Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-11-04
RIDE ACROSS THE DESERT
II IL by No Means Always "" ~"
pleasant Journey.

! Wishing to give our baggage-camels an
! other days rest before starting on the
trying journey from Murat Wells to wary
| Halfa, we pronted by the delay to take
long ride out on the Abu-Hamed ROAD
with our good friend. Abdul Aim Bey,
saws a writer in the London News. Inc
ostensible object of this little excursion
was 20 see a huge rock in the shape Oh
a crocodile that Abdul Aim had as
covered not long since about couple
OF hours out from the Abu-Hamed cara
! van track. This rock, sald our huiuS'
had never yet been seen by Europeans
Mounted on a couple OF our friend pest
| bred running camels, and escorted ny
| some half dozen well-armed trloesIheh
| on small. active beasts as SWIFT as our
| own. we set out at that fast trot winch y
as pleasant on a well-bred HadJuV Az On
q rough hardset brute 1t Is eXcrucla'nlsiy
painful. 1t was just after DAWN anu
| the air was delicious, for the sun uoeS
! not begin to get really herce ulli 'ite
A. NJ. and as we wound down the
| t<bor and out among the Kopjes OF the
| desert with a pleasant breeze tanning our
| faces with the camels' pads strlklhS
! crisply on the firm gravelly sand' anu
| the mems Announcements JinSlihs ny lhiHl-
caUy as they logged along, we Iet our
blood Jingle and our spirits buoyant with
the exhilaratlon. due partly to the glorious
climate and partly to the thought that
we really were at last well wlthln the
enemy's borders.
For, as Abdul Aim said, when we hau
ridden an hour or so, only one European
since the Nile campaign had been nearer
| Khartoum than ourselves. rms adVeh-
turous spirit was Colonel Rumble Pasha,
who i'm 1883 or 1886 rode so far toward
| Abu-Hamed that from a lofty hilltop ne
was able to see that town ana the Me
Not alone were ourselves affected by
| that lovely morning. Its glamour Wa
/ over our escort OF Abebdeh iBeherdHy
the most taciturn Of folk, four on whom
were conducting an eager argument al
| hot speed i'm their quaint. prlnhtlNe IAN
| euace. with its absurd. be"ilderlhS
/ "cl-k' interjected it would seem quit
| inyoluntarily at every sixth or seventh
word while the other two were chanting
! alternate verses of lugubrious song IN
whose refrain the moan Of the sakeean
| the buzz Of a saw, and the creaklng OF
an ungreased wagon wheel appeared 10
be DEITY blended with the grousing or 4
refractory camel.
THE camels themselves seemed affected
by the morning. or. perhaps. II was py
the song. They all demeaned themselves
quite skittshy. and one was so over
come by his sense Of the Joyoushess OF
things that he began suddenly 10 DUCK
Now a bucking camel IS, or an the pea
SAINT sights I'm nature, the most laushaOle.
The great beast seems at these moments
of EXPANSION 20 put of his camel nature,
and 10 imagine himself literally the hum
ming bird 10 which Mr.. kipiings FANCY
has compared him.
For instance. when the spirit moves
him to buck, the camel Of sudden nurlS
his great bulk high into the air, spread
ing out all his splay limbs at right
angles 20 his unwieldly carcass. Ana ne
alights. after this grotesque euort WIN
his feet all abroad and rock-splttins'
notwithstanding thud, only TO make a
fresh and more extravaganza departure
II is a soul-stirrlng performance. lie
brings a marvellous perseverance to the
exercise. and will keep it up over half a
mile of country. But 1t Is the humming
bird he Is aping all the while the grace
ful colibri flashing jewel-like into the air
here the camel projects himself INTO
space or posing feather Ike on the
| oieauder blossom here he cracks noun
| tain on alightlng) And he seems quite
satisfied with the measure Of success ne
attains. though it is at best success
| d'cstime.
II one could train this camel TO buck
I beg pardon. 10 "fare son colibr at
the word Of command. there would be
some good in it. / know several per-
sons whom / would mount for afternoon
rides. But It may not be. Art cannot
be forced. 1t was. as good luck would
have II. the beast OF one Of the two
musical Ababdeh who provided this morn
ina's diversion His rider, taken by
surprise lost his seat. and caught by
some infringement OF his equipment,
hung head downward from his max
loofa Throughout the whole performance
A European. after severe punishment
of this kind, would probably have been
laid up for a week; but my Abadi. when
at length he disengaged himself, merely
fell into violent laughter. calculated,
"Ya Salaam," and patted his camel APP
provingly. And the brute. having flap
ped himself IN the breast in a salts
fed way, as though saying. That's
the kind OF a fellow ] am" the two
Joined the company again. and went on
together the best of friends. The Abad
sang no more. however. and ! felt this
the camel had not labored in vain.
Wheeler from the champagne sparkle
Of the morning air or from the fact that
! here on camel-back he was n desert king
seemly enthroned, or by reason OF the
absence Of his more lively elder brother
! know not, but Abdul Aim the Silent
was to-day quite laxative. And how
wide IS the field OF knowledge-how ricf
the information on matters African ac
quired by these desert princesi They dc
not see many people, no doubt, but TINS
eastern desert is the high road 10 Nee
ca. and pilgrims pass constantly
across il. bound for the Holy City hail
| ID
Continent. Many OF them spend years
on the road. travelling very slowly
making long halts i'm the various coun
tries they traverse. their desultory pro
gress checked by a war, now by famine
or again by some devastating epidemic
disease.
one such party, from I forget what
country. but II was. as Abdul Aim eX-
planned. away beyond Uganda. passed
along this route quite recently. It's mem
bers had started nine persons. They were
now six They had been travelling fol
well nigh three years, and there had
been two births and five deaths among
them while on the road.
Ii is not after all hard life, as lie
goes i'm Africa, that these pilgrims lead
Fhey possess no sort OF property and
starting with nothing. they tramp n
leisurely fashion from village 10 village
from kingdom 70 sultaDate, supplied
% everywhere with the little that suffices FOL
their needs. and In return the story they
e can teli-through such involved and tor
D. tuous channels OF Interpretation as would
! be impossible to describe-is reckoneC
b ample payment by each successive host
e Much I'm this fashion did poor MungS
Park-the greatest of all African travel
: lers-accomplish his first journey TO th'
Niger. though he. as an alien and white
I suffered cruelty at the hands OF TN