Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 4.djvu/501

 er than Shaddly. Upon these two charities the chief subsistence of the Arabs depends; for as there is continual war among these people, and their violence being always directed against the crops rather than the persons of their enemies, the destruction of each tribe would follow the loss of its harvest, was it not for the extraordinary supplies furnished at such times by these granaries. The small villages of soldiers are scattered up and down through this immense plain to watch the grain that is sown, which is dora only, and it is said that here the ground will produce no other grain. Prodigious excavations are made at proper distances, which fill with water in the rainy season, and are a great relief to the Arabs in their passage between the cultivated country and the sands. The fly, that inexorable persecutor of the Arabs, never pursues them to the north of Shaddly. The knowledge of this circumstance was what, perhaps, determined the first builders of Sennaar to place their capital here; this too, probably, induced the two saints, Shaddly and Wed Aboud, to make here these vast excavations for corn and water. This is the first resting place the Arabs find, where, having all things necessary for subsidence, they can at leisure transact their affairs with government.

To the westward of Shaddly and Aboud, as far as the river Abiad, or El-aice, the country is full of trees, which make it a favourite station for camels. As Shaddly is not above three hours ride on horseback from Sennaar, there could not be chosen a situation more convenient for levying the tribute; for though Gerri, from the favourable situation of the ground, being mountainous and rocky, and just on the ex-