There Was An Extraordinary Change In The
Appearance Of The River Between Gozerajup And This Spot.
There was no
longer the vast sandy desert with the river flowing through its sterile
course on a level
With the surface of the country; but after traversing
an apparently perfect flat of forty-five miles of rich alluvial soil, we
had suddenly arrived upon the edge of a deep valley, between five and
six miles wide, at the bottom of which, about two hundred feet below the
general level of the country, flowed the river Atbara. On the opposite
side of the valley the same vast table-lands continued to the western
horizon.
We commenced the descent toward the river: the valley was a succession
of gullies and ravines, of landslips and watercourses. The entire
hollow, of miles in width, had evidently been the work of the river. How
many ages had the rains and the stream been at work to scoop out from
the flat tableland this deep and broad valley? Here was the giant
laborer that had shovelled the rich loam upon the delta of Lower Egypt!
Upon these vast flats of fertile soil there can be no drainage except
through soakage. The deep valley is therefore the receptacle not only
for the water that oozes from its sides, but subterranean channels,
bursting as land-springs from all parts of the walls of the valley, wash
down the more soluble portions of earth, and continually waste away the
soil. Landslips occur daily during the rainy season; streams of rich mud
pour down the valley's slopes, and as the river flows beneath in a
swollen torrent, the friable banks topple down into the stream and
dissolve. The Atbara becomes the thickness of peasoup, as its muddy
waters steadily perform the duty they have fulfilled from age to age.
Thus was the great river at work upon our arrival on its bank at the
bottom of the valley. The Arab name, "Bahr el Aswat" (black river) was
well bestowed; it was the black mother of Egypt, still carrying to her
offspring the nourishment that had first formed the Delta.
At this point of interest the journey had commenced; the deserts were
passed; all was fertility and life. Wherever the sources of the Nile
might be, the Atbara was the parent of Egypt! This was my first
impression, to be proved hereafter.
A violent thunderstorm, with a deluge of rain, broke upon our camp on
the banks of the Atbara, fortunately just after the tents were pitched.
We thus had an example of the extraordinary effects of the heavy rain in
tearing away the soil of the valley. Trifling watercourses were swollen
to torrents. Banks of earth became loosened and fell in, and the rush of
mud and water upon all sides swept forward into the river with a
rapidity which threatened the destruction of the country, could such a
tempest endure for a few days. In a couple of hours all was over.
In the evening we crossed with our baggage and people to the opposite
side of the ricer, and pitched our tents at the village of Goorashee. In
the morning the camels arrived, and once more we were ready to start.
Our factotum, El Baggar, had collected a number of baggage-camels and
riding dromedaries, or "hygeens". The latter he had brought for
approval, as we bad suffered much from the extreme roughness of our late
camels. There is the same difference between a good hygeen, or
dromedary, and a baggage-camel, as between the thoroughbred and the
cart-horse; and it appears absurd in the eyes of the Arabs that a man of
any position should ride a baggage-camel. Apart from all ideas of
etiquette, the motion of the latter animal is quite sufficient warning.
Of all species of fatigue, the back-breaking, monotonous swing of a
heavy camel is the worst; and should the rider lose patience and
administer a sharp cut with the coorbatch, that induces the creature to
break into a trot, the torture of the rack is a pleasant tickling
compared to the sensation of having your spine driven by a sledge-hammer
from below, half a foot deeper into the skull.
The human frame may be inured to almost anything; thus the Arabs, who
have always been accustomed to this kind of exercise, hardly feel the
motion, and the portion of the body most subject to pain in riding a
rough camel upon two bare pieces of wood for a saddle, becomes naturally
adapted for such rough service, as monkeys become hardened from
constantly sitting upon rough substances. The children commence almost
as soon as they are born, as they must accompany their mothers in their
annual migrations; and no sooner can the young Arab sit astride and hold
on than he is placed behind his father's saddle, to which he clings,
while he bumps upon the bare back of the jolting camel. Nature quickly
arranges a horny protection to the nerves, by the thickening of the
skin; thus, an Arab's opinion of the action of a riding hygeen should
never be accepted without a personal trial. What appears delightful to
him may be torture to you, as a strong breeze and a rough sea may be
charming to a sailor, but worse than death to a landsman.
I was determined not to accept the camels now offered as hygeens until I
had seen them tried. I accordingly ordered our black soldier, El Baggar,
to saddle the most easy-actioned animal for my wife; but I wished to see
him put it through a variety of paces before she should accept it. The
delighted EL Baggar, who from long practice was as hard as the heel of a
boot, disdained a saddle. The animal knelt, was mounted, and off he
started at full trot, performing a circle of about fifty yards' diameter
as though in a circus. I never saw such an exhibition! "Warranted quiet
to ride, of easy action, and fit for a lady!" This had been the
character received with the rampant brute, who now, with head and tail
erect, went tearing round the circle, screaming and roaring like a wild
beast, throwing his forelegs forward and stepping at least three feet
high in his trot.
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