CHAP. I.] 
START FROM CAIRO. 
3 
I be buried : the Lord do so to me and more also, if 
aught but death part thee and me.” 
Thus accompanied by my wife, on the 15th April, 
1861, I sailed up the Nile from Cairo. The wind blew 
fair and strong from the north, and we flew towards 
the south against the stream, watching those myste¬ 
rious waters with a firm resolve to track them to their 
distant fountain. 
On arrival at Korosko in lat. 22° 44' in twenty-six 
days from Cairo we started across the Nubian desert, 
thus cutting off the western bend of the Nile, and in 
seven days’ forced camel march we again reached the 
river at Abou Hamed. The journey through that desert 
is most fatiguing, as the march averages fifteen hours 
a day through a wilderness of scorching sand and 
glowing basalt rocks. The simoom was in full force 
at that season (May), and the thermometer, placed in 
the shade by the water skins, stood at 114° Fahr. 
No drinkable water was procurable on the route : 
thus our supply was nearly expended upon reaching 
the welcome Nile. After eight days’ march on the 
margin of the river from Aboii Hamed through desert, 
but in view of the palm trees that bordered the 
river, we arrived at Berber, a considerable town in 
lat. 17° 58' on the banks of the Nile. 
Berber is eight days’ camel march from Khartoum 
at the junction of the White and Blue Niles in lat. 
15° 30', and is the regular caravan route between 
that town and Cairo. 
From the slight experience I had gained in Che 
journey to Berber, I felt convinced that success in,my 
Nile expedition would be impossible without a know¬ 
ledge of Arabic. My dragoman had me completely 
in his power, and I resolved to become independent 
of all interpreters as soon as possible. I therefore 
arranged a plan of exploration for the first year to 
embrace the affluents to the Nile from the Abyssinian 
range of mountains, intending to follow up the Atbara 
river from its junction with the Nile in lat. 17° 37' 
B 2 
