Chapter VII: Part II: Egypt (2)

Neither Ibrahim nor Murad Bey was present. They both afterwards made their visit of ceremony, when, as usual, nothing remarkable passed. After a convenient interval, Bekîr Pasha sent to the _Shech-el-Belad_ and _Defterdâr_, desiring them to meet him to consider of providing the usual Chasné for Constantinople, which he said for some time had been greatly in arrear. The former replied, that all which related to the public revenue was under the management of his brother Murad; and that he (Ibrahim) only concerned himself with the city, and its internal government. The latter gave for answer, that he had long since turned his attention from public affairs to his personal ease and security; that he was now poor, and become a farmer, cultivating wheat and beans. He contented himself with referring the Pasha to the younger Beys, who, he said, shared between them all the public authority. The next message was directed to Mohammed Bey Elfi, Ibrahim Bey el Sogheir, and other of the younger Senjiaks. They replied, that if the Pasha sought for money, all their treasures were buried in _Kara-meidân_[26], and he had nothing more to do than to meet them there, to become possessed of a part of them.

The Mamlûks commonly exercise on Monday and Friday in each week, at a place called Mustabé, between Kahira and Misr-el-attiké. Here they shoot at a mark, and throw the _jerîd_. The Beys are often spectators, and sometimes actors. It was on one of these occasions that Hassan Bey, who had been formerly a slave of Ibrahim _Shech-el-Belad_, and in whom the latter placed much confidence, being present, a mamlûk of his train, having attempted to discharge his fusil, which missed fire, threw it on his shoulder, and rode off, to make way for others. In passing the Bey, the powder, which was damp, having taken fire, the piece went off, and lodged the contents in the breast of the Bey. He fell, and immediately expired. The slave fled, but it was not supposed any notice would be taken of what was merely accidental, however unfortunate. To fill up the number, Murzûk, son of Ibrahim Bey, was promoted by his father’s interest.

Even as far back as the period of my arrival in Egypt, the French nation complained loudly of the treatment it received from the Beys. Forty or fifty days scarcely elapsed without some new demand for money, which it was understood was never likely to be repaid. Add to this, their commerce was daily decreasing, and no fixed tarif had they been able to establish with the farmer of the customs, for the reception of their goods.

When the war commenced, a consul was newly arrived at Alexandria, and he came to Kahira; but it was to little purpose that he fixed himself there for the protection of trade, when the thoughts of the French government were engrossed by other objects, and they could neither support nor supply their factories.

Affairs continued nearly in the same state till this time, Nov. 1796, when the Consul, _Magallon_, has obtained leave from his government to quit Kahira, and to reside entirely at Alexandria, which is obviously a place of greater security, and more prompt escape, if they have any shipping in the port. The merchants must indeed divide their profits with their agents in Kahira, but in all other respects have ameliorated their condition. At this time there remain only three French commercial houses in Kahira, and a physician. The remainder of the nation is at Alexandria, to the amount perhaps of ten or twelve families.

Nov. 1796. A change has lately taken place in the custom-house here, and at Alexandria and Damiatt, with which the Christians are much displeased. The duties for many years had been farmed to Jews, whose gains and sufferings were both in the extreme. During the last twenty years they have been in the hands of Damascene or other Syrian Christians, whose numbers and wealth have in that period increased. Their mutual jealousies and incessant quarrels were of great benefit to the ruling Beys, who took care to fleece each party alternately, and teach them a wisdom by dear-bought experience, which, however, they were not always able to learn.

Their most solemn asseverations would have led any person uninformed on the subject to imagine, that their whole nation was continually a loser by its bargain with the Beys. But their gains were in reality so vast, that certain secrets, developed by their infidelity to each other, led Murad Bey, in whose jurisdiction the customs were, to imagine that the having the collection of them in his own hands would be a material addition to his revenue. For once his determination accorded with the public good: the plurality of the Kahirine merchants being better contented with the new mode than the old one. The Christians were removed, and spared the sufferings of which they had long so loudly complained. But how vain are human wishes! This novel regulation was scarcely put in force, and the collection of the import and export duties thrown into the hands of Mohammedans, who were immediately responsible for the receipts of their office to the Bey, than the Syrian Christians came forward with very lucrative proposals, if they might be allowed to hope, that the right of farming the customs would be a second time transferred to them. Murad, whose intellect is clear, though constitution, past sufferings, and indifference as to the future, have rendered him absolutely sensual, whose profuseness had left him no option as to the means of gain, but who had yet spirit to scorn the baseness of these parasites, on the offer of some conditional presents of great value, contumeliously dismissed the deputation from his presence. The customs therefore continued in the hands of Mohammedans, and the Christians were reduced to despair.

The Christian merchants of Syria, established here, make such a prodigal and ostentatious display of wealth, that it lessens our wonder at the extortions of the Beys. At one of their weddings, five hundred chickens were served up every day, and other articles in proportion. This fête lasted ten successive days. The presents to the singers were said to have amounted to fourteen hundred mahbûbs.

A riot happened between the _Galiongîs_, or sailors, (mostly Christians,) belonging to Murad Bey, and the Mamlûks. Murad had dismissed a naval officer, beloved by the Galiongîs, and their discontent joined with the constant jealousy of the Mamlûks to create a disturbance, in which about seventy lives were lost, and the city was shut up for several days.

Nov. 1796. The waters of the Nile having almost abandoned the Eastern branch, which leads to Damiatt, pursuing the more direct course of the canal of Menûf, after a neglect of many years, it became necessary to apply a remedy. Accordingly, Murad Bey commanded his engineer, Achmed, to undertake this duty. After encountering some difficulties, the purpose was at length effected by driving piles, and the river resumed its former course.

A circumstance is related concerning the propagation of fish in Kahira. As soon as the Nile begins to fill the several pools, _birkets_, in the neighbourhood, the fishermen go to the river, and collecting several sorts of spawn, distribute it into the pools, where in the space of three or four days, it produces fish in abundance.

Nov. 1796. Achmet Aga, a Zanthiote, who has been already mentioned, about this time left Kahira on his way to Dar-Fûr, by the return of the caravan with which I came. The Sultan Abd-el-rachmân, desirous of gaining a name among the neighbouring princes, but injudicious and governed by caprice in the choice of the means, and stung with the rage of conquest, though regardless of the means of security, sought for some person to exhibit to him the European invention of artillery; and though he had not yet been witness to its effects, conceived that the possession of some of the gold mines under _Sennaar_ would soon be realized on his obtaining these powerful engines. He wrote to the Beys to request they would send him some one from among their servants, who might make him master of this important discovery. He also sought for a medical practitioner.

The person abovementioned had embraced Islamism, and possessed some ingenuity in mechanical operations, particularly the construction of artillery. He was not extremely at ease in Kahira; and Murad Bey, unable to improve his situation from the multitude of prior claimants, consented to his request for permission to depart. He gave him strong recommendations to the monarch, and a horse, camels, and other requisites for the journey. Achmed commenced his route with eclat, having with him fifty or sixty artificers, who had enterprize enough to encounter the difficulties of so long a passage, or who thought no change could render their situation worse. He had also four pieces of brass cannon, six pounders.

Thus an opening seemed offered to furnish the people of Soudân with one more, at least, of the equivocal blessings of civilized society.—What may have been the termination of Achmet’s voyage I have not heard; but his perseverance was scarcely equal to the undertaking, and it seems likely, that when his golden hopes should have vanished, he would return to Egypt in despondency, or perish in Dar-Fûr.

CHAP. XII.

ANTIENT EGYPTIANS.

_Their persons, complexion, &c._

In the history of nations, some facts may gradually become obscure, by having appeared to the historiographer of the time, and even to those of some ages after, too notorious to require being particularly recorded. Amid the various information respecting the manners of the Athenians and Romans to be drawn from their respective historians, poets, and orators, we are not furnished with the means of ascertaining the appropriate enunciation of their own languages. A few casual hints, from Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Cicero, afford all the light that antiquarian labour has been able to throw on this subject.

The colour of the antient Egyptians has of late become a matter of doubtful investigation from the same causes; but is in its nature more interesting, and therefore merits a short discussion. By one of the most recent and intelligent travellers in that country, a conjecture, apparently novel, has been offered to the public, viz. that the original inhabitants of Egypt were _negroes_, and that, accordingly, the world is indebted for all those branches of science which had their origin in Egypt, and were afterwards perfected by the Greeks, and for all those monuments of art, the feint remains of which still excite admiration, to a people of that description.

The philanthropy of Volney has induced him to rely more on the arguments he adduces in support of his hypothesis, than the nature of those arguments seems to admit: and the authority of an author who justly holds so high a place in the public estimation, is sufficient to give currency to error.

If plausible arguments were brought to establish the doctrine here mentioned, it would be unreasonable to refuse assent to it solely as militating against a commonly received opinion. But to fix beyond controversy an historical fact, more surely is required than ingenious conjecture, fancied resemblances, and quotations of but dubious meaning.

The subject in question ought not to be clouded by any prejudicated opinion relative to the physical differences between the white and black race of men. The evidence should be patiently weighed, and the whole left to stand on a solid basis, or fall by its own infirmity.

The Coptic language bears a manifest relationship to the Arabic and Syriac, as Volney allows. But are the languages allied, and the nations who speak them strangers to each other? It would seem, on the contrary, the subject of proof, that if the languages be indeed cognate, the nations who speak them must have proceeded from one parent stock; for what resemblance between the sonorous copiousness of the Arabic, and the ineffable mendicancy of the native African tongues[27]?

The Ethiopians, or in a more confined sense, the Abyssinians, though so much farther removed from Asia, the source of migration, are far from partaking what is properly called the negro character, as the narratives of the Portuguese writers, who first knew them, with those of Poncet, and in our times of Bruce, abundantly testify. The _Fungni_, or people of Sennaar, with those of Dongola, Mahas, &c. in _Barabra_, or _Nubia_, are, as all the Europeans who have seen them in Kahira can affirm, not negroes. And if all these be colonies from Syria or Arabia Felix, how are we constrained to acknowlege that the Egyptians must have been of the African race?

It has been urged that the Colossal figure of the _Sphinx_, near the pyramids, gave additional countenance to the opinion that the Egyptians were black, the face of that statue having been said to resemble the negro. But, not to mention that the form of the visage is now become entirely dubious, in forming statues of mere ornament, or as representations of the human figure, the artist endeavours to give the features most habitual to him, or what are most admired among his countrymen; but as to a merely emblematical figure, the same reasoning is not conclusive. Would it be imagined that a dog-headed nation once existed from the figure of _Latrator Anubis_? Unfortunately, of the Sphinxes at Thebes, innumerable fragments of which are yet remaining, scarcely one is entire enough to give any idea of the form of the visage which the sculptor designed to attach to it.

The statues of the Nile, it is said, were made of black marble, in allusion to his coming from Ethiopia. If this symbol, hitherto so unsatisfactorily explained, (the Sphinx,) had any relation to the same subject, might not the negro face be given to it for a similar reason[28]? It would hardly have been thought necessary to explain why the figure of the Nile was black, if the complexion of the natives of Egypt had been generally acknowleged of the same tinge.

The complete silence of the antient writers, concerning so singular a circumstance as that of the negro character of the Egyptians, if all other arguments were equally balanced, would be sufficient to decide this point in the negative. In defect, however, of historical and positive testimony, strong circumstantial evidence is drawn from the monuments of undoubted antiquity yet remaining. Among these are the small statues of Isis, &c. daily found among the ruins in various parts of Egypt. These are adorned with a profusion of long hair, peculiarly contorted, and the nose, lips, and other features, are far from resembling those of the negro. The same may be observed of the figures in alto relievo and basso relievo, on the walls at Thebes, in the caverns of Gebel-el-Silsili, &c. Of the Colossal statues at Thebes, the features are too much damaged to be adduced in proof.

The two harpers, and several other human figures in the caverns of Thebes, called _Biban-el-molûk_, (tombs of the kings,) and in which the colours are perfectly well preserved, have the features and complexion exactly resembling the Egyptians of the present day.

The apparent testimony of Herodotus, the earliest historian whose works have reached our days, is not so strong as might at first appear. The terms μελάγχροες και ουλότριχες are merely relative, and apply to the greater or less degree of blackness and crispature of the Egyptians, as compared with the Greeks, to whom the writer was addressing himself; and certainly cannot be confined to positive blackness or woolly hair. To corroborate this interpretation of the passage from Herodotus, may be adduced a similar one from Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xxii. That author says, that the Egyptians are _Atrati_, a term of equally strong import with the μελάγχροες of Herodotus, but, like it, evidently applied in a comparative sense; for, in the very next sentence, he says, _erubescunt_, they blush, or grow red. It is true, indeed, negroes suffer a certain change of countenance when affected with the sentiment of shame, but it would be rather a bold assertion that the word _erubescere_ can ever be applied to characterise the effect of that feeling on a negro. Even in the vernacular idioms of modern Europe, by the term a _black man_, is daily designated one of visibly a darker complexion than ourselves. Besides, what antient writer has described the inhabitants of Colchis? Was Medea, the Love of the Grecian heroes, a negress?

Volney has offered as a general remark on the Mamlûks of Egypt, that they are easily distinguishable from the natives by having light hair. It is certain that dark hair, eyes, and complexion, do not obtain so universally among them as among the native Egyptians or Arabs; yet in fact, their eyes and hair may be observed much more commonly of a dark than light hue. If then the fondness for generalizing his remarks have operated to deprive this author of the knowlege which hourly experience, continued for several months, could not fail to have given him, what may not be credited as to the effect of his prejudices in matters of remote and doubtful history, where truth is to be drawn out only by patient inquiry, and the frequency of error is exactly proportioned to that of conjecture?

But if all the arguments to confute this new theory should fail, one fact remains which is invincible. The persons of the antient Egyptians, preserved as it were entire by the prescience of that people concerning the errors into which posterity might fall, exhibit an irrefragable proof of their features and of the colour of their skin, which is now, by the quantity of mummies that have been imported into Europe, subject to the inspection of the curious almost throughout that quarter of the globe. This resurrection of witnesses also evinces, that the Copts are their genuine descendants, and preserve the family likeness in their complexion of dusky brown, dark hair and eyes, lips sometimes thick, but the nose as often aquiline, and other marks of a total dissimilitude between them and the negro race.

* * * * *

The black complexion of the Africans seems to extend much farther North in the Western, than in the Eastern part of the continent they inhabit. The people of Fezzân, whose capital is in latitude 27° 48″ or about 2° 10″ to the South of Kahira, are black, while the Egyptians, in the same latitude, are only of brown or olive colour. The Fezzâners, however, have not entirely the negro feature. They have frequently children by their negro slaves, the Egyptians but seldom. The island, near Assûan, consists chiefly of blacks; but the townsmen of Assûan are of a red colour, and have the features of the Nubians, _Barabra_, whose language they also willingly speak. The people of El-wah are quite of Egyptian or Arab complexion and feature, none of them black: so that I scarcely conceived myself to have arrived at the confines of the blacks, till we reached the first inhabited part of Dar-Fûr. The first I saw are called _Zeghawa_; they are not negroes, but a distinct race. The Arabs of this empire remain always very distinguishable in colour and feature. The people of _Harrâza_ are of a reddish complexion. Perhaps this being a very mountainous district may occasion some peculiarity. The Fûrians are perfectly black. I have seen some of the natives of Kulla, whence slaves are brought, and which is farther South than Dar-Fûr, that were red. On the whole, one might be inclined to go as far fifteen degrees of north latitude in this part of Africa, to find the line between the Arabs and the Blacks.

CHAP. XIII.

JOURNEY TO FEIUM.

_Tamieh — Canals — Feiûm — Roses — Lake Mœris — Oasis Parva_ — PYRAMIDS — _of Hawara — of Dashûr — of Sakarra — of Jizé, or the great Pyramids — Antient Memphis — Egyptian Capitals._

On the 28th of December 1792 left Kahira to visit Feiûm, a city distant about sixty miles to the South-west. At Moknân procured from the Shech a letter to one of his officers, residing at Bedis, another village further on to the Southward, commanding him to accompany me to Feiûm. Proceeded through a grove of large date trees, which are watered from several cisterns, all of them supplied from the Nile, during its increase.

Between Bedis and Tamieh passed a natural opening, in the chain which constitutes the Western wall of Egypt. A small canal runs through Tamieh[29], and here the country again assumes the aspect of cultivation. This little town is remarkable for a manufacture of mats, though the situation be so insecure, that the Arabs in the preceding night had plundered their whole stock, to the value, as they said, of five or six thousand patackes. The Arabs still haunted the neighbourhood, and we were forced to discharge a few musket shot to keep off a small party that assailed us in the morning.

Passed another canal at Senûris, the seat of an hospitable Shech of the Bedouins. These canals reach from the Nile to the lake called Mœris. Left Senûris at half past seven on the 1st January 1793 and in two hours arrived at Feiûm.

At a small distance to the North are the ruins of an antient town, called by the Arabs _Medinet Faris_, city of the Persians, probably antient Arsinoe. Some mutilated busts and statues found here were offered for sale. I also observed some jars, resembling those used to contain the dead Ibis, and some vitrifications that seemed to indicate an Arab glass-work.

Feiûm stands on the principal canal leading from the Nile to the lake, and is surrounded with cultivated ground, a great part gardens, producing that profusion of roses for which this place was celebrated, and which were distilled into rose-water. The mode of propagating them was by continued layers; the young twigs thence arising being found to produce the largest and most fragrant flowers. The rose-water was excellent, and sent to all quarters; but the cultivation is now running gradually to decay. Wheat and other grain abound in the vicinity.

This city is not walled, but is populous, though on the decline; it contains several mosques and okals. There are few Copts, the inhabitants being chiefly Mohammedans. The houses are partly stone, partly unburned bricks. It is governed by a Cashef. The fish from the lake cannot be praised. Provisions tolerably plentiful; water good.

After passing three days at Feiûm, proceeded towards the lake, of which I wished to make the circuit. This is the Mœris of Strabo and Ptolemy; and the testimony of the latter, living in Egypt, seems unquestionable. However this be, the lake, now called _Birket-el-kerun_, probably from its extremities bearing some resemblance to horns, bears no mark of being, as some suppose, the product of human art. The shape, as far as was distinguishable, seems not inaccurately laid down in D’Anville’s map, unless it be that the end nearest the Nile should run more in a North-west and South-east direction. The length may probably be between thirty and forty miles; the breadth, at the widest part I could gain, was 5000 toises, as taken with a sextant, that is, nearly six miles. The utmost possible extent of circuit must of course be thirty leagues. On the North-east and South is a rocky ridge, in every appearance primeval: there are some isles in the extremity nearest Feiûm, where there is a flat sandy shore. In short, nothing can present an appearance more unlike the works of men. Several fishermen, in miserable boats, are constantly employed on the lake. The water is brackish, like most bodies of water under the same circumstances.

The western extremity of this lake is in the dominion of the Muggrebine Arabs, who pass thither from _El-wah el-ghurbi_, and other places, and who being there under no control, suffer no person to travel thither, unless under their immediate protection. This information, which I received not till my arrival at Feiûm, frustrated my expectations of reaching some ruins which are said to exist there. The Arab Shech of _Abu-kissé_ told me it would require four days to go round the lake, and return on the other side. That there are no villages near it, nor any thing to be procured but from the Muggrebines just mentioned. On one of the isles at the Eastern extremity it is said that human bones are sometimes found.

From Feiûm travelled South-east. At Hawâra are two small pyramids of unburned brick, and another passage through the mountain. The plain from Feiûm to the Nile is in excellent cultivation, chiefly wheat, then just rising from the ground. Illahôn is a town or large village, filled with persons whose chief employment is the culture of the soil. Passed the _Bahr-bila-ma_, the channel of a large canal. Farther on is Bathen[30], a long deep cut, supposed to be the artificial Mœris of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus.

Returned to Bedis. On the following day passed the pyramids of Dashûr. Five appear successively, exclusive of those of Sakarra. The third after those of _Hawâra_, already mentioned, is that of Medûn, which has been very elegant, and built in this singular form,

It is composed of large pieces of the usual soft free-stone, joined together with a little cement; and has been hewn off to a straight surface. It would be extremely difficult to ascend to the top, which is now very broad; but it is probable that there was another square, completing its summit, which has been removed. The north side has been injured by tearing out stones, which open a view of the interior, which is however entirely solid. This pyramid has been supposed to be natural rock at the base, but this mistake must have arisen from a part being concealed. On removing the sand, (which rises chiefly in the middle,) and on examining the corners, the stones and cement may be observed to the very bottom.

The fourth is the most southerly of the four pyramids of Dashûr, where are two large and two small. It is in the form of a cone, terminating in an obtuse triangle, and is now much damaged. There is no appearance of any casing on this or any other of the pyramids. The stones do not point to the center, like those of the great pyramids of Jizé. The faces of all these pyramids are directed to the four cardinal points of the compass. Near them stands one of unburned brick, and a small one of stone, not completed.

At Sakarra a great number exist, among which ten are of a large size. The smaller ones are sometimes almost undistinguishable from the sand-hills, and are dilapidated; the stones being used as materials for building at Kahira, Jizé, &c.

The two largest of the pyramids are at about the distance of two hours and a half from Jizé, and are well known to all who have visited Egypt. The dimensions of that which has been opened I found to be as follow:

Feet. Inches.

Great chamber 34 5

Breadth 17 2

Sarcophagus 7 8

Breadth 3 2

Depth within 2 10½

Thickness 0 6

The galleries and great chamber are situated due North and South, allowing for the variation of the needle.

Feet. Inches.

The first passage descending 105 1

Small chamber, length 18 9

-------------- breadth 17 1

Antichamber, length 7 5

Main gallery, upper part 150 0

------------- lower part 148 0

Passage to inferior chamber 109 1

An absurd opinion has recently been stated, that the pyramids are hewn out of the rock on which they stand; but the first ocular inspection would set this aside, the joinings of the stones being everywhere marked with cement. But it is unnecessary to dwell on a conjecture so futile.

In the open pyramid, the chamber is lined with granite, and the sarcophagus also formed of that stone. But the materials used in the general fabrication of these edifices is free-stone, of a soft kind and white hue; it is replete with shells. The rock on which they stand is of the same soft stone. Returned to Kahira.

On another occasion I visited the pleasant site of the antient Memphis, on the left bank of the Nile, about two hours to the South of Kahira, in a plain above three miles broad, between the river and the mountains. The land is now laid down in corn, with date trees toward the mountains. Nothing remains except heaps of rubbish, in which are found pieces of sculptured stone. The spot has been surrounded with a canal, and seems every way a more eligible situation than that of Kahira[31]. Its extent might be marked by that of the ground where remains are dug up, and which is always overgrown with a kind of thistle that seems to thrive among ruins. It is most conveniently visited from the Coptic convent called _Abu-Nemrûs_.

None of the fine marbles that are scattered so profusely at Alexandria are discoverable here; whether it be that they were never used, or carried away to adorn other places.

Of the several capitals of Egypt in successive ages, Thebes, or Diospolis, seems the most antient. Next was Memphis, itself a city of the most remote antiquity. Babylon seems to have been only the capital of a part retained by the Persians, after Cambyses had subdued Egypt, and was, by all accounts, founded by the Persians. Alexandria succeeded Memphis, and remained the chief city, till the Saracens founded _Misr-el-Kahira_.

CHAP. XIV.

JOURNEY TO SINAI.

_Route — Suez — Ships and ship-building — Trade — Scarcity of water — Remains of the antient canal — Tûr — Mountains of red granite — Description of Sinai — Eastern gulf of the Red Sea — Return to Kahira._

On the 1st of March 1793 left Kahira to proceed to Suez. I had made an agreement with the Arab Shech, who was charged with the care of the caravan, that he and his servant should accompany me, without waiting for its slow progress. But he broke his engagement, as usual with the Arabs, and I was constrained to wait for the departure of a large body, consisting of an hundred and fifty persons and two hundred camels.

The route to Suez is nearly one uniform plain, generally hard and rocky, though here and there spots of deep sand occur. The journey was very slowly conducted, as the camels were permitted to brouze on the verdure which sprinkles the desert solely after the winter. On the third day, a South-west wind having subsided, rain fell for four hours and a quarter. The mornings and evenings were cold, though hot in the day. Some have ignorantly conceived that no rain falls in Egypt. At Alexandria showery weather will prevail for a week together; and I have sometimes seen rain at Kahira. In Upper Egypt even showers are very rare, and only one fell while I was in that country.

After a heavy progress of five days reached Suez. The town is small, and built of unburned brick. It contains twelve mosques, of which some are stone, but the most are mean buildings. The sea near the town is very shallow, yet there is a small yard for ship-building. Population, Mohammedans, with a very few Greeks. Suez is very modern, probably built within these last three hundred years; being unknown to travellers of a more antient date.

There are here at present four three-masted vessels, and ten others, some with two, some with one. Two building, one of which is pierced for twelve guns; and ten large boats, without masts. The largest of these ships was intended for the Indian trade, the rest for traffic to Jidda; one or two of them had been built in Yemen.

The Arab mode of ship-building is singular. They have no art to bend the timbers; none of them are crooked except naturally so. They are very slender, and where the upper and lower ribs join, do not pass one over the other, but by the side of each other.

At Suez coffee forms the chief article of trade. It is a place of no strength, and has only eight old cannon, seemingly unfit for service; the others were removed to Jizé by Ismaîl Bey. The sea here produces few fish. Oysters indeed, and a few others of the shell kind, are seen; the best fish not coming higher than Cossîr. Meat is scarce, bread of an inferior quality, sometimes hardly eatable. Butter and milk are brought in small quantities by the Arabs. Water is brought from three several places. _Bîr Naba_, to the northward, affords the best; the others are _Aiûn Mûsa_ and _Bîr-es-Suez_. It is always bought by the skin at a considerable price, and if a war were to arise with the Arabs, none could be found.

I was very desirous to inspect the Eastern portion of the canal cut by Adrian, according to D’Anville, which extends from _Birket-es-Sheib_ to Suez, but my Arab guides would not accompany me, in spite of a previous agreement made for that purpose. All consented that marks of the canal existed, and some of them arose to my own observation.

The ruins of Arsinoe may yet be recognized in a mount of rubbish in the neighbourhood of Suez. The spot is now called _Kolsûm_, and remains exist of a stone pipe for conveying water thither from Bîr Naba. A rock, on the African side of the gulf, furnishes _petroleum_, which is brought to Suez, and esteemed a cure for bruises, &c. In crossing the gulf just before Suez, boats are used at high water, which comes in rapidly to the height of four feet; at other times camels, horses, and men ford it with safety.

At Suez I observed in the shallow parts of the adjacent sea, a species of weed, which in the sunshine appeared to be red coral, being of a hue between scarlet and crimson, and of a spungy feel and quality. I know not if any use be made of it, nor am I acquainted with its Arabic name; but it strikes me, that, if found in great quantities at any former period, it may have given the recent name to this sea; for this was the Arabian gulf of the Antients, whose _Mare Erythræum_, or Red Sea, was the Indian Ocean. This weed may perhaps be the סוּפ suph of the Hebrews, whence ים סוּפ _Yam Suph_, their name for this sea.

The shores here abound in beautiful shells of various kinds; a circumstance which might also have been remarked in speaking of Maadié near Abukîr.

On the 8th of March 1793, passed the ford at Suez, and on the 14th arrived at Tûr. So many journies to Mount Sinai have been published, that I shall not dwell much on the particulars. The route from Suez to Tûr at first lies along a barren coast, but afterwards some pleasant vales of verdure are found, particularly _Wadi Corondel_, where grow some date trees and shrubs. Mountains of red granite are seen, perhaps too interspersed with porphyry.

A spot is pointed out by the Greek priests of a small convent near Tûr, where a church is said to have been buried, and miraculous noises still heard, but on visiting it, in the mere expectation of some natural phenomenon, found nothing.

On the 18th left Tûr, and on the 22d, at 3½ hours A.M. reached the monastery of Sinai. Shot a red-legged partridge. The convent is large, with a good garden, to which there is a subterraneous passage. Within the walls is a small mosque for the convenience of the Arabs. The mountain now called Sinai is high and abrupt. On the North side of it some snow was visible. The whole is a very remarkable rock of red granite, interspersed with spots, to which soil has been brought by human toil, or washed down by rain, and in which grow almond trees, (now in bloom,) figs, and vines. Numerous rills of excellent water gush from various apertures in the precipice, and wander among the little gardens. Sinai has two summits somewhat resembling Parnassus, another scene of inspiration; and the one termed St. Catherine, being, it is believed, the highest, may be the Sinai of Moses.

The weather being very clear, I observed, from Mount Sinai, the Eastern gulph of the Red Sea, which appears very small, and more round and short than is laid down in the latest maps.

Returned to Suez and Kahira, meeting with nothing memorable on the route.

_Including some of the routes of the Jelabs, or Slave Merchants, from the latter to the adjacent Countries._

To Accompany Travels in AFRICA &c. from the Year 1792 to 1798.

_by W. G. Browne._

_to face page 180._

_London, Published by Messrs. Cadell and Davies Strand 4 June 1799._]

CHAP. XV.

JOURNEY TO DAR-FÛR,

A KINGDOM IN THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA.

_Design to penetrate into the interior of Africa — Difficulties — Caravan from Soudan or Dar-Fûr — Preparations — Departure from Assiût — Journey to El-wah — Mountains — Desert — Charjé in El-wah — Bulak — Beirîs — Mughes — Desert of Sheb — Desert of Selimé — Leghéa — Natrôn spring — Difficulties — Enter the kingdom of Fûr — Sweini — Detention — Representations to the Melek — Residence — New difficulties — Villany of agent — Sultan’s letter — Enmity of the people against Franks — El Fasher — Illness — Conversations with the Melek Misellim — Relapse — Robbery — Cobbé — Manners — Return to El Fasher — The Melek Ibrahim — Amusements — Incidents — Audience of the Sultan Abd-el-rachman-el-rashîd — His personal character — Ceremonies of the Court._

My views to the South of Egypt having been frustrated during the last year, I was reduced to the alternative of abandoning any further projects in that quarter, or of waiting for a more seasonable opportunity. As it was reported that such an one would soon offer, I did not hesitate to prefer the latter, though strongly dissuaded from it, as generally happens to those whose designs are any way analogous to mine. The Europeans in this quarter, as well as the natives, being immersed in commerce from their early years, are unable to conceive the advantages promised by voyages of discovery, to which no immediate profit is attached; and accordingly as they know the hazard great, and imagine the atchievement frivolous and useless, even from the best motives they are rather inclined to discourage, than to animate, any one who undertakes them.

From conviction sufficiently clear, arising both from reading and the sentiments of those who were best informed on the subject, that the river whose source Mr. Bruce describes is not the true Nile, I thought it an object of still greater importance, that the source of the more Western river should be investigated. But what might have been a matter of choice, was with me only the result of necessity. The idea of reaching the sources of this river, (the Bahr-el-abiad,) laid down in the maps apparently at about two hundred leagues farther South than Sennaar, seemed to me so hopeless, that this object alone would hardly have induced me to undertake such a voyage. I should rather have been inclined to attempt Abyssinia, and endeavour to certify, as well as circumstances might permit, how far authentic former narratives had been, and what might offer that was new to European observation. For this purpose the obvious and most easy route was by the Red Sea to Masouah. But all accounts concurred in magnifying the difficulty, and almost impossibility, of an European passing there undiscovered; and, being discovered, of his penetrating any farther.

The road from Kahira to Sennaar was the one I should have preferred; but the desolation and anarchy then prevailing in Nubia, which had prevented me from passing the former year, would not probably have allowed me better success in this. Besides, the city of Sennaar was then occupied by the slaves of the last _Mecque_, or king, who had deposed and put to death their master, and still continued to usurp the government. By taking the route of Dar-Fûr, I was taught to believe that I might hope for the advantages of a regular government; and with proper management might expect every favour from the monarch. The local inconvenience of being so much farther removed from Abyssinia was indeed obvious; but on the other hand the choice of more than one route was, it seemed likely, thereby offered; which, in a place where progress is so uncertain, and contingencies so numerous, would be a matter of no inconsiderable importance.

At the moment of my return from Assûan to Assiût, the caravan of jelabs from Dar-Fûr, called _Cafflet-es-Soudân_[32], the Soudân caravan, arrived at El-wah. It was then reported that the sale of their merchandize and slaves, of which they had no great quantity, would be completed in about two months, and that then they would return home. Their stay, however, was protracted during the whole of that winter; and in the month of March 1793 they commenced their departure from Kahira for the Upper Egypt. They were slow in collecting all that was necessary for the journey, and I made use of the time so allowed to draw information from various quarters concerning what was requisite for the voyage. From what cause I know not, but at that time the persons of whom I made enquiry gave no intimation that the treatment of Christians in their country was marked by any asperity. The late Sultan of Fûr, indeed, as I afterwards learned, had been remarkable for his mildness and liberality to all descriptions of persons. But this was not all—a native of Soudân is, in Kahira, the most obsequious and servile of the human race. He behaves towards a Christian whom he meets there nearly as to one of the true believers. In his own country he repays with interest the contempt that has been shewn him by the Egyptians.

On the 21st April 1793, I set out from Bulak, having embarked on the Nile; and on the eighth day, the wind having been often unfavourable, arrived at Assiût. The first care was to provide camels for the route, and these were unfortunately at that time scarce. Five however I at length obtained, at about 13l. sterling each. We had also made our provision of food, &c. required for the journey; and the caravan having at length assembled, after about fifty days the expected moment of departure arrived. It was the hottest season of the year, and consequently unfavourable to travelling. These merchants however, disposed as they are to indolence, and governed by present sensations, when their profit is concerned, esteem the variations of climate unworthy of a thought: and long habit has familiarized them with such degrees of heat, that what is insupportable to northern nations is with them no serious motive for the remission of labour.

The route taken by the Soudân caravan is in part the same as that traversed by Poncet, in the beginning of the present century, on his way to Abyssinia. He passed by Sheb and Selimé, and thence striking across the desart South-east, crossed the Nile at Moscho. We continued our march from Selimé, almost due South, or with a small variation to the West. Our party having left Assiût on the 25th May, encamped on the mountain above it till the 28th, when it proceeded by short stages towards El-wah. The jelabs commonly pay the Muggrebines for their protection, or rather for forbearing to plunder them, at the rate of about a patacke for each camel. I refused them this tribute, alleging that I was not of the number of merchants who usually trade to Soudân, but a stranger who was employed on business to the Sultan; and though my refusal occasioned a slight dispute, the Arabs thought proper to relinquish their claim. The camels were heavily laden, and the jelabs travelled slowly, and in detached parties, each consulting his own convenience, till the 31st of the same month, when we came to Gebel Rumlie, an high rocky mountain, which we were to descend. It forms the Western side of the ridge, which constitutes, as it were, the wall of Egypt, and the Eastern boundary of the low desert, in which lie the _Oases_. It consists of a coarse _tufa_, and is of rugged and difficult descent. The road seems in many places to have been opened by art. We were a full hour in reaching the bottom. The camels not without great pain carrying their loads on the steep declivity, and being often in danger of falling.

From the summit of this rock the view lost itself in an extensive valley, consisting chiefly of rocks and sand, but diversified by small bushes of the date tree, and other marks of vegetation, near the spring where we designed to repose. Nothing could exceed the sterility of the mountain we had passed. Having reached the plain, it became necessary to unload the camels, and allow them some rest. We were employed four hours and a half, the following morning, in passing from the foot of the mountain to Ainé Dizé, the first place where water is found, and the Northern extremity of the great Oasis. An hot wind blowing during the meridian hours, the thermometer here stood during that time under the shade of the tent at 116 degrees.

In marching from Ainé Dizé to Charjé, eight hours were employed. Excepting a small space near the spring, all is waste. The Chabir, or leader, chose to notify his approach to the town by beating drums, (two of which he had borne before him as marks of his office, and as occasion might require, to collect the travellers when dispersed,) and by other tokens of joy, as firing small arms, shouting, &c. One of my camels, in descending the mountain, had fallen and injured his right shoulder, which, as a cure could not suddenly have place, obliged me to change him for another.

There is a _Gindi_ or officer at Charjé, and another at Beirîs, both belonging to Ibrahim-bey-el-kebir, to whom those villages appertain; and to them is entrusted the management of what relates to the caravan during the time of its stay there. We left Charjé on Friday the 7th of June, and having passed another desert space, after six hours reached another village, called Bulak. This is a wretchedly poor place, the houses being only small square pieces of ground inclosed with a wall of clay, or unburned bricks, and generally without a roof. It furnishes good water, and the people live by the sale of their dates. The caravan remained a day at Bulak, and having left it on Sunday the 9th, arrived at Beirîs on Monday the 10th, after nearly fourteen hours march through a barren tract. Here the Chabir thought proper to go through the same ceremony as at Charjé.

On the 13th we employed two hours in passing from Beirîs to Mughess, the last village of the Oasis toward the Southern desert. We left Mughess on the morning of the 15th, and on Thursday the 20th, in the morning, arrived at Sheb. At this place, by digging to the depth of a few feet in the sand, is found a supply of indifferent water. A tribe of the wandering Arabs, called _Ababde_, who come from the neighbourhood of the Nile, sometimes infests it. Sheb is marked by the production of a great quantity of native alum, as the name imports. The surface, near which the alum is found, abounds with a reddish stone; and in many places is seen argillaceous earth. Having left Sheb on the 21st, we arrived at Selimé on the 23d. This is a small verdant spot, at the foot of a ridge of rocks of no great height, nor apparently extending very far. It affords the best water of any place on the route; but though there be verdure enough to relieve the eye from the dry sterility of the surrounding surface, it affords no vegetable fit for the support either of man or beast. At Selime is a small building, which has apparently been raised by some of the tribes resting there, that place being much frequented by the roving parties passing the desert in different directions. The building consists only of loose stones, but the jelabs related many fables concerning it; as that it had of old been inhabited by a princess who, like the Amazons, drew the bow, and wielded the battle-axe, with her own hand; that she was attended by a large number of followers, who spread terror all over Nubia, &c.; and that her name was Selimé[33].

On the 24th we rested, and having proceeded the following morning, employed five days more in reaching Leghea. Water there is scarce, and far inferior in quality to that of Selimé, having a brackish taste. The camels throughout the caravan began now to be excessively weak and jaded, and the Chabir was at a loss for the true road: for though several persons in the caravan had traversed this desert ten or twelve times, they were not unfrequently unable to determine which was the right course. One of the party was sent forward to discover some known object that might be our guide, and after having been absent thirty-six hours he returned. While we remained here we felt much inconvenience from a suffocating wind that blew from the South, and raised the sand in clouds. On the 2d of July the caravan left Leghea; and on the eighth, after a severe and fatiguing march, reached the Bir-el-Malha or salt spring. The vicinity of this spring is remarkable for the production of _natron_, which substance appears under different circumstances, and is of different quality from that of Terané. It is very white and solid; and on immersion in water becomes hot, and discharges a great portion of its air.

Small quantities of it are carried by the jelabs to Egypt, where it is sold at a high price, and is used principally in making snuff. The water found at this place is very unpalatable, being brackish.

A troop of the natives of Zeghawa met us at this well. It is their practice to station a small party there, when caravans are expected, who remunerate themselves for the fatigue of a ten days journey by supplying provisions, and what else may be wanted by travellers, at an exorbitant rate. Many of our companions at this time had great need of their assistance, as their supply had been originally insufficient, and many camels had perished on the road. The vicinity of the Bir-el-Malha is occasionally infested by the Cubba-Beesh, a wandering tribe, who, mounted on the swiftest dromedaries, rapidly traverse the desert, and live by plundering the defenceless. As they are, however, unfurnished with fire-arms, so numerous a body as ours was not in much danger from their attack.

We remained at the Bir-el-Malha till the 12th; on which day we left that place, and travelled with little interruption till the 20th, and then encamped at a spot called Medwa, where however is no supply of water. One of my camels having fallen, we were obliged to purchase water of the _Mahréa_ Arabs[34] whom we met, or to take up what had lodged in cavities on the earth, in consequence of the rains which were then beginning to fall.

On the 23d we came to the first springs within the limits of Fûr, which are in this place called Wadi Masrûk. The white ant, _Termis_, was here exceedingly vexatious, building his covered way to every thing within the tent, and destroying all within his reach. This together with the rains, which were now increasing, and began to pour in a torrent through the valley, obliged us to abandon the tents, and take shelter in the next village, (Sweini,) where I obtained an apartment in the house of Ali-el-Chatîb, one of the principal merchants established in the country. In it I passed eight or ten days, not having arrived at Cobbé, one of the towns whither the jelabs chiefly resort, till the seventh of August.

At Sweini resides generally a Melek or governor on the part of the Sultan of Dar-Fûr; and there all strangers, as well as merchants of the country, coming with the caravan, are obliged to wait, till the pleasure of the monarch in disposing of them be known.