Part 29 (1/2)
[78] Amongst the Servians the mother's brother was ”a very important personage.” Ranke says:--”Amongst the early Germans, families were held together by a peculiar preference on the mother's side; the mother's brother being, according to ancient custom, a very important personage. In the Sclavonic-Servian tribe, there prevails, to a greater extent, a strong and lively feeling of brotherly and sisterly affection; the brother is proud of having a sister; the sister swears by the name of her brother.”--(_See_ Mrs. Alexander Kerr's admirable translation of Ranke's _Servian History, &c._, chap. iv., p. 56.)
CHAPTER XIX.
ABANDON THE TOUR TO SOUDAN.
Violent Act of a Touarick on Slaves.--Visit to the Princess Lilla Fatima.--Mode of grinding Corn.--Dilatoriness of Commercial Transactions.--Grandees of Ghat Town.--Khanouhen refuses his Present.--Rumours of the Conquest of Algeria spread throughout Africa.--Small Breed of Animals in Sahara.--Queer circ.u.mstance of unearthly Voices.--The Cold becomes intense.--Arrival of Sheikh Berka.--Hateetah in good Humour.--My Targhee friend, Sidi Omer.--Visit from Kandarka; his Character.--Visit to the aged Berka, and find the Giant.--Hateetah's Political Gossips.--At a loss which Route to take, and how to proceed.--Superst.i.tions connected with the Butcher.--Zeal of an old Hag against The Christian.--Out of Humour.--Reported departure of Caravans.--Jabour calls with a Patient.--Visit Bel Kasem, and find Khanouhen.--Political Factions of Azgher Touaricks.--Giants in The Desert.--Fanciful a.n.a.logies of origin of Peoples.--Hierarchy of the Sheikhs.--Population, Arms, and Military Forces of the Ghat Touaricks.--The Mahry or Maharee.--Camels named from their Fleetness.--Touarghee Court of Justice.--Amphitheatrical style of Touaricks lounging.--Amount of Customs-Dues paid by Ghat Traders.--Free Trade in Sahara.
_1st January, 1846._--YESTERDAY I saw two slaves, both of whom had gashes on their arms and legs, the blood flowing from one poor fellow profusely.
I asked,
”Who has done this?”
_The Slaves._--”A Touarghee.”
”What for?” I continued.
_The Slaves._--”Nothing.”
I found afterwards the slaves were doing some work in the gardens which the Touarghee thought should have been given to him. Touaricks seldom get into pa.s.sion, but when the blood boils the dagger is immediately had recourse to for the arrangement of their quarrels. The Touaricks have many slaves, but male slaves, for they rarely mix their blood with the negro race. Called upon Hateetah with his extra present of four dollars'
value. He then began in an excited humour, ”To-morrow come to me, Shafou will be here. We must arrange to send a maharee to the English Sultan.” I suggested his brother should take it to Tripoli. He sprung up from his bed with joy, ”Yes, good, Shafou and I will arrange everything. n.o.body else must come here but you. It must be all done in secret.” Hateetah is frightened of Khanouhen, and knows the Sultan has no will of his own unless kept apart from that powerful prince. Touaricks, when something is to be had, soon gets excited, like the rest of us.
Afterwards, Said and I carried the present for Khanouhen to the prince's house. I spoke to the Governor, who recommended me, by all means, notwithstanding the Sheikh's protestations, to send him a handsome present. I submitted to the Governor's opinion. Khanouhen resides in some apartments of the Governor's palace; this is the prince's town residence.
We were conducted to the apartment of his lady, Lilla Fatima, (the prince being out,) by her nephews. Her Royal Highness received us courteously, and the interview was extremely amusing. I began by apologizing for the top of ”the head of sugar[79]” being broken off. This made the lady almost faint. ”What!” she protestingly exclaimed, ”Khanouhen is The Great Sultan! Shafou is compared to him like the sand! (taking up a little sand from the floor and scattering it about with her hands.) My husband is lord and master of all the Touaricks. He has the word ready; from his lips, all the Touaricks, all the merchants, all the strangers, all the Christians who come here, receive their commands and instantly obey them.
And you bring him a loaf of sugar with the head knocked off! Oh, this is not pretty! This is not right, and I am afraid for your sake.” I pleaded inability to find another loaf this morning, but promised to bring one to-morrow. Her Royal Highness then begged for more things. ”You see the _grunfel_ (cloves) is not for me; it is for Khanouhen's other wife in the country. Khanouhen will take it all away to her, and leave me none. Now you must, indeed, bring me some _grunfel_.” I then recommended her to get it divided, at which she laughed heartily, adding, ”Ah, Khanouhen likes her in the country better than me.” I then put Her Royal Highness in a good humour by telling her I would send her some beads, and if I should return to Tripoli, and come back to Ghat, I would bring her several presents. She added, ”My husband Khanouhen related to me all the things which you intended to give him, which you showed him in your room. Also, you said you would give him a little lock and key, where is it?”
This I had not brought with me, thinking the Sheikh would not accept of such a trifling thing, but I was mistaken. The Touaricks will take everything you offer them, and not hurt your self-complacency of conferring a favour by refusal. I must finish with this lady, whose tongue ran along at a tremendous rate, by adding, that to show her regard for me, (and for herself likewise, wis.h.i.+ng me to return to Tripoli to fetch her some nice presents,) her Royal Highness gave me this advice: ”For G.o.d's sake don't go to Soudan. You'll die there soon. How can you, a Christian, live there with such a white skin? The people who go there are all black, and have large swollen faces, (imitating them by blowing out her cheeks,) they are puffed out and nasty, they become as ugly as the devil himself.” The town wife and lady of the Sheikh, who is heir-apparent to the Touarghee throne of Ghat, is herself a comely bustling body, rather stout, of middle size, about thirty-five years of age; and were she dressed in European style, she might, with her fine black eyes, look as well as some of our courtly dames. Her Royal Highness had nothing on but a plain Soudan black cotton gown, with short sleeves, and a light woollen barracan, as a sort of shawl, wrapped round her shoulders, partly covering her head. She had a few charms and some coloured beads adorning the neck; two gold bracelets on her wrist, and two thick hoops of silver round her ancles. A pair of coloured-leather sandals, made in Soudan, were bound on her feet. She had no colour, save the usual sallow of Moorish ladies, on her cheek, but she had no disfigurement of tattooing or other marks upon her, so common in Saharan beauties.
After the delivery of the present I called to see the Governor, the lady's brother. Told him of my sudden resolution of abandoning the journey to Soudan the present year. He highly approved of my resolution, and seemed relieved of a great embarra.s.sment, for, although very cautious in what he said, he always considered himself responsible more or less for my safety. I found his Excellency, but not to my surprise, purchasing half a dozen slaves, young lads. The Marabout merchant does not scruple to deal in human beings. The fact is, his Excellency scruples at no kind of trade, by which he may ”turn a penny,” or ”save a penny.”
Returned home and wrote to Tripoli; but when the letter was finished the courier was gone. As often happens, was glad afterwards the letter did not go.
The mode of grinding corn here, if I may use the term grinding, is of the most primitive character possible. It is nothing more or less than rubbing the corn between two stones, the lower stone being large and smoothed off on its surface, with an inclined plane, and the upper stone very small compared to the lower. Thus--
[Ill.u.s.tration]
A small basket catches the meal as it falls off, or is pushed off by the person, who holds the upper stone in his hands, and works it up and down over the surface of the lower stone. Slaves and women so grind wheat, barley, ghusub, &c. The meal is scarcely ever winnowed. In Aheer, a large wooden pestle and mortar are used for grinding, rather pounding, the corn. The slaves living with me have a huge wooden pestle and mortar, and we frequently use it. It requires great tact in the pounding, otherwise the grain will be continually flying out. I pounded dates with it, which with a little olive oil, and roasted grain pounded with them, adding a few grains of Soudan pepper and a little dry cheese, make very nice cake, or it is esteemed nice cake in Ghat. Corn and ghusub are given to day-labourers instead of money. A slave will have about a quarter of a peck of barley, or other grain, given him for a day's work; occasionally is added to it, a few dates or a little liquid b.u.t.ter: on this he must live.
The Souk of Ghat, thank heaven, is nearly closed. The business, which has been transacted here during the last month, would have been done in England in one or two days at most. But our Saharan merchants are determined to do everything, _be-shwaiah, be-shwaiah_, ”by little and by little.” The greatest trial of patience for an European merchant frequenting this Souk would be the dilatoriness with which commercial transactions are carried on. A month usually pa.s.ses before the Souk opens, and six weeks more are consumed before a merchant can or will get off, although, as his merchandize consists chiefly of slaves, his delay is all against himself, eating him up and his profits. The details of the traffic are really curious. A slave is heard of one day, talked about the next, searched out the day after, seen the next, reflections next day, price fixed next, goods offered next, squabblings next, bargain upset next, new disputes next, goods a.s.sorted next, final arrangement next, goods delivered and exchanged next, &c., &c., and the whole of this melancholy exhibition of a wrangling cupidity over the sale of human beings is wound up by the present of a few parched peas, a few Barbary almonds, and a little tobacco being given to the Soudanese merchants, the parties separating with as much self-complacency, as if they had arranged the mercantile affairs of all Africa.
_2nd._--Visited this evening Hateetah. He says, the Sultan and himself will call upon me to-morrow, and arrange the present which is to be sent to Her Majesty. Afterwards called upon the Governor, to ask him where Haj Abdullah of Bengazi resided. He leaves for Fezzan in eight or ten days, and has offered to take me with him. Called afterwards on Mohammed Kafah.
Found him friendly, but he, a.s.sisted by his brother, began again to annoy me about Mahomet, Paradise, and h.e.l.l-fire. I told them, ”All good people, whatever their creed, must be blessed with the favour of G.o.d. Such was the native sentiment in all our hearts.” Kafah said, ”Many English have turned Mussulmans.” I told him very few, and those mostly good-for-nothing runaways. He asked why we did not repeat their formula?
I told him we all did the first part, ”There is but one G.o.d;” but the second was prohibited by Christians. I left them very angry. It is next to impossible to induce Saharan Mahometans to think favourably of Christianity. If Christianity ever be propagated here, it must be through the means of youth and children. The merchants Kafah and Tunkana, the Kady Tahar, and Haj Ahmed the Governor, are the knot of personages and grandees in this little Saharan town. All the rest are sorry traders, camel-drivers, and slaves. The Touaricks are only town visitors, and always retire to their country districts at the close of the periodic marts.
Weather to-day is excessively cold, the wind blowing from the north-east.
Everybody is frightened at the wind, and there is no Souk, or market, till very late. I myself feel the cold extremely, so I am not surprised to see the Soudanese people all shut up in their houses crowding over a smoking fire, with the rooms full of smoke, and nearly suffocating the inmates.
To my great surprise, and contrary to every expectation, Prince Khanouhen has sent his present back in a great rage, not directly, indeed, to me, but to my neighbour Bel-Kasem, saying, with a thousand different remarks, embellished with oaths, ”I will not accept of such a miserable present.”
Bel Kasem calls upon me in a prodigious fright, prostrate under the ire of the incensed Chieftain, and thus pleads in his favour: ”Khanouhen considers himself a greater Sheikh even than Shafou the Sultan. He is greatly dissatisfied with so small a present; increase it a little for G.o.d's sake--if you are going to Soudan, you must add something considerable: if not, just a little to pacify him. Khanouhen has got a large belly; pray satisfy him, for he can do more for you than any other Sheikh in Ghat. Indeed, Khanouhen is very angry with you for sending him such a trifle, and for taking it to his wife. Why did you take the present to his wife? Now, take my advice: the Sheikh just dropped out, if you will give him ten dollars in money, he will send you the present of goods back. Send him only the value of the goods in money, and then he will be satisfied. Khanouhen has got a stomach bigger than that of all the Sheikhs. He rages against you like fire: satisfy him for Heaven's sake.”