Full download ebook at ebookmass.

com

Design Recipes for FPGAs using Verilog and VHDL

[2nd ed.] Peter Wilson

For dowload this book click link below

https://ebookmass.com/product/design-recipes-for-
fpgas-using-verilog-and-vhdl-2nd-ed-peter-wilson/

OR CLICK BUTTON

DOWLOAD EBOOK

Download more ebook from https://ebookmass.com

More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Digital System Design with FPGA: Implementation Using

Verilog and VHDL 1st Edition Unsalan

https://ebookmass.com/product/digital-system-design-with-fpga-
implementation-using-verilog-and-vhdl-1st-edition-unsalan/

Digital Systems Design Using VHDL 3rd Edition Charles

H. Roth

https://ebookmass.com/product/digital-systems-design-using-
vhdl-3rd-edition-charles-h-roth/

Digital Systems Design Using VHDL 3rd Edition Charles

H. Roth

https://ebookmass.com/product/digital-systems-design-using-
vhdl-3rd-edition-charles-h-roth-2/

Digital Design: With an Introduction to the Verilog

HDL, VHDL, and SystemVerilog, 6/e Sixth Edition, Global
Edition Ciletti

https://ebookmass.com/product/digital-design-with-an-
introduction-to-the-verilog-hdl-vhdl-and-systemverilog-6-e-sixth-
edition-global-edition-ciletti/
Design for Embedded Image Processing on FPGAs, 2nd
Edition Donald G. Bailey

https://ebookmass.com/product/design-for-embedded-image-
processing-on-fpgas-2nd-edition-donald-g-bailey/

Lützen Peter H. Wilson

https://ebookmass.com/product/lutzen-peter-h-wilson/

Digital VLSI Design and Simulation with Verilog Suman

Lata Tripathi

https://ebookmass.com/product/digital-vlsi-design-and-simulation-
with-verilog-suman-lata-tripathi/

(eTextbook PDF) for Advanced Digital Design with the

Verilog HDL 2nd Edition

https://ebookmass.com/product/etextbook-pdf-for-advanced-digital-
design-with-the-verilog-hdl-2nd-edition/

Fundamentals of Digital Logic with VHDL Design 4th

Edition Brown

https://ebookmass.com/product/fundamentals-of-digital-logic-with-
vhdl-design-4th-edition-brown/
Design Recipes for FPGAs
Using Verilog and VHDL

Peter Wilson
First edition 2007
Second edition 2016

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd.

Previous edition: Copyright © 2007 Peter R. Wilson

Printed and bound in the United Kingdom

ISBN: 978-0-08-097129-2
Preface to the Second Edition

The original idea behind the first edition of this book was to collect some of the useful
methods for designing digital systems using FPGAs that I had accumulated over the years and
had been passing on to students in our courses at the University of Southampton. As a result,
the original book was written using VHDL, as this was very often the hardware description
language of choice for university students and for many courses (as was the case at
Southampton).
The intervening time has seen the development of other options, such as System-C or
System-Verilog (plus the continuing popularity of Verilog). One of the common questions
to me was “Why is there not a Verilog edition of this book?”. I have therefore taken the
opportunity with the second edition to introduce Verilog, to widen the applicability of the
book to as many designers as possible.
The second edition also offers the chance to correct errors and take on board the numerous
reviews over the past seven years since the first edition was published. For these comments
and suggestions I am most grateful to the readers of the book. FPGAs have also moved on in
leaps and bounds since the first edition, and this also gives an opportunity to update some of
the technological background and correct errors in the first edition.
Above all else, this book was not and is not intended to be a textbook for digital systems
design, but rather a useful handbook for designers to dip in and use wherever it can help.
I sincerely hope you find this book useful and good luck with your FPGA designs!
Peter Wilson
University of Bath
Preface to the First Edition

This book is designed to be a desktop reference for engineers, students and researchers who
use field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) as their hardware platform of choice. This book
has been produced in the spirit of the “numerical recipe” series of books for various
programming languages – where the intention is not to teach the language per se, but rather
the philosophy and techniques required in making your application work. The rationale of this
book is similar in that the intention is to provide the methods and understanding to enable the
reader to develop practical, operational VHDL that will run correctly on FPGAs.
It is important to stress that this book is not designed as a language reference manual for
VHDL. There are plenty of those available and I have referenced them throughout the text.
This book is intended as a reference for design with VHDL and can be seen as complementary
to a conventional VHDL textbook.
 PA R T 1

Overview

The first part of the book provides a starting point for engineers who may have some digital
experience but not necessarily with FPGAs in particular, or with either of the languages
featured in this book (VHDL and Verilog). While the book is not intended to teach either
language, “primers” are given in both as aides de memoire to get started. An overview of the
main design approaches and tool flows is also provided as a starting point.
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

1.1 Overview
The book is divided into five main parts. In the introductory part of the book, primers are
given on FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays), Verilog and the standard design flow. In
the second part of the book, a series of complex applications that encompass many of the key
design problems facing designers today are worked through from start to finish in a practical
way. This will show how the designer can interpret a specification, develop a top-down design
methodology and eventually build in detailed design blocks perhaps developed previously or
by a third party. In the third part of the book, important techniques are discussed, worked
through and explained from an example perspective so you can see exactly how to implement
a particular function. This part is really a toolbox of advanced specific functions that are
commonly required in modern digital design. The fourth part on advanced techniques
discusses the important aspect of design optimization, that is, how can I make my design
faster, or more compact? The fifth part investigates the details of fundamental issues that are
implemented in VHDL and Verilog. This final part is aimed at designers with a limited VHDL
or Verilog coding background, perhaps those looking for simpler examples to get started, or to
solve a particular detailed issue.

1.2 Verilog vs. VHDL

One of the longest standing “arguments” between engineers in digital design has been the
issue of which is best—Verilog or VHDL? For many years this was partly a geographical
divide, with North America seeming to be mainly using Verilog and Europe going more for
VHDL, although this was not universal by any means. In many cases, the European academic
community was trending toward VHDL with its easy applicability to system level design, and
the perception that Verilog was really more a “low level” design language. With the advent of
SystemVerilog and the proliferation of design tools, these boundaries and arguments have
largely subsided, and most engineers realize that they can use IP blocks from either language
in most of the design tools. Of course, individuals will always have their own preferences;
however it is true to say that now it is genuinely possible to be language agnostic and use
whichever language and tools the user prefers. More often than not, the choice will depend on
4 Chapter 1

three main factors: (a) the experience of the user (for example, they may have a background in
a particular language); (b) the tools available (for example, some tool flows may simply work
better with a particular language—SystemVerilog for instance may not be supported by the
tools available); and (c) corporate decisions (where the company or institution has a
preference for a specific language, and in turn this may mean that libraries must be in a
specific format and language). For researchers, there is a plethora of information on all design
languages available, with many example designs published on the web, making it relatively
simple to use one or another of the main languages, and sometimes even a mixture of
languages (using precompiled libraries, for example). Of course, this is also available to
employees of companies and free material is now widely available from sources such as Open
Cores (http://www.opencores.org), the Free Model Foundry (http://www.freemodelfoundry.
com/) and the Open Hardware Repository at CERN (http://www.ohwr.org/).

1.3 Why FPGAs?

There are numerous options for designers in selecting a hardware platform for custom
electronics designs, ranging from embedded processors, application specific integrated
circuits (ASICs), programmable microprocessors (PICs), FPGAs to programmable logic
devices (PLDs). The decision to choose a specific technology such as an FPGA should depend
primarily on the design requirements rather than a personal preference for one technique over
another. For example, if the design requires a programmable device with many design
changes, and algorithms using complex operations such as multiplications and looping, then it
may make more sense to use a dedicated signal processor device such as a DSP that can be
programmed and reprogrammed easily using C or some other high level language. If the speed
requirements are not particularly stringent and a compact cheap platform is required, then a
general purpose microprocessor such as a PIC, AVR, or MBED would be an ideal choice.
Finally, if the hardware requirements require a higher level of performance, say up to several
hundred megahertz operation, then an FPGA offers a suitable level of performance, while still
retaining the flexibility and reusability of programmable logic.
Other issues to consider are the level of optimization in the hardware design required. For
example, a simple software program can be written in C and then a microprocessor
programmed, but the performance may be limited by the inability of the processor to offer
parallel operation of key functions. This can be implemented much more directly in an FPGA
using parallelism and pipelining to achieve much greater throughput than would be possible
using a microprocessor. A general rule of thumb when choosing a hardware platform is to
identify both the design requirements and the possible hardware options and then select a
suitable platform based on those considerations. For example, if the design requires a basic
clock speed of up to 1 GHz then an FPGA would be a suitable platform. If the clock speed
could be 3-4 MHz, then the FPGA may be an expensive (overkill) option. If the design
 Introduction 5

requires a flexible processor option, although the FPGAs available today support embedded
processors, it probably makes sense to use a DSP or microprocessor. If the design requires
dedicated hardware functionality, then an FPGA is the route to take.
If the design requires specific hardware functions such as multiplication and addition, then a
DSP may well be the best route, but if custom hardware design is required, then an FPGA
would be the appropriate choice. If the design requires small simple hardware blocks, then a
PLD or CPLD may be the best option (compact, simple programmable logic); however, if the
design has multiple functions, or a combination of complex controller and specific hardware
functions, then the FPGA is the route to take. Examples of this kind of decision can be
dependent on the complexity of the hardware involved. For example, a high performance
signal processor with multiple parallel tasks will probably require an FPGA rather than a PLD
device, simply due to the complexity of the hardware involved. Another related issue is that of
flexibility and programmability. If an FPGA is used, and the resources are not used up on a
specific device (say up to 60% for example), if a communications protocol changes, or is
updated, then the device may well have enough headroom to support additional features, or
updates, in the future.
Finally, the cost of manufacture will be important for products in the field, as well as where
the device is deployed (in terms of the overall weight, power requirements, footprint, and
volume). Also, the need for upgrading firmware may mandate an FPGA to allow this to be
done easily. The use of an FPGA also allows much higher performance, particularly on high
speed links or memory, enabling the design to be somewhat tolerant of future changes.

1.4 Summary
Using the simple guidelines and with the aid of some of the examples in this book, an
engineer can hopefully make an intelligent choice about the best platform to choose, and also
which hardware device to select based on these assumptions. A nice aspect of most FPGA
design software packages is that multiple design platforms can be evaluated for performance
and utilization prior to making a final decision on the hardware of choice. This book will show
how both VHDL and Verilog can be used to solve typical design problems, and hopefully will
help designers get their own designs completed faster and more efficiently.
 CHAPTER 2

An FPGA Primer

2.1 Introduction
This section is an introduction to the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) platform for
those unfamiliar with the technology. It is useful when designing hardware to understand that
the context that the hardware description language models (VHDL or Verilog) is important
and relevant to the ultimate design.

2.2 FPGA Evolution

Since the inception of digital logic hardware in the 1970s, there has been a plethora of
individual semiconductor digital devices leading to the ubiquitous TTL logic series still in use
today (74/54 series logic), now extended to CMOS technology (HC, AC, FC, FCT, HCT, and
so on). While these have been used extensively in printed circuit board (PCB) design and still
are today, there has been a consistent effort over the last 20 years to introduce greater
programmability into basic digital devices.
One of the reasons for this need is the dichotomy resulting from the two differing design
approaches used for many digital systems. On the hardware side, the drive is usually toward
ultimate performance, that is, faster, smaller, lower power, and cheaper. This often leads to
custom integrated circuit design (Application Specific Integrated Circuits or ASICs) where
each chip (ASIC) has to be designed, laid out, fabricated, and packaged individually. For large
production runs this is very cost effective, but obviously this approach is hugely expensive
(masks alone for a current silicon process may cost over $500,000) and time consuming (can
take up to a year or even more for large and complex designs).
From a software perspective, however, a more standard approach is to use a standard
processor architecture such as Intel Pentium, PowerPC or ARM, and develop software
applications that can be downloaded onto such a platform using standard software
development tools and cross compilers. This type of approach is obviously quicker to
implement an initial working platform; however, usually there is a significant overhead due to
the need for operating systems, compiler inefficiency and also a performance reduction due to
the indirect relationship between the hardware and the software on the processor. The other
8 Chapter 2

issue from a hardware perspective is often the compromise necessary when using a standard
platform, for example will it be fast enough? Another key issue when designing hardware is
having access to that hardware. In many processor platforms, the detailed hardware is often
difficult to access directly or efficiently enough to meet the performance needs of the system,
and with the rigid architecture in terms of data bus and address bus widths on standard
processors, very often there is no scope for general purpose IO (Inputs and Outputs) which are
useful for digital designers.
As a result, programmable devices have been developed as a form of intermediate approach:
hardware design on a high-performance platform, optimal resources with no operating system
required and reconfigurable as the devices can be reprogrammed.

2.3 Programmable Logic Devices

The first type of device to be programmable was the Programmable Array Logic (PAL) with a
typical layout as shown in Figure 2.1. This consists of an array of logic gates that could be
connected using an array of connections. These devices could support a small number of
flip-flops (usually <10) and were able to implement small state machines. These devices still
have a use for specific functions on a small scale, but clearly will be limited for more complex
applications. They are, however, still useful for low-cost and compact solutions to a specific
digital design requirement.
Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLD) such as shown in Figure 2.2 were developed
to address the limitations of simple PAL devices. These devices used the same basic principle
as PALs, but had a series of macro blocks (each roughly equivalent to a PAL) that were
connected using routing blocks. With, in some cases, many thousands of logical elements, the
CPLD can be extremely useful for implementing a programmable device with custom logic
functions and state machines. In some ways, the latest CPLD and early FPGA devices are
almost indistinguishable, with one crucial difference. The CPLD is a fixed array of logic, but
the FPGA uses complex logic blocks (discussed in the next section of this chapter). However,
CPLDs are still of a relatively small scale, and the modern reconfigurable device of choice for
high performance is the FPGA.

2.4 Field Programmable Gate Arrays

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) were the next step from CPLDs. Instead of a fixed
array of gates, the FPGA uses the concept of a Complex Logic Block (CLB). This is
configurable and allows not only routing on the device, but also each logic block can be
configured optimally. A typical CLB is shown in Figure 2.3. This extreme flexibility is very
efficient as the device does not rely on the fixed logical resources (as in the case of a CPLD),
 An FPGA Primer 9

Clock

Figure 2.1
Typical programmable logic device.

but rather is able to define whichever logical functions are required as part of the logic block
reconfiguration.
The CLB has a look-up table (LUT) that can be configured to give a specific type of logic
function when programmed. There is also a clocked d-type flip flop that allows the CLB to be
combinatorial (non-clocked) or synchronous (clocked), and there is also an enable signal. A
typical commercial CLB (in this case from Xilinx® ) is shown in Figure 2.4 and this shows
clearly the two 4 input LUTs and various multiplexers and flip flops in a real device.
A typical FPGA will have hundreds or thousands of CLBs, of different types, on a single
device allowing very complex devices to be implemented on a single chip and configured
10 Chapter 2

Figure 2.2
Complex programmable logic device.

Inputs Look-up
Out
table
(LUT)

State
Clock

Enable

Figure 2.3
FPGA complex logic block.
 An FPGA Primer 11

C1-C4

G4 SR
control
G3 Logic Y2

G2 func
G1

Logic
func 1
Y
F4 SR
control
F3 Logic X2
F2 func
F1

Clock 1
X

Figure 2.4
Typical commercial CLB architecture.

Figure 2.5
FPGA structure of CLB.
12 Chapter 2

easily. Modern FPGAs have enough capacity to hold a number of complex processors on a
single device. The layout of a typical FPGA (in CLB terms) is shown in Figure 2.5. As can be
surmised from this schematic, the FPGA has a level of complexity possible that is orders of
magnitude more than typical CPLD devices. With the advent of modern digital CMOS
processes down to 45 nm or even 28 nm and beyond, the integration of millions of logical
elements is now possible and to a speed unimaginable a decade previously—making
extremely high-performance devices now possible (even into the realm of Gb/s data
rates).

2.5 FPGA Design Techniques

When we design using a hardware description language (HDL), these logical expressions and
functions need to be mapped onto the low level logic blocks on an FPGA. In order to do this,
we need to carry out three specific functions:
1. Mapping: Logic functions mapped onto CLBs.
2. Placement: CLBs placed on FPGA.
3. Routing: Routed connections between CLBs.
It is clearly becoming impossible to design “by hand” using today’s complex designs; we
therefore rely on synthesis software to turn our HDL design description into the logic
functions that can be mapped onto the FPGA CLBs. This design flow is an iterative process
including optimization and implies a complete design flow. This will be discussed later in this
book in much more detail. One of the obvious aspects of FPGA design that must be
considered, however, is that of the available resources.

2.6 Design Constraints using FPGAs

It can be very easy to produce unrealistic designs using an HDL if the target FPGA platform is
not considered carefully. FPGAs obviously have a limited number of logic blocks and routing
resources, and the designer has to consider this. The style of HDL code used by the designer
should make the best use of resources, and this book will give examples of how that can be
achieved. HDL code may be transferable between technologies, but may need rewriting for
best results due to these constraints. For example, assumptions about the availability of
resources may lead to a completely different style of design. An example would be a complex
function that needed to be carried out numerous times. If the constraint was the raw
performance, and the device was large enough, then simply duplicating that function in the
 An FPGA Primer 13

hardware would enable maximum data rates to be achieved. On the other hand, if the device is
very small and can only support a smaller number of functions, then it would be up to the
designer to consider pipelining or resource sharing to enable the device to be programmed, but
obviously this would be at the cost of raw performance. The constraints placed on the designer
by the FPGA platform itself can therefore be a significant issue in the choice of device or
development platform.

2.7 Development Kits and Boards

There are now a wide array of development kits to suit all levels of budget and performance
requirements from the manufacturers themselves, or from third-party companies specializing
in development kits and board design. With the FPGA manufacturers being proactive in
providing design software on the web (often for free for noncommercial purposes), it has
become much less of a hurdle for engineers to obtain access to both the design tools and the
hardware to test out their concepts.
One of the major advantages with the modern development boards is that they tend to have an
FPGA device that can generally handle almost all the major building blocks (processors,
display drivers, network stacks) even on a relatively low-end device. The beauty of the boards
too is that with the development of multiple layer PCB designs, most of the common interface
elements can also be integrated on a very small board. With both Xilinx and Altera supporting
credit card sized boards, these are well within the reach of students and engineers on a very
small budget. Mid-Range boards are also available for more lab based usage, such as the DE
series of boards from Terasic, based around the Altera FPGA devices, starting with the credit
card sized DE0-Nano, DE0 and continuing up in power and complexity. An excellent starter
board, for example, is the DE0 board, which is slightly larger than its DE0 successor, but
perhaps a little easier to use in terms of access to switches and plugs. This board has two
40-way GPIO (General Purpose Input Output) connectors for general interfacing, a VGA
output, PS/2 input, Ethernet, USB, SD Card socket and a selection of LEDs, switches, and
buttons. This board is shown in Figure 2.6. There is a series of boards available for the Xilinx
FPGAs, with similar ranges of options with an example being the Nexsys 3™ board from
Digilent® which has a similar range of IO capability to the Altera based boards. The Nexsys
3™ board is shown in Figure 2.7.
With such an extensive range of options and prices, it is now a matter of choice in many cases
which platform to use. Each one will have its strengths and weaknesses, and the designer is
able to select the device and board to develop their own design, taking into account their own
requirements and constraints.
 An FPGA Primer 15

2.8 Summary
This chapter introduces the basic technology behind FPGAs and their development. The key
design issues are highlighted and some of the important design techniques introduced. Later
chapters in this book will develop these in more detail either from a detailed design
perspective or from a methodology point of view.
 CHAPTER 3

A VHDL Primer: The Essentials

3.1 Introduction
This chapter of the book is not intended as a comprehensive VHDL reference book as there
are many excellent texts available that fit that purpose, including Zwolinski [1], Navabi [2], or
Ashenden [3] (full details are provided in the References heading).
Instead, this chapter is designed to give concise and useful summary information on important
language constructs and usage in VHDL, hopefully helpful and easy to use, but not
necessarily comprehensive. The information is helpful enough for the reader to understand the
key concepts in this book; however, I would thoroughly recommend obtaining access to a
textbook on VHDL or Verilog if the reader is serious in becoming expert in HDL design for
digital systems. This book is intended as a complement to a textbook.
This chapter will introduce the key concepts in VHDL and the important syntax required for
most VHDL designs, particularly with reference to FPGAs. In most cases, the decision to use
VHDL over other languages such as Verilog or SystemC will have less to do with designer
choice and more to do with software availability and company decisions. Over the last decade
or so, a war of words has raged between the VHDL and Verilog communities about which is
the best language, and in most cases it is completely pointless as the issue is more about
design than syntax. There are numerous differences in the details between VHDL and Verilog,
but the fundamental philosophical difference historically has been the design context of the
two languages.
Verilog has come from a bottom-up tradition and has been heavily used by the IC industry for
cell-based design, whereas the VHDL language has been developed much more from a
top-down perspective. Of course, these are generalizations and largely out of date in a modern
context, but the result is clearly seen in the basic syntax and methods of the two languages.
While this has possibly been the case in the past, with the advent of the higher level
“SystemVerilog” variant of Verilog providing much of the same capability as VHDL at the
system level, this has also become popular.
Unfortunately, while there are many languages now available to designers, most of the FPGA
design tools support subsets, and therefore in some cases support for SystemVerilog may be
18 Chapter 3

Figure 3.1
VHDL models with different architectures.

patchy. It is therefore useful to describe using VHDL and Verilog; however, this book will also
provide some introductory material to SystemVerilog for completeness.
Without descending into a minute dissection of the differences between Verilog and VHDL,
one important aspect of VHDL is the ability to use multiple levels of model with different
architectures as shown in Figure 3.1.
This is not unique to VHDL, and in fact Verilog does have the concept of different behavior in
a single module; however, it is explicitly defined in VHDL and is extremely useful in putting
together practical multi-level designs in VHDL. The division of a model into its interface part
(the entity in VHDL) and the behavior part (the architecture in VHDL) is an incredibly
practical approach for modeling multiple behavior for a single interface and makes model
exchange and multiple implementation practical.
The remainder of this chapter will describe the key parts of VHDL, starting with the definition
of a basic model structure using entities and architectures, discuss the important variable
types, review the methods of encapsulating concurrent, sequential and hierarchical behavior
and finally introduce the important fundamental data types required in VHDL.

3.2 Entity: Model Interface

3.2.1 The Entity Definition

The VHDL entity defines how a design element described in VHDL connects to other VHDL
models and also defines the name of the model. The entity also allows the definition of any
parameters that are to be passed into the model using hierarchy. The basic template for an
entity is as follows:
1 entity <name> is
2 ...
3 end entity <name>;
 A VHDL Primer: The Essentials 19

If the entity has the name test then the entity template could be either:
1 entity test is
2 end entity test;

or:
1 entity test is
2 end test;

3.2.2 Ports

The method of connecting entities together is using ports. These are defined in the entity using
the following method:
1 port (
2 −− list of port declarations
3 );

The port declaration defines the type of connection and direction where appropriate. For
example, the port declaration for an input bit called in1 would be:
1 in1 : in bit;

And if the model had two inputs (in1 and in2) of type bit and a single output (out1) of type bit
then the declaration of the ports would be defined as follows:
1 port (
2 in1, in2 : in bit;
3 out1 : out bit
4 );

As the connection points between entities are effectively the same as those inter-process
connections, they are effectively signals and can be used as such within the VHDL of the model.

3.2.3 Generics

If the model has a parameter, then this is defined using generics. The general declaration of
generics is shown below:
1 generic (
2 −− list of generic declarations
3 );

In the case of generics, the declaration is similar to that of a constant with the form as shown
below:
1 param1 : integer := 4;

Taking an example of a model that had two generics, gain (integer) and time_delay (time),
they could be defined in the entity as follows:
20 Chapter 3

1 generic (
2 gain : integer := 4;
3 time_delay : time = 10 ns;
4 );

3.2.4 Constants

It is also possible to include model specific constants in the entity using the standard
declaration of constants method previously described; for example:
1 constant : rpullup : real := 1000.0;

3.2.5 Entity Examples

To illustrate a complete entity, we can bring together the ports and generics examples
previously shown and construct the complete entity for this example:
1 entity test is
2 port (
3 in1, in2 : in bit;
4 out1 : out bit;
5 );
6 generic (
7 gain : integer := 4;
8 time_delay : time := 10 ns;
9 );
10 constant : rpullup : real := 1000.0;
11 end entity test;

3.3 Architecture: Model Behavior

3.3.1 Basic Definition of An Architecture

While the entity describes the interface and parameter aspects of the model, the architecture
defines the behavior. There are several types of VHDL architecture and VHDL allows
different architectures to be defined for the same entity. This is ideal for developing
behavioral, RTL, and gate level architectures that can be incorporated into designs and tested
using the same test benches.
The basic approach for declaring an architecture could be as follows:
1 architecture behavior of test is
2 −− architecture declarations
3 begin
4 −− architecture contents
5 end architecture behavior;

or
1 architecture behavior of test is
2 −− architecture declarations
3 begin
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
hundred piastres. She was soon able to purchase a better house,
where she not only gave the man more nourishing food, but sent for
a teacher to instruct him how to read and write. He had so improved
in appearance by this time, and had profited so well by the wise
conversation of Zubeydeh, that he was quite like another person,
and those who had known him in his poverty no longer recognized
him. For this reason, the Caliph, who soon repented of his anger
towards Zubeydeh and made every effort to recover her, was unable
to find any trace of him. Mesrour sought day and night through the
streets of Baghdad, but as Zubeydeh never left the wood-cutter’s
house, all his search was in vain, and the Caliph was like one
distracted.
“One day, as the wood-cutter was on his way to the forest, he was
met by three persons, who desired to hire his asses for the day.
‘But,’ said he, ‘I make my living from the wood which the asses carry
to the city.’ ‘What profit do you make upon each load?’ asked one of
the men. ‘If it is a good load, I often make fifty piastres,’ answered
the wood-cutter. ‘Well,’ said the men, ‘we will give you two hundred
piastres as the hire of each ass, for one day.’ The wood-cutter, who
had not expected such an extraordinary offer, was about to accept it
at once, when he reflected that he had obeyed in all things the
advice of Zubeydeh, and ought not to take such a step without her
consent. He thereupon requested the men to wait while he returned
home and consulted his wife. ‘You have done right, O my lord!’ said
Zubeydeh: ‘I commend your prudence, and am quite willing that you
should accept the offer of the men, as the money will purchase
other asses and repay you for the loss of the day’s profit, if the
persons should not return.’
“Now the three men were three celebrated robbers, who had
amassed a vast treasure, which they kept concealed in a cave in one
of the neighboring mountains. They hired the donkeys in order to
transport this treasure to a barque in which they had taken passage
to Bassora, where they intended to establish themselves as rich
foreign merchants. But Allah, who governs all things, allows the
plans of the wicked to prosper for a time, only that he may throw
them into more utter ruin at the last. The robbers went to their
secret cave with the donkeys and loaded them with all their spoils—
great sacks of gold, of rubies, diamonds and emeralds, which the
beasts were scarcely strong enough to carry. On their way to the
river below Baghdad, where the boat was waiting for them, two of
them stopped to drink at a well, while the other went on with the
asses. Said one of the twain to the other: “Let us kill our comrade,
that we may have the greater treasure.” He at once agreed, and
they had no sooner overtaken the third robber, than the first, with
one stroke of his sabre, made his head fly from his body. The two
then proceeded together for a short distance, when the murderer
said: ‘I must have more than half of the treasure, because I killed
our comrade.’ ‘If you begin by claiming more than half, you will in
the end claim the whole,’ said the other robber, who refused to
agree. They presently set upon each other with their swords, and
after fighting for some time, both of them received so many wounds
that they fell dead in the road.
“The asses, finding that no one was driving them any longer, took,
from habit, the road to the wood-cutter’s house, where they arrived
safely, with the treasure upon their backs. Great was the amazement
of their master, who, at Zubeydeh’s command, carried the heavy
sacks into the house. But when he had opened one of them, and the
splendor of the jewels filled the whole room, Zubeydeh exclaimed:
‘God is great! Now, indeed, I see that my conduct is acceptable to
Him, and that His hand hurries my design more swiftly to its
completion.’ But, as she knew not what had happened to the
robbers, and supposed that the owner of the treasure would have
his loss proclaimed in the bazaars, she determined to keep the sacks
closed for the space of a moon, after which, according to the law,
they would become her property, if they had not been claimed in the
mean time. Of course, no proclamation of the loss was made, and at
the end of the moon, she considered that she had a just right to the
treasure, which, upon computation proved to be even greater than
that of the Caliph Haroun Al-Raschid.
 “She commanded the wood-cutter to send her at once the most
renowned architect of Baghdad, whom she directed to build, exactly
opposite to the Caliph’s Palace, another palace which should surpass
in splendor any thing that had ever been beheld. For the purchase of
the materials and the hire of the workmen, she gave him a hundred
thousand pieces of gold. ‘If men ask,’ said she, ‘for whom you are
building the palace, tell them it is for the son of a foreign king.’ The
architect employed all the workmen in Baghdad, and followed her
instructions so well, that in two months the palace was finished. The
like of it had never been seen, and the Caliph’s palace faded before
its magnificence as the face of the moon fades when the sun has
risen above the horizon. The walls were of marble, white as snow;
the gates of ivory, inlaid with pearl; the domes were gilded, so that
when the sun shone, the eye could not look upon them; and from a
great fountain of silver, in the court-yard, a jet of rose-colored water,
which diffused an agreeable odor, leaped into air. Of this palace it
might be said, in the words of the poet: ‘Truly it resembles Paradise;
or is it the lost House of Irem, built from the treasures of King
Sheddad? May kindness dwell upon the lips of the lord of this palace,
and charity find refuge in his heart, that he be adjudged worthy to
enjoy such splendor!’
“During the building of the palace, Zubeydeh employed the best
masters in teaching the wood-cutter all the accomplishments which
his present condition required that he should possess. In a short
time he was a very pattern of elegance in his manner; his words
were choice and spoken with dignity and propriety, and his
demeanor was that of one born to command rather than to obey.
When she had succeeded to the full extent of her wishes, she
commenced teaching him to play chess, and spent several hours a
day in this manner, until he finally played with a skill equal to her
own. By this time, the palace was completed, and after having
purchased horses and slaves, and every thing necessary to the
maintenance of a princely household, Zubeydeh and the wood-cutter
took possession of it during the night, in order that they might not
be observed by the Caliph. Zubeydeh bade the wood-cutter
remember the promise he had made her. She still retained her own
apartments, with a number of female slaves to attend her, and she
now presented to him, as a harem becoming a prince, twenty
Circassian girls, each one fairer than the morning-star.
“The next morning she called the wood-cutter, and addressed him
thus: ‘You see, my lord! what I have done for you. You remember in
what misery I found you, and how, by your following my advice,
every thing was changed. I intend to exalt you still higher, and in
order that my plans may not be frustrated, I now ask you to promise
that you will obey me in all things, for a month from this time.’
Zubeydeh made this demand, for she knew how quickly a change of
fortune may change a man’s character, and how he will soon come
to look upon that as a right which Allah granted him as a boon. But
the wood-cutter threw himself at her feet, and said: ‘O Queen! it is
for you to command, and it is for me to obey. You have taught me
understanding and wisdom; you have given me the wealth of kings.
May Allah forget me, if I forget to give you, in return, gratitude and
obedience.’ ‘Go, then,’ continued Zubeydeh, ‘mount this horse, and
attended by twenty slaves on horseback, visit the coffee-house in
the great bazaar. Take with thee a purse of three thousand pieces of
gold, and as thou goest on thy way, scatter a handful occasionally
among the beggars. Take thy seat in the coffee-house, where thou
wilt see the Vizier’s son, who is a skilful player of chess. He will
challenge the multitude to play with him, and when no one accepts,
do thou engage him for a thousand pieces of gold. Thou wilt win;
but pay him the thousand pieces as if thou hadst lost, give two
hundred pieces to the master of the coffee-house, divide two
hundred pieces among the attendants, and scatter the remainder
among the beggars.’
“The wood-cutter performed all that Zubeydeh commanded. He
accepted the challenge of the Vizier’s son, won the game, yet paid
him a thousand pieces of gold as if he had lost, and then rode back
to the palace, followed by the acclamations of the multitude, who
were loud in their praises of his beauty, the elegance of his speech,
his unbounded munificence, and the splendor of his attendance.
Every day he visited the coffee-house, gave two hundred pieces of
gold to the master, two hundred to the servants, and distributed six
hundred among the beggars. But the Vizier’s son, overcome with
chagrin at his defeat, remained at home, where, in a few days, he
sickened and died. These things coming to the Vizier’s ear, he felt a
great desire to see the foreign prince, whose wealth and generosity
were the talk of all Baghdad; and as he believed himself to be the
greatest chess-player in the world, he determined to challenge him
to a game. He thereupon visited the coffee-house, where he had not
remained long when the wood-cutter made his appearance, in even
greater splendor than before. This was in accordance with the
instructions of Zubeydeh, who was informed of all that had taken
place. He at once accepted the Vizier’s challenge to play, for a stake
of two thousand pieces of gold. After a hard-fought battle, the Vizier
was fairly beaten, but the wood-cutter paid him the two thousand
pieces of gold, as if he had lost the game, gave away another
thousand as usual, and retired to his palace.
“The Vizier took his defeat so much to heart, that his chagrin,
combined with grief for the loss of his son, carried him off in a few
days. This circumstance brought the whole history to the ears of
Haroun Al-Raschid himself, who was immediately seized with a
strong desire to play chess with the foreign prince, not doubting but
that, as he had always beaten his Vizier, he would be more than a
match for the new antagonist. Accordingly he sent an officer to the
palace of the wood-cutter, with a message that the Commander of
the Faithful desired to offer his hospitality to the son of the foreign
king. By Zubeydeh’s advice, the invitation was accepted, and the
officer speedily returned to Haroun Al-Raschid, to whom he gave
such a description of the magnificence of the new palace, that the
Caliph’s mouth began to water, and he exclaimed: ‘By Allah! I must
look to this. No man, who has not the ring of Solomon on his finger,
shall surpass me in my own capital!’ In a short time the wood-cutter
arrived, attired in such splendor that the day seemed brighter for his
appearance, and attended by forty black slaves, in dresses of
crimson silk, with turbans of white and gold, and golden swords by
their sides. They formed a double row from the court-yard to the
throne-hall where the Caliph sat, and up the avenue thus formed the
wood-cutter advanced, preceded by two slaves in dresses of cloth-
of-silver, who placed at the Caliph’s feet two crystal goblets filled
with rubies and emeralds of immense size. The Caliph, delighted
with this superb present, rose, embraced the supposed prince, and
seated him by his side. From the great wealth displayed by the
wood-cutter, and the perfect grace and propriety of his manners, the
Caliph suspected that he was no less a personage than the son of
the King of Cathay.
“After a handsome repast had been served, the Caliph proposed a
game of chess, stating that he had heard much of the prince’s skill in
playing. ‘After I shall have played with you, O Commander of the
Faithful!’ said the wood-cutter, ‘you will hear no more of my skill.’
The Caliph was charmed with the modesty of this speech, and the
compliment to himself, and they immediately began to play. The
wood-cutter, although he might easily have beaten the Caliph,
suffered the latter to win the first game, which put him into the best
humor possible. But when the second game had been played, and
the wood-cutter was the victor, he perceived that the Caliph’s face
became dark, and his good-humor was gone. ‘You are too generous
to your servant, O Caliph!’ said he; ‘had you not given me this
success as an encouragement, I should have lost a second time.’ At
these words Haroun smiled, and they played a third game, which the
wood-cutter purposely allowed him to win. Such was the counsel
given to him by Zubeydeh, who said: ‘If thou permittest him to win
the first game, he will be so well pleased, that thou mayest venture
to defeat him on the second game. Then, when he has won the third
game, thy having been once victorious will magnify his opinion of his
own skill; for where we never suffer defeat, we at last regard our
conquests with indifference.’
“The result was precisely as Zubeydeh had predicted. The Caliph
was charmed with the foreign prince, and in a few days made him
his Vizier. The wood-cutter filled his exalted station with dignity and
judgment, and became at once a great favorite with the people of
Baghdad. The month of obedience which he promised to Zubeydeh
was now drawing to a close, when she said to him: ‘Cease to visit
the Caliph, and do not leave thy palace for two or three days. When
the Caliph sends for thee, return for answer that thou art ill.’ She
foresaw that the Caliph would then come to see his Vizier, and gave
the wood-cutter complete instructions, concerning what he should
say and do.
“Haroun Al-Raschid no sooner heard of the illness of his Vizier,
than he went personally to his palace, to see him. He was amazed at
the size and splendor of the edifice. ‘Truly,’ said he, striking his hands
together, ‘this man hath found the ring of Solomon, which compels
the assistance of the genii. In all my life I have never seen such a
palace as this.’ He found the Vizier reclining on a couch of cloth-of-
gold, in a chamber, the walls whereof were of mother-of-pearl, and
the floor of ivory. There was a fountain of perfumed water in the
centre, and beside it stood a jasmine-tree, growing in a vase of
crystal. ‘How is this?’ said the Caliph, seating himself on one end of
the couch; ‘a man whom the genii serve, should have the secrets of
health in his hands.’ ‘It is no fever,’ said the Vizier; ‘but the other day
as I was washing myself in the fountain, before the evening prayer, I
stooped too near the jasmine tree, and one of its thorns scratched
my left arm.’ ‘What!’ cried the Caliph, in amazement; ‘the scratch of
a blunt jasmine-thorn has made you ill!’. ‘You wonder at it, no doubt,
O Commander of the Faithful!’ said the Vizier; ‘because, only a few
months ago, you saw that I was insensible to the fangs of a serpent,
which had fastened upon my heel.’ ‘There is no God but God!’
exclaimed Haroun Al-Raschid, as by these words he recognized the
poor wood-cutter, who had passed under the window of his palace
—‘hast thou indeed found the ring of Solomon?—and where is the
woman whom Mesrour, at my command, brought to thee?’
“‘She is here!’ said Zubeydeh, entering the door. She turned
towards the Caliph, and slightly lifting her veil, showed him her face,
more beautiful than ever. Haroun, with a cry of joy, was on the point
of clasping her in his arms, when he stopped suddenly, and said:
‘But thou art now the wife of that man.’ ‘Not so, great Caliph!’
exclaimed the Vizier who rose to his feet, now that there was no
longer any need to affect illness; ‘from the day that she entered my
house, I have never seen her face. By the beard of the Prophet, she
is not less pure than she is wise. It is she who has made me all that
I am. Obedience to her was the seed from which the tree of my
fortune has grown.’ Zubeydeh then knelt at the Caliph’s feet, and
said: ‘O Commander of the Faithful, restore me to the light of your
favor. I swear to you that I am not less your wife than when the
cloud of your anger overshadowed me. This honorable man has
never ceased to respect me. My thoughtless words led you to send
me forth to take the place of the serpent, but I have now shown you
that a wife may also be to her husband as the staff, whereon he
leans for support; as the camel, which bringeth him riches; as the
tent, which shelters and protects him; as the bath, which maketh
him comely, and as the lamp, whereby his steps are enlightened.’
“Haroun Al-Raschid had long since bitterly repented of his
rashness and cruelty. He now saw in what had happened, the hand
of Allah, who had turned that which he had intended as a
punishment, into a triumph. He restored Zubeydeh at once to his
favor, and to the wood-cutter, whom he still retained as Vizier, he
gave his eldest daughter in marriage. All the citizens of Baghdad
took part in the festivities, which lasted two weeks, and the Caliph,
to commemorate his gratitude, built a superb mosque, which is
called the Mosque of the Restoration to this very day. The Vizier
nobly requited all the pains which the Sultana Zubeydeh had taken
with his education, and showed so much wisdom and justice in his
administration of the laws, that the Caliph never had occasion to be
dissatisfied with him. Thus they all lived together in the utmost
happiness and concord, until they were each, in turn, visited by the
Terminator of Delights and the Separator of Companions.”
So ended Achmet’s story; but without the moonlight, the tall
Ethiopian palms and the soothing pipe, as accessories, I fear that
this reproduction of it retains little of the charm which I found in the
original. It was followed by other and wilder tales, stamped in every
part with the unmistakable signet of the Orient. They were all
characterized by the belief in an inevitable Destiny, which seems to
be the informing soul of all Oriental literature. This belief affords
every liberty to the poet and romancer, and the Arabic authors have
not scrupled to make liberal use of it. There is no hazard in
surrounding your hero with all sorts of real and imaginary dangers,
or in heaping up obstacles in the path of his designs, when you
know that his destiny obliges him to overcome them. He becomes,
for the time, the impersonation of Fate, and circumstances yield
before him. You see, plainly, that he was chosen, in the beginning,
to do the very thing which he accomplishes, in the end. If a miracle
is needed for his success, it is not withheld. Difficulties crowd upon
him to the last, only that the final triumph may be more complete
and striking. Yet with all these violations of probability, the Oriental
tales exhibit a great fertility of invention and sparkle with touches of
genuine human nature. The deep and absorbing interest with which
the unlettered Arabs listen to their recital—the hold which they have
upon the popular heart of the East—attests their value, as
illustrations of Eastern life.
From Poetry we frequently passed to Religion, and Achmet was
astonished to find me familiar not only with Mohammed, but with Ali
and Abdullah and Abu-talib, and with many incidents of the
Prophet’s life, which were new to him. The Persian chronicles were
fresh in my memory, and all the wonders related of Mohammed by
that solemn old biographer, Mohammed Bekr, came up again as
vividly as when I first read them. We compared notes, he repeated
passages of the Koran, and so the Giaour and the True Believer
discussed the nature of their faith, but always ended by passing
beyond Prophet and Apostle, to the one great and good God, who is
equally merciful to all men. I could sincerely adopt the first article of
his faith: “La illah il’ Allah!” “There is no God but God,” while he was
equally ready to accept the first commandment of mine.
 CHAPTER XX.
FROM SHENDY TO KHARTOUM.

Arrival at Shendy—Appearance of the Town—Shendy in Former Days—We

Touch at El Metemma—The Nile beyond Shendy—Flesh Diet vs.
Vegetables—We Escape Shipwreck—A Walk on Shore—The Rapids of
Derreira—Djebel Gerri—The Twelfth Cataract—Night in the Mountain
Gorge—Crocodiles—A Drink of Mareesa—My Birth-Day—Fair Wind—
Approach to Khartoum—The Junction of the Two Niles—Appearance
of the City—We Drop Anchor.

The morning after visiting the ruins of Meroë I reached the old
Ethiopian town of Shendy. It lies about half a mile from the river, but
the massive fort and palace of the Governor are built on the water’s
edge. Several spreading sycamore trees gave a grace to the shore,
which would otherwise have been dull and tame. Naked Ethiopians
were fishing or washing their clothes in the water, and some of
them, as they held their long, scarlet-edged mantles above their
heads, to dry in the wind and sun, showed fine, muscular figures.
The women had hideous faces, but symmetrical and well developed
forms. A group of Egyptian soldiers watched us from the bank before
the palace, and several personages on horseback, one of whom
appeared to be the Governor himself, were hailing the ferry boat,
which was just about putting off with a heavy load of natives.
We ran the boat to the shore, at a landing-place just above the
palace. The banks of the river were covered with fields of cucumbers
and beans, the latter brilliant with white and purple blossoms and
filled with the murmuring sound of bees. Achmet, the raïs and I
walked up to the capital—the famous Shendy, once the great mart of
trade for the regions between the Red Sea and Dar-Fūr. On the way
we met numbers of women with water-jars. They wore no veils, but
certainly needed them, for their faces were of a broad, semi-negro
character, and repulsively plain. The town is built in a straggling
manner, along a low, sandy ridge, and is upwards of a mile in length,
though it probably does not contain more than ten thousand
inhabitants. The houses are mud, of course, but rough and filthy,
and many of them are the same circular tokuls of mats and palm-
sticks as I had already noticed in the smaller villages. The only
decent dwelling which I saw had been just erected by a Dongolese
merchant. There was a mosque, with a low mud minaret, but neither
in this nor in any other respect did the place compare with El
Mekheyref. The bazaar resembled a stable, having a passage
through the centre, shaded with mats, and stalls on either side,
some of which contained donkeys and others merchants. The goods
displayed were principally blue and white cotton stuffs of coarse
quality, beads, trinkets and the like. It was market-day, but the
people had not yet assembled. A few screens of matting, erected on
sticks, were the only preparations which had been made. The whole
appearance of the place was that of poverty and desertion. Beyond
the clusters of huts, and a mud wall, which ran along the eastern
side of the town, the Desert extended to the horizon—a hot, white
plain, dotted with clumps of thorns. On our return to the boat, the
raïs pointed out the spot where, in 1822, Ismaïl Pasha and his
soldiers were burned to death by Mek Nemr (King Leopard), the last
monarch of Shendy. The bloody revenge taken by Mohammed Bey
Defterdar (son-in-law of Mohammed Ali), for that act, sealed the fate
of the kingdom. The seat of the Egyptian government in Soudân was
fixed at Khartoum, which in a few years became also the centre of
trade, and now flourishes at the expense of Shendy and El
Metemma.
Burckhardt, who visited Shendy during the reign of King Leopard,
devotes much space to a description of the trade of the town at that
time. It was then in the height of its prosperity, and the resort of
merchants from Arabia, Abyssinia, Egypt, and even Syria and Asia
Minor. It was also one of the chief slave-marts of Central Africa, in
which respect it has since been superseded by Obeid, in Kordofan.
The only commerce which has been left to Shendy is that with
Djidda and the other Arabian ports, by way of Sowakin, on the Red
Sea—a caravan journey of fourteen days, through the country of
Takka, infested by the wild tribes of the Hallengas and Hadendoas.
Mek Nemr, according to Burckhardt, was of the Djaaleyn tribe, who
are descendants of the Beni Koreish, of Yemen, and still retain the
pure Arabian features. I was afterwards, during my stay in
Khartoum, enabled to verify the declaration of the same traveller,
that all the tribes of Ethiopia between the Nile and the Red Sea are
of unmixed Arab stock.
The palace of the Governor, which was a building of considerable
extent, had heavy circular bastions, which were defended by
cannon. Its position, on the bank of the Nile, was much more
agreeable than that of the city, and the garrison had settled around
it, forming a small village on its eastern side. The white walls and
latticed windows of the palace reminded me of Cairo, and I
anticipated a pleasant residence within its walls, on my return to
Shendy. As I wished to reach Khartoum as soon as possible I did not
call upon the Governor, but sent him the letter of recommendation
from Yagheshir Bey. From Shendy, one sees the group of palms
which serves as a landmark to El Metemma, the capital of a former
Ethiopian Kingdom, further up the Nile, on its opposite bank. This is
the starting point for caravans to Merawe and Dongola through the
Beyooda Desert. We passed its port about noon, and stopped a few
minutes to let the raïs pay his compliments to the owner of our
vessel, who was on shore. He was a little old man, with a long staff,
and dressed like the meanest Arab, although he was shekh of half a
dozen villages, and had a servant leading a fine Dongolese horse
behind him. The boat of Khalim Bey, agent of the Governor of
Berber and Shendy, was at the landing place, and we saw the Bey, a
tall, handsome Turk in a rich blue and crimson dress, who sent a
servant to ask my name and character.
The scenery of the Nile, southward from Shendy, is again
changed. The tropical rains which fall occasionally at Abou-Hammed
and scantily at Berber, are here periodical, and there is no longer the
same striking contrast between desert and garden land. The plains
extending inward from the river are covered with a growth of bushes
and coarse grass, which also appears in patches on the sides of the
mountains. The inhabitants cultivate but a narrow strip of beans and
dourra along the river, but own immense flocks of sheep and goats,
which afford their principal sustenance. I noticed many fields of the
grain called dookhn, of which they plant a larger quantity than of
dourra. Mutton, however, is the Ethiopian’s greatest delicacy.
Notwithstanding this is one of the warmest climates in the world, the
people eat meat whenever they can get it, and greatly prefer it to
vegetable food. The sailors and camel-drivers, whose principal food
is dourra, are, notwithstanding a certain quality of endurance, as
weak as children, when compared with an able-bodied European,
and they universally attribute this weakness to their diet. This is a
fact for the lank vegetarians to explain. My experience coincided
with that of the Ethiopians, and I ascribed no small share of my
personal health and strength, which the violent alternations of heat
and cold during the journey had not shaken in the least, to the fact
of my having fared sumptuously every day.
After leaving Shendy, the Nile makes a bend to the west, and we
went along slowly all the afternoon, with a side-wind. The shores
were not so highly cultivated as those we had passed, and low hills
of yellow sand began to show themselves on either hand. The
villages were groups of mud tokuls, with high, conical roofs, and the
negro type of face appeared much more frequently among the
inhabitants—the result of amalgamation with slaves. We saw
numbers of young crocodiles which my sailors delighted to frighten
by shouting and throwing sticks at them, as they sunned themselves
on the sand. Wild geese and ducks were abundant, and the quiet
little coves along the shore were filled with their young brood.
During the day a large hawk or vulture dashed down to within a yard
of the deck in the attempt to snatch a piece of my black ram, which
Beshir had just killed.
The next morning we had a narrow escape from shipwreck. The
wind blew strong from the north, as we reached a twist in the river,
where our course for several miles lay to the north-west, obliging the
men to take in sail and tow the vessel. They had reached the
turning-point and the sail was blowing loose, while two sailors lay
out on the long, limber yard, trying to reef, when a violent gust
pulled the rope out of the hands of the man on shore, and we were
carried into the stream. The steersman put the helm hard up, and
made for the point of an island which lay opposite, but the current
was so strong that we could not reach it. It blew a gale, and the Nile
was rough with waves. Between the island and the southern shore
lay a cluster of sharp, black rocks, and for a few minutes we
appeared to be driving directly upon them. The raïs and sailors, with
many cries of “O Prophet! O Apostle!” gave themselves up to their
fate; but the strength of the current saved us. Our bow just grazed
the edge of the last rock, and we were blown across to the opposite
shore, where we struck hard upon the sand and were obliged to
remain two hours, until the wind abated. I was vexed and impatient
at first, but remembering the effect of a pipe upon a similar
occasion, I took one, and soon became calm enough to exclaim: “it
is the will of Allah!”
While the boat was making such slow headway, I went ashore and
walked an hour or two among the fields of beans and dourra. The
plains for several miles inland were covered with dry grass and
thorn-trees, and only needed irrigation to bloom as a garden. The
sun was warm, the bean-fields alive with bees, and the wind took a
rich summer fragrance from the white and purple blossoms. Near
one of the huts, I accosted a woman who was weeding among the
dourra. She told me that her husband had deserted her and taken
another wife, leaving her the charge of their two children. He had
also taken her three cows and given them to his new wife, so that
her only means of support was to gather the dry grass and sell it in
the villages. I gave her a few piastres, which she received gratefully.
In the afternoon we passed the main bend of the river, and were
able to make use of the wind, which by this time was light. The
sailor who had been left ashore during the gale overtook us, by
walking a distance of eight or ten miles and swimming one of the
smaller arms of the river. The western bank of the river now became
broken and hilly, occasionally overhung by bluffs of gravelly soil, of a
dark red color. On the top of one of the hills there was a wall, which
the raïs pointed out to me as kadeem (ancient), but it appeared too
dilapidated to repay the trouble of a visit.
On the following day, the scenery became remarkably wild and
picturesque. After passing the village of Derreira, on the right bank,
the Nile was studded with islands of various sizes, rising like hillocks
from the water, and all covered with the most luxuriant vegetation.
The mimosa, the acacia, the palm, the sycamore and the nebbuk
flourished together in rank growth, with a profusion of smaller
shrubs, and all were matted together with wild green creepers,
which dropped their long streamers of pink and purple blossoms into
the water. Reefs of black rock, over which the waves foamed
impetuously, made the navigation intricate and dangerous. The
banks of the river were high and steep, and covered with bushes
and rank grass, above which the rustling blades of the dourra
glittered in the sun. The country was thickly populated, and the
inhabitants were mostly of the Shygheean tribe—from Dar
Shygheea, the region between Dongola and Berber. The sakias were
tended by Dinka slaves, as black as ebony, and with coarse, brutish
faces. At one point on the eastern shore, opposite the island of
Bendi, the natives had collected all their live stock, but for what
purpose I could not learn. The shore was covered with hundreds of
camels, donkeys, sheep, cows and goats, carefully kept in separate
herds.
After threading ten miles of those island bowers, we approached
Djebel Gerri, which we had seen all day, ahead of us. The Nile,
instead of turning westward around the flank of the mountain, as I
had anticipated from the features of the landscape, made a sudden
bend to the south, between a thick cluster of islands, and entered
the hills. At this point there was a rapid, extending half-way across
the river. The natives call it a shellàl (cataract), although it deserves
the name no more than the cataracts of Assouan and Wadi-Halfa.
Adopting the term, however, which has been sanctioned by long
usage, this is the Twelfth Cataract of the Nile, and the last one which
the traveller meets before reaching the mountains of Abyssinia. The
stream is very narrow, compressed between high hills of naked red
sandstone rock. At sunset we were completely shut in the savage
solitude, and there we seemed likely to remain, for the wind came
from all quarters by turns, and jammed the vessel against the rocks
more than once.
The narrow terraces of soil on the sides of the mountains were
covered with dense beds of long, dry grass, and as we lay moored to
the rocks, I climbed up to one of these, in spite of the raïs’s
warnings that I should fall in with lions and serpents. I lay down in
the warm grass, and watched the shadows deepen in the black
gorge, as the twilight died away. The zikzak or crocodile-bird
twittered along the shore, and, after it became quite dark, the
stillness was occasionally broken by the snort of a hippopotamus, as
he thrust his huge head above water, or by the yell of a hyena
prowling among the hills. Talk of the pleasure of reading a traveller’s
adventures in strange lands! There is no pleasure equal to that of
living them: neither the anticipation nor the memory of such a scene
as I witnessed that evening, can approach the fascination of the
reality. I was awakened after midnight by the motion of the vessel,
and looking out of my shelter as I lay, could see that we were slowly
gliding through the foldings of the stony mountains. The moon rode
high and bright, over the top of a peak in front, and the sound of my
prow, as it occasionally grated against the rocks, alone disturbed the
stillness of the wild pass. Once the wind fell, and the men were
obliged to make fast to a rock, but before morning we had emerged
from the mountains and were moored to the bank, to await daylight
for the passage of the last rapid.
In the mouth of the pass lies an island, which rises into a
remarkable conical peak, about seven hundred feet in height. It is
called the Rowyàn (thirst assuaged), while a lofty summit of the
range of Gerri bears the name of Djebel Attshàn (the Mountain of
Thirst). The latter stands on a basis of arid sand, whence its name,
but the Rowyàn is encircled by the arms of the Nile. In the Wady
Beit-Naga, some three or four hours’ journey eastward from the
river, are the ruined temples of Naga and Mesowuràt, described by
Hoskins. The date of their erection has been ascertained by Lepsius
to be coeval with that of Meroë. We here saw many crocodiles,
basking on the warm sand-banks. One group of five were enormous
monsters, three of them being at least fifteen, and the other two
twenty feet in length. They lazily dragged their long bodies into the
water as we approached, but returned after we had passed. The
zikzaks were hopping familiarly about them, on the sand, and I have
no doubt that they do service to the crocodiles in the manner related
by the Arabs.
The river was still studded with islands—some mere fragments of
rock covered with bushes, and some large level tracts, flourishing
with rich fields of cotton and dourra. About noon, we passed a
village on the eastern bank, and I sent Ali and Beshir ashore to
procure supplies, for my ram was finished. Ali found only one fowl,
which the people did not wish to sell, but, Turk-like, he took it
forcibly and gave them the usual price. Beshir found some mareesa,
a fermented drink made of dourra, and for two piastres procured
two jars of it, holding two gallons each, which were brought down to
the boat by a pair of sturdy Dinka women, whose beauty was almost
a match for Bakhita. The mareesa had an agreeable flavor and very
little intoxicating property. I noticed, however, that after Beshir had
drunk nearly a gallon, he sang and danced rather more than usual,
and had much to say of a sweetheart of his, who lived in El-
Metemma, and who bore the charming name of Gammerò-
Betahadjerò. Bakhita, after drinking an equal portion, complained to
me bitterly of my white sheep, which had nibbed off the ends of the
woolly twists adorning her head, but I comforted her by the present
of half a piastre, for the purpose of buying mutton-fat.
As the wind fell, at sunset, we reached a long slope of snowy
sand, on the island of Aūssee. Achmet went to the huts of the
inhabitants, where he was kindly received and furnished with milk. I
walked for an hour up and down the beautiful beach, breathing the
mild, cool evening air, heavy with delicious odors. The glassy Nile
beside me reflected the last orange-red hues of sunset, and the
evening star, burning with a white, sparry lustre, made a long track
of light across his breast. I remembered that it was my birth-day—
the fourth time I had spent my natal anniversary in a foreign land.
The first had been in Germany, the second in Italy, the third in
Mexico, and now the last, in the wild heart of Africa. They were all
pleasant, but this was the best of all.
When I returned to the vessel, I found my carpet and cushions
spread on the sand, and Ali waiting with my pipe. The evening
entertainment commenced: I was listening to an Arabian tale, and
watching the figures of the boatmen, grouped around a fire they had
kindled in a field of dookhn, when the wind came up with a sudden
gust and blew out the folds of my idle flag. Instantly the sand was
kicked over the brands, the carpet taken up, all hands called on
board, and we dashed away on the dark river with light hearts. I
rose before sunrise the next morning, and found the wind
unchanged. We were sailing between low shores covered with grain-
fields, and a sandy island lay in front. The raïs no sooner saw me
than he called my attention to the tops of some palm-trees that
appeared on the horizon, probably six or eight miles distant. They
grew in the gardens of Khartoum! We reached the point of the
broad, level island that divides the waters of the two Niles, and could
soon distinguish the single minaret and buildings of the city. A boat,
coming down from the White Nile, passed us on the right, and
another, bound for Khartoum, led us up the Blue Nile. The proper
division between the two rivers is the point of land upon which
Khartoum is built, but the channel separating it from the island
opposite is very narrow, and the streams do not fully meet and
mingle their waters till the island is passed.
The city presented a picturesque—and to my eyes, accustomed to
the mud huts of the Ethiopian villages—a really stately appearance,
as we drew near. The line of buildings extended for more than a mile
along the river, and many of the houses were embowered in gardens
of palm, acacia, orange and tamarind trees. The Palace of the Pasha
had a certain appearance of dignity, though its walls were only
unburnt brick, and his hareem, a white, two-story building, looked
cool and elegant amid the palms that shaded it. Egyptian soldiers, in
their awkward, half-Frank costume, were lounging on the bank
before the Palace, and slaves of inky blackness, resplendent in white
and red livery, were departing on donkeys on their various errands.
The slope of the bank was broken at short intervals by water-mills,
and files of men with skins, and women with huge earthen jars on
their heads, passed up and down between the water’s edge and the
openings of the narrow lanes leading between the gardens into the
city. The boat of the Governor of Berber, rowed by twelve black
slaves, put off from shore, and moved slowly down stream, against
the north wind, as we drew up and moored the America below the
garden of the Catholic Mission. It was the twelfth of January; I had
made the journey from Assouan to Khartoum in twenty-six days, and
from Cairo in fifty-seven.
 CHAPTER XXI.
LIFE IN KHARTOUM.

The American Flag—A Rencontre—Search for a House—The Austrian

Consular Agent—Description of his Residence—The Garden—The
Menagerie—Barbaric Pomp and State—Picturesque Character of the
Society of Khartoum—Foundation and Growth of the City—Its
Appearance—The Population—Unhealthiness of the Climate—
Assembly of Ethiopian Chieftains—Visit of Two Shekhs—Dinner and
Fireworks.

At the time of my arrival in Khartoum, there were not more than a

dozen vessels in port, and the only one which would pass for
respectable in Egypt was the Pasha’s dahabiyeh. I had but an open
merchant-boat, yet my green tent and flag gave it quite a showy air,
and I saw that it created some little sensation among the spectators.
The people looked at the flag with astonishment, for the stars and
stripes had never before been seen in Khartoum. At the earnest
prayer of the raïs, who was afraid the boat would be forcibly
impressed into the service of the Government, and was anxious to
get back to his sick family in El Metemma, I left the flag flying until
he was ready to leave. Old Bakhita, in her dumb, ignorant way,
expressed great surprise and grief when she learned that Achmet
and I were going to desert the vessel. She had an indefinite idea
that we had become part and parcel of it, and would remain on
board for the rest of our lives.
I took Achmet and started immediately in search of a house, as in
those lands a traveller who wishes to be respectable, must take a
residence on arriving at a city, even if he only intends to stay two or
three days. Over the mud walls on either side of the lane leading up
from the water, I could look into wildernesses of orange, date, fig,
and pomegranate trees, oleanders in bloom and trailing vines. We
entered a tolerable street, cleanly swept, and soon came to a coffee-
house. Two or three persons were standing at the door, one of
whom—a fat, contented-looking Turk—eyed Achmet sharply. The two
looked at each other a moment in mutual doubt and astonishment,
and then fell into each other’s arms. It was a Syrian merchant,
whom Achmet had known in Cairo and Beyrout. “O master!” said he,
his dark face radiant with delight, as he clasped the hand of the
Syrian: “there never was such a lucky journey as this!”
The merchant, who had been two years in Khartoum,
accompanied us in our search. We went first to the residence of the
shekh of the quarter, who was not at home. Two small boys, the
sons of one of a detachment of Egyptian physicians, who had
recently arrived, received me. They complained bitterly of Soudân,
and longed to get back again to Cairo. We then went to the
Governor of the city, but he was absent in Kordofan. Finally, in
wandering about the streets, we met a certain Ali Effendi, who took
us to a house which would be vacant the next day. It was a large
mud palace, containing an outer and inner divan, two sleeping-
rooms, a kitchen, store-rooms, apartments for servants, and an
inclosed court-yard and stables, all of which were to be had at one
hundred piastres a month—an exorbitant price, as I afterwards
learned. Before engaging it, I decided to ask the advice of the
Austrian Consular Agent, Dr. Reitz, for whom I had letters from the
English and Austrian Consuls in Cairo. He received me with true
German cordiality, and would hear of nothing else but that I should
immediately take possession of an unoccupied room in his house.
Accordingly the same day of my arrival beheld me installed in
luxurious quarters, with one of the most brave, generous and
independent of men as my associate.
As the Consul’s residence was the type of a house of the best
class in Khartoum, a description of it may give some idea of life in
the place, under the most agreeable circumstances. The ground-plot
was one hundred and thirty paces square, and surrounded by a high
mud wall. Inside of this stood the dwelling, which was about half
that length, and separated from it by a narrow garden and court-
yard. Entering the court by the gate, a flight of steps conducted to
the divan, or reception-room, in the second story. From the open
ante-chamber one might look to the south over the gray wastes of
Sennaar, or, if the sun was near his setting, see a reach in the White
Nile, flashing like the point of an Arab spear. The divan had a
cushioned seat around three sides, and matting on the floor, and
was really a handsome room, although its walls were mud, covered
with a thin coating of lime, and its roof palm-logs overlaid with
coarse matting, on which rested a layer of mud a foot thick. In the
second story were also the Consular Office and a sleeping-room. The
basement contained the kitchen, store-rooms, and servants’ rooms.
The remainder of the house was only one story in height, and had a
balcony looking on the garden, and completely embowered in
flowering vines. The only rooms were the dining-hall, with cushioned
divans on each side and a drapery of the Austrian colors at the end,
and my apartment, which overlooked a small garden-court, wherein
two large ostriches paced up and down, and a company of wild
geese and wild swine made continual discord. The court at the
entrance communicated with the stables, which contained the
Consul’s horses—a white steed, of the pure Arabian-blood of Nedjid,
and the red stallion appropriated to my use, which was sent by the
King of Dar-Fūr to Lattif Pasha, and presented by him to the Consul.
A hejin, or trained dromedary, of unusual size, stood in the court,
and a tame lioness was tied to a stake in the corner. She was a
beautiful and powerful beast, and I never passed her without taking
her head between my knees, or stroking her tawny hide until she
leaned against me like a cat and licked my hand.
Passing through a side-door into the garden, we came upon a
whole menagerie of animals. Under the long arbors, covered with
luxuriant grape-vines, stood two surly hyenas, a wild ass from the
mountains of the Atbara, and an Abyssinian mule. A tall marabout (a
bird of the crane species, with a pouch-bill) stalked about the
garden, occasionally bending a hinge in the middle of his long legs,
and doubling them backwards, so that he used half of them for a
seat. Adjoining the stable was a large sheep-yard, in which were
gathered together gazelles, strange varieties of sheep and goats
from the countries of the White Nile, a virgin-crane, and a large
antilopus leucoryx, from Kordofan, with curved horns four feet in
length. My favorite, however, was the leopard, which was a most
playful and affectionate creature except at meal-time. He was not
more than half grown, and had all the wiles of an intelligent kitten,
climbing his post and springing upon me, or creeping up slyly and
seizing my ankle in his mouth. The garden, which was watered by a
well and string of buckets turned by an ox, had a rich variety of fruit-
trees. The grape season was just over, though I had a few of the last
bunches; figs were ripening from day to day, oranges and lemons
were in fruit and flower, bananas blooming for another crop, and the
pomegranate and kiskteh, or custard-apple, hung heavy on the
branches. There was also a plantation of date-trees and sugar-cane,
and a great number of ornamental shrubs.
In all these picturesque features of my residence in Khartoum, I
fully realized that I had at last reached Central Africa. In our mode
of life, also, there was a rich flavor of that barbaric pomp and state
which one involuntarily associates with the name of Soudân. We
arose at dawn, and at sunrise were in the saddle. Sometimes I
mounted the red stallion, of the wild breed of Dar-Fūr, and
sometimes one of the Consul’s tall and fleet dromedaries. Six dark
attendants, in white and scarlet dresses, followed us on dromedaries
and two grooms on foot ran before us, to clear a way through the
streets. After passing through Khartoum, we frequently made long
excursions up the banks of the two Niles, or out upon the boundless
plain between them. In this way, I speedily became familiar with the
city and its vicinity, and as, on our return, I always accompanied the
Consul on all his visits to the various dignitaries, I had every
opportunity of studying the peculiar life of the place, and gaining
some idea of its governing principles. As the only city of Central
Africa which has a regular communication with the Mediterranean
(by which it occasionally receives a ray of light from the civilized
world beyond), it has become a capital on a small scale, and its
society is a curious compound of Christian, Turk and Barbarian. On
the same day, I have had a whole sheep set before me, in the house
of an Ethiopian Princess, who wore a ring in her nose; taken coffee
and sherbet with the Pasha; and drank tea, prepared in the true
English style, in the parlor of a European. When to these remarkable
contrasts is added the motley character of its native population,
embracing representatives from almost every tribe between Dar-Fūr
and the Red Sea, between Egypt and the Negro kingdoms of the
White Nile, it will readily be seen how rich a field of observation
Khartoum offers to the traveller. Nevertheless, those who reside
there, almost without exception, bestow upon the city and country
all possible maledictions. Considered as a place of residence, other
questions come into play, and they are perhaps not far wrong.
Khartoum is the most remarkable—I had almost said the only
example of physical progress in Africa, in this century. Where, thirty
years ago, there was not even a dwelling, unless it might be the
miserable tokul, or straw hut of the Ethiopian Fellah, now stands a
city of some thirty or forty thousand inhabitants, daily increasing in
size and importance, and gradually drawing into its mart the
commerce of the immense regions of Central Africa. Its foundation, I
believe, is due to Ismaïl Pasha (son of Mohammed Ali), who, during
his conquests of the kingdoms of Shendy and Sennaar, in the years
1821 and 1822, recognized the importance, in a military and
commercial sense, of establishing a post at the confluence of the
two Niles. Mohammed Bey Defterdar, who succeeded him, seconded
the plan, and ere long it was determined to make Khartoum, on
account of its central position, the capital of the Egyptian pashalik of
Soudân. Standing at the mouth of the Blue Nile, which flows down
from the gold and iron mountains of Abyssinia, and of the White
Nile, the only avenue to a dozen Negro kingdoms, rich in ivory and
gum, and being nearly equidistant from the conquered provinces of
Sennaar, Kordofan, Shendy and Berber, it speedily outgrew the old
Ethiopian cities, and drew to itself the greater part of their wealth
and commercial activity. Now it is the metropolis of all the eastern
part of Soudân, and the people speak of it in much the same style as
the Egyptians speak of their beloved Cairo.
 The town is larger, cleaner and better built than any of the cities
of Upper Egypt, except perhaps Siout. It extends for about a mile
along the bank of the Blue Nile, facing the north, and is three-
quarters of a mile in its greatest breadth. The part next the river is
mostly taken up with the gardens and dwellings of Beys and other
government officers, and wealthy merchants. The gardens of the
Pasha, of Moussa Bey, Musakar Bey and the Catholic Mission are all
large and beautiful, and towards evening, when the north wind rises,
shower the fragrance of their orange and mimosa blossoms over the
whole town. The dwellings, which stand in them, cover a large space
of ground, but are, for the most part, only one story in height, as
the heavy summer rains would speedily beat down mud walls of
greater height. The Pasha’s palace, which was built during the year
previous to my visit, is of burnt brick, much of which was taken from
the ancient Christian ruins of Abou-Haràss, on the Blue Nile. It is a
quadrangular building, three hundred feet square, with a large open
court in the centre. Its front formed one side of a square, which,
when complete, will be surrounded by other offices of government.
For Soudân, it is a building of some pretension, and the Pasha took
great pride in exhibiting it. He told me that the Arab shekhs who
visited him would not believe that it was the work of man alone.
Allah must have helped him to raise such a wonderful structure. It
has an inclosed arched corridor in front, in the Italian style, and a
square tower over the entrance. At the time of my visit Abdallah
Effendi was building a very handsome two-story house of burnt
brick, and the Catholic priests intended erecting another, as soon as
they should have established themselves permanently. Within a few
months, large additions had been made to the bazaar, while the
houses of the slaves, on the outskirts of the city, were constantly
springing up like ant-hills.
There is no plan whatever in the disposition of the buildings. Each
man surrounds his property with a mud wall, regardless of its
location with respect to others, and in going from one point to
another, one is obliged to make the most perplexing zigzags. I rarely
ventured far on foot, as I soon became bewildered in the labyrinth
of blank walls. When mounted on the Consul’s tallest dromedary, I
looked down on the roofs of the native houses, and could take my
bearings without difficulty. All the mysteries of the lower life of
Khartoum were revealed to me, from such a lofty post. On each side
I looked into pent yards where the miserable Arab and Negro
families lazily basked in the sun during the day, or into the filthy
nests where they crawled at night. The swarms of children which
they bred in those dens sat naked in the dust, playing with vile
yellow dogs, and sometimes a lean burden camel stood in the
corner. The only furniture to be seen was a water-skin, a few pots
and jars, a basket or two, and sometimes an angareb, or coarse
wooden frame covered with a netting of ropes, and serving as seat
and bed. Nearly half the population of the place are slaves, brought
from the mountains above Fazogl, or from the land of the Dinkas, on
the White Nile. One’s commiseration of these degraded races is
almost overcome by his disgust with their appearance and habits,
and I found even the waste plain that stretches towards Sennaar a
relief after threading the lanes of the quarters where they live.
Notwithstanding the nature of its population, Khartoum is kept
commendably neat and clean. It will be a lucky day for Rome and
Florence when their streets exhibit no more filth than those of this
African city. The bazaars only are swept every morning, but the wind
performs this office for the remainder of the streets. The soog, or
market, is held in a free space, opening upon the inland plain, where
the country people bring their sheep, fowls, camels, dourra,
vegetables and other common products. The slaughtering of animals
takes place every morning on the banks of the Blue Nile, east of the
city, which is thus entirely free from the effluvia arising therefrom.
Here the sheep, cows, goats and camels are killed, skinned and
quartered in the open air, and it is no unusual thing to see thirty or
forty butchers at work on as many different animals, each
surrounded by an attendant group of vultures, hawks, cranes, crows
and other carnivorous birds. They are never molested by the people,
and we sometimes rode through thousands of them, which had so
gorged themselves that they scarcely took the trouble to move out
of our way.
The place labors under the disadvantage of being the most
unhealthy part of one of the most unhealthy regions in the world.
From the southern frontier of Nubia, where the tropical rains begin
to fall, to the table-land of Abyssinia on the south, and as far up the
White Nile as has yet been explored, Soudân is devastated by fevers
of the most malignant character. The summers are fatal to at least
one-half of the Turks, Egyptians and Europeans who make their
residence there, and the natives themselves, though the mortality is
not so great among them, rarely pass through the year without an
attack of fever. I arrived during the most healthy part of the year,
and yet of all the persons I saw, three-fourths were complaining of
some derangement of the system. The military hospital, which I
visited, was filled with cases of fever, dysentery and small-pox. I was
in such good bodily condition from my journey through the Desert
that I could scarcely conceive the sensation of sickness, and the
generous diet and invigorating exercise I enjoyed secured me from
all fear of an attack. Travellers are not agreed as to the cause of this
mortality in Soudân. Some attribute it to the presence of infusoriæ in
the water; yet we drank the pure, mountain-born flood of the Blue
Nile, and filtered it beforehand. I am disposed to side with
Russegger, who accounts for it entirely by the miasma arising from
decayed vegetation, during the intense heats. The country around
Khartoum is a dead level; the only mountain to be seen is the long
ridge of Djebel Gerrari, twelve miles to the north. Behind the town,
the White Nile curves to the east, and during the inundation his
waters extend even to the suburbs, almost insulating the place. The
unusual sickness of the winter of 1852 might be accounted for by
the inundation of the previous summer, which was so much higher
than ordinary that the people were obliged to erect dykes to keep
the water out of the streets. The opposite bank of the river is
considered more healthy; and in the town of Halfay, only ten miles
distant, the average mortality is much less.
 I was fortunate in reaching Khartoum at a very interesting period.
All the principal shekhs of the different tribes between the Nile and
the Red Sea were then collected there, and as Dr. Reitz was on
friendly terms with all of them, I had the opportunity of making their
acquaintance, and could have readily procured a safe-conduct
through their territories, if I had been disposed to make explorations
in that direction.
During the summer there had been trouble in the neighborhood of
Sennaar, and a general movement against the Egyptian rule was
feared. In October and November, however, Moussa Bey made a
campaign in the regions about and beyond the Atbara, and returned
with the chief malcontents in chains. They were afterwards liberated,
but had been retained in Khartoum until some disputed questions
should be settled. On the night of my arrival, the Consul received a
visit of ceremony from the two principal ones: Hamed, the chief
shekh of the Bishàrees, and Owd-el-Kerim, son of the great shekh of
the Shukorees, which inhabit the wide territory between the Atbara
and the Blue Nile. They were accompanied by several attendants,
and by Mohammed Kheyr, the commander of the Shygheean cavalry
employed in the late expedition. The latter was a fierce-looking black
in rich Turkish costume.
Hamed was a man of middle size, black, but with straight features
and a mild, serious expression of face. He was dressed in white, as
well as his attendant whose bushy hair was twisted into countless
strings and pierced with a new wooden skewer. The Shukoree shekh
arrived last. We were seated on the divan, and all rose when he
entered. He was a tall, powerful man, with large, jet-black eyes and
a bold, fierce face. He wore a white turban and flowing robes of the
same color, with a fringe and stripe of crimson around the border.
The Consul advanced to the edge of the carpet to meet him, when
the shekh opened his arms and the two fell upon each other’s necks.
Coffee and pipes were then served, and water was brought for the
washing preparatory to dinner. Hamed and the Shygheean captain
washed only their hands, but the great Owd-el-Kerim washed his
hands, face and feet, and occupied nearly a quarter of an hour at his
devotions, bowing his head many times to the earth and repeating
the name of Allah with deep emphasis. We passed through the
garden to the dining-room, where the shekhs were greatly amazed
at seeing a table set in European style. They all failed in managing
the knives and forks, except Owd-el-Kerim, who watched the Consul
and myself, and did his part with dignity. Achmet had made a
vermicelli soup, which they eyed very suspiciously, and did not
venture to take more than a few mouthfuls. They no doubt went
away with the full belief that the Franks devour worms. They were at
a loss how to attack the roast mutton, until I carved it for them, but
did such execution with their fingers among the stews and salads
that the dishes were soon emptied.
After they had again partaken of coffee and pipes in the divan, the
Consul ordered two or three rockets, which had been left from his
Christmas celebration, to be sent up in order to satisfy the curiosity
of his guests, who had heard much of those wonderful fires, which
had amazed all Khartoum, three weeks before. The shekhs and
attendants were grouped on the balcony, when the first rocket-shot
hissing into the air, drew its fiery curve through the darkness, and
burst into a rain of yellow stars. “Wallah!” and “Mashallah!” were
echoed from mouth to mouth, and the desert chiefs could scarcely
contain themselves, from astonishment and delight. The second
rocket went up quite near to us, and sooner than was expected.
Hamed, the Bishàree shekh, was so startled that he threw both his
arms around the Consul and held fast for dear life, and even the
great Owd-el-Kerim drew a long breath and ejaculated, “God is
great!” They then took their leave, deeply impressed with the
knowledge and wisdom of the Franks.
 CHAPTER XXII.
VISITS IN KHARTOUM.

Visit to the Catholic Mission—Dr. Knoblecher, the Apostolic Vicar—Moussa

Bey—Visit to Lattif Pasha—Reception—The Pasha’s Palace—Lions—We
Dine with the Pasha—Ceremonies upon the Occasion—Music—The
Guests—The Franks in Khartoum—Dr. Péney—Visit to the Sultana
Nasra—An Ethiopian Dinner—Character of the Sultana.

On the day of my arrival, Dr. Reitz proposed a visit to Dr.

Knoblecher, the Apostolic Vicar of the Catholic Missions in Central
Africa, who had returned to Khartoum about twenty days previous.
The Vicar’s name was already familiar to me, from the account of his
voyage up the White Nile in 1850, which was published in the
German journals during his visit to Europe, and it had been my
design to propose joining his party, in case he had carried out his
plan of making a second voyage in the winter of 1852. He ascended
as far as lat. 4° north, or about sixty miles beyond the point reached
by D’Arnaud and Werne, and therefore stands at the head of Nilotic
explorers.
Preceded by two attendants, we walked through the town to the
Catholic Mission, a spacious one-story building in a large garden
near the river. Entering a court, in the centre of which grew a tall
tamarind tree, we were received by an Italian monk, in flowing
robes, who conducted us into a second court, inclosed by the
residence of the Vicar. Here we met two other priests, a German and
a Hungarian, dressed in flowing Oriental garments. They ushered us
into a large room, carpeted with matting, and with a comfortable
divan around the sides. The windows looked into a garden, which
was filled with orange, fig and banana trees, and fragrant with
jasmine and mimosa blossoms. We had scarcely seated ourselves,
when the monks rose and remained standing, while Dr. Knoblecher