In
Despair At The Loss, My Men Followed In Hot Pursuit, And Two Of
The Tokrooris Overtook Her, And Held On To Her Tail Like
Bull-Dogs, Although Dragged For Some Distance, At Full Gallop
Through Thorns And Ruts, Until The Other Men Arrived And
Overpowered The Thin, But Wiry Animal.
When slaughtered, there
was a great squabble between my men and the Abyssinians, who
endeavoured to steal the meat.
CHAPTER XVIII.
A CAMEL FALLS, AND DIES.
I EXTRACT a few notes from my journal:--
"March 25, 1862.--Mai Gubba is about twelve miles E.N.E. of our
camp. Mek Nimmur's stronghold is upon a lofty table-mountain, due
south of this spot, from which great elevation (about 5,000 feet)
the granite mountain of Cassala is said to be plainly visible.
"March 27.--We started for the Bahr Salaam, and said good-bye to
Mek Nimmur, as we passed his position on our march; he had given
us a guide; an awful-looking scoundrel.
"We had hardly marched two miles, when one of the baggage-camels
suddenly fell down to die; the Arabs immediately cut its throat
with a sword, and Bacheet, having detached one ear as a witness
of its death, galloped back to borrow a fresh camel of Mek
Nimmur, which he very kindly sent without delay. We were obliged
to bivouac on the spot for the night, as the Arabs required the
flesh of their camel, which was cut into thin strips. As they
were employed in skinning it, they ate large quantities raw and
quivering. The stream, or hor, that flows through this country,
parallel with our route, is the Ma Serdi; all this district is
rich in copper.
"March 28.--Started at 5 A.M. course S.W. We crossed two hors,
flowing from N.N.W. and joining the Ma Serdi; also a beautiful
running stream of deep and clear water twelve miles from our
bivouac of last evening: this stream is never dry; it springs
from a range of hills about ten miles distant. The whole of this
country is well watered by mountain streams, the trees are no
longer the thorny mimosas, but as the land is not only fertile,
but sufficiently moist, it gives birth to a different kind of
vegetation, and the trees are mostly free from thorns, although
at this season devoid of foliage. The country is ornamented by
extensive cultivation, and numerous villages. We halted at 5 P.M.
having marched twenty-one miles. The fertile soil of this country
is thoroughly melted by rain during the wet season, and in the
intense heat of the drought it becomes a mass of gaping crevices
many feet deep, that render hunting on horseback most dangerous.
Fortunately, as we halted, I observed a herd of tetel, and three
ostriches: the latter made off immediately, but I succeeded in
stalking the tetel, and shot two, right and left, one of which
escaped, but the other became the prize of my Tokrooris.
"March 29.--Started at 5.30 A.M. and reached the river Salaam at
8 A.M.; the total distance from our camp in Mek Nimmur's country
is thirty-five miles S.W. The Bahr Salaam is precisely similar in
character to the Settite, but smaller; it has scooped through the
rich lands a deep valley, like the latter river, and has
transported the fertile loam to the Atbara, to increase the rich
store of mud which that river delivers to the Nile. The Salaam is
about two hundred yards wide; it flows through perpendicular
cliffs that form walls of rock, in many places from eighty to a
hundred and fifty feet above its bed; the water is as clear as
crystal, and of excellent quality; even now, a strong though
contracted stream is running over the rounded pebbles that form
its bed, similar to that of the Settite. We descended a difficult
path, and continued along the dry portion of the river's bed up
the stream. While we were searching for a spot to encamp, I saw
a fine bull mehedehet (A. Redunca Ellipsiprymna) by the water
side; I stalked him carefully from behind a bed of high rushes,
and shot him across the river with the Fletcher rifle; he went
on, although crippled, but the left-hand barrel settled him by a
bullet through the neck. We camped on the bank of the river.
"March 30.--I went out to explore the country, and, steering due
east, I arrived at the river Angrab or Angarep, three miles from
the Salaam; from a high rock I could trace its course from the
mountain gorge to this spot, the stream flowing N.W. This noble
river or mountain torrent is about a hundred and fifty yards
wide, although the breadth varies according to the character of
the country through which it passes; in most places it rushes
through frightful precipices; sometimes it is walled within a
channel of only forty or fifty yards, and in such places the
cliffs, although at least a hundred feet perpendicular height,
bear the marks of floods that have actually overtopped the rocks,
and have torn away the earth, and left masses of bamboos and
withered reeds clinging to the branches of trees, which, growing
on still higher rocks, have dipped in the swollen torrent. I
followed the circuitous course of the river for some miles,
until, after a most fatiguing exploration among precipices and
deep ravines, I arrived at the junction of the Salaam river. On
the way, I came upon a fine bull nellut (A. Strepsiceros) beneath
a shady nabbuk by the river's side; I could only obtain an
oblique shot, as his hind quarters were towards me; the bullet
passed through the ribs, and reached the shoulder upon the
opposite side. This nellut had the finest horns that I had yet
obtained; they measured four feet in the curve, three feet one
inch and a half in a straight line, with a spread of two feet
seven inches from point to point.
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