"This morning, at daybreak, we commenced our preparations for
departure, for, come what may, we must make up the time we have lost.
"Miss Poles is better already, but, nevertheless, we begged her to
make use of a camel. As she has but one idea, that of recommencing as
soon as possible her gymnastic exercises, she yielded to our
entreaties.
"Her long, thin figure, perched perpendicularly on the camel's back,
lofty enough by nature, produces the drollest possible effect. But we
seize upon the particular weakness of Miss Beatrice, her _amour-propre_,
and assure her that her appearance on the gigantic steed is
at once full of majesty and grace, and that the camel becomes her
admirably.
"The sick horse is also improving, and, as for Joseph's donkey, he
spent such a day of luxurious idleness yesterday that his hard-working
propensities are again in full swing. Out of pity for the
poor beast, weighed down by that lump of vanity, his rider, I have
decided that he shall be ridden only a part of the way.
"In case you should be tempted to ask why I do not send this idle
servant of mine, so cumbrous a travelling companion, to the right-about,
back again to France, I must recal to your recollection a
charming comedy, once performed at the Gymnase, called '_La Voyage de
M. Perrichon_,' which is based entirely on the eminently true idea
that our attachment for others depends more upon what we do for them
than on what they do for us. You will, therefore, readily understand
that, having, at the risk of my life, saved Joseph from death or
slavery, he has become proportionately dear to me.
"He amuses me, too, I confess, by his mixture of stupidity and
self-sufficiency, and I must admit that when, perchance, he does
condescend to wait on me, he does it, to use his own expression, in a
most correct fashion. It is quite a treat, I assure you, in this
country, almost a desert, in the midst of this semi-barbarian
existence, and under the tent where I have just passed the night, to
set eyes on a clean-shaven, neat-looking valet, with my clothes over
his arm, my boots blacked and in his hand, and himself in readiness
to give me my slippers. I forget Africa, Bedouins, mountains, camels,
my tent, the board which serves me for a bed, and I imagine that I am
in the heart of Paris, in the Rue Taitbout, in my own snug little
bedroom.
"To-day we have turned our backs upon the verdant plains, the
splendid clumps of trees, and all the superb vegetation which has
charmed us up to the present time. In the neighbourhood of the well
of O-Back (the great well, I mean) the country is one mass of sand,
the precursor of that twenty league desert which we have to traverse
before we reach the valley of the Nile. Yes, my dear fellow, twenty
leagues of sand, a fine and shifting sand, which the wind, according
to its fancy, either leaves as level as a billiard-table, or heaps up
in huge hillocks, and which the burning rays of the sun cause to
sparkle like mingled particles of gold and silver.
"For three days we passed through these gloomy solitudes, compelled
half our time to travel on foot, for our horses sank into the sand up
to their knees. Even the camels began to show signs of fatigue; they
staggered under their loads, and their drivers, dragging themselves
wearily along after them, in vain repeated their customary cry of
'hot, hot, hot,' meant to rouse and stimulate them to fresh
exertions.
"In spite of all these delays we reached the well of Abou-Tagger,
and, after having come upon an alluvial plain, our eyes rest at last
upon the Nile, to which, nearly a month ago, we said au revoir at
Cairo, about three hundred miles north of our present position. We
hasten to the stream with almost childish glee, and we seem as if we
have once more met an old friend with whom we are destined to spend
many a long day.
"The Nile, out of gratitude, no doubt, for our hearty greeting and
effusive welcome, regales us with a curious spectacle. Picture to
yourself an _al fresco_ washing establishment, a congregation of
copper-coloured washerwomen, young and pretty, and boasting no other
garment than a short, petticoat reaching from the waist to the knees.
"These pretty girls were doing their washing to an accompaniment of
song and dance, using their feet, instead of their hands, as
'dollies' to press out the clothes after they have rinsed them in the
river and spread them along the bank. They stand first on one foot
and then on the other, never on both at the same time, and stamp in
unison in slow and measured time.
"Our arrival did not discompose them in the least; they continued to
perform their little operation, laughing the while and showing us
their white teeth. This unexpected tableau was all the more pleasing
to us, as, since we left Souakim, with the exception of our
Abyssinian travellers, we had not met amongst the Bischaris tribes
any but very unprepossessing specimens of the female race.
"And so at last we rest at Berber, or El-Mecherif, on the right bank
of the Nile, in a real house, a perfect palace to us, in real beds,
with real mattresses, an accumulation of comforts which, I assure
you, plunges us into a sort of ecstacy.
"And now we see what an able leader we have in Madame de Guéran. With
what skill she has traced out our route for us! How well she has
prepared us for long journeys and severe exertion! How excellently
she has arranged our various transitions! If, at one fell swoop, she
had compelled us to traverse some far-stretching desert, if she had
led us far away from all civilization, straight into the centre of
barbarism, without any chance of resuming our wonted habits, she
would have run the risk of disgusting some of us. Périères and I, it
is true, would have certainly followed her, but with a certain amount
of uneasiness, and, possibly, discouragement. But Delange would have
been quite capable of cancelling our contract and hurrying back to
Paris to start a baccarat bank. The Baroness, however, had let us see
just so much of Africa as was calculated to arouse our curiosity
without satisfying it, to tire us without affecting our health, to
inure us to fatigue without wearing us out. She introduced us to a
little bit of a desert, which, so far from frightening us, whetted
our appetites and gave us visions of horizons more vast, of plains
more extended, of dangers more serious. As yet we only know a kind of
toy Africa, harmless and without churlishness, spring-like and
temperate, with its oases, its wells, its mountains, its miniature
storms, all that makes life agreeable, variety, accident, everything
to inspire a love of travel and incite to great discoveries.
"It is in this spirit that Périères, Delange, and I, full of
confidence and utterly devoid of fear, more daring and audacious day
by day, are undertaking the conquest of Africa. It may rebuff us, may
weary us, may terrify us with hardships, but we shall merely halt,
rest a while, to-day at Berber, to-morrow at Khartoum, troubled only
by the eager longing to go onward, to surmount fresh obstacles, to
brave new dangers, and attain our settled goal.
"Do not think from all this, my dear fellow, that the town where we
are is an Eden. This halt is pleasurable solely by comparison with
the recent ones we have made in the desert. Berber consists simply of
a long string of rather low-pitched houses, situate on the right bank
of the Nile—a collection of shops and stalls, where European
merchandize is exposed for sale at ruinous prices. The market, or
bazaar, is very badly supplied, and it is with considerable
difficulty that we succeeded in laying in the stock of provisions
necessary for us during our journey as far as Khartoum. Fortunately
for us, a French merchant, standing very high in these parts, and
courteous to a degree, placed himself completely at our disposal, and
smoothed away all our difficulties. Thanks to his kind offices, we
have chartered a large vessel in which to ascend the Nile, and,
acting on his good advice, after getting rid of our camels and their
drivers, instead of parting also with our horses we have added some
more to our stable. We shall in this way perform our journey, half by
land, and half by water—on the Nile so long as it has any features of
interest—on horseback, whenever our maps tell us that there is
anything worth seeing in the neighbourhood.