DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0185
ASSUAN AND ELEPHANTINE. 167
By far the most amusing sight in Assuan was the traders'
camp down near the landing-place. Here were Abyssinians
like slender-legged baboons; wild-looking Bishanvah and
Ababdeh Arabs with flashing eyes and flowing hair; sturdy
Nubians the color of a Barbedienne bronze ; and natives
of all tribes and shades, from Kordofan and Sennar, the
deserts of the Baliuda and the banks of the Blue and White
Niles. Some were running from Cairo; others were on
their way thither. Some, having disembarked their mer-
chandise at Mahatta (a village on the other side of the
cataract), had come across the desert to re-embark it at
Assuan. Others had just disembarked theirs at Assuan,
in order to re-embark it at Mahatta. Meanwhile, they
were living suijovej each intrenched in his own little re-
doubt of piled-up bales and packing-cases, like a spider in
the center of his web; each provided with a kettle and
coffee-pot, and an old rug to sleep and pray upon. One
sulky old Turk had fixed up a roof of matting, and fur-
nished his den with a kqfas, or palm-wood couch; but he
was a self-indulgent exception to the rule.
Some smiled, some scowled, when we passed through
the camp. One offered us coffee. Another, more obliging
than the rest, displayed the contents of his packages. Great
bundles of lion and leopard skins, bales of cotton, sacks
of henna-leaves, elephant-tusks swathed in canvas and
matting, strewed the sandy bank. Of gum-arabic alone there
must have been several hundred bales; each bale sewed
up in a raw hide and tied with thongs of hippopotamus
leather. Toward dusk, when the camp-fires were alight
and the evening meal was in course of preparation, the
scene became wonderfully picturesque. Lights gleamed;
shadows deepened; strange figures stalked to and fro, or
squatted in groups amid their merchandise. Some were
baking flat cakes; others stirring soup, or roasting coffee.
A hole scooped in the sand, a couple of stones to support
the kettle, and a handful of dry sticks, served for kitchen
range and fuel. Meanwhile all the dogs in Assuan prowled
round the camp, and a jargon of barbaric tongues came
and went with the breeze that followed the sunset.
I must not forget to add that among this motley crowd
we saw two brothers, natives of Khartum. AVe met them
first in the town, and afterward in the camp. They woro
voluminous white turbans and flowing robes <>( sonic kind
By far the most amusing sight in Assuan was the traders'
camp down near the landing-place. Here were Abyssinians
like slender-legged baboons; wild-looking Bishanvah and
Ababdeh Arabs with flashing eyes and flowing hair; sturdy
Nubians the color of a Barbedienne bronze ; and natives
of all tribes and shades, from Kordofan and Sennar, the
deserts of the Baliuda and the banks of the Blue and White
Niles. Some were running from Cairo; others were on
their way thither. Some, having disembarked their mer-
chandise at Mahatta (a village on the other side of the
cataract), had come across the desert to re-embark it at
Assuan. Others had just disembarked theirs at Assuan,
in order to re-embark it at Mahatta. Meanwhile, they
were living suijovej each intrenched in his own little re-
doubt of piled-up bales and packing-cases, like a spider in
the center of his web; each provided with a kettle and
coffee-pot, and an old rug to sleep and pray upon. One
sulky old Turk had fixed up a roof of matting, and fur-
nished his den with a kqfas, or palm-wood couch; but he
was a self-indulgent exception to the rule.
Some smiled, some scowled, when we passed through
the camp. One offered us coffee. Another, more obliging
than the rest, displayed the contents of his packages. Great
bundles of lion and leopard skins, bales of cotton, sacks
of henna-leaves, elephant-tusks swathed in canvas and
matting, strewed the sandy bank. Of gum-arabic alone there
must have been several hundred bales; each bale sewed
up in a raw hide and tied with thongs of hippopotamus
leather. Toward dusk, when the camp-fires were alight
and the evening meal was in course of preparation, the
scene became wonderfully picturesque. Lights gleamed;
shadows deepened; strange figures stalked to and fro, or
squatted in groups amid their merchandise. Some were
baking flat cakes; others stirring soup, or roasting coffee.
A hole scooped in the sand, a couple of stones to support
the kettle, and a handful of dry sticks, served for kitchen
range and fuel. Meanwhile all the dogs in Assuan prowled
round the camp, and a jargon of barbaric tongues came
and went with the breeze that followed the sunset.
I must not forget to add that among this motley crowd
we saw two brothers, natives of Khartum. AVe met them
first in the town, and afterward in the camp. They woro
voluminous white turbans and flowing robes <>( sonic kind