ARRIVAL AT SOU?KIN—THE SOUDAN—BEDOUIN ARAB PRISONERS IN THE SQUARE, NOT “ON THE SQUARE”—IVORY—ENGAGE CAMELS—SHEIK MOUSSA—SOU?KIN—SLAVES—TRAGIC END OF A DOCTOR—HADENDOWAH ARABS—AN ILL-FATED MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE.

We were now just about to land in the Soudan, and as that word is, as I am writing, in everyone’s mouth, it would be as well to say something about it before I go any further.

The Soudan, or Beled-es-Sudan, Land of the Blacks, has since the Middle Ages been the common name of the vast extent of country in Central Africa, which stretches southward from the Desert of Sahara to the Equator. The name was originally applied by the Arabs, but with great latitude of signification, different authors giving it to the different parts of the territory with which the varying routes[99] across the desert made them acquainted. Later geographers divide it into High and Low Soudan. Many include Senegambia in it. High Soudan stretches from the sources of the Niger, Senegal and Gambia, to the Upper Nile, or, at all events, to the south of Lake Chad, and embraces the mountains of Kong and of Upper Senegambia, the kingdoms of Ashantee, Dahomey, Mandingo, Houssah, and Feelah. All this country is richly watered and wooded, distinguished by a luxuriant tropical vegetation and by deposits of gold. Low Soudan stretches on the north of High Soudan, eastward to Kordofan, and northward to the desert. This district is partly level, partly undulating, and partly broken by chains of lofty hills rising within its own limits. Its situation between the desert on the north and the mountains which border it on the south, with a climate destructive to foreigners, and a lawless and predatory population, make it one of the most inaccessible regions in the world. In the south, where it is watered by the Niger, Lake Tchad, and their tributaries, it assumes a fertile and cultivated appearance. The inhabitants contain numerous nations of different races, chiefly of the Negro, Fulde, or Fellatah stems, together with many Arab colonists.

This is what Sir Samuel Baker says about the[100] Soudan in the Contemporary Review: “Before the White Nile annexation the Soudan was accepted as a vague and unsatisfactory definition as representing everything south of the first cataract at Assouan, without any actual limitation; but the extension of Egyptian territory to the Equator has increased the value of the term, and the word Soudan now embraces the whole of that vast region which comprises the Deserts of Libya, the ancient Merve, Dongola, Kordofan, Darfur, Senaar, and the entire Nile Basin, bordered on the east by Abyssinia, and elsewhere by doubtful frontiers. The Red Sea alone confines the Egyptian limit to an unquestionable line. Wherever the rainfall is regular the country is immensely fertile; therefore the Soudan may be divided into two portions—the great deserts which are beyond the rainy zone, and consequently arid, and the southern provinces within that zone, which are capable of great agricultural development. Including the levels of the mighty Nile, a distance is traversed of about 3,300 miles from the Victoria N’yanza to the Mediterranean; the whole of this region throughout its passage is now included in the name ‘Soudan.’”

We had on board Captain Gascoigne and Dr. Melidew, of the Royal Horse Guards. They were also bent on a shooting expedition in the Soudan,[101] but did not accompany us farther than Souakin. There were several other passengers on board bound for India.

We landed at Souakin on the quay, in a large open square. One side is occupied by what is absurdly called the palace, a large building in which the Governor transacts his official duties, the opposite side by the custom-house, the other by a guard-house, whilst the opposite side was not occupied by any building, but was open to and contiguous to the Red Sea; it was, in fact, the quay.

Here I saw nine tons of elephants’ tusks ready for shipment. The average weight of each pair of tusks would be somewhere about 36lbs. I computed that about 560 elephants would have been slaughtered to make up nine tons of ivory; and if elephants are killed at that rate, people may well exclaim about the scarcity of ivory. What next attracted my attention was about 60 Bedouin Arabs in heavy chains, wandering about in this large open square. These poor fellows had to pay their gaolers 100 dollars a month. The Maria Theresa dollar which is in use in the Soudan, and preferred to any other coin, is worth 4s. of our money. They had to find their own food, or rather their tribe did so. I was told that at one time they were a strong tribe, and had come over from Arabia. They had at one[102] time 8,000 camels, but they had dwindled down to 2,000, as whenever they failed to pay the taxes some of their camels were seized. I cannot speak with any certainty of their offence, but somehow or other they had incurred the anger of the then Governor of the Soudan, Ali Riza Pacha, about a year beforehand. He clapped them into irons, and there they seemed likely to remain, unless some more kindly-disposed Governor superseded him. This fortunately happened not long before our return to Souakin in the following April, when Ali Dheen Pacha was appointed, who soon liberated them.

The inhabitants of Souakin are principally Arabs, a few Greek and Italian merchants, and two Englishmen. The Government usually have a garrison of about 300 Nubian troops stationed in an undefended barrack on the mainland, about a mile from the town.

Blind to their own interest, the Egyptian Government obstructs traffic by the heavy duties which it levies. Cattle and sheep, which can be obtained from the tribes in the neighbourhood, are sent by hundreds annually to Suez by sea. Were it not for the heavy duties imposed, I should say that a large trade ought to be done with Suez, which is but three and a half days from Souakin. There is a telegraph line to Kassala. They have large[103] numbers of camels for sale or hire, but no horses, mules, or donkeys. The water is collected during the wet season in a large reservoir about a mile from the town; there are also two or three wells at the same place.

We soon introduced ourselves to Mr. Brewster, an Englishman, and head of the custom-house; and he in turn sent for Achmet Effendi, the Civil Governor of Souakin, to whom he introduced us. Of course, there followed the inevitable salaaming, coffee and cigarettes, so customary in the East. Our business was very soon explained; we wanted about 80 camels provided without delay to transport ourselves and our baggage across the desert to Kassala. The camel sheik, Moussa, was sent for, and soon appeared—a really picturesque, handsome-featured man, almost black, possessed of gleaming, regular teeth, wearing a snow-white turban and loose white robe, precisely like the ancient Roman toga. En passant, I cannot help thinking that the slang word “togs” is derived from the word toga.

The Sheik Moussa promised to provide us with the camels within three days; and, strange to say, he did so, a singular instance of a man keeping his word to one in the East. I know that my experience amongst the officials in Turkey was very[104] different—there everything was put off until to-morrow. A day would be fixed for me to call at the Seraskierat, or War Office, and when I went I was usually met with the reply, “Yarrin sabbah, effendi” (to-morrow, sir), or “Ywash, ywash” (by and bye), not once or twice, but I daresay five or six times. Another inconvenient phrase which is always on their lips if one wants any money from them, and which is spoken trippingly on the tongue, is “Para yok” (no paras), in English, “I haven’t a farthing.”

It soon became known that there was a “Hakeem Ingelese,” as they called me, in our party, and I very soon had many patients, amongst whom was a child of one of the............