Dongola

“ The height on which Old Dongola is built, falls off on all sides, inland as well as towards the river, so that to the east one overlooks a wide extent of desert—low hills of red sand, stretching away to a dim, hot horizon. To the north, the hill slopes gradually to the Nile, covered with the ruins of old buildings. North-east, hardly visible through the sandy haze, rose a high, isolated peak, with something like a tower on its summit. ”

“ Guns, small arms and ammunition, with large stores of grain and dates, were captured, many prisoners taken, while hundreds surrendered voluntarily, among them a brother of the amir Wad en Nejumi. The dervish Dongola army had practically ceased to exist. Debba was seized on the 3rd October, Korti and Merawi occupied soon after, and the principal sheiks came in and submitted to the sirdar. The Dongola campaign was over, and the province recovered to Egypt. The Indian brigade at Suakin returned to India, and was replaced by Egyptians. The North Staffordshire returned to Cairo. ”

“ We were, however, provided on board with all the appliances to protect ourselves from this nuisance, in case of need. Far into the night after these days of prolonged exertion resounded the songs of the Nubians, and the gourd-shells of merissa beer went round amid the native strains of Berber and Dongola. As I did not thoroughly understand the dialect of Dongola, I continually lost the exact purport of the words which were sung. One with the other the Nubians often use this dialect, although they just as frequently speak Arabic. ”

“ The reconquest of Dongola and the Sudan provinces during the three years from March 1896 to December 1898, considering the enormous extent and difficulties of the country, was achieved at an unprecedentedly small cost, while the main item of expenditure—the railway—remains a permanent benefit to the country. ”

“ The same circumstance of dress is common also among the peasants of both sexes of Dongola, Shageia, and along the third cataract, with this addition, that they not only anoint the head, but also the whole body with butter, they say it protects them from the heat; that employed by the personages of consideration is perfumed. Every Malek has a servant charged with the particular care of a box of this ointment. ”

“ It had engulfed Hicks's army, swept over Gordon and Khartoum, rolled behind the British forces as they retired down the river, and finally cast up a spray of raiding parties as far north as Assouan. Then it found other channels to east and to west, to Central Africa and to Abyssinia, and retired a little on the side of Egypt. For ten years there ensued a lull, during which the frontier garrisons looked out upon those distant blue hills of Dongola. Behind the violet mists which draped them, lay a land of blood and horror. ”

“ Now, when it entered Dongola it must have already passed Nubia, for Dongola is the capital of the Barabra, every inch of which is to the northward of Nubia. I do not know worse guides in the geography of Africa than Leo Africanus and the Nubian geographer. ”

“ Berber (which Colonel Stewart ought to pass to-night) is 200 miles from Merowé, where the cataracts cease, thence there is open water to Dongola, 150 miles distant from Merowé; he ought there to find the telegraph open, and so on the 20th of September he ought to be in communication with Cairo and Europe.
One thing puzzles me is, if it was really determined to abandon the Soudan to its fate, why the people of Dongola and of Senheit were not withdrawn, [26] when the determination was taken; there could be no possible object for keeping the peoples in those places. ”

“ Alas, my brave old dromedary! we shall never again play friendly tricks upon each other. Raïs Ramadan took his station at the helm, and the boys plied their oars actively, so that we soon lost sight of Wadi Halfa. All the afternoon we glided slowly down the stream between rich palm-groves and grain-fields. The appearance of thrift and fertility, which the country presented, was most agreeable after the waste fields of Dongola, and the unproductive rocks and sands of the intermediate districts. ”

“ The soil on the banks of the river in the Dongola Province is rich and alluvial almost throughout, and well adapted for cotton cultivation. This province is in fact the richest and most prosperous in the Sudan.
Climate.Health is excellent all the year round. Very little fever, only simple cases. Little rain; showers may be expected in September. The wind is almost constantly from the north. Ophthalmia, common in Egypt, is rare in Dongola Province. During months June to end of September, the weather is very hot and enervating, but air dry. ”

“ I was credibly informed that there are no rocks in this district, which, during the period of the inundation, presents a watery surface of from twelve to fifteen miles in breadth. Commerce is not so flourishing in Dóngola as it is in the states to the south of it; merchants being exposed to many vexations from the kings, as well as from the village chiefs, who seem to be almost independent of the former. ”

“ When plotted on a twenty-mile-a-day basis from either of these places, the road is considerably in error, if the position of Maydob can be relied upon. The route starting from old Dongola closing, however, much better on to Maydob than the one from new Dongola. The positions on the map are those found by plotting the information, without adjustment from new Dongola. Upon this route, too, depends the portion of the Wady Howash, lying to the north of Kowora (q.v.) . ”

“ Burckhardt, again, in his travels in Nubia, tells us that in Dongola, the "barnick" (the Arabic name for hippopotamus) is a dreadful torment on account of its voracity, and the want of means on the part of the natives to destroy it. During the day it remains in the water, but comes on shore at night, destroying as much by the treading of its enormous feet as by its voracity. ”

“ The occupation of Dongola terminated the campaign of 1896. About 900 prisoners, mostly the Black Jehadia, all the six brass cannon, large stores of grain, and a great quantity of flags, spears, and swords fell to the victors, and the whole of the province, said to be the most fertile in the Soudan, was restored to the Egyptian authority. ”

“ Throughout this portion of the Nile Valley, in spite of the narrow width of the cultivated area, there are evidences of considerable prosperity. The population is increasing, and the province bids fair to return to that state of fertility for which it was formerly renowned.
At certain seasons of the year a small fly appears in myriads in the Dongola Province, and makes life almost intolerable. So bad is it that the natives when at work in their fields hold a brazier of live coals in front of their faces. ”

“ Of course, from what they have done elsewhere, the comparative mildness of the conduct of the Dervishes was not due to any feeling of mercy, but to policy. As the most advanced position, with the exception of scattered and temporary posts lower down the river, it was necessary that there should be food for the considerable body of tribesmen encamped at Dongola; especially as an army invading Egypt would provide itself, there, with stores for the journey. It was therefore good policy to encourage the cultivators of land to stay there. ”

“ It is more than a mile in length, and contains about twenty thousand inhabitants. The houses are all of mud, which, though unsightly in appearance, is there as good as granite, and the streets are broad, clean, and unmolested by dogs. I was well pleased with the appearance of the place. The inhabitants are mostly Nubians, of the different tribes between Berber and Dongola, mixed with a few Ababdehs, Bishàrees, and other Desert Arabs. ”

“ In this desert region is found the addax, the rarest of Sudan antelopes. The chief grain crops are durra and barley, and date palms are extensively cultivated. The province is also noted for a breed of strong, hardy horses. The largest town is Dongola, but the administrative headquarters of the mudiria are at New Merawi (Merowe, Meroe) , on the left bank of the Nile, below the 4th cataract. Other towns, also on the Nile, are Debba and Korti, whence start caravan routes to Kordofan and Omdurman. ”

“ Father Brevedent, therefore, if he wept for any society of Christians at Dongola, must have wept for those that had perished there 500 years before.
Poncet was much caressed at Dongola for the cures he made there. The Mek, or king, of that city wished him. much to stay and fettle there; but desisted out of respect, when he heard he was going to the emperor of Ethiopia. Dongola, Poncet has placed rightly on the eastern bank of the Nile, about lat. ”

“ A great part of the soil, in fact, which is situated a few miles from the Nile or from the canals that are fed by it, constructed for purposes of irrigation, is a mere barren waste, covered by sand, and unfit for habitation. To the south of the Nubian Desert there is the fertile province of Dongola, and, separated from it by another desert, a rich country, which, owning Khartum as its chief town, is watered by the tributaries of the great river that flow down from the Abyssinian mountains. ”

“ In no direction were there any signs of human beings or their dwellings.
"On the far side," said the dragoman, waving his donkey-whip towards the east, "is the military line which conducts Wady Halfa to Sarras. Sarras lies to the south, under that black hill. Those two blue mountains which you see very far away are in Dongola, more than a hundred miles from Sarras. The railway there is forty miles long, and has been much annoyed by the Dervishes, who are very glad to turn the rails into spears. ”

“ When Egypt becomes overcrowded, as it must in time if the present rate of increase is maintained, Dongola will offer a fair field to Egyptian immigration. The conditions of life are so similar to those in Egypt that it cannot fail to be the most attractive part of the Soudan. Even as things are, owing to the partial advantage afforded by the railway and facilities of transport by boat-carriage on the Nile, the trade of the province is increasing. Cotton goods and luxuries like tea, sugar, coffee, and perfumeries, are the principal imports, and cereals are exported as well as dates. ”

“ On the 25th of the moon, I passed over to the eastern side of the river, to purchase camels; as there were many buyers at this time from our camp, I did not find any good enough for the exorbitant price demanded. I passed the greater part of the day, and the night following, at the town of Nousreddin, in the house of one of the principal chiefs of the Berbers. He bears the title of Malek, as do all the distinguished chiefs of Berber, Shageia, and Dongola. Their dignity is hereditary, generally passing from father to son. ”

“ From here on to the Atbara junction are the Angariab, Hagab, Merifab, and Fadlab. The few inhabitants of the desert are mostly wandering Bisharin.
The total riverain population of Dongola Province numbered (December, 1902) 105,026, and is rapidly increasing.
This is exclusive of nomad Arabs, whose numbers may be put down at 2,000 Gararish (along the river) , besides Bisharin, and other Nomads (vide Appendix F.) on the left bank.
The occupation of the people is that of cultivating the ground, which they do very imperfectly except in Dar Shaigia; it could be made to produce double the amount. ”

“ Or, if we take the whole number of computed journies between Pisania on the Gambia river, and Dongola on the Nile, at 158; of which 92 are between Pisania and Ghana, 66 between the latter and Dongola; there will be on the former, according to our construction, a ratio of about 16,6 G. miles per day, on the direct line; and 16,9 on the latter.
To the northward of this line, and in the quarter towards Nubia, are situated the countries or kingdoms of Bornou (or Kanem) Tagua, Kuku, Kuar, and Zagawa: and in the quarter towards Ghana, are Zanfara, and Zegzeg. ”

“ It is gathered by the Arabs, who transport it to Kordofan, and Aswan, where it fetches about £E.21⁄2 per camel load.
Fruit.Melons and lemons are plentiful in the spring and autumn. People are commencing to cultivate the vine.
Trade.The import trade of the Dongola Province consists chiefly of cotton goods and such luxuries as sugar, tea, coffee, perfumery, etc., and of the export of cereals and dates. Business, however, is not brisk. The chief obstacle to the development of the import trade is the want of enterprise on the part of traders. There are excellent openings for merchants. ”

“ Edgar said; "for if it comes to leaving the river and pushing on we are sure to be in it."
The journey from Wady Halfa to Dongola was 235 miles. The day's march was generally about twenty miles, the halting-places being made at spots previously settled upon, where there were depots of provisions formed for them. The start was made about five o'clock in the morning. For the first two hours the men walked, leading their camels; then when the sun became hot they mounted and rode the rest of the distance. ”

“ He was the first man always that entered among the enemy, and the last to leave them, and never changed this horse. The horses of Halfaia and Gerri do not arrive at the size of those in Dongola, where few are lower than 16 hands. They are black or white, but a vast proportion of the former to the latter. I never saw the colour we call grey, that is, dappled, but there are some bright bays, or inclining to sorrel. They are all kept monstrously fat upon dora, eat nothing green but [525] the short roots of grass that are to be found by the side of the Nile, after the sun has withered it. ”