THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ^2i
■%vhich is not regulated as to its extent, but is levied arbitra- rily, according to circumftances of the times, and paid to the Shukorea, or other Arabs, who are in the neighbour- hood, which happens from February to July. The Mek, or prince of the Arabs, pafTes them by fair means or force. After the rains become conftant, thefe go eallward to Men- dera and Gooz^ and then the road from Sennaar to Suakem through thefe places becoming dangerous on account of all the other Arabs aflembling there to avoid the fly, the ca- ravan of Suakem is obliged to pafs through Halfaia to Bar- bax', and from thence to Suakem, fo that this was the mofl: frequented road in the kingdom. Now, indeed, the com- munications on all fides are obftrucSted by the anarchy that prevails among the Arabs, fo that he who pafTes to or from Egypt mull depend folely upon his own exertions and the protevftion of Heaven.
The Acaba of Gerri, and the banks of the Nile there, are •inhabited by tribes of Arabs, called Beni Hamda, and Haf- fani. They are all poor and miferable banditti, and would -not fufFer a man to pafs there at the ferry were it not for the extraordinary di-ead they have of fire-arms. The report of a gun, even at a dillance, will make a hundred of them •fly and hide themfelves. We gave them feveral vollies of blunderbulles, and double-barrelled guns, fired in the air, from the time of our entering their territory till near Wed Baal a Nagga ; we faw them upon the tops of the pointed rocks as far diftant as we could wifli, nor did they ever ap- pear nearer us, or defcend into the plain.
At Halfaia and Gerri begins that noble race of horfes
■juftly celebrated all over the world. They are the breed that
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