A Narrative of the Expedition to Dongola and Sennaar: Under the Command of His Excellence Ismael Pasha, undertaken; by Order of His Highness Mehemmed Ali Pasha, Viceroy of; Egypt, By An American In The Service Of The ViceroyEnglish, George Bethune
History
A Narrative of the Expedition to Dongola and Sennaar: Under the Command of His Excellence Ismael Pasha, undertaken; by Order of His Highness Mehemmed Ali Pasha, Viceroy of; Egypt, By An American In The Service Of The Viceroy
English, George Bethune
Dunqulah (Sudan) -- History; Sennar (Sudan) -- History; Sudan -- History -- 1821-1881; Sudan -- History -- To 1821
[Footnote 75: The names of the wells in the desert of Omgourann, between
Berber and Seboo, are as follows:--1st, Apseach. 2d, Morat. 3d, El
Medina. 4th, Amrashee, 5th, Mogareen. In the two latter, water is only
found after heavy rains.]
[Footnote 76: Close by this rock was the skull of some wretched man
who had perished on this spot. All along our route we saw hundreds of
skeletons of camels. The skull that we saw probably belonged to one of
two Mogrebin soldiers who deserted at Berber, in order to return to.
Egypt, and who both perished with thirst in the desert.]
[Footnote 77: Our guide, an Abadie, would not permit the camels of our
caravan to be watered at the well of Apseach, saying, that if he did,
all the water then in the well would be consumed, and the consequence
would be, that the nest traveler that came might perish with thirst.]
[Footnote 78: The ground near the well of Morat is full of scorpion
holes. On my arrival at midnight I spread my carpet on the ground and
slept soundly. In the morning when it was taken up, we found under it a
scorpion, I am sure four inches in length, its color green and yellow.
I was told that they abound near all the wells of the desert, and I have
seen very many at different places on the borders of the river.]
[Footnote 79: Which we found to be the case till we came within fifteen
hours march of the Nile.]
[Footnote 80: Out of the twenty-two camels that we had commenced our
march with from Berber, only twelve reached the river.]
[Footnote 81: This was occasioned by the heat of the sun and the dryness
of the air of the desert, which made nearly two fifths of our water to
evaporate.]
[Footnote 82: Before we entered the desert our caravan had been joined
by several runaway domestics, who had fled from the army to return to
Egypt.]
[Footnote 83: The soldier of the Cadilaskier before mentioned, who was
the conductor, i.e. the chief of the caravan, had recourse to a singular
expedient to rouse one of them whom the whip could not stir. He seized
his purse of money, which this man carried in his bosom, swearing that
if he chose to stop and die there he might, and that he would be his
heir and inherit his purse. This testamentary disposition on the part
of the soldier had a wonderful effect. The man got up from the sand and
walked forward very briskly, calling upon the soldier to restore the
purse, as he was determined not to lie down any more till he reached
the river. The soldier, however, observing the effect of his proceeding,
retained the purse till we arrived at the river, when he restored it.]
[Footnote 84: The last time I saw him was when I gave him part of the
last bowl; he kissed my slipper, shedding abundance of tears, and saying
that I was the only one of the caravan that had shown him mercy. I
bade him keep up a good heart, for that on the morrow morning, by the
blessing of God, we should be at the river.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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