Mahomet strained his eyes, but the blank was no
optical delusion ; neither Achmet nor his effects were
there. The Arabs, who hated the unfortunate Mahomet
for his general overbearing conduct, now
comforted him with the suggestion that Achmet had
run away, and that his only chance was to re-cross
the river and give chase. Mahomet would not have
ventured upon another voyage to the other side and
back again, for the world, and as to giving chase in
boots (highlows) four sizes too big, and without
strings, that would have been as absurd as to
employ a donkey to catch a horse. Mahomet could
do nothing but rush frantically to the very edge of
the cliff, and scream and gesticulate to a crowd of
Arab women who had passed the day beneath the
shady trees by the Faky’s grave, watching our passage
of the Atbara. Beating his own O head and tearinOg his
hair were always the safety valves of Mahomet’s rage,
but as hair is not of that mushroom growth that reappears
in a night, he had patches upon his cranium
as bald as a pumpkin shell, from the constant plucking,
attendant upon losses of temper; he now not only
tore a few extra locks from his head, but he shouted
out a tirade of abuse towards the far-distant Achmet,
calling him a “ son of a dog,” cursing his father, and
paying a few compliments to the memory of his
mother, which if only half were founded upon fact
were sad blots upon the morality of the family to
which Mahomet himself belonged, through his close
relationship to Achmet, whom he had declared to
be his mother’s brother’s cousin’s sister’s mother’s
son.A heavy shower of rain fell shortly after our camp
was completed, when fortunately the baggage was
under cover ; this proved to be the last rain of the
season, and from that moment the burning sun
ruled the sodden country, and rapidly dried up
not only the soil but all vegetation. The grass
within a few days of the cessation of the rain
assumed a tinge of yellow, and by the end of
October there was not a green spot to relieve the
eye from the golden blaze of the landscape, except
the patches of grass and reeds that sprang from
the mud banks of the retiring river. The climate
was exceedingly unhealthy, but we were fortunately
exceptions to the . general rule, and although the
inhabitants of Sofi were all sufferers, our camp
had no invalids, with the exception of Mahomet,
who had upon one occasion so gorged himself
with half-putrid fish, that he nearly died in consequence.
It would be impossible to commence
our explorations in the Basé until the grass
should be sufficiently dry to burn ; there were two
varieties : that upon the slopes and hollows of the
stony soil of the Atbara valley had been a pest
ever since it had ripened ; as the head formed
three barbed darts, these detached themselves from
the plant with such facility, that the slightest
touch was sufficient to dislodge them ; they immediately
pierced the clothes, from which they "could
p