From the fermentation of this grain they extract alcoholic drinks called Merissah, Bil-Bil, and a kind of eau-de-vie of which the people are very fond and on which they frequently get drunk.
-Account of a Desert Journey from Sinnaar to Gurdophan, Giuseppe Ferlini, 1838
Ferlini was the mutinous soldier of fortune who destroyed forty pyramids at Meröe looking for buried treasure, cutting the tops off most of them. His written account neglects to say if he was drunk at the time, but I can say from first hand experience, having seen Bilal well lit on Merissah, that alcohol in the desert makes one do crazy things, including but not limited to falling off your camel.