CHAPTER XVI.

RETURN TO NEW DONGOLAH. — THE GOVERNOR. — HIS INDECISION. — GENERAL ALARM. — INTERVIEW WITH THE GOVERNOR. — HIS DIFFICULT SITUATION AND WANT OF ENERGY. — INCREASE OF THE INSURGENTS. — RETREAT OF THE KATSHEF OF HAFFEER. — TROOPS MARCHED OUT AGAINST THE INSURGENTS. — FEARS ABOUT THE RESULT. — THEIR ARMY. — THE BATTLE. — EFFECTS OF THE REVOLT. — ROADS IMPASSABLE. — RETURN OF THE EXPEDITION. — TURKISH AND ARAB EVOLUTIONS. — HASSANYEH. — FUNGE. — CURIOUS ASSEMBLAGE. — _LULULOO_ OF THE WOMEN. — TURKISH SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IN THE PROVINCES, AND PRESENT STATE OF THE PEASANTRY AND ARABS OF THE DESERT ABOVE WADY HALFAH.

_El Ourde, or New Dongolah.—April_ 21. Immediately on my arrival, I paid a visit to the governor, but was not received; for, notwithstanding the general alarm which exists on account of the insurrection, he could not deny himself his mid-day nap. In the evening I was more successful. The more I see of this man, the more I feel alarmed about the length of time I may be detained, and what may be the result of this unfortunate affair, for I perceive clearly he is incapable of taking any resolution. He complained of not having force sufficient. I advised him to adopt the common Turkish system of offering a general pardon and lighter taxes, or muster all his forces, and crush, at once, a movement which, in a country like this, was likely to spread so rapidly.

_April_ 29. A week passed without any plan being determined upon. I had not chosen to renew my advice, perceiving what I had already given to be fruitless. The greatest panic existed in the town. Some proposed to fly up the country; others, to reach Egypt by crossing the desert by Selemeh. We had, every day, some new and false rumour, that other districts had revolted, and that the whole valley of the Nile, from Wady Halfah to the extremity of the Pasha’s dominions, was on the point of throwing off the yoke of their oppressors. Sometimes the insurgents were reported to be within an hour’s march of the town, preparing to attack it. Muskets were distributed, the cannons prepared, and we were all to fight for our lives. At length, the officers, who are a despicable set, became refractory: some refused to march, while others were anxious to commence operations. The governor was undecided; some officers of the divan advised one course, and some another; and, while he vacillated between them, day passed after day, without any plan being adopted.

Foreseeing the consequences of this irresolution, while discontent was spreading even among the government troops, and the insurgents daily increasing, I determined to make one effort more to rouse him from his lethargy, and persuade him to adopt some vigorous measure. I, therefore, visited him, accompanied by a Greek dragoman, with whom the governor, being a Turk from the Morea, could converse in the Romaic without any other person in the divan understanding our discourse. I thus obtained the best chance of my advice being followed, by sparing his _amour propre_, of which he had a considerable stock.

I apologised for the liberty I was taking; conscious that, as a stranger, I had no right to interfere with his administration; but that my fate was linked with his, as the success of my own plans depended on his being able to restore order and tranquillity to the country. In return, too, for his attentions, I was anxious, if possible, to be of service to him; I regretted his present difficult situation, particularly as I saw him surrounded by men guided more by their passions than by reason. To my surprise, he raised up his head, which generally hangs over his knees, almost touching them, and expressed his willingness to listen to, and follow, my counsel. Tormented as he has been, for several days, with the insolent dictation of his officers, each insisting on some wild scheme of his own, he turned a ready ear to my suggestions, which were, of course, disinterested. Each officer, on the contrary, hoped, if his plan should be adopted, and be successful, that he might have the merit of the victory, and obtain, in consequence, a present from the Pasha.

I urged the governor to send to some of the sheakhs up the Nile, who are strongly attached to the government, and have no affection for the Mahas, to assemble their forces; and also to Melek Tumbol, who is said to have a force of 500 men, while the former could muster 600 men, and both would be quite willing to join the government. The governor had imprudently ordered the soldiers scattered in the different villages to assemble, under the katshefs and kaimacams, in bands of fifty. This had caused great dissatisfaction, by showing that he distrusted the fidelity of the peasants; and the measure was useless, except in affording a security for the lives of the soldiers, which, after all, was only apparent; for bands of fifty were too small to keep extensive districts in subjection, or protect themselves against the united attacks of the peasantry. I urged the governor to send for these troops to replace the garrison here, which he might thus be enabled to send out against the revolters. He consented to this proposition very reluctantly.

To my surprise, he informed me that he had sent no courier to Cairo. He had despatched one to Khartoun, in the hopes of procuring a reinforcement from that district. I did not think it probable that the government there would risk its security by sending part of their force to Dongolah: but it was great neglect not to inform all the governors around of the revolt, that they might guard against any attempts within their own territories; particularly as it is rumoured, though, probably, without foundation, that this is only the first explosion of a grand conspiracy, formed by the people, throughout Upper Nubia, to avail themselves of the present opportunity, whilst the Pasha is engaged with the war in Syria, to throw off his yoke.

The number of soldiers here at present is 200, part of a regiment of invalids sent to this province, being of no use at Cairo; the remainder of the regiment is scattered, as I have said, in small parties, about the province. As the Arab and Turkish merchants in the bazaar are more than sufficient to protect the citadel, and their fidelity may be relied upon, their lives and property being at stake, I urged the governor to send off the troops in the garrison without delay; and he promised that he would do so as soon as the necessary arrangements could be made. I advised him also to mount guards on the citadel, to dispel the panic which existed, and prevent the possibility of the place being surprised.

_April_ 30. The katshef of Haffeer arrived, without having received permission from the governor to abandon his post, but conceiving it impossible, with only 50 men, to protect the indigo house, which is but partially fortified, against the threatened attack of the insurgents. He stated the force of the latter to be 1500 men; and a courier arrived last night, with the intelligence, that yesterday more soldiers were killed, and that another party of fifty only escaped through the means of an Arab sheakh, abandoning their baggage, and, _mirabile dictu_ for Turks, also their pipes!

_May_ 1. The troops, 150 in number (leaving 50 in the citadel), marched out this morning against the Mahas. They were accompanied by 120 volunteers, some of them mounted. The Hassanyeh and Funge, 500 strong, and Melek Tumbol on the opposite bank, with 500 more, are waiting to join them. They took with them one piece of cannon, an eight-pounder, on which they rested their chief hopes of success. The review of these warriors caused a great sensation in this little capital. The governor had distributed muskets and ammunition to all the merchants who joined the expedition, and also to those who remained in garrison. Each man was trying his weapon by firing it off. The women were weeping, and demonstrating their grief, according to the custom of the country, by a peculiar _lululoo_, caused by drawing their breath, and shaking their tongues between their lips, at the same time waving their hands, in sign of wishes for their husbands’ success.

Considering how this expedition was composed, I was almost doubtful of its success. The soldiers and officers were the refuse of the Pasha’s army; the merchants a confused mass; the commander notorious for cowardice; the cannon in the hands of men not renowned for their skill in engineering; and it seemed doubtful whether friendship to the Turks, the rancour of ancient feuds, or even the hope of plunder, be sufficient motives to induce the Hassanyeh Arabs and Melek Tumbol’s forces to act against their neighbours, fighting for their liberty, to free themselves from a grievous and intolerable yoke, and who had placed their all upon the die,—death or victory. The governor himself reviewed the troops outside the walls, and gave his last directions. How ridiculous this expedition would have appeared in Europe! It reminded me of the army of Bombastes Furioso; and the Mahmoor might have dismissed them with the same words,—

“Begone, brave soldiers, don’t kick up a row!”

_May_ 2 and 3. were spent in great anxiety about the result of the expedition. Rumours were spread that the government troops were defeated, and that the Mahas were coming to attack the citadel.

_May_ 4. This morning news arrived of the engagement, and that the Pasha’s troops had gained the victory. On the 10th, they and the merchants returned, and I received from some sensible Turkish merchants, on whose authority I could depend, the following account of the battle. The insurgents, 1300 strong, at three o’clock in the afternoon advanced to attack the government forces, encamped a little below Hannek. Their chief, Melek Backeet, sent round 300 of his men to intercept the enemy’s retreat; for it never occurred to the brave warriors of Mahas that they could possibly be defeated. If they had possessed any degree of judgment, or been less confident, and had made the attack during the night, they would probably have succeeded; for at that time no sentinels or guards were established, and the greatest confusion reigned in the Turkish camp.

About 150 of the Mahas had guns, but very bad ones, mostly matchlocks, and they were very ill supplied with ammunition. They were variously armed; some with lances, shields, German swords (see various plates of costumes); while others had only swords made of the acacia wood, about four feet long, rounded at one end for the hand, the rest cut thin, flat, and sharpened at both sides,—a heavy but formidable weapon in the hands of an athletic Arab. Others had staves only. Sentences in Arabic were written by the fakeers, on the wooden swords and staves; on some of them lines from the Koran: the most common were,—“May God give me force to destroy my enemies!” “May my foes tremble before me!” “May the acacia sword be as the sharp steel in my hand!” I have seen a staff similarly shaped in the museum at Berlin, with hieroglyphics on it; the latter I could not examine, as it was on a shelf, at too great a distance to be read.

Twelve Turks on horseback accompanied the troops; to whom, with the Arab merchants (Jelabs), and about 500 Hassanyeh, must be ascribed the honour of the victory. Melek Tumbol’s Arabs were on the opposite side of the river, and the soldiers of the government were so placed by their skilful commander, behind their own friends, that they could not fire a single shot. The general, usually a great talker, became miraculously silent when the engagement commenced; and, knowing the value of his person, very prudently placed it out of danger. The artillerymen fired the cannon sixty-two times, only wounding one man: but, to give them their due, I was informed by several, that the victory was chiefly gained by the noise they made.

To the astonishment of the brave Mahas, the government forces, or rather the merchants, undeterred by their cries of “Cip! cap!” and dancing round and round (see view of the Shageea fighting, Plate XXXVIII.), returned the shaking of their spears with a good discharge of musketry, while the Hassanyeh made a sharp attack. An engagement of a few minutes ended in the unfortunate Mahas flying to the river. Numbers were shot sitting on the rocks and islands, and others in crossing the stream: altogether about 120 perished.

The regular troops, not having fired a ball during the engagement, discharged their muskets in the air to celebrate _their_ victory; and the brave commander, now quite loquacious, gratified his thirst for blood by the massacre of two unfortunate young prisoners, who fell into his hands. Melek Backeet, the chief of the Mahas, is said to be concealed in the country, but that feudal attachment to their chief, which is so strong among all the Arabs, will secure him against being discovered.

A general pardon having been proclaimed, according to the usual Turkish system, until the government feels itself sufficiently strong to punish the delinquents, several of the inferior sheaks have accepted the amnesty offered by the governor, and the peasants are returning to their occupations. Many of the water-wheels are injured, and a great number of the working oxen killed by the Mahas. The loss to the government cannot, it is said, be less than 5000_l._

My chief apprehension now is, that the roads will be infested by the most desperate of the Mahas, acting as brigands; among others, by their chief: we are therefore still detained here until this man is taken, or has left the country, and tranquillity is entirely restored. Several caravans of merchants are likewise deterred from going down to Egypt. They thus incur a large expense, having to maintain a number of slaves; but they seem greatly afraid of encountering the journey. I proposed forming a great caravan, but they coolly replied, that they should wait until the full moon, and, in the mean time, see whether I passed safely.

[Illustration: Pl. 38.

SHAGEEA FIGHTING.

_On stone by Walton from a Drawing by L. Bandoni._

_Printed by C. Hullmandel._

_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]

_May_ 11. The return of the expedition was celebrated with great rejoicings. The Mahmoor, shortly after sunrise, reviewed about 300 troops, who have arrived, within these few days, from Handek, Meroueh, and other parts of the province; he marched out with these, and joined the armament encamped at a short distance from the walls, and all together then entered the citadel, in procession. The governor, at the head of the regular troops, who kept up a continual fire, went foremost, followed by the Turks and sheakhs on horseback, going through their evolutions, which consisted in a kind of mock battle, where they certainly displayed admirable horsemanship; sometimes galloping at full speed, suddenly halting, and wheeling round and round, the Turks firing their pistols, and the sheakhs brandishing their lances. Some of the meleks and sheakhs made a very picturesque appearance, being well mounted, with their peculiar costumes, lances, swords, and shields, the latter of the hide of the hippopotamus. After these came the Jelabs, or merchants of the bazaar, making liberal use of the muskets and ammunition given to them by the governor. Then followed a great number of the Hassanyeh, and some few of the Shageea Arabs, mounted on camels, dromedaries, or horses, and some on foot, going through their evolutions as in battle, brandishing their spears, leaping in the air, first on one leg, then on the other, at the same time turning round and shouting their war cry, “Cip! cap!” and beating their shields with their spears. Lastly came a tribe, formerly mentioned, the Funge,—fine athletic men, said to be very brave. They wear, like the others, their garments in the antique style, and their heads, as is the custom of the Arabs of the desert, uncovered, but protected from the sun by bushy tresses, reaching almost to the shoulders.

The _coup-d’œil_ was rendered particularly striking, by the variety of costumes, complexions, and arms, and the singularity of the evolutions. We saw in one field the regular troops, Fellahs from Egypt, marching and firing in the European manner; the natives of the Caucasus, the Turks, exhibiting their more dashing Mameluke exercise; but neither of them attracted half so much my attention as the wild extraordinary manœuvres of the dark peasants of the country and the Arabs of the desert. I should not forget, also, the cries of the women. The house-tops, and the walls of the citadel, were covered with them, cackling (I think that the most appropriate term) a welcome to their husbands in the same curious manner I have before described; but on this occasion the note was different, being expressive of joy at their return.

The governor, afraid of the Pasha’s censuring, and, perhaps, dismissing him, on account of this affair, pays, from his own purse, the expense of the expedition; and he has made a present of 100 piastres to each Turk, 50 to each melek, 30 to each sheakh, of 10 to each peasant and merchant. He pays for the gunpowder also,—no trifle, since, beside what was consumed in the action, they have been firing ever since, to indulge their fondness for the report of a gun, under the plea of celebrating the governor’s triumph. The day is to be devoted to feasting and rejoicing. Those who can afford it have killed cows, others sheep. The mallums, the Coptic treasurers and writers of the government, are now very conspicuously exhibiting their joy. They have been terribly alarmed during this affair; conceiving, perhaps with some reason, that, besides their office, and having the character of being individually rich, their obnoxious titles of Christian dogs and tax-gatherers would have ensured to them, had the citadel been taken, being the first to have their throats cut.

In relating the causes of this insurrection, I shall only be giving a sketch of the Turkish system of governing the provinces, which has rarely, if ever, been sufficiently elucidated. The government of the pashas in Egypt is essentially military. The officers all of whom (except sometimes the baractars) are Turks, decide every question connected with the revenues, and often interfere, in other affairs, with the decisions of the cadis. The system of the government is to extort from the peasant the utmost possible amount of tax, leaving him only what they consider, or pretend to consider, a sufficient subsistence, but it is usually a most miserable one.

I will give a more detailed account of the system in Egypt, at a future opportunity, and shall here only say a few words respecting that unfortunate country. If the peasants did not actually steal from their own fields, in some places, they could not exist. Although they bury their grain under ground, and by various other methods deceive their oppressors, numbers perish from the want of sufficient nourishment and clothing. I have seen them, in winter, assembled in a corner, round a miserable fire, shivering with cold and hunger. In the most favoured clime under heaven, and the most productive country on the face of the earth, a vast proportion of the peasants may be said barely to exist upon food more calculated for cattle than for human beings, and, bad as it is, they have rarely enough.

The Pasha has power sufficient to hold them in subjection, and by his extortions fills his coffers; but necessity alone induces them to submit. He not only imposes most enormous taxes upon every article of produce, but obliges them to cultivate what he chooses, and take the price he offers for the produce. He is the only purchaser of the grain, cotton, and indigo, and of the gum of Kordofan, ostrich feathers, and other articles. Slaves are almost the only commodity the merchants now are allowed to take in exchange for the manufactures they carry to Sennaar and Kordofan: even wild animals of the desert, as the giraffe, are a monopoly of the government.

The Pasha is the great landlord of this immense district: the people are his slaves. His revenues are derived not only from the regular taxes, but from his profits as a merchant, which are enormous, in consequence of the low rate at which he pays the peasants for their produce, compared with that at which he sells it again to the Europeans. It is true that this source of gain is greatly diminished by the roguery of the different officers through whose hands it passes. From the highest to the lowest there is seldom any exception,—mahmoors, nazrs, katshefs, kaimacams, and soldiers, all concur in diminishing the amount, and, in particular, the mallums, or Coptic accountants. The latter not only cheat the ignorant Turks, who generally cannot read their accounts, but often trade with the money of the treasury, and incur losses which they are unable to repay. A number, on this account, are always immured in the prisons of the Pasha.

The peasants in Upper Nubia are free from these pecuniary distresses, and are comparatively happy. It is very true, that, instead of paying only one dollar in money, two pieces of linen cloth, and a sheep, thirty piastres, which was all they paid their ancient meleks, they are now obliged to pay fifteen dollars in cash, and five in grain; in all, three hundred piastres: ten times as much as they paid formerly. Instead of sleeping, as was their custom, the greater part of the day, they are now obliged to work: but the man who is at all industrious may earn an ample sufficiency to afford food and dress such as he has been accustomed to. The following calculation will show more precisely their present condition.

Each sakkea, or Persian wheel, is sufficient to water three quarters of a feddan of land, planted with indigo, and each feddan produces a hundred cantars of the herb, and sometimes more, when carefully irrigated: being seventy-five cantars for the extent of land which one wheel will water. The government pay the peasants 12½ Egyptian piastres for each quintal; that is, 937 piastres for the whole, which, at the current rate of the dollar here, 15 piastres, is equal to 62½ dollars; whence we must deduct twenty for the duty, and there remains for the persons to whom the wheel belongs, 42½ dollars, or 637 piastres: but, as this is the lowest calculation, we may fairly estimate nearly two piastres per day for each water-wheel. This will go to the support of one family, provided it can afford five persons capable of putting their shoulders to the wheel; but otherwise, two families must unite to reckon up that number. A great deduction on the gain of the peasant in Egypt is the immense expense of the wheel: but here they are so much more simple, they cost a very trifling sum; the oxen only 30 piastres each, and their keep next to nothing.

However small a sum two piastres, or sevenpence English, may appear to a European, it is amply sufficient in this climate, where every necessary is so cheap. In Lower and Upper Egypt, where bread is so much dearer, and meat and milk double the price, the fixed price of a labourer amounts to half a piastre per day, to sustain himself and perhaps a family. Most of the peasants here, too, have other slips of land which are watered by the inundation of the river, and they gain considerably by their date trees, notwithstanding that they pay a tax of a piastre for each tree. They also rear flocks, and cultivate vegetables, particularly the favourite Arab ones, bamia and malakkhia; they make linen, spirit, bouza, &c. They allow, too, that grain pays them still better than indigo.

The condition of the peasants of Upper Nubia is thus happy, compared to those of Egypt. In this country, you very rarely see a peasant with a ragged garment, and there are very few of the men who have not their harems. Those who live near the seat of government have also the advantage of supplying the markets with the few vegetables the country produces, and of being employed as workmen. Some also keep camels, which afford them a large profit.

The Arabs of the desert have still more reason to be satisfied with the present government, so far as regards their pecuniary interests. They pay tribute only for the land they cultivate, which is in general very little, and in many cases none at all; but otherwise they gain a sufficient livelihood, by transporting to Egypt, with their camels, the grain collected as revenue, or purchased by the government, and in aiding the now constant passage of troops and merchants. Many of the Arab tribes of Kordofan, who formerly never came here, now participate in the profit of carrying the 2500 camel loads of gum, which, as before stated, are annually sent from that country to Cairo.

Thus the labouring peasants of the Nile and the Arabs of the desert in Upper Nubia, so far as regards the taxes and means of subsistence, are in happy circumstances compared to the Fellaheen of Egypt; but in other respects they are equally galled by their Turkish rulers. In Egypt, the officers only are oppressive: the soldiers, who are Fellaheen, like the peasants, are not so insolent as here, where their comparatively white complexion, their character as conquerors, and their pride as _askari_, or soldiers, induce them to despise the natives, and oppress them more than the government authorises.

When the chief governor of a province is possessed of talent, energy, and firmness, the officers and soldiers are prevented from committing many excesses; but when the country has the misfortune to be under a man like the Mahmoor of Dongolah,—too timid to redress the complaints continually made against the disorderly soldiers,—its state may easily be imagined. Each soldier is a little tyrant, and commits a series of gross and petty vexations inconceivable to a European. Of the many I have witnessed, I will give only a few specimens:—If the soldier wants a sheep, fowls, eggs, or any other article, he obliges the peasant to sell them at half the market price, and not unfrequently refuses to pay any thing at all. When becalmed on the river, he goes on shore, and forces ten, and sometimes twenty, natives to drag his boat, without any remuneration. If he meets a peasant girl carrying milk or butter, he often helps himself to half without paying for it, unless with a salute; and woe betide the imprudent sheahk or peasant who refuses to give gratuitously the best his house affords, or neglects the horse or camel of the Turk or soldier who has taken up his quarters for the night at his house. If camels or donkeys are wanted, they must furnish them, and consider themselves fortunate if they get any trifle in return. The haughty manner of the conquerors is still more galling to the Arabs: their usual manner of addressing them is, “_Kelp, Marhas!_”—“Dog! villain! Do this! do that! quick! quick! cursed be your race!” with threats of a beating, even actual blows, and sometimes with the sole of the shoe, which is the greatest indignity that a Mahometan can receive.

Men whose ancestors have been chiefs in the country for ages must now submit to the insolence and contumely of this vile and lawless soldiery. From negligence the latter often do not demand the tax on the water-wheels for some time; then, all at once, they appear, calling out, “Pay me to-morrow, or the bastinado!” The peasant, not being allowed sufficient time to raise the money, is obliged to suffer this degrading punishment, and often even have his ears nailed to a board. Being at a distance, perhaps, from the seat of government, or large market towns, he has no opportunity of selling his produce; nevertheless, with double the value of the sum required in effects, he has to undergo a disgraceful punishment, because he has no dollars.

The Mahas who revolted had not paid the government for some time. The mahmoor sent a villanous Turk into their province, with the instruments of torture, who immediately began bastinadoing them, nailing their ears, and threatening to cut off their heads, if they did not pay him. He visited Melek Backeet, who owed a considerable sum to the government, and told him that, if he did not pay his taxes in a few days, every species of torture would be inflicted upon him. The Mahas manufacture a strong linen cloth, which is very much esteemed throughout all the valley of the Nile. Being at a distance from the capital, and thus unable to command an immediate sale, at least for the large quantity on hand, they tendered it in part of their taxes. The government refused, though the transaction would have been very advantageous to them, the linen being offered at a price much lower than it sells for in the bazaar of Dongolah. Melek Backeet, therefore, excited the revolt, preferring death to the ignominious punishment with which he was threatened.

This country, under proper management, might become a far greater source of wealth to the Pasha than it even now is. Notwithstanding the galling system of the Turks, the natives are sensible of the advantages of a settled and firm government; and the peasants of the Nile, most particularly, are glad to be released from the tyranny and spoliation accompanying the feuds and petty wars by which the country was formerly torn. Did the Turks but treat them as men, and not disgust them by their insulting manners, and by inflicting on them such degrading and infamous punishments; had their rulers but a few ideas of common policy and legislation, the resources might be greatly augmented, the revenue increased, and the people would be the most happy and contented under the sun. The superiority which fire-arms afforded to their haughty conquerors taught them to despise the strength of the Arabs, and, with that insolence which is ever united with ignorance, they do not in the slightest degree endeavour to attach them to the government, or, in fact, condescend to treat, otherwise than as a vastly inferior race, the people which it cost them so much, even with all their advantages, to conquer.