Chapter XXI: Part 21

During the two last days of our stay at Taka, we were greatly alarmed by intelligence from Souakin that a man of Taka had been killed there by a Hadherebe. The Hadendoa deliberated whether they should not detain all the individuals of the caravan till they knew the result of the affair, and they would probably have done it had not another Bedouin arrived soon after, with information that the business had been settled by the Souakiny paying the price of blood.

JOURNEY FROM TAKA TO SOUAKIN.

_June 15th._—Just as we started a violent wind rose and continued the whole of the morning; the sand flew about in every direction, and caused us to miss our way. Our general direction was N. E. by N. We passed alternately sandy and fertile ground, the latter, which traverses the desert in narrow strips, is regularly inundated by the waters of Taka. At the end of about four hours we reached the extremity of this cultivable tract, where high acacias were growing. Here we found the principal chief of the caravan waiting for us. In the afternoon we continued in the same direction, over the desert plain, and halted after a day’s march of nine or ten hours. After sunset we were involved in a violent whirlwind, during which the camels became unruly, and we were obliged to remain on the spot till it ceased.

_June 16th._—We continued in the direction of N. E. by N. We had now with us eighteen or twenty of the Tekaýrne, or Negroe pilgrims. Tekroury, the _singular_ of this name, is not derived from a country called Tekrour, as is generally supposed in the East, and which has misled all the Arabian geographers, but from the verb Takorror (تكرّر), to multiply, renew, to sift, to purify, to invigorate; i. e. their religious sentiments, by the study of the sacred book, and by pilgrimage. The appellation is bestowed on all Negroes who come from the west, in search of learning (Taleb Olm, طالب عُلم—or simply Taleb), or for the Hadj, of whatever country they may be. They do not call themselves by this name of Tekroury, which many assured me they had never heard till they reached the limits of Darfour. All these pilgrims can read and write a little; and they all belong to the class styled Faky (_plur._ Fakiha). I never found any of them quite illiterate. After making some progress in the schools of their country, (schools being met with in all the Mohammedan countries of Africa,) they proceed to Mekka for the Hadj, or in order to study the Koran and the commentaries upon it, in that place and Medinah; or to Cairo, for the same purpose; but the greater part go for the Hadj; at present there are not more than twelve in the mosque El Azhar at Cairo, and I did not find above double that number in the great mosque at Mekka, where they are occupied chiefly in learning the Koran by heart, in the belief, that they can never forget a chapter which they have once learnt in the Beit ullah (house of God). The greater part of the Tekaýrne who visit Mekka come from the schools of Darfour, the principal of which are at Kondjara, in the neighbourhood of Kobbe. Those from the most western countries who pass this road are from Bahr el Ghazal and Bagerme. All the Black Hadjis from the countries to the west of Bagerme, from Bournou as far as Timbuctou, either travel with the Fezzan, or great Moggrebyn pilgrim caravan, or proceed by sea from the coast of Barbary. Their motives for undertaking the journey are, partly a sincere desire to fulfil the precepts of their religion, and partly the ambition of enjoying afterwards the credit which the Hadj confers in their own country upon those who have performed it, and which is of course in proportion to the difficulty of the journey.

Some of the Tekaýrne of Darfour and Kordofan are possessed of considerable property, and trade during their journey. At Djidda I met with a man from Darfour with three or four female attendants, and half a dozen female slaves, which formed his household, besides the slaves he carried with him for sale; but the greater part of them are quite destitute, and find their way to Mekka, and back to their own country, by begging, and by what they can earn by their manual labour on the road. The equipments of all these pilgrims are exactly alike, and consist of a few rags tied round the waist, a white woollen bonnet, a leathern provision sack, carried on a long stick over the shoulder, a leathern pouch containing a book of prayers, or a copy of a few chapters of the Koran, a wooden tablet, one foot in length, by six inches in breadth, upon which they write charms, or prayers, for themselves or others to learn by heart, an inkstand formed of a small gourd, a bowl to drink out of, or to collect victuals in from the charitable, a small earthen pot for ablution, and a long string of beads hanging in many turns round the neck. The Tekaýrne seldom travel alone, at least they never set out alone upon their journey; they generally form parties of about half a dozen, and as opportunity offers, join some caravan on the road, or proceed by themselves. Their usual route to Mekka is by Siout, by Sennaar, or by Shendy. Those from the most western countries meet at Darfour; after which, such only as can afford to travel with the Darfour caravan, (which requires capital sufficient to buy camels and provisions for the journey through the desert), repair to Siout, from whence they proceed to Djidda, by the way of Kosseir. The pilgrims who go by Sennaar come from Kordofan, and pursue their journey by three different routes; viz. 1, through the interior of Abyssinia, by Gondar and Axum, to Massouah; 2, along the Nile from Sennaar to Shendy; and, 3, from Sennaar to Taka, by the way of Ras el Fil, and from thence to Hallenga, by which they escape the journey through the desert. Those who travel by the first route complain of being ill-treated by the Christians of Abyssinia, of never being allowed to enter any house, or even court-yard, and of being fed like dogs (as they express it) before the threshold. They, however, always obtain a copious evening meal. At Massouah they remain a few weeks, till they earn by their labour sufficient to pay their passage-money by sea either to the nearest coast of Yemen, which is one dollar, or to Djidda, which is two dollars. Their usual rendezvous is Hodeyda, the sea-port of Yemen, from whence they proceed to Mekka, by land, passing through the hospitable tribes of Bedouins in the mountains of the Hedjaz. I estimate the number of Negroe pilgrims who pass by this route annually to Mekka at about one hundred and fifty, or two hundred. Many Tekaýrne are settled in the sea-ports of Yemen, as well as at Djidda and Mekka. The third route is preferred by all pilgrims who are able to make a common purse in order to buy a camel for the transport of water and provisions; and they are sure of finding at Taka, after a short stay, some merchants from Souakin, in whose company they can proceed to that place.

The route most frequented by them is that from Darfour or Kordofan straight to Shendy. The latter part only of this route presents any difficulty; in the inhabited districts they everywhere find hospitable people, who pride themselves in giving alms to the poor Fakiha. But from the limits of the dominions of Kordofan to Shendy is a journey of five days through a desert, without water, the dread of which often induces them to take either the circuitous route by Sennaar, or to wait at Kordofan for the rainy season, when water is found in plenty in the barren tract. At Shendy they generally remain some time to recruit their strength, visiting every evening the residence of the foreign merchants, and sitting down without ceremony to their supper. In general, the Tekroury is under little anxiety; wherever he finds himself comfortably situated there he will remain for weeks together; and he prefers taking a circuitous road of fourteen days through a country where he knows that he will find charitable inhabitants, to passing a desert or inhospitable tract of only two days. From Shendy they all proceed to Damer, and this road is never unfrequented by parties, consisting of half a dozen or a dozen of them. On arriving at a village they disperse among its families, and re-assemble again in the evening to partake in common of the victuals which the charity of the inhabitants has provided for them.

At Damer the two principal pilgrim routes separate, and they either proceed along the Nile towards Egypt, or ascend the banks of the Mogren and Atbara, as far as Goz Radjeb, from whence they cross over to Taka and to Souakin. The former is a long but a less fatiguing journey; and the nearer they approach Egypt the more charity they find among the inhabitants on the Nile. The Arabs Sheygya pique themselves on their bounty to the Tekaýrne, in return for which the pilgrim is sure to be stripped of every thing of value that he may possess. Their little property is tolerably secure on the road from Darfour to Shendy, where they are protected by the government; but from thence they are in a very different predicament. At Shendy they usually exchange whatever they possess for gold, as they can secrete it with greater facility than any other article of value; but as this is known to be their practice, they are frequently ill-treated on the road, in consequence of it. I have been assured by many, that among the Bedouins of Atbara and Taka, as well as among the Sheygya, they are often stripped to the skin, in search of their gold, and that all their books, and even their inkstands, are examined, no means being left untried to rob them of the little cash or gold they may have about them. The Sheygya compensate, in some degree, for their rapacity, by their otherwise hospitable conduct; but the Bedouins on the Atbara and at Taka are as uncharitable as they are greedy of booty, and subject the poor travellers to great hardships.

The pilgrims who follow the course of the Nile, stop a short time in the villages of Upper Egypt, in many of which are foundations annexed to the revenues of the mosques,[65] for the entertainment of the passing Tekaýrne during three days. At Esne every one receives one piaster from the mosque, at parting. If they are entirely destitute of money they endeavour, by manual labour, or by writing charms, to collect as much as will pay, at the time of the Hadj their passage from Kosseir to Djidda, otherwise they rely on the charity of some Turkish Hadji, to pay it for them. The Kosseir route is most usually followed by them; few visit Cairo, although there is a public foundation in the mosque El Azhar, in which a small number of them, not exceeding, I think, forty (for more than that number seldom unite together, except in the time of the Hadj), are fed daily with bread and broth. Those who pass Cairo follow the great pilgrim caravan to Mekka, and the Emir el Hadj has strict orders from the Sultan, to furnish with food and water all the Negroes who have no beasts of burthen of their own.

The route most frequented by the Negroe pilgrims is that from Damer along the Mogren to Taka, and from thence to Souakin; I do not over-rate the number who pass this way at five hundred annually; as I have before said, they never travel in large parties; but a few are seen almost daily passing along the banks of the river. At Damer, such as can possibly afford it, buy asses, and load them with Dhourra meal for their provisions on the road; these proceed in parties of twenty, and make with their sticks a determined resistance when assailed by robbers in the open country; in the villages or encampments they are certain of protection from the chief, at least that they shall not be robbed of their beasts and provision. From Taka they proceed with the caravans to Souakin, where they wait till they find a ship to convey them to Djidda. The usual fare is from one to two dollars. While I was at Souakin, a party of at least fifty returned to Taka, because the masters of the vessels, then lying in the harbour, refused to take less than two dollars for each passenger; they offered one dollar, and this being refused, they quitted Souakin with the intention, after reaching Taka, of proceeding to Massouah, where they were certain that one dollar, which was all they could afford, would provide them a conveyance to the coast of the Yemen; for the sake of this advantage they entered upon a journey of at least thirty days, and reckoned that on so well frequented a road they should be able to defray their expenses by labour or by begging. Distance is scarcely ever taken into consideration by these pilgrims, nor indeed by any Bedouins or traders in those countries; fatigue they care little about; loss of time still less; one object only occupies their attention, under the two forms of a direct gain and the saving of expense. When I come to speak of Souakin, I shall have an opportunity of adding some further remarks on the conveyance of these pilgrims by sea; and in my description of my journey in the Hedjaz, I shall have occasion to recur to the subject, and to describe the proceedings of the Tekaýrne after their arrival in Arabia.

It will readily be conceived that the danger and fatigue incident to the journey prove fatal to great numbers of the pilgrims; perhaps one-sixth fall victims to their zeal; the greater part of the diseases by which they are attacked on the road arise from their being almost destitute of clothing; many perish in the deserts through want and fatigue, and others are murdered; but as all who die on the road are looked upon as martyrs, these contingencies have little effect in diminishing the annual numbers, or in diverting others from their purpose. Although the greater number of the pilgrims are stout young men, yet it is not rare to see women following their husbands to the Hadj; and almost incredible as it may seem, one of the men who joined our caravan at Taka was blind. He had come from Borgho, to the west of Darfour, in company with three others, and was continually led by a stick, which one of his companions held in his hands as he marched before him; I saw this man afterwards begging in the mosque at Mekka, and again at Medina, sitting on the threshold of the temple, exclaiming, as he appealed to the charity of the Hadjis, “I am blind, but the light of the word of God, and the love of his prophet, illumine my soul, and have been my guide from Soudan to this tomb!” He received very liberal alms, and would probably return to his home richer than he left it.

Some of the Tekaýrne are men of power and wealth in their own country, but travel as paupers, in order to escape the dangers attendant on riches in the journey. During our encampment in the plain near Souakin, I saw a young Tekroury sleeping in a lonely spot, while another, kneeling by him, kept off the flies from his face. On enquiry, I learnt from the other Negroes, that he was the son of a great chief in Dar Saley, who had been educated with the Fakys, and had set out upon this journey, with a camel, and one servant only. At Shendy he had exchanged the camel for an ass; the servant had become his friend and companion, and both mixed in the crowds of the poorest pilgrims. It is principally owing to a few examples such as these, that the generality of the inhabitants of the countries through which the pilgrims pass are so uncharitable and cruel to them; they think that every Tekroury is a king of Soudan in disguise, with abundance of gold about him. During the Mamelouk government in Egypt, the Begs were very liberal in their donations to the Tekaýrne; but the present government shows little compassion to them, and no Tekroury is permitted to embark at Kosseir, without first paying a fixed rate for his passage to the masters of the ships, which almost all belong to the government. In Africa, as well as in Arabia, the country people, wherever the black Fakys pass, are eager to procure amulets of their writing, which are supposed to possess greater virtue than those of any other class of pilgrims. There lives at present, in Cairo, near the Kara-meydan, a Tekroury, who has been for many years famous for his amulets, and who makes large sums of money by writing them. In general the Negroe pilgrims are industrious, and rarely ask for charity where they can procure a subsistence by their own labour.

The routes of the Negroe caravans from Kordofan to Dongola or Berber, laid down in the Maps of Africa, are at present quite unfrequented. There is no direct communication whatever between Kordofan and Berber, and that between Kordofan and Dóngola has only been established since the arrival of the Mamelouks in those parts. The route from Berber to Souakin is seldom chosen by the Hadjis, from their dread of the merciless Bisharein, and from the little chance they have of joining caravans of traders, who very seldom pass this way.

To return to our march, we crossed this morning a tract of flat country. At the end of two hours we came to a small pool of water, the effect of the rain that had fallen here occasionally for the last fortnight, and of which we had several showers during our stay at Taka. At about four hours distance on our right was a chain of mountains extending in a S. E. direction, and as I computed, from two to three thousand feet in height; I was told that they are all inhabited by Hadendoas, and that they abound in pasturage. We here met a caravan from Souakin, loaded with salt, one of the principal articles in the Taka trade; it is brought from Souakin and exported by the merchants of Taka towards the Atbara, and among the Bedouin tribes in the neighbourhood, where no salt whatever is found. After a march of four hours we came to a Wady full of trees and shrubs; further on we crossed several other valleys that bore traces of violent torrents rushing through them during the rainy season. At the end of five hours we stopped in one of the Wadys during the mid-day hours. The soil is in general sandy; a species of low oak tree, very much resembling the Balout of Syria, grows here; the Oshour also abounds. In the afternoon we entered upon rocky uneven ground, where I found fine rose-coloured quartz in thick layers among the sand-stone. The chain of mountains seen in the morning was no longer visible. At the end of eight hours we halted at Wady Lado, a low ground extending in a westerly direction. Here are a great many Doum trees, and the valley is full of excellent pasturage; it is inhabited by the Bedouins Hadendoa. In summer, they procure their water from several wells; but when we passed plenty of rain water was found among the clusters of rocks which are dispersed through the Wady. A chain of hills runs from hence eastward. We alighted early in the evening, that our cattle might enjoy the pasture.

_June 17th._—In riding along a gravelly plain, thickly covered with thorny trees, we started several female ostriches, which are known from the males by the darker colour of their plumage; they at first ran off, without appearing to be much frightened; but followed the caravan for upwards of an hour, at the distance of about two gun-shots. High mountains were seen far to our right. At the end of two hours we came to a large pond of rain water. In five hours we reached Wady Ody, where are wells and rain water, with thorny shrubs and Doum trees in great plenty. Here was a large encampment of Hadendoa, just breaking up in order to retire to the eastern mountains, on account of the incursions of the Bisharein. We continued our march in this Wady the whole evening; it is three or four miles in breadth, the soil very fertile, and well irrigated by winter torrents. It is not enclosed by hills, but is called a Wady from the flatness of the ground, which in winter becomes the bed of a torrent. Our course was N. N. E. The Hadendoa here cultivate Dhourra, and a little cotton, the latter apparently with more care, than I had any where witnessed since quitting the banks of the Nile. The verdure was richer than I had seen it even at Atbara; the ground was covered with Senna Mekke. The black merchants told me that this shrub is very common in Kordofan, where it grows to the height of four or five feet. A large hedge-hog was found here, which the Tekaýrne skinned, and ate in the evening. We halted late at night, near the extremity of the Wady, by a pond of water, after a long day’s march of ten hours.

_June 18th._—Some disputes arose this morning between the chief of the caravan, and the Sowakin merchants, about the route to be taken from hence; and after a march of two hours over generally level ground, but not without trees, we stopped in a wood of Syale trees, to settle the matter. There were two routes towards Souakin; the nearest branches off in a N. E. direction, and lies over steep mountains, inhabited by Bedouins; where are many wells, but the road is bad, and difficult from the number of ascents and descents. The other is more easy, but two days longer; the chief insisted upon taking the latter route in order to spare the camels, which were heavily laden, while the merchants wished to pursue the former. Not being able to agree, the parties separated; the black traders and myself remained with the chief; and in the evening we were joined by the others, who upon mature consideration, and finding the chief determined not to yield to them, thought it would be a folly to endanger their safety, in order to accelerate their arrival by two days only. In the place where we halted there grew many wide spreading trees of moderate height, which had a vast number of branches issuing in every direction out of the trunk, from the root to the top, and reaching down to the ground; the leaves much resembled those of the laurel; I found them to be very bitter, and the camels refused to eat them: the Negroes eat of them, in order, as they said, to strengthen their stomach (يمَكّن البطن Yemakken el battn). The Oshour is common here. After marching three hours farther, or five hours from our starting (direction N. E. ½ E.), we halted in a Wady of Doum trees, where our slaves killed and ate a quantity of locusts. An herb was here collected, the leaves of which resemble those of the Meloukhye; when boiled they were thrown into the broth with which the Assyde is seasoned. The Assyde is the principal dish of the Black traders, and appears to be in general use in every part of North Africa; it consists of a thick pap of Dhourra or Dhoken meal, over which a sauce made of butter and onions, or Bamye, is poured: it is prepared with more care than the Fetyre, formerly described, and when the meal is fine, it is far from being disagreeable. The Kordofan merchants carried Dhoken in their leathern sacks, which is more common with them than Dhourra. Most of the traders carried also the stones with which the Dhourra is ground, and their slaves were obliged by turns to pass the greater part of the night in grinding meal for the provision of the following day. Others, and among them myself, had during their stay at Taka filled their sacks with Dhourra flour, prepared as already described, which is also made into Assyde; it is esteemed more wholesome than the other. The slaves eat the Dhourra pap for dinner without any sauce or seasoning, except salt; for supper they generally boil the grain till it bursts, some salt is then strewed over it, and it is eaten by handfuls without butter or sauce. My slave was envied by all the others, because he always got his dinner and supper with butter, as I did. The Souakin merchants have their own dishes better seasoned than those of the slaves, which is not the case with the Egyptian traders. Among the former, if a slave is much fatigued, or suffers from severe head-ache, of which they often complain, he receives a small allowance of butter. Some of the merchants had dried flesh with them, which they boiled in the sauce of the Assyde. Whenever a camel was killed the flesh was cut into strips, and hung exposed for two days in the sun, round the camels saddles until it was sufficiently dried not to putrify; after which it was put into sacks. The heat was intense the whole of this day; after sunset we had loud thunder with lightning, followed by a heavy shower of rain, which set us all afloat. I had a mat which afforded me some shelter, but before the night was passed the water came through, and I was completely drenched, like the rest; this is no trifling inconvenience, when one is unprovided with a change of clothes, and when the body is still affected by the heat of the preceding day.

_June 19th._—The morning was fine, and the birds sang so sweetly, at sunrise, that even slaves and slave-traders expressed their delight. After marching an hour, we entered the mountains; this is one of the principal chains in this part of Nubia, extending, as far as I could understand, in the direction from NW. to SE. for four or five days, on each side of the point at which we entered it. A branch of it runs to the north, near the coast, all the way to Kosseir. We ascended through a Wady, with steep rocks on each side, and we met with several difficult ascents and descents. The whole mountain is intersected by Wadys, in all of which trees and pasturage are met with. The path was well trodden, and tolerably free from stones. At the end of three hours we halted in a narrow elevated plain, where acacia trees grew in a soil of sand and gravel; it is called Wady Aréwad;[66] some colossal Doum trees afforded us a shade, and we had hoped to find water in a small well near them; but it was choaked up with gravel, and we were unable, after long digging, to obtain a sufficiency for ourselves and camels. We in consequence took off the loads, mounted our beasts, and rode about three quarters of an hour to the westward up the rocky slope of the mountain, when we came to a large and deep basin of rain water which had been filled since last year. This morning I had a narrow escape from a Souakiny, who joined me while I was in advance of the caravan, and succeeded in leading me astray into a side valley about half a mile from the road. He was armed with a lance, while I had nothing but a small stick. Luckily for me, at the moment when I perceived his intention, I found a thick branch of a tree. He laughed when I took it up; but as I could not mistake his object in following me, I ordered him to stand off, threatening to become the assailant; by this means I made good my retreat, and rejoined the caravan. Had this man murdered me and taken the few dollars I had, which he probably supposed to be more than they really were, there would have been no danger in his returning to the caravan; no body on my being missed would have thought it worth his while to make any particular enquiries about me, still less to revenge my death. This proved an unlucky day to me, for about noon, while I was filling my water-skin at the basin, the camel, which I had left tied to a tree in the valley below, broke loose, without my knowledge, and returned to the resting place, in company of many others that were loaded with water. When I carried my water-skin down the cliff, I found the camel was gone as well as my companions the black traders; no one present would permit me to place the skin upon his camel, and as it was too heavy to be carried any distance on the shoulder, I was obliged to return to the caravan for my camel. By the time I had rejoined the caravan with the water, they had began to load; so that after having toiled during the heat of the morning and noon, I was obliged immediately to resume the march without either food or repose. The merchants who have several slaves, are very comfortably situated; cooking, carrying water, and loading are left to them, and the master merely adjusts the loads, and takes care that nothing be left behind. During the mid-day hours he sleeps soundly under a shed of mats erected for him by his slaves, and is only awakened when every thing is ready for departure. My little slave became useful to me in this route, in bringing wood and tending the fire; but cooking, and fetching water, when it was at any distance, fell entirely to my care, as well as the loading of the camel.

There are some poor families of Hadendoa in this Wady, who are afraid of descending into the plain, on account of the incursions of the Bisharein. The rains not having yet set in, there was little verdure in this elevated valley; but the lower plain had been several times irrigated.

We continued our route in the afternoon, along the narrow plain, in a northern direction, for about an hour and a half, when we met a small caravan coming from Souakin, and bound to Taka. This was the seventh day of their march. On reaching the extremity of the plain, we began again to ascend through a narrow sandy valley, thickly overgrown with the Seder (سدر) tree,[67] a small space in the middle only being open for the road. The valley winds very much: it is generally about four hundred yards across, but in many places only one hundred, with steep cliffs on both sides worn into deep channels by the rains; we passed several pools of water; I might therefore have saved all the labour I had had in filling my water-skins; but thus it often happens in the desert with travellers who are ignorant of the road; those who know where the wells or pools are situated, generally keep their knowledge secret, and urge the necessity of taking as copious a supply as possible, for they have this saying, “We would transport the Nile itself, if the camels could but carry it.” Sometimes it becomes necessary to load water, even if a well is known to be at a short distance, because the caravan is not to halt there, and no one ever thinks of stopping alone to fill his water-skins. The Oshour and tamarisk trees grow in many parts of the valley, but the Seder predominated quite to the upper extremity. On looking back towards the plain we had quitted, a vast rocky wilderness presented itself with the green strip of the Wady serpentizing through it; there was in many parts of the Wady cultivable soil, for wherever in these countries water abounds, the most barren sands become fertile. The valley every where bore traces of the devastation occasioned by the torrents, and the sides of the mountain had been so much undermined by them, that the upper layer of rocks had been displaced, and was lying about shattered to pieces.

After a march of nine hours, (the general direction NNE.) four of which had been occupied in ascending, we came to a spot where the valley, having reached the summit, becomes level for about five hundred yards; here we encamped. We had met with several Hadendoa families near the pools of water, and as they are reputed to be great thieves, we determined to continue our march thus far, as we thought they would follow us no farther in the woods. One of the men asserted that in coming up the valley he had seen a monkey among the trees, and I was informed that these animals are not unfrequently met with in this place, and that they are very common on the western road to Souakin, which leads over the same chain of mountains. We saw many Gazelles, and several hares. The heat of the day, which had become particularly oppressive in the lower plain between the high mountains, was here succeded by a chilling cold. We lighted many fires, and the fear of robbers kept us awake the greater part of the night. I killed a scorpion just by my fire.

_June 20th._ The highest summit of the mountain was about three hundred feet higher than the elevation on which we were encamped. It is from its steep and almost perpendicular cliffs that the torrents in the rainy season are precipitated through innumerable clefts in the rocks, into this plain, where they divide, part rushing towards the northern, and part towards the southern plain. We followed, this morning, the bed of the northern torrent, in our descent, which was not so steep as the ascent had been. The climate of this mountain recalled to my feelings, that of the valleys of Mount Lebanon; the fresh morning air breathed a vigour through my frame which I had not felt since I quitted Syria. Trees were met with during the whole of the descent. At the end of four hours we halted where the valley widens considerably; here we found fine pasturage among the barren rocks; there were also many Doum trees, and some water in shallow pools. The whole aspect of the valley was extremely picturesque, at least to a traveller who, after passing a desert, hails every spot of verdure as an Eden. A small caravan, six days from Souakin, bound for Taka with salt here passed us. Several side valleys, all equally full of trees, join the main bed of the torrent. After again starting we continued descending very slowly for two hours, and then issued where the Wady is lost in the open plain; our road then lay over uneven, gravelly ground, (direction N. E. ½ N.) and after a day’s march of nine hours and a half we halted for the night; the chain of mountains extended to the right and left; on the right appearing to take a S. E. direction; and on the left dividing into two branches, one of which runs to the westward, and loses itself in the desert, and the other northwards parallel with the sea shore. Having met several straggling parties during the day, we kept close together the whole night, for fear of robbers.

The route over the mountain which we had just crossed presents no difficulties whatever; the mountain is called by the inhabitants Orbay Langay, or the mountain of Langay, and is one of the principal features in the topography of Eastern Nubia. It is full of pasturage in every direction, but more particularly to the west, where many wells and springs are found. I think it probable that in the most western point of this mountain the river, or rather great torrent, Mogren has its rise, for as I have already said, its course does not intersect the caravan route from Atbara to Souakin. The mountain Langay is inhabited by Hadendoa Arabs only, and serves them as an asylum against the depredations of the Bisharein. The Hadendoa who live at several days distance, and the people of Souakin also, send their cattle in the summer to this mountain, where they are certain of finding pasturage. The Langay forms a separation of climates in Eastern Nubia; to the south of it the rains had set in for a fortnight, while to the north no rain had yet fallen, as appeared both by the dusty ground, and the testimony of the Bedouins. At Souakin, I was told that the rains were not expected there till the middle of July. In the plains of the Bedja,[68] easterly winds had generally prevailed; but in this northern plain we had usually northerly breezes. On the south of the mountains, since quitting the Atbara, we had never felt any dew during the night, whereas heavy dews now fell every night, and continued during our stay at Souakin. The whole of this chain consists of primitive calcareous rock. I could no where find any petrifactions, nor any granite.

_June 21st._—We rode this morning over uneven and generally stony ground; direction NE. ½ N.; the rocks were quartz and grünstein, which latter is met with in every part of Nubia. Many low grounds, the beds of torrents, intersected the road. At the end of three hours we halted in Wady Osouyt, near a pool of water. These collections of rain water amongst the rocks are often of considerable depth; those on the level plain are shallow and of greater extent. From Wady Osouyt we continued NW. by N. over a plain having exactly the appearance of the Syrian deserts. Low shrubs were growing everywhere in a soil that might easily be rendered productive. We travelled parallel with the chain on our left, and from four to six miles distant from it. This chain is called Dyaab, and extends along the coast, I conjecture, as far as Kosseir: at first sight it appears barren, but the sheep and goats find plenty of herbage in its clefts. We met another caravan of about thirty camels, returning unloaded, to Taka. We also passed a small encampment of Hadendoa, who had large herds of camels. We halted in the plain after a day’s march of ten hours.

_June 22d._—We travelled over stony ground; direction NNW. After three hours march we entered Wady Moez, full of large fragments of rocks, among which we rode westward towards the mountain, till we reached a well, close to which was a pool of rain water; here we found flocks of sheep and many camels, which the Hadendoa shepherds had been watering. Notwithstanding the steepness of the mountain there are trees to its very summit, exhibiting an interesting and novel sight to me, who had seen nothing like it since I quitted Syria. There are numberless ravines through which the torrents are precipitated into the plain during the rains, when they must form so many cascades boiling over the rocks, and presenting altogether a grand spectacle. Many Seder trees grow in the plain. Here again the slaves caught locusts, which they roasted over the fire, after taking out the entrails. From Wady Moez we continued over even but rocky ground, four hours farther, when we halted.

_June 23d._ The country before us presented a valley (called Wady Osyr) of at least four hours in breadth, bordered on the east side by low hills. We continued our route close to the high western chain; the whole plain is full of trees and shrubs, and in every low ground was herbage, now parched up. We passed another encampment of Hadendoa, with large herds of camels; they appear to live here in perfect security from any surprise by their enemies. We also met a travelling party of Hadendoa, with their women and tents; the women were seated upon the camels, on high saddles fantastically decorated, with three or four poles sticking out in front, beyond the animal’s head, having the extremities ornamented with large bunches of black ostrich feathers. The African, like the Arabian Bedouins, seem to display elegance of equipment in the decorations of their women only: leathern tassels of different sizes, small bells, and white shells, from the Red Sea, contributed to the ornament of the harness and saddles of the camels. None of the women passed me without uttering a loud shriek, and then laughing. After marching two hours and a half, we halted under a thick cover of acacia trees, in low ground, called Wady Shenkera. The slaves had to bring water from an hour’s distance in the mountain. We here collected the same herb which I have already mentioned, to season our Asyde. A few poor women came to sell us milk and to beg a little Dhourra, which is scarce among these Bedouins; they draw their supplies from Taka, but they live generally upon milk and flesh only. We continued travelling in Wady Osyr during the evening, NE. b. E. and halted for the night after a day’s journey of eight hours and a half.

_June 24th._—During the night the chief of the caravan and several of the principal merchants left us, and being well mounted upon dromedaries, expected to reach Souakin the next day. We started before sunrise. The eastern hills terminate in this latitude; and the sun was just rising beyond them, when we descried its reflection at an immense distance in the sea, affording a pleasing sight to every individual in the caravan, but most of all to me. The slaves asked whether it was the Nile, for they had never heard of any other great water or sea, and the Arabs apply the same word Bahr (بحر) both to the sea and to the Nile. A plain which lay between us and the sea appeared to consist of barren sand, covered towards the sea with a superstratum of salt. Our road continued among trees and the beds of torrents which empty themselves into the sands. After a march of three hours and a half we reached Wady Shinterab in which is a copious spring, but the water has a brackish taste; it collects in a basin, and can only be drank by man when sweetened by rain water. Around this well are some rocks of gray granite, the only granite I had seen since quitting the hills of Goz Radjeb. A good deal of Senna Mekke grows here. A very wild rocky valley branches off into the chain on the left. The Wady Shinterab forms a very large torrent during the rainy season; it is at least three hundred yards broad, and about twelve feet deep. Farther on the ground was uneven, and the road so very rocky, that the camels proceeded along it with difficulty. There was a beaten path the whole of the way we had come from the Langay, and it continued as far as Souakin. After a journey of six hours and a half, direction NE. by N. we halted in a Wady full of verdure, where our cattle were driven to pasture.

A camel belonging to one of the Kordofan traders fell and was killed during this day’s march. The Souakin merchants, who proved themselves on every occasion to be destitute of every feeling of compassion or charity, passed on without shewing the least disposition to aid the owner in his distress. My camel was the strongest in the party, I therefore volunteered my services, and transferred the greater part of the dead camel’s load to mine, which obliged me to perform the remainder of the journey to Souakin on foot. The merchant to whom the camel belonged had several times ordered his slaves to cook my supper and bring me water, when he had seen me exhausted by fatigue, and it thus became my duty to repay his kindness.

_June 25th._—We set out soon after midnight, and travelled over a rocky plain. When the sun rose, we saw the sea about five hours distant. The soil now began to be strongly impregnated with salt; a bitter saline crust covering its surface in many places to the depth of several inches. The atmosphere arising from this soil, rendered still more saline by the sea breezes, had made the branches of all the trees as black as if they had been charred; and it was with difficulty that the herds of camels of forty or fifty together, could find out a few green leaves. I had never seen the camel so nearly approaching to a wild state. Whole herds are here left to pasture without the care of either men or dogs; the Hadendoa keep them almost entirely for their milk and flesh, very few being employed as beasts of burthen; they appeared to be frightened at the approach of men and of loaded camels, a circumstance I had never witnessed before. In the Arabian and Syrian deserts, the camels when grazing come running and frisking towards any strange camel which they perceive at a distance, and they easily obey even the call of strangers, provided they are Bedouins like their own masters. The herds of camels which we saw this day were, like those of Nubia, in general of a white colour. The acacia trees in this plain are stunted, owing to the violent winds to which they are exposed. I observed a parasitic species of cactus growing upon all of them, and completely covering some of them like a net.

After marching about four hours, we took the direction of N. by E. and approached a mountain branching into the plain, from the main chain of Dyaab. It is called the mountain of Gangerab, and is inhabited by families of Hadendoa, who supply Souakin with butter and milk during the summer, when no cattle is to be found near that place. We encamped during the mid-day hours at some distance from the mountain, and were much distressed for water, having taken a very small supply on the 23d. The Souakin merchants, who knew the country well, hired without our knowledge, an Arab who brought them several camel loads of water from the mountain, which we in vain intreated them to share with ourselves and slaves. No idea can be formed by Europeans of the quantity of water necessary for drinking, cooking, and washing during a journey through these countries, but more particularly to allay the thirst of the traveller, whose palate is continually parched by the effects of the fiery ground and air, who has been confined perhaps for several days to a short allowance of water, and who lives upon food which, consisting of farinaceous preparations and butter, is calculated to excite thirst in the greatest degree. It is a general custom in the caravans in these parts, as well as in the Arabian deserts, never to drink, except when the whole caravan halts for a few minutes for that purpose; the time of doing this is, in the slave caravans, about nine o’clock in the morning, and twice during the afternoon’s march, namely about four and six o’clock. In the forenoon also every one drinks at the halting of the caravan, and again after the meal; and the same rule is observed in the evening. To drink while others do not, exposes a man to be considered effeminate, and to the opprobrious saying, that “his mouth is tied to that of the water-skin.” (فمه مربوط علي خشم القربه—Fomoh marboutt alá kháshm el gerbé), and it is otherwise imprudent, as the opening of his water-skin at an unusual time subjects the traveller to importunities which it is not always prudent to reject; but none thinks of asking such a favour when the whole caravan halts to drink. Those who have many slaves fill the large wooden bowl in which dinner is served up, and place it upon the ground, when the slaves kneel down and drink out of it half a dozen times, as cattle do out of a trough; this is done to prevent the waste of water that would be occasioned by each having a separate allowance. Travellers in these journeys drink a great quantity of water when it is plentiful; I do not exaggerate when I say that I have often drank in the afternoon, at one draught, as much as would fill two common water-bottles. To drink three or four times a day is considered short allowance; few Blacks and Arabs, when water is abundant, drink less than six or seven times daily; but when the S. E. wind blows no quantity is sufficient to keep the mouth moist, and one wishes to drink every quarter of an hour. The stories related by the Bedouins to the town’s-people, of their remaining often two or three days in the desert without drinking, are mere fables. In all parts of Nubia, at least in the caravan routes, travellers can never be in very great distress from want of water, if the wells are not dried up. The only portions of the road, of any length, without water, are from Goz Radjeb to Sennaar, and from the frontiers of Kordofan to Shendy. Yet the Black traders often suffer from want of water, even where the wells are near, because their avarice leads them to load their camels so heavily with merchandize, that they have no room for a plentiful supply of water. The usual computation is that a middling sized skin or Gerbé (قربه) holding about fifty or sixty pounds of water, will serve a man for three days, if he is alone, or four men for one day, if they mess together.

The Arabs call the halt at noon, el Keyale (القيله). They say, “Nahun kayalna fi el mattrah el fulani” (نحن قيلناَّ في المطرح الفلاني). “We halted in such a place.” The chief, in giving orders to alight, cries out: “Keyaloua ikhouatna (قيلويا اخواتنا) Brothers, let us alight. When the caravan is to set out again, he exclaims, Esshedeid, Esshedeid (الشديد, from شدّ to tie fast the ropes of the loads.) In the evening he gives the word Hottoué, (حطّوا), to rest. Thus an Arab, when relating the history of his day’s march, says, “Komna fi el fadjer, wa keyalna alá el ma’a, wa shaddeyna wa ed-dhal bettoul es-shaksz, wa baad el nizoul hatteyna, wa beitna fi mattrah el fulani.” (قمنا في الفجر و قيّلنا علي الماء و شدّينا و الظل بطول الشخض و بعد النزول حطينا و بيتنا في المطرح الفلاني). We started at day break, we rested at noon near the water, we set out again, when a man’s shadow was equal to his length, and after sunset we alighted and slept, in such and such a place.

The Souakin caravans, like those of the Hedjaz, are accustomed to travel in one long file; the Egyptians, on the contrary, march with a wide extended front; but the former method is preferable, because if any of the loads get out of order, they can be adjusted by leading the camel out of the line, before those behind have come up; in the latter case, the whole caravan must stop, when any accident happens to a single camel. The caravans from Bagdad to Aleppo and Damascus, consisting sometimes of two thousand camels, marching abreast of each other, extend over a space of more than a mile. Our Souakin traders obliged their slaves to lead each of the camels by a halter, and upon every false step made by the animal they applied the whip to the leader.

I was much amused by a circumstance which took place to day, during our halt at noon: the black merchants had bought a sheep, and after it was killed a part of the meat was distributed among the slaves; some of it was offered to me, but I refused it, because meat always made me very thirsty; it had this effect upon the slaves who ate it, and unfortunately for them, their masters had no water left in the Gerbes. A boy came to me with a bone he had just been gnawing, and offered it to me, remarking that the best part of the meat was still remaining on it, if I would give him a drink of water for it; ‘my master,’ he added, ‘has sent to Gangerab with the Souakin people, and if his water-skins return filled, I faithfully promise to repay you the draught.’ The greediness of this little fellow in devouring his allowance of meat, together with his attempt to cheat me, by offering me the bone, and promising what he knew he could not perform, presented as complete a picture of the Oriental character in low life, as could be drawn: he failed however in his artifice, for I drank with my slave the last drop of water left in the skin.