The two principal chiefs have their settlements, one at Kolétt (قُليِط), about four hours north of Daraou, on the east bank of the river, and the other at the latter place.
From time immemorial the Ababde have been the guides of the caravans through the Nubian desert; many of them are great speculators in the slave trade, and their chiefs exact a tribute upon every slave, and upon every loaded camel passing through the desert, which does not belong to one of their own tribes.
The other part of the inhabitants of Daraou, are Fellahs, intermarried with Ababde women, who for the greater part, likewise engage in the same trade. These I have found, from sad experience, to be a worthless set of vagabonds; notwithstanding the profits arising from that traffic, they are all poor; spending their gains in drunkenness and debauchery.
I had equipped myself at Esne for my journey: but soon found on my arrival at Daraou the necessity of making some alteration in my plans. I had brought with me a camel and an ass; the former I had intended to load with baggage, provisions, and water: the latter to mount myself, according to the custom of the Nubian traders; who generally perform their travels towards the Negro countries on these animals, which they sell there and return on their camels. I had no servant. The Fellah who had faithfully served me during my whole stay in Upper Egypt I had sent, on my departure from Esne, with a packet of letters to Cairo; for I was determined to try my luck in this country alone, unaccompanied by any servant. Experience had taught me that in difficult and dangerous travels, those who have no other motive in performing them, but that of gaining their monthly pay, are averse to incur any perils, and stagger at the smallest difficulties; thus they become more troublesome than serviceable to their master: whom moreover their imprudence or treachery may expose to danger. I was in full health, and therefore not afraid of undertaking the additional fatigue, which otherwise would have been borne by my servant. Arrived at Daraou, I had an opportunity of seeing the preparations of my fellow travellers, and of observing that mine were not regulated by that strict economy which served as a rule to the others. My baggage and provisions weighed about two hundred weight. The camel however was capable of carrying six hundred weight. The water for my use on the road was to be contained in two small skins slung across the saddle of the ass. My camel therefore could carry four hundred weight more, the freight of which at five dollars per hundred weight, was worth twenty dollars. Had I slighted such a sum, I might have exposed myself to the animadversions of my companions, who would probably have thought me possessed of great wealth. I soon had an offer of a freight of four hundred weight, to convey across the desert as far as Goz, at the above price: but I considered that the loading and unloading of the camel would occasion me a great deal of trouble: I therefore thought it best to sell him, and soon found a purchaser at twenty-five dollars in ready money, camels being at that time very scarce in Upper Egypt; it was part of the bargain, that the purchaser should carry my baggage across the Desert.
I appeared at Daraou in the garb of a poor trader, the only character in which I believe I could possibly have succeeded. It may not be superfluous that I should inform the reader in detail of the contents of my baggage, and of my provisions: at least, it had always been, with me, a great desideratum in reading books of travels, to collect such information for my own use.
I was dressed in a brown loose woollen cloak, such as is worn by the peasants of Upper Egypt, called Thabout, with a coarse white linen shirt and trowsers, a Lebde, or white woollen cap, tied round with a common handkerchief, as a turban, and with sandals on my feet. I carried in the pocket of my Thabout, a small journal-book, a pencil, pocket-compass, pen-knife, tobacco purse, and a steel for striking a light. The provisions I took with me were as follows: forty pounds of flour, twenty of biscuit, fifteen of dates, ten of lentils, six of butter, five of salt, three of rice, two of coffee beans, four of tobacco, one of pepper, some onions, and eighty pounds of Dhourra for my ass. Besides these I had a copper boiler, a copper plate, a coffee roaster, an earthen mortar to pound the coffee beans, two coffee cups, a knife and spoon, a wooden bowl for drinking and for filling the water-skins, an axe, ten yards of rope, needles and thread, a large packing needle (مسلهّ), one spare shirt, a comb, a coarse carpet, a woollen cloth (Heram) of Mogrebin manufactory for a night covering, a small parcel of medicines, and three spare water skins.
I had also a small pocket Coran, bought at Damascus, which I lost afterwards on the day of the pilgrimage, 10th of November 1814, among the crowds of Mount Arafat,—a spare journal book and an inkstand, together with some loose sheets of paper, for writing amulets for the Negroes. My watch had been broken in Upper Egypt, where I had no means of getting another. The hours of march noted down in the journal, are therefore merely by computation, and by observing the course of the sun.
The little merchandize I took with me consisted of twenty pounds of sugar, fifteen of soap, two of nutmegs, twelve razors, twelve steels, two red caps, and several dozen of wooden beads, which are an excellent substitute for coin in the southern countries. I had a gun, with three dozen of cartridges and some small shot, a pistol, and a large stick, called nabbout, strengthened with iron at either end, and serving either as a weapon, or to pound the coffee beans, and which, according to the custom of the country, was my constant companion. My purse, worn in a girdle under the Thabout, contained fifty Spanish dollars, including the twenty-five, the price of my camel, and I had besides sewed a couple of sequins in a small leathern amulet, tied round my elbow, thinking this to be the safest place for secreting them. Had my departure from Egypt not been too long delayed, I should have carried a larger sum of money with me: although I much doubt, after the experience I have since had, whether I should have been the better for it. I had originally destined two hundred dollars for this purpose, which I had carried with me from Siout to Esne, in September 1813, expecting to be able to start immediately with the caravan: I was afterwards obliged to encroach upon that sum, to defray my daily expenses, to purchase my camel, &c. &c.; and a fresh supply of money which I had written for, had not arrived when the caravan started.
Having already waited so long, I was unwilling to give up so eligible an opportunity, merely on account of the low state of my funds: and the information I had collected on the state of the Negro countries, made me think it probable that if I did not make a prolonged stay there, I might succeed in my journey, even with the trifling sum then at my command. Besides I was ready to supply the want of money by an increase of bodily privations and exertions, to elude which is the principal motive for spending money in travels of this sort.
All my baggage and provisions were packed up in five leather bags, or djerab, much in use among the slave traders; those articles of which I stood in daily need, I put up in a small saddle bag on my ass.