Atalan Wat Said promised every assistance when the
time should arrive; he described the country as abounding with
large game of all kinds, and he agreed to furnish me with guides
and hunters at the commencement of the hunting season; in the
meantime he ordered the sheik of the village, Hassan bel Kader,
to pay us every attention.
After the departure of Atalan and his people, and the usual
yelling of the women, we had time to examine Sofi, and
accompanied by the German, Florian, we strolled through the
village. At this position the slope of the valley towards the
river was exceedingly gradual upon the west bank, until within a
hundred and fifty yards of the Atbara, when the ground rapidly
fell, and terminated in an abrupt cliff of white sandstone.
The miserable little village of modern Sofi comprised about
thirty straw huts, but the situation was worthy of a more
important settlement. A plateau of hard sandy soil of about
twenty acres was bordered upon either side by two deep ravines
that formed a natural protection, while below the steep cliff,
within two hundred paces in front of the village, flowed the
river Atbara; for mounted men there was only one approach, that
which we had taken from the main land.
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