Travels in Kordofan. Embracing a description of that province of Egypt, and of some of the bordering countries, with a review of the present state of the commerce in those countries, of the habits and customs of the inhabitants, as also an account of the slave hunts taking place under the government of Mehemed Ali / By Ignatius Pallme.

  • Pallme, Ignatius.
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Travels in Kordofan. Embracing a description of that province of Egypt, and of some of the bordering countries, with a review of the present state of the commerce in those countries, of the habits and customs of the inhabitants, as also an account of the slave hunts taking place under the government of Mehemed Ali / By Ignatius Pallme. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    very young, they are laid in cradles, or rather ham¬ mocks, consisting of a cotton cloth, attached with cords by its four ends to a beam. Circumcision is generally performed according to the custom of the Moslems, between the fourth and sixth year. I also met with some few tribes, where circumcision of the female was practised ; this, however, is a popular custom, totally uncon¬ nected with religious rites, and is probably intended to prove to the bridegroom, who is about to marry, that the girl is a virgin,—a circumstance to which these tribes attach much importance. The Turks, and others, have a peculiar ceremony on the occa¬ sion of their marriage festivals, by which the bride¬ groom, on the day of his marriage, convinces himself of the virginity of his bride ; but this test is liable to fallacy, which is not possible with circumcision. The operation of circumcision* is performed on girls when they are live, or, at the utmost, seven years of age, and is attended with festivities, for which no expense is shunned ; it constitutes, indeed, a festival, against which the poorer people begin to save money a year before it takes place, that nothing may be wanting to add to its celebration. From four to eight days before the period of circumcision they dance and sing all day long until late at night; but os the actual day of the operation, the dancing * Or rather, probably, excision, a custom of great antiquity.— Vide Strabo Lib. xvii., Kcu, ra izai^ia TTEpiTEfivEiv Kal rci 6>jXea £KT£jlV£LV.-TR.