Project Gutenberg surfs with a modem donated by Supra.

S >> sinia >> Project Gutenberg surfs with a modem donated by Supra.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34

Florian had hunted for some distance along the Settite river with
his companions, and had killed fifty-three hippopotami during the
last season. I therefore agreed that he should accompany me until
I should have sufficiently explored that river, after which I
proposed to examine the rivers Salaam and Angrab, of which great
tributaries of the Atbara nothing definite was known, except that
they joined that river about fifty miles south of Sofi.

Florian described the country as very healthy during the dry
season, but extremely dangerous during the rains, especially in
the month of October, when, on the cessation of rain, the sun
evaporated the moisture from the sodden ground and rank
vegetation. I accordingly determined to arrange our winter
quarters as comfortably as possible at Sofi for three months,
during which holiday I should have ample time for gaining
information and completing my arrangements for the future.
Violent storms were now of daily occurrence; they had first
commenced at about 2 P.M., but they had gradually altered the
hour of their arrival to between 3 and 4. This night, 29th July,
we were visited at about 11 P.M. with the most tremendous tempest
that we had yet experienced, which lasted until the morning.
Fortunately the tent was well secured with four powerful
storm-ropes fastened from the top of the pole, and pinned about
twenty-five yards from the base to iron bars driven deep into the
hard ground; but the night was passed in the discomforts of a
deluge that, driven by the hurricane, swept through the tent,
which threatened every minute to desert us in shreds. On the
following morning the storm had passed away, and the small tent
had done likewise, having been blown down and carried many yards
from the spot where it had been pitched. Mahomet, who was the
occupant, had found himself suddenly enveloped in wet canvas,
from which he had emerged like a frog in the storm. There was no
time to be lost in completing my permanent camp; I therefore sent
for the sheik of the village, and proceeded to purchase a house.
I accompanied him through the narrow lanes of Sofi, and was
quickly shown a remarkably neat house, which I succeeded in
purchasing from the owner for the sum of ten piastres (two
shillings). This did not seem an extravagant outlay for a neat
dwelling with a sound roof; neither were there any legal expenses
in the form of conveyance, as in that happy and practical land
the simple form of conveyance is the transportation of the house
(the roof) upon the shoulders of about thirty men, and thus it is
conveyed to any spot that the purchaser may consider desirable.
Accordingly, our mansion was at once seized by a crowd of Arabs,
and carried off in triumph, while the sticks that formed the wall
were quickly arranged upon the site I had chosen for our camp. In
the short space of about three hours I found myself the
proprietor of an eligible freehold residence, situated upon an
eminence in park-like grounds, commanding extensive and romantic
views of the beautifully-wooded valley of the Atbara, within a
minute's walk of the neighbouring village of Sofi, perfect
immunity from all poor-rates, tithes, taxes, and other public
burthens, not more than 2,000 miles from a church, with the
advantage of a post-town at the easy distance of seventy leagues.
The manor comprised the right of shooting throughout the parishes
of Ahyssinia and Soudan, plentifully stocked with elephants,
lions, rhinoceroses, giraffes, buffaloes, hippopotami, leopards,
and a great variety of antelopes; while the right of fishing
extended throughout the Atbara and neighbouring rivers, that were
well stocked with fish ranging from five to a hundred and fifty
pounds; also with turtles and crocodiles.

The mansion comprised entrance-hall, dining-room, drawing-roomn,
lady's boudoir, library, breakfast-room, bed-room and
dressing-room (with the great advantage of their combination in
one circular room fourteen feet in diameter). The architecture
was of an ancient style, from the original design of a pill-box
surmounted by a candle extinguisher.

Thus might my estate have been described by an English estate
agent and auctioneer, with a better foundation of fact than many
newspaper advertisements.

I purchased two additional huts, one of which was erected at the
back (if a circle has a back) of our mansion, as the kitchen,
while the other at a greater distance formed the "servants'
hall." We all worked hard for several days in beautifying our
house and grounds. In the lovely short grass that resembled green
velvet, we cut walks to the edge of a declivity, and surrounded
the house with a path of snow-white sand, resembling coarsely
pounded sugar; this we obtained from some decomposed sandstone
rock which crumbled upon the slightest pressure. We collected
curiously-shaped blocks of rock, and masses of fossil wood that
were imbedded in the sandstone; these we formed into borders for
our walks, and opposite to our front door (there was no back
door) we arranged a half-circle or "carriage-drive," of white
sand, to the extreme edge of the declivity, which we bordered
with large rocks; one of which I believe may remain to this day,
as I carried it to the spot to form a seat, and my vanity was
touched by the fact that it required two Arabs to raise it from
the ground. I made a rustic table of split bamboos, and two
garden seats opposite the entrance of the house, and we collected
a number of wild plants and bulbs which we planted in little
beds; we also sowed the seeds of different gourds that were to
climb up on our roof.

In the course of a week we had formed as pretty a camp as
Robinson Crusoe himself could have coveted; but he, poor
unfortunate, had only his man Friday to assist him, while in our
arrangements there were many charms and indescribable little
comforts that could only be effected by a lady's hand. Not only
were our walks covered with snow-white sand and the borders
ornamented with beautiful agates that we had collected in the
neighbourhood, but the interior of our house was the perfection
of neatness: the floor was covered with white sand beaten firmly
together to the depth of about six inches; the surface was swept
and replaced with fresh material daily; the travelling bedsteads,
with their bright green mosquito curtains, stood by either side,
affording a clear space in the centre of the circle, while
exactly opposite the door stood the gun-rack, with as goodly an
array of weapons as the heart of a sportsman could desire:--

My little Fletcher double rifle, No. 24.

One double rifle, No. 10, by Tatham.

Two double rifles, No. 10, by Reilly.

One double rifle, No. 10, by Beattie (one of my old Ceylon
tools).

One double gun, No. 10, by Beattie.

One double gun, No. 10, by Purdey, belonging to Mr. Oswell, of
South African celebrity.

One single rifle, No. 8, by Manton.

One single rifle, No. 14, by Beattie.

One single rifle that carried a half-pouud explosive shell, by
Holland of Bond Street; this was nicknamed by the Arabs "Jenna el
Mootfah" (child of a cannon), and for the sake of brevity I
called it the "Baby."

My revolver and a brace of double-barrelled pistols hung upon the
wall, which, although the exterior of the house was straw, we had
lined with the bright coloured canvas of the tent. Suspended by
loops were little ornamental baskets worked by the Arabs, that
contained a host of useful articles, such as needles, thread, &c.
&c., and the remaining surface was hung with hunting knives,
fishing lines, and a variety of instruments belonging to the
chase. A travelling table, with maps and a few books, stood
against the wall, and one more article completed our
furniture,--an exceedingly neat toilet table, the base of which
was a flat-topped portmanteau, concealed by a cunning device of
chintz and muslin; this, covered with the usual arrangement of
brushes, mirror, scent-bottles, &c. threw an air of civilization
over the establishment, which was increased by the presence of an
immense sponging-bath, that, being flat and circular, could be
fitted underneath a bed. In the draught of air next the door
stood our filter in a wooden frame, beneath which was a porous
jar that received and cooled the clear water as it fell.

Our camp was a perfect model; we had a view of about five miles
in extent along the valley of the Atbara, and it was my daily
amusement to scan with my telescope the uninhabited country upon
the opposite side of the river, and watch the wild animals as
they grazed in perfect security. I regret that at that time I did
not smoke; in the cool of the evening we used to sit by the
bamboo table outside the door of our house, and drink our coffee
in perfect contentment amidst the beautiful scene of a tropical
sunset and the deep shadows in the valley; but a pipe! --the long
"chibbook" of the Turk would have made our home a Paradise!
Nevertheless we were thoroughly happy at Sofi;--there was a
delightful calm, and a sense of rest; a total estrangement from
the cares of the world, and an enchanting contrast in the soft
green verdure of the landscape before us to the many hundred
weary miles of burning desert through which we had toiled from
Lower Egypt. In those barren tracts, the eye had become so
accustomed to sterility and yellow sand, that it had appeared
impossible to change the scene, and Africa afforded no prospect
beyond the blank hitherto shown upon the chart of the interior;
we were now in a land of rich pastures, and apparently in another
world, after the toil of a hard life;--it was the haven of a
pilgrim, rest!

While we were enjoying a few months' repose, the elements were
hard at work. Every day, without exception, and generally for
several hours of the night, the lightning flashed and thunder
roared with little intermission, while the rain poured in such
torrents that the entire country became perfectly impassable,
with the exception of the hard ground of the Atbara valley. The
rich loam of the table land had risen like leavened dough, and
was knee-deep in adhesive mud; the grass upon this surface grew
with such rapidity that in a few weeks it reached a height of
nine or ten feet. The mud rushed in torrents down the countless
watercourses, which were now in their greatest activity in
hurrying away the fertile soil of Egypt; and the glorious Atbara
was at its maximum.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT.

TIME glided away smoothly at our camp amidst the storms of the
rainy season. The Arabs had nothing to do, and suffered much from
the absence of their herds, as there was a great scarcity of
milk. The only animals that had not been sent to the north were
a few goats; these were so teased by the flies that they produced
but a small supply. Fever had appeared at the same time with the
flies, and every one was suffering more or less, especially
Florian, who was seriously ill. I was in full practice as
physician, and we congratulated ourselves upon the healthiness of
our little isolated camp, when suddenly my wife was prostrated by
a severe attack of gastric fever, which for nine days rendered
her recovery almost hopeless. At length the fever gave way to
careful attendance, and my Arab patients and Florian were also in
a fair way towards recovery. The plagues of Egypt were upon us;
the common house-flies were in billions, in addition to the
cattle-tormentor. Our donkeys would not graze, but stood day and
night in the dense smoke of fires, made of sticks and green
grass, for protection.

The plague of boils broke out, and every one was attacked more or
less severely. Then came a plague of which Moses must have been
ignorant, or he would surely have inflicted it upon Pharaoh. This
was a species of itch, which affected all ages and both sexes
equally; it attacked all parts of the body, but principally the
extremities. The irritation was beyond description; small
vesicles rose above the skin, containing a watery fluid, which,
upon bursting, appeared to spread the disease. The Arabs had no
control over this malady, which they called "coorash," and the
whole country was scratching. The popular belief attributed the
disease to the water of the Atbara at this particular season:
although a horrible plague, I do not believe it to have any
connexion with the well-known itch or "scabies" of Europe.

I adopted a remedy that I had found a specific for mange in dogs,
and this treatment became equally successful in cases of coorash.
Gunpowder, with the addition of one-fourth of sulphur, made into
a soft paste with water, and then formed into an ointment with
fat: this should be rubbed over the whole body. The effect upon
a black man is that of a well-cleaned boot--upon a white man it
is still more striking; but it quickly cures the malady. I went
into half mourning by this process, and I should have adopted
deep mourning had it been necessary; I was only attacked from the
feet to a little above the knees. Florian was in a dreadful
state, and the vigorous and peculiar action of his arms at once
explained the origin of the term "Scotch fiddle," the musical
instrument commonly attributed to the north of Great Britain.

The Arabs are wretchedly ignorant of the healing art, and they
suffer accordingly. At least fifty per cent. of the population in
Sofi had a permanent enlargement of the spleen, which could be
felt with a slight pressure of the hand, frequently as large as
an orange; this was called "Jenna el Wirde" (child of the fever),
and was the result of constant attacks of fever in successive
rainy seasons.

Faith is the drug that is supposed to cure the Arab; whatever his
complaint may be, he applies to his Faky or priest. This minister
is not troubled with a confusion of book-learning, neither are
the shelves of his library bending beneath weighty treatises upon
the various maladies of human nature; but he possesses the key to
all learning, the talisman that will apply to all cases, in that
one holy book the Koran. This is his complete pharmacopoeia: his
medicine chest, combining purgatives, blisters, sudorifics,
styptics, narcotics, emetics, and all that the most profound M.D.
could prescribe. With this "multum in parvo" stock-in-trade the
Faky receives his patients. No. 1 arrives, a barren woman who
requests some medicine that will promote the blessing of
childbirth. No. 2, a man who was strong in his youth, but from
excessive dissipation has become useless. No. 3, a man deformed
from his birth, who wishes to become straight as other men. No.
4, a blind child. No. 5, a dying old woman, carried on a litter;
and sundry other impossible cases, with others of a more simple
character.

The Faky produces his book, the holy Koran, and with a pen formed
of a reed he proceeds to write a prescription; not to be made up
by an apothecary, as such dangerous people do not exist, but the
prescription itself is to be SWALLOWED! Upon a smooth board, like
a slate, he rubs sufficient lime to produce a perfectly white
surface; upon this he writes in large characters, with thick
glutinous ink, a verse or verses from the Koran that he considers
applicable to the case; this completed, he washes off the holy
quotation, and converts it into a potation by the addition of a
little water; this is swallowed in perfect faith by the patient,
who in return pays a fee according to the demand of the Faky. Of
course it cannot be supposed that this effects a cure, or that it
is in any way superior to the prescriptions of a thorough-bred
English doctor; the only advantage possessed by the system is
complete innocence, in which it may perhaps claim superiority. If
no good result is attained by the first holy dose, the patient
returns with undiminished confidence, and the prescription is
repeated as "the draught as before," well known to the
physic-drinkers of England, and in like manner attended with the
bill. The fakeers make a considerable amount by this simple
practice, and they add to their small earnings by the sale of
verses of the Koran as talismans.

As few people can read or write, there is an air of mystery in
the art of writing which much enhances the value of a scrap of
paper upon which is written a verse from the Koran. A few
piastres are willingly expended in the purchase of such
talismans, which are carefully and very neatly sewn into small
envelopes of leather, and are worn by all people, being handed
down from father to son.

The Arabs are especially fond of relics; thus, upon the return
from a pilgrimage to Mecca, the "hadji," or pilgrim, is certain
to have purchased from some religious Faky of the sacred shrine
either a few square inches of cloth, or some such trifle, that
belonged to the prophet Mahomet. This is exhibited to his friends
and strangers as a wonderful spell against some particular
malady, and it is handed about and received with extreme
reverence by the assembled crowd. I once formed one of a circle
when a pilgrim returned to his native village: we sat in a
considerable number upon the ground, while he drew from his bosom
a leather envelope, suspended from his neck, from which he
produced a piece of extremely greasy woollen cloth, about three
inches square, the original colour of which it would have been
impossible to guess. This was a piece of Mahomet's garment, but
what portion he could not say. The pilgrim had paid largely for
this blessed relic, and it was passed round our circle from hand
to hand, after having first been kissed by the proprietor, who
raised it to the crown of his head, which he touched with the
cloth, and then wiped both his eyes. Each person who received it
went through a similar performance, and as ophthalmia and other
diseases of the eyes were extremely prevalent, several of the
party had eyes that had not the brightness of the gazelle's;
nevertheless, these were supposed to become brighter after having
been wiped by the holy cloth. How many eyes this same piece of
cloth had wiped it would be impossible to say, but such facts are
sufficient to prove the danger of holy relics, that are
inoculators of all manner of contagious diseases.

I believe in holy shrines as the pest spots of the world. We
generally have experienced in Western Europe that all violent
epidemics arrive from the East. The great breadth of the Atlantic
boundary would naturally protect us from the West, but infectious
disorders, such as plague, cholera, small-pox, &c. may be
generally tracked throughout their gradations from their original
nests; those nests are in the East, where the heat of the climate
acting upon the filth of semi-savage communities engenders
pestilence.

The holy places of both Christians and Mahometans are the
receptacles for the masses of people of all nations and classes
who have arrived from all points of the compass; the greater
number of such people are of poor estate; many, who have toiled
on foot from immense distances, suffering from hunger and
fatigue, and bringing with them not only the diseases of their
own remote countries, but arriving in that weak state that courts
the attack of any epidemic. Thus crowded together, with a
scarcity of provisions, a want of water, and no possibility of
cleanliness, with clothes that have been unwashed for weeks or
months, in a camp of dirty pilgrims, without any attempt at
drainage, an accumulation of filth takes place that generates
either cholera or typhus; the latter, in its most malignant form,
appears as the dreaded "plague." Should such an epidemic attack
the mass of pilgrims debilitated by the want of nourishing food,
and exhausted by their fatiguing march, it runs riot like a fire
among combustibles, and the loss of life is terrific. The
survivors radiate from this common centre, upon their return to
their respective homes, to which they carry the seeds of the
pestilence to germinate upon new soils in different countries.
Doubtless the clothes of the dead furnish materials for
innumerable holy relics as vestiges of the wardrobe of the
Prophet; these are disseminated by the pilgrims throughout all
countries, pregnant with disease; and, being brought into
personal contact with hosts of true believers, Pandora's box
could not be more fatal.

Not only are relics upon a pocket scale conveyed by pilgrims, and
reverenced by the Arabs, but the body of any Faky, who in
lifetime was considered extra holy, is brought from a great
distance to be interred in some particular spot. In countries
where a tree is a rarity, a plank for a coffin is unknown; thus
the reverend Faky, who may have died of typhus, is wrapped in
cloths and packed in a mat. In this form he is transported,
perhaps, some hundred miles, slung upon a camel, with the
thermometer above 130 degrees Fahr. in the sun, and he is
conveyed to the village that is so fortunate as to be honoured
with his remains. It may be readily imagined that with a
favourable wind, the inhabitants are warned of his approach some
time before his arrival. Happily, long before we arrived at Sofi,
the village had been blessed by the death of a celebrated Faky,
a holy man who would have been described as a second Isaiah were
the annals of the country duly chronicled. This great "man of
God," as he was termed, had departed this life at a village on
the borders of the Nile, about eight days' hard camel-journey
from Sofi; but from some assumed right, mingled no doubt with
jobbery, the inhabitants of Sofi had laid claim to his body, and
he had arrived upon a camel horizontally, and had been buried
about fifty yards from our present camp. His grave was beneath a
clump of mimosas that shaded the spot, and formed the most
prominent object in the foreground of our landscape. Thither
every Friday the women of the village congregated, with offerings
of a few handfuls of dhurra in small gourd-shells, which they
laid upon the grave, while they ATE THE HOLY EARTH in small
pinches, which they scraped like rabbits, from a hole they had
burrowed towards the venerated corpse; this hole was about two
feet deep from continual scratching, and must have been very near
the Faky.

Although bamboos did not grow in Sofi, great numbers were brought
down by the river during the rains; these were eagerly collected
by the Arabs, and the grave of the Faky was ornamented with
selected specimens, upon which were hung small pieces of rag-like
banners. The people could not explain why they were thus
ornamented, but I imagine the custom had originated from the
necessity of scaring the wild animals that might have exhumed the
body.

Although the grave of this revered Faky was considered a sacred
spot, the women had a curious custom that we should not consider
an honour to the sanctity of the place: they met in parties
beneath the shade of the mimosas that covered the grave, for the
express purpose of freeing each other's heads from vermin; the
creatures thus caught, instead of being killed, were turned loose
upon the Faky.

Although the Arabs in places remote from the immediate action of
the Egyptian authorities are generally lawless, they are
extremely obedient to their own sheiks, and especially to the
fakeers: thus it is important to secure such heads of the people
as friends. My success as a physician had gained me many friends,
as I studiously avoided the acceptance of any present in return
for my services, which I wished them to receive as simple acts of
kindness; thus I had placed the Sheik Hassan bel Kader under an
obligation, by curing him of a fever; and as he chanced to
combine in his own person the titles of both sheik and faky, I
had acquired a great ascendency in the village, as my medicines
had proved more efficacious than the talismans. "Physician, cure
thyself," applied to the Faky, who found three grains of my
tartar emetic more powerful than a whole chapter of the Koran.

We frequently had medical discussions, and the contents of my
large medicine-chest were examined with wonder by a curious
crowd; the simple effect of mixing a seidlitz powder was a source
of astonishment; but a few drops of sulphuric acid upon a piece
of strong cotton cloth which it destroyed immediately, was a
miracle that invested the medicine-chest with a specific
character for all diseases. The Arab style of doctoring is rather
rough. If a horse or other animal has inflammation, they hobble
the legs and throw it upon the ground, after which operation a
number of men kick it in the belly until it is relieved--(by
death). Should a man be attacked with fever, his friends
prescribe a system of diet, in addition to the Koran of the Faky:
he is made to drink, as hot as he can swallow it, about a quart
of melted sheep's fat or butter. Young dogs, as a cure for
distemper, are thrown from the roof of a house to the ground--a
height of about ten feet. One night we were sitting at dinner,
when we suddenly heard a great noise, and the air was illumined
by the blaze of a hut on fire. In the midst of the tumult I heard
the unmistakeable cries of dogs, and thinking that they were
unable to escape from the fire, I ran towards the spot. As I
approached, first one and then another dog ran screaming from the
flames, until a regular pack of about twenty scorched animals
appeared in quick succession, all half mad with fright and fire.
I was informed that hydrophobia was very prevalent in the
country, and that the certain preventive from that frightful
malady was to make all the dogs of the village pass through the
fire. Accordingly an old hut had been filled with straw and
fired; after which, each dog was brought by its owner and thrown
into the flames. Upon another occasion I heard a great yelling
and commotion, and I found Mahomet's "mother's brother's cousin's
sister's mother's son," Achmet, struggling on the ground, and
nearly overpowered by a number of Arabs, who were determined to
operate upon a large boil in his groin, which they had condemned
to be squeezed, although it was not in a state that admitted of
such treatment. The patient was biting and kicking liberally on
all sides in self-defence, and his obstinate surgeons could
hardly be persuaded to desist.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34