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A Narrative of the Expedition to Dongola and Sennaar - Under the Command of His Excellence Ismael Pasha, undertaken - by Order of His Highness Mehemmed Ali Pasha, Viceroy of - Egypt, By An American In The Service Of The Viceroy by George Bethune English
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describes, from above its turning point and Dongola, a track something
resembling the following figure--which is the reason why, in coming up
the river from Dongola, we found it running from the north-east. The
length of this curious bend in the river Nile, never known to the
civilized world before the expedition of Ismael Pasha, may be about
two hundred and fifty miles long, the greater part of it all rocks and
rapids.

The journey from our last encampment on the third cataract to the
country of the Berbers, following the direction of the river, takes
eight days of forced marches, but that by the desert, i.e. across the
peninsula formed by the course of the river between the country of the
Berbers and our last encampment, takes four days forced march.

The road from the place where we arrived at the river (in coming from
the desert) up the country of Berber, lies generally on the edge of the
desert, and outside of the fertile land lying between the river and
the desert; of consequence we were rarely led to its banks so as to
ascertain its course and appearance. But from several points where the
road approaches the river, I observed that it winded continually and
contained many beautiful islands, some of them, particularly that named
"Sibne," cultivated like gardens. I also observed that the river, at the
lower extremity of the country of the Berbers, is much interrupted by
rocks, and I have learned, since my arrival, that between the third
cataract and the camp, the water is so low at this season that the
Canja of the Pasha (probably the first boat that ever passed the third
cataract of the Nile) was obliged to be lifted three times over shallow
passages.

The natives of this country had never seen a sail boat before the
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