Every Day, Without Exception, And Generally For
Several Hours Of The Night, The Lightning Flashed And Thunder
Roared With Little Intermission, While The Rain Poured In Such
Torrents That The Entire Country Became Perfectly Impassable,
With The Exception Of The Hard Ground Of The Atbara Valley.
The
rich loam of the table land had risen like leavened dough, and
was knee-deep in adhesive mud; the grass upon this surface grew
with such rapidity that in a few weeks it reached a height of
nine or ten feet.
The mud rushed in torrents down the countless
watercourses, which were now in their greatest activity in
hurrying away the fertile soil of Egypt; and the glorious Atbara
was at its maximum.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT.
TIME glided away smoothly at our camp amidst the storms of the
rainy season. The Arabs had nothing to do, and suffered much from
the absence of their herds, as there was a great scarcity of
milk. The only animals that had not been sent to the north were
a few goats; these were so teased by the flies that they produced
but a small supply. Fever had appeared at the same time with the
flies, and every one was suffering more or less, especially
Florian, who was seriously ill. I was in full practice as
physician, and we congratulated ourselves upon the healthiness of
our little isolated camp, when suddenly my wife was prostrated by
a severe attack of gastric fever, which for nine days rendered
her recovery almost hopeless.
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