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Some of these ladies were very young and pretty, and of course
exercised a certain influence over their husbands; thus, on the
following morning, we were inundated with visitors, as the male
members of the family came to thank us for the manner in which
their ladies had been received; and fruit, flowers, and the
general produce of the garden were presented to us in profusion.
However pleasant, there were drawbacks to our garden of Eden;
there was dust in our Paradise; not the dust that we see in
Europe upon unwatered roads, that simply fills the eyes, but
sudden clouds raised by whirlwinds in the desert which fairly
choked the ears and nostrils when thus attacked. June is the
season when these phenomena are most prevalent. At that time the
rains have commenced in the south, and are extending towards the
north; the cold and heavy air of the southern rain-clouds sweeps
down upon the overheated atmosphere of the desert, and produces
sudden violent squalls and whirlwinds when least expected, as at
that time the sky is cloudless.

The effect of these desert whirlwinds is most curious, as their
force is sufficient to raise dense columns of sand and dust
several thousand feet high; these are not the evanescent
creations of a changing wind, but they frequently exist for many
hours, and travel forward, or more usually in circles, resembling
in the distance solid pillars of sand. The Arab superstition
invests these appearances with the supernatural, and the
mysterious sand-column of the desert wandering in its burning
solitude, is an evil spirit, a "Gin" ("genii" plural, of the
Arabian Nights). I have frequently seen many such columns at the
same time in the boundless desert, all travelling or waltzing in
various directions at the wilful choice of each whirlwind: this
vagrancy of character is an undoubted proof to the Arab mind of
their independent and diabolical origin.

The Abyssinian traveller, Bruce, appears to have entertained a
peculiar dread of the dangers of such sand columns, but on this
point his fear was exaggerated. Cases may have occurred where
caravans have been suffocated by whirlwinds of sand, but these
are rare exceptions, and the usual effects of the dust storm are
the unroofing of thatched huts, the destruction of a few date
palms, and the disagreeable amount of sand that not only half
chokes both man and beast, but buries all objects that may be
lying on the ground some inches deep in dust.

The wind at this season (June) was changeable, and strong blasts
from the south were the harbingers of the approaching rainy
season. We had no time to lose, and we accordingly arranged to
start. I discharged my dirty cook, and engaged a man who was
brought by a coffee-house keeper, by whom he was highly
recommended; but, as a precaution against deception, I led him
before the Mudir, or Governor, to be registered before our
departure. To my astonishment, and to his infinite disgust, he
was immediately recognised as an old offender, who had formerly
been imprisoned for theft! The Governor, to prove his friendship,
and his interest in my welfare, immediately sent the police to
capture the coffee-house keeper who had recommended the cook. No
sooner was the unlucky surety brought to the Divan than he was
condemned to receive 200 lashes for having given a false
character. The sentence was literally carried out, in spite of my
remonstrance, and the police were ordered to make the case public
to prevent a recurrence. The Governor assured me, that as I held
a firman from the Viceroy he could not do otherwise, and that I
must believe him to be my truest friend. "Save me from my
friends," was an adage quickly proved. I could not procure a
cook, neither any other attendants, as every one was afraid to
guarantee a character, lest he might come in for his share of the
200 lashes!

The Governor came to my rescue, and sent immediately the promised
Turkish soldiers, who were to act in the double capacity of
escort and servants. They were men of totally opposite
characters. Hadji Achmet was a hardy, powerful,
dare-devil-looking Turk, while Hadji Velli was the perfection of
politeness, and as gentle as a lamb. My new allies procured me
three donkeys in addition to the necessary baggage camels, and we
started from the pleasant garden of Halleem Effendi on the
evening of the 10th of June for the junction of the Atbara river
with the Nile.

CHAPTER II.

"'Mongst them were several Englishmen of pith,
Sixteen named Thompson, and nineteen named Smith."
DON JUAN.

MAHOMET, Achmet, and Ali are equivalent to Smith, Brown, and
Thompson. Accordingly, of my few attendants, my dragoman was
Mahomet, and my principal guide was Achmet; and subsequently I
had a number of Alis. Mahomet was a regular Cairo dragoman, a
native of Dongola, almost black, but exceedingly tenacious
regarding his shade of colour, which he declared to be light
brown. He spoke very bad English, was excessively conceited, and
irascible to a degree. No pasha was so bumptious or overbearing
to his inferiors, but to me and to his mistress while in Cairo he
had the gentleness of the dove, and I had engaged him at 5l. per
month to accompany me to the White Nile. Men change with
circumstances; climate affects the health and temper; the sleek
and well-fed dog is amiable, but he would be vicious when thin
and hungry; the man in luxury and the man in need are not equally
angelic. Now Mahomet was one of those dragomen who are accustomed
to the civilized expeditions of the British tourist to the first
or second cataract, in a Nile boat replete with conveniences and
luxuries, upon which the dragoman is monarch supreme, a whale
among the minnows, who rules the vessel, purchases daily a host
of unnecessary supplies, upon which he clears his profit, until
he returns to Cairo with his pockets filled sufficiently to
support him until the following Nile season. The short three
months' harvest, from November until February, fills his granary
for the year. Under such circumstances the temper should be
angelic. But times had changed: the luxurious Mahomet had left
the comfortable Nile boat at Korosko, and he had crossed the
burning desert upon a jolting camel; he had left the well-known
route where the dragoman was supreme, and he found himself among
people who treated him in the light of a common servant. "A
change came o'er the spirit of his dream;" Mahomet was no longer
a great man, and his temper changed with circumstances; in fact,
Mahomet became unbearable, and still he was absolutely necessary,
as he was the tongue of the expedition until we should accomplish
Arabic. To him the very idea of exploration was an absurdity; he
had never believed in it from the first, and he now became
impressed with the fact that he was positively committed to an
undertaking that would end most likely in his death, if not in
terrible difficulties; he determined, under the circumstances, to
make himself as disagreeable as possible to all parties. With
this amiable resolution Mahomet adopted a physical infirmity in
the shape of deafness; in reality, no one was more acute in
hearing, but as there are no bells where there are no houses, he
of course could not answer such a summons, and he was compelled
to attend to the call of his own name--"Mahomet! Mahomet!" No
reply, although the individual was sitting within a few feet,
apparently absorbed in the contemplation of his own boots.
"Mahomet!" with an additional emphasis upon the second syllable.
Again no response. "Mahomet, you rascal, why don't you answer?"
This energetic address would effect a change in his position; the
mild and lamb-like dragoman of Cairo would suddenly start from
the ground, tear his own hair from his head in handfuls, and
shout, "Mahomet! Mahomet! Mahomet! always Mahomet! D--n Mahomet!
I wish he were dead, or back in Cairo, this brute Mahomet!" The
irascible dragoman would then beat his own head unmercifully with
his fists, in a paroxysm of rage.

To comfort him I could only exclaim, "Well done, Mahomet! thrash
him; pommel him well; punch his head; you know him best; he
deserves it; don't spare him!" This advice, acting upon the
natural perversity of his disposition, generally soothed him, and
he ceased punching his head. This man was entirely out of his
place, if not out of his mind, at certain moments, and having
upon one occasion smashed a basin by throwing it in the face of
the cook, and upon another occasion narrowly escaped homicide, by
throwing an axe at a man's head, which missed by an inch, he
became a notorious character in the little expedition.

We left Berber in the evening at sunset; we were mounted upon
donkeys, while our Turkish attendants rode upon excellent
dromedaries that belonged to their regiment of irregular cavalry.
As usual, when ready to start, Mahomet was the last; he had piled
a huge mass of bags and various luggage upon his donkey, that
almost obscured the animal, and he sat mounted upon this pinnacle
dressed in gorgeous clothes, with a brace of handsome pistols in
his belt, and his gun slung across his shoulders. Upon my
remonstrating with him upon the cruelty of thus overloading the
donkey, he flew into a fit of rage, and dismounting immediately,
he drew his pistols from his belt and dashed them upon the
ground; his gun shared the same fate, and heaving his weapons
upon the sand, he sullenly walked behind his donkey, which he
drove forward with the caravan.

We pushed forward at the usual rapid amble of the donkeys; and,
accompanied by Hadji Achmet upon his dromedary, with the
coffee-pot, &c. and a large Persian rug slung behind the saddle,
we quickly distanced the slower caravan under the charge of Hadji
Velli and the sullen Mahomet.

There was no difficulty in the route, as the sterile desert of
sand and pebbles was bounded by a fringe of bush amid mimosa that
marked the course of the Nile, to which our way lay parallel.
There was no object to attract particular attention, and no sound
but that of the bleating goats driven homeward by the Arab boys,
and the sharp cry of the desert sand grouse as they arrived in
flocks to drink in the welcome river. The flight of these birds
is extremely rapid, and is more like that of the pigeon than the
grouse; they inhabit the desert, but they travel great distances
both night and morning to water, as they invariably drink twice
a day. As they approach the river they utter the cry "Chuckow,
chuckow," in a loud clear note, and immediately after drinking
they return upon their long flight to the desert. There are
several varieties of the sand grouse. I have met with three, but
they are dry, tough, and worthless as game.

We slept in the desert about five miles from Berber, and on the
following day, after a scorching march of about twenty miles, we
arrived at the junction of the Atbara river with the Nile.
Throughout the route the barren sand stretched to the horizon on
the left, while on the right, within a mile of the Nile, the soil
was sufficiently rich to support a certain amount of
vegetation--chiefly dwarf mimosas and the Asclepias gigantea. The
latter I had frequently seen in Ceylon, where it is used
medicinally by the native doctors; but here it was ignored,
except for the produce of a beautiful silky down which is used
for stuffing cushions and pillows. This vegetable silk is
contained in a soft pod or bladder about the size of an orange.
Both the leaves and the stem of this plant emit a highly
poisonous milk, that exudes from the bark when cut or bruised;
the least drop of this will cause total blindness, if in contact
with the eye. I have seen several instances of acute ophthalmia
that have terminated in loss of sight from the accidental rubbing
of the eye with the hand when engaged in cutting firewood from
the asclepias. The wood is extremely light, and is frequently
tied into fagots and used by the Arabs as a support while
swimming, in lieu of cork. Although the poisonous qualities of
the plant cause it to be shunned by all other animals, it is
nevertheless greedily devoured by goats, who eat it unharmed.

It was about two hours after sunset when we arrived at the steep
bank of the Atbara river. Pushing through the fringe of young
dome palms that formed a thick covert upon the margin, we
cautiously descended the bank for about twenty-five feet, as the
bright glare of the river's bed deceived me by the resemblance to
water. We found a broad surface of white sand, which at that
season formed the dry bed of the river. Crossing this arid bottom
of about 400 yards in width, we unsaddled on the opposite side,
by a bed of water melons planted near a small pool of water. A
few of these we chopped in pieces for our tired donkeys, and we
shared in the cool and welcome luxury ourselves that was most
refreshing after the fatigue of the day's journey. Long before
our camels arrived, we had drunk our coffee and were sound asleep
upon the sandy bed of the Atbara.

At daybreak on the following morning, while the camels were being
loaded, I strolled to a small pool in the sand, tempted by a
couple of wild geese; these were sufficiently unsophisticated as
to allow me to approach within shot, and I bagged them both, and
secured our breakfast; they were the common Egyptian geese, which
are not very delicate eating. The donkeys being saddled, we at
once started with our attendant, Hadji Achmet, at about five
miles per hour, in advance of our slower caravan. The route was
upon the river's margin, due east, through a sandy copse of
thorny mimosas which fringed the river's course for about a
quarter of a mile on either side; beyond this all was desert.

The Atbara had a curious appearance; in no part was it less than
400 yards in width, while in many places this breadth was much
exceeded. The banks were from twenty-five to thirty feet deep:
these had evidently been over-flowed during floods, bnt at the
present time the river was dead; not only partially dry, but so
glaring was the sandy bed, that the reflection of the sun was
almost unbearable.

Great numbers of the dome palm (Hyphoene Thebaica, Mart.) grew
upon the banks; these trees are of great service to the Arab
tribes, who at this season of drought forsake the deserts and
flock upon the margin of the Atbara. The leaves of the dome
supply them with excellent material for mats and ropes, while the
fruit is used both for man and beast. The dome palm resembles the
palmyra in the form and texture of its fan-shaped leaves, but
there is a distinguishing peculiarity in the growth: instead of
the straight single stem of the palmyra, the dome palm spreads
into branches, each of which invariably represents the letter Y.
The fruit grows in dense clusters, numbering several hundred, of
the size of a small orange, but of an irregular oval shape; these
are of a rich brown colour, and bear a natural polish as though
varnished. So hard is the fruit and uninviting to the teeth, that
a deal board would be equally practicable for mastication; the
Arabs pound them between stones, by which rough process they
detach the edible portion in the form of a resinous powder. The
rind of the nut which produces this powder is about a quarter of
an inch thick; this coating covers a strong shell which contains
a nut of vegetable ivory, a little larger than a full-sized
walnut. When the resinous powder is detached, it is either eaten
raw, or it is boiled into a delicious porridge, with milk; this
has a strong flavour of gingerbread.

The vegetable ivory nuts are then soaked in water for about
twenty-four hours, after which they are heaped in large piles
upon a fire until nearly dry, and thoroughly steamed; this
process renders them sufficiently tractable to be reduced by
pounding in a heavy mortar. Thus, broken into small pieces they
somewhat resemble half-roasted chestnuts, and in this state they
form excellent food for cattle. The useful dome palm is the chief
support of the desert Arabs when in times of drought and scarcity
the supply of corn has failed. At this season (June) there was
not a blade of even the withered grass of the desert oases. Our
donkeys lived exclusively upon the dhurra (Sorghum Egyptiaca)
that we carried with us, and the camels required a daily supply
of corn in addition to the dry twigs and bushes that formed their
dusty food. The margin of the river was miserable and uninviting;
the trees and bushes were entirely leafless from the intense
heat, as are the trees in England during winter. The only shade
was afforded by the evergreen dome palms; nevertheless, the Arabs
occupied the banks at intervals of three or four miles, wherever
a pool of water in some deep bend of the dried river's bed
offered an attraction; in such places were Arab villages or
camps, of the usual mat tents formed of the dome palm leaves.

Many pools were of considerable size and of great depth. In
flood-time a tremendous torrent sweeps down the course of the
Atbara, and the sudden bends of the river are hollowed out by the
force of the stream to a depth of twenty or thirty feet below the
level of the bed. Accordingly these holes become reservoirs of
water when the river is otherwise exhausted. In such asylums all
the usual inhabitants of this large river are crowded together in
a comparatively narrow space. Although these pools vary in size,
from only a few hundred yards to a mile in length, they are
positively full of life; huge fish, crocodiles of immense size,
turtles, and occasionally hippopotami, consort together in close
and unwished-for proximity.

The animals of the desert--gazelles, hyaenas, and wild asses--are
compelled to resort to these crowded drinking-places, occupied by
the flocks of the Arabs equally with the timid beasts of the
chase. The birds that during the cooler months would wander free
throughout the country, are now collected in vast numbers along
the margin of the exhausted river; innumerable doves, varying in
species, throng the trees and seek the shade of the dome palms;
thousands of desert grouse arrive morning and evening to drink
and to depart; while birds in multitudes, of lovely plumage,
escape from the burning desert, and colonize the poor but welcome
bushes that fringe the Atbara river.

The heat was intense. As we travelled along the margin of the
Atbara, and felt with the suffering animals the exhaustion of the
clinmate, I acknowledged the grandeur of the Nile that could
overcome the absorption of such thirsty sands, and the
evaporation caused by the burning atmosphere of Nubia. For nearly
1,200 miles from the junction of the Atbara with the parent
stream to the Mediterranean, not one streamlet joined the
mysterious river, neither one drop of rain ruffled its waters,
unless a rare thunder-shower, as a curious phenomenon, startled
the Arabs as they travelled along the desert. Nevertheless the
Nile overcame its enemies, while the Atbara shrank to a skeleton,
bare and exhausted, reduced to a few pools that lay like blotches
along the broad surface of glowing sand.

Notwithstanding the overpowering sun, there were certain
advantages to the traveller at this season; it was unnecessary to
carry a large supply of water, as it could be obtained at
intervals of a few miles. There was an indescribable delight in
the cool night, when, in the perfect certainty of fine weather,
we could rest in the open air with the clear bright starlit sky
above us. There were no mosquitoes, neither were there any of the
insect plagues of the tropics; the air was too dry for the gnat
tribe, and the moment of sunset was the signal for perfect
enjoyment, free from the usual drawbacks of African travel. As
the river pools were the only drinking-places for birds and game,
the gun supplied not only my own party, but I had much to give
away to the Arabs in exchange for goat's milk, the meal of the
dome nuts, &c. Gazelles were exceedingly numerous, but shy, and
so difficult to approach that they required most careful
stalking. At this season of intense heat they drank twice a
day--at about an hour after sunrise, and half an hour before
sunset.

The great comfort of travelling along the bank of the river in a
desert country is the perfect freedom, as a continual supply of
water enables the explorer to rest at his leisure in any
attractive spot where game is plentiful, or where the natural
features of the country invite investigation. We accordingly
halted, after some days' journey, at a spot named Collodabad,
where an angle of the river had left a deep pool of about a mile
in length: this was the largest sheet of water that we had seen
throughout the course of the Atbara. A number of Arabs had
congregated at this spot with their flocks and herds; the total
absence of verdure had reduced the animals to extreme leanness,
as the goats gathered their scanty sustenance from the seed-pods
of the mimosas, which were shaken down to the expectant flocks by
the Arab boys, with long hooked poles. These seeds were extremely
oily, and resembled linseed, but the rank flavour was
disagreeable and acrid.

This spot was seven days' march from the Nile junction, or about
160 miles. The journey had been extremely monotonous, as there
had been no change in the scenery; it was the interminable
desert, with the solitary streak of vegetation in the belt of
mimosas and dome palms, about a mile and a half in width, that
marked the course of the river. I had daily shot gazelles, geese,
pigeons, desert grouse, &c. but no larger game. I was informed
that at this spot, Collodabad, I should be introduced for the
first time to the hippopotamus.

Owing to the total absence of nourishing food, the cattle
produced a scanty supply of milk; thus the Arabs, who depended
chiefly upon their flocks for their subsistence, were in great
distress, and men and beasts mutually suffered extreme hardship.
The Arabs that occupy the desert north of the Atbara are the
Bishareens; it was among a large concourse of these people that
we pitched our tents on the banks of the river at Collodabad.

This being the principal watering-place along the deserted bed of
the Atbara, the neighbourhood literally swarmed with doves, sand
grouse, and other birds, in addition to many geese and pelicans.

Early in the morning I procured an Arab guide to search for the
reported hippopotami. My tents were among a grove of dome palms
on the margin of the river; thus I had a clear view of the bed
for a distance of about half a mile on either side. This portion
of the Atbara was about 500 yards in width, the banks were about
thirty feet perpendicular depth; and the bend of the river had
caused the formation of the deep hollow on the opposite side
which now formed the pool, while every other part was dry. This
pool occupied about one-third the breadth of the river, bounded
by the sand upon one side, and by a perpendicular cliff upon the
other, upon which grew a fringe of green bushes similar to
willows. These were the only succulent leaves that I had seen
since I left Berber.

We descended the steep sandy bank in a spot that the Arabs had
broken down to reach the water, and after trudging across about
400 yards of deep sand, we reached the extreme and narrowest end
of the pool; here for the first time I saw the peculiar four-toed
print of the hippopotamus's foot. A bed of melons had been
planted here by the Arabs in the moist sand near the water, but
the fruit had been entirely robbed by the hippopotami. A melon is
exactly adapted for the mouth of this animal, as he could crunch
the largest at one squeeze, and revel in the juice. Not contented
with the simple fruits of the garden, a large bull hippopotamus
had recently killed the proprietor. The Arab wished to drive it
from his plantation, but was immediately attacked by the hippo,
who caught him in its mouth and killed him by one crunch. This
little incident had rendered the hippo exceedingly daring, and it
had upon several occasions charged out of the water, when the
people had driven their goats to drink; therefore it would be the
more satisfactory to obtain a shot, and to supply the hungry
Arabs with meat at the expense of their enemy.

At this early hour, 6 A.M., no one had descended to the pool,
thus all the tracks upon the margin were fresh and undisturbed:
there were the huge marks of crocodiles that had recently
returned to the water, while many of great size were still lying
upon the sand in the distance: these slowly crept into the pool
as we approached. The Arabs had dug small holes in the sand
within a few yards of the water: these were the artificial
drinking-places for their goats and sheep, that would have been
snapped up by the crocodiles had they ventured to drink in the
pool of crowded monsters. I walked for about a mile and a half
along the sand without seeing a sign of hippopotami, except their
numerous tracks upon the margin. There was no wind, and the
surface of the water was unruffled; thus I could see every
creature that rose in the pool either to breathe or to bask in
the morning sunshine. The number and size of the fish, turtles,
and crocodiles were extraordinary; many beautiful gazelles
approached from all sides for their morning draught: wild geese,
generally in pairs, disturbed the wary crocodiles by their cry of
alarm as we drew near, and the desert grouse in flocks of many
thousands had gathered together, and were circling in a rapid
flight above the water, wishing, but afraid, to descend and
drink. Having a shot gun with me, I fired and killed six at one
discharge, but one of the wounded birds having fallen into the
water at a distance of about 120 yards, it was immediately seized
by a white-throated fish-eagle, which perched upon a tree,
swooped down upon the bird, utterly disregarding the report of
the gun. The Bishareen Arabs have no fire-arms, thus the sound of
a gun was unknown to the game of the desert.

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