Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-10-13
SONS OF THE DESERT.
Something About the Egyptian BE.
alton and the Suez
Canal.

Inc NUMBER OF Bed0ulns VINO Joined
Arab Pasha's forces during the late
Anglo Egyptian war has been variously
estimated at from 10000 to 10000, and
although great things were expected of
these children of the desert, little or
| nothing has been heard of their exploits.
The truth is that of late Egyptian Be-
dOuins have very much degenerated.
| They are the terror of the villagers
whose inhabitants border on the de-
sert, and in acts of cruelty and vii
lainy are unsurpassed Before the Suez
canal was built the Bedouins were at
| liberty to roam from BeYruth, in Syria,
all through Arabia, Egypt and Tripoli
to the great Sahara Desert and back, but
since this great engineering work has
been completed, the Egyptian Bedouins
have been cut off from their Syrian and
Arabian brethren, and, being at war with
the Tripolitan tribes, have been obliged
to confine themselves to the desert Dor
dering on the Egyptian, Nubian and
| Abyssinian Nile. Although the area of
this desert considerably exceeds 1,000,'
900 square miles, it has been proved too
small for the roaming disposition of
the Bedouins. When the Egyptian
Bedouins could cross from Africa
into Asia, they started on their voyage
with large focks of lambs ard young
camels which graZed and grew on their
way, and were sold on arriving in Ara
bia or Syria, after march of one or two
years. With the proceeds the Bedouins
bought colts, to be again sold, and at a
large profit, on their return to Egypt or
Tripoi, or even Algiers or Morocco.
Their frequent visits to Mecca and
Medina, which were Ct On their way,
inspired them with "a religion to
| deter them from committing acts of
| cruelty and bloodshed, and their savage
natures were somewhat tempered by
contact with civilization at the various
markets they visited.
Now, all this is changed, and the
Egyptian Bedouins, finding themselves
cut off from the outer world, with no
prospects of trade, have become desper-
ate assassins, thieves, kidnappers and
slave dealers. The latter is their most
profitable occupation. The Bedouins yet
acknowledge their chiefs and pay very
great respect to them. These are either
hereditary, and often have the rank Of
Emir, or are selected because of their
age, wisdom or great bravery. Such
Chiefs are called Sheiks. The Emir or
Sheik is an absolute monarch, with the
right to put to death any member of his
tribe. He makes all treaties with other
tribes, leads in war, buys and sells for
! the tribe, and fixes the route, destination
, and duration of an expedition. He has
light to claim as his wife the daughter
of any of his subjects, and has the first
choice OF any slaves that may be cap
tured. The strength of the tribes varies
from 500 to 5000 or 10, 600 men.
Their kidnapping and slave dealing
are followed in this way: The Emirs
and Sheiks meet on the borders of the
Red Sea, as near Souakim as possible, in
November of each year, when they de-
termine the kidnapping ground of each
tribe and the roads to be taken, that one
tribe may not interfere with another.
Bonds are given for the tultillment of
this compact, and number of maidens
are for better security Consigned by each
tribe to the Jemmah tribe, which acts as
referee and keeps them as hostages until
the tribes return, when, if it is proved
that tribe has broken faith, the maidens
deposited by the tribe are handed over to
the tribe that has been injured. Having
made their arrangements they break
bread, share SALT and pass the narghileh,
without which no Bedouin compact is
considered sealed. Each tribe then
| starts on the route assigned to
| it. So secret are these plans
that although the Nubians, Abyssini-
ans and Soudanese are always on
the alert. they seldom know of the pres
euce of Bedouins until it is too late. The
Bedouins hide for few days in the
vicinity of each village which they intend
| to raid, and after ascertaining the
number of villagers, their habits and
means of resistance, proceed on their
voyage into the interior until they arrive
at the end of the country which their
agreement entities them to pillage. The
| tribe then retraces its footsteps, and
attacks village after village, each accord
! ing to a prearranged plan. Various
methods are employed. One is to set
fire to village in many places simulta-
neouslY, and as the terrified inhabitants
escape from the conhagration they fall
into the hands of the Bedouins, who
invariably murder the old men and
women and the very young children,
but carry off those between and 10
years old. The houses and mud huts
|
sacked, and the slaves are made to carry
the booty.
The poor creatures are chained to-
gether. and often carry goods and drive
cattle once their own. They are kept
together in large circle formed by the
| Bedouins on horseback. Another method
Of the Bedouins is to fall suddenly on
the women of a village, congregated at
the common well, lift them into their
saddles and gallop off, or to ride through
| the fields and carry off all the youths of
a village that are found a. work. Should
there be no loads for the slaves to carry
a number of Bedouins ride to the nearest
market town and buy ivory, gums, shells,
ostrich feathers, and dYewoods, with
which they load their victims, and which
they sell at large profit on their return
to Souakim. The shameful, cruel and
atrocious treatment these slaves
endure is a matter of notoriety
in the East, the sufferings of
the younger girls and boys
being especially dreadful. Foreign
anti-slavery societies have repeatedly at
tempted to put stop to this, but have
| failed, on account of the distance from
| civilization at which these countries lay.
The late Khedive of Egypt employed
Colonel Gordon and Count della Salla,
with full power to act, but, although
they worked conscientiously and had
five thousand soldiers, they not only
| failed, but were often attacked and
beaten by combined tribes of Bedouins,
who carried many Egyptian soldiers into
slavery. Of late many districts have been
entirely depopulated, and unless stringent
measures are taken, the whole of Upper
Egypt, including the Nubian and Kar-
tum Nile regions, will be deserted.
On their arrival in the vicinity of Sou
akin, the Bedouins find plenty of ready
purchasers for their slaves. These come
from Afghanistan, Turkistan, Persia,
Beloochistan and Arabia, and very often
| from Zanzibar, and although British
men-of-war are continually cruising off
this coast, it is seldom that slave dhow
| is captured. The men and women are
sold for domestic or agricultural pur-
poses, end those of the young girls who
are likely to become pretty are sent to
the seraglios of Constantinople. The
boys fare even worse. One use
they are put to is service in the
Persian pearl fisheries, where the little
I r ii u