FIFTH CATARACT OF THE NILE.
El Makkarif, Capital of the ancient Kingdom, and now Turkish Province, of Berber.—Feb. 28. We started this morning at seven, and at ten passed the large village of El Abadieh, a little below which, on the opposite side, is Engreyab; at a quarter past twelve, El Ferrakah, opposite which is Abselam; at half past twelve, El Dankel; at half past one, El Hassan (vestiges of a Saracenic castle), opposite which are the villages of Dekseet and Wady Shekeer; at half past one, the village of El Howe; at half past two, El Gadawab; at three, we passed a village called Housh, opposite which is Ellet Wady Gadallah; at a quarter past three, Mahanifa; at half past three, Dich; and at four entered the capital, Makkarif. Most of these villages are large, but many almost entirely deserted. In one of 120 houses, I counted only twenty that were inhabited. This is occasioned, not only by a decrease of population, but also by the wretched state of poverty to which the Berbers are now reduced. Many families who had formerly two, three, and even six houses, are obliged to content themselves with one, allowing the others to fall into ruin from not having the means or inducement to repair them. If still possessed of any wealth, their only means of preserving it, or, at all events, of transmitting it to their posterity, is to keep it secret; and by an affectation of poverty, lull any suspicion that may arise of their possessing treasure. Notwithstanding what I am told of their hidden wealth, I should suspect the examples to be few: the real distress is unfortunately far too evident. The houses are scattered, and often at a considerable distance from each other; never crowded together, like the cottages in the villages of Egypt. Being shaded by the graceful doum and acacia trees, they produce a rural and sometimes picturesque effect. According to the ancient divisions, we have only been this day in the province of Berber. Since we reached El Ferrakah, the character of the country has been quite different; more villages, a richer soil, and even the desert thickly studded with trees like a shrubbery. The country between Abou-Hammed and Grenata is included in the Turkish province of Berber, and as such I have described it. The natives are the Rabatat, once the terror of caravans. The heavy exactions they imposed on all travellers, or rather merchants, obliged the latter to take the long route from Derouey to Makkarif, the same in which Burckhardt and Bruce suffered so severely. The manners of the Rabatat seemed rougher, and their depravity more open, than I observe here.
CHAPTER IV.
VISIT TO THE GOVERNOR. — COURT AND ANCIENT CHIEFS OF THE COUNTRY. — HOSPITABLE RECEPTION. — TURKISH ENTERTAINMENTS. — CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNOR. — HIS ATTENTIONS. — STYLE OF LIVING. — DONGOLAH HORSES. — ANECDOTES, COSTUMES AND PORTRAITS OF THE CHIEFS. — TURKISH KNOWLEDGE OF THE ARTS. — BAZAAR OF MAKKARIF. — HOUSES. — MANUFACTORY OF INDIGO. — EXTENT OF CULTIVATION. — POPULATION. — CAMELS’ HIDES. — SUGAR MANUFACTORY. — ETHIOPIAN WOOL. — BISHAREEN TRIBE. — MANNER OF COLLECTING THEIR TRIBUTE. — ABABDES AND OTHER ARAB TRIBES. — TURKISH POLICY. — BURCKHARDT. — CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. — ARABS OF THE DESERT.
Immediately on our arrival, we paid a visit to Abbas Bey, the governor of the province. He has a private house for his harem; but during the day he holds his court and takes his meals in one of the fortified houses of the sheakhs. At the door we found a number of soldiers and officers drinking coffee. The Turkish governor is obliged to furnish the officers attached to his court, as well as strangers and principal persons of the town who wish it, with as much of this beverage as they choose to drink; and so great is the consumption, that it is in fact the most considerable part of his official expenditure. We were ushered into a large room, forty feet by twenty, and proportionably high, with windows at one end, but, as usual, without glass: some small windows, above the larger, were covered with paper as a substitute. Around the room was a divan one foot high and four feet wide: one end was covered with mats, over which were thrown rich carpets and scarlet plush. The Governor, a man of about thirty, of a stern yet prepossessing appearance, was seated in the corner upon the skin of a panther. The courtiers were arranged on each side according to their respective ranks. On his right was the grand Cadi, in a brown dress, with a green turban (the badge of his having made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and being a sheriff, or descendant of Mahomet). He is a native of this country, and fills the offices of high priest and chief judge. The Bey paid him great attention; no doubt on account of his great influence with the people. He has a very jesuitical countenance: I thought of Alfieri’s celebrated speech in Saul. Next to this priest was Sheakh Sayd, the Chief of the Ababdes. (See [Plate.]) His family have held this title from time immemorial: the stamp of nobility is marked upon his high forehead; and there is an expression of dignified mildness in his countenance which commands respect: he interested me exceedingly. Another, but inferior, Sheakh of the Ababdes was seated next to Sheakh Sayd, in a blue linen dress. Next to the Ababde Sheakh was the Melek Nazr ed Deen. This man was forty years melek or king of this province. I am informed that the meleks of Shendy and Metammah attacked his kingdom, defeated him, seized his riches, and sullied the honour of his family. In revenge, it is said he fled to the Pasha of Egypt, and represented to him how easily he might subdue the country. The Arabs, and in this district particularly, extol in the most hyperbolical terms the merits of their great men. I will mention their expressions in a few instances as characteristic. According to their extravagant accounts, the war-cry of this melek was, “I am a bull, the son of a bull, and will die or conquer!” They assert that he is able to cut a camel in two with a blow of his sabre, and to eat a whole sheep to his breakfast. He really is an amazingly stout man for this country (see [Plate I.]), and both his appearance and manners are surly and repulsive, which, however, is not extraordinary, when we consider that he is now a disregarded pensioner (having merely the rank and pay of a katsheff), and no real authority in the extensive province where, at one time, his will was law. Several other personages were present, among whom were katsheffs, kaymacans, and artillery officers; Sheakh Beshir (see [Plate II.]), now melek of Shendy, and some sheakhs of the Bishareens. In the centre of the room stood about thirty attendants; cowhasses, with their silver-headed canes, armed with pistols and sabres; janissaries in the Albanian dress; mamelukes, Turkish soldiers, sheboukgees, slaves, &c. &c. The Bey was playing at drafts with Sheakh Sayd when we entered, but immediately closed the board, and rose from his seat. He received us very courteously, ordered us pipes and coffee in abundance, and a fresh supply of the latter at least every half hour; and, contrary to the Egyptian custom, there came usually two cups for each person at a time. Their manner of presenting it is in the highest style of Turkish fashion; holding the bottom of the fingan (cup) between the first finger and thumb, with the hand curved. It was presented at the same time to the Bey and myself; then to the others according to their rank. I presented to him the firman of the Pasha. He looked at the seal, kissed it, and applied it to his forehead in token of his obedience; but at the same time assured me that, on account of my being an Englishman, even if I had brought no firman, he would have done whatever was in his power to facilitate my plans. He would not allow us to leave him without partaking of his evening meal, a short description of which may amuse the reader.
Pl. 3.
| On stone by J. Hamerton, from a Drawing by L. Bandoni. | Printed by C. Hullmandel. |