Seven hours’ journey west of this place, amid the desert, is an oasis called El Gab (the Wood), consisting of a forest of doums, acacias, and some few date trees. It contains several springs, and the Arabs send their camels thither in the summer to pasture on the trees. This oasis has no antiquities nor traces of having ever been inhabited; it extends, parallel with the Nile, nearly as far as Debba, but, like all oases, is divided occasionally by the desert.
The caravans from this place to Kordofan, and on to Darfour, enter the desert at Debba el Dolib, a village I mentioned in descending the river from Meroueh. From Debba to Shambrick, five days: the water there not always good; but on the road to Harazi, five days, and thence to the capital, on digging to the depth of two or three feet, and sometimes less, they never fail of finding good water. Zaagsouee, eleventh day; Kadjama, twelfth day; the residence of a katshef of Kordofan, Gouniah, thirteenth day; Mumat, fourteenth day; Sherian-Abousieh, fifteenth day; Borah, sixteenth day; Kordofan, or the capital, Ibazig, on the seventh day from Harazi, and the seventeenth from the Nile, or Debba el Dolib.
I made repeated enquiries of both the Arabs and Turks, but did not hear of there being any antiquities there. This journey would be interesting for a naturalist, as they tell me that during the rainy season there is a very great variety of birds: but it is then very unhealthy. Ague and intermittent fevers are very prevalent. A French physician, who had been stationed there some time, informed me that during the rainy season he often took quinine in small quantities, and conceived that, by that means, he had preserved himself from a complaint which is so dangerous to Europeans.
The enterprising but unfortunate Captain Gordon fell a victim to this climate.[38] I was told that he had visited several of the mountain regions of Kordofan, and, to use the expression of the Arabs, “had written down all the country.” He had commenced his journey with the intention of endeavouring to discover the sources of the Bahr el Abiad; but there was not the most remote chance of his succeeding. Roustan Bey, who was then, and is now, the governor of that country, would have allowed him to accompany his troops in hunting for slaves in the neighbourhood of the White River. He might have added something to our knowledge of the geography of the country on that river; but to discover its source was impossible.
As a hint to future travellers, I should notice a mistake which he made, from not being acquainted with the customs of the country. Instead of making a handsome present to Roustan Bey of a gold watch, or fire-arms, which he should have done, considering the essential and extensive services he required, he gave him some gilt ornaments for his wives: but the Turks having a great contempt for any article that is not genuine, the Bey was naturally vexed at a present which appeared to him so very insignificant. Captain Gordon was not to blame, I understand, but his dragoman, for this inauspicious commencement of their expedition. The Arabs and Turks say that Captain Gordon died on account of having taken too much physic. In a country where so much is left to nature, and the medical art so little known, it is not surprising that his frequent applications to his medicine chest, to relieve a severe attack of intermittent fever, should have given rise to this report.
Before leaving Dongolah, this unfortunate traveller left a large sum of money with a Turkish aga in whose house he lodged. When his servant, after his death, returned to Dongolah, he called upon the aga, and demanded his master’s property. The Turk, a notorious scoundrel, proposed to the servant to divide the money and property, and thus induced him to sign a certificate that his master had left only a few old clothes, and no money. As soon as the Turk had received this document, he refused to give any portion of what he had promised to the servant; who, in revenge, accused him before the government. I was not able to learn with certainty whether the money, and, what was of far more consequence, his papers, ever reached his friends. I purchased at Dongolah a piece of Newman’s Indian ink, which formerly belonged to him.
I obtained from authentic sources the following information of the different Arab tribes in the kingdom of Kordofan and its vicinity:—
The Kababysh. These Arabs are also found in the Bahiouda Desert. They possess camels and horses, and transport merchandise to Sennaar, Darfour, and to this place. Their chief is called Melek Selim.
The Buggara. They possess flocks, and are occupied in hunting the elephant and the giraffe. Moussa is their chief.
The Benigerar have great abundance of horses and camels. They are generally engaged in transporting merchandise, sometimes to Darfour. They are often at war with the Kababysh.