The weekly Butte record., 1862-01-04
Central Africa and the Soudan.


Central Africa and the Soudan.
Mr.. Petherick is the former British Consul
to Alden, who has Travelled extensively in
Africa aud the Soudan. His explorations
extended from Khartoum, on the White Nile,
to the regions of the Equator, over vast
space, as his sketched map testi6es, and they
are noticeable as another contribution to the
recent series which is opening up by degrees
the vast African continent. Moreover, imme-
date attention is attracted toward them by
the circumstances that at the very date of the
publication of his book, e. Egypt, the Saudan
and Central Africa,') MIR. Petherick was on
the point of starting again over the same track
tor, Captains Spoke and Grant, who are push
ing thiiher from Zanzibar, with a view to
supply them with his aid and escort down the
White Nile, with which he is famiar,) after
they have themselves crossed the great African
watershed.
Mr.. Petherick entered the service of Me
hemit Ali so long ago as l645, and the first
part of his book describes various expeditions
which he made into Arabia Petre, Egypt and
Nubia, in search of coal, which the progressist
Pasha was ardently desirous Of finding, and
afterwards of iron, on which he set equal store.
In the end, the Pasha's project for obtaining
coal was unsuccessful, though as regards iron
I hoy hoata
subsequently found in the Soudan.
MEHEMIT Ais PACIFICAToR.-Mr. Peth-
erick tells come lrightful stories of the ravages
which were committed in the Soudan, by :" the
Defterdar," Mehemit Ais Pacifca!or, who
went out to bring the Abyssinians under his
government, and succeeded in making them
cursed even that unenlightened country. An
old woman came TO him one day to complain
that one of his Soldiers had robbed her of a
pitcher of milk, which he drank before her face,
refusing to pay her for 1.-THE value being one
piasere. On being asked if she could rccog-
nize the man, and on her pointing him out, the
of the truth Of her assertion, and if false she
should answer with the loss of her head
Thereupon he ordered the prisoner to be
thrown upon the ground, and Mameluke to
cut open his stomach with hangar and as
the presence of the quantity of milk there was
undeDiabe, the Delterdar, coolly throwing
ILL 20 {1,o l-ol to
the bystanders that the soldier had merited his
fate, by having in the first instance, committed
a theft, and afterwards told deliberate lie
both of which acts were disgraceful to sol
der
This frightful parody of the Judgment of
Solomon appears, however, to have contented
him, nor was be in hurry to sacrifice another
soldier TO bis scrupulous sense Of justice. On
another occasion, we are told that peasant
who came before him to complain that SOL
dier had stolen sheep, and to whom he an
swered with " Dog, do you dare TO come to
me with such trife ?" Then composing
himself for an instant, and catching fly, at
which he was a great adept and which in his
wicked moods was favorite occupation, he
ordered his attendants to take the man before
the Kad In a few minutes the man was
blown from the muzzle of cannon, always
ready for summary executions in front Of the
Divon and which the Defterdar called the
:" Kadi" Again, when his grooms asked him
for new shoes after tie feast of the Baram,
when it is customary for servants to receive
presents from their masters, he ordered them
to be shod with iron shoes, and these were
actually nailed 10 the soles Of their feet. He
had been known to tie an Arab to gun to
make it poise better on a camels back, and to
mutilate him in the most hOrrid ways on the
slightest provocation. Seventy of his mutil-
ated victims came under the observation of Mr..
Petherick, and while relating their su0erings,
they bitterly cursed their barbarous author.
Mehemet Ali, wearied at length with the end
less complaints of his crueties, is said to have
put an end to the life of his monster son-in law
by poison.
How They GET MARRIED IN SoUDAN.-
Among the curious habits of that half-known
region, is the popularity of the marriage obga-
tions OF the Hassenyeh Arabs are too extraor-
binary to be overlooked, but Mr.. Petherick
assures US that they are nevertheless oeyond
contradiction 1t is the custom to invite
large company to the tent of the hnaneee to
witness the marriage articles, some OF which
are committed to paper. Merissa, the drink of
the country, is served without reserve; while
/ II goes round the amount of the dowry
is fixed, and the curious marital stipulation
made which provides the Hassenyeh with an
easy equivalent to the Offices Of the Divorce
Court. The motherin.law on these occasions,
draws strongly on tradition and her imagina-
tion Of circumstances corroberatiye OF the I'M
portance of her family and touching on the
| youth and beauty of the bride, will VINO up
with a sneer at the paltry amount Oh money or