472

NATIVE ROPE WALKS.

exhibits a rich and picturesque aspect. Several goatherds, the kindlers, no doubt, of the fires, — with flocks as black as themselves, were wandering in Arcadian idleness among these woody eminences and undulating valleys; but if the exterior be an index to the contents of the inner man, their passions and schemes of life would have furnished few materials for pastoral poetry.

CCCL. The channel of the Nile is in this part divided by several small islands, or rather sand-banks, on one of which we saw an enormous crocodile,—not less, I should imagine, than thirty feet in length,basking in the sun; and near him a smaller one, that, as soon as we came in sight, plunged into the water. In a field covered with dhourra stubble, near one of the inhabited villages, we observed a large covey of that peculiar species of partridge mentioned by Burckhardt, which often made, he observes, a welcome addition to his supper. But we were less fortunate, for they all escaped. Here we passed several of the rude rope-walks of the natives, where cordage, generally of a large size, is manufactured from the leaf of the date palm; the one end being fastened to a tree, and the other, whenever the workman quits his task, secured from untwisting by a strong wooden peg, driven into the ground; but we were unable closely to observe the process, for, whenever the rope-makers beheld us advancing towards them, they quitted their work, and escaped across the fields, fearing, no doubt, we intended to

kidnap them for the "victorious armies" of the Pasha. Both the mimosa and tamarisk flourish luxuriantly in these sands, and we observed about the villages many which had attained an enormous size; though, the winds having half uncovered their roots, it is probable the first tempest will lay them level with the earth. There was here very little cultivation, and that little occurring in patches at intervals, on the banks of the river. The water-wheels likewise were few.

CCCLI. The wind at length springing up, we recommenced our voyage, soon after which it blew almost a hurricane, covering the river with vast waves, while the sands were whirled aloft many miles into the air. We however ascended the stream with extraordinary rapidity; but the force of the wind continuing to increase, the Arabs, after many narrow escapes, were compelled to lower the mainsail, and even with the small one the boat was more than once nearly capsizing: but no accident happened; and early in the afternoon we arrived at Wady Halfa, in the neighbourhood of the second cataract.

CCCLII. It was not my original intention to make the second cataract the extreme boundary of my travels, but, quitting the river at this point, to proceed with dromedaries through the Batn el Hajjar to Sukkot and Mahass, on the confines of Dongola. Beasts proper for the journey it would, we imagined, be easy to procure; and accordingly, when

474

NUBIAN CAMEL-DRIVER.

the kandjia was moored, we proceeded to the house of the governor, a Turk of gentlemanly appearance, and courteous manners, through whose interference, it was supposed, good dromedaries might be obtained. Affairs of this kind, however, are always tedious. The passage of an European traveller through the Batn el Hajjar to Dongola not occurring above once or twice in a century, the camel-driver knew not what terms to insist on. What an Arab, under similar circumstances, would have paid, was nothing to the purpose; we were strangers; and these barbarians, like the Swiss, appear to make it a point of honour to cheat foreigners. The chief of the camel-drivers, an old Nubian with a scanty beard, as meek looking as a Jew, stood before us, playing with his whip of hippopotamus hide, protesting, though the Turk admitted the sum was exorbitant, that he demanded no more for his beasts than a Mussulman would pay. Finding he obstinately adhered to his first proposition, we left him abruptly, and proceeding southward along the banks of the river, towards the cataract, came in sight of the rocky islands, between which the river precipitates itself; but the day drawing towards its close, we found it necessary to restrain our curiosity until the morrow. The wind continued boisterous and the weather cold throughout the night.

Monday, January 28th. Wady Halfa. CCCLIII. In the morning, as we were about to cross to the western bank, on our way to the cataract,

the old Nubian camel-driver came on board, but his terms being still unreasonable, we again failed to enter into any definitive arrangement. Landing at the foot of the rocks, near the tomb of Sheikh Abdulgadir, a celebrated Mohammedan saint, we directed our course towards the south, over an alternately sandy and stony tract, along the slope of the low chain of hills which here borders the stream. The rocky strata composing these hills present a very peculiar aspect, being nearly as white as chalk, and containing innumerable crystals of shining spar. The sand, disposed in beautiful slopes, extending from the rocks to the Nile, is of a rich deep yellow colour, glittering like gold in the sun. In our way we saw several gazelles, that having been drinking at the river, or feeding near its banks, were scared at our approach, and bounded with prodigious rapidity towards the desert, appearing but for a moment, before they were lost among the rocks.

CCCLIV. We had not proceeded far before the sound of the cataract was distinctly audible, which, in the silence of night, must be heard at a great distance. The wind blowing fiercely, and raising aloft, like mist, the fine sands of the desert, drifted them across the river, far into the eastern plain, where other sandy clouds were rolling rapidly along: but they were thin and ill defined, nothing like those huge pillars, raised by the whirlwind, and beheld by Bruce, driven in endless files over that selfsame wilderness; the hope of beholding which had

chiefly tempted me into Nubia. But they seldom appear, except, perhaps, in one particular portion of the desert; though, from what I have myself witnessed, I am led to yield the fullest belief to the tra veller's sublime description.

CCCLV. In about two hours we arrived at the rock Abousir, an isolated hill about one hundred and fifty feet in height, beetling over the cataract. It is itself a striking object, and from its summit the view comprehends the whole extent of the falls. Looking towards the south, we behold the Nile, its channel being about a mile in breadth, emerging from among a chaos of rocks, as if it here sprung in all its grandeur from the earth. Flowing northward, between innumerable islands of green porphyry piled into the most fantastic forms, it at length arrives at the point where the water precipitates itself with prodigious noise and velocity, over an abrupt descent in its bed, observing no certain direction, dashed now towards one side, now towards the other, by opposing rocks, vexed with whirlpools, and broken into eddies. In many parts it seems to be bursting through some enormous sluice, while fall beyond fall, covered with foam, and hurling aloft clouds of spray, present themselves in magnificent succession to the eye. Almost in the midst of these, protected by some jutting promontory, we discover smooth expanses of water, unruffled as a summer lake, affording a beautiful contrast with the savage uproar of the cataracts. Meanwhile, the noise of the dashing