Chapter XIX: Letter XVII: E’ Dâmer, the 24th January, 1844

Our difficulties, though at a late hour, are terminated. I arrived here yesterday with Abeken, still two days’ journey from the Pyramids of Meröe, and probably the whole of our camp also arrived yesterday at the southern extremity of the Great Desert at Abu Hammed. After my last discouraging account from Berber, I set out on the 8th January, about mid-day, with Abeken, the dragoman Jussuf Scherebîeh, a cook, and our little Nubian boy Auad. We had eight camels, two of them, however, scarcely in a fit state to make the journey, and two asses. As the promised guide was not at hand, I compelled the Sheikh of the camels, Achmed, to accompany us himself, as he might be of service to us, on account of his reputation among the tribes of the Ababde Arabs dwelling here. We had besides these, another guide, Adâr, who had been given us instead of the promised one, and five camel-drivers; and soon after our departure several other foot-passengers joined our party, besides two people with asses, who availed themselves of this opportunity to return to Berber. We took with us ten water-skins, some stores of rice, macaroni, biscuit, and cold meat, besides a light tent, our coverlets on which to ride and sleep, the requisite changes of linen, and a few books; and, in addition, a proper supply of good courage, of which I scarcely ever feel the want in starting on a journey. Our friends accompanied us a short way into the rocky valley, which very soon entirely concealed the neighbouring banks of the river, and its pleasant palm-trees.

The valley was both wild and monotonous, nothing but sandstone rock, the surface of which was burnt as black as coal, but in every quarry, and every hollow, this changed into a brilliant golden yellow; from these a multitude of streams of sand, like streams of fire out of black dross, trickled down, and filled the valleys. We were preceded by the guides; they had simple folds of drapery round their shoulders and hips; in their hands were either one or two spears, made of firm, but light wood, provided with iron points and shafts; a round, or lightly carved shield, with a very prominent boss made of giraffe skin covered their naked backs; their other shields were oblong in form, and usually made of hippopotamus skin, or of the dorsal hide of the crocodile. During the night, and often in the daytime also, they bound sandals under their feet, the thongs of which, not unfrequently cut out of one piece with the sole, are drawn between the great toe and the second toe, and then surround the foot in the manner of a skate.

Sheikh Achmed was a magnificent man, youthful, but tall and noble in stature; he had extremely supple limbs, of a brilliant brown-black colour, his features were very expressive of emotion, a brilliant dark eye, which had both a gentle and sly look, and his mode of speech was so incomparably beautiful, with such harmonious expression, that I liked to have him constantly beside me, although we had a continual contest with him in Korusko, as he was bound to furnish the camels and all appurtenances, and on account of circumstances he neither would nor could procure them. He gave us a proof in the desert of his agility and the elasticity of his limbs, for taking a long run on the sandy ground, peculiarly unfavourable for leaping, he made a bound of 14½ feet in width; I measured the distance between the footmarks with his lance, which was rather more than two metres long (6 feet 7 inches English). Adâr, our second guide, alone ventured to make the leap after him, but he did not nearly reach the same distance.

The first day we had started early, about eleven o’clock in the morning, and we rode on till about five; we then stopped for an hour and a half, and went on again till about half-past twelve. We then pitched our tents on the hard ground, and laid down to sleep, after a march of twelve hours. The most refreshing thing, after these hot and fatiguing days’ journeys, was our tea in the evening; we were, however, obliged to habituate ourselves to the leathery taste of the water, which we perceived even through the tea and coffee. The second day we were fourteen hours on our camels; starting about eight in the morning, we halted about four o’clock in the afternoon to eat something, proceeded on our journey about half-past five, and about half-past twelve we struck our encampment for the night, having left the hills, and about ten o’clock, with the rising moon, descended into a vast plain. Hitherto we had not seen a tree, nor a blade of grass, not even a creature, except some white eagles and ravens, who fed upon the carrion of the camels which had fallen. On the third day, after setting off early in the morning, we met a troop of one hundred and fifty camels, which had been purchased by the Government, to be sent into Egypt. The Pascha is anxious to import several thousand camels from Berber, that he may thereby, in some measure, repair the consequences of the cattle-disease of last year. A great number had already passed through Korusko, without our venturing to make use of them, as they are the private property of the Pascha; we could not have mounted them besides, as they had no saddles.

The guide of the troop, whom we met to-day, brought us at last the long desired intelligence that our Kawass, Ibrahim Aga, had left Berber with sixty camels, and was already marching quite close to us, but on another route, which led across the desert a little more to the west. Sheikh Achmed was sent after him, that he might bring us three good camels, in place of our feeble ones; and also to gain some further intelligence about him. He said that he should overtake us the following night, or at latest the second. I sent a couple of lines to Erbkam, by the Chabîr (guide) of the troop. We halted about half-past five, and remained all night, hoping to see Sheikh Achmed arrive sooner. Towards evening we saw the first scanty vegetation of the desert; the yellowish-grey dry blades of grass, which were hardly visible when near, in the distance gave a pale greenish-yellowish colour to the ground, which alone called my attention to it.

We ought to have arrived the fourth day at the well of brackish water, fit however for the camels to drink; but that we might not hasten on too quickly before Sheikh Achmed, we terminated our day’s journey as early as four o’clock, about four hours distant from the well. At length, about mid-day, we left the great plain BAHR BELA MA (the River without Water), which unites with the mountain chain of EL BAB, two days’ journey in length, and which we had entered coming out of Korusko, and we now approached other chains. Hitherto we had seen nothing but sandstone rocks, both beneath and around us; it was therefore really a joyful event, when looking down from my tall camel upon the sand, I saw the first Plutonic Rock. I immediately glided down from my saddle, and broke off a fragment; it was a greyish green stone of very fine grain, and undoubtedly of the nature of granite. The preceding chains of mountains were also chiefly composed of species of porphyry and granite of different colours, not unfrequently associated with broad veins of red syenite, such as appears so abundantly on the surface at Assuan, and which was so extensively worked by the ancient Egyptians. Farther in the mountains, quartz was sometimes very prevalent, and the appearance was very singular when, here and there at different heights, the snow-white silicious veins appeared on the surface of the black mountains issuing like a spring from a point in the mountain, and flowing into the valley, where its white rolled fragments spread out like a lake. I carried away with me some small specimens of the different kinds of rocks. After we had passed behind a low mountain defile and a small valley, BAHR ʾHATAB (the Wood River, on account of the wood, which is said to grow somewhat farther away on some neighbouring mountains), and another valley, WADI DELAH, inclining to the northern side of the principal mountain which succeeds it, we reached the rocky hollow, E’ SUFR, where we expected to find rain water, and to re-fill our shrunken water-skins (_girbe_, _pl._ _geràb_). During one month of the year, about May, there is usually some rain in this high mountain of primitive rock. The huge granite basins in the hollow valleys are then filled, and retain the water throughout the entire year. Some vegetation was to be seen on this Plutonic Rock, resulting from the rain, and because the granite itself seems to contain more fertilising matter than the barren loose sand, almost wholly composed of small grains of quartz. In WADI DELAH, which evidently has water in the rainy season, we came to a long continuous row of Doum Palms; the circular form of their leaves, and their bushy growth, has a less bare appearance than the long slender-leaved date palm; the latter cannot stand the rain, and therefore cannot live in Berber, while the Doum Palm appears in Upper Egypt for the first time, quite isolated, and the farther we travel south, we see them in greater numbers, larger in size, and of more luxuriant growth. If their fruit drop off when unripe and dry, the small portion of pulp round the stony kernel tastes like a coating of sugar; if they ripen, the yellowish woody pulp may be chewed; it has a good taste, and some of their fruit had an aroma almost similar to the pine-apple. They are sometimes as large as the largest apples.

About four o’clock we pitched our camp, the camels were sent into the hollow, situated behind, to the rain water, and Abeken and I got upon our asses, to accompany them to these natural reservoirs. Riding over coarse gravel and sharp stones we penetrated deeper and deeper into the ascending defile; the first large basins were empty, we left our asses and camels behind, clambered up the smooth granite sides of the rock, and stepped from one basin to another amidst these huge masses of rock. All were empty; the guide said there must be water in the fissure which lay farthest back, that there it was never exhausted; but even in that spot not a drop was to be found, so we were obliged to return without any success, as dry as we came. The numerous herds of cattle, which during the past year had been driven out of the Sudan into Egypt, had consumed it all. Only three skins of water had remained over for our party, and we were therefore compelled to find out some means to procure more. Other cisterns were said to exist higher up in the mountains behind this defile. I was anxious to climb up the rocks with the guide, but he considered it too dangerous an undertaking. We turned round, rode back to the encampment, and with the setting sun, the camels were forced to start once more in search of water among the hills lying to the north, about an hour distant from this spot. They returned at a late hour with four skins full; the water was good, and pleasant to the taste. Sheikh Achmed, however, did not either return this night, and we now hoped to find him at the well, whither he might have preceded us by the southern road.

We started soon after sunrise, on the fifth day, and penetrated deeper into the great mountain chain of ROFT, which always exhibited the same rock, at first slaty in texture, then more in the form of blocks, afterwards abounding in quartz. The heat of the day was more oppressive in the mountains than in the plains, where the north wind blowing almost continuously, produces greater coolness. With the exception of the different kinds of rock, there was little around to attract our notice. I met with a great ant-hill in the middle of the barren desert, and I looked at it for a long time; there were smaller and larger bright black ants, who were carrying all the small pieces of earth which they were able to lift out of their building, so that the coarser little stones alone remained, and formed solid walls; the larger ants were distinguished by their heads being in proportion to their size, twice as thick as the others, and they did not themselves work, but led the regiment, and gave a push to each of the smaller ants, who were carrying nothing, drove them forwards, and kept them more diligently at work.

The difficulty to converse when riding on the hard-pacing camel is so much the greater because it is not easy to make them keep the step beside each other, as with the horse or ass. When upon a good dromedary (Heggîn), and travelling without, or with but very little baggage, the creature keeps in a trot. This is an easy pace, and is not very fatiguing, but it is difficult to get accustomed to the long step of the ordinary baggage-camel, which throws the high load backwards and forwards. Yet even this was alleviated by our being sometimes able to dismount from our camels and get upon our asses, and we often went on foot for a considerable distance both early in the morning and in the evening.

I now return to the fifth day of our desert journey. We started about eight o’clock in the morning from the little valley of E’ Sufr, where we had encamped under some gum, or sont-trees, and about half-past twelve, after turning to our left into a flat valley for the distance of about half an hour from our road among the hills, we reached the brackish well in WADI MURHAD. Here we had accomplished about half our desert journey. We saw some huts built of small stones and reeds, and near them a couple of starved goats were fruitlessly searching for some pasture; our black host led us into a reed arbour, where we made ourselves as comfortable as we could in the shade.

In this rocky valley we had been struck for some time by the snow-white crust of Natron, frequently appearing above the sand which makes the water of the well brackish. Towards the end of the valley, where it divides into two branches, the water is to be found between five and six feet beneath the surface, and has been discovered by digging eight wells. The water in the wells which lie farthest back, is greenish, rather salt, and has a bad taste, which, however, satisfies the camels; the three in front, on the contrary, yield clear water, which might very well have been drank by us in a case of necessity. There is a government station here, usually inhabited by six persons, but at the present moment four of them had been sent out on an excursion, and only two remained behind. From this spot there are two roads to Korusko, a western and an eastern one. Ibrahim Aga had chosen the former road, we the latter, and we had, therefore, unfortunately missed each other. Sheikh Achmed was also not to be found here; probably he had not overtaken our camels before the second day, and we were compelled to proceed on our journey without him.

The ABABDE ARABS, with whom we have now everywhere to deal, are an 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.