the. Egyptian despot, was particularly disastrous TO these unfortunate
people. Their mountain villages.'were destroyed
with the utmost barbarity, and those whose resistance prevented
their being-dragged into slavery were cruelly murdered.
According to M. Cailliaud, who accompanied this expedition,
more than 40,000 slaves were* carried off by the marauders
who formed- the army oft Ismael Bey. Disastrous Was this
expedition to the natives, but it has contributed greatly to
extend our knowledge of- the interior of Africa. From M.
Cailliaud we have interesting details of the. Negro coun-.
tries to thessouthward of Sennaar, and Dr. Riippell, who
resided some years in Nubia, has made us acquainted with the
nationsuiear Kordofan.
The natives of Bertat are* according to Cailliaud, well made
and vigorous; their hair is crisp, and like cotton; their lips are
thick; but their features are less strongly and less uniformly
marked with the characteristics of Negrdes'than those of. the
western tribes; they are warlike and indocile; different hdrdês
have different objects of religious worship some adore the
sun, some the moon ; they have the superstitionlof fetishes
so prevalent in Western Africa. The mén are entirely naked;
they have no knowledge of writing or system of arithmetic,
but count with difficulty with the aid of their fingers .and itoes;
“ Their languages often differ as we pass from one. mourn,
tain to another, the natives of neighbouring hamlets holding
no communication with each other.” A similar description
applies to the natives of extensive regions southward of the
countries traversed by the Nile.*
The Negrées in the mountainous country to the southward
of Obeid in Kordofan-have been fully describedby Dr. Riippell.
These mountains are supposed by Riippell to be volcanic; beyond
them, in some tracts at least, there are primitive hills of
gneiss and mica slate. The Negroes of the mountainous re-?
gion of Kordofan are not altogether so destitute of the arts
of life as the people of Mandara; they have learnt the use of
iron, anti even make tools of the red oxyde with which
their hills abound: but they live without social bonds, in sepa-
* Voyage a Meroë et au Fleuve Blanc. Par M. F. Cailliaud, Paris. 1826.
tom. iii. p. 20.
rate • hordes) or companiesjivjeach-which bceupies the top of
a j t p a r t i c u l a r - - d i a l e c t s - » a r e ! v e r y nimferous, but
are capable .Of refpêenee^ to ' four principal languages’;-on« of
which, that'of Koléa^i^as, axMMèt^td^Dr. Riippell, cognate
with ;tbfe!.id io p aO b e id , and evenfavith.' the dialects of the
Ba-rabrasl The inhabitants£of oiiè mountain are perpetually
'èhgaged ini attemptsstó^capture.thechildren frömMother -hordes,
whom they k&ep> a&sdrvants j-i ©rlidl to slaVe-dealCrS.* Hence
Spites a constant feeling of insecurity and enmity against their
neighbours.*
; Thechain of hills which ruri todhé'soüthwardóf K-ordofaU. are
continued towards tKebast by fhebigh ridge of Fazoclo; which
•forms;; aëdbrdittg to Ritter, thêfeölbs^nortlferii terrass ©r »shelf
of* the'- rhountainousTegioj^1 the»l0W^ft>l^ef■ of the- highlatfd#,’
and I th^ latt barrier v which v thèqg-reat ri v^s'. d^sfeending^rom
themthave to traverse’before they eilteri TheTnorthern plajfis:
ÏT is termed* by Ritter,, the Terrasg^bft|fe'taT-acts’.5-' This bordefc
of The wilderness is covered with forests,^ and eimtains,
mines, <#gold, whjdh .arevworkedt in‘-a-rii,dê. mfflaner/by
thé natiió^fe The chain of Fazoelo ,is divided- in ;t#0:'prim
cipal places by the’ passage *of the Abiad or White '• River,
ahd that of the A^reocor-' Blue Nile! of Abyssinia. To' the
eastward of the last, the country feëgtÉs todbetunder-the influx
ence of thetsovereiei of Habesh. ' /'-O' "' The black tribes who'inhabit
the borders, of this empire are- termed iSHahgalla by *thè
Abyssinians, a name-^synonymous with that.of Negrp Savaged*
Mr. Bruce has described, in a" striking : and » characteristic
manner, , the Shangalla* or pagan Negroes, .who inhabit wild
and uncultivated1 tracts on the borders of Abyssinia. These
people have everbeen hunted down and .oppressed by the
Abyssinians; they have no intercoursej withc strangers, and
hence they retain unaltered their primeval manners/* and dis^
play a strongly-marked - example of the . moral character: of
the unimproved» Negro races«» Their territory, as; Mr. Bfcnce
informs us,- is full of wood* and of .mountains' nob; joined
in ridges, hut standing each onrits particular bas^ Great
rivers, falling from the high enéntry, form, in the valleys,, im-
* Reisen in NuMen und Kordofan, von Dr. Edward Rüppelj* Frankfurt ant
Main. 1829.
E 2