DT 123 .J27 1883 ^ James, F. L. 1851-1890 The wild tribes of the Soudan LIBRARY OF PRINCETON JUL 2 4 2003 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY THE WILD TRIBES OF THE SOLDAN AN ACCOUNT OF TR-WEL AND SPORT CHIEFLY IN THE BASE COUNTRY BEING PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND ADVENTURES DURING THREE WINTERS SPENT IN THE SOUDAN BY F. L. JAMES, M.A., F.R.G.S. LIBRARY CF PRiNCETON JUL 2 9 2003 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY NEW YORK DODD, MEAD, AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1883, By dodd, mead, and company. TO THE MEMORY OF THE HONOURABLE JOHN CONSTABLE MAXWELL, ON A PREVIOUS JOURNEY IN THE SOUDAN, THIS RECORD OF OUR WANDERINGS IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. PREFACE. I FEEL that some apology is due for adding another to the numerous books of travel that have been written, during the last few years, on Africa. My excuse must be the interest always taken in whatever relates to Africa and the African, and the fact that a considerable part of the ground trav- ersed — namely, that through the Base country — was terra incognita^ and had not been explored previous to our visit. The Base, or Kunama, tribe, who inhabit this district, are far more uncivilised than any other people who dwell in that part of Africa. They are of a totally different type ; much blacker, and more closely allied to the pure negro, than any of their neighbours. To penetrate into the heart of their country, had for some time been with me a cherished project; and I had often discussed its feasibility with Egyptian offi- cials and others in the Soudan, during previous journeys made in the country, but had been invariably told that it was next to impossible to accomplish my desire. On all hands we were informed that the Base were most treacherous, and that, although there was not much danger of their attacking so large a party as we were by day, they would not hesitate to take advantage of us during the darkness of night, if an opportunity presented itself. My narrative will show that a little tact and care on our part overcame these V vi PREFACE. obstacles, and we became the best of friends. Our chief difficulty was in first entering their country, and in setting their minds at rest as to our peaceable and non-political intentions towards them. On one occasion only, when our party was divided, we had good reason to believe that they meditated an attack ; but, on their discovering that we were apprised of their intentions, they apparently gave up their project, and we never had cause to suspect them again. The only travellers that I could hear of, who had ever ven> tured into this country, were a Mr. and Mrs. Powell, who, together with their child, had been treacherously murdered by the Base ; and even they had not advanced very far into their territory. The map of the Base country that accompanies this vol- ume was made by my brother, Mr. W. D. James, assisted by Mr. Aylmer, from astronomical observations taken with a sextant every night. They carefully mapped out our route every day by aid of the sextant and prismatic compass. It adds a portion, however small, to the map of Africa. The woodcuts were all done in New York, from my brother's and Mr. Aylmer's photographs, and are specimens of a branch of art in which Americans excel. I would, in conclusion, ask the indulgence of the public for this effort of one who for the first time publishes a record of his daily life and experiences in Africa. F. L. J. Sept. 19, 1883. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Page. We leave Cairo for the Egyptian Soudan. — The Base Country. Egyptian Officials. — Quarantine Regulations. — Our Party. — Servants of the Party. — Ali the Cook. — Shereef the staid and stately Waiter. — Mahoom. — The Agra's Passengers ^ i CHAPTER n. Arrival at Souakim. — The Wakeel. — Thieving Propensities of Egyptian Officials. — Encouragement of Slavery. — Souakim. — Caravan-routes from Souakim. — Ala-ed-Deen Pacha. — The Governor's "Palace." — Bedouin Government Prisoners. — Omnipresence of Greeks. — Dhurra. — "Hotel du Soudan." — Curious Manner of dressing the Hair. — An African Hurl- ingham. — Story of the Seven Virgins. — Departure from Souakim . . lo CHAPTER III. The First Halt. — The Rainy Season. — The Camel-sheik comes for Bak- sheesh. — Three Caravan-routes to Cassala. — Disputes with the Camel- drivers. — Gazelles. — Management of Camels. — Halt at Siterabb. — A Piteous Tale 22 CHAPTER IV. Journey continued. — Buck Gazelle shot. — More trouble with the Camel- drivers. — A rose-breasted Shrike. — Sand-storm at Ellegua. — Jules taken ill. — Death in Camp. — Takroori Woman abandoned by her People. — We divide the Camp. — Mishaps of those left behind. — Christmas Day at Wandi. — "Molly" 27 vii CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. Page. We divide the Camp. — Part start for Cassala. — The Rest remain at Wandi. — Continued Ilhiess of Jules. — Dhiirra runs short. — Departure from Wandi. — Khor Belag. — News of the First Party. — A Deserted Village. — Omri. — The Belgian Doctor. — Halt at Khor Rassay. — Pnaraoh's Lean Kine. — Desolate Tract of Country. — Scorpions • - • • 35 CHAPTER VI. Arrival at Felik. — The Gash. — Abundance of Game. — Cassala reached. — Encampment in the Dry Bed of the Gash. — Caravans on the Cassala Road. — The Governor of Cassala. — Servants sent from Sanheit. — Death of Jules 41 CHAPTER VII. Purchase of Camels. — Expedition to the Atbara. — The Village of Naouri. — Mosconas and his Son. — White Ants. — Dinner with the Governor. — The Town of Cassala. — Hyenas. — Pariah Dogs. — Collections for European Zoological Societies. — Hiring Camel-drivers. — Strike of Souakim Ser- vants. — Departure from Cassala. — Bashi-Bazouks 47 CHAPTER VIII. Journey from Cassala. — Game shot by the Way. — The Dog-faced Baboon. — Arrival at Haikota. — The German "Animal-catcher." — Visits from two Sheiks. — Sheik Achmed Ageer. — Attack on the Beni-Amers by the Base. — Fresh Supply of Camels. — Dinner to Sheik Achmed and the German. — Success of the Magic-Lantern . . . ; 60 CHAPTER IX. Departure from Haikota. — Mahomet Salee. — Abundance of Game. — Halt at Toadelook. — Tetel. — Adventure with a Lion on the Prowl. — A Shoot- ing Expedition. — Fifty-seven Sand-grouse netted. — Night-watches in Hopes of a Shot 71 CHAPTER X. The Camp moves forward. — Scarcity of Game. — Water easily obtainable. — Difficulties of the Journey. — Baby Crocodiles. — Sheik Achmed rejoins the Travellers. — A Battue. — Mimosa-Trees. — Road-cutting through the Jun- gle. — A Buffalo Adventure . ,78 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER XI. Page, Arrival at Wo Ammar. — First Interview with Base. — A Base Village. — Giraffe-stalking. — The Village of Koolookoo. — Deputation from the Vil- lage. — 7\ie Sheik's Son makes himself "generally useful." — Presents for the Deputaf.on. — The Koolookoo Villagers much interested in us. — Visit to the Village. — Women of Koolookoo 86 CHAPTER XII. Scarcity of DJutrra. — A Number of Base join our Camp. — Water-Carriers. — Another deserted ViMage. — Ceremony of making Peace. — Friendliness of the Base Women. — The Mareb. — Buffaloes seen for the First Time. — More Base join the Camp. — Exciting Stalk after an Ostrich. — A Leper. — Game abounds . . . . ' 95 CHAPTER XIII. Aylmer and I start for Ma Ambasah, and find Water. — A Chase after Buffa- loes. — Both Barrels at Once. — A nasty Recoil. — A Visit from Sheik Kudul. — He departs, promising to return. — The Camp moves to Ma Ambasah. — Two Bull Buffaloes killed. — Some of the Camel-drivers sent to Amedeb for Dhiirra 107 CHAPTER XIV. Disastrous Adventure with Abyssinians. — Akabah brings the Alarm. — Two of our Party surprised by a Hundred armed Abyssinians. — Making Friends. — Treachery of the Abyssinians. — Mahomet fearfully wounded. — The Search for him. — The Dembelas Tribe. — Contemplated Expedi- tion against the Dembelas abandoned 116 CHAPTER XV. We leave Ma Ambasah. — Arrival of Mahomet. — Doubts of the Base. — A Picturesque Scene. — Sport, or Exploration ? — The Medicine-Chest. — Death of Mahomet. — Two of the Party start for Amedeb. — Difficulty of keeping Camels. — The "Guffer" Disease. — Dilatoriness of the Arabs. — Poverty of the Base. — The Barea Tribe 127 CHAPTER XVI. Our Journey to Amedeb. — History of Sheik Said Carcashi. — The Bombashi. — Promises Aid in recovering the .Stolen Property. — Ras Aloula. — Town of Amedeb. — Pere Picarcl. — Mahomet's Sister. — Return to the Mareb . 137 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVII. Page, Alarm of an Attack by the Base. — Our Camp moves on. — Independence of the Base. — Elephant-tracks, — Most of the Base leave the Camjj. — A Shot at a Lion. — Difificulty of vShooting while riding Camels. — The Arabs strike. — Abundance of Quail 144 CHAPTER XVIII. Return to Haikota. — Mishaps with the Camels. — Success of the Magic-Lan- tern. — Departure for the Settite. — The Village of Sogada. — Arrival at the Settite 153 CHAPTER XIX. The Road to the Settite. — The Everlasting Forest. — Sheik Achmed's De- ception. — Fishing in the Settite. — The Camp moves on. — The Guides and Camel-Drivers refuse to proceed. — The Return to Khor Meheteb. — Adventure with a Crocodile. — A Scare 158 CHAPTER XX. Encampment at Khor Meheteb. — Good Fishing. — The Kelb-el-bahr. — Cap- ture of a Baggar. — A visit from Base of Lacatecourah. — Tracking Buf- faloes. — Arab Escort sent back to Haikota. — Baboons. — Exciting Night among the Buffaloes 168 CHAPTER XXI. A Visit from two Hamran Sheiks. — Fresh Sport among the Buffaloes. — A Shereker. — A Second Visit from llamran Sheiks. — They offer to guide us into their own Country. — Three Base join the Cam]). — They are attacked by the Hamrans. — Moosa's Discharge 178 CHAPTER XXII. Departure for Om Ilagar. — Good Sport. — Arrival at Om Hagar. — Buffalo- Tracks. — Capture of the First Hippopotamus. — Visit from Hamran Sheik's Son. — The Last Hippopotamus. — Marabou Storks. — Purchase of a Tortoise. — A Splendid Buck AW/w/" shot 189 CHAPTER XXIII. Extracts from Diary. — Bait set for Lions. — Mosquitoes. — Among the Buf- faloes agam. — Beginning of the Homeward Journey. — Journey towards Lacatecourah. — The Village of Lacatecourah. — K Boiinc-Bonche . . 202 CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER XXIV. Page. Encampment at Abou Sellal. — A Native of the Base Settite. — A Dabergoum Sheik, offers to conduct us to the Base Settite. — Base Villages on the Settite. — Capture of a Boa-constrictor. — Arrival at Haikota. — The Beni- Amer's Raid on the Base. — A Visit from Sheik Achmed Ageer. — His Lame Apologies 211 CHAPTER XXV. Immense Flocks and Herds. — Night-Watch for Lions. — Two Panthers killed. — Two Lions bagged. — The Camp moves on. — Religion of the Base. — Origin of various African Tribes 220 CHAPTER XXVI. First Day's Journey towards Amedeb. — A False Alarm. — Arrival at Ame- deb. — Journey continued. — Khor Baraka. — Another Watch for Lions. — Thrilling Adventure with a Lion. — News of the Stolen Rifles and Horse, 232 CHAPTER XXVII. Perilous Ascent of Tchad- Amba. — The Church. — The Monks. — We move on again. — An Old Acquaintance. — Arrival at Sanheit. — The Town of Sanheit. — A Last Attempt to recover the .Stolen Property. — A Visit to the Church and Schools at Sanheit 240 CHAPTER XXVIII. We start for Massawa. — Dra's Sad Story. — The Anseba Valley. — An Attempt to make India-rubber from the Quol-quol Plant. — El Ain. — Bashi-Bazouks and their Prisoners. — We encamp at the Water-course Camphor. — Occasional Sudden Rising of the W^ater in the Khors . . 251 CHAPTER XXIX. Arrival at Massawa. — Comfortable Quarters at the "Palace." — Situation of Massawa. — Water-Supply of Massawa. — The Town is guarded at Night. — Camel-Sale by Auction. — The Start from Massawa. — Perilous Position of Mahoom 260 CHAPTER XXX. Arrival at Souakim. — A visit to Mr. Bewley. — Our Fellow-Passengers on the "Messina." — Arrival at Suez. — Accounts of Abyssinian Raid in English and Egyptian Press. — Suleiman's History. — We leave Cairo for England, 267 THE WILD TRIBES OF THE SOUDAN. CHAPTER I. * We leave Cairo for the Egyptian Soudan. — The Base Country. — Egyptian Offi- cials. — Quarantine Regulations. — Our Party. — Servants of the Party. — All the Cook. — Shereef the Staid and Stately Waiter. — Mahoom. — The Agra's Passengers. On Dec. i, 1881, we left Cairo for Suez, en route for the Egyptian Soudan, with the intention of exploring the Bas6 country, a small tract lying between Takar (an Egyptian prov- ince, of which Cassala is the principal town) and Abyssinia. We were going chiefly for sport ; and, the Base country being almost if not entirely unknown to Europeans, we hoped to be successful, especially as it had not previously been shot over, and, moreover, lies in a part of Africa inhabited by many dif- ferent kinds of game. We knew that in all probability there would be considerable difficulties to encounter in exploring the country ; as only a small part of it, and that a part where there is little or no game, belongs to Egypt, and consequently no help could be expected, but rather hindrance, from the Egyptian officials in endeavouring to carry out our programme. They naturally dislike the possibility of sportsmen running the risk of getting into trouble with tribes bordering on their frontier. The Base are the betes noires, moreover, of all that part of 2 AN UNPROMISING OUTLOOK, the Soudan, and have the character of being a very treacherous and unfriendly people ; so that it was not only on the part of the Egyptian officials that we expected to have obstacles thrown in our way, but we felt sure that we should have considerable difficulty in getting camel-drivers and servants to undertake the journey. Then, too, the Base, dwelling as they do between Egyptian and Abyssinian territory, would naturally be jealous of any one entering their country through that of their power- ful Egyptian neighbours, and might think, that, instead of being bent purely on travel and sport, we were really come on behalf of the Egyptian Government, to endeavour to squeeze taxes out of them, and to reduce them to submission. On our arrival in Cairo, we heard that we should probably be delayed for some three or four weeks before we could find a steamer to take us to Souakim (the port on the Red Sea from which we wished to make our start into the interior), owing to the existing quarantine regulations. In consequence of the prevalence of cholera in India and at Aden, all steamers going from an Arabian to an African port were subjected to quaran- tine on their arrival. The only regular steamers calling at Souakim are those of the Khedivial Company ; and they, as a rule, call at ports on both sides of the Red Sea, in their voyages up and down. The steamers of the Rubbatino Company are also advertised to stop at Souakim, but they are, at the best of times, most irregular; and, when we wished to go, their "fleet" had been reduced to one steamer, the " Messina," and even she had, for the time being, been withdrawn from the service, owing to the quarantine. Most of the steamers, moreover, were keeping to the Ara- bian ports, while several were being done up at Alexandria : so that there was only one steamer, the Zagazig," performing OUR PARTY. 3 the service between Suez and the African ports, and she had started before we had collected our party together. In this dilemma, we fortunately were able to induce the British India Company's steamer "Agra" to stop for us at Souakim, on her way out to India. This was most lucky for us, as we grudged spending more of the cool weather at Cairo than we could help ; the heat in the Soudan becoming very trying by the spring. The "Agra" was delayed in the canal, and instead of leaving Suez on Dec. 2, as she should have done, did not start until the 7th : this was, however, fortunate, as one of our party (Colvin) was to join us there from Australia; and, had she started on the right day, he would have been too late, as he did not arrive until the 4th, running it rather fine. He had come straight from Adelaide, in the " Chimborazo," one of the Orient line, without touching anywhere : and she had been a few days late in starting. Before embarking at Suez, I may as well introduce our party to my readers. It consisted of seven, besides servants, — G. Percy V. Aylmer, R. B. Colvin, E. Lort Phillips, my two brothers, the Doctor, and myself. Of these, all except Colvin and the Doctor had made an expedition together, during the previous winter, into the Bogos country, on the Abyssinian frontier ; and my brothers and myself had, four years previous to that, travelled via the Nile and Atbara Rivers, as far as the River Settite : so that we were not novices in African travel, and, moreover, — a most important consideration in undertaking such an expedition, — we felt that we should get on well together. As we were so large a number of Europeans, we thought that it would be prudent to have a doctor in the party. I undertook the task of finding one, and found it no sinecure. 4 ADVERTISING FOR ''THE DOCTOR:' As I could not hear privately of any one willing to accompany our party, who seemed suitable, I considered the best thing to do was to advertise in the principal medical journals ; I also put an advertisement in the Times" and "Athenaeum." The result was, I was inundated with replies. Some of these were most amusing. The evident difficulties some of my correspondents found in describing their personal qualifications may be best illus- trated by the following extracts from some of their letters, which I here subjoin. One, after stating that his age was forty- three, and that he had never had a day's illness, went on to say that he possessed " a disinfectant, unknown to the profes- sion, for the prevention of fevers ; also, the means of curing the same without medicine." He had had more experience in the treatment of fever than most medical men in England. His concluding sentence we all thought delicious, and felt he was quite the man to rough it in Central Africa. I again quote from his letter : " I like a cigar after my dinner and supper, with a glass of mild ale, and meals at regular Jionrs ; so that I call myself an abstemious man, and one to be depended upon day or night." Another applicant kindly observed, "If the expedition is of a scientific character, I should not object to take professional charge, provided that I am allowed to obtain a sufficient stock of Jaborandi (?), Warburg's tincture, and other prophylactics against marsh-fever, without which it would be unsafe to venture into that country, or to permit others to do so. Furnished with these, I would, using proper precautions as regards sanitation, food, and clothing, face the Terai or the Gold Coast without fear or hesitation. I have an excellent constitution, delight in tropical climate (barring swamp), am never sea-sick, and accustomed to rough travel, and to carry my life in my hand. Like all old Westminster QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES, 5 scholars of my time, I can cook, do any kind of rough-and- ready housework, row, fish, shoot, and, I'm sorry to admit, fight if occasion demands it, and also keep my temper under almost any provocation. I have the reputation of being a scholar, and I believe I may say a gentleman. I forgot to state that I pick up languages rapidly, am a tolerable connoisseur in art and cookery, play whist, piquet, and chess well for an amateur, and don't drink or gamble ; and that I am a member of the Church of England, as my father's son should be." We felt that the field for this gentleman to display his taste in art as well as in cookery would be somewhat limited in the countries we proposed visiting, although his pugilistic skill might prove of value. We, however, fully appreciated the kind care he was anxious to take of us. His concluding sentence was most cheering in case of any sinister accident : I am engaged in devising a series of tests to determine whether peo- ple are really dead before they are buried ; and Egypt is a good country to make observations of this sort in." One applicant wrote of a man whom he eulogized as fol- lows : It will be found on inquiry, that Dr. is highly and most respectably connected. He is good-looking though unassuming, jovial yet refined, and strictly abstemious. He is about to commence practice for himself. When he does, his unpretending amenity, simplicity of manners and deportment, combined with his great acumen and high professional attain- ments, are sure to meet with success." We felt that this gentleman's "deportment and unpretend- ing amenity" would be quite thrown away on the wild tribes of the Soudan ; and passed on to another letter in which the writer, after enumerating every place marked on the most extensive map of the West Coast of Africa yet published, all 6 SERVANTS OF THE PARTY. of which places he stated he had visited, went on to say he had "attended Ocko Jumbo's son, made the acquaintance of King Ja Yj at Opobo," and that he was "on the most inti- mate terms with King Ockei." We felt that this gentleman was accustomed to altogether too high society for us, and we could promise him no royal acquaintances in the part of the Soudan we were about to visit. I shall only trouble my readers with one more quotation, and that from a telegram I received from a French doctor ; in which, after stating his terms, which were qiiatre mille francs pour dciix inois, payes d' avarice, ct tons Ics frais du voyage,'' he went on to say that he required " nne cJiambre a part, et ne vent pas itre obligd de snivre ces messienrs dans lenrs excnrsions de cJiasse " ! For servants we had with us George Reason, an Englishman who had accompanied us during our journey into the Bogos country ; and two Swiss, Jules and Anselmier ; these made up the European contingent. The native servants that we took from Cairo consisted of Suleiman Daoud, our head man and a most excellent fellow ; he had been with us on our last expe- dition, and was for nearly five years with Sir Samuel Baker when he went as head of the Egyptian government expedition to the White Nile and equatorial lakes : Shereef the waiter, very staid and stately, never ruffled or put out by any thing, slow, but an excellent man in his particular line, keeping the canteen, his special care, in first-ra^e condition throughout the entire journey : Ali the cook, a native of the Soudan, a most important functionary, and a very good servant ; he was with us during the winter of i^yj-'j^, and on one occasion when with us at Cassala, he asked leave to get drunk, urging as his excuse that some gentlemen, with whom he had travelled several times previously, always allowed him to do so at that place ; he had consequently got to look upon it as a sort of " TARTAR." 7 special privilege belonging to the place ; a lecture was deliv- ered to him on the sin of drunkenness, which I believe he regarded as a sort of permission to get drunk ; for he got very drunk, but not before he had sent us up a most excellent din- ner, and, as far as I know, he never afterwards offended in this respect ; Mahoom, a coal-black negro from the White Nile, a boy of sixteen, speaking both English and Arabic. Mahoom was originally captured by some slave-traders on the White Nile, in a raid that they made against a village ; he was freed by Col. Gordon, the late governor-general of the Soudan, and given to Dr. Felkin at Khartoum. Dr. Felkin was the medical man in charge of the Church Missionary Society's expedition to Uganda, and took Mahoom with him to that place. He had returned with the doctor to England, where he had spent some months ; hearing that we were going to the Soudan, Dr. Felkin was glad that we should take the boy with us, in order that he might escape the cold of an English winter. Of these four servants, the only one who did not speak Eng- lish easily was Shereef. On asking him, at Cairo, if he spoke English, he replied in the negative, but added that he spoke "too much French." His powers, however, in that respect, we found were very limited ; but, as most of us spoke a little Ara- bic, "too much French" was not required. We brought with us from England two dogs, — a setter and a fox-terrier, "Tartar." The former, when he was put in the dog-box of the train at Cairo, to go to Suez, was in perfect health and spirits ; but when we came to take him out at Zag- azig, a station about half way between the two places, where we had to change trains, he was dead. They had been poisoning a great many dogs at Cairo ; and he must have been poisoned, probably on the morning we left. "Tartar" stood the climate very well : he would run with the camels all day, and sometimes, 8 FELL O W-PASSENGERS. when tired, we let him ride on some of the baggage. He would often run on ahead of us, and rest under the shade of some tree ; and then, after we had passed him some distance, he would catch us up again. Once or twice we feared we had lost him. He was very fond of chasing gazelles, — which it is un- necessary to add he never caught, — and he sometimes went so far after them that we lost him for hours. Several times he reached the camp long after the last of the caravan had arrived : he had, no doubt, found and followed the scent of the camels. Among the Agra's " passengers, we had two officers of the Blues." They had come out to Egypt hoping to be able to make an expedition into the interior, from either Berbera or Tajourah, ports opposite Aden, but had been obliged to give it up, and had decided on landing at Souakim. There were also three or four saloon-passengers, bound for India, who had come out in the " Agra " from England, and were not at all delighted, after their long delay in the canal, at the prospect of a further delay through going to Souakim, as it would cause them to be two days longer on their voyage to Kurrachee, to which port they were bound. We found eight or ten Persian pilgrims, deck-passengers, far more interesting than the Anglo-Indians. They were dressed in parti-coloured robes resembling dressing-gowns, and wore the high felt Persian hat, and, though extremely dirty, were decidedly picturesque. These unfortunate men had set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca from Bushire, at the head of the Persian Gulf ; and some of them had saved up their money for years with this object in view. After about a month's voyage, they had arrived at Jeddah, the port for Mecca, only to find that they might not land there. There was, at the time of their arrival at Jeddah, cholera in the LONDON VS. MECCA, 9 Persian Gulf ; and as it had not reached the Arabian ports, they were not permitted to land. They consequently had to go on in the steamer ; but were not allowed to disembark either at Suez, Algiers, or Lisbon, at all of which ports they touched, and so were carried on to London. There they had spent three or four weeks ; and the British India Company had sent them to the Aquarium, Crystal Palace, and other sights, keeping them at the expense of the company. I should say they had a far more agreeable time of it in Lon- don than they would have had at Mecca ; and surely, under the circumstances, it would help them as well on their road to para- dise as though they had in reality been enabled to say their prayers at the sacred shrine, and to have drunk, at their source, the sacred waters of Zem-Zem. As the pilgrimage season was over, it was of no use for them to land at Jeddah when the Agra " called there after leaving Souakim ; and consequently they were on their way back to Bushire. Two or three of the original band, better off than the rest, had, we were told, left London for Paris, intending to travel overland ; and one had discovered a Jioiiri in London, with whom he was living in Bayswater. CHAPTER II. Arrival at Souakim. — The Wakeel. — Thieving Propensities of Egyptian Officials. — Encouragement of Slavery. — Souakim. — Caravan-routes from Souakim. — Ala-ed-Deen Pacha. — The Governor's " Palace." — Bedouin Government Pris- oners. — Omnipresence of Greeks. — Dhicrra. — " Hotel du Soudan." — Curious Manner of dressing the Hair. — An African Hurlingham. — Story of the Seven Virgins. — Departure from Souakim. After a very uneventful voyage, we reached Souakim about noon of the i ith. The day before, we had had heavy rain ; and the day we landed was very cloudy, with occasional heavy show- ers. We were much surprised at finding wet weather in that part of the world, but afterwards discovered, that, although rain by no means always falls at that time of year, yet it is the sea- son of coast rains. On our arrival, we called on the Waked, or government agent, Achmed Effendi ; he offered us rooms in the "palace," which we were very glad of, though it was decided to remain for that night on board ship. Mr. Brewster, the custom-house officer, and Mr. Bewley, were at that time the only English residents in the Soudan. The former had been there some time ; but the latter had only just come from Jeddah, where he had lived as partner in a trading- firm that had set up a branch establishment at Souakim. On our return to Souakim in the spring, we found Mr. Brewster had left, and that a native had taken his place, whose pay would perhaps be less, but who would in all probability far more than 10 A MONEY-MAKING WAKEEL, make up for that by well lining his own pockets at the expense of the government. As a rule, Egyptian officials, both high and low, go to the Soudan only in order to rob for themselves as much as possible during the time they are there ; and, when they have feathered their own nests as well as their opportunities allow them, they give place to others, whose ambition it is to follow them in the same noble course. These Englishmen were most kind in help- ing us, and allowed us to leave some things, that we did not require to take with us, in their care. We saw very little of the Wakeel Achmed Effendi, and did not hear at all a good report of him. We were told that he was doing anything but discouraging the slave-trade ; that, on the contrary, he took a bribe of two napoleons for every slave that he permitted to leave the port, and that the chief of police took one in addition. Some slaves had been lately seized, and a great to-do made about them • but this was because the hush- money was not forthcoming. The entrance to the harbour o_ Souakim is narrow and long, and steamers can only go in by daylight ; the entrance is well marked out by beacons, but there are dangerous reefs outside. Our captain had never been to the port before, and did not seem at all to relish taking his vessel in. There is not anchor- age in the harbour for more than four or five steamers at a time. The town, which is built of coral, is rather picturesque-look- ing, though of a glaring white ; and it boasts of one or two minarets. The carving of some of the doors and window- shutters of the houses is most elaborate, and of a different pattern from any I have seen in Cairo. I was told that there was a great deal of the same kind of work at Jeddah. The town is built on an island, which is united to the main- land by a causeway which Col. Gordon had made when he was 12 ROUTES ACROSS THE DESERT. governor-general of the Soudan. Its population is about eight thousand ; and it is the chief port of the Soudan, and the outlet of the great bulk of the trade of the White Nile and Khar- toum. The great caravan-route from Souakim is that which, crossing the desert, strikes the Nile at Berber, a distance of two hundred and forty miles ; not the road to Cassala, which we followed. Its trade, however, is not increasing, owing to the present low price of gum, its chief export in Europe, and to the restrictions on the slave-trade. Formerly slaves could be purchased with cotton-cloth imported from Manchester ; and the slaves were made to carry ivory, ostrich-feathers, etc., to the coast : now this " branch of industry " is done away with, although more mer- chandise finds its way to Europe by Souakim than by the other great outlet, that via Berber and Korosko on the Nile, I made the journey up the Nile, from Cairo to Korosko, dur- ing the winter of iZjj-jZ, and from thence across the desert to Abou Hamed, following the banks of the Nile to Berber. The desert journey from Korosko to Abou Hamed is a most severe one : the distance is two hundred and fifty miles of the worst desert imaginable, with nothing for the camels to eat, and only one well, the whole way. The heat, too, during the greater part of the year, is terrific ; and the consequent mor- tality among the camels that make the transit, very great. In crossing this desert, we saw two regular slave-caravans, consisting of boys and girls, probably from the White Nile or Darfour, travelling in the direction of Korosko. They were all trudging wearily through the heavy sand, while their owners rode on camels which the slaves led. Many doubtless perish on the journey. Besides the Berber and Korosko route, and that from Berber to Souakim, there is a third road much used by Soudanese tra- QUARTERED IN THE ''PALACE: ders. This road follows the banks of the Nile to Wady Halfah : it is chiefly made use of by caravans coming from Darfour and Kordofan, provinces to the west of the White Nile, that pro- duce great quantities of gum. The Nile is struck at a small village called Debbe, about latitude i8° north, whence goods are conveyed by boats as far as Dongola, where the cataracts ren- der farther navigation impossible ; and then camels carry them to Wady Halfah at the second cataract. The journey is then resumed in boats to the first cataract, where a railway five miles in length carries the goods below the cataract to other boats waiting for Cairo or Alexandria. The Egyptian government had just separated the Red-Sea ports Souakim and Massouah, together with the country be- tween them, and Cassala, Sanheit, the town of Cassala itself, Gedariff, the Hamran country, Gallabat and neighbouring jDrov- inces, from the rest of the Soudan. Ala-ed-Deen Pacha, who had been for a long time governor of different parts of this country, was made supreme governor ; and Ali Reza Pacha, for- merly governor of the Red-Sea ports, was deposed. The latter was much hated by the people. Our steamer brought this news to the inhabitants of Souakim ; and, Ala-ed-Deen being much liked, the people testified to their joy at this change of govern- ment by getting up an inipromptu illumination, chiefly by means of little oil-lamps which they hung in front of their houses. We were very glad to be able to live in the "palace," during our stay at Souakim, instead of being obliged to live in tents, as it rained more or less every day. We were given two rooms on the first floor, in one of which we slept, while the other was assigned to our servants and luggage. Our meals we took either on the verandah, — which was very broad, and looked on to the sea, — or in the large passage, or rather hall, out of which our rooms opened. Although every thing was open, the huge GOVERNMENT PRISONERS. windows being without glass, but with shutters in its place, and plenty of air stirring, we found Souakim extremely hot and "muggy," and were anxious to leave it with as little delay as possible. The ''palace " is built at one end of a large court- yard, one side of which faces the sea, and forms the sea-wall. On the right-hand side a double staircase led to our apart- ments ; and the courtyard was entered from the street by an imposing gateway guarded by soldiers, over which a most formidable-looking lion carved in stone held sway ; his tail, which was of extraordinary proportions, stuck out straight. I think the idea of the lion was chiefly ornamental ; though, guarding as he did the entrance to the divan, he may have been intended as a symbol of power likewise : he was certainly looked upon as an object of admiration by the inhabitants. We encountered a very sad sight every time we either entered or left the courtyard. In one corner were huddled together some forty Bedouins, mostly men, with a few women and children. They were all from the neighbourhood of Jed- dah, and were government prisoners : they had chains on their legs, and were living in a state of captivity from no fault of their own. It api^eared that a number of Bedouins had crossed over to Souakim with their camels, intending to settle in the neigh- bourhood, and breed camels. As, however, they quarrelled with the Arabs of the country. Col. Gordon, who was then governor of the Soudan, gave them nine thousand dollars compensation (they having originally obtained permission to settle where they were), and sent them back to their own country. On Col. Gordon giving up the governor-generalship of the Soudan, and leaving the country, a number of them returned, determined to try again what they could do. Ali Reza Pacha, who was then governor of Souakim, thought this an opportunity not to GREEK TRADERS. 15 be lost, for raising a little money. As he could only squeeze two thousand dollars out of them, and this did not satisfy him, he put them in irons. When we arrived, they had been living a year in the court- yard in this way, and, although government prisoners, were obliged to provide their own food. Their camels had died off in great numbers, and many of the men also had succumbed to the bad treatment they had received. Some of them (guarded by soldiers) were allowed to live with their camels, a few miles out of Souakim, where there was food for their beasts. Achmed Effendi had actually made them lately believe, that, if they would give him forty dollars, it would help towards freeing them. They subscribed this amount between them, which of course went to line the worthy Effendi's pockets, the result to the Bedouins being nil. They had no shelter from sun or rain ; and some of the poor little children were suffering from fever, which our doctor did what he could to alleviate. We left forty dollars with Mr. Brewster, who promised to expend it during the winter in food, which he kindly offered to distribute among them. On our return in April, he told us he had been able to buy a great deal of rice and dJmri^a with the money, and that the poor people had been most grateful. We were glad to find the wretched prisoners flown on our return, as the first act of Ala-ed-Deen Pacha, on his arrival in the spring, had been to set them all free, and this he had done before being an hour in the place : he had moreover allowed them to live somewhere to the north of the town if they wished to* do so; and many of them availed themselves of this permission, instead of return- ing to their own country. It is to be hoped, that, in the many changes that have recently taken place in the country, they will not have been oppressed again. We found a number of Greek shops in the town, and the i6 DHURRA, place was well supplied with meat. Greeks are to be found everywhere : there is no place too out-of-the-way for them to thrive in, and they make money wherever they go. A great many of them, besides selling bad spirits, beer, and groceries, add considerably to their incomes by lending money to the natives, of course at usurious rates of interest. No vegetables are grown, and the whole of the surrounding country is desert. The nearest village is Tokar on Khor Baraka, two days' journey away; and there, after the rains, a little dhurra is grown. Dhurra (the sorghum viilgare of Linnaeus) is the staple article of food throughout the Soudan : it contains a great deal of starch, and is said to be more nourishing than wheat-flour. The natives cook it in a variety of ways, and add beans or onions, when obtainable, to it. Horses will not thrive unless they get a daily supply of it, and a small quantity is of great use in keeping the riding-camels in good condition. In crossing, too, such a desert as that between Korosko and Abou Hamed, it is necessary to carry some for the baggage- camels as well : it is wonderful on how little food they can do, when pushed to it. A Greek has set up a small shanty, which he dignifies by the title, " Hotel du Soudan," and advertises hot and cold baths. Fortunately we had no occasion to try its merits, otherwise than by sending some clothes to his wife to be washed : for these she charged us at the rate of two dollars per dozen, counting a pair of socks as two articles ; so that what they lacked in custom, they evidently tried to make up in their prices, when, as they say in America, a stranger happened to come along." Beyond the island on which the town is built, Souakim con- tinues for some distance in suburbs, containing a somewhat extensive if not very inviting bazaar. ARABS LIKE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 17 The camel-drivers, who mostly belong to the Hadendowa tribe, live on the mainland. Most of them wear long hair standing up straight on the crown of the head, and of a fine but woolly texture, while that at the back of the head generally reaches to the shoulders, and is sometimes worn in plaits : when properly dressed, the whole is covered with fat, and a wooden skewer, by way of comb, stuck in it. We saw one or two men with their heads covered with fat that had been mixed with grated sandalwood, and presented a red-ochre appearance : these, we were informed, were about to enter the marriage- state. The hair is, with all Arabs, a source of pride ; and the men of various tribes may frequently be distinguished by little dif- ferences in their mode of dressing it. No traveller in these parts can fail to be struck by the great similarity in physique, and general appearance, of many of the wandering tribes of Arabs, to the ancient Egyptians as depicted on the walls of their temples and tombs. The mode of wearing the hair is identical ; the curious little w^ooden pillows they use for their heads when sleeping are exactly of the same form and make as those which may be seen in museums containing ancient Egyptian curiosities ; as, too, are also the chairs that they use. A very intelligent Greek, whom we afterwards met in Cassala, and who had given some attention to the study of the language spoken by the Hadendowa Arabs in the neigh- bouring country, and had, moreover, some knowledge of hiero- glyphics, told us that there was often a striking similarity in many of their words. My brother Arthur in 1877 made the journey from Souakim to Cassala ; meeting the rest of the party, who had taken the Nile route, in the interior. He had with him a Hadendowa Arab, who had originally started as guide to the caravan from i8 AN ARAB'S HAIR-DRESSING. Souakim to Cassala; and this Arab accompanied him all the way to Cairo. Throughout this journey, his hair was a constant source of anxiety to him. He could not dress it himself, and, on leaving Cassala, was soon beyond the region of his own tribe. His delight was unbounded when he met a woman of his own people on the Atbara River, who, on being rewarded for her pains by the promise of an empty beer-bottle, under- took to dress his hair, — a process that occupied a good two hours. He reclined, during the process, with his head in the lady's lap ; and the crowning joy of all was anointing the plaited tresses with the musky fat of the crocodile, the horrible odour of which clung to him for days, to Jiis great satisfaction, but to the great discomfort of our olfactory nerves. The largest building in Souakim is a storehouse and cara- vanserai in one, built on the mainland. It was erected by a native, for the merchants to leave their goods in while waiting for transport, and cost eighty thousand dollars. It was built almost entirely by slave-labour, otherwise it would have cost fully a third more. The builder and owner was formerly a government employe, at a hundred and fifty piastres (or about thirty-one shillings) a month ! During our stay at Souakim, we were, of course, very busy arranging and re-arranging our luggage. Sir Edward Malet, H. B. M.'s consul-general in Egypt, had very kindly tele- graphed from Cairo to have camels ready for us. His telegram, I have no doubt, hastened matters ; but there is always consid- erable delay in making a start. Sheik Attman Galani, the sheik of the camels that traverse the Cassala road, — a very fine-looking Arab, with a great idea of driving a bargain, — paid us several visits before we finally arranged matters. We went out fishing once or twice, but did not catch much, STORY OF SEVEN VIRGINS. 19 our chief capture being a ground-shark weighing eleven pounds. The amount and variety of fish in these waters are something extraordinary, and many of them are of the most gorgeous colours ; but, to meet with much success, it is neces- sary to go some little distance outside the harbour, where we found the water often unpleasantly rough when anchored and fishing from a small boat ; and we were, moreover, so busy making preparations for our departure, that we had no time for lengthy excursions. One afternoon some of the Greeks of the place, together with Mr. Bewley, went off to a sandy island to shoot sand-grouse that some Arab boys had caught. It was quite Hurlingham in Africa; but the birds were thrown up in the air, instead of being released from traps, and very difficult shots they proved. The derivation of the word Souakim, or Souakin (for it is spelled indifferently both ways), is a curious one. In the lan- guage of the country, it is called Sowagin (Anglice\ " together with the gin, or fairy"). The story runs, that seven virgins inhabited an island in the Red Sea, where there were no men, or people of any kind except themselves. Some fishermen one day visited the island, and found the women enceinte. Their offspring colonised the mainland, and founded Souakim ; and the present inhabitants are descended from them. The ladies declared that genii were the fathers of their children. We were very glad to turn our backs on Souakim, and make a start for the interior, which we did on Dec. 15, about two o'clock in the afternoon. We left behind the two officers of the " Blues," who had travelled with us from Suez : they were busy buying camels, always a very slow and troublesome undertaking. They got off, however, soon after we did, and by following the bed of Khor Baraka, and the Anseba, reached Keren. From thence they made their way to Furfur, on the 20 HIRING AND BUYING CAMELS. borders of the Dembelas country (where we had been the pre- vious winter), but were rather disappointed with the sport they obtained. One of them succeeded in penetrating to some of the Dembelas villages, — a feat that had only been previously accomplished by the Marquis Antinori, the Italian traveller, the country being almost terra incognita : he reported it to be very hilly, and impassable for camels, but found the people friendly, possessing better houses than their neighbours who were under Egyptian government, and he observed more ap- pearance of cultivation. He saw very little game. Most of our provisions we had brought from England, which we found more economical than getting them in Cairo. Our outfit had been chiefly obtained from Silver in Cornhill, and nearly every thing we got from him proved satisfactory. We paid five dollars and a half each for our camels to Cas- sala, a distance of about two hundred and eighty miles. Our personal property in beasts of burden, which was destined after- wards to increase to considerable proportions, commenced from this date. My brother Arthur bought a very good hygeen, or riding-camel, at the upset price of a hundred dollars. He had formerly belonged to Ala-ed-Deen Pacha, and, though slow, was very easy in gait, a great desideratum. His name was "Bel- lus;" though what "Bellus" means, I am sure I don't know. My other brother also bought a hygeen from an Arab, who rode after us with it, when we had gone an hour from the town ; for this animal he gave forty dollars, and forthwith christened him Snodgrass." These camels brought them both back eventu- ally to the coast, but they were about done for when they arrived. Colvin and Aylmer each bought a horse, the only specimens of the equine race of which Souakim could boast ; they were wiry little animals, and came from the Hamran country. Al- AN UNCOMFORTABLE START. 21 though they carried them to Cassala, they never recovered from the hardships of the long desert-journey, and one of them died soon after its arrival there. Most people, after they have once become used to them, find camels far less fatiguing to ride than horses, for long desert- journeys ; and they are certainly much more suitable to the country. A most uncomfortable start we made from Souakim : the rain, which we had been daily favoured with, came down in tor- rents soon after our departure. Although in the winter months rain is unknown in the interior, at the time we landed in Africa it was the season of coast-rains ; and rain might be daily ex- pected until we could put some miles between us and the sea. CHAPTER III. The First Halt. — The Rainy Season. — The Camel-sheik comes for Baksheesh. — Three Caravan-routes to Cassala. — Disputes with the Camel-drivers. — Gazelles. — Management of Camels. — Halt at Siterabb. — A Piteous Tale. In a regular African deluge, and wet to the skin, we pitched the tents. Some of the provisions became saturated with rain, which got, too, into our portmanteaus. The drivers were all quarrelling about their loads, and our halt for the night was made only an hour and a half's march out of the town. The camel-drivers always try to accomplish this, as they say it enables them to run back if they have forgotten any thing : it means, of course, too, a late start on the following day. The Egyptian tents we had had made in Cairo were decid- edly fine-weather tents, and, although admirably adapted to a dry climate, were not so agreeable for a wet one. Tents soon spoil if often packed up wet, as they get mildewed, and rot. We consoled ourselves with the reflection that the bad weather could not last long. The rain stopped before we went to bed, but came down faster than ever in the night ; and we had to jump out of bed to rescue bags and clothes, and set to work to dig trenches round our tents to drain the rain off, — a precau- tion that had been neglected before going to bed. The natives were delighted with the rain ; for, although it was the season when they expected it, it often happens at Sou- akim that there is none, or next to none at all, during the whole year. 22 A GREEN DESERT. 23 The desert was carpeted with the most beautiful grass of a very vivid green ; the dwarf-mimosa bushes, of which there were plenty, were bursting into leaf ; and the plain was covered with cattle, goats, and sheep, while numbers of camels wan- dered from bush to bush, or grazed on the fresh grass, a rare treat to all animals in these regions. The cows in these parts often prove very obstinate when they are wanted to keep quiet in order to be milked. The natives often resort to the expedient of holding a calf-skin, which the cow to be milked has previously smelt, at some little distance from her nose ; then she will keep quiet, and submit to the process of milking, without any further trouble. The next day, although we rose at dawn, it was nearly noon before our camels were loaded, and a fresh start made ; more rain falling during the process of packing. The camel-sheik, intent on baksheesh, arrived while we were at breakfast : we gave him a small present, and promised him the same on our return, if our camels, and the men in charge of them, proved satisfactory. There are three roads between Souakim and Cassala, all more or less traversed by caravans. The one we took kept close to the telegraph-wires the whole way, and is the shortest. A second follows, for the greater part of the way, Khor Baraka,' and, although considerably longer, is probably more agreeable, as there is more shade and water by this route. Khor Baraka runs into the sea a little to the south of Souakim, near Tokar. The third road follows, almost all the way, a mountain range, a little to the west of our route. The Arabs said there was more water on that road than on the one we took ; but it is rather longer, and very stony, which is trying to the camels ' ICkor signifies a stream or river that only flows during the rainy season, and is quite dried up during the dry. Bahr means a flowing river that never dries up. 24 TROUBLE WITH CAMEL-DRIVERS. with their spongy feet, especially when they are laden. On our route, there was scarcely any grass the whole way ; and what there was, was of course, at the season of the year in which we travelled, completely burnt up ; it was mostly very fine in texture, and as brittle as spun-glass. The grass that had sprung up in consequence of the rain lasted only for twenty or thirty miles after leaving the town, by which time we got out of the rainy zone. The greater part of the country was sparsely covered with mimosa-bushes, mostly leafless during the dry season, and af- fording no shade. In some places there were bushes covered with leaves of a most brilliant green. The branches, and espe- cially the roots, of this shrub {Capparis sodata), are much prized by the Arabs as tooth-brushes : they are very fibrous, but I doubt if they have any special cleansing properties. The teeth of these dark-skinned people are nearly always very white : this is, no doubt, partly due to their very simple diet, and also it is certain that the strong contrast afforded by their dark skins makes them appear whiter than they are in reality. We commenced to have trouble with our camel-drivers on the second day's journey from Souakim. The caravan had been allowed to go on ahead, as we had stopped behind with the camel-sheik, trying to bargain for another hygceu, but without coming to terms ; and, on overtaking it, we found the camels were off feeding, and their loads on the ground. We were anxious to get out of the rains as quickly as possible, and had given orders that they were to make a late march. Sulei- man and the other servants had done all in their power to make them continue their journey; but the camel-drivers had insisted on stopping at four o'clock, after a march of less than five hours. On being pressed to go on, they had threatened Sulei- RATE OF PROGRESS. 25 man with their spears, which had been taken away from them, and tied together in a bundle. It was not only important that we should get out of the rains as quickly as possible, but more so that we should let the men see, at the very outset of our journey, that we were the masters, not they, and that they w^ere to do as they were told. Accord- ingly we insisted on their loading up again, which they did very quickly; and just at dusk we resumed our march, not halting until 9. 15. On our right was a high range of mountains, through which led the road to Berber ; while on our left a level, sandy plain, covered with green grass and low scrub, stretched to the sea. We experienced great difficulty in pitching our tents in the dark, as most of the men were new to the work ; and as we were only just commencing our expedition, no one knew where any thing was, nor what was required of him. Every thing was wet, and it was very difficult to make charcoal burn ; so that it was 12.30 before we had dined and could go to bed. We had seen a few gazelle {Gazella Aralnca), and a herd of ariel {Gazella Dama), but all very shy. Each year they become less numerous on the caravan-routes ; and my brother Arthur, the only one of the party who had made the journey before, said they were far less common than when he passed over the same road four years before. The following day we got an eight-hours' march out of our camels, and without any great difficulty with the drivers : they had begun to know their loads, and the inevitable squabbling that takes place at starting was nearly over. An eight-hours' march for the caravan is as much as can be accomplished with comfort. As soon as the loads are taken off at night, the camels are turned out to feed ; at dusk, unless there is a moon, they must be collected in camp again, to be 26 A PITEOUS TALE. driven out to feed at break of day. To accomplish more in the day than eight hours, means getting up at a more than abnormally early hour, and continually hustling the camel drivers to bring in their camels ; or, it means pitching your tents in darkness, and getting dinner very late. In eight hours the caravan will accomplish twenty miles, and the same distance can be got over on fair hygeens in about four or five. The start should be made in advance of the baggage-camels, so as to allow plenty of time for shooting, and for the midday halt. Besides the discomfort to the traveller if camels are con- stantly pressed to do more than eight hours, they do not get sufficient time to feed ; as, when on the march, all they can get, of course, is a mouthful of food snatched now and then as they are travelling, and they otigJit to have time given them to feed morning and evening. The country gradually became less green, as we augmented the distance between us and the sea ; heavy clouds hung about, the air was close and sultry, and we had some heavy showers. We wound through some rocky hillocks before pitching our tents, and finally encamped in the sandy bed of a kJior, at a place called Siterabb, near the first water out from Souakim, and where there were a few huts belonging to the telegraph- people. The following morning, a very wretched-looking old woman came to us with a piteous tale of how she had been robbed of her all, — a few dollars she had saved, — by the telegraph-people. I gave her a dollar, and her joy was unbounded: she insisted not only on kissing my hand, but my boots ; and I began to feel that there was such a thing as excess of gratitude, — at any rate, that it could be expressed in too demonstrative a manner. CHAPTER IV. Journey continued. — Buck Gazelle shot. — More Trouble with the Camel-drivers. — A rose-breasted Shrike. — Sand-storm at Ellegua. — Jules taken ill. — Death in Camp. — Takroori Woman abandoned by her People. — We divide the Camp. — Mishaps of those left behind. — Christmas Day at Wandi. — "Molly." The country, as we travelled on, was monotonous, but not unpicturesque, owing to the hills to our north and south, and the glorious tints caused by the setting sun in a tropical climate. First, we traversed a sandy stretch with no bushes growing on it, only tufts of dried grass here and there ; then, a patch of stony ground, covered with low mimosa-bushes without leaves, but furnished with horrible thorns ; followed by a similar waste, with the addition of very occasional 7iedduk-hush.QS {RJiammus lotus) This tree bears a fruit very much resembling minute apples in appearance, about the size of a hazel-nut : it is, however, not very palatable, being dry. Juicy fruit is, perhaps, too much to expect in such a burnt-up land. In some parts of the country, 7iebbuk^yx^\i^s> are extremely common : they are covered with very formidable thorns, as are most of the bushes and trees of these regions ; the leaves are always green, and, when growing thfckly together, form an all but impenetrable jungle. The fruit is relished by the Arabs, as well as by guinea-fowl, monkeys, and many other animals. We saw very little game, and what we did see was very shy, and rendered additionally difficult of approach, from the very 27 28 FIRST GAME SHOT. open nature of the ground, which made stalking any thing but an easy process. Aylmer was the first to draw blood, having shot a buck gazelle the day before. The next day we had some further trouble with our camel- drivers. We had started ahead of the caravan, and shot a couple of gazelles, when one of our native servants suddenly appeared, to tell us that three of the camels were lost. This was all nonsense in reality, and only a ruse in order to give the camels more time to feed, and to let the men dawdle about. We turned back ; and, when we met a number of the laden* camels that had just started, we unloaded some, and over- loaded others, so that we got two empty ones ; with these we returned to our late camp, and loaded them with the baggage that was left, and which belonged to the camels supposed to be lost. We started them after the others as soon as possible ; but it delayed us very much, and we only accomplished a six- hours' march. The lost camels were soon found, and the baggage re-arranged. We passed some huts in the afternoon, near to which water could be obtained, although two or three miles off the road, at a place called Sankcreet : accordingly a camel was left behind to bring a supply, and we travelled on some distance farther, before halting for the night. Birds of any kind were very scarce ; but Lort Phillips shot a rose-breasted shrike, a kind of butcher-bird I had never met with before. Dec. 20 was a blazing hot day, and the last on which we had any rain, and that only, a slight shower early in the morn- ing. We marched rather over ten hours to make up for lost time, journeying along a plain from twelve to fifteen miles wide, between the ranges of hills. Khor^s became rather more numerous, and were wider, showing that we were nearing a A SEVERE SAND-STORM. 29 country where there was a greater rainfall : otherwise it wore much the same aspect, except for occasional rt7/^;^;;/-palms Cucifcra T/iebaica), a new feature in the landscape. A long halt being made in the middle of the day, darkness overtook us ; and, losing what there was in the way of a path, we began to think the night would be spent in the open without any dinner. Our servants lighted great fires to guide us to the tents, and fired shots, so that at last camp was reached, but very late, as we had gone a considerable distance out of our way, the direct road having left the telegraph-poles une distance on its right. As a rule, the camel-path and the V ire kept close together. In the night a tremendous wind got up ; and all hands were busy driving in extra tent-pegs, and tightening the ropes. The sand blew about in all directions, and half smo- thered us. Sleep was impossible, and I never spent a more disagreeable night. The name of this enchanting spot w^as Ellegua. The following morning Jules complained of a bad attack of vomiting and diarrhoea. Our men declared that they must stop until noon to water and feed their camels, so that we did not feel that we had gained much by the long march of the pre- vious day. The water was three miles away, in a gorge in the mountain. In order to hurry their movements, two or three of us faced the blinding storm, and went with them to the water ; and, what with, the heat and sand, it was any thing but a pleasant task. Had this operation, however, not been super- intended, we should have been at Ellegua all day : as it was, we managed to get eight miles farther on our way, and pitched our tents near Khor Langeb. The sand-storm continued, and we had the greatest difficulty in finding a spot w^here the ground was sufficiently firm to 30 SICKNESS AND DEATH IN CAMP. admit of our pitching the tents : the tempest, if possible, in- creased during the night. Except that it was not so hot, it reminded me of my experi- ence once in travelHng by rail from Suez to Cairo. Then a violent rhamseen wind got up after we had started ; and, although all the windows were kept closed, the sand on the floor was over a quarter of an inch deep. Some of the car- riages ran off the rails, owing to the driving sand ; and in some places men had to go on ahead to sweep it off the rails, before it was possible to proceed. The heat, too, was terrific, the thermometer in the wind marking 113° F. The sun was, of course, obscured by the sand which rattled against the carriage- windows like hail. It is no joke to be living in tents in such a tempest, and it must be undergone to be thoroughly understood and appreciated. There were a great many dhoum-'^2\m^ near our encampment : previously we had only found them in ones and twos. There were, too, plenty of tamarisk-trees, which were here met with for the first time, and which we were glad to see, as they are a very favourite food of the camel. We had to remain where we were the next day, as Jules was not well enough to go on. George, too, was unwell, and lay down all day in the tent ; and Suleiman, who was never ill, complained that "his stomach bite him plenty." The storm rather increased than decreased, as the day wore on ; and we had considerable difficulty in securing the tents. To add to the general cheerfulness, a death took place in camp. A day or two previously a small band of Takroori pilgrims, returning from Mecca, had attached themselves to our caravan. The Takrooris came originally from Darfour. They have now, however, settled in the neighbourhood of Gallabat, on the Abys- sinian frontier ; and the Egyptian Government has given them <'SEE MECCA, AND DIEr 31 some land on a nun:iber of years' lease, where they cultivate dJmrra. The day before, the Takroori band had been joined by two more men of their tribe, whom we had overtaken on the road. We had not noticed them, and knew nothing of their presence, until Suleiman came to tell us about them, as one was ill. The doctor went to see what he could do for him, and found him lying on the ground, smothered in sand, and evidently hi ex- tremis. We administered brandy, and did what we could ; but he only lasted an hour. The man who was with him, and who said he was his brother, borrowed a spade from us, and buried him there and then. He had died, literally, of starvation and fatigue. It appeared that these people had walked all the way from Gallabat to the coast, a distance of some hundreds of miles. On their return from Mecca, owing to cholera at Jeddah, and in order to escape quarantine at Souakim, they had landed on the African coast, about a hundred miles south of that port. They were entirely without funds, and had lived on what they could beg from the Arabs, who are often kind to passing stran- gers. Such deaths in the desert are doubtless of frequent occurrence, and are bound to be so while these long pilgrim- ages are undertaken, as they often are, by old men and women almost totally unprovided with means, and frequently possessing nothing but the strong wish to see Mecca, and die, which seems to bear them up, and help them through apparently insurmount- able difficulties. The dead man's brother we looked after until our arrival in Cassala, where he left us, and continued his jour- ney south to his home. This event brought to light a still more shocking occurrence that had taken place a few days previously. Among the Takrooris who had joined us soon after leaving 32 LEFT BEHIND TO DIE, the coast, were two women, one of whom was rather lame. As she could not well trudge along with the rest of the party, they simply left her behind to die in the desert ; although her hus- band was with her, it appeared that he was perfectly satisfied to do so. Unfortunately we knew nothing of it, until so long after she had been left behind, that it was impossible and quite useless to send after her. She could quite well have ridden on one of our camels ; but such is the callousness to suffering, and total disregard of life, among these people, that no one of the drivers had thought of asking her to do so. A similar event took place when we were crossing the Great Nubian Desert from Korosko, four years before : then it was one of the camel-drivers that had been left behind to die. We knew nothing of it for several days after ; and, when we ex- pressed our horror at what had happened, they considered they had behaved in a really generous manner by leaving him a small quantity of water and dJiiirra-?io\\x. The sand-storm continued the following day, and Jules was too ill to move. We decided on leaving him behind, as we could not remain any longer at a place where there was no water, and scarcely any food for the camels ; for, though fond of tamarisk-bushes, they would not live exclusively upon them. Lort Phillips and the doctor remained behind with the invalid. After five and a half hours' march through a decidedly less sandy country, we arrived at a kJior called Wandi ; where there was more food for the camels than at the last place, and, moreover, wells of tolerably good water. It was only the se- cond watering-place on our direct route we had come across ; and there were a few tents there, and Arabs with sheep and goats. The next day we spent in camp, hoping that the rest of the party would overtake us. There being no signs of them, on NOT A ''MERRY CHRISTMAS:' 33 the following day, which was Christmas Day, I started off by myself, on my camel, to see how they were getting on ; and, in an hour's time, I found them under a tree. They had left the camp the previous afternoon late, so as to avoid the heat of the sun. Their camel-men had deserted them, and they had lost their way : so they slept out under a tree, which was no hardship, as the nights were warm, and there was no dew. On the morning that I encountered them, they had made a farther march of two hours. When we had left them at Khor Langeb, I had reminded the doctor to see that he had plenty of medicine with him ; as I told him, that, although the Arabs informed us water was near at hand, I knew well from former experience that they were not to be relied on to speak the truth, and that we were bound to push on to water, even if it were two days' journey distant. He had assured me that he had kept plenty with him when we parted ; and yet, thirty-six hours after our departure, all the medicine was finished. Lort Phillips had accidentally discovered the presence of dysentery, and told the doctor of it ; when he found that he not only had no medicine to check it, but had none of any kind left. I remained with Lort Phillips while the doctor went to the camp for medicine : it was, however, eighteen hours after the discovery that the disease had turned to dysentery, before poor Jules had any medicine whatever. In the cool of the afternoon we went on to Wandi, where we spent the rest of anything but a " merry Christmas." Mahoom's master had presented him, before leaving Eng- land, with a plum-pudding, and requested us to let the boy know when it was Christmas Day, in order that he might regale himself upon it. We did so ; and he devoured it with evident satisfaction, doubtless considering the consumption of plum- 34 ''MOLLY'S'' CHRISTMAS CARD. pudding on that day to be one of the religious ceremonies of the British nation, to which he was exceedingly anxious to conform. He was a perfect specimen of the genus heathen, trained on the lines of Exeter Hall. He had brought with him, all the way from Edinburgh, a magnificent Christmas card, a veritable cJief-d' ceuvre of De la Rue's. Intent on presenting my brother with this work of art, he entered his tent about midnight on Christmas night, waking him out of a sound sleep. I fear his kind intention was not appreciated ; as, being only half awake, my brother was not able to take in what it all meant, and greeted him with language that would be any thing but approved of by Exeter Hall. Poor Mahoom retired very much crestfallen ; but, the amende honorable being made the next day, he was happy again. Mahoom was very much given to collecting wild-flowers ; and wearing a huge straw hat minus part of the brim, and clad in what we imagined to be a com- plete suit of his late mistress's underclothing, which he wore with a cord round his waist, he presented a well-dressed and decidedly original appearance, as he wandered about intent on his botanical pursuits. In consequence of the eccentricity of his attire, he received the soubriquet of ''Molly." CHAPTER V. We divide the Camp. — Part start for Cassala. — The Rest remain at Wandi. — Continued Ilhiess of Jules. — Dhurra runs short. — Departure from Wandi. — Khor Belag. — News of the First Party. — A Deserted Village. — Omri. — The Belgian Doctor. — Halt at Khor Rassay. — Pharaoh's Lean Kine. — Desolate Tract of Country. — Scorpions. We decided on splitting camps ; one-half of the party, with the bulk of the luggage, to go on to Cassala, so as to arrange, as far as possible, for another start by the time the rest arrived. On the 27th they commenced their journey; leaving Lort Phillips, my brother William, and myself behind, with the doctor of course, and Jules. It was very dull waiting at Wandi : the heat was very great, and the flies most troublesome. There was no game, with the exception of a chance gazelle and a few sand-grouse, which used to come for water morning and evening, when we shot a few for food. They are not very good eating, being dry and tasteless, and are grouse only in name as far as the ctnsine is concerned, though true grouse from a naturalist's point of view. We were at our wits' end to know what to do : sometimes Jules appeared to be getting better, and then again he seemed weaker. We thought at one time of sending him back to Soua- kim with George and the doctor, but eventually concluded to take him on to Cassala. We were about half way between the two places ; and one objection to sending him back to England was the voyage home, as he suffered fearfully from sea-sickness. 35 36 A NOVEL AMBULANCE. We felt a move would have to be made soon, as the dhtirra was getting finished ; the camel-drivers, who supply their own, had exhausted their supply, and we had to give them ours. The party that had preceded us to Cassala had promised to send us some as soon as they could procure any ; but we knew it was not at all improbable that they would not be able to do so until they reached that town themselves. A breakdown had occurred in about the worst place where such a thing could have happened. Those that had gone on ahead had decidedly the best of it ; for although they had left us the cook, and were obliged to do their own cooking, they were spared all anxiety as to what was to be done with Jules. At last, finding that we could not remain any longer where we were, and by the advice of the doctor, who considered him rather better, and thought that it was important to get him to a place where such things as milk and eggs were obtainable, the order was given to continue our journey ; and we left Wandi on the 31st. We managed to purchase an angarcb from an Arab. An aiigarcb is a native bedstead, made of wood with strips of raw- hide stretched tightly across it. This we fastened to a camel, at right angles to the animal's back, and supported on two boxes : Jules' bed was placed on it, so that he could lie at full length ; and, as a protection against the sun, some men we had hired at Souakim made a matting cover stretched on sticks, and fastened it to the angarcb ; doors were made in it, which could be opened or shut at will. In this way he rode as easily as a sick man could well ride over such a country. We tried hard to get him and the doctor off very early in the morning ; but the camels had been out feeding all night, and took a great deal of catching. We made a six and a half hours' march, and encamped in a NEWS FROM THE FRONT. 37 khor called Belag. Jules was not as much exhausted after the journey as we expected to find him : the dysentery had nearly stopped ; but he was, of course, still very weak from its effects. The country was most uninteresting and dreary, very sandy, with small hillocks covered with friable rock. We scarcely saw a living thing all day. The next day, the first of the new year, was very cool, with a high wind blowing, but no dust, a most agreeable change after the heat we had lately been expe- riencing. The country, too, although any thing but beautiful, w'»s rather less monotonous than most of that we had lately traversed. The road wound in and out between low hills, so th^t one could not look far ahead. This, when travelling in an unpicturesque country, is far more agreeable than journeying over a level plain where you can see miles and miles before you ; there is always the excitement of a turn in the road, and the traveller can indulge in wonder as to what fresh object that turn may show him, in even the tamest landscape. The post arrived from the other party, in the shape of a note fastened to a telegraph-pole, telling us^ where they had en- camped the previous night, and that they were all well, which we were glad to hear, particularly as Colvin had been rather indisposed when he started. We saw a few gazelles, and shot three, to the great delight of our men, who had not been troubled with a plethora of food for some time. We halted while in the middle of the day at a place called Hadaiweb, where there was a palm-grove, and water ; a most agreeable change after the country we had lately passed through. A short distance above the palm-grove, and on a slight emi- nence, we came upon a deserted village, or rather cluster of huts, which had evidently been inhabited at no distant date. 38 BELGIAN TRAVELLERS. The last occupants had left behind them cooking-pots, very neatly made mats, and chairs. These chairs were exactly like many of those made by the ancient Egyptians, to be seen in the Boulac Museum in Cairo, and which I have already mentioned. Some of the huts had holes in the ground, where the women burn perfumes, over which they crouch in order to scent their bodies. We soon came to ;^^^3?^/^-bushes, for the first time in any number ; and also came across the aloe, besides passing several khors bordered with dhotun-'^2\m's>. There were scarcely any birds : doves, which usually abound everywhere, were conspicu- ous only by their absence. We made a march of nine and a half hours, and pitched our tents in a kJior called Omri. There was a considerable differ- ence in the temperature of the nights about this time : instead of the mercury falling no farther than 68° to 70°, it varied from 50° to 55°, which was far from disagreeable after the hot days. On Jan. 2, while on the march, we met a Belgian doctor, returning to the coast. He had been shooting with a gentleman whom he had left in the neighbourhood of Cassala, and had under his care a professional cJiasscnr who was suffering from sunstroke, and was very anxious to return to his native " happy hunting-grounds " in Belgium. He gave us a dreadful account of the heat and mosquitoes at Cassala, and the unhealthiness of the place ; but, as I had once spent a fortnight there, I was not alarmed by his report. Khors increased daily in number. We crossed one very wide one called Aredey : it must have been fully two hundred yards in breadth, with a thick belt of dhoiims on either bank. As there was water a little distance from where we passed over, a camel was left behind to bring some on. We encountered a jackal, that the Arabs declared every night set up an unearthly PHARAOH'S LEAN KINE. 39 howling at the grave of a man lately dead, who had murdered a number of his fellow-creatures. After an eight and a half hours' march, we spent the night near a kJior, where there were more birds than we had yet met with, and we saw green paroquets for the first time. They flew about from one dhoiim-'^2\vs\ to another, uttering the most dis- cordant cry. They are the same species so common in India. The following day we contented ourselves with a six and a half hours' march, halting near Khor Rassay, a more than usually wide river-bed, with a perfect forest of dhotmi-'^2Xms>, and wells forty feet deep, dry in the sand. Here were some huts, a few soldiers, and the Arabs about had plenty of goats ; so we revelled in fresh milk, a great boon for Jules. We observed a few cattle much resembling Pharaoh's lean kine, and, thinking to give our men a treat, sent Suleiman to bargain with their owners with a view to the purchase of one of them. He very soon returned, saying that " the black people no sell hen bulls, only men bulls, this time of year." Although of a decidedly dusky hue himself, he invariably evinced a supreme contempt for what he was fond of designating as "black people." A camel with dJmrra met us here ; the driver bringing a note from my brother, to say he had paid five dollars for the camel's hire, and two and a half for the dJmrra, — very good pay ; but the Arabs are sharp enough in finding out when you must have things, and one sometimes has to pay accordingly. The camel had come from Fillik, the only village on the road, and about forty miles from Cassala. The day's work had been more than usually uninteresting. We crossed several khors, the country between being as deso- late as it is possible to imagine. The mountains we had left, and saw no more till we came in sight of the great mountain at the foot of which lies Cassala, and found ourselves in a wide 40 SCORPIONS. and stony plain, with a few stunted mimosa-bushes growing here and there. The heat, too, was very great, and we saw no game. The next two days' journeys, however, were even more trying. We had thought the country could not become uglier or more monotonous to traverse ; but we soon found that it could, — a perfectly level stretch of country to our right, termi- nating in the horizon to our left, and in front of us a range of hillocks, at a distance of some ten or twelve miles. We occasionally crossed a k/ior bordered with a few bushes and sickly-looking -palms ; the heat being intense, with a total absence of shade. For miles we passed over country without a bush, and covered with a perpetual mirage ; then we would come to a strip on which grew a few dwarf mimosa bushes. In parts the desert was covered with loose stones : as we neared Cassala, however, this gave place to a fine loamy soil, which, no doubt, with rain would be very fertile. Once we passed through what had been, after the rains, a ^//?/rm-field. Of animal life, we came across a few guinea-fowl, and saw a fine buck ariel, the first of the species we had seen since pass- ing the herd near Souakim. While the camels were being laden, we observed a kind of butcher-bird perch itself on the back of one of the camels, and make three darts, one after the other, for something hidden between the bags with which the animal was laden ; at its third dart, the bird fished up a scorpion, with which it flew off in great satisfaction, to devour it at its leisure. Although we often came across scorpions, we were fortunate in never being bitten by any of them ourselves. Some of our servants, however, who slept on the ground, were not so lucky; and Ali the cook was so badly bitten by one that the place did not heal for weeks. On the Cassala road we found a villanously ugly lizard, that lived in dead wood, and which the natives declared to be poisonous. CHAPTER VI. Arrival at Fillik. — The Gash. — Abundance of Game. — Cassala reached. — En- campment in the Dry Bed of the Gash. — Caravans on the Cassala Road. — The Governor of Cassala. — Servants sent from Sanheit. — Death of Jules. Ox\ the 5th we arrived at Fillik, after two very long marches. This place is quite a town, or rather a collection of hamlets, built in a treeless, dusty, waterless plain : all the water re- quired by the inhabitants has to be fetched from wells sunk in a khoi' some distance off, and below Fillik. The town, or village, is composed of conical-roofed huts, thatched with <37/?/rm-stalks. Being very straggling, it covers a great deal of ground, and is the permanent headquarters of the Hadendowa tribe : the families of many of our camel-drivers lived there. In the distance, a long way off, we saw a range of low moun- tains ; the Cassala mountain was ahead, and just in sight ; to our left, and all around us, was a great dismal plain, perfectly flat and without any vegetation. We halted inside the tele- graph compound. Soon after our arrival a telegram came from the governor of Cassala, ordering the authorities to send five soldiers to Wandi to our assistance. The following day, as soon as we had seen the caravan off, we started to look for the Gash, the important kJioi on which Cassala is situated, and which, according to the map, runs very near Fillik. The ground fell a good deal for some distance after leaving the village. We soon came to a narrow kJio7% bordered by very thick bushes and some good-sized trees ; and, 4« 42 ABUNDANCE OF GAME. as there was considerable evidence of game, we did not trouble ourselves about the Gash. The natives told us that a lion prowled about Fillik, and had killed several people. We saw no signs of it ; but when we met the rest of our party, they told us they had heard its roar quite distinctly, having passed at dusk within a couple of hun- dred yards of it, but, their rifles not being handy, they had concluded that discretion was the better part of valour. There were swarms of doves of several varieties ; and al- though, as a rule, these birds are extremely common through- out the Soudan, I am sure we had not seen more than half a dozen since leaving the coast. Guinea-fowl were plentiful, and there were many kinds of bright-plumaged birds, a most refreshing change. The only species of guinea-fowl we ever came across in Africa is the one with the blue comb and wat- tles. There were plenty of gazelles ; and we saw for the first time the beautiful Dorcas gazelle {Gazclla Dorcas)^ which, throughout the remainder of our journey, was far more nume- rous than the common variety {Gazclla Arabica), which prefers the most arid desert. W'e saw, too, several herds of ariel, and had no difficulty in securing abundance of venison for our larder. Three Houbara bustards were shot, and on our arrival in camp we found the cook-boy had caught one in a noose : we were glad to discover sporting tendencies in our servants. I never ate a more delicious bird than the bustard. It is but too frequently the case, that the game of these countries is dry and unpalatable, — at any rate, it would be thought so in civilized countries, — but this bird would be a great delicacy anywhere : its flesh when cooked is dark brown and firm, very much re- sembling that of a goose, and it has a flavour entirely its own. Those we shot were very fat, in excellent condition, and were very good eating, either hot or cold. ARRIVAL AT CASSALA. 43 At a place called Miskenab in the kJior, we found deep wells of excellent water sunk in the sand ; and we sent a camel with the water-skins to fetch some. We made a march of nine and a half hours, having an excellent day's shooting on the way. Another long day's march of eight and a half hours brought us to Cassala, which we reached on the evening of the 7th, twenty-four days out from Souakim. If there had been nothing to delay us, the journey should not have occupied more than twelve or thirteen days. My brother had accomplished the journey in thirteen days, four years before we passed through the country; and that had allowed him a whole day's rest on the way. Jules was, of course, much exhausted after the long journey; but the doctor declared that the dysentery had stopped, and he hoped with good food and rest he would soon begin to pick up his strength. The day we arrived, we spent in looking for game to the right and left of the path, but did not meet with nearly so much suc- cess as on the previous day. The aspect of the country was different from any we had passed through : it had, in fact, be- come quite park-like, and was dotted with numerous dark-green bushes, very like laurels, and so neat-looking that they had quite the appearance of having been trimmed, the only draw- back being that they sprang from dusty soil instead of from green grass. We found the rest of our party quite well. They had been four days in Cassala, and had encamped about a mile from the town, in the dry bed of the Gash, where it was some three or four hundred yards wide, close to the shade of a huge fig-tree, covered with dark-green leaves that afforded most grateful shade. We pitched a tent for Jules under it. Close by was a garden containing orange and lime trees, watered all day long from a 44 DHOUM-PALM MATTING. sakeeyeh, of exactly the same kind as the wheel so well known to Nile-travellers by that name. The others had noc been able to do anything towards buying or hiring camels, and of course all those we had brought from Souakim had to return to the coa:st : their drivers probably knew no other road, and spent their lives in going up and down. Arabs are wonderful fellows for getting into one groove, and sticking to it, and are not at all fond of "fresh fields and pastures new." We had met extremely few caravans on our journey; in fact, I never went over a beaten track in Africa, and saw so little evidence of traffic or commerce. One day we met a cara- van of seventy camels laden with dJuirra, and mats made of the fibrous leaf of the <7%3\ms> ; there we found an enormous bull buffalo, quite dead. He had been standing with his tail towards us, and was shot in the back of the head, the ball lodging in the brain, death consequently being instantaneous. The report caused by the first discharge of the rifle had prevented our hearing him fall, and the second and third shots had evidently been fired into space. He had been killed l)y a single ball in the head ; and we found, on examination, that he was not the bull that had been wounded on the previous day. In the neck we found a conical bullet, which, from its appearance, had been there a long time, perhaps for years ; the skin where it had entered was quite healed up, and had left only a small scar. Curiously enough, my brother's bullet had killed a camel-bird at the same time as the buffalo ; the bird must have been standing on the bull's head, searching for ticks. We "piled arms" behind a tree some little distance off, and superintended the cutting-up process. Having satisfied our- selves as to the bullet that had killed him, and seen that the head was properly removed, we were making for a shady tree, when we heard a great rush, and out bolted the other bull. He must have been standing not more than fifteen yards from the place where we had been engaged in skinning his companion ; and it was most fortunate for us, that he had not taken it into ANOTHER BUFFALO BAGGED. l8l his head to charge us while doing so, for in that case some of us might have come off rather badly. We were not long in starting in pursuit, and soon caught sight of him as he went crashing through the jungle. I ran forward, and fired a snap-shot ; but unfortunately, as I have already mentioned, my ten-bore had got out of order, so that the concussion produced by firing off the right-hand barrel (and that loaded with spherical ball) set off the left-hand one at the same time. My hat went flying off, the recoil nearly knocked me backwards, and I was half deafened. My brother had fired at the same time I did ; and one or both of us had hit him, as there was fresh blood on his tracks. We followed him to some very thick dhoitm-^?\m covert, where we could not penetrate. One of the natives climbed a tree, and reported that he saw the buffalo in the palms, and that he was badly wounded, but not dead. We did all we could to drive him out, but he would not move. Finally my brother climbed a tree that overlooked the clump of stunted dJioinns and grass into which he had betaken himself, and gave him the coiLp-de- grdce from the top. On examination it proved to be the bull that had been wounded in the night ; the bullet had hit the near fore-leg. We returned to camp in time for luncheon, with the two finest buffalo-heads that had so far been obtained, and well pleased with our morning's work. At four P.M. the same afternoon, Aylmer, Lort Phillips, and I started for the water in Khor Meheteb, intending to spend the night there where the others had been so successful. The nights had become very hot ; and we slept in the open air on the ground, on a slight eminence overlooking the water. We heard a lion roar during the night, and several noises we could not distinguish ; but nothing came to drink, nor were there any signs that game had been there the previous night. 1 82 SHEKEKERS. We found a great many Beni-Amers from Haikota en- camped in Khor Meheteb, who had quite an encampment two or three miles lower down than where we had spent the night. They were there chiefly for the purpose of entrapping animals, their mode of doing so being the same as that practised by the Hamrans. Most of their game they obtain by means of snares, which they place on the paths made by animals on their way to drink. They have a very ingenious invention, called sJicrekcr^ to prevent the noose from slipping off the leg before it has drawn tight. It is made in the following manner : two hoops are bound tightly together, and, between them, sharp pieces of tough wood are driven all round, their points just reaching the centre. Those in- tended for catching antelopes are about the size of a soup-plate ; but for buffaloes, giraffes, and other large-footed game, they are made much larger. With a supply of shcrckcrs, as well as running-nooses, these latter made of twisted hide, the hunter is ready to commence operations. Having found a well-beaten track near to some watering-place, he digs a hole in the middle of it, about eigh- teen inches deep, and a little smaller in diameter than the sJicrckcr he intends to use. He next cuts a branch or small tree, just large enough to check the progress of the animal, but not to stop it ; to this he makes fast the loose end of the noose ; then he places the sJicrckcr over the hole, and arranges the noose over the sJicrcker^ brushing some loose earth over all in order to conceal the snare. Any animal, stepping on the pit- fall, sinks down ; and, on starting back, the shereker remains THREE LIONS TRACKED. fastened tight to its leg, and prevents the noose from falHng off, till it is so tightly drawn that its aid is no longer required. The poor beast rushes off, dragging the bush after it, which not only soon wearies it, but leaves behind a fatal track by which to guide the hunter, who soon overtakes it ; and the spear puts a speedy termination to its sufferings. The accom- panying engraving will give a good idea of a sJiereker. On our way back to camp we came upon three trappers, encamped near a small pool of water, at which they informed us that a single buffalo had drunk the previous night. During the night they had caught a giraffe in a noose, but it had broken away and got off. We decided to follow the tracks of the buffalo they told us of. We had been following them for some time, when Lort Phillips, who was riding ahead, suddenly espied three lions to his right. We lost no time in running after them ; but they ran too, and the grass into which they ran was so difficult to track them in. that we had not gone far before we completely lost all trace of them. I rarely felt such terrific heat, even in Africa ; and, after a long chase, we were obliged to give up, and lie down for some time under the shade of a tree. We seemed destined never to shoot a lion. We often used to track them, but always found their footprints led us into impenetrable jungle. We probably frequently passed close by them, lying asleep in thick covert, without being aware of their vicinity. In returning to camp, we saw a mddrif, but were not fortunate enough to obtain a shot at it ; however, we secured a tetel for the pot. We saw immense numbers of these antelopes, in herds of from thirty to fifty, and a fair number of nelhit ; but none with fine heads. Before shifting our camp from Khor Meheteb, we were favoured with a second visit from some Hamrans. A sheik named Said, and another sheik, name unknown, made their 1 84 HAMRANS VISIT US. appearance one evening, arriving, with a number of camels, from higher up the river. They told us they had killed six or seven hippopotami, and offered to accompany us two days* journey farther up. We decided, however, not to retrace our steps. Had we done so, they would, in all probability, have backed out of it before we had gone very far. I was inclined to try what we could do, but the rest of the party were all against attempting a retrograde movement. It is always most difficult in such countries to know what to believe, and what not to believe. Each person you meet tells you a different story, and it is no easy matter to get at the truth. These Hamrans declared that there were no people living on the river for four or five days' journey farther up; but this was doubtless untrue ; for, although perhaps there were no villages for some distance, there were certainly people not far off, as from our last encampment we had seen several fires at different points. They told us that between Khor Meheteb and the Atbara there were scarcely any "hippos " left, but that higher up the river there were plenty. This may have been true, but wc were not particularly anxious to shoot them. As only some of our party were in camp when these Hamrans arrived, we told them to return in the morning for their answer. Soon after their departure, three Base from Lacatecourah made their appearance. It was dark when they arrived, and they begged to be allowed to accompany us. We gave them permission to do so, at the same time advising them not to go far away from camp for fear of a hostile meeting with any of their enemies, the Hamrans. Sheik Said and his friend returned the following morning for their answer ; and we told them we had decided on going down the river, and not up. Shortly after wc had made our resolu- tion known to them, they left. Very soon after their departure, HAMRANS THREATEN HOSTILITY. 185 we heard shouts, and perceived that some disturbance was froinof on. The Hamrans had discovered that we had Base with us, and had pursued them with their guns, threatening that they would shoot them ; but the three Lacatecourah men, together with the man from Sogada, ran away as fast as their legs would carry them, — the latter leaving his horse behind with us. The Hamrans soon gave up the chase, and went a short way down the river ; on the way they met some of our Arabs, whom they informed that we should not go down the river into their country, and that, if we persisted in doing so, they would shoot us. We were naturally very indignant with them for their impertinence, and very angry at their having frightened away men who were living in our camp with our permission ; we of course poohpoohed their threats, and told them we should go vv^here we pleased. They had a right to be annoyed at our going into their coun- try with Haikota people, and shooting their game, as by so doing any baksheesh we might distribute, or wages we might pay, would go to them, instead of to the Hamrans, the inhabit- ants of the country ; it was, however, a very hostile method of expostulating with us about it. Had we intended shooting in the Hamran country when we left Haikota, we should of course not have taken any of Sheik Achmed Ageer's people farther than to the borders of the Hamrans ; but when we left, we never contemplated spending any time in their country. We took no notice of their threats, but broke up our camp, and rode on. Suleiman harangued them as we passed them sitting under some trees, with a number of their people ; and they made an apology. We had not gone far before a native came running to tell us there were two hippos " in a pool close by. We soon found i86 FAILURE TO CATCH " BIFFOSy them ; and, as one appeared to be a baby one, we determined to try either to catch him in the net, or force him out on to the bank, and so secure him if possible. It was the very pool we had dragged for fish the day after our arrival on the Settite, and we placed our camp a little lower down than the site we had chosen when we first encamped on the banks of the river. We had been mistaken in imagining that either of the " hip- pos " was a baby : on the contrary, they were both full-grown. One kept ahead of the net, but the other dived underneath and went back ; however, we caught some fifteen or twenty fish, mostly small ones, which we could not weigh as usual, having left the steelyard at the camp. We distributed the fish among the Arabs who had helped us with the net. It was rather like fishing for sharks, and catching minnows. Colvin and Lort Phillips tried to shoot a hippo," after we had given up the idea of catching one alive ; but they were no more successful in endeavouring to ornament the larder with it than we had been in our attempts to secure it for the Zoological Gardens. Three of us returned to camp in the Berthon boat, a some- what difficult undertaking, owing to the number of shallows over which it had to be dragged or carried, and which rather reminded one of the man who agreed to work his passage by the canal-boat, and was made to lead the horse most of the way. Just before reaching camp we heard a shot, and on arriving there found a great commotion going on. It appeared that Colvin, who had just come in, had given his rifle to Moosa to put down ; when he handed it to him it was at half cock, with the locks bolted. Salee wished to take it from Moosa to put it in the tent, but he was not willing to give it up ; and in endeavouring to take it from him by force it went off, and the bullet passed close by Salee's head. A QUARRELSOME SERVANT. 187 We had brought Moosa from Cassala ; he was a boy of about fourteen, as sharp as a needle, but a thorough young scamp, with a most violent temper. Salee declared he had tried to shoot him on purpose, but there was no evidence of this being the case. We gave him a good thrashing, which we hoped would be a lesson to him to be more careful in future ; and rated him well for his carelessness, as, in any case, he must have been playing with the locks for the rifle to have gone off at all. For some time before this, we had thought it prudent to keep our rifles loaded in view of possible contingencies, otherwise Colvin would of course have extracted the cartridges before giving it up to a native. Not many days later we were obliged to send Moosa away altogether. Having picked a quarrel with another Arab boy of about his own age, he rushed at him with a large pair of sharp-pointed scissors used for skinning birds, and inflicted several severe wounds on his chest and arms. After having administered a sufficient correction with a convenient koor- batc/i, we handed him over to a neighbouring Hamran sheik, to be sent back to his own people at Cassala at the first oppor- tunity. The place where we encamped was called Om Gedat, or "mother of the guinea-fowl," so named from the immense number of those birds that resorted to the neighbourhood. After a night there, we moved about ten miles farther down, and pitched our tents on the left bank of the river, at a spot named Om Hagar, or "mother of the rock." The Arabs on the Settite are very fond of such names. A village still farther down, they term Om Brega, "mother of the thorn," also a most appropriate designation, the village being situated in a wood of kiitar-hMs\\Q.s. Lort Phillips and Aylmer.made the journey together to i88 THE BERTH ON BOAT. Om Hagar, in the Berthon boat. This boat proved a most ex- cellent institution, and was a great acquisition during our stay on the river. It was nine feet in length, and, being collapsable, was easily carried on one side of a camel, in which position it travelled the whole of the long journey without mishap ; and, notwithstanding the great heat to which it was constantly subjected, was as sound on its arrival at the coast as on its departure for the interior. As I have already mentioned, it was extremely serviceable in shooting the net, and in clearing it when foul of rocks. It, moreover, afforded an easy means of crossing the river ; thereby saving many a weary tramp to reach the nearest ford, possibly two or three miles distant. CHAPTER XXII. Departure for Om Hagar. — Good Sport. — Arrival at Om Hagar. — Buffalo Tracks. — Capture of the Frst Hippopotamus. — Visit from Hamran Sheik's Son. — The Last Hippopotamus. — Marabou Storks. — Purchase of a Tortoise. — A Splendid Buck Nclliit shot. Before leaving Om Gedat, we engaged as guides a couple of Hamrans, who turned out fairly useful. The appearance of the country between this point and Om Hagar considerably improved, and was, to a sportsman's eye, decidedly more promising. The hills that bordered the river, though still steep and stony, were less rugged than those we were leaving behind us ; while, beyond, the country opened out into a plain, interspersed with small hills on the north side of the river, and apparently boundless to the south of it. The trees, too, that fringed the river, were much greener and larger than heretofore, thereby affording more covert for the game we hoped to find. Dotted about amidst grateful shade, were the giant habitations of the white ants {termites), nowhere more numerous, or of larger size, than in this part of the country. Our tents were pitched on a spot high above the river, with a grassy lawn sloping down to the water, well known to Ali our cook, who had previously spent much time in the same place. He lost no time in establishing himself under a leafy bower, to which he apparently considered that he possessed a prescriptive right, by virtue of old association. On the opposite side of the river, but a little lower down, 189 190 FINE SPORT. what at first appeared to be a khor ran for about a mile and a half to two miles, parallel with the Settite, where it joined the river, forming, when the water was high during the rains, a large island. In its bed were several pools of w^ater, favourite drinking-places for the game in the country, and often preferred to the main body of the stream on account of their retired situation. On the afternoon of our arrival, my brother William and I took our rifles, and crossed the river at a ford. Before sfoinof very far, we espied in the distance a herd of tctcl feeding, and cautiously creeping from bush to bush, I endeavoured to lessen the distance between us. The wind was right, and the ground well adapted for stalking ; so before very long I succeeded in gaining an advantageous position for a shot. I was rather anxious to secure one, as I perceived that the herd belonged to the less common Lechtenstein variety, and was well pleased when a fine bull fell dead to my shot. This, however, proved to be merely a beginning to the afternoon's sport. Declining to follow up the herd of tetcl, we left a man to cut up the game, and guard it from vultures, and pushed on in a northerly direction. Before very long my brother espied a beautiful specimen of the graceful ariel antelope'. This animal is usually very wary, and to approach it successfully requires considerable care. A wide detour was necessary in order to gain the wind, which, however, we accomplished. It was im- possible to get a near shot, as the antelope was restless, and evidently^ aware of impending danger, and the covert was thin and scanty. Well concealed beneath the shade of a huge ncb- <^;//{'-bush, I could watch the whole proceedings with my field- glass. At last I could see that my brother had decided to risk a long shot in preference to taking the chance of losing one altogether by endeavouring to attain closer quarters. A puff A FINE BULL TETEL. 191 of smoke, followed by the report of the rifle ; and I saw the ariel bound high into the air, and fall to the ground, where it struggled convulsively for a few seconds. The range was over two hundred yards, and the bullet had passed through its shoul- ders. We now sent a native back to camp to bring a couple of camels for the meat, leaving a third with the dead ariel, while we rested under a tree. In a very short time a camel and some men appeared on the scene ; having heard our shots in camp, they had started off of their own accord, thinking it probable that their services would be required. As we had been so successful in such a short time, we made no delay in starting forward, taking with us a couple of the new arrivals. Within a mile of this spot, we came upon a herd of ariel ; and after a short stalk my brother was again success- ful, obtaining two out of the herd by a right-and-left shot. Considering that we had now done our duty as caterers, we turned our steps in a homeward direction, knowing that we should be welcomed on our return by dusky faces glowing with the anticipation of an unstinted repast. But Diana had not yet forsaken us. Before reaching the camp, w^e were startled by a crash to our left, and, turning round, saw a fine bull ///// galloping swiftly over the stony ground. At about a hundred yards' distance, fatal curiosity apparently overcame prudence, and he turned to see what strange animal had produced the noise that had frightened him. Now or never was my chance ; he was standing broadside on, and afforded a splendid shot, which I hastened to take advantage of, thus adding number five to the afternoon's bag. We pitched our camp at Om Hagar on March 14, where we remained until the 22d, from which date we considered our- selves as more or less homeward bound. We drew lots, as usual, for pairs to go out shooting. This we did to economize GOOD SPORTING GROUND. the ground, and because we were far too large a party to have invariably gone out shooting singly. Gf course, by dividing into two parties, and having separate camps, each taking a dif- ferent district, we might have augmented the bag ; but in such an expedition as ours, we felt that, although shooting formed our chief amusement, yet still there were many other considera- tions which made it both pleasanter and more desirable to hang together. For instance, in the Base country, which occupied the larger portion of our time in the game districts, the trouble and risk of entering that territory would have been more than doubled by dividing the party. Again, the Hamran country is in itself but a small slice of the Soudan ; and, being inhabited by a race of hunters, the part which contains game is even more circumscribed, and would soon be shot out by a party armed with English rifles. Moreover, we all thoroughly appre- ciated the old adage "The more the merrier;" and fighting our battles over again, over a dish of succulent buffalo or antelope steak, on one's return in the evening, was not the least agree- able part of the day's programme. Finding the neighbourhood of Om Hagar so well off for an- telope, we were anxious to lose no time in exploring for larger game. The day after our arrival there, my brother William and I went out together. We crossed the river, and were not long in discovering the tracks of a large bull buffalo, which led us to a small pool of water near our camp, in what, for want of a better name, we always termed the kJior. This was the dry part of the river's bed, which, uniting with the main body, of the stream, formed during the flood season an island, to which allusion has already been made. The accompanying woodcut is engraved from a photograph of this khor taken by Aylmer. The buffalo had been quenching his thirst in this khor the pre- vious evening ; his tracks led us back through the dense nebbuk- A FRUITLESS CHASE, 193 bushes that fringed its banks, and where he had doubtless slept the night previous, to the plain not far from the spot where we had originally encountered the herd. It soon became very evident that the object of our pursuit could not be far distant, and we crept forward with our rifles at full cock; when suddenly, from behind a thick tree we heard a rush, and, barely giving us a glimpse of his black hide, and af- fording no chance of a shot, he made his best pace for the khor again. Taking up his tracks, we followed them for about three miles, until we again reached the thick belt of nebbiiks ; and then the pursuit became more exciting, as each minute we ex- pected to find ourselves face to face with him. The thorns, even to us, habituated as we were to the many frightful species which abound in this part of Africa, were something phenom- enal ; and if our clothes had not been made of the toughest materials, we should have emerged less clothed than even the scantily clad Base. This time the buffalo did not even indulge us with a sight of him, but, before we had been long in the bushes, again made for the more open country, taking much the same line as before. The day being intensely hot, the thermometer in camp marking 105° in the shade, we cried a halt, and passed some three hours under a tree, in a lovely spot on the bank of the river. While resting there we noticed several gazelles and ariels come down to the river's side to drink, within easy shot of where we were sitting ; they all seemed very timid, and before daring to quench their thirst keenly scrutinized each rock or bush which might perchance conceal a hidden foe. They were apparently loath to trust themselves near the deep water, no doubt dreading the crocodiles with which the Settite abounds, and contented them- selves with the warm water left in tiny pools by the daily reced- ing river. 194 A SECOND FAILURE. In the afternoon we again returned to the chase ; and this time my brother obtained a snap-shot at the buffalo as he bolted through the trees, though with no apparent effect. After this we pursued him for a long way, and were on the point of giving up, when we came upon him, standing amongst mimosa-bushes so thick that we could scarcely distinguish his head from his tail. After vainly endeavouring to improve our position, we fired simultaneously ; he charged furiously out into a more open place, and stood pawing the ground, with lowered head and snorting savagely. Momentarily expecting his charge, we reserved our second barrels for close quarters. As they say in diplomatic circles, ''the position had become somewhat strained." A moment's intense anxiety, and he suddenly wheeled round, and once more tore through the bushes in un- dignified retreat, receiving a bullet from my ten-bore on his way. We did not feel sure in what part he had been wounded, but we followed the blood track until the rapidly decreasing daylight warned that it was time to desist ; and, greatly disap- pointed, we acknowledged defeat, and turned our steps camp- ward. On our way we passed a large zariba containing a great many goats and sheep, and where the people were most obliging, in- sisting upon our imbibing huge draughts of milk, which did not require much pressing on their part, as we were extremely hot and thirsty. We arranged with them for a daily supply of milk during the remainder of our stay at Om Hagar. There is next to no twilight in these latitudes ; darkness soon overtook us, and we found that it was indeed no joke to thread one's way amongst the vicious thorn-bushes with which our path was beset. Lort Phillips had that afternoon caught a gamoot weighing thirty-one pounds ; and Aylmer and Colvin had passed a long FIRST HIPPOPOTAMUS BAGGED. 195 and exciting day after a herd of buffaloes on the opposite side of the river ; and, although they had each wounded one, they failed to bring either to bag. A native whom they had taken with them had succeeded in spearing a calf, which had been left behind during the general stampede of the herd, so that a new delicacy in the shape of veau saiivage was that night added to our Dicmi. The following day Colvin and I went out together. We determined to try to take up again the tracks of yesterday's wounded bull. Vain endeavour ! countless guinea-fowl had crossed and re-crossed the trail ; and, although we found it every now and then, we lost it again almost directly. I never, either before or since, came across these birds in such num- bers ; the ground, for almost six miles, was literally covered with them. Past experience had taught us that it was next to useless to attempt sport where they were very numerous, as they are as great a plague to the African sportsman as ptarmi- gan or grouse frequently are to the deer-stalkcx* in the High- lands. We pushed forward as quickly as possible, so as to get out of their region ; and hardly had we e.one so, when we found fresh tracks of a small herd ; these we pursued for some distance, until, finding that they were evidently bent on a long journey and travelling away from the river, we gave up the chase. The same day Aylmer secured the first hippopotamus, a fair- sized bull. His first shot had, apparently, half-stunned it ; but several more bullets were required before life was extinct. " Hippos " were scarce in that part of the Settite, and we did not care to shoot many ; the flesh was, however, greatly appre- ciated by the Arabs, although we found it somewhat strong in flavour, and very tough. After having gorged themselves with as much of the fresh meat as they could manage to swallow, 196 TROPHIES, they would cut up the remainder into strips, with which they festooned all the trees ; this, when dried, was placed in skins, and afterwards cooked and eaten from time to time. The fat, when boiled down, formed a most excellent substitute for cooking-butter, which we were very glad to get, as the only butter we could obtain in the country possessed a most dis- gusting taste, principally owing to the fact of its being kept in badly cured goat-skins. Then, too, the hide is most highly prized throughout the Soudan for the purpose of making the koorbatch, or native whip, of which we were told one skin, if carefully divided, would make upwards of two hundred. This statement, how- ever, must be taken aim grano, as we never put it to the test. The hide, on the neck of a fine bull, is fully an inch and a half in thickness. Altogether, you cannot please your Arabs more than by shooting one of these useful animals. The tusks are often very fine, and were at one time exten- sively used by dentists, in the manufacture of false teeth. I believe, however, that they have been superseded by the use of some composition. They make very nice trophies, and can be made up in various ways. At home we had some made into frames for mirrors, and they looked very well. The natives secure these animals by means of harpoons, of which Sir Samuel ]3aker gives a most interesting account in *'The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia," a book that served us as a sort of guide-book, and which we found contained a most accurate description of the country. Owing to the comparative ease with which hippototami can be killed, they are rapidly becoming exterminated in this part of Africa. They are no longer found on the Nile farther north than the nineteenth degree of north latitude, and are nowhere plentiful north of Khartoum. Where there is cultiva- AGRICULTURE UNDER DIFFICULTIES, 197 tion on the banks of the river, they do a great deal of damage. Near Berber, I have seen places where, every night, the natives sat up to protect their crops against their depredations. Along the river they stretched a rope, supported on poles, from which hung numerous bells, and which they pulled vigorously when- ever a "hippo" made its appearance, in order to scare the un- welcome intruder back into the river. Agriculture in these parts is indeed no sinecure ; the hus- bandman has no peace night or day. All day long, vast flocks of doves, and small birds, cause havoc amongst his crops, and necessitate perpetual vigilance. One often sees boys perched upon lofty platforms, armed with slings, with which, accom- panied by discordant cries, they endeavour to ward off their feathered foes. A very considerable khor, called the Royan, joined the Settite some little distance to the westward of our encampment. My brothers, one day, rode across country, striking the Royan, some miles from its mouth ; and there they found numbers of Arabs with their flocks, many of the men busily engaged in setting snares for any antelopes that might come to drink at any of the occasional pools of water that were to be found in its bed. As this would not have improved our chances of sport in that direction, and as it was evident that at that time Arabs were dwelling there in considerable numbers, none of us thought it worth while to go there again. On the way, however, my brothers saw great numbers of antelopes of different kinds, among others a herd of mddrif. These exceed- ingly wary animals almost invariably keep to the open plains, and are very difficult to approach. Neither of my brothers succeeded in bagging one. The utmost they could do was to obtain a galloping shot, at well over two hundred yards. Soon after our arrival at Cm Hagar, we sent a quantity of 198 SON OF A HAMRAN SHEIK. dhurra to a Hamran village farther down the river, to be con- verted into flour ; with it we sent a present of a handsome burnous, a small quantity of gunpowder, and a letter to the chief sheik of the Hamran tribe of Arabs, who was at that time dwelling there. The result was, that he sent his son to visit us, a very good-looking fellow, and well mannered except for his begging propensities. He was very anxious that we should bestow some present upon him, and begged very hard for a gun, and all kinds of things, and was very difficult to satisfy. He was profuse in his apologies for Said, and the other Hamrans at Meheteb, and informed us that it was a fact that Said's father had been killed by the Base, a circumstance of which we had heard before. He declared that the Hamrans were friends with the Abyssinians, and that with their permis- sion the Hamrans hunted elephants in their country, on the stipulation that any game shot in their territory was divided with them. On the same evening, Mahomet Salee and one of our other old horsemen suddenly made their appearance, with two camels that we had sent from Haikota to Cassala, for some necessaries such as bread, sugar, and candles. These camels had left Achmed Ageer's headquarters for Cassala at the same time that we left for the Settite, and had been away far longer than they ought to have been. The same evening Mahomet Salee left our camp for Om Brega, to purchase dJiurra on his own account, which he intended taking back with him to the Gash ; as a peace-offering he brought us the skin of a boa-constrictor which he said he had killed on the road between Khor Meheteb and Haikota. The same day news was brought into camp, that Colvin had killed a "hippo" three or four miles farther up the river. We despatched camels for the meat ; and at the same time my HIPPOPOTAMUS SHOT. brother William and I started with the photographic camera, intending to take its photograph. On arriving at the place we found a ''hippo " in a large pool, rising, as is the habit of these animals, to the surface to breathe, and quickly disappearing again. The Arabs declared, however, that this was another animal ; and that the one Colvin had shot was lying dead at the bottom of the river, and would soon rise to the surface. We waited a long time, hoping that this would be the case ; and to pass the time I fished, but with indifferent success. I saw a number of turtles, which kept coming up to the top of the water, but could not catch one, and only managed to hook a gamoot of seven pounds. Colvin left the pool, and went off with Aylmer. The latter shot a mehedehet and a very fine buck nellut ; and in returning to camp in the evening, Colvin obtained a snap-shot at a leo- pard, which he unfortunately missed ; this was the more unlucky, as it was the first time any of us had had a shot at one. My brother Arthur went down to the pool where the ''hippo" was, and, as there was no sign of Colvin's animal, shot our friend of the morning. Either it was the same one Colvin had fired at, and not killed ; or else Colvin had wounded one, which man- aged to keep out of our sight by remaining under the bushes which grew very thick on one bank of the river, and overhung the water. At any rate, we saw no signs of any other, and, in fact, saw no more hippopotami during the remainder of our stay in the country. The following morning we found my brother's "hippo" floating, and, after towing it to land, took its photograph ; it proved to be an old bull, with enormous tusks which had grown through the upj^er lip. It is often very difficult, in shooting hippopotami, to deter- mine whether or not your shot has been successful, as, hit or miss, the animal at once sinks below the surface, to float after 200 A GIGANTIC LAND-TORTOISE. some two or three hours if killed ; but if only wounded, or missed, he will frequently select so well-concealed a spot for his necessary re-appearance as to baffle his pursuers. The lungs of the hippopotamus are so constructed as to enable him to remain below the surface of the water for a period of from six to ten consecutive minutes, though when undisturbed they delight in remaining with their heads entirely above water, often for a considerable length of time ; but when molested, they take care to show no more than the apertures of the nos- trils, and their eyes, and that only for a few seconds, as they quickly fill their lungs with a fresh supply of oxygen, and sink again. The vicinity of our camp was the daily resort of numerous marabou-storks, several of which we shot for the sake of their feathers. Any one, who had seen these birds in the num- bers in which they occur in these parts of Africa, would fully appreciate the justice and accuracy of Mr. H. Stracey Mark's admirable picture entitled In Convocation," which attracted so much attention at the Royal Academy two or three years ago. We purchased from some Arabs, for a trifling sum, a gigantic land-tortoise, which we had intended to have presented to the Zoological Society of London ; but the fates were against us, for a journey on camel-back proved more than his constitution could bear. He weighed almost as much as a man could lift. At night we fastened him with a strong chain to a heavy pro- vision-box, which he would frequently drag several yards in his endeavours to escape. We never could perceive that he ate or drank any thing, although we tried him with every thing which we thought likely to tempt his palate. Even under these ad- verse circumstances, he, nevertheless, lived for some weeks, and gave no signs of failing strength, until one day we found him A FINE BUCK NELLUT BAGGED. 20I dead. Colvin, however, succeeded in conveying to England a very diminutive specimen of what appeared to be the same species. One day my brother William took his camera down to the khor to endeavour to photograph any antelopes or other animals that might come there. Both antelopes and baboons made their appearance ; but, after successive attempts, he found it impossible so to arrange the camera as to be able to expose the plate without disclosing himself ; accordingly, he discarded the camera for the rifle, and had the good fortune to secure the finest buck nclliit that we obtained during the expedition. The horns of this magnificent animal measured thirty-nine and a half inches in a direct line from the base to the tip, and fifty- nine inches measuring round the curves.' Every cloud has a silver lining:" the converse often, unfortunately, holds good. As he got up to leave his hiding-place towards dusk, he locked his rifle, preparatory to scrambling down a steep bank and through thick bushes. The noise he made disturbed a pan- ther, which had approached unseen to within a few feet of his position, and which bounded into the jungle without even giving him time for a snap-shot. The whole of our stay at Om Hagar was most enjoyable; and I think I cannot do better than give a few extracts from my diary of our last days there. I Mr. F. C. Selous, in his interesting book entitled "A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa," mentions shooting a specimen of this antelope, which he designates as perhaps the handsomest species in the world. The horns of this animal measured forty-three inches from base to tip, and sixty-four measuring round the curves. It was the largest he ever came across. CHAPTER XXIII. Extracts from Diary. — Bait set for Lions. — Mosquitoes. — Among the Buffaloes again. — Beginning of the Homeward Journey. — Journey towards Lacatecourah. — The Village of Lacatecourah. — A Bonne Boiiche. March 19. — William and I went out shooting together, and rode a long way on the south bank of the river. Saw one indd7'ify but miles off, and could not succeed in getting near it, and a few tetel and nelljtt, to which we paid no attention. I had a long shot at a boos {Klipspringcr oreotragtis saltatrix), which I unfortunately missed. This is the only antelope, I believe, that inhabits the part of the Soudan through which we travelled, that none of us ever shot. It is decidedly scarce, is larger than a gazelle, with long reddish hair, and has, for its size, big horns. Arthur saw either two or three lions, he could not say which. The first he caught a glimpse of as it vanished into some high grass, and, although he followed it, never saw it again ; the second he saw almost at the same moment, but at the top of a hill about three hundred yards off ; and the third he saw on returning towards camp over the same ground in the afternoon, and consequently could not be sure that it was not one of those he had seen in the morning. Qwing to the thick- ness of the covert, and the hardness of the ground, it was im- possible to follow them for any distance. Lions are rarely to be caught in this chance way. On our return to camp in the afternoon, we found Arthur, who told us about the lions ; and we immediately started off 202 Mosquitoes. 263 again to endeavour to shoot an antelope, which we wished to use as a bait for them. Although usually, when wc did not want them, we could obtain one or two without much difficulty, we were on this occasion obliged to return by nightfall with- out having even had one shot. We thought, that, by leaving a dead antelope near the place where Arthur had seen the lions, one or more might visit it during the night ; in which case, on tl\p following morning, there would be the chance of finding one not far from the carcase, gorged with its banquet. Aylmer had spent the day by the water in the khor, and had shot a doe mddrif, and two fine buck ncllut ; not bad, as all had heads well worth preserving. On his arrival in camp with the spoil, we sent one of the latter to what we hoped would prove the tryst- ing-place of the lions. " To-day the atmosphere has been clear again ; but the two previous days were so misty that the sun was partly in shade. The temperature, both night and day, has been much cooler ; and we have had very strong gales at night, which tried the tent-ropes. " The mosquitoes bother us a good deal after the sun has gone down, — a plague we have not experienced before this winter, except to a slight extent at Souakim. These torments need hardly enter into one's calculations in undertaking a journey into these parts ; on the few occasions that one meets with them in any number, they appear to be very local. I found them very troublesome at Sofi, a village on the banks of the Atbara, near its junction with the Settite, although we were encamped very high above the river, and there was nothing to account for their presence in that part more than in any other. This was the place chosen by Sir Samuel Baker in which to spend the rainy season ; and he mentions their extreme virulence in "The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia." Of course it was not to 204 A LION TRACKED. be wondered at, that they should be very troublesome during the rains ; but, as I found them so great a plague there during the driest season of the year, it is very probable that they were thicker there during the rains than at other places. ** March 20. — Went very early to see if any lions had visited Aylmer's dead ne//ul, but found no signs of its having been disturbed. We are daily supplied with milk by some people who have made a large zariba on the north bank of the river, and have a great number of goats. The 'proprietor' came early this morning to inform us that last night a lion had had the impudence to jump over the zariba, and carry away a goat. Colvin and I started in pursuit, hoping to be able to fol- low the depredator; we soon found where he had jumped over the prickly hedge, and the marks made by the wretched goat he had dragged with him. Achmet tracked him across the river, and for a long distance on the other side ; but we finally lost the marks of his footsteps in thick bushes, and were forced to abandon the pursuit. "We, however, found tracks of buffalo that had drunk last night at the river ; and these we followed a long way from the Settite, and finally got up to them in a ^ kittar' forest. They were all lying down tail to tail, but rose to their feet when we got to within a hundred to a hundred and thirty yards of them. We both singled out what appeared to be big ones, and fired ; the whole herd made off with a tremendous crash through the bushes, but none fell. We ran round, and tried to cut them off as they made for the river. We could have fired again, but abstained from doing so, as they would have been long shots, that could have only wounded them. After following for some distance, we found we had each wounded one ; they lagged behind the rest of the herd, which was evidently going slowly on their account. A little farther, and the only wounded beast ANOTHER BUFFALO BAGGED, 205 that left a distinct blood-track sejoarated from the others ; and we followed it for some distance, until the sun going down warned us that it was useless to go any farther that night, and we returned to camp. William and Lort Phillips had been out together, and had followed a herd of buffaloes which had been drinking and splashing in the river opposite our camp last night. They went a long way in the Meheteb direction, and separated, as the latter was following a bull. He could not get near it, and, having lost his reckoning, whistled, which startled the herd as William was getting near it ; and the buffaloes galloped off without his obtaining the chance of a shot. Later in the day William wounded one, but not badly ; and, as the afternoon was too far advanced to allow of his following it, he gave it up. Arthur watched the pool of water in the kJior, and was re- warded by shooting two wart-hogs and a buck nellut, the lat-* ter of which he sent, as a bait for lions, to a spot where we frequently saw their marks. March 21. — Sent George out for a day's shooting ; and he got a very large tetel, and a gazelle, and wounded a mehedehety which he lost. Arthur and William went to see if any lions had touched the nellut, but found no traces of any having done so. Lort Phillips watched 'the water,' and succeeded in shoot- ing a small buck nellut. Colvin and I took up the tracks of our wounded buffalo of yesterday ; and, after going for about a quarter of a mile from where we had given up the pursuit last night, we found a place where it had evidently been career- ing about. Achmet at once declared that it had been attacked by hyaenas. Very soon we espied it quite dead. It was a large cow, which, in the thickness of the kittar-hMsh^s, we had easily mistaken for a bull. ^/ There were the marks of several hyaenas on the ground, and 206 MOVING HOMEWARDS. they had torn the poor brute's hind-quarters all to pieces. It was quite evident, from the way in which the ground was torn up by the buffalo's hoofs, that the hyaenas had attacked it while alive, and that it had made a desperate struggle to defend itself before giving in. We left a camel and some men with the carcase, and started to find the herd. We had no difficulty in taking up their tracks from where we had left them yester- day, and found, too, the blood-marks of the other wounded animal ; but these we soon lost again. We spent a very long, hot day, in the pursuit of this herd ; the wind was generally wrong, and it was not until after much crawling through long grass, and dodging from tree to tree, that late in the afternoon we either of us succeeded in obtaining a shot ; it was a long one, and the buffalo went off wounded. Again, after a short pursuit, the setting sun obliged us to desist, and we returned to camp. " March 22. — Started early after our wounded buffalo, which we had left not far from camp ; its tracks were difficult to follow, and very soon crossed those of the herd. However, we were not long in finding the wounded animal, which unfortu- nately proved to be another cow, a very old one, with a fine head. She had retreated into thick covert near the river, and a ball in the shoulder at fifty yards brought her to bag. A crowd of Hamrans had followed us, eager for meat ; and as we had plenty in camp, and were, moreover, shifting our quarters, we gave most of it away. One piece of hide, sufficient to make a shield, we exchanged for some small ' hippo's ' teeth. This is the first day of our return homewards. We marched to the water in Khor Meheteb, encamping near the place where we had previously sat up watching for game. Lort Phillips, who is very fond of fishing, tried the Settite for the last time on the expedition, and caught a gamoot weighing twenty-five pounds. Arthur shot a small crocodile. SIGNS OF ELEPHANTS. 207 " We turned our backs on the river with many regrets ; for, although much disappointed at being baffled in our attempt to explore farther up the river, we had, nevertheless, greatly- enjoyed our stay on its banks, and had obtained better sport than we had expected in the Hamran country. I trust some day we shall make a r.egular expedition into Abyssinia, from Massawa, having first obtained the necessary letters from King John, authorising us to do so, and that then we shall be able to shoot along the Settite farther up the river, and perhaps travel along its banks as far as we now are on Khor Meheteb." It was dark before Colvin and I joined the others in our new camp, and we found them just sitting down to dinner. We had now to go through much the same kind of journey, to get back to Haikota, that we had performed to reach the Settite ; but we were determined to pass through the Base vill- age of Lacatecourah on our return. Our Arabs declared we should get there by nightfall ; but knowing by constant experi- ence how unreliable they were in all their statements, we in- sisted on having the barrels and water-skins filled up before making a start. Although we rose at daybreak, it was 9.30 before the caravan was under way. The "road" was fairly good, and we had not to make our way through half as thick woods as those we had to force the camels through in going to the Settite ; there was a slightly defined footpath most if not all the way, and there was really no excuse for the camel-drivers to lose themselves. In Khor Meheteb we found that elephants had drunk there three days before our arrival ; it seemed as though we were never destined to have an opportunity of shooting any. The country was, of course, most monotonous ; but we were for- tunate in having a very agreeable day for travelling, as there 20S A LATE DINNER, were clouds floating about which frequently shaded the sun. The sunset was lovely ; the first fine one we had enjoyed since leaving the neighbourhood of Souakim. At the time of year in which we were travelling, clouds were rare, and the sunsets consequently lacked variety. We reached the foot of the hill on which Lacatecourah is built, at 6.45, leaving the caravan far behind. This hill, which is some four or five hundred feet high, is covered with great granite boulders ; and the village is the largest we had seen of those belonging to the Base. We saw lights from the huts above us, and after a good deal of shouting some men came down to us. The water which supplied the village was some distance farther ; but as we had plenty coming on with the caravan, and the night was very dark, and trees thick, we decided on remaining where we were, and waiting for the camels to overtake us. After some two or three hours, Mahoom and several of the native servants arrived, and reported the caravan as miles behind. There were some very awkward places for the camels to pass, kho7's with very steep banks to be crossed, and in one of these a camel had stuck fast for a long time, causing great delay. About 11.30 or 12, the next contingent made its appearance, consisting of George, and, most important person- age of all, Ali the cpok, with a number of camels in their train. They had with them a "guide" we had engaged on the Settite to show us the way, but he evidently knew nothing about it. We lost no time in helping Ali to light a fire, and get his cook- ing-pots started, and soon pitched one of the tents. The bulk of the camels, together with Suleiman, did not make their appearance until nine o'clock the next morning, hav- ing completely lost their reckoning, as well as the apology for a path that there was ; and having wandered to the back of the LACATECOURAH. 209 hill on which the village of Lacatecourah is situated, which prevented their seeing the pyrotechnic display in which we indulged the previous evening, on hearing that they were lost. We found the nights, away from the river, much colder, and were very glad of our blankets. My horse, which had lasted better than any of the others, began to show signs of a sore back. No amount of care bestowed on our horses seemed to stop this, and sooner or later they all suffered in the same way. More of our camels gave out also. Two days previously one had died of that mysterious disease, the guffer ; and on the journey from Khor Meheteb two had had to be left behind. In the morning we thoroughly explored the village, which was most curious. A primitive portcullis-like gate, near the foot of the hill, gave access to a steep path, up which we climbed ; huts were built at about half way up to the top. There seemed to be almost a greater number of women than men ; and we greatly delighted many of them, by presenting them with glass beads, kokl for their eyes, and looking-glasses, while among the men we distributed a large number of knives. Some of the women's heads were remarkable objects, beads of all shapes and colours being regularly worked into the hair. The view from the top of the hill, or rock, for it is not much more, is extensive, but by no means beautiful ; a great plain covered chiefly by leafless trees does not constitute a lovely prospect. From one of the Base we bought a baby baboon to add -to our menagerie, which already consisted of two small green monkeys and a tortoise.' We decided on moving the camp to some wells in a kho7', about an hour farther on, called Abou Sellal, and remaining there for the day to allow the camels time to rest and feed. We felt we had a long journey I We succeeded in bringing all these animals to England alive. 2 lO A BON-VIVANT, before us to the coast, and that the camels were not in good condition, and would require great care to enable them to accomplish it. I went off with some of the party to see the place that supplied the village with water. We had sent some camels there to fetch some, but they had not returned ; and, on our arrival, we found they had gone on to other wells farther off, where the water was said to be better. After waiting an hour or two for them, they made their appearance ; and we all went on together to the camping-ground. As an instance of what the Base will eat : while waiting at these wells for the camels, we noticed one pare off bits of hide from his sandals, some of which he ate as they were ; but his friend, who was sitting by him engaged in the same occupation, and who was evidently a bon-vivant, first pounded up the pieces of sandal with a stone before consuming them ! CHAPTER XXIV. Encampment at Abou Sella!. — A native of the Base Settite. — A Dabergoum Sheik offers to conduct us to the Base Settite. — Base Villages on the Settite. — Capture of a Boa-constrictor. — Arrival at Haikota. — The Beni-Amer's Raid on the Base. — A Visit from Sheik Achmed Ageer. — His Lame Apologies. We found our camping-ground, Abou Sellal, a rather pictur- esque spot, situated in a deep sandy /('//ica, 25. Dama, 25. Dorcas, 42. Gedariff, 50. Geera Bey, civility of the, 234. George, the English servant, 6. German animal-catcher, the, 65. Giraffes, 89, 106. Giraffe-stalking, 89. capture of a, 90. Gordon, Col., 7, 11, 14. Governor of Cassala, the, 45. dinner with the, 51. gives military escort, 58. Government, Egyptian, the, 2, 13, 213. agent, Wakeel, the, 10. of the Soudan, division of the, 13, 245. Grass, dearth of, 24, 86. eaten up, 216. Greek shops, 15, 235. Greeks, omnipresence of, 16. Green paroquets, seen for the first time, 39- Grooms, the, give warning, 216. Gudgeon, contrivance for catching, 171. Gerghis, Mr. Lort Phillips's servant, 251, 270. Guffer, the, disease among camels, 133. Guide, the, a inauvais stijet, 243. Guides, strike of the, 151, 160. Guinea-fowl, 42, 73, 86, 195. Gum, large cargo of, 268. Gumba Abou, the, 64. Galani, Attman, Sheik, 18. H Hadaiweb, halt at, 37. Hadendowa tribe, headquarters of the, 41. Hadendumi, two of the party start for, 221. Half ah Wady, route to, 13. Hamed, Aboo, 12. Hamran country, the, 13, 155, 192. Hawartis, the, 163 Heat, intensity of, 12, 104, 174. Hegleek trees rich in potash, 87. Haikota, the village of, 55, 65, 145. Herds, immense number of, 220. Hippopotami tracks are found, 163, 166. Hippopotamus, attempt to net a, 186. capture of the first, 195. the last, 199. Holloway's pills, popularity of, 130. Home, letters from, 153, 234. Homeward journey, beginning of the, 206. Hotel du Soudan, 16. Horse, news of the stolen, 239. Horseman, the Devil's, 256. Household gods hidden for fear of ene- mies, 94. Hush-money, ir. Hyaena, a new species killed, 238. I Illuminations in honour of the new gov- ernor, 13. India, saloon-passengers bound for, 8. India-rubber made from the qiiol-quol plant, 255. Ivory, a large cargo of, 268. 278 INDEX. J Jackal, the avenging, 38. Jackals, three appear, 222. James, Mr. W., shoots a splendid buck nelhit, 201. Jeddah, arrival of pilgrims at, 8. Jewellery, claret capsules as, 98. Jules, Swiss servant, a, 6. illness of, 29. death of, 46. funeral of, 46. Journey, a dreary day's, 159. Jungle, road-making through the, 82. K Kelb-el-bahr, capture of a, 170. Khartoum, English consul appointed to, 262, 267. Khedive, the, 268, 271. Khor Baraka, 23, 236. Langeb, 29-33. Wandi, 33-35. Belag, 37. Omri, 38. Rassay, 39. Khors, 23, 38, 258. Koolookoo, at the village of, 90. Kudul, Sheik, nr. L Lacatecourah, village of, 209. Lakes, the equatorial, 6. Leper, a, 105. Leopard, shot at a, 222. Letters from home, 153, 234. Lions, 74, 77, 148, 150, 202, 204, 224-226, 236. two shot, 224. London, arrival of pilgrims in, 9. M Mddrif, doe shot, a, 203. Magic-lantern, the, 52, 70, 98, 154, 248. Mahomet Salee, 72, 218. Mahomet, the servant, speared, 122, 127. death of, 131. Mahoom, negro from the White Nile, 7, Christmas plum-pudding, 33. Ma Ambasah, Khor, 107, 116. Mai Daro, visit from Sheik, 97. Maieedah, signification of, 96. Meheteb, Khor, 160, 168, 206. Malet, Sir Edward, consul-general, 18. Mareb, the, 98. Massawa, the town of, 260. Manning, Cardinal, 248. Mauvais siij'et, a, 243. Mecca, pilgrimage to, 8, 31. Medicine-man, the, held in awe, 130. Mehedehet, or water-buck, shot, loi. Mimosa, a fresh variety of the, 81. Monastery, a mountain, 242. Monks of Mount Tchad Amba, 243. M. Elsen, 267. jNIoosa's savage attack on his fellow-ser- vant, 187. Mora seen for the first time, 86. Mosquitoes prove troublesome, 203. Mother, a, sells her son for three dollars, 249. Mount Bokutan, 164. Mountain, ascent of the Tchad Amba, 240. Mosconas and his son, 50. N Naouri, the village of, 48. Nebbiik-\)\xs\it^ {Rhavimis lotus), 27. Negroes as schoolmasters, 268. Nellut shot, 75, 203, 205. News, budget of, from the Settite, 212. of the stolen property, 239. Nights, temperature of the, 73, 104, 135. Night-watches in hopes of a shot, 76. Night-watch, an exciting, among the buf- faloes, 175. Nile, the, route to Soudan, 12. o Omelette h Pautritche, 76. Om Hagar, "mother of the rock," 187. Ostrich, exciting chase after an, 103. INDEX. P Palace of Achmed Effendi, 13, 14. Palms, dhoiiJH, 29, 44. Panther, a, is seen, 222. killed, 223, 238. Paroquets, green, first appearance of, 39. Partridges, good sport among the, 73, 216, 254. Party of travellers, a, leave Cairo, i. leave Cairo for the Egyptian Soudan, i. Pacha Ala-ed-Deen, supreme governor, 13, 244. frees prisoners, 15. Pacha, Ali Reza, 13-15. Peace, ceremony of making, 97, 120, 125, 229. Pere Picard, 45, 141, 240. Pilgrims, Persian, a party of, 8, 9. Takrooris, a band of, joins the caravan, 30- Pilgrimage to Mecca, 8, 31. Pills, popularity of, among the natives, 130. Potash, kegleek-trets rich in, 87. Prairie, a fire in the, 155. Press, alarming account in the English and Egyptian, 270. Provisions taken from England, 20. Q Quails appear, 65. abundance of, 152. Quol-qitol plant, attempt to make India- rubber from, 255. R Raid, horrible account of a, 214, 270. Rains, coast, 10, 21. Railway, a, five miles long, 13. Ras Aloula, 140. Reefs, dangerous, 11. Rhammcs lotus, Jiebbtik-hnshts, 27. Rifles, news of the stolen, 239. River Atbara, the, 3, 48. Road-making through the jungle, 82. Rose-breasted shrike shot, 28. s Sogada, village of, 156. Said Carcashi, Sheik, 138. Salee, a tracker, 45, 117, 173. Mahomet, 72. Sanheit, 247. often called Keren, 45. 247. Roman-Catholic church and schools at, 248-250. Sand-grouse shooting, 19, 35, 63, 76. Sand-tempest, effects of a, 29. Savage, African, fondness for medicine, 130. Scare, a, 167. the Base are coming ! 233. Scenery, monotony of the, 27, 159. Schools, good management of, at San- heit, 248-250. Scorpions, 40. Secretary-bird shot, 256. Seine fishing-net, success of the, 161. Sellal Abou, the camp moves to, 211. Servants, salaries of the native, 56, 154. Settite, the, 146, 157. fishing in the, 161, 168. the travellers bid adieu to the, 207. budget of news from the, 212. Sheiks, a visit from two Hamran, 178. try to shoot the Base, 185. offer to take the travellers to the Base Settite, 213. Shereef, the staid and stately waiter, 6. Shereker, the, 182. Shrike, rose-breasted, shot, 28. Siterabb, 26. Slave-trade, the, 11. caravans, 12. Snake, a venomous, killed, 99, 214, 257. " Snodgrass," a camel, 20. Souakim, port on the Red Sea, 2, 10. party of Bedouins come to, 14. curious washing-bill at, 16. derivation of the word, 19. English consul appointed to, 262, 267. Soudan, the, i, 12. * * * ' Soumali country, three new ports added to the ports of call, 268. 28o INDEX, Sport at Abiam, 151. Steamers, various, 2, 3. Stork, the Marabou, 50, 200. Suez, arrival at, i, 269. Suleiman, history of, 270. Surprise, a, 118, 180. Swiss servants, two, 6. T Takrooris, the, 30, 31. Tamarind-trees seen for the first time, 80. Tamarisk-trees, favourite food of the camel, 30. Tartar, a fox-terrier, 7, 8. retrieves his character, 260. Telegrams sent to England, fate of the, 140, 269. Temperature, change of, 73, 104, 147. Tetel found for the first time, 74. capture of a, 75, 172, 190, 222. abundance of, 86, 1 50. Ticks, black, 81. Toadelook, halt at, 73, 219. Toadwan, halt at, 78. Tokar, nearest village to Souakim, 23. Tomatoes, discovery of w^ild, 105. Tortoise, purchase of a big, 200. Totel, the traitorous, 245. Tracks of hippopotami, 163, 166. Tracker, Salee, a, 45, 117, 173. Trappers, Beni-Amer, 183. Travellers nearly lose their way, 29. encamp up the Settite, 163. a scarcity of, on the road, 44. Tribe, the Barea, 135. U Uganda, 7, V Valley, the Anseba, 253. Vegetation, scantiness of, 40. in the desert, 23. Village, a deserted, 37. of Gargi, 236. Villages, visit to some Dembelas, 20, 124, Koolookoo, 90, 146. Lacatecourah, 208. Naouri, 48. Sogada, 156. paying taxes to King John, 213. Virgins, story of the seven, 19. Vultures, 123. w Wady Half ah, route to, 13. IVakeel, the government agent, 10. Wandi, Christmas Day at, 33, 34. Wart-hog, the, no, 205. Watch, the night, 76. Water, digging for, 73, 82. Water-buck, Mehedehet, shot, lOl. Water-course, Camphor, 258. White ants, 50. Wild tomatoes, discovery of, 105. Woman, the old, who had been robbed, 26. Wo Ammar, halt at, 86, 146. Y Yacoub, a servant, 217. z Zariba^ a, 58, 119. Zem Zem, sacred waters of, 9. Zoological societies, collections for, 54. ™1012 01276 9578