Cotton Might Be Grown To Any Extent On This
Magnificent Soil, And Would Pay The Planter A Large Profit, Were
Regular Steam Communication Established At A Reasonable Rate
Between Souakimn And Suez.
There is a fine grey limestone in the neighbourhood of Katariff.
The collection of people is exceedingly interesting upon a market
day, as Arabs of all tribes, Tokrooris, and some few Abyssinians,
concentrate from distant points.
Many of the Arab women would be
exceedingly pretty were their beauty not destroyed by their
custom of gashing the cheeks in three wounds upon either side;
this is inflicted during infancy. Scars are considered
ornamental, and some of the women are much disfigured by such
marks upon their arms and backs; even the men, without exception,
are scarified upon their cheeks. The inhabitants of Kordofan and
Darfur, who are generally prized as slaves, are invariably
marked, not only with simple scars, but by cicatrices raised high
above the natural surface by means of salt rubbed into the
wounds; these unsightly deformities are considered to be great
personal attractions. The Arab women are full of absurd
superstitions; should a woman be in an interesting condition, she
will creep under the body of a strong camel, believing that the
act of passing between the fore and hind legs will endue her
child with the strength of the animal. Young infants are scored
with a razor longitudinally down the back and abdomen, to improve
their constitutions.
I engaged six strong Tokrooris--natives of Darfur--who agreed to
accompany me for five months.
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