can you be so credulous as to believe the calumnies of London and the insinuations of the saloons of Paris? If that be the only difficulty, if it be that alone which gives you pain, I answer for him, and many others have it in their power to answer for him with me."

"If Alexander's affection for me was sincere," said the emperor, "it was alienated from me by the force of intrigue. Certain persons, M, or others at the instigation of T, lost no scasonable

opportunity of mentioning instances of my turning him into ridicule, and they assured him, that at Tilsit and Erfurt, he no sooner turned his back than I took my opportunity of laughing at his expense. Alexander is very susceptible, and they must have easily soured his mind. It is certain, that he made bitter complaints of it at Vienna during the congress, and yet nothing was more false; he pleased me, and I loved him."

&c.

HAT part of Ethiopia or the Cataracts, has been long explored and described by various travellers but little or nothing has been known of the space that separates Sennaar from the second cataract. Immediately above this cataract a district commences, called Batn el Hadjar, which extends to about 21° of north latitude: Sukkót is the name given to the next 50 miles; and after that comes Dar Mahass, which stretches about 60 miles from north to south. Dongola adjoins to Dar Mahass. It extends in a southerly direction up to a point a little below 18° north latitude, then bends to the east, always following the course of the Nile, and terminates where the great bend of that river forces the traveller, who traces its course upwards, to journey towards the north. Dar Sheygy'a is the name given to the district through which the Nile flows from north to south: and Berber and Shendy fill up the

A Frenchman of the name of Poncet, in proceeding from the greater Oasis to Sennaar, traversed part of Dongola in 1698. A few years ago, the lamented Burckhardt penetrated as far as Tinareh, which is situated in Dar Mahass, in about 20° north latitude. The observations of the former are extremely meagre; and it was only a small part of the country_that came under the eye of the latter accomplished traveller. Mr. Waddington and Mr. Hanbury, towards the end of 1821, visited these regions; and to them we are indebted for a minute account of an extensive tract altogether new to European tourists and readers.

The districts which we have mentioned, exhibit, amidst a few minor diversities, considerable sameness of aspect. The Nile, as it flows through them, is divided from time to time into branches which afterwards re-unite, so as to

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 uncover ed, 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 sickly 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.

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"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 Sheygýa: Dar Mahass was subject to their frequent, Sukkót and the Batn el Hadjar, to their occa

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, în 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 Dóngola. 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 Sheygya 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.

he

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, 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.

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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