The Mahas who revolted had not paid the government for some time. The mahmoor sent a villanous Turk into their province, with the instruments of torture, who immediately began bastinadoing them, nailing their ears, and threatening to cut off their heads, if they did not pay him. He visited Melek Backeet, who owed a considerable sum to the government, and told him that, if he did not pay his taxes in a few days, every species of torture would be inflicted upon him. The Mahas manufacture a strong linen cloth, which is very much esteemed throughout all the valley of the Nile. Being at a distance from the capital, and thus unable to command an immediate sale, at least for the large quantity on hand, they tendered it in part of their taxes. The government refused, though the transaction would have been very advantageous to them, the linen being offered at a price much lower than it sells for in the bazaar of Dongolah. Melek Backeet, therefore, excited the revolt, preferring death to the ignominious punishment with which he was threatened.
This country, under proper management, might become a far greater source of wealth to the Pasha than it even now is. Notwithstanding the galling system of the Turks, the natives are sensible of the advantages of a settled and firm government; and the peasants of the Nile, most particularly, are glad to be released from the tyranny and spoliation accompanying the feuds and petty wars by which the country was formerly torn. Did the Turks but treat them as men, and not disgust them by their insulting manners, and by inflicting on them such degrading and infamous punishments; had their rulers but a few ideas of common policy and legislation, the resources might be greatly augmented, the revenue increased, and the people would be the most happy and contented under the sun. The superiority which fire-arms afforded to their haughty conquerors taught them to despise the strength of the Arabs, and, with that insolence which is ever united with ignorance, they do not in the slightest degree endeavour to attach them to the government, or, in fact, condescend to treat, otherwise than as a vastly inferior race, the people which it cost them so much, even with all their advantages, to conquer.
CHAPTER XVII.
DEPARTURE FROM EL OURDE. — ALARMS OF THE CARAVAN. — MELEK BACKEET. — RETURN TO HAFFEER. — DETENTION IN THE INDIGO MANUFACTORY. — NUBIAN PLANTS. — SECOND EXPEDITION OF THE GOVERNMENT. — FANATICISM OF THE INSURGENTS. — THE BATTLE. — PRISONERS. — DEPARTURE FROM HAFFEER. — DESCRIPTION OF THE CARAVAN. — CATARACT. — EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION. — SPLENDID RUINS OF SOLIB. — EXCAVATED TOMB NEAR SOLIB. — RUINS OF SUKKOT. — HEAT OF THE CLIMATE. — ISLAND OF SAIS. — REMAINS OF CHRISTIAN RUINS. — DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS OF THE DESERT.
May 18. I conceived, from the information which I obtained from the government, and other quarters, that I might now pass with tolerable safety through the province of Mahas, particularly by not following the banks of the river, but taking the short cut across the Desert, from Fakeer el Bint to Solib. By this route I shall miss the ruin of Sescé; but, as it consists only of two or three columns, I shall consider myself fortunate if I escape from the country with this slight sacrifice. My caravan wish me to go on direct to Egypt, without stopping at any more ruins, particularly those of the splendid and celebrated Temple of Solib, which is situated at the northern extremity of Mahas; but I have told them that I will not leave that place until I have fully examined it, and taken every drawing and measurement I shall consider necessary. They are dreadfully afraid of meeting with Melek Backeet, who, with a few desperate companions, has committed several depredations: they think it very hard to incur any risk for the sake of a few old stones: but I have hazarded my own life and health in visiting this baneful clime; and I will not consent to pass, in that hurried manner, one of the chief objects of my journey. I took leave of the mahmoor, who gave me a guard, consisting of an Arab baractar (ensign) and six soldiers, mounted on dromedaries. We have, therefore, now nothing to apprehend from stragglers. None of the merchants would venture to join my caravan, notwithstanding my having a guard. I should delay my departure for some days, but I see no chance of Melek Backeet being taken, and, consequently, of the roads being clear, and I am sick of this detention. We left Dongolah at three o’clock, and slept in a beautiful grove of palm trees.
May 19. Arrived this evening at Haffeer, and was well entertained by the katshef, who chose the finest sheep in the village to regale my caravan.
Hannek.—May 20. We started soon after sunrise. Two Turkish officers, with their servants, joined my caravan this morning. Their company was not desirable, but the addition to our force, of six persons, well armed, was not to be despised. We halted at Hannek, to fill our water-skins, previous to entering the desert. After dinner, at three P.M., we were on the point of mounting our dromedaries, when a courier arrived from Sukkot, and informed us that Melek Backeet, and his great coadjutor the Cadi Esau, are at Fakeer el Bint, and in the desert, waiting for the Bey Zadé[45] and his caravan, knowing that we intended to pass, and believing us loaded with gold, which we had found in the temples. The news produced the greatest consternation among my little troop. The soldiers were more pusillanimous than the rest. One of the Turkish officers, a cowhass, who last night, at Haffeer, talked loudly of his valour, had this morning not a word to say. Such a change of countenances I never witnessed: even my own servants were afraid to proceed. With such an escort, and uncertain of the force of the Mahas, it was impossible to attempt to pass. I, therefore, sent to the katshef of Haffeer for a reinforcement: he advised me not to advance, as the news was quite true. A reinforcement he could not give, as he had only twenty soldiers to guard the indigo-house.
May 21. This morning I returned to Haffeer, and having ascertained from several peasants and couriers that Melek Backeet had already with him 100 men, and that the number was increasing hourly, I abandoned the idea of continuing my journey without additional force. I, therefore, sent my dragoman to the mahmoor with a letter, begging him not to delay, but send immediately a sufficient number of soldiers to clear the country of the insurgents. Were I alone, I would run the risk, and attempt to cross the desert, or rather, with a compass in my hand, make a circuitous route. This plan would, perhaps, have enabled me to elude the enemy; yet, unfortunately, they have their spies in every direction, even in Dongolah. My departure would be reported; and although I were to sacrifice my baggage, their horses, swift dromedaries, and superior knowledge of the country, would enable them easily to overtake me, or intercept my route. For myself, I would run any hazard, rather than endure, a day longer, the ennui of being detained here; but the lives of others I have no right to compromise. According to the arrangements I had made, I ought now to have been in Europe. The heat is excessive, and increasing daily, and my funds diminishing. As this delay will oblige me to pass, with more haste, the antiquities below, my vexation may be imagined.
Haffeer.—May 21. to June 2. I was detained at Haffeer, in the indigo-manufactory, twelve days. During this period, we collected and made drawings of several plants. I publish three, which I think may be interesting to the general reader, having mentioned them repeatedly. One, in [Plate IV.,] is the senna, a name, doubtless, familiar to all. It grows wild upon the house-tops and in the fields: the flower is yellow, and the leaves of a pale green. The other plant, in the same plate, I have called indigo; but although very good indigo is extracted from it, it is, in reality, a totally different plant,—the Tephrosia Apollinea of botanists. [Plate LII.] is a drawing of the Osshi, the Calotropis gigantea. There are large plains in this neighbourhood entirely covered with it, and, as I have stated in my description of Makkarif, it abounds also in the province of Berber. The interior of the flower is of a pink colour; the buds contain a pungent liquor, of the colour of milk, which, according to the Arabs, blinds when put in the eye. The leaves are of a greyish green. The apple, represented in the Plate, contains the seed and a fine glossy silk. The plant varies from four to six feet in height, and is extremely valuable to the natives, being almost their only firewood; and, as I have stated before, many camel loads of charcoal made from it are sent to Cairo, being excellent for gunpowder. Among the others I found, the only one of any interest, and characteristic of Nubia, was a small kind of rue, the Ruta tuberculata of botanists.