In general, I found the dreaded Nubian deserts, as far as Shigre at least, of much less dreary appearance than the great Syrian desert, and still less so than the desert of Suez and Tyh. We seldom passed a day without meeting with trees and water, as far at least as Shigre; they are much more frequent than on the caravan route from Aleppo to Bagdad, or from Damascus to Medina. The flatness of the Syrian desert may appear less horrid than the barren shaggy rocks of the Nubian desert; but the latter has at least the advantage of variety. As we arrived very early at our halting place in the Wady Tarfawy, the camels were sent to a side valley, at the distance of more than one hour and a half, to get some water from a pool, the slight brackish taste of which makes it probable that, besides the rain water collected in it, there is a spring at the bottom. They returned soon after mid-day. Another camel, which was pronounced unable to continue the journey, was killed to day, and many of the eagles, called Quakham, quickly assembled to have their share of the meat. Our Ababde guides had a quarrel to day with the men from Daraou, from whom they endeavoured to extort some additional payment. I was not sorry to see this dispute, hoping that it might lead to a greater cordiality between me and the Ababde, who might perhaps join their interests with mine against the common adversary. The caravan set out again about four P. M. At the moment of departure, the Arab who carried my water, brought me the largest of the four skins, and told me that his camel was unable to carry it any further. Before I had arranged two smaller skins, had filled them with the water of the large one, had tied ropes to them, and had loaded them upon my ass, the caravan had gained a great distance ahead, so that following their footsteps in the sand, I could not rejoin them till late after sunset. It is in such cases that the want of a servant or companion is chiefly felt; for slave traders show no sort of compassion for the embarrassments of their fellow creatures. We marched this evening about six hours, over stony ground, and encamped late at night in Wady Kowa, (وادي كوع), a valley full of pasturage. The direction during the day was S. by E.
16th March. After a few hours rest we again started. Our road lay over a sandy flat. High mountains appeared far in the east. At the end of three hours we halted in Wady Safyha (وادي صَفيحه), which cannot properly be called a valley, being a strip of lower land, running across the plain, where the rain water collects, and produces some trees and shrubs. Such spots in the Arabian deserts are called Ghadyr (غدير). After mid-day we continued over the plain. During the whole day’s march we were surrounded on all sides by lakes of mirage, called by the Arabs Serab. Its colour was of the purest azure, and so clear that the shadows of the mountains which bordered the horizon were reflected on it with the greatest precision, and the delusion of its being a sheet of water was thus rendered still more perfect. I had often seen the mirage in Syria and Egypt, but always found it of a whitish colour, rather resembling a morning mist, seldom lying steady on the plain, but in continual vibration; but here it was very different, and had the most perfect resemblance to water. The great dryness of the air and earth in this desert may be the cause of the difference. The appearance of water approached also much nearer, than in Syria and Egypt, being often not more than two hundred paces from us, whereas I had never seen it before at a distance of less than half a mile. There were at one time about a dozen of these false lakes round us, each separated from the other, and for the most part in the low grounds. After about eight hours march we stopped at Wady Om Doum (وادي اُم دوم). The name indicates the existence of Doum trees, but I could see no trees of any kind. I have observed that the vallies south of Omgat run generally from east to west, while those to the north of that place were parallel to our route. Our direction was still S. by E.
17th March. We set out at daylight and approached the high mountains of Shigre, which we had had in view the whole of the preceding day. After two hours march, we entered among these mountains, and then turning east, came to a fine Wady full of Doum trees, and bordered on either side by steep, and almost inaccessible cliffs. In following the windings of the valley, we arrived, after four hours march, near the water of Shigre, (شِقر) where we encamped. The surrounding mountains are all of granite, and consist of blocks of various sizes, heaped upon one another in the wildest disorder. Near the opening of the mountain, where the water is found, at some distance below the highest summit, I found the rock to be porphyry of a light reddish colour, close grained, with small veins of feldspath, much resembling the porphyry I saw last year, in Wady Lamoule, beyond the Second Cataract of the Nile. The approach to the spring is somewhat difficult, being at the extremity of a very narrow passage, in a cavern or cleft of the rock, where, besides the spring, there is also a collection of rain water. The water is excellent, and very cool, but unfortunately not very copious; at least, we found only a small supply. Some pigeons were flying about the spring. The well of Shigre is famous throughout this desert. The Bisharein frequently encamp in the neighbouring Wadys, and one of their principal Shikhs or Saints is buried near the well. Travellers often make pious offerings at the tomb, and if any Bedouins happen to be encamped in the neighbourhood, some sheep are purchased from them, and killed in honour of the Saint. One of our party found behind a rock, near the tomb, an empty chest, of Egyptian workmanship, quite new, which had probably been deposited there by some trader, whose camel could not carry it further, and who expected to take it up again on his return. The Ababde guides claimed it of the person who found it, alleging that they are the masters of the desert, and that all treasures found in it belong to them. We encamped at about half a mile from the well, and our first care was to fill our water skins. The Ababde kindly permitted the Fellah traders to fill their skins first, but the latter abused the permission, by watering likewise their camels; so that after they had retired from the well, very little water was left in it. The Ababde then declared that they should be obliged to stop here until the well should fill again. We remained therefore the whole night, the Ababde sleeping at the mouth of the cavern, to prevent any body from stealing water during the night.
On the morning of the 18th March, about twenty skins were filled, but the Ababde were not yet satisfied, and the merchants, rather than protract their stay, and see their store of water diminished by the hourly waste, preferred ceding some of their skins to the guides, upon the condition of departing immediately. After much patience and labour, I had succeeded in filling two large skins, and having still some water left, I should thus have been at least as well provided as any other individual in the caravan but I was not to be so fortunate. Having taken one of the skins upon my shoulder to the camp, I had left the other near the well, with the intention of coming back with the ass to take it away. When I returned, I found it empty. My Daraou friends had poured its contents into one of their own skins; and although they excused themselves by saying it was done by mistake, I could not by any means prevail upon them to refill it; indeed the water, now left in the well was rendered so muddy by the blueish clay which covers the bottom, that it was quite unserviceable. It was in vain that I offered two dollars for a full skin. My companions only laughed at me, saying that the price was indeed enormous, but that no one would part with his provision of water, and that they had never been in the habit of doing so. I was thus obliged to retreat from the well with the melancholy reflection that my stock of water was at the utmost sufficient for myself and ass for two days. It may here be remarked that it is of little use in travelling through deserts, to have a very large stock of water; for if the other travellers are in want of water they will take it by force; the rule being that water and bread are common to all, that is to say, that the stronger takes it from the weaker. The eastern Arabs allow the poor traveller to partake of their stock of water even when it is scarce, but the Africans are not so liberal, and all that an individual can do among them, is to lay in such a stock of water as will last as long as that of the great merchants; for he will find no supply from others, while he must give up all he can spare, and sometimes, even his whole stock, to meet the necessities of his more powerful companions. I searched about the well for some traces of ancient works, in the supposition that the place was as well known and frequented in the time when the trade of Meroe flourished as it is at present. But I could find nothing, although the situation is well suited to the construction of a fortress. The road leading up to the cavern which contains the well is almost blocked up by large masses of stones. And near it is another source, which has lately been entirely choaked up by the falling down of a projection of the mountain.
The Ababde chief of the caravan being acquainted with my misfortunes, sent for me just as we were on the point of departure, and having made some severe reflections upon the cruelty of the Egyptians towards me, made me a present of a sufficient quantity of water to fill one of the smaller skins. I was of course very sincere in my protestations of thanks and of gratitude, although I well saw that his anxiety for my welfare was not so great as his wish to mortify the Egyptians. We left Shigre in the course of the morning; it took us four hours to cross the chain of mountains, which bear the name of Djebel Shigre (جِبال شِقر). They appeared to me the highest points of Western Nubia, but their most elevated summit is not more than eight hundred or one thousand feet above the plain. All these mountains are of granite, and are every where as wild in their shape as those about the well. After four hours march, we issued from the mountains, and by a slight descent reached a sandy plain, covered with sharp stones. Our road S. 1° W. At five hours, passed Wady Kabkaba (وادي قَبقَبه); at seven hours, passed Wady Zeynatyb (وادي زَينَاتيب). Trees are very scarce in these Wadys, which are nothing but low grounds with some shrubs. We marched until late at night, and halted in the plain, after a day’s journey of about eleven hours. The country we passed over, after quitting the mountains of Shigre, is one great sandy flat, occasionally interrupted by gravelly ground, with small pebbles of quartz. We likewise passed several districts of moving sands. From Daraou as far as Shigre we had constantly followed a broad beaten path, where it is almost impossible for any one who has once performed the journey to go astray. The road seldom varies in its direction, and the prominent features of the mountains on both sides serve to the traveller as a guide at the few places where the sandy ground prevents any lasting impression of the footsteps of former caravans. From Shigre southward we found no beaten path, and there being no longer any mountains in view, it requires the eye and experience of a Bedouin to keep the caravan in a proper direction, especially during the day time.
19th March. Our road was S. by W. over an immense plain, bordered by low hills in the distant horizon. After about one hour we passed Wady Dimoka-yb (a Bishary name) (وادي ديموكايب), full of dry shrubs. The day was intensely hot. I thought I could perceive a considerable alteration in the climate, to the south of Shigre, it being much warmer than to the north of that place. Eight hours and a half passed Wady Abou Daey (وادي ابو ضَيّ). All these Wadys extend from east to west. Eleven hours arrived at the wells of Nedjeym (ابيار النجيم); in approaching which, we passed, long after sunset, by several tomb-stones, called Gobour Adjouad el Arey-ab (قبور اجوَد الاريَاب); “the bravest men of Are-ab lie buried here,” said one of our chiefs; “their companions carry them from many days journies to this spot, that they may repose in the cool neighbourhood of the wells, and their deeds be remembered by those who pass here.” The Are-ab are a tribe of Bisharein. We had already sent some men to the wells early in the morning, to clear them of the sand, for notwithstanding the report of the caravan travellers which we received at Nabeh, our people still believed that some water might be procured here. But we found them sitting with melancholy countenances near the well, where they had been digging for several hours, without finding any thing but wet sand. Even the Bedouins now became alarmed, and nothing was left for us but to endeavour to reach the Nile by forced marches; each of us had some water left, though not more than sufficient for a single day. Nedjeym is a collection of three or four wells, where the water oozes from the ground, and collects in sand pits of twenty or thirty feet in depth. The winds often choak these pits with sand, and almost every caravan that passes must be at the trouble of digging them out. We only found one accessible, the others being filled with sand to the brim. In times of dryness, such as occurred this year, the wells are exhausted, but when the rains are not deficient they produce excellent water, in sufficient quantity to supply a caravan of middling size. The low insulated rocky hills which surround the Nedjeym are composed of chlorite and petrosilex.
20th March. Some of our people continued at work at the well the whole night, and at length by great assiduity filled the water skins. We left the place soon after midnight. Issuing from the hills which surround the wells, and diverging from the straight road that leads to Berber, we took our route over a barren plain covered with moving sands, in a S. S. W. direction. At four hours we passed Wady Holhob (وادي حُلهُب). All the Wadys south of Shigre empty themselves in large torrents into the Nile whenever rain falls in the eastern chain. The ground now became gravelly, covered with small black flints and petrosilex, a dark expanse of waste much resembling some parts of the desert of Tyh. No mountains or hills are any where seen. Here and there only small rocks of granite, quartz or sienite interrupt the dreary uniformity of the plain. Fortunately for us we had northerly winds, but we suffered nevertheless considerably from the heat. We drank only twice to day, and our asses were put upon half allowance. At eleven hours we halted in a Wady. I had a quarrel to day with a man of Daraou, who accused me of having opened his water skin in the night, in order to give my ass some water; he called me by the most insulting names, pelted me with stones, and seemed to have succeeded in persuading the whole caravan that I was guilty.
21st March. We set out after midnight, and marched over a sandy ground. At three hours passed Wady Amour (وادي عامور). It was a chilly night, and the heat of the preceding day had rendered us still more sensible to the cold. Wady Amour is full of Sellam trees and acacias, many of which were quite dried up: our people, to warm themselves, set several of them on fire in passing along, and the flames spreading over the valley, beautifully illuminated the travellers and their frightened beasts. Issuing from the Wady we again met with a gravelly plain, and some low grounds. In seven hours passed a Wady of Sant trees. The heat was very great, and the wind southerly; half a dozen asses had already broken down, and their riders were obliged to walk over the burning plain. I had not drank the whole day, but still gave my ass every now and then a little water to keep up his spirits. At nine hours (direction S. S. W.), reached Wady Abou Sellam (وادي ابو سِلَّم) which abounds with Sellam trees. Here we stopped; for the beasts were much fatigued, and there were many stragglers behind, whom we might have lost in proceeding further. In order to spare my stock of water, I had lived since quitting Shigre entirely upon biscuits, and had never cooked any victuals; I now made another dinner of the same kind, after which I allayed my thirst by a copious draught of water, having in my skins as much as would serve me for another draught on the morrow. We were all in the greatest dejection, foreseeing that all the asses must die the ensuing day if not properly watered, and none of the traders had more than a few draughts for himself. After a long deliberation they at last came to the only determination that could save us, and which the Ababde chief had been for several days recommending. Ten or twelve of the strongest camels being selected, were mounted by as many men, who hastened forward to fetch a supply of water from the nearest part of the Nile. We were only five or six hours distant from it, but its banks being here inhabited by Arabs inimical to the traders, the whole caravan could not venture to take that road. The camels set out at about four P. M., and would reach the river at night. They were ordered to choose an uninhabited spot for filling the skins, and forthwith to return. We passed the evening meanwhile in the greatest anxiety, for if the camels should not return, we had little hopes of escape either from thirst or from the sword of our enemies, who, if they had once got sight of the camels, would have followed their footsteps through the desert, and would certainly have discovered us. After sunset several stragglers arrived, but two still remained behind, of whom one joined us early next morning, but the other was not heard of any more. He was servant to a Daraou trader, who showed not the least concern about his fate. Many of my companions came in the course of the evening to beg some water of me, but I had well hidden my treasure, and answered them by showing my empty skins. We remained the greater part of the night in sullen and silent expectation of the result of our desperate mission. At length, about three o’clock in the morning, we heard the distant hollowings of our watermen, and soon after refreshed ourselves with copious draughts of the delicious water of the Nile. The caravan passed suddenly from demonstrations of the deepest distress, to those of unbounded joy and mirth. A plentiful supper was dressed, and the Arabs kept up their songs till day break without bestowing a thought on the fate of the unhappy man who had remained behind. It rarely happens that persons perish by thirst on this road, and if the Nedjeym has water, it is almost impossible that such an accident should happen. Last year, however, an instance occurred, the particulars of which were related to me by a man who had himself suffered all the pangs of death. In the month of August, a small caravan prepared to set out from Berber to Daraou. They consisted of five merchants, and about thirty slaves, with a proportionate number of camels. Afraid of the robber Naym, who at that time was in the habit of waylaying travellers about the well of Nedjeym, and who had constant intelligence of the departure of every caravan from Berber, they determined to take a more eastern road, by the well Owareyk. They had hired an Ababde guide, who conducted them in safety to that place, but who lost his way from thence northward, the route being very unfrequented. After five days march in the mountains, their stock of water was exhausted, nor did they know where they were. They resolved therefore to direct their course towards the setting sun, hoping thus to reach the Nile. After two days thirst, fifteen slaves and one of the merchants died. Another of them, an Ababde, who had ten camels with him, thinking that the camels might know better than their masters where water was to be found, desired his comrades to tie him fast upon the saddle of his strongest camel, that he might not fall down from weakness; and thus he parted from them, permitting his camels to take their own way: but neither the man nor his camels were ever heard of afterwards. On the eighth day after leaving Owareyk, the survivors came in sight of the mountains of Shigre, which they immediately recognized, but their strength was quite exhausted, and neither men nor beasts were able to move any further. Lying down under a rock, they sent two of their servants with the two strongest remaining camels, in search of water. Before these two men could reach the mountain, one of them dropped off his camel, deprived of speech, and able only to wave his hands to his comrade as a signal that he desired to be left to his fate. The survivor then continued his route, but such was the effect of thirst upon him, that his eyes grew dim and he lost the road, though he had often travelled over it before, and had been perfectly acquainted with it. Having wandered about for a long time, he alighted under the shade of a tree, and tied the camel to one of its branches; the beast however smelt the water, (as the Arabs express it,) and wearied as it was, broke its halter, and set off gallopping furiously in the direction of the spring, which as it afterwards appeared, was at half an hour’s distance. The man well understanding the camel’s action, endeavoured to follow its footsteps, but could only move a few yards; he fell exhausted on the ground, and was about to breathe his last, when Providence led that way from a neighbouring encampment a Bisharye Bedouin, who by throwing water upon the man’s face restored him to his senses. They then went hastily together to the water, filled the skins, and returning to the caravan, had the good fortune to find the sufferers still alive. The Bisharye received a slave for his trouble. My informer, a native of Yembo in Arabia, was the man whose camel discovered the spring, and he added the remarkable circumstance that the youngest slaves bore the thirst better than the rest, and that while the grown up boys all died, the children reached Egypt in safety.
In 1813 a large caravan arrived at Siout from Darfour. As they had undertaken their journey in the latter end of the hot season, many of their camels perished on the road, and they found themselves under the necessity of leaving a considerable part of their goods, together with many young slaves who could not march on foot, at the well of Sheb, with all the provisions that could be spared. Having hired several hundred camels, they returned to Sheb; but in the meanwhile, the thoughtless slaves had been too prodigal of their provisions, and several had died from hunger.
Such accidents as these may sometimes happen either from want of proper guides, from the necessity of taking circuitous roads, or from not having a sufficient quantity of camels loaded with water; but they must in general arise from a want of proper precaution, and I cannot help thinking that those which my predecessor Mr. Bruce describes himself to have suffered in this desert, have been much overstated. But while I think it my duty to make this remark, I must at the same time declare that acquainted as I am with the character of the Nubians, I cannot but sincerely admire the wonderful knowledge of men, firmness of character, and promptitude of mind which furnished Bruce with the means of making his way through these savage inhospitable nations as an European. To travel as a native has its inconveniences and difficulties, but I take those which Bruce encountered to be of a nature much more intricate and serious, and such as a mind at once courageous, patient, and fertile in expedients could alone have surmounted.