THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN

" bear the best Dates of all Egypt," and in a short time entered a

"frightful Desart," which is extremely dangerous, "because the

" Sands being moving are rais'd by the least Wind which darkens "the Air, and falling afterwards in Clouds, Passengers are often

" buried in them, or at least lose the Route, which they ought " to keep." Their caravan used to start three or four hours

before daylight, and march till noon, when they stopped for

half an hour. After this short rest the journey was resumed and continued till three or four hours after sunset. A march of

five days brought the party to Heldwa, which appears to have

been situated in a part of a large Oasis, and was the last town

under Turkish rule in that direction. It contained a great number

of Gardens, " watered with brooks, and a world of palm-trees," and large crops of senna. The heat by day was excessive, but

the nights were cold enough. Two days' march. took the party

from Heliwa to Shabb, i.e., alum, a place which derives its name

from the alum deposits which are found there, and in three days more they reached the Oasis of Selima. By this time M. Poncet

and his companions found the journey very "tedious and dis- " agreeable," for in these " vast wildernesses " there is " neither to " be found bird, nor wild beast, nor herbs, no nor so much as a

"little fly," and " nothing is to be seen but mountains of sand "and the carcasses, and bones of camels," which "imprint a " certain horrour in the mind." Repeating, no doubt, the native

view, M. Poncet declares that the kingdom of the SOdan lies westward of that of Sennaar, and adds that the merchants of Upper Egypt trade thither for gold and slaves. In his day, even

as in the time of Her-khuf, whose travels are described elsewhere

in this work, the kings of the two regions were almost continually

at war, and this information helps us to understand the difficult

position in which the ancient Egyptian official found himself when he discovered that the king of Amam was fighting against

the king of Themeh. If Amam represents the modern kingdom

of Sennaar, it is probable that Themeh represents that portion of

the land of the Blacks from which Her-khuf obtained his three

hundred asses' loads of skins, &c.

M. Poncet's next stopping-place ^ was Mashu, or Moshi, near

* In modern maps " Bullu Narti."

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