Ihowers. It is alfo called Beladullah, or the Country o f God,
on account o f this double bleffing. The dates o f Gerri are
fent to the Mek, and are referved on purpofe for him. They
are dry, and never ripen, nor have any o f the inoift and
pulpy fubftance o f the dates o f Barbary. They are firm
and fmooth in the ikin, and o f a golden.colour.
On the ill o f Oftober, at ha lf pail five in the morning
we left Gerri, the Acaba continuing on the eaft and weft,
but the two extremities curving like a bow or an amphitheatre.
This ridge o f mountains is compofed o f bare, red
ftone, without any grafs. At ten minutes after eight we
changed our road to N. E. endeavouring to turn the point
Of the Acaba about three miles off, and at ten o’clock alighted
among green trees to feed our camels. At three o’clock
in the afternoon we left our refting-placc in the wood. The
mountains, which were then on our left hand, are thofe o f
the Acaba o f Gerri^ but thofe on the right ftill ran parallel
to our eourfe.and ended in the Acaba o f Mornefs t we were
now two miles from the river, its courfe due north. About
twenty minutes pail four w e came to the Acaba o f Mornefs,
a ridge o f bare, llony hills, and half an hour after we palled
it. There is very little afcent, and the. road is only loofe,
broken Hones, which lail about a quarter o f an hour.
A t fix o’clock in the evening we came to Hajar el Allad,
or Hajar Serrareek, the firft lignifying the Lion’s Stone, the
next the Stone o f Thieves, a beggarly, ftraggling village,
where there is a fakia, and fmall ftripes o f dora, as i f fown
in a garden, and watered from the well at pleafure. Hajar
el Allad is the boundary between Wed Ageeb and the Mek
■ o f Chendi ; it is a yellow Hone fet upon a rock, which they
¿2 . imagine
imagine has the figure o f a -lion. We now alighted near
ha lf a mile from the river, in a fmall plain, where was only
one Ihepherd with his cot and flock. At fome diftance, near
the river, there was a hou-fe or two with fakies. September
is the feed-time in. this country. When the Nile is at it«
height, the flat ground along the fide o f the water, which
is about a quarter o f a mile broad,; is fown with dora, as
far as water can be condudted in rills to it, but after This
ihort fpace, the ground rifes immediately ; there the har-
vell-time is in November ; and the feed-time at Sennaar is
in July, and their harveft in September ; both regulated by
the height o f the. Nile at the- refpeftive places. -
O n the id o f Oftober, at h a lf pall five in the morning we
lêft Hajar el Affad ; for the two laft days paft our journey lay
through woods and defert, without; water or villages ; we
relied upon the Nile, which foon receded from us. After
having gone about two miles we faw fome fmall houfes
and fakies, with narrow ftripes o f corn on both fides o f the
river. About a mile further, w e began, inllead o f the fandy
defert, to fee large llratums o f purple, red and white mart
ble, and alfo alaballer. It feems as i f thofe immenfe quarries,
which run into Upper Egypt io°N. from this,.firll take
their rife here. This day- w e journied through woods o f
acacia and jujebs. At twenty minutes pall eight we alighted
in a wood to feed our camels.- The fun was fo immoderately
hot that we could not travel. The Nile frona Gerr
i declines almoft infenfibly from the E. o f N. The whole
country is defert and without inhabitants, faving the banks
o f the river ; for there are here no regular rains that can
be depended upon at any certain time for the purpofe o f
agriculture ; only there fall violent ihowers at the time :
the-;