honest and trustworthy people, from whom we have less to fear than from
the crafty and thievish Fellahs in Egypt. To the north-east of their
territory, the races of the BISCHÂRI are spread over the country, who
have a peculiar language, and are now in bitter enmity with the Ababde
Arabs, because more than two years ago when they had attacked and
murdered some Turkish soldiers in the little valley where we had spent
the night, Hassan Chalif, the superior Sheikh of the Ababdes, to whose
protection the road of communication between Berber and Korusko had been
confided, caused forty of the Bischâris to be put to death. Besides, by
aid of the Ababdes, more than four-and-twenty years ago, Ismael Pascha
succeeded in bringing his army across the desert, and taking possession
of the Sudan. It is only upon the road that we are now pursuing that
guides are maintained by government; there are none on the longer
road, from Berber to Assuan, which is, however, better supplied with
water, though now but little used. About half-past four we rode away
from the well, after we had inspected some _hagr mektub_ (stones with
inscriptions) for which we inquire everywhere, viz., some rocks in the
neighbourhood, on which, in somewhat modern times, a number of horses,
camels, and other creatures have been roughly scratched, similar to what
we had already often seen in Nubia. About half-past nine we halted for
the night, after having quitted the high chain of mountains an hour and
a half previously. On the morning of the sixth day, we crossed the wide
plain MUNDERA, to which another lofty chain, ABU SIHHA, is attached, at
the farther side; the southern frontier of this plain, where it inclines
towards that chain, is called ABDEBAB; the southern portion of the large
chain of Roft laying behind us is called ABU SENEJAT.
About three o’clock we left the plain behind us, and again entered the
mountain range, which, like the others, is composed of granite. Half an
hour afterwards, we halted for our mid-day’s repose. In a couple of hours
we rode on farther, and encamped towards midnight, after we had traversed
another small plain, and from the stony range ADAR AUÎB which succeeds
it, entered a new plain, comprehended under the same appellation, which
extends as far as the last chain of mountains belonging to this desert of
GEBEL GRAIBÂT.
On the following day, the seventh of our journey, we started about
half-past seven in the morning, and at length, beyond Gebel Graibât, we
reached the great boundless plain of ADERERÂT, which we did not quit
again till we arrived at ABU HAMMED. To the south-west we now kept in
view the small hill EL FARÛT and the larger range of MOGRAD; to the east,
far distant, another mountain chain, ABU NUGARA, joins that of Adar Auîb.
Then to the south-east there were other Bischâri chains of mountains,
whose names were unknown to our Ababde guides. The commencement of
the great plain of Adererât was covered for whole hours together with
beautiful, pure quartz, sometimes rising up out of the sand in the form
of solid rock, although the predominant kind of rock continued to be
black granite, which towards the south was traversed by a broad vein of
red granite. Early in the day a small caravan of merchants passed us at
some little distance.
At a very early hour in the day we saw the most beautiful mirages, both
near us and at a distance, exhibiting a very deceptive resemblance
to lakes and rivers, in which the mountains, blocks of stone, and
everything around is reflected, as if in clear water. They form a strange
contrast with the hard arid desert, and, as it is related, must have
often bitterly deceived many a poor wanderer. When we are not aware that
no water can be there, it is often totally impossible to distinguish the
semblance from the reality. Only a few days ago, in the neighbourhood of
EL MECHÊREF, I felt perfectly certain that I saw either Nile water which
had overflowed, or a branch of the river, and I rode up, but only found
BAHR SCHEITAN, “The water of Satan,” as it is called by the Arabs.
Even though the sand may have obliterated all traces of the caravan road,
it cannot easily be missed during the day, as it is sufficiently marked
by innumerable skeletons of camels, several of which are always in view;
yesterday I counted forty-one, which we passed during the last half hour
before sunset. We did not lose one of our own camels, although they had
not rested long in Korusko, and had had scarcely anything to eat or drink
on the road. My own camel, into whose mouth I had sometimes put a piece
of biscuit, used to look round in the middle of the march when it heard
me biting, or twist round its long neck, till it laid its head, with its
soft large eyes on my lap, to get something more.
About four o’clock in the afternoon we stopped for about two hours, and
then went on again till about eleven o’clock, when we went in search of
a place for our night’s encampment in the great plain. The wind however
blew so violently that it was impossible to secure our tent. In spite of
the ten iron pegs which fasten it all the way round, it was three times
overthrown, before it was completely pitched; we allowed it therefore to
remain as it was, and laid ourselves down behind a little wall, which the
guide had made out of the saddles of the camels, to protect us from the
wind, and we slept _à la belle étoile_.
On the eighth day we might have arrived at Abu Hammed late that evening,
but determined to halt for the night, one hour sooner, that we might
reach the Nile by daylight. The birds of prey increased in number as
we approached the river; we frightened away about thirty vultures from
the fresh carcase of a camel, and only the day before I had shot a white
eagle in the desert, as well as some desert partridges, that were in
search of stray grains of Durra[42] on the caravan road. We only saw the
footsteps of beasts of prey, round the skeletons of the camels; they did
not disturb us in the night, as they did in the camp at Korusko, where we
killed a hyæna, besides several jackals. Towards mid-day we met a caravan
of slaves. The last encampment for the night before we reached Abu Hammed
was in a less windy position, yet our supply of charcoal was exhausted,
and our people had forgotten to collect camels’ dung on the road for
fuel; therefore, to appease our thirst, we were obliged to be contented
to drink the last brown water of the skins unboiled. We could give no
more to the asses.
On the 16th January we mounted our camels about half-past seven in the
morning, and looked forth from our high thrones towards the Nile. It was,
however, only visible a very short time before we reached it. The river
does not cut through any broad valley at this spot, but flows in a bare,
rocky channel, passing almost unperceived through the slightly elevated
and wide rocky plain. On the farther side of the river the ground had
more the character of a plain, and some Doum Palms grew upon an island
that had formed there. Shortly before we reached the bank, we met a troop
of 150 camels, which had just started from Abu Hammed. A great circular
embankment of earth then became visible with some towers upon it like a
fortress, which had been erected by the great Arab Sheikh Hassan Chalif,
for the government stores. A small hollow contains five huts, one made
of stones and earth, another of trunks of trees, two of mats, one of
bus, or durra-straw; a more open space then spread before us surrounded
by several wretched houses, one of which was prepared for our reception.
A brother of Hassan Chalif who lives here came out to meet us; he led
us into the house, and proffered his services. Some anqarebs (reed
bedsteads), which on account of the creeping vermin are much in use here,
were brought within doors, and we settled ourselves for the day, and the
following night, for we were obliged to allow the camels at least so much
time for repose.
We were surrounded by a great square space, thirty feet wide on every
side, the walls were made of stone and earth, two thick trunks of trees,
branching like a fork, supported a large architrave, above which the
other joists were placed, which were covered and joined together by mats
and wickerwork. It strongly reminded me of some very ancient architecture
which we had seen represented in the rock-grottoes of Benihassan; the
columns, the network of the ceiling, through which as in that instance
the only light except what was admitted by the door entered by a square
opening in the centre, there was no window. The door was composed of
four short trunks of trees, of which the uppermost one was exactly like
the ornamented door-posts in the tombs of the time of the Pyramids. We
hung a canvas curtain before the door to protect us from the wind and
dust; another door led at the opposite corner into a side-room, which
was arranged for the kitchen. It was a windy day, and the wind was
disagreeably charged with sand, so that we went very little out of doors.
But we refreshed ourselves with some pure and fresh Nile water, and a
meal of well-dressed mutton. The Great Desert lay behind us; and we were
only four days’ journey from El Mechêref, the capital of Berber, during
which time we should follow the course of the river. We learned that
Achmed Pascha Menekle was in our neighbourhood, or that he would soon
arrive, in order to lead a military expedition from Dâmer, a short day’s
journey beyond El Mechêref, up the Atbara to the province of TAKA, where
some of the tribes of the Bischâris had revolted.
When we stepped out of doors the following morning, our Arabs had all
anointed themselves most beautifully, and had put on clean clothes; but
what most astonished us, was the appearance of their magnificent white
powdered wigs, which gave quite a venerable appearance to their faces.
To make their toilet complete, they are in the habit of combing up their
great heads of hair into a high toupie, which is sprinkled over with
fine, flaky, shining, white butter, like powder, expressly prepared for
this purpose. But in a short time, when the sun rises higher, this greasy
snow melts, and the hair seems then as if it was covered with innumerable
pearls of dew, till even these gradually disappear, and dripping over the
neck and shoulders, spread a gloss over the pliant dark brown skin, which
gives their well-built figures the appearance of antique bronze statues.
We started the next morning, about eight o’clock, with a fresh camel,
which we had had an opportunity of obtaining in exchange for a tired
one. The nearer we approach the island of Meröe, the valley becomes so
much the wider, and more fertile, and the desert even becomes more like
a steppe. The first station was GEG, where we passed the night in an
open space of ground; the air is very warm; about half-past five in the
afternoon it was still 25° R. (87° Fahr.). The second night we halted
beyond ABU HASCHIN, close to a village, which in fact is not really a
station, as we were anxious to get through the five ordinary stations in
the space of four days; the third night we halted in the open air, near
a cataract of the Nile. On the fourth day from Abu Hammed we removed
somewhat farther from the river into the desert, yet we always remained
on the soil of the ancient valley, if I may so designate a yellowish
earth which is now no longer overflowed by the river, but which was
turned up by the inhabitants of the village directly from beneath the
sand; that they might improve their fields with it. We stopped in the
evening at the village of EL CHÔR, one hour distant from El Mechêref, and
the fifth day we arrived at an early hour at the capital of the province
of Berber.
I sent the dragoman forward to announce our arrival, and to ask for
a house, which was given up to us, and we took possession of it
immediately. The Mudhir of Berber was in Dâmer, but his Wakil, or
representative, visited us, and soon after Hassan Chalif, the principal
Arab Sheikh, who promised us better camels to take us to Dâmer; he was
rejoiced to hear some tidings of his and our friends, Linant and Bonomi,
and was much pleased in looking over our picture books, among which he
found likenesses of some of his own relations and ancestors. We had
scarcely arrived, before we received news that Hassan Pascha had arrived
at the same time as ourselves, from a different quarter. He had travelled
from Korusko to his province of Dongola, and now came from Edabbe, on the
southern frontier of Dongola, right across the desert to El Mechêref,
whither Emin, the new Pascha of Chartûm, had gone to meet him. This
meeting caused us some inconvenience with respect to the arrangements of
our journey; nevertheless, we so far advanced our object, that on the
following morning, the 22nd of January, soon after Hassan Pascha had
again set out on his journey, we were also enabled to depart for the
south, leaving two camels behind, which we did not require any longer as
water-carriers, and exchanging three others for better ones.
We rode away about mid-day, and stopped in the evening at the last
village before reaching the river Mogrân, the ancient ASTABORAS, which we
had to cross before getting to DÂMER. It is called on the maps ATBARA,
which is evidently derived from Astaboras; yet this name does not appear
now to be used for the lower, but for the upper river, beginning from
the place of the same name. On the following morning we crossed the
river close to its mouth. Even at this point it was now very narrow
in its great bed, which in the rainy season is entirely filled, and
two months hence it is only prevented from being wholly dried up by a
little stagnant water. On the farther side of the river we entered the
(Strabonic) island of MERÖE, by which appellation the land between the
Nile and the Astaboras was designated. Two hours more and we arrived at
Dâmer.
The houses were too wretched to receive us. I despatched Jussuf to Emin
Pascha, in whose province we now are, and who has encamped in tents with
Hassan Pascha on the bank of the river. He sent a Kawass to meet us, and
invited us to dismount and to dine with them. I however preferred to have
our tent pitched at some little distance, and first of all to change our
travelling costume. The Mudhir of Berber immediately visited us to ask
what we might require, and soon after Emin Pascha sent a sumptuous dinner
for us to our tent: four well cooked dishes, and, besides, a whole sheep
stuffed with rice and roasted on the spit, with a flat cake of puff paste
stuffed with meat.
About three o’clock in the afternoon, about the time of Asser, we
announced that we were going to pay our visit; just as we were making
our arrangements to set out we heard some sailors’ songs, and saw two
boats with red flags, and the crescent, floating down the river; it was
Achmed Pascha Menekle, who was returning from Chartûm. The Paschas and
the Mudhir immediately repaired to his boat, and it was late before
they separated; our friend, Dr. Koch, unfortunately, was not expected
to arrive from Chartûm for two days later. I had received a letter from
Erbkam very soon after our arrival, in which he announced to me, through
a passing Kawass, that he had left Korusko on the 15th January with
Ibrahim Aga; he wrote from their first night’s encampment. The Kawass
had ridden with incredible speed in fourteen days from Cairo to Berber,
and he brought Achmed Pascha the permission which had been earnestly
requested, to raise the government charge for the camels between Korusko
and Berber from sixty to ninety piastres above what it was before.
_26th January._—The day before yesterday we paid an early visit to Achmed
Pascha, which he returned yesterday. He will do all in his power to
accelerate our journey onwards. He communicated to us that, as he had
before promised, he had sent an officer from Abu Haras to Mandera, three
days into the desert, and had heard it reported by him that some great
ruins were still extant on that spot. A letter from Chartûm, which we
received yesterday from Dr. Koch, mentioned the same thing, and it was
verbally confirmed by himself this morning. After dinner he is going to
introduce us to Mûsa Bey, who has been on the spot. At the same time he
informed us that he had received some letters addressed to us, and that
they were left in Chartûm; also that the draughtsman who had been engaged
from Rome had arrived in Cairo.
A boat is ready in El Mechêref for our travelling companions. I myself,
however, intend to ride on before with Abeken. Achmed Pascha has sent me
word that in an hour’s time a courier departs for Cairo, who will take
this letter with him.
_Postscript._—The glowing accounts about Mandera, upon closer inquiry,
seem to want confirmation. It will hardly be worth our while to go there.
LETTER XVIII.
_On the Blue River, Province of Sennâr, Lat. 13°, 2nd March, 1844._
To-day we reach the most southern limit of our African journey. To-morrow
we again turn towards the north and homewards. We shall go as far as
the neighbourhood of SERO—a place on the boundary between the provinces
of Sennâr and Fasokl, for our time will not allow us to do more. From
Chartûm I have ascended the river as far as this spot, with Abeken alone.
We relinquished the desert journey to Mandera, the rather as the eastern
territories are at present insecure from the war in Taka; and we now
employ the time, in travelling several days farther across Sennâr, to
gain some information about the character of the river and the adjacent
country. This journey is worth the trouble, for, from Abu Haras, situated
at the influx of the Rahad, between Chartûm and Sennâr, the character of
the whole country is completely altered in its soil, vegetation, and
animals. I then thought I should like to obtain a view of the Nile valley
itself, as far up the river as possible, as the character of this narrow
strip of country has had a greater influence on the course of history
than any other spot in the whole world.
It is impossible, without incurring danger, or making peculiar
preparations, to travel up the White River beyond a few days’ journey,
as far as the boundaries of Mohamed Ali’s conquests. After this, there
are the SCHILLUKS on the western bank, the DINKAS on the eastern, both
native negro nations, who are not very friendly to Northern guests.
The Blue River is navigable still farther up, and in historical times,
as well as at the present day, was of much greater importance than the
White River, as it was the means of communication between the North, and
Abyssinia. I should have liked to have penetrated as far as the province
of Fasokl, the last under Egyptian rule; but it cannot be combined with
the calculation of our time. This evening, therefore, we shall terminate
our southern journey.
But I must go back in my reports to Dâmer, where, on the 27th January,
I embarked with Abeken upon a boat belonging to Mûsa Bey, the first
adjutant of Achmed Pascha, who politely placed it at our disposal. About
eight o’clock in the evening we halted for the night at the island of
DAL HAUI. We had received a Kawass from Emin Pascha, who came here with
Ismael Pascha at the time of the conquest of the country, went with
Defterdar Bey to Kordofan (or, as he expresses it, Kordifal), then
accompanied him on his avenging march to Schendi, in consequence of the
murder of Ismael, and since that time has, for three-and-twenty years,
roamed over the whole of the Sudan in all directions. He carries in his
head the most complete map of these countries, and has a marvellous
memory for names, directions, and distances; so that I have drawn two
maps according to his statements, particular parts of which may not be
without geographical interest. He has also been in Mecca, and therefore
likes to be called Haggi Ibrahim (The Pilgrim Ibrahim). He has great
experience in other matters also, and will be extremely useful to us from
his long and extensive knowledge of the country.
On the 28th January we halted about mid-day at an island called GOMRA,
as we heard that there were some ruins in the vicinity which we were
anxious to see. We were obliged to go through a shallow arm of the Nile,
and to ride back an hour northwards on the eastern bank. At length, after
passing the villages of Motmar and El Akarid, between a third village,
SAGADI, and a fourth, GENNA, we found the insignificant ruins of an
ancient place, constructed of bricks and strewed over with potsherds.
We returned in the mid-day heat, not in the very best humour, and did not
reach BEG´ERAUÎEH in our boat before sunset, near which the Pyramids of
Meröe are situated. It is singular that Cailliaud does not mention this
spot; he only speaks of the Pyramids of ASSUR, _i. e._ SÛR, or E’ SÛR.
This is the name of the whole plain in which the ruins of the town and
Pyramids are situated, and also a single portion of Beg´erauîeh, which
last, by wrong spelling, is called, in Hoskins, BEGROMI.
Although it was already dark, I nevertheless rode to the Pyramids with
Abeken. They are situated a short hour inland, on the first elevation
of the low hills which run along in an easterly direction. The moon,
which was in its first quarter, feebly illuminated the plain, covered
with stones, low bushes, and clumps of reeds. After a rapid ride, we at
length reached the foot of a row of Pyramids, closely crowded together,
which rose before us in a crescent, as the form of the narrow elevation
rendered necessary. To the right, a little behind, another group of
Pyramids joined these; a third lies more to the south, and rather more
forward in the plain, but too distant to be seen by half moonlight. I
fastened the bridle of my donkey-steed to a block of stone, and clambered
up the first mound of ruins.
Although the individual Pyramids are not accurately placed according to
the quarters of the heavens, as they are in Egypt, nevertheless all the
ante-chambers here attached to the Pyramids themselves are turned away
from the river, towards the east, doubtless on the same religious grounds
which induced the Egyptians to place the unattached temples standing in
front of their Pyramids also towards the east; therefore, in Gizeh and
Sagâra, towards the river, while their sepulchral chambers are towards
the west.
Half looking, half feeling, I found some sculptures on the outer
walls of the small sepulchral temple, and I also felt figures and
writing on the inner walls. It occurred to me that I had the end of a
candle in my saddle-pocket; I lighted this, and then examined several
ante-chambers. There I immediately encountered the Egyptian gods, Osiris,
Isis, Nephthys, Atmu, &c., with their names in the known hieroglyphic
character. I also found the name of a king in the first chamber. One
of the two Rings contained the emblems of a great Pharaoh of the Old
Monarchy, Sesurtesen I., the same which had been adopted by two later
Egyptian monarchs, and I here found them, for the fourth time, as the
Throne-Name of an Ethiopian king. The sculptures on the remaining
sides were not completed. I found some Royal Shields this evening also
in another ante-chamber, but not very legible. The inscriptions and
representations had altogether been much damaged. The Pyramids have also
all of them lost their summits, as in Egypt, and many have been destroyed
down to the ground.
Our new Kawass, who did not like to leave us alone in the night time, had
immediately followed us. He had a perfect knowledge of the locality, as
he had been here a long time with FERLINI, and had assisted him in his
researches among the Pyramids. He showed us the spot in which Ferlini, in
1834, had found immured the rich treasure of gold and silver rings.
I also discovered, the same evening, a cased Pyramid, according to the
principle of the Egyptian Pyramids, which were afterwards enlarged
by superimposed layers of stone. According to the inscriptions and
representations of the ante-chambers, these Pyramids were most of them
built solely for kings, some of them, perhaps, for their wives and
children. Therefore, their great number indicates a tolerably long
succession of kings, and a well-established Monarchy, which probably must
have remained in a state of tranquillity for a series of centuries.
The event of most importance in this moon and torchlight survey, was not,
however, exactly the most cheering. I was unavoidably convinced that on
this most renowned spot of ancient Ethiopia, I had nothing before me but
the remains, proportionately speaking, of a very late period of art.
Even earlier than this, the drawings of Ferlini’s monuments, which I saw
for the first time in Rome, and the monuments themselves, which I had
just seen in London, impressed me with the opinion that they had been,
indeed, sculptured in Ethiopia, but certainly not previous to the first
century before the birth of Christ, therefore about the same period to
which certain genuine Greek and Roman works belong, which were discovered
simultaneously with the Ethiopian treasure. I must now make the same
remark upon the monuments in general, which are found not only here but
throughout the whole island of Meröe, as well as of all the Pyramids at
Beg´erauîeh, and of the temples of Ben Naga, of Naga, and in the Wadi e’
Sofra (the Mesaurât of Cailliaud), which we have since then seen. The
representations and inscriptions do not leave the smallest doubt of this,
and it will in future be a fruitless task to endeavour to support the
favourite supposition of an ancient, brilliant, and renowned Meröe, whose
inhabitants were at one time the predecessors and the instructors of the
Egyptians in civilisation, by the demonstration of monumental remains
from that old period.