SENÂR. 241 



of Fadasi, which stands in another fluvial basin, that of the Jabus, their authority 

 completely ceased. Fadasi was the point where the travellers Marno, in 1850, 

 Gessi and Mateucci in 1878, were compelled to stop, not being permitted to advance 

 beyond the hill to the south of the chief town, which has been named Bimbashi, 

 after the Egyptian " captain of a thousand " stationed in this place. Schuver is 

 the only traveller who has crossed the boundary of the Khedive's possessions at this 

 point in 1881. Bimbashi, surrounded hy numerous villages spread over the slopes 

 of the mountain, commands a very extensive view from its upland terrace. It is a 

 much frequented market-place, although not so well attended as that of Beni- 

 Shongul, situated half-way to Famaka, in the vicinity of the gold washings and 

 the ruins of Sin/eh, the ancient capital of the country. Still farther north, in a 

 fertile district on the right bank of the Tumat, lies the village of Ghezan, also a 

 place of assembly for the caravans. Here the huge sycamore-tree which shelters 

 the square, covers on market days a motley crowd of Bertas, Nubians, and Arabs, 

 while the groves of lemon- trees scattered in the country recall the sojourn of the 

 Egyptian garrisons. 



Senar. 



Below Famaka the town of Bosêrès, or Bosaïrès, whose houses are scattered 

 amidst groves of dum palms, is also situated on the right bank of the Bahr-el- 

 Azraq ; it has given its name to a dâr, or country, of considerable extent, governed 

 by chiefs taking the title of king. Still lower down the village of Karkoj, 

 surrounded by large trees which contrast with the barren lands in the vicinity, has 

 now become somewhat important as a market for gums, and the converging point 

 of several caravan routes coming from Gedâref, Galâbat and Abyssinia. It has 

 inherited part of the trade which was formerly carried on with the city of Senâr, 

 about 60 miles farther down on the left bank. 



This ancient capital of the Funj kingdom, built at the commencement of the 

 fifteenth century, has lost greatly since the seat of government has been transferred 

 to Khartum. Heaps of rubbish and waste spaces now intervene between the 

 groups of cabins, and of what was once the palace the walls are all that remain ; 

 the mosque, however, is still standing. It was in this city that Roule, the French 

 Ambassador of Louis XIV., was assassinated in 1705, before he had reached the 

 states of the sovereign to whom he was accredited. According to an Arab tradition 

 he was suspected of intending to aid the Abyssinians to carry out their often- 

 repeated threat to deflect the waters of the Nile southwards, far away from Nubia 

 and Egypt. The inhabitants have scarcely any industry, except the manufacture 

 of elegantly designed straw mats. Caravan routes run south-west towards the 

 Blue Nile, leading to the two fords of Abu-Zaid and Kelb, formed by banks of 

 shells. The Mesopotamian peninsula, as the Arabs call the " Island of Senâr," 

 is only sixty miles in breadth. According to tradition it was at the ford of Abu- 

 Zaid that the Arabs, guided by the hero of this name, crossed the Nile for the 

 first time in order to spread themselves throughout the Sudan. 



16— AF. 



