pretty well, but now we suddenly felt as ill and downcast as ever, but
the cannon-shot re-echoed through the wood, and all must mount again. At
first steppes that threw back the sun’s rays most dreadfully on us; we
drove before us herds of thirty or forty gazelles, the Pascha and Turks
setting off in chase of them. Ere long we again approached the river,
where the most luxuriant vegetation was visible, also many Dom-palms,
cut across under the crown (pollarded), the more easily to get at their
branches for mats and ropes, though this kills the trees. Large fields
there were none, but merely cultivated patches, and the green turf
extending under the trees on the river’s banks, as in Germany. The soil
was dark, and seemed of similar quality to that of the Nile banks, cut
up like it also, but in smaller polygons. A considerable deposit of
slime was to be seen on the rough bark of the lower part of the trees;
and were the height of these slime-marks carried out in a horizontal
line over the land, the river’s overflow would seem to reach to the
stony ridges of the invariably higher desert land. Riding was most
perilous, partly from the thorny trees with reversed hooks, strong
enough to tear clothes from the body, or eyes out of one’s head (and
eyes were lost by some), partly from the crowding, when all had to make,
in the dark, their way as well as they could, and then, from the ground
being saturated with water, falls were many and severe. At last, at
midnight, after a march of ten hours, a halt was made, not one of half
an hour’s duration having, until now, been allowed. In the Pascha’s
neighbourhood, a fire was kindled, but we sought out a dark spot behind
a bush on the river’s bank, and at once lay down, and so wearied was I,
that I would not even drink the coffee which the old Deli Mustapha, the
Pascha’s kawedschi, brought us. One must have experienced what that
weariness is, which, brought on and conjoined with illness, goes so far
as to lead him to despise the choicest food rather than arouse himself
to partake of it, to judge of my state.
_22nd March._—The river’s course here is from south-east to north-west,
though as yesterday, any current is hardly perceptible. The banks are
distant from each other, and the river is yet some 150 or 200 paces in
width,—the bed sandstone, the country beautiful and green as yesterday,
larger durra fields, but only two water-wheels. The Atbara is not rich
in fish, but crocodiles and Nile-horses abide in the deeper places the
whole year through. We saw and heard many geese and ducks, but did not
disturb them, as, had we shot them we could not have got them; other
birds we saw not, nor did we fall in, outside the camp, with any
natives, all of whom seemed, like the Omerabs, to have got out of the
army’s way, the Sheik of the latter, alone, being with the camp, and
accompanying it through his country. From the fissures of the sandstone
in the river’s bed sprouted up a splendid species of willow, with bright
green leaves, like a freshly shot oleander, full cup-shaped white
blossoms, and odour like jessamine, but not so pungent or agreeable;
pistils full of white bitter milky fluid; seed very small and hanging in
threads of a finger’s length, intersecting each other like a spider’s
web. The river makes great windings between its wildly beautiful banks,
from which the trees hang down, often touching the water, and in many
places having fallen into it, render its navigation somewhat difficult,
though these hindrances could be easily overcome. The increasing heat,
accompanied by a hotter wind, that blew disagreeably round our brows,
sent us back to the camp. This district of country has as inhabitants,
the Kabyle of Kammarabs, who are a considerable tribe, and extend
southward to the lands of the Schukurie, under the great Sheik, Abu
Sind, and has, as its superior chief, the great Sheik, Aburof. On the
opposite right bank of the Atbara live the Kabyle of the Anafidab, a
most thievish race, and much given to plunder and steal the Kammarab’s
camels. The Anafidab are of the race or tribe (Gins) of the Bischari,
and form a kabyle (clan or community) of their own, under their own
chiefs.[8] We hear, that all grain, to be had here and hereabouts, is to
be delivered up at the six day’s journey distant from here, Gos Rajeb,
where a great magazine is to be formed.
The cannon was fired at midday, just as we had finished our meal;
although at first seeing this I had felt little appetite, and almost
loathed food, still I tried to eat; but suddenly I became seriously ill,
and beheld with horror our tent struck over my head, my bed, too, packed
up, and ourselves with our servants, obliged to follow the army. I could
not mount, I felt as if the sun was heaping glowing coals on my head,
but did not lose my consciousness. My brother and I, therefore, resolved
to remain behind till the heat of the day was over, and ride on after
the crisis was past, if I was ever to get over it. Supported by Joseph
and Achmet, I was led to a Dom-palm, near which I sank down, as if dead,
under shade, certainly, but on the burning earth. A fearful vomiting and
dysentery, sending sweat from every pore, attacked me; I could not
remain lying on my carpet, but to keep in the shade, I had, with my
trowsers about my heels, to crawl on the sand, round and round the tree,
while the spot I had quitted was covered over with clean sand. Dr.
Bellotti and the apothecary, Dumont, having heard I was dying, had
quitted the army’s slow train, and come to see for themselves, if the
report was true or not. They advised me to give up the expedition, the
Italian, contrary to my brother’s opinion however, holding my case as
most serious. I made Bellotti a sign, and as he bent over me, prayed
him, in case of my death, to do his utmost to persuade Joseph to quit
Bellad Sudan, and then he could fill all his good posts. Dumont could
hardly restrain his laughter, and the two mounted and rode off. Never in
my life have I longed for sunset as I then did; the very last sun beams
seemed to effect my hair, as if each separate one was electrified and
discharging the fluid into my bursting head. Hardly was the torturing
sun under the horizon when I felt much better, could again stand up and
move slowly about. Good humoured Arab herd lads approached our fire,
pitied my state, and brought me milk and durra bread.[9] It was a
beautiful evening, the full moon glittering on the waters of the Atbara,
silvered the dark crowns of the Dom-palms; wild geese now and then
screamed, and some pigeons cooed round us,—all else was silence.
_23rd March._—There is a deep pleasure in sleeping in the open air,
where weather and climate will permit. Often had I in Greece, even when
most sleepy, sought the free air, and, particularly at Nauplia, mounted
up to the higher Herculesburg of Tirynth and the rocks of Palmedes, and
there passed the night. What a waking in the divine dawn of beauteous,
freest Nature! Much restored, two hours before sunrise, we mounted our
dromedaries, but did not long trust ourselves in the sun, as at his
first beams we dismounted at the tents of some Arabs of the Kabyle of
the Kammarabs. We were hospitably received, and entertained with milk
and bread; ere long they brought us a great wooden dish (gadda) of the
lochma, a stiff soup or batter of durra-meal (hagien), with a hollow in
its centre full of butter, and, even when only eaten with the hands, no
bad food. At least a dozen men would have found sufficient to eat in
this Arab polenta. The baker’s oven, or brick-kilnlike tents (birsch;
tents of canvass, gemma; those on boats, denda), are formed of mats of
palm-leaves, stretched over boughs, low before but high at the back,
where there is a sort of elevated bed-place, or divan, covered with palm
mats, and over these a kind of reed-stalks, split fine, is bound by
small stripes of hide. This elevation, when used as a bed or seat, is
protected from cold wind and curiosity, by being hung round by black and
white striped coarse woollen coverlets, and this part of the tent is
called the beit, or house. Of such tents some thirty were here, not
placed in the shade, but somewhat distant from the larger trees. In the
time of the tropical rains these tents are much reduced in size by their
inmates, who then sit in them like snails in their shells. Such rains do
not extend beyond the mouth of the forest-surrounded Atbara, and seldom
bestow a shower on the Berber lands (called by the Arabs el Mucheïrof),
where the loam-built towns would soon go to pieces under the torrents of
the Chariff, which the tokuls are needed to withstand. The older and
principal men came to visit us, and the Wokul of the Sheik, who is in
attendance on the Pascha, smoked out of a bone. The country round is
flat, sandy, and covered with thorn-bushes. The Dom-palms do not extend
so far from the river, as they love a moist soil. Grass and herbage we
saw as little of as stones, although the river seemed to overflow far
here. A shrub, Tundo, with many small red flowers, very similar to our
wild rose, was abundant; birds, save pigeons, very rare; but numerous
large white vultures, hovering over and devouring the fallen cattle it
left behind, marked the way the army had taken.
Towards evening we again were _en route_, following the track of the
field-pieces, but soon had to halt again, as this guiding-trace was hid
in darkness. So, like knights-errant, we turned into another settlement
of Kammarabs, which was large and flourishing, and, with its numerous
fires before the tents, offered a lively picture of native life. The
head man received us most kindly, told us we had been commended to his
care by the Pascha, who had also sent orders back to Damer that we were
every where to be looked on as his friends. While we sat eating our
durra bread and milk, and looking round us for sheep or goat to stick on
the spit, twenty Schaigies, mounted on dromedaries, arrived, sent by the
Pascha to seek us out and act as our guard. We now continued our march
by moonlight, were again become great people, and looked on as Turks. We
were told the tribe of Kammarabs was small, and therefore the Schaigies
took the high hand, and would have made a sad business of it, had we not
kept order, as in every village a guide was to be taken by force, the
Arabs, holding us for Turks, putting no trust in our promise of payment.
Our Schaigies proved brisk, merry fellows, and played many a mad prank
to amuse us.
_24th March._—We encamped, about midnight, some distance from the river
banks, and found ourselves on a Steppe. The soil was bad and sandy; the
barrowlike range of hillocks, that ran from east to west, were sparingly
covered with herbage and a few white flowering Mimosas. At mid-day we
turned into a small village of some ten huts, belonging to the Kabyle of
the Wood Naga, a branch or tribe of the Bischari. These people had no
durra for our camels, or would not give us any. The head man brought us
milk and durra-teig, but demanded soap and medicine in exchange. On the
right bank of the Atbara here dwell the Bischari; the banks of the river
are high, nor does it seem to overflow them; but that falls of rain are
frequent and heavy, is plainly shown by the high grass under the thorny
nebbek and Dom-palm trees. All about the banks, trees are to be seen
overthrown and floating in the water. The Schaigies hunted out a
deserter, and we could plainly mark the hatred in which they held the
Egyptians. I promised I would obtain the Pascha’s pardon for him, and
kept my word. At the next village men came at once up to us, offering us
water, but for the Egyptian neither ass nor camel could be got. The huts
of this village, also, were without all shade. Here, again, two guides
had to be seized on by force, and our presence alone prevented our
spoil-loving body-guard from plundering it. We then reached the great
village Wady, which was picturesquely situated under shady trees, along
the river’s bank. From hence our road lay over a wide plain, without
tree or bush to afford us shelter; at midnight we halted and dismounted.
* * * * *
CHAP. III.
Rejoin the Army. — Arab Sheiks. — Ruins of Herrerem. — The Mirage. — A
Country March. — Corn Stores. — A Sheik of the Hallenga. — False Alarms.
— A Skirmish.
_25th March._—Before sunrise we were off again. Coffee we could not
prepare, for want of wood; one of the Schaigies milked his female camel,
and gave us some of its milk, which tasted fresh and excellent. We now
again struck the way the army had taken. Numerous wild Kurbisse
(Colocynthi) covered the ground in many places. The braying of an ass
was plainly heard in this soundless waste; on we went, and came to a
female ass with broken leg,—seemingly the field-piece had gone over it;
a newly-dropped foal stood by the mother, over whom already circled in
air the vultures; from these she seemed to call on us to protect her.
The young beast was placed in a net, slung on a camel, and the old one,
at our express order, shot, to save her from a lingering death. By noon
we were in the camp on the Atbara.
The Pascha, seated on the ground, in the shade before his tent, had
remarked us when at some distance, though we could have dispensed with
seeing him ere we had first taken some rest. He was, from exposure to
the sun during these last few days, much burnt, seemed ill, and
suffering; he nevertheless received us with commiserating kindness, and
said he had already received a message telling him of our welfare. Tired
as we were, we must mount again at two hours after noon. Many gazelles
were started; the Pascha, gun in hand, galloped his Arabian stallion
into the midst of them; almost all the mounted people galloped like a
wild hunt after him, and we also advanced at a sharp trot, to behold
nearer the extempore _chasse_. We fancied our chief had fallen from his
horse, so speedily had he swung himself to the ground, and with three
shots he brought down three gazelles, of which, in the evening, we
received a good portion roasted. The river is here pretty broad; on the
opposite bank we next morning, when looking about us, perceived some
crocodiles. On the river’s edge were many very beautiful pebbles; the
banks are rocky and of sandstone, as is also the bed; pieces of decaying
Thorn-mussel were scattered about here and there, but we saw no other
shells. In spite of the day being fearfully warm, the march was
continued all day till evening. My brother, from his great exertions,
was taken ill, had violent headache, and felt as if drunk, but luckily
slept all night. The plain we had ridden over was monotonous, covered
with reedlike mimosas; the soil most sandy.
_27th March._—Joseph cannot rise, has dreadful thirst, and complains
that his hair is on fire on his head. We wisely halted here till after
mid-day, let the army march on before us, remaining on the river bank
till the cooler evening, and then hastened on after the Pascha. On the
river’s right bank was to be seen the gebl (hill) Job, or Joc, rising
up, all isolated, like a pyramid: this hill was visible yesterday. To-
day two other large hills have come into sight, one in the east, the
other to the south. We have remarked that the birds gradually return
after the army has passed on, and we only remain. The left side of the
river is not cultivated, the right very much so; many large fields of
durra and doggen (Sorghum saccharatum). Topschi Baschi lent my brother
his easy-going mule, which gave him great relief. Gazelles were seen in
large herds, hurrying back from the desert, here very sandy and deep, to
the river, by paths worn by their own feet. At our camping-place to-day
the heat was so great, that guns and sabres, even under the tent, could
hardly be laid hold of. For the first time, the soldiers had flesh
served out to them, and each captain got a sheep; on every camel and ass
flesh was to be seen hanging, and the birds of heaven often approached
most near to these, in their nostrils, sweet-smelling scaffolds. The
right bank of the river, for the last two days’ march, was the
habitation of the tribe of the Haddenda, hostile to us; to its west are
the Schukurie, who live in perpetual feud with them. Two hours after
sunset a halt was made, and the many fires of the camp, glittering among
the trees, offered a pretty scene. Many scorpions showed themselves
here, as if attracted by the heat of the fires; some we saw were a
finger and a half in length, of a bright colour, one half of the tail a
brown black, and covered with hair. Around us were huge flats, overgrown
with long, thick, rank grasses, and in these the rain-water must stand
long, probably dammed back there by the raised banks of the Atbara. The
wind is warm, and by no means refreshing. For the last two evenings
there have been continuous flashes of lightning in the south.
_28th March._—We encamped for this night on the river, here in some
places dried up. Its high banks were evidently never hereabouts
overflowed, and so no Dom-palms were visible. Mohammed Defalla, a great
Sheik of the neighbourhood of Wollet-Medina, arrived with many
followers. He wore a suit of double-chain armour, under this a quilted
shirt, arm-braces, and handsome worked steel gauntlets. His helmet
fitted to his head like a shell, having in front, instead of a visor, an
iron bar coming down over the nose, and behind, to cover the neck, a
small guard or curtain formed of steel rings. His sword, the most common
here, was one of the horsemen’s straight swords, made in Sennaar, with
plain bent hand-guard, golden hilt, with a thick crown-like knob cut out
on its end. This equipment came from India, and he has forty or fifty
such suits; his relations of the old royal family have whole heaps of
such. Two Sheiks of the land of Taka have also arrived: handsome, tall
men. Many people from the neighbourhood of Gos-Rajeb have also come to
meet the Pascha, and have just dismounted from their dromedaries in the
camp; they have their hair anointed and whitened with camel’s fat, which
the sun’s heat has melted, and set trickling down their backs. For three
hours during to-day’s march we passed over a plain extending farther
than eye could reach, with long withered grass, few trees, many
gazelles, and some hares. In the morning we had remarked near, and on
the river, thousands of partridges, various kinds of snipes, and
numerous water-fowl. Our camping-place is two hours distant from water:
during the night a strong cold wind blew on us from the south.
_29th March._—To-day we were to make our entrance into Gos-Rajeb, and we
were in motion before sunrise. The infantry formed two columns, the
Turkish cavalry the right wing, the Schaigies and Magrabins the left.
About eleven o’clock we found ourselves in this order, and deafened by
drums, kettle-drums, and all kinds of Janissary music, in the wide and
almost naked plain to the east of Gos-Rajeb. The guns that had been in
front did not retain that position, but were passed over to the right
side of the here shallow Atbara, where, at the feet of the two rocks of
Herrerem, our camp was formed, in a stony, almost treeless plain. Gos-
Rajeb (Hill Rajeb) is some 400 paces distant from the river bank,
consists of 150 or 200 tokul and loam houses, the former of these being
unusually large, and displaying on their pointed tops ostrich eggs as
ornaments. The inhabitants of this trading city are of various tribes:
Bischari, Haddenda, &c. The few of them we saw were rather red in colour
than black or brown; but most of its inmates had fled at our approach.
Gos-Rajeb lies in a desert, or nearly so; the goods come from India to
Sauakim on the Red Sea, and are brought thence on camels. On a dromedary
the journey can be made in seven or eight days. Caravans take ten or
eleven; though the Sheik of Gos-Rajeb said seventeen days were required
to Sauakim, but only five or six to Kataref. According to him, the
inhabitants of Gos-Rajeb are a race of themselves, who have been located
there since time immemorial; though he allowed that another race, not of
the same descent as them, had settled down there in later times. The
Pascha has instructed the Sheik to give me all and every information as
to country and people, and to accompany me to all most worthy of being
seen, and all remarkable points.
_30th March._—Our expectations had been highly raised as regarded the
ruins we hoped to find in this city of the rocks, for we, as well as the
honoured Burckhardt before us, had heard much of Kenisse betal kuf’r,
and of memorials of a Christian race. So in the morning we climbed up
both hills, and found a grotesque formation of granite rocks, worn by
the action of weather and other causes into the most fantastic shapes,
and here and there towered up on one another as if some giant’s hand had
piled them. The grey whitish granite also shows in its refts round holes
smoothed out by rain, and, in some places, crusts of red granite as at
Assuan; but ruins there were none to explore. We saw much dried grass,
and some small green trees like wild pear-trees, called Sammer: this
shows the rain here must be abundant. A crowd of flints and pebbles of
all colours were scattered round above, but almost all were broken in
pieces, like those placed on graves here to prevent the wild beasts
digging up the corpses. It is possible, however, these stones had been
broken up to discover the precious stones supposed to be hid in the
coarser casket.
The view over the plains covered with small trees and stretching out
farther than eye can reach, is monotonous; and here the Atbara is very
small, and resembles a brook with naked banks. To the N.W. is Gos-Rajeb
with its tokuls and decaying roofs; to the N.N.E. a day and a half’s
journey off, is the Hill of Job. N.N.E. and by N. one day’s journey off,
is the Hill of Ofrek; the smaller hills of Derra, Tokul, and Aried, the
centre one of which has three pointed tops, lie from W. by N. to W.N.W.
The Hill of Sabath, W.S.W. is about half a day’s journey from Gos;
behind the Hill of Job to the N.N.W. is a yet higher mountain, with a
smaller neighbour, and a chain of hillocks. The distance as the crow
flies to the hills of Kassela in the E. may be some thirty hours. The
other rock of Herrerem lies southward of the first, and may be some 400
feet high. At the foot of it is a quantity of _débris_ rolled down from
it, and large pieces of rock also lie about. On this rough ground are
many graves of later time; some old bricks red outside, black inside and
very hard, lie about. A quarter of an hour N.E. of this Rockery, in a
spot to which the Sheik led me, I saw some broken and burnt bricks;
hereabouts must once have stood a town as large as Massr (Cairo) and
inhabited by Christians. The ground is now level, and neither grave-hill
nor bone-house to be seen. There must indeed have been a fearful
conflagration here, as the bricks at one spot are melted down into a
black glassy mass. Most probably, the city was on both hills, and
principally on the first, round which many isolated mounds or hillocks
may be seen; but these are covered either with stones or small pieces of
granite, and seem to have been used as sepulchres; they have a round or
oval form, and some are large and of good height. Often are six or eight
such hillocks connected with each other, and on these we found some red
bricks. The present inhabitants know not whether they are graves or what
they are, and this alone testified to their belonging to older times. On
the second hill lie blocks of rocks having much resemblance to colossal
sarcophagi; and why these masses were so placed on it cannot be
accounted for, unless to serve as memorials. The first hill runs up into
two blunt points, on the foremost of which starts up a high rock like a
monument, which, perhaps, may have misled Burckhardt. Above this, in the
rivers here, mussels and small shells are to be found, similar to those
in the Nile, and much petrified wood.