Fire and Sword in the Sudan Part 6

I left Dara at the end of January, 1881, and, marching _via_ Toweisha and Dar Homr, I reached El Obeid in nine days, and proceeded at once to the Mudiria to pay my respects to Mohammed Pasha Said, the Governor. He gave me a very kind reception, and asked me to be his guest; but as I had previously known Ahmed Bey Dafalla, who had a horse ready to take me to the quarters he had specially prepared for me, I thanked the Governor and proceeded to Dafalla's house, which was close to the gate. Here I found everything most comfortable. I was ushered into a large room hung with richly embroidered curtains, whilst laid out on two tables were all sorts of pleasant drinks and eatables, cigars, cigarettes, etc.; in fact, I could see that my host had done everything that was possible to make my stay pleasant.

Mohammed Pasha Said now came to return my call, and invited us both to dinner; and after he had gone I had visits from all the notables of the town. That evening at dinner he told me that he was coming to see me the following morning on official business. He duly arrived the next day, and, seeing my three Black boys at the door, his first question was, "Are these boys free, or slaves?" I at once replied "free," and that they were in my service of their own free will and accord; they then showed him their manumission papers, which they kept in little bra.s.s boxes. The Pasha now turned to me and said, "My friend, you are a more careful man than I. I only wanted to take a rise out of you; but unfortunately you have turned the tables on me." This little episode brought us into a discussion on the slave question, and I remarked that in general terms I agreed with him that from the standpoint of morality no doubt the abolition of slavery was by all means to be recommended, but that in actually bringing these measures into effect we should do so with the greatest circ.u.mspection, and should not hurry matters, otherwise we should deprive the country of its means of obtaining labour, and we should also place the slave-owners in great difficulties by any sudden enforcement of the law. Gradual and resolute action was what was required. Mohammed Pasha Said quite concurred in these views, pointing out that everything should be done to improve the relations between the natives and the Egyptians and Turks, by whom they were governed, but that the sudden abolition of a system which had been a national custom from remotest times would most certainly lead to estrangement and difficulties.

I did not make a long stay in El Obeid, and the following morning I started off on camels, accompanied by two Maalia Sheikhs who had caught me up on the road from Darfur. I had already telegraphed to Dr.

Zurbuchen to get a room ready for me, and Said Pasha had officially reported my departure.

On the third day after leaving El Obeid we pa.s.sed the station of Abu Garad, where I found a telegram from Zurbuchen begging me to be his guest; and the following day we crossed the Nile at Tura el Hadra at the spot where I had said good-bye to Gordon, and whose last words I remembered had been verified,--"I shall perhaps go to Europe."

The camel I was riding was a young one which Ahmed Dey Dafalla had bought for me, and they had forgotten to tell me that he should be ridden with both halter and nose-rein; consequently when we set off in the dark and I found he would not go on, I drove him, with the result that he set off at a gallop, and no amount of tugging at the nose-ring had the smallest effect in stopping him. He ran out of the track straight for some trees, and in an instant one of the branches, striking me in the chest, hurled me to the ground some yards away. I fell on my back with such a thump that it seemed to me as if two pillars of fire had shot out of my eyes up to the heavens, and for a few minutes I lost consciousness; but my kava.s.s, who had rushed after me, picked me up, pulled at my joints, and turned my neck about, and in ten minutes I had come to and was able to mount the camel, which, when I had fallen, had patiently stood beside me. We rode till midnight; but the pain in my chest and spitting of blood obliged me to halt; after a few hours, however, I was able to move on again, and at length, bruised and sore, we reached Khartum seven days after leaving El Obeid.

Here I found Zurbuchen, who welcomed me heartily, and carried me off as his guest to a house near the Roman Catholic Mission, which had belonged to the late Latif Debono, a Maltese and a well-known slave-dealer.

The Governor-General had sent his kava.s.s to meet me with a message that I was to call on him during the afternoon; after a short rest, therefore, I presented myself at the palace, where I was well received by Rauf Pasha and his secretary, Marcopoli Bey, whom I had known before as Gordon's interpreter. I soon noticed that Rauf Pasha's cordiality had somewhat cooled down; and to my utter astonishment he announced that the leave of absence for which I had asked, in order to proceed to Cairo, had been granted me, and that Riaz Pasha had just telegraphed to that effect. "But," said I, "I never wrote to Cairo for leave of absence."

"Then what does this telegram mean?" said he. "I think that you, as a soldier, should have known better than to have acted in this irregular manner. You should have applied for your leave through me, and not direct to Cairo; and now you say you never asked for any!" Marcopoli then read out the telegram, which ran as follows: "To the Governor-General of the Sudan: Three months leave on full pay has been granted to R. Slatin, Mudir of western Darfur."

I was at a complete loss to understand what had occurred, and all I could do was to repeat that I had not asked for leave. I could see perfectly well that Rauf Pasha felt insulted at my apparent disregard for his position, and in this I fully sympathised with him. The next day, however, light was thrown on the matter. Some time previously I had written home saying that I had been suffering lately from fever, and my dear mother, who is now dead, in her loving concern for her absent son, at once thought that I was concealing from her some terrible malady; she had, therefore, written to the authorities in Egypt, urging that I should be recalled to Cairo for medical treatment, and she was thus the innocent cause of this estrangement between Rauf Pasha and myself. The matter explained, the Governor-General at once apologised for having wrongfully accused me of irregularity, and was touched by my dear mother's love for me, saying that such affection can alone be returned by the deepest love and obedience on the part of the children. "I myself," said he, "love my mother with all my heart; though she is only a poor Abyssinian, and formerly a slave. At all times I am ready to ask her advice, and follow it in all matters relating to the family and home." Since this conversation I have often had occasion to notice the genuine love and affection which exists between parents and children of this race.

During my stay in Khartum I had frequent talks with Rauf Pasha on the state of my province, and I suggested that a more just and lenient form of taxation should be introduced in the Fasher and Kebkebia districts. I also asked him to allow me to order the Arab tribes to supply annually a certain number of young slaves, who should form a contingent from which the vacancies caused by sickness, deaths, and other casualties amongst the troops could be filled up; and I further proposed that the Arabs should be allowed to pay their tribute in slaves instead of cattle, as by this means I hoped to win back Suleiman Zubeir's Bazingers, who were scattered amongst the tribes, and whose knowledge of the use of fire-arms was, in my opinion, a continual source of danger to the Government. Rauf Pasha concurred in all these suggestions, and gave me written orders to this effect.

When I arrived in Khartum, a certain Darfuri named Ha.s.san Wad Saad en Nur, whose father had been killed with Vizir Ahmed Shata in Shakka, came to me, and begged me to intercede for him to be permitted to return to his country; meeting Rauf Pasha shortly afterwards, I begged him to allow this, and he gave instructions for his discharge to be at once made out. A few days later, however, he sent for me and explained that after further inquiry he had decided to cancel Nur's discharge. I explained that he had only acted like the rest during the revolt, and that now it was not possible for him to do any further harm. Rauf Pasha, however, remained resolute, and I, feeling annoyed, retorted that as I had given Nur my word that he should return with me, it remained for Rauf Pasha to decide whether he would let him go or whether he would discharge me, and, bidding him good-bye, I marched off. Two days later he again sent for me, and said that I was wrong in having given Nur my word so quickly. I fully admitted the justice of this censure, and to my surprise he then said that he had reconsidered the matter, and had decided to let Nur go; and as regards myself he thought me a stubborn but capable official, and had in consequence requested His Highness the Khedive, Mohammed Tewfik Pasha, to appoint me Governor-General of Darfur, with the t.i.tle of Bey. I thanked him for his kind words, and a.s.sured him that I should do my utmost to justify his confidence in me.

Rauf Pasha now asked me to state in writing that I would be responsible for the future good behaviour of Nur; and this I did gladly, feeling convinced that after all my trouble on his behalf the man would prove loyal and faithful. On returning to my house I sent for Nur, who had spent two days of suspense, dreading that his discharge would be refused; and when I told him the good news, he fell at my feet and poured out his grat.i.tude in the most voluble terms. I felt that he was a man of honour, and that I could trust him: little did I know that I had taken a snake into my bosom.

My short stay in Khartum pa.s.sed rapidly in the company of my many friends. Bishop Comboni and Fathers Ohrwalder and Dichtl had arrived from Cairo towards the end of January, 1881, as well as Ha.s.san Pasha, the chief of the Financial Department, Busati Bey, Consul Hansal, and others. Ohrwalder and Dichtl put up in my quarters; and many a long talk used we to have over our own beloved country.

On 25th January, 1881, Gessi arrived at Khartum very seriously ill.

During his journey from Meshra er Rek he had been hemmed in by the "Suds," or barriers of floating vegetation through which travellers must at times cut their way with axes. For three months and more he had struggled hopelessly to make his way through them, and the terrible sufferings undergone by him and his men through famine and sickness are almost indescribable. He lost the majority of his men and crew, and acts of cannibalism were of daily occurrence. He was at length rescued by Marno in the steamer "Bordein," and brought to Khartum, where he was most carefully tended by the Mission sisters; but the shock to his system had been so great that he could not recover his strength, despite every effort made by Dr. Zurbuchen. It was at length decided to try and send him to Egypt, and we made all arrangements to make his journey as comfortable as possible. He was particularly anxious to take with him his servant Almas, who happened to be a eunuch; but Rauf Pasha, fearing that it might create a scandal, and that strictures might be pa.s.sed on his government of the Sudan, for a long time refused permission for him to go. Yielding, however, to the persistence of Zurbuchen and myself, he at length authorised it, and on 11th March we carried poor Gessi in a sort of litter to the Governor's dahabia, in which he was towed to Berber, thence he was carried across to Suakin, where he arrived on 10th April, and, embarking a fortnight later, reached Suez on 28th, too weak almost to move. He was taken to the French hospital, where he expired two days later.

Meanwhile matters in Darfur had not been progressing very satisfactorily. Zogal Bey wrote that Omar Wad Darho had been conducting himself very badly at Shakka, and I showed the report to Rauf Pasha, who telegraphed that he was to return at once to El Fasher.

Having now thoroughly recovered, I decided to return and take up my new duties as soon as possible. Rauf Pasha placed a steamer at my disposal, and, accompanied by Bishop Comboni and Father Ohrwalder, whom I promised to mount on my camels as far as El Obeid, we quitted Khartum on 29th March. Consul Hansal, Marcopoli Bey, Zurbuchen, and Marquet travelled with us in the steamer as far as Tura el Hadra, and here we bade them good-bye. Little did I think that one only of that company should I ever meet again, and under what strange circ.u.mstances I was once more to return to the capital of the Sudan. I was very young, the heavy responsibilities of my new and important position occupied all my thoughts, and I was full of high hopes for the future; but fate had a strange and terrible destiny in store for me.

After five days' march we reached El Obeid, and from here the Bishop made a tour through Jebel Nuba, while Father Ohrwalder remained at El Obeid, and was eventually sent to the mission station of Delen, in southern Kordofan. I stayed in El Obeid a few days only, and, having received telegraphic orders to proceed to Foga, I bid my two friends farewell. One of them--the good Bishop--I was destined never to see again; he died in Khartum on 10th October, 1881. The other,--my dear friend Ohrwalder,--like myself, was soon to go through many strange and horrible experiences before we were again to meet as fellow-captives of the as yet unknown Mahdi, who was shortly to overthrow every vestige of Government authority in the Sudan.

Two days later I quitted El Obeid, and, travelling _via_ Abu Haraz and Shallota, reached Foga, where I found a telegram from His Highness the Khedive, officially appointing me Governor-General of Darfur, and directing me to proceed forthwith to El Fasher, to take over the duties from Ali Bey Sherif. I had some urgent business to do in Dara, and several private letters to attend to; but I thought it advisable to proceed at once to El Fasher, where I arrived on 20th April. Here I found much intriguing going on, from the Mudir down to the lowest clerk in the office; the Kadi and his employes were all at variance, and even the clerks of the law-courts had sued each other for contempt. Several pet.i.tions had been filed against officials; there were all sorts of charges pending against false witnesses; cases regarding breaches of morality abounded; in fact, it would have required years to settle the ma.s.s of suits and pet.i.tions brought before me for decision. A few I managed to settle, but I regret to say that I had to leave the greater number pending. The most important case was that against Nur Angara, his sanjak, and the Kulkul officials, who, with their complainants, had all been summoned to El Fasher, whence, after freely bribing the officials with money and slaves, they were sent back to Kulkul without any decision having been given. There was a large box full of correspondence on this subject, most of which was not worth the paper it was written on; I therefore sent instructions to Nur Angara, his officials, and the complainants, who were all living at Kulkul without work, to come to El Fasher; and, pending his arrival, I endeavoured to establish some sort of order in regard to tributes, taxation, etc. Several cases had also been filed against the late Mudir, Said Bey Guma,--who was at the same time commander of the troops,--but it was impossible to prove them; and as it was imperative that I should have an a.s.sistant, I reinstated him as Mudir of El Fasher. There was no doubt he was an intriguer; besides being excessively parsimonious, he was not liked by the officers, and was famed for his vocabulary of bad language; but at the same time he was a brave soldier in the field, and this quality,--especially amongst Egyptians,--was excessively rare in these distant regions. I therefore re-employed him, on condition that he would amend his ways; and I frankly told him that if he gave me the slightest trouble I should discharge him, and pack him off to Khartum. I knew this would be a terrible punishment; for, though an Egyptian, he had become greatly attached to Darfur.

Major Ha.s.san Effendi Rifki, commanding at Dara, I transferred to the command of a battalion at El Fasher, under Ali Bey Sherif, as he was constantly drunk; but no sooner had he come under my observation than he appeared before me twice in a state of intoxication, and I was obliged to discharge him and send him to Khartum. Meanwhile, Nur Angara and the host of defendants and complainants duly arrived, and I very soon found out that the latter had been for the most part his friends, through whose help he had become Mudir; but as he had abandoned them, they were anxious to revenge themselves by plotting against him. On the other hand, Nur Angara himself was a most resolute villain; without rhyme or reason, and often merely to satisfy his own brutal pleasure, he shed blood; and as for his views in regard to the property of his fellow creatures, they were beyond the conception of the most advanced Social Democrat in the world. As he was a Bey, and held the rank of colonel, I ordered the proper salute to be fired when he entered the fort, gave him a hearty welcome, and ordered his attendants to be lodged in one of Omar Wad Darho's houses, lying to the north of the town. He was a tall, beardless man, with a dark copper-coloured complexion, and the usual three slits on his cheeks; he had an energetic and wild look, but when talking he appeared to be a perfectly harmless individual. He was a Dongolawi, and had been brought up by the Shaigi, Melek Tumbal, who was formally a sanjak, and claimed descent from the Shaigia kings. When quite a boy he had come to Cairo, and, owing to his connection with Zubeir and his son, he had acquired to some extent the good-will of the Government. He had an old mother of about sixty years of age living in Dongola, and in spite of his wild character she had the same affection and care for her son which Rauf Pasha's mother had for him. It is said that when Gordon was in Dongola, an old woman asked to see him, and on entering, said: "I am Nur Angara's mother, and have come to seek your help." "But," said Gordon, "you have a good-for-nothing son, who pa.s.ses his time in riotous living instead of looking after his old mother."

"Ah!" said the old woman, "may he be always happy! I forgive him, but I want you to help me." Gordon presented her with 50 from his own pocket, and she returned home heaping blessings on his head and on that of her undutiful son.

After speaking some time to Nur Angara about his province, I referred quite casually to his great case, saying that I had had no time to examine carefully into the matter, and that when he and his traducers had rested sufficiently, I proposed sending them on to El Obeid. The next day happened to be the first of Ramadan, and all the people were fasting except Nur Angara, who did little else but drink araki and om bilbil, and listen to the music of antelope-horns and noggaras played by his attendants, and every now and then he ordered the big war-drum to be beaten. So irritated was I by this constant noise that I sent orders to him to stop it, telling him at the same time that it was a matter of no concern to me whether he fasted or not; but I declined to allow him--a Moslem, and an Egyptian official--to cause public annoyance, and I told him he had no right to disregard public opinion. "I shall comply with your orders," said he, "and stop my noisy amus.e.m.e.nts; but I never did care for Ramadan, and never shall. I shall continue to drink as much as I like, and I don't care a bra.s.s farthing what people say or think of me." I could see that he was then under the influence of drink, so I ordered him to go to his house and prepare to leave. Two days later he quitted El Fasher for El Obeid, and on arrival there was at once discharged from the Government service. Ali Bey Sherif also left when he had finally handed over the province to me, and I now proposed going on a tour of inspection through the entire country, with the administration of which I had been intrusted.

Just as I was making preparations to start, news arrived that a fight had occurred between the Maheria and Bedeyat Arabs at Bir el Malha; and a few days afterwards Hasaballa, the head-Sheikh of the Maheria, with many of the chiefs, arrived to represent the case. It appeared that the Maheria Arabs had gone, as usual, to the natron fields at Bir el Malha on the Arban road, ten days' march north of El Fasher, to procure natron to sell in Darfur; here they had been surprised and attacked by their deadly enemies, the Bedeyat, who lived in the northeast portion of Wadai, and who captured some fifteen hundred camels, and took upwards of one hundred and sixty men prisoners. These tribes had been at war with each other from remotest times, and men captured were generally ransomed at the rate of ten to fifteen camels a head. It was usually considered that the Bedeyat belonged to Darfur, though they never paid tribute; and that, I suppose, was the reason for the Maheria Sheikhs coming to me to ask for the forcible return of the captured men and camels.

The road between a.s.siut and Darfur had been formerly much used by merchants, and large caravans used to pa.s.s along it; but it had been discovered that it was also used as a slave route, and several merchants had been caught in this traffic and had been exiled; consequently, the Egyptian Government had given orders for the road to be closed. From the first day I arrived in El Fasher, I had heard nothing but complaints about the stoppage of trade along this road, and I had already represented to the Government that this was the direct trade route with Egypt, and would serve as an outlet for the ivory, feathers, skins, and tamarisk fruit with which the country abounded, instead of sending it in a roundabout way to Khartum, and thence down the Nile, involving the merchants in heavy transport expenses as well as long delays. Government now approved of my reopening trade by this road, but held me responsible that no slaves should be sent along it. No sooner had I received this permission than I ordered a caravan to be prepared, and, under the guarantee and guidance of Sheikh Mohammed Wad Idris, some eight hundred camels started for Egypt, and in less than seven weeks I received a telegram _via_ Khartum announcing their safe arrival at a.s.siut.

As I was very anxious to inspect the northern and western frontiers of Darfur, the complaint of the Maheria afforded me a pretext for doing so, and for settling their affairs as well. I therefore ordered them to supply, without delay, one hundred and fifty baggage-camels, and one hundred "suga," or large water-skins made of bullock's hide; this they readily agreed to do, and we named the village of Melek Hagger (the chief of the Zaghawa Arabs), lying to the north of Kebkebia, as the rendezvous.

About the middle of December, 1881, I left El Fasher with two hundred infantry and some irregular Shaigia cavalry, under Omar Wad Darho. This individual, it will be remembered, had been sent by Ali Bey Sherif to settle the Madibbo-Egeil differences, and having found on my return to Darfur that he had acted unjustly, I had discharged him; but he had subsequently told me that he had been ordered by Ali Bey Sherif to collect a considerable sum of money for him, and that, therefore, he could not act otherwise. I pardoned and reinstated him; moreover, most of the Shaigia hors.e.m.e.n in El Fasher were his relatives, and he was the only man who appeared to be able to exercise any degree of authority over them.

The first night after leaving El Fasher we camped near the Migdob wells, about half way to Kobbe; and when it was dark, I happened to stroll towards the wells, accompanied by one of my attendants. I was dressed in much the same way as the soldiers, and it was too dark for me to be recognised; I therefore came close to the well, and watched the women drawing water. Some Shaigia now came up to water their horses, and asked the women for their buckets, which they refused to give. "We shall first fill our jars," they said, "and then you can use the buckets." "Your words are as a punishment sent from G.o.d," replied one of the Shaigia; "this is the result of bringing liberty into the country. By Allah! were it not so, and were not Slatin with us, you and your vessels would very soon be our property." "G.o.d grant him a long life!" was the retort; and I strolled quietly away, thoroughly pleased to have heard with my own ears an admission from the mouths of Sudanese that they were thankful to the Europeans for having released them from the oppression and violence which had hitherto characterised the system of government in this country.

At 11 A. M. the next day we reached Kobbe, the old trade capital of Darfur, which was now inhabited princ.i.p.ally by Jaalin, whose fathers and grandfathers, immigrating from the Nile valley, had intermarried with the local people. The Mamur of this place was a certain Emiliani dei Danziger, of a Venetian family of Austrian origin. He had been given this position by Gordon, and I now sent him to act as Mudir of Dara. The people seemed sorry to say good-bye to him; they said he was a good man, and when slaves and masters disagreed, and the former wanted to leave the latter, he had often been able, by quiet words, to effect a reconciliation. Fortunately, I was not called upon to give any immediate decisions here on the slave question, and the following morning, leaving Kobbe, we marched, _via_ Sanied el Kebir and Bir el Gidar, to Kebkebia, where we arrived in two days. Kebkebia is situated on a rocky plateau, and just at the edge of a deep khor. In the centre of the town was a square, loopholed enclosure about nine feet high, constructed of rough stones and mud, smeared with whitewash, in which were the huts of the officers and the small garrison. Formerly the Mudir and troops were quartered at Kulkul, but had been transferred here about a year and a half before. The buildings had not been completed, and, in consequence, the houses of Nur Angara and the other officials were situated outside the enclosure. The khor contained some good gardens and some very high palm-trees, which gave the town a most picturesque appearance.

After inspecting the garrison under Major Adam Omar, I proceeded to my quarters in the fort; and scarcely had I arrived there when I heard a great noise and commotion, which I was told proceeded from the houses occupied by Nur Angara's women. The noise increased to such an extent that I sent for Nur Angara's brother Idris, and asked him what was the cause. He began by making excuses, saying that it was only a little domestic dispute; but when I pressed him, he admitted that all these women knew that I had sent their lord and master to El Obeid, and they wished to attract my attention. I now sent my chief clerk, Ahmed Effendi Riad, the Kadi of the Mudiria, and Idris to make a full inquiry, and report. They returned shortly, and stated that several of the women complained before Idris of being kept by force in the house, and a few of them said that they had not the necessary means of living. I now sent the same deputation back again, and instructed the Kadi to give the legal wives and their slave-girls injunctions to remain in the house and await their master's orders; and at the same time he was to legally nominate some one to look after them, while Idris was ordered to deduct any expenses incurred in the maintenance of the family, from Nur Angara's pay. A list was then to be made of the remaining women, who were ordered to be sent to their relatives or tribes against receipts; and I further instructed the delegates to remain quite neutral, and force no one to leave the house who did not wish to do so, or who wished to stay until their master's return; I added that I would be responsible that such as wished to remain should be provided for. It is needless for me to add that women's affairs take quite as long a time to settle in the Sudan as they do in Europe; I was not, therefore, surprised that my delegates remained absent two hours, and in the lists which they brought back I found the names of no less than sixty young girls who pleaded for liberty. They had all been captured in the various campaigns, and their tribes were now the loyal subjects of the Government. Their detention by force was, therefore, quite illegal, and I ordered them to be at once sent back to their relatives. Of the remaining thirty, some, owing to family matters, and others for various reasons, expressed a wish to remain, and I gave instructions for them to be supplied with the necessary means for living. As for Idris, I told him that I held him responsible for his brother's household, and that he must either look after the women or release them.

I also found the Bazingers and their wives in this station very discontented, and I did what I could to place matters on a better footing. Several of the neighbouring Sheikhs came to see me here, amongst them Hegam of the Dar Ma.s.salit, Sultan Idris of Dar Gimr, El Mahi of Dar Jebel, and Hamad Tor Jok of the Beni Hussein. I had a most interesting conversation with these men, especially with the Ma.s.salit Sheikh, who was constantly at war with the tribes on the Wadai frontier. He told me it was their custom to go to battle with their wives and children, who always carried the om bilbil. "This drink," said he, "encourages one for the fight; and as for our wives and children, why should we leave them for our enemies? We always go out to conquer or die." I told him that I had heard it was the custom in their tribe to use the skins of their slain enemies as water-skins, in their natural form, and that if he had some of these skins, I hoped he would give me a male and female as specimens. The Sheikh at once denied it; but the other Sheikhs said that it was so, and Hegam admitted that it had been a tribal custom long ago. I begged him to search among his old war-trophies, and he promised he would do so; but he evidently failed to procure one, for he never again mentioned the subject. These Sheikhs afterwards asked to see me privately, and each of them in turn offered me a horse, which, they said, was the custom of their country; but I persistently refused to accept one, much to their chagrin.

After inspecting the books, I left Kebkebia, accompanied by Omar Wad Darho, and directed the infantry to follow us to the village of Melek Hagger, where we had arranged to meet the Maheria Sheikhs. The road now became practically a desert; but as it was winter time, and we were mounted, the journey was not a trying one. About half a day's march beyond Kebkebia, we reached the Ogelli wells, where our hors.e.m.e.n filled their water-bottles, and we started on again at midnight, so as to get over the distance as quickly as possible. In the early morning we were overtaken by some mounted messengers, despatched by Adam Omar with a French cypher message from Marcopoli Bey, in the Governor-General's name, which had been sent to Foga, whence it had been posted on to Kebkebia _via_ El Fasher. It ran as follows: "A Dervish named Mohammed Ahmed has, without just cause, attacked Rashed Bey near Gedir. Rashed Bey and his troops have been annihilated. This revolt is very serious.

Take the necessary steps to prevent malcontents in your province from joining this Dervish." I sent an immediate answer, as follows: "Your message received. I shall take the necessary steps to comply with your orders."

Some time previously, I had been told privately that a religious Sheikh had been causing difficulty to the Government by calling on the natives to resist authority. As, however, I had heard nothing of the matter officially, I concluded it had been satisfactorily settled; but now this annihilation of the Mudir Rashed Bey and his troops was evidently a matter of grave import. The movement must have suddenly a.s.sumed large dimensions; but who would have dreamt the results would have been so terrible and so widespread!

Having started on this expedition, I could not now well give it up without exciting mistrust; but I determined to bring it to a successful issue with the least possible delay. That evening we came across a herd of giraffe, which abound in this desert. Catching sight of us, they at once scattered; and as I was mounted on the fast little pony Gordon had given me, I galloped after one, and in a few minutes caught it up, and could with ease have killed it; but I knew that to cut it up and distribute the flesh would have taken hours, and the thought of this alarming telegram induced me to let the animal go. That night we halted at an ostrich hunter's settlement, and lost no time in lighting a fire to keep ourselves warm. We found these great desert tracts bitterly cold, and the Shaigia were so numbed they could scarcely sit on their horses. These districts contain quant.i.ties of ostriches, which are hunted by the Arabs and Gellabas. A party of them, taking a supply of water on camels sufficient to last them for weeks, usually settle in some spot in the desert frequented by ostriches, where they build little straw huts just large enough to contain one man; and in these they patiently wait, on the chance of a stray shot. Of course, if a man is fortunate enough to discover where an ostrich has laid eggs and buried them in the sand, he will patiently watch until the eggs are hatched, when he seizes the little birds, puts them in the cage he has ready, and takes them off to the nearest market, where he invariably gets a good price for them.

We marched the whole of the next day, and at eleven o'clock the following morning reached the village of Melek Hagger, and were welcomed by the great Zaghawa Sheikh, who begged us to come to his village; but I preferred to camp under an enormous nabak-tree which stood in the centre of the khor, and was large enough to accommodate a hundred people under its shade. Hasaballa, Sheikh of the Maheria, was also there, and told me that he had collected the water-skins, and a hundred and fifty camels which were grazing close by. Adjutant-Major Suleiman Basyuni, at the head of two hundred infantry, also marched in that evening; and, having procured from the village the quant.i.ty of corn required, as well as two oxen which were offered by the Sheikhs and specially killed for the troops, we were able to continue our march the next morning. Two days later we reached Kama, the market town of the district ruled by Melek Saleh Donkusa. This Donkusa's sister, Khadiga by name, when quite a young girl, had been presented by her parents to Sultan Hussein, and had eventually entered his harem, while her brother, who had also come to El Fasher, obtained, owing to his superior ability, a high position in the palace. Khadiga eventually bore Sultan Hussein a son, who died; and the latter had then liberated both Khadiga and Saleh, and had appointed him Emir of the portion of the Zaghawa tribe to which he belonged. Now it happened that the mother of Saleh and Khadiga was a Bedeyat maiden, and the present Bedeyat rulers were their uncles. All this I knew beforehand, and had already taken steps to use Donkusa as an intermediary between the Maheria and the Bedeyat, in order to induce the latter to give up the stolen camels without being obliged to have recourse to force.

Saleh informed me that, in accordance with my instructions, he had already sent word to the Bedeyat chiefs, and that he expected them to arrive in a few days to make their submission to me. He therefore begged I would wait at his village. I was much gratified with this news, for I was most anxious to settle matters quickly and get back to El Fasher. I told Saleh to let the Bedeyat chiefs know that I did not intend to be very severe, and that if they were really anxious to avoid a conflict, they should come at once; but at the same time I told him to warn them that I was very strong, and would not be tampered with.

It is a strange fact that the Bedeyat, although completely surrounded by Moslem states and peoples, are almost the only tribe in this part of Central Africa who still adhere to their old heathen customs. If their chiefs are asked by Mohammedans to repeat the creed, they can say, "There is no G.o.d but G.o.d, and Mohammed is his Prophet." But beyond this they know nothing; they are utterly ignorant of the precepts of the Kuran, and never pray as Moslems.

Under the widespreading branches of an enormous heglik-tree, and on a spot kept beautifully clean and sprinkled with fine sand, the Bedeyat beseech an unknown G.o.d to direct them in their undertakings, and to protect them from danger. They have also religious feasts at uncertain dates, when they ascend the hills, and on the extreme summits, which are whitewashed, they offer sacrifices of animals. They are a fine, stalwart race, very dark in colour, with straight features, a thin nose and small mouth, and resemble Arabs more than Negroes. The women are famed for their long flowing hair, and there are some great beauties amongst them, as one often finds amongst the free Arab tribes. They generally wear skins of animals round their waists and loins; but the higher cla.s.s and their women dress in long flowing robes made of white Darfur cotton cloth. Their food is very plain. Corn does not grow in their country, and is almost unknown to them. They take the seeds of the wild pumpkin, which grows there in abundance, and they soak them in wooden vessels made from the bark of trees. After taking the outer sh.e.l.ls off, they leave the seeds to steep until they lose their bitterness, and then, straining them off and mixing them with dates, they grind them into a sort of flour, which is cooked with meat, and forms the princ.i.p.al food of the country.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bedayat praying to the Sacred Tree.]

They have also most strange customs as regards inheritance and succession. The cemeteries are generally situated at some distance from the villages; and when a father dies, the body is taken by all the relatives to be buried. The ceremony over, on a given signal they all rush together at the top of their speed to the deceased's house; and he who arrives first and fixes his spear or arrow in it is considered the rightful heir, and not only becomes possessor of all the cattle, but also of his father's wives and other women, with the exception of his own mother. He is at perfect liberty to marry them if he wishes, or he can set them free. A man's female household is entirely regulated by his financial position. It is great or small according as the lord and master is rich or poor.

As I before remarked, most of the people still adhered to their pagan customs, and it amused me greatly when Saleh Donkusa, who was by way of being a good Moslem himself, denied to me, in the most emphatic manner, that such customs were still in vogue in his tribe. I asked him what the great heglik-tree was which I had pa.s.sed the previous day when riding through the khor, and why the ground underneath was sprinkled with fine sand. The question surprised him, and for a moment, he was silent; he then answered that it was the usual meeting-place in which tribal matters were discussed. "The Maheria Arabs," said I, "wanted to graze their cattle near the tree; but when I saw that it was dedicated for some special purpose, I prevented them from doing so." He thanked me most heartily, and I could see that, though a fanatical Moslem himself, he was determined to uphold the ancient manners and customs of his tribe, and so retain his hold over them. I subsequently learned that it was entirely through him that the holy tree was preserved; and as my work was not that of a missionary, I had no desire to interfere in their religious matters, and possibly bring about difficulties with the Bedeyat, who had never seen a white man before.

I was beginning to lose patience, owing to the delay of the chiefs in coming, when a certain Ali Wad el Abiad arrived; he had been Sub-Kadi of Shakka, and had just been discharged by Emiliani, against whom he made the most bitter complaints, charging him with allowing the clerks to do exactly as they pleased, because he was so ignorant of the Arabic language. He then told me he had heard in Shakka that a Dervish had been preaching a Jehad (religious war) against the Turks (Government), and had already fought several successful actions. I immediately wrote off to Emiliani, telling him of the Kadi's complaint, and urging him to do all in his power to prevent the Arabs communicating with the rebels, and to endeavour to do his utmost to keep the country tranquil. I also told him to lose no time in reporting to me fully on the general state of affairs.

At length, after a stay of six days at Kamo, Saleh came to me with the satisfactory news that the Bedeyat chiefs would arrive the next day. In concert with him, I selected the heglik-tree as the place of meeting, which was to be held one hour after sunrise and in which he was to act as the intermediary between myself and the Bedeyat. I then ordered our tents to be moved to within less than half a mile of the tree, and early the next morning I had the troops drawn up in line ready to receive the Bedeyat chiefs, whose approach Saleh now announced. Standing with my officers and sanjak, Omar Wad Darho, about one hundred yards in front of the line, with our servants holding the horses, we prepared to receive our distinguished visitors, who, guided by Saleh, were now seen advancing, with their hands crossed on their chests and heads bowed low.

They had brought an interpreter with them, and through him we exchanged mutual greeting. I then ordered carpets to be spread on the ground, and asked them to be seated, whilst I and my officers sat on small field chairs; and, having partaken of sugar and water and dates, we began our palaver.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Surrender of the Bedayat to Slatin.]

The four Bedeyat Sheikhs were tall, fine-looking middle-aged men, with good features and dressed in long white robes which no doubt our friend Saleh had prepared for them; they also wore the usual straight Arab sword. Their names were Gar en Nebbi, Bosh, Omar, and Kurukuru; but I am not quite sure that these high-sounding Arab names were not a.s.sumed for the occasion. Their attendants, numbering between sixty and seventy men, dressed in s.h.i.+rts and skins, stood some way behind, while Saleh Donkusa seated himself close to the Sheikhs and the interpreter. The spokesman, Gar en Nebbi, now addressed the interpreter with the words "Kursi Sellem," to which the latter answered "Sellem," indicating that he was ready to translate; and he then began: "We belong to the Bedeyat tribe, and our fathers and grandfathers have paid tribute to the Sultans of Darfur every two or three years when an officer was sent to collect it.

You Turks have now subdued the Furs and have conquered the country, and you have never before asked us to pay tribute. You [Slatin]--as our friend and brother Saleh Donkusa has informed us--are the ruler of this country, and in token of submission we have brought you ten horses, ten camels, and forty cows. Do you, therefore, fix the amount of tribute to be paid by us."

It was now my turn to speak; so, repeating the "Kursi Sellem," I began: "I thank you for your submission, and I am only going to demand a small tribute; but I have specially come here to call on you to return the camels you stole from the Maheria, and release the prisoners you captured." Gar en Nebbi, after a short pause, replied: "Since the time of our forefathers we have been in constant feud with the various Arab tribes. If we fight and take prisoners, it is our custom to allow them to be ransomed. We have often before released Maheria captives." I referred to Sheikh Hasaballa to ask if this was so, and he answered in the affirmative; and then I asked whether he had ever done so since the Egyptian Government had taken possession of the country, or whether he referred to the period in which they were ruled by the Darfur Sultans.

"Before you conquered the country," he answered, "but only two years ago, the Maheria invaded our country; we repulsed them and drove them out, so that they returned empty-handed." I looked at Hasaballa, and saw from his silence that the Bedeyat was telling the truth. "That may be so," I answered, "but at that time I was not governing this country. I am well aware that in those days you did what you thought was right, and I do not in any way blame you for it; but as I am now your master, I wish you to act in accordance with my orders. You should, therefore, hand over your prisoners; but as the Maheria previously attacked you, then I order that instead of returning them all the camels you took, you can retain half, as a reward for your bravery in having prevented them from pillaging your country." A long pause now took place, and the four Sheikhs discussed the matter between themselves. Gar en Nebbi then answered, "We shall comply with your orders; but as it will take a long time to collect the camels, which are scattered throughout the country, it will be easier for us to release the captives." "Then look sharp,"

said I, "and carry out these orders as soon as possible; and when you have done so, I will release you from the payment of this year's tribute. I can quite understand that it may cause you some difficulty to return the camels and pay your taxes as well."

This arrangement apparently quite satisfied them, and they thanked me profusely; so I asked them to stay with us till the following day, and Saleh would look after all their wants. Then, mounting our horses, I gave the command to the troops to fire three volleys, which terrified the poor Bedeyat, who had scarcely ever seen fire-arms. Telling Saleh to bring the Sheikhs before me the next morning at the same hour, I galloped off with my escort to the camp.

During the day I busied myself in considering how best to get back to El Fasher without endangering the success of my present expedition; I could not wait until the Bedeyat had collected and handed over their captives; moreover, I was disturbed about the condition of the water-skins supplied by the Maheria, and blamed Hasaballa severely for furnis.h.i.+ng such bad equipment. Next morning, when the Sheikhs arrived, I asked them if they had yet despatched men to collect the prisoners and camels; and when they answered no, I replied in an irritated tone that I could not possibly wait to see my orders carried out. To this Gar en Nebbi answered, "Master, we are here to carry out your orders; you can return, and we shall deliver over the men and animals to Saleh Donkusa and Hasaballa, who is remaining as his guest." "I have another proposal to make," said I. "I do not doubt your sincerity and loyalty, but I am anxious to know you better personally; I wish, therefore, you and any others you may desire to bring with you should accompany me to El Fasher, and at the same time tell your representatives to collect the men and animals and hand them over to Hasaballa, who is staying with Donkusa. When I hear at El Fasher that this has been done, I shall then send you back to your country laden with rich presents. You have never visited El Fasher yet, and you will be interested to see the seat of Government and understand its power, and I sincerely trust that you and Saleh will concur with my proposal; you will be so pleased with all you will see that in future I know you will always comply most readily with my orders."

Saleh at once answered that he thought the proposal a very good one, and that he was content to stay behind, as he had already seen El Fasher. I saw by the faces of the Bedeyat that the idea pleased them, and after a long palaver amongst themselves they made up their minds to accompany me. Knowing that the sooner they carried out my orders about the return of the captives and camels the sooner they would start, they lost no time in nominating good men as their representatives with the tribe, and, selecting six men as their attendants, they announced they were ready to leave; but before starting they wished to swear the oath of fidelity, in which, of course, I readily acquiesced. The ceremony was performed as follows: A horse's saddle was brought and placed in the midst of the a.s.sembly, and on this was laid a large earthenware dish filled with burning charcoal; a lance was then fixed to the saddle, and the head-Sheikhs, with their attendants, now came forward and, stretching out their hands over the lance and burning charcoal, they recited the following words with great solemnity, "May my leg never touch the saddle, may my body be smitten with the lance that kills, and may I be consumed by the burning fire, if I ever break the solemn oath of fidelity which I now make to you."