The Nubian desert--The bitter well--Change of plans--An irascible
dragoman--Pools of the Atbara--One secret of the Nile--At Cassala
CHAPTER II.
Egypt's rule of the Soudan--Corn-grinding in the Soudan--Mahomet meets
relatives--The parent of Egypt--El Baggar rides the camel
CHAPTER III.
The Arabs' exodus--Reception by Abou Sinn--Arabs dressing the
hair--Toilet of an Arab woman--The plague of lice--Wives among the
Arabs--The Old Testament confirmed
CHAPTER IV.
On the Abyssinian border--A new school of medicine--Sacred shrines and
epidemics
CHAPTER V.
A primitive craft--Stalking the giraffes--My first
giraffes-Rare sport with the finny tribe--Thieving elephants
CHAPTER VI.
Preparations for advance--Mek Nimmur makes a foray--The
Hamran elephant-hunters--In the haunts of the elephant--A desperate
charge
CHAPTER VII.
The start from Geera--Feats of horsemanship--A curious chase--Abou Do
wins a race--Capturing a young buffalo--Our island camp--Tales of the
Base
CHAPTER VIII.
The elephant trumpets--Fighting an elephant with swords--The
forehead-shot--Elephants in a panic--A superb old Neptune--The harpoon
reaches its aim--Death of the hippopotamus--Tramped by an elephant
CHAPTER IX.
Fright of the Tokrooris--Deserters who didn't desert--Arrival of
the Sherrif brothers--Now for a tally-ho!--On the heels of the
rhinoceroses--The Abyssinian rhinoceros--Every man for himself
CHAPTER X.
A day with the howartis--A hippo's gallant fight--Abou Do leaves
us--Three yards from a lion--Days of delight--A lion's furious
rage--Astounding courage of a horse
CHAPTER XI.
The bull-elephant--Daring Hamrans--The elephant
helpless--Visited by a minstrel--A determined musician--The nest of the
outlaws--The Atbara River
CHAPTER XII.
Abyssinian slave-girls--Khartoum--The Soudan under Egyptian
rule--Slave-trade in the Soudan--The obstacles ahead
CHAPTER XIII.
Gondokoro--A mutiny quelled--Arrival of Speke and Grant--The sources of
the Nile-Arab duplicity--The boy-slave's story--Saat adopted
CHAPTER XIV.
Startling disclosures--The last hope seems gone--The Bari chief's
advice--Hoping for the best--Ho for Central Africa!
CHAPTER XV.
A start made at last--A forced march--Lightening the ship--Waiting
for the caravan--Success hangs in the balance--The greatest rascal in
Central Africa--Legge demands another bottle
CHAPTER XVI.
The greeting of the slave-traders--Collapse of the
mutiny--African funerals-Visit from the Latooka chief--Bokke makes a
suggestion--Slaughter of the Turks--Success as a prophet--Commoro's
philosophy
CHAPTER XVII.
Disease in the camp--Forward under difficulties--Our cup of
misery overflows--A rain-maker in a dilemma-Fever again--Ibrahim's
quandary-Firing the prairie
CHAPTER XVIII.
Greeting from Kamrasi's people--Suffering from the sins of others-Alone
among savages--The free-masonry of Unyoro.--Pottery and civilization
CHAPTER XIX.
Kamrasi's cowardice--Interview with the king--The exchange of blood--The
rod beggar's last chance--An astounded sovereign
CHAPTER XX.
A satanic escort--Prostrated by sun-stroke--Days and nights of
sorrow--The reward for all our labor
CHAPTER XXI.
The cradle of the Nile--Arrival at Magungo--The blind leading the
blind--Murchison Falls
CHAPTER XXII.
Prisoners on the island--Left to starve--Months of helpless-ness--We
rejoin the Turks--The real Kamrasi--In the presence of royalty
CHAPTER XXIII.
The hour of deliverance--Triumphal entry into Gondokoro--Homeward
bound--The plague breaks out--Our welcome at Khartoum--Return to
civilization
IN THE HEART OF AFRICA.
CHAPTER I.
The Nubian desert--The bitter well--Change of plans--An irascible
dragoman--Pools of the Atbara--One secret of the Nile--At Cassala.
In March, 1861, I commenced an expedition to discover the sources of the
Nile, with the hope of meeting the East African expedition of Captains
Speke and Grant, that had been sent by the English Government from the
South via Zanzibar, for the same object. I had not the presumption to
publish my intention, as the sources of the Nile had hitherto defied all
explorers, but I had inwardly determined to accomplish this difficult
task or to die in the attempt. From my youth I had been inured to
hardships and endurance in wild sports in tropical climates, and when I
gazed upon the map of Africa I had a wild hope, mingled with humility,
that, even as the insignificant worm bores through the hardest oak, I
might by perseverance reach the heart of Africa.
I could not conceive that anything in this world has power to resist a
determined will, so long as health and life remain. The failure of every
former attempt to reach the Nile source did not astonish me, as the
expeditions had consisted of parties, which, when difficulties occur,
generally end in difference of opinion and in retreat; I therefore
determined to proceed alone, trusting in the guidance of a Divine
Providence and the good fortune that sometimes attends a tenacity of
purpose. I weighed carefully the chances of the undertaking. Before me,
untrodden Africa; against me, the obstacles that had defeated the world
since its creation; on my side, a somewhat tough constitution, perfect
independence, a long experience in savage life, and both time and means,
which I intended to devote to the object without limit.
England had never sent an expedition to the Nile sources previous to
that under the command of Speke and Grant. Bruce, ninety years before,
had succeeded in tracing the source of the Blue or Lesser Nile; thus the
honor of that discovery belonged to Great Britain. Speke was on his road
from the South, and I felt confident that my gallant friend would leave
his bones upon the path rather than submit to failure. I trusted that
England would not be beaten, and although I hardly dared to hope that
I could succeed where others greater than I had failed, I determined to
sacrifice all in the attempt.
Had I been alone, it would have been no hard lot to die upon the
untrodden path before me; but there was one who, although my greatest
comfort, was also my greatest care, one whose life yet dawned at so
early an age that womanhood was still a future. I shuddered at the
prospect for her, should she be left alone in savage lands at my death;
and gladly would I have left her in the luxuries of home instead of
exposing her to the miseries of Africa. It was in vain that I implored
her to remain, and that I painted the difficulties and perils still
blacker than I supposed they really would be. She was resolved, with
woman's constancy and devotion, to share all dangers and to follow me
through each rough footstep of the wild life before me. "And Ruth said,
Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee;
for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge;
thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest will
I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also,
if aught but death part thee and me."
Thus accompanied by my wife, on the 15th of April, 1861, I sailed up the
Nile from Cairo. The wind blew fair and strong from the north, and we
flew toward the south against the stream, watching those mysterious
waters with a firm resolve to track them to their distant fountain.
I had a firman from the Viceroy, a cook, and a dragoman. Thus my
impedimenta were not numerous. The firman was an order to all Egyptian
officials for assistance; the cook was dirty and incapable; and the
interpreter was nearly ignorant of English, although a professed
polyglot. With this small beginning, Africa was before me, and thus I
commenced the search for the sources of the Nile.
On arrival at Korosko, twenty-six days from Cairo, we started across the
Nubian Desert. During the cool months, from November until February, the
desert journey is not disagreeable; but the vast area of glowing sand
exposed to the scorching sun of summer, in addition to the withering
breath of the simoom, renders the forced march of two hundred and thirty
miles in seven days, at two and a half miles per hour, one of the most
fatiguing journeys that can be endured.
We entered a dead level plain of orange-colored sand, surrounded by
pyramidical hills. The surface was strewn with objects resembling cannon
shot and grape of all sizes from a 32-pounder downward, and looked like
the old battle-field of some infernal region--rocks glowing with heat,
not a vestige of vegetation, barren, withering desolation. The slow
rocking step of the camels was most irksome, and, despite the heat, I
dismounted to examine the Satanic bombs and cannon shot. Many of
them were as perfectly round as though cast in a mould, others were
egg-shaped, and all were hollow. With some difficulty I broke them, and
found them to contain a bright red sand. They were, in fact, volcanic
bombs that had been formed by the ejection of molten lava to a great
height from active volcanoes; these had become globular in falling, and,
having cooled before they reached the earth, they retained their forms
as hard spherical bodies, precisely resembling cannon shot. The exterior
was brown, and appeared to be rich in iron. The smaller specimens
were the more perfect spheres, as they cooled quickly; but many of
the heavier masses had evidently reached the earth when only half
solidified, and had collapsed upon falling. The sandy plain was covered
with such vestiges of volcanic action, and the infernal bombs lay as
imperishable relics of a hailstorm such as may have destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah.
Passing through this wretched solitude, we entered upon a scene of
surpassing desolation. Far as the eye could reach were waves like a
stormy sea, gray, coldlooking waves in the burning heat; but no drop of
water. It appeared as though a sudden curse had turned a raging sea to
stone. The simoom blew over this horrible wilderness, and drifted the
hot sand into the crevices of the rocks, and the camels drooped their
heads before the suffocating wind; but still the caravan noiselessly
crept along over the rocky undulations, until the stormy sea was passed;
once more we were upon a boundless plain of sand and pebbles.
In forty-six hours and forty-five minutes' actual marching from Korosko,
we reached Moorahd, "the bitter well." This is a mournful spot, well
known to the tired and thirsty camel, the hope of reaching which has
urged him fainting on his weary way to drink one draught before he dies.
This is the camel's grave. Situated half way between Korosko and Abou
Hammed, the well of Moorahd is in an extinct crater, surrounded upon all
sides but one by precipitous cliffs about three hundred feet high. The
bottom is a dead flat, and forms a valley of sand about two hundred and
fifty yards wide. In this bosom of a crater, salt and bitter water is
found at a depth of only six feet from the surface. To this our tired
camels frantically rushed upon being unloaded.
The valley was a "valley of dry bones." Innumerable skeletons of camels
lay in all directions-the ships of the desert thus stranded on their
voyage. Withered heaps of parched skin and bone lay here and there, in
the distinct forms in which the camels had gasped their last. The dry
desert air had converted the hide into a coffin. There were no flies
here, thus there were no worms to devour the carcasses; but the usual
sextons were the crows, although sometimes too few to perform their
office. These were perched upon the overhanging cliffs; but no sooner
had our overworked camels taken their long draught and lain down
exhausted on the sand, than by common consent they descended from their
high places and walked round and round each tired beast.
As many wretched animals simply crawl to this spot to die, the crows,
from long experience and constant practice, can form a pretty correct
diagnosis upon the case of a sick camel. They had evidently paid a
professional visit to my caravan, and were especially attentive in
studying the case of one particular camel that was in a very weakly
condition and had stretched itself full length upon the sand; nor would
they leave it until it was driven forward.
Many years ago, when the Egyptian troops first conquered Nubia, a
regiment was destroyed by thirst in crossing this desert. The men, being
upon a limited allowance of water, suffered from extreme thirst,
and deceived by the appearance of a mirage that exactly resembled a
beautiful lake, they insisted on being taken to its banks by the Arab
guide. It was in vain that the guide assured them that the lake was
unreal, and he refused to lose the precious time by wandering from his
course. Words led to blows, and he was killed by the soldiers, whose
lives depended upon his guidance. The whole regiment turned from the
track and rushed toward the welcome waters. Thirsty and faint, over the
burning sands they hurried; heavier and heavier their footsteps became;
hotter and hotter their breath, as deeper they pushed into the desert,
farther and farther from the lost track where the pilot lay in his
blood; and still the mocking spirits of the desert, the afreets of the
mirage, led them on, and the hike glistening in the sunshine tempted
them to bathe in its cool waters, close to their eyes, but never at
their lips. At length the delusion vanished--the fatal lake had turned
to burning sand! Raging thirst and horrible despair! the pathless desert
and the murdered guide! lost! lost! all lost! Not a man ever left the
desert, but they were subsequently discovered, parched and withered
corpses, by the Arabs sent upon the search.
During our march the simoom was fearful, and the heat so intense that it
was impossible to draw the guncases out of their leather covers,
which it was necessary to cut open. All woodwork was warped; ivory
knife-handles were split; paper broke when crunched in the hand, and the
very marrow seemed to be dried out of the bones. The extreme dryness of
the air induced an extraordinary amount of electricity in the hair and
in all woollen materials. A Scotch plaid laid upon a blanket for a few
hours adhered to it, and upon being withdrawn at night a sheet of flame
was produced, accompanied by tolerably loud reports.
We reached Berber on May 31st, and spent a week in resting after our
formidable desert march of fifteen days. From the slight experience
I had gained in the journey, I felt convinced that success in my
Nile expedition would be impossible without a knowledge of Arabic.
My dragoman had me completely in his power, and I resolved to become
independent of all interpreters as soon as possible. I therefore
arranged a plan of exploration for the first year, to embrace the
affluents to the Nile from the Abyssinian range of mountains, intending
to follow up the Atbara River from its junction with the Nile in
latitude 17 deg. 37 min. (twenty miles south of Berber), and to examine
all the Nile tributaries from the southeast as far as the Blue Nile,
which river I hoped ultimately to descend to Khartoum. I imagined that
twelve months would be sufficient to complete such an exploration, by
which time I should have gained a sufficient knowledge of the Arabic to
render me able to converse fairly well.
The wind at this season (June) was changeable, and strong blasts from
the south were the harbingers of the approaching rainy season. We had
no time to lose, and we accordingly arranged to start. I discharged my
dirty cook, and engaged a man who was brought by a coffeehouse keeper,
by whom he was highly recommended; but, as a precaution against
deception, I led him before the Mudir, or Governor, to be registered
before our departure. To my astonishment, and to his infinite disgust,
he was immediately recognized as an old offender, who had formerly been
imprisoned for theft! The Governor, to prove his friendship and his
interest in my welfare, immediately sent the police to capture the
coffee-house keeper who had recommended the cook. No sooner was the
unlucky surety brought to the Divan than he was condemned to receive
two hundred lashes for having given a false character. The sentence was
literally carried out, in spite of my remonstrance, and the police were
ordered to make the case public to prevent a recurrence. The Governor
assured me that, as I held a firman from the Viceroy, he could not do
otherwise, and that I must believe him to be my truest friend. "Save
me from my friends," was an adage quickly proved. I could not procure
a cook nor any other attendant, as every one was afraid to guarantee
a character, lest he might come in for his share of the two hundred
lashes!
The Governor came to my rescue, and sent immediately the promised
Turkish soldiers, who were to act in the double capacity of escort and
servants. They were men of totally opposite characters. Hadji Achmet was
a hardy, powerful, dare-devil-looking Turk, while Hadji Velli was
the perfection of politeness, and as gentle as a lamb. My new allies
procured me three donkeys in addition to the necessary baggage camels,
and we started from Berber on the evening of the 10th of June for the
junction of the Atbara River With the Nile.
Mahomet, Achmet, and Ali are equivalent to Smith, Brown, and Thompson.
Accordingly, of my few attendants, my dragoman was Mahomet, and my
principal guide was Achmet, and subsequently I had a number of Alis.
Mahomet was a regular Cairo dragoman, a native of Dongola, almost
black, but exceedingly tenacious regarding his shade of color, which he
declared to be light brown. He spoke very bad English, was excessively
conceited, and irascible to a degree. He was one of those dragomans who
are accustomed to the civilized expeditions of the British tourist to
the first or second cataract, in a Nile boat replete with conveniences
and luxuries, upon which the dragoman is monarch supreme, a whale among
the minnows, who rules the vessel, purchases daily a host of unnecessary
supplies, upon which he clears his profit, until he returns to Cairo
with his pockets filled sufficiently to support him until the following
Nile season. The short three months' harvest, from November until
February, fills his granary for the year. Under such circumstances the
temper should be angelic.
But times had changed. To Mahomet the very idea of exploration was
an absurdity. He had never believed in it front the first, and he now
became impressed with the fact that he was positively committed to an
undertaking that would end most likely in his death, if not in terrible
difficulties; he determined, under the circumstances, to make himself as
disagreeable as possible to all parties. With this amiable resolution
he adopted a physical infirmity in the shape of deafness. In reality, no
one was more acute in hearing, but as there are no bells where there
are no houses, he of course could not answer such a summons, and he was
compelled to attend to the call of his own name--"Mahomet! Mahomet!"
No reply, although the individual were sitting within a few feet,
apparently absorbed in the contemplation of his own boots. "MaHOMet!"
with an additional emphasis upon the second syllable. Again no response.
"Mahomet, you rascal, why don't you answer?" This energetic address
would effect a change in his position. The mild and lamb-like dragoman
of Cairo would suddenly start from the ground, tear his own hair from
his head in handfuls, and shout, "Mahomet! Mahomet! Mahomet! always
Mahomet! D--n Mahomet! I wish he were dead, or back in Cairo, this
brute Mahomet!" The irascible dragoman would then beat his own head
unmercifully with his fists, in a paroxysm of rage.
To comfort him I could only exclaim, "Well done, Mahomet! thrash him;
pommel him well; punch his head; you know him best; he deserves it;
don't spare him!" This advice, acting upon the natural perversity of
his disposition, generally soothed him, and he ceased punching his
head. This man was entirely out of his place, if not out of his mind,
at certain moments, and having upon one occasion smashed a basin by
throwing it in the face of the cook, and upon another occasion narrowly
escaped homicide by throwing an axe at a man's head, which missed by an
inch, he became a notorious character in the little expedition.
We left Berber in the evening, and about two hours after sunset of the
following day reached the junction of the Nile and Atbara. The latter
presented a curious appearance. In no place was it less than four
hundred yards in width, and in many places much wider. The banks were
from twenty-five to thirty feet deep, and had evidently been overflowed
during floods; but now the river bed was dry sand, so glaring that the
sun's reflection was almost intolerable. The only shade was afforded by
the evergreen dome palms; nevertheless the Arabs occupied the banks at
intervals of three or four miles, wherever a pool of water in some deep
bend of the dried river's bed offered an attraction. In such places were
Arab villages or camps, of the usual mat tents formed of the dome-palm
leaves.
Many pools were of considerable size and of great depth. In flood-time a
tremendous torrent sweeps down the course of the Atbara, and the sudden
bends of the river are hollowed out by the force of the stream to a
depth of twenty or thirty feet below the level of the bed. Accordingly
these holes become reservoirs of water when the river is otherwise
exhausted. In such asylums all the usual inhabitants of this large river
are crowded together in a comparatively narrow space. Although these
pools vary in size, from only a few hundred yards to a mile in length,
they are positively full of life; huge fish, crocodiles of immense size,
turtles, and occasionally hippopotami, consort together in close and
unwished-for proximity. The animals of the desert--gazelles, hyenas, and
wild asses--are compelled to resort to these crowded drinking-places,
occupied by the flocks of the Arabs equally with the timid beasts of
the chase. The birds that during the cooler months would wander free
throughout the country are now collected in vast numbers along the
margin of the exhausted river; innumerable doves, varying in species,
throng the trees and seek the shade of the dome-palms; thousands of
desert grouse arrive morning and evening to drink and to depart; while
birds in multitudes, of lovely plumage, escape from the burning desert
and colonize the poor but welcome bushes that fringe the Atbara River.
After several days' journey along the bank of the Atbara we halted at a
spot called Collodabad, about one hundred and sixty miles from the Nile
junction. A sharp bend of the river had left a deep pool about a mile in
length, and here a number of Arabs were congregated, with their flocks
and herds.
On the evening of June 23d I was lying half asleep upon my bed by the
margin of the river, when I fancied that I heard a rumbling like
distant thunder. I had not heard such a sound for months, but a low,
uninterrupted roll appeared to increase in volume, although far distant.
Hardly had I raised my head to listen more attentively when a confusion
of voices arose from the Arabs' camp, with a sound of many feet, and
in a few minutes they rushed into my camp, shouting to my men in the
darkness, "El Bahr! El Bahr!" (the river! the river!)
We were up in an instant, and my interpreter, Mahomet, in a state of
intense confusion, explained that the river was coming down, and that
the supposed distant thunder was the roar of approaching water.
Many of the people were asleep on the clean sand on the river's bed;
these were quickly awakened by the Arabs, who rushed down the steep bank
to save the skulls of two hippopotami that were exposed to dry. Hardly
had they descended when the sound of the river in the darkness beneath
told us that the water had arrived, and the men, dripping with wet, had
just sufficient time to drag their heavy burdens up the bank.
All was darkness and confusion, everybody talking and no one listening;
but the great event had occurred; the river had arrived "like a thief in
the night". On the morning of the 24th of June, I stood on the banks of
the noble Atbara River at the break of day. The wonder of the desert!
Yesterday there was a barren sheet of glaring sand, with a fringe of
withered bushes and trees upon its borders, that cut the yellow expanse
of desert. For days we had journeyed along the exhausted bed; all
Nature, even in Nature's poverty, was most poor: no bush could boast a
leaf, no tree could throw a shade, crisp gums crackled upon the stems
of the mimosas, the sap dried upon the burst bark, sprung with the
withering heat of the simoom. In one night there was a mysterious
change. Wonders of the mighty Nile! An army of water was hastening to
the wasted river. There was no drop of rain, no thunder-cloud on the
horizon to give hope. All had been dry and sultry, dust and desolation
yesterday; to-day a magnificent stream, some five hundred yards in width
and from fifteen to twenty feet in depth, flowed through the dreary
desert! Bamboos and reeds, with trash of all kinds, were hurried along
the muddy waters. Where were all the crowded inhabitants of the pool?
The prison doors were broken, the prisoners were released, and rejoiced
in the mighty stream of the Atbara.
The 24th of June, 1861, was a memorable day. Although this was actually
the beginning of my work, I felt that by the experience of this night
I had obtained a clew to one portion of the Nile mystery, and that, as
"coming events cast their shadows before," this sudden creation of a
river was but the shadow of the great cause. The rains were pouring in
Abyssinia! THESE WERE SOURCES OF THE NILE!
The journey along the margin of the Atbara was similar to the route from
Berber, through a vast desert, with a narrow band of trees that marked
the course of the river. The only change was the magical growth of the
leaves, which burst hourly from the swollen buds of the mimosas. This
could be accounted for by the sudden arrival of the river, as the water
percolated rapidly through the sand and nourished the famishing roots.
At Gozerajup, two hundred and forty-six miles from Berber, our route was
changed. We had hitherto followed the course of the Atbara, but we were
now to leave that river on our right, while we travelled about ninety
miles south-east to Cassala, the capital of the Taka country, on the
confines of Abyssinia, and the great depot for Egyptian troops.
The entire country from Gozerajup to Cassala is a dead flat, upon which
there is not one tree sufficiently large to shade a full-sized tent.
There is no real timber in the country; but the vast level extent of
soil is a series of open plains and low bush of thorny mimosa. There is
no drainage upon this perfect level; thus, during the rainy season, the
soakage actually melts the soil, and forms deep holes throughout the
country, which then becomes an impenetrable slough, bearing grass and
jungle. No sooner had we arrived in the flooded country than my wife was
seized with a sudden and severe fever, which necessitated a halt upon
the march, as she could no longer sit upon her camel. In the evening
several hundreds of Arabs arrived and encamped around our fire. It
was shortly after sunset, and it was interesting to watch the extreme
rapidity with which these swarthy sons of the desert pitched their camp.
A hundred fires were quickly blazing; the women prepared the food, and
children sat in clusters around the blaze, as all were wet from paddling
through the puddled ground from which they were retreating.
No sooner was the bustle of arrangement completed than a gray old man
stepped forward, and, responding to his call, every man of the hundreds
present formed in line, three or four deep. At once there was total
silence, disturbed only by the crackling of the fires or by the cry of
a child; and with faces turned to the east, in attitudes of profound
devotion, the wild but fervent followers of Mahomet repeated their
evening prayer. The flickering red light of the fires illumined the
bronze faces of the congregation, and as I stood before the front line
of devotees, I tools off my cap in respect for their faith, and at the
close of their prayer made my salaam to their venerable Faky (priest);
he returned the salutation with the cold dignity of an Arab.
On the next day my wife's fever was renewed, but she was placed on a
dromedary and we reached Cassala about sunset. The place is rich in
hyenas, and the night was passed in the discordant howling of these
disgusting but useful animals. They are the scavengers of the country,
devouring every species of filth and clearing all carrion from the
earth. Without the hyenas and vultures the neighborhood of a Nubian
village would be unbearable. It is the idle custom of the people to
leave unburied all animals that die; thus, among the numerous flocks
and herds, the casualties would create a pestilence were it not for the
birds and beasts of prey.
On the following morning the fever had yielded to quinine, and we were
enabled to receive a round of visits--the governor and suite, Elias Bey,
the doctor and a friend, and, lastly, Malem Georgis, an elderly Greek
merchant, who, with great hospitality, insisted upon our quitting the
sultry tent and sharing his own roof. We therefore became his guests in
a most comfortable house for some days. Here we discharged our camels,
as our Turk, Hadji Achmet's, service ended at this point, and proceeded
to start afresh for the Nile tributaries of Abyssinia.