They live simply, on milk, honey, and dhurra principally, and to that fact may be attributed the beautifully white sound teeth they possess. I think I ought to say that the Sheik was good enough to ask me to stay with the tribe for three or four years, and as an inducement was good enough to say that if I would he would give me four wives, thus placing me on a par with himself. However, I neither embraced this tempting offer nor the sable females, and here I think the utterances of the deceased M.P. would be peculiarly applicable. When the Sheik, who was very friendly, left us, he accepted our invitation to dinner at 7 p.m. Quite close to our camp was another zareeba; in this dwelt Herr Schumann and his wild animals. He had, when we were there, three young elephants; two females, and one rogue (the latter, being a rather fierce little fellow, was chained by the leg), a few young lions, wild cats, leopards, and 15 young ostriches about the size of Dorking fowls.
Apropos of the Mahdi, I find the following in to-day’s paper:
“April 2nd, ’84—An Austrian dealer in wild animals, writing from Kassala to friends in Vienna, gives some information about the Mahdi, whom he knows personally, and with whom he has frequently transacted business, the Mahdi himself having for years past dealt in wild beasts for the different European Zoological Gardens. He is described by the writer as a very cunning impostor, and as an instance, it is related that a short time ago he suddenly appeared with a number of warts on his right cheek, these having been artificially produced by the aid of a German called Schandorper, formerly a clown, and afterwards a hairdresser, now in the service of the Mahdi. The reason was that the legends about the expected Mahdi speak of him as having such marks. Like the beasts he formerly dealt in, the Mahdi sleeps in the daytime and transacts business during the night.” I have no doubt whatever that our old acquaintance, who was the only animal collector I ever met with, is the author of the preceding, and I think a very credible man.
In the evening, just before dinner, we heard near our camp a great number of women and children, accompanied by the inevitable beating of the tom-toms, and that wild, peculiar trilling note of a woman to which I have before alluded. Being desirous to find out as much as I could of the habits and customs of these people, I got Mr. Colvin to accompany me to ascertain the cause. We went and found a great number of women shouting and chanting, whilst a number of their braves were executing a war dance with spear and shield, others in the meantime sharpening their spears. Of course we were at a loss to account for the extreme activity and evident war-like preliminaries, and returned to camp not feeling certain whether these sharpened spears would not on the morrow make unpleasant incisions in our intercastal spaces—at least Mr. Colvin, who was a very facetious and witty fellow, humorously suggested this. On returning to camp we passed Herr Schumann’s zareeba, and told him what we had witnessed, asking him the meaning of it all. He narrated the following tale of blood: The day before our arrival at Heikota, when we were in the immediate neighbourhood, probably about the time we were encamping, a number of the Basé people from the village of Sarcella had come upon the children of the Beni-Amirs driving the flocks and herds in for the night. They then perpetrated a deed which makes one shudder to think of, for they were not satisfied with simply slaughtering these unoffending children, but doing so in a most horrible manner; in short, they ripped them open with their knives, and drove off about 2,000 head of cattle. In consequence of this the Sheik had given the word to his men to prepare for action, and they were now doing so, intending to make an attack on the village of Sarcella in the morning.
In the evening we had a champagne dinner; the Sheik studiously avoided the champagne, and had the shocking bad taste to prefer raspberry vinegar and water. Herr Schumann also joined us, but, like a Christian, partook of champagne.
We pretended not to know anything of this slaughtering business, so asked the Sheik what was the reason of all the commotion amongst the tribe. He related the same story, adding that he should get his men together in the morning and attack these Basé (that means kill all they could lay their hands on) and get his cattle back again. How ably he carried out his destructive intentions I will tell the reader later on. The customs are somewhat peculiar in this part of the world. Supposing I and my party, who are not Beni-Amirs, enter the Basé country from the Beni-Amir tribe, and they should be at enmity with them at that time, they would regard us as enemies. Knowing this, we told the Sheik we were very sorry this had occurred just now, as we intended to explore that country, and his fighting might make it a very difficult, if not impossible matter to do so. However, with the true instincts of a gentleman sheik, he accommodated himself to all parties, very readily acquiesced in our views, and was good enough to postpone his bloodthirsty intentions for a few days.
After dinner we chatted round the camp fire for awhile, smoking the “calumet of peace,” to use a Cooperian phrase, and retired to our different tents to rest 9.30 p.m. The Sheik, ere he left us, accepted an invitation to breakfast next day at 7 a.m. If we are late birds in England, we are early ones in the Soudan.
January 21st.—True to his appointment the Sheik breakfasted with us this morning. He was not only punctual, but he literally did breakfast; there was no finiking and fiddling about with his food, for he disposed of it in a most straightforward manner. Imagine an opening in the pavement for the reception of coals, and you have a pretty good idea of the rapid disappearance of food down the œsophagus of our friend. We commenced with porridge and milk; a dish evidently highly appreciated by the Sheik; then we had minced collops, kippered herrings, gazelle, stewed kidneys, wild honey, French jam and coffee, to all of which Sheik Ahmed did ample justice. After breakfast many warriors drop into camp, and, in their fashion, squat round in a circle on their haunches. One of the spears was covered with leather as a sign that they were at peace with us. A great and long pow-wow ensued as to our future journey; we should want to buy or hire camels for going through the Basé country, as those we had hired at Kassala would have to return from Heikota.
Last night we were rather disturbed by the noise of lions, and this morning, within about a dozen yards of my tent, I found their footprints, fortunately outside the zareeba. I dare say I spent about an hour or so at my tent this morning attending to a large number of natives, and afterwards visited others in their own tents on the river-bed. In some instances I was obliged to crawl in on my hands and knees. When I had finished my morning’s work I took up my shot gun and strolled off in quest of some beautifully plumaged birds which were abundant here and brought home an eagle, paroquet, laughing-bird, falcon, and shreik, which I skinned after luncheon.