BOOK VIII. (continued 2)

Sometime before I left Gondar I had been threatened with an attack of the dysentery. At my arrival at Hor-Cacamoot it grew worse, and had many unpromising symptoms, when I was cured by the advice and application of a common Shangalla, by means of a shrub called Wooginoos[21], growing very common in those parts, the manner of using which he taught me.

The country, from Tcherkin to Ras el Feel, or Hor-Cacamoot, is all a black earth, called Mazaga, which some authors have taken for the name of the province. However, the word Mazaga, in the language of the country, signifies fat, loose, black earth, or mold, such as all that stripe of land from 13° to 16° of latitude is composed of, at least till you reach to the deserts of Atbara, where the rains end. Ras el Feel is, I suppose, one of the hottest countries in the known world. On the 1st day of March, at three o'clock in the afternoon, Fahrenheit's thermometer, in the shade, was 114° which was at 61° at sun-rise, and 82° at sun-set. And yet this excessive heat did not make a proportional impression upon our feelings. The evenings, on the contrary, rather seemed cold, and we could hunt at mid-day. And this I constantly observed in this sultry country, that, what was hot by the glass, never appeared to carry with it any thing proportionate in our sensations.

Ras el Feel formerly paid 400 ounces of gold, which is 4000 crowns; Sancaho paid 100. But trade having decreased, since the expedition of Yasous II. to Sennaar, without the king's demand being lessened, many people have left it, and are gone to Tcherkin.

I have several times, in the course of this work, taken notice of a black nation called Shangalla, who surround all the N. N. W. and N. E. of Abyssinia, by a belt scarcely sixty miles broad. This is called by the Abyssinians, Kolla, or the Hot Country, which is likewise one of their names for hell. Two gaps, or spaces, made for the sake of commerce, in this belt, the one at Tchelga, the other at Ras el Feel, have been settled and possessed by strangers, to keep these Shangalla in awe; and here the custom-houses were placed, for the mutual interest of both kingdoms, before all intercourse was interrupted by the impolitic expedition of Yasous against Sennaar. Ras el Feel divides this nation of woolly-headed blacks into two, the one west below Kuara, and bordering on Fazuclo (part of the kingdom of Sennaar) as also on the country of Agows. These are the Shangalla that traffic in gold, which they find in the earth, where torrents have fallen from the mountains; for there is no such thing as mines in any part of their country nor any way of collecting gold but this; nor is there any gold found in Abyssinia, however confidently this has been advanced; neither is there gold brought into that kingdom from any other quarter but this which we are now speaking of; notwithstanding all the misrepresentations of the missionaries to make the attempts to subdue this kingdom appear more lucrative and less ridiculous to European princes. The other nation, on the frontiers of Kuara, has Ras el Feel on the east, about three days journey from the Cacamoot. The natives are called Ganjar; a very numerous and formidable nation of hunters, consisting of several thousand horse. The origin of these is said to have been, that when the Funge (or black nation now occupying Sennaar) dispossessed the Arabs from that part of the country, the black-slaves that were in service among these Arabs, all fled and took possession of the districts they now hold; where they have greatly increased in numbers, and continue independent to this day. They are the natural enemies of Ras el Feel, and much blood has been shed between them, from making inroads one upon the other, murdering the men and carrying their women into slavery. Yasine, however, had become too strong for them, by the assistance of Ayto Confu, and they had offered to assist the king at the campaign of Serbraxos. But they were found not fit to be trusted, so were sent away, under pretence that they should attack Coque Abou Barea governor of Kuara for the rebels, and hinder him from coming to their assistance; and even this they did not do.

The title of their chief is Sheba, which signifies the Old Man. His residence is called Cashumo, by his own people; and Dendy Kolla, by the Abyssinians of Kuara. Yasine, however, was now at peace with them, without which our journey would scarce have been possible. Sheba sent his son to see me at Ras el Feel; we thought, at that time, he came as a spy. However, when we departed I gave him a small present; and we swore mutual friendship, that he was to be ready always to fight against my enemies, and that we were to act kindly by each other, though we were to meet, horse to horse, alone in the desert.

Yasine had done every thing, on his part, to secure me a good reception from Fidele Shekh of Atbara. Every assurance possible had been given, and I had before travelled some thousand miles upon much slighter promises, which had, however, been always faithfully kept; so that I did not at all suspect that any thing unfair could be intended me at Teawa, where Fidele resided. But as the loss of life was the consequence of being mistaken, I never did omit any means to double my security.

Mahomet Gibberti, as we have before observed, had already carried a letter of mine from Gondar to his master Metical Aga, Selictarto the Sherriffe of Mecca in Arabia, requesting that he would write to some man of consideration in Sennaar, and, taking it for granted that I was then arrived at Teawa, desire that a servant of the king might be sent to give me safe conduct from that frontier to the capital. Yasine had written to the same effect, directly to Sennaar, and sent a servant of his, who, for security sake, had nothing but the letter and an old ragged cloth about his waist; and he had long ago arrived at Sennaar, the before-named place of his destination.

Among the tribes of Arabs that were protected by Yasine, and furnished with pasture, water, and a market for their cattle, and milk and butter, at Ras el Feel, were the Daveina, by much the most powerful of all the Arabs in Atbara; but they ventured no further southward than Beyla, for fear of the troops of Sennaar.

The Shekh of Beyla was a man of very great character for courage and probity. His name was Mahomet; and I had often corresponded with him upon the subject of horses for the king while I was at Gondar. He was greatly tormented with the stone, and by means of Yasine I had several times sent him soap-pills, and lime, with directions how to make lime-water. I therefore sent a servant of mine with a letter to the Shekh of Beyla, mentioning my intention of coming to Sennaar by the way of Teawa and Beyla, and desiring him to forward my servant to Sennaar, to Hagi Belal my correspondent there, and, at the same time, write to some other friend of his own, to see that the king's servant should be dispatched to Teawa without delay. This servant, with the letters, I committed to the care of the Shekh of the Daveina, who promised that he would himself see him safe into Beyla; and, by a particular Providence, all these letters and messengers arrived safe, without miscarriage of one, at the places of their destination, though we were long kept in suspence before they took effect.

I was now about to quit Ras el Feel for ever, in a firm perswasion that I had done every thing man could do to insure a safe journey and good reception at Sennaar, till one day I received a visit from Mahomet Shekh of Nile; which does not mean Shekh of the river, but of a tribe of that name, which is but a division of the Daveina. To this Shekh I had shewn a particular attention in several trips he had made to Gondar, in consequence of which he was very grateful and anxious for my safety. He told me, that he saw I was setting out perfectly content with the measures I had taken for my safety at Sennaar, and he owned that they were the best that human prudence could suggest; "but, says he, in my opinion, you have not yet been cautious enough about Teawa. I know Fidele well, and I apprehend your danger is there, and not at Sennaar." He then drew a most unfavourable picture of that Shekh, whom he affirmed to have been a murderer and a thief all his days, and the son of a father no better than himself; that he was of no religion, neither Mahometan, Christian, nor Pagan, but absolutely without fear of God; he said, however, he believed him to be a great coward; and therefore the whole of my safety reduced itself to this. Was he really afraid of Yasine, or not? If he was, that became the best handle we could lay hold on; but if, on the contrary, he was not afraid of Yasine, or was persuaded, as he very well might be by wicked people about him, that, when once I was out of the country, Yasine took no further charge of me, he doubted very much I should never pass Teawa, or, at least, without suffering some heavy affront or ill-usage, the extent of which it was impossible to determine.

These sensible suggestions made a very strong impression on Yasine and me; Yasine's first position was, that Fidele was certainly afraid to disoblige him; but, allowing the possibility he was not, he owned he had not substituted any second measure to which I could trust. We all regretted that our friends the Daveina had been suffered to depart without taking me with them by Sim-Sim and Beyla; but it was now too late, as the Daveina had for some days arrived at the station the nearest Beyla and the farthest from us. It was then agreed, that Nile should send a relation of his, who was married to one of the tribes of Jehaina Arabs, encamped upon Jibbel Idriss near to Teawa, with whom Fidele was at that time making peace, lest they should burn the crop about the town. This man was not to enter the town of Teawa with me, but was to come there the next day, as if from his friends at Jibbel Idriss; and, if I then informed him there was danger, should return to the Jehaina, mount a hajan or dromedary, and give Yasine information with all possible speed. All this being now settled, I prepared for my journey, having first, by many observations by night and day, fixed the latitude of Hor-Cacamoot to be 13° 1´ 33´´ north.

CHAP. IV. From Hor-Cacamoot to Teawa, Capital of Atbara.

It was on the 17th of March that we set out from Hor-Caamoot on our journey to Teawa, capital of the province of Atbara. Our course was N. N. W. through thick brush-wood, with a few high trees; our companions being eleven naked men, with asses loaden with salt. We had several interruptions on the road. At three in the afternoon we encamped at Falaty, the east village of Ras el Feel, a little to the northward. A small mountain, immediately north from this village, the one end of which is thought to resemble the head of an elephant, gives the name to the village and the province[22]. This mountain stretches in a direction nearly north and south, as do the villages, and the small river when it has water, but it was now apparently dry. However, by digging pretty deep in the sand, the water filtering through the sides of the holes filled in a certain time with a putrid, ill-tasted, unwholesome beverage, which is all this miserable village has for its use. The people look sickly and ill-coloured. Falaty is three miles and a half distant from Hor-Cacamoot, its name interpreted is Poverty.

On the 18th, at half after six in the morning we continued our journey through thick, and almost impenetrable woods full of thorns; and in two hours we came to the bed of a torrent, though in appearance dry, upon digging with our hands in the loose sand, we found great plenty of fresh water exceedingly well tasted, being sheltered by projecting rocks from the action of the sun. This is called Surf el Shekh. Here we filled our girbas, for there is very little good water to be found between this and Teawa.

A girba is an ox's skin squared, and the edges sewed together very artificially by a double seam, which does not let out water, much resembling that upon the best English cricket-balls. An opening is left in the top of the girba, in the same manner as the bung-hole of a cask. Around this the skin is gathered to the size of a large handful, which, when the girba is full of water, is tied round with whip-cord. These girbas generally contain about sixty gallons each, and two of them are the load of a camel. They are then all besmeared on the outside with grease, as well to hinder the water from oozing through, as to prevent its being evaporated by the action of the sun upon the girba, which in fact happened to us twice, so as to put us in imminent danger of perishing with thirst.

Yasine had provided a camel and two girbas, as well as every other provision necessary for us, till we should arrive at Teawa. Surf el Shekh is the boundary of Ras el Feel. Here I took an affectionate leave of my friend Yasine, who, with all his attendants, shewed, at parting, that love and attachment they had constantly preserved to me since our first acquaintance.

Soliman, my old and faithful servant, who had carried my first letter to Sennaar, though provided for in the king's service, insisted upon attending me to Sennaar, and dying with me if it should be my fate; or else gaining the reward which had been promised him, if he brought back the good news of my safe arrival and good reception there. At parting, I gave the faithful Yasine one of my horses and my coat of mail, that is my ordinary one; for the one that was given me by Ozoro Esther had belonged to king Yasous, and as it would have been an affront to have bestowed it on a common man like Yasine, who, besides, was a Mahometan, so I gave it (with Ozoro Esther's consent) to Ayto Engedan, king Yasous's grandson. Before parting, Yasine, like an old traveller, called the whole company together, and obliged them to repeat the Fedtah, the Prayer of Peace.

At half past seven in the evening we came to Engaldi, a large bason or cavity, several hundred yards in length, and about thirty feet deep, made for the reception of water by the Arabs, who encamp by its side after the rains. The water was almost exhausted, and what remained had an intolerable stench. However, flocks of Guinea fowls, partridges, and every sort of bird, had crowded thither to drink, from the scarcity of water elsewhere. I believe, I may certainly say, the number amounted to many thousands. My Arabs loaded themselves in a very little while, killing them, with sticks and stones; but they were perfectly useless, being reduced to skeletons by hunger and thirst. For this reason, as well as that I might not alarm any strolling banditti within hearing, I did not suffer a shot to be fired at them.

At eight we came to Eradeeba, where is neither village nor water, but only a resting-place about half a mile square, which has been cleared from wood, that travellers, who pass to and from Atbara, might have a secure spot whence they could see around them, and guard themselves from being attacked unawares by the banditti sometimes resorting to those deserts.

At a quarter past eleven we arrived at Quaicha, a bed of a torrent where there was now no water; but the wood seemed growing still thicker, and to be full of wild beasts, especially lions and hyænas. These do not fly from man, as those did that we had hitherto seen, but came boldly up, especially the hyæna, with a resolution to attack us. Upon our first lighting a fire they left us for a time; but towards morning they came in greater numbers, than before; a lion carried away one of our asses from among the other beasts of burden, and a hyæna attacked one of the men, tore his cloth from his middle, and wounded him in his back. As we now expected to be instantly devoured, the present fear overcame the resolutions we had made, not to use our fire arms, unless in the utmost necessity. I fired two guns, and ordered my servants to fire two large ship-blunderbusses, which presently freed us from our troublesome guests. Two hyænas were killed, and a large lion being mortally wounded was dispatched by our men in the morning. They came no more near us; but we heard numbers of them howling at a distance till day-light, either from hunger or the smarts of the wounds they had received, perhaps from both; for each ship-blunderbuss had fifty small bullets, and the wood towards which they were directed, at the distance of about twenty yards, seemed to be crowded with these animals. The reason why the hyæna is more fierce here than in any part of Barbary, will be given in the natural history of that wild beast in the Appendix.

Though this, our first day's journey from Falaty and Ras el Feel, to Quaicha, was of eleven hours, the distance we had gone in that time was not more than ten miles; for our beasts were exceedingly loaded, so that it was with the utmost difficulty that either we or they could force ourselves through those thick woods, which scarcely admitted the rays of the sun. From this station, however, we were entertained with a most magnificent sight. The mountains at a distance towards the banks of the Tacazzé, all Debra Haria, and the mountains towards Kuara, were in a violent bright flame of fire.

The Arabs feed all their flocks upon the branches of trees; no beast in this country eats grass. When therefore the water is dried up, and they can no longer stay, they set fire to the woods, and to the dry grass below it. The flame runs under the trees, scorches the leaves and new wood, without consuming the body of the tree. After the tropical rains begin, the vegetation immediately returns; the springs increase, the rivers run, and the pools are filled with water. All sorts of verdure being now in the greatest luxuriancy, the Arabs revisit their former stations. This conflagration is performed at two seasons; the first, by the Shangalla and hunters on the southern parts of this woody country, begins in the month of October, on the return of the sun, the circumstances of which I have already mentioned; the latter, which happens in March, and lasts all April, besides providing future sustenance for their flocks, is likewise intended to prevent, at least to diminish, the ravages of the fly; a plague of the most extraordinary kind, already described.

We left Quaicha a little before four in the morning of the 19th of March, and at half an hour past five we came to Jibbel Achmar, a small mountain, or rather mount; for it is of a very regular form, and not above 300 feet high, but covered with green grass to the top. What has given it the name of Jibbel Achmar, or the Red Mountain, I know not. All the country is of red earth about it; but as it hath much grass, it should be called[23] the Green Mountain, in the middle of the red country; though there is nothing more vague or undetermined than the language of the Arabs, when they speak of colours. This hill, surrounded with impenetrable woods, is in the beginning of autumn the rendezvous of the Arabs Daveina, when there is water; at which time the rhinoceros and many sorts of beasts, crowd hither; tho' few elephants, but they are those of the largest kind, mostly males; so that the Arabs make this a favourite station, after the grass is burnt, especially the young part of them, who are hunters.

We reached Imserrha at half past eleven, the water being about half a mile distant to the S. W. The wells are situated upon a small ridge that runs nearly east and west. At one extremity of this is a small-pointed mountain, upon which was formerly a village belonging to the Arabs, called Jehaina, now totally destroyed by the hunting parties of the Daveina, the great tyrants of this country, who, together with the scarcity of water, are the principal causes that this whole territory is desolate. For though the soil is sandy and improper for agriculture, yet it is thickly overgrown with trees; and were the places where water is found sufficiently flocked with inhabitants, great numbers of cattle might be pastured here, every species of which live upon the leaves and the young branches of trees, even on spots where grass is abundant.

On the 20th, at six o'clock in the morning we set out from Imserrha, and in two hours arrived at Rashid, where we were surprised to see the branches of the shrubs and bushes all covered with a shell of that species of univalve called Turbines, white and red; some of them from three to four inches long, and not to be distinguished by the nicest eye from those sea-shells, of the same species, which are brought in great quantities from the West India islands, especially St Domingo.

How these came first in a sandy desert so far from the sea is a disquisition I shall not now enter into. There are of this fish great numbers in the Red Sea, and in the Indian Ocean; how they came upon the bushes, or at the roots of them, appears more the business of the present narrative. To confine myself to the matter of fact, I shall only say, that throughout this desert are many springs of salt-water; great part of the desert is fossile salt, which, buried in some places at different depths according to the degree of inclination of all minerals to the horizon, does at times in these fountains appear very near the surface. Here I suppose the seed is laid, and, by the addition of the rain-water that falls upon the salt during the tropical rains, the quantity of salt-water is much increased, and these fishes spread themselves over the plain as in a temporary ocean. The rains decrease, and the sun returns; those that are near springs retire to them, and provide for the propagation of future years. Those that have wandered too far off in the plains retire to the bushes as the only shelter from the sun. The intense heat at length deprives them of that shade, and they perish with the leaves to which they crept for shelter, and this is the reason that we saw such a quantity of shells under the bushes; that we found them otherwise alive in the very heart of the springs, we shall further circumstantiate in our Appendix, when we speak of mussels so found in our history of the formation of pearls.

Rashid was once full of villages, all of which are now ruined by the Arabs Daveina. There are seven or eight wells of good water here, and the place itself is beautiful beyond description. It is a fairy land, in the middle of an inhospitable, uninhabited desert; full of large wide spreading trees, loaded with flowers and fruit, and crowded with an immense number of the deer kind. Among these, we saw a large one, like the antelope, his buttocks (a considerable way up his back) being covered with white, which terminated upon his thigh in a black line, drawn from the haunch down very nigh to the joint of his hind leg. These we had never seen before. They are called Ariel in Arabia, go in large flocks, are exceedingly swift; though, from the necessity of coming to water, and its only being found in particular places, they were an easy victim to those that watched for them at night.

Sim Sim is a copious spring, which supplies a large bason the Arabs have dug for it near thirty feet deep. It lies west of Rashid, or a little to the southward of west. It is in a sandy desert, in the direct way to Beyla and Sennaar, and here the Daveina kept their flocks, equally secure from the fly and the troops of Sennaar, the two great enemies they have to fear; and being in the neighbourhood of Ras el Feel, they keep a large market there, supplying that country amply with provisions of all kinds, and getting from it, in return, what they have not in their own district.

We were just two hours in coming to Rashid, for we were flying for our lives; the Simoom, or hot-wind, having struck us not long after we had set out from Imserrha, and our little company, all but myself, fell mortally sick with the quantity of poisonous vapour that they had imbibed. I apprehend, from Rashid to Imserrha it is about five miles; and though it is one of the most dangerous halting-places between Ras el Feel and Sennaar, yet we were so enervated, our stomachs so weak, and our head-achs so violent, that we could not pitch our tent, but each wrapping himself in his cloak, resigned himself immediately to sleep, under the cool shade of the large trees, invited by the pleasant breeze from the north, which seemed to be merely local, confined to this small grove, created probably by the vicinity of the water, and the agitation we had occasioned in it.

In this helpless state to which we were reduced, I alone continued not weakened by the simoom, nor overcome by sleep. A Ganjar Arab, who drove an ass laden with salt, took this opportunity of stealing one of the mules, together with a lance and shield belonging to one of my servants. The country was so woody, and he had so much advantage of us in point of time, and we were in so weak and discouraged a state, that it was thought in vain to pursue him one step. So he got off with his booty, unless he was intercepted by some of those wild beasts, which he would find everywhere in his way, whether he returned to Ras el Feel, or the frontiers of Kuara, his own country.

Having refreshed ourselves with a little sleep, the next thing was to fill our girbas, or skins, with water. But before we attempted this, I thought to try an experiment of mixing about twenty drops of spirit of nitre in a horn of water about the size of an ordinary tumbler. This I found greatly refreshed me, though my headach still continued. It had a much better effect upon my servants, to whom I gave it; for they all seemed immediately recovered, and their spirits much more so, from the reflection that they had with them a remedy they could trust to, if they should again be so unfortunate as to meet this poisonous wind or vapour.

On the 21st, we set out from Rashid at two o'clock in the morning, and at a little past eight arrived at Imhanzara, having gone mostly N. W. to north and by west. This, too, is a station of the Arabs Daveina; and there had been here large pools of water, the cavities, apparently dug by the hands of men, were from twenty to thirty feet deep, and not less than sixty yards long. The water was just then drying up; and stood only about half a foot in depth, in the bottom of one of the pools. The borders of the basons were thick set with acacia and jujeb-trees; but the fruit of the latter was drying upon the stones, and had fallen shrivelled in great quantities upon the ground. We gathered about a couple of pecks, which was a very great refreshment to us. The fruit, though retaining a very sharp acid taste, is mixed with a sweetness not unlike the tamarind; and which it communicated to water, upon a handful of the dry fruit being steeped therein for half an hour. The ordinary jujeb in Barbary is oblong like an olive; this is perfectly round like the cherry, but something smaller. The tree is thorny, and differs in nothing from the other, but only in the shape of the fruit. When dried, it is of a golden colour; and is here called Nabca, being the principal sustenance of the Arabs, till these pools are dry, when they are obliged to seek other food, and other water, at some more distant station.

This day, being the fifth of our journey, we had gone about five hours very diligently, though, considering the weak state we were in, I do not think we advanced more than seven or eight miles; and it was to me very visible, that all the animals, mules, camels, and horses, were affected as much as we were by the simoom. They drank repeatedly, and for a considerable length of time, but they seemed to go just so much the worse for it.

Upon approaching the pool, that had water in it, though yet at some distance from it, my servants sent me word to come up speedily, and bring fire-arms with me. A lion had killed one of the deer, called Ariel, and had ate a part of it, but had retired upon the noise we had made in alighting. In place of him, five or six hyænas had seized the carcase, and several others were at the instant arriving to join them, and partake of the prey the lion had abandoned. I hastened upon the summons, carrying with me a musket and bayonet, and a ship blunderbuss, with about forty small bullets in it. I crept through the bushes, and under banks as near to them as possible, for fear of being seen; but the precaution seemed entirely superfluous; for though they observed me approaching, they did not seem disposed to leave their prey, but in their turn looked at me, raising the bristles upon their back, shaking themselves as a dog does when he comes out of water, and giving a short but terrible grunt. After which they fell to their prey again, as if they meant to dispatch their deer first, and then come and settle their affairs with me. I now began to repent having ventured alone so near; but knowing, with the short weapon I had, the execution depended a good deal upon the distance, I still crept a little nearer, till I got as favourable a position as I could wish behind the root of a large tree that had fallen into the lake. Having set my musket at my hand, near and ready, I levelled my blunderbuss at the middle of the group, which were feeding voraciously like as many swine, with a considerable noise, and a civil war with each other. Two of them fell dead upon the spot; two more died about twenty yards distance; but all the rest that could escape fled without looking back, or shewing any kind of resentment: I then took my musquet in my hand, and stood, prepared with my bayonet, behind the tree, but fired no more, not knowing what their humour or disposition might be as to a return upon accession of new companions.

About twenty small foxes, and a flock of several hundred Guinea-fowls, now came up from the inside of the pool. The fowls lighted immediately, and ran back again to the water. The foxes retired quickly into the woods. Whether they had assembled with a view of getting a share of the deer, an animal of this kind being generally attendant upon the lion, or whether, as is most likely, they were seeking the Guinea-fowls, I do not know. I suspect it was the latter, by their number; for never more than one at a time is remarked to accompany the lion.

We observed a variety of traps and cages, some of them very ingenious, which the Daveina, or other Arabs, had set to catch these birds, several of which we found dead in these snares, and some of them had not yet been touched by beasts; and as there was but a small distance between the traps and the water's edge, which could only be answerable to a few days evaporation, we with great reason inferred, that the Daveina, or some other Arabs, had been there a very short time before. We found in the mud of the pool large green shell-snails, with the animals alive in them; some of them weighed very near a pound, in nothing, but size and thickness of the shell, different from common garden-snails.

Not a little alarmed at this discovery that the Arabs were near us, we left Imhanzara at four o'clock in the evening of the 21st, our journey mostly N. W.; at eight we lost our way, and were obliged to halt in a wood. Here we were terrified to find, that the water in our girbas was entirely gone; whether by evaporation of the hot wind, or otherwise, I know not; but the skin had the appearance of water in it, till its lightness in unloading discovered the contrary. Though all the people were sick, the terror of being without water gave us something like alacrity, and desire to push on. We set out at eleven, but still wandered in the wood till three o'clock in the morning of the 22d, when we were obliged again to alight. I really then began to think we were lost. I ordered the girbas to be examined: a large one which we had filled at Rashid was entirely empty; and that one which we had partly filled at Imhanzara on account of the badness of the water, had not much more in it than what kept liquid the mud which had been taken up with it. This, however, (bad as it was) was greedily guzzled up in a moment. The people who conducted the asses, seeing that we had skins to contain plenty of water for us, had omitted to fill the small goat-skin which each of them carried. A general murmur of fear and discontent prevailed through our whole company; for we could have no guess at the nearness or situation of the next well, as we had lost our road; and some of the caravan even pretended that we had passed it. But though we had travelled thirteen hours, I cannot compute the distance to have been above fourteen miles.

This day, being the sixth from Ras el Feel, at half after five in the morning, we set off in great despondency; and, upon the first dawn of day, I set our route by the compass, and found it north and by east, or more easterly. This did not seem the probable road to Sennaar, after having gone so considerably to the north-west. But, before I could make much reflection upon the observation, one of the caravan declared he knew the road, and that we had gone very little out of it, and were now proceeding straight to the well. Accordingly, at half past nine, we reached it; it is called Imgellalib[24]. There is great plenty of water, with a leather-bucket, and a straw rope to draw it up, but it is very ill-tasted. However, the fear of dying with thirst, more than having materially suffered from it, made every one press to drink; and the effect of this hurry was very soon seen. Two Abyssinian Moors, a man and woman, died after drinking; the man instantly, and the woman a few minutes after; for my own part, though thirsty, I was sensible I could have held out a considerable time without danger; and, indeed, I did not drink till I had washed my head, face, and neck all over. I then washed my mouth and throat, and, having cooled myself, and in great measure assuaged my thirst, I then drank till I was completely satisfied, but only by small draughts. I would have persuaded all my companions to do the same, but I was not heard; and one would have thought, like the camels, they had been drinking once for many days to come. Yet none of them had complained of thirst till they heard the girbas were empty; and it was not sixteen hours since they had drank at Imhanzara, and but twelve since the girbas were found to be dry, when we first lost our way, and stopped in the wood.

The extensive, and very thick forest, which had reached without interruption all the way from Tcherkin, ended, here at Imgellalib. The country is perfectly flat, and hath very little water. The forest, however, though thick, afforded no sort of shade; the hunters, for the sake of their sport, and the Arabs, for destroying the flies, having set fire to all the dry grass and shrubs, which, passing with great rapidity, in the direction of the wood from east to west, though it had not time enough to destroy the trees, did yet wither, and occasion every leaf that was upon them to fall, unless in those spaces where villages had been, and where water was. In such spots a number of large spreading trees remained full of foliage, which, from their great height, and being cleared of underwood, continued in full verdure, loaded with large, projecting, and exuberant branches. But, even here, the pleasure that their shade afforded was very temporary, so as to allow us no time for enjoyment. The sun, so near the zenith, changed his azimuth so rapidly, that every few minutes I was obliged to change the carpet on which I lay round the trunk of the tree, to which I had fled, for shelter; and, though I lay down to sleep, perfectly skreened by the trunk, or branches, I was presently awakened by the violent rays of a scorching sun, the shade having passed beyond me; and this was particularly incommodious, when the trees, under which we placed ourselves, were of the thorny kind, very common in those forests. The thorns, being all scattered round the trunk upon the ground, made either changing-place, or lying, equally uneasy; so that often, however averse we were to fatigue, with the effects of the simoom, we found, that, pitching the head of our tent, and sometimes the whole of it, was the only possible means of securing a permanent protection from the sun's oppressive heat. In all other places, though we had travelled constantly in forests, we never met with a tree that could shade us for a moment, the fire having deprived them of all their leaves.

Having refreshed ourselves for near two hours by the enjoyment of this water at Imgellalib, and raked a sufficient quantity of sand over the dead bodies of our two companions, from piety and decency rather than for use, we abandoned them to the hyænas, who had already smelled the mortality, and were coming, two and three together, at the distance of a long shot from the well where we were then drinking. We set out at eleven, our road being thro' a very extensive plain; and, at two in the afternoon, we alighted at another well, called Garigana; the water was bad, and in small quantity. In this plain is situated the principal village of Atbara, called Teawa. The thermometer, slung under the camel, in the shade of the girba of water, had yet, nevertheless, varied within these three hours from 111° to 119-1/2.

At five o'clock we left Garigana, our journey being still to the eastward of north; and, at a quarter past six in the evening, arrived at the village of that name, whose inhabitants had all perished with hunger the year before; their wretched bones being all unburied and scattered upon the surface of the ground where the village formerly stood. We encamped among the bones of the dead; no space could be found free from them; and on the 23d, at six in the morning, full of horror at this miserable spectacle, we set out for Teawa: this was the seventh day from Ras el Feel. After an hour's travelling we came to a small river, which still had water standing in some considerable pools, although its banks were perfectly destitute of any kind of shade.

At three quarters after seven in the evening we arrived at Teawa, the principal village and residence of the Shekh of Atbara, between three and four miles from the ruins of Garigana. The whole distance, then, from Hor-Cacamoot, may be about sixty-five miles to Teawa, as near as I then could compute; that is, from Hor-Cacamoot to Rashid, thirty-two miles, and from Rashid to Teawa, thirty-three miles; but Rashid from Hor-Cacamoot bears N. W. and by N. and the latitudes are:—

Teawa, lat. 14° 2´ 4´´ N.

Hor-Cacamoot, 13° 1´ 33´´

Difference, lat. 1° 0´ 31´´

The difference of longitude is then but five or six miles; so that Teawa is very little to the westward of due north from Hor-Cacamoot, and nearly in the same meridian with Ras el Feel, which is four miles west of Hor-Cacamoot. From Imhanzara to Teawa, but especially from Imgellalib, we went always to the eastward of north. From Teawa we observed the following bearings and distances:

Beyla, W. S. W. about 28 miles at farthest.

Hasib, S. and by W.

Jibbel Imsiddera, S. about 8 miles, where is good water.

Mendera, N. 48 miles; indifferent water from deep wells.

Rashid, S. nearly 33 miles; plenty of good water all the year.

Jibbel Isriff, E. N. E. about three miles; water.

Jibbel Attesh and Habharras, W. and by N. between 50 and 60 miles.

Sennaar, W. and by N. as far as we could guess about 70 miles.

Guangue River, from 14 to 16 miles due east.

Derkin, E. N. E. about 27 miles.

At Garigana, several of our caravan, with their asses and loading of salt, left us, either afraid of entering Teawa, or because their friends dwelt at Jibbel Isriff, where the clan of Jehaina were then encamped, being afraid of the Arabs Daveina, who, the preceding year, had destroyed all the crops and villages that belonged to them, or rather reaped them for their own advantage. The whole tribe of Jehaina is greatly their inferiors in all respects, and as by assembling upon Jibbel Isriff, a low though very rugged ridge of hills, abounding in water, where the pits in which they hide their grain were, and where, too, they had deposited the principal of their effects, they had given this pledge of mutual assistance to the inhabitants of Teawa in case of an attack from those great destroyers the Daveina.

The Daveina being Arabs, who constantly live in tents, bear a mortal enmity to all who inhabit villages, and, as occasion offered, had destroyed, starved, and laid waste the greatest part of Atbara. They had been outlawed by the government of Sennaar for having joined Yasous II. upon the expedition against that kingdom. They had ever since been well-received by the Abyssinians, lived independent, and in perpetual defiance of the government of Sennaar. They had often threatened Teawa, but had given the Shekh of Beyla an assurance of friendship ever since Yasine had married a daughter of that Shekh.

The strength of Teawa was about 25 horse, of which about ten were armed with coats of mail. They had about a dozen of firelocks, very contemptible from the order in which they were kept, and still more so from the hands that bore them. The rest of the inhabitants might amount to twelve hundred men, naked, miserable, and despicable Arabs, like the rest of those that live in villages, who are much inferior in courage to the Arabs that dwell in tents: weak as its state was, it was the seat of government, and as such a certain degree of reverence attended it. Fidele, the Shekh of Atbara, was reputed by his own people a man of courage; this had been doubted at Sennaar. Welled Hassan, his father, had been employed by Nasser the son, late king of Sennaar, in the murder of his father and sovereign Baady, which he had perpetrated, as I have already mentioned. Such was the state of Teawa. Its consequence was only to remain till the Daveina should resolve to attack it, when its corn-fields being burnt and destroyed in a night by a multitude of horsemen, the bones of its inhabitants scattered upon the earth, would be all its remains, like those of the miserable village of Garigana.

I have already observed, in the beginning of the journey, that the Shekh of the Arabs Nile, who resided in Abyssinia, near Ras el Feel, since the expedition of Yasous, had warned me, at Hor-Cacamoot, to distrust the fair promises and friendly professions of Shekh Fidele, and had, indeed, raised such doubts in my mind, that, had not the Daveina been parted from Sim Sim, (or the confines of Abyssinia) though there would have been a risk, that if, coming with that tribe, I should have been-ill received at Sennaar, I nevertheless would have travelled with them, rather than by Teawa; but the Daveina were gone.

The Shekh of Atbara, having no apparent interest to deceive us, had hitherto been a friend as far as words would go, and had promised every thing that remained in his power; but, for fear of the worst, Nile had given us a confidential man, who was related to the Jehaina and to the principal Shekh of that tribe. This man conducted an ass, loaded with salt, among the other Arabs of the caravan, and was to set off to Ras el Feel upon the first appearance of danger, which he was to learn by coming once in two days, or oftner, either to Teawa, where he was no farther known than as being one of the Jehaina, or to the river, where my Soliman was to meet him at the pools of water; but his secret was only known to Soliman, myself, and a Greek servant, Michael. From leaving Hor-Cacamoot, he had no personal interview with me; but the night, when we were like to perish for thirst in the wood, he had sent me, by Soliman, privately, a horn-full of water, which he had in his goat's skin, and for which I had rewarded him handsomely in the instant, glad of that opportunity of confirming him in his duty.

This man we set off to Jibbel Isriff, as a stranger, with orders not to come to us till the third day; for we were well-persuaded, whatever the end was to be, that our first reception would be a gracious one. Indeed we were all of us inclined to believe, that our suspicions of Fidele Shekh of Atbara, and of his intentions towards us, were rather the effects of the fear that Shekh Nile had infused into us, than any apprehension which we could reasonably form after so many promises; at the same time, it was agreed on all hands, that, life being at stake, we could not be too careful, in providing means that could, if the worst happened, at the least diminish our risk.

CHAP. V. Transactions at Teawa—Attempts of the Shekh to detain the Author there—Administer Medicines to him and his Wives—Various Conversations with him, and Instances of his Treachery.

At the passage of the small river, about a quarter of a mile from Teawa, we were met by a man on horseback, cloathed with a large, loose gown of red camlet, or some such stuff, with a white muslin turban upon his head, and about 20 naked, beggarly servants on foot, with lances, but no shields; two small drums were beating, and a pipe playing before them. He stopt upon my coming near them, and affected a delicacy in advancing to salute me, he being on horseback, and I upon a mule, for my horse was led behind, saddled and bridled, with a loose blue cloth covering him. Soliman, who first accosted him, told him it was the custom of Abyssinia not to mount horses but in time of war, upon which he immediately dismounted, and, upon seeing this, I alighted likewise. We saluted one another very courteously. He was a man about seventy, with a very long beard, and of a very graceful appearance. It was with the utmost difficulty I could prevail upon him to mount his horse, as he declared his intention was to walk by the side of my mule till he entered the town of Teawa. This being over-ruled, by an invincible obstinacy on my part, he was at last constrained to mount on horseback, which he did with an agility only to be expected from a young man of twenty.

Being mounted, he shewed us a variety of paces on horseback. All this, too, was counted a humiliation and politeness on his part, as playing tricks, and prancing on horseback, is never done but by young men before their elders, or by meaner people before their superiors. We passed by a very commodious house, where he ordered my servants to unload my baggage, that being the residence assigned for me by the Shekh. He and I, with Soliman on foot by the side of my mule, crossed an open space of about five hundred yards, where the market is kept; he protested a thousand times by the way, what a shame it was to him to appear on horseback, when a great man like me was riding on a mule.

A little after, having passed this square, we came to the Shekh's house, or rather a collection of houses, one storey high, built with canes; near the street, at entering, there was a large hall of unburnt brick, to which we ascended by four or five steps. The hall was a very decent one, covered with straw-mats; and there was in the middle of it, a chair[25], understood to be the place of the grand signior. The Shekh himself was sitting on the ground for humility's sake, reading the Koran, or pretending to read it. At our entry he seemed to be surprised, and made an attempt as if to rise up, which immediately I prevented him from doing, holding him down by the hand, which I kissed.

I shall not fatigue the reader with the uninteresting conversation that passed at this first interview. He affected to admire my size and apparent strength, introduced some loose hints about Abyssinian women; and, in general, pretended to blame me for exposing myself to travel in such a country. In return, I complained of the extreme fatigue of the journey and heat, the beasts of prey, the thick woods without shade, the want of water, and, above all, the poisonous blasts of the simoom that had almost overcome me, the effects of which I was at that instant feeling.

He then blamed himself very politely, in a manner natural to the Arabs, for having suffered me to come to him before I had reposed myself, which he excused by his desire of seeing so great a man as me. He said also, that he would detain me no longer; bid me repose a day or two in quiet and in safety; and, upon my rising to go away, he got up likewise, and holding me by the hand, said, "The greatest part of the dangers you have passed in the way are, I believe, as yet unknown to you. Your Moor, Yasine, of Ras el Feel, is a thief worse than any in Habesh. Several times you escaped very narrowly, by mere chance, from being cut off, especially at Rashid, by the Arabs Daveina, whom Yasine had posted there to murder you. But you have a clean heart, and clean hands. God saw their designs, and protected you; and, I may say also, on my own part, I was not wanting."

Being then on my legs for retiring, I returned no answer, but the usual one (Ullah Kerim) i. e. God is merciful. Soliman, on the other side, echoed, "Ullah Kerim!" by which I saw he understood me. We both went out, and were conducted to the apartment provided by the old man in the red cloak, who met us on our first arrival at the river, and who now walked before me till we came to the house. It was a very decent one, consisting only of one large room, and stood close upon the river. This situation was chosen with an intention to keep open the correspondence with the Shekh of Nile's servant, whom we had sent to the Jehaina, and who occasionally was to meet us there; but Soliman told the old man, it was necessary to me, on account of frequent ablutions before prayer, which my religion obliged me to perform. This old man was called Hagi Soliman Kaiya, that is, the Shekh's Lieutenant. He had been at Mecca, and had seen Metical Aga, and knew his post and consequence; but he was a murderer and robber like his master, a liar and dissembler beyond all conception.

We had scarce taken possession of our lodging, or thrown off our clothes to put ourselves at our ease, when several slaves of both sexes, brought us a quantity of dishes of meat from the Shekh, with many flattering compliments and good wishes. The whole was dispatched very speedily, and some of our poor companions of the caravan, with the salt, came and helped us very thankfully, without ceremony, as is the custom of the country. When all was over, I was astonished at one young man, who came and put his mouth close to my ear, saying these few words in Arabic, "Seitan Fidele! el Shekh el Atbara Seitan!" i. e. Fidele is a devil! the Shekh of Atbara is the devil himself!

All strangers were now dismissed, under pretence of our going immediately to repose. We had, indeed, much need of rest in our present situation, but still more of council, for which we immediately assembled by ourselves, after having shut the door. I asked Soliman what he thought of the Shekh of Atbara, and his discourse. He answered, without hesitation, "He is a traitor, has deceived Yasine, and means you ill." The word, great man, so often applied to me—the abuse bellowed upon Yasine, whom in his letters he had called his dear brother—the wondering that I came that way, after, in his letters, and by his servants, he had so often persuaded us, while at Ras el Feel, that it was the best, nay, the only road possible; all this united together, seemed to leave us no doubt but that we had fallen into a trap, from which our own activity and resolutions, under the protection of Providence, could alone release us.

It may be remembered that, some time before our setting out from Ras el Feel, I had dispatched a servant with the Daveina to Sennaar, whom they were to escort as far as Beyla; and they had consigned him into the hands of Mahomet, Shekh of Beyla, who was to forward him to Sennaar; and this he certainly would have done immediately without delay, but for a misfortune that happened, and entirely disconcerted the plan. The Daveina, on their way to Beyla, had heard that an encampment of Arabs, (who usually, at this time, occupy the banks of the Nile) had come eastward towards Atbara. Whether the Daveina intended to attack these Arabs, or were afraid the Arabs intended to fall upon them, I know not; but they returned westward to the left, instead of coming to Beyla; they sent my servant forward, after some loss of time, and Mahomet, Shekh of Beyla, had forwarded him to Sennaar. Here, too, he was detained by Shekh Adelan, the first minister, who happened then not to be at Sennaar, but levying taxes upon the Arabs. This we did not know at that time; so every moment we expected his arrival. We were disappointed, likewise, in not finding a servant of the Shekh of Beyla waiting for us, who was to inform us of the situation of the country about Beyla. This we more wondered at, because, being ill of the gravel, he had expressed himself very anxious, in his letter to Yasine, to have some lime-water, which his servant was to get from me at Teawa. We did not then know, as we soon afterwards did, that this servant had been waiting for us at Teawa, and that Shekh Fidele had informed him that I was no longer coming by Atbara, but that Coque Abou Barea had sent me, under the care of some Ganjar horse, straight down the Dender from Kuara; so that the Shekh of Beyla did not expect to see me.

All this being unknown to us; we were in constant expectation of servants from Sennaar, and the message from the Shekh of Beyla. But, as we all agreed we were in danger, we resolved, the next day, at meeting Shekh el Nile's servant, to dispatch him to Ras el Feel, requiring Yasine to send some person, as from the king or Ayto Confu, to ask the reason of our being detained, and to be a witness of the Shekh's behaviour and our departure. In the mean time, we determined to make our interviews with him as few as possible, till some assistance should arrive. Soliman met the Shekh el Nile's servant, and gave him the letter he was to carry to Yasine, explaining himself to the Arab by word of mouth.

On the night of the 24th of March, the day after our arrival, our dispatch set off from Jibbel Isriff for Ras el Feel; where he arrived safely, but found Yasine was gone to Ayto Confu at Tcherkin, else he would certainly have been the first to bring us comfort, for he had executed his commission with great fidelity. This day I had staid in the house, being ill of the simoom; but had sent to Fidele, to let him know I should wait upon him next day, having as yet given him no present, and being desirous to know what effect that might have.

On the 25th, at four o'clock I waited upon the Shekh accordingly, in his own house. Soliman the Moor, Hagi Ismael the Turk, who, besides, was a sherriffe, and my Greek servant, were along with me. I gave the Shekh, for a present, a large piece of blue Indian cotton cloth, with gold flowers, a silk and cotton sash, about two ounces of civet, two pounds of nutmegs, and ten pounds of pepper. He received the presents very graciously to appearance, and laid all the articles down beside him. I desired that he would dispatch me as soon as possible, and, for that end, be preparing the camels. He answered, the camels were fifteen days journey off, in the sandy desert, for fear of the flies; but that the want of them should not detain us, if he had leave from Sennaar, for which he was to write that night. He added, that they always were exceedingly tedious at Sennaar, and both the town and road were, at present, in a very unsettled state. I told him, I was surprised at this, as Hagi Belal had written to Yasine and myself also, in a letter (then in my custody) that orders were gone both to him and the Shekh of Beyla, to receive me kindly, and forward me safely and speedily to Sennaar: that he himself had confessed this to Yasine in a letter written to him from Teawa, desiring that I would come speedily, as he had every thing ready, which letter I myself had read. Fidele seemed in the utmost surprise at this. He lifted up his hands and eyes, as if I had been telling the greatest of lies. He said, "he never wrote a letter about me to Yasine in his life; or, at least, not this year; that it was all a forgery of Yasine, knowing that I had a quantity of gold with me, to get me out into the desert, to rob and murder me there; that I might see he never could receive such orders, or else it would have been as much as his life was worth, not to have prepared to dispatch me immediately; but so far from that, says he, seek all over the town, and if you find one camel, or any other number, I will make you a present of them all, for this is entirely a forgery of Yasine."

Soliman could bear this no longer. He told Fidele, "That it was he who was a forger and a liar, not Yasine. Will you persuade me that I do not know of your letter to Yasine? Have not your servants Ibrahim and Nasser lived with us at Ras el Feel for weeks together as bearers of these letters, which I have seen in their hands before reading, and also read them afterwards? Was I not speaking to them both this morning about the letters? and are not they just now waiting without? If you have a mind to call them in, and question them, do it now before me. What do you think Yasine will say when he hears of the fine character you give him?" "Soliman, replies the Shekh, in a very soft tone of voice, I may have forgotten, in the many letters and affairs that pass through my hands in a day; but Yasine is my brother, and I will do every thing for him and you that you could wish: stay only this week, and if my camels do not arrive, I will send and take them from the Arabs, wherever they can be found. They are for the king's business, and not mine." He said this with such an air of candour and sincerity, that it was impossible to doubt him.

On the 26th, I went in the forenoon to see the Shekh; I sat a few minutes with him, then rose to go away. He then inquired if I had any thing particular to ask? I answered, I had nothing but to pay my compliments to him. He made me a very civil bow, and I took my leave. Next day, the 27th, I staid in the house all day, it being the Shekh's festival. In the evening, the old man, who was the Kaiya, came to my house with compliments from the Shekh. He told me Fidele was often ill with complaints in the stomach, and hinted that it was from excessive drinking. He wished that I would give him some medicine to vomit him, and restore his appetite, which he had perfectly lost. The old man added, that this was the way to make the Shekh do what I wished, sooner than all the presents in the world. I told him, that he might assure Fidele, that I both could, and would do him that service, and for that purpose would wait upon him at 6 o'clock next evening.

On the 28th, in the evening I went to the Shekh's house with the medicine, and it answered all our expectations. I observed, however, when the cup with the ipecacuanha was in his hands, that they trembled, and also his under lip. He was apparently at that time under some apprehension, which his conscience suggested, of what it was in my power to do to him. In these countries they have an emetic which they take occasionally, which operates so violently, that it often throws them into convulsions. What it may be I know not. Some say it is the small seed of a flower like the poppy; some, the pith of a tree, after it has been dried and rubbed into a fine powder by the hand; whatever it may be, it is so severe in proportion to the strongest doze of ipecacuanha, that the latter seemed but like a sport in comparison. The ease that warm water occasioned, which he had never experienced before, was so unexpected, that he could hardly be satisfied with drinking. After this was over, all was thankfulness, and promises of doing whatever I should desire of him, provided I would administer two or three dozes more to him, and, if he forwarded me quickly, leave him some of the powder, with directions how to take it in my absence. This I engaged faithfully to do, and we parted apparently the best friends in the world.

The 29th, early in the morning, before sun-rise, I had a message from him again by the Kaiya, to whom I gave coffee at the door while I was dressing. He told me, the Shekh was wonderfully well, and never in such health and spirits in his life, but desired that I would come to him in the evening, for two of his wives were ill of the same disorder that he had. I excused myself, under pretence that it was Sunday, my festival, and that I never went out upon any business.

This excuse passed as to the Shekh, but at noon a black common slave came down with a message from her mistresses, who thought the answer given to the Kaiya was a refusal. They said, they were sorry if I had not meat to my liking; that they dressed it with their own hands every day in the best manner possible, but they would alter it in any respect I chose, if I would instruct them. I soon found how necessary it was to content my benefactresses. I explained my answer to the Shekh about Sunday; but assured them, that on Monday evening I should be with them, to vomit them till they were perfectly satisfied; in the mean time, I took a small cup, which I filled with civet, and sent it by the slave to her mistresses; giving likewise, at the same time, two handfuls of pepper for herself.

On the 30th, in the evening I went to the Shekh's house according to promise, and was carried into a large room, where he was sitting alone, smoaking in an alcove; I suppose meditating future mischief, for he had no other apparent employment. He was perfectly sober, however, and seemed rather thoughtful; was very civil, and thanked me in an unusual strain of kindness, for the care I had taken of his family. I asked him if he was recovered? He declared, he had never been so well in his life as since I had given him the last vomit; but that he had received very bad news from Sennaar, that Mahomet Abou Calec (the first minister) had taken the greatest part of the horse and troops, and was gone to Kordofan, a very distant province, surrounded with deserts, where he governed independently; and by his manners and discourse seemed resolved to withdraw himself from his duty to the king: That Shekh Adelan, his younger brother, with the remaining troops, had left Sennaar, and was encamped at Aira, a few miles from the town, where he too governed despotically by his own will; it being the prerogative of the minister to have absolute power as soon as he has left the capital, and put himself at the head of the army, for levying the tax from the Arabs; but that he had parted with the king on terms very little short of rebellion. He then said, "Since this is the case, that Providence has thrown your lot here, that you cannot go forward to Sennaar, nor back to Abyssinia, if you will resolve to stay with me, and turn Mahometan, which is the only true religion, I will give you my daughter for your wife, and you shall be second man in the government of Teawa; and as my intention is to go next year to Mecca, you shall then be appointed to the government of Atbara, while I go to Sennaar, and procure an office fitter for an old man."

Although I seldom, in my life, was less inclined to merriment, I affected to break out into a loud fit of laughter; at which he looked grave, seeming to take it ill, and asking me if I laughed at him? "Exactly so, said I, at you; I was laughing to think that a man set over a province to govern it, like you, should yet know so little of mankind as to imagine one like me capable of turning renegado. You may deny it for some purpose of your own, but I know you are well informed of the degree of favour and honour in which I was whilst in Abyssinia, where I had every thing that I desired. They were people of my religion, and yet I never could consent either to stay with them or marry among them. What then could be my inducement to marry here, to change my religion, and live in a country where there is nothing but poverty, misery, famine, fear, and dependence?" "Hearken, says he, you are a fool; this country is a thousand times healthier and sweeter than Abyssinia; but, since you wont take my advice, I shall say no more; come and see my Harem[26]."—"With all my heart, replied I, as far as that I will go, and shall be happy to do both you and your family all the good I can."

The Shekh went before me, through several apartments, well proportioned, but very meanly furnished, slovenly, and in bad order. This was the part of the house that belonged to himself, and formed one side of a square. We crossed the square to the opposite side, where there were several apartments furnished in a much better style. The floors were all covered with Turkey carpets. In an alcove sat one of his wives upon the ground, with a number of black slaves about her. Her face was uncovered; the circle made way for me; so that, first putting my hand to my lips, I touched the end of her fingers with the end of mine. In the mean time, the Shekh had brought a second wife from another apartment, and set her down beside the first. They were both women past the middle age, seemed to have a great many slaves attending them, but never had been handsome. One of them, I learned afterwards, was daughter to the first minister Shekh Adelan.

I thought it necessary to explain myself a little with Fidele. "You know, Shekh, said I, it is not always that you and I agree, and though I have lived many years with people of your religion of all ranks, yet I am far from knowing what are the manners of Atbara; what will offend you or them, or what not; for, as I have no view but your good and theirs, I would not expose myself to any ill usage to which a mistake of your customs may subject me. In short, I must ask these ladies a number of questions, which, if you choose to hear, you may, but no person else must, as is the custom of my country." "What has he to do with us and our physician? said the eldest of the two; all his business is to pay you money when you have made us well." "What would become of him, says Adelan's daughter, if we were to be ill? he would starve for want of people to make ready his meat."—"Aye, and his drink too, says the other, which he is fonder of than his meat."—"No, no, says Shekh Fidele, in perfect good humour, we know you, Hakim; you are not like us; ask them all the questions you please, I neither wish nor intend to hear them; I hear too much of them every day against my will, and only wish to God you would cure them or make them dumb altogether, and then they will not teaze me with their illness any longer; a sick woman is plague sufficient for a devil."—"Then, clear the room, said I, in the first place, of all these idle women-servants; only leave two or three of the steadiest slaves to serve their mistresses." He did not seem at a loss how to do this, for he took up a short whip, or switch, which lay at hand, and happy were they who got first to the door. I saw among these a genteel female figure, covered from head to foot, whom Fidele pulled in with his hand, after he had pushed the others out of the door, saying, "Come in, Aiscach;" and immediately after this he went away.

I was very sensible that I was playing a farce upon which a very great deal depended. Though in these countries the daughters of ministers and great men are given to inferiors, this is only with a view of having them provided for; they are spies upon their husbands, and keep up the consequence of their birth in their husband's house even after they are married, and this I understood was precisely the case with Adelan's daughter. Notwithstanding the bad character I had of Fidele, I knew he durst not rob me, without murdering me also; and I was sure he did not dare to do either, if it was once known that I was arrived in the dominions of Sennaar; and this his wife could inform Adelan her father of, whenever she pleased. This was then the first step towards safety.

I shall not trouble my reader with a repetition of my medical inquiries, nor the complaints of ladies, which are properly secrets with me, though at the distance of Atbara. The ipecacuanha operation gave high satisfaction. It was now happily terminated; but, whilst it was administering, I observed the figure, who till then appeared covered, had unveiled her face and head down to her shoulders; and soon after one of the slaves, her attendant, as in play, pulled off the remaining part of the veil that covered her. I was astonished at the sight of so much beauty. Her hair, which was not woolly, but long, and in great quantity, was braided and twisted round like a crown upon the top of her head, ornamented with beads, and the small white Guinea-shells, commonly known here by the name of blackamoor's teeth. She had plain rings of gold in her ears, and four rows of gold chain about her neck, to which was hung a number of sequins pierced; the rest of her dress was a blue shift, which hung loosely about her, and covered her down to her feet, though it was not very rigorously nor very closely disposed all below her neck. She was the tallest of the middle size, and not yet fifteen years of age; her whole features faultless; they might have served alone for the study of a painter all his life, if he was in search of absolute beauty. Her mother being an Arab of the tribe of Jehaina, her complexion was a dark brown. Such was the beautiful Aiscach, daughter of the eldest of the ladies that I was then attending.

Neither sickness nor medicine could prevent those who were present from discovering plainly how exceedingly I was disconcerted. Adelan's daughter said to me, You will think nothing of the women in Atbara, after so long a stay in Abyssinia; but the women in Europe, they say, are so white, that they are the handsomest of all. I never was less persuaded of that truth than at present, said I; and I see perfectly you observe it. "Aye, aye, says her mother, and so we do; if Aiscach was ill, you would take better care of her than of either of us." "Pardon me, said I, Madam; if the beautiful Aiscach was ill, I feel I should myself be so much affected as not to be able to attend her at all."

Aiscach made the most gracious inclination with her head, to shew she was perfectly sensible of the compliment. The women laughed out aloud. "Send for Yasine and your horse from Ras el Feel, cries a voice behind me laughing, but speaking perfect good Amharic; take her away, and carry her back with you to Abyssinia, I'll go with you with all my heart, and so will she, I swear to you." I turned with surprise to the person that spoke the language, which I had not heard spoken of late. "She is a poor Christian slave, says the eldest of Fidele's wives, taken by the Jehaina when the Mek Baady was defeated in his return to Sennaar; she is a foolish, but merry creature, as you see." All our diet and regimen being settled, I took my leave, and was attended to the door by the Abyssinian slave and Aiscach, who seemed to be very much her friend. When she came to the outer door, she covered herself again with her veil, from head to foot, as before, saying, in a low voice, Shall we not see you to-morrow?

On the 31st of March, Fidele again insisted upon undergoing another experiment of the ipecacuanha. I waited upon him at the same hour as before, curious to know what he would say to me about his wives. Upon my inquiring after them, he only answered, that they were well; and when coffee was brought, before I went away, told me, that he knew perfectly well, from Ras el Feel, that, when I set out from thence, I had disposed, in various boxes and chests, (which I pretended were instruments) 2000 ounces of gold, besides variety of cloth of gold, and other valuable things for presents; and as all this was now in his power, he could not think me mad enough to refuse him 500 piastres, which were only 50 of these ounces I carried with me; that, if I gave them to him civilly, he would forward me to Sennaar in two days; if not, I was in his hands, and he could easily take the whole by force, and after dispose of me as he pleased.

"Well done! out with it! said I; this is but what I knew long to be in your heart. But let me set you right; I have not three ounces of gold in all my possession. It is of no use to me in my country; take all my cases and boxes, and search them; the gold that you find there I freely give you, and without reserve. As for the cloth of gold, which I have, it is a present from the king of Abyssinia to the king of Sennaar, to be delivered with his letter. I have likewise a present to Shekh Adelan, with a letter to him; and some other trifles for Sennaar, presents to people in government: look at them; if you think they are too great, apply to your own use what part of them you please, and account with the king and Adelan for what you take from them, with your reason for so doing. The little money I may want at Sennaar, Hagi Belal, Metical Aga's servant from Mecca, will furnish me with, and, upon my letter, will take payment for the amount from my countrymen on board the East India ships at Jidda. As for force, do not deceive yourself; if all those cases were gold it never would be in your power to open one of them. Do not think that I am a girl or a child; consider the danger and difficulties I have passed, under God's protection only, and by my own force and courage: I am well armed, and have brave men about me, so try your force when you please. I dare say you will keep yourself out of danger, to give an account of your brave exploit to the king of Sennaar afterwards." I then arose, and said, "Good evening." The Shekh called after me to stay. I said, "Another time;" and immediately left him.

We had hitherto been supplied plentifully with provisions from the Shekh's house once a-day. When I came home at night, I found that after Magrib, which is after sun-set, a large store had been sent by the ladies from the Shekh's house, as acknowledgements for the attention I had paid them; but no particular message, except than that they had been exceedingly well after their medicines, and hoped I would not abandon them, but see them again. A Greek servant of mine, who knew perfectly their customs, had answered, that I certainly would wait upon them when the Shekh should desire me so to do.

The weather was extremely hot, and people, avoiding sun-shine of the day, generally sat up the whole of the night, enjoying the only hours when it was possible to breathe freely. It was about eleven o'clock at night, when the old Kaiya, whom I never saw but upon these occasions, came to me for coffee, of which he drank at least twenty dishes every visit. He appeared at first very moderate, and, as he pretended, a friend. But immediately afterwards, being seated, and assuming a new kind of air and tone of voice, he reproved me roundly for my behaviour to the Shekh that day. He extolled him highly for his generosity, courage, and his great interest at Sennaar from his father's merits, and from his having married Shekh Adelan's daughter. He said, it was the greatest presumption, in a set of infidels like us, to behave in the manner we had done to Fidele that day. "Hagi Soliman, answered I, you are an old man; if years have not given you wisdom, your journey to Mecca, and conversation with persons of all nations there, should at least have taught you an appearance of it, which, at this time, you have not. I am here, immediately under the protection of the sherriffe of Mecca, the chief of your religion, and Metical Aga his minister. I have letters from the king of Abyssinia to your king of Sennaar, requesting only, under the faith of nations, to pass through your country in my way to Cairo, to rejoin Ali Bey, whose physician I am, and in whose hands at least three thousand subjects of Sennaar, and their effects, are at this moment. I say to you now, as I did to your master in the morning, that he cannot either rob or murder me at Teawa without all your nation being responsible for it, wherever they shall go. But I am not a sheep, or a lamb, to be spoiled of my goods, or robbed of my life, without defending myself to the utmost; and I tell you, for your proper instruction, that there are probably now at Sennaar, people from the king of Abyssinia, complaining of my being detained here, and demanding justice."

He seemed to pay no attention to this threat. He did not think it possible that I could have had any communication with Ras el Feel since I came to Teawa, but declared, that, as my particular friend, he had calmed the Shekh's wrath, and obliged him to promise, that, for 2000 piastres, he would dispatch me in two days to Sennaar. Indeed, Hagi Soliman, said I, I have not 20 piastres in the world to give either him or you, nor would I give them if I had them. The Shekh may take all that I have by force, and is welcome to try the experiment. You, as his friend and soldier, may command the party, if you please; but I am resolved, were he willing, never to leave Teawa till I depart under the conduct of another man than one of your or of Shekh Fidele's chusing. Upon my saying this, he arose, shook the bosom of his cloak, and said, he was sorry for it; but he washed his hands of all the consequences.

Immediately after this we shut our doors; and our fire-arms being cleaned, loaded, and primed, we resolved to abide the issue of this bad affair in the best manner possible, and live or die together. One thing, however, diverted us: One of the large blunderbusses being accidentally laid across the door, this veteran soldier started back at the sight of it, and, although the muzzle was pointed far from him, would not enter till the piece was removed, and placed at a considerable distance from him.

As we saw things were growing to a crisis, we became every hour more impatient for the arrival of relief, either from Ras el Feel or Sennaar. On the 1st of April came a servant from the Shekh of Beyla, and delivered a message to Fidele: What it was I know not; but about noon he came to inquire after us, and pay us a visit.

All this time Fidele had kept our arrival at Teawa a secret from the Shekh of Beyla; but the people, who frequented the market of Teawa, having told their governor that they had seen strangers there, he all at once suspected the truth, and dispatched a confidential servant to Fidele, under a shew of business, to inquire whether we were those strangers. An explanation immediately followed upon his coming to my house, and especially concerning the message the Shekh of Beyla had received from the Shekh of Atbara, that we were gone by Kuara down the Dendar. He said, that his master either had sent, or intended to send, advice of this to my servant at Sennaar, who, expecting us no longer by Teawa, would neither come himself, nor seek a king's servant to conduct us from hence, but would seek measures for our safety the other way, or wait at Sennaar, expecting our arrival daily; for the way from Kuara was through a number of outlawed, or banditti Arabs, so that it was not in the power of the government of Sennaar, if ever so well inclined, to conduct us one step in safety on that road till we should be within two days journey of Sennaar. The servant therefore proposed, that he should return instantly to Beyla, (as he did that night) and that his master should send a messenger on a dromedary express to Sennaar, to inform Hagi Belal of our situation, and procure immediate relief. He promised further, that his master should send a Moullah, (or man of extraordinary holiness and learning) in whose presence Shekh Fidele would not dare to proceed to extremities, as this was a man universally esteemed, and of great weight and reputation at Sennaar, both with Abou Calec and Adelan, as well as throughout Atbara.

I must here obviate a very reasonable objection which may be made by my reader:—"Why, when you knew your safety depended upon the government of Sennaar, when you was arrived at Teawa, did you not take the first opportunity of notifying it to Fidele, that you had already sent to acquaint your correspondent at Sennaar that you had set out for that place?" I answer, That to do this had been many times in agitation among us, but was always rejected. It was thought a dangerous measure to leave a man like Fidele, the only person who had seen us, to give us any character and description he pleased, who, from the connection and correspondence he must have in that capital, and the confidence necessarily placed in him, as governor of a frontier province, might so far prejudice the minds of that credulous and brutal people, by misrepresenting us, as either to get orders to cut us off upon our journey, or procure us a fate similar to that of M. du Roule, the French envoy, after our arriving in that capital. It was by the goodness of Providence alone that we were restrained from adopting that measure, often considered as the most adviseable, but which, we since have certainly known, would have ended in our destruction.

Nothing material passed on the 3d of April, their festival day; but on the 4th no meat was sent us. However, on Sunday the 5th it was brought rather in larger proportion than before, and we spent the whole day in conjecturing what was become of our servants, and of the Moullah whom the Shekh of Beyla's servant had promised us. On the 6th the Kaiya came, and, without ceremony, told me that the Shekh had heard I wanted to escape to Beyla, in which journey I should certainly perish, and therefore he had taken my horse from me, which was in a stable at some distance. From this time we got our victuals very sparingly. On the 7th he sent me word, that I should bring him a vomit the day after, which I promised to comply with. It was very plainly seen Beyla's secret was not kept, and to this we attributed the delay of the Moullah; but nothing could comfort us for the want of an answer from Ras el Feel.

On the 8th, in the evening, a little before six o'clock, when I was making ready to go to the Shekh, a message came, that he was busy, and could not see me; with which, for a time, I was very well pleased. About ten, arrived a naked, very ill-looking fellow, more like an executioner than any other sort of man, with a large broad-sword in his hand, and seemingly very drunk. He said he was one of the Shekhs of Jehaina, and in a little time became extremely insolent. He first demanded coffee, which was given him, then a new coat, then some civet, and, last of all, drawing his sword, that we should instantly provide him with a new scabbard, his own being but a piece of common leather, which he threw with a kind of indignation down upon the floor. Till that time I had been writing these very memoirs, at least the journal of the day. I was not any way afraid of one drunkard, but laid down my pen, wondering where this insolence was to end. Before I had time to speak a word, I heard my old Turk, the sherriffe, Hagi Ismael, say, "You are of the Jehaina, are you? then I am of the Daveina;" and with that he caught the stranger by the throat, taking his sword from him, which he threw out of the house, after casting the owner violently upon the floor. The fellow crept out upon all-four, and, as soon as he had picked up his sword, attempted again to enter the house, which Soliman perceiving, snatched his own short, crooked sword, from a pin where it hung, and ran readily to meet him, and would very speedily have made an end of him, had I not cried out, "For God's sake, Soliman, don't hurt him; remember where you are." Indeed, there was little reason for the caution; for when the Arab observed a drawn sword in the Turk's hand, he presently ran away towards the town, crying, Ullah! Ullah! Ullah! which was, God! God! God! an exclamation of terror, and we saw no more of him; whilst, instead of a new scabbard, he left his old one in the house. Seeing at once the cowardice and malice of our enemies, we were now apprehensive of fire, things were come to such an extremity; and as our house was composed of nothing but dry canes, it seemed the only obvious way of destroying us.

On the 9th, in the morning I sent Soliman with the scabbard to Fidele, and a grievous complaint against the supposed Shekh of the Jehaina for his insolence the night before. Shekh Fidele pretended to be utterly ignorant of the whole, made light of what had passed, and said the fellow was a fool. But a violent altercation took place between him and my servant black Soliman, who then told him all his mind, threatening him with Yasine's immediate vengeance, and assuring him he was, before this, fully informed of his behaviour. They, however, both cooled before parting. Fidele only recommended to Soliman to persuade me to give him 2000 piastres, without which he swore I never should go alive out of Atbara. Soliman, on the other hand, declared, that I was a man that set no value upon money, and therefore carried it not about with me, otherwise I should not refuse what he desired, but warned him to think well before he uttered such expressions as he now had done.

In the course of conversation, as Soliman told me, the Shekh gave him several hints, that, if he would agree with him, and help to rob and murder me, he should share the booty with him, and it never would be known. But Soliman pretended not to understand this, always assuring him that I was not the man he took me for; and that, except the king's present, all I had was brass, iron, and glass bottles, of no value to any but myself, who only knew how to use them. They then finished their discourse; and he desired Soliman to tell me, that he expected me at the usual hour of 6 o'clock to-morrow evening, which was Friday the 10th.

This seemed to me to be an extraordinary appointment, because Friday is their festival, when they eat and drink heartily, nor did I ever remember any of them take medicine upon that day. But with Fidele all was festival, not even their annual solemn fast of Ramadan did he ever keep, but was universally known to be an unbeliever, even in what was called his own religion. I had still this further objection to wait upon him at night, that he had gone so far as to solicit Soliman to assist him in murdering me. But I considered at last, that we could not escape from his hands; and that the only way to avoid the danger was to brave it. Providence, indeed, seemed all along to have reserved our deliverance for our own exertions, under its direction, as all the ways we had taken to get relief from others had hitherto, in appearance at least, miscarried. However, it was resolved to go armed, for fear of the worst; but to conceal our weapons, so as to give no umbrage. I had a small Brescian blunderbuss, about 22 inches in the barrel, which had a joint in the stock, so that it folded double. It hung by an iron hook to a thin belt under my left arm, close to my side, quite unperceived, like a cutlass. I likewise took a pair of pistols in my girdle, and my knife as usual. All these were perfectly covered by my burnoose; so that, with a little attention, when I sat down, it was impossible to discover my having any weapons about me; Hagi Ismael the Turk, Soliman my servant, and two other Moorish servants, took also their fire arms, small and great, and swords, along with them. We all went to the house of the Shekh a little before seven o'clock in the evening. I entered the back door into the square where the women's house was; but declined going so far as their apartment without leave, turning to the left hand into the side of the square where he usually staid. I was surprised to meet but one servant, a black boy, in the whole house, and he carried me to the Shekh, my servants remaining at the outer-door.