Notes from Egypt

My dear E

We started from Wady Halfeh ill supplied with the requisites for so long a journey as we actually made: our original intention not being to proceed further than New Dongola; but the remains of antiquity at Neuri, Gebel Berkel, and ancient Meroe, with a wish to ascend the Nile as high, or even higher than the junction of the main stream with the White and Blue rivers, enticed us onwards till our stores failed us, or became too scanty to be used every day. In many districts we had great difficulty in obtaining our usual supply of goats' milk; and the heat soon turned it sour, if we attempted to keep it for our usual morning and evening meal o rice-milk: failing in this, we were thrown upon black coffee, and bread indescribably hard, stale, bitter, and dirty. The extreme poverty and destitution of the peasantry made it utterly impossible to get a piece of even three or four piastres changed to pay for the little milk they had to spare us for money, and even in the towns and large villages, small coin for a Turkish dollar of twenty piastres (about three shillings and sixpence), was rarely to be had. The coinage of this unhappy country is in so debased, depreciated, and complicated a state, that the people scrutinize all money offered to them with the utmost care, and should it prove, as it often does, of a denomination, the exact value of which they do not understand, they will absolutely refuse to take it in payment. This happened so frequently in Nubia and Ethiopia, (where scarcely any coin passes among the poorer classes, who most of them transact their bargains by barter), that money was scarcely of any service to us, even where, as was not often the case, we were possessed of change in the smallest denomination i.e. the para or fuddah, forty of which make a piastre. We were daily exposed to the most vexatious squabbles with the inhabitants of both town and country, as well as with our camel drivers, on the subject of the real or present value of the money we gave them in purchase for goods and for service.

By far the greater part of the entire distance from Wady Halfeh to Korosko was performed on camels, by which mode of conveyance we travelled nearly one thousand miles, pitching our tent when in the desert, and sleeping in it whilst the cold nights lasted; but when at a town or village, we either took up our abode in what was called by courtesy, a house, or bivouacked under the open canopy of heaven in the street, and no mode of sleeping was more pleasant to us than to have our pallet bedsteads thus set out in some open space, and lie gazing on the stars overhead till we fell asleep, which we were never long in doing. The village dogs always shewed much more curiosity at our Frank encampment than the human inhabitants; and although our things were lying about in all directions, linen, carpet bags, kitchen utensils, &c, and not one amongst us ever remained awake to keep watch, or dreamed of such a thing, not the smallest article was ever missing. One day, close to the great town of Metummeh, our Arab servants, whilst they went to amuse themselves in the town, most unwarrantably left the tent pitched by the river, without a single person to look after the property. I happened to return, and found our camp thus deserted, but nothing had been touched.

I must however, do our servants the justice to say, that excepting their Arab faults of occasional carelessness and supineness, their conduct has been uniformly most praiseworthy, and we may consider ourselves as extremely fortunate in having people so honest, and, in the main, trustworthy, about us. Our cook, Said Ibraham, is an Egyptian Copt of the neighbourhood of Siout, a very honest, industrious, good tempered, and singular to say, very cleanly fellow; altogether, from these qualities, and his professional skill, he has been invaluable to us, and he will accompany me I hope into Syria as a servant, where his knowledge of the country, and the language, and his being a Christian, will be so many advantages. Mohammed, a youth of about sixteen, and Achmed, a young man of about twenty-five, who took his brother's place at Ourdeh (New Dongola), as Mr. Lakes' attendant, are both Mahometans of the Berber country — the former, a well-disposed, honest, tractable, and intelligent lad, of much originality of character; Achmed, a grave, sedate, and (for an Arab), careful person, who can speak a little English and Italian, but I do not like him quite so well as his less accomplished brother Ameen, who remained behind at Ourdeh at the wish of an aged mother who could not bear to have both her sons away at the same time. Achmed seems to think he shall find his brother Hamed Saafee (the keeper of the hippopotamus in London), at Cairo on our return; but I consider it unlikely that he would quit his situation till the Great Exhibition which will draw over so many sight-seeing foreigners to England, is over in October: for he makes a great deal of money, his brother says, by douceurs received from visitors to the gardens. Talking of hippopotami, we saw several when in the upper country above Berber, and in the White river, and could sometimes hear them blowing in the water at night: we never saw them on land, and could only see their broad truncated snouts, and part of their huge heads occasionally raised above the surface. They are not at the present day to be found below Berber.

As to crocodiles, Mr. Lakes, an excellent shot with his rifle, killed at least three of these monsters on the sand-banks, but never could secure their bodies, as on being mortally wounded, they always contrive to flounder into the water, where they either sink dead, the body not rising till after, at least, twenty-four hours when decomposition has begun, or they come on shore after some time to die. The crocodile is a very timid animal, and I firmly believe rarely, if ever, ventures to attack an adult, and then only in the water, never on land; but there is no doubt that they will seize children who venture into shallow water where they abound: an instance of a little girl having met with such a fate occurred at a village on our southern route, the very day before our arrival. The Arabs along the Nile never evince the least fear of crocodiles; the boatmen are constantly paddling about in the water to shove their boats off the innumerable sand-banks that obstruct the navigation in all parts of this immensely long river; and I have seen large birds strutting about almost within a foot or two of their huge jaws as they lie basking on the banks, a dozen or more together, and have even seen them perch on the top of the crocodiles' heads. The real danger to a man, should he be able to approach so wary an animal near enough to receive injury (which could happen only in the case of one disabled by a wound), would be from a stroke of his powerful tail. Their mode of gliding into the water when disturbed, is by a slow motion like that of some gigantic serpent or fish; they then look very slippery, and as if all joints and suppleness.

Always, my dear E., Your affectionate Brother, William Arnold Bromfield.