The Shekh of Beyla was a man of very great character for courage and probity. His name was Mahomet; and I had often corresponded with him upon the subject of horses for the king while I was at Gondar. He was greatly tormented with the stone, and by means of Yasine I had several times sent him soap-pills, and lime, with directions how to make lime-water. I therefore sent a servant of mine with a letter to the Shekh of Beyla, mentioning my intention of coming to Sennaar by the way of Teawa and Beyla, and desiring him to forward my servant to Sennaar, to Hagi Belal my correspondent there, and, at the same time, write to some other friend of his own, to see that the king's servant should be dispatched to Teawa without delay. This servant, with the letters, I committed to the care of the Shekh of the Daveina, who promised that he would himself see him safe into Beyla; and, by a particular Providence, all these letters and messengers arrived safe, without miscarriage of one, at the places of their destination, though we were long kept in suspence before they took effect.
I was now about to quit Ras el Feel for ever, in a firm perswasion that I had done every thing man could do to insure a safe journey and good reception at Sennaar, till one day I received a visit from Mahomet Shekh of Nile; which does not mean Shekh of the river, but of a tribe of that name, which is but a division of the Daveina. To this Shekh I had shewn a particular attention in several trips he had made to Gondar, in consequence of which he was very grateful and anxious for my safety. He told me, that he saw I was setting out perfectly content with the measures I had taken for my safety at Sennaar, and he owned that they were the best that human prudence could suggest; "but, says he, in my opinion, you have not yet been cautious enough about Teawa. I know Fidele well, and I apprehend your danger is there, and not at Sennaar." He then drew a most unfavourable picture of that Shekh, whom he affirmed to have been a murderer and a thief all his days, and the son of a father no better than himself; that he was of no religion, neither Mahometan, Christian, nor Pagan, but absolutely without fear of God; he said, however, he believed him to be a great coward; and therefore the whole of my safety reduced itself to this. Was he really afraid of Yasine, or not? If he was, that became the best handle we could lay hold on; but if, on the contrary, he was not afraid of Yasine, or was persuaded, as he very well might be by wicked people about him, that, when once I was out of the country, Yasine took no further charge of me, he doubted very much I should never pass Teawa, or, at least, without suffering some heavy affront or ill-usage, the extent of which it was impossible to determine.
These sensible suggestions made a very strong impression on Yasine and me; Yasine's first position was, that Fidele was certainly afraid to disoblige him; but, allowing the possibility he was not, he owned he had not substituted any second measure to which I could trust. We all regretted that our friends the Daveina had been suffered to depart without taking me with them by Sim-Sim and Beyla; but it was now too late, as the Daveina had for some days arrived at the station the nearest Beyla and the farthest from us. It was then agreed, that Nile should send a relation of his, who was married to one of the tribes of Jehaina Arabs, encamped upon Jibbel Idriss near to Teawa, with whom Fidele was at that time making peace, lest they should burn the crop about the town. This man was not to enter the town of Teawa with me, but was to come there the next day, as if from his friends at Jibbel Idriss; and, if I then informed him there was danger, should return to the Jehaina, mount a hajan or dromedary, and give Yasine information with all possible speed. All this being now settled, I prepared for my journey, having first, by many observations by night and day, fixed the latitude of Hor-Cacamoot to be 13° 1´ 33´´ north.
CHAP. IV.
From Hor-Cacamoot to Teawa, Capital of Atbara.
It was on the 17th of March that we set out from Hor-Caamoot on our journey to Teawa, capital of the province of Atbara. Our course was N. N. W. through thick brush-wood, with a few high trees; our companions being eleven naked men, with asses loaden with salt. We had several interruptions on the road. At three in the afternoon we encamped at Falaty, the east village of Ras el Feel, a little to the northward. A small mountain, immediately north from this village, the one end of which is thought to resemble the head of an elephant, gives the name to the village and the province[22]. This mountain stretches in a direction nearly north and south, as do the villages, and the small river when it has water, but it was now apparently dry. However, by digging pretty deep in the sand, the water filtering through the sides of the holes filled in a certain time with a putrid, ill-tasted, unwholesome beverage, which is all this miserable village has for its use. The people look sickly and ill-coloured. Falaty is three miles and a half distant from Hor-Cacamoot, its name interpreted is Poverty.
On the 18th, at half after six in the morning we continued our journey through thick, and almost impenetrable woods full of thorns; and in two hours we came to the bed of a torrent, though in appearance dry, upon digging with our hands in the loose sand, we found great plenty of fresh water exceedingly well tasted, being sheltered by projecting rocks from the action of the sun. This is called Surf el Shekh. Here we filled our girbas, for there is very little good water to be found between this and Teawa.
A girba is an ox's skin squared, and the edges sewed together very artificially by a double seam, which does not let out water, much resembling that upon the best English cricket-balls. An opening is left in the top of the girba, in the same manner as the bung-hole of a cask. Around this the skin is gathered to the size of a large handful, which, when the girba is full of water, is tied round with whip-cord. These girbas generally contain about sixty gallons each, and two of them are the load of a camel. They are then all besmeared on the outside with grease, as well to hinder the water from oozing through, as to prevent its being evaporated by the action of the sun upon the girba, which in fact happened to us twice, so as to put us in imminent danger of perishing with thirst.
Yasine had provided a camel and two girbas, as well as every other provision necessary for us, till we should arrive at Teawa. Surf el Shekh is the boundary of Ras el Feel. Here I took an affectionate leave of my friend Yasine, who, with all his attendants, shewed, at parting, that love and attachment they had constantly preserved to me since our first acquaintance.