ground. At three hours passed Wady Amour (وادي عامور). It
was a chilly night, and the heat of the preceding day had rendered
us still more sensible to the cold. Wady Amour is full of Sellam
trees and acacias, many of which were quite dried up: our people,
to warm themselves, set several of them on fire in passing along,
and the flames spreading over the valley, beautifully illuminated
the travellers and their frightened beasts. Issuing from the Wady
we again met with a gravelly plain, and some low grounds. In seven
hours passed a Wady of Sant trees. The heat was very great, and
the wind southerly; half a dozen asses had already broken down,
and their riders were obliged to walk over the burning plain. I had
not drank the whole day, but still gave my ass every now and then
a little water to keep up his spirits. At nine hours (direction
S. S. W.), reached Wady Abou Sellam (وادي ابو سِلَّم)
which abounds with Sellam trees. Here we stopped; for the beasts
were much fatigued, and there were many stragglers behind, whom we
might have lost in proceeding further. In order to spare my stock
of water, I had lived since quitting Shigre entirely upon biscuits,
and had never cooked any victuals; I now made another dinner of the
same kind, after which I allayed my thirst by a copious draught of
water, having in my skins as much as would serve me for another
draught on the morrow. We were all in the greatest dejection,
foreseeing that all the asses must die the ensuing day if not
properly watered, and none of the traders had more than a few
draughts for himself. After a long deliberation they at last came
to the only determination that could save us, and which the Ababde
chief had been for several days recommending. Ten or twelve of
the strongest camels being selected, were mounted by as many men,
who hastened forward to fetch a supply of water from the nearest
part of the Nile. We were only five or six hours distant from it,
but its banks being here inhabited by Arabs inimical to the traders,
the whole caravan could not venture to take that road. The camels set
out at about four P. M., and would reach the river at night. They
were ordered to choose an uninhabited spot for filling the skins,
and forthwith to return. We passed the evening meanwhile in the
greatest anxiety, for if the camels should not return, we had
little hopes of escape either from thirst or from the sword of our
enemies, who, if they had once got sight of the camels, would have
followed their footsteps through the desert, and would certainly
have discovered us. After sunset several stragglers arrived, but
two still remained behind, of whom one joined us early next morning,
but the other was not heard of any more. He was servant to a Daraou
trader, who showed not the least concern about his fate. Many of my
companions came in the course of the evening to beg some water of me,
but I had well hidden my treasure, and answered them by showing my
empty skins. We remained the greater part of the night in sullen
and silent expectation of the result of our desperate mission. At
length, about three o’clock in the morning, we heard the distant
hollowings of our watermen, and soon after refreshed ourselves with
copious draughts of the delicious water of the Nile. The caravan
passed suddenly from demonstrations of the deepest distress, to
those of unbounded joy and mirth. A plentiful supper was dressed,
and the Arabs kept up their songs till day break without bestowing a
thought on the fate of the unhappy man who had remained behind. It
rarely happens that persons perish by thirst on this road, and
if the Nedjeym has water, it is almost impossible that such an
accident should happen. Last year, however, an instance occurred,
the particulars of which were related to me by a man who had himself
suffered all the pangs of death. In the month of August, a small
caravan prepared to set out from Berber to Daraou. They consisted
of five merchants, and about thirty slaves, with a proportionate
number of camels. Afraid of the robber Naym, who at that time was
in the habit of waylaying travellers about the well of Nedjeym,
and who had constant intelligence of the departure of every caravan
from Berber, they determined to take a more eastern road, by the
well Owareyk. They had hired an Ababde guide, who conducted them in
safety to that place, but who lost his way from thence northward,
the route being very unfrequented. After five days march in the
mountains, their stock of water was exhausted, nor did they know
where they were. They resolved therefore to direct their course
towards the setting sun, hoping thus to reach the Nile. After two
days thirst, fifteen slaves and one of the merchants died. Another
of them, an Ababde, who had ten camels with him, thinking that the
camels might know better than their masters where water was to be
found, desired his comrades to tie him fast upon the saddle of his
strongest camel, that he might not fall down from weakness; and thus
he parted from them, permitting his camels to take their own way:
but neither the man nor his camels were ever heard of afterwards. On
the eighth day after leaving Owareyk, the survivors came in sight
of the mountains of Shigre, which they immediately recognized,
but their strength was quite exhausted, and neither men nor beasts
were able to move any further. Lying down under a rock, they sent
two of their servants with the two strongest remaining camels,
in search of water. Before these two men could reach the mountain,
one of them dropped off his camel, deprived of speech, and able
only to wave his hands to his comrade as a signal that he desired
to be left to his fate. The survivor then continued his route,
but such was the effect of thirst upon him, that his eyes grew dim
and he lost the road, though he had often travelled over it before,
and had been perfectly acquainted with it. Having wandered about
for a long time, he alighted under the shade of a tree, and tied the
camel to one of its branches; the beast however smelt the water, (as
the Arabs express it,) and wearied as it was, broke its halter, and
set off gallopping furiously in the direction of the spring, which
as it afterwards appeared, was at half an hour’s distance. The
man well understanding the camel’s action, endeavoured to follow
its footsteps, but could only move a few yards; he fell exhausted
on the ground, and was about to breathe his last, when Providence
led that way from a neighbouring encampment a Bisharye Bedouin,
who by throwing water upon the man’s face restored him to his
senses. They then went hastily together to the water, filled the
skins, and returning to the caravan, had the good fortune to find
the sufferers still alive. The Bisharye received a slave for his
trouble. My informer, a native of Yembo in Arabia, was the man
whose camel discovered the spring, and he added the remarkable
circumstance that the youngest slaves bore the thirst better than
the rest, and that while the grown up boys all died, the children
reached Egypt in safety.
In 1813 a large caravan arrived at Siout from Darfour. As they
had undertaken their journey in the latter end of the hot season,
many of their camels perished on the road, and they found themselves
under the necessity of leaving a considerable part of their goods,
together with many young slaves who could not march on foot, at the
well of Sheb, with all the provisions that could be spared. Having
hired several hundred camels, they returned to Sheb; but in the
meanwhile, the thoughtless slaves had been too prodigal of their
provisions, and several had died from hunger.
Such accidents as these may sometimes happen either from want of
proper guides, from the necessity of taking circuitous roads, or
from not having a sufficient quantity of camels loaded with water;
but they must in general arise from a want of proper precaution,
and I cannot help thinking that those which my predecessor Mr. Bruce
describes himself to have suffered in this desert, have been much
overstated. But while I think it my duty to make this remark,
I must at the same time declare that acquainted as I am with the
character of the Nubians, I cannot but sincerely admire the wonderful
knowledge of men, firmness of character, and promptitude of mind
which furnished Bruce with the means of making his way through
these savage inhospitable nations as an European. To travel as a
native has its inconveniences and difficulties, but I take those
which Bruce encountered to be of a nature much more intricate and
serious, and such as a mind at once courageous, patient, and fertile
in expedients could alone have surmounted.
_March 22._ After partaking of a hearty breakfast, we proceeded,
late in the morning, over an extensive gravelly plain, intersected
by several Wadys or low grounds, running towards the river,
and in general bearing few trees. Our road was S. by W. At the
end of five hours we halted in one of the Wadys called Netyle
(وادي نَتيله). The foliage of the acacia trees under
which we encamped during the noon hours, is too scanty to give
much shade, and the Arabs with justice compare the traveller’s
endeavours to shelter himself from the burning sun under a Sant
tree, to the folly of placing full confidence in the promises
of the great; “Confide in his words as you do in the acacia’s
shade;” has become a proverbial saying (كلامه مثل ظِلّ
السَّنط). Ostriches are very numerous in this plain in several
places, and we saw this morning many broken pieces of their eggs. I
observed also some very large lizards, at least a foot in length from
head to tail. The wind was still southerly. I again enquired, as I
had often done before, whether my companions had often experienced
the Semoum (which we translate by the poisonous blast of the desert,
but which is nothing more than a violent south-east wind). They
answered in the affirmative, but none had ever known an instance
of its having proved fatal. Its worst effect is that it dries up
the water in the skins, and so far it endangers the traveller’s
safety. In these southern countries, however, water skins are made
of very thick cow-leather, which are almost impenetrable to the
Semoum. In Arabia and Egypt on the contrary the skins of sheep or
goats are used for this purpose, and I witnessed the effect of a
Semoum upon them, in going from Tor to Suez over land in June 1815,
when in one morning a third of the contents of a full water skin was
evaporated. I have repeatedly been exposed to the hot wind, in the
Syrian and Arabian deserts, in Upper Egypt and Nubia. The hottest
and most violent I ever experienced was at Suakin, yet even there
I felt no particular inconvenience from it, although exposed to all
its fury in the open plain. For my own part I am perfectly convinced
that all the stories which travellers or the inhabitants of the towns
of Egypt and Syria relate of the Semoum of the desert, are greatly
exaggerated, and I never could hear of a single well authenticated
instance of its having proved mortal either to man or beast. The fact
is that the Bedouins when questioned on the subject, often frighten
the townspeople with tales of men, and even of whole caravans having
perished by the effects of the wind, when upon closer enquiry made
by some person, whom they find not ignorant of the desert, they will
state the plain truth. I never observed that the Semoum blows close
to the ground, as commonly supposed, but always observed the whole
atmosphere appear as if in a state of combustion; the dust and sand
are carried high into the air, which assumes a reddish, or blueish,
or yellowish tint, according to the nature and colour of the ground,
from which the dust arises. The yellow however always, more or less,
predominates. In looking through a glass of a light yellow colour,
one may form a pretty correct idea of the appearance of the air,
as I observed it during a stormy Semoum at Esne, in Upper Egypt,
in May 1813. The Semoum is not always accompanied by whirlwinds; in
its less violent degree it will blow for hours with little force,
although with oppressive heat; when the whirlwind raises the dust
it then encreases several degrees in heat. In the Semoum at Esne the
thermometer mounted to 121° in the shade, but the air seldom remains
longer than a quarter of an hour in that state, or longer than the
whirlwind lasts. The most disagreeable effect of the Semoum on man
is, that it stops perspiration, dries up the palate, and produces
great restlessness. I never saw any person lie down flat upon his
face to escape its pernicious blast, as Bruce describes himself
to have done in crossing this desert; but during the whirlwinds
the Arabs often hide their faces with their cloaks, and kneel down
near their camels to prevent the sand or dust from hurting their
eyes. Camels are always much distressed, not by the heat but by the
dust blowing into their large, prominent, eyes. They turn round
and endeavour to screen themselves by holding down their heads,
but this I never saw them do except in case of a whirlwind, however
intense the heat of the atmosphere might be. In June 1813, going from
Esne to Siout, a violent Semoum overtook me upon the plain between
Farshiout and Berdys. I was quite alone, mounted upon a light-footed
Hedjin. When the whirlwind arose neither house nor tree was in sight,
and while I was endeavouring to cover my face with my handkerchief,
the beast was made unruly, by the quantity of dust blown into its
eyes, and the terrible noise of the wind, and set off at a furious
gallop; I lost the reins and received a heavy fall, and not being
able to see ten yards before me, I remained wrapped up in my cloak
on the spot where I fell, until the wind abated, when pursuing my
dromedary, I found it at a great distance, quietly standing near
a low shrub, the branches of which afforded some shelter to its eyes.
Bruce has mentioned the moving pillars of sands in this desert,
but although none such occurred during my passage, I do not presume
to question his veracity on this head. The Arabs told me that
there are often whirlwinds of sand, and I have repeatedly passed
through districts of moving sands, which the slightest wind can
raise; I remember to have seen columns of sands moving about like
water spouts in the desert on the banks of the Euphrates, and have
seen at Jaka terrible effects from a sudden wind; I therefore very
easily credit their occasional appearance in the Nubian desert,
although I doubt of their endangering the safety of travellers.
The plain which we crossed this morning was in some places covered
with granite rocks, and large blocks of gneiss. We marched in a
S. by W. direction, nearly parallel to the course of the river,
which was about four hours on our right. We saw some low sand hills
on the western banks of the Nile. At eight hours we reached Wady
el Homar (وادي الحُماَر), i. e. the asses valley,
where we halted. It is said that wild asses are sometimes seen
in the neighbouring desert called Homar Elwaheish (حُمار
الوَحش). The Wady el Homar contains a few trees.
_March 23d._ We continued to traverse in a S. by W. direction, the
same level country, where no mountains are in sight. The plain is
covered with black stones, Egyptian pebbles, and quartz. I have
not observed any specimens of jasper during the whole route from
Daraou. We passed several Wadys, and saw some hares. At four
hours we halted in Wady Belem (وادي بِلَم), perhaps
(وادي سِلَم) full of trees. The Ababde guides obliged
the caravan traders to pay them here one half of what was due to
them,[6] and several people started for Berber to carry the news
of our arrival. We set out again late in the afternoon. The plain
was sandy, with a slight slope towards the Nile. In approaching
the river we met with large flocks of the Katta (a bird of the
partridge kind). We felt the approach of the river at more than
two hours distance from it, by a greater moisture in the air. The
Arabs exclaimed “God be praised we smell again the Nile.” At
the end of nine hours we reached about ten o’clock at night the
village of Ankheyre (انخُيِرَه), the principal place in
the district of Berber (بربر). The caravans always make it a
rule to arrive here in the night, in order that their loads may be
less exposed to public examination, and that they may be able to
secrete some trifles from the vigilance of the custom officers.
The road, which we had travelled is the only one that leads from
Berber to Egypt, and is the general route of the Shendy and Sennaar
caravans. There is a more western route from Berber to Seboua, a
village on the Nile in the Berbera country, not far from Derr, the
inhabitants of which actively engage in the slave trade. On that road
the traveller finds only a single well, which is situated midway,
four long days distant from Berber, and as many from Seboua. It
is called el Morrat (آلمُرَّة), and is very copious, but
the water is ill-tasted. A great inconvenience on that road is that
neither trees nor shrubs are any where found, whence the camels are
much distressed for food, and passengers are obliged to carry wood
with them to dress their meals, and to warm themselves in winter. The
journey from Daraou to Berber had taken us twenty-two days. But it is
to be observed that until we reached Haimar, and even as far as Naby,
we made very short journies. The mountains to the east of Assouan
and Haimar, three days journies towards the Red Sea, are said to be
much higher than any we have seen. They are called the mountains of
Otaby (عُتابي), which appellation is extended sometimes to
the whole chain as far as Kosseir, meaning always those mountains
distant from the Nile and not far from the sea. The Djebel Otaby
is the exclusive patrimony of the Ababde, and is most peopled in
summer time, when the Ababde settlers of Upper Egypt send there
their cattle. There is much intercourse between the Ababdes of
Otaby and the Bisharein of Olba.[7] Haimar is reckoned five days
from Daraou, and we were nine days on the road. The distance from
Daraou to Berber is generally computed by the traders at six-teeen or
seventeen days. In returning from Berber, the journey is performed
more rapidly, because they are abundantly furnished with camels,
are all mounted themselves, and the camels are relieved every day
of their loads. They then sleep three or four hours during the day,
and travel the greater part of the night, thus often performing the
journey in twelve days. Messengers on dromedaries have often gone in
eight days from Daraou to Berber. When the rains fall abundantly and
the water collects every where on the road, in ponds or low grounds
producing pasturage in the valleys, the caravans generally remain
a month on their passage. We had reckoned upon eighteen days only,
and had taken provisions accordingly, which was the reason why we
were in so much distress for provisions and water towards the end
of the journey, particularly for the beasts; my own ass fed for two
days upon nothing but lentils. The traders give their camels every
two or three days about twelve pounds of Dhourra; but to the most
heavy loaded camel, which bears from six to seven hundred-weight,
they give a daily allowance. All our animals were very much fatigued;
the greater part of the camels had their backs horribly wounded,[8]
in consequence of the pressure of the loads, and of the avarice
and negligence of the owners, who, in order to save a few piastres
for a good and well stuffed saddle, exposed the poor beasts to the
greatest sufferings. Many camels however are able to perform this
journey three times, backwards and forwards, in the year.
On our arrival at Ankheyre, each merchant repaired to the house
of his friend, for there are no public Khans here, and traders
always lodge at private houses. The Alowein from Daraou established
themselves in the house of Edris el Temsah,[9] a man related to the
chief of the place, and as I still thought that these people might be
of some service to me, and wished therefore not openly to break with
them, I joined their party. We were that night hospitably entertained
by Edris, and the next morning crowds of visitors poured in.
The village belongs to the district of Berber, which comprises also
three other large villages to the south of it: Goz el Souk (قوز
السوق), or Goz[10] the market place, Goz el Funnye (قوز
الفنّيَه), and to the north el Hassa (الحَصَّه), about
three quarters of an hour distant from Ankheyre. It is a mode
of division prevalent all over Upper Egypt and Nubia, to divide
the country into Wadys, or vallies, each of which is composed of
several villages. The name of the district is frequently applied
to the principal village, and thus the word Berber is often used
in speaking only of Ankheyre. The name of Berber has probably
given rise to the appellation by which the Nubians are generally
designated in Egypt, where they are called Berábera (plural of
Bérbery); but this name is not in use in their own country, for,
as I have already mentioned, in my former Journal, they are known
among themselves by the names of Nouba and Kenous. The Egyptians
seeing traders of the same complexion coming both from Berber and
from the district of Ibrim, have applied the same name to both
nations; and for a similar reason, the people of Berber are often
confounded with those of Sennaar, and called Senáry.
The inhabitants of Berber are Arabs of the tribe of Meyrefab
(ميريفاب). In common with all the different Arab tribes who
inhabit the Nile valley, from Upper Egypt to Sennaar, they report
that their origin is from the Sherk, or east (من الشرق),
meaning Arabia. The name of Meyrefab however does not appear to be
from an Arabic root, and bears more resemblance to the Bisharein
language. None of the tribes who live on the banks of the Nile are
large, and each district is seldom more than one day’s march in
length. The territory of the Arabs Sheygya[11] is the largest. The
settlements of the Meyrefab extend only for six or eight hours along
the river, but many of them inhabit the neighbouring districts,
as foreign settlers. They say that the Meyrefab can arm a body
of one thousand free Arabs, and five hundred slaves, but in their
wars with their neighbours, they seldom appear with more than four
or five hundred men. Their chief is a man of their own tribe, who
assumes the title of Mek (an abbreviation of Melek, king), which is
common to all the petty chieftains of these countries, as far as
Darfour and Sennaar. The authority of the Mek is confined to the
reigning family, but is not hereditary from father to eldest son;
for the king of Sennaar, who, since the succession of the royal
family of Funnye has extended his authority along the Nile as
far north as the southern limits of Wady Mahass, nominates to the
governorship of this place any member of the family of Temsah whom
he pleases, or rather he sells it to the highest bidder, after the
Mek’s decease. With the exception of this nomination, the king of
Sennaar exercises no authority over Berber, but he sends every four
or five years one of his people to collect, in the way of tribute,
some presents, consisting of gold, horses, and camels; about twenty
horses and thirty camels. The kings of Dóngola, until the invasion
of the Mamlouks, had always paid a similar tribute to Sennaar, and
the Sheygya were bound to the same, but the latter having of late
become powerful, have refused to pay it any longer. A similar tribute
is exacted of the petty tribes between the Sheygya and Berber, and
the king of Sennaar names their chiefs in the same manner as he does
that of Berber. Many strangers beside the Meyrefab have settled at
Berber, particularly natives of Dóngola and Ababde Arabs from Upper
Egypt; many of these have taken up their constant residence here,
others are married at Berber, and have another family in Egypt.
The Mek exercises only a feeble authority over the Arabs of his
tribe, especially those who belong to powerful families; nor does
he exact any taxes from the fields or their produce, but he is
oppressive to strangers, the taxes and other exactions from whom
make up the best part of his income. The tribute which he pays to
Sennaar is collected from the whole tribe, and he takes care not
to be a loser by the contribution. The sums paid to Sennaar for
recognizing him in his office, after the decease of his predecessor,
are generally made up by a forced loan from any caravan that may
then be passing; and whichever individual of the reigning family
possesses the greatest influence, and most friends and money to
secure his election at Sennaar, easily places himself at the head
of the government.
The four villages of Berber are all at about half an hour’s walk
from the river situated in the sandy desert, on the borders of the
arable soil. Each village is composed of about a dozen of quarters,
Nezle (نزله), standing separate from one another, at short
distances. The houses are generally divided from each other by
large court-yards, thus forming no where any regular streets. They
are tolerably well built, either of mud or of sun-baked bricks, and
their appearance is at least as good as those of Upper Egypt. Each
habitation consists of a large yard divided into an inner and outer
court. Round this yard are the rooms for the family, which are all
on the ground floor; I have never seen in any of these countries a
second story, or staircase. To form the roof, beams are laid across
the walls; these are covered with mats, upon which reeds are placed,
and a layer of mud is spread over the whole. The roof has a slope to
let the rain water run off, which in most houses is conducted by a
canal to the court-yard, thus rendering the latter in time of rain
a dirty pond. Two of the apartments are generally inhabited by the
family, a third serves as a store room, a fourth for the reception
of strangers, and a fifth is often occupied by public women. The
rooms have seldom more than one very small window, so that to have
them well lighted the door must be kept open. The doors are of wood,
and have the same wooden locks and keys (Dabbé) which are used in
Syria and Egypt, but of still coarser workmanship. I have seldom
seen any furniture in the rooms, excepting a sofa or bedstead,
which is an oblong wooden frame, with four legs, having a seat
made either of reeds, and then called Serír, or of thin stripes
of ox-leather drawn across each other, and then called Angareyg (a
Bishary word). The best of the latter kind are brought from Sennaar;
many of them are exported to Upper Egypt, and Arabia, and they are
used all over the black countries. The honoured stranger always
has an Angareyg brought to him upon his arrival, which serves as
a bed for the night, and a sofa in the day, and it is said that
the peculiar smell of the leather keeps it free from vermin. Mats
made of reeds are spread in the inner part of the rooms where the
women sleep, as well as in other rooms, where the men take a nap
during the mid-day hours, a luxury never dispensed with in these
countries. When they sleep they generally spread a carpet made of
pieces of leather sown together, stretching themselves out upon
this, and preferring, according to the general custom of the Arabs,
to sleep without any pillow, and with the head lying upon the same
level with the rest of the body. In the store-room Dhourra is kept,
either in heaps upon the floor, or in large receptacles formed of
mud, to preserve it from rats and mice. Swarms of these animals
nevertheless abound, and they run about the court-yards in such
quantities that the boys exercise themselves in throwing lances at
them, and kill them every day by dozens. Besides the Dhourra, the
store rooms generally contain a few sheep-skins full of butter, some
jars of honey, some water-skins for travellers, and if the proprietor
be a man in easy circumstances, some dried flesh. The inner court
is generally destined for the cattle, camels, cows and sheep, and it
has a subdivision, where are preserved the dry Dhourra stalks, which
become the usual food of the cattle, when the summer heats have dried
up all the verdure which the inundation had produced. The outer court
in the generality of houses, contains a well of brackish water, fit
only for cattle; here the male-inhabitants of the house and strangers
sleep, during the hot season, either upon mud benches adjoining the
rooms, or upon Angareygs, or upon the ground; here the master’s
favourite horse is fed, and here all business is transacted in the
open air. I have already mentioned a room of public women, often
met with in these habitations. Indeed there are very few houses of
people called here respectable, where such women are not lodged,
either in the court-yard itself, or in a small room adjoining the
yard, but without its gate; in the house where I lodged, we had
four of these girls, one of whom was living within the precincts,
the three others in contiguous apartments. They are female slaves,
whom their masters, upon marrying or being tired of them, have
set at liberty, and who have no other livelihood but prostitution,
and the preparation of the intoxicating drink called Bouza. Female
slaves are often permitted to make a traffic of their charms before
they are at liberty, in order that they may acquire a sufficient
sum of money to purchase it. When at liberty their former owners
take care to make them pay house rent; some masters are said to
participate in their gains, and generally afford them protection
in the quarrels which frequently happen.