I shall here make some observations on the climate of Wadaï. Wind, storms, thunder, and lightning, are very frequent there at the time of the Roushach. Their violence is such, especially during the first days of autumn, that it is almost impossible to describe their effects. During the whole time that I remained in the country I scarcely ever saw rain that was not preceded by a great wind that darkened the atmosphere. These storms generally advance from the east, and, passing over Gauz, or sandy plains, raise immense whirlwinds of dust, and carry them to a great distance. At the commencement of the storm the horizon is wrapped in clouds, either black or dun red. Presently the thunder bursts forth with terrific rolls. The people, stricken with fear, run to hide themselves. The shepherds hastily gather together their flocks and urge them towards the villages. Those who are working in the fields hasten to the nearest shelter, or run wildly towards the villages. The traveller seeks the first refuge he can find, for, if he is found abroad, there is peril. The storm, like a haughty and terrible conqueror at the head of his black warriors, strikes and shatters whatever it meets with. Isolated trees are often torn up by the roots, crazy huts are borne away, and old enclosures beaten to the ground. Even the beasts instinctively take to flight. The whirlwinds come laden with sand and gravel, that strike people down as if hurled from a sling.
When I first went to Darfur, on perceiving afar off these immense whirlwinds, I expected great clouds and showers to follow, but I was soon undeceived. These dusty masses are seldom brought by south or west winds. They are often the effects of violent gusts, without rain or thunder, and for this reason are the more dangerous, for the rain soon beats down the dust and sand, and restores tranquillity to the air. Sometimes, during a whole month, these violent burrascos blow every day, beginning in the afternoon. Generally, in the last days of autumn, they are entirely without rain. When they happen at night, they are commonly accompanied by frightful showers and thunder-claps. The lightning falls, setting fire to villages, and dashing trees to pieces. Mischief is announced by terrible detonations, accompanied by long trains of fire descending from the clouds. Many Wadaïans and Forians have assured me that they have dug pits in the earth, at the place where the thunder has fallen, and have found substances resembling ferruginous scoriæ. In the countries of Soudan where I have travelled the thunder is much louder and more terrible than in Egypt. I do not know what is the physical reason of this difference.
From what I have hitherto said of the customs of the Forians, their manner of life, their food, their constitution, their dwellings, their diseases, their ideas of medicine, the quadrupeds and birds that are found in the country, it will be seen that in comparing them with Wadaï the same conditions of life exist very nearly in both countries. The analogy is explained by their neighbourhood, for each people borrows something from its neighbours. The tribes on the two frontiers, likewise, are closely united in bonds of relationship. In describing the manners of Wadaï, therefore, I shall only mention those points which are peculiar to them.
CHAPTER VI.
The Fellatahs — Their Religious Theories — Rise of Zaky, or Dam-fodio — He undertakes a Reform — The first Battle — Zaky becomes King — Conquest of Kashna — Laws — The Wahabites in Arabia — Mohammedan Protestantism — State of Dar-Niffy — Anecdote of Wealth — The Fullans conquer Niffy — Zaky’s first Defeat — Muslim Civilisation — Characteristics of Nations.
The Fellatahs accuse all the other people of Soudan of impiety and heterodoxy, and maintain that force of arms should be used to bring them into the right way. They pretend that their neighbours have changed and adulterated the principles of Islam; that they have violated the penal prescriptions of the law, by allowing pecuniary commutations, that is to say, an illicit trade proscribed by the sacred book; that they have sapped the basis of religion, and have corrupted the rules of Islam, by proclaiming illegal and criminal innovations as legitimate; by shameful habits; by adultery and incest; by the use of fermented drinks; by the passion for amusements, songs, and dances; by the neglect of the daily prescribed prayers; by indulgence of all kinds of ill-regulated desires; and by the refusal of tithes for the poor. Each of these crimes and shames deserves vengeance, and calls for a Holy War in all the states of Soudan.
These thoughts had been stirring for many years in the minds of the Fullans, and electrifying their imaginations, when suddenly there rose a man amongst them revered for his piety and his religion. This was the Fakih Zaky, known in Europe as Dam-fodio, which means the son of Fody. He set himself up as a reformer, and proclaimed a Holy War. A vast crowd responded to his voice. Then he sent to the King of Mella, capital of the kingdom of the Fullans, a letter, in which he blamed him sincerely for violating the precepts of God and his Prophet; and ordered him to conform to the law that was pure and holy, to abolish the taxes and customs on transit, and follow exactly the penal laws enacted by the Koran. “In a word,” he said, “thou and thy subjects must submit rigorously to the maxims of Islam and do penitence, or I will rise against thee, as formerly did the just Abou-Bekr against those who refused the tithe of Charity.” When the King of Mella received this letter he was shaken by rage and indignation. “What!” he exclaimed, “this wretch threatens me with a revolt, and pretends that we are not Muslims! Let us get rid of him.” He collected an army and sent it against Zaky, ordering his vizier to put the whole of the insurgents to the sword, except Zaky, who was to be taken alive and brought bound. News of the approach of this army was brought Zaky, who said,—“This is what I desire.” He collected his partisans, and quietly awaited the approach of the enemy. When they appeared, he told his men to mount on horseback, but himself, from humility, got upon a camel, on the back of which was a sheep’s skin. Then he made this speech: “Remember that paradise is found under the shadow of swords. These wretches are come to fight for an impious cause. We have called them into the right way, and to reward us they threaten us with arms. Meet their attack with courage, and be certain of victory; for the Prophet has said, ‘Even if a mountain is guilty against another mountain it is swallowed up in the earth.’”
These words of Zaky filled his partisans with enthusiasm, and they aspired to the glory of martyrdom. They advanced against the royal army and routed it, and gathered immense quantities of spoil. Then Zaky pushed on to the capital, where he defeated the king himself, and took him prisoner, and slew him, and placed himself on the throne instead. Then he organised the country and raised troops. He chose a lieutenant, whom he ordered to comply scrupulously with the text of the law; to exact only the legal tithes, and to raise no more taxes than justice commanded. This done, he set out with his army for Kashna. The hope of plunder collected an immense number of people to join him; for whatever was taken he distributed, without keeping anything for himself. From Mella to Kashna there are about thirty stages, which were traversed without accident. Even when on a journey Zaky fasted every day, and never allowed many hours to pass without purifying himself by ablution. When he was near the city of Kashna, the king, who had heard of the revolution of Mella, came out to meet him. Zaky now sent a manifesto similar to that which he had despatched to his deposed prince. The King of Kashna tore it in pieces, and burst into invectives against the Fullans, and attacked them, but was defeated and killed. The Fakih proclaimed himself master of the country, and his troops plundered the property of the king. He, however, established the severest rules of justice, and made himself beloved by all. He threatened the severest punishment to whoever committed the slightest transgression of the law, or against religion. His criers announced that when the Muezzin called to prayer, whoever failed to be at the mosque should be punished with death. After having spent some time in regulating the country, he announced to his troops that he was determined to punish all the kings and sultans of Soudan for their injustice and impiety, and began his march against Niffy.
Let us here remark a singular coincidence. The war of Reform, undertaken by the Fakih Zaky, began at the same time that the armed Protestantism of the Wahabites triumphed in the Hejaz.[46] Whilst the fiery Fellatah was proceeding with his religious conquests, Saoud, son of Abd-el-Azeez, the Wahabite, had come out of Derieh, and marched in arms against Mekka and Medina, under pretence that the people of the sacred territory had abandoned the primitive ways of the law of Islam. It was according to these principles of Puritanism that Saoud destroyed the tombs of the saints and the companions of the Prophet. He instituted an overseer of police, whose duty it was to beat those who abstained from the mosque. He proscribed the use of tumback and tobacco, and forbade the use of certain books, condemned the custom of praying to the Prophet, and allowed of no invocation but to God. If he heard an individual mix the name of the Prophet with his oaths and protestations, whatever they were, he caused him to be seized and beaten, and said to him,—“Acknowledge thy fault and expiate it, polytheist that thou art!” Zaky fell into the same extremes of rigour.