This happened about
three months before our arrival. In a pitched battle, the
Tokrooris were defeated with great loss, and Jemma, with the
greater portion of the population, sought the assistance of
Theodore, the king of Abyssinia. Theodore summoned the rival
chiefs before him, and decided that, as Hamed had appealed to
Egypt for assistance, he should lose his seat, and remain a
prisoner in Abyssinia. Accordingly, Jemma was declared to be the
governor of the town of Gallabat, and the sheik over all
Tokrooris.
The Tokrooris are natives of Darfur, who were converted to
Mahometanism after the conquest of Northern Africa by the Arabs.
They are governed by a sultan in their own country, who strictly
prohibits the entrance of white men; thus Darfur remains
impenetrable to civilization. That country is extremely arid and
unfruitful; thus, as the pilgrims journeyed towards Mecca from
their own inhospitable soil, they passed through a land flowing
with milk and honey, with excellent pasturage and fertile soil,
in the district of Gallabat. As first settlements of men have
always been caused by some local attraction and advantage, so the
Tokroori pilgrims, on their return from Mecca, originally rested
from the fatigues of their journey in the neighbourhood of
Gallabat, as a country preferable to their own.
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