INTRODUCTION.

Darfoor is an oasis, or rather a cluster of oases, in the south-eastern part of the great desert of Sahara. The country was annexed to the Egyptian dominions at the close of the year 1874; and, in the following year, owing to reports of its extraordinary fertility, it was decided by Ismael Pasha, then Khedive of Egypt, that a survey should be made for a proposed line of railway to El Fasher, or Tendelti, its capital town.

Previous to 1874 there had been only three available routes to El Fasher from Egypt or Nubia.

One from Sioot on the Nile, about two hundred and ten miles above Cairo. This route, throughout its entire length, is in the desert; the wells are sometimes ten days’ journey apart, and in other respects it is quite impracticable for the purposes of a railway.

A second from Dabbe, latitude 18° N., on the upper Nile, across the desert to El Obeid, capital of Khordofan, and thence into Darfoor, over rough and generally unfavourable ground.

A third from Khartoom, at the junction of the White and Blue Niles, to El Obeid, and thence by the route last mentioned.

A fourth route by the Wady Milkh, said to be very superior to any of the other three, existed, however, from near Old Dongola on the Upper Nile, almost in a straight line, right into Darfoor.

The “Wady Milkh”[1] signifies “Inalienable Valley”; it is so called because since the reign of Achmet Bokr, Sultan of Darfoor (1682-1722), who extended his frontiers as far as the Nile, and beyond to the Atbara, the Sultans of Darfoor claimed the sole right to use it. The route, moreover, was said to be unsafe, owing to the predatory habits of the Arab tribes dwelling in different parts of its length.

It was along this newly acquired “Wady Milkh,” or Inalienable Valley, that the surveys and levels for the proposed line of railway, on which I was engaged, were to be made.

The adventures that I met with while on the journey from the second cataract of the Nile, and afterwards at El Fasher, and the description of the country, form the subject of this book.