Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume 4 (of 5): In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773Bruce, James
History
Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume 4 (of 5): In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773
Bruce, James
Egypt -- Description and travel; Ethiopia -- Description and travel; Ethiopia -- History; Natural history -- Ethiopia; Nile River
Basboch is on the eastern bank of the Nile, not a quarter of a mile
from the ford below. The river here runs north and south; towards the
sides it is shallow, but deep in the middle of the current, and in
this part it is much infested with crocodiles. Sennaar is two miles
and a half S. S. W. of it. We heard the evening drum very distinctly,
and not without anxiety, when we reflected to what a brutish people,
according to all accounts, we were about to trust ourselves. The
village of Aira, where the vizir Adelan had then his quarters, was
three miles south and by west.
Next morning, the 27th, Shekh Adelan's servant left us to the charge
of the Nuba, to give his master an account of his journey, and our
safe arrival. He found Mahomet, the king's servant, our other guide,
before him there, and Adelan well informed of all that had passed
relating to Fidele, though not from Mahomet; for as soon as he began
to mention that he had found us at Teawa, Adelan said in a very angry
stile, "Will no one save me the disgrace of hanging that wretch?"
Adelan sent back his servant to inform us, that, two days afterwards,
we should be admitted. Mahomet, the king's servant, too, came back
with him, and staid till the evening; then he returned to Sennaar; but
he did not give us the satisfaction to tell us one word of what the
king had said to him about us, or how we were likely to be received,
leaving us altogether in suspence.
On the 29th, leave was sent us to enter Sennaar. It was not without
some difficulty that we got our quadrant and heavy baggage safely
carried down the hill, for the banks are very steep to the edge of
the water. The intention of our assistants was to slide the quadrant
down the hill, in its case, which would have utterly destroyed it; and
as our boat was but a very indifferent embarkation, it was obliged to
make several turns to and fro before we got all our several packages
landed on the western side. This assemblage, and the passage of our
camels, seemed to have excited the appetite, or the curiosity, of
the crocodiles. One, in particular, swam several times backwards
and forwards along the side of the boat, without, however, making
any attack upon any of us; but, being exceedingly tired of such
company, upon his second or third venture over, I fired at him with
a rifle-gun, and shot him directly under his fore shoulder in the
belly. The wound was undoubtedly mortal, and very few animals could
have lived a moment after receiving it. He, however, dived to the
bottom, leaving the water deeply tinged with his blood. Nor did we
see him again at that time; but the people at the ferry brought him
to me the day after, having found him perfectly dead. He was about
twelve feet long; and the boatmen told me that these are by much the
most dangerous, being more fierce and active than the large ones. The
people of Sennaar eat the crocodile, especially the Nuba. I never
tasted it myself, but it looks very much like Congor eel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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