CHAP. XIX.] 
NEARLY WRECKED. 
501 
exchange. On the morning of the 1st July, we sailed 
from Khartoum to Berber. 
On approaching the fine basalt hills through which 
the river passes during its course from Khartoum, I 
was surprised to see the great Nile contracted to a 
trifling width of from eighty to a hundred and twenty 
yards. Walled by high cliffs of basalt upon either 
side, the vast volume of the Nile flows grandly through 
this romantic pass, the water boiling up in curling 
eddies, showing that rocky obstructions exist in its 
profound depths below. 
Our voyage was very nearly terminated at the 
passage of the Cataracts. Many skeletons of wrecked 
vessels lay upon the rocks in various places: as we 
were flying along in full sail before a heavy gale of 
wind, descending a cataract, we struck upon a sand¬ 
bank, fortunately not upon a rock, or we should have 
gone to pieces like a glass bottle. The tremendous 
force of the stream, running at the rate of about ten or 
twelve miles per hour, immediately drove the vessel 
broadside upon the bank. About sixty yards below us 
was a ridge of rocks, upon which it appeared certain 
that we must be driven should we quit the bank upon 
which we were stranded. The reis and crew, as usual 
in such cases, lost their heads. I emptied a large 
waterproof portmanteau, and tied it together with 
ropes, so as to form a life-buoy for my wife and 
Richarn, neither of whom could swim • the maps, 
journals, and observations, I packed in an iron box, 
which I fastened with a tow line to the portmanteau. 
It appeared that we were to wind up the expedition 
with shipwreck, and thus lose my entire collection of 
hunting spoils. Having completed the preparations 
for escape, I took command of the vessel, and silenced 
the chattering crew. 
My first order was to lay out an anchor up stream. 
This was done : the water was shallow, and the great 
weight of the anchor, carried on the shoulders of two 
men, enabled them to resist the current, and to wade 
