Our route from Berber led us through a country consisting of immense plains of fertile soil, extending many miles from the river, and mostly covered with herbage; mountains or hills were rarely visible.[42]

We passed many large villages, most of which stood far off from the river, to be out of the reach of the inundation.  The houses of these villages, particularly as we approached Shendi, were generally built with sloping roofs of thatched straw, which indicated that this is a country visited by the rains.  We hardly ever, during our march, came in view of the river, except to encamp.  We found it at this season narrow and shallow, though its bed was frequently a mile and a half broad.  At every halt we made, the chiefs of the country came to salute the Pasha, and seemed to be well disposed towards the army, whose conduct was very exemplary.

On the 9th of the moon, I visited the town of Shendi el Garb, in the rear of our camp.  It is large and well built, in comparison with the other villages I have seen on the Upper Nile.  It contains about six thousand inhabitants, and has three market places, where the people of the country exchange dollars and durra for what they have need of.  Our piasters they disliked, being ignorant of their value, but sometimes received them for fowls, vegetables, butter, and meat, and for durra, but for wheat they demanded dollars.

On the 10th of the moon, I went to Shendi on the east bank, which is the capital of the country.  I traversed the town with some surprise; the houses are low, but well built of clay.  Large areas, walled in for the reception of the merchandize brought by the caravans, are to be seen in various parts of the town, which is large, containing probably five or six thousand inhabitants; the streets are wide and airy, regular market places are found there, where, beside meat, butter,[43] grain and vegetables are also to be purchased, spices brought from Jidda, gum arabic, beads, and other ornaments for the women.  The people of Shendi have a bad character, being both ferocious and fraudulent.  Great numbers of slaves of both sexes, from Abyssinia and Darfour, are to be found here, at a moderate price, a handsome Abyssinian girl selling for about forty or fifty dollars.  The chief of Shendi, the same who had come to our camp in Berber, has done his uttermost to promote a good disposition in his people towards the Osmanlis, and has made the Pasha a present of several hundreds of very fine camels, within the last two days.  His house is not built of better materials than those of his people, and differs from them only in being larger.  Shendi stands about half a mile from the easterly bank of the river.  Its immediate environs are sandy; it derives its importance solely from being the rendezvous of the caravans of Sennaar and the neighboring countries going to Mecca or Egypt.  The territory belonging to the chief of Shendi is said to be very large,[44] but by no means peopled in proportion to its extent.  He can, however, in conjunction with the Malek of Halfya, bring into the field thirty thousand horsemen, mounted on steeds probably as beautiful as any found in any country in the world.