I had not
heard such a sound for months, but a low uninterrupted roll
appeared to increase in volume, although far distant. Hardly had
I raised my head to listen more attentively when a confusion of
voices arose from the Arabs' camp, with a sound of many feet, and
in a few minutes they rushed into my camp, shouting to my men in
the darkness, "El Bahr! El Bahr!" (the river! the river!)
We were up in an instant, and my interpreter, Mahomet, in a state
of intense confusion, explained that the river was coming down,
and that the supposed distant thunder was the roar of approaching
water.
Many of the people were asleep on the clean sand on the river's
bed; these were quickly awakened by the Arabs, who rushed down
the steep bank to save the skulls of my two hippopotami that were
exposed to dry. Hardly had they descended, when the sound of the
river in the darkness beneath told us that the water had arrived,
and the men, dripping with wet, had just sufficient time to drag
their heavy burdens up the bank.
All was darkness and confusion; everybody was talking and no one
listening; but the great event had occurred the river had arrived
"like a thief in the night." On the morning of the 24th June, I
stood on the banks of the noble Atbara river, at the break of
day. The wonder of the desert!--yesterday there was a barren
sheet of glaring sand, with a fringe of withered bush and trees
upon its borders, that cut the yellow expanse of desert. For days
we had journeyed along the exhausted bed: all Nature, even in
Nature's poverty, was most poor: no bush could boast a leaf: no
tree could throw a shade: crisp gums crackled upon the stems of
the mimosas, the sap dried upon the burst bark, sprung with the
withering heat of the simoom. In one night there was a mysterious
change--wonders of the mighty Nile!--an army of water was
hastening to the wasted river: there was no drop of rain, no
thunder-cloud on the horizon to give hope, all had been dry and
sultry; dust and desolation yesterday, to-day a magnificent
stream, some 500 yards in width and from fifteen to twenty feet
in depth, flowed through the dreary desert! Bamboos and reeds,
with trash of all kinds, were hurried along the muddy waters.
Where were all the crowded inhabitants of the pool? The prison
doors were broken, the prisoners were released, and rejoiced in
the mighty stream of the Atbara.
The 24th June, 1861, was a memorable day. Although this was
actually the beginning of my work, I felt that by the experience
of this night I had obtained a clue to one portion of the Nile
mystery, and that, as "coming events cast their shadows before
them," this sudden creation of a river was but the shadow of the
great cause.
The rains were pouring in Abyssinia! these were sources of the
Nile!
One of my Turks, Hadji Achmet, was ill; therefore, although I
longed to travel, it was necessary to wait. I extract verbatim
from my journal, 26th June:--"The river has still risen; the
weather is cooler, and the withered trees and bushes are giving
signs of bursting into leaf. This season may be termed the spring
of this country. The frightful simoom of April, May, and June,
burns everything as though parched by fire, and not even a
withered leaf hangs to a bough, but the trees wear a wintry
appearance in the midst of intense heat. The wild geese have
paired, the birds are building their nests, and, although not
even a drop of dew has fallen, all Nature seems to be aware of an
approaching change, as the south wind blowing cool from the wet
quarter is the harbinger of rain. Already some of the mimosas
begin to afford a shade, under which the gazelles may be surely
found at mid-day; the does are now in fawn, and the young will be
dropped when this now withered land shall be green with herbage.
"Busy, packing for a start to-morrow; I send Hadji Velli back to
Berber in charge of the two hippos' heads to the care of the good
old Halleem Effendi. No time for shooting to-day. I took out all
the hippos' teeth, of which he possesses 40, 10--10,
------
10--10
six tusks and fourteen molars in each jaw. The bones of the
hippopotamus, like those of the elephant, are solid, and without
marrow."
CHAPTER III.
WILD ASSES OF THE DESERT.
THE journey along the margin of the Atbara was similar to the
entire route from Berber, a vast desert, with the narrow band of
trees that marked the course of the river; the only change was
the magical growth of the leaves, which burst hourly from the
swollen buds of the mimosas: this could be accounted for by the
sudden arrival of the river, as the water percolated rapidly
through the sand and nourished the famishing roots.
The tracks of wild asses had been frequent, but hitherto I had
not seen the animals, as their drinking-hour was at night, after
which they travelled far into the desert: however, on the morning
of the 29th June, shortly after the start at about 6 A.M., we
perceived three of these beautiful creatures on our left--an ass,
a female, and a foal. They were about half a mile distant when
first observed, and upon our approach to within half that
distance they halted and faced about; they were evidently on
their return to the desert from the river.
