Travels in Nubia

(1.) This work of Ibn Selym I have in vain searched for in Egypt. Its title is well known; at Assouan and at Derr in Nubia, I found that some people knew it by name, but I never could find any body who had seen it.

(1.*) (see p. 494). I am led to believe, from different circumstances, that the Mokel here meant is the Doum. Wahyshe speaks of a tree called the blue Mokel, or Mokel el Azrek, which he says resembles the quince tree, has no fruit or flower, but emits from its trunk a fluid that has a good odour, and is used as a perfume. This tree, he adds, is principally found in Barbary. Of the Mokel simply so called, Wahyshe says that it produces a gum which is used by the Arabs as a mixture with perfumes, and that it grows in Arabia. He no farther describes the tree. I am ignorant whether the Doum produces a gum.

(2.) Selt (سلت) is a species of barley. In an abridgment of Ibn Wahyshe’s translation of the Agriculture of the Nabateans,[192] it is said that the Selt requires a hard stony soil and little water. (The country of Bedja would therefore be well fitted for it.) The bread made of it is of difficult digestion.

(3.) The expression of the author (فيعتقبون الارض لفيقها) may likewise mean, that the first cultivator makes room for another, who sows in the same spot after him.

(4.) Djawars or Djawarsh (جاورس or جاورش). A grain unknown to me, and, I believe, unknown in Egypt. The above cited author says that it requires a well watered soil to prosper; and that it is like Dhourra.

(5.) I find this name spelt Bedjrash, Bahrash, Narash, Bakhrash, Nadjrash. The two first occur most frequently.

(6.) The sense of this passage is not clear in my MSS. من قال حتي ان عظيمهم اذا جزبها و قف به المسلمي و اوهم افه يفتّش عليه حتي يجد الطريق الي و لده او وزيره و من دو نهما.—In another copy I find اذا حاربها و قف بها.

(7.) The Sembad is a stone still used in Egypt by jewellers and goldsmiths to give a polish; but it is imported from India and not from Nubia.

(8.) This ruin of Say I have not seen myself, as I could find no boat to carry me over. But I saw from a distance an ancient castle-like edifice among the palm groves.

(9.) This corresponds to the country of Mahass.

(10.) I find this word written Yonso, Benso, Noso. Perhaps Mosho, the frontier town of Dóngola is meant. The extent of the Merysy language is perfectly well indicated here.

(11.) I find it spelt likewise Yaoun (يعون). The description of this country agrees well with the present state of the country of Dóngola.

(12.) Taghtit and Nouby are, I believe, different species of the parrot. The term Babagh (ببغ), which I have translated here by parrot, is given to a small green parrot of the size of a black-bird. The Sennaar caravans bring them to Cairo. Some of them are found at Sennaar, but the greater part come from the neighbourhood of Shilluk, on the Nil el Abyadh. I never saw any wild parrots in any part of Nubia.

(13.) I find this written likewise Sendykal and Sefdabkal (سنديقل, سفدبقل).

(14.) The Sant is a well known species of Mimosa, very common in Upper Egypt and all over Nubia. The wood Sadj is of a dark brown colour, and very hard. Articles of furniture are manufactured from it at Bombay and Surat, and are exported to Djidda, from whence they are sent to Cairo. According to Masoudy, in his Golden Meadows (مروج الزهب), the Sadj is a very large tree, larger than the palm or the walnut tree.[193]

(15.) The Arabic reads ولقد رايت علي بعضها علامة عربية, and another copy has: علامة غريبة, which would mean, I have seen myself on several of them very curious signs of workmanship.

(16.) Instead of Shenka and Shenkyr, I find these words also written Sheka, Shekfyr, and Shenfyr.

(17.) This name is written in a different manner, every time that it occurs. Nadha, Nasza, Madha, Badha (ناضع, ناصع, ماضع, باضع). Shultens, in the extracts he gives from Masoudy in his Monumenta, has adopted the reading of Nasza, which he calls Nazoa. It is no doubt a harbour on the coast of Abyssinia, or on the coast between Souakin and Dahlak. If on the coast of Abyssinia, the names of Massouah, or as it may likewise be written, Masōa (مصوع), or Madyr, in the bay of Amphila, two days journey south of Massouah, which, according to Mr. Salt, is a much frequented port, are the nearest corresponding to it in sound. If, on the contrary, a harbour is meant north of Massouah or Dahlak, it seems, from Capt. Court’s map, that the only good harbour on that coast is Port Mornington, of which it is to be regretted that we are not acquainted with the native name.

(18.) The Beni Omeya and Koreysh, who fled from Mekka into Abyssinia, are meant here.

(19.) I find this city spelt Maafa, Naka, Yafa (معافة, ناقه, يافه); in Arabic MSS. the points over the consonants of proper names are very often misplaced. I read here Tafa (تافة), because, at one long day’s journey from Assouan is a ruined town of that name, which I have mentioned in my journal. More considerable remains of private habitations are seen there than any where else between the cataracts, and likewise several small temples. Descendants of ancient Christian families are still found here among the tribe of Kenz, who inhabit these parts.

(20.) Of this word are different readings. I find it spelt Nara in two copies, and Zonara in one: (from the latter word Sennaar might perhaps be derived.) نارة, زناره.

(21.) These pigeons are called Narein or Bazein (نارين or بازين). I prefer the former name, as being derived from the name of Nara.

(22.) The Bekam is a dye wood that comes to Cairo by the way of the Red Sea, from India and the Somauly coast. I believe it to be the logwood.

(23.) The Kena (قناة, plur. قنا) is the cane of which the shafts of lances are made.

(24.) The Arabic name of سرداب, is applied to cellars, caverns, grottos, and subterraneous passages, the work of men and not of nature.

(25.) To place Meroe between the Nile and the Atbara, where Shendy lays, is totally inconsistent with the nature of the ground. For, instead of the fertile island, we find there only a narrow border of cultivated ground, close by the river, while the whole country from thence to the Atbara is a desert, barren soil. I believe that the distances given by Herodotus will be found to agree very well with the position of the island described by Selym.

(26.) This theory of the rise of the Nile is certainly more natural than the theory of Herodotus, Strabo, or Diodorus Siculus. The remarkable fact that the Nile rises every where at the same time is universally believed in Egypt, and the first day after the Khamseyin, or the 18th-20th of June is stated all over Egypt as the day of rise. To make exact researches on that subject would require several observers stationed in different spots, and making their observations on the rise of the river at the same time. I am ignorant whether the French savants have done it.

(27.) The explanation which I have given of this passage appears to me the only reasonable one. I do not find the term of Ras Hofra applied to the Cape of Guardafui by the Arabian geographers, who usually call this promontory Djebel Mandeb. But I find in Edrisy a passage that supports my opinion of this cape being designated here by the name of Ras Hofra. He says (Geog. Nub. i. 6.) in speaking of the Djebel Mandeb: “on the back of this mountain is a cave, which if once entered, none comes out again, on account of some beast that devours him, or on account of pits (Hofer, the plural of Hofra), into which he falls.”[194]

(28.) Northwards is here rendered by the word بحري, Bahry, which is the usual word applied to the north by the Egyptians, who have the Mediterranean or el Bahr always to the north.

(29.) The different readings of this name are, Souba, Souya, (سوية, سوبة). I strongly suspect it to be the same city which is called below Serfeta, Serketa, Serkya (سرقيه, سرقته, سرفته), as a copyist might easily make that mistake.

(30.) Edrys, in describing Nubia, speaks of a town called Ghaloa (غلوه), which he places much farther down the Nile than this Aloa, although I believe that the latter is meant. The point over the ع makes the sole difference.

(31.) This I find written Korsa, Kortyna, and Koroma (كرما, كرتينا, كرسا). I have chosen the latter appellation, because it is an Arabic word, meaning “the generous,” an epithet that might well be given to the Meroe shepherds.

(32.) This town is likewise spelt Zerla (زرلا). I prefer (زلا), as similarly corresponding in sound to Zeyla; and if under the country of Kanem we must understand here the whole of the middle part of northern Africa, the author is quite right in stating that the nearest place to Egypt is Zela, (or Zeyla) because this was no doubt the nearest place on the caravan road, although it might not be so in a straight direction.

(33.) This is likewise spelt Wandy (وندي, دندي).

(34.) I find this name written likewise Djezye or Herye (جزية, حريه, خربه).

(35.) The work of Djaheth alluded to here, is probably his natural history.

(36.) The existence of these emerald mines has lately been authenticated by an European traveller. (V. note 82.)

(37.) هذا عرش فُلان, may mean “this is the tent covering, or the tent pole, or the panoply, of such a man.” In one of the MSS. it is written عرس; which would mean, “this is the wedding of such a one.” But the allusion to the tent is preferable, because it was therein that the guest was defrauded or ill treated.

(38.) I am not acquainted with the tree Shohat (شوحظ), but I find in the dictionary that it is a kind of yew tree. Wahyshe, in the above cited work, says that it is a fine looking tree which grows to a considerable height, with yellow leaves, shaped like those of the apple tree; its wood is of a spotted colour, black and white, of which the Persians and Arabs formerly made great use.

(39.) In a small minerological treatise of Tyfashy (خواص الاحجار ليو سف التيفاشي), I find the Hamest mentioned as a stone used in polishing sword blades, and other arms, and likewise to cut with. It is added, that this stone is principally found in the valley of Szafra, in the Hedjaz.

(40.) Under Ahlylid, I believe the Myrobolan to be understood, although it is not quite certain whether this is really the tree. Ibn Wahyshe describes four different species of it; the Indian, which is divided into two species, the yellow and black; and the Kabely, which is likewise of two sorts, black and white.

(41.) The Adkher or Azkher (ادخر or اذخر), is, according to Wahyshe, a shrub growing in deserts. It is odoriferous, with a red flower or rose. Its seed is a narcotic and an astringent. The plant is not unknown at Cairo. Amongst the charcoal rolled up in mats which is sent to Cairo from Upper Egypt, where it is collected principally by the Arabs Ababde, who live in the mountains south of Kenne and Kosseir, some branches of this Adkher are often met with, and are bought up by the druggists. In Azraky’s history of Mekka, I find that it grows likewise in the Hedjaz, and that formerly the Mekkans mixed it with the mortar (or to burn the mortar), with which they built their houses and their tombs, or perhaps they burnt the mortar with it.

(42.) The Shyh is the Artemisia; and is found in most deserts, for I have seen it in those of the Euphrates, of Arabia petræa, of the Hedjaz, of Nubia, and it is likewise found in Libya. It is one of the favorite herbs of the camels. In the Syrian deserts it is burnt by the Arabs, and the alkali procured from it is exported to the Syrian towns, where it is used in the manufacture of soap.

(43.) The Senna and coloquintida are mentioned in different parts of my journal.

(44.) El Ban, a species of tamarisk, I believe. Wahyshe says it produces a pulse, the shape of which is like that of a lupin, and the bean like a pistaccio nut. It has a green flower.

(45.) The Fahed is a beast of prey, which, according to Damyry, in his Zoology, is called Heyat el Heywan (حيوة الحيوان للدميري), and is born of the tiger and the lion. Its propensity to sleep has become proverbial among the Arabs. The Khalifs of Bagdad and the governors of Mekka used it to hunt game.[195]

(46.) Anak el Ardh (عناق الارض), according to the same, is an animal smaller than the Fahed, of the size of a small dog. It has a long back. It hunts every thing, even birds. It is probably a weazel or a martern. Damyry adds, that it belongs to the species of the lion, and that it is likewise called Teffa (تفّه).

(47.) At Cairo the name of Komary is given to a species of turtle dove, with a ring of white or coloured feathers round the neck. They are scarce in Egypt.

(48.) I do not know what is meant by the Habesh fowl. In Egypt a species of fowl is distinguished by the name of Bedja fowl (دجاجه البحر), which is somewhat larger than other fowls, but is indigenous in the country.

(49.) Perhaps the people called Nara (v. note 20) are meant here; or else it is from this race of Baza, that the name of the pigeon Bazein derives its origin (v. note 21.)

(50.) In my journal, in speaking of Souakin, I have mentioned these Hadareb; but, according to the manner in which I saw their name spelt then, I wrote them Hadherebe (حضارب) and not Hadareb. I have stated that they are a colony from Hadhramout, at least this is universally affirmed by themselves. From what is said here, it should seem that they are Bedjas, or at least very ancient settlers in that country.

(51.) From the manner in which Nadha is mentioned here, with regard to Dahlak, it should appear that both places are distant from each other, and that Nadha, or Madha, or Maza, cannot therefore be Massouah (V. note 17.)

(52.) It seems that at that time, as at present, people were found among the Djidda inhabitants who spoke Bedja or the Bisharein language. Many Djidda people are established even now at Souakin, and return home after having made a small fortune with the trade in slaves and Soudan merchandise.

(53.) Instead of في عدة قوية و رجال منتخبة, one of the copies has في عدة قليلة, which would mean, with a small but well chosen force. عدة means the equipment of an army or numbers.

(54.) The Discourse of el Ahbās: خطبة الاحباس.—الاحباس, has the same signification as الاوقاف, and means property bequeathed for pious or beneficent purposes. It is probably a small treatise in which the different decisions which Aly gave on that subject have been collected.

(55.) It should appear therefore that the famous mines of Ollaky contain gold dust, and no ore.

(56.) The extracts which Macrizi has here given from Masoudy’s excellent work, called Meroudj e’dahab, or the Golden Meadows, are made from different parts of it. The great work of that historian, called Akhbar e’Zaman (اخبار الزمان), which I suspect is one of the richest treasures of Arabian literature, is not extant in Egypt. A Shikh from Cairo told me that he had seen above 20 volumes in quarto of it,[196] in the library of the mosque of St. Sophia at Constantinople.

(57.) Arteyt, or Arneyb (ارتيت, ارنيب).

(58.) This does not agree with the statement above, that their colour has a yellow tinge. I believe the colour of the Bedjas and that of the Habesh people to be much the same, from the many individuals of the latter whom I have seen at Mekka. The people of the Amhara province of Abyssinia are certainly less black than the Bedjas.

(59.) Thus I translate و كان القصر فرضة القوص. The word فرضة, is still applied in Egypt and in the Hedjaz to designate the income of the custom-house.

(60.) I call the conqueror of Egypt Amr, because his name is thus pronounced by the Arabs, and not Amrou, as the Europeans pronounce it. The و at the end of عمرو, which is added to distinguish the name from عمر, Omar, is never pronounced.

(61.) Slinging machines (مجانيق), to throw stones, appear to have been used by the Arabs in very ancient times. Some time after the death of Mohammed, the rebel Yezyd defended himself at Mekka against Ibn Zebeyr with similar machines. (V. Azraky’s History of Mekka).

(62.) The different names recorded in these notices of Nubian kings, are all Greek or Christian names. In an odd volume of Macrizi’s “ancient history of Egypt,” called Akhbar Messr fi Ed-daher Elawel (اخبار مصر في الدهر الاول), in the chapter of “the titles and surnames given to the kings of different nations,” I find it stated, that the name of the ancient kings of Nouba was always Kabyl (كابيل), in the same manner as Hatty was the name given to the kings of Abyssinia, Toba to those of the Hemyar race of Yemen, &c. &c. This volume of a work of Macrizi’s, which I believe is no where found complete in Egypt, is the more valuable, because it is written by the author’s own hand, with many notes and corrections.[197] It belongs to the library of Seyd Mahrouky, the first merchant of Cairo, who has the finest collection of books in Egypt, and which he is continually enlarging, although he has given them to a mosque lately built by him.

(63.) In the history of Bahnase (Oxyrinchus), and that of its valorous defence against the Arab conquerors of Egypt, I find it stated, that a large army of Bedjas and Noubas, headed by Maksouh, king of Bedja, and Ghalyk, king of Nouba, came to the assistance of the Christian chief, Batlos, who was besieged at Bahnase, by the officers of Amr Ibn el Aas. This black army is said to have consisted of 50,000 men. They had with them 1,300 elephants, each bearing upon its back a vaulted house made of leather, in which 10 men took their post in the battle. In the company of the Bedjas were a race of men of gigantic stature, called El Kowad (القواد), coming from beyond Souakin. They were covered with tiger skins, and in their upper lips copper rings were fixed. The Moslims defeated this army. There is a strange mixture of truth and romance in this history, but the arrival of the Bedja army is so well authenticated by a train of witnesses, that little doubt can remain of its having really taken place; although the number both of men and elephants seems to be exaggerated. The elephants of southern Nubia are, as far as I know, no longer used to ride upon.

(64.) I am unacquainted with the wine measure called Kanyr.

(65.) Or Bahbas (بحنس—بحبس).

(66.) The text has ان اسوان اشتروا املاقاً من عبيده. The word املاق (Emlak, plural of Malaka) is used in Egypt as synonymous with بلاد, or ضياع, villages. It is likewise used as a measure of distance, and the peasants say, “such a place is distant so many Emlak from another,” meaning that so many villages intervene between the two points. According to the greater or lesser population of the province, the villages are farther from or nearer to each other. A Malaka in Upper Egypt may be taken for one hour and a half, and in Lower Egypt for one hour.

(67.) I find this name written in my MSS. Shekende, Sekebde, Tenekde, Sekende, (شكندة, سكبدة, تنكدة, سكنده).

(68.) The intendant of his household, or Istedar (استدار). Syouty, in his description of Egypt, called Hossn el Mohādhera (حسن المحاضرة) says, in his chapter of the officers at court, that the Istedar has under his inspection the household establishment of the Sultan of Egypt, in as far as relates to domestic affairs, expenses, and dress. He is one of the great officers at court.

(69.) Djanedar (جاندار) I believe to be a chief of soldiers, from the word Djend, (جند).

(70.) Provincial horsemen, اجناد الولايات. The word جند, or جندي, is at present applied in Egypt exclusively to a horseman, in opposition to عسكري, a foot soldier. I do not know how far back this use of the word جند may date, which originally means a soldier of any kind, whether cavalry or infantry.

(71.) Kallat Addo (قلعة الدو), or the castle Addo, is no doubt the same mentioned before, in the description of Nouba, under the name of Addoa, which I believe to be the castle of Adde.

(72.) From this Moslim name it should seem that the Noubas had Moslims in their service; and it is not surprising that they should go over to the enemy.

(73.) We have seen above that a giraffa had already been sent in tribute by the Noubas to the Kalif el Mohdy. Masoudy, in his chapter on the Negroe nations, in the Golden Meadows, says that it was the custom in the time of the Abassides, to present them with giraffas. Djaheth, in his natural history, called “The Animals” (الحيوان),[198] says that the Giraffas are no where found in the world, but in the southern Nouba country. The southern parts of Africa were unknown to the Arabs.

(74.) The notices of these Arab tribes is interesting, because it shows how this part of Africa came to be peopled by them, and explains why we find on the Nile, in Kordofan, Darfour, and Borgho, pure Arabian blood. In speaking of the Bedjas, the author has already mentioned the tribes of Modher (مُضر), Rabya, and Djeheyne, who intermixed with the Bedjas. Of the Djeheyne, some appear to have wandered farther on towards Darfour, where I have heard that they are still settled, and of whom I have myself seen an individual at Cairo. I have stated in my first journal through Nubia, that the few inhabitants of the Batn el Hadjar, above the second cataract, trace their origin from the tribe of Koreysh, no doubt descendants of those who were settled in the neighbourhood of Assouan. In the chapter on Upper Egypt, which precedes these notices on Nubia, Macrizi states, “the most numerous and potent tribes of Upper Egypt were six: Beni Helal, Bily, Djeheyna, Koresh, Howata, and Beni Kelab. Besides these great tribes, many of the Anzar[199] alighted in these parts, and many from the tribes of Mezeyna, Beni Deradj, Beni Keleb, Thalebe, and Djezam.” Almost all these tribes can still be traced in Egypt and its neighbouring country. Beni Helal have retired to Barbary, where they are very powerful; I do not believe that any of them remain in Egypt at present.[200] The Bily are found in the province of Sherkye in Lower Egypt. The Djeheyne are in the same province, and some descendants of them have a few poor encampments in the plains of Kous and Goft in Upper Egypt. The Koreysh, as I have said before, are met with in Nubia[201] Some of the Beni Kelab are at present cultivators in several villages in the vicinity of Miniet in Upper Egypt. The Mezeyna, a strong tribe of Beni Harb, still living in the desert east of Medina, are likewise found in the peninsula of Mount Sinai. Several peasant tribes of the Sherkye[202] claim descent from the Rabya, a tribe that accompanied Amr Ibn el Aas to Egypt, and had the principal share in the conquest of the country. And the Beni Kenz, a branch of these Rabya, are still settled above the cataract of Assouan, forming part of the nation commonly called Berábera in Egypt, a name which, as I have stated in my journal, is given to them by the Egyptians only, and is not their own.[203] The history of the emigration of the Arab tribes into Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, Barbary, and Soudan, would throw great light upon the race of these nations, and in Egypt in particular, we should find that the Ethiopian blood is not the aboriginal of the nation, as some ingenious authors have asserted. From Syout to Assouan the country is exclusively inhabited by Arab tribes; on the west bank as high up as Orment, and on the east side as high as Kenne, live peasant tribes who state their origin to be from Barbary Bedouins; farther south, tribes from Arabia are found, as the Hāmede, Djaafere, Rowādjah, and others.

(75.) I believe the town of Souba to be here meant, (v. note 29) of which Selym el Assouany speaks, as being the capital of Aloa. In my manuscript of Masoudy, which I have compared, the name of this town is spelt Serfeta. The MSS. of Macrizi call it Serketa, Serkya, and another MS. of Masoudy, belonging to the library of the mosque of Mohamed Beg at Cairo, has not accentuated the word at all.

(76.) The Merysan wind is still well known in Egypt. The name is applied to chilly, violent south winds, which take place in Egypt in the month of Touba, or January; and which in Lower Egypt are often followed or preceded by showers. The south winds prevailing from March to June, are called simply, southerly winds (ريح قبلي), and the name of Merysan wind is exclusively given to those of Touba, which are always cold, and are much disliked by the people of Cairo.[204]

(77.) It is probable that the Beni Kenz then first entered Nubia, where they have closely intermixed with the inhabitants, and adopted their Merysan language. I have stated in my journal, that the Kenz of Nubia still assert their origin to be from Arabia, although few, if any of them, are acquainted with their history. Here it appears therefore that they belong to the Rabya.

I find in Macrizi’s history, called el Selouk,[205] ad annum 569, and in a short note of Macrizi’s treatise of the Kalifs who performed the pilgrimage (رسالته من حج من الخُلفَا والسلاطين للمقريزي) that in the year 568-69, A. H. Shams eddyn Touran Shah, a brother of Salah eddyn, made an incursion into Nubia from Yemen.

(77.)

The second line, literally translated, is “People they are who go to Tehama, when dishonour (or ignominy) goes to Nedjed.” That is to say, they retire to the side opposite to dishonour. Nedjed receives its name from being an elevated country, in opposition to Tehama, the sea coast of Yemen and Hedjaz. In translating it in this manner, I am warranted by a verse of Abou Temama el Tāy, in which he says,

(78.) The author of these verses, which convey the highest praise that can be given to an Arab, is probably the same Ibn Zebeyr who is known as the author of a history of Assouan.

(79.) I suppose this attack to be that mentioned by the Egyptian historians, to have taken place in the time of the before mentioned Salah eddyn; of which I however know no more particulars, than that during his reign the King of Nouba fell upon Assouan.

(80.) The Arab tribe of Howara (هوارة) occupy all the villages on both sides of the Nile from near Siout up to Farshiout and Haou on the west, and to near Kenne on the east; at least the principal and most wealthy peasants of these villages belong to that tribe. Until the time of Mohammed Aly they were very powerful, and a branch of them, the Oulad Yahya (اولاد يحيي), settled on the east banks from Badjoura to Kenne (comprising the large villages of Salmye, Kaszer e’Seyad, Faoun, and Disher), were very conspicuous for their rebellious behaviour. The province of the Howara is of all Egypt the richest in horses, and the best breed of Egyptian horses is reared there. Every wealthy peasant kept his horse, and a large corps of cavalry could thus be collected at a moment’s notice.[206] The Hamam, the principal family of the Howara, had within the last century assumed the whole government of Upper Egypt, south of Siout, and the Mamelouks had been obliged to cede it to them by treaty. Their government was certainly more just than that of the Osmanlis, and although Mamelouks, far from being entitled to praise. The soil was moderately taxed: one Fedhan at Esne, which now pays 14 Patacks to Mohammed Aly, then paid only two Patacks; but extortions were practised upon all merchants, especially at Kenne, and Farshiout, and Girge; and the numerous relations of the Hamam governed in their own districts with great oppression and pride. None had more to suffer from the Howara than the Copts. Such of these people as were not in the service of the Shikhs Hamam, as financiers or writers, but who were employed, as many of them still are, in agriculture or in crafts, especially weaving, were so much exposed to the extortions of the Hamams and the Howara in general, who appear to have been very fanatic, that they found no other means for ensuring repose and protection than by offering themselves in slavery to their oppressors. It thus happened that in every village of southern Egypt, where Copts were settled, the latter chose one of the Howara Shikhs as his master; whom he called “my Bedouin,” (بدويّ), and was called by the Shikh “my Christian,” (نصرانيّ). He became now like a member of his master’s family; if he was poor, the latter sent to his house provisions of corn and butter, and gave him a dress every year; but in return, he was obliged to be constantly attending to his master’s orders; assisting him in his field labours, doing all kind of work for him, and accompanying him on an ass like a servant, whenever the Shikh rode out to meet his equals or superiors. If the Copt happened to be in good circumstances, he was obliged to make occasional presents to his master, who exempted him on that account from hard work, and protected him from the oppressions of any other Shikh. If the daughter of the serf was to be married, the master entered her house on the wedding night; and put an iron chain round her ankles, which he secured with a padlock, and the bridegroom was obliged to make him a present in order to have the padlock opened, and the girl restored to liberty. The possession of these Christians was transmitted by the Shikhs to their descendants, who seldom parted with them, unless they were themselves reduced to poverty, when they sometimes sold them to the protection of other Shikhs. In 1812 a Christian family residing on the east bank, opposite to Siout, was thus sold for two Erdeybs of corn. I am ignorant of the exact time in which this custom took its origin, but I believe it has subsisted only since the establishment of the Hamam. It is still in usage in Upper Egypt, in many parts of the open country, and especially in the most southern districts, where the peasants, although quite in subjection to the Pasha, are left in their own villages to act at pleasure, the government caring little for the impositions practised by the village Shikh upon poor individuals, provided the land tax be regularly paid. During my stay at Esne, I was well acquainted with several Christians who were thus the hereditary slaves or servants of great Shikhs, and I have myself assisted at the ceremony of tying the chain at the wedding. The Hamams were not quiet possessors of Upper Egypt even after the Mamelouks had made peace with them. They were exposed on the northern side to continual attacks from the Libyan Bedouin tribes of Tarhoun, Amaym, Djahame, Rabaya, and others, who dwell in the desert west of Siout and in the plain towards Beni Ady, and many accounts of battles fought between them and the Howara are still related. On the south, the tribe of Kaszas (قصاص) who people the country on the west banks from Thebes to near Esne, and to whom belong the inhabitants of Gourne, Orment, and Reheygat (all celebrated for their bold plundering enterprises) were their determined enemies; although both these and the Howara report that they have the same origin from Barbary. When, after Aly Beg, the Mamelouk power had increased in Egypt, the Hamams were attacked by them, and defeated in several bloody encounters, and the chief Hamam being wounded, fled to Esne, where he died. He was buried at Nagady opposite Kous. The treasure, in cash, which he had accumulated was in vain searched for; his people put to the torture, confessed that he had buried it in the mountains behind Haou; but nothing could be found, although to this day many a ruined peasant or pedlar, or necromancer wanders in that direction in the hopes of finding it. The power of the Hamams was thus destroyed, but that of the Howara remained, and the Mamelouk Begs, though often at war with them, could never break their strength. A part of them, the Oulad Yahya, for instance, were often entirely independent, and the village Shikhs themselves received the land tax from the peasants.[207] When Mohammed Aly had succeeded in driving away the Mamelouks, he was several years before he could reduce the Howara. His governors in Upper Egypt, Abdim Beg, Saleh Aga, Hassan Pasha, sacked many of their villages, but it was his own son, Ibrahim Pasha, who firmly settled his authority by acts of great rigour and severity, having killed by the sword or the executioner at least 2000 Howara. He changed the Shikhs of villages, in the same manner as the Wahabi chief had changed the Shikhs of the Arabian tribes; he disunited the villages among themselves, and punished with celerity and without any mercy all those who opposed the smallest obstacles to his authority. The last village sacked by Ibrahim Pasha in Upper Egypt was Orment, the chief place of the Kaszas, who had withheld their tribute. In the autumn of 1813, he fell by night upon that village, killed about 30 of the principal people and plundered all. Since that time Upper Egypt is completely reduced to submission. The Howara have now been obliged to abandon their horses, none but the Shikhs of villages dare keep any, and their dreaded cavalry is thus completely reduced. The descendants of Hamam, the chief, still remain; I knew a nephew of his at Farshiout and another at Esne; the latter had several Christians belonging to his family as serfs.

(81.) This city of Belak no longer remains. In the direction in which it is placed are several islands, upon which, looking from the shore, I saw several ruined buildings. It might be supposed that Belak was upon the Island of Philæ, but in that case there is no place, one mile in advance of Philæ, where we can place El Kaszer; and the latter name seems strongly to indicate that magnificent and ancient buildings stood there. Luxor, or El Akszar at Thebes, derives its name from the same circumstance.

(82.) The Moggrebyn traveller, Batouta, crossed this desert repeatedly. The relation he gives of it, when he passed it the first time, in 725 A. H. is the following: “he embarked on the Nile at Cairo and ascended the river as far as Edfou. From thence he went to the village of Adjerna el Fil (اجرنا الفيل), and to the village El Atoany (عطواني).[208] From the latter village he set out on his journey through the desert. He travelled with Arabs of the tribe of Dogheim (دغيم), for 15 days over barren mountains and plains. In one of their stations they alighted at Hemeytry (حميتري), where the tomb of the Saint Aby el Hassan el Shadely (ابي الحسن الشادلي) is shown.[209] He then came to Aizab. The people of Aizab are Bedjas, of a black colour. They never let their daughters partake in the inheritance. Two-thirds of the revenue of Aizab belongs to the King of the Bedjas, called el Hadraby, and one-third goes to the Sultan of Egypt. The voyage to Djidda could not take place on account of disturbances that had broken out between the Bedjas and people of Bornou,[210] and he was obliged to re-cross the desert to Egypt.” This is all that I find of this road, in an abridgement which I possess of the great work; and of which, as I believe it is not known in Europe, I shall give some farther notices here.

Ibn Batouta is perhaps the greatest land traveller who ever wrote his travels. When I first rapidly ran over his book, I took him for no better than Damberger the pseudo African traveller; but a more careful perusal has convinced me that he had really been in the places and seen what he describes. His name was Aby Abdallah Mohammed Ibn Abdallah el Lowaty el Tandjy, surnamed Ibn Batouta. He was born at Tangier in Barbary, from which place he derives the name of Tandjy. (ابن عبدالله محمد بن عبدالله اللواتي الطنجي المعروف با بن بطوطة). He published his travels after the year 755, A. H. They consist of a large quarto volume, which is so scarce in Egypt, that I never saw it; but I know that a copy exists at Cairo, though I was not able to discover who was the owner. A small abridgment in quarto is more common, and of that I have two copies.[211] I shall give here a rapid sketch of his travels, which lasted for 30 years. Being a learned man he found every where a polite and generous reception from Moslim chiefs and kings, and he lived as a true derwish, sometimes in great affluence and sometimes in poverty.

He left Tandja in 725, A. H., and went by Algiers, Tunis, Tripoly, and from thence by sea, to Alexandria and Cairo. From thence he proceeded to Upper Egypt and Aizab, with the intention of going to Mekka, but as we have seen before, he was obliged to return to Cairo. Without stopping long at Cairo he set out for Syria. In 726 he visited Jerusalem, Akka, Tripoly, Homs, Aleppo, Antioch, the fortresses of the Ismaylis, Balbek, and Damascus. From thence he started with the pilgrim caravan to Mekka, where he performed his first pilgrimage. He returned with the Hadj to Medina, from whence he travelled across the Nedjed to Meshed Aly, and Bassora. After an excursion to Shiraz and Ispahan he came back to Koufa, and went by Kerbela to Bagdad. From hence he visited Tebryz, and by way of Mosul again returned to Bagdad, from whence he went with the Hadj caravan across the Arabian desert a second time to Mekka in 729, where he remained for one year. He then embarked at Djidda for Yemen, touched at Souakin, which was then under the command of the Sherif Zeyd Ibn Aby Nema, whose father was Sherif of Mekka. He touched at all the sea ports of Yemen, as far as Aden. From thence he visited Zeyla on the African coast, the capital, he says, of the Barbara, a Negroe nation, turned Moslim, of the sect of the Shafey, whose territory extends from Zeyla two months journey as far as Mokdosho.[212] The greater part of the inhabitants of Zeyla are Rowafid (or sectaries of Aly). He then travelled 15 days by sea to Mokdosho; then to Mombaza, an island thus called; to Kilo, where he found the whole coast peopled with the Zendj nation, and every where Moslims mixed with pagans. From thence he crossed over to Thafar on the south coast of Yemen, 16 days journey by land from Hadramout, and one month to Aden, which was a harbour trading with India. Half a day’s journey from thence is the town of Ahkak, the ancient residence of the tribe Aad. From thence he coasted the shore to the chief city of Oman, called Nezoa. He then crossed over to the Persian coast, visited Hormuz, Khoristan, Lar, Djenhbal, Syraf (or Keys), Bahreyn, and El Hassa. From Hassa he went with the Hadj caravan in 733 to Mekka, performed his pilgrimage, and by way of Aidab and the desert again visited Egypt and Cairo. He then proceeded to Syria, and from thence into Anatolia, which country he visited in all directions. Taking his road by the Black Sea, he entered the north of Persia, Khowarezem, and Bokhara. He visited Samarkand, Termah, Balkh, Herat, El Djam, Tous, Sarkhas, and Nysabour. From Nysabour he crossed over the snowy mountains called Hindwaksh and Bisha-y, to Berden, to Ghazna, and Kaboul; then to the mountains of Shishghar, and across a desert of 15 days journey to the Pandjab, or five waters. He continued his road to Seboustan, and Lahoa on the river; went to Bekar, Audjed, and Mulsen; from thence 40 days journey to Dehly by the road of Abou Hour, Serseta, Hasky and Masoudabad. He arrived at Dehly in 740, and remained there a while. From thence he joined an embassy to China, but was afterwards separated from it. He travelled from Dehly to Byane, Koul (near the town of Djelaly) to Youhpour, Kanoudj, Meroua, Kalyour, Beroun, Kadjoura, Tahār (which is 24 days journey from Dehly) Dowletabad, Nezerabad, and Sagher; then on the river of Sagher, to Combabe, near the sea, and to Kawa. Here they embarked. Having passed at sea the island of Byram, the city of Kouka, the island of Sandabour, and the city of Hanoud, he arrived at Malebar. In that country he visited Mandjeroun, Heyly, Darkonna, and Calicut. From thence he visited the islands called Zobyt el Mahal (2000 small islands—no doubt the Maldives), where he met with curious adventures, and married in a Moslim family. The chiefs and kings of Malebar had been particularly generous towards him. He now set out for China. He landed at Sylan, where the Djebel Serendyb is, and where he visited Kankar, the residence of the king of Sylan, as well as the towns of Columbo and Batala. From hence he sailed for the country of Mabar, where he reached the king’s residence at Matrat. He now found himself obliged by wayward circumstances, to return to Kolam in Malebar, and to Calicut. He again started from thence by sea to Bendjala, where he alighted in the town of Sedka. Fakker eddyn was Sultan of Bendjala. He made from thence a long excursion to the mountains of Kamero, which join the mountains of Tibt. He reached the town of Habnak, situated on the river Azrak, which flows down from the mountains of Kamero towards Bendjala; passed the town of Seter kawan, from whence he travelled to the country of Ber hankar, on the sea shore, where he embarked for the Jawa (or Malay) country, on his way to China. He reached the island of Jawa, passed by the town of Meldjaza, the harbour of Kakouly, and from thence had a 34 days voyage to the sea of Kahel, where calms reign. He then touched at the town of Toualysy, and from thence sailed 27 days to the first town of China, called Kaoupoazyne. Wishing to see the interior of the country he travelled to the province of Kylan, upon a river. He visited the large town of Zeytoun, where the great river Ab-hya empties itself into the sea, and the cities of Kondjonfor and Khonsa, from whence he went back to Zeytoun. He found in almost every town of China, Moslims who received him with hospitality. From China he returned back to Java, Kolam, and Calicut; from thence to Yemen, to Maskat, Hormus, Khoristan, Shiraz, Ispahan, Bassora, and Bagdad, where he arrived in 748. He joined here a caravan going to Damascus, which passed by Anak and Tedmor, and from Damascus he returned to Cairo. In order to perform one more pilgrimage, he set out to Mekka by way of Upper Egypt and the desert to Aizab, and in 749 he was present at the Hadj of Arafat; he then visited Medina, and returned from thence by Cairo and Alexandria to Barbary, and his native town of Tandja. After a short excursion into Spain, where he visited Djebel Tarek (Gibraltar), Malaga, and Garnata, he recrossed the sea into the dominions of Morocco, and visited the capital, and Sedjelmessa. The vicinity of the Soudan kingdom now tempted this indefatigable traveller. In 753 he crossed the desert with the slave traders to Theghary, 25 days journey from Sedjelmessa, a village, the houses of which are built of salt stone, and are covered with camel skins; it is without any trees, in a sandy plain, and inhabited by slaves who dig up the salt in the neighbourhood, and sell it to the people of Soudan. From thence there was a waterless road of 10 days journey to a station where caravans alight and repose for 3 days, called Tashala. Farther on he crossed a sandy glittering plain, without water, or birds, or trees, but composed entirely of sand, which the wind moves, and where no footsteps remain. This desert is also 10 days across, after which he reached Abou Laten, the first place of Soudan. Here are a few date trees, and water melons; the people dress in clothes brought to them from Egypt; most of them are traders. Their women are beautiful, and are more honoured than the men, who are not jealous of them. They count the lineage from the uncle, and not from the father; the son of the sister inherits to the exclusion of the true son; a custom, says Batouta, which he saw no where else except among the pagan Hindoos of Malebar. These Negroes are Moslims. From Abou Laten he travelled to Maly. The road is full of large trees, a single one of which affords shade for a whole caravan. In the (hollow) trunk of one of these trees the traveller saw a weaver working at his loom. Among them are the trees Istaset, the interior of which is filled with water, and affords drink to the passengers. In other trees live bees, and they are full of honey. Gourds grow here to a very large size. They cut them in two, and thus make two large bowls out of one gourd. Almost all their vessels are of gourds. Ten days from Abou Laten, he passed the city of Zaghary (زغاري), an extensive place inhabited by Negroe traders, and some white people of the heretic creed of Byadha. Leaving this,[213] he came to a very large river, which is the Nile. Here is the village of Kar Sendjou, from whence the Nile flows down to Kabera, and from thence to Zagha (زاغه), the inhabitants of which are Moslims of old, and strong in their faith. From Zagha the Nile flows down to Timbuctou, then to Kuku, to Mouly, the last place of the country of Maly, to Bowy, which is one of the largest cities of Soudan, and the Sultan one of the most powerful of that country; no white man enters it, for he would be killed before his arrival. From thence the Nile descends into the country of Nouba, where the people are Christians, and passes by Dóngola, the largest town of Nouba, the king of which is at present called Ibn Kenz eddyn, who turned Moslim in the time of El Melek el Naszer (of Egypt). From thence the Nile flows down to the cataract. From Karsendjou (or Karsendjer) the traveller proceeded to the river called Sansera(صنصره), about 10 miles from Maly, and then entered Maly, where he remained two months, and received presents from the Sultan, Mousy Soleyman, an avaricious but very just king. The women in this country never cover their nakedness until after marriage. In 754 he left Maly, and came to a branch or canal of the Nile, where he saw a great number of hippopotami, and from whence, after many days, he reached Timbuctou. Most of its inhabitants are traders; it is a town of the kingdom of Maly, and a black governor, named by the Sultan of Maly, resides there. He then proceeded to Kuku, a large city, one of the finest in Soudan. Here as well as in Maly they use shells as currency. From Kuku he reached the town of Berdamma, the inhabitants of which are the guardians of the caravans; their women are beautiful. Farther, he arrived at the town of Nekda, built of red stones. The water (with which it is supplied) runs over copper mines, and assumes a red colour, whence it is called Bahr-el-Ahmar. The people have no employment excepting trade and the copper mines on the outside of Nekda (or Tekda), where slaves work. The copper is melted into long pieces, which are carried to the pagan Negroes for sale, and to other places. The Sultan of Nekda was of the Berber nation. From hence the traveller returned in 754 to Barbary. He passed the district of Hekar of the Berbers, Sedjelmessa, and arrived at Faz, where his travels are concluded.

This slight sketch is sufficient to show the importance of the travels of Ibn Batouta, and to warrant the opinion, that he was the greatest known traveller of any age, as far at least, as relates to the quantity of ground travelled over. The information contained in his complete work, regarding the north of Persia, India, China, and the interior of Africa, must be invaluable, and as he saw more of Africa than most travellers, I thought it not irrelevant to give the reader the result of my examination of his abridged work.

The desert, (the notice of which by Ibn Batouta gave rise to my digression upon his travels in general) was visited in the autumn of 1816, by Mr. Cailleau, a Frenchman, sent by Mohammed Aly Pasha to discover the renowned emerald mines in these mountains. His journey was facilitated by all the means which the government of Egypt can afford, and was successful. He returned in January, 1817, to Cairo, and his discoveries are very interesting.

He set out from Redesia, a small village nearly opposite Edfou in Upper Egypt. He found a well defined road eastwards. At the end of one day’s journey was a well, and another at two days journey. On the second day two different roads branched off towards Kosseir. At every eight or nine hours, from Redesia on the Nile, he met with the ruins of square massive buildings (not near the wells), as if of fortified stations; and the road appeared in many parts ancient, and the labour of men. On the second day he found on the road an ancient temple, cut out of the sand-rock, like those of Nubia, with four pillars in the interior of the cave, and two before it, having on both sides of the principal room a small apartment, and three colossal figures on the back wall of the cave, thus exactly resembling the excavated temple at Derr. The walls were all covered with hieroglyphics and figures in beautiful colours, as fine, the traveller says, as those of the tombs of the Kings of Thebes. Several Greek inscriptions were engraved on the walls of the cave, which he did not copy.[214] Beyond this temple (near which no water is found), he saw in continuing his route along the road, on various parts of the mountain, tablets of hieroglyphics and figures cut out of the granite rock; and on the third day after his departure from the Nile, he fell in with a great ancient road running from north to south. The road is broad, and evidently a work of great labour. The Arabs told him that several ancient buildings were found on that road farther south, but the traveller could not go in quest of antiquities, as he was sent in search of emeralds. He therefore crossed that road, and travelled over the mountains eastward until he met with the emerald mines, at the distance of seven days journey from Edfou, as many from Kous, and four days south of Kosseir. They are situated in a narrow valley composed of granite rocks. Along the mountain on both sides runs a horizontal stratum of mica, into which pits have been dug. Some of the pits, following this layer of mica in an oblique direction into the interior of the mountain, are four or five hundred feet in depth. The layer of mica being only from three to four feet in breadth, the alleys formed in the mountain are of no greater height, and whenever the mica layer increases in height, the roof of the passage is supported by wooden beams. In the interior of the pits, Mr. C. found a few specimens of emerald, of which I have seen a small piece about eight lines in length and five in breadth; a six-sided crystal, broken on both ends, its colour fine, but not clear. A better specimen is said to be in possession of the Pasha. When three years ago the Pasha’s mineralogist worked in these mountains to find emeralds (as I have said in my journal) his party had likewise come to these mines, and made some slight excavations. The road leading to the mines, to which the Ababde Bedouins apply the name of Zaboura, is cut through the rock with great labour. Close to the pits, of which there are about 60, basins or tanks have been formed in the granite rock to receive the rain water, Mr. C. found most of them filled with water. Some ruins of stone habitations stand in the valley. The nearest source of water is about five miles distant; it is very copious, and much resorted to by the Bedouins. About six hours distant, there is said to be another collection of similar pits with ruined buildings, where drawings of figures, &c. are seen, but these the traveller did not visit. In descending from the emerald mines to the sea, which is about eight hours distant, a broad sandy shore is seen, with a small flat island in the vicinity. The Pasha informed Mr. C. that it appears from the public registers that these mines were still worked in the 17th century. In proceeding from the mines farther south, the traveller met at two days journey from thence, at a quarter of an hour distant from the sea shore, a mountain entirely composed of sulphur, of which he brought away specimens. This mountain is well known in Upper Egypt, for whenever the Mamelouks were cut off from Cairo, they procured from thence the sulphur necessary to make gunpowder. The whole neighbourhood of this sulphur mountain is volcanic, and the sulphur itself is closely mixed with puzzolana earth.

On the whole road travelled by Mr. C. acacia wood grows in great plenty; the tree Allobe, of which I have spoken in my Shendy journal, is likewise met with. The Arabs call it the date of the desert. I immediately recognised the fruit, of which Mr. C. brought back some specimens. (Perhaps it may be the Labakh of the Arabs, or the Persea of the ancients.)

Little doubt can remain that the route which has thus been traced was the great road from Coptos to Berenice, or from thence perhaps to Aidab. The Arabs told the traveller that in continuing on the road which he crossed, a large temple was to be seen with several columns, situated a few days to the east of Assouan.[215]

(83.) Sherif Edrys in the Geog. Nub. says that eight Dinars were taken at Aizab from each pilgrim. In the short notice he has of that town, he adds that from Aizab to Djidda, the sea is crossed in one day and a night. The pilgrims coming from Aizab to Djidda had in former times to pay likewise at the latter place, a heavy personal duty, which was abolished in 572, A. H. by Salah eddyn, (v. Asamy’s History of Mekka.)

(84.) Damyry in his Zoology above cited, says of the Kersh (قِرش) that it is a large fish found in the Red Sea, of a round shape. It swims like lightning, and sometimes impedes the ship’s course, overturns boats, and breaks them.[216]