Zilhadge last. In ten days of forced march he arrived at New Dongola. A
little beyond this village, the Selictar, at the head of a detachment of
about four hundred men, surprised and dispersed about fifteen hundred
of the enemy, taking many of their horses and camels. Four days' march
beyond New Dongola, the Pasha, at the head of the advance guard of
the army, came up with the main body of the Shageias and their allies,
strongly posted on the side of a mountain near a village called Courty,
on the westerly bank of the river. The Pasha at this juncture had
with him but six hundred cavalry and some of the Abbadies mounted on
dromedaries, of whom we had about five hundred with the army, but none
of his cannon. The enemy advanced to the combat with loud screams and
cries, and with great fury. The Abbadies could not withstand their
charge, and were driven rearward. At this critical instant, his
Excellence gave the order, and the cavalry of the Pasha charged and
poured in the fire of their carabines and pistols. After a conflict of
no long duration, the cavalry of the enemy fled in dismay, while those
who fought on foot fell on their faces, throwing their shields over
their heads to secure them from the tramp of the cavalry, and implored
mercy.
In consequence of the result of this affair, all the country between the
place of combat and Shageia, i.e. the country occupied by the castles
and immediate subjects of the Maleks of Shageia, submitted and were
pardoned. The Pasha pursued his march to the province of Shageia, where
Malek Shouus, the principal among the Shageia chiefs, had collected the
whole force of the republic of the brigands with a determination to risk
another battle. The Pasha found, on his arrival, a part of their force
posted on an island near the long mountain I have mentioned in my
journal as having been the scene of a combat a few day? before I reached
it. Those of the enemy who were in the island were forthwith attacked by
troops sent over in the boats which accompanied the army, and were cut
to pieces or driven into the river. The army then advanced to attack the
great mass of the enemy in their position on the mountain. It was a
very advantageous one. The mountain runs nearly at right angles with the
river, which it nearly reaches, leaving between itself and the river a
tract of ground about a quarter of a mile in width, which at the time
was covered with plantations of durra. The enemy were posted on the
side of this mountain and among the durra in the open ground between the
mountain and the river; so that their rear was secured by the mountain,
and their right covered by a strong castle at the foot of its extremity
lying off from the river. Malek Shouus, Malek Zibarra, and the other
chiefs of Shageia, and their immediate followers, composed the cavalry
of the enemy. They had assembled, either by force or persuasion, all
the peasantry subject to their dominion, the whole forming a mass
which blackened the whole side of the mountain. Their arms consisted
of lances, shields and long broad swords double-edged. These wretched
peasants, who were all on foot, their masters posted in front in order
to receive and exhaust the fire of the Pasha's troops; while Shouus and
the cavalry occupied the rear in order to keep the peasants to their
posts, and to have the start of the Pasha's cavalry in case they
should find it necessary to take to flight. The Pasha posted his troops
parallel to the enemy, placing the greater part of the cavalry opposite
the open ground between the mountain and the river, and pushing the
artillery a little in advance. The enemy with loud cries and uplifted
lances rushed forward. Some of the peasants in advance of the others,
with no other arms than lances and shields, threw themselves upon the
cannon and were blown to pieces.[22] The castle on the right of the
enemy was stormed. After feeling the effects of a few rounds from the
artillery, which dashed horse and man to pieces, the cavalry of the
enemy fled in dismay, leaving their infantry to be rode over and shot
down [23] by our cavalry, who destroyed many hundreds of them in the
battle and during the pursuit. Malek Shouus and his cavalry did not
discontinue their flight till they reached the territory of Shendi,
leaving their numerous and strong castles, their dependant villages, and
a rich and beautiful country, in the hands of the conqueror.[24]
On the 12th of Rebi, I passed over to the camp of the Pasha. I did not
however obtain an audience of his Excellence till two days after, when,
being alone, he sent for me, and received me in the most nattering
manner, ordering me as usual to sit in his presence. After the usual
compliments, I informed his Excellence that I had been much mortified
and distressed, that the act of God, in depriving me of the use of my
eyes a few days before his Excellence left Wady Halfa, had prevented
me from accompanying his victorious march, and participating in the
exploits of his troops; so that I had not arrived till there was nothing
left to do. His Excellence replied that a "great deal more remained to
be done, in which I should have a share." I replied with a compliment,
and then demanded horses and camels for myself, and the soldiers I
had brought with me; he replied "that I should have them." After some
further conversation, of a confidential nature, I retired. During the
nine days following, I had reason to applaud the humanity and good
policy of the Pasha, in offering amnesty and peace to all the brigands
who should come in and surrender themselves. Several of their chiefs,
whom they call "Maleks" accompanied by their followers, came in while
the camp remained near Meroe. The chiefs were presented with costly
habiliments, and the written protection of his Excellence, recognizing
them as under his safeguard; and returned with their followers to
their homes, tranquillized and contented. The most rigid discipline
was observed in the camp, to prevent the people of the country from
suffering by the presence of the army. Some soldiers and domestics were
severely beaten for taking sheep and goats without paying for them,
and five of the Abbadies (or auxiliaries mounted on dromedaries) were
impaled for having seized some camels from the peasants. It was truly
honorable to the army and its commander to see villages embosomed in a
camp, whose inhabitants, men, women and children, pursued their usual
occupations, without molestation and without fear. In the country below,
which had been the scene of combat, the fields were deserted, and for
several days I had not seen a peasant at work upon the ground. In
the vicinity of the camp of the Pasha, where the people had submitted
themselves, the discordant creak of the water-wheels frequently
attracted the ear, and the peasants cultivated their fields within
musket shot of the camp of a conqueror.
On the 21st of Rebi, a detachment, consisting of three hundred cavalry,
departed from the camp for the country of the Berbers, to secure its
submission and to obtain horses and camels for the army. Learning that
it was the intention of the Pasha to march in a few days, to pitch his
camp about eight hours march farther up the river, I wished to ascertain
whether I could have the horses and camels I needed before the Pasha
marched. His reply to my demand was, that he had no camels, at present,
that were not appropriated to some service or other, but that, as soon
as he had them, I should receive what I needed. I was consequently
obliged to embark in a boat to accompany the march of the camp as,
without camels to carry my tent and baggage, I could not accompany it by
land. On the 25th, all the boats followed the departure of the
troops; the wind was ahead, and the direction of the river the same as
repeatedly before mentioned. We proceeded slowly by the cordel. This
circumstance gave me an opportunity of visiting the Pyramids which I
have mentioned as in view from Meroe. They stand about half a mile from
the right hand bank of the river. I counted twenty-seven, none of them
perfect, and most of them in ruins; the greater part of them are built
of stone, and are evidently much more ancient than those of Meroe.
The largest is probably more than a hundred feet square, and something
more in height. It presents a singularity in its construction worthy
of notice. It is a pyramid within a pyramid; i.e. the inner pyramid has
been cased over by a larger one; one of its sides being in ruins makes
this peculiarity visible. By climbing up the ruined side, it is easy
to reach its summit. No remains of a city or any traces of temples are
visible in the immediate vicinity of this place, which is called by the
natives "Turboot."
On the 23d we came in view of the lower end of the rapids of the Third
Cataract; those hereabouts are called "the rapids of Oula" We were
obliged to consume thirty-nine days in getting as far as the island of
Kendi, (which is not above fifty miles from Meroe.) As the direction of
the river continued almost the same, coming from about the north-east,
and the wind being almost invariably ahead, the difficulties attending
advancing the boats by the cordel were very great, as the river here
is spotted by an infinity of islands and rocks. In some of the passages
where the water was deep, the current was as swift as a mill-sluice,
which made it necessary to employ the crews of perhaps twenty boats
to drag up one at a time. In other passages, where the water was very
shallow, it was sometimes necessary to drag the boats by main force over
the stones at the bottom. The camp of the Pasha remained during all
this time about eight hours march above Meroe, on the right bank of the
river, waiting till the boats should have passed the rapids. No military
movements took place, except detaching the Divan Effendi with four
hundred cavalry, to join the detachment already in Berber, where all was
quiet and friendly. The country on the rapids of the Third Cataract is
sterile, being composed, for the most part, of black granite and sand,
excepting some of the islands, which contained good ground, and a few
spots on the shores, where the floods of the river had deposited some
fertile soil. The rocks by the shore presented indications which proved
that the river had risen in some of its floods about twenty feet above
its present level. Ostriches are not unfrequently seen hereabouts. We
have met with no ruins of any ancient building of consequence on these
rapids, except the ruins of a strong fort on the right bank of the
river, and those of what was probably a Christian Monastery on the bank
right opposite. This place, I was told, is called "Kennis;" it is
about thirty miles above Meroe.[25] We passed one small island, which the
natives said was called also Meroe, as well as the site where we found
the pyramids and temple below. No indications of a considerable city are
however to be found on this island, which is beside too small to have
served for the emplacement of a city of consequence. Khalil Aga, who
swam over to this island, reported that he had seen there the ruins of
brick houses, and many fragments of porcelain; of the latter there
are immense quantities among all the ruined edifices found in this
country.[26] The island of "Kendi" is large, and in some parts cultivated;
it contains evident traces of brick buildings, among which we found
fragments of ancient pottery and porcelain, but no ruins of any
considerable building.
We stayed for three days as high up as the middle of the island of
Kendi. On the 6th of Jamisalawal the boats received orders to descend to
the lower end of the island, in order to take the passage on its right
hand side, that on the left being so shallow as not to be passed but
with great difficulty. We descended accordingly, and remained at
its lower extremity till the thirteenth of the moon, which delay was
occasioned by the absence of the Rais Bashi, who had gone up to examine
and sound the passages through the remainder of the Third Cataract. On
the thirteenth, our boat and many others passed over to the right bank
of the river, in order to be on the same side as was the camp of the
Pasha,[27] and to have free communication with it.
The same day I received an order from the Pasha to come to the camp with
my baggage. I went accordingly and presented myself to his Excellency,
and demanded to know his pleasure. He replied, that it was his will that
I should stay in the camp, and that he would immediately furnish me with
the means of accompanying him in his intended march to Berber over the
Desert. Five days after, his Excellency broke up his camp, and proceeded
about four leagues higher up the rapids, where the boats were found
stopped by the impossibility of proceeding any farther, as the water
was found to be too low to admit their passing. I arrived at this place
(opposite the upper end of the island of Kendi) on the same day with his
Excellency, having left orders to my domestics to follow with my camels
and baggage. The next morning, finding that they had not arrived, and
learning that it was the intention of the Pasha to commence his march to
Berber that day, I mounted my horse to go and ascertain the reason why
my camels had not arrived. I learned, as I proceeded, that one of them
had fallen under his load, and that it would be necessary to send back
the first that should arrive and be unloaded, to take the burden of the
other. All my effects, inconsequence, did not arrive before evening.
During my absence to see after this vexatious affair, the Pasha had
departed with the camp, as I learned the same evening on my return.
After leaving the most bulky part of my baggage in one of the boats, I
proceeded on the 21st to the place where the Pasha's last camp had been,
to join some party who should have been delayed by circumstances similar
to my misadventure. On my arrival I found the Hasna Katib, and about
three hundred soldiers, waiting till camels should come from Berber
to carry them to join the Pasha. There were, besides, seven hundred
Mogrebin infantry in the boats, awaiting the means of transporting their
tents and baggage across the Desert. On my representing to the Hasna
Katib the circumstance that had delayed me, he informed me that the
Selictar was expected from below in a few days, who, on the day after
his arrival, would proceed after the Pasha, and that I had better
accompany him. I accepted the advice, and pitched my tent to await the
arrival of the Selictar. The same day I was informed that all the large
boats had received orders to abandon the attempt to pass the remainder
of the third cataract of the Nile. They had already, with great
difficulty, got through about fifty difficult passages, and it was
reported that there were nearly one hundred more ahead before the third
cataract could be got clear of. When the river is full, and the
flood, of course, strong, this cataract must, in my opinion, be almost
impassable upwards, as, on account of the strange direction of the
river, little or no aid can be derived from the wind, and the current in
some places, from the straitness of the passages between the rocks and
islands, must, in the time of the inundation, be very furious, while
the cordel, from the natural obstacles which cover the shore of this
cataract, could hardly overcome the difficulties which every mile or two
would present.[28]
On the first day of the moon Jamisalachar, the Selictar arrived from
below, where he had been to collect durra for the army. Two days after
I set forward in company with him to pass the Desert. The road for two
days lay near the bank of the river. By the middle of the afternoon of
the first day we arrived at a pleasant spot on the border of the Nile,
where we encamped to pass the night. On the morning following we mounted
our horses at sunrise, and by mid-day arrived at a fine pond of water at
the foot of a high rock, at no great distance from the river, where we
refreshed ourselves and filled the water-skins, as at this place the
roads turns into the Desert. We marched from the middle of the afternoon
till an hour after midnight, when we halted to sleep. The road for this
day was evidently the dry bed of an arm of the Nile, which, during the
inundation, is full of water. Even at this season the doum tree and the
acacia, which grew on its borders, were green, and coarse long grass was
abundant. At sunrise of the sixth day of the moon we again mounted,
and set forward in a direction nearly East. Our way lay over low
rocky hills, gravelly or sandy plains, and sometimes through valleys
containing plenty of coarse grass and acacia trees; but no water is
to be found above ground at this season, though it probably might be
obtained by sinking wells in some of these valleys. We halted at noon,
and in two hours after again mounted, and marched till midnight. Our
road lay through a country resembling that we had passed the day before.
On the morrow morning, a little after day-light, we proceeded on our
journey, and at noon halted at the only well of water we found on our
route. It lies near two high hills of black granite. The water was
yellow and dirty, and was almost rejected by the thirsty camels. By the
middle of the afternoon we were again on horseback, and marched till
midnight, when some of the camels dropping and dying, and others giving
out, the Selictar found himself obliged to order a halt for the rest of
the night. It was his intention to have marched till morning, by which
time our guides told us that we should arrive at the river. We threw
ourselves on the ground to sleep a few hours, but by sunrise we were
called to mount and away. We proceeded till about noon, when we came
in view of the beneficent river, whose beauty and value cannot be duly
appreciated by any who have not voyaged in the deserts through which it
holds its course. It was on the eighth of the moon when we arrived on
its borders. I had expected that our toilsome forced march would end
here, and had promised myself some repose, which I greatly needed, as
I had suffered much from the heat of the sun, which had burned the skin
off my face;--from fatigue and want of sleep;--from hunger, as we had
barely time to prepare a little rice and bread once in twenty-four
hours;--and from the exasperation of my ophthalmia, which had never
entirely quitted me since I was attacked by it at Wady Halfa, on the
second cataract. The Selictar, however, did not indulge us with more
than half a day's and one night's repose on the bank of the river, which
we found well cultivated by the inhabitants of numerous villages in
sight. On the morning of the ninth day of the moon, we were again called
to proceed. For this day our march lay near the bank of the river, and
through and by fine fields of barley, cotton, and wheat. The day after,
our route lay over a narrow space of rocky land, lying between the river
and the hills of the desert. We saw this day but a few cultivated spots.
On the 11th we commenced our march before sunrise, animated by the
information that we should be at the Pasha's camp by noon or the middle
of the afternoon. Our road lay this day on the edge of the Desert, just
where it touches the cultivable soil deposited by the Nile, which is
indicative of the point to which the inundations of the river extend
in this country. On both sides of tills road was an almost continued
succession of villages, which are built here in order to be out of the
reach of the overflowing of the river, which almost every year here
overspreads the country for one or two miles from its banks. The land
liable to this inundation is in part cultivated as well as any portion
of Egypt, and in part devoted to feeding great numbers of fine horses,
camels, dromedaries, kine, sheep, and goats, with which the country of
the Berbers is abundantly stocked.
We marched on till nearly set of sun, without halting, when we arrived
at the encampment of the Pasha; it was on our side [i.e. the west side]
of the Nile, which here runs in its natural direction from south to
north. At five or six days march below it, it turns to the left, and
describes, from above its turning point and Dongola, a track something
resembling the following figure--which is the reason why, in coming up
the river from Dongola, we found it running from the north-east. The
length of this curious bend in the river Nile, never known to the
civilized world before the expedition of Ismael Pasha, may be about
two hundred and fifty miles long, the greater part of it all rocks and
rapids.
The journey from our last encampment on the third cataract to the
country of the Berbers, following the direction of the river, takes
eight days of forced marches, but that by the desert, i.e. across the
peninsula formed by the course of the river between the country of the
Berbers and our last encampment, takes four days forced march.
The road from the place where we arrived at the river (in coming from
the desert) up the country of Berber, lies generally on the edge of the
desert, and outside of the fertile land lying between the river and
the desert; of consequence we were rarely led to its banks so as to
ascertain its course and appearance. But from several points where the
road approaches the river, I observed that it winded continually and
contained many beautiful islands, some of them, particularly that named
"Sibne," cultivated like gardens. I also observed that the river, at the
lower extremity of the country of the Berbers, is much interrupted by
rocks, and I have learned, since my arrival, that between the third
cataract and the camp, the water is so low at this season that the
Canja of the Pasha (probably the first boat that ever passed the third
cataract of the Nile) was obliged to be lifted three times over shallow
passages.
The natives of this country had never seen a sail boat before the
arrival of this Canja. They called it "a water mare" comparing it, by
this appellation, to the swiftest animal with which they are acquainted.
They ran in, crowds to the river's edge to see it mount the current
without the aid of oars.
On the 13th, I had a private audience of the Pasha in the evening.
His Excellence received me as usual, and on my informing him of the
circumstance which had prevented my accompanying his march from the
cataract, he assured me that he would give orders, that, for the future,
I should be furnished from the best of his own camels. I preferred to
his Excellence some requests, which he granted immediately, and on my
retiring, requested me to present myself to him frequently.
Previous to his march from the third cataract, there had arrived at
the camp ambassadors from Shendi, from Malek Shouus, the chief of the
fugitive Shageians, demanding terms of peace. The Pasha replied, that
"the only terms on which they could obtain peace with him, would be by
the surrender of their horses and arms, and returning to their country
to live tranquilly, and without disturbing their neighbors." The
ambassadors replied, that "they would not give up their horses and
arms." The Pasha then answered, that "then he would come to Shendi and
take them." To which it is said they answered, "Come."[29] On hearing,
however, of the rapid march of the Pasha, and of his arrival in Berber,
the chief of Shendi, on whose support it seems Shouus had calculated,
was frightened, and sent his son, bearing some valuable presents, to the
Pasha, to notify his submission, and to receive his orders. The terror
and confusion this step, on the part of one of the most powerful allies
of Sennaar, will occasion to the latter, will probably prevent the
necessity of a battle to ensure its submission. A part of the remnant of
the once powerful Mamalukes of Egypt, who had fled before the Pasha to
Shendi,[30] on his arrival in Berber have surrendered themselves to the
protection of the Pasha Ismael. They have been treated by him with great
kindness, and were presented with a thousand piasters each, to bear
their expenses to Cairo, to which place they have departed, with the
assurance of passing the remainder of their lives in tranquility in
Egypt, under the protection and favor of Mehemmed Ali. They had gone
from the camp before my arrival. I was informed that these Mamalukes
were in possession of many slaves and fine horses, which will turn to
good account in Egypt. A small remnant of the Mamalukes at Shendi, under
the direction of a refractory Bey, have fled to the countries on the
Bahar el Abiud, where they will probably perish miserably. The Divan
Effendi, who has been sent to Shendi to arrange the terms of peace
with the Malek of that country, had orders to assure this Bey and his
followers there, of the same favor and protection already accorded to
their comrades, who had already departed for Egypt, but without success.
It is not to be doubted, however, that the remnant of the once powerful
Mamalukes, who have surrendered themselves to the compassion and
protection of the Viceroy, will receive both from him; whose humanity
has been interested in their behalf since their power is gone, and their
number reduced to a few individuals, who, doubtless, will be happy to
live tranquilly in the country these unfortunate fugitives continually
sigh after, and whose sovereignty they have lost by their own
misconduct.[31]