the errand a fmall prefent. He told me it would be ten
days before he returned to the camp; with which laft intelligence
I was very well pleafed, as thereby no information
could arrive where I was, till I was forgot, or out o f
their power. At ten minutes pail eleven we arrived at Wed
el Frook, a fmall village clofe upon the Nile. Nothing
Could be more beautiful than the country we palled that
day, partly covered with very pleafant woods, and partly in
lawns, with a few fine fcattered trees. The Nile is a ihort
quarter o f a m ile from the village, and is fu lly h a lf a mile
broad. It runs fmooth, and when in inundation, overflows
the fmall fpace o f ground between its prefent banks and
Wed el Frook. It was now confiderably lower than it had
been, and was .confined within its banks.
O n the 19th we fet out from Wed el Frook at h a lf paft five
in the morning, and about four miles from it came to a
large village, and the tomb.of a Fakir, the Nile running all
the w a y parallel to our road. At ten o'clock we came to
another village called Abouafcar; and a little way eaft o f
it, in the river, there is a large illand confiderably above the
water, where fhrubs and grafs grow abundantly. The village
is placed upon a fmall hill, and there are a great many
¡of the fame fize and ihape fcattered about the country on
the banks o f the river, which add greatly to the beauty o f
it, as we had not yet feen fuch fince our leaving Sennaar.
At three quarters pafl one we came to the village o f Kamily.
The country here is more open, the foil lighter, the grafs
ihort and th in ; it is all laid out in pafture, and there is
here plenty o f goats, as well as black cattle. This day we
met a caravan*from Egypt, laft from Chendi, who brought
us wqrd that Ali Bey was depofed, and Mahomet Abou
4 Dahab
Dahab was made Bey in his place, They faid, one part o f
the caravan, that went before them, had been attacked
and cut o ff by the Bifhareen under Abou Bertran; that they
had efcaped by a few hours only, and that all thè road was
fo infefted witlt robbers, that it was a. miracle i f any one
could pafs-
O n the 20th we left Kamily at a quarter pafi five in the
morning,andat aboutfix miles (the diftance between that and
Wed Tyrab) we paffed a bare and fandy country, interfper-
fied with fmall coppices, and three quarters pafl ten came
to Bifhaggara. .This is- a large village, fomething above
a mile’s diftance from the Nile, which fpace is entirely ta ken
up with brufhwood, without any timber trees. We
begin now to fee the effefts o f the quantity o f rain h a v in g .
failed. There was little fown, and that fo late as to be
fcarce ly above the ground. It feems the rains begin later
as they pafs northward. Many people were here employed
in gathering grafs feeds* to make a very bad kind- off
bread. Thefe people appear perfect fkeletons, and: no w on der,
as: they live upon fuch fare. Nothing increafes the
danger o f travelling, and prejudice againft ftrangers, more
than the fearcity o f provifions in the country through which
you are to pafs»
A t fifty minutes pafl three in the afternoon we left Bifhaggara,
and at feven came to Eltie,. a- drag gling village,
a b o u t h a lf a mile from the Nile, in the north o f a large,
bare plain, all pafture, except the banks o f the river,, which
are
* We had £een .this pra&i'fed tòo Hy tHe Agows at the iource'of the Nilfe