CHAPTER III.

Camp of the Mudir. A negro king. Campaigns. Future of the country.

A wise judge. The shrieking priest. Gum-arabic. The melodious

tree. Mohammed Aboo-Sammat. Boats on the flight. Treachery

of the Shillooks. General market. Excuse for plunder. First

papyrus. Cæsar among the pirates. Useless attempts to proceed. A

world of grass. Hippopotamuses in a fright. The last obstacle.

Depreciation of the Gazelle stream. _Bon-mot_ of the Viceroy.

Ghattas’ namesake. The slipper-shape. Description of the Nueir.

Analogy between man and beast. Cactus-type of Euphorbiæ. The

Bahr-el-Arab a mainstream. Vallisneria meadows. Arrival in Port

Rek. True nature of the Gazelle. Discovery of the Meshera.

Deadly climate and its victims. Le Saint. Features of the

scenery. The old queen and her prince consort. Royal gifts.

Fishes and birds.

I remained nine days in Fashoda, a residence to which the non-arrival

of the boats bound for the Gazelle River compelled us, because our

force was not sufficiently numerous to overcome by ourselves the

obstacles which the “Sett,” or grass-barrier, would present, and also

inadequate for protection against an attack, which was not improbable,

from the hitherto unsubdued residents.

A wider ramble, in which I inspected several Shillook villages, led me

farther into the country, and gave me some conception of its thronging

population. The Turkish officer, who welcomed me like a countryman

because I was European, attended me, followed by a number of soldiers,

all of us being mounted. Although throughout this tour, I was not

offered even a bowl of fresh milk, and saw little beyond what had

already come under my observation, viz., grey and rusty-red beings,

innumerable conical huts, and countless herds of cattle; yet I could

not be otherwise than impressed by various details which appeared

characteristic of this people, now incorporated as Egyptian subjects,

and which I shall proceed to relate.

[Sidenote: SHILLOOK STATISTICS.]

The Shillook tribe inhabits the entire left bank of the White Nile,

occupying a territory about 200 miles long and about ten miles wide,

and which extends right to the mouth of the Gazelle River. Hemmed in

by the Baggara on the west, it is prevented by the river from

extending itself farther eastward, and only the lower course of the

Sobat has any of the Shillooks for its denizens. Their subjection to

Egyptian government, which was completed in 1871, has caused a census

to be taken of all the villages on the left bank of the Nile, which

resulted in an estimate of about 3000. Taking the character of the

villages into account this would give a total of above a million souls

for this portion of the Shillooks alone. Now the Shillook land, which

lies upon the White Nile, has an extent of hardly less than 2000

square miles, and when the number of heads upon this is compared with

those in the populous districts of Europe we are justified in

reckoning from 600 to 625 to a square mile; a result altogether

similar is arrived at from a reckoning based on the estimate of there

being 3000 villages, each village having huts varying in number from

45 to 200, and each hut averaging 4 or 5 occupants; this would give a

total of about 1,200,000. This, in fact, is an estimate corresponding

entirely with what the Mudir of Fashoda, who was conversant with the

details of all state affairs, had already communicated to me in 1869.

No known part of Africa, scarcely even the narrow valley of the Nile

in Egypt, has a density of population so great; but a similar

condition of circumstances, so favourable to the support of a teeming

population, is perhaps without a parallel in the world. Everything

which contributes to the exuberance of life here finds a concentrated

field—agriculture, pasturage, fishing, and the chase. Agriculture is

rendered easy by the natural fertility of the soil, by the recurrence

of the rainy seasons, by irrigation effected by the rising of the

river, assisted by numerous canals, and by an atmosphere ordinarily so

overclouded as to moderate the radiance of the sun, and to retain

throughout the year perpetual moisture. Of fishing there is plenty.

There are crocodiles and hippopotamuses in abundance. Across the river

there is a free and open chase over wildernesses which would

advantageously be built upon, but for the hostility of the

neighbouring Dinka. The pasture lands are on the same side of the

river as the dwellings; they are just beyond the limits of the

cultivated plots; occasionally they are subject to winter drought, and

at times liable to incursions from the Baggara; but altogether they

are invaluable as supplying daily resorts for the cattle.

Still further proof of the superabundance of population of the

Shillooks is manifest from the emigration which goes forward in a

south-westerly direction, where considerable numbers of them, the

Dembo and Dyoor, have settled on the border-lands between the Bongo

and Dinka. Of these, however, I will speak hereafter; I will only

pause now to remark how, in vivid contrast to the monotonous

uniformity of nature which ordinarily asserts itself throughout vast

tracts of Central Africa, there are even exhibited diversities of

human development, differences of dialect, and peculiarities of bodily

conformation. In the Shillook territory there are probably no less

than 600 residents to the square mile, whilst in Bongo-land, within

180 miles to the south-west, there would be found hardly a dozen

occupants on an equal area. Again, between lat. 5° and 1° N., within a

range of not more than 300 miles, are to be found examples of the

largest and of the smallest races of mankind—the Bari and the Akkah,

of which the former might rival the Patagonians in stature, the latter

being scarcely taller than Esquimaux, and considerably below a medium

height.

[Sidenote: SHILLOOK VILLAGES.]

It should be appended to what has been said about the villages, that

the entire west bank of the Nile, as far as the confines of the

district reach, assumes the appearance of one single village, of which

the sections are separated by intervals varying from 300 to 1000

paces. These clusters of huts are built with surprising regularity,

and are so closely crowded together that they cannot fail to suggest

the comparison with a thick mass of fungus or mushrooms. Every village

has its overseer, whilst the overseers of fifty or seventy, or

sometimes of 100 villages, are subject to a superintendent, who has

the control of what may be called a “district,” and of such districts

there are well nigh a hundred, each of them distinguished by its

particular name. One of the descendants of the ancient kings had been

reduced to entire subjection under the Government; another at the

period of my first visit was still resisting to the utmost.

In the centre of each village there is a circular space where, evening

after evening, the inhabitants congregate, and, either stretched upon

hides or squatting down on mats of ambatch, inhale the vapour from

burning heaps of cow-dung to keep off the flies, or from pipes with

enormous clay bowls smoke the tobacco of the country.

In these spaces there is frequently erected the great stem of a tree,

on which according to common African usage kettledrums are hung and

used for the purpose of warning the inhabitants of any impending

danger, and of communicating intelligence to the neighbourhood. Most

of the negro tribes are distinguished by the form of their huts. The

huts of the Shillooks are built with higher walls than those of the

Dinka, and, as an ordinary rule, are of smaller circumference; the

conical roofs do not rise to a peak, but are rather in the shape of

flattened domes, and in this way it is that they acquire the singular

resemblance to mushrooms of which I have spoken. The villages are not

enclosed externally, but are bounded by fences made of straw-mats

running between the closely-crammed houses, and which serve for

shelter to the cattle of individual householders. Great grazing-plots,

such as the larger villages combine to provide for the benefit of the

community, and exist amongst the Dinka, cannot be secured for the

Shillooks, because they are comparatively limited for space.

Now although these savages are altogether unacquainted with the

refined cosmetics of Europe, they make use of cosmetics of their own;

viz., a coating of ashes for protection against insects. When the

ashes are prepared from wood they render the body perfectly grey, and

hereby are known the poor; when the ashes are obtained from cow-dung

they give a rusty-red tint, the hue of red devils, and hereby can be

recognised the landowners. Ashes, dung, and the urine of cows are the

indispensable requisites of the toilet. The item last named affects

the nose of the stranger rather unpleasantly when he makes use of any

of their milk-vessels, as, according to a regular African habit, they

are washed with it, probably to compensate for a lack of salt.

The external appearance of the Shillooks, therefore, is by no means

agreeable, but rather offensive to the beholder, who will hardly fail

to notice amongst all the negro people who dwell in the plains of the

Upper Nile a singular want of the lower incisor teeth, which in early

life are always broken off. Their physiognomy hardly offers that

decided negro type which their swarthy complexion would lead one to

expect. To judge by the shape of the skull, this people belongs to the

less degraded races of Central Africa, which are distinguished from

other negro stocks by a smaller breadth of jaw and by a less decided

narrowness of head. A comparison which I made with the skulls which I

had collected and some which were taken from ancient Egyptian graves,

and with the heads of living fellahs, established the fact of a

remarkable resemblance. According to Professor R. Hartmann of Berlin,

the similarity between the heads of ancient Egyptians and the

Shillooks rests on the projection of the nasal bones; to have these so

deeply set as to appear compressed by the forehead, would seem to be

discordant with the general type of negro races. Without pronouncing

any decided opinion as to the actual relationship of the Egyptian to

the Shillook, that eminent _savant_ thinks that he at least discerns a

fresh proof of an unquestionable African origin of the latter.

[Sidenote: SHILLOOK MEN.]

Entirely bare of clothing, the bodies of the men would not of

themselves be ungraceful, but through the perpetual plastering over

with ashes, they assume a thoroughly diabolical aspect. The movements

of their lean bony limbs are so languid, and their repose so perfect,

as not rarely to give the Shillooks the resemblance of mummies; and

whoever comes as a novice amongst them can hardly resist the

impression that in gazing at these ash-grey forms he is looking upon

mouldering corpses rather than upon living beings.

The stature of the Shillook is very moderate, and, as a general rule,

is short compared with that of the lank, and long-legged Dinka.

Like most of the naked and half-naked Africans they devote the

greatest attention to the arrangement of their hair; on every other

portion of the body all growth of hair is stopped by its being all

carefully plucked out at the very first appearance. As has been

already observed, amongst the men the repeated application of clay,

gum, or dung, so effectually clots the hair together that it retains

as it were voluntarily the desired form; at one time like a comb, at

another like a helmet, or, it may be, like a fan. Many of the Shillook

men present in this respect a great variety. A good many wear

transversely across the skull a comb as broad as a man’s hand, which,

like a nimbus of tin, stretches from ear to ear, and terminates behind

in two drooping circular lappets. Occasionally there are heads for

which one comb does not suffice, and on these several combs, parallel

to one another at small intervals are arranged in lines. There is a

third form, far from uncommon, than which nothing can be more

grotesque. It may be compared to the crest of a guinea fowl, of which

it is an obvious imitation; just as among ourselves many a way of

dressing the hair would seem to be designed by taking some animal form

for a model.

Every now and then, however, one meets with heads of which the hair is

closely cropped. However it may have happened, whether from illness or

from some misadventure in dressing the hair, or perhaps from a fall of

which the consequence has been an accident to the ponderous head-gear,

I hardly know how, but something always seems wanting to such heads.

In such cases there is frequently seen a comical-looking bandage fixed

over the brow, forming a shade for the eyes, and which is made of a

giraffe’s foxy-red mane clipped short. This has been elsewhere

observed, and is not unknown amongst the Kaffirs of South Africa. Thus

much for the men.

As far as regards the women—I saw none except those whose

short-cropped hair appeared stippled over with fresh-sprouting woolly

locks, and resembled the skin of a new-born lamb, like the “Astrachan”

of commerce. The women do not go entirely naked, but wear an apron of

calf-skin, which is bound round their loins, and reaches to their

knees.

Just like the Dinka, whose external habits, apart from their

hair-combs, they would appear almost entirely to follow, every man

amongst them ordinarily carries a club-shaped crutch, nearly three

feet in length, with a heavy round knob at its upper end, but which

tapers down to a point at the other extremity, so that it resembles a

gigantic nail. Their only arms are their long spiked lances, of which

(to judge from the equivalents taken in exchange) one is valued at a

Maria Theresa dollar. Bows and arrows are just as unknown amongst them

as amongst the neighbouring Dinka, whilst, on the contrary, amongst

the Nueir they are the chief weapons.

[Sidenote: SHILLOOK ANIMALS.]

The domestic animals which the Shillooks breed are oxen, sheep, and

goats, the same kinds as hereafter we shall find amongst the Dinka;

besides these, they keep poultry and dogs; other animals are scarce,

and probably could not endure the climate. Throughout the country dogs

abound, in shape like greyhounds, but in size hardly equal to our

pointers. They are almost always of a foxy-red colour, with a black

muzzle, much elongated; they are short-haired and sleek, and have long

tails, smooth as those of rats; their ears are tolerably long, the

upper portion being flabby and ragged, and therefore drooping forward.

Almost beyond example in their activity in leaping and running, so

fleet are they that with the greatest ease they outrun the gazelle,

and are everywhere of service in the chase; over the earth-walls ten

feet high, and over ant-hills, they bound with the celerity of cats,

and can jump three or four times the length of their own slim bodies.

I kept a number of genuine Shillook dogs, which subsequently did very

well in the farther interior, and increased considerably. Like all

dogs of the Nile district, from the Egyptian pariah to the village cur

of the Soudan, this breed is always found to be deficient in the

dew-claws of the hind foot, which always exist in our European dogs.

As a general rule, it may be said that the Shillook dog differs little

from the races of the Bedouins of Kordofan and of Sennaar.

The only conception which the Shillook entertain of a higher existence

is limited to their reverence for a certain hero, who is called the

Father of their race, and who is supposed to have conducted them to

the land which they at present occupy. In case of famine, or in order

that they may have rain, or that they may reap a good harvest, they

call upon him by name. They imagine of the dead that they are

lingering amongst the living and still attend them. It is with them as

with other uncultivated children of nature, that old traditions and

veneration of ancestors supply the place of religious legends or ethic

system.

Late in the evening of the 1st of February we left Fashoda, and

proceeded, without using the sail, for the greatest part of the night

along the left bank. At daybreak we arrived at the Egyptian camp. We

were received with singing, shouting, and the braying of trumpets. I

was conducted by the Governor to his tent, and whilst, hour after

hour, we smoked our pipes in company, I related to him the most recent

events in the political world. After talking to him about the sources

of the Nile, and the campaign of the English in Abyssinia, I told him

of the events of the “Seven Days’ War,” in return for which I was

presented with a fine bullock and several sheep and goats. The

encampment, as I found, consisted of some huts erected with straw in a

very off-hand way, the irregular forms of which contrasted very

disadvantageously with the symmetrical regularity which is so

conspicuous in the dwellings of the Shillooks. Military tents and

awnings of sedge completed the equipment of the camp. An ordinary

thorn hedge with two loopholes, in which a cannon was always placed,

protected the spot, which was close to the left bank of the river. In

the Mudir’s verandah I also made acquaintance with the Shillook chief,

to whom I before alluded, who had entirely surrendered to the Egyptian

Government, and was now, as the Governor expressed himself, “coming to

his senses.” There was no external indication whatever of his rank,

except a miserable rag which hung about his loins, or the common

sandals which he wore, might be considered such. His short-cropped

hair had no covering; his neck had a row of beads, such as the heads

of families are accustomed to wear, worth about a couple of groschen;

and this was all the decoration he displayed. He retained now but a

shadow of his former power; his better days were gone, days in which,

attended by a council of ancestral state, he had swayed the sceptre of

patriarchal dignity. Of all the negro races which occupy the entire

district of the Nile, the Shillooks used to uphold the most perfectly

regulated government, and to appreciate them thoroughly it is

necessary to refer back to the earliest registries, which those who

accompanied the expedition of Mehemet Ali left on record. But now this

condition is all changed, and everything has disappeared which gave

this independent and primitive people their most striking

characteristics.

[Sidenote: SHILLOOK SUBMISSION.]

In the immediate proximity of the camp all was generally at peace; the

Shillooks apparently submitted tamely enough to a Government which did

not exercise any very tyrannical power, and which contented itself

with demanding a supply of bullocks and a stated levy of provisions to

maintain the troops. Notwithstanding this usual semblance of concord,

the Governor was notoriously on terms of open enmity and feud with the

Shillooks in the south. Kashgar, another descendant of the ancient

reigning family, still maintained himself as an uncontrolled

sovereign, and was able to render that part of the river extremely

unsafe for navigation. Ever and again the Governor with his force,

never more than 600 strong, was undertaking expeditions against them;

but, as he himself told me, they never came to an actual engagement.

Although the blacks, he said, might muster 20,000 or 30,000 strong,

the second cannon shot was quite enough to make them scamper off, and

leave their flocks and herds in the lurch; upon these the mounted

Baggara, in the service of the Government, descended and made them an

easy spoil. This nomadic race, from time immemorial, has ever, as I

have already mentioned, been addicted to the plunder of cattle, and

has always exhibited a preference for that occupation.

In another respect the situation of the Government here is far from

easy. Not only are the Shillooks at heart at enmity to it, but it

excites the hostility of the trading companies who ascend the river.

Nothing indicates the circumstances better than the expression of a

member of one of these companies. “The Mudir,” he said, “doesn’t like

to attack the Shillooks; he takes care of them, and only wants a few

of their bullocks; but we—we should just like to annihilate them,

devil’s brood as they are.” In fact, as the Mudir said to me, he only

wanted the best of the Shillooks; the Shillooks know well enough that

their “best” is their cattle, and this they are not really resigned

passively to surrender, and so they go on and continue to be defiant,

till they feel the grenades and rockets scorching their skins. For the

future fortune of this favoured country I cannot anticipate much that

is good. Whilst the Viceroy refuses to appoint Europeans as governors,

like Munzinger in Massowa, his officers must fail in those

qualifications which would be adequate for the successful

administration of a newly-acquired negro territory. The visible

retrogression of the Egyptian Soudan with respect to cultivation,

confirms this unfavourable foreboding. Ismail Pasha centres all his

hope upon the stimulating influence of a railway which shall connect

Egypt with Khartoom, and very likely he may witness commerce enlarged

to an unsuspected magnitude; one thing, however, there is which he

cannot prevent, and that is the depopulation of the Shillook lands.

Since they remain closed to European civilisation, and since the

husbandmen in Egypt are sufficiently engrossed in acquiring fresh soil

for their own tillage at home, there is no prospect whatever for any

advantage to these lands, except it can be found in a large

immigration of labourers from Asia.

[Sidenote: JUDICIAL VERDICT.]

The Governor was a remarkably intelligent Kurd, and great was my

regret that I could not spare a longer time to listen to the

interesting information that he gave me about the habits of the

Shillooks, which he knew accurately from many years’ experience. I

accepted all that he said with the greater confidence, because it had

seldom occurred to me to meet a Turkish officer, who could fluently

speak the dialect of the country. He was continually being called upon

to adjust the disputes of the natives, who appealed to his judgment,

even in their most private concerns. One young girl there was who,

abashed and dejected, had been crouching in a corner, and then

ventured to present herself before him as adjudicator. With her speech

half-choked by emotion, she besought him to interpose his authority to

set aside the obstacles which her parents threw in the way of her

completing her marriage engagement with a young Shillook, whose name

was Yōd. The hindrance to the wedding was simply the fact that the

young man possessed no cattle. The Mudir inquired whether Yōd was not

the owner of some cows. Her reply was, “No; Yōd has no cows; but

Yōd wants me, and I want Yōd.” Although she urged her point over

and over again, and pressed the Mudir to pronounce in her favour,

because his judgment would constrain her parents, the Mudir did not

yield. The girl kept saying “we must,” and “we will;” the judge could

speak only of bullocks. There seemed to be no settling the matter,

when he said, “You must go and wait: wait till Yōd has bullocks enough

to satisfy your parents.” This was not a very comforting decision, but

it showed me plainly how that it was ever his rule to recognise the

customs of the country.

In order to attend to my European correspondence, which had fallen

somewhat into arrears during my voyage, I prolonged my stay for three

days. Pine forests of gum-acacias encompassed the spot as far as the

extensive Shillook villages allowed them space, whilst the opposite

shore presented an unreclaimed desert. At this season, when the waters

had nearly reached their lowest level, the banks of the river were

everywhere enlivened by numerous kinds of water-fowl. Ducks and geese

did not preponderate, as in the northern districts, but the bird most

frequently seen was the crowned crane. Thousands of these in swarms

were to be seen upon the level banks, nor was there much difficulty in

getting at them. Protected by the tall grasses on the slopes of the

bank, one had but to discharge a load of good-sized shot, and the

destruction was marvellous. Besides the black and rose-coloured storks

there is occasionally found the common stork, familiar to us at home;

deeper onwards in the interior I have always looked for this in vain.

In every region throughout Africa there exists the rapacious hawk,

whilst the graceful grey falcon is not at all uncommon. The most

remarkable bird of prey, however, is the large whitey-brown eagle

(_Haliaëtos vocifer_), which, sitting apart on trees and shrubs in the

proximity of the waters, startles the passer-by by its peculiar

shriek.

The noise of this bird is very singular, and is unlike any other known

note of the feathered race; its cry ever comes unexpectedly, and is

prolonged on the waters. Sometimes it makes one think that it must be

the cry of frightened women which alarms him; or sometimes it appears

as if a lot of shouting boys were rushing from their hiding-place. The

illusion is so perfect, that, for my part, I never failed to hurry off

in the direction of the sound, whenever I chanced to hear it. The

peculiar cry of the bird is so characteristic, that the inhabitants of

the Soudan have given it the expressive name of Faki, the shrieking

priest.

Of birds which attach themselves to inhabited parts, the

white-breasted Abyssinian raven is most abundant; the trees around

Fashoda are full of them. This species dwells in pairs, which are

continually hacking away at the tree stems, the raven not unfrequently

coming to associate with them. The Rahama, consecrated (as an emblem

of parental affection) amongst the ancient Egyptians and Hebrews,

collects in considerable numbers in Khartoom, where it does duty as a

scavenger; but although it is ever to be found in the towns of Egypt

and Nubia, it is never met with here; it shuns the wilderness, and

only feels at home in civilised places. In this district its place is

supplied by the little carrion vulture (_Neophron pileatus_), which

the people of the Soudan call “Nisr,” although this is only the

ordinary Arabian appellation of an eagle. The heaths, broken as they

frequently are by low shrubs, notwithstanding the nearness of so many

dwellings, afford a suitable resort for whole coveys of guinea-fowls.

The herbage on the steppe itself appears for miles together to be

covered with the Bamia (_Hibiscus esculentus_), a species of

marsh-mallow, the seed-pods of which form a favourite vegetable

amongst the Nubians. By the White Nile it grows perfectly wild, whilst

in the north it requires to be cultivated.

[Sidenote: ACACIA-GROVES.]

The acacia-groves produce gum in such unlimited quantities that, in

the interests of commerce, they are specially worthy of regard. In the

winter time, with the greatest ease in the course of a day a

hundredweight of this valuable article could be collected by one man.

Not once, however, did I see anyone gathering the gum, although the

merchants of Khartoom are never in a position to supply sufficient to

meet the demands of Europe. The descriptions of gum, which are hence

brought to the Khartoom market, are those known as Sennaari and Talha,

and are, in truth, only of a mediocre quality. Yet they do possess a

certain marketable value, and through their abundance could be made to

render a very large profit. The acacia-groves extend over an area a

hundred miles square, and stretch along the right bank of the stream.

The kind which is most conspicuous is the _A. fistula_, and which is

as rich as any other variety in gummy secretions. I choose this

definition of it from its Arabian appellation “soffar,” which

signifies a flute or pipe. From the larvæ of insects which have worked

a way to the inside, their ivory-white shoots are often distorted in

form and swollen out at their base with globular bladders measuring

about an inch in diameter. After the mysterious insect has

unaccountably managed to glide out of its circular hole, this

thorn-like shoot becomes a sort of musical instrument, upon which the

wind as it plays produces the regular sound of a flute; on this

account, the natives of the Soudan have named it the whistling-tree.

It yields a portion of the gum known on the exchange as gum of

Gedaref. It is often found in lumps as large as the fist; it is rarely

colourless, and more frequently than otherwise tinged with the hue of

amber.

Very striking is the sight afforded by the wood of acacias in the

months of winter; the boughs, bare of leaves and white as chalk,

stretch out like ghosts; they are covered with the empty pods, which

cluster everywhere like flakes of snow; whilst the voices of a

thousand flutes give out their hollow dirge. Such is the forest of the

Soffar.

[Illustration: Prickles of Acacia.]

The peculiarities which affect the growth of the acacia appear to be

transmitted to a very remarkable extent. On a former journey I took

some seeds to Cairo, which already had produced some trees of a very

considerable size. These trees exhibited the special appearances of

the parents; below the prickles were the same excrescences and

insect-borings; not only was this the case in the park of Esbekieh in

Cairo, but it also occurred in several other situations, which left

the problem to be solved, how was it that the insect survived in the

seed, or how did it contrive to get to its tree in Cairo?

[Sidenote: ABOO SAMMAT.]

On the 5th of February we finally left the Egyptian encampment, and

directed our course up the stream towards the region of the papyrus.

After sailing all night we stopped just short of the mouth of the

Sobat, on the right bank close to a forest. The progress of the coming

days would lead us through an insecure territory; we wanted to make up

our supply of wood, and knew that the hostility of the Shillooks

would, in many places, render any attempt at landing on our part quite

unadvisable. Of the boats which were bound for the Gazelle, only one

had arrived. In order to render us assistance, the Mudir had charged

the owner not to leave my party in the lurch. This circumstance had a

very important effect upon my whole journey, as it was the means of

introducing me to Mohammed Aboo Sammat, who was proprietor of the

boat. This magnanimous Nubian was destined to exercise a very

considerable influence on my undertaking, and, indeed, he contributed

more to my success than all the satraps of the Soudan. During my land

journey I had first made his acquaintance, and now he invited me to be

his guest until he should have accompanied me to the remotest tribes,

a proposal on his part which made my blood tingle in my veins. A

native of Dar-Kenoos, in his way he was a little hero. Sword in hand

he had vanquished various districts large enough to have formed small

states in Europe. A merchant full of enterprise, he avoided no danger,

and was sparing neither of trouble nor of sacrifice; in the words of

the Horaz, “he explored the distant Indies, and compassed sea and land

to escape poverty.” Yet all the while he had the keenest sympathy with

learning, and could travel through the remotest countries at the

bidding of science to see the wonders of the world.

Far as eye can see, the Sobat flows between level banks bounded by

unlimited steppes; where it joins the Nile it is about half as broad

as the main stream. For a considerable distance the cloudy milk-white

waters, which indicate the mountain stream, can be distinguished as

they roll into the deep azure of the White Nile. The Sobat water is,

however, far preferable to the Nile water, which, after being strained

as it were, through a filter of grass, emerges transparent in colour,

but with a flat, earthy flavour, which is highly disagreeable to the

palate. The effect of the commingling of the two streams can be

distinctly traced as far as Fashoda, where the inhabitants fancy they

enjoy some consequent sanitary advantage.

We kept quite close to the right bank of the uninhabited quarter, but

on the same day we found ourselves in full flight before thousands of

the native Shillooks, who, with their light canoes of ambatch,

hastened to the bank, and in thick troops prepared to displace us. As

fate would have it, just as we were within sight of the dreaded

Shillooks, our sailyard broke, and we were compelled to seek the land.

Soon rose the cry, “They are coming! they are coming!” for in fact we

could see them dashing over the stream with incredible celerity, and

crowding their canoes as thick as ants. Hardly had we regained our

craft, and made some speedy preparations for defence against an

attack, when the foremost of the Shillook men, equipped for war,

carrying their tufted lances in their hands, showed themselves by the

banks which only now we had quitted. Apparently they came to offer

some negotiation with us in the way of traffic; but ours was the

ancient policy, “Danaos timentes,” and we pushed on.

Although, including Aboo Saramat’s party, we numbered full eighty

armed men, we could not help suspecting that as soon as the north-east

breeze should drop, by whose aid we were going along the stream

without a sail, the savages would take advantage of our bad situation

and inadequate fighting force to make an attack upon us.

[Illustration: IN FULL FLIGHT BEFORE THE SHILLOOK CANOES.]

[Sidenote: A HASTY RETREAT.]

This fear was not without reason; there were here, at a guess, at

least 10,000 Shillooks on their legs and 3000 ambatch canoes in motion

on the river. Accordingly we pushed up the stream, and had an

opportunity, from a more secure neighbourhood, to observe the

Shillooks more accurately. My telescope aided me in my investigation.

I saw crowds of men violently gesticulating and contending; I saw

women burdened with baskets loaded with poultry clapping their wings.

After a while the Shillooks, disappointed, began to vacate the bank

which we had left, and on the river could now be seen a redoubled

movement of the canoes, whilst opposite fresh multitudes poured in,

and gave to the whole scene the appearance of a general emigration of

the people.

Within the last three years the boats had been permitted with

reluctance, and only when several were together, to approach the shore

at this part of the stream, for here it had happened in one single

season that five vessels, the property of Khartoom merchants, as they

were coming down the river laden with ivory, were treacherously

attacked one after the other. The stratagem was employed of diverting

the attention of the crews by an exhibition of attractive merchandise;

while the Nubians were off their guard, at a given signal the

Shillooks fell upon them and butchered them without exception.

Gunpowder, rifles, and valuable ivory, all fell into their hands; the

vessels they burnt. Ghattas himself, the merchant who owned the vessel

by which I was travelling, suffered the loss of a costly cargo, while

eighty men on that occasion met with a violent death. Only the Reis

and one female slave escaped to Fashoda. Betimes they threw themselves

into the water, and concealing their heads with some water weeds,

floated on till the stream carried them out of the reach of harm.

On the following morning, after we had passed the mouth of the Giraffe

river, we were joined by a flotilla of six boats. As we reckoned now

nearly 350 armed men, we felt that we could venture without risk to

enter upon commercial transactions with the Shillooks. The disturbed

condition of the country had interfered to prevent them carrying about

their merchandise as usual, and they now were collected in unusual

numbers at the mart.

A mile away from the river-bank there were rows of dome-palms bounding

a broad level, on which was exhibited all the liveliness of ordinary

market-clatter. Busy and bustling, there were thousands congregated

together; but the fear this time was not on our side. From far and

near streamed in the natives; many brought baskets full of corn, eggs,

butter, beans, and ostrich-feathers; others offered poultry, tied

together in bunches, for sale: there was altogether the bustle of such

a market as only the largest towns could display. The area was hemmed

in by a guard of armed men, whose lances, like standing corn,

glittered in the sun. The sense of security raised the spirits of the

light-hearted sailors, and their merry Nubian songs rose cheerfully in

the air. Two hours slipped quickly away, while the necessary purchases

were being made, the medium of exchange being white or red glass

beads. Soon afterwards a favourable breeze sprung up. Everything was

still active in the market; fresh loads came teeming from the

villages; the outcry and gesticulations of the market people were as

excited as ever, when suddenly there boomed the signal to embark. The

confusion, the noise, the hurry which ensued baffle all description;

the Shillooks were in a panic, and, imagining that it must be all up

with them, scampered off and jostled each other in every direction.

[Sidenote: NUBIAN LOGIC.]

The propitious wind did not, however, prevent our people from finding

time to make a little _détour_ into the country, where they had the

luck to find some herdsmen who were trying to conceal a heifer amongst

the grass. There was a report of a gun, and the beast was stretched

upon the ground. A few minutes sufficed to quarter its carcase, and

the hide and the pieces were conveyed on board. Half-a-dozen kids and

some sheep were added to the stock, and so we proceeded on our way. In

the eyes of the people such plundering is deemed to be perfectly

legitimate for various reasons: first, because the Shillooks are

heathen; secondly, because some years before they had burnt five

Nubian vessels; thirdly and chiefly, because mutton and beef are very

choice eating, particularly after having been limited for a time to

durrapap. My tawny companions seemed to think that they knew a fourth

palliation for their proceeding, which consisted in this, that none

but themselves were capable of making a proper use of the goods of the

blacks. In the districts of the Upper Nile, wherever the breeding of

cattle is carried on, it is a custom of the negroes never to kill an

animal, but only to consume those which die naturally; the reason

obviously being, that they look upon the possession of living cattle

as the main object of their existence. With them, steers do the duty

of guineas and napoleons; the Nubians, therefore, jocosely affirm that

they swallow the guineas, which in the keeping of the heathen are

nothing better than so much dead capital.

We were not long in leaving the Shillook villages far behind. The

inhabited region seemed to recede as our boat made its way along the

water-course. The stream divided itself into a multitude of channels,

which threaded their way amidst a maze of islands. The distant rows of

acacias on either side were the only tokens to indicate the mainland.

This was the day on which we first saw the papyrus. To me, botanist as

I was, the event elevated the day to a festival. Here at a latitude of

9° 30´ N. are we now first able to salute this sire of immortal

thought, which centuries ago was just as abundant in Egypt as at

present it is on the threshold of the central deserts of Africa. I was

quite lost in admiration at the variety of production of the surface

of the water, to which the antique papyrus gave a noble finish. It

strikes the gaze like the creation of another world, and seems to

inspire a kind of reverence: although for days and weeks I was

environed by the marvellous beauties which enrich the flora of the

Nile, my eye was never weary of the vision of its graceful form.

The hindrances to our progress caused by the excessive vegetation

began now to give us some anxiety. All day long we were bewildered not

only by the multiplicity of channels, but by masses of grass, papyrus,

and ambatch, which covered the whole stream like a carpet, and even

when they opened gave merely the semblance of being passages. It is

quite possible that the diversion of its course to the east, which,

for sixty miles the Nile here takes, may check the progress of the

stream, and be in a measure the cause of such a strange accumulation

of water-plants. Certain it seems that neither any exceptional depth

of water, such as may occur in particular years, nor yet any general

overflow wider than usual, avails to exercise the slightest influence

upon this exuberant vegetation. Were it a coating of ice it would

split itself into fragments under the pressure of the stream, but here

is a real web of tough tangle, which blockades the entire surface.

Every here and there, indeed, the force of the water may open a kind

of rift, but not corresponding at all with the deeper and true channel

of the stream. Such a rift is not available for any passage of the

boats. The strain of the tension, which goes on without intermission,

has such an effect in altering the position of the weedy mass, that

even the most experienced pilot is at a loss how to steer,

consequently every voyage in winter is along a new course, and through

a fresh labyrinth of tangle. But in July, when the floods are at their

highest, navigation can be carried on along well nigh all the

channels, since the currents are not so strong, and the vessels are

able to proceed without detention to their destinations.

[Sidenote: GRASS TANGLE.]

Thick masses of little weeds float about the surface of the water, and

by forming a soft pulp, contribute an effectual aid to bind together

the masses of vegetation. Like a cement this conglomerate of weeds

fills up all the clefts and chasms between the grass and ambatch

islands, which are formed in the back-water where the position is

sheltered from the winds and free from the influence of the current.

There are two plants, at a superficial glance hardly distinguishable,

which perform the largest share in the formation of this compact web.

One of them is the thin-membraned water-fern, the _Azolla_; the other

(which is quite familiar to every visitor to the tank of the _Victoria

regia_) being the _Pistia_, which can hardly fail to recall a head of

lettuce. The sailors of the White Nile call it the “negro tobacco,”

probably with reference to the dwarfed growth of the two kinds of

tobacco in the negro lands. Besides these, our duck-weeds (_Lemna_)

and Tussieua of various sorts intertwine themselves with the mass, and

the different African representations of our commonest water-plants

play a part by no means unimportant.

It is remarkable that in Egypt nearly all the species of water-plants

which abound in the stream of the White Nile are wanting entirely;

whilst, on the other hand, all the shore-shrubs, which had their

native home in the neighbourhood of the Equator, pass over the

intervening districts and there find a settlement. Even the

conspicuous ambatch is, in Egypt, not known by name; and it is quite

an event when any of the fragments of the papyrus find their way so

far north. Every bit of wood which the river carries in its flood is

collected by the inhabitants of the Nubian valley, and not a scrap

escapes the keen look-out of the people, who are eager to compensate

for their lack of firewood. At the season when the waters are at their

height, the chase after floating wood is a daily occupation and a

favourite engagement of the boys.

On the 8th of February began our actual conflict with this world of

weeds. That entire day was spent in trying to force our boats along

the temporary openings. The pilots were soon absolutely at a loss to

determine by which channel they ought to proceed. On this account two

vessels were detached from the flotilla to investigate the possibility

of making a passage in a more northerly direction. Two hundred of our

people, sailors and soldiers, were obliged to lug with ropes for hours

together to pull through one boat after the other, while they walked

along the edge of the floating mass, which would bear whole herds of

oxen, as I subsequently had an opportunity of seeing.

Very singular was the spectacle of the vessels, as though they had

grown in the place where they were, in the midst of this jungle of

papyrus, fifteen feet high; whilst the bronzed, swarthy skins of the

naked Nubians contrasted admirably with the bright green which was

everywhere around. The shrieks and shouts with which they sought to

cheer on their work could be heard miles away. The very hippopotamuses

did not seem to like it; in their alarm they lifted their heads from

the shallows in which they had stationed themselves for respiration,

and snorted till the gurgling around was horrible. The sailors,

concerned lest by their bulk these unwieldy creatures should injure

the boats—not an unknown occurrence—gave vent to the full force of

their lungs. This unearthly clamour was indeed the solitary means of

defence at their command; in such a turmoil—men and boats in every

direction—firing a shot was not to be thought of.

[Illustration: THE VESSELS IN THE GRASS-BARRIER.]

[Sidenote: EL SETT: THE GRASS-BARRIER.]

This extraordinary grass-barrier had already been met with at the time

of Miss Tinné’s expedition in 1863; here again in the summer of 1872

was it found, strong as ever, offering for months its serious

impediments to navigation, and threatening to expose the crews to

destitution, if their provisions should fail. The enterprising

expedition of Sir Samuel Baker, in 1870-71, suffered repeated

hindrances at this spot. An attempt was made to employ machinery to

penetrate the mass, but steam-boats proved to be even less successful

than the ordinary boats in making any headway. The conflict in these

waters by means of wind and steam recalls what is not unfrequently

seen in Egypt when a lot of men try to drag a donkey through the mud.

In this laborious fashion we had to toil on for several days. It was

only by one of the side-arms of the blockaded mainstream that it was

possible to reach the mouth of the Gazelle River. To this backwater

the sailors give the name of “Maia Signora,” because the access to it

is stated to have been discovered by the pilots who conducted Miss

Tinné. Ever since the formation of the grass barrier (_el Sett_) there

has been no approach to the river of Gondokoro, the Bahr-el-Gebel,

except by a long side-arm called the Giraffe River, which is itself

almost equally blocked up. Upon the whole we were more fortunate than

our predecessors of previous years, because our journey chanced to

fall during one of the periodical seasons when the growth of the

ambatch is at a standstill. It happened therefore that of the three

obstacles which (besides the current and the shallows) are generally

to be expected, viz., grass, papyrus, and ambatch, one of the most

important did not occur. The close of our first day’s exertion found

us at night-fall on the southerly side of an island in mid-stream,

whence we witnessed a spectacle striking in its way. Through an

immense grove of acacias seventy feet high (_A. verugera_), which were

remarkable for their resemblance to pine-trees, there gleamed, with

the glare of day, the light of huge bonfires of faggots, which the

Shillooks had kindled on the opposite bank, and which gave to the tall

trees the effect of being truly gigantic.

Here on the 9th we tarried, and as it was the last woody district upon

which we could reckon until we arrived at the mouth of the

Bahr-el-Arab, we set to work to repair our broken sailyard. We were

close now to the region of the Nueir: and on the steppes beyond the

wood, we could see troops of them moving backwards and forwards; but

they kept at a distance, and showed no disposition to open any

negotiations with us. Footprints and various other indications leave

no doubt but that this district is the playground of elephants,

giraffes, wild buffaloes, and hyenas. Maraboo storks were abundant,

and would often come tolerably close to the resorts of men, but as

soon as they found themselves observed were careful to keep at a safe

distance. During our progress along the river I brought down very many

of these birds, and secured a quantity of their valuable feathers.

These I sent to Europe, and at a bazaar for the benefit of the sick

and wounded they realised a considerable sum. Maraboo feathers fetch

higher prices than ostrich feathers, yet it is very remarkable that

they are quite unknown in the commerce of Khartoom.

[Sidenote: NUBIAN SONGS.]

The temperature of the preceding days had been singularly fresh, and

consequently the plague of flies, from which previous travellers had

had to endure so much, did not at all molest us. We were, however,

provided on board with all the appliances to protect ourselves from

this nuisance, in case of need. Far into the night after these days of

prolonged exertion resounded the songs of the Nubians, and the

gourd-shells of merissa beer went round amid the native strains of

Berber and Dongola. As I did not thoroughly understand the dialect of

Dongola, I continually lost the exact purport of the words which were

sung. One with the other the Nubians often use this dialect, although

they just as frequently speak Arabic. Every now and then as they sung

I made them tell me the sense of separate sentences; my listening to

them seemed to delight them all, and I heard them saying behind my

back, “Pity that the man is not a Mussulman, or at least a Turk, then

what a capital fellow he would be!” To which another replied, “Turk,

indeed! who ever heard of a Turk troubling himself about our songs?

The Franks are worth a thousand of them!” The flattery took its effect

upon me, and I was moved at once to deliver a regular homily to my

people. Feeling like Cæsar among the pirates, I proceeded to say, “Did

you ever hear, you rascals of cow-stealers, about those ancestors of

yours, the Ethiopians of Meroë?” “Yes, indeed,” rejoined the Nubians,

“for many and many a verse did our ancient poets compose about them,

to celebrate their virtue; and they used to declare about the ruler of

the gods (for at that time we believed in many gods) if he couldn’t be

found in heaven it was because he was lingering amongst his darling

Ethiopians on earth. But now, we have Allah, the great Allah; besides

Allah we care for no other.”

“All very well;” I replied; “but where is the poet who can sing about

his love to you, incorrigible thieves as you are? Just mind then what

you are about for the future, and try to show that you are not

unworthy of your great ancestors.”

The next day was again employed in unrelaxed endeavours to penetrate

the grass-bound channels. The patches of papyrus became at once more

frequent and more extensive, and here once again, after being long

missed, is found the genuine Nile reed, the “shary” of the ancient

Egyptians—the same as the soof of the Bible—which always grows on

the shores of the mainland. Somewhat strangely the prevailing

river-grass in the upper waters, the _Vossia procera_, is called in

Arabic “Om-Soof,” the mother of wool. This appellation it derives from

the peculiar hairy character of its leaf-sheaths. These have the

disagreeable quality of covering the entire bodies of those who may be

at work in the grass with a thick down of adhesive bristles. The

sharpness of these and the scratches they inflict increase the

irksomeness of the daily labour at the grass barrier. Still the great

prairies amidst which the flood pursues its course afford an

inexhaustible pasturage; cattle, sheep, and horses, all graze upon

them, and no herbage is there that they prefer to the “Om-Soof.” At

the close of the day, we again arrived in open water, and laid up for

the night by the left bank, which presented a wide steppe entirely

bare of trees.

Up with the sun, with sails hoisted with a moderate breeze in our

favour, off we were on the following morning; short-lived, however,

was our propitious start. Too soon the open water branched out into a

labyrinth of channels, and the bewildered navigators lost all clue as

to the actual direction of the stream. The projections of the green

islets were always crowned with huge clumps of papyrus, which here

grows in detached masses. It probably delights most in quiet waters,

and so does not attain to the form of a high unbroken hedge, as on the

upper banks of the Gazelle, for here, on account of the numerous

stoppages, the stream flows through the narrow channels with

extraordinary violence. The strength of the stream often makes towing

impracticable, and the sailors often have considerable difficulty in

sailing through it to the papyrus bushes, when they want to attach to

their solid stems the ropes which are thrown out from their boats.

This was the way in which we from sheer necessity sustained the

resistance of the current. The depth of the channel was quite

sufficient in itself to allow us to proceed, as our vessels drew only

three feet of water; but the passage had become so contracted that at

sunset we fastened ourselves to the papyrus-stems, quite despairing of

ever being able to make further progress in this direction.

[Sidenote: HIPPOPOTAMUSES.]

It was one of those marvellous nights when the unwonted associations

of a foreign clime seem to leave an indelible impression on the memory

of the traveller. Here were the dazzling sparks of the glow-worm,

glaring upon us like a greeting from our far-off home, and in

countless masses glittering upon the dewy stalks of the floating

prairie. In the midst of these were fastened our boats, hemmed in as

firmly as though they were enclosed by polar ice. Loud was the rushing

of the stream as it forced a way along its contracted course; but

louder still was the incessant splashing of the emerging

hippopotamuses, which had been driven by the vessels, as it were, into

a corner, and were at a loss, like ourselves, how to go on or to

retreat. Until daybreak their disquietude continued, and it seemed as

though their numbers kept increasing, till there was quite a crowd of

them. Already during the afternoon they had afforded a singular sight:

whilst about half of our men were wading in shallow water and

straining at the ropes, they found that they had entirely enclosed no

less than six hippopotamuses, whose huge flesh-coloured carcases,

dappled with brown, rose above the surface of the water in a way but

rarely seen. A cross-fire was opened upon them from several vessels,

but I could not make any use of my elephant rifle, because about 200

of our men were towing upon my line of sight. The clumsy brutes

snorted and bellowed, and rolled against each other in their

endeavours to escape; their ponderous weight bore down the tangle of

the water-growth, and the splashing was prodigious.

Four days had now been consumed in this strain and struggle; after a

final and unavailing effort on the fifth day, there seemed no

alternative but to go back and make trial of another and more

northerly branch of this bewildering canal-system. We succeeded in our

retrograde movement so far as to attain an open basin, and found that

we had only the distance of about 200 feet to get over, in order that

we might reach the spot whereat the various streams of the Upper Nile

unite. This place on the maps is distinguished by the name of Lake No,

but the sailors always call it Mogren-el-Bohoor, _i.e._, the mouth of

the streams. The difficulties which met us here were apparently quite

hopeless. Our boats were not only heavily laden with corn, but, formed

of the heaviest wood, their build was unusually broad and massive. Yet

heavy and unwieldy as they were there was no alternative than

literally to drag them over the grass. By dint, however, of main

force, before the day was out the task was accomplished. The grass

mass itself was lifted and pushed in front, whilst the men turned

their backs against the sides of the boats, and pressed them on from

behind. I was the only passenger to remain on board, because being

fearful of a chill which might result in fever, I could not venture

into the water.

What the maps call Lake No is merely the expanded mouth of the meeting

waters. The current flowing from the south from the Bahr-el-Gebel

passes along its apparent shores, which are projecting masses of

papyrus. In order to reach the Gazelle it is necessary to bend

westwards along the gradually narrowing lake-basin. At no season of

the year is this water otherwise than shallow; even at the time of our

retrograde voyage, when the floods were highest, we stranded more than

once. Floating islands of papyrus of considerable extent were visible

every here and there, and broke the uniformity of the expanse.

The passage which leads to the Gazelle has the essential properties of

running water, although the stream itself is in winter scarcely

perceptible. The river, however, is surrounded by such a multiplicity

of backwaters and waters remaining in old river-beds, that the united

volume of such a number of streams as I saw emptying themselves into

it, at various times, through some hundreds of miles, could not

possibly find its exit through this single channel alone. Petherick,

in 1863, at the period when the water-floods were as low as possible,

estimated the volume of waters to be rolling on at the rate of 3042

cubic feet a second; but he must have referred simply to the navigable

channel at the mouth, without intending to represent that the

calculation referred to the entire mass of the waters.

It remains still a matter of dispute which of the two currents should

be considered as the main stream. According to analogy, as the Sobat

is related to the Blue Nile, so the Bahr-el-Gebel is to the

Bahr-el-Abiad, just as the Blue Nile is to the Nile of Egypt.

[Sidenote: THE GAZELLE.]

One of the objects contemplated in my journey was to show the

importance of the western affluents of the Nile which unite in the

Gazelle; and I have given evidence that, one way and another, they

traverse a region of not less than 150,000 square miles. When I

mention that in 1863 Speke called the Gazelle “an unimportant

branch,”[11] and moreover that Baker has spoken of its magnitude with

great depreciation, in reply, I might allude to another interesting

fact in geographical annals. Not only did Bruce, a hundred years ago,

suppose that he had discovered the sources of the Nile in Abyssinia,

just where a hundred years previously they had been marked upon the

Portuguese maps; but he represented the Bahr-el-Abiad as an

inconsiderable stream, which joined the stream of his discovery at

Halfaya, Khartoom at that time being not in existence. But it is

absolutely impossible that Bruce could have returned from Sennaar to

Berber along the left bank of the Blue Nile, and could have crossed at

its mouth from the very spot where Khartoom now stands, without being

aware that close behind him there was rolling its waters a stream as

broad again as the Blue Nile. The record of his travels does not

contain one word about the White Nile. The plain truth is that the

White Nile was overlooked and disparaged, because it would have thrown

his Blue Nile in the shade.[12] Ismail Pasha was quite right in saying

that every fresh African traveller had his own private sources of the

Nile; but for my part I am not at all ashamed to confess that I have

not found them.

The wind was favourable, and so long as the course maintained a

north-westerly direction we made a rapid progress. The main channel

gradually contracted, however, and deviated into many abrupt

meanderings, which had to be traversed by pushing and driving with

poles. Here, too, the apparent banks consisted of floating

grass-tangle, though further off the pasturing herds of the Dinka

showed the true position of the mainland, whilst the ridge of forest

beyond indicated the limit to which the inundations had extended.

North of the mouth of the Gazelle the boundaries of the Shillooks and

the Dinka meet each other, and the intervening territory is inhabited

by the Nueir.

[Sidenote: A GHATTAS BIRD.]

In some places amongst the grass-tangle I made an attempt to botanize,

and out of the numerous holes I fished up a variety of most

interesting plants. The Gazelle is specially noted for the beauty of

its water-lilies (_Nymphæa stellata_ and _N. lotus_). Blossoms of

these, in every variety of hue—white, blue, and crimson—well-nigh

everywhere adorn the surface of the water; rooted below they project

their long stalks and leaves through the apertures, like fishes, in

the winter, to catch the air through holes in the ice. Should any one

make a grasp at a blossom and fail to make good his hold, it may

happen that the entire plant will make an elastic rebound and

disappear beneath the grass. During the afternoon our course was N.W.

and W.N.W., which is the general direction of the Gazelle throughout

its lower half. The stream became wider again, the banks continuing to

be lined by an impenetrable grass jungle. Remarkable dark-coloured

water-birds (_Plotus melanogaster_) are found in considerable numbers

upon the shores, intent upon making prey of small fishes. They settle

upon the bushes, and one may every now and then be seen to make a

sudden dive into the water, bring up a little fish in its beak, and

resume its previous perch. Amongst the people of Khartoom this bird is

called the “Ghattas,” a name which invested it with a special interest

to me as being the name of my temporary protector.

For some few days past, just before sunset, great masses of tiny green

flies had made their appearance. Although these were in no respect

injurious, yet the buzzing they made and the choking cough which was

caused by their numbers were anything but agreeable. Shortly after

dark they retreated, only to appear again in the early dawn. Much more

pertinacious were the spotty-legged gnats, which now began to torment

us when the nights were not cool enough to disperse them. Everybody on

board had provided himself for protection with a sack made of calico

in which he slept, the result of which was ordinarily a temperature of

some 80° Fahr., about the same as a regular vapour-bath. These gnats

did not buzz about with so loud a noise, but their sting was much more

decided. They might not cause such a lasting itching as some of their

northern kindred, but the knack they had of finding a way for their

proboscis through the thickest cotton till it reached one’s skin, made

it only possible to keep them off by means of mosquito-nets. But

altogether I reckoned this visitation as hardly worth the notice of a

traveller who had grown up amongst the gnats of the teeming marshes of

the north.

The Bahr-el-Ghazal may in some respects be compared to the Havel as it

flows between Potsdam and Brandenburg; the two rivers are not

dissimilar in their excess of floating vegetation, composed of plants

which, to a great extent, are identical in their generic character.

Frequently the breadth is not more than enough for a single vessel,

but the depth could not be fathomed by our longest poles, and so

revealed what was the enormous volume of water concealed by the carpet

of grass for two hundred paces on either hand. What ordinarily appears

to be land assumes at high water the aspect of an extensive lake. The

general uniformity of level prevents any extensive range of vision;

but I had only to mount the roof of my cabin, and, by observing the

distance between the woods that skirted the prospect, I could

approximately estimate the width of the river-bed. Nowhere did it

appear to me to extend, like the valley of the Egyptian Nile, to a

breadth of eight miles; and certainly, without further evidence, I

cannot agree with former travellers, who describe it as being a lake

or marsh of which the boundaries are unlimited.

[Illustration: Balæniceps Rex.]

[Sidenote: BALÆNICEPS REX.]

Neither crocodiles nor hippopotamuses are here to be observed. The

absence of settled river-banks prohibits the Upper Nile from being the

resort of the former; the deficiency of sand-banks would permit no

life to the latter, which therefore make good their retreat to the

narrower streams of the interior.

The second day of our voyage along the river brought us to the

district tenanted by the Nueir. We found them peacefully pasturing

their flocks and herds beside their huts, and betraying nothing like

fear. They had been represented to me as an intelligent people;

seeming to know what they had to expect or to dread, they were

disposed for friendly intercourse with the Khartoom people, who, in

their turn, were not inclined to commit any act of violence upon their

territory. Two years and a half later, at the period of our return,

all this was unfortunately changed, and landing was impossible.

Most of the Nueir villages lie on a spot where the Gazelle makes a

bend from a north-east to a south-westerly direction. As we were

making our way past the enclosures which lie on either side of the

stream, my attention was arrested by the sight of a number of some of

the most remarkable birds that are found in Africa. Strutting along

the bank, they were employing their broad bills to grope in the slimy

margins of the stream for fish. The bird was the _Balæniceps Rex_, a

curiosity of the rarest kind, known amongst the sailors as the

Abu-Markoob (or slipper-shape), a name derived from the peculiar form

of its beak. It scientific name is due to the disproportionate

magnitude of its head. Before 1850 no skins of this bird had been

conveyed to Europe; and it appeared unaccountable to naturalists how a

bird of such size, not less than four feet high, and of a shape so

remarkable, should hitherto have remained unknown; they were not aware

that its habitat is limited to a narrow range, which it does not quit.

Except by the Gazelle and in the central district of the

Bahr-el-Gebel, the Balæniceps has never been known to breed.

The first that appeared I was fortunate enough to hit with a rifle

ball, which wounded it in its back, and brought it down: we measured

its wings, and found them to be more than six feet across. Another was

struck, but although it was pursued by an active party of Nubians, it

effected an escape. As generally observed, the bird is solitary, and

sits in retired spots; its broad beak reclines upon its crop, and it

stands upon the low ground very much as it is represented in the

accompanying illustration: it rarely occupies the ant-hills which

every here and there rise some feet above the vegetation. The great

head of the bird rises over the tall blades of grass and ever betrays

its position. Its general structure would class it between a pelican

and a heron, whilst its legs resemble those of a maraboo; it snaps

with its beak, and can make a clattering noise like the stork. This

Balæniceps would seem to furnish a proof that not everything in nature

is perfectly adapted to its end, for when the birds are full grown,

they never have their beaks symmetrical. The upper part does not

correspond with the lower; the two members fall apart, and, like an

old woman’s jaws, go all awry. The colour of their plumage in winter

is a dingy light brown, their wings are black, and they seem to fly

with difficulty, carrying their ungraceful heads upon their necks at

full stretch, like a heron. They build in the rainy season, always

close to the open water, forming their great nests of ambatch-stalks.

At the next groups of huts we made a stop, and did some bartering with

the Nueir, who brought sheep and goats for exchange. Here, in the

heart of the Nueir population, in a district called Nyeng, we fixed

our quarters until the 16th. I made use of the time to spend the whole

day in my ambatch-canoe, collecting the water-plants from the river.

[Sidenote: THE NUEIR.]

The Nueir are a warlike tribe, somewhat formidable to the Dinka. They

occupy a territory by the mouths of the two tributaries of the White

Nile, and are evidently hemmed in by hostile neighbours. In most of

their habits they resemble alike the Shillooks and the Dinka, although

in their dialect they differ from both. The pasturage of herds is

their chief pursuit. The traveller who would depict their

peculiarities must necessarily repeat much of what he has already

recorded about the other tribes. With regard to apparel it will

suffice to say that the men go absolutely naked, the women are

modestly girded, and the girls wear an apron formed of a fringe of

grass. Their hair is very frequently dyed of a tawny-red hue by being

bound up for a fortnight in a compo of ashes and cow-dung; but

occasionally it is cut quite short. Some of them weave cotton threads

into a kind of peruke, which they stain with red ochre, and use for

decoration where natural locks are not abundant. Their huts resemble

those of the Dinka; always clean, the dwellings are surrounded by a

trampled floor; the sleeping-place inside is formed of ashes of

cow-dung, burnt perfectly white, and is warmer and better than any

mosquito-net.

Nowhere in the world could a better illustration be afforded of the

remarkable law of Nature which provides that similar conditions of

existence should produce corresponding types amongst all ranks of

animal creation. It does not admit of a doubt that men and beasts in

many districts of which the natural features are in marked contrast to

the surrounding parts do exhibit singular coincidences, and that they

do display a certain agreement in their tendencies. The confirmation

of this resemblance which is offered by the Shillooks, the Nueir, and

the Dinka is very complete; these tribes, stationed on the low marshy

flats which adjoin the river, are altogether different in habit to

those which dwell among the crags and rocks of the interior. “They

give the impression,” says my predecessor Heuglin, “that amongst men

they hold very much the same place that flamingoes, as birds, hold

with reference to the rest of the feathered race;” and he is right.

The dwellers in these marsh-lands would probably have a web between

their toes were it not compensated by the flatness of their feet and

the unusual prolongation of the heel. Another remarkable similarity is

the way in which, like the birds of the marshes, they are accustomed

for an hour at a time to stand motionless on one leg, supporting the

other above the knee. Their leisurely long stride over the rushes is

only to be compared to that of a stork. Lean and lanky limbs, a long,

thin neck on which rests a small and narrow head, give a finishing

touch to the resemblance.

Leaving the last dwellings of the Nueir behind us, we arrived on the

following day at the first wood which is to be observed on the banks

of the Gazelle. Ant-hills of more than ten feet high are here

scattered in every direction, and alone break the universal levelness

of the plain. They are not unfrequently found in the heart of a

thicket, because originally the stem of a tree served as the central

axis of the earthy structure. Dead and withered though this had been,

it sprouted out afresh from the roots, provided that these had been

uninjured by the passages of the ants. Vestiges of the floods are

traceable upon them, and show that the average difference between the

highest and lowest level of the water is from three to four feet.

[Sidenote: ALONG THE GAZELLE.]

The river wends its way through charming wood-scenery, meandering

amidst groves gay with the red bindweed (_Ipomæa_), amidst which now

and then a tall tamarind uprears itself. Here I met with a fresh

representative of the flora of Central Africa in the tree-like

Euphorbia with its arms outspread like candelabras. This can be

distinguished from the Euphorbia of the Abyssinian highlands,

mentioned in Chapter I., by the involved confusion of its branches.

Its eccentric shapes would seem to fill a place in Africa which in

America is supplied by the order of the Cactaceæ; it also serves like

the Mexican Cereus for the enclosure of estates, as slips taken from

its branches readily take root in the ground. The sportsman could here

reckon on a good bag, for the widow-ducks which swarmed upon the

papyrus were brought down at every shot, and were serviceable for the

table. Our people were all expert swimmers, and they continually

fished out of the stream the birds which were struck, while their

sport in no way ever hindered the progress of our craft.

The wind next day was not propitious, and the boats were obliged to

stay beside a grass tangle by the bank. I made use of the detention to

enjoy a little fishing for water-plants. The water-lilies surpassed

all description, and would adorn any Victoria-house. Unfortunately I

could not succeed in transferring to this region the queen of the

waters. The _Victoria regia_ seed, which I had brought for the purpose

in pots, would never germinate; perhaps, although it was preserved in

water, the heat of my cabin during my voyage was too great and

destroyed its vitality. I can only boast of having naturalised in this

district of Central Africa two plants as representatives of culture in

Europe—the sun-flower and the tomato. The river, which is ordinarily

about 300 feet wide, abounds in thick masses of potamogeton, trapa,

and yellow ottelia. The seeds of this last plant much resemble the

sesamum, growing like the seeds of the Nymphæa in a slimy gelatinous

mass; they are collected by the natives, and, after being dried, are

pounded down into a sort of meal, which the sailors of Khartoom

assured me was a wholesome and excellent remedy for indigestion. It

surprised me very much to learn that the eatableness of the water-nut

(_Trapa_) was unknown to the Dinka, although it grew in such abundance

on the river.

We landed, towards evening, close below the mouth of the Bahr-el-Arab

in a forest of lofty trees, where the West African _Stephegyne_

appears to find its extreme eastern limit. The wood of this species of

Rubiaceæ is somewhat soft and light, but its branches make masts for

the boats of a strength and straightness unequalled by any other

growth in these countries, where wood adapted for erections of any

sort is so notably scarce.

The Gazelle, at the place where the Bahr-el-Arab empties itself, has a

width of about 1000 feet. This mouth is itself not much less, but just

above the mouth the condition of the Gazelle is so different that it

must be evident to every sailor that the Bahr-el-Arab plays a very

important part in contributing to the entire system.

What the sailors mean by the Bahr-el-Ghazal is really only the channel

as far as they navigate it; to them it is not a stream, in a

hydrographical sense, such as either the Bahr-el-Arab or the

Bahr-el-Dyoor. It is only at the mouth of the Bahr-el-Arab that there

first appears a measurable current, and the fairway, which up to that

point is not above 15 feet deep, is subsequently never less than twice

that depth. After getting every information I could in the remotest

west, I come to the conclusion that the Bahr-el-Arab is the main

stream. Even at a distance of 300 miles above its mouth it is found

throughout the year as a stream which cannot be forded, but must be

crossed in boats, whilst the Bahr-el-Dyoor cannot be traced at all at

so great a distance from its union with the Nile. The plains through

which the Gazelle flows are too level to allow of any recognition at

first sight of the true limits of the territory subject to its

inundations. Any one, however, who is familiar with the character of

the vegetation of the country, will easily detect symptoms from which

he could form a tolerably correct opinion. Accordingly, on my return

journey in 1871, I gathered ample evidence to satisfy myself that the

Gazelle, associated as it is with the Bahr-el-Arab and the

Bahr-el-Dyoor, is a river just as truly as either of the others. The

fall of the water in the Gazelle is only produced by the torrent

driven from the south and west, and may hardly admit of being

estimated, since the entire difference measured between Khartoom and

the Meshera (the termination of the navigable course) does not

altogether amount to 100 feet.

[Sidenote: STREAM OF THE GAZELLE.]

An important change in the scenery of the shores supervenes upon a

further progress. The lake-like surface of the water gives to the

Bahr-el-Ghazal the semblance at first sight of being merely an

extensive backwater. That just above the mouth of a stream so

considerable as the Bahr-el-Arab there should be this abundance of

water at the very time of the year when it is at its lowest ebb, is a

circumstance which cannot fail to confirm the supposition which I

entertained when I entered the Gazelle: I was certain that the narrow

channel through which we travelled in the district of the Nueir could

not possibly be the entire river; and there surely must exist to the

north of the river other not inconsiderable arms, which are

inaccessible on account of the denseness of the river grass.

Unhindered by any material obstacles, our course now lay between

floating islands, which were partly adorned with variegated blossoms,

and partly loaded with a luxuriant growth of splendid ferns. The poles

sufficed to keep the boats from the floating vegetation, the masses of

which were as unyielding as though they had been sheets of ice. It was

evident by the motion of these masses, that the current, though it

flowed languidly, had a continued progress towards the east. The river

only varies in depth from about 8 to 14 feet. The bed presents the

appearance of a meadow, in which little bright tortoises enjoy their

pasture. This submerged sward is composed exclusively of the Ethiopian

vallisneria, of which the female blossoms, affixed to spiral

peduncles, rise from a fathom deep to the surface of the stream, their

coiling stalks extending far and wide. Very wonderful is this plant in

its sexual development; its northern sisters haunt the waters of the

Po and of the Rhone, and have furnished a theme for the admiration of

the poet.

Far away, on either side, beyond the flooded borders of the grassy

river-bed could be discerned, at a distance of a league or two, large

tracts of forest land; and between the river and the line of woods

which stretched to the horizon there could be observed the cumbrous

shapes of elephants going to and fro, and demonstrating that there at

least the land was firm.

The channel, which we rapidly passed along under favourable breezes,

became continually broader, and the nearer we approached the river

source, the more the banks seemed to recede from each other. The sight

of men, fishing out of canoes formed by a couple of hollow stems being

fastened together, made us aware that we were approaching the

dwellings of the Dinka, and soon after we came upon the enclosures for

cattle surrounded by low thatch huts upon the left bank. Sailing on

towards the south and south-east, we approximated to the limit of our

voyage. A great cracking up in the air revealed to us that the

sailyard had once more broken, so that it was only by main force, by

pushing and pulling, that we managed to reach a large Dinka village,

which lay on the west, almost at the extremity of the stream. Here was

the _cul-de-sac_, to which the Dinka have given the name of the Kyt.

We had quite recently passed the mouth of the Dyoor, which appears to

separate into several streams; but if my attention had not been called

to this circumstance by the Reis, I should certainly never have

observed it, on account of the uniform features of that watery region.

In our delight at having so quickly, and without misadventure,

accomplished our passage up the Gazelle, we had a night of feasting

and merry-making.

[Sidenote: MESHERA ON THE GAZELLE.]

The remainder of the journey was soon completed, and in the early

morning hours of the 22nd of February we found ourselves at the

Meshera, the landing-place of all who resort to the Gazelle. This

place is marked in the maps as Port Rek, called so from the Rek, a

section of the Dinka. These Rek people were the first allies among the

natives that the new comers had acquired, and they had been accustomed

to provide them with bearers long before the Khartoom merchants had

established any settlements in the interior. Deducting the days on

which we had not proceeded, our boats had taken thirty days in going

from Khartoom to the Meshera. I had been anxious to make a good

investigation of the river banks; otherwise the voyage might easily be

accomplished in twenty days.

Above the mouth of the Dyoor, so difficult of access, the deep channel

is continued for a space of sixteen miles, when it forms the

_cul-de-sac_ which I have mentioned: there is not the least current

when the waters are all at their height; but in March and April there

may at some places be observed a retrograde motion of the stream. It

is manifestly an ancient bed of the Dyoor, or of some river which in

the lapse of time has changed its course. It is not easy to explain

it, but the stream seemed to me, as I think I could farther

demonstrate, the navigable overflow of some inland liman, that is, the

receptacle of a number of considerable rivulets meeting together,

something like what the delta of the Canton river would be, if it

could be levelled, filled up, and carried away inland. The uniform

depth of the channel might seem to originate in some freak in the

conformation of the ground, or of the masses of vegetation, which are

irregularly scattered about; but really it is only an indication of a

condition of things long passed away, when the mainstream flowed

through better defined and more contracted borders.

Let us for a moment review the impressions we have gained. The volume

of water brought by the Gazelle to swell the Nile is still an unsolved

problem. In the contention as to which stream is entitled to rank as

first-born among the children of the great river god, the

Bahr-el-Ghazal has apparently a claim in every way as valid as the

Bahr-el-Gebel. In truth, it would appear to stand in the same relation

to the Bahr-el-Gebel as the White Nile does to the Blue. At the season

when the waters are highest, the inundations of the Gazelle spread

over a very wide territory; about March, the time of year when they

are lowest, the river settles down, in its upper section, into a

number of vast pools of nearly stagnant water, whilst its lower

portion runs off into divers narrow and sluggish channels. These

channels, overgrown as they look with massy vegetation, conceal

beneath (either in their open depth, or mingled with the unfathomable

abyss of mud) such volumes of water as defy our reckoning. The Gazelle

then it is which gives to the White Nile a sufficient impetus to roll

its waters onward; subsequently the Bahr-el-Gebel finds its way and

contributes a more powerful element to the progress of the stream. It

must all along be borne in mind that there are besides two other

streams, the Dyoor and the Bahr-el-Arab, each of them more important

than any tributary of the Bahr-el-Gebel; and these bring in their own

influence. To estimate aright the true relation of all these various

tributaries is ever opening up the old question in a new light.

[Sidenote: THE KYT.]

The ramifications above the mouth of the Bahr-el-Arab are very

complicated, and must be very imperfectly traced on our present maps.

The map issued by Lejean has many details, but must be accepted with

caution, and requires us to remember that paper is patient of error as

well as of truth. Whoever has traversed the lakes (so to call them) to

the west of the Bahr-el-Arab, has, almost immediately beyond the mouth

of the Dyoor, come upon the winding channel known as “the Kyt.” The

shores of the Kyt are firm; there are detached groups of papyrus

driven by the wind sometimes to its one bank, and sometimes to the

other: its waters rise and fall, but have no other apparent motion; it

widens at its extremity into a basin of papyrus, which was now open,

but which in 1863 was entirely choked by ambatch. Heuglin, at that

date, discerned, as he thought, in the dwindled and distorted stems a

prognostication of an approaching disappearance of the ambatch; and

from 1869 to 1871 there was no trace of it, Various openings are made

by the water towards the west among the masses of papyrus, which

enclose a labyrinth of little wooded islets.[13] One of these islands

is the resting-place for the boats, and close at hand the voyagers

establish their temporary camp. Being surrounded on every side by the

water, all is secure from any hostile attack. The regular

landing-place is on the southern shore of the basin, and thence

commence the expeditions to the interior.

Such is the channel which, from the times of the earliest explorers,

which appear to extend from the date of Nero’s centurions, mentioned

by Seneca, up to the mercantile enterprises and voyages of discoveries

of the last ten years, has always brought boats to that _cul-de-sac_,

called by the Nubian sailors their Meshera. The first boat, which

actually entered the Gazelle, was that of a Khartoom merchant, named

Habeshy, in 1854; two years later followed Consul Petherick, the first

to open mercantile transactions with the tribes resident in these

remote regions.

At that time, when nothing was known either of the Dyoor or of the

Bahr-el-Arab, it must have been no small surprise to the first

explorers to see a stream so large suddenly end amongst a labyrinth of

small islands, without any navigable affluent. Only by the help of a

native pilot was such a discovery possible.

[Illustration: The Meshera.]

[Sidenote: MALARIOUS ATMOSPHERE.]

I was compelled to linger out the remainder of February and the

greater part of March in camp upon the little island, pending the

arrival of the bearers who were to help me onwards to Ghattas’s

Seriba. I was happy in escaping any ill effects such as might be

dreaded from a protracted residence by this unhealthy river. I

attributed my immunity in great measure to the precautionary use of

quinine. Although by my daily occupations, botanising in swamps and

continually wading amongst papyrus clumps, I had been more exposed to

malaria than many others, I experienced no sickness. I swallowed every

day, in three doses, eight or nine grains of quinine, enclosed for

that purpose in gelatine capsules; this method is to be strongly

recommended to every traveller, since the intense bitterness of the

medicine taken in its undisguised form may excite a degree of nausea

which, I can well believe, may contribute its part to a liability to

fever. This treatment I continued, without its having any ill effect

upon my constitution, until I could dispense with it in the purer air

of the interior. I suppose, since this is not an universal experience,

that the effects of the alkaloids may vary with different patients,

and therefore it would be well for every one first to test the

susceptibility of his individual constitution.

It is only too well known how many victims this treacherous climate

has already claimed; it may without exaggeration be maintained, that

half the travellers who have ventured into the swamps have succumbed

to fever. The highest mortality was in the settlements of the Austrian

mission in Gondokoro and St. Cross, now long since abandoned. Miss

Tinné’s expedition of 1863 suffered the loss of five out of its nine

European members, among them my unfortunate predecessor in the

botanical investigation of this district, Dr. Steudner, who died

suddenly quite at the beginning of the journey. Heuglin, too, lost the

greater part of his valuable time in continual relapses of fever. The

foundations of these miserable attacks had probably been laid in the

miasma, of which the traveller had inhaled the poison during a

protracted sojourn in the Meshera. The latest Job’s comfort, which had

most unnerved me, had come just as I was embarking at Trieste. The

French Geographical Society had, a few months previously, sent out Le

Saint, a naval officer, on a voyage of discovery, having for its

object the same district as myself, viz., the Niam-niam countries. His

outward journey had been much lengthened by the grass obstruction in

the Giraffe stream, and he died before he entered the country in which

his more extended wanderings were designed to commence.

Before quitting the Meshera (the only landing-place for expeditions

starting from the Gazelle) I will make a few observations on the

natural character, scenery, and inhabitants of the region of this

unique island world.

The Meshera had been reached by eighteen different boats belonging to

Khartoom merchants, and these now lay, half-buried in mud and clay,

firmly wedged in the jungle of papyrus. Every new comer could only by

great exertions procure a fresh resting-place. For that purpose they

proceeded in the following way: they backed their boat a little into

the open water, and anchored; then a rope was fastened to a strong

mass of papyrus-roots, which it towed with its loosened clods attached

into open water, until the breeze carried over the entire floating

mass to the opposite side of the basin. Thus was obtained one

artificial Delos after another. The access to the bank is, however,

still left blocked up by the compact border of papyrus thus conveyed

across. By means of fire and hatchet avenues are then opened, and the

long roots of papyrus are piled upon the elastic sward of its stubble

until an available pathway is complete.

Most of the islands are adorned by graceful masses of bushes and by

light groves of the larger trees, but the hatchet of strangers every

year is altering this condition of things. In spite of all the

uniformity of the tall papyrus bushes, and notwithstanding the burnt

and dry appearance of the steppe-grasses, there is no lack, even in

the mild winter of this little island-world, of the charms of scenery.

The dark crowns of the evergreen tamarind stand out in sharp outline

against the bare rugged branches of the acacias in their grey winter

garb, between which the eccentric shapes of the candelabra-euphorbiæ,

closely interlaced, bound the horizon in every direction, and form, as

often as the eye wanders over the neighbouring islands, a fine

gradation of endless shades of colour. This is especially noticeable

in the early morning, when at sunrise a heavy mist hangs over the damp

flats, and sometimes here, sometimes there, sets limits to the

prospect, in a way that would lend enchantment to any scenery.

[Sidenote: SECURITY IN THE MESHERA.]

Protected by the endless ramifications of the marshes against any

attacks of dangerous quadrupeds from the mainland, the sojourner here

had only the most determined of all depredators to fear, namely, man

himself. But even this fear was not really great. Nowhere on the face

of the earth is a country more surrendered to robbery and lawlessness

than this district of Africa; but still, as ever, one form of mischief

balances another: man is a match for man; and so it results that the

stranger may find repose and security here as much as elsewhere. The

natives, who occupy the entire land in a wide circumference from the

Meshera, form a portion of the great Dinka family, whose extreme

outposts extend eastwards towards the Egyptian borders of Upper

Sennaar, and whose tribes are counted by the hundred.

One of the most influential personages of the neighbouring race of the

Lao was a woman, already advanced in years, of the name of Shol. She

played an important part as a sort of chief in the Meshera, her

riches, according to the old patriarchal fashion, consisting of

cattle. As wealthy as cattle could make her, she would long since have

been a prey to the Nubians, who carry on their ravages principally in

those regions, if it had not chanced that the intruders needed her for

a friend. They required a convenient and secure landing-place, and the

paramount necessity of having this induced them to consider plunder as

a secondary matter. They provided in this way, that single boats, even

after all others had taken their departure, could safely remain in the

Meshera throughout the rainy season without incurring any risk from

the natives. The boatmen accordingly respect the bank of the river

which is the resort of Shol’s herds; whilst Shol, on her part, uses

all her influence to retain her tribe on friendly terms with the

strangers. The smallest conflict might involve the entire loss of her

property.

The old Shol did not delay, but the very first day came to my boat to

visit me. On account of the colour of my skin, the Nubians had told

her that I was a brother of the Sigñora (Miss Tinné). My pen fails in

any attempt to depict her repulsiveness. Her naked negro skin was

leathery, coarse, and wrinkled; her figure was tottering and

knocked-kneed; she was utterly toothless; her meagre hair hung in

greasy locks; round her loins she had a greasy slip of sheepskin, the

border of which was tricked out with white beads and iron rings; on

her wrists and ankles she had almost an arsenal of metal, links of

iron, brass, and copper, strong enough to detain a prisoner in his

cell; about her neck were hanging chains of iron, strips of leather,

strings of wooden balls, and heaven knows what lumber more. Such was

old Shol.

A soldier, who had formerly been a Dinka slave, acted as interpreter.

For the purpose of impressing me with a due sense of the honour of the

visit and in the hope of getting a present, he began to extol Shol and

to enlarge upon the multitude of her cattle. All the sheep-farms, of

which the smoke rose so hospitably to the stranger, were hers; hers

were all the bullock runs along the river banks; the murahs which

extended in every direction of the compass without exception, were

hers; she had at least 30,000 head of cattle; in addition to which I

could form no conception of the iron and copper rings and chains which

filled her stores.

After this introduction the conversation turned upon Miss Tinné, who

remained fresh upon the memory of all. Her liberality in making

presents of beads had secured her a fame like Schiller’s “Mädchen aus

der Fremde,” the spring, who brought a gift for every one. The old

Shol could not refrain from expressing her surprise that Miss Tinné

should be unmarried; as an African she could not comprehend how a lady

that was rich could be without a husband.

[Sidenote: THE OLD SHOL.]

Very strange were the domestic and family relationships of Shol when

considered in contrast with her public position, her present

influence, and her excessive wealth. After the death of her first

husband she had become the wife of his son by a previous marriage. She

had thus raised this man, who was younger than herself, to the rank of

prince consort. His name was Kurdyook. I had a visit from him on the

following day. From his intercourse with the traders he could speak

Arabic intelligibly. Like the rest, he was loud in his praises of Miss

Tinné, and in her honour he had called the child of one of his

concubines “the Sigñora.” Plainly there was a longing after the

culture of European refinement, and let us hope that it will not stop

at the name.

[Illustration: The old Shol.]

Of course, in comparison with his wife, he was quite destitute of

lands; he was a mere cypher as far as any influence on the tribe was

concerned, but yet he exercised a terror over Shol, which, under the

circumstances, was quite incredible. He was accustomed to chastise

this dame, who was at once his stepmother and his spouse, and to act

towards her in the most brutal manner, although she was herself in the

habit, perchance as a token of her dignity, of carrying in her hand

several knotted thongs like a cat-o’-nine-tails.

With rambles in the neighbourhood and in receiving a succession of

visitors, I found the days pass pleasantly away. On the mainland

towards the north there were several more important villages, composed

of permanent dwellings and fixed enclosures for oxen. To these I

constantly resorted, and the concourse of so many men coming out of

curiosity to look at me, entertained me very much. Failure alike both

of water and food during the dry season had driven old Shol herself to

one of the islands adjacent to the landing-place; here in some

wretched huts not far from our boats she had taken up her residence in

the midst of a quantity of her cattle. I occasionally paid her a

visit, for the purpose of penetrating to the mysteries of her dairy.

[Sidenote: INTERCHANGE OF PRESENTS.]

On the 26th of February the old queen came to the tent which I

occupied on the island, having been informed that the presents

designed for her majesty there awaited her. On this occasion she had a

costume somewhat different. She had made a fresh selection of her

paraphernalia from her iron rings and chains, and so arrayed herself

anew. I had prepared everything for a stately reception, as I was

anxious to leave behind me an impression as favourable as Miss Tinné.

There were beads as large as eggs, such as never before were seen in

this country; there were marbles of green and blue from the Oriental

plains: she was told they were for her. Next there were chains of

steel; these, too, were hers: then that majestic chair of plaited

straw; she could scarcely believe that she was to have it for her

throne. But the crowning charm of all was an immense bronze medal,

with a chain of plated gold, which she could hang about her neck; it

was in fact, a commemoration of a German professor’s jubilee, with the

Emperor’s likeness upon it; but no one can conceive the admiration it

excited. She was really touched, and the sailors and soldiers seemed

to like the medal as much as she did. The gifts which were made to me

in return consisted of a calabash full of butter, a goat, a sheep, and

a splendid bull of a peculiar breed, without horns.

The most remarkable plant amongst the islands of the Meshera is a

climbing passion-flower—the _Adenia venenata_, the bright green

leaves of which are applied by the natives of Central Africa for the

purpose of drawing blisters. These leaves have, however, a poisonous

property, which has proved fatal to camels. Camels have but a feeble

faculty of smelling, and eat freely of whatever looks green, so that

all attempts to acclimatise them here have been without success. It is

the same plant which deprived Sir Samuel Baker of his pack-ass in

Latuka. The most noticeable thing about the plant is the large

development of its stem, which grows half under the soil, and projects

with a strange protuberance some cubic feet in content. At the end of

this the stem breaks out into a number of long climbing stalks, which

mount upwards to a considerable height. One example of these stems I

packed in linen and sent to Berlin, where, after a period of ten

months, it was found to retain its vitality, and in a palm-house soon

developed a number of young shoots.

The waters furnished a variety of fishes; amongst these few were more

frequently seen than a sort of harness fish (_Polypterus bichir_), of

which a representation will be given in a later chapter. But the

creature which most particularly arrested my attention was the

salamander-like fish of Gambia (_Lepidosiren_), which, with its four

slim feet projecting from its fish-like form, had a mouth like that of

a shark. I saw specimens between three and four feet long. Its flabby

slimy flesh is disgusting to the Nubians, although Sir Samuel Baker,

who found the same species in the Albert Nyanza, could not

sufficiently praise its flavour. The whole family of the Siluridæ is

here represented as much as in other sections of the Nile. Many of

them share with the fish-salamander the practice of burying themselves

in the bank, that they may await in the dry the rising of the stream;

in the same way as an eel they can wriggle themselves through the

soil, and even make a way over the dry ground.

Considering the circumscribed limits of land, the feathered race were

found in great variety. I saw at least sixty kinds of birds upon the

four or five islands which were nearest us. Conspicuous above all was

the graceful rail (_Parra africana_), with its spreading claws and

wiry legs stalking proudly, as if on land, upon a carpet of water-lily

leaves. And not unheard were the familiar notes of our own home birds.

Sparrows innumerable thronged about the papyrus plants, on which they

settled for their evening roost. All this, however, is but the old

story of ornithological travellers who have been before me, and hardly

needs to be repeated here.

FOOTNOTES:

[11] Speke, p. 609: “We found only a small piece of water,

resembling a duck-pond buried in a sea of rushes.”

[12] The words of the far-famed traveller are:—“It runs

from Sennaar past many considerable villages, which are

inhabited by white men of Arabia. Here it passes by Gerri

[now Khartoom], in a north-easterly direction, so as to

join the Tacazze.”—Bruce. b. vi. c. 14.

[13] In the accompanying plan it is attempted to give some

general idea of this confusion.

[Illustration: VIEW ON THE MESHERA (PORT REK).]