Even During The March, I Have Frequently Seen My
Men Gather The Cotton From Some Deserted Bush, And Immediately
Improvise A Spindle, By Sticking A Reed Through A Piece Of
Camel-Dung, With Which They Would Spin The Wool Into Thread, As
They Walked With The Caravan.
My Tokrooris had never been idle
during the time they had been in my service, but they were at
work in the camp during every spare minute, either employed in
making sandals from elephant's or buffalo's hide, or whips and
bracelets from the rhinoceros' skin, which they cleverly
polished.
Upon our arrival at Gallabat, they had at least a
camel-load of all kinds of articles they had manufactured. On the
following morning I found them sitting in the market-place,
having established stalls, at which they were selling all the
various trophies of their expedition--fat, hides, whips, sandals,
bracelets, &c.
The district inhabited by the Tokrooris is about forty miles in
length, including a population of about twenty thousand.
Throughout the country, they have cultivated cotton to a
considerable extent, notwithstanding the double taxes enforced by
both Abyssinians and Egyptians, and their gardens are kept with
extreme neatness. Although of the negro type, the Tokrooris have
not the flat nose; the lips are full, but not to be compared with
those of the negroes of West Africa; neither is the jaw
prognathous. The men are extremely independent in manner. They
are armed with lances of various patterns; their favourite weapon
is a horrible instrument barbed with a diabolical intention, as
it can neither be withdrawn nor pushed completely through the
body, but, if once in the flesh, there it must remain. This is
called the chimbane; it is usually carried with two other lances
with plain heads. The Tokrooris despise shields; therefore, in
spite of their superior personal strength, they would be no match
for the Arabs.
There is a curious weapon, the trombash, that is used by these
people, somewhat resembling the Australian boomerang; it is a
piece of flat, hard wood, about two feet in length, the end of
which turns sharply at an angle of about 30 degrees. They throw
this with great dexterity, and inflict severe wounds with the
hard and sharp edge; but, unlike the boomerang, the weapon does
not return to the thrower.
The women are very powerful, but exceedingly plain. They are good
workers, and may be constantly seen either spinning or weaving;
they keep their huts remarkably clean, and are rarely idle.
The greater portion of the cotton exhibited in the market of
Gallabat is produced by the Tokrooris; it is uncleaned, and
simply packed in mat bales of a hundred pounds weight, which at
that date (April 1862) sold for one dollar each.
Much might be done to improve these peculiar people. Were the
frontiers of Abyssinia positively determined, and security
insured to the new settlers, the whole of that magnificent
country through which we had travelled between the Settite and
Gallabat might be peopled and cultivated. In many countries, both
soil and climate may be favourable for the cultivation of cotton;
but such natural advantages may be neutralized either by the
absence of population, or by the indolence of the natives. The
Tokroori is a most industrious labourer; and, were he assured of
protection and moderate taxation, he would quickly change the
character of these fertile lands, that are now uninhabited,
except by wild animals. If the emigration of Tokrooris from
Darfur were encouraged, and advantages offered to settlers, by
grants of land for a short term exempt from taxation, at a future
time to bear a certain rate per acre, a multitude of emigrants
would quit their own inhospitable country, and would people the
beautiful waste lands of the Settite and the Salaam. These
countries would produce an important supply of cotton, that might
be delivered at Souakim at an exceedingly low rate, and find a
market in England. Not only would the Tokrooris benefit by the
change, but, should it be decided that the Abyssinian frontier,
instead of extending to the Atbara river, should be confined to
the ridge of the great mountain chain, the revenues of Upper
Egypt might be enormously increased by the establishment of a
Tokroori colony, as proposed.
I paid all my Tokrooris their wages, and I gave them an
entertainment after their own taste, by purchasing several
enormous bowls of honey wine. The Abyssinians are celebrated for
this drink, which is known as "tetch." It is made of various
strengths; that of good quality should contain, in ten parts, two
of honey and eight of water; but, for a light wine, one of honey
and nine of water is very agreeable. There is a plant of an
intoxicating quality known by the Abyssinians as "jershooa," the
leaves of which are added to the tetch while in a state of
fermentation; a strong infusion of these leaves will render the
tetch exceedingly heady, but without this admixture the honey
wine is by no means powerful. In our subsequent journey in
Central Africa, I frequently made the tetch by a mixture of honey
and water, flavoured with wild thyme and powdered ginger;
fermentation was quickly produced by the addition of yeast from
the native beer, and the wine, after six or eight days, became
excellent, but never very strong, as we could not procure the
leaves of the jershooa.
My Arabs and Tokrooris enjoyed themselves amazingly, and until
late at night they were playing rababas (guitars) and howling in
thorough happiness; but on the following morning at sunrise I was
disturbed by Wat Gamma, who complained that during the night some
person had stolen three dollars, that had for some months been
carefully sewn up in his clothes; he exhibited the garment that
bore the unmistakeable impression of the dollars, and the
freshly-cut ends of the thread proved that it had been ripped
open very recently. Of course I was magistrate, and in all cases
I was guided by my own code of laws, being at some thousand miles
from an Act of Parliament.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 133 of 149
Words from 134876 to 135894
of 151461
