DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0203
TEE OARARACT AND THE DESERT. 185
now had played the part of a vast reservoir, and dispersing
the pent-up floods over the plains of Southern Egypt.
It would, however, be a mistake to conclude that the Nile
was by this catastrophe turned aside in order to be precip-
itated in the direction of the cataract. One arm of the
river must always have taken the present lower and dee]oer
course; while the other must of necessity have run low—
perhaps very nearly dry—as the inundation subsided every
spring.
There remains no monumental record of this event; but
the facts speak for themselves. The great channel is
there. The old Nile mud is there—buried for the most
part in sand, but still visible on many a rocky shelf and
plateau between Assitan and Pbila?. There are even places
where the surface of the mass is seen to be scooped out, as
if by the sudden rush of the departing waters. Since that
time, the tides of war and commerce have flowed in their
place. Every conquering Thothmes and Rameses bound
for the land of Kusli, led his armies that way. Sabacon,
at the head of his Ethiopian hordes, took that short cut to
the throne of all the Pharaohs. The French under
Desaix, pursuing the Memlooks after the battle of the
pyramids, swept down that pass to Philse. Meanwhile the
whole trade of the Soudan, however interrupted at times
by the ebb and flow of war, has also set that way. We
never crossed those five miles of desert without encounter-
ing a train or two of baggage-camels laden either with
European goods for the far south, or with oriental treasures
for the north.
I shall not soon forget an Abyssinian caravan which we
met one day just coming out from Mahatta. It consisted
of seventy camels laden with elephant tusks. The tusks,
which were about fourteen feet in length, were packed in
half-dozens and sewed up in buffalo hides. Each camel
was slung with two loads, one at either side of the hump.
There must have been about eight hundred and forty tusks
in all. Beside each shambling beast strode a bare-footed
Nubian. Following these, on the back of a gigantic
camel, came a hunting-leopard in a wooden cage and a
wildcat in a basket. Last of all marched a coal-black
Abyssinian nearly seven feet in height, magnificently
shawled and turbaned, with a huge cimeter dangling by
his side and in his belt a pair of enormous inlaid seven-
now had played the part of a vast reservoir, and dispersing
the pent-up floods over the plains of Southern Egypt.
It would, however, be a mistake to conclude that the Nile
was by this catastrophe turned aside in order to be precip-
itated in the direction of the cataract. One arm of the
river must always have taken the present lower and dee]oer
course; while the other must of necessity have run low—
perhaps very nearly dry—as the inundation subsided every
spring.
There remains no monumental record of this event; but
the facts speak for themselves. The great channel is
there. The old Nile mud is there—buried for the most
part in sand, but still visible on many a rocky shelf and
plateau between Assitan and Pbila?. There are even places
where the surface of the mass is seen to be scooped out, as
if by the sudden rush of the departing waters. Since that
time, the tides of war and commerce have flowed in their
place. Every conquering Thothmes and Rameses bound
for the land of Kusli, led his armies that way. Sabacon,
at the head of his Ethiopian hordes, took that short cut to
the throne of all the Pharaohs. The French under
Desaix, pursuing the Memlooks after the battle of the
pyramids, swept down that pass to Philse. Meanwhile the
whole trade of the Soudan, however interrupted at times
by the ebb and flow of war, has also set that way. We
never crossed those five miles of desert without encounter-
ing a train or two of baggage-camels laden either with
European goods for the far south, or with oriental treasures
for the north.
I shall not soon forget an Abyssinian caravan which we
met one day just coming out from Mahatta. It consisted
of seventy camels laden with elephant tusks. The tusks,
which were about fourteen feet in length, were packed in
half-dozens and sewed up in buffalo hides. Each camel
was slung with two loads, one at either side of the hump.
There must have been about eight hundred and forty tusks
in all. Beside each shambling beast strode a bare-footed
Nubian. Following these, on the back of a gigantic
camel, came a hunting-leopard in a wooden cage and a
wildcat in a basket. Last of all marched a coal-black
Abyssinian nearly seven feet in height, magnificently
shawled and turbaned, with a huge cimeter dangling by
his side and in his belt a pair of enormous inlaid seven-