The fish in the river Ada, I am told, consist of nearly the same species as those of the Nile in Upper Egypt. They are caught in wicker baskets, and used for food.—The natives have also a way of drying them, but it does not prevent their being so offensive to the smell, as to be useless to any but themselves. Numerous huts built of reeds are found on the bank of the river, as well for the use of the fishermen, as of those who ensnare the ferocious animals that come to drink its waters.
The Chameleon abounds in Dar-Fûr; the viverra Ichneumon, nims, and almost all the species of lizard are also seen there.
Of Serpents, the Coluber Hayé of Egypt, the Coluber vipera, and the anguis Colubrina, were the only ones I saw: and no more than one or two of each; though it was represented to me that in some places they are numerous. The Fûrians have not the art of charming them, like the Egyptians and Indians. I exposed myself to much ridicule by collecting a number of chameleons in my apartment, to observe their character and changes; the people there think them impure, and relate many foolish stories concerning them.
A great number of insects and reptiles, which I had taken care to conserve, accident has deprived me of, and I cannot now furnish a catalogue. The scorpion is small, of a brown hue, and his venom not extremely violent. The natives cure the sting by immediately applying to the part a bruised onion, which is renewed till the pain subsides.
The white ant, or Termites, is found in vast numbers, and is exceedingly destructive, eating through every thing within its reach, whether vegetables, cloth, leather, paper, provisions, &c. A bull’s hide, if not newly covered with tar, is no defence against it. The Apis mellifera (common bee) abounds; but they have no hives, and the wild honey is commonly of a dark colour, and unpleasant taste. I have observed a beetle, not very large, which is characterized by burying its eggs in a small ball of horse’s or other dung, and then rolling the ball from place to place in the sand or clay, till it attains a size greatly exceeding that of the animal itself. Great quantities of cochineal are visible; which, if the natives, or the Egyptians who visit them, had any reflection or spirit, it might be thought would be applied to some useful purpose.
The locust of Arabia, Gryllus, is very common, and is frequently roasted and eaten, particularly by the slaves. The Scarabeus Ceratoniæ; the Culex Egypti, namûs in Ar. (mosquito), is particularly vexatious in the rainy season.
METALS AND MINERALS.
Of metals, the number found in the district known to me, is small. But in its neighbourhood, to the South and West, if I have been rightly informed, almost all descriptions are to be met with. The copper brought by the merchants from the territories of certain idolatrous tribes bordering on Fûr, is of the finest quality, in colour resembling that of China, and appears to contain a portion of zink, being of the same pale hue. The large rings into which it is formed (of ten or twelve pounds weight each) are very malleable: of the ore I never was able to procure a specimen. Iron is to be found in abundance, and the Pagan negroes, on whom the Mohammedans look with contempt, are the artists that extract it from the ore; an art of which the former, as far as I have seen, are ignorant. Though their iron, through the stupidity of the inhabitants, never acquire the more useful character of steel, its effects in the form of knives and javelins are yet commensurate with the malign dispositions of mankind. And though soft and perishable, with increased trouble in renewing the edge, the tools formed of it answer all the purposes of their rude workmanship.
The method by which I observed a workman supply the defect of a furnace for fusing metals appeared worth noticing. He had a leathern bag, which, on compression, forced the air through a wooden pipe for bellows, and placed over the fire, made in a small hole in the earth, the remains of a water jar, with which simple apparatus the effect was rapid and not inconsiderable.
Silver, lead, and tin, I have never heard mentioned here, but as coming from Egypt. Of gold, in the countries to the East and West, the supply is abundant. Little comes to Dar-Fûr, except by accident. What is produced in the West reaches the northern markets by means of other caravans. The monarch occasionally obtains a small quantity for his own use from the East.