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As we were conversing with Mek Nimmur's messengers through the
medium of Taher Noor, who knew their language, our attention was
attracted by the arrival of a tremendous swell who at a distance
I thought must be Mek Nimmur himself. A snow-white mule carried
an equally snow-white person, whose tight white pantaloons looked
as though he had forgotten his trousers, and had mounted in his
drawers. He carried a large umbrella to shade his complexion; a
pair of handsome silver-mounted pistols were arranged upon his
saddle, and a silver-hilted curved sword, of the peculiar
Abyssinian form, hung by his side. This grand personage was
followed by an attendant, also mounted upon a mule, while several
men on foot accompanied them, one of whom carried his lance and
shield. Upon a near approach, he immediately dismounted, and
advanced towards us, bowing in a most foppish manner, while his
attendant followed him on foot with an enormous violin, which he
immediately handed to him. This fiddle was very peculiar in
shape, being a square, with an exceedingly long neck extending
from one corner; upon this was stretched a solitary string, and
the bow was very short and much bent. This was an Abyssinian
Paganini. He was a professional minstrel of the highest grade,
who had been sent by Mek Nimmur to welcome us on our arrival.

These musicians are very similar to the minstrels of ancient
times; they attend at public rejoicings, and at births, deaths,
and marriages of great personages, upon which occasions they
extemporize their songs according to circumstances. My hunting in
the Base country formed his theme, and for at least an hour he
sang of my deeds, in an extremely loud and disagreeable voice,
while he accompanied himself upon his fiddle, which he held
downwards like a violoncello: during the whole of his song he
continued in movement, marching with a sliding step to the front,
and gliding to the right and left in a manner that, if intended
to be graceful, was extremely comic. The substance of this
minstrelsy was explained to me by Taher Noor, who listened
eagerly to the words, which he translated with evident
satisfaction. Of course, like all minstrels, he was an absurd
flatterer, and, having gathered a few facts for his theme, he
wandered slightly from the truth in his poetical description of
my deeds.

He sang of me as though I had been Richard Coeur de Lion, and
recounted, before an admiring throng of listeners, how "I had
wandered with a young wife from my own distant country to fight
the terrible Base; how I had slain them in single combat; and how
elephants and lions were struck down like lambs and kids by my
hands; that during my absence in the hunt, my wife had been
carried off by the Base; that I had, on my return to my pillaged
camp, galloped off in chase, and, overtaking the enemy, hundreds
had fallen by my rifle and sword, and I had liberated and
recovered the lady, who now had arrived safe with her lord in the
country of the great Mek Nimmur," &c. &c. &c.

This was all very pretty, no doubt, and as true as most poetical
and musical descriptions, but I felt certain that there must be
something to pay for this flattering entertainment; if you are
considered to be a great man, a present is invariably expected in
proportion to your importance. I suggested to Taher Noor that I
must give him a couple of dollars. "What!" said Taher Noor, "a
couple of dollars! Impossible! a musician of his standing it
accustomed to receive thirty and forty dollars from great people
for so beautiful and honourable a song."

This was somewhat startling; I began to reflect upon the price of
a box at Her Majesty's Theatre in London; but there I was not the
hero of the opera; this minstrel combined the whole affair in a
most simple manner; he was Verdi, Costa, and orchestra all in
one; he was a thorough Macaulay as historian, therefore I had to
pay the composer as well as the fiddler. I compromised the
matter, and gave him a few dollars, as I understood that he was
Mek Nimmur's private minstrel, but I never parted with my dear
Maria Theresa* with so much regret as upon that occasion, and I
begged him not to incommode himself by paying us another visit,
or, should he be obliged to do so, I trusted he would not think
it necessary to bring his violin.

* The Austrian dollar, that is the only large current
coin in that country.

The minstrel retired in the same order that he had arrived, and
I watched his retreating figure with unpleasant reflections, that
were suggested by doubts as to whether I had paid him too little
or too much; Taher Noor thought that he was underpaid; my own
opinion was, that I had brought a curse upon myself equal to a
succession of London organ-grinders, as I fully expected that
other minstrels, upon hearing of the Austrian dollars, would pay
us a visit, and sing of my great deeds.

In the afternoon, we were sitting beneath the shade of our
tamarind tree when we thought we could perceive our musical
friend returning. As he drew near, we were convinced that it was
the identical minstrel, who had most probably been sent with a
message from Mek Nimmur: there he was, in snow-white raiment, on
the snow-white mule, with the mounted attendant and the violin as
before. He dismounted upon arrival opposite the camp, and
approached with his usual foppish bow; but we looked on in
astonishment: it was not our Paganini, it was ANOTHER MINSTREL!
who was determined to sing an ode in our praise. I felt that this
was an indirect appeal to Maria Theresa, and I at once declared
against music. I begged him not to sing; "my wife had a
headache--I disliked the fiddle--could he play anything else
instead?" and I expressed a variety of polite excuses, but to no
purpose; he insisted upon singing; if I "disliked the fiddle, he
would sing without an accompaniment, but he could not think of
insulting so great a man as myself by returning without an ode to
commemorate our arrival."

I was determined that he should NOT sing; he was determined that
he WOULD, therefore I desired him to leave my camp; this he
agreed to do, provided I would allow him to cross the stream, and
sing to my Tokrooris, in my praise, beneath a neighbouring tree
about fifty yards distant. He remounted his mule with his violin,
to ford the muddy stream, and he descended the steep bank,
followed by his attendant on foot, who drove the unwilling mule.
Upon arrival at the brink of the dirty brook, that was about
three feet deep, the mule positively refused to enter the water,
and stood firm with its fore feet sunk deep in the mud. The
attendant attempted to push it on behind, at the same time he
gave it a sharp blow with his sheathed sword; this changed the
scene to the "opera comique." In one instant the mule gave so
vigorous and unexpected a kick into the bowels of the attendant,
that he fell upon his back, heels uppermost, while at the same
moment the minstrel, in his snow-white garments, was precipitated
head foremost into the muddy brook, and for the moment
disappearing, the violin alone could be seen floating on the
surface. A second later, a wretched-looking object, covered with
slime and filth, emerged from the slough; this was Paganini the
second! who, after securing his fiddle, that had stranded on a
mud-bank, scrambled up the steep slope, amidst the roars of
laughter of my people and of ourselves; while the perverse mule,
having turned harmony into discord, kicked up its heels and
galloped off, braying an ode in praise of liberty, as the "Lay of
the last Minstrel." The discomfited fiddler was wiped down by my
Tokrooris, who occasionally burst into renewed fits of laughter
during the operation; the mule was caught, and the minstrel
remounted, and returned home completely out of tune.

On the following morning, at sunrise, I mounted my horse, and,
accompanied by Taher Noor and Bacheet, I rode to pay my respects
to Mek Nimmur. Our route lay parallel to the stream, and, after
a ride of about two miles through a fine, park-like country,
bounded by the Abyssinian Alps about fifteen miles distant, I
observed a crowd of people round a large tamarind tree, near
which were standing a number of horses, mules, and dromedaries.
This was the spot upon which I was to meet Mek Nimmur. Upon my
approach the crowd opened, and, having dismounted, I was
introduced by Taher Noor to the great chief. He was a man of
about fifty, and exceedingly dirty in appearance. He sat upon an
angarep, surrounded by his people; lying on either side upon his
seat were two brace of pistols, and within a few yards stood his
horse ready saddled. He was prepared for fight or flight, as were
also his ruffianly-looking followers, who were composed of
Abyssinians and Jaleens.

I commenced the conversation by referring to the hospitality
shown by his father to my countryman, Mr. Mansfield Parkyns, and
I assured him that such kind attentions were never forgotten by
an Englishman, therefore I had determined to visit him, although
the Egyptian authorities had cautioned me not to trust myself
within his territory. I explained that I was bound towards an
unknown point, in search of the sources of the White Nile, which
might occupy some years, but that I wished to perfect the
exploration by the examination of all the Abyssinian Nile
affluents: and I concluded by asking for his assistance in my
journey to the Bahr Angrab and the Salaam. He replied very
politely, and gave me much local information; he said that the
Egyptians gave him no peace, that he was obliged to fight in
self-defence; but that, if I could make overtures on his part to
the Egyptian authorities, he would engage never to cross the
Atbara, provided they observed a similar condition. I promised to
represent his offer to the Governor-General on my arrival at
Khartoum. He agreed to give me a guide to the rivers Angrab and
Salaam, that were not far distant, and he at once pointed out to
me the two dark gorges, about twelve and sixteen miles distant,
in the chain of precipitous mountains from which they flowed. He
described the country upon the other side of the mountains to be
the elevated plateau of Abyssinia, and he advised me to visit the
king before my departure from his territory; this I could not
conveniently accomplish, as my route lay in an opposite
direction. He begged me for a telescope, so that he should be
able to see the approach of the Turks (Egyptians) from a great
distance, as he explained that he had spies upon all the mountain
tops, so that no stranger could enter his country without his
knowledge. He confessed that my movements while in the Base
country had been watched by his spies, until he had felt assured
that I had no sinister motive. I laughed at the idea; he replied,
that we were most fortunate to have escaped an attack from the
natives, as they were far worse than wild beasts, and he
immediately pointed out several Base slaves who were present in
the crowd, who had been captured when children; they appeared to
be the same as the woolly-headed natives of the south bank of the
Blue Nile, and not at all peculiar in appearance. He cautioned me
against bathing in the stream, or drinking the water in the
neighbourhood of our camp, as it was extremely poisonous, and
would produce an irritation of the skin. I told him that I had
discovered copper, and that I attributed the poisonous quality of
the water to the presence of that mineral. This announcement was
received with a general expression of approbation. "That is very
curious," he said, "that we who live in this country are
ignorant, and that you, a stranger, should at once explain the
cause of the poison." He at once agreed to the suggestion, as he
said, that during the rains, when the torrents were full, the
water was not unwholesome, but in the dry weather, when the
supply was scanty, and the stream feeble, the strength of the
poison was necessarily increased. He assured me that, although
the pasturage was excellent, all cattle that drank in that hor or
stream became as thin as skeletons.

Mek Nimmur had been ignorant of the existence of copper, but he
informed me that gold dust was common in the sand of most of the
ravines, and that, if I would remain in his country, I might
discover considerable quantities. I informed him that I had
already discovered the existence of both gold and lead. He
requested me to give him every information respecting the lead,
as he should prefer it to gold, as he could manufacture bullets
to shoot the Turks (as the Egyptians are called by the
neighbouring tribes). After a long and satisfactory conversation,
I made my salaam, and retired. Immediately on my arrival at the
camp, I despatched Wat Gamma on horseback with Taher Noor, in
charge of a pair of beautiful double-barrelled pistols, with the
name of Tatham as the manufacturer; these were loaded, and I sent
a polite message, begging Mek Nimmur's acceptance of the present;
they were accompanied by a supply of ammunition.

In the evening Wat Gamma returned with the pistols; --they had
BURST! Mek Nimmur had requested him to fire at a mark, and one
barrel of each pistol had given way; thus, the double rifle and
the pistols of the same name "Tatham" had all failed; fortunately
no one was injured. I was afraid that this would lead to some
complication, and I was much annoyed; I had never used these
pistols, but I had considered that they were first rate; thus I
had given them to Mek Nimmur as a valuable present, and they had
proved their utter worthlessness. I immediately mounted my horse,
and with my revolver in my belt, and my beautiful single Beattie
rifle in my hand, I galloped off to Mek Nimmur; he was seated in
the same spot, watching the harvest of dhurra, enormous piles of
which were being thrashed by a number of Abyssinians. The instant
that I arrived, I went straight to him, and explained my regret
and disappointment at the failure of the pistols, and I begged
him to take his choice between my rifle and revolver. He behaved
remarkably well; he had begged my messenger to leave the broken
pistols with him, and not to mention the circumstance to me, as
he felt sure that I should feel even more annoyed than himself;
he now declined my offer, as he said I should require the weapons
during my proposed journey up the White Nile, and he could not
deprive me of their use. He was afraid of the revolver, as it was
too complicated, but I tore from my note-book a small piece of
paper, which I requested one of his people to stick upon a rock
about ninety yards distant. I took a steady shot with the single
rifle, and was fortunate enough to hit the paper exactly. This
elicited general applause, and Mek Nimmur called one of his
people, an Abyssinian, who he declared to be a celebrated shot,
and he requested that he might be allowed to fire the rifle. I
placed a similar mark upon the rock, and the Abyssinian fired
from a rest, and struck the stone, in a good line, about six
inches below the paper. The crowd were in raptures with the
rifle, which I at once insisted upon Mek Nimmur accepting. I then
made my salaam, and mounted my horse amidst general expressions
of approval.

On the following morning, Mek Nimmur sent us two camel-loads of
corn; a large gourd of honey, weighing about fifty pounds; and
four cows that must have been a detachment of Pharaoh's lean
kine, with a polite message that I was to select the FATTEST.
These cattle were specimens of the poisonous qualities of the
water; but, although disappointed in the substance of the
present, my people were delighted with the acquisition, and they
immediately selected a cow; but just as they were licking their
lips at the prospect of fresh meat, which they had not tasted for
some days, the cow broke away and made off across country. In
despair at the loss, my men followed in hot pursuit, and two of
the Tokrooris overtook her, and held on to her tail like
bull-dogs, although dragged for some distance, at full gallop
through thorns and ruts, until the other men arrived and
overpowered the thin, but wiry animal. When slaughtered, there
was a great squabble between my men and the Abyssinians, who
endeavoured to steal the meat.

CHAPTER XVIII.

A CAMEL FALLS, AND DIES.

I EXTRACT a few notes from my journal:--

"March 25, 1862.--Mai Gubba is about twelve miles E.N.E. of our
camp. Mek Nimmur's stronghold is upon a lofty table-mountain, due
south of this spot, from which great elevation (about 5,000 feet)
the granite mountain of Cassala is said to be plainly visible.

"March 27.--We started for the Bahr Salaam, and said good-bye to
Mek Nimmur, as we passed his position on our march; he had given
us a guide; an awful-looking scoundrel.

"We had hardly marched two miles, when one of the baggage-camels
suddenly fell down to die; the Arabs immediately cut its throat
with a sword, and Bacheet, having detached one ear as a witness
of its death, galloped back to borrow a fresh camel of Mek
Nimmur, which he very kindly sent without delay. We were obliged
to bivouac on the spot for the night, as the Arabs required the
flesh of their camel, which was cut into thin strips. As they
were employed in skinning it, they ate large quantities raw and
quivering. The stream, or hor, that flows through this country,
parallel with our route, is the Ma Serdi; all this district is
rich in copper.

"March 28.--Started at 5 A.M. course S.W. We crossed two hors,
flowing from N.N.W. and joining the Ma Serdi; also a beautiful
running stream of deep and clear water twelve miles from our
bivouac of last evening: this stream is never dry; it springs
from a range of hills about ten miles distant. The whole of this
country is well watered by mountain streams, the trees are no
longer the thorny mimosas, but as the land is not only fertile,
but sufficiently moist, it gives birth to a different kind of
vegetation, and the trees are mostly free from thorns, although
at this season devoid of foliage. The country is ornamented by
extensive cultivation, and numerous villages. We halted at 5 P.M.
having marched twenty-one miles. The fertile soil of this country
is thoroughly melted by rain during the wet season, and in the
intense heat of the drought it becomes a mass of gaping crevices
many feet deep, that render hunting on horseback most dangerous.
Fortunately, as we halted, I observed a herd of tetel, and three
ostriches: the latter made off immediately, but I succeeded in
stalking the tetel, and shot two, right and left, one of which
escaped, but the other became the prize of my Tokrooris.

"March 29.--Started at 5.30 A.M. and reached the river Salaam at
8 A.M.; the total distance from our camp in Mek Nimmur's country
is thirty-five miles S.W. The Bahr Salaam is precisely similar in
character to the Settite, but smaller; it has scooped through the
rich lands a deep valley, like the latter river, and has
transported the fertile loam to the Atbara, to increase the rich
store of mud which that river delivers to the Nile. The Salaam is
about two hundred yards wide; it flows through perpendicular
cliffs that form walls of rock, in many places from eighty to a
hundred and fifty feet above its bed; the water is as clear as
crystal, and of excellent quality; even now, a strong though
contracted stream is running over the rounded pebbles that form
its bed, similar to that of the Settite. We descended a difficult
path, and continued along the dry portion of the river's bed up
the stream. While we were searching for a spot to encamp, I saw
a fine bull mehedehet (A. Redunca Ellipsiprymna) by the water
side; I stalked him carefully from behind a bed of high rushes,
and shot him across the river with the Fletcher rifle; he went
on, although crippled, but the left-hand barrel settled him by a
bullet through the neck. We camped on the bank of the river.

"March 30.--I went out to explore the country, and, steering due
east, I arrived at the river Angrab or Angarep, three miles from
the Salaam; from a high rock I could trace its course from the
mountain gorge to this spot, the stream flowing N.W. This noble
river or mountain torrent is about a hundred and fifty yards
wide, although the breadth varies according to the character of
the country through which it passes; in most places it rushes
through frightful precipices; sometimes it is walled within a
channel of only forty or fifty yards, and in such places the
cliffs, although at least a hundred feet perpendicular height,
bear the marks of floods that have actually overtopped the rocks,
and have torn away the earth, and left masses of bamboos and
withered reeds clinging to the branches of trees, which, growing
on still higher rocks, have dipped in the swollen torrent. I
followed the circuitous course of the river for some miles,
until, after a most fatiguing exploration among precipices and
deep ravines, I arrived at the junction of the Salaam river. On
the way, I came upon a fine bull nellut (A. Strepsiceros) beneath
a shady nabbuk by the river's side; I could only obtain an
oblique shot, as his hind quarters were towards me; the bullet
passed through the ribs, and reached the shoulder upon the
opposite side. This nellut had the finest horns that I had yet
obtained; they measured four feet in the curve, three feet one
inch and a half in a straight line, with a spread of two feet
seven inches from point to point. I found tracks of hippopotami
upon the high grassy hills; these animals climb up the most
difficult places during the night, when they ascend from the
river to seek for pasturage. I was not far from the tent when I
arrived at the junction of the Angrab with the Bahr Salaam, but
the rivers were both sunk in stupendous precipices, so that it
was impossible to descend. The mouth of the river Angrab was an
extraordinary sight; it was not wider than about fifteen yards,
although the river averaged a width of at least a hundred and
fifty yards. The exit of the water was between two lofty walls of
basalt rock, which overhung the stream, which in the rainy season
not only forced its way for about a hundred yards through this
narrow cleft, but it had left proof of inundations that had leapt
over the summit of the obstruction, when the rush of water had
been too great for the area of the contracted passage.
Altogether, the two rivers Sahaam and Angrab are interesting
examples of the destructive effect of water, that has during the
course of ages cut through, and hollowed out in the solid rock,
a succession of the most horrible precipices and caverns, in
which the maddened torrents, rushing from the lofty chain of
mountains, boil along until they meet the Atbara, and assist to
flood the Nile. No one could explore these tremendous torrents,
the Settite, Royan, Angrab, Salaam, and Atbara, without at once
comprehending their effect upon the waters of the Nile. The
magnificent chain of mountains from which they flow, is not a
simple line of abrupt sides, but the precipitous slopes are the
walls of a vast plateau, that receives a prodigious rainfall in
June, July, August, until the middle of September, the entire
drainage of which is carried away by the above-named channels to
inundate Lower Egypt."

Not being able to cross the river at the point of junction with
the Salaam, I continued along the margin of the precipice that
overhangs the latter river, until I should find a place by which
we could descend with the camel, as this animal had made a great
circuit to avoid the difficulties of the Angrab. We were at
length united, and were continuing our route parallel with the
river, over undulations of withered grass about three feet high,
interspersed with trees, when I perceived above the surface the
long horns of a mehedehet (R. Ellipsiprymna). I knew that he must
be lying down, and, as he was about a hundred and fifty yards
distant, I stalked him carefully from tree to tree; presently I
observed three other pairs of horns at various distances; two
were extremely large; but, unfortunately, an animal with smaller
horns was lying between me and the largest. I could do no more
than creep quietly from point to point, until the smaller animal
should start and alarm the larger. This it did when I was about
a hundred yards from the large bull, and both mehedehets sprang
up, and, as is usual with this species, they stood for a few
moments seeking for the danger. My clothes and hunting cap
matched so well with the bark of the tree behind which I was
kneeling, that I was unobserved, and, taking a rest against the
stem with the little Fletcher, I fired both barrels, the right at
the most distant bull. Both animals simply sprang for an instant
upon their hind legs, and fell. This was capital; but at the
report of the rifle, up jumped two other mehedehets, which
appeared the facsimiles of those I had just shot; having missed
their companions, and seeing no one, they stood motionless and
gazed in all directions.

I had left my people far behind when I had commenced the stalk,
therefore I had no spare rifle. I reloaded behind the tree with
all haste. I had capped the nipples, and, as I looked out from my
covering point, I saw them still in the same spot; the larger,
with superb horns, was about a hundred and twenty yards distant.
Again I took a rest, and fired. He sprang away as though
untouched for the first three or four bounds, when he leapt
convulsively in the air, and fell backwards. This was too much
for the remaining animal, that was standing about a hundred yards
distant--he bounded off; but the last barrel of the little
Fletcher caught him through the neck at full gallop, and he fell
all of a heap, stone dead.

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