520 ' TRAVLES TO DISCOVER
the fun is in the zenith, on his progrefs fouthward from the tropic of Cancer towards the Line, and the grafs grows up very luxuriantly in all the fpots watered by thefe acci- dental fhowers ; but all the reft of the country is dry and burnt up.
Near Gerri, a little north, is the large rock Acaba, full of caves, the firft habitations of the builders of Meroe. A little below it is the ferry over which thofe who go by the weft fide of the Nile to Dongola, through the defert of Ba- hiouda, muft all pafs. It is five days journey before you come to Korti, where travellers arrive the morning of the fixth, that is, going at the rate of fifteen miles a-day. Near Korti you again meet the Nile, which has taken a very unna- tural turn from Magiran, or where it meets the Tacazze from Angot. The way through this defert, which was that of Pon- cet, is now rendered impafTable, as I have already faid, by the Beni Faifara, Beni Gerar, and Cubba-beefh Arabs, three powerful clans, which come from the weftward near Kor- dofan from fear o£ the black horfe there, and which have taken pofTelTion of all the wells in that defert, fo that it is impofTible for travellers to avoid them. The Cubba-beefh arc fo called, from kebfli*, a fheep, becaufe they wear the fkin of that animal for cloathing. They are very numerous, and extend far into the great defert Selima and to the frontiers of Egypt. Thefe tribes have cut off the laft three caravans co- ming from Dongola and Egypt. This ferry, and the Acaba beyond it, belongs to Wed Ageeb ; and here all goods, pafl^ ing to and from Egypt, Dongola, and Chendi, pay a duty, 3 which
- Kebflu a iheep; pi. Cubba-beefh, fheep.
