第41章 CHAPTER VII(3)

Upon my return to the camp, I was informed by the Sheik Wat Said that a detachment of troops was stationed at Tomat expressly to protect the Egyptian frontier from the raids of Mek Nimmur, who was in the habit of crossing the Atbara and pillaging the Arab villages during the dry season, when the river was fordable. This Mek Nimmur was a son of the celebrated Mek Nimmur, the chief of Shendy, a district upon the west bank of the Nile between Berber and Khartoum. When the Egyptian forces, under the command of Ismael Pasha, the son of the Viceroy Mehemet Ali Pasha, arrived at Shendy, at the time of the conquest of Nubia, he called the great Sheik Mek (from Melek, signifying king) Nimmur before him, and demanded the following supplies for his army, as tribute for the Pasha:--1,000 young girls as slaves; 1,000 oxen; and of camels, goats, sheep, each 1,000; also camel-loads of corn and straw each 1,000, with a variety of other demands expressed by the same figure. It is said that Mek Nimmur replied to these demands with much courtesy, "Your arithmetic exhibits a charming simplicity, as the only figure appears to be 1,000." In a short time the supplies began to arrive, strings of camels, laden with corn, assembled at Shendy in the Egyptian camp; cattle, goats, sheep, came in from all sides; fodder for the Egyptian cavalry, to the amount of 1,000 camel-loads, was brought to head-quarters, and piled in a huge wall that encircled the tent of the General Ismael Pasha. In the dead of night, while he slept, the crackling of fire was heard, and flames burst out upon all sides of the dry and combustible fodder; the Arabs had fired the straw in all directions, and a roar of flame in a fatal ring surrounded the Pasha's tent, which caught the fire. There was no escape! In the confusion, the Arabs fell upon the troops, and massacred a considerable number. After this success, Mek Nimmur succeeded in retiring with his people and herds to Sofi, on the Atbara, to which place we were bound; this was about twelve miles from Tomat. The body of Ismael Pasha was found beneath those of some of his women, all of whom that were within the inclosure having perished.

After this calamity the Egyptians recovered Shendy, and in revenge they collected a number of the inhabitants of all ages and both sexes. These were penned together like cattle in a zareeba or kraal, and were surrounded with dhurra-straw, which was fired in a similar manner to that which destroyed the Pasha.

Thus were these unfortunate creatures destroyed en masse, while the remaining portion of the population fled to the new settlement of their chief at Sofi.

Within the last few years preceding my arrival, the Egyptians had attacked and utterly destroyed the old town of Sofi. Mek Nimmur had retired across the Atbara, and had taken refuge in Abyssinia, where he had been welcomed by the king of that country as the enemy of the Turks, and had been presented with a considerable territory at the western base of the high mountain range. When Iarrived on the Atbara in 1861, the original Mek Nimnmur was dead, and his son, who also was called Mek Nimmur, reigned in his stead. "Nimmur" signifies in Arabic "leopard:" thus "Mek Nimmur"is the "Leopard King."

This man was constantly at war with the Egyptians, and such Arabs who were friendly to Egypt. His principal head-quarters were about seventy miles from Tomat, at a village named Mai Gubba, from which country he made successful razzias upon the Egyptian territory, which compelled a vigilant look-out during the dry season. During the rains there was no danger, as the river was immensely deep, and impassable from the total absence of boats.

The uninhabited country exactly opposite Tomat was said to abound with large game, such as elephants, giraffes, &c. as there were no enemies to disturb them.