…it has often struck me that if a native of Kordofan were to undertake a journey through England, neglecting to provide himself with the common necessaries there- which, much to his surprise, he would discover to consist of a store of sovereigns- he might write a book wherein the many privations he had suffered would also be a conspicuous and amusing part of it.
-Egypt, Soudan, and Central Africa: Being Sketches of Sixteen Years’ Travel, 1845-1861, John Petherick, British Consul to Sudan
In 1984 when I first rode on the Darb, an Egyptian qirsh [pl. qurūsh] coin was worth about 1 1/2 cents. I remember Muhammad telling me forlornly, Qurūsh Mā Fīsh, There Are No Pennies, turning his empty Sirwal pocket inside out. I kept my wallet with Dollars packed in my duffle bag, Cash in any Currency being of no use out there. I guess it would have been amusing if I’d tried to buy a goat from a passing herdsman and asked if he could break a Benjamin. We could have always used it to start a campfire of green Siyāl wood.