CHAPTER XIV.

ENCAMP AT HEIKOTA—SHEIK AHMED—HERR SCHUMANN AND HIS ZAREEBA—WE MAKE A ZAREEBA—THE MAHDI—EXCITEMENT IN THE VILLAGE—HORRIBLE TRAGEDY—SHEIK AHMED DINES WITH US—THE MAGIC LANTERN—LIONS VISIT US.

Ere we could pitch our tents we had to cut down a number of young palm trees, and clear away a quantity of tall grass, &c. Whilst doing so Sheik Ahmed, of the powerful Beni-Amir tribe, who paid us a visit, gave us a good deal more of manual labour by advising us to make a zareeba (a fence of prickly trees), assigning as a reason, and a very substantial one, the fact that lions came down every night, and often made such a noise as to disturb his slumbers, but that we had nothing to fear from his tribe. He said further that boa-constrictors and scorpions were very common, leopards also. We found traces of the latter whilst clearing.[166] Sheik Ahmed, or Achmet, is said to be one of the most powerful Sheiks in the Soudan; he certainly was far and away the best sample of a Sheik that I have seen anywhere. His head was kept shaved; on it he wore a tight-fitting white skull-cap. He was almost black, and of a determined aspect, but his features were good, and his teeth white, sound and regular; his eyes were keen, black and glittering as a hawk’s; he was dressed in spotless white and scrupulously clean; quick in action, thought, speech, and appearance. One might almost say really that he was an educated man, for he could both write and read, and certainly looked a remarkable, shrewd, and intelligent man. During the piping times of peace he could be a merry fellow of infinite jest; and he and I cracked many a joke together by the aid of an interpreter. He could also be a fierce warrior when necessary, and bore marks, some deep ones, too, of many a skirmish he had been engaged in. “Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in at it, bear thyself, that thine opponent may beware of thee.” The latter half of this proverb, I think, would be quite applicable to our friend, Sheik Ahmed, as all his wounds were in front; the first part, I fear, he would be rather regardless of, probably, indeed, more of the temper of an Irishman handling a shillelagh at Donnybrook fair,[167] exclaiming—“Will ye jist thread on the tail of me coat, now?” And I assure you, reader, that had you known Sheik Ahmed you would hesitate ere you trod on his caudal appendage, if you discovered it. I have heard that he is one of the most powerful vassals under the Khedive, and that should occasion require he could put in the field about 10,000 horsemen and tribesmen.

These people, over whom the Sheik seemed to possess great control and authority, are quite pastoral in their pursuits, and own such enormous flocks and herds as would astonish any ordinary mortal. These are every night driven in from grazing to a large zareeba on the river-bed. I was irresistibly reminded here of the patriarchs of old. Here was this Sheikh with four wives and I don’t know how many children, the leader or petty sovereign of a large and powerful tribe, over whom he possessed absolute power, and, as I said before, owning these flocks and herds. On the river-bed of the Mareb the tribe, or a part of it rather, lived, their dwellings simply consisting of a few stakes driven into the sand, over and around which is a covering of tall grass and matting made from the palm leaves. They live in this neighbourhood as long as there is anything for their flocks and herds to eat; when there is not, like locusts, they move off[168] a few miles to pastures new. Then, when the wet season commences, they clear off to the mountains or desert, else the tetse fly would destroy the animals. They seem a contented lot, and may truly say, as a deceased M.P. once said, “My riches consist, not in the vastness of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants.”

They live simply, on milk, honey, and dhurra principally, and to that fact may be attributed the beautifully white sound teeth they possess. I think I ought to say that the Sheik was good enough to ask me to stay with the tribe for three or four years, and as an inducement was good enough to say that if I would he would give me four wives, thus placing me on a par with himself. However, I neither embraced this tempting offer nor the sable females, and here I think the utterances of the deceased M.P. would be peculiarly applicable. When the Sheik, who was very friendly, left us, he accepted our invitation to dinner at 7 p.m. Quite close to our camp was another zareeba; in this dwelt Herr Schumann and his wild animals. He had, when we were there, three young elephants; two females, and one rogue (the latter, being a rather fierce little fellow, was chained by the leg), a few young lions, wild cats, leopards, and 15 young ostriches about the size of Dorking fowls.

[169]

Apropos of the Mahdi, I find the following in to-day’s paper:

“April 2nd, ’84—An Austrian dealer in wild animals, writing from Kassala to friends in Vienna, gives some information about the Mahdi, whom he knows personally, and with whom he has frequently transacted business, the Mahdi himself having for years past dealt in wild beasts for the different European Zoological Gardens. He is described by the writer as a very cunning impostor, and as an instance, it is related that a short time ago he suddenly appeared with a number of warts on his right cheek, these having been artificially produced by the aid of a German called Schandorper, formerly a clown, and afterwards a hairdresser, now in the service of the Mahdi. The reason was that the legends about the expected Mahdi speak of him as having such marks. Like the beasts he formerly dealt in, the Mahdi sleeps in the daytime and transacts business during the night.” I have no doubt whatever that our old acquaintance, who was the only animal collector I ever met with, is the author of the preceding, and I think a very credible man.

In the evening, just before dinner, we heard near our camp a great number of women and children, accompanied by the inevitable beating of the tom-toms, and that wild, peculiar trilling note of a[170] woman to which I have before alluded. Being desirous to find out as much as I could of the habits and customs of these people, I got Mr. Colvin to accompany me to ascertain the cause. We went and found a great number of women shouting and chanting, whilst a number of their braves were executing a war dance with spear and shield, others in the meantime sharpening their spears. Of course we were at a loss to account for the extreme activity and evident war-like preliminaries, and returned to camp not feeling certain whether these sharpened spears would not on the morrow make unpleasant incisions in our intercastal spaces—at least Mr. Colvin, who was a very facetious and witty fellow, humorously suggested this. On returning to camp we passed Herr Schumann’s zareeba, and told him what we had witnessed, asking him the meaning of it all. He narrated the following tale of blood: The day before our arrival at Heikota, when we were in the immediate neighbourhood, probably about the time we were encamping, a number of the Basé people from the village of Sarcella had come upon the children of the Beni-Amirs driving the flocks and herds in for the night. They then perpetrated a deed which makes one shudder to think of, for they were not satisfied with simply slaughtering these unoffending children, but doing so[171] in a most horrible manner; in short, they ripped them open with their knives, and drove off about 2,000 head of cattle. In consequence of this the Sheik had given the word to his men to prepare for action, and they were now doing so, intending to make an attack on the village of Sarcella in the morning.

In the evening we had a champagne dinner; the Sheik studiously avoided the champagne, and had the shocking bad taste to prefer raspberry vinegar and water. Herr Schumann also joined us, but, like a Christian, partook of champagne.

We pretended not to know anything of this slaughtering business, so asked the Sheik what was the reason of all the commotion amongst the tribe. He related the same story, adding that he should get his men together in the morning and attack these Basé (that means kill all they could lay their hands on) and get his cattle back again. How ably he carried out his destructive intentions I will tell the reader later on. The customs are somewhat peculiar in this part of the world. Supposing I and my party, who are not Beni-Amirs, enter the Basé country from the Beni-Amir tribe, and they should be at enmity with them at that time, they would regard us as enemies. Knowing this, we told the Sheik we were very sorry this had occurred just[172] now, as we intended to explore that country, and his fighting might make it a very difficult, if not impossible matter to do so. However, with the true instincts of a gentleman sheik, he accommodated himself to all parties, very readily acquiesced in our views, and was good enough to postpone his bloodthirsty intentions for a few days.

After dinner we chatted round the camp fire for awhile, smoking the “calumet of peace,” to use a Cooperian phrase, and retired to our different tents to rest 9.30 p.m. The Sheik, ere he left us, accepted an invitation to breakfast next day at 7 a.m. If we are late birds in England, we are early ones in the Soudan.

January 21st.—True to his appointment the Sheik breakfasted with us this morning. He was not only punctual, but he literally did breakfast; there was no finiking and fiddling about with his food, for he disposed of it in a most straightforward manner. Imagine an opening in the pavement for the reception of coals, and you have a pretty good idea of the rapid disappearance of food down the ?sophagus of our friend. We commenced with porridge and milk; a dish evidently highly appreciated by the Sheik; then we had minced collops, kippered herrings, gazelle, stewed kidneys, wild honey, French jam and coffee, to all of which Sheik[173] Ahmed did ample justice. After breakfast many warriors drop into camp, and, in their fashion, squat round in a circle on their haunches. One of the spears was covered with leather as a sign that they were at peace with us. A great and long pow-wow ensued as to our future journey; we should want to buy or hire camels for going through the Basé country, as those we had hired at Kassala would have to return from Heikota.

Last night we were rather disturbed by the noise of lions, and this morning, within about a dozen yards of my tent, I found their footprints, fortunately outside the zareeba. I dare say I spent about an hour or so at my tent this morning attending to a large number of natives, and afterwards visited others in their own tents on the river-bed. In some instances I was obliged to crawl in on my hands and knees. When I had finished my morning’s work I took up my shot gun and strolled off in quest of some beautifully plumaged birds which were abundant here and brought home an eagle, paroquet, laughing-bird, falcon, and shreik, which I skinned after luncheon.

We again invited Sheik Ahmed and Herr Schumann to join us at the festive board at 7 p.m.; we also told the former to let his people know that at about 8.30 p.m. there would be what they call a[174] fantasia. Just before 7 p.m. the Sheik arrived and behaved himself in quite a gentlemanly manner. He was dressed in spotless white, and was so particular as to borrow a pen-knife from me to clean his nails with (a great instance of the civilizing effect of Englishmen). Although we drank iced champagne and claret, he stuck to raspberry vinegar and water, which he consumed with great relish. He was rather clumsy with a knife and fork; indeed, almost the only breach of manners that he perpetrated was to finish up the repast (just before coffee was brought) by plunging the teaspoon into the preserve, scooping out as much as it would conveniently hold, conveying it to his mouth and replacing the spoon in the preserve; this mode of eating has its inconveniences.

Another peculiarity of his was a singular habit that one requires to get thoroughly accustomed to to really appreciate; he generally indulged in it largely at meal times when conversing, and having his face directed to the object of attack. I scarcely know how to describe it, and perhaps ought not to do so in polite society, but that I wish to tell my readers exactly what kind of a man this was. It was a method (not unfamiliar even to English ears) of producing a peculiar vibration or concussion of the atmosphere by a noise proceeding from the mouth;[175] some polite people would call it an eructation, but that is not sufficiently explanatory. It is familiarly and vulgarly known as “belching,” and so frequently did it occur at meal times that it became known amongst ourselves as “the genial belch of the Sheik.” I suggested that probably it was a complimentary proceeding on his part, but I must say if it was so we could readily have forgiven this too frequent formality. After dinner a great many of his people assembled (no women, and very few children) to witness the mysteries and wonders of the magic lantern, or fantasia. Would that I had the pencil of an artist to delineate the picture which the Graphic or any other illustrated paper would have been glad to have reproduced. Here we were encamped in equatorial Africa; we had five tents pitched amongst waving dhoum palms, tamarisk, and tamarind, nebbuck, baobob, hegleek, ebony, and other trees, and the usual luxuriant growth of tall grass and young palms. About three hundred of these dusky-skinned, almost black, agile-looking fellows, wearing simply the tope or loin-cloth, the foremost squatting on their haunches, the rest standing behind, the Europeans in white clothing, and the picturesquely-dressed Sheik in his white turban and robes. It was a weird, wild scene, when viewed by the flickering light of the lanterns as they moved about the camp,[176] but when the moon shone out, shedding a soft, bright light on the scene, it certainly was a most charming and interesting picture. Amidst it all could be seen three hundred glittering spear-heads, making the picture complete. How easily, had they been so disposed, could these wild sons of the Soudan have made an end of us, but I am happy to say this ceremony was not included in the evening’s programme. We placed a wet sheet across the entrance to one of the bell-tents, and as the Queen (whom they called the Sultana) the Prince and Princess of Wales, the elephant, lion, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, giraffe, ostrich, crocodile (snapping his jaws together), and other animals with which they were familiar, appeared on the canvas, the delight of these grown-up children was manifested by loud expressions of approval. When the Sheik, his retinue and people took their departure, we further astonished them by letting off rockets and illuminating their way with red and blue fire. If I went out there again I should certainly take out a galvanic battery, which I am sure would astonish and amuse immensely. We here engaged fresh camel-men, huntsmen, horse-boys, and servants, at rather high wages, on account of the rumoured ferocious character of the Basé, the Sheik taking a pretty good share of the wages himself. All camels were bought, not hired; when we wanted[177] to hire we were cheerfully assured by the owners that we should very likely all be killed by the Basé or Kunama people, and they would lose their camels. The Sheik was presented with a capital bell-tent, a rifle, and a good musical-box, which played six airs, others, with razors, butchers’ knives in sheaths, topes, beads, knives, scissors, small portable looking-glasses, &c., all of which were productive of great wonder and joy. Sheik Ahmed, in return, sent us a present of ten sheep and ten milk-giving goats, so that now we had sixteen goats, which furnished us with plenty of milk every morning to our porridge. As we intended resuming our journey on the morrow, we were all busy writing letters to England, which Herr Schumann engaged to forward to Kassala.