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After the troops had again collected, order was
once more restored, and the march was continued ; in the course of a few days several hills were taken,
and the prisoners duly forwarded to Lobeid. The expedition now moved in a southern direction from the Nuba mountains, towards a country inhabited by a different race of men. The tribe now attacked differs from the natives of Nuba, both in language and manners ; they are easily recognized by the number of brass ear-rings, which they do not pass through the
appendix of the ear, but wear in the upper part of
the cartilage, by which means the whole ear is distorted, so that the superior portion covers the interior.
Almost all the men wear the tooth of some animal, one inch and a half to two inches in length, above
their chin; it is passed through a hole in the under
lip when they are very young, and acquires a firm
adhesion with the integument. In their habits
they differ but little from the other negro tribes,
but it is rather remarkable that they do not, like
the negroes, Turks, or Arabs, convey food to their mouths with their fingers, but make use of a
shell, or piece of wood, shaped like a spoon, for this
purpose. The dwelling place of this tribe was very
advantageously situated on the summit of a hill,
and very difficult of access ; the commanding officer,
therefore, on hearing that it was not supplied with
water, to avoid a loss, decided upon surrounding
the hill, and forcing the negroes by thirst to surrender. The siege lasted eight days, and the poor
creatures, who felt themselves too weak for a sortie,
had not a drop of water left on the fourth day. as was
subsequently heard. The cattle was slain in the
early part of the blockade to diminish the consumption
of water: on the sixth day, several children
and old people had perished of thirst: and on the
seventh day the mortality became so frightful, that
they determined to surrender. Several of them
advised a silly, but exhausted as they were, they saw the futility of this movement ; and when, on
the eighth day, hundreds had fallen in the most
fearful torments of unsatisfied thirst, and many of
the negroes, in the horrors of despair, had put an end to their miseries by ripping open their abdomins with their double-edged knives, the small
body of survivors delivered itself up to the enemy.
Of more than two thousand souls, one thousand
and forty-nine were only found living, the rest had all perished by thirst, or had committed suicide.
On entering the village, the huts were seen filled with the dead, and the few unfortunate survivors were so exhausted by fatigue, and overpowered by
thirst, that they could scarcely stand upon their
feet ; yet with blows with the butt-end of the musket,
or with the whip, these poor wretches were
driven from the huts, dragged into camp, with
every description of cruelty, and thence despatched
for Lobeid, on which march more than one hundred
and fifty souls perished from ill-usage.
On the fourth day of the march of this transport,
after the caravan had halted, and whilst the prisoners were forming detachments to take up their
quarters for the night, it so happened that an aged
woman, worn out with the fatigues of the long
march, or overcome by the mental sufferings she had
endured, was incapable of reaching the spot assigned
to her with sufficient alacrity, and a barbarous Turk
dealt her a blow with the butt end of his musket,
which laid her nearly lifeless on the sand. Her son, who witnessed this gratuitous act of cruelty, no
longer master of his feelings, rushed with fury
towards the soldier, struck him a blow with the
sheba round his neck, and felled him to the
ground. This was the signal for attack; all the
slaves, who bore a sheba, threw themselves upon
the troops, and knocked them down, before they
could take to their arms, or fix their bayonets; thus
fifty-six negroes took to flight during the confusion
in the camp, and aided by the darkness of night,
succeeded in effecting their escape. The natives,
attached to this transport, remained quiet spectators
of the fray, a proof of the interest they feel in these
sanguinary hunts.
The body of the expedition had, in the meantime,
continued its march and taken another hill by storm,
but not without loss. This village was situated on a steep declivity, accessible only on the one side,
and so well supplied with water that a blockade was out of the question. A storm was, therefore,
commanded. On both sides, the men fought with
desperate bravery. The storming party purchased
dearly with their blood every inch of ground they advanced.
The negroes had barricaded every available
spot ; each tree and every stone formed an ambush whence they rushed forth upon their enemies,
who were scaling the heights under severe
difficulties. The muskets were of no avail, for the
soldiers were forced to creep upon their hands and
feet and could not use their arms ; thus, many were stabbed by the spears of the natives, before they
could rise on their feet, and, in their fall, tore several of their advancing comrades down with them
into the precipice and ravines below. The cannonade
employed against the village was ineffective, and
forced to be silenced to avoid injuring their own
men. The struggle was fearful, and the event
for some time doubtful, the soldiers, however, at
last succeeded in obtaining a footing on the heights,
and were able to employ their arms ; the bayonet
now decided the victory in their favour, and
the village was soon taken, in spite of the most
obstinate resistance on the part of the negroes.
The havoc became frightful : everyone who offered the slightest resistance was cut down, chil- dren, women, and old men were put to the bayonet,
the huts were fired, and the whole place was
pillaged ; in short, every species of cruelty was perpetrated
on these ill-fated victims. Those who fell into the hands of the victorious enemy were immediately
dragged down into the camp ; whilst those
who endeavoured to escape, by concealing themselves
in caverns and ravines, were either hunted
out by fire and smoke, or suffocated in their place of
shelter ; every description of atrocity was practised, nor did the carnage cease until the very last man of
this ill-starred tribe was exterminated or led away in captivity. All the inconsiderable property of the
natives which the troops could not carry away
with them as plunder was destroyed, and the whole village sacked and levelled with the ground. These were not all the sufferings which fell to the lot of
these unfortunate men, for severer tortures awaited
them during their march to Kordofan. I was unfortunately,
during some few days, an eye-witness
of the misery these poor prisoners endured. No pen
can describe the cruelties these miserable men were made to suffer, in addition to the mental torment
consequent on their loss of freedom ; for laden with
the heavy sheba round their necks, or bound together with tight straps or handcuffs, the poor
negroes were driven on like cattle, but treated
with far less care or forbearance. The greater
number of them, covered with the wounds they
had received in battle, or excoriated by the sheba,
or the straps, and handcuffs, were put to yet severer
trials on the road, and, if too exhausted to keep
pace with the transport, the most cruel punishment
awaited them ; the piercing cry of complaint of
these unfortunate beings, and the tears and sobs
of the children who had either lost their parents
in the capture of the village, or were too tired to follow their exhausted mothers, would have melted
a heart of stone to pity. On these ruthless executioners,
however, even this scene of misery produces no effect ; they march with unconcern by the side
of the prisoners, and are only anxious to further
the progress of the convoy, by urging on those who
may be so weak that they cannot follow the rest with blows and stripes. As they dragged every- one away with them whom they found living, there
was, of course, a large number of lame, blind, and old
men, and persons afflicted with other infirmities,
among the complement of slaves, who were sure to perish on the road, or who would be of no value on their arrival in Lobeid. But, even this circumstance
was not deemed worthy of consideration ; without
mercy all were driven from their homes, and delivered
up to their fate ; for the sole object is, to furnish
the number of slaves demanded by the government.
Every morning, at about ten o'clock, a halt was ordered, whereupon the prisoners were formed
according to their age into divisions, to receive their
rations, consisting of boiled dokn. Salt was out
of the question, and the dokn so hard that the full- grown men experienced difficulty in masticating
it. Children, who are too weak in the jaw to reduce the grain, swallow it as they would pills, and are frequently put to the most excruciating agony in
consequence ; for, not being able to digest the
food, their bodies swell, and they suffer from flatulence and spasm. I have seen mothers chewing
the victuals for their children, and then offering it to them. In forming these detachments according
to age, children who anxiously cling to their parents
are torn by force from their arms, that they may
eat alone. The condition of sick and wounded was
not considered ; their wounds were not even dressed,
and they received the same allowance ; many of
them threw themselves on the sand, and, refusing all food, preferred to rest their weary limbs. When
one of these poor wretches was so debilitated that
it became a matter of doubt whether he could be
dragged on any further, or when he was drawing his
last breath, he was thrown, like a piece of wood,
aside, either to languish in despair, or to be torn
to pieces by the wild beasts. Bread is unheard
of on these marches, although they have every
convenience for baking; this would be too great a luxury, however, for the poor slaves, who must
content themselves with food not even good enough
for cattle. As soon as the signal for the march was given,
the slaves were forced to join their detachments,
and, in case of delay for one minute only, the whip
and butt-end of the musket were again at work. Old
men and infirm women, bent down with the weight
of years and care, who could scarcely creep along,
suffered like treatment, and when too weak to move on were left to perish on the sand. Children were not allowed to take leave of their nearest
relatives ; a tear and a look of sorrow was "the only
tribute they could pay to the unfortunate beings
delivered over to their doom. To prevent a father or a mother from perishing in this miserable manner,
their wives or daughters, who were unfettered,
would take one of these wretches between two of
them, who, passing his arms round the neck of
both, was thus dragged on, or even at times carried.
Children above six years of age, or even at the age of four, were forced to walk ; they also generally succumb to the fatigues of the march, and are then carried by their mothers or sisters. I have seen a mother with an infant on one arm, and a child of two years of age on the other, at last charge herself with a grown boy on her back,
until she sank herself exhausted under this triple load. The officers commanding on these expeditions
are more especially to blame for the cruelty of the troops, for, riding at a distance in front, or in the
rear of the transport, they do not trouble themselves about the condition of their prisoners, but
leave them entirely to the mercy of a ruthless soldiery. If an officer of more feeling should happen
to be in command, the circumstance is instantly known by the diminished mortality on the road. I once met with one of them who feelingly attended to the children and the sick ; who ordered them to be mounted on the beasts of burden when too weak to proceed, and I saw him even take one or even two of the children on his own horse. This man may lay his head on his pillow in peace, free from
the reproach of having augmented the sufferings of his unfortunate fellow-creatures, whilst many
of his comrades must quail under the pangs of a guilty conscience for the fearful death of hundreds
of human beings. An hour before sunset a halt was again ordered, and rations of boiled dokn were once more served. But in the night the misery of the slaves reached its very climax. In the month of January, when the changes of temperature are ordinarily very perceptible, and the thermometer generally falls below 4 Reaumur (41 Fahrenheit), the cold is felt as severely as when at 4 or 5 below of Reaumur (23 to 20, 25 Fahrenheit), in the northern parts of Germany. Imagine, now, the poor negroes in a state of absolute nudity, without the means of covering themselves, and debilitated by hunger and fatigue, when some idea may be formed of the sufferings they had to endure ; fires were certainly lighted, but the scanty supply of wood rendered it impossible to defend these poor wretches from the effects of cold. The shrieks and sobs of the children, the cries of the wounded, and the groans of the sick, were perfectly horrifying, and in the morning an infant was once found dead and stiff with the cold at its mother's breast. It is true that the negroes have no covering in their own villages beyond a girdle or a piece of linen passed round their loins, but then they lie at night in their huts, or cover themselves with the skins of animals, none of which they can find on their march. Those who wore the sheba could not sleep at night for pain, as it so severely compresses the neck that
it impede every movement, and thus not one man was free from suffering. A woman far advanced in pregnancy was delivered in the night without assistance. I gave the poor mother a shirt. in which she wrapped her infant, and thus safely carried it to Lobeid, and in compassion for her weak state I lent her my ass to ride. I am unequal to the
task of narrating all the horrors I witnessed during
the few days I attached myself to the convoy ; no
words are sufficiently expressive to describe the
sufferings of the slaves, and no tongue can tell the
painful sensations of a man of feeling who witnesses these atrocities. I did all in my power, with
entreaties and presents, to make the troops, and
the irregular natives forming the escort, more compassionate,
and thus many a man was induced to take a child who could not move its jaded feet
along the burning sand upon his back, or to relieve a mother exhausted by its weight, and carry it during
the whole of the day. Unfortunately, however,
I was not able to put a stop to all acts of cruelty,
and was forced on one occasion to see an unfeeling
soldier fell a man to the ground with the butt end
of his musket because unable to keep pace
with the rest : his feet, in fact, refused their office : he had been wounded in that part during the siege,
the wound had inflamed, and the pain had quite
overpowered him. I lost all command of my feelings on witnessing this brutal act, drew my sword,
and should have cut down the inhuman barbarian, if my servant had not seized my arm and wrested
my sword and pistols from my hand ; nor did he
return my arms to me before he saw that my passion
had cooled. On the eighth day the expedition arrived at Lobeid. The di*trilmtioii, described in the
former chapter, now took place, and this is, properly
speaking, the chief cause of the harsh and merciless
behaviour of the soldiery towards the slaves ; for they know, that they will be compelled to receive them in liquidation of their arrears of pay,
at a value far above the price they will obtain
from the slave-merchants ; that the slaves, moreover,
frequently die before they can dispose of
them, in which case the loss falls upon them, and
they must serve the government for months gratuitously.
Hence they do all in their power to
rid themselves of the old and infirm slaves before
they reach Lobeid, in order to avoid the inconvenience
of being forced to take one of these men
in lieu of their pay. If the payment of the troops
in the Belled-Soodan were effected in cash, as it
is in the other provinces, I am convinced that the
unfortunate slaves would meet with more humane
treatment. But thanks to the noble Queen Victoria
of England, whose eye of compassion has penetrated
into these distant realms, and cheered the hearts of
the dejected and oppressed inhabitants, at whose
earnest representations, in fine, these slave-hunts
have been put an end to by Mehemed Ali himself,
thousands of these poor negroes, who from year
to year trembled under the fear of a similar fate,
may now live in peace and tranquillity; and the
prayers of the emancipated, offered up to the throne
of the Almightly for this truly great monarch can- not fail to reward her humanity by a prosperous
and happy reign. According to reports from Kordofan,
no expedition for kidnapping slaves was ordered in the year 1839, and the troops were paid
in cash ; but those, unfortunately, of 1840 and
1841 sound very differently, for Mehemed Ali, in
spite of his solemn promise to put an end to all further slave-hunts, had again commenced these
revolting expeditions.
