At sea, it is a pleasure to meet another vessel, to hail her, and demand where she is from, and to what port she is bound; and we often experience delight at finding the passing crew to be countrymen, perhaps relations, or friends: but what pen can describe the meeting of a caravan in the desert? Brothers, who have not seen each other for months, and even years, often meet thus, by accident. The caravan never stops; they have, therefore, only a few moments, and they must part again, and run after their camels. Their hands locked together, they inquire after each other’s health, and after that of their friends. Travellers laugh at the repeated “Taip een salamat, taip een salamat,” of the Arabs. “How do you do?—Good morning! How do you do?—Good morning!” repeated twenty times; and “Taip een abouk? taip een ahouk? taip een omek?” “How is your father? How is your brother? How is your mother?” &c. always repeating the taip een? “how is?” to each person that they name. The indifference with which the Fellaheen, who see each other daily, go through this ceremony, may seem rather ridiculous; but in the deserts, as I have seen them sometimes, even with tears starting from their eyes, affection could not dictate a stronger and more appropriate manner of inquiring rapidly, but particularly and separately, after each relation and friend who is dear to them. Frequently have I observed my Arabs meeting with their friends of other tribes, and even of their own district or village, and witnessed the pure and natural joy which illuminated their countenances; friends who have travelled together, shared the same toils, the same dangers—companions of their youth, of their early voyages, who have not seen each other for years, meet in the solitudes of the wilderness, but for a moment only, and the same period may elapse before they again see each other. Let it not be supposed that, in the interior of Africa, the natives, although ignorant and uncultivated, are destitute of honest affection.
It is, however, true, that sometimes in the desert we trace those violent passions and habits which generally characterise the wandering tribes of Central Africa. The Bishareen, and others, often plunder the caravans; and tribes occasionally meet between whom there have been constant feuds. Under the strong government of the Pasha, they now seldom make use of their arms; but they exchange no salutes: their silent manner of passing each other, the knitted brow, and involuntary firmer grasp of their spears and swords, evince the deadly hatred which still lurks secretly in their breasts.
CHAPTER XIX.
ON THE HISTORY OF MEROE.
OBSCURITY OF HER ANNALS. — HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS NECESSARY TO RENDER A COUNTRY INTERESTING. — WORKS OF ART HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS. — LAPIDARY INSCRIPTIONS. — AMUNOPH III. — MEMNON, KING OF ETHIOPIA. — EXPEDITION OF SEMIRAMIS, QUEEN OF ASSYRIA, INTO ETHIOPIA. — ETHIOPIANS IN THE ARMY OF SHISHAK MARCHED TO JERUSALEM. — THE SUKKIIMS OF SCRIPTURE. — EXPEDITION OF ZERAH, THE ETHIOPIAN KING OF THE BIBLE, AND HIS DEFEAT BY THE TRIBES OF JUDAH AND BENJAMIN. — THE ETHIOPIAN DYNASTY OF KINGS WHO REIGNED OVER EGYPT. — THE TESTIMONY OF THE HISTORIANS PROVED BY LAPIDARY INSCRIPTIONS. — THE NAME OF TIRHAKA, KING OF ETHIOPIA, WHO DEFEATED SENNACHERIB, KING OF ASSYRIA, FOUND BOTH ON THE MONUMENTS OF EGYPT AND ETHIOPIA. — THE NAMES AND TITLES OF THIS DYNASTY OF KINGS. — ACCORDANCE OF THE SCRIPTURAL, MONUMENTAL, AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCES. — THE SETHOS OF HERODOTUS, THE TIRHAKA OF SCRIPTURE, AND OF THE MONUMENTS. — THE SUA, KING OF EGYPT OF THE BIBLE, THE SEVECHUS OF MANETHO, AND THE SHABATOK OF THE MONUMENTS.
The Island of Meroe is a classic region, whose name is familiar to almost every reader, as the cradle of arts and civilisation. The Nile was the source of her prosperity, and an object of adoration to the ancient, and even to the present inhabitants[49]; yet most of the great events which have given celebrity to the countries on its banks, are lost in impenetrable obscurity. The names even of the kings under whom she rose to such a height of greatness and power are almost wholly unknown. So scanty are the materials which can be found in the ancient writings and on the monuments, that it is almost an act of presumption to attempt, in the slightest degree, to penetrate the veil which envelopes her history.
Professor Rosellini, in his extensive and admirable work on the antiquities of Egypt, has made many valuable observations on the dynasty of Ethiopian kings who reigned in that country, which have facilitated my researches; and I gladly testify, that the ruins in Ethiopia, in many instances, confirm the conclusions which that learned traveller drew from his examination of the monuments of Egypt. Availing myself of the inquiries of the learned Italian, I shall also put together the most important fragments contained in history, and the valuable lapidary inscriptions I have been able to copy from the antiquities. A country is always interesting, to which we feel ourselves indebted for inventions from which we now derive any important benefit; and as a nation thus rises in our estimation, we become anxious to form an acquaintance with its historical records. There is a charm even in its name, when it recalls to our memory heroic deeds and other important associations.
It is not merely the wonders of art, surprising as they are, which enchant the traveller at Rome and Athens. It is not the vast pile of the Coliseum, the triumphal arches and temples in the Forum, the exquisitely chaste architecture of the Temple of Theseus and of the edifices on the Acropolis, but the crowd of thrilling recollections of the heroism, genius, philosophy, and art, by which these scenes were illustrated, that render them for ever classic and hallowed in our eyes. Had there been no records of the history of Athens, we should have wanted no other evidence of her civilisation and knowledge than the splendid architectural monuments with which her site is adorned. The Parthenon itself speaks volumes, and the most eloquent pages of her greatest historians do not bear more conclusive testimony to her civilisation, than the treasures of Grecian art and taste in the museums of Europe. Had all the written records of her valour and patriotism perished, our knowledge of Athens would have been very nearly what it now is in regard to Ethiopia. The labours of the historians of her land are lost; the brilliant deeds which adorned her annals are enveloped in a cloud of mystery. The history of her neighbours affords only a few scanty gleams, sufficient to make us deplore the general darkness. So changed is the kingdom of Meroe from what it must once have been, that I myself should have almost doubted the short but important passages preserved in the Greek and Latin authors, were they not triumphantly confirmed by the monuments existing at Meroe and Gibel el Birkel.
The reader will, I trust, find in this and the following chapters, that Ethiopia was not unjustly celebrated for civilisation, and as the birth-place of many arts which now contribute highly to our welfare and enjoyment; and the few fragments we have been enabled to glean will prove that she had also her kings and heroes, and that her history was diversified by the usual vicissitudes of triumphs and reverses. I am obliged to refrain from publishing, on the present occasion, all the names of the kings and inscriptions which I found on the edifices of Meroe, Gibel el Birkel, Solib, Semneh, Toumbos, and Amarah.