ENCAMP AT HEIKOTA—SHEIK AHMED—HERR SCHUMANN AND HIS ZAREEBA—WE MAKE A ZAREEBA—THE MAHDI—EXCITEMENT IN THE VILLAGE—HORRIBLE TRAGEDY—SHEIK AHMED DINES WITH US—THE MAGIC LANTERN—LIONS VISIT US.

Ere we could pitch our tents we had to cut down a number of young palm trees, and clear away a quantity of tall grass, &c. Whilst doing so Sheik Ahmed, of the powerful Beni-Amir tribe, who paid us a visit, gave us a good deal more of manual labour by advising us to make a zareeba (a fence of prickly trees), assigning as a reason, and a very substantial one, the fact that lions came down every night, and often made such a noise as to disturb his slumbers, but that we had nothing to fear from his tribe. He said further that boa-constrictors and scorpions were very common, leopards also. We found traces of the latter whilst clearing.[166] Sheik Ahmed, or Achmet, is said to be one of the most powerful Sheiks in the Soudan; he certainly was far and away the best sample of a Sheik that I have seen anywhere. His head was kept shaved; on it he wore a tight-fitting white skull-cap. He was almost black, and of a determined aspect, but his features were good, and his teeth white, sound and regular; his eyes were keen, black and glittering as a hawk’s; he was dressed in spotless white and scrupulously clean; quick in action, thought, speech, and appearance. One might almost say really that he was an educated man, for he could both write and read, and certainly looked a remarkable, shrewd, and intelligent man. During the piping times of peace he could be a merry fellow of infinite jest; and he and I cracked many a joke together by the aid of an interpreter. He could also be a fierce warrior when necessary, and bore marks, some deep ones, too, of many a skirmish he had been engaged in. “Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in at it, bear thyself, that thine opponent may beware of thee.” The latter half of this proverb, I think, would be quite applicable to our friend, Sheik Ahmed, as all his wounds were in front; the first part, I fear, he would be rather regardless of, probably, indeed, more of the temper of an Irishman handling a shillelagh at Donnybrook fair,[167] exclaiming—“Will ye jist thread on the tail of me coat, now?” And I assure you, reader, that had you known Sheik Ahmed you would hesitate ere you trod on his caudal appendage, if you discovered it. I have heard that he is one of the most powerful vassals under the Khedive, and that should occasion require he could put in the field about 10,000 horsemen and tribesmen.

These people, over whom the Sheik seemed to possess great control and authority, are quite pastoral in their pursuits, and own such enormous flocks and herds as would astonish any ordinary mortal. These are every night driven in from grazing to a large zareeba on the river-bed. I was irresistibly reminded here of the patriarchs of old. Here was this Sheikh with four wives and I don’t know how many children, the leader or petty sovereign of a large and powerful tribe, over whom he possessed absolute power, and, as I said before, owning these flocks and herds. On the river-bed of the Mareb the tribe, or a part of it rather, lived, their dwellings simply consisting of a few stakes driven into the sand, over and around which is a covering of tall grass and matting made from the palm leaves. They live in this neighbourhood as long as there is anything for their flocks and herds to eat; when there is not, like locusts, they move off[168] a few miles to pastures new. Then, when the wet season commences, they clear off to the mountains or desert, else the tetse fly would destroy the animals. They seem a contented lot, and may truly say, as a deceased M.P. once said, “My riches consist, not in the vastness of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants.”

They live simply, on milk, honey, and dhurra principally, and to that fact may be attributed the beautifully white sound teeth they possess. I think I ought to say that the Sheik was good enough to ask me to stay with the tribe for three or four years, and as an inducement was good enough to say that if I would he would give me four wives, thus placing me on a par with himself. However, I neither embraced this tempting offer nor the sable females, and here I think the utterances of the deceased M.P. would be peculiarly applicable. When the Sheik, who was very friendly, left us, he accepted our invitation to dinner at 7 p.m. Quite close to our camp was another zareeba; in this dwelt Herr Schumann and his wild animals. He had, when we were there, three young elephants; two females, and one rogue (the latter, being a rather fierce little fellow, was chained by the leg), a few young lions, wild cats, leopards, and 15 young ostriches about the size of Dorking fowls.

[169]

Apropos of the Mahdi, I find the following in to-day’s paper:

“April 2nd, ’84—An Austrian dealer in wild animals, writing from Kassala to friends in Vienna, gives some information about the Mahdi, whom he knows personally, and with whom he has frequently transacted business, the Mahdi himself having for years past dealt in wild beasts for the different European Zoological Gardens. He is described by the writer as a very cunning impostor, and as an instance, it is related that a short time ago he suddenly appeared with a number of warts on his right cheek, these having been artificially produced by the aid of a German called Schandorper, formerly a clown, and afterwards a hairdresser, now in the service of the Mahdi. The reason was that the legends about the expected Mahdi speak of him as having such marks. Like the beasts he formerly dealt in, the Mahdi sleeps in the daytime and transacts business during the night.” I have no doubt whatever that our old acquaintance, who was the only animal collector I ever met with, is the author of the preceding, and I think a very credible man.

In the evening, just before dinner, we heard near our camp a great number of women and children, accompanied by the inevitable beating of the tom-toms, and that wild, peculiar trilling note of a[170] woman to which I have before alluded. Being desirous to find out as much as I could of the habits and customs of these people, I got Mr. Colvin to accompany me to ascertain the cause. We went and found a great number of women shouting and chanting, whilst a number of their braves were executing a war dance with spear and shield, others in the meantime sharpening their spears. Of course we were at a loss to account for the extreme activity and evident war-like preliminaries, and returned to camp not feeling certain whether these sharpened spears would not on the morrow make unpleasant incisions in our intercastal spaces—at least Mr. Colvin, who was a very facetious and witty fellow, humorously suggested this. On returning to camp we passed Herr Schumann’s zareeba, and told him what we had witnessed, asking him the meaning of it all. He narrated the following tale of blood: The day before our arrival at Heikota, when we were in the immediate neighbourhood, probably about the time we were encamping, a number of the Basé people from the village of Sarcella had come upon the children of the Beni-Amirs driving the flocks and herds in for the night. They then perpetrated a deed which makes one shudder to think of, for they were not satisfied with simply slaughtering these unoffending children, but doing so[171] in a most horrible manner; in short, they ripped them open with their knives, and drove off about 2,000 head of cattle. In consequence of this the Sheik had given the word to his men to prepare for action, and they were now doing so, intending to make an attack on the village of Sarcella in the morning.

In the evening we had a champagne dinner; the Sheik studiously avoided the champagne, and had the shocking bad taste to prefer raspberry vinegar and water. Herr Schumann also joined us, but, like a Christian, partook of champagne.

We pretended not to know anything of this slau............