On the 9th of the moon, I visited the town of Shendi el Garb, in the rear of our camp. It is large and well built, in comparison with the other villages I have seen on the Upper Nile. It contains about six thousand inhabitants, and has three market places, where the people of the country exchange dollars and durra for what they have need of. Our piasters they disliked, being ignorant of their value, but sometimes received them for fowls, vegetables, butter, and meat, and for durra, but for wheat they demanded dollars.
On the 10th of the moon, I went to Shendi on the east bank, which is the capital of the country. I traversed the town with some surprise; the houses are low, but well built of clay. Large areas, walled in for the reception of the merchandize brought by the caravans, are to be seen in various parts of the town, which is large, containing probably five or six thousand inhabitants; the streets are wide and airy, regular market places are found there, where, beside meat, butter,[43] grain and vegetables are also to be purchased, spices brought from Jidda, gum arabic, beads, and other ornaments for the women. The people of Shendi have a bad character, being both ferocious and fraudulent. Great numbers of slaves of both sexes, from Abyssinia and Darfour, are to be found here, at a moderate price, a handsome Abyssinian girl selling for about forty or fifty dollars. The chief of Shendi, the same who had come to our camp in Berber, has done his uttermost to promote a good disposition in his people towards the Osmanlis, and has made the Pasha a present of several hundreds of very fine camels, within the last two days. His house is not built of better materials than those of his people, and differs from them only in being larger. Shendi stands about half a mile from the easterly bank of the river. Its immediate environs are sandy; it derives its importance solely from being the rendezvous of the caravans of Sennaar and the neighboring countries going to Mecca or Egypt. The territory belonging to the chief of Shendi is said to be very large,[44] but by no means peopled in proportion to its extent. He can, however, in conjunction with the Malek of Halfya, bring into the field thirty thousand horsemen, mounted on steeds probably as beautiful as any found in any country in the world.
On the 14th of the moon, some soldiers, who went to a village in the neighborhood of the camp, to get their rations of durra from the magazine in this village, which had been formed there by its chief, for the service of the army, were insulted, maltreated, and two of them killed outright with lances, and others severely wounded by the inhabitants. On the news of this outrage reaching the camp, the soldiers took arms, and mounted, to proceed to this village, with the full determination to revenge the death of their comrades in the severest manner. In five minutes nearly all the camp was upon the march for this village, when the Pasha sent orders to stop them and leave the affair to him. It was however impossible to prevent the greater part of them from proceeding to the village, which they pillaged and destroyed, sacrificing to their fury many of its inhabitants. The plunder which they brought back was however seized by the Selictar, and by the Pasha's orders restored to its owners.
The conduct of his Excellence on this occasion was highly laudable, while it must be confessed that that of the soldiers was not much to be blamed. Durra—a miserable pittance of durra, scarcely sufficient to support nature, was all that was required from the people of these countries, money free; and this, in the instance mentioned, was refused by a people whose chief had already granted it—a people absolutely within our power, and who extorted from the starving soldiery enormous prices for every thing they sold us, and who frequently refused to sell us any thing at all with great ferocity and insolence.
On the 15th of the moon, at two hours before sunset, the signal was fired, and the camp of the Pasha rose to commence its march for Sennaar. We marched till midnight, and reposed, as usual, on the bank of the river till about the same hour of the afternoon of the 16th of the moon, when we pursued our march for five hours, and halted by the river. We stayed here till the 18th, in the afternoon, in order to obtain three days rations for the horses from the villages in the neighborhood, which are numerous and large, as the country through which our route would lie for that time, is destitute of inhabitants and cultivation.
It was on the 16th that Malek Shouus, the chief of the fugitive Shageias, who had fled as the army approached up the country, came at length to the camp to surrender himself to the discretion of the Pasha. He addressed the Pasha, as I have been informed, as follows: "I have fought against you to the utmost of my means and power, and am now ready, if you will, to fight under the orders of my conqueror." The courage this man had shown in battle, and his firmness in adversity, had engaged the respect of the Osmanlis, and he is as graciously received by the Pasha, who created him a Bimbashi, and received him, his companions, and followers, into his service. Malek Shouus is a large stout man, of a pleasing physiognomy though black, of about forty years of age, and was considered as the greatest warrior among the people of the Upper Nile, who all stood in awe of him.[45]
The 19th, 20th, and 21st of the moon, were employed in traversing the naked country before-mentioned, which is barren, rocky, and without cultivation. We marched for three days, from the middle of the afternoon till midnight. It was not till the second hour after midnight, however, of the third day, that we arrived at a country on the border of the Nile, containing several villages, where we remained till the middle of the afternoon of the 21st. On our arrival at these villages, the darkness and severe hunger engaged several of the soldiers to take, by force, sheep and goats from the inhabitants. The officers of the Pasha vigorously interposed to prevent this infraction of the orders of his Excellence, and several of the guilty were severely punished for taking forbidden means to gratify the demands of nature.
At the hour of afternoon prayer the signal was fired, and the camp proceeded onwards. We left the villages afore-mentioned, and passed through a sandy tract covered with bushes and the thorny acacia, which embarrassed our march, and, by occasioning several detours, caused the army to lose its way. After wandering about till midnight, the camp at length arrived on the bank of the Nile.
On the 22d, at the rising of the moon, the camp proceeded, and halted in the forenoon on the beach of the river, opposite Halfya, a very large village on the easterly bank. We stayed here till the twenty-sixth to obtain durra from this territory, whose chief brought, as a present to the Pasha, some fine horses and many camels, and received, in return, some valuable presents. Our side of the river is desert, and covered with trees and bushes. During our stay opposite Halfya, the Nile, on the night of the 23d, rose suddenly about two feet, and inundated some parts of the sandy flats where we were encamped; the water entering the tents of several, my own among others, and wetting my bed, arms, and baggage.[46] It had risen a little shortly after the equinox, while the army was in Berber, and afterwards subsided more than it had risen. We find the sky every day more and more overcast; distant thunder and lightning, accompanied with violent squalls, (which have overset my tent twice,) are, within a few days, frequent, and drops of rain have fallen in our camp.
On the 26th, at one hour after noon, we proceeded to the Bahar el Abiud, about five hours march above our present position, where the Pasha intends to cross into the territory of Sennaar. The camp arrived at sunset at a position a little above where the Nile falls into the Bahar el Abiud, and stopped. Immediately on my arrival, I drank of this river, being, probably, the first man of Frank origin that ever tasted its waters.