Expedition to discover the sources of the White Nile, in the years 1840, 1841, Vol. 1 (of 2)Werne, Ferdinand
History
Expedition to discover the sources of the White Nile, in the years 1840, 1841, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Werne, Ferdinand
Nile River
the slaves found unfit to be recruits were set at liberty. At the
same time the well instructed Ahmed Basha dared to issue an order
to Mustapha Bey to prepare a Chasua for 6,000 slaves, by which the
loss of the 400 in Fazogl and of the few who had been emancipated in
Kordofàn was sufficiently covered. Ahmed Basha managed afterwards
to gain the confidence of the old Sheikh Suliman, probably, by
praising his independent behaviour towards Mohammed Ali. In short,
Sheikh Suliman, who had no medical assistant in Rossères, allowed
himself to be persuaded by Ahmed Basha to make his nephew, Edris
Kantòr (also Kamptor) the ruling Sheikh, conformably to Mohammed
Ali’s wishes; to stand by his (Ahmed’s) side in Khartùm as
his counsellor, and to take into consideration the welfare of the
country. The renegade Suliman Effendi (with whom my brother was
once there) was to have him under his care; but the Sheikh would
not take any medicine, because he feared a physician whose fame had
even extended from Arabia. This Sicilian had poisoned thirty-three
soldiers there in order to ruin two Frenchmen, the physician and the
apothecary, whom he detested. Ahmed Basha has need of such persons
even in this land. Suliman suddenly died because he was too tenacious
of life and wanted to return to Rossères, and was immediately buried
according to the custom of this country, just as I was on the point
of visiting him. “_Deve morire, non c’è misericordia_,” said
Suliman Effendi, laughing, when opposing my brother with respect to
the nature of his illness; and he was right. The brother of Sheikh
Suliman, Nasr Wud Ahmed, came six months after to this capital;
the strong, robust man was despatched in fourteen days in the same
Turkish manner. Another brother received for some trifling matter
1,000 blows with the kurbash (a scourge, or whip, cut from the skin
of the hippopotamus), far worse than the Nabùt, and reckoned to be
equivalent to death: this man endured the punishment not only manfully
without uttering a sound, but sprang up, and exclaimed, “_Ana achu
el bennaght!_” (literally, “I am a brother of the maiden!” it
means, however, a man who defends his hearth—generally, a hearty,
brave fellow). Such examples of hardihood are not rare here, and
depend partly on the race from which they spring. By the intrigues
and the constant chicaneries of Ahmed Basha, the family of Suliman
has been reduced to the lowest point. Woe to the Turks, therefore,
when the time for revenge comes! The people belonging to the race of
the Hammeghs still continue formidable, and remain always devotedly
attached to the family.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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