Baggara

“ The nomad Arabs are of two classes, camel owners (Siat El Ilbil) and cattle owners (Baggara) , the first-named dwelling in the dry northern regions, the Baggara in southern Kordofan. Of the camel-owning tribes the chief are the Hamar and the Kabbabish. Many of the Hamar have settled down in villages. The Baggara are great hunters, and formerly were noted slave raiders. They possess many horses, but when journeying place their baggage on their oxen. They use a stabbing spear, small throwing spears, and a broad-bladed short sword. Some of the richer men possess suits of chain armour. ”

“ BAGGĀRA (“Cowherds”) , African “Arabs” of Semitic origin, so called because they are great cattle owners and breeders. They occupy the country west of the White Nile between the Shilluk territory and Dar Nuba, being found principally in Kordofan. They are true nomad Arabs, having intermarried little with the Nuba, and have preserved most of their national characteristics. The date of their arrival in the Sudan is uncertain: they appear to have drifted up the Nile valley and to have dispossessed the original Nuba population. ”

“ The caravan roads into the interior are fairly safe, but merchants always prefer to travel in parties of twenty to thirty; though, as a matter of fact, the Baggara garrisons at the various posts are a much greater source of danger to the merchants than are the thieves and brigands. These Baggara wring money out of the merchants, and steal their goods; but if the caravan is large, they are afraid to do anything which may lead to reprisals. The Khalifa has, however, done much to improve public security in the provinces, and punishes severely when cases are brought to his notice. ”

“ They say Metemmeh is full of dead, and that even the Dervishes do not care to live there."
"The Baggara are mostly mounted, are they not?"
"Most of them are so, though there are some on foot. The leaders of the tribesmen who fight for the Khalifa are all on horseback, but most of the army are on foot." ”

“ Many of them hire themselves out to the Khartoomers to accompany their expeditions to the interior. Several came to offer their services to me, under the impression that my object was the capture of slaves. I confess that I could hardly restrain my admiration when I gazed upon their athlete, agile forms, although I had no call for their services.
The Baggara speak a tolerably pure Soudan-Arabic; they seem to extend themselves rapidly as an immigrant tribe over the pasture steppes, at the expense of other and less favoured races. ”

“ Mahmud says that they will assuredly be beaten; they will be shot down as they approach, and none will ever be able to get through the hedge. Then, when they fall back, the Baggara will pour out, horse and foot, and destroy them. They will then see how right he has been in not letting them go out into the plain to fight. His influence will be restored, and your life will be safe.
"We are to be removed to the farther side of the wood, when the fighting begins; and there all the women are to be gathered, and wait, till the infidels are utterly destroyed. ”

“ The Baggara, the tyrants of the desert, are horsemen. The infantry were, for the most part, drawn from the conquered tribes. They had enlisted in the Khalifa's force partly because they had no other means of subsistence, partly from their innate love of fighting. They had, in fact, been little better than slaves; and their condition, as soldiers in the Egyptian Army, was immeasurably superior to that which they had before occupied.
Broadwood, with nine squadrons of Egyptian cavalry, was already on the western bank of the river opposite Atbara ”

“ The Selim Baggara, though really belonging to the left bank from opposite to Jebelein southwards nearly to Kaka, cross over to the right bank in considerable numbers during the dry season. They prefer to live amongst the Dinkas, as they rely on them principally for their grain supply, not being cultivators to any extent themselves. A good many of them are mounted on Abyssinian ponies (price 30 to 40 sheep, i.e., 3l. to 4l.) on which they hunt elephant, buffalo, and giraffe in the most fearless manner, armed only with their long broad-headed Baggara spears. ”

“ Every one fled to the mountains, even the cattle instinctively made for their shelters. Some Nubas were attacked and killed in the woods, and twelve of the soldiers, who were out looking after the camels grazing, were all killed, with the exception of one who fell severely wounded in the back; all the camels were captured. When the Baggara had disappeared, the Nubas descended from the hills and came to the scene of the raid. ”

“ Some of the richer men possess suits of chain armour. The principal Baggara tribes are the Hawazma, Meseria, Kenana, Habbania, and Homr. The Homr are said to have entered Kordofan from Wadai about the end of the 18th century and to have come from North Africa. They speak a purer Arabic than the riverain tribes. The Nubas are split into many tribes, each under a mek or king, who is not uncommonly of Arab descent. The Nubas have their own language, though the inhabitants of each hill have usually a different dialect. ”

“ Hitherto the Baggaras have had nothing to do with external commerce, they never go to Sawakin or to Egypt. All trade with the outside world is conducted by Hadarba, Jaalin, Danagla, and Barabra merchants, also on the southern frontier of Egypt by Ababdeh and Kenuz people; but in Omdurman itself the Baggaras, and especially the women, take a large share in the retail business. Although they have scarcely ever owned a piastre in their lives, the shining dollar has excited the most inordinate cupidity amongst them. ”

“ They gave us an enthusiastic welcome and helped us to pitch our tents under the mud walls of the guardhouse; visitors are scarce, and the monotony of existence is broken only by episodes connected with the lawless habits of the Baggârah. I never came into contact with the tribe, but I was told that, alone among the river Arabs, they had been the allies of Ibrahîm Pasha and were consequently gôm (foes) of the ’Anazeh and their group. Enmities of this kind are usually accompanied by overt acts, and the Baggârah had their hand against every man. ”

“ Bakula had put into words what all were longing to know, so they sat quietly, while one of the visitors said: “We don’t know who this white man is. He is not one of the traders whom we have seen at Mboma, [21] for he is new to these parts, but 60he speaks our language very well, though at times he makes stupidly amusing mistakes. His carriers say that he comes from Congo dia Ngunga [22] --the king’s town away south. He will not sell us things like a trader, for he only barters for food for himself and carriers, and not for ivory or slaves. ”

“ It is however perhaps more probable that bajrā may have been a variation of baglā. And this is especially suggested by the existence of the Portuguese form pajeres, and of the Ar. form bagara (see under BUGGALOW) . Mr. Edye, Master Shipwright of the Naval Yard in Trincomalee, in a paper on the Native Craft of India and Ceylon, speaks of the Baggala or Budgerow, as if he had been accustomed to hear the words used indiscriminately. (See J. R. A. S., vol. i. p. 12) . [There is a drawing of a modern Budgerow in Grant, Rural Life, p. 5.] ”

“ Bakula sometimes accompanied his white man on these preaching journeys to help in the singing at the services, and to carry a small load. At one place the people were so hostile that they would not allow the little party to remain in their village. They were not sufficiently courageous to demonstrate against the visitors with guns and knives, but were superstitious enough to drive them out with abuse, the shaking of their fetishes, and threats of what they would do if the white man and his boys tried to enter their village. ”

“ According to the Arab writers, the natives were called Baghirmi (Bakirmi, Bakarmi) , from the two words hagcjar miya, or "a hundred cows," because the first sovereigns of the countr}^ had imposed a tribute of a hundred head of cattle on each tribe subject to them. But in the native language these called themselves Barmaghe, of which Baghirmi may be a corrupt form. The population, estimated by Barth about the middle of the century at one million five hundred thousand, appears to have been since reduced by at least one- third by sanguinary wars with Wadai, famines, and marauding expeditions. ”

“ All the tribes believe in a supreme being whose voice is the thunder. Polygamy is general in upper Bagirmi, where some traces of a matriarchal stage of society linger, one small state being called Beled-el-Mra, “Women’s Land,” because its ruler is always a queen.
Bagirmi was made known to Europe by the travels of Dixon Denham (1823) , Heinrich Barth (1852) , who was imprisoned by the Bagirmese for some time, Gustav Nachtigal (1872) , and P. Matteucci and A. M. Massari (1881) . The country in 1871 had been conquered by the sultan of Wadai, and about 1890 was over-run by Rabah Zobeir (q.v.) ”

“ Poor Bakula was nonplussed by this calamity, and the other boys for a time were disheartened; but there is a great amount of grit and determination in the Congo character, and before long the lads were meeting in Bakula’s house for their lessons and for such teaching as their young tutor could give them.
Satu, the chief, tried to stem the current of popular feeling and turn it away from Bakula, but he failed even to save the school-house. Native chiefs have power only to make the people do what they want to do ”

“ Bakula admitted that he had lost faith in ngangas, and told with dramatic force of the nganga’s exposed trickery in the King’s town; he did not deny his liking for the white man, for had he not shown kindness to him in forgiving him and healing his wound? He assented to the charge of throwing his charms away, for he could not see that the messes the witch-doctors put into horns and shells could help them in sickness, hunting, trading, or anything else. ”

“ In the hearts of the Bagrees there was unholy joy, an eager anticipation, a gladsome feeling toward Bhowanee who had certainly guided this rapacious merchant with his iron box full of jewels to their camp.
Indeed they would sacrifice a buffalo at her temple of Kajuria, for that was the habit of their clan when the booty was great. The taking of life was but an incident. In Hindustan humans came up like flies, returning over and over to again encumber the crowded earth. ”

“ Whole families sometimes fight to settle their own quarrels, or even those of their ancestors. They are armed with poniards, and defend themselves very skilfully against the blows of their adversaries with large shields made of elephant’s hide. I have been assured that they are not accustomed to make slaves, but kill their prisoners without mercy.
The Bagos have no king; each village is governed by the oldest of the inhabitants, who settles their disputes, though they have, like the Landamas, a Simo, who performs the functions of chief magistrate upon important occasions. ”

“ Bagirmi forms an extensive table-land, with an inclination towards the north, and an elevation of 900 to 1000 feet above the sea-level. It measures about 240 miles from north to south, and 150 from east to west. In the north lie some scattered mountain ranges, which separate the two basins of Lake Fittri and Lake Tchad. The chief products are sorghum, millet, sesamum, poa, wild rice, haricot beans, water-melons, citron, and indigo. Very little grain is cultivated. The population numbers about 1,500,000 souls. ”

“ Even among the warriors of the cannibal Bagalla, he encountered individuals who possessed great natural dignity, poise and evident strength of character. Bulala, a typical West Coast black, densely ignorant and superstitious, had, nevertheless, a heart of gold that revealed itself in his loyalty and generosity; while little Ukundo, the pygmy, perhaps among the lowest in the social scale of all African peoples, proved a staunch friend and a good comrade. To his natural shrewdness was added an almost uncanny knowledge of the jungle and the jungle people, both beast and human ”

“ Bandangi. the left bank, but that to the Baburu on the right bank it was known as the Luhali. Bakula was an exceptionally crafty lad, a pure cannibal, to whom a mess of human meat would have been delectable. He was a perfect mimic, and had by native cunning protected himself by conforming readily to what he divined would be pleasing to the strangers by whom he was surrounded. ”

“ Bagirmi (ba ̇-gir ́mē) , or Baghermi, a Mohammedan Negro State in Central Africa, situated to the south-east of Lake Tchad. It is mostly a plain; has an area of about 20,000 sq. miles, and about 100,000 inhabitants. The people are industrious, and fairly civilized. The country is in the French sphere of influence, but the people are still under a native ruler.
Bagnara (ba ̇-nyä ́ra ̇) , a seaport near the S.W. extremity of Italy. Pop. 11,000.
Bagnères de Bigorre (ba ̇n-yār dė bē-gorr) , a watering-place, France, department Hautes-Pyrénées, on the left bank of the Adour. ”

“ The Bagers, I was told, have no jujus, feitiches, or gregrees; they worship no god or evil spirit; their dead are buried without tears or ceremony; and their hereafter is eternal oblivion.
"The males of this tribe are of middling size and deep black color; broad shouldered, but neither brave nor warlike. They keep aloof from other tribes, and by a Fullah law, are protected from foreign violence in consequence of their occupation as salt-makers, which is regarded by the interior natives as one of the most useful trades. ”