Kafala

“ A cafila, or caravan, according to Pitts, is divided into distinct companies, at the head of which an officer, or person of distinction, is carried in a kind of horse-litter, and followed by a sumpter camel, loaded with his treasure. This camel hath a bell fastened to either side, the sound of which may be heard at a considerable distance. Others have bells on their necks and their legs, to solace them when drooping with heat and fatigue. Inatulla also, in his tales, hath a similar reference: “The bells of the cafila may be rung in the thirsty desert.” Vol. ”

“ Kafilas are obliged to rely on the chance of Tibboos and Arabs from Mourzuk hearing of their having passed the desert, and bringing them supplies; should these fail, many poor creatures must fall a sacrifice for the salvation of the rest. These bringers of supplies usually sell their dates and [298] corn to eager buyers, at about four times the price they could obtain for them in Fezzan; besides which, the merchants gladly hire their unburthened camels to quicken their passage to a better country. ”

“ Learning at length that a kafilah was about to proceed to Tursheez, a town of Khorasan, lying in the direction of Mazenderan, he entered into an agreement 226with the director for a conveyance, but with a confidential stipulation that he was to be received in a Mohammedan character, as an Arab. The kafilah departed from Herat on the 22d of November; and as it had been agreed that he was to form one of the family of the leader, he joined the party at the appointed place, and took his station on a camel, with a bag of rice on the opposite pannier. ”

“ Before us, advancing down the hills, was Umhala, mounted, and surrounded by his followers, also mounted, in number about two hundred. As soon, apparently, as they had obtained a full and fair view of us, enabling them to estimate pretty accurately our number, they dismounted. Away went their horses, none being saddled, nor, apparently, bridled, to enjoy the sweets of the fresh grass. Then the Kaffir chief and his people formed themselves into a phalanx, certainly of most warlike appearance; each man bearing his war allowance of seven assegais, and carrying a musket in his right hand. ”

“ May 26.—Chief Kama, the only Christian Kaffir chief—I believe the only Christian Kaffir—is passing through Peddie, with his family, baggage, followers, and fifteen hundred head of cattle. His life is not safe in the neighbourhood of his brothers, Páto and Cobus Congo. He is bound for the Bechuana country, on the other side the Orange River; but, until spring commences, he will make a halt near Beaufort, and act under the protection of our nominal and drunken ally, Macomo, uncle of Sandilla, and a chief of the Gaika tribe. ”

“ Active, energetic and enterprising, the Kabyle is to be found far from home—as a soldier in the French army, as a workman in the towns, as a field labourer, or as a pedlar or trader earning the means of purchasing his bit of ground in his native village. The Kabyles are Mahommedans of the Sunnite branch and the Malikite rite, looking to Morocco as the nearer centre of their religion. Some of the Kabyles retain their vernacular speech, while others have more or less completely adopted Arabic. ”

“ The Christian Kaffir, Kama, who had served us well during this war, against the Tambookies, remonstrated when called upon to fight against the Gaikas. He was willing, he said, to defend the white man’s property and rights, and this he did with the remnant of his tribe, but he begged the Government would not insist on his attacking his own people in their haunts. Kama and his little band have not eaten the bread of idleness during the war; cattle have been rescued by them, positions defended, and safe escort to travellers afforded. ”

“ On the left flank, the horse and camel-men are drawn up, while on the right flank are ranged the riflemen, consisting partly of Jehadia, and partly of men belonging to the various Emirs, who are only specially provided with arms for the time being. Immediately after sunrise, the Khalifa comes out of the zariba, and, mounted on his horse, stands surrounded by his mulazemin and body-guard, whilst the entire army passes in review before him, the troops being generally provided with new jibbas and turbans in honour of the feast. Sometimes the Khalifa mounts on a camel ”

“ How often had we paced the verandah, anxiously watching the lurid sky, red with the fires of devastation, and listening to the continued and heavy volleys of musketry between the herds and savages on the hills above us! We never permitted ourselves to think of an attack on the town; and, as the Kaffirs seldom risk their lives or spend their powder without a chance of plunder in return, we considered our lives safe, since the cattle could be swept away from the outskirts without venturing into the town. ”

“ No considerable body of men can follow them; their tents are in the heart of the desert, and there are no wells for four days in the line of their retreat. Giddy-ben-Agah is their chief, and I alone would give fifty camels for his head: these are the people who often attack and murder travellers, and small kafilas, and the Gundowy, who respect strangers, have the credit of it.”
The men of Traita, with their chief, Eskou-ben-Coglu, came in the evening to welcome us: the well Kofei belongs to them ”

“ KAVALA, or Cavalla, a walled town and seaport of European Turkey in the vilayet of Salonica, on the Bay of Kavala, an inlet of the Aegean Sea. Pop. (1905) , about 5000. Kavala is built on a promontory stretching south into the bay, and opposite the island of Thasos. There is a harbour on each side of the promontory. The resident population is increased in summer by an influx of peasantry, of whom during the season 5000 to 6000 are employed in curing tobacco and preparing it for export. ”

“ The Kaffirs are, undoubtedly, one of the finest races of savages in existence, and of a physical type very different from, and superior to all other South African races. Their customs and institutions also are, in many cases, so peculiar and remarkable, exhibiting strong traces of similarity to the wandering tribes of Arabia, that they have naturally led to the supposition of a distinct origin, and there is certainly much to confirm the belief that they are descendants of Ishmaelite tribes, who have wandered down the east coast by the Red Sea. ”

“ I was anxiously watching the progress of events; for being some hundreds of yards from the men of the Kafilah I expected for a certainty being cut off by some rush of the whooping Bedouins, who, fast advancing, I could now see with my glass, from the inglorious position assigned to me; their bright spear-heads glistening in the sun, over the tops of the low jungle through which they were passing. At length they approached far too near to be pleasant to the 102feelings of Ohmed Mahomed, who had depended upon the mere rumour of my firearms deterring them from making an attack upon the Kafilah. ”

“ Part 1, Chapter IV. The Kaffirs and the Aborigines.
Though the publications on the Cape colony are already so numerous, and they all more or less profess to describe the native inhabitants, it is certain that we yet know very little of their real character; more especially of the character of the Kaffirs. These are often painted as an aboriginal race, “a pastoral and gentle people.” They are neither the one nor the other. They are intruders on the lands that they occupy; their habits are the most savage imaginable ”

“ Many Kaffirs are so engaged in the Cape Colony,—indeed, many thousands; and in offices of a more degrading kind than driving a wagon team—which by the way, is far from being considered an unworthy employment in South Africa, so far that the sons of the wealthiest boors may often be seen mounted upon the voor-kist and handling the long bamboo whip with all the ability of a practised “jarvey.” There is nothing odd about Congo the Kaffir being wagon-driver to the Van Wyks. ”

“ I need not recount Mr Ferguson and Thompson’s history while in the Kaffir kraal, for it was much about the same as my own, only the minister had never ceased to fulfil his duties, working so untiringly, and with such success, that Jack—gruff and most British in his contempt of the natives—had often owed his safety to the missionary’s influence with them. Our lives differed also in the fact that Kabela, the chief of their tribe, had not desired them to take unto themselves wives, neither had a Kaffir girl done either of them the honour of falling in love with their white faces. ”

“ What little meat was on the bones was soon stript off with our teeth, during which time Ebin Izaak accounted for his possession of the treat, no sheep having been killed in our Kafilah, by saying that it was the generous gift of some valued friend, belonging to the Kafilah of Mahomed Allee.
Our road lay along a smooth level plain of yellow marl, cracked in every direction by the baking heat of the sun, whilst the mirage before us mocked the dryness of the soil, by the affectation of the appearance of nature’s most refreshing gift, either to animals or to the equally thirsty earth. ”

“ Arriving at Medina three months after 'Othman's death, Kabisa presented the letter to 'Ali, who broke the seal impatiently. "What meaneth this?" he cried, starting at the blank despatch;—"let the enigma be explained.” 239
Kabisa first inquired whether his life was safe. "Safe," answered 'Ali; "the person of an Ambassador is sacred. Speak on." "Know, then," proceeded Mu'awiya's envoy, "that but now I left behind me, weeping under the blood-stained shirt of 'Othman, sixty thousand warriors, bent on revenging the Caliph's death,—and revenging it on thee!" "What!" exclaimed 'Ali, aghast, "On me! ”

“ The two kafilas from Soudan passed us to-day, on their way to Kouka; they consisted of one hundred and fifty slaves, with about twenty merchants and their servants, and thirty camels. Most of the people ran to the outskirts of the camp to see them pass, it being the custom, on these occasions, to dress out these poor victims of the most cruel avarice that certainly ever entered into the breast of man, in rags of different colours, only to be taken from them again on the procession being over. The merchants, who gratify their vanity the most in this way, lose, it is said, fewer slaves ”

“ Early the next day, after morning prayers, the Khalifa again came to see us, and asked how we were getting on. Soon after Sheikh Hamed en Nil's relatives arrived, and begged the Khalifa to allow them to present their Sheikh to him; he was admitted into his presence as a penitent, his neck in a sheba, his head sprinkled with ashes, and a sheepskin bound about his loins. On entering, he knelt down, saying, "El afu ya sidi!" (Pardon, sire!) . ”

“ Kalaza pondered for a few seconds, and then asked:
"But what makes you think he steals?"
"Well, you know what a Kafir is. Maliwe lives alongside the sheep, in a hut on the mountain—all alone. The kraal is far from the homestead. Gert Botha never gives his servants enough to eat, and Maliwe must often be hungry. There you have it—a man hungry night after night, and close to him a kraal fall of fat sheep. ”

“ August 13.—The long expected kafila arrived from Soudan, which was a signal for our departure: they had been fifty days on the road from Kano, in consequence of the waters; and had they been delayed much longer, the season would have been so far advanced as to have prevented the departure of all those merchants that had many slaves: going, as they do, poor creatures, nearly naked, the cold of Fezzan, in the winter season, kills them by hundreds. With the Soudan kafila came Khalifa, a Moor and a fighi ”

“ The Caliph laughed at his words and drew up the net, little by little, till he brought it ashore and found it full of fish; which when Khalif saw, his reason fled for joy and presently he cried, "By Allah, O trumpeter, thy luck is good in fishing! Never in my life will I part with thee! But now I mean to send thee to the fish-bazar, where do thou enquire for the shop of Humayd the fisherman and say to him, 'My master Khalif saluteth thee and biddeth thee send him a pair of frails and a knife, so he may bring thee more fish than yesterday.' Run and return to me forthright!" ”

“ The Third Kaffir War.—On the eastern border further trouble arose with the Kaffirs, towards whom the policy of the Cape government was marked by much vacillation. On the 11th of December 1834 a chief of high rank was killed while resisting a commando party. This set the whole of the Kaffir tribes in a blaze. A force of 10,000 fighting men, led by Macomo, a brother of the chief who was killed, swept across the frontier, pillaged and burned the homesteads and murdered all who dared to resist. ”

“ We were not a little indebted to the Arab merchants for the good name they gave us. They almost looked upon us as of their own nation; and although Kafirs, we, as Englishmen, were allowed to rank at least next to themselves. I really believe they would have risked their lives in our defence. Travelling in a kafila was much more pleasant than any mode we had hitherto tried; all being ready to oblige one another, and all vying in attention to us. The lake Zumbrum is about twelve miles south-south-west from Bedeguna.
Dec. 28.—At sunrise to-day the thermometer was at 45°. ”

“ I see a man standing on a hillock.” Al-Rashid asked, “What is he?”; and Ja’afar answered, “Haply he is the guardian of a cucumber-plot.” Quoth the Caliph, “Perhaps he is a pious man [279] ; I would fain go to him, alone, and desire of him his prayers; and abide ye where you are.” So he went up to Khalif and saluting him with the salam said to him, “What art thou, O man?” Replied the fisherman, “Dost thou not know me? I am Khalif the Fisherman;” and the Caliph rejoined, “What? The fisherman with the woollen gown and the honey-coloured turband [280] ?” ”