At six o'clock in the evening of the 24th we set out from a shady place of repose on the banks of the Dender, through a large plain, with not a tree before us; but we presently found ourselves encompassed with a number of villages, nearly of a size, and placed at equal distances in form of a semi-circle, the roofs of the houses in shape of cones, as are all those within the rains. The plain was all of a red, soapy earth, and the corn just sown. This whole country is in perpetual cultivation, and though at this time it had a bare look, would no doubt have a magnificent one when waving with grain. At nine we halted at a village of Pagan Nuba. These are all soldiers of the Mek of Sennaar, cantoned in these villages, which, at the distance of four or five miles, surround the whole capital. They are either purchased or taken by force from Fazuclo, and the provinces to the south upon the mountains Dyre and Tegla. Having settlements and provisions given them, as also arms put in their hands, they never wish to desert, but live a very domestic and sober life. Many of them that I have conversed with seem a much gentler sort of negro than those from Bahar el Aice, that is, than those of whom the Funge, or government of Sennaar, are composed.
These have small features likewise, but are woolly-headed, and flat-nosed, like other negroes, and speak a language rather pleasant and sonorous, but radically different from many I have heard. Though the Mek, and their masters at Sennaar, pretend to be Mahometans, yet they have never attempted to convert these Nuba; on the contrary, they entertain, in every village, a certain number of Pagan priests, who have soldiers pay, and assist them in the offices of their religion. Not knowing their language perfectly, nor their customs, it is impossible to say any thing about their religion. Very few of the common sort of them speak Arabic. A false account, in these cases, is always worse than no account at all. I never found one of their priests who could speak so much Arabic as to be able to give any information about the objects of their worship in distinct and unequivocal terms; but this was from my not understanding them, and their not understanding me, not from any desire of concealment, or shyness on their part; on the contrary, they seemed always inclined to agree with me, when they did not comprehend my meaning, and there is the danger of being misinformed.
They pay adoration to the moon; and that their worship is performed with pleasure and satisfaction, is obvious every night that she shines. Coming out from the darkness of their huts, they say a few words upon seeing her brightness, and testify great joy, by motions of their feet and hands, at the first appearance of the new moon. I never saw them pay any attention to the sun, either rising or setting, advancing to or receding from the meridian; but, as far as I could learn, they worship a tree, and likewise a stone, tho' I never could find out what tree or stone it was, only that it did not exist in the country of Sennaar, but in that where they were born. Their priests seemed to have great influence over them, but through fear only, and not from affection. They are distinguished by thick copper bracelets about their wrists, as also sometimes one, and sometimes two about their ancles.
These villages are called Dahera, which seems to me to be the same word as Dashrah, the name given to the Kabyles, or people in Barbary, who live in fixed huts on the mountains. But not having made myself master enough of the Kabyles language when in Barbary, and being totally ignorant of that of the Nuba we are now speaking of, I cannot pretend to pursue this resemblance farther. They are immoderately fond of swine's flesh, and maintain great herds of them in their possession. The hogs are of a small kind, generally marked with black and white, exceedingly prolific, and exactly resembling a species of that kind common in the north of Scotland. The Nuba are not circumcised. They very rarely turn Mahometans, but the generality of their children do. Few of them advance higher than to be soldiers and officers in their own corps. The Mek maintains about twelve thousand of these near Sennaar, to keep the Arabs in subjection. They are very quiet, and scarcely ever known to be guilty of any robberies or mutinous disorders, declaring always for the master, that is, the great one set over them. There is no running water in all that immense plain they inhabit, it is all procured from draw-wells. We saw them cleaning one, which I measured, and was nearly eight fathoms deep. In a climate so violently hot as this, there is very little need of fuel, neither have they any, there being no turf, or any thing resembling it, in the country, no wood, not even a tree, since we had passed the river Dender. However, they never eat their meat raw as in Abyssinia; but with the stalk of the dora, or millet, and the dung of camels, they make ovens under ground, in which they roast their hogs whole, in a very cleanly, and not disagreeable manner, keeping the skins on till they are perfectly baked. They had neither flint nor steel wherewith to light their fire at first, but do it in a manner still more expeditious, by taking a small piece of stick, and making a sharp point to it, which they hold perpendicular, and then make a small hole of nearly the same size in another piece of stick, which they lay horizontal; they put the one within the other, and, between their two hands, they turn the perpendicular stick, (in the same manner that we do a chocolate mill) when both these sticks take fire, and flame in a moment upon the friction; so perfectly dry and prepared is everything here upon the surface to take fire, notwithstanding they are every year subject to six months rain.
On the 25th, at four o'clock in the afternoon we set out from the villages of the Nuba, intending to arrive at Basboch, where is the ferry over the Nile; but we had scarcely advanced two miles into the plain, when we were inclosed by a violent whirlwind, or what is called at sea the water-spout. The plain was red earth, which had been plentifully moistened by a shower in the night-time. The unfortunate camel that had been taken by the Cohala seemed to be nearly in the center of its vortex. It was lifted and thrown down at a considerable distance, and several of its ribs broken. Although, as far as I could guess, I was not near the center, it whirled me off my feet, and threw me down upon my face, so as to make my nose gush out with blood. Two of the servants likewise had the same fate. It plaistered us all over with mud, almost as smoothly as could have been done with a trowel. It took away my sense and breathing for an instant, and my mouth and nose were full of mud when I recovered. I guess the sphere of its action to be about 200 feet. It demolished one half of a small hut as if it had been cut through with a knife, and dispersed the materials all over the plain, leaving the other half standing.
As soon as we recovered ourselves, we took refuge in a village, from fear only, for we saw no vestige of any other whirlwind. It involved a great quantity of rain, which the Nuba of the villages told us was very fortunate, and portended good luck to us, and a prosperous journey; for they said, that had dust and sand arisen with the whirlwind, in the same proportion it would have done had not the earth been moistened, we should all infallibly have been suffocated; and they cautioned us, by saying, that tempests were very frequent in the beginning and end of the rainy season, and whenever we should see one of them coming, to fall down upon our faces, keeping our lips close to the ground, and so let it pass; and thus it would neither have power to carry us off our feet, nor suffocate us, which was the ordinary case.
Our kind landlords, the Nuba, gave us a hearty welcome, and helped us to wash our clothes first, and then to dry them. When I was stripped naked, they saw the blood running from my nose, and said, they could not have thought that one so white as me could have been capable of bleeding. They gave us a piece of roasted hog, which we ate, (except Ismael and the Mahometans) very much to the satisfaction of the Nuba. On the other hand, as our camel was lame, we ordered one of our Mahometan servants to kill it, and take as much of it as would serve themselves that night; we also provided against wanting ourselves the next day. The rest we gave among our new-acquired acquaintance, the Nuba of the village, who did not fail to make a feast upon it for several days after; and, in recompence for our liberality, they provided us with a large jar of bouza, not very good, indeed, but better than the well-water. This I repaid by tobacco, beads, pepper, and stibium, which I saw plainly was infinitely more than they expected. Although we had been a good deal surprised at the sudden and violent effects of the whirlwind of that day, and severely felt the bruises it had occasioned, yet we passed a very social and agreeable evening; those only of the Nuba who had been any time at Sennaar speak a bad kind of Arabic, as well as their own language. I had seldom, in my life, upon a journey, passed a more comfortable night. I had a very neat, clean hut, entirely to myself, and a Greek servant that sat near me. Some of the Nuba watched for us all night, and took care of our beasts and baggage. They sung and replied to one another alternately, in notes full of pleasant melody,
Et cantare pares & respondere parati——
Virgil.
till I fell fast asleep, involuntarily, and with regret, for, tho' bruised, we were not fatigued, but rather discouraged, having gone no further than two miles that day.