In
Flood-Time A Tremendous Torrent Sweeps Down The Course Of The
Atbara, And The Sudden Bends Of The River Are Hollowed Out By The
Force Of The Stream To A Depth Of Twenty Or Thirty Feet Below The
Level Of The Bed.
Accordingly these holes become reservoirs of
water when the river is otherwise exhausted.
In such asylums all
the usual inhabitants of this large river are crowded together in
a comparatively narrow space. Although these pools vary in size,
from only a few hundred yards to a mile in length, they are
positively full of life; huge fish, crocodiles of immense size,
turtles, and occasionally hippopotami, consort together in close
and unwished-for proximity.
The animals of the desert--gazelles, hyaenas, and wild asses--are
compelled to resort to these crowded drinking-places, occupied by
the flocks of the Arabs equally with the timid beasts of the
chase. The birds that during the cooler months would wander free
throughout the country, are now collected in vast numbers along
the margin of the exhausted river; innumerable doves, varying in
species, throng the trees and seek the shade of the dome palms;
thousands of desert grouse arrive morning and evening to drink
and to depart; while birds in multitudes, of lovely plumage,
escape from the burning desert, and colonize the poor but welcome
bushes that fringe the Atbara river.
The heat was intense. As we travelled along the margin of the
Atbara, and felt with the suffering animals the exhaustion of the
clinmate, I acknowledged the grandeur of the Nile that could
overcome the absorption of such thirsty sands, and the
evaporation caused by the burning atmosphere of Nubia. For nearly
1,200 miles from the junction of the Atbara with the parent
stream to the Mediterranean, not one streamlet joined the
mysterious river, neither one drop of rain ruffled its waters,
unless a rare thunder-shower, as a curious phenomenon, startled
the Arabs as they travelled along the desert. Nevertheless the
Nile overcame its enemies, while the Atbara shrank to a skeleton,
bare and exhausted, reduced to a few pools that lay like blotches
along the broad surface of glowing sand.
Notwithstanding the overpowering sun, there were certain
advantages to the traveller at this season; it was unnecessary to
carry a large supply of water, as it could be obtained at
intervals of a few miles. There was an indescribable delight in
the cool night, when, in the perfect certainty of fine weather,
we could rest in the open air with the clear bright starlit sky
above us. There were no mosquitoes, neither were there any of the
insect plagues of the tropics; the air was too dry for the gnat
tribe, and the moment of sunset was the signal for perfect
enjoyment, free from the usual drawbacks of African travel. As
the river pools were the only drinking-places for birds and game,
the gun supplied not only my own party, but I had much to give
away to the Arabs in exchange for goat's milk, the meal of the
dome nuts, &c. Gazelles were exceedingly numerous, but shy, and
so difficult to approach that they required most careful
stalking.
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