[6]Vide infra.
[7]From March till June the waters of the Nile are quite limpid. Volney, who exclaims against its muddy stream, saw it only in autumn and winter.
[8]Vide infra.
[9]This is the only spot, where I know the Nile to be fordable.
[10]A Highlander, who had been taken prisoner in the unfortunate affair at Rosetta, in 1807, and had afterwards joined the Mamelouks, has lately arrived at Cairo. He left the Mamelouks at Dongola, and traced his way back, alone, through Nubia and Upper Egypt, notwithstanding the spies of the Pasha.
[11]One of the servants of these Begs, a Greek Christian of Brusa, in Asia Minor, assured me afterwards, at Derr, that their party, being unable to forego the habit of smoking, had, in a total want of tobacco, in the mountains, filled their pipes with the dry dung of the Gazells.
[12]Concerning this tribe, and their language, vide infra.
[13]I have since been in the mountains of Sinai, where I found another tribe of Bedouins, called Aleykat, settled in the southern valleys of that province. They all affirmed that the Aleykat of Nubia were their brethren, and originally a colony from them. Some years since, a poor man of the Sinai Aleykat took the resolution of visiting those of Nubia, and of collecting a few presents: he was well received at Wady Seboua, as one of their brethren, and returned with several camels, purchased with the alms he had obtained from every family in that place.
[14]A caravan of from thirty to forty laden camels proceeds every winter from Seboua to Cairo. The merchants of Seboua are accustomed to enter into partnership with the poor Nubians; to whom they advance sums of money, to induce them to try a trading journey to Berber, and on their return take half the profits. There are families who have thus been mutually travelling partners from time immemorial. The distance between Seboua and Mograt, on the Nile, north of Berber (vide infra), is seven days easy travelling. Three days from Seboua is a large well called Rebt (ربت); and another at five days journey.
[15]In all these parts soap is a very acceptable present, none being made in Egypt, except at Siout, which is of a very inferior quality. It is imported from Syria, and principally from Palestine. At Esne, one pound of soap is worth 1s. 6d.