A journey to Central Africa

by Bayard Taylor

We encamped for the night in a cluster of doum-palms, near the Nile. The soil, even to the edge of the millet-patches which covered the bank, was a loose white sand, and shone like snow under the moon, while the doum-leaves rustled with as dry and sharp a sound as bare boughs under a northern sky. The wind blew fresh, but we were sheltered by a little rise of land, and the tent stood firm. The temperature (72°) was delicious; the stars sparkled radiantly, and the song of crickets among the millet reminded me of home. No sooner had we encamped than Eesa ran off to some huts which he spied in the distance, and told the natives that they must immediately bring all their sheep and fowls to the Effendi. The poor people came to inquire whether they must part with their stock, and were very glad when they found that we wanted nothing. I took only two cucumbers which an old man brought and humbly placed at my feet.

The next morning I walked ahead, following the river bank, but the camels took a shorter road through the Desert, and passed me unobserved. After walking two hours, I sought for them in every direction, and finally came upon Ali, who was doing his best to hold my dromedary down. No sooner had I straddled the beast than he rose and set off on a swinging gallop to rejoin the caravan. During the day our road led along the edge of the Desert, sometimes in the sand and sometimes over gravelly soil, covered with patches of thorny shrubs. Until I reached the village of Abou-Hashym, in the evening, there was no mark of cultivation on the eastern bank, though I saw in places the signs of fields which had long since been deserted. I passed several burying-grounds, in one of which the guide showed me the grave of Mr. Melly, an English gentleman who died there about a year previous, on his return to Egypt with his family, after a journey to Khartoum. His tomb was merely an oblong mound of unburnt brick, with a rough stone at the head and foot. It had been strictly respected by the natives, who informed me that large sums were given to them to keep it in order and watch it at night. They also told me that after his death there was great difficulty in procuring a shroud. The only muslin in the neighborhood was a piece belonging to an old Shekh, who had kept it many years, in anticipation of his own death. It was sacred, having been sent to Mecca and dipped in the holy well of Zemzem. In this the body was wrapped and laid in the earth. The grave was in a dreary spot, out of sight of the river, and surrounded by desert thorns.

We had a strong north-wind all day. The sky was cloudless, but a fine white film filled the air, and the distant mountains had the pale, blue-gray tint of an English landscape. The Bishàrees wrapped themselves closely in their mantles as they walked, but Eesa only tightened the cloth around his loins, and allowed free play to his glorious limbs. He informed me that he was on his way to Berber to make preparations for his marriage, which was to take place in another moon. He and Hossayn explained to me how the Ababdehs would then come together, feast on camel’s flesh, and dance their sword-dances. “I shall go to your wedding, too,” I said to Eesa. “Will you indeed, O Effendi!” he cried, with delight: “then I shall kill my she-camel, and give you the best piece.” I asked whether I should be kindly received among the Ababdehs, and Eyoub declared that the men would be glad to see me, but that the women were afraid of Franks. “But,” said Achmet, “the Effendi is no Frank.” “How is this?” said Eyoub, turning to me. “Achmet is right,” I answered: “I am a white Arab, from India.” “But do you not speak the Frank language, when you talk with each other?” “No,” said Achmet, “we talk Hindustanee.” “O, praised be Allah!” cried Hossayn, clapping his hands with joy: “praised be Allah, that you are an Arab, like ourselves!” and there was such pleasure in the faces of all, that I immediately repented of having deceived them. They assured me, however, that the Ababdehs would not only admit me into their tribe, but that I might have the handsomest Ababdiyeh that could be found, for a wife. Hossayn had already asked Achmet to marry the eldest of his two daughters, who was then eleven years old.

I passed the last evening of the year 1851 on the bank of the Nile, near Abou-Hashym. There was a wild, green island on the stream, and reefs of black rock, which broke the current into rapids. The opposite shore was green and lovely, crowned with groups of palms, between whose stems I had glimpses of blue mountains far to the south and west. The temperature was mild, and the air full of the aroma of mimosa blossoms. When night came on I enjoyed the splendid moon and starlight of the tropics, and watched the Southern Cross rise above the horizon. The inhabitants of the village beat their wooden drums lustily all night, to scare the hippopotami away from their bean-fields. My dream before waking was of an immense lion, which I had tamed, and which walked beside me—a propitious omen, said the Arabs.

The morning was so cold that the Bishàrees were very languid in their movements, and even I was obliged to don my capote. Eesa helped the men in all the freedom of his naked limbs, and showed no signs of numbness. The village of Abou-Hashym extends for three or four miles along the river, and looked charming in the morning sunshine, with its bright fields of wheat, cotton and dourra spread out in front of the tidy clay houses. The men were at work among the grain, directing the course of the water, and shy children tended the herds of black goats that browsed on the thorns skirting the Desert. The people greeted me very cordially, and when I stopped to wait for the camels an old man came running up to inquire if I had lost the way. The western bank of the river is still richer and more thickly populated, and the large town of Bedjem, capital of the Beyooda country, lies just opposite Abou-Hashym. After leaving the latter place our road swerved still more from the Nile, and took a straight course over a rolling desert tract of stones and thorns, to avoid a very long curve of the stream. The air was still strong from the north, and the same gray vapor tempered the sunshine and toned down the brilliant tints of the landscape.

We passed several small burying-grounds in which many of the graves were decked with small white flags stuck on poles, and others had bowls of water placed at the head—a custom for which I could get no explanation. Near El Bagheyr, where we struck the river again, we met two Bedouins, who had turned merchants and were taking a drove of camels to Egypt. One of them had the body of a gazelle which he had shot two days before, hanging at his saddle, and offered to sell to me, but the flesh had become too dry and hard for my teeth. Ali succeeded in buying a pair of fowls for three piastres, and brought me, besides, some doum-nuts, of the last year’s growth. I could make no impression on them until the rind had been pounded with stones. The taste was like that of dry gingerbread, and when fresh, must be very agreeable. In the fields I noticed a new kind of grain, the heads of which resembled rice. The natives called it dookhn, and said that it was even more nutritious than wheat or dourra, though not so palatable.

I signalized New-Year’s Day, 1852, by breaking my thermometer, which fell out of my pocket as I was mounting my dromedary. It was impossible to replace it, and one point wherein my journey might have been useful was thus lost. The variations of temperature at different hours of the day were very remarkable, and on leaving Korosko I had commenced a record which I intended to keep during the whole of my stay in Central Africa.[2] In the evening I found in the Nile a fish about four feet long, which had just been killed by a crocodile. It was lying near the water’s edge, and as I descended the bank to examine it, two slender black serpents slid away from before my feet.

We struck the tent early the next morning, and entered on the akaba, or pass of the Wady el-homar (Valley of Asses). It was a barren, stony tract, intersected with long hollows, which produced a growth of thorns and a hard, dry grass, the blades of which cut the fingers that attempted to pluck it. We passed two short ranges of low hills, which showed the same strata of coal-black shale, as in the Nubian Desert. The akaba takes its name from the numbers of wild asses which are found in it. These beasts are remarkably shy and fleet, but are sometimes killed and eaten by the Arabs. We kept a sharp look-out, but saw nothing more than their tracks in the sand. We met several companies of the village Arabs, travelling on foot or on donkeys. The women were unveiled, and wore the same cotton mantle as the men, reaching from the waist to the knees. They were all tolerably old, and, unlike the men, were excessively ugly. An Ababdeh, riding on his dromedary, joined company with us. He was naked to the loins, strongly and gracefully built, and sat erect on his high, narrow saddle, as if he and his animal were one—a sort of camel-centaur. His hair was profuse and bushy, but of a fine, silky texture, and “short Numidian curl,” very different from the crisp wool of the genuine negro.

In the afternoon we reached the Nile again, at his Eleventh Cataract. For a space of two or three miles his bed is filled with masses of black rock, in some places forming dams, over which the current roars in its swift descent. The eastern bank is desert and uninhabited, but the western delighted the eye with the green brilliance of its fields. In a patch of desert grass we started a large and beautiful gazelle, spotted like a fallow-deer. I rode towards it and approached within thirty yards before it moved away. At sunset we reached a village called Ginnaynetoo, the commencement of the Berber country. The inhabitants, who dwelt mostly in tents of palm-matting, were very friendly. As I was lying in my tent, in the evening, two, who appeared to be the principal persons of the place, came in, saluted me with “Peace be with you!” and asked for my health, to which I replied: “Very good, Allah be praised!” Each of them then took my hand in his, pressed it to his lips and forehead, and quietly retired.