Làkono did not seem, according to my views, to understand rightly the question, whether snow was lying on these mountains. He answered, however, No. Now, when I consider the thing more closely, it is a great question to me whether he and his interpreter have a word for snow; for though the Arabic word telki or snow is known perhaps in the whole land of Sudàn, yet that itself is unknown. Whether these four brooks forming the White Stream come from rocks or from the ground, Làkono could not say for he had not gone further. With respect to the country of Berri, which he stated in his first visit was likewise a month distant, Làkono now corrected himself and said that this country is not thirty, but only ten days’ journey off to the east. He impressed on us particularly that copper is as abundant, and found there in the same manner as iron here. He appears, indeed, to wish to inflame our gold-seeking hearts by his repeated commendations of this country, on purpose that he may get possession, at one blow, of the treasures, with the assistance of our fire-arms. He expected an answer which could not be given him, because the Dinkaui, who translated his words into Arabic, only told us (according to my full conviction) what he chose to let us know, most probably being induced by the other soldiers and sailors to do everything he could for our speedy return.
We also heard that on the road water is found, but that in Berri itself there is no river, and that the natives drink from springs (Birr). The people of Bari get their salt, which is quite clear and fine-grained, from thence. It is boiled in earthen pots, and retains their form. The language of the country of Berri is different from that of Bari. The blue beads, in the form of little cylinders, which we saw on Làkono and some others, and had even found previously, came also from Berri. We had similar-formed glass paste, of white and blue colours; but the higher value was set on the blue, and on the large, round, blue beads.
Commercial intercourse in Berri does not seem to be carried on in a very peaceful manner, according to what we had heard previously, and also now from some of the King’s companions; for it is boasted that on the way home copper is plundered from the people on the road, with whom they take up their quarters, and who have it piled up in their houses. They say that the men on the copper mountains are a very bad set; and that therefore they are obliged to take from them again the spears which they had given them for copper. In Berri also the people go naked, and there are few dresses such as Làkono possesses. The latter asserts that his dominion reaches seven days’ journey further up the river. Much might be learnt if there were more order, on our side, in the questions; but they are jumbled up one with the other, and asked more for amusement than for scientific interests, without once reflecting whether the answer corresponds to the question or not.
The favourite Sultana had certainly not much to boast of in the way of beauty, but she was an amiable looking woman: she was not at all shy, and looked freely around her. A number of glass beads were given to her, and she was too much of a woman and negress not to be exceedingly delighted at them. Làkono restrained himself, as at the first time, on the sight of such presents, within the limits of pleasing surprise, without betraying the least symptom of the childish joy which is indigenous in these men of nature. She was, however, very cordial with him, and he with her; he helped her even to pack together her ornaments in a handkerchief, and gave it over to her with a benevolent look. I had the honour also of a friendly smile from her, which I naturally returned. She remarked this immediately to her lord and master, whereupon the latter bowed his entire approbation, and smiled at me.
This queen was very simply adorned for her rank. Her head was shaven quite bare, without a diadem and other ornaments; her hair, the embellishment of woman, was therefore put to the sword, and with it also the first advantageous impression, even if the nose had not been slightly turned in. She was simply clothed with two leathern aprons, under which, through her continually shifting her seat, I caught sight of a rahàt. A number of polished iron rings were spread over the joints of her hands and feet. A narrow ring of ivory was on the upper part of each arm; and around the neck a large iron ring, from which a great tooth, a flat little bell, and some other knick-knackeries of iron, hung down to her breasts, which are already tolerably withered, for she has probably borne children. She had red sandals on the feet, with little iron rings on them as ornaments. All the under part of the body was tattooed—this may be the sign of a foreign race; the nose also is of a different stamp to those in Bari. The root of the nose is certainly strongly depressed in these women, of whom I saw yesterday also some specimens, so that it forms, with the arched forehead, not an unpleasing waved line, terminating in a saucy point, without the latter becoming a flat knob. If we could have put into the mouth, where the four lower incisors also were wanting, a ducat, or perhaps a dollar, the teeth would not then have projected in the negro manner, and those blubber lips would not have been at all noticed.
The skull, throughout Bari, is not generally pressed back like that of animals, to the occiput, although the latter is strongly developed. I find, however, no difference in the form of our Egyptian thick heads directly they take off their tarbusch. The fluidum primordiale of the Barian power of creation must therefore have worked, in this mountain-land, with the same noble power as that of the land of Kashmire.
In other respects our queen was well formed, and the calves of her legs projected tolerably stoutly over the iron rings. Even in Germany she would have been considered one of the tallest of her sex, and here also her size would be surprising if she wore a long dress. She was at least five and a half Rhenish feet high, for she looked very comfortably over my head. On this occasion I discovered remains of ochre in her close-cut hair, a sign that she does not use soap. Her name is Ishòk; she could scarcely keep herself from laughing, and appeared to be very much flattered when she heard her charming name repeated by us several times. Làkono and his queen had brought a doll, representing a woman, hewn roughly from wood, as a present, which turned out, contrary to our expectation, to be only a doll; for they laughed immensely when we asked them whether they worshipped or adored it as a deity.
We could not get a clear conception of their ideas of religion—the less so, because the Tershomàn translating into Arabic was a heathen Dinkaui. It seems that they worship a spirit of nature, for we had been previously told that their god was grander than the mast of our vessel. Whether they reverence him under a tree, as the criminal court of Làkono seems to denote, is a question I do not venture to decide. Horns, teeth, and amulets point to some sort of worship.
Without troubling himself further with farewell ceremonies, Làkono rose with his men; but his wife had previously looked at the carpet, gave him a friendly dig in the ribs, and whispered a few words to him. The great king did not wait for this being said twice; he seized the end of the carpet, and gave it over, without further ceremony, to the slave close at hand. This carpet belonged, however, to Rassulla Effendi, who was the maùhn, or scribe, to Selim Capitan, and a Persian by birth. He drew a long face on seeing these proceedings, but was consoled with the promise of another new carpet, and the whole thing was laughed at as an ingenious trick.
A panorama, to which, however, the neighbourhood of beautiful mountain-forms lends the true charm, opens from the Island of Tshànker. Opposite to us, on the right shore, we see the village of Wuàlana, and before it lies a shallow island, called Koriana; on the right shore lie, at a short distance from it, the villages of Harikono and Amrit. The houses of the villages are tokuls, part of them having higher pointed roofs. Shady trees stand around, and the copsewood enjoys such a verdant life that we might fancy ourselves in a northern region.