Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-05-15
Letter from Egypt.
DEREHIB, COUNTRY OF THE
BISHAREEN ARABS. }
February 18th, 1874. \

y J
Dear Journal:
This being the first time this new
year that 1 write to you, l seize the
opportunity of addressing to you and
to all my good friends in Wilmington
the graceful and metaphorical saluta.
ton of the Arabs: "Naharkom abiad.
zaheel laban." May all your days be
White as milk. If I were to attempt to
mention separately all those that [ re-
member affectionately in your city,
their names alone would fill this let
ter; but I take much pleasure in send.
ing them collectively a kind greeting
through your paper, and 1 hope some
day to meet them face to face once
more.
[ have, as usual, so much to tell that
the difficulty with me is to select what
is to be left out among all the subjects
of interest which crowd upon me. Ex-
cuse, therefore, the hurried style, and
make allowance for my writing in the
very heart of the desert and in the in
/ tervals left by travel and other numer-
GUS pursuits. The place whose name
stands at the head of this letter will
| not be found on any map. 1t is a
ruined mining village, abandoned for
centuries, and standing at the very
head of Wady Ollaki or Allake. It is
little south of % deg. north latitude
and in about longitude 35 deg E. from
| Greenwich. Wady Allake is found on
Keith Johnston's map of Egypt. It
heads here and takes q general N.
| westerly direction striking the Nile
| about half way between the first cata-
ract at Assonan and the second at
Wady Halfu. A wady-which ought
to be written scaotdy to represent its
correct pronunciation, a val
ley, but very different from what We
call valleys at home. Into Wady
Allake open numerous secondary
wadies pronounce waddies) which in
the rainy season discharge each a con-
siderable volume of water, and at that
| time Wady Allake becomes a mighty
stream, filled to a depth of several
feet and stretching from hills to hills
into the Nile that boats going up have
to wait frequently for many days for
its subsistence before they can force
their way through the violent current
| which rushes across the great river
and reaches to its opposite bank be-
fore turning down and mingling with
it's waters. All the rest of the year
these wadies are dry torrent beds, in
which springs up more or less vegeta-
ton according to the quantity of mois-
ture that the soil retains. They also
contain numerous trees peculiar to the
| desert-most of which are of the
mimosa and acacia tribe, and look
very much (from a distance) like apple
trees, in form and size. If the torrent
that flows through the wady is very
violent, as it is in the narrow wadies.
the trees grow only along the sides of
the rocky hills, forming quite an
avenue. ii the wady is broad and the
waters are shallow and flow gently,
then the trees grow everywhere, in
very open order, and look like irregu-
lar young orchards when the
valley itself is covered with green
grass and flowers, as it is after the
rains, 1t looks like a cultivated country
with its meadows and orchards, and
you might almost expect to see white
houses in the distance. These wadies
vary from fifty yards or less to half a
mile in width, rarely attaining the lat
ter except where two or three wadies
intersect. The hills and mountains
which border them are bare and DESC
late rocks, very dark gray or brown,
according to their formation. assum-
ing the most varied and fantastic
forms and presenting sometimes stu
Pendous preclplces. The only water
to be found i'll the desert after the
rainy season is OYER, is in deep and
narrow gulches, screened from the
sun, where the water collects in rocky
basins, and even those go dry when
rain has failed for one or two years.
These basins are generally in ravines
branching out from the main wadies,
ard are known only to the natives of
the country. Sometimes, however,
we'll IS found in the wady, but it is to
be remembered that all over this coun-
try water is very scarce-often from
three to five days caravan march from
one water to the next Not only il
water scarce, but it is often bad, being
frequently very brackish or impreg-
mated with decaying vegetable matter,
so that it is great comfort to be
camped for while rear good, clear,
sweet water, like that at this place,
When we find such, we always remain
several days, SO as to recruit the
especially as there is generally
good pasturage around.
The country between the Nile on the |
west and the Red Sea on the east, and |
bounded on the north by the 26th deg.
north latitude and on the south bv the /
10Th deg, is inhabitated very sparsely) |
by two tribes of Bedonin Arabs. The |
Ababdehs occupy the northern portion
Of this immense desert, and the Bish-
areens the southern. The two tribes
are closely allied and resemble each
other very much i'll appearance, cos
tune, manner, etc, but the Bishareens
are more wild ard warlike. The num-
Der Of souls included in these two
tribes is about IL, OOO The Ababdehs
are in possession of the carrying trade
between the Nile and the Red Sea at
he port of Cosseir, but they subsist
mainly upon their flocks and camels-
The Bishareens entirely. 1 will speak
more at length hereafter of these ma
ives, and now, having given some gen.
,ral information as to the nature of the
country and its population, will fill in
he details in the course of my nara
i've. You will probably find consid-
,rable difference between my descrip-
ion of the desert between Keneh and
8erenice in my last letter and that of
his desert, between Berenice and the
Nile, which we expect to strike at Abou-
FAMED, in latitude 10 deg. 80 min, on
,ur way to Berber, in latitude Is deg.
The former is a country of plains and
,lateaus, and except the last two days