This was not my affair. The greater portion of Ibrahim's immense store

of ivory had been given to him by Kamrasi; I had guaranteed him a

hundred cantars (10,000 lbs.) should he quit Obbo and proceed to the

unknown south; in addition to a large quantity that he had collected and

delivered at Gondokoro in the past year, he had now more than three

times that amount. Although Kamrasi had on many occasions offered the

ivory to me, I had studiously avoided the acceptance of a single tusk,

as I wished the Turks to believe that I would not mix myself up with

trade in any form, and that my expedition had purely the one object that

I had explained to Ibrahim when I first won him over on the road to

Ellyria more than two years ago, "the discovery of the Albert lake."

With a certain number of presents of first class forty-guinea rifles and

guns, &c. &c., to Ibrahim, I declared my intention of starting for

Gondokoro. My trifling articles of baggage were packed: a few of the

Lira natives were to act as porters, as, although the ivory could not be

transported, it was necessary for Ibrahim to send a strong party to

Gondokoro to procure ammunition and the usual supplies forwarded

annually from Khartoum; the Lira people who carried my luggage would act

as return porters.

The day arrived for our departure; the oxen were saddled and we were

ready to start. Crowds of people came to say "goodbye," but, dispensing

with the hand-kissing of the Turks who were to remain in camp, we

prepared for our journey towards HOME. Far away although it was, every

step would bring us nearer. Nevertheless there were ties even in this

wild spot, where all was savage and unfeeling--ties that were painful

to sever, and that caused a sincere regret to both of us when we saw our

little flock of unfortunate slave children crying at the idea of

separation. In this moral desert, where all humanized feelings were

withered and parched like the sands of the Soudan, the guilelessness of

the children had been welcomed like springs of water, as the only

refreshing feature in a land of sin and darkness. "Where are you going?"

cried poor little Abbai in the broken Arabic that we had taught him.

"Take me with you, Sitty!" (lady), and he followed us down the path, as

we regretfully left our proteges, with his fists tucked into his eyes,

weeping from his heart, although for his own mother he had not shed a

tear. We could not take him with us;--he belonged to Ibrahim; and had I

purchased the child to rescue him from his hard lot and to rear him as a

civilized being, I might have been charged with slave dealing. With

heavy hearts we saw him taken up in the arms of a woman and carried back

to camp, to prevent him from following our party, that had now started.

We had turned our backs fairly upon the south, and we now travelled for

several days through most beautiful park-like lands, crossing twice the

Un-y-Ame stream, that rises in the country between Shooa and Unyoro, and

arriving at the point of junction of this river with the Nile, in

latitude 3 degrees 32 minutes N. On the north bank of the Un-y-Ame,

about three miles from the embouchure of that river where it flows into

the Nile, the tamarind tree was shown me that forms the limit of Signor

Miani's journey from Gondokoro, the extreme point reached by any

traveller from the north until the date of my expedition. This tree bore

the name of "Shedder-el-Sowar" (the traveller's tree), by which it was

known to the traders' parties. Several of the men belonging to Ibrahim,

also Mahommed Wat-el-Mek, the vakeel of Debono's people, had accompanied

Signor Miani on his expedition to this spot. Loggo, the Bari

interpreter, who had constantly acted for me during two years, happened

to have been the interpreter of Signor Miani; he confessed to me how he

had been compelled by his master's escort to deceive him, by pretending

that a combined attack was to be made upon them by the natives.

Upon this excuse, Miani's men refused to proceed, and determined to turn

back to Gondokoro; thus ended his expedition. I regarded the tree that

marked the limit of his journey with much sympathy. I remembered how I

had formerly contended with similar difficulties, and how heartbreaking

it would have been to have returned, baffled by the misconduct of my own

people, when the determination of my heart urged me forward to the

south; thus I appreciated the disappointment that so enterprising a

traveller must have felt in sorrowfully cutting his name upon the tree,

and leaving it as a record of misfortune.

With a just tribute to the perseverance that had carried him farther

than any European traveller had penetrated before him, we continued our

route over a most beautiful park of verdant grass, diversified by

splendid tamarind trees, the dark foliage of which afforded harbour for

great numbers of the brilliant yellow-breasted pigeon. We shortly

ascended a rocky mountain by a stony and difficult pass, and upon

arrival at the summit, about 800 feet above the Nile, which lay in front

at about two miles' distance, we halted to enjoy the magnificent view.

"Hurrah for the old Nile!" I exclaimed, as I revelled in the scene

before me: here it was, fresh from its great parent, the Albert lake, in

all the grandeur of Africa's mightiest river. From our elevated point we

looked down upon a broad sheet of unbroken water, winding through marshy

ground, flowing from W.S.W. The actual breadth of clear water,

independent of the marsh and reedy banks, was about 400 yards, but, as

usual in the deep and flat portions of the White Nile, the great extent

of reeds growing in deep water rendered any estimate of the positive

width extremely vague. We could discern the course of this great river

for about twenty miles, and distinctly, trace the line of mountains on

the west bank that we had seen at about sixty miles' distance when on

the route from Karuma to Shooa; the commencement of this chain we had

seen when at Magungo, forming the Koshi frontier of the Nile. The

country opposite to the point on which we now stood was Koshi, which,

forming the west bank of the Nile, extended the entire way to the Albert

lake. The country that we occupied was Madi, which extended as the east

bank of the Nile to the angle of the Victoria Nile (or Somerset river)

junction opposite Magungo. These two countries, Koshi and Madi, we had

seen from Magungo when we had viewed the exit of the Nile from the lake,

as though a tail-like continuation of the water, until lost in the

distance of the interminable valley of high reeds. Having, from Magungo,

in lat. 2 degrees l6 minutes, looked upon the course of the river far to

the north, and from the high pass, our present point, in lat. 3 degrees

34 min. N., we now comprised an extensive view of the river to the

south; the extremities of the limits of view from north and south would

almost meet, and leave a mere trifle of a few miles not actually

inspected.

Exactly opposite the summit of the pass from which we now scanned the

country, rose the precipitous mountain known as Gebel Kookoo, which rose

to a height of about 2,500 feet above the level of the Nile, and formed

the prominent feature of a chain which bordered the west bank of the

Nile with few breaks to the north, until within thirty miles of

Gondokoro. The pass upon which we stood was the southern extremity of a

range of high rocky hills that formed the east cliff of the Nile; thus

the broad and noble stream that arrived from the Albert lake in a sheet

of unbroken water received the Un-y-Ame river, and then suddenly entered

the pass between the two chains of hills,--Gebel Kookoo on the west,

and the ridge that we now occupied upon the east. The mouth of the

Un-y-Ame river was the limit of navigation from the Albert lake. As far

as the eye could reach to the southwest, the country was dead flat and

marshy throughout the course of the river; this appearance proving the

correctness of the information I had received from the natives of

Unyoro, and from Kamrasi himself, that the Nile was navigable for some

days' journey from the Albert lake. Precisely the same information had

been given to Speke, and the river level at this point showed by his

thermometer so great a difference between that of Karuma, that he had

concluded the fall of 1,000 feet must exist between the foot of Karuma

Falls and the Albert lake; this, as already described, I proved to be

1,275 feet.

It would be impossible to describe the calm enjoyment of the scene from

this elevated pass, from which we confirmed the results of our own

labours and of Speke's well-reflected suggestions. We were now on the

track by which he and Gant had returned; but I believe they had rounded

the foot of the hill that we had ascended; the two routes led to the

same point, as our course brought us at right angles with the Nile that

flowed beneath us. Descending the pass through a thorny jungle, we

arrived at the river, and turning suddenly to the north, we followed its

course for about a mile, and then bivouacked for the evening. The Nile,

having entered the valley between Gebel Kookoo and the western range,

was no longer the calm river that we had seen to the south: numerous

rocky islands blocked its course, and mud-banks covered with papyrus

rush so obstructed the stream that the river widened to about a

mile,---this width was composed of numerous channels, varying in breadth

between the obstructing rock and island. Upon one of the rush-covered

islands a herd of elephants was discovered, almost concealed by the

height of the vegetation. As they approached the edge of the water and

became exposed, I tried about twenty shots at them with the Fletcher

rifle, sighted to 600 yards, but in no instance could I either touch or

disturb them by the bullets;---this will afford some idea of the width

of the river, the island appearing to be in the middle of the stream.

A short distance below this spot, the Nile rapidly contracted, and at

length became a roaring torrent, passing through a narrow gorge between

perpendicular cliffs, with a tremendous current. In some places the

great river was pent up between rocks, which confined it to a width of

about 120 yards, through such channels the rush of water was terrific,

but to a casual observer approaching from the north, the volume of the

Nile would have been underrated, unless calculated by the velocity of

the stream.

From this point we followed the bank of the Nile over a difficult route,

down steep ravines and up precipitous crags, by a winding path along the

foot of the range of syenite hills that hemmed in the river on the west

bank. Several considerable waterfalls added to the grandeur of the pass,

through which for many miles the angry Nile chafed and roared like a

lion in its confined den.

At length we arrived at a steep descent, and dismounting from our oxen

after a walk of about a quarter of a mile over rough stones, we reached

the Asua river, about a quarter of a mile above its junction with the

Nile. The bed was rocky; but although the Atabbi had subscribed its

waters above the point where we now crossed, there was merely a trifling

stream occupying about a quarter of the river's bed, with a current of

about two and a half miles an hour. Crossing this on foot, the water in

the deepest part reached to the middle of my thighs. The Asua river, as

already described at the time that I crossed it on the route from

Farajoke to Shooa, is a mountain torrent formidable during the rains;

quickly flooding and quickly emptying from its rapid inclination, it is

exhausted during the dry season.

The crossing of this river was a signal for extra precaution in the

arrangement of our march: we had entered the territory of the ever

hostile Bari tribe; we had been already warned that we could not pass to

Gondokoro without being attacked.

We slept on the road, about seven miles to the north of the Asua. On the

following morning we started. The route led over a fine country parallel

with the Nile, that still continued in a rockbound channel on the west

of the march. Throughout the route from the Un-y-Ame junction, the soil

had been wretchedly poor, a mass of rock and decomposed granite forming

a sand that quickly parched during the dry season. The level of the

country being about 200 feet above the Nile, deep gullies cut the route

at right angles, forming the natural drains to the river.

In these ravines grew dense thickets of bamboos. Having no native guide,

but trusting solely to the traders' people, who had travelled frequently

by this route, we lost the path, and shortly became entangled amongst

the numerous ravines. At length we passed a village, around which were

assembled a number of natives. Having regained the route, we observed

the natives appearing in various directions, and as quickly disappearing

only to gather in our front in increased numbers. Their movements

exciting suspicion, in a country where every man was an enemy, our party

closed together;--we threw out an advance guard,--ten men on either

flank,--the porters, ammunition, and effects in the centre; while

about ten men brought up the rear. Before us lay two low rocky hills

covered with trees, high grass, and brushwood, in which I distinctly

observed the bright red forms of natives painted according to the custom

of the Bari tribe.

We were evidently in for a fight. The path lay in a gorge between the

low rocky hills in advance. My wife dismounted from her ox, and walked

at the head of our party with me, Saat following behind with the gun

that he usually carried, while the men drove several riding-oxen in the

centre. Hardly had we entered the pass, when--whizz went an arrow over

our heads. This was the signal for a repeated discharge. The natives ran

among the rocks with the agility of monkeys, and showed a considerable

amount of daring in standing within about eighty yards upon the ridge,

and taking steady shots at us with their poisoned arrows. The flanking

parties now opened fire, and what with the bad shooting of both the

escort and the native archers, no one was wounded on either side for the

first ten minutes. The rattle of musketry, and the wild appearance of

the naked vermilion-coloured savages, as they leapt along the craggy

ridge, twanging their bows at us with evil but ineffectual intent, was a

charming picture of African life and manners. Fortunately the branches

of numerous trees and intervening clumps of bamboo frustrated the good

intentions of the arrows, as they glanced from their aim; and although

some fell among our party, we were as yet unscathed. One of the enemy,

who was most probably a chief, distinguished himself in particular, by

advancing to within about fifty yards, and standing on a rock, he

deliberately shot five or six arrows, all of which missed their mark;

the men dodged them as they arrived in their uncertain flight: the speed

of the arrows was so inferior, owing to the stiffness of the bows, that

nothing was easier than to evade them. Any halt was unnecessary. We

continued our march through the gorge, the men keeping up an unremitting

fire until we entered upon a tract of high grass and forest; this being

perfectly dry, it would have been easy to set it on fire, as the enemy

were to leeward; but although the rustling in the grass betokened the

presence of a great number of men, they were invisible. In a few minutes

we emerged in a clearing, where corn had been planted; this was a

favourable position for a decisive attack upon the natives, who now

closed up. Throwing out skirmishers, with orders that they were to cover

themselves behind the trunks of trees, the Baris were driven back. One

was now shot through the body, and fell; but recovering, he ran with his

comrades, and fell dead after a few yards.

What casualties had happened during the passage of the gorge I cannot

say, but the enemy were now utterly discomfited. I had not fired a shot,

as the whole affair was perfect child's play, and any one who could

shoot would have settled the fortune of the day by half a dozen shots;

but both the traders' people and my men were "shooters, but not

hitters." We now bivouacked on the field for the night.

During the march on the following day, the natives watched us at a

distance, following in great numbers parallel with our route, but

fearing to attack. The country was perfectly open, being a succession of

fine downs of low grass, with few trees, where any attack against our

guns would have been madness.

In the evening we arrived at two small deserted villages; these, like

most in the Bari country, were circular, and surrounded by a live and

impenetrable fence of euphorbia, having only one entrance. The traders'

people camped in one, while I took up my quarters in the other. The sun

had sunk, and the night being pitch dark, we had a glorious fire, around

which we placed our angareps opposite the narrow entrance of the camp,

about ten yards distant. I stationed Richarn as sentry outside the

gateway, as he was the most dependable of my men, and I thought it

extremely probable that we might be attacked during the night: three

other sentries I placed on guard at various stations. Dinner being

concluded, Mrs. Baker lay down on her angarep for the night. I drew the

balls from a double No. 10 smooth bore, and loaded with cartridge

containing each twenty large-mould shot (about a hundred to the pound);

putting this under my pillow I went to sleep. Hardly had I begun to

rest, when my men woke me, saying that the camp was surrounded by

natives. Upon inquiry I found this to be correct; it was so dark that

they could not be seen without stooping to the ground and looking along

the surface. I ordered the sentries not to fire unless hostilities

should commence on the side of the natives, and in no case to draw

trigger without a challenge.

Returning to the angarep I lay down, and not wishing to sleep, I smoked

my long Unyoro pipe. In about ten minutes--bang! went a shot, quickly

followed by another from the sentry at the entrance of the camp. Quietly

rising from my bed, I found Richarn reloading at his post. "What is it,

Richarn?" I asked. "They are shooting arrows into the camp, aiming at

the fire, in hopes of hitting you who are sleeping there," said Richarn.

"I watched one fellow," he continued, "as I heard the twang of his bow

four times. At each shot I heard an arrow strike the ground between me

and you, therefore I fired at him, and I think he is down. Do you see

that black object lying on the ground?" I saw something a little blacker

than the surrounding darkness, but it could not be distinguished.

Leaving Richarn with orders not to move from his post, but to keep a

good look-out until relieved by the next watch, I again went to sleep.

Before break of day, just as the grey dawn slightly improved the

darkness, I visited the sentry; he was at his post, and reported that he

thought the archer of the preceding night was dead, as he had heard a

sound proceeding from the dark object on the ground after I had left. In

a few minutes it was sufficiently light to distinguish the body of a

roan lying about thirty paces from the camp entrance. Upon examination,

he proved to be a Bari: his bow was in his hand, and two or three arrows

were lying by his side; thirteen mould shot had struck him dead; one had

cut through the bow. We now searched the camp for arrows, and as it

became light we picked up four in various places, some within a few feet

of our beds, and all horribly barbed and poisoned, that the deceased had

shot into the camp gateway.

This was the last attack during our journey. We marched well, generally

accomplishing fifteen miles of latitude daily from this point, as the

road was good and well known to our guides. The country was generally

poor, but beautifully diversified with large trees, the tamarind

predominating. Passing through the small but thickly-populated and

friendly little province of Moir, in a few days we sighted the

well-known mountain Belignan, that we had formerly passed on its eastern

side when we had started on our uncertain path from Gondokoro upwards of

two years ago. The mountain of Belignan was now N.E. from our point of

observation.

We had a splendid view of the Ellyria Mountain, and of the distant cone,

Gebel el Assul (Honey Mountain) between Ellyria and Obbo. All these

curiously-shaped crags and peaks were well known to us, and we welcomed

them as old friends after a long absence; they had been our companions

in times of doubt and anxiety, when success in our undertaking appeared

hopeless. At noon on the following day, as we were as usual marching

parallel with the Nile, the river, having made a slight bend to the

west, swept round, and approached within half a mile of our path; the

small conical mountain, Regiaf, within twelve miles of Gondokoro, was on

our left, rising from the west bank of the river. We felt almost at home

again, and marching until sunset, we bivouacked within three miles of

Gondokoro. That night we were full of speculations. Would a boat be

waiting for us with supplies and letters? The morning anxiously looked

forward to at length arrived. We started;--the English flag had been

mounted on a fine straight bamboo with a new lance head specially

arranged for the arrival at Gondokoro. My men felt proud, as they would

march in as conquerors;--according to White Nile ideas such a journey

could not have been accomplished with so small a party. Long before

Ibrahim's men were ready to start, our oxen were saddled and we were

off, longing to hasten into Gondokoro and to find a comfortable vessel

with a few luxuries and the post from England. Never had the oxen

travelled so fast as on that morning;--the flag led the way, and the

men in excellent spirits followed at double quick pace. "I see the masts

of the vessels!" exclaimed the boy Saat. "El hambd el Illah!" (Thank

God!) shouted the men. "Hurrah!" said I--"Three cheers for Old England

and the Sources of the Nile! Hurrah!" and my men joined me in the wild,

and to their ears savage, English yell. "Now for a salute! Fire away all

your powder, if you like, my lads, and let the people know that we're

alive!" This was all that was required to complete the happiness of my

people, and loading and firing as fast as possible, we approached near

to Gondokoro. Presently we saw the Turkish flag emerge from Gondokoro at

about a quarter of a mile distant, followed by a number of the traders'

people, who waited to receive us. On our arrival, they immediately

approached and fired salutes with ball cartridge, as usual advancing

close to us and discharging their guns into the ground at our feet. One

of my servants, Mahomet, was riding an ox, and an old friend of his in

the crowd happening to recognise him, immediately advanced, and saluted

him by firing his gun into the earth directly beneath the belly of the

ox he was riding;--the effect produced made the crowd and ourselves

explode with laughter. The nervous ox, terrified at the sudden discharge

between his legs, gave a tremendous kick, and continued madly kicking

and plunging, until Mahomet was pitched over his head and lay sprawling

on the ground;--this scene terminated the expedition.

Dismounting from our tired oxen, our first inquiry was concerning boats

and letters. What was the reply? Neither boats, letters, supplies, nor

any intelligence of friends or the civilized world! We had long since

been given up as dead by the inhabitants of Khartoum, and by all those

who understood the difficulties and dangers of the country. We were told

that some people had suggested that we might possibly have gone to

Zanzibar, but the general opinion was that we had all been killed. At

this cold and barren reply, I felt almost choked. We had looked forward

to arriving at Gondokoro as to a home; we had expected that a boat would

have been sent on the chance of finding us, as I had left money in the

hands of an agent in Khartoum--but there was literally nothing to

receive us, and we were helpless to return. We had worked for years in

misery, such as I have but faintly described, to overcome the

difficulties of this hitherto unconquerable exploration; we had

succeeded--and what was the result? Not even a letter from home to

welcome us if alive! As I sat beneath a tree and looked down upon the

glorious Nile that flowed a few yards beneath my feet, I pondered upon

the value of my toil. I had traced the river to its great Albert source,

and as the mighty stream glided before me, the mystery that had ever

shrouded its origin was dissolved. I no longer looked upon its waters

with a feeling approaching to awe for I knew its home, and had visited

its cradle. Had I overrated the importance of the discovery? and had I

wasted some of the best years of my life to obtain a shadow? I recalled

to recollection the practical question of Commoro, the chief of Latooka,

--"Suppose you get to the great lake, what will you do with it? What

will be the good of it? If you find that the large river does flow from

it, what then?"

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE LATEST NEWS FROM KHARTOUM.

The various trading parties were assembled in Gondokoro with a total of

about three thousand slaves; but there was consternation depicted upon

every countenance. Only three boats had arrived from Khartoum--one

diahbiah and two noggurs--these belonged to Koorshid Aga. The resume of

news from Khartoum was as follows:--

"Orders had been received by the Egyptian authorities from the European

Governments to suppress the slave-trade. Four steamers had arrived at

Khartoum from Cairo. Two of these vessels had ascended the White Nile,

and had captured many slavers; their crews were imprisoned, and had been

subjected to the bastinado and torture;--the captured slaves had been

appropriated by the Egyptian authorities.

"It would be impossible to deliver slaves to the Soudan this season, as

an Egyptian regiment had been stationed in the Shillook country, and

steamers were cruising to intercept the boats from the interior in their

descent to Khartoum;--thus the army of slaves then at Gondokoro would

be utterly worthless.

"The plague was raging at Khartoum, and had killed 15,000 people;--many

of the boats' crews had died on their passage from Khartoum to Gondokoro

of this disease, which had even broken out in the station where we then

were: people died daily.

"The White Nile was dammed up by a freak of nature, and the crews of

thirty vessels had been occupied five weeks in cutting a ditch through

the obstruction, wide enough to admit the passage of boats."

Such was the intelligence received by the latest arrival from Khartoum.

No boats having been sent for me, I engaged the diahbiah that had

arrived for Koorshid's ivory;--this would return empty, as no ivory

could be delivered at Gondokoro. The prospect was pleasant, as many men

had died of the plague on board our vessel during the voyage from

Khartoum; thus we should be subject to a visitation of this fearful

complaint as a wind-up to the difficulties we had passed through during

our long exile in Central Africa. I ordered the vessel to be thoroughly

scrubbed with boiling water and sand, after which it was fumigated with

several pounds of tobacco, burnt within the cabin.

Three days were employed in ferrying the slaves across the river in the

two noggurs, or barges, as they must be returned to their respective

stations. I rejoiced at the total discomfiture of the traders, and,

observing a cloud of smoke far distant to the north, I spread the alarm

that a steamer was approaching from Khartoum! Such was the consternation

of the traders' parties at the bare idea of such an occurrence that they

prepared for immediate flight into the interior, as they expected to be

captured by Government troops sent from Khartoum to suppress the

slave-trade. Profiting by this nervous state of affairs, I induced them

to allow the boat to start immediately, and we concluded all our

arrangements, contracting for the diahbiah at 4,000 piastres (40

pounds). The plague having broken out at Gondokoro, the victims among

the natives were dragged to the edge of the cliff and thrown into the

river;--it is impossible to describe the horrible effluvium produced by

the crowds of slaves that had been confined upon the limited area of the

station. At length the happy moment arrived that we were to quit the

miserable spot. The boat was ready to start--we were all on board, and

Ibrahim and his people came to say good-bye. It is only justice to

Ibrahim to say, that, although he had been my great enemy when at

Gondokoro in 1863, he had always behaved well since peace was

established at Ellyria; and, although by nature and profession a

slave-hunter, like others of the White Nile, he had frequently yielded

to my interference to save the lives of natives who would otherwise have

been massacred without pity.

I had gained an extraordinary influence over all these ruffianly people.

Everything that I had promised them had been more than performed; all

that I had foretold had been curiously realized. They now acknowledged

how often I had assured them that the slave-trade would be suppressed by

the interference of European powers, and the present ruin of their trade

was the result; they all believed that I was the cause, by having

written from Gondokoro to the Consul-general of Egypt in 1863, when the

traders had threatened to drive me back. Far from retaliating upon me,

they were completely cowed. The report had been spread throughout

Gondokoro by Ibrahim and his people that their wonderful success in

ivory hunting was chiefly due to me; that their sick had been cured;

that good luck had attended their party; that disaster had befallen all

who had been against me; and that no one had suffered wrong at our

hands. With the resignation of Mahommedans they yielded to their

destiny, apparently without any ill-feeling against us. Crowds lined the

cliff and the high ground by the old ruins of the mission station to see

us depart. We pushed off from shore into the powerful current; the

English flag that had accompanied us all through our wanderings now

fluttered proudly from the masthead unsullied by defeat, and amidst the

rattle of musketry we glided rapidly down the river, and soon lost sight

of Gondokoro.

What were our feelings at that moment? Overflowing with gratitude to a

Divine Providence that had supported us in sickness, and guided us

through all dangers. There had been moments of hopelessness and despair;

days of misery, when the future had appeared dark and fatal; but we had

been strengthened in our weakness, and led, when apparently lost, by an

unseen hand. I felt no triumph, but with a feeling of calm contentment

and satisfaction we floated down the Nile. My great joy was in the

meeting that I contemplated with Speke in England, I had so thoroughly

completed the task we had agreed upon.

Silently and easily we floated down the river; the oars keeping us in

midstream. The endless marshes no longer looked so mournful as we glided

rapidly past, and descended the current against which we had so

arduously laboured on our ascent to Gondokoro. As we thus proceeded on

our voyage through the monotonous marshes and vast herds of hippopotami

that at this season thronged the river, I had ample leisure to write my

letters for England, to be posted on arrival at Khartoum, and to look

back upon the results of the last few years. The Nile, cleared of its

mystery, resolves itself into comparative simplicity. The actual basin

of the Nile is included between about the 22 degree and 39 degree East

longitude, and from 3 degrees South to 13 degrees North latitude. The

drainage of that vast area is monopolized by the Egyptian river. The

Victoria and Albert lakes, the two great equatorial reservoirs, are the

recipients of all affluents south of the Equator; the Albert lake being

the grand reservoir in which are concentrated the entire waters from the

south, in addition to tributaries from the Blue Mountains from the north

of the Equator. The Albert N'yanza is the great basin of the Nile: the

distinction between that and the Victoria N'yanza is, that the Victoria

is a reservoir receiving the eastern affluents, and it becomes a

starting point or the most elevated SOURCE at the point where the river

issues from it at the Ripon Falls: the Albert is a reservoir not only

receiving the western and southern affluents direct from the Blue

Mountains, but it also receives the supply from the Victoria and from

the entire equatorial Nile basin. The Nile as it issues from the Albert

N'yanza is the ENTIRE Nile; prior to its birth from the Albert lake it

is NOT the entire Nile. A glance at the map will at once exemplify the

relative value of the two great lakes. The Victoria gathers all the

waters on the eastern side and sheds them into the northern extremity of

the Albert: while the latter, from its character and position, is the

direct channel of the Nile that receives all waters that belong to the

equatorial Nile basin. Thus the Victoria is the first SOURCE; but from

the Albert the river issues at once as the great White Nile.

It is not my intention to claim a higher value for my discovery than is

justly due, neither would I diminish in any way the lustre of the

achievements of Speke and Grant; it has ever been my object to confirm

and support their discoveries, and to add my voice to the chorus of

praise that they have so justly merited. A great geographical fact has

through our joint labours been most thoroughly established by the

discovery of the sources of the Nile. I lay down upon the map exactly

what I saw, and what I gathered from information afforded by the natives

most carefully examined.

My exploration confirms all that was asserted by Speke and Grant: they

traced the country from Zanzibar to the northern watershed of Africa,

commencing at about 3 degrees South latitude, at the southern extremity

of the Victoria N'yanza. They subsequently determined the river at the

Ripon Falls flowing from that lake to be the highest source of the Nile.

They had a perfect right to arrive at this conclusion from the data then

afforded. They traced the river for a considerable distance to Karuma

Falls, in lat. 2 degrees 15 minutes N.; and they subsequently met the

Nile in lat. 3 degrees 32 minutes N. They had heard that it flowed into

the Luta N'zige, and that it issued from it; thus they were correct in

all their investigations, which my discoveries have confirmed. Their

general description of the country was perfect, but not having visited

the lake heard of as the Luta N'zige, they could not possibly have been

aware of the vast importance of that great reservoir in the Nile system.

The task of exploring that extraordinary feature having been

accomplished, the geographical question of the sources of the Nile is

explained. Ptolemy had described the Nile sources as emanating from two

great lakes that received the snows of the mountains of Ethiopia. There

are many ancient maps existing upon which these lakes are marked as

positive: although there is a wide error in the latitude, the fact

remains, that two great lakes were reported to exist in Equatorial

Africa fed by the torrents from lofty mountains, and that from these

reservoirs two streams issued, the conjunction of which formed the Nile.

The general principle was correct, although the detail was wrong. There

can be little doubt that trade had been carried on between the Arabs

from the Red Sea and the coast opposite Zanzibar in ancient times, and

that the people engaged in such enterprise had penetrated so far into

the interior as to have obtained a knowledge of the existence of the two

reservoirs; thus may the geographical information originally have been

brought into Egypt.

The rainfall to within 3 degrees north of the Equator extends over ten

months, commencing in February and terminating in the end of November.

The heaviest rains fall from April till the end of August; during the

latter two months of this season the rivers are at their maximum: at

other times the climate is about as uncertain as that of England; but

the rain is of the heavy character usual in the tropics. Thus the rivers

are constant throughout the year, and the Albert lake continues at a

high level, affording a steady volume of water to the Nile. On the map

given to me by Captain Speke he has marked the Victoria Nile below the

Ripon Falls as the Somerset river. As I have made a point of adhering to

all native names as given by him upon that map, I also adhere to the

name Somerset river for that portion of the Nile between the Victoria

and the Albert Lakes; this must be understood as Speke's VICTORIA NILE

source; bearing the name of Somerset, no confusion will arise in

speaking of the Nile, which would otherwise be ambiguous, as the same

name would apply to two distinct rivers--the one emanating from the

Victoria and flowing into the Albert; the other the entire river Nile as

it leaves the Albert lake. The White Nile, fed as described by the great

reservoirs supplied by the rains of equatorial districts, receives the

following tributaries:

From the East bank--The Asua, important from 15th April till 15th

November: dry after that date.

From West bank--The Ye, third class; full from 15th April till 15th

November.

From West bank--Another small river, third class; full from 15th April

till 15th November.

Ditto--The Bahr el Gazal; little or no water supplied by this river.

From East bank--The Sobat, first class; full from June to December.

The Bahr Giraffe I omit, as it is admitted by the natives to be a branch

of the White Nile that leaves the main river at the Aliab country and

reunites in lat. 9 degrees 25 minutes between the Bahr el Gazal and the

Sobat. The latter river (Sobat) is the most powerful affluent of the

White Nile, and is probably fed by many tributaries from the Galla

country about Kaffa, in addition to receiving the rivers from the Bari

and Latooka countries. I consider that the Sobat must be supplied by

considerable streams from totally distinct countries east and south,

having a rainfall at different seasons, as it is bank-full at the end of

December, when the southern rivers (the Asua, &c.) are extremely low.

North from the Sobat, the White Nile has no other tributaries until it

is joined by the Blue Nile at Khartoum, and by its last affluent the

Atbara in lat. 17 degrees 37 minutes. These two great mountain streams

flooding suddenly in the end of June, fed by the rains of Abyssinia,

raise the volume of the Nile to an extent that causes the inundations of

Lower Egypt.

The basin of the Nile being thus understood, let us reflect upon the

natural resources of the vast surface of fertile soil that is comprised

in that portion of Central Africa. It is difficult to believe that so

magnificent a soil and so enormous an extent of country is destined to

remain for ever in savagedom, and yet it is hard to argue on the

possibility of improvement in a portion of the world inhabited by

savages whose happiness consists in idleness or warfare. The advantages

are few, the drawbacks many. The immense distance from the seacoast

would render impossible the transport of any merchandise unless of

extreme value, as the expenses would be insupportable. The natural

productions are nil, excepting ivory. The soil being fertile and the

climate favourable to cultivation, all tropical produce would thrive;

cotton, coffee, and the sugarcane are indigenous; but although both

climate and soil are favourable, the conditions necessary to successful

enterprise are wanting--the population is scanty, and the material of

the very worst; the people vicious and idle. The climate, although

favourable for agriculture, is adverse to the European constitution;

thus colonization would be out of the question. What can be done with so

hopeless a prospect? Where the climate is fatal to Europeans, from

whence shall civilization be imported? The heart of Africa is so

completely secluded from the world, and the means of communication are

so difficult, that although fertile, its geographical position debars

that vast extent of country from improvement: thus shut out from

civilization it has become an area for unbridled atrocities, as

exemplified in the acts of the ivory traders.

Difficult and almost impossible is the task before the Missionary. The

Austrian Mission has failed, and the stations have been forsaken; their

pious labour was hopeless, and the devoted priests died upon their

barren field. What curse lies so heavily upon Africa and bows her down

beneath all other nations? It is the infernal traffic in slaves--a trade

so hideous, that the heart of every slave and owner becomes deformed,

and shrinks like a withered limb incapable of action. The natural love

of offspring, shared with the human race by the most savage beast,

ceases to warm the heart of the wretched slave. Why should the mother

love her child, if it is born to become the PROPERTY of her owner?--to

be SOLD as soon as it can exist without the mother's care. Why should

the girl be modest, when she knows that she is the actual PROPERTY, the

slave, of every purchaser? Slavery murders the sacred feeling of love,

that blessing that cheers the lot of the poorest man, that spell that

binds him to his wife, and child, and home. Love cannot exist with

slavery--the mind becomes brutalized to an extent that freezes all those

tender feelings that Nature has implanted in the human heart to separate

it from the beast; and the mind, despoiled of all noble instincts,

descends to hopeless brutality. Thus is Africa accursed: nor can she be

raised to any scale approaching to civilization until the slave-trade

shall be totally suppressed. The first step necessary to the improvement

of the savage tribes of the White Nile is the annihilation of the

slave-trade. Until this be effected, no legitimate commerce can be

established; neither is there an opening for missionary enterprise--the

country is sealed and closed against all improvement.

Nothing would be easier than to suppress this infamous traffic, were the

European Powers in earnest. Egypt is in favour of slavery. I have never

seen a Government official who did not in argument uphold slavery as an

institution absolutely necessary to Egypt, thus any demonstration made

against the slave-trade by the Government of that country will be simply

a pro forma movement to blind the European Powers. Their eyes thus

closed, and the question shelved, the trade will resume its channel.

Were the reports of European consuls supported by their respective

Governments, and were the consuls themselves empowered to seize vessels

laden with slaves, and to liberate gangs of slaves when upon a land

journey, that abominable traffic could not exist. The hands of the

European consuls are tied, and jealousies interwoven with the Turkish

question act as a bar to united action on the part of Europe; no Power

cares to be the first to disturb the muddy pool. The Austrian consul at

Khartoum, Herr Natterer, told me, in 1862, that he had vainly reported

the atrocities of the slave-trade to his Government--NO REPLY HAD BEEN

RECEIVED to his report. Every European Government KNOWS that the

slave-trade is carried on to an immense extent in Upper Egypt, and that

the Red Sea is the great Slave Lake by which these unfortunate creatures

are transported to Arabia and to Suez--but the jealousies concerning

Egypt muzzle each European Power. Should one move, the other would

interfere to counteract undue influence in Egypt. Thus is immunity

insured to the villanous actors in the trade. Who can prosecute a slave

trader of the White Nile? What legal evidence can be produced from

Central Africa to secure a conviction in an English Court of Law? The

English consul (Mr. Petherick) arrested a Maltese, the nephew of

Debono;--the charge could not be legally supported. Thus are the consuls

fettered, and their acts nullified by the impossibility of producing

reliable evidence;--the facts are patent; but who can prove them

legally?

Stop the White Nile trade; prohibit the departure of any vessels from

Khartoum for the south, and let the Egyptian Government grant a

concession to a company for the White Nile, subject to certain

conditions, and to a special supervision. (There are already four

steamers at Khartoum.) Establish a military post of 200 men at

Gondokoro; an equal number below the Shillook tribe in 13 degrees

latitude, and, with two steamers cruising on the river, not a slave

could descend the White Nile.

Should the slave-trade be suppressed, there will be a good opening for

the ivory trade; the conflicting trading parties being withdrawn, and

the interest of the trade exhibited by a single company, the natives

would no longer be able to barter ivory for cattle; thus they would be

forced to accept other goods in exchange. The newly-discovered Albert

lake opens the centre of Africa to navigation. Steamers ascend from

Khartoum to Gondokoro in latitude 4 degrees 55'. Seven days' march south

from that station the navigable portion of the Nile is reached, where

vessels can ascend direct to the Albert lake--thus an enormous extent

of country is opened to navigation, and Manchester goods and various

other articles would find a ready market in exchange for ivory, at a

prodigious profit, as in those newly-discovered regions ivory has a

merely nominal value. Beyond this commencement of honest trade, I cannot

offer a suggestion, as no produce of the country except ivory could

afford the expense of transport to Europe. IF Africa is to be civilized,

it must be effected by commerce, which, once established, will open the

way for missionary labour; but all ideas of commerce, improvement, and

the advancement of the African race that philanthropy could suggest must

be discarded until the traffic in slaves shall have ceased to exist.

Should the slave-trade be suppressed, a field would be opened, the

extent of which I will not attempt to suggest, as the future would

depend upon the good government of countries now devoted to savage

anarchy and confusion.

Any Government that would insure security would be the greatest

blessing, as the perpetual hostilities among the various tribes prevent

an extension of cultivation. The sower knows not who will reap, thus he

limits his crop to his bare necessities.

The ethnology of Central Africa is completely beyond my depth. The

natives not only are ignorant of writing, but they are without

traditions--their thoughts are as entirely engrossed by their daily

wants as those of animals; thus there is no clue to the distant past;

history has no existence. This is much to be deplored, as peculiarities

are specific in the type of several tribes both in physical appearance

and in language. The Dinka; Bari; Latooka; Madi; and Unyoro or Kitwara,

are distinct languages on the east of the Nile, comprising an extent of

country from about 12 degrees north to the Equator.

The Makkarika have also a distinct language, and I was informed in

Kamrasi's country, that the Malegga, on the west of the Albert lake,

speak a different tongue to that of Kitwara (or Unyoro)--this may

possibly be the same as the Makkarika, of which I have had no experience

by comparison. Accepting the fact of five distinct languages from the

Equator to 12 degrees N. lat., it would appear by analogy that Central

Africa is divided into numerous countries and tribes, distinct from each

other in language and physical conformation, whose origin is perfectly

obscure. Whether the man of Central Africa be pre-Adamite is impossible

to determine; but the idea is suggested by the following data. The

historical origin of man, or Adam, commences with a knowledge of God.

Throughout the history of the world from the creation of Adam, God is

connected with mankind in every creed, whether worshipped as the

universal sublime Spirit of omnipotence, or shaped by the forms of

idolatry into representations of a deity. From the creation of Adam,

mankind has acknowledged its inferiority, and must bow down and worship

either the true God or a graven image; or something that is in heaven or

in earth. The world, as we accept that term, was always actuated by a

natural religious instinct. Cut off from that world, lost in the

mysterious distance that shrouded the origin of the Egyptian Nile, were

races unknown, that had never reckoned in the great sum of

history--races that we have brought to light, whose existence had been

hidden from mankind, and that now appear before us like the fossil bones

of antediluvian animals. Are they vestiges of what existed in a

pre-Adamite creation?

The geological formation of Central Africa is primitive; showing an

altitude above the sea-level averaging nearly 4,000 feet. This elevated

portion of the globe, built up in great part of granitic sandstone

rocks, has never been submerged, nor does it appear to have undergone

any changes, either volcanic or by the action of water. Time, working

through countless ages with the slow but certain instrument of

atmospheric influence, has rounded the surface and split into fragments

the granite rocks, leaving a sandy base of disintegrated portions, while

in other cases the mountains show as hard and undecayed a surface as

though fresh from Nature's foundry. Central Africa never having been

submerged, the animals and races must be as old, and may be older, than

any upon the earth.

No geological change having occurred in ages long anterior to man, as

shown by Sir R. I. Murchison theoretically so far back as the year 1852,

when Central Africa was utterly unknown, it is natural to suppose that

the races that exist upon that surface should be unaltered from their

origin. That origin may date from a period so distant, that it preceded

the Adamite creation. Historic man believes in a Divinity; the tribes of

Central Africa know no God. Are they of our Adamite race? The equatorial

portion of Africa at the Nile sources has an average altitude above the

sea-level of about 4,000 feet; this elevated plateau forms the base of a

range of mountains, that I imagine extends, like the vertebrae of an

animal, from east to west, shedding a drainage to the north and south.

Should this hypothesis be correct, the southern watershed would fill the

Tanganika lake: while farther to the west another lake, supplied by the

southern drainage, may form the head of the river Congo. On the north a

similar system may drain into the Niger and Lake Tchad: thus the

Victoria and the Albert lakes, being the two great reservoirs or sources

of the Nile, may be the first of a system of African equatorial lakes

fed by the northern and southern drainage of the mountain range, and

supplying all the principal rivers of Africa from the great equatorial

rainfall. The fact of the centre of Africa at the Nile sources being

about 4,000 feet above the ocean, independently of high mountains rising

from that level, suggests that the drainage of the Equator from the

central and elevated portion must find its way to the lower level and

reach the sea. Wherever high mountain ranges exist, there must also be

depressions; those situated in an equatorial rainfall must receive the

drainage from the high lands and become lakes, the overflow of which

must form the sources of rivers, precisely as exemplified in the sources

of the Nile from the Victoria and the Albert lakes.

The fact that Sir Roderick Murchison, as a geologist, laid down a theory

of the existence of a chain of lakes upon an elevated plateau in Central

Africa, which theory has been now in great measure confirmed by actual

inspection, induces me to quote an extract from his address at the

anniversary meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, 23d May, 1864. In

that address, he expressed opinions upon the geological structure and

the races of Central Africa, which preceded those that I formed when at

the Albert lake. It is with intense interest that I have read the

following extract since my return to England:--

"In former addresses, I suggested that the interior mass and central

portions of Africa constituting a great plateau occupied by lakes and

marshes from which the waters escaped by cracks or depressions in the

subtending older rocks, had been in that condition during an enormously

long period. I have recently been enabled, through the apposite

discovery of Dr. Kirk, the companion of Livingstone, not only to fortify

my conjecture of 1852, but greatly to extend the inferences concerning

the long period of time during which the central parts of Africa have

remained in their present condition, save their degradation by ordinary

atmospheric agencies. My view, as given to this Society in 1852, was

mainly founded on the original and admirable geological researches of

Mr. Bain in the colony of the Cape of Good Hope. It was, that, inasmuch

as in the secondary or mesozoic age of geologists, the northern interior

of that country was occupied by great lakes and marshes, as proved by

the fossil reptile discovered by Bain, and named Dicynodon by Owen, such

it has remained for countless ages, even up to the present day. The

succeeding journeys into the interior, of Livingstone, Thornton and

Kirk, Burton and Speke, and Speke and Grant, have all tended to

strengthen me in the belief that Southern Africa has not undergone any

of those great submarine depressions which have so largely affected

Europe, Asia, and America, during the secondary, tertiary, and quasi

modern periods.

"The discovery of Dr. Kirk has confirmed my conclusion. On the banks of

an affluent of the Zambesi, that gentleman collected certain bones,

apparently carried down in watery drifts from inland positions, which

remains have been so fossilized as to have all the appearance of

antiquity which fossils of a tertiary or older age usually present. One

of these is a portion of the vertebral column and sacrum of a buffalo,

undistinguishable from that of the Cape buffalo; another is a fragment

of a crocodile, and another of a water-tortoise, both undistinguishable

from the forms of those animals now living. Together with these, Dr.

Kirk found numerous bones of antelopes and other animals, which, though

in a fossil condition, all belonged, as he assured me, to species now

living in South Africa.

"On the other hand, none of our explorers, including Mr. Bain, who has

diligently worked as a geologist, have detected in the interior any

limestones containing marine fossil remains, which would have proved

that South Africa had, like other regions, been depressed into oceanic

conditions, and re-elevated. On the contrary, in addition to old

granitic and other igneous rocks, all explorers find only either

innumerable undulations of sandstones, schistose, and quartzose rocks,

or such tufaceous and ferruginous deposits as would naturally occur in

countries long occupied by lakes and exuberant jungles, separated from

each other by sandy hills, scarcely any other calcareous rocks being

found except tufas formed by the deposition of landsprings. It is true

that there are marine tertiary formations on the coasts (around the Cape

Colony, near the mouth of the Zambesi opposite Mozambique, and again on

the coasts of Mombas opposite Zanzibar), and that these have been raised

up into low-coast ranges, followed by rocks of igneous origin. But in

penetrating into the true interior, the traveller takes a final leave of

all such formations; and in advancing to the heart of the continent, he

traverses a vast region which, to all appearance, has ever been under

terrestrial and lacustrine conditions only. Judging, indeed, from all

the evidences as yet collected, the interior of South Africa has

remained in that condition since the period of the secondary rocks of

geologists! Yet, whilst none of our countrymen found any evidences of

old marine remains, Captain Speke brought from one of the ridges which

lay between the coast and the lake Victoria N'yanza a fossil shell,

which, though larger in size, is undistinguishable from the Achatina

perdix now flourishing in South Africa. Again, whilst Bain found fossil

plants in his reptiliferous strata north of the Cape, and Livingstone

and Thornton discovered coal in sandstone, with fossil plants, like

those of our old coal of Europe and America,--yet both these mesozoic

and palaeozoic remains are terrestrial, and are not associated with

marine limestones, indicative of those oscillations of the land which

are so common in other countries.

"It is further to be observed, that the surface of this vast interior is

entirely exempt from the coarse superficial drift that encumbers so many

countries, as derived from lofty mountain-chains from which either

glaciers or great torrential streams have descended. In this respect, it

is also equally unlike those plains of Germany, Poland, and Northern

Russia, which were sea-bottoms when floating icebergs melted and dropped

the loads of stone which they were transporting from Scandinavia and

Lapland.

"In truth, therefore, the inner portion of Southern Africa is, in this

respect, as far as I know, geologically unique in the long conservation

of ancient terrestrial conditions. This inference is further supported

by the concomitant absence, throughout the larger portion of all this

vast area, i.e. south of the Equator, of any of those volcanic rocks

which are so often associated with oscillations of the terra firma

["Although Kilimandjaro is to a great extent igneous and volcanic, there

is nothing to prove it has been in activity during the historic era."]

"With the exception of the true volcanic hills of the Cameroons recently

described by Burton, on the west coast, a little to the north of the

Equator, and which possibly may advance southwards towards the Gaboon

country, nothing is known of the presence of any similar foci of

sub-aerial eruption all round the coasts of Africa south of the Equator.

If the elements for the production of them had existed, the coast-line

is precisely that on which we should expect to find such volcanic vents,

if we judge by the analogy of all volcanic regions where the habitual

igneous eruptions are not distant from the sea, or from great internal

masses of water. The absence, then, both on the coasts and in the

interior, of any eruptive rocks which can have been thrown up under the

atmosphere since the period when the tertiary rocks began to be

accumulated, is in concurrence with all the physical data as yet got

together. These demonstrate that, although the geologist finds here none

of those characters of lithological structure and curiously diversified

organic remains which enable him to fix the epochs of succession in the

crust of the earth in other quarters of the globe, the interior of South

Africa is unquestionably a grand type of a region which has preserved

its ancient terrestrial conditions during a very long period, unaffected

by any changes except those which are dependent on atmospheric and

meteoric influences.

"If, then, the lower animals and plants of this vast country have gone

on unchanged for a very long period, may we infer that its human

inhabitants are of like antiquity? If so, the Negro may claim as old a

lineage as the Caucasian or Mongolian races. In the absence of any

decisive fact, I forbear, at present, to speculate on this point; but

as, amid the fossil specimens procured by Livingstone and Kirk, there

are fragments of pottery made by human hands, we must wait until some

zealous explorer of Southern Africa shall distinctly bring forward

proofs that the manufactured articles are of the same age as the fossil

bones. In other words, we still require from Africa the same proofs of

the existence of links which bind together the sciences of Geology and

Archaeology which have recently been developed in Europe. Now, if the

unquestioned works of man should be found to be coeval with the remains

of fossilized existing animals in Southern Africa, the travelled

geographer, who has convinced himself of the ancient condition of its

surface, must admit, however unwillingly, that although the black man is

of such very remote antiquity, he has been very stationary in

civilization and in attaining the arts of life, if he be compared with

the Caucasian, the Mongolian, the Red Indian of America, or even with

the aborigines of Polynesia." ("The most remarkable proof of the

inferiority of the Negro, when compared with the Asiatic, is, that

whilst the latter has domesticated the elephant for ages, and rendered

it highly useful to man, the Negro has only slaughtered the animal to

obtain food or ivory.")

CHAPTER XIX.

THE BLACK ANTELOPE.

We continued our voyage down the Nile, at times scudding along with a

fair wind and stream, when a straight portion of the river allowed our

men respite from the oars. This was the termination of the dry season,

in this latitude 7 degrees (end of March);--thus, although the river

was nearly level with the banks, the marshes were tolerably firm, and in

the dryer portions the reeds had been burnt off by the natives. In one

of these cleared places we descried a vast herd of antelopes, numbering

several thousands. The males were black, and carried fine horns, while

the females were reddish-brown and without horns. Never having shot this

species, I landed from the boat, which I ordered to wait in a sheltered

nook, while, accompanied by the boy Saat and Richarn, I took the little

Fletcher 24 rifle and commenced a stalk.

The antelopes did not evince their usual shyness, and with a tolerable

amount of patience I succeeded in getting within about 120 paces of two

splendid black bucks that were separated from the herd;--a patch of

half-burnt reeds afforded a good covering point. The left-hand buck was

in a good position for a shoulder shot, standing with his flank exposed,

but with his head turned towards me. At the crack of the rifle he sprang

upon his hind legs,--gave two or three convulsive bounds, and fell. His

companion went off at full speed, and the left-hand barrel unfortunately

broke his hind leg, as the half-burnt reeds hindered a correct aim.

Reloading, while my men bled the dead buck, I fired a long shot at the

dense mass of antelopes who were now in full retreat at about 600 yards'

distance crowded together in thousands. I heard, or fancied I heard, the

ball strike some object, and as the herd passed on, a reddish object

remained behind that we could hardly distinguish, but on nearer approach

I found a doe lying dead--she had been by chance struck by the ball

through the neck at this great distance. The game being at full speed in

retreat, my sport would have been over had we not at that moment heard

shouts and yells exactly ahead of the vast herd of antelopes. At once

they halted, and we perceived a number of natives, armed with spears and

bows, who had intercepted the herd in their retreat, and who now turned

them by their shouts exactly towards us. The herd came on at full speed;

but seeing us, they slightly altered their line, and rushed along,

thundering over the ground almost in single file, thus occupying a

continuous line of about half a mile in length. Running towards them at

right angles for about a quarter of a mile, I at length arrived at a

white ant-hill about ten feet high; behind this I took my stand within

about seventy yards of the string of antelopes that were filing by at

full gallop. I waited for a buck with fine horns. Several passed, but I

observed better heads in their rear;--they came bounding along.

"Crack!" went the rifle; and a fine buck pitched upon his head. Again

the little Fletcher spoke, and down went another within ten yards of the

first. "A spare gun, Richarn!" and Oswell's Purdey was slipped into my

hand. "Only one barrel is loaded," said Richarn. I saw a splendid buck

coming along with a doe by his side;--she protected him from the shot

as they came on at right angles with the gun; but knowing that the ball

would go through her and reach him on the other side, I fired at her

shoulder,--she fell dead to the shot, but he went off scatheless. I now

found that Richarn had loaded the gun with twenty mould shot instead of

ball;--these were confined in a cartridge, and had killed her on the

spot.

I had thus bagged five antelopes; and, cutting off the heads of the

bucks, we left the bodies for the natives, who were anxiously watching

us from a distance, but afraid to approach. The antelope first shot that

was nearer to the boat, we dragged on board, with the assistance of ten

or twelve men. The buck was rather larger than an average

donkey;--colour, black, with a white patch across the withers;--a white

crown to the head; white round the eyes; chest black, but belly white;

the horns about two feet four inches long, and bending gracefully

backwards.

A few days after this incident we arrived at the junction of the Bahr el

Gazal, and turning sharp to the east, we looked forward to arriving at

the extraordinary obstruction that since our passage in 1863 had dammed

the White Nile.

There was considerable danger in the descent of the river upon nearing

this peculiar dam, as the stream plunged below it by a subterranean

channel with a rush like a cataract. A large diahbiah laden with ivory

had been carried beneath the dam on her descent from Gondokoro in the

previous year, and had never been seen afterwards. I ordered the reis to

have the anchor in readiness, and two powerful hawsers; should we arrive

in the evening, he was to secure the vessel to the bank, and not to

attempt the passage through the canal until the following morning. We

anchored about half a mile above the dam.

This part of the Nile is boundless marsh, portions of which were at this

season terra firma. The river ran from west to east; the south bank was

actual ground covered with mimosas, but to the north and west the flat

marsh covered with high weeds was interminable.

At daybreak we manned the oars and floated down the rapid stream. In a

few minutes we heard the rush of water, and we saw the dam stretching

across the river before us. The marsh being firm, our men immediately

jumped out on the left bank and manned the hawsers--one fastened from

the stern, the other from the bow; this arrangement prevented the boat

from turning broadside on to the dam, by which accident the shipwrecked

diahbiah had been lost. As we approached the dam, I perceived the canal

or ditch that had been cut by the crews of the vessels that had ascended

the river; it was about ten feet wide, and would barely allow the

passage of our diahbiah. This canal was already choked with masses of

floating vegetation and natural rafts of reeds and mud that the river

carried with it, the accumulation of which had originally formed the

dam.

Having secured the vessel by carrying out an anchor astern and burying

it on the marsh, while a rope fastened from the bow to the high reeds

kept her stern to the stream, all hands jumped into the canal and

commenced dragging out the entangled masses of weeds, reeds, ambatch

wood, grass, and mud that had choked the entrance. Half a day was thus

passed, at the expiration of which time we towed our vessel safely into

the ditch, where she lay out of danger. It was necessary to discharge

all cargo from the boat, in order to reduce her draught of water. This

tedious operation completed, and many bushels of corn being piled upon

mats spread upon the reeds beaten flat, we endeavoured to push her along

the canal. Although the obstruction was annoying it was a most

interesting object.

The river had suddenly disappeared: there was apparently an end to the

White Nile. The dam was about three-quarters of a mile wide; it was

perfectly firm, and was already overgrown with high reeds and grass,

thus forming a continuation of the surrounding country. Many of the

traders' people had died of the plague at this spot during the delay of

some weeks in cutting the canal; the graves of these dead were upon the

dam. The bottom of the canal that had been cut through the dam was

perfectly firm, composed of sand, mud, and interwoven decaying

vegetation. The river arrived with great force at the abrupt edge of the

obstruction, bringing with it all kinds of trash and large floating

islands. None of these objects hitched against the edge, but the instant

they struck they dived under and disappeared. It was in this manner that

the vessel had been lost--having missed the narrow entrance to the

canal, she had struck the dam stem on; the force of the current

immediately turned her broadside against the obstruction; the floating

islands and masses of vegetation brought down by the river were heaped

against her, and heeling over on her side she was sucked bodily under

and carried beneath the dam; her crew had time to save themselves by

leaping upon the firm barrier that had wrecked their ship. The boatmen

told me that dead hippopotami had been found on the other side, that had

been carried under the dam and drowned.

Two days' hard work from morning till night brought us through the

canal, and we once more found ourselves on the open Nile on the other

side of the dam. The river was in that spot perfectly clean; not a

vestige of floating vegetation could be seen upon its waters; in its

subterranean passage it had passed through a natural sieve, leaving all

foreign matter behind to add to the bulk of the already stupendous work.

All before us was clear and plain sailing. For some days two or three

of our men had been complaining of severe headache, giddiness, and

violent pains in the spine and between the shoulders. I had been anxious

when at Gondokoro concerning the vessel, as many persons had died on

board of the plague during the voyage from Khartoum. The men assured me

that the most fatal symptom was violent bleeding from the nose; in such

cases no one had been known to recover. One of the boatmen, who had been

ailing for some days, suddenly went to the side of the vessel and hung

his head over the river; his nose was bleeding!

Another of my men, Yaseen, was ill; his uncle, my vakeel, came to me

with a report that "his nose was bleeding violently!" Several other men

fell ill: they lay helplessly about the deck in low muttering delirium,

their eyes as yellow as orange-peel. In two or three days the vessel was

so horribly offensive as to be unbearable; THE PLAGUE HAD BROKEN OUT! We

floated past the river Sobat junction; the wind was fair from the south,

thus fortunately we in the stern were to windward of the crew. Yaseen

died; he was one who had bled at the nose. We stopped to bury him. The

funeral hastily arranged, we again set sail. Mahommed died; he had bled

at the nose. Another burial. Once more we set sail and hurried down the

Nile. Several men were ill, but the dreaded symptom had not appeared. I

had given each man a strong dose of calomel at the commencement of the

disease; I could do nothing more, as my medicines were exhausted. All

night we could hear the sick, muttering and raving in delirium, but from

years of association with disagreeables we had no fear of the infection.

One morning the boy Saat came to me with his head bound up, and

complained of severe pain in the back and limbs, with all the usual

symptoms of plague: in the afternoon I saw him leaning over the ship's

side; his nose was bleeding violently! At night he was delirious. On the

following morning he was raving, and on the vessel stopping to collect

firewood he threw himself into the river to cool the burning fever that

consumed him. His eyes were suffused with blood, which, blended with a

yellow as deep as the yolk of egg, gave a horrible appearance to his

face, that was already so drawn and changed as to be hardly recognised.

Poor Saat! the faithful boy that we had adopted, and who had formed so

bright an exception to the dark character of his race, was now a victim

to this horrible disease. He was a fine strong lad of nearly fifteen,

and he now lay helplessly on his mat, and cast wistful glances at the

face of his mistress as she gave him a cup of cold water mixed with a

few lumps of sugar that we had obtained from the traders at Gondokoro.

We arrived at Fashoder, in the Shillook country, where the Egyptian

Government had formed a camp of a thousand men to take possession of the

country. We were well received and hospitably entertained by Osman Bey,

to whom our thanks are due for the first civilized reception after years

of savagedom. At Fashoder we procured lentils, rice, and dates, which

were to us great luxuries, and would be a blessing to the plague-smitten

boy, as we could now make some soup. Goats we had purchased in the Shir

country for molotes (iron hoes) that we had received in exchange for

corn at Gondokoro from Koorshid's agent who was responsible for the

supply I had left in depot. We left Fashoder, and continued our voyage

towards Khartoum.

Saat grew worse and worse: nothing would relieve the unfortunate boy

from the burning torture of that frightful disease. He never slept, but

night and day he muttered in delirium, breaking the monotony of his

malady by occasionally howling like a wild animal. Richarn won my heart

by his careful nursing of the boy, who had been his companion through

years of hardship. We arrived at the village of Wat Shely, only three

days from Khartoum. Saat was dying. The night passed, and I expected

that all would be over before sunrise; but as morning dawned a change

had taken place,--the burning fever had left him, and although raised

blotches had broken out upon his chest and various parts of his body, he

appeared much better. We now gave him stimulants; a tea-spoonful of

araki that we had bought at Fashoder was administered every ten minutes

on a lump of sugar. This he crunched in his mouth, while he gazed at my

wife with an expression of affection, but he could not speak. I had him

well washed and dressed in clean clothes, that had been kept most

carefully during the voyage, to be worn on our entree to Khartoum. He

was laid down to sleep upon a clean mat, and my wife gave him a lump of

sugar to moisten his mouth and relieve his thickly-furred tongue. His

pulse was very weak, and his skin cold. "Poor Saat," said my wife, "his

life hangs upon a thread. We must nurse him most carefully; should he

have a relapse, nothing will save him." An hour passed, and he slept.

Karka, the fat, good-natured slave woman, quietly went to his side:

gently taking him by the ankles and knees, she stretched his legs into a

straight position, and laid his arms parallel with his sides. She then

covered his face with a cloth, one of the few rags that we still

possessed. "Does he sleep still?" we asked. The tears ran down the

cheeks of the savage but good-hearted Karka, as she sobbed, "He is

dead!"

We stopped the boat. It was a sandy shore; the banks were high, and a

clump of mimosas grew above high water-mark. It was there that we dug

his grave. My men worked silently and sadly, for all loved Saat: he had

been so good and true, that even their hard hearts had learnt to respect

his honesty. We laid him in his grave on the desert shore, beneath the

grove of trees. Again the sail was set, and, filled by the breeze, it

carried us away from the dreary spot where we had sorrowfully left all

that was good and faithful. It was a happy end--most merciful, as he had

been taken from a land of iniquity in all the purity of a child

converted from Paganism to Christianity. He had lived and died in our

service a good Christian. Our voyage was nearly over, and we looked

forward to home and friends, but we had still fatigues before us: poor

Saat had reached his home and rest. Two faithful followers we had

buried,--Johann Schmidt at the commencement of the voyage, and Saat at

its termination.

A few miles from this spot, a head wind delayed us for several days.

Losing patience, I engaged camels from the Arabs; and riding the whole

day, we reached Khartoum about half an hour after sunset on the 5th of

May, 1865.

On the following morning we were welcomed by the entire European

population of Khartoum, to whom are due my warmest thanks for many kind

attentions. We were kindly offered a house by Monsieur Lombrosio, the

manager of the Khartoum branch of the "Oriental and Egyptian Trading

Company."

I now heard the distressing news of the death of my poor friend

Speke. I could not realize the truth of this melancholy report

until I read the details of his fatal accident in the appendix of

a French translation of his work. It was but a sad consolation

that I could confirm his discoveries, and bear witness to the

tenacity and perseverance with which he had led his party through

the untrodden path of Africa to the first Nile source. This

being the close of the expedition, I wish it to be distinctly

understood how thoroughly I support the credit of Speke and Grant

for their discovery of the first and most

elevated source of the Nile in the great Victoria N'yanza.

Although I call the river between the two lakes the "Somerset," as

it was named by Speke upon the map he gave to me, I must repeat

that it is positively the Victoria Nile, and the name "Somerset"

is only used to distinguish it, in my description, from the entire

Nile that issues from the Albert N'yanza.

Whether the volume of water added by the latter lake be greater than

that supplied by the Victoria, the fact remains unaltered: the Victoria

is the highest and first-discovered source; the Albert is the second

source, but the ENTIRE RESERVOIR of the Nile waters. I use the term

SOURCE as applying to each reservoir as a head or main starting-point of

the river. I am quite aware that it is a debated point among

geographers, whether a lake can be called a SOURCE, as it owes its

origin to one or many rivers; but, as the innumerable torrents of the

mountainous regions of Central Africa pour into these great reservoirs,

it would be impossible to give preference to any individual stream. Such

a theory would become a source of great confusion, and the Nile sources

might remain forever undecided; a thousand future travellers might

return, each with his particular source in his portfolio, some stream of

insignificant magnitude being pushed forward as the true origin of the

Nile.

I found few letters awaiting me at Khartoum: all the European population

of the place had long ago given us up for lost. It was my wish to start

without delay direct for England, but there were extraordinary

difficulties in this wretched country of the Soudan. A drought of two

years had created a famine throughout the land, attended by a cattle and

camel plague, that had destroyed so many camels that all commerce was

stagnated. No merchandise could be transported from Khartoum; thus no

purchases could be made by the traders in the interior: the country,

always wretched, was ruined. The plague, or a malignant typhus, had run

riot in Khartoum: out of 4,000 black troops, only a remnant below 400

remained alive!

This frightful malady, that had visited our boat, had revelled in the

filth and crowded alleys of the Soudan capital.

The Blue Nile was so low that even the noggurs drawing three feet of

water could not descend the river. Thus, the camels being dead, and the

river impassable, no corn could be brought from Sennaar and Watmedene:

there was a famine in Khartoum--neither fodder for animals, nor food for

man. Being unable to procure either camels or boats, I was compelled to

wait at Khartoum until the Nile should rise sufficiently to enable us to

pass the cataracts between that town and Berber.

[The want of water in the Blue Nile, as here described, exemplifies the

theory that Lower Egypt owes its existence during the greater portion of

the year entirely to the volume of the White Nile.]

We remained two months at Khartoum. During this time we were subjected

to intense heat and constant dust-storms, attended with a general plague

of boils. Verily, the plagues of Egypt remain to this day in the Soudan.

On the 26th June, we had the most extraordinary dust-storm that had ever

been seen by the inhabitants. I was sitting in the courtyard of my

agent's house at about 4:30 P.M.: there was no wind, and the sun was as

bright as usual in this cloudless sky, when suddenly a gloom was cast

over all,--a dull yellow glare pervaded the atmosphere. Knowing that

this effect portended a dust-storm, and that the present calm would be

followed by a hurricane of wind, I rose to go home, intending to secure

the shutters. Hardly had I risen, when I saw approaching, from the S.W.

apparently, a solid range of immense brown mountains, high in air. So

rapid was the passage of this extraordinary phenomenon, that in a few

minutes we were in actual pitchy darkness. At first there was no wind,

and the peculiar calm gave an oppressive character to the event. We were

in "a darkness that might be felt." Suddenly the wind arrived, but not

with the violence that I had expected. There were two persons with me,

Michael Latfalla, my agent, and Monsieur Lombrosio. So intense was the

darkness, that we tried to distinguish our hands placed close before our

eyes;--not even an outline could be seen. This lasted for upwards of

twenty minutes: it then rapidly passed away, and the sun shone as

before; but we had FELT the darkness that Moses had inflicted upon the

Egyptians.

The Egyptian Government had, it appeared, been pressed by some of the

European Powers to take measures for the suppression of the slave-trade:

a steamer had accordingly been ordered to capture all vessels laden

with this in famous cargo. Two vessels had been seized and brought to

Khartoum, containing 850 human beings!--packed together like anchovies,

the living and the dying festering together, and the dead lying beneath

them. European eye-witnesses assured me that the disembarking of this

frightful cargo could not be adequately described. The slaves were in a

state of starvation, having had nothing to eat for several days. They

were landed in Khartoum; the dead and many of the dying were tied by the

ankles, and dragged along the ground by donkeys through the streets. The

most malignant typhus, or plague, had been engendered among this mass of

filth and misery, thus closely packed together. Upon landing, the women

were divided by the Egyptian authorities among the soldiers. These

creatures brought the plague to Khartoum, which, like a curse visited

upon this country of slavery and abomination, spread like a fire

throughout the town, and consumed the regiments that had received this

horrible legacy from the dying cargo of slaves. Among others captured by

the authorities on a charge of slave-trading was an Austrian subject,

who was then in the custody of the consul. A French gentleman, Monsieur

Garnier, had been sent to Khartoum by the French Consulate of Alexandria

on a special inquiry into the slave-trade; he was devoting himself to

the subject with much energy.

While at Khartoum I happened to find Mahommed Her! the vakeel of

Chenooda's party, who had instigated lily men to mutiny at Latooka, and

had taken my deserters into his employ. I had promised to make an

example of this fellow; I therefore had him arrested, and brought before

the Divan. With extreme effrontery, he denied having had anything to do

with the affair, adding to his denial all knowledge of the total

destruction of his party and of my mutineers by the Latookas. Having a

crowd of witnesses in my own men, and others that I had found in

Khartoum who had belonged to Koorshid's party at that time, his

barefaced lie was exposed, and he was convicted. I determined that he

should be punished, as an example that would insure respect to any

future English traveller in those regions. My men, and all those with

whom I had been connected, had been accustomed to rely most implicitly

upon all that I had promised, and the punishment of this man had been an

expressed determination.

I went to the Divan and demanded that he should be flogged. Omer Bey was

then Governor of the Soudan, in the place of Moosa Pasha deceased. He

sat upon the divan, in the large hall of justice by the river. Motioning

me to take a seat by his side, and handing me his pipe, he called the

officer in waiting, and gave the necessary orders. In a few minutes the

prisoner was led into the hall, attended by eight soldiers. One man

carried a strong pole about seven feet long, in the centre of which was

a double chain, riveted through in a loop. The prisoner was immediately

thrown down with his face to the ground, while two men stretched out his

arms and sat upon them; his feet were then placed within the loop of the

chain, and the pole being twisted round until firmly secured, it was

raised from the ground sufficiently to expose the soles of the feet. Two

men with powerful hippopotamus whips stood, one on either side. The

prisoner thus secured, the order was given. The whips were most

scientifically applied, rind after the first five dozen, the

slave-hunting scoundrel howled most lustily for mercy. How often had he

flogged unfortunate slave women to excess, and what murders had that

wretch committed, who now howled for mercy! I begged Omer Bey to stop

the punishment at 150 lashes, and to explain to him publicly in the

divan, that he was thus punished for attempting to thwart the expedition

of an English traveller, by instigating my escort to mutiny.

This affair over--all my accounts paid--and my men dismissed with their

hands full of money,--I was ready to start for Egypt. The Nile rose

sufficiently to enable the passage of the cataracts, and on the 30th

June we took leave of all friends in Khartoum, and of my very kind

agent, Michael Latfalla, well known as Hallil el Shami, who had most

generously cashed all my bills on Cairo without charging a fraction of

exchange. On the morning of 1st July, we sailed from Khartoum to Berber.

On approaching the fine basalt hills through which the river passes

during its course from Khartoum, I was surprised to see the great Nile

contracted to a trifling width of from eighty to a hundred and twenty

yards. Walled by high cliffs of basalt upon either side, the vast volume

of the Nile flows grandly through this romantic pass, the water boiling

up in curling eddies, showing that rocky obstructions exist in its

profound depths below.

Our voyage was very nearly terminated at the passage of the cataracts.

Many skeletons of wrecked vessels lay upon the rocks in various places:

as we were flying along in full sail before a heavy gale of wind,

descending a cataract, we struck upon a sandbank--fortunately not upon a

rock, or we should have gone to pieces like a glass bottle. The

tremendous force of the stream, running at the rate of about ten or

twelve miles per hour, immediately drove the vessel broadside upon the

bank. About sixty yards below us was a ridge of rocks, upon which it

appeared certain that we must be driven should we quit the bank upon

which we were stranded. The reis and crew, as usual in such cases, lost

their heads. I emptied a large waterproof portmanteau, and tied it

together with ropes, so as to form a life-buoy for my wife and Richarn,

neither of whom could swim; the maps, journals, and observations, I

packed in an iron box, which I fastened with a tow-line to the

portmanteau. It appeared that we were to wind up the expedition with

shipwreck, and thus lose my entire collection of hunting spoils. Having

completed the preparations for escape, I took command of the vessel, and

silenced the chattering crew.

My first order was to lay out an anchor up stream.

This was done: the water was shallow, and the great weight of the

anchor, carried on the shoulders of two men, enabled them to resist the

current, and to wade hip-deep about forty yards up the stream upon the

sandbank.

Thus secured, I ordered the crew to haul upon the cable. The great force

of the current bearing upon the broadside of the vessel, while her head

was anchored up stream, bore her gradually round. All hands were now

employed in clearing away the sand, and deepening a passage: loosen ing

the sand with their hands and feet, the powerful rapids carried it away.

For five hours we remained in this position, the boat cracking, and half

filled with water however, we stopped the leak caused by the strain upon

her timbers, and having, after much labour, cleared a channel in the

narrow sandbank, the moment arrived to slip the cable, hoist the sail,

and trust to the heavy gale of wind from the west to clear the rocks,

that lay within a few yards of us to the north. "Let go!" and, all being

prepared, the sail was loosened, and filling in the strong gale with a

loud report, the head of the vessel swung round with the force of wind

and stream. Away we flew! For an instant we grated on some hard

substance: we stood upon the deck, watching the rocks exactly before us,

with the rapids roaring loudly around our boat as she rushed upon what

looked like certain destruction. Another moment, and we passed within a

few inches of the rocks within the boiling surf. Hurrah! we are all

right! We swept by the danger, and flew along the rapids, hurrying

towards Old England.

We arrived at Berber, the spot from which we had started upwards of four

years ago for our Atbara expedition. Here we were most hospitably

received by Monsieur and Madame Laffargue, a French gentleman and his

charming wife, who had for many years been residents in the Soudan. It

is with feelings of gratitude that I express my thanks to all Frenchmen

that I have met in those wild countries, for courtesies and attention,

that were appreciated by me like unexpected flowers in a desert. I can

only hope that Frenchmen may, when in need, receive the same kindness

from my countrymen, when travelling in lands far distant from LA BELLE

FRANCE.

I determined upon the Red Sea route to Egypt, instead of passing the

horrible Korosko desert during the hot month of August. After some delay

I procured camels, and started east for Souakim, from whence I hoped to

procure a steamer to Suez.

This route from Berber is not the usual caravan road: the country was in

rather a disturbed state, owing to the mutiny of all the black troops in

the Egyptian service in the Taka province; and the Hadendowa Arabs, who

are at no time the best of their race, were very excited. The first

eight days' journey are devoid of water, except at two stations, the

route being desert. Our party consisted of my wife, Richarn, Achmet, and

Zeneb; the latter was a six-foot girl of the Dinka tribe, with whom

Richarn had fallen in love and married during our sojourn at Khartoum.

Zeneb was a good girl, rather pretty, as strong as a giraffe, and a good

cook; a very valuable acquisition for Richarn. Her husband, who had been

my faithful follower, was now a rich man, being the owner of thirty

napoleons, the balance of his wages. Achmet was an Egyptian servant,

whom I had recently engaged in Khartoum. I had also offered a Swiss

missionary the protection of our party.

One day, during the heat of noon, after a long march in the burning sun

through a treeless desert, we descried a solitary tree in the distance,

to which we hurried as to a friend. Upon arrival, we found its shade

occupied by a number of Hadendowa Arabs. Dismounting from our camels, we

requested them to move and to give place for our party--as a tree upon

the desert is like a well of water, to be shared by every traveller. Far

from giving the desired place, they most insolently refused to allow us

to share the tree. Upon Richarn attempting to take possession, he was

rudely pushed on one side, and an Arab drew his knife. Achmet had a

coorbatch (hippopotamus whip) in his hand, that he had used on his

camel; the act of raising this to threaten the Arab who had drawn his

knife was the signal for hostilities. Out flashed the broadswords from

their sheaths! and the headman of the party aimed a well-intended cut at

my head. Parrying the cut with my sun umbrella, I returned with a quick

thrust directly in the mouth, the point of the peaceful weapon

penetrating to his throat with such force that he fell upon his back.

Almost at the same moment I had to parry another cut from one of the

crowd that smashed my umbrella completely, and left me with my remaining

weapons, a stout Turkish pipe-stick about four feet long, and my fist.

Parrying with the stick, thrusting in return at the face, and hitting

sharp with the left hand, I managed to keep three or four of the party

on and off upon their backs, receiving a slight cut with a sword upon my

left arm in countering a blow which just grazed me as I knocked down the

owner, and disarmed him. My wife picked up the sword, as I had no time

to stoop, and she stood well at bay with her newly-acquired weapon that

a disarmed Arab wished to wrest from her, but dared not close with the

naked blade. I had had the fight all my own way, as, being beneath the

tree (the boughs of which were very near the ground), the Arabs, who do

not understand the use of the point, were unable to use their swords, as

their intended cuts were intercepted by the branches. Vigorous thrusting

and straight hitting cleared the tree, and the party were scattered

right and left, followed up by Richarn and Achmet, armed with

double-barrelled rifles. I was determined to disarm the whole party, if

possible. One of the Arabs, armed with a lance, rushed up to attack

Richarn from behind; but Zeneb was of the warlike Dinka tribe, and

having armed herself with the hard wood handle of the axe, she went into

the row like "Joan of Arc," and hastening to the rescue of Richarn, she

gave the Arab such a whack upon the head that she knocked him down on

the spot, and seizing his lance she disarmed him. Thus armed, she rushed

into the thickest of the fray.

"Bravo, Zeneb!" I could not help shouting. Seizing a thick. stick that

had been dropped by one of the Arabs, I called Richarn and our little

party together, and attacking the few Arabs who still offered

resistance, they were immediately knocked down and disarmed. The leader

of the party, who had been the first to draw his sword and had received

a mouthful of umbrella, had not moved from the spot where he fell, but

amused himself with coughing and spitting. I now ordered him to be

bound, and threatened to tie him to my camel's tail and lead him a

prisoner to the Governor of Souakim, unless he called all those of his

party who had run away. They were now standing at a distance in the

desert, and I insisted upon the delivery of their weapons. Being

thoroughly beaten and cowed, he conferred with those whom we had taken

prisoners, and the affair ended by all the arms being delivered up. We

counted six swords, eleven lances, and a heap of knives, the number of

which I forget.

I ordered the entire party to stand in a line; and I gave them their

choice, whether the ringleaders would receive a flogging from me, or

whether I should tie them to the tails of camels and lead them to the

Turkish Governor of Souakim? They immediately chose the former; and,

calling them from the rank, I ordered them to lie down on the ground to

receive punishment.

They submitted like dogs; Richarn and Achmet stood over them with their

whips, ready for the word. At this moment an old white-headed Arab of my

caravan came to me: kneeling down, he stroked my beard with his dirty

hands, and implored pardon for the offenders. Thoroughly understanding

the Arab character, I replied, "They are miserable sons of dogs, and

their swords are like the feathers of a fowl; they deserve flogging, but

when a white head asks for pardon, it should be granted. God is

merciful, and we are all his children." Thus was the affair ended to the

satisfaction of our side. I broke all the lances into fragments upon a

rock,--ordered Zeneb to make a fire with the wood of the handles, to

boil some coffee; and tying the swords into a bundle, we packed the

lance-heads and knives in a basket, with the understanding that they

should be delivered to their owners on our arrival at the last well,

after which point there would be water on the route every day. From that

place, there would be no fear of our camels being stolen, and of our

being deserted in the desert.

On arrival at the well a few days later, I delivered the weapons to

their owners as promised, they having followed our party. Souakim is

about 275 miles from the Nile at Berber. At Kokreb, about half-way, we

entered the chain of mountains that extends from Suez parallel with the

Red Sea to the south; many portions of this chain are four or five

thousand feet above the sea-level. The mountains were exceedingly

beautiful, their precipitous sides of barren rock exhibiting superb

strata of red and grey granite, with vast masses of exquisite red and

green porphyry. Many hills were of basalt, so black, that during an

entire day's journey the face of the country appeared like a vast desert

of coal, in broken hills and blocks strewed over the surface of the

ground. Kokreb was a lovely oasis beneath the high mountains, with a

forest of low mimosas in full leaf, and a stream running from the

mountains, the produce of a recent storm. Throughout this country there

are no rivers that should be noticed on a map, as the torrents are

merely the effects of violent storms, which, falling upon the mountains

several times during the rainy season from June to the end of August

tear their boisterous way along their stony course and dry up in a few

hours, becoming exhausted in the sand of the deserts. For some days our

course lay along a deep ravine between stupendous cliffs; this was the

bed of a torrent, that, after heavy storms, flowed through the

mountains, inclining to the east; in this were pools of most beautifully

clear water. In many places the nooks among the cliffs were fringed with

lovely green trees. It was extraordinary to observe the activity of the

camels in climbing the most difficult passes, and in picking their way

among the rocks and stones that obstructed the route. In many places

camels might be seen grazing upon the green mimosa bushes, that growing

among the rocks high upon the mountains had tempted the animals into

places that I should not have believed they could have reached.

After a journey of twenty-four days from the Nile at Berber, we emerged

from the mountain-pass, and from the elevated embouchure we obtained a

sudden and most welcome view of the Red Sea. We now quickly descended:

the heat increased every hour; and after a long day's march, we slept

within a few miles of Souakim. On the following morning we entered the

town.

Souakim is a considerable town; the houses are all built of coral. The

principal dwellings, and the custom house and Government offices are

situated on an island in the harbour. We were received with much

attention by the Governor, Moomtazze Bey, who very kindly offered us a

house. The heat was frightful, the thermometer 115 degrees F and in some

houses 120 degrees F.

There is no doubt that Souakim should be the port for all exports and

imports for the Soudan provinces. Were a line of steamers established

from Suez, to call regularly at Souakim, at a moderate freight, it would

become a most prosperous town, as the geographical position marks it as

the nucleus for all trade with the interior. At present there is no

regularity: the only steamers that touch at Souakim are those belonging

to the Abdul Azziz Company, who trade between Suez and Jedda. Although

advertised for distinct periods, they only visit Souakim when they think

proper, and their rates are most exorbitant.

There was no steamer upon our arrival. After waiting in intense heat for

about a fortnight, the Egyptian thirty-two gun steam frigate,

Ibralaimeya, arrived with a regiment of Egyptian troops, under Giaffer

Pasha, to quell the mutiny of the black troops at Kassala, twenty days'

march in the interior. The General Giaffer Pasha, and Mustapha Bey the

captain of the frigate, gave us an entertainment on board in English

style, in honour of the completion of the Nile discovery. Giaffer Pasha

most kindly placed the frigate at our disposal to convey us to Suez, and

both he and Mustapha Bey endeavoured in every way to accommodate us. For

their extreme courtesy I take this opportunity of making my

acknowledgment.

Orders for sailing had been received, but suddenly a steamer was

signalled as arriving: this was a transport, with troops. As she was to

return immediately to Suez, I preferred the dirty transport rather than

incur a further delay. We started from Souakim, and after five days'

voyage we arrived at Suez. Landing from the steamer, I once more found

myself in an English hotel. The spacious inner court was arranged as an

open conservatory; in this was a bar for refreshments, and "Allsopp's

Pale Ale" on draught, with an ice accompaniment. What an Elysium! The

beds had SHEETS and PILLOW-CASES! neither of which had I possessed for

years.

The hotel was thronged with passengers to India, with rosy, blooming

English ladies, and crowds of my own countrymen. I felt inclined to talk

to everybody. Never was I so in love with my own countrymen and women;

but they (I mean the ladies) all had large balls of hair at the backs of

their heads! What an extraordinary change! I called Richarn, my pet

savage from the heart of Africa, to admire them. "Now, Richarn, look at

them!" I said. "What do you think of the English ladies? eh, Richarn?

Are they not lovely?"

"Wah Illahi!" exclaimed the astonished Richarn, "they are beautiful!

What hair! They are not like the negro savages, who work other people's

hair into their own heads; theirs is all real--all their own--how

beautiful!"

"Yes, Richarn," I replied, "ALL THEIR OWN!" This was my first

introduction to the "chignon."

We arrived at Cairo, and I established Richarn and his wife in a

comfortable situation, as private servants to Mr. Zech, the master of

Sheppard's Hotel. The character I gave him was one that I trust has done

him service: he had shown an extraordinary amount of moral courage in

totally reforming from his original habit of drinking. I left my old

servant with a heart too full to say good-bye; a warm squeeze of his

rough, but honest black hand, and the whistle of the train sounded,--we

were off!

I had left Richarn, and none remained of my people. The past appeared

like a dream-the rushing sound of the train renewed ideas of

civilization. Had I really come from the Nile Sources? It was no dream.

A witness sat before me; a face still young, but bronzed like an Arab by

years of exposure to a burning sun; haggard and worn with toil and

sickness, and shaded with cares, happily now past; the devoted companion

of my pilgrimage, to whom I owed success and life--my wife.

I had received letters from England, that had been waiting at the

British Consulate;--the first I opened informed me, that the Royal

Geographical Society had awarded me the Victoria Gold Medal, at a time

when they were unaware whether I was alive or dead, and when the success

of my expedition was unknown. This appreciation of my exertions was the

warmest welcome that I could have received on my first entrance into

civilization after so many years of savagedom: it rendered the

completion of the Nile Sources doubly grateful, as I had fulfilled the

expectations that the Geographical Society had so generously expressed

by the presentation of their medal Before my task was done.

APPENDIX

COMPUTATION OF MR. BAKER'S OBSERVATIONS.

HEIGHTS OF STATIONS ABOVE THE MEAN LEVEL OF THE SEA DETERMINED

BY BOILING-WATER OBSERVATIONS BY S. W. BAKER, Esq.

COMPUTED BY E. DUNKIN, Esq. OF GREENWICH OBSERVATORY. Feet.

Tarrangolle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2047

Obbo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3480

Shoggo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3770

Asua River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2619

Shooa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3619

Rionga's Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3685

Karuma, below falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3737

Karuma, south of falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3796

South of Karuma, at river level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3794

M'rooli, river level, junction of Kafoor . . . . . . . . . . . 3796

West of M'rooli, on road to Albert lake . . . . . . . . . . . 4291

Land above lake, east cliff . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 4117

Albert N'yanza, lake level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2448

Shooa Moru, island of Patooan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2918

Gondokoro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1636

The above heights will be found to differ considerably from those given

by Mr. Baker in his letter written from Khartoum in May, 1865, and

published in the TIMES newspaper in June. This arises from Mr. Baker

having corrected his observations, whilst in the interior of Africa,

from what have since proved erroneous data: the above are the correct

computations of the same observations.

REMARKS ON THE THERMOMETER B. W. USED BY MR. S. W. BAKER IN

DETERMINING HEIGHTS. By Staff-Commander C. George,

Curator of Maps, Royal Geographical Society.

This thermometer was one of the three supplied by the Royal Geographical

Society to Consul Petherick, in 1861, and was made by Mr. Casella.

At Gondokoro, in March, 1862, it was lent to Mr. Baker, who made all his

observations with it, and brought it back safe: it has, therefore, been

in use about 4 and 3/4 years.

On November 9th, 1865, Mr. Baker returned it to the Royal Geographical

Society, and it was immediately taken to Mr. Casella, who tested its

accuracy by trying its boiling-point, in nearly the same manner as Mr.

Baker had made his observations. The result by two independent observers

was that the boiling-point had increased in its reading by 0 degree

point 75 in 4 and 3/4 years, or 0 degree point 172 yearly.

On November 23d the thermometer was again tested by Mr. Baker at the Kew

Observatory. The observation was made under the same conditions as those

near the Albert N'yanza, as nearly as it was possible to make it. (By

immersion in boiling water.) The result gave the thermometer 0 degree

point 80 too much at the boiling-point.

The readings of the thermometer have, therefore, been TOO MUCH; and by

REDUCING the readings, it ELEVATES all positions at which observations

were made.

Table No. 1.--In this Table the error obtained at Kew Observatory has

been treated like that of a chronometer, the error being assumed

increasing and regular.

Table No. 2 is to correct the height, computed by Mr. Dunkin, using the

quantity taken from Table No. 1.

Table No. 3 is the final result of the observations for height,

corrected for instrumental error.

TABLE No. 1.

Table for Increased Reading of Thermometer, using 0 degrees 80 as the

Result of Observations for its Error.

Month. 1861. 1862. 1863. 1864. 1865.

January. . . -- 0'143 0'314 0'487 0'659

February . . -- '157 '328 '501 '673

March . . . 0'000 '172 '344 '516 '688

April . . . '014 '186 '358 '530 '702

May . . . . '028 '200 '372 '544 '716

June . . . . '043 '214 '387 '559 '730

July . . . . '057 '228 '401 '573 '744

August . . . '071 '243 '415 '587 '758

September . . '086 '257 '430 '602 '772

October . , . '100 '271 '444 '616 '786

November . . '114 '285 '458 '630 0'800

December . . 0'129 0'300 0'473 0'645 --

TABLE No. 2.

At the elevation of 3,500 feet, 1 Degrees equals about 520 feet, from

which the following--

Degrees Feet. Degrees Feet Degrees Feet.

1'0 . . . 520 '7 . . . 364 '3 . . . 156

'9 . . . 468 '6 . . . 312 '25 . . . 130

'8 . . . 416 '5 . . . 260 '2 . . . 104

'75. . . 390 '4 . . . 208 '1 . . . 52