[11]A tribe of Djeheyne still flourishes in the Hedjaz. At Cairo I met with a Djeheyne of Darfour, who told me that they were both Bedouins and husbandmen.
APPENDIX. No. II.
Some Notices on the Countries of Soudan west of Darfour, with Vocabularies of the Borgo and Bornou Languages; collected at Cairo from Negroe Pilgrims, in the winter of 1816-17.
In the preceding Itinerary, I have mentioned Dar Szaleyh, or Seleyh, or Saley. Dar Szeleyh (دار صليح) is the name used by the natives themselves. The people of Darfour and Kordofan give to it the name of Borgo (بُرقو). Their northern neighbours of Bornou and Fezzan, and the Moggrebyn merchants, call it Waday (واداي). Similar instances of different names applied to the same country are not unfrequent in Soudan. Horneman makes the same observation. Next to Bornou and Darfour, Dar Saley is the most important country in eastern Soudan. It is said to be a flat country, with few mountains. In the rainy season, which usually lasts two months, large inundations are formed in many places, and large and rapid rivers then flow through the country. After the waters have subsided, deep lakes remain in various places filled with water the whole year round, and sufficiently spacious to afford a place of retreat to the hippopotami and crocodiles, which abound in the country.
Mr. Browne has indicated in his map several rivers to the west of Darfour; but I was told that none of them are large, except during the rains. The principal of these streams is called Abou Teymam, or Om Teymam, (ابو تيمام). According to a very general custom in Soudan, of giving to the same river different names; it is also called Djyr (جير), which in the Egyptian pronunciation, sounds Gyr, and may perhaps be the Gir of Ptolemy. The name of Misselad was unknown to my informants. Elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, giraffas, and herds of wild buffaloes, are very common in this country; there is another animal also, of the size of a cow, with large horns, called Abou Orf (ابو عُرف). It is hunted by horsemen for its meat and skin. When attacked, it lowers its head to the ground, and then rushes furiously at the hunter, whom it often kills or severely wounds as it raises its head, and strikes with its horns. There is another species of horned animal, about the size of a calf, called Djalad. The mountain goat (تيتل) Taytal, (known by the same name in Upper Egypt) is also met with in the mountains of Borgo. The tree Hedjyly grows there, bearing a sweet fruit, much like a date. The wood, of which I have seen specimens, is hard and heavy. The pilgrims write their prayers and charms upon small boards made of it.
The kingdom of Borgo is divided into many provinces, the principal of which are—Wara, where the Sultan resides in a place of the same name; an open town consisting of houses built of mud, and huts constructed of brushwood: Sila, a large district, with a governor, who likewise styles himself king. Runga, (well known to Mr. Browne): Dar Tama; (these two have a peculiar language): Modjo, probably the same which Mr. Browne calls Moddago (p. 465, Ed. of 1797) and Mr. Seetzen, Metko.i[1] What Mr. Seetzen relates of this district, is perhaps applicable to the whole country of Borgo; for the Negroes frequently apply to the whole country, the name of any one of its districts; thus, for instance, I have often heard them call Darfour by the name of Dar Gondjara, Gondjara being a town of Darfour, where the learned men reside, and have their schools, in the vicinity of Kobbe: it is the same place, I believe, which Mr. Browne calls Hellet el Fokara. The district of Metko was likewise known to Horneman. The practice of changing the names of countries, rivers, and districts, is, I fancy, one of the principal causes of the great confusion still prevailing in the geography of Soudan. Other provinces of Borgo are, Abasa: Mankary, a large province in a south-west direction: Gimur (known to Mr. Browne by the name of Gimer); Djyr, from the name of which province the above mentioned river takes its appellation.
The chiefs of the provinces of Borgo hold their office from the Sultan of Wara, and pay to him a yearly tribute, which they withhold, and declare themselves rebels, whenever they have a good opportunity. The present Sultan of Borgo is Yousef, the son of Abd el Kerim Saboun, who died last year. The power of Borgo is principally owing to this Saboun, who was a just, but very severe ruler, showing no mercy to any of the governors who had swerved from the duties of obedience; and who had condemned many of his subjects to suffer death during his long reign. It was this prince who conquered Bagerme, the chief of which country had been dependent upon Bornou, but had declared himself independent. The King of Bornou applied to Saboun to assist him in reducing the rebel, representing to him that the war was a religious duty, because the chief of Bagerme had, contrary to the laws of the Islam, married his own sister, and thus proved himself to be a pagan. Saboun marched with his army to Bagerme, and conquered the whole country, but kept it for himself. It is said that he there found a large treasure in silver, which he carried off upon two hundred camels; for that in Bornou and Bagerme there are many silver mines. Upon this occasion great numbers of the inhabitants of Bagerme, with their wives and children, were driven off as slaves; but on their arrival at Borgo, the learned men of that country, who form a corps as powerful, it seems, as the Ulemas at Constantinople, represented to Saboun, that as they were Mahommedans, it was unjust to reduce them to slavery. They were then restored to liberty, and many of them returned: others remained voluntarily at Borgo, where they continue to earn a good livelihood by their art of giving the blue dye to cottons; this dye is produced from an indigenous plant, resembling indigo, and which is said to be preferable to the indigo of Egypt. Both are known by the same name of Nili.
The Sultan of Wara, or of Fasher, as he is likewise called (Fasher being a term applied to the open place where he gives audience) has among his troops many Negroes, some of whom are still pagans: other pagans are likewise settled in almost every town of Borgo. The Sultan leaves his residence every Friday after prayers,i[2] and it is an established custom, that if any one has to complain of oppression from the Sultan’s officers, he runs about on the plain like a mad man; until the Sultan seeing him, sends for him, and listens to his story.