PREFACE.

The rich contents and originality of the work before us will escape no one who casts a glance at it, however hasty that may be. It presents the liveliest views of the Natural Productions and People of regions hitherto entirely unvisited. The surprising novelty of the phenomena is described by a writer of much experience, bold energy, and intense devotion to the land of the South. We welcome it, therefore, as a pleasing contribution to our literature of travel, often so insipid. The discoverer of the Source of the White Nile, under the vertical rays of the sun in Equatorial Inner Africa, will share the same fate as his illustrious predecessor, James Bruce, the discoverer of the Sources of the Blue Nile, if many of his statements should be doubted, criticised, and misunderstood.

We have, however, no pretensions to be defenders of them. Some ten years later, perhaps, their justification, with the exception of a few errors, may follow our Herodotean wanderer into a terra incognita. Such was the case with a Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, James Bruce, and Mungo Park.

Two French accounts have preceded the present narrative of a German fellow-traveller, in one of the three vast expeditions by water, undertaken by Mohammed Ali in 1840 and the succeeding years, with unequal success, for the discovery of the Sources of the Bahr el Abiad. We welcomed the French accounts on their first appearance, notwithstanding their meagreness and doubtfulness, in consequence of their main results. At the same time we expressed our hope that we should be better informed of these events by their fellow-traveller, for we were already aware of the exertions of the author of the present narrative. Everything, therefore, introductory to this Work will be found in the undermentioned pamphlet, to which it is only necessary here to refer to avoid repetition in a preface:—

“A Glance at the Country of the Source of the Nile, by C. Ritter, with a Map, Berlin, 1844, and three Supplements—1st, by F. Werne, the Second Expedition to discover the Sources of the White Nile, from November 1840 to April 1841, pages 42-50. 2nd—On Carl Zimmermann’s annexed Chart, to shew the Upper Country of the Nile. 3d—Dr. Girard on the Nature of the Soil of Central Africa on both banks of the Upper Bahr el Abiad, to the foot of the Mountains of the Moon, pages 68-72., principally from the mountain specimens brought home by Mr. Werne.”

We have the pleasure of possessing, in the present more accurate statement, many new data and remarks on earlier accounts, though, doubtless, these will bring on a controversy, for the acrimony of which the Author has himself to blame. When, however, such sarcasm is directed in an instructive and legitimate manner, as that against D’Abbadie, in the convincing Appendix, (to which we must here draw attention, in order to understand the whole,) we cannot blame the Author, who has gained by toil and labour positive facts, for rendering them secure, as far as possible, against malicious presumptions and arrogant hypotheses. Science, moreover, is always the gainer by these discussions.

The annexed Map has been newly constructed, by Mr. H. Mahlmann, with his usual scrupulous accuracy, from the manuscript of the Journal, and the notes of the Traveller. Though, under the present circumstances, it leaves much here and there to be desired, yet by comparing it with that of Bimbashi D’Arnaud’s, executed and published at Paris in 1843, it makes a very useful addition to the Work. Still much instructive elucidation and enlargement of knowledge might be gained by a complete description and pictorial representation of the wonderful collection of Natural Productions, Works of Art, Weapons, Household Utensils, and other objects, hitherto the only one we possess. In the annexed engraving we give a specimen of these curiosities, collected by Mr. Werne’s care, on his journey to Bari, and afterwards incorporated by him, in addition to his Collection of Natural History, with the Royal Museum of this city, where they are to be viewed, to the number of one hundred and twenty-six different articles.

C. Ritter.

Berlin, July 27, 1848.

CONTENTS
OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.

EXPEDITION
TO DISCOVER THE SOURCES
OF THE
WHITE NILE.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

Mohammed Ali, being dissatisfied with the result of this expedition, appointed in the very same year a second voyage of discovery. Various motives have been alleged for this glorious resolution. He either wished, with respect to various ulterior views, to have a country inspected, which had pleased him so well in his journey to Fàzogl, because, among other advantages, it contains the radius of the circle of an immeasurable kingdom, whose motto is “Noli me tangere;” or he thought of opening another commercial road in the interior of Africa. Perhaps his restless and avaricious heart hoped to find a real golden fleece, with the acquisition of which—like Nero, who also ordered the sources of the Nile to be sought for—he might connect the reputation of a lover of science. Nevertheless, he has, like a true Renard the Fox, scented out his Malepartus,[1] even if he have not gone as a penitent pilgrim to Turkish Rome. There the report was spread, and believed, that the old Basha would return to Sennaar. Even Ahmed Basha, the Governor-General of the land of Sudàn, and the greatest Verres among the Bashas of Mohammed Ali, feared such an unwelcome visit in Sennaar, after the taking of St. Jean d’Acre; and the merchants of the place wished it, because money, by that means, would flow into the country.

This Ahmed Basha had also other reasons, which I will detail afterwards, for fearing such a change of residence. Nevertheless, whatever may have been the secret thoughts of Mohammed Ali, a second expedition was resolved upon in 1840, and this time I was fortunate enough to take a part in it myself. For seven months I had been present in the Taka country, in a district previously untrodden by Europeans, at a campaign opened by Ahmed Basha, against the free people of that district, who are called, as being such, Asi. That nomen is one of the words of the diplomatic language of the day, not sufficiently expressive, because it means rebels as well as free men, and reminds us besides of Asia and the godlike Asi of the North. For a long time we had our camp surrounded with palisadoes of thick palm-trees, under the wonderful granite rocks of Kaffela-el-Lus, rising up above us like a dome, to the height of more than 3.000 feet, near the village of Kadmir, in the country of the Hallengas, when orders arrived from Káhira for the second expedition. The Basha permitted me at last to accompany this highly interesting enterprise; but my brother, who was his physician in ordinary, could not share in this favour, on account of the great mortality in the camp. For three days we considered and wavered, before we resolved upon the journey, and then we mutually promised not to be always forward in exposing ourselves to danger: for separation is no trifling matter in these countries, where, from the frequent diseases, and other misfortunes, no compassion is to be expected; where neither friendship nor love, and still less gratitude, is known.

Suliman Kashef, a bold Circassian, who had commanded the first expedition, and had only been a short time with us in the camp, was nominated, according to Ahmed Basha’s statement, by Mohammed Ali himself, as the Commandant, though he is said, in the former expedition, to have been pushed forward by the mistrustful Ahmed, in order to take care of his interests, and to keep a watch on Selim-Capitan, who was sent from Alexandria. To deceive, by a demonstration, the enemy, the great nation of the Haddendas, (whose cause must be honoured as a sacred and just one, and whose great Sheikh, Mohammed Din, had been taken prisoner in a treacherous manner, and was detained in the camp,) and to open at least the road, Ahmed Basha marched with us, about two miles and a quarter, as far as the village of Huàthi, where we had to cross a large mountainous torrent. The spies sent out by Mohammed Ehle, the Sheikh of the Hallengas, came back the second time, and declared that the forest on the other side was free from Arabs (Arab plural Urbàn), as they judged by the footsteps, which all turned to the north. In this manner Suliman Kashef and the Shaïgiën leader, Melek Hammed, and myself, left the camp, which was threatened far and wide by more than 100,000 hostile lances. Having good guides preceding us, we pushed through Gohr-el-Gash, (Gohr, pass of the floods, or wild path of tropical cataracts,) the dry and hitherto sandy bed of which was full of water, 4,000 feet deep, arising from the periodical rains, pouring down from the lofty chain of mountains of Makada (Habesh), that lay before us, and crossed, without any accident, a chain of sand-banks, which Baraká, the overflowing arm of the Gohr, forms below Huàthi. This Baraká springs in the north-eastern alpine chain of Habesh, and, as trustworthy persons, amongst others, the Kadhi of the Hallengas, have assured us, flows towards the west, through the mountainous countries of Kostàn and Mària, then separates into two branches, of which one runs by Suakin eastwards into the Red Sea, and the other takes its course through Beni-Amer westward, and divides itself again at Sadderath, a day’s journey to the east of Kaffela, and then flows into the Gash. On the contrary, this great Gohr comes from the north-west mountains of Habesh, and pursues its principal direction through the countries, or mountainous regions of Hamassein, Dembalass, Belga, and Basa, to the group of rocks of Kaffela-el-Lus, where it runs to the north, and is said to lose itself, or else it forms the Mogren, which appears to me also to be a Gohr. These Gohrs afford sufficient water during the hot season, when their beds seem quite dry, to the various tribes, with whom we partly came in contact, and who may be the remains of some ruined nations that have fled to the mountains. When they require water for themselves and their cattle, they make in the bed of the Gohr a hole, not very deep, in the sand, till they come to a layer of blue clay, and they draw the water, that springs forth immediately, so far down that the animals cannot reach it, into peculiar round cisterns, which they place close to the hole, and which form flat basins of half a foot or a foot deep, and six to ten feet in diameter. These basins are kneaded with clay to make them solid and compact, and then the cattle drink out of them. Such watering-places are indispensable near the springs, which, notwithstanding the basin-shaped depression of this whole country, are of a great depth, on account of the alluvial soil. In these situations we find not only birds which are scarcely seen anywhere except in the neighbourhood of water, but also the elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, hyæna, and the lion with his family. They not only leave water behind in cisterns for this great and dreaded lord of beasts, but they also draw it afterwards, in order to detain him, that they may fetch him tender fresh calves-flesh from their houses, which is here his favourite food, as I convinced myself in Beshum, in the country of the Haddendas. It is a fable that the elephant dislikes the camel: I saw them both at Hauàthi drinking in the middle of the day, close to one another, out of two different holes. The elephant is said to be angry with the people if he find the cistern, from which he is accustomed to drink, choked up with earth by the wind or animals, and to attack the nearest village (as was the case some time since in Hauàthi), to overthrow everything he meets, to clear out the water-vessels, and not even to disdain the corn he may happen to find.

Ahmed Basha could not spare any troops for our protection, on account of his being pressed so closely by the enemy. There were about sixty of us, including the mounted halberdiers of Suliman Kashef, who carried arms, besides unarmed servants, male and female slaves. The excellent light cavalry of the Shaïgiës, under the command of the bold Melek Mahmud, accompanied us only a short distance. These Shaïgiës are not at all of Arabian origin; they call themselves “Warriors of old of the soil,” and are still held memorable, even as knights, through their really daring and adventurous plundering excursions in these parts.

We worked our way over heavy and untrodden roads, whilst the Shaïgiës wound right and left through the thicket, like snakes, and covered our flanks. We passed through the Haba (forest; in this place, swampy forest), which it is well known is so dreaded by the Turks, and fortunately reached the high swollen Atbara near Gos Rajeb after three days’ and three nights’ hard riding, having been obliged to leave behind many animals, especially horses, which had fallen from exhaustion on the bad roads, and from the want of sufficient fodder. I perceived that the Turks congratulated themselves on leaving behind them their Silva Hercynia, in which Mohammed Din with his Haddendas, though only armed with lances, had twice defeated Kurdshid Basha.

In vain we looked about here for the ships, which, in case of an unfortunate issue of the campaign, were ordered from Berber to communicate with the shore; but there was not a plank to be seen, as the requisite northern winds had not set in to enable them to sail against the strong current of Atbara. No sooner had the haughty Sheikh Hadàb remarked this than he, who had strongly asserted that the ships would be here, looked about very uneasily, and slipped away from the side of Suliman Kashef into a bush, giving me a significant look as he passed, and had nearly disappeared when Suliman Kashef took up his long gun. The Basha had but lately, from his own absolute power, advanced him to be the great Sheikh of Sogilàb, and by that means had gained partisans in the family. He had accompanied us as a guide from the commencement of our journey to this place in a very dirty dress, and had all along assured us that we should have a strong encampment of his Kabyles at our side, although he had only provided some bread, but no fodder for the beasts, which were completely disabled and obliged to live merely on the trees, and with which we were obliged to cross a rapid stream. As he had been created a Sheikh by the Basha (Sheikh betal Divan), he was exceedingly hated by the two other Kabyles of Sogilàb; and I, who knew him well, watched him, lest he should play us any treacherous trick. He was soon afterwards shot with a pistol, in the middle of his people, in the village of Sogilàb, by one of our Magrabis (Mogrebins), who had been sent for the purpose, without his death being avenged or the Magrab being punished by the Basha.

On a signal-gun being repeated, a small boat appeared, similar in size and construction to a moderate fishing-cauf. We saw men plunge from the left shore into the flood, and this cauf became animated with human beings from Gos Rajeb: soon afterwards the bold swimmers landed, having been carried here and there by the current. A strong arm grasped, at my feet, the root of the tree affording me shade: “Oh, uahet sheïtàn keweiss!” (“Oho, a fine ghost!”) said my huntsman Sale, whilst he held my pipe under my nose, and gave a horse-laugh. A woman’s breast, just disclosed from under her ringlets, and confiding in heaven, appeared first on the top of the waters, and then dived back again. Shaking off my lassitude, I threw myself upon the ground to offer an assisting hand to the poor creature. A nut-brown Amazon, of the clearest complexion, a true picture of most luxuriant youthful strength and vigour, stood naked up to her dripping rahat (girdle of strips of leather) upon the end of my carpet. Throwing off from her head the Ferda (a long cotton cloth with ornamental borders, worn by all these people of both sexes, and exactly the same as those found in the Egyptian tombs), she smoothed it, slung it round her hips over the right shoulder and the head, soundly rated Sale, and then ran away laughing because I understood her Aggem, (heathen language, or rather what is not Arabic,) uttered by her deep hoarse voice, as little as she my Arabic cur, quomodo, quando. Recovering from this unexpected fright, I followed her, and learned that these Bishari had come from the Kabyles of Wood Naga, on the Atbara, for the purpose of conveying across our cattle. The wildly beautiful damsel had grown up from a child in this employment, which was her greatest pleasure. Stronger and bolder than any of her nearest relations, she had lost her voice by lying in the damp in her night-quarters on the shore, expecting for some time the retreat of the army, said to be nearly annihilated, for the sake of the profit (four piastres or girsh, about one shilling,) on every camel and horse.

The old boat, which had been concealed out of fear of the rapacious Haddendas, and had become leaky, was drained of the water, after it became certain that there were no other vessels near. This tribe of the Haddendas is always at war with all the neighbouring races. The Haddendas, whose territory here borders on the right shore of the Atbara, above the equally marauding Anafidabs, swim over in a small daring body, take very coolly the vessels from the left side which are to transport the people waiting on the right shore to pillage and murder, and then hasten back with the booty so much the more securely.

Suliman Kashef invited me to cross over immediately with him, but I could not venture to entrust my collections and camels to the thoughtless and timid servants; I therefore remained behind, and by his directions ordered durra, the corn of this country, for the exhausted animals, and bread, or rather flour, and meat as supper for myself and my men. We had already, at Gohr el Gash, beaten the camels to make them go into the water, and yet there were others sent before to set them a good example; but here it was far worse, for there was a depth of from forty to fifty feet to swim in.

The beautifully hunchbacked camels from Beni-Amer were abused as being hashim (stupid, silly), because they feared the water. Water-skins were inflated and fastened to the breasts of these animals, which were driven before us in a drove, with as much trouble as those that bore burdens and were tired. The guides, holding the long halters or ropes, plunged into the Atbara before them, and curses, cries, pushes, and the unmerciful Nabùt (a stick four feet long and an inch thick) assisted in sending the camels after them. Several of the animals, and also three or four horses, from Taka, which had no opportunity of learning to swim, for the beasts at the time of the inundation are driven into the Gallas, or elevated parts, were drowned, without their loss being mourned, except by the owners. On the march to Taka, we had here in the month of March nearly ridden through, dryfooted, on pebbly ground, where we now, in September, found the Atbara a powerful mountain stream. A motley mixture were we, of about 20,000 men, white and black cavalry (Turks, Magrabis, and Shaïgiës), dromedaries, and pack-camels, and more than 4,000 asses for the infantry, which, when they heard the numerous hyænas or lions prowling about their confined quarters, struck up a horrible concert. Two field-pieces, moreover, alternately drawn by mules and camels trained for the purpose, chests containing 3,000 axes for cutting through the forests, and a quantity of powder upon the camels, which, though piled up very equally between numerous fires, “Alla Kerim,” did not trouble us in the least. Yet I must not here speak of that campaign, and narrate the scenes and recollections that obtrude themselves on my mind, but I intend to publish them as they are set down in the journal I had with me on that occasion. Fodder and provisions arrived as I had ordered; that portion of the train which still remained on this side commended my advice, and determined, as darkness was coming on, to pass the night on the right shore. After I had discovered a clear place quite close, we left the bush and lay down there, to be secure, and to protect ourselves from being struck with a lance to the ground before we could even fire a shot. In a short time several little fires blazed, and there was cooking, roasting, and baking of pancakes and bread. I slept, in the meantime, behind the barricade of my chests, in order to keep watch during the night with the Circassians and Turks. Notwithstanding we were all very tired, I was fully persuaded that those Muslims would watch, as they had brought with them as slaves some pretty brown girls, whom they had purchased in the camp of Kassela, out of the booty of Mount Basa. The following day we crossed over to the other side. My Hamàl, or camel-servant, Hammed, took his great favourite camel himself by the rope and swam before it; but he soon returned back to me disconsolate, for his murkeb (ship), as he called it, caught by the strong current, had broken the cord, which was made of the bark of a tree, just as he had found a favourable resting-place upon a sand-bank close by. Nevertheless, he trusted every thing to the size and sagacity of his beast, and immediately disappeared from my side. On the following evening I saw him again in Gos Rajeb, but without murkeb. I voluntarily belonged to the last party that crossed,—two old Turks, a Kurd, and myself with my servants. On the moment of pushing off, some Arabs sprang on my chests, but the tall stout Kurd, whom Suliman Kashef had sent over to me as a Charon that might be entirely depended upon, struck two of them into the water at the same time with his oar as if with a flyflap, by which the miserable skiff was nearly upset. At the head of this boat sat the Kurd in great state, in shirt and breeches; on the luggage was enthroned Sale from Mahass, his ferda thrown loose over his shoulders, enjoying himself on merissa (a kind of beer). At my feet squatted the Turks upon the wet planks, in full dress, with heavy pistols in their girdles; behind them, on the brim of the obtuse stern, I had my place, dressed in a light gauze shirt, so that if the wind came on and threatened to drown the others, I might not, in case of necessity, be looked upon and seized as a raft. Certainly this Kurd, who was very much relied on for his skill on the water, had assured me, on his head, that I might, in case of an accident, ride upon him, as upon a river buffalo (gamùss el Bah’r—hippopotamus); but I preferred to depend on myself, and the more so, because the Atbara is not broader than the Rhine at Bonn. The Turks said their prayers, shook their heads involuntarily at every stroke of the oar, to which they calmly resigned themselves as their directing fate; for this vibrating motion of the turbans, which are set generally on decayed vertebral columns, always takes place, especially in steam-vessels. My corpulent hippopotamus, the Kurd, laughed and made fun at them whilst moving round the sand-banks and along the steep broken shore, without their answering him a single word.

Gos Rajeb means the Hill of Rajeb, from a Sheikh or saint, who first settled here. Though only appearing to our eyes a village, yet it is esteemed in this country as an important commercial city, the inhabitants of which are partly merchants from the Nile, and partly Nomads of the family of the Shukuriës, Bisharis, and others. The latter have renounced the rights of their race (gens, genus), and left their peculiar alliance (Kabyle, from Kab’l); being, like other wild animals who have been caught, dressed and also protected by the halo of their founder. But their Sheikh asserts that the old stock of the inhabitants is an indigenous people of the soil from the earliest times (min aslu).

I lay there, towards evening, upon an angareb (a convenient bedstead, made of thongs of camel-skin twisted cross or check wise), and looked back towards the two rocky hills of Herrèrem, on the other side of the river, where last night might have proved a bad one to us. These rocks with their magnificent ruins had deceived us brothers before, in the same manner as they did the learned Burckhardt, for the here commonly called “Kenisse betal Kuf’r” (Church of Kafirs or Unbelievers) composes chief of the fore part, so that we climbed up with much labour. Moreover, the City of the Nazrani (Christians), said (according to the statement of the Sheikh who accompanied me at this time, by command of the Basha, from Gos Rajeb,) to have been larger than Masr (Káhira), might have been very extensive, as I convinced myself by the tombs, and especially the foundation-walls of cities, and burnt masses on the north-east of Herrèrem; so that the word Kenisse, which is here only applied to a Christian monument, is not without significance in the mouth of the people. The market, as we see at the time of the greatest height of the water, points also directly to this uninhabited spot, as an ancient emporium between the tribes of the inner countries and the Red Sea. On our present arrival at the Atbara, I had remarked, about an hour’s walk to the south of this rock, some three hundred paces from the right bank, not only tombs and tiles, but also a tolerably large though low shelf of rocks, of an oblong form, the sides of which shewed niches and cavities seemingly made by the hands of men. I had just tied my obstinate dromedary to a tree to graze, and had turned my back to him, when he broke loose and started after the team, which had trotted before; whereupon, the completely exhausted Archæologist no longer surveyed his little Acropolis without pillars and temples, but ran after him, and forgot everything.

Suliman Kashef, reclining also on an angareb, overhung with a magnificent Persian carpet, presided like an incipient Basha, over a divan placed at his feet, of mats made from palm-leaves, on which there sat some inhabitants of Gos, and the neighbouring Sheikhs. A silver drinking-cup passed from his hand to mine, and again to his, whilst the Sheikhs were looking as if interrogating one another, and my Circassian neighbour became more and more talkative. We drank wine which a merchant of my acquaintance had brought with other provisions thus far, though he did not dare to press forward to the camp. “Dauer!” (medicine), said the Kashef, with averted countenance, and his face of the colour of japan, when a fellow, attempting to be witty, shewed a desire to drink with him. In the very same moment, he exclaimed “Shuff el Marassin” (Look at the pimp! or bad fellow.) The Haddendas announced their tardy arrival at the Atbara, by setting fire to some hundred tokuls (plural tàkela,—straw-huts formed like a cross with pointed roofs), which Ahmed Basha had ordered to be erected for the cavalry.

The further narration of the journey to Khartum (to which place we arrived in a westerly direction across the country of ancient Meroë, and through the wide extended, treeless, but excellent pasture-land of Butàna and over Halfaia,) I withhold for the present for the description of my later expedition to the much spoken of, but hitherto only visited by me, Mandera, Nasùb, Kheli, &c., in the south-eastern part of Meroë. In Halfaia, which may be called a city from the castles of earth or clay (Kasr, called by the Baràbras Hosh a castle) of poor petty kings (Moluk, sing. Melek or Mek), who are robbed by the Turks, and extremely badly, or not at all pensioned, Suliman Kashef left us in order to cross over to the neighbouring Kárreri to see his family. So also did Melek Hammed, who was generally reckoned the bravest among the so-called Shaïgiës. He was the son of Wu-Mahmùd, the last king or toparch of Dongola, who was murdered by the Memlukes (Mamelik). We were great cronies, and I was sorry for him when the Basha sent him away from the camp; because, by his unfortunate attempt to connect himself and the men under his command with the well-known Nim’r, he had given grounds for being dreaded the most of all the Shaïgiës. It is incredible how extensive the knowledge of this robber-king was with respect to the details of the topography of the whole country,: these are, as it were, family secrets, which are only disclosed, as a particular favour, over the goblet.

The sight of the Nile had already rejoiced my heart at Halfaia, but this was still more the case at Hubba, opposite Khartùm, where I became accurately acquainted with the border of the blue river. I learnt to value its extraordinary height so much the more, because it promised to be exceedingly favourable to our voyage of discovery to the level of the White Stream. We fired off our muskets, and let the camels lie down, when our shots were answered from the windows of the divan, or the house of the Basha. The Chasnadar (treasurer and steward of the Basha) had recognized me with a telescope, and had sent me immediately a comfortable vessel belonging to the great man. Every one hurried to Hubba to receive intelligence from the seat of war; and it was plain to be seen that the people would rather have heard of Ahmed Basha’s being with the devil than coming to Khartùm.

The east wind soon brought us to the other side. I, for my part, slipped away under the narrow trellised windows of the Harim, where I heard women’s voices calling “Hakim Bashi” “Hakim Bashi,” to the lower part of the great earthern palace, where they pulled me in through the window—so that I had not to make a great circuit—on account of the water which had overflowed. If I was not exactly among old friends, yet I was again among acquaintances who, at least, appeared to be pleased at seeing me, and who, with one voice, asked after the Hakim Bashi Yussuf, my brother, who was very much missed in Khartùm, and whom they were accustomed to see always with me. But there sat again Suliman Kashef behind the wine-flask of the Basha, in the jolliest humour, laughing and boasting what he had done in the meantime, and yet that he had arrived before me. A profuse breakfast was served, at which also Selim-Capitan was present, who was forced to drink some wine. The great guns were fetched, and, being placed at the windows, thundered out the announcement that it was a Turkish rejoicing. In order also to deceive the people, orders were given to fire the cannons, which was done without delay, we being looked upon as messengers of victory. Abdalla Effendi, the Wakil or deputy of the governor, came in at this alarum, greeted us, and wished us joy of the victory at Taka; but, as a worthy Moslem, he soon withdrew his potent nose, that he might escape for a time the scandal of drinking wine. At last there appeared on the scene another godly person, of the purest breed, whose heart burned to hear tidings of the Effendi—whom may the Prophet protect! (Ahmed Basha also bears, like all great dignitaries, the title of Effendina, in Turkish Effendim or excellency, and the great Basha, Mohammed Ali, is then for distinction called Effendina Kebir.) This was the great Kadi and Bishop of Belled-Sudan, who was the only one before whom the Basha, who was just of as pure blood, rose from the divan, and permitted to sit on his right hand close to his ear. The great man, as the master, having once taken, remained in his seat, which looked towards the principal door of the hall, and allowed him to place his legs under him conveniently. Turkish etiquette is carried to a great extent, and requires a kind of study.

We two slightly saluted each other by bending forward the right shoulder, because the Basha, shortly before the march to Taka, had called me and my brother his right and left eye, which saying he was obliged to repeat here, in order to excuse his friendship towards Kafirs. Conscious of his dignity, the high-priest sat down upon the place of honour in the corner of the reception-room, at the right hand as you enter. In the great audience-hall of the Basha, this elevated seat of honour is over the divàn, covered with a red or blue velvet cloth with gold or silver embroidery, and deeply fringed, with low pillows set round it; but there are days when scarcely a Mohammed Ali, or the Sultan himself, is allowed to sit upon this, or any of the seats in the public divàn. The word Divàn signifies not only the broad sofa running round the wall, or the sitting of a ministerial council, but every sitting on business transactions and conversation in council, as well as the hall and even the building in which this takes place, and also the reception-room in private houses. The servants in attendance had been dismissed, but the Kadhi, who being a Magarb, knew wine, and had himself in our house praised the Spanish as the best. He had, moreover, not disdained a cordial made of the same by my brother, which he took as a stomachic medicine, but pretended now not to know anything of the new Turkish labour in the vineyard of the Lord in conspectu omnium, and only gazed upon the Chasnadàr with his cunning eyes. The latter, a Circassian, who had grown up in the service of Ahmed, went into a room close by, and brought the poor man a golden or gilded kupa with a cover; whereupon the grand inquisitor sipped his refreshing draught with much goût, carefully covered again the vessel and placed it close by him at the window. The Chasnadàr, who, close to me, was arranging himself in his place, said, in his excitement, much louder than was necessary, “el Spitzbub kebir,” and clapped his hands for the servants. The Kadhi Kebir had received this name at the suggestion of the Basha, when the latter, just as the Kadhi left him, asked us how a misaur is called by the Nemzas; and my brother immediately answered Spitzbub (rogue), which those close around the Basha received with real ecstasy. However, Misaur means properly a talkative fellow,—ergo, a liar and knave;—Faki, or Fakir misaur, denotes a hypocrite or lying priest, the number of whom here is legion in proportion to the population, by whom the Faki (plural Fokra) are not generally held in esteem. The Kadhi did not concern himself about this title of honour, but, with the utmost tranquillity, drank his champagne out of the ciborium, in pious draughts.

Nevertheless every thing was soon prepared for the departure of the expedition. The north and north-east winds, although not constant, as is usually the case at the beginning of November, and which generally commence here after the rainy season, had invited us for a long time to take advantage of the high water, that threatened to engulf Khartùm at the end of September from both sides of the river. Nothing was wanting except the arrival of the two French engineers, who squatted two-and-forty days in Korusko, because Arnaud would not pay temporarily, out of his own pocket, for the hire of some camels, which they required over the number allowed to them in the Firman or teskerè, to convey their baggage through the desert.

Sabatier, the younger of the Frenchmen, confessed to us, without disguise, that he, for his part, could not have paid for the camels, as he had already borrowed money from his colleague, Arnaud, before they reached Korusko; and he accused the latter of having unjustifiably delayed his journey, for the purpose of putting off the expedition till the following year, and to pocket the pay of a bimbaschi (major) during the interval, in spite of their beards. This is quite consistent with the character drawn of him by his own countrymen and the Franks. Eternal regret for the lost forty-two days! Without this delay, our voyage might have had quite a different result.