A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

190 A BATTLE-ROYAL.
every year takes place in Egypt and its depen-
dencies. It is a rare occurrence to meet with a
very old person in this part of the world ;
yet the
climate is so salubrious that sickness is almost
unknown; and the plague even, while it has so
often ravaged Egypt, has never penetrated into
Nubia. The people here are only liable to one
complaint, but it is a fatal one ; for as Monsieur
d' Arnault affectingly observed, they do not die
of sickness, or of old age— they die of starvation !
Early on the morning of the 7th we left
Korosko. While our men were tracking beyond
Derr, they trampled down some patches of lupines
and vetches which occupied the path they were
obliged to take; the country people fell foul
of them in consequence, and a battle -royal
would have ensued had not JNIohammed flown
to the rescue. Mounted on the shoulders of two
of our Arabs, he was borne through the water to
the shore, flourishing his terrible courbash, and
promising all the delinquents at the top of his
voice that they should presently " eat stick" in a
greater quantity than they had ever yet done ;
while Hadgee Mustapha, the cook, not to be out-
done in valour, jumped upon a third man's back,
and was carried on shore also, brandishing a long
stick which had been destined for his kitchen-