New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-04-24

tor onJ so,re If them rs they held their long,
.c,-,et .odcd moutes above their heads, TO dry IN
the wind and sun, showed fine, muscular hgures'
The women had hide0us faces, but syn'"etnca'
and well developed forms. We stopped iong
enouoh IN visit the town which, before the build
inr If Khartoun. was the great mart OF trade for
This mart of Central Africa. 1t is built in strag-
cling manner. along low, sandy ridge and is up
uarJ IF q mile in length, though it probably does
NOT contain more than ten thousand inhabitants.
The houses are mud, of course, but rough and
filthy. and many of them are the same circular
structures of mats and palm-sticks as had al
| rendv noticed in the smaller villages. lhe only
decent dwelling which saw had been just erected
Inv n Donpolese merchant There is mosque,
with low mud rninaret but neither in tins nor in
any ether respect does the place compare with I'll
Mechevref The bazaar resembles stable, having
passage through the center, shaded with mats,
and stalls on either side some of which contained
donkeys and others merchants. The goods dis
PLAYED were principally blue and white cotton
stufls of coarse quality, beads, trinkets and the
like. Beyond the clusters Of huts, and mud
wall. which runs along the eastern side of the
town. the Desert extended TO the horizon-a hot,
white plain, dotted with clumps of thorns. On
our return to the boat the rails pointed out the
spot where, in 1899, Ismail Pasha son of Mehemet
Ali, and his soldiers were burned to death by Mex
Nemr, King Leopard the last monarch of Shendy.
From Shendy, one sees the group of palms
which serves as a landmark to Ell Metemma, the
capital of the Metemma country, further up the
Nile on its opposite bank. This is the starting
point for caravans to Merawe and Dongola, and
consequently shall see it on my return journey.
We passed its port about noon and stopped few
minutes to let the rails pay his compliments to the
owner of our VESSEL, who was on shore. lie was
little old man, with long staff, and dressed like
the meanest Arab, though he is shekh of half
dozen villages, and had a servant leading fine
Dongolese horse behind him. The boat of khallm
Bev. agent of the Governor of Berber and Shendy,
was at the landing place, and we saw the Bey,
tall, handsome Turk in rich blue and crimson
dress, who sent servant to inquire who was.
The scenery of the Nile, southwark from Shen-
dy, is again changed The tropical rains, which
fall occasionally at Abou-Hammed and scantly at
Berber, are here periodical, and there is no longer
the same striking contrast between desert and
garden land. The plains extending inward from
the river are covered with growth of bushes and
coarse grass, which also appears in patches on the
sides of the mountains. The inhabitants cultivate
but narrow strip of beans and dourra along the
river but own immense focks of sheep and goats,
which afford their principal sustenance noticed
a new kind of grain, called d0okhu, of which they
plant larger quantity than of dourra. Ii Is a
graminaceous plant. somewhat resembling " timo-
thy grass" but with larger head and heavier
seeds. They make from it a coarse, black bread,
which they say is more nutritious than wheat
Mutton however, is the Ethiopan's greatest deli
cacy. Notwithstanding this is one OF the warmest
climates in the world, the people eat meat when
ever they can get it, and greatly prefer it to vege
table food The sailors and camel-drivers, whose
principal food is dourra are, notwithstanding GER
tain quality of endurance, as weak as children,
when compared with an able bodied European, and
they universally attribute this weakness to their
Diet This is fact for lank Sylvester Graham to
explain My experience comedies with that OF the
Etniopians. and | ascrbe no small share of my
personal health and strength which the violent al
formations of heat and cold during the journey
have not shaken in the least, to the fact OF my
having Jared sumptuously every day. If 1 had
adopted a diet of rice and water, or bran and tur-
nips, should not be here to give this testimony.
The voyage from Shendy to this place occupied
four davis and abounded with interesting Incidents
Had space might relate to you our narrow
cape from shipwreck on a reef of rocks, during a
gale from the north our passage through ten
miles of sland-bowers, heaped with tropical BIOS
SONS and foliage ouS night in the gorge which
the Nile breaks through the mountains OF Gerr
where we listened to the snorting of hippopota
muses. in the water and the bowling of hyenas
among the rocks and, finally, our ascent of the
trelM and last cataract of the great river. All
these adventures had proper close this morning.
when we reached khartoum. | was living on my
carpet last night listening to an Arabian tale, and
watching the figures of the boatmen, grouped
around fire they had kindled in field of dookhu,
when the wind came up with sudden gust. In
stantly the sand was kicked over the brands, the
carpet taken up, all hands called ON hoard, and
dashed away on the dark river with light hearts.
rose before sunrise this morning and found the
wind unchanged. We were sailing between low
shores covered with grain-felds, and a sandy
island lay in 'front.' The rails no sooner saw me
than he called my attention to the tops Of some
palm-trees that appeared on the horizon, probably
six or eight miles distant. They grew in the gar
dens of khartoum We reached the point of the
broad, level island that divides the waters of the
two Niles, and could soon distinguish the single
minaret and buildings Of the city. Aboat, coming
down from the White Nile, passed us on the right,
and another, bound for Khartoum led us up the
Blue Nile. The proper division between the two
rivers is the point of land upon which Khartoum is
built, but the channel separating it from the island
opposite is very narrow, and the streams do not
fully meet and mingle their waters till the islands