rkish origin, an opinion sufficient to excite the ill-treatment of
Arabs, who bear the most inveterate hatred to the Osmanli. From the
small quantity of merchandise I had, they considered I was a trader
running away from my creditors, but I succeeded in convincing them that
I was travelling in search of a lost cousin who had made an expedition
to Darfour and Sennaar in Nubia, in which the whole of my property was
engaged.

At Wady el Nabeh, the wells of which have a great repute all through
Nubia, and which we reached on March 14, we met a band of Ababdes
driving thirty slaves before them, which they were taking to sell in
Egypt. In general, I found the dreaded Nubian deserts--as far as Shigre,
at least, which we reached on March 16 with difficulty, on account of
shortage of water--of much less dreary appearance than the great Syrian
desert, and still less so than the desert of Suez and Tyh. The high
mountains of Shigre consist of huge blocks of granite heaped upon one
another in the wildest confusion.

During the whole march we were surrounded on all sides by lakes of
mirage, called by the Arabs "serab." Its colour was of the purest azure,
and so clear that the shadows of the mountains which bordered the
horizon were reflected on it with the greatest precision, and the
delusion of its being a sheet of water was thus rendered still more
perfect. We experienced great suffering from the reckless waste of water
and the dryness of the wells which were expected to yield supplies; and
so serious did it become that twelve of the strongest of the camels
were selected to hasten forward to fetch a supply of water from the
nearest part of the Nile. They returned the following morning from their
desperate mission, bringing with them plentiful supplies of the
delicious water of the Nile, in which we revelled, enabling us to reach
Berber on March 23, the whole desert journey having taken us twenty-two
days.

The governor of Berber, which consists of four villages, is called the
mek, and is nominated by the king of Sennaar. He, however, exercises a
feeble authority over the Arabs. The people of Berber are a handsome
race. The men are taller, larger-limbed, and stronger than the
Egyptians, and red-brown in colour. The features are not those of the
negro, the face being oval, and the nose perfectly Grecian. They say,
"We are Arabs, not negroes." The practice of drunkenness and debauchery
is universal, and everything discreditable to