of the tomb temple, and also perceived figures and writing on the inner
walls. I recollected that I had a candle-end in the wallet of my donkey;
this I lighted, and examined several ante-chambers. Then immediately the
forms of the Egyptian Gods--Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, Atmu, &c., came out
with their names in the well-known hieroglyphics.[70] In the first
chamber, too, I found the cartouche of a king. One of the two rings
contained the signs of a great Pharaoh of the Old Empire, Sesurtesen I.;
the same was assumed by two later Egyptian kings, and now encountered
for the fourth time as the throne-name of an Ethiopian king. The
sculptures on the other side were not ended. On the same evening, I also
found royal names in another ante-chamber, but they were rather
illegible. Both writing and representations had, in fact, suffered much.
The pyramids, like those in Egypt, have lost their tops, and many are
totally destroyed.
Our new _khawass_, who would not leave us in the night, had followed
immediately. He knew the locality perfectly, as he had been here a long
time with Ferlini, and had assisted him in the examination of the
pyramids. He showed us the place in the pyramid where Ferlini, in 1834,
discovered the rich treasure of gold and silver rings built in the wall.
I also discovered a case-pyramid that evening, enlarged according to the
principle of the Egyptian pyramids by a later mantle of stone. According
to the inscriptions and representations in the antechambers, these
pyramids are chiefly built for kings, and a few perhaps for their wives
and children. The great number of them argues for a long series of
kings, and a well-grounded empire that probably lasted for a number of
centuries.
The most important results of this examination by moon and candlelight
was, however, not the most agreeable; I was fully convinced that I had
before me here, on the most celebrated spot of ancient Ethiopia, nothing
but the ruins of comparatively recent art.[71] Already, at an earlier
period, had I judged from the monuments of Ferlini, drawings of which I
had seen in Rome, and the originals in London, that they were certainly
produced in Ethiopia, but not in any case earlier than the first century
before the Christian era; therefore, at about the same period to which a
few veritable Greek and Roman works belong, which we discovered together
with the Ethiopian treasure. And I must say the same now of all the
monuments not only situated here, but upon the whole island of Meroë, as
well of all the pyramids near Begerauîe, as of the temples of Ben Naga,
of Naga, and of the Wadi e’ Sofra (Cailliaud’s Mesaurât), which we have
subsequently seen. The representations and inscriptions leave not the
least doubt on the subject, and it will be for ever in vain to attempt
the support of the much-loved idea of an ancient Meroë, glorious and
famous, the inhabitants of which were the predecessors and teachers of
the Egyptians in civilisation, by referring to its monumental remains.
Yet this conviction is of no little value, and appears to throw a
certain degree of light upon the historical connection of Egypt and
Ethiopia, the importance of which will first be fully developed at the
monuments of Barkal. There, no doubt, will be found the oldest Ethiopian
memorials, although perhaps not earlier than the time of Tarhaka, who
reigned contemporaneously over Egypt and Ethiopia, in the seventh
century before Christ.
We rode back to the pyramids the next morning with the sunrise, and
found fifteen various royal names, but some in a very bad condition.
We had just completed the survey of the two north-easterly groups of
pyramids, and were riding towards the third, which lies in the plain not
far from the ruins of the city, and is perhaps the oldest Necropolis,
when we heard shots from the shore, and saw white sails fluttering on
the river. Soon after Erbkam, the two Weidenbachs, and Franke came
walking over the plain, and greeted us already from afar. We scarcely
expected them so soon, and therefore the meeting was the more pleasant.
We could now continue our journey to Chartûm all together.
At two o’clock in the afternoon we went off, and reached Shendi at
about ten the next morning. After dinner we went on, stayed the night on
the island Hobi, and came the next morning early to Ben Naga. Here we
first visited the ruins of two little temples, of which the west one had
Typhon columns instead of pillars, but showed no writing on its few
remains; in the other eastern one there were a few sculptures preserved
on the low wall, and writing on a few round pillars, but too little that
anything connected might be gathered from it. Excavations might probably
discover royal names; but such an attempt is only possible on our
return.
Some camels were procured for the next morning, and I rode off with
Abeken, Erbkam, and Maximilian Weidenbach at nine o’clock for Naga. So
are the ruins of a city and several temples named, which lie in the
eastern wilderness, at a distance of seven or eight hours from the Nile.
From our landing-place, near the only palm group of the whole region, we
only wanted half an hour to the village of Ben Naga, which lies in Wadi
Teresîb. One hour eastward, down the river (for it flows from west to
east here), the ruins are situated, where we had landed the day before,
in the Wadi el Kirbegân; we now passed them on the left, and rode
south-east into the wilderness, sparely grown with dry underwood,
crossed the valley El Kirbegân, which stretches hither from the river,
and in which we found a camp of Abâbde Arabs.
After four and a half hours from Ben Naga, we arrived at a solitary
mountain in the wilderness, named Buêrib. This lay between the little
southwestern wadis (so they call even the most level sinkings of the
plain, when the water runs off, and which we should scarcely call
valleys) and the great wide Wadi Auatêb, into which we now descended,
after we had passed the Buêrib at a little distance to the left. In
three and three quarter hours from Buêrib, we came to the ruins of Naga.
The enigma which I had vainly endeavoured to unriddle, and which neither
Cailliaud nor Hoskins had explained, as to how it was possible to build
a city and sustain it in the midst of the desert so far from the river,
was first solved in the vicinity of the temple. The whole valley of
Auatêb is still cultivated land. We found it covered far and wide with
_durra_ stubble. The inhabitants of Shendi, Ben Naga, Fadnîe, Sélama,
Metamme, thus of both sides of the Nile, come hither to cultivate the
land, and to harvest _durra_. The tropical rain is sufficient to
fertilise the soil of this flat but extensive level, and in ancient
times it is probable that more was obtained from this region by greater
care. For the dry season there were no doubt large artificial cisterns,
like those we found at the most distant ruins north of Naga, although
without water.
The ruins lie at the end of a mountain chain which extends for several
hours, having received the name of Gebel e’ Naga, and running from north
to south; Wadi Auatêb passes along its western side toward the river.
After an uninterrupted ride, we arrived at about half-past five. By the
way we saw the road covered with the traces of gazelles, wild asses,
foxes, jackals, and ostriches. Lions, too, sometimes come hither, but we
saw no signs of them.
Before the coming of night I visited the three principal temples, which
all belong to a very late period, and do not admit of a single idea
concerning any antiquity, which Cailliaud and Hoskins imagined they
perceived. A fourth temple stand besides the three principal temples in
Egyptian architecture, the well turned, and not unpleasingly selected
Egyptian ornamental style of which, not only manifests the time of the
universal dominion of the Romans, but also the presence of Roman
builders. This has no inscriptions. Of the three others, the two
southernmost are built by one and the same king; on both he is
accompanied by a representation of the same queen. There is behind them
yet another royal personage, bearing different names on the two temples.
The name of the king has again the cartouch of Sesurtesen I. added,
although he does not appear to be the same with the king at the pyramids
of Sûr; and the two other persons have also old Egyptian cartouches,
which might easily lead to mistakes.
The third and northern temple has suffered much, and had but little
writing now, yet a king is mentioned on the door lintels, who is
different from the builder of the two others.
The forms of the gods are almost Egyptian, yet there is on the southern
temple a shape unknown in Egypt, with three lions’ heads (perhaps there
is a fourth behind) and four arms. This may be the barbarous god
mentioned by Strabo, which the Meroites revered beside Herakles, Pan,
and Isis.
Next morning, the 2nd of February, we visited the three temples again,
took a few paper impressions, and then went our way to the third group
of monuments, named Mesaurât, by Cailliaud. This is, however, a
designation employed for all three groups of ruins, and which signifies
“pictures,” or “walls decked with pictures.” The ruins of Ben Naga are
called Mesaurât el Kirbegân, because they lie in the Wadi el Kirbegân;
only the southern-most group, it seems, has retained its ancient name
Naga or Mesaurât e’ Naga; the third toward Shendi, called Mesaurât e’
Sofra, from the mountain-crater where it lies, and which is named e’
Sofra, the table.
We followed the mountain chain, Gebel e’ Naga, in the valley Auatêb, for
two hours in a northward direction. Then, at about half-past twelve
o’clock, we passed through the first ravine, opening to the right into a
more elevated valley, e’Siléha, which becoming wider behind the hills,
overgrown with grass and bushes, opens (in the direction of S.S.W. to
N.N.E.) after an hour and a half, to the left into the valley of Auatêb,
and in front toward another smaller valley, from which it is separated
by the Gebel Lagâr. This little valley it is which is called e’Sofra,
from its round form; here too lie the ruins which Hoskins saw, though he
did not penetrate to Naga. At a quarter past two we arrived, and had
therefore consumed not quite four hours from Naga hither. As we were
going to take a rapid survey of the whole, we walked through the
extensive ruins of the principal building, which Cailliaud had taken for
a great school, Hoskins for a hospital; and we perceived from the few
sculptures, unaccompanied by inscriptions, that we had before us also
here late monuments, probably younger than those of Sûr and Naga. Then
we went to the little temple near (on the pillars of which we found
riders on elephants and lions, and other strange barbaric
representations), looked at the large artificial cistern, now called Wot
Mahemût, which must have taken the place of the river during the dry
season, and rode back again to Ben Naga, at four o’clock.
When we came forth from the mountains, we met great herds of wild asses,
which always stopped a little in front of us, as if inviting us to chase
them. They are grey or reddish grey, with a white belly, and all have a
strongly marked black stripe down the back; the tip of the tail, too, is
usually black. Many are caught when young, but are not fit for carriage
or riding then. The next generation is only to be employed for these
purposes. Almost all the domesticated donkeys in the south, above the
Ass Cataract (Shellâl homâr), in Berber, are of the race of these wild
asses, and have the same colour and marks.
We pitched our tents in the rank-grown plain soon after sundown. The
camel-drivers and our _khawass_ were terribly afraid of the lions in
this desert, until a great fire was lighted, which they carefully kept
up the whole night through. When a lion lets his voice be heard in the
vicinity of a caravan, sounding indeed deeply and dreadly through the
whole wilderness, all the camels run away like mad, and are difficult of
being secured, often not until they have suffered and done some injury.
Some days ago a camel was strangled by a lion in our vicinity, although
on the opposite side of the river; a man that was there saved himself
on the next tree.
On the 3rd of February, we rode off again at seven o’clock, leaving the
two Buêrib, the great “blue” one and the little “red” one, a good
distance to the left, and came into the valley El Kirbegân shortly
before nine o’clock. This we followed for half an hour riverward, seeing
the Mesaurât el Kirbegân to the right; but we now stopped on the hills,
until we arrived at Ben Naga, a little after eleven o’clock, and half an
hour at our landing place.
After two hours we went on in our bark. With a strong contrary wind we
made but little way, and saw nothing new, except a swimming
hippopotamus. Next morning we landed on the western shore, opposite the
village of Gôs Basabir, to inspect the ruins of an old fortress wall
with towers of defence, which encircled a hill top. The place was about
three hundred paces in diameter. After mid-day, we neared the Shellâl
(cataracts) of Gerashâb; the higher mountains before us came nearer, and
at last formed a great pool, apparently without any outlet; however, it
was really close at hand, as we turned into a narrow gorge, widening
into a high and wild rock valley, that we followed for almost an hour
before we came into another plain on the opposite side. The Qirre
granite mountains running through here, end on the eastern side of the
river in a peak called the Rauiân, “the Satisfied;” while westward, at
some distance from the river, standing equally alone, is the Atshân,
“the Thirsty.”
On the 5th of February, we landed early at Tamamiât, about 11 o’clock.
Mohammed Said, the former treasurer of the deceased Ahmed Pasha, whose
acquaintance we had made in Dâmer, had given us a letter to one of the
under-officials there, containing directions to deliver to us the
fragment of an inscription found at Soba. It was in the middle of a
marble tablet, written on both sides with late Greek or Koptic letters.
The signs, which were plainly visible, contained neither Greek nor
Koptic words, only the name [Illustration: Koptic] was decipherable. The
same evening we arrived at Chartûm. This name signified “elephant’s
trunk,” and is probably derived from the narrow tongue of land between
its Niles, on which the city lies.
My first visit with Abeken was to Emin Pasha, who had already reached
Chartûm before us. He received us very kindly, and would not let us
leave him the whole morning.
An excellent breakfast, comprising about thirty dishes, which we took
with him, gave us a very interesting insight into the mysteries of
Turkish cookery, which (as I learnt from our well-fed Pasha), in the
matter of the preparation and arrangement of the dishes, like the
systems of the latest French cookery, follow the rules of a more refined
taste. Soon after the first dish comes lamb, roasted on the spit, which
must never be wanting at any Turkish banquet. Then follow several
courses of solid and liquid, sour and sweet dishes, in the order of
which a certain kind of recurring change is observed, to keep the
appetite alive. The _pilau_ of boiled rice is always the concluding
dish.
The external adjuncts to such a feast as this, are these:--A great
round plate of metal, with a plain edge of three feet in diameter, is
placed on a low frame, and serves as a table, about which five or six
people can repose on rugs, or cushions. The legs are hidden in the
extensive folds which encircle the body. The left hand must remain
invisible; it would be very improper to expose it in any way while
eating. The right hand alone is permitted to be active. There are no
plates and knives or forks. The table is decked with dishes, deep and
shallow, covered and uncovered; these are continually being changed, so
that but little can be eaten from each. Some, however, as roast meat,
cold milks and gerkins, &c., remain longer, and are often recurred to.
Before and after dinner they wash their hands. An attendant or slave
kneels with a metal basin in one hand, and a piece of soap on a little
saucer, on the other; with the other hand he pours water over the hands
of the washer from a metal jug; over his arm hangs an elegantly
embroidered napkin, for drying one’s hand upon.
After dinner, pipes and coffee are immediately handed round, after which
time one may withdraw. The Turks then take a sleep until Asser. But ere
we parted from our host, he had a number of weapons, lances, bows,
arrows, clubs, and a sceptre of the upper wild nations, sent to my bark,
as a guest present.
We then visited our countryman, Neubauer, the apothecary of the
province, who had been very unfortunate. A short while before, he had
been removed from his post by the deceased Ahmed Pasha, but was now
again instituted apothecary by Ahmed Pasha Menekle, through Dr. Koch’s
interest. Then we went to the house of a resident Pole, named
Hermanowitch, the principal physician of the province, who offered us
his house in accordance with a command of the Pasha, whither we removed
on the following day. It had just been repaired, and by it were a garden
and court, very useful to us for the unpacking and mending of our chests
and tents.
Next day the Pasha returned our visit. He came on horseback. We offered
coffee, pipes, and sherbet, and showed him some pictures from Egypt, in
which he took a lively interest. He is a man of tall and corpulent
stature, a Circassian by birth, and therefore, like most of his
countrymen, better informed than the Turks. At the house of a Syrian,
Ibrahim Chêr, I saw a rich collection of all the ornithological species
of the Sudan, in number about three hundred; of each twenty to thirty
carefully selected specimens.
A day or two after I took a walk with Abeken and Erbkam, to the opposite
side of the promontory, toward the White River, which we followed to its
union with the Blue River. Its water is, in fact, whiter, and tastes
less agreeably than that of the Blue, because it runs slowly through
several lakes in the upper countries, the standing waters of which lakes
impart to it an earthy and impure taste. I have filled several bottles
with the water of the Blue and the White Nile, which I shall bring home,
sealed down.
At a subsequent friendly visit of the Pasha, we met the brother of the
former Sultan of Kordofan (who was himself also called Mak or Melek),
and the Vizier of Sultan Nimr (Tiger), of Shendi. The latter still
resides in Abyssinia, whither he fled after he had burned the conqueror
of his country, Ismael Pasha, Mohammed Ali’s son, and all his officers,
at a nightly banquet in 1822.
We went up the White River on the 14th, but soon returned, as it has so
weak a current that, by the present prevailing north wind, the way back
is somewhat difficult. The shores of the White River are desolate, and
the few trees, which formerly stood in the vicinity of Chartûm, are now
cut down and used for building or burning. The water mass of the White
River is greater than that of the Blue, and retains its direction after
their union, so the Blue River is to be looked upon rather as a
tributary, but the White River as the actual Nile. Their different
waters may be distinguished long after their juncture.
On the 16th of February, I sent for some Dinka slaves, to inquire into
their language; but they were so hard of comprehension, that I could
only, with great trouble, obtain from them the names of the numbers up
to one hundred, beside a few pronouns. The languages of the Dinka and
the Shilluk, who live several days’ journey up the White River, the
former on the eastern, the latter on the western shore, are as little
known in respect to their grammatical structure, as those of most of the
Central African Nations; and I therefore besought the Pasha to have some
sensible people found who were acquainted with their language. This was
not possible at the time, but it is to be done against our return.
In the meantime our purchases and repairs were completed, and I hastened
our departure as much as possible. The house of Hermanowitch remains at
our disposal on our return; it is conveniently and airily built, and
from my windows I could see the oldest house in the town, the pointed
straw roof of which looked over the walls. These pointed thatched
houses, called _Tukele_, form the peculiar style of the country, and
almost the only erections more to the south. But as Chartûm is a new
city, the few old huts have all disappeared except that one, and the
houses are built of burnt brick.
At noon on the 17th of February we entered our barks. I sailed to the
south with Abeken, up the Blue River, partly to learn its nature, partly
to see the ruins of Soba, and those of Mandera; the rest of our
companions, for whom there was nothing to do in the south, went
northward to Meroë, to draw the monuments of that place.
Next day we landed on the eastern side, where great stacks of red burnt
bricks, prepared for embarkation, informed us that we were not far off
the ruins of Soba. In the whole country unburnt bricks are now made, so
that all ruins of burnt bricks must belong to an earlier period. From
Soba, this building material is transported in great quantities both to
Chartûm and beyond it.
We landed, and had scarcely left the bushes next to the shore behind us,
ere we saw the violated mounds of bricks, which cover a great plain, an
hour’s ride in circumference; some of the larger heaps might be the
remains of the Christian churches, which are described by Selim of
Assuan (by Macrizi) in the tenth century, when Soba was yet the capital
of the empire of Alŏa, as magnificently decorated with gold. The place
was shown us where, some time ago, a stone lion was discovered, now in
the possession of Churshid Pasha, at Cairo. Walls or buildings were
nowhere to be recognized, and on the southernmost and somewhat distant
hill some sculptured yellow blocks of sandstone, and a low wall were all
that we could find; on another mound lay several rough slabs of a black,
slatey stone.
The country round Soba is level, as everywhere about here, to the foot
of the Abyssinian mountains, and the soil, particularly at this season,
dried up and black; the thicker vegetation is confined to the river
shore, farther on, there are only single trees, now more frequent, now
seldom.
I promised the sailors a sheep if we arrived early next morning at
Kamlîn; for the wind was violent, and allowed us to make but little way.
Our ship, too, does not go very fast, the sailors are not adroit, and,
with the present low level of the water, the bark easily sticks in the
sand-banks. We went almost the whole night, and arrived early at eight
o’clock in Kamlîn.
The ancient place of the same name lies half an hour further up the
river, and consists but of a few huts. The houses where we landed belong
to a number of factories instituted four years ago, in conjunction with
the late Ahmed Pasha, by Nureddin Effendi, a Catholic Koptic Egyptian,
who has gone over to Islâm, and which yield a rich profit. A simple,
honest, un-Oriental German, named Bauer, has erected a soap and brandy
factory, which he himself conducts. A sugar and indigo factory is kept
by an Arab. Bauer is the southernmost resident European that we have
found in Mohammed Ali’s territories, and we were glad to find so
excellent a conclusion to the long, little pleasing chain of Europeans,
generally deteriorated in civilization, who preferred the government of
Turks to their native country.[72] He has an old German housekeeper
named Ursula, & funny, good-natured body, for whom it was a no less
festal occasion to see German guests than for him. With joyful hurry she
got out what European crockery she had, and the forks that were yet in
being, and set baked chicken, vegetables, sausages, and excellent
wheaten bread before us; at last, too, a cherry pie of baked European
cherries (for our fruits do not grow in Egypt), in short, a native meal,
such as we had never expected in this _ultima Thule_.