Part 9
Though we were determined to return to Kúkawa, we had yet once more to go eastward. The Arabs removed their encampment to Arnánko, the hollow which we passed on our way from Burka-drússo to Yégil. There had been a great deal of uncertainty and dispute amongst them with reference to the place which they were to choose for their encampment; but though, on the following day, very unfavourable news was brought with regard to the security of the road to Bórnu, the departure of the caravan nevertheless remained fixed for the 2nd November; for in the morning one of the Welád Slimán arrived from Kúkawa, accompanied by two Bórnu horsemen, bringing letters from the vizier, requesting the Arabs, in the most urgent terms, to remove their encampment without delay to Késkawa, on the shore of the lake, whither he would not fail to send the whole remainder of their tribe who at that time were residing in Kúkawa; for he had positive news, he assured them, that the Tawárek were meditating another expedition against them on a large scale.
The report seemed not without foundation; for the three messengers had actually met, on their road between Bárrowa and Ngégimi, a party of ten Tawárek, three on foot, and the rest on horseback, and had only escaped by retreating into the swamps formed by the lake. This news, of course, spread considerable anxiety amongst the Arabs, who were still more harassed the same day by information received to the effect that a party of fifteen Wadáy horsemen were lying in ambush in a neighbouring valley; and a body of horsemen were accordingly sent out to scour the country, but returned without having seen anybody.
[Sidenote: Sunday, November 2nd.]
The day of our departure from Kánem at length arrived. Sorry as we were to leave the eastern shore of the lake unexplored, we convinced ourselves that the character of our mission did not allow us to risk our fate any longer by accompanying these freebooters.[11] The camels we had taken with us on this expedition were so worn out that they were unable to carry even the little luggage we had left, and Sheikh Ghét made us a present of two camels, which, however, only proved sufficient for the short journey to Kúkawa; for the one fell a few paces from the northern gate on reaching the town, and the other a short distance from the southern gate on leaving it again on our expedition to Músgu.
The caravan with which we were to proceed was numerous; but the whole of the people were Kánembú, who carried their little luggage on pack-oxen and a few camels, while, besides ourselves, there were only two horsemen. But there were some respectable people among them, and even some women richly adorned with beads, and, with their fine regular features and slender forms, forming a strong contrast to the ugly physiognomy and square forms of the Bórnu females. The difference between the Bórnu and Kánembú is remarkable, although it is difficult to account for by historical deduction.
We were so fortunate as to perform our home-journey without any serious accident, although we had some slight alarms. The first of these occurred when we approached the town of Berí and found all the inhabitants drawn up in battle-array, at a narrow passage some distance from the town; and at the first moment there was considerable alarm on both sides: but we soon learned that they had taken us for Tawárek, of whom a numerous freebooting party, consisting of 200 camels and about as many horses, had a short time previously carried away all the cattle belonging to the place. The state of the country was so insecure that the inhabitants would not allow Mr. Overweg to stay here, notwithstanding his earnest protestations, so that he was obliged to make up his mind to proceed with the caravan, although he was sensible of the danger connected with such an undertaking; and certainly, if we had met with a tolerably strong party of the Tawárek, our companions would have afforded us very little protection. We were so fortunate, however, as to pass through this infested track just at the time when an expedition, laden with booty, had returned homewards.
We, however, met more than forty Búdduma half a day’s journey beyond Ngégimi, armed with spears and shields, and clad in nothing but their leather apron. They had been occupied in preparing salt from the roots of the siwák or _Capparis sodata_; and when they saw the first part of our caravan coming through the thick forest, they commenced an attack, so that Overweg and I were obliged to fire a few random shots over their heads, when, seeing that we were stronger than they had supposed, and recognizing some friends among the Kánembú, they allowed us to pass unmolested. But our whole march from Ngégimi to Bárrowa, through the thick underwood with which the shores of the lake are here overgrown, resembled rather a flight than anything else.
On the 10th we reached the komádugu; and after some lively negotiation with the governor or shitíma, who resides in the town of Yó, I and my companion were allowed to cross the river the same afternoon: for it has become the custom with the rulers of Bórnu to use the river as a sort of political quarantine, a proceeding which of course they can only adopt as long as the river is full. During the greater part of the year everybody can pass at pleasure. Even after we had crossed, we were not allowed to continue our journey to the capital, before the messenger, who had been sent there to announce our arrival, had returned with the express permission that we might go on. The shores round the komádugu were greatly changed, the river being now at its highest. Extensive patches were cultivated with wheat, being regularly laid out in small quadrangular beds of from four to five feet in diameter, which were watered morning and evening from the river by means of buckets and channels.
We reached Kúkawa on the 14th, having met on the road a party of about fifty Welád Slimán, who were proceeding to join their companions in Kánem. We were well received by our host, the vizier of Bórnu.
We had already heard from the governor of Yó, that the sheikh and his vizier were about to leave in a few days on an expedition; and, being desirous of employing every means of becoming acquainted with new regions of this continent, we could not but avail ourselves of this opportunity, however difficult it was for us, owing to our entire want of means, to make the necessary preparations for another campaign, and although the destination of the expedition was not quite certain.
[Illustration: Drawn by J. M. Bernatz, from a Sketch by Dr. Barth.
M. & N. Hanhart, lith. et impt.
KANÉMMA CHIEF.]
[Footnote 11: The information which, in the weak and exhausted state I was then reduced to, and under the unfavourable circumstances in which I was placed as an hostile intruder, I was able to collect with regard to this country, once the mighty and populous kingdom of Kánem, and now reduced to the desolate abode of the scanty remnants of the former native population preyed upon every day by roving and lawless tribes from different quarters, I shall put together in an Appendix (I.) at the end of this volume, as well as the interesting geographical details with regard to Kánem in its flourishing state, as they are to be gleaned from the historical work of Imám Ahmed (Appendix II.). The dates of the earlier history of Kánem, as far as they have come to our knowledge, have been detailed in a former chapter, Vol. II.]
[Illustration: DR. BARTH’S TRAVELS IN NORTH AND CENTRAL AFRICA Sheet No. 10.
MAP OF THE ROUTE from KÚKAWA TO MÚSGU 25 Novr. 1851-1 Feby. 1852.
Constructed and drawn by A. Petermann.
Engraved by E. Weller, _Duke Strt. Bloomsbury._
_London, Longman & Co._]
CHAP. XLII.
WARLIKE PREPARATIONS AGAINST MÁNDARÁ.
[Sidenote: November 25th, 1851.]
Ten days after having returned to our head-quarters, from the wearisome journey to Kánem, I left Kúkawa again, in order to join a new warlike expedition.
The sheikh and his vizier, with the chief part of the army, had set out already, the previous Saturday. The route had not yet been determined upon—it was, at least, not generally known; but Wándalá or, as the Kanúri call it, Mándará was mentioned as the direct object of the march, in order to enforce obedience from the prince of that small country, who, protected by its mountains, had behaved in a refractory manner. The chief motive of the enterprise, however, consisted in the circumstance of the coffers and slave-rooms of the great men being empty; and, a new supply being wanted, from whence to obtain it was a question of minor importance. There was just then much talk about a final rupture between ʿAbd e’ Rahmán and the vizier, the former having intimate relations with the prince of Mándará; and it was for that reason that Mr. Overweg had at first thought it better to remain behind.
My means were scanty in the extreme, and did not allow me to have a mounted servant, my camp-followers consisting merely of the same naga or “jíge,” as the Kanúri call the female camel, which had proved of the highest value to me on the journey to Kánem, and of two very indifferent Fezzáni lads, weak in mind and body,—Mohammed ben Habíb and Mohammed ben Ahmed.
The weather being temperate, and my spirits excellent, I followed cheerfully the Ngórnu road, with which I was well acquainted. The country looked much more interesting now than three months before, on my return from Ádamáwa. Then all was dry and barren, scarcely a single fresh blade had started from the ground, and I was obliged to draw with immense exertion my supply of water from a deep well near Kaine; now the ground was covered with young herbs, the trees were in foliage, and, near the very place of Kaine where the sheikh with his camp-followers had rested the first night, a large lake had been formed by the rains. This lake, which is surrounded by shady trees, retains its water until two or three months after the rainy season, when it begins gradually to dry up. I was therefore enabled to water my horse without any further trouble, after which I followed my people, who were in advance. Here I met with my friend Háj Edrís and Shitíma Makarémma, who were just returning from the camp. They told me that the sheikh had encamped that day at Kúkia, beyond Ngórnu. I therefore made a short halt at noon on this side of that town, in order to reach the camp during the evening without staying in the place; for the city, on all sides, at about an hour’s distance, is almost entirely surrounded by fields devoid of trees. After I had enjoyed about an hour’s rest, Overweg arrived with the disagreeable tidings that his camel, soon after leaving the gate, had fallen, and was unable to get up again even after the luggage had been removed. He therefore sent his servant Ibrahím in advance, in order to procure another camel from the vizier, while he remained with me. When we set out again we took the direct route to the camp, the road being enlivened by horsemen, camels, and pedestrians. The country on this side was only cultivated in some places; we perceived, however, two miles behind Ngórnu a carefully-kept cotton-plantation, and the fields near the village of Kúkia were well cultivated.
The whole of this fertile plain became a prey to the inundations of the Tsád in the year 1854, caused by a sinking of the ground, when the whole country was changed in the most marvellous way. Here we obtained a first view of the camp with its tents; but it made no remarkable impression upon me, being still in an unfinished state, including only those people who were in the most intimate connection with the court.
The “ngáufate” having its fixed arrangements, our place was assigned near the tents of Lamíno, at some distance east from those of Háj Beshír. As the greater part of the courtiers were taking at least a portion of their harím with them to the “kerígu,” a simple tent was not sufficient for them; but by means of curtains made of striped cotton- stuff a certain space is encompassed in order to insure greater privacy. For the sheikh and the vizier, as long as we remained in the Bórnu territories, at every new encampment an inclosure of matting was erected; for it is not the custom, as has been asserted, to separate the royal camp from that of the rest, at least not on expeditions into a hostile country, nor has it been so in former times. The common soldiers had no further protection, except some light and small huts with high gables, which some of them had built with the tall stalks of the Indian corn, which lay in great abundance on the stubble-fields.
But I shall first say a few words about our friend Lamíno, whom I have already occasionally mentioned, and with whom on this expedition we came into closer contact. This man furnishes an example how in this country, notwithstanding the immense difference of civilization, in reality matters take the same course as in Europe, where notorious rogues and sharpers often become the best police-functionaries. Lamíno, originally “El Amín,” had formerly been a much-dreaded highway-robber, but had now become _chef de police_, or, as the Háussa people would say, “serkí-n- karfi,” being, in consequence of his hard-heartedness and total want of the gentler feelings, of the greatest importance to the vizier, whose mild character did not allow him personally to adopt severe measures. Imprisoning people and ordering them to be whipped constituted one of Lamíno’s chief pleasures. He could, however, at times be very gentle and amiable; and there was nothing which afforded greater amusement to my companion and me than to hear him talk in the most sentimental manner of the favourite object of his affections, a woman whom he carried with him on this expedition. It caused us also great delight to witness the terror he felt at our comparing the shape of the earth to an ostrich’s egg; for he seemed to be quite at a loss to understand how he should be able to preserve his balance on such a globe, with his great heaviness and clumsiness.
[Sidenote: Wednesday, November 26th.]
Early in the morning the signal for the decampment of the army was given in front of the tent of the sheikh, by the sound of the great drum; and in broad battle-array (“báta”) the army with its host of cavalry moved onwards over the plain, which was covered with tall reeds, and showed only here and there a few signs of cultivation.
This time I still remained with the camels and the train-oxen, which, mixed with pedestrians and some single horsemen in long unbounded lines, kept along the road, while single troops of Kánembú spearmen, in their light fanciful garments, mostly consisting of a small apron of rags, or a hide tied round the loins, and armed with their light wooden shields, passed the luggage train, shouting out in their wild native manner. Thus, after a march of about eleven miles, we reached the cotton-fields of Yédi, a town of considerable magnitude, surrounded by a clay wall in a state of good repair. We passed it on a rising ground to our left, while the country on the north-western side spread out in one continuous sandy plain, dotted here and there by a few dúm-bushes (ngílle) and by a few single dúm-palms. On this side of the town, at about a quarter of an hour’s distance, after the autumnal rains, a large pond is formed, on the borders of which gardens of onions are planted by the inhabitants of Yédi, and irrigated with the aid of khattatír.
The sun was intensely hot; and the heat at noon was very great. Strange to say, during all this time I neglected to make thermometrical observations; and as far as I am aware Overweg did not pay more attention to this subject than myself: but the reason of this neglect was, that we usually started early in the morning, and seldom had shade in the neighbourhood of our tents at noon; for these, which by this time were so much worn that every object inside cast a shadow as well as outside, could give us, of course, no measure for the temperature of the air.
Our protector Lamíno afterwards sent us an excellent dish of rice boiled in milk and covered with bread and honey. The rice was of a whiteness unusual in this country. Having received likewise a dish of bread and honey from the vizier, we thought it our duty to pay him a visit, and through his mediation to the sheikh also. The sheikh had alighted at his spacious clay mansion outside the walls of the city; and he was just occupied with granting a grand reception to the townspeople.
After the usual exchange of compliments, our discourse turned upon Captain Denham (Ráís Khalíl), who had once taken the same road in conjunction with Kashélla Bárka Ghaná, and with Bú-Khalúm. On this occasion also the manner in which old Mʿallem Shádeli or Chádeli, then a simple fáki, who was present, behaved towards that Christian was mentioned. We related to them what a faithful description Major Denham had given, in the narrative of his adventures, of the hostile disposition of the fáki, when the old mʿallem, who was now one of the grandees of the empire, in order to revenge himself upon Major Denham and ourselves, described to the assembly, with sundry sarcastic hints, how he had seen the Major, after his shameful defeat at Musfáya, half dead and stripped of his clothes, and exhibiting to uninitiated eyes all the insignia which mark the difference between the faithful and unfaithful. The whole spirit in which the story was told bore evidence of the enlightened character and the tolerance of these gentlemen.
All the people behaved very friendly; and the sheikh sent us in the evening two sheep, a load of “ngáberí” or sorghum, besides two dishes of prepared food. We were also entertained by a young musician, who had accompanied Mr. Overweg during his voyage on the Tsád; and in this way there was no end of feasting. Nor was there any want of intellectual food, the inquisitive and restless vizier being desirous of learning from us as much as possible on this expedition, where he enjoyed plenty of leisure. Here we remained also the following day, as some more detachments were to join the army.[12]
[Sidenote: Friday, November 28th.]
The ngáufate advanced as far as the town of Márte. Not far from Yédi there extends, in a southerly direction, a very expansive plain devoid of any sort of vegetation except some mimosas. This is the beginning of the “fírki” ground, which comprises so large a space in the southern regions of Bórnu, and of which I have repeatedly spoken on former occasions; but the plantation of the _Holcus cernuus_, called “másakwá” or “mósogá” (which is limited to this peculiar territory), had not turned out well this year, in consequence of the scarcity of rain.
I had marched in advance with my camel, when the vizier got sight of me, and begged me to come to the sheikh. After having saluted me in the most friendly way, he asked me why I always wore my pistols in my belt round the waist, instead of fixing them at the saddle-bow; but he praised my foresight when I appealed to the example of Ráís Khalíl, who, when thrown from his horse, on his unlucky expedition to Mándará, remained without a weapon in his hand. However, he was of opinion that at present, with such a large army, no danger of this kind was to be feared. He showed me also, in the most flattering manner, that he had imitated my example of having my chronometer continually girded around my waist; and he assured me that he found it very convenient.
The troop was here proceeding in stately order, and a broad line of battle deployed, one officer, with the title of jérma, riding in advance, and being followed by the four fan-bearers of the sheikh, in full array; but a little further on, a small tract of underwood compelled them to change their order of march, and proceed in one long line. The vizier was kind enough to send me a message to the effect that I had better get in front, so as not to be in the midst of the confusion.
The place of encampment was chosen on the north-west side of the town of Márte; and when the sheikh had dismounted, in order to take possession of the mat house which had been prepared for him, the whole host of cavalry galloped up in the fiercest manner, before I was able to get out of their way, so that I received a very severe shock from a horseman, who struck against me with great violence.
In the afternoon my friend and companion on my journey to Ádamáwa, Kashélla Bíllama, called on me; and we mounted on horseback, in order to pay a visit to the market, which is held every Friday outside the western gate of the town, where an open area surrounded by several wells spreads out. But the market, at least that day, was very insignificant: it was not furnished with a single shed or stall, and not a single article of manufacture was exposed, Negro millet, butter, and wooden bowls being almost the only articles offered for sale; and sellers, as well as buyers, were very few in number. The town contains about four thousand inhabitants, and, taking into account the strategetical art of this country, possesses proper defences, the clay wall being in a good state of repair, and having a gate on each side excepting the side of the market, where there are two. Towards the east there is a little cultivated ground, and on the north a small suburb, consisting of large, conical, thatched huts, where, besides Kanúri, several Fúlbe or Felláta families are living. The interior of the town consists of narrow lanes; and most of the houses are clay buildings. There was nothing interesting to be seen; but I was agreeably surprised when my companion, who was a native of this place, took me to pay my compliments to his mother, who kept a small shed, or rather, as we should say, a shop, in the little market-place inside the town. It was certainly a trait of a good-natured and friendly disposition.
We remained here the following day; but our stay was not at all pleasant, there being very little shade near the encampment, while our tents were so worn that they scarcely afforded any protection against the sun. Owing to the smallness of my means, I had been obliged to leave my large tent, in Kúkawa.
[Sidenote: Sunday, Nov. 30th.]