Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51 Volume I Part 14

We Christians cannot trust our things here. The Sfaxee, however, leaves his goods in the place, and will go with us to-morrow. Tintaghoda may be a safe depot for Muslims, not for Christians.

I have omitted to notice in its proper place, but may record here, that one of the free black females was lost for a couple of days in the desert, and recovered after the disaster.

Whatever we have yet seen of Aheer in a geological point of view, shows that it is essentially a region of granite rocks, between which are a series of fine valleys, running one into another. The granite is in great varieties; there are four specimens of granite marble; some pieces of pure limestone marble have also been collected; the granite rocks are blackened by the sun and atmosphere, and wear the appearance of basalt.

About four o'clock this afternoon there was a cry in the encampment--not that the Haghar were coming--not that another troop of robbers and wild people were advancing upon us to attack us; but the cry was, "_El wady jaee!_" "The wady is coming!" Going out to look, I saw a broad white sheet of foam advancing from the south between the trees of the valley.

In ten minutes after a river of water came pouring along, and spread all around us, converting the place of our encampment into an isle of the valley. The current in its deepest part was very powerful, capable of carrying away sheep and cattle, and of uprooting trees. This is one of the most interesting phenomena I have witnessed during my present tour in Africa. The scene, indeed, was perfectly African. Rain had been observed falling in the south; black clouds and darkness covered that zone of the heavens; and an hour afterwards came pouring down this river of water into the dry, parched-up valley. This incident of Wady Tintaghoda explains the Scriptural phrase, "rivers of waters;" for here indeed was a river of water, appearing in an instant, and almost without notice. It is not, however, necessary to come to the frontiers of Soudan to witness phenomena, of this nature. Even in Morocco similar sudden floodings occur every rainy season.

We had been some time employed in watching this singular scene, when another cry was heard. This was the announcement that our camels were coming,--certainly a piece of good news that we had been anxiously expecting; but it had often been given before, and after the first excitement we began to feel the sickness of disappointment. However, four of our camels were in reality brought in; there yet remain out two of ours and three belonging to the Kailouees. However, our spirits begin now really to revive. We learn that this act of rest.i.tution is attributable to the marabouts.

I went to bed on receiving this news; but I had not rested long before Dr. Barth called out, "Have you heard what has happened? Twenty-eight maharees are arrived from En-Noor." On further inquiries, I learned that the Sultan had sent us an escort of twenty men mounted, and eight on foot; but rain having fallen and still continuing to fall, and the fact of our being surrounded by water, prevented the approach of these troops to the encampment. The intelligence of their arrival was brought by a man well known to the Tanelk.u.ms. In the afternoon we had heard that En-Noor had received a confused account of our two encounters with the armed bands, and that we had been destroyed by them, or nearly so, but had not yet received our courier. This circ.u.mstance tranquillised us. We had been anxiously expecting news from En-Noor. The people always speak of maharees, and not of mounted men; so that twenty maharees are twenty men mounted on maharees. It rained this evening and during the night: everything was damp around us. We now begin to feel, indeed, that we are in a humid atmosphere.

_31st._--I rose early, but it rained hard, and everybody kept within tent. I am much delighted with my double Bornou tent, for, although it is nothing but a species of gauze cotton-work, it still keeps out the rain.

We are collecting the names and qualities of the chief among our a.s.sailants, as we shall have to make a formal complaint against them, not only in order to obtain rest.i.tution for our goods, but for the sake of any future travellers. The people who first attacked us are called El-Fadeea, or El-Fadayan, and are styled by Yusuf _Arab_ Tuaricks, or Tuaricks living in tents. This tribe was joined by bandits and a few adventurers from all the surrounding districts.

The people of the second attack are called Aghazar: these are also Arab Tuaricks, or people living in tents. They were joined by people from Seloufeeat, Tintaghoda, and all the neighbouring places.

The people appear to have gathered all confusedly together, headed by their chiefs and countenanced by the marabouts, to destroy the Infidels who were come to pollute their country; but, undoubtedly, the major part were excited against us by the hope of plunder.

All the inhabitants of Ghanet[11] are Maghata, or descendants of the children of the Tuaricks, Haghar and Azgher, which were born to them by their slaves. It is these Maghata who were said to be in pursuit of us under Sidi Jafel. There are many of the same people in the open desert, for the most part bandits, or at least inclined to that way of life.

They levy contributions on the caravans, and on the settled people when they can venture.

[11] This is the oasis of Janet, mentioned previously.--ED.

The valley, which embraces Seloufeeat and Tintaghoda, is said to extend, by a series of connexions, as far as Zinder,--probably a fanciful connexion of the people. It is a most picturesque wady, lined with black granite rocks, some rising high into castellated peaks on the south-east, with a lower range of hills on the north-west. It is not above half a mile wide in its mean breadth; herbage does not abound over all its bed, but trees cover its surface. The water is mostly rain water; here and there, however, springs are found. All the water is good, and copious in supply.

If we may judge from what we have seen of the marks of late rains in these districts, and the freshness of the herbage, the rainy season is just beginning in Aheer. There is not yet very abundant herbage, but it will soon greatly increase.

The rain continues to pour in torrents, the boundary mountains on either hand are scarcely visible, and a watery vapour prevents us from tracing the course of the valley. We have hitherto had to struggle against mental anxieties, against fatigues, heat, drought, and thirst: we have now to contend with rain and with floods. Everything is becoming awfully damp, and everybody looks awfully dismal. I can see, from the lugubrious countenances of the Kailouees and the blacks, that the rainy season is their real winter. They go s.h.i.+vering about, and seem as if they were half drowned. Our Bornou gauze-cotton tent still bears up well, however, and keeps out the rain.

I was engaged in admiring the tent, and in reflecting on the changed region into which we had entered--a region of luxuriant vegetation and watery atmosphere--when there was again a wild holloa of "The floods are pouring down upon us! The wady is coming!" Our people, however, contented themselves at first with shouting, and made no preparations for the advancing flood; but in a short time they found it necessary to bestir themselves, and began to make dams and d.y.k.es, with the aid of sticks and hatches. These expedients proved of no avail. The waters swelled wildly up, higher and higher, and sheets of foaming waves came whirling in amongst us. I called out to Yusuf to select some high ground at once, to which our goods might be conveyed. He calmly replied, "The people still stay where they are;" implying that there was no danger, that the inundation would subside like the former one, and that we should escape with a wetting. Not so, however. All the low parts of the valley were already covered with a turbid stream, that broke fiercely round the trunks of the trees; and at length the mounting tide threatened our tent. Yusuf then made a little child's dam around, as if in sport; but in a few minutes this was swept away, and we found ourselves standing in the water.

It was now absolutely necessary to move; and our people, who seemed until then to have been paralysed by the humidity, as we in northern climates sometimes are with cold, began to bestir themselves, and to transfer our tents and baggage to a piece of ground which rose considerably above the level of the valley, and was surrounded with rus.h.i.+ng waters. The remainder of the caravan imitated us, and we soon saw them all occupying the summits of little islands, whither the camels, at least such as did not instinctively take refuge there themselves, were also driven. This was a good opportunity of seeing a specimen of African character. The Kailouees made no preparation for the deluge until the last moment, and then seemed absolutely to make the worst possible. They rolled their bales of dry goods in the water as if they were so many logs of wood, although by lifting them up a little all might have at first been saved quite dry. Meanwhile the black servants were dancing, singing, and rolling about in the waters, as if some sudden blessing had overtaken them.[12]

[12] The black people of Central Africa, whose character and opinions we do not yet understand, seem to take peculiar delight in those very natural phenomena which civilised nations regard as disastrous. Among other instances, I have seen an old negress, usually gloomy and taciturn, quite intoxicated by an earthquake. Whilst others were thinking of their safety, she ran about the courtyard on her hands and feet, rolling over, laughing and whooping, as if she were a devil and this was news from the infernal regions.--ED.

The water still continued to rise, and to foam over the margin of the island. We were compelled by degrees to retreat towards the centre, and as there was no sign of abatement, and as the whole valley had become one rus.h.i.+ng river, covered with floating trees,--some shooting singly along, others entangled into rafts or floating islands, I began to entertain serious misgivings. Never was there a more perfect picture of a deluge! It was the Biblical deluge in miniature: and I calculated with intense interest how many inches additional rise would utterly destroy our goods, and how many inches more peril our lives. The most gloomy forebodings troubled me. I had always looked forward to Aheer as a haven of safety, and instead thereof it had proved to be a place of persecution. When men had ceased to fight against us, nature began. I thought I could hear the fanatical people of Tintaghoda say one to the other, "Ah! they saved their lives by money, but now G.o.d comes in to punish and destroy them." Yet whilst I stood apart and tortured myself in this wise, our people, children of the day, who take no thought for the morrow, satisfied that the waves had not yet reached them, were full of merriment and laughter, and seemed to mock the flood, that still rose and rose, bending the largest trees, sweeping away the brushwood, and roaring angrily around the margin of the islands. Perhaps they knew that their lives, at least, were safe; whilst I reflected that, if even we could swim to sh.o.r.e, leaving our property to the wild mercies of the waves, we should land in an enemy's country, without the means of satisfying the cupidity of the first bandit who chose to attack us, and would most probably soon be sacrificed.

I was anxiously watching the progress of the inundation when at last it seemed to be checked, and no longer to rise. G.o.d had not, then, abandoned us, and we were not driven from the fire to the waters to peris.h.!.+ The flood remained stationary for awhile, still rolling along the valley, which it seemed to fill from side to side; then we noticed a slight decrease, then a progressive and rapid one: hope buoyed up our spirits, and we thanked the Almighty for our deliverance. As I have mentioned, I have seen floods before, but never one on so grand a scale as this, which was truly African in its magnitude and character.

As if Providence were now resolved to visit us with marked favour, just at the moment when the waters began visibly to decrease, and patches of land to appear here and there, the escort sent by Sultan En-Noor came riding over the neighbouring heights. Our people discovered them, and shouted, "See, the Kailouees! the Kailouees!"

The waters rose above the general surface of the wady full two feet and a-half. Had this deluge come during the night we should scarcely have saved ourselves; or, at any rate, the greater part of our property and our camels must have perished. The power of such a body of water rus.h.i.+ng along is tremendous. A great number of houses of Tintaghoda were carried away, and the inhabitants declared that they never remembered such an occurrence to have happened before. I can well believe them, otherwise the site of the town would have been changed for higher ground. Trees numberless were uprooted, and brought down by the mighty current, which must have considerably altered the appearance of the valley. We could already see that the earth was ploughed up in all directions; and when the inundation was at its height, serious fears were entertained lest the island on which we stood should itself be swept from under our feet.

When the waters had subsided a little the nephew of En-Noor came to us from the town, to see our situation. He then went to meet the Maharees which had arrived from his uncle, and soon sent to tell us that all was right, that this party came purposely to afford us protection, and that it included the sons of En-Noor, their nephews, and a son-in-law, besides many household servants; in all, thirty-one men mounted, and the rest on foot.

In the evening we moved out of the valley, and encamped on the high ground. The rain continued to incommode us. The things of the Germans were all wet--I managed to keep mine dry; but our sense of security now kept up our spirits.

Towards the evening the whole male population came out of the town to see the ravages of water, and learn how we fared. There might be fifty persons, men and boys. These marabouts pretend that when they first saw the escort of En-Noor, they thought it was an enemy come to attack us whilst isolated by the floods of rain.

They said there were some hundred bandits and other lawless men collected behind the rocks, waiting for us, but on seeing the escort of En-Noor they had retired by small numbers. Certainly there may have been some twenty or thirty such people, and, undoubtedly, the escort of En-Noor produced a salutary effect upon these brigands, as well as upon the holy maraboutee population who drove away our camels.

When at the Marabouteen, as Tintaghoda is called, a very fine gold-embroidered waistcoat was brought by the escort of En-Noor to me, to ask what it was worth. I guessed about two hundred reals; Yusuf thought the same. It appeared that this waistcoat was the property of Abd-el-Galeel, and was taken as plunder during the last expedition of the Kailouees against the Walad Suleiman. There are several slaves also at Seloufeeat, who once were the property of these Arabs. According to the report of the Kailouees they have destroyed all the Walad Suleiman,--killed them every one. They went against the Arabs ten thousand strong; some of the enemy, however, are said to have died of hunger. It is, besides, reported that the people of Bornou a.s.sisted in their destruction. Abd-el-Galeel himself is rumoured to have been killed. Evidently many of the unfortunate Arabs have been surprised, and many of them slaughtered; but I cannot believe in their total annihilation. We shall be better informed at Zinder and Kuka.

_Sept. 1st._--We started late, on account of our things being all wet.

The morning was as favourable for drying as the day before had been for wetting, there being a high wind with suns.h.i.+ne. We journeyed on five hours and a-half, and encamped near some pools of water. A cascade during rainy weather shoots down from the highest tops of the rocky mountains.

Before us was a pleasant valley, wherein were the ruins of huts that had been carried away by the waters. Ferajee invited me to visit the Water with him, and I went. In this neighbourhood the rocky heights a.s.sumed their boldest forms, many of the peaks being considerably elevated; all granite.

Some people were heard in the evening, when dark, and we fired several shots. The Tanelk.u.ms had seen men skulking behind the rocks during our short march.

_2d._--We rose early, and made a march of eight hours and a-half: country as yesterday. Our Kailouee escort left us at noon, to go to Aghooou and Janazaret, or Zanairas, their homes. I must write the characters of En-Noor, Deedee, and Ferajee hereafter. They are pretty well fixed in my memory. These individuals are amongst the number of persons who "turned out," to use the vulgar expression, better than we antic.i.p.ated from their first transactions with us.

On encamping, Mohammed, the son-in-law of En-Noor, came to my tent, and told Yusuf that we must now pay for our escort, as we were within a few hours of Tintalous, and did not require it more; also that the people wished to go to their homes, for they had been collected from various parts of the country. I must observe, that, considering the time that elapsed between the departure of the courier from Seloufeeat and the arrival of the escort at Tintaghoda, these people had been collected very quickly, which showed En-Noor to be a man of business and authority.

I expected we should have some trouble to satisfy thirty-one people.

Yusuf, aided by the Tanelk.u.ms, sorted out about eighty-seven reals'

worth of goods. This was offered as sufficient, but did not content even the chief persons, much less the smaller gentlemen. We then added another burnouse, and other things, making up about one hundred reals.

This the chiefs accepted; but not so the little men. They stormed and swore; and some of them even ran to seize our bales of goods. However, whatever we had given we should have had the same results, and we must expect similar quarrels all through Africa until our journey's end. I observed, at last, that many took their portions and retired, and I felt confident that all would finish without violence being done us.

When I had been in bed two hours, half-sleeping and half-waking, I turned round my head, and saw my tent full of people. I had not heard them come in. They were the Germans, Yusuf, Mohammed Tunisee, and other people. They were all busy examining the scattered contents of a bale of goods. I asked what was the matter, and was told briefly that some of the _canaille_ of our escort had carried away a bale of Dr. Barth's goods, but that the chief had made them restore the greater part of the spoil. In the first moments I could not help laughing. It was certainly comical to be robbed by one's own escort. We had now thirty-one chaouches for two whom we obtained in Tripoli. On this I went to sleep.

_3d._--Early in the morning Mohammed En-Noor paid me a visit, and promised me that all the things should be restored--not the smallest thing should be lost.

I looked about, and saw that the greater number of our escort had disappeared during the night, and gone to their homes. We now commenced our last stage to Tintalous. Mounted on my camel, I could not help reflecting that we were tormented to the very doors of the dwelling of En-Noor, that the people seemed determined we should have no rest till we arrived there. Afterwards, peradventure, we may find a little repose; but who can tell?

The rain incommoded us as we advanced. However, in two hours we arrived at the little village of Asara, where half-a-dozen inhabitants greeted us with a stare; and an hour afterwards entered the broad and s.p.a.cious valley of Tintalous, firing a salute as we did so, in compliment to the inhabitants.

We had heard much of the great city of Tintalous; and I confess that, though accustomed to desert exaggerations, my mind had dwelt upon this place so long, that I expected a much more imposing sight than that which presented itself. This mighty capital consisted of a ma.s.s of houses and huts, which we calculated to be no more than a hundred and fifty in number, situated in the middle of the valley, with trees here and there interspersed. It was nothing but a large village. Still, as the termination of our journey for the present, and its bearing a name which has been hitherto thrown down at haphazard anywhere towards the centre of the southern Sahara, we hailed it with delight. Both huts and houses wore a truly Soudan character, and I felt that to a certain extent the object of the Mission was already accomplished.

Mohammed En-Noor chose us out a good place for an encampment, upon some sand-hills overlooking the entire country. When we had pitched tent, Mr.

Yusuf Moknee was despatched to carry our compliments to the great man of the town, Sultan En-Noor. This distinguished personage he found laid up with rheumatism, and unable to receive us as we desired. However, he expressed a wish to see Dr. Overweg in his character of medical man, and made a long harangue to Yusuf, the substance of which was, that inasmuch as we had come from Constantinople,[13] from Tripoli, from Fezzan, from Ghat, in peace and safety, why should he think of eating us up and destroying us, like the people of Taghajeet and others?--"No; let the Christians rest in peace. I will now protect them--let them not fear. If I had not been ill, I would have come myself, and fetched them from Taghajeet, and no one should have touched them. Now, I will take them myself to Zinder, or send my sons with them. They shall be protected on their journey to Bornou and Soudan."

[13] Where he got this news I cannot tell.

I shall only observe on this, that I do not think Sultan En-Noor could have brought us clear through the countries of Taghajeet and Tidek. We might have paid something less, but we must have paid. However, we felt glad on hearing the report of this speech, and waited patiently for the evening supper of the great man; but it did not come, to our great disappointment. The Tanelk.u.ms said that this was a kind of home for them, and that En-Noor always sent them a supper on the evening of their arrival. When I saw these good people supperless, I considered that En-Noor would not give one supper without the other, and was not prepared for both.

We felt our case to be rather hard, especially the Germans; for they had nothing of their own to eat but dry kuskusou and onions. I was a little better off. We could get nothing from the town during the day, not even a fowl or eggs, nor even a bit of cheese.

Nevertheless, we had been told that everything was abundant in this place. It appears all the sheep are at a distance, out to graze; as for bullocks, there are none. Dr. Overweg drew out his bottle of port wine, and we three Europeans soon made an end of that, and retired for the night in pretty good spirits.

Dr. Overweg and Yusuf calculated the number of people who were reported to be in pursuit of us from Tajetterat to the Marabouteen, at three hundred and sixty. The pa.s.sage of the expedition from Tajetterat to Tintalous has cost the Government about one hundred and fifty pounds sterling, at the least. I cannot get over this. However, let us raise our hearts in thankfulness to Almighty Providence, who still watches over us, preserves our health, and saves us from destruction.

CHAPTER XVI.