CHPTER VIII.

JOURNEY ON THE THIRD AND FOURTH NIGHT-ARRIVAL AT MORRAT, HALF-WAY BETWEEN COROSCO AND ABUHAMED THE FIFTH NIGHT PASSED THERE.

DURING the short half-hour we asked for dinner. It was ready. The cook and kabir took the trouble to bring it. What so many required to carry it? Yes; to carry some bits of bread and a glass of water. What bread, and what water! repast before us, and we bread as rats a bit of skin. the water, for it was so stinking that the very sight of it turned the stomach.

They put the magnificent began to gnaw the bits of We could not steep it in

Were it necessary, that every religious body should make a noviciate and be obliged to carry water in otres for four days in such a heat, I am sure there would not be any monks in the world. Not even Saint Anthony, with all his ardour, could have given himself up so entirely and become such a great saint, if he had been brought here. With such thoughts and say

ings, I occupied myself.

But the Arabs invite us

to mount, and we, obediently comply, and follow the kabir amongst the black mountains. I often repeated

the prayer, that the kabir might be led into the right path. Oh, Lord, I said, illumine our kabir, do not allow any evil to happen to his whole eye, for he seems a good man, though he told me a lie about the cemetery. The night was fresh, and the South wind, which in the preceding nights had attacked us, was dead. We travelled till nearly four in the morning, when we dismounted to rest, but we were off again at half-past five. We enjoyed the freshness of the morning for about an hour; the sun rose in our face, but entering into a valley called Waddi iddom, (or valley of the Theban), we continued to breath the fresh air for another half hour; † but leaving the valley, we got the

* Our Kabir Abdelhamid, as I said before, had only one eye, and he never slept. I was afraid that he would have some accident to the eye from his perpetual watching. For this reason I used to pray God day and night to preserve him at least the sane eye.

+ Uady Iddom (valley of Theban), is a great valley, half a day's journey distant from the wells of Morrat. It is full of the Dom tree and the Sant. The Dom is a kind of palm, and is of two kinds. The first is like the real palm, which is called in Arabic, Nakal (it is that which produces dates), but it is more beautiful on account of its branches. These branches are shorter than those of the real palm, and they are covered on both sides by two leaves united together, and finishing at the extremity in many separate leaves. At a certain distance, it seems to be a real palm; but, when one approaches it, he then forms a right judgment of it, both by its branches and its fruit, which resembles in a certain way, the reddish pears. It is not eatable; but the Arabs eat it sometimes, when they have nothing else. The second species is more beautiful and wonderful. Its fruit is perfectly like that of the former species; its branches are the same; its tree is different, and it grows in the following manner :-It rises four or five feet above the ground, and divides in two branches; and these two branches are subdivided in two other branches, which hold the fruit and the little branches or sticks covered with leaves. This is the mysterious nature of this second species of dom. Both species begin to be seen in Upper Egypt, near Kene, and the

benefit of the heat. At ten, we descended to the foot of a mountain, before the eastern part a beautiful amphitheatre was spread out. It was more than noon when we changed our position and cast an eye on the amphitheatre, and soon it changed into a large lake of the clearest water, and the shadows of the mountain that surrounded it, were all reflected in it. It was a most beautiful and delightful place, which, one who had never seen such a sight in any desert, or read of it, might very well affirm it was really water that he saw —whilst it was only the strong reflection of the sun upon the sand, with the rarified air which displays the phenomenon to our eyes.

I, seeing the same scene a year back, for the first time, in the Desert of Sinai, thought it water. As soon as I moved my mat, the Arabs began to load, and we got on our dromedaries, the temperature was as before -115° 116° 117° from eleven a.m., till four p.m., though the thermometer was carried in the shade. We passed amongst the mountains, which helped to torment us, from their being almost red hot. At halfpast five, we reached the celebrated wells of Morrat, half way between Corosco and Abuhamid. The Arabs

second species is more numerous there; but from Nubia Superior to Sennar the first species of dom is more numerous on both banks of the Nile. Mohamed Ali brought several plants of the second species to his splendid garden of Ciobra at Cairo, and none of them grew. He tried again and again by bringing otherss but his care was always fruitless. He at last learnt its nature, that it grows only in that place in which God had placed it.

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took off the luggage, and the poor camels rushed to the wells. The two wells of Morrat though hollowed out in the same amphitheatre, are distant about 100 yards from each other. The first of them, at the end of the amphitheatre, is said by the Arabs to be better than the other which is in the middle; it pleased me better than the first, but taste taking part in the dispute, the question remained in statu quo.* According to general taste it might be said, one was worse than the other; both are most nauseous. I do not know, if rhubarb and castor oil were put together, which would be worst. I could not drink a mouthful since my taste was so much nauseated by the corrupt water of the Nile, that I vomited that of Morrat.

I continued to spit blood, and each time that I wished to drink, I had to use great efforts not to reject it. I thought there were no measures more safe than that of commending myself to God, and during my sufferings, I repeated, "Thy will be done. I will receive whatever death thou sendest me, provided that I am faithful in my last moments. Whilst I was occupied with such prayers, I was interrupted by the

*The wells of Morrat are dug in the same sandy amphitheatre by the Arabs Ababde. They have no date at all except the mere assertion of the Arabs, that they are very old, and were dug by their ancestors. They are called morrat (bitter), from the taste of their water. Morrat is an Arabic name, and is the plural form of the adjective singular, "morra" (bitter.) The word "mouauat" (waters) is understood, and taking both nouns "mouaiat morrat" mean bitter waters. They really are more than bitter, and have such a taste that non liceat dicere, but every one may guess it.

captain, telling the cook to make us a dish of rice to strengthen our stomachs. He lighted some of the fuel, peculiar to the desert, of which I made mention before I cooked the rice. When he brought it, he

seemed much disturbed.

After finishing the dinner, I went to the cook and asked him why he was in such a bad humour when he brought it to us? He replied, "the Arabs have consumed all the first box of bread;* but I will take

*I enquired from the cook about his quarrelling with Abdalhamed in presence of the Arabs-(I knew the reason, but wished to avail myself of the good opportunity to correct the Arabs.) He answered me :-" These beasts eat all the first coffa (basket made of palm leaves) of bread; Aulad Sittin calb sons of sixty dogs (an Arabic phrase.) You and the captain eat very little, and so do I with Mohammed Aga." I then turned round to the Arabs, and said quietly, "I think, Omar (this was the name of the cook), has reason for quarrelling with you, and, above all, with you Abdalhamid.” Thank God, that I had ordered two coffas of bread at Corosco, otherwise we should die of hunger. The kabir excused himself with his impudence. "Maaleh (no matter) the Arabs had eaten it." I almost cut off his words, which he was going to add, and, with a harsh voice, shouted, "Maaleh, that we should die of hunger? What impudence is this ?" "Taieb (well) I do not wish to cut you and the Arabs open, and take out the grinded bread, which would be of no utility at all; but . . . Omar leave the second coffa open, for I know how many pieces of bread it contains, and, how many we consume a day. and when we arrive at Abuhamed I will count by means of arithmetic, and shall see if there is any piece wanting, and I shall know from whom to demand its value." I then took my note-book, and pretended to write down the pieces of bread contained in the two baskets. At last I said to the Arabs:-"You are good people, careful and faithful in keeping silver and gold, but one can never trust you with bread, salt, onions, tobacco, and such like. Shame upon you! you may trust the Arabs with precious things, but never with eatables unless they are under lock and key. If the traveller would correct the Arabs, he must choose a good opportunity, and then use a few concise sentences, cooked and served up with rough, insulting, and villanous words, in order to succeed in his purpose. He must himself have a good knowledge of

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