Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 1/Chapter 5
CHAPTER V.
SOBAT AND YAL BASINS.
HE Sobat, supposed by certain explorers to be the true White Nile, is occasionally even superior in volume to the main stream. It receives the drainage of an extensive basin, roughly estimated at 70,000 square miles. This vast space is still a blank on the map,
or exhibits little more than the names of tribes inserted merely on the authority of the natives and of travellers who have penetrated farthest into the interior. Debono ascended the river in a boat for over 80 miles, while a steamer advanced 140 miles beyond the confluence. Antoine d'Abbadie, Beke, and recently Schuver, have explored several tributary valleys on the western watershed of the Abyssinian highlands, and have, moreover, collected information from the Arab dealers and natives. The Yal, or Jal, which rises in the Anam and Berta highlands under the names of the Yavash or Kishar, that is "Great River," is even less known in its middle and lower course than the Sobat. The Arab traders call it the Sobat, like the much larger river flowing farther south. Its mouth is blocked by sand only during exceptionally dry seasons, such as that of 1861. Between the Yal and the Blue Nile, for the space of more than five degrees of latitude, the White River receives only one perennial affluent. The Nile and its two tributaries are fringed by deleb palms, tamarinds, ebony, and huge acacia forests, which though rich in gum are at present used only for the sake of the wood. One of these acacias is the "coftar" or flute-tree (acacia fistula), whose ivory-like branches are drilled with holes by the insects living in the gall-nuts with which they are covered. The wind rushes through these openings, producing a soft mellow sound like that of the flute. These forests gradually disappear towards the mouth of the Yal, where the bare steppe stretches right and left, relieved only by the smoke of a few Arab camping-grounds.
The Gambil and Koma Tribes.
Most of the inhabitants of the Sobat basin are of Negro stock, the Gallas being met only in comparatively small isolated communities. The first plains watered by the Baro and Garreh affluents on leaving the Abyssinian mountains are occupied by Denka and other tribes, who have sought refuge at the foot of the hills against the slavers of the lower Sobat. These fugitives have intermarried and formed new tribes differing little from the original stock. The level plains, watered by the Boko, are inhabited by the Yarobo or Gambo, whom d'Abbadie believes to be a branch of the Shilluks, while Schuver affiliates them to the Denkas. Farther on the land rises into plateaux inhabited by the Kirims, Malas, Ishings, and Matze Maleas, said to be of Negro origin. One of these tribes is said to consist of dwarfs not exceeding 4 feet 7 inches in height.
A community of the warlike Gumbil people recently occupied the skirts of the vast Wallega forest fringing the western foot of the Abyssinian highlands, under the same latitude as the Nile and 8obut confluence. The chief river traversing their territory to join the Sobat, they named the Komanji, or "Cow River," because their herds, during the dry season, finding no pasturage except on its banks, crowded down to the water's edge. To call down rain the Ganibil used to throw a flayed cow into the stream, believing that the farther the blood spread, the more copious would be the roinfall. They were one of the Nilotic Negro nations most remarkable for their bodily strength. Their distinctive tribal signs were two gazelle or goat horns fastened to the forehead, and they were also accustomed to extract the two incisors of the lower jaw. But of this tribe there are now very few left, the exterminating wars created by the Egyptian "civilisers" having extended even to the plain of Eomanji. Robbed of their cattle by the Arab traders, the Denkus of the Nile fell upon their Gambil neighbours to restock their farms. A ruthless warfare, waged for the purpose of plunder, ensued between the two nations, in which the Gambil were defeated. Some fled eastwards to the upland Abyssinian valleys, and sought refuge with the Legas, a Gulla people, who received them merely to reduce them to slavery. Others escaped to the south, a few only still wandering about their native plains. Their capital, Komavjok, is nothing but a ruin, like their old market-town lupiel, where the Legas bartered their metal wares and glass trinkets.
Better protected by their mountains, the Komas, occupying the north-east portion of the former Gambil territory, south of the Upper Yal affluents, still form a considerable nation. The Arabs have as yet visited them only in the character of merchants, and the "Turk" is not sufficiently known to be feared. The Komas are, moreover, a peaceful nation, having been undisturbed by wars for some centuries. Having no need to defend their country, and never making slave raids against their neighbours, they are bad archers. But though they do not distinguish themselves as warriors, they are skilful agriculturists, and their fine crops of igname and cereals are more than sufficient to support the people. They barter the wild honey abundantly funiished by their forests for iron, salt, and other articles.
The Koma mountains, about 6,660 feet high, are one of the most pleasant regions in the whole of Africa, enjoying an equable climate, not too warm, and never so cold as to necessitate the wearing of heavy garments. The sloping land is extremely healthy, and the picturesque hillocks, verdant valleys, and limpid streams on every side combine to form a charming landscape. The huts scattered amongst the trees are a proof of the general security from the attacks of enemies or beasts of prey. In his many voyages across the world, Schuver nowhere found men whose simple pleasures, quiet life, and mutual kindness seemed to bring them more in harmony with the surrounding country. The Koma communities never quarrel with each other, and no jealous authority prevents the families from acting as they please; the people are guided by the opinion, and in important matters by the decision, of a public meeting.
The Komas extract the upper incisors. The men go naked, like most of their neighbours, but some wear a collar or necklace of teeth or pearls. From their
Scale 1: 2,000,000.
childhood the women are clothed with bark or cloth; engaged and married women mostly wear an apron embroidered with pearls and rounded pieces of broken ostrich eggs. The women, moreover, ornament themselves with red pigtails of hair or vegetable fibres, with which they scourge themselves when mourning for the dead. Their cries and sobs are heard almost every morning, even before cock-crow. The dead, men and women alike, are kept over a period of seven to ten years in special huts, built so as to protect them from the ants, the relatives and friends occasionally bringing them presents of salt or pearls. But when the bones are buried all these gifts are sold by auction to defray the expenses of a public feast. The upland valleys of the Yal, north of the Koma, belong to the Amam, whom Mateucci wrongly terms the African "Patagonians." They are certainly tall, but not so tull as the Nuer and Kij; but they have so successfully repulsed the Egyptians that they are described as giants and reputed cannibals. Their customs resemble those of the Eomas.
The Suro, who roam on the border of Kaffa south of the Gambils, are said to be tributary to the latter state. They have already been brought into the circle of Abyssinian political influences. Like all the tribes plundered by the Abyssinians, they are culled "Shangalla" by the plateau populations; but this designation implies no connection with the Shangalla of the north, such as the Bazeh. Although frequently visited by the Arab merchants, the Suro are still wild pastors, like the Shilluks. They go naked, excepting the women, who wear a narrow loincloth; the chief alone wears garments, the insignia of power. Like several Nilotic Negroes of the same race, the Suro extract two teeth from the lower jaw, and insert a disc of wood in the lower lip. They also pierce and thrust blades of grass through the lobe of the ear. Like their civilised neighbours of the plateau, they eat no other flesh but that of their herds.
The riverain peoples of the lower Sobat, although bearing various tribal names, all belong either to the Nuer or Shilluk family. The formidable Gibhas, Bonjaks, and Mivaks are isolated Shilluk communities; while the Baloks, settled more to the west, and the Ndiekens lower down, are Nuers. Lastly, the populations of the lower valley, near the confluence, are Shilluks separated from the main body of the nation only by the breadth of the Nile. The Egyptian Government had formerly established the military post of Nanser on the Sobat, about 120 miles above the confluence;—but the expenses of maintaining it not being covered by the small trade, and the land being of little value, it was abandoned in 1876. At present the vast unexplored basin is claimed neither by Abyssinia nor Egypt, and its political system is in the fragmentary and shifting state produced by the continual displacement of the tribes by emigration or by conquest. But these unexplored regions traversed by the Upper Sobat and its affluents, will doubtless become one of the most frequented parts of Africa, as it is here that the water-parting between the White Nile and the Indian Ocean can be most easily crossed. The border range between the Kaffa mountains and the volcanic highlands of the Masai country is partly interrupted by broad openings, at present occupied by fierce Galla tribes, and forms a natural communication between the watersheds.
The Shilluks.
The Shilluks, who occupy the left bank of the Nile from below the Sobat junction to Abha Island for a distance of over 360 miles, are one of the largest African races, and the only one on the banks of the Nile recognising a bando^ or king, ruling all the tribes, and selling as slaves those whom his anger or justice lights upon.
The riverain zone inhabited by the Shilluks is only from ten to twelve miles broad, the plains of the interior being occupied by the Baggara (Bagara), or "Cattle Arabs," pure or mixed, so called on account of their large herds of cattle. They possess none of the gentleness of their animals, however, being wild and daring horsemen, much feared by their neighbours the Shilluks. According to the rough census taken by the Egyptian Government in 1871, after the reduction of the land, the Shilluk nation is one of the most numerous in the world in proportion to the surface of the cultivated land. It possesses about three thousand villages, each containing from fifty to two hundred families, and the whole nation comprises a total population of at least one million twelve hundred thousand, a density only to be equalled in the suburbs of European industrial towns and districts. There
are few other countries where nature provides so abundantly for all the wants of man. The towns on the bank follow in succession at intervals of less than half a mile, like one huge city. Seen from the river, these collections of huts, all similar in form, resemble clusters of mushrooms, the white cylinder of the building topped by a spherical grey roof heightening the illusion. In the middle of each village is a circular open space, where the villagers assemble in the evening, and seated on mats or ox-hides, smoke native tobacco in large pipes with clay bowls, and inhale the fumes of the fires lighted to keep off the musquitoes. To the trunk of the tree standing in the middle of this square are hung the drums, so that the public
criers may immediately warn all the peoples of the surrounding towns in case of alarm.
Hurtmann and most other explorers of this region of the Nile consider the Shilluks as the typical representative of the group of Negro nations whose domain is bounded south by the Bantu, east by the Galla and other Ethiopian races, north by the Nubian and Arab tribes, and south-west by the Niam-Niura. The Shilluks are, moreover, by far the most numerous of these groups, and have migrated most frequently to all the surrounding regions. They are said to have come from the south-east plains watered by the Sobat affluents; since the migration, the Luoh and Diur, a branch of the same stock, have occupied a portion of the south-west territory between the Bongos and Denkus. Other of their colonists have even crossed the Somerset Nile and settled in the U-Nyoro country, under the name of Chefalu; they are now colonising along the right bank of the Nile below the Sobat, the districts of the Denka country wasted by the slavers. The population on both banks was described by Weme as "immense," "incredibly dense;" even on the right bank, although the least crowded, hundreds of Denka villages followed each other at short intervals. But they were all delivered to the flames, this region having been completely wasted in 1862 by Mohammed Her, the chief of a band of adventurers, who had allied himself with the Abu-Rof Arab tribe occupying, west of Senaar, a large tract between the two main streams. The Abu-Rof, stationed along the foot of the hills, drove the Denkas towards the Nile and Sobat, where the slave-boats were in readiness. The razzia was successful, not a soul escaping, and a district several thousand square miles in extent was thus depopulated. Gordon's regret at having contributed to spread the "benefits of civilisation" in these countries may easily be understood. "We want neither your pearls, your friendship, nor your protection; we only ask you to leave us," were the words addressed to him by the delegates of a tribe he was annexing to Egypt.
Although for some time in contact with the Arab Mussulmans, the Shilluks have preserved their customs and religion. Like the Bari and Denka, they have refused the garments offered them by the Khartum merchants, accepting nothing but their glass or metal trinkets; the women alone wear a calf-skin attached to their girdle. Instead of clothes, the poor besmear themselves with ashes, and are thus recognised at a distance by their grey colour, the real complexion of the tribe being ruddy. Like other riverain populations of the White Nile, the Shilluks ornament their hair with grass and feathers in the most iantaslic forms, such as that of a crest, a fan, a hulo, a helmet, or even a broad-brimmed hat. At sight of Schweinfurth wearing a broad felt hat of the Panama type, the natives thought he was one of their tribe, and shouted with wonder when he took off his hat The future form of the headdress depends mostly on the fancy of the mother. Before the children are weaned they fashion the hair with clay, gum, manure, and ashes, leaving its future care to the children themselves.
The Shilluks are skilled hunters like the Baggara, not only chasing but even breeding the ostrich in their villages. The animal they fear the most is the buffalo. When unable to evade the furious beast, they throw themselves face downwards on the ground and sham death; the buffalo sniffs round the body for some minutes and then goes away without touching it. The Shilluks believe in the supernatural, but pay little attention to it. They worship an ancestor whom they consider to be both a god and the creator of all things; they invoke the spirits of the stream and wash in its holy water, but only in fear and trembling speak of the spirits of the dead, which hover in the air and pass into the bodies of animals and trunks of trees. The throne does not pass in direct descent from father to son, but to the sister’s child or to some other relative on the female side. Until the new king has been proclaimed the corpse of his predecessor remains enclosed in his tokul ; his daughters are forbidden to marry, and confined in a village set apart for the purpose.
Topography.
The town of Fashoda, established by the Egyptian Government in 1867, as the capital of its province of Bahr-el-Abiad, is in Shilluk territory. Although the residence of the Shilluk king, it was at that time the village of Denab, a mere group of straw huts; it is now an imposing square fortress surrounded by palings, depôts, and enclosures; but at the beginning of 1884 it was a city of the dead, the war having caused the people to quit their dwellings. Here the Egyptian Government used to send those condemned to perpetual exile. Fashoda occupies a good strategic position on the left bank of the Nile, at the great bend which it describes in its northern course beyond the Bahr-ez-Zaraf and Sobat junction. The confluence itself is defended east by the post of Takufikiyah, so-called in honour of the Khedive, and west by the village of Sobat, established officially with a view to overlook the Negro slave-dealers. Kaka, recently the chief slave market of the Upper Nile, is the most important place in the Shilluk country ; it lies on the left bank of the river, near the northern frontier.
