The Entrance To This Fort Is Only Sufficiently Large To
Admit One Animal At A Time; Thus The Herd Can Be Easily Counted.
Within
the stockade are several houses, in addition to a few large circular
sheds for the protection of young calves.
The sheep and goats are kept
in a separate zareeba.
All the operations of the Baris are conducted by signals given by the
drum, precisely as our military movements are directed by bugle-calls.
The great drum that belongs to the headman or sheik, is suspended
beneath an open shed, so that it is always protected from weather, and
at the same time the sound could travel unchecked. These drums are cut
and scooped with great labour from a peculiar wood, which is exceedingly
tough and will not easily split. The Bari drum is exactly the shape of
an egg with a slice taken off the thicker end. Some of these instruments
are very large, and as much as two men could carry on a pole. Both ends
are hollowed through and secured with hide; but the broad end forms the
actual drum. This is beaten with two short sticks of hard wood. In the
early morning, shortly before sunrise, the hollow sound of the big drum
is always heard giving the signal by a certain number of beat's for the
milking of the cows. The women and young men then commence, and when the
operation is completed, the drum beats again, and the large herds are
driven to pasturage. The signal is repeated in the evening. Should an
enemy attack the country, the sheik's big drum gives the alarm by a
peculiar series of beats, which if once heard can easily be remembered.
In a few seconds this loud alarm will be re-echoed by every drum
throughout the numerous villages, and the news of the attack will thus
spread by signal as fast as sound can travel. A certain beat of the
sheik's big drum is the call for a general assembly, in which case,
should an enemy appear, the whole forces of the district can be
concentrated in one point.
The weapons of the Baris are finely-wrought lances, and bows with
horribly barbed arrows. They seldom carry shields, as they are difficult
to manage together with the bow, and they impede the rapid movements'
which are the chief feature in Bari tactics.
The men are generally tall and powerful, always naked and smeared with
ashes, or on great occasions with red ochre and grease. The women are
not absolutely bad-looking, but real beauties are extremely rare. They
wear an apron before and behind of tanned leather, extending nearly to
the knees, which is only the outer garment, beneath which they wear a
neatly-made fringe of innumerable strings, formed of finely-spin cotton
thread, suspended from a leather belt. Some of the wealthy possess
fringe composed of iron rings, neatly worked, so as to form a kind of
shirt of mail.
Every man is a warrior from his childhood, as the Baris are always at
war. They are extremely clever in the use of the lance, which they can
throw with great accuracy for a distance of thirty yards, and they can
pitch it into a body of men at upwards of fifty yards. From early
childhood the boys are in constant practice, both with the lance and the
bow and arrow; thus, although their weapons are inferior to fire-arms
properly used, they are dangerous in the hands of proficients against
men who, like my troops, were utterly ignorant of the art of shooting.
Fortunately for my expedition, the warlike Baris were not united
throughout their territory. Nevertheless, I discovered that the Baris of
Gondokoro had made an alliance with those of Belinian, twelve miles from
head-quarters. I observed that women were constantly passing to and fro
with baskets on their heads, carrying salt from Gondokoro, and each
returning with a goat, led by a string. Excellent salt is found at
Gondokoro, real chloride of sodium; and this article enables the natives
of that district to trade with the interior, where salt is extremely
rare and of great value. I had remarked that women, and sometimes men,
were met in my rambles through the forest, on their way to Belinian by
this concealed route, instead of taking the open path; this aroused my
suspicion, as the chief, Allorron, and his people declared that they
were enemies of the Belinian natives.
The position had become intolerable. The fact could no longer be
concealed that the Baris were hostile. No positive outbreak had
occurred, but the natives were sullen in their demeanour, and generally
avoided the new settlement. Butchers' meat was exceedingly scarce, as we
had only a few cows that had been given during the voyage by the vakeel
of the Bohr station. The troops were without rations of meat. At the
same time there were thousands of cattle on the islands before their
eyes, not one of which could be purchased from the natives. Although the
natives refused to assist us in any way, or to supply us with cattle at
any price, they drove their herds across from the island to the mainland
to fatten on the fine pasturage under the government protection. This
pasturage, having been abandoned by them and occupied by the government
troops, had naturally become the property of the Khedive. The natives
had no more right to the soil from which they had been driven, than the
French would have to Alsace and Lorraine, should those provinces be
occupied by a foreign Power which had driven out the Germans.
The last vessels having arrived, terminated the voyage from Tewfikeeyah,
which had occupied five months and twenty-two days. The troops, who had
suffered much by fatigue in cutting through the marshes, had not been
absolutely relieved by their arrival in the clear White Nile. The north
wind changed suddenly to the south, in which unfavourable quarter it
continued steadily for a month; thus my unfortunate men had to tow the
vessels along the banks against wind and stream for about 300 miles from
Wat-el-Shambi to Gondokoro.
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