[26]I never heard the Nubians speak of crocodiles of a monstrous size; I conceive that the largest I saw was about twenty-five feet in length. Crocodiles as large as that in the British Museum, are met with on the Nile only in the latitude of Shendy and Sennaar.
[27]Akabe is a term very frequently met with in Arabian geography; it generally designates a mountainous district, or a rocky descent, over which the road lies.
[28]Vide my Journal through Arabia Petræa.
[30]Vide infra.
[31]There is no village bearing the name of Sukkot; it is a mere territorial appellation.
[32]The few Nubians who know how to write, and who serve the governors in the capacity of secretaries, are taught by the Fokara of Damer, south of Goos, (vide Bruce’s Map), who are all learned men, and travel occasionally to Cairo as already mentioned, to visit the mosque El Azhar. On their way thither they alight at the houses of the rich inhabitants, and teach their children to read and write. Many of the children of Sukkot and Mahass are likewise sent to the school of the Arabs Sheygya, where they remain for ten years and upwards, and are fed and taught gratuitously by the Olema of that tribe.
[34]M. Rosetti has, for many years, had the trade in Senna exclusively in his own hands; and has factors at Esne and Assouan. Since Mohammed Aly has farmed out almost all the articles of commerce, both foreign and domestic, M. Rosetti has paid for the monopoly of Senna 150 purses per annum, or about £3,500.
[35]I have already observed, that the water of the wells in Upper Egypt is of the worst kind, although dug in the neighbourhood of the river, from which the wells are no doubt supplied, by the water filtrating through the ground after the inundation, and collecting at a depth of from twenty to thirty feet. See p. [22,] [3.]