We were now just about to land in the Soudan, and as that word is, as I am writing, in everyone’s mouth, it would be as well to say something about it before I go any further.
The Soudan, or Beled-es-Sudan, Land of the Blacks, has since the Middle Ages been the common name of the vast extent of country in Central Africa, which stretches southward from the Desert of Sahara to the Equator. The name was originally applied2 by the Arabs, but with great latitude3 of signification, different authors giving it to the different parts of the territory with which the varying routes[99] across the desert made them acquainted. Later geographers4 divide it into High and Low Soudan. Many include Senegambia in it. High Soudan stretches from the sources of the Niger, Senegal and Gambia, to the Upper Nile, or, at all events, to the south of Lake Chad, and embraces the mountains of Kong and of Upper Senegambia, the kingdoms of Ashantee, Dahomey, Mandingo, Houssah, and Feelah. All this country is richly watered and wooded, distinguished5 by a luxuriant tropical vegetation and by deposits of gold. Low Soudan stretches on the north of High Soudan, eastward6 to Kordofan, and northward7 to the desert. This district is partly level, partly undulating, and partly broken by chains of lofty hills rising within its own limits. Its situation between the desert on the north and the mountains which border it on the south, with a climate destructive to foreigners, and a lawless and predatory population, make it one of the most inaccessible8 regions in the world. In the south, where it is watered by the Niger, Lake Tchad, and their tributaries9, it assumes a fertile and cultivated appearance. The inhabitants contain numerous nations of different races, chiefly of the Negro, Fulde, or Fellatah stems, together with many Arab colonists10.
This is what Sir Samuel Baker11 says about the[100] Soudan in the Contemporary Review: “Before the White Nile annexation12 the Soudan was accepted as a vague and unsatisfactory definition as representing everything south of the first cataract13 at Assouan, without any actual limitation; but the extension of Egyptian territory to the Equator has increased the value of the term, and the word Soudan now embraces the whole of that vast region which comprises the Deserts of Libya, the ancient Merve, Dongola, Kordofan, Darfur, Senaar, and the entire Nile Basin, bordered on the east by Abyssinia, and elsewhere by doubtful frontiers. The Red Sea alone confines the Egyptian limit to an unquestionable line. Wherever the rainfall is regular the country is immensely fertile; therefore the Soudan may be divided into two portions—the great deserts which are beyond the rainy zone, and consequently arid14, and the southern provinces within that zone, which are capable of great agricultural development. Including the levels of the mighty15 Nile, a distance is traversed of about 3,300 miles from the Victoria N’yanza to the Mediterranean16; the whole of this region throughout its passage is now included in the name ‘Soudan.’”
We had on board Captain Gascoigne and Dr. Melidew, of the Royal Horse Guards. They were also bent17 on a shooting expedition in the Soudan,[101] but did not accompany us farther than Souakin. There were several other passengers on board bound for India.
We landed at Souakin on the quay18, in a large open square. One side is occupied by what is absurdly called the palace, a large building in which the Governor transacts19 his official duties, the opposite side by the custom-house, the other by a guard-house, whilst the opposite side was not occupied by any building, but was open to and contiguous to the Red Sea; it was, in fact, the quay.
Here I saw nine tons of elephants’ tusks20 ready for shipment. The average weight of each pair of tusks would be somewhere about 36lbs. I computed21 that about 560 elephants would have been slaughtered22 to make up nine tons of ivory; and if elephants are killed at that rate, people may well exclaim about the scarcity23 of ivory. What next attracted my attention was about 60 Bedouin Arabs in heavy chains, wandering about in this large open square. These poor fellows had to pay their gaolers 100 dollars a month. The Maria Theresa dollar which is in use in the Soudan, and preferred to any other coin, is worth 4s. of our money. They had to find their own food, or rather their tribe did so. I was told that at one time they were a strong tribe, and had come over from Arabia. They had at one[102] time 8,000 camels, but they had dwindled24 down to 2,000, as whenever they failed to pay the taxes some of their camels were seized. I cannot speak with any certainty of their offence, but somehow or other they had incurred25 the anger of the then Governor of the Soudan, Ali Riza Pacha, about a year beforehand. He clapped them into irons, and there they seemed likely to remain, unless some more kindly-disposed Governor superseded26 him. This fortunately happened not long before our return to Souakin in the following April, when Ali Dheen Pacha was appointed, who soon liberated28 them.
The inhabitants of Souakin are principally Arabs, a few Greek and Italian merchants, and two Englishmen. The Government usually have a garrison29 of about 300 Nubian troops stationed in an undefended barrack on the mainland, about a mile from the town.
Blind to their own interest, the Egyptian Government obstructs30 traffic by the heavy duties which it levies31. Cattle and sheep, which can be obtained from the tribes in the neighbourhood, are sent by hundreds annually32 to Suez by sea. Were it not for the heavy duties imposed, I should say that a large trade ought to be done with Suez, which is but three and a half days from Souakin. There is a telegraph line to Kassala. They have large[103] numbers of camels for sale or hire, but no horses, mules33, or donkeys. The water is collected during the wet season in a large reservoir about a mile from the town; there are also two or three wells at the same place.
We soon introduced ourselves to Mr. Brewster, an Englishman, and head of the custom-house; and he in turn sent for Achmet Effendi, the Civil Governor of Souakin, to whom he introduced us. Of course, there followed the inevitable34 salaaming35, coffee and cigarettes, so customary in the East. Our business was very soon explained; we wanted about 80 camels provided without delay to transport ourselves and our baggage across the desert to Kassala. The camel sheik, Moussa, was sent for, and soon appeared—a really picturesque36, handsome-featured man, almost black, possessed37 of gleaming, regular teeth, wearing a snow-white turban and loose white robe, precisely38 like the ancient Roman toga. En passant, I cannot help thinking that the slang word “togs” is derived39 from the word toga.
The Sheik Moussa promised to provide us with the camels within three days; and, strange to say, he did so, a singular instance of a man keeping his word to one in the East. I know that my experience amongst the officials in Turkey was very[104] different—there everything was put off until to-morrow. A day would be fixed40 for me to call at the Seraskierat, or War Office, and when I went I was usually met with the reply, “Yarrin sabbah, effendi” (to-morrow, sir), or “Ywash, ywash” (by and bye), not once or twice, but I daresay five or six times. Another inconvenient41 phrase which is always on their lips if one wants any money from them, and which is spoken trippingly on the tongue, is “Para yok” (no paras), in English, “I haven’t a farthing.”
It soon became known that there was a “Hakeem Ingelese,” as they called me, in our party, and I very soon had many patients, amongst whom was a child of one of the Bedouin Arabs.
In the afternoon I improved my acquaintance with Mr. Brewster, who had officially resided here four years, and, of course, knew most of the people and the customs of the place. There are a great many good and curiously42-built houses with flat roofs, built of blocks of white coral, and a great many tent-like structures constructed with reeds, stalks of palm leaves, and matting, which is very cheap and abundant, made by the natives out of palm leaves. Mr. Brewster was good enough to escort me over Souakin, and give me all the information he could about the place and people. As[105] we strolled on he pointed27 out the home of a slave-dealer, who then had several slaves—children and young girls. These could easily be transferred as ivory, dhurra, or something of the kind, as old Achmet Effendi connived43 at slave-dealing, and would shut his eyes to the transaction provided his palm was crossed with a couple of dollars per head. The little children realize from 30 to 40 dollars a head, and young girls 70, 80, or 100 dollars.
“Why,” said I, “in England it is supposed that the slave trade has been abolished in Egypt long ago. When in Cairo I saw the slave-market, but was told no slaves have been sold there for the past three or four year.”
“Ah,” said he, “you will find, when you get further into Africa, that it is still carried on, and more openly than it is here. When they have been captured they are driven across the desert just like cattle to some quiet place on the Red Sea coast, where there is a stambouk waiting; there shipped and taken across to Jeddah in a day or so, and sold by public auction44.” The only other Englishman resident at Souakin was Mr. Bewlay; he had at once lived in Jeddah for a time, and he assured me that he had often seen slaves sold there. Apropos45 of my profession, Mr. Brewster related a very interesting, and, to me, a very instructive anecdote46, which served to enlighten me considerably47[106] as to the peculiar48 line of thought which sometimes permeates49 the native brain, and to the still more peculiar line of action which it leads to. He told me that about three years or so before our arrival a German doctor, who had settled there, whilst attending a native, had occasion to perform some trivial operation which was not attended with the success which he desired or anticipated, as unfortunately for the native, and subsequently for the doctor, the former was so inconsiderate as to expire a day or two afterwards. The doctor could truly say after this, “A doctor’s lot is not a happy one,” inasmuch as the friends of the defunct50 Arab paid him a visit, and in a marked but highly objectionable manner, showed what they thought of the doctor’s services in a way that did not commend itself to me, and which, for want of a better illustration, we will call “a new way of paying old debts.” The worthy51 leech52 was requested, in so pressing a manner that refusal was out of the question, to accompany these friends of the deceased, and nolens volens, they escorted him to a large open space just outside the town, where dhurra and other things were sold, and there they remunerated him, not in dhurra, not in sheep, not in goats, not even in money, but in a most cutting manner, for they fell upon him with their knives and literally53 chopped him to pieces. Reader,[107] “would you be surprised to hear,” that on learning this I was extremely careful not to perform any rash operations, and that my ministrations to the lame54, the halt, the sick, and the blind, should be successful. At all events, it is a source of great gratification to me that they were not so unsuccessful as to necessitate55 the sudden and unlooked-for departure of any of my patients to their happy hunting-grounds.
The Hadendowah Arabs are the most numerous tribe in the neighbourhood of Souakin, and are, for the most part, good-looking men; they are very dark, approaching to blackness, have good, well-formed features, large dark eyes, arched black eyebrows56, and face, on which as a rule there is little or no hair, and nearly every Arab, here and elsewhere, that I met with, is possessed of the most beautifully white, regular, and sound teeth possible. There is little doubt but that this is due to the simple manner in which they live; their chief food is dhurra (sorghum vulgare). This contains 11? per cent. of gluten, our wheat only ten per cent. This is the wheat of Egypt, and is the food of camels, horses, and men. Camels, however, get very little of it, as a rule, unless on a forced march, or are owned by a man who can afford it. It grows to the height of nine or ten feet, and is very prolific58. I never counted the seeds in a head of this sorghum,[108] but Sir Samuel Baker did, and he says that in one single head he found 4,840 grains. The Arabs, speaking generally, are not big-boned men, but are lithe59, active, and sinewy60. Their hair is bushy, frizzly, long, and black, which they wear very curiously; they often take as much trouble with it as any West-end dandy would do. A parting is made around the crown from one temple to the other; the hair on the top is combed up and kept short—perhaps an inch long—the rest is combed down, and stands out in a bush all round the head to a distance of three or four inches; a thin piece of stick, like a skewer61 slightly bent towards the sharp point, is stuck through the hair at the top, and is often used to stir up the population, which is no doubt very numerous. I have often seen their hair white with fat, which they plaster on most abundantly when they can get it, and as few wear any covering over their shoulders when they are exposed to the heat of the blazing sun, this drips down on to them. They wear a bundle of charms secured just above the elbow, a tope, or loin-cloth round the waist, which reaches down to their knees, and very many a ring in one nostril62. Nearly all of them carry a shield and a long spear weighted at one end. The Hadendowhas are much given to lying and laziness.
During the time that we remained here we were[109] fully57 occupied in preparing for our journey across the desert from Souakin to Kassala, a distance of about 280 miles; we cut up old boxes, made new ones, and sorted out what provisions, &c., we should require. I arranged my medicine-chest and surgical63 instruments so that I could get at what I might want easily. We got a little shooting, sand-grouse, flamingoes, pelicans64, and herons; wandered about the town and frightened all the children in the place, who thought we were slave-dealers come to steal them. The principal slave supply is obtained from the White Nile and Darfour; Khartoum, I believe, is the principal slave mart.
At nights we stretched ourselves out on the divan65 that ran round the room in the palace, and slept head to feet all round. This room adjoined and looked out on the square in which the Bedouin prisoners were confined; frequently in the early morning they woke us up with their clanking chains, or by indulging in their peculiar mode of devotion. The day before we started on our journey, Mr. Brewster said—
“Well, Doctor, I hope you will all return alive and well, and not be so unfortunate as a party that Dr. Felkin accompanied a year or two ago.”
“I am sure I quite indulge in the hope of returning to England in a sound state,” I replied. “But tell me about the misfortunes of the party you speak of.”
[110]
“That is done in a very few words,” said he. “Six missionaries66 went from Souakin and six from Zanzibar, meeting eventually in the wilds of Africa, sent out by the English Church Mission Society, to reclaim67 lost sheep. They were not happy in the selection of a suitable spot for evangelising, as only three of them and Dr. Felkin returned to Souakin, looking considerably the worse for wear; the others had succumbed68 to fever, dysentery, and spears. Indeed, I am not quite sure that some of them were not eaten.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
missionary
|
|
| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
applied
|
|
| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
latitude
|
|
| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
geographers
|
|
| 地理学家( geographer的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
eastward
|
|
| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
northward
|
|
| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
inaccessible
|
|
| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
tributaries
|
|
| n. 支流 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
colonists
|
|
| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
baker
|
|
| n.面包师 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
annexation
|
|
| n.吞并，合并 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
cataract
|
|
| n.大瀑布，奔流，洪水，白内障 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
arid
|
|
| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
Mediterranean
|
|
| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
quay
|
|
| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
transacts
|
|
| v.办理（业务等）( transact的第三人称单数 )；交易，谈判 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
tusks
|
|
| n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
computed
|
|
| adj.[医]计算的，使用计算机的v.计算，估算( compute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
slaughtered
|
|
| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
scarcity
|
|
| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
dwindled
|
|
| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
incurred
|
|
| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
superseded
|
|
| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
liberated
|
|
| a.无拘束的，放纵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
garrison
|
|
| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
obstructs
|
|
| 阻塞( obstruct的第三人称单数 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
levies
|
|
| （部队）征兵( levy的名词复数 )； 募捐； 被征募的军队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
annually
|
|
| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
mules
|
|
| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
salaaming
|
|
| 行额手礼( salaam的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
36
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
precisely
|
|
| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
derived
|
|
| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
inconvenient
|
|
| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
connived
|
|
| v.密谋 ( connive的过去式和过去分词 )；搞阴谋；默许；纵容 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
auction
|
|
| n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
apropos
|
|
| adv.恰好地；adj.恰当的；关于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
anecdote
|
|
| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
considerably
|
|
| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
permeates
|
|
| 弥漫( permeate的第三人称单数 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
defunct
|
|
| adj.死亡的；已倒闭的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
leech
|
|
| n.水蛭，吸血鬼，榨取他人利益的人；vt.以水蛭吸血；vi.依附于别人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
literally
|
|
| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
lame
|
|
| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
necessitate
|
|
| v.使成为必要，需要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
prolific
|
|
| adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
lithe
|
|
| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
sinewy
|
|
| adj.多腱的，强壮有力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
skewer
|
|
| n.（烤肉用的）串肉杆；v.用杆串好 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
nostril
|
|
| n.鼻孔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
surgical
|
|
| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
pelicans
|
|
| n.鹈鹕( pelican的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
divan
|
|
| n.长沙发；（波斯或其他东方诗人的）诗集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
missionaries
|
|
| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
reclaim
|
|
| v.要求归还，收回；开垦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
succumbed
|
|
| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |