# Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile/Volume 4/Book 8/Chapter 11

CHAP. XI.
Reception at Chendi by Sittina — Conversations with her — Enter the Desert — Pillars of moving Sand — The Simoon — Latitude of Chiggre.
CHENDI, or Chandi, is a large village, the capital of its district, the government of which belongs to Sittina, (as she is called) which signifies the Mistress, or the Lady, she being sister to Wed Ageeb, the principal of the Arabs in this country. She had been married, but her husband was dead. She had one son, Idris Wed el Faal, who was to succeed to the government of Chendi upon his mother's death, and who, in effect, governed all the affairs of his kindred already. The governor of Chendi is called in discourse Mek el Jaheleen, prince of the Arabs of Beni Koreish, who are all settled, as I have already said, about the bottom of Atbara, on both sides of the Magiran.
There is a tradition at Chendi, that a woman, whose name was Hendaque, once governed all that country, whence we might imagine that this was part of the kingdom of Candace; for writing this name in Greek letters it will come to be no other than Hendaque, the native, or ​mistress, of Chendi, or Chandi. However this may be, Chendi was once a town of great resort. The caravans of Sennaar, Egypt, Suakem, and Kordofan, all were in use to rendezvous here, especially since the Arabs have cut off the road by Dongola, and the desert of Bahiouda; and though it be not now a place of great plenty, yet every thing here is at a cheaper rate, and better than at Sennaar; we must except the article fuel, for wood is much dearer here than in any part of Atbara; the people all burn camels dung. Indeed, were it not for dressing victuals, fire in a place so hot as this would be a nuisance. It was so sultry in the end of August and beginning of September, that many people dropt down dead with heat, both in the town and villages round it; but it is now said to be much cooler, though the thermometer at noon was once so high as 119°.
Chendi has in it about 250 houses, which are not all built contiguous, some of the best of them being separate, and that of Sittina's is half a mile from the town. There are two or three tolerable houses, but the rest of them are miserable hovels, built of clay and reeds. Sittina gave us one of these houses, which I used for keeping my instruments and baggage from being pilfered or broken; I slept abroad in the tent, and it was even there hot enough. The women of Chendi are esteemed the most beautiful in Atbara, and the men the greatest cowards. This is the character they bear among their countrymen, but we had little opportunity of verifying either.
On our arrival at Chendi we found the people very much alarmed at a phænomenon, which, though it often
On the 12th of October I waited upon Sittina, who received me behind a screen, so that it was impossible either to see her figure or face; I observed, however, that there were apertures so managed in the screen that she had a perfect view of me. She expressed herself with great politeness, talked much upon the terms in which Adelan was with
On the 13th it was so excessively hot that it was impossible to suffer the burning sun. The poisonous simoom blew likewise as if it came from an oven. Our eyes were dim, our lips cracked, our knees tottering, our throats perfectly dry, and no relief was found from drinking an immoderate quantity of water. The people advised me to dip a spunge in vinegar and water, and hold it before my mouth and nose, and this greatly relieved me. In the evening I went to Sittina. Upon entering the house, a black slave laid hold of me by the hand, and placed me in a passage, at the end of which were two opposite doors. I did not well know the ​reason of this; but had staid only a few minutes when I heard one of the doors at the end of the passage open, and Sittina appeared magnificently dressed, with a kind of round cap of solid gold upon the crown of her head, all beat very thin, and hung round with sequins; with a variety of gold chains, solitaires, and necklaces of the same metal, about her neck. Her hair was plaited in ten or twelve small divisions like tails, which hung down below her waist, and over her was thrown a common cotton white garment. She had a purple silk stole, or scarf, hung very gracefully upon her back, brought again round her waist, without covering her shoulders or arms. Upon her wrists she had two bracelets like handcuffs, about half an inch thick, and two gold manacles of the same at her feet, fully an inch diameter, the most disagreeable and aukward part of all her dress. I expected she would have hurried through with some affectation of surprise. On the contrary, she stopt in the middle of the passage, saying, in a very grave manner, "Kifhalec,"—how are you? I thought this was an opportunity of kissing her hand, which I did, without her shewing any sort of reluctance. "Allow me as a physician, said I, Madam, to say one word." She bowed with her head, and said, "Go in at that door, and I will hear you." The slave appeared, and carried me through a door at the bottom of the passage into a room, while her mistress vanished in at another door at the top, and there was the screen I had seen the day before, and the lady sitting behind it.
She was a woman scarcely forty, taller than the middle size, had a very round, plump face, her mouth rather large, very red lips, the finest teeth and eyes I have seen, but at the
top of her nofe, and between her eye-brows, Ihe had a fmall fpeck made of cohol or antimony, fom'-corner'd, and of the fize of the fmallefl patches our women ufed to wear ; ano- ther rather longer upon the top of her nofe, and one on the middle of her chin.
Sitt'ina. " Tell me what you would fay to me as a phyfi- cian." — Ta. " It was, Madam, but in confequence of your difcourfe yeflerday. That heavy gold cap with which you prefs your hair will certainly be the caufe of a great part of it falling off." S'ltt. " I believe fo; but I fhould catch cold, I am fo accuftomed to it, if I was to leave it off. Are you a man of name and family in your own country ?" Ta. " Of both, Madam." Sitt. " Are the women handfome there ?" Ta. " The handfomefl: in the world. Madam ; but they are fo good, and fo excellent in all other refpefts, that nobody thinks at all of their beauty, nor do they value themfelves upon it." S'ltt. " And do they allow you to kifs their hands ?" Ta. " I underftand you. Madam, though you have miftaken me. There is no familiarity in killing hands, it is a mark of homage, and diftant refpedl paid in my country to our fovereigns, and to none earthly befides." Sitt. " Oyes! but the kings." Ta. " Yes, and the queens, too, always on the knee, Madam; I faidour fovereigns, meaning both king and queen. On her part it is a mark of gracious condefcenfion, in favour of rank, merit, and honourable behaviour; it is a reward for dangerous and difficult lervices, above all other compenfation." 6'///. " But do you know that no man e , er kifled my hand but you ?" Ta. "It is impoffible 1 fho Jd know that, nor is it material. Of this I am confiden . it was meant reipedfully, cannot hurt you, and ought not to
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offend you." Siu. " It certainly has done neither, but I wifli very much Idris my fon would come and fee you, as it is on his account I drefled myfelf to-day." Ta. " I hope. Ma- dam, when I do fee him he will think of fome way of for- warding me fafely to Barbar, in my way to Egypt." Sitt. " Safely ! God forgive you ! you are throwing yourfelf away wantonly. Idris himfelf, king of this country, dares not un- dertake fuch a journey. But why did not you go along with Mahomet Towalh? He fet out only a few days ago for Cairo, the fame way you are going, and has, I believe, taken all the Hybeers with him. Go call the porter", fays fhe to her flave. When the porter came, " Do you know if Mahomet Towalh is gone to Egypt ?" " I know he is gone to Barbar, fays the porter, the two Mahomets, and Abd el Jelleel, the Bifhareen, are with him." " Why did he take all the Hy- beers?" fays Sittina. " The men were tired and difcoura- ged, anfwered the porter, by their late ill-ufage from the Cubba-beefli, and, being dripped of every thing, they want- ed to be at home." Siu. " Somebody elfe will offer, but you muil not go without a good man with you; 1 will not fuffer you. Thefe Bithareen are people known here, and may be trufted; but while you ilay let me fee you every day, and if you want any thing, fend by a fervant of mine. It is a tax, I know, improperly laid upon a man like you, to afk for every necefTary, but Idris will be here, and he will provide you better." I went away upon this converfation, and foon found, that Mahomet Towafli had fo well follow* ed the direftion of the Mek of Sennaar, as to take all the Hy- beers of note with him on purpofe to difappoint nie.
This being the Srft time T have had occafion to mention' this ufeful fet of men, it will be neceffary I Ihould here ex-
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plain their office and occupation. A Hybeer is a guide, 'from the Arabic word Hubbar, to inform, inftru(5t, or diretfl, 'becaufe they are u fed to do this office to the caravans tra- velhng through the defert in all its diredions, whether to Egypt and back again, the coaft of the Ked Sea, or the coun- ,'tries of Sudan, and the weftern extremities of Africa. They are men of great confideration, knowing pcrfeiflly the fitua- tion and properties of all kinds of water to be met on the route, the diftance of wells, whether occupied by enemies or not, and, if fo, the way to avoid them with the leaft in- convenience. It is alfo necelTary to them to know the places occupied by the fanoom, and the feafons of their blow- ing in thofe parts of the defert, likewife thofe occupied by moving fands. He generally belongs to fome powerful tribe of Arabs inhabiting thefe deferts, whofe protedtion he makes ufe of to affill his caravans, or prote(5l them in time of danger, and handfome rewards were always in his power to diilribute on fuch occafions ; but now that the Arabs in thefe deferts are everywhere without government, the trade between Abyffinia and Cairo given over, that be- tween Sudan and that metropohs much diminiflaed, the 'importance of that office of Hybeer, and its confideration, is fallen in proportion, and with thefe the fafe condu(51: ; and we fliall fee prefently a caravan cut off by the treachery of the very Hybeers that conducted them, the firll inflance of .the kind that ever happened.
One day, fitting in my tent mufliig upon the very un- promifing afpe^l of my affairs, an Arab of very ordinary ap- pearance, naked, with only a cotton cloth around his mid- ^,.dle, came up to me, and offered to condud: me to Barbar .and thence to Egy2:)t. He faid his houfe was at Daroo on the
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fide of the Nile, about twenty miles beyond Syene, or AlTou*. an, nearer Cairo. I alked him why he had not gone with Mahomet Towafli? He faid, he did not like the company, and was very much miftaken if their journey ended welh Upon preHlng him further if this was really the only rea- fon; he then told me, that he had been fick for fome months at Chendi, contraded debt, and had been obUged to pawn his cloaths, and that his camel was detained for what Hill remained unpaid. After much converfation, repeated feveral' days, I found that Idris (for that was his name) was a man of fome fubftancc in his own country, and had a daughter married to the Schourbatchie at AiTouan. He faid that this was his laft journey, for he never would crofs the defert again. A bargain was nowfoon made. I redeemed his camel and cloak; he was to lliew me the way to Egypt, and he was there to be recompenfed, according to his beha- viour.
Chendi, by repeated obfervations of the fun and (lars, made for feveral fucceeding days and nights, I fo.und to be in lat. 16° 38' ^s" north, and at the lame place, the 13th of Ocflober, I obferved an immerfion of the firil fateUite of Ju- piter, from which I concluded its longitude to be 33° 24' 45" eaft of the meridian of Greenwich. Tiie higheft degree of the thermometer of Fahrenheit in the fliade was, on the loth of oarober, at one o'clock P. M. 1 19°, wind north; the loweft was on the nth, at midnight, 87°, wind well, after a fmall Ihower of rain.
I PREPARED now to Icave Chendi, but firfl returned my benefaftrefs Sittina thanks for all her favours. She had called for Idris, and given him very pofitive inflrudions,
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iTiixt with threats, if he mifbehaved ; and hearing what I' had done for him, flie too gave him an ounce of gold, and faid, at parting, that, for knowledge of the road through the defert, flie believed Idris to be as perfedt as any body ; but in cafe we met with the Bilhareen, they would neither fliew to him nor to me any mercy. She gave me, how- ever, a letter to Mahomet Abou Bertran, Shekh of one of the tribes of Bifliarcen, on the Tacazze, near the Magiran, which flie had made her fon write from the Howat, it not being ufual, flie faid, for her to write herfelf. 1 begged I might be again allowed to teftify my gratitude by kiffing her hand, which flie condefcended to in themoft gracious man- ner, laughing all the time, and faying, " Well, you are an odd man ! if Idris my fon faw me jufl now, he would think. me mad."
On the 20th of 06lober, in the evening, we left Chendi,. and relied two miles from the town, and about a mile from the river; and next day, the 2rft, at three quarters pail four in the morning we continued our journey, and pafTed through five or fix villages of the Jahcleen on our Icfr; at nine we alighted to feed our camels under fome trees, having gone about ten miles. At this place begins a large ifiand in the Nile feveral miles long, full of villages, trees, and corn, it is called Kurgos. Oppofite to this is the moun- tain Gibbainy, where is the firft fcene of ruins I have met with fince that of Axum in Abyffinia. We faw here heaps of broken pedefials, like thofe of Axum, all plainly defigned for the fi:atues of the dog ; fome pieces of obeliik, likewife, with hieroglyphics, almoft totally obliterated. The Arabs told us theie ruins were very extci five ; and that many pie-
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CCS of flatues, both of men and animals, had been dug up there ; the flatues of the men were moftly of black ftone. It is impoffible to avoid rifquing a guefs that this is the an- cient city of Meroe, whofe latitude fliould be 16° 26' ; and I appi^ehend further, that in this iHand was the obfervatory of that famous cradle of aftronomy. The Ethiopians can- not pronounce P ; there is, indeed, no fuch letter in their alphabet. Curgos, then, the name of the ifland, Ihould probably be Purgos, the tower or obfervatory of that city.
There are four remarkable rivers mentioned by the an- cients as contributing to form the ifland of Meroe. The firll is the Aftufafpes, or the river Mareb, fo called from hiding itfelf under ground in the fand, and again im- merging in the time of rain, and running to join the Ta- cazze.
The next is the Tacazze, as I have faid, the Siris of the ancients, by the natives called Aftaboras, which forms, as Pliny has faid, the left channel of Atbara, or, as the Greeks have called it, the ifland of Meroe.
On the weft, or right hand, is another confiderable river, called by the name of the White River, and by the ancients Aftapus, and which Diodorus Siculus fays comes from large lakes to the fouthward, which we know to be truth. This river throws itfelf into the Nile, and together with it makes the' right-hand channel, inclofing Mcroc or Atbara. The Nile here is called the Blue River; and Nil, in the language of the country, has precifely that fignification. This too was known to the ancients, as the Greeks have called it' the Blue River, and tliefe being ail found to inclofe Meroe, nei-
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ther Gojam, nor any place that is not fo limited, can ever- be taken for that illancL
I WILL not pretend to fay that any pofitive proof fliouldn be founded upon the aftronomical obfervations of the an- cients, unlefs there are circumftances that go hand in hand with, and corroborate them ; but we fhould be at a very great lofs indeed, notwithftanding all the diligence of mo- dern travellers, were we to throw the celeftial obfervations - of the ancients entirely behind us. We have, from various concurring circumftances, fixed our Meroe at Gerri, or be- tween that town and Wed Baal a Nagga, that is about lat, 16° 10' north ; and Ptolemy, from an obfervation of the Sol- ftice, fixes it at 16" 26', fo that the error here, if any, feems to be of no confequence, as the direction of the city might extend to the northward. The obfervations mentioned by Pliny are not fo accurate, nor do they merit to be put in competition with thofe of Ptolemy, for very obvious reafons; yet ilill, when flridly examined, they do not fail, inaccurate as they are, to throw fome light upon this fubjed. He fays the fun is vertical at Meroe twice a-year, once when he enters the 18° of Taurus, and again when he is in the 14th . degree of the Lion.^
Here are three impofTibilities, which plainly fliew that ihis error is not that of Pliny, but of an ignorant tranfcri- ber ; for if the zenith of Meroe anfwered to the 1 8th degree ■ of Taurus, it is impoffible that the fame point fhould an- fwer to the i4rh degree of the Lion ; and if Syene was 5000 fl:adia from the one, it is impoflible it could be no more from the other which was fouth of it, if they were all
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tKrce under the fame meridian ; let us then confefs, as we muft, that both thefe obfervations are erroneous.
But let us fuppofe that the firft will make the latitude of ' Meroe to be 17° io\ and the fecond 16° 40'; taking then a medium of thefe two bad obfervations, as is the prac^lice in all fucli cafes, we fhall find the latitude of Meroe to be 16° 30', only 4' difference from the obfervation of Ptolemy.
Vosius*, among a multitude of errors he has commit- ted relating to the Nile, denies that there are any iflands in that river. The reader will be long ago fatisfied from our hillory, that this is without foundation, feeing that from the ifland of Rhoda, where flands the Mikeas, to the ifland of Curgos, which we have jufi now mentioned, we have defcribed feveral. . He would indeed infmuate, that Meroe, or Atbara, is not an ifland, but a pehinfula, though it is well known in hiftory thefe words are conflantly ufed as fynonimous ; but were it not fo, Meroe fcarcely flands in need of this excufe. If the reader will cafl his eye upon the map, he will fee two rivers, the Rahad and Tocoor, that almofc meet in lat. 12" 40' north. Acrofs the peninfula left by thefe rivers, is a fmall ftripe called Falaty, running in a contrary diredion from the general courfe of rivers in this country, that is from eaft to weft, though part of it in dry weather is hid in the fand, and this river makes Atba- ra a complete ifland in time of rain. .
SiMONIDES
De. oiig. flura. cap, xvi. p. 57. ​SIMONIDES the Less staid five years in Meroe; after him, Aristocreon, Bion,and Bafilis. It is not then probable that men of their character omitted to ascertain the fad; whether or not the place where they lived was an island. Diodorus Siculus has said, that Meroe was in the form of a shield, that is, in the figure of that triangular shield called Scutum, pointed at the bottom, and growing broader towards the top where it is square. Nothing can be more exact than this resemblance of the lower part of Atbara, that is, from Gerri to the Magiran, the part we suppose Diodorus was acquainted with, and it is scarcely possible that he could have fixed upon this resemblance without having seen some figure of it delineated upon paper.
AS this must suppose a more than ordinary knowledge in Diodorus, we shall examine how the measures he has given us of the island correspond with the truth. He says, that the island is 3000 stadia long, and 1000 stadia broad. Now taking 8 stadia for a mile, we have 375 miles, and measuring with the compass from the river Falaty, where, as I have said, Atbara becomes an island by the confluence of the rivers, I find that distance to be 345 miles, of 60 miles to a degree, so that without making any allowance for the disadvantages of the country, it is impossible at this day to have a more accurate estimation. As for the breadth, it is scarcely possible to guess at what part Diodorus means it was measured, on account of the figure of the shield, as I have already observed, as constantly varying. But suppose, as is most probable, that the breadth of the island was referred to ​THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 543
fhe place where the city Hood, then, in place of 125 miles, the produce of 1000 iladia, I find it meafures 145 miles, a differ- ence as little to be regarded as the other.
Let us now examine what information we can leam from the report of the centurions fent on purpofe by Nero to explore this unknown country, whofe report has been looked upon as decifive of the diftances of places through which they palled.
These travellers pretend, that between Syene and the en- trance into the ifland of Meroe was- 873 miles, and from thence to the city 70 miles ; the whole diftance then be- tween Syene and the city of Meroe will be 943 miles, or 15° 43'. Now Syene was very certainly in 24°, a few minutes more or lefs ; and from this if we take 15°, there will remain 9" of latitude for the iiland of Meroe, according to th^ re- port of thefe centurions, and this would have carried Meroe far to the fouthward of the fountains of the Nile, and con- founded every idea of the geography of Africa. The paral- lel which marks 11° cuts Gojamveryexadly in the middle, and this peninfula may befaid to refemble the fliield called Pelta ; but very certainly not the Scutum, to which Diodorus has very properly hkened it. Befides, their own obfervation condemns them, for it is about Meroe where they firft faw an appearance of verdure ; thereafon of which is very plain, if the latitude of that city was in 16°, upo*^ the verge of the tropical rains,where, as ane) e-wifnefs, I who have paffed that dreary ditlance on foot can tellify, tliofe green* herbs and Ihrubs, though they begin, as is very properly and cautioufly expreffed, to appear there, feem neither luxuriant nor abun- dant.
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But had the centurions gone to Gojam, they would have pafled a hundred miles of a more verdanc and nioie beauti- ful country before arriving there. The pfittaci aves, or the paroquets, which they very properly obferved were firft feen in Meroe, that is, in Atbara, would have been fought for in vain in Gojam, a cold country ; whereas the paroquet's de- light is in the low, or hot country, where there is always va- riety of fruit ; neither could Ptolemy's obfervation, nor thofe two juft mentioned by Pliny, be admitted, after any fort of jjnodiiication wliatever.
Strabo remarks of the fituatlon of Meroe, that it was placed upon the verge of the tropical rains ; and, with his ufual accuracy and good fenfe, he wonders the regularity of thefe tropical rains, as .to their coming and duration, was not known earlier, when fo many occafions had offered to obferve them at Meroe before his time. The fame author fays, that the fun is vertical at Meroe forty-five days before the fummer folftice ; fo that this too will place that ifland in lat. 16" 44', very little different from the latitude that Ptolemy gives it. From all which circumflances we may venture to maintain, that very few places in ancient geo- graphy have their fituations more flric^ly defined, or by a greater variety of circumflances, than the ifland of Atbara or Meroe. But fuppofing the cafe v/ere otherwife, there is not one of thefe circumflances that I know of, that could be ad- duced with any efFccl to prove Gojam to be Meroe, as Le Grande and the Jefuits have» vainly afTerted.
At half pail eleven o'clock in the forenoon of the 21ft
•of October, having fpcnt the whole day in winding through
    vallies, and the bare hills of the Acaba, we alighted in a
ji wood ​THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^45
wood about a mile from the river. This fide of the Nile, along which we travelled to-day, is quite bare, the other full of trees and corn, where are feveral large villages.
On the 2 2d, in the afternoon, we left this place, which is called Hor-Gibbaity, and paffed through feveral villages of the Macabrab, named Dow-Dowa, and three miles further came to Deniar, a town belonging to Fakir Wed Madge Doub, who is a faint of the firfl confequence among the Jaheleen. They believe that he works miracles, and can ftrike whom he pleafes with lamenefs, blindnefs, or mad- nefs ; for which reafon they ftand very much in awe of him, fo that he pafTes the caravans in fafety through this Reft of robbers, fuch as the Macabrab are, and always have been, though there are caravans who chufe rather to pnfs unfeen under the cloud of night, than truft to the venera- tion thefe Jaheleen may have of Wed Madge Doub's fan(5liry. After thefe are Eli^ib, their habitation four miles on our left at Howiah,
On the 25th, at three quarters pafl fix in the morning we left Demar, and at nine came to the Tacazze, five fliort miles diftant from Demar, and two fmall villages built with canes and plaiftered with clay, called Dubba-beah; thefe are allies of the Macabrab, as coming from Demar. They took it in their heads to believe that we were a caravan going to Mecca, in which they were confirmed by a fon of Wed Madge Doub, whom I brought with me, and it was neither my bufinefs nor mclination to undeceive them, but ,juft the contrary.
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The Tacazze is here about a quarter of a mile broad, exceedingly deep, and they have chosen the deepest part for the ferry. It is clear as in Abyssinia, where we had often seen it. It rises in the province of Angot, in about lat. 9°, but has lost all the beauty of its banks, and runs here thro' a desert and barren country. I reflected with much satisfaction upon the many circumstances the fight of this river recalled to my mind ; but still the greatest was, that the scenes of these were now far distant, and that I was by so much the more advanced towards home. The water of the Tacazze is judged by the Arabs to be lighter, clearer, and wholesomer than that of the Nile. About half a mile after this ferry it joins with that river. Though the boats were smaller, the people more brutish, and less expert than those at Halifoon, yet the supposed sanctity of our characters, and liberal payment, carried us over without any difficulty. These sons of Mahomet are very robust and strong, and, in all their operations, seemed to trust to that rather than to address or flight. We left the passage at a quarter after three, and at half past four arrived at a gravelly, waste piece of ground, and all round it planted thick with large trees without fruit. The river is the boundary between Atbara and Barbar, in which province we now are. Its inhabitants are the Jaheleen of the tribe of Mirifab.
On the 26th, at fix o'clock, leaving the Nile on our left about a mile, we continued our journey over gravel and sand, through a wood of acacia-trees, the colour of whose flowers was now changed to white, whereas all the rest we had before seen were yellow. At one o'clock we left the wood, and at 40 minutes past three we came to Gooz, a small village, which nevertheless is the capital of Barbar.
The. ​THE SOURCE OF THE N ILE. 547
The village of Gooz is a coUetlrion of miferable hovels com- pofed of clay and canes. There are not in it above 30 houfcs, but there are fix or feven different villages. The heat feemed here a little abated, but everybody complained of a difeafe in their eyes they call Tilhafh, which often termi- nates in blindnefs. I apprehend it to be owing to the fimoom and fine fand blowing through the defert. Here a misfortune happened to Idris our Hybeer, who was arrefled for debt, and carried to prifon. As we were now upon the very edge of the defert, and to fee no other inhabited place till we fliould reach Egypt, I was not difpleafed to have it in my power to lay him under one other obligation before we trufted our lives in his hands, which we were immedi- ately to do. I therefore paid his debt, and reconciled him with his creditors, who, on their part, behaved very mode- rately to him.
When trade flouriflied here, and the caravans went re- gularly, Gooz was of fome confideration, as being the firfl place where they flopped, and therefore got the firfl offer of the market ; but now no commerce remains, nor is it worth while for flated guides to wait there to condud the caravans through the defert, as they did formerly. Gooz is fituated fifteen miles from the jundion of the two rivers the Nile and Tacazze. By many obfervations of the fun and flars,and by a mean of thefe, I found it to be in lat. if 57' 22"; and by an immerfion of the firfl fatellite of Jupi- ter obferved there the 5th of November, determined its lon- gitude to be 34° 20' 30" eafl of the meridian of Green- wich. The greatefl height of Fahrenheit's thermometer was, at Gooz, the 28th day of Odober, at noon, in".
3 Z 2 Having ​j,f^ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER'
Having received all the affurances pofTible from Idris- that he v/ould live and die with us, after having repeated the prayer of peace, we put on the beft countenance poffible, and committed ourielves to the dcfert. There were Ifmael th-e Turk, two Greek fervants befides Georgia, who was almoll blind and ufelefs. Two Barbarins, who took care of the camels, Idris, and a young man, a relation of his, who joined him at Barbar, to return home ; in all nine perfons, eight only of whom were efFeftive. We were all well-armed with blunderbufTes, fwords, piflolsy and double- barrelled guns, except Idris and his lad, who had lances, the only arms they could ufe. Five or fix naked wretch- es of the Tucorory joined us at the watering place, much againrt my will, for I knew that we fhould probably be re- duced to the difagreeable necelTity of feeing them die with thirrt before our eyes ; or by affiiling them, Ihould any ac- cident happen to our water, we ran a very great rifli of gerilhing with th*;m. .
It was on the 9th of November, at noon, we left Gooz, and fet out for the fakia, or watering-place, which is be- low a little village called Hail'a. All the weft fide of tlife Nile is full of villages down to Takaki, but they are all Jaheleen, without government, and perpetually in rebel- lion. At half paft three in the afternoon we came to the Nile to lay in our llore of water. We filled four Ikina, which might contain altogether about a hogfhead and a half. As for our food, it confifted in twenty-two large goat5 fikins fluffed with a powder of bread" made of dora here at Gooz, on purpofe for fuch expeditions. It is about the fize and Ihape of a pancake, but thinner. Being much dried, rather than toafted at the fire, it is afterwards rub- bed ​THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. s¥)
htd between the hands into a ckift or powder, for the fake of package; and the goat's lldn .crammed as Full as pofliblff,. and tied at the mouth with a leather thong. This bread has a fouriih talle, which it imparts to the water when mingled with it, and fwells to fix times the fpace that it occupied when dry. A handful, as much as you could grafp, put into a bowl made of a gourd fawed in two, about twice the contents of a common tea-bafon, was the quan- tity allowed to each man every day, morning and evening.; ; and another fuch, gourd of water divided, one half two hours before noon, the other about an hour after. Suck were the regulations we all of us fubfcribed to ; we had not camels for a greater provifion. The Nik at Hafla runs at the foot of a mountain called Jibbel Atefhan, or the Mountain ofThirJl; the men, emphatically enough, confider- ing that thofe who part from it, entering the defert, take there the firil provifions againft thiril, and there thofe thai come to it from the defert firfl ailuage theirs.
On the nth, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon we left Hafla. It required a whole day to fill our ficins, and foak them well in the water, in order to make an experi- ment, which was of the greatell confequence of any one we ever made, whether thefe fkins were water-tight or not. I had taken the greateft care while at Chendi to dawb them well over with grcafe and tar, to fecure their pores on the outfide ; but Idris told us this v/as not enough, and that foaking the infide with water, filling them choak-full, and tying their mouths as hard as poffible, w^as the only way to be certain if they were v/ater-tight without.
\Vhil2 ​55a TRAVELS TO DISCOVER
While the camels were loading, I bathed myfelf with in- finite pleafure for a long half hour in the Nile, and thus took leave of my old acquaintance, very doubtful if we fliould ever meet again. We then turned our face to N. E. leaving the Nile, and entering into a bare defert of fixed gravel, without trees, and of a very difagreeable whitilh co- lour, mixed with fmall pieces of white marble, and pebbles like alabafter. At a quarter paft four we alighted in a fpot of high bent grafs, where we let our camels feed till eight o'clock, and at three quarters paft ten we halted for the night in another patch of grafs ; the place is called Ho- weela. Jibbel Ateflian bore b. W. and by W. of us, the dif- tance about feven miles. I inquired of Idris, if he knew, to point out to me, precifely where Sycne lay, and he fhewed me without difficulty. I fet it by the compafs, and found it to be N. and by W. very near the exaft bearing it turned out upon obfervation afterwards. He faid, however, we fliould not keep this tracft, but fliould be obliged to vary oc- cafionally in fearch of water, as we fhould find the wells in the defert empty or full.
On the 12th, at feven o'clock in the morning we quitted Howeela, continuing our journey through the defert in the fame dire(5lion, that is to the N. E. ; our reafon was, to avoid as much as poffible the meeting any Arab that could give intelligence of our being on our journey, for nothing was fo eafy for people, fuch as the Bifliareen, to way-lay and cut us off at the well, where they would be fure we muft of neceffity pafs. At twenty minutes paft eight we came to Waadi el Haimcr, where there are a few trees and fome bent grafs, for this is the meaning of the word Waadi in a de- fert. The Arabs, called Sum gar, are here on the weft of us,
3 by ​THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 551.
by the river fide. At half pad: twelve we alighted on a fpot of grafs. Takaki from this diftance will be twenty-four miles, between the points N. W. and N. N. W. and from Ta- kaki to Dongola ten Ihort days jom-neys, I fuppofe i8o miles at moft. We are now in the territory of the Bifliareen, but they were all retired to the mountviins, a high even ridge, that is fomething above two days diftance from us, and runs parallel to our courfe, on the right hand of us, all the way into Egypt»
At half paft eight we alighted in a fandy plain without trees or grafs. Our camels, we found, were top heavily loaded, but we comforted ourfelves that this fault would be mended every day by the ufe we made of our provifions ; feowever, it was very much againft them that they were obliged to pafs this whole night without eating. This place is called Umboia. We left Uiuboia, ftill ilretching farther into the defert at N. E. At nine we faw a hill called AfTero-baybe, with two pointed tops N. of us, which may be about twelve or fourteen miles diitant, perhaps more. Tins is the next Hybeer's mark, by which he direds his Gourfe. On the eail is Ebenaat, another fliarp-pointed rock, about ten miles diftant. All this day, and the evening be- fore,our road has been through ftony, gravelly ground, with- out herb or tree. Large pieces of agate and jafper, miKt with many beautiful pieces of marble, appear everywhere: on the ground.
At two o'clock in the afternoon we came to Waadi Amour, where we alighted, after we had gone fix hours this day w::U great diligence. Waadi Amour has a few trees and fhrubs, but fcarce enough to aJOford any Ihade, or night's
provifion; ​provision for our camels. Being now without fear of the Arabs who live upon the Nile, from which we were at a sufficient distance, we with the same view to safety, declined approaching the mountains, but held our course nearly N. to a small spot of graes and white sand, called Assa-Nagga. Here our misfortunes began, from a circumstance we had not attended to. Our shoes, that had needed constant repair, were become at last absolutely useless, and the hard ground, from the time we passed Amour, had worn the skin off in several places, so that our feet were very much inflamed by the burning sand.
About a mile north-weft of us is Hambily, a rock not considerable in size, but, from the plain country in which it is situated, has the appearance of a great tower or castle, and south of it two hillocks or little hills. These are all land-marks of the utmost consequence to caravans in their journey, because they are too considerable in size to be covered at any time by the moving sands. At Assa Nagga, Assiro-baybe is square with us, and with the turn which the Nile takes eastward to Korti and Dongola. The Takaki are the people nearest us, west of Assa Nagga, and Assero-baybe upon the Nile. After these, when the Nile has turned E. and W. are the Chalgie, on both sides of the river, on to Korti, where the territory called the kingdom of Dongola begins. As the Nile no longer remains on our left, but makes a remarkable turn, which has been much misrepresented in the maps, I put my quadrant in order, and by a medium of three observations, one of Procyon, one of Rigel, and one of the middle star of the belt of Orion, I found the latitude of Assa Nagga to be 19° 30', which being on a parallel with the farthest point of the Nile northward, gives the latitude of that ​THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. S53
place where the river turns weft by Korti towards Dongola, and this was of great fervice to me in fixing fome other mate- rial points in my map.
On the 14th, at feven in the morning we left AfTa Nagga, our courfe being due north. At one o'clock we alighted a- mong fome acacia-trees at Waadi el Halboub, having gone twenty-one miles. We were here at once furprifcd and ter- rified by a fight furely one of the moft magnificent in the world. In that vaft expanfe of defert, from W. and to N. W. of us, we faw a number of prbdigious pillars of fand at differ- ent diftances, at times moving with great celerity, at others ftalking on with a majeflic flownefs; at intervals we thought they were coming in a very few minutes to overwhelm us ; and fmall quantities of fand did ad:ually more than once reach us. Agaia they would retreat fo as to be almoft out of fight, their tops reaching to the very clouds. There the tops often feparated from the bodies ; and thefe, once disjoined, difperfed in the air, and did not appear more. Sometimes they were broken near the middle, as if ftruck with a large cannon fliot. About noon they began to advance with confi- derable fwiftnefs upon us, the wind being very ftrong at north. Eleven of them ranged alongfide of us about the dillance of three miles. The greateft diameter of the largeft appeared to me at that difiance as if it would meafure ten feet. They reti- red from us with a wind at S. E. leaving an impreffion upon my mind to which 1 can give no name, though (urely one in- gredient in it was fear, with a confiderabic deal of wonder and aftonifliment. It was in vain to think of flying ; the fwifteft horfe, or fafteft failing fliip, could be of no ufe to carry us out of this danger, and the full perfuafion of this rivetted me as if to the fpot where I flood, and let the
Vol. IV. 4 A camels ​554 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER
camels ;^ain on me fo much in my ft ate of lamenefs, that it was With fome diificuky I couid overtake them.
The efFevfh this ftupendoiis fight had upon Idris was to fet hiin to his prayers, indeed rather to his charms ; for, befides the name of God and Mahomet, all the reft of the words were mere gibberiih and nonfenfe. This created a violent altercation between him and Ifmael the Turk, who abufed him for not praying in the words of the Koran, main- taining, with apparent great wifdom at the fame time, that nobody had charms to ftop thefe moving fands but the in-, habitants of Arabia Deferta,.
The Arabs to whom this inhofpitable fpot belongs are the Adelaia. They, too, are Jahelcen, or Arabs of Beni Ko- reifh. They are faid to be a harmlefs .race, and to do no hurt to the caravans they meet; yet I very much doubt, had we fallen in with them they would not have deferved' the good name that was given them. We went very flow^ ly to-day, our feet being fore and greatly fwelled. The whole of our company were much diftieartened, (except- Idris) and imagined that they were advancing into whirl- winds of moving fand, from which they fliould never be able to extricate themfelves ; but before four o'clock in the afternoon thefe phantoms of the plain had all of them fallen to the ground and difappeared. In the evening we cam.e to Waadi Dimokea, where we pafTed the night, much, difheartened, and our fear more increafed, when v/e found,, upon wakening in the morning, that one fide was perfedly buried in the £and that the wind had blown above us ij?, the nightv
From ​THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. s^S
From this day, fubordination; though not entirely ceafcd, was faft on the decUne ; all was difcontent, murmuring, and fear. Our water was greatly diminifhed, and that terrible death by thirft began to flare us in the face, and this was owing in a great meafure to our own imprudence. Ifmael, who had been left centinel over the fkins of water, had llept fo foundly, that this had given an opportunity to a Tucorory to open one of the fkins that had not been touch- ed, and ferve himfelf out of it at his own difcretion. I fup- pofe that, hearing fomebody ftir, and fearing detecT:ion, he had withdrawn himfelf as fpeedily as pofTible, without ta- king time to tie the mouth of the girba, which we found in the morning with fcarce a quart of water in it.
On the 15th, at a quarter paft feven in the morning wc left Waadi Dimokea, keeping a little to the weftvvard of north, as far as I could judge, jufl upon the hne of Syene. The fame ridge of hills being on our right and left as yeflerday, in the center of thefe appeared Del Aned. At twenty minutes pafl two o'clock in the afternoon we came to an opening in the ridge of rocks ; the paffage is about a mile broad, through which we continued till we alight- ed at the foot of the mountain Del Aned. The place is call- ed Waadi Del Aned.
The fame appearance of moving pillars of fand prefent- ed themfelves to us this day in form and difpofition like thofe we had feen at Waadi Halboub, only they feemed to be more in number, and lefs in fize. They came feveral times in a direction dole upon us ; that is, I believe, with- in lefs than two miles. They began, immediately after fun-rife, like a thick wood, and alniofl darkened the fun :
4 A 2 His ​^S6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER
His rays fliining through them for near an hour, gave them an appearance of pillars of fire. Our people now became defperate : The Greeks flirieked out, and faid it was the day of judgment. Ifmael pronounced it to be hell, and the Tucorories, that the world was on fire. I afked Idris if ever he had before feen fuch a fight ? He faid he had often feen them as terrible, though never worfe ; but what he feared mofl was that extreme rednefs in the air, which was a fure prefage of the coming of the fimoom. I begged and en- treated Idris that he would not fay one word of that in the hearing of the people, for they had already felt it at Im- hanzara in their way from Ras el Feel to Teawa, and again at the Acaba of Gerri, before we came to Chendi, and they were already nearly diftra6ted at the apprehenfion of find- ing it here.
At half pad four o'clock in the afternoon we left Waadi Del Aned, our courfe a little more to the weftward than the direflion of Syene. The fands which had difappeared yef- terday fcarcely fliewed themfelves at all this day, and at a great diftance from the horizon. This was, however, a comfort but of fliort duration. I obferved Idris took no part in it, but only warned me and the fervants, that, upon the coming of the fimoom, we fliould fall upon our faces, with our mouths upon the earth, fo as not to partake of the outward air as long as we could hold our breath. We alighted at fix o'clock at a fmall rock in the fandy ground, without trees or herbage, fo that our camels failed all that night. This place is called Ras el Seah, or, by the Bifliareen,. El Mout, which fignifies death, a name of bad omen.
On ​THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. SS7
On the i6th, at half pail ten in the forenoon we left El Mout, {landing in the diredlion clofe uponSyene. Our men, if not gay, were however in better fpirits than I had feen them fince we left Gooz. One of our Barbarins had even attempted a fong ; but Hagi Ifmael very gravely reproved him, by telling him, that fmging in fuch a fituation was a tempting of Providence. There is, indeed, nothing more different than aftive and paflive courage. Hagi Ifmael would fight, but he had not ftrength of mind to fuffer. At eleven o'clock, while we contemplated with great pleafure the rug- ged top of Chiggre, to which we were fail approaching, and where we were to folace ourfelves with plenty of good wa- ter, Idris cried out, with a loud voice, Fall upon your faces, for here is the fnnoom. I faw from the S. E. a haze come, in colour like the purple part of the rainbow, but not fo com- prefled or thick. It did not occupy twenty yards in breadth, and was about twelve feet high trom the ground. It was a kind of bluHa upon the air, and it moved very rapidly, for I fcarce could turn to fall upon the groimd with my head to the northward, when I felt the heat of its current plainly up- on my face. We all lay flat on the ground, as if dead, till Idris told us it was blown over. The meteor, or purple haze, which I fasv, was indeed paffed, but tht light air that Hill blew wa- of heat to threaten fuffocarion. For my part, I found diflind:ly in my bread that I had imbibed a part of it, nor was I free of an ailhmatic fenfation till 1 had been fome months in Italy, at the baths of Poretta, near two years af- terwards..
An univerfp.l defpondency had taken poffeiTion of our people. Ihey cealed to fpeaL to one anothcr,_ and when.
they;. ​558 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER
they did, it was in whifpers, by which I eafdy gueffed their difcourfe was not favourable to me, or elfe that they were increafing each others fears, by vain fuggeftions calculated to fink each others fpirits ftill further, but from which no earthly good could poflibly refult. I called them together, and both reprimanded and exhorted them in the flrongeft manner I could ; I bade them attend to me, who had nearly loft my voice by the fimoom, and defired them to look at my face, fo fwelled as fcarcely to permit me to fee; my neck covered with blifters, my feet fwelled and inflamed, and bleeding with many wounds. In anfwer to the lamen- tation that the water was exhaufted, and that we were upon the point of dying with thirft, I ordered each man a gourd full of water more than he had the preceding day, and fliewed them, at no great diilance, the bare, black, and fliarp point of the rock Chiggre, wherein was the well at which we were again to fill our girbas, and thereby baniih the fear of dying by thirft in the defert. I believe I never was at any time more eloquent, and never had eloquence a more fudden efFedt. They all protefted and declared their con- cern chiefly arofe from the fituation they fav/ me in ; that they feared not death or hardlhip, provided I would fubmit a little to their direftion in the taking a proper care of my- fclf. They intreated me to ufe one of the camels, and throw ofiT the load that it carried, that it would eafe me, of the wounds in my feet, by riding at leaft part of the day. This I pofitively refufed to do, but recommended to them to be ftrong of heart, and to fpare the camels for the laft re- fource, if any fliould be taken ill and unable to walk any
longer.
This ​THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 559
This phsenomenon of the fimoom, unexpedled by uSj though forefeen by Idris, caufed us all to relapfe into our former defpondency. It Hill continued to blow, fo as to ex- hauft us entirely, though the blaft was fo weak as fcarcely would have raifed a leaf from the ground. At twenty mi- nutes before five the fimoom ceafed, and a comfortable and cooling breeze came by Harts from the north, blowing five or fix minutes at a time, and then falling calm. We were now come to the Acaba, the afcent before we arrive d at Chiggre, where we intended to have fiopt that night , but we all moved on with tacit confcnt, nor did one perfon pretend to fay how far he guefled we were to go.
At thirteen minutes paft eight we alighted in a fandy plain abfolutely without herbage, covered with loofe ftonesi a quarter of a mile due north of the well, which is in the narrow gorge, forming the fouthern outlet of this fmall plain. Though we had travelled thirteen hours and a quar- ther this day, it was but at a flow pace, our camels being famiflied, as well as tired, and lamed likewife by the fliarp Hones with which the ground in all places was covered. The country, for three days paft, had been deftitute of herbage of any kind, entirely defert, and abandoned to moving fands. We faw this day, after pafling Ras el Seah, large blocks and ftrata of pure white marble, equal to any in colour that ever came from Paros,
Chiggre is a fmall narrow valley, ciofely covered up and furrounded with barren rocks. The wells are ten in num* ber, and the narrow gorge which opens to them is not ten yards broad. The fprings, however, are very abundant; Wherever a pit is dug five or fix feet deep, it is immediate- ly ​500 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER
ly filled with water. The principal pool is about forty yards fquare. and five feet deep ; but the beft tafted water was in the cleft of a rock, about 30 yards higher, on the weft fide of this narrow outlet. All the water, however, was very foul, with a number of animals both aquatic and land. It was impoffible to drink without putting a piece of our cotton girdle over our mouths, to keep, by filtration, the filth of dead animals out of it. We faw a great many partridges upon the face of the bare rock ; but what they fed upon I could not guefs, unlefs upon infeifts. We did not dare to fhoot at them, for fear of being heard by the wandering Arabs that might be fomewhere in the neigh- bourhood ; for Chiggre is a hauntof the Billiareen of the tribe of Abou, Bertran, who, though they do not make it a ftation, becaufe there is no paflure in the neighbourhood, nor can any thing grow there, yet it is one of the moll va- luable places of refrelhment, on account of the great quan- tity of water, being nearly half way, when they drive their cattle from the borders of the Red Sea to the banks of the Nile ; as alfo in their expeditions from fouth to north, when they leave their encampments in Barbar, to rob the Ababde Arabs on the frontiers of Egypt.
Our firfc attention was to our camels, to whom we gave that day a double feed of dora, that they might drink for the reft of their journey, fliould the wells in the way prove fcant of water. We then walhed in a large pool, the coldeft water, I think, I ever felt, on account of its being in a cave covered with rock, and was inaccellible to the fun in any diredlion. All my people feemed to be greatly recovered by this refrigeration, but from fome caufe or other, it fared otherwife with the Tucorory ; one of whom died about an hour afterour arrival, and another early the next morning.
3 SUjBORDINATION ​Subordination, if now not entirely gone, was expiring, so that I scarcely expected to have interest enough with my own servants to help me to set up my large quadrant: Yet I was exceedingly curious to know the situation of this remarkable place, which Idris the Hybeer declared to be halfway to Assouan. But it seems their curiosity was not less than mine; above all, they wanted to prove that Idris was mistaken, and that we were considerably nearer to Egypt than we were to Barbar. While Idris and the men filled the skins with water, the Greeks and I set up the quadrant, and, by observation of the two bright stars of Orion, I found the latitude of Chiggre to be 20° 58' 30" N.; so that, allowing even some small error in the position of Syene in the French maps, Idris's guess was very near the truth, and both the latitude and longitude of Chiggre and Syene seemed to require no further investigation.
During the whole time of the observation, an antelope, of a very large kind, went several times round and round the quadrant; and at the time when my eyes were fixed upon the star, came so near as to bite a part of my cotton cloth which I had spread like a carpet to kneel on. Even when I stirred, it would leap about two or three yards from me, and then stand and gaze with such attention, that it would have appeared to by-standers (had there been any) that we had been a long time acquainted. The first idea was the common one, to kill it. I easily could have done this with a lance; but it seemed so interested in what I was doing, that I began to think it might perhaps be my good genius which had come to visit, protect, and encourage me in the desperate situation in which I then was.
* ↑ The farm where he kept the flocks belonging to himself.
* ↑ Piln. lib. vi. c. 30