Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 70, No. 431, September 1851Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 70, No. 431, September 1851
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
When our two Germans rejoined headquarters, after four days'
absence, they found Achmet Bascha seated in the shade upon the
ground in front of his tent, much burned by the sun, and looking
fagged and suffering--as well he might be after the heat and
exposure he had voluntarily undergone. Nothing could cure him,
however, at least as yet, of his fancy for marching in the heat of
the day. Although obstinate and despotic, the Bascha was evidently
a dashing sort of fellow, well calculated to win the respect and
admiration of his wild and heterogeneous army. Weary as were the
two Wernes, (they reached the camp at noon,) at two o'clock they
had to be again in the saddle. "A number of gazelles were started;
the Bascha seized a gun and dashed after them upon his Arabian
stallion, almost the whole of the cavalry scouring after him like
a wild mob, and we ourselves riding a sharp trot to witness the
chase. We thought he had fallen from his horse, so suddenly did he
swing himself from saddle to ground, killing three gazelles with
three shots, of which animals we consumed a considerable portion
roasted for that night's supper." The river here widened, and
crocodiles showed themselves upon the opposite shore. The day was
terribly warm; the poor medico was ill again, suffering grievously
from his head, and complaining of _his hair being so hot_; and as
the Salamander Bascha persisted in marching under a sun which,
through the canvass of the tents, heated sabres and musket-barrels
till it was scarcely possible to grasp them, the brothers again
lingered behind and followed in the cool of the evening, Joseph
being mounted upon an easy-going mule lent him by Topschi Baschi,
the good-humoured but dissolute captain of the guns. They were now
divided but by the river's breadth from the hostile tribe of the
Haddenda, and might at any moment be assailed; so two hours after
sunset a halt was called and numerous camp-fires were lighted,
producing a most picturesque effect amongst the trees, and by their
illumination of the diversified costumes of the soldiery, and
attracting a whole regiment of scorpions, "some of them remarkably
fine specimens," says Mr Werne, who looks upon these unpleasant
fireside companions with a scientific eye, "a finger and a half
long, of a light colour, half of the tail of a brown black and
covered with hair." It is a thousand pities that the adventurous Mrs
Ida Pfeiffer did not accompany Mr Werne upon this expedition. She
would have had the finest possible opportunities of curing herself
of the prejudice which it will be remembered she was so weak as to
entertain against the scorpion tribe. These pleasant reptiles were
as plentiful all along Mr Werne's line of march as are cockchafers
on a summer evening in an English oak-copse. Their visitations were
pleasantly varied by those of snakes of all sizes, and of various
degrees of venom. "At last," says Mr Werne, "one gets somewhat
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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