In 1813 a large caravan arrived at Siout from Darfour. As they had undertaken their journey in the latter end of the hot season, many of their camels perished on the road, and they found themselves under the necessity of leaving a considerable part of their goods, together with many young slaves who could not march on foot, at the well of Sheb, with all the provisions that could be spared. Having hired several hundred camels, they returned to Sheb; but in the meanwhile, the thoughtless slaves had been too prodigal of their provisions, and several had died from hunger.

Such accidents as these may sometimes happen either from want of proper guides, from the necessity of taking circuitous roads, or from not having a sufficient quantity of camels loaded with water; but they must in general arise from a want of proper precaution, and I cannot help thinking that those which my predecessor Mr. Bruce describes himself to have suffered in this desert, have been much overstated. But while I think it my duty to make this remark, I must at the same time declare that acquainted as I am with the character of the Nubians, I cannot but sincerely admire the wonderful knowledge of men, firmness of character, and promptitude of mind which furnished Bruce with the means of making his way through these savage inhospitable nations as an European. To travel as a native has its inconveniences and difficulties, but I take those which Bruce encountered to be of a nature much more intricate and serious, and such as a mind at once courageous, patient, and fertile in expedients could alone have surmounted.

March 22. After partaking of a hearty breakfast, we proceeded, late in the morning, over an extensive gravelly plain, intersected by several Wadys or low grounds, running towards the river, and in general bearing few trees. Our road was S. by W. At the end of five hours we halted in one of the Wadys called Netyle (وادي نَتيله). The foliage of the acacia trees under which we encamped during the noon hours, is too scanty to give much shade, and the Arabs with justice compare the traveller’s endeavours to shelter himself from the burning sun under a Sant tree, to the folly of placing full confidence in the promises of the great; “Confide in his words as you do in the acacia’s shade;” has become a proverbial saying (كلامه مثل ظِلّ السَّنط). Ostriches are very numerous in this plain in several places, and we saw this morning many broken pieces of their eggs. I observed also some very large lizards, at least a foot in length from head to tail. The wind was still southerly. I again enquired, as I had often done before, whether my companions had often experienced the Semoum (which we translate by the poisonous blast of the desert, but which is nothing more than a violent south-east wind). They answered in the affirmative, but none had ever known an instance of its having proved fatal. Its worst effect is that it dries up the water in the skins, and so far it endangers the traveller’s safety. In these southern countries, however, water skins are made of very thick cow-leather, which are almost impenetrable to the Semoum. In Arabia and Egypt on the contrary the skins of sheep or goats are used for this purpose, and I witnessed the effect of a Semoum upon them, in going from Tor to Suez over land in June 1815, when in one morning a third of the contents of a full water skin was evaporated. I have repeatedly been exposed to the hot wind, in the Syrian and Arabian deserts, in Upper Egypt and Nubia. The hottest and most violent I ever experienced was at Suakin, yet even there I felt no particular inconvenience from it, although exposed to all its fury in the open plain. For my own part I am perfectly convinced that all the stories which travellers or the inhabitants of the towns of Egypt and Syria relate of the Semoum of the desert, are greatly exaggerated, and I never could hear of a single well authenticated instance of its having proved mortal either to man or beast. The fact is that the Bedouins when questioned on the subject, often frighten the townspeople with tales of men, and even of whole caravans having perished by the effects of the wind, when upon closer enquiry made by some person, whom they find not ignorant of the desert, they will state the plain truth. I never observed that the Semoum blows close to the ground, as commonly supposed, but always observed the whole atmosphere appear as if in a state of combustion; the dust and sand are carried high into the air, which assumes a reddish, or blueish, or yellowish tint, according to the nature and colour of the ground, from which the dust arises. The yellow however always, more or less, predominates. In looking through a glass of a light yellow colour, one may form a pretty correct idea of the appearance of the air, as I observed it during a stormy Semoum at Esne, in Upper Egypt, in May 1813. The Semoum is not always accompanied by whirlwinds; in its less violent degree it will blow for hours with little force, although with oppressive heat; when the whirlwind raises the dust it then encreases several degrees in heat. In the Semoum at Esne the thermometer mounted to 121° in the shade, but the air seldom remains longer than a quarter of an hour in that state, or longer than the whirlwind lasts. The most disagreeable effect of the Semoum on man is, that it stops perspiration, dries up the palate, and produces great restlessness. I never saw any person lie down flat upon his face to escape its pernicious blast, as Bruce describes himself to have done in crossing this desert; but during the whirlwinds the Arabs often hide their faces with their cloaks, and kneel down near their camels to prevent the sand or dust from hurting their eyes. Camels are always much distressed, not by the heat but by the dust blowing into their large, prominent, eyes. They turn round and endeavour to screen themselves by holding down their heads, but this I never saw them do except in case of a whirlwind, however intense the heat of the atmosphere might be. In June 1813, going from Esne to Siout, a violent Semoum overtook me upon the plain between Farshiout and Berdys. I was quite alone, mounted upon a light-footed Hedjin. When the whirlwind arose neither house nor tree was in sight, and while I was endeavouring to cover my face with my handkerchief, the beast was made unruly, by the quantity of dust blown into its eyes, and the terrible noise of the wind, and set off at a furious gallop; I lost the reins and received a heavy fall, and not being able to see ten yards before me, I remained wrapped up in my cloak on the spot where I fell, until the wind abated, when pursuing my dromedary, I found it at a great distance, quietly standing near a low shrub, the branches of which afforded some shelter to its eyes.

Bruce has mentioned the moving pillars of sands in this desert, but although none such occurred during my passage, I do not presume to question his veracity on this head. The Arabs told me that there are often whirlwinds of sand, and I have repeatedly passed through districts of moving sands, which the slightest wind can raise; I remember to have seen columns of sands moving about like water spouts in the desert on the banks of the Euphrates, and have seen at Jaka terrible effects from a sudden wind; I therefore very easily credit their occasional appearance in the Nubian desert, although I doubt of their endangering the safety of travellers.

The plain which we crossed this morning was in some places covered with granite rocks, and large blocks of gneiss. We marched in a S. by W. direction, nearly parallel to the course of the river, which was about four hours on our right. We saw some low sand hills on the western banks of the Nile. At eight hours we reached Wady el Homar (وادي الحُماَر), i. e. the asses valley, where we halted. It is said that wild asses are sometimes seen in the neighbouring desert called Homar Elwaheish (حُمار الوَحش). The Wady el Homar contains a few trees.

March 23d. We continued to traverse in a S. by W. direction, the same level country, where no mountains are in sight. The plain is covered with black stones, Egyptian pebbles, and quartz. I have not observed any specimens of jasper during the whole route from Daraou. We passed several Wadys, and saw some hares. At four hours we halted in Wady Belem (وادي بِلَم), perhaps (وادي سِلَم) full of trees. The Ababde guides obliged the caravan traders to pay them here one half of what was due to them,[6] and several people started for Berber to carry the news of our arrival. We set out again late in the afternoon. The plain was sandy, with a slight slope towards the Nile. In approaching the river we met with large flocks of the Katta (a bird of the partridge kind). We felt the approach of the river at more than two hours distance from it, by a greater moisture in the air. The Arabs exclaimed “God be praised we smell again the Nile.” At the end of nine hours we reached about ten o’clock at night the village of Ankheyre (انخُيِرَه), the principal place in the district of Berber (بربر). The caravans always make it a rule to arrive here in the night, in order that their loads may be less exposed to public examination, and that they may be able to secrete some trifles from the vigilance of the custom officers.

The road, which we had travelled is the only one that leads from Berber to Egypt, and is the general route of the Shendy and Sennaar caravans. There is a more western route from Berber to Seboua, a village on the Nile in the Berbera country, not far from Derr, the inhabitants of which actively engage in the slave trade. On that road the traveller finds only a single well, which is situated midway, four long days distant from Berber, and as many from Seboua. It is called el Morrat (آلمُرَّة), and is very copious, but the water is ill-tasted. A great inconvenience on that road is that neither trees nor shrubs are any where found, whence the camels are much distressed for food, and passengers are obliged to carry wood with them to dress their meals, and to warm themselves in winter. The journey from Daraou to Berber had taken us twenty-two days. But it is to be observed that until we reached Haimar, and even as far as Naby, we made very short journies. The mountains to the east of Assouan and Haimar, three days journies towards the Red Sea, are said to be much higher than any we have seen. They are called the mountains of Otaby (عُتابي), which appellation is extended sometimes to the whole chain as far as Kosseir, meaning always those mountains distant from the Nile and not far from the sea. The Djebel Otaby is the exclusive patrimony of the Ababde, and is most peopled in summer time, when the Ababde settlers of Upper Egypt send there their cattle. There is much intercourse between the Ababdes of Otaby and the Bisharein of Olba.[7] Haimar is reckoned five days from Daraou, and we were nine days on the road. The distance from Daraou to Berber is generally computed by the traders at six-teeen or seventeen days. In returning from Berber, the journey is performed more rapidly, because they are abundantly furnished with camels, are all mounted themselves, and the camels are relieved every day of their loads. They then sleep three or four hours during the day, and travel the greater part of the night, thus often performing the journey in twelve days. Messengers on dromedaries have often gone in eight days from Daraou to Berber. When the rains fall abundantly and the water collects every where on the road, in ponds or low grounds producing pasturage in the valleys, the caravans generally remain a month on their passage. We had reckoned upon eighteen days only, and had taken provisions accordingly, which was the reason why we were in so much distress for provisions and water towards the end of the journey, particularly for the beasts; my own ass fed for two days upon nothing but lentils. The traders give their camels every two or three days about twelve pounds of Dhourra; but to the most heavy loaded camel, which bears from six to seven hundred-weight, they give a daily allowance. All our animals were very much fatigued; the greater part of the camels had their backs horribly wounded,[8] in consequence of the pressure of the loads, and of the avarice and negligence of the owners, who, in order to save a few piastres for a good and well stuffed saddle, exposed the poor beasts to the greatest sufferings. Many camels however are able to perform this journey three times, backwards and forwards, in the year.

On our arrival at Ankheyre, each merchant repaired to the house of his friend, for there are no public Khans here, and traders always lodge at private houses. The Alowein from Daraou established themselves in the house of Edris el Temsah,[9] a man related to the chief of the place, and as I still thought that these people might be of some service to me, and wished therefore not openly to break with them, I joined their party. We were that night hospitably entertained by Edris, and the next morning crowds of visitors poured in.

The village belongs to the district of Berber, which comprises also three other large villages to the south of it: Goz el Souk (قوز السوق), or Goz[10] the market place, Goz el Funnye (قوز الفنّيَه), and to the north el Hassa (الحَصَّه), about three quarters of an hour distant from Ankheyre. It is a mode of division prevalent all over Upper Egypt and Nubia, to divide the country into Wadys, or vallies, each of which is composed of several villages. The name of the district is frequently applied to the principal village, and thus the word Berber is often used in speaking only of Ankheyre. The name of Berber has probably given rise to the appellation by which the Nubians are generally designated in Egypt, where they are called Berábera (plural of Bérbery); but this name is not in use in their own country, for, as I have already mentioned, in my former Journal, they are known among themselves by the names of Nouba and Kenous. The Egyptians seeing traders of the same complexion coming both from Berber and from the district of Ibrim, have applied the same name to both nations; and for a similar reason, the people of Berber are often confounded with those of Sennaar, and called Senáry.

The inhabitants of Berber are Arabs of the tribe of Meyrefab (ميريفاب). In common with all the different Arab tribes who inhabit the Nile valley, from Upper Egypt to Sennaar, they report that their origin is from the Sherk, or east (من الشرق), meaning Arabia. The name of Meyrefab however does not appear to be from an Arabic root, and bears more resemblance to the Bisharein language. None of the tribes who live on the banks of the Nile are large, and each district is seldom more than one day’s march in length. The territory of the Arabs Sheygya[11] is the largest. The settlements of the Meyrefab extend only for six or eight hours along the river, but many of them inhabit the neighbouring districts, as foreign settlers. They say that the Meyrefab can arm a body of one thousand free Arabs, and five hundred slaves, but in their wars with their neighbours, they seldom appear with more than four or five hundred men. Their chief is a man of their own tribe, who assumes the title of Mek (an abbreviation of Melek, king), which is common to all the petty chieftains of these countries, as far as Darfour and Sennaar. The authority of the Mek is confined to the reigning family, but is not hereditary from father to eldest son; for the king of Sennaar, who, since the succession of the royal family of Funnye has extended his authority along the Nile as far north as the southern limits of Wady Mahass, nominates to the governorship of this place any member of the family of Temsah whom he pleases, or rather he sells it to the highest bidder, after the Mek’s decease. With the exception of this nomination, the king of Sennaar exercises no authority over Berber, but he sends every four or five years one of his people to collect, in the way of tribute, some presents, consisting of gold, horses, and camels; about twenty horses and thirty camels. The kings of Dóngola, until the invasion of the Mamlouks, had always paid a similar tribute to Sennaar, and the Sheygya were bound to the same, but the latter having of late become powerful, have refused to pay it any longer. A similar tribute is exacted of the petty tribes between the Sheygya and Berber, and the king of Sennaar names their chiefs in the same manner as he does that of Berber. Many strangers beside the Meyrefab have settled at Berber, particularly natives of Dóngola and Ababde Arabs from Upper Egypt; many of these have taken up their constant residence here, others are married at Berber, and have another family in Egypt.

The Mek exercises only a feeble authority over the Arabs of his tribe, especially those who belong to powerful families; nor does he exact any taxes from the fields or their produce, but he is oppressive to strangers, the taxes and other exactions from whom make up the best part of his income. The tribute which he pays to Sennaar is collected from the whole tribe, and he takes care not to be a loser by the contribution. The sums paid to Sennaar for recognizing him in his office, after the decease of his predecessor, are generally made up by a forced loan from any caravan that may then be passing; and whichever individual of the reigning family possesses the greatest influence, and most friends and money to secure his election at Sennaar, easily places himself at the head of the government.

The four villages of Berber are all at about half an hour’s walk from the river situated in the sandy desert, on the borders of the arable soil. Each village is composed of about a dozen of quarters, Nezle (نزله), standing separate from one another, at short distances. The houses are generally divided from each other by large court-yards, thus forming no where any regular streets. They are tolerably well built, either of mud or of sun-baked bricks, and their appearance is at least as good as those of Upper Egypt. Each habitation consists of a large yard divided into an inner and outer court. Round this yard are the rooms for the family, which are all on the ground floor; I have never seen in any of these countries a second story, or staircase. To form the roof, beams are laid across the walls; these are covered with mats, upon which reeds are placed, and a layer of mud is spread over the whole. The roof has a slope to let the rain water run off, which in most houses is conducted by a canal to the court-yard, thus rendering the latter in time of rain a dirty pond. Two of the apartments are generally inhabited by the family, a third serves as a store room, a fourth for the reception of strangers, and a fifth is often occupied by public women. The rooms have seldom more than one very small window, so that to have them well lighted the door must be kept open. The doors are of wood, and have the same wooden locks and keys (Dabbé) which are used in Syria and Egypt, but of still coarser workmanship. I have seldom seen any furniture in the rooms, excepting a sofa or bedstead, which is an oblong wooden frame, with four legs, having a seat made either of reeds, and then called Serír, or of thin stripes of ox-leather drawn across each other, and then called Angareyg (a Bishary word). The best of the latter kind are brought from Sennaar; many of them are exported to Upper Egypt, and Arabia, and they are used all over the black countries. The honoured stranger always has an Angareyg brought to him upon his arrival, which serves as a bed for the night, and a sofa in the day, and it is said that the peculiar smell of the leather keeps it free from vermin. Mats made of reeds are spread in the inner part of the rooms where the women sleep, as well as in other rooms, where the men take a nap during the mid-day hours, a luxury never dispensed with in these countries. When they sleep they generally spread a carpet made of pieces of leather sown together, stretching themselves out upon this, and preferring, according to the general custom of the Arabs, to sleep without any pillow, and with the head lying upon the same level with the rest of the body. In the store-room Dhourra is kept, either in heaps upon the floor, or in large receptacles formed of mud, to preserve it from rats and mice. Swarms of these animals nevertheless abound, and they run about the court-yards in such quantities that the boys exercise themselves in throwing lances at them, and kill them every day by dozens. Besides the Dhourra, the store rooms generally contain a few sheep-skins full of butter, some jars of honey, some water-skins for travellers, and if the proprietor be a man in easy circumstances, some dried flesh. The inner court is generally destined for the cattle, camels, cows and sheep, and it has a subdivision, where are preserved the dry Dhourra stalks, which become the usual food of the cattle, when the summer heats have dried up all the verdure which the inundation had produced. The outer court in the generality of houses, contains a well of brackish water, fit only for cattle; here the male-inhabitants of the house and strangers sleep, during the hot season, either upon mud benches adjoining the rooms, or upon Angareygs, or upon the ground; here the master’s favourite horse is fed, and here all business is transacted in the open air. I have already mentioned a room of public women, often met with in these habitations. Indeed there are very few houses of people called here respectable, where such women are not lodged, either in the court-yard itself, or in a small room adjoining the yard, but without its gate; in the house where I lodged, we had four of these girls, one of whom was living within the precincts, the three others in contiguous apartments. They are female slaves, whom their masters, upon marrying or being tired of them, have set at liberty, and who have no other livelihood but prostitution, and the preparation of the intoxicating drink called Bouza. Female slaves are often permitted to make a traffic of their charms before they are at liberty, in order that they may acquire a sufficient sum of money to purchase it. When at liberty their former owners take care to make them pay house rent; some masters are said to participate in their gains, and generally afford them protection in the quarrels which frequently happen.

The night of our arrival at Berber, after we had supped, and that the neighbours who had come to greet us had retired, three or four of these damsels made their appearance, and were saluted with loud shouts by my companions, who were all their old acquaintance. Some Angareygs were brought into the open court-yard, which the principal people of our party having taken possession of, the women proceeded to give them “the welcome,” as they call it. The men having undressed to their loins, and stretched themselves at full length upon the Angareygs, were rubbed by the women with a kind of perfumed grease, much in the same manner as is used after coming out of the bath. This operation lasted for about half an hour, but the parties remained together for the whole night, without being in the least annoyed by the neighbourhood of those who were lying about in the court-yard. During the whole of our stay at Berber we had these damsels almost every evening at our quarters, and the same was the case in the other houses occupied by travellers. The rooms of the women were scarcely for a moment free from visitors. They prepare, as I have already stated, the Bouza, and as it is difficult for any person to indulge in the drinking of this liquor in his own house, where he would be immediately surrounded by a great number of acquaintance, it is generally thought preferable to go to the women’s apartment, where there is no intrusion. Many of these women are Abyssinians by birth, but the greater part of them are born at Berber of slave parents (مولُدَّين). They are in general handsome, and many of them might even pass for beauties in any country.

The women of Berber, even those of the highest rank, always go unveiled, and young girls are often seen without any covering whatever, except a girdle of short leathern tassels about their waists. Many, both men and women, blacken their eyelids with Kohel or antimony, but the custom is not so general as in Egypt. The women of the higher classes, and the most elegant of the public women, throw over their shirts, white cloaks with red linings of Egyptian manufacture, made at Mehalla el Kebir, in the Delta. Both sexes are in the almost daily habit of rubbing their skins with fresh butter. They pretend that it is refreshing, prevents cutaneous complaints, and renders the surface of the skin smoother; the men, in reference to their frequent quarrels, add, that it renders the skin tougher and firmer, and more difficult to be cut through with a knife. I can say from my own experience that I have found great relief during the mid-day heats, from rubbing my breast, arms, and legs with butter, or my feet, if I was fatigued with walking. The cutaneous eruption called the prickly heat, which is so common in Egypt, is never seen here, and I had often occasion to admire the smooth and delicate appearance of the skin, even in men who were very much exposed to the sun. It is by the nature of their skin that these Arabs distinguish themselves from the Negroes; though very dark coloured, their skin is as fine as that of a white person, while that of the Negroes is much thicker and coarser. The hands of the latter are as hard as a board, while the touch of the Arabs, who are not of the labouring class, is as soft as that of the northern nations. The perfumed grease, which is made use of only upon extraordinary occasions, is a preparation of sheep’s fat mixed with soap, musk, pulverized sandalwood, senbal, and mahleb. It has an agreeable odour, and the men pretend that it is a powerful stimulant; but the truth seems to be, that they generally use it before they visit their mistresses.

The people of Berber are a very handsome race. The native colour seems to be a dark red-brown, which if the mother is a slave from Abyssinia becomes a light brown in the children, and if from the Negro countries, extremely dark. The men are somewhat taller than the Egyptians, and are much stronger and larger limbed. Their features are not at all those of the Negro, the face being oval, the nose often perfectly Grecian, and the cheek bones not prominent. The upper lip however is generally somewhat thicker than is considered beautiful among northern nations, though it is still far from the Negro lip. Their legs and feet are well formed, which is seldom the case with the Negroes. They have a short beard below the chin, but seldom any hair upon their cheeks. Their mustachios are thin, and they keep them cut very short. Their hair is bushy and strong, but not woolly; it lies in close curls, when short, and when permitted to grow, forms itself into broad high tufts “We are Arabs, not Negroes,” they often say; and indeed they can only be classed among the latter by persons who judge from colour alone.

The Meyrefab, like the other Arab tribes of these parts of Africa, are careful in maintaining the purity of their race. A free born Meyrefab never marries a slave, whether Abyssinian or black, but always an Arab girl of his own or some neighbouring tribe, and if he has any children from his slave concubines, they are looked upon only as fit matches for slaves or their descendants. This custom they have in common with all the eastern Bedouins, while, on the contrary, the inhabitants of the towns of Arabia and Egypt are in the daily habit of taking in wedlock Abyssinian as well as Negroe slaves.

In marrying, the bride’s father receives, according to the Mussulman custom, a certain sum of money from the bride-groom, for his daughter, and this sum is higher than is customary in other parts inhabited by Arabs. The daughters of the Mek are paid as much as three or four hundred dollars, which the father keeps for them as a dowry. Few men have more than one wife, but every one who can afford it keeps a slave or mistress either in his own or in a separate house. Kept mistresses are called companions (فيقه), and are more numerous than in the politest capitals of Europe. Few traders pass through Berber without taking a mistress, if it be only for a fortnight. Drunkenness is the constant companion of this debauchery, and it would seem as if the men in these countries had no other objects in life. The intoxicating liquor which they drink is called Bouza (بوزه). Strongly leavened bread made from Dhourra is broken into crumbs, and mixed with water, and the mixture is kept for several hours over a slow fire. Being then removed, water is poured over it, and it is left for two nights to ferment. This liquor, according to its greater or smaller degree of fermentation, takes the name of Merin, Bouza, or Om Belbel (ام بلبل), the mother of nightingales, so called because it makes the drunkard sing. Unlike the other two, which being fermented together with the crumbs of bread, are never free from them, the Om Belbel is drained through a cloth, and is consequently pure and liquid. I have tasted of all three. The Om Belbel has a pleasant prickly taste, something like Champagne turned sour. They are served up in large roundish gourds open at the top, upon which are engraved with a knife a great variety of ornaments. A gourd (Bourma بُرمه) contains about four pints, and whenever a party meet over the gourd, it is reckoned that each person will drink at least one Bourma. The gourd being placed on the ground, a smaller gourd cut in half, and of the size of a tea-cup, is placed near it, and in this the liquor is served round, to each in turn, an interval of six or eight minutes being left between each revolution of the little gourd. At the beginning of the sitting, some roasted meat, strongly peppered, is generally circulated, but the Bouza itself (they say) is sufficiently nourishing, and, indeed, the common sort looks more like soup or porridge, than a liquor to be taken at a draught. The Fakirs or religious men, are the only persons who do not indulge (publicly at least) in this luxury; the women are as fond of it, and as much in the habit of drinking it, as the men. A Bourma of Bouza is given for one measure of Dhourra, three-fourths of the measure of Dhourra being required to make the Bourma, and the remainder paying for the labour.

In other respects the people of Berber are abstemious, and they often fast the whole day, for the sake of being able to revel in the evening. The chief article of food is Dhourra bread. As they have no mills, not even hand-mills, they grind the Dhourra by strewing it upon a smooth stone, about two feet in length and one foot in breadth, which is placed in a sloping position before the person employed to grind. At the lower extremity of the stone, a hole is made in the ground to contain a broken earthen jar, wooden bowl, or some such vessel, which receives the Dhourra flower. The grinding is effected by means of a small stone flat at the bottom; this is held in both hands and moved backwards and forwards on the sloping stone by the grinder, who kneels to perform the operation. If the bread is to be of superior quality, the Dhourra is well washed and then dried in the sun; but generally they put it under the grinding stone without taking the trouble of washing it. In grinding, the grain is kept continually wet by sprinkling some water upon it from a bason placed near, and thus the meal which falls into the pot, resembles a liquid paste of the coarsest kind, mixed with chaff and dirt. With this paste an earthen jar is filled, containing as much as is necessary for the day’s consumption. It is left there from twenty-four to thirty-six hours, during which time it slightly ferments and acquires a sourish taste. No leaven is used; the sour liquid is poured in small quantities upon an iron plate placed over the fire, or when no iron is at hand, upon a thin well smoothed stone: and if the iron or stone is thoroughly heated, the cake is baked in three or four minutes. As each cake is small, and must be baked separately, it requires a long time to prepare a sufficient quantity; for it is the custom to bring several dozen to table while hot, in a large wooden bowl; some onion sauce, or broth, or milk, is then poured upon them, the sauce is called Mallah (ملَّاح). The bread is never salted, but salt is mixed with the sauce. This dish is the common and daily food both at dinner and supper. Although very coarse it is not disagreeable, and the sourish taste, renders it peculiarly palatable during the heat of the mid-day hours. It is of easy digestion, and I always found it agree with me; but if left to stand for a day it becomes ill tasted, for which reason it is made immediately before dinner or supper. Cakes of this kind, but still thinner, and formed of a paste left for two or three days to turn quite sour, are made for travelling provision. After being well toasted over the fire, they are left to dry thoroughly in the sun, they are then crumbled into small pieces and put into leather bags, called Abra (ابره). They thus keep for many months, and serve to the traders upon occasions, when it is impossible to prepare a supper with fire. Some melted butter is poured over a few handfuls of this food, and appetite is seldom wanting to make it palatable. Sometimes the crumbs are soaked in water, and when the water has acquired a sourish taste it is drank off; this is called by the traders “the caravan beverage, Sharbet el Jellabe (شَربة الجَلَّابه).”

Meat is often brought upon the table boiled or roasted, and milk is a principal food of the people. Dates are a great dainty; they are imported by the Dongola merchants from Mahass, and are used only upon extraordinary occasions. They are often boiled together with bread, meat, and milk. Coffee is drank only by the merchants and the very first people, and even by them it is not in daily use. The coffee is not the Arabian or Mokha coffee, but that which grows wild in the south-western mountains of Abyssinia, from whence it is imported by the Sennaar merchants. It is sold thirty per cent. cheaper than the Mokha coffee in Egypt, but its shape and taste appear to be the same.

The effects which the universal practice of drunkenness and debauchery has on the morals of the people may easily be conceived. Indeed every thing discreditable to humanity is found in their character, but treachery and avidity predominate over their other bad qualities. In the pursuit of gain they know no bounds, forgetting every divine and human law, and breaking the most solemn ties and engagements. Cheating, thieving, and the blackest ingratitude, are found in almost every man’s character, and I am perfectly convinced that there were few men among them or among my fellow travellers from Egypt who would have given a dollar to save a man’s life, or who would not have consented to a man’s death in order to gain one. Especial care must be taken not to be misled by their polite protestations, and fine professions, especially when they come to Egypt: where they represent their own country as a land inhabited by a race of superior virtue, and excellence. On the contrary, infamous as the eastern nations are in general, I have never met with so bad a people, excepting perhaps those of Suakin. In transactions among themselves the Meyrefab regulate every matter in dispute by the laws of the strongest. Nothing is safe when once out of the owner’s hands, for if he happens to be the weaker party, he is sure of losing his property. The Mek’s authority is slighted by the wealthier inhabitants: the strength of whose connections counterbalances the influence of the chief. Hence it may well be supposed that family feuds very frequently occur, and the more so, as the effects of drunkenness are dreadful upon these people. During the fortnight I remained at Berber, I heard of half a dozen quarrels occurring in drinking parties, all of which finished in knife or sword wounds. Nobody goes to a Bouza hut without taking his sword with him; and the girls are often the first sufferers in the affray. I was told of a distant relation of the present chief, who was for several years the dread of Berber. He killed many people with his own hands upon the slightest provocation, and his strength was such, that nobody dared to meet him in the open field. He was at last taken by surprise in the house of a public woman, and slain while he was drunk. He once stript a whole caravan, coming from Daraou, and appropriated the plunder to his women. In such a country, it is of course looked upon as very imprudent to walk out unarmed, after sunset; examples often happen of persons, more particularly traders, being stripped or robbed at night in the village itself. In every country the general topics of conversation furnish a tolerable criterion of the state of society; and that which passed at our house at Ankheyre gave the most hateful idea of the character of these people. The house was generally filled with young men who took a pride in confessing the perpetration of every kind of infamy. One of their favourite tricks is to bully unexperienced strangers, by enticing them to women who are the next day owned as relations by some Meyrefab, who vows vengeance for the dishonor offered to his family; the affair is then settled by large presents, in which all those concerned have a share. The envoy whom Ibrahim Pasha sent in 1812 to the king of Sennaar was made to suffer from a plot of this kind. Upon his return from Sennaar to Berber, he was introduced one evening to a female, at whose quarters he passed the night. The Mek of Berber himself claimed her the next morning as his distant relation. “Thou hast corrupted my own blood.” (انت فَسلَة في دَمّي) said he to the envoy, and the frightened Turk paid him upwards of six hundred dollars, besides giving up to him the best articles of his arms and baggage. I had repeated invitations to go in the evening to Bouza parties, but constantly refused. Indeed a stranger, and especially an unprotected one, as I was, must measure all his steps with caution, and cannot be too prudent.

Upon our first arrival the people appeared to me very hospitable. Every morning and evening large dishes of bread and meat and milk, often much more than we could eat, were sent to us from different quarters. This lasted for five or six days, when those who had sent the dishes came to ask for presents, as tokens of friendship; this was well understood to be a demand of repayment; and we found ourselves obliged to give ten times the value of what we had eaten. In general foreign merchants are considered as “good morsels” (لقُمةَ as the Arabs say), of which every body bites off as much as he can; we were the whole day beset by people who came to ask for presents, but our companions were old traders; they well knew to whom it would have been imprudent to deny a favour, but never made the smallest present, except when necessary. I have had people running after me the whole day praying to have a piece of soap to wash their shirt. Had I listened to them I should have had ten demands of the same kind the next day. It may be taken as a general rule in these countries never to make any presents unasked, or to give more than half of what is requested, for a traveller will find it more useful to his purposes to have the reputation of parsimony, than that of generosity. The same advice would not be suitable in Syria or Egypt, and it may here be remarked, that of all the duties which belong to the traveller, that of knowing the proper seasons for making or withholding presents is the most troublesome and difficult, not only in the Negroe countries, but in every part of the East known to me.

Among the plagues that await the traveller in Berber the insolence of the slaves is the most intolerable. Being considered as members of the family in which they reside, they assume airs of importance superior even to those of their masters. The latter are afraid to punish or even seriously to reprimand them for their offences, as they can easily find opportunities of running away, and by going to the Bedouins or the Sheygya they are safe from any further pursuit. One of the slaves of Edris, to whom I had already made some little presents, tore my shirt into pieces because I refused to give it him, and when I applied to Edris for redress, he recommended patience to me, for that no insult was meant. The grown up slaves are always armed; they hold themselves upon a par with the best Arabs, and feel humbled only by the conviction that they cannot marry the Arab girls. The insolence of the slaves, as well as of the people in general, is in nothing more displayed than their behaviour with regard to smoking; if they see a stranger with a pipe in his mouth, they often take it from him without saying a word, and are unwilling to return it before they have smoked it out. To a smoker, as all the orientals are, nothing can be more disagreeable. The people of Berber are themselves immoderately fond of tobacco, but they smoke only at home when they expect no visitors, and scarcely ever carry their pipes abroad, because tobacco is a very dear commodity, and they fear lest the best whiff should fall to the lot of others. I have often seen the Egyptian traders, men who would rather give up their dinner than their pipe, reduced to desperation by the impudence of their Berber visitors.

In a small treatise on physiognomy by Ali Ben Mohammed El Ghazali, wherein he paints the characters of the different Mohammedan nations, he thus describes the Nubians: “They are a people of frolic, folly and levity, avaricious, treacherous and malicious, ignorant and base, and full of wickedness and lechery.” This picture is true in every part, applied to the people of Berber; for besides what I have already said of them, they are of a very merry facetious temper, continually joking, laughing, and singing. Even the elderly men are the same, and they have at least retained one good quality of their Arabian ancestors; they are not proud. The Mek of Berber is satisfied with common civility, and assumes no distinction of rank; the slaves of his family, shew much more haughtiness than himself.

The people of Berber, can be very polite when they think proper. In receiving strangers and in offering them hospitality, they assume an air of goodness of heart, and patriarchal simplicity, which might dupe the most practised traveller, but consummate hypocrites as they are, they seldom deceive those, who have been at Berber before. Their language is full of complimentary phrases, and they ask after your health and welfare in a dozen different forms of speech. After a long absence they kiss and shake hands with eagerness. Women are saluted by men in a very respectful manner, by touching their foreheads with the right hand, and then kissing the part of the fingers which touched the woman’s head. A common question asked in saluting is Shedid? (strong?). A still more curious expression, and one which I never heard before, is نَعلَك طَيب Naalak Tayeb, “is your sole well?” meaning, “are you strong enough to walk about as much as you like?” On meeting a person for the first time after the death of a near relation, they kneel down upon one knee by his side, and repeat in a howling tone of voice, as a lamentation, “Fi’Sabil Allah, fi’Sabil Allah” (في سَبيل اللَّه), literally, “in the road of God,” but signifying that the deceased went through the right way of God and may hope to obtain the divine protection. Then they lift up the person, either man or woman, by the hand, and the common salutation passes between them.

With some surprise, I observed that in an avowed Mussulman country, the usual salute of “Salamun aleykum,” is quite out of use. The general expression of salute is only the word Tayeb? (well); repeated several times. The religious men only say sometimes, “Salam Salam,” without any other word; but they never are answered, as usual among Mussulmen, with Aleykum essalam, the common reply being “Tayeb, ent tayeb? well, are you well? The members of the Mek’s family are saluted by the appellation of “Ya Arbab” (يا آرباب), plur. of “Rab,” (lord). They have the title of “Ras,” meaning head, as Ras Edris, Ras Mohammed, &c. which is used all over these countries; and from hence the same title seems to have been introduced into Abyssinia. Government is called with the pompous title of Es Saltane (السلطَنه), which is not applied to the existing chief, but to the government in general.

I lived too short a time at Berber to be able to witness their peculiar customs in wedding, burying, circumcising, &c. &c. which are no doubt different from the true Mohammedan customs, as prescribed by the law. Upon the death of a person, they usually kill either a sheep, or, if the relations are wealthy, a cow or camel. During our stay at the house of Edris, he killed a cow for a relation of his, who died several months before, in the time of famine, when it was impossible to find a cow to slaughter for that purpose. Almost all the religious men of Ankheyre were sent for to read some passages of the Koran in a separate room. A great number of women assembled in another room, singing to the tambourine, and howling horribly during the greater part of the night. Many poor people were treated in the court yard, with broth and the roasted flesh of the cow, while the choice morsels were presented to the friends of Edris.

I have more than once mentioned the Fakirs,[12] or religious men. They are likewise known by the appellation of Fakih (فقيه), i. e. a man learned in the law.[13] There are few respectable families who have not a son or relation that dedicates his youth to the study of the law. At the age of twelve or fourteen he is sent to some of the neighbouring schools, of which those of Damer, on the road to Shendy, of Mograt,[14] and of the Sheygya are at present the most celebrated. There they are taught to read and write, and to learn by heart as much of the Koran and of some other prayer books, as their memory can retain.[15] They are taught the secret of writing amulets or charms; and at the age of twenty they return to their homes, where they live, affecting great uprightness of conduct and strictness of morals, which amount however to little more than not to smoke tobacco, or drink Bouza in public, and not to frequent the resorts of debauchery.

Sometimes they write amulets upon a piece of paper, which if the unhappy lover swallows, it will force the object of his love to listen to his intreaties. There are particular Fakirs famous for love receipts; others for febrifuges, &c. The following are two amulets, one of which was given to me at Berber, and the other at Damer. If to the former, the proper name is added, no female is capable of withstanding the charm, at least such was the assurance given to me by the Fakir Mansur, from whom I bought the secret for a string of wooden beads, but I never yet had an opportunity of trying its efficacy.