The various officers appeared to be vestiges from
Noah's ark in point of antiquity; thus a close shave with a reef and a
near rub with a strange vessel were little incidents that might be
expected in the Red Sea.
We anchored safely in the harbour of Souakim; and landed my twenty-one
horses without accident.
I was met by the governor, my old friend Moomtazz Bey, a highly
intelligent Circassian officer, who had shown me much kindness on my
former expedition.
A week's delay in Souakim was necessary to obtain camels. In fourteen
days we crossed the desert 275 miles to Berber on the Nile, and found a
steamer and diahbeeah in readiness. We arrived at Khartoum, a distance
of 200 miles by river, in three days, having accomplished the voyage
from Suez in the short space of thirty-two days, including stoppages.
Khartoum was not changed externally; but I had observed with dismay a
frightful change in the features of the country between Berber and the
capital since my former visit. The rich soil on the banks of the river,
which had a few years since been highly cultivated, was abandoned. Now
and then a tuft of neglected date-palms might be seen, but the river's
banks, formerly verdant with heavy crops, had become a wilderness.
Villages once crowded had entirely disappeared; the population was gone.
Irrigation had ceased.
