The ceremony of the trial of the brass guns, for which, after consulting Mr. Clapperton, who was too ill to undertake it himself, I had succeeded in making charge and wadding, took place this afternoon, before the sheikh and a thousand spectators. The distance to which they threw the balls, and the loudness of the report, created the greatest astonishment: but I could not persuade the sheikh to suffer a second canister to be shot: “No, no!” said he, “they are too valuable; they must not be thrown away: curses on their race! how these will make the Begharmis jump!” I had cut them out a harness in paper as a pattern, which had been tolerably made in leather: this was attached to each gun, with a man mounted on the mule that drew it; and altogether the guns had a far better appearance and effect than I expected. The carriages answered extremely well—were very steady; and I much regretted that poor Hillman, to whom all the credit of mounting them belonged, was confined to his mattress, and unable to see how well they answered: but the sheikh’s anxiety would not brook delay.
Nov. 9.—The cool winds which had prevailed for the last fifteen days had so purified the air, that disease appeared to be taking its departure, and a season of health about to succeed in its turn. These long-wished-for breezes generally came on about ten in the forenoon, and continued until two hours after mid-day. They had a great effect on the natives, and appeared considerably to invigorate ourselves. Both Mr. Clapperton and Hillman were now able to walk about with the assistance of a stick: they were both, however, sadly pulled down, and enfeebled.
The two expeditions, one for Kanem and the other to Begharmi, were now said to be in readiness for departing after the feast, or Aid-of-Milaud, which was to be kept on the 16th and two following days. I had determined on accompanying one of them, whether a supply of money arrived or not, as the season of the year was too valuable to be wasted. This was the first opportunity that had offered of a movement to the eastward in any direction, and it was not to be lost. I had one camel and one horse, and, as before, I was determined on taking my chance with the ghrazzie, and faring as well as circumstances would allow me. The feast was ushered in with all the customary rejoicings, and gifts were distributed by all the great people; nor were we forgotten by the sheikh, who sent us two bullocks[40] and three sheep, and two jars of honey, which in our situation was no mean present; for as sickness began to subside amongst us, our appetite increased.
Nov. 21.—The feast, Aid-of-Milaud (the birth-day of Mohammed) is attended with nearly similar rejoicings to the other feast days; but instead of wrestlings amongst the men, the ladies, on this occasion, dance according to the fashion of their country. The motions of the Kouka women, though the least graceful, are certainly the most entertaining; all, however, form a striking contrast to the lascivious movements of the Arab and Barbary dancers—every thing here is modest, and free from any indelicacy. To commence with those of the capital, who also first appear in the circle, the Koukowy advance by twos and threes, and after advancing, retiring, and throwing themselves into various attitudes, accompanied by the music from several drums, they suddenly turn their backs to each other, and suffer those parts which are doomed to endure the punishment for all the offences of our youth to come together with all the force they can muster, and she who keeps her equilibrium and destroys that of her opponent, is greeted by cheers and shouts, and is led out of the ring by two matrons, covering her face with her hands. They sometimes come together with such violence as to burst the belt of beads which all the women of rank wear round their bodies just above the hips, and showers of beads would fly in every direction: some of these belts are twelve or sixteen inches wide, and cost fifteen or twenty dollars. Address is, however, often attended, in these contests, with better success than strength; and a well managed feint exercised at the moment of the expected concussion, even when the weight of metal would be very unequal, oftentimes brings the more weighty tumbling to the ground, while the other is seen quietly seated on the spot where she had with great art and agility dropt herself. The Shouaas were particularly happy in these feints, which were practised in different ways, either by suddenly slipping on one side, sitting or lying down. I had not seen so many pretty women together since leaving England, for, as compared with the negresses, the Shouaas are almost white, and their features particularly handsome; such an assembly was to us novel and gratifying. I was, however, sometimes surprised to find how much I became accustomed to the sight of these swarthy beauties, even so as to be able to look at them with pleasure. The women of Bornou and Begharmi danced with a much slower motion, and accompanied themselves by singing: the former wear simply a blue wrapper or scarf over the shoulders, and holding each end of the wrapper with the arms extended, frequently threw themselves into very pleasing and graceful, if not elegant, attitudes; while the latter, with their hands before them, sometimes clasped together, sometimes crossed on the breast, and sometimes with only just the tips of the fingers meeting à la Madonna, appeared to sing a tale of extreme interest to the bystanders; this was accompanied by sinkings of the body, and bendings of the head, from side to side—all finished by sitting down and covering their faces, when they were led out of the circle by the elder women.
The Arabs and chiefs from Angornou and the neighbouring towns came into Kouka in the evening, and the sheikh, accompanied by full one thousand horsemen, rode round the walls, preceded by seven flags, and after praying at some distance, returned to the palace: his new-trained footmen with guns were present, who skirmished with the horse: and on asking me how they fired, he said, “I have full two hundred guns—where are the Begharmis now?—the dogs!” This was repeated the two following days: blessings were asked on the expedition about to depart, and the disposition made. Two days out of three I accompanied them, and rode for a short time by his side, and very much pleased he appeared to be by the attention. We had no news, however, of the courier, and our spirits were greatly depressed by the report of his being lost on the road.
Nov. 25.—The season of the year had arrived when the sovereigns of these countries go out to battle, and the dread of the bashaw’s expedition had prevented the sheikh from making an inroad into the Begharmi country; they, in consequence, took the opportunity of attacking him, notwithstanding their discomfiture in five different former expeditions, when at least twenty thousand poor creatures were slaughtered, and three-fourths of that number at least driven into slavery. The Begharmis had once more come down to the south side of the Shary, and induced the people of Loggun to declare for them. The boats of Loggun were to bring the Begharmis over the river, and then all were to pour into the sheikh’s dominions. We were in sad confusion at Kouka on hearing the news, and the sheikh prepared to muster his forces with all despatch.
Nov. 29.—At our audience this morning we were detained for some time, while a case was decided in which several Kanemboo chiefs were charged with not having, on some former occasions, treated the sheikh’s people with kindness. The disaffected sheikhs were buffeted even in the presence, by the Bornouese, taken out, and three of the worst of them strangled in the court-yard[41].
Dec. 3.—Although, by the arrival of a messenger from Munga, the immediate alarm of the Felatah attack from the south-west was considerably abated, yet they continued increasing in force, and at not more than five days distance. The Begharmis were also still on the south bank of the Shary, close to the river, and unless alarmed by the sheikh’s preparations, were confidently reported to have the intention of attacking him when the waters had sufficiently subsided to render it practicable, which was expected in less than a month. The expedition for Kanem accordingly left this day, under the charge of Ali Gana, the sheikh’s kaganawha[42], and next in command after Barca Gana, and another was said to be intended to the south-west.
The news of the last month, both from the Begharmi side and the Kanem, from the south-east and the east, had been of the worst description: a direful war of extermination had been for years carried on between Bornou and Begharmi, the fury of which had not in the least abated. No males were spared on either side, except on terms worse perhaps than death. The sultan of Bornou had more than two hundred youths under twenty, from Begharmi, in his harem, as eunuchs; while the sultan of Begharmi (who was said to have nearly one thousand wives) had treble that number of unfortunate Bornouese and Kanemboo eunuchs, chosen out of the most healthy young men who had fallen into his hands as prisoners, and spared from the general massacre for the purpose of serving him in that capacity. Even the moral, and in many respects the amiable, sheikh had more than thirty Begharmi lads thus qualified to enter the apartments of his wives and princesses.
As I was one day taking shelter, in the portico of the sheikh’s garden, from the violence of a sudden storm of rain, the chief of those privileged persons brought me to see about a dozen of this corps, who were just recovering from the ordeal of initiation, which they had gone through: thin and emaciated, though fed and taken the greatest care of (for they become extremely valuable, and will sell to any Turkish merchant for two hundred and fifty or three hundred dollars), these poor remnants of promising healthy young men passed before me. I could not contain my emotion, or disguise the distress which was apparent in my countenance, so that the old hardened chief of the seraglio, who seemed happy that so many of his fellow-creatures were reduced to the same standard as himself, exclaimed, “Why, Christian, what signifies all this? they are only Begharmis! dogs! kaffirs! enemies!—they ought to have been cut in four quarters alive, and now they will drink coffee, eat sugar, and live in a palace all their lives.”