After Some Hesitation He Consented To This Plan, And
Promised Not Only To Mount Us On Our Journey, But To Send With Us
An Escort Commanded By One Of His Grandsons.
Sofi was about
seventy-eight miles distant.
Abou Sinn had arranged to move northwards on the following day;
we therefore agreed to pass one day in his camp, and to leave for
Sofi the next morning. The ground upon which the Arab encampment
was situated was a tolerably flat surface, like a shelf, upon the
slope of the Atbara valley, about thirty or forty feet below the
rich table lands; the surface of this was perfectly firm, as by
the constant rains it had been entirely denuded of the loam that
had formed the upper stratum. This formed a charming place for
the encampment of a large party, as the ground was perfectly
clean, a mixture of quartz pebbles upon a hard white sandstone.
Numerous mimosas afforded a shade, beneath which the Arabs sat in
groups, and at the bottom of the valley flowed the Atbara.
This tribe, which was peculiarly that of Abou Sinn, and from
which he had sprung, was the Shookeriyah, one of the most
powerful among the numerous tribes of Upper Egypt.
From Korosko to this point we had already passed the Bedouins,
Bishareens, Hadendowas, Hallongas, until we had entered the
Shookeriyahs. On the west of our present position were the
Jalyns, and to the south near Sofi were the Dabainas. Many of the
tribes claim a right to the title of Bedouins, as descended from
that race.
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