"It was on the 5th of September," says Bruce, "that we were all prepared to leave this capital of Nubia, an inhospitable country from the beginning, and which, every day we continued in it, had engaged us in greater difficulties and dangers. We flattered ourselves that, once disengaged from this bad step, the greatest part of our sufferings was over; for we apprehended nothing but from men, and, with very great reason, thought we had seen the worst of them." FOOTNOTE: [35] Although this city is at the present day but little better than a heap of ruins, it bears the marks of former magnificence. See _Russell's Nubia and Abyssinia_, p. 59, Harpers' Family Library.--_Am. Ed._ CHAPTER XVI. Bruce leaves Sennaar.--Crosses the great Desert of Nubia.--His Distress.--Reaches Seyne, on the Nile. On the 8th of September the camels were at last laden, and sent forward to a small village three or four miles from Sennaar. Bruce then finally settled his accounts; "and I received back," he says, "six links, the miserable remains of one hundred and eighty-four, of which my noble chain once consisted." Thus robbed, even of this precious token of his hard-earned honour, Bruce, after having been detained four months at Sennaar, proceeded once again on his journey towards his native land: although he had been so long directing his course to the north, he had still to travel nearly seven hundred miles before he could escape from that burning region of the earth, the torrid zone. His way was long, his path beset with dangers; but the relentless persecution of a tropical sun is what no man can adequately describe: every animal pants beneath it, and the very atmosphere they breathe trembles and quivers like air at the mouth of a furnace; still Bruce resolutely proceeded onward; and, about ten o'clock at night, he and his little party joyfully reached Soliman. He now formally addressed his people; he recommended diligence, sobriety, and subordination; and assured them that, until the journey was terminated, they should share with him one common fare and fortune. Never was a discourse more gratefully received. "Sennaar," says Bruce, "sat heavy upon all their spirits," and beyond description did they rejoice at having escaped from it.