We Shortly Halted For The Night, As I Had Noticed Unmistakeable
Signs Of An Approaching Storm.
We quickly pitched the tents,
grubbed up the root and stem of a decayed mimosa, and lighted a
fire, by the side of which our people sat in a circle.
Hardly had
the pile begun to blaze, when a cry from Mahomet's new relative,
Achmet, informed us that he had been bitten by a scorpion.
Mahomet appeared to think this highly entertaining, until
suddenly he screamed out likewise, and springing from the ground,
he began to stamp and wring his hands in great agony: he had
himself been bitten, and we found that a whole nest of scorpions
were in the rotten wood lately thrown upon the fire; in their
flight from the heat they stung all whom they met. There was no
time to prepare food; the thunder already roared above us, and in
a few minutes the sky, lately so clear, was as black as ink. I
had already prepared for the storm, and the baggage was piled
within the tent; the ropes of the tents had been left slack to
allow for the contraction, and we were ready for the rain. It was
fortunate that we were in order; a rain descended, with an
accompaniment of thunder and lightning, of a volume unknown to
the inhabitants of cooler climates; for several hours there was
almost an uninterrupted roar of the most deafening peals, with
lightning so vivid that our tent was completely lighted up in the
darkness of the night, and its misery displayed. Not only was the
rain pouring through the roof so that we were wet through as we
crouched upon our angareps (stretchers), but the legs of our
bedstead stood in more than six inches of water. Being as wet as
I could be, I resolved to enjoy the scene outside the tent; it
was curious in the extreme. Flash after flash of sharp forked
lightning played upon the surface of a boundless lake; there was
not a foot of land visible, but the numerous dark bushes
projecting from the surface of the water destroyed the illusion
of depth that the scene would otherwise have suggested. The rain
ceased, but the entire country was flooded several inches deep;
and when the more distant lightning flashed as the storm rolled
away, I saw the camels lying like statues built into the lake. On
the following morning the whole of this great mass of water had
been absorbed by the soil, which had become so adhesive and
slippery that it was impossible for the camels to move; we
therefore waited for some hours, until the intense heat of the
sun had dried the surface sufficiently to allow the animals to
proceed.
Upon striking the tent, we found beneath the valance between the
crown and the walls a regiment of scorpions; the flood had
doubtless destroyed great numbers within their holes, but these,
having been disturbed by the deluge, had found an asylum by
crawling up the tent walls: with great difficulty we lighted a
fire, and committed them all to the flames. Mahomet made a great
fuss about his hand, which was certainly much swollen, but not
worse than that of Achmet, who did not complain, although during
the night he had been again bitten on the leg by one of these
venomous insects, that had crawled from the water upon his
clothes. During our journey that morning parallel with the valley
of the Atbara, I had an excellent opportunity of watching the
effect of the storm. We rode along the abrupt margin of the table
land, where it broke suddenly into the deep valley; from the
sides of this the water was oozing in all directions, creating
little avalanches of earth, which fell as they lost their
solidity from too much moisture. This wonderfully rich soil was
rolling gradually towards Lower Egypt. From the heights above the
river we had a beautiful view of the stream, which at this
distance, reflecting the bright sunlight, did not appear like the
thick liquid mud that we knew it to be. The valley was of the
same general character that we had remarked at Goorashee, but
more abrupt--a mass of landslips, deep ravines, shaded by
mimosas, while the immediate neighbour hood of the Atbara was
clothed with the brightest green foliage. In this part, the
valley was about three miles in width, and two hundred feet deep.
The commencement of the rainy season was a warning to all the
Arabs of this country, who were preparing for their annual
migration to the sandy and firm desert on the west bank of the
river, at Gozerajup; that region, so barren and desolate during
the hot season, would shortly be covered with a delicate grass
about eighteen inches high. At that favoured spot the rains fell
with less violence, and it formed a nucleus for the general
gathering of the people with their flocks.
We were travelling south at the very season when the natives were
migrating north. I saw plainly that it would be impossible for us
to continue our journey during the wet season, as the camels had
the greatest difficulty in carrying their loads even now, at the
commencement: their feet sank deep into the soil; this formed
adhesive clods upon their spongy toes, that almost disabled them.
The farther we travelled south, the more violent would the rains
become, and a long tropical experience warned me that the rainy
season was the signal for fevers. All the camels of the Arabs
were being driven from the country; we had already met many herds
travelling northward, but this day's march was through crowds of
these animals, principally females with their young, many
thousands of which were on the road. Some of the young foals were
so small that they could not endure the march; these were slung
in nets upon the backs of camels, while the mother followed
behind. We revelled in milk, as we had not been able to procure
it since we left Cassala.
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