Chapter XXXIII: Section 3: The Shilluks and Their Country.129

The Shilluk nation, the only people in the Sudan who acknowledge one head as immediate ruler or mek, extends along the west bank of the Nile from Kaka in the north to Lake No in the south. There is also a colony along the banks of the Sobat, near its mouth, extending 35 miles up this river to Nagdyeb, and chiefly living on the north bank.

The country is almost entirely a grass country, and as a result its wealth consists almost entirely of cattle.

A large and increasing amount of dura and other vegetables is grown, but it is often barely enough for the needs of the population, and with bad harvests famines are constantly occurring.

[Sidenote: Description of the people. Appearance.]

Physically, the Shilluks, Shulla, or Ojallo (native names) are a fine race. In colour they are glossy blue-black. The average height of the men is quite 5 feet 10 inches, and that of the women is in proportion. According to European ideas they are narrow in the shoulders and thin in the calves in proportion to their height, but they are capable of sustaining considerable fatigue on short rations, and are courageous and moral in their sexual relations.

Every man carries and cherishes a long spear, with a laurel-leaf-shaped blade and a tuft of ostrich feathers near the butt; when prepared for war he carries also a knob-kerry, an extra throwing spear or two, and a light oblong shield of wickerwork or hide. The hair is twisted by means of a mixture of gum, mud, and cow-dung, into a series of extraordinary shapes, _e.g._, cockscombs, “tam o’shanter”-like halos, plumes a foot high, knobs, etc., etc. Few clothes are worn, occasionally a twist of cloth or a leopard’s skin, but as a rule the men go stark naked. The women are more clothed. A large proportion of the Sudanese battalions are drawn from Shilluks, though no conscription is enforced.

[Sidenote: History and religion.]

The legendary history and the religion of the Shilluks are related on page 197.

[Sidenote: Character.]

In character they are haughty and independent, and hate foreigners, according to the lessons instilled by the older men who suffered under the “Turks,” the Danagla slave-dealers, and the Dervishes. Under the present regime it is hoped that this feeling will die out. They are also crafty, quarrelsome, and untrustworthy as a rule; at the same time they are thick-headed and obstinate; but, as aforesaid, their morals in relation to women are very good; they have a fine sense of discipline, and become very much attached to their leaders, whether black or white; they are exceedingly plucky, and they are the finest warriors in the Sudan.

[Sidenote: Population.]

The country is thickly populated for its size. Right away from Kaka to Lake No is a continuous string of villages lying about a mile from the river. There are only two points in the whole of this distance at which the interval between villages exceeds two miles, and these are at the points where grazing is bad (between Akurwa and Nun, and between Nielwag and Nyagwado). There are, in addition, eight groups of villages which lie 12 to 22 miles inland, away from the river.

[Sidenote: Villages.]

A careful census of the river villages in 1903 gave a result of 1,010 villages, 8,693 domiciles, and 39,312 souls.

Shilluk villages are invariably built in a circle, the open space in the centre containing nothing but a meeting-house for men only, and almost invariably a temple erected to a grandfather or great-grandfather of the reigning chief. Each domicile consists usually of three or four tukls, enclosed by a dura stalk fence. The houses are kept scrupulously clean by the women. A family occupies two or three huts; one is reserved for the householder with his wife, another as a cook-house, where merissa is also made, and the third is occupied by the retainers and children of the house. Dr. Schweinfurth records the existence of Shilluk villages of 200 huts. The largest village is Atwadoi, consisting of 120 domiciles, in a district of the same name north of Kodok. The constitutional laziness of the tribe does not prevent their erecting very well-built tukls, and many men are most proficient in thatching the roofs. The crest or peak of the tukl being completed, the workman descends, and a sheep is at once killed by the future occupant and eaten by the workmen, whose reward is completed by a further donation of two sheep.

[Sidenote: Domestic life.]

A wife can be had for a milch cow and four to five oxen, but this is a high price to pay at present. This purchase money cannot be collected by many all their lives. The Shilluks keep one, two, or three wives; a very few exceed this number.

The Shilluk woman is fruitful; there are some with eight or nine children; three, four and five children seem to be the average issue. In former times, it is said, the number of children was much larger.

Having cost the man much money and trouble the woman is well looked after and treated. Aided by the girls she has she does her house work. She helps her husband honestly in the field. She is permitted to remain for weeks on a visit to her relatives. If disobedient the man gives her a thrashing on the back with a rope end, but this occurs very seldom.

The education of the children consists practically of the phrase, “Do just the same as you see me doing.”

The native at home knows of no science or profession, hence schools and house tasks are out of the question. Girls learn from their mothers house, field and plaiting work. The boys are all cattle-tenders. At the age of 13 to 15 years they start the cultivation of a small field, and grow up to manhood by degrees, acquiring the means for a house and a wife.

As long as they are young, children are obedient, but they take no notice of what the parents say as soon as they are able to carry out any work by themselves.

[Sidenote: Cultivation.]

The cultivation carried on during the rainy season requires hard work, which the Shilluk is not inclined to give except for short periods at a time. The soil is, along the river, very rich and black, about 12 feet thick, and is named “do do”; inland it is poorer. Owing to the richness, weeds grow apace, and the land has to be weeded two or three times to avoid the young dura being choked. When gathered, thieves, mice, and elephants reduce the stock considerably, and even when he has produced, by dint of hard work, a fair pile of dura the native does not use it economically, for he eats a great deal at a time, gives generously to his poorer friends, and sells it badly.

Maize, beans, melons, ful (ground nuts), sesame, and cotton are also grown, but in only sufficient quantities for local wants. The cotton cultivation could probably be extended.

[Sidenote: Cattle breeding.]

The chief occupation of the Shilluk is, however, cattle breeding. To him it represents property and wives. The amount of cattle in the country is unfortunately smaller than formerly, for it has been reduced largely by the depredations of the Danagla, the Dervishes, and even their own kings. In comparison with the Dinkas they are poor indeed, for a Dinka will willingly part with 20 or more oxen and cows for a wife, whereas the Shilluk can only pay one cow and three or four oxen with difficulty.

The cattle census of 1903 amounted to only 12,173 head of cattle and 63,473 sheep and goats in the whole country, but they are increasing. The cattle are large and of a good stamp, and breed well, but the sheep and goats (the former of whom have hair, not wool) are small and stunted. Many cattle die every year of disease, in spite of every care being taken. One-sixth part of the sheep and goats, it is said, die during the rains, and these animals are especially exposed, not only to crocodiles, but to glanders and a sort of guinea worm which burrows between the hoofs.

During the dry season herds migrate to different parts of the country, the majority of those owned by the central district crossing over to the east bank of the Nile, to return when the new grass springs up. Similarly the cattle of the Sobat Shilluks descend to the lagoons south of the Sobat and graze with the herds of Obai and Fennikang. All the youths and boys over 10 years old accompany them, leaving their homes for several weeks.

The grass of Shilluk land generally gives little nourishment. Milk is therefore scanty. If one possesses even herds of cows the result in milk is small; curiously enough three or four out of every 10 are barren. A cow is never slaughtered; like man, it ought to expire by itself. Oxen are only killed on festal occasions, such as funeral dinners, etc. Mutton and goats’ meat are usually only eaten at festival dinners and ceremonies, or when the animal expires; or in cases of human sickness.

It is therefore very difficult to buy cattle from the Shilluks, for they cannot obtain wives for cash. It is simply impossible to buy a milch cow.

Old soldiers who have returned home to their native land, where they never get a piece of meat to eat, hanker after the flesh pots of Egypt, where they had meat nearly every day.

[Sidenote: Crafts.]

The Shilluks have their own blacksmiths, potters, thatchers, pipemakers, surgeons, boat-builders, and basket and hair plaiters.

The blacksmiths are very skilful; they prepare spears, spades for building, small axes, fishing rods, big harpoons, picks, arm rings, bells and chains, etc. Their handicraft is a travelling one; they take their tools and go about from one place to another. The pay of a blacksmith is good. The employer has to support the man working for him, and makes him a present of sheep besides.

Pottery is the handicraft of the women. They make pots, pitchers, heads for smoking pipes in any form, and make them well. They are paid in food for their work.

The thatchers make not only watertight but also very neat roofs; a skilful European cannot make one better.

Snake stings and damage from blows or spear wounds are numerous. For the treatment of these evils the surgeons are called in. In their work they chop and cut most unmercifully, but although they inflict much pain they often save lives.

To make canoes out of crooked pieces of wood is the work of the ship-builders, and, with the poor tools they have, they make fairly satisfactory boats.

The plaiting of baskets and straw mats is done by both sexes. The species of grass here being not well adapted for plaiting, the production is not grand; however, the result meets the demand.

The nimbus-like and other head-dresses of hair worn by the Shilluks are masterly work.

Families carry on these respective trades for generations, and the father and mother impart their skill to their children and next relatives.

Building houses, carving and polishing clubs and spear sticks and other common work is understood by every Shilluk.

There are villages which are especially distinguished; some in fishing or hunting, some in cattle-breeding, others in cultivating dura, etc.

[Sidenote: Occupation.]

During the rainy season, old and young, men and women, are busy; anyone who visits the country at this time of the year would believe them to be a hardworking people. At this time work is very fatiguing; no European could do it on such a meagre fare as that of the Shilluks. Diseases, fever, dysentery, colds, coughs, and pulmonary ailments are also rife at this season, both among the natives and their cattle.

During the dry season, however, there is not much to do; at most there are houses to be built and repaired, and this is done by young men. The old ones, viz., from 35 years onwards, do nothing but lie about or pay visits.

At this time of the year Shilluks begin to travel. Relatives pay mutual visits, and marriageable young men go to the Nuers and Dinkas with spears, wire, stuffs and dura, which they exchange for sheep and calves.

[Sidenote: Industries. Fishing.]

[Sidenote: Hippo hunting.]

Fishing is precariously carried out in shallow waters, either by spearing (horizontally, with bow-shaped fishing spears) or by pouncing on the fish with hemispherical wicker traps somewhat like lobster pots. Neither nets nor fishing lines appear to be used. Hippopotamus hunting is done by combined parties in canoes or dug-outs, harpooning the hippopotamus and despatching him with spears when he comes to the surface to breathe. These animals, it may be remarked in passing, are very savage, doing much harm on the land and gratuitously attacking canoes, etc., in the water.

[Sidenote: Climate.]

From January to April the climate is not bad, though April is the warmest month of the year. June to September constitutes the rainy season,[130] and from October to December the country is flooded with water: but the marshes and khors all dry up by April. From November to April the climate, though certainly not perfect, has little effect on a healthy constitution, provided good food, water, clothing, and a house are available. October is perhaps the worst month of the year.

[Sidenote: Relations with the Dinkas.]

The Shilluks do not, as a rule, agree well with the Dinkas, and there are big contrasts between the two races. The Dinka possesses many cattle and prepares his food with milk, whilst the Shilluk has only a few cattle and sprinkles his food with the dust obtained from drying and grinding dura stalks; for this he is despised by the Dinka.

Taken on the whole, the Dinkas are much more intelligent than the Shilluks. When Shilluk boys are unable to find a reply to the pointed remarks of a Dinka boy, they raise their sticks threateningly and say “The Dinka boy has a sharp tongue and must be flogged till he is quiet,” which generally stops the rather vulgar expressions used by Dinka boys.

The Dinkas are said to have formerly lived on the right bank of the lower Sobat, but were driven inland by the Shilluks.

Incited by a few Arabs, the Shilluks in former times used to raid the Dinkas and carry away their women and cattle. They however live peaceably now, thanks to the fear they have of the new Government. The two races now and then pay mutual visits, and also intermarry occasionally; a certain amount of trade is carried on between them.

[Sidenote: Arab and other immigrants.]

There are a few Selim Baggara in the neighbourhood of Kaka, but these people appear to visit the district only after the harvest to purchase dura from the Shilluks, which they are too indolent to cultivate themselves.

The Kenana Arabs, under Sheikh Faki Hamed, occupy, though they are not allowed to monopolise, the wells at Atara. They are disliked by the Shilluks on account of their dirty habits.

Another branch of the Kenana Arabs occupy a village close to Fadiang. This branch of the tribe dwells in 60 domiciles. Fama (Sheikh Yogagieb Wad Awell), a sub-district of Nyagir, contains a mixed population of Nubawis and Shilluks; the former cultivate dura largely. They were originally driven into this district by the Khalifa’s people when the latter were at Fungor, and under the Sheikh Nail they inhabit five villages, consisting of 104 domiciles, and are subject to the Shilluk Sheikh Yogagieb Wad Awel. In Fama there is also a Gowama Arab village of 40 dwellings, under Sheikh Abu El Gasim, who collected these people at Taiara on the approach of the Khalifa, and permanently settled them in his present village. The list of immigrants to Fama district is completed by the mention of the Hawazma Arabs, under Sheikh Abu El Wahab Walad Handigai. From their own account they are fearless hunters of the elephant.

A sprinkling of Kenana Arabs is to be found temporarily living in villages as far south as Dusim, and a family or two of Felata hail from Jebel Eliri, but these are not permanent residents.

[Sidenote: Administration.]

Since time immemorial the Shilluk nation has been governed by a Mek or King, and the list of reigning monarchs since the beginning is known to every well-educated Shilluk (_vide_ p. 199). For administrative purposes the country has been divided for a long time into two provinces, that of Gerr (sub-divided into Kaka, or Moama, and Kodok). which extends to Bol (inclusive), and that of Loak, which extends from Fadiet (south of Bol) to Tonga and Lake No. Each of the three districts is under a head sheikh, residing in Oriang, Debalo, and Nyabanjo respectively, and the whole is subject to a mek or king, elected in a ceremonious manner by all the headmen of the sub-districts.

Up till the last representative, Kur Wad Nedok, the meks had supreme power, which appears to have been wielded in a somewhat arbitrary manner. Wad Nedok was deposed in the spring of 1903 for numerous malpractices, and his successor, Fadiet Wad Kwad Keir, is now limited in power, and is subservient in most things to the Governor of the Upper Nile Province, a British officer resident in the town of Kodok. (_Vide_ Chap. I, p. 2).

For administration the country is still further divided into two provinces, the northern and southern, containing 29 districts altogether; the principal ones are:—

NORTHERN PROVINCE.

Name of District. Name of Head Sheikh.
----- -----

Ashargo Kudyit Wad Edor.

Golo Deng Wad Aiwol.

SOUTHERN PROVINCE.

Name of District. Name of Head Sheikh.
----- -----

Awarajok Lual Wad Agok.

Dusim Amailek Wad Amosh.

Fennikang Akurwat.

Tonga Yang Jok.

[Sidenote: Roads.]

A good track exists on either bank from Delal, south of Kaka, to Fennikang, south of Taufikia. South of this again many villages can be reached only by crossing deep khors which are filled with water all the year round. The Lolle river, nearly 200 yards wide throughout, flows past the villages of the districts Tonga and Fennikang. South of the Sobat mouth, a branch of the White Nile flows close to the villages of Dusim, Tuara, Oashi, Awarajok, and Fannidwai, and emerges into the main stream at a village named Warajok, where the telegraph cable crosses the river. This stream is about 13 feet deep throughout. It is known to old native navigators as the Bahr El Harami; sailing boats with contraband used to take this course in preference to passing the Government station of Taufikia.

[Sidenote: Game.]

There is little game in the thickly inhabited Shilluk country itself. A little way inland, however, elephant, lion, antelope, etc., are plentiful, and more especially is this the case near the river towards Lake No. The neighbourhood of Kaka and north of it is also a grand game country.