Among the Dongolavi, I found a very singular custom prevalent for settling their affairs of honour, as they are termed; these are, generally, disputes arising from love, or jealousy, at which the young unmarried men have taken mortal offence; the married, who certainly have better cause for duelling, never proceed to such extremities; they are far more tolerant on the like occasions, and not very particular about such trifling affairs. The young men, on the other hand, take these things far more to heart; when, therefore, the friends have not been able to adjust the quarrel, a formal challenge is sent. The duel takes place in an open space, in presence of all their friends and comrades, who act as seconds, or rather as umpires. An angareb is placed in the middle of the field of battle: the two combatants strip, and, binding their shirts round their loins, each man places his foot close to the edge of the couch, the breadth of which simply separates them from each other. A whip, made of one solid thong of the hide of the hippopotamus, is handed to each, and attempts to reconcile them are again resumed. If both parties, however, prove obstinate, or their sense of honour be too deeply implicated, for either to yield, the signal of battle is at last given. He who is entitled to the first blow, now inflicts a severe lash on the body of his adversary, who instantly returns the compliment, and thus the conflict is kept up, blow for blow, with great regularity. The head must not be struck. The manner in which they lacerate each other is perfectly frightful; for the blows are dealt with the utmost severity, and the weapon is sufficiently formidable to cause an immense ecchymosis with the very first stripe,—with the third or fourth blow the blood begins to flow most copiously. Not the slightest expression of pain is uttered by either party, and the umpires remain cool spectators of the scene. Thus the duellists persevere with their barbarous cruelty, until the one or the other, overcome with pain, or exhausted with fatigue, throws down his whip, whereupon the victor does the same, and both shake hands, in sign of mutual satisfaction. Their comrades now rend the air with their exclamations of joy, and congratulate them on their reconciliation; their lacerated backs are washed with water, and the affair terminates with a copious libation of merissa, sundry jugs of which had been provided beforehand for the occasion.
Similar causes sometimes give rise to another species of duel, far more dangerous in its consequences than the latter, for it frequently terminates with an injury, the effects of which are felt during life, or even with the loss of the use of a limb. The combatants, on this occasion, are also divided by an angareb; but, in dealing out their alternate blows, they pay no attention to the part they fall upon, whether the face, or any other sensitive portion of the body, and thus severe injuries are always the result. These duels are, however, rare, and mortal quarrels are generally fought out in the manner above described. The girl, who had been the cause of all this broil and warfare, is not drawn into the affair, but is generally considered innocent, or pitied as seduced.
As a general rule, the women are far more industrious than the men; for, besides attending to their domestic occupations, they employ themselves more especially with plaiting straw-mats, making baskets to hold milk, and funnels for filtering merissa. They perform, moreover, other business, which should more properly be considered as the duty of the men. I have even seen them tanning leather, whilst their husbands were quietly looking on, smoking their pipes, and indulging in idleness.
The women are, generally speaking, regarded as servants. Their degradation is yet greater, if they should unfortunately happen not to have children. In this case they are quite despised by their lords, if they were ever so fond of them before, and the husband indemnifies himself with a female slave. Should this woman bear him a child, which is generally the case, she is immediately raised to the rank of his wife, and his former spouse is either sent away, or totally neglected. Among the more opulent natives, the custom prevails of making the wife a small allowance after the birth of the second child, and giving her a separate hut as a place of residence; for they grow old very rapidly, and a woman in her twenty-fourth year is considered passée. Hence it is that many women may be seen running about as if deranged to consult their Sheikhs,[20] or fortune-tellers. The information these impostors give is, of course, always agreeable to the desires of the client, but is, generally speaking, utterly false.
The women of Kordofan are very merry; they may be heard singing, or laughing, all day long; and chaunt over their work, either singly, or in company. As soon as the labours of the day are ended, the girls and neighbours congregate together, and dancing commences, an amusement generally kept up till past midnight. They are, in fact, passionately addicted to this recreation. If they have even been employed during the whole day with the most onerous labour, sufficient to fatigue a strong man, all symptoms of weariness immediately disappear when the wood-fires are lighted before the huts in the evening, and the sound of the Dar’abook’keh[21] is heard. This is, in fact, the signal for old and young to leave their houses, and hasten to the scene of amusement, where the men, with their wives, lay themselves down in a circle, and become spectators, or, joining in the song, beat the time with their hands, while the girls now make their appearance, and singly begin the dance.
This dance is very simple in its nature, requires, however, great muscular exertion, and would prove a very difficult task for some of our fair countrywomen. The black beauties commence their evolutions by moving slowly, but frequently, in a small space. Whilst beating time with their feet, they throw their heads back at measured intervals, and draw their shoulders up; so that they frequently even bend their bodies backwards until their heads touch the ground. This is done with so much muscular effort, that it is scarcely possible to believe a girl of slender build could possess sufficient power of muscle. The movements are, at first, all very slow, but gradually increase in rapidity, and become, at last, so frequent and quick, that you could almost imagine yourself looking at an automaton moving on springs and wires, and not on a human being. When a girl has nearly danced herself to death, she modestly retires to the background, and a second takes her place. If one of them particularly distinguish herself, and the company wish to pay her a very great compliment, she is desired to stand forth, and a sword is flourished several times over her head. During this ceremony, the music is silenced, but becomes the more noisy afterwards, and is intended as a kind of musical honour to the danseuse. This compliment is generally paid her by her admirer or by a stranger present. The natives are always delighted if a stranger will attend their dances, offer him the best place, and treat him with abundance of merissa. Married women, and those more advanced in age, scarcely ever dance; they are mere spectators, or pass the time in a different manner, more agreeably to themselves; they form, namely, comme chez nous, very polite côteries for scandal, where the neighbour who happens to be brought on the tapis is by no means spared, for they leave no hair of his head untouched. The married women, again, are those who pay the least attention to the seventh commandment, a crime which is considered very heinous according to the Mahommedan laws; the girls, on the other hand, are far more moral. In some parts of Kordofan, the men consider it a great honour if their wives have several admirers, but the difference exists, in this country, that the ladies court the men.
The dress of both men and women is very simple, for only the Dongolavi, the wealthiest of all the tribes, wear long shirts with wide sleeves, and a táckeéyeh,[22] or small white cap, with a white shawl on their heads, like the turban of the Turks; red caps are but rarely seen, nor is the táckeéyeh white longer than one day, for it soon becomes, with dirt and grease, as black as the owner. All the other tribes are nearly naked; they bind simply a cotton cloth round their loins, throwing one end of it over one shoulder; they wear no covering to their heads, but let their hair grow as long as they please, or braid it in from ten to sixteen plaits, which, however, never reach their backs. Every man carries a double-edged dagger in a sheath on his left arm, and a few charms sewn up in red leather, which the fakéers write and sell to them. On journeys, they wear long double-edged swords, in leathern sheaths, suspended by a short strap from the left shoulder; the hilts of these sabres have no guards, and are merely covered with leather. The sheikhs, however, bear swords with massive silver hilts, terminating in a knob as large as a hen’s egg of the same metal; some of them ornament the sheaths with agates, or imitations of precious stones in glass. The men carry large oval shields on their backs made of the skin of the antelope, when on a march. They also carry a number of spears, or javelins, contained in a rude leathern quiver hanging from their shoulders. Short tours are performed on asses; longer journeys on camels or dromedaries. The peasants who possess no camels travel short distances on oxen.
The dress of the women does not differ from that of the men of the lower orders, for they also wear a large cotton cloth bound round their loins, part of which is thrown over one shoulder. When they walk out they sometimes cover their heads with this cloth, but, whilst at work, they wind the whole of it round their loins. These melayeh, as they are termed, are at first white, then proceed through various gradations of colour, until they lastly become black, for they are seldom washed. In washing they make use of the bark of a tree called Egelit, instead of soap, and spread the linen on a piece of tanned leather, which is laid in a deep hole in the sand. The melayeh of the Dongolavi is washed with soap, and is generally decorated with a broad red border. It is also adjusted with a certain degree of care, in order to give their dress a more picturesque appearance. The women wear no covering on their heads, but roll their hair into curls, smearing them well with butter or oil made of sim-sim.[23] They anoint the skin of the whole body with a pomatum prepared of spikenard,[24] mahleb,[25] and tuffer;[26] these ingredients, rubbed down upon a stone, are called “telka.” The oils and butter give the hair a certain gloss, as long as it is free from dust; but the pomatum on the head soon becomes rancid, when it is impossible to remain long in proximity of one of these beauties, without offence to the olfactory nerves. Their eyelids are covered with powdered antimony.[27] Women who pride themselves on their head-dress, and do not wish to discompose their curls, make use of a small wooden bench, about a span in height, and hollowed out above, so as to admit the neck, as a pillow when they lie down to sleep, in order to avoid pressing their curls. It is the most incommodious pillow in the world, but the women, to gratify vanity, accustom themselves to it, as the slave becomes inured to his fetters, and sleep very well, notwithstanding the uncomfortable position they are obliged to adopt. An idea may be formed of the hardship they have at first to undergo, in considering that this position does not admit of the slightest change during sleep; but as our belles willingly allow their ribs to be uncomfortably compressed by a tight corset to appear with a small waist, thus the women of Kordofan voluntarily submit to this torture to preserve their head-dress. The toilette of these children of nature requires, moreover, a much longer time than that of our European ladies, for the number of curls which are matted together with oil and grease and dust, until they form one dense mass, demand considerable time for their dressing. As they have no combs, scissors, pincers, hair-pins, or other implements of coiffure, one simple wooden peg answers the purpose of all these instruments, and we may easily imagine that a great deal of time is spent in arranging the hundreds of curls of their woolly hair. The women wear rings in their noses and ears, mostly of silver and brass, for those of gold have totally disappeared, or have become, at least, very rare. Several of them, indeed, wear bracelets and rings of silver round their ankles, the latter decorated with small pieces of coral or small bells. The greater part of the bracelets worn are of horn or of ivory, frequently two inches in breadth, and the anklets are mostly of copper, sometimes even as much as one pound in weight. Round their necks and heads the women wind strings of beads of Bohemian glass; the favourite colour is dark blue. Some of the ladies hang small round plates of gold, an inch in diameter, on their foreheads, or small round pieces of amber of the same size. On their fingers they wear silver rings set with cornelians. They are, in fact, fond of anything that shines or glitters, and has a bright or gaudy colour, and it is no easy matter, at times, to abstain from laughter, on beholding one of these black beauties in full dress. I have, frequently, on the other hand, met with others who dressed themselves with peculiar taste, so that they really presented an agreeable appearance. Women who are not wealthy wear small pearls, or small red berries, or a charm sewn up in red leather on their foreheads. On their arms they carry ivory or horn bracelets; round their ankles copper rings or a large milk-white glass bead; round their necks they hang strings of blue glass beads, and in their noses and ears rings of brass. The unmarried or girls walk about naked, and bind only round their loins a fringed leathern belt, from which several hundred small thin straps depend. This girth is called “rahat,” and is frequently decorated with agates. They are, also, very fond of ornament, and adorn their heads and necks with glass beads. The boys run about in a perfect state of nudity up to their twelfth year. The men anoint their bodies, like the women, with oil, butter, and other greasy substances, not so much for the purpose of giving the skin a glossy appearance, as to preserve it from cracking, to which inconvenience it would be very liable, as they walk about uncovered, exposing themselves to a scorching heat. The covering to the feet consists of sandals of undressed leather bound with straps; the Dongolavi, however, wear sandals of tanned leather, decorated with coloured straps. On journeys, some of the natives wear sheepskin, after the same fashion as the miners[28] of Germany a leather behind them, to avoid sitting down naked on the burning ground.
Slaves are met with in nearly every house: the female portion is employed in domestic work, the male in agricultural labour; they receive once a year, at the feast of the great Baëram, a piece of cotton stuff; which wound round their loins constitutes their whole clothing. They are treated very well, and, in most families, partake of the same fare as their masters. The badge of servitude is, however, not wanting; for the male slaves are generally bound in fetters, applied to their legs, to prevent them from running away. I never saw one of these beings illtreated by his master for doing too little work; it is only when they make an attempt to run away, that they are beaten. The female slaves run at liberty, and unfettered; they are also treated with more lenity, especially if they should happen to be young and pretty, or when the master admits them to the rights of a wife. The children, born by these slaves, are the property of the owner, who may sell them; this is, however, no longer the case in Egypt, where all natural children are treated like Egyptians. These poor creatures have equal cause to complain of their masters, as some slave-proprietors make this a branch of commerce; thus they are mostly mustered after a few years, and sold to slave-merchants, who take them down to Grand Cairo. Europeans must be very careful in purchasing female slaves, and ought especially to be on their guard against those who speak Arabic well, for many of them are acquainted with all kinds of tricks. Many slaves, on the other hand, are not to be purchased from their proprietors, especially if they are well taught; and only when they have not adopted the faith of Islam, and die, are they treated like cattle. These children of nature frequently behave in the most singular manner when they take an object that is unknown to them into their hands; it would, indeed, make any man laugh heartily to see how awkwardly they comport themselves. A very comical instance of the kind occurred to me: a girl, who was suffering from head-ache, begged a cloth of me to bind round her head, and I lent her my flag,[29] as I had nothing else at hand. I visited her on the next day, thinking to find her ill at home, but was told that she was much better, and had gone out. My astonishment at meeting the handsome girl, in company with several of her friends, on the market-place, decked out with my flag in the form of a woman’s frock, may be easily imagined; and my laughter was greatly increased, at observing the double-headed eagle expanded in full glory over the centre of her body. Several Turks, who were present, were likewise attacked with fits of laughter; but the belle, and her friends, found this decoration so pretty, that I was besieged with entreaties to present them also with like fantasias; and I was obliged to use all possible means to persuade them, and make them understand, that I possessed no more articles of ornament of this description, and that I must even take this one back. The handsome girls were, as may be supposed, by no means pleased with this measure, for I had a great deal of trouble in getting my flag back to hoist it in its place in proper time.
The food consists chiefly of dokn bread, assida, and woika. The dokn, having been ground on a stone to flour, is put into an earthen pot, and converted, by means of water, into a thin paste. A fire is now lighted under an earthen-dish (or under an iron-plate, called doga), which stands on three stones; when the dish is heated, it is greased with butter, and the paste is spread upon it in the shape and size of an ordinary cake. The one side being baked, the bread is turned, and the dish again greased with butter. These cakes are about the thickness of a finger, and for Europeans very indigestible; they distend the stomach, indeed, awfully; an effect produced by the corn, partly because the husks are not separated from the flour, partly because the bread is not well baked. Those who are more wealthy, consume a better kind of bread, which has also a more pleasant flavour; the flour is purified, and the paste more fluid; it is spread upon the dish by means of a small brush, but otherwise prepared in the same manner as the former variety. Much time is required to bake the necessary quantity for the consumption of the house. More than one hour is spent in making bread enough of the latter description to serve two persons at dinner. Fresh bread must, therefore, be prepared every day; and it is always made by the women; for, as there is no mill in Kordofan, every one is obliged to grind the quantity of flour necessary for his consumption daily. This is done, as I have already observed, by female slaves.