
far below it. The whole was estimated at thirty-eight head of
slaves, being at the market-price worth about eighty, exclusively
of a present of value for the Sultan. A pair of double-barrelled
pistols, silver-mounted, which had cost twenty guineas in London,
were valued at one slave, which is commonly purchasable, by those who
are experienced in that traffic, for the value of fifteen piastres
in Egyptian commodities. On this I exclaimed, that if they meant to
plunder, and bargain and sale were not conducted in this country by
consent of the parties, but by force, it would be better to take
the whole gratis.—No answer was made, but the day following two
camels were brought me as a present.
The violent manner in which my property had been seized, and the
general ill-treatment I had received, much augmented the disorder,
already severe. I had now been fifteen days in the tent, exposed
to great variations of temperature, it being at the close of the
rainy season, and so entirely disregarded, that though tormented
with thirst, I could rarely obtain water to drink. I judged that the
only means of restoration which remained were, to return to Cobbé,
and avail myself of the shelter of a clay-house, and that privacy and
quiet, the want of which I had so sensibly felt. Being in possession
of the greater part of my property, and having left me only so much
as would supply the wants of a few months, the Melek did not seem
very anxious about my stay. I hired two Arabs, and with the camels
that had been given me, and the property that remained, made my way
on the third day to the place whence I came.
In the intervals of my illness, I visited the chief persons of the
place; and as the eyes of the people became habituated to me, I found
my situation growing somewhat more tolerable. Idle, as I certainly
was, during this winter, with respect to the immediate objects of my
voyage, I grew of course more familiar with the manners and particular
dialect of the country; for the Arabic, which is spoken here, differs
materially from the vernacular idiom of Egypt. I seldom, indeed,
joined in the parties where _Merîsi_[35] was introduced, because
it was important not to hazard becoming concerned in the riots,
which are the frequent consequence of their inebriation. But I was
often diverted by the mode of conducting a bargain, which sometimes
lasts for several hours; and I listened, perhaps not wholly without
instruction, to their legal arguments, and the cool discussions of
right, which are the consequence of often submitting disputes to
arbitration. I could smile at the quibbling distinctions, by which
the niceties of external observance are settled; but I had generally
reason to be satisfied with their theory of morals.
It is usual for the graver men, during the heat of the day, to sit
and converse under a shed erected for the purpose. When convalescent,
I seldom failed to be of this party; for though the conversation
contained few sallies of wit, much less profundity of observation,
yet it was carried on without ill-humour, with mutual forbearance,
and on the whole in an equable course. Perhaps indeed the society
appeared less dull, as dissipating reflections which my situation
rendered unpleasant.
The following summer (1794) having in some degree recovered my
strength, I determined to go and reside for a time near the Sultan,
as well to have an opportunity of supplicating for redress of what
I had already suffered, as to seize any moment that might offer of
pressing my request for permission to advance. On leaving the house
which I had inhabited at Cobbé, a dispute had arisen with the owner
of it, who wanted me to sign a declaration that nothing had been
lost during my residence in his house. This, which was directly
the reverse of the truth, I refused to do; and in consequence he
called an assembly of _Fukkara_ or sacred judges. The result, after
much contest, served to skreen him from the responsibility legally
attached to his conduct, without averting the charge, and determined
me never to return to his roof.
On my arrival at El Fasher, my good friend the Melek Misellim being
employed by his master in the South, I went under the protection of
the Melek _Ibrahim_, one of the oldest persons in authority there,
and lodged myself (as all strangers are obliged to lodge in the
inclosure of some of the natives) in the house of a man named _Musa_,
now only an inconsiderable officer, though one of the sons of Sultan
_Bokar_. This Musa was one of the most upright and disinterested men
I have known in that country, and indeed among the Mohammedans of
any country. Calm and dignified in his demeanour, though poor and
destitute of power, he never insulted, though his religion taught
him to hate. No motive could have been strong enough to induce him
to eat out of the same plate with a Caffre, but he was punctiliously
observant of the rights of hospitality which that religion also
dictated, and daily provided me with a portion of food from his
kitchen. He often said that, as it was a precept of my faith to hate
the Prophet, he was bound to encourage the same sentiment towards me;
but that he was neither obliged to injure me, nor excused in doing so.
The Melek Ibrahim is a man of about sixty years of age, tall but
not athletic, and characterised by the roughness rather than the
expression of his features. He has no beard, and the little hair which
remains either on his head or face is grey. His manners and even the
motions of his body are ungraceful, and without the ease of superior
rank, or the majesty of superior intellect. Yet his understanding
seems clear and comprehensive, and his sagacity not unworthy the
station assigned him—one of the first in the empire. He is indeed a
bigot in matters of faith, but in all that concerns not the prevailing
superstition, his judgment is cool, and little liable to error. He
once held the reputation of integrity above the rest of his order,
but his present riches render this character ambiguous. Generosity,
however, holds no place among his virtues. The uniform tenor of
his life is governed by mean avarice; and though the most opulent
man in the empire, except the Sultan, so little does he possess of
Arabian hospitality, that the man used to be regarded as unhappy
who went supperless to his evening councils. He had never yet seen
a Frank, and regarded me nearly as the British or French commonalty
view the dwarfish Goîtres of the Alps. I could collect from his
conversation that he looked on Europeans as a small tribe, cut off
by the singularity of colour and features, and still more by their
impiety, from the rest of mankind.
When I entered the court where he was sitting, he bad me welcome,
and received with complacency a present which, in compliance with
custom, I brought on the occasion. He even thanked me for it; but
expressed strong surprise at my journey to Dar-Fûr. I complained
of the injuries done me, and he assured me of redress for the past,
and protection for the future. At the same time it was clear that he
esteemed the present a tribute, and conceived that personal safety
was more than I could reasonably expect. His conduct afterwards
was a further proof of his sentiments: for though I remained at El
Fasher three entire months, I saw him only when I forced myself on
his notice, and experienced no return of civility, much less any
compensation for what I had already suffered.
During this time I was solicitous to attend regularly the levees of
the Sultan, which are from six in the morning till ten; but could
very rarely obtain admittance, and when I did had no opportunity
of speaking. Whether the general prejudice against me, or the
machinations of my enemies, produced this pointed disregard,
which, as was said, a stranger scarcely ever experienced before,
circumstances afforded no sufficient ground to decide. I suspected
the former; but probably both had their share.
On returning to my temporary habitation, a shed, as was usual with me
on the sun’s approach to the meridian, fatigued with heat, oppressed
with thirst, and not without inclination for food, my repast was
commonly a kind of bread gently acid, moistened with water. I grew
acquainted with a few of the people who attend the court, as well
as with many strangers who were suitors there. Their conversation
sometimes amused me, but more often I found their continued and
unmeaning questions harassing and importunate, and their remarks
either absurd or offensive. The tædium of solitude, unfurnished with
the means to render it agreeable, was however removed. I occasionally
frequented the markets, which are usually held from four o’clock in
the afternoon till sunset. But my person being there still strange,
the crowd that assembled inclined me to a precipitate retreat.
The Fûrians here seemed unacquainted with the sports of the
field. I occasionally went out with a gun after the commencement
of the rainy season, when the face of the country became green;
but little offered itself worthy attention, either in the animal or
vegetable kingdoms. During the early part of the summer the earth
had been parched, and destitute of all vegetation.
After waiting in fruitless expectation at El Fasher, as the time of
my departure was drawing near, an accident happened, which, though
not of the most pleasing kind, contributed to make me noticed, and
obtained for me at length an interview with the Sultan.—The slaves
of the house used frequently to collect round me, as if to examine
a strange object—I joked occasionally with them, without any other
view than that of momentary relaxation. One day as I was reading in
the hut, one of them, a girl about fifteen, came to the door of it,
when, from a whim of the moment, I seized the cloth that was round
her waist, which dropped and left her naked. Chance so determined
that the owner of the slave passed at the moment and saw her. The
publicity of the place precluded any view of farther familiarity,
but the tumult which succeeded appeared to mark the most heinous
of crimes, and to threaten the most exemplary vengeance. The man
threw his turban on the earth, and exclaimed, “Ye believers in
the Prophet, hear me! Ye faithful, avenge me!” with other similar
expressions.—“A Caffre has violated the property of a descendant
of Mohammed;” (meaning himself, which was utterly false.) When a
number of people was collected around him, he related the supposed
injury he had received in the strongest terms, and exhorted them to
take their arms and sacrifice the Caffre. He had charged a carbine,
and affected to come forward to execute his threats, when some one
of the company who had advanced farthest, and saw me, called out to
the rest that I was armed, and prepared to resist.
It was then agreed among the assembly that some method of punishment
might be found, that promised more security and profit to the
complainant, and would be more formidable to the guilty. The man
whom I have already mentioned as my broker was to take the slave,
as if she had really been violated[36], and agreed to pay whatever
her master should charge as the price. The latter had the modesty to
ask ten head of slaves. He was then to make his demand on me for the
value of ten slaves, and if I carried the matter before the Cadi,
which he supposed I should hardly venture to do, he had suborned
witnesses to prove that I had received of him property to that amount.
On my removal from Cobbé to El Fasher, I had caused my small
remaining property, among which were few articles of value, but many
of much use to me, to be lodged in the house of _Hossein_, (the owner
of the slave,) and his companion. On my return thither, which happened
within a few days after the accident, I claimed it: they resisted,
as they alleged, at the suit of my broker, and would not deliver it
till the value of ten slaves should be paid to him. I had from the
first considered their conduct as so violent, that if it reached the
ears of the government, the claim must unquestionably be abandoned:
and indeed my adversaries had only rested their expectations on the
timidity which they had been accustomed to observe in Christians
of the country, whose accusation and condemnation are in fact the
same. I had not neglected to give the transaction all the notoriety
I could, without having recourse to public authority, and those to
whom I had applied were decidedly in my favour: I therefore now went
to my adversaries, Hossein and his companion, and in their presence
offered to Ali Hamad a promissory note for the value of ten slaves,
at the market price on my arrival in Kahira. It was refused; and
my chest, in which were some German dollars and other articles,
was still detained by them; the rest was given up.
In the mean time much had been said on the subject, both among the
natives and foreigners; and the flagrant injustice I was likely to
suffer forcibly struck all that were not in a state to profit by it,
but none more than the Egyptian merchants: they were indignant to
see that so enormous a penalty should be forfeited to those who had
no claim but effrontery to demand it; and that they had no share,
and were too numerous to expect to be all rewarded for connivance;
accordingly some of them were diligent in carrying the news to
the monarch.
It is not to be imagined that he would have moved in the business,
from any love of justice, or commiseration with the sufferings of a
person to whom himself had shewn such pointed disregard, not to say
manifest injustice. But he was told that the Franks enjoyed great
favour with the Senjiaks, and that whatever one of their number
suffered in Fûr, might be retaliated on the jelabs on their arrival
at Kahira, with very little effort, by getting their property there
seized by the magistrate, either as an indemnification for what should
have been lost, or a security for what might happen. Add to this,
he thought his own dignity compromised, should a foreigner thus be
permitted to vindicate himself by force in his country. I had indeed
been told that the Sultan was apprised of the transaction previously
to my departure from El Fasher, and that he intended to grant me
redress; but after waiting about fifteen days without hearing any
thing farther of his intentions, weary of suffering, I determined
to return. I had been there but a short time when a _fulganawy_
(messenger) arrived express from the court, with orders for me to
repair to El Fasher immediately. The object of the message was kept
in profound secrecy, nor could I discover whether it portended good
or evil. I left Cobbé the same evening, and arrived at the end of
my journey the following day about noon.
I repaired as before to the Melek Ibrahim, who on the following day
introduced me at the public audience. The Sultan, as he retired to the
palace after it was over, ordered all the parties to appear. Being
come within the inner court, he stopped the white mule on which
he was mounted, and began a short harangue, addressing himself to
Hossein and Ali Hamad, my servant, in which he censured, in a rapid
and energetic style, their conduct towards me.—“One,” said he,
turning to Ali, “calls himself Wakîl of the Frank; if he were a
Sherîf and a Mûslim, as he pretends, he would know that the law of
the Prophet permits not a Mûslim to be Wakîl to a Caffre: another
calls himself his friend—but both are agreed in robbing him of
his property, and usurping the authority of the laws.—Henceforth
I am his Wakîl, and will protect him.” He then ordered all the
parties to repair to the house of Musa Wullad Jelfûn, Melek of
the jelabs, under whose appropriate jurisdiction are all foreign
merchants. Here it may not be improper to relate briefly how I had
been before received by the Sultan.
On my first audience I was too ill to make much observation: I was
seated at a distance from him; the visit was short, and I had no
opportunity of opening a conversation. He was placed on his seat
(_cûrsi_) at the door of his tent. Some person had mentioned to
him my watch, and a copy of Erpenius’s Grammar, which I had with
me. He asked to see both; but after casting his eyes on each he
returned them. The present I had brought was shewn him, for which
he thanked me, and rose to retire.
During the following summer, the first time I got admission to him,
he was holding a diwan in the outer court. He was then mounted
on a white mule, clothed with a scarlet _Benish_, and had on his
head a white turban; which however, together with part of his face,
was covered with a thick muslin. On his feet were yellow boots, and
the saddle on which he was seated was of crimson velvet, without any
ornament of gold or silver. His sword, which was broad and straight,
and adorned with an hilt of massy gold, was held horizontally in
his right hand. A small canopy of muslin was supported over his
head. Amid the noise and hurry of above a thousand persons who were
there assembled, I was unable to make myself heard, which the nature
of my situation obliged me to attempt, though not exactly conformable
to the etiquette of the court, that, almost to the exclusion of
strangers, had appropriated the diwan to the troops, the Arabs,
and others connected with the government.
On another occasion I contrived to gain admittance to the interior
court by a bribe. The Sultan was hearing a cause of a private nature,
the proceedings on which were only in the Fûrian language. He
was seated on a kind of chair, كورسي, which was covered with a Turkey
carpet, and wore a red silk turban; his face was then uncovered: the
Imperial sword was placed across his knees, and his hands were engaged
with a chaplet of red coral. Being near him I fixed my eyes on him, in
order to have a perfect idea of his countenance, which, being
short-sighted, and not thinking it very decent to use a glass in his
presence, I had hitherto scarcely found an opportunity of acquiring. He
seemed evidently discomposed at my having observed him thus, and the
moment the cause was at an end, he retired very abruptly. Some persons
to whom I afterwards remarked the circumstance seemed to think that his
attendants had taught him to fear the magic of the Franks, to the
operation of which their habit of taking likenesses is imagined by some
of the Orientals to conduce. He is a man rather under the middle size,
of a complexion adust or dry, with eyes full of fire, and features
abounding in expression. His beard is short but full, and his
countenance, though perfectly black, materially differing from the
negro; though fifty or fifty-five years of age, he possesses much
alertness and activity.
At another of my visits I found him in the interior court, standing,
with a long staff tipped with silver in his right hand, on which
he leaned, and the sword in his left. He then had chosen to adorn
his head with the folds of a red silk turban, composed of the same
material as the western Arabs use for a cincture. The Melek Ibrahim
presented him, in my name, with a small piece of silk and cotton,
of the manufacture of Damascus. He returned answer, _Barak ulla
fi!_—May the blessing of God be on him!—a phrase in general use on
receiving any favour, and instantly retired, without giving me time
to urge the request of which I intended the offering should be the
precursor. It is expected of all persons that, on coming to El Fasher,
they should bring with them a present of greater or less value,
according to the nature of the business in hand. It is no less usual
before leaving the royal residence, to ask permission of the Sultan
for that purpose. With this latter form, which was to me unpleasant,
I sometimes complied, but more frequently omitted it. But on this
occasion, having been long resident there, I thought fit to make a
last effort to promote my design. The day preceding that which I had
fixed for my return happened to be a great public audience. I found
the monarch seated on his throne (_cûrsi_), under a lofty canopy,
composed not of one material, but of various stuffs of Syrian and
even of Indian fabric, hung loosely on a light frame of wood, no two
pieces of the same pattern. The place he sat in was spread with small
Turkey carpets. The Meleks were seated at some distance on the right
and left, and behind them a line of guards, with caps, ornamented in
front with a small piece of copper and a black ostrich feather. Each
bore a spear in his hand, and a target of the hide of the hippopotamus
on the opposite arm. Their dress consisted only of a cotton shirt,
of the manufacture of the country. Behind the throne were fourteen or
fifteen eunuchs, clothed indeed splendidly in habiliments of cloth or
silk, but clumsily adjusted, without any regard to size or colour. The
space in front was filled with suitors and spectators, to the number
of more than fifteen hundred. A kind of hired encomiast stood on
the monarch’s left hand, crying out, _a plein gorge_, during the
whole ceremony, “See the buffaloe (جاموس), the offspring
of a buffaloe, a bull of bulls, the elephant of superior strength,
the powerful Sultan Abd-el-rachmân-el-rashîd! May God prolong thy
life!—O Master—May God assist thee, and render thee victorious!”
From this audience, as from those which had preceded it, I was
obliged to retire as I had come, without effecting any purpose. I
was told there were occasions when the Sultan wears a kind of crown,
as is common with other African monarchs; but of this practice I
had no opportunity to bear testimony. When he appeared in public,
a number of troops armed with light spears usually attended him, and
several of his slaves were employed to bear a kind of umbrella over
his head, which concealed his face from the multitude. When he passes,
all the spectators are obliged to appear barefooted, and commonly to
kneel—His subjects bow to the earth, but this compliance is not
expected from foreigners. Even the Meleks, when they approach the
throne, creep on their hands and knees, which gave occasion to an
Egyptian to remark, that the _Jarea_[37] in Fûr was a Melek, and the
Melek a _Jarea_—alluding to the servile behaviour of the ministers,
and the publicity of women in the domestic offices of the palace.
The Sultan Abd-el-rachmân, soon after he became possessed of
sovereign authority, with the ostensible motive of testifying his
attachment to the religion of the Prophet, but more perhaps with a
view of obtaining greater weight among his subjects, by some mark
of the consideration of the first of Mohammedan princes, thought
proper to send a present to Constantinople. It consisted of three
of the choicest eunuchs, and three of the most beautiful female
slaves that could be procured. The Othman emperor, when they were
presented, had, it is said, never heard of the Sultan of Dar-Fûr,
but he returned an highly-ornamented sabre, a rich pelisse, and a
ring set with a single diamond of no inconsiderable value.
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.
CHAP. XVII.
DAR-FÛR.
_Topography of Fûr, with some account of its various inhabitants._
The town called Cobbé, as being the principal residence of the
merchants, and placed almost in the direct road from the North to the
South extremity of the country, shall, for the sake of perspicuity,
though not centrally situated, be considered as the capital of
Dar-Fûr.
I found it to be in lat. 14° 11′ long. E. G. 28° 8′. This
town is more than two miles in length, but very narrow, and the
houses, each of which occupies within its inclosure a large portion
of ground, are divided by considerable waste. The principal, or
possibly the only view of convenience by which the natives appear to
have been governed in their choice of situation and mode of building,
must have been that of having the residence near the spot rented or
inherited by them for the purpose of cultivation. The town is full of
trees of several kinds, among which are the palm, _deleib_, &c. but
chiefly the _heglîg_ and the _nebbek_, which give it an agreeable
appearance at a small distance, for being situated in a plain, it is
not distinctly visible more than four or five miles in any direction.
During the rainy season, the ground on which it stands is surrounded
by a _wadi_ or torrent. Fronting it to the East, (for the town
extends from North to South,) is a mountain or rock, distinguished
by the same appellation. It is not memorable for its height, nor
indeed for any thing but as being the resort of hyenas and jackals;
yet it forms part of a ridge of hills, or rocks, for there is little
earth on them, which runs from North to South for many leagues.
The inhabitants are supplied with water from wells, of small depth,
which are dug within the inclosure of many of the houses; but the best
of them are those which are in or near the bed of the torrent. The
water is generally turbid, and though not apparently possessing any
injurious quality, has often an ungrateful flavour. The quantity
too is not always equal to the public consumption, which sometimes
throws the people into difficulties before the periodical return of
the rains. Their manner of digging is so unskilful, that the soil
often collapses; and the same well is seldom useful for more than
three or four months successively.
There are some villages, at small distances, in various directions
from Cobbé, which are dependent on it, and increase its apparent
population. To the N.E. by N. _Hellet Hassan_, inhabited altogether
by the people of _Dongola_. It has been[39] governed many years by
the _Chabîr Hassan wullad Nasr_, one of the oldest of them, who
had been formerly once, or more than once, _Chabir_ (leader) of the
jelabs on their journey to Kahira, and a man, as I have generally
understood, respectable for his talents and his virtues. North and
North-west, _Nûkti_ and _Hellet-hummâr_. South, _Hellet-el-Atamné_
and _Hellet Jemîn-Ullah_. South-west and West, _Hellet-el-Fukkara_
and _Bweri_. There are some other smaller ones, the names of which
I have either never learned or have forgotten.
On all sides Cobbé is surrounded by a plain. To the West and
South-west it extends to the foot of _Kerda_ and _Malha_, two
rough mountains or rocks, at about twenty-miles distance in that
direction. South it is bounded by _Gebel Cusa_, at near twelve
miles distance, near which are seen some villages. South-east it
extends to _Barbogé_, and is there bounded, on the North-east,
by _Gebel Wanna_, and on the East South-east by a wadi or torrent,
which bears its name, and the sands (_goze_) beyond it. But to
the East there is no extent of level ground; the whole road from
_Sweini_ North, to _Gidîd_ South, being bounded in that direction
by a mountain, first under the name of _Téga_, and then under that
of _Wanna_. Gebel Cobbé stands almost insulated, and is placed
West of the latter. In Cobbé there are very few houses, perhaps
none, inhabited by natives of Fûr. The people are all merchants
and foreigners. The other more noted towns of the empire are,
_Sweini_, _Kûrma_, _Cubcabîa_, _Rîl_, _Cours_, _Shoba_, _Gidîd_,
_Gellé_. Sweini is situated almost North of Cobbé, at the distance
of more than two days diligent travelling. Koûrma, a small town, West
by South, at the distance of four and a half or five hours—twelve
or thirteen miles. Cubcabîa, a more considerable one, it was not
in my power to visit, but it is described as nearly due West, at the
distance of two days and a half. The road is rocky and mountainous,
and of course may be supposed somewhat circuitous. Cours, a place of
little note, North-west by West, at five hours and a half travelling
from Cobbé. Rîl is something more than three days removed from it,
in the direction South-south-east; and as the road is good and lies
through a plain, this cannot be estimated at much less than sixty
miles. Shoba is two days and a half from Cobbé.
Gidîd is nearly South-east, and about one day and a half from
Cobbé. Gellé is not far from Cubcabîa, but some hours further
removed to the South. Sweini is the general resort of the merchants
trading to Egypt, both in going and returning, and thence derives
its chief importance. Provisions, of most kinds which the country
affords, are found there in plenty, and while the jelabs remain there,
a daily market is held. The Chatîb, and some other of the principal
merchants have houses there, for the convenience of lodging their
property, as the caravans pass and repass. A Melek, with a small
number of troops, is always stationed there to receive them. The town
therefore may be considered as in some measure the key of that road,
though not entirely so, as there are two others which lead from the
center of Dar-Fûr towards Egypt, without going to Sweini.
The poorer people who constantly live there, are either of the
province called Zeghawa, or Arabs.
In Kourma, the merchants who occupy almost the whole of the
place, are called the _Jeiâra_, most of them born in the Upper
Egypt. Exclusively of them and their dependents, the number of people
in that town is inconsiderable. Twice in the week a market is held
there for meat and other provisions, as at Cobbé.
Cubcabîa is a considerable town, and its inhabitants various and
numerous. It forms the key of the Western roads, as Sweini of the
Northern; and is the depôt of all the merchandize that is brought
from that quarter. A market is held there twice a week, in which
the chief medium of exchange for articles of small value is salt,
which the inhabitants make by collecting and boiling the earth of
those places where horses, asses, or other animals have been long
stationary. This market is celebrated for the quantity of _tokeas_,
and for the manufacture, if so it may be called, of leather, which
they are very dextrous in stripping of the hair, tanning, and then
forming into large and durable sacks for corn, (_geraubs_,) water,
(_ray_,) and other purposes. The tokeas are cotton cloths, of five,
six, or eight yards long, and eighteen to twenty-two inches wide:
they are strong but coarse, and form the covering of all the lower
class of both sexes. The inhabitants are partly Fûrians, who speak
their own language, in part Arabs, and partly from some of the
Western countries, as Bergoo, &c. There are also some of the race
called _Felatîa_, and other descriptions.
In Cours are found some merchants from the river; the remainder are
_fukkara_, who affect extraordinary sanctity, and are distinguished
for their intolerance and brutality to strangers. Rîl is inhabited
partly by Fûrians; but there are also some foreign merchants. During
the reign of Sultan Teraub there appear to have been many more there;
for he had built a house, and made the town his usual residence in
time of peace. But Abd-el-rachmân has abandoned it, probably from
the fear attendant on usurpation. Rîl[40] is the key of the South
and East roads, as Cubcabîa of the West, and Sweini of the North;
and therefore a Melek with a body of troops commonly resides there,
as a guard to the frontier, and to keep the Arabs, who abound in
that neighbourhood, in subjection. It is a place eminently fitted
for the Imperial residence, being abundantly supplied with fresh
water from a large pool, which is never completely dry, with bread
from _Saïd_[41], with meat, milk, and butter from the Arabs,
who breed cattle, and with vegetables from a soil well adapted to
horticulture; nor are they without a kind of tenacious clay, which,
with little preparation, becomes a durable material for building. In
Shoba, another town of some note, was an house of Sultan Teraub. The
place is said to be well supplied with water, and there are some
chalk pits near it, from which that material was drawn at the
time I was in the country. These pits were then almost exhausted,
for the purpose of adorning the royal residence, and some others,
with a kind of white-wash. In Shoba reside some jelabs; the rest of
the people are Fûrians, and occupied in other pursuits.
Gidîd has also a competent supply of water, and is near the road
from Cobbé to Rîl. Its bearing from the former is South-east. It
is a town of _Fukkara_, who are reported to be so little famous for
hospitality, that they will hardly furnish to a traveller water to
allay his thirst. In this town are many houses, and some of them
belong to merchants who derive their origin from the Eastward.
Gellé was esteemed less flourishing than most other towns of
Dar-Fûr, being under the galling tyranny of a priest. The _Faqui
Seradge_, one of the two principal _Imams_ of the Sultan, a man of
intrigue and consummate hypocrisy, had gained an ascendancy over his
master, and distanced all competitors at court. Gellé was his native
place, and the people of the town were become his dependents. His
unsated avarice left them neither apparel nor a mat to lie on; and his
immortal malice persecuted them for having no more to plunder. The
greater part of the people are either _Corobâti_ or _Felatîa_
(two tribes); of the latter sort is the _faqui_.
The greater part of the people inhabiting Cobbé consists, as
hath been already observed, of merchants. The generality of them
are employed in trading to Egypt, and some of them are natives
of that country; but the greater number come from the river. The
latter class, if from circumstances a conjecture may be hazarded,
seem first to have opened the direct communication between Egypt
and Fûr. For many years their native countries, Dongola, Mahas,
and all the borders of the Nile as far as Sennaar, which, according
to report, are in all the gifts of nature much superior to Dar-Fûr,
have been the scene of devastation and bloodshed, having no settled
government, but being continually torn by internal divisions, and
harassed by the inroads of the _Shaikié_ and other tribes of Arabs,
who inhabit the region between the river and the Red Sea. Such of the
natives as were in a condition to support themselves by traffic, or
by manual labour, in consequence emigrated, and many of them retired
to the West. These people, accustomed in their native country to a
short and easy communication with Egypt, and impelled by the prospect
of immense profit, which a farther attempt of the same kind promised
them, opened the route which the Jelabs now pursue. But to return
to _Cobbé_.—
Some Egyptians, chiefly from Saïd, a few Tunisines, natives of
Tripoli, and others, come and go with the caravans, only remaining
long enough to sell their goods. Others have married in Dar-Fûr,
and are now perfectly naturalized, and recognized as subject to the
Sultan. The fathers being no more, the children are in many instances
established in their room, and are engaged in the same occupations.
The remainder of them consists of foreigners, coming from Dongola,
Mahas, Sennaar, and Kordofân, who are generally remarked as
indefatigable in commerce, but daring, restless, and seditious, (which
consideration has induced the present Sultan to use some efforts to
banish them from his dominions,) and the offspring of those whose
parents have emigrated, and who are themselves born in Dar-Fûr. The
latter are often people of debauched manners, and not remarkable for
the same spirit of enterprise as the actual emigrates. Gradually
formed to the despotism which coerces their external deportment,
and seeks to crush and sterilize even the seeds of energy, somewhat
of the spirit of their progenitors yet remains: the affections indeed
are turned askance, but not eradicated. The pushes that should have
been made _ad auras æthereas_, opposed revert to _Tartarus_. The
luxuriancy of mental vigour, though repulsed and forcibly inverted,
still extends its ramifications. Its pallescent shoots pierce the
dunghill, when not permitted to open themselves to the influence of
the sun. The active mind may descend to brutal sensuality, when it
can no longer expand itself in a more sane exercise.
The people first mentioned commonly among themselves use the language
of _Barabra_, though they also speak Arabic. The latter are generally
unacquainted with any language but the Arabic. They usually intermarry
with each other, or with the Arabs. Some of them avoid marrying,
and cohabit only with their slaves, seldom taking to wife a Fûrian
woman. Both these descriptions of men are easily distinguishable
from the natives of the country[42], being usually of a more olive
complexion, and having a form of visage more nearly resembling
the European, with short curly black hair, but not wool. They are
a well-sized and well-formed people, and have often an agreeable
and expressive countenance, though sometimes indicating (if so much
faith may be given to physiognomy) violent passions and a mutable
temper. Such are the inhabitants of Cobbé. South-east of the town,
in a large open space adapted to the purpose, a market[43] is held
twice in the week, (Monday and Friday,) in which are sold provisions
of every kind, and, in short, all the commodities which the country
produces, or which are derived from Egypt and other quarters. Slaves
however, though sometimes brought to the market, are now commonly
sold privately, which is not unfrequently complained of as an evil,
inasmuch as it facilitates the sale of such as have been stolen
from other quarters. The people of Barabra and Kordofân cannot
relinquish their favorite liquor, and as all who drink persist in
drinking till they are completely inebriated, the natural violence of
their temper is increased, and gives occasion to continual disputes,
which frequently are not decided without blows, and occasionally
terminate in bloodshed.
There are in the town four or five _Mectebs_, where boys are taught
to read, and, if they wish it, to write. Such of the _Fukkara_ as
fill the office of lecturer, instruct gratuitously the children of
the indigent; but from those who are in easy circumstances they are
accustomed to receive a small remuneration. Two or three lecture in
the Korân, and two others in what they call _Elm_, theology.
There was, at the time of my arrival, only one small mosque, a
little square room, formed by walls of clay, where the _Fukkara_
were accustomed to meet thrice in the week. The _Cadi_ of the place
was a certain _Faqui Abd-el-rachmân_, a man much in the decline of
life, originally of _Sennaar_. He had studied at the _Jama-el-azher_
in Kahira, and was much reputed in the place for the justice and
impartiality of his decisions, and the uniform sanctity of his
life. He sunk under the weight of years and infirmity, during the
second year after my arrival, and the charge of Cadi was committed by
the monarch to another, who was almost incapacitated from executing
the duties of it, as well by a painful disorder as by his great
age. The more active part of the office, therefore, was discharged
by his son, who was as remarkable for corruption as the _Faqui
Abd-el-rachmân_ had been for integrity. Whether from indignation at
this man’s unworthiness, or envy of his pre-eminence, is uncertain,
a division ensued among the _Fukkara_, and part of them united under
_Hassan_, part under _Bellilu_, a man said to be learned in the laws,
but of a forbidding and ungracious deportment. The former, with the
countenance and assistance of the Sultan, had commenced building a
mosque more spacious than that above mentioned; but I observed it
went on slowly, though the material for building was nothing better
or more costly than clay. The area inclosed was about sixty-four
feet square, and the walls were to be three feet thick.
CHAP. XVIII.
DAR-FÛR.
_On the mode of travelling in Africa — Seasons in Dar-Fûr —
Animals — Quadrupeds — Birds — Reptiles and Insects — Metals
and Minerals — Plants._
One mode of travelling, with small variations, obtains through all the
north of Africa. I mean by _caravans_ (from قرو _Karu_, to wander
from place to place). When the inhabitants have occasion to pass
the boundaries of their respective states, they form themselves into
a larger or smaller body, united under one head. Their association
is produced by considerations of mutual convenience and security,
as even the most easy and safest of the roads they are to pass,
would yet be difficult and dangerous for a single traveller.
Three distinct caravans are employed in bringing slaves, and other
commodities, from the interior of Africa to Kahira. One of them comes
straight from Murzûk, the capital of Fezzân, another from Sennaar,
and the third from Fûr. They do not arrive at fixed periods, but
after a greater or less interval, according to the success they may
have had in procuring slaves, and such other articles as are fitted
to the market, the orders of their respective rulers, and various
other accidental circumstances.
The Fezzân caravan is under the best regulations. The merchants from
that place employ about fifty days in their passage from Murzûk
to Kahira; which city they as often as possible contrive to reach
a little before the commencement of Ramadan, that such as find
themselves inclined to perform the pilgrimage, may be prepared to
accompany the Emîr of Misr. The sale of their goods seldom employs
them in the city much more than two months; after the expiration of
which, those who have no design of visiting Mecca return to their
native country. The arrival of this caravan is generally annual.
The other two are extremely various in their motions; sometimes
not appearing in Egypt for the space of two or even three years,
sometimes two or more distinct caravans arriving in the same
year. The perpetual changes in their several governments, and the
caprices of their despots, are in a great degree the occasion of this
irregularity. The road also between these two places and Kahira, is
often infested by bodies of independent Arabs, as that of Sennaar,
by the Ababdé and Shaikié, and that of Fûr by the Cubba-Beesh and
Bedeiât: the latter is however for the most part much safer than the
former. The departure of a caravan from Dar-Fûr forms an important
event. It engages the attention of the whole country for a time,
and even serves as a kind of chronological epocha.
The period of their arrival in Kahira is as uncertain as that of
their departure; for they travel indifferently either in winter or
summer. The journey from Assûan to Sennaar requires much less time
than that from Assiût to Dar-Fûr.
Many obstacles exist to the erection of any permanent marks by which
the roads of the desert might be distinguished. Yet I have observed
that the people of our caravan, in such places as afforded stones for
the purpose, used to collect four or five large ones, thus raising
small heaps at proper distances from each other. This affords them
some satisfaction at their return; but in many places, where the sand
is loose and deep, it becomes impracticable. They are then obliged to
rely on the facility acquired by habit, of distinguishing the outline
and characteristic features of certain rocks, as they are perfectly
ignorant of the compass, and very little informed as to the fixed
stars. Though the names of the constellations be little known to
them, yet they distinguish such as may guide them in their course
during the night. With all these aids however their deviations from
the true line are not infrequent. Three times, in the course of our
journey, the whole caravan was quite at a loss for the road, though
some of the members of it had made ten or twelve different journies
to and from Dar-Fûr. During the whole of my route I had reason to
suspect that the accounts in books of travels, which have generated
such terrific notions of the moving sands of Africa, are greatly
exaggerated. While we remained at Leghea, indeed, a violent gale
sprang from the North-west, and raised a cloud of sand. At that time
I placed a wooden bowl, capable of containing about two gallons, in
the open air. Thirty minutes had elapsed when it appeared completely
filled with sand. Our companions indeed affected to relate various
stories of caravans that had been overwhelmed. But as neither time
nor place were adduced, it would seem not unreasonable to doubt the
truth of the assertion.
If caravans have been thus buried on their road, it may be presumed
that accident can only have happened after they have been deprived of
the power of moving, by the influence of a hot wind, want of water,
and other causes. A number of men, and other animals, found dead, and
covered with sand, would be sufficient ground for succeeding native
travellers to believe, as they are strangers to ratiocination, or,
though not entirely persuaded, to relate, as they delight in the
marvellous, that the persons they had found had been overwhelmed
on their march; when in fact this accumulation had not happened
till they were already dead. But perhaps the matter scarcely merits
this discussion.
Our company consisted of nearly five hundred camels. This exceeds
the number usually employed by the Jelabs on their return from
Egypt, which is often not more than two hundred. In passing from
Dar-Fûr to Egypt, they esteem two thousand camels, and a thousand
head of slaves, a large caravan. Of persons of other countries, but
particularly Egyptians, trading for themselves, there were not more
than fifty, including five or six Coptic Christians, whose admittance
in Dar-Fûr the monarch of that country has since forbidden. Several
of this number were Muggrebines, or Occidental Arabs; the remainder,
amounting to one hundred and fifty or two hundred, including the
chabîr, or leader, were subjects of Fûr. Few particulars of other
caravans are known to me but by report.
The Arabs and Jelabs find the camel too indispensable to their
long and fatiguing voyages, not to employ much care in nourishing
him. This _ship of the land_, (مركب البر,) as he is called, is
exclusively the bearer of their fortunes, and the companion of their
toils. Much care is observed in rearing him, and not unfrequently the
merchant pays nearly as much for the camels to carry his merchandize,
as he did for the commodities themselves; what then must be the
profit that covers his expenses, his fatigue, indemnifies him for
accidental losses, and yet leaves him a gainer? But if this patient
and enduring animal be thus rendered subservient to their wants,
or their avarice, he is not at least tortured for their caprice.
Horses are very little used by the Jelabs. They generally furnish
themselves with Egyptian asses, which alleviate the fatigue
of the way, and are afterwards sold in Soudân at an advanced
price. The strength and spirits of this animal are recruited with
a small quantity of straw and water; the horse has not the same
recommendation; and these people, though not averse from parade in
cities, find the labour and hazard of these voyages too enormous,
not to augment their profits by all possible economy.
The provisions they use are scanty and indifferent, and by no means
testify any foresight for the necessities of the sick, or for the
procrastination of the voyage by those innumerable accidents that
may befal them.
I did not observe that any of them were furnished with dried meat,
as is common with the Fezzanners. But few used coffee and tobacco,
and the rest contented themselves with a leathern bag of flour,
another of bread baked hard, a leathern vessel of honey or treacle,
and another of butter. The quantity of each was regulated by
the number of persons, and seldom exceeded what is absolutely
necessary. In travelling from Dar-Fûr to Egypt another article is
much in use, especially for the slaves, which Egypt itself does
not afford, or produces in no quantity. The grain chiefly in use
among the Fûrians is the small _kassob_, called among them _dokn_
(millet). Of this, after it has been coarsely ground, they take a
quantity, and having caused it to undergo a slight fermentation,
make a kind of paste. This will keep a long time, and when about
to be used, water is added to it; if properly made, it becomes a
tolerably palatable food. But the natives are not very delicate. From
its acidity they esteem it a preventive of thirst. The fermentation
gives it also a slight power of inebriating, and it has a narcotic
tendency. The substance so prepared is called _ginseia_. The want of
materials for fire on the road prevents the use of rice, and other
articles that would require cookery.
Experienced travellers, among every ten camels laden with merchandize,
charge one with beans, and straw chopped small, which, sparingly
given, serves them during the greater part of the voyage. Those with
whom I travelled were not so provided, these articles being then very
dear in Egypt; and in consequence numbers of camels perished. In
coming from Dar-Fûr, they use for the same purpose the _dokn_,
and coarse hay of the country, but not altogether with the same
salutary effect.
The water, in leaving Egypt, is commonly conveyed in goat
skins artificially prepared; but no skill can entirely prevent
evaporation. On their march from Soudân to Egypt, the Jelabs oftener
use ox-hides, formed into capacious sacks and properly seasoned
with tar or oil. A pair of these is a camel’s load. They keep the
water in a better state for drinking than the smaller; and these
sacks are sold to great advantage throughout Egypt, a pair of the
best kind being sometimes worth thirty piasters. They are the common
instruments for conveying water from the river to different parts of
each town. The camels are not allowed to partake of this store, which,
after all the care that can be taken of it, is often very nauseous,
from the tar, the mud which accompanies the water in drawing, heat,
&c. Six of the smaller skins, or two of the larger, are generally
esteemed sufficient for four persons for as many days.
The _Cubba-Beesh_, and the _Bedeiât_, the latter of whom seem to
me not of Arab origin, when they make any attempt on the caravans,
commonly shew themselves between Leghea and the Bîr-el-Malha. But
this road is so ill provided with any thing that is necessary for
the sustenance of man or beast, that neither the wandering tribes,
nor the ferocious animals, which infest other parts of the continent,
are commonly found there. The Egyptians and other whites therefore,
though they commonly carry fire-arms with them from the North,
generally take advantage of the market of Fûr, and return without
any. The natives of Soudân are furnished with a light spear,
or spears, the head of which is made of unhardened iron of their
country. They have also a shield of about three feet long, and one
foot and a half or three-quarters broad, composed of the hide of
the elephant or hippopotamus, very simple in its construction.
_Intercourse with Mecca._
No regular caravan of Hadgîs leaves Dar-Fûr, but a number of
the natives make their way to Mecca, either with the caravan of
merchants trading to Egypt, or by way of Suakem and Jidda. The
present king was about to establish his attorney (_waquîl_) at
Mecca, but some obstacles had prevented his reaching that place,
when I came away. Fear of the sea, or I know not what other cause,
prevents them from choosing the route by Suakem, though it be so
much shorter and less expensive than that by the way of Egypt; but
the territory between Fûr and Suakem is not subject to any settled
government, and those who have travelled with property have frequently
been plundered there. The _Tocrûri_ however, who come from various
parts, and somewhat resemble the Derwishes of the North, travelling
as paupers, with a bowl to drink out of, and a leathern bag of bread,
frequently take that route and pass in safety.
_Seasons, &c._
The perennial rains, which fall in Dar-Fûr, from the middle of
June till the middle of September, in greater or less quantity, but
generally both frequent and violent, suddenly invest the face of the
country, till then dry and steril, with a delightful verdure. Except
where the rocky nature of the soil absolutely impedes vegetation,
wood is found in great quantity, nor are the natives assiduous
completely to clear the ground, even where it is designed for the
cultivation of grain.
As soon as the rains begin, the proprietor, and all the assistants
that he can collect, go out to the field, and having made holes
at about two feet distance from each other, with a kind of hoe,
over all the ground he occupies, the _dokn_ is thrown into them,
and covered with the foot, for their husbandry requires not many
instruments. The time for sowing the wheat is nearly the same. The
_dokn_ remains scarcely two months before it is ripe; the wheat about
three. Wheat is cultivated only in small quantities; and the present
Sultan having forbidden the sale of it, till the portion wanted for
his domestic use be supplied, it is with difficulty to be procured
by purchase. The _Mahriek_, or greater _kassob_, which is a larger
grain than the _dokn_, is also common, and a small supply of sesamum,
(_Simsim_ in Arabic,) is sown. What they term beans is a species
of legumen different from our bean. In what are called gardens are
_Bamea_, _Meluchîa_, lentils, (_adis_,) kidney beans, (_lubi_,) and
some others. The water melon, and that called in Kahira _Abd-el-awi_,
together with some other kinds, abound during the wet season, and
indeed before, if they be watered. Sultan Teraub was solicitous to
procure every thing the gardens of Egypt produce, and caused much care
to be taken of the culture of each article brought: but the present
prince does not turn his thoughts to that kind of improvement, and
little of the effect of his predecessor’s laudable anxiety is at
this moment distinguishable. There are several species of trees, but
none that produces fruit worth gathering, unless it be the Tamarind
(_Tummara_[44] _Hindi_). The date trees are in very small number,
and their fruit diminutive, dry, and destitute of flavour. That tree
seems not indigenous in the country, but to have been transported
from the neighbourhood of the Nile, Dongola, Sennaar, &c. The
inhabitants appear not well to understand the management of this
useful production; and perhaps the great drought will never admit of
its flourishing, whatever diligence or care may be used to increase
the number or improve the kind.
ANIMALS.
_Quadrupeds._
Of animals the list found in Dar-Fûr with which my own knowlege
furnishes me, is not very extensive; nor will it be interesting so
much as containing any thing new, but as it will shew the peculiar
circumstances of the country, as distinguished from other neighbouring
regions, and somewhat indicate the present state of the people.
The horse is used, but not in great number, nor are the natives very
solicitous as to the breed. The only good horses they possess are
bred in the country of Dongola, and by the Arabs to the East of the
Nile. These are generally larger than we are accustomed to find the
Egyptian horses. They are perfectly well formed, and full of fire,
yet tractable. Their action is grand beyond what I have observed in
any other species; but it is said they are not remarkable for bearing
fatigue. The Arabs, who breed them, are in the habit of feeding them
with milk. They rarely, if ever, castrate them. Horses and mares are
indiscriminately used for the saddle. The horses of Soudân are none
of them shod.
Two or three distinct breeds of sheep, _Ovis aries_, exist in
Soudân, not however very materially differing from each other. The
large-tailed sheep, which are found elsewhere, I believe are here
unknown. The meat is inferior to that of the Egyptian sheep. They
are covered with coarse wool, resembling hair, and apparently
wholly unfit for any manufacture. The goats, _capræ cervicapræ_,
are much more numerous than the sheep, and the flesh of the former
is somewhat cheaper than that of the latter. The goats grow perhaps
rather larger, but otherwise differ not from those of Egypt. It is
not uncommon to castrate both these animals, but neither is it a
very general practice.
The ass here is of the same appearance, and the same indocile nature,
with that of Great Britain. The only good ones are what the Jelabs
bring with them from Egypt: yet the animal is much used for riding;
indeed few persons mount an horse but the military, and those who
are in immediate attendance at court. An Egyptian ass fetches from
the value of one to that of three slaves, according to the weight he
is able to bear. A slave will purchase three or four of the ordinary
breed; yet they are not anxious to improve them. Perhaps the animal
degenerates: but it is certain that his external appearance undergoes
a great change.
The bull is sometimes castrated. Yet of the animals slaughtered
in the market I have generally observed that the emasculated are
fewest in number; nor is any preference given to the one over the
other for food. Indeed, the character of animals in the entire
state appears materially to differ from what is remarked of the
same animals with us. The horned cattle, fed by the tribes in the
vicinity of the rivers, amounts to a very considerable number, and
the tribute paid out of them to the monarch forms a valuable part
of his revenue. Thence they are brought to the several towns for
slaughter. The beef is good: the Egyptians dislike it, but with the
natives it is a constant article of food. Cows are also in abundance,
but their milk is not very palatable: some of the settlers make
it into a kind of cheese, but the inhabitants are not generally
acquainted with that process; they have, however, a mode of giving
it an acescent taste, and in that state it may be kept a few days,
and is neither disagreeable nor insalubrious.
The camels of Fûr are of a mixed breed, and they are found of all
colours and sizes. Those which come directly from the West or South
are large, smooth-haired, and most frequently of a colour approaching
to white, or light brown. Those which are brought from Kordofân
are many of them black, and are remarked to be less docile than the
others. There are few countries where the animal abounds more than
in Dar-Fûr. They are remarkable for enduring thirst, but not for
bearing great burthens. The camels in this country are particularly
subject to the mange, (_Gerab_,) which attacks them chiefly in winter,
and in some pastures much more than in others. This malady is very
contagious. It is cured by the application of a kind of tar, procured
by distillation per deliquium, from the seeds of the water-melon. When
the male camel is found unruly, they sometimes deprive him of one
or both testicles. It is a cruel operation, as immediately after
having incided with an ordinary knife, they sear the wound with an
hot iron till the hemorrhage be stopped. It may be doubted whether
this practice be permitted by the law of the Prophet; but, however
bigoted their minds, where advantage is hoped for, their faith is
ductile. The flesh of the camel, particularly of the female, (_naka_,)
which is fattened for the purpose, is here much used for food. It is
insipid, but easily digested, and no way unpleasant. The milk also
is much in esteem. The camels bred in Fezzân, and other countries
to the West, as well as those of Arabia, are for labour reckoned
superior to those of Fûr, and fetch an higher price. The former
are larger and able to carry an heavier burthen, but not so capable
of enduring thirst. In Soudân they seldom carry above five hundred
weight, and oftener three or three and a half: while in Egypt they
are frequently obliged to toil under eight, ten, or even more. From
these are selected the camels which bear the sacred treasure to the
tomb of the Prophet. Soudân affords many fine dromedaries, but those
of Sennaar are most celebrated. Incredible stories are told of the
long and rapid journies performed by them; as that they will hold
out for four-and-twenty hours, travelling constantly at the rate of
ten miles per hour: however this be, they are indisputably swift,
and perform long journeys almost without refreshment.
The dogs of Dar-Fûr are of the same kind as those of Egypt, and
live on the public like the latter. I have understood that there is
in some parts of the country a species of dog, used in hunting the
antelope, (_ghazâl_, Ar.) and another sort to guard the sheep;
of the sagacity of the latter wonderful tales are told, as well
as of the courage and fidelity of both. Experience has not enabled
me to confirm the report. The common house-cat is scarce; and if I
am rightly informed, there are none but what have been originally
brought from Egypt. They are of the same kind as with us.
The wild or ferocious animals are, principally, the lion, the leopard,
the hyena, (Fûr. _murfaîn_, _dubba_, Ar.) the wolf, the jackal,
_canis aureus_, the wild buffaloe: but they are not commonly seen
within the more cultivated part of the empire, at least that which
I have visited, excepting the hyena and the jackal; the former come
in herds of six, eight, and often more, into all the villages at
night, and carry off with them whatever they are able to master. They
will kill dogs, and asses, even within the inclosure of the houses,
and fail not to assemble wherever a dead camel or other animal is
thrown, which, acting in concert, they sometimes drag to a prodigious
distance; nor are they greatly alarmed at the sight of a man, or
the report of fire-arms, which I have often discharged at them,
and occasionally with effect. It is related, that upon one of them
being wounded, his companions instantly tear him to pieces and devour
him; but I have had no opportunity of ascertaining this fact. The
people of the country dig pits for them, and lying in ambuscade,
when one is entrapped, stun him with clubs, or pierce him with their
spears. The jackal is harmless, but his uncouth cry is heard far off,
and wherever there are rocks to shelter them, their howling community
dwells undisturbed.
In the countries bordering on the empire of Fûr, where water is in
greater abundance, the other animals mentioned are very numerous,
and much dreaded by travellers, particularly on the banks of the
_Bahr-el-Ada_. To those already enumerated, may be added, the
elephant, the rhinoceros, the camelopardalis, the hippopotamus,
and the crocodile.
The elephant is seen, in the places he frequents, in large herds of
four or five hundred, according to report. It is even said that two
thousand are sometimes found together; but I do not suspect the Arabs
of extreme accuracy in counting. These people hunt him on horseback,
having singled out a straggler from the herd; or aim at him with
spears from the trees; or make pits into which he falls. His hide
is applied to many useful purposes. The African elephant is smaller
than the Asiatic, and probably of a different species. The meat is an
article of food in great esteem with them. The fat forms a valuable
unguent, and the teeth, as is well known, supply the merchants with
immense profits.
The buffaloe is not found tame in Soudân. The wild one is hunted
by the Arabs, and serves them for food. The hippopotamus is killed
for his skin, (which being remarkably tough, makes excellent shields,
and whips not wholly unlike our horse-whips) and for his teeth, which
are much superior to ivory. The horn of the rhinoceros, to which
animal the Arabs have applied a term somewhat less appropriate than
the Greek, but still characteristic, (_Abu-kurn_, father of the one
horn,) makes a valuable article of trade, and is carried to Egypt,
where it is sold at an high price, being used for sabre-hilts,
and various other purposes. The more credulous attribute to it some
efficacy as an antidote against poison.
The antelope and the ostrich are extremely common throughout the
empire. The civet-cat is not seen wild in the quarter which I visited,
but is frequent enough farther to the South. Many are preserved in
cages in the houses of the rich. The women apply the odour extracted
from them to add to their personal allurements; and what is not thus
disposed of becomes an article of trade.
The lion and leopard, though common in a certain district, are not
found near the seat of government. The Arabs hunt them, strip off the
skin, which they sell, and often eat the flesh, which they conceive
generates courage and a warlike disposition. They occasionally take
them young, and bring them for sale to the Jelabs, who sometimes carry
them as presents to the great men in Egypt. I purchased two lions:
the one was only four months old when I bought him. By degrees,
having little else to employ me, I had rendered him so tame, that he
had acquired most of the habits of a dog. He satiated himself twice
a week with the offal of the butchers, and then commonly slept for
several hours successively. When food was given them they both grew
ferocious towards each other, and towards any one who approached
them. Except at that time, though both were males, I never saw them
disagree, nor shew any sign of ferocity towards the human race. Even
lambs passed them unmolested. The largest had grown to the height
of thirty inches and a half over the shoulders.
The _ennui_ of a painful detention, devoid of books and rational
society, was softened by the company of these animals; and the
satisfaction was not small, even from this species of diversion. At
length, towards the end of my stay, after they had been with me
more than two years, finding it impossible, under the circumstances
I then was, to carry them with me, I shot the one; and the other,
either from disease or the loss of his companion, died a few days
afterwards. The Sultan had also two tame lions, which, with their
attendant, came into the market to feed.
The remaining quadrupeds may be classed more briefly; for being all
known, they will require no particular description.
Ar.
_Mus Jaculus_—Jerboa.
_Simia Æthiops_—Abelang.
_Histria ciestria_— _Porcupine_.
_Simia cynamolgos_—kurd Ar.
BIRDS.
1. _Charadrius Kerwan_—Oriental dotterel.
2. _Numida Meleagris_—Guinea fowl.
3. _Tetrao Coturnix_—Egyptian quail.
4. _Vultur Percnopterus_—White-headed vulture.
5. _Psittacus Alexandri_—Green peroquet.
6. _Columba domestica_—Common pigeon.
7. _Tetrao rufus_—Red partridge.
8. Owls (not common).
9. _Columba Turtur_, very common.
No. 4. This bird is of surprising strength, and is said by the natives
to be very long-lived, _sed fides penes auctores_. I have lodged a
complete charge of large shot, at about fifty yards distance, in the
body of this bird: it seemed to have no effect on him, as he flew
to a considerable distance, and continued walking afterwards. I
then discharged the second barrel, which was loaded with ball:
this broke his wing, but on my advancing to seize him, he fought
with great fury with the other. There are many thousands of them in
the inhabited district. They divide the field with the hyena: what
carrion the latter leaves at night, the former come in crowds to feed
on in the day. Near the extremity of each wing is a horny substance,
not unlike the spur of an old cock. It is strong and sharp; and a
formidable instrument of attack. Some fluid exsudes from this bird
that smells likes musk, but from what part of him I am uncertain.
No. 2. This beautiful bird is found in great numbers in Fûr, of which
the common fowl, though it now abounds, is not a native. The voice
of the Guinea fowl, when apparently elated, is very peculiar. No
external difference, even in this their native climate, is to be
observed between the male and female of this bird. They are carried
as a profitable commodity to Kahira, where however, in a domestic
state, it is said they seldom or never breed.
5. These birds, in the beginning of summer, fill the trees in the
vicinity of the town I lived in. They are caught unfledged, and
brought up in the houses, till they become quite domestic; are then
carried to Egypt, and taught a kind of speech, which being acquired,
they are sold at a high price.
Of fish I saw none but what were too much disguised by drying to
be recognised.
The fish in the river _Ada_, I am told, consist of nearly the same
species as those of the Nile in Upper Egypt. They are caught in
wicker baskets, and used for food.—The natives have also a way of
drying them, but it does not prevent their being so offensive to the
smell, as to be useless to any but themselves. Numerous huts built
of reeds are found on the bank of the river, as well for the use of
the fishermen, as of those who ensnare the ferocious animals that
come to drink its waters.
The Chameleon abounds in Dar-Fûr; the _viverra Ichneumon_, _nims_,
and almost all the species of lizard are also seen there.
Of Serpents, the _Coluber Hayé_ of Egypt, the _Coluber vipera_,
and the _anguis Colubrina_, were the only ones I saw: and no more
than one or two of each; though it was represented to me that in
some places they are numerous. The Fûrians have not the art of
charming them, like the Egyptians and Indians. I exposed myself to
much ridicule by collecting a number of chameleons in my apartment,
to observe their character and changes; the people there think them
impure, and relate many foolish stories concerning them.
A great number of insects and reptiles, which I had taken care to
conserve, accident has deprived me of, and I cannot now furnish a
catalogue. The scorpion is small, of a brown hue, and his venom not
extremely violent. The natives cure the sting by immediately applying
to the part a bruised onion, which is renewed till the pain subsides.
The white ant, or _Termites_, is found in vast numbers, and is
exceedingly destructive, eating through every thing within its reach,
whether vegetables, cloth, leather, paper, provisions, &c. A bull’s
hide, if not newly covered with tar, is no defence against it. The
_Apis mellifera_ (common bee) abounds; but they have no hives, and
the wild honey is commonly of a dark colour, and unpleasant taste. I
have observed a beetle, not very large, which is characterized by
burying its eggs in a small ball of horse’s or other dung, and
then rolling the ball from place to place in the sand or clay, till
it attains a size greatly exceeding that of the animal itself. Great
quantities of cochineal are visible; which, if the natives, or the
Egyptians who visit them, had any reflection or spirit, it might be
thought would be applied to some useful purpose.
The locust of Arabia, _Gryllus_, is very common, and is frequently
roasted and eaten, particularly by the slaves. The _Scarabeus
Ceratoniæ_; the _Culex Egypti_, _namûs_ in Ar. (mosquito), is
particularly vexatious in the rainy season.
METALS AND MINERALS.
Of metals, the number found in the district known to me, is small. But
in its neighbourhood, to the South and West, if I have been rightly
informed, almost all descriptions are to be met with. The copper
brought by the merchants from the territories of certain idolatrous
tribes bordering on Fûr, is of the finest quality, in colour
resembling that of China, and appears to contain a portion of zink,
being of the same pale hue. The large rings into which it is formed
(of ten or twelve pounds weight each) are very malleable: of the
ore I never was able to procure a specimen. Iron is to be found in
abundance, and the Pagan negroes, on whom the Mohammedans look with
contempt, are the artists that extract it from the ore; an art of
which the former, as far as I have seen, are ignorant. Though their
iron, through the stupidity of the inhabitants, never acquire the
more useful character of steel, its effects in the form of knives
and javelins are yet commensurate with the malign dispositions of
mankind. And though soft and perishable, with increased trouble in
renewing the edge, the tools formed of it answer all the purposes
of their rude workmanship.
The method by which I observed a workman supply the defect of a
furnace for fusing metals appeared worth noticing. He had a leathern
bag, which, on compression, forced the air through a wooden pipe for
bellows, and placed over the fire, made in a small hole in the earth,
the remains of a water jar, with which simple apparatus the effect
was rapid and not inconsiderable.
Silver, lead, and tin, I have never heard mentioned here, but
as coming from Egypt. Of gold, in the countries to the East and
West, the supply is abundant. Little comes to Dar-Fûr, except by
accident. What is produced in the West reaches the northern markets
by means of other caravans. The monarch occasionally obtains a small
quantity for his own use from the East.
Alabaster, and various kinds of marble, exist within the limits of
Fûr. The rocks chiefly consist of grey granite. But of stone adapted
to building, or convertible into lime, either there is none, or the
quantity must be extremely small. The granite serves for hand-mills
without being cut, for the metal of which their tools are composed
is too soft to be employed for that purpose.
Fossile salt is common within a certain district: and there is
a sufficient supply of nitre, of which however no use is made. A
quantity of sulphur is brought by the Arabs, who feed oxen (_Bukkara_)
from the South and West. But of the place where it is found I have
heard no description. It must also exist on the mountain called Gebel
Marra; as it is related there are hot springs there; which animals,
particularly birds, are observed not to approach; this, if true,
may be the effect of sulphureous vapours.
PLANTS.
Though my residence in Dar-Fûr was so much protracted, I feel myself
able to furnish only a very imperfect catalogue of its vegetable
productions. These are to be sought chiefly in the districts to the
South, where water abounds, and where the extreme restraint under
which I found myself prevented me from seeking them.
During seven or eight months in the year the whole surface of the
earth to the North is dried up by the sun, and the minute plants
which spring and flourish during the _Harîf_[45], are mingled in
the general marcescence, as soon as that season is passed. Even the
trees, whose fibres pierce more deeply into the substance of their
parent soil, lose the distinctive marks of their proper foliage,
and exhibit to the distant observer only the sharp outline of their
grosser ramifications.
Of the trees which shade our forests or adorn our gardens in Europe,
very few exist in Dar-Fûr. The characteristic marks of those species
which most abound there, are their sharp thorns, and the solid and
unperishable quality of their substance. 1. The Tamarind is not very
common in the quarter I frequented; but those which were visible to
me were of great height and bulk, and bore a copious supply of fruit.
2. The Plane, platanus Orientalis, _Deleib_, is found, but seems
rather to have been brought from Egypt, than indigenous.
3. Sycamore of Egypt, _Ficus Sycomorus_, _Gimmeiz_, a few near Cobbé;
said to be much more common to the southward. I did not observe that
it produced any fruit.
4. _Nebbek_ Ar. _Paliurus Athenæi_. Of this there are two species
in Dar-Fûr. They term the largest _Nebbek-el-arab_. There
is a difference in their fruit, as well as in their external
appearance. The one is a bush, with leaves of dark green, not very
different from those of the ivy, but much thinner. It appeared to be
the same I had seen in the gardens of Alexandria. The other a tree,
growing to considerable size, but having both the leaves and fruit
smaller, and the fruit of darker colour, and somewhat different
flavour. Both of them equally thorny. The natives eat the fruit
fresh or dry; for it dries on the tree, and so remains great part
of the winter months. In that state it is formed into a paste of
not unpleasant flavour, and is a portable provision on journies.
5. _Heglîg_ or _Hejlij_, Ar. This tree is about the same size as
the one last mentioned, and is said to be a native of Arabia, though
I have seen it only in Fûr.—The leaf is small, and the fruit it
bears is of an oblong form, about the size of a date. Colour brown,
tinctured with orange; dry, and of a viscous quality. The nucleus
is large in proportion to the fruit, which adheres to it with great
tenacity. This is also formed into a paste, but of no agreeable
flavour. It is however eaten by the Arabs, and by some esteemed
efficacious as a remedy for certain diseases. It seems a slight
diuretic. The wood is hard, and of a yellowish colour; it grows in
great abundance, and is very thorny. This, together with the _Nebbek_,
chiefly furnish thorns for the fences.
6. _Enneb_, a small tree, to the fruit of which they have given the
name of grapes. It bears leaves of light green hue, and the fruit,
which is of a purple colour, is attached, not in bunches, but singly
to the smaller branches, and interspersed among the leaves. The
internal structure of the fruit is not very unlike the grape,
which it also resembles in size. But the pulp is of a red hue,
and the taste is strongly astringent.
7. _Shaw_, Ar. a shrub about the size of the Arbutus, having, like
it, a leaf of strong texture, of oval form, pale green, wider at the
lower, and narrower at the upper extremity than the arbutus.—The
leaf has the pungency and very much the taste of mustard. This shrub I
saw chiefly in _Wadi Shaw_, a place we passed in going and returning,
between Sweini and Bîr-el-malha. The natives cut off the smaller
branches, which they use to rub their teeth, alleging that the acrid
juice of this plant has the property of whitening them.
From an exact correspondence as to the place of its growth,
viz. near the salt springs, the camels not eating it, and some
other circumstances, I take this to be the _Rack_ of Bruce,
vol. v. p. 44. though unable to recognize it in the figure there
given.
8. Ceratonia Siliqua, _Charôb_.
9. Solanum sanctum, nightshade, _Beidinjan_, or _Melingân_, brought
originally from Egypt, and used for food.
10. _El Henne_, from Egypt, growing into use.
11. _Sophar_, Ar. Cassia sophera, wild senna, native, and grows in
plenty after the rains.
12. _Sûnt_, Mimosa Nilotica, in great quantity.—It is from
this tree, which is also called _Seiâl_, that the gum, brought to
Egypt by the caravans, is chiefly gathered. There are also found
the trees called by Bruce _Ergett Dimmo_, and _Ergett-el-Kurûn_,
and the _Farek_, Bauhinia Acuminata of the same writer.
13. A kind of legumen called _Fûl_, bean. It is not much used for
food, but as an ornament by the women, being strung in the form of
beads, when quite dry, at which time it is very hard. It is also
used as a weight of four or five grains.
14. A beautiful legumen, of a scarlet colour, with a black spot at the
point of attachment to its cyst. It is called in Dar-Fûr _Shûsh_;
is about the size of a small pea, hard and polished; grows on a plant
resembling tares; is strung and used as an ornament by the women.
15. The common onion, Allium cepe, _Bassal_, Ar. is abundantly
supplied in Dar-Fûr, but inferior in size, taste, and colour,
to that of Egypt.
16. Garlick, Allium sativum, _Tûm_ Ar. cultivated and used for food.
17. Water-melon, Cucurbita citrullus, _Butteik_ Ar. This grows
wild over almost all the cultivable lands, and ripens as the corn
is removed. In this state it does not attain a large size. The
inside is of a pale hue, and has little flavour. As it ripens,
the camels, asses, &c. are turned to feed on it, and it is said to
fatten them. The seeds, as they grow blackish, are collected to make
a kind of tar, _Kutrân_. Those plants of the melon which receive
artificial culture grow to a large size, and are of exquisite flavour.
18. Common melon, Cucumis melo, _Kawûn_ Ar. is occasionally
cultivated, but rarely brought to perfection.
19. Cucumbers, Cucumis sativus, _Cheiar_ Ar. of which the Jelabs
have introduced the culture, as well as of the preceding.
20. Gourd, Cucurbita Lagenaria, _Karra_ Ar. This serves for
drinking-vessels and other purposes. It is found in abundance. When
fresh, it is used for food, and being properly dressed with meat,
is very palatable. Grows to a large size.
21. Cœlocynthis, _Handal_ Ar. very common.
22. Momordica Elaterium, _Adjûr_ Ar. also very common.
23. _Ushar_. This plant abounds so much as to cover whole plains. No
other use is made of it than to spread its branches and leaves
under mats and goods, which it is said guards them from the _Termis_
or white ant.
24. Nightshade, Solanum foliis hirsutis, _Enneb-el-dîb_.
25. Hemp, Cannabis vulgaris, _Hashîsh_, Ar. is now become an article
of regular culture, being used in various ways as an aphrodisiac,
and in different proportion as a narcotic. _Hashîsh_ is a general
name for green herbs, but chiefly appropriated to this: it is chewed
in its crude state, inhaled by means of a pipe, or formed, with other
ingredients, into an electuary, _maijun_. In Egypt the consumption
of this article is much greater than in Dar-Fûr, but the best is
that of Antioch in Syria.
26. Rice, Oryza, _Oruzz_ Ar. is brought in small quantities by
the wandering Arabs, who find it growing wild in the places they
frequent. It is little used or esteemed, and indeed has no quality
to recommend it.
27. Cayenne pepper, _chetti_ or _Tchetti_, in the language of the
country, is extremely common in one district, whence it is dispersed
over the country and used with food.
28. Kidney-bean, _Lubi_ Ar.
29. _Meluchia_.
30. _Bamêa_, in great abundance.
31. A plant of the same size with the _Meluchia_, of very dark green,
strong smell and taste. It grows in great quantity, and with the
natives forms a principal article of food. They call it _Cowel_.
32. Sesamum, _Simsim_, Ar. From this an oil is extracted. It is
also bruised in a mortar, and mixed with the food. It is even used
by the great to fatten their horses.
33. _Mahreik_, and _Dokn_, the holcus dochna, of _Forskal_, as has
been already mentioned, are the basis of their provision, but chiefly
the latter.
34. Tobacco is produced in abundance in Fertît and Dar Fungaro. It
seems to be unquestionably of native growth.
CHAP. XIX.
DAR-FÛR.
_Government — History — Agriculture, &c. — Population —
Building — Manners and customs — Revenue — Articles of
commerce, &c._
_Government._
The magistracy of one, which seems tacitly, if it be not expressly
favoured by the dispensation of Mohammed, as in most other countries
professing that religion, prevails in Dar-Fûr. The monarch indeed
can do nothing contrary to the Korân, but he may do more than the
laws established thereon will authorise: and as there is no council
to control or even to assist him, his power may well be termed
despotic. He speaks in public of the soil and its productions as his
personal property, and of the people as little else than his slaves.
When manifest injustice appears in his decisions, the _Fukkara_,
or ecclesiastics, express their sentiments with some boldness, but
their opposition is without any appropriate object, and consequently
its effects are inconsiderable. All the monarch fears is a general
alienation of the minds of the troops, who may at their will raise
another, as enterprising and unprincipled as himself, to the same
envied superiority.
His power in the provinces is delegated to officers who possess
an authority equally arbitrary. In those districts, which have
always or for a long time formed an integral part of the empire,
these officers are generally called _Meleks_. In such as have been
lately conquered, or perhaps, more properly, have been annexed to
the dominion of the Sultan, under certain stipulations, the chief
is suffered to retain the title of Sultan, yet is tributary to and
receives his appointment from the Sultan of Fûr.
In this country, on the death of the monarch, the title descends of
right to the oldest of his sons; and in default of heirs male, as
well as during the minority of those heirs, to his brother. But under
various pretences this received rule of succession is frequently
infringed. The son is said to be too young, or the late monarch
to have obtained the government by unjust means; and, at length,
the pretensions of those who have any apparent claim to the regal
authority are to be decided by war, and become the prize of the
strongest.
It was in this manner that the present Sultan gained possession
of the Imperial dignity. A preceding monarch, named _Bokar_,
had three sons, _Mohammed_, surnamed _Teraub_, _el-Chalîfe_, and
_Abd-el-rachmân_. Teraub the eldest (which cognomen was acquired
by the habit of rolling in the dust when a child) first obtained the
government. He is said to have ruled thirty-two lunar years, one of
the longest reigns remembered in the history of the country. The
sons he left at his death being all young, the second brother,
under pretence that none of them was old enough to reign, which was
far from being the fact, and in some degree favoured by the troops
for the generosity by which he was eminently distinguished, under
the title of _Chalîfe_, vicegerent of the realm, assumed the reins
of government. His reign was of short duration, and characterised
by nothing but violence and rapine. He had been only a short time
seated on the throne, when a discontented party joining with the
people of Kordofân, in a war with whom his brother Teraub had
perished, found employment for him in that quarter. Abd-el-rachmân,
who, during the life of his brother, had assumed the title of
_Faquîr_, and apparently devoted himself to religion, was then
in Kordofân. He took advantage of the situation of the Chalîfe,
and the increasing discontent of the soldiery, to get himself
appointed their leader. Returning towards Fûr, he met his brother
in the field, and they came to an engagement, which, whether by the
prowess of Abd-el-rachmân, or the perfidy of the other’s adherents,
is unknown, was decided in favour of the former. The Chalîfe was
wounded; and while one of his sons parried the blows that were aimed
at his life, they perished together covered with wounds. The children
of Teraub, the rightful heirs, were in the mean time forgotten, and
are now wandering about, scraping a miserable subsistence from the
parsimonious alms of their usurping uncle. Abd-el-rachmân thought
fit to sacrifice but one of them, who being of mature age, and,
according to general report, endowed with talents greater than the
rest, was the chief object of his suspicion and his fears.
The usurper, after the victory, found himself in peaceable possession
of the throne; yet judging it right to maintain for a time the shew of
moderation and self-denial, he employed that dissimulation for which
his countrymen are famous, in persuading them that his affections were
fixed on the blessings of futurity, and that he was indifferent to
the splendour of empire. He refused even to see the treasures of his
deceased brother, in gold, slaves, &c. and as he entered the interior
of the palace drew the folds of his turban over his eyes, saying the
temptation was too great for him, and invocating the Supreme Being
to preserve him from its effects. For a certain time too he confined
himself to the possession of four wives (free women) allowed by
the law of the Prophet. At length, finding his claim unquestioned,
and his authority firmly established, the veil of sanctity, now
no longer necessary, was thrown aside, and ambition and avarice
appeared without disguise. He now wastes whole days in misanthropic
solitude, gazing in stupid admiration on heaps of costly apparel, and
an endless train of slaves and camels, and revels in the submissive
charms of near two hundred free women. Abd-el-rachmân assumed the
Imperial dignity in the year of the Hejira 1202, of the Christian
æra 1787. The discontent of the people however, and particularly
of the soldiery in consequence of the severity of his regulations,
and his personal avarice, were (1795) very much increasing, which
made me imagine his reign would not be long.
_History._
Mohammed Teraub, already mentioned, was preceded by a king named
Abd-el-Casim; Abd-el-Casim by Bokar; Bokar by Omar. Some of the
earlier kings are yet spoken of under the names of Solyman, Mohammed,
&c. But as the people of the country possess no written documents, I
found those of whom I inquired often at variance both with regard to
the genealogy and the succession of their monarchs. In all countries
these are points of small import; but especially in one of which so
few particulars are known to us. It may yet be remarked, that they
commonly mention the reign of Solyman, as the epocha when Islamism
began to prevail in the country. Describing this Sultan, at the
same time, as of the _Dageou_ race, which swayed the sceptre long
before that of Fûr became powerful. Circumstances have inclined me
to believe, that the reign of this prince must have been from one
hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty years ago.
On what the natives relate of their early history, little dependence
can be placed: but it seems that the _Dageou_ race came originally
from the North, having been expelled from that part of Africa now,
nominally at least, under the dominion of Tunis[46].
_Harvest, food, &c._
In that part of the country where I resided are found neither lakes,
rivers, marshes, nor any other appearance of water but the wells
which are dug for domestic consumption, except during the rainy
season. At that period torrents, of greater or less dimensions,
intersect the country in all directions. The rainy season lasts from
before the middle of June to the middle or end of September. This
season is called Harîf[47].
I have observed that the rain, which is generally very heavy and
accompanied with lightning, falls most frequently from 3 P.M. till
midnight.
The changes of the wind are not periodical but instantaneous. It is
with a southerly wind that the greatest heat prevails; and with a
South-East that the greatest quantity of rain falls. When the breeze
is from the North or North-west it is most refreshing, but does not
generally continue long in that quarter. The hot and oppressive winds
which fill the air with thick dust blow constantly from the South.
One day, while I was sitting in the market-place at Cobbé, I observed
a singular appearance in the air, which soon discovered itself to
be a column of sand, raised from the desert by a whirlwind. It was
apparently about a mile and a half distant, and continued about eight
minutes; this phenomenon had nothing of the tremendous appearance
of the columns of sand described by Bruce as rising between Assuân
and Chendi, being merely a light cloud of sand.
The harvest is conducted in a very simple manner. The women and
slaves of the proprietor are employed to break off the ears with
their hands, leaving the straw standing, which is afterwards applied
to buildings and various other useful purposes. They then accumulate
them in baskets, and carry them away on their heads. When threshed,
which is awkwardly and incompletely performed, they expose the grain
to the sun till it become quite dry; after this an hole in the earth
is prepared, the bottom and sides of which are covered with chaff
to exclude the vermin. This cavity or magazine is filled with grain,
which is then covered with chaff, and afterwards with earth. In this
way the maize is preserved tolerably well. In using it for food,
they grind it, and boil it in the form of polenta, which is eaten
either with fresh or sour milk, or still more frequently with a
sauce made of dried meat pounded in a mortar, and boiled with onions,
&c. The Furians use little butter; with the Egyptians and Arabs it
is an article in great request. There is also another sauce which
the poorer people use and highly relish, it is composed of an herb
called _Cowel_ or _Cawel_, of a taste in part acescent and in part
bitter, and generally disagreeable to strangers.
As a substitute for bread, cakes of the same material are also baked
on a smooth substance prepared for the purpose, which are extremely
thin, and if dexterously prepared not unpalatable. These are called
_kissery_ (fragments or sections); they are also eaten with the sauce
above mentioned, or with milk, or simply water; and in whatever form
the grain be used, the rich cause it to be fermented before it be
reduced to flour, which gives it a very agreeable taste. They also
make no hesitation in eating the dokn raw, but moistened with water,
without either grinding or the operation of fire.
The Sultan here does not seem wholly inattentive to that important
object, agriculture. Nevertheless, it may be esteemed rather a blind
compliance with antient custom, than individual public spirit, in
which has originated a practice adopted by him, in itself sufficiently
laudable, since other of his regulations by no means conduce to the
same end.
At the beginning of the _Harîf_, or wet season, which is also the
moment for sowing the corn, the King goes out with his Meleks and the
rest of his train, and while the people are employed in turning up
the ground and sowing the seed, he also makes several holes with his
own hand. The same custom, it is said, obtains in Bornou, and other
countries in this part of Africa. It calls to the mind a practice
of the Egyptian kings, mentioned by Herodotus. Whether this usage
be antecedent to the introduction of Mohammedism into the country,
I know not; but as it is attended with no superstitious observance,
it would rather seem to belong to that creed.
_Population._
The number of inhabitants in a country in so rude a state as this is
at present, it must necessarily be extremely difficult to compute with
precision. Possibly the levies for war may furnish some criterion. The
Sultan, for about two years, had been engaged in a very serious war
with the usurper of Kordofân. The original levies for this war
I have understood consisted of about two thousand men. Continual
reinforcements have been sent, which may be supposed to amount to
more than half that number. At present the army does not contain more
than two thousand, great numbers of them having been taken off by the
small-pox, and other causes. Even this number is very much missed,
and the army is still spoken of as a very large one. It seems to me
from this and other considerations, that the number of souls within
the empire cannot much exceed two hundred thousand. Cobbé is one
of their most populous towns; yet from the best computation I have
been able to make, knowing the number of inhabitants in the greater
part of the houses, I cannot persuade myself that the total amount
of both sexes, including slaves, much exceeds six thousand. Of these
the greater proportion are slaves.
[Illustration: MAP of DARFUR to Accompany Travels in AFRICA &c. from
the Year 1792 to 1798.
_by W. G. Browne._
_to face page 284._
_London, Published by Messrs. Cadell and Davies Strand 4 June 1799._]
The houses are separated from each other by wide intervals, as
each man chooses for building the spot nearest to the ground he
cultivates; so that in an extent of about two miles on a line,
not much more than one hundred distinct inclosures properly to be
termed houses are visible. The number of villages is considerable;
but a few hundred souls form the sum of the largest. There are only
eight or ten towns of great population.
The people of Dar-Fûr are divided into those from the river, of whom
I have already spoken, some few from the West, who are either Fukkara,
or come for the purposes of trade. Arabs, who are very numerous,
and some of whom are established in the country, and cannot quit
it; they are of many different tribes, but the greater number are
those who lead a wandering kind of life on the frontiers, and breed
camels, oxen, and horses. Yet they are not, for the most part, in
such a state of dependence as always to contribute effectually to the
strength of the monarch in war, or to his supplies in peace. These
are _Mahmîd_, the _Mahréa_, the _beni-Fesâra_, the _beni-Gerâr_,
and several others whose names I do not recollect. After the Arabs
come the people of Zeghawa, which once formed a distinct kingdom,
whose chief went to the field with a thousand horsemen, as it is
said, from among his own subjects. The Zeghawa speak a different
dialect from the people of Fûr. We must then enumerate the people
of Bégo or Dageou, who are now subject to the crown of Fûr, but
are a distinct tribe, which formerly ruled the country. Kordofân,
which is now subject to Fûr, and a number of other smaller kingdoms,
as _Dar Bérti_, &c. _Dar Rugna_ has a king, who is however dependent,
but more on Bergoo than on Fûr. What are the numbers of each is
very difficult to say, as there are few or no data whence any thing
satisfactory can be deduced.
[Illustration: _Sketch of a Plan of the Residence of the Sultan
of Fûr._
_to face page 286._
_Brown del._
_Lowry Sculp._
_For the Description of this Plate, to which the References are made,
see the End of the Appendix._]
_Building._
This art, in which more refined nations display so much ingenuity,
and consume so much of their property, is here limited by the
necessity that produced it. A light roof shelters the Fûrian from
the sun and rain, and he fears not to be crushed by the mass which
he has raised for his security. The conflagration may desolate his
abode, but his soul is not appalled, for he has raised no monument of
vanity to become its prey. The walls, wherever that material is to be
procured, are built of clay; and the people of higher rank cover them
with a kind of plaster, and colour them white, red, and black. The
apartments are of three kinds, one is called a _Donga_, which is a
cube commonly formed in the proportion of twenty feet by twelve. The
four walls are covered with a flat roof consisting of light beams
laid horizontally from side to side; over this is spread a stratum
of ushar, or some other light wood, or, by those who can afford the
expense, course mats; a quantity of dried horse’s or camel’s dung
is laid over this; and the whole is finished with a strong and smooth
coating of clay. They contrive to give the roof a slight obliquity,
making spouts to carry off the water. The roof thus constructed is
a tolerable protection from the rain, and the whole building is in
a certain degree secure from robbers, and the other inconveniences
which are there to be expected. The _Donga_ is provided with a door,
consisting of a single plank, hewn with the axe, as the plane and saw
are equally unknown. It is secured by a padlock, and thus constitutes
the repository of all their property. The next is called a _Kournak_,
which is usually somewhat larger than the _Donga_, differing from
it in being without a door, and having no other roof than thatch,
shelving like that of our barns, composed of Kassob, the straw of
the maize, and supported by light rafters. This however is cooler in
summer than the more closely covered buildings, and is appropriated
to receiving company, and sleeping. The women are commonly lodged,
and dress their food in another apartment of the same kind as the
last, but round, and from fifteen to twenty feet in diameter: this is
called _Sukteia_. The walls of the _Donga_ are often about twelve or
fifteen feet high; those of the other buildings seldom exceed seven or
eight, but this depends on the taste of the owner. The floor of each,
by persons who are attentive to neatness, is covered with clean sand,
which is changed as occasion requires. An house in which there are
two _Dongas_, two _Kournaks_, and two _Sukteias_, is considered as
a large and commodious one, fitted to the use of merchants of the
first order. A _Rukkûba_ (shed) is frequently added, which is no
more than a place sheltered from the sun, where a company sit and
converse in the open air. The interior fence of the house is commonly
a wall of clay. The exterior universally a thick hedge, consisting
of dried branches of acacia and other thorny trees, which secures
the cattle, and prevents the slaves from escaping; but which, as it
takes no root, is never green, and has rather a gloomy aspect. The
materials of the village houses require no particular description;
they are commonly of the form of the _Sukteia_, when they rise above
the appellation of hut, but the substance is the straw of the maize,
or some other equally coarse and insecure. Tents are not used, except
by the Meleks and great men, and these are ill-constructed. In time
of war materials to construct huts are found by the soldiers, and
applied without great difficulty; and the _Sarcina belli_ of each
man is a light mat adapted to the size of his body.
_Manners._
The troops of the country are not famed for skill, courage, or
perseverance. In their campaigns much reliance is placed on the Arabs
who accompany them, and who are properly tributaries rather than
subjects of the Sultan. One energy of barbarism they indeed possess,
in common with other savages, that of being able to endure hunger
and thirst; but in this particular they have no advantage over their
neighbours. On the journey, a man whom I had observed travelling on
foot with the caravan, but unconnected with any person, asked me for
bread—“How long have you been without it?” said I.—“Two days,” was the
reply.—“And how long without water?”—“I drank water last night.”—This
was at sun-set, after we had been marching all day in the heat of the
sun, and we had yet six hours to reach the well. In their persons the
Fûrians are not remarkable for cleanliness. Though observing as
Mohammedans all the superstitious formalities of prayer, their hair is
rarely combed, or their bodies completely washed. The hair of the pubes
and axillæ it is usual to exterminate; but they know not the use of
soap; so that with them polishing the skin with unguents holds the place
of perfect ablutions and real purity. A kind of farinaceous paste is
however prepared, which being applied with butter to the skin, and
rubbed continually till it become dry, not only improves its appearance,
but removes from it accidental sordes, and still more the effect of
continued transpiration, which, as there are no baths in the country, is
a consideration of some importance. The female slaves are dexterous
in the application of it, and to undergo this operation is one of
the refinements of African sensuality. Their intervals of labour and
rest are fixed by no established rule, but governed by inclination
or personal convenience. Their fatigues are often renewed under the
oppressive influence of the meridian sun, and in some districts
their nightly slumbers are interrupted by the dread of robbers,
in others by the musquitoes and other inconveniences of the climate.
An inveterate animosity seems to exist between the natives of Fûr
and those of Kordofân. From conversations with both parties I have
understood that there have been almost continual wars between the
two countries as far as the memory of individuals extends. One
of the causes of this hostility appears to be their relative
position; the latter lying in the road between Dar-Fûr and Sennaar,
which is considered as the most practicable, though not the direct
communication between the former and Mekka. Nor can caravans pass from
Suakem to Fûr, as appears, but by the permission of the governors
of Kordofân. The jealousy of trade therefore is in part the origin
of their unvaried and implacable animosity.
Nothing resembling current coin is found in Soudân, unless it
be certain small tin rings, the value of which is in some degree
arbitrary, and which alone obtains at El Fasher. In that place they
serve as the medium of exchange for small articles, for which in
others are received beads, salt, &c. These rings are made of so many
various sizes, that I have known sometimes twelve, sometimes one
hundred and forty of them, pass for a given quantity and quality
of cotton cloth. The Austrian dollars, and other silver coins,
brought from Egypt, are all sold for ornaments for the women, and
some little profit attends the sale of them, but the use of them in
dress is far from general.
Gold not being found within the limits of Fûr, is seldom seen in the
market; when it appears there, it is in the form of rings of about
one-fourth of an ounce weight each, in which state it comes from
Sennaar. The Egyptian _mahbûb_, or other stamped money, none will
receive but the people of that country. The other articles chiefly
current, are such as belong to their dress, as cotton cloths, beads,
amber, kohhel, rhéa, and on the other hand, oxen, camels, and slaves.
The disposition of the people of Fûr has appeared to me more cheerful
than that of the Egyptians; and that gravity and reserve which the
precepts of Mohammedism inspire, and the practice of the greater
number of its professors countenances and even requires, seems by no
means as yet to sit easy on them. A government perfectly despotic,
and at this time not ill administered, as far as relates to the
manners of the people, yet forms no adequate restraint to their
violent passions[48]. Prone to inebriation, but unprovided with
materials or ingenuity to prepare any other fermented liquor than
_bûza_, with this alone their convivial excesses are committed. But
though the Sultan hath just published an ordinance (March 1795)
forbidding the use of that liquor under pain of death, the plurality,
though less publicly than before, still indulge themselves in it. A
company often sits from sun-rise to sun-set drinking and conversing,
till a single man sometimes carries off near two gallons of that
liquor. The bûza has however a diuretic and diaphoretic tendency,
which precludes any danger from these excesses.
In this country dancing is practised by the men as well as the
women, and they often dance promiscuously. Each tribe seems to have
its appropriate dance: that of Fûr is called _Secondari_, that of
Bukkara _Bendala_. Some are grave, others lascivious, but consisting
rather of violent efforts than of graceful motions. Such is their
fondness for this amusement, that the slaves dance in fetters to the
music of a little drum; and, what I have rarely seen in Africa or
the East, the time is marked by means of a long stick held by two,
while others beat the cadence with short batons.
They use the games of _Tab-u-duk_ and _Drîs-wa-talaité_, described
by Niebuhr, which however appear not indigenous, but to have been
borrowed of the Arabs.
The vices of thieving, lying, and cheating in bargains, with all
others nearly or remotely allied to them, as often happen among a
people under the same circumstances, are here almost universal. No
property, whether considerable or trifling, is safe out of the sight
of the owner, nor indeed scarcely in it, unless he be stronger than
the thief. In buying and selling the parent glories in deceiving
the son, and the son the parent; and God and the Prophet are hourly
invocated, to give colour to the most palpable frauds and falsehoods.
The privilege of polygamy, which, as is well known, belongs to
their religion, the people of Soudân push to the extreme. At this
circumstance the Musselmans of Egypt, with whom I have conversed on
the subject, affect to be much scandalized: for whereas, by their
law they are allowed four free women, and as many slaves as they can
conveniently maintain, the Fûrians take both free women and slaves
without any limitation. The Sultan has more than an hundred free
women, and many of the Meleks have from twenty to thirty. Teraub,
a late king, contented himself with about five hundred females
as a light travelling equipage in his wars in Kordofân, and left
as many more in his palace. This may seem ridiculous, but when it
is recollected that they had corn to grind, water to fetch, food
to dress, and all menial offices to perform for several hundred
individuals, and that these females (excepting those who are reputed
_Serrari_, concubines of the monarch) travel on foot, and even carry
utensils, &c. on their heads, employment for this immense retinue
may be imagined, without attributing to the Sultan more libidinous
propensities than belong to others of the same rank and station.
This people exceeds in indulgences with women, and pays little
regard to restraint or decency. The form of the houses already
described secures no great secrecy to what is carried on within
them, yet even the concealment which is thus offered, is not
always sought. The shade of a tree, or long grass, is the sole
temple required for the sacrifices to the primæval deity. In
the course of licentious indulgence father and daughter, son and
mother are sometimes mingled. The relations of brother and sister
are exchanged for closer intercourse; and in the adjoining state,
(Bergoo,) the example of the monarch countenances the infraction of
a positive precept, as well of Islamism, as of the other rules of
faith, which have taken their tincture from the Mosaic dispensation.
But however unbridled their appetites in other respects may be,
pæderasty, so common in Asia and the North of Africa, is in Soudân
little known or practised. The situation, character, and treatment of
women is not exactly similar, either to that which marks the manners
of Asia, and other parts of Africa, or to that which is established in
Europe. In contradistinction to the women of Egypt, in Soudân, when
a stranger enters the house, one of the more modest indeed retires,
but she is contented to retire to a small distance, and passes and
repasses executing the business of the house in the presence of the
men. In Egypt, a veil is invariably the guardian of real or affected
modesty. In Dar-Fûr none attempt to conceal their faces but the wives
of the great, whose rank demands some affectation of decency—who
from satiety of indulgence become coquets, or whose vanity induces
them to expect that concealment will ensnare the inexperienced with
the hope of youth which has ceased to recommend them, or beauty by
which they could never boast to be adorned. The middle and inferior
rank are always contented with the slight covering of a cotton cloth,
wrapped round the waist, and occasionally another of the same form,
materials, and size, and equally loose, artlessly thrown over the
shoulders. They never eat with the men, but shew no hesitation
at being present when the men eat and drink. The most modest of
them will enter the house, not only of a man and a stranger, but
of the traders of Egypt, and make their bargains at leisure. On
such occasions, any indelicate freedom on the part of the merchant
is treated with peculiar indulgence. The husband is by no means
remarkable for jealousy, and provided he have reason to suppose
that his complaisance will be attended with any solid advantage,
will readily yield his place to a stranger. Nothing can shock the
feelings of an Egyptian more than to see his wife in conversation
with another man in public. For similar conduct, individuals of that
nation have been known to inflict the last punishment. A liberty of
this kind has no such effect on a Fûrian.
_Defendit numerus, junctæque in umbone phalanges._
The universality of the practice prevents its being esteemed either
criminal or shameful.
Some of the most laborious domestic offices in this country are
executed by women. They not only prepare the soil and sow the corn,
but assist in gathering it. They alone too are engaged in the
business of grinding and converting it into bread. They not only
prepare the food, in which (contrary to the practice of the Arabs)
it is esteemed disgraceful for a man to occupy himself, but fetch
water, wash the apparel, and cleanse the apartments. Even the clay
buildings, which have been mentioned, are constructed chiefly by
women. It is not uncommon to see a man on a journey, mounted idly on
an ass, while his wife is pacing many a weary step on foot behind him,
and moreover, perhaps, carrying a supply of provisions or culinary
utensils. Yet it is not to be supposed that the man is despotic in
his house: the voice of the female has its full weight. No question
of domestic œconomy is decided without her concurrence, and, far
from being wearied with the corporeal exertions of the day, by the
time the sun declines, her memory of real or imaginary injuries
affords matter for querulous upbraiding and aculeate sarcasms.
Whoever, impelled by vanity, (for no profit attends it,) receives to
his bed the daughter of a King or powerful Melek, (women of this rank
are called _Mîram_,) finds her sole moderatrix of his family, and
himself reduced to a cipher. Of his real or reputed offspring he has
no voice in the disposal, government, or instruction. The princess,
who has honoured him with the limited right over her person, becomes
not the partner, but the sole proprietor, of all that he possessed;
and her most extravagant caprices must not be thwarted, least her
displeasure should be succeeded by that of the monarch.
The man cannot take another wife with the same ceremonies or dowry;
and if any dispute arise concerning inheritance, the right is
always decided in favour of the _Mîram_. Finally, he is almost a
prisoner in the country, which he cannot leave, however distressed,
and however he may be inclined to retrieve his fortune by trade,
without special permission from the Sultan, and the immediate and
unqualified forfeiture not only of the dowry he gave, but of all
the valuables he received in consequence of the honourable alliance.
Previously to the establishment of Islamism[49] and kingship, the
people of Fûr seem to have formed wandering tribes, in which state
many of the neighbouring nations to this day remain. In their persons
they differ from the negroes of the coast of Guinea. Their hair is
generally short and woolly, though some are seen with it of the length
of eight or ten inches, which they esteem a beauty. Their complexion
is for the most part perfectly black. The Arabs, who are numerous
within the empire, retain their distinction of feature, colour,
and language. They most commonly intermarry with each other. The
slaves, which are brought from the country they call _Fertît_,
(land of idolaters,) perfectly resemble those of Guinea, and their
language is peculiar to themselves.
In most of the towns, except Cobbé, which is the chief residence
of foreign merchants, and even at court, the vernacular idiom is
in more frequent use than the Arabic; yet the latter is pretty
generally understood. The judicial proceedings, which are held in
the monarch’s presence, are conducted in both languages, all that
is spoken in the one being immediately translated into the other by
an interpreter (_Tergimân_).
After those who fill the offices of government, the _Faquî_,
or learned man, i.e. priest, holds the highest rank. Some few of
these _Faquîs_ have been educated at Kahira, but the majority of
them in schools of the country. They are ignorant of every thing
except the Korân. The nation, like most of the North of Africa,
except Egypt, is of the sect of the Imâm Malek, which however
differs not materially from that of Shafei.
_Revenues of Dar-Fûr._
1. On all merchandize imported the king has a duty, which in many
instances amounts to near a tenth; as for instance, on every camel’s
load of cotton goods brought from Egypt, and which commonly consists
of two hundred pieces, the duty paid to the king by the merchants
of Egypt is twenty pieces: the Arabs who are under his government
and the natives pay more; some articles however do not pay so much.
2. In addition to this, when they are about to leave Dar-Fûr on
their return to Egypt, another tax is demanded on the slaves exported,
under pretence of a voluntary douceur, to be exempt from having their
slaves scrutinised. This, on our caravan, which comprised about five
thousand slaves, amounted to 3000 mahbubs, between 6 and 700l. to
be paid to the Chabîr on their arrival in Egypt.
3. All forfeitures for misdemeanors are due to the king; and this
is a considerable article; for in case of a dispute in which blood
is shed, as often happens, he makes a demand of just what proportion
he thinks right of the property of the village in which the offence
was committed, of the whole, of an half, of a third, of every species
of possession, and this most rigorously estimated.
4. In addition to this, every one who is concerned in a judicial
proceeding before him, must bring a present according to his rank
and property: this is another considerable source of revenue.
5. Of all the merchandise, but especially slaves, which are brought
_from the roads_, as they call it, that is, from all quarters except
Egypt, the king is entitled to a tenth; and in case of a _Selatéa_,
that is, an expedition to procure slaves by force, the tenth he is
entitled to becomes a fifth, for the merchants are obliged to wait
six weeks or two months before they can sell any of their slaves,
and then are obliged to pay in kind one tenth of the number originally
taken, one half of which is by that time generally dead.
6. At the time of _leathering the kettle-drum_, which happens every
year on the 27th of the month Rabia-el-awil, all the principal
people of every town and village, nay, as I have understood, every
housekeeper, is obliged to appear at El Fasher, with a present in his
hands, according to his rank and ability. This is another considerable
source of revenue. The present of the Melek of the Jelabs on one
of these occasions, I have known to be valued at 900 mahbûbs,
or about 200l. sterling. At this solemn festival, all the troops,
not in actual service, are obliged to be present, and as it may be
called, reviewed; that is, every man who has or can procure an horse,
mounts and shews him in the public meeting.
7. A number of presents are daily and hourly received from all the
great people of the country, as well as from the merchants who come
on business, and those who solicit offices. The merchants generally
present some kind of manufacture for clothing, such as light woollen
cloth, carpets, arms, &c. and the people of the country, camels,
slaves male and female, _tokéas_, oxen, sheep, &c.
8. But one of the most considerable articles of revenue is the tribute
of the Arabs who breed oxen, horses, camels, sheep. Those who breed
horses should bring to the monarch all the males which are yearly
produced by their mares; but this I am told they often contrive
to avoid. The customary tribute of the Arabs who breed oxen, or
_Bukkara_, as they are called, is one tenth[50]. But when I was there,
they having neglected paying it for two years, the Sultan sent a body
of troops, who seized all they could lay hands on, to the number of
twelve thousand oxen. If the tribute were regularly paid, it might
amount to four thousand oxen per annum: but these Arabs live in tents,
and consequently change their habitations frequently, and when they
feel themselves united, are not much inclined to pay tribute. Those
who breed camels should also pay a tenth of their property yearly; and
I have understood that they acquit themselves of the obligation with
more regularity than the former. These also however are sometimes
rebellious, and then nothing is received from them. Two tribes,
_Mahría_ and _Mahmîd_, were at war during my residence in Fûr,
and a battle took place between them, in which many fell on both
sides: the monarch, to punish them for their contumacious behaviour,
sent a Melek with a detachment of about sixty horsemen, who seized
on one half of the camels of every Arab, and where they found five
took three, as the fifth could not be divided. The owners of sheep
and goats pay a tenth.
9. Every village is obliged to pay annually a certain sum in corn,
_Dokn_, which is collected by the king’s slaves. The monarch has
also lands of his own, which are cultivated by his slaves, and which
serve to supply his houshold; for, though a merchant, he does not
sell corn. The whole of the district of Gebel Marra, to the West, is
entirely appropriated to his use, and the wheat, wild honey, &c. which
are abundantly produced there are all reserved for his table.
10. The king is chief merchant in the country, and not only dispatches
with every caravan to Egypt a great quantity of his own merchandise,
but also employs his slaves and dependents to trade with the goods
of Egypt, on his own account, in the countries adjacent to Soudan.
_Articles of Commerce._
Gold rings are sometimes worn in the nose by women of distinction.
Sea-shells (_Cowries_) are among other female ornaments, but not very
current. The red legumen, called _Shûsh_, is much worn in the hair.
Commodities brought by the Jelabs from Egypt are:
1. Amber beads.
2. Tin, in small bars.
3. Coral beads.
4. Cornelian ditto.
5. False Cornelian ditto.
6. Beads of Venice.
7. Agate.
8. Rings, silver and brass, for the ancles and wrists.
9. Carpets, small.
10. Blue cotton cloths of Egyptian fabric.
11. White cotton ditto.
12. Indian muslins and cottons.
13. Blue and white cloths of Egypt called _Melayés_.
14. Sword blades, strait, (German,) from Kahira.
15. Small looking-glasses.
16. Copper face-pieces, or defensive armour for the horses’ heads.
17. Fire arms.
18. Kohhel for the eyes.
19. _Rhéa_, a kind of moss from European Turkey, for food,
and a scent.
20. _Shé_, a species of absynthium, for its odour, and as a
remedy: both the last sell to advantage.
21. Coffee.
22. _Mahleb_, _Krumphille_, _Symbille_, _Sandal_, Nutmegs.
23. _Dufr_, the shell of a kind of fish in the Red Sea, used for
a perfume.
24. Silk unwrought.
25. Wire, brass and iron.
26. Coarse glass beads, made at Jerusalem, called _Hersh_
and _Munjûr_.
27. Copper culinary utensils, for which the demand is small.
28. Old copper for melting and re-working.
29. Small red caps of Barbary.
30. Thread linens of Egypt—small consumption.
31. Light French cloths, made into Benîshes.
32. Silks of Scio, made up.
33. Silk and cotton pieces of Aleppo, Damascus, &c.
34. Shoes of red leather.
35. Black pepper.
36. Writing paper, (_papier des trois lunes_,) a considerable
article.
37. Soap of Syria.
Transported to Egypt:
1. Slaves, male and female.
2. Camels.
3. Ivory.
4. Horns of the rhinoceros.
5. Teeth of the hippopotamus.
6. Ostrich feathers.
7. Whips of the hippopotamus’s hide.
8. Gum.
9. Pimento.
10. Tamarinds, made into round cakes.
11. Leather sacks for water (_ray_) and dry articles (_geraub_).
12. Peroquets in abundance, and some monkeys and Guinea fowl.
13. Copper, white, in small quantity.
CHAP. XX.
_Miscellaneous observations on Dar-Fûr, and some of the adjacent
countries._
The preceding chapters concerning Dar-Fûr, contain mostly
facts of which I was an eye-witness, or received from undoubted
authority. But as every information, however minute, may either
conduce to facilitate farther progress in this part of Africa,
or may perhaps interest the curious reader, as relating to regions
little known, I shall now proceed to some matters, related to me on
the spot, but the accuracy of which I cannot pretend to vouch.
The people of Fûr are represented as using many superstitious
ceremonies at the _leathering of the kettle-drum_, a ceremony
before mentioned. Among others, it is said, they put to death,
in the form of a sacrifice, a young boy and girl. Even to this day,
many idols are worshipped by the women of the Sultan’s _Harem_. The
mountaineers offer a kind of sacrifice to the deity of the mountains,
when they are in want of rain.
Several superstitious notions prevail among the slaves. One of them
having died suddenly, it was imagined that he had been possessed
by the devil, and none of them would wash the body. It was with
difficulty that they could be prevailed on even to carry it to the
place of interment.
The people of Dageou, a country on the West, represented as not
far from Bergoo, it is said, conquered the country now called Fûr,
and retained it till they were exhausted by mutual contentions: upon
which the present race of kings succeeded, but from what origin I have
not been able to discover. Probably, Moors driven from the North by
the Arabs. The race of Dageou is said to have come from the vicinity
of Tunis. It is reported, that they had a custom of lighting a fire
on the inauguration of their king, which was carefully kept burning
till his death. At present there is a custom in Fûr, of spreading
the carpets on which the several deceased Sultans used to sit,
before the new prince, and from the one he prefers, it is judged
his character will be analogous to that of its former possessor.
The Sultan Omar, one of the predecessors of Teraub, carried on a
long and destructive war with the neighbouring country of Bergoo,
in which he exhausted his treasures and people, and at the same time
greatly weakened the adverse country.
The families between which the pretensions to authority now lie,
are those of Abd-el-Casim, Teraub, and Chalifé, his brother. Each
of them has a number of warm partizans among the soldiery, who would
never be faithful to any of the other families. The competitors are
so numerous that much confusion is expected to follow the death of the
present Sultan; and it is inferred that the kingdom will be divided.
I shall now proceed to state some relations that were made to me
concerning Kordofân and other adjacent countries.
A king, of the name of _Abli-calik_, is the idol of the people
of Kordofân, where he reigned about fourteen years ago, and is
renowned for probity and justice. The kings of Kordofân had been
deputed by the Mecque of Sennaar, till after the death of the son
of _Abli-Calik_, when it was usurped by Fûr, in consequence of the
weakness and dissensions of the government at Sennaar.
The people of Kordofân are reported to be not only indifferent to
the amours of their daughters and sisters, but even attached to their
seducers. The father or brother will even draw the sword against him
who offends the _Refîk_, or companion of his daughter or sister. Very
different is the mode of thinking in Sennaar, where immodesty is only
permitted among the female slaves. The chief merchants have companies
of these slaves, and derive great profit from their prostitution.
_Afnou_, a country beyond Bornou to the Westward, is said to produce
such abundance of silver, that the natives construct defensive armour
of that metal. The coats of mail are jointed, and represented as very
beautiful. Of the same material, it is reported, are made pieces to
protect the head and breast of their horses, the former having the
chaffron, or horn, known in our days of chivalry.
Among the Southern countries, whither the Jelabs of Bergoo and Fûr
sometimes journey to procure slaves, is _Dar Kulla_. The chief article
they carry to Kulla is salt, twelve pounds of which are estimated as
the price of a male slave, _sedasé_, about twelve or fourteen years
of age. A female brings three pounds more, whimsically computed by
the natives, as, a pound for the girl’s eyes, another for her nose,
and a third for her ears. If copper be the medium, two rotals are
esteemed equal to four of salt. _Hoddûr_, a large sort of Venetian
glass beads, and tin, are in great esteem. Of the latter they make
rings and other ornaments.
The natives of Kulla are represented as partly negroes, partly of a
red or copper colour. Their language is nasal, but very simple and
easy. It is said they worship idols. They are very cleanly, to which
the abundance of water in their country contributes: and they are
remarkable for honesty, and even punctilious in their transactions
with the Jelabs.
They have ferry-boats on the river, which are impelled partly by
poles, partly by a double oar, like our canoes. Slaves are obtained
in Dar Kulla either by violence, _Selatéa_, or by the following
method. In that country the smallest trespass on the property of
another, is punished by enslaving the children or young relations
of the trespasser. If even a man’s footstep be observed among the
corn of another, the circumstance is attended by calling witnesses,
and application to a magistrate, and the certain consequence of proof
is the forfeiture of his son, daughter, nephew, or niece, to the
person trespassed on. These accidents are continually happening, and
produce a great number of slaves. A commission to purchase any thing
in a distant market, not exactly fulfilled, is attended with a like
forfeiture. But above all, if a person of note die, the family have
no idea of death as a necessary event, but say that it is effected
by witchcraft. To discover the perpetrator, the poorer natives, far
and near, are obliged to undergo expurgation by drinking a liquor
which is called in Dar-Fûr _Kilingi_, or something that resembles
it; and the person on whom the supposed signs of guilt appear,
may either be put to death, or sold as a slave.
The people of Kulla are strangers to venereal complaints, but
are subject to the small-pox. In that part of the country which is
visited by the Jelabs there is a king; the rest is occupied by small
tribes, each of which is ruled by the chief who happens to have most
influence at the time. The _Kumba_, or Pimento tree, is found there
in such plenty, that a _rotal_ or pound of salt will purchase four
or five _mid_, each _mid_ about a peck.
The trees are so large, from the quantity of water and deep clay,
that canoes are hollowed out of them sufficiently capacious to
contain ten persons.
It was related to me by Jelabs who have visited that country,
that the inhabitants of Dar Bergoo make war by sudden incursions,
traversing and laying waste a large space in a short time. They
leave their women behind, and are thus better adapted to military
operations than the Fûrians, who follow an opposite practice,
never marching without a host of attendant females. The people of
Bergoo seldom make _Selatéa_.
Some of the idolatrous nations, dependent on Bergoo, are represented
as making war in a very formidable manner. The combatants never
retreat; and the women behind light a fire, in which they heat the
heads of the spears, and exchange them for such as are cooled in
the combat. They also use poisoned weapons.
There is a remote part of the pagan country, from which slaves
are brought, which the Arabs distinguish by the term _Gnum Gnum_,
(a sobriquet,) whose inhabitants eat the flesh of the prisoners
they take in war. I have conversed with slaves who came thence,
and they admit the fact. These people are also in the habit of
stripping off the skin of the hands and faces of their slaughtered
foes, which afterwards undergo some preparation, and are worn as
a mark of triumph. Their arms, a spear or javelin, are of iron,
wrought by themselves. After having heated them to redness, they
stick the point into the trunk of a particular tree, and there leave
the weapon till the juice has dried on. In this manner it acquires,
as is reported, a most deadly poison.
A few of the more common vocabula in the language of _Dar-Run̄ga_.
Water Tta.
As eide (a pudding) Gnung.
Come and eat Gagra.
Quickly Undelak nonnerâ.
Bring the bowl Kiddeki, Kiddeki.
A mat Kubbenâng.
Cloths Lemba.
Shoes Bŏrŏ.
Sun Agn̄ing.
It is hot Agn̄ing betrân.
Moon Medding.
A wooden mortar Bedding.
Ass Gussendĕ.
Horse Filah.
Dog Ming.
House Ttong.
Kingdom Kussé.
Wood of any kind Unjŭm.
Fire Nissiek.
Woman Mmi.
Man Kameré.
Is it I? Ammé?
Reprimanding Ggó!
Grain Assé.
Maize Dimbiti.
Millet Gurwendi.
Fowl Kidi.
Winged ant Agn̄emâ.
Spear Sûbbûk.
Knife Dangala.
Foot Itar.
Eye Khasso.
Ear Nesso.
Hand Tusso.
Light blue Endréng.
Dung Abûrr.
Urine Nissich.
Copper Simméri.
Tin Fueddah.
Beads Arrû.
Loins (of the human body) _also_ Arrû.
One Kadenda.
Two Embirr.
Three Attik.
Four Mendih.
Six Subotîkeda.
Seven Ow.
Eight Sebatéis.
Nine Atih.
Ten Bûff.
Rain Kin̄ga.
God, _also_ Kin̄ga.
By God, _an adjuration_ Kin̄ga go!
Honey Tuggi.
Fish Kogn̄ong.
Meat Missich.
Gruel Ba-birré.
Stone Dissi.
A star Beité.
The stars collectively Beité-jûk.
Slave of either sex Guiah.
Male slave Guiah méré.
Female slave Guiah Mmi.
Mountain Ddéta.
Wind Wwi.
Cinders Firgi.
CHAP. XXI.
MEDICAL REMARKS.
_Psorophthalmia — Plague — Small-pox — Guinea worm —
Scrophula — Syphilis — Bile — Tenia — Hernia — Hydrocele
— Hemorrhoides and Fistula — Apoplexy — Umbilical ruptures
— Accouchemens — Hydrophobia — Phlebotomy — Remedies —
Remarks — Circumcision — Excision._
From the following detached remarks, the result chiefly of personal
observation, if the physiologist can derive any amusement, or the
traveller the smallest mitigation of his personal sufferings, the
purpose of committing them to paper is answered.
If any medical professor should chance to advert to them, the writer
is too conscious of the superficiality of his own knowlege not to
perceive, that little satisfaction will be derived. But persuaded,
that the art of healing, even at this day, abounds little less
in experiments than in the age of one of its brightest ornaments,
who makes the confession, he is induced to believe, scarcely any
fact relative to it, or any experiment, faithfully narrated, can be
wholly destitute of its use.
_Psorophthalmia._
It is remarked that in Egypt, but particularly in Kahira, the blind,
and those who have defective vision, bear a large proportion to
the number of the inhabitants. The fact observed, which cannot be
disputed, has been explained in various ways. It has by some been
considered as proceeding from the habitual use of rice. By others,
as the effect of the subtle dust which floats in the air. Even the
water of the Nile has been supposed to co-operate at least, if not
to be the sole agent, in producing this remarkable disease.
To explore the origin of this or any other malady, all its appearances
must first be accurately noted. The ophthalmia of Egypt leads
us through a diversity of symptoms, from slight inflammation and
defluxion, to the total and irrecoverable blindness occasioned by
opacity of the Cornea. To enumerate them all correctly, and compare
them in a variety of cases, must be the task of an oculist long
resident on the spot, and accustomed to numerous patients. A transient
observer, however diligent in his inquiries, may more easily prove
the falsehood of the assigned causes, than trace the real one.
The Nile water, it may be supposed, when taken into the stomach,
can have no effect on the eyes, but by first altering the state of
the fluids, into which it, as well as other aliments, is gradually
converted. Whether from mineral or vegetable impregnations, it could
never operate solely on the eyes, without affecting any other part
of the animal economy. The effect of opium is seen on the blood
and muscular fibres; of mercury on the glands and lymphatics;
of cantharides on the nerves: and too great a portion of these,
taken into the body, may have a pernicious effect on the eyes, but
always through the medium of other parts. The whole _materia medica_,
perhaps, furnishes no drug or mineral that is known, when taken into
the stomach, to have a local and partial effect on the eyes. Such
an effect is even irreconcileable with the general and constantly
observed operation of all remedies applied to the human body.
Besides, if the injury were solely or even in part to arise from
the use of the Nile water, all those who drink it must be equally
affected, allowing for the different degree of firmness in the
stamina of each. But certain orders of men are rarely attacked by
this disease, and they too who are continually using the river water
both internally and externally.
Rice is one of the most nutritive and salubrious of the farinaceous
aliments, and certainly does not operate to render the humours
acrid, and thereby to inflame the eyes. It is used as a main article
of food by the natives of a large portion of Asia, and forms no
inconsiderable part of the consumption in other countries, without
being observed to produce any such effect as is here attributed to
it; and may therefore fairly be denied to have any such power.
Something more plausible indeed offers itself as to the injurious
operation of an external cause. Nothing can be more subtle than
the dust into which the vegetable soil of Egypt resolves itself
when it becomes dry. This, during a certain portion of the year,
is in a manner suspended in the air, from a cause which exists in
few other countries, I mean the want of rain. It also contains a
large portion of nitre, which is copiously produced in Egypt. This
circumstance, however, is common to many other places. This light
dust, doubtless of a very irritating quality, not only floats in the
streets, but pervades the apartments of every dwelling, insinuating
itself into the most artfully constructed inclosures: by it therefore
the eyes may and must be in some degree affected. But Nature has
not ordained that a part so much exposed should be destitute of its
appropriate protection. The secretions of the lachrymal glands are,
in general, abundantly sufficient to counteract the injury sustained
by the action of corrosive or irritating substances on the external
fabric of the eye, being always produced exactly in proportion to
the circumstances that demand them, as daily experience confirms:
yet it cannot be denied, that the continually repeated operation
of an offending cause, when no remedy is applied, may be more than
commensurate with the efforts of Nature to restore herself.
Such is precisely the condition of the Kahirines. The accommodating
the quality of diet to the symptoms of derangement in the economy
is a precaution unknown to them: and of their remedies, many are so
prepared, or so administered, as to augment rather than to annihilate
disease. No idea offers itself to them, but of topical applications to
remove a local complaint. If any thing be applied in these _flussioni_
(dysophthalmia) it is generally _kôhhel_ (calx of tin mixed with
sheep’s fat) or _tûtti_, a still more powerful astringent, applied
in coarse powder, and naturally tending to increase rather than to
allay the irritation.
When thus incommoded, the Egyptians of the lower class esteem
water pernicious, and therefore rarely wash their eyes; but as the
collected dust begins to cause an uneasy sensation, apply their
fingers or a coarse cotton cloth to remove it. The higher orders,
who are neat in their persons, and regular in their ablutions, are
rarely observed to be greatly harassed by this complaint. And the
progress of the disorder, when in its nascent state, has several
times been stopped, under my observation, by the use of rose-water,
solution of sacchar. saturn. &c. as in other places.
But as no single one of these causes, nor even all of them together,
appear sufficient to account for all the phenomena, another, more
powerful, is to be sought; and none suggests itself more opportunely
than that alleged by Savary, who imagines that the defect of vision
is principally brought about by the habit of being exposed to the
nocturnal air during the summer, at which season a heavy dew falls,
and a great transition happens from the heats of the day. In fact,
if the face of those who sleep exposed be not completely covered, an
itching and unpleasant sensation is always felt in the eyes at rising.
It is ordinarily experienced in the city, where, from being confined
in the day, people feel most disposed to seek for coolness and
refreshment on their terraces at night.
The Mamlûks, and higher order of Arabs, that is, Mohammedan
merchants, and the superior rank of Copts and Franks, are least
affected, as being cleanly, not exposing themselves to the night air
without necessity, and being well covered. The Arabs of the desert
are as free from blindness as any people. They never sleep with the
face exposed, and have moreover the advantage of being devoid of the
dust and other supposed causes of psorophthalmia in the city. The
disorder appears no where so much as in Kahira, because no where
are all the causes so much combined: yet it is seen in Alexandria,
Damiatt, and in Upper Egypt, which shews that the cause is not
confined to Kahira. Among the poorer class of all countries prevails
a kind of _insouciance_. That of Kahira is particularly exposed
to the changes of temperature and the nocturnal dew, and is ill
clothed. Hence the disorder is mostly found among the populace. A
disposition to inflammation often appears in the eyes of children,
but yields to proper remedies. Hence it may be imagined, that with
attention the Egyptians would not suffer more than other nations.
Some travellers have thought that the ophthalmic disease in Kahira was
occasioned by the fetid exhalations of the Chalige, and the drains;
and have even observed, that those who are most severely affected in
winter, recover as soon as the water has filled the Chalige and the
pools. This is also a common idea with the natives. “The stink
blinds me,” is a frequent expression on coming into a place of
fetid odour; and it may be remarked, that the ordinary maxims of
_indigenæ_ are rarely to be entirely disregarded. Whatever miasms
however may issue from the canal, they cannot be equally dispersed
over the city, as blindness is; and the Franks, Greeks, and other
strangers who reside nearest this depôt of impurity, would be most
affected if that were the cause. It may yet be one cause. Another I
take to be the subtile dust above mentioned; but the most powerful,
indiscreet exposure to the nocturnal air and dews. The collective
influence of these is strengthened by the cloudless splendour of
a vertical sun, reflected from the sterile expanse of sand, which
offers no sombrous object on which the eye may repose itself.
These considerations, it may be acknowleged, do not carry conviction;
but too many local diseases are yet unexplained, to leave any wonder
if the cause of this should yet remain problematical.
_Plague._
All the improvements in the art of healing which modern Europe can
boast as its own, are the result of more frequent experiment, and
more patient and minute investigation, than existed in the antient.
To conjecture ingeniously is a matter of small effort, and in treating
of what is properly the object of experiment, it is not only of
no value, but often of dangerous result. But it is suited to the
indolence of the human mind, and flattering to personal vanity, which
delights to perform much by a single energy. Hence, an hypothesis
supported by some insulated fact, perhaps only by specious error,
is often advanced with warmth, and the most important considerations
militating against it, are forgotten, or warped to serve the purpose
of the inventor. Thus the increase of the Nile was once confidently
attributed to the Etesian winds; and the malady which has so often
almost depopulated Kahira, is still by some imagined to proceed from
the putrid deposition of its waters.
We have at length disposed ourselves to the habit of tracing
the cause of disease, by combining a number of minute, and often
varying, symptoms. A practice which, if correct in its detail, can
never but be accurate in its deductions. Relative to the Plague,
however, whose very name distracts the timid, and appals even the
courageous, our reasonings and our deductions are quite of a different
description. Respecting its cause, all is conjecture. No experienced
or well-informed practitioner has watched the bed of the sick; none
has accurately examined the different appearances which the disease
assumes in different persons, nor even in its different stages, in the
same person. Scarcely any, it is believed, has been tranquil enough
to hear patiently from the mouth of the sufferer an account of his
sensations, which, recounted by a third person, never fail to vary.
Where this malady appears, the physician and the priest, the pride
of science and the security of faith, confident and boastful when
the patient alone is threatened, are both equally alert in their
efforts to escape. The ignorant and unreflecting Muslim, indeed,
awe-struck, and resigned to the unalterable decree of Fate, hangs
over the couch of his expiring relative. But the report, guided
by prejudice, is likely to mislead, and the observation can be of
little value when the sole sentiment is stupor.
Thus the Plague remains almost destitute of a local habitation,
though it have a name in nosology.
Who can at this day determine, whether the pestilence mentioned
by Thucydides be the same as that of Modern Egypt and Turkey? Or
whether the epidemical diseases, which have for several centuries,
at intervals ravaged different parts of the Turkish empire, have been
all specifically the same? The Europeans frequenting the Levant, have
written profound treatises on the plague, simply from having seen
a quantity of dead bodies carried past the doors of their houses,
which the double optics of fear have occasionally magnified from
500 to 10,000.
The facts that appear chiefly to be ascertained relative to the
plague, are, 1st, That the infection is not received but by actual
contact. In this particular, it would seem less formidable than
several other disorders. 2. That it is communicated by certain
substances, by others not, as by a woollen cloth, or rope of hemp,
but not by a piece of ivory, wood, or a rope made of the date tree;
nor by any thing that has been completely immersed in water. It would
appear from the report of the Kahirines, that no animal but man is
affected with this disorder; though, it is said, a cat passing from
an infected house, has carried the contagion. 3. That persons have
often remained together in the same house, and entirely under the
same circumstances, of whom one has been attacked, and died; and
the others never felt the smallest inconvenience. 4. That a person
may be affected any number of times. 5. That it is more fatal to
the young than the old. 6. That no climate appears to be exempt
from it; yet, 7. that the extremes of heat and cold both appear
to be adverse to it. In Constantinople it is often, but far from
being always terminated by the cold of winter, and in Kahira by the
heat of summer; both circumstances being, as may be conjectured,
the effect of indisposition for absorption in the skin, unless it
be supposed that in the latter case, it may be attributed to the
change the air undergoes from the increase of the Nile.
The first symptoms are said to be thirst; 2. cephalalgia; 3. a
stiff and uneasy sensation, with redness and tumour about the eyes;
4. watering of the eyes; 5. white pustules on the tongue. The more
advanced symptoms of buboes, fœtor of the breath, &c. &c. are well
known; and I have nothing authentic to add to them. Not uncommonly,
all these have successively shewn themselves, yet the patient has
recovered; in which case, where suppuration has had place, the skin
always remains discoloured, commonly of a purple hue.—Many who
have been bleeded in an early stage of the disorder, have recovered
without any fatal symptoms; but whether from that or any other cause,
does not appear certain. The same operation is reported to have been
commonly fatal in a late stage. It is said that embrocating the buboes
continually with oil has sometimes wrought a cure; but this remedy
is so difficult and dangerous for the operator, that it would appear
experiments must yet be very defective. The natives of Kahira are too
supine to seek for any remedy, and too bigoted to avoid the danger.
The plague which happened in Egypt so early as the year 1348, when
Constantinople was yet subject to the Greek emperor, and Egypt in
possession of Mohammedans, may be supposed to have originated in
the latter. But not to mention that there were many other places
from which it might be brought, this single instance, not given in
detail, is insufficient to overthrow the testimony of the modern
inhabitants, who with one consent affirm, whether Mohammedans or
Christians, that the plague is not endemial in Egypt, but that all
the instances of it which they are able to trace are proved to have
been derived from abroad.
The learned Dr. Mead has brought the plague from Ethiopia, where
famine and the small-pox indeed carry off numbers; but where the
plague was never known to exist. It is not remembered to have
penetrated far into the Upper Egypt, except in some few instances,
when it was known to have been carried thither by the boats from
Kahira. No more is required to account for its introduction into
Egypt at this day, than the admission, that it is never completely
extinct at Constantinople, which, it seems, has scarcely been denied.
The imagination of one of our poets has drawn the pestilence from
the filth of Kahira, and the mud of the Nile. But, not to mention
that there is less disposition to fermentation and putrefaction
in the atmosphere of Egypt, than in almost any other that I have
heard described, Kahira is very far from being impure. No offensive
substance remains in the streets twenty-four hours; and even what
is left to annoy passengers in London and Paris for months, is there
carried away and preserved for burning.
The mud of the Nile becomes dry in a very short space of time
after the water has left it, except in the canal (Chalige) which is
indeed not very odoriferous; but so far from emitting pestilential
exhalations, that the Franks who especially dwell close to it, are
never infected with the plague, and are in general among the most
healthy of the inhabitants of that metropolis.
_Small-pox._
The small-pox is a disease much dreaded by the people of Soudân,
whether Moors or Negroes, and little less by the Bedouins of
Egypt. The Christians of Kahira are many of them in the habit of
inoculating. A few of the Mohammedans use the same practice. It
is however almost impossible to persuade them to adopt our mode
of treatment.
Independently of the general ill consequence of improper management
of the patient, the chief reason of the extraordinary fatality of this
complaint among the negroes, appears to be the thickness of the skin,
which resisting the effort of nature to protrude the morbid matter to
the surface, tends to throw it back into the circulation. A proprietor
of slaves, who was rather anxious for the conservation of his
property, than scrupulous in his attachment to religious prejudice,
desired me to inoculate five of them. A strong dose of senna was
administered as preparative, and they were afterwards restrained as
to diet. Three of them had not in the whole forty pustules, and soon
recovered. The other two suffered much; and the eruption, though
not confluent, proved fatal to one of them. Whether he had caught
it before, been improperly treated, or whether it was the effect
of habit of body, was not clear. These were of the true negro cast,
called, _Fertît_. They were all under twelve years of age.
_Guinea Worm._
The Mohammedans of Fûr, and the Arabs, call the idolaters in their
neighbourhood _Fertît_, (فرتيت à فرت _improbus fuit_). The
disease called the Guinea Worm is known among them by the same
name. It is extremely common, and very troublesome to the slaves,
and sometimes to free persons. It is by some esteemed contagious,
which however is rather surmised than certified. It consists of
a whitish tumour, at first hard and painful. Often shews itself
about the knee, in the fleshy part of the thigh, and in the foot,
just below the instep. As it is matured, a small white worm appears,
which is to be wound off by degrees, and in coming out is followed
by the discharge of purulent matter. If broken in the extraction,
it is sometimes very inconvenient, and often lasts four or even
six months. There is no certain cure for this disease, which most
frequently shews itself in the beginning of winter, after the rains;
but generally disappears at the commencement of the hot season. It
seems to originate in the water, which is replete with animalcules,
and which no care is used to purify.
They find by the termination of the tumour the extremity of the worm,
which they call _wullad-el-Fertît_, and in that spot, puncture the
skin with a red-hot iron, which they conceive forces it out; but
which always appeared to me a painful operation, without any kind of
effect. There is observed in some individuals a greater disposition
to this disease than in others, but it is not confined to age, sex,
or colour.
_Scrophula._
The scurvy is very uncommon in Egypt and Syria. In the former I saw
no instance of it. In Dar-Fûr I have observed it in the gums, but
never any general dissemination of scrophulous humour appearing in
the blood. As the transpiration is seldom interrupted, and generally
copious, it must doubtless carry off much of the acrid humours, and
prevent their accretion. Salt provisions, which generate the scurvy
in the North of Europe, are almost unknown; and much of the diet of
the people consists of vegetables. All these circumstances have their
influence, but none of them perhaps so much as the Nile-water, which
is a perfect solvent; and by the change of its component parts during
the increase, has a particular tendency to throw off impurities from
the blood.
_Syphilis._
The disease which attacks the principle of generation, and destroys,
in its source, one among the few solaces with which human life is
sparingly diversified, which the heroism and the philanthropy, or
the ambition and the avarice, of Europeans have propagated wherever
the malign destiny of other nations has ordained that their dominion
should be established, does not appear in Egypt with all the terrors
that mark its course in other countries.
The temperature, the air, the mode of living, perhaps simply the
first, which maintains continued transpiration, render it much
milder in its effects than with us, or even in the islands of the
Archipelago.
The institutes of the Prophet, indeed, have tended to diminish
promiscuous concubinage, yet there is no such deficiency as to
impede the propagation of the disease, if it were as virulent as in
other places.
Ulcers of long duration, noseless faces, and all the disgusting
consequences of this malady are indeed occasionally visible. But
they are in very small number, and notoriously the result of extreme
negligence, and of repeated infection, where no means have been
employed to exterminate it.
It may truly be esteemed fortunate that this disease prevails
with no violence in Egypt, for its only certain remedy, mercury,
is there found much less efficacious than in the more temperate
latitudes. Administered even in smaller doses than in Europe, it is
said ptyalism is either produced very early, or it passes off with
the fæces, without any visible effect.
A Frank practitioner of Kahira, accustomed to the climate, ordered
two drams of Mercury in thirty pills, with Gum Arabic and Syrup of
Cichory, to be taken one a day. In this case, he declared, that the
pills having been administered during the first seven days, and then,
with the intermission of three days, two having been given each day
for five days more, had produced no visible effect on the disease,
but passed off by stool. In other cases he had known much smaller
doses, in the space of two days, had caused inflammation of the
salivary glands, and he was obliged to abandon the use of it, and
have recourse to other means of cure.
The natives, who are unacquainted with the use of mercury, and indeed
of minerals in general as employed internally, are yet provided, as
they say, with efficacious remedies for the venereal disease. They use
flax oil, fresh, as it is expressed, from the seed. A Greek, who was
in the service of Murad Bey as a mariner, (_galeongi_,) and who was
known to me in Kahira, had been infected, and on applying to a Frank
physician, was told that it would be necessary immediately to use
mercurials. The man was not inclined to confinement or to regimen, and
went to a Copt at Jizé, who professed to relieve the sick. This man
ordered him to take two coffee-cups of flax oil every morning fasting,
and directed no regimen, but that of keeping himself warm. The Greek
observed none, for he continued freely the use of _aqua vitæ_, and
even sacrificed to Venus, (for persons who have been once infected
and fully cured, are, it is said, in no fear of reinfection,) and
was often in the heat of the sun. He had continued this method for
two months, when a general eruption took place over his body, but
chiefly about the head and glands of the throat. In this condition I
saw him. His Esculapius ordered him to cover the pustules of his face
with a kind of red earth, found in some parts of Egypt. They gradually
became dry, and came off without leaving any mark. At the end of the
third month from the time he had applied to the Copt, and one month
after the appearance of the eruption, the man was in perfect health,
and the skin had completely recovered its tone and polish.
In the cure of the simple gonorrhea, a decoction of mallows is
commonly used, and they seem to place their chief confidence in
diuretics. I never heard of an injection, but from those who were
acquainted with European practice. Certain herbs and roots macerated,
are applied locally in case of inflammation and tension (chordee).
Shankers, &c. externally, are repeatedly washed with soap and water,
and then kept covered with the red earth above mentioned. I never
saw the effect, but the cure is said to be rapid.
In Dar-Fûr I have not observed the venereal disease more formidable
than in Egypt. I saw a few individuals who were mutilated in the
organs of generation by its effects.
The old women, who are physicians in ordinary, use a decoction of
certain roots, of which I never came at the knowlege, infused in
_bouza_, which appear to operate successfully. Gleets are frequent;
and continued indulgence produces early debility and impotence.
The great advantages of the _étuves_, or warm baths, is evident in
very many instances in Kahira. But it is difficult to admit Savary’s
assertion (vol. i. p. 108) in its full extent, viz. that they operate
as a radical cure of the venereal disease. They doubtless assuage
many of its graver symptoms.
In no country are pulmonary diseases more rare than in Egypt, which
could not happen if the baths had any tendency to cause them.
_Leprosy._
The leprosy is more frequent in Syria than in Egypt. It exists
however in the latter country, with all its concomitants of swelled
and distorted joints, a livid, spotted, parched, and cracked skin, &c.
I have seen it under all its forms of _Borras_, _Jiddâm_, &c. In
Kahira there is no provision for the unhappy sufferers, who are
allowed to beg about the streets, but forbidden by their religion from
the contact of others, and excluded from society by an inefficient
police. I have heard of a cure of the leprosy in its worst stage,
by the use of corrosive sublimate in small doses. The natives seem
not to know any specific.
In Dar-Fûr, the _Borras_, which is not uncommon, gives to the
blacks the appearance of being _pyebald_, changing to white both
the skin and hair. A case of, what I was convinced was _Jiddâm_,
beginning in the hands, was cured under my observation by a slave,
a native of the kingdom called _Baghermi_, but the means he had used
he could not be prevailed on to disclose.
_Bile._
Complaints proceeding from too copious secretion of bile are
extremely common both in Egypt and Dar-Fûr. _Murâr_, the bile,
or gall, is the generic name for all diseases of this kind, at
least in their nascent state; for they are not solicitous in the
choice of names, till distinct appearances teach them to seek a more
characteristic appellation. There seems to be no efficacious remedy
for these maladies, and therefore they take their course; and all
the inconveniences consequent upon them are common, and increased
by general inattention to diet.
The _tuhhâl_, or _tehhâl_, deriving its name from the spleen,
_morbus spleneticus_, is very frequent. One of its outward symptoms
is a tumor hard to the touch, but subject to increase and diminution,
in the neighbourhood of the spleen, and general inflation in the
supra-umbilical region.
In Egypt Christians and the less scrupulous Mohammedans use _aqua
vitæ_ to remove the present sensation. It operates as an anodyne,
which is all they seek. In Dar-Fûr the leaves of senna pulverised,
and, by admixture with honey, formed into balls, (the common
cathartic,) is the only medicine administered with any salutary
effect. I found James’s powder of great service to those with whom
it operated as an emetic. The distention of the spleen prevents the
stomach from receiving a proper quantity of food, yet the inclination
for food is undiminished.
The liver being rendered incapable of its functions, by repeated
extravasations of bile, the blood, which at all times circulates
slowly from the spleen through that gland, now much retarded,
occasions schirrosities of the spleen, and at length perfectly
stagnant in and distending it, it becomes corrupted by the fæces
contained in the colon near it, and begins to putrify. In this state
the disease frequently terminates in death. But these schirrosities
sometimes remain for years, without producing any very dangerous
symptoms.
The passage of the bile into the intestines being intercepted, having
passed from the gall bladder to the liver, it at length returns
to the blood, which occasions _the jaundice_, another disease not
uncommon among the Fûrians, termed by them _Saffafîr_, and, among
the blacks, first visible in the eyes.
To alleviate the effects of any unusual increase of the cystic bile,
the natrôn of the country is very efficacious.
_Tenia._
From the nature of their diet, which consists in a great degree
of vegetables and fruits, with a large portion of sugar, honey,
&c. the inhabitants of Egypt, of all denominations, are particularly
subject to the Tenia or tape-worm (_Dûd_ Ar.) I have seen pieces
of vast length preserved by the European physicians, who yet appear
to have found no specific for it. The natives mistake the symptoms
of this disease, ascarides, &c. for distinct maladies, and treat
them accordingly. The commonalty, Jews, and devout Christians,
who unremittingly use insalubrious food during their _fasts_,
are most affected with it, though none are exempt. In those who
are thus incommoded, a tumor commonly appears about the navel,
and discoloration of the skin next the eyes.
Bruce seems to be of opinion, that the great prevalence of _worms_,
with which the Abyssins are much afflicted, proceeds from the common
use of raw meat. Not to mention that it is not yet proved that the
habitual use of raw meat generates worms in the human intestines,
that complaint cannot well be more common than among the people of
Egypt, who never use meat but when fully prepared by fire.
_Hernia._
Ruptures are common in Egypt, chiefly among the lower orders,
particularly the boatmen, few of whom are seen without a greater or
less degree of this dangerous accident, and to many of whom it is
fatal. Their life is almost amphibious, and it may in some measure
be the effect of the pendent situation of the parts; but it seems
chiefly to arise from the exertions they are obliged to make in
lading and unlading their boats, and propelling them, as frequently
happens, by applying their shoulders. In the people of this city,
who carry heavy loads on their backs, and raise great weights,
it is also common. Clumsy and ineffectual trusses are made in
Kahira, which rather distress and embarrass than relieve or secure
the patient. The scrotum is sometimes cauterized, and with effect,
if the intestines be not incarcerated. In Dar-Fûr this disease is
uncommon; yet it is sometimes seen there.
_Hydrocele._
The hydrocele is remarkably frequent in Syria, and, above all, in the
town of Beirût. It is also frequent in Egypt, but most among the
Christians of both countries. Some attribute it to the Nile water;
others to the air; others to the use, or rather abuse of _aqua vitæ_;
others to food of a particular kind: none of which seems to be the
real cause. The natives of both countries have a method of inciding
securely, which discharges the water, and of course produces temporary
relief: but the malady is rapidly regenerated. The only radical cure
is the actual cautery, which, though unskilfully, is yet successfully
applied to such patients as are bold enough to encounter the danger.
_Hæmorrhoides and Fistula in ano._
The hæmorrhoides (_bowasîr_) are very common both in Egypt and
Dar-Fûr. In the latter, they cure them by the cautery. The _Fistula
in ano_ is also seen there, and is cured by a topical application,
but without incision.
_Apoplexy._
I have known two instances in Dar-Fûr of what appeared to me to
be apoplexy. The one was of a male slave, about sixteen years of
age, the other of a man about forty; both of them of plethoric
habit. The boy dropped down senseless, after having been standing
near a large fire in cool weather. Pulsation ceased, and a great
hæmorrhage took place from the nostrils. After one hour and
a half he expired. Bleeding was recommended to the proprietor,
but the by-standers would not consent, saying it was _Sheitân_,
the devil had possessed him. The man was dead before I saw him;
much extravasated blood appeared about him. He had been at work in
the sun. The _coup-de-soleil_, properly so called, does not often
occur. When much exposed in walking or at work, they protect their
head from the ill effect of the rays descending perpendicularly,
by winding their shirt round it, and leaving the trunk uncovered.
_Umbilical ruptures._
Among the slaves, and even free persons in Dar-Fûr, prominencies
of the navel, and umbilical ruptures, of greater or less magnitude,
are very common. Though the chord be remarked to be larger in the
negroes than with us, this circumstance must probably be occasioned by
ignorance, carelesness, or some mismanagement at the birth. It does
not appear to be attended with positive inconvenience. The chord,
when divided, is here cauterized as in Egypt.
_Accouchemens._
The accouchemens of the Arabian females are remarkably easy. There
are stories of the Bedouîn women sitting down near a water and
delivering themselves. Certain it is, that both the Mohammedan and
Coptic females in the cities and towns are equally averse from the
attendance of a man on these occasions; and however unskilful the
accoucheuses may be imagined, few accidents have place.
The women of Fûr, in like manner, are assisted by their own sex, and
are seldom long confined: yet nature seems to render child-bearing
more difficult to them than to the Egyptians, and their care after
delivery is not always such as to prevent both the mother and the
child from suffering. I have known several instances where cold caught
after the accident has proved of serious consequences to the mother.
_Hydrophobia._
The _rabies canina_, or hydrophobia, is either very unusual or
entirely unknown both in Egypt and Fûr. I never heard of an instance
of it in either country, which appears not entirely unworthy of
remark, not only as multitudes of dogs are found in each, which in
many instances can have no access to water, to the want of which was
once vulgarly attributed that dreadful malady, but as one fact more
in the series which must finally conduct us to its cause.
_Idea of Orientals respecting remedies._
Among the inhabitants of Egypt and Africa the classification of
remedies is remarkably simple. They have only two _grand divisions_,
مبردات refrigerants, and حمه heating medicines. They esteem
all the former beneficial, and the latter generally pernicious:
so that if the most skilful physician were to prescribe for his
patient what the latter supposed to possess an heating quality,
it would be impossible to persuade him to use it.
_Phlebotomy._
Scarification, or superficial incision of the skin, is commonly
recurred to for various diseases, and at all ages, from two years till
sixty. The head, breast, loins, legs, are all subjected to this simple
and apparently little efficacious treatment. Sometimes, however,
violent and obstinate pains in the head, proceeding from extraordinary
exertion, and other causes, are removed by superficially inciding
the skin, near the coronal suture, which occasions a sufficient
discharge of blood.
The other mode of bleeding is by horns, prepared for that purpose,
which operate on the same principle as our cupping glasses. These
are applied in a very simple manner, and without occasioning
any pain, remove such quantity of blood, as the operator judges
necessary. Adhesion is produced by applying the mouth to the
smaller aperture of the horn, which, when this is accomplished,
is stopped. The incision is commonly made with a razor.
_Bruises._
The bitumen found in the mummy pits is dissolved with butter by the
Egyptians, and not only applied externally, but taken inwardly, in
large doses, for bruises and wounds; it is said to have a surprising
effect.
_Petroleum._
Petroleum, which is brought from the western shore of the Arabian
gulf, near to Suez, is taken inwardly as well as outwardly applied,
and is much esteemed.
_Bezoar._
The Orientals have still great confidence in the _bezoar_, or
_benzoar_. For a small one they are, not unfrequently, contented
to pay a sum equal to seven guineas. Even the European physicians
administer it in some cases pulverised, as an alterative, and,
as they say, with success.
_Sal ammoniac._
Perhaps none of the drugs of Egypt is more extensively useful than
sal ammoniac. That medicine seems, as it were, a specific, carefully
provided, for the prevailing diseases of the country. Acting mildly,
both as a carminative and diuretic, nothing is more effectual to
remove the cephalalgia and lassitude often experienced during the
great heat, which precedes the Nile’s augmentation, than a few
drops of this spirit taken in water. Pulmonary complaints, occasioned
by bad air, the suffocating heat of the southerly winds at certain
seasons, and the ill effect of sudden transition from the burning
heat of the sun to the chilling nocturnal dew, are often relieved
by it. It might even be suggested, that as regular and continued
transpiration seems very adverse to pestilential infection, a proper
use of sp. sal. ammon. might not be wholly contemptible as an antidote
to its infection.
_Aphrodisiacs._
No part of the materia medica is so much in requisition as those
which stimulate to animal pleasure. The _lacerta scincus_, in powder,
and a thousand other articles of the same kind, are in continual
demand. For this chiefly fields are sown with _hashîsh_, the _bang_
of the East Indies. It is used in a variety of forms, but in none,
it is supposed, more efficaciously than what is in Arabic called
_Maijûn_, a kind of electuary, in which both men and women indulge to
excess. The impotence of age, and the languor of satiety or disease,
ponder in vain the oracles of the descendant of Ismaîl, for the
invigorating influence of the benign deity of Canopus.
_Characteristics of the negroes._
A great and striking difference as to the firmness and density of
the skin, between the negro and the white, whether it may or may
not be called _specific_, as far as relates to the animal, is the
cause of several peculiarities, as well when they are in health as
under the power of disease. In all cutaneous maladies, or such as
ultimately relieve themselves by suppuration, the sufferings of the
blacks are excessive. Blows of the whip, which in a white subject
would become encysted tumors, discharge, dry up, heal, and disappear
in a few weeks, often remain in a negro more than a year.
The bright red colour of the muscular fibres, an apparently stronger
power of contraction, and the whiteness, solidity, and weight of the
bones, constitute other peculiarities. The eyes have generally very
distinct vision. There are few instances of myopes, and blindness
is very uncommon. The teeth are white and firm; they rarely complain
of odontalgia, and retain their teeth to old age. Both the Fûrians
and neighbouring negroes are attentive to preserve them clean, which
is done by rubbing them with the small fibrous branches of the tree
called _Shaw_.
_Natrôn._
Natrôn is much used as a veterinary medicine.
As often as the camels, horses, asses, sheep, &c. drink, a large
piece of it is put into the trough of water. The natives conceive
that it renders them more eager of their food, and thus tends to
fatten them. Some camels refuse it, but in general they acquire a
preference for that water which is most strongly impregnated. When
they refuse it, the natrôn is pulverized, formed into balls, with
the flour of maize, and forced down their throats before they drink.
For the human race natrôn is used to remove the head-achs,
intermittent and remittent fevers, &c. which prevail during the rainy
season. Two or three ounces of crude natrôn are dissolved in water,
and taken fasting. It operates as a drastic purge, and with some
as an emetic. With robust and plethoric habits, there seems to be
no inconvenience from the use of it, but I experienced from it an
unfavourable rather than beneficial effect.
_Tamarinds._
The tamarind, _Thummara Hindi_[51] one of the most useful as well
as valuable of the productions of the country, supplies the want of
many others. In defect of lemons and other acids, this fruit, mixed
with water, constitutes an agreeable and refreshing drink. When
dried by beating in a mortar, it is formed into cakes, each of 2
or 300 drams in weight. The decoction of it is a mild cathartic,
and also operates as a diaphoretic; and the natives attribute to it
superior virtue as an antidote against certain poisons.
_Lactation._
Savary remarks, that in Egypt each mother affords nourishment to
her own infant, even in compliance with a command of the Prophet,
and that this prevents many diseases. No doubt can exist that the
milk of the mother, long secreted and reserved for the child, is the
proper nourishment at the birth, and by its acrid quality tends to
facilitate the evacuation of the fæces, accumulated during the period
of gestation, much better than any thing that can be substituted
in its room. But when this effect is once produced, in many cases
the milk of any other woman may be better than that of the mother;
nay, that of the mother may be insalubrious _à principio_; and it
is as yet far from being proved, that the milk of the mother is in
all cases the best possible milk for the child.
If the mother abstain not from the male embrace, and become gravid,
the milk becomes, as is well known, poison to the offspring.—The
Arabic language has even a single word to express, _quæ lactans
consuescit viro_, which they conceive extremely injurious.
_Opium_ (_Ar. Aphiûm_).
The use of opium, as is well known, is carried to excess in
Constantinople. Some persons have so long accustomed themselves to
that powerful drug, that a dose of two drams, or more, will have
no effect in exhilarating them, or producing that agreeable stupor
which they seek. In such cases, they will swallow, in a convenient
vehicle, several grains, to the amount, it is said, of ten, of
corrosive sublimate of mercury, as a stimulus.
This effect of opium, as an antidote to one of the strongest mineral
poisons, appears incredible, and would scarcely have been related, but
on authority the least questionable. A reflection has in consequence
forced itself on me, which I offer as a query. Mithridates, king of
Pontus, is said to have so fortified himself with antidotes, that
when misfortune obliged him to have recourse to poison to terminate
his existence, though repeatedly administered to him, under different
forms, it had no effect. Pontus, at that time no less than at present,
furnished the best opium. Could Mithridates have used any antidote
so powerful? And was not this effect of that drug more likely to be
known in its native country than any where else? It may possibly be
replied, that mineral poisons were not then in use, and that to the
small number of vegetable ones then known, many other antidotes,
capable of producing the same effect, might have been found. It is
not however enquired, whether single antidotes might not have been
found to obviate the influence of distinct poisons, but what could
produce so complete a change in the human body, as that no poison
should have any effect on it?
_Circumcision._
The practice of circumcision may be traced to such remote antiquity,
that its origin baffles all research: yet apparently its history
has not received all the illustration of which it is capable from a
diligent collection of facts. It has been ascribed to the structure
of the organs, in certain countries, which it is said impede coition,
or facilitate the appearance of morbid symptoms. But what may have
been perfectly true of individuals, it may perhaps not be permitted
to assume with regard to a whole nation, much less with relation to
the inhabitants of an extensive region.
Among the Fûrians circumcision appears to be no other than a
religious ceremony, performed in compliance with an express command of
the author of their faith; and it is very doubtful whether it was ever
practised among them before their conversion to Mohammedism. It is
now often neglected till the male have attained the age of eighteen
or more years, and this omission seems to be considered by them
as a matter of indifference; nor are there persons who habitually
and regularly exercise that art, as in Egypt and other Mohammedan
countries.
_Excision._
The excision of females is a peculiarity with which the Northern
nations are less familiar: yet it would appear, that this usage
is more evidently founded on physical causes, and is more clearly a
matter of convenience, than the circumcision of males, as it seems not
to have been ordained by the precept of any inspired legislator. A
practice so widely diffused, it may be said, was hardly invented
but to remedy some inconvenience commensurate in its extent. But,
if so, how happens it that one race of idolatrous negroes, near
Fûr, has a habit of extracting two or more of the front teeth of
children before puberty? That it is customary with another race,
in the same quarter, to file the teeth to a point[52]? that other
nations cut open a second mouth? and innumerable other singularities
which prevail among savages, and are as little to be reduced to any
principle of convenience or utility.
This excision is termed in Arabic _Chafadh_ خفض, and the person
who performs it خافضة. It consists in cutting off the clitoris
a little before the period of puberty, or at about the age of eight
or nine years[53].
Strabo is apparently the first who mentions this custom, which is
nevertheless undoubtedly very antient. Lib. xvii.
—και τα παιδια περιτεμνειν, και τα θηλεα εκτεμνειν, &c.
By the terms very well marking the distinction between this operation
and the circumcision of males.
The Mohammedans of Egypt conceive it to have no connexion with their
religious creed. Similar are said to be the sentiments of the Christians
of Habbesh. In Dar-Fûr many women, particularly among the Arabs, never
undergo excision: yet it has not been my fate to see or hear of any of
those κλειτοριδες μεγαλαι which are supposed to have brought it into
vogue.
Thirteen or fourteen young females underwent خفض in an house where
I was. It was performed by a woman, and some of them complained
much of the pain, both at and after it. They were prevented from
locomotion, but permitted to eat meat. The parts were washed every
twelve hours with warm water, which profuse suppuration rendered
necessary. At the end of eight days the greater part were in a
condition to walk, and liberated from their confinement. Three or
four of them remained under restraint till the thirteenth day.
It often happens that another operation accompanies that of excision,
which is not, like the latter, practised in Egypt, viz. producing
an artificial impediment to the vagina, with a view to prevent
coition. This happens most frequently in the case of slaves, whose
value would be diminished by impregnation, or even by the necessary
result of coition, though unaccompanied by conception. But it is also
adopted towards girls who are free; the impulse being too strong
to be counteracted by any less firm impediment. This operation,
like the former, is performed at all ages from eight to sixteen,
but commonly from eleven to twelve; nor are they who undergo it
always virgins. In some the parts are more easily formed to cohere
than in others. There are cases in which the barrier becomes so firm,
that the embrace cannot be received but by the previous application
of a sharp instrument[54].
Among some tribes of blacks, there exists a practice of piercing the
skin in certain forms by way of ornament.—Each of the punctures
leaves an indelible scar, as distinctive as colour, which is not
used. This practice, which is of the same description as that of
some of the South-sea islands, is used on the face, breast, loins, &c.
The blacks who are castrated for the use of Kahira or Constantinople,
undergo that operation in the Upper Egypt, before their arrival at
the former; some families, there resident, having the hereditary
exercise of this antient practice.
The numbers which undergo it are not very considerable, and it is
fatal only to a very small proportion of them.
Those slaves which are emasculated for the exclusive use of the
Fûrian monarch suffer within his palace.
CHAP. XXII.
FINAL DEPARTURE FROM KAHIRA, AND JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM.
_Voyage down the Nile to Damiatt — Vegetation — Papyrus —
Commerce — Cruelty of the Mamlûk government — Voyage to Yaffé
— Description of Yaffé — Rama — Jerusalem — Mendicants —
Tombs of the kings — Bethlehem — Agriculture — Naplosa —
Samaria — Mount Tabor._
Having engaged a _canjia_, or small boat, to sail down the Nile from
Kahira to Damiatt, I departed on Friday the 2d of December 1796. No
occurrences worthy of particular commemoration happened during this
little voyage, but we passed several towns of considerable note,
among which may be mentioned Mansûra, remarkable for the defeat
of St. Louis; a circumstance preserved in the name which denotes,
_The place of victory_. Its condition is flourishing, owing to its
being a station on the road between Kahira and Damiatt; and it was
then governed by a Cashef deputed by Ibrahim Bey. The mosques amount
to seven, which is the only circumstance I can offer relative to
its population, my stay there having been only for a few hours.
Sifté and Miet Ghrammer are on the same route, about half way
between Kahira and Mansûra, and situated on opposite banks of the
Nile. Both are towns of the second order, and abounding with people,
chiefly Mohammedans, very few Copts residing there. The river is here
narrow but deep, not exceeding three hundred yards in breadth; and it
may not be improper to remark in general concerning that celebrated
stream, that its greatest breadth, when free from inundation, may be
estimated at seven hundred yards, or something more than one third
of a mile. Where narrowest, the distance between the banks may be
one hundred yards. The depth from three to twenty-four feet.
That channel of the Nile which extends from Kahira to Damiatt is
in general free from windings, and is interspersed with a few small
islands.
There are several populous towns in the Delta, of which Mehallé-el-Kebîr
is the chief. In point of population it is said to be equal to Damiatt.
The next in consideration are probably Semmenûd and Menûf.
To form a general idea of the Delta, the reader may conceive a
vast plain, intersected in all directions, by minute channels,
(the canal of Menûf being almost the only important stream,) by
which and by pumps the interstices are watered, and brought to the
utmost fertility. As to real inundation on the rise of the Nile, that
must be regarded as confined to a small space bordering on the sea.
On the 5th of the same month I arrived at Damiatt. This noted port
presents an agreeable aspect on the first approach from the South,
the town being built somewhat in the form of a crescent on a gentle
bend of the river, and being surrounded with cultivated lands,
which extend to the large lake called Manzalé. The distance from
the sea is about six miles, and there is a bar across the Nile,
so that vessels are obliged to have part of their cargo sent after
them in small boats, and put on board after they have past the bar.
Damiatt is blessed with a soil almost unrivalled, and exuberant
in orange and lemon trees, and other rich vegetation of the East,
which would present an appearance very striking to a traveller
accustomed to an English winter. Nor were my emotions unpleasant
at here beholding, for the first time, the celebrated _Papyrus_,
pushing its green spikes through the mud of the adjacent ditches[55].
This plant formerly abounded so much in the vicinity of Damiatt,
that it was profaned, so to speak, in the fabrication of sleeping
mats, which were transported to different parts of Lower Egypt. But
of late years, by the sacred ignorance and supine neglect of
the Mamlûks, who regard themselves as merely tenants for life,
and delapidate at will this noble domain, the channel of the Nile,
which ought to flow to Damiatt, pursuing the straiter course offered
to it by the canal of Menûf, deserted its bed, and left access to
the sea-water. Hence the plants of papyrus, as well as the other
vegetables, were deprived of the prolific influence of the Nile,
and expired in the noxious effluvia of a marine marsh. I was told by
an European there, who had resided between thirty and forty years,
that the papyrus used to attain the height of eight, nine, or more
feet. The stem was about an inch or more in diameter; and of such
substance as to serve my informer and his son for walking-sticks.
The gardens of Damiatt contain some mulberry trees and plantains. The
_Tethymalus_, wart-weed, is found there in great quantity. Scammony
is not uncommon. The East side of the river, from Damiatt to the
North extremity of the coast, consists of sand hills, and most part
of the way is lined with reeds.
Among the crops of Lower Egypt in particular must not be forgotten
the Lucerne, _Birsîm_, which grows with surprising luxuriance.
Damiatt is vivified by a considerable trade, being the depôt
between Egypt and Syria, and the mart of all the productions of the
Delta; exporting particularly rice and flax to Syria, and importing
cotton in return, which is manufactured there and in other parts of
Egypt. Its European commerce is very inconsiderable: some Venetian
and Ragusan vessels bring small cargoes of cochineal, and other
commodities. Formerly there were several French merchants, but their
usual misconduct with regard to the sex occasioned their expulsion.
Of an antient round building, called the Tower of St. Louis, which
was standing in Niebuhr’s time, and which till of late existed at
Damiatt, nothing now remains but a piece of brick wall, which was on
the outside of the foss, and of which the mortar is no less hard than
the brick. The remainder of the materials were applied by Mohammed
Bey Abu-dhahab to the structure, which his fear of the Russians
induced him to erect at a great expense, at the extremity of the
shore. It was not sufficient to build this fort on the firm ground,
nearest the mouth of the river; he chose to lay the foundation in
the sand and mud, at the extreme point of land on the eastern side;
and though now from the strength of the foundation a part remains,
much has fallen, and the rest is surrounded by, and under water.
There are two mounts of ruins near the Eastern extremity of the town,
on the most Northern of which is a piece of brick wall remarkably
strong, which is reported to have been part of an ancient castle. From
this elevation is seen the field of battle between the Christians
and Saracens, in which St. Louis was, according to the Arabs, taken
prisoner. It is called the _field of blood_, as the conflict is
represented as having been so obstinate, that the earth and water
were stained with blood for a considerable time after.
There is nothing farther worthy of remark in this town, except
two mosques. One of them is a rich foundation of the same nature
as the _Jama-el-Azher_, which it is said maintains five or six
hundred poor shechs, many of whom are blind or paralytic. The other
is an old and famous mosque, which has been raised, as is said,
on the ruins of a Christian church, part of which is reported to
exist under the building. Even the mosque itself is now deserted,
and in a great measure fallen to ruin; the door which leads to the
passage below is bricked up, so that I could make no observations
on that part. The mosque is spacious, and contains a great number
of marble columns. I observed, however, only one of porphyry,
and one of red granite. The rest are of common blue and white, and
yellow and white marble; one of the latter is reported to have the
virtue of curing the jaundice; and for this purpose the poor people
affected with this disorder scrape it and drink the powder, which
is in such repute that a considerable cavity may be observed in the
column. Another fine porphyry column I was told was lately carried
away by a Mokaddem of the Bey, employed in collecting his rents
here, for the purpose of forming a tomb for himself. The population
of Damiatt may be partly conceived from the number of its mosques,
which are supposed to be fourteen. There is also a Greek convent, in
which strangers are lodged, there being no caravanserai in the place.
The lake _Manzalé_ is of very considerable extent, being somewhat
more than thirty miles in length, and is navigated by a number of
small vessels employed in fishing, and in carrying the people to
and from the islands. The fish called _Bûri_, a kind of mullet,
particularly abounds; it is salted and dried at Damiatt, whence it is
conveyed through the Lower Egypt and Syria, and even to Cyprus. It
affords an insipid and insalubrious meal; yet is much used by
the common people, especially by the Christians in their frequent
fasts. The desert islands interspersed in the lake are haunted by
numbers of aquatic birds, which migrate thither in autumn and winter:
they are ensnared in nets, and furnish a livelihood to many of the
lower class of the people, who sell them in the markets. The water
of this lake is brackish, but not very salt. Where the most easterly
branch of the Nile fell into it, still remain some ruins of the
antient city of Tanis, which I had not an opportunity of visiting.
A circumstance had recently occurred, tending to paint the character
of the people under the Mamlûk government. A Cashef, but not of the
highest order, under Murad Bey, who had been disgraced a short time
before, retired to Damiatt to avoid his master’s anger. He had
not long resided there, when, having heard more favourable tidings,
he made an inquiry for some person, capable of exchanging for him a
sum in Turkish money, for the like in that of Europe current in the
country. Accordingly three Jews were found who promised to supply him
according to his desire. They went round the city, and borrowed much
in addition to what they already possessed, and at length carried to
the Cashef to the amount of between five and six thousand patackes. He
was no sooner furnished with the money, than he directed the Jews
to be murdered, and his boats being ready, caused their bodies to
be packed in baskets, and put into a small boat of his train. He
then set off for Kahira. On arriving at a village a little way up
the river, the baskets were disembarked, and he ordered them to be
safely lodged till further directions should be given. It was some
time before the villagers took notice of the packages, or dared to
open them in the absence of the owner. But at length having observed
a quantity of blood near one of them, and entertaining suspicions,
they opened the three, and news were immediately carried to Damiatt
that the three Jews had been found in this condition. Those under
whose cognizance such accidents are, made a memorial of the whole
affair to Murad Bey. He replied only by loud laughter, saying,
“Are they not three dogs? There is an end of them.”
It must not be omitted that at Damiatt there is a considerable
manufactory of cotton and linen clothes, for the use of the baths
and other domestic purposes.
On the 19th of January 1797, I embarked on board a little merchant
vessel, trading to the coast of Syria, and commanded by an Arab. Owing
to the stormy weather, and the unskilfulness of the mariners, no
small danger was incurred in the voyage, and we were constrained to
throw overboard a part of the cargo, which consisted in rice and
raw hides. Another vessel, which sailed in company, was lost that
same night.
After a navigation of five days, I arrived at Yaffé. The first land
we had discovered was the mountain of Ghaza.
Yaffé presents an object rather extraordinary in the Levant, a good
wharf. The situation of the town is so unequal, that the streets
are paved in steps. The air, formerly deemed insalubrious, has,
by the draining of some adjacent marshes, been rendered perfectly
healthy; but, on the other hand, the extensive groves of orange and
lemon trees, which adorned the vicinity, have been destroyed in the
sieges undertaken by Ali Bey and his successor Mohammed Abu-dhahab,
the latter of which was particularly destructive; the Mamlûks
having used these trees for firing. The government is now mild,
and the population, gradually increasing, may be estimated at six
or seven thousand souls. It is walled, and has two principal gates
and a smaller one; the latter and one of the former yet remain; the
other is shut up. Yaffé is commanded by an eminence on the North,
within musket-shot, where Ali Bey pitched his camp. Though there be
a small river in the proximity, water is scarce, being carried by
the women: one of the governors engaged to remedy the inconvenience,
but was strangled by order of Jezzâr, Pasha of Damascus, before he
could accomplish his purpose.
Ships cannot come up to the wharf, and there is no port, nor even
secure place of anchorage. The commerce is inconsiderable, being
solely with Egypt, and with a few pilgrims who pass to and from
Jerusalem. Yaffé is governed by an officer appointed by the Porte.
There are three small convents of Christians, Armenian, Greek,
and Roman-catholic, and a few Jews. When the French, about 1790,
were banished by Jezzâr Pasha from his government, several retired
to Jaffé, where their consul died the winter before I arrived.
It shall be only farther remarked, that the houses in Jaffé are
neatly built with stone, and that considerable quantities of coral
are found in the adjacent sea.
Having hired two mules for myself and a Cypriote servant, I proceeded
to Rama, distant about three hours. I had previously taken care to
get permission from the agent of the convent at Yaffé to travel to
Jerusalem, a precaution here necessary to prevent any disturbance
from the Arabs.
At Rama there is a spacious and strongly built convent of the
Franciscan order, a commodious edifice, and kept in excellent
repair. The town is pleasantly situated, and in a good soil. In
its vicinity I observed some antient groves of olive trees. Between
Yaffé and Rama seven villages appear in sight.
Having left Rama early in the morning of the ensuing day, we entered
the gate of Jerusalem about sun-set. The ground between Rama and
Jerusalem is rugged, mountainous, and barren. My servant having
loitered behind, was seized by some Arabs, thrown from his mule,
and pillaged.
I must confess the first aspect of Jerusalem did not gratify my
expectation. On ascending a hill distant about three miles, this
celebrated city arose to view, seated on an eminence, but surrounded
by others of greater height; and its walls, which remain tolerably
perfect, form the chief object in the approach. They are constructed
of a reddish stone. As the day was extremely cold, and snow began
to fall, the prospect was not so interesting as it might have proved
at a more favourable season.
It is unnecessary to dwell on the description of a city trivial in
innumerable books of travels, but a few miscellaneous remarks shall
be made as they happen to arise.
Mendicants perfectly swarm in the place, allured by the hope of
alms from the piety of the pilgrims. The religious of _Terra Santa_
retain great power, and there is one manufacture that flourishes in
the utmost vigour, namely that of reliques, crucifixes inlaid with
mother of pearl, chaplets, and the like. Yet the church of the holy
sepulchre is so much neglected, that the snow fell into the middle;
the beams, said to be cedar, are falling, and the whole roof is in
a ruinous state.
The Armenian convent is elegant, and so extensive as to present
accommodation for no less than a thousand pilgrims.
During twelve or thirteen days a very deep snow lay upon the
ground. The catholic convent has a large subterraneous cistern, into
which the snow, melting from the roof and other parts, is conveyed,
and supplies the monks with water for a great portion of the year.
The best view of Jerusalem is from the Mount of Olives, on the East
of the city. In front is the chief mosque, which contains, according
to the tradition of the Mohammedans, the body of Solomon. From
the same mount may be discovered, in a clear day, the _Dead sea_,
nearly South-east, reflecting a whitish gleam. The intervening region
appears very rocky.
The _tombs of the kings_, so denominated, are worthy of remark, being
of Grecian sculpture on a hard rock. There are several ornaments
on the sarcophagi of foliage and flowers, and each apartment is
secured with a massive panneled door of stone. Great ravages have
been made here in search of treasure. These tombs have probably been
constructed in the time of Herod and his successors kings of Judea.
A very considerable part of the inhabitants is Christian, between
whom and the Muslims there exists all that infernal hatred which
two divinely revealed religions can alone inspire.
At about the distance of two hours, or six miles, stands Bethlehem, in
a country happy in soil, air, and water. The latter is conveyed in a
low aqueduct or stone channel, which formerly passed to Jerusalem. The
_fons signatus_ is an exuberant spring: it is received successively
by three large cisterns, one of which is well preserved. In coming
from the cisterns, and at a small distance is seen what is termed
the _deliciæ Solomonis_, a beautiful rivulet which flows murmuring
down the valley, and waters in its course some gardens of excellent
soil. The brinks of this brook are adorned with a variety of
herbage. Olives, vines, and fig trees flourish abundantly in the
neighbourhood. The olive trees are daily decreasing in number, as
they are sacrificed to the personal enmities of the inhabitants,
who meanly seek revenge by sawing down in the night those that
belong to their adversaries. As this tree is of slow growth, it is
seldom replaced. Such is the charity of Christians in the cradle of
Christianity. A more pleasing object arises in the convent here,
which contains under one roof the different tenets of Latins,
Armenians, and Greeks.
About the same distance from Jerusalem, towards the wilderness, is
the convent of St. John, situated in the midst of a romantic country,
studded with vines and olive trees. In the village of St. John and
its district the Mohammedans form the greater part of the population.
The mode of agriculture here pursued may be worthy of observation. As
the country abounds in abrupt inequalities, little walls are erected,
which support the soil, and form narrow terraces. Small ploughs
are used drawn by oxen; and it requires no slight dexterity in the
driver to turn his plough, and avoid damaging the walls. The soil
thus secured is extremely favourable to cultivation. The breed of
black cattle is in general diminutive. Horses are few in number,
and asses resembling the European are chiefly used for travelling.
We may safely estimate the present population of Jerusalem at from
eighteen to twenty thousand. It is governed by an Aga, appointed
by the Pasha of Damascus; but he is allowed so few troops, that all
Palestine may be regarded as in the power of the Arabs. The Christian
women, who abound in Jerusalem, wear white veils, as a distinction
from the Mohammedan, who wear other colours. Arabic is the general
language, except among the Armenians and Greeks.
I left Jerusalem in the commencement of Ramadan, 2d of March
1797. After an uncommonly severe winter, the spring was now
begun. Having rode about three hours, we arrived at Beruth, where we
passed the night; and the following day, about three in the afternoon,
reached Naplosa or _Nablûs_. This capital of the district called
Samaria is populous. The site is remarkable and picturesque, being
between two hills, upon one of which is the castle.
The adjacent country in general is fertile in vines and mulberry
trees, though rather mountainous. Naplosa has several mosques,
and carries on a considerable traffic with Damascus and the coast:
there is also a cotton manufacture. Jews abound of the Samaritan
heresy; but the inhabitants are very hostile to Christians, who
have no establishments here. The town is in fact governed by the
chief inhabitants, though a nominal deputy be appointed by the Pasha
of Damascus.
On my journey from Naplosa to Nazareth, during the first part of
the route, which was rocky and mountainous, I observed only three
villages in the space of as many hours; but the vales are full of
olives, fig trees, and vines, and even the rocks are shaded with a
variety of verdure. Having passed the mountains of Naplosa, (_Ebal_
and _Gerizim_,) we came to an extensive plain of excellent land, which
however after rain is almost inundated. Near its northern extremity
is seated a small fortress, which repulsed Jezzar Pasha at the head
of five thousand men, and some pieces of artillery: it displays
seven or eight small round towers, and has two gates. The peasants
of Samaria are hardy and warlike, and generally go well armed.
Sebasté or Samaria is now a miserable deserted village. Ginæa is
a decent town, half way between Naplosa and Nazareth. The latter
is a pleasant village, seated on an easy slope, with a respectable
convent: most of the inhabitants are Christians. While I was there,
the Samaritans had made an inroad, and carried off some cattle: the
Nazareens armed themselves, and made reprisals of seventeen oxen. In
the neighbourhood is Mount Tabor, whence there is a delightful
prospect, and which is noted for the absurd doctrines it gave name
to in the ecclesiastical disputes of the Greek empire.
CHAP. XXIII.
GALILEE — ACCA.
_Improvements by Jezzar — Trade — Taxes — White promontory,
and river Leontes — Tyre — Seide — Earthquake — Kesrawan
— Syrian wines — Beirût — Anchorage — Provisions — River
Adonis — Antûra — Harrîsé — Tripoli — Ladakia — Journey
to Aleppo or Haleb._
Galilee is here divided from Samaria by a ridge of hills. Six hours
were employed in passing from Nazareth to Acré, by the Arabs
more properly termed _Acca_. At a village on the route observed
a sarcophage, now used for watering cattle, and some scattered
fragments of columns. But few villages appear between Nazareth and
Acré, though the land be fertile.
Acré is fortified with a wall of very moderate strength, having
only one gate. It is a pretty large town, but many of the houses are
empty: yet the population may be estimated between fifteen and twenty
thousand. There remains part of a double fosse, which extended round
the town, but is daily dilapidated for modern erections. There is
no castle nor other relique of antiquity.
The whole face of the city has been changed, being enlarged and
adorned with the improvements of the celebrated Achmet Pasha,
who has built an elegant mosque and baths, two markets, a palace,
and reservoirs for water. There are three Khans, or places for
receiving goods, answering the purpose at once of a warehouse and
inn. There are also five or six mosques, a small establishment of
the Franciscans, and a Greek and Armenian church. In one of the
Khans the Europeans lodge.
A mean tomb has been erected by the Pasha, to the memory of the
celebrated Shech Daher, close to the sea, and at a little distance
from the northern extremity of the wall.
Acré stands on a promontory, near a small gulph, and has no
haven. Vessels anchor in favourable weather near the shore, but the
European ships anchor opposite Haifa, a small place at the foot of
Mount Carmel, where the water is generally smooth. The trade of Acré
is pretty considerable; the Europeans bring broad cloth, lead, tin,
and a variety of other articles, and export cotton in return. From
Egypt there are large imports of rice. The soil of Egypt is not very
proper for cotton, which is a staple commodity of Syria.
The long reign of Achmet Pasha _el Jezzâr_[56], accompanied
with immense influence and great wealth, might naturally lead to
conceive, that, blending his interests with those of his subjects,
he would have exerted his authority in promoting their happiness. On
the contrary, the large plain near Acré is left almost a marsh,
and marks of idle magnificence have been substituted for the useful
cares of agriculture. A striking contrast arises between his conduct
and that of the Shech Daher, his predecessor, who raised Acré from
a village to a large town, and doubled the population of the district.
Jezzâr was the first governor in the empire who laid a tax
on articles of consumption, as wine, grain, and the like. Even
meat and fish are materials of impost. He has erected granaries,
a laudable design, but deficient in the execution; for the grain
being ill preserved, and the oldest served out first, it is not only
disagreeable as food, but unprolific when distributed for seed to the
peasants. These imposts form the peculiar revenue of the Pasha; the
other resources arising as usual from the tax on land, which amounts
to about a twentieth of the rent, the capitation tax on Christians,
and the customs; which last in this government are arbitrary, and
neither regulated by the rules of the Porte, nor the capitulations
entered into by Europeans. Nevertheless, the chief source of the
riches of Jezzâr is the Pashalik of Damascus, which, by means of
the usual largesses at the Porte, he contrived to add to his former
government, a precedent very unusual in the Othman empire. His
military force was once computed at twelve thousand; but, at the
time of my visiting Acré, did not exceed four or five thousand.
Till the year 1791 the French had factories at Acré, Seidé, and
Beirût. At that period they were all expelled from the territory
of Jezzâr by a sudden mandate, which allowed them only three days
to abandon their respective habitations, under pain of death.
Passing over the common, but just rule of supposing, that in a quarrel
of this magnitude neither party was perfectly free from error, it may
be fit to inquire what motives induced this ignominious expulsion,
when a simple dismission, to be signified by various other means,
would have answered the same purpose.
To this it can only be answered, that the character of Jezzâr is
impetuous, and even capricious, on all occasions. Sometimes a warm
friend, and then suddenly a bitter enemy, equally, to all appearance,
without any adequate reason. As to the conduct of the French,
themselves and the other nations in the Levant accord so ill, that
I have never obtained a very accurate statement of it. It seems to
have originated in the behaviour of a drogueman of the nation, who
having in some way offended the Pasha, was by his order summarily
strangled or hanged. The French remonstrated, and threatened him
with an application to the Porte, which he did not greatly fear,
and he punished, _as he termed it, their insolence_, (in asserting
their undoubted right, according to the capitulations between them
and the Porte,) in this concise manner. Many complaints were made,
subsequent to this period, by the ministers of the Republic at the
Porte, but to no purpose: that court in fact was otherwise engaged,
and it may be doubted whether it could have punished the Pasha. The
events that followed suspended the prosecution of those claims,
which, as the merchants thus suddenly banished had lost much, it
appeared they had a right to prefer: but at length Aubert du Bayet
sent a young officer of the name of Bailli to the Pasha to demand
redress in a tone perhaps rather too high.
This gentleman, on arriving at Acré, April 1797, wrote a letter
in French to the Pasha, which he had the bizarre idea of finding
some Levantine drogueman to translate, _verbatim_, in the presence
of that personage. The terms, it seems, in which this letter was
conceived were so bold, that none could be found to present it,
and the Pasha, under one pretence or other, refused to see the
agent. On this Bailli retired to Yaffé. The answer Jezzâr sent to
the claim of the Republic was, that private merchants were at liberty
to settle under his government on the footing of any other nation,
but that he would acknowlege no consul, nor consent to offer them
any indemnification for the losses of the late factory.
Jezzâr had early conceived an enmity against that nation, which
was probably increased by those who rivalled them in commerce.
On the 2d of April 1797 I set out from Acré to Seidé. The road
runs near the sea-side, through a track overgrown with thorns
and thistles. The shore is abrupt, and, as usual, accompanied
with deep water. Some remains of antiquity present themselves,
but so much injured, and so scattered, that it is impossible to
guess their destination. I slept in the house of the Shech in a
small village on the South of the White Promontory. The villages
between Acré and Seidé are thinly scattered, and the population
apparently small. We met several parties of the Pasha’s troops,
both infantry and cavalry, which seemed in excellent order.
On the following morning we passed the White Promontory, a sublime
and picturesque mountain. The road is occasionally cut through the
rock of calcareous stone, as white as chalk. On the right the rock
is covered with bushes: the left is a perpendicular precipice to
the sea, which was calm when I passed; but when it rages the scene
must be tremendous. The tradition of the natives ascribes this road
to Alexander the Great.
We passed the Leontes, now an inconsiderable stream, and easily
fordable: but after rain it swells to a rapid torrent, as is the
case with most of the rivers that fall from the Syrian mountains
to the sea. After crossing four small clear streams, running over
their beds of pure gravel, and the dry courses of some rivulets,
we arrived at Tyre, enchanted with the beautiful, verdure and varied
scenery of the adjacent country.
The magnificent city of Tyre, now corruptly called _Sûr_, is reduced
to a few miserable huts inhabited by fishermen, situated in the
northern extremity of the isle. The isthmus, which joins it to the
continent, is about three quarters of an English mile in length;
the isle itself is of an irregular form, at the broadest part not
exceeding half a mile, and the circumference of the antient city
could not exceed a mile and a half. Except three fragments of granite
columns nothing of antiquity appeared. The isle is now desert and
rocky, destitute even of shrubs and grass. It appears that the port
which is on the North of the isthmus might be restored, though a back
water be wanting. The few peasants or fishermen who frequent the spot
seemed quite unconscious of the classic ground on which they trod.
On the land-side, a little to the South of the isthmus, observed
remains of an aqueduct, which formerly conveyed water to Tyre. Under
its low arches was a considerable quantity of stalactites grown to
a large size. There is also a cistern, somewhat resembling those
of the _fons signatus_ above mentioned, but smaller. The fountain
rises with such force as to turn a mill a little lower down. Here
are a few fruit trees, and a place where coffee is sold.
From the White Promontory to Seidé, antiently Sidon, extends a
narrow plain by the sea-shore. North-east by East appear the summits
of the mountains of Kesrawân, covered with snow. Arrived at Seidé
near sun-set.
Seidé is a larger town than Acré. The situation is good and the
air salubrious. There are many Christians and some Jews. The sea here
encroaches on the land. The castle, built by the noted Fakr-el-dîn,
is surrounded by the water. There was formerly a small, but convenient
port, formed by a ridge of rocks, which was filled up by order of
that Emîr, to prevent the Turkish vessels from entering, he being
at war with that power. The castle, styled of St. Louis, which from
an adjacent height on the South commands the city, still remains, as
does a part of the city walls. There is but one gate of the latter;
it fronts North-east. The magnificent palace, built by Fakr-el-dîn,
in the Italian manner, is now ruinous.
An earthquake which destroyed Ladakia in 1796 was felt here, but not
so violently as that which happened in the year 1785, in which many
persons perished, and which was succeeded by a plague which almost
depopulated the place.
A large tessellated pavement of variegated marbles, representing a
horse, festoons, &c. and in some places tolerably perfect for ten
feet in length, remains, close to the sea, on the northern extremity
of the city; a proof of marine encroachment. Many antient granite
columns are worked into the walls, and some stand as posts on the
bridge leading to the fort. Near the gate of the city is a small
square building, which contains the tombs of such of the Emîrs of
the Druses as died when Seidé was in their possession.
Seidé is surrounded with gardens, in which grow a number of mulberry
trees, silk being the chief commodity. The rent of houses and the mode
of living are cheaper than at Acré, and the government more mild
and regular; so that strangers are not liable to insult. Formerly,
there was a considerable commerce carried on with Marseilles, but
since Jezzâr banished the French it has ceased.
On the 6th of April 1797 I left Seidé to visit the district of
Kesrawân, where we arrived in four hours, on horseback, after
travelling through a rugged road, continually ascending, till we
reached the convent of _Mochaulus_, delightfully situated half way
up the mountain, in a romantic country. On passing a bridge over
_Nahr-el-aweli_, observed several fine falls of the stream. In
Kesrawân is also _Mush-Mushé_, a convent of Maronites, which we
reached next morning, after three hours riding. The mountains in
the neighbourhood are covered with fir trees, some of them of large
growth. The vales, and part of the mountains, are planted with vines,
producing excellent wine, white and red. There are also many mulberry
trees, which furnish plenty of good silk, but the natives have not
the common skill to form it into thread. Corn and lentils also abound.
The botanist and florist may find in this part of the mountain full
employment, as it is covered with innumerable herbs and shrubs, many
of them odoriferous, and adorned with flowers of various tints. Myrtle
and lavender grow wild in great quantities on the mountain, and the
rose of Jericho embellishes the vales and banks of the rivulets. From
this convent are seen Seidé, the sea and the adjacent coast.
As Kesrawân and Mount Libanus produce the best wines of Syria, it
may not be improper to offer a few remarks on that topic. The white
wine made at Jerusalem has a sulphureous taste, and is very strong;
the red somewhat resembles Tent, and is comparatively mild in its
effects. The wines of Syria are most of them prepared by boiling,
immediately after they are expressed from the grape, till they be
considerably reduced in quantity, when they are put into jars or
large glass bottles, (_damesjans_,) and preserved for use.
There is reason to believe, that this mode of boiling their wines was
in general practice among the antients. It is still retained in some
parts of Provence, where it is called _vîn cuite_, or cooked wine;
but there the method is to lodge the wine in a large room, receiving
all the smoke arising from several fires on the ground-floors; an
operation more slow, but answering the same purpose. The Spanish
Vino Tinto, or Tent, is prepared in the same way.
The wines thus managed, are sometimes thickened so much as to lose
their transparency, and acquire a sweetish taste. Numerous are the
kinds made in Syria; but the chief is the Vino d’Oro, or _golden
wine_ of Mount Libanus. This is not boiled, but left to purify
itself by keeping; the quantity produced is small. It is, as the
name implies, of a bright golden colour, and is highly prized even
on the spot.
There is little reason to doubt, that if the wines of Syria were
properly managed, they would equal any that France or Spain produces.
In Kesrawân the Christians are so much more indulged than in
other places, that they can here enjoy their favourite amusement
of deafening each other with bells. The monks of _Mush-Mushé_
serve themselves in every thing, and are of course not idle, however
fanatically inclined; they are cooks, bakers, butchers, carpenters,
taylors, gardeners, husbandmen, each having his distinct province. I
met here _Hassan Jumbelati_, who is of one of the most powerful
families among the Druses, and at this time holds an office
under the _Emîr Beshîr_. He is a great drinker, but appears
not unintelligent. He was very inquisitive as to the motives and
history of the French Revolution, and the present religious creed
of that nation; on hearing the detail of which, he however made no
interesting remarks.
From Kesrawân we returned to Seidé. On the 9th of April set
out for Beirût, the antient _Berytus_. The route was through
a deep sand, and after passing two rivers, the _Nahr el aweli_
(before mentioned,) and the _Damer_ or antient Tamyras, we arrived
at Beirût, the approach to which is, even now, grander than that of
any other town on the Syrian coast, though the fine groves have been
neglected since the death of Fakr-el-Dîn, Emîr of the Druses, its
munificent improver. A grove of pines, planted by his orders, is now
reduced to half its former bounds. No trace is found of the statues,
which his residence in Italy had enabled him to collect; nor of the
gardens and apartments which he had formed on the European taste.
Beirût is a small place, and was not even walled till the Russians
bombarded it; and Jezzâr, on getting possession, built the walls to
give it a more formidable appearance. There are several towers, but
the walls are thin and of no strength; the flatness of the situation
is also a disadvantage. There is, however, a commodious wharf.
The suburbs are almost as large as the city itself, consisting of
gardens, with a house for the owner in each; and these interspersed
among the numerous fruit-trees, (especially olives and figs,)
which this fertile soil supports, give the whole a picturesque and
beautiful appearance.
Most of these gardens belonged to Christians, till the Pasha, by his
exorbitant demands, obliged them to sell their possessions. Here
it may be observed, that Christians may hold land in this place,
which is not permitted at Acré. The streets of the city, like the
others in this part of the world, are narrow and irregular.
The high tower, which Maundrel mentions as standing North-east of
the city, was first destroyed by Jezzâr, as he thought an enemy
might use it in offence; but he afterwards rebuilt it, with smaller
stones and in a less substantial manner, as a place-d’armes for
his own soldiers.
European vessels, in the summer, anchor near a small point of land
which runs into the sea before the city, and is called Beirût Point;
but in the winter, they cast anchor to the North, in a kind of gulf,
which is sheltered from the North and East wind by the mountain, and
is said to be very secure. The staple commodity of the country is raw
silk, which is carried to Kahira, Damascus, and Aleppo, and part of
it to Europe. They also fabricate a kind of jars and jugs in earthen
ware, which, from the peculiar nature of the clay in the adjacent
country, are highly esteemed, and carried to all parts of the coast.
Provisions are generally dear; the fish is more valued than that
of Seidé, as the sea has here a rocky bottom, while at Seidé it
is sand or mud. The red wine of Libanus which is brought here, is
palatable, but cannot be transported from the mountain without a
licence from the custom-house, so that it is dearer than formerly;
yet the present price is only forty piasters the _cantar_, or about
four pounds sterling the hundred weight.
From Beirût, on the 22d April, I went to _Antûra_ on Mount Libanus,
distant about four hours. In the way passed the _Nahr Beirût_,
and after the _Nahr el Kelb_, the largest stream in this part of the
country. The former is the noted river of Adonis, famous for vines,
so exquisitely described by Milton.
_Antûra_ is a pleasant village, surrounded with mulberry trees,
but presenting nothing remarkable. Not far from this place is a
convent of nuns, where Mr. Wortley Montague lodged his wife[57]. The
dress of the Christians in this quarter seems unrestrained; they
wear turbans adorned with various colours, even green; and they
are freely indulged in the exercise of their religion: so natural
is despotism to this clime, that those who live under their own
Christian shechs or governors, are almost equally oppressed with
those subject to Turks. The shechs fleece the poor people, and
Jezzâr fleeces the shechs.
I afterwards visited _Harrîsé_. Here the Maronite patriarch resides,
who exercises an authority almost regal over the Christians of that
rite. From _Harrîsé_ returned to Beirût.
As in consequence of a dispute between Jezzâr and the Pasha of
Tripoli it was become unsafe to travel there, I joined a party of
disbanded soldiers, and proceeded to Tripoli in their company. Our
journey being quick, I had few opportunities for observation on
the road.
This part of the country is noted for producing the best tobacco in
Syria. That plant is cultivated in several districts, particularly
in the neighbourhood of Tripoli, Gebeilé, and Ladakia.
On the third day arrived at Tripoli, about ten o’clock in the
morning, having slept as usual in the open air.
Tripoli is a city of some extent, situated about a mile and an half
from the sea. Vessels moor near the shore, and are sheltered by a
ridge of rocks, but the situation is not extremely secure.
The air is rendered unwholesome by much stagnant water. The town is
placed on a slight elevation, the length considerably exceeding the
breadth. On the highest ground, to the South, is the castle, formerly
possessed by the Earls of Tripoli; it is large and strong. Hence is
visible a part of Mount Libanus, the summit of which is covered with
snow. The gardens in the vicinity are rich in mulberry and other fruit
trees. The city is well built, and most of the streets are paved.
It is the seat of a Pasha, who at present is the son of Abdallah,
Pasha of Damascus.
Here is found a number of Mohammedan merchants, some of the richest
and most respectable in the empire. Silk is the chief article of
commerce. Five or six French merchants escaped hither from Acré[58].
Antiquities I observed none. The history of Tripoli during the
crusades must be known to every reader. The present population I
should be inclined to estimate at about sixteen thousand.
The _miri_, or fixed public revenue paid by Tripoli to Constantinople,
is only about a thousand pounds sterling, twenty purses, a-year. Syria
at present contains only four Pashaliks, Damascus, Aleppo, Acré,
and Tripoli; the last of which is the smallest in territory and power.
On the 30th of April proceeded towards Ladakia, the antient Laodicea,
built by Seleucus Nicanor in honour of his mother. We arrived on
the third day at night. The first appearance of this city was most
melancholy, as presenting all the ravages of the earthquake, which
in the preceding year (1796) had laid a great part of it in ruins,
and destroyed numbers of the inhabitants. Ladakia has a convenient
but very small port, across the mouth of which is a bar of sand. The
place is situated in a plain, extending on the North and South as
far as the eye can reach; but bounded by hills towards the East. It
has no walls, and only a part is paved; but the streets are clean,
the air is salubrious, and refreshed by the fragrance of surrounding
gardens. Water is scarce. The snow-capt summits of Libanus now vanish
from the eye.
In the town are eight mosques. It is governed by a deputy of the
Pasha of Tripoli.
On the 5th of May departed for Aleppo, in a small caravan, consisting
only of Citoyen Chauderlos, the French consul-general, two Turks, and
myself. On the second day passed through one of the most picturesque
countries which I had ever seen. Lofty rocks and precipices, shaded
with luxuriant foliage, of various form and character, but of the
most lively verdure, and flowers of the most diversified hues and
the strongest odours, alleviated the task of climbing by rugged
and difficult paths the steep ascent of the mountain, and torrents
wandering through the valleys in their stoney channels, or dashed
from the rocks in sheets of foam, filled the ear with their soothing
murmurs, the eye with their untaught meanders, and the imagination
with some of the most agreeable images that delight in the works of
the poet.
The third day was occupied in traversing a country romantic like
the former, and we passed the night in the open air, at _Shawr_,
where the river Orontes winds majestically through the plain. The
town of _Shawr_ is populous, and has a good caravanserai; but we
preferred the open air, to avoid the vermin which lodge in such
places. Adjacent is a good stone bridge of seven arches. These
conveniences have been originally provided for the caravan, which
rests here in its route from Constantinople to Mecca.
On the fifth day arrived at _Keftîn_, a village remarkable for its
pigeon-houses, which supply the adjacent country, even to Aleppo. The
neighbouring lands abound in wheat and barley, sown in ridges; the
soil is rich, and requires no farrow. The women here go unveiled,
and at _Martrawân_, which is not far removed, are by their friends
presented to strangers.
The people are termed _Ansarîé_ in Arabic, a sect of pretended
Mohammedans, who are said to worship the pudendum muliebre. With
Christians they affect to be of their faith. The women are fair,
have black eyes, and tolerable features. The strange practice above
commemorated, seems a relique of the antient dissolute manners of
Antioch and Daphne.
Thence to Aleppo is a journey of eight hours; for two hours through
corn lands, the rest passes a barren country. That city is visible
at the distance of two hours, and as you approach displays a most
magnificent appearance.
CHAP. XXIV.
OBSERVATIONS AT ALEPPO.
_Sherîfs and Janizaries — Manufactures and commerce — Quarries
— Price of provisions — New sect — Journey to Antioch —
Description of antient Seleucia — Return to Aleppo._
The country adjacent to Aleppo is broken with many inequalities,
and even the city stands partly on high and partly on low ground. A
small river, called _Coik_, descends from _Aintab_, and, after
passing through the city, is lost in a marsh on the West.
So many descriptions of this famous capital having appeared, I
shall only offer a few remarks on such objects as struck me during
my residence there.
The site is rocky, and the few gardens chiefly produce pistachios. The
city is well built, and paved with stone. The tall cyprus trees,
contrasted with the white minarets of numerous mosques, give it a
most picturesque appearance. The population and buildings seem to
be on the increase; but this affords no proof of public felicity;
for, in proportion as the capital swells, the adjacent villages are
deserted. The houses are clean, airy, substantial, and commodious. The
people in general are distinguished by an air of affected polish,
hardly to be observed in the other towns of Syria. Their dialect
too has its characteristic marks. The Arabic prevails, though many
speak the Turkish language.
A new Pasha had been lately appointed at the time I arrived, but was
prevented from entering the city, by the feuds which had prevailed
between the Sherîfs and the Janizaries, and induced the latter to
suspect that the Pasha had a design of punishing them. This officer
was a young man, the son of the Pasha of Adene; his title El Sherîf
Mohammed Pasha; of an unblemished character, but unequal, in point
of talents and personal weight, to compose the violence of these
factions, which, after he had resided a short time in the city,
obliged him to retire. The Sherîfs, or descendants of Mohammed,
here form a considerable faction; a circumstance also observable
at Bagdad, but not in so remarkable a degree. In Aleppo they form a
body of near sixty thousand. The Janizaries do not exceed one-fourth
of that number. The Sherîfs consist of all ranks, from the highest
Imâm to the lowest peasant, and are far from excelling in courage:
the Janizaries are of superior valour, though little acquainted with
the use of arms or aspect of battle. Hence the force of the factions
is merely balanced, and continual disputes arise for offices of
profit or power, which generally terminate in bloodshed. In the
course of this summer, 1797, several of these took place; in one
of them it is supposed near three hundred persons perished. This
imperfect exercise of authority may be estimated among the symptoms
of decline in the Turkish empire.
The manufactures are in a flourishing state, being carried on with
great spirit both by Christians and Mohammedans: silk and cotton form
the chief articles. Large caravans frequently arrive from Bagdad and
Bassora, charged with coffee, which is carried round to the Persian
gulf from Moccha, with the tobacco and cherry-tree pipes from Persia,
and muslins, shawls, and other products of India.
Besides the manufactures of Aleppo, and the productions of the
surrounding country, which are sent to Europe by sea, three or four
caravans, laden with merchandize, proceed annually through Anatolia
to Constantinople. Pistachio nuts form no mean article of trade,
being the chief produce of the adjacent territory, in the soil
of which that tree particularly delights. Aleppo also maintains a
commercial intercourse with Damascus, Antioch, Tripoli, Ladakia,
and the towns on the East towards the Euphrates.
The last pestilence is supposed to have destroyed sixty thousand of
the inhabitants.
The women of Aleppo are rather masculine, of brown complexions,
and remarkable for indulging in the Sapphic affection.
The quarries which supplied the stone for the construction of the
city, are not far removed from the Antioch gate. They are every way
worthy remark. On both sides of a road, cut through the solid rock,
are seen the openings of caverns, capable of giving shelter to a
vast number of persons. From these again, which are tolerably light,
open a number of other passages, in all directions, from the principal
apartments. These I had neither time nor instruments to investigate;
but the people of the place pretend that one of these passages goes to
the castle, another to Antioch, &c. Traditions similar to which abound
in every country, which presents any caverns natural or artificial.
The material is a soft stone or tufa, replete with petrified
shells. It would appear that the artificers designed those quarries
for some useful purpose, as they have not only left rough columns, and
cut perpendicular shafts, which admit some portion of light, but the
walls are hewn to a much greater degree of smoothness than is usually
seen in quarries. It is certain they have afterwards been occupied,
as marks of fire, mangers for horses, and even burial places, may be
observed. In latter times, disbanded _dellîs_, not being admitted
into the city, have here fixed their abode, and become dangerous to
passengers, whom they have robbed, and sometimes murdered.
There is a large burying-place without the city. Here I observed
the tomb of an Englishman, dated 1613.
The dress of the people of Aleppo resembles that of Constantinople
more than that of Egypt and southern Syria: both men and women, in
rainy weather, wear a kind of wooden patten, which has no agreeable
effect either on the eye or the ear.
The hire of a camel from Aleppo to Ladakia or Scanderoon, about
sixty miles, was a century ago four piasters, thirty years ago eight
piasters, and is at this time nineteen. The price of commodities is
much changed in the course of not many years. But since the year 1716
it has increased in a tenfold proportion. I saw an authentic document,
that the _ardeb_ of rice at that time sold for eleven piasters;
it now fetches one hundred and eighteen piasters. They at that time
sold 185 rolls of bread, of a particular kind, for a piaster; they
now only sell forty of the same kind for that sum. Meat is good
and in plenty; it is sold for fifty paras the rotal, 720 drams,
or about 4½d. a pound. There are no fish, save a few small eels,
found in the _Coik_. Wine is very dear, none being produced in the
neighbourhood. On the other articles of provision nothing remarkable
occurs.
At Aleppo I first observed the practice of illuminating the mosques on
Thursday night, to usher in the Mohammedan Sabbath; this is unknown
at Kahira, and other cities of the South.
About this time, the beginning of June 1797, intelligence arrived,
that the Pasha of Bagdad had sent a strong detachment of troops,
to be joined by the Arabs friendly to the Porte, in repressing the
incursions of _Abd-el-aziz ibn Messoûd el Wahhâhbé_, a rebel
against the government, who by the rapid success of his arms, and
his increasing followers, had lately grown formidable. This man, a
native of _Nedjed_, respected among the Arabs for his age and wisdom,
had two years before first made public his determination to resist
the authority of the Porte. He has since collected a considerable
body of men, but it is said they are only furnished with spears and
swords. He pretends to a divine mission, and gives no quarter to
those who oppose him. To invite Christians and Jews to his party,
he only requires an annual capitation tax of three piasters and
a half. Of the people under his jurisdiction, every owner of a
house is obliged to serve in person or find a substitute; and, to
encourage them, he divides the spoil into five parts; taking one
himself, he gives two to the substitute and two to the principal,
or if the latter serve he has four parts. It was supposed his views
pointed to Mecca, which he had threatened to attack. His confession
of faith is only—“There is no God but God;” inferring, that
a prophet, when dead, deserves no homage, and that of course to
mention him in a creed, or in prayers, is absurd. He enjoins the
absolute necessity of prayer, under the open canopy of heaven,
and destroys all the mosques he can seize. Of the five dogmata
of Mohammed, he admits alms, fasting, prayer, and ablution, but
rejects pilgrimage. He denies the divine origin of the Korân, but
prohibits the use of all liquors but water. Being advanced in age,
he had taken care to secure the attachment of his followers to his
son, who was generally his substitute in the field[59].
On the 11th of June set out from Aleppo for Antioch, where I arrived
on the 14th. Part of the route is mountainous. We passed the Orontes
at a ferry. Country cultivated with Hashîsh, a kind of flax.
Entered Antioch, now called Antáki, by _Bab-Bolûs_, the gate of
St. Paul. The walls are extensive, but the houses are chiefly confined
to one corner. Numerous towers flank the walls, which are strong
and lofty, and run from the river Orontes, the southern boundary of
the city, up to the summit of the mountain. There is a substantial
bridge over the river, which winds through a fertile vale. A large
castle on the mountain, now ruinous, commands an extensive prospect.
Antioch is governed by a _Mohassel_, who derives his appointment from
Constantinople. He received me with great politeness, and desired
me to make what researches I pleased.
The barley harvest was begun. The length of the plain of Antioch is
about three leagues and a half, the width two leagues. The language
is here generally Turkish.
It must be remarked with regard to Aleppo and Antioch, that the
latter has by far the most convenient situation. The former has no
navigable river, the land is little productive, and it is placed
at a great distance from the sea. Antioch possesses every opposite
advantage, except that of a navigable river, which however far
exceeds the diminutive Coik; the air is superior to that of Aleppo,
and it is within five hours of the sea. The mountain produces wine,
which is sold cheap, and there is plenty of sea-fish. The mouth of
the river forms a haven for small vessels, with very deep water.
Between Antioch and the sea, the ridge abounds in mulberry trees,
which furnish a copious supply of silk, though not of the best kind.
From Antioch I set out for _Suadéa_, the antient _Seleucia_, and port
of Antioch, and only about four hours removed from it. It presents to
the mind the idea of the immense labour used by its former possessors
to render it convenient for traffic, which is now rendered useless,
by the negligence of its present masters. The road from Antioch is
pleasingly diversified by mountain and plain; yet to appearance the
country is but thinly inhabited, though filled with all kinds of
flowering and odoriferous plants, particularly myrtles, oleanders,
and cyclamens. Having crossed four rapid and translucid streams,
which descend into the Orontes, I passed the night with a hospitable
native, in a garden of mulberries, which afforded support to his
numerous family.
A large gate of Seleucia yet remains entire; it approaches to
the Doric order. The rock near it has been excavated into various
apartments. A part exists of the thick and substantial wall which
defended Seleucia toward the sea. The port must have been commodious
and secure, though but small, being formed by a mole of very large
stones. Though the port be at present dry, the sand in the bottom
appears not higher than the surface of the sea. A little to the
North is a remarkable passage, cut in the rock, leading by a gentle
descent, from the summit of the mountain towards the water. It is
above six hundred common paces long, from thirty to fifty feet high,
and about twenty broad. In the middle of it is a covered way, arched
through the rock, but both the ends are open. A channel for water runs
along the side, conveying the pure element down from the mountain
to Seleucia. The whole rock above is full of artificial cavities,
for what purpose does not appear. There is a Greek inscription on the
South side of the cavern, comprising, I believe, five lines. Having
no glass, and the inscription being lofty, I could only discover
the letters ΤΕΤΑΡ, which form a part of the last line but one.
Returning towards the sea, I observed some catacombs. One of the
chambers contains thirty niches for the dead, another fourteen. These
catacombs are ornamented with pilasters, cornices, and mouldings.
Returned to Antioch, and on the following day set off for Aleppo. The
Kûrds occasionally attack the caravans going between these two
cities. The Turcomâns form another tribe of rovers; they generally
pass the winter in the plains near Antioch, returning in the summer
to Anatolia.
CHAP. XXV.
JOURNEY TO DAMASCUS.
_Entrance of the Hadjîs — Topography of Damascus — Trade and
manufactures — Population — Observations on the depopulation
of the East — Government and manners of Damascus — Charitable
foundations — Anecdotes of recent history — Taxes — Price of
provisions — Sacred caravan._
After waiting some time in Aleppo for the departure of the caravan,
I at length left that city on the 23d of July for Damascus. The heat
was great, but nothing equal to that of Africa. The beasts of burden,
employed in this caravan, were only mules and geldings.
The route from Aleppo to Damascus has been often described. On
Wednesday the 8th of August entered Damascus at day-break. The
approach is remarkable, being ornamented for many miles with numerous
gardens, and then by a paved way, extending for a great length.
On the day after my arrival, was entertained with the entrance
of the grand caravan from Mecca. The street was lined for some
miles, for such is its length, with innumerable spectators, all
impressed with curiosity, some with anxiety to see their friends
and relations, many with reverence for the sacred procession. Some
of the more opulent Hadjîs, or pilgrims, were carried in litters,
(_tattarawân_,) but the greater number in a kind of panniers, two and
two, placed on the back of camels. They did not appear much fatigued,
though it was said they had suffered from the want of water.
On the Saturday following, was the entrance of the Pasha of Damascus,
who is constantly the _Emîr-el-Hadje_, or chief of the caravan by
office. First appeared three hundred dellîs, or cavalry, mounted on
Arabian horses, variously armed and clothed, but on the whole forming
no mean display. These were succeeded by fifteen men on dromedaries,
with musquetoons, or large carbines, placed before them, and turning
on a swivel in every direction. This destructive instrument of war
is said to have passed from the Persians to the Syrians. Some of
the great officers of the city followed, well mounted, and decently
attired. Then came part of the Pasha of Tripoli’s Janizaries, well
clothed and armed; that Pasha himself, with his officers, and the
remainder of his guard. Next was the tattarawân belonging to the
Pasha of Damascus, another body of four hundred dellîs, a company
of thirty musquetooners, a hundred and fifty Albanians, in uniform,
and marching two and two, like our troops. Before the latter was
borne the standard of the Prophet, _Senjiak Sherîfi_, of green silk,
with sentences of the Korân embroidered in gold, and the magnificent
canopy brought from Mecca, guarded by a strong body of Muggrebîns,
or western Arabs, on foot. Then passed the Pasha’s three tails,
(generally of white horses,) borne by three men on horseback; twelve
horses, (a Pasha of two tails has only six,) richly caparisoned,
and each bearing a silver target and a sabre; six led dromedaries,
in beautiful housings; numbers of the chief persons of the city
followed, among whom were the Aga of the Janizaries, the governor
of the castle, and the Mohassel. Last came the Pasha himself, in a
habit of green cloth adorned with fur of the black fox, preceded by
his two sons, the eldest about fourteen, all mounted on the most
spirited steeds of Arabia, and followed by his household troops,
to the number of four hundred, well armed and mounted. More than a
hundred camels had preceded the rest, bearing the tents and baggage
of the Pasha. The whole was conducted without any noise or tumult,
to the great credit of the Damascene mob, who had been waiting
several hours without their usual repast.
Damascus has been often described; but a residence of about two months
may enable me to suggest some particulars worthy of notice. The walls
are of a circular form, suburbs large and irregular. The situation is
in an extensive plain, filled with gardens, to the length of more than
three leagues, and the breadth of more than a league and a half. At
no great distance to the East, rises a ridge of Anti-Libanus. The
river Baradé is above the city divided into many streams, which
are distributed through the gardens; so that there is a supply for
all. The air is excellent, the soil exuberant in fertility. Fruits
more abundant than I have ever seen, particularly the grapes and
apricots, which are of excellent flavour.
Near the mountain are some Saracenic remains of a mosque and palace,
with many inscriptions in Cuphic characters. These are vestiges of the
destructive warfare conducted by Timûr Leng, the hero, the robber,
the warrior, the scourge. The walls are antient, not very lofty, but
strong. Gates nine. The city is divided into twenty-three districts,
each under its distinct magistrate.
That beautiful tree, the Lombardy poplar, abounds all over the
plain. It is a native of Syria. When old it becomes ragged and
uncouth, as usual in other regions, a monument of fugitive beauty.
Damascus is the seat of a considerable trade; and its manufactures
afford a support to a great number of Mohammedans and Christians:
they consist of silk and cotton, mixed or separate, but chiefly
mingled together, in the form of what they call _Cottonî_ or
_Alléja_[60]. Much soap is also fabricated[61], which is carried to
different parts of Syria and to Egypt. Such of the European articles
as are used by the Orientals, are drawn from Seidé, Beirût, and
Tripoli, to and from all which places, there are regular caravans,
iron, lead, tin, cochineal, broad-cloth. From Persia and the East the
caravans of Bagdad convey shawls, muslins, and the rich fabrics of
Surat, a part of which is consumed in the city, and a part passes
on to other places in Syria and to European Turkey. To maritime
commerce the Damascenes were formerly very adverse, and it is only
within these few years that they could be prevailed on to send goods
by sea to Constantinople.
Timûr Leng, on his conquest of Syria, about the beginning of the
fourteenth century, conveyed all the celebrated manufactures of
steel from Damascus into Persia. Since that period, its works in
steel have been little memorable. They were formerly of the highest
reputation in Europe and the East. The famous sabres appear to have
been constructed, by a method now lost, of alternate layers, about two
or three lines thick, of iron and steel: they never broke, though bent
in the most violent manner, and yet retained the utmost power of edge;
so that common iron, or even steel, would divide under their force.
So far as my researches have enabled me to ascertain the population
of Damascus, I should not be inclined to compute it at less than
two hundred thousand souls. That of Aleppo may be estimated at two
hundred and eighty thousand.
Some modern travellers appear to me to have mistaken the nature of
the gradual depopulation of the East. The villages in general are so
much deserted, that, in the neighbourhood of Aleppo for instance,
where within the present century stood three hundred villages,
there now remain no more than ten or twelve. Yet, this depopulation
of the villages swells the cities and towns, not indeed in the same
proportion, but still with a rising tide. The causes seem to be, 1. In
the cities the modes of gaining a livelihood are more multifarious,
and small or no capital is required, whereas in agriculture it
is indispensable. 2. In the cities the property is not tangible,
so to speak; it is veiled from the eye of government, so as to be
safe from the excessive exactions imposed on the peasants, whose
property is of the most unwieldy and self-apparent description. The
peasantry, both in Syria and Egypt, are not _Villani_, but as free
as any class of men; and it happens unfortunately, that even a good
governor cannot sufficiently protect them, for he must either resign,
or pay the usual tributes at the Porte. Money he must have, and the
modern ministerial arts, of diving into the most secret recesses of
property, being there unknown, he of course taxes that which is most
apparent, and the most difficult to remove.
Yet the distinction between a good and a bad governor is, even here,
sufficiently felt; the population and commerce of Damascus being
on the increase, by the justice and equity of the present Pasha;
whereas, both had been materially injured by the violence of Jezzar.
At this moment the shops in the extensive bazars, much larger than
those of Aleppo, are all opened, and furnished with every species
of commodity, and each caravan brings a supply of persons who,
shunning oppression elsewhere, come here for temporary profit or
fixed residence. The rent of houses, though still low, is sensibly
increasing, and the suburbs spreading by new buildings.
The Pashalîk is the first in Asia. The present Pasha is Abdallah,
a man of about fifty years of age, tall and personable, and of noble
extract, his ancestors having been invested with Pashalîks in the
last century. It is hardly necessary to mention, that every Pasha
has absolute power of life or death, there being no appeal from
his jurisdiction.
The inhabitants of Damascus were formerly noted for their maltreatment
of the Franks, but at present I found the pride of their ignorance
somewhat abated, and observed no difference between them and other
Oriental citizens. It is deeply to be regretted, that religion,
intended to conciliate mankind, should be the chief cause of their
ferocity against each other, and should, in an equal proportion,
have mingled poisons and antidotes. The Mohammedan himself a god,
all the rest of mankind dogs! can any benefit recompense the pride,
the fury, the eternal enmity, destruction, and slaughter, inwoven
into the very soul by such misanthropic dogmata?
A striking contrast exists between the inhabitants of Damascus and
those of Aleppo. The Aleppîns are vain and seditious; the Damascenes,
on the contrary, sober, industrious, and unostentatious. The females
and children have commonly regular features and a fair complexion:
the dress of the women nearly the same as at Constantinople, white
muslin veils, except the prostitutes, who, as usual all over the
East, expose their faces. To paint the face is an improvement unknown
among the Oriental fair, save the Greeks alone.
The charitable establishments in Damascus are numerous, among which
may be noted that constructed by Sultan Selim, for the reception
of strangers; though his munificence have been since diverted into
other channels. The building consists of a vast quadrangle, lined
with a colonade. It is entirely roofed in small domes, covered
with lead. The mosque is grand. The entrance supported by four
large columns of red granite. It is covered with a cupola, and has
two minarets. A handsome garden lies adjacent. The apartments are
numerous, and the kitchen or _mutbach_, on the side opposite to the
mosque, is suited to the grandeur of the establishment.
The celebrated Asad Pasha, mentioned by Niebuhr and Volney, left
an only daughter, of whom, on her marriage with Mohammed Pasha Adm,
sprang the present Pasha Abdallah. Mohammed Pasha Adm was preceded
by Osmân, and succeeded by two of his own brothers successively,
the last of whom, named Derwîsh, was expelled by the intrigues of
Jezzâr, who gained his office, and married the daughter of Mohammed
Pasha Adm. This marriage of ambition, not of affection, terminated
in a divorce a year after. Among other instances his bad treatment
of this lady, it is recorded that Jezzâr, meeting her one day in
the house, where she happened to have _cab-cab_, or Arabian pattens
on her feet, pulled a pistol from his cincture, and fired it at her,
saying, “Art thou the wife of an Arabian peasant? dost thou forget
that thou art the wife of a Pasha?”
Jezzâr retained his ill-won pashalîk of Damascus only a few years;
his government was a continual scene of oppression and cruelty, and he
is supposed to have extorted from the people not less than twenty-five
thousand purses, or about a million and two hundred thousand pounds
sterling; and to have put to death near four hundred individuals,
most of them innocent. His own misconduct and suspicious designs,
when leading the caravan to Mecca, conspired with the machinations
of his enemies at the Porte to deprive him of his office: but
living monuments of his cruelty remain, in the noseless faces and
earless heads of many of the Damascenes. Thus driven from Damascus,
he returned to his former pashalîk of Acré and Seidé, where he
remains. This government, which he held along with that of Damascus,
he has retained upwards of twenty-seven years.
Jezzâr was succeeded by the present Pasha Abdallah, whose
administration, though eminent as before observed for equity, is
yet liable to the charge of mismanagement of the public revenue,
and of an indecorous timidity. Under the energetic sway of Jezzâr,
the sacred caravan had met with no obstructions on its route;
but that of the present year, not only found the reservoirs for
water destroyed or damaged, so that many camels perished for want
of that indispensable article, but even the pilgrims were insulted
by the Arabs, probably incited by the arts and malicious revenge of
Jezzâr. By dint of bribes, however, at the Porte, Abdallah prevented
his expected deprivation.
In the province of Damascus there are no taxes upon commodities
of any kind, so far as I could discover. The land-tax, and the
capitation-tax on Christians, constitute the only resource, except
contingencies; as fines, and _avanias_, or arbitrary exactions. The
_miri_, or public revenue, may amount to ten thousand purses, or
half a million sterling.
Meat is at present sold for thirty-six paras the rotal, or four-pence
sterling the pound Avoirdupois. A quantity of bread, sufficient for
a meal for four persons, might be purchased for a para. It is very
white and good, and remarked to be best when the Janizary Aga, who has
a censorial power over the bakers, is not in the city. Grapes, of the
finest flavour, the rotal three or four paras. Fish, from the river,
is to be had at a moderate price, but not remarkably good. Milk,
cheese, and butter, very cheap. Wild-fowl abounds on Mount Libanus,
and partridges, in the season, are sold for five paras the brace. Tame
fowls for four or five paras each, pigeons, a pair for the same sum.
The air or water of Damascus, or both, are supposed to operate
powerfully against that loathsome disease the leprosy (_borras_). The
inquiries I had occasion to make tended to prove, that if the disease
were not too far advanced, it was always stopped in its progress,
while the patient remained there.
The whole expense of the sacred caravan from Damascus to Mecca
used formerly to amount to four thousand five hundred purses,
and an increase has since taken place. The Pasha carries with him,
exclusively of this, one thousand purses for his own use. Jezzâr was
accustomed to take two thousand for the purpose of buying coffee,
which he resold to vast advantage. The 4500 purses are deducted
from the imperial treasury (_chosné_), and the Pasha is rendered
accountable for the safety of the caravan. He receives the Senjiak
Sherîfî, or Ensign of the Prophet, from the governor of the castle,
giving an acknowlegement in writing, before witnesses, in which he
solemnly pledges himself to bring it back. Similar forms are observed
on restoring it to its place. As soon as the Pasha arrives near the
city on his return, a messenger is dispatched to Constantinople,
who is obliged to perform the journey in twenty-five days. He
carries water from the famous well Zem-zem, near Mecca, and some
dates from Mediné, which are presented to the Emperor on his visit
to the mosque. After this, the Wizîr presents a list of the Pashas
for the ensuing year; the Sultan reads it, and if he object to any
name, affixes to it a mark, after which the firmâns are made out
in due form.
CHAP. XXVI.
_Journey from Damascus to Balbec — Syriac language — Balbec —
Recent discoveries — Zahhlé — Printing-office — Houses of
Damascus — Return to Aleppo._
On Thursday the sixteenth of August 1797, set out from Damascus for
Balbec or Heliopolis, attended only by the owner of the mule I rode
on. Arrived at the convent of _Seidnaia_, which commands a fair view
of the city of Damascus, and the plain. Vines and fig-trees adorn the
country through which I travelled. The wine has less flavour and body
than that of Kasrawân, but is esteemed more grateful to the stomach.
From _Seidnaia_ I proceeded to _Malûla_, a village situated
in the mountain, where is a convent, said to be of the time of
Justinian. Thence went to _Yebrûd_, the antient _Jabruda_, a place
higher up the mountain, in a romantic situation; the inhabitants are
chiefly Mohammedans. I met there a Greek bishop, who was going to a
place near Balbec, an intelligent and curious man. We proceeded in
company till we came to Balbec.
Soon after arrived at _Mara_, a small town on the North of the
road. It is remarked that at this town and at _Malûla_ alone the
Syriac still continues to be a living language; descending from
father to son, without the use of books. Two of the muleteers I
observed to converse together more willingly in that language,
than in the Arabic, which in sound it nearly resembles.
On the 19th passed under _Dahr-el-chûr_, supposed to be the highest
summit of the Anti-Libanian chain of mountains. The following day
having set out four and a half hours before day-break, the muleteers
lost the road, and we were obliged to wait for sunrise, chilled with
the intense cold of these high mountains, which we felt severely
in our hands and feet. Arrived at Balbec about noon the same day,
after descending for nearly three hours through a ravine, or deep
glen in the mountain, a rugged and, in some places, a steep road.
From the high grounds we had a perfect view of Balbec, and went
to seek our lodging under some walnut-trees, on the North of the
castle. Some precaution was necessary against the _Metaweli_,
Mohammedans of the sect of Ali, who once formed a powerful and
ferocious tribe; even now, though crushed in a great degree by the
exertions of Jezzâr, they continue to persecute strangers, who have
often suffered from their predatory disposition.
The antiquities of Balbec have been often described, and I did
not observe any thing particular to add on that topic. Proceeded
to _Zahhlé_, a pleasant town among the mountains. Observed the
Lombardy poplar in abundance. At _Zahhlé_ met with a young man,
a Druse, who informed me, that near Balbec, two or three years ago,
in digging, the body of a man was found, interred in a kind of vault,
having a piece of unstamped gold in his mouth; near him was a number
of leaden plates, marked with characters to them unknown; they were
sold and melted. In another place was discovered a small statue, very
perfect, but I could not learn where it had been deposited. _Zahhlé_
is a large town, chiefly, if not solely inhabited by Christians; it
sends forth seven hundred men fit for war. The town is divided into
five districts, each having its separate Shech, who pays tribute to
the Emîr of the Druses; they complain of oppression; and the state
of the place, and the adjacent country, shews that their complaints
are not void of foundation. The town is sheltered by mountains,
but the locusts are very destructive. Tobacco is one of the chief
articles of cultivation. A rivulet rolling from the rocks turns the
mills and waters the grounds; air salubrious and never tainted with
excessive heat.
Near _Zahhlé_ saw what is called the _tomb of Noah_, a long
structure, seemingly part of an aqueduct. It extends about sixty feet,
the stature of Noah according to Oriental tradition. The pilgrims who
came formerly to worship in the mosque near it were very numerous;
and the religious revenue is said to amount to three hundred purses
annually.
Among the mountains the people have an air of health not observable
in the cities. Magic is still credited, and several are accused
before the bishop for incantations, producing love or enmity. The
pious antipathy between the Greeks and Catholics reigns here in all
its fury.
After a journey of two days, through a rugged route along the
ridge of the mountain, arrived at the convent of St. John, where
the printing-office is. Paper being dear, and no demand for books,
the press is stopped. Arabic books alone were edited.
On my return by _Zibdané_ observed there a gate of Grecian
architecture. Passed through a rich vale, watered by the _Baradé_,
formerly the Chrysorrhoas, to Damascus.
So numerous are the fruit-trees in the vicinity of this city,
that those which die and are cut down, supply it with abundant
fire-wood. They are also used for building, together with the
walnut-tree and Lombardy poplar. The houses in Damascus are
remarkably large and commodious, and well supplied with water;
of many the furniture is worth from one to five hundred purses,
or from five thousand to twenty-five thousand pounds, in divans or
large sophas, of the richest silk, embroidered with pearl, Persian
carpets, mirrors, &c.
The _melingana_, a species of the solanum, is consumed here in
such quantities as a common vegetable, that fifty hundred weight is
estimated the daily supply of the city.
Returned from Damascus to Aleppo, 7th October 1797, a journey of
twelve days. Almost every town or village on the route has its market,
so that there is no occasion to prepare provisions; the caravanserais
are in a ruinous situation.
On visiting the castle of Aleppo, observed a remarkable fact
considering the populousness of the city. There were only eighteen
prisoners, eight of whom were confined for debt, and the remainder
on account of the riot between the Janizaries and Sherîfs. The
debtor is not permitted, in the whole Turkish empire, to be confined
above one month; during which term, according to the Mohammedan
doctors, his property must appear, if he have any, and if none,
they consider it unjust to detain him. But this mild regulation is
sometimes frustrated; for if a claim lie for four thousand piasters,
for example, the creditor may first proceed against him for five
hundred, and bring a fresh charge at the end of every month till
the whole be paid, or till the debtor have remained in prison one
month on every distinct process.
CHAP. XXVII.
_Journey from Aleppo towards Constantinople — Route — Aintâb
— Mount Taurus — Bostan — Inhabitants, their manners and dress
— Kaisarîa — Angora — Walls and antiquities — Angora goats
— Manufactures — Topography — Journey to Ismît — Topography
— General remarks concerning Anatolia or Asia Minor._
On the 21st of October 1797, set out from Aleppo on my journey through
Anatolia to Constantinople. I had a horse for myself, and another
for an Armenian servant; seventy mules carried the merchandize of
the caravan.
The direct road lies by Beilan and Adene, Konia, Kutahia, and
Bursa, but _Kutchûk Ali_, the Pasha of Beilan, being in a state
of rebellion, we were constrained to turn to the North-east by an
unusual route, through the cities of Aintab, Kaisarîa, and Angora.
Between Aleppo and Aintab the country is well watered, and, though
somewhat stony, capable of being cultivated in a threefold degree.
On the 30th arrived at Aintab, a large town or city, inhabited
by Mohammedans and Christians, both Armenian and Greek. It has a
fortress and a garrison of Janizaries. Here the Turkish language
first becomes general. The chief commerce is leather and raw hides;
skins of goats are dyed red and yellow, into what is called Turkey
leather. The houses are built of stone, which is very cheap; there are
five principal mosques; through some of the streets devolve streams
of water, and the air is salubrious. On the South side is a large
burying ground, which at a distance seems an extensive suburb. On the
North is the castle, apparently coëval with that of Aleppo, built on
an artificial elevation. The city however is entirely commanded from
the adjacent hills. It is governed by a _Mitsellim_, appointed by the
executive power at Constantinople. The Janizaries and Sherîfs are
here as riotous as at Aleppo. Staple commodities are, the leather
above mentioned, cottons for their own use, and various-coloured
woollens, of which jackets are made, and sent to other parts. It also
produces _dips_, a confection made of the grounds of wine and almonds.
After travelling for several days, ascended Mount Taurus, now called
_Kurûn_. The ascent and descent occupied three days. This is a chain
of high rocky mountains, running from East to West, the inhabitants
are chiefly Kûrds; and the Turcomans retire here in the summer from
the plain of Antioch, as before mentioned. Many thousand acres abound
with cedars of great size and age; savines and junipers cover some
of the brows. The cedars throw around a delicious odour. Some of our
company, when they wished to warm themselves, the air being cold to
excess, would set fire to the dead trees by kindling a little dry
grass, which would instantly seize the branches, and soon consumed the
whole tree. The bases of the mountains generally consist of tufa. Most
of the hills are divided by rapid rivulets of the purest water.
On commencing the ascent of Mount Taurus, observed several roads
leading to the right; one of them conducts to the copper mines of
Tokat, which are very rich, and yield a considerable revenue to
the emperor.
After descending Mount Taurus, arrived in the extensive plain of
Bostân, which consists of fertile soil, is watered by the river
formerly called _Sarus_, and surrounded with mountains.
Bostân is a town rather of small size, and presenting nothing
memorable. Here I first observed little two-wheeled carts, drawn
by two oxen. The wheels are solid, and the axle turns with them,
so that their progress is sufficiently vociferous. Market poor. The
inhabitants, like those of Anatolia in general, form a striking
contrast to the more polished natives of Syria. They inspected us
with stupid curiosity, and without the usual tokens of salutation
practised by the Arabs. The common dress a short jacket and fringed
turban. The women here are of fair florid complexion, and wear
on their heads broad flat pieces of metal, to shelter their faces
from the sun and rain. These resemble common eating plates, and are
fastened with strings under the chin; the rich have them of silver,
others are copper. Their persons and motions are uncouth and destitute
of the lascivious mincing, the _motus Ionici_, of the Egyptian and
Syrian women.
From Bostân to Kaisarîa the country is plain, but ill cultivated and
thinly inhabited. Near the city there are however several productive
fields, and watered by the river _Yermok_. This river we had passed
a day’s journey from Kaisarîa, running to the South. Near that
city the Lombardy poplar again appears in abundance.
Kaisarîa is distinguished at a distance by two remarkable hills,
one of them lofty, and at this time covered with snow. This is West
of the town. The other, which is to the South, is round and isolated,
but not so high. The town is on the south side of a fertile plain,
well watered by the _Yermok_ and some rills, and contains a good
number of inhabitants. They are now ploughing. In entering the town
I observed numbers of the shaggy, strong, and large camels, which are
bred by the Turcomans. The black buffaloe, like that of Egypt, is very
common here. Kaisarîa is governed by a _Mitsellim_, who is appointed
from Constantinople. The city belongs to the Reis Effendi. It is
surrounded by walls, now in bad repair. Great quantities of timber are
brought here from the mountains, and transported to various quarters.
Angora is eight days’ journey nearly North-west from Kaisarîa. On
the fourth day passed a plain, watered or rather inundated by the
river _Tumm_. On the eighth day passed a bridge, over a rapid but
apparently shallow river, one of the branches of the Halys, at a
spot where it makes its appearance from betwixt abrupt rocks. Route
variegated with hills, but on the whole rather plain.
Reached Angora on the 22d of November, two hours before sun-set. This
city is visible at some distance, being in a lofty situation. It
has a striking and agreeable appearance. It is situated on a small
river. The castle is very antient, and in former times may have
appeared impregnable, being raised on a high perpendicular rock. There
is a chain of outworks to a considerable extent, occupying all the
high ground.
The city has been surrounded by a substantial wall, in some places
apparently double. Marks of a ditch also are visible. I passed three
gates, and was told there were three or four more. Fragments of Greek
inscriptions may be observed on two of the gates. On the North-west
are said to be remains of an amphitheatre, which circumstances
prevented me from visiting.
In the city are the ruins of a magnificent _Curia_, erected in the
time of Augustus. The architecture is Corinthian, and parts of the
inscriptions are well preserved, complimentary to that emperor.
The stones which form the walls are durable, and of an excellent
quality. The city must have been strong, being commanded by no
adjacent height. Market well supplied, especially with honey and
excellent bread. The people are the most polished I have yet seen
in Anatolia.
The trade is chiefly in yarn, of which our shalloons are made, and
their own manufacture of Angora stuffs. Of the latter I am told they
make yearly from fifteen to twenty thousand pieces, of thirty Stambûl
pikes each, or nearly twenty-two yards. The breed of goats they say
is on the decline. There is however a great extent of country which
is capable of supplying food to their flocks; so that the number
might be easily augmented. Each goat produces on an average from two
to three hundred drams annually. The hair is taken from the whole
body, and not the belly alone. They are shorn once a year, the sheep
twice. The wool of the latter is particularly fine and long. Of the
goats’ hair they have, it is reported, made shawls here, equal
in quality to the Kashmirian, and as wide. They cost the maker one
hundred piasters a-piece; but the manufacturers were unable to work
flowers in them. They have also made good cloth; but the fabric was
abandoned for want of encouragement. A special regulation constrains
them to work the shalloons with double thread, otherwise they might be
made much finer. The best of the Angora stuffs, worked by the piece,
stands the manufacturer in about seventy _paras_ the pike, or two
thousand (= 3l. 10s. or 3l. 15s.) the piece. I should observe that
in the manufacture of camlets no wool is used. Wax is exported, and
in this part of Anatolia are cultivated large quantities of _opium_.
The Angora cats are confined to the same district with the goats. The
soil is a fine red marl; but there is no peculiarity so striking in
the site, soil, or air, as to offer any probable induction concerning
the origin of those two remarkable breeds of animals, so dissimilar
from those of other regions of the East.
Angora is one of the neatest cities I have yet visited. The streets
are paved with large granite, but without foot-paths. Wax is produced
in the neighbourhood, to the value of two thousand piasters a year;
one fourth of which quantity is generally consumed in the city
itself. It is surrounded by mountains, but there are numerous gardens
near it, producing much fruit, especially excellent pears, which
are sent for presents to Constantinople. The esculent plants barely
suffice for the city, and the corn is brought from other places,
the land being employed most profitably in the pasturage of the goats.
On the 16th of November 1797 proceeded towards Ismît or Nikmid, the
antient Nicomedia, a maritime town, distant ten days. On the first
day of our route saw the river of Angora running north through the
plain. Two days after met fifty camels laden with fuller’s earth
for the manufacturers of Angora. The 30th of November observed in
the side of a hill a most beautiful appearance of strata, to the
number of nine or ten in the breadth of eight feet, the widest
of them grey chalky stone, then a wide one of red earth, or marl,
then narrow ones of red earth and chalk alternately, each about four
inches wide; surface gravel.
December 7th, set out from Kostabec three hours before sun-rise,
and did not reach Tourbali till about one in the afternoon. The
general face of the country is a rocky forest of pines and oaks. We
kept mostly in the valley, till half past nine in the evening, when
we ascended a very high mountain, which we also in part descended
before we reached Tourbali. Several small streams descend both to the
North and the South; one in particular, forming the river that runs
by Angora. This part of Mount Olympus must in course be very high.
I found grapes in almost all the towns, after leaving Angora, but
those of Teracli were the best I had seen since leaving Damascus; they
are white, and of a fine flavour, and some of them of very large size.
December 5th, after passing Yeywa, came to a long well-built bridge
over the considerable and rapid river, which disembogues into the
Black sea, called _Sakaria_: a long bridge leads over the marshy
lands to _Ismît_, a large town, extended in length, built on the
side of a hill to the east of the plain. The mountains near it are
lofty, and become visible long before one arrives there. Ismît
is paved, but dirty, and built of wood. Most of the houses have a
garden attached to them. The khan is neat, but not very large—Few
remains of antiquity. A great number of Greeks resides here.
On the 7th left Ismît, and after passing along the shore to Scutari,
where we arrived in the morning of the 9th, proceeded immediately
to Constantinople.
Some general remarks arise concerning Anatolia, formerly Asia
Minor. The parts through which we passed have more of the wild
and romantic[62] than of the cultivated aspect; soil very various,
but a deep clay is the most prevailing. Wheat and barley, and the
yellow durra, _Holcus Arundinaceus_, form the chief, if not only
products of agriculture. The whole is pervaded by hordes of Kurds and
Turcomans. Numerous mendicants. The little security there is arises
from the superior ferocity of a few Pashas, which allows of no robbery
save their own. The depopulation is gradual, constant, and infallible,
and indubitably arises from the extreme badness of the government,
than which nothing more wretched can well be conceived.
CHAP. XXVIII.
_Observations at Constantinople — Paswân Oglo — Character of
the present Sultan — State of learning — Public libraries —
Turkish taste — Coals — Greek printing-house — Navy — Return
to England._
When I arrived at Constantinople there was a considerable alarm
raised by the progress of the arms of _Paswân Oglo_, Pasha of
Wîddîn. Originally Aga of that city, that is, chief of the
Janizaries and commandant, he formed a powerful opposition to the
Pasha, consisting of many rich and eminent inhabitants, who were
dissatisfied with the Pasha’s conduct. By numerous intrigues
and disputes the latter was gradually deprived of his authority,
and Paswân Oglo usurped his place. After the last Russian war,
the Porte being much in want of money, had recourse to new and
unpopular measures of finance. Taxes were for the first time imposed
on articles of consumption, as grain and wine. Paswân availed himself
of the discontents occasioned by these impositions, and as his power
increased boasted that he would correct such abuses.
The Porte, following its usual policy of rewarding where it cannot
punish, of decorating the head which it wishes to strike off,
confirmed Paswân in the Pashalik. His military force at first did not
exceed four or five thousand, but, by the influx of the discontented,
was now swelled to fifteen thousand or more, of enthusiastic and
determined followers. Most of them consisted of the Janizaries on
that side of Romélia, who were extremely dissatisfied at having
passed unrewarded after the brilliant actions they had performed
against the Austrian arms, and at the encouragement given to the
recently established corps of Fusileers, an innovation which stung
their ancient prejudices.
The Aga of the Janizaries at Constantinople, being consulted on
the suppression of the rebellion, gave his opinion, that there was
danger lest the Janizaries should go over to their brethren. The
Diwân assembled in great perplexity, all were irresolute, till the
Capitan-pasha, Hussein, said, “Nothing can be more easy than to
crush this rebel.” The members instantly retorted, that if it were
so easy, why not undertake that duty himself. Hussein exclaimed,
“Only give me the means, and I pledge myself to conduct them!”
He was in consequence appointed, and abundant supplies of men and
money were assigned. Instead of Janizaries, the Timariots or feudal
troops of Asia were summoned. Before I left Turkey a slight skirmish
had taken place. The troops which marched against Wîddîn were
computed at one hundred and fifty thousand. Paswân Oglo, unable
to meet such a multitude in the field, was contented to defend
Wîddîn. His success and further progress are sufficiently known.
A new institution had been recently ordained by the reigning
Sultan. Perceiving that his troops had been unable to oppose those
of Russia, he had, with the assistance of the French, who supplied
non-commissioned officers to instruct them, founded a regular corps
of infantry, consisting of about one thousand. They were clothed
in a tighter dress, and their arms[63] supplied by government. The
French have also assisted the Turks in casting a great number of
brass field-pieces and battering cannon; nor are they without some
flying artillery.
The present Sultan is not deficient in discernment, or warm wishes
to promote the happiness of his people; but through the usual
imperfection of his education, he is the slave of his own impetuosity,
and a stranger to the recesses of the human heart. His motives
are generally right, but the means, opposed by popular prejudices,
are often ineffectual.
Sultan Selim, after correcting the police of the capital, turned
his beneficent views to the encouragement of learning among his
subjects. He has revived the mathematical school, in which, however,
small progress had been made; his ignorance of the world leading him
to think that his orders can form minds, and that a pension confers
capacity. He has restored the printing office, and a new Arabic type
was casting by an ingenious Armenian. But whether the improvement of
the type may contribute to the diffusion of solid knowlege among the
Turks, may fairly be questioned. The first book ordered to be printed
was a Persian dictionary. An engraver on copper is also settled here,
the subjects are the armillary sphere, some plans of fortification,
the box-compass, and the like.
The Turks are remarkable for half-measures. In the mathematical
and marine school, a substantial and commodious building, they
are furnished with every thing—except instruments and books; the
class small or none; but the end of the institution is considered
as completely answered, as there are professors who meet and smoke
their pipes together.
There are several _Kuttub-chans_, or public libraries, among which
the principal are those of St. Sophia and the Solimanié Jamasy;
but none so elegant as that built by Raghib Pasha, formerly Grand
Wizîr. The magnificent institutions of this great man being envied by
the Sultan of the day, his head was the forfeit of his virtues. This
library is an insulated building, in the middle of a square court,
consisting entirely of marble, and very neat and convenient. A
large tomb, decorated with gilt brass, in which Raghib Pasha is
buried, forms the centre of the library. Around are numerous books,
on all subjects, chiefly as usual theology; convenient seats and
elegant carpets and cushions for the readers. A librarian constantly
attends. The light is well disposed, and the place perfectly quiet;
so that I have no where seen a building or institution more complete
of the kind. The apartment is raised above the ground by seven or
eight easy steps. Fronting the street there is a school, founded by
the same Pasha. It is a convenient room, of thirty-five feet long
and proportionate width, where about an hundred boys are taught to
read and write, and the more simple part of their theology. There is
only one class, which attends every day for two hours in the morning
and two in the afternoon.
I met with a Mohammedan, a native of _Balk_, who understood the first
six books of Euclid. A young Englishman, who has embraced Islamism,
and is lately established at Constantinople, had translated Euclid
into Turkish, and published an astronomical ephemeris. Having
received some encouragement, he was proceeding to read lectures
on mathematical subjects. Many scribes are found here who write
elegantly and correctly.
The national taste does not seem rapidly to improve. One of the
Sultanas, sisters of the monarch, has not long since built a villa
on the Bosphorus, half in the European style, half in the Chinese.
There is a considerable market for books, containing many shops,
well supplied.
Strata of coals are found at about four hours distance on the European
side. An officer in the service of the Porte informed me that he had
at first obtained the exclusive right of working them. He sent them
to the Crimea. Since that time better coals having been found in that
country, and the right of working them having been soon afterwards
taken from him, the mine was neglected, and then discontinued. It
was difficult to work on account of the sandy soil which fell in. He
said he could sell them at Constantinople for a para the oke.
Went to a Greek printing-house conducted by an Armenian. They were
printing a small exhortation in the Greek language, written by
Anthimus, Patriarch of Jerusalem, against the prevailing tenets of
Deism and Atheism. They throw off about a thousand sheets a day.
The navy has of late been greatly improved by Le Brun and other
French ship-builders. On the 2d of April 1798 there were eight ships
of war at anchor in the Bosphorus; three seventy-fours, four fifties,
one forty. The whole navy amounts to fifteen ships, fit for service,
and of considerable force.
The Turkish women, in fine weather, ape the European custom of taking
the air in their carriages, in a great square; but they are concealed
in small latticed waggons, and veiled. They thus lose the best part
of the display, “the mighty pleasure of being seen.”
I shall close my remarks on Constantinople with observing, that
the country between it and Adrianople is completely plain, and that
the capital is, on the land side, incapable of any defence against
a victorious army. The uncertainty of the winds and channels join
with the forts to defend the other side from any sudden assault.
Proceeding through Wallachia to Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Leipsic,
Potsdam, Berlin, and Hamburg, I arrived in London on the 16th of
September, 1798, after an absence of nearly seven years.
CHAP. XXIX.
_Comparative view of life and happiness in the East and in Europe._
—_Et qui plus est, il me semble que je n’ay rencontré guere de
manieres, qui ne vaillent les nostres._ MONTAIGNE.
The great contrast which is observable between the manners and
personal character of the Orientals and Europeans, insensibly leads
to a comparison of its result in society. The character of every
nation merits the attention of the philosopher; and the less that
nation resembles ourselves, the more its distinguishing features
require our investigation.
While vanity instigates us to claim an undisputed superiority,
experience often compels us to doubt the validity of the sentence
on which we insist. We are fearful of being reduced to acknowlege,
that the labour, the thought, the agitation which have place among
us, often augment not the happiness of the individual, and are of
doubtful utility to the collective body. It is not however designed
to insist on any such concession; and only a few considerations
shall be offered in the order that they arise.
—Animo satis hæc vestigia parva sagaci
Sunt, per quæ possis cognoscere cætera tutè.
LUCRETIUS.
Impatience, activity, and sanguine hope, are habits of an European. By
education his imagination is exalted and his ideas are multiplied. By
reading, and frequent intercourse with foreigners, he is enabled
to present to himself the state of distant times and remote
nations. Their knowlege, their arts, their pleasures become familiar
to him; and, from a fixed principle of the human mind, the lively
idea of all these advantages generates the hope of appropriating
them. His first attempt is haply crowned with success, and he is
thus stimulated to farther effort: but as the bounds fixed to his
attainments are removed the farther he advances, and improvement is
infinite, his ultimate disappointment is inevitable, and it is felt
with a poignancy proportioned to the confidence of his first hopes.
The habits of the Oriental, on the contrary, are indolence, gravity,
patience. His ideas are few in number; and his sentiments in course
equally rare. They are, however, generally correct, springing from the
objects around him, and for the most part limited to those objects.
A chief cause of this contrast, must be the mode of education in
each community. Education should be the art of forming man on the
principles of nature; by due attention to her unerring progress,
no advantage of life can remain unimproved, and no duty can be
misunderstood. But in no nation with whose history we are acquainted,
has such a system been established. Almost every one forms its
disciples on the narrow views of that community, and nature is
distorted and paralised by authority.
The leading fault of education in the various parts of the Turkish
empire, originates in the prevailing superstition. Wherever this
does not operate, the practice is sufficiently rational.
The children of the Arabs early attain the character of manhood. A
grave demeanour, fortitude in suffering, respect for age,
filial affection, contempt for frivolous amusements, frugality,
temperance, hospitality, are taught in the easiest and most
effectual manner—by example; and where there is least probability
of counter-instruction—in the house of the father.
They are early taken out of the hands of women, and sent to study the
Korân; an employment which indeed has only the negative advantage of
saving a portion of their time from positive idleness. As they advance
towards maturity, little coercion is employed, but no incitement is
administered to error. The father gradually accustoms himself to
treat his son on the footing of an equal; who, on the other hand,
seldom forgets the respect which is not imperiously exacted.
The dress of children is free from ligatures, their diet simple,
and they are accustomed to variations of season, and enured
to fatigue. These are a part of the advantages of Oriental
education. Among its more serious inconveniences may be enumerated,
an excessive credulity, the offspring of profound ignorance, and a
keenness bordering on dishonesty and falshood. It is not easy to gain
knowlege which is not sought. The boy respects his father, and the
summit of his ambition is to imitate his sire. The parent is guided
chiefly by the reflection, how far he may extend his pursuit of gain
with impunity; of course a very refined morality is not to be expected
from the son. Happiness once confined to the small circle of a family,
little anxiety remains for the world at large. Hence the faintness
of the conception of a community, and the duties arising from it.
In Europe, education is the art of moulding the soul to the times;
and the preceptor is commonly successful in conveying the instruction,
of which experience has taught him the advantage, and which he is
no stranger to the mode of applying. Advancement is the object;
and to obtain it activity is required. This end is gained; but in
the art of directing the powers of his mind to the attainment of
his own happiness, or to the public utility, or of preserving his
body sane and vigorous, the man remains still a child; and thus the
true object of education is frustrated. We have on this head then,
it would seem, no great reason to boast our superiority.
The distinctive character of a nation is not to be sought in great
cities. The manners of these reciprocally approximate. In that part
of Egypt where the character of women is unsophisticated by mixture,
however strong their passions, they are not unchaste. This perhaps
proceeds more from the influence of public opinion, than the sanctions
of municipal law.
Among the people, as they are to take part in domestic duties, their
education is bounded by the useful. Among the opulent it extends to
the ornamental, and many females in Kahira are taught to read and
write. Instead of complaining of their seclusion as an injury, they
may sometimes be observed tenacious of it as a mark of respect. That
seclusion, though originating in the real or supposed licentiousness
of the sex, is, at this time, far from being the effect of individual
jealousy, but by long adoption, become a part of bien-séance. “I
consented to become your wife,” said a woman to her husband,
in my hearing, “that I might be veiled or private, _masturê_,
and remain tranquil in my family; not to be sent to the market,
to meet the eyes of _chalk-illah_, all the world.”
This seclusion of women has an important effect in society; and the
Orientals are accordingly, as has often been remarked, in a great
degree strangers to the passion of _love_. It is thought indecent in
company to speak much of women, and no man would venture to declare,
that he had a preference for a particular woman, or intended to
marry her.
Social intercourse is thus rendered less vivacious and amusing,
but numberless inquietudes are avoided. They who affirm, however,
that nothing is sought from women, among the people of the East,
but sensual gratification, seem to err. Why should a man, by having
several women, necessarily become insensible to what is amiable or
estimable in any individual among them? Or is individual character
rendered absolutely indistinct by their being associated together?
They are equally in error who assert, that women in the East are
slaves. Perhaps it might correctly be said that they are treated
as children; but, supposing this to be true, do not tenderness and
affection operate towards children?
They hold not the same rank as in Europe; and if they did, the
intrigues carried on in the _harem_, would render their husbands
and themselves miserable. In their present state, accidents of this
kind are not without ill effects, but, in general, serve rather
to minister a cause of diversion, than to produce any very serious
evil. Of course they give much less disturbance than in Europe.
The spirit of Chivalry, fostered by the Crusades, changed, in the
heated imagination of the youthful hero, the lovely object of his
desires, into a deity that was to be adored. The visible nature of
the divinity fanned the flame of devotion. Whether the fair benignly
smiled, or scornfully averted her countenance from the humble
votary, her perfections were equally the subject of his eulogies,
and her will of his propitiation. But all his services were sublimely
disinterested, and were to remain without hope of remuneration, till
giants should be immolated to her perfections, and widows and orphans
chaunt forth in her presence the praises of their generous deliverer.
These chaste amours, in which all was elevated, and all exquisitely
unnatural, according to modern ideas, were yet the foundation of the
rank women hold in modern Europe. This system, forced and contrary
to nature, could not long have place, and perhaps the sex itself
grew satiated with the frigid adulation of distant votaries, however
flattering to its vanity. A more licentious gallantry then took place,
and the charm was quickly dissolved. The intercourse between the sexes
being at length reduced to the simple gratification of the sensual
desire, society was almost in the same state in the West, as in the
East, at the period when the seclusion of females first took place.
But the Europeans adopted a different plan. They either despised the
security of bolts and bars as ineffectual, or too much of their former
respect yet remained to allow the attempt. The sex at length wearied,
but not satiated with simple sensuality, was governed in the choice of
its indulgences by caprice; and the men were studiously employed to
attract the æillades of their mistresses, and to chain this fickle
sentiment, by varied foppery and grimace. Hence the romantic tales
of our novels, hence the inconsequential conduct of their heroes,
and hence the agitations of our societies, at which the Orientals
would smile.
It is not said, that the miseries and violent dissensions which
exist in families, result from the rank females hold in European
society. Eternal litigations, and all the confusion of severe laws
and loose morals are not attributed to that cause. It is only hinted
that these evils are coëtaneous with that state of society, and that
the pure institution of matrimony may be enforced by the commanding
voice of religion, and sanctioned by municipal law, yet those evils
may remain without a remedy.
The young of each sex are, in Europe, brought together, and taught
to attach themselves to each other: but interdicted from uniting,
unless equal in rank, fortune, &c. Passion however is strongest at
an early age, when the reason which should guide it is weakest. But
the public institutions eternize the punishment of a momentary
folly. Parental authority, at other times, interferes, and pretending
only solicitude for the child’s happiness, renders both the parent
and the offspring miserable.
The husband is vain of exhibiting in public his admired bride. From
familiarities with a variety of men which, by being public,
are authorized, she is induced to try them in private. The man
becomes unhappy and ridiculous, the wife disgraced, and the lover
impoverished. Little or nothing of this is known in the East.
Another striking dissimilitude between the Europeans and Orientals
is observable in the number and quality of their respective laws,
and the administration of public justice. Though a multitude of
commentaries has been written on the simple maxims contained in the
Korân, applying them to the particular cases which occur in society,
the whole falls far short, in point of extent, of the most simple
systems of jurisprudence with which we are acquainted. The single
circumstance of each man being advocate in his own cause, contracts
all judicial proceedings to a small compass, and, whether justly
or unjustly, all legal disputes are speedily terminated. So that no
man can bequeath to his family the inheritance of judicial ruin.
It will no doubt be thought, that the corrupt character of judges,
and the sale of their decrees, are evils for which no advantages
can compensate; and here, at least, it may be urged, that in Europe
the administration of justice is more equal, and the right is not
generally to be shaken by a bribe.
On the other hand, whatever may be the integrity of the judges in
their decisions, the length and delay of the proceedings is sufficient
to re-produce all the evils which are thought to be obviated by the
absence of judicial corruption. If one of the parties be poor and the
other rich, the latter commonly has the option of ruining the former
by throwing impediments in the way of a decision; and it is of little
importance to a man to know that he is ultimately victorious, when his
property is already consumed, ere the cause draw near its termination.
But independently of the immense expense of a process in most
countries of Europe, the anxiety and suspense while it is depending,
tend to lessen the happiness of society, and are, by their frequency,
serious evils.
Domestic manners furnish a more minute, but not unimportant
contrast. In receiving strangers at his house and when they leave
it, the Oriental testifies no great emotion. The visitor is welcomed
rather by actions than words. An Arab or Turk having once accorded
protection, which he does with a kind of distance and hauteur, never
afterwards withdraws it, and his word may be relied on. In visiting,
as is well known, the common but absurd practice, which obtains among
ourselves, of urging those to stay longer, of whose company one is
already tired, is obviated by the simple use of a little scented
wood in a censer.
In their communications every thing tends rather to tranquillize the
mind, than to excite the passions. The quarrels of the mere mob,
indeed, evaporate in idle vociferation; but among persons of any
breeding, the voice is scarcely ever raised above its ordinary tone.
The greatest number of menials in a family (and in the East they are
very numerous) occasions no confusion. All is conducted in silence
and order. All such directions as are in the common routine of
affairs, are given by signs, and are instantly understood; not from
pride, or as implying the vast distance between master and servant,
but principally to avoid all _equivoque_, when persons of various
descriptions are present, and, by making secresy a uniform habit,
to avoid all suspicion from the adoption of mystery in giving orders
before company, when any thing is to be said which it is not intended
that company should hear.
The ingenuity of man in contriving his own unhappiness, is in no part
of the world more conspicuous than in Europe. Our mutual intercourse
is so beset with forms, that it becomes doubtful whether it be a good
or an evil; and the individual, not unfrequently, leaves a company
dissatisfied that he ever entered into it. Hence a continued desire
of changing place and forming new acquaintance.
Whenever a number of persons meet together, eating and drinking
seem to be a necessary bond of union; and they often do not separate
without that kind of festivity which impairs the health of each, and
creates dissensions, as it were, by its mechanical operation. The
sole benefit which results from the social meals of the Arabs, is
to us entirely unknown.—No man thinks himself incapacitated from
injuring his neighbour, in consequence of having divided with him
a loaf of bread, and a little salt, at the convivial board.
In the East social intercourse is less artificial, and less hampered
with rules. It is maintained with more complacency, and relinquished,
not without hope of renewal. We too have now indeed abandoned a part
of its more inconvenient formalities; but some of its oppressive
and despotic laws continue unaltered. The exterior may be changed;
but the substance is identical.
In the East, they who are guilty of excess in drinking bury
their inebriation in the gloom of their closet. By this, present
disturbance, and future ill example are equally obviated, whatever
may be the ill consequence to the wretched victim of intemperance. Of
excess in eating there are few examples; for their longest meals,
even when a series of dishes is presented, as at the tables of a
Pasha or a Bey, are terminated in a few minutes. The moderation
and temperance of diet indeed throughout the East are matters of
high praise; and, whether virtues of climate, habit, or reflection,
merit imitation among ourselves. The reward is present, uninterrupted
health and tranquillity of mind.
If the multitude of wants constitute human inquietude, it must be
remembered how much of what to us is indispensable is, to them,
as if it had never been.
With them society is rendered tranquil and easy by mutual forbearance;
with us it is vexed with the necessity of mutual adulation.—In the
one region each man sets a fashion to himself, in the other all the
constituent parts are wearied with serving an idol that the collective
body alone has set up. Each stands bareheaded from respect to the
other, when both might remain covered without inconvenience to either.
Politeness is, with the one, an easy compliance, with which all are
satisfied; with the other, it is a difficult effort, from the practice
and the experience of which the parties mutually retire discontented.
The fashions to which we are slaves, are indeed many of them so little
founded in reason, that one is sometimes disposed to consider them
as imagined by the indolent and restless, to occupy the thoughts and
time of those who have no better employment; or invented, like certain
dogmas, to shew the merit of implicit credence. A certain dress is
to be worn, a certain establishment kept up, under pain of indelible
ignominy; and the man whose circumstances disable him from complying
with this terrific mandate, with timid irresolution hides his head.
See the European in conversation, even among his equals, he is not
so solicitous to express such thoughts as rise in his mind, as to
find some employment for his tongue. It is not to give utterance
to what naturally occurs, but that conversation may be _kept up_,
that all are anxious. Garrulities, and misconceptions are civilly
uttered for arguments; and the abortions of fancy and caprice, hold
the place of the sane offspring of judgment and reflection. Yet we
laugh at them for using short and few phrases, (_phrases courtes et
rares_, as Volney describes them,) when they have nothing to say!
It is with them however neither ridiculous nor irksome to be
silent. They go into company to be diverted, not to labour, and they
esteem effort in conversation a vain toil. The raillery and repartee
of the Occidentals is, among them, supplied (it must be allowed very
inadequately) by the _Meddahs_, story-tellers, and professed jokers.
Human life in the East is exposed to a variety of casualties.
Pestilence, famine, tyranny, all conspire to diminish its security. It
is natural to set a smaller value on any advantage, in proportion to the
facility of privation. Hence the Orientals are not much disturbed at the
thoughts of death, but resign life without a sigh. The mind is tortured
when the blossoms of hope are suddenly torn from it; but their gradual
decay is not incompatible with a kind of tranquillity.
The European, more dissatisfied with the present, and only supported
by the hope of what is to come, attached beyond measure to the
advantages which his anxieties have been prolonged to acquire, has
already, even at an early age, fixed to himself a period, short of
which he thinks it _hard and unjust_ to be deprived of life.
Concerning past events the fatalist is consoled by reflecting, that
nothing he could have done would have altered the immutable order
of things, and that his efforts before would have been as vain as
his regret now is. This idea, indeed, is perhaps not destitute of
ill effects, but it surely produces some good. If, by persuading them
that the evils which they suffer are unavoidable, it prevent them from
endeavouring to avoid them, it also prevents their repining at what
must at all events be endured as the immutable law of the universe.
The European attributing more power to volition, ascribes to his
own want of judgment or energy the result of whatever terminates
unfavourably. Thus a part of his life is occupied by self-accusation,
which, however, ensures no amelioration for the future.
In the East, if age be respected, it is respected, in part at least,
from the decorous behaviour of the aged. In Europe, if it be rendered
ridiculous, it is so too often, by a vain effort to perpetuate the
character and manners of youth.
The commanding influence of a system so flattering to the pride
of its professors, and operating so powerfully on their hopes and
fears as Mohammedism, aided by the dread of present suffering, has
so far counteracted the strong impulse of avarice, that _gaming_
is in a great degree banished from society in the East. All the
evils and inconveniences therefore of that practice, so severely
felt throughout Europe, are almost unknown in the Turkish empire.
If activity and a careful provision for the future, and that each
should contribute his efforts to the good of the whole, be necessary
to constitute the happiness of a people, how happens it that the
Orientals, among whom these requisites are wanting, should yet
be happy?
The system of morals contained in the writings of the Orientals,
is at once sublime without being impracticable, and levelled to the
use of mankind, without being loose or low. Yet it is usual with us
to talk of their brutal stupidity! But this system is not practised
among them—and is the Christian system of morals practised among
Christian nations?
The Arabian and Persian histories and romances abound with traits of
magnanimity, of generosity, justice, and courage, no way inferior to,
but in some instances exceeding those of other nations. The Greeks and
ourselves have indeed stigmatised them with the name of barbarians;
but impartial inquiry proves that they are susceptible of all that
is admired in a polished people; that crimes are treated among
them as among other nations, and that though their passions may be
expressed in a different way, they have always the same source and
the same object.
No man who reflects on his past enjoyments and sufferings can doubt
but that the latter, by their intenseness, duration, and frequency,
have been decidedly predominant.
To render them more equal, that is, to be less miserable, or to make
life tolerable, either the number of pleasures must be augmented,
according to the system of the Epicureans, or that of pains must be
diminished, according to that of the Stoics. The Orientals strive
to attain the one object like ourselves, by sensuality; and here
it is not to be conceived that they are happier than we are; but
the other they gain in a much more complete degree than ourselves,
and are much more exercised in the stoical system, which seems the
most effectual to the purpose.
The passions, indeed, it is said, are to the mind what motion is
to the body; and the absence of either causes and marks, in each
respectively, symptoms that may be termed morbid.
A perfect absence of passion is certainly preternatural, if it may
not be called impossible; but as our passions are more likely to
be called into action by painful than by pleasurable sensations,
it seems little doubtful, that the mind, on which they operate most
feebly, will remain in the most tranquil state. This tranquillity,
this absence of pain, (for joy, however poignant, is but a transient
gleam, a coruscation, which passing, renders the obscurity which
succeeds it more sensible,) is the single species of happiness of
which mankind is allowed to partake.
A man of great sensibility has his feelings hourly wounded by minute
accidents, at which one of less lively sensations would smile.
Such a one is transported with love, and, if that love be
successful, his gratification is exquisite. He is suddenly moved
by compassion,—how refined his feeling in offering relief to
distress! He ardently desires fame,—how is he elated with the
slightest praises! But how often is his warm affection requited with
neglect, or its gratification found impossible? How often will his
compassion be excited, without the means of affording relief? And
how much more is mankind disposed to obloquy than to eulogy?
But this is not all; the same mind which is strongly acted on by
these passions will also have its peace disturbed by pride, ambition,
anger, jealousy, and resentment. The subjects of all these tormenting
emotions crowd on it too closely to allow its complacency to be
permanent. The sunshine of the morning will inevitably, ere night,
be succeeded by a tempest.
Some slight omission of ceremonial will offend its pride, some
_sordid repulse_ will check its ambition; it will flame with anger
at the breaking of a jar, or pine with jealousy at the like frailty
in a mistress.
Something of the same kind has place with regard to taste. A man
of delicate taste feels refined enjoyment from the contemplation
of a beautiful landscape or a fine picture, or the perusal of an
elegant poem; and is equally disgusted at the sight of any thing
deformed, disproportioned, or unnatural in either. But, it may be
said, he has the option of contemplating a disagreeable object, but
not of feeling an unpleasing sensation. And is it indeed so easy,
in being perpetually conversant among mankind, to avoid observing
their works? or does not the man who reads unavoidably fall on
absurdities which disgust him? Social man has been too long employed
in counteracting nature, not to have moulded all to his dwarfish
intellect; and the abortive efforts of imagination are numberless
both in the arts and in letters.
Then it will be said, human happiness is reduced to apathy;
and the lively taste and ardent passions, which have established
the superiority of Europeans, only serve to diminish their sum of
felicity! This would be pushing the argument too far; but each will
draw his own conclusions.
The chief points of contrast between the Europeans and Orientals
being thus marked, it will be seen how far it may be doubted on
which side lies the greater degree of happiness.
=APPENDIX.=
* * * * *
=No. I.=
_Illustrations of the Maps._
In compiling the two maps which accompany this work, the writer has
made use of his own observations in that part of it to which those
observations had extended. For the remainder of the information
exhibited in each, he has trusted to the report of the more
intelligent natives, who having frequently traversed the neighbouring
countries, might be supposed in some measure qualified to describe
what they had seen. Yet he has not ventured to lay down a single
position which had not previously been confirmed by the distinct and
concordant testimony of at least three or four individuals. Even with
this castigation, it is unnecessary to remark how impracticable is
the task of approximating the bearings, from the oral testimony of
those who have no clear idea of bearings, and scarcely know how to
distinguish the eight principal points. Almost equally difficult is
it to give the face of a country, or an account of its productions,
which the informant perhaps traversed between sleep and waking,
or when too much occupied with the sufferings of the road, or the
end he had in view, to be at leisure to attend to its detail.
The names of places so obtained and positions so adjusted, it has
been thought proper to distinguish by dotted letters, with a view
to denote hesitation and uncertainty. The part with which he was
himself more particularly acquainted, or which was sufficiently
supported by the authority of former maps, is marked with ordinary
letters. The writer’s own route is pointed out by a green line,
the reported routes by a single engraved line, without colour.
The loss already mentioned of a large portion of his detached papers,
has effectually deprived him of the power of presenting the chart
of the route with all that exactness and minute detail which ought
invariably to accompany all geographical researches. But if he have
been compelled to use the _result_ of his celestial observations,
which alone his journal furnished, without the recapitulation
of particulars, he has been careful to compare them with the
bearings which fortunately were most of them preserved, without
venturing to force the latter to the former: _e.g._ the result of
his observation, as he found it briefly noted, would have brought
_Charjé_ and _Mughes_ several miles farther East; but having found
the distance and bearings exactly accord with this position with
respect to _Assiût_, he has preferred it to the attempt of fixing
the position of those places, by observation of which he was unable
to give adequate proof of the accuracy.
The position of _Assiût_ is fixed, both in latitude and longitude,
by observation. That of _Charjé_ in latitude by observation; in
longitude, as above described. While at _Sheb_, the Writer had an
opportunity of observing his position at leisure, both in latitude
and longitude. At _Selimé_ he enjoyed the same satisfaction. The
mountains, to the East of the road, are laid down according to their
appearance to the eye of the observer from the villages of _Elwah_,
and the route of the caravan beyond them. Their S.E. extremity, as
here marked, rests solely on the report of a native of _Mahas_. The
distance from _Selimé_ to the river, has been judged fully
established by the uniform and unvarying testimony of a number of
Jelabs of _Dongola_, &c. who travel that route.
The latitude of _Leghéa_ was variously observed, both in going and
returning. Its longitude is only determined by the bearing of the
road, relatively to _Bîr-el-Malha_ S. and _Selimé_ N. Several days
consumed at _Bîr-el-Malha_, afforded the means of determining its
position both in latitude and longitude.
_Sweini_ and _Zeghawa_ have been placed only according to the
bearing and distance computed from _Cobbé_ and _Le Haimer_. But
the two latter places are fixed without much doubt by frequent lunar
observations, the occultations of Jupiter’s satellites, &c.
With regard to _Cubcabéa_ and _Rîl_, no more could be done than
to place them according to the uniform and constant report of the
natives. They are both places much frequented, and in so small a
distance no mistake of importance can have arisen.
The bearings of the road from _Cubcabéa_ to _Wara_, and thence to the
capital of _Bornou_, are not laid down but from numerous inquiries,
and some labour employed in adjusting them. That road occupies
sixty days. The position of the capital of Bornou varies from that
which is allotted to it in the latest maps, but scrupulously adheres
to the bearings and distance given. _Abu-Shareb_ is from _Cobbé_
nearly W. by N. _Abu-Shareb_ to _Wara_, N.W. by N. From _Wara_ to the
capital of _Baghermi_, between W.N.W. and N.W. by W. Road winding
S. From _Baghermi_ to _Kottocomb_, N. by W. 2 W. From _Kottocomb_
to _Bornou_ nearly in the same direction.
_Sennaar_, as well as the course of the Nile, the coast of the Arabian
gulf, _Masouah_, _Gondar_, _Swakem_, &c. have the same position as in M.
Rennell’s map. _Sennaar_ is in longitude 33° 30′ 30″. _Cobbé_ being in
28° 8′, the difference between them will be 5° 2′ 30″—_Rîl_ cannot be
more than twelve or thirteen miles E. of _Cobbé_, but _Rîl_ is only
twenty-three days journey from _Sennaar_. There remain therefore on a
direct line 4° 50′ which is about twelve and a half geometrical miles
_per_ day; and admitting the smallest possible deviation, will give
fourteen miles by the road. This on so long a journey is much more than
might be expected, and by no means accords with the route to _Bornou_,
which allows only about nine miles for each day’s march.—D’Anville’s
position of _Sennaar_ (29° 39′) would bring it too near to _Rîl_,
leaving only eighty miles between them, or three miles and quarter _per_
day. Whether the truth lie between the observation of Mr. Bruce and the
conjecture of D’Anville, or whether the former be well established, and
the length of each day’s march may be accounted for from the straitness
and facility of the road, some future occasion must determine. One
circumstance would seem clear, viz. the distance between the _city
Sennaar_, and the _Bahr-el-abiad_, which the repeated and unvaried
testimonies of the natives relatively to the interval of three, or three
and half days, leave no room to doubt, have hitherto been placed much
too far apart.
The road from _Wara_ to _Dar Kulla_ exhibits a remarkable coincidence
as to the number of rivers and lakes which it passes, with that part
of Major Rennell’s last general map of Northern Africa, which forms
what he considers as the alluvies of that portion of the continent,
though it be neither in the same latitude nor longitude.
Of these various streams little description was obtained. The
country they flow through is said to be great part of the year wet
and marshy; the heat is excessive, and the people remark that there
is no winter. The course of the rivers, if rightly given, is for
the most part from E. to W.
The river called _Bahr Misselad_ is said to be a considerable
one. It’s source is not described, but appears to be not far distant
from the supposed site of the copper mines. Those who frequent this
road, ordinarily pass two years from the time of leaving _Wara_
till their return to that place, or _Cobbé_. Of the time actually
employed in the route they differ in their report, but it may be
estimated at from 150 to 180 days; at a medium 165. _Wangara_ I have
never heard mentioned. Whether it may be the same country with some
one of those described is uncertain; but its production being gold,
does not accord with any of them; that commodity not being, as far
as was related to me, found in any quantity to the W. _Zamphara_ is
yet known to several of my informers, as a country near to _Bornou_;
but no particular description was given.
The dotted lines which are seen in the general map, and seem to
mark with too much precision the extent of the empires _Bergoo_,
_Baghermi_, and _Kordofân_, are chiefly designed to shew the relative
situation of those districts, and how they border on each other, or
on Fûr. The authority recurred to was only that of the inhabitants
of each country, who affirmed that their native empire extended so
many days from E. to W. and so many from N. to S. For the general
form of _Dar-Fûr_ the authority is somewhat stronger; the precise
termination of that empire being accurately known to the several
reporters in each principal direction.
The writer, during his stay in Dar-Fûr, could never find the
variation of the needle greater than sixteen degrees W. In what
relates to that country, therefore, he has been guided by that
quantity of variation.
=No. II.=
=ITINERARIES.=
* * * * *
_From Cobbé to Sennaar._
Bearing. Days.
From Cobbé to Shawer 1½
From Shawer to Rîl S.S.E. 2
At Rîl is a large pool of water, never completely dry,
and a little to the E. of it a spacious house built by
Sultan Teraub, eldest brother of the present
Monarch.
From Rîl to Fadow } { 3
} E. {
From Fadow to Cawb } { 3
Near Cawb commences a ridge of hills, running N. and
S. or nearly so.
From Cawb to Dar Hummâr } { 2
} {
From Dar Hummâr to Emdî } Mean bearing E. { 3
} {
From Emdî to Kreiga } { 0¼
In each of these towns are Fukkara, who administer
justice.
From Kreiga to Ibeit[64] E. 1
Between Kreiga and Ibeit is Abu-Harrâs, a place
distant from the former three hours. Its neighbourhood
is laid out in gardens belonging to the people of
Dongola established there, in which they cultivate
onions, &c. The situation of Abu-Harrâs is in length
N. and S. and the wells which supply it with water are
to the S. of the town.
From Ibeit to Miteina 0½
From Miteina to Autosh 2
From Autosh to Yassîn 0½
Yassîn is a town of Fukkara.
From Yassîn to Breissa, _deep sand_ 0½
From Breissa to Cone 1
Cone is at the foot of a mountain of the same name,
which lies S. of the road. Near Cone, a little S. of
the road, is a pool of water, and this is a place
where travellers commonly repose
themselves.
From Cone to Kinnana 1
From Kinnana to Deggîn 1
From Deggîn to Hellet Allais[65], on the
Bahr-el-abiad, the place which the ferry-boats
frequent. 1
Hellet Allais is situated on the W. of the river. The
river (Bahr-el-abiad) is here of such breadth, that
the features of a person standing on the other side
cannot be distinguished, but the human voice is
heard.—A number of trees is seen here to the W. of the
river, not to the E. Hellet Allais is altogether built
of clay.—A large palm tree grows in the middle of the
town.
On the eastern side of the river is _Shillûk_—not far
removed from it, being reported to be within sight of
Allais.
Shillûk is a town of idolaters, built with clay. The
inhabitants have no other clothing than bands of long
grass, which they pass round the waist and between the
thighs. They are all black; both sexes are accustomed
to shave their heads. The people of Shillûk have the
dominion of the river, and take toll of all
passengers, in such articles of traffic as pass among
them. The name _Shillûk_ is not Arabic, and its
meaning is unknown.—When asked concerning their name
or country, the people reply _Shillûk_. When employed
in transporting Mohammedans across the ferry, they
occasionally exhibit the importance which their
situation gives them. After the Mûslim has placed
himself in the boat, they will ask him, “Who is the
master of that river?” The other replies, as is usual,
“Ullah or Rubbani”—God is the master of it. “No,”
answers the Shillûk, “you must say that such a one
(naming his chief) is the master of it, or you shall
not pass.” They are represented as shewing hospitality
to such as come among them in a peaceable manner, and
as never betraying those to whom they have once
accorded protection. The particulars of their worship,
as in most other instances where I have had my
information from Mohammedans, have not been described.
From Shillûk to Dar Ruga E. ¼N. 1
From Dar Ruga to Waalia E. 1
From Waalia to Shadli E. 1
From Shadli to Sennaar 0¼
Sennaar, _Medinet el Fūn̄_ or _Fungi_, is situated on
the river which flows from Habbesh, which river is
much smaller than the _Bahr-el-abiad_, and before the
annual increase is fordable between Sennaar and
Basboch.
The slaves who have usurped the government reside in
_Terfeia_, on the opposite side of the river. Between
them and the people of the city have been perpetual
skirmishes for the last six years. (1794).
The Bahr-el-abiad suffers the same periodical increase
and diminution as the Nile in Egypt.
_From Sennaar to Gondâr._
From Terfeia to Rhad E.N.E. 1
From Rhad to Dender E. 1
From Dender to Béla S.E. 1
From Béla to Teawa 1
Rhad is on the banks of a river of the same name.
After passing Béla, the traveller leaves the river,
and proceeds by a mountainous road to Teawa. The soil
in the neighbourhood of Teawa is clay, and the town is
built of that material. The people of the place use
for bread the Mahriek, (white maize,) which grows
there luxuriantly.
From Teawa to Râs el fîl S.E. 1¼
From Râs el fîl to Gondâr E.S.E. 7
The officer who governs Râs el fîl is appointed by the
king of Habbesh.—Inhabitants of Râs el fîl called
_Giberti_.
_Road from Sennaar to Swakem._
From Sennaar to Teawa 4
From Teawa to Atbara, a town on that river E. 1
From Atbara to Hallanga N. 2
The people of Hallanga are Mohammedans, but use not
the Arabic language generally. They are of an olive
complexion. The _Mahriek_ in their neighbourhood is
said to grow so large, that the stem at bottom is seen
of the size of a man’s wrist.
From Hallanga to Swakem N.E. 12
During great part of the way the road is mountainous
and rocky. The space between the two last places is
uncultivated, and inhabited only by wandering Arabs.
These are of two races, Bijjé and Okoot. Both of them
breed camels in great number, sheep, &c. Swakem is
situated on an island, in which the governor and
principal persons reside: but the greater number live
on the main land.
_Road from Sennaar to Mahas._
From Sennaar to Herbajé N. ¼W. 3
From Herbajé to Halfeia N. 5
At Halfeia is the confluence of the Bahr-el-abiad and
Bahr el asrek.
From Halfeia to Chendi } { 3
} {
From Chendi to Birbîr } N. { 3
} {
From Birbîr to Shaikié } { 3
From Shaikié to Dongola N.W. 2
From Dongola to Mahas N. 1
_From Sennaar to Fazoglo._
From Sennaar to Dachala E. 3
From Dachala to Emsirié S.E. 1
From Emsirié to Louni S. 3
From Louni to Gerbîn S. 3
The people of Dachala are Mohammedans residing on the
western bank of the Bahr el asrek.—Gerbîn is a
mountainous place, which serves for confining
malefactors under the government of Sennaar.
_Mountainous_—From Gerbîn to Fazoglo S. 4
The mines of Fazoglo afford much gold: they belong to
Sennaar.
_From Gerbîn to Gondar._
From Fazoglo there is no direct road. Having returned
to Gerbîn,
From Gerbîn to Hassîb E. 2
From Hassîb to Beida E. ¼S. 2
Beida is the first town under the Abyssinian
government, and is described as chiefly inhabited by
fugitive slaves, who belong to persons within that
empire.
From Beida to Kourmi 3
From Kourmi to Hasseb-ullah 3
This road is mountainous, circuitous, and abounds with
springs of water. The civet cat is so common in this
district, that in every house, it is said, there are
fifteen or twenty tame ones.
From Hasseb-ullah to Gondâr E. 10
_Mountainous and difficult road._
_Sundry routes of the merchants of Sennaar._
From Sennaar to Gebel-el-Moié S.W. 1
From Gebel-el-Moié to Bahr-el-abiad W.S.W. 1½
From Sennaar to Bahhadîn S.S.W. 0½
From Bahhadîn to Menâjel S.W. 2
From Menâjel to the Bahr-el-abiad. W. 2
_Road to Gondar._
From Sennaar to Terfeia 0½
From Terfeia to Subî-deleib 0½
From Subî-deleib to Wallad Midani 0½
From Midani to the Bahr-el-asrek 0½
From the river to Mendala 2
From Mendala to Kaila 1
_Kaila is mountainous._
From Kaila to Embutteik 1
_Mountainous and deep sand._
From Embutteik to _Goze_, or the sands 2
From Goze to the Atbara 3
This country is inhabited by the Bisharîn Arabs, who
are Mohammedans.
From Atbara to Gebel Cussa 3
From Gebel Cussa to Gebel en Narr 3
From Gebel en Narr to Gondar 12
_A Route which seems to be uncertain, and of which the bearings are
not accurately given._
From the Goze or sands of the Atbara,
abovementioned, to El-Edd belonging to the
Bijjé 3
From El-Edd to Swakem N.E. 12
This road is filled with Arabs.
From Swakem to Gebel-el-Hellé W. 3
From Gebel-el-Hellé to Gebel-el-Sillah } { 2
} {
From Gebel-el-Sillah to Gebel-el-beit } S.W. { 2
} {
From Gebel-el-Beit to Birbîr } { 6
All this road from Swakem to Birbîr is represented as
rocky.—Birbir is situated in a clayey soil.
From Birbîr to Wullad-el-Megedûb } { 2
} {
From Wullad-el-Megedûb to Bisharié } S. { 2
} {
From Bisharié to Shûkûrié } { 3
Bisharié are a foreign race, but Shûkûrié speak Arabic
as their native language.
_Arabs_—From Shûkûrié to Hellalié 4
From Hellalié to Bahr-el-asrek 1
From Bahr-el-asrek to Em-ushar 1
From Em-ushar to Wullad-el-fûrûk 1
From Wullad-el-fûrûk to Hummûr 2
_Clayey soil._
_Mohammedans_—From Hûmmûr to Senût-abûd 2
_From Ibeit to Emdurmân and Halfeia, and return to Ibeit by
another road._
From Ibeit to Bahra E. 1½
From Bahra to Emganatû N.E. 2
From Emganatû to Shegeik N.E. 1
From Shegeik to Gimmoyé N. 2
From Gimmoyé to Emdurmân N. 2
All this country is inhabited by Mohammedans, who
speak Arabic alone.—Gimmoyé and Emdurmân are both on
the W. bank of the Bahr-el-abiad, and the latter is at
the place of union between that river and the
Abawi.—Returning W.
From Emdurmân to Harraza, a mountain of difficult
passage S.W. 3
_Road desert and destitute of water._
The inhabitants of Harraza are idolaters, of mixed
complexion, but most of them of a reddish hue.—They
breed some horses, which they mount.
From Harraza to Abu-hadîd } { 1
} {
From Abu-hadîd to Zerawy } S.W. { 0½
} {
From Zerawy to Esherchar } { 1
Esherchar is famous for its salt, which is gathered by
the Arabs, transported to other places and sold. The
people of this last place are Arabs, but those of
Zerawy, Harraza, and Abu-hadîd, neither Arabs nor
Mohammedans.
From Esherchar to Bisherié S. 1
_Road desert._
Bisherié is full of palm-trees.
From Bisherié to Bahra } { 1
} S.S.W. {
From Bahra to Ibeit } { 1½
_Route from Ibeit to Sheibôn, where are gold mines, and other places,
returning to Ibeit._
From Ibeit to Bahra E. 1½
From Bahra to Khûkjé S.E. 4¼
From Khûkjé to Abu-jenûch S. 1
From Abu-jenûch to Seijé E. 0½
From Seije to Tummara S.E. 2
Between the two last places is a rocky road, with
intervals of deep sand and clay.
From Tummara to Demîk S. ¼E. 1
The people from Abu-jenûch hither are idolaters, and
destitute of clothing. The soil at and near Demîk is
clay.
From Demîk to Khéga S. ¼E. 1
From Khéga to Dibû S.S.E. 0½
_Mountainous and rocky._
From Dibû to Sheibôn S.S.E. 1¼
_Clayey soil._
Near this place, in a deep glen or valley, much gold
is found, both dust and in small pieces. The natives
collect the dust in quills of the ostrich and vulture,
and in that condition sell it to the merchants. They
have a ceremony on discovering a large piece of gold,
of killing a sheep on it before they remove it. The
people are all black, as are those above mentioned
from Abu-jenûch hither. They have some form of
marriage, i.e. of an agreement between man and woman
to co-habit. Women of full age wear a piece of platted
grass on their parts. The younger and unmarried are
quite naked. The slaves, which are brought in great
numbers from this quarter, are some prisoners of war
among themselves, (for their wars are frequent,) and
some seduced by treachery and sold. But it is said to
be a common practice for the father in time of
scarcity to sell his children.
At Sheibôn are some Mohammedans, who live among the
idolaters and wear clothing: it is not said whether
Arabs or not.
The people above described are independent tribes of
negroes, who have no other ruler than their respective
chiefs, the authority of whom is very small, except in
time of war. The Mecque of Sennaar used to claim some
tribute from the people of Sheibôn, but received
nothing regularly.
From Sheibôn to Shurrû } { 0½
} W.S.W. {
From Shurrû to Luca } { 1
Luca is another place where resides an independent
chief: it is also famous for its gold, which, as at
Sheibôn, is the only medium of exchange among the
inhabitants.
From Luca to Koheila W. 1½
In Koheila are Arabs, not subject to any monarch of
the country. Some idolaters also live among them.
From Koheila to Tlinga, a town } { 1
} {
People of Tlinga Mohammedans.—This country is called } W. ¼W. {
by the Arabs Dar Kinnana. } {
} {
From Tlinga to Gebel Sahd } { 0½
Gebel Sahd is within the dominion of Sennaar.
From Gebel Sahd to Baha-ed-dîn N. 1
Still Dar Kinnana.
From Baha-ed-dîn to Gebel-el-abîd N.N.E. 1
From Gebel-el-abîd to Tumbûl N. 1
Tumbûl is under the government of the king of the
Tuclawi.
From Tumbûl to Seisabân } { 1
} {
Seisabân is inhabited by Arabs alone. } {
} {
From Seisabân to Abdome } { 0½
} {
From Abdome to Tuggala, capital of the king of } {
Tuclawi } N. { 0½
} {
This district is called Sagurnié, country of the } {
mountaineers. } {
} {
From Tuggala to Deir } { 1
} {
From Deir to Gebel-el-deir } { 1
From Gebel-el-deir to Gebel-el-Bucclé N.N.W. 1
From Gebel-el-Bucclé to Ibeit N. 0½
_From Rîl to Wara, capital of Bergoo._
From Rîl to Gebel Marra, _deep sand_ W. 2
Gebel Marra to Bishara Taib W. 2
Bishara Taib to the confines of Fûr W. 5
All this road is mountainous and rocky, and the
inhabitants from Rîl W. to the confines of Fûr are
Mohammedans. The water on Gebel Marra, which is a
lofty mountain, rises with some remarkable
circumstances, and it is said to be sulphureous. The
people there feed partly on wheat, which grows near
the place, partly on Mahreîk.
The people who inhabit the confines of Fûr W. are
called _Tûmûrkée_.
From the confines to Dar Ruma W. ¼N. 8
_Desert, sand and clay, some water._
From Dar Ruma to Kibbéid } { 2
} {
_Kibbeid is situated on a hill or rock._ } {
} {
From Kibbéid to Kajachsha } { 1
} {
From Kajachsha to Bendala } { 1¼
} {
Bendala is inhabited by the slaves of the Sultan of } {
Bergoo.—The people of _Ruma_, and thence to Bendala } {
are idolaters. } N.E. {
} {
From Bendala to Wullad-el-Bucca } { 1
} {
_Bucca is a mountainous district._ } {
} {
From Bucca to Dar Misselâd } { 1
} {
From Dar Misselâd to Wara, the residence of the } {
Sultan of Bergoo } { 2¼
_From Wara to Bahr-el-Gazalle._
From Wara to Nimr, where the merchants reside, as at
Cobbé in Dar-Fûr W. 0¼
From Nimr to Battah 2
Battah is situated on a small river, which flows from
the S. and then deviating to the W. falls into the
Bahr el _Fittré_. Battah belongs to the Misselâd.
From Battah to Dirota W. 1
From Dirota to Dar Hummâr 0½
_Road, clayey soil._
From Dar Hummâr to Coseiât 1
_Dar Hummâr rocky._
From Coseiât to Shungeiât 1
Two towns of idolaters.
From Shungeiât to Dar Dajeou—_Caffres_ 1
_Cooka, Mohammedans_—From Dar Dajeou to Dar Cooka 3
From Cooka to Muddago 2
In Muddago are Mohammedans, who are governed by a
petty prince under the king of Bergoo.
From Muddago to Bahr-el-Fittré } { 1½
} {
The people on the banks of Bahr-el-Fittré are called } {
Abu-semmîn, and are Mohammedans. They use little boats} {
for the purpose of passing from one place to another } {
on the river. } N.W. {
} {
From Bahr-el-Fittré to Bahr-el-Gazalle } { 2
} {
_Road deep sand, no trees._ } {
The neighbourhood of the Bahr-el-Gazalle is inhabited
by Arabs, who feed camels and sheep, and some oxen.
_Route from Khukjé to the Bahr-el-ada, and thence towards the
Bahr-el-abiad._
From Khukjé to Baraka S.S.W. 3
_Baraka is inhabited by independent Arabs._
The greater part of this road is deep sand; the
remainder, from _Baraka_ by the Bahr-el-ada, is clay.
The part of that river, which is here meant, is
occupied by tribes of Arabs feeding cows and sheep;
they are called Missicié. This part of the river is
also frequented by wild and ferocious animals. The
Missicié Arabs comb their hair back, twist it, and
fasten it in the form of a scorpion’s tail behind.
They collect honey of the wild kind in great quantity,
and hunt the elephant.
From Baraka to Tûrrût S.E. 4
From Tûrrût to Jungeiôn S.E. 1
The people of Jungeiôn are tall and black; they have
cows, sheep, and goats, and feed on the _Mahriek_ or
white maize. They collect the dung of the animals
mentioned, dry it, roast it on the fire, and
afterwards use it for a bed. These people are very
numerous. The country in their neighbourhood is all a
plain, and the soil clay. They have a practice,
apparently superstitious, of milking their cows into a
vessel with a narrow mouth, that the milk may not be
seen, and never pour it into a dish or bowl; and any
stranger who visits them is obliged to drink of the
dugs of the cow, as do the calves.
From Jungeiôn to Shăd S.E. 1
From Shăd to Inigulgulé N. ¼
_Route from Khukjé to the Bahr-el-ada, thence toward the
Bahr-el-abiad, and returning to Rîl._
The inhabitants of Inigulgulé are idolaters. They
clothe themselves with a kind of cotton cloth.
From Inigulgulé to the residence of the king of Ibbé E. ¼N. 1½
From said residence to the confines of Dar-Fûr N.W. 4
From the confines to Tubeldié 2
From Tubeldié to Rîl 8
_All this road is sandy, but filled with many and
large trees._
_Road from Bahr-el-gazalle to Bornou._
From Bahr-el-gazalle to the capital of Dar Baghermé N.E. 3
From the said residence to Kottocom N. ¼W. }
}
The inhabitants of this district are Mohammedans. In }
the road two rivers are crossed by the traveller, one } 18
of which is called _Kitchena_. It runs from S.E. to }
N.W. }
}
From Kottocom to Bornou, the Imperial city N. ¼W. }
The road lies in part through sand, in part through
deep clay. There are many trees. The neighbourhood of
the Bahr-el-gazalle seems by the description to be a
forest.
The city Bornou is surrounded by a wall, in which
there are four gates, opening E., W., N., and S. A
small river runs near it, which falls into the
Bahr-el-gazalle.
Bergoo is said to be fifteen days in extent from E. to
W. and from N. to S. twenty days.—Bagarmé, in the
former direction, twelve, in the latter, fifteen
days.—Bagarmé has many troops, but Bergoo is estimated
the strongest. The people of Bergoo are remarkable for
their zealous attachment to the faith, and read the
Korân daily.
_Some description of Bergoo._
Within about a day’s journey of Wara are said to be
eight large mountains, the inhabitants of each of
which use a distinct language. They are Mohammedans,
and said to be brave, furnishing the armies of the
Sultan of Bergoo with recruits as often as required.
One of the mountains, called Kergna, is situated S.E.;
another W. which is inhabited by a people called
Wullad Mazé; Gebel _Mimi_ N. Gebel Absenûn E. Gebel
Abdurrûg E.
Other mountains of Bergoo are, Gebel Tama, N. Gebel
Kashimirié, W., each of them two days from Wara. Gebel
Abu-hadîd, E. the same distance.
Three days W. of Wara is the river called Bahr
Misselâd.
_Route from Wara to Cubcabéa in Dar-Fûr, and another route from the
last place back to Wara._
From Wara to Abu-shareb S.E. 5
From Abu-shareb to the confines of Fûr E. ¼S. 1½
From the confines to Emdokne E. 1
From Emdokne to Dar Misseladîn } { 1
} E. ¼S. {
From Misseladîn to Cubcabéa } { 3
From Cubcabéa to Gellé N.W. ¼W. 1
From Gellé to Gimmer N.E. ¼N. 4
The Sultan of Gimmer is subject to Fûr.—The people are
Mohammedans. In the road is found water, and the soil
is sand and rock.
From Gimmer to Zeghawa E. ¼N. 2
_Mountainous._
The Sultan of Zeghawa is also dependent on Fûr.
From Zeghawa to Tama } { 2½
} N.N.W. {
From Tama to the confines } { 1
From the confines to Abu-senûn 2
From Abu-senûn to Wara W. 8
_A route sometimes taken by the merchants of Bergoo._
From Wara to Emjûfûr 2
From Emjûfûr to Timé Degeou 1½
_Another route._
From Wara to Jumbo } { 1
} {
From Jumbo to Doreng } { 1
} {
From Doreng to Dageou } { 2
} {
_Sandy road—Mohammedans._ } {
} {
From Dageou to Kergna } { 2
} {
From Kergna to Ghannîm }N. with { 2
} little {
From Ghannîm to Duida }variation{ 2
} E. {
_This road is mountainous, soil sandy, many } {
trees._ } {
} {
The people Mohammedans, under the government of } {
Bergoo. } {
} {
From Duida to Bencia } { 1½
} {
From Bencia to Dongata } { 3½
From Dongata to Bendala W. 3½
_Mountain._
From Bendala to Bujid S.S.W. 2½
From Bujid to Kibbeid 3½
_Mountainous._
From Kibbeid to Kajachsa } { 2
} {
From Kajachsa to Baniân } { 2½
} S. {
From Baniân to Ain } { 3½
} {
From Ain to Kuddano } { 1½
From Kuddano to Gizân S.E. 2
From Gizân to Wara S. 4
_Another route from Wara, and returning thither._
From Wara to Middeisîs } { 2½
} {
From Middeisîs to Beit-el-Habbûba } { 2
} {
From Beit-el-Habbûba to Truanié } { 2½
} N.E. {
From Truanié to Gidîd } { 1½
} {
From Gidîd to Kuddano } { 2
} {
From Kuddano to Wara } { 3
_Another route._
From Wara to Birket-el-Rumli W.S.W. 4
From Birket-el-Rumli to Goze, _or the sands_ N. 2
From Goze to Dirota E. 2½
From Dirota to Butta E. 2
From Butta to Wara E. 2½
Near Butta is a small river, of which my informer
remembered not the name.—This road is full of a
species of tree, whose leaves are described as white,
and which bears a fruit, which, however, is not eaten,
except by the camels which are fond of it; it is
called _Culcul_.
_Route from Cobbé to the copper mines of Fertît._
From Cobbé to Cussé } { 1
} {
From Cussé to Currio } { 1¾
} {
From Currio to Treiga } { 1¼
} {
_Sandy road._ } {
} {
From Treiga to Beit Melek Eide } { 1
} S. ¼W. {
From Beit Melek Eide to Dar Misselâd } { 3
} {
_Rocky._ } {
} {
From Dar Misselâd to Dar Marra } { 1
} {
_Caffres_—From Dar Marra to Dar Fungaro } { 3
} {
_One day and a half mountain, the remainder forest} {
and clayey soil._ } {
From Dar Fungaro to Dar-el-abid-es-Sultan-Fûr 2½
From the latter to Dar-el-Nahâs 8½
_Rocky road, earth where visible is red._
The people wear a slight covering over the parts of
generation, in other respects are quite naked.
From Dahr-el-Nahas to Bahr Taisha } { 3
} E. {
From Bahr Taisha to Bahr-el-abiad } { 4½
The former falls into the latter at a place called
_Tenderni_, which is peopled by idolaters, called
_Cusni_. This spot is full of palm trees, and another
kind of tree, which by description would seem to be
the cocoa.
Here it is seen that the distance between Cobbé and
the copper mine is 23½ days, direction nearly S. and
that the Bahr-el-abiad is 7½ days distant from that
place, direction generally E.
_Route from Dar Bergoo to the sources of the Bahr-el-abiad._
From Abu Telfân South, ten days journey, is said to be
the source of the Bahr-el-abiad: but the particulars
of the route my informer was unable to give me, he not
having travelled it. The place is called Donga, and is
the residence of a chief or king of an idolatrous
nation. The country there is very mountainous, and in
the spot where the river rises are said to be forty
distinct hills: these are called Kumri. From them a
great number of springs issues, which uniting into one
great channel form the Bahr-el-abiad. The people of
Bergoo go thither sometimes to seize captives, but
there is no trade between them and the natives. The
people are quite naked, black, and idolaters. The
place is said to be twenty days removed from the
confines of Bornou. All the road thither is
mountainous. From Donga to Shillûk 30 days.
=No. III.=
METEOROLOGICAL TABLE
FOR THE YEAR 1794.
+------------------------------------+
| JANUARY. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 58 | 76 | } |
| | | | } |
| 2 | 60 | 76 | } |
| | | | } |
| 3 | 59 | 75 | } |
| | | | } |
| 4 | 61 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 5 | 60 | 79 | } |
| | | | } |
| 6 | 61 | 79 | } |
| | | | } |
| 7 | 57 | 78 | } |
| | | | } Always |
| 8 | 53 | 76 | } Northerly. |
| | | | } |
| 9 | 58 | 78 | } |
| | | | } |
| 10 | 59 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 11 | 56 | 75 | } |
| | | | } |
| 12 | 51 | 72 | } |
| | | | } |
| 13 | 53 | 73 | } |
| | | | } |
| 14 | 49 | 70 | } |
| | | | } |
| 15 | 50 | 70 | } |
| | | | |
| 16 | 52 | 74 | W. |
| | | | |
| 17 | 51 | 74 | W.N.W. |
| | | | |
| 18 | 51 | 76 | |
| | | | |
| 19 | 53 | 78 | |
| | | | |
| 20 | 55 | 76 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 21 | 53 | 74 | |
| | | | |
| 22 | 56 | 79 | W. |
| | | | |
| 23 | 55 | 78 | |
| | | | |
| 24 | 51 | 72 | W.S.W. |
| | | | |
| 25 | 52 | 76 | |
| | | | |
| 26 | 58 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 27 | 57 | 80 | } |
| | | | } S.W. |
| 28 | 60 | 81 | } |
| | | | } |
| 29 | 63 | 82 | } |
| | | | |
| 30 | 60 | 80 | |
| | | | |
| 31 | 61 | 81 | |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| FEBRUARY. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 62 | 69 | } |
| | | | } |
| 2 | 61 | 72 | } |
| | | | } |
| 3 | 58 | 74 | } |
| | | | } |
| 4 | 58 | 73 | } No |
| | | | }settled wind.|
| 5 | 52 | 70 | } |
| | | | } |
| 6 | 50 | 70 | } |
| | | | } |
| 7 | 54 | 73 | } |
| | | | } |
| 8 | 55 | 74 | } |
| | | | |
| 9 | 53 | 71 | N. |
| | | | |
| 10 | 56 | 76 | N. |
| | | | |
| 11 | 60 | 78 | } |
| | | | } |
| 12 | 61 | 77 | } |
| | | | } |
| 13 | 65 | 81 | } |
| | | | } |
| 14 | 64 | 81 | } |
| | | | } |
| 15 | 61 | 80 | } |
| | | | } S.W. and S. |
| 16 | 63 | 82 | } |
| | | | } |
| 17 | 62 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 18 | 60 | 81 | } |
| | | | } |
| 19 | 58 | 76 | } |
| | | | } |
| 20 | 58 | 75 | } |
| | | | |
| 21 | 55 | 75 | W. |
| | | | |
| 22 | 56 | 75 | W.S.W. |
| | | | |
| 23 | 55 | 72 | |
| | | | |
| 24 | 54 | 72 | S. |
| | | | |
| 25 | 56 | 71 | |
| | | | |
| 26 | 53 | 70 | |
| | | | |
| 27 | 54 | 75 | |
| | | | |
| 28 | 52 | 71 | |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| MARCH. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 73 | 83 | } |
| | | | } |
| 2 | 72 | 83 | } |
| | | | } |
| 3 | 74 | 84 | } |
| | | | } |
| 4 | 74 | 85 | } Westerly |
| | | | } |
| 5 | 73 | 82 | } |
| | | | } |
| 6 | 76 | 84 | } |
| | | | } |
| 7 | 80 | 83 | } |
| | | | |
| 8 | 80 | 84 | S. |
| | | | |
| 9 | 76 | 84 | S. |
| | | | |
| 10 | 76 | 84 | S.W.S. |
| | | | |
| 11 | 72 | 85 | |
| | | | |
| 12 | 75 | 86 | |
| | | | |
| 13 | 73 | 84 | |
| | | | |
| 14 | 73 | 84 | |
| | | | |
| 15 | 74 | 86 | S.W. |
| | | | |
| 16 | 76 | 86 | |
| | | | |
| 17 | 77 | 86 | |
| | | | |
| 18 | 75 | 87 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 19 | 78 | 87 | S. |
| | | | |
| 20 | 80 | 83 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 21 | 79 | 86 | |
| | | | |
| 22 | 80 | 81 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 23 | 81 | 81 | |
| | | | |
| 24 | 79 | 87 | S. |
| | | | |
| 25 | 78 | 85 | S. |
| | | | |
| 26 | 77 | 85 | S. |
| | | | |
| 27 | 79 | 85 | |
| | | | |
| 28 | 76 | 84 | |
| | | | |
| 29 | 79 | 86 | |
| | | | |
| 30 | 77 | 85 | W.S.W. |
| | | | |
| 31 | | | |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| APRIL. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 80 | 97 | } |
| | | | } |
| 2 | 79 | 96 | } |
| | | | } |
| 3 | 79 | 97 | } |
| | | | } |
| 4 | 78 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 5 | 82 | 98 | } |
| | | | } |
| 6 | 80 | 96 | } |
| | | | } |
| 7 | 81 | 96 | } Generally N.|
| | | | } or N.N.W. |
| 8 | 79 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 9 | 80 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 10 | 80 | 94½ | } |
| | | | } |
| 11 | 81 | 96 | } |
| | | | } |
| 12 | 82 | 96 | } |
| | | | } |
| 13 | 79 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 14 | 80 | 95 | } |
| | | | |
| 15 | 82 | 98 | S. |
| | | | |
| 16 | 83 | 98 | S.S.E. |
| | | | |
| 17 | 83 | 98½ | S. |
| | | | |
| 18 | 83 | 99 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 19 | 80 | 97 | |
| | | | |
| 20 | 81 | 97 | S. |
| | | | |
| 21 | 81 | 96 | S. |
| | | | |
| 22 | 79 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 23 | 80 | 94 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 24 | 82 | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 25 | 82½ | 98 | S. |
| | | | |
| 26 | 82 | 98 | S. |
| | | | |
| 27 | 84 | 100 | S. |
| | | | |
| 28 | 84 | 101 | S. |
| | | | |
| 29 | 83 | 101 | |
| | | | |
| 30 | 80 | 95 | N.W. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| MAY. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 85 | 89 | |
| | | | |
| 2 | 88 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 3 | 88 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 4 | 86 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 5 | 85 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 6 | 84 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 7 | 84 | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 8 | 84½ | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 9 | 85 | 97 | |
| | | | |
| 10 | 86 | 97 | |
| | | | |
| 11 | 87 | 97 | |
| | | | |
| 12 | 87 | 98 | |
| | | | |
| 13 | 87 | 99 | |
| | | | |
| 14 | 82 | 94 | |
| | | | South or |
| 15 | 81 | 94 | South-easterly|
| | | | winds most |
| 16 | 82½ | 95 | part of |
| | | | this month. |
| 17 | 86 | 99 | |
| | | | |
| 18 | 86 | 99 | |
| | | | |
| 19 | 85 | 97 | |
| | | | |
| 20 | 86 | 96½ | |
| | | | |
| 21 | 84 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 22 | 83 | 90 | |
| | | | |
| 23 | 85 | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 24 | 87 | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 25 | 86 | 98 | |
| | | | |
| 26 | 86 | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 27 | 88 | 97 | |
| | | | |
| 28 | 87 | 99 | |
| | | | |
| 29 | 87 | 100 | |
| | | | |
| 30 | 85 | 98 | |
| | | | |
| 31 | 84 | 98 | |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| JUNE. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 80 | 94 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 2 | 77 | 86 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 3 | 82 | 90 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 4 | 83 | 94 | N. |
| | | | |
| 5 | 83 | 94 | N. |
| | | | |
| 6 | 84 | 94 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 7 | 84 | 95 | S. |
| | | | |
| 8 | 84 | 97 | S. |
| | | | |
| 9 | 82 | 90 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 10 | 81 | 90 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 11 | 81 | 87 | |
| | | | |
| 12 | 83 | 89 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 13 | 86 | 91 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 14 | 87 | 95 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 15 | 87 | 95 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 16 | 86 | 95 | S. |
| | | | |
| 17 | 88 | 96 | S. |
| | | | |
| 18 | 87 | 96 | S. |
| | | | |
| 19 | 82 | 89 | } |
| | | | } |
| 20 | 83 | 88 | } |
| | | | } |
| 21 | 82½ | 88 | } |
| | | | } |
| 22 | 81 | 90 | } |
| | | | } |
| 23 | 81 | 91 | } |
| | | | } |
| 24 | 80 | 92½ | } |
| | | | }S.E. chiefly.|
| 25 | 79 | 92 | } |
| | | | } |
| 26 | 76 | 90 | } |
| | | | } |
| 27 | 77 | 90 | } |
| | | | } |
| 28 | 79 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 29 | 80 | 97 | } |
| | | | } |
| 30 | 81 | 97 | } |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| JULY. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 82 | 93 | } |
| | | | } |
| 2 | 85 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 3 | 85 | 98 | } |
| | | | } |
| 4 | 85 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 5 | 83 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 6 | 85 | 94½ | } |
| | | | } |
| 7 | 87 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 8 | 86 | 97 | } S.E. or |
| | | | } Calm, all |
| 9 | 87 | 97 | } this time. |
| | | | } |
| 10 | 88 | 97 | } |
| | | | } |
| 11 | 87 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 12 | 84 | 93 | } |
| | | | } |
| 13 | 82 | 93 | } |
| | | | } |
| 14 | 82 | 90 | } |
| | | | } |
| 15 | 82 | 91 | } |
| | | | } |
| 16 | 81 | 92½ | } |
| | | | |
| 17 | 83 | 94 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 18 | 83 | 94 | N. |
| | | | |
| 19 | 83 | 93 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 20 | 86 | 95 | S.W. |
| | | | |
| 21 | 85 | 96 | W. |
| | | | |
| 22 | 86 | 96 | S.W. |
| | | | |
| 23 | 84 | 92 | } |
| | | | } |
| 24 | 80 | 92 | } |
| | | | } |
| 25 | 80 | 91 | } |
| | | | } |
| 26 | 81 | 93 | } |
| | | | } |
| 27 | 82½ | 94 | } S. or S.E. |
| | | | } |
| 28 | 82 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 29 | 85 | 97 | } |
| | | | } |
| 30 | 85 | 98 | } |
| | | | } |
| 31 | 85 | 98 | } |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| AUGUST. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 79 | 90 | |
| | | | |
| 2 | 99 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 3 | 82 | 93 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 4 | 80 | 91 | S. |
| | | | |
| 5 | 80 | 91 | |
| | | | |
| 6 | 84 | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 7 | 85 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 8 | 82 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 9 | 82½ | 93 | N. |
| | | | |
| 10 | 83 | 94 | N.N.W. |
| | | | |
| 11 | 84 | 94 | E. |
| | | | |
| 12 | 83 | 94 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 13 | 86 | 97 | |
| | | | |
| 14 | 84 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 15 | 84 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 16 | 85 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 17 | 82 | 91 | S. |
| | | | |
| 18 | 80 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 19 | 75 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 20 | 80 | 93 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 21 | 81 | 94 | S.E.E. |
| | | | |
| 22 | 81 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 23 | 83 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 24 | 84 | 97 | } |
| | | | } |
| 25 | 84 | 97 | } |
| | | | } |
| 26 | 80 | 92 | } |
| | | | } |
| 27 | 83 | 92 | } Generally |
| | | | } S. or S.E. |
| 28 | 82 | 93 | } |
| | | | } |
| 29 | 84 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 30 | 85 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 31 | 84 | 96 | } |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| SEPTEMBER. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 82 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 2 | 79 | 92 | E. ¼S. |
| | | | |
| 3 | 78 | 92 | E.S.E. |
| | | | |
| 4 | 80 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 5 | 81 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 6 | 80 | 94 | E. |
| | | | |
| 7 | 78 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 8 | 82 | 94 | S.E.E. |
| | | | |
| 9 | 82 | 96 | S. ¼E. |
| | | | |
| 10 | 80 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 11 | 84 | 95 | S.E. ½E. |
| | | | |
| 12 | 84 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 13 | 83 | 94 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 14 | 81 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 15 | 84 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 16 | 80 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 17 | 79 | 90 | E. |
| | | | |
| 18 | 80 | 91 | E.N.E. |
| | | | |
| 19 | 80 | 92 | N.E. |
| | | | |
| 20 | 78 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 21 | 82 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 22 | 82 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 23 | 79 | 90 | |
| | | | |
| 24 | 80 | 93 | } |
| | | | } |
| 25 | 79 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 26 | 78 | 92 | } |
| | | | } Generally |
| 27 | 80 | 92½ | } N.E. |
| | | | } |
| 28 | 82 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 29 | 83 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 30 | 80 | 92 | } |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| OCTOBER. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 78 | 90 | } |
| | | | } |
| 2 | 78 | 90 | } |
| | | | } |
| 3 | 77 | 91 | } |
| | | | } |
| 4 | 80 | 91½ | } |
| | | | } |
| 5 | 76 | 90 | } |
| | | | } |
| 6 | 77 | 92 | } |
| | | | } For the |
| 7 | 82 | 92 | } most part |
| | | | } Northerly. |
| 8 | 82 | 93 | } |
| | | | } |
| 9 | 80 | 92 | } |
| | | | } |
| 10 | 79 | 92 | } |
| | | | } |
| 11 | 78 | 90 | } |
| | | | } |
| 12 | 80 | 89 | } |
| | | | } |
| 13 | 81 | 90 | } |
| | | | |
| 14 | 76 | 90 | N.E. |
| | | | |
| 15 | 76 | 88 | N. |
| | | | |
| 16 | 76 | 89 | N. |
| | | | |
| 17 | 79 | 91 | |
| | | | |
| 18 | 78 | 90 | N.N.E. |
| | | | |
| 19 | 80 | 89 | |
| | | | |
| 20 | 82 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 21 | 82 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 22 | 79 | 93 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 23 | 80 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 24 | 78 | 89 | N. |
| | | | |
| 25 | 78 | 90 | N. |
| | | | |
| 26 | 80 | 91 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 27 | 79 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 28 | 77 | 90 | |
| | | | |
| 29 | 77 | 89 | |
| | | | |
| 30 | 76 | 89 | |
| | | | |
| 31 | 79 | 90 | |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| NOVEMBER. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 79 | 91 | } |
| | | | } |
| 2 | 78 | 88 | } |
| | | | } |
| 3 | 78 | 88 | } |
| | | | } |
| 4 | 79 | 87 | } |
| | | | } |
| 5 | 78 | 88 | } |
| | | | } |
| 6 | 78 | 86 | } |
| | | | } |
| 7 | 76 | 86 | } |
| | | | } |
| 8 | 74 | 85 | } |
| | | | } W. and |
| 9 | 74 | 86 | } often S.W. |
| | | | } |
| 10 | 75 | 85½ | } |
| | | | } |
| 11 | 73 | 84 | } |
| | | | } |
| 12 | 73 | 85 | } |
| | | | } |
| 13 | 73 | 86 | } |
| | | | } |
| 14 | 76 | 86 | } |
| | | | } |
| 15 | 72 | 83½ | } |
| | | | } |
| 16 | 74 | 84 | } |
| | | | } |
| 17 | 74 | 82 | } |
| | | | |
| 18 | 73 | 82 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 19 | 75 | 82 | N. |
| | | | |
| 20 | 74 | 83 | |
| | | | |
| 21 | 72 | 81 | N. |
| | | | |
| 22 | 72 | 81½ | N. |
| | | | |
| 23 | 73 | 81½ | } |
| | | | } |
| 24 | 73 | 82 | } |
| | | | } |
| 25 | 72 | 83 | } |
| | | | } |
| 26 | 74 | 83½ | } |
| | | | } N. or N.W. |
| 27 | 73 | 82 | } |
| | | | } |
| 28 | 73 | 81½ | } |
| | | | } |
| 29 | 72 | 82 | } |
| | | | } |
| 30 | 71½ | 83 | } |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| DECEMBER. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 68 | 80½ | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 2 | 69 | 80 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 3 | 71 | 81 | |
| | | | |
| 4 | 73 | 82 | N.N.W. |
| | | | |
| 5 | 73 | 83 | S.W. |
| | | | |
| 6 | 72½ | 82 | S. & E. |
| | | | |
| 7 | 71 | 80 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 8 | 73 | 83 | |
| | | | |
| 9 | 72 | 80 | |
| | | | |
| 10 | 72 | 83 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 11 | 69 | 80 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 12 | 68 | 79 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 13 | 68 | 81 | N. |
| | | | |
| 14 | 68 | 82 | N. ¼W. |
| | | | |
| 15 | 67 | 81 | } |
| | | | } |
| 16 | 66 | 82 | } No |
| | | | }settled wind.|
| 17 | 66½ | 82 | } |
| | | | } |
| 18 | 67 | 81 | } |
| | | | |
| 19 | 67 | 81 | } |
| | | | } |
| 20 | 68 | 82 | } |
| | | | } |
| 21 | 70 | 84 | } |
| | | | } |
| 22 | 71 | 84 | } |
| | | | } S. and S.E. |
| 23 | 70 | 84 | } |
| | | | } |
| 24 | 70 | 82 | } |
| | | | } |
| 25 | 70 | 81½ | } |
| | | | } |
| 26 | 66 | 80 | } |
| | | | |
| 27 | 66 | 81 | |
| | | | |
| 28 | 65 | 79 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 29 | 67 | 79 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 30 | 67 | 81 | |
| | | | |
| 31 | 68 | 81 | |
+------+------+------+---------------+
METEOROLOGICAL TABLE
FOR THE YEAR 1795.
+------------------------------------+
| JANUARY. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 59 | 75 | } |
| | | | } |
| 2 | 64 | 78 | } |
| | | | } |
| 3 | 58 | 74 | } |
| | | | } |
| 4 | 58 | 76 | } |
| | | | } |
| 5 | 60 | 76 | } |
| | | | } |
| 6 | 61 | 76 | } |
| | | | } |
| 7 | 62 | 77 | } |
| | | | } |
| 8 | 63 | 78 | } |
| | | | } |
| 9 | 63 | 76 | } |
| | | | } |
| 10 | 63 | 76 | } |
| | | | } |
| 11 | 60 | 75 | } Generally |
| | | | } N.W. or N. |
| 12 | 57 | 69 | } and very |
| | | | } violent. |
| 13 | 57 | 69 | } |
| | | | } |
| 14 | 57 | 71 | } |
| | | | } |
| 15 | 56 | 73 | } |
| | | | } |
| 16 | 56 | 73 | } |
| | | | } |
| 17 | 55 | 72½ | } |
| | | | } |
| 18 | 59 | 77 | } |
| | | | } |
| 19 | 58 | 77 | } |
| | | | } |
| 20 | 58 | 78 | } |
| | | | } |
| 21 | 60 | 81 | } |
| | | | } |
| 22 | 60 | 79 | } |
| | | | } |
| 23 | 59 | 79 | } |
| | | | |
| 24 | 60 | 79 | } |
| | | | } |
| 25 | 58 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 26 | 62 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 27 | 60 | 81 | } |
| | | | } S. and S.E. |
| 28 | 62½ | 81 | } or calm. |
| | | | } |
| 29 | 60 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 30 | 61 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 31 | 59 | 78½ | } |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| FEBRUARY. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 57 | 74 | |
| | | | |
| 2 | 56 | 75 | N. |
| | | | |
| 3 | 59 | 75 | N. |
| | | | |
| 4 | 60 | 77 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 5 | 60 | 76 | N. |
| | | | |
| 6 | 61 | 76 | |
| | | | |
| 7 | 57 | 72 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 8 | 48 | 66 | N. |
| | | | |
| 9 | 50 | 71 | N. |
| | | | |
| 10 | 54 | 71 | |
| | | | |
| 11 | 52 | 74 | |
| | | | |
| 12 | 55 | 76 | N.N.W. |
| | | | |
| 13 | 55 | 74 | |
| | | | |
| 14 | 57 | 75 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 15 | 56 | 76 | |
| | | | |
| 16 | 59 | 76 | |
| | | | |
| 17 | 59 | 76 | |
| | | | |
| 18 | 60 | 78 | } |
| | | | } |
| 19 | 60 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 20 | 63 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 21 | 64 | 81 | } |
| | | | } |
| 22 | 65 | 81 | } |
| | | | } Generally |
| 23 | 65 | 83 | } South. |
| | | | } |
| 24 | 65 | 82 | } |
| | | | } |
| 25 | 64 | 82½ | } |
| | | | } |
| 26 | 64 | 82 | } |
| | | | } |
| 27 | 66 | 83 | } |
| | | | } |
| 28 | 66 | 84 | } |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| MARCH. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 65 | 81 | } |
| | | | } |
| 2 | 66 | 84 | } |
| | | | } |
| 3 | 66 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 4 | 66 | 82 | } |
| | | | } |
| 5 | 74 | 86 | } |
| | | | } |
| 6 | 72 | 90 | } |
| | | | } Very |
| 7 | 74 | 90 | } variable. |
| | | | } |
| 8 | 74 | 91 | } |
| | | | } |
| 9 | 69 | 88 | } |
| | | | } |
| 10 | 68 | 88 | } |
| | | | } |
| 11 | 68 | 90 | } |
| | | | } |
| 12 | 71 | 90 | } |
| | | | } |
| 13 | 72½ | 92 | } |
| | | | |
| 14 | 73 | 92 | S.W. |
| | | | |
| 15 | 71 | 92 | S.W. |
| | | | |
| 16 | 70 | 91 | |
| | | | |
| 17 | 72 | 91 | W. |
| | | | |
| 18 | 74 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 19 | 75 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 20 | 76 | 93 | } |
| | | | } S. |
| 21 | 75 | 93 | } |
| | | | |
| 22 | 75 | 92½ | |
| | | | |
| 23 | 74 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 24 | 72½ | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 25 | 71 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 26 | 77 | 94 | S. |
| | | | |
| 27 | 74 | 91 | |
| | | | |
| 28 | 76 | 90 | |
| | | | |
| 29 | 76 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 30 | 73 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 31 | 70 | 91 | N.W. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| APRIL. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 70 | 90 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 2 | 72 | 90 | N. |
| | | | |
| 3 | 72 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 4 | 73 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 5 | 76 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 6 | 76 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 7 | 77 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 8 | 77 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 9 | 77 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 10 | 80 | 96 | } |
| | | | } |
| 11 | 80 | 96 | } S.S.E. |
| | | | } |
| 12 | 76 | 92 | } |
| | | | |
| 13 | 75 | 92 | } |
| | | | } |
| 14 | 74 | 92 | } |
| | | | } |
| 15 | 73 | 91 | } |
| | | | } |
| 16 | 73 | 92 | } |
| | | | } |
| 17 | 75 | 93 | } |
| | | | } |
| 18 | 75 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 19 | 76 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 20 | 76 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 21 | 77 | 94 | } |
| | | | } Variable. |
| 22 | 77 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 23 | 76 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 24 | 74 | 93 | } |
| | | | } |
| 25 | 74 | 93 | } |
| | | | } |
| 26 | 72 | 93 | } |
| | | | } |
| 27 | 73 | 95½ | } |
| | | | } |
| 28 | 72 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 29 | 73 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 30 | 75 | 95½ | } |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| MAY. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 77 | 93 | N. |
| | | | |
| 2 | 76 | 94 | N. |
| | | | |
| 3 | 76 | 94 | N. |
| | | | |
| 4 | 77 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 5 | 75 | 93 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 6 | 77 | 96 | N.N.W. |
| | | | |
| 7 | 78 | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 8 | 78 | 96 | S. |
| | | | |
| 9 | 76 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 10 | 76 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 11 | 74 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 12 | 73 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 13 | 73 | 91 | N.E. |
| | | | |
| 14 | 72 | 91 | N.E. |
| | | | |
| 15 | 70 | 89 | N.E. |
| | | | |
| 16 | 79 | 89 | |
| | | | |
| 17 | 71 | 89 | |
| | | | |
| 18 | 75 | 92 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 19 | 73 | 92 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 20 | 75 | 92½ | |
| | | | |
| 21 | 74 | 95 | S. |
| | | | |
| 22 | 74 | 95 | S. |
| | | | |
| 23 | 76 | 95 | S. |
| | | | |
| 24 | 78 | 100 | S.E. |
| | | | |
| 25 | 79 | 98 | S. |
| | | | |
| 26 | 78 | 98 | S. |
| | | | |
| 27 | 79 | 98 | S.S.E. |
| | | | |
| 28 | 77 | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 29 | 77 | 95 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 30 | 78 | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 31 | 78 | 97 | |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| JUNE. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 76 | 88 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 2 | 76 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 3 | 78 | 93 | N.N.W. |
| | | | |
| 4 | 77 | 92½ | |
| | | | |
| 5 | 80 | 90 | |
| | | | |
| 6 | 78 | 91 | N. |
| | | | |
| 7 | 78 | 92 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 8 | 79 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 9 | 81 | 98 | } |
| | | | } |
| 10 | 83 | 98 | } |
| | | | } |
| 11 | 82 | 98 | } |
| | | | } |
| 12 | 81 | 97 | } S. |
| | | | } |
| 13 | 70 | 97 | } |
| | | | } |
| 14 | 79 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 15 | 76 | 94 | } |
| | | | |
| 16 | 76 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 17 | 77 | 93 | } |
| | | | } |
| 18 | 77 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 19 | 80 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 20 | 80 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 21 | 81 | 96 | } |
| | | | } |
| 22 | 78 | 92½ | } |
| | | | } |
| 23 | 76 | 98 | } Generally |
| | | | } South. |
| 24 | 80 | 98 | } |
| | | | } |
| 25 | 79 | 96 | } |
| | | | } |
| 26 | 81 | 97 | } |
| | | | } |
| 27 | 82 | 97 | } |
| | | | } |
| 28 | 80 | 96 | } |
| | | | } |
| 29 | 79 | 94½ | } |
| | | | } |
| 30 | 82½ | 96 | } |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| JULY. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 80 | | |
| | | | |
| 2 | | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 3 | | | |
| | | | |
| 4 | | | |
| | | | |
| 5 | | | |
| | | | |
| 6 | | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 7 | | | |
| | | | |
| 8 | 78 | 91 | |
| | | | |
| 9 | 80 | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 10 | 81 | 98 | |
| | | | |
| 11 | 81 | 101 | |
| | | | |
| 12 | 80 | 97 | |
| | | | |
| 13 | 79 | 97 | |
| | | | |
| 14 | 80 | 96 | |
| | | | N. or N.W. |
| 15 | 78 | 93 | during short |
| | | | intervals, |
| 16 | 77 | 93 | but generally |
| | | | S. or S.E. or |
| 17 | 78 | 92 | calm. |
| | | | |
| 18 | 76 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 19 | 78 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 20 | | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 21 | 76 | 91 | |
| | | | |
| 22 | 79 | 94½ | |
| | | | |
| 23 | 80 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 24 | 80 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 25 | 81 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 26 | 77 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 27 | 78 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 28 | 78 | 94½ | |
| | | | |
| 29 | 79 | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 30 | 79 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 31 | 80 | 99 | |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| AUGUST. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 78 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 2 | 78 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 3 | 75 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 4 | 74½ | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 5 | 73 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 6 | 77 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 7 | 78 | 97 | |
| | | | |
| 8 | 79 | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 9 | 77 | 98 | S. |
| | | | |
| 10 | 81 | 100 | S.S.E. |
| | | | |
| 11 | 80 | | |
| | | | |
| 12 | 79 | | |
| | | | |
| 13 | 76 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 14 | 78 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 15 | 79 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 16 | 78 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 17 | 76 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 18 | 79 | 96 | |
| | | | |
| 19 | 80 | 99 | S. |
| | | | |
| 20 | 77 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 21 | 76 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 22 | 75 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 23 | 77 | 95 | |
| | | | |
| 24 | 77 | 93 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 25 | 75 | 93 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 26 | 76 | 94 | N.N.W. |
| | | | |
| 27 | 75 | 92 | N. |
| | | | |
| 28 | 78 | 94 | |
| | | | |
| 29 | 80 | 96 | S.W. |
| | | | |
| 30 | 78 | 95 | S. |
| | | | |
| 31 | 77 | 95 | |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| SEPTEMBER. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | | | |
| | | | |
| 2 | | | |
| | | | |
| 3 | | | |
| | | | |
| 4 | | | |
| | | | |
| 5 | | | |
| | | | |
| 6 | | | |
| | | | |
| 7 | | | |
| | | | |
| 8 | 77 | 93 | } |
| | | | } |
| 9 | 80 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 10 | 81 | 95 | } |
| | | | } |
| 11 | 79 | 93 | } |
| | | | } Always |
| 12 | 78 | 93 | } S.E. or |
| | | | } S. |
| 13 | 80 | 94 | } |
| | | | } |
| 14 | 77 | 92 | } |
| | | | } |
| 15 | 75 | 92 | } |
| | | | } |
| 16 | 74 | 90 | } |
| | | | |
| 17 | | | |
| | | | |
| 18 | | | |
| | | | |
| 19 | | | |
| | | | |
| 20 | | | |
| | | | |
| 21 | | | |
| | | | |
| 22 | | | |
| | | | |
| 23 | | | |
| | | | |
| 24 | | | |
| | | | |
| 25 | | | |
| | | | |
| 26 | | | |
| | | | |
| 27 | | | |
| | | | |
| 28 | | | |
| | | | |
| 29 | 74 | 90 | N.E. |
| | | | |
| 30 | 75 | 90 | N.E. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| OCTOBER. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 76 | 90 | |
| | | | |
| 2 | 75 | 91 | |
| | | | |
| 3 | 80 | 93 | N. |
| | | | |
| 4 | 78 | 93 | |
| | | | |
| 5 | 77 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 6 | 77 | 90 | |
| | | | |
| 7 | 77 | 91 | |
| | | | |
| 8 | 76 | 91 | |
| | | | |
| 9 | 78 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 10 | 80 | 92 | |
| | | | |
| 11 | 75 | 90 | N.W. |
| | | | |
| 12 | 74 | 87 | N.N.W. |
| | | | |
| 13 | 74 | 86 | |
| | | | |
| 14 | 72 | 86 | N.W.N. |
| | | | |
| 15 | 72½ | 86 | |
| | | | |
| 16 | 73 | 84 | |
| | | | |
| 17 | 75 | 86 | |
| | | | |
| 18 | 77 | 87 | |
| | | | |
| 19 | 76 | 87 | N. |
| | | | |
| 20 | 80 | 89 | |
| | | | |
| 21 | 76 | 86 | |
| | | | |
| 22 | 75 | 85 | |
| | | | |
| 23 | 75 | 84 | |
| | | | |
| 24 | 74 | 84 | |
| | | | |
| 25 | 76 | 84½ | |
| | | | |
| 26 | 75½ | 86 | |
| | | | |
| 27 | 74 | 84 | |
| | | | |
| 28 | | | |
| | | | |
| 29 | 72 | 81 | |
| | | | |
| 30 | 73 | 81 | |
| | | | |
| 31 | 72 | 81 | |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| NOVEMBER. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | 70 | 83 | |
| | | | |
| 2 | 72 | 87 | S. |
| | | | |
| 3 | 71 | 86 | |
| | | | |
| 4 | 72 | 86 | |
| | | | |
| 5 | 73 | 87 | |
| | | | |
| 6 | 69 | 88 | |
| | | | |
| 7 | 69 | 82 | N.E. |
| | | | |
| 8 | 70 | 82 | N.N.E. |
| | | | |
| 9 | 69 | 81 | |
| | | | |
| 10 | 68 | 80 | |
| | | | |
| 11 | 68 | 82 | |
| | | | |
| 12 | 69 | 80 | |
| | | | |
| 13 | 70 | 80 | |
| | | | |
| 14 | 68 | 79 | |
| | | | |
| 15 | 69 | 83 | |
| | | | |
| 16 | 72 | 86 | |
| | | | |
| 17 | 72½ | 84 | |
| | | | |
| 18 | 72 | 83½ | |
| | | | |
| 19 | 70 | 81 | |
| | | | |
| 20 | 71 | 82 | } |
| | | | } |
| 21 | 73 | 82 | } |
| | | | } |
| 22 | 72 | 83 | } |
| | | | } |
| 23 | 72 | 84 | } S. |
| | | | } |
| 24 | 73½ | 86 | } |
| | | | } |
| 25 | 73 | 85 | } |
| | | | } |
| 26 | 72 | 85 | } |
| | | | |
| 27 | 74 | 82 | |
| | | | |
| 28 | 71 | 80 | |
| | | | |
| 29 | 70 | 80 | |
| | | | |
| 30 | 70 | 79 | |
+------+------+------+---------------+
+------------------------------------+
| DECEMBER. |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| Day |Height|Height| |
|of the| of | of | Course of the |
|Month.|Therm.|Therm.| Wind. |
| |7 A.M.|3 P.M.| |
+------+------+------+---------------+
| 1 | | | |
| | | | |
| 2 | | | |
| | | | |
| 3 | | | |
| | | | |
| 4 | | | |
| | | | |
| 5 | | | |
| | | | |
| 6 | | | |
| | | | |
| 7 | | | |
| | | | |
| 8 | | | |
| | | | |
| 9 | | | |
| | | | |
| 10 | | | |
| | | | |
| 11 | | | |
| | | | |
| 12 | 59 | 71 | } |
| | | | } |
| 13 | 60 | 73 | } |
| | | | } |
| 14 | 62 | 79 | } |
| | | | } |
| 15 | 57 | 76 | } N. |
| | | | } |
| 16 | 57 | 77 | } |
| | | | } |
| 17 | 58 | 79 | } |
| | | | } |
| 18 | 57 | 78 | } |
| | | | |
| 19 | 60 | 79 | |
| | | | |
| 20 | 60 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 21 | 62 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 22 | 62½ | 81 | } |
| | | | } |
| 23 | 61 | 81 | } S.W. |
| | | | } |
| 24 | 57 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 25 | 58 | 80 | } |
| | | | } |
| 26 | 56 | 74 | } |
| | | | |
| 27 | 60 | 76 | |
| | | | |
| 28 | 56 | 76 | |
| | | | |
| 29 | 57 | 76 | |
| | | | |
| 30 | 58 | 77 | |
| | | | |
| 31 | 57 | 76 | |
+------+------+------+---------------+
=No. IV.=
_Some Observations on the account of Egypt given in the works of
Savary and Volney._
Vol. i. p. 27. Savary says, Alexandria is only a village, containing
scarcely six thousand inhabitants. The fall of Alexandria from
its antient splendour has already been remarked; and how vague all
computations of number must necessarily be, by persons who reside
there only for a few weeks or months. But Alexandria alone furnished
to the Imperial army and navy, in the war with the Russians, four
thousand men able to bear arms. This, with other circumstances,
might serve to prove that the population must greatly exceed the
number mentioned.
He computes the people of Damiatt at eighty thousand, which appears
no less extravagant on the other side, and is certainly at least
double the real number.
Vol. i. p. 220. Savary’s description of the topography of Memphis
is characterized by an apparent error. He speaks of the small bourg
_Menf_, antiently Memphis, a little to the South of the Pyramids. It
is somewhat singular, that no one writer before him should have found
a spot so remarkably coinciding in name with the antient capital. The
writer of this inquired repeatedly for such a village, but always
without effect; and _Olivier_ and _Brugniere_, in the employ of the
French Republic, who passed several months in Egypt, nearly at the
same epoch, were equally unsuccessful in their researches. So that
it would seem fair to pronounce that no such place exists. The only
town in Egypt which bears even a distant resemblance to the name of
Memphis, is _Menúf_, which is many leagues to the North, and within
the Delta.
P. 275. The story of Murad Bey discovering his father, it is somewhat
surprising should have escaped all the merchants residing in Egypt,
some of them almost half a century, and always eager for anecdotes of
this kind. The inventive talent of the Greek servants is indeed often
put in activity to amuse strangers with such tales, but Savary, who
was so experienced in Egypt, should have had more discrimination than
to blend _des contes de ma mere l’oye_ with historic narration. The
facts are wholly discordant.—The man is a labourer of the environs
of Damascus, Murad Bey a native of Georgia.—To go from Damascus
to Kahira he embarks at Alexandretta, seventeen days journey N.W. of
Damascus, when he might have gone to Beirût, Seidé, Akka, or Yaffa,
each of them four days. This labourer travels with the eccentricity
of a comet; and even the French philosopher is lost in calculating
his course. But Savary was writing on Egypt, and is not obliged to
know the geography of Syria.
P. 288. J’ai tué plusieurs _Ibis_ dans les marais près de _Rossette_.
Ils ont les pattes longues, le corps mince, alternativement blanc et
noir, et le col allongé. Ils vivent de poissons, de grenouilles et de
reptiles.
Had Savary given the Arabic name of this curious bird, that sups on
so many different dishes, the extent of his own error might have been
exactly known, by comparing the bird he means with the figure of the
real _Ibis_. Others are contented with seeing one Ibis, but they have
come in covies to welcome M. Savary, and he compliments them with
a volley of small shot. S. should have known, that birds accustomed
to feed on fish, do not commonly eat reptiles, and _vice versâ_.
Vol. ii. p. 59. The Ruin at Achmunein had before been fully described
by Pococke; Norden passed it in the night, and therefore saw it
not. Bruce has also mentioned it. What is described as gilding,
however, on this and other monuments, I take to be yellow colour,
never having seen any instances of gilding in the antient remains
of Egypt. It might be curious to inquire of what materials these
colours were composed, which have thus defied the ravages of time.
Vol. iii. p. 33. Savary speaks of the military corps of Assabs as
still in being, but some years before his time that body had been
dissolved, and no longer existed.
The Janizaries are still inrolled, to the number of about fourteen
thousand; but the greater part of them are peaceable citizens,
who never handle either sword or musket. From them are appointed
the gate-keepers, a small garrison in the castle, &c. &c.
A body of Janizaries was called out and maintained by Ali Bey, but
since the time of Mohammed Bey Abu-dhahab I have not understood that
they have been on active service. The Yenk-tcheri aga, or commander
in chief of the Janizaries, ranks as a Bey, as do the _Kiahia_ and
_Ichawûsh_. These three are elected in the Divân of the Beys. The
inferior officers are appointed by the _Shech-el-belad_, as are the
officers of the city police.
* * * * *
Volney seems generally to hint that women are despised in Egypt,
and says, they can possess no inheritance in lands.
They are exactly in the same predicament with the other sex as to
inheritance of land, and receive possession by paying a fine to the
government, from which none are exempted. In fact, their situation
is in many respects better than that of men. Public opinion is
in their favour, and their property is generally more respected,
and they are treated more equitably than males. Their complaints,
in case of injustice, sometimes carried even to intemperance, are
heard with more patience.
A large portion of landed property having devolved to a widow at
_Monfalût_ in Said, Solyman Bey, Senjiak of Said, desired to purchase
it at the price the widow might demand. She refused, and he afterwards
married her to gain possession, though she was both old and diseased.
English edit. Vol. I. p. 216. Volney says, that when there are
no ships at Suez, that town has no other inhabitants than the
Mamlûk governor, and a garrison, consisting of twelve or fourteen
persons.—In Suez are twelve or thirteen mosques, which could never
have been designed for a garrison of so few persons. There are also
several coffee-houses. In truth the inhabitants are not numerous,
but there are four or five considerable merchants constantly residing
there, who have their correspondents at Kahira, and in the towns of
Arabia, and conduct the commerce between Egypt and India. There is
consequently a proportionate number of their dependents, and persons
who manage commercial affairs of a less considerable kind. There
are ship-builders, and several other artificers; a large khan or
okal where merchandize is lodged; some Greek Christians constantly
residing there; Mohammedan ecclesiastics, and others; and a number of
fishermen and people more immediately connected with the sea. The
population is restrained by the difficulty of procuring water,
scarcity of provisions, and other inconveniences; but invariably
much exceeding the estimate here given.
P. 263. Volney remarks, that the horizon is every where flat,
even in the Upper Egypt, and refers for a proof of his assertion to
Norden’s Plates, which demonstrate precisely the reverse. The fact
is true indeed as to Lower Egypt, but from Kahira upward to Assûan
there is only a very small space where the view is not terminated
by the mountains, of various aspects, on each side.
=No. V.=
_Some remarks on the account of Egypt, contained in the recent
correspondence of the French officers who accompanied Buonaparte
to that country. The work referred to is intitled_, PARIS, PENDANT
L’ANNEE 1798. _Par_ PELTIER. _Vols._ xix. _and_ xx.
Vol. 19, page 455. The distance from Cairo to the cataract is about
360 Geog. miles. The Nile is never an impetuous torrent, nor does it
ever overflow its banks in the whole course from Assûan to Kahira,
but is admitted at proper times into the transverse channels prepared
for it.
P. 457. The Arabs, it is evident, would not build walls of much
greater extent than the habitations they proposed to defend. A
very small part of these being now filled, shews that the decay the
city has undergone since the Turks became possessed of it, has even
been greater than what it sustained from the time of Severus to the
Saracenic conquests.
P. 459. Old Kahira is not Fostat, but Misr el attîké, further South.
_Lettre de Boyer._
P. 475. I doubt whether any one of the towers about Alexandria would
contain 700 men.
P. 475. The writer says every Mamlûk is bought; and yet there are
Frenchmen among them.—Where are Frenchmen sold? It is probable
no Frenchman would be found among them, unless perhaps two or three
individuals who might have embraced Mohammedism, but who certainly
never were sold. In an engagement, I believe, no one has more than
a single piéton with him; for those inconsiderable officers, who
are attended on ordinary occasions by numerous followers, when in
the field, avoid as much as possible any shew of preeminence, which
would only expose their persons to greater danger.
P. 476. A Mamlûk has rarely more than one fusil, which he
discharges once, and then gives to his piéton, to reload if he
find opportunity.—One pair of pistols is attached to the body, and
the second pair is carried in holsters, never about the body.—Of
the arrows in a quiver I have no knowlege; occasionally in engaging
the Bedouins the Mamlûks use a light spear, about six feet long,
or a _misdrâk_, which is often ten or twelve feet.—The former is
thrown, the latter never discharged from the hand. But these are
by no means part of their common arms.—One sabre is used most
adroitly and with extraordinary effect, by every expert horseman,
but never two.—This part of the officer’s account seems taken
from the mouth of some Egyptian peasant, who, as usual, exaggerated.
P. 476. From Alexandria to the mouth of the Nile is not twenty
leagues, but from twelve to fifteen.—The anecdote of the shech in
the same page appears authentic.
P. 479. The Mohammedans in general, and the Egyptians in particular,
of whatever order, are very far from being regardless of the
children.—On the contrary, they are extremely anxious for their
welfare. Perhaps their domestic government may in some degree
afford an example of the happy medium between weak indulgence and
unnecessary severity; and parents daily experience the benefit of
this their moderation. Very few instances of ingratitude are seen in
their children. Women offering to sell their children, it remained
for Boyer to discover. If reduced to desperation they might have
desired rather to see their offspring in slavery than pierced with
bayonets; but not the most wretched of Egyptian mothers would ever
have consented at any price to sell her child, even to Murad Bey. I
rather imagine the writer mistaken as to this fact.
_A moitié nuds._ Would not men go half naked in Great Britain
if the climate permitted it?—_La peau dégoûtante._ In the
populace of no nation are fewer cutaneous diseases found, or the
skin more smooth and healthy, than in the Egyptians. _Fouillant dans
des ruisseaux_, &c. Are hedgers and ditchers in any country very
polished and delicate?—None are found raking the muddy channels
but those whose business it is to keep them clean. The houses of the
Alexandrines are neat, and _comfortable_ according to their ideas,
though perhaps they would appear gloomy to a French or English man.
P. 480. This is not quite correct. On the West of the W. branch of the
Nile, the arable lands are very narrow, but to the East they extend
along the road to Bilbeis and Salehich. The villages indeed are ill
built; yet a house is here of little use but as a shelter from the
sun. One of our neat, snug, brick houses, covered with red tiles,
would be absolutely intolerable in Egypt. They are poor because
the government is oppressive, not because they are uninclined to
labour. The muddy appearance of the Nile water is no motive for any
Egyptian to abstain from drinking it; nor is any other circumstance
attending it, except its being polluted. Water, according to their
law, is not polluted by a camel, a horse, or an ox drinking of it;
but it is by a dog’s drinking, or a man washing his hands in it.
481. Boyer seems to have been too hasty in numbering the
inhabitants—400,000 seems to me about one-fourth too much.
Ibid. The streets of Kahira are narrow, but inconveniences would
attend their being wider. The houses are by no means without order:
two long streets, as is seen in Niebuhr’s plan, bisect the city
longitudinally and parallel with the river. The streets are often
rectilinear, though they are by no means rectangular.
The ecclesiastics all read, and many of them write. All merchants of
any consequence read, and many write. Often their female offspring
are taught to read. The Copts most of them read and write. Who
then regards the arts of reading and writing with admiration? The
soldiers, the peasants, and the laborious part of the populace are
ignorant enough of reading and writing, but by no means wonder or
are astonished at what they see daily practised.
_Berthier’s Letter, 2 Fructidor._
P. 536. All Egypt, according to this writer, is in submission to
the French troops; but it appears the farthest post the latter have
occupied is at four leagues from Cairo, where there is an entrenched
camp; then there remain 130 leagues yet to subdue.
P. 599. It seems to me impossible that the old port could contain
half the number of vessels here mentioned, viz. 300.
—. This place, whose name is so murdered, is spelled Jibbrîsh.
P. 603. In Julien’s letter, I know not how the flag could be placed
on the walls of _the celebrated city Thebes_, when all that remains
of that city is the ruins of public buildings, that formed a part of
its interior.—_Often join, &c._ There is one annual feast dedicated
to the Prophet, called _Mewlet-en-Nebbi_, which lasts one day; and
one feast also annual in honour of cutting the _Chalige_, which also
lasts one day. How did the soldiers then often celebrate them?
604. The canal of Alexandria wanted nothing more than to be cleared
of the sand which had accumulated in it, and to be defended by a
dike against the incroachments of the sea, which the citizens of
Alexandria refused to do for themselves, lest the repair of all
other public works should be expected from them, and the Beys would
not do it for them.
_Dolomieu’s Letter._
Vol. 20. p. 50. He says the Alexandria of the Greeks was situated
on a tongue of land, formed by earth lately accumulated, when the
city was founded.—He means, I suppose, that the sea had left it
but lately. This is possible. The natural soil round the city is
rock intermixed with sand. The vegetable mold appears to have been
extraneous. If he suppose that district, like the Delta, to have
been a deposition of the river, this seems utterly improbable; all
the circumstances are at variance, which in such a case should be
common to both. The land which divided the lake from the sea is a
rocky ridge, which seems to have undergone no variation for a great
length of time. The remark as to the column of Pompey is not new;
but I cannot agree that the capital and base are of bad taste. The
sharp relief of the foliage and mouldings is worn off by time, and
it never was perhaps possible to exhibit on granite marble the finer
strokes of the chissel, but the proportions, though not those of the
later Corinthian, are strictly conformable to those of the purest
age of architecture. What may have been discovered relatively to the
obelisk by digging is uncertain; but from a comparison of this with
the circumstances attending the obelisks at Thebes, it cannot be
deduced that much is lost of its height. It must have been erected
in the most flourishing state of the city, and while it remained
in that state, it seems scarcely probable that such multitudes of
ruins should have existed as to raise other buildings on them. I
am satisfied, from the position of the one that remains entire, and
the broken one near it, they never underwent a second arrangement,
but remain in their relative position, as at the gate of some public
building. The obelisk is in a very low part of the city, (which indeed
is all very low,) and very little above the level of the sea—how
does this accord with the ruins of other buildings being yet found
under it? Perhaps in this part a firm foundation was not found very
near the surface, and the builders have formed an artificial one. The
French antiquary may have mistaken this for the ruins of buildings.
P. 59. My measurement of the height of the pyramid was a few feet
short of this, but does not very materially differ from the one
here given.
P. 95. _El Maraboot_ is a kind of fort, and the tomb of a saint,
situated on a high ground in the neighbourhood of the Gulf of the
Arabs, a good view of which it commands.
=No. VI.=
_Explanation of the Plate facing page 286._
1. The principal inclosure, consisting of apartments exclusively
appropriated to the use of the monarch.
2. Principal rukkûba, or place of public audience.
3. The large court where public audiences are given.
4. Two gates, the one of the interior, the other of the great court;
at both stand slaves, to refuse admittance when the Monarch is not
in the humour to do justice; and the chief of them, to strike the
greater awe, is the public executioner.
5. Exterior court in which the public officers leave their horses,
and thence walk barefoot to the presence of their master.
6. External entrance, fronting the market-place.
7. A court with some apartments in it for faquirs, guards, and slaves.
8. A wide court where are some horses tied.
9. Rukkûba at the other entrance, where the Sultan gives audience,
principally in winter, and where he would be less public.
10. Small court surrounding that rukkûba or shed.
11. Outer court where a mob assembles, and horses and slaves are
in waiting.
12. Outer gate, called _Bab-el-burrâni_, as the great one is called
_Bab-el-Gebeia_.
13. A multitude of small apartments reaching almost the whole length
of the palace, where slaves are kept in confinement, as a punishment
for misdemeanors; they are chained and fettered, and kept to hard
labour, as dressing and tanning leather, making spear heads, &c.
14. A large court of irregular form filled with a multitude of small
apartments for the women; they pass through the two gates marked
_w_ to fetch water, but have no other outlet. Each of the principal
women has a large apartment, surrounded by a number of smaller ones
for her slaves; there are also apartments for cooking.
15. Granary, which is builded on a frame of timber, to prevent the
accession of the _Termis_ or white ant.
16. Gate by which the women enter the Sultan’s apartment where
that sex performs all offices.
17. Stable or court where the best horses are kept tied, and sheltered
from the sun.
The Eunuchs live in the interior, to be always near the Sultan;
male slaves, wherever they can find a place.
18. Are the slaves’ apartments who guard the entrance.
19. A place where the faquirs read.
The officers immediately attached to the court live in small
inclosures on the outside of the fence, as that marked 20.
The houses of the Meleks resemble this in miniature; those of
inferior persons only of smaller size without divisions, and having
fewer apartments.
The exterior is an hedge of dry thorns, about ten feet thick, and
as many high.
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Volney has considered the walls of Alexandria as of
antient structure. But D’Anville had before rejected that idea,
and the fragments of columns, &c. worked into the masonry, shew that
he is right.]
[Footnote 2: Now supposed to have been erected in honour of Severus.]
[Footnote 3: There happened a plague in 1796, which it is said
carried off one half of the inhabitants. This estimate is possibly
exaggerated; but no doubt it thinned them much; so that at present
they cannot be near so numerous.]
[Footnote 4: Hirtius, Bell. Alex. prope init.]
[Footnote 5: The miles spoken of are always geographical.]
[Footnote 6: See Major Rennel’s map.]
[Footnote 7: D’Anville with equal probability supposes Siwa to
be Mareotis.]
[Footnote 8: The water in the river between Terané and Kahira was so
shallow, that with a very small boat (Canjia) we had great difficulty
in passing.]
[Footnote 9: The condition of slave is so very distinct in Egypt from
what it is in other countries, that they who defend the practice of
trading in human flesh by its antiquity, and the general consent
of nations, should be well aware how they adduce the example of
Egypt.—In Kahira, when a slave is legally purchased in the market,
if after any length of time he feel discontented with his master,
has only to say, “Carry me to the market,” (Sûk-es Sultân,)
and the master is legally compellable to offer him for sale.
It can never be believed, that where a power so absolute as that of
the proprietor over his slave, is supported by the sanctions of law,
that no abuses of it should exist; but this single privilege greatly
softens its asperity.
The child of a female slave, begotten by her master, is ipso
facto free, and a slave may authorize a free person to purchase
his emancipation.]
[Footnote 10: The Mamlûks suffer not the beard to grow till they
be emancipated, and hold some office, as Cashef, &c.—A similar
practice obtains among the Osmanli. The Ytch oghlans, though free in
their persons, yet exercising a kind of servitude, shave the beard:
so that though it be not absolutely the mark of a slave, the want of
a beard seems to denote a dependent situation. Among the Osmanli,
(European Turks) the beard is allowed to grow rather in conformity
to the precept and practice of the Prophet, than as a national
fashion. The Tatars wear no beard; and the Arabs alone shew great
respect to that ornament.]
[Footnote 11: The two last offices are annual.]
[Footnote 12: The patacke may be rated at from three shillings to
three and four-pence. The foddân is a given measure, taking its
name from the quantity that a yoke of oxen can plough in a day,
roughly taken, equivalent to an acre.]
[Footnote 13: English edit. p. 188.]
[Footnote 14: The length may be estimated at about three thousand
five hundred yards.]
[Footnote 15: The city is still infested with the usual herds of
dogs, and the kites still shriek wildly over the canal; while the
turtle-doves, unmolested by men or children, breed in the houses,
building their nests under the projecting beams.]
[Footnote 16: Histoire de l’Afrique, et de l’Espagne sous la
domination des Arabes; composée sur differens Manuscrits Arabes
de la Bibliotheque du Roi, par M. Cardonne, &c. Paris 1765, 3 tomes
12mo. It is to be regretted that the learned author did not divide
his work into epochs and chapters, and particularly separate the
history of Africa from that of Spain.]
[Footnote 17: Vol. ix. p. 448-466, 8vo.]
[Footnote 18: Their authority did not extend over the ancient
Mauritania. The Edrissite dynasty ruled Ceuta, Fez, Tangier, &c. Fez
was built by them in 788.]
[Footnote 19: The power of the Chalîfs, successors of Mohammed, had
fallen about the middle of the eleventh century. The Turks, a Tataric
nation, seized Iconium, and most of Asia Minor, about 1074. Twenty
years after, Aleppo and Damascus became separate sovereignties under
the grandsons of Elf Arslân; the former city had been long subject
to the Chalîfs of Egypt.]
[Footnote 20: This expedition remains in considerable obscurity,
though it may be regarded as the last dying spark of the crusades,
as the adventurers seem to have been of several nations. Fordun,
_Scotichr._ vol. ii. p. 488, mentions Norman Lesley, his countryman,
as a prime actor. There was an old Scottish poem on the feats of
Sir Walter, his brother, Duke of Leygaroch in France. _Ibid._ and
Maitland’s Poems.]
[Footnote 21: This place takes its name from the tomb of a Christian
ecclesiastic, called _Ammon-el-abed_, or the devout; its other name
is _Ensené_, evidently from that of _Antinous_.]
[Footnote 22: The remainder might be easily copied, but circumstances
did not then permit me to give the time necessary for that purpose.]
[Footnote 23: That custom is still retained at Damiatt, notwithstanding
the purer precepts of Islamism.]
[Footnote 24: They sell the males, and themselves generally mount
mares in their warlike expeditions.]
[Footnote 25: Now _Geziret-es-Sag_, Claustra Imperii Romani. TAC.]
[Footnote 26: A place where the troops are exercised, and rencontres
between opposing parties frequently have had place.]
[Footnote 27: Populorum Africæ vocabula plerumque ineffabilia,
præterquam ipsorum linguis. PLINY.]
[Footnote 28: The best idea of the Sphinx seems to be that of Maillet,
who supposes it an emblem of the increase of the Nile under the
signs of _Leo_ and _Virgo_.]
[Footnote 29: Pococke, vol. i. p. 56. conceives this place to have
received its name from the Greek word Ταμιέια, there having
been a kind of lock there to restrain or let loose the water in the
canal which passes by it.]
[Footnote 30: Parallel to this is a narrow cut, called Bahr Yussuf,
which runs into the Birket-Kerûn.]
[Footnote 31: Τὸν Μῖνα πρῶτον βασιλέυσαντα Ἀιγύπτου, ὁι ἱερέες ἔλεγον
τοῦτον μὲν ἀπογεφυρῶσαι καὶ τὴν Μέμφιν. HERODOT.
Of the fact of Memphis having been surrounded by water, some evidences
appear even at this day. Parts of the banks of the canal yet are
visible toward the mountains, and at the extremities of the ground,
where ruins are distinguishable.]
[Footnote 32: Soudân in Arabic corresponds to our Nigritia, merely
general words for the _country of the blacks_.]
[Footnote 33: In passing the desert, partly from want of water,
partly from being overloaded, (these animals being then scarce and
dear in Egypt,) so many camels died, that several merchants of the
caravan were obliged to bury their goods in the sand near Selimé,
whither they afterwards sent for them.]
[Footnote 34: The _Mahréa_ Arabs have the art of making wicker
baskets, of so close a texture, that they carry in them milk, water,
bouza. Much of the earthen ware made by the people of Dar-Fûr is
glazed, I know not with what composition.]
[Footnote 35: A fermented liquor, called _Bûza_ or _Merîsi_.]
[Footnote 36: By the law of the Prophet, any illicit connexion with
the female slave of another makes the person guilty responsible for
her value to the owner. Thus the personal injury is expiated. The
public offence of _Zinna_, whoredom, incurs a punishment varying
according to the character and circumstances of the offender; but
the positive testimony of four witnesses is necessary to establish
this fact.]
[Footnote 37: A female slave.]
[Footnote 38: It is not usual with Mohammedans to eat meat in such
a state. It is reported in Soudan, I know not how truly, that the
Leopard, after he has seized his prey, leaves it till it become
putrid before he eats of it.]
[Footnote 39: Here is one among many instances of tacit submission
to the authority of the head of a tribe, though unfurnished with
any express deputation from the government.]
[Footnote 40: Sultan Teraub used always to reside at Rîl, but the
present monarch, or usurper, is induced by his fears to wander from
place to place. The first place I saw him at was _Heglig_; the next
was _Tini_; the third was _Tendelti_, where he passed about a year.]
[Footnote 41: The Fûrians, it may be remarked, distinguish the
South part of their empire by this term, as well as the Egyptians.]
[Footnote 42: On the East of Fûr there is a particular tribe of
Arabs, who curl their hair, as it were, in a bushy wig, resembling
that of the antient figures in the ruins of Persepolis. It is probable
that many fragments of antient nations may be found in the interior of
Africa. Carthaginians expelled by the Romans, Vandals by Belisarius,
&c. &c.]
[Footnote 43: In the market held at Cobbé, there are slaughtered
ordinarily from ten to fifteen oxen, and from forty to sixty sheep;
but all the villages, six or eight miles round, are thence supplied.
It is usual for the people of the town to lay in their annual
stock of grain when cheapest, which is commonly about the month of
December. At that time two, sometimes three _mids_ (pecks) of millet
(_Dokn_) may be had for a string of beads, worth about one penny
sterling in Kahira.]
[Footnote 44: Fruit of India.]
[Footnote 45: Season of the rains.]
[Footnote 46: I remember to have borrowed, while at Damascus, a
small quarto volume, written in easy Arabic, without either title or
conclusion, which contained a kind of history of the progress of the
(_ashab_) early propagators of Mohammedism, and which enumerated, if
I mistake not, a tribe under the denomination of Fûr فور among
their adversaries, after the taking of _Bahnesé_ in Middle Egypt,
and their consequent invasion of the more Southern provinces.]
[Footnote 47: If but a small quantity of rain fall, the agricultors
are reduced to great distress; and it happened, about seven years
before my arrival, that many people were obliged to eat the young
branches of trees pounded in a mortar.]
[Footnote 48: The inhabitants of a village called _Bernoo_, having
quarrelled with those of another hamlet, and some having been killed
on both sides, all the property of both villages was forfeited to
the king, the inhabitants being abandoned to poverty.]
[Footnote 49: About a century and a half ago.]
[Footnote 50: A great tribute is also paid in butter.]
[Footnote 51: _Thummara Hindi_ means simply _Fruit of India_,
not _date_, as insinuated by the learned author of the _Botanical
Observations_, in _Asiatic Researches_, vol. iv. p. 250.]
[Footnote 52: This is observable in many of the slaves. They seem
to esteem it a beauty. In filing the teeth, they also force the gums
from them, to make them appear longer: the teeth in this case suffer
discoloration, but do not appear to undergo a consequent decay.]
[Footnote 53: Qui Africæ aut Asiæ plagis peragratis, primi hunc
exsecandi morem Occidentalibus narravere auctores, ab ore incolarum
re acceptâ, et novitate ejus perculsi, de modo excisionis toto
cælo errare solent, nymphas exsecari perhibentes: prorsus ineptè
quidem, sed septâ pudicitiâ vitam agentibus, nunquam illis nudam
vel è longinquo vidisse, multo minùs muliebria attrectavisse,
uti manifestum, contigerat.]
[Footnote 54: Quoties autem confibulatio fortior meatûs etiam
urinarii aditum claudere minetur, plumâ vel osseâ quâdam tubulâ
adhibitâ, illam in ore urethræ inserunt, ibidemque tenent, usque
dum canalis majoris aditui amplius invigilare non sit opus.]
[Footnote 55: In the neighbourhood of Damiatt the Papyrus is termed
_el-Berdî_. Another name is also given it, evidently derived from
the term in use among us, _El-Babîr_.]
[Footnote 56: The butcher.]
[Footnote 57: He brought her thither during the process, instituted
at Rome, relatively to her first marriage, and before that marriage
was set aside. A long history attends this part of the life of this
remarkable man. Montague having persuaded the first husband, who was
captain of a merchant-man in the service of persons at Marseilles,
to leave his wife, whom he had brought with him to Egypt, under M.’s
protection at Rashîd, the latter took advantage of his absence on a
voyage home, to persuade the woman that her husband was no more. He
then made an offer of himself, which was accepted. On a disclosure
of the affair, Montague had interest and address enough to set aside
the first marriage, which had been solemnized before either of the
parties were of age. The religious were persuaded that Montague was
a zealous convert to the Catholic faith.]
[Footnote 58: The _Santons_, or Mohammedan saints, are still permitted
to continue their excesses. I was informed that one of them, very
vigorous in transitory amours, met the wife of a rich Mohammedan
merchant, newly married. The female attendant who was with her fled,
and he accomplished his purpose in the open street. The merchant,
complaining to the Pasha, only received this answer, “You ought to
esteem yourself very happy, for your wife will probably be brought
to bed of a _wellî_,” that is, a saint.]
[Footnote 59: This sect, represented to me by the Arabs, and
others in Syria, as having only at a late period originated, is
precisely mentioned by Niebuhr, Description d’Arabie, ed. Paris,
p. 208. with a little variation as to the tenets of its founder. He
dates its rise in the year 1760, which is very possible, considering
that the later accounts all agree that _Abd-el-azîz el Wahhâbé_
is a man of very advanced age.]
[Footnote 60: The machine used in the manufacture is very
simple, but the fabric is very complete, and executed with
tolerable expedition. To make a _cottoni_ requires one hundred and
twenty-five drams of silk. Half that quantity is sufficient for a
light _alléja_. The wages of a manufacturer for making the former
are sixty paras. The fabric of white silk is technically called
in Arabic _craishi_; the _alléja_, _darekli_; the _cottoni_,
_dadâr_. The ordinary length of each of these is about ten pikes
(draa). The width about a pike.]
[Footnote 61: The manner of making soap here deserves mention. They
use oil of olives, putting to an hundred weight twenty-five pounds of
kali, and five pounds of pulverized chalk. The latter articles are
boiled till the water be sufficiently impregnated; the oil is then
poured in, and the whole boils for three days over a fire composed
of stones of olives.]
[Footnote 62: Throughout Syria and Anatolia is established a kind
of tolls called _ghafar_, demanded under pretence of keeping up the
roads, and freeing them from robbers. A fixed sum is exacted from all
Christians; and even an European, though furnished with a travelling
firman, often finds it difficult to avoid paying them. Mohammedans
pay what they please, or even nothing.
In Syria these tolls are of no apparent use; the demand is somewhat
considerable, the roads are not repaired, and there is no defence
but immemorial custom. In Anatolia, where there are woods, some
responsibility is attached to the office of toll-gatherer, in case
a traveller is robbed; and the sum paid is more reasonable.]
[Footnote 63: Musket and bayonet.]
[Footnote 64: Ibeit is one of the principal towns of Kordofân;
it is also the name of a small district.]
[Footnote 65: The bearing of the road from Rîl to Hellet Allais is
reported to be generally E. with very small variation.]
Transcriber's note:
pg xxxii Changed: Earthen ware of Ghennè to: Ghenné
pg 63 Changed: the master (ربفا) to: ربنا
pg 129 Changed: cielings of the chambers to: ceilings
pg 219 Changed: with their corruption to: which
pg 237 Changed: and and while the jelabs to: and while
pg 290 Changed: between the the former to: between the former
pg 368 Changed: articles of consumptioh to: consumption
pg 399 Changed: the most unweildy to: unwieldy
pg 408 Changed: the the walnut-tree to: the walnut-tree
pg 422 Changed: which Rashib Pasha to: Raghib
pg 439 Changed: thoughout Europe to: throughout
pg 447 Changed: _Cubeabéa_ and _Rîl_ to: _Cubcabéa_
pg 448 Changed: _Cubeabéa_ to _Wara_ to: _Cubcabéa_
Other spelling inconsistencies have been left unchanged.
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