VI 



SKETCHES IN THE SOUDAN (continued) 

 III. DAYS AT KEBEN 



YITE had been over three weeks on the march from Suakim, 

 VV with the dry sandy beds of the Baraka and Anseba rivers 

 for our road, when at last Fort Tschabab, on a hill of the same 

 name, rose before us. It was noon, so we decided to rest awhile 

 on the river-bank at the foot of the hill fort, and thence to send 

 our interpreter on to Keren, only five miles distant, to arrange 

 about quarters, for it was our intention to make a stay there of 

 several days in order to rest our camels, and buy ponies, &c., 

 for an expedition into the country bordering on the north-west 

 frontier of Abyssinia. So the camels were unloaded, and soon 

 busily engaged with the green branches of some juniper-trees on 

 the banks of the river-bed, which everywhere showed signs of 

 the water being but a very little way below the surface, for 

 small excavations, made by man and beast, were plentiful, all 

 being partially filled with water, at which birds of every hue 

 were drinking. The deeper water-holes had been taken pos- 

 session of by soldiers from the fort, who were busily engaged 

 washing themselves or their linen, throwing water over their 

 black, shiny bodies, while their only garments were drying 

 spread out upon the sand. Most of these Egyptian negro 

 soldiers are very fine and tall men, and every opportunity of 

 judging of their physical development was given as they 

 squatted or lay upon the sand, waiting until the sun should 

 have dried their skin and their linen. They are all liberated 

 slaves, chiefly from the White Nile regions, who, in return for 

 their release from slavery, have to serve the government as 

 soldiers, which, further to increase their happiness, generously 



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