167 a single branch, and all the locusts on it, thousands and thousands, flew about me, striking against my nose, and eyes, and mouth, and umbrella, and almost covering me. I enquired if these locusts did not damage the millet. They said, "No, not this kind; this is not the species that devour everything; these are very good to eat. You will see at Lobaied that these locusts are sold to be roasted and eaten; they are exquisite; they live only on the sant trees." I rejoined the captain, and told him I thought these must be the locusts St. John had eaten in the Desert of Palestine; they were rather large, of a golden colour, and very pretty. At length we reached the Holla Alfasciak Walad Alzachii," (village of Fasciar, son of Zachi), and were immediately conducted to the hut of the Shiek as being the best.* Immediately that we alighted the cawas began juxta morem to call to the Sud to bring fowls, milk, and food for the Arabs. When the cawas was giving these orders I had gone some distance from the hut, and I heard two women talking. "Iakaiti (oh my sister) listen to the call of the Turk. Allah, he is roaring like a * Holla Alfaciak-Ualad-Olzachi was the name of the founder of that Holla. Faciak is an Arabic name, and means doubtful or warm. Ualad Olzachi (son of Zachi), because his father was called "Zachi," which means in Arabic strong smell, or one of sharp talent. He wished to be called by his name, and by that of his father, whom he was fond of, to perpetuate the memory of both. This is the reason why that Holla is so called-Alfaciak Ualad-Olzachi (the warm son of strong smell.) It is larger than Holla Tendar, and has all the other things like it. camel." The other added "Allah, Ilaan Giddhom, (God curse their grandfathers.) I, whom they had not seen, now appeared, and, after saluting them, I reprimanded them for cursing the Turks, asking them if Turks also were not God's creatures. One said "Iato, (son, in the Nubian dialect, and used by the Negroes), he cannot speak like a son of mankind? Why does he shout bring milk, fowls, etc.? Don't we know how to treat guests ?" "Taieb catir," I replied, "I did not know that you were so learned." The other said, "You are not a Turk; you are a Frank." I continued the conversation no further; but withdrew from the heat, leaving them to go on to the well. 169 CHAPTER XXIV. HALT AT HOLLA ALZACHI-DEPARTURE TO KORSI- BEING in the hut of the Shiek, as the best of the village, he came to pay us a visit, and I enquired why the village was called Holla Alfasciak Walad Alzachi? He replied, "Alfasciak was the first who built and inhabited the place, so people called it after him." "And whence came Alfasciak ?" "God knows! they say from the interior." In answer to other enquiries, I learnt that the produce of the adjacent land consisted in a little dora and a small quantity of dokn; that the people lived upon kesra, and milk and onions, when the Arabs brought them from Kartum, with a little salt and atrun; that they sometimes, but rarely, eat meat, feeling but a very little inclination for it. On my asking him how long the village had been built, he said he did not know; that there was no history of it. He had been here from a boy, and had heard others call it Holla Alfasciak Walad Alzachi, and he had followed the others; that once a man from Darfur had asked him the same question, and on his saying he did not know, had laughed at him; but he had been able to return the compliment for he could not say how old his country was. The Shiek told me that iron was got here, but not in such abundance as at Omzarzur; that no commerce went on; that there were several who did not know what "flus" (money) meant. Sometimes a bull was bartered for a little calico, or some such thing, and this was all their "Why you live like animals,” I said. "Iakuaggia, there is not a great difference." commerce. I re marked that I was surprised as he seemed clever, that he had not gone down to Kartum, and cultivated land like a Pasha, near the river. "Ah, Iakuaggia! the huts in which we eat our kesra and salt are very pleasant and sweet. I have several times wished to go away: but the lamentation of my wife and children hindered me." I did not wish to converse any longer with him. I felt moved by his words, and he himself seemed affected in saying them. He was a man of fair stature, with a black, but smiling face, and noble in his conversation. He now went off to prepare food for the Arabs, who were his guests. When there are guests amongst the Sudans, the Shiek goes round collecting from every house milk, kesra, etc., taking a little from each, so that no one feels the burden, that it would be, had one to supply food for six, eight, or ten persons. On the Shiek's departure, we dined, and half an hour after set off for Korsi, the last village before reaching Lobaied. The heat was then, 160° in the shade at one o'clock, when we began our journey. Leaving Holla Alfasciak behind us, we entered a wood of sant trees, and saw some armies of locusts, driven by the Arabs from tree to tree. The observation of the locusts was useful, for it made me remark the different kinds of sant. One had yellow odoriferous flowers; others had white flowers without smell; another no flowers, and again another had compact leaves, with short hard thorns; and, finally, another with long thorns; but not prickly. These last two were without flowers; the shape of the trees, and form of their branches and leaves is almost identical. I asked a moor who was going with us to Korsi, if all these trees gave gum; he said "No, the sant that makes gum is a little tree, and grows in groups of four, five, or eight together; tomorrow you will see some after passing Korsi; these trees were used for fire-wood. He told me also that iron was found over all the Desert, that they extracted it when they wanted it for lances or knives, and in some places found it more abundantly than in others, although the whole Desert was full of iron. I made enquiries about the "gazua" (hunt) of the wild moors, which the negroes make every year, in order to take slaves out. He had several times been at a "gazua," and had committed many cruelties on the moorish parents who attempted to protect their dear children; but after a recital of one villany, I desired him to tell me no more. The negroes glory in massacreeing their poor |