Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile/Volume 3/Book 5/Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
Directions to Travellers for preserving Health—Diseases of the Country—Music—Trade, &c. of Masuah—Conferences with the Naybe.
We arrived in the island at eight o'clock, to the great joy of our servants, who were afraid of some stratagem of the Naybe. We got every thing in order, without interruption, and completed our observations upon this inhospitable island, infamous for the quantity of Christian blood shed there upon treacherous pretences.
Masuah, by a great variety of observations of the sun and stars, we found to be in lat. 15° 35′ 5″, and, by an observation of the second satellite of Jupiter, on the 22d of September 1769, we found its longitude to be 39° 36′ 30″ east of the meridian of Greenwich: the variation of the needle was observed at mid-day, the 23d of September, to be 12° 48′. W. From this it follows, that Loheia, being nearly opposite, (for it is in lat. 15° 40′ 52″) the breadth of the Red Sea between Masuah and Loheia is 4° 10′ 22″. Supposing, then, a degree to be equal to 66° statute miles, this, in round numbers, will bring the breadth to be 276 miles, equal to 92 leagues, or thereabouts.
Again, as the generality of maps have placed the coast of Arabia where Loheia stands, in the 44°, and it is the part of the peninsula that runs farthest to the westward, all the west coast of Arabia Felix will fall to be brought farther east about 3° 46′ 0″.
Before packing up our barometer at Loheia, I filled a tube with clean mercury, perfectly purged of outward air; and, on the 30th of August, upon three several trials, the mean of the remits of each trial was, at six in the morning, 26° 8′ 8″; two o'clock in the afternoon, 26° 4′ 1″; and, half past six in the evening, 26° 6′ 2″, fair, clear weather, with very little wind at west.
At Mafuah, the 4th of October, I repeated the same experiment with the same mercury and tube; the means were as follow: At six in the morning 25° 8′ 1″; two o'clock in the afternoon, 25° 3′ 2″; and, at half past six in the evening, 25° 3′ 7″, clear, with a moderate wind at west, so that the barometer fell one inch and one line at Mafuah lower than it was at Loheia, though it often rose upon violent storms of wind and rain; and, even where there was no rain, it again fell instantly upon the storm ceasing, and never arrived to the height it stood last at on the coast of Arabia. The greatest height I ever observed Fahrenheit's thermometer in the shade, at Mafuah, was on the 22d of October, at two in the afternoon, 93°, wind N.E. and by N. cloudy; the lowest was on the 23d, at four in the morning, 82°, wind west. It was, to sense, much hotter than in any part of Arabia Felix; but we found no such tickling or irritation on our legs as we had done at Loheia, probably because the soil was here less impregnated with salt.
We observed here, for the first time, three remarkable circumstances shewing the increase of heat. I had carried with me several steel plates for making screws of different sizes. The heat had so swelled the pin, or male screw, that it was cut nearly one-third through by the edge of the female. The sealing-wax, of which we had procured a fresh parcel from the India ships, was fully more fluid, while lying in our boxes, than tar. The third was the colour of the spirit in the thermometer, which was quite discharged, and sticking in masses at unequal heights, while the liquor was clear like spring-water.
Masuah is very unwholesome, as, indeed, is the whole coast of the Red Sea from Suez to Babelmandeb, but more especially between the tropics. Violent fevers, called there nedad, make the principal figure in this fatal list, and generally terminate the third day in death. If the patient survives till the fifth day, he very often recovers by drinking water only, and throwing a quantity of cold water upon him, even in his bed, where he is permitted to lie without attempting to make him dry, or change his bed, till another deluge adds to the first.
There is no remedy so sovereign here as the bark; but it must be given in very different times and manners from those pursued in Europe. Were a physician to take time to prepare his patient for the bark, by first giving him purgatives, he would be dead of the fever before his preparation was completed. Immediately when a nausea or aversion to eat, frequent fits of yawning, straitness about the eyes, and an unusual, but not painful sensation along the spine, comes on, no time is then to be lost; small doses of the bark must be frequently repeated, and perfect abstinence observed, unless from copious draughts of cold water.
I never dared to venture, or seldom, upon the deluge of water, but am convinced it is frequently of great use. The second or third dose of the bark, if any quantity is swallowed, never fails to purge; and, if this evacuation is copious, the patient rarely dies, but, on the contrary, his recovery is generally rapid. Moderate purging, then, is for the most part to be adopted; and rice is a much better food than fruit.
I know that all this is heterodox in Europe, and contrary to the practice, because it is contrary to system. For my own part, I am content to write faithfully what I carefully observed, leaving every body afterwards to follow their own way at their peril.
Bark, I have been told by Spaniards who have been in South America, purges always when taken in their fevers. A different climate, different regimen, and different habit of body or exercise, may surely so far alter the operation of a drug as to make it have a different effect in Africa from what it has in Europe. Be that as it may, still I say bark is a purgative when it is successful in this fever; but bleeding, at no stage of this distemper, is of any service; and, indeed, if attempted the second day, the lancet is seldom followed by blood. Ipecacuanha both fatigues the patient and heightens the fever, and so conducts the patient more speedily to his end. Black spots are frequently found on the breast and belly of the dead person. The belly swells, and the stench becomes insufferable in three hours after death, if the person dies in the day, or if the weather is warm.
The next common disease in the low country of Arabia, the intermediate island of Mafuah, and all Abyssinia, (for the diseases are exactly similar in all this tract) is the Tertian fever, which is in nothing different from our Tertian, and is successfully treated here in the same manner as in Europe. As no species of this disease (at least that I have seen) menaces the patient with death, especially in the beginning of the disorder, some time may be allowed for preparation to those who doubt the effect of the bark in the country. But still I apprehend the safest way is to give small doses from the beginning, on the first intermission, or even remission, though this should be somewhat obscure and uncertain. To speak plainly; when the stomach nauseates, the head akes, yawning becomes frequent, and not an excessive pain in the nape of the neck, when a shivering which goes quickly off, a coldness down the spine, a more than ordinary cowardliness and inactivity prevails, (the heat of the climate gives one always enough of these last sensations); I say, when any number of these symptoms unite, have recourse to the powder of bark infilled in water; shut your month against every sort of food; and, at the crisis, your disease will immediately decide its name among the class of fevers.
All fevers end in intermittents; and if these intermittents continue long, and the first evacuations by the bark have not been copious and constant, these fevers generally end in dysenteries, which are always tedious and very frequently prove mortal. Bark in small quantities, ipecacuanha, too, in very small quantities so as not to vomit, water, and fruit not over ripe, have been found the most successful remedies.
As for the other species of dysentery, which begins with a constant diarrhœa, when the guts at last are excoriated, and the mucus voided by the stools, this disease is rarely cured if it begins with the rainy season. But if, on the contrary, it happen either in the sunny six months, or the end of the rainy ones immediately next to them, small doses of ipecacuanha either carry it off, or it changes into an intermitting fever, which yields afterwards to the bark. And it always has seemed to me that there is a great affinity between the fevers and dysenteries in these countries, the one ending in the other almost perpetually.
The next disease, which we may say is endemial in the countries before mentioned, is called hanzeer, the hogs or the swine, and is a swelling of the glands of the throat, and under the arms. This the ignorant inhabitants endeavour to bring to a suppuration, but in vain; they then open them in several places; a sore and running follows, and a disease very much resembling what is called in Europe the Evil.
The next (though not a dangerous complaint) has a very terrible appearance. Small tubercules or swellings appear all over the body, but thickest in the thighs, arms, and legs. These swellings go and come for weeks together without pain; though the legs often swell to a monstrous size as in the dropsy. Sometimes the patients have ulcers in their noses and mouths, not unlike those which are one of the malignant consequences of the venereal disease. The small swellings or eruptions, when squeezed, very often yield blood; in other respects the patient is generally in good health, saving the pain the ulcers give him, and the still greater uneasiness of mind which he suffers from the spoiling of the smoothness of his skin; for all the nations in Africa within the tropics are wonderfully affected at the smallest eruption or roughness of the skin. A black of Sennaar will hide himself in the house where dark, and is not to be seen by his friends, if he should have two or three pimples on any part of his body. Nor is there any remedy, however violent, that they will not fly to for immediate relief. Scars and wounds are no blemishes; and I have seen them, for three or four pimples on their bracelet arm, suffer the application of a red-hot iron with great resolution and constancy.
These two last diseases yielded, the first slowly, and sometimes imperfectly, to mercurials; and sublimate has by no means in these climates the quick and decisive effects it has in Europe. The second is completely and speedily cured by antimonials.
The next complaint I shall mention, as common in these countries, is called Farenteit, a corruption of an Arabic word, which signifies the worm of Pharaoh; all bad things being by the Arabs attributed to these poor kings, who seem to be looked upon by posterity as the evil genii of the country which they once governed.
This extraordinary animal only afflicts those who are in constant habit of drinking stagnant water, whether that water is drawn out from wells, as in the kingdom of Sennaar, or found by digging in the sand where it is making its way to its proper level the sea, after falling down the side of the mountains after the tropical rains. This plague appears indiscriminately in every part of the body, but oftenest in the legs and arms. I never saw it in the face or head; but, far from affecting the fleshy parts of the body, it generally comes out where the bone has least flesh upon it.Upon looking at this worm, on its first appearance, a small black head is extremely visible, with a hooked beak of a whitish colour. Its body is seemingly of a white silky texture, very like a small tendon bared and perfectly cleaned. After its appearance the natives of these countries, who are used to it, seize it gently by the head, and wrap it round a thin piece of silk or small bird's feather. Every day, or several times a-day, they try to wind it up upon the quill as far as it comes readily; and, upon the smallest resistance, they give over for fear of breaking it. I have seen five feet, or something more of this extraordinary animal, winded out with invincible patience in the course of three weeks. No inflammation then remained, and scarcely any redness round the edges of the aperture, only a small quantity of lymph appeared in the hole or puncture, which scarcely issued out upon pressing. In three days it was commonly well, and left no scar or dimple implying loss of substance.
I myself experienced this complaint. I was reading upon a sofa at Cairo, a few days after my return from Upper Egypt, when I felt in the fore part of my leg, upon the bone, about seven inches below the center of my knee-pan, an itching resembling what follows the bite of a muscheto. Upon scratching, a small tumour appeared very like a muscheto bite. The itching returned in about an hour afterwards; and, being more intent upon my reading than my leg, I scratched it till the blood came. I soon after observed something like a black spot, which had already risen considerably above the surface of the skin. All medicine proved useless; and the disease not being known at Cairo, there was nothing for it but to have recourse to the only received manner of treating it in this country. About three inches of the worm was winded out upon a piece of raw silk in the first week, without pain or fever: but it was broken afterwards through the carelessness and rashness of the surgeon when changing a poultice on board the ship in which I returned to France: a violent inflammation followed; the leg swelled so as to scarce leave appearance of knee or ancle; the skin, red and distended, seemed glazed like a mirror. The wound was now healed, and discharged nothing; and there was every appearance of mortification coming on. The great care and attention procured me in the lazaretto at Marseilles, by a nation always foremost in the acts of humanity to strangers, and the attention and skill of the surgeon, recovered me from this troublesome complaint.
Fifty-two days had elapsed since it first begun; thirty-five of which were spent in the greatest agony. It suppurated at last; and, by enlarging the orifice, a good quantity of matter was discharged. I had made constant use of bark, both in fomentations and inwardly; but I did not recover the strength of my leg entirely till near a year after, by using the baths of Poretta, the property of my friend Count Ranuzzi, in the mountains above Bologna, which I recommend, for their efficacy, to all those who have wounds, as I do to him to have better accommodation, greater abundance of, and less imposition in, the necessaries of life than when I was there. It is but a few hours journey over the mountains to Pistoia.
The last I shall mention of these endemial diseases, and the most terrible of all others that can fall to the lot of man, is the Elephantiasis, which some have chosen to call the Leprosy, or Lepra Arabum; though in its appearance, and in all its circumstances and stages, it no more resembles the leprosy of Palestine, (which is, I apprehend, the only leprosy that we know) than it does the gout or the dropsy. I never saw the beginning of this disease. During the course of it, the face is often healthy to appearance; the eyes vivid and sparkling: those affected have sometimes a kind of dryness upon the skin of their backs, which, upon scratching, I have seen leave a mealiness, or whiteness; the only circumstance, to the best of my recollection, in which it resembled the leprosy, but it has no scaliness. The hair, too, is of its natural colour; not white, yellowing, or thin, as in the leprosy, but so far from it that, though the Abyssinians have very rarely hair upon their chin, I have seen people, apparently in the last stage of the elephantiasis, with a very good beard of its natural colour.
The appetite is generally good during this disease, nor does any change of regimen affect the complaint. The pulse is only subject to the same variations as in those who have no declared nor predominant illness; they have a constant thirst, as the lymph, which continually oozes from their wounds, probably demands to be replaced. It is averred by the Abyssinians that it is not infectious. I have seen the wives of those who were in a very inveterate stage of this illness, who had born them several children, who were yet perfectly free and sound from any contagion. Nay, I do not remember to have seen children visibly infected with this disease at all; though, I must own, none of them had the appearance of health. It is said this disease, though surely born with the infant, does not become visible till the approach to manhood, and sometimes it is said to pass by a whole generation.
The chief seat of this disease is from the bending of the knee downwards to the ancle; the leg is swelled to a great degree, becoming one size from bottom to top, and gathered into circular wrinkles, like small hoops or plaits; between every one of which there is an opening that separates it all round from the one above, and which is all raw flesh, or perfectly excoriated. From between these circular divisions a great quantity of lymph constantly oozes. The swelling of the leg reaches over the foot, so as to leave about an inch or little more of it seen. It should seem that the black colour of the skin, the thickness of the leg, and its shapeless form, and the rough tubercules, or excrescences, very like those seen upon the elephant, give the name to this disease, and form a striking resemblance between the distempered legs of this unfortunate individual of the human species, and those of the noble quadruped the elephant, when in full vigour.
An infirmity, to which the Abyssinians are subject, of much worse consequence to the community than the elephantiasis, I mean lying, makes it impossible to form, from their relations, any accurate account of symptoms that might lead the learned to discover the causes of this extraordinary distemper, and thence suggest some rational method to cure, or diminish it.It was not from the ignorance of language, nor from want of opportunity, and less from want of pains, that I am not able to give a more distinct account of this dreadful disorder. I kept one of those infected in a house adjoining to mine, in my way to the palace, for near two years; and, during that time, I tried every sort of regimen that I could devise. My friend, Dr Russel, physician at Aleppo, (now in the East Indies), to whose care and skill I was indebted for my life in a dangerous fever which I had in Syria, and whose friendship I must always consider as one of the greatest acquisitions I ever made in travelling, desired me, among other medical inquiries, to try the effect of the cicuta upon this disease; and a considerable quantity, made according to the direction of Dr Storke, physician in Vienna, was sent me from Paris, with instructions how to use it.
Having first explained the whole matter, both to the king, Ras Michael, and Azage Tecla Haimanout, chief justice of the king's bench in Abyssinia, and told them of the consequences of giving too great a dose, I obtained their joint permissions to go on without fear, and do what I thought requisite. It is my opinion, says the Azage, that no harm that may accidentally befal one miserable individual, now already cut off from society, should hinder the trial (the only one we ever shall have an opportunity of making) of a medicine which may save multitudes hereafter from a disease so much worse than death.
It was soon seen, by the constant administration of many ordinary doses, that nothing was to be expected from violent or dangerous ones; as not the smallest degree of amendment ever appeared, either outwardly or inwardly, to the sensation of the patient. Mercury had no better effect. Tar-water also was tried; and if there was any thing that produced any seeming advantage, it was whey made of cow's milk, of which he was excessively fond, and which the king ordered him to be furnished with at my desire, in any quantity he pleased, during the experiment.
The troubles of the times prevented further attention. Dr Storke's cicuta, in several instances, made a perfect cure of the hanzeers improperly opened, though, in several other cases, without any apparent cause, it totally miscarried. I scarce ever observed mercury succeed in any complaint.
It is not for me to attempt to explain what are the causes of these distempers. Those whose studies lead them to such investigations will do well to attach themselves, for first principles, to the difference of climate, and the abuses that obtain under them; after this, to particular circumstances in the necessaries of life, to which nature has subjected the people of these countries. Under the first, we may rank a season of six months rains, succceded, without interval, by a cloudless sky and vertical sun; and cold nights which as immediately follow these scorching days. The earth, notwithstanding the heat of these days, is yet perpetually cold, so as to feel disagreeably to the soles of the feet; partly owing to the six months rains, when no sun appears, and partly to the perpetual equality of nights and days; the thinness of the cloathing in the better sort, (a mullin shirt) while the others are naked, and sleep in this manner exposed, without covering in the cold nights, after the violent perspiration during the sultry day. These may be reckoned imprudences, while the constant use of stagnant putrid water for four months of the year, and the quantity of salt with which the soil of those countries is impregnated, may be circumstances less conducive to health; to which, however, they have been for ever subject by nature.
It will be very reasonably expected, that, after this unfavourable account of the climate, and the uncertainty of remedies for these frequent and terrible diseases, I should say something of the regimen proper to be observed there, in order to prevent what it seems so doubtful whether we can ever cure.
My first general advice to a traveller is this, to remember well what was the state of his constitution before he visited these countries, and what his complaints were, if he had any; for fear very frequently seizes us upon the first light of the many and sudden deaths we see upon our first arrival, and our spirits are so lowered by perpetual perspiration, and our nerves so relaxed, that we are apt to mistake the ordinary symptoms of a disease, familiar to us in our own country, for the approach of one of these terrible distempers that are to hurry us in a few hours into eternity. This has a bad effect in the very slightest disorders; so that it hath become proverbial—If you think you shall die, you shall die.
If a traveller finds, that he is as well after having been some time in this country as he was before entering it, his best way is to make no innovation in his regimen, further than in abating something in the quantity. But if he is of a tender constitution, he cannot act more wisely than to follow implicitly the regimen of sober, healthy people of the country, without arguing upon European notions, or substituting what we consider as succedaneums to what we see used on the spot. All spirits are to be avoided; even bark is better in water than in wine. The stomach, being relaxed by profuse perspiration, needs something to strengthen, but not inflame, and enable it to perform digestion. For this reason (instinct we should call it, if speaking of beasts) the natives of all eastern countries season every species of food, even the simplest, and mildest, rice, so much with spices, especially pepper, as absolutely to blister a European palate.
These powerful antiseptics Providence has planted in these countries for this use; and the natives have, from the earliest times, had recourse to them in proportion to the quantity that they can procure. And hence, in these dangerous climates, the natives are as healthy as we are in our northern ones. Travellers in Arabia are disgusted at this seemingly inflammatory food; and nothing is more common than to hear them say that they are afraid these quantities of spices will give them a fever. But did they ever feel themselves heated by ever so great a quantity of black pepper? Spirits they think, substituted to this, answer the same purpose. But does not the heat of your skin, the violent pain in your head, while the spirits are filtering through the vessels of your brains, shew the difference? and when did any ever feel a like sensation from black pepper, or any pepper ate to excess in every meal?
I lay down, then, as a positive rule of health, that the warmest dishes the natives delight in, are the most wholesome strangers can use in the putrid climates of the Lower Arabia, Abyssinia, Sennaar, and Egypt itself; and that spirits, and all fermented liquors, should be regarded as poisons, and, for fear of temptation, not so much as be carried along with you, unless as a menstruum for outward applications.
Spring, or running water, if you can find it, is to be your only drink. You cannot be too nice in procuring this article. But as, on both coasts of the Red Sea you scarcely find any but stagnant water, the way I practiced was always this, when I was at any place that allowed me time and opportunity—I took a quantity of fine sand, washed it from the salt quality with which it was impregnated, and spread it upon a sheet to dry; I then filled an oil-jar with water, and poured into it as much from a boiling kettle as would serve to kill all the animalcula and eggs that were in it. I then sifted my dried sand, as slowly as possible, upon the surface of the water in the jar, till the sand stood half a foot in the bottom of it; after letting it settle a night, we drew it off by a hole in the jar with a spigot in it, about an inch above the sand; then threw the remaining sand out upon the cloth, and dried and washed it again.
This process is sooner performed than described. The water is as limpid as the purest spring, and little inferior to the finest Spa. Drink largely of this without fear, according as your appetite requires. By violent perspiration the aqueous part of your blood is thrown off; and it is not spiritous liquor can restore this, whatever momentary strength it may give you from another cause. When hot, and almost fainting with weakness from continual perspiration, I have gone into a warm bath, and been immediately restored to strength, as upon first rising in the morning. Some perhaps will object, that this heat should have weakened and overpowered you; but the fact is otherwise; and the reason is, the quantity of water, taken up by your absorbing vessels, restored to your blood that finer fluid which was thrown off, and then the uneasiness occasioned by that want ceased, for it was the want of that we called uneasiness.
In Nubia never scruple to throw yourself into the coldest river or spring you can find, in whatever degree of heat you are. The reason of the difference in Europe is, that when by violence you have raised yourself to an extraordinary degree of heat, the cold water in which you plunge yourself checks your perspiration, and shuts your pores suddenly. The medium is itself too cold, and you do not use force sufficient to bring back the perspiration, which nought but action occasioned; whereas, in these warm countries, your perspiration is natural and constant, though no action be used, only from the temperature of the medium; therefore, though your pores are shut, the moment you plunge yourself in the cold water, the simple condition of the outward air again covers you with pearls of sweat the moment you emerge; and you begin the expence of the aqueous part of your blood afresh from the new stock that you have laid in by your immersion.
For this reason, if you are well, deluge yourself from head to foot, even in the house, where water is plenty, by directing a servant to throw buckets upon you at least once a-day when you are hottest; not from any imagination that the water braces you, as it is called, for your bracing will last you only a very few minutes; but these copious inundations will carry watery particles into your blood, though not equal to bathing in running streams, where the total immersion, the motion of the water, and the action of the limbs, all conspire to the benefit you are in quest of. As to cold water bracing in these climates, I am persuaded it is an idea not founded in truth. By observation it has appeared often to me, that, when heated by violent exercise, I have been much more relieved, and my strength more completely restored by the use of a tepid bath, than by an equal time passed in a cold one.Do not fatigue yourself if possible. Exercise is not either so necessary or salutary here as in Europe. Use fruits sparingly, especially if too ripe. The musa, or banana, in Arabia Felix, are always rotten-ripe when they are brought to you. Avoid all sort of fruit exposed for sale in the markets, as it has probably been gathered in the sun, and carried miles in it, and all its juices are in a state of fermentation. Lay it first upon a table covered with a coarse cloth, and throw frequently a quantity of water upon it; and, if you have an opportunity, gather it in the dew of the morning before dawn of day, for that is far better.
Rice and pillaw are the best food; fowls are very bad, eggs are worse; greens are not wholesome. In Arabia the mutton is good, and, when roasted, may be eaten warm with safety; perhaps better if cold. All soups or broths are to be avoided; all game is bad.
I have known many very scrupulous about eating suppers, but, I am persuaded, without reason. The great perspiration which relaxes the stomach so much through the day has now ceased, and the breathing of cooler air has given to its operations a much stronger tone. I always made it my most liberal meal, if I ate meat at all. While at Jidda, my supper was a piece of cold, roasted mutton, and a large glass of water, with my good friend Captain Thornhill, during the dog-days.
After this, the excessive heat of the day being past, covering our heads from the night-air, always blowing at that time from the east and charged with watery particles from the Indian Ocean, we had a luxurious walk of two or three hours, as free from the heat as from the noise and impertinence of the day, upon a terrassed roof, under a cloudless sky, where the smalleft star is visible. These evening walks have been looked upon as one of the principal pleasures of the east, even though not accompanied with the luxuries of astronomy and meditation. They have been adhered to from early times to the present, and we may therefore be assured they were always wholesome; they have often been misapplied and mispent in love.
It is a custom that, from the first ages, has prevailed in the east, to shriek and lament upon the death of a friend or relation, and cut their faces upon the temple with their nails, about the breadth of a sixpence, one of which is left long for that purpose. It was always practised by the Jews, and thence adopted by the Abyssinians, though expressly forbidden both by the law and by the prophets[1]. At Masuah, it seems to be particular to dance upon that occasion. The women, friends, and visitors place themselves in a ring; then dance slowly, figuring in and out as in a country-dance. This dance is all to the voice, no instrument being used upon the occasion; only the drum (the butter-jar before mentioned) is beat adroitly enough, and seems at once necessary to keep the dance and song in order. In Abyssinia, too, this is pursued in a manner more ridiculous. Upon the death of an ozoro, or any nobleman, the twelve judges, (who are generally between 60 and 70 years of age) sing the song, and dance the figure-dance, in a manner so truly ridiculous, that grief must have taken fast hold of every spectator who does not laugh upon the occasion. There needs no other proof the deceased was a friend.
Mahomet Gibberti married at Arkeeko. For fifteen days afterward, the husband there is invisible to everybody but the female friends of his wife, who in that sultry country do every thing they can, by hot and spiced drinks, to throw the man, stewed in a close room, into a fever. I do believe that Mahomet Gibberti, in the course of these fifteen days, was at least two stone lighter. It puts me much in mind of some of our countrymen sweating themselves for a horserace with a load of flannel on. I conceive that Mahomet Gibberti, had it not been for the spice, would have made a bad figure in the match he was engaged in. One of these nights of his being sequestered, when, had I not providentially engaged Achmer, his uncle the Naybe would have cut our throats. I heard two girls, professors hired for such occasions, sing alternately verse for verse in reply to each other, in the most agreeable and melodious manner I ever heard in my life. This gave me great hopes that, in Abyssinia, I should find music in a state of perfection little expected in Europe. Upon inquiry into particulars I was miserably disappointed, by being told these musicians were all strangers from Azab, the myrrh country, where all the people were natural musicians, and sung in a better stile than that I had heard; but that nothing of this kind was known in Abyssinia, a mountainous, barbarous country, without instrument, and without song; and that it was the same here in Atbara; a miserable truth, which I afterwards completely verified. These singers were Cushites, not Shepherds.
I, however, made myself master of two or three of these alternate songs upon the guitar, the wretched instrument of that country; and was surprised to find the words in a language equally strange to Masuah and Abyssinia. I had frequent interviews with these musicians in the evening; they were perfectly black and woolly-headed. Being slaves, they spoke both Arabic and Tigrè, but could sing in neither; and, from every possible inquiry, I found every thing, allied to counterpoint, was unknown among them. I have sometimes endeavoured to recover fragments of these songs, which I once perfectly knew from memory only, but unfortunately I committed none of them to writing. Sorrow and various misfortunes, that every day marked my stay in the barbarous country to which I was then going, and the necessary part I, much against my will, was for self-preservation forced to take in the ruder occupations of those times, have, to my very great regret, obliterated long ago the whole from my memory.
It is a general custom in Masuah for people to burn myrrh and incense in their houses before they open the doors in the morning; and when they go out at night, or early in the day, they have always a small piece of rag highly fumigated with these two perfumes, which they stuff into each nostril to keep them from the unwholesome air.
The houses in Masuah are, in general, built of poles and bent grass, as in the towns of Arabia; but, besides these, there are about twenty of stone, six or eight of which are two storeys each; though the second seldom consists of more than one room, and that one generally not a large one. The stones are drawn out of the sea as at Dahalac; and in these we see the beds of that curious mussel, or shell-fish, found to be contained in the solid rock at Mahon, called Dattoli da mare, or sea-dates, the fish of which I never saw in the Red Sea; though there is no doubt but they are to be found in the rocky islands about Masuah, if they break the rocks for them.
Although Masuah is situated in the very entrance of Abyssinia, a very plentiful country, yet all the necessaries of life are scarce and dear. Their quality, too, is very indifferent. This is owing to the difficulty, expence, and danger of carrying the several articles through the desert flat country, called Samhar, which lies between Arkeeko and the mountains of Abyssinia; as well as to the extortions exercised by the Naybe, who takes, under the name of customs, whatever part he pleases of the goods and provisions brought to that island; by which means the profit of the seller is so small, as not to be worth the pains and risk of bringing it: 20 rotol of butter cost a pataka and a half, 3½ harf; or, in one term, 45½ harf. A goat is half of a pataka; a sheep, two-thirds of a pataka; the ardep of wheat, 4 patakas; Dora, from Arabia, 2 patakas.
- Venit, vilissima rerum,
Hic aqua.Horat. lib. 1. Sat. 6. v. 88.
Water is sold for three diwanis, or paras, the 7 gallons. The same sort of money is in use at Masuah, and the opposite coast of Arabia; and it is indeed owing to the commercial intercourse with that coast that any coin is current in this or the western side. It is all valued by the Venetian sequin. But glass beads, called Contaria, of all kinds and colours, perfect and broken, pass for small money, and are called, in their language, Borjooke.
Table of the relative value of Money.
Venetian Sequin, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
2¼ Pataka. |
Pataka or Imperial Dollar, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
28 Harf. |
1 Harf, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
4 Diwani. |
10 Kibeer, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
1 Diwani, |
1 Kibeer, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
3 Borjooke, or Grains. |
The Harf is likewise called Dahab, a word very equivocal, as it means, in Arabic, gold, and frequently a sequin. The Harf is 120 grains of beads.
The zermabub, or sequin of Constantinople, is not current here. Those that have them, can only dispose of them to the women, who hang them about their temples, to their necklaces, and round the necks of their children. The fraction of the pataka is the half and quarter, which pass here likewise.There is a considerable deal of trade carried on at Masuah, notwithstanding these inconveniencies, narrow and confined as the island is, and violent and unjust as is the government. But it is all done in a slovenly manner, and for articles where a small capital is inverted. Property here is too precarious to risk a venture in valuable commodities, where the hand of power enters into every transaction.
The goods imported from the Arabian side are blue cotton, Surat cloths, and cochineal ditto, called Kermis, fine cloth from different markets in India; coarse white cotton cloths from Yemen; cotton unspun from ditto in bales; Venetian beads, chrystal, drinking, and looking-glasses; and cohol, or crude antimony. These three last articles come in great quantities from Cairo, first in the coffee ships to Jidda, and then in small barks over to this port. Old copper too is an article on which much is gained, and great quantity is imported.
The Galla, and all the various tribes to the westward of Gondar, wear bracelets of this copper; and they say at times, that, near the country of Gongas and Guba, it has been sold, weight for weight, with gold. There is a shell likewise here, a univalve of the species of volutes, which sells at a cuba for 10 paras. It is brought from near Hodeida, though it is sometimes found at Konfodah and Loheia. There are a few also at Dahalac, but not esteemed: these pass for money among the Djawi and other western Galla.
The cuba is a wooden measure, containing, very exactly, 62 cubic inches of rain water. The drachm is called Caila; there is 10 drachms in their wakea.
Gold, 16 patakas per wakea.
Civet, 1¾ pataka the wakea.
Elephants teeth, 18 patakas for 35 rotol.
Wax, 4 patakas the faranzala.
Myrrh, 3 patakas per ditto.
Coffee, 1 pataka the 6 rotol.
Honey, ¼ of a pataka the cuba,
The Banians were once the principal merchants of Masuah; but the number is now reduced to six. They are silver-smiths, that make ear-rings and other ornaments for the women in the continent, and are assayers of gold; they make, however, but a poor livelihood.
As there is no water in Masuah, the number of animals belonging to it can be but small. The sea fowl have nothing singular in them, and are the grey and the white gull, and the small bird, called the sea-lark, or pickerel. The sky-lark is here, but is mute the whole year, till the first rains fall in November; he then mounts very high, and sings in the very heat of the day. I saw him in the Tehama, but he did not sing there; probably for the reason given above, as there was no rain.
There are no sparrows to be seen here, or on the opposite shore, nor in the islands. Although there were scorpions in abundance at Loheia, we found none of them at Masuah. Water and greens, especially of the melon and cucumber kind, seem to be necessary to this poisonous insect. Indeed it was only after rains we saw them in Loheia, and then the young ones appeared in swarms; this was in the end of August. They are of a dull green colour, bordering upon yellow. As far as I could observe, no person apprehended any thing from their sting beyond a few minutes pain.We left Masuah the 10th of November, with the soldiers and boats belonging to Achmet. We had likewise three servants from Abyssinia, and no longer apprehended the Naybe, who seemed, on his part, to think no more of us.
In the bay between Masuah and Arkeeko are two islands, Toulahout and Shekh Seide; the first on the west, the other on the south. They are both uninhabited, and without water. Shekh Seide has a marabout, or saint's tomb, on the west end. It is not half a mile in length, when not overflowed, but has two large points of land which run far out to the east and to the west. Its west point runs so near to Toulahout, as, at low-water, scarce to leave a channel for the breadth of a boat to pass between.
There is a chart, or map of the island of Masuah, handed about with other bad maps and charts of the Red Sea, (of which I have already spoken) among our English captains from India. It seems to be of as old date as the first landing of the Portuguese under Don Roderigo de Lima, in the time of David III. but it is very inaccurate, or rather erroneous, throughout. The map of the island, harbour, and bay, with the soundings, which I here have given, may be depended upon, as being done on the spot with the greatest attention.
Achmet, though much better, was, however, not well. His fever had left him, but he had some symptoms of its being followed by a dysentery. In the two days I rested at his house, I had endeavoured to remove these complaints, and had succeeded in part; for which he testified the utmost gratitude, as he was wonderfully afraid to die.
The Naybe had visited him several times every day; but as I was desirous to see Achmet well before I left Arkeeko, I kept out of the way on these occasions, being resolved, the first interview, to press for an immediate departure.
On the 13th, at four o'clock in the afternoon, I waited upon the Naybe at his own house. He received me with more civility than usual, or rather, I should have said, with less brutality; for a grain of any thing like civility had never yet appeared in his behaviour. He had just received news, that a servant of his, sent to collect money at Hamazen, had run off with it. As I saw he was busy, I took my leave of him, only asking his commands for Habesh; to which he answered, "We have time enough to think of that, do you come here to morrow."
On the 14th, in the morning, I waited upon him according to appointment, having first struck my tent and got all my baggage in readiness. He received me as before, then told me with a grave air, "that he was willing to further my journey into Habesh to the utmost of his power, provided I shewed him that consideration which was due to him from all passengers; that as, by my tent, baggage, and arms, he saw I was a man above the common sort, which the grand signior's firman, and all my letters testified, less than 1000 patakas offered by me would be putting a great affront upon him; however, in consideration of the governor of Tigrè, to whom I was going, he would consent to receive 300, upon my swearing not to divulge this, for fear of the shame that would fall upon him abroad.
To this I answered in the same grave tone, "That I thought him very wrong to take 300 patakas with shame, when receiving a thousand would be more honourable as well as more profitable; therefore he had nothing to do but put that into his account-book with the governor of Tigrè, and settle his honour and his interest together. As for myself, I was sent for by Metical Aga, on account of the king, and was proceeding accordingly, and if he opposed my going forward to Metical Aga, I should return; but then again I should expect ten thousand patakas from Metical Aga, for the trouble and loss of time I had been at, which he and the Ras would no doubt settle with him." The Naybe said nothing in reply, but only muttered, closing his teeth, sheitan afrit, that devil or tormenting spirit.
"Look you, (says one of the king's servants, whom I had not heard speak before) I was ordered to bring this man to my master; I heard no talk of patakas; the army is ready to march against Waragna Fasil, I must not lose my time here." Then taking his short red cloak under his arm, and giving it a shake to make the dust fly from it, he put it upon his shoulders, and, stretching out his hand very familiarly, said, "Naybe, within this hour I am for Habesh, my companion will stay here with the man; give me my dues for coming here, and I shall carry any answer either of you has to send." The Naybe looked much disconcerted. "Besides, said I, you owe me 300 patakas for saving the life of your nephew Achmet."—"Is not his life worth 300 patakas?" He looked very silly, and said, "Achmet's life is worth all Masuah." There was no more talk of patakas after this. He ordered the king's servant not to go that day, but come to him to-morrow to receive his letters, and he would expedite us for Habesh.
Those friends that I had made at Arkeeko and Masuah, seeing the Naybe's obstinacy against our departure, and, knowing the cruelty of his nature, advised me to abandon all thoughts of Abyssinia; for that, in passing through Samhar, among the many barbarous people whom he commanded, difficulties would multiply upon us daily, and, either by accident, or order of the Naybe, we should surely be cut off.
I was too well convinced of the embarrassment that lay behind me if left alone with the Naybe, and too determined upon my journey to hesitate upon going forward. I even flattered myself, that his stock of stratagems to prevent our going, was by this time exhausted, and that the morrow would see us in the open fields, free from further tyranny and controul. In this conjecture I was warranted by the visible impression the declaration of the king's servant made upon him.
On the 15th, early in the morning, I struck my tent again, and had my baggage prepared, to shew we were determined to stay no longer. At eight o'clock, I went to the Naybe, and found him almost alone, when he received me in a manner that, for him, might have passed for civil. He began with a considerable degree of eloquence, or fluency of speech, a long enumeration of the difficulties of our journey, the rivers, precipices, mountains, and woods we were to pass; the number of wild beasts every where to be found; as also the wild savage people that inhabited those places; the most of which, he said, were luckily under his command, and he would recommend to them to do us all manner of good offices. He commanded two of his secretaries to write the proper letters, and, in the mean time, ordered us coffee; conversing naturally enough about the king and Ras Michael, their campaign against Fasil, and the great improbability there was, they should be successful.At this time came in a servant covered with dust and seemingly fatigued, as having arrived in haste from afar. The Naybe, with a considerable deal of uneasiness and confusion, opened the letters, which were said to bring intelligence, that the Hazorta, Shiho, and Tora, the three nations who possessed that part of Samhar through which our road led to Dobarwa, the common passage from Masuah to Tigrè, had revolted, driven away his servants, and declared themselves independent. He then, (as if all was over) ordered his secretaries to stop writing; and, lifting up his eyes, began, with great seeming devotion, to thank God we were not already on our journey; for, innocent as he was, when we should have been cut off, the fault would have been imputed to him.
Angry as I was at so barefaced a farce, I could not help bursting out into a violent fit of loud laughter, when he put on the severest countenance, and desired to know the reason of my laughing at such a time. It is now two months, answered I, since you have been throwing various objections in my way; can you wonder that I do not give into so gross an imposition? This same morning, before I struck my tent, in presence of your nephew Achmet, I spoke with two Shiho just arrived from Samhar, who brought letters to Achmet, which said all was in peace. Have you earlier intelligence than that of this morning?
He was for some time without speaking; then said, "If you are weary of living, you are welcome to go; but I will do my duty in warning those that are along with you of their and your danger, that, when the mischief happens, it may not be imputed to me." "No number of naked Shiho," said I, "unless instructed by you, can ever be found on our road, that will venture to attack us. The Shiho have no fire arms; but if you have sent on purpose some of your soldiers that have fire arms, these will discover by what authority they come. For our part, we cannot fly; we neither know the country, the language, nor the watering-places, and we shall not attempt it. We have plenty of different sorts of fire-arms, and your servants have often seen at Masuah we are not ignorant in the use of them. We, it is true, may lose our lives, that is in the hand of the Almighty; but we shall not fail to leave enough on the spot, to give sufficient indication to the king and Ras Michael, who it was that were our assassins, Janni of Adowa will explain the rest."
I then rose very abruptly to go away. It is impossible to give one, not conversant with these people, any conception what perfect masters the most clownish and beastly among them are of dissimulation. The countenance of the Naybe now changed in a moment. In his turn he burst out into a loud fit of laughter, which surprised me full as much as mine, some time before, had done him. Every feature of his treacherous countenance was altered and softened into complacency; and he, for the first time, bore the appearance of a man.
"What I mentioned about the Shiho, he then said, was but to try you; all is peace. I only wanted to keep you here, if possible, to cure my nephew Achmet, and his uncle Emir Mahomet; but since you are resolved to go, be not afraid; the roads are safe enough. I will give you a person to conduct you, that will carry you in safety, even if there was danger; only go and prepare such remedies as may be proper for the Emir, and leave them with my nephew Achmet, while I finish my letters." This I willingly consented to do, and at my return I found every thing ready.
Our guide was a handsome young man, to whom, though a Christian, the Naybe had married his sister; his name was Saloomé. The common price paid for such a conductor is three pieces of blue Surat cotton cloth. The Naybe, however, obliged us to promise thirteen to his brother-in-law, with which, to get rid of him with some degree of good grace, we willingly complied.
Before our setting out I told this to Achmet, who said, that the man was not a bad one naturally, but that his uncle the Naybe made all men as wicked as himself. He furnished me with a man to shew me where I should pitch my tent; and told me he should now take my final deliverance upon himself, for we were yet far, according to the Naybe's intentions, from beginning our journey to Gondar.Arkeeko consists of about 400 houses, a few of which are built of clay, the rest of coarse grass like reeds. The Naybe's house is of these last-named materials, and not distinguished from any others in the town; it stands upon the S.W. side of a large bay. There is water enough for large ships close to Arkeeko, but the bay being open to the N.E. makes it uneasy riding in blowing weather. Besides, you are upon a lee-shore; the bottom is composed of soft land. In standing in upon Arkeeko from the sea through the canal between Shekh Seide and the main land, it is necessary to range the coast about a third nearer the main than the island. The point, or Shekh Seide, stretches far out, and has shallow water upon it.
The Cape that forms the south-west side of the large bay is called Ras Gedem, being the rocky base of a high mountain of that name, seen a considerable distance from sea, and distinguished by its form, which is that of a hog's back.
- ↑ Levit. chap. xix. ver. 28. Jerem. chap. xvi. ver. 6.