season which we are now approaching. The thermometer generally rises
after mid-day to 37° and 38° R. (115-117¼° Fahr.), and is occasionally
even above 40° (122° Fahr.) in the shade. I frequently found the burning
sand beneath our feet as much as 53° (151° Fahr.); and anything made of
metal can only be laid hold of in the open air with a cloth. All our
drawings and papers are abundantly bedewed with drops of perspiration.
But the most oppressive thing is the hot wind, which, instead of cooling
us, drives a regular furnace heat into our faces, and the nights are not
much more refreshing. The thermometer, towards evening, falls down to 33°
(106¼° Fahr.), and by the morning is as low as 28° (95° Fahr.). Our only
refreshment is in taking frequent baths in the Nile, which, however, in
Europe, would be considered warm baths. Between times we have more than
once had tempests, with violent storms of wind loaded with sand, and
even a few drops of rain fell in the midst of them. Yesterday, a gust
of wind beat our tent down to the ground, and at the same moment, owing
to its violence, our large arbour, built of solid stems of trees and
palm-branches, fell upon our heads, while we were eating within it; we
could scarcely enjoy our dinner from the strong spicing of sand. Violent
squalls and whirlwinds seem to be peculiar to this country, or to this
season, for often we see four or five high columns of sand rushing up at
once to the sky, at different distances, like great volcanoes. There are
few snakes here; but, on that very account, more scorpions and hideous
great spiders, which are dreaded by the natives even more than the
scorpions. We now sleep, on account of the venomous vermin, on anqarebs,
which we have had brought out of the village.
LETTER XXIV.
_Dongola, the 15th June, 1844._
Before we left Barkal, I undertook another excursion of three days up the
Nile to the Cataract country, which we had cut off by our desert journey.
I was anxious to become acquainted with the character of this district
also, the only part of the Nile valley through which we had not travelled
with the caravan. We went by water as far as KASINQAR, and spent the
night there. At this point bold masses of granite rise up majestically,
which divide the river into numerous islands, and impede the navigation.
The following morning, before the camels were ready, we reached, not
without difficulty, the island of ISCHISCHI; it is surrounded by violent
and dangerous currents. We here found ruins of walls, and buildings built
of bricks, and sometimes of stones, both hewn and unhewn, by which we may
conclude there were fortifications on the island at different periods of
time; but there were no inscriptions, except one single one, consisting
of a few incomprehensible signs.
We did not mount our camels in Kasinqar before nine o’clock, and then
rode along the right bank between the granite rocks, which leave but a
small space for a scanty vegetation. Almost all the numerous, though
generally small, islands refresh the eye by green groups of trees and
cultivated bits of ground, which are cut up in a variety of ways by the
black rocks. There would be scarcely room in this rocky channel for
villages of any considerable size, still less sufficient to maintain
them. Those that exist are distributed in houses standing singly, and
small groups of houses far apart, but which bear one and the same name
up to certain frontier points. The village plot of ground belonging to
Kasinqar terminated with a beautiful group of palm-trees. We then entered
the territory of KÛʾEH, after that followed the long tract of HAMDÂB,
which includes the island of MÉRUI or MERÖE, which is a quarter of an
hour in extent. Here also the name is explained by its appearance. It
is very lofty, sometimes forty feet above the surface of the water, but
completely barren and uninhabited; and with the exception of the low
black rock, which at times is covered by the water, the whole island is
totally white. This chiefly arises on account of the dazzling moving
sands with which it is covered; but, what is still more remarkable, the
rock which projects from them is also white, either on account of great
veins of quartz, similar to what I had observed in another strikingly
white rock which lay on our road in the province of ROBATAT, and which
was called HAGER MÉRUI by the camel-drivers, or because the weathered
granite had here assumed this colour. The name of the town of MÉRAUI,
near Barkal, is perhaps derived from the same origin; in that instance
the white rocky precipices descending from Méraui to the river, which,
on our departure, especially struck me by their colour, must have given
occasion to it. On the opposite bank, GEBEL KONGELI approaches close to
the river, which is also called Gebel Mérui, from the island, and in the
same manner the rushing cataract a little above the island has received
the name of Schellâl Mérui.
About four o’clock we arrived at the ruins of HELLET EL BIB, which in the
distance looks exactly like a castle of the middle ages. It rises from a
low rock, whose ridge intersects the court and the building itself, so
that one portion of it looks like an upper story to the other. The whole
structure is composed of unburnt, but well and carefully made, bricks,
which were firmly joined together with a little lime, and covered with
a coating of the same. There are various larger and smaller chambers in
the interior, some of them furnished with semicircular niches, and arched
doors. The walls on the western side were fifteen feet high. The outer
wall of the court was of unhewn stones, but carefully built up to the
height of between five and eight feet; it embraced a tolerably regular
square space, each side of which was about sixty-five paces long.
This small castle, though of considerable importance in this district,
reminded us much, by its niches and arched doors, of the Christian
architecture of the earlier centuries, but yet did not seem to have had
any religious destination. Perhaps, therefore, it only belonged to the
flourishing times of the powerful and warlike Schaiqîeh tribes, which,
according to tradition, are said to have first wandered from Arabia
into these parts several hundred years ago. In the time of the Egyptian
conquest the country was under three Schaiqîeh princes, one of whom might
have resided here. The neighbourhood, besides, was somewhat more favoured
by nature, the banks more level, and covered with thicket, which here
and there bordered some of the land capable of cultivation. After I had
drawn out the plan of the building we started on our return about nine
o’clock in the evening, by the light of a full moon, and we considerably
shortened our journey by taking the road through the desert from the
island of SAFFI. About eleven o’clock we halted for the night, on an open
sandy spot of ground of the great granite plain. About five o’clock we
again started betwixt moonlight and morning dawn, and, as early as nine,
we reached our boat at Kasinqar.
Near this place I met with a new tree in a small Wadi, which led to the
river. It was called BÂN, and is said to grow nowhere in this country
except in this Wadi, called after it CHÔR EL BÂN, and in one other
Wadi near Méraui.[49] A strong stem, with a white bark, not unlike our
walnut-tree, with some side stems and branches just as white, rose short
and knotty from the ground. Most of the branches were now bare; only
a few of them had foliage, if we choose to call the long green twigs
collected in little bunches by that name. The fruits are long, roundish,
furrowed pods, which split into three parts, when the black-shelled
nuts contained within (of the size of small hazel nuts), five to ten
in number, are ripe; the white oily kernel, sweet as a nut, though
also somewhat acrid, is good to eat, and is much liked, but it is more
particularly used by the inhabitants in the immediate neighbourhood for
pressing oil out of it. The blossoms are said to be yellow, and to grow
in clusters.
About mid-day the Sheikh of Nuri came on board our boat, and I collected
some more information from him about the Cataract country. In the
province of SCHAIQÎEH, and the adjoining one of MONASSIR, eight separate
cataracts are reckoned; the first, Schellâl Gerêndid, at the island of
Ischischi; then Schellâl Terâi, at Kûʾeh; Schellâl Mérui; Schellâl Dahák,
at the island of Uli; Schellâl el Edermîeh; e’ Kabenât; e’ Tanarâi; and
Om Derás. Afterwards the rocky country continues uninterruptedly to El
Kab, from which point the river has very little fall as far as Schellâl
Mogrât, in the great bend towards Berber.
At the present day nothing but Arabic is spoken in the whole of this
district; but some recollection of the earlier Nubian population has
been distinctly retained, since even now a number of villages are
distinguished from the others as _Nuba places_. The following were
mentioned to me as such, above the province of Dongola: GEBEL MAQÁL and
ZÛMA on the right bank, and near it the island of MASSAUI, which also
still bears the Nubian name of ABRANARTI; then upon the left bank BELLED
E’ NUBA, between Debbe and Abu Dôm, HALUF or NURI and BELLEL; opposite to
these, GERF E’ SCHECH and KASINQAR. Then there is a gap in the statement,
and it refers to places up the river to CHÔSCH E’ GURÛF, a little below
the island of Mogrât, to SALAME and DARMALI, two villages between
Mechêref and Dâmer; lastly, there is another BELLED E’ NUBA to the north
of Gôs Burri, in the province of Metamme.
On the 4th of June we at length left Barkal, after having placed the Ram
and the other heavy monuments on two transport boats specially devoted to
that purpose.
We stopped the first night in Abu Dôm, on the left bank. I had heard of a
Fakir in this place, who was said to be in possession of written records
about the tribes of the Schaiqîeh Arabs. He was an intelligent, and, for
this country, a learned man, who would not indeed yield up to me the few
sheets of his own copy which he actually possessed, but immediately set
to work to transcribe them for me.
The following morning we first landed in TANQASSI, situated an hour and
a half below Abu Dôm, where we were told we should find ruins. A Fakir
Daha, who belonged to the Korêsch, the tribe of the Prophet, accompanied
us to the, now at least insignificant, mound of bricks. We passed his
hereditary sepulchre, a small building with a cupola that had been built
by his grandfather, but had already received in addition to him, his
father and several relatives. From this spot I descried some mounds in
the distance, which the Fakir pronounced to be natural. We, however, rode
up to them, and a short half hour from the river found more than twenty
Pyramids of tolerable size, now apparently only consisting of black
earth, but originally built of Nile bricks. Single stones lay around, and
on the eastern side, at a short distance, there were always two small
heaps of stones, which seem to have belonged to the ante-chamber, and
were perhaps connected with the Pyramid by brick walls; but nowhere could
we find hewn stones, and still less inscriptions.
We also found a field of Pyramids at KURRU, on the farther bank, although
but little could be discovered of the ruins of a town. Of the two most
considerable Pyramids, the largest, which still bears the strange name
of QANTUR, was 35 feet high; and towards the south-east we saw the
remains of an ante-chamber. Twenty-one smaller ones are grouped round
these two, four of which, like the largest Pyramid, were entirely
built of sandstone, but are now in great part demolished; others only
consisted of black field stones. Lastly, to the west of all of them, the
ground plan is still to be seen of a large Pyramid, which was probably
once completely massive, and has been on that account demolished; the
foundations were laid in the rock. It appears that these Pyramids also,
which, by their solid structure, are quite distinct from those lying
opposite, belonged to a royal Dynasty of Napata, for which reason the
absence of any considerable ruins of a town would be easier to explain
here than on the opposite side of the river.
Three-quarters of an hour farther down the river is situated the village
of ZÛMA, on the right bank. Near it, in the direction of the mountains,
there rises an old fortress, with towers of defence, called KARAT NEGIL,
whose front walls were only destroyed and thrown down about fifty or
sixty years ago, when the inhabitants of Zûma settled here. The name is
derived from an ancient King of the country, NEGIL, in whose time the
surrounding land, now dry, was still within reach of the Nile, and is
said to have been fertile.
The first thing that I saw on the road to the fortress was again a number
of Pyramids, eight of which are still 20 feet high; including those which
are destroyed, and which in general seem to have been those which were
most massive, we found above thirty; the ancient stone quarries are still
to be seen which furnished the material for the Pyramids.
These three fields of Pyramids, that of TANQASSI, KURRU, and ZÛMA, or
KARAT NEGIL, whose sites were paced, and carefully noted down by Erbkam,
are planted on an extent of ground of but a few hours in circumference,
and indicate the existence of a strong and flourishing population in this
district in Heathen times; on the other hand, in the district immediately
succeeding this, and more or less throughout the whole province of
Dongola, we found numerous remains of Christian churches.
On the 7th of June we visited three of these, situated at short distances
from each other, all on the right bank of the river. Two hours and a
half from Zûma we first come to BACHÎT. Here the precipitous rock of the
desert advances close upon the river, and bears a fortress, no doubt,
also dating from Christian times, with eighteen semicircular projecting
towers of defence. In the interior, beneath barren heaps of rubbish,
there were still the ruins of a church, which at that time seems to
have everywhere formed the central point of the stronghold. Here it was
only 63 feet long, and the whole nave rested on four columns and two
pilasters; nevertheless, the plan corresponded perfectly with the general
type.
The church of MAGAL, which is situated only one half hour farther on,
must have been considerably larger, as we found beneath the ruins
monolithic granite columns 13½ feet high from below the capital, which is
separated from it, and is 1½ foot high and 2 feet in diameter; it appears
to have had five naves.
From this point we reached GEBEL DÊQA in one hour. Strong, massive
walls again surrounded a Christian fortress, which was situated on the
projecting sandstone rock, and in the interior exhibited the ruins of
several buildings of considerable size; among them, those of a small,
three-naved church, very similar to the one at Bachît.
This is the frontier village of the province of Schaiqîeh, in the
direction of Dongola, the last place coming from the south, whose
inhabitants speak Arabic. Formerly the frontier of the Nubian population
and language, undoubtedly, was as far up as the cataracts above Barkal.
This seems to have occasioned the accumulation of strong posts in this
district, and probably also the strong fortification of the island of
Ischischi.
Christianity penetrated to the Nubians from Abyssinia as early as the
sixth century; they were at that time a powerful people, till their
Christian priest-kings, in the fourteenth century, yielded to the
encroachment of Islamism. We must date the erection of the numerous
churches from those days, the ruins of which we have found scattered from
Wadi Gazâl, northwards, throughout the whole province.
The same day we went as far as AMBUKÔL, at the extremity of the western
bend of the Nile, and halted here for the night. The following day we
reached TIFAR, and again visited the ruins of an old fortress with the
remains of a church.
On the road we met the boat of Hassan Pascha, which was on its way to
Méraui. We each fired many salutes as a mutual greeting, and anchored
beside each other. The Pascha inquired with interest about the treasures
which he suspected existed in the Pyramids of Barkal, and with the
greatest courtesy promised us all that we could desire to promote our
journey and its objects. After returning our visit, we parted with fresh
salutes.
The 10th June we reached OLD DONGOLA, the former royal residence of this
Christian kingdom. The extensive ruins of the town, however, now testify
to little more than the considerable extent which it once embraced. On
a hill in the neighbourhood, which commanded an admirable panorama, now
stands a mosque. An Arabic inscription on marble proves that it was
opened on the 20 Rabî el auel, of the year 717 (1st June, 1317), after
the victory of Safeddin Abdallah e’ Nâsir over the infidels.
As we have had very little opportunity of improving our monumental
knowledge since leaving Barkal, and had much leisure in our boat,
I employed myself specially during this time with a comparison and
research, as far as lay in my power, of the Nubian language, which
is spoken in this part of the country. It presents very remarkable
linguistic phenomena, but does not exhibit the slightest similarity with
the Egyptian language. My belief is, that the whole race penetrated into
the Nile valley from the south-west at a late period. We have now a
servant from Derr, the capital of Lower Nubia, who speaks tolerably good
Italian, is animated and intelligent, and is a great assistance to me in
acquiring a knowledge of his own dialect, the Mahass. I have sometimes
tormented him with questions in the boat for five or six entire hours in
one day, for it is no small trouble for both of us to understand each
other about grammatical forms and inflections. He has, at any rate, at
the same time acquired more respect for his own language, here everywhere
considered bad, and inferior to the Arabic, and which it is thought one
ought rather to be ashamed of.
Yesterday, after sailing three days from Old Dongola, we at length
reached New Dongola, usually only called by the Arabs EL ORDE (the Camp);
we had the great joy of receiving here the large packet of letters, whose
arrival had already been announced to us on the road by Hassan Pascha.
We now look forward with fresh courage and renewed confidence to the
last difficult portion of our southern journey. For from this point we
must again, alas! quit our boats, and mount the far more uncomfortable
ships of the desert. The Cataract country before us can only be navigated
during the short season of the highest flood, and even then not without
danger. Nevertheless, our richly freighted stone-boat must undergo this
dangerous trial, as naturally it is impossible to think of transporting
our Ram and the other monuments from Barkal by land.
We shall besides be unable to leave this as soon as we otherwise should
have done, owing to the total change in the arrangements for our journey
during the next five or six weeks. Yet we shall be obliged to separate
from our boat of burden, as it must seize the proper moments of high
water, which first occurs a few weeks hence.
LETTER XXV.
_Dongola, the 23rd June, 1844._
Yesterday we returned from an excursion of four days to the nearest
cataract, which we were able to reach by water. We were rewarded far
beyond our expectations, for we found a number of ancient Pharaonic
monuments, the only ones in the whole province of Dongola, and some of
them of extreme antiquity.
On the island of Argo we discovered the first Egyptian sculptures from
the Hyksos period; and at KERMÂN, on the right bank, the traces of a
town extending far across the plain, with an immense necropolis attached
to it, in which two huge monumental tombs were distinguished above all
the others, one of which was called Kermân (like the village), the other
DEFÛFA. They are not Pyramids, but of an oblong form; the first 150 by
66 feet, the second 132 by 66 feet in extent, and about 40 feet high,
built massively of good, solid unburnt bricks of Nile mud; each provided
with an outer building, which might have corresponded to the temples in
front of the Egyptian Pyramids. Several fragments of statues from the
best ancient style scattered round them, some, having good hieroglyphics
upon them, testify their great antiquity, and lead us to suppose that the
oldest Egyptian settlement of any importance on Ethiopian territory must
have been on this spot: it was probably occasioned by the Egyptian power
having been driven back towards Ethiopia during the rule of the Hyksos in
Egypt. No doubt the enormous granite quarries which we found on the right
bank, some hours to the north of Kermân, opposite the island of TOMBOS,
at the entrance of the Cataract country, were connected with this. The
inscriptions on the rock contain Shields of the 17th Dynasty, and an
inscription of eighteen lines, mentions the second year of Tuthmosis I.
I have also, here in Dongola, begun to study the Kong´âra language of
Dar Fûr. A negro soldier, a native of that dreaded warlike country, with
woolly hair, and thick projecting lips, and who we took with us last year
from Korusko to Wadi Halfa, as a military attendant, instead of Ibrahim
Aga, who had been sent away, found us out here again, and was given
up to me by the Pascha for my studies in language. He promises well,
but in half an hour I am obliged to exchange him with the Nubian. The
Kong´âra language is quite different from the Nubian, and in particular
points seems to me to show a stronger analogy with certain South African
languages.
I was rejoiced here to see the fortress built by Ehrenberg in 1822,
which has suffered indeed by the inundations, but still always serves as
a dwelling for the governor, now Hassan Pascha. We shall also leave a
monumental structure behind us, for Hassan Pascha has requested Erbkam to
give him the plan of a powder-magazine, and to seek out a suitable site
for it.
LETTER XXVI.
_Korusko, the 17th August, 1844._
We did not accomplish our departure from Dongola before the 2nd of
July. We went slowly down the western side of the river. That very
day we passed over extensive fields of ruins, the dim remains of once
flourishing towns, whose names have died away. The first we found were
opposite ARGONSENE, others at KOÏ, and at MOSCH. The following day we
arrived at HANNIK, opposite Tombos, in the province of MÁHAS. Here the
Cataract country begins immediately, and a fresh Nuba dialect, which
extends as far down as Derr and Korusko. The Nile, on the whole, retains
its northerly direction as far as a high mountain, named after a former
conqueror, Ali Bersi. Early on the third day we left this on our left
hand. It is situated on the sharp bend of the river, from north-west to
due east, from which point it is usual to cut off the largest portion of
the province of Máhas by a desert road running in a northerly direction.
We, however, followed the turns of the river, and dismounted near two
old castles on the bank, at a grove of palm-trees, under whose shade we
rested during the sultry mid-day hours. The nearest of these castles,
so romantically situated between the fissures of the rock, I find
differently named on every map, as FAKIR EFFENDI (Cailliaud); FAKIR EL
BINT, from _Bint_, the girl (Hoskins); FAKIR BENDER, from _Bender_, the
capital (Arrowsmith). In the dialect of this place, however, it is called
FAKIR FENTI, or, in that of Dongola, FAKIR BENTI; and it is so named
from the palm-trees at its foot, _Fenti_, _Benti_, being the names for
palm and date.