Everyone at Khartùm was astonished, and the more so, because no one doubted his innocence. A gibbet was quickly erected at the market-place, and on the following morning the unfortunate creature was hanging,—as Faragh Effendi told me the story,—with a placard, written in large letters, on his back, and his feet scarcely half a foot from the ground. All the Copts, notwithstanding the calamity, were exceedingly rejoiced that he had not professed Islamism before his death, but had died stedfastly as a Nazrani. The Turks and Arabs are just as strenuous in their exertions to make proselytes as the expensive European missionaries, without immediately descending in thunder with their Prophet, as with a Deus ex machiná, from high Olympus. The cruelty of this Basha is said to have gone so far in Dongola that he wanted to force the son of a Copt to witness the execution of the sentence of death on his innocent father; but, luckily, the father died the night before.
In Khartùm, the young Sheikh Effendi (mallem, or Turkish scribe) received an order to revise the account of the Nasir of the linen Shunah. He, being yet a novice in these affairs, and not knowing that the word of the Basha “to investigate” must be always connected with “guilty,” goes to him, and says that it is quite correct; but the latter quickly sends the good youth back again to make another investigation. Sheikh Effendi returns, and says, that the “man is innocent:” the Basha calls him eshek (ass), sends him a very large and long piece of cotton-stuff as the standard measure, and commands him to make good the account, or else he would indemnify himself out of the Sheikh’s own property. Sheikh Effendi was therefore forced to take this great Top Homàss as the measure, when of course an enormous deficit appeared; for, amongst the goods sent in by several tribes of the Arabs, are included woollen stuffs made in the country for the dress of soldiers, for sails, tents, &c., and there is mostly a difference of one to two ells (drà, arm’s-length) between these pieces. This was now extended back to all the years in which the fellow had been Nasir, and the man was entirely ruined.
Except the punishment of beating to death, which causes as little sensation here as in Russia, public executions are not so frequent in Khartùm itself, where his presence alone creates terror; but the secret ones are performed without the cord and the sword. The following may serve as a proof of the condition of this grievously afflicted country:—When Mohammed Ali was travelling over Sennaar, the old Sheikh Suliman of Rossères, the most esteemed and influential man of Gesira (island, Sennaar) was forced to pay his respects to him in the city of Rossères. He came with a retinue of his Hammeghs, dressed simply in a black ferda; and, having stepped into the tent of the great Basha, he greeted him, and seated himself, without being invited, on the divàn close to him. The viceroy, beside himself with anger at this freedom, did not speak a word to him; but, after a short time, through his dragoman Abdin Bey, bade him depart. The old Basha told our Ahmed Basha, when Sheikh Suliman should again appear, to stand before him, in order to instil somewhat more respect into this old obstinate fellow. Suliman was summoned, and Ahmed entered into a conversation with him intentionally, standing before the viceroy, to prevent him from sitting down before the latter had assigned him the proper place by motioning with his hand to do so. The crafty Suliman, perceiving the Turkish finesse, and provoked at such treatment, which he did not deserve, drew himself up erect, and addressed Mohammed Ali thus in a serious, calm tone of voice, without waiting for the first word from the latter, conformably to Turkish etiquette:—
“Thou wishest to reduce me, here, in the presence of my people, to the grade of thy servant (Gadàm), but thou wilt be disappointed. Thou dost not know my power. Art thou aware that it only needs a word from me to excite the whole island to revolt, and to destroy thee and thy trifling military escort? Reflect that thou art in my kingdom, in my power, and not I in thine, Yet I will not be base; say, in a few words, why I have been summoned here, and what I shall do.” Mohammed Ali, enraged to frenzy at hearing a black talk so to him, but perceiving only too well the truth of what he said, reflecting on Suliman’s power and importance, and his own small army, gave way in this critical juncture, and ordered Abdin Bey (although he understands Arabic) to explain to him that the manner in which he had behaved was not proper; that he intended to invest him with the mantle of honour, and that he must kiss his hand as a token of subjection. Sheikh Suliman listened to this, laughing at the same time, but returned thanks for the honour of the investiture, and stooped to kiss his hand, which, however, he did not do, as the old Basha, enraged, kept both of them behind him; whereupon Suliman, without further ceremony, silently went away, and never appeared again, although he was summoned several times.
Mohammed Ali was indignant at the heads or Sheikhs of the mountains of Fàzogl not having paid their respects to him, as they had been apparently subdued by Ahmed Basha, in his expedition against Mount Tabi, Aba Regrehk, Singue, to Beni-Shangull, (twelve days’ journey behind Fàzogl, called by the Turks Fèsog’l), or rather had entered into a friendly alliance. And he attributed their non-appearance to Sheikh Suliman, whose dominion extends from Aba Nande, below Rossères, to Fàzogl, and who, although of a small and weak frame, for he is above eighty years old, (some say more than a hundred), has not lost by his subjection the fame of his bravery in former times, which is spread through the land, and of which wonders are related. On the contrary, he is reckoned a real prince of peace among these considerable chiefs, and has preserved tranquillity in the country in behalf of the Turks, entirely for the sake of preventing bloodshed. He went into the villages of his people, who honour him as a father and tutelar genius, and merely said, “The Turks again want Tulba; I know not whence to take it.” They brought it spontaneously, each according to his means, and even more than he wanted, which surplus he then distributed among the poor. One must know the avaricious character of these people properly to appreciate such generosity.
This frank and open speech on the 24th Dec. 1838, was sufficient to shew the old Basha how civilization, even in Ethiopia, begins to assert its claims, and urges resistance against Turkish barbarism; for wherever the soil is abundant, there personal freedom, the love of which these people have preserved pure in their hearts, has a right to demand a generous maintenance; but they have not even this, for, in contempt of the country and the people, every thing belongs to the great man, or his hangmen. He sent presents, therefore, and issued written proclamations, to the absolute rulers of Kamomil—where the richest veins of gold have been found—of Fazangùr, Duhb, and even to the Galla-chiefs, in which he says that he is not come to disturb their tranquillity,—that he, the Lord of armies and cannons, promises peace, &c. Even Abu Sarrott, the terror of all the mountains behind Fàzogl, received sabres and Turkish dresses from Mohammed Ali, and, fourteen days afterwards, the receiver of these presents plundered all the magazines, and carried away the cows and camels. This Abu Sarrott, before whom every one trembles, was formerly a slave of the Sultan of Mount Hummos, east of Fàzogl, had rendered himself independent, and having no settled abode, makes himself a home everywhere.
Mohammed Ali led four battalions of infantry, 400 Mogrebin cavalry under their leader Ladham, and 600 horsemen armed with lances, swords, and bucklers, from Sennaar, under the Sheikhs Defalla and Edris Wood Adlàn, with two field-pieces, to Fàzogl, where he made a sacrifice to humanity, by releasing 400 slaves. He had already in Khartùm revived the old edict issued from Alexandria and Káhira for the abolition of the slave-trade, in order to throw dust in the eyes of Europeans; but this order was one of those which, though publicly given, contained secretly a counter order. This practice goes so far, that these fine orders which are issued from Kahira, are entrusted to a kawass or courier, who on such occasions is a confidential lictor of the great Basha, and who quietly whispers into the ear of Ahmed Basha how he is to understand the despatches. So much for the suppression of the slave-trade, or rather of the Chasua (slave-hunt), as the former is practised publicly throughout all Egypt, even in the houses of the Consuls. So much for the not setting foot upon Abyssinia, where however Emir Bey undertook an expedition from Fàzogl to Atish, towards its boundaries, marching forward with the incredible caution usual in the Chasua, and seized Christian churches, and massacred every soul. So likewise in Taka, where slave-hunts took place on all sides; and from whence we should very certainly have gone to Habes, if the campaign had turned out well. Such was the case also in Kordofàn, where, on the intelligence that Mohammed Ali had himself put into effect at Fàzogl the orders he had given in Khartum, on account of the delay that took place, the slaves found unfit to be recruits were set at liberty. At the same time the well instructed Ahmed Basha dared to issue an order to Mustapha Bey to prepare a Chasua for 6,000 slaves, by which the loss of the 400 in Fazogl and of the few who had been emancipated in Kordofàn was sufficiently covered. Ahmed Basha managed afterwards to gain the confidence of the old Sheikh Suliman, probably, by praising his independent behaviour towards Mohammed Ali. In short, Sheikh Suliman, who had no medical assistant in Rossères, allowed himself to be persuaded by Ahmed Basha to make his nephew, Edris Kantòr (also Kamptor) the ruling Sheikh, conformably to Mohammed Ali’s wishes; to stand by his (Ahmed’s) side in Khartùm as his counsellor, and to take into consideration the welfare of the country. The renegade Suliman Effendi (with whom my brother was once there) was to have him under his care; but the Sheikh would not take any medicine, because he feared a physician whose fame had even extended from Arabia. This Sicilian had poisoned thirty-three soldiers there in order to ruin two Frenchmen, the physician and the apothecary, whom he detested. Ahmed Basha has need of such persons even in this land. Suliman suddenly died because he was too tenacious of life and wanted to return to Rossères, and was immediately buried according to the custom of this country, just as I was on the point of visiting him. “Deve morire, non c’è misericordia,” said Suliman Effendi, laughing, when opposing my brother with respect to the nature of his illness; and he was right. The brother of Sheikh Suliman, Nasr Wud Ahmed, came six months after to this capital; the strong, robust man was despatched in fourteen days in the same Turkish manner. Another brother received for some trifling matter 1,000 blows with the kurbash (a scourge, or whip, cut from the skin of the hippopotamus), far worse than the Nabùt, and reckoned to be equivalent to death: this man endured the punishment not only manfully without uttering a sound, but sprang up, and exclaimed, “Ana achu el bennaght!” (literally, “I am a brother of the maiden!” it means, however, a man who defends his hearth—generally, a hearty, brave fellow). Such examples of hardihood are not rare here, and depend partly on the race from which they spring. By the intrigues and the constant chicaneries of Ahmed Basha, the family of Suliman has been reduced to the lowest point. Woe to the Turks, therefore, when the time for revenge comes! The people belonging to the race of the Hammeghs still continue formidable, and remain always devotedly attached to the family.
These great Lords of the Isles, such as Edris Wud Adlàn, and Edris Kantòr, nephew of old Suliman, possess villages wherein 3000 or 4000 slaves live at their ease, with their wives and children, who are faithful and require only a hint from their protector. These Sheikhs, who are the issue of the marriages between the Funghs and Hammeghs, have besides a body-guard which they have furnished for themselves, being their own or perhaps not their own children. Thus Kantòr has more than 100 wives, Edris somewhat less, none of whom must be barren, if they do not wish to be displaced by others.
The old policy, which unfortunately still holds good, of chiefs being at variance with one another, bears its fruit also here. Kantòr as Sheikh of the Divàn, fears the lawful heirs, the children of Sheikh Suliman and Nasr, and has already murdered seven of them, without being called to account for it. Two sons, however, fled to the Sheikh Wud Abrish, on the confines of Makàda.
There died besides, in confinement, whilst I was in the country, the great Sheikh Mohammed-Din, a martyr for his Haddendas;—also Sheikh Hademer, highly esteemed in Mahass, who some years before had prophesied from his old books, that the Inglés (English) would free them from the Turks; wherefore, as soon as the intelligence was received of the taking of St. Jean d’Acre, he was seized in order to be, like Mohammed-Din, for ever set aside.