On the day after our arrival the conditions of the accord between the Pasha and the Sultan of Sennaar were arranged and sealed; by which the latter recognized himself as subject and feudatory of the Grand Seignor, and surrendered his dominions to the supremacy and sway of the Vizier of the Padischah, Mehemmed Ali Pasha. The next day the Tchocadar Aga of his Highness the Viceroy of Egypt, who had arrived in our camp two months past, embarked in the canja of the Pasha Ismael to carry the documents of this important transaction to Cairo.
For several days after our arrival at Sennaar, our camp was incommoded by furious squalls of wind, accompanied with thunder, lightning, and torrents of rain. The Pasha therefore determined to caserne the troops in the houses of the town, and to stay there during the rainy season. In ten days after our arrival, the army was distributed throughout the town and in the villages on the opposite bank of the river. The Pasha himself took up his quarters in a large house of the Sultan of Sennaar, which had been prepared for his accommodation.
A few days after our arrival, a slave informed the Pasha that the Sultan of Sennaar, before our arrival, had thrown into the river some cannon. The Pasha ordered search to be made; four iron guns were discovered by divers, and were dragged on shore. They appeared to me to be ordinary ship guns; no mark or inscription was found on them to enable me to judge where they were fabricated. I believe them however to have been originally obtained of the Portuguese by the Abyssinians, from whom the people said the Sultan of Sennaar had taken them in some ancient war between the two kingdoms.
On the 19th of Ramadan, a party of Bedouins were ordered by the Pasha to go in pursuit of some hundred black slaves of the Sultan of Sennaar, who some time before our arrival had run away, taking with them some of his best horses. On the 23d they returned, bringing with them between five and six hundred negroes of both sexes. But on Malek Shouus going to the Pasha and representing to him that these people were not the fugitives in question, the Pasha ordered them to be immediately released and to return to their respective villages.
About the same time the Pasha detached Cogia Achmet with thirteen hundred cavalry and three pieces of artillery to the upper country of Sennaar between the Bahar el Abiud and the Nile to secure its submission.56And on the 26th of the moon the Divan Effendi was sent with three hundred men across the Nile, to secure that part of the kingdom of Sennaar which lies on the east side of the Nile.57
Seven days after our arrival in Sennaar I put in execution a resolution the state of my health obliged me to determine on, and demanded of the Pasha permission to return to Cairo. I represented to him, that all the critical operations of the campaign were now happily concluded, and crowned with the fullest success; and that, therefore, he could have no particular need of me any longer. I stated to him that repeated sickness during the campaign had rendered my health very infirm, and that a residence of four months at Sennaar, during the rainy season, would probably destroy me; and as my presence for that time at least could be no ways necessary, I requested him to grant the permission demanded, telling him that if, after the rainy season was finished, he should think proper to recall me to camp that I would obey the summons. The Pasha hesitated, and for several days declined granting my request; but on its being represented to him that the reasons I had stated were really just and sufficient causes for my return, his Excellence finally told me, that on the return of Cogia Achmet he should dispatch a courier to Cairo, and that I should accompany him.
On the third day of the Feast of Bairam I saw the Sultan of Sennaar parade the town in great ceremony. He was mounted on a superb horse, and clothed in green and yellow silks, but his head was bare of every thing but its natural wool. Over his head an officer carried a large umbrella of green and yellow silks in alternate stripes. He was accompanied by the officers of his palace, and his guard, beautifully mounted, and followed by the native population of Sennaar, both men and women, who uttered shrill cries, which were now and then interrupted by the sound of a most lugubrious trumpet which preceded the Sultan, and which was blown by a musician who, judging from the tones he produced, seemed to be afflicted with a bad cough.
On the 7th of the moon Shawal, the Divan Effendi returned to Sennaar, having crushed all attempts to oppose the establishment of the Pasha's authority in the eastern part of the kingdom of Sennaar, and bringing with him three of the chiefs of the refractory, and three hundred and fifty prisoners, as slaves. The events of this expedition were related to me as follows: "We marched without resistance for eight days, in the direction of the rising sun, through a country fine, fertile, and crowded with villages, till we came to some larger villages near a mountain called 'Catta,' where we found four or five hundred men posted in front of them to resist our march They were armed with lances, and presented themselves to the combat with great resolution. But on experiencing the effects of our fire-arms, they took to flight toward the mountain; two hundred of them were hemmed in, and cut to pieces, and three of their chiefs were taken prisoners, as well as all the inhabitants we could find in their villages; after which we returned."
On my demanding if water was plentiful at a distance from the river, my informant replied, that "there were wells in abundance in all the numerous villages, with which the country abounds; and also numerous rivulets and streams, which at this season descend from the mountains. The troops, he said, had forded two small rivers (probably the Ratt and the Dandar); he added, that the country abounded in beautiful birds and insects, one of the latter he brought with him; it was a small scarabeus, covered with a fine close crimson down, exactly resembling scarlet velvet. The people of the country he described as very harmless, and exceedingly anxious to know what had brought us to Sennaar to trouble them."
Two of these Chiefs taken prisoners the Pasha ordered to be impaled in the market-place of Sennaar. They suffered this horrid death with great firmness. One of them said nothing but "there is no God but God, and Mohammed is his Apostle," which he frequently repeated before impalement; while the other, named Abdallah, insulted, defied, and cursed his executioners, calling them "robbers and murderers," till too weak to speak, when he expressed his feelings by spitting at them.58The third Chief was detained prisoner, in order to be sent to Cairo.
During my stay in Sennaar, I endeavored to get information of the people of the country, and of the few caravan merchants found in the market-place of Sennaar, relative to the Bahar el Abiud and the Nile. The information I received was as follows: "The source of the Adit (so the people of Sennaar call the river that runs by their city) is in the Gibel el Gumara, (i.e. that great range of mountains called the Mountains of the Moon,) about sixty days march of a camel from Sennaar. in a direction nearly south. It receives, at various distances above Sennaar, several smaller rivers which come from Abyssinia and from the mountains south of Sennaar. The general course of the Bahar el Abiud (they said) was nearly parallel with that of the Adit, but its source was much farther off, among the Gibel el Gumara, than that of the Adit. The Bahar el Abiud, they said, appears very large at the place where the Pasha's army crossed it, because it is augmented from the junction of three other rivers, one from the south-west, and two others from the east, running from the mountains south of Sennaar."59On my asking them, "whether the Bahar el Abiud was open and free of shellals or rapids?" they said, "that at a place called Sulluk, about fifteen days march above its junction with the Adit, (i.e. above the place where we crossed the Bahar el Abiud,) there was a shellal, which they believed that boats could not pass.60On my asking whether, by following the banks of the Bahar el Abiud and the river that empties into it from the west, it was not possible to reach a city called Tombut or Tombuctoo?" They said, that "they knew nothing of the city I mentioned, having never been farther west than Kordofan and Darfour."
This was all I could learn: but I am disposed to believe, that the main stream of the Bahar el Abiud cannot have its source in the same latitude with that of the Adit, because it commenced its rise, at least, this year, about twenty days sooner than did the Adit, and the different color of its waters proves that it flows through a tract differing in quality of soil from that through which passes the Adit. The interesting question, "whether the Niger communicates with the Bahar el Abiud?" will, however, very probably be determined before the close of another year, as the Pasha will probably send an expedition up that river.
Secondly, I am further disposed to believe that the main stream of the Adit, or Nile of Bruce, does not take its rise in Abyssinia, but in the mountains assigned as the place of its origin by the people of Sennaar. For on viewing the mass of water that runs by Sennaar even now, when the river has not attained two-thirds of the usual magnitude it acquires during the rainy season, I can by no means believe that the main source of such a river is only about three hundred miles distant from Sennaar.
The tract of country included between the Adit and the Bahar el Abiud is called El Gezira, i.e. the island: because, in the season of the rains, many rivers running from the mountains in the south into the Bahar el Abiud and the Adit, occasion this tract to be included by rivers.
I am disposed to believe, that the representations made of the climate of this country are much exaggerated; as, except during the rainy season, and immediately after it, the country is a high and dry plain,61by no means excessively hot, because the level of the countries on the Nile being constantly ascending from Egypt, occasions Sennaar to be many hundred feet higher than the level of Egypt, which is proved by the rapid descent of the waters of the Nile toward the latter country. The east and south winds also are, in Sennaar, cool breezes; because they come either from the mountains of Abyssinia, or the huge and high ranges which compose the Gibel el Gumara. I was in Sennaar at Midsummer, and at no time found the heat very uncomfortable, provided I was in the open air, and under a shade. In the cottages and houses, indeed, on account of their want of ventilation, the heat was excessive.
I made during my stay in Sennaar frequent inquiries about the fly mentioned by Bruce; the people of Sennaar said they knew nothing of it;62but, in reply to my inquiries, referred to a worm, which they say comes out of the earth during the rainy season, and whose bite is dangerous.
The reptile species in Sennaar are numerous. The houses are full of lizards, which, if you lie on the floor, you may feel crawling or running over you all night. I saw at Sennaar a serpent of a species, I believe, never before mentioned. It was a snake of about two feet long, and not thicker than my thumb, striped on the back, with a copper colored belly, and a flat head. This serpent had four legs, which did not appear to be of any use to him, as they were short and hanging from the sides of his belly. All his motions, which were quick and rapid, were made in the usual manner of serpents, i.e. upon its belly.63
I do not feel authorized to give an opinion as to the national character of the people inhabiting the kingdom of Sennaar; but I am obliged to consider the inhabitants of the capital as a very detestable people. They are exceedingly avaricious, extortionate, faithless, filthy and cruel.64The men are generally tall and well shaped, but the females are, almost universally, the ugliest I ever beheld; this is probably owing to their being obliged to do all sorts of drudgery.
The children of these people, and indeed of all the tribes on the Upper Nile, go quite naked till near the age of puberty. A girl unmarried is distinguished by a sort of short leather apron, composed of a great number of leather thongs hanging like tassels from a leather belt fastened round the waist: and this is all her clothing, being no longer than that of our mother Eve after her fall. The married women, however, are generally habited in long coarse cotton clothes, which they wrap round them so as to cover their whole person, except when they are at work, when they wrap the whole round the waist.
As to the manufactures of the people of the Upper Nile, they are limited, I believe, to the following articles, Earthenware for domestic uses and bowls for pipes; cotton cloths for clothing; knives, mattocks, hoes and ploughs, for agriculture, water-wheels for the same; horse furniture, such as the best formed saddles I ever rode on, very neatly fabricated; stirrups in the European form, made of silver for the chiefs, and not like those of the Turks; large iron spurs, bits with small chains for reins, to prevent them from being severed by the stroke of an enemy's broadsword; long and double edged broadswords, with the guard frequently made of silver; iron heads for lances, and shields made of the hide of the elephant; to which may be added, that the women fabricate very beautiful straw mats.
There is a general resemblance, in domestic customs, among all the peoples who inhabit the borders of the Nile from Assuan to Sennaar. They differ, however, somewhat in complexion and character. The people of the province of Succoot are generally not so black as the Nubian or the Dongolese. They are also frank and prepossessing in their deportment. The Dongolese is dirty, idle, and ferocious. The character of the Shageian is the same, except that he is not idle, being either an industrious peasant or a daring freebooter. The people on the third cataract are not very industrious, but have the character of being honest and obliging. The people of Berber are by far the most civilized of all the people of the Upper Nile. The inhabitants of the provinces of Shendi and Halfya are a sullen, scowling, crafty, and ferocious people; while the peasants of Sennaar inhabiting the villages we found on our route, are a respectable people in comparison with those of the capital. Throughout the whole of these countries there is one general characteristic, in which they resemble the Indians of America, namely, courage and self-respect. The chiefs, after coming to salute the Pasha, would make no scruple of sitting down facing him, and converse with him without embarrassment, in the same manner as they are accustomed to do with their own Maleks, with whom they are very familiar. With the greatest apparent simplicity they would frequently propose troublesome questions to the Pasha, such as, "O great Sheck, or O great Malek; (for so they called the Pasha) what have we done to you, or your country, that you should come so far to make war upon us? Is it for want of food in your country that you come to get it in ours?" and others similar.
On the 14th of the moon Shawal, Cogia Achmet returned to Sennaar, bringing with him about two thousand prisoners as slaves, consisting almost entirely of women and children. The events of his expedition were related to me as follows: He marched rapidly for ten days in a direction about south-west of Sennaar, (the capital) without resistance, through a well-peopled country, without meeting with any opposition till he came to the mountains of Bokki, inhabited by Pagans, the followers of the chief who had rejected the Pasha's letter. They were posted on a mountain of difficult access; but their post was stormed, and after a desperate struggle, they found that spears and swords, though wielded by stout hearts and able hands, were not a match for fire-arms. They fled to another mountain, rearward of their first position. They were again attacked by cannon and musketry, and obliged to fly toward a third position: in their flight, they were in part hemmed in by the cavalry of Cogia Achmet, and about fifteen hundred of them put to the sword. Those who escaped took refuge in a craggy mountain, inaccessible to cavalry. Cogia Achmet, believing he had made a sufficient proof to them that resistance on their part was unavailing, and the troops having suffered great distress by reason of the almost continual rains, after sweeping the villages of these people of all the population they could find in them, resumed his march for Sennaar. On their return, they had to ford several deep streams, at this season running from the mountains, and both horse and man were almost worn out before they reached Sennaar.
The people of Bokki are a hardy race of mountaineers—tall, stout, and handsome. They are Pagans, worshippers of the sun, which planet they consider it as profane to look at. The prisoners brought in by Cogia Achmet resembled in their dress the savages of America; they were almost covered with beads, bracelets, and trinkets, made out of pebbles, bones, and ivory. Their complexion is almost black, and their manners and deportment prepossessing. The arms of these people gave me great surprise: they consisted of well-formed and handsome helmets of iron, coats of mail, made of leather and overlaid with plates of iron, long and well fashioned lances, and a hand-weapon exactly resembling the ancient bills formerly used in England by the yeomanry. They were represented to me by the Turks as dangerous in personal combat. They had never seen fire-arms before, and they nevertheless withstood them with great intrepidity. They said, I was informed, that a fusee was "a coward's weapon, who stands at a safe distance from his enemy, and kills him by an invisible stroke."65
On the 17th, the courier carrying the information to Cairo of this expedition and its results, embarked in a canja to descend the river as far as Berber, from whence he would proceed by the desert to Egypt. Agreeably to the promise of the Pasha, I accompanied him. We arrived at Nousreddin in Berber in five days and nights. Having the favor of the current, and sixteen oarsmen on board, we descended with great rapidity. The view of the country from the river is not pleasing, as the villages lie almost invariably far off from the river; the country, therefore, has the appearance of being almost uninhabited. We saw great numbers of hippopotami, who, in the night, would lift their heads out of the water at no great distance from the canja. They were sometimes fired at, but without apparent effect. We stopped, during the night, for an hour at Shendi, to leave orders from the Pasha to a small garrison of Turkish troops stationed there.66The river Nile, below the point of junction with the great Bahar el Abiud, presents a truly magnificent spectacle.67Between Halfya and Shendi, the river is straitened and traverses a deep and gloomy defile formed by high rocky hills, between which the Nile runs dark, deep, and rapidly for about twelve or fifteen miles. On emerging from this defile, the river again spreads itself majestically, and flows between immense plains of herbage, bounded only by the horizon: its banks nearly full, but not yet overflowed. About thirty miles above Nousreddin, we passed the mouth of the Bahar el Iswood (on the eastern shore); it is the last river that empties into the Nile. I estimated it at about two-thirds of a mile broad at its embouchure. The Nile, below the point of junction with this river, is more than two miles from bank to bank, at this season. During the two first days of our voyage, we had some severe squalls and very heavy rains; but after passing the territory of Sennaar, we had a sky almost without a cloud.
On our arrival at Nousreddin, no more dromedaries could be immediately obtained than were sufficient to mount the courier and his two guides. I was, therefore, obliged to tarry five days in Nousreddin before I could find a caravan journeying to Egypt.
On the 28th of Shawal, I quitted Nousreddin, along with a caravan on its way to Egypt from Sennaar, conducted by a soldier attached to the Cadilaskier of the army of Ismael Pasha, who was conducting to Egypt twenty-two dromedaries and camels, and some slaves, belonging to the Cadilaskier, and four fine horses belonging to the Pasha.
We started at about three hours before noon, and after marching for three hours, stopped at a village named Sheraffey, to obtain rations for the horses and camels to subsist them through the desert. Our route lay on the outside of the villages, and on the border of the desert. The villages are numerous and well built of sun-dried bricks, and the face of the country, on our side of the river, perfectly level.
We stayed at Sheraffey until the next morning: the conductor of the caravan not being able to obtain at this place the durra he wanted for his cattle, we proceeded to a village called Hassah, which is about an hour's march from Sheraffey. We stayed there till next morning.
On the 30th of the Moon, at day-light, we mounted our camels, and proceeded on our road, which lay on the skirts of the desert. We passed a continual succession of large, well-built and populous villages, lying about a mile distant from the river; the weather serene and cool, as it has been since our arrival in Berber. We halted at about the middle of the forenoon, by a village called Abdea, until an hour and a half before sunset, when we again set forward, and after marching for three hours and a half, halted for the remainder of the night in a small village, half in ruins. The reason of our short marches and frequent stoppages was, to give the conductor of the caravan opportunities to make provision for passing the desert. He might have done it at any of the villages, had he been content to pay the price demanded; but as he was a man who seemed to hold hard bargains in horror, and to love money with great affection, he did not give the latter for durra till he was absolutely obliged to make the afflictive exchange.
On the 1st of Zilkade we started at daylight, and marched till about two hours after sunrise, when we stopped at some villages called Gannettee. The country we passed since yesterday is the desert, which comes down close to the river's bank, presenting but few spots fit for cultivation. We were informed last night, that the camp of Mehemmet Bey, who is on his way from Egypt with five thousand men, to take possession of Darfour and Kordofan, is on the other side of the river.68The weather continues serene and not very hot. Stayed at Gannettee till about the middle of the afternoon, when we proceeded on our journey through a a desert and dreary country, without either habitations or cultivation, as the desert comes here down to the river. The rocks and stones of the desert are generally of black granite. No verdure was to be seen, except on the margin of the river. The river hereabouts is much impeded by rocks and rapids, but contains many beautiful islands, some of them very large, fertile, populous, and well cultivated. Malek Mohammed el Hadgin commands this country. His province, called "El Raba Tab," contains eighty-eight large and fertile islands, and the shores of the river adjacent. He has a very high character for courage, morals, and generosity; he resides on the great island of Mograt, which is said to be about sixty miles long.69
We halted at about three hours before midnight on the bank of the river, within hearing of a Shellal, where the river forms a regular cataract, except a small pass on the easterly shore. After reposing the camels an hour and a half, and refreshing ourselves with bread and the muddy water of the Nile, we recommenced our march, which was continued without cessation till an hour before noon next morning, always through the desert, in order to cut a point of land formed by an angle in the river, when we stopped under the shade of some fine date trees on the bank of the river, and in view of one of its large and ever verdant isles, called Kandessee, in a small island adjoining which Khalil Aga, my companion, says he saw, when he ascended the third cataract,70a pyramid more modern and fresh than any he had seen in these countries. Possibly the island of Kandessee takes its name from the celebrated Candace, who, in the reign of Nero, repulsed and defeated the Roman legions, and this pyramid may be her tomb. Under the date trees, on the bank of the river opposite to this island, we refreshed ourselves with our usual repast, bread and water, as the people of a village close by would give us meat neither for love, money, nor soap,71of which latter article they stand in great but unconscious need.
3d of Zilkade quitted our station about two hours after midnight, and went on our way. Our route continued to lie through the desert, but not far from the bank of the river; about three hours before noon in the morning came to a small village, named Haphasheem, lying on the margin of the river, opposite a verdant island it was delightful to look at. The river on the third cataract, Khalil Aga tells me, contains a continual chain of such.72I could not get any thing to relish our usual repast of bread and water, except some dates.
My eyes to-day were much inflamed by the reflection of the sun's rays from the sand, and at night were very painful and running with matter. Stayed here till about the same hour after midnight as yesterday, when we again set forward. The country the same as yesterday, except that we saw several stony mountains in the desert, some of them at no great distance from the river. Some of these mountains must contain ruins, as at the village where we halted to-day, which we did at about noon, we found a very large and well-fashioned burnt brick, which the peasants said was brought from one of these mountains. The whole of the country through which we have passed for four days contains no cultivable land on this side of the river, except on its margin; but in compensation for this sterility, the islands in this part of the river, which are numerous, very large, and very beautiful, are without a superior for luxuriance of vegetation. Every day when we have come to the river to halt and refresh ourselves, we found one or more in view. At this last station I was lucky enough to purchase a small kid at the enormous price of twelve piasters, the first meat we had eaten for four days. Applied at night a poultice of dates to my eyes, which were much inflamed by today's march, and found some relief from the remedy. At about three hours after midnight we again resumed our travel, and marched till an hour before noon of to-day, the 5th of Zilkade expecting to arrive at the place where the road quits the river, and plunges into the great eastern desert of Africa; but the weather becoming close and very hot, and the camels fatigued, we halted to repose them and ourselves on the bank of the river. Shortly after our arrival two of the camels of the caravan died. Our route still lay through plains and over hills of rock and sand, which come down to the river's edge, but the river, as usual, presented a continual succession of beautiful islands.
The death of the two camels having alarmed the conductor of the caravan for the others, we stayed in this place till the middle of the second day after to repose and refresh them previous to entering the desert. During our stay here I engaged a man to swim over to the island opposite, to purchase some durra flour and dates. He could, however, obtain only some dates. I was obliged, in consequence, to reconcile myself to entering the desert short of provisions. I had made provision in Berber for fifteen days, being assured that in twelve days we should have passed the desert, and arrive at the villages on the bank of the Nile four days march above Assuan. The unexpected retardments of our march from Berber had, however, made us nine days in arriving at the place where the road turns into the desert. On the 7th of the moon, at about two hours before sunset, we quitted our halting-place, and after only one hour's march by the border of the river came to a place where the Nile suddenly turns off toward the south-west.73At this place the guide told us we were to fill our waterskins, and to quit the river for the desert.
We stayed here till the afternoon of the 8th of the moon.
The two last nights we have kept watch, and only slept with our hands upon our arms, robbers being, we were told, in this neighborhood, who had lately pillaged some caravans. We were not, however, molested. The desert, on the border of the river hereabouts, abounds with doum trees, which are inhabited by great numbers of monkeys. Its fruit furnishes their food. This fruit consists in a large nut, on the outside covered with a brown substance almost exactly resembling burned gingerbread. It is, however, so hard that no other teeth and jaws, except those of a monkey or an Arab, are well capable of biting it. About one hour's march below our present position is an encampment of Bedouins and the tomb of a Marabout. The people of the country and the caravans had piled his grave with camels' and asses saddles, probably intended as offerings to interest his good offices in the other world.
At about four hours after the noon of the 8th, we quitted the banks of the Nile, and turned into the desert, carrying as much water as we well could, myself taking four water-skins for myself, Khalil Aga, and a black slave of mine. We marched till about an hour before midnight, when we halted for an hour to breathe the camels and to eat a morsel of bread, after which we continued our way till nearly day-break, when one of the Pasha's horses falling down and refusing to rise, it was necessary to wait till the animal had taken a little rest. We threw ourselves upon the sand, and slept profoundly for two hours, when we were roused to continue our journey. We proceeded till about two hours before noon, when we halted in a low sandy plain, sprinkled here and there with thorny bushes. These bushes afforded food for the camels, and a miserable shelter from the sun for ourselves. We shoved embodies under them as closely to their roots as the thorns would admit, to sleep as well sheltered as possible from the burning rays of the vertical sun. But sound sleep in this condition was impossible, as every half-hour the sun advancing in his course contracted or changed the shadow of the bush, and obliged us to change our position; as to sleep in his rays in this climate is not only almost impossible but dangerous, it almost infallibly producing a fever of the brain.
The country we traversed this first day's journey is a level plain of sand and gravel, with scattered mountains of black granite here and there in view, where no sound is heard but the rush of the wind. The weather was cool enough during the day, and coldish in the night.74In the afternoon we again set forward, proceeding and halting as yesterday, viz. once for an hour about two hours before midnight, and once again a little before day-break for an hour and a half. The desert continued to exhibit the same aspect as before till about midnight, when we quitted the plains to enter among gloomy defiles, winding between mountains of black granite. We passed one chain, and at a little beyond the entrance of another, lying about two leagues to the north of the first, the guide told us that we were near the well Apseach; soon after we arrived at a place containing bushes. Here the caravan halted, and those who wanted fresh water filled their water-skins from the well which lies in the mountains, about an hour's march from the place where we halted. This well is at the bottom of an oblique passage leading into one of the mountains, at the termination of which is found no great quantity of sweet water deposited by the rains which fall in this country about the time of the summer solstice.75During the last two days I traveled in great pain; the reflection of the sun from the sand, and the strong wind from the north (prevalent at this season in the desert), which blew its finer particles into my eyes, in spite of all my precautions to shelter them, exasperated and inflamed their malady to a great degree, which the want of sufficient shelter from the sun, during the time of repose, contributed to aggravate.
We stayed near the well till about sunset, when we resumed our travel, and at about three hours after sunrise on the morning of the 10th, came to a rock in a sandy plain, where the conductor of the caravan ordered a halt. We distributed ourselves round this rock as well as we could, in order to repose;76Khalil Aga and myself making a covering from the sun by means of my carpet, propped up by our fusees and fastened by the corners to stones we placed upon the rock, by means of our shawls and sashes. We stayed here till the middle of the afternoon, when we mounted our camels in order to reach the well Morat as soon as possible, in order to water those patient and indispensable voyagers of the desert.77We traversed a tolerably level but rocky tract till about two hours after midnight, when we reached the well. It lies in a valley between two high chains of mountains of black granite. Its water is somewhat bitter, as its name imports, and is not drank by travelers except when their water-skins are exhausted. It serves, however, for the camels of the caravans, and for the inhabitants of two Arab villages in the vicinity, named "Abu Hammak" and "Dohap" who brought their camels to water here the morning after our arrival. These poor but contented people are obliged to subsist, for the most part, upon their camels' milk, their situation affording little other means of nourishment. They are, however, independent, and remote from the tyranny and oppression which afflicts the people of most of the countries of the east.78
On the rocks near the well we saw some rude hieroglyphics, representing bulls, horses, and camels, cut in the granite, in the manner of those found in the rocks near Assuan, on the south side of the cataract. Our guide tells us that such cuttings in the rocks are found in many of the mountains of the desert.
During our stay at Morat a violent dispute had arisen among the Arabs of our caravan about some money which had been stolen from one of them. The man suspected of the theft endeavored to justify himself by much hard swearing, but circumstances being strong against him, I told the man who had been robbed, that if the money was not restored previous to our arrival at Assuan, I would speak to the Cacheff about the affair, who would take the proper measures to detect and punish the thief. In consequence of this menace, the man robbed, next morning had the satisfaction to find unexpectedly that his money had been secretly restored and deposited among the baggage, from whence it had been stolen.
On the 13th, at sunset, we quitted Morat; and after a winding march among the hills for five hours, we arrived at a broad valley, surrounded by high mountains and abounding in doum trees, the first we had seen since we quitted the river. This place is called "El Medina." It contains an Arab village, whose inhabitants gain something by supplying the caravans with goats, of which they have many, and by furnishing them with water, of which they possess several reservoirs filled by the rains. We reposed for the rest of the night under the doum trees, and in the morning regaled ourselves with the pure and wholesome water of El Medina, which was to me particularly grateful after being obliged to drink, for several days, either the muddy water we had brought from the river, or that of Apseach, which had become heated by the sun, and impregnated with a disgusting smell, derived from the new leather of the water-bags which contained it. I bought here a fat goat and some milk, which made us a feast, which hunger and several days fasting on bad bread made delicious.
We stayed here to water and repose the camels till the afternoon of the second day after our arrival, when we recommenced our march for the river, whose distance we were told was three days march from El Medina. During our stay at El Medina, Khalil Aga my companion was taken very ill with vomiting and purging, occasioned by having drank of the water of Morat, against which I had remonstrated without effect. He did not get quit of the consequences of his imprudence for several days.
On the 15th, in the afternoon, we commenced our march for the river. The desert hereabouts resembles that we passed the two first days after our quitting the river, being a sandy plain studded with hills and mountains of granite. We proceeded till about three hours after midnight, when we lay down to repose till day-break, when we again mounted and continued our journey till two hours before noon, when we stopped at a rock which had some holes in it, where we sheltered ourselves from the sun, and dined with appetite on some coarse durra bread baked upon camel's dung.
By the middle of the afternoon we were again on our way, which led through the deep and winding valleys of three mountains of calcareous stone, which indicated the proximity of the river, and over hills of deep sand, with which the eddies of the wind had in many places filled those valleys. Since we left Morat till we came to these mountains the granite hills had become rarer, others of calcareous stone here and there presented themselves, and the level of the desert was constantly ascending79I have no doubt that the level of the interior of the desert is lower than the bed of the river.
During the passage over these hills several of the camels gave out, that of my black slave among the rest.80Four hours after sunrise we came to a valley, where there was here and there some herbs of the desert, where we stopped to let the camels eat, they having fasted since we left El Medina.
We were obliged to look among the rocks for shelter from the sun, each one arranging himself as well as he could to eat durra bread and drink warm water, and sleep as soundly as possible. During the course of last night we fell in with a caravan coming from Assuan; we pressed round them to buy something to eat; we asked for dates and flour to make bread, but they had nothing of the kind that they could afford to part with.
We stayed at the rock before mentioned till the middle of the afternoon. On awaking from sleep, I observed two of the Arabs of our caravan busily employed about our guide. They were a long time engaged in frizzing and plaiting his hair, and finished the operation by pouring over it a bowlful of melted mutton suet, which made his head quite white. I asked for the meaning of this operation at this time; they told me that we should be at the river to-morrow morning, and that our guide was adorning himself to see and salute his friends there. He appeared to be highly satisfied with the efforts of his hair-dressers to make him look decent, and it must be confessed that he made a very buckish appearance.
As soon as our guide had finished his toilette, he mounted his dromedary and took his post in front, and we set forward. We marched all night without stopping, which was necessary, as our water was nearly spent,81but which distressed greatly that part of our caravan who had no beast to ride.82These wretched men had hitherto accompanied us all the way on foot, with little to eat and less to drink. At present they were almost exhausted with fatigue, hunger and thirst. Every now and then, one or more of them would throw himself on the sand in despair. The repeated assurance that the river was near, hour after hour, became less and less capable of rousing them to exertion, and the whip was at length applied to make them get up and go on.83They demanded water immediately, which we were too short of ourselves to give them, as we feared every minute that our camels would drop, which would render every drop of water we had as precious as life.
One unfortunate lad, who had joined the caravan before it entered the desert, I suspect a domestic who had fled from the distresses that had found us in the upper countries, made pathetic applications to me for water; I twice divided with him a bowlful I was drinking, "in the name of God, the protector of the traveler."
This young man, in the course of this toilsome night, had disappeared, having doubtless laid himself down in despair. We unfortunately did not miss him till it was too late.84About two hours before day-break we reached the entrance of a deep ravine, between ridges and hills of rocks. We marched in it for six hours. It zigzagged perpetually, and its bottom was covered with fragments of the rocks that enclosed it, and which had apparently been displaced by strong currents of water. This phenomenon surprised me, as the entrance into this ravine being from the plain, it was evident that the currents which had produced these displacements could not at any era have come from thence. But at the termination of this ravine, which ended nearly at the river, the cause became evident. An ancient canal, now nearly filled up, leads from the river into this ravine, and the rush of the current during the seasons of inundation, has loosened and displaced fragments of the bordering mountains.
It was about two hours before noon on the 18th of Zilkade, when, emerging from this ravine, we came upon the bank of the beautiful and blessed river, which is the very heart and life's blood of all north-eastern Africa. It was with the most grateful feelings toward "the Lord of the universe," that I laid myself down under the date trees by its brink to cool and to wash my swollen and inflamed eyes, whose disorder was greatly increased by fatigue, a dazzling sun, and want of sleep.
Immediately after our arrival at the little village of Seboo,85which stands on the canal leading to the ravine before mentioned, myself and Khalil Aga addressed ourselves to the people of the village to engage some one to go and bring to the river the unfortunate lad who had been missed. I told them that, in two hours, a man mounted on a dromedary could reach the place where he had disappeared, and save his life: I appealed to their humanity, to their sense of duty towards God and man, to engage them to go and save him. Finding them deaf to my entreaties, I offered them money, and Khalil Aga his musket, to bring him safe and sound to the river. I appealed to their humanity in vain, and to their avarice without effect.86We told them that the Christians, in a case of this kind, would send not one but forty men, if necessary, to go and save a fellow creature from the horrible death of desert famine; and that heaven would surely require at their hands the life of this young man, if they neglected to save him At length the Sheck of the village promised me to send a dromedary to the place to-morrow morning. He made the promise probably to appease my reproaches, for he did not fulfill it.
On the second day after my arrival, I dipped my feet and slippers into the Nile, and bequeathing the village of Seboo my most hearty curse, (which God fulfill!) embarked on board a boat on its way from Dongola to Egypt, and in three days reached Assuan.87
THE END
London Printed by C. Roworth Bell Yard, Temple Bar