inclose in its waters many verdant isles and islets, which attract inhabitants both by the abundance of their productions, and by the security they afford against the depredations of the wandering tribes of the desert. Along one or both of the banks, and more frequently along the eastern than along the western, there generally extends a fertile and cultivated slip of ground, sometimes spreading, especially in Dongola, to a consider able breadth; at other times very much compressed, or even entirely interrupted, by rocks and encroaching sands. To the right and to the left of this, all is dreary desolation, a wide expanse of sand frequented only by the predatory Arab, where the eye seeks in vain for any thing more cheering to rest upon, than the dark or yellowish tints of naked mountains in the back ground.

The population of the Batn el Hadjar, Sukkót, Mahass, and Dóngola, is Nubian. The women are generally naked, except a covering round the waist; and do not appear to have made a favourable impression on Mr. W., notwithstanding his prepossession in favour of black, which he thinks, or at least thought, the finest colour for a human being. In speaking they use much gesticulation: when they mean to be emphatic, they sharpen their voice to shrillness: and to enforce what has been said, the shrill sounds are re-echoed by the other females present, even though they should have taken no share in the previous conversation. They are not afraid of being seen in public. They ride and walk about uncovered, talk fearlessly to the men, return the salutations of strangers, and even salute them first. Though in general very ugly, and, when

old, almost hideous, they are so far from affecting the entire concealment of the person, which is usual with Mohammedan women, that the upper part of the body down to the loins is always quite naked. It is on the head that the labours of the toilet are chiefly bestowed. The hair is greased and plaited with great care: and where superior pretensions to elegance exist, some of the plaits, passing under those which hang down by the side of the face, are brought backwards above the ears, exactly in the fashion which is often seen in the figures in the temples of Egypt.

The Nubian population is intermixed with Arabs. The Nubians have generally some knowledge of Arabic, but the Arabs are always completely ignorant of the Nubian tongue. Like the Egyptians they divide their year into three seasons of four months each; the Nile or Inundation-the Winter-and the Summer. The Summer is the pickly season; and, at the end of it, in the middle of July, their year begins.

The buildings are generally of mud or straw. Those which are intended to serve as fortresses, are sometimes of brick, more frequently of mud. The larger dwelling houses, especially in places dignified with the name of towns, are also of mud-occasionally of mud and stones intermixed: but most of the inhabitants now, as in the time of Strabo, dwell in cottages of straw. These cottages are eight or ten feet in height; their walls are constructed of straw and palm branches, kept together by strings made of the palm, and are fastened at each of the four corners to the dry stem of a palm; and the flat roof of palm leaves is secured and overtopped by acacia branches. In

most of the villages is a hut by the road side, with a jar of water in it, for the accommodation of travellers. Dar Sheygya, the most remote of the districts visited by Mr. Waddington and Mr. Hanbury (lying, as we have already stated, along that part of the Nile, where the river, before making a bend to the west, flows for nearly two degrees of latitude from north to south) is inhabited by the Sheygýa Arabs. It appears to be sub-divided into three states, often at war with one another, but ever ready to unite against a common foe. Adjacent to the Dongolese frontier are the dominions of King or Malek Zobeyr. Further up, are those of Malek Chowes, extending from Toraif to Kasinger; his capital is Merawe. Most remote of all is the kingdom of Amri, with its capital of the same name. It is a rocky, mountainous region, and has for its sovereign Hamet Wallad Asla.

"The Sheygya," says Mr. Waddington," are black-a clear, glossy, jet-black, which appeared, to my then unprejudiced eyes, to be the finest colour that could be selected for a human being. They are distinguished in every respect from Negroes, by the brightness of their colour, by their hair, and the regularity of their features; by the mild and dewy lustre of their eyes, and by the softness of their touch, in which last respect they yield not to Europeans."

They are a brave and warlike race, and have long been the most powerful people between Egypt and Sennaar. They live on horseback, with arms constantly in their hands. Their horses, which are of the Dongola breed, are taught to swim across the Nile in the broadest parts, and trained to

a gallop resembling the spring of the antelope, which, though it occasions no embarrassment or impediment to riders accustomed to it, renders it extremely difficult for a foe to take a sure aim at them. When equipped for war, they have each two lances and a long solingen sword. A few have pistols, but the possession of guns is confined to their chiefs. Their defensive armour consists of an oblong shield made of the skin of the crocodile, or more frequently of that of the hippopotamus. Some of the leaders wear a coat of mail, which covers the head, and falls down over the shoulders to the middle of the back, strong enough to resist a spear, but penetrable by ball. They are singularly fearless in attack. Riding up with gaiety of heart to the very face of their enemy, as to a scene of festive enjoyment, they give the "salam aleikoum-Peace be with you;" and the deadly thrust of the lance instantly follows the mock salutation of friendship.

Their warlike character does not hinder them from cultivating the ground. They raise considerable quantities of wheat and dhourra, and carry on traffic with Darfour and Sennaar. They have many Nubians settled in the country; and, when their own numbers have been exceedingly diminished in war, they have supplied the loss by carrying off Dongolese. These Nubians, though regarded as inferiors, do not seem to be reduced to servitude; but a great part of the labours of agriculture devolve upon them.

Formerly, the whole of Dongola was under the dominion of the Sheygya: Dar Mahass was subject to their frequent, Sukkót and the Batn el Hadjar, to their oces

sional, inroads. Till the arrival of the Mamelouks, Handech (situated between New and Old Dongola) was the ordinary residence of Malek Chowes; and the rest of Dongola was parcelled out among their chieftains, who appropriated to themselves one half of the taxes paid by the people, and left the other half to the native princes.

The arrival of the Mamelouks, in 1812, altered this situation of things. When these exiled warriors, under the command of the Beys Ibrahim and Rochman, made their appearance in Dar Mahass, the Casheff of that district was at war with the Sheygýa, who were settled in the southern part of Dongola. At his solicitation, the Mamelouks advanced to the isle of Argo: but the war, which they threatened, was suddenly changed into peace. They were entertained at Argo as friends and allies, and they rewarded the confidence reposed in them by a treacherous massacre of their hosts. The Sheygýa immediately sought to avenge in war their murdered brethren: but they were soon forced to cede to the strangers the western bank and the islands of the Nile, from the frontier of Dar Mahass as far as Hannech. The Mamelouks now acted as rulers of the country, and as intending to make it their permanent abode. They dismissed their Egyptian wives, and married the daughters of their Nubian subjects. They increased the taxes to one-third of the whole produce; they promoted the cultivation of wheat instead of dhourra; they introduced some of the more ordinary arts; and, having fixed the seat of their government at Maragga, which now assumed the name of New Dongola, they enlarged and improved it.

Zobeyr, one of the Sheygýa chiefs, begged their assistance against his neighbour Malek Chowes. They complied with his request: and with some of their own forces, zealously seconded, it would appear, by their Nubian vassals, they were again successful against their Sheygya foes.

But the vengeance and ambition of the Pasha of Egypt still pursued them. Mohammed Ali, eager to annihilate the remnant of his once formidable enemies, and anxious at the same time to carry his conquests to the borders of Abyssinia, began in 1820 to assemble an army which was to penetrate into the countries beyond the second cataract. While the preparations were going on, he sent a messenger to New Dongola, in the hope that flattering promises might reduce the Mamelouks to submission. Their only answer was, an expression of indignant contempt-" Tell Mohammed Ali that we will be on no terms with our servant." Hearing of the approach of his army, they celebrated the Ramadan with unusual solemnity, and, in the middle of June, mustering about three hundred strong (they had lost about a hundred men, and among them Ibrahim Bey, during their residence in Dongola), with double that number of women and slaves, they took their departure for Shendy.

The army, which the Pasha had collected against them, was nominally ten thousand strong, and was accompanied by twelve pieces of artillery: the number of fighting men in it, however, did not exceed four thousand. The command was entrusted to his second son, Ismael-a bold and impetuous youth, 22 years of age, who gave

considerable promise of being one day a superior character. Under him were several leaders of more advanced age and more mature experience, among whom Abdin Casheff was the first in character and influence. The troops were all mercenaries; the best of them were Bedouins and Mogrebbyns. Their engagement bound them to serve only as far as Dongola, and they received six months' pay in advance. Leaving Cairo early in the summer, they passed the cataracts during the inundation, arrived at New Dongola without opposition, and, having agreed to extend their services as far as Sennaar, advanced against the Sheygya. Such was the situation of this little known part of Ethiopia, when Mr. Waddington and Mr. Hanbury resolved to avail themselves of the facilities afforded by the progress of the victorious army, to penetrate where none of their countrymen had ever been before.

On the 10th of November, 1820, the travellers arrived at a Turkish magazine, which had been established at Wady Halfa, a little way below the second cataract. They immediately presented their firman to the Aga in command, and, stating that they had letters for Abdin Casheff, who had lately been appointed governor of Dongola, they requested that the means of joining the army might be granted to them. The Pasha's firman extended only to Wady Halfa, and had this been known, it is not likely that they would have been allowed to proceed a step farther: but, fortunately for them, the Aga could not read, and therefore readily promised the requisite number of camels. The party consisted of six persons,

-our two travellers, their dragoman, an Irish servant, and two Maltese attendants. Notwithstanding the liberality of the Aga's promises, only five camels were furnished for them. With these they set out on the morning of the 11th, James, the Irish servant, commencing his journey on foot. They soon left the cataract of Wady Halfa behind them. It was then impassable even for a small boat; but Mr. Waddington is convinced, that from the beginning of August to the middle of October, the largest cangees (the name of a species of boats used in the navigation of the Nile) may ascend all the cataracts without difficulty.

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Four days, and part of the fifth, were spent in traversing the Batn el Hadjar. The travellers kept the right bank of the Nile; and their course was through a plain, except where the rocks, that skirted it on the left, approached so near to the river, as to make it necessary for them to wind through the mountainous passes. Some of these passes were destitute of beauty. The Virgin's Pass, in particular, struck Mr. Waddington. "The rocks," says he, "are high and well broken, and often joined by sand blown up to a great height between them. The sunset was red and fiery, the moon clouded, and the sky unusually disturbed; a strong, though mild wind, served to increase our enjoyment of the most English evening we had seen in the East." They saw many fertile spots, that lay altogether uncultivated. The villages were of mud, and a few old Christian churches were still to be seen. The Nile, from time to time, interrupted by rocks in its course, ex

hibited a great variety of cataract scenery. The people appeared stupid. One man, to whom they applied for information, answered their questions by saying, that his father had not taught him any thing about hours, and that he was not acquainted with any division of time.

On the 15th, Messrs. Waddington and Hanbury entered Sukkót, and slept at a village called Ferket, where, according to the promises of the Aga of the Cataracts, the camels were to be replaced by others. In the morning, they found that no camels could be procured: and they were deliberating on the propriety of pressing into their service two of those which had brought them thither, when they were informed, that the drivers, apprehensive probably, of some such measure, had, during the night set out with their beasts for Wady Halfa. The party were therefore obliged to have recourse to the assistance of asses. After two hours travelling, during which they seem to have had much difficulty in keeping their asses together, and still more in getting them to move onwards, they came to Mograte.

"Here," says Mr. Waddington, "our prospects brighten a little; a camel is discovered among the palms and soon afterwards another, and a man, with a woman and child near it; he proves to be an Ababde Arab, named Achmet, going down, with his wife and infant, to buy dates; we of course invite him very warmly to enter into our service, to which he as strongly objects; and on being more urgently pressed, he asks with great feeling, And will you oblige me to leave my wife and child in the hands of strangers?'

Now his wife was a very pretty woman, and was watching this scene with great interest, though in silence. The case was certainly a hard one, and perhaps we were decided by the sight of one of our asses, at that moment down on the ground, struggling with his burthen: however, we were decided; we justified ourselves by the tyrant's plea, and immediately proceeded to transfer part of our property to the more dignified situation it was once more destined to occupy. The man intrusted his family to a fellow countryman, an inhabitant of the village, and proceeded reluctantly with us."

The connexion, thus compulsorily formed, turned out in the sequel agreeable and advantageous, to both parties. At a place where it was expected that camels would be easily procured, Achmet, after a week's service, obtained his discharge. Our countrymen, besides paying him for the use of his camels, gave him one or two strings of Venetian beads for his wife; and such, he declared, were his feelings of gratitude and attachment, that, were he ever to see them again, he would come up and speak to them, though it should be in the presence of the Pasha himself.

The Arabs, who were forced into the service of the travellers, demanded half a dollar per day for each camel; this charge, which was much less than that of the Aga of the Cataracts, was willingly paid.

Beasts of burthen were not the only things, which there was a difficulty in procuring. Provisions were often scarce. The sour bread and milk of the country were supplied willingly; but the inhabitants frequently refused to give