1 6 GAZELLES OF THE DESERT. [c h a p , i
Condition, as their loads did not exceed 400 lbs. each ;
the usual load is 500 lbs.
“ May 24-—Rested both men and beasts. A caravan
of about thirty camels arrived, having lost three during
the route.
May 25 —Started at 5 A.M. The route is along
the margin of the Nile, to which the desert extends.
A fringe of stunted bushes, and groves of the coarse
and inelegant dome palm, mark the banks of the river
by a thicket of about half a mile in width. I saw
many gazelles, and succeeded in stalking a fine buck,
and killing him with a rifle.
“ May 26.—Marched ten hours. Saw gazelles, but
so wild that it was impossible to shoot. Thermometer,
110° Fahr.
“ May 27.—Marched four hours and forty-five
minutes, when we were obliged to halt, as F. is very
ill. In the evening I shot two gazelles, which kept
the party in meat.
“ May 28.—Marched fifteen hours, to make up for
the delay of yesterday. Shot a buck on the route.
“ May 29.—The march of yesterday cut off an angle
of the river, and we made a straight course through
the desert, avoiding a bend of the stream. At 7.30
this morning we met the Nile again; the same character
of country as before, the river full of rocks, and
forming a succession of rapids the entire distance from
Abou Hammed. Navigation at this season is impossible,
and is most dangerous even at flood time. The
simoom is fearful, and the heat is so intense that it
CHAP. i.] DRYNESS OF THE ATMOSPHERE. j y
was impossible to draw the gun cases out of their
leather covers, which it was necessary to cut open.
All woodwork is warped; ivory knife-handles are
split, paper breaks when crunched in the hand, and
the very marrow seems to be dried out of the bones by
this horrible simoom. One of our camels fell down to
die. Shot two buck gazelles; I saw many, but they
are very wild.
May SO.— The extreme dryness of the air induces
an extraordinary amount of electricity in
the hair, and in all woollen materials. A Scotch
plaid laid upon a blanket for a few hours adheres to
it, and upon being roughly withdrawn at night a
sheet of flame is produced, accompanied by tolerably
loud reports.
“ May 31.—After an early march of three hours and
twenty minutes, we arrived at the town of Berber, on
the Nile, at 9.35 a.m . We have been fifty-seven hours
and five minutes actual marching from Abou Hammed,
which, at two and a half miles per hour, equals 143
miles. We have thus marched 3 73 miles fiom Korosko
to Berber in fifteen days; the entire route is the monotonous
Nubian desert. Our camels have averaged
twenty-five miles per day, with loads of 400 lbs., at a
cost of ninety piastres (about 196“.) each, for the whole
distance. This rate, with the addition of the guide’s
expenses, equals about 5s. 6d. per 100 lbs. for carriage
throughout 373 miles of burning desert. Although
this frightful country appears to be cut off from all
communication with the world, the extremely low rate