Travels in Kordofan : $b Embracing a description of that province of Egypt, and of some of the bordering countries, with a review of the present state of the commerce in those countries, of the habits and customs of the inhabitants, as also an account of the slave hunts taking place under the government of Mehemed AliPallme, Ignaz
History
Travels in Kordofan : $b Embracing a description of that province of Egypt, and of some of the bordering countries, with a review of the present state of the commerce in those countries, of the habits and customs of the inhabitants, as also an account of the slave hunts taking place under the government of Mehemed Ali
Pallme, Ignaz
Kordofan (Sudan : Province) -- Description and travel; Nile River; Sudan -- Description and travel
wolves attacking men are very numerous; in Africa, the instances of
the hyæna having done the same are very scarce. Ten hyænas may,
in fact, be sooner tamed than one jackal. Thus, in the court of a
house at Lobeid, I saw a hyæna running about quite domesticated:
the children of the proprietor teased it, took the meat thrown to it
for food out of its jaws, and put their hands even into its throat,
without receiving the least injury. When we took our meals in the
open air, to enjoy the breeze, as was our general custom during
the hot season, this animal approached the table without fear,
snapped up the pieces that were thrown to it like a dog, and did
not evince the slightest symptom of timidity. A full grown hyæna,
and her two cubs, were, on another occasion, brought to me for sale:
the latter were carried in arms, as you might carry a lamb, and
were not even muzzled. The old one, it is true, had a rope round
its snout, but it had been led a distance of twelve miles by one
single man, without having offered the slightest resistance. The
Africans do not even reckon the hyæna among the wild beasts of
their country, for they are not afraid of it. The rhinoceros passes
among them as the most vicious of all quadrupeds. They say the
lion, and other beasts of prey, merely attack man when they are
wounded or irritated, or when goaded on by hunger; and as there
are sheep and goats everywhere, and numbers of antelopes and other
animals, in the desert, and they suffer no want of food, man need
not fear them. Widely different is the case with the rhinoceros,
for although it is a graminivorous animal, neither man nor beast
are safe from its wanton cruelty. Without having been disturbed or
irritated in the least, it will immediately attack a man or animal,
be it ever so large—even the elephant or lion. It endeavours in
the first charge to pierce its adversary with its powerful horn,
which is situated, as is well known, superiorly on the nasal bone,
taking a curved direction upwards. If the first blow take effect, the
animal attacked, even if it be the elephant, is lost; should he, or
the lion, however, avoid the blow, the rhinoceros generally succumbs,
and notwithstanding this risk it is always the aggressor. Fortunately
there are said to be but very few rhinoceroses; and it is indeed
a great rarity if one of them happen to stray into Kordofan. The
haunts of these animals are in the vicinity of rivers and lakes,
their horns may be met with in commerce, and are employed in the
manufacture of the handles of the Turkish swords. The lighter the
colour of the horn the greater is its value; but the black variety
is not in request, and is regarded as useless for sabre hilts. The
quality of the horns cannot be judged of by their outward appearance,
for externally they are all black. Those which are met with in
commerce in Kordofan are imported from the countries tributary to
Darfour, situated on a river,—probably the White Nile,—of which
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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