Great African Travellers: From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley

by William Henry Giles Kingston

On the termination of the Rhamadan, June 1st, the sheikh again took the field, proceeding eastward along the shores of the Chad, against a powerful Biddomah chief, called Amanook, who held a strong position on some islands near the shores of the lake. The object of the expedition had been kept a great secret till the neighbourhood of the country to be attacked was reached. The army marched through the country of the Shooas, a people who live entirely in tents of leather and huts of rushes, changing but from necessity, on the approach of an enemy or want of pasturage for their numerous flocks. They seldom fight, except in their own defence. Their principal food is the milk of camels, in which they are rich, and also that of cows and sheep; often they take no other nourishment for months together. They have the greatest contempt for and hatred of the negro nations, and yet are always tributary either to one black sultan or another. There is no example of their ever having peopled a town or established themselves in a permanent home.

The sheikh having halted the main body of his army, Barca Gana advanced with a thousand men, being joined also by four hundred Dugganahs. They found the chief, Amanook, posted, with all his cattle and people, on a narrow pass between two lakes, having in front of him a lake which was neither deep nor wide, but full of holes, with a deceitful, muddy bottom.

The sheikh’s troops had long been without food, and the sight of the bleating flocks and lowing herds was too much for them. Barca Gana, however, seeing the strength of the enemy’s position, wished to halt, and to send over spearmen on foot, with shields, who would lead the attack. The younger chiefs however exclaimed: “What! be so near them as this, and not eat them? No, let us on: this night their flocks and women will be ours!” In this cry the Shooas also joined. The general yielded, and the attack commenced. The Arabs led the way with the Dugganahs. On arriving in the middle of the lake the horses sunk up to their saddle-bows; most of them were out of their depth, and others floundering in the mud; the ammunition of the riders became wet, their guns useless. As they neared the shore, Amanook’s men hurled at them with unerring aim a volley of their light spears, charging with their strongest and best horses, trained and accustomed to the water, while at the same time another body, having crossed the lake higher up, came by the narrow pass and cut off the retreat of all those who had advanced into the lake. The sheikh’s people now fell thickly. Barca Gana, although attacking against his own judgment, was among the foremost, and received a severe spear-wound in his back, which pierced through four tobes and his iron chain armour, while attacked by five chiefs, who seemed determined on finishing him. One of these he thrust through with his long spear, and his own people coming to his rescue with a fresh horse, he was saved, though thirty of his followers were either killed or captured by Amanook’s people.

It was expected that Amanook would attack the camp, but, instead of so doing, he sent word that he would treat with the sheikh, and that he wished for peace. If peace was not to be obtained, however, he swore by the Prophet that he would turn fish, and fly to the centre of the water; and, should even the sheikh himself come, he would bring the wady against him.

The major and his companions visited the general, whom they found suffering much from his wound, but Denham acting as surgeon, it in a short time healed. Barca Gana then strongly advised him to return to Kouka, showing that his hopes of getting to the east would certainly be disappointed.

A little sheikh, who had arrived from Fezzan, endeavoured to poison the mind of El Kanemy against the English, telling him that they had conquered India and probably fully intended to attack Bornou.

On the major’s return to Kouka he found that Captain Clapperton had just returned from Soudan. On going to the hut where he was lodged, Denham did not know his friend as he lay extended on the floor, so great was the alteration in him; and he was about to leave the place, when Clapperton called out his name. Notwithstanding this, so great were Clapperton’s spirits, that he spoke of returning to Soudan after the rains. He had performed a very interesting journey, the particulars of which will shortly be narrated.

The sheikh had just before made himself very unpopular with the female portion of his subjects, having, in consequence of his determination to improve the morality of his people, issued an order such as the most savage of despots have never ventured to enact. One morning the gates of the city were kept closed at daylight, and sixty women who had

a bad reputation were brought before him. Five were sentenced to be hanged in the public market, and four flogged. Two of the latter expired under the lash, while the former were dragged, with their heads shaved, through the market, with ropes round their necks, and were then strangled and thrown by twos into a hole previously prepared.