Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/350

 278 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. terms can be used in connection with a people who have scarcely emerged from barbarism, are reduced to a study of the Koran. A few magical practices, probably of African origin, are mingled with the Arab traditions; and even during this century human sacrifices were made at the chief royal ceremonies. On the accession of every sovereign, and on other occasions, two young brothers were sacrificed with great pomp, and the king with his high functionaries feasted on their flesh. Agriculture is still in a very rudimentary state, their plough consisting of a kind of hoe which a man drags after him. But this occupation is, nevertheless, highly honoured. Formerly the sultan of Dar-F6r, like the king of the Funj in Senar, the emperor of China, and other sovereigns, was extremely proud of being the first sower in his kingdom. After the rains he went forth in great pomp, accompanied by the State dignitaries and a hundred young and handsome women, and cast the seed into a prepared field, all the courtiers imitating him. Then the people sowed in their turn each in his own field, and when the harvest recom- pensed his toil, the faithful subject offered up his homage to the " royal farmer." Nearly all the mountain region is perfectly cultivated in terraces, and produces cereals and cotton. But according to Ensor, at most a hundredth part of the arable lands on the plains has been reclaimed. Industries in Dar-For are still in a very undeveloped state, except those of brickwork and pottery. But the cotton stuffs that are woven in the tents are very durable and much sought after. By the natives they are even preferred to those sold by the Dongola merchants, which are of European or American manufacture. These latter are generally used as money, but salt bricks are also employed as a means of exchange. Commercial Relations. Since the annexation of Dar-For to the vast Egj'ptian possessions, commercial relations had become frequent with the Nile. The caravans frequently journeyed between the river and El-Fasher by the market-towns of Kordof&n, or else directly towards Dabbeh, on the great bend of the river. Since 1875 the Egyptian Government has even projected a future line of railway following the natural route offered by the bed of the Wady-Melek, which is generally shunned by the caravans on account of the danger of attack from marauders. Before the Egyptian conquest, nearly all the traffic of Dar-For with the rest of the world was conducted by the medium of the " great caravan," which was increased by numerous smaller " kafilahs," setting out from the banks of the Tsad and Niger. Every year, or else every two or three years, according to the political situation and the state of the markets, the Takrur pilgrims banded themselves together into a kafilah in northern Dar-For, and the merchants combined with them, in order to take part at once in this pious duty and in a profitable work. The great caravan consisted occasionally of some thousands of persons and fifteen thousand camels. This moving army, which none of the pillaging steppe tribes dared to attack, did