Dogs, of which there are a great number, run about, as in all other mahommedan countries, without any real owners, and are yet looked upon as domestic animals. They are mostly of a yellow colour, but rather better shaped than the Egyptian dogs; like them they feed off the garbage and fallen cattle, and are not otherwise of the slightest utility. I found, however, that they might be instructed for sporting, with very little trouble. There are very few cats in the country, hence the rats and the mice are so tame that they will run across the feet of a person by day-time. If anything be thrown to them for food, they immediately pick it up, devour it quickly, and return fearlessly to fetch more. The natives of Kordofan take little pains to destroy this vermin, and merely set snares in the fields and gardens for the field rat, which is eaten by many negroes, and even by some few of the Dongolavi. I myself saw the Nuba negroes eating rats; they roast them in their skins, and flay them after they are cooked. There is one species of rat, however, which does not create the slightest disgust. It is of a cream-colour, with a snow white belly and feet tipped with white, and its coat is as sleek as silk. They may be classed amongst the most elegant animals.
The fowls of this province are far larger than those of Egypt—the cock birds more especially—and are decorated with a very beautiful plumage, similar to those observed in Nubia. The tame pigeons are likewise larger than those met with in Egypt, and I counted nine different varieties of wood-pigeons, the smallest of the size of a blackbird, but with a tail as long as the bird itself.
The giraffe, one of the most beautiful animals of Africa, is frequently seen in Kordofan, and nearly all the specimens of this animal sent by way of Egypt to Europe and America, have been caught in the plains of Kordofan. During the rainy season they are not to be met with, for they are supposed to travel into countries situate at a great distance from this province. The natives believe them to betake themselves to parts where very little rain falls, as of all the wild beasts of the torrid zone, none is so sensitive to climate as the giraffe. In captivity they require the greatest care and attention to keep them alive; in Egypt even they must be guarded during the winter months against cold, and their diet, moreover, demands the strictest attention, for instances are known of giraffes dying very soon, in consequence of a trifling neglect on the part of their keepers. As soon as the dry season commences, the giraffes return to the neighbourhood of Kordofan; they are not gregarious in their habits like the antelopes, and are only to be seen separately, or at the most in pairs. These beautiful creatures are caught by men on horseback, but merely the young animals are taken alive, as it would almost amount to an impossibility to catch an old beast, who would overthrow both horse and rider, and use them very roughly. The latter are, therefore, slain with the sword, merely for the sake of their skins, which form an article of trade. The flesh is eaten, and has not exactly a disagreeable flavour. In order to be allowed to hunt giraffes for a menagerie, it is necessary first to obtain a firman from the minister of the interior, and it is indeed the best plan to apply at once to the Sheikh Abdel Had at Haraza; he will immediately give an order to his people who occupy themselves with this sport, for it requires not only a very expert horseman, but a very perfect horse, and more especially experience in this species of hunting. Generally speaking, two horsemen provided with one or two camels laden with a supply of provender and water sufficient for a few days, proceed into the desert frequented by the giraffes. The camels are left at an appropriate place, whilst the riders reconnoitre the country until they come upon the track of an animal. Great experience is now requisite to distinguish whether the trace be of to-day or yesterday, or of a yet older date. If it be recent, and that of a young animal, it is immediately followed up, and the huntsmen may make sure of gaining a sight of their prey in a few hours. As soon as the giraffe is in view, the run instantly takes place, for the animal, very timid by nature, seeks refuge in flight, and indeed with extraordinary fleetness. Everything now depends on the dexterity of the rider, and activity of his horse. They must do all in their power to gain upon the game they have started, an endeavour which is the more readily to be effected, as the giraffe never takes a straight course, but by nature timid, doubles, in the fear of its life, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left, and is thus quickly overtaken by the horsemen. Having come up with the young animal pursued, the rider casts a lasso over its head; his throw but seldom fails, and in the worst case must be repeated. He then attaches the end of the rope to his saddle, drags the animal as closely as he can to his horse, and thus the capture is effected. But now a steady and patient horse, well broken to its work, is again necessary for the further transport; for the horse must resist the animal’s efforts, or give way to them (for it pulls and jumps in all directions), in conveying it to the nearest village, which the huntsmen endeavour to reach as quickly as they possibly can. A she-camel should stand in readiness there to give the young giraffe milk, with which it is fed before being weaned to grass or hay. This treatment must be subsequently followed, and even full grown giraffes should receive milk daily as drink, if it be in any way possible.
When the young animal has rested for some time, it is furthered, without delay, to Dongola, but on this occasion great attention is again required. A kind of head-stall is put on the animal’s head, to which four stout cords are fastened. Two men, each holding the end of one of the ropes in his hand, walk in front, and two follow, to keep its gait steady, a task requiring during the first few days extraordinary exertion. A she-camel must accompany the young giraffe to give it the necessary nourishment on the road. Arrived at Dongola, a certain time is again devoted to rest, and the animal is here accustomed to the milk of the cow and to grass. It is incredible what difficulties the Arabs have to contend with in preserving a giraffe alive, and it is, consequently, not to be wondered at that their price is so enormous. In Egypt, for example, at Cairo or Alexandria, a living specimen always costs from five to six hundred dollars.
There are not many leopards in this province; the stragglers merely from the interior of Africa show themselves occasionally in Kordofan. They will sometimes approach the villages, but instances of their having done an injury to man are very rare. They mostly steal their prey from one of the herds, but immediately withdraw with it to their covert, but are by no means as bold as they may be in the more internal tracts of this and another quarter of the globe. They are not hunted, partly from want of fire-arms, partly because the skin, the only portion of value about them, is not much in request, and a leopard is very rarely, indeed, known to have been killed in any district. Hyænas, of which there are said to be three varieties, are far more numerous. The striped species is the most common in Egypt and Syria; but the tiger-skinned hyæna is far larger, and if the third variety exist it has never come under my own observation. They form herds of ten or twenty animals, secrete themselves during the day in the caves and ravines of the neighbouring mountains, which they merely quit at night, when they go in quest of prey, and on these occasions they gradually separate. Dead bodies, which they dig out of the graves, are their favourite food, and they immediately scent out where a corpse has been interred, whether in the desert or in the burial-ground. They are also fond of picking out the young sheep from a flock, although these are enclosed during the night within a dense fence of thorn-hedging. The hyæna, however, understands mining, digs beneath the fence, and frequently breaks in upon a flock. They never do any harm to man, and there is scarcely a single instance on record of a hyæna having seized upon a man, and those, indeed, known, were only occasions where they had been greatly irritated or wounded. In Europe, this animal is very much calumniated as being the most ferocious and most cruel of all wild beasts, thus, at least, it is described in nearly all the books on natural history; one author, in fact, copies the error from the other, without investigating his subject more closely; hence the opinion first gained ground and subsequently became prevalent in the whole of Europe, that the hyæna is the most formidable of all quadrupeds. I and several other Europeans have convinced ourselves, that it is not only not feared, but totally disregarded by the natives. It is timid, may be cowed by blows, and rather endeavours to secrete itself than to attack. The circumstance of its disinterring dead bodies and devouring them is no proof of its being the most formidable or ferocious animal; for if it can surprise sheep or gazelles, it prefers them, but hunger oftentimes forces it to dig up a corpse, and feed off it. Its forepaws are certainly adapted by nature for digging in the earth, but there are sufficient instances of dogs having scratched out the bodies of the dead and eaten them. In Hungary, Poland, and Russia, examples of wolves attacking men are very numerous; in Africa, the instances of the hyæna having done the same are very scarce. Ten hyænas may, in fact, be sooner tamed than one jackal. Thus, in the court of a house at Lobeid, I saw a hyæna running about quite domesticated: the children of the proprietor teased it, took the meat thrown to it for food out of its jaws, and put their hands even into its throat, without receiving the least injury. When we took our meals in the open air, to enjoy the breeze, as was our general custom during the hot season, this animal approached the table without fear, snapped up the pieces that were thrown to it like a dog, and did not evince the slightest symptom of timidity. A full grown hyæna, and her two cubs, were, on another occasion, brought to me for sale: the latter were carried in arms, as you might carry a lamb, and were not even muzzled. The old one, it is true, had a rope round its snout, but it had been led a distance of twelve miles by one single man, without having offered the slightest resistance. The Africans do not even reckon the hyæna among the wild beasts of their country, for they are not afraid of it. The rhinoceros passes among them as the most vicious of all quadrupeds. They say the lion, and other beasts of prey, merely attack man when they are wounded or irritated, or when goaded on by hunger; and as there are sheep and goats everywhere, and numbers of antelopes and other animals, in the desert, and they suffer no want of food, man need not fear them. Widely different is the case with the rhinoceros, for although it is a graminivorous animal, neither man nor beast are safe from its wanton cruelty. Without having been disturbed or irritated in the least, it will immediately attack a man or animal, be it ever so large—even the elephant or lion. It endeavours in the first charge to pierce its adversary with its powerful horn, which is situated, as is well known, superiorly on the nasal bone, taking a curved direction upwards. If the first blow take effect, the animal attacked, even if it be the elephant, is lost; should he, or the lion, however, avoid the blow, the rhinoceros generally succumbs, and notwithstanding this risk it is always the aggressor. Fortunately there are said to be but very few rhinoceroses; and it is indeed a great rarity if one of them happen to stray into Kordofan. The haunts of these animals are in the vicinity of rivers and lakes, their horns may be met with in commerce, and are employed in the manufacture of the handles of the Turkish swords. The lighter the colour of the horn the greater is its value; but the black variety is not in request, and is regarded as useless for sabre hilts. The quality of the horns cannot be judged of by their outward appearance, for externally they are all black. Those which are met with in commerce in Kordofan are imported from the countries tributary to Darfour, situated on a river,—probably the White Nile,—of which I shall speak more fully in a subsequent chapter.
The number of lions in this province is not very considerable, but they frequently enter villages for prey, and carry away a head of cattle before their visit is even suspected. In the day time they are neither heard nor seen, for they generally lie crouching in a dense covert, or sleeping beneath a shady tree. But early in the morning, as soon as the sun begins to cast its rays on the sandy billows of the desert, the royal animal rises from his lair to sally forth in quest of prey. His voice may then be heard in the distance; it commences with a low murmuring, which gradually increases, until it at last becomes a fearful and terrific roar, like the rolling of thunder, and is audible at a distance of two miles. The whole animal kingdom trembles, and evinces the greatest fear when the king of the beasts is heard; the sheep tremble as if attacked with ague, place their heads together, and endeavour to hide themselves; the horses break out into a sweat with fear; and the dogs hurry away as fast as they can to find a place of refuge. In fine, all the beasts are seized with the most unequivocal terror when the lion makes his approach known. Should a caravan happen to be near the spot, it is impossible to keep the camels together, they leap about in all directions, and are scattered abroad under the influence of fear. I myself once had the opportunity of witnessing a scene of this kind. On arriving in my travels at the wells of Semmeria, we suddenly heard a murmuring noise afar, resembling the rolling of balls in an empty barrel; but we were soon acquainted with its true cause when it gradually increased to that terrible thunder-like roar. With the first perception of this noise, the camels belonging to our caravan suddenly took fright, and instantly separated in all directions. The men and the cases were thrown off, and if one of the riders happened to keep his seat at the first alarm, he was subsequently necessitated to leap down, to avoid being felled by the branches of the trees; for we were unfortunately near a forest of mimosas, and every one was in danger of being torn by their large spines. This confusion, however, did not last long, for the lion took quite an opposite direction to the route of our caravan; but a whole day was lost in collecting the goods that had been thrown off, or torn down by the trees, and one of the camels strayed to a great distance. Lions are seldom hunted in this country; for there are very few of them, as I have before-mentioned, and they do so little damage that it would not be worth while to incur the danger attending the sport. The flesh of the lord of the forest is very tough and tendinous, and is not readily devoured by any other animal. A dog will sneak away as soon as he smells it.
A few panthers may be met with in the country, but they are not as large as those of Asia. I have been assured that there are no tigers in Kordofan. Antelopes may be seen browsing in large numbers, and, indeed, in great variety; like the camels, they are able to bear thirst for eight days. I have myself observed them in places situated at a distance of twenty-six miles from any water, so that it would have been impossible for them to perform this journey daily, or even on every other day.
Besides the animals mentioned, there are a number of quadrupeds, the names of which are not even known in Europe; for Kordofan has only been visited, up to the present day, by two naturalists, viz., by Dr. Rueppell and Dr. Kotschy, who remained too short a time in the country to have been able to traverse it, and explore it in all directions. A residence of a few years would at least be required to investigate everything thoroughly; and all those who have resided in the country hitherto have suffered so much by the unhealthy climate, that they have been obliged to leave it as quickly as possible, to avoid the danger threatening the life of every European.
The various species of birds arriving in this country at the different seasons of the year, and leaving it again at others, are very numerous, and vary from the little colibri to the gigantic ostrich. As they are not often frightened by the noise of fire-arms they are not timid and may be easily shot; but if the traveller sojourn for some days in one spot and pursue them with his gun, they then of course soon become as shy here as in other places. Several of the birds, and this applies more especially to the varieties of pigeons, are so little accustomed to fire-arms that, although many will fall at one shot, those which are not hit will remain quietly perched on the tree. I must also draw the attention of all travellers who may be sportsmen to the fact that the birds become very shy if they observe a Turkish attire and a red cap or turboosh, whereas if the sportsman wear a blue shirt and brown cap, after the fashion of Upper-Egypt, he may be sure of killing double the number he would in the dress above-mentioned. The black storks occupy nearly every house in the villages; each hut is furnished with a basket, which forms the apex of its roof, and serves these birds as a nest, thus saving them the trouble of building for themselves. He who might venture to do an injury to a stork would expose himself to the greatest abuse from the natives; and were the dread of the white men not overawing, he might even subject himself to sensible proofs of their displeasure; for, as regards these birds, they are as superstitious as the people in some parts of Europe about the white stork. They are in consequence so tame that they run about the villages like geese, and I frequently had to throw my stick at them when collecting insects in their company in a meadow, for they were far quicker in picking them up than I was, and would frequently snatch a beetle away from me when I had my hand upon it. The sacred ibis, of the ancient Egyptians, appears to be a native of Kordofan: it builds its nest on trees in the villages, and I have often counted from twenty to fifty of them on one tree. I have altogether seldom seen animals living as peacably among themselves as these birds. They hatch their young, two in number,—rarely three,—during the rainy season; they enjoy the same good opinion of men as the storks, but even to a greater degree; for when I was about to kill a few, near the house of Sultan Temé, at Lobeid, he said very solemnly: “Rather shoot all the fowls in my court, than one of these ibises, which have come to my trees to build their nests, and sought my protection.” When the young birds are full grown, the old ones migrate, and return with the first fall of rain. I could not find out where they resort to during the dry season; in the time of the ancient Egyptians, they evidently went to Egypt, as the many thousands of ibis-vases met with at Sakara and in other situations would prove; but at present they are never to be seen in that country. I have, indeed, occasionally observed a single bird of this species on the White River, as late as the month of April; but I suppose these to have been invalids incapable of following the flight.
The ostrich may be reckoned among the most useful birds; for its flesh is eaten, and that of the young birds is of very pleasant flavour. The price of a young ostrich is five piasters (1s. 5½d. sterling). The eggs are also eaten, one of them is sufficient to satisfy four persons. The egg-shells are exported as an article of commerce, but the feathers return the largest profits. A full-grown ostrich will always yield three rottoli of black feathers, and half a rottolo of white plumes. The greater number of these birds are caught in Caccie in snares, placed on a plate, matted from the wood of a species of willow, perforated with holes, and buried in the sand. The gin itself, which is laid upon this plate, is bound to the nearest tree, or to a piece of wood. As many as fifty of these are laid in a certain spot. If an ostrich, or a gazelle, happen to stray into these parts, and set its foot on one of the plates, the snare opens; and as soon as the leg is withdrawn, it closes again, and the animal is caught. It would, indeed, be almost impossible to capture one of these birds in any other way, for they are exceedingly cautious, and very quick of sight; as soon, therefore, as they descry a man approaching them, they immediately take to flight. To overtake the bird, even with the fleetest steed, would be a matter of great difficulty, for, scarcely touching the ground with its feet, it runs so fast, that it appears almost to fly; and the illusion is still greater when the motion of its short wings is observed, which it uses as propellers.