Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 1/Chapter 11
CHAPTER XI.
NUBIA.
HE term Nubia, applied to the country which lies beyond Egypt, has no precise geographical sense; nor can any meaning be attached to it from a political or administrative point of view. It probably had once a real ethnological value, at a period when the Nubas, not yet driven back by other populations, were the only dwellers on the banks of the Nile throughout a great part of its course. But wars and invasions have for a long tune modified these former conditions. At the present time the term Nubia is variously employed in current language. At one time it is applied merely to the region of the Wady-Nuba, which comprises that part of the river’s course Which is broken up by the thousand rapids of the second cataract, whilst at another it is used to designate the whole of the region bounded north by the rapids of Assuan, south by the junction of the two Niles, east by the Red Sea, and west by the trackless desert.
The natural geographical limits of Nubia, on the southern side, seem to be formed by the junction of the Nile and Atbara, and by the route from Berber to Suakin. Nubia, thus bounded in the direction of the Abyssinian plateaux, does not include any of those regions which are connected with Abyssinia, properly so-called, by their mountains, hydrographic system, or populations. Its approximate area within these limits and on the western side as far as the twenty-seventh degree of east longitude, is estimated at 100,000 square miles, with a population of about 1,000,000. According to Rüppell, the arable land of Nubia, limited by the desert, is not more than 1,300 square miles in extent, and all the inhabitants are concentrated within this fertile riverain tract.
The region, some hundreds of miles broad, which north of the Atbara and Barka separates the valley of the Nile from the Red Sea coast, is commanded by chains of heights, similar to those traversing the territory of the Hadendoas, Hallengas, and Bazens; but these chains, separated from the Abyssinian spurs by the deep breaches and by the nearly always dried-up beds of numerous wadies, constitute a special orthographic system. Whilst the Abyssinian chain, although abruptly terminated by the deep bed of the Red Sea, reappears as it were in Arabia as the Yemen uplands, the mountains of the Bisharin country develop their axis 
The Nubian Coast Range.
The coast or border chain of Nubia between Suakin and the Râs-Benas, north of the ancient port of Berenice, consists, like its Egyptian extension, almost entirely
Scale 1 : 8,000,000.
of primitive rocks, such as granite, gneiss, and crystalline schist; towards the south alone the system presents extensive limestone formations. Rising gradually from the south to the north, it culminates in the Jebel-Olba, which, according to Wellsted, exceeds a height of 8,000 feet. Connected at this point with the mountains of the interior by lateral offshoots, the chain again falls in a northwesterly direction. At Mount Irba (Soturba) it attains a height of 7,010 feet, and at Mount Elba, the Etbaï properly so-called, it rises to more than 4,080 feet, that is, about the same height as the Jebel-Farageh, the Pentodactyle of the ancients, lying farther north, and which Schweinfurth vainly attempted to scale. In certain places the base of these escarpments is washed by the waters of the Red Sea,
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a 284 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. whilst at other points the sahel or tehama of the coast is occupied by the low hills of the tertiary epoch, moving sand-hills, and coraline reefs. The pyramid-shaped islet of Zemerjity which lies 60 miles off the coast in a line with the RlLs-Benas headland, serves as a landmark to the vessels entering the dangerous waters of the Arabian Sea. The Nubian Gold Mines. The Elba Mountains merge in the interior with other heights of divers forma- tions, in which the ancient Pharaohs worked gold and silver mines. It is certain that, during its long period of splendour, Egypt was very rich in precious metals ; in this respect the monuments are in harmony with the statements of the Greek authors. Nubia appears to have furnished the greater part of the gold, and accord- ing to a tradition, to which weight is added by the heaps of rubbish and galleries hewn in the auriferous rocks and formerly inhabited caves, the principal mining centre was at Wady-Alluki, which is a series of ravines stretching away to the west of the Elba Mountains. Tliese ravines were worked till the middle of the twelfth century of the Christian era. The Pharaohs, Ptolemies, Greek emperors, and Arab caliphs were obliged to protect their colonies of miners against the attacks of the surrounding nomad peoples, successively termed Blemmyes, Bejas, and Bisharins ; but the difficulties of obtaining sufficient wood to light the mines or water for the miners were probably the greatest obstacle in the way of profitably working the mines. All the supplies from the springs of the district had been carefully husbanded, and along the ancient desert routes, above the springs, crosses sur- mounted by a circle are still to be seen, indicating the presence of water. The description given by Diodorus Siculus, as well as the appearance of the galleries, shows that the gold was not collected in the sands, but extracted from the rock itself by the crushing process. This method was extremely costly, and could not now be adopted unless the mines were extremely rich, like certain Californian " placers." But the first exploration, undertaken by Linant de Bellefonds for Mohammed Ali, followed by numerous visits made by various geologists, have proved that the ancient mines of Nubia are no longer sufficiently rich to be profitably worked. Hitherto no inscriptions or sculptures have been discovered in the mining region ; however, a column found at Kuban, on the right bank of the Nile between Korosko and Assuan, and the texts of the Egyptian temple of Radesieh, built on the riverain route to the mines of Akito, shed much light on the resources of the Pharaohs. Moreover, there is in the museum of Turin a fragment of an Egyptian map, which represents a mining station with its shafts, depots, galleries, reservoirs, and temple of Ammon. This precious document, the oldest of its kind, since it dates from the time of Ramses II., is disposed .in a way inversely to that of our maps, the east side, which is that of the Red Sea, being to the left of the sheet.
It is as yet uncertain what mining district it is intended to represent. The Central Highlands.
To the west of the border chain which skirts the Red Sea, the mountainous ridges run transversely either from the east to the west, or from the north-east to the south-west, in the same direction as the portion of the Nile comprised between Abû-Hamed and Dabbeh. Some of these ridges are continuous; such, for instance, os that of the "Cataracts," which forms the natural barrier between Nubia and
| A. Auriferous hills are coloured red on the plan. | D. Road to Ta Menat-ti. | K. Cistern. |
| E. Face of the Mountain. | L. Wells | |
| B. Gold Mountain. | F. Abode of Ammon. | M. Road to the Coast. |
| C. Shrine of Ammon on the Holy Mountain. | H. Houses for Storing the Gold. | N. Another Road to the Coast. |
| I. King Ramanem's Stele. | O. Road to Tapimat. |
Egypt, west of Assuan; such also is the range whose culminating point is the Jebel-Shikr, north-east of Abû-Hamed.
Other ridges are intersected at intervals by broad breaches, and from a distance present the appearance of walls partially crumbling away. Like the mountains of the border chain, those of the highest transversal chains consist of crystalline rocks, granites, gneiss, porphyries, syenites, diorites, and volcanic formations. In many parts of the desert occur metamorphic sandstones, which have overflowed into the crevasses in the soil. But between the mountains, which form the backbone of Eastern Nubia, are other projections of less height, nearly all isolated, although scattered by thousands in the desert. They are small sandstone hills merely rising some 60 feet above the plain, but at some points attaining a relative elevation of 660 feet, or from 1,630 to 2,000 feet above the sea. The granite heights in the interior reach an altitude of over 2,160 feet, some of the peaks even rising to nearly 3,300 feet.
Fig. 91. — Korosko Desert.Scale 1: 2,800,000,
The sandstone rocks of Nubia present the most diverse forms. Some stand out like regular towers, others in the form of pyramids, whilst others again, whose central portion has disappeared, resemble volcanic cones. Consisting of horizontal layers of quartzose sandstone of varying density, they offer more or less resistance in different places. In one place the summit crumbles away, elsewhere the base leaving the crest crowned as if with a table; several rocks . are also pierced with openings through which light is visible. The very names that the nomads and caravan leaders give to these sandstone heights are a proof of the variety of their forms. They imagine they see in them palaces, animals, and processions of warriors. Thanks to these fantastic outlines, the guides of the caravans can always determine their whereabouts in these endless labyrinths of breaches winding between the rocks. The various colours of the stone also assist them in finding their way. Certain strata are shaded with green, yellow, pink, or blue; whilst others, in which ferruginous sands predominate, are of a brilliant red. Jasper, chalcedony, and siliceous crystals are embedded in the walls. But on each journey the guide finds some changes. The sands produced by the disintegration of the rocks shift their position according to the direction of the wind, which carries it in a cloud above the crests, and scatters it now on one side, now on another, forming rounded heaps which blend in graceful curves with the coarser sands at the base. Shifting dunes of sand, some of which are as much as 166 feet high, move here and there through
out the open plain. They arc all in the form of a crescent, the boms turning to the south under the influence of the north wind. Geoixkjical Formations. Nearly all the sandstone rocks and dunes are destitute of vegetation ; but few shrubs are found 6n tbe slopes of the crystalline mountains, which are embellished by these verdant thickets. Hitherto no fossils of animals have been discovered in the sands of the desert of Korosko, but only some petrified trees, like those in the Bayuda stepi)e, in Egypt, and several other countries of Eastern Africa. According to Russegger, these Nubian sandstones have been deposited since the chalk period. One of the most extraordinary products of this geological formation consists of spheroidal stones of all sizes, resembling bulls, shot, and bullets. They are so thickly scattered over the soil that travellers had seriously proposed to Mohammed AH that he should supply his artillery parks from this source. These stone bullets, similar to those found in Hungary in the mountains near Koloszvar, are formed of concentric beds of variously coloured sands, hollow in the middle, or else filled with loose sand, and with a very hard ferruginous exterior. The cir- cumference of the stone is frequently marked by a ridge similar to that which the moulds leave on the bullets at their point of contact. The great caravan route which traverses the Nubian desert, to the east of the Nile, from AbCl-Hamed to Korosko, extends over a space of about 300 miles, which comprises some of the most remarkable localities, offering examples of all the geological formations of the country. This region is specially termed aiinur, a name probably of Berber origin, for in the language of the Tuaregs iemum means a " tract of country." After having ascended the trachyte-crested hills, and surmounted the granite escarpments, the caravan route winds from breach to breach between the sandstone hills, and even crosses a plain which, according to the Arabs, is an ancient lacustrine basin, the Bahr-bel&-m&, or " Waterless River." Nevertheless there are no indications which point to the presence of running or still waters having ever been in this place. One well only, that of Morad, yields a scanty supply of fresh water to travellers crossing the atmur. But there are regions in this desert where the sand contains abundance of saline substances which doubtless proceed from ancient evaporated lakes. In the vicinity of the river the natives extract this salt and sell it to the caravans. The largest of the dry valleys which wind through the desert of Nubia is that of Wady-Allaki. Taking its origin in the mountains of the Etbai, it follows a north-westerly course and falls into the Nile below Korosko ; its basin is more than 10,000 square miles in extent. It has occasionally happened that the Wady-Allaki, suddenly filled by heavy showers, has for some hours suddenly become a powerful affluent of the Nile, the force of its current completely barring the main-stream. But the valley of the wady and the tributar}* gorges are nearly always dry ; nevertheless, the concealed moisture is revealed by the trees, under
which the Bisharin tribes arc acoustomed to encamp. The Bayuda Steppe.
To the west of the Nile, whose long silver band, skirted with green, stretches in two great curves across Nubia, rise mountains similar in formation to those of the east — primitive rocks, sandstone cliffs, and volcanic lavas and scoriæ. The
Scale 1: 8,400,000.
highest groups of summits, Jebel-Magaga, Jebel-Gekdul, and Jebel-Gilif, occupy precisely the centre of the immense circuit, three-fourths of which are described by the course of the Nile between the Sixth Cataract and Dabbeh. Their peaks are said to attain a height of from 3,330 to 3,660 feet. The whole of the space THE BAYUDA STEPPE. 289 commanded by these heights is a mountainous country covered with hollows, or a few groves of green mimosas during the rainy season, and bounded to the west between Khartum and Ambukol by the depression of the Wady Mokattam, or the " Valley of Inscriptions," into which probably flowed an ancient arm of the Nile. The whole region, though much less barren than the atmur of Eastern Nubia, is termed the steppe or desert of Bayuda. Gekdul and Magaga, whose highest point, Ussub-Oramaneh, is a cupola of red porphyry, or erupted masses, around which the sandstone rocks, probably liquefied by the outpourings of lava, have spread over the sands in sheets of siliceous scoriao. According to Russegger, it is owing to the eruption of these ancient volcanoes that the Nile, formerly flowing to the west, was compelled to turn eastwards in order to effect its great bend of over 480 miles. In the western part of the steppe the ferruginous sands of the moun- tains, washed down by the rains, have covered the soil in thick layers. Here and there the sand has collected in the hollows where the wadies have deposited their alluvia ; the surface of the plain is thus streaked with long bands of diverse colours of the strangest appearance. The Jebel-Simrieh, formed of pink sandstone, and other hills to the west of the depression of the " Valley of Inscriptions," are less elevated than Magaga, and like it are not very long ; the valley of the Wady-Melek, whose bed, during the floods, gives passage to the waters of Dar-F6r, bounds these mountains on the west. On the banks of the Nile itself, in the space comprised between Marawi and New Dongola, there are nothing but sandstone cliffs, the crystalline rocks reappearing only at the Third Cataract. Here the heights on the left bank form part of the chains which rise in Eastern Nubia ; to the west they soon become lost under the sands, being succeeded by oases at a short distance from the river and parallel with it. In this respect the western zone of the Nubian region forms a complete contrast to the tracts beyond the Nile. To the north of Wady-Halfa, and nearly opposite the colossi of Ibsambul, lies a deep valley overlooked by the black or reddish walls of ancient volcanoes. This is the Wady-Jehenna, or " Valley of Gehenna," a terrible region which the Arabs shun as if it were still burning. In Western as well as in Eastern Nubia, the sandstones rapidly crumble away under the influence of the wind, rain, and heat, and change into loose sand which the aerial currents reform into dunes or taluses. In many respects the sands of Africa recall the snows of the great Alps ; like the snowtields they collect in the depressions and crevasses of the rocks, glide over the ravines in avalanches, crown the needle-like points of the peaks, and here and there project over the precipices, forming narrow strips which give way at the slightest shock. Between the dunes and the populations of the oases on the edge of the desert the struggle is incessant ; the sands, borne forward by the winds, surround the trees, cover up cultivations, block up the fountains, and encroach upon the inhabitable domain. But on his side the peasant utilises the sand by mixing it with his soil. The extent of ground he can render productive depends entirely upon the quantity of water at his disposal. 19-AF. 290 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. Climate. Nubia is divided into two climatic zones, whose limits, changing yearly, are defined by the struggle between the northern and southern winds. In summer, when the solar rays fall vertically on the soil between the equator and the northern tropic, the southern winds follow the sun into the northern hemisphere, carrying the rain-clouds with them ; but they scarcely ever reach the seventeenth degree of latitude. The last periodical rains fall in the valley towards the junction of the Atbara, the last tributary watercourse of the Nile. In this spacious region the force of the southern winds is neutralised by that of the aerial currents blowing from the north, the result of this struggle being the constant shifting of the parting-line. Travellers across the Bayuda territory in May or June have to struggle against the winds, being at one time forced from their course by the south wind at another by that of the north, their way thus lying between two conflicting tempests. However, the winds often blow alternately, that of the north prevailing during the day and being replaced at night-time by that of the south. To the south of this zone fall periodical rains, the more copious and longer in duration the nearer the equator is approached. To the north, the soil is not watered by the summer rains, being visited only by a few showers, which sometimes even cease for several years together. When the northern winds predominate in the inter- mediary zone and drive the opposing currents south of the usual limit, the drought becomes general, bringing to the Nubians distant from the Nile famine, involun- tary exile, and brigandage. The region of the border mountains, in the vicinity of the Red Sea, is more favoured than the countries of the interior. The abundance of the vapours in this littoral zone promotes the advance of the rain-bearing clouds towards the north. Instead of stopping at the seventeenth degree of latitude, they extend as far as the twenty-first degree of latitude, and beyond this limit occasional showers are frequent ; but brought down by the northern winds they fall in winter, whilst the opposed southern winds cause the moisture to be again precipitated in summer. The result of this relative abundance of the rains on the coast region is a great contrast between the Nubian districts near the Red Sea and those of the interior. To the east the Arab nomads find abundance of wells, fountains, and pasturages for their cattle ; but to the west nothing is visible but rocks and sands, the eye of the traveller seldom lighting upon a grove of palms or mimosas, or any trailing shrubs growing on the banks of the wadies. In some years the drought is so complete that no shepherd dare venture into the desert. Nubia thus offers some well-defined natural divisions. The southern part of the country, comprising nearly the whole peninsula of Bayuda, is a district of steppes ; the coast of the Red Sea presents an analogous appearance, whilst all the rest is desert and atmur, with the exception of the verdant and populous Nile Valley lying between these two dreary wastes. In many places this valley is reduced to a strip a few yards in width ; it even disappears altogether at tho FLORA. 291 mouth of the gorges, where the cliffs spring directly from the river bed. But however narrow und exposed this river vulley may be, its appearance is none the less charming to travellers coining from the arid desert, where the only fluid obtainable is the brackish water of the wells, and where the horizon is bounded by the eternal rocks and sands. On approaching the river the Arabs perceive its vicinity by the moistness of the air, and they press forward with joyful cries of " Allah be praised ! we feel the Nile ! " The Nubian desert is one of those whose temperature varies the greatest between the heat of the day and the cold of the night. Although these regions are traversed by isothermal lines of 79° F. and 81° F., and although the thermo- meter frequently exceeds 104° F., nevertheless travellers often shiver with the cold before sunrise. The cause of this is the excessive drjTiess of the atmosphere, which causes the heat to radiate into space during the night; the north wind, which blows nearly constantly, also contributes to this fall of temperature after sunset. The moisture of the air is so slight that it rarely ever falls in dew on the Nubian deserts. The bodies of animals which have died on the journey dry up without becoming decomposed, the flesh gradually crumbling into dust beneath the hard and extended skin without emitting the least odour. Although the bodies of those who die during the journey are scarcely covered with u few inches of sand, they would easily pass unnoticed were it not for an upright stone placed over them by some pious hand. The purity of the dry desert air explains its perfect healthiness, not only for the native Nubian but also for the foreigner. No sana- torium could be preferred to an encampment far from the exhalations of the moist plain, at least by those who, like the Arabs, are careful to clothe them- selves in such a way as to be unaffected by the abrupt changes in the temperature of night and day. The Eg3'ptian plague has never penetrated into Nubia, and ophthalmia, so dreaded in the regions of the lower Nile, is unknown above the cataracts of Wady-IIalfa, in spite of the glare reflected from the polished rocks and the glittering surface of the river. But in the Nubian regions where the inundations of the Nile stretch far into the plains, leaving stagnant pools here and there, malignant fevers are very common and frequently terminate fatally. The majority of the natives do not draw their drinking water directly from the river, but sink wells some distance off into which the water filters through the sand, and they leave it exposed to the sun for some time before using it. They are also careful not to follow the example of the Turks, and build their towns on the river bank ; their villages stand on the steppe or on the edge of the desert, beyond the zone of the marsh fevers. Flora. A land of transition in its climate, Nubia also presents transitional forms in its fauna and flora. The baobab is no longer found in the plains to the north of Eordof^n and the advanced Abyssinian nmges. The deleb-palm, which predomi- nates in the region of the two Nilcs, is no longer met with north of the confluence; the southern variety of palm which is the true dum-polm, advances farther towards 292 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. Egypt, but it scarcely ever exceeds the limit of the Suakin-Berber route ; north of this point it no longer grows spontaneously. Tne argun, groves of which are found in some hollows in the Korosko desert, and which the majority of travellers call ddm, is another kind of hyphacne resembling the ddra, however, by the characteristic bifurcation of its branches. The peculiar taste of its friiit might procure for it the name of the gingerbread-tree. Elsewhere the date, which is the characteristic plant of Northern Nubia, supplying the people with food, shelter, hurdles, baskets, seats, and coarse gar- ments, is becoming scarce in Southern Nubia, the last specimens being in the gardens of Khartum. Sycamores are still found in the streets of Dongola, their evergreen foliage contrasting with the grey walls, but they are gradually dis- appearing towards the south. Far from the river, the prevailing trees are acacias and mimosas of various species. A tree called oclias yields a quantity of fruit covered with silky down very brilliant and perfectly white ; according to Cluny fine fabrics are woven from its fibre mixed with wool. The fruit-trees of the Mediterranean zone, such as vines, oranges, and citrons, are cultivated only in the gardens, their fruit being sour and tasteless, and generally rotting before maturity. The cereals cultivated in Nubia, either on the banks of the Nile or else in the •' Valley of Inscriptions," and in the steppes of the interior, belong to the same species as those of Egypt. Fauna. The wild fauna of Southern Nubia does not differ from that of Kordofan and the slope of the Abyssinian mountains. Lions, leopards, hyaenas, antelopes, and gazelles, giraffes and ostriches, inhabit the mimosa forests on the banks of the White Nile and the Bayuda steppe ; monkeys descend the Nile as far as Berber, but neither the elephant nor the rhinoceros pass beyond the forest regions on the middle Atbara. The last hippopotamus that has been seen towards the north was killed in the Hannek cataracts about the middle of the century, although ancient pictures represent it as inhabiting the stream below Syene. Millions of aquatic birds swarm in the islets and on the banks of the Nile. E-ussegger has followed in the fresh mud deposited by the waters of the Nile the traces of an animal whose footsteps resemble those of the quadrumana, and which were directed from the water towards the shore ; but he did not see the animal itself, the amanit, about which the Nubians tell strange stories. The termites, still so much dreaded at Dongola, are not found farther north than the twentieth degree of north latitude. The Nubians possess only one kind of domestic animal, the horse, which is tall and endowed with special qualities. Evidently of Arab origin, like those of the Kababish race bred in the neighbouring oases, these coursers, with erect heads and thin legs white up to the knees, possess none of the beauty of their ancestors, but they are astonishingly nimble and fiery ; they are fed on milk and durrah, and occasionally on dates. The gallop is their usual gait ; they roam throughout the INHABITANTS. 208 whole region, even in the mud of the Nile and on the rocky slopes of the moun- tains. But they cannot stand a change of climate ; they die out of Nuhia, and even in the country itself have been greatly diminished since they have been so much sought after by the Eg^'ptian officers. The camels of the Bisharins and Ababdehs are no less famous for their speed than the horses of Dongola. Inhabitants. Often conquered, and consisting of little more than the double riverain zone of the Nile, Nubia is peopled with tribes of very mixed origin, such as Ilamites, Arabs, Nigritians, and Turks. Nevertheless the basis of the Nubian population may be said to consist of Bar&bras, who call themselves " the people of the soil." Some authors have considered this term Barabra synonymous with that of Ber- beri, applied to the Tuaregs and to the Kabyles of the Sahara and Mauritania, who are related by their speech to the people of Siwah, an oasis bordering on Egypt. But so great is the difference of colour, type, and mental qualities of these populations, that it would be difficult to believe them related, without going back to times far anterior to recorded history. According to a general but probably groundless opinion, the term Berberi, Barabra, corrupted to Berberins or Barbarins in the language of the Franks living at Cairo, is merely the Greek or Latin word "barbarian" applied to the black populations who live above the cataracts beyond civilised Egypt. The principal Nigritian tribes, mentioned over forty centuries ago on the pillars of the temples as having dwelt on the spot where the present Barabras now live, are designated by the name of Uaua, a term which seems to convey a species of contempt. It is just such a word as would be applied to a nation of "yelpers," a name differing little from that of " stammerers," which for the Greeks had the primitive meaning of the term •' barbarians." But since the name of Beraberata has been discovered on the Theban lists of tribes, it is hardly to be doubted that the term " Bai-4bra " is derived from it. But however this may be, the Uaua Negroes, as well as the Beraberata, have become the Bar&bras of our days, but not without diverse crossings with different populations. From the twelfth to the twentieth dynasty the whole of the Nile Valley, colonised by the Egyptians, had become a Retu land in language and race. The reactionary movement scarcely commenced before the Persian epoch, but it was not till the Roman period that the native elements again took the upper hand. During the government of Diocletian the Blemmyes, the present Bcjas, and more especially the Bisharins, invaded the region of Nubia and settled there in a compact body. It was found necessary to withdraw the Roman garrisous, and in order to replace them an appeal had to be made to the warlike tribes called the NubotoD, who were very probably of the same stock as the Nubas of KordofAn. From these people the Uauas and Blemmyes have received the dialects which still exist, though greatly corrupted by Arab terms. 294 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. The Nubians Proper. Tha Barbarins are amongst the darkest of the African tribes. Their com- plexion varies from the colour of Florentine bronze to an almost bluish-black ; but under their dark skins are transparent reddish hues, by which they are clearly distinguished from the Central African Negroes. The head is dolichocephalous, and the receding forehead is covered with hair which, without being woolly like that of the Negro, is nevertheless very wavy. Like the Nigritians they have a scanty beard, but their features are much more regular; and Barabras are frequently met with who come up to the standard of European beauty. The nose is straight and firm, with broad nostrils ; the lips, clearly cut, are rarely thick or pouting ; the teeth are small and beautifully white ; the cheekbones are slightly prominent, and their regular features are set off by large, open, lustrous eyes. The Bar&bras are of middle height and well proportioned ; the chest is shapely and broad, the forearms and calves are somewhat slight, but less so than amongst the Bedouin nomads. Like the Funj and Bejas, they have the custom of making three oblique scars on each cheek, for which they can give no reason, as it does not serve to distinguish them from other peoples of Negro or Beja race. Under the pretence of working medical cures, the Barabras also disfigure their handsome bodies with wounds. Directly they experience any local pain or mere uneasiness, the barber cuts a gash in them, and draws off the blood which escapes from the wound through a cow's horn ; but to prevent the wound from healing too quickly it is kept open by irritating powders. At other times nails are made red-hot and thrust into the flesh by the head or point, according to the gravity of the disease. The usual dress of the Nubians consists of a tunic, over which they wear a long blue cotton robe like that of the Egyptian fellahin. The dress is completed by sandals and a felt skull-cap, for which some substitute the turban. "Weapons are forbidden, but there are few men who do not carry a knife or poignard con- cealed in the left sleeve and attached by a twisted leather thong. In the southern part of Nubia the majority of the young girls, instead of tunics, still wear the rahad, or girdle of fringe ornamented with pearls, glass beads, and shells. Nearly all the northern and southern Nubian women wear a ring in one of their nostrils, and pierce the lobe of the ear, inserting pieces of white wood, awaiting the time when their husbands shall replace them by trinkets of metal. The female manner of wearing the hair is still the same as that repre- sented on the Egyptian monuments ; but when a woman dies it is quite a day's work to unravel her hair, which is saturated with grease and ochre, because their religion forbids that they should be buried with the hair dressed. Some women after having curled their hair, cover it with a thick coat of gum, which causes it to grow round the head in the shape of a polished helmet. • The Nubians are laborious agriculturists. Like the Egyptians, they water the soil with the shaduf or sakieh, and sow it with durrah, dokhn, and other cereals. But the produce of their fields, restricted to a narrow zone between the river and THE DAXAOLAS AND KENUZI. 296 the steppe, is not sufficient to support them, and the migrating movement, which attracts so many Dauaglas towards the southern countries, also yearly brings a number into the towns of Egypt to seek their fortune. Most of them become servants in the palaces and hotels of Cairo ; others, clothed merely in a wide- sleeved blue tunic, or else splendidly attired in brocade and gold, become sais, and run before the carriages of the pashas and rich Europeans. Faithful and obedient, relatively clean, nearly all knowing arithmetic, and how to read and write Arabic, they are usually preferred to servants of other races. Those who succeed in escaping diseases and accidents gradually manage to save a little, and when sufficiently rich they return to their country and purchase a plot of land, and live peacefully on their income. Egypt thus contributes to support the Nubian population, thanks to the thrift of the immigrants ; but the taxes and exactions of every kind have taken away from them much more than they ever received. Before the Egyptian conquest the people of Nubia were certainly much better off than they are at the present day ; in many places are to be seen on the rocks and river banks the picturesque ruins of houses and even villages, such as would at present be no longer built, whilst remains of abandoned agricultural tracts are found at a height to which it is not now thought necessary to bring water. In many a village the people no longer defend their dwellings, even against the termites ; when the house falls they take refuge under a hut of branches or mats. Emigration on the one hand, and on the other the passage and sojourn of officials and soldiers of all races, have naturally variously modified the primitive type, and men and women are frequently met amongst the Nubians who recall the type of the Retus, figured on the Egyptian monuments. But how many of them are there who no longer possess the general character of the race, and whom servitude and misery have rendered as cowardly, timid, and effeminate as the fellahin ! But, taken collectively, the Nubians are active, cheerful, confiding and gentle. But when brought into contact with the Egyptians they too ofteu contract their drunken habits. Since their conversion, the Nubians have become much more zealous partisans of Islam than the lowland peasants of the Nile, ond regularly observe the usual prayers and prostrations. Nor are they incapable of a higher state of civilisation, as is proved by the many Nubians who have had the opportunity of studying in Cairo or even in Europe, and as was shown in the past by the existence of the ancient pagan realm of Meroe, which was succeeded by the Christian states of Dongola and Aloa. The name of kiHg^, derived from the Greek kyriake, that is to say " Day of the Lord," which they still use to designate the Sunday, is a reminiscence of their now-extinct Christianity. The Daxaglas and Kexlzi. The Bar^bras, who are more especially termed Danaglas or Danaglehs, that is " People of Dongola," live in southern Nubia, principally round the capital and in the islands of the river. They differ from the northern Barbarins by their love 296 NOETH-EAST AFEICA. of trade ; from Khartum in Kordofan to Darf ur they are grouped together in numerous colonies. They also hire themselves out as mercenaries, and in this capacity they were formerly largely employed to make raids into the zeriba region to procure slaves for the dealers. The dialect of the Danaglus differs little from that of the northern Barabras ; but it is much more corrupted by Arabic words, thanks to their commercial relations with this people. The complexion of the Mahas, who occupy both banks of the Nile about the region of the Third Cataract, is darker than that of the Danaglas, and they are usually more boastful, haughty and morose in character ; they look upon themselves as a distinct race. The Kenuzi, the Kens of the ancient inscriptions, inhabit a valley farther north, between Korosko and the First Cataract. The pastoral peoples, who enclose the Nubian peasants on both sides of their narrow Nilotic valley, all call themselves Arabs, whatsoever their origin may be. Their language is that of the Prophet, which becomes yearly more universally spoken. The name they apply to the Nubians, in its true sense recalling the ancient term of " barbarians," is said to signify " embarrassed, constrained, speaking with difficulty." These pastoral peoples nowhere intermingle with the Nubian peasantry ; they have their own villages, feast-days, and national dress, and nearly all of them go bareheaded. The Bisharin. The most characteristic representatives of these Nubian " Arabs," and of those constituting the most numerous group of tribes, are the Bisharin, who are pre- eminently Bejas, and whose name, slightly modified, may probably be that of the whole race. These Bejas are usually estimated at 200,000 persons. The Bisharin rarely attain a great height, but they are extremely shrewd, and although thin and sinewy, are well proportioned. Their complexion differs greatly from that of the Nigritian peoples, and excepting in those families that have been modified by crossings, does not present any blackish tinge. Their colour is more of a red, like that of the American Indian, and amongst the women, who are under cover of the tent, differs little from that of the Calabrian and Sicilian peasant-women. The youths are so slender and graceful in form that they might easily be taken for young girls. During their prime the features of the Bisharin are regular and slightly angular ; the nose is straight and shapely ; the skin, always healthy and clean, appears as if stretched over their hollow cheeks, and on smiling, a glimpse is obtained of their pure ivory teeth, whitened by the continual mastication of the bark of the arak, an evergreen tree found in abundance near Dongola. They never smoke. Old age comes upon them rapidly, fatigue, misery, hunger and thirst quickly changing their appearance. The eye is bright but half shut, which is caused by their custom of half closing the lid to evade the blinding light reflected from the sands. THE ABABDEH OP NUBU. 297 This ocular peculiarity gives them a somewhat ferocious appearance, and many of them might certainly bo accused of cruelty. They are often spoken of by travellers as men without pity or honour, and avarice is their ruling passion. Cheerful, inquisitive, and gurrulous, they converse with animation. "While few of them are of a religious temperament, they have nevertheless preserved a few practices of an origin anterior to Islam ; they never kill the serpent or the par- tridge, which latter they look upon as a sacred bird. From the linguistic and geographical standpoint, the Bisharin form a connect- ing link between the Ilamitic populations and the Egyptians. The demotic and hieroglyphic inscriptions of Meroe are supposed to be written in their ancient dialect. Property amongst the Bisharin is not personal, but common to all, being divided amongst the families or tribes. Some parts of the steppes are, moreover, considered common property, all the tribes having the right to graze their herds on these tracts. The great courage of the Bisharin is made manifest in the rules regulating their duels. Each man in turn seizes a knife, which he thrusts into his adversary's body, taking care not to wound him mortally ; the elders act as umpires, praising or blaming the attitude of the combatants, and separate them when honour seems to be satisfied. Amongst some of the tribes adulter)' is considered a very minor fault ; the nobility of the race is transmitted by the women. The Ababdeh of Nubia. The Ababdeh, *' Arabs " of African origin, probably the Gebad^i of Pliny, are said to have numbered 40,000 at the period of Russegger's voyage in this country. But they appear to have diminished greatly, having doubtless amalgamated with the Bisharins, whose hereditary enemies they were at the time when they con- stituted a powerful nation. Their principal tribes are encamped in Nubia, the others overrunning the region of plateaux and ravines comprised between the Nile and the Red Sea, as far as to the north of Kosseir. The Ababdehs call themselves " Sons of the Jinns," as if to point out that they are aborigines bom in the desert. They somewhat resemble the Bisharin ; but their features are more delicate, their movements more graceful, and their disposi- tion milder. The northern Ababdeh speak Arabic intermingled with Bar&bra M'ords, those of the south have retained their Beja dialect, whilst the predominating language amongst those in the vicinity of the Nile is said to be that of the Bar- barius. Klunzinger has ascertained that the Ababdehs of Kosseir refuse to speak their national tongue before strangers, as they think that to reveal their mysterious dialect would bring ruin upon them. Evil would also fall amongst their family if a girl were to set eyes on her mother after her marriage. Hence, as amongst the Bantus of southern Africa, the Ababdeh husband is expected to select for his resi- dence some distant place where he is never likely to meet his dreaded mother-in- law. Unlike the Arab, he does not live under the tent, but builds a hut with hurdles and mats, which he pulls down and transports on camels, when it is necessary to 298 NORTH-EAST APRICA. seek fresh pastures. The Ababdeh likewise dwell in grottoes, similar to those of their ancestors the Troglodytes. If the clay of these caverns were explored, it woidd undoubtedly yield a rich harvest of prehibtoric objects. Gums, a few other simple products, and fish, in the vicinity of the Red Sea, are the only means of exchange by which the Ababdeh procure the durrah required for their frugal diet. Most travellers speak highly of their honesty, gentleness, and frankness, and however miserable they may be, they never beg like the fellahin. Other Ethnical Elements in Nubia. The powerful Kababish and Ilassanieh tribes, who extend beyond their own domains, where they are too much crowded together, into Kordof^n and into the peninsula lying between, and formed by the two Niles ; the Shukrieh, encroaching on the steppes to the north of the Atbara ; the Sawrat, the Ha wins, and the Jeraiad of the Bayuda ; lastly, the Robabat, and Shaikieh, who occupy the two banks of the Nile between Berber and Dongola, and now speak the Danagla language, complete the population of Nubia. These Arabs or peoples assimilated to the " Arabs " possibly amoimt to 200,000 or 300,000 persons. Immigrants from other regions have been amalgamated with the body of the Barabra nation, and the memory of their origin has been retained only by the aristocratic families who have taken interest in pre- serving their genealogies. Such is the case with the Bosniaks, who are descendants of the soldiers sent in 1520, on a mission to re-establish peace in the coxmtry. They caused fortresses to be built on the escarpments overlooking the river, settled there as sovereigns of the country, and allied themselves by marriage to the ancient chiefs. At the present time these " Kalaj " of Bosnia are still the most important people of Lower Nubia, more especially between Assuan and Korosko, and to them it is that the Egj'ptian Government has intrusted the local administration. Topography. Below Berber, Ahii-IIamed, the principal starting-point of the caravans, occupies one of those positions which in time become market-towns. A large city might even spring up in this place were both banks of the Nile not bounded by a vast desert. Here it is that the river, ceasing to flow north-westwards, trends abruptly round to the south-west, commencing the great curve which it completes at a distance of 240 miles farther north. To avoid this enormous detour the merchants are compelled to leave the Nile, and journey for seven or eight days amid the rocks and sands of the desert. South of Abu-IIamed the valley of the Nile is broadened by the large island of Mograt, which leaves to this mart fertile lands more extensive than those of most other Nubian villages. But the port where the merchants of Korosko embark and disembark is merely a group of cabins, inhabited by camel-drivers and fishermen. Doubtless the caravan traders in this country have no need of warehouses to protect MARAWI— BABKAL. 299 their goods ; they deposit their bales iii the suud, under the protection of the shrine consecrated to " Saint Abii-IIanied," and when they return, after an absence of months, or years, they always find their property just as they left it under the shadow of this venerated tomb. Marawi — Barkal. Some ruins are found on the banks of the Nile between Ab(i-IIamed and the Fourth Cataract, but it is below these rapids that, next to those of Meroe, the most remarkable ruins of Upper Nubia are met with. Maraici, the village which at present stands in this part of the valley, is a name which seems to be derived from that of the ancient capital ; nevertheless, archaeologists, relying on the statements of authors, are certain that Marawi is the Napata of Herodotus, and the inscriptions deciphercfl are unanimous on this point. Marawi, situated at the foot of white rocks, occupies an important geographical situation, being the place where navigation recommences below the Fourth Cataract, and the converging point of the two routes from Berber and Shendi, across the Bayuda stepije. The Wady-Duni, one of the most fertile and least dried-up valleys of this region, forms a confluence with the Nile valley precisely opposite Marawi. Large heaps of rubbish mark the site of the destroyed monuments, and, not far above, the remains of great buildings are still to be seen at the base of the superb Mount Barkal, an enormous quadrangular sandstone mass, poised in the middle of the plain like a pedestal awaiting its statue. The hieroglyphic name of Barkal was " Holy Mountain," and its principal temple was dedicated to the glory of Amraon-Ra. Of this building but few ruins remain, suflScient, however, to leave no doubt as to the Egyptian origin of the monument attributed to Ramses the Great. Nevertheless, the name of Amenemha III. is also found on the granite rams and lions of natural size. In 1863, Mariette discovered amongst the monuments of Barkal five columns of the highest importance, proving that Ethiopia had a very important position among the Egyptian dynasties. For a period of fifty-one years, three Ethiopian kings, residing in Nubia, ruled over the greater part of Egypt. One of these conquerors, Tahraka by name, carried his expeditions even into Asia. The European museums possess several of these monuments from Mount Barkal. Groups of pyramids are found near the temple. But the most remarkable structures of this description are those which, to the number of twenty-five, stand on the left bank of the Nile, near the village of Xuri. These latter, larger than the pyramids of Meroe, are not so well preserved, owing to the less durable qualities of the sandstone, and nearly all have lost their exterior coating of polished stones. In the interior are found vaults, a method of support which w*a8 till recently believed to be an Etruscan invention, but which, nevertheless, occurs in various Oriental countries, notably at Saqqarah in the tombs of the sixth dynasty. In the wady of Abu-Dum, south of Nuri, are seen the ruins of a fine church and of a con ent in the Byzantine style ; but nowhere, on the left bank of the river, are to be found the traces of such an important town as Napata miist have been, which stood on the northern bank. The whole of this country formerly possessed 800 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. a large population. The numerous ruins found beyond the group of buildings of which Marawi is the centre, belong to diverse historical epochs ; they consist of pyramids, dating from the period of the Byzantine influences, and fortresses constructed after the triumphs of Islam. Old and New Dongola. The head of the curve which the Nile describes before resimiing its northern course, like that of AbA-Hamed, could not fail to become a rendezvous for merchants. But the deviation of the river is here much more extensive, and the caravans have had the choice of several sites for their stations of arrival and departure. Thus follow in succession on the left bank of the river, going north- wards, the trading stations of Korti, Ambukol, Ahu-Dum (Abdum), Dahheh, and Ahu-Gossi, where terminates the route to Khartum through the Wady-Mokattam. Dabbeh was the station chosen by the British expedition of 1884 as the centre of their supplies. Abii-Gossi has been fixed by the engineers as the point where the Nile railway will enter on the desert along the valley of the Wady-Melek ; at the Sotahl wells the line will branch off on one side towards Khartum, and on the other towards Darfur. Dongola-el-Ajusa, or Old Dongola, which is believed to have existed under the name of Deng-ur at the period of the ancient Egyptian Empire, was till recently the most important town of the country. It stands farther down on a sandstone rock which commands the right bank of the river from a height of about one hun- dred feet. Here was discovered a column which has since been placed in the Berlin museum. Dongola was the capital of a Christian realm which lasted for eight hundred years, down to the fourteenth century. It was still populous at the time when the Mameluks, flying from the wrath of Mohammed- Ali, settled down in the country in the character of devastators, the Turks, who followed close on their heels, completing the work of destruction. The islands which follow in succession between the arms of the Nile, from Old to New Dongola, are mostly cultivated, and present a charming appearance, with their borders of palms reflected in the flowing stream. Naft, one of these islands, is the birthplace of the Mahdi, Mohammed Ahmed. Dongola-el-Jedidehy or New Dongola, the present capital of Nubia, is also known by the names of Kasr Dongola (Castle of Dongola), and Al-Ordu {^ihe Camp), in reference to the fact that it really sprang from a camp which the Mameluks pitched near the village of Marakah. It lies over a mile west of the great arm of the Nile, on the bank of a canal which at high tide serves as a port, but which at low water becomes a mere stagnant pool emitting dangerous miasmas. Consisting of low houses with courts, outhouses, and gardens, Dongola occupies a considerable extent of ground, and some of its buildings, amongst others a fortress in which are to be seen the remains of a castle built by the naturalist Ehrenberg, give to the whole a sufficiently imposing appearance. According to Ensor, the mean population of the town does not exceed 7,000, which, however, is doubled when the peasantry return from their fields in the neighbourhood.
To travellers coming from the north, who are accustomed to houses with
Scale 1: 800,000,
terraces, Dongola offers a great surprise. They notice the inclined roofs, which immediately point out the change in the climate, the transition from the dry zone to that of the periodical summer rains. They also observe the incessant work of 802 NORTH-EAST AFBICA. destruction carried on by the termite, an insect unknown to the riverain peoples of the Lower Nile, and which compel the people to be continually engaged in repairing their dwellings. Before the war, which for several months caused Dongola to be one of the most important bulwarks of the Egyptian Empire, this town enjoyed a fair amount of commerce ; and its port was often crowded with craft scarcely inferior in size to the dahabiyeh, but carrying a square instead of the lateen sail used below the cataracts. Below Dongola the course of the Nile is divided by Argo, one of the largest islands of Nubia and one of the most beautiful, thanks to its wooded hills, cvdtivated fields, villages hidden beneath the foliage, and its sakieh or waterwheels, which the oxen turn slowly beneath the shade of the sycamores. Thousands of years ago Argo was one of the centres of Egyptian civilisation in the Nubian regions ; here was settled, at the period of the third dynasty, a powerful colony of Egyptians. On this island have been discovered huge ruins dating from this epoch, notably two quadrangular masses or tombs, a magnificent colossus -of Sookhotpu IV. and remains of sculptures of the most exquisite style and partially engraved with hiero- glyphics. Two unfinished columns of grey granite lying upon the ground have been probably overthrown by some conquering people before being able to witness to the glory of the sovereign who had caused them to be erected by his enslaved subjects. At the period of the conquest of the country by the Turks Argo consti- tuted a distinct kingdom. The Wady-Kab and Selimeh Oases. To the west of Dongola lies the Wady-Kab, a chain of twelve oases running northwards, and following the Nile at a short distance from it. According to Russegger it should be regarded as an ancient arm of the Nile, continuing that occupied by the present depression of Wady-Mokattam. Bounded right and left by low eminences disposed like the cliffs along a watercourse, the Kab imdoubtedly resembles a river-bed, and passes into the Nile valley above the cataract of ITannek. It is supposed to lie at a lower level than that of the present Nile ; but the numerous sources and sheets of water contained in the wady might be accounted for by the infiltration of water from the river. The pasturages, brush- wood, and groves of dates and other trees make of this depression a chain of oases which could support a numerous population, yet it is only periodically visited by Kababish nomads, who come to graze their herds and to procure dates, and the wood which they sell at Dongola for the construction of the houses and sakiehs. Still farther north are other oases, but of much less extent. Tliat of Selimeh, which lies on the caravan route between Assuan and Darfur, had no fixed popula- tion at a recent period, although its springs, sheltered by groves of palms, are filled with good water. At the period of Browne's expedition, towards the end of the last century, it is said to have had nothing but pasturages ; but in the year 1822 Cuilliaud here found tamarisks and some hundreds of palms, which had probably 80LEB-AMARAII— SEMNEH— EMKA. 808 been but recently planted. At one time the English appear to have entertained the project of constructing a fort, and maintaining a permanent garrison in the Seliineh ousis for the purpose of commanding the route to Darfur, and overawing the neighbouring peoples in the Nile valley. SoLEB — Amarah. The usual route by river to the Seliraeh oasis starts from the village of So/et, below the Third Cataract. The houses of the village are overtopped by the ruins of a temple, one of the finest and largest specimens of ancient Egyptian workman- ship to be found in Nubia. The columns which still stand are as elegant as those of Greek temples ; but the sculptures and inscriptions in honour of Amenemha III. are not numerous, and the interior is a mere chaos of rubbish. Lower doi*Ti on the right bank of the river stand the sculpture<l pillars of the temple of Amarah, surrounded by palm groves, whose fruit is the most highly valued throughout the whole of Nubia. Here begins that region of gorges and rapids which the Arabs call " Botn-el-IIagar." Although the cliffs on both side? almost meet here and there, the banks of the river are everywhere cultivated. When the strip of alluvia is only a few yards broad, it is usually sown with haricots or lentils ; but when the arable zone is not so narrow it is used for raising crops of durrah ; and if still more extensive it bears a few palms, under which nestle small groups of huts. The crests of the neighbouring rocks are crowned by the towers of strongholds and the walls of ancient entrenched camps. The remains of a feudal system similar to that of Europe, the Nubian castles differ little from those of the Rhine, except that the battlements and keeps are built in red brick, whilst the roofs, slightly inclined, are broader at the base than at the summit, and all the towers are conical. One of the thermal springs which rise in these gorges on the banks of the Nile, is much frequented by the sick persons of the surrounding country, but only during the season of low water, as at other periods the beach is covered by the floods. The sands give birth to several springs, many of which are probably rivulets which filtered through from the Nile during the floods, and are now returning to the main stream. Semxeh — Emka. At Semneh, one of the few villages situated in the Botn-el-IIagar, two cliffs on the banks of the Nile each bear an Egyptian fortress of the twelfth dynasty. At the period of the inundations the broad bed of the Nile is entirely flooded ; but at low water nearly the whole of the space comprised between the two cliffs is occupied by shining black granite rocks, pierced with holes and intersected by deep crevasses. It is now merely a narrow channel about 100 feet broad, through which rushes a foaming body of water at the rate of several hundred cubic feet per second. In no other part of its course does the Nile present a more magnificent appearance. 804 NOETn-EAST AFRICA. ^ Semneh is the well-known place where Lepsius discovered numerous inscrip- tions carved in the rock, indicating the height of the Nilotic floods during the reign of Amenemha III., and showing how considerably the water-mark has been changed during forty centuries. But even at a level much higher than that reached by the floods in the time of the Pharaohs, labyrinths of polished rocks are seen absolutely similar to those now washed by the present waters of the river. Opposite the village of Emka, the rock is more deeply scored with a horizontal line, which M. Pouchet believes to be the primitive level of the Nile floods. Not far from this spot lies Wady-Sarras, the present (1885) terminus of the railway which skirts the cataract. Wady-Halfa. "Wady- Haifa, or the " Valley of Reeds," is situated on the right bank of the Nile, over a mile below the last rapid of the Second Cataract. A few fields and a belt of palms growing in the sand surround the huts of this village, which has become of great military and commercial importance as a station where the caravans unload and reform. Moreover, "Wady-Halfa, as the capital of the frontier district, now enjoys an extensive administrative jurisdiction, the official boundary of Egypt and Nubia having been transferred from the First to the Second Cataract. During the campaign of 1884-5, the English here established their principal provisioning depot in Nubia, and since 1875 the Egj'ptians have made it the terminus of the railway which skirts the Cataracts, and which may ultimately be pushed on to Dongola. A bridge will have to be raised at Koyeh, near Soleb, below the Third Cataract, so as to open up a route to the capital of Nubia across the western desert. In order to surmount the rapids of Wady-Halfa, the English employed boats of a special make, the guidance of which was intrusted to Canadian and Iroquois boatmen, accustomed from their youth to sail down the rapids of the Canadian rivers. May not the presence of these Iroquois boatmen on the Cataracts of the Nile be taken as a striking proof of how greatly the size of the world has been reduced by steam ? Derr — KoROSKO — Ibsambul. Till recently the population of Wady-Halfa was much smaller than that of Derr, a village situated on the right bank of the river, its houses scattered amidst groves of palms, in the most fertile part of Nubia, known by the name of Boston, or " the garden." The traffic of Wady-Halfa was also less important than that of the station of Korosko, situated on the right bank, at the northern extremity of the car{jvan route which avoids the great curve of the Nubian Nile. Between Wady-Halfa and Derr the river flows by the foot of two temples which take their place amongst the marvels of Egyptian art ; they are the monuments of Ibsambul, more comcommonly known by the erroneous name of Abu-Simbel. They are both hewn out of the red ferruginous sandstone composing the mountains which rise on the left bank of the river. Between the two rocks gushes forth a cataract of yellow sand, borne thither by the wind from the Libyan desert, and forming an ever-increasing mound before each temple, which, on various occasions, it has been found necessary to clear away from the entrances and statues.
The southern or great temple, built in honour of Ammon-Ra, the sun-god, is entirely hewn out of the living rock. Before the gate sit four colossi, over 60
feet in height, of noble and placid countenance, supposed to represent Ramses II.; but of one of these gigantic statues, decapitated by an English traveller, the lower part is all that remains.
All the colossi are covered with inscriptions, Greek and Phœnician being even found in the midst of the hieroglyphics. In the interior of the rock follow in succession three large halls and twelve of a smaller size, whose walls are embellished with hieroglyphic paintings and sculptures, whose colours are still brilliant. One of these compositions, which comprises no less than eleven hundred figures, represents the battle of Kadesh, the principal event of the Egyptian Iliad. Nearly 806 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. all the other sculptures also commemorate the glory of Ramses, conqueror of the Hittites. On the ceiling of one hall are carefully drawn various species of animals no longer met with in Nubia, but only in Kordofan and Senar. The smaller temple, consecrated to the goddess Ilathor, has six colossi over 30 feet in height before the facade, and four of these huge masses again represent Ramses IT. ; two of the statues, the second and fifth, reproduce the features of Nofreari, the " Divine Beauty," and their children are placed between the knees of the wedded pair. Maharrakah — Beit-el-'Walli. The imposing sanctuaries of Abu-Sirabel are succeeded by many other temples, which extend as far as the First Cataract. Fourteen have been described by archaeologists, without including the sepulchral grottoes, gateways, and towers. Passing beyond the temple of Sabua, almost buried in the sand, and the ruins of the ancient town of JIahendi, whose tunnel- shaped galleries are still to be seen passing under the houses, the traveller reaches the Roman ruins of Maharrakah, which crown a promontory commanding an extensive prospect. Then come Dakkch, with its gigantic gateways, and Garf-Hossain, a sombre cavern hewn out of the limestone rock, now infested by bats, like all the abandoned edifices of ancient Egypt. Beyond this point are seen the ruins of Kalahshah, another superb temple built by Ramses II., where a Greek inscription has been found recording the victories that the Nubian king, Silco, gained over the Blemmyes. Close by yawns the well-known speos or sepulchral cave of Beii-el- Walli, whose sculptures, representing triumphal processions, assaults, court and battle scenes, have been rendered more popular by engravings than any others. Although somewhat tarnished by the castings taken from them, the colours of the paintings of Beit-el-AValli are still remarkably brilliant. The defile leading from Egypt in the direction of Nubia is preceded by temples and necropolises, which form, as it were, a long avenue of tombs. Cata- combs are much more numerous than populated dwellings, and this region probably contains fewer living men than gods engraved on the walls of the temples or scidptured in the granite.