Notwithstanding the nature of its population, Khartoum is kept commendably neat and clean. It will be a lucky day for Rome and Florence when their streets exhibit no more filth than those of this African city. The bazaars only are swept every morning, but the wind performs this office for the remainder of the streets. The soog, or market, is held in a free space, opening upon the inland plain, where the country people bring their sheep, fowls, camels, dourra, vegetables and other common products. The slaughtering of animals takes place every morning on the banks of the Blue Nile, east of the city, which is thus entirely free from the effluvia arising therefrom. Here the sheep, cows, goats and camels are killed, skinned and quartered in the open air, and it is no unusual thing to see thirty or forty butchers at work on as many different animals, each surrounded by an attendant group of vultures, hawks, cranes, crows and other carnivorous birds. They are never molested by the people, and we sometimes rode through thousands of them, which had so gorged themselves that they scarcely took the trouble to move out of our way.
The place labors under the disadvantage of being the most unhealthy part of one of the most unhealthy regions in the world. From the southern frontier of Nubia, where the tropical rains begin to fall, to the table-land of Abyssinia on the south, and as far up the White Nile as has yet been explored, Soudân is devastated by fevers of the most malignant character. The summers are fatal to at least one-half of the Turks, Egyptians and Europeans who make their residence there, and the natives themselves, though the mortality is not so great among them, rarely pass through the year without an attack of fever. I arrived during the most healthy part of the year, and yet of all the persons I saw, three-fourths were complaining of some derangement of the system. The military hospital, which I visited, was filled with cases of fever, dysentery and small-pox. I was in such good bodily condition from my journey through the Desert that I could scarcely conceive the sensation of sickness, and the generous diet and invigorating exercise I enjoyed secured me from all fear of an attack. Travellers are not agreed as to the cause of this mortality in Soudân. Some attribute it to the presence of infusoriæ in the water; yet we drank the pure, mountain-born flood of the Blue Nile, and filtered it beforehand. I am disposed to side with Russegger, who accounts for it entirely by the miasma arising from decayed vegetation, during the intense heats. The country around Khartoum is a dead level; the only mountain to be seen is the long ridge of Djebel Gerrari, twelve miles to the north. Behind the town, the White Nile curves to the east, and during the inundation his waters extend even to the suburbs, almost insulating the place. The unusual sickness of the winter of 1852 might be accounted for by the inundation of the previous summer, which was so much higher than ordinary that the people were obliged to erect dykes to keep the water out of the streets. The opposite bank of the river is considered more healthy; and in the town of Halfay, only ten miles distant, the average mortality is much less.
I was fortunate in reaching Khartoum at a very interesting period. All the principal shekhs of the different tribes between the Nile and the Red Sea were then collected there, and as Dr. Reitz was on friendly terms with all of them, I had the opportunity of making their acquaintance, and could have readily procured a safe-conduct through their territories, if I had been disposed to make explorations in that direction.
During the summer there had been trouble in the neighborhood of Sennaar, and a general movement against the Egyptian rule was feared. In October and November, however, Moussa Bey made a campaign in the regions about and beyond the Atbara, and returned with the chief malcontents in chains. They were afterwards liberated, but had been retained in Khartoum until some disputed questions should be settled. On the night of my arrival, the Consul received a visit of ceremony from the two principal ones: Hamed, the chief shekh of the Bishàrees, and Owd-el-Kerim, son of the great shekh of the Shukorees, which inhabit the wide territory between the Atbara and the Blue Nile. They were accompanied by several attendants, and by Mohammed Kheyr, the commander of the Shygheean cavalry employed in the late expedition. The latter was a fierce-looking black in rich Turkish costume.
Hamed was a man of middle size, black, but with straight features and a mild, serious expression of face. He was dressed in white, as well as his attendant whose bushy hair was twisted into countless strings and pierced with a new wooden skewer. The Shukoree shekh arrived last. We were seated on the divan, and all rose when he entered. He was a tall, powerful man, with large, jet-black eyes and a bold, fierce face. He wore a white turban and flowing robes of the same color, with a fringe and stripe of crimson around the border. The Consul advanced to the edge of the carpet to meet him, when the shekh opened his arms and the two fell upon each other’s necks. Coffee and pipes were then served, and water was brought for the washing preparatory to dinner. Hamed and the Shygheean captain washed only their hands, but the great Owd-el-Kerim washed his hands, face and feet, and occupied nearly a quarter of an hour at his devotions, bowing his head many times to the earth and repeating the name of Allah with deep emphasis. We passed through the garden to the dining-room, where the shekhs were greatly amazed at seeing a table set in European style. They all failed in managing the knives and forks, except Owd-el-Kerim, who watched the Consul and myself, and did his part with dignity. Achmet had made a vermicelli soup, which they eyed very suspiciously, and did not venture to take more than a few mouthfuls. They no doubt went away with the full belief that the Franks devour worms. They were at a loss how to attack the roast mutton, until I carved it for them, but did such execution with their fingers among the stews and salads that the dishes were soon emptied.
After they had again partaken of coffee and pipes in the divan, the Consul ordered two or three rockets, which had been left from his Christmas celebration, to be sent up in order to satisfy the curiosity of his guests, who had heard much of those wonderful fires, which had amazed all Khartoum, three weeks before. The shekhs and attendants were grouped on the balcony, when the first rocket-shot hissing into the air, drew its fiery curve through the darkness, and burst into a rain of yellow stars. “Wallah!” and “Mashallah!” were echoed from mouth to mouth, and the desert chiefs could scarcely contain themselves, from astonishment and delight. The second rocket went up quite near to us, and sooner than was expected. Hamed, the Bishàree shekh, was so startled that he threw both his arms around the Consul and held fast for dear life, and even the great Owd-el-Kerim drew a long breath and ejaculated, “God is great!” They then took their leave, deeply impressed with the knowledge and wisdom of the Franks.
CHAPTER XXII.
VISITS IN KHARTOUM.
Visit to the Catholic Mission—Dr. Knoblecher, the Apostolic Vicar—Moussa Bey—Visit to Lattif Pasha—Reception—The Pasha’s Palace—Lions—We Dine with the Pasha—Ceremonies upon the Occasion—Music—The Guests—The Franks in Khartoum—Dr. Péney—Visit to the Sultana Nasra—An Ethiopian Dinner—Character of the Sultana.
On the day of my arrival, Dr. Reitz proposed a visit to Dr. Knoblecher, the Apostolic Vicar of the Catholic Missions in Central Africa, who had returned to Khartoum about twenty days previous. The Vicar’s name was already familiar to me, from the account of his voyage up the White Nile in 1850, which was published in the German journals during his visit to Europe, and it had been my design to propose joining his party, in case he had carried out his plan of making a second voyage in the winter of 1852. He ascended as far as lat. 4° north, or about sixty miles beyond the point reached by D’Arnaud and Werne, and therefore stands at the head of Nilotic explorers.