We remained but a short time at this place, and then continued our route along the banks of the river for about an hour, for the most part among the date trees, which line the borders of the desert. These trees were larger than any I had seen in Egypt. At the end of one hour we forded the river, without any difficulty, as the water hardly reached above the knees of the camels. In less than half an hour from the opposite bank, we came to the village of Atbara, so named from its vicinity to the river. As the caravan was to remain here some days, the first care of every one was to choose a proper halting-place. The Souakin merchants alighted on an open ground in front of the village, where they formed several parties among themselves. The Tekaýrne and myself took possession of some thick thorny bushes on one side of the village, within which, after a few hours labour with the axe, each cut a small birth, just large enough to contain himself and his baggage, while the slaves were ordered to sleep before the entrance. We thus secured our goods from pilferers, and by spreading a few mats over the bushes, procured a comfortable shade.
The village, or more properly encampment, of Atbara, consisted of several long irregular rows of tents, formed of mats made of the leaves of the Doum tree, and containing about two hundred families of Bisharein. This is the general mode of dwelling throughout the tract of desert country lying between Egypt and Abyssinia. The bare skins of the Nubian sheep and goats not furnishing the inhabitants with the necessary materials for making tent-coverings of wool or goats’ hair, like the eastern Bedouins, their place is supplied with mats. They fix a row of poles, about twelve or fifteen feet high, into the ground, opposite to each other, and converging at the top; over these they fasten others horizontally; upon which mats are thrown in such a way as to present every where an inclined plane for the rain to run off. Every tent is furnished with two or three Angareygs, which take up nearly the whole of the interior, so that a very small part remains for any one to stand in; nor is this very necessary, as the Bisharein pass the greater part of their time reclined upon the Angareyg.i[57] In the smaller tents both sexes live together; but in the larger there is a partition across the tent, behind the Angareygs, which divides it into a front and back apartment; the latter is occupied by the women, and serves also as the kitchen; though the women never think of concealing themselves from strangers. All persons of quality have separate tents for their women, to which they sometimes add an open shed, for the reception of strangers. Whenever the Bedouins remove, the tents are struck, and the poles, mats, &c. are loaded upon camels.
Atbara is the residence of the chief of the tribe Hammadab (هامّداب); which must not be confounded with the Hameydab (حميداب,) a tribe of Ababde. The Hammadab are one of the strongest tribes of the Bisharye nation:i[58] the chief had travelled with us from Shendy, where he had purchased some slaves and horses. There are always a few inhabitants in this place who trade with Shendy, and wait here for the arrival of the Souakin caravans. As soon as it was known in the neighbourhood that a caravan had arrived, and intended to stop a few days, a great number of Bisharein came with Dhourra, sheep, butter, and milk, in order to barter these articles for Dammour and drugs, especially Mehleb, cloves, and incense, or Libban, from the west. Scarcely any of these people understand the Arabic language, except those who trade to Berber and Shendy; but it is understood by almost all their slaves, the greater part of whom are educated among the inhabitants on the Nile. Their dress, or rather undress, was every where the same, consisting only of a Dammour shirt, worn by both men and women; I thought the latter remarkably handsome; they were of a dark brown complexion, with beautiful eyes, and fine teeth; their persons were slender and elegant. They seemed to be under no fear of jealousy in their husbands or fathers, as they came laughing and joking quite close to our tents, and those who could not speak Arabic endeavoured to make themselves understood by signs. The beauties seemed to be fully conscious of their charms; but it was easy to perceive that they flirted with us for no other purpose than to make a better bargain for their Dhourra and milk, than the less handsome ones could obtain; and they all betrayed bad faith in their dealings with us. I had already heard in Egypt, that the Bisharein are not jealous of their women; it is with them a law of honour never to suspect their wives till they have the most unequivocal proofs of their incontinency. A Bisharye seeing a stranger kiss his wife, would laugh it off, but death would inevitably ensue if he caught her in adultery.
The Bisharein of Atbara, like all their brethren, are a handsome and bold race of people; they go constantly armed, and are seldom free from quarrels. Drunkenness is as common among them as it is among the Arabs of Shendy, and we heard every night some loud dispute in the Bouza huts. They are much addicted to pilfering, and notwithstanding all our precautions, every person in the caravan lost some small articles of baggage; several camels were also stolen, but they were afterwards returned through the interference of the chief, who exacted a handsome present for his trouble. Their propensity to theft is not the worst part of their character; they appear to be treacherous, cruel, avaricious, and revengeful, and are restrained in the indulgence of these passions by no laws either divine or human. One of the people of this village, who had come with us from Shendy, found on his arrival, that two of his best camels had been stolen. Suspecting one of his neighbours to be the thief, he came to the Tekaýrne, to know whether they would, by charms, inform him if his suspicions were well founded; but they refused to give him any distinct answer, or to meddle in the business. The man then swore that if he ever ascertained who the thief was, he would cut the throats of all his children, maim his camels, and reduce him to such poverty, as would oblige him to feed with the cattle in the woods. The Bisharein are all Mussulmans, but they observe none of the rites prescribed by that religion, thus forming a remarkable contrast to the Negroe Hadjis who pass this way, and who never omit any of the exterior duties of the Musselman faith. The inhospitable character of the Bisharein would alone prove them to be a true African race, were it not put beyond all doubt by their language. Not a drop of milk could be had without purchasing it, and the women obliged us to pay for the use of some old earthen pots which we were in need of during our stay; no one would even interpret between us and such of the people as were ignorant of Arabic, without exacting at least a handful of Dhourra for his trouble; this avaricious spirit is conspicuous in all their actions, and it is not merely caravan passengers, from whom it is natural for them to extort some profit, that are thus treated; the poor Negroe pilgrims who pass this place in their way to Taka complain bitterly of the pitiless inhabitants of the banks of the Atbara.
Dhourra, and a small quantity of Loubye, or kidney-beans, are sown in the woods close to the river, without any previous preparation of the ground. Water-wheels are unknown. The extent of fertile soil is equal on both sides of the river; but nothing is cultivated on the left bank, on account of the depredations of the Djaalein on that side. In years when the river does not overflow the banks, they draw all their supplies from Taka. The same trees grow near the village which I saw on the west bank; the Nebek was the most common; its fruit is so abundant that the camels are sometimes fed upon it. The Oshour occupies the intervals between the larger trees, and leaves but little space for the growth of the Dhourra. A great number of turtle-doves and pigeons flew about; they have numerous enemies in a species of eagle, which is very little larger than the eagle Rakham of Egypt; the body is quite black, the head bald, and of a deep purple red, like that of the turkey. The Bisharein say that tigers abound in the woods, and that very large serpents are sometimes seen; but though I crossed the woods every day to bring water from the river, I never saw any quadrupeds, except innumerable hosts of rats, of the largest size, running among the Dhourra stubble, great numbers of which the slaves killed, and were delighted to eat. The large ants, which are said to be extremely obnoxious in Kordofan and Darfour, are never seen any where to the east of the Nile. During high water crocodiles are found in the river, but no hippopotami. The rhinoceros is unknown here.
The cattle of the Bisharein are very fine, and in great abundance. Their camels had just been sent to the nearest mountains, where some rains had fallen, to feed upon the fresh herbage, while those in our caravan were driven every morning into the woods to feed upon the twigs of the acacias. The flocks of sheep and goats were following the camels to the mountains; we bought two large sheep for one dollar’s worth of Dammour. The chief and some of his relatives keep horses, and wear coats of mail; there are a couple of asses belonging to every tent.
The river Atbara joins the Mogren at about two days from this village, beyond which the united stream bears the latter name. The Mogren is said to rise in the Bisharye mountains, but it is almost dry in summer; and even in the rainy season, appears to be nothing but a collection of torrents. The direct road from hence to Souakin does not cross it, whence it is evident that its course must be much more from the northward than is generally laid down in the maps. I have already stated that we found very little water in the Atbara; a few weeks before, it must have been almost dried up; for in the bed of the united stream, where we crossed it near Damer, we found nothing but some stagnant pools. During our stay at Atbara we had several light showers at night, and the days were cloudy, often with foggy mornings. On the 3d and 4th of June the river fell suddenly, leaving the greater part of the bed quite dry. I afterwards observed in our way to Taka, that the fall must have been at least one foot. The banks are not more than twenty-five feet high; I did not measure the river’s breadth, but from a clear impression left on my mind, I conjecture the banks to be distant from each other at most from four to five hundred paces. The current of the stream was so slow as hardly to be perceptible.
The women of Atbara shave their heads on the death of their nearest relatives; a custom prevalent also among several of the peasant tribes of Arabs in Upper Egypt. The law of retaliation is said to exist among the Bisharein in all its force; their tribes are in continual war with each other; their national enemies are the Shukorye on one side, and the Hadendoa on the other. The Hammadab who live at Atbara have for neighbours, up the river, towards Goz Radjeb, the Beni Kurb, and in the desert the Baterab, both of the Bisharye race. The Hammadab cultivate the banks of the Atbara as low as its junction with the Mogren, below which commence the territories of the Djaalein. From thence to Berber is four long journeys, but the road is very little frequented, and the only places these people communicate with are Shendy, Goz Radjeb, and Taka, and with the Bisharein of the mountains to the northward.
After remaining three or four days at Atbara the chief of the village collected passage duty from every individual, according to the number of his slaves. Each slave pays one Tob Dammour, and the same is levied upon every camel’s load, whatever it may consist of. Those merchants who are supposed, or known to carry gold, are taxed arbitrarily, which, as may readily be conceived, gives rise to many disputes. I paid on the whole one Tob and a half; but the Souakin merchants were extremely dissatisfied with the chief on account of his extortions, and told him that they would never again return by this route. It is, however, the safest road to Souakin, the desert on this side being inhabited by tribes friendly to the Hadherebe, and to Souakin; and I was informed that the chief of Atbara is obliged to divide with several of those tribes the sums which he derives from the caravan. The road, on the contrary, from Souakin to Damer, lies through the pasturing-places of some potent Bisharye tribes inimical to Souakin, and cannot be passed but by caravans sufficiently strong to repel any attack. The day after we had paid the duties, the chief sent to every party of traders a large dish of Dhourra made into a liquid paste, and some Bouza for the use of the caravan.
The caravan, on quitting Atbara, was to divide into two parties, the one taking the direct road through the desert to Souakin, the other proceeding by Taka. The former route, for the three first days, takes a direction more easterly than Souakin, to the well of Gengerab, when it passes in a direct line to Souakin, by three watering-places, situated two days from each other. The entire journey is of ten or twelve days; the road abounds with pasturage and many encampments of Bedouins are met with in the fertile valleys, which are watered by winter torrents, giving birth to luxuriant crops of wild herbage. The part of the caravan proceeding to Taka, intended to sell there the Dammour and tobacco which they had brought from Sennaar; some of them purposed returning immediately afterwards to Shendy, while others intended to go on to Souakin. I determined to take the Taka road, and had the pleasure of seeing the Negroe merchants in whose company I travelled, follow my example. They had many slaves; their camels were weak, and on the Taka road they knew that water was to be met with daily.