In Arabia and Egypt the law gives to the slaves one great advantage; if they are discontented with their master, and decidedly determined not to remain with him, they have the right of insisting upon being sent to the public slave market, (Beaéni fi Souk el Sultaun, بيعني في سوق السلطان), to be resold. The owner may at first refuse to part with his slave, but if, having overcome the fear of exposing himself to the effects of his master’s rage, the slave finds an opportunity of making his demand, in presence of respectable witnesses, and perseveres in this conduct, he must at last effect his purpose. Some slaves are less able to take advantage of this privilege, which the law grants to all, from being shut up in the harem, where no one hears their complaints except those who are the cause of them.
According to the most moderate calculation, the number of slaves actually in Egypt is forty thousand, two-thirds of which number are males, and the rest females. There is hardly a village in which several of them are not found, and every person of property keeps at least one. During the plague in the spring of 1815, upwards of eight thousand slaves were reported to the government to have died in Cairo alone. I have reason to believe, however, that the numbers exported from Soudan to Egypt and Arabia, bears only a small proportion to those kept by the Mussulmans of the southern countries themselves, or in other words to the whole number yearly derived by purchase, or by force, from the nations in the interior of Africa. At Berber and Shendy there is scarcely a house which does not possess one or two slaves, and five or six are frequently seen in the same family, occupied in the labours of the field, tending cattle, &c. &c.; the great people and chiefs keep them by dozens. As high up the Nile as Sennaar the same system prevails, as well as westwards to Kordofan, Darfour, and thence towards Bournou. All the Bedouin tribes also who surround those countries are well stocked with slaves. If we may judge of their numbers by those kept on the borders of the Nile, (and I was assured by the traders, that slaves were more numerous in those distant countries than even at Shendy,) it is evident that the number exported towards Egypt, Arabia, and Barbary, is very greatly below what remains within the limits of Soudan. From what fell under my own observation at Berber and Shendy, I believe that the slaves of both sexes on the borders of the Nile from Berber to Sennaar, amount to not less than twelve thousand. As the population of Darfour, according to Mr. Browne, is two hundred thousand, there are probably twenty thousand slaves in that kingdom; and every account agrees in proving that as we proceed farther westward into the populous countries of Dar Saley, Bournou, Bagermé, and the kingdoms of Afnou and Haoussa, the proportion of the slave population does not diminish.
The laudable efforts made in Europe, and particularly by England, to abolish the slave trade, will, no doubt, in time, extend a beneficial influence over the Negroe countries of Western and South-western Africa, from whence slaves have hitherto been drawn for the supply of the European traders; but there does not appear to be the smallest hope of the abolition of slavery in Africa itself. Were all the outlets of Soudan closed to the slave trade, and the caravans which now carry on the traffic with Barbary, Egypt, and Arabia, prevented from procuring further supplies, still slavery would universally prevail in Soudan itself; for as long as those countries are possessed by Mussulmans, whose religion induces them to make war upon the idolatrous Negroes, whose domestic wants require a constant supply of servants and shepherds, and who considering slaves as a medium of exchange in lieu of money, are as eager to obtain them as other nations might be to explore the African mines, slavery must continue to exist in the heart of Africa; nor can it cease until the Negroes shall become possessed of the means of repelling the attacks and resisting the oppression of their Mussulman neighbours. It is not from foreign nations that the Blacks can hope for deliverance; this great work must be effected by themselves, and can be the result only of successful resistance. The European governments, who have settlements on the coasts of Africa, may contribute to it by commerce, and by the introduction among the Negroes of arts and industry, which must ultimately lead them to a superiority over the Mussulmans in war. Europe, therefore, will have done but little for the Blacks, if the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade, which is trifling, when compared with the slavery of the interior, is not followed up by some wise and grand plan, tending to the civilization of the continent. None presents a fairer prospect than the education of the sons of Africa in their own country, and by their own countrymen, previously educated by Europeans. Faint hopes, however, can be entertained that the attention of European governments will be turned towards the remote and despised Negroes, while selfishness and a mistaken policy have prevented them from attending to the instruction of their own poor.
What I have said on the manners of Berber is applicable, in every respect, to Shendy, where the habits of the people are equally dissolute. The chief of Shendy, however, possesses much more power than the Mek of Berber, and keeps the violence and rapacity of his subjects in check. The inhabitants of the district are all free Arabs; of these the Djaalein are the most numerous, and next to them the following: 1. Ababde, who pretend to be descended from the same Djidd (جِدّ) or forefather as those of Egypt; namely, Selman, an Arab of the Beni Helal, the great eastern tribe which emigrated into the northern parts of Africa, as far as Tunis, after the Mohammedan conquest; 2. Battakhein (بطخين); 3. El Hamdeh (الحامده); these, I understand, are acknowledged as relations by the Arabs of the same name who inhabit the neighbourhood of Luxor and Karnak, in Upper Egypt; Luxor has hence received the name of El Hamdye, and is more generally known in Upper Egypt by that appellation. The several tribes are constantly quarrelling with each other, chiefly respecting the retaliation of blood, to which, among the eastern Bedouins, the near relations are liable; but it appears to me that those nice distinctions which I have detailed in my description of the Bedouins, are not here attended to. Among the Djaalein the price of blood is one thousand Tob Dammour, equivalent, at the present time, to three or four hundred Spanish dollars. If the relations of the slain agree to take it, which seems to expose them to less obloquy than a similar action does in Arabia, the murderer pays the sum by instalments; a regular account is kept, and credit given for the smallest sum paid to the family of the deceased by the murderer or his family, even if it be no more than a little bread, or a few handfuls of Dhourra. Many years may pass before the whole sum is paid, and during this time the parties keep the peace.
The Djaalein have the character of being treacherous, but this is common to all the Arabs of these countries; and they have not yet so much degenerated from their forefathers, as not to know that good faith is held the first of Arab virtues: I have often heard the Djaalein boast of their sincerity to those to whom they have pledged their word as friends or companions; but this character, which they give of themselves, is not confirmed by the general opinion.i[47]
All these Arabs have two tribes of mortal enemies, the Shukorye (شُكُريه) and the Kouahel (قواحل), names which are both Arabic in their formation. They inhabit to the south and south-west of the others, and make frequent inroads upon the Djaalein, plundering the country, and driving off the cattle. Some of the Shukorye live on the banks of the Nile near Abou Heraze, but the greater part of them lead a pastoral life in the Eastern desert. The Kouahel are said to extend as far as the country of Dender, and some of them are found on the Atbara. Both tribes speak the Arabic language. During my stay at Shendy the Djaalein returned from a successful expedition against them, bringing back a booty of two hundred camels taken from the hostile encampment which was then about four days distant from Shendy. In the Syrian and Arabian deserts in like manner, there is scarcely an Arab tribe of any importance which has not a national enemy in some equally powerful tribe; the warlike spirit and rivalship of the young men of both parties being kept up by continual expeditions against each other. These, however, seldom occur between tribes who are immediate neighbours: among whom although war often happens, it is generally soon succeeded by peace and alliance.
All the Arabs of the southern countries, excepting those who inhabit the valley of the Nile, besides their daily movements from one spot to another, make two general movements in the year. In the summer they retire towards the mountains, where springs and pasturage are more abundant than in the parched plains; during the rains they spread themselves, with their flocks, over the wide expanse between the Atbara and the Nile, which in that season is clothed with abundant pasturage. The Kouahel are said to be less numerous but more powerful than the Shukorye; they are both, nominally at least, Mohammedans; it is said that their cattle is admirable.
Though I remained only a month at Shendy, and in a situation not at all favourable for such inquiries, some geographical information respecting the surrounding countries may reasonably be expected from me. In the Appendix will be found some details of this kind respecting the western countries, which, however, are the less interesting as Mr. Browne has already elucidated the geography of those parts. Of the countries to the south I was unfortunately unable to obtain any information, nor of those between Shendy and Habbesh, to the eastward. This was not owing to indolence or indifference; but to my situation with the caravan, which rendered it extremely difficult for me to take any notes whatever. Surrounded on all sides by curious observers of my conduct, and having no other protection than that which poverty gives, I knew that if suspicion was once excited, it would end in my ruin. Accurate and detailed statements of positions and distances could only have been acquired by expressly questioning the traders on this head; but nobody showed any inclination so far to oblige a person from whom no profit was to be derived, and to have paidi[48] for information would have rendered me a subject of conversation and enquiry through the whole town, where I was already but too conspicuous an object. I often indeed attempted to entice people from Sennaar into familiar conversation, by sitting down near them, and filling their pipes with my own tobacco; but they soon got tired of my questions concerning the southern countries, and put the strangest constructions upon them. Such information, therefore, I could only have derived from casual conversations during a long stay. Had I been known as a Frank traveller, like Bruce in Abyssinia, and Browne in Darfour, I might have made the best use of my leisure time, without thereby indangering my person much more than it would otherwise have been. But my case was different: I had succeeded in keeping my secret: I had still a very dangerous road before me, nor could I ever have hoped to reach the sea, had any suspicions been excited concerning my travelling projects; at least such was my firm belief. In asserting that I was unknown, I do not mean to claim the merit of extraordinary prudence, but merely to inform the reader upon what depended my success.i[49] I must be allowed to add, that if future travellers should hear me described, in these countries, as a Frank, they will have no right to disbelieve on that account the other parts of my personal history during this journey. For although the people of Daraou will undoubtedly at last discover who the poor man was who travelled with them, I was certainly unknown during the journey.
Mr. Browne, in the course of his two years residence at Darfour, collected highly valuable information concerning the Negroe countries surrounding that kingdom, but I have little doubt, that the bad opinion which the Darfour people entertained of him, was owing in great part to such enquiries. The same thing would have happened to him in any other part of Soudan, had he been permitted to quit Darfour, and it must ultimately have frustrated all his views. This remark is not made for the purpose of detracting from the merits of Mr. Browne, whose talent and perseverance were such as will seldom be found united in the same person, whose friendship for me I can never forget, and to whose excellent advice I owe much of my success. It is for the sake of those who may succeed me, that I make these observations. When Mr. Browne undertook his journey to Darfour he was not possessed of that knowledge of Arabic, and of Arab manners, which he afterwards acquired; unable therefore to attempt to pass for a native of the Levant, he never assumed any other name than that of a Frank, justly thinking that it would be more to his advantage to maintain his native character, however little it might be respected in those parts, than by an awkward imitation of native dress and manners, to expose himself to still worse consequences, and to the hourly dread of being discovered. But even as a Frank he would have been more secure in the character of a mercantile adventurer, than in that of a physician, which is a profession quite unknown in these countries. During my stay at Siout, in Upper Egypt, I became acquainted with a man who had seen Mr. Browne in Darfour, and in whose brother’s house Mr. Browne had spent a considerable part of his time. He told me that Mr. Browne, during his journey from Siout to Darfour, was busily occupied in writing down the daily occurrences, and in inquiring after the names of all the hills and valleys met with on the road; that he had a piece of lead, with which he wrote, and which never failed him. The Soltan of the English (the man observed) had undoubtedly sent him to inquire after these countries; and the king of Darfour prevented him from travelling about the country, as knowing that his sole motive was curiosity. The same person confirmed Mr. Browne’s statements respecting himself while in Darfour, of the veracity of which, indeed, no one, acquainted with that gentleman’s integrity, would ever entertain any doubt. My departed friend, who has fallen a noble sacrifice in the cause of truth and science, felt at last, that the circumstance of his taking notes had prevented him from succeeding to the full extent of his wishes; and he repeatedly advised me to use the greatest precaution in this respect. To an European reader such a maxim may look like pusillanimity, or at least excess of prudence, for it can be fully appreciated only by those persons who embark in such expeditions.
There is no communication by water between Sennaar, Shendy, and Berber; boats are used only as ferries, but even these are extremely scarce, and the usual mode of passing the river is upon the Ramous, or small raft of reeds. It is usual with the native Arabs to call the branch of the river on which Sennaar lies, and which rises in Abyssinia, by the name of Nil, as well as by that of Bahr el Azrek (Blue-River.) Thus every one says that Sennaar is situated on the Nile, (بلد سنار مبنيه علي حافيه النيل); so far therefore Bruce is justified in styling himself the discoverer of the sources of the Nile. But I have often heard the Sennaar merchants declare, that the Bahr el Abyadh (White-River), which is the name invariably given to the more western branch, is considerably larger than the Nile. I was credibly informed, that between Shendy and Damour, there is a cataract in the river, similar to that of Assouan, and another of greater size and rapidity in the country of the Arabs Rebatat, below Berber.