Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-08-02
A Story Of the African Desert.
The vendett. Among tn, ArabIan..

which family feud was KEEP up to the
fourth or fifth generation-kept up, in
fact, until one or other of the hostile
families was extinct. As good illus
tration of how the system works, will |
tell you story with regard to the fam
lily Abade, which inhabits the land of
Berber and rules over the Corsican pas
sage in the Nubian desert between Ber- |
Der and Koraske. . .,
In the second decade, after the Turk
ish invasion of Soudan, about thirty-six
years ago, while the stern Mehemed Ali |
still held the sceptre of Egypt with iron
hand, the Turkish Governor Abbas Aga
ruled in the province of Bsrber--a man
stern and just, as the trettment of the
wild inhabitants of internal Africa and
the political condition of the newly con-
quered country at that time demanded.
Abbas Aga at one time undertook
journey of inspection intothe neighbor-
ing province OF Taxa. Tie chief of the
Ababdes, an Arabian named Chalifa,
took advantage of the abSence of the
ruler to restore his former sovereignty
in his own country. Heassembled 1000
cavalry, stormed the chief town Mu-
cherif, murdered the Turkish officials,
robbed the Treasury and declared him
self legitimate sovereign Of the coun-
try. SOP
Abbas Aga was at Cos Redieb, with
400 soldiers and two cannon, when he
received information of the1hsurrection.
He quickly returned with his escort
back to Berber, the chief town of which
the insurgents had meantime left, hav-
ling entrenched themselves at Gemneta,
close to the hill, behind wall. Abbas
Aga hemmed them in, and shot them
down to the last man. Not soul was
spared. len thousand spearsmen re-
mained dead on the spot, among the
rest the chief Chalifa.- His brother,
Baraka, stepped into his place as chief
of the Ababde. Peace and order were
thus restored for some years, till Abbas
Aga died. On receiving the news of the
death of his faithful servant Mehemed
Ali ordered the brother ofthe deceased
Suliman Aga, to go from Cairo to Ber-
Der to take possession of the property
and to bring the family that had been
left behind to Cairo. SULLIVAN Aga came
to Berber, obtained possession of the
property of his brother, and finally
brought his family, four boys, who had
mother, through the th'HSfi Hfaiblan anu oeaelt enelt
from Berber to Korosko. AS Suliman.
Aga was the deputy of the great Mehe-
med Ali, and as besides he was entrust-
ed with the transport of the State chest,
he was accompanied by seventy or
eighty soldiers The caravan road is in
the hands of the Ababde, and Baraka
collected there camels and men of his
stock. This journey was the last op-
portunity of avenging the blood of their
chief and their brethren on the blood
relations of the murderer. The deed of
vengeance arranged and resolved upon
was no secret. s.
About half way through the desert
the caravan encamped at midnight, in
the valley of SUR, and, being fatigued
by their journey, the travellers careless
ly gave themselves up to Sleep The
well known ,quietness and security of
the desert may have been the cause why
Suliman Aga, Notwithstanding that he
had much money with him, was so i'm
prudent as to fix no sentries over the
camp. In this valley the hand of ven
4 geance was to strike. The Ababdes,
who, when travelling, are armed with
swords, fell upon their enemies while
they were still sleeping, at two o'clock
in the morning, and killed Suliman Aga,
| together with ali his followers In
few minutes the eighty persons were
dead. .....
n The young children and their mother
were spared, since the custom of the
vendetta can be exercised only on men.
The property of Abbas Aga and the
State chest fell into the hands of the
assassins. The children were brought
back to the banks of the Nile, and there
exposed to their fate, and the Arabians
disappeared with their plunder into the
interior of the desert. Thereupon the
memorable Mehmed Ali ordered the
Governor of Soudan, Ahmed Pasha, to
send the head of Baraka to him and to
extort the plundered heritage and the
State chest to the last farthing from the
family of Ababde.
Ahmed Pasha fitted out suitable ex-
pedition, with the order to pursue to
the last drop of his blood Baraka, who,
after the aforementioned affair, had
fled into the territory of the neighbor-
ing family, Bischarin. Baraka was en-
trapped and cut down, together with
his adherents. His head, as had been
ordered, was sent to Cairo. In his place
his nephew Hussein Chalifa, the favor
ite son of Chalifa mentioned above, be-
came chief of the Ababde. He had to
atone for the sins of his ancestors; he
had to pay the indemnity for the plum
dered State Treasury, and the heritage
of the family of Abbas Aga. An agree
ment was entered into by which he was
bound to pay a certain monthly sum to
the heirs for thirty years, and this pc
riod of thirty years did not terminate
until two years ago. The four children
who had been left in the desert were
brought to Egypt, and there reared.
When they were grown up, one of the
brothers, Ahmed Abbas, returned to
Berber, and there obtained employment
from the government, at the same time
receiving monthly instalments of his
legacy from Hussein. .,.g
Hussein Chalifa was cleverer than his
ancestors he masked his evil designs
under a prepossessing exterior, pro-
Tossing himself to be faithful and obe-
dent servant of the ruler of Egypt. His
thirst for vengeance was not, however,
satiated-the immense sums he had to
pay, the blood of his father, of his
uncle, and of many thousands of his
stock, called aloud for vengeance. Ac-
cordingly he sought to utilize for his
own purposes the scandalous malad-
ministration of the Turkish officials.
Two years ago he succeeded in obtain