He replied very
politely, and gave me much local information; he said that the
Egyptians gave him no peace, that he was obliged to fight in
self-defence; but that, if I could make overtures on his part to
the Egyptian authorities, he would engage never to cross the
Atbara, provided they observed a similar condition. I promised to
represent his offer to the Governor-General on my arrival at
Khartoum. He agreed to give me a guide to the rivers Angrab and
Salaam, that were not far distant, and he at once pointed out to
me the two dark gorges, about twelve and sixteen miles distant,
in the chain of precipitous mountains from which they flowed. He
described the country upon the other side of the mountains to be
the elevated plateau of Abyssinia, and he advised me to visit the
king before my departure from his territory; this I could not
conveniently accomplish, as my route lay in an opposite
direction. He begged me for a telescope, so that he should be
able to see the approach of the Turks (Egyptians) from a great
distance, as he explained that he had spies upon all the mountain
tops, so that no stranger could enter his country without his
knowledge. He confessed that my movements while in the Base
country had been watched by his spies, until he had felt assured
that I had no sinister motive.
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