gratifying, although I did not avail of them; and, as regarded the last especially, I considered I should be much safer with an escort from the Great Sheik of the Schukurie, and such escort had been already promised me. I learned, however, from persons acquainted with the country, that it was still too soon to proceed to the places I contemplated visiting, for that there was too much water there, and the ground not yet dry enough. I therefore, after a week passed at Wollet-Medine, continued my journey in the direction of Sennaar, the ancient capital of the country." On his way to Sennaar, Mr Werne -who is the most unreserved and plain-spoken of travellers, and who never scruples to call things by their proper (or improper) names-enters into some extraordinary details of the matrimonial practices of the Nubians. He introduces them by the following passage, which we give as a specimen of the strange manuer in which he jumbles together his information. "Creeping plants," he says, "have here overgrown the trees to such a degree, that they form thick bowers, which serve as shelter to the cattle at night. I learned from an aged man that, down the Nile, half a day's journey distant, are the ruins of an ancient city, like Soba; and killed upon this occasion, with a whip, a little serpent, with a black back and a blue belly, not thicker than a finger, but said to be the most venomous in the country. Amongst the few huts were three quite new ones, and in each of these we were addressed with the warning cry of 'Charim,' (harem,) and found a bride behind a grating, as in a cage." Here we are compelled to pause. Behind the grating we cannot venture, although Mr Werne does. The translator of the Campaign in Taka had recourse, we perceive, to occasional judicious omissions; whoever undertakes an English version of the Journey to Mandera, must follow his example to a considerable extent. Passing over a few pages, we rejoin this rough diamond, Werne, in the city of Sennaar, where he found a num ber of officers and soldiers, his former comrades in Taka. In the African Wanderings there is an amusing account of a scene in Achmet Pasha's camp, when the two Wernes sheltered an unlucky slave from the jealous rage of a Bosniak friend of theirs, Hussein Aga by name, obtained his manumission, and afterwards saved the Bosniak-who was a brave fellow, but rather particular about his haremfrom the bastinado with which the Pasha threatened him. This Hussein Aga was now Governor of Sennaar, and Mr Werne went to visit him. "Opening the house-door, which was not locked, I ascended a little staircase, and entered an open divan. I clapped my hands, and then my arms involuntarily expanded when two young girls, lightly draped in gauze of many colours, darted out of a side-chamber, and clung round my neck. Their loud joy at seeing me, and my voice, roused from his slumbers their jealous master, from whom they had been keeping off the flies, and with a 'Ja marras! Pesowenk!' (words of abuse,) the wild Bosniak rushed from his chamber, his naked sabre in his hand. The girls fled from his fury; I in an instant had my sabre out-as once before in Taka against the same man, when he tried to force his way into our hut to murder a slave, who had fled to us for protection, on unfounded suspicion of his being on too good terms with these very women. But he recognised me immediately, and exclaiming, Nemzaui! Bimbaschi!' (German! Major!) he dashed his weapon on the ground, so that it rebounded high into the air, and warmly embraced me. He called the girls in, and told them that I was the great friend of whom he had told them. Certain it was that I had served him with the Pasha, saving him from blows and degradation; and moreover, recommending him for his present post. The slave-girls, who were from the mountains of Basa, told him in return, how, upon their journey back from Taka, I had protected them from the ill-usage of their escort, and that they were much attached to me in consequence. The * Page 241. Thence she often fell heavily to the ground, crept to the weary ostrich, rested her head on its body as on a pillow, and the pair went to sleep together. Or, if too much overcome by the combined effects of the drink and the tumble, the ape would look piteously at the ostrich, who, seeming to understand the mute appeal, stalked up to her, squatted down, and took her to sleep upon its bosom. When weary of watching the manceuvres of his queer pets, Mr Werne had plenty of queer visitors to help him to pass his time. particulars of the affair are recorded a sensible and experienced toper. in my Campaign in Taka, &c.* Hussein Aga then asked me if the girls pleased me, and pressed me to select one as a gift from him, to be my sèrie, (concubine, as distinguished from garie and gaddim, slaves destined to work,)-an offer which, at an earlier period, I should perhaps have accepted, but not then, when I had firmly resolved to seek, on the completion of this journey, the much-desired shade of German oaks and beeches." Declining, therefore, to become the proprietor of one of the Basa beauties, the candid and desultory bimbaschi took leave of the old comrade who thus generously entreated him. After a few days' residence in Sennaar, concerning which city he supplies various historical and antiquarian details, he found his health greatly improved, notwithstanding the terrible heat. He lived in a straw hut, commanding a fine view of the Nile, of a portion of the city, and of its beautiful gardens, teeming with extraordinarily luxuriant vegetation, with date-trees, and other species of palms -with citron-trees and grape-vines. In the mornings and evenings he strolled with his gun along the elevated banks of the river, and occasionally took home some feathered game, although that is scarce near the city. Having accidentally found his thermometer, which he thought he had left behind him, he hung it up in the shade of his hut, and, observing it for three successive days, found that, at noon, it marked the prodigious heat of 48° Reaumur. A tame ape, which he had purchased on his road, put an end to meteorological observations by smashing the thermometer. The ape was a source of great amusement to him, through her intimacy with a young ostrich, scarcely two feet high, which he had bought in a neighbouring market. She was particularly fond of billbill, a superior sort of merissa, by means of which animals of that kind are often captured. She would get disgracefully drunk, torment the ostrich, ride about upon its back, and then perch herself upon some elevated projection of the hut to sleep off her drink, like "An old Arabian physician, who, like a great many other people, thought I was the Pasha's own physician, but that I held it beneath my dignity to attend to inferior patients, repeatedly visited me, to complain of the smallness of his salary, although he had been a hakim as far back as the conquest of the country. He had many things to tell that occurred at that time, as, for instance, how Sheik Rajeb, at the head of the nativeswho then were armed only with sword and lance, as is still the case with the majority of them— made desperate resistance to the Turks, totally defeated them upon two occasions, and assuredly would have annihilated them, had not the arrival of artillery and canister shot put a period to his victorious progress. King Bedi or Wedi, who was probably aware of the preponderance given by fire-arms, and who was feared by the Turks as a great warrior, remained quiet in his palace at Sennaar, the invaders having guaranteed him his throne and dominions, and given out that their march through his country was merely with a view to make war upon his hereditary foe in Abyssinia. An old Syrian officer, also an eye-witness, confirmed the doctor's account, and added, that the Turks had kept Bedi prisoner in his palace, because the people, who deemed themselves betrayed by him, would have murdered him. They told me also of a former king of Sennaar, Jachmàn by name, who ate nothing but raw liver, peppered and salted-still a favourite dish in that country, where they often * African Wanderings, p. 264-5. pour over it the gall of the slaughtered beast. A female slave, who was bringing liver for this king, and carried it upon her head in a gadda, or flat wooden dish, was so unlucky as to have it stolen by a bird. Dreading the wrath of the ferocious monarch, and unable at the moment to procure other liver, the slave, in the anguish of her terror, slew her own child, and served up its liver to the king, who ate it with great relish. From that day forward, Jachmàn would eat no liver but that of children; the people murmured, the sheiks sat in judgment on their king, and he was strangled. Sherif Mohammed, at Abu Harasch, did not deny the truth of this story, but said that the Fungh nation were at that time not Massulmans, but magùss (heathens)." The old physician expected golden advantages from the acquaintance he had struck up with Mr Werne, who, not to foster his delusion, refused his repeated invitations; but, one evening, chancing to pass his door, he was compelled to yield to the hakim's carnest entreaty that he would honour his house with a visit. On entering the shady court-yard, he was surprised by the sight of a young woman, whose sole dress consisted, by reason of the heat, of a flowered silk shirt, variegated Turkish trousers, and red slippers on stockingless feet. On beholding a stranger she retreated; and, gracefully elevating her right arm, she took the loose shirt-sleeve in her left hand, and held it before her face. The cool bimbaschi, who is an ardent admirer of the fair sex, and who stood in no great awe of the old doctor, walked up to the lady, wished her a good morning, obtained a glimpse of her face, and, transgressing the established Turkish etiquette, complimented the hakim on her beauty, and deplored the slavish condition of women in that country. "He told me that Churdshid Pasha, the former governor, whom he had cured of an old hurt in the foot, had made him a present of the woman, and ordered him to marry her. She was of Greek origin, and of a very imperious disposition, and as long as the Pasha lived her husband was not master in his own house. Since the Pasha's death he had divorced her ، twice. He then again urged me to obtain him an augmentation of salary from Achmet Pasha. As Achmet would shortly pass through Sennaar on his way to Atish, I advised the doctor to present to him a written recommendation from me. This proposal so delighted him, that when I begged him to let his wife take coffee with us in the European fashion, he at once consented; first, however, ascertaining that the gate of the court-yard was well locked and bolted, to exclude all visitors. Soon afterwards his wife called to him from behind the door that the coffee was ready, and he should go and fetch it. In reply, he told her that I was a Frank, and wished to drink coffee with her. That is not true-you are mad,' was her laughing reply; and not until I quitted my seat under the tree, and, approaching the door, repeated my request, did she come out with the coffee, and asked me in a low voice-whilst she still, with seductive grace, strove to veil her face with her shirt-sleeve-whether I was a Nasrani, (Christian,) a question to which, to her secret joy, I replied with an affirmative eiwa. Her voluptuous figure, and the unexpected European whiteness of her skin, had already fascinated me; and the sight of her face, with those beautiful Greek eyes, in which one could for ever gaze, completed my captivation. I asked in the Greek tongue if she had any children. 'No-he is old,' was the reply, accompanied by a glance of pity at her husband. Presently she went away to prepare a little supper; the hakim took a piece of paper on his lap, produced a kalam, (káλapos, writing-reed.) I told him what to say, and sealed the letter of recommendation with my chattem or seal-on which my name was engraved in Arabic characters-after I had blacked it at a lamp, because sealing-wax melts with the heat of that country. I really believe that the hakim now thought to evince his gratitude in a singular manner. said that he had to go out, but that I might remain where I was. behaved with all discretion, for he might have found—perhaps he sought -a pretext to divorce his wife a third time, which is always a bad He I business. I took offence and departed at once, for I would not have married the woman though she had had, besides her beauty, a dowry of thirty thousand unclipped ducats." One evening, during his stay at Sennaar, his friend, Hussein Aga, went to Mr Werne and asked him to accompany him to the divan, where they would find society. As it was very hot in the small apartment, seats were placed in the open space in front of it, and the inevitable pipes and coffee were brought out. Hussein Aga then whispered a few words to his orderly, who entered an adjacent barrack, and presently reappeared, bringing with him several prisoners, escorted by a guard. These prisoners, Mr Werne learned, were deserters, and they were brought out to be flogged. "At first," he says, "I felt anything but grateful to my friend for inviting me to this execution as to something that should give me pleasure, and I was about to take myself off, but he assured me the punishment should not be very severe, and bade me observe the demeanour of the culprits, some of whom, he told me beforehand, would bear the pain very well, whilst others would scream loudly. I knew this already, and begged him, as I could not get the unpleasant scene altogether dispensed with, to let the poor fellows off with few blows. At the word Naim!' (literally, sleep!) they laid themselves, one after the other, at full length upon their bellies, and two non-commissioned officers advanced and inflicted the punishment with a nabut, (a stick about an inch in diameter.) Then was plainly demonstrated the great difference between the tribes or districts to which they belonged. Some cried out at the very first blow-although it was not given with much violence-and excited no pity even in me-who, moreover, could not dispute the necessity of such occasional chastisement amongst these people. Others, on the contrary, showed themselves schatter, (brave, and here signifying pain-despising,) and were let off with few blows. These latter were from the mountains of Tabi, and were called Achuan el bennaht-literally, brothers of the maidens, signifying a man who protects his flock a brave, stouthearted fellow." The extraordinary indifference to pain of some of the African tribes is very strikingly illustrated in the eighth chapter of Mr Werne's preceding publication, The Campaign in Taka, where he gives details of several agonising operations performed by his brother on patients who neither required holding, nor in any way betrayed sensibility to the acute pain inflicted on them. Although there is less of exciting adventure in this volume than in its predecessor, in its way it is not less interesting, abounding in sketches of African life and travel, to which Mr Werne's rough, off-hand style gives particular pungency. It is not, like his last book, an account of a warlike expedition, but a quiet tour in an outlandish country, performed by an adventurous German gentleman, attended by two negroes, three dromedaries, and a jackass. After a fortnight's stay at Sennaar, the traveller departed in a north-westerly direction. After some rambling and antiquarian research, and halting at various villages and Arab camps, where he seems invariably to have met with hospitality and kindness, he got back to WolletMedine, where he found Dr Bellotti, and another European named Olive, who brought discredit on the Franks in that country by trafficking in slaves. The day after, the Pasha arrived, and pitched his tent near the town, on the banks of the Nile. Mr Werne went to pay his respects, and found, with the Pasha, Achmet, the Great Sheik of the Schukurie, commonly called Abu Sin-a name referring to the unusual size of his upper teeth. At this point Mr Werne is halfway through his book, but has not yet made a step in the direction of Mandera. On the Pasha's inquiring the reason of this, Abu Sin confirmed the German's explanation, that as yet the journey had not been possible, the country not being sufficiently dry for travelling. The Great Sheik further invited Mr Werne to consider his house at Abu-Harasch (the town where he would quit the Nile, and strike off eastwards to Mandera) as his own, until such time as he could commence his journey, when he would provide him with camels and escort. Accordingly, a few days afterwards, Mr Werne sent his animals out to grass at Kamlin, and walked, attended by a single servant, through a beautiful forest, down the Nile to AbuHarasch. The Sheik had not yet arrived, and Mr Werne was not sorry for this, since it enabled him to indulge his independent fancy for a house of his own. He hired one, and passed some days in getting information concerning the country he was about to traverse, and in observing the natives. "I pass the heat of the day in the summerhouse in front of my hut, where I cannot very well avoid visitors. As I occasionally write notes of the information I receive, I am elevated, in the eyes of the people, to the rank of a very learned man; and a fakir thinks to do me great honour, by asserting that I am a sheriffe. This same fakir tells me a great deal about his services to Churdshid Pasha, from whom he received the red mantle of honour. Observing that I looked at the Arab women as they passed by, he carried his friendship so far as to offer me his daughter for a wife, although I had repeatedly assured him that I was a Christian. After I had praised the beauty of the women, I plainly saw that, in passing, they threw back their ferda in a coquettish manner, so as to show the entire figure. This had the advantage of convincing me that they were not all pregnant, which I at first thought they werethe mistake arising from the enormous amulets which they suspend in front of their bodies, whose lower part, when the ferda hangs over it, thus exhibits a monstrous and most inelegant projection. Let no one think he has seen the pure Arab blood in Egypt. There is nothing noble about those fellahs. Here, in Nubia, and especially amongst the nomadic tribes, you find, both in women and in men, the slender well-grown form. Clumsy bony figures are rare. The countenance is delicate, and of a distinguished expression, its pure elliptical form harmonising well with the dark flashing eyes and pencilled eyebrows. . . Sitting one morning with old Sheriffe Mohammed on my little angarèb, (bedstead formed of strips of hide,) and just as the servant was about to hand us coffee, Abu Sin, with a fol . lowing of at least fifty men, suddenly stood before us. I rose, and begged the distinguished guest to take my place, which he did; but, as I turned round, to take my seat upon the ground, I found the good old sheriffe seated there already. I forthwith raised him up by the hand, and conducted him to a place upon the angarèb, by the side of the Great Sheikremarking, that God had made us all equal, and that it was a German custom to honour age. The visitors took this very well. Abu Sin did not remain long with me, told me the country was still too wet for me to travel, and seemed rather vexed that I had not taken up my quarters in his house. I replied to his request that I would now do so, with the excuse, that I was on the point of going to visit the Franks at Wollet-Medine, but at a subsequent time I would go to him. Then he walked slowly away, with his lance-bearers, and spoke here and there to the inhabitants of the straw huts, not haughtily or condescendingly, but as a brother speaks to a brother. As I could not well stop longer at Abu-Harasch, and there was an opportunity the next morning of going by water to Chartum, I departed for that place, to wait there until I could commence my journey to Mandera." The reason of Mr Werne's inability to remain longer at Abu-Harasch is not apparent, unless we are to seek it in the fact that he is-or was at that time-the most restless of mortals, or in his unwillingness to accept the Sheik's hospitality, of which he, however, availed himself for the two days immediately preceding his departure for Mandera. He had not been long at Chartum when Sheik Hammet, Abu Sin's eldest son, an old acquaintance, and a pleasant, humorous fellow, came to tell him that the waters left by the chariff, or rainy season, were dried up, that the dromedaries and escort were ready, and that he himself and his relation, Achmet Degihn whom Mr Werne had known at the camp of Kassela el Lus, in the Taka campaign-would accompany him. A long day's march brought them to a Shukurie camp. "At a short distance before us, upwards of two thousand small fires |