Josiah Williams

“ The country was to-day very mountainous and difficult for the caravan, to say nothing of ourselves. I distinctly recollect that on this very day, whilst travelling along a plane, one of the horse-boys came trotting quickly along, causing my camel not only to shy, but to bolt when I was quite unprepared for any such contretemps. A spectator would, doubtless, have been much amused. I was not. For the space of about 20 yards I bounded like an india-rubber ball on the makloufa; then came suddenly to grief from my lofty elevation, the distance from the camel’s hump to his feet being considerable. ”

“ February 29th.—Marched from 10 to 4; encamping on a wretched plain, where the fine dust was about an inch thick, pitched our tents near to a deep well at Sogoda. Several Basé came to salute us. They do not seem quite so wild as those we have lately been amongst, and most of them wear a tope. This was not by any means an enjoyable journey, as the roads were bad and mountainous, and covered with intensely prickly trees, through which my camel rushed me, and which lacerated my poor face, legs, arms, clothes, and helmet in a dreadful manner. ”

“ The streets swarm with Turks in many-coloured robes, half-naked, brown-skinned Arabs, glossy negroes in loose white dresses and vermilion turbans, sordid, shabby-looking Israelites in greasy black, smart, jaunty, rakish Greeks, heavy-browed Armenians, unkempt, unmasked Maltese ragamuffins, Albanians and Europeans of every shade of respectability, from lordly consuls down to refugee quacks, swindlers, and criminals, who here get whitewashed and established anew. ”

“ First of all over very stony road, then down a very steep declivity, over rocks and big stones, next up a mountain side of the same character—no road, no pathway even; then along a mountainous pathway, through an awfully sterile country, covered with nothing but leafless trees, withered grass, and precipitous rocks, finally encamping at Boorkattan, above the most gigantic rocks of basalt, of great extent, these again overlooking the river. We can see, probably a day’s march from here, an immense tall mountain in Abyssinia, on the summit of which is said to be a fortress. ”

“ Now I see a few camels stalking silently, slowly, and sedately on, variously laden—some with baskets of large stones for building purposes, others with long pieces of timber on each side, others with skins of water and so on; then an Arab lady on donkey-back, riding after the manner of men, and covered from head to foot in unsightly black wrappers, having just a slit in them, through which can be seen a large pair of lustrous dark eyes, and down the bridge of her nose are some brass-looking ornaments, resembling as much as anything a row of thimbles inserted in one another. ”

“ Temperature 92° in what shade we could manufacture. During several hours of the day I saw that optical illusion which so often mocks the thirsty traveller, called the mirage—mirage, called by the Arabs, Bahr esh Sheitan, “The Devil’s Sea.” By a strange refraction of the atmosphere, plains of arid sands seem to be rippling lakes of water as far as the eye can reach, lapping the base of stupendous mountains of rocks, and bathing the roots of the stunted mimosa bushes. This day marched nearly 14 hours. Jules takes scarcely anything, is rapidly sinking, and again complains of these long marches. ”

“ The fact is, that these poor down-trodden Arabs had, unknowingly, adopted one of our own texts, “Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.” Gordon Pasha was kind to them, and when he passed his word he would keep it, whether it clashed with the interests of the Khedive or not. He was the only man as a governor whom they trusted as children would their father, and who never forfeited their confidence. All his actions were summed up in the words justice, truth, and duty.
A wit’s a feather,
A chief’s a rod,
An honest man’s the noblest work of God. ”

“ In the wide, open streets this rapid mode of progression has an exhilarating tendency, but in the narrow streets of the bazaars unguarded human beings fly to the right of me, unguarded human beings fly to the left of me, and imprecations, not loud, but deep, in an unknown tongue, fall on my untutored ear as my donkey indiscriminately cannons on to the unobservant. ”

“ There was poor Mahomet, who had managed to crawl into camp, then sank exhausted on the ground. The poor fellow turned his large soft-looking eyes piteously on to me. He was supporting with his hands and tope as much viscera—covered with sand dried on it, and quite adherent—as would fill a good-sized washing-basin. My rifle was at once dropped for my dressing-case; water was obtained, the opening (made by a spear) slightly enlarged, the viscera washed, replaced in the cavity of the abdomen, and the opening secured by a suture or two. He was in a state of collapse, and death pretty certain. ”

“ The twigs and leaves of the mimosa and kittar bushes, the scanty herbage of the desert, is all he requires, except whilst making forced marches, when he requires a certain amount of dhurra, because he has no time for grazing. This useful animal may well be called the ship of the desert, for if it were not for him, the enormous extent of burning sand which separates the fertile portion of the Soudan from Lower Egypt would be [115] like an ocean devoid of vessels, and the deserts would be a barrier absolutely impassable by man. ”

“ Since 11 a.m. we have travelled through much better country, and after our late experience it was quite refreshing to see a luxuriant vegetation once more, such as dhoum palms, colocynth, tamarisks, nebbucks, heglecks—not stunted mimosa bushes now, but different kinds of mimosa trees and various trees and shrubs. The place I am speaking of was quite like a gentleman’s park. Here also were ariels, gazelles, bustards, parroquets, eagles, vultures, and jackals. About seven, and pitch-dark, we, for the first time, heard the roar of a lion not far off. ”

“ We were now rapidly coming to the conclusion that we should have to tie our camels to a mimosa bush, and sleep out without food, and what was still worse, without water, as both our zanzimeers were nearly empty. Still we perseveringly jogged on, and after a time discharged another barrel. In a few minutes’ time we see a slight flash, which appears to be so far off that we cannot make out whether it is in the heavens or on the earth. Not a sound reaches our ears. Our cartridges are also nearly exhausted, and we have all but made up our minds to sleep out, but try the rifle [132] once more. ”

“ It is quite a good day’s work to perform this journey in the blazing sun. I get an early breakfast and leave at 7.30 on my donkey, accompanied by Ibrahim on another donkey, in possession of my luncheon. The distance to the railway station is about two miles. Here I procure tickets for ourselves and the two donkeys, proceed to Bedrashyn, a distance of about ten miles, then remount and pass through the village of Mitrahenny, then a very fine palm-grove, on to the site of ancient Memphis, once a large, rich, and splendid city, remarkable for its temples and palaces. ”

“ Even in sunny Italy I had felt the weather, in the neighbourhood of Turin, Milan, and Bologna, cold and frosty enough in the morning for an overcoat. At Brindisi it was not so cold, but as [27] we neared the African coast the sky grew warmer and warmer, and tinged, so to speak, with a reflection of the Libyan desert, a soft purple hue, rather than the deep blue of Italy. Only those who have witnessed sunset in Africa can form any conception of the beautiful tints reflected from the rocks and sands ”

“ To the late burning heat which we encountered in the desert succeeds a soft, balmy, dry air, and the beautiful and varied hues of the setting sun is reflected from the glittering mosques and minarets, rocks and sands, presenting a picture which will not soon fade from my memory, and which requires the poetry, eloquence, and pen of a Byron to adequately describe. ”

“ These so-called ferocious savages appeared terribly alarmed when our men came upon them. The one on terra firma, with the true instinct that “self-preservation is the first law of nature,” bolted like a shot, but our men captured him. The other was afraid to come down until one of the English servants discharged the contents of one barrel of his rifle, and let him know by the aid of Beyrumfi, our interpreter, that the contents of the other would be lodged in his frail tenement of clay unless he was more sociable. ”

“ They are blacker than the Arabs, but not the coal-black of the negro; their hair is shorter, more crisp and woolly, than the Arabs, but not the absolute wool of the negro. The Arabs have good regular features, lips and noses like our own; the Basé are the contrary, and more resemble the negro in this respect and their high cheek-bones, but they are not nearly so pronounced as the negro. Their foreheads, as a rule, are rather narrow and receding. I was obliged perforce to depend on Sheik Ahmed, and more particularly on Beyrumfi, for all the information I could glean respecting these people. ”

“ Thebes, with its hundred gates, was perhaps the most splendid city in the world for many centuries. Then there were Luxor, Karnak, Philæ, Elephantine, Baalbeck, Dendera, Aba-Simbal, Abydos, Esneh, Edfau, Silsilis, and other places, all decorated with palaces, temples, pyramids, tombs, and sphinxes, &c., on the same magnificent scale; but all have shared the same fate, and their stupendous ruins are all that remain to strike the stranger with awe and wonder. ”

“ Colvin’s zareeba, whilst he was patiently waiting inside for a lion to make his appearance, he had the mortification to see one leap on to his sheep, seize him, and bound off again with the sheep, pegs and rope ere he could get a fair shot at him; he discharged his rifle, but missed his lion. The heat is so great to-day that it is quite uncomfortable to walk across the river-bed in slippers—104° F. in the shade. To-morrow we shall probably start afresh, and pitch our moving tents a day’s march nearer home. ”

“ Everything, even the smallest of the mimosa tree, is armed with long, strong, very sharp thorns. Each thorn is as sharp as a needle and about an inch long; indeed, the native women use them as a cobbler does his awl, and I have often seen a woman using the thorn to pierce a girba and shreds of the palm leaf to sew it up with. The thorns of the kittar bushes are quite semicircular in shape, very near to each other, not long but very strong, and each successive thorn crooks in a different direction to its predecessor—one crooks up and the other down. ”

“ April 3rd.—All astir this morning preparing for the march to Amadeb, where we expect to find letters and newspapers from England. We have some tame monkeys and baboons in camp, which are very amusing and playful. When we are at breakfast some of them come and watch us, thankfully receiving any crumbs of comfort we choose to throw them. Although their movements are quite unfettered, they make no attempt to leave us and join their comrades who have not been civilized. ”

“ Those who are not given to pedestrian exercise can easily avail themselves of a cab or donkey, and they will find the streets, which are spacious and handsome, very pleasant to traverse, as they are all well paved in the city; but the dust outside the walls covers the ground from four to six inches deep, and in combination with the intense glare of the sun, and the wretched hovels of the natives, produces the ophthalmia so common, especially among the Arabs. ”

“ The Hadendowah Arabs are the most numerous tribe in the neighbourhood of Souâkin, and are, for the most part, good-looking men; they are very dark, approaching to blackness, have good, well-formed features, large dark eyes, arched black eyebrows, and face, on which as a rule there is little or no hair, and nearly every Arab, here and elsewhere, that I met with, is possessed of the most beautifully white, regular, and sound teeth possible. ”

“ This meant a hippopotamus. He was accordingly sought for, found and killed before 8 a.m., not far from camp. To see the Arabs then cutting up the carcase, wallowing in gore, and stuffing lumps of meat or fat into their mouths, and rubbing the latter on their heads was a most disgusting sight, almost as bad as the Basé. Festoons of meat soon ornamented every tree in the neighbourhood of the camp. The natives themselves looked like a number of dips melting in the sun. Every head to-day is dripping with fat, which melts and drops about all over the shoulders. ”

“ Ahmed did ample justice. After breakfast many warriors drop into camp, and, in their fashion, squat round in a circle on their haunches. One of the spears was covered with leather as a sign that they were at peace with us. A great and long pow-wow ensued as to our future journey; we should want to buy or hire camels for going through the Basé country, as those we had hired at Kassala would have to return from Heikota.
Last night we were rather disturbed by the noise of lions, and this morning, within about a dozen yards of my tent, I found their footprints, fortunately outside the zareeba. ”

“ No one can form any idea of the intense discomfort of a sand-storm, unless he has been in one. I may close up my tent and be roasted inside. I may lock up my portmanteau, which fits pretty closely, and have it in my tent, the lock covered with leather, yet when I go to bed I find the sheets brown with sand, the most secret recesses of my portmanteau and the lock filled with sand, and my writing-case also, which is inside. I open my mouth to speak, and I can masticate sand, if so disposed. I eat—all my food is full of sand. I drink, not water, but water and sand. In fact, sand is everywhere ”

“ Of course, there followed the inevitable salaaming, coffee and cigarettes, so customary in the East. Our business was very soon explained; we wanted about 80 camels provided without delay to transport ourselves and our baggage across the desert to Kassala. The camel sheik, Moussa, was sent for, and soon appeared—a really picturesque, handsome-featured man, almost black, possessed of gleaming, regular teeth, wearing a snow-white turban and loose white robe, precisely like the ancient Roman toga. ”