tunately tlie tent was well secured with four powerful
storm-ropes fastened from the top of the pole, and
pinned about twenty-five yards from the base to
iron bars driven deep into the hard ground; but the
night was passed in the discomforts of a deluge that,
driven by the hurricane, swept through the tent, which
threatened every minute to desert us in shreds. On
the following morning the storm had passed away,
.and the small tent had done likewise, having been
blown down and carried many yards from the spot
where it had been pitched. Mahomet, who was the
occupant, had found himself suddenly enveloped in
wet canvas, from which he had emerged, like a frog
in the storm. There was no time to be lost in completing
my permanent camp; I therefore sent for the
sheik of the village, and proceeded to purchase a
house. I accompanied him through the narrow lanes
of Sofi, and was quickly shown a remarkably neat
house, which I succeeded in purchasing from the
owner for the sum of ten piastres (two shillings).
This did not seem an extravagant outlay for a neat
dwelling with a sound roof; neither were there any
legal expenses in the form of conveyance, as in that
happy and practical land the simple form of conveyance
is the transportation of the house (the roof),
upon the shoulders of about thirty men, and thus it
is conveyed to any spot that the purchaser may consider
desirable. Accordingly, our mansion was at
once seized by a crowd of Arabs, and carried off in
triumph, while the sticks that formed the wall were
quickly arranged upon the site I had chosen for our
camp. In the short space of about three hours I
found myself the proprietor of an eligible freehold
residence, situated upon an eminence in park-like
grounds, commanding extensive and romantic views
of the beautifully-wooded valley of the Atbara, within
a minute’s walk of the neighbouring village of Sofi,
perfect immunity from all poor-rates, tithes, taxes,
and other public burthens, not more than 2,000 miles
from a church, with the advantage of a post-town
at the easy distance of seventy leagues. The manor
comprised the right of shooting throughout the parishes
of Abyssinia and Soudan, plentifully stocked with
elephants, lions, rhinoceros, giraffes, buffaloes, hippopotami,
leopards, and a great variety of antelopes,
while the right of fishing extended throughout the
Atbara and neighbouring rivers, that were well stocked
with fish ranging from five to a hundred and fifty
pounds ; also with turtles and crocodiles.
The mansion comprised entrance-hall, dining-room,
drawing-room, lady’s boudoir, library, breakfast-room,
bedroom and dressing-room (with the great advantage
of their combination in one circular room fourteen
feet in diameter). The architecture was of an ancient
style, from the original design of a pill-box surmounted
by a candle extinguisher.
Thus might my estate have been described by an
English estate agent and auctioneer, with a better
foundation of fact than many newspaper advertisements.