As fire-arms are not yet known in this country, the natives slay lions in the following manner:—They trace out the lair where one of these animals generally takes its noonday repose; but the nature of the ground must be such, that the tree under which it sleeps is isolated, or at least somewhat distant from the other trees. If the ground be advantageous, the negro betakes himself to the scene of action four hours before mid-day, and climbs the tree opposite to that under which the animal takes its nap. During this time he knows the lion to be out in search of prey, and is sure that he will return to indulge in his siesta when the heat increases, between ten and eleven o’clock. The lion does not trouble himself about the business of the man on the tree, even if he should happen to see him; and his adversary remains perfectly quiet till between twelve and one. The huntsman is furnished with a sackfull of small stones, and a few sharp spears. When the sand on the ground is burning hot, so that animals even cannot walk about, the hunter begins to pelt the lion with stones, always aiming at his head, and the negroes are very expert marksmen. The proud king of the beasts utterly disregards the first three or four stones, and does not consider it even worth his while to rise; but the blows upon his head thickening, and being, perhaps, hit in the eye, the audacity appears too great to be borne with patience, and he sets up a frightful roar as a signal of revenge. With one leap he is at the foot of the tree on which the disturber of his rest is perched, but receives a lance in his body; his roar now becomes more terrific, not that the wound is so irritating to him at this moment as the burning sand painful to his feet, and he retires once more to his lair. Another stone hits him, he becomes furious, makes a second charge at the tree, and is welcomed by one, two, or more spears. He now takes to flight, yelling and howling with pain; but the loss of blood soon exhausts his strength, and the huntsman, who keeps him in sight from the tree, has, in a very short time, the pleasure of seeing the royal beast stretch its carcase on the plains.
The inhabitants of Takele are a well made race of men, and all those I met with were of very pleasing countenance. Their dress is like that of the other negroes, the more opulent only wearing white and blue shirts. Their habits and customs are said to be the same as those among the Nuba, some few Mahommedans merely forming the exception. The sultan is reported to be an exceedingly good man, and all those who have the honour of his acquaintance speak highly in his favour; he is, indeed, almost adored by his subjects, none of which approach him, otherwise than kneeling, and murmuring a prayer into their hands, nor do they venture to rise, or to sit down, before the sultan has given them permission. The divan, in which he holds his audience, is a large saloon built of stone, decorated with swords, spears, and other warlike trophies, eighteen, or twenty, of his body-guard are always present, they sit, armed with spears, cross-legged, in the centre of the saloon, and form a kind of living fence. The sultan proceeds every morning, with sunrise, immediately after prayers, into the divan, hears all causes himself, and issues his decision immediately. He is fond of hunting, and of his women, three hundred of which he is said to keep in his harem, a stone building, situate on the summit of a rock at Tassin, very difficult of access, which has, moreover, only one approach. The brother of the Sultan of Takele, whom a Djelabi of my acquaintance brought to my house at Lobeid, wore merely a blue shirt, and sandals, and not even a Táckeyeéh[47] on his head.
It was formerly my intention to undertake a journey into Takele, as no European has ever yet set foot into that country. This was the chief reason why I sought the acquaintance of the Prince of Takele, who came every year to Lobeid. He visited me daily during his sojourn in the capital, gave me every information respecting his country, and assured me that his brother, the sultan, would with pleasure receive me in his states, where I should have nothing to fear, as it was his most ardent wish to make the acquaintance of a Frank. The governor, and Turkish officers, however, dissuaded me from my project, assuring me that I should be exposed to all manner of dangers, as the Turks are hated in Takele, and every white man, without distinction, is considered an Osmanlee. Hence, I was necessitated to relinquish my plan, and to confine myself to the information I received from this prince, and the Djelabis, who had travelled in the country. I have since, however, convinced myself that these apprehensions, created by the officiousness of others, were totally unfounded, and that an European might visit Takele without any danger, through the intermediation of the brother of the sultan, or a Djelabi, by merely previously forwarding, through one of the opportunities named, a small present to the sultan, who would then send an escort to the borders, under which the journey might be continued with safety. Above all things, however, it would be necessary to make the acquaintance of one or the other of the persons mentioned, that they might become security that the traveller was a Frank, and not a Turkish spy. The prince, above mentioned, assured me that his brother was very anxious to receive an European visitor, for the express object of learning something from him, and, more especially, to receive instruction in tactics. This offer would be very acceptable to many military men; for I am convinced that the Sultan of Takele would treat an instructor of this description very well, who would, moreover, have the opportunity of collecting authentic information respecting the country, and, probably, also concerning the neighbouring states. The prince, who very frequently visited me, endeavoured to persuade me in every possible way to travel with him to Takele; and I had already overcome all fears, and was about to venture on the journey, when I was forced by circumstances to alter my plans. I made the chief a present of a tarboósh[48] some time before his departure, which he wore all the time he passed at Lobeid; but on the day of his departure he brought it back to me, begging me to keep it for him until he returned, as he dare not wear it in Takele, because his brother, the sultan, had none.
At the head of the irregular troops is a general, or seraskeer, as the Turks call him, who is, indeed, chosen by the sultan, but obliged to distinguish himself, in accordance with the custom of the country, by some feat of bravery, to prove himself worthy of the dignity of that office. This feat is generally an incursion into one or the other of the neighbouring states, or some other proof of personal valour and intrepidity. The ordeal, however, does not always turn out to the advantage of the aspirant, for, in the year 1838, the commander-in-chief of the troops of Takele, who was already elected, fell a victim to his feat of heroism. He crossed the borders with about a hundred men armed with spears, and attacked the nearest Bakkara tribe, and was to put his heroism to the test on a Mogghrebeen who happened to be present. The general, armed with a broadsword, charged the Mogghrebeen on horseback, waved his sabre in the air, and thought, with one single blow, to put an end to the poor native of the desert; but the latter, although on foot and armed merely with a pistol, cleverly avoided the impending blow, and laid the valorous general prostrate with a pistol-ball. The invading party, seeing their leader slain, immediately took to flight, and the Bedouins became the possessors of the horse and arms of the defunct general. A slight idea may thus be formed of the state of the army of Takele.
Slaves are also exported from Takele, which these negroes capture in the wars with their neighbours, but they themselves are, in their turn, not spared, and suffer greatly, partly by the predatory Bakkara, partly by their own countrymen, who devise all manner of means to kidnap their children by force or stratagem, and to sell them to the slave merchants. I myself met with a girl, in the house of an European at Cairo, who had been stolen, together with her younger sister, from the paternal roof, in a manner which must cause the utmost astonishment at the subtlety and cunning of these uncivilized children of nature. This story may also serve as a proof of the manner in which these poor blacks are everywhere treated.
A slave, who had been stolen in Takele, bought by a Turk in Khartoom, and liberated on the death of his master, as is frequently the case, returned to his home. The sheikh of the place, a native of Abyssinia, who had come to settle in those parts at an early age, and had adopted the Mahommedan religion from love for a negro girl, received this slave hospitably into his house, and completely provided for him, for his parents were dead, and he had no other relations living. He remained, during several months, in the sheikh’s house, where he ingratiated himself, by his pleasing manners so much with all the inhabitants, but more especially with the children, that he was not treated like a stranger, but regarded as a member of the family. One day he was left alone with the children at home, the sheikh’s wife being called away to visit a sick friend in a hut that was rather distant, while the sheikh himself was at work in the fields. He amused the children, for some time, with a variety of games, then left them for a short interval, and, on his return, invited the eldest daughter, a girl of eleven years of age, and her sister, who was rather younger, to accompany him to fetch their mother. The children, not suspecting any harm, acceded, with delight, to his proposition, and left the house in his company. He immediately led them out of the village, pretending to show them a nearer way to the hut of their mother’s friend. On the road, he endeavoured to divert the attention of the girls, by relating stories, showing them flowers, and plucking fruit for them, in order that they might not observe that he was leading them on an unbeaten track. After several hours, passed with many consolatory assurances, they arrived in an open country, at a forest, where several men lay hidden among the bushes, and were feeding their horses. The ungrateful villain now again assured the children that he would soon conduct them to their parent in the company of all these men, and gave them some refreshments. When the night closed in, more horsemen arrived, and they all immediately set out on their march. The robber took the two girls on his horse, the youngest in front of him, and the eldest behind, again protesting that he would very soon bring them to their mother, who was already waiting for them. The whole night through they rode in the forest and to prevent the girls, who, overcome with fatigue, had fallen asleep, from slipping off his horse, he bound them both with a rope to his body. The younger girl still believed they were going to their home, but the elder began to scream and cry, and complained bitterly that she knew they had both been stolen and were to be sold as slaves. The barbarian now changed his conduct; he beat the poor girls about the head and face, and threatened to murder them, if they uttered another note. Thus they travelled on during four nights, for by day these Bakkara robbers—such they proved to be—were obliged to hide in the woods, or other desolate places, to avoid being seen and attacked by the natives. At last they reached an encampment of Egyptian troops. The kidnapper now led the two girls to the commanding officer, and made him a present of them, of course against a present of equal worth. The officer, moved to pity by the tears of these two children, endeavoured to pacify them, offered them refreshment, and asked them whence they came.
When they had told the Turk the name of their father and their place of residence, and at the same time related the manner in which this ungrateful wretch had stolen them from their paternal roof, he became enraged, and ordered the robber a bastinado of several hundred stripes. He quieted the sobs of the children, and promised to send them home again, and told them their father had arrived the day before in the camp, but hastened back home again, to seek them elsewhere, as he had not found them there. It so happened that the Egyptian officer was a friend of their father’s, who had done him a great service some few years before. He immediately summoned a subaltern into his presence, and put the two girls under his care, with orders to take them back to their father, and give him notice of his arrival at the borders. The subordinate mounted a camel, took charge of the girls, and delighted them with the assurance that they should reach the borders of Takele in two days, and that he would there find some safe opportunity of sending them to their parent; but how were they deceived on their arrival at Khartoom, after ten days, when they observed a town totally unknown to them, and when this second robber showed himself in his true colours! He hastened immediately to the blue Nile, and hired a boat for the remainder of his journey to Cairo; but he was here arrested and carried before the governor. On being questioned whence he came, and by whose authority he was escorting these slaves, he pretended to have received orders from the officer commanding the troops of the borders to convey the girls to Cairo. The governor demanded a proof in writing, but the corporal pretended to have lost his passport. This circumstance, and the assertion of the twice-stolen girls, corroborating the suspicion that he had kidnapped them, and deserted from the ranks, he received the punishment he richly deserved. The girls were now given in charge to a sergeant’s wife, and told they should be sent with the next transport back to their father’s friend, the commanding officer of the Egyptian troops on the borders, who would then see them forwarded to their parents; but this good fortune was not their fate. The sergeant, to whose care they were intrusted, happened to meet a Djelabi one evening in a certain house, he waked the girls out of their sleep at night, told them to prepare for their journey home, and led them to the banks of the blue Nile, where they were ferried across, and immediately mounted on a camel standing in readiness to receive them. Early the next day they were delivered over to a second slave-merchant, who sold them to a Turk at Cairo, of whom the European, at whose house I met the elder girl, had bought her. Thus we see, that a hard fate attends these poor blacks everywhere, and that slavery, without the possibility of escape, is almost their certain lot.
CHAPTER X.
RELIGION.
The greater part of the natives of Kordofan profess Islamism, but they are less fanatic than other Mahommedans, probably arising from the fact, that few Christians and no Jews are to be met with in these southern parts, hence there is no cause for religious asperity or hatred. I found, however, as a rule that, with the exception of the Dongolavi, but few adhere strictly to the Koran, and their ideas on articles of faith are quite in their infancy; nor do they trouble themselves much with the various religious ceremonies, and live in a state of utter ignorance, with the exception of believing in one God, and sometimes calling upon their prophet for assistance. There are very few Mosques in the country, and these are only frequented by the Turks and Dongolavi, who are resident there. Thus the Koran is not very strictly followed, but every one lives after that natural species of religion which has been impressed upon his mind, through the medium of his senses of sight, and hearing, under the paternal roof. Hence all manner of heterogeneous opinions and ideas are mixed-up with their faith. They believe in one God, and in addition to him in an evil spirit, and a great deal of heathen superstition is, moreover, jumbled together with their Islamism. A prominent cause of this ignorance is the negligence of the government, which does not institute a sufficient number of schools, for very few of them are to be found among the majority of the tribes. Only a small portion of the natives can read and write, with the exception of the Fakeérs and Tekirs. It is the office of these men to study the Koran, and to communicate what they have read to the people. The former are the school-masters and religious instructers: they write a few sentences from the Koran on a board, and make their scholars copy them. When they have learnt thus much, they are considered sufficiently instructed, leave the school, and before a year is over have forgotten everything again. They also write amulets, with which they frequently deceive the people in the most shameful manner. They ingratiate themselves further into the favour of families, like the clergy of Italy, and when they have once gained a footing, worm out the most trivial secrets, interfere with all the domestic affairs, and have frequently more authority in the house than the master himself. Matches are concocted by them, and, in fact, nothing is undertaken without their advice. The functions of a Fakeér would appear to be hereditary, for they descend generally from father to son, and are not so easily transferred from one family to another. They also make vows, for example, not to smoke for the remainder of their lives, to abstain from merissa and coffee, each man choosing the hardship he likes best; in short, they are the same as the Derweéshes among the Turks, but with this wide difference, that they are looked upon as saints. I found the greatest number of Fakeérs among the Dongolavi, who are also the most rigid observers of the Mahommedan religion, with one single exception, that they are very fond of brandy. They do not follow agricultural pursuits, but are merchants, brokers, &c. They are said, as a rule, to be all capable of reading and writing, and wear a long string of large wooden beads round their necks. The majority of them are hypocrites, and indeed it is better to avoid them altogether.