Chapter I

Preparations for a start — Camel-riding — Our encampment — Partridges — Temple at Samneh — A jackall hunt — Eagles — Picturesque country — Alkaline hot springs.

The bargain for conveying us across the desert had already been struck, and we had arranged everything to start at day-break; but the camels had not arrived when it wanted but an hour of noon, and then there was the process of loading to accomplish.

We were not allowed to have the scene entirely to ourselves. Every ferry-boat had brought at least a dozen gazers from Wadeh Halfea, and the bank could boast an unusual collection of picturesque objects, looking in the distance like bundles of white linen, surmounted by curly heads; while here and there a camel lay groaning, in apparent anticipation of the coming burthen. Prominent in the fore-ground, was the Camel Sheik, sedately smoking his tchibouque, while enduring our united abuse for having shown so little respect to the terms of his agreement. The space all around us that was not occupied by living packages, was strewn with baggage of every description.

At last, the camels having arrived, the men begin to display considerable activity in removing our belongings, and a great deal of ingenuity in adjusting them in nicely-balanced heaps across the backs of the poor beasts that had been engaged for their transport, whose melancholy howls proclaimed their protest against the heaviness of their task. Happy, above all his fellows, must have been the poor wretch to whom had been assigned our respectable hen-coop, containing three turkeys, and fifty hens, which was balanced on the other side by a capacious bag of rice, and triumphantly surmounted by the kitchen-table: wretched beyond the whole wretched lot, must have been he who bore the huge boxes of culinary utensils swung on each side of him. But he did not seem an object of pity, for he was a magnificent fellow, quite white, and standing twelve hands high at the lower point of the shoulder; and though he kept up a tremendous uproar, while his burthen was being adjusted to his back, no sooner was the process complete, than he stalked away to the Desert under eight hundred weight and a half, apparently as much at his ease as a London dray-horse with an empty barrel.

The noise increases, the more restive of the camels being assailed with terrible shouts, and sometimes with severe blows; but the whole eleven are at last accommodated, some with tents, some with water-casks and provisions, necessary to last our numerous party for two months; and all with a freight worthy of their well-deserved title, “Ships of the Desert.” And now the travellers must as quickly as possible reconcile themselves to their own mode of transit.

Our servant Mahomed, and our cook Abbas—the former sufficiently grotesque in his desert costume, the latter rendered formidable by the addition of a pair of monstrous pistols—looked wonderfully picturesque, as they passed slowly along on the top of their dromedary; six others await our selection: a small brown one falls to my share. On him my immense saddle-bags are fastened, containing my wardrobe and bedding: upon these are fixed my mattrass and pillow, with my gun secured behind. The pummel is hung with a satchel, in which are deposited various travelling resources—a Shakspeare, powder and bullets, tobacco and biscuit, pipe, whip, and water-bottle. What I resembled I cannot pretend to say, but I thought my brother appeared very like a travelling pedlar; his rifle, double-barrelled gun, powder-horn, water-skin, and last not least in request, “Macaulay’s England,” constituting but a very small portion of his stock. The ladies, mattrassed up, looked at least very cosy on their pillowy nest.

The process necessary towards obtaining that elevation must here be detailed, in deference to those of our readers who may be curious to know how a lady secures a seat on a steed so very different to those with whose backs she is expected to be more familiar. The pack-saddle is laid across the rump, and ought to be low enough to be steady, and long enough to afford a good seat; saddle-bags, carrying small-sized portmanteaus, in which were apparel, a few books, medicines, and instruments for observation, are then nicely balanced upon it; over this a light mattrass is either thrown across, or the ends turned up at each end, forming a sort of chair, the rider’s feet resting either on the animal’s neck, or in stirrups suspended from the pack-saddle. The camel also carries the personality of his driver, which, however, did not greatly increase his load. With some animals, their walk or amble is tolerably easy, but the long trot and the slow walk of the larger species jolts awfully; and any other pace is intolerable.

All our preparations having been completed, our crew gave us a cheer—not quite an English one, but the best their Eastern lungs could produce. The Reises, and some others, offered us their hands to shake, and numerous were the parting salaams and adieux we received, as we stalked majestically away.

The high road to Dongola, is as broad as you can see on one side, and has the river on the other. During the first three miles, we beheld nothing more lively than the skeletons of some camels, who had died under their burthens—a common feature in the landscape. At last, we met a caravan of twenty-five living camels, each bearing two packages of gum-arabic; they were accompanied by four Bedouins, naked to the waist, bearing a striking resemblance to those very imaginative portraits that adorn the wrappers—

“Of thine incomparable oil Macassar.”

Our first encampment had considerable pretensions to the picturesque. It was pitched beside a small lake with rocky banks—a portion of the Nile—where the date-trees looked luxuriantly verdant, and the refreshing aspect of the water suggested the bath I was very soon enjoying. The three white tents were arranged in a semi-circle, another being formed by the numerous boxes—a principal object was the fire, bearing four or five copper-pans, in which our dinner was cooking. Standing by, were the swarthy Arabs, peeling onions and potatoes, like English kitchen-maids; a little further on, a group of camels were devouring fresh-cut grass, whilst their drivers, at a convenient distance in another group, were eating with equal relish dates and bread. On the other side, the rest of the camels, and their drivers, were similarly occupied; near me the fifty hens were proceeding to devour the beans, that had been scattered for them, displaying a most pugnacious spirit at every heap, and making a prodigious noise and fluttering, to show their enjoyment of their liberty. The turkeys had selected the top of the hen-coop for their own place of rest, but some of the hens appeared to entertain the same ideas of its comfort, and then the former took violent measures to dispossess the intruders.

The next morning we began our first regular day’s journey during a beautiful sunrise, and with a deliciously cool atmosphere. We saw a covey of partridges, but they were out of shot—then another came flying overhead—we dismounted to hold acquaintance with a third, and managed to kill a brace; though they are so extremely difficult to approach, that we rarely got within forty yards of them. They were very like our friends of the same species in England, but smaller in size and stronger in flavour.

Our road led us across numberless hills interrupted by plains of sand, thickly strewn with white quartz, and granite of a very crumbly nature—the quartz resembling pieces of common soap. A small gum caravan, and the partridges, were the only living creatures we met. We found, however, many traces of hyenas, gazelles, jackalls, and of a large species of vulture, which had no doubt assisted in preparing the numerous skeletons that lay far and wide over the hills.

On the third day, after passing over a succession of small hills divided by valleys of very deep sand, we arrived at Samneh, where there is a small temple, on the top of a hill overlooking the river, which is very narrow, and rushes between high black rocks with prodigious force. This temple consists of one oblong chamber about fifteen yards in length, built of large stones, covered with hieroglyphics inside and out; on both sides there is a species of covered balcony, supported by columns—three square ones on one side, and one fluted round one on the other—and pedestals remain for two more. The interior is in excellent preservation; the border round the side looking remarkably gay with its bright red, green, and yellow. There are numerous hieroglyphics still retaining the sharpness of their original carving, particularly those with the gondola; the paddle, and other features reminding us strongly of our old acquaintances at Venice.

While our antiquarian enthusiasm was at its height, our attention was directed to a wounded jackall ascending the opposite hill pursued by a crow pecking at him as he ran. In a moment, Egypt and all her wonderful relics were forgotten—we pocketed our dilettanteism with the greatest possible dispatch, and followed by a Bedouin chief from the neighbouring village, my brother and I set off in pursuit. The chase was very severe, but the scent _i.e._ footsteps in the sand, was good, and we passed hill and dale at a clipping pace for about half an hour, when we ran our game to earth in a narrow valley among a heap of huge stones.

He gave chase again while I mounted a hill to mark down a covey of partridges, and I saw him stealing along the opposite hill; but, though I followed at full speed, after ascending two of the hills, I found it such hard work that I was forced to give in, dead-beat. My brother, however, kept up the chase half an hour longer, being rewarded every now and then for his perseverance by a sight of his game. At last, he found himself on a rock, but of the whereabouts of the jackall he had not the most remote conception; when suddenly the fellow started up almost from under his feet, and was walking away apparently quite at his leisure, when the gun was levelled at his head. Three caps were exploded in succession—the rifle would not go off—and the jackall did. So we returned to the temple, very little satisfied with our experience of hunting in the desert.

Among the sculptures we found the names of Wilkinson, Holroyd, Hanbury, Lessep, and Hyde. In such good company, I was proud to inscribe my own.

The Bedouins did not manifest much curiosity upon seeing European ladies, though they beheld them for the first time; but as they never exhibit any feelings whatever, this apparent indifference was not so surprising. We heard of ruins upon an island on the river which some travellers had recently visited; but the account of them that was related to us did not sufficiently excite our curiosity to induce us to dare the rays of the blazing sun on the dazzling waters of the river.

Soon after resuming our journey, we discovered three eagles making a repast on a camel; its demise had been more recent than that of his brethren whose bones lay bleaching on the sand. My brother killed one of these birds. It was of a white and black colour, with a yellow beak and a handsome crest, and measured five feet five inches from tip to tip.

We passed a fine vein of quartz, and a considerable tract of country, covered with what very much resembled petrified forests; also a hill, having the appearance of an immense pile of slates, with vast quantities of the same useful material scattered about. The road was hard and stony all the way.

After arriving at the station of Dangour, our path was a continued ascent over very high hills. We noticed some fine veins of quartz, with red and white granite mixed. The country then became remarkably picturesque—a very broad river being seen rushing by numerous islands, and among bold black rocks, with the opposite shore singularly verdant with date trees; whilst above towered a majestic mountain. The desert is covered for miles around with enormous boulders in striking positions, and of very irregular shape: sometimes like a colossal torso, sometimes like a wall, but always appearing as if the strange heap would fall at the first breadth of wind, notwithstanding that it had evidently retained its position for at least a thousand years.

In the middle of the day, we were agreeably surprised by the sight of a tent, from out of which, at our approach, came a rather handsome Frenchman, M. Y——, a gentleman-like and intelligent man, formerly in the service of Clot Bey. He had made a journey which had united pleasure with profit, from Cairo to the Obaid Kordofan, &c., taking manufactures and returning with gum. He was waiting for some of his camels, of which he had three hundred _en route_. We were almost as glad as he was to meet Europeans, though he had not seen one for seven months.

There was a hot spring in the neighbourhood, composed of a series of small springs gushing from the ground round the remains of a Roman well, which in its fall has blocked up the principal spring. It produces fifty or sixty gallons a minute; possesses a temperature of 124°, is alkaline in flavour, and covers the surrounding plants and rocks with a white salt that tastes like potash.