Part 33

Although he had been moving about the whole day, he was not able to enjoy our simple supper; but he did not complain. However, the next morning he felt so weak that he was unable to rise from his couch; and instead of taking a sudorific, which I most earnestly advised him to do, he was so obstinate as not to take any medicine at all, so that his illness increased with an alarming rapidity, and rather an alarming symptom appeared on the following day, when his speech became quite inarticulate and almost unintelligible. He then became aware himself of the dangerous state he was in. He informed me that in the town he should never recover, that it was absolutely necessary for him to get a change of air, and that he entertained the hope that, if I could take him to Máduwári, he might speedily regain his health in the house of our friend the kashélla Fúgo ʿAlí.

It was a difficult task to take my sick companion to the desired place, which is distant from Kúkawa more than eight miles; and though he began his journey on Thursday morning, he could not reach the desired place until the morning of Friday. Having made a present to our friend Fúgo ʿAlí, that he might be induced to take sufficient care of him, and having left the necessary orders, I returned to the town in order to finish my despatches; but the same evening one of the servants whom I had left with Mr. Overweg, came and informed me that he was much worse, and that they were unable to understand a single word he said. I mounted immediately, and found my friend in a most distressing condition, lying outside in the courtyard, as he had obstinately refused to sleep in the hut. He was bedewed with a cold perspiration, and had thrown off all his coverings. He did not recognize me, and would not allow me or any one else to cover him. Being seized with a terrible fit of delirium, and muttering unintelligible words, in which all the events of his life seemed to be confused, he jumped up repeatedly in a raging fit of madness, and rushed against the trees and into the fire, while four men were scarcely able to hold him.

At length, towards morning, he became more quiet, and remained tranquilly on his couch; and, not becoming aware that his strength was broken, and hoping that he might have passed the crisis, I thought I might return to the town. After asking him if he had any particular desire, he said that he had something to tell me; but it was impossible for me to understand him, and I can only fancy, from what happened, that, being aware that death was at hand, he wanted to recommend his family to me.

At an early hour on Sunday morning, Mr. Overweg’s chief servant came to me with the sad news that the state of my friend was very alarming, and that since I had left him he had not spoken a word, but was lying motionless. I mounted immediately on horseback; but before I reached the place, I was met by a brother of Fúgo ʿAlí, who, with tears in his eyes, told me that our friend was gone. With the dawn of day, while a few drops of rain were falling, after a short struggle, his soul had departed.

In the afternoon I laid him in his grave, which was dug in the shade of a fine hájilíj, and well protected from the beasts of prey. Thus died my sole friend and companion, in the thirtieth year of his age, and in the prime of his youth. It was not reserved for him to finish his travels, and to return home in safety; but he met a most honourable death, as a martyr to science; and it is a remarkable fact that he found himself a grave on the very borders of that lake by the navigation of which he has rendered his name celebrated for ever. It was certainly a presentiment of his approaching death which actuated him in his ardent desire to be removed to this place, where he died hard by the boat in which he had made his voyage. Many of the inhabitants of the place, who had known him well during his repeated visits to the village, bitterly lamented his death; and no doubt the “tabíb,” as he was called, will be long remembered by them.

Dejected, and full of sad reflections on my lonely situation, I returned into the town in the evening; but our dwelling, which during my stay in Bagírmi my companion had greatly improved, and embellished by white- washing it with a kind of gypsum, of which he found a layer in our courtyard, now appeared to me desolate and melancholy in the extreme. While, therefore, originally it had been my plan to make another trial along the eastern shores of the Tsád, any longer stay in this place had now become so intolerable to me, that I determined to set out as soon as possible on my journey towards the Niger—to new countries and new people.

[Footnote 61: I sent this letter, with the sultan’s seal, to the Foreign Office at the time.]

[Footnote 62: Kashélla is properly a Bórnu title; but it is in general use in these places along the western frontier.]

[Footnote 63: With regard to this custom, Burkhardt’s information (_Travels in Nubia_, 2nd ed. Appendix I. p. 434.) is very correct; but in general his information respecting the countries on the east side of the Tsád is marred with mistakes, not only with regard to the geography, but even the ethnology of these quarters, as he always confounds native and Arab tribes.]

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX I.

ACCOUNT OF THE EASTERN PARTS OF KÁNEM, FROM NATIVE INFORMATION.

In attempting to give a description of those parts of Kánem which I have not visited myself, I must express my regret that, when in that country, I had no knowledge of the manuscript history of the expeditions of Edrís Alawóma into the same region, as, with the assistance of the rich supply of the important historical as well as geographical data contained in that work, I should have been enabled to give a far more interesting description of the country, and even perhaps to identify the sites of many of its former remarkable places.

The former capital of Kánem, as has been seen, was Njímí, or Njímiye, a place whose approximate situation will be pointed out hereafter; the present capital, if we may still employ this title in such a country as Kánem is at the present time, is Máwó[64], or rather Mʿawó, a place which already in the time of Edrís Alawóma was of great importance.

This town, which it was our ardent desire to visit, and which we most probably should have reached if the Welád Slimán had undertaken that expedition, on which we accompanied them, with the whole of their little troop, instead of allowing half of it to go to Kúkawa, seems to be situated about 20 miles S.S.E. from Hénderi Síggesi, and is at present only thinly inhabited, its population probably not exceeding 3000 or 4000, though the circuit of the town is said to be still of considerable magnitude. It is surrounded with a wall, and is adorned with a great many date-trees. It is the residence of a khalífa, whose power is of the most precarious and uncertain condition, as its existence depends entirely on the relative supremacy of either Wádáy or Bórnu. The consequence is, that there are generally two khalífas—one actually in power, and the other watching to expel him at the first opportunity, with the assistance of one of the patronising powers—Mohammed Sáleh, the father of the celebrated king of Wádáy ʿAbd el Kerím Sabún, having succeeded to the pretensions which the Bulála, the princes of the provinces of Fittrí and Kúka (then swallowed by the empire of Wádáy), possessed by conquest over the kingdom of Kánem.

But, to return to Mʿawó, there is a market held in the town every Wednesday; but, on account of the very insecure state of the country, it cannot possibly be now of any great importance. The inhabitants seem to belong to a peculiar race; for the Tedá Gurʿaán call them by the name of Beránema, the origin and meaning of which I was not able to make out with certainty, but which may seem to have some connection with the name Bórnu, although it can scarcely have any relation to the name Beráuni, given to the Tedá themselves by the Kél-owí and other foreigners.

Between Mʿawó and Hénderi Síggesi there appear to be several favoured valleys, where the date-tree grows in more or less abundance. The most famous are the large valley called Kárafu, or Kárfu, a few miles from Mʿawó, under the authority of Keghámma Gúrde, who succeeded to Keghámma Síntal; on the west side of Kárfu, at a short distance from it, Yégi; and not far from it the valley Badánga, stated to be very rich in date- trees, and Kédalá, belonging to the chief Chéfandé[65]; then the valleys Hamáji (belonging to Fúgo?), Gáltará, and Mápal.

The valley of Mápal is said to form the limit of the date-tree in that direction. On the west side of Mʿawó is likewise an inhabited place called Kajídi, but without date-trees.

The upper part of the valley Gésgi, which is said to stretch from south to north, is called Télerí-Chemó, and is the dwelling-place of the Shírí, to whom belong the Fugábú (or, as the name is often pronounced, Fógubó[66]) Shírí, who are the inveterate enemies of the Woghda, the inhabitants of Gésgi. In this neighbourhood is also a valley called Líllowa.

North from Mʿawó, at no great distance from Aláli, towards the east, is the place Kulákulá, inhabited likewise by Kánembú. How Beráda, a place stated to be also on the north side of Mʿawó, and to be inhabited by a tribe called Kemálla, who are under the authority of a keghámma, is situated in relation to these places, I am unable to say. In various valleys on the same side of Mʿawó are also stated to be the dwelling- places of the Médelé, a nomadic tribe who possess a great many herds and flocks. In this neighbourhood is also the valley called Gúmsa, inhabited by a Tebu tribe called Gúmsuwa, and who seem to be different from the Gúmsu mentioned further on.

E.N.E. from Mʿawó are the inhabited places Kámmegrí and Jugó, inhabited by a peculiar tribe called el Mʿallemín by the Arabs. What their indigenous name is I did not learn; they are most probably identical with the tribe called Haddáda, whose original name is Búngu.

The dwelling-places of the Shitáti are very numerous, and at a greater distance west from Mʿawó: several of them, indeed, we visited, such as Yégil, Aghó (formerly an important place, of great antiquity), Arnánko, Burkadrússo, Bóró. Besides these, the following are the most renowned places of their temporary residence: Bérindé, Línkero, Kínti, Hedérke, Din, Géringé, Tyíro, Kúlla, Laríska, two different places called Núnku, Kaú or Kó, Líshegó, Kélemrí, Delé, Tawáder, Géno, Lérgeji, Yíggela, Maina, Yíggu, Yakúlge, Bágalé[67], Búni, Chánga, Nduró, Lódoré, two places with the name Kiyála (with one of which we shall soon become acquainted as Gharni Kiyála), Bólleli, Kúttuwa, My, Kájiró, Áddufó, Yeró.

I now proceed southwards from Mʿawó towards the south-eastern border of Lake Tsád, the interior basin of which being tolerably well-established by Mr. Overweg’s navigation, its outline can be laid down according to these data with a great deal of approximative accuracy, though it is certainly much to be regretted that we did not succeed in reaching this district ourselves, and deciding the principal points by ocular demonstration.

I. ITINERARY FROM MʿAWÓ TO TÁGHGHEL, DIRECTLY SOUTH.

1st day. Róyendú, a place inhabited by a peculiar tribe of Tedá or Tebu, called Vgýgim.

2nd. Belángara, a place inhabited by the Díbberi, who speak the Kanúri language[68], and are said to be the original tribe of the Fugábú. Arrive before the heat of the day.

3rd. Ghalá, a considerable village of huts inhabited by the Kúbberi, or Kobber, who speak the Kanúri language.

4th. Jékeré, a place at present inconsiderable, but once of large size, inhabited by the Kánku, (identical with the Kúnkuná?) a tribe or section of the Kánembú.

5th. Arrive, before the heat is great, at the well Lefádu, without inhabitants, make a short halt, and reach Mailo, a place with a lake full of fish, and inhabited by a peculiar tribe called Haddáda or Búngu, who are said to speak the Kanúri language, but go almost naked, being only clothed with a leather wrapper round their loins, and are armed with bows and arrows and the góliyó. They are very expert bowmen, and, when attacked, withdraw into the dense forests of their district (to which seems to apply the general name of Bárí), and know well how to defend their independence in politics as well as in religion—for they are pagans. To them belong the famous clan called, at least by the Welád Slimán, Dwárda Hájra. A celebrated town of the Haddáda is Dímári, the residence of Malá Díma. In Bárí there is a market held every Thursday, as it seems, in that part of it which is nearest to Mʿawó. In 1853 the Welád Slimán made a strict alliance with the Haddáda, and in consequence defeated, in their woody district, the officer of Wádáy, called Agíd el Bahr.

For the general outlines of this little-known region, the following itinerary from Kúsuri to Mʿawó, according to the Kánemma chief Ámsakay, is of great importance:—

1st day. Sleep in the wilderness.

2nd. Sleep near Káú Abúddala, a rocky eminence near the lake (see Denham, vol. i. p. 261.). Two routes, connecting this important spot with Abú-Gher and Mélé, will be given in another place.

3rd. Yámanúk Kaléma, a large, open, straggling village, apparently named from the warlike chief Ámanúk or Yámanúk, well known from Denham’s narrative.

4th. Bárí, a large place or district formerly under the authority of the sheikh of Bórnu, near the shore of the lake.

5th. Dímári, a considerable place belonging to Díma, called by Ámsakay a vice-governor of Kánem.

6th. Gúmsu, a place situated in a valley rich in date-trees, inhabited by Kánembú and Shúwa.

7th. Mandó, or Mondó, a large market-place, formerly under the khalífa of Bórnu.

8th. Mʿawó.

6th. Tághghel, a place situated on the border of the lagoon, and inhabited by the Kajídi, who cultivate a good deal of corn, and have large herds of camels. Arrive before the heat of the day. If agreeable, you can go on from Jékeré without stopping, and reach Tághghel the same day at sunset.

N.B.—The direction of all the wádiyán, or valleys, which you cross on this route, is from west to east.

II.—FROM BERÍ TO TÁGHGHEL, GOING ALONG THE BORDER OF THE LAKE.

1st day. Kólogó.

2nd. Késkawa, inhabited by the Kúbberi, with much cultivation of corn, principally “masr” (_Zea Maïs_), besides beans; much cattle. There was formerly also a village or district Késkawa on the southern shore of the lake, one day from Ngála.

3rd. Kóskodó.

4th. Talgín, a considerable open village. At no great distance from this place is a valley with date-trees. A man on foot can easily reach Talgín in two days from Berí, sleeping in Késkawa. From Talgín the direct road leads to Mʿawó in three days:—

1st. Mánigá, a place inhabited by Tebu and Kánembú, and situated, as it seems, on a creek of the lake.

2nd. A village inhabited by Tebu, under the authority of Kashélla Bacha, with a market of some importance, where a great many dates are sold.

3rd. Reach Mʿawó at sunset, after having passed the heat in an open valley-plain with date-trees.

5th. Vuli, or Fúli. From here another route leads to Mʿawó.

6th. Kúnunú.

7th. Kánaná.

8th. Forrom, a place on _terra firma_, not to be confounded with the island of the same name.

9th. Ngíllewá.

10th. Medí.

11th. Tághghel.

I will here only just mention that Tághghel cannot be identical with Denham’s Tangalia, because the latter was situate about one day’s journey south (see Denham, vol. i. p. 265.[69]), or rather S.W. from the Bahr el Ghazál, and Tághghel lies a day and a half to the north of it.

III.—THE BAHR EL GHAZÁL, CALLED “BURRUM” BY THE KÁNEMBÚ, AND “FÉDE” BY THE TEBU GURʿAÁN.

All the accounts which I received with regard to this much talked-of valley, which it had been our ardent desire to visit, agreed in the very remarkable statement, that its inclination was not from the desert towards the lake, but from the lake towards the desert. All my informants stated that it is now dry, but that less than a hundred years ago it formed the bed of a river or channel opening a communication by water between the Tsád and Búrgu. Indeed some people asserted that there was still living a very old man who, in his early youth, had made this journey by water. The spot where this very large wádí, now dry and densely clothed with trees, joins the Tsád, is near the south side of a place called ʿAlimarí, distant one day and a half from Tághghel, in a southerly direction. Start from Tághghel, sleep at Kirchímma, before noon arrive at ʿAlimarí. But at present this connection between the lake and the valley is said to be blocked up by sandhills near a spot called Súggera, or Mezrák, by the Arabs, which prevents the water of the lake, even in its highest state, from entering into the Burrum. However, more inward, another basin is here formed, which is occasionally called Hédebá.

FROM ʿALIMARÍ TO MOÍTÓ.

1st day. Kedáda, a large place, entirely inhabited by runaway slaves, who have asserted their liberty.

2nd. Kédigi, inhabited by La Sálʿa, or el Asʿale’ Arabs.

3rd. Moíto (see Appendix VIII.)

ʿALIMARÍ TO KÁRNAK LÓGONE, TWO AND A HALF DAYS.

Though a few of my informants were of opinion that there was a branch- wádí uniting the Bahr el Ghazál with Lake Fittrí, nevertheless most of them stated uniformly that they have no connection whatever, but that several independent valleys intervene between them. This statement is borne out by many circumstances.

The direction of the Burrum, for a considerable part of its course, is given by the route from Mʿawó to Yʿawó, the capital of the province Fittrí (according to my informants, due east).

1st day (short). Kálkalá, different from the place Kulákulá mentioned above.

2nd. Gújer. Pass here the heat; start again in the afternoon; sleep on the road. This whole district appears to have the general appellation of Sagóre, which I think cannot be different from Yagóre, the name of the country in which Mondó is situated.

3rd. Toróro, a well in the Burrum; before the kaila. A man on horseback is said to go in one day from Mʿawó to the wádí. Pass here the heat; start again at dhohor, and encamp at sunset, still in the wádí.

4th. Encamp at the beginning of the heat, still in the same wádí.

5th. In another (?) wádí.

6th. Shégeráye, a well with much water (and, according to other informants, in the Burrum).

7th. Hájiját.

8th. Encamp between the rocks in Wádí Fáli.

9th. Fittrí.

ITINERARY FROM YʿAWÓ TO MʿAWÓ, ACCORDING TO THE BULÁLA IBRAHÍM.

1st day. Fáli, a rocky valley belonging to Bagírmi.

2nd. Aúni, a hamlet inhabited by Bagírmi people.

3rd. Búkko.

4th. Shégeráye, a valley inhabited by Tebu Gurʿaán.

5th. Bahr el Ghazál.

6th. Kedáda, a place inhabited by Týnjur. It is a question of some importance whether this Kedáda be identical with the Kedáda mentioned above.

7th. Mondó, a considerable place in the district Yagóre, and therefore sometimes called Mondó Yagóre, inhabited by Týnjur (about this curious race of people I shall have occasion to say more in another place), Wádáy people, and Arabs. In the same district of Yagóre lies also the place Bugárma, governed by the chief Kedl Adúmmo. Mondó is mentioned by Denham repeatedly under the form Mendoo or Kanem Mendoo, and was computed by him to be distant about ten hours’ ride from his station in the camp of the Dúggana.[70] Mondó is the residence of a governor formerly under the authority of Bórnu, but at present (at least in 1851) under that of Wádáy. The present governor is Fúgobo Bakr, or Ábakr (properly Ábú Bakr); and very often the agíd el bahr resides here.

8th. Yagúbberi (the name, probably, connected with that of the Kánembú tribe Kúbberi), inhabited by Týnjur.

9th. Mʿawó.

Here may be conveniently mentioned the stations along the celebrated Burrum, as given to us by the Welád Slimán, which, checked by the itineraries mentioned above, will give an approximate outline of the windings of the valley, as laid down in the map.

Beginning at ʿAlímarí, always keeping along the Burrum, the usual stations are the following:—

Gerén, Hebál, Shégeráye, Fajája, Múnarak, Shéddera, Toróri, Haradíbe, Gélemní, Hagéji, Tylb-bahr (Túl el bahr?), Chúwaru, Egé.

The situation of Egé is decided by an itinerary from Ngégimi to that place, which shall be given further on. But first I must mention one difficulty, which leaves a little uncertainty in the configuration of this part of the country. This difficulty regards the place Shégeráye, which in this piece of information is mentioned as a spot and well in the Burrum itself; while in the itineraries (p. 493.) it is indicated rather as a different valley; but it does not seem so difficult to account for this difference, the large valley apparently dividing repeatedly into several branches.

About the identity of Toróri there cannot be the least doubt, as the road from Mʿawó to this place leads by Kálkalá and Gújer.

SHORT ITINERARY FROM NGÉGIMI TO EGÉ.

Mayiját, bír Nefása, bír Sherífa, bír el Hósha, el Hamír, bír Hadúj, bír el ʿAtesh, bír ben Mússebí, bír Sali, Kéderi, Díra or Díri, Bírfo (I am not sure whether originally bír Fó), Egé.

ANOTHER ITINERARY FROM BÍR EL KURNA TO EGÉ, TOUCHING AT BÍR EL ʿATESH AND MÚSSEBÍ.

1st day. A long march; at sunset arrive at bír el ʿAtesh, north.

2nd. At dhohor encamp in the wilderness.

3rd. After four hours’ march arrive at bír ben Mússebí.

4th. About ʿaser (about half-past four o’clock, P.M.) encamp in the wilderness.

5th. After four or five hours’ march, arrive at bír el Borfó, which is already beyond the boundaries of Kánem. It is evident that this well is not identical with Bírfo.

6th. Encamp in a place with plenty of hád, but only few trees.

7th. At sunset arrive in Egé.