As We Descended The Valley, We Perceived
Great Crowds Of People In And About The Town, Which, In
Appearance, Was Merely A Repetition Of Katariff.
It was
market-day, and as we descended the hill and arrived in the scene
below, with our nine
Camels heavily laden with the heads and
horns of a multitude of different beasts, from the gaping jaws of
hippopotami to the vicious-looking heads of rhinoceros and
buffalo, while the skins of lions and various antelopes were
piled above masses of the much-prized hide of the rhinoceros, we
were beset by crowds of people who were curious to know whence so
strange a party had appeared. We formed a regular procession
through the market, our Tokrooris feeling quite at home among so
many of their brethren. Upon our arrival at the extremity of the
valley, we were horribly disgusted at the appearance of the
water. A trifling stream of about two inches in depth trickled
over a bed of sand, shaded by a grove of trees. The putrefying
bodies of about half a dozen donkeys, three or four camels, and
the remains of a number of horses, lay in and about the margin of
the water. Nevertheless, the natives had scraped small holes in
the sand, as filters, and thus they were satisfied with this
poisonous fluid; in some of these holes, the women were washing
their filthy clothes. I immediately determined to follow up
stream, until I should arrive at some clear spot above these
horrible impurities, that were sufficient to create a pestilence.
Ascending the rising ground, I found on the summit, at about half
a mile distant, an immense sycamore (Ficus sycamorus), whose
green and wide-spreading branches afforded a tempting shade. Not
far from this spot, I found the bed of a dry torrent that flowed
into the poisoned stream of Gallabat. I ordered my men to dig a
deep hole in the sand, which fortunately discovered clear and
good-flavoured water. We immediately pitched tents close to the
sycamore. From this elevation, about a hundred and fifty feet
above Gallabat, we had a beautiful view of the amphitheatre of
hills and mountains, while the crowded town lay below, as in the
bottom of a basin. The Atbara was not far distant in the ravine
between the hill ranges, as it had made a sharp angle at Toganai,
and altered its direction to the north.
Our arrival had made some stir in Gallabat, and many people had
followed us, and stared with much curiosity at the collection of
hunting trophies. Among our visitors was an Abyssinian merchant,
Jusef, whose acquaintance I had formerly made at Cassala; he was
an agreeable and well-informed man, who had been in Paris and
London and spoke French and English tolerably. I accompanied him
for a stroll through the market, and was introduced by him to a
number of the principal Abyssinian merchants. The principal trade
of Gallabat, which is the market-place for all commerce between
Abyssinia and the Egyptian provinces, is in cotton, coffee,
bees'-wax, and hides.
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