Bruce leaves Gondar and travels to Sennaar, the Capital of Nubia.

On the 26th of December, 1771, at one o'clock in the afternoon, Bruce, after having resided in Abyssinia two years and three months, took leave of Gondar and proceeded to the palace at Koscam. The king, who had done everything to delay his departure, still continued to trouble him with advice, and to throw trifling difficulties in his way; but Bruce at last declared to him that his servants had already set out, that he was determined to follow them the next morning, and begged that he might be left to follow his own fortunes, whatever they might be.

On the morning of his departure, an officer of rank and fifty mounted soldiers were sent by the king to attend him; but, being convinced that any distinction with which he might travel in Abyssinia would only increase his difficulties in passing through Sennaar, he declined the escort, and, starting on his perilous journey, he slowly ascended the mountain which overlooks the palace of Koscam.

He was accompanied by three Greeks, one of whom had been his servant ever since he left Cairo; another, named Georgis, was infirm, and nearly blind; while the rest of the party consisted of an old Turkish janisary, who had come into Abyssinia in the escort of the abuna, a Copt, who left Bruce at Sennaar, and a few common muleteers.

"All the disasters," says Bruce, "which I had been threatened with in the course of that journey which I had thus begun, now presented themselves to my mind, and made, for a moment, a strong impression upon my spirits. But it was too late to draw back; the die was cast, for life or for death; home was before me, however distant! and if, through the protection of Providence, I should be fortunate enough to arrive there, I promised myself both ease and the applause of my country, and of all unprejudiced men of sense and learning in Europe, for having, by my own private efforts alone, completed a discovery which had from early ages defied the address, industry, and courage of all the world."

These expressions have been construed by Bruce's enemies into the language of arrogance and conceit; and it would certainly have been well for him if he had confined his thoughts to his own breast, and, treating his reader with greater reserve, had declined intrusting to him the secret feelings of his heart; but, right or wrong, prudent or imprudent, it was not in Bruce's nature to conceal his sentiments.

On the evening of the 28th, as Bruce and his party were in the vicinity of a very thick wood, they were suddenly surrounded by a multitude of men armed with lances, shields, slings, and clubs. A volley of stones having been thrown by these people, Bruce ordered a couple of shots to be fired over their heads. This hint they seemed perfectly to understand, but, retreating to the top of a hill farther off, they continued whooping, shrieking, and making violent gesticulations; when Bruce sent a message to them by a woman, that, if they continued to show the smallest sign of aggression, he would burn their town, and put every one of them to the sword. This bravado had its effect, and a very submissive answer was returned.

For five days Bruce steadily pursued his journey through a rugged country covered with thick woods. On the 2d of January, 1772, he approached the town of Tcherkin, and pitched his tent in the market-place, which appeared like a beautiful lawn, shaded with fine old trees of an enormous growth, and watered by a limpid brook, that ran over pebbles as white as snow. As soon as he reached the town, a man waited on him to say that he was the servant of Ayto Confu, and that he had orders to conduct Bruce into the presence of his master. He accordingly followed to a house built on the edge of a precipice, where he was startled, and most agreeably, by being introduced to Ozoro Esther, whom he found sitting on an ottoman or couch, with the beautiful Tecla Mariam at her feet. "Ozoro Esther!" exclaimed Bruce, "I cannot speak for surprise; what is the meaning of your having left Gondar to come into this wilderness?" "There is nothing so strange in it," she replied; "the troops of Begemder having taken away my husband, Ras Michael, God knows where, and, therefore, being now a single woman, I am resolved to go to Jerusalem to pray for my husband, to die there, and to be buried in the Holy Sepulchre. You would not stay with us, so we are going with you. Is there anything surprising in all this?"

"But tell me truly," said Tecla Mariam, "you that know everything by peeping and poring through those long glasses, did not you learn by the stars that we were to meet you here?" "Madam," answered Bruce, "if there was one star in the firmament that had announced to me such agreeable news, I should have relapsed into the idolatry of this country, and worshipped that star for the rest of my life."

Breakfast now appeared; the conversation took a natural and very lively turn. Bruce learned that the king, from gratitude to Ras Michael, had given some villages to Ozoro Esther, and that her son Ayto Confu, who happened to be going to Tcherkin to hunt, had offered to put her in possession of her new property.

"We now," says Bruce, "wanted only the presence of Ayto Confu to make our happiness complete; he came about four, and with him a great company. There was nothing but rejoicing on all sides. Seven ladies, relations and companions of Ozoro Esther, came with Ayto Confu, and I confess this to have been one of the happiest moments of my life. I quite forgot the disastrous journey I had before me, and all the dangers that awaited me. I began even to regret being so far on my way to leave Abyssinia for ever."

Confu having come to Tcherkin on purpose to hunt, Bruce was easily persuaded to join in the amusement, particularly as he learned that there was a great quantity of all sorts of game, elephants, rhinoceroses, buffaloes, &c. On the 6th, an hour before daybreak, the party mounted their horses, attended by a number of people who made hunting the elephant their particular occupation. These men dwell constantly in the woods, and subsist principally on the flesh of the enormous animals which they slay. They are thin, slight, active people, of a swarthy complexion, but with European features, and are called Agageer, from the word Agar, which means "to hamstring."

The manner in which they kill the elephant is as follows: two men, entirely naked, mount a single horse; one has nothing in his hand but a switch or a short stick, which he uses to manage the animal, while his comrade, armed with a broadsword, sits patiently behind him. As soon as the elephant is discovered feeding, the horsemen ride before him, as near his face as possible, and, crossing him in all directions, they each vauntingly exclaim, "I am such a man, and such a man; this is my horse, that has such a name; I killed your father in such a place, and your grandfather in such another place, and now I am come to kill you, who are but an ass in comparison to them!" This nonsense (which is used by the Abyssinians to almost every description of enemy) the man actually fancies is understood by the enormous beast, who, getting at last vexed and angry at being so pestered, rushes at the horse, following and turning after him, and endeavouring to seize him with his trunk, or, by a single blow with it, to level him with the dust. While the elephant is thus occupied, the horseman suddenly wheels about, and then, rapidly riding past him, the swordsman slips off and cuts his tendon just above the heel of the hind leg. The horseman now wheels again, and, returning at full gallop, his companion vaults up behind him. The mischief being done, and the poor victim, as it were, tethered to the ground, the horsemen leave him to look for another of the herd, while a party on foot attack him with lances, and at last put an end to his sufferings and his life.

One of the greatest dangers in riding after the elephant proceeds from the stumps of the trees which he breaks in forcing his way among them, and also from the young trees which, bending without breaking, recoil with such violence that they often have been known to dash both horse and driver to the ground; whereupon the elephant generally turns, and, trampling on his puny enemy, luxuriously tears in pieces "the lord of the creation," limb by limb. Besides this, the soil, like that of all hot countries during the dry season, is cracked and split into such deep chasms, that riding is attended with very great danger.

After hunting the elephant and the rhinoceros for some days, Bruce was anxious to proceed on his journey, but Ozoro Esther insisted on his remaining with her until she and her attendants returned to Gondar.

At last, on the 15th of January, they separated. Bruce on that day bade adieu to his Abyssinian friends, and to the beautiful Ozoro Esther, for whom he had long entertained a feeling of esteem and affection.

With a heavy heart he now left Tcherkin, and the road being bad and intricate, and the camels overladen, his party proceeded very slowly. During the whole day they travelled through woods which were almost impenetrable. The thermometer was often at 115°, there was little or no motion in the air, and the ground was rent in every direction by the excessive heat. Occasionally they crossed pools of impure muddy water, the resort of buffaloes and elephants, and, reaching the banks of the river Woldo, they passed the night there in no little alarm from human footmarks in the sand, which, by the length of the foot and the breadth of the heel, the guides pronounced to be Shangalla.

Early next morning they were again on their journey, and in about five hours they reached Sancaha, the old frontier territory of Abyssinia, and which was subject to Bruce's government of Ras el Feel. The town consisted of about three hundred huts neatly built of canes, and curiously thatched with leaves of the same. The immense plain which surrounds it belongs to no one, and its wilds and woods are the haunts of beasts of various descriptions.

As soon as Bruce had encamped, he sent to Gimbaro, the chief of the Sancaha, to demand provisions for his party and their camels. A very impertinent answer was returned; when Bruce immediately armed himself with a fusil and a pair of pistols, and took with him two of his servants, each carrying pistols and a ship's blunderbuss. After mounting a hill with so much difficulty that they were several times obliged to pull each other up by the hands, they reached the residence of the chief, and entered a large room of about fifty feet in length. The walls were all covered with elephants' heads and trunks, and with the skeleton heads of rhinoceroses, enormous hippopotami, and giraffes; lions' skins were on the floor, and at the end of the room, naked and upright, stood Gimbaro, "the largest man," says Bruce, "I ever remember to have seen, perfectly black, flat-nosed, thick-lipped, and woolly-headed, a picture of those cannibal giants which we read of as inhabiting enchanted castles in the fairy tales."

Gimbaro scarcely noticed our traveller when first he entered the room; but, finding that no obeisance was offered to himself, he at last stepped awkwardly forward, bowed, and attempted to kiss his hand. "I apprehend, sir," said Bruce, with great firmness, and at the same time drawing away his hand, "you do not know me?" Gimbaro bowed, and said he did, but that he was not at first aware who it was that had encamped at the brook: he added, that the message he had sent was only in sport! "And was it sport, sir," said Bruce, "when you said you would send me the flesh of elephants to eat? Did you ever know a Christian eat any sort of flesh that a Mohammedan killed?" "No," replied Gimbaro; and, begging Bruce's pardon, he promised to send him bread, honey, camels, etc.

Bruce, having thus gained his object, returned to his tent, and the next morning continued his march. The second day they were preceded on their journey by a lion, which generally kept about a gunshot before them; but, whenever it came to an open or bare spot, the creature crouched down and growled, as if it had made up its mind to dispute the way. "Our beasts," says Bruce, "trembled, and were all covered with sweat, and could scarcely be kept on the road. As there seemed to be but one remedy for this difficulty, I took a long Turkish rifle gun, and, crawling under a bank as near as possible, shot it in the body, so that it fell from the bank on the road before us quite dead, and even without muscular motion."

Proceeding on their journey, they passed the corpse of a man who had evidently been murdered, for his throat was cut, and he was also hamstrung. The next day they suffered exceedingly; their clothes were torn to rags, and men and beasts were equally exhausted; the forests were swarming with game, particularly Guinea-fowls and paroquets; and when one of the party fired his gun, the first probably that had ever resounded in these woods, there was instantly such a wild scream of terror from birds on all sides, some flying to the place whence the noise came, and some flying from it, that the confusion of the moment was beyond all description.

Two days afterward Bruce reached the Guangue, which abounds with hippopotami and crocodiles, and was the largest river, except the Nile and TacazzÉ, that he had seen in Abyssinia. Shortly afterward he arrived at Yasine's village, Hor Cacamoot, which means, literally, the valley of the shadow of death; "A bad omen," says Bruce, "for weak and wandering travellers as we were, surrounded by a multitude of dangers, and so far from home."

"This," says Bruce, "is, I suppose, one of the hottest countries in the known world. On the 1st day of March, at three o'clock in the afternoon, Fahrenheit's thermometer, in the shade, was 114°, which was at 61 at sunrise, and 82 at sunset. And yet this excessive heat did not make a proportional impression upon our feelings. The evenings, on the contrary, rather seemed cold, and we could hunt at midday; and this I constantly observed in this sultry country, that what was hot by the glass never appeared to carry with it anything proportionate in our sensations."

Some time before Bruce left Gondar he had been threatened with an attack of dysentery. On his arrival at Hor Cacamoot it grew worse, and had assumed many unpromising symptoms, when he was cured by the advice and application of a common Shangalla.

Bruce's faithful friend, Yasine, had made every exertion to secure him a good reception from Fidele, the sheikh of Atbara. The Sheikh of Beyla, by name Mohammed, was a man of high character for courage and probity; and Bruce had often corresponded with him upon the subject of horses for the king while he was at Gondar. He was greatly tormented with a most painful disorder, and, through Yasine, Bruce had several times sent to him soap-pills and lime, with directions how to make lime-water. Bruce therefore despatched a servant with a letter to the Sheikh of Beyla, mentioning his intention of coming to Sennaar by the way of Teawa and Beyla, and desiring him to forward his servant to Sennaar. But while he was making these vigorous exertions to advance, his exhausted body was gradually becoming more and more unable to follow. Trembling under the burning heat of the climate, and feeble from the effects of the most debilitating of disorders, "Yagoube, the white man," would probably have ended his career at his petty government of Ras el Feel, had it not been for the kind attention of Yasine, and the skilful treatment of the woolly-headed physician. But kindness, medicine, and time at last recruited his strength; and, after a delay of two months, he set out on the 17th of March from Hor Cacamoot to proceed to Teawa, the capital of Atbara. His path was through thick brushwood: his companions were eleven naked men, driving before them asses laden with salt.

The second morning they reached Surf el Shekh, which is the boundary of Ras el Feel; and here Bruce took a painful and affectionate leave of his sincere friend Yasine, who showed at parting that love and steady attachment which he had maintained since their first acquaintance. The last tie which connected Bruce's heart with Abyssinia was now severed. He had said farewell to his last friend, and, with a burning desert under his feet, and a still more burning sun over his head, he had now, in danger, sickness, and solitude, to pursue his dreary way.

At half past seven in the evening he came to Engaldi, a large basin or cavity, about thirty feet deep and several hundred yards in length, made for the Arabs who encamp there after the rains. The water was almost exhausted, and the little that remained had an intolerable stench. Thousands of Guinea-fowls, partridges, and other kinds of birds had crowded around it to drink; but it was a melancholy omen to see that they were reduced to absolute skeletons.

At eight they came to Eradeeba, where is neither village nor water, but only a resting-place about half a mile square, which has been cleared from wood, that travellers who pass to and from Atbara might have an esplanade to guard themselves from being attacked unawares by the banditti which resort to these deserts.

At a quarter past eleven Bruce arrived at Quaicha, the bed of a torrent where there was no water: the wood now seemed to be growing thicker, and to be full of wild beasts, especially lions and hyÆnas. These did not fly from them as those which they had hitherto seen, but came boldly up, especially the hyÆna, with apparently a determination to attack them. On lighting a fire, however, they retired for a time, but towards morning they approached in greater numbers than before. A lion carried off one of the asses, and a hyÆna attacked one of the men, tore his cloth from his middle, and wounded him in the back. "As we now expected," says Bruce, "to be instantly devoured, the present fear overcame the resolution we had made not to use our firearms unless in the utmost necessity. I fired two guns, and ordered my servants to fire two large ship-blunderbusses, which presently freed us from our troublesome guests. Two hyÆnas were killed; and a large lion, being mortally wounded, was despatched by our men in the morning. They came no more near us; but we heard numbers of them howling at a distance till daylight, either from hunger or the smarts of the wounds they had received—perhaps from both; for each ship-blunderbuss had fifty small bullets; and the wood towards which they were directed, at the distance of about twenty yards, seemed to be crowded with these animals."

Though this first day's journey from Falatty and Ras el Feel to Quaicha occupied eleven hours, the distance travelled was not more than ten miles; for the beasts were heavily laden, and it was with the utmost difficulty that they could force their way through the thick woods, which scarcely admitted the rays of the sun. From this station, however, they enjoyed a most magnificent sight, the mountains, in almost every direction, being in a flame of fire.

The Arabs feed all their flocks upon the branches of trees. When, therefore, the water is entirely dried up, and they can remain no longer, they set fire to the underwood, and to the dry grass below it. The flame runs under the trees, and scorches the leaves and the new wood, without consuming the body of the tree. After the tropical rains begin, vegetation immediately returns, the springs increase, the rivers run, and the pools are again filled with water. Verdure being now in the greatest luxuriance, the Arabs revisit their former stations. This conflagration is resorted to twice in the year—in October and March.

After travelling two days Bruce came to Rashid, a sandy desert, where he was surprised to see the branches of the shrubs and bushes covered with a shell of that white and red species of univalve called turbines. Some of these were three or four inches long, and not to be distinguished from the sea shells of the same species which are brought in great quantities from the West Indian islands.

Bruce had now a new enemy to contend with. "We were just two hours," he says, "in coming to Rashid, for we were flying for our lives; the simoom, or hot-wind, having struck us not long after we had set out from Imserrha, our little company, all but myself, fell mortally sick with the quantity of poisonous vapour that they had imbibed. I apprehend, from Rashid to Imserrha, it is about five miles; and, though it is one of the most dangerous halting-places between Ras el Feel and Sennaar, yet we were so enervated, our stomachs so weak, and our headaches so violent, that we could not pitch our tent, but, each wrapping himself in his cloak, resigned himself immediately to sleep under the cool shade of the large trees."

While they were in this unconscious state, a Ganjar Arab, who drove an ass laden with salt, took the opportunity of stealing one of the mules, and got safely off with his booty. Having refreshed themselves with a little sleep, the girbas or water-skins were filled. On the 21st, the fifth day of their journey, they travelled about five hours; yet, from the weak state they were in, they had advanced but seven or eight miles, so dreadfully were the mules, camels, and horses affected by the simoom. They drank repeatedly and copiously, but water seemed to afford them no refreshment.

Bruce's servants now called to him to come with all haste. A lion had killed a deer, had eaten a part of it, and had retired; but five or six hyÆnas had seized the carcass. Neither the dysentery nor the simoom had subdued Bruce's enterprising spirit. "I hastened," he says, "upon the summons, carrying with me a musket and bayonet, and a ship-blunderbuss with about forty small bullets in it. I crept, through the bushes and under banks, as near to them as possible, for fear of being seen; but the precaution seemed entirely superfluous; for, though they observed me approaching, they did not seem disposed to leave their prey, but in their turn looked at me, raising the bristles upon their backs, shaking themselves as a dog does when he comes out of the water, and giving a short but terrible grunt; after which they fell to their prey again, as if they meant to despatch their deer first, and then come and settle their affairs with me. I now began to repent having ventured alone so near; but knowing, with the short weapon I had, the execution depended a good deal upon the distance, I still crept a little nearer, till I got as favourable a position as I could wish behind the root of a large tree that had fallen into the lake. Having set my musket at my hand, near and ready, I levelled my blunderbuss at the middle of the group, which were feeding voraciously, like as many swine, with considerable noise, and in a civil war with each other. Two of them fell dead upon the spot; two more died about twenty yards' distance; but all the rest that could escape fled without looking back, or showing any kind of resentment."

Here, as usual, Bruce was accused of "exaggeration." People would not take into account the circumstances of the case; they would not consider that the noses of these savage hyÆnas, devouring their prey, were all close together, like the herd of critics over Bruce's book; upon whom, had he fired a blunderbuss loaded with forty slugs, two at least would have given up the ghost, while many more would have howled out lame apologies for having accused him of exaggeration. This incident was most unjustly judged by the experience of a civilized country; and because people in England were not in the habit of killing four hyÆnas at a shot, Bruce's statement was declared, like his blunderbuss, to have been overcharged.

Bruce was now much alarmed at finding some traps for birds, which, having been newly set, showed that the Arabs could not be very far off. The party, therefore, instantly proceeded. In the evening, having lost their way, they were obliged to halt in the wood. Here they were terrified at finding the water entirely gone from the girbas. These skins had still the appearance of being full, but their lightness too surely proved the contrary fact. The whole party were sick from the effect of the simoom, but the horror of being without water drove them to go on. "A general murmur of fear and discontent," says Bruce, "prevailed through our whole company."

The next day (being the sixth from Ras el Feel) they set off in great despondency; but in a short time they providentially succeeded in regaining the road, and shortly afterward reached a well called Imgellalib, containing plenty of water, a leathern bucket, and a straw rope. Every one pressed forward to quench their thirst, and the fatal effects of this eager haste were soon seen; for two Abyssinian Moors died immediately after drinking. There was something truly appalling in thus seeing death, as it were, on either side; men perishing with thirst, and others from quenching it!

The thick forests which, without interruption, had reached from Tcherkin, ended here. The country was perfectly flat, and contained very little water. To destroy the flies, the Arabs had burned the grass, and Bruce had no means of avoiding the rays of the scorching sun and the pestilential breath of the simoom, but by seeking shelter in the tent, which was insufferably close and hot.

The next day they traversed an extensive plain, in which is situated Teawa, the capital, or principal village of Atbara. The thermometer slung under the camel, in the shade of the girba, was now from 111° to 119½°. At six in the evening they arrived at the village of Carigana, "whose inhabitants," says Bruce, "had all perished with hunger the year before; their wretched bones being unburied, and scattered upon the surface of the ground where the village formerly stood. We encamped among the bones of the dead; no space could be found free from them; and on the 23d, at six in the morning, full of horror at this miserable spectacle, we set out for Teawa." Late in the evening, when they had arrived within a quarter of a mile from this capital, they were met by a man on horseback, clothed in a large loose gown of red camlet, with a white muslin turban on his head, and attended by about twenty naked servants on foot, armed with lances, and preceded by a pipe and two small drums. The leader of this savage band was about seventy, with a very long beard, and a graceful appearance. It was with the utmost difficulty that he could be prevailed upon to mount his horse, as he declared it was his intention to walk by the side of Bruce's mule till he entered the town of Teawa; mounting, however, at last, he made a great display of his horsemanship, as a mark of humiliation or politeness. On entering the town they passed a very commodious house, which had been ordered by the sheikh for the residence of Bruce; and, after crossing the square, they came to the sheikh's house, or rather his collection of houses, which were one story high, and built of canes. They then entered a large hall, built of unburned bricks, and covered with straw mats. In the middle there was a chair to which obeisance was made, it being considered as the seat of the Grand Seignior. The sheikh was sitting on the ground, affecting great humility, and pretending to be devoutly occupied in reading the Koran. When Bruce entered he seemed to be surprised, and made an attempt as if to rise, but the traveller prevented it by holding him down by his hand, which he kissed.

"I shall not fatigue the reader," says Bruce, "with the uninteresting conversation that passed at this first interview. He affected to admire my size and apparent strength, and to blame me for exposing myself to travel in such a country. In return, I complained of the extreme fatigue of the journey and heat, the beasts of prey, the thick woods without shade, the want of water, and, above all, the poisonous blasts of the simoom that had almost overcome me, the effects of which I was at that instant feeling.

"He then blamed himself very politely, in a manner natural to the Arabs, for having suffered me to come to him before I had reposed myself, which he excused by his desire of seeing so great a man as me. He said also that he would detain me no longer; bid me to repose a day or two in quiet and safety; and upon my rising to go away, he got up likewise, and, holding me by the hand, said, 'The greatest part of the dangers you have passed in the way are, I believe, as yet unknown to you. Your Moor Yasine, of Ras el Feel, is a thief worse than any in Habesh. Several times you escaped very narrowly, and by mere chance, from being cut off by Arabs whom Yasine had posted to murder you. But you have a clean heart and clean hands. God saw their designs, and protected you; and I may say, also, on my own part, I was not wanting.' Being then on my legs for retiring, I returned no answer but the usual one (Ullah Kerim), i. e., God is merciful!"

Bruce and his party had scarcely taken possession of their lodging, and had but just thrown off their clothes to enjoy rest and ease, when several slaves of both sexes appeared with dishes of meat from the sheikh, who also sent flattering compliments and good wishes. But Bruce was very much astonished at one young man, who, putting his mouth to his ear, whispered these few words of comfort: "Seitan Fidele! el Sheikh el Atbara Seitan!" (Fidele is the devil, the Sheikh of Atbara is the devil himself!)

Bruce, fearing from this hint that he was in danger, privately and prudently despatched a man to Ras el Feel, begging Yasine to send some person in the name of the King of Abyssinia, or of Ayto Confu, to remonstrate against his detention: until an answer could arrive, he had resolved to see as little of the sheikh as possible; but by-and-by, getting restless and anxious to depart, he waited on the sheikh with presents; and these being apparently very graciously received, he asked for camels. The sheikh replied that they were fifteen days off, in the sandy desert, to avoid the flies; adding that the road to Sennaar was in a very unsettled state, and making many other trifling excuses. At last his real object could no longer be concealed, and he openly insisted on having a part of the treasure which he declared that Bruce was carrying with him.

Bruce resolutely refused to give him anything. And the wretch then endeavoured to have him assassinated by Soliman, to whom he offered half the plunder of his baggage; but Soliman saved his life by declaring that the stranger had no treasure, possessing only a few instruments and glass bottles, the use of which no one understood but himself.

Bruce was again sent for by the sheikh. He was in the alcove of a spacious room, sitting on a sofa surrounded by curtains. After he had taken two whiffs of his pipe, and when the slave had left the room, "Are you prepared?" he said; "have you brought the money along with you?" Bruce replied, "My servants are at the outer door, and have the vomit you wanted." "Curse you and the vomit too," says he, with great passion: "I want money, and not poison. Where are your piastres?" "I am a bad person," replied Bruce, "Fidele, to furnish you with either. I have neither money nor poison; but I advise you to drink a little warm water to clear your stomach, cool your head, and then lie down and compose yourself; I will see you to-morrow morning." Bruce was going out, when the sheikh exclaimed, "Hakim, infidel, or devil, or whatever is your name, hearken to what I say. Consider where you are: this is the room where Mek Baady, a king, was slain by the hand of my father: look at his blood, where it has stained the floor, which never could be washed out. I am informed you have twenty thousand piastres in gold with you; either give me two thousand before you go out of this chamber, or you shall die; I will put you to death with my own hand." Upon this he took up his sword that was lying at the head of his sofa, and, drawing it with a bravado, threw the scabbard into the middle of the room; and, tucking the sleeve of his shirt above his elbow, like a butcher, he said, "I wait your answer."

Bruce stepped one pace backward, and dropped the burnoose behind him, holding a small blunderbuss in his hand, without taking it off the belt. In a firm tone of voice he replied, "This is my answer: I am not a man, as I have told you before, to die like a beast by the hand of a drunkard; on your life, I charge you, stir not from your sofa." "I had no need," says Bruce, "to give this injunction; he heard the noise which the closing the joint in the stock of the blunderbuss made, and thought I had cocked it, and was instantly to fire. He let his sword drop, and threw himself on his back on the sofa, crying, 'For God's sake, Hakim, I was but jesting.'" In all climates and under all circumstances, the bully is always a coward. Bruce, however, was only acting on the defensive; it was neither his intention nor his wish to triumph over the sheikh, and he therefore most willingly accepted the explanation and retired, calmly wishing his enemy good-night.

About a week afterward letters arrived from Yasine, declaring that, unless Bruce was instantly allowed to depart, he would burn every stalk of corn between Beyla and Teawa. This threat had the desired effect; and, after having been most vexatiously detained more than three weeks, Bruce received a message to say that the camels were all ready; that girbas for water, and provisions of all sorts, would be furnished, and that he might set out as soon as he pleased, provided he would promise to forgive the sheikh, and not to make any complaint against him at Sennaar or elsewhere. This having been assented to, Bruce was at last suffered to escape from Teawa.

For the first seven hours his path was through a barren, sandy plain, without a vestige of any living creature, without water, and without grass; "a country," says Bruce, "that seemed under the immediate curse of Heaven."

After travelling all night, they rested at Abou Jehaarat till the afternoon. The sun was intensely hot: but, fortunately, there were some shepherds' caves, into which they crept for shelter. On the 19th of April they again set out, and that evening arrived at Beyla. At the very entrance of the town they were met by Mohammed the sheikh, who declared that he looked upon them as beings who had risen from the dead, and that they must be good people to have escaped from the Sheikh of Atbara! Mohammed provided all sorts of refreshments; and the whole party were filled with joy except Bruce, who was suffering so severely from the Bengazi ague that he had the greatest repugnance even to the smell of meat. He had, besides, a violent headache; so, having drunk a quantity of warm water to serve as an emetic, he retired supperless to his bed—a buffalo's hide.

There is no water at Beyla but what is got from deep wells. Large plantations of Indian corn were everywhere about the town. The inhabitants were in continual apprehension from the Arabs Daveina, at Sim-Sim, about forty miles distant; and from another powerful race called Wed abd el Gin—Son of the slaves of the devil—who live to the southwest, between the Dender and the Nile. Beyla is another frontier town of Sennaar, on the side of Sim-Sim; and between Teawa and this, on the Sennaar side, and Ras el Feel, Nara, and Tchelga, upon the Abyssinian side, all is desert and waste, the Arabs only suffering the water to remain there, without any villages near it, that they and their flocks may come at certain seasons until the grass grows, and the pools or springs fill elsewhere.

On the 21st of April Bruce and his party left Beyla. After travelling four days they crossed the Dender river, and came to a large plain, in which were a number of villages, nearly of one size, and forming a semicircle. The plain was of a red, soapy earth, and the country is in perpetual cultivation. The villages were inhabited by soldiers of the Mek of Sennaar, who have small features, but are woolly-headed and flat-nosed, like negroes. Their masters at Sennaar pretend to be Mohammedans, but they have never attempted to convert these Nuba; on the contrary, they entertain in every village a number of pagan priests, who receive soldiers' pay. These people worship the moon, and appear delighted to see her shine. Coming out of their dark huts, they express great joy at her brightness, and they celebrate the birth of every new moon. They are immoderately fond of swine's flesh, and maintain great herds of these animals. There is no running stream in the immense plain which they inhabit, and their water is all procured from draw-wells.

On the 25th Bruce set out from the villages of the Nuba, intending to reach Basboch, which is the ferry over the Nile; but he had scarcely advanced two miles into the plain when he and his party were enveloped by that sort of whirlwind which at sea forms the water-spout. "The plain," says Bruce, "was red earth, which had been plentifully moistened by a shower in the nighttime. The unfortunate camel that had been taken by the cohala seemed to be nearly in the centre of the vortex. The animal was lifted and thrown down at a considerable distance, and several of its ribs broken. Although, as far as I could guess, I was not near the centre, it whirled me off my feet and threw me down upon my face, so as to make my nose gush out with blood. Two of the servants, likewise, had the same fate. It plastered us all over with mud, almost as smoothly as could have been done with a trowel. It took away my sense of breathing for an instant, and my mouth and nose were full of mud when I recovered. I guess the sphere of its action to be about two hundred feet. It demolished one half of a small hut as if it had been cut through with a knife, and dispersed the materials all over the plain, leaving the other half standing.

"As soon as we recovered ourselves we took refuge in a village, from fear only, for we saw no vestige of any other whirlwind. It involved a great quantity of rain, which the Nuba of the villages told us was very fortunate, and portended good luck to us, and a prosperous journey; for they said that, had dust and sand arisen with the whirlwind in the same proportion it would have done had not the earth been moistened, we should all infallibly have been suffocated; and they cautioned us by saying that tempests were very frequent in the beginning and end of the rainy season; and, whenever we should see one of them coming, to fall down upon our faces, keeping our lips close to the ground, and so let it pass; and thus it would neither have power to carry us off our feet nor suffocate us, which was the ordinary case.

"Our kind landlords, the Nuba, gave us a hearty welcome, and helped us to wash our clothes first, and then to dry them. When I was stripped naked, they saw the blood running from my nose, and said they could not have thought that one so white as I could have been capable of bleeding."

These people gave Bruce a piece of roasted hog, which he ate, very much to their satisfaction. In return, as the camel was lame, Bruce ordered it to be killed, and the flesh to be given to the Nuba of the village, who feasted upon it for several days. With these people Bruce spent a very cheerful evening, and then, having a clean hut, he retired to rest from the effects of the whirlwind.

On the 26th he left the village, his way being still across an immense plain. After encountering several violent storms of thunder, lightning, and rain, he arrived at Basboch—a large collection of huts bearing the appearance of a town—where the governor, a venerable old man of about seventy, received him with no little dignity and urbanity. "Christian," said he, taking him by the hand, "what dost thou at such a time in such a country?"

Basboch is on the eastern bank of the Nile or Blue river, not a quarter of a mile from the ford below. The river here runs north and south; near the banks it is shallow, but deep in the middle, and in this part is much infested with crocodiles. Sennaar is two miles and a half S.S.W. of it. "We heard," says Bruce, "the evening drum very distinctly, and not without anxiety, when we reflected to what a brutish people, according to all accounts, we were about to trust ourselves."

After waiting at this place three days, Bruce and his party having at last received permission to enter Sennaar, the capital of Nubia,[35] they were conducted to a very spacious, good house, belonging to the sheikh himself, and about a quarter of a mile from the palace. The following morning a messenger came from the king, desiring Bruce to wait upon him.

The palace, which covers a prodigious deal of ground, is one story high, built of clay, and the floors of earth. The king was in a small room, which was covered with a Persian carpet, and the walls were hung with tapestry. He was sitting upon a mattress, laid on the ground, which was likewise covered with a Persian rug, and round him were a number of cushions of Venetian cloth of gold. His dress, however, did not correspond with this magnificence; for it was nothing but a large common loose shirt of Surat blue cloth. His head was uncovered; he wore his own short, black hair, and was as white in complexion as an Arab. He seemed to be a man about thirty-four; his feet were bare, or only covered by his shirt. "He had," says Bruce, "a very plebeian countenance, on which was stamped no decided character; I should rather have guessed him to be a soft, timid, irresolute man. At my coming forward and kissing his hand, he looked at me for a minute as if undetermined what to say. He then asked for an Abyssinian interpreter, as there are many of these about the palace. I said to him in Arabic, 'That I apprehended I understood as much of that language as would enable me to answer any question he had to put to me.' Upon which he turned to the people that were with him. 'Downright Arabic, indeed! You did not learn that language in Habesh?' said he to me. I answered, 'No; I have been in Egypt, Turkey, and Arabia, where I learned it; but I have likewise often spoken it in Abyssinia, where Greek, Turkish, and several other languages were used.' He said, 'Impossible! he did not think they knew anything of languages, excepting their own, in Abyssinia.'"

There were sitting by the side of the room, opposite to him, four men dressed in white cotton shirts, with a white shawl covering their heads and part of their face, by which it was known they were religious men, or men of learning, or of the law. Bruce presented first the Sherriffe of Mecca's letter, and then one from the King of Abyssinia. The king took them both and read them, and said, "You are a physician and a soldier." "Both, in time of need," replied Bruce. "But the sherriffe's letter," said the sheikh, "tells me, also, that you are a nobleman in the service of a great king that they call Englise-man, who is master of all the Indies, and who has Mohammedan as well as Christian subjects, and allows them all to be governed by their own laws." "Though I never said so to the sherriffe," replied Bruce, "yet it is true; I am as noble as any individual in my nation, and am also servant to the greatest king now reigning on earth, of whose dominions, it is likewise truly said, these Indies are but a small part." "How comes it," said the king, "you that are so noble and learned that you know all things, all languages, and so brave that you fear no danger, and pass, with two or three old men, into such countries as this and Habesh, where Baady, my father, perished with an army—how comes it that you do not stay at home and enjoy yourself, eat, drink, take pleasure, and rest, and not wander like a poor man, a prey to every danger?" "You, sir," replied Bruce, "may know some of this sort of men; certainly you do know them; for there are in your religion, as well as in mine, men of learning, and those, too, of great rank and nobility, who, on account of sins they have committed, or vows they have made, renounce the world, its riches, and pleasures: they lay down their nobility, and become humble and poor, so as often to be insulted by wicked and low men, not having the fear of God before their eyes." "True; these are dervis," said the three men of learning. "I am, then, one of these dervis," said Bruce, "content with the bread that is given me, and bound for some years to travel in hardships and danger, doing all the good I can to the poor and rich, serving every man and hurting none." "Tybe! that is well," said the king. "And how long have you been travelling about?" "Near twenty years," replied Bruce. "You must be very young," observed the king, "to have committed so many sins, and so early." "I did not say," replied Bruce, "that I was one of those who travelled on account of their sins, but that there were some dervises that did so on account of their vows, and some to learn wisdom." The king now made a sign, and a slave brought a cushion, which Bruce would have refused, but was forced to sit down upon it.

A cadi who was present then asked Bruce when the Hagiuge Magiuge were to arrive. "Hagiuge Magiuge," said the cadi, "are little people, not so big as bees, or like the zimb, or fly of Sennaar, that come in great swarms out of the earth, ay, in multitudes that cannot be counted; two of their chiefs are to ride upon an ass, and every hair of that ass is to be a pipe, and every pipe is to play a different kind of music, and all that hear and follow them are carried to hell." "I know them not," says Bruce, "and in the name of the Lord, I fear them not, were they twice as little as you say they are, and twice as numerous. I trust in God I shall never be so fond of music as to follow to such a place an ass, for all the tunes that he or they can play." The king laughed violently. Bruce then went away, and found a number of people in the street, who all offered him some taunt or insult. "I passed," he says, "through the great square before the palace, and could not help shuddering, upon reflection, at what had happened in that spot to the unfortunate M. du RoulÉ and his companions, though under a protection which should have secured them from all danger, every part of which I was then unprovided with."

The drum beat a little after six o'clock in the evening. Bruce then had a very comfortable dinner sent to him, which consisted of camel's flesh stewed with an herb, a slimy substance, called bammia. After having dined, and finished his journal of the day, he began to unpack his instruments, when a servant came from the palace, telling him to bring his present to the king. "I sorted," says Bruce, "the separate articles with all the speed I could, and we went directly to the palace. The king was then sitting in a large apartment; he was naked, but several cloths were lying upon his knee and about him, and a servant was rubbing him over with very stinking butter or grease, with which his hair was dropping, as if wet with water. Large as the room was, it could be smelled through the whole of it. The king asked me if ever I greased myself as he did. I said, 'Very seldom, but fancied it would be very expensive.' He then told me that it was elephant's grease, which made people strong, and preserved the skin very smooth."

This simple toilet being finished, Bruce produced his present, which he said the King of Abyssinia had sent, hoping that, according to the faith and customs of nations, he would transmit him safely and speedily into Egypt. The king answered, "There was a time when he could have done all this, and more: but that times were changed. Sennaar was in ruins, and was not like what it once was."

Several days having passed unsatisfactorily, Bruce was again summoned to the palace. "The king," he says, "told me that several of his wives were ill, and desired that I would give them my advice, which I promised to do without difficulty, as all acquaintance with the fair sex had hitherto been much to my advantage. I must confess, however, that calling these the fair sex is not preserving a precision in terms. I was admitted into a large square apartment, very ill-lighted, in which were about fifty women, all perfectly black, without any covering but a very narrow piece of cotton rag about their waists. While I was musing whether or not these all might be queens, or whether there was any queen among them, one of them took me by the hand, and led me rudely enough into another apartment. This was much better lighted than the first. Upon a large bench or sofa, covered with blue Surat cloth, sat three persons, clothed from the neck to the feet with blue cotton shirts.

"One of these, who I found was the favourite, was about six feet high, and corpulent beyond all proportion. She seemed to me, next to the elephant and rhinoceros, the largest living creature I had ever met with. Her features were perfectly like those of a negro; a ring of gold passed through her under lip, and weighed it down, till, like a flap, it covered her chin, and left her teeth bare, which were very small and fine. The inside of her lip she had made black with antimony. Her ears reached down to her shoulders, and had the appearance of wings; she had in each of them a large ring of gold, somewhat smaller than a man's little finger, and about five inches in diameter. The weight of these had drawn down the hole where her ear was pierced so much, that three fingers might easily pass above the ring. She had a gold necklace, like what we used to call esclavage, of several rows, one below another, to which were hung rows of sequins pierced. She had on her ankles two manacles of gold, larger than any I had ever seen upon the feet of felons, with which I could not conceive it was possible for her to walk, but afterward I found they were hollow. The others were dressed pretty much in the same manner, only there was one that had chains, which came from her ears to the outside of each nostril, where they were fastened. There was also a ring put through the gristle of her nose, and which hung down to the opening of her mouth. I think she must have breathed with great difficulty. It had altogether something of the appearance of a horse's bridle. Upon my coming near them, the eldest put her hand to her mouth, and kissed it, saying, at the same time, in very vulgar Arabic, 'Kifhalek howaja?' (How do you do, merchant?) I never in my life was more pleased with distant salutations than at this time. I answered, 'Peace be among you! I am a physician, and not a merchant.'

"I shall not entertain the reader with the multitude of their complaints; being a lady's physician, discretion and silence are my first duties. It is sufficient to say, that there was not one part of their whole bodies in which some of them had not ailments. The three queens insisted upon being blooded, which desire I complied with, as it was an operation that required short attendance; but, upon producing the lancets, their hearts failed them. They then all cried out for the tabange, which in Arabic means a pistol; but what they meant by this word was, the cupping instrument, which goes off with a spring like the snap of a pistol. I had two of these with me, but not at that time in my pocket. I sent my servant home, however, to bring one, and, the same evening, performed the operation upon the three queens with great success. The room was overflowed with an effusion of royal blood, and the whole ended with their insisting upon my giving them the instrument itself, which I was obliged to do, after cupping two of their slaves before them, who had no complaints, merely to show them how the operation was to be performed."

When the "black spirits" of these queens had somewhat revived, the creatures naturally became a little playful, and were exceedingly curious to inspect Bruce's skin.

"The only terms," he says, "I could possibly, and that with great difficulty, make for myself, were, that they should be contented to strip me no farther than the shoulders and breast. Upon seeing the whiteness of my skin, they gave all a loud cry in token of dislike, and shuddered, seeming to consider it rather the effects of disease than natural. I think in my life I never felt so disagreeably. I have been in more than one battle, but surely I would joyfully have taken any chance again in any of them to have been freed from that examination. I could not help likewise reflecting that, if the king had come in during this exhibition, the consequences would either have been impaling, or stripping off that skin whose colour they were so curious about; indeed, it was impossible to be more chagrined at, or more disgusted with, my present situation than I was; and the more so, that my delivery from it appeared to be very distant, and the circumstances were more and more unfavourable every day."

During his tedious detention at Sennaar, Bruce occupied himself, as usual, in making celestial observations, and in inquiring into the history of the country, a great part of which he minutely relates.

"Nothing," he says, "is more pleasant than the country around Sennaar in the end of August and beginning of September, I mean so far as the eye is concerned: instead of that barren, bare waste which it appeared on our arrival in May, the corn now sprung up, and, covering the ground, made the whole of this immense plain appear a level, green land, interspersed with great lakes of water, and ornamented at certain intervals with groups of villages, the conical tops of the houses presenting at a distance the appearance of small encampments. Through this immense plain winds the Nile, a delightful river there, above a mile broad, full to the very brim, but never overflowing. Everywhere on these banks are seen numerous herds of the most beautiful cattle of various kinds, the tribute recently extorted from the Arabs, who, freed from all their vexations, return home with the remainder of their flocks in peace, at as great a distance from the town, country, and their oppressors as they possibly can.

"The banks of the Nile about Sennaar resemble the pleasantest parts of Holland in the summer season; but, soon after, when the rains cease, and the sun exerts his utmost influence, the dora begins to ripen, the leaves to turn yellow and to rot, the lakes to putrify, smell, and be full of vermin, all this beauty suddenly disappears; bare, scorched Nubia returns, and all its terrors of poisonous winds and moving sands, glowing and ventilated with sultry blasts, which are followed by a troop of terrible attendants, epilepsies, apoplexies, violent fevers, obstinate agues, and lingering, painful dysenteries, still more obstinate and mortal.

"War and treason seem to be the only employment of this horrid people, whom Heaven has separated by almost impassable deserts from the rest of mankind."

To any one who will consider that Sennaar is only thirteen degrees from the line, it is scarcely necessary to observe that its heat is excessive, though the natives bear it with astonishing ease; for on the 2d of August, while Bruce was lying perfectly enervated in a room deluged with water, at noon, the thermometer being at 116°, he saw several black labourers working without any appearance of being incommoded.

His observations on heat are so practical, and so admirably expressed, that we give them in his own words: "Cold and hot are terms merely relative, not determined by the latitude, but elevation of the place; when, therefore, we say hot, some other explanation is necessary concerning the place where we are, in order to give an adequate idea of the sensations of that heat upon the body, and the effects of it upon the lungs. The degree of the thermometer conveys this very imperfectly; ninety degrees is excessively hot at Loheia in Arabia Felix, and yet the latitude of Loheia is but fifteen degrees, whereas ninety degrees at Sennaar is, as to sense, only warm, although Sennaar, as we have said, is in latitude thirteen degrees.

"At Sennaar, then, I call it cold when one, fully clothed and at rest, feels himself in want of fire. I call it cool when one fully clothed and at rest feels he could bear more covering all over, or in part more than he has then on. I call it temperate when a man, so clothed and at rest, feels no such want, and can take moderate exercise, such as walking about a room, without sweating. I call it warm when a man, so clothed, does not sweat when at rest, but, upon moderate motion, sweats and again cools. I call it hot when a man sweats at rest, and excessively on moderate motion. I call it very hot when a man, with thin or little clothing, sweats much, though at rest. I call it excessive hot when a man in his shirt, at rest, sweats excessively, when all motion is painful, and the knees feel feeble as if after a fever. I call it extreme hot when the strength fails, a disposition to faint comes on, a straitness is found in the temples, as if a small cord was drawn tight around the head, the voice impaired, the skin dry, and the head seems more than ordinarily large and light."

If Bruce's enemies could but have been subjected to this last degree of temperature, they would, perhaps, for once have agreed to admire the indefatigable exertions which, under such a climate, and in spite of ill health, he still continued to make. The history, ancient and modern, of the kingdom of Sennaar, its natural history, its trade, money, measures, diseases, etc., etc., were objects of his most eager inquiry; and it may truly be said, that his thirst for information seems actually to have increased with the difficulties which oppressed him.

He made every exertion to leave Sennaar: in vain were represented to him the dangers which awaited him. "I persisted," says he, "in my resolution; I was tied to the stake. To fly was impossible; and I had often overcome such dangers by braving them;" but a new difficulty now arose. His funds were exhausted, and the person with whom he had credit refused to supply him. "This was a stroke," says Bruce, "that seemed to ensure our destruction, no other resource being now left. My servants began to murmur; some of them had known of my gold chain from the beginning, and these, in the common danger, imparted what they knew to the rest. In short, I resolved, though very unwillingly, not to sacrifice my own life and that of my servants, and the finishing my travels, now so far advanced, to childish vanity. I determined, therefore, to abandon my gold chain, the honourable recompense of a day full of fatigue and danger.

"It was on the 5th of September," says Bruce, "that we were all prepared to leave this capital of Nubia, an inhospitable country from the beginning, and which, every day we continued in it, had engaged us in greater difficulties and dangers. We flattered ourselves that, once disengaged from this bad step, the greatest part of our sufferings was over; for we apprehended nothing but from men, and, with very great reason, thought we had seen the worst of them."

[35] Although this city is at the present day but little better than a heap of ruins, it bears the marks of former magnificence. See Russell's Nubia and Abyssinia, p. 59, Harpers' Family Library.—Am. Ed.