1 (return)[ For instance, a navigable passage has been cut through the rocks of the First Cataract, and a canal is at present constructing, by order of the Pasha, round some of the most difficult passes of the Second. He has completed a broad and deep canal from the Nile to Alexandria, by which commerce is liberated from the risk attending the passage of the Boghaz of Rosetta. Large establishments for the fabric of saltpeter, gunpowder, cannon and small arms, others for the fabric of silks, cotton and sugar, have been erected by the Viceroy, and are in operation under the superintendence of Europeans.]
2 (return)[ Their names are as follows:—Succoot, Machass, Dongola, Shageia, Monasier, Isyout, Rab-a-Tab, Berber, Shendi, Halfya, the kingdoms of Sennaar, Darfour, and Kordofan; at present, all subject to the conqueror of Egypt and Arabia.]
3 (return)[ Mr. Frediani, an Italian*, and Messrs. Caillaud and Constant, the latter sent out by His Most Christian Majesty, have accompanied our camp to Sennaar, where I left them in good health. To Messrs. Caillaud and Constant, particularly, I am indebted for much cordiality and friendship, which it is a pleasure to me to acknowledge. The geographical positions of the most important places on the Upper Nile have been ascertained by Mr. Constant, who is provided with an excellent set of instruments, with great care and the most indefatigable pains, of which I myself have been a witness. His observations will doubtless be a most valuable acquisition to geography.]
* Since dead in Sennaar, This unfortunate man died a chained maniac, in consequence of violent fever.]
4 (return)[ Corresponding to the end of September, or the former part of October, A.C. 1820.]
5 (return)[ This force may be thus enumerated: ten pieces of field artillery, one mortar 8 inch caliber, and two small howitzers, attached to which were one hundred and twenty cannoneers; three hundred Turkish infantry and seven hundred Mogrebin ditto; the remainder of the army Turkish and Bedouin cavalry, together with a corps of Abbadies mounted on dromedaries.]
6 (return)[ Called the Shellal of Semne.]
7 (return)[ Called the Shellal of Ambigool.]
8 (return)[ Called the Shellal of Tongaroo.]
9 (return)[ Called the Shellal of Dal.]
10 (return)[ I have been informed that about two miles northward of this place, on the west side of the river, is to be seen a curious vaulted edifice, having the interior of its walls in many places covered with paintings. My informants believed that it was anciently a Christian monastery. This is possible, as the ruins of several are to be seen on the Third Cataract, and, as I have been told, on the Second also.]
11 (return)[ About seventy miles above Wady Haifa.]
12 (return)[ I cannot help smiling in copying off this part of my journal, at the little account I made of "bread rice and lentils," at the commencement of the campaign. Before I left Sennaar, I have been more than once obliged to take a part of my horse's rations of durra to support nature. He ate his portion raw and I boiled mine. The causes of such distress were that the natives of the Upper country would frequently refuse to sell us any thing for our dirty colored piastres of Egypt, and the Pasha would allow nobody to steal but himself. "Steal" a fico for the phrase. The wise "convey it call," says ancient Pistol, an old soldier who had seen hard times in the wars.]
13 (return)[ These were the rapids of Dall.]
14 (return)[ In every dangerous pass, we invariably saw one or more of our boats wrecked.]
15 (return)[ It is called Gamatee.]
16 (return)[ The middle of the Upper Nile is generally occupied by an almost continued range of islands.]
17 (return)[ I learned afterwards from Khalil Aga, the American, who accompanied me to Sennaar and back again to Egypt, and who visited tins spot, that this column made a part of the ruins of an ancient temple, where are to be seen two colossal statues. I set out the next day with him to visit this place, but being then only convalescent from a bloody flux which had reduced my strength, I found myself too weak to reach the place, and returned to the boat.]
18 (return)[ The river continues in the same general direction as high up as the island of Mograt, on the Third Cataract, when it resumes a course more south and north. The length of this bend is probably not less than two hundred and fifty miles.]
19 (return)[ i.e. The bank on our left-hand ascending the river.]
20 (return)[ A more particular account of this battle will be given hereafter, in the course of the narrative.]
21 (return)[ These gentlemen were Messrs. Waddington and Hanbury, who, after staying a short time in our camp, returned to Egypt. Mr. Waddington, on his return to England, published an account of his travels on the upper Nile, in which, having been misled by the tongue of some mischievous enemy of mine, he gave an account of me not a little fabulous. On my arrival in London, I wrote to Mr. Waddington what he was pleased to call a "manly and temperate letter," informing him of his error, representing to him the serious injury it might do me, and calling upon him for a justification or an apology. Mr. Waddington, in the manner best becoming an English gentleman, frankly gave me both, concluding with the following expressions—"I feel the most sincere and profound sorrow for the unintentional injustice into which I have been betrayed by too hasty a belief of false information. For this I am as anxious to make you reparation, as I am incapable of doing any person a willful injury. I will therefore cause the note in question to be erased in the following editions of my book; and in the remaining copies of the present, I will instantly insert a new page or sheet, if necessary; or should that be impossible, I will immediately destroy the whole impression." It was impossible for me, after this, to retain any of the angry feelings excited by this affair, excepting towards "the false tongue" that occasioned it, on which I cordially imprecate a plentiful portion of the "sharp arrows of the mighty and coals of juniper."]
22 (return)[ The desperate courage of these wretched peasants was astonishing; they advanced more than once to the muzzles of the cannon, and wounded some of the cannoneers in the act of re-loading their guns. Notwithstanding their efforts, such was the disparity of their arms against cannon and fire-arms, that only one of the Pasha's soldiers was killed, and they are said to have lost seven hundred in the battle and during the pursuit.]
23 (return)[ I say "shot down," for the saber was found an unavailing weapon, as these people are so adroit in the management of their shields that they parried every stroke. I have seen upon the field where this battle was fought several shields that had not less than ten or fifteen saber cuts, each lying upon the dead body of the man who carried it, who had evidently died by three or four balls shot into him. The soldiers have told me that they had frequently to empty their carabine and pistols upon one man before he would fall.]
24 (return)[ When our troops approached the castle of Malek Zibarra, his daughter, a girl of about fifteen, fled in such haste that she dropped one of her sandals, which I have seen. It was a piece of workmanship as well wrought as any thing of the kind could be even in Europe. The girl was taken prisoner and brought to the Pasha, who clothed her magnificently in the Turkish fashion and sent her to her father, desiring her to tell him to "come and surrender himself, as he preferred to have brave men for his friends than for his enemies." When the girl arrived at the camp of Zibarra, the first question her father asked her was, "My child, in approaching your father, do you bring your honor with you?" "Yes," replied the girl, "otherwise I should not dare to look upon you. The Pasha has treated me as his child, has clothed me as you see, and desires that you would leave war to make peace with him." Zibarra was greatly affected, and did make several efforts to effect a peace with the Pasha, which were traversed and frustrated by the other chiefs of the Shageias.]
25 (return)[ Khalil Aga, who has passed the whole of the third Cataract, found in several of the islands there ruins which were probably those of monasteries, as he found there many of the stones covered with Greek inscriptions, one of which he brought to me; I was obliged to abandon it on the route, on the dying of the camel that carried it.]
26 (return)[ On my return to Egypt, I presented Mr. Salt with several specimens, which are now in his possession.]
27 (return)[ To which all the troops had been concentrated.]
28 (return)[ It has been found, however, possible to pass the whole of the third cataract, in boats not drawing more than three feet of water, by the aid of all the male population on its shores, who, by the aid of ropes, dragged up nine boats, which arrived in Berber before the Pasha commenced his march for Sennaar. They were fifty-seven days in getting from the island of Kendi to Berber. Every one of them was repeatedly damaged in getting through the passages.]
29 (return)[ I have been informed that, previous to the advance of the Pasha Ismael from Wady Halfa, deputies from the chiefs of Shageia arrived in the camp to demand of the Pasha, "for what reason he menaced them with war?" The Pasha replied, "because you are robbers, who live by disturbing and pillaging all the countries around your own." They replied, "that they had no other means to live." The Pasha answered, "cultivate your land, and live honestly." They replied with great naivete, "we have been bred up to live and prosper by what you call robbery; we will not work, and cannot change our manner of living," The Pasha replied, "I will make you change it."]
30 (return)[ The number of the old Mamalukes of Egypt was reduced, at the time of our arrival in Berber, to less than one hundred persons. They had, however, some hundreds of blacks, whom they had trained up in their discipline.]
31 (return)[ I am happy to add that these relics of the renowned cavalry of Egypt are now residing there in ease and in honor; the promises of the Pasha Ismael having been fulfilled by his father to the letter.]
32 (return)[ It is a singular circumstance, that the chiefs of Dongola, Shageia, Berber, Shendi, and Halfya; should bear the same title as used in the Hebrew bible, to designate the petty sovereigns of Canaan.]
33 (return)[ The Shageia cavalry, however, wore these cloths cut and made into long shirts, in order, probably, to have the freer management of their lances, shields, and broad swords. It should also be stated, that the Maleks or chiefs of the Upper Nile, were generally habited in fine blue or white shirts, brought from Egypt.]
34 (return)[ The same circumstance of dress is common also among the peasants of both sexes of Dongola, Shageia, and along the third cataract, with this addition, that they not only anoint the head, but also the whole body with butter, they say it protects them from the heat; that employed by the personages of consideration is perfumed. Every Malek has a servant charged with the particular care of a box of this ointment. On our march to Sennaar, whither we were accompanied by the Malek of Shendy, I could wind this servant of his a mile off.]
35 (return)[ I never in my life saw such noble and beautiful specimens of the species as were these two horses; they were stallions, eighteen hands high, beautifully formed, of high courage and superb gait. When mounted, they tossed their flowing manes aloft higher than the heads of their turbaned riders, and a man might place his two fists in their expanded nostrils; they were worthy to have carried Ali and Khaled to "the war of God."]
36 (return)[ I feel myself, however, bound in conscience to tell the whole truth of this affair. In perambulating about the town, in the course of the day, which was very hot, I got affected by a coup de soleil, which gave me a violent fever and head-ache. I have strong suspicions that this circumstance acted as a powerful "preventer stay" to my virtue, and enabled me to put the devil to flight on this trying occasion. The mother of these damsels appeared to be edified by the discourse I made to her upon the subject of her proposal, but the young women plainly told me, that I was "rajil batal," i.e. a man good for nothing. If they could have understood Latin, I should have told them,
"Quodcunque ostendes mihi sic-k Invalidus odi."]
37 (return)[ The ordinary price of a virgin wife in Berber, is a horse, which the bridegroom is obliged to present to the father of the girl he demands in marriage. I remember asking a young peasant, of whom I bought some provisions one day in Berber, "why he did not marry?" He pointed to a colt in the yard, and told me that "when the colt became big enough, he should take a wife."]
38 (return)[ This learned soldier somewhat surprised me, on my demanding "why he did not give the title of Caliph to the Padischah?" by answering that there had been no Caliph since Ali, and that the Padischah was only "Emir el Moumenim," i.e. "commander of the true believers."]
39 (return)[ This word is Hebrew, and signifies "a lamb."]
40 (return)[ Abdin Cacheff is a very brave and respectable man, of about fifty years of age. He treated me with great politeness and consideration. He distinguished himself greatly at the battle near Courty, fighting Ills way into the mass of the enemy and out again, twice or thrice on that day.]
41 (return)[ In order to save the artillery horses for the exigencies of battle, the cannon were drawn by camels from the third cataract to Sennaar, and the horses were led harnessed by their respective guns, ready to be clapped on if necessary. I venture to recommend the same procedure in all marches of artillery in the east.]
42 (return)[ The other side of the river, at least as often and as far as we could see it, presented the same appearance. The only mountains we saw on the other side of the river, were those of "Attar Baal," at the foot of which (they lie near the river, about three days march north of Shendi) are, as I have learned, to be seen the ruins of a city, temples, and fifty-four pyramids. This, I am inclined to believe, was the site of the famous Meroe, the capital of the island of that name. The territory in which these ruins are found is in fact nearly surrounded by rivers, being bounded on the west by the Nile, on the south by the rivers Ratt and Dander, and on the north by the Bahar el Uswood. All these three rivers empty into the Nile.]
43 (return)[ The butter of the countries on the Upper Nile is liquid, like that of Egypt. That, however, which they use to anoint themselves is of the color and consistence of European butter. We used the latter in preference, in our cookery.]
44 (return)[ It includes a great part of the ancient Isle of Meroe.]
45 (return)[ Malek Shouus, on learning that the Malek of Shendi had made his peace with the Pasha, threatened to attack him. On this it is said the Malek of Shendi called out twenty thousand men to line the easterly bank of the Nile, to prevent the approach of Shouus. Shouus, however, had the whole country of Shendi on the western side entirely under his control before our arrival, he and his cavalry devouring their provisions and drinking their bouza at a most unmerciful rate. On our approach, he went up opposite Halfya, where the country, on the western shore, is desert. He demanded of the chief of Halfya, to supply him with provisions: on his refusal, Shouus, in the night, swam the river with his cavalry, fell upon the town of Halfya by surprise, and ransacked it from end to end, and then repassed the river before the chief of Halfya could collect a force to take his revenge. The cavalry of Shouus, in the course of the campaign, have swam over the Nile five times: both horse and man are trained to do this thing, inimitable, I believe, by any other cavalry in the world. Shouus, since his joining us, has rendered very important services to the Pasha, as he is thoroughly acquainted with the strength, resources, and riches of all the tribes of the Nile, from the second Cataract to Sennaar and Darfour: his horses' feet are familiar with the sod and sand of all these countries, which he and his freebooters have repeatedly traversed. On our march from Berber to Shendi, I ran some risk of falling into his hands, as Shouus was continually prowling about in our neighborhood, from the time of our quitting Berber. Two nights before we reached Shendi, I stopped on the route, at a village, to take some refreshment, letting the army go by me. About an hour and a half after, I mounted my horse to follow the troops, but, owing to the state of my eyes, I missed my way, after wandering back-wards and forwards to find the track of the troops, about two hours after midnight, I descried the rockets always thrown aloft during our night marches, to direct all stragglers to the place where the Pasha had encamped. I put my horse to his speed, and arrived there a little before dawn.]
46 (return)[ During the night of the 22d, I received an order from the Pasha to precede the march of the troops, and pick out a spot near Halfya to encamp his army on, in the European manner. Mr. Caillaud was requested to accompany me in this duty. Mr. Caillaud candidly told me that he was not a military man, and left the affair entirely to me. I chose a fine position on the river, about two miles above Halfya, in the rear of which was plenty of grass for the horses and camels. The Pasha, however, did not choose to come so far, but pitched his camp on the low sand flats before Halfya, near which there was no grass for the camels, who, during the five days following, perished in great numbers. He had undoubtedly his reasons for this, among which not the least important was, to be near enough to Halfya to have the town within reach of his cannon, as the Malek of Halfya had not as yet submitted. The Pasha, however, had like to have had serious cause to repent of having taken this position, when the river rose, and threatened to inundate his camp. Luckily it did not reach the ammunition, otherwise we should probably have been left without the means of defending ourselves.
This overflowing of the Nile was occasioned by the rise of the Bahar el Abiud, which, this year at least, commenced its annual augmentation nearly a month sooner than the Nile.]
47 (return)[ The troops of Shouus and the Abbadies swam their horses and dromedaries over the river. Cogia Achmet, one of the chiefs of the army, in endeavoring to imitate the cavalry of Shageia, lost seventy horses and some soldiers. The rest of the horses and camels of the army were taken over by arranging them by the sides of the boats, with their halters held in hand by the people in the boats. Another large portion of our horses and camels was taken over by the Shageias and the Abbadies, who fastened at the breast of each horse, and over the neck of each camel of ours, so carried over, an empty water-skin blown up with air, which prevented the animal from sinking, while their guides swam by their sides, and so conducted them over.]
48 (return)[ The same day that the camp marched from the Bahar el Abiud, Mr. Caillaud and Mr. Frediani embarked in the boats to go to Sennaar, by the river, in order to have an opportunity of visiting the ruins of "Soba," which lie on the east side of the Nile, not far above from its junction with the Bahar el Abiud. When these gentlemen rejoined us at Sennaar, they informed me that almost the very ruins of this city have perished; they found, however, there some fragments of a temple, and of some granite, statues of lions: the city itself, they said, had been built of brick. This city of "Soba" probably takes its name from "Saba," the son of Cush, who first colonized this country, which is called, in the Hebrew Bible, "the land of Cush and Saba."—See Gen. x. 7. See the references in a Concordance to the Hebrew Bible, under the heads of "Cush," and "Saba."
If there were any pyramids near Saba, I should believe it to be the ancient Meroe, because Josephus represents that the ancient name of Meroe was "Saba." "Nam Saba urbs eadem fuisse perhibetur quae a Cambyse Meroe in uxoris honorem dicta est:" quoted from Eichom's ed. of Sim. Heb. Lex. artic. Sameh Bet Alef
It was impossible for me to ask of the Pasha liberty to accompany the gentlemen abovementioned, as a battle was expected in a few days between us and the king of Sennaar, from which I would not have been absent on any consideration.]
49 (return)[ The people of Dongola, Shageia, Berber, Shendi, and Sennaar, do not use mills to make meal. They reduce grain to meal by rubbing it a handful at a time between two stones—one fixed in the ground, and one held by the hands. By long and tedious friction, the grain is reduced to powder. This labor is performed by the women, as is almost all the drudgery of the people of the Upper Nile.]
50 (return)[ On my return from Sennaar, I descended by the river as far as Berber. On the way I did see some few water-wheels, which, however, were employed merely to water the patches of ground devoted to raising vegetables.]
51 (return)[ The Pasha had invited the Malek of Shendi and the Malek of Halfya to accompany him to Sennaar. The Malek of Halfya excused himself on account of his age and infirmities, but sent his eldest son along with the Pasha. By this stroke of policy the Pasha made the tranquility of the powerful provinces of Shendi and Halfya certain; and the advance of his army without risk from an insurrection in his rear; as the people of those provinces would hardly dare to make any hostile movement while the chief of one province and the heir of the Malek of the other were in our camp. Nymmer, the Malek of Shendi, is a grave and venerable man of about 65 years of age, very dignified in his deportment, and highly respectable for his morals. The Malek of Halfya I have not seen.]
52 (return)[ The present Sultan of Sennaar is a young man of about 26 years of age; he is black, his mother having been a Egress. He was taken out of prison, where he had been confined for eighteen years by his predecessor, who was massacred by the party who placed him upon the throne. This revolution had taken place not very long before our march to Sennaar. His name is Bady.]
53 (return)[ The natives told me that this palace had been built eighteen years ago, by the late good Sultan that they had had, who had planted before it rows of trees, which had been destroyed when the palace was ruined, as I understood them, in the wars between the different competitors for the throne during the last eighteen years.]
54 (return)[ The river Nile lost its transparency four days before the army reached Sennaar. The day that presents the river troubled, marks the commencement of its augmentation. The day before we observed this change in the Nile, its waters were very clear and transparent. The day after, they were brown with mud.]
55 (return)[ Sennaar has three market-places. On our arrival we found them deserted, but on assurances from the Pasha that all sellers should receive a fair price for their commodities, the principal one in a few days began to be filled. The articles I saw there during my stay in Sennaar, were as follows: Meat of camels, kine, sheep, and goats; a few cat-fish from the river, plenty of a vegetable called meholakea; some limes, a few melons, cucumbers, dried barmea, a vegetable common in Egypt; beans, durra, duchan, tobacco of the country, plenty of gum arable, with which, by the way, Sennaar abounds, (the natives use it in their cookery;) drugs and spices brought from Gidda, among which I observed ginger, pepper, and cloves; and great quantities of dried odoriferous herbs found in Sennaar, with which the natives season their dishes; to which must be added, aplenty of the long cotton cloths used for dress in Sennaar. Such were the articles offered for sale by the people of the country. In addition to which, the suttlers of our army offered for sale, tobacco, coffee, rice, sugar, shirts, drawers, shoes, gun flints, &c. &c. all at a price three or four times greater than they could be bought for at Cairo. In some parts of the market-place the Turks established coffee-houses, and the Greeks who accompanied the army, cook-shops. These places became the resort of every body who wanted to buy something to eat, or to hear the news of the day. There might be seen soldiers in their shirts and drawers, hawking about their breeches for sale in order to be able to buy a joint of meat to relish their rations of durra withal, and cursing bitterly their luck in that they had not received any pay for eight months; while the solemn Turk of rank perambulated the area, involved, like pious Eneas at Carthage, in a veil of clouds exhaling from a long amber headed pipe. All around you you might hear much hard swearing in favor of the most palpable lies; the seller in favor of his goods, and the buyer in favor of his Egyptian piasters. In one place a crowd collects around somebody or other lying on the ground without his head on, on account of some misdemeanor; a little farther on, thirty or forty soldiers are engaged in driving, with repeated strokes of heavy mallets, sharp pointed pieces of timber, six or eight inches square, up the posteriors of some luckless insurgents who had had the audacity to endeavor to defend their country and their liberty; the women of the country meantime standing at a distance, and exclaiming, "that it was scandalous to make men die in so indecent a manner, and protesting that such a death was only fit for a Christian," (a character they hold in great abhorrence, probably from never having seen one). Such was the singular scene presented to the view by the market-place of Sennaar.]
56 (return)[ The occasion of this expedition was as follows:—On our arrival at Sennaar, and after the accord made between the Pasha and the Sultan of Sennaar, by which the latter surrendered his kingdom to the disposal of the Vizier of the Grand Seignor, the Pasha sent circulars throughout all the districts of the kingdom notifying the chiefs of this act, and summoning them to come in to him and render their homage. The Chief of the Mountaineers, inhabiting the mountains south and south-west of Sennaar (the capital), not only refused to acknowledge the Pasha, but even to receive his letter. On this, the Pasha sent Cogia Achmet, one of the roughest of his chiefs, with thirteen hundred cavalry, escorting three, brazen-faced lawyers, out of the ten the Pasha had brought with him in order to talk with the people of the upper country, to bring this man and his followers to reason.]
57 (return)[ Several of the chiefs of Eastern Sennaar had refused to recognize the act of the Sultan, calling him "a coward" and "a traitor," for surrendering their country to a stranger. Some of them took up arms, which occasioned the expedition commanded by the Divan Effendi.]
58 (return)[ I must confess that I was much shocked and disgusted by this act on the part of the Pasha, especially as he had shown so many traits of humanity in the lower country, which was undoubtedly one of the principal causes of its prompt submission. This execution was excused in the camp, by saying, that it would strike such terror as would repress all attempts at insurrection, and would consequently prevent the effusion of much blood. It may have been consistent with the principles of military policy, but I feel an insurmountable reluctance to believe it.]
59 (return)[ They told me the names of these rivers, which I put down upon a sheet of paper devoted to preserving the names of some of the principal Maleks of the country. In my journey back this paper has disappeared from among my notes and papers, which has been a subject of great vexation to me.]
60 (return)[ The people of Sennaar also believed that our boats could not pass the third cataract; and, therefore, their opinion with regard to the shellal at Sulluk is not to be relied on.]
61 (return)[ The rainy season in Sennaar, at least the commencement of it, such as I found it, may be thus described: Furious squalls of wind in the course of one or two hours, coming from all points of the compass, bringing and heaping together black clouds charged with electric matter; for twelve or fifteen hours an almost continual roar of thunder, and, at intervals, torrents of rain; after which, the sky would be clear for two, three, or four days at a time.]
62 (return)[ It is nevertheless possible that this fly may be found in that part of the kingdom of Sennaar which lies on the other side of the Adit.]
63 (return)[ It was in the house where I quartered, at Sennaar, that I saw this singular animal. I jogged Khalil Aga, my countryman and companion, to look at it. He burst cut into an exclamation, "by God, that snake has got legs." He jumped up and seized a stick in order to kill and keep it as a curiosity, but it dodged his blow, and darted away among the baggage, which was overhauled without finding it, as it had undoubtedly escaped into some hole in the clay wall of the house. Mr. Constant, the gentleman, who accompanies Mr. Caillaud, was present at the time, so that I am convinced that what I saw was not an ocular delusion. I have been informed, since my return to Egypt, that the figure of this animal is to be seen sculptured upon the ancient monuments of Egypt.]
64 (return)[ The people of Sennaar catch, cook and eat, without scruple, cats, rats and mice; and those who are rich enough to buy a wild hog, fatten it up and make a feast of it. I had heard in the lower country that the people of Sennaar made no scruple to eat swine's flesh, but I absolutely refused to believe that a people calling themselves Mussulmans could do this from choice. But after my arrival in Sennaar I was obliged to own that I had been mistaken. The species of hog found in the kingdom of Sennaar is small and black; it is not found in that part of the kingdom called "El Gezira," i.e. the island, but is caught in the woody mountains of the country near Abyssinia. In the house of one Malek in Sennaar was found about a dozen of these animals fattening for his table.]
65 (return)[ The mountains of Bokki border upon the kingdom of Fezoueli, which lies south of Sennaar twenty days march. The mountains of Fezoueli are supposed to contain gold mines; pieces of gold are frequently found in the torrents that flow from those mountains in the rainy season. A native of that country told the Pasha Ismael, that he had seen a piece of gold, found in those mountains, as big as the bottom part of the silver narguil of his Excellence, i.e. about six inches in diameter. That there is gold in that country, is certain, as the female prisoners, taken at Bokki, had many gold rings and bracelets, of which they were quickly disencumbered by our soldiers. The Pasha intends to visit Fezoueli after the rainy season is over, to find the veins from whence this gold is washed down by the torrents, and, in case of success, to work the mines.]
66 (return)[ We passed Attar Baal the same night. The reader is aware that a boat carrying a courier, could not be detained to give a passenger an opportunity to see ruins.]
67 (return)[ The "Adit," or Nile of Bruce, enters the Bahar el Abiud nearly at right angles, but such is the mass of the latter river, that the Nile cannot mingle its waters with those of the Bahar el Abiud for many miles below their junction. The waters of the Adit are almost black during the season of its augmentation; those of the Bahar el Abiud, on the contrary, are white: so that for several miles below their junction, the eastern part of the river is black, and the western is white. This white color of the Bahar el Abiud is occasioned by a very fine white clay with which its waters are impregnated. At the point of junction between the Bahar el Abiud and the Adit, the Bahar el Abiud is almost barred across by an island and a reef of rocks; this barrier checks its current, otherwise it would probably almost arrest the current of the Adit. It is, nevertheless, sufficiently strong to prevent the Adit from mingling with it immediately, although the current of the Adit is very strong, and enters the Bahar el Abiud nearly at right angles.]
68 (return)[ Since my return to Egypt, we have learned that this army, after some bloody battles, had succeeded in taking possession of Darfour and Kordofan.]
69 (return)[ The provinces lying on the third Cataract, between Shageia and Berber, are called, 1st, Monasier; 2d, Isyout, 3d, El Raba Tab.]
70 (return)[ He came up in one of the nine boats that were able to pass, as mentioned before.]
71 (return)[ As the people of these countries dislike the piasters of Egypt, I bought a quantity of soap at Sennaar from the Greeks who accompanied the army as sutlers, in order to serve as a medium of exchange; for in most of the provinces on the Upper Nile, they prefer soap to any thing you can offer, except dollars, or the gold coin of Constantinople.]
72 (return)[ Khalil Aga, a native of New York, took the turban a few weeks before the departure of Ismael Pasha from Cairo. Learning that I was to accompany his Excellence, he requested me to obtain of the Pasha that he might be attached to me during the expedition. He is probably the first individual that ever traversed the whole of the river Nile from Rosetti to Sennaar. I have done the same, except about two hundred miles of the third cataract.]
73 (return)[ This I suppose to be the point where terminates the singular bend in the river noticed in the former part of my journal.]
74 (return)[ The wind, during the day, was constantly from the north, which was the general direction of our march from the time we quitted the river till we reached it again, so that we had the breezes always in our faces. The air of the desert is so very dry that no part of my body was moistened by perspiration except the top of my head, which was sheltered from the influence of the sun and air by the folds of my turban. I did not feel incommoded by heat in the desert when out of the sun's rays, but on arriving at Assuan I found it almost intolerable.]
75 (return)[ The names of the wells in the desert of Omgourann, between Berber and Seboo, are as follows:—1st, Apseach. 2d, Morat. 3d, El Medina. 4th, Amrashee, 5th, Mogareen. In the two latter, water is only found after heavy rains.]
76 (return)[ Close by this rock was the skull of some wretched man who had perished on this spot. All along our route we saw hundreds of skeletons of camels. The skull that we saw probably belonged to one of two Mogrebin soldiers who deserted at Berber, in order to return to. Egypt, and who both perished with thirst in the desert.]
77 (return)[ Our guide, an Abadie, would not permit the camels of our caravan to be watered at the well of Apseach, saying, that if he did, all the water then in the well would be consumed, and the consequence would be, that the nest traveler that came might perish with thirst.]
78 (return)[ The ground near the well of Morat is full of scorpion holes. On my arrival at midnight I spread my carpet on the ground and slept soundly. In the morning when it was taken up, we found under it a scorpion, I am sure four inches in length, its color green and yellow. I was told that they abound near all the wells of the desert, and I have seen very many at different places on the borders of the river.]
79 (return)[ Which we found to be the case till we came within fifteen hours march of the Nile.]
80 (return)[ Out of the twenty-two camels that we had commenced our march with from Berber, only twelve reached the river.]
81 (return)[ This was occasioned by the heat of the sun and the dryness of the air of the desert, which made nearly two fifths of our water to evaporate.]
82 (return)[ Before we entered the desert our caravan had been joined by several runaway domestics, who had fled from the army to return to Egypt.]
83 (return)[ The soldier of the Cadilaskier before mentioned, who was the conductor, i.e. the chief of the caravan, had recourse to a singular expedient to rouse one of them whom the whip could not stir. He seized his purse of money, which this man carried in his bosom, swearing that if he chose to stop and die there he might, and that he would be his heir and inherit his purse. This testamentary disposition on the part of the soldier had a wonderful effect. The man got up from the sand and walked forward very briskly, calling upon the soldier to restore the purse, as he was determined not to lie down any more till he reached the river. The soldier, however, observing the effect of his proceeding, retained the purse till we arrived at the river, when he restored it.]
84 (return)[ The last time I saw him was when I gave him part of the last bowl; he kissed my slipper, shedding abundance of tears, and saying that I was the only one of the caravan that had shown him mercy. I bade him keep up a good heart, for that on the morrow morning, by the blessing of God, we should be at the river.]
85 (return)[ Directly opposite Seboo, on the other bank of the river, stands an ancient Egyptian temple. Seboo is four days march of a camel above Assuan.]
86 (return)[ The reason for their refusal I afterwards learned, was, that they believed that the lad was already dead, and that therefore they should miss the reward promised.]
87 (return)[ Three days after my arrival at Assuan I had news of the fate of this lad, from a Nubian voyager of the desert, on his way to Assuan, who had found him, thirty-six hours after our arrival at Seboo, lying in the ravine leading to the river, but almost dead. He had stopped, it seems, to sleep a few hours, believing that sleep would refresh him, and that he could do it without danger, as the river was not many hours off. On his awaking, he found himself so weak that it was with great difficulty that he reached the ravine, where he fell. The traveler gave him water, and placed him on his dromedary, and brought him to the river, but he was too far gone; he died in a half an hour after he reached it. The last words he spoke, this man told me, related to his God, his prophet, and his mother: this traveler dug his grave and buried him. I told this man that I had offered a reward at Seboo to whoever would bring this unfortunate young man to the river, and that I would give the money to him as a recompense for having done all he could do in such a case. The man, to my astonishment, replied, "that it was not money that he would take as a reward for what he had done; that he would receive no reward for it but from the hands of God, who would pay more for it than I could." I told him that I was happy to have found a Mussulman mindful of the precepts of the Koran, which inculcate charity and benevolence to all those who are in distress, and that the record of such deeds would occupy a great space on the almost blank page of our good actions.]