The Hammer are chiefly cultivators of the ground. They possess also camels, and trade to Darfour, but do not come to this place. They are occupied also in tanning the skins of animals, and the government employs them in their hunting expeditions for slaves. Their arms resemble those of the other Arab tribes,—the oval spear, the lance, and sword. Hadji Merien is their chief or king, that is, melek.[39]
The Hadowyeh are cultivators, and join the expeditions of the government like the Hammer: they possess good dromedaries, and their melek is Uhmar, son of Dowel.
Messabouee. Cultivators, and also assist the government in their slave expeditions: their melek is Uhmar, son of Hashim.
Danaglih. Peasants of the country; cultivators.
Konjarah. A tribe from Darfour: the masters of the country, under Magdum Selim, on the arrival of Roustan Bey, who killed their chief in battle[40]: their present chief is Sultan Tema.
The province of Kordofan is exceedingly productive to the Pasha, and so also would Darfour be; and ere now that province would have been annexed to his kingdom, had not his ambitious views been turned towards Constantinople. A desert, I am told, of five days’ journey separates the two provinces. He might extend his conquests thither without any apprehension of interference from the European powers. If the peace in Syria continues, and Mohammed Ali lives, that country, notwithstanding the warlike and powerful tribes who inhabit it, will soon form a part of the Pasha’s immense dominions; and Europeans will be enabled to explore it with greater advantage than our celebrated traveller Brown.
Dongolah, or New Dongolah, as I should call it, has far more the appearance of a capital, than any place I have seen in Ethiopia. The citadel is fortified with walls and towers sufficient to defend it from the attacks of the Arabs, but not long against a European army. There are a few pieces of cannon brought here by Ismael Pasha, and there is generally a garrison of from 300 to 800 men, but most commonly from invalid regiments, that have suffered by the more unhealthy climates of Kordofan, Khartoun, and Sennaar, and are sent here as fit for no other service. They have built an hospital, but, although full of invalids, it is not yet finished,—the rooms are without roofs, and the beds of earth.
There are several cafés in the town, much better than I expected: one is very handsome; large, airy, and furnished with a divan covered with carpets. Here the lazy Turks kill the day: smoking, seeing the people pass by, playing draughts and other games, and drinking coffee and sherbet.
The bazaar is superior to that of Assuan. The articles for sale consisted of different stuffs, silk, linen, and cotton; tarboushes (red Turkish caps), shoes, glassware, cures for ophthalmia (some of which seemed on examination to contain zinc); and a variety of pipes, from the handsome Persian anguilles and long Turkish pipes, with their amber mouthpieces, worth two or three pounds each, to the humble pipe of the peasant, value threepence: coarse thread and common needles; salt, from the mines of Selima, white and beautiful like crystal; a variety of cases for amulets, such as the women wear around their necks and the men on their arms (see the various plates of costumes); coffee from Mocha and Abyssinia; loaf sugar, white and brown; tamarinds from Sennaar and Kordofan; and a variety of arms, sabres, lances, daggers, and pistols; and in every shop on sale, spices and ginger, cloves, coriander seed, sandal wood, and a kind of kernels, seemingly of cherries, which are said to come from Italy; the natives extract oil from them. With the spices they make the ointment which both males and females, particularly the latter, use in this country to render their skin soft. I have seen them sometimes almost naked, and smeared with this substance as if they had been dipped in butter; and I have often seen the Arabs of the desert place two or three pounds of mutton fat on their heads, and walk on till the sun had melted it, when not only the head and face were covered with the liquid grease, but it flowed in streams down their backs. They consider their different ointments as particularly conducive to health, especially after fatigue. There is an old custom still kept up in the country. When an Arab or Turk arrives in a village after a fatiguing day’s journey, he generally gets some of the female slaves I have spoken of at Shendy, to rub him for half an hour all over with this ointment. It is very pleasant and refreshing, cooling and softening to the skin, which has been burnt and dried up by the scorching winds of the desert. I also observed in the bazaar common looking-glasses, and beads of glass and other materials.
There were several separate markets for slaves, men, women, boys, girls, and eunuchs. Most of the latter are from Abyssinia. I am informed that they are generally the victims of the brutality of the Abyssinians of neighbouring states. Besides increasing the value of their slaves, they appear to wish to imitate the ancient Egyptians, whose cruelty in that respect is explained in the triumphant procession on the walls of Medenet Abou, at Thebes. I saw one extremely beautiful Abyssinian girl on sale for 150 dollars, and for another not remarkable for her beauty 80 were demanded.