the mass of cloud, and wind chased the misty shadows amongst the
mountains. All around, in an immense circle, glaciers and snow-clad
mountain-peaks gleamed forth from amongst the clouds. Before me rose a
lofty mountain, shaped like a cupola, the top of which was covered with
a black cloud, whilst the lower part was lighted up by bright sunshine.
It was the peak of the Simplon. Troops of misty shapes were chased round
it by the wind, as in a wild sweep, whilst they strove to reach the top,
which seemed in its turn to reject them. The black cloud lay
threateningly above, and the white, misty spectres careered around like
the unhappy and unsettled souls in the Hell of Dante. Still increasing
in number, they ascended from the depth below; still more and more
wildly were they chased round the ice-clad mountain--clad as in tatters
of ice--into the dazzling sunshine beneath the black forbidding cloud.
Masses of water were hurled down from the neighbouring glaciers with
thundering din. There is danger here from avalanches during spring and
autumn, and for that reason strong stone galleries are built in many
parts of the road to serve as a shelter for people and for carriages.
Avalanches and torrents are hurled down over the arched roofs and into
the abyss on the other side. Even now masses of ice hang threateningly
upon the heights to the left along the road; but these will dissolve in
foaming rivers, which will find their outlets in deep clefts of the
mountain, over which the road is carried, or they are conveyed away by
means of strongly constructed gutters over the roofs of the stone
galleries. One of these streams is hurled down with a force and a din
which is deafening. The whole of this scene was so wild and so
magnificent that it thrilled me at once with terror and joy. The sun
gleamed through all as with lightning-flashes, and as if in combat with
the demons of nature."
[15] "Greece and the Greeks," i. 40, 41.
[16] A monument has since been erected.
MADEMOISELLE ALEXINA TINNE.
For the female mind, ever touching at one extreme the most prosaic
matter-of-fact, and at the other the most exalted sentiment, with an
almost equal capacity for realism and idealism, the combined romance and
simplicity, picturesqueness and primitiveness of Oriental life, has a
peculiar charm. So, too, in the romance of Eastern travel, with its
surprises and adventures, its strong lights and profound shadows, it
finds an exciting contrast to that commonplace routine of existence,
that daily round of conventionalities, which is imposed upon them by the
social tyranny of the West. Fettered as women are in highly civilized
countries by restraints, obligations, and responsibilities, which are
too often arbitrary and artificial, their impatience of them is not
difficult to be understood; and it is natural enough that when the
opportunity offers, they should hail even a temporary emancipation. No
doubt it is this motive which, in different ways, has influenced the
courageous ladies, whose names in the present century have been so
brilliantly inscribed on the record of Eastern travel; such as Lady
Hester Stanhope, Lady Duff Gordon, Lady Baker, Miss Edwards, and Lady
Blunt. And this motive it was, strengthened by a naturally adventurous
disposition, which induced Mademoiselle Alexina Tinne--of whose career
we are now about to speak--to incur the perils of African exploration.
"Visitors to Algiers some years ago, will remember the air of mystery
hanging about a certain yacht lying off the harbour. Rumour spread all
kinds of glowing reports about the mistress of its motley crew,
Europeans, negroes, and stately Nubians. Some said it was an Oriental
princess; one invented a love affair to account for the lonely
wanderings of this female Odysseus; another hinted darkly at some
political mission from far-off Mussulman courts to the chiefs of the
Sahara. The bare truth, when at last it was made known, was almost as
marvellous as anything fiction could invent on behalf of its owner. The
yacht, indeed, belonged to a lady, young, beautiful, and possessed of
queenly fortune, whose existence, almost from childhood, had been spent
in the East; who had already accomplished several voyages of discovery
in Central Africa; and who, undaunted by the mishaps of former pioneers
in the same direction, now projected an undertaking, which, if carried
out successfully, would place her in the foremost rank of African
explorers."
Alexina, or Alexandrina Tinne, was born at the Hague in 1835 (or,
according to some authorities, 1839). Her father was a Dutch merchant,
who, after acquiring a large fortune in Demerara, was naturalized in
England, and finally took up his residence at Liverpool. Her mother, a
Dutch baroness, was the daughter of Admiral van Capellen, who commanded
the Dutch squadron of Lord Exmouth's fleet at the bombardment of Algiers
in 1816. The death of her father while she was still a child, made her
the heiress of vast wealth; but she was fortunate in having in her
mother a prudent and sagacious guardian, who was careful that her
education should in all respects be worthy of her position. She was
introduced at Court at an exceptionally early age, and became a great
favourite of the Queen of Holland. Fate, indeed, seemed to have placed
at her disposal everything which society most values, and to have
enabled her to realize in an unusual degree what Dr. Johnson so happily
described as "the potentialities of wealth." All the enjoyments of
literary and artistic culture, all the pleasures of a refined and
favoured life, all the influence for good or evil that accrues to a
leader of fashion, were commanded by this young lady; and yet, in the
very bloom of maidenhood, she voluntarily set them aside. Whether it was
that an impatient and a restless spirit rebelled against social
conventionalisms, or whether she was actuated by an earnest love of
knowledge, or whether some romance of crushed hope and rejected love was
involved, is not certainly known; but rich, and gifted, and fortunate as
she was, she suddenly disappeared from the Hague about 1859, and after
a brief visit to Norway and a rapid tour to Italy, Constantinople, and
Palestine proceeded to the banks of the Nile. In company with her mother
and her aunt she examined the monuments and antiquities of Egypt, and
then took up her winter residence at Cairo.
This experience of travel sharpened her appetite for adventure. It was a
time when the minds of men were much occupied with the subject of
African exploration, and we need not wonder, therefore, that it
attracted the attention of Alexina Tinne. She appears to have been by
nature of a romantic temperament, with an imagination as lively as her
spirit was undaunted. At Palmyra she had dreamed of a career which
should emulate that of Zenobia. In the Lebanon she had a vision of
installing herself as successor to Lady Hester Stanhope. And now she
conceived the idea of competing for the suffrages of posterity with
Burton and Livingstone, Speke and Baker. To some extent she was
influenced, perhaps, by the wide-spread reputation of Mrs. Petherick,
the wife of the English consul at Khartum; but no doubt her main desire
was to solve the great enigma of the Nilitic sphinx, and show that a
woman could succeed where men had failed. What an immortality of fame
would be hers if she prevailed over every obstacle and difficulty, and
penetrated, as no European yet had done, to the remote source, the
parent fountain of the waters of Egypt's great historic river! It must
be owned that, if this were her ambition, there was nothing mean or
unworthy in it.
She set out on the 9th of January, 1862, still accompanied by her mother
and her aunt, over whom her resolute nature exercised an undisputed
ascendancy, voyaging in their boats, which carried a large stock of
provisions, an ample supply of money, chiefly in copper, and a numerous
train of guides, guards, and servants. In the largest and most
commodious dahabuyah went the three ladies, with a Syrian cook and four
European servants. Alexina's journal, it is said, preserves many curious
details in unconscious illustration of the mixed character of this
expedition, which might almost have been that of a new Cleopatra going
to meet a new Mark Antony; we see the beauty there as well as the
heroine; the handsome woman, mindful of her toilette appliances, as well
as the courageous explorer, athirst for knowledge.
* * * * *
Passing in safety the first cataract, Miss Tinne's flotilla reached
Korosko, where she and her companions took temporary leave of the Nile,
of tourists, and civilization, and stuck across the sandy wastes of
Korosko to Abu-Hammed, in order to avoid the wide curve which the river
makes to the eastward. The caravan, besides Miss Tinne's domestics,
included six guides and twenty-five armed men; while a hundred and ten
camels and dromedaries were loaded with stores and provisions. The
desert did not prove so dreary as it had been painted; sand and rock
were frequently relieved by stretches of gracious verdure. The monotony
of the plains was often broken by ranges of undulating hills. Every
evening the camels found an ample supply of pasturage, and could quench
their thirst freely in the basins of water that sparkled in the hollows
of the rocks.
The passage of the Korosko Desert usually occupies eight or nine days;
but as Alexina advanced very leisurely, by daily stages not exceeding
seven or eight hours each, she consumed nearly three weeks in the
journey. Notwithstanding this easy mode of travel, her mother was so
fatigued that, on arriving at Abu-Hammed, on the banks of the Nile, she
solicited that they should again take to the river. A dahabuyah was
accordingly hired, along with six stalwart boatmen, all of whom swore on
the Kuran that they would keep pace with the swiftest dromedary. So
while the caravan dragged its laborious way through the burning,
shifting sand, Alexina and her kinswomen leisurely ascended the Nile.
But the boatmen soon threw to the winds their promises, relaxed their
efforts, and allowed the caravan to push ahead of them, replying to all
reproaches that their work was arduous, and the sun's heat excessive.
Meantime, the progress of the caravan was considerable, and at nightfall
tents were pitched on the river-bank, and fires lighted. When no
dahabuyah appeared much surprise was felt, and men were sent to look out
for it, but in vain. It was not until the following day that news was
obtained of it, and then it was found that the Egyptian boatmen had at
last laid down their oars in sullen indolence, and that Miss Tinne and
the other ladies had been compelled to pass the night in a Nubian
village. This misadventure taught them the lesson that in Eastern
countries it is safer to trust to brutes than to men; the boatmen were
summarily dismissed, and the ladies once more joined the caravan.
But the heat proving insupportable, they were driven once more to essay
the river transit. A boat was again hired; a second time they embarked
on the shining Nile; and again an evil fortune attended them. Instead of
reaching Berber, as they should have done, in four days, they spent a
week in the voyage; but it was some compensation for their fatigue when,
at two hours' march from the city, they were received by some thirty
chiefs, mounted upon camels, and attended by janissaries in splendid
attire, who, with much pomp and circumstance, escorted them to the gates
of Berber. There they were received by the governor with every detail of
Oriental etiquette; were comfortably lodged in pavilions in his garden,
and surrounded by an atmosphere of courteous hospitality. No longer in
need of a complete caravan, Miss Tinne dismissed her camel drivers; and
desirous of leaving on their minds a permanently favourable impression,
she rewarded them with such unbounded generosity that they broke out
into unaccustomed exclamations of joy and gratitude, and to this day
sing of the white queen's glory, as if she had revived the splendour of
Palmyra.
This profusion was, however, not wholly without calculation. Those who
benefited by it spread her praises in every direction, so that her
coming was eagerly looked for, and hospitality pressed upon her with an
eagerness which may have been inspired by selfish motives, but was not
the less agreeable to her companions or herself. The young girls danced
merrily at her approach; they took her for a princess, or, at all
events, as such they saluted her.
After resting for some weeks at Berber, Miss Tinne again hired their
boats, and ascended the Nile to Khartum, the chief town of the Egyptian
Soudan. Situated at the confluence of the two Niles, the White and the
Blue, it is already the centre of a considerable commerce, and the
rendezvous of almost all the caravans of Nubia and the Upper Nile.
Unfortunately it is one of the world's _cloacinae_, a kind of moral
cesspool, into which flows the uncleanness, the filth of many nations;
the rendezvous of Italians, Germans, Frenchmen, and Englishmen, whom
their own countries have repudiated; political gamblers, who had played
their last card and lost their last stake; fraudulent bankrupts,
unscrupulous speculators--men who have nothing to hope, nothing to lose,
and are too callous, or too desperate, or too miserable to fear. The
great scourge of the place--even now, after all the efforts, not wholly
unsuccessful, of Colonel Gordon, is the detestable slave-trade; and by
its abettors the projected journey of Miss Tinne was regarded with much
hostility. It was obvious that, traversing as she would do the districts
blighted by this terrible plague, she would see all its sad results, and
her fearless exposure of them would not long be delayed. Secretly,
therefore, they threw every possible obstacle in the way of her
advance; but her wealth, high position, and unfailing energy, prevailed
over all; and after a delay of some weeks she succeeded in completing
her preparations. A sufficient stock of provisions was got together, and
a supply of trinkets for the purpose of gifts or barter; an escort of
thirty-eight men, including ten soldiers, fully armed, and all bearing a
good character for trustworthiness, was engaged; and, finally, she
hired, for the large sum of ten thousand francs, a small steamboat,
belonging to Prince Halim, the late Khedive's brother.
Her high moral sense revolted at the low social tone of Khartum, and she
left it with gladness to begin the ascent of the White Nile, and carry
out the objects she had proposed to herself. It was pleasant to gaze on
the fair landscapes which lined the banks of the great river. Its serene
loveliness charmed her, and she compared it, not inappropriately, to
Virginia Water, the picturesque miniature lake which shines amid the
foliaged depths of Windsor Forest. Pleasant to look upon were the dense
groups of shapely trees: palms, mimosas, acacias, the gum-tree--which
frequently rivals the oak in size--and the graceful tamarisk. Myriads of
shrubs furnish the blue ape with a shelter; the air sparkles with the
many-coloured wings of swarms of birds. On the broad bright bosom of the
stream spread the large leaves and white flowers of colossal lilies,
among which the crocodile and hippopotamus pursue their unwieldy
pastime.
How marvellous the effects of colour, when this romantic scene is
flooded in the glowing sunshine. Through the transparent air every
object is seen with a sharp, clear outline, and the sense of distance is
overcome. When a shadow falls it is defined as boldly as on canvas; no
generous mist softens or conceals it; everything is shown as frankly as
in a mirror. In the noontide heats all nature is as silent here as in
the virgin forests of the New World; but when the cool breath of evening
begins to be felt, and that luminous darkness which is the glory of a
summer night in Central Africa folds softly over the picture, the
multiform life of earth swiftly re-awakens; birds and butterflies hover
in the air, the monkeys chatter merrily, and leap from bough to bough.
The sounds which then arise--song and hum and murmur, the roll of the
river, the drone of insects, the cries of the wild beasts--all seem to
blend in one grand vesper harmony--one choral hymn of thanksgiving to
the Lord of life. These are generally hushed as the night advances; and
then swarms of fire-flies and glow-worms light their tiny torches and
illuminate the dark with a magical display; while the drowsy air hangs
heavy with the sweet and subtle odours exhaled from the corollas of the
plants which open only in night's cool and tranquil hours.
Such a landscape as this, with its gorgeous colour and its novel life,
harmonized admirably with Miss Tinne's poetical and dreamy temperament.
She had realized her visions; the romance of the East was around her,
and she the most conspicuous figure in it. Through the different Nile
villages the expedition touched at, she loved to ride, followed by an
armed escort, dazzling the natives by her fair young beauty and
splendour of appearance, amazing them by her lavish liberality, and
receiving from them the homage due to a supposed daughter of the Sultan.
To this high rank they naturally elevated so magnificent and commanding
a personage. Their hearts, moreover, were won by her evident sympathy
with their down-trodden and suffering race. On one occasion she
encountered an Egyptian pasha, returning with a booty of slaves from a
recent razzia. She besought him to release the unhappy creatures, and
when he refused, purchased eight of them, immediately setting them at
liberty, and supplying them also with provisions. This has been
ridiculed as a quixotic act; but to our thinking it was an act of
generous womanly enthusiasm, which may be accepted as redeeming many of
the faults and failings of Miss Tinne's character, and compensating for
the frivolities which overclouded the real motive of her enterprise. To
every benevolent impulse her heart responded, like an AEolian harp to the
touch of the lightest breeze; and in the midst of her enjoyment of the
picturesque features of her enterprise, she ceased not to suffer
severely at the sight of the wretched condition of the poor negroes who
fell victims to the necessities of a nefarious traffic.
This traffic had excited such passions of revenge and hatred in the
breasts of the riverine tribes of the Nile, that the passage of the
river had become very dangerous, and the land journey almost
impossible. The natives looked upon every white man as a Turk and a
slave-dealer; and when a boat appeared on the horizon, terror-stricken
mothers cried to their children, "The Tourke, the Tourke are coming!"
The scarlet fez, or _tarbouch_, was regarded with peculiar aversion. "It
is the colour of blood just spilled," said a negro to his family. "It
never fades," they said; "the Turk renews it constantly in the blood of
the poor black man."
They learned to distinguish, however, between the slave-dealer's boats
and Alexina Tinne's steamer. Twice or thrice they boarded the latter; at
first very timidly, but afterwards with courage. "Is the young lady in
command," they said, "the Sultan's sister? Comes she to assist or to
persecute us?" When acquainted with the pacific object of her
expedition, they rapidly grew familiar, and ventured to go upon deck.
"Since you mean no evil against _us_," they cried, "we will do _you_ no
harm; we will love you!" They took from her hands a cup of tea, and
courteously drank it without showing any repugnance; while they answered
all her questions respecting their manners and customs, and supplied her
with information relative to the surrounding country. So greatly to her
liking was her reception that she would have remained for a lengthened
period among this friendly people, had she not felt bound to prosecute
her journey to the southward.
* * * * *
Resuming her voyage, she proceeded steadily in the direction of the
land of the Derikas. Two or three villages were seen on the river-banks,
but the landscape was bare and sterile, and Miss Tinne felt no
inclination to disembark until she reached Mount Hunaya. When her
followers understood that she had resolved to encamp there during the
rainy season, they protested vehemently, and talked of the dangers to be
incurred from elephants and lions. Alexina, however, was not to be moved
from her determination; but as the steamer was in need of repair, she
sent it back to Khartum in charge of her aunt.
As soon as the necessary repairs were completed, Madame Tinne quitted
Khartum. On her arrival at Jebel Hunaya, she was received with shouts of
joy, and, to the surprise of the natives, with a salute from some small
cannons. Nothing had occurred of special interest during her absence,
except that on one occasion, when Alexina was reading at a short
distance from the camp, she had a narrow escape from a young panther. On
discovering the animal, she had the presence of mind, however, to stand
perfectly still, while she summoned her soldiers and servants to her
assistance. On their arrival, a cordon was drawn round the panther, and
it was easily captured.
On the 7th of July, the steamer, heavily laden and towing two boats,
continued its course up the river. Between the Jebel Hunaya and the
point where the Bahr-el-Ghazal flows into the White Nile, the scenery is
of a very unattractive character, and the river-banks are parched and
unfruitful. Here and there the wind soughs through masses of tall reeds
and aquatic plants; at other points the waters overflow their bounds for
some two or three thousand yards, creating on each side an impassable
swamp.
The journey was continued eastward until they reached the settlement of
an Arab chief, named Mohammed Chu, who, by mingled craft and force, had
subjugated the neighbouring tribes, and asserted his rule over this part
of the Soudan. When, as not infrequently happened, he was in want of
money, he exercised the right of the strong hand, and, at the head of
his freebooters, sallied forth; destroying villages, massacring their
male inhabitants, seizing upon the women and children to sell as slaves,
and carrying off the cattle. He was partial to pomp and circumstance,
and paraded to and fro on a magnificent horse, the saddle of which was
embroidered with gold and silver, and sparkled with precious stones. But
on the arrival of Alexina Tinne, his courage seemed to desert him; and
he was terrified by the Turkish soldiers who mounted guard on the
steamer's deck. It was probably owing to this spasm of alarm that he
received the ladies with royal honours, sending them sheep, oxen, fruit,
vegetables, dancers, archaeological curiosities--in short, he seemed
anxious to make offering of all he possessed. Afterwards, however, his
liberality was found to proceed from another motive; he supposed that he
was doing honour to the favourite daughter of the Grand Turk, and in his
zeal meditated proclaiming her the Queen of the Soudan. When his
visitors bade him farewell, he strenuously advised them not to proceed
any further south. "Take care," he said, "you do not come into collision
with the Shillooks, who are my sworn enemies, and the enemies of all who
cross their frontiers. Beware lest they set fire to your boats, as they
have already done to all vessels coming from Khartum."
Alexina Tinne disregarded these warnings, continued her voyage, and, a
few days later, anchored off a Shillook village. The sailors, frightened
by Mohammed's speech, refused to approach it; but she landed with her
usual decision, attended only by an interpreter, an officer, and an
escort of ten soldiers. Her fame as the daughter of the Sultan had
already preceded her, and she was welcomed with every demonstration of
respect. The Shillooks, as is the case with other and more civilized
peoples, endeavour to beguile every stranger into a share in their
hostilities; and they made great efforts to induce Miss Tinne to assist
them against that terrible Mohammed Chu, who had but just shown such a
loyal anxiety to proclaim her Queen of the Soudan. When she refused to
join in the campaign, their disappointment was bitter. Dr. Barth and
other travellers speak in warm terms of this unfortunate tribe, who have
suffered scarcely less from Europeans than from Arabs. They live under
conditions the most unfavourable to their development; on every side
they are hemmed in by foes. Constantly falling victims to the cruelty of
the slave-hunters, it is no wonder that they regard with suspicion, and
too often treat with ferocity, the strangers who traverse their land;
not unnaturally they implicate them in the traffic which crushes them to
the ground.