Although my servants, as well as Hagi Belal, and every one at Sennaar but the Fakir and Soliman, did imagine I was going to Shaddly, yet their own fears, or rather good sense, had convinced them that it was better to proceed at once for Atbara than ever again to be entangled between Adelan and the king. Sennaar sat heavy upon all their spirits, so that I had scarce dismounted from my camel, and before I tasted food, which that day I had not done, when they all intreated me with one voice that I would consider the dangers I had escaped, and, instead of turning westward to Shaddly, continue north through Atbara. They promised to bear fatigue and hunger chearfully, and to live and die with me, provided I would proceed homeward, and free them from the horrors of Sennaar and its king. I did not seem to be convinced by what they said, but ordered supper, to which we all sat down in company. As we had lemons enough, and Hagi Belal had furnished us with sugar, we opened a bottle of his rack and in punch (the liquor of our country) drank to a happy return thro' Atbara. I then told them my resolution was perfectly conformable to their wishes; and informed them of the measures I had taken to insure success and remove danger as much as possible. I recommended diligence, sobriety, and subordination, as the only means of arriving happily at the end proposed; and assured them all we should share one common fare, and one common fortune, till our journey was terminated by good or bad success. Never was any discourse more gratefully received; every toil was welcome in flying from Sennaar, and they already began to think themselves at the gates of Cairo.
As I had recommended great diligence and little sleep, before four in the morning the camels were loaded, and on their way, and it was then only they came to awake me. The camels were abundantly loaded, and we had then but five, four of which carried all the baggage, the other, a smaller one, was reserved for my riding. This I told them I willingly accepted at the beginning of the journey, and we should all of us take our turn, while water and provisions were to be procured, and that Ismael the Turk, an old man, and Georgis the Greek, almost blind, required an additional consideration, so long as it possibly could be done with safety to us all; but, when we should advance to the borders of the desert, we must all resolve to pass that journey on foot, as upon the quantity of water, and the quantity of provisions alone, to be carried by us, could depend our hopes of ever seeing home.
On the 8th of September we left the village of Soliman, and about three o'clock in the afternoon came to Wed el Tumbel, which is not a river, as the name would seem to signify, but three villages situated upon a pool of water, nearly in a line from north to south. The intermediate country between this and Herbagi is covered with great crops of dora. The plain extends as far as the sight reaches. Though there is not much wood, the country is not entirely destitute of it, and the farther you go from Sennaar the finer the trees. At Wed el Tumbel there is great plenty of ebony-bushes, and a particular sort of thorn which seems to be a species of dwarf acacia, with very small leaves, and long pods of a strong saccharine taste. This is here in great abundance, and is called Lauts, or Loto, which I suspect to be the tree on whose fruit, we are told, the ancient Libyans fed. At a quarter past three we left Wed el Tumbel, and entered into a thick wood, in which we travelled till late, when we came to the Nile. We continued along the river for about 500 yards, and alighted at Sit el Bet, a small village about a mile's distance from the stream. Here we saw the tomb of a Shekh, or saint, built of brick in a conical form, much after the same figure as some we had seen in Barbary, which were of stone.
On the 12th, at ten minutes past six we set out from Sit el Bet, and a few minutes after came to a village called Ageda, and five miles further to another, whose name is Usheta. At half past nine we passed a third village, and at half after eleven encamped near a pool of water, called Wed Hydar, or the River of the Lion. All the way from Wed el Tumbel to this village we were much tormented with the fly, the very noise of which put our camels in such a fright that they ran violently into the thickest trees and bushes, endeavouring to brush off their loads. These flies do not bite at night, nor in the cool of the morning. We were freed from this disagreeable companion at Wed Hydar, and were troubled with it no more.
At four o'clock we again set out through an extensive plain, quite destitute of wood, and all sown with dora, and about five miles further we encamped at a place named Shwyb, where there is a Shekh called Welled Abou Hassan. While at Abou Hassan, we were surprised with a violent storm of rain and wind, accompanied with great flashes of lightning. This storm being blown over, we proceeded to a village called Imsurt. At one mile and a half further we joined the river. The Nile here is in extreme beauty, and winds considerably; it is broader than at Sennaar, the banks flat, and quite covered with acacia and other trees in full bloom. The thick parts of this wood were stored with great numbers of antelopes, while the open places were covered with large flocks of cattle belonging to the Arabs Refaa, who were returning from the sands to their pastures to the southward. Large flocks of storks, cranes, and a variety of other birds, were scattered throughout the plain, which was overgrown with fine grass, and which even the multitude of cattle that thronged upon it seemed not capable of consuming. At three quarters past six in the evening we came to a large village called Wed Medinai, close upon the side of the river, which here having made a large turn, comes again from the S. E. This town or village belongs to a Fakir, who received us very hospitably.
On the 14th, at six in the morning we set out from Wed Medinai in a direction N. W. and at three quarters past eight arrived at the village Beroule. We then entered a thick wood, and thence into a very extensive and cultivated plain, sown with dora and bammia; a plant which makes a principal article in their food all over the southern part of the kingdom of Sennaar, which is described, and the figure of it published, by Prosper Alpinus[42]. At a quarter past eleven we arrived at Azazo, about a mile and a half distant from the Nile. The corn seemed here much more forward than that at Sennaar, and in several places it was in the ear. It rained copiously in the night of the 14th, but before this there had been a very dry season, and very great scarcity the preceding year. At ten minutes past four in the afternoon we left Azazo, our journey, like that of the day before, partly through thick woods, and partly through plains sown with dora. Our direction was nearly north, and the river about two miles and a half distant, nearly parallel to the road we went. At six we came to a small village called Sidi Ali el Genowi.
On the 16th, at half past six in the morning we left Sidi Ali el Genowi, and a few minutes after passed two villages on our left along the river side, not fifty yards from the water, after which we went through the village of El Mensy. The next to this were two tombs of Fakirs, nothing different from the former ones. At a quarter past ten we arrived at Herbagi, a large and pleasant village, but thinly inhabited, placed on a dry, gravelly soil. The people told us, that the greatest part of the townsmen were at some distance looking after their farms. Herbagi is the seat of Wed Ageeb, hereditary prince of the Arabs, now subject to the government of Sennaar, whose lieutenant he is according to treaty. He raises the tribute, and pays it to the Mek, or his ministers, from all those Arabs that live in the distant parts of the kingdom, as far as the Red Sea, who do not pass by Sennaar to the sands, in the season of the fly; for these, as I have mentioned, are taxed by the chief minister, or the person who hath the command of the troops of that capital. The revenue arising from this is very large, and more than all the rest put together. The Refaa, one tribe of Arabs who had compounded at this time with Shekh Adelan, were said to possess 200,000 she-camels, every one of which, at a medium, was worth half an ounce of gold, each ounce being about ten crowns. The tribute then which that Arab paid was 100,000 ounces of gold, or 1,000,000 dollars or 250,000l. There were at least ten of these tribes with which Adelan was to account, and at least six times that number that fell to the share of Wed Ageeb, whose composition is the same as that paid to Sennaar, besides whatever extraordinary sum he imposes for himself. There is also a tax upon the male camels; but this is small in comparison of the others, and the young ones pay no duty, till they are three years old.