Travels in Ethiopia, above the second cataract of the Nile

by G. A. Hoskins

I observed a custom, which is peculiarly characteristic of this district: the peasant girls, and also the men, bring from the country small quantities of grain and other produce, which they exchange for perfumes and spices for their hair and persons. This is conformable to our European idea of remote and uncivilised people, carrying on commerce simply by barter. They showed me in the bazaar some rudely shaped pieces of iron, said to be the money of Darfour.

Some of the peasant girls buying spices in the bazaar were very pretty. I told one, that had she been a slave I would have purchased her. She laughed at my compliment, and replied, with great naïveté, that, upon her conscience, she was no slave.

To make a purchase in the bazaar is sometimes rather difficult. I asked one of the merchants the price of a pipe, which I thought of buying. The man was confused, and could not make up his mind how much he ought to ask; but, seeking to enhance its value by praise, without replying to my question, he continued to extol its different excellencies. The other merchants pressed him to name a sum. The man was very much embarrassed, particularly as we had desired him to state the lowest at which he could sell it, otherwise we should not treat with him. It was only, however, when he saw me walking away, that he could resolve to ask only twice the value of the article. It is the custom here for the purchaser to bid, and not for the merchant to name the price. If the offer does not equal his expectations, he says, Eftah Allah! “May God open your eyes!” or, “May God improve your judgment!”

I went into a shop in which there was a shabbily dressed common-looking fellow squatted on the ground, with a few miserably rude tools before him, on a board. I conceived he might be a joiner, and must confess I was rather surprised at finding that he was the first goldsmith in Dongolah. They cannot work European gold. They generally employ the gold of Sennaar, which is of a superior quality, being pliable and malleable, like lead. This man told me that my watch was not gold, for he had never seen gold so dark-coloured.

They have a custom here, as well as at Cairo, of selling merchandise, such as clothes, &c. by auction in the street. The auctioneer walks about, calling aloud the price. One makes an offer, and the man walks on; another meets him, who likes the article, and bids higher. The owner promotes the sale by giving occasionally a bidding himself.

The crowds in this bazaar, as compared with the deserted streets of Berber, Shendy, and Metammah, and the variety of costumes worn by Turks and Caireens, Fellaheen (or, as they are more properly called here, Dongoloue), Bishareen, Ababde, Shageea, and other tribes, formed a scene gay, and not unpleasing, particularly after the solitudes of the desert.

The costumes of Dongolah are somewhat different, but, perhaps, less remarkable, than any I have seen in Ethiopia. The women, when they are married and have had children, have their hair dressed on each side of their face, in three rows of ringlets, or tresses, the lowest often reaching to their shoulder. The other females are only permitted to wear two rows. The head-dress of the women of Shendy is rather different: they wear their hair loosely projecting from each side and behind, while on the top of the head it is quite flat. But what is most extraordinary in the costumes of this country is the inimitable grace and elegance with which their robes are adjusted, often almost equalling the drapery of the ancients. Were it possible to collect correct drawings of their almost innumerable methods of folding their melayah, the large long piece of linen cloth which forms their chief, and often only, covering, I question if such drawings would be believed any thing else than copies of the Greek and Roman draperies, or studies of ancient costume. A sculptor would assuredly call them walking statues.

The young girls, before being married or having arrived at the age of discretion, only wear the rat, the Nubian covering, composed, as already mentioned, of thin thongs of the hide of the hippopotamus, which reaches from the waist almost to the knee, and is coquettishly ornamented with masses of silver, and a variety of shells and beads. It is considered sufficiently modest in this country, where no consequence is attached to the exposure of the body and limbs; otherwise, so far as it extends, it forms an elegant and impenetrable skreen. (See girl in [Plate XXXVII.]) The changing of this costume, or breaking of their rat, upon their marriage, is rather a curious ceremony, which I will presently describe; but when the rat is torn merely on account of the advanced age of the girl, and not at her marriage, only a sheep is killed, and she and her relations receive the congratulations of their hungry friends.

Skins of animals are often exposed for sale in the bazaar, but they are generally too ill prepared to be of any use for stuffing, often wanting the most essential parts, such as the feet, and even the head. Had I been half an hour earlier there, on the day of my arrival, I could have bought for four shillings the skin of a giraffe. This animal, only so recently known in Europe, is found in great numbers on the road from Debba to Kordofan, between Sabrian and Gibel el Arazi, and behind Kordofan, on the Bahr el Abiad, the territory of the Buggara tribe. The government do not encourage the Arabs to seek for them. On the contrary, without an express permission from the Pasha, no Arab, Turk, or traveller is allowed to purchase one. When the peasants catch them for the government, they receive a remuneration of twenty-five dollars, which is considered very handsome. Had I been provided with a permission from the Pasha, I was told that I should have had little difficulty in procuring one at that price. At the time of the haref (the rainy season), the Hassanyeh retire with their herds and camels into the mountains and valleys, which afford ample pasture for their cattle for three or four months. They protect themselves from the little rain that falls with shambries (tents made of goat skins). During this season the chase also contributes to their support. When there is no rain, which is very often the case, the sun, being then almost vertical, produces a heat so excessive that the gazelles, giraffes, ostriches, &c. are said to become much less capable of escaping pursuit than during winter. The Hassanyeh then on their swift horses catch them without much difficulty.

This tribe (Hassanyeh) is very extensive, and trade to Kordofan; and great numbers of them in this neighbourhood convey merchandise to Assuan. They are very fine-looking fellows, more grave in their manners than even the Arabs in general. They wear their hair plaited, and tight behind; differing, in this respect, from any other tribe. (See [Plate XXXIX.], in which they are represented straining the common bouza of the country through a straw funnel.) I have travelled with several of them, and liked them exceedingly. In the same tracts with the giraffe is found also the antelope, or, as it is called, the cow of the desert (buggera el Atmoor), with straight and twisted horns (see [Plate XXXVII.]); also gazelles in abundance. The elephant is found in Abyssinia, and, it is said, also above Sennaar, in the province of Fazoql, and in that of the Buggara, behind Kordofan. There are a great many of the gemet cat in this neighbourhood. They have small thin heads, long backs of a grey colour, with brown spots, and a black streak along the centre. Some of them are eighteen inches long, besides the tail, which measures twelve inches. The colour of the latter is alternately grey and black. Mr. M. had several in cages: when set at liberty in a room, they seemed to be very timid, and one of them was rather savage. Their velocity is extraordinary.