The walls and buildings of which the palace is composed are not much higher than a man, excepting the private apartment of the Sultan, which has a story above the ground-floor, with three windows overlooking the whole city. The windows are merely square holes, with two sticks placed crosswise. The dwelling-places of the eunuchs, the pages, and the Osban, spread throughout the palace, exactly resemble in form the Forian huts, and, like them, are constructed of millet-stalks; but the houses of Warah have nearly all enclosures built of earth mixed with stones. The earth used is greasy, and, when submitted to the action of the rain, becomes covered with a white crust as hard as iron.
Within the third gate of the palace, opposite the apartment of Ramad’han, is a kind of large shed, where every day the Sultan passes some time despatching business. He is separated from those who come to him by a partition of mats, made of a kind of grass woven with wonderful delicacy. This enclosure allows the Sultan not only to hear what is said, but to see those who are present without being visible to them.
The town of Warah, which is divided into two divisions, the Tourtalou, or left division, and Toulalou, or right division, is less populated than Tendelty. The latter place, however, is chiefly filled with merchants and strangers, who come and go. Neither city has a large population. The Forians are fond of pageantry and show. Each king surrounds himself with a number of secondary kings, who form his court, and endeavour to imitate his manners. In this way the principal people, instead of, as in other countries, collecting in the capital, are dispersed throughout the various districts, and Warah may be said to be inhabited chiefly by the court of the Sultan.
The topographical position of Warah differs essentially from that of Tendelty. The latter capital is established on a vast Gauz, or sandy country, where every one constructs a dwelling of the best aspect he may. Many of the habitations of the viziers approach in appearance that of the Sultan; but at Warah, which is hemmed close in by hills, the palace takes up so much space, that the great people who live there are obliged to occupy very humble dwellings.
CHAPTER V.
States of Soudan — Women of Bagirmeh — The Jenakherah — The Idolatrous Tribes — Their vast Numbers — A Slave-hunt — A great River — Manners — Manufactures — Peculiar way of going to bed — Marking Cattle — Cannibals — Origin of the Fullans — Meaning of “Soudan” — A Tempest — Thunder-bolts — Darfur and Wadaï.
Of the various constituted states of Soudan, the most vast are Bornou and Dar-Mella, after which come Darfur, Wadaï, Timbuctoo, and Bagirmeh. The least in extent are Afnou and Adagez.[40] Wadaï, although occupying the fourth rank as to extent, has many especial advantages. The slaves are much handsomer than those of Darfur, better trained, and more attentive to domestic duties; but the best slaves of all Central Soudan are, without doubt, those of Bagirmeh, especially the women, whose docility and gentleness are beyond all praise. When Saboun invaded that country the women turned the heads of all the Wadaïans, and almost disgusted them with their own wives. “Verily,” said they, “we have never seen women before.” Nevertheless, the Jenakherian girls, which the Wadaïans take away from the idolatrous tribes situated to the south of Dar-Seleih, are also remarkable for their beauty; and in the habitual relations of life have a seductive character which is not noticed in the slaves taken from the south of Darfur. And yet the Jenakherian people, to the south of both countries, touch upon and are confounded with one another; and the slave-hunts from Wadaï and Darfur often meet. The name of Jenakherah, in its general application, designates an immense conglomeration of people, of which God only knows the number, divided into an incredible number of tribes and clans, and spread throughout a zone that extends from the south of Sennaar to the south of Kashna, constituting Pagan Soudan.
In a straight line from east to west, there is from Sennaar to Kordofal a distance of fifteen or sixteen days; from Obeid, capital of the latter country, to Tendelty, there are ten or twelve days; and from the Forian Fasher to Warah, there are twenty days of ordinary marching, or ten days of forced marching. If you proceed still westward, you come to Bagirmeh; but if you take a south-west direction you reach Katakou, a province dependent on Bornou. Between Wadaï and Bagirmeh there is a space of five or six days’ journey. From Warah to Bornou there are two roads, one a little north of west, a distance of less than twenty days; but the second, which traverses Bagirmeh and Katakou, requires thirty-five days. In fine, to go from Bornou to Adagez, you must proceed fifteen days westward in a straight line.[41] From Adagez to Afnou there are four or five days of desert.
The idolatrous tribes to the south of Soudan are divided into groups and families. They are vastly superior in number to the Muslims, who are thrown like a chain across the desert, and it is at first surprising that they do not overwhelm them. The explanation may be found in the spirit of brotherhood which unites the Muslims, whilst the Pagans are always divided one against another, each station being inimical to its neighbour. When the enemy attacks a village, and takes away the women and children, the people of the next village look on without attempting to give assistance. They are attacked next, and their neighbours regard them with equal indifference, and so on. If these idolaters knew the strength which union gives, none of the Muslim states of Soudan would dare to attack them.