while the river Gash affords excellent water. In the
rainy season this should be filtered, as it brings
down many impurities from the torrents of Abyssinia,
but in the heat of summer the river is entirely dry,
and clear and wholesome water is procured from
wells in the sandy bed. The south and south-east
of Cassala is wild and mountainous, affording excellent
localities for hill stations during the unhealthy
rainy season ; but such sanitary arrangements
for the preservation of troops are about as much
heeded by the Egyptian Government as by our own,
and regiments are left in unwholesome climates to
take their chance, although the .means of safety are
at hand.
The Taka country being the extreme frontier of
Egypt, constant raids are made by the Egyptians
upon their neighbours—the hostile Basé, through
which country the river Gash or Mareb descends.
I was anxious to procure all the information possible
concerning the Base, as it would be necessary to
traverse the greater portion in exploring the Settite
river, which is the principal tributary of the Atbara,
and which is in fact the main and parent stream,
although bearing a different name. I heard but one
opinion of the Basé,—it was a wild and independent
country, inhabited by a ferocious race, whose hand
was against every man, and who in return were the
enemies of all by whom they were surrounded—
Egyptians, Abyssinians, Arabs, and Mek Nimmur ;
nevertheless, secure in their mountainous stronghold,
they defied all adversaries. The Basé is a portion
of Abyssinia, but the origin of the tribe that occupies
this ineradicable hornet’s nest is unknown. Whether
they are the remnant of the original Ethiopians, who
possessed the country prior to the conquests of the
Abyssinians, or whether they are descended from the
woolly-haired tribes of the south banks of the Blue
Nile, is equally a mystery ; all we know is that they
are of the same type as the inhabitants of Fazoglé,
of the upper portion of the Blue River; they are
exceedingly black, with woolly hair, resembling in
that respect the negro, but without the flat nose or
prognathous jaw. No quarter is given on either
side, should the Basé meet the Arabs, with whom
war is to the knife. In spite of the overwhelming
superiority of their adversaries, the Basé cannot be
positively subdued; armed with the lance as their
only weapon, but depending upon extreme agility
and the natural difficulties of their mountain passes,
the attack of the Basé is always by stealth ; their
spies are ever prowling about unseen like the
leopard, and their onset is invariably a surprise;
success or defeat are alike followed by a rapid
retreat to their mountains.
As there is nothing to be obtained by the plunder
of the Basé but women and children as slaves, the
country is generally avoided, unless visited for the
express purpose of a slave razzia. Cultivation being
extremely limited, the greater portion of the country
is perfectly wild, and is never visited even by the
Gr