801 



SENNAAR. 



SENNAAR. 



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602 



country which belongs to Sennaar is not equal in fertility to the island 

 of Sennaar, part of the soil being light and too sandy. 



The peninsula between the Bahr-el-Azrek and the Atbara, or Asta- 

 boras of the ancient*, the largest of its confluents, is also a flat 

 country. The plain extends southward to the country of the Shangallas, 

 which belongs to Abyrainia, where it terminates at the mountain 

 region of Habesh. In this plain are several isolated mountains which 

 are the retreat of the nomadic tribes of the Shukeriehs and Bisharies, 

 who cannot be dislodged from them, and wander about in the plains 

 with their herds as long as they find pasture, retiring towards the 

 end of the dry season to the uncultivated banks of the Atbara, where 

 they still find grass when the vegetation of the plain has withered, 

 and where they wait for the setting in of the rains. In general the 

 soil of the plain is tolerably good, and after the rains will produce 

 dhurra. The Shukerieh Arabs also cultivate some patches. 



Rirer*. The more important rivers, the Bahr-el-Azrek and Bahr-el- 

 Abiad, with their chief tributaries, are mentioned under NILE. 



Climate. In spring the thermometer at noon rises to 100 and 118; 

 but it is said that it attains a greater height about the summer solstice. 

 The regular rainy season generally begins in the middle of May, or the 

 beginning of June, and continues to the end of September. But some 

 rains occur even in the beginning of April, which are generally 

 attended by hard gales from the north or north east Before the rains 

 regularly net in, two or three times in the spring hurricanes occur. 

 The wind come* from the south-east. After blowing tremendously 

 for ten or twenty minutes, the atmosphere assume* a blood-red colour, 

 which is soon succeeded by total darkness, which lasts about a quarter 

 of an hour. The hurricane usually subsides at the end of two hours 

 from its commencement ; but the air is loaded with sand for two or 

 three days afterwards. 



Production* The grain most cultivated is dhurra, or millet, and it 

 is an article of great inland trade. Wheat is also cultivated. The 

 cultivation of the sugar-cane seems to be confined to a few place*. In 

 the kitchen-gardens there are grown onions, red-pepper, bahmiyeh, a 

 mucilaginous vegetable, chick-peas, kidney-beans, cucumbers, and some 

 plants which are not found in Europe ; cotton and tobacco are grown 

 as objects of commerce ; near the town of Sennaar there are lemon- 

 trees. The timber on the banks of Bahr-el-Abiad is used for boat- 

 building. The boat* are built of acacia. In the desert between 

 Sennaar and Kordofan there is a thorny shrub, called askanit, the fruit 

 of which Is used as food. The fruit of the allobd-tree is considered a 

 dainty, and constitutes an article of trade. The fruit? of the monkey- 

 bread (Adtaumia diyilata), the douin-tree, and nebeck tree are consi- 

 dered as very good* 



Hones are more numerous in Sennaar than in the countries farther 

 north OQ the banks of the Nile. The chief wealth of the numerous 

 nomadic tribe* which inhabit the uncultivated district* of the country, 

 consist* in their camels, cattle, sheep, and goats. The camels are killed 

 for food. The cattle are of good si*o. The sheep and goat* are 

 without wool or hair. Fowl* are plentiful in some place*. Wild 

 .nirr..l. m TerT numerousL The elephant is found as far north as 

 14* SO" N. lab, and in some part* hi great number*. The giraffe is 

 abundant in Atbara. Th* animals whose Scab is used a* food, and 

 which an very plentiful, are mountain-goat*, antelope*, wild cattle, 

 wild a****, and bare*. There an several kinds of hyena* and monkeys. 

 Th* riven are inhabited by the hippopotamus and the crocodile. From 

 the akin of the hippopotamus whips are made, which an a consider- 

 able article- of trade. The flesh of the crocodile ia eaten. Birds an 

 numerous. Wafer-fowl an plentiful on the bank* of the Bahr-el- 

 Abiad. Ostriches are abundant in the desert, especially in that tract 

 which separates Sennaar from Kordofan ; their feathers an a consider- 

 able article of trade. Wild Oninea-fowU an numerous. An immense 

 quantity of honey is collected in these countriem, especially on the 

 uknds of the Bahr-el-Abiad, and it is a conddenbl* article of trade. 



Gold and iron exist in the Jebel Fungi, and iron is also found in the 

 desert which divide* Sennaar from Kordofan. Then an some salt 

 works on the Bahr-el-Abiad, but most of the salt used in Sennaar by 

 the rich is brought from Boeydha in Nubia. The poor use a brine as 

 a substitute, which they procure by dissolving in hot water lumps of 

 a reddish-coloured saline earth, which they obtain from the nomadic 

 tribe* of the Atbara. 



JnJtabiH,ti. The inhabitant* of Sennaar an either free cultivators 

 or ' mowelled.' The latter an a peculiar race ; they an descendant* 

 of slaves, who from generation to generation live at large, and pay 

 Ueir masters monthly a part of their gain*. If the slaves of two 

 marry, their children become the joint property of their 

 , In appearance then i* no difference between the slave* and 

 > free population. The slave* have usually a darker complexion, 

 i some of them an light-coloured and handsome. The language 



i by the native* i* the Arabic. 

 In the interior of Sennaar, south of 11* 30' N. lat, are the Bukarah 

 Arabs, who have maintained their independence. On the western 

 bank* of the Bahr el Abiad is the Beduin tribe of Husaniyeh, which 

 extend* southward nearly to 13' 30' N. lat. They an generally fine 

 men, 'a shade lighter than thorn of Sennaar, and the females are not so 

 dark a* the mates. South of the Husaniyeh Arab* an the Shilluks. 

 The few uvliviilual* of this nation who have been seen by European* 

 were clumsily formed, their legs being too short for the si*e of the 



trunk. The heads of some were shaved ; the hair of those unshorn 

 was curled and woolly. Their countenances are harsh and savage ; 

 their cheek-bones high, and noses narrow near the root, but broad and 

 flattened towards the nostrils. The incisor teeth of the lower jaw had 

 been extracted. The only weapons they had were sticks, shields, and 

 spears of a rude construction. They speak a language different from 

 that of their neighbours. They wear no covering, and worship the 

 sun and moon. Opposite the Shilluks, on the eastern banks of the 

 Bahr-el-Abiad, live the Denka, who were originally the same nation, 

 but they are now quite distinct, and constantly at war. The principal 

 wealth of both nations consists of cattle. 



The peninsula of Atbara is the residence of two powerful tribes, the 

 Bisharies, or Bishareen, and the Shukerieh. The former occupy the 

 northern portion of the country. [BISHAREEN; NUBIA.] The Shu- 

 kerieh are handsome men, with fine countenances, tall, and not black. 

 They are proud, but more polished and less debauched than the Bish- 

 aries. They do not speak Arabic. Though these two tribes derive 

 their subsistence chiefly from the produce of their herds of camels, 

 cattle, sheep, and goats, they repair to the banks of the Atbara imme- 

 diately after the inundation to sow dhurra, and remain there till the 

 harvest is gathered in. During the hottest part of the summer, when 

 the grass is dried up in the desert, they again descend to feed their 

 cattle on the herbage on the borders of the stream. 



Oovernmtnt. The pasha of Egypt maintains a regiment of infantry 

 and two regiment* of cavalry in BeleJ-es-Suiian, and governs the pro- 

 vince by a sandjar, who resides in the town of Khartum. But only 

 a small portion of the country is immediately subject to the governor, 

 nearly the whole being subordinately under the authority of native 

 sheiks. 



Town*. The most populous place at present is Khartum, situated 

 at the confluence of the two great branches of the Nile. It has become 

 a place of importance, in consequence of having been made the resi- 

 dence of the governor. The houses are built partly of sun-dried bricks 

 and partly of dhurra-stalks. The former capital was Sennaar, which 

 was destroyed when the Egyptians occupied the country in 1822, and 

 in 1829 it consisted of a heap of ruins, except a few houses which 

 were inhabited by some merchants. The town was afterwards rebuilt, 

 and the inhabitants resumed their manufacturing industry. Among 

 the manufactures are mats with beautiful devices made of split douni- 

 leaves, and dyed of various colours, conical straw-covers for plates in 

 elegant patterns, silver-stands for coffee-cups in filagree, warlike 

 weapon*, a* spears, knives, &c., and amulets, which are worn for 

 security from every kind of disease and casualty. There is a well- 

 furnished bazaar. Wady- Medina/I and ifiualemieh, between Sennaar 

 and Khartum, carry on some commerce with the adjacent country. At 

 HontaraJi, on the Bahr-el-Abiad, are the dockyards in which boats 

 an built for the pasha of Egypt, but it contains no inhabitants except 

 the workmen employed in their construction. In the interior and 

 within the mountain-region of Jebel Fungi is the town of Qoleh, 

 which is said to be equal in size to Sennaar, and to be noted for its 

 iron-war*. 



. That branch of industry in which the Scnnaarese 



an most distinguished is leather, which is of the best quality, and 

 much superior to that made in Egypt or Syria. This leather is 

 worked into different articles, which have an extensive sale in the 

 valley of the Nile and in Arabia. The most important of these articles 

 an camel-saddle*, sandals, and leathern-sacks. Where dates grow 

 cords and rope* an made of the fibrous interior bark of the palm 

 date-tree, and in some places of reeds. The shields made of the skins 

 of the rhinoceros and giraffe are used all along the Nile and across 

 the mountain* as far as Cosseir and Kenneh in Upper Egypt. Cotton- 

 cloth is made by the women for domestic use, but it constitutes also 

 a considerable article of trade in Northern Africa, under the name of 

 damour. The workers in gold, silver, and iron are very skilful, and 

 execute their work neatly with very simple tools. Pottery is made to 

 a considerable extent in Sennaar. In some places coloured straw-hats 

 are made with great neatness, and they are sent to different countries 

 in the neighbourhood. 



Commerce, The province of Beldd-es-Sudan is the seat of an exten- 

 sive commerce. It* commercial relations with the interior of Africa 

 extend as far a* Begharmi. The caravans which depart from these 

 places go as far as Cairo. Numerous pilgrims from the interior of 

 Africa pass through Shendy and Seunaar on their road to Suakim on 

 the Red Sea, and by the same way many products of the country and 

 of the interior of Africa are sent to the coasts of Arabia, where they 

 are partly exchanged for the goods brought from Hindustan and tho 

 Indian Archipelago, while European goods reach Abyssinia and tho 

 eastern countries of Sudan by the way of Egypt Two caravan-routes 

 lead to the port of Suakim on the Red Sea ; one from Sennaar and 

 the other from Shendy. There is a much frequented caravan-road 

 from Shendy to Cairo, which for a considerable space follows the 

 course of the Nile. At the village of Daraou, about 10 miles N. from 

 Assouan, on the east bank of the river, the caravan-road terminates, 

 and the goods are embarked in boat* to be conveyed to Cairo and other 

 places of Kgypt. The common route between Shendy and Sennaar 

 lies along the banks of the Nile and the Bahr-el-Azrek, but there is 

 a shorter road through the desert, which runs nearly due south 

 from Sheudy to Abouharras at the confluence of the Bahr-el-Azrek 



