At the close of our march that evening, the morsel of
wild ass was cooked in the form of "rissoles:" the flavour
resembled beef but it was extremely tough.
On the following day, 30th June, we reached Gozerajup, a large
permanent village on the south bank of the river. By dead
reckoning we had marched 246 miles from Berber. This spot was
therefore about 220 miles from the junction of the Atbara with
the Nile. Here we remained for a few days to rest the donkeys and
to engage fresh camels. An extract from my journal will give a
general idea of this miserable country:--
"July 3.--I went out early to get something for breakfast, and
shot a hare and seven pigeons. On my return to camp, an Arab
immediately skinned the hare, and pulling out the liver, lungs,
and kidneys, he ate them raw and bloody. The Arabs invariably eat
the lungs, liver, kidneys, and the thorax of sheep, gazelles, &c.
while they are engaged in skinning the beasts, after which they
crack the leg bones between stones, and suck out the raw marrow."
A Bishareen Arab wears his hair in hundreds of minute plaits
which hang down to his shoulders, surmounted by a circular bushy
topknot upon the crown, about the size of a large breakfast-cup,
from the base of which the plaits descend.
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