beyond the alluring clump of trees, along tire wild
desert of hot sand without a habitation; the only
portion of truth in the Faky’s description was the
“ lovely view of the river,”, that certainly accompanied
us throughout our journey. We were regularly
“ sold” by the cunning Faky, who, not wishing
to be incommoded with our party, had got rid of
us in a most gentlemanly manner. At length we
arrived at a village, where we had much difficulty
in procuring provisions for ourselves and people.
On the 11th June, having slept at the village of
Abou Dome, we started at sunrise, and at 9 A.M.
we reached the bank of the river, opposite to
Khartoum. We were delighted with the view, as
the morning sun shone upon the capital of the
Soudan provinces ; the groves of date trees shaded
the numerous buildings, contrasting exquisitely their
dark green foliage with the many coloured houses
on the extreme margin of the beautiful river; long
lines of vessels and masts gave life to the scene,
and we felt that once more, after twelve months
of utterly wild life, we had arrived in civilization.
We had outridden our camels,, therefore we rode1
through a shallow arm of the river, and arrived
upon an extensive sandbank that had been converted
into a garden of melons; from this point, a large
ferry-boat plied regularly to the town on the south
bank. In a few minutes we found ourselves on
board, with our sole remaining horse, Tetel, also the
donkeys, that we had, purchased in Berber before
our expedition, and our attendants. As we gained
the centre of the river, that was about 800 yards
broad, we were greeted by the snort of three of our
old friends, the hippopotami, who had been attracted
to the neighbourhood by the garden of water-melons.
We landed at Khartoum, and, having climbed up the
steep bank, we inquired the way to the British;
Consulate.
The difference between the view of Khartoum at
the distance of a mile, with the sun shining upon
the bright river Nile in the foreground, to the
appearance of the town upon close inspection, was
about equal to the scenery of a theatre as regarded
from the boxes or from the stage ; even that painful
exposure of an optical illusion would be trifling
compared with the imposture' of Khartoum; the
sense of sight had been deceived by distance, but
the sense of smell was outraged by. innumerable
nuisances, when we set foot within the filthy and
miserable town. After winding through some narrow
dusty lanes, hemmed in by high walls of sunbaked
bricks, that had fallen in gaps in several places,
exposing gardens of prickly pears and date palms,
we at length arrived at a large open place, that,
if possible, smelt more strongly than the landing
spot. Around this square, which was full of holes
where' the mud had been excavated for brickmaking,
were the better class of houses; this was the
Belgravia of Khartoum. In the centre of a long
mud wall, ventilated by certain attempts at frame