A Narrative of the Expedition to Dongola and Sennaar / Under the Command of His Excellence Ismael Pasha, undertaken / by Order of His Highness Mehemmed Ali Pasha, Viceroy of / Egypt, By An American In The Service Of The Viceroy

by George Bethune English

On the 21st of Rebi, a detachment, consisting of three hundred cavalry, departed from the camp for the country of the Berbers, to secure its submission and to obtain horses and camels for the army. Learning that it was the intention of the Pasha to march in a few days, to pitch his camp about eight hours march farther up the river, I wished to ascertain whether I could have the horses and camels I needed before the Pasha marched. His reply to my demand was, that he had no camels, at present, that were not appropriated to some service or other, but that, as soon as he had them, I should receive what I needed. I was consequently obliged to embark in a boat to accompany the march of the camp as, without camels to carry my tent and baggage, I could not accompany it by land. On the 25th, all the boats followed the departure of the troops; the wind was ahead, and the direction of the river the same as repeatedly before mentioned. We proceeded slowly by the cordel. This circumstance gave me an opportunity of visiting the Pyramids which I have mentioned as in view from Meroe. They stand about half a mile from the right hand bank of the river. I counted twenty-seven, none of them perfect, and most of them in ruins; the greater part of them are built of stone, and are evidently much more ancient than those of Meroe.

The largest is probably more than a hundred feet square, and something more in height. It presents a singularity in its construction worthy of notice. It is a pyramid within a pyramid; i.e. the inner pyramid has been cased over by a larger one; one of its sides being in ruins makes this peculiarity visible. By climbing up the ruined side, it is easy to reach its summit. No remains of a city or any traces of temples are visible in the immediate vicinity of this place, which is called by the natives "Turboot."

On the 23d we came in view of the lower end of the rapids of the Third Cataract; those hereabouts are called "the rapids of Oula" We were obliged to consume thirty-nine days in getting as far as the island of Kendi, (which is not above fifty miles from Meroe.) As the direction of the river continued almost the same, coming from about the north-east, and the wind being almost invariably ahead, the difficulties attending advancing the boats by the cordel were very great, as the river here is spotted by an infinity of islands and rocks. In some of the passages where the water was deep, the current was as swift as a mill-sluice, which made it necessary to employ the crews of perhaps twenty boats to drag up one at a time. In other passages, where the water was very shallow, it was sometimes necessary to drag the boats by main force over the stones at the bottom. The camp of the Pasha remained during all this time about eight hours march above Meroe, on the right bank of the river, waiting till the boats should have passed the rapids. No military movements took place, except detaching the Divan Effendi with four hundred cavalry, to join the detachment already in Berber, where all was quiet and friendly. The country on the rapids of the Third Cataract is sterile, being composed, for the most part, of black granite and sand, excepting some of the islands, which contained good ground, and a few spots on the shores, where the floods of the river had deposited some fertile soil. The rocks by the shore presented indications which proved that the river had risen in some of its floods about twenty feet above its present level. Ostriches are not unfrequently seen hereabouts. We have met with no ruins of any ancient building of consequence on these rapids, except the ruins of a strong fort on the right bank of the river, and those of what was probably a Christian Monastery on the bank right opposite. This place, I was told, is called "Kennis;" it is about thirty miles above Meroe.[25] We passed one small island, which the natives said was called also Meroe, as well as the site where we found the pyramids and temple below. No indications of a considerable city are however to be found on this island, which is beside too small to have served for the emplacement of a city of consequence. Khalil Aga, who swam over to this island, reported that he had seen there the ruins of brick houses, and many fragments of porcelain; of the latter there are immense quantities among all the ruined edifices found in this country.[26] The island of "Kendi" is large, and in some parts cultivated; it contains evident traces of brick buildings, among which we found fragments of ancient pottery and porcelain, but no ruins of any considerable building.

We stayed for three days as high up as the middle of the island of Kendi. On the 6th of Jamisalawal the boats received orders to descend to the lower end of the island, in order to take the passage on its right hand side, that on the left being so shallow as not to be passed but with great difficulty. We descended accordingly, and remained at its lower extremity till the thirteenth of the moon, which delay was occasioned by the absence of the Rais Bashi, who had gone up to examine and sound the passages through the remainder of the Third Cataract. On the thirteenth, our boat and many others passed over to the right bank of the river, in order to be on the same side as was the camp of the Pasha,[27] and to have free communication with it.

The same day I received an order from the Pasha to come to the camp with my baggage. I went accordingly and presented myself to his Excellency, and demanded to know his pleasure. He replied, that it was his will that I should stay in the camp, and that he would immediately furnish me with the means of accompanying him in his intended march to Berber over the Desert. Five days after, his Excellency broke up his camp, and proceeded about four leagues higher up the rapids, where the boats were found stopped by the impossibility of proceeding any farther, as the water was found to be too low to admit their passing. I arrived at this place (opposite the upper end of the island of Kendi) on the same day with his Excellency, having left orders to my domestics to follow with my camels and baggage. The next morning, finding that they had not arrived, and learning that it was the intention of the Pasha to commence his march to Berber that day, I mounted my horse to go and ascertain the reason why my camels had not arrived. I learned, as I proceeded, that one of them had fallen under his load, and that it would be necessary to send back the first that should arrive and be unloaded, to take the burden of the other. All my effects, inconsequence, did not arrive before evening. During my absence to see after this vexatious affair, the Pasha had departed with the camp, as I learned the same evening on my return. After leaving the most bulky part of my baggage in one of the boats, I proceeded on the 21st to the place where the Pasha's last camp had been, to join some party who should have been delayed by circumstances similar to my misadventure. On my arrival I found the Hasna Katib, and about three hundred soldiers, waiting till camels should come from Berber to carry them to join the Pasha. There were, besides, seven hundred Mogrebin infantry in the boats, awaiting the means of transporting their tents and baggage across the Desert. On my representing to the Hasna Katib the circumstance that had delayed me, he informed me that the Selictar was expected from below in a few days, who, on the day after his arrival, would proceed after the Pasha, and that I had better accompany him. I accepted the advice, and pitched my tent to await the arrival of the Selictar. The same day I was informed that all the large boats had received orders to abandon the attempt to pass the remainder of the third cataract of the Nile. They had already, with great difficulty, got through about fifty difficult passages, and it was reported that there were nearly one hundred more ahead before the third cataract could be got clear of. When the river is full, and the flood, of course, strong, this cataract must, in my opinion, be almost impassable upwards, as, on account of the strange direction of the river, little or no aid can be derived from the wind, and the current in some places, from the straitness of the passages between the rocks and islands, must, in the time of the inundation, be very furious, while the cordel, from the natural obstacles which cover the shore of this cataract, could hardly overcome the difficulties which every mile or two would present.[28]

On the first day of the moon Jamisalachar, the Selictar arrived from below, where he had been to collect durra for the army. Two days after I set forward in company with him to pass the Desert. The road for two days lay near the bank of the river. By the middle of the afternoon of the first day we arrived at a pleasant spot on the border of the Nile, where we encamped to pass the night. On the morning following we mounted our horses at sunrise, and by mid-day arrived at a fine pond of water at the foot of a high rock, at no great distance from the river, where we refreshed ourselves and filled the water-skins, as at this place the roads turns into the Desert. We marched from the middle of the afternoon till an hour after midnight, when we halted to sleep. The road for this day was evidently the dry bed of an arm of the Nile, which, during the inundation, is full of water. Even at this season the doum tree and the acacia, which grew on its borders, were green, and coarse long grass was abundant. At sunrise of the sixth day of the moon we again mounted, and set forward in a direction nearly East. Our way lay over low rocky hills, gravelly or sandy plains, and sometimes through valleys containing plenty of coarse grass and acacia trees; but no water is to be found above ground at this season, though it probably might be obtained by sinking wells in some of these valleys. We halted at noon, and in two hours after again mounted, and marched till midnight. Our road lay through a country resembling that we had passed the day before. On the morrow morning, a little after day-light, we proceeded on our journey, and at noon halted at the only well of water we found on our route. It lies near two high hills of black granite. The water was yellow and dirty, and was almost rejected by the thirsty camels. By the middle of the afternoon we were again on horseback, and marched till midnight, when some of the camels dropping and dying, and others giving out, the Selictar found himself obliged to order a halt for the rest of the night. It was his intention to have marched till morning, by which time our guides told us that we should arrive at the river. We threw ourselves on the ground to sleep a few hours, but by sunrise we were called to mount and away. We proceeded till about noon, when we came in view of the beneficent river, whose beauty and value cannot be duly appreciated by any who have not voyaged in the deserts through which it holds its course. It was on the eighth of the moon when we arrived on its borders. I had expected that our toilsome forced march would end here, and had promised myself some repose, which I greatly needed, as I had suffered much from the heat of the sun, which had burned the skin off my face;—from fatigue and want of sleep;—from hunger, as we had barely time to prepare a little rice and bread once in twenty-four hours;—and from the exasperation of my ophthalmia, which had never entirely quitted me since I was attacked by it at Wady Halfa, on the second cataract. The Selictar, however, did not indulge us with more than half a day's and one night's repose on the bank of the river, which we found well cultivated by the inhabitants of numerous villages in sight. On the morning of the ninth day of the moon, we were again called to proceed. For this day our march lay near the bank of the river, and through and by fine fields of barley, cotton, and wheat. The day after, our route lay over a narrow space of rocky land, lying between the river and the hills of the desert. We saw this day but a few cultivated spots. On the 11th we commenced our march before sunrise, animated by the information that we should be at the Pasha's camp by noon or the middle of the afternoon. Our road lay this day on the edge of the Desert, just where it touches the cultivable soil deposited by the Nile, which is indicative of the point to which the inundations of the river extend in this country. On both sides of tills road was an almost continued succession of villages, which are built here in order to be out of the reach of the overflowing of the river, which almost every year here overspreads the country for one or two miles from its banks. The land liable to this inundation is in part cultivated as well as any portion of Egypt, and in part devoted to feeding great numbers of fine horses, camels, dromedaries, kine, sheep, and goats, with which the country of the Berbers is abundantly stocked.

We marched on till nearly set of sun, without halting, when we arrived at the encampment of the Pasha; it was on our side [i.e. the west side] of the Nile, which here runs in its natural direction from south to north. At five or six days march below it, it turns to the left, and describes, from above its turning point and Dongola, a track something resembling the following figure—which is the reason why, in coming up the river from Dongola, we found it running from the north-east. The length of this curious bend in the river Nile, never known to the civilized world before the expedition of Ismael Pasha, may be about two hundred and fifty miles long, the greater part of it all rocks and rapids.

The journey from our last encampment on the third cataract to the country of the Berbers, following the direction of the river, takes eight days of forced marches, but that by the desert, i.e. across the peninsula formed by the course of the river between the country of the Berbers and our last encampment, takes four days forced march.

The road from the place where we arrived at the river (in coming from the desert) up the country of Berber, lies generally on the edge of the desert, and outside of the fertile land lying between the river and the desert; of consequence we were rarely led to its banks so as to ascertain its course and appearance. But from several points where the road approaches the river, I observed that it winded continually and contained many beautiful islands, some of them, particularly that named "Sibne," cultivated like gardens. I also observed that the river, at the lower extremity of the country of the Berbers, is much interrupted by rocks, and I have learned, since my arrival, that between the third cataract and the camp, the water is so low at this season that the Canja of the Pasha (probably the first boat that ever passed the third cataract of the Nile) was obliged to be lifted three times over shallow passages.

The natives of this country had never seen a sail boat before the arrival of this Canja. They called it "a water mare" comparing it, by this appellation, to the swiftest animal with which they are acquainted. They ran in, crowds to the river's edge to see it mount the current without the aid of oars.