Aswan

“ On the eastern mainland opposite the island stood the huts and hovels of the great Swanu, or market, which gave its name to the later town of Aswân; and here the negroes, coming from the upper reaches of the river by the valley road which avoids the rocks of the cataract, met and traded with the inhabitants of Elephantine. At the far end of this road the barren islands of Philæ, Bigeh, and others were regarded as neutral ground, and the rocks of the mainland were not yet forbidden territory to the Egyptians for some miles up-stream. ”

“ They have good herds of camels, sheep, and goats. They do not frequent the Aswan market as much as the other Aliab sub-tribes, but they sell a great deal to merchants who come from there, and buy much of their corn in good [92] years from the Di-ib. They are a wilder people than the other tribes and very rarely leave their hills. They are shy and difficult of approach. Their wells are Is and Legia.
Kurbeilab.—Sheikh Mohammed Katul. This is a large tribe. They have many wells, generally in the small tributaries of the upper Alagi. ”

“ The governor of Assouan was asked for help and he sent down a couple of boat-loads of men, who lifted us off by main strength and the power of their lungs. We drifted on, but at sunset we were not out of sight of the mosque of Assouan. Strolling ashore, we found a broad and rich plain, large palm-groves and wheat-fields, and a swarming population—in striking contrast to the country above the Cataract. The character of the people is wholly different; the women are neither so oily, nor have they the wild shyness of the Nubians; they mind their own business and belong to a more civilized society ”

“ Asoka's empire, therefore, comprised the countries now known as Afghanistan, as far as the Hindû Kush, Balûchistan, Makrân, Sind, Kachh (Cutch) , the Swât valley, with the adjoining regions, Kashmîr, Nepâl, and the whole of India proper, except the extreme south, Tamilakam or Tamil Land. His dominions were far more extensive than British India of to-day, excluding Burma. The kingdom of Kâmaûpa, or Assam, in the north-east, seems to have been independent, and certainly remained outside the sphere of Asoka's religious propaganda. ”

“ They made their reply.
"We are your soldiers and ready to obey your commands," said the scouts. "But we know Captain Annawan to be a great soldier, too. He was a captain under Massasoit, Phillip's father, and under Phillip also. He is a man of courage and strong mind, and we have heard him say that he will never be taken alive by the white people. We know the men with him. They are warriors and very determined; and we are but a handful. It will be a pity if after all your great deeds you should throw your life away at last." ”

“ From Lúghwí to the territory of Baghármy, which comes next to it, is two days’ journey through a desert containing a great and extensive fresh-water sea, called Asoor or Ashoo [5] . This country is hilly, sandy, and has small mountains; its width is a distance of ten days, and its length is much more. Its inhabitants are Soodan, Kahlans, and Arabs, who are robbers, and a treacherous set of people. Their sultan, whose name is Borkoomada, is as cruel as themselves, and even slays sheiks and Mahomedans. ”

“ The old man bowed low to him.
"Since you have given us our lives, we are obliged to serve you," he answered. He was a courtly old man. "Captain Annawan and his people are camped under a great rock in the midst of the swamp, north from here. Come and I will show you."
Thereupon Captain Church pressed forward to the vast swamp, with his one white man and five Indians, to capture Chief Annawan and his fifty or sixty. ”

“ One by one the Ashanti prisoners were brought to the stern of the launch and interrogated, and the story told by all was precisely the same. The Ashantis were in force in the jungle lying within a few miles of Elmina and between that part and the river Pra. They had fraternised with the Elminas and other natives, nominally under our protection, and for the most part they were almost starving. They were awaiting the moment when they might attack the white men. ”

“ The next to it is the sultan of Asben, who resides at Agades. The kings of the countries of which Haussa consists, all pay tribute to Burnu; these are Kashna, Daura, Keeno, Sofau, Noro, Nyffé, Gaauri, Cabi, Guber, (Zanfara belongs to Guber.) Kashna pays every year 100 slaves, &c. Some of them pay to Burnu and Asben. The king of Asben with the greatest part of his nation are Tuaricks of the tribe Kolluvi. Many of the Tuaricks near to Tombuctoo, are white; and another tribe near to Burnu, are also white, like the Arabs of the northern coast of Africa. ”

“ I'd double the pickets, of course, so as to give the boys a little more courage, don't you know; for even a soldier feels queer when posted a couple of hundred yards away from his fellows, especially if he knows that a score or more of niggers are probably crawling round like ghosts, ready to fall upon him at any moment. Yes, I've had experience of that, and I well remember how fidgety I was, for we were fighting on the West Coast, and knew well that the natives of Ashantee were as cruel and as cunning as they make 'em. ”

“ There is in the desert and on the banks of the Senegal a race named Azounas, to whom the name of Arab properly belongs: they are neither herdsmen, merchants, nor cultivators; but are vagrants, thieves by profession, and consequently Moors or Arabs by acknowledged title. Their trade, which renders them dreaded by and odious to all their neighbours, keeps them in [140] continual alarm at being surprised and punished by those whom they have plundered; they are therefore always on the alert, and continually changing their encampments ”

“ Assam, the Madrassee, is handsomer and statelier than Babu at Malacca; a smart Malay lad helps him, and a Chinaman sits on the steps and pulls the punkah. All things were harmonious, the glorious cocoa-palms, the bright green slopes, the sunset gold on the lake-like river, the ranges of forest-covered mountains etherealizing in the purple light, the swarthy faces and scarlet uniforms of the Sikh guard, and rich and luscious odors, floated in on balmy airs, glories of the burning tropics, untellable and incommunicable! ”

“ His parents pay jars and gold—in the shape of deer—for her.
29 Asbinan refuses to eat until his father secures fish roe. He then demands Chinese dishes from the coast town of Vigan. When these are supplied, he eats, and then demands the love charm which his father Page 216used when a young man. He goes to the place where the maidens are spinning, and when one offers to give him a light for his pipe, he blows smoke in her face. The charm acts and she becomes ill. He convinces her people that the only way she can be cured is by marrying him. Her parents accept payment for the girl. ”

“ Why should he take “nay” from a race of white men living on the coast? Why should Ashanti be hemmed within her forests? She was powerful and could eat these white men up.
Promptly the armies were organised, and while Britain still dallied, the King of Ashanti invaded our protectorate. But still Britain held her hand, for this was a native war, and because the Ashantis had attacked the Fantis and other tribes, there was no reason why we should send troops to this notoriously unhealthy coast, and fight their battles. ”

“ The representative of Awooah, chief of Bantama and general of the Ashanti army, said:—
“My master is the greatest captain of the king’s army. If we had been going to war would not my master have known before others? But he knew no such thing. Let it be known to the Government of the Gold Coast that the king of Ashanti has many enemies near home, and it is they who have endeavoured to embroil him with the English, so that they might seize their opportunities. Why should we fight with the English? They are our good friends. I, my master, and my king, only wish for peace.” ”

“ Boy's parents pay for girl and they marry. She gives birth to son named Asbinan. He marries Asigowan, but his jealous concubines cause her to cut her finger and she dies. Her body is placed in a tabalang on which a rooster sits, and is set afloat on the river. Crowing of the cock causes old woman Alokotán to rescue the corpse. She places it in her magic well and the girl is again alive and beautiful. She returns to her husband as a bird; is caught by him and then resumes own form.
27 Baby of four months hears his father tell of his youthful exploits. ”

“ Some said that Enguie then stated that the Assins were people who always caused palavers between Ashanti and the Protectorate, and that the king said if the Lieutenant-Governor would not give up Awoosoo he would invade Assin. Those who held to this version further stated that Busumburu at once got up and confirmed this statement, and that the Lieutenant-Governor thereupon called Enguie’s attention to the [Pg 212] treaty of Fommanah, and pointed out to him that an invasion of Assin meant war with England. ”

“ Britain had had trouble with the men of Ashanti before this time, when Dick Stapleton had been practically the first to have a brush with them. We had crossed swords with the Ashantis more than once, and with varying success; but, unlike other races, these men inhabiting the forest beyond the coast-line had maintained their independence and their bitterness. For they had always a cause for war, and as the reader will see presently, that cause had been increased since we acquired the town and port of Elmina from the Dutch. ”

“ To the east there is not any Moslim country bordering on Assouan: to the south there is a mountain, in which are the mines of emeralds, in an insulated barren country. At fifteen days journey from Assouan are the gold mines.i [155] To the westward are the Oases. From Assouan a road leads to Aidab, from whence is the passage to the Hedjaz, and Yemen, and India. Masoudy relates: Assouan is inhabited by people of the Arabs Kahtan, Nezar Ibn Rabya, Modher, and Arabs of Koreysh, most of them transplanted from the Hedjaz.i [156] The town has abundance of date trees; it is fertile and rich. ”

“ There was no doubt that the Ashantis were one of the most formidable tribes in Africa. Their territory extended from the river Prah to sixty miles north of Cape Coast. They were feared by all their neighbours, with whom they were frequently at war--not so much for the sake of extending their territory, as for the purpose of obtaining great numbers of men and women for their hideous sacrifices, at Coomassie. They were in close alliance with the tribes at Elmina, which place we had taken over from the Portuguese, some years before Sir Garnet Wolseley's expedition. ”

“ RESEARCH ON AWANS
The initial question arises that who were Awans and how did they reach India? Sultan Hamid Ali writes in his book “Manaqib-e-Sultani” that Awans are the descendants of Hazrat Ali Karum Allah Wajhul Kareem. When Sadaats (Holy Prophet’s progeny through Hazrat Fatima Razi Allah Anha) left Arab due to troubles and started living in different areas of Iran and Turkistan, the Awan tribe helped them in that time of trouble, as they were their close relatives, that is why, their family name changed from Alvis and Hashmis to Awans which means “those who helped the Sadaats.” ”

“ The only tribes in the British protectorate who could be relied upon to furnish a certain quota of men are those of Denkera, Assin, Western Akim, and Fanti. Wassaw, Ahanta, and Eastern Akim would not move in 1873, and do not seem to have any feeling of enmity to Ashanti; while to utilize the men of King Blay of Apollonia away from their own country would only be to tempt the disaffected natives surrounding his territory to take up arms. ”

“ They are ill-disposed people, and have no lawful sultan, but their chief is one chosen out of the tribe. They subsist mostly upon dokhun, and their country abuts on the great sea or river Cówara.
“On the left of the before-mentioned country (Taghzar) that of Azwa lies, which is inhabited both by the Tuarick and by Benoo-Hami. It contains plains, vales, mountains, hills, and sands; and has deep streams. They possess abundance of cattle, and most of their living is the dokhun. ”

“ The account given of his reign by Megasthenes makes him better known to us than any other Indian monarch down to the time of Akbar. In 297 B.C. he was succeeded by his son, Bindusara, who is supposed to have extended his dominions down to Madras. In 272 B.C. he in turn was succeeded by Asoka, the Buddhist emperor, the religious side of whose reign has already been described. Asoka’s empire included the greater part of Afghanistan, a large part of Baluchistan, Sind, Kashmir, Nepal, Bengal to the mouths of the Ganges, and peninsular India down to the Palar river. ”

“ Zein ul Asnam hearkened to his mother's rede and going out forthright to the Divan, committed the manage of the realm into the hands of certain old men of understanding and experience; save that he did this only after Bassora had been ruined, inasmuch as he turned not from his folly till he had spent and squandered all the treasures of the sultanate and was become exceeding poor. ”

“ The missionaries were sent to Kashmir, to the Himalayas, to the border lands on the Indus, to the coast of Burma, to south India and to Ceylon. And the king claims that missions sent by him to certain Greek kingdoms that he names had resulted in the folk there conforming themselves to his religion. The extent of Asoka’s dominion included all India from the thirteenth degree of latitude up to the Himalayas, Nepal, Kashmir, the Swat valley, Afghanistan as far as the Hindu Kush, Sind and Baluchistan. ”